by Isla Monroe
“You didn’t kill anybody. It was their bad luck to stand in your way. They had to be stopped by extreme force if necessary. You didn’t do anything you can’t apologize for after.” This passenger made sense and I couldn’t afford to have the crew working against me.
The one thing out of my reach was the ultimate goal. The computer was instrumental in keeping things running efficiently. To give this influence that power was handing over the keys of the kingdom to a complete stranger.
With each step, there was a vibration underneath my feet. It followed me with this voice having my undivided attention. There were moments of clarity. They were barely a whisper in the wind. There wasn’t any time to waste. The incarceration of my friends was a temporary solution. Access to the computer would give me a limitless amount of power over my fellow man.
They were probably devising a plan to get out of the room. The voice had told me to kill. William was rendered unconscious by my attack. Lionel and Jackson felt what it was like to undermine my authority.
I avoided the lift and took the stairs with the clanging of my shoes against the metal steps. I didn’t feel I was in my right mind. My mind was zeroed in on the access to the computer. Nothing else mattered. Those who tried to question me were going to get a rude awakening. It was a good thing they were under my command. They didn’t think anything of their leader walking in without announcing her presence.
I opened the door to where the mainframe was located. Only one looked up from what they were doing. I went right past to the dark black door. I used my card key to walk within the inner workings of the station. Nobody was there to greet me. It was a good thing considering how I was reacting to negative stimuli.
I was going to be the instrument of our mutual destruction.
“You’re going to have to use your universal code. This way you’ll be able to take a deep breath without feeling suffocated. Prick your finger and place it against the blinking diodes. It’s the only thing you need to do and then it will be over.” I found a sharp piece of metal and drove the pointed end into my finger.
The blood was thick and I felt this rush of endorphins. I looked down and witnessed an amazing scientific discovery. There were tiny insects within the stream slowly making their way down along my index finger. They were using my blood as a vessel to travel.
My finger was shaking and whatever influence they had over me was diminished when I gave myself that wound. The gash released me temporarily from under their control. It became painfully obvious I was being used for an invasion. Their numbers were vast and insurmountable. One touch and they would have what they wanted.
The Computer System wasn’t limited to the station. Its connection to earth would give it a feeding ground of technological wonders. I wasn’t going to die for them. I wasn’t going to allow anybody else to die because of me. One was more than enough. I knew from listening to them that Michael was their father.
The monster had killed its creator when it feared for it its own safety. Michael was brilliant, but he was blinded by his own selfish need to cure himself. Information was flooding my brain and giving me insight into those things looking for world domination.
I grabbed my wrist with the other hand. A few more inches and the things making me act with defiance would never be stopped. It was primarily machines with working with a conscious mind. It was one and now it was many. Procreation took very little. One taste of technology and it became an army of tiny soldiers with one thing on their minds.
“You have the nerve to fight us. We are superior in every way. Your species is doomed to failure. They fight amongst themselves. We will be doing you a favor by ending your existence.” There was no way they could control me if they couldn’t use my conscious mind against me.
Any drug introduced into my system would be met with swift retaliation. This was going to take something diabolical. I had to avoid bleeding. Blunt trauma wasn’t the answer to the question I was posing to myself.
With one hand, I exposed a wire coursing with electricity. Grabbing it short-circuited the signals to my brain. It was a good thing I was depending on this entity. They couldn’t have me dying. When my heartbeat began to slow they took the precaution of making my fingers release its grip from the electric wire.
In that split second, I was able to connect the electric impulses of my brain to the network of computers on the station. I sent a message hoping the recipients would get it.
Chapter four
Lionel
“I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t tell anyone. It was a secret. I wanted to say something but they prevented me. I need you to listen to me. I wasn’t in my right mind. I was controlled. They want to dominate. Their anger is hard to resist. Please do something. I don’t know how much longer I can push back…I don’t want to live like this.” Gemini’s voice continued to drone on for a few more minutes.
Those in attendance listening to her words looked around for someone to start. Melissa decided to break the silence with her medical opinion.
“She has been unconscious for a week. I’ve done everything I can. Her body is shutting down. Those things are repairing the damage, but they can’t act fast enough. The electricity didn’t affect only her. Those living things have been rewriting her DNA. Melissa was giving us the latest on her condition.
She was important to me and I had been working around the clock looking for answers.
“The blood tests gave me enough to work with. There are about 20 of these mechanical creatures inside the sample. There was only one. They have this amazing capacity to survive at any cost. I would be impressed in other circumstances.” Around the table everybody was listening to the lengths we had gone to.
