The Chronicles of Syra Omnibus

by Carolyn Davidson Hicks

  Those smaller planets were more like moons and certainly not what they all wanted. And it was the very reason all citizens of Zhian evacuated and were traveling throughout space to find a new home and preserve their race of people.

  Zee10 went on about his systems check and discovered an anomaly. He decided he needed to awaken the captain to discuss this and called for Syra.

  Syra walked into the room where Zee10 sat and he was quiet.

  “Zee10, you called,” Syra asked.

  “Oh yes, I did. Sorry I was contemplating,” Zee10 replied.

  “Remember when we had the core systems alarm and that power adjustment just after the alarm went off when all that data filled the core com system?” Zee10 asked.

  “Yes, I do remember,” Syra replied.

  “Well it could not have been all those extra crystals I brought aboard because none were being used, and all were accounted for. But I was following orders by the Zhian Council to bring the extra inventory,” Zee10 said.

  “Oh, I didn’t know that!” Syra replied.

  “Zee10, I got a brief call from my parents from the Holocom unit but forgot to mention it to you!” Syra recalled.

  “Yes, that is the anomaly I have been observing. The council spoke only briefly, then your parents spoke briefly.” Zee10 said.

  “But why did they want all those extra blue and opaque crystals!” Syra went on to say. “Are they for powering the sphere or themselves!”

  At that moment, both looked at each other inquisitively. Both thinking the same thing at the same time. That it was possible that their core com systems were going through some sort of change or transformation. It was either that, or both knew the systems could not handle the power drain the merge had momentarily caused.

  “Zee10, do you feel any differently since the data from council merged with our core systems?” Syra asked.

  “Yes, I do and that is how I first noticed the anomaly,” Zee10 replied.

  Zee10 began to explain the changes he himself was going through. He was beginning to understand the changes the vessel was going through too. The new power was caused by the combination of the blue crystals and opaque crystals but also an unknown cause which they could not find, nor pinpoint its origins.

  “Have you ever wondered why the Zhian Council had you created so different than the other bots?” Syra asked.

  “Yes, I have wondered many times. They gave me Zhian qualities the others did not have.” Zee10 answered.

  “They also gave you Zhian likeness!” Syra laughed.

  “Yes, they created me in their own image,” Zee10 replied.

  “Have you developed any new emotions?” Syra asked.

  Before Zee10 could answer Syra, the Zhian Sphere began slowing down its unimaginable speed. All citizens were immediately awakened and called to their stations. The process took some time to settle down and to go back to normal.

  Throughout the sphere, it was agreed by each citizen that it felt like time itself had slowed down and they were moving about feeling lethargic.

  Once the sphere began cruising at normal speed, it took everyone aboard awhile to adjust again. All citizens aboard felt the excitement build up as each one knew this meant Earth was getting much closer now.

  Syra got on the Zhian com to announce that everyone aboard needed to each separately visit the holocom chamber for special training. They would be notified when it was their turn because the holocom chamber used a lot of power and must not be abused.

  Once the Zhian Sphere’s speed was reduced, operations had improved greatly. Syra looked at Zee10 and sternly said, “We’ll pick up where we left off in our conversation soon!”

  Syra knew the transition to Earth was not going to be easy and she would be the first Zhian to step foot on Earth’s soul that she was ever aware of.

  It was time for Syra to enter the holocom chamber for her first introduction to Earth.

  Images were already coming through and they would all soon know what their new home looked like if it worked out for them. Otherwise, Syra knew Earth would only be a temporary stopping place on their long journey in search of a place to call home.

  It was clearly understood by all Zhian citizens that they were no longer Zhianites, they were Earthlings and to start thinking of themselves in this manner. But changing who you are is not that easy and each of them knew it would be difficult, to say the least.

  Each citizen was required to be proficient in the language, culture and be up to date on any current news, monetary systems, wars, planet history, and political issues for the continent they had chosen to land on. Until they were, they would not be allowed to set foot on Earth.

  Syra was feeling a great burden upon her shoulders of preparing her people for Earth and there was a lot of planning to do.

  She knew she could not just show up and ask if they could all move there. There needed to be some observation time to learn their ways and to decide if the Zhians would be a good match with Earthlings. If not, they would need to continue their journey and perhaps find a planet just as suitable but without inhabitants!

  After each passing sleep cycle, Syra returned to the holocom chamber when her duties as the captain did not get in the way or interfere. She would ask questions in the chamber and interact with the holocom chamber Earthlings as if she were already present and on their world.

  Syra began to contemplate the choice the council had made for her race. Surely, there were more inhabitable planets than just Earth. A planet without inhabitants to connect with and to try to blend in with would certainly lessen the need to prepare.

  Images kept coming through in the holocom chamber that confused Syra. She thought to herself, those Earthlings all look so different.

  On Zhian, there was but one. They all looked the same, black hair, dark eyes, tall and thin with pale colored skin. They did not start out that way, but over the eons, they all ended up looking the same. When two of the four zones became uninhabitable, its occupants moved to join the other two zones.

