by Luigi Robles
The food printer beeped, letting August know that his smoothie was ready. August turned automatically, picked up the smoothie and took in an earnest gulp without thinking about it. He found that to be a grave mistake seconds later. The smoothie tasted anything but smooth; it wasn’t sweet or tasty at all. August felt like he was drinking poorly flavored dark chocolate mud, with a touch of corn. Mustering his strength, he swallowed.
“What the hell is in this thing?” he complained.
“Pretty much all the nutrients your body needs throughout a day.”
“This has got to be the most horrible thing I’ve tasted in my lifetime,” August said as he gauged the size of the smoothie. He estimated that it would take three and a half more gulps to finish the whole thing.
“Would you like a different one?” Kya suggested. “Perhaps something more palatable.”
“Nah,” August said. “This is just about the least of my worries.” He took another gulp, this one half the size of the first one. He did his best not to think about the flavor. “So, something I noticed… You call the leader of the Acram just Saavan, while Fain calls him Noble Saavan. Why is that?”
“It’s probably due to Fain having a great deal more respect for him than I do. Though if I was addressing the leader of the Acram directly, I would probably also say Noble Saavan, just out of respect.”
“Fain respects him that much? After all the Acram have done?”
“It’s not respect based on admiration. It is respect of his power, and I believe Saavan treats Fain the same way. While it is clear that Sodenia could have destroyed Saavan’s ship back when we confronted the Golden Armada, it is not clear that we would have survived much longer after that. Hence the respect of honoring a cease-fire.”
“I see,” August said as he took another gulp of the awful smoothie.
“Also,” Kya continued, “I believe that the powers in play during the Acram conquest have died out and that Saavan sits at the top of the chain now. He could turn out to be a valuable ally in our fight for survival.”
“Galactic diplomacy at its finest,” August said. Determined to finish the smoothie, he filled his mouth with the vile-tasting drink.
There was a quiet moment as August attempted to chug down the last remaining ounces of the horrible substance.
“Is there anything else on your mind?” Kya asked once August was done.
“I’m not happy with this whole thing,” August said as he put down the empty smoothie glass. “Not at all. Do you know what a promise is?”
“An absolute declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.”
“Yeah, but I’m not talking about the definition. I’m talking about what it means to us when we promise something.”
“I think I do,” Kya said. “But do elaborate, just to make sure I’m on the same page as you are.”
“A promise is something we ask of someone to feel comfort, reassurance and hope ahead of time. And I need you to promise me something, but if you think you won’t be able to do so, just don’t. I don’t want to feel hope where there isn’t any.”
“I will do my best to take everything you’ve just said into consideration before I make the promise.”
“Promise me,” August said, feeling a slight catch in his throat. “I need you to promise me, Kya. Promise me that you’ll do everything in your power to come back and bring Fain with you. If you see that there’s no chance, promise me you won’t just go and waste your lives.”
There was a moment of silence.
“I promise.”
12
The Champion
It was day five of getting ready to venture into Immortal territory, and for Fain, the last five days had felt like an eternity. He hated himself for having to hide his real plans from most of the flight crew and particularly Pycca. He hated the feeling of not being able to be himself, of always having to watch what he was saying and who he was saying it to.
Since the meeting where the plans to head towards Immortal territory were set in motion, Fain had been having a hard time sleeping. He was lucky to get an hour or two of straight sleep at a time. Nightmares haunted his sleep, and nature hadn’t been his friend as of late; he was getting up several times to go to the restroom at night. His insides twisted, and his stomach often churned at the thought of not seeing Earth, his friends and her again.
Will she ever forgive me? Fain thought the same question every day as he got up. No clear answer ever came to mind. His mind always chose a different path. Well, that’s if we manage to survive this whole thing anyway, Fain reasoned. If Sodenia hadn’t come to Earth all those years ago, what would things be like now? The Acram wouldn’t have come in the first place, searching for the fallen Herrion ship. Well, they would have eventually found their way here, but not as soon as they did. Would we just be unknowingly waiting for the end to happen?
Fain snapped out of the moment and decided not to go down that particular rabbit hole of what if. On the brighter side of things, everything was going to plan, though it was a flawed plan, and everyone was doing their best. Tasks were being completed left and right.
He had just finished getting ready to go to the bridge. He was doing the best he could, but the enormous weight of the task at hand was beginning to break him. He wanted to win, he wanted humanity to survive, though if he was honest with himself, he didn’t know if it was possible.
“Well, I have to try,” he sighed on his way out.
The only thing on the agenda for him today was to hear everyone’s reports and go over the map that Noble Saavan had given him for the fiftieth time. He was beginning to hate that map, but he wanted to memorize all of it; he wanted to know it by heart. At the same time, as he looked at the map, he went through different scenarios in his mind of how the real battle might play out.
On his way to the bridge, he closed his eyes and attempted to relax, something he hadn’t done in quite some time. But he failed. He couldn’t empty his mind, and before he knew it, he was in front of the bridge.
