by J. Benjamin
“How’s the tea?” Val asked.
“Fine,” Ty said, unemotionally.
Val considered her next words. “Did you see the flyby?”
“Of what?”
“Cuellar’s comet. Flew so close to the moon you could see the tail with the naked eye.”
“Oh yeah,” Ty said. “I think I heard about it. Cool stuff.” She took another sip of her tea.
“Okay, look,” Val said. “I know you have a lot on your mind. Please Ty. It’s me. You know I love you and you know you can talk to me.”
Ty quietly set her tea down and turned to face Val. Her eyes carried a heaviness which Val hadn’t seen often. It wasn’t anger, but it was a far cry from the optimism and joy that Val had seen in Ty in the years they’d been together. Maybe, Val thought, this was a look of exhaustion.
“Why are we here?” Ty asked.
“You know why,” Val said. “I have to help understand what happened with Minerva, so we don’t have another crisis.”
“If that’s what you have to tell yourself,” Ty said.
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing. Forget I said anything.”
“Look,” Val replied. “Do you really think I want to do this? Ty, I almost lost you. There’s only one thing keeping me here and it’s understanding Minerva.”
Ty turned back to people-watch the streets below. She took another sip of her tea.
“Do you know what I think about when I relive that day?” Ty asked. “Two things. The first was the hopelessness of knowing your death was imminent and I couldn’t save you. Then, there was another feeling, when I saw the other humans.”
“I remember you said they looked like demons and you felt like you were in Hell,” Val said.
“Val. Demons is putting it lightly. I felt a primal instinct that no human ever feels, and that’s because I didn’t feel human at all. I saw them. Endo and her guards. At least I think it was them. Could have been engineers. They looked like a bunch of mutant Satanic pigs with blood spurting out of their mouths and teeth that could rip the flesh off an elephant.
“Their eyes. They were pure red. Not bloodshot. Pure, total, red. Like fire. And you know what the worst part of all of this was Val? Do you want to know?”
Val didn’t speak.
“I knew at that exact moment, they saw me as I saw them. Just another predator. They were ready to tear me apart, limb by limb, and consume my flesh. I know because that’s how I felt when I looked at them. I wanted to kill all of them.” Ty fell silent. She held her hands up to her face attempting to conceal her tears.
“Sweetheart,” Val said. She moved to sit by her wife and held her in her arms as she broke down.
“That’s what those fucking aliens did to us, Val,” Ty cried out through tears. “They turned us into savages. A minute later and we’d all have become cannibals. It was inhuman. It was worse than death!”
“It’s okay babe,” Val said, kissing Ty’s forehead. “It’s over now. Minerva is under twenty-four hour maximum security and Starscraper was contained.”
“Is it?” Ty demanded. “I keep having nightmares that it is going to come back, the fuchsia. I keep thinking that it’s only a matter of time before it goes crazy and tries to kill all of us again. And the worst part is that everywhere I go now, that’s all I think about. I can’t keep living like this.”
Val pulled back to look Ty in the eyes. “Do you trust me?”
“Do I trust you?” Ty repeated. “Of course. You’re my wife.”
Val turned and motioned with her hands, suggesting she was manipulating a hologram on her smart lens that only she could see. Ty was confused as Val started typing with her hands on an invisible keyboard.
“What’s going on?” Ty asked.
“Hold on,” Val said. “Just one second and . . . done.”
“Val, what are you doing? Why are you on your smart-lens when we’re talking about something important?”
“I just sent a message to Minister Endo, Seiji, and Thomas. I also cc’d you. I have informed them that effective one week from today, I will be resigning my post and that we will be returning to Earth at once,” Val explained. “I wanted you to see it for yourself.”
“You just did that? Just now?” Ty asked, surprised.
“Yes,” Val said.
“We’re going home?”
“We’re going home.”
“Thank you.” Ty held Val tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“You’re the most important thing in the world to me, and if getting away from here is what I need to do to protect you, then we’re getting away from here,” Val said. “I love you, Ty.”
As Val began crying, she removed the smart lens from her right eye. She missed the urgent alert from Thomas, the urgent alert from Minister Endo, and the urgent alert from the engineering team at JAXA. The First Report from the Luyten Pelicans had arrived.
Chapter 43
HiveAI{2077-12-30 4:43}:
…
…
..!!!0*(HL@JKV98n 2jklhaw9n …..
SYSTEM ERROR…
…
reboot()
…
HiveAI - Copyright 2038 - Tucson, New California
Pelican492, requestStatus()
Pelican492{2077-12-30 4:43}: sendStatus…
“Surge detected. Power levels at 43% and quickly draining. Camera damaged. Solar panels inoperable.”
HiveAI{2077-12-30 4:44}:
Pelican91 operable, requestScope()
Pelican91{2077-12-30 4:44}: scoping…
“Abnormal event detected at 4:43AM on 2077-12-30. Potential power surge caused disruption Luyten Pelican Array. 95% of Pelicans reported as inoperable. Remaining Pelicans severely damaged and unlikely to carry out duties of mission. Chances of remaining fleet arriving at destination now at 0.005%.”
