HADRON Revelation

by Stephen Arseneault

  Gnaga ran onto the bridge. “You have need of me?”

  Mace laughed. “Sorry. Not an emergency. But I do have something to ask. You think you could redesign this bridge for a Human-sized crew? We’ve all been crouching and leaning over for far too long. Not sure why I never asked for this before.”

  Johnny held up a fist. “Yes! I’ve been sitting in that tiny elf-chair for far too long. How about something with padding? Maybe in a soft high-back leather?”

  Hans laughed. “Should it also swivel and recline?”

  Johnny grinned, “I would welcome that as well.”

  Mace continued, “Let’s start with our seating if possible. And this is a low priority task. It doesn’t require completion today.”

  Jane walked onto the bridge. “What’s going on?”

  Johnny grabbed the edges of his chair and began to rock back and forth. “We’re finally gonna put real chairs in here for us.”

  As snap could be heard followed by Johnny flopping over on his side. The bridge crew erupted in a roar.

  Mace shook his head. “OK, now we have an emergency. See if you can get these two repaired before starting anything else. Start with the comm chair. He needs a place to sit. I can temporarily take one of these.”

  Gnaga left the bridge, returning with a welder. The comm chair was welded back in place followed by the captain’s chair.

  Johnny sat and complained. “Doesn’t swivel anymore.”

  Mace replied, “Good. Will keep you focused on your work. Gerty, this is the Rogers. Initiate a jump to the coordinates given when you are ready.”

  Seconds later a wormhole opened and the two ships moved through.

  Mace said, “Thank you, Gerty. You’ll wait here. The Jaden colony is four hours’ travel. If we find what we’re looking for, we’ll send the shuttle back with instructions. Mr. Hobbs, take us in.”

  The Mawga colony on Jaden II was a desert planet. A thin atmosphere required helmeted worksuits while outdoors. Scans and analysis confirmed the planet to be nothing more than a mining colony. The chemical supplies that had been tracked to the planet were used in the course of fracking to draw large volumes of water from underground, non-porous reservoirs.

  A return to the Gerty and a jump to the second colony ensued.

  Mace said, “This is a research facility. On reflection, I guess we should have come here first. The planet is named Reddack IV, and the colony, Horizons.”

  A scan revealed a single spaceport with a small building constructed on its southern end.

  Humphrey said, “Mr. Hobbs, take us in closer and I’ll see what’s under that port.”

  Mace shifted in his chair, “If that’s all there is it’s got to be the third colony.”

  As the Rogers moved into high orbit, Humphrey Mallot performed a deep scan. The resultant data was pushed to the wall display.

  Johnny said, “How far does that shaft under there go down?”

  Humphrey replied, “Four kilometers. There are several iron formations above it, so the sensors can’t see whatever is at the end of that shaft.”

  Mace eyed the data. “No other manufactured structures on this side of the planet. Mr. Hobbs, take us around for one rotation. If nothing else shows, we’ll head down and check it out.”

  The Rogers circled Reddack IV, scanning as it flew.

  As they approached the far side, Humphrey said, “Mr. Hardy, I can’t be sure, but I might have just detected a wormhole.”

  Mace replied, “Mr. Mueller prepare to use those cannons. Tell us what you see, Mr. Mallot.”

  Humphrey replied. “It’s not a positive signature. Could be unrelated. Or it may have been a comm wormhole opened from back at that space port.”

  Mace said, “Let’s assume the latter. Mr. Hobbs, prepare for evasive action if any of those nuclear ships show up on the sensors.”

  The orbit of Reddack IV was completed with no new structures detected.

  As the Rogers slowed, Humphrey said, “Mr. Hardy. I have no residual signature that a wormhole existed. They normally leave an impression behind that lasts several minutes. Of course that might dissipate faster in an atmosphere or near a large mass. I don’t know enough about the technology yet to surmise otherwise.”

