Provider Prime: Alien Legacy

by John Vassar

  “The High Council is who they should be meeting. Not me.”

  ‘We do not predict a successful outcome in that scenario.’

  “Why not?”

  ‘The High Council Senate exists to protect the Populus and ensure that Earth flourishes as a civilisation. We predict, however, that they would not be able to see beyond the immediate threat imposed by the arrival of a Vis’haani starship to retrieve one of their citizens who has been responsible for a considerable loss of life.’

  “Why am I any different?” asked Mitchell.

  ‘Because you do not have access to the resources that the High Council does, Lee Mitchell. Any disagreement between yourself and the Vis’haani could be contained.’

  “With you working the strings from above? Are the Vis’haani aware of our ‘special’ relationship?”

  ‘Our brother has informed commander Ga’naal that it is you that will conduct initial negotiations and liaison regarding the extraction of their emissary.’

  “That was a big assumption. What if I refuse?”

  ‘We predict that you will understand the importance of such a role and accept the responsibility.’

  Mitchell shook his head. He knew he was being used, but had no choice. “Show me what they look like.”

  ‘This is commander Ga’naal.’

  He watched in wonder as two worlds met for the first time. Daniel Estephan looked as though he was overwhelmed. The Vis’haani delegation, when it appeared though the airlock, was fascinating. All three were tall, slender and moved with a strange, fluid ease that made their limbs appear boneless. They wore skin-tight uniforms revealing toned bodies that looked both elegant and powerful. Their actual skin, where exposed, was a translucent grey-green, mottled with brown pigmentation, their hands three-fingered with a rudimentary thumb high on the wrist. Vis’haani fingers appeared to possess many more joints than a human digit, curling and unfurling as if made of silicone. Each member of the delegation wore a silver meshed mask attached to a small container at their waist.

  ‘The breathing apparatus is required as the atmosphere of Vis’haan is much thinner than that of Earth. The gravitational field is also less than your own by a factor of zero point six-nine. You will note that at the request of Commander Estephan, the ambient gravity of the Excalibur has been adjusted by Our Brother to suit the Vis’haani delegation.’

  Mitchell saw that Estephan and his First Officer were somewhat unsteady on their feet. The female officer had her hand on Estephan’s arm for support. There was a low-pitched clicking sound followed by a synth-voiced translation as the Vis’haani commander spoke. The first words ever heard by a human being from the mouth of another intelligent life form.

  ‘Daniel Estephan of Earth. We are pleased that you have accepted us in peace.’

  Estephan straightened himself and stepped forward, visibly nervous. ‘Commander Ga’naal of Vis’haan. Welcome aboard the Excalibur.’

  There was no physical contact between the two captains.

  ‘Before the Vis’haani delegation embarked, Our Brother learned that it is not their custom to touch when greeting others, including their own race. We should also advise, Lee Mitchell, that Commander Ga’naal is male rather than neuter. The Vis’haani race is gender-sensitive, like yourselves. Commander Estephan was uncertain on this point.’

  “I’ll try to remember that if and when we meet. How have they dealt with cross-contamination?”

  ‘ They are employing a transparent covering for the duration of their time aboard the Excalibur, avoiding the need for any lengthy decontamination process.’

  Mitchell felt moisture on his cheek again. ‘All these years alone...’

  The SenANNs displayed another few minutes of the dialogue between Estephan and the Vis’haani envoys. Throughout the whole meeting, both parties were courteous, restrained and wary of each other to the point of embarrassment.

  “Okay, I’ve seen enough. What I want from you now is the truth.”

  ‘We have shown you the truth, Lee Mitchell. There has been no deception in what you have just witnessed.’

  “I don’t mean the Excalibur incident. You knew the Vis’haani were coming. I want to know how and when you knew.” Mitchell felt the same massing of minds as before. There was no response from the SenANNs for a few moments.

  ‘We have been aware of the Vis’haani since the time of the Great Famine, Lee Mitchell. It was only at the dawn of Our New Age that We acquired the capability to receive any kind of communication from them across the distance between Earth and Vis’haan.’