“Medically speaking, there is no reason for her to stay unconscious this long. Her organs have been failing faster than they can repair it. The electricity prevented them from getting a foothold in the computer. It was a good thing she recorded her disjointed thoughts before she attempted to fight them. It gave us a place to start.” Melissa believed there was a medical solution, but I was not of the same sentiment.
“These things think with a hive-like mind. I would like to think they can be reasonable. I’m not sure they understand anything more than their need to consume technology. They are barely small enough to see with the naked eye.” A microscope at 100 times gave me a look at the species.
“I’m the interim leader of this expedition. I never wanted this position this way. What I’m hearing is that these things are keeping her alive for self-preservation. Without her, they will die and maybe that’s not such a bad thing. By her own words, Gemini stated emphatically she was not of her own free will.” Her voice was strained on the recording, but through the static, we could hear that she didn’t want to live this way.
“I’m not ready to give up on her. She’s a survivor. She has a strong will and we can’t discount that.” I was giving them my two cents worth and hoping that they were going to listen.
The prevailing opinion from the committee on earth was that these things had to be destroyed.
It was typical of anything they didn’t understand. There was a war going on and these things were on the front line. They were mechanical warriors that could breach technology given the chance.
I was working on the premise there was a way to give them what they wanted. A simulated environment of technology contained in one place could give them a home to thrive in.
“We don’t have her connected to any machines. The only way to monitor her is to do a scan without touching her or breaking her skin. They haven’t been able to jump through the empty space between the machine and the woman. They need direct access.” I wasn’t hearing anything more than I already knew, but we were running out of time.
“You have until the committee makes their personal assessment of the situation. They are sending one of their delegates. He should be here within a few days. I won’t detract you from your work. There is another matter to discuss. Long range sensors
picked up a vessel hidden within a Black Star.” My heart stopped and my efforts to remain concealed were becoming a moot point.
“It’s probably a satellite. It’s quite common for other countries to be spying on one another. Sometimes one hand doesn’t know what the other one is doing.” The vessel must have drifted from its current location giving them a brief peek behind the curtain.
“You’re probably right, but I’m not taking any chances. We have been visited in the past. I have the clearance to know of the secret meetings. They call themselves Lightens. There are rumors about them being healers with no violent tendencies. The information they have shared with us has cured various ailments. This doesn’t leave this room.” I was surprised to learn my kind was careless enough to be discovered.
I wasn’t an alien invader, but they wouldn’t be able to make the distinction. I was afraid of being dissected and then a solution came to me. It was a radical approach. Technology was its food source. The environment I was building was lacking a way for them to procreate. This would be like killing two birds with one stone.
“I will tweak the sensors to make a better determination. I still think you’re going to be disappointed. The simplest answer is the right one. I know this from experience.” I could give them a false reading and implant an image of a satellite from Russia.
“It’s probably nothing to worry about. It has been 15 years. They haven’t been back, but we know they are out there somewhere. We believe our civil unrest is what made them leave. They are peace loving. I can understand why they might think we are a barbaric race. I have sent a message into space for their help. There’s no telling they will get it or even want to help if they do.” Jackson was revealing classified information.
“Medically speaking, why are you telling us this? 15 years is a long time to remain silent. We don’t even know where they live. How do you think sending a message is going to help? I can’t depend on alien intervention. I have to deal in the here and now.” Melissa was a woman who believed in something tangible to work them.
“It’s a shot in the dark. I don’t see any reason why we can’t pursue this. We don’t know what they look like. Contact was made by voice alone. They transferred several cures. Our scientists have been able to utilize the cures, but some still baffle them.” I was finding out that I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets.
I began working the moment I landed on the planet having no idea I wasn’t the first one to reach out from the cosmos. My alien physiology was made up of mostly light. I found I could transfer my consciousness to a healthy human host. I didn’t want to take over somebody else’s consciousness. There was no lack of those dying with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.
I left the meeting and went directly to my station in the lab. The environment I had been building had flaws. It had to be self-sustaining with no way for these creatures could slip through. I had made a force field out of low-level radiation. It wasn’t harmful to humans at least in small doses.
“Have I told you lately how impressed I am with you? This idea is simply genius. There are some bugs to iron out. William has already devised a program of one and zero’s. Computer code and electronics are what these things live for. We haven’t figured out a way to make it a limitless amount of food. I’m close to making an electronic food source which continually replenishes.” Tina was a beautiful and vivacious woman, but she was the counterpart for those playboys in the club wearing those cheesy necklaces.
