‘Milev is sending me,’ I said, just four words, and the image disappeared. I thought he was not going to let me in, but I happened to be wrong. The door opened and the same man invited me in. Apparently the Liutenant’s name meant something here, too.
A few of the invariable crew members had gathered in what they called a bridge, about ten people were sitting at its center around something like a round table, one of them was the Balkan himself. He saw me as I was stepping into the room and decided to introduce me.
‘We were waiting for you, kid. This is Mr. Stokes, he’s my personal reporter and chronicler. He’ll be recording the meeting, I believe our enterprise here is significant. The recording might come of use, if not for us, at least for those who will come after us, should there be anyone after us,’ he introduced me to those present. They gave me disapproving looks as though they did not want me there with them.
‘I don’t insist to be recorded.’
‘Neither do I,’ piped up two men, one of them approaching his 60s and the other one was among the five who were sitting opposite me. I was sure he was a member of the exoskeleton crew who had evacuated us earlier that day because he was wearing a uniform with a nametag saying Iris 1. There were a few other people I was seeing for the first time, but they, too, were filled with negativity regarding my presence and the work I was doing for them.
‘Come here, boy,’ the officer approached me and whispered something in my ear. ‘Keep recording despite what they tell you. Stay at the sidelines so you don’t get in the way, but I want you to capture everything. You should know, though, that these recordings should not be seen by anyone outside of this room. Hide them if you have to, but they should never see the light of day, at least for the time being. You are responsible for them with your life if it needs to be!’ Completely serious about every single word he uttered and fixing me with his stern look, he managed to instill awe in me anew. I was aware just how responsible my job was and I was going to suffer the consequences because I wanted to keep my word and advance in my development.
‘I think it’s time we let Professor Zanev get us acquainted with his research,’ chimes in one of the ladies at the table. She had a beautiful blonde hair and a light complexion.
‘Thank you, Mila,’ the man in the white coat entered the conversation politely and that left me completely astonished. It was now that I noticed how the hero of the battle looked like with her suit off and I was mesmerized by how alluring she was. ‘Together with my colleague Jean-Pierre Alléguié we have prepared a little presentation for you, you will see it in 3D version that will come right between us.’ Zanev placed a holographic projector and switched it on. A concentrated beam came out of it and splayed out into an image inside which the contours of a planet with two moons revolving around a gargantuan red sun began to take shape. Perhaps they wanted to show us the basic parameters of the planet on which we were. ‘My colleague will start first and then I will finish off,’ the Russian said, turning to the man sitting by him and let him begin.
‘Menoetius is an ancient exoplanet, it is three billion years older than the Earth. The star it orbits is an old red giant which is expanding right now and in approximately hundred million years’ time it will enter into its final phase, devouring everything in its orbit.’ The Frenchman who was speaking with a bit of a stutter and anxiety commenced something of an astrophysics lecture with specifics from far back in time. But those things were extremely interesting and I pricked up my ears. ‘That isn’t all that important anyway, none of us will live that long. But what matters is that the shining body is magnetically active and it has strong impact on the planet, in terms of the full capacity of its electromagnetic spectrum. Here is where the interesting part comes. The second star which revolves around the primary one moves very fast. Professor Zanev and I believe that these are the remnants of a fiery ball similar to our Sun that had undergone collapse a long time ago. It must have floated in space until it was captured by the gravitational pull of the giant. Thanks to its small size and huge mass its rate of acceleration is growing and the space between the two bodies is drastically closing by the minute. But don’t be scared, they won’t collide, everything in the Cosmos happens very slowly,’ he explained, cracking a joke that only he laughed at with eyes on the ground locked in a zany expression. ‘It is a sheer coincidence that the two orbits run parallel to each other right now. We conducted a simulation to see how their joint motion proceeds. Here it is.’ He pressed a button and both the planet and the dwarf started revolving around the giant. ‘We suppose they have been in this orbital synchrony for about fifteen thousand years and in about ten more they will fall out of it. In our opinion, precisely this anomaly is the prime cause for the things that Roman will tell you more about,’ Alléguié finished his introduction and gave the floor to his colleague. Now everyone was watching with deep interest, but mine doubled theirs.
