by Luigi Robles
Sodenia
At the Edge of Chaos
Luigi Robles
Contents
1. Aftermath
2. Definitions
3. Shadows
4. The Council
5. Nightfall
6. Friendlies
7. Ghosts
8. The Message
9. Galactic Matters
10. The Builders
11. Gravity
12. Warm-blooded
13. The Jump
14. The New Fleet
15. The Struggle
Epilogue
Also by Luigi Robles
1
Aftermath
It had been six months since Fain Jegga and Sodenia’s flight crew were paraded through the streets of Washington D.C. Fain, along with the flight crew, had been proclaimed a national hero and was given award after award, medal after medal. The world had been saved thanks to his courage, they said, among other nice things.
None of that mattered now. Those times were over, and now it was almost as if he’d had nothing to do with saving the world. The media quickly forgot about him and the crew that saved the world once politicians got in the mix. They managed to turn the saving of the world into a political nightmare.
The new CO, General Simons, was in charge of space exploration and defense, bypassing ESAF altogether. He reassured Fain that his new assignment was temporary, but that was when the assignment was first presented to him, and he hadn’t heard from Simons since. To Fain, it seemed like an eternity ago.
What a load of bullshit, Fain thought. They should have just locked us up or something. I think I would have preferred that. Damn it. If we were so dangerous, why not just come out and say it? This is so stupid. I don’t see any way of getting out of this rut anytime soon. Who would have thought that saving the world would mean so little? Who would have thought that they would purposely make us disappear?
Fain had held on to his captain title within ESAF, but instead of being the captain of an alien space ship like Sodenia, he was the captain of a small recovery boat, the Cornelia. The new boat was modern, slick, and fast on the water. It came equipped with all the modern technologies, but it was still just a boat in the end. His new assignment was to locate, recover, and classify any alien debris that might have fallen into the ocean. Since Sodenia’s battle with the Acram and their subspecies above Earth, a ton of alien debris had made it through the atmosphere and landed in the ocean.
“Captain,” Chuck said without looking up from his station, “radar shows we are within two hundred feet of Artifact t 319A.”
Fain sighed internally, trying to keep his composure. He hated his new job. He hated the salty smell of the ocean first thing in the morning. And not just ordinary hate; he hated it with a passion.
It’s hard to believe that this is only the second alien artifact of the day, and there are still fourteen to go, Fain thought. Being annihilated by the Acram is starting to sound not so bad after all. Much better than a lifetime spent living in monotony.
Fain took a sip of his coffee.
“Captain?” Chuck asked, turning to face Fain.
“Oh, right,” Fain said, snapping back to reality. “Cut our current speed in half. Once we are at fifty feet, cut the speed to one knot.” Then Fain turned to look at his first officer. “Olivia, start getting the recovery crew and equipment ready. Let’s get this one done in a jiffy.”
“Yes, Captain,” Olivia said. “Right away.”
“Is everything OK, sir?” Chuck asked once Olivia had left the wheelhouse. “I noticed that you are a little more off than usual.”
A little more off than usual? Fain thought. Am I that bad all the time? Ugh, I really need to find a way out of this mess.
Fain half-smiled and snickered. Over the past few months, he had grown to like his new crew, even though he detested his current situation. He saw their strengths and their weaknesses, and they were good people. They went about the ship day after day, just doing whatever they could to help ESAF. They, unlike Fain, loved their jobs, and he knew that if he could help it, he wouldn’t be the one to ruin it for them.
“Yeah, just didn’t sleep that well last night,” Fain said. “I’ll be back to my old self in no time. Just let me finish my coffee.”
“Was Cornelia rocking too much? We can always increase the power on the stabilizers.”
“No, it was just a bad night,” Fain fibbed. “That won’t be necessary. I’ve never been a good sea sleeper. Besides, we don’t want to be dealing with seasickness because of the extra stability. This, my friend”—Fain pointed at his mug—“is the best solution.”
“I can agree with that, sir,” Chuck said, then turned back to his station.
But the truth was that Fain was kept awake by his own thoughts. Even though he had spent so little time on board Sodenia as its captain, the moments he lived through while on the ship, and the bonds he made with the flight crew, would stay with him for life. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, he’d yet to find out.
The only activity that Fain was looking forward to for the day was seeing Sodenia one more time. The path they were taking to recover the alien debris would put the small boat within 110 miles of Sodenia. Fain knew that if he was lucky enough and the tide was low, the powerful binoculars he had on board would let him look at the magnificent ship once again.
Only two more of these things to go before I get to see her again, Fain thought as he sipped on his coffee, a hint of a smile appearing on his face.
About an hour later, the crew had pulled the two other alien debris from the ocean, classified them, and stored them on board the Cornelia. At first, it was a thrill to pull the alien debris from the ocean. Now, it was all the same, just pieces of useless metal. The only difference between actual trash and the recovered alien debris was the distinctive frequency they emitted. They also had a distinctive and pungent smell. They didn’t smell like normal waste; it was more like burnt material.