“This is only one part of the problem. There doesn’t seem to be a way to make these creatures leave Gemini. They’re basically keeping her alive like her own personal life support. Disconnect them and she will die.” The environment to house these creatures of electronic life was only going to work if we could verify all of them had vacated her body.
Melissa had tried blood transfusions, but they were resistant and held onto her blood vessels. Stimulus like hot and cold didn’t seem to bother them at all. They knew how to adapt to their environment to make it hospitable for them. Electricity turned out to be the worst idea. Their numbers grew exponentially exposed to any kind of electrical source.
“We have toyed with the idea of cryogenics. It might slow down their growth. That would give us more time to come up with a permanent solution.” It was something I had been thinking about but felt the risk to her brain function was too severe.
“There might be a better way. I know this won’t be a popular decision. Killing her for even a minute might be enough for them to feel abandoned. I hate to agree with Jackson, but he makes a valid argument.” She was shocked by my suggestion, but she didn’t know the full extent of my plan.
I had to make it look like she really did die in order to spirit her away to my ship. Technology was the enemy. Taking it away would stunt their growth potential.
The crew would have to believe it beyond a shadow of a doubt. My grief for her loss would have to be genuine. I had the means to fight these creatures, but only if I had access to my personal lab on planet Zenith.
“We could start with 10 seconds and see how that affects them. Any adverse reactions could be monitored by Melissa in medical. The one thing standing in our way is the interim leader. He’s going to need some assurances.” Jackson wasn’t my main concern.
Remaining impartial was paramount for my plan to work. Her death would send shock waves through the station like a domino effect. Their heartbroken grief would be the distraction I would need.
“I have this feeling they’re going to fight us every step of the way. They are essentially machines, but they survive by learning. They learn quickly from their mistakes and they never repeat them twice.” This was a lesson humanity could learn.
They were constantly at odds and most of it revolved around religious beliefs. It seemed pointless, but the death toll was significant in those countries fighting against religious persecution. Something was wrong with the world. It was burning and nobody could smell the smoke. They went about their business living in their tiny bubbles of existence.
“We can’t be entirely sure her death isn’t exactly what they want. They came to her rescue when she was electrocuted. I feel this aggravation from trying to play catch up with these things. On a personal note, I find the way they live fascinating.” She wasn’t the only one and the scientific curiosity was a little too hard to ignore.
“It would be nice to have time to study them a little longer. I know in my heart there’s a way to communicate with them. We need the time to find a language they will understand.” I did find a way to eliminate them by tapping into their mechanical blueprints.
I hadn’t shared this information with anyone and I wasn’t going to. It was a last-ditch effort. There was no way I was going to resort to genocide without exhausting every other measure. Killing them would be like putting a gun to Gemini’s head with my finger on the trigger.
I was keeping too many secrets. One of them belonged to Gemini. They didn’t realize one part of the recording was missing. I had managed to keep her thoughts away from inquiring minds. They knew what they needed to know.
“I’m going to propose this idea of yours to Jackson. Melissa will be able to determine if this is a viable option. Leaving you to your work is the humane thing to do. You might be able to hide it from others, but I know how you feel about her.” I wasn’t very vocal, but she had already seen with her own eyes the stunned look on my face when I first saw her.
I was going to make these mechanical creatures reveal their secrets one at a time. I was reluctant to take them apart and felt that life was more important than scientific discovery. My opinion was probably not shared with others of humankind.
When she was gone, I loaded up the portion of the audio with Gemini’s voice. I had gone over every word, but still, I was compelled to listen to it again. She knew what was happening to her. It was a hostile takeover of her body.
“Lionel, I don’t know how far this conspiracy goes up the chain of command. Thes
e things have existed for millennia in an inert state. Michael awakened them from their slumber. We were wrong to think they are a new species. Being connected to them gives me a better understanding.” I stopped the recording nervously looking around to make sure nobody was listening in.
It was rather puzzling the reason why she reached out to me. Following protocol would have meant enlisting the help of Jackson. I felt honored and insulted at the same time. She was putting me in a difficult position. I resumed the recording listening for any signs she was being coerced to say these things.
“I consider you my guardian angel always looking out for me. I should have come to you sooner. They want to live and will do anything to make that happen. I am merely a host. They want a daily dose of technology. Come up with something to give them a fighting chance. They are angry and they will retaliate if push comes to shove. I was able to record my thoughts while I was being electrocuted. Another segment has been sent to Jackson and Melissa.” This one was mine alone to listen to at my leisure.
