Ghosts of Ophidian

by McElhaney, Scott

  “I’d say that whatever we discover in one of those buildings will be exactly the same in all the others,” McKenzie said, “So I’d rather we all stay together.”

  “Agreed,” Conner added.

  He led the way down the right side of the wall, following the catwalk until it branched out toward one of the distant buildings. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the giant room as they continued onward. Conner glanced down along the front of the buildings as they walked, noting that the front of each building was lined in cables. At the base of each building was a protruding room or a porch that jutted outward on the bottom level. This room appeared to be something of a power station for each building as it accepted that twisted multitude of cables through its roof. These cables began as only two cables coming out from the top level, joined by two more on the next and so on until a wide, twisted cord of several dozen cables entered the roof of that bottom porch.

  “Conversation,” the alien voice echoed throughout the massive room.

  Conner stopped and aimed his weapon around the room. He couldn’t tell if the echoing voice came from the intercom or if an alien was nearby. Roberts also had his weapon drawn, aiming at the catwalks of the lower levels.

  “I’m not afraid of heights,” the deep alien voice called out in clear unhindered English, “Peace… blow this door.”

  “It’s repeating things we’ve said, but now it seems to have lost that drowning sound in each of its words,” Lentz said, “It’s monitoring us and I’d venture a guess that it was probably the one who hacked into the shuttle’s computer earlier.”

  “Conversation… face to face,” it said.

  “Yes, we want to meet you face to face,” Crossway shouted toward the ceiling, “We just want to talk and find out why you’re here. Who are you?”

  “Conversation, not face to face,” it replied, “No face. I am alien, you call.”

  “It can form its own sentences,” Crossway whispered more to herself than to the others.

  “Are you saying that you don’t want to meet face to face?” McKenzie asked, looking up toward the ceiling.

  “No face,” it replied, “Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush.”

  McKenzie shared a look of confusion with Crossway. She shrugged.

  “What about them?” McKenzie asked.

  “I am Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it replied instantly.

  “What did you do to them?” Conner blurted.

  “Hey, we’re still in the shuttle! Though I must say, I’d like to hear why the alien is talking about us,” Roush replied in their earpieces.

  “I am Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it stated again, “But here… not in the shuttle.”

  “What are you trying to say?” Lentz asked, “How can you be one of our people.”

  “People… not people,” it replied, “You are people. Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush are not people. I am not people.”

  “We’re aliens?” Santini asked, “This is the first I’ve heard about this. My wife isn’t going to be happy when she finds out.”

  “You know, you’re really starting to freak me out,” Lentz said toward the ceiling, “Why don’t you just come out and meet us face to face.”

  “No face to face, just like Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it replied.

  “Wait a minute,” Crossway said, “Are you the pilot of this ship? Like Santini and Roush are the pilots of our shuttle.”

  “Pilot, yes. No face, just like Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it replied.

  “They have faces. They’re just not inside your ship here with us,” Crossway said.

  “They are people like you are people?” it asked.

  “Yes!” Crossway replied.

  “Then not like Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it stated, “People have face. You call me alien. I will use ‘alien’ as designation instead of Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush.”

  “I think this ship must be piloted by a computer,” Roberts stated, “It sounds and acts like… like it is probably a computer intelligence and thought that our ship was piloted in the same way.”

  “Yes!” it said, “If computer intelligence has no face and is not people, then I am computer intelligence and not alien.”

  “Yes, I believe that would more accurately describe you. It sounds like you are a computer intelligence or an AI. Can we call you AI?” McKenzie asked.

  “AI is designation,” it replied.

  “Good, we’ve established a name for you,” McKenzie stated, “Now, can you tell us why you are here?”

  “It’s where I go,” it replied, “It’s where I’m supposed to go. There is no ‘why’.”

  “But why are you here orbiting our planet and seemingly doing nothing more? What are these buildings for? What are you here for?” McKenzie asked.

  “I have completed assigned duty. Don’t know of buildings,” the AI replied.

  “I’m starting to think that this computer is not an actual artificial intelligence as we’ve come to expect AIs to be. If its programming was to simply sail the ship into Earth orbit, it probably won’t be able to tell us why,” Roberts stated, “Assuming of course that the reasoning wasn’t programmed into its knowledgebase.”

  “What were you supposed to do when you got here?” Conner asked, “The moment you arrived, I mean.”

  “Send accomplish code to the cargo hold and maintain orbit. Mission accomplished,” it replied.

  “Is this giant room the cargo hold?” Conner asked.

  “Yes,” the AI replied.

  Conner turned and looked toward the buildings. McKenzie placed a hand on Conner’s shoulder and nodded toward the building where their current catwalk would take them. He nodded in reply and continued toward the building.

  “If this is your cargo hold, then what is your cargo?” Crossway asked.

  “People,” it replied.

