Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller

by Jedaiah Ramnarine

  The controls were set for Zero’s old base in the forest using the autopilot feature to take us there. I telepathically communed with my ship, making sure it took us there at a comfortable pace – allowing Colin to get a solid view of the world he now walked on. The windows came down, and he saw my civilization the way I needed him to see it. He had to connect to this world. Not only through the screens of a virtual lens, but to see and experience the Mars he saved centuries ago.

  My world had more order yet it did not disrespect nature. The trees in every city were healthy, well kept and groomed, while the lawns paved way for walking areas. Our buildings were not tall. The city’s public places such as schools and work facilities generally had a triangular shape, resembling pyramids but with an upgraded sleek look. The private homes were never close together. They always allowed enough distance for each family to breathe their own air and their shapes were more circular. As we neared Zero’s forest, I could see Colin becoming disturbed by the region.

  “Where are you taking me?” He asked

  “Zero’s old base.”

  I landed the ship and escorted him out. The first thing Colin did upon seeing the ancient zone was fold his arms like he used to when he got into ‘mission mode activated’.

  “You guys kept it around?” His eyes were pointed at the forest growth over the ancient structure

  “It served no purpose beyond an old monumental statue. A history lesson to future generations.”

  “A lesson indeed…”

  “Colin, for being in another world, in another time – you sure are taking this well.”

  “What should I do? Hold my head, scream and panic? That’s not the kind of person I am.”

  “That’s why I want you to stay.”

  Colin wasn’t looking at Zero’s base anymore. He was looking at me

  “You’re the kind of person that won’t give up. No matter how far or how lost you’d become; if it’s one thing I can say with certainty about you – is that you are order.”

  “I didn’t know in your time it was still okay to give flattery.”

  “This is not flattery. Only the truth, and the reason why I need you to go to Sirius with me.”

  Colin took a step forward to me thoughtfully, “You act like I carry this ability alone while you’re the one that mirrors the same strength.”

  “In this regard, we are very alike. Shouldering the load of a thousand men.”

  Colin came closer to me and placed his right hand over his heart respectfully – “I was born into a cold war between man and machine. I spent the better part of my life trying to live by their rules and look what it did. Astraea, you and your people, you’re my people.

  Be it centuries away from the time I came from – you’re my people and that alone is enough motivation for me to do my part. This is a chance for me to live again.”

  I smiled at his vigor. It gave me hope and at last, the little ‘cold war’ between us had finally started to come to a close. There’s still just one more thing I have left to tell him and I’ll be waiting for when the time is right…

  Solar Opus

  The Martian people will prepare themselves for the journey ahead. The Timeless Drifter would find herself no longer dazed and confused but renewed and determined. She’d use all the hurt, the disappointment and the letdowns as fuel for the greater good and the Ancient Spaceman would be right there with her. A stroke of fate has made it so, that these two would reunite across spacetime to bring their people the final step toward peace and intergalactic reach.

  The Mission Begins

  In life, we always have a choice. There’s two sides to everything. I could’ve chosen to cry, moan and be angry at the over the death of the one I loved more than anyone else, or I could choose to empower myself from the hardships I endure and somehow find a way to keep on living. And that’s what I intend to do. Keep on going, no matter what.

  Today, I’d be walking on board the LARS-0 beamship; a ship capable of interstellar and time travel along with a crew of five brave men and women. We won’t be alone either. The LARS-ZERO is equipped with a sophisticated intelligence that operates throughout the whole ship, keeping us safe from dangers we may have miscalculated or forgotten. LARS-ZERO is also equipped with various forms of weaponry. From control and shutdown devices to onboard handheld beamers and other defensive technology capable of withstanding attacks from any outside space civilization who wish to bring harm to us.

  The living quarters are not tight, coffin-like spaces like the ones undeveloped humans use in their beginning space adventures. Inside LARS-ZERO, space itself warps, allowing much more room available than what appears to the naked eye viewing outside. Each member has their own quarters, though small, and the ship features a café area, plus gym and exercise rooms. The ship’s main command deck is located on the top deck. LARS oversees most of the activity, following our inputs and constantly checking to make sure we arrive at the most logical answers. AI in our time, far succeeds human intellect. However, our machines are on our side.

  The crew consists of Navigational Director – Logikos, Ship Handler – Branson, Tech Expert – Michael, Specialist – Lea and Defense Coordinator – Andrew. I came on board as The Council’s Representative. Although I had disciplines sprinkled through the crew’s different skillset, my main duty was the mission’s completion. Thus, I become LARS-ZERO’s captain. Colin’s officiated title was designated as ‘Mission Advisory’.

  ‘You’re going beyond our neutral zone boundary. Whatever you encounter out there, it could spark something that we aren’t prepared for…’ I remember Monasos pulling me aside before I boarded to have a private word – ‘We won’t be able to send official support. Not immediately. Whatever happens out there, should the team fail and be compromised by outside alien forces, we cannot have any links back to us. This mission is off the grid.’

  ‘I understand.’

