by Ken Lozito
Connor let out a slight chuckle.
“I know you’re having doubts. I can’t even imagine what this must be like for you. Just try to keep an open mind, okay?” Ashley said.
She led him through a series of doors that ended in a command center. There were multiple rows of workstations about with teams working. There were also windows on the far side of the command center that overlooked a massive hangar bay.
Connor stopped in his tracks, his mouth agape. He looked around, taking a few steps forward. Throughout his career he had been conditioned to take in information and adapt as needed, but nothing had prepared him for this. If this was the Syndicate trying to brainwash him, he felt like it was beginning to work.
Ashley waited patiently for him with a knowing smile. “Come on, I want you to meet Tobias. He’s in the conference room over here.”
Connor glanced back at his escorts, Tim and Theo, and they gave him encouraging nods.
“You could have warned me,” Connor said.
Tim grinned. “And ruin the surprise? You wouldn’t have believed us anyway.”
Connor followed Ashley across the command center and into a conference room. In the middle of the room was a long table that had a holoscreen outlined in translucent amber lines to give it definition. An older man with salt-and-pepper-colored hair stood in front of it. Next to him were three younger men, not much more than boys.
“Tobias,” Ashley called as they approached.
Tobias was sipping coffee from a mug and turned at her call. He hastily put his mug down and stuck out his hand. “Hi there, I’m Tobias Quinn.”
Connor shook the proffered hand and introduced himself.
Tobias gestured toward each of the young men in turn. “This is Noah and Lars, and this is my son, Sean.”
Connor blanched at the mention of Sean.
Tobias glanced at his wife. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No,” Connor said. “I have a son named Sean.”
Tobias’s expression became somber. “I’m so sorry.”
Connor clamped down on his emotions, but his heart was thumping like a rabbit. He needed to keep it together. “It’s not your fault,” Connor said and looked at the three young men. “Nice to meet you.”
They returned the sentiment in kind.
“Could you guys give us a few minutes?” Tobias said to the young men, then turned back to Connor. “I bet you could use a drink.”
Connor looked at him. “Yeah, I think that would be good.”
Tobias walked over to the side and pulled out a metal container. He grabbed a couple of glasses and poured two fingers of dark amber liquid into each.
Tobias handed a glass to his wife and then to Connor. “Kentucky bourbon. A little taste of home,” Tobias said.
Connor downed the bourbon in one swallow, and it blazed a path down his throat. Warmth spread across his chest as he felt the alcohol immediately start to do its thing.
“I’d offer you another, but then I’d start getting that look from my wife. You know, that look that tells you you’re heading into trouble,” Tobias said.
“Careful now,” Ashley warned and gave Connor a wink.
“Okay, let’s get to it,” Tobias said. “You were found in Peter Faulkner’s pod and you have no recollection of how you got there. Judging by your reaction to being on the Ark, I feel it’s safe to say that you had nothing to do with being stowed away. Sound fair to you?”
Connor put his cup down on the table. “I didn’t sneak aboard this ship. In fact, I’d only heard of the Ark a few days . . . well, let’s just say recently.”
Tobias nodded. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“I’m not at liberty . . .” Connor’s voice trailed off and he frowned. “I’m not sure if any of that matters anymore.”
“Sam, can you bring up anything we have about Connor Gates?” Tobias asked.
“Of course. One moment,” a generic male’s voice said through speakers on the ceiling.
“Sam is our artificial intelligence for data reference and research, both of which are crucial to us building a life here,” Tobias said.
Connor’s service record appeared on the holoscreen. As he read through it, words at the bottom of the screen appeared in bold red lettering like a punch to his gut.
“KIA - DV. Guilty of the destruction of Chronos Station and the deaths of . . .” Tobias read aloud and looked at Connor.
“Five million people,” Connor finished.
He stepped closer to the holoscreen and read through the report on Chronos Station. Connor felt like acid was gathering in his stomach. The report painted Connor and the Ghosts as an elite military outfit that had gone rogue.
“What does DV mean?” Ashley asked.
“Disavowed. It means the NA Alliance Congressional Council separated themselves from me when our operation to bring down the Syndicate went bad,” Connor said.
He looked at Ashley and Tobias, who both waited for him to continue.
“My team and I were on Chronos Station, but it was the Syndicate and not my team that caused the destruction,” Connor said.
He told them about his hunt for the Syndicate and how it had led them to Chronos Station and the Syndicate’s leader.
“So someone stashed you aboard the Ark,” Tobias said.
“Evidently,” Connor said.
Ashley walked over and handed him the data stick. “I think those answers could be on here,” she said.
“Where’d that come from?” Tobias asked.
“It was in the storage compartment for his pod,” Ashley said.
Connor looked down at the black data stick. “Is there somewhere I can look at what’s on here?”
Tobias regarded him for a moment. “Yes, right here. Ordinarily I’d offer you a bit of privacy, but I think we all need to be on the same page regarding how you got here. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I don’t have anything to hide,” Connor said.