  She observed that on Earth, depending on which part of the planet you were on it was as if folks had traveled there from different parts of space and settled in. Syra realized this was much like it had to have been on Zhian back in the early days before its people had to join together in order to survive and many lives had been lost before this vital move had been made.

  Then she began to ponder, had her own people started to die out because their world was too crowded, and they could only occupy two zones of the planet? Only Zones One and Four were habitable by the time Zhian developed a workable plan to save her race.

  Syra thought of how her people had to move and build their cities in the skies to survive long before she was born. Over time her people started to notice fewer births each full pass.

  All Syra could think of was that this was a fate no world should have to deal with. Surely this could not happen to the new planet Earth. It was so young compared to her planet.

  Hundreds of generations before Syra was born, Zhianites had squandered their resources and did not leave much for their future generations so, over time, each had less and less.

  With Syra’s brain on overload, she needed time off from the lessons of how to communicate with Earth, how to present herself and blend in. How to do this and that and so on. It only caused more questions and her brain was in much need of a distraction right now. It had been only a short time later, Zee10 sat at the console running systems checks when he noticed more power was now being rerouted to the core systems com where the Zhian Council now resides.

  Zee10 observed and was wondering, would this mean less and less control over the Zhian Sphere or was it just a matter of precaution in order to protect the ship and council? Either way, this was a concern he would bring up with his next meeting with Syra.

  Within moments, the core systems com opened the channel for the council and they began to make announcements throughout all the Zhian Sphere.

  Syra rushed to her operations com
mand center and was by Zee10’s side as the announcements began.

  “Fellow Zhianites, this is your council. We apologize for not fully communicating as from before,” and Zerk went on to say, “Our systems had to go through some adjustments to accommodate us.”

  Silence filled the Zhian Sphere while all citizens stood dazed and confused. When it became obvious the council was done, for now, each citizen began chattering amongst themselves.

  Most of the chatter was wonderment. All citizens now felt safer knowing the council was with them as they were before on the old planet no longer useful to them.

  The Zhian Council was always known as the wise ones, always knowing. Each citizen knew that if it were not for the council, they would have all perished many passes ago and they all felt they owed them much gratitude.

  Each went about their duties but awaited many new messages from the council and looked forward to it. It reminded them of their homeworld Zhian, back before all the troubles their planet began to show signs it would soon not be habitable for them.

  From that moment many passes ago, the Zhian Council used all its energies working to solve the problem Zhian was going through and the ultimate great exodus.

  One by one, the citizens took their lessons in the Holocom Chamber. They were learning languages and anything council felt was important to them if they were to survive on Earth.

  Zee10 was the first to bring it up to Syra when he stated, “Syra, I do not believe the Zhian Council is correct on many of their assumptions of the Earth.”

  “Well, then we must go by ourselves first and not allow any Zhian citizen to step foot on the planet until we are sure we are going to be welcome there!” Syra replied.

  If only they could have found us a new home on a planet not so developed and advanced, thought Syra.

  Zerk addressed the citizens once again, “We will soon be approaching the planet Earth. Start your preparations for landing in the predesignated area now!”

  The core com system’s and the council had spoken and all those present on the Zhian Sphere heard it.

  Syra immediately replied to the Core that she and Zee10 would go it alone if necessary. The risks involved were too great to take a chance on its citizens being harmed in any way. She warned the council, landing too early could mean the death of all of them. It could be taken as an invasion and it is not.

  The council reluctantly agreed privately with Syra and Zee10 after much discussion on the matter.

  Over Syra’s personal com the message read as follows:

  We, the Zhian Council agree. It is why you were chosen for this mission to Earth. Proceed with caution, we await your decisions and we will reply accordingly.

  “Zee10, let’s look at the planet Earth again, please. We need to find a different place to land and take our approach with great caution. Do you agree?” Syra asked.

  “Yes, I do,” Zee10 replied.

  Syra and Zee10 immediately started to work on setting up a botcam to visit Earth.

  It would need to be in full shroud mode and be capable of sending back messages and images. It would need a self-destruct option should it be captured. Extra hyper speed to escape its captors if possible and to be able to self-destruct high about the planet Earth. It cannot be traced back to the Zhian Sphere. It must not be capable of harming anyone or anything.

  The information that filters back would be for Syra and Zee10 alone. No need to alarm any citizen yet and both Zee10 and Syra were in agreement.

  Sometime later, the main botcam was programmed with visuals capable of sending back live feeds with sound and color from great distances. Fully armed with intelligence from the ship's core, it would scout Earth and return if all went well.

  Meanwhile, Syra knew this would take some time to complete and she directed all citizens to go about their lives as if the Zhian Sphere was their permanent new home. She had explained that until a new home was established, this was it.

  This was one of many qualities in Syra that the council approved of and gave her the responsibility to save her people. It was her ability to trust nothing and take no chances. Too much was at stake here, and all of the Zhian Council was thrilled to have her captain the Zhian Sphere.