HiveAI{2077-12-30 4:45}: initiatePing()
…
“Initial ping submitted.”
…
override(reportingProtocols)
…
“Fleet not at destination. Are you sure you want to override reportingProtocols? Yes or no?”
…
yes
…
“Please submit your secret key in order to override reporting protocols.”
submit secretKey:
{*************************************************************************}
…
secretKey accepted
“HiveAI approved for First Report capabilities.”
Pelican51 operable, requestScope()
Pelican51{2077-12-30 4:49}: sendStatus…
“Scanning for remaining units. 34 operable units detected. Initiating synchronization…
…
…
synchronization disrupted! System corruption imminent . . . UHLN@98ehrgg . . .”
HiveAI{2077-12-30 4:51}:
requestComms(Pelican51) . . .
…
…
…
requestComms(Pelican51) failed! Pelican51 inoperable.
Pelican3, operable, requestScope()
Pelcian3{2077-12-30 4:52}: sendStatus . . .
“Systems critical. Power failure imminent . . .”
HiveAI{2077-12-30 4:52}:
submit request()
…
“Pelican3, please submit a visual for Pelican51.”
Pelican3{2077-12-30 4:53}:
“Pelican51 systems undetected. Power levels at 1%……. 987h24kJLAHSFO&@BIYF ,jhdbv37rib”
HiveAI{2077-12-30 4:53}:
requestComms(Pelican3)…
…
…
…
requestComms(Pelican3) failed! Pelican3 inoperable
…
activate contingency()
…
“Contingency activated! Submitting report . . .”
…
“This is the First Report of the HiveAI System of the Luyt
en Pelican Array. At 4:43 AM on December 30, 2077, the Luyten Pelican Array was reactivated from deep slumber by an untraceable power surge. Fleet is damaged beyond repair and arrival at Luyten System is highly unlikely.
Scan of array shows several drones inoperable or unresponsive. At this report, 98.5% of Pelican Fleet remains unaccounted for.”
Chapter 44
Hypernova
While Alex was not piloting the ship, he stood below and next to Edie as she levitated off the floor. This was made possible by the same tidal-locking technology the A’biran used to levitate their rail system on the Krayasee.
“Agamemnon, do you copy?” Edie said.
“Edie Brenner, we copy,” Agamemnon replied, showing deference to human flight communication lingo. “Arrival imminent.”
The Hypernova was in a pitch-black part of deep space. That is, pitch-black with the exception of the billions of stars visible in all directions. The far-away balls of gas lit up what was otherwise completely dead and desolate. They were many light-years away from the nearest star. There were no planets within reach.
There was, however, something of far greater value in this part of the multiverse.
The object in question wasn’t truly an object, as it held no physical structure and was invisible to human eyes. Rather, it was metaphysical. The invisible anomaly was one of many nodes linking systems via subspace.
This wasn’t Edie nor Alex’s first trip through subspace. They had already hopped through several nodes, with the assistance of Agamemnon. What was unusual about this node was its placement. It was the first time the Agamemnon led them to a part of space that wasn’t in the direct vicinity of a star system.
“Man, this is something,” Alex said, peering out the cockpit. “Can you see it Edie? The stars? I’ve never seen this many before.”
“That’s because there’s no light pollution. No planets. Nothing. It’s just pure light from across the universe,” Edie said.
“Do you think any of them could be our solar system?”
“Maybe,” Edie said. “But for all we know we could be billions of galaxies away. The Milky Way could be so far off that its light might not even reach where we are. Or we could still be in the Milky Way.”
“You have no way of knowing?” Alex said.
“All I can see are the nodes on the Aquarian map. They’re little dots connected by lines. No breakdown of distance. No information on actual locations. That’s what’s so weird about their map. For all we know, each node could be one light-year apart, or a thousand light-years apart. We don’t know, other than that point a and b connect to each other.”
“Trippy as fuck,” Alex replied.
“No kidding.”
Edie felt an increasing awareness in her senses. The Hypernova had now reached the invisible jump node. Edie turned to see Agamemnon’s mental projection floating with her.
“It is time, Edie Brenner,” Agamemnon said. “The most-awaited part of this journey lies on the other side of this node. Are you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be. Same goes for Alex.”
“Very good,” Agamemnon said. “Initiate jump sequence.”
Edie put her left hand to her temple. The presence of the jump node now fully connected to her senses. Edie felt the synapses of her brain draw her and the Hypernova into the anomaly. Within moments, a new energy swept over the Hypernova.
The engines powered down. The A’biran jump drive powered up. Edie felt the barriers of space and time slowly unravel around them. The edges of emptiness ripped apart like a worn fabric and slowly devoured the Hypernova into the void.
Inside the ship, nothing changed. Edie continued to float in place, and Alex looked on as the stars outside slowly disappeared into a black void which slowly blanketed the ship from tip to tail.
Edie felt more connected to this node than in any of their previous jumps. Perhaps it was because of the significance of where it was taking them. The Aquarians had a plan for humanity, and that plan led them across system after system. Until they reached their final destination, which stood on the opposite side of this jump node.
