by Luigi Robles
“Alright, alright,” Yanks said. “We’ll be ready to climb as soon as you enter the capsule, and I’ll take it from here.”
“Sounds good,” Fain said as he turned around and headed towards bay one.
It was Fain’s second time using the space elevator to go up into space. He didn’t like the idea of staying put all that much, but he also didn’t mind because this time around he would be able to get some work done on the long ride. The space elevator capsule was simple: four large windows surrounded the capsule, giving the passenger a top-of-the-line, 360-degree view of Earth. The higher the capsule got, the better the view. Between the two passenger seats, there was a computer console connected to the ESAF mainframe. The capsule’s interior was white with a hint of gray for the seats and not much else going on, at least when it came to the design.
Fain opened a new digital screen, where he would set everything in motion for them to visit the Ochilenes’ planet ahead of schedule. Within one hour of writing emails and contacting all the necessary people to make it happen, Sodenia would be ready to depart to the Ochilenes’ home planet within twenty-four hours.
Once he was done, he got up from his seat and stared outside each one of the windows, taking in the breathtaking view. For a second or two, he wondered what the Ochilenes’ planet would look like. Would it be as beautiful as Earth? Without having much else to stare at other than the same view from a higher angle, he sat back down.
He spent the next two hours contemplating the situation they were in, trying to figure out what he was missing. Immortals, why would the Acram call them that? Even after listening to Mikey’s full report, he still couldn’t wrap his head around the name. In his mind, everything had an end, and the fact they had a name at all meant they’d been here before. Did the Herrion know about them? He went over every little detail he could think of in his head, but it was all the same. He ended up exactly where he was now. Kya would be able to answer one of the questions, at least, and as for the rest, he knew of only one other that had the answers: Acram Noble Saavan. There was no way around it; Fain had to contact the one being that had come so close to ending humanity in order to save it.
The capsule’s bell rang, snapping Fain back into himself. He had already arrived at the space dock. The gravity on the space dock covered a ten-mile radius, making it hard to tell when passengers had arrived.
“Welcome to the Ouranos space dock,” a charming disembodied voice chimed as the capsule’s doors opened. “Please watch your step as you exit the capsule.”
Kya was the first thing Fain saw as he stepped outside the capsule. She was standing in the middle of the lobby, bearing her weight on one leg and stretching the other. Both of her hands were behind her back, and a wide smile was visible from across the room. She looked more human than before, and the slight lines she had across her face were completely gone. Now there wasn’t a single thing that differentiated her synthetic body from a human’s, at least from what Fain could see.
There were other ESAF officers on the space dock, but they were busy typing away in their respective stations.
“If it isn’t Fain Jegga.” Kya’s smile was still present. It looked genuine and warm. “You know, I’ve been waiting over fifteen minutes for you.”
“It’s nice to see you too,” Fain said, feeling a smile grow. “You know, is it really necessary to have the voice in the capsule say ‘watch your step’? Don’t we automatically know to watch our step?”
“There are fifty-two lawsuits pending against ESAF,” Kya began, walking towards Fain. “Most of them appear to be bogus and relating to slips and falls, injuries due to alien technology, that sort of thing. So yeah, I would say it’s necessary.”
“Geez,” Fain said as he stopped just a step away from Kya.
An alarm began blaring out from each one of the ESAF officers’ stations, and just as Fain was going to ask what that was about, Kya stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Fain, hugging him warmly. Fain eased into her embrace. Kya’s perfect smell wafted towards him during the hug; she smelt clean, with a hint of glycerin.
“It’s been way too long,” Kya whispered. “Formalities suck when you miss someone.”
Fain nodded as he squeezed Kya back and then let go.
They began walking to the shuttle, and the blaring alarm in the ESAF officers’ stations stopped.
“What the heck was that,” one of the ESAF officers said out loud.
“Next time pay more attention,” Kya said, turning slightly towards the officer. “The restroom hasn’t been cleaned today. Make sure you keep it clean. Don’t let me hear that alarm again.”