The speed of these things can be extremely annoying sometimes, Fain thought. At the same time, he remembered stories of people falling sleep on their way to destinations at the turn of the century. Sometimes it would take hours to get from point A to point B. But all that changed as transportation became more efficient. He found himself feeling a little bit of envy for those who were able to take a minute or two to snooze before reaching their destination.
He sighed once again as he exited the pod. Sighing had become his go-to stress reliever lately. He didn’t like it one bit, but it was more effective than not. It helped him regulate the tension and overwhelming stress in his body. As he walked towards the bridge, he noticed something was off; there wasn’t much movement, at least not compared to the usual rush. No one was coming in or out of the bridge, and everything seemed awfully quiet.
Fain hurried in, only to find Kya, the flight crew, Green and Truman on floating orbs and many others, including Eora, gathered around the center console.
“Captain on the bridge,” one of Eora’s gunners yelled as Fain entered. Everyone turned towards Fain. Most saluted him, except those who Fain had explicitly told not to do so.
“What’s happening?” Fain asked, heart already racing.
No one answered; instead they looked towards Kya.
“I believe I’ve uncovered the history of the Herrion relating to the Immortals,” Kya said. “And with that, the origin of humanity.”
Fain took a moment to process what Kya had said, because the implications of her statement were huge.
“Wh-what?” Fain asked as he deliberately tried to be unsure of what he’d heard. But he was sure; Kya’s words had been crystal clear.
“It’s all here,” Kya said as she pointed towards the floor. “In the ship’s archive. The file was triggered to surface during our encounter with the Immortals. But I didn’t notice it until early this morning, while I was trying to fin
d additional information about them. I’ve been waiting for you to play the footage. I thought it was only fair that you see it first, along with everyone else.”
“Play it,” Fain said as he took a deep breath in.
“The last message of the Herrion race,” Kya said as the lights on the bridge darkened.
The main view screen on the bridge turned on and began to display a more than familiar image. At the center of the screen, there was a young man who looked more like a human than an alien. He was pleasant to look at: white hair, piercing light blue eyes, but with tattoos or markings that faded into his hairline and ran in straight lines down into the familiar garments. His skin was pink, pale and smooth. Fain assumed that the person on screen was a Herrion scholar or person of science; he was clearly not a warrior.
The Herrion began speaking in his native language, and subtitles appeared at the edge of the main view screen.
“I am Areanle O Aree.” The Herrion spoke with what looked to be a saddened expression. “And if you are seeing this, it means that death has come once again to our galaxy.” He moved away from the center of the recording, and a planet appeared instead.
“This is Harrendor.” Areanle’s voice now narrated. “A planet so rich with life that it was the cradle of our civilization.” The planet disappeared, and instead a time-lapse of a town took its place. “Since the beginning of time, as we grew into a civilization, we have looked to the stars. Those marvelous celestial bodies of life-giving light. We dreamed of one day reaching them, so we set out to do just that.”
The image showing the town quickly turned into a city, strikingly similar to the cities on Earth. The images on the main view screen kept changing to match what Areanle was narrating.
“I’m the fourth of my kin, the fourth in a generation of Star Seers in the second life of people. And it’s my duty to study the dust left behind in the galaxy and the dust that is yet to come. Dust is all around us, and dust is what we are.
“This is the second time in the history of my planet that our civilization has given birth. We were here once before, but when death came for us all in the form of machines, little was left. Thankfully the machine mind has a reckless, uncaring nature, and a few, along with some technology, were spared.
“But we were naïve beings, and the resilience in our hearts didn’t let us quit on life. So, we rebuilt again. But this time the concept of the end was embedded in our minds. From that, we knew two things. The first was that we needed to protect ourselves against any future threat. And we also knew that if our species were to survive and perhaps live on beyond the life of our planet, we must spread the seed of life.
“So, we did just that.
“For uninterrupted generations, we developed technology capable of great feats. We started life on a distant planet. We eradicated famine, poverty and drought and lived in abundance. But we’re not without our faults. For a generation or two, the same technology caused us great heartaches in the form of war. It turned out that greed was one of our most formidable enemies, and difficult to extinguish from our hearts.
“But when we traveled between the stars, our civilization came together once again, and we remembered where we came from and what truly was out there. We saw countless lifeless planets, entire races and civilizations, turned to ruins. The stories passed down by our ancestors turned out to be undeniable truth, and with evidence for us to see, uniting our people was possible. Our differences were set aside and forgotten.
“So that we may have the chance to live for future generations to come, we came up with an answer to the great death that lingered in the galaxy. We built our ships, our fleet, the pride of the Herrion: our Champion, with the sole purpose of being able to stand up to the great death. We prepared for a great battle, a battle that we were determined not to lose.
“But the battle with the machines never came, at least not as we had hoped for; instead it came in the form of other life from far away in the galaxy—a powerful force known as the Acram.
