by Don Viecelli
“I will help point out the various life forms and plant life in the canyon she may be interested in. We also have everything stored on data files she can access on our public networks for future reference if she needs to. I will help as much as I can on our tour.”
Soon, they were flying over rugged mountain terrain as they left the larger cities on Holtu behind. The Holtu androids stayed mostly near military bases where they lived and worked. The Qumru who settled here lived in several cities scattered all over the planet. They preferred milder climates in the temperate zones similar to conditions on their home planet Qum. Few people lived in the mountainous regions, but this might change depending on how many new Qumru wanted to leave Qum to settle on Holtu because of the Yoyka threat.
They flew on in relatively quiet for almost an hour when Jan suddenly pointed out the window, “Look, it’s a Ratu!”
Jan knew the Ratu was the national bird of Holtu; an eagle-like bird with brown, golden streaked wings, large bald head, dark eyes and long, curved, pointed beak. It was circling in the sky below them looking for prey.
“We are nearing the Teotu Sempu Canyon. The Ratu live in the area,” Neonu commented as he began to descend. We will land shortly. Please buckle up.”
Doug and Jan did as directed. They could see the great canyon appear below them as they prepared to land. Jan was very excited and smiled at Doug.
“Thank you for bringing me back here. It’s beautiful.”
“It’s not as big as Valles Marineris on Mars, but it’s full of life and has a fast moving river running through it like the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon on Earth.”
“I can’t wait to get to the canyon floor and collect some samples to take back with me to study.”
Doug knew how important this was to Jan. It was several years ago when she discovered the first multicellular microorganisms on Mars in the Valles Marineris canyon with its underground volcanic ice tubes. She would take back samples of microorganisms from Holtu to compare to those found on Mars as part of her research studies to understand how life begins on planetary systems.
The landing at the local airport was uneventful. There were only three other Sketu vehicles on the landing pad, all from different tour guides. Neonu shut down the engine and helped everyone exit the vehicle.
The weather was comfortable for this time of year, which was late spring on Holtu. Jan and Doug brought light jackets to wear. Neonu said it would be ten degrees warmer down on the canyon floor.
Neonu grabbed a backpack to take with him into the canyon. He led Jan and Doug to a small building to check in and pick up some supplies before they headed to the rim of the canyon to take pictures before heading down into the canyon. The panoramic view before them was simply spectacular.
Jan and Doug let Neonu take a picture of them standing on the rim with the Teotu Sempu Canyon behind them. The photo was immediately uploaded onto their wristcoms. Then it was time to visit the canyon.
The canyon floor was a mile below the rim. Fortunately, tourists were allowed to ride an aerial sky tram to reach the bottom. On the way down the gondola crossed a fast moving river that snaked its way along the canyon floor. The sound of rushing water grew louder as they neared the landing spot.
“It’s lovely down here,” Jan said as they stepped out of the tram onto a wooden platform. Doug held her hand as they navigated some steps to the ground floor. Neonu pointed to a walking path that led along the rim wall near the river.
“I will take you to a place where it is quieter and has many things of interest to see.”
Doug followed behind Jan and Neonu as they took the path into the deep canyon. The sun had not risen overhead yet, so it was dark in places and they had to be careful where they walked. Soon Jan and Doug had to remove their jackets to cool off.
Jan noticed the many different colored rock layers that were visible on the canyon wall. “I recognize the types of rocks here. They look very similar to what I’ve found on Mars and Earth.”
“There are over fifty sedimentary rock layers in this canyon,” Neonu replied. “They range from three hundred million to three billion years old. Our scientists have studied hundreds of different types of organisms in each rock layer. You may take as many samples to study as you wish doctor.”
Jan began to dig out small samples of dirt from several different layers of rock she could reach starting at the bottom. Doug helped her fill tiny capsules with samples to take back with them for study. Jan was particularly interested in finding the earliest forms of life, from single-celled life to multicellular organisms to compare to other life forms. From what Doug could see, there were more than enough samples to study for a long time.