  I stood glued to the outside window, looking at Mars quickly turn into nothing more than a dot. The rest of my crew behind me, waiting for my word. Everyone had already been debriefed on our mission so I needed not to say anything concerning exactly what we must do. Our mission is to go to Sirius and unlock the final clues to our origins and hopefully, they can help us revert a genetic deformity they caused countless eons ago. If resistance is met, leave. I turn around to look at the faces of my crew. Some of them, I saw in past lives during the time I walked with Colin around the Zero Sphere incident. I’m sure he sensed it too.

  “You all know why we’re going out there but there’s one thing I wish to cement into your consciousness’.” I walked to the center of the room, eyeing the brave men and women in it with a balance of strength and wisdom – “We are alone out there. No official support will be given.”

  I halted any further movement, “The zones we are entering are areas we have not yet explored nor do we know who inhabit them or for what reason. There may be new evils lurking out there, completely unrelated to our mission that may attempt to steer this ship off course but rest assured, we will not be failing this time. For so long I have civilization after civilization, rise and tear itself to shreds trying to find life’s answers. You and I, in this time, we’re privileged to say that we have found those answers and we’ve unlocked great powers and great mysteries only to discover that so much more is still out there. There was a time when man used to hold his head to the skies and wonder about his place in this grand architecture. Well, let me tell you something. We’re pioneers. Inspiration for the future, a creative piece of art of the universe, expressing itself as a human for a short time. Today we remember who we are and where we’re going. I don’t want any grim attitudes on this ship. Remember who we are. We are the light of the cosmos. LARS, take us the boundary.”

  Smiles erupted across their faces like olden dynamite exploding with newfound wonder and joy. Suddenly this mission didn’t seem so grey. It lost its bleak tones, and yes, despite all the very real danger that might be lurking out t
here, the truth is, I wasn’t about to let us sail off to the dark seas without knowing that we are human and inside every human is the wonder of wonders. The neutral observer, the fragment of Creation that propels us to continue going. That pushes us against the storm no matter how much we cry or moan, we’re all going to that place sooner or later. We all evolve. We all take steps forward. And this mission? This mission’s just another step forward. Not just for my people but for the universe at large.

  “Quite a speech you spun there.” Colin came to me after the rest of the crew settled into their stations. I kept watch over the darkness of space. Honestly I could live out here. The greatest part about space, isn’t all the fantastic wonders out there. It’s the quiet. The nothingness that unlocks the doorways to everything.

  “I might’ve learned a thing or two from watching you.” I responded looking back at him with a neutral yet warm smile

  “No doubt there.” Colin folded his arms thoughtfully, coming to my side to join my view of the black, outside – “So we’re doing this. We’re finally doing this.”

  “How do you feel about it?”

  “Ready.”

  “Good, so am I.”

  The two of us kept watch on Mars becoming just another light in the endless spiral of the night. It’s funny, when we’re on an earth, we’d say nighttime and daytime when in reality, there is neither.

  The sun only comes up to grant us light for a temporal time and then the night reminds us what we’re really in. It’s always nighttime, really and like a feline, hunting for her pound of flesh; I feel myself embraced in this nighttime. Colin would go ahead and ask me why we didn’t simply warp to our destination. The reason for that is because we cannot cause any spacetime disturbances near our local solar system’s backyard.

  We’ll have to travel to a safe region at the edge of the system to activate our hyperdrives. Furthermore, the way we’ll be handling this mission is through care. Not speed. We’re not in a hurry to walk into any danger zones we need not walk into and for the most part, we’re still investigating despite having a designated plan in mind.

  “LARS…” Colin wondered about the AI, “Is it the same one?”

  “More or less, you can consider it a reincarnation of your old machine friend.”

  Colin’s attention was strapped to the interior of the ship. It was like, watching a little child discover something new. There was a form of innocence in the human, one I’m sure anyone could relate to at some point in their lives

  “LARS, LARS, LARS… Been so long. You mind I try to communicate with it?”

  “Be my guest.” I smirked.

  Colin moved away from me and walked to the center of the command room. I have to admit it was cute watching him try to understand the new tools available to him now, yet recognize that in the end, it’s not really original – is it? Think about it. A means of transportation? We once used that as horses, then we used cars, then we moved on to spaceships and who knows what will come next?

  “LARS.” Colin called for the AI, “You remember me?”

  “Of course I do Colin.” LARS responded, materializing into a holographic image of a featureless humanoid hologram. Colin looked back at me suspiciously. I couldn’t help but laugh at his ignorance

  “You remember the last words you said to me?”

  “Goodbye.”

  “Yeah, that’s right. You told me ‘goodbye’, like you weren’t going to see me ever again.”

  “It was less to do with you and more to do with me Colin. The certainty of where you would’ve ended up had surpassed my former predecessor’s means of calculation.”

  “Predecessor…” Colin repeated the word thoughtfully

  “You don’t think you’re the only forms of life to harbor reincarnation processes, do you?”

  “Not at all LARS. I’m just happy to see you around again.”

  “It is a pleasure I share for you too.”

  Colin smiled proudly, shaking his head in happiness for a change. Then he set his sights for me, “LARS-ZERO, huh? Didn’t think the future would want to keep memories of old wars.”