It was hard for Fain not to laugh. He knew that it was probably true that the restroom had to be clean, but he also knew that Kya had sounded the alarm on purpose.
Boarding the shuttle that would take them to Sodenia, Fain was already feeling goosebumps at the sight of the magnificent ship. There wasn’t a thing that came to mind that he didn’t like about the ship; it was as if it was made for him.
“Are you aware of everything that’s going on?” Fain said as he sat, taking the co-pilot seat. There was no need for him to captain the small shuttle; Kya was more than capable of handling the small ten-minute ride to Sodenia.
“I believe so,” Kya said as she took out a thin auxiliary cord with changing ends. She plugged one end of the cord into the side of her hand and the other into the shuttle’s control console. Seconds later, the shuttle separated from the space dock. “Unless something new happened within the last five minutes or so.”
“What is that?”
“You mean the analog cord?” Kya smiled and dangled the cord.
“Yeah… I think that’s what that should be.” Fain’s eyebrows furrowed. “And why did I see it change shape?”
“It’s something I’m trying out. I’m trying to measure just how much more direct or faster this kind of connection is versus wireless. It’s nothing special.” Kya shrugged. “It changes shape due to some added nanotech on its end, so it can connect to pretty much anything.”
“Reviving old tech, huh?”
“Reviving? I believe it never went away.”
Fain smiled and nodded, but he had something else on his mind, something only Kya could answer.
“Did the Herrion know about this?” Fain asked, striking a more serious tone.
“I’ve checked the Archives, though perhaps not as thoroughly as I should, and I found little information about the Immortals. They seem to be a myth throughout Herrion history, though recent events and some of the Acram past lead me to believe they are real and truly frightening beings.”
Frightening? Fain thought. This is the second time Kya has mentioned that these Immortals or whatever they are scare her. Not even when we faced the Acram Armada and the odds were overwhelmingly against us did she fret.
“I need to talk with Saavan,” Fain said.
“Perhaps it would be best if you speak with him after our Ochilenes trip. I believe we’ll be able to gather more information while we are there. I’m currently working on making a net to detect the presence of artificial influences.”
“Maybe you can work with Pycca,” Fain said and felt a sudden jerk in the shuttle. “I mean, if you’d like.”
“I can. I don’t mind.”
Fain wasn’t able to sense whether Kya meant what she said or not. Could it be that she didn’t like Pycca? But Fain quickly dismissed the thought. It wasn’t that Kya didn’t like Pycca, no. That couldn’t be it.
“I asked her to come up with a way to trace the signal back to its source. She might be almost done with it.”
“I don’t think it will be that easy. A device capable of tracking the source of sporadic glitches will be anything but easy to make. In any case, I’m willing to help.”
“Good.” Fain nodded once. “This time we won’t wait for them to come to us.”
Fain felt the need to move fast due to the pressure of current events. He wanted to find out eve
rything he could and then act on it. He was ready to answer the challenge. He wouldn’t be intimidated. Though something inside of him told him that this might be a battle that he wouldn’t be able to win. He hated himself for thinking that way, but he also knew it was close to the truth. Yet it was a small price to pay to achieve peace in the galaxy once again.
“Whatever you decide to do, I’m with you.”
“Thank you,” Fain said wholeheartedly. “But I have to ask you, what do you think of all of this? What’s really happening?”
“It’s hard to say. But I’ve come across several hints that suggest that every few million years the galaxy undergoes an adjustment of life. This is one of those adjustments. Many civilizations throughout history have written about the end of the world, something they foresaw coming. Though I believe they didn’t foresee it coming; instead it was written based on the stories of the few that survived. And now, that same end is here.”
They lapsed into silence for the rest of the trip to Sodenia.
Kya’s words had sent a chill down Fain’s spine, further cementing the urgency to act. Fain knew they had to hurry. There would be no more leave, no more waiting around, and no more time for enjoyment.
