by Thomas Fay
‘What do you have, John?’ he asked.
‘A child with the woman I love. A new life.’
The admiral looked almost sad for a moment.
‘The life you think you have is an illusion. The child … is not yours. She is pure Centaurian.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘Have you ever seen a male Centaurian?’
‘Of course I … no, I haven’t actually. Wait … what are you saying?’
‘They’re not like us, John. They’re like clones. Each Centaurian creates a copy of themselves, except it’s unique, something we believe is a result of the birthing ritual and the underlying mass consciousness, as well as an imprint from their chosen partner. We have no idea how they do it but that’s how they’re made. Which is why you will never see a male Centaurian. There aren’t any. There’s no need for them.’
‘I …’
‘I’m sorry, John.’
Selize, how could you keep this from me? Then I realised something else. Jonas Tan.
‘How long have you been spying on them?’
‘Since the first Expeditionary Fleet reached Alpha Centauri. Their primary directive was to analyse the Centaurians and determine if they posed a threat to the UEP. The gateway to Sol would never have been constructed if they had deemed them to be a threat.’
‘Then why have you been watching them? And who’s been doing the watching—I thought I was privy to the most classified secrets?’
‘An alien race with potent telepathic abilities, including a shared consciousness? How could we not watch them? Even if they posed no immediate threat, they were too powerful for us to ignore. And now it seems they may be our only hope of saving the sentient species of the known universe.’
‘I can’t believe this. Any of it. It doesn’t make sense—how could they have evolved naturally?’
The admiral said nothing. His grey eyes stared at mine.
‘Tell me the truth—what are they?’
Again the admiral said nothing. I thought of Selize, our time together, the incredible way I felt around her. The Centaurian telepathic bond, the shared consciousness. Then I thought of the psionic wave. The Centaurians had known they had the ability. How could they have known, unless ...
‘They were engineered, weren’t they?’ I asked. Even as I said it, Jeni’s words echoed in my mind. It’s almost like they were designed that way.
The admiral blinked but said nothing.
‘Who made them?’
‘You know the answer to that question just like you know why they are the only ones who can stop this threat.’
‘The Founders. They made the Centaurians.’
The admiral nodded.
‘We believe so. Which should underline just how outmatched we are. They created the Centaurians and the Proxians—one species was engineered to have incredible telepathic abilities, a shared consciousness that spans across the vastness of space; the other, the ability to move between the very layers of space. These are not natural abilities. They were created.’
‘But … why?’
‘That we don’t know but I suspect that until we came along there was a balance here. The Proxians have the upper hand in a physical confrontation with their dark-space ability but the Centaurians can sense them and even incapacitate them with the power of their minds. A stalemate. Until humans blundered into this experiment, or whatever it is.’
I stared at him even as my mind raced with the implications. I thought of Sonya, that beautiful little miracle that made me so happy. The truth seemed so far removed from the reality.
‘I don’t care who made them or why. All I care about is how I feel about her,’ I said.
Admiral Jess looked at me for a long moment but said nothing.
‘I won’t risk their lives to help you stop the Founders.’
‘John, you don’t understand the extent of the Founder threat. If the Space Navy falls there will be nothing to stand in their way. They will reclaim what was theirs millennia ago. Including this system.’
A part of me knew what he was saying was true. I also knew with certainty if the threat was coming there was only one place I needed to be—directly in its path, doing everything I could to keep Selize and Sonya safe.
‘Can we stop them?’
The admiral had looked tired before. Now his face showed his years like never before.
‘I honestly don’t know. We’ve spent centuries hunting for Founder technology, scouring the known systems for hints of who and what they were. Despite our best efforts we know little and that Dyson sphere you found was the only functional installation we ever encountered.’
‘So what you’re saying is there’s little chance of stopping them?’
‘No, I’m saying it’s going to be a struggle for survival unlike anything mankind has ever faced before. But we won’t go down without a fight.’
I looked at the man charged with the impossible task of stopping the Founders, of saving mankind. He had changed much over the years but a part of me still recognised the man who, despite his long tours of duty, had helped to raise me. The man who had never forgiven himself for the attack on the Aurora station that had cost him his wife. My mother. Elizabeth Mary Stanton.
‘What can I do, Dad?’ I asked.
Admiral James Edward Simon Stanton, or Jess as he was known, took a deep breath. Releasing it slowly, he looked at me.
‘John, I’m giving you command of our prototype Prismatic ship. It’s on its way to Dyson Alpha now.’
‘Prismatic?’
‘Yes. Following your encounter with the Dyson sphere and those photonic drones, our tech boys have been working nonstop analysing the data you collected. Over the last five years they’ve been working on a single vessel. The Achilles Shield is the first and only Prismatic ship in the fleet. It utilises photonic propulsion, prismatic shielding and a graviton power plant. It’s the best ship we’ve got and I’m putting our best officer in it—you.’
