Final Contact (Contact Series)

by JD Clarke

  FINAL CONTACT

  BY

  JD Clarke & Gary Hocker

  Cover artwork

  by

  Ryan Wolfe

  of

  0-hr.com

  Self-published by the authors

  Enjoy the book, but please do not copy or distribute

  unauthorized copies of this work.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2013 by Gary Hocker, JD Clarke

  All Rights Reserved

  First Edition

  Email: author.jdclarke@gmail.com

  Website: kindle-sci-fi.blogspot.com

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Alien Dreams

  Neural Net

  Morning Mess

  The Defiant’s Exterior

  Fifth Ring

  Rex Attack

  The Plan

  Preparations

  Enemy Contact

  Assault

  Inside

  Shields Up

  Counterattack

  Under Siege

  Something New

  Evaluation

  Second Wave

  Sarge

  Transfer

  Too Many Jasons

  Return

  Jason × 3

  Demands

  Reorganizing

  Defiant

  Dena

  Nightmare

  Skeleton Crew

  The Second Ring

  March of 2172

  Encounter

  Response

  Meeting

  Orders

  Mars

  Alien Dreams

  I was running a diagnostic on the computers to find and restore corrupted files. It was a massive computer system, entirely separated from the ship’s central computer. It contained our entire history. Every bit of knowledge, wisdom and fantasy that had been preserved over the ages was entrusted to me, the last caretaker of our heritage. The archive was at the very center of our spaceship, our new home. The walls and ceiling were blanketed in computer banks. Row after row of freestanding computer units filled the huge room, like library shelves in an ancient picture I had once seen. I loved the nostalgia of simpler times. My six hands worked the glowing control panel of a computer that contained fictional works of long-dead poets. I could have easily accomplished the same task using only my thoughts to control the machine, but I enjoyed working with my hands.

  “Lor-Tik-Deen, it is your shift to man the bridge.”

  I jumped, startled at the voice that rang out in my thoughts. The captain’s telepathic communication showed no inflection of anger, a simple statement of fact, with perhaps a bit of concern.

  “I was engrossed with my duties here. I did not intend to leave you waiting on the bridge. My apologies.” I mentally commanded the computer to continue with the diagnostic as I turned to face Lor-Bak-Core, our captain of the ship.

  “It is a small matter. I had nothing better calling on my time. You spend too much time alone in here, my friend.”

  “It is a great responsibility, and I no longer have any assistants. There are so few of us left.”

  “Yes, we are few, and the vastness of this ship makes us feel the loneliness more. Sometimes I think a small cramped ship would be preferable. We would not feel the isolation so much.”

  “I will go to the bridge straightaway. You have other duties, and I am negligent to be late.”

  “My other duties can wait. Lor-Tik-Deen, my concern is for you. You immerse yourself in the past, and I often feel your dark moods. A sadness for things that will never be again. A home we will never see again.”

  “I feel the past and miss our home, but do not fear for me. I will not let it strip me of life as some have. It is not my way. I cherish the past. It is my purpose, but I look forward to seeing the future. I wish to continue the search and relish the new as much as the old.” I felt Lor-Bak-Core’s mood change from concern to admiration and comfort. He knew me well, my dark moods and my optimism.

  “You are strong, and we will see the future together, old friend.” He looked over the archive for a moment and then said, “I will stop by later to check on your beloved archive while you are on the bridge. If there are any problems, I will contact you.”

  He turned and left. He had other crew members to check on. We had long ago conquered disease, aging, and death. But we were not immune to accidents. We were not immune to a new depression. Leaving our home world, losing nearly everyone we had known was a heavy burden on our perfect memories. Three of our crew had simply lost the will to live. They died in their quarters. Simply lay down to sleep a lasting sleep.

  I stepped onto the elevator, and the magnetic cells in my fingertips activated the controls along the smooth inner surface. It was an older part of the ship, but I could have used mental activation on it as well. Some parts of the ship had not been refitted with mental controls and responded only to our magnetic touch. I stepped off on the third level and took the transit line to the front section of the ship. It was a short walk to the bridge. The metal floor and walls echoed my footsteps and made the empty hallways ring a hollow sound.

  When our journey began, the hallways were filled with our race. Each busy with duties and purpose. But now the hallways were empty. Only a skeleton crew was left, at least until the incubators could produce another generation, but they would not be ready for some time yet. Only the constant hum of machinery broke the silence in most parts of the ship now. Machines filled most of the lower levels of the great ship, with hallways winding around and over the massive machinery that kept the ship running. But here on the upper levels, there were only crew quarters, broad straight corridors of emptiness.

