The Celestial Minds (Spacetime Universe Book 2)

by J. Benjamin

  “Stars forsake us!” Minister Endo reacted.

  “Ty,” Val uttered, wishing she had ignored Thomas and ran upstairs to be with her wife. If only she had known today was going to be the last time she saw her.

  Val recalled the galactic history that led to this moment. That prior to the Great Spacetime Sequence of 2082, the Xelthrati, with their super-rings large enough to span entire suns, had once been considered the most powerful civilization in known human existence. A Type III civilization discovered via space-based telescopes in the 2030s, the Xelthrati had the power to traverse star systems. Kiara Lacroix and Matt Ashford discovered that the Xelthrati were nothing more than AI experiments that had exterminated their original creations and begun to run amok in the galaxy.

  The Aquarians were the ones who ended the lifeless abominations. By dispatching thousands of their host ships, the Aquarians were able to break the control systems of the black orbs which emanated from the rings, turning them against themselves. In some cases, they even caused the suns they orbited to completely destabilize and explode in supernovae. The same process that brought down technology magnitudes beyond human achievement now appeared to manifest in plain sight.

  Val closed her eyes, waiting for the worst to happen. She waited to completely lose her mind, all control, to become a murderous savage just like every other species targeted by the death mark. Though no human had experienced it, it wasn’t hard to imagine.

  Several moments passed. She felt no headaches. She didn’t feel as though her brain was being hacked or that an alien force was attempting to telepathically manipulate her. Nothing. She opened her left eye, and then her right.

  “Is everyone alright?” Val asked.

  “I’m okay,” Kosuke quickly replied, standing a few feet away.

  “I . . . I think so.” Thomas was hesitant. He picked himself off the floor. “And you?”

  “I’m fine,” Val replied, standing next to Thomas.

  “Minister?” Thomas inquired. She did not respond. The Chief Minister, standing much closer to the glass with Seiji, continued to stare in horror at the living ship in its war footing. “Minister Endo,” Thomas inquired again.

  Minister Endo turned to Thomas, eyes wide in anticipation and made a call through her smart-lens.

  “Seiji, current report,” the Minister demanded of her Chief of Staff. Nobody could hear their conversation, but it wasn’t hard to determine what was being said. “I see. Any reports of violence? I see. Tell him I’ll chat with him once I’ve assessed the situation up here . . . Okay, thank you,” the Minister replied, annoyed.

  “What’s going on? Thomas asked.

  “The colony was woken up by the moonquake,” Minister Endo explained. “But so far, no signs of any real damage. Earth knows we had a seismic event. Prime Minister wants to speak with me.”

  “What the Hell is that?” Kosuke shouted the question everyone was thinking. “Should we not be completely freaking out right now? Because I am.” Kosuke appeared disheveled. Sweat collected on the upper neck of his white jumpsuit. Val assumed he’d been wearing it since the previous morning, since he clearly hadn’t left the Research Bay.

  “So far we’re all still here, intact,” Val said. “I don’t get it. Kiara said the effects of the death mark were instantaneous. So why haven’t we cannibalized each other?”

  “Could it be interference from something in the research bay? Or perhaps a blocker of a sort?” Thomas wondered. The alien light illuminated his five-o-clock shadow. Never once had she seen the former Secretary-General with anything less than a perfect shave.

  “Impossible,” Kosuke said. “The bay was built to withstand missile attacks from outside. But from the inside its flimsy at best. We can’t withstand their telekinetic energy. Frankly, I’m not sure any existing technology could.”

  “But what about when you found it?” Thomas asked. “It was weakened from the interstellar jump. What if it’s trying to hurt us now but is too weak?”

  “Doubtful,” Val replied. “If the kaiju can transform to this state, it has plenty of energy. Seven months this thing has been sitting here. It could have been hibernating, waiting to reignite its reactor.”

  “Then why are we still here?” Thomas asked.

  “Because it’s not trying to kill us,” Minster Endo answered. “At least not us, as in those of us here on the moon.”

  “Minister Endo,” Kosuke politely replied. “If not us, then who?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered. “Perhaps this is a defensive posture? Perhaps it’s doing the opposite of attacking us and instead, protecting us against something?”

