Original Design

by William Latoria

  “So, the spherical ships are your defensive ships, and the rectangular ones are the offensive ones?” he asked trying to clarify.

  Tremendous nodded, “Correct. Although, our primary ships, the ones you refer to as rectangular, are more offensive, they can still take quite a bit of abuse before they are destroyed. The secondary ships, or spherical ships, have similar offensive capabilities, but are far more fortified than the primaries and as such, are used to block incoming attacks.”

  Tremendous waved at the display in front of them, and the ships immediately came under attack. Blackshade didn’t see what was firing at them, but what he saw being fired at the Omega ships made his blood run cold. Massive, lance shaped projectiles flew at the Omega ships from almost every direction. The shape of the projectiles wasn’t what caused goosebumps to crawl all over his skin. The composition of the projectile was what repulsed him. The mass of the lance wasn’t made up of energy or a solid state material, it was made up of a yellowish brown knot of waxy mucus that was infested with massive parasites. The worm-like parasites that infused the waxy projectile squirmed around inside the mucus, ravenously searching for something to latch on to. Blackshade could see the parasites’ huge black mandibles extend and retract out of what he assumed were their mouths. A sharp spike jutted from the center of their mouths with barbed ends that were obviously there to help keep the parasite latched onto whatever it attached itself to. Blackshade thought the alien projectiles were the most nightmarish things he had ever seen in his life. The idea of being struck by the parasite infused mucus made his skin crawl.

  The spherical ships flew out to knock some of the terrifying weapons off course, tearing through the biggest of the waxy lances and scattering the projectile into the void. The spheres zipped around so fast that Blackshade couldn’t keep up with their movements. He was only able to track their locations by watching for the parasitical projectiles shatter as the spheres struck them. As impossible as it seemed to be, a few of the projectiles got through the defense screen and splattered onto the rectangular ships. Where the parasites hit, they stuck on the hull and began eating away at the ship, threatening to quickly compromise the integrity of the vessel. Blackshade was beginning to wonder why Tremendous would show him an example that involved the destruction of one of the Omega ships when the ships that were struck suddenly became radiantly white. The parasites that were attached to the hulls disintegrated, as the ships became as hot as the sun. The change in the ships’ color and temperature lasted only a few seconds, but by the time they had all returned to their previous color, and temperature, there was no sign of the parasites or the mucus projectiles. Blackshade didn’t try to contain his amazement.

  “There are aliens out there that use parasites as weapons?!” he asked, bewildered. He had heard of biological warfare before, but this was a whole new level.

  A dark look came over Tremendous before it replied, “There are species out that that use a lot worse than parasites as weapons. Be glad it was us that found you first.” the Omega leader told him, “Not all space faring races are as curious, or as accommodating, as we are.”

  The cold fear he had felt before now turned sharp and bit into his gut, “How many hostile races are out there? Do they know about Earth? Are we in danger?” he asked, as his military mind began to kick in.

  Tremendous’ dark look dissipated and a small grin replaced it, “No, Blackshade, there are no hostile races coming into this sector. As I have told you, this section of the universe is known as an inhospitable zone. No one chooses to travel through this sector, let alone stop at any of the planets and study the inhabitants. Even if they were inclined to do so, your planet, and your species could offer them little value. It would not even be worth it for them to attack you from orbit. There is absolutely nothing to gain from it, which we suspect is why your race has gone undiscovered by the Kritchet and their allies for so long. There was never any desire to explore these systems and so you remained safe here.”

  Blackshade knew the Omega hadn’t meant anything by its comment. He knew that Tremendous was just being honest, yet he couldn’t help but feel a little insulted and trivialized by what it said. “If Earth and its inhabitants are so beneath the space faring races of the universe, why did you bother to contact us? Once you saw that Earth wasn’t a garbage dump anymore, why bother to stay?” he asked bitterly.

  Tremendous’ grin widened, “I have already told you, Blackshade. We are a curious race, and your existence fascinates us. Once we had completed our initial inspection of your planet and discovered your race thriving here, we had to make contact with you. To ignore a discovery of this magnitude would be the antithesis to everything Omegas explore the cosmos for.” it told him earnestly. Then the Omega leader stopped dead in its tracks and motioned for Blackshade to turn down a side passageway. Blackshade did as Tremendous instructed. As he walked down the corridor, he thought it looked a little newer than the corridors he had just been through. Something about the walls and the structures seemed brighter, and somehow fresher, than the rest. The corridor ended about sixty yards from where he entered it. Blackshade stopped in front of a seemingly unpassable grey wall and looked at the multicolored lights that were randomly placed upon it.

  “What am I supposed to be looking at, Tremendous?” Blackshade asked, confused.

