Original Design

by William Latoria

  The alien looked startled, “Jesusous? How do you know that name? You believe that Jesus is a god?”

  Blackshade didn’t understand the alien’s reaction to his questions, but did his best to answer its questions, “Some people do. Some people believe that God is the name of the being that created us. Some people believe that Jesus was his son, and that he had prophets like Moses and the saints. Others believe in different Gods like Shiva, Buddha, Allah, and a slew of others. God even has a rival, named Lucifer, or Satan. I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to religion, but there are a lot of different beliefs that humans have. Talking about those beliefs, or disputing them, can lead to unpleasant overreactions.”

  Both aliens laughed at this, the taller alien recovering first, “I apologize, little one. We are not laughing at you. We are simply overwhelmed. Please try to see this from our perspective. When we left you here, none of you functioned. All of you were shut down, and your functions ceased. Somehow, over the millennia, you have evolved into the dominate species on this incredibly toxic planet and have fabricated a multitudinous belief system that is surreal.” the tall alien explained. “The name of the corporation that created you is known as Godcore. The Omega in charge of Godcore is known as…” There was a long pause as the alien continued to mouth words, but no sound registered to Blackshade’s ears. For a moment, he thought the alien was having fun with him, but the look on its face was genuine and accommodating. Nothing about its body language indicated that he was about to be the butt of a joke, or some strange alien gag. He was about to interrupt the odd pantomime of speech, when sound finally returned to its voice, “… Excogitatoris. The co-leaders of Godcore are called…” Again, the strange silence as the alien’s mouth formed words but his ears heard nothing, “…Cessabit, Multa, and Invidiae. However, the departments of the corporation that each of them control are known as Jesusous, Buddahara, Shivara, and Luciferonious, which are very close to the labels that you give your Gods. Forgive us if we are taken by surprise by the fact that you believe they are gods.” the alien explained.

  When Blackshade said nothing, the alien continued, “We do not know how the knowledge stayed with you, or how you were able to access it and incorporate it into your religious beliefs. To be honest with you, we have no idea how you have survived for so long on this planet, let alone conquered it. Our initial research suggests that there was some sort of catalytic reaction that had to occur as all the materials we left here degraded. Some sort of unknown reaction with the other genetic materials or the waste, or a combination of all must have occurred to bring you back to functionality and evolve you to the state you are currently in. Just speaking with you for this short amount of time has shown us that you have incorporated many other races’ traits into your being. This could be part of the reason that you have evolved the way you have, or it could be the entire reason. We do not know. It is an utterly fascinating development however, and we are eager to begin studying how you came to exist in this way!”

  Blackshade didn’t like the sound of that at all, “What do you mean, study us? What does that entail?” he asked, taking a step back from the aliens.

  Again, the mirthful laugher erupted from the aliens, “Please relax, little one, we assure you we mean you and your species no harm. Our ways of study are far from the intrusive, and inefficient ways of your kind. We have already begun our research, and not one of you has noticed. We are not here to cause you any harm, we only want to understand you. Nothing that we are doing will cause any of your species any discomfort or duress.” the taller alien explained.

  That was what Blackshade had wanted to hear more than anything. The fact that the aliens were not here to hurt humanity, the fact that all they wanted was to study and understand humanity didn’t sound bad at all. He hoped what they were telling him was truth. He wanted to believe it more than anything, because if they were lying, he wasn’t sure there would be anything humanity could do about it. Blackshade began to tap at the input controls on his armor, he wanted to report this information to his superiors right away.

  “What is that you are doing there, little one?” the taller alien asked, as Blackshade tapped away at his inputs.

  “I’m sending information to my superiors. I’m letting them know why you’re here and what you’ve told me.” he said, not daring to lie. The alien looked bemused, as it watched him work. The silence began to bother Blackshade, so he banished it with a question.

  “Do you have names?” he asked, slightly ashamed he hadn’t thought to ask already.