  I took the captain’s seat and pulled up star maps in three-dimensional holographic splendor. A red gaseous nebula glowed on the port side of the map as I extended it to fill the forward half of the bridge. I took a moment to gaze into the cloud of red and yellow with a brilliant white star at the center, outshining the rest. There were hints of purple along the far edge where it met the blackness of cold, empty space. But I was not here to admire the beauty, I reminded myself. I was here in search of habitable worlds. Our probes screamed through the vastness of space seeking planets that would support colonies of our people, a new start for an ancient civilization. The probes sent their information back to be displayed on the bridge, evaluated, analyzed, and decided upon. There were millions of stars and millions of planets being probed and reported. Finding habitable planets was not difficult, only time-consuming. But we were not only seeking habitable planets. We had another goal as well. We were searching for life—intelligent life, allies in our struggle to survive. We had found few intelligent species, none advanced enough to be of help. So we had taken the most promising of the intelligent species and genetically engineered them, educated and trained them, allowed them to develop into fierce races that fought with a savageness that had long ago been removed from our own society. Indeed, it was that very civilized meekness that was the cause of our exile. Violence was so physically repugnant to us that we chose to abandon our own home world rather than fight for it.

  I settled into the huge chair, reclining it for comfort. The alloy beams of the bridge arched over me, and the cool recycled air washed out of large vents above, giving the only sound on the bridge. I dimmed the lighting and outward ports, making the stars on the map glow even brighter. A blue circle flashed around a yellow star, an indicator that the probe had found a planet in the habitable zone of that star. I zoomed in on
it until I was looking down on a blue and reddish brown planet with swirling white clouds, as if I was orbiting the planet in some unseen satellite. I zoomed in further until the effect was one of flying above the surface, and I could see rivers, lakes, and mountains capped in snow. I flew lower in my viewing, and what I had perceived as a reddish brown soil turned out to be a lush flora. Reddish brown leaves of a dense jungle. This planet was teeming with life, plant life at least. I strained to catch a glimpse of movement; perhaps there was animal life here as well.

  There was a slight metal creaking sound above me, perhaps the ventilation grill, but I did not let it distract me from intently searching the surface of this fascinating planet. The next sound did.

  The loud crash and ring of metal falling and bouncing on metal, a screaming war cry, and the growl of a savage beast, I looked up just in time to see teeth and claws of fury leaping onto me from above. Vicious claws gripped my shoulders, pinning me to the captain’s chair as a cavernous mouth ringed with curved teeth gnashed at my face and neck. Blood—my blood—splattered and sprayed, the sound of crunching bone, my bones …

  “Jason, Jason, wake up! Wake up!” I rolled from our bed, falling onto the floor and pushing at a phantom with my arms outstretched.

  “Jason, it’s all right, it’s all right. You’re safe. You’re here with me. It’s only another nightmare.” Her arms wrapped around me as I blinked away the apparition of the beast. Dena’s face was filled with concern and worry. “Jason, you’re OK. You’re safe.”

  “Damn, it was so real.” I was sweating, soaked in sweat, every muscle tensed. I ran my trembling hands over my face and neck, looking for blood.

  “It was another dream of the Ancient Ones, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah, only a dream. A memory of the alien that wore this neural net on his head before me. His memories, his death. Dena, I dreamed of him and what his last moments were like.”

  “When the Warriors took over the ship from the Ancient Ones?”

  “Yes, when they rebelled, broke out of the Fifth Ring, and killed all the Ancient Ones on board. Dena, I saw him die—I felt him die.”

  “It’s all right. It was only a dream. You’re here with me now.”

  “But it’s my memory now, just as real as if I had lived it.”

  Neural Net

  I shared my dream with Dena. She listened quietly, knowing that I would feel better after sharing it with her. It’s strange how the simple telling of a nightmare erases the fear. I spoke aloud to her as I told her. We seldom spoke vocally anymore. The neural nets that integrated themselves through the top of our skulls made telepathic communication so easy. Thoughts, feelings, images, and concepts flowed from the sender’s mind to the recipient’s in a way that made words seem clumsy. The neural nets relayed concepts rather than language. I did not want to share the pain and imagery of the nightmare with Dena; vocalized words spared her from that.

  “Are you feeling better now?” Her eyes were filled with concern for me. I had come to love looking into those green eyes. We were connected, deeply connected, through shared moments and shared feelings that the neural nets made possible.

  “Yes, thanks for listening,” I said, using the neural net to convey my feelings and thoughts of appreciation. “I’ll be 100 percent after a shower and some breakfast.”