  “Earth?” Kosuke asked.

  “Maybe.”

  “Well it’s all speculation for now,” Val said.

  “Minister Endo, we need to act quickly,” Thomas said. “As Secretary-General, I’ve seen how these crises unfold. Right now, every world leader is being alerted that a larger-than-normal moonquake just struck at the heart of New Tokyo. By now they know it originated in the research bay. It won’t take long before they put two and two together and figure out what caused it.”

  “I agree,” she responded. “Effective immediately, I am putting lunar forces on full alert. I will deal with the Prime Minister from my office. I have a feeling the stakes just went up exponentially and for that reason Thomas, I want you there with me.”

  “Of course, Minister.”

  “As for you Kosuke and Dr. Alessi. Go back to the residences. Get some sleep. We need to determine next steps and we’ll chat about this later today.”

  “Are you sure you don’t need us here?” Val asked.

  “Oh I definitely need you here, but not as much as your families probably need you at this moment.”

  “We got this, Val,” Thomas assured. “Go get some shut eye.”

  Val felt a mix of anxiety and relief. She had a lot of questions and zero answers. More importantly though, Val felt exhausted to the point of wanting to pass out, as her chin periodically dipped to her chest and her eyes fluttered in an attempt to remain open. She looked to Thomas, who sat alone with her in the small carriage. The uncertainty on his face was an expression Val had never seen of the former Secretary-General, even during the Spacetime Sequence of 2082.

  Inside the condo it was pitch black. Val walked into the bedroom and saw Ty sound asleep. She’d slept through the whole thing. Val made her way around the bed and to the bathroom.

  She was relieved she didn’t have to recount how she briefly thought their entire world was about to come to a violent end. At least she could wait to tell her wife that news. It was the only relief she felt in the otherwise dread-filled early morning.

  Val reeked of chlorine, still in the same bathrobe she’d left the pool with.

  Even in the moon’s low gravity, the shower managed the right amount of water pressure, and the warmth of the water helped soothe her mind.

  Chapter 13

  New Tokyo, HAB 3 - January 11, 2083

  Thirty-seven hours passed. For Val, they felt like thirty-seven days. She had been promised a briefing the day of the moonquake. Instead, it had been complete radio silence. Thomas was also nowhere to be seen, not even in HAB 3. The Research Bay was closed, so Val couldn’t even distract herself with her research. Not that working would be a wise idea under the circumstances.

  The moonquake was all the talk on New Tokyo, and as Thomas accurately predicted, it raised a lot of eyebrows on Earth. After all, what were the odds that the epicenter of a natural seismic event just happened to originate at the site correctly-suspected by every government on Earth to be the hiding place for a massive alien vessel? Val suspected the political fallout from the event was why she hadn’t seen Minister Endo nor Thomas.

  The stress reminded Val of the terrorist attack on Space Station Sagan. She’d been trapped with Starscraper in his chamber. At that time, the sentient AI’s entire database was stored in a liquid moat of nanites on Deck 55. During that lockdown, Val was kept
completely in the dark.

  While she was not physically trapped, she did find herself on the outside. That was troubling enough. When the crisis ended, Val returned to Earth.

  Little did she know, Ty would be on the same shuttle heading back. That same person who’d helped her get beyond her ordeals on the Sagan, was now her wife and sat across from her eating a bowl of noodles at a corner table in the cafeteria at HAB 3.

  “I’m just saying,” Ty said between bites. “Adler is not someone who would intentionally keep us in the dark. We’ve both worked with him. He’s probably working to help Endo manage the crisis. Once they know what’s up, they’ll talk to us.”

  “But who is going to do the hard part? Just a few days ago we were actually talking about boarding that thing. That was when we thought it was completely harmless. Now it’s lit up like a jack-o-lantern.”

  “Val.” Ty grabbed her wife’s palm. “We’re still here. The colony is still here. If the kaiju wanted to kill us, it already would have. I am completely certain.”

  Val took a deep breath and looked into her wife’s eyes. “I hope you’re right. I think you’re right. Still, it’s the thoughts I can’t bear.”