  Massive smiles spread across both of the aliens’ faces, “Of course we do, little one, and we will happily tell them to you, but you must understand, the difference between our two languages is vast. As I said before, the translation program I gave you only works well if your cerebral, excuse me, your brain, has the context for what I am trying to impart to you. Our names can be complex and difficult for a more… primitive… dialect to contemplate.”

  Blackshade hit send on his field report and looked up at the alien, “I don’t follow. I understood Excogitatoris, Cessabit, Multa and Invidiae easily enough, why wouldn’t I understand your names?”

  The alien looked bemused by this, “As I just explained, you had the context in your brain already to understand their names. There are vague references to them in literature you have been exposed to, so your cerebral was able to make the connection. Even with that exposure however, the way you have translated their names is not entirely accurate, which may become apparent to you as you are exposed to more context. For the time being, your understanding of our names shall suffice. I am known as…” the long pause passed as the alien declared its name, “…Tremendous.” the tall alien said. “My name means, of great status, or importance. Heavily significant. Do you understand?”

  Blackshade nodded slowly, “I understand that your name is Tremendous.” he responded. The name was far from what he had expected. He thought the alien’s name would be something like Giggaly-bob, or Ferowol the Wonderful. Maybe a series of unintelligible vowels, or clicks that sounded something more like gibberish. The fact that this alien’s name was something as mundane as ‘Tremendous’ left him feeling somewhat disappointed. The alien leaned back and closed its eyes, as it seemed to contemplate what Blackshade had just said.

  “Tre….men….dous….” the alien said in broken English. “That will suffice, little one. Tremendous…. I think I like that.” it said approvingly. Motioning towards the other alien, Tremendous continued, “This one is named…” another long silence, “…Artificer. Artificer is in charge of the engineering portion of my crew.”

  The shorter alien turned to face Blackshade, placed both arms across its chest and lowered its head. “I greet you with respect.” Artificer said. This alien’s voices were much deeper than Tremendous’ but had the same masculine and feminine qualities Tremendous’ voices had. Blackshade found he enjoyed listening to them speak. He still found the melody of their twin voices soothing.

  The military part of his brain immediately picked up on what Artificer’s gesture was. It was a salute of some sort, and Blackshade felt confident he knew how to respond. Mimicking Artificer’s actions, Blackshade replied, “I greet you with respect as well, Artificer.”

  The shorter alien lowered its arms, closed its eyes, and leaned its head back slightly. After a moment, its eyes opened and a smile spread across its face. “Arti…ficer… a skilled craftsman… I like that very much.” Artificer said happily, “You may call me that.”

  Blackshade took the moment to introduce himself, “I am Bill Blackshade.” he said, pointing at himself with his thumb. “I am a Colonel in the Candaerican Army Air Corp, and I oversee military support of the police in southern Candaerica.” he tried to sound modest, but felt like he was bragging.

  “Colonel… Bill… Blackshade.” Tremendous said in broken English, Blackshade thought it was getting better. “On behalf of the Omega people, I greet you with respect.” Tremendous offered
, performing the same salute Artificer had. Blackshade returned the gesture immediately.

  Something about the salute was very familiar to him, the posture, the movement, even the words they spoke felt like he had seen someone salute like this before. It didn’t take him long to make the connection to the dozen or so movie actors that he had seen use this gesture before. The fact that humans were performing the Omega salute, decades before meeting them, confused Blackshade even more.

  “Tremendous, Artificer, I have to ask you a question about your salute. It is a salute, right? The crossing your arms over your chest thing?” he began awkwardly. Now that he had actually given voice to his concern, it seemed petty and insignificant. What did it matter if the salute had been discovered by humans? It was the meaning behind the gesture that mattered.

  Artificer looked at him curiously, “That is correct, Blackshade, it is a salute. It is a gesture of solidarity between two beings.” it replied amicably. “What is your question?”