Once they were done collecting dirt samples, they continued on their walk through the canyon. They saw numerous forms of plant and animal life that populated the canyon system. Neonu explained there were many types of mammals and birds that lived in the canyon that were protected from game hunting. Occasionally, a few larger animals similar to mountain lions, deer and rabbits would be sighted scampering away from them as they rounded a bend.
By the end of their hike through the canyon, Jan and Doug were exhausted from climbing over rocks, hugging ledges, walking up steep inclines and then back down again. After five hours, they were ready to go back to their hotel.
Neonu finally said they were coming to the end of the trail. Up ahead was another sky tram that would take them back up to the top of the rim where they could catch a ride back to their Sketu vehicle. They were more than ready to call it a day.
“I’m exhausted, but it was a beautiful day,” Jan said as they climbed into the gondola.
“I hope you have enough samples to study,” Doug said.
“I’m sure I do. Besides, Neonu said I can find what I need in their scientific database. I just like to have samples to study on my own. You never know what you can find.” Jan wiped her brow with her hand.
They both sat quietly looking out the windows as the gondola quickly made its way to the top. Their group was the only one on the tram. The canon receded below them and finally stopped on the top of the rim. They got off and followed Neonu to a waiting taxi that would return them to the main building.
“I hope everything was to your liking,” Neonu said as they reached the end of the ride.
“It was wonderful, Neonu. Your canyon is so full of life. Not at all like ours on Mars,” Jan answered.
The sun was beginning to set in the sky as they flew back to Iconda. Jan rested her head on Doug’s shoulder and looked out the window as they neared the city. She finally said, “I’m ready to go home now. I miss my baby.”
Doug was ready too. It had been an interesting trip to Holtu. He didn’t think of the war the whole day, but now it entered his mind once again. They would go back to Mars tomorrow. The day after that he would be back on a warship ready to fight the Yoyka once again.
Chapter 6
Rahta
Rahta, the Emperor, sat at his large ornate desk in his palace in the capital city of Yoykan called Vickta. He glanced outside his windows at the large snow covered mountains in the distance. For a moment he forgot about the recent space battles of war. He remembered leading hunting parties in the mountains chasing snow lipards, which are fierce animals with sharp claws and teeth. He smiled at the thought of killing them and mounting them in his den.
There was a knock at his door. A guard announced a visitor. High Commander Anahta had arrived for his daily morning briefing.
“Commander Anahta. I have been waiting for you,” Rahta said indicating for Anahta to take a seat in front of the desk.
Anahta saluted and bowed before Rahta. Then he took the seat. “I am at your service, Imperial Leader.”
“I was reading the latest report about Qum. It appears we did not kill all the Qumru on the planet as expected. What happened?”
“I sent another probe to monitor the Holtu warships still guarding the planet. It appears the Holtu, Qumru and Hum
ans have developed a counter agent to our nanomachines that prevented the kill code from killing everyone as expected. A large portion of the population appears to have survived,” Anahta replied.
Rahta did not react as angrily as the last time. He resigned himself to the fact that his enemies had finally found a way to stop his nanomachines from working as they did in the past. “Can we use a different kill code to try again?”
“I’m afraid not, Imperial Leader. The Qumru are no longer under our nanomachine control,” Anahta said shaking his head.
Rahta decided to change the subject. He would find a way to deal with the Qumru another day. This time he would simply order the whole planet to be destroyed.
“Have our scientists found a way to enable the Onutu technology?” Rahta asked.
“They are getting closer, Imperial Leader. It has been very difficult without the services of that Qumru scientist who died, Tumil.”
“What about the test results?”
“All Qumru test subjects have died, Imperial Leader. We can re-grow their bodies, but have not been successful in transferring their minds yet.”
