by Rian Davis
“I’d love to see their body composition,” Jen. “How their cell processes work. How they make energy. What is the composition of their mitochondria? How different it must be from ours,” she said.
“These are all questions, and I’m sure scientists in other disciplines could think of many more. I shall see you both out and remain here after all.”
“What? You can’t stay here, Dr. Aspect.” Jen said.
“Of course I can. I’m a strange old man with no more family. No one will miss me.”
“Nonsense!” I said.
“Jen,” I said looking at my watch. “We really have to go. They’re expecting us. Dr. Aspect, are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“I told you. I’m staying here. I had thought that I’d like to see Kranehouse again, but you’ve convinced me the other way. If I go, then I’m convinced I’ll never see this place again. And that to me is unacceptable.”
“But you can’t stay here,” I said. I didn’t want to point out the obvious, and which should have been apparent to him.
“I don’t have time for this,” Dr. Aspect said. “I should be spending what time I have studying this ancient race.”
“Studying for what purpose?” I asked. “What is the point of learning from them when you can’t or won’t share your knowledge with others?”
“I hate to say it, but he’s right,” said Jen. “You’ve got to come back to the surface with us. You’ve got to help us. Share this knowledge.”
“For what? Then just have another war? One thing about wars is they never end and there’s always someone to say this one is the final one. They always say, ‘Oh this is the war to end all wars’, oh yes, and then what happens? An even bigger war happens later.”
“Those are the decisions of a few people though. What about the rest of humanity? The ones who don’t have a say? Should they all get swept under by the heat and the rain? This kind of energy could be used to help preserve their lives, preserve their ability to feed themselves by making energy cheap rather than the ever increasing out of reach level it is now.”
“Your elites won’t allow it,” he replied sadly. “Your elites now are probably waiting for you to return and take your data to make reports on how they can exploit it for their own narrow interests. They don’t have the greater good in mind. They only care about their own futures. It’s a pity, really.”
I didn’t have anything to say after that. There was no answer to his words.
“Let’s go,” Jen said. “We have to get back. This is very interesting and all, but they’re waiting for us. I’ll tell them you’re not coming Dr. Aspect.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry that I don’t agree with your view of the world.”
“What will you do here?” I asked.
“You know the answer: Continue my research. Collect as much knowledge as I can and then when I’m satisfied, I might connect with the outside world. We’ll see.”
“Sure,” I said. “Good luck.”
I looked at the miniature-sun once more. I was as awed as ever. It remained there with the digital machinery like cell automaton all around it, making perhaps trillions of calculations for some unknown answer. I looked at the center of the miniature-sun—its shape a black sphere as if it were the eye of the Universe looking back. Finally, I pulled away. Then Jen and I turned to head back towards the vessel.
That’s when we heard the voice.
“Hello, Jen, Commander Jake, and oh, you must be Dr. Aspect.”
It was Alex. He had a strange grin on his face as if he were drunk or smiling at some inside joke.
“Alex, what are you doing here?” I asked with surprise. At that moment, I felt bad about not communicating my delay. I supposed that finding Dr. Aspect would have been a good enough reason, but I wasn’t sure what he wanted.
“Here? I’ve heard everything you’ve been discussing. We followed you on the tracker that we have on your suit commander.”
My smile faded, while Alex’s only got larger.
“What on earth are you talking about Alex?” I knew something was up, but before I could do anything, Alex pulled out his rifle, the standard M21 issue that was put into place less than a decade before. He pointed it directly at my heart. Mine was back in the Cucumber of course.
“I’m talking about the jackpot,” Alex said. “Your stupidity just led me to the Golden Goose. Sorry I’m going to take it.”
Then I realized what Kraftberger had been trying to tell me. It all made sense.
“You are a Son of a—.”
“Yes! Bingo! We have a winner here. Maybe we should have included you in our group. I am a Son of Gaea. Well done!”
“But you have family back home. We talked about this over drinks. How could you betray them?”
“Hey, our genes make it through don’t they? If I survive, they live on through me, right? Jake, do you know how SOG works?”
“What the hell is going on here?” Jen asked. Dr. Aspect who had come in from behind us, seemed equally as surprised at first, but I noticed he seemed to be a fast learner and backed away from the fray, busy with something. He seemed to be a pretty wily guy, and I wondered if he hadn’t had some military service in his background. He seemed to be far calmer than he should have been in this kind of situation.
Alex came closer to me, his gun leveled straight at my heart, ready to fire at any time. “I want that data that Dr. Aspect has, and I don’t want any tricks. Dr. Aspect, give it to me.”
I knew how SOG worked. I knew as soon as he had what he wanted, he would kill us all.
Chapter 13
“No, Dr. Aspect, don’t listen to—,” I started to say but was interrupted with a punch from Alex to the gut.
“Give it to me now, or I waste him,” Alex said. For the first time, I noticed that Ross was with him along with another member of the original crew on the research vessel.
Alex saw that Dr. Aspect hesitated to give him the control panel with his data. “Fine, you don’t want to play nice? I’ll take it myself. Ross go get it from him.”