‘Thank you, Jean-Pierre. Let me elaborate on what we’ve told you so far. As you can see the planet is rotating right between the hammer and the anvil. The two moons are not playing any significant role, their influence boils down to determining the amplitudes of the ebbs and the flows of the waters of Menoetius’s ocean. So let’s focus our attention on the two stars and the radiation they emit. Menoetius is a martyr exposed to high electromagnetic radiation. For now we have a problem with the communications which is definitely preferable to being fried by the electromagnetic waves which are quite strong. But that doesn’t apply to our new home. I made a detailed analysis of the samples we obtained from the deep drillings, using a technology that hadn’t been applied on our home planet. Here is what I learned.’ He pressed the same button the Frenchman had pushed earlier to bring on the slide. The hologram showed the structure of the planet’s crust about twenty thousand feet into the ground. ‘You can see from the image here that Menoetius has a very strange structure. It has about one thousand and six hundred feet of porous soil which absorbs liquids like a sponge and the plants are attached to it as an appendage through its roots. It gets more interesting the deeper we go. From there onwards, in other words about seven or nine thousand feet deep, depending on the location, there is significant amount of iron ore and magnetite which is curious. Under this layer, for as far as the drilling could go, there was loosely bound porous clay-like rock with high levels of calcium oxide, potassium and sodium which exist in abundance on this planet. Here is where the interesting part comes,’ he said, heaving a deep sigh and tried to explain in the simplest of terms what the situation was. ‘The magnetite layer that is situated immediately under that of the soil gives a slightly extreme reaction to the powerful electromagnetic radiation coming from the primary star. We’re standing on top of constant earth tremors that we don’t feel due to the spongy surface that softens the vibrations and the displacement of the ground. Those tall black colossuses that look like antennae are a direct result of the seismic activity of that layer and even at this very moment they are still growing in height more and more. I think this is something unique that I can readily call an evolutionary apogee of an Earth-like planet. These massive columns transmit signals across the atmosphere and influence the climate and the weather. It sounds odd and astonishing, but in the course of time Menoetius has started benefitting from a potentially destructive situation.
‘All this is very nice, but very soon more people will die, we need something useful,’ interrupted one of the men who was my age and was sitting between Milev and another woman who was in no way less beautiful than Mila.
‘Easy, Harry!’ the Balkan tried to calm him down so that the Professor could continue.
‘As I said, they can capture and spread electromagnetic waves just like antennae do. Here is where we’ll dive deeper into my research. Their emissions are similar to those they receive from the two suns, but their frequency operates closer to the microwave end of the spectrum. The planet functions as a transformer which uses the columns as emitters on an incredible, yet exceptionally interest
ing frequency. It affects the planet in a rather peculiar way. The fresh water is retained comparatively active, but the part of it that contains high levels of mineralization and saltiness absorbs more of electromagnetic radiation. It amounts to 99% of the total quantity of water on the planet and these solutions heighten the effect.’ Zanev spoke in an ardent fashion, giving very detailed information and presenting it on the holograms. ‘Its molecules and all the chemical elements dissolved in absorb part of the electromagnetic waves and cause constant vibrations on a molecular level. Hence the buzz-like sound.’ Those present exchanged surprised glances and I was at a loss as to how my knowledge of physics was mightily shattered to pieces right in front my eyes. I could not believe the miracle that we were witnessing, it was beyond my wildest dreams and our home planet now looked to me like a pale resemblance of the titanic Menotius. The Professor went on with his theory. ‘This was the odd part, I’ll proceed with the frightening one. I managed to make additional analyses of the ocean water and the experiments I ran with it led to the conclusion that its properties are unique. The water molecules here do not just oscillate, but they also accumulate information which, I believe, comes as a result of unique forms of radiation. It follows that the ocean on this planet vibrates on its own resonance frequency, this is something of a personal response to the radiation coming from the stars. Since the black colossuses are in contact with the sea water they transmit the information they get from across space. This as well as the rest of the reflected electrowaves sent out from the two Suns affects the organisms that live on the planet. What happens is basically a cycle of emission, reflection, absorption and reflection once again by stars, planet, geological formations and water. The result is a rather formidable cocktail of circumstances. Gentlemen, we’re facing a phenomenon unparalleled in its scope which, similarly to a quantum process, transfers data to every spot on the planet. I believe that Menoetius continues perfecting this process slowly and the Vacari are the fruit of that anomaly. That is why they seem so strong and it feels like we’re locked in a battle with the entire planet,’ Zanev summed up. I was seized by a feeling of profound ignorance and I could not wrap my head round how the Professor had even reached all those conclusions. Quite obviously he was directly responsible for our success so far and we were as good as doomed without him.