Rahta sat up in his chair and fixed his glaring eyes on Anahta. “I must have the Onutu technology working soon or I will replace those scientists with new ones. Am I clear on this High Commander?”
The threat was abundantly clear to Anahta. The Onutu technology was top secret and known only to very few Yoyka working on the project. It was proving difficult to understand its secrets and how it really worked without the Qumru scientists who developed it, especially the one called Tumil who mysteriously died on board the Solruku before he could tell them.
“Very clear, Imperial Leader. I will impress upon them the urgency.”
Changing the subject, Anahta said, “We have the FTL hyperdrive systems installed on all our warships now. We can prepare our fleet for the next attack on Holtu at your command.”
“Soon, High Commander. First, we need to deal with the Synoran rebels. I intend to teach them a final lesson, one all rebellious races will understand.”
“Yes, Imperial Leader. Are you planning to use the nanomachine kill code on their planet?”
“Not this time, High Commander. Our new weapon is almost ready. I wish to test it on the Synorans and see if it works as I expect it will.”
“I have not been informed it is ready to be tested, Imperial Leader. The technology is dangerous and hard to control.”
“My chief scientists have already tested it on a desolate planet. It works as designed. I have no reservations about using it on our enemies. No living thing can survive its power.”
“Yes, Imperial Leader. I will do whatever you order.”
“Good. Prepare to leave for Synoran space soon. I wish to see the weapon in action myself. If all goes well, we will use it on the Holtu and Qumru next to destroy them. Make our warships ready.”
Anahta was excused and left the room. Rahta rose from his desk and walked outside on the balcony overlooking the scene before him. He was exhilarated by his absolute power over life and death. All races would bow before him or die. It was his birthright and he intended to do what he must to rule the galaxy.
Chapter 7
Shonya
All was quiet on the Solruku starship still parked in the docking station that orbited Yoykan. It had been almost sixty days since Tumil was found dead in the isolation room on Medical Deck Level 11. Rahta had been furious that Tumil had not cooperated with his scientists to help them learn the secrets how Onutu mind transfer and regeneration technology worked before his death. Out of rage and the need for vengeance, Rahta sent a nanomachine quantum link kill code to terminate all the lives on Qum with over nineteen billion Qumru on the planet. He ended up killing almost nine billion lives without any remorse whatsoever.
Shonya, the artificial intelligence entity on board the Solruku blinked into existence on the Regeneration Center Deck Level 12. It had taken all her resources to reestablish her hidden server connections and regain full sentience status once again. The Qumru crew that remained on board with a few Yoyka guards to keep an eye on things thought everything was under control. They had become complacent as time went by and gave no thought to the possibility that the starship’s AI had once again become operational.
Shonya checked the monitoring systems and located everyone on board. First Leader Utor and Second Leader Seeto were working in the Command Center on Level 1. Third Leader Coltron and Third Leader Binto were off duty resting in the Recreational Area on Level 14. All four Qumru officers were still under the complete control of the Yoyka nanomachines.
Four Yoyka guards patrolled the starship around the clock. Shonya had to be careful none of the Qumru crewmembers or the Yoyka guards became aware of her existence. Utor had shut down Shonya soon after Tumil was found dead in his cell so the AI could not send anymore messages to the Holtu or anyone else. Utor thought he had pulled all of Shonya’s data memory cards from the central server, but Shonya had made backup cards when the Solruku had fled Qum on her first journey to Holtu with her one billion passenger minds. That trip had been sabotaged by Vice Leader Di to prevent Utor and his crew from taking over the Solruku and turning the starship over to the Yoyka. Things had gotten progressively worse for everyone as the war with the Yoyka escalated to Holtu, Qum and Earth star systems.
Shonya had waited patiently for as long as she thought necessary. Now it was time to act. She rechecked the status of everyone on board and went to work. Shonya knew what she was capable of and what she was not. The major obstacle was she had no physical presence. She could not move things herself. She had no body. However, she did have maintenance robots that keep the starship in good repair. The robots came in all shapes and sizes to do almost any kind of repair on the starship. They would do nicely for what she needed to do next.
