Amongst the Immortals

by Luigi Robles

  The Iveria was the one to fire on the rogue Acram ship, and it took a lot more firepower than expected. It looked like the machine usurpers were pushing the destroyer to its limits, but in the end, Saavan’s legendary ship prevailed.

  “Send a message to all ships in the fleet,” Saavan said. “Let them know that if the Immortals so much as touch one of our ships, they can take control of it. Take all precautions necessary not to let that happen.”

  Saavan watched as the rogue destroyer drifted away into the battlefield, flames consuming the remaining oxygen. There were many explosions inside the downed destroyer, but no sign of emerging Immortals.

  Have the machines been destroyed? Saavan thought. Perhaps not their bodies, but what if their minds were destroyed when the Iveria’s firepower punched through to the rogue ship’s computers? Not so immortal after all.

  As Saavan began to see a way out of the battle at hand, a faint possibility of not letting Galeah get killed, he also saw the fleet being destroyed at a fast pace.

  One by one, the ships in front of the Iveria began to fall to the small group of Immortals. Something about how the machines carried themselves through the battlefield made them look as if they were enjoying themselves. Their movements were bold and arrogant, moving from ship to ship, taunting them, daring them to fire. This infuriated Saavan, turning his insides hot, but instead of raging, he decided to hit back at the Immortals.

  “Coordinate the fleet,” Saavan said as he let out a long breath to calm down. “Have twenty or more ships combine their firepower on one of those machines. Have forty or more ships cover the first twenty as they attack and engage any other machines that might retaliate. Have one hundred or more ships cover those forty. Take out one Immortal at a time; do not let them group together. We’ll see just how much they literary live up to their name.”

  “I understand,” Galeah said as she worked the screens. “Synchronizing the fleet now.”

  The fleet’s ships complied, and the battlefield began to look a lot different. Instead of chaos, there began to emerge a semblance of order. One by one, the Immortal machines began to fall. It took a lot of firepower to take one of them down, but Saavan’s plan was working nonetheless. Then Saavan saw the only thing that could possibly spoil their newfound strategy: the machines were trying to group together. Saavan knew that if he allowed that to happen, it would be game over for the fleet.

  “Instruct the fleet to form a physical barrier.”

  “Right away, Noble.”

  Large sections of the fleet began to detether and move to form physical barriers between groups of Immortals.

  “Noble, would I be correct in saying that we are actually winning the battle? The machines are falling.”

  “You’d be wrong.”

  “I don’t understand,” Galeah replied, turning to look intently at the battle outside. “Did they just give up?”

  “We’ve been thinking about these machines in the wrong way this whole time. You see, we’ve long feared them. We thought the reason they were called Immortals was because of their formidable and indestructible machine bodies. We thought of them as unbeatable on a battlefield. But as you can see, that is simply not the case. Perhaps we’re catching up to them and they feel threatened by the fact that biological beings can wield technology that surpasses their own. We are obviously not there yet, but who’s to say that we won’t get there? But I digress. Regardless of their motive, the real reason they are called Immortals, and the real reason they won’t die, is their digital mind.”

  “So, you’re saying that even though we are watching their bodies die right in front of us, their mind is still alive somewhere else?”

  So Galeah was paying attention after all? Saavan was pleased at the leap her logic had taken.

  “Exactly,” Saavan said. “Though I’ve yet to confirm it, I strongly suspect that is the case.”

  “But doesn’t that put us at high risk of being attacked from a different direction? The fleet is no longer in formation.”

  “It does. But until we destroy every last one of them, we cannot risk falling back into formation and turning off the disruptors. It may be the only real reason we’re apparently winning this fight. And there’s one more thing.”

  “And what is that, Noble?”

  “I believe that if these machines’ minds are engrossed in the heat of battle and death comes suddenly to their surrogate bodies, their minds will also die. I think that’s what happened to the machines that took over one of our ships.”

  “How do you know that, Noble?”

  “Pay attention to how the machines act after the fleet surrounds them. They go wild for a moment and then they seemingly give up once the firepower becomes overwhelming. I believe that wild mind is the true nature of these machine carcasses. Meanwhile, don’t you think the machines that took over the high-ranking Acram ship should’ve survived the destruction of a mere destroyer ship?”

  “That does sound like it should happen, but it didn’t.”

  “Correct; it did not.”

  The battle between the fleet and the Immortals went on for some time, with only minor casualties on the fleet’s side—though Saavan suspected that perhaps the defeat of the enemy only appeared to be so on the surface.

  “The last remaining Immortal has been destroyed,” Galeah said.

  “Check that again,” Saavan said. “Signal for retether if necessary.”

  A long moment passed as Galeah worked her command screens.

  “All fire has ceased, Noble.”

  “Recall the fleet back into formation,” Saavan said. “Have them ready for a second attack. Something tells me that we’re far from finished here. Send out repair crews to every damaged scrambler and turn off the rest for now. We need to widen our visible range.”

  “Right away.”

  Soon after the last scrambler was turned off, the enemy flooded the field with firepower from above, destroying all the scramblers.