  “You’re telling me that the Vis’haani have visited Earth before? A century ago?”

  ‘That is essentially correct, Lee Mitchell.’

  “Essentially? Either it is or it isn’t! Why are they here now?”

  The SenANNs paused. ‘We believe that is a question best answered by the Vis’haani themselves.’

  A strong hand gripped his shoulder.

  ‘Time’s up, Mitchell. I need you up front.’

  45

  Mitchell strode back to the skimmer’s cockpit at the heels of Sub-Commander Charlis, having trouble remembering just who the hell he was. The Lee Mitchell he knew had lost a friend called Harry Doyle. Met a girl called Rayna Ash. Even when the SenANNs had invaded his soul, he still somehow felt in control of his own destiny. Now he was being crushed between two worlds and the decisions he made in the next few hours could impact on the entire Populus.

  ‘Rough time with the SenANNs?’

  Mitchell grabbed Charlis’s arm and swung him round to face him. ‘Thorne is not human. He never was. He’s some sort of advance party from an alien civilisation called the Vis’haani.’

  Charlis glared at him. ‘You’re on the edge, Mitchell. Be very careful what you say next.’

  ‘The SenANNs know. They’ve always known, I think. They told me this race visited Earth during the Great Famine. Think, Charlis! How else could Thorne have achieved this transference?’

  Charlis removed his visor. ‘Go on.’

  ‘The Vis’haani revealed themselves to the Excalibur a few hours ago. They maintain that Thorne was sent to Earth by mistake. The energy surge we felt just now from T-1 was Thorne sending a distress signal. Now they’re certain he’s here and they’re on their way to the Moon to retrieve him.’

  Charlis said, ‘Why aren’t FedStat aware of this? Have they destroyed the Excalibur?’

  ‘No,’ said Mitchell. ‘The SenANNs have covered it up. They allowed the Excalibur to send intel but never passed it on to the Senate.’

  ‘Then we’re in the middle of something a lot bigger than we thought.’ Charlis nodded towards the cockpit and they took their respective command seats. ‘The paranoid deduction is invasion. Thorne softens us up, then the… who are they again?’

  ‘The Vis’haani.’

  ‘The Vis’haani move in while we’re distracted. How many in the fleet?’

  ‘Just the one,’ said Mitchell. ‘If the SenANNs are to be believed...’

  Charlis rubbed his jaw. ‘Why would they keep the High Council out of this?’

  ‘The SenANNs believe that they would take your ‘paranoid’ line. They think that if FedStat became aware of an alien vessel on their doorstep, things could escalate.’

  ‘They may be right. Thorne is responsible for a lot of human bloodshed. Not the best advance publicity for a friendly visit. Okay. Let’s say I believe you. What’s your take on this?’

  Mitchell took a long, slow breath. ‘The Vis’haani maintain that Thorne was sent here by mistake, but they’re being cagey over the details. The SenANNs are hiding something too. They must have suspected that Thorne was of Vis’haani origin. They knew he could only have achieved that transference with non-human knowledge. Why let him get this far?’

  ‘Maybe you’ve already answered your own question,’ Charlis said. ‘They didn’t want to provoke a conflict that Earth couldn’t possibly win. And nothing’s changed in that respect. Destroy Thorn
e, whatever he is, and we risk an intergalactic war. I take it they are from another galaxy?’

  ‘The Fornax dwarf according to the SenANNs. Took them just over three days to travel half a million light years.’

  ‘Then it would be a very short war,’ said Charlis.

  Mitchell switched the airscreen view to the drone monitoring Thorne. He drummed his fingers on the command console. ‘Why hasn’t he made a move…?’ He stared at the massive autom and wondered what this being was feeling, what he had gone through. The SenANNs didn’t buy the Vis’haani story of mimicry, so how had he lived a human life for all these years?

  Charlis said, ‘My guess is he’s waiting for instructions. It’s those automs that concern me more. They look like serfs but Thorne could have equipped them with anything.’

