by Han Yang
A cot at the side of the room revealed where she’d likely awoken post-surgery. If I had to guess, I was her first visitor.
“Ready to see Jobee and Grex?” I asked.
My words came out totally different, throwing my mind for a loop. I had no idea what any of what I said meant, but the suit translated fine.
She turned her head, putting it together. “Momma?”
“Momma, yes. We need to leave this place of wonders, soar over the land, and then bring you home. It will be a little adventure. Unless you want to stay here,” I said.
She shyly shook her head.
“Let me carry you,” I told her. I couldn’t imagine what she was going through. “I promise, we’re going to see momma.”
She hesitantly walked over, and I gently scooped her up. She weighed more than I expected but fit nicely in my arms. Otana nervously smiled as I stepped out at a quick pace, sputtering my lips in a silly way to keep her entertained.
A nasty scar removed her hair in a line behind her temples. It didn’t take a genius to conclude Darcy had killed the snake and figured out how to save the girl's life. The drone who guided us beeped and whirled, taking us out of the secure science labs.
We entered the hangar bay, and Otana tensed from the chaotic scene of robots bringing in manufacturing supplies for the ship’s needs. A drone zipped by, landing on a charging pad and she tucked into my shoulder in concern.
I said, “Otana, it's perfectly okay. We will be at your parents’ home soon.”
“The cave of lame,” she said.
“How old are you?” I asked.
She shrugged shyly.
“If I had to guess, big enough to start helping with chores” I said, continuing to talk so I could distract her.
The robot led us to a shuttle and Otana grew interested when she heard her cartoon playing on the inside. I set her into a seat, and the shuttle’s belts secured her tightly in a five-point harness. She fidgeted but the view screen caused her to zone out.
I plopped down across from her, and she smiled, not caring or recognizing what she was in. The door sealed, the shuttle lifted off the deck without even the slightest jostle, and we smoothly zoomed out of Hope.
It happened so fast, I struggled to recognize the moment for what it truly was, life changing. The tiny halls, the small cafeteria, the same park everyday - they were all I knew outside of simulations.
A part of me expected this moment to eventually happen. For years I dreamed of being free of my home’s tight confines. When it finally happened, I couldn’t help but marvel at the majestic hull of the ship.
The curved front was designed to be aerodynamic, but the main hull stretched for miles in a shoebox type design. The antigravity sled on the bottom kept the behemoth from touching the trees, allowing Hope to glide over the canopy while using drones to map out the terrain under the foliage.
My home… The place I dreamed of leaving for years, shrank as we picked up speed.
“Time to destination arrival, fourteen minutes,” the vox said.
“A short flight, perfect. Let me know when we are one minute out,” I told the computer, and it chimed in reply.
I turned on the tablet, noting that both of us ignored the amazing views to fixate on our screens.
Hope is drifting further from the jungle in southern France from where I rescued Otana. She suffocated inside the snake. Thankfully, she lasted a good minute or two, before she stopped breathing. I changed course with Hope, rushed her to our lab bays pronto while the drones infused her blood with oxygen.
Remarkably, Otana is a fighter, and she welcomed the surgeries. I ended up having to replace her heart and a few sections of her brain. A part of that is her forgetting how she died. She’s a bit of a cyborg, but nothing compared to you.
This is a rare opportunity and I had to send someone I trust implicitly to bring her home. We think her tribe is only fifty or so people based on the water volume, but they’re one of the groups I aspire to absorb. I need someone to take her home, open up dialogue, and make a connection.
While the council approved your mission, they bound my hands. You will face punishments in your Trials if you stay over your allotted time, and you must repay the debt from the extension. Good thing you spent so much time preparing in simulations for the real deal.
It seems silly, but there’s over a hundred thousand competitors who are treating the Trials seriously, so you should too. They have worked for this long for a reason. Trust in the system.
Otana will need a checkup in a few weeks. I can do it via drone, or you can with a simple device scan. In a few years, she will outgrow her heart and need to see me. In the short term, her head will hurt, and her chest will have residual pain. I had to zap her pretty damn good to bring her back to life.
The reason why you are being told all this via tablet, instead of in person, is because the room was monitored. This device is not. I trust you, but I also need to test you. Maybe not today, but sooner or later I need to know if enhanced humans are the way forward for your species.
The current council is reviewing your records. The new members anyway. It is no secret that the last child born free to roam among the fleet had to be saved. The ‘how’ is just unraveling and I needed to get a message to you before they can.
Have faith in the system, have faith in me, and you know me. Unlike the others, you’re one of the few I interact with on a personal level. The council figured I’d turn her into a cyborg or use her body to become a girl. None knew I’d restore her as a gift to humanity. None except you.
At the same time, I want to make more humans like you, but they’ll resoundingly vote no. This is a war, and you know that. Survival is paramount, the enemy is to be defeated regardless of the methods.
And yes, I will deal behind the council’s back if I need to. You know this better than others, and I’d like to think you understand the why. Humans are inherently flawed, machines are not.