  “Why did we come here?” Ty asked.

  “To seek political asylum and avoid likely arrest on Earth?”

  “Besides that. Why did we choose the moon when there were plenty of other options to choose? We could have stayed on Earth. Certain countries would have defied the UN and Interpol. Why the moon?”

  Val took a minute to seriously consider her wife’s words. She knew the answer. “We came here to make sure the science survived. To ensure the research continued. For humanity.”

  “Bingo,” Ty said. “I don’t care if it’s the UN, or China, or even Dev Ivanov. These people might be our adversaries and they might be actors in a fight for solar domination, but they’re still humans. If the Aquarians have taken sides, it would be absolutely disastrous. And it’s definitely not a side I want to be on. Remember. They aren’t our enemies. They are just misguided.”

  Val looked at her wife and for the first time in two days, a smile cracked on the edges of her lips. No matter how bad things got, she was forever grateful that Ty was there to help her see the big picture. Val felt her inability to see the forest beyond the trees was her biggest shortcoming.

  An alert went off on Val’s newly-issued holo-lens.

  “Thomas,” Val said surprised. Ty’s eyebrows raised.

  “Where are you right now?” he asked directly.

  “I’m with Ty. We’re eating noodles.”

  “Finish up and come to the Minister’s office at the Kantei promptly. Bring Ty with you.”

  “What’s going on?” Val asked.

  “I’ll explain everything when you get here, but please hurry.”

  “We’ll be right there,” Val replied. She turned to Ty then looked down at the half-eaten bowl of noodles. “I hope you brought a to-go box for that.”

  At the far end of the majestic lunar lake sat the ornate government office of the Chief Minister of New Tokyo.

  Unlike government buildings on Earth, this small rectangular building was lightly guarded by a handful of soldiers. The remote lunar colony wasn’t a place where bad actors could just freely come and go.

  That is, except for one particular section where the smart-glass fogged visibility to outsiders.

  “The Minister is awaiting you inside,” one of the guards said.

  “Thank you.” A glass door leading into the room opened and Val and Ty walked inside. They found themselves in a bright, white conference room with a large, round, holographic table in the center. On the other side was a breathtaking view of Ginga Mizumi.

  “Dr. Alessi, thank you for joining us,” Minister Endo said, seated at the large table with Thomas, Seiji, and Kosuke.

  “I’m sure you have a lot on your plate.” Val was still irked that nearly two days had passed before the government officials finally brought her in.

  “I’m sure you’ve probably guessed by now, the Fuchsia Incident has caused quite a stir,” Thomas said. “As predicted, every government on Earth doesn’t believe that the moonquake was a natural event and all of them believe it was the alien vessel on site.”

  “How are the world leaders taking it?” Ty asked.

  “Not good,” Thomas said. “Several countries are preparing to cut off traffic to the moon. China and India have their space militaries on high alert. And that’s not all.” Thomas nodded to Minister Endo.

  “The UN is preparing a fresh round of sanctions,” she said.

  “Against New Tokyo?” Val asked.

  “No,” Minister Endo said sharply. “Against mainland Japan.”

  “What?” Val said, shocked. “But why? They have nothing to do with any of this. They’ve mostly stayed out of your business.”

  “You’re forgetting one thing,” Minister Endo replied. “Japan is our home. They’re the main source of trade and diplomatic relations between Earth and the Moon.”

  “And by targeting Japan, they expect to hit us where it hurts,” Seiji added.

  “What does the Prime Minister have to say about this?” Ty asked.

  Minister Endo took a deep breath. Judging by the grim looks on the faces of the three men, Val dreaded whatever words would come next. “I’ve been chatting with the Prime Minister since the Fuchsia Incident. The UN sanctions would be absolutely devastating. They feel they have no choice but to sever all diplomatic ties with New Tokyo until a long-term solution is presented.”

  Val and Ty gasped.

  “We are on our own,” Seiji said.

  “But how will we survive if supply routes are cut off?” Val asked.