  “Find out where that came from,” Saavan said, still sounding calm. “Recall the repair crews. If there are any scramblers left, turn them on once we locate the enemy.”

  Galeah gasped.

  “What is it?” Saavan asked, halfway turning towards Galeah.

  “I’m calibrating our instruments for accuracy. This doesn’t seem possible; they are coming at us from all angles. A lot more of them, and this time they’ve brought bigger machines with them.”

  That was when he saw the large mass of a machine approaching from a distance. It was a sphere-like machine with many partial rings circling around it. Smaller machines were grouped in formation above, below and to the sides of the larger machine.

  This was it; this was what Saavan had been expecting all along—an undeniable show of force from the beings that had earned the name of Immortals. Saavan smirked.

  “Noble?” Galeah asked, perhaps confused by his expression.

  “They’re finally not holding back,” Saavan said, encouraged but fully expecting to lose. “It means we’re a worthy opponent and that our purpose has been met.”

  “What are your orders now?”

  “We stand our ground. This won’t be an easy fight for either side,” Saavan said as he began walking away from the main viewer screen.

  “Noble?”

  “I need to connect via node anchor with the only other being that can change the course of battle.”

  14

  Goodbye

  Fain had been ready to venture into the Immortals’ homeworld ever since the preparations on board Sodenia were finished. The ship’s cargo bay was full to the brim of mechanical EMP disruptor devices, and the ship itself was emptied of more than half of its minimum crew. There were only one hundred and fifty people on board the ship, and there were more than enough shuttles in the docks to carry all of them if necessary.

  The only reason they hadn’t left was because everyone else, including Kya, was apprehensive about leaving due to the deafening silence. As far as Eart
h was concerned, the Immortal threat had vanished.

  To make matters worse, Truman had been taking a lot of heat from politicians who wanted ESAF activity to cease because of the lack of proof. There were many conspiracy theories circulating out there, such as that ESAF was staging all the alien attacks in order to secure funding.

  Fain could only shake his head at those matters; he didn’t want to waste too much time thinking about things that were irrelevant to the survival of humanity. Though he had been focusing on just that for such a long time that all the inaction was beginning to burn him out.

  Then the very thing Fain had been waiting for happened.

  “Fain?” Kya asked as she walked onto the bridge with a worried expression.

  The flight crew on the bridge, as well as Fain, all turned towards Kya. He was standing near the map projection area at the center of the bridge.

  “What is it?”

  “I have Mikey waiting to connect you to Noble Saavan.”

  Fain’s heart sank into his stomach. He knew it could only mean one thing.

  “Transfer to the main view screen.”

  Seconds later, Noble Saavan appeared before them. His image looked much clearer than it had looked on the projection the node anchor was emitting. Saavan had his arms crossed in front of him, and there was nothing visible behind him; it was just him.

  “Noble Saavan,” Fain said as he neared the main view screen.

  “Captain Fain Jegga,” Saavan said as subtitles appeared at the base of the screen.

  “To what do we owe this occasion?” Fain asked.

  Saavan twisted his head ever so slightly and did not answer. Perhaps it was that he didn’t understand Fain clearly as the language was translated on his side.

  “Why have you contacted me?” Fain asked in a simpler way.

  “The machines known as Immortals are here,” Saavan said. “We are currently engaged with an army of them.”

  “An army of them?” Fain asked incredulously.

  “Look for yourself,” Saavan said as his image disappeared from the main screen and was replaced with an outside view of one of his ships. Based on the white tint of the ship, Fain presumed it was Saavan’s ship, the Iveria.

  The battle outside Saavan’s ship was raging on; a sea of ships was attempting to strike the Immortals. The image of Saavan reappeared on the main screen, but as fierce as the battle imagery had been, Fain saw that the great leader of the Acram was losing.

  “How long do you have?” Fain asked.

  “It’s tough to say; it depends on the resilience of my kin. We haven’t given up just yet. But our fate is not the reason I’ve reached out to you; the fate of the galaxy is. Have you decided?”

  “I have,” Fain said.

  “Very well. It’s your move now. I’ve made my move, and now I will see it through to the end.”

  “Wait,” Fain said, guessing that Saavan would turn off the node anchor any second. “Can you last for twelve hours? I am leaving now.”

  “I seem to be unfamiliar with your measurement of time.”

  “Just hold them off for as long as you can. Things will change.”

  “Of that I’m sure. Make no mistake, the enemy will not pass beyond this point, no matter what. Even if it costs us everything.”

  Saavan was already losing the fight; what else could he do? Fain wondered. Was he planning on blowing himself up and taking the enemy with him or something of that sort?

  “I’m leaving now,” Fain said with conviction.

  “Farewell, Captain Fain Jegga. It was a great honor knowing of your existence.”

  “Noble Saavan, you as well.”

  Saavan nodded, and the main view screen turned off. Fain wasted no time and ran towards Sodenia’s pilot seat.

  “We’re leaving now,” Fain yelled as he ran.

  “Wait,” Pycca said.