‘This sounds horrible. What are we going to do?’ one of the crew members of Iris 1 chimed in.
‘I don’t know, Hiroshi. I still don’t know. But I suppose that if we isolate ourselves in this place and stand our ground, sooner or later will be dead. We need to try and destroy the nearest antenna that transmits the signal. I think that, if nothing else, it will buy us some time,’ the Professor responded.
‘So you’re saying that if we launch a successful attack, we’ll stop the invasion of the grayish-white?’ Milev asked.
‘Judging by the current data, yes. All of you, listen to me. Everything here is unpredictable so I may be wrong, but for the time being these are the most probable hypotheses we have,’ Zanev said.
‘We’ll get a plane loaded with explosives. When the rain stops, we’ll try to raze the mountain down to the ground, but there’s something else I need to know before I sacrifice my men. The Vacari are vulnerable even to weak charges, they hate fresh water, that is obvious, but why are they attacking us so fiercely?’ Milev added.
‘Maybe because they want to drive us out of their territory,’ Zanev guessed.
‘They don’t just want to chase us off or to eat us, they want to extirpate us, and to me their actions are quite purposeful. There must be something guiding them–both them and the signal from these strong antennae,’ Milev pondered on.
‘At this stage I can only make assumptions, but I don’t want to give anyone false hope, everything is very unclear. Probably the Grayish-white guard Menoetius against intruders since they give a very strong reaction to violence regardless of whether they or their planet is the target. They live in the ocean, but when the weather is fair, without showers or thunderstorms, they may stay out on dry land indefinitely. Maybe the planet itself sends them against us to destroy us the same way our organism sends white blood cells against harmful pathogens. If so, we’re doomed because we’re not dealing with a collective or individual mind, but with an intellect that operates on a much higher level. From what we know so far, they are aggressive and jealously protective of what’s theirs. I’m positive that all sorts of peaceful attempts for contact will fail. They don’t share our moral code and our values and will be our enemy for good!
‘We’ll show them what collective mind and intellect are!’ Milev snarled, his voice full of menace.
‘I wish you’re right. The entire planet with all the radiation processes that occur here, with the gravitational anomalies, the flora and the fauna, the chemical composition of the water, the atmosphere and the rocks are something unseen and unfathomable for the human kind. A planetary mind embodying divine perfection. Menoetius may be a God or a concept that would be difficult for us to comprehend as it is, for we are too small to feel its might. We’re more like a pathogen inside a host fighting against the disease. I wish us all the best of luck and may destiny hold something nice in store for us,’ the scientist concluded, ending on an optimistic note. He related all that he knew or supposed and things did not look good. Milev was trying to process what he had heard and the rest of us found ourselves incredibly astounded by the situation. Where were we? Was it possible that the earth beneath our feet had its own opinion regarding our exodus here? We had to stay strong . . .
‘What if we can’t defeat them, what will we do then?’ Will we leave the planet?’ Scott asked a very relevant question.
‘That’s not an option,’ Milev chimed in and continued. ‘The provisions we have will last for about a week. After that we’ll be starved out here or into the Cosmos.’
‘Won’t it be better to just go back to Earth?’ Liu raised a question directed precisely at the Balkan who seemed to be best acquainted with the situation.
‘In no way could we do that! It will be an even more precarious alternative as we’ll be under attack because of the ship. They will want to lay their hands on the technology, someone who wants to play terrorist will pop up and we’ll have that to take care of that as well. If they don’t take us as captives, sooner or later they will destroy us. Not to mention that we may starve even back there because of the shortage of food. The population is suffering greatly, at least those who are still alive. In time our home planet may bear the name ‘The planet of the vultures’ so don’t you even dare think of returning to that dratted place. It’s a lost cause, ladies and gentlemen. The sooner you realize that this is our only chance to preserve our species the better for you,’ the Officer replied. Heavy words to say.