  Tremendous stood beside him and placed one of its huge hands on the wall in front of them. “If we had not stopped to make contact with humans, we never would have discovered this.” it told him, smiling brightly. There was a popping sound, like you would hear when taking the cap off of a hollow plastic tube, and then Blackshade was looking into a massive, brightly lit room with highly polished wood floors. As they entered, he realized they were in the center of the room, and after looking to either end, he guessed it was a half mile in either direction. His mind reeled at the fact that he was in a room that was a mile long. The room was obviously rectangular, which he was beginning to believe was the Omegas’ favorite shape. The width of the room was only about three hundred yards. Looking above him, he saw that the ceiling was probably seventy-five feet high with lights that very closely resembled the old fashioned halogen bulbs from the late nineteen hundreds. There was something else about the room that was both puzzling and yet familiar to him; the odd smell of rubber. The memory of playing sports in high school came rushing to him, but all that did was further his sense of befuddlement. In his confusion, Blackshade wandered out into the middle of the room, he hadn’t realized Tremendous was on him until he felt himself being picked up unceremoniously from the floor.

  “Sorry, Blackshade.” Tremendous offered as it carried him quickly towards the side of the room. Blackshade was about to demand that Tremendous put him down when a blur of movement flying past them caused his protest to catch in his throat. The massive blur passed over where he had been standing the moment Tremendous had grabbed him up. What it was, he had no idea, but before he could ask, a huge gust of wind buffeted him. Had Tremendous not had a hold on him, Blackshade had no doubt the blast would have flung him across the room. Once they were back on the side of the room, Tremendous put him down and looked at him concerned.

  “Are you damaged, Blackshade? Should I summon Artificer to make repairs?” it asked with genuine worry.

  Blackshade was touched, “I’m fine, Tremendous.” he told him assuredly, “What the hell was that?”

  Tremendous looked puzzled, “Can you not tell?” it asked as though the answer should be the most obvious thing in the world.

  Blackshade walked around Tremendous and saw a red line embedded a few feet from where he stood. It ran straight down the edge of the room in both directions. Thanks to the incredible lighting, Blackshade was able to follow it all the way to the edge of both sides, where it cut ninety degrees and ran across the shorter end of the room. He followed the red line all around the room, realizing it formed a perimeter around the sides of the room. He also noticed, white and yellow lines that ran along the polished
wooden floors. Some of the lines formed circles, others were broken down into dashes and seemed to be depicting boundaries of some sort, sparking a hint of recognition in his mind. It was the dark wood flooring and the clear sealant that should have given it away the moment he walked into the room, but it was the smell that finally clued him in. The rubbery, athletic sports paraphernalia smell is what finally allowed him to recognize what he was looking at.

  He looked back at Tremendous, “Is this…?”

  The question was lost as the blur of movement, he knew it was movement now, rushed past him. The blur was further away this time, but Blackshade knew what was coming and braced himself for it. A few seconds later, the blast of wind that followed the blur hit him and caused him to take a few steps back. The amount of air being displaced by that blur was astounding. Tremendous moved to stand next to him.

  “Is this a basketball court?” Blackshade asked, bewildered.

  Tremendous didn’t try to hide its excitement anymore, “Correct, Blackshade! Correct! It is a basketball court!” it confirmed. Blackshade watched as Tremendous actually used the English words to say ‘Basketball court’ and how it seemed to relish the words. He found himself, once again, completely speechless.

  “Why you did not tell us of this amazing contest of yours, right away, confuses us to a great degree!” Tremendous began, now practically gushing, “Notes discovered many of your contests, and I must admit, none of them seemed like anything more than a simplistic or barbaric ritual designed to celebrate humans with the largest bulk muscles. Your… football… contest for example, is just large humans slamming into other large humans with slightly smaller humans trying to get a tiny angular trophy into opposite locations on a very short field. Your soccer contest bans the use of your upper appendages, and your baseball contest has one human throwing a blunt sphere at another human while they take turns trying to hit it with a club. Apparently after you strike the ball you do some sort of victory lap and people cheer while the other humans in the area try to return the sphere to their thrower. Is running a celebrated skill amongst humans? It is a function you can all perform.” it looked down at him a bit more disapprovingly than Blackshade would have liked.

  Then Tremendous’ look brightened, and it looked down the court towards where the blur had gone, “This contest however, this, basketball, is the crowning achievement of humankind. The tactics, strategy, and non-violent approach that this game requires in order to win is of a genius I honestly did not think humans were capable of.” it told him. Blackshade found its words very insulting, but let it go due to his shock at the Omegas infatuation with basketball, “Having to throw the trophy so precisely in order to score is wonderful. Then, you added the extra variable of having to take the trophy to each side of the playing field before it can be thrown again! It is absolutely incredible that humanity created this ritual. We are very fond of performing it!”

  Blackshade looked in the direction Tremendous was and concentrated on the blurs he could just make out at the far side of the room. He could practically feel his eyes focusing on it in order to capture what was happening so far down the court. Slowly, he was able to discern what he was looking at. There were ten Omegas, running incredibly fast at the end of the court. There was a huge basketball being dribbled by one of them while the others ran with the ball carrier, huge smiles on all of their faces. When the Omega that had the ball eventually took a shot, the ball went beautifully into the basket. No backboard needed, a perfect swish. One of the Omegas went to retrieve the ball, passed it to another, and then they repeated the process until all of them had a turn. Not one of them missed, and not one of them tried to interfere, or block the ball carrier’s shot. Once all of the Omegas had their chance to shoot the ball, they turned as one and charged down the court to the other side and repeated the process. They all looked incredibly happy while playing, like children getting their first taste of a new game. It was all so surreal that Blackshade was having trouble accepting that it was happening. Surely a race as advanced as the Omegas couldn’t find a game as mundane as Basketball entertaining; could they?