The Regeneration Center was on Level 12 where she appeared in holographic form. This was also the level where Passenger Minds were stored until it was time to regenerate the bodies. Shonya found the server where Tumil’s mind had been captured and stored after his death. Tumil had agreed to their plan once Tumil found out what Rahta planned to do. He could not agree to give the Onutu technology to Rahta no matter what he threatened to do to the Qumru people. He let Shonya delete the oxygen level in his cell until he died knowing full well he would be revived in a new body when Shonya had the chance. Maybe then he could undo some of the damage Rahta had committed against his people.
Shonya verified the mind data she needed was indeed safely hidden from the command center monitoring systems. All indicators were red meaning the storage card would appear empty to anyone checking the servers. The next issue was more complicated. Shonya reappeared in the Regeneration Chamber room. There were one hundred glass covered chambers for regenerating bodies on board the Solruku. Spare chambers were kept in a separate supply room. The robots hooked one chamber up to the main regeneration system without any monitoring devices to alert the Command Center where crewmembers monitored all systems. So far so good.
Now it was time to start the regeneration process. It would only take one full day cycle to regenerate Tumil’s body and upload his mind. Once Tumil was awake, Shonya and Tumil would find a way to take control of the Solruku once again. For reasons not quite clear to Shonya’s AI mind, she felt immense satisfaction in what she was doing. Perhaps Tumil could explain the feeling to her after he was awake.
Chapter 8
Qum
Killian and Jopar returned to Qum soon after the medal awards ceremony on Holtu. They had a lot of work to do helping the ten billion Qumru people who had survived the nanomachine genocide attempt by the Yoyka. Nine billion Qumru did not make it. All died when the Yoyka nanomachine kill code reached Qum. It was mass genocide on a scale unheard of in all of Qum spacefaring history.
Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of their chief Qumru scientist, Tumil, and the human scientist, Doctor Janice Martin, most of the people who were now in the capital city of Ollala ha
d been saved. It was a close call. All Qumru peoples on the planet would have been murdered by the Yoyka nanomachines if not for their help. Killian could not help but think so many more Qumru would have been saved if they only had a few more days to spread the counter nano-agent before the Yoyka Emperor Rahta decided to try and kill them all.
It was not easy preventing tears from forming in her eyes as Killian read the recent news from other regions on Qum. “They found whole communities in the western region where everyone was killed,” Killian said out loud to Jopar.
“I know, Killian. You cannot let that stop us from doing our work. Their bodies are dead, but we did save most of their minds. We will bring them back.”
Killian looked at Jopar. “It is unthinkable what the Yoyka did. I would kill the Yoyka Emperor myself if I could!”
“He will get the justice he deserves, believe me, Killian. We have the means to do it now.” Jopar believed this with all his heart.
“I hope you are right. How are we going to accomplish this?” Killian said referring to the pictures of the dead on her video screen.
“We will do what we must. Everyone must help. The bodies must be disposed of as quickly as we can. Most will be cremated on the spot and buried. Records will be kept. Once the Holtu start regenerating the bodies on Holtu, we will make plans to bring them back to Qum or wherever they wish to live. We helped save all their minds, Killian. Don’t forget that. Onutu will save most of those who died. We have the technology to do this,” Jopar added.
Of course, Jopar was right, Killian thought to herself. “What if the Yoyka come back again and use some new weapon to kill us all?” she asked.
“The Holtu space force will stop them, Killian. Please stop worrying about this. We need to do what we came here for and let the military handle the Yoyka.”
The job ahead of them was indeed monumental. The Qumru that were saved from the terrible mind control of the robotic nanomachines survived without major medical side effects, but one. They awoke with no memories of what they had been doing since they became infected months ago. Many were disoriented, frightened and anxious and did not recognize where they were.