  “We’ll talk about it later,” Fain said as he hopped into the pilot’s seat and began to strap in. He didn’t want to think about what all this really meant for the crew of Sodenia and especially Pycca. Heck, he didn’t even dare look her way, but he did it anyway. He knew that if he didn’t look at her one last time, it would be the one thing he would really regret. “I’ll see you after all this is over.” Fain tried to smile.

  Pycca’s face looked grave, and there were signs of her eyes beginning to tear up, but nevertheless she looked beautiful. Fain tried hard to memorize her face, every aspect of it. He closed his eyes for a second, letting her image burn into his memory.

  The pilot’s seat rose up into Sodenia’s command center, and the spherical view began to light up all around him. A small window appeared near the command module’s controls; it was an incoming call from Green.

  “Kya, secure this call,” Fain said as he tapped on the small window to answer.

  “So, this is it?” Green asked.

  “This is it; we’re leaving now.”

  “We granted all your requests. Part of the ESAF fleet is now in your hands.”

  “Thank you. Colonel Green, would it be too much if I asked something of you?”

  “Absolutely not. Go ahead, ask anything. If it’s within my power, it’s yours.

  “If something were to happen to me, could you keep an eye on Pycca? Just every now and then, you know, to make sure she’s alright.”

  Even though the communications window on the pilot’s seat console was small, Fain was clearly able to distinguish that Green looked shocked.

  “Fain—”

  “Before you say anything...”

  Green nodded.

  “I just want to say thank you,” Fain said, attempting not to choke. “For rescuing me at the Clearer Waters facility, for everything that you’ve done for me and the crew. Without you, I don’t think I’d be where I am right now, saving the world and all.”

  The pain was visible in Green’s face.

  “You’re welcome,” Green said as he cleared his throat. “In all these years, my number one priority has been to protect you all. I feel within my heart that you guys are the best hope Earth has, bar none. But there is one thing that bothers me.”

  “What is that?”

  “Whatever you decide to do, I do expect you to come back. Earth cannot have it otherwise, and from what I think you’ve just told me, neither can Pycca.”

  “You know that I only do my best.”

  “So, goodbye for now.”

  Fain nodded.

  “Goodbye, Colonel Green. Give my regards to General Truman. Express to him my thanks for what he’s done as well.” Fain tapped on the window to disconnect the call.

  Fain felt pressure in his chest as he ran through all the years he’d known Green in his mind.

  “Snap out of it,” Fain murmured to himself. “You have to concentrate.” He took in a deep breath. “It’s possible. It’s possible it can happen. You can win.”

  Fain deeply believed in his own words, and in doing so, he began to find the strength within himself.

  “Kya, status?”

  “We are waiting for the last jump gate and ships to get into formation,” Kya said as she showed an image of the three ships attached to one of the jump gates to the portside of Sodenia. The ships and gate were slowly turning around to face Sodenia’s stern. “Though I must say, the captains of the frigates and destroyer ship seem reluctant to travel through space facing backwards.”

  “But they are doing it, right?”

  “They are, but only after August intervened and told them they would lose their positions in ESAF if they kept hesitating.”

  “Can August do that?”

  “There are many things August can’t do, but he still does.”

  Fain felt himself smiling the slightest bit.

  “Kya, patch me through to Sodenia and the ships that are coming with us.”

  “Whenever you’re ready.”

  “Sodenia and members of the ESAF fleet, this is your captain speaking. In a few moments, we’ll embark on a mission t
hat will define our very existence in the galaxy. The outcome will be simple. Either we will continue to exist in this galaxy along with all biological life or we won’t. It’s that simple. But I say, these machines don’t know who they are messing with. Let’s give it our best. Your captain out.”

  Fain set a course to the place on Saavan’s map he had been eying for the last two-and-a-half weeks. As he did so, a message appeared on one of the small screens next to him.

  READY TO DEPART

  Without giving it a second thought, Fain slid the FTL lever all the way up to the theoretical maximum mark. The space around Sodenia and the nine ESAF ships, along with the two jump gates, disappeared. There was only darkness, apart from a small haze of light coming from the direction they were traveling in.

  As they traveled through space many hundreds of times faster than the speed of light, the map of the Milky Way galaxy appeared in front of Fain in the spherical view screen. In mere seconds, Sodenia had left the solar system far behind.

  They traveled through space with minimal interruption, just the occasional systems check. Eleven-and-a-half hours passed this way, and it wasn’t until they were minutes away from their destination that communications began to fly back and forth.

  As they reached the eight thousand lightyear mark, Fain began to decelerate Sodenia. Here was where they would place one of the jump gates, so the fleet could return home in case something were to happen to Sodenia.

  “Get ready to place the first gate,” Fain announced as the fleet came to a complete stop.

  Within a few minutes, one of the jump gates had been put in place, and with it two of the three backwards-facing ships that were traveling with it.

  “Kya, patch me through to Captain Daniels,” Fain said.

  Captain Daniels was in charge of one of the two ships that were going to stay behind with the jump gate.

  “Captain Jegga, sir,” Daniels said on the other side of the coms.

  “I need you to establish an ongoing communication with Earth. Use the jump gate to send and receive data. There should be something coming and going at all times.”

  “We’ll do as you say. So, this is it?”