Tobias gestured for him to put the data stick into the analysis tray. The tray glowed, and a liquid metal probe came out of a small panel. Small bolts of electricity leaped to the stick. The liquid metal formed a receptacle, and the data stick plugged inside. A command window appeared on the holoscreen:
VOICE PRINT ID - NAME - RANK - BRANCH
“Connor Gates, Colonel, North American Alliance Military, Special Forces.”
VERIFIED.
Admiral Mitch Wilkinson’s face appeared on a video log file that opened automatically. Connor glanced at the date on the file and noted that it was from the year 2217. He started the video.
“Connor, by now you must be twenty-five light-years from Earth and have figured out that it was I who put you on the Ark. I’ll do what I can for the rest of the Ghosts. I’m not sure whether I can get them on the Ark, but rest assured that I’ll see to it that they’re safe. I imagine you’re quite angry and confused. Well, that can’t be helped, and by the time you get this it will be over eighty years into the future. Even with prolonged life spans, I’ll be dead and gone by then.
“I imagine you’ll have a few choice words about what I did to you, but I couldn’t stand by and watch the son of my dear friend get thrown to the lions for a crime he didn’t commit. I had to act and couldn’t wait for confirmation of what the NA Alliance and the Syndicate would do. We had a special delivery to make for the Ark program, and its special nature required that it be carried out under military control. You were going to be made the scapegoat for the destruction of Chronos Station. Hell, you probably already knew that part before you even saw this message. Seems strange to me that you’ll view these events as if reading from the historical records, but for you it’ll feel like it was yesterday. I’m sorry for that, but as I said, it couldn't be helped.
“I know you intended to reconnect with your son and possibly your wife. That won’t happen now, and I know you’ll hate having the choice taken from you. I’ll watch over Sean for you, and he’ll know his father w
as a hero and not the terrorist that will no doubt be portrayed by the news outlets.” Wilkinson looked away from the camera as Connor heard his own voice. Wilkinson switched off the video.
There were so many emotions vying for attention that Connor felt numb. He had wanted to reconnect with Sean and had always assumed there would be time. If this journey had taken the Ark two hundred years, Sean would now be an old man. Connor couldn’t even send him a message to tell him he was still alive and that he loved him.
“Sam, are there any records for Sean or Alyssa Gates?” Connor asked.
“Apologies, but I have no records of either of them,” the AI said.
“They might have had to change their identities,” Ashley said.
Ashley had a point. If the Syndicate was hunting for him, they could have targeted his family in hopes that it would bring him out of hiding.
“I’ll never know,” Connor said, swallowing hard.
“We can keep looking through the records. I’ll make sure you have the access you need to do so,” Tobias said.
Connor wanted to thank them, but he couldn’t muster up the effort. His mind was reeling from what Wilkinson had done.
“Wilkinson was a flag officer. He’d have had the resources to get you aboard the Ark and he’d also have been able to protect your family,” Tobias said.
“I hope so, for their sakes,” Connor said and rested his hands on his hips. His mind was racing so much if felt like there was pressure building inside his ears.
“Perhaps you need some rest. Give yourself some time—” Ashley began.
“No,” Connor said. “I need . . . something to do. I need to move around.” He glanced at Tobias. “I need a job.”
Tobias nodded. “Your case is a rather unique situation. There are always transports going down to the colony. Perhaps if I have someone give you a tour there and I follow up with you in a few days we can discuss things like next steps.”
“I appreciate it. I have another question, if you don’t mind,” Connor said.
“You’re entitled to as many as you want,” Tobias said.
“Wilkinson said the rest of my team might be aboard the Ark somewhere. Is there any way we can find them?”
Tobias’s eyes widened and he blew out a breath. “We have three hundred thousand colonists, most of whom are still in stasis. I can have some of my people look into it, see if there was any evidence of tampering with Peter Faulkner’s pod, which could point us to other pods. That will take some time. Alternatively, we’ll know when we bring the other colonists out of stasis.”
“When will that be?” Connor asked.
“I think that kind of question will be best answered if I tell you about the Ark program itself. I trust you know that we’re not where we’d planned on being and our journey took about a hundred years longer than anticipated,” Tobias said.
Connor nodded.
Tobias gestured for Connor to sit down, and Tobias joined him.
“I have to step away for a few minutes. Be back in a bit,” Ashley said.
Connor watched her leave and looked back at Tobias.
“The Ark program. There are hours of vids you could watch, but I’ll give you a quick rundown,” Tobias said and brought up a small holo-interface so he could control the screen. A star map appeared. “This is the Earth and our star system, and over here, roughly twenty-five light-years away, is where we were supposed to go.”
The star map expanded, showing a line from Earth to another star with the designation HD-Alpha-2. “We sent a probe there and some other places about two hundred years ago, looking for a place we could send the first interstellar colony. The information sent back about the planets surrounding HD-Alpha-2 was the most promising. It was time for the next stage of the ongoing project—securing funding and convincing the general public that an interstellar colony was something we could achieve. We received overwhelming support. The original plans called for a colony of five thousand. Instead, we had millions of people who wanted to be a part of the Ark. We eventually settled on three hundred thousand souls.”