  Blackshade no longer wanted to ask his question, but saw no way to avoid it now, “Not to be disrespectful, but I’ve seen your salute used by humans before, mainly in the movies. I’m not one hundred percent on this, but I think it is a tribal gesture of respect based out of Africa.” he explained, cringing internally as he did so.

  Artificer and Tremendous shared an unsurprised look before Artificer replied, “That is entirely possible, Blackshade. You are our creations, and your race worked very close to us for many millions of years. It is no wonder that some of our ways and mannerisms are still incorporated into your own.”

  Blackshade thought about that for a minute and decided it made some sense, although, the fact that humanity had been separated from the Omegas for so long should have erased all memory of their mannerisms… Shouldn’t it have? He recalled watching an internet program once, that explained something called racial memory, but he couldn’t recall enough about the program for it to help in this situation. He decided to just accept it for what it was and look into it later.

  “Where do we go from here?” Blackshade asked, unsure of what to do next. He had received no reply from headquarters after sending his report, even though he knew someone in authority must have read it by now.

  Tremendous grinned widely before responding, “Take us to your leaders!” it said jovially.

  Chapter 6

  Just under twenty-four hours later, Blackshade found himself in the great city of Chicago, standing in front of Candaerica’s center of government. Tremendous, Artificer, and a new Omega called Minder stood with him. Minder was bigger than even Tremendous, at a towering eighteen feet tall, six feet wide, and far more heavily muscled than the other two. Minder’s face was not as feminine as Tremendous’ and Artificer’s were, but it was still decidedly feminine. Also, while Tremendous and Artificer spoke often, Minder had not said a single word. Like the other two, Minder was completely hairless, had jet black and flawless porcelain-like skin. Blackshade knew exactly what Minder’s job was the minute it stepped out of the ship. Minder was a Soldier, or a bodyguard to be more exact. The way the Omega watched everyone and everything around them, the way it was never far from the other Omegas, and the way Minder treated everything as a threat, clearly showed the role assigned to it. The appearance of Minder was unannounced; it was as if Minder knew when to show up and arrived on a schedule. Its gaze was piercing, and Blackshade wondered what the Omega had to be anxious about, given the technological disparity between their two races. Minder made him nervous, but Tremendous and Artificer had explained that their compatriot meant humanity no harm and was coming along as an observer and nothing more. A curt nod was all the assurance Blackshade received from Minder on the subject; it had not reassured him at all.

  The request to meet Candaerican leadership had been expected, and the two Presidents of Candaerica had agreed to it immediately. A large transport was dispatched to take Blackshade, Tremendous, Artificer, and Minder to Chicago for the meeting within hours after the request was made. Blackshade boarded the transport when it arrived, not entirely sure the Omegas were going to follow him. The transport was definitely large enough to accommodate all of them. It was designed to carry multiple hover-choppers and turbo tanks overseas for rapid assault engagements. The reason he wasn’t sure if they were going to board the transport was because he figured their ship would get them to the meeting much faster. So he had been a little surprised when he felt the transport shift under the weight of all three Omega’s climbing on board. Watching them, he couldn’t help but smile when he saw the excited looks on Tremendous’ and Artificer’s faces. Minder was as stoic as ever, but Blackshade thought he detected a hint of interest on the alien’s face, if only for a moment.

  After America and Canada merged, the leaders of that time wanted to establish a new location to become the seat of power for Candaerica’s government. It didn’t seem right to use the traditional homes of the former governments, as both sides wanted this to be a fresh start. After much debate, both in office and on social media, Chicago was chosen as the perfect location. Due to its central geographical location within the country, sophistication, technological level, and the fact that it was already the communication hub of the world, Chicago was the perfect city to build the country’s new seat of governmental power. The White House and Rideau Hall were now museums that also functioned as very high class hotels.