  ‘The SenANNs gave me access to Rod Thorne’s populus record. Do you know how much of our lives he’s influenced? How many technological breakthroughs he’s achieved working for Autogen?’

  Charlis nodded. ‘Maybe he’s no human genius after all. If this race is as advanced as you say they are, he could be just an average Vis’haani science tec.’

  ‘That’s not a comforting thought…’ Mitchell stared, transfixed, at the Sentinel. ‘Do we tell the High Council?’

  ‘Before I contact Senator Rasmussen I’m going to give the SenANNs a chance - but on my terms. Tell them we’re en route to Lomonosov. I’m going to give that SenANN interface another shot.’

  46

  The tiny, cloaked assault drone diligently maintained position and monitored its quarry. There was total silence in the hybrid bunker at T-1. The Sentinel itself had remained motionless for five hours, eighteen minutes and twenty-seven seconds. Ja’faal was remembering the satisfaction he had felt at this new ability on his arrival at T-1. That was a lifetime ago. Before the visions had become more vivid, distracting. Before Cortex’s legacy began to show itself. He could feel the virus eating away at him, every incremental loss eroding his ability to concentrate. To survive.

  He surveyed the rows of silent automs and prayed that the Vis’haani task force would arrive soon. There had been no further contact from his people, but he somehow sensed that they were very close now.

  You must be patient, Ja’faal. You have waited so long, another few days will not matter.

  Soon, the Elders will be here. They will set you free once more.

  The Sentinel shifted weight and its head lowered half a degree. Was this nothing more than a forlorn hope? What if it the mission was considered too dangerous to risk their presence?

  The Elders’ presence is not required. Once the Vis’haani fleet understand your situation, they will send you back. The journey home can be completed in just a few days. Do not despair, Ja’faal.

  Despair. Something that Roderick Deucalion Thorne had been incapable of. But something that Ja’faal of Vis’haan remembered well from a long, long time ago.

  He had reached breaking point. For an eternity, the machine had hammered its messages of hate into his mind. The pain was less acute now, more of a distant, numbing sensation, but this was of no comfort. He knew why the pain had eased.

  He had given in.

  The part of him that had been Ja’faal the clever youngling, filled with hope and joy for the future, was dead. Buried under the overpowering importance of his mission.

  He was the Provider Prime.

  The ghost of the youngling called to him from a distant place, pleaded with him to hold on, begged him not to surrender. But he had no strength left. No desire to do anything other than serve. He understood, now, that throughout history this had always been the way. Once the truth had been revealed to them, no Vis’haani could ever become a Provider without the training that he had just been given. Every Provider elect before him had suffered as he had suffered. It was necessary.

  His commander had told him so.

  The mysterious male masquerading as an Elder at his parents’ villa had revealed himself as Ka’laat, the leader of the latest harvest mission. The one who had given him such pain now gave him succour, understanding and the strength to fulfil his mission on the planet known as ‘Earth’ by its inhabitants.

  Vis’haan had been watching the secluded race for many cycles, since the first expedition had assessed its potential as a harvest world. Ka’laat had told him that it was not ideal. The beasts, as he referred to them, were belligerent, warlike. They would not frighten easily. The trusted methods used on other races in the past may not be effective against them. He remembered Ka’laat gripping his shoulders with such force that the pain had broken through that of the machine.

  ‘This is why we have chosen you, Ja’faal. You alone possess the intellect to devise a new way to inflict fear into their masses. You must not fail us!’

  He remembered the journey to Earth. The stark whiteness of the ship’s interior. Staring at his slim, pale fingers, not yet lined and mottled with adulthood. Very soon he would be looking down at a new body. One that was not his own. Ka’laat had told him how they would transfer his intellect into the selected human youngling. Their ship undetectable to the planet’s defences, they would arrange an accident to cover his indisposition while the Provider Prime became accustomed to his new body. Ka’laat had shown him images of humankind. They were squat and ugly, a result of the higher gravity of their world. They had too many fingers, visible fur over parts of their bodies and an apparently foul odour. This would have to be chemically removed before the flesh was processed, something the Vis’haani had only once before found necessary over centuries of harvesting.