  “Good, because I’m starving,” she teased. I felt her continued concern for me despite her attempt to lighten the moment. “I’m first. You, Mr. Jason Hauptman, can shower second.” Her laugh sounded good, and I found myself smiling despite the horrors of the dream.

  “Well, Dr. Dena Carter, there’s room for two in our shower, you know.” But she was already up and on her way, while I was still sitting on the floor. Then she stopped at the door and, half turning toward me gave a little wink and crooked her finger, beckoning me.

  Morning Mess

  The mess hall was unusually empty; only the android Sybil and Dr. Mako Tanakai were there. Sasha, Sergeant Klanton, and Noomi were usually eating at this time. Legion, the leader of the Warrior race, was often here in the mornings. It was a good time to go over plans and for him to give me an update on any events taking place on the Fifth Ring, where the Warriors lived. We all said our morning greetings. No one asked how I slept; maybe Dena had already given them a heads-up.

  “I see the Sarge and Noomi are sleeping in again,” I joked.

  “For a confirmed bachelor, he has been spending a lot of time with Noomi,” Mako observed.

  “She’s moved in with him,” Dena added. That was news to me.

  “Perhaps he has overcome his mistrust of women and androids. As an android, Noomi is more capable than a human. She can also anticipate his actions, responses, and needs far better than a human, allaying many of his concerns and providing positive feedback for his trust.” Sybil’s honest android opinions took some getting used to.

  “Perhaps he is better at commanding an android than a human female,” Dena countered.

  “It’s tough to imagine our rough, gruff sergeant being manipulated or being sensitive,” I chimed in.

  “I think he has just found a mate that is compatible with him. Noomi was in charge of military matters among the Unity before she came over to our side. She is just as rough as the sergeant.” Since Mako was the only one of us with an android mate (Sybil), his words did carry a lot of weight.

  “What military matters?” I asked; that information could be useful to our survival in our war against the Unity.

  “I’m not sure. I have been too busy in the lab developing the male androids that you ordered.” He looked over to Sybil.

  “She was in charge of design parameters for warships on a major factory planet. The Unity are constantly evolving, upgrading, and improving efficiency of both themselves and their equipment. Noomi was responsible for evaluating design improvements and projecting the efficacy of changes in warship weapons design through simulation of battle scenarios involving multiple designs in conflict with each other for dominance. While she was not directly involved with tactics, her access to Unity standard practices and preferred maneuvers could be of use to you, Commander.” Sybil reported at length and would have probably gone on if I had not spoken up.

  “Thanks, Sybil. I should have a talk with her. See just how much she knows and how helpful she is willing to be.”

  “There is another Unity member that worked alongside her. You should interview her as well. She has taken the name Clair,” Sybil suggested.

  “I will.” I turned back to Mako. “How many female androids do we have on board now?”

  “We have twelve hundred androids, all female. I am having trouble designing a program for male androids. As we discussed, they should be able to be good fighters, and they should have a desire for dominance. It’s that last requirement that is causing the problem. Making them enjoy dominance without constantly getting into a pissing contest with each other or us. All the simulations I run predict multiple problems. It’s hard to get the right mix to instill our ideals of maleness without the risk of them turning on us,” Mako said as he finished his bowl of alien vegetables and fruits grown fresh on board our ship. The Ancient Ones were vegetarians, and the mess was set up accordingly.

  “It’s critical to my overall plan to inject them back into the Unity’s population, Mako.”

  “Are you sure it’s a good idea, Jason?”

  “It’s the only idea I’ve got. The Unity number in the billions. Their technology and weapons continue to advance. All our warships are stolen from them, and they will soon be obsolete. The Unity’s members are all individual holographic computer processors linked together in a society that can operate as a single intelligence when needed. Their brainpower is way ahead of anything we can manage among the five of us humans. And according to Sybil, the more we interact with the Unity, the more they learn about us and the better they will become at predicting our actions. Up until now, we have beaten them by using deception and surprise. But I’m running out of
tricks, Mako. The only way we are going to win is by sowing disharmony among them. Dividing them up between themselves is our only hope of stopping them before they get to Earth and take over its resources as well.”

  “You really believe that introducing sex and the concept of separate sexes into the Unity will stop them, Jason?” Dena had her doubts.

  “I don’t know for sure, but the Unity have evolved as asexual artificial intelligence. They had no concept of male and female, at least for themselves, until we introduced the android bodies and the additional programming of sex to the Unity members we captured. All Unity members are created equal and are very similar. The Unity’s primary purpose has been to gather knowledge and information. Their very purpose for being is to acquire knowledge. They have no experience in dealing with the conflicts that arise in a society in which there are differences among their members,” I told her.