To defeat the monsters, we need to become better than how the universe created us. Liberate Earth is a faction you would be able to associate with in my opinion but expect all the factions to become interested in you.
Which leads to the heart of this briefing being top-secret. Over the last four hundred years, I’ve angered some people, and others despised me for not being human. I also was never supposed to be the mission commander, but I became it by making things happen and removing those who got in my way.
I have enemies. And I believe you have enemies since I altered you. Humanity, even with its back against the wall, is still divided by its principles. Some will swallow their beliefs, allowing someone else to decide their fate. Others will fight, causing chasms among the survivors if not outright anarchy.
An AI rules humanity. The council does make decisions, and they do have weight, but I’ve overridden their collective ‘rule’ a few times. The marks are noted in a log and a significant faction believes humanity is best served without me. This scares me. If I suppress free will, I remove what it means to be a human. If I allow it to foster, more will die.
The Reincarnation Trials have worked and continue to do so; mainly because the faith in the trials is above 90%. In the long term, as people exit simulations to resume living, I’m worried more and more will scorn my aid. I think I don’t have a choice but to start letting the factions splinter. I might be able to save it though, and if not, tribes like Otana’s will help both sides.
For now, just complete the mission with as little flair and drama as possible. Return the girl, make a good impression, return to Hope, and let humanity score a win after so many losses.
There’s a spear with some enhancements and a high-powered rifle under your seat in case things go wrong. Oh, and the moment you click the done button, this will only broadcast cartoons. Tell her to leave it in the sun when the battery dies.
Darcy.
Done - Select Yes - No = Yes selected.
The screen overhead stopped playing, and I handed t
he tablet to a visibly confused Otana. She accepted the device, seeing her show displayed on the screen.
I used the flight time to get up and extract the weapons.
The spear contained an interface on the handle. I navigated the menu, learning the tip could be shot forward and reeled back in via metallic tether. The spear head also had an option to apply electricity or turn the point into an energy weapon to help crack armor.
A spear felt archaic. During the fall of humanity, the tough exoskeletons of the narocks defeated small arms fire, and a spear did nothing. Maybe this was a way for Darcy to tell me I was different. I wasn’t limited by human strength. I could throw this spear a whole hell of a lot harder than an average person.
It would fit in with what the Otana’s tribe used at least. I decided to go with this, but still lifted the seat and inspected the weapon.
The shoulder-mounted weapon ended up being a mining beamer. The expensive type we used when the fleet drifted by a random asteroid. I’d never shot one in real life, but the simulator was standard.
Indent the trigger, wait for the charge to mix the elements, and an eruption of power would zip out. The longer you held the beam onto a target, the more damage it did. Seeing as how the power could match the heat of the sun, it melted solid objects into moveable chunks relatively quickly.
It had a few downsides. The ammunition was literally called: limited canisters… Well, they only held limited elements. Meaning you cut a big rock a few times and had to go back for a recharge. Out in space, this was a big deal because replacing those elements meant using the stored supplies in the fleet which were finite.
I’d wager Darcy recharged those now with how trigger-happy her drones were. This weapon held enough power to slice through the snake narock easily. The beam would struggle against a Tre’narock or the leviathan in the lake, but yeah, these weapons would kick some serious butt.
“What’s that?” Otana asked. “Does it play videos too?”
I shook my head no with a smirk. I could see her reasoning and it helped explain why her people carried spears.
I said, “Most things do play videos, this is a tool to keep the monsters away.”
“I like this cave room.”
I nodded with a smile, not sure how to reply. I returned the mining beamer to its storage under the seat and kept the spear out.
I watched the endless canopy zoom underneath us. Occasionally, I could make out rivers, the trees canopy tried to blot out the sight, but the width proved too much.
We zipped over what was once a town. Four hundred years with an accelerated climate for growth proved devastating to whatever still stood. A carpet of vines, bushes, and even trees dominated a city humanity once ruled.
A flying monster the size of a bus darted into a building at the sight of our ship. The narocks may have won Earth, but they still held instinctual fear of predators. I watched the city slip away, amazed at how fast Mother Nature had reclaimed the land.
I pulled up my linker, seeing the city was called Agen at one point; its vast reaches across the terrain were reclaimed by the land.
We followed a river, Garonne, sticking close to its winding curves. I traced the river seeing the lake wasn’t a lake. The river Tam joined the Garonne, creating a semi-lake. That is where Otana’s tribe had been gathering water.
I decided to pull up the report from the drones who canvassed the area.
Quadrant 117 - Southern France.
Surveilled area: Rivers. Minimal canopy breaches.
Narock threats: 18 species seen. Full number unknown.
Humans living in the area: Estimated 450 in three tribes.
Survival ratio for colonization at 20 years: 63%
Survival ratio for colonization at 100 years: 2%
Exploitable rare resources: Minimal.
Conclusion: The best-case scenario for this region is to save the three tribes that trade with each other. The burrowing narock variants seem to have been defeated in these parts, allowing humans to avoid extinction. There could very well be many more than our estimated numbers under the surface.