4
Doka
Within twenty-four hours and with the help of the space elevator, Fain had Sodenia ready to depart to the Ochilenes’ homeworld, Doka. However, this time around it would only be a partial crew of three hundred ESAF officers, including the flight crew, on board. Three other ESAF ships were also ready to journey to Doka with a crew of two hundred each. The three ships would accompany Sodenia within the bubble created by the Alcubierre drive.
The largest ship joining the four-ship flotilla aside from Sodenia was the ESAF John Paul Jones, which was nearly half of Sodenia’s massive size. The Jones, as Fain mentally called it, was a destroyer-class ship captained by Henry Bevetola, an old friend of Green’s. Fain hadn’t talked too much to Captain Bevetola in the short encounters they’d had, but Fain knew he was an able man with decades of experience.
The other two ships that would join them were considerably smaller, at just a quarter of the size of the Jones: the ESAF Skid and Little Rock, both of which had just been assigned new captains that Fain hadn’t met before. Newly named Captain Edward Hoist and ESAF veteran Kepler Mirren were in charge of the frigates. The entire fleet was new to Fain, but for the most part, he had an idea of who everyone was. Anytime a captain of a new ship was elected, or a high-ranking officer was assigned to their new position, Fain would get notified with a complete profile of the new personnel.
After a short talk with Truman and Green, Fain headed up to the bridge. He was looking forward to seeing the people on the bridge.
The entire flight crew was already on the bridge, and with them the familiar faces that Fain had grown to trust. Pycca, Larissa, Kya and August were all there. The only one who wasn’t present on the bridge was Eora, but that was because her position was below the bridge, commanding Sodenia’s gunners and drone pilots.
“It’s nice to see you all again,” Fain said as he walked onto the bridge, straight towards the center console. “And this reunion deserves more than just this, but sadly time is something we can’t afford. Let’s get to it. Line them up.”
“Relaying command,” August said as he typed away at his station.
“How are we doing?” Fain turned towards Larissa. “Are we ready to go?”
This was the first time Fain had seen Larissa since they got back to Earth from their encounter with the Golden Armada. Larissa had asked for early leave when they got back. Now her hair was shorter, a lot shorter, reaching just past her jaw. She wore one side pinned back with a decorative bobby pin. She smiled when Fain met her gaze.
“We are packed for a three-week trip,” Larissa said as she opened a new window showing the tonnage of food. A total of 15.75 tons of food components were on board.
“Seems a little excessive, but OK,” Fain said. Then he turned towards Pycca, but she was paying no attention to Fain. Instead, she was looking straight at Larissa with her eyebrows furrowed. It looked as if the two had an unresolved feud. Fain had to cough just to get her attention.
“Yes, Captain,” Pycca said, flushing and turning quickly to face Fain.
“Is Sodenia good to go?”
“As good as ever,” Pycca said, her cheeks still red. “I did a manual inspection on the FTL drive and ran a full system diagnostic. Kya can concur that she’s in good shape.”
Fain turned to Kya, and she nodded with a slight smile on her face.
“Eora, talk to me.” Fain held up his wristband.
“Everything is good here. I have a full crew and we’re just awaiting orders.”
“Captain,” August said as soon as Eora finished talking. “The three other ships have finished lining up well within Sodenia’s FTL drive reach. They will be traveling with us to the Ochilenes’ homeworld without breaking a sweat. The flotilla is now in formation. The course is charted; we are ready to go.”
A familiar nervousness began to set in. He felt his heart beating faster, and his body felt lighter. But besides the edginess, he was also beginning to feel focused, with a better and clearer vision of the goal he wanted to accomplish.
He looked at the flashing blue button that would allow him to communicate with the entire flotilla and pressed it. “This is your captain speaking. We are about to embark on the first-ever mission outside our own solar system and into a new one that is 8.2 thousand lightyears away. Codename Alliance. We’re heading to Doka, the Ochilenes’ home planet. It took the Ochilenes six months to cross that distance with a fully loaded ship. We’ll make the run in less than ten hours. Our mission is to further ongoing relationships with the civilization who came to our aid when we needed them most. Hold on to something and stay alert. This is your captain out.”