“So you built a big ship and just set off toward this star system?” Connor asked.
“Not quite that simple. The Ark was one massive ship, but it was also made up of smaller ships that we could use once we got to our destination. There was also a seed ship that went ahead of us,” Tobias said.
Connor glanced around. “What ship are we on?”
“This is the Ark. The seed ship had no human presence aboard. It was completely run by machines and thus could travel at much faster speeds than the Ark. The seed ship was to get here first and start running experiments and studying our future home. This way, when we finally arrived we could hit the ground running,” Tobias said.
Connor studied the star map and nodded. “I’m with you so far. What went wrong?”
“Nothing went wrong,” Tobias said.
Connor pressed his lips together in a thoughtful frown. “You didn’t arrive at HD-Alpha-2, so something had to have gone wrong.”
“Sam, show us our current position in relation to Earth,” Tobias said.
The view of the star map expanded out farther and showed a course change and a distance of sixty light-years from Earth. There were glowing points along the track the Ark had taken to the star system they were currently at.
“What are those glowing points?” Connor asked.
“Good question. In basic terms, they’re communications buoys we dropped along our path here. They allowed the ship to send and receive data bursts back from Earth. This way, if there were advancements in technology that would be useful to us, they were packaged and sent to us,” Tobias said.
“So you dropped these comms buoys and they just send and receive data? How do they hold their position? What happens if a few of them get damaged? Wouldn’t the whole thing just break down?” Connor asked.
“The buoys do more than just send and receive data. There are redundancies in place by design. They keep track of their neighboring buoys so when a new one is added, it lets the others know that another link in the chain has been added. If some are damaged or have become inoperable, the nearest buoys will shift position and try to contact the next buoy up the chain. This will continue until communication is reestablished. It’s important to remember that we’re talking about communication in interstellar terms. The data bursts, while faster than any ship we have, can’t go faster than the speed of light,” Tobias said.
Connor poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip while he considered what Tobias had said. “So if we’re sixty light-years from Earth, at the very minimum any message sent from Earth today would take sixty years to reach us here.”
“Exactly. We’ve had communications from Earth, but they’re quite old, and we receive the messages, or info-dumps, a piece at a time. Only when it’s completed can we see what’s in the message,” Tobias said.
“I’m with you so far,” Connor said and peered at the spot on the map where the Ark had changed course.
“Approximately twenty years into our journey, the ship’s computers received a major update from Space Command Central. This update contained a new course heading, as well as updated protocols for the ship’s systems to follow,” Tobias said.
“Did they say why?”
Tobias frowned and looked to be deciding how he should say what he was about to say. “We’re still piecing together what happened. We think they might have learned something about our destination and decided that the best recourse was to redirect us to another star system.”
Connor considered this. He’d been on ops where the chain of command had updated their objectives, and what seemed random to a new recruit made sense later on. The Ark program wasn’t a military operation though.
“What could they have found that would make them send us to a star system they knew so little about?” Connor asked.
“Well, they knew we had the seed ship so wherever they sent us we wouldn’t be completely in the dar
k once we reached our destination. There could have been advancements in deep space observation that led them to do this, or something could have gone terribly wrong with HD-Alpha-2,” Tobias said.
“How is it that we didn’t run out of resources along the way?” Connor asked.
“Another good question. In terms of power, we have plenty. The Ark has multiple fusion reactors aboard that will eventually be brought to the planet’s surface,” Tobias said.
“Yeah, but you need materials to build the comms buoys, for instance. Even if you had a surplus of materials, it couldn’t have been enough for almost triple the amount you thought you’d need,” Connor said.
“Our tech platforms include onboard robotic fabricators. Once we deviated from our original course, the seed ship would have identified things such as asteroids that would be viable candidates for the Ark’s use. Once we were within the vicinity of one, our own robotic workforce would use the same retrieval techniques we used to mine the asteroid field beyond the orbit of Mars. They’d bring the specimens close and extract the resources we needed,” Tobias said.
“I didn’t know so much automation had been part of the design for the Ark,” Connor said.
“There were a lot of people involved. The intent for the colony was to be self-sufficient, so we needed the capacity to gather the materials we’d need to build our new home,” Tobias said.
“I understand that part. But the automation involved in keeping this ship going for a hundred and twenty years beyond what it was designed for is something else entirely. We’re lucky to even be alive,” Connor said.
“Well, we made it, certainly. But as you said, we’re operating outside of the original design specifications. Systems did wear out, and when we first woke up there was a lot for us to do to get where we are today,” Tobias said.
“How many people are awake?”
“About twenty thousand. Most are on the surface of the planet. We can’t just wake everyone at once or we’ll have severe shortages of things like food and water. The people on the surface are setting up farms and living spaces. Each group contributes in preparation for the next. That part hasn’t changed, even if the landscape has,” Tobias said.