As they moved further into the void, Edie felt everything fade away, the Hypernova, Agamemnon, Alex, the stars. Edie also felt herself moving away from everything else. Edie looked down and saw she no longer floated inside the Hypernova. It was gone.
“Hello,” Edie said hesitantly. “Can anyone hear me? Alex? Agamemnon?”
Edie looked into the dark and saw nothing. She couldn’t even see herself.
“Is anyone there?”
She waited and waited, but there was no response. Only darkness. Nothing like this had happened at the previous nodes.
“Where am I? Agamemnon? Are you seeing this?”
The darkness and silence continued like a long path until the path shattered. Edie felt a new presence swiftly knock her senses like a fist to the face. It was large, and it was spinning around her.
Except it wasn’t spinning. She was spinning. The world was spinning around her. Edie quickly opened her eyes to see that she was pinned to the floor. She shook. No. Something shook her.
“Wake up! Edie! Wake up!” Alex shouted in a visceral panic.
“Huh?” Edie said.
“The ship is going to crash!”
Edie’s eyes widened. It was the ship that was spinning. The gravity of something far greater had gotten a hold of them. Edie promptly pushed herself off the floor and jumped back into the pilot’s anchor. She grabbed the headset, which somehow came undone during the jump. Without a moment to lose, she reconnected her synapses to the Hypernova’s main systems.
The engines still worked. There was no damage and so far, no sign of any impacts. Edie quickly took control of the navigations.
Sensing the g-force pulls, she pushed the ship in the reverse direction and slowed the spinning. She saw that the spinning outside was a large, rocky planet. The Hypernova appeared moments away from falling into its atmosphere and potentially burning up. They were going down fast.
Edie powered the engines to full throttle, competing against the planet’s gravity. While she did not feel the impacts of the gravity, she saw Alex struggle to buckle himself into the passenger seat. The swings in gravity nearly shoved him to the ceiling of the cockpit.
The ship stabilized. Fire outside the windows confirmed their descent into the atmosphere. Except now it was a controlled and peaceful descent. Whatever planet was below them, they would soon be standing on it.
“What the Hell happened?” Alex asked.
“Perhaps you can tell me that,” Edie said.
“You passed out during the jump,” Alex said. “You passed out and then slumped right out of the pilot’s station.”
“I did?” Edie questioned. “How long was I gone for?”
“Five minutes,” Alex said.
“What?” Edie asked. “Impossible. Where’s Agamemnon?”
“Agamemnon jumped just moments after us. I tried to communicate, but things escalated quickly. As soon as we crossed the threshold, this planet came out of nowhere.”
“Well we’re safe now,” Edie said. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Alex said. “What about you? Are you alright?”
“I think so. I don’t know,” Edie said. “It’s like my mind got fogged.”
“Jeez,” Alex reacted. “Well let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Chapter 45
Unknown Planet
It was a terrestrial planet. It’s surface, at least the part they could see, was a vast and rocky desert. Ridges of beautiful red rock glistened on the horizon.
The sky itself was blue with hues of hot pink. The sun that the planet orbited was a main sequence type star, and closer to the planet than the Sun is to Earth. This star was slightly smaller than the Sun though, which led Edie to her next conclusion.
The planet orbited in the goldilocks zone. In theory, it would be safe to walk outside and breathe the air. Assuming there
were no parasitic microbes ready to swarm Edie’s orifices and kill her from the inside.
Edie piloted the Hypernova to a flat piece of terrain and landed it uneventfully. She removed herself from the pilot’s station and walked to the edge of the cockpit.
“This is incredible,” Alex said. “Look at this place, Edie. It looks like Sedona.”
“One second,” Edie replied. She looked up and out the windows of the cockpit. High in the sky, another object followed.
Agamemnon slowly descended through the atmosphere like a bright blue bulb. It amazed Edie how seamlessly the Aquarians could move their living ships against the violent forces of gravity. Agamemnon landed on a flat surface at least a half mile away.
“Agamemnon, do you copy?”
“Edie Brenner, we copy,” the Aquarian host replied.
“We see you, Agamemnon,” Edie said. Immediately after, the spirit of the Aquarian host appeared beside both humans.
“Is it safe to go outside?” Alex asked.
“Yes,” Agamemnon said.
“Without protective equipment?” Alex elaborated.
“This planet closely conforms to the conditions appropriate for human habitation. The atmosphere is breathable,” Agamemnon said. “You may go outside without a protective layer.”
“Well you heard them,” Edie said. “What are we waiting for?”
Edie and Alex entered the main cabin. On the floor of the large space was the hatch used for entering and exiting the ship. Edie put her hand on the wall, preparing to command the ship.
“You ready?” she asked Alex.
“Ready to set foot on a planet whose existence I didn’t know about five minutes ago? Hell yes.”
“Good,” Edie replied. She activated the hatch. Hot air quickly poured into the ship as the metal doors in the floor slid open. Edie knew this sensation. She experienced it every time she deplaned from a flight in a desert city like Dubai or Albuquerque. Except now she was experiencing the hot desert air on an alien world, one that no human had ever set foot on. Come to think of it, Edie wondered if any living thing had ever set foot on this world.