“Alright, let’s wrap it up quick,” Fain said. “We’ll hold this position for an additional ten minutes. Good job, everyone; take a breather. Or, for those who smoke, make it harder to breathe.” Fain chuckled, and the crew joined in.
With binoculars in hand, Fain made his way up to the bow of the ship and walked up to the edge of its roof.
“Here goes nothing,” Fain murmured.
He began scanning the horizon in search of the giant space ship he’d once piloted. He thought about what a privilege that had been as he looked keenly into the distance. It wasn’t long before he noticed a shadow out in the water. Calmly, he adjusted the binoculars so that they would allow him to focus in on the shadow. He got as close as he could with the manual settings, and the binoculars’ autofocus did the rest.
There she was in all her grandeur, sitting above the ocean floor. A massive ship, the largest moving object that humanity had seen on Earth, at least. The sun reflected on its outline, defining its shape and at the same time casting a shadow towards Fain’s position.
He was happy to see Sodenia once again, and part of him was relieved that there in front of him was concrete evidence that it had really happened. There were so many people around the world, day after day, calling the events of the second Acram attack a hoax. Sometimes even Fain himself was close to believing the ridiculous conspiracy theories. But there she was, as real as it got. Even though Sodenia was 1,056 feet tall, he was only able to see the upper hull, as the curvature of the land and tide covered the rest.
He missed everything about Sodenia—Kya, the ship’s AI, and the flight crew. It all just seemed like a far-off and long-ago dream, but a dream that he vividly remembered.
With
a sigh, he left the ship’s roof and went back into the wheelhouse, remembering what it was like to pilot such a formidable ship.
“She’s still there, isn’t she?” Chuck asked as he too walked back to his station. It looked like he was chewing something.
“Yup, she’s still there,” Fain confirmed. “Nothing has changed. Except, she no longer has the battle wounds. It looks like she’s been repaired.”
“Who do you think fixed her?” Chuck asked.
“The ship’s AI, I suppose,” Fain said with a shrug. “Who knows what’s happening on that island?”
“Sir, may I?” Chuck asked hesitantly. “A personal query?”
“May you what?” Fain asked, shifting his head slightly. “Since when did you learn to talk like that? But go ahead, I suppose.”
“I’ve just been watching a lot of old sci-fi shows. Well, it’s just that they told us that we aren’t supposed to talk with you about anything that happened with the aliens and all, or anything before this assignment…”
This was news to Fain, but he nodded so that Chuck would continue.
“But,” Chuck said slowly, as if choosing the right words, “what was it like? You know, being able to fly the ship.”
“Good question.” Fain chuckled. “Well, it was like an extension of yourself, of your body. A powerful extension. If you were thinking about going to point A, you were there before your next thought. It felt unstoppable, with no limit to its power.”
“Woah…” Chuck said. “That must have been something really special.”
“It was more than special,” Fain said, pausing for a second, searching for the right word. “It was life-altering. After that first flight, I knew that nothing would be the same.”
“You know what I heard recently through an email my friend sent me?” Chuck said. “It’s about Sodenia, sir.”
“What about it?”
“Well, without making it too long,” Chuck said, turning to look around the wheelhouse to make sure no one was listening, “my friend said that they are having a lot of trouble trying to control the AI. The AI hasn’t let anyone on board the ship since it returned to Earth.”
“Is that so?” Fain said.
“Yeah, every time they attempt to get inside, the AI begins to power up the ship’s cannons, and the drones begin circling.”
If this has been happening since we got back, Fain thought, why don’t I know anything about it? I haven’t seen anything about it in the news, either. Am I being monitored? No, not monitored, they wouldn’t get that far without me noticing. But filtered, perhaps? Are they filtering the information I consume? But why?
“How often do you hear news about Sodenia?” Fain asked.
“Before I was assigned to the Cornelia, pretty regularly,” Chuck said. “But it’s died down a lot. I’m guessing people have started forgetting about it.”
“Could be,” Fain said as he looked out one of the windows.
“But I’m guessing my friend only brought it up because it’s big news back in Washington D.C.,” Chuck said.
“How so?” Fain said, turning back to face Chuck while taking a quick glance at his wristband watch.
“They want to take the ship’s AI to a public hearing in Washington,” Chuck said. “You know, like the senate judiciary committee one, but a special one.”
“I don’t see how that will help them get control of the ship,” Fain said. “But we’ll talk about this later. We are about to head to our next location.”
“Yes, sir,” Chuck said as he turned back to his station.
“And Chuck,” Fain said. “Thanks for sharing.”
“Not a problem, sir,” Chuck said.
Whatever is happening, this is not the time to let my mind wander, Fain thought. The time for that is later, when I’m trying to sleep. Fain chuckled internally at the irony. Now, it’s time to focus.
Olivia walked into the wheelhouse, speaking as she moved to her post. “Captain, the rest of the crew is ready to head to the next location.”