  A new, massive structure was built in the middle of Chicago that, after its completion, was considered one of the top technological and engineering marvels of the world. The building was named, “The Unification Foundation” which was chosen, once again, through an internet contest where people submitted suggestions and then voted on their favorite. Popular runners up were, ‘The Big Boss House’, ‘Nest of Corruption’, and ‘The Looney Bin’. Needless to say, The Unification Foundation was the best choice out of the finalists.

  The Unification Foundation was a massive structure, designed by the most brilliant engineers and architects Candaerica had at its disposal. The building stretched over two city blocks, and at its highest point, was exactly three thousand feet tall. It was shaped like a rounded pyramid and colored red, white, and black, which were the same colors as the Candaerican flag. The building was a fortress, with the most sophisticated offensive, defensive, and cyber security technology on the planet. The entire perimeter was surrounded by military grade voyeur drones. These drones continuously surveyed the area around The Unification Foundation, vigilantly scanning everyone that approached the property. The drones were highly sophisticated and were capable of determining a person’s mood, destination, and any weaponry they might be carrying. If the drones detected a biological threat, coma-drones were automatically dispatched to dispense coma-tabs onto the suspect. Once the target was neutralized, secret service agents would recover the unconscious individual and detain them for questioning. In the country’s history, only three people had ever tried to gain unauthorized entry. Not one of them made it within one hundred yards. Private security agencies all over the world had been emulating the design ever since.

  Should a substantial threat be detected from a large mob or some other large, organized attack, the building was well equipped to deter and defend itself. If the coma-drones were rendered ineffective, or the threat overwhelmed them, a second line of defense kicked in. An innovative electromagnetic pulse would fire out in all directions for up to a mile around the structure. The pulse was much more than just a dumb-fired EMP, like the ones in old science fiction movies. The pulse emitted from The Unification Foundation intelligently attacked in three stages, only advancing to the next stage if the previous one failed to neutralize the threat.

  Stage one involved the semi-intelligent pulse to initiate a universal shut down command to any computer operated machine. This command was designed by top computer science engineers and had proven very effective at disabling most systems. Stage one did no actual damage to most systems. It simply shut down the mechanism, allowing for retrieval teams t
o recover them and then analyze them, to determine where they came from, who sent them, and where they were built.

  Stage two was more aggressive. Should stage one fail, stage two accessed the power systems of the device. That could be the power core of a tank, a generator on an aircraft, or the capacitors on a remote controlled vehicle. The pulse sought to overload those devices by increasing the amperage of the electricity being stored or generated inside the device or by overloading the capacitors. The incredible heat generated by this typically caused the device to go into an emergency shutdown mode, or in extreme situations, explode. Stage two was not as ideal as stage one, but it was a more preferable option than stage three.

  If stage three was enacted, it meant that the mechanized threat was state of the art. In that situation, all subtlety was thrown to the wind, and the pulse would then act, quite literally, as a lightning rod. The pulse transformed itself into a homing beacon, which sent a direct signal to targeting sensors installed on The Unification Foundation. This allowed the building’s defenses to send a concentrated blast of electricity directly at the threat. This energy literally traveled at the speed of light and destroyed anything it came into contact with, so if the target was behind a building, or a vehicle, or a person, the intervening mass would be destroyed by the bolt of energy. This was why stage three was a last resort and had only even been used during testing and in simulations. No real world threat had ever lasted long enough for stage three to be necessary.

  The internal security of the building made the outer defenses look almost primitive by comparison. There were over two hundred rooms inside The Unification Foundation, and they were all kept in motion by the facility’s computer system. The entire building was controlled by two supercomputers. One of the computers controlled the movement of the rooms through an algorithm known only as the “Chaos Algorithm”. Whoever created this mathematical marvel was unknown, as the government had classified that information above Ultra-Top Secret, but through this algorithm the computer kept all two hundred plus rooms constantly moving in a pattern so random, it was virtually impossible to predict where the rooms would be at any given moment.