Ross was easily able to overtake Dr. Aspect who gave as much resistance as he could but was no match for the much stronger and younger man. He was thrown down in the process, and for the first time I could see the extent of Dr. Aspect ’s injuries. He was in poor shape, and I hadn’t had a chance to ask him how or what he was eating and drinking—probably not much. He was certainly thin.
“Ross, have you got it?” Alex said.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.”
He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. I was so surprised that I almost let him have another chance. I jabbed forward with a swift uppercut. It packed enough force to make him lose his breath and drop the gun. Next, I kicked his left leg, trying to bring him down, but he partially parried it and backed up. I approached him with a swing and went for his throat with a punch. It connected but with too little force to keep him out of the game.
I hadn’t paid attention to Ross. It was a big mistake.
“Back off, or I’ll waste the girl.”
“I’m not a –“ Jen tried to say before being interrupted by some type of force. He was cruel to her. I knew he was SOG too.
“Drop her you bastard,” I said even as I gave Alex a swift kick that sent him reeling. He fell but quickly recovered. He was too highly trained to stay down for long. His body was that of an elite soldier.
“I bet this works!” Alex said before tossing something at Dr. Aspect. His body caught the brunt of the impact with his crumpled form. I knew before even seeing it that it was a grenade. The logic was cruel and efficient. I couldn’t toss the grenade at them as they had Jen. I would have about five seconds to decide what to do with it or whether to abandon Dr. Aspect altogether and chase them. They knew I wouldn’t abandon him, and they were right.
I couldn’t throw the grenade towards the exit portal. If there was another place to put it, I did not know.
Instead, I took the grenade and through it in the closet of where the Golem was. I ran to Dr. Aspect and threw my body around him and waited for the inevitable blast.
The force of the explosion came quite quickly with such fury that I did not know if I were seriously injured or not. Luckily most of the blast was deflected by the confines of the closet. With my ears ringing to the point that I could not hear much, I looked down at Dr. Aspect. He was in pretty bad shape, and I wasn’t’ getting much of a response.
I was caught in a dilemma: should I chase Alex and try to rescue Jen or stay here and see to Dr. Aspect. I made my choice. I laid him on the ground gently and moved his head back so as to keep the air passage open while keeping a wary eye on the portal to see if they would return. I knew if I had chased them, I probably wouldn’t have caught up with them in time. If I did reach them, what was I going to do? Have a fist fight with two highly trained commandos? True, I was trained as well, but I sensed that it was better to regroup than to immediately rush back into battle.
It was a bitter pill to swallow. Every inch of me wanted to go rushing after him, but something within me held me back. It’s not time, my intuition said. You have to regroup and plan out your strategy, or you’re both dead.
Chapter 14
Dr. Aspect stirred. I had a little water from a bottle, which I gave to him. I was about to say something to alleviate my pain at seeing Jen get led out by those bastards, and my cowardice at not following sooner, but he spoke up first.
“Help me up,” he said with a strained voice. He was gripping his ribs very tightly, and I think he was losing some blood through his mouth—never a good sign. The only light in the room now came from the miniature-sun outside. Its bright glow overwhelmed all else. I could have sworn it was lighter before. I wondered for the first time if Dr. Aspect didn’t have some more control over the lighting system—and perhaps other things—than I had given him credit for.
“Help me into that thing.”
“What thing?” I said, but I already knew the answer.
“Hurry,” he said with a wheeze. “The Z4, as I call it. The Golem.”
I hesitated for a moment before lifting him up. His long gray hair and beard wrapped around the thick black jacket he was wearing. He moaned in pain nearly the whole time. Inch by inch, we moved together towards the Golem, the one he called ‘the Z4’. I wanted to ask why he called it that, but he was too much in pain to be distracted.
I thought about how the hell we would get him in that thing when it suddenly moved of its own accord. The damn thing walked down from the table and stopped directly in front of us. Its footsteps were heavy enough to cause a vibration on the cold hard floor. A few seconds after it stopped, it opened up somehow. There was an opening that was big enough for a much larger person, but he insisted I put him inside.
“Without it, I’ll die now,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.
That got me going faster. I strained to lift him inside. My own muscles were weak and aching, and I began to worry if I had my own wounds to worry about.
Once he was firmly inside, the Golem closed around him, and I was staring at an alien robot that was roughly shaped like a Chiron—or the basic sketch that I understood of one but on a much larger scale, perhaps three meters. It was a disconcerting experience. The head was huge and menacing, and I didn’t realize how big the body shape was until I stood fully in front of it on the same level. We were still in the spherical room, and it seemed like the head reached more than halfway towards the center.
“Dr. Bloom, I’m about to do something very strange, and rather than waste time explaining now and causing more confusion, I’m simply going to do it, and then I will give instructions after I’m done. Are you ready?”
I stood in amazement at this speech. What could I say? I obviously didn’t know what I was going to be “ready” for, but I knew that time was slipping away. Whatever was left of my team was back at base, and Jen was hostage, perhaps dead already.
“Yeah, I guess.”