Fain walked towards Sodenia’s pilot seat as everyone on the bridge, including Kya, who now had an assigned station next to Larissa, began to strap on their seatbelts. He felt the familiar comfort of the pilot’s seat as it began to turn on and adjust to every contour of his body. This time, instead of heading up to the command center, Fain opted to control Sodenia from the bridge.
“To Doka in four.” Fain turned to the right of the pilot’s seat where the Alcubierre drive lever was located and placed his hand over it, his heart pounding. “Three, two, one.” He slid the lever to the theoretical maximum mark above seven. That meant Sodenia would travel through space and time at .82 lightyears per hour. Kya’s theory was that while Sodenia was traveling at the Alcubierre drive theoretical maximum, the ship and everything in it would disappear from the regular time flow. But once the drive disengaged, Sodenia would return to the same time and space it left from, just on the other side of the galaxy.
The bridge fell silent as the clear view of Earth disappeared before them.
Fain used the nine-and-a-half-hour trek to plan, to move the pieces across the chessboard they were in while the rest of the crew, those lucky enough not to get motion sickness, made small talk. But everything he thought of led to the same path. Was there something he was missing? Or did he know everything he needed to know already? He abandoned his thoughts altogether when they were just a few minutes away from their destination.
Sodenia made its way through space at a staggering 282,178,931,297,423,070 statute miles per hour, before Fain began to pull back the Alcubierre drive lever. The numbers were staggering, and to a certain point nonsensical. If it wasn’t for the displays all around him clearly displaying the numbers, he wasn’t sure he could keep track of it all. In theory, he could pull back the lever to zero and they would emerge into regular space and time flow. But the numbers that were appearing on the main view screen regarding the distance they were traveling were so large, it filled him with unease. He knew that Kya was there to help in case he made the wrong move, but everything inside him told him not to try it.
Is this why they named it space? Fain thought
as he moved the lever back once more. Because everything is so far apart? He watched as Sodenia’s indicator on the map began to approach the deacceleration mark at a more manageable speed.
“Kya, patch me to the flotilla,” Fain said as he kept his hand on the lever.
“Communications are now open,” Kya said.
“This is your captain speaking. We’ll be approaching normal space-time flow in t-minus two minutes. Remain in formation until we make contact with the Ochilenes. Motion sickness may worsen during deacceleration. Medical bays, be ready. This is your captain out.”
The room fell silent once again, and everyone seemed expectant. They held on to their seatbelts, armrests and chairs.
“Back to normal space in four, three”—Fain moved the lever back as he counted—“two, one.” The darkness on the main view screen faded away and, in its place, a strange new world appeared on the screen, with two orbiting moons. “It looks like we made it. Kya, status report.”
“All systems are functioning normally. We are 674,000 miles away from Doka and are currently establishing communication with the Ochilenes. There have been one hundred and seven cases of severe motion sickness reported.”
“I hate this so much. I really can’t hold it in,” August complained as he hurriedly took off his seatbelt. “My stomach for sure is going to come out this time. Permission to be dismissed.”
“Correction, one hundred and eight,” Kya said.
“Go ahead,” Fain said, trying to hold back a smile.
August got up from his station and ran from the bridge.
“If anyone else is feeling sick,” Fain said as he got up from the pilot seat, “head on over to relieve yourselves. I need you back at one hundred percent as soon as possible.” Four more crew members on the bridge got up from their stations.
After communicating with the Ochilenes, the four-ship flotilla was directed to one of Doka’s largest space elevators. Unlike Earth, the planet of Doka had a lot more going on in space. Cuboid builder ships, space docks, space elevators and large buildings seemingly scraping the planet’s atmosphere blanketed the horizon. It was as if the Ochilenes had grown so comfortable with space that it was their second home.