  Conner paused and looked down at his weapon. He kept it trained on the building up ahead, but hoping he wouldn’t need the thing. From this distance, he could already tell that the sides of the buildings they initially couldn’t see were made up of a multitude of glass doors. The place could very well still pass as Alcatraz, only with a million glass doors instead of iron bars.

  He took several more steps, then gasped when he was finally close enough to see what was inside those doors. He quickly closed the distance between himself and the first cell door. Inside, he discovered an upright humanoid creature on display as though in its own showcase. The alien that faced him had black, scaly flesh almost like that of a snake. The creature’s mouth and eyes were in typical human locations and thankfully, its eyes were closed. It had no nose to speak of and no hair. Its mouth appeared to be covered by an upper lip that extended down as four small tentacles like those of a black and scaly squid.

  Conner fell back against the railing, then looked down along the length of the building before him. There were thousands of these beings lined up in these glass-fronted coffins or showcases just on this level alone. McKenzie gasped as he was now looking at the same thing that Conner had discovered. The others quickly joined them.

  “There must be millions of them,” Crossway muttered, “Millions upon millions!”

  “It looks like they’re plugged into the ship itself,” Roberts said, pointing to the silver metal cables that appeared to be drilled into both sides of the alien’s skull and extended out to the sides of the cell.

  “I didn’t notice those before,” Conner said, leaning closer, “It really does look like the cables enter into their skulls.”

  “Maybe it’s to monitor their vitals,” Crossway said, “Though if they’re frozen, would they even have vitals?”

  “Assuming they’re frozen and not…” McKenzie began, then looked up toward the ceiling, “Are these… these ‘pe
ople’ alive? Is your cargo alive?”

  “Yes, but I cannot confirm this anymore,” the AI replied.

  “Why can’t you confirm it?” McKenzie asked.

  “Data unavailable,” it replied.

  “How long has it been unavailable to you?” he asked.

  “Data unavailable,” it replied again, “But mission completed.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere,” Conner stated.

  Conner turned and looked at the building behind them. He could get a better estimate as to how many beings were stored in the buildings from this vantage point. He noted that there were metal stairwells further aft that descended all the way to the bottom level.

  “This is almost frightening. What if they came here with plans to take over our planet?” Conner stated, “There must be hundreds of millions of them. Even if they came here to live peacefully among us, we couldn’t support such a sudden increase in population.”

  “This could be representative of an entire race,” McKenzie said, “Maybe they had to flee from their planet for some reason. Perhaps this is their ark.”

  “I hope you’re not starting to pity them,” Lentz said, “Beneath those tentacle mouths could be needle-like piranha teeth which they would use to tear us apart.”

  “Nice, Doctor Lentz. Thanks for the visual,” Roberts said, leaning over the railing, “I’d like to take a closer look at those computer terminals down at the bottom level. See if I could find a way to tap into them.”

  McKenzie joined Roberts at the railing. He tried to follow the direction of his gaze.

  “What computer terminals?” McKenzie asked.

  Roberts pointed down at the little room that jutted out of the front of the building at the bottom level.

  “What makes you think that room houses a computer,” Conner asked, examining the porch-like structure down below.

  “All those wires heading into the roof, not to mention the enormous fan mounted to the roof that is most likely blowing into the space below,” he replied, “My wrist terminal says it’s sixty-one degrees Fahrenheit in here, yet there is a fan spinning down there most likely cooling the room where the cables lead.”

  “Hmm…” Conner said, “McKenzie, now that we’ve assessed there to be no imminent danger from the beings on this ship, would it be okay to split up? I’d like to go down there and see the computer space also. Besides, Roberts may need me to blow the door open.”

  “I really don’t think it would be wise to split up,” Lentz said.

  McKenzie stepped away from the railing and returned his attention to the stoic creature behind the glass.

  “How long do you think you two would be?” McKenzie asked, mesmerized by the being in front of him, “I’d like to stay up here and try to gain access to one of these cells. And I’m sure Crossway would like to get some tissue samples also if possible.”

  “We shouldn’t split up, McKenzie. What if someone gets hurt or ends up locked in a room?” Lentz said, “There will most likely be future exploratory missions and they can check out the lower levels.”

  “We’ll still be in direct contact through our communication links,” McKenzie said, “How long do you think you’d be, Steele?”

  “Well, just navigating down thirty stories in this bulky suit will probably take fifteen minutes. Then fifteen or twenty minutes coming back up,” Conner said, “I’d guess no more than an hour.”

  McKenzie looked down at his digital time display, then nodded to Conner.

  “No matter what you discover or how important you believe it is, you need to be back up here within an hour,” McKenzie said, “We really can’t afford to risk being split up longer than necessary.”

  “You got it,” Conner replied.

  Conner patted Roberts on the shoulder and gestured toward the stairs several yards away.

  Eleven

  It ended up being easier than they thought to navigate the stairwell in their awkward spacesuits. They reached the bottom in less than eleven minutes. On the way down, they listened to some arguments that had started between the others as they discussed the morality of potentially killing an innocent alien in order to study it. Ultimately, it was agreed upon that it served the purpose of their mission in order to verify if the cargo was indeed alive and being stored in something of a cryogenic stasis. If the beings were truly alive, their presence in orbit still posed something of a threat to the human race.