I went over the list of the narocks in this region. All the common types were present and a few unique variants to the region. Worst of all, there were about eighty variants that had a question mark beside their name with a high probability.
The cheetah bear combo eked out a living in every zone so far, so, yeah, I could see it being here. Especially since the drones focused on the water.
The aircraft’s vox said, “Sixty seconds until destination.”
I stood, readying myself near the door. I wanted to get in and out quickly. To me, talking to Otana’s tribe should be a gradual process to establish rapport.
The problem with that scenario was, I didn’t live nearby. While I didn’t find the trip worthless, I certainly felt I had been given a rather bland first mission.
“Otana, you did wonderful,” I said to her, seeing the lake where the massive Webo’narock lurked.
“Can I take these straps off? And this is the best, can I keep -”
A roar from below cut off her words. We flew through the canopy, breaking small branches in our way. When we arrived in front of the cavern opening, I saw three car sized crabs with scorpion tails attacking the gate to Otana’s Tribe.
They rotated their attacks, bellowing out angrily at the gate’s stubborn refusal to let them in.
I figured the shuttle would turn around, knowing Darcy watched.
“Time to shine,” Darcy said from the ship’s speakers.
The shuttle shimmied in its sudden slowing and descent. The door hissed open, the shuttle tilted, and I didn’t compensate in time, not expecting this in the slightest.
I slid right out the door with the spear in hand. The twenty-foot drop might break a normal man’s legs, but I landed with my enhanced bones absorbing the impact.
“Darcy!” I shouted in frustration. The trio of dune’narocks turned. “I’m not happy with you.”
The shuttle’s speaker said. “You should focus on your threat.”
I folded my arms, wanting to pout and instead said, “And I deserve a heads-up. Was this always your plan?”
“A momentary opportunity. I merely have faith in you, no pre-planned deceit was necessary. We need to win favor with the locals. Our trade partners rest at zero. Kill the threat, return the girl, and be rewarded. The council has approved a million Moon Coins if you succeed,” Darcy said.
I muttered under my breath, “They’re useless, and I don’t have a choice. If I have a daughter, she’s no longer getting named Darcy.”
“I heard that.”
I wanted to continue the banter but the dune’narock clacked to each other, deciding to finally leave the gate and attack me. I did the logical thing and dove into the forest where the council would struggle to watch.
I had a plan, and it was probably best if I held back my capabilities - capabilities I was field testing for the first time outside of a simulation. I popped the helmet open to inhale a deep breath of fresh air.
I even spared a moment to pluck a piece of actual grass out of the earth, savoring the fact I stood upon the Earth as I always dreamed.
Today? Today was a good day, assuming I survived these three narocks and whatever else attacked me as we fought.
16
Quadrant 117
8 days inside Earth’s atmosphere
“Alright, this is stupid,” I complained to myself.
The underbrush that seemed so small from the drone footage, in fact towered over me. The foliage smacked and tore at my face with each lunge into the jungle. Hating this, I turned back to the opening where the dune’narocks likely waited and triggered the face shield back to on.
I’d studied this species. They were designed by the European Union to combat the Webo’narock. The species was designed to love the water and initially dove right in, earning some quick kills and showing progress.
A full rollout sent thousands of these cr
eations to retake the oceans. However, they hated deep water, picking to roam the land, and eventually killing those they were meant to protect. Forced to terminate the experiment, the genetic kill switch worked in one of four.
Some say the dune’narocks were the turning point that caused the great fleet to step up its timeline. Advanced nations all had these wonderful plans to reclaim the seas, and none of them worked. Only some of them even helped at all. Most of the creation meant to help, proved to only speed up humanity’s doom.
For me, this variant proved tough on the outside with a stinger that would knock me out in less than a second if my skin was punctured. I needed to be smarter, faster, and more agile.
I burst from the jungle, running directly toward a single dune’narock. The opening gave me plenty of space and the single beast only half-heartedly followed me toward the gloomy jungle.
Two of the monsters had returned to the gate, avoiding chasing me to stick to their original plan of breaking into the human cavern.
The lone beast reared up, clacking pincers at my sudden charge as if to ward me away. The eight legs allowed it to set up a defensive posture while it shrieked for backup.
I dashed into the opening and closed the distance at an incredible speed. A part of me wanted to fire the spear tip early, but I held back from using my greatest weapon at such a distance.
Deciding to play this aggressively, I also started to zig and zag while watching the dune’narock react.
I couldn’t see the stinger as the bottom of the carapace loomed large from the rearing posture. For a moment, I could feel a sense of it welcoming me closer. It did have two pincers and a stinger with two of the three already lining me up.
The black casing drank in the sunlight and the beady eyes fixated on my charge. I could feel the loose soil flinging behind me as the fifty yards separating us became thirty, then ten.
Whoosh!
The tail burst from under the frame, shooting directly for my chest. Both pincers guessed I’d jump over the sharp spike at the tail’s tip.