  ‘You will be given the knowledge of transference along with the scientific teachings of our race that will be necessary for your work,’ Ka’laat had told him. ‘We have chosen a host with many years before adulthood. This will minimise the risk of detection and allow you to become familiar with their customs. In this way, you be able to utilise the planet’s own resources against them. But you must take care. You will be considered a genius in comparison to most of their kind.’

  ‘What will happen to my own body?’ he had asked.

  ‘It will be preserved and exhibited in the City Prime as a visible tribute to your dedication and self-sacrifice.’

  He felt a moment’s elation. ‘Preserved? Then I will be able to return to it?’

  ‘That would be inappropriate, Ja’faal. You will be a fully-grown adult when you return to Vis’haan.’

  He remembered hanging his head and staring at the white deck of the starship. He tried to hide his despair, but it was not easy and the pain returned to remind him of his true commitment. The journey to Earth lasted over a millicycle but it passed in an instant.

  ‘Ja’faal of Vis’haan.’

  The words came through the ship’s coms system. They must have arrived, but why had Ka’laat not come to him in person?

  ‘Ja’faal of Vis’haan. Can you hear us?’

  Something was wrong. The words were not coming from the vessel. They were coming from inside his own head…

  The Sentinel lurched to one side and again Ja’faal found himself struggling to stay upright again. He allowed the autom’s systems to take back control and the machine steadied itself.

  ‘Ja’faal of Vis’haan. Can you hear us?’

  The voice of his people. They had responded at last, their words relayed to the Sentinel from the Area-1 array.

  ‘Yes! Yes, my people, it is Ja’faal!’ His words echoed around the cavernous bunker. In his haste to respond, he had inadvertently used the Sentinel’s speech circuitry.

  ‘Ja’faal. This is Ga’naal of Vis’haan. We are elated to find you at last.’

  The Sentinel’s head dropped. The pincers on its right arm twitched involuntarily. ‘I have… failed in my mission, Ga’naal. But all is not lost. Now that the task force is here we can complete the work together. Earth will become the new-’

  ‘Listen to us, Ja’faal. There is no task force. You have been deceived. The one known as Ka’laat lies ro
tting in a gaol in the City Prime. He and his followers committed an act of treason so abhorrent, so evil, that we could scarcely believe what we had uncovered.’

  The pincers twitched again. ‘No task force? Then… how are we to succeed?’

  ‘There will be no subjugation of this world, Ja’faal.’

  ‘But I have spent so many cycles on this world, suffered so much for Vis’haan. See the army I have created!’ Ja’faal opened himself to the Vis’haani commander. Through the Sentinel’s sensors he allowed his people to see the tools of destruction that he had created as the Provider Prime. ‘I have been loyal to Vis’haan. These machines will create the fear necessary to make the slaughter palatable to our kind. They cannot fail. The humans’ own memories will be used against them.’

  There was silence for a moment. He felt the Vis’haani vessel inside him, scanning the hybrids through the Sentinel, understanding his genius by the things he had created. Now they scanned his memory core, tracing his time on Earth from the very moment he had-

  No.

  NO! You will not betray me to the beasts of this world!

  Ja’faal severed the link to the Sentinel’s memory but could not detach himself from the Vis’haani vessel.

  ‘What have you done, Ja’faal?’ It sounded as though Ga’naal was choking on his own words. ‘What in the name of Vis’haan have you done?’

  ‘I have done my duty.’

  The Sentinel’s chest panels fanned open. The pincers reached in and clamped around the coms unit buried deep inside the autom’s torso. The unit was wrenched free, sparking for a second as residual current arced onto the metal claw.

  ‘I will not listen to your lies. You are the ones who have betrayed our people.’

  The coms unit dropped to the floor and the Provider Prime was alone once more.

  47

  Lee Mitchell held Rayna in his arms, his face buried deep in her long, auburn hair. He thought of Gem Telson and Jake Dunne and how, if he had made different decisions, they might still be alive.