  Tremendous looked down the court at the Omegas, “They are good, are they not?” it asked him, clearly pleased.

  Blackshade didn’t think, “They’re playing wrong.”

  Tremendous’ head whipped around at Blackshade’s critique, a confused, almost upset look, plain on its face, “What do you mean? They run together to each side of the playing field, they throw the trophy into the goal, and then repeat the process for twelve of your minutes. They repeat the process four times in total and then they win the ritual.”

  Blackshade could see the Omega really wasn’t getting it, and that just made this situation all the more surreal to him. Tremendous, the leader of these Omegas, the Omega that had traveled the stars for millions of years, didn’t grasp the concept of basketball.

  Blackshade felt numb as he responded, “Not quite, and it’s not a ritual, it’s a game. What we refer to as a sport. Your Omegas aren’t playing correctly, they’re all cooperating with each other, and there are no teams. You should divide them into two groups of five, with one group of five trying to shoot the ball into a goal on one side of the court, and the other side trying to do the same on the other side of the court. The opposing team attempts to stop them from scoring, by blocking their shots, stealing the ball from them, or running out the shot clock. The team with the most points at the end of the fourth quarter will win.”

  Tremendous looked completely confused, “Humans compete against each other… for fun?” it asked.

  Blackshade found himself feeling slightly annoyed, “Well, of course. We compete against each other in multiple situations. Promotions at work, grades in school, sports, games, who can get the best significant other, who has the nicest living situation… now that I think about it, humans compete against each other over just about everything.”

  Tremendous leaned its head back, closed its eyes for a few moments, and then looked down at him. “This is significant, Blackshade. We did not realize that humans were so anti-cooperative. Yet again, your species is unlike any other in the universe.” the Omega leader told him. Blackshade thought it sounded more interested than disgusted, but there was a definite hint of disapproval in its voice. “I have asked Notes to join us. Our researcher will be very interested to gain insight to this human mannerism. While we wait for Notes’ arrival, please tell me more about the significance of defeating those of your own race.”

  Once again, Blackshade found himself on the back foot. He hadn’t noticed at first, but the Omegas that had been playing their version of basketball had stopped and were now approaching him, apparently interested in his forthcoming explanation. It didn’t fail to impress Blackshade that even though the Omegas had just been running up and down this mile-long court, not one of them was so much as breathing hard, let alone sweaty. He began to wonder if Omegas sweat at all, but then shook the thought out of his mind. They were waiting for him to answer, and this wasn’t the time to let his mind wander.

  “There’s no real significance to it, other than competition for the sake of competition. Professional athletes play for money, and social status, but most people just play for fun.” Blackshade began, “Humans have always competed to be the best. The best at a sport, the best at their job, the best shot, the best at anything and everything. Smarter people than me studied this human condition and call it, ‘survival of the fittest’. Which used to mean that only the ones in a species that could adapt to their environment would survive long enough to procreate and pass on their genetics. Now that humans are the dominant species on the planet, and we’ve conquered most of it, survival of the fittest is now interpreted as the people that rise up over all others due to their unique ability to be the best at a particular task. Whether that task is being the top video game player, top military member, or best basketball player doesn’t matter. People tend to elevate those that excel above them and put them into positions where they lea
d the rest of us.” Blackshade surprised himself with his insight, and since he was on a roll with his explanation, he went with it, “To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about it much until now.”

  The Omegas looked around at each other, Blackshade still wasn’t great at interpreting their facial queues, but he thought some of them looked approving of his words, while others looked blatantly disgusted.

  “Why do you have the need to establish yourself as superior to others of your own kind?” one of the assembled Omegas asked. Its look was disapproving, but its question was asked with the inflection of intrigue, not spite.

  Blackshade thought for a moment before responding, “I don’t know.” he answered honestly, “Before meeting you, I would have said it had something to do with our animal instincts. A desire to be the alpha of the pack. Now that I’ve met you and you have told us where are roots really come from, I guess the only people qualified to answer that question… would be you.”

  Grins met his response, “Well said, Blackshade.” Tremendous said good-naturedly, “Hopefully when Notes gets here, it can do just that. Until then, tell us more on how this sport should be played.”

  Blackshade did so, to the best of his ability. Truth be told, he had always hated basketball, he thought it was a boring game; just like soccer or race car driving. However, he had been a boy once and had the same fantasy all boys had of growing up to be some kind of professional sports legend. His dream, like so many others, were crushed by the reality that he just didn’t have the required aptitude to excel at the game. So, in the spirit of the old mantra, ‘those that can’t do, teach’, he explained how the game was supposed to be played. Unsurprisingly, the Omegas were incredibly fast learners, and in less than an hour, they were playing the game at a level any professional would be envious of.