Our home was swallowed by darkness we had created ourselves and there were no foreseeable prospects of us getting out of it.
‘We’ll do all that it takes to keep this piece of land for ourselves,’ Mila piped up encouragingly. She looked solemn, wearing a stone face.
‘I hope so. The people at the metallurgy complex are making replicas of your weapon. It’s such a pity that the only weapon that had managed to destroy them effectively so far is just one,’ Zanev said.
‘What was the weapon?’ Milev asked.
‘A prototypical rifle, an electric shotgun. It fires out a specific kind of pellets that accumulate high-voltage electricity. When a pallet is shot out, an electric arc gets triggered–it envelopes the lead sphere which looks like a ball lightning when it moves. The speed of movement of the charge is comparatively slow–around three hundred miles per hour because it was initially designed to neutralize civilian vehicles by the police force. And now we’ve found another way to use it,’ Roman explained quickly how one of the prototypes that were secretly manufactured in Eisenhower worked.
‘If it is really that good, we need to arm with it all of our soldiers down to the last one. This is probably the only way to not
ch up a convincing victory,’ the Eastern European shared.
‘It is really that good and until tomorrow we’ll have about a hundred extra arms. But there is something else. Apart from the manliness and blood that got spilled yesterday there was one other thing that saved us. A raging storm with thunders and heavy showering–an anomaly caused by the strong electromagnetic waves which guided the Vacari. When these waves reach very high levels of concentration thick thunderclouds form as a side effect and it is a total scourge for the Vacari,’ Zanev clarified the other reason for our victory the day before in case there was still someone who did not know it.
‘I don’t understand. How come their advantage turns against them? Is it some weakness of theirs or is it too early for us to grasp why it happens?’ the dark-haired woman sitting close to Harry joined the discussion.
‘I still don’t know, but since it helps us for the time being, we should use it to our advantage. The weather tomorrow will be warm and clear and I expect another attack at noon. Get a nice rest tonight, it might be your last break,’ the Russian scientist gave Alice as much information as he could, but his final words sounded cruel. Perhaps he did not want us to entertain the illusion that the atmospheric anomaly would save us every time, but, alas, we hoped for that already . . .
The meeting was dismissed and ten of the high-ranking leaders on board determined the priorities for the day after. They boiled down to two. The first one was assail the closest Menoetian colossus which was considered to be directing the Vacari. The second one was the defense of our base and German Ascend 1 from the multitudinous army we were expecting to face less than twenty hours from now. Along with the video recordings I kept detailed notes of the events and that took a lot of time. That was why after the assembly I went straight to my room to get some work done. It took me about two hours to skim over all the material and upload the footage on separate data carriers and then I hid away the recording from the meeting in a special cupboard safe. No one was supposed to see neither it, nor my notes which I arranged in files on the PC I was granted and which I had protected with a password. That was all that I managed to do with what little strength I was left. That had been an exciting and dangerous day, full of events and revealing mind-blowing discoveries about the planet and its inhabitants. I just hoped that the next day would be easier and that we stood a chance to live at least until twilight, to see the red giant sink below the horizon romantically and the rising white dwarf whose white light was to outshine the glow of the two small moons that were glaring down at us. We really needed to be successful in this because I did not want neither my life nor the tale about the human species to die tomorrow in the afternoon. All the tension and the exhaustion were taking their toll and I finally decided to lie down and gather my strength for the next dangerous day as a war reporter. At first I was tossing and turning in the bed, plagued by different thoughts, but in the end I dozed off and my muscles and my mind could finally take a good number of hours of quality sleep. I woke up at some point not knowing why and the clock in my room said there were eight more hours until dawn. The day and night were longer the Earth ones–they seemed to be locked in a thirty-hour long epic battle for their place under the stars. I found that weird in the beginning. It was as though we had the chance to do more beneficial stuff and to rest longer so it looked like time was on our side. At least that was the sensation I had, yet time was still flowing steadily ahead to the new dawn and the one after it and the one after it. The question, though, was not in whether the next sunrise and sunset were to take place, but rather whether we were going to see them for much longer, for the rest of our lives. But we were certain to see at least one more dawn.
Dawn of Hope- Exodus Page 45