  “Luckily, our agriculture is self-sustainable enough to keep things running here. Of course some food items won’t be as readily available,” the Minister said with the neutral expression of a politician sent to deliver bad news in the least damaging way. “At least not until we power up more auto-fabric printers. It’s a shitty situation, but we’re going to have to make the best of it for now.”

  “That’s not the main reason we brought you here,” Thomas said, seated directly next to the Minister. If Val hadn’t known better, she’d assume he’d been a government official with New Tokyo. “There have been some other developments on the Minerva front that we feel you need to see.”

  “Developments?” Val grew uncomfortable. “You mean besides what we witnessed two days ago?”

  “Apparently there was more going on than we’d noticed at the time,” Thomas said.

  “To be clear, nobody knows why the kaiju turned fuchsia,” Minister Endo added. “What we do know is that so far the biological change has not affected New Tokyo nor its inhabitants. If the kaiju is targeting someone or something, it clearly isn’t us.”

  “Now here’s where things get . . . interesting.” Thomas pondered and then snapped his fingers. “Seiji, get us the hologram.”

  “At once,” he replied.

  A 360-degree, two-foot-tall projection of Minerva filled the round table. Val examined the projection, mesmerized. Though the impact was nowhere near the same as seeing Minerva transform in the flesh, it sent chills down her spine.

  “Whoa! You weren’t kidding Val,” Ty said in amazement.

  “Notice anything different?” Thomas asked.

  “Not yet,” Val said. Using her hands, she rotated the holographic projection.

  “Are you sure?” he repeated. Take a closer look. Perhaps closer to the base.”

  Val grappled with the light and spread her hands apart to zoom in. She spun the image around on its axis. At the foot of Minerva was a gaping void that fed into the vessel.

  “What the Hell? What is that?”

  “Good question,” Thomas said. “We were hoping you might know.”

  “I think that’s an entrance into the ship,” Ty said, confirming what everyone was thinking.

  “For whom?” Val asked. “Us? Humans? Seriously?�
�

  “Seriously,” Minister Endo said. “We believe it originated the same time the kaiju turned fuchsia.”

  “That’s one Hell of an invitation,” Val said. “First it morphs its skin to present hostility and then it rolls out the red carpet?”

  “We don’t understand it either,” Thomas said. “But at this point I think it is safe to say it isn’t intending to kill us. At least not yet.”

  “Yet?” Ty asked. “How do you know that thing hasn’t summoned a fleet to come and wipe out humanity?”

  “Actually, Kosuke and I still aren’t sure it can even broadcast a message beyond the bay,” Val said to her wife.

  “And to be clear, Tyriana, I’m quite sure if it could do that, it would have done so by now,” Kosuke added.

  “Here’s where things stand,” Thomas interrupted. “We have an active Aquarian host. The world knows and is gearing to sever all ties. Clearly we are unable to complete a threat assessment. So that leaves us with only one option.”

  “Kill it,” Kosuke said.

  “Excuse me?” Thomas said, confused.

  “Kill it?” Minister Endo repeated, equally confused.

  “Yes. Let’s not wait to find out what it’s up to. That thing is more dangerous than every nuclear weapon combined. Humanity hangs in the balance.”

  “And do you know what happened to every other species that dealt the first strike against the Aquarians?” Thomas asked, sharply. “They’re not around to tell you because they’re all dead. Extinct. That’s what these things are capable of.”

  “Dr. Alessi, back me up here,” Kosuke said. “If it isn’t able to reach the rest of its species, and it dies here on the moon, the Aquarians won’t know.”

  “Don’t be so sure of that,” Thomas said.

  “I am inclined to agree with the Secretary-General,” Val said.

  “Same,” Minister Endo added.

  “If the kaiju dies, you are correct that it is currently isolated from the rest of the fleets,” Val said. “We also know that Earth isn’t a natural existing node on the Aquarian map. Even so, assuming you’re right and it can’t get a signal out, news will still get around that we killed it. You know what sits five light-years away? That’s right. A living, breathing, Aquarian colony, Wolf 482. In five years the news of us killing the kaiju would reach them. They might have no reason to visit us now, but we’d certainly be giving them one.” Val took a deep breath, as the thought of more Aquarians in Earth’s space made her pulse quicken.