“We tried to negotiate at first, and when that didn’t work, we pleaded for peace. But they also had only one goal in mind: the conquest of the galaxy. Without any choice left, we fought back, and we won the first battles. But at a great cost, as our ships were not meant to fight among ourselves. The Acram were relentless and their numbers overwhelming; we knew they wouldn’t stop until we were a threat no more. We saw the end coming, but before it did come for us all, we decided to send our Champion to the planet where we had seeded life all those generations ago. We did so in order to give our kin on that planet a fighting chance. But many more generations would have to pass before they reached the level of technology we now have, and time was not on our side. For we predict the death of the galaxy is upon us once again.
“We’ve given you the best of us; we’ve chosen the most beautiful planet in the galaxy to be the cradle for your civilization. We’ve given you our Champion to protect your world and to reach out and protect those you can. For you are the best of us, for you are our future, for you are us, and we were you.
“I’m afraid I don’t have much time left; this is the end of Harrendor. But I will return to the dust in the stars knowing that somewhere out there we still live on.
“I want to leave you with one last thing. If you must start a war to end all wars, do so. Life in the galaxy is worth saving. Let our Champion unleash its true power.
“This is goodbye. Our future is with you now.”
The messages stopped, the main screen turned off and the lights on the bridge returned to normal. Fain didn’t know what to think or feel about what he had just seen. It was jarring, to say the least. In less than five minutes, his entire reality had been turned upside-down.
No one on the bridge said a word; it seemed as if everyone was waiting for Fain. But he was far from knowing what to say, or what was the right thing to say. Besides the overwhelming truth about the origins of life on Earth, something he knew they would discuss at length at some other time, the underlying message was clear. Now there was a solid anchor for hope.
“There’s hope,” Fain said. “It’s always been there, but now something other than us has brought it to light.”
“I agree with Fain,” Green said from the floating orb. “The message is hope. We’ve been preparing for this war for a lot longer than we thought, to say the least.”
“Truthfully, I am shocked. It’s a lot to take in,” Truman said. “I’m sure we all heard many key phrases in the message, and there will be time to analyze every frame, every word that was said. If anything, let this be a reassurance that we are on the right track. Thank you, Kya, for uncovering this. For now, and until all of this is over, this should remain in ESAF hands only. It’s already hard enough dealing with the politics on Earth.”
Fain nodded.
“I understand,” Kya said.
“Since we’ve had the ability to think,” Fain said, “we’ve always wondered where we came from. Now we have our answer.”
The group on the bridge was quieter than normal; perhaps everyone was lost in thought.
“And what an answer we got,” August said. “Just like that, we find out that the Herrion aren’t really aliens? They were humans, but pink. I don’t know. I think…I’m going to be sick.”
“Heck, that’s not even the best part,” Eora chimed in.
Everyone in the room stared at her.
“Don’t you realize what this means?” Eora asked.
“I think we realize many things right now,” Larissa said. “Don’t know which to choose from.”
“No, seriously,” Eora said. “It means that Sodenia isn’t really an alien ship. It was made by our ancestors. Well, sort of. But still, it’s closer to us than we thought. We’re capable, or more accurately we will be capable of her technology in a few hundred years or so.”
The room erupted into conversations. Kya, who was standing near Pycca’s station, approached Fain.
“Thanks for bringing this out,” Fai
n said as he turned towards Kya.
“I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing or not,” Kya said.
“This was the right thing to do by far,” Fain said. “And I’m glad you did it. Everyone deserved to know. I just hope they don’t become too distracted thinking of this.”
Kya smiled and took a few steps away from Fain.
“Alright, listen up,” Fain yelled over everyone’s voices and clapped his hands twice. “Attention.”
As much as Fain wanted to make this moment last and discuss all of what they just saw and heard in the message, he couldn’t. He knew that the silence from the Immortals could end at any time, at any second. They needed to be ready.
The room fell silent at once.
“The implications of the Herrion message might be many,” Fain continued but in a normal tone of voice. “And throughout today, tomorrow and the days to come, it’s going to be hard to top what we’ve learned, but we must focus. If you must think of the message, let it only be fuel for the flame. When we send the Immortals back to the hole they’re coming from, we’ll have plenty of time to go over what this all means. Let’s return to the task at hand.”
“Yes, Captain,” many of the lower-ranking ESAF officers said in unison.
“For now,” Fain said with his hands behind him, “everyone that shouldn’t be on the bridge is dismissed. Report to your COs.”
A group of fifteen or more began walking towards the corridor. Those who passed by Fain saluted him. Eora was the last one from the group to leave, and she stopped next to him.
“Seriously,” Eora said. “Think about what I said and what that means. I think we’re doing the right thing.”
“I will,” Fain said. “But let’s try to hurry to get everything ready.”
“Will do,” Eora said as she walked away.
“Kya,” Truman said, “can you send a copy of the Herrion message down to Soden Island?”