“I’m sorry to do it this way. It will be shocking, but I’m dying, and I have no other choice.”
Here I was, with the world-famous Aspect, famous scientist who devised the great unifying equations to flesh out quantum gravity, great-grandson of the famous scientist who helped develop the correct model of the atom. Here I was shortly after meeting him and losing the love of my life, telling me he was dying.
I stood in shock.
Dr. Aspect ignored me and pushed another panel. A portal opened and there was what looked like a great glowing device that was clearly channeling energy of some great amount. There was another Golem suit in the newly revealed room, standing on a dais. He walked up to the portal and paused for a moment. I knew something terribly strange was about to happen, but before I could cry out, he walked into it and grabbed two long pillars that looked suspiciously charged with a strong current of electrons. His suit lit up in a blue metallic glow, and then cried out. The Z4 Golem stopped and stood there. I walked towards it as it had a very strong smell of hot energy about it, despite the cool temperature.
Two large swivel hands appeared, two fingers each of course, and the Golem stood up straight, eventually hovering about five meters off the ground, nearing the ceiling of the much larger room.
“Wait, stop,” I said, running towards the hands, but he was already high above me. His Golem was lifted and then a huge pulse of energy, different from before, swept through the Golem. I could see that the source was the miniature sun, coursing through the very fabric of the building and all its intricate circuitry. The Golem suit that he had been in lowered to the ground and stood still. I was afraid that he had died from all the energy bursts and called out his name, but there was no response. At last, grief took hold of me. I broke down, and covered my head with my hands and wept a great deal. I had spent so long training myself to not be affected by emotion, both as a scientist and a soldier. However, I had reached my limit.
It was about two minutes or so when the voice appeared from the Golem. “Dr. Bloom. Dr. Bloom, please don’t be so emotional. Stand up. Dr. Bloom, stand up.”
I heard the voice, but could not believe what I was hearing, for here was Dr. Aspect ’s voice, except this time it sounded like a young, invigorated version.
“Get in the other suit, Dr. Bloom. Do not worry about me. My mortal coil has been properly disposed of in the way of the Chirons: reunification with infinity.”
“Disposed of? That’s impossible. Then to whom am I talking to?”
“I am Dr. Aspect ’s residual. I am neither Dr. Aspect as you knew him, nor am I not him. I am what’s left over from him as he requested.”
“Requested? So he basically killed himself just now.”
“No. He transformed himself—into me. I am neither the human you knew of as Dr. Aspect, but I am not fully a being he referred to as a Chiron. In fact, I am neither and both at the same time. He had many failures, and these he did not record. In short, he chose which parts would form his residual. There was one worry, however.”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying. He’s been reborn in that suit—what he called a ‘Golem suit’?”
“Yes. In fact, Dr. Aspect as you knew him approximately three minutes thirty-nine seconds ago was worried that he would end up a zombie—at least in the David Chalmer’s sense, meaning that he was the same person but without an active consciousness. But that is not the case. He had some emotions programmed successfully, and a semblance of consciousness, though there are limits. The technology of the Chirons is not infinite unfortunately. However, I think you’ll be quite surprised.”
“What in the hell is going on here? I don’t understand anything of what you say.”
“You could say Dr. Aspect ’s soul has been uploaded to this Golem, unit Z4. He—I—am here to assist you. I have access to much of the Chiron’s technology and history. I can guide you through your present difficulties.”
“Sure, but this is crazy. We
need to move quickly whatever you’ve got planned. They’ve got Jen and perhaps the others are still alive about to die due to lack of oxygen. I doubt they’ve been generous with keeping them with a sufficient supply.”
“Ah yes, you mean the Sons of Gaea. I remember recording your conversations about it.”
“Then you know the danger that faces the world?”
“I have a notion of it, yes. My consciousness is not completely gone, as I mentioned. I still have a stake in what happens to humanity. Why do you think I transformed in this way in the first place?”
“I don’t know. You’ve got to help me now. This guy Alex and whoever he’s with do not give a thought at all about killing people. My friends are in danger now.”
“Then let’s commence. Enter the other Golem suit, the D7.”
“Commence? We’ll work as a team then?”
“Yes, of course. Join the Golem’s body as I have and experience a fraction of what the ancient technology can achieve.”
To say I didn’t have doubts would to be more than a liar. To me the whole thing was surreal, but I didn’t have much choice. I reasoned they scuttled the craft, and I needed his help to get Jen back.
“I’ll do it. What should I do first.”
“Just climb in,” the Dr. Aspect said. “I will help you from there.”
I looked dubiously at the other Golem suit. Could it be a trick? Maybe the Chirons were simply manipulating Dr. Aspect ’s voice to capture me. It didn’t really matter because I was not likely to get out of there without help.
“Will I be ‘reborn’ like Dr. Aspect was?”
“That will not be necessary. Although you will gradually become transformed,” Dr. Aspect said.
“What do you mean?”
“You will merge with the suit, the longer you are inside it, the harder it will be to leave it. That cannot be helped. It is the price to pay for its power.”