‘Will it stop the Founders?’
‘No. It will give you the ability to follow them, analyse them and, hopefully, slow them down.’
‘Then how do we stop them? The fleets?’
‘The First Fleet has been ordered to protect the Morpheus II ark ships departing Luna and to help keep order throughout the Sol system. The Second Fleet is overseeing our evacuation from Tau Ceti and other systems.’
‘Then what …’ my words trailed off as I finally realised why he was really here.
‘You need the Centaurians. You want to use their psionic wave to defeat the Founders.’
Admiral Jess said nothing.
‘Is that why you held back the fleet during the invasion? You wanted to force them to use it against the Proxians. You wanted to see what they were capable of.’
‘John, you must understand. They are our only hope and we needed to test their telepathic abilities.’
‘You knew what would happen.’
‘No. We’ve suspected for a long time. When the Cetians started helping the Proxians with their gateway generators, we knew the return of the Founders was imminent. The Houses of Tau that are allied with us will fall as the others unite behind the Founders. Where do you think they’ll come next?’
‘You son of a bitch!’
I slammed my fist into the table. Standing up, I began to walk away.
‘John, please. This was the only way. We reviewed every possible option. The Centaurians are our only hope.’
I stopped. Taking a deep breath, I turned around.
‘What about Sirius?’ I asked.
‘Our prototype ships and weapons will be sent to defend Sol with the exception of the Prismatic ship, which will be yours to command.’
I stared past him at the shimmering surface of Chiron. A part of me wished that my Lazarus implant and the dampening field weren’t preventing Selize and the Centaurians from hearing this conversation. It would have made it easier. But the decision was mine.
Fac
ing the most powerful officer in the Space Navy, the man whom the UEP had entrusted with the survival of our species, I knew there was only one thing I could do.
And I hated him for putting me in this position.
‘I’ll do it.’
‘Thank you, John. I knew—’
‘But you and I are done.’
I turned and walked out of the bar.
****
I stopped ten steps after I left the bar. I took a deep breath. I still couldn’t believe my father had put me in this position, that he would ask this of me, that he hadn’t told me the truth. But he knew I would do anything to keep the woman I loved and our child safe. I didn’t care what he said. Sonya was my daughter. I had a family now. I’d been given a second chance at a life with someone I loved. I also realised it was time to let go of the past.
‘Goodbye, Vanessa,’ I whispered. I knew her memory would live on in me forever but I had to let go of the guilt I felt at her passing. I had to focus on the present.
I walked down the corridor to the turbo-lift. Entering, I hit the button for deck twelve. The doors slid shut. They reopened fifteen seconds later. I approached the door to Selize’s quarters. Reaching out, I activated the door sensor. The door slid open with the faintest hiss of air. I entered.
‘John, are you alright?’ Selize asked. She was seated on the bed. Baby Sonya was nestled in her arms. As I stared at her, my father’s words echoed in my mind. They’re not like us, John.
I looked deep into Selize’s eyes, marvelling at the effect she had on me. My gaze travelled to the little bundle she held in her arms. If what the admiral had told me was true, then she wasn’t really my daughter, just a genetic copy of Selize. I shook my head. I knew what I felt was real and I knew there was a part of me in there too. The admiral had hinted at that, despite his revelation about the Centaurians’ true nature.
‘John, what is it?’
An image of a multidimensional Founder ship destroying Earth filled my mind. The shattered remains of my home world exploded around me as the image hung suspended in time. Into that moment floated a single thought, a single image. Of hope.
‘Selize?’ I said.
‘Yes, John?’
‘I need your help.’
‘Of course. What do you need me to do?’
I took a deep breath as I looked into her crystalline cat’s eyes.
‘I need your help to save us. All of us.’
The End
TIMELINE
2082 – The United Earth Parliament (UEP) is formed. The UEP’s primary directive is to expand humanity from the confines of Earth.
2083 – The UEP launches terraforming ships to Mars and Venus. Meanwhile, the newly formed Minotaur Mining Corporation begins an aggressive asteroid capture program around Jupiter.
2093 – After a decade of operations, Minotaur Mining creates a viable habitat in orbit around Jupiter. Dubbed the Icarus Installation, it continues to expand, as raw materials are literally thrown into orbit around it.
2102 – The UEP begins a comprehensive program to expand the subterranean complex on Luna and authorises the construction of three new space stations around Earth.
2121 – Professor Alexander Vasnikov makes a breakthrough in graviton flux generation. His prototype generator is constructed with funding from a UEP scientific grant. Using the generator, he creates the first stable wormhole. A volunteer travels a distance of ten kilometres in less than a second, between two generators located in Antarctica. The exotic particles used to breach the fabric of space are dubbed ‘Vasnikov’ particles.