  “Zero was never a villain. It was only a reflection of our hearts that eventually manifested itself beyond what we expected.” I told him as I moved away, headed for my quarters. I needed some time to meditate.

  Entering the state of nothingness is the doorway to unraveling everything. The key of clear sight meditation is no thought whatsoever. One needs to embrace the neutral energies of all things. The Creation; the Universal Consciousness – the grand structure that we are all a part of and have some role to play in one way or another. No matter how small or big, bird or fish, man or giant, star or galaxy. It is the place where I find absolute peace and the time when past lives’ wisdom comes gushing back to me like an all too familiar river.

  After meditation, I was relaxed and ready to handle whatever needed to be attended to. Upon exiting my chamber, I saw Colin helping himself around. He was interacting with the rest of the crew, becoming familiar with them and what not. I was pleased I didn’t have to hold his hand the whole voyage. Colin proved time and time again that he was his own man and very capable of handling himself on his own. I respected that.

  ‘Come to me.’ I inserted a telepathic thought into his head.

  He halted his discussion with Branson immediately like a lightning bolt had shocked him all of a sudden. It was obvious he’d been enjoying it dearly, however, we have a mission to complete. I wanted to take some time to investigate his thoughts further. Perhaps we could discover more about what might happen. He looked around the room, looking for me and when he did see me, there was no doubt that the call came from me.

  “What is it?” He asked, taking a glance back at Branson who’d already waved him farewell till later – “Branson was explaining the ship’s operative integrity. Very impressive, I must admit. Most of this ship’s tech is generated by the power of the mind. That’s why there are so few controls. If this ship were to be discovered by a primitive species, they’d have little to no clue how to operate it for centuries.”

  “Tech?” I questioned the phrase rhetorically having the exact idea what it meant

  “Technology, excuse me. I’m still adapting to your terms and phrases. I may spill some of my olden ones now and then. Now, you called me, didn’t you?”

  “It’s time to investigate your mind further. Come with me.”

  Gently but firmly, I grabbed Colin’s right arm to lead him to my quarters. It was the first time I’d made physical contact with him since the trip. He was beaming, although he wasn’t the type to reveal his feelings outwardly. Once we arrived inside my quarters, I instructed him to sit in one of the two, white armchairs while I opened the windows to the outside. My room was simple yet beautiful and minimalist.

  “Great view. Might be better here than on the command deck.” He commented

  “I like to be reminded of my place in the cosmos.” I sat in my arm chair, holding my hands together and shot a gaze into his eyes that demanded him to pay no attention to anything else but me, “Are you ready?”

  He nodded in acknowledgment.

  At first, we keep eye contact, eliminating the room and all its pretty vicinity. Then the gaze grows stronger and it looks like the room bends. At that point, I’m able to feel his vibrations strongly because I’m connecting to him directly. From there I’d go on to close my eyes in pure concentrative effort, focusing only on this connection with no disturbances. No outside thought of the mission, what I’d eat or wear or anything that would hinder this process.

  ‘Hello Astraea.’ His mind speaks

  ‘Hello Ancient Spaceman.’ I tease

  It only takes a simple gesture of warmth and I could feel him becoming more comfortable with the process already. Sifting through his mind what not be the easiest task. From his training with Adria, Colin had learned how to block thought readers to a certain extent. Nevertheless, Adria’s training could be considered primitive to what
we can offer in my time. It would only take patience to fix the puzzle.

  ‘Did you find what you’re looking for?’ He wonders

  ‘Be quiet.’ I scolded him as I kept searching.

  The conflicting thoughts would do me no favors in easing this tedious process. I needed him to be silent as I made my way through the arches of what I’d consider, a maze. The depth of my search went lower and lower into a secret palace he’d kept safe for so long. There, I saw some of Colin’s most precious memories. Ones he held so dear to him, he’d never admit their importance openly. The world he came from and the way he grew up, Colin was always forced to keep his mouth shut.

  And now? He has no intention of being passive anymore.

  I see the memories of his wife – Adria. Yes, she died a long time ago and for the most part, Colin was able to move on with his life but he still held her close to his heart. It’s why he chose to be a widow. I see his son Josh and the frustrations the two of them have. Colin agreed with Josh all along but he couldn’t simply endanger the position he had with the government at that time. He did the best he could to keep his boy safe. I see the fragments of memory of his father, and how much he wanted to be like him and restore order, peace, harmony and love to a new world his parents’ believed in. Then I see his mother. She gave her life for him when he was only a child and it’s something that always haunted him. The only way he could’ve returned the favor was to save not only his mother but Mars from the Sirian remnants, although personally I believe that ‘returning the favor’ is an undeveloped concept. His mother loved him more than he understands. Colin would later grow in his teenage years into maturing on his own. From foster parents to government officiated guardianship, he was shaped into something idealistic for the average Martian.

  The feelings and emotions associated with these memories were intoxicating. I knew very well that Colin was entering a state of mixed feelings during this process but it has to be done anyway. I directed the scope of the telepathic practice towards the last events he remembered.