“Perfect,” Fain said. “We’ll get going. It should be as easy as ordering food from a printer; consider it done.”
The rest of the day ran without a snag, and it was something of an easy day, for that matter. The weather was fair, and the seas were calm. If it wasn’t for the eternal monotony of the task at hand, the day would have been a fine one. Fain and the crew of the Cornelia were able to complete all sixteen of their alien artifact quotas for the day, and they did so in record-breaking time, one hour earlier than expected.
Fain walked over to the microphone for the boat’s intercom and looked out the window before saying anything. He was trying to decide if they would be hanging out around the area for a while or heading back to port. But he’d had enough of the sea for one day, and there was a lot he needed to think about, so the decision became obvious in seconds.
Port was still close enough for them to make the trip back and forth every day, but he knew that after their current mission, they would need to upgrade to a bigger boat and spend more time at sea.
“Cornelia, this is your captain speaking,” Fain said with a slight smile, knowing that he was the only one that would ever use the intercom. “You have done a mighty great job today, and because of that, I’ve decided that we’ll be heading back home early today. Full speed home.”
The crew cheered and began preparing for the journey back to port as fast as they could.
“Maybe if you worked that way when it came to our recoveries,” Fain continued talking on the intercom, “we’d be done even earlier.”
As they headed back home, Fain looked outside through one of the wheelhouse windows. The sky looked redder than usual, even for a sunset. He was beginning to feel like something wasn’t right.
“That’s not the way the sky is supposed to look, right?” Olivia asked as she went to stand next to Fain. “It looks like it’s boiling over or something of the sort.”
Then, to everyone’s shock, there was a thunderous roar in the sky. It sounded like metal clashing with lightning, accompanied by the cries of a wounded beast. The sound was eerie, deep, and definitely alien.
“Are you seeing that?” Fain asked, trying to keep calm.
“Seeing what?” Olivia asked. “Where?”
“Just where the sun was two hours ago,” Fain said.
“OMG, we are going to die,” Chuck yelled from his station. “This time we are for sure going to die. Dammit, I don’t want to die on this boat.”
“Chuck, calm down,” Fain said.
“But Captain, we are going to die,” Chuck said as he pointed at the object that had appeared in the sky. “Look at the size of that thing. It looks enormous, and it’s not even in the atmosphere.”
A large rectangular object had appeared before them. From what Fain could see with his naked eye, the design of the object was totally different from his previous alien encounter. He ran to grab the binoculars to take a closer look. Bur there was not a lot to see. The object was slick and minimalistic, with a bluish light all around it.
“Chuck, calm down,” Fain repeated, staring steadily at the object, then putting down the binoculars. “If it was going to attack us, it would have done so already. It’s letting itself be seen. But who knows for what purpose?”
One of Fain’s gravest fears had come to light. A new alien ship had appeared on Earth, and he was in a position where he couldn’t do anything about it.
Damn it.
2
Definitions
Kya observed a group of soldiers walking up to one of Sodenia’s main doors at the front of the ship. It was early dawn, at least four hours before sunrise, and according to the thermostat, it was cold. The soldiers looked apprehensive as they walked, gripping their rifles more than necessary. Seven soldiers walked up to the massive door, and a total of thirty-four waited with their weapons drawn by the safety of their Humvees a few yards away.
Kya had decided not to launch any drones this time around; t
he soldiers would have it easy. She was perfectly willing to cooperate with the show they wanted to stage back in Washington D.C. As far as she had gathered by reading hundreds of thousands of social media posts and other internet junk, they thought Kya would actually care about public opinion.
Although Kya could easily break into any encrypted account or messages thanks to her AI mind, she thought it was repulsive and unfair, since no one could break into her. So, she played by the rules, for the most part.
Recently, she had made an exception, fabricating an email posing as one of Chuck’s friends. The email was crafted as a casual conversation with the purpose of letting Fain know the recent events that involved Kya and Sodenia. In Kya’s mind, Fain was still the captain, regardless of what anyone said. And her tampering with someone else’s email account was well justified. Someone had hundreds of people blocking information about Sodenia, Kya, and the rest of the flight crew from reaching Fain. So, she decided to fight fire with fire.
And in truth, Chuck’s friend Brenda did, in fact, send an email to Chuck talking about Kya; it just never got to him. Kya had noticed this as she scanned the Cornelia’s email inbox.
I do still wonder, Kya thought as she watched the soldiers advancing, why are they going to such extremes and blocking information from getting to Fain and the others? The most likely answer is that they already suspect my abilities to scan the net looking for information. That’s why they added all those layers of inscription to their servers. They probably think that if they hear from me or try to contact me, I’ll get out of control or something. They aren’t thinking of me as a living being; they are thinking of me as a glitchy program.
“Miss Kya,” one of the soldiers said nervously as he approached the ship’s door. “We are here to pick you up and take you back to Washington, as agreed. Please come out.”