2123 – Terraforming on Mars suffers a catastrophic setback with the destruction of orbital terraforming platforms. The UEP diverts resources towards gateway technology. Minotaur Mining acquires the remains of the terraforming platforms and begins construction of the Helios Installation.
2145 –The UEP contracts with the best private ship-building facilities in orbit around Earth and Luna to create a powerful space fleet. The UEP Space Navy is born.
2183 – The Venus terraforming project is suspended after a century of work. The UEP transfers the remaining budgets into gateway manufacturing, space-station construction and the Space Navy.
2206 – The UEP launches the first Expeditionary Fleet bound for the closest star system, the 4.4 light year distant Alpha Centauri. Comprising seven Morpheus-class ark ships, the journey is expected to take eighty years under one-quarter light speed propulsion.
2208 – The UEP launches the second Expeditionary Fleet bound for Tau Ceti.
2210 – The UEP launches a third Expeditionary Fleet, in secret, bound for the Sirius system.
2242 – The UEP commissions a second fleet for the Space Navy in readiness for when the ark ships reach their destinations and gateways are opened back to the Sol system.
2286 – The first Expeditionary Fleet reaches Alpha Centauri and humans discover that we are not alone in the universe. First contact with the Centaurians is peaceful and the gateway back to the Sol system is constructed.
2287 – Construction begins on the Maelstrom Centauri Installation in orbit around the Centaurian home world of Omicron Alpha.
2289 – Construction begins on the Epsilon Centauri shipyards with funding provided directly by the UEP.
2292 – Construction begins on the Dyson Alpha star port in high orbit around the Dyson Alpha gas giant.
2298 – The second Expeditionary Fleet reaches Tau Ceti, establishing contact with the Houses of Tau who are engaged in a centuries-long civil war for control of the Forum.
2299 – The second Expeditionary Fleet comes under heavy fire from certain houses of Tau. Other houses, including the powerful Un’Glaz faction, realising the potential of having the UEP as allies, defend the remainder of the Expeditionary Fleet for the promise of assistance. The UEP begins construction on a gateway to allow the Space Navy to assist the Houses of Tau.
2300 – The Tau Ceti gateway is completed. The UEP sends the Second Fleet to Tau Ceti to assist the houses which have signed the Treaty of Tau with Earth.
2302 – The Un’Glaz faction gains control of the Forum with the backing of the UEP and the Second Fleet.
2307 – The UEP outpost on Tau III is established as a sovereign human settlement inside Tau Ceti. The Space Navy presence in Tau Ceti continues to grow, much to the opposition of the rival houses within the Forum.
2360 – The third Expeditionary Fleet reaches Sirius. Construction begins on a gateway back to Earth to allow the UEP to relocate its highly classified ship and weapon projects from the Sol system.
2365 – The first deep-space penal colony is established in the Sirius system.
2375 – The Proxians invade Alpha Centauri. The Proxo-Centaurian war begins.
2385 – The decade-long conflict between Alpha and Proxima Centauri ends when the UEP intervenes, deploying both the First and Second fleet.
2407 – The UEP gateway between Saturn and the Ithaca deep-space research station is disrupted, leading to the disappearance of the Atlantis V free-merchant ship. A group calling themselves the Vasnikov Purists claims responsibility. Their sole objective is the achievement of their namesake’s vision of free and unrestricted gateway travel.
2455 – The Aurora space station in orbit around Earth is attacked by the Order of Ba’al, a pirate conglomerate based in the Kuiper Belt. The Space Navy repels the attack but not before the station suffers considerable damage with the destruction of a habitat module and the death of over a hundred thousand people.
2478 – The Arkadia deep-space research station is captured by the Kadmian Raiders. The Space Navy deploys a battalion of marines to retake the station. No further details of the operation are ever released.
2483 – The Icarus Installation vies for sovereignty. The UEP calls in the First Fleet to suppress the uprising. A large number of militias, privateers and free-merchant vessels form up around the Icarus Installation. The Icarus blockade begins.
Sirens Journey
&
nbsp; The Founder Saga
John Stanton came to the Alpha Centauri system to start a new life. What he finds is Selize—a beautiful telepathic Centaurian—and a place among the crew of the Helios Ark free-merchant vessel.
When his new life is threatened by a dangerous enemy, John is forced to turn to the Space Navy for help—the very organisation he swore he’d never return to.
As the situation escalates and the Space Navy puts politics first, John’s only chance to save Alpha Centauri may rest with the Centaurians’ unique ability.
But first they’ll have to survive long enough to use it.