  It was launch time, and the countdown began.

  Within moments the botcam called Ohtron gave the all clear. He was Zee10’s favorite botcam and he wished him well on his journey before they hit the launch button.

  Ohtrons visuals were fully operational and it was a spectacular view as he traveled through space. Syra stayed glued to the visuals as she watched Ohtron travel. But it would be some time before he would be close enough to Earth to get a good visual as well as landing.

  It was now time to return to her sleeper unit and no Zhian was ever late for that. It was just the way things were done and everything on Zhian had a good reason or purpose even if she did not always agree or understand it.

  The one thing she loved about the sleeper, was the fact that no matter how much you had on your mind, the sleeper was just that, a sleeper. She positioned herself accordingly and gave the go ahead.

  Moments after lying down in the sleeper, eyes closed, Syra was once again in sleep stasis. Zhians never had a sleepless night, a night of dreams, a night lying awake if they could use the long-term sleep stasis.

  The sleeper made sure you received adequate rest and when it woke you, you felt completely refreshed. Many times, Syra preferred the sleep stasis over the rest mode designed for normal sleep use to avoid dreaming.

  Normal sleep mode is when the nightmares plagued her, dreams of the planet breaking up and she would make sure she had cleared her mind completely before using that mode.

  The longevity of Zhians was perhaps because of the luxuries they had afforded themselves. Most importantly, they no longer performed laborious duties; the worker bots did that for them. However, the restore pod was used on occasion.

  A select few were assigned duties to protect Zhian. But even for them, it was mostly holocom chamber training and the biggest concern for those trained, was the knowledge that their world would soon be uninhabitable. For this reason, council gave those Zhianites special care.

  Often, the council would order those in training to go through rigorous health checks from the medical bots, assuring that the stress of their dying planet did not affect their well-being. The Zhian Sphere was a special ship more valuable to the council and any other they had designed or had built.

  With virtually no challenges in the lives of most Zhianites, their peaceful, utterly healthy lifestyle eventually caused fewer and fewer births. As their life expectancy expanded for much longer periods than in all Zhians history, births and deaths canceled each other out and evened the score. Then with life extended, no new births were recorded, and their race was dying.

  The citizens agreed returning to sleep stasis was for the best and not be awakened until new information came in for Earth. All the inhabitants of Zhian Sphere were now in their sleepers and only Zee10 and the bots remained at their assigned stations.

  Even Syra wished not to be awakened until Ohtron began reporting back once he reached Earth.

  All of this time, the entire Zhian Council had been analyzing the situation relentlessly. Tirelessly trying to find the best approach for contacting Earth. Searching for a place to wait until the appropriate time. Somewhere they could travel in a holding pattern and not be seen.

  The council was assisting Zee10 in trying not to have the Zhian Sphere discovered by Earth until the appropriate time should there be one. But distance and time were very important to the Zhian race and they had none to spare.

  When the council felt they had arrived at an answer, they requested Syra be awakened to go over the possible new plan. Zee10 sent word to Syra’s sleeper it was time to meet him in the control room.

  It was expected that Ohtron would be reporting any time now on his first up-to-date visuals of Earth and so Syra approached her console in operations for the meetings with the counci
l.

  To save the Zhian Sphere’s power source, the council voted to speak only in messages on Syra’s com screen for her and Zee10’s eyes only.

  “Sending coordinates to achieve a parking orbit between two large communications satellites,” Zerk continued, “Full shroud on. The distance to Earth is reasonable for explorations. Do you agree?”

  At once, Syra sent a message back to hold one moment while this new plan could be discussed.

  “Could the benefits out weight the risk?” Syra asked.

  Zee10 replied, “If it does and we don’t do this, we could be the biggest Zhian fools not to do it when the chance was given!”

  At that moment, Syra and Zee10 agreed and a message reply was sent back to Zerk and all of the council.

  Moments later, after the communication between council and Syra ended, Ohtron started sending messages and visuals to Syra.

  The first images when Ohtron reached Earth were stunning to Syra and Zee10 both. Much of the planet was abundant in the liquid of life. Much more than was indicated from the images they had received from the Earth planet which took nearly 1,500 passes to reach Zhian and most certainly not up-to-date images.

  The liquid of life was something Zhian had very little of. It was one of the very first resources to nearly disappear on their homeworld. It had to be drilled for beneath the surface, which meant very limited supply. This was certainly a welcome sight to Syra to see it in abundance on Earth.

  The second images that came through were the white caps on Earths two axis. Upon closer inspection, Ohtron reported back it was the same material they had in Zone Three on Zhian but much healthier than theirs.

  Ohtron reported these ice caps were, for the most part, pure compared to the ones that Zhian had.

  However, Earth’s ice caps were slowly melting. A resource, Ohtron reported back, would be the first planet Earth would lose at the current rate. It was obvious upon this inspection that the Earth was warming at an alarming rate.