  Conner and Roberts proceeded past a few dozen alien cells on the ground level and quickly located the room at the end of the building.

  “Do you have the equipment you would need to tap into their system?” Conner asked as they searched for a door.

  “Yes, assuming I can figure out what everything is. Obviously though, I wouldn’t know how to decipher any of the alien language,” Roberts said, nodding toward a door along the forward wall of the room, “But if they can learn our language by tapping into our shuttle’s computer and our communication units, I figure if I copy enough from their hard drives, I could eventually learn theirs. It may take me a couple years, but I’m sure it would be possible.”

  Conner tapped the door with his fist, resounding in a dull thud. He then stepped back and kicked the door, knocking it inward while it still remained on its hinges.

  “What, no fireworks?” Roberts asked.

  “The door sounded like it was made of plastic and wasn’t as sturdy as the others. I was right,” Conner stated.

  Roberts lead the way into the room, discovering quickly that it truly was something of a computer room. Nothing looked even vaguely familiar to Conner, but Roberts was quickly able to identify some of the alien counterparts to their own computer systems.

  Conner glanced around the room curiously while Roberts inspected different portions of what looked like giant machinery to Conner. Nowhere did he see what resembled a keyboard or computer screen no matter how alien. David set his bag down and sifted through the contents. He pulled out a typical laptop and turned it on before searching his bag again. A moment later, he attached a long cable to his computer that led to several metal alligator clips.

  “How are you going to hack into this thing?” Conner asked.

  “Their computer is definitely humming with life and it’s drawing a lot of power. That’s this baby right here,” he said, patting the giant grey box with no features beyond that of two tiny red lights, “If this beast is being used to just maintain the current status of a million sleeping aliens, it shouldn’t be even half as busy as it appears to be. With a little luck, I should be able to tap into the outgoing cable.”

  He reached over his head and placed the laptop on top of the grey machine.

  “Can you give me a boost? I need to get on top of this thing to get to the cable,” he said.

  Conner assisted Roberts onto the machine, then felt a little useless while he waited. He looked around the room, mindlessly passing his gaze across the nameless machinery. He could still hear the conversation between Crossway, Lentz, and McKenzie. Several minutes prior, they managed to shatter one of the glass doors in order to gain access to one of the aliens. Their initial findings reported the cell’s interior temperature to be thirty-nine degrees Fahrenheit, meaning that the aliens were indeed being kept in an almost frozen state. Crossway listened to the alien’s chest and stomach region and located what she determined to be a heartbeat, so the aliens were verified as essentially alive.

  Conner continued pacing around the room as he listened in on their findings. As he neared the corner of the room, he noticed something highly unusual with one of the cables that led from the ceiling down into the floor.

  “Uhh… I think I found something,” Conner said, taking hold of the thick cable near the spot where it was badly frayed, “Someone sawed through this cable and it looks like it wasn’t easy work. They struggled with it and realigned the saw more than twice.”

  “Really?” Roberts asked, peering over the edge of the machine, “Could it have been a repair j
ob?”

  “It looks like it was done in an expedited manner,” Conner replied, “Like maybe the person was in a hurry.”

  “Yeah, but what I’m saying is, do you think there might have been an electrical fire or something that caused them to have to do an emergency bypass?” he asked.

  “Well, that could always be the case, but this still appears to be too hasty of a cut and the burn marks on the insulation suggests the cable was still live while it was being cut,” he replied.

  “So you’re suggesting sabotage,” Lentz said through Conner’s earpiece.

  “It looks like that to me,” Conner replied, “I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.”

  “Where does the cable lead?” Lentz asked.

  Conner looked up at the ceiling again, then down at the floor. He turned toward the door and thought for a moment.

  “It comes from the roof with all the other cables, but it doesn’t lead to any of the equipment in this room. It sinks straight into the floor,” he replied, heading to the door, “I’m going to check one of the other computer rooms. Will you be alright for a minute, Roberts?”

  “I’m just fine,” he replied, “I’ve got a connection but I can’t filter this junk for the life of me.”

  Conner slipped out of the room and headed for the computer room of the next building. He was able gain entry into the room with as much ease as he did the previous one. He made his way to the corner of the room and immediately discovered the same cable cut in almost the exact same spot.

  “This one is cut too,” he said, shaking his head, “What purpose would this serve?”

  “It depends on who it was that cut the cable,” Roberts said in his earpiece, “Come back here for a moment, Steele. You might want to see what I’m getting here in this feed.”

  “I’m on my way,” he muttered, leaving the room.

  He turned to look toward the next computer room, then just when he was about to turn away, he noticed something odd. Behind the computer room of the next building were three open alien cells. The glass doors to the cells were actually open outward on their hinges.