  Mace said, “Mr. Hobbs, take us down. Johnny, I want you, Jane, and Jenny with me. And we’re taking Jeff. If we find Humans down there, we’ll need to determine how to bring them back.”

  The Rogers plummeted through the thick atmosphere of Reddack IV, coming to a stop a kilometer above the small spaceport. A half kilometer square concrete landing pad sat next to a small building. The remaining shuttle landed next to the building and the team exited onto the tarmac. A short walk placed them in front of the building. An unlocked door was opened and the five Humans walked in.

  Johnny scowled as his head bumped the ceiling. “Great. I hope this whole complex isn’t like this. My back will be killing me by the time we come out.”

  Jordan Crawford opened a comm. “Mr. Hardy, get back to the shuttle! We just detected a wormhole opening! We have at least one Muhatha coming through!”

  Mace turned. “Run!”

  The five were aboard the shuttle and quickly up to the Rogers. Another run had Mace and Johnny on the bridge. “What do we have ?”

  Humphrey replied, “Two Muhatha, both flying the Dellus banner. They’re five minutes out and sitting.”

  Mace turned to Johnny, “Hail them.”

  Johnny replied, “They aren’t responding.”

  Mace asked, “What’s our effective cannon range with reference to time, Mr. Mueller?”

  Hans looked over his display. “Max range is about three minutes. Effective range about thirty seconds.”

  Mace tightened his belt. “Mr. Hobbs, take us to that thirty-second distance at maximum speed. Mr. Mueller, open up with all you have when we reach a distance you feel confident about.”

  The Rogers surged up through the atmosphere. The image of space in front of the ship went from a pinkish-blue hue to the blackness of space. A visual image of the two Dellus warships was locked on the display.

  Liam said, “One minute.”

  Mace turned to Johnny. “Still no response?”

  Johnny shook his head. “Denied.”

  Mace said, “Get Jane and Jenny. If we start to mix it up I want Jenny to take the two of you over in the shuttle. If they won’t talk we’ll go talk to them.”

  Liam said, “Twenty seconds.”

  Humphrey yelled, “I have two of the nuclear ships exiting the bays of the ship to port!”

  Mace said, “Mr. Hobbs! Get us back down to that planet! Mr. Mueller! Target those incoming ships!”

  The Rogers banked hard left as a half dozen plasma rounds exited her cannons. As they raced back toward Reddack IV, the small nuclear ships began to close.

  Mace said, “Jeff! We need you on the bridge!”

  Jeff Moskowitz hustled into the room.

  Mace turned. “Those nukes, would they be worse or better in atmosphere?”

  Jeff said, “The destructive force will be greater, but the atmosphere might actually help us by absorbing most of the expected gamma radiation.”

  Mace turned to Liam. “Mr. Hobbs, take us in and take us as low as we can go. Use the terrain to keep them off us if possible.”

  Liam replied, “Will do what I can, Mr. Hardy.”

  The Rogers shot flames down both sides of her hull as she dove through the atmosphere. A white smoke vapor trail followed her to just above the ground. As she blasted along, just above the surface, a sonic boom and shockwave rocked the landscape.

  Hans continued firing. The small ships dodged as they continued to close. After a hard turn to port, a hot plasma round found its mark on the nearest ship, taking out its gravity drive. An auto-detonate circuit triggered a nuclear blast, also ending the advance of the second ship, bringing a second thermonuclear explosion. The Rogers came to a stop on the opposite side of Reddack IV.

  Mace said, “Mr. H
obbs. That terrain looks to have enough steep valleys and such to it. See if you can find us a place to hide and to power down. Maybe we can shake off the Dellus ships by making them think we were destroyed.”

  Johnny said, “Wow. You looking at that blast on the video feed?”

  Jeff nodded. “I’d have to place that at three hundred megatons if not more. If anything was alive within a fifty kilometer radius of that blast it probably got vaporized.”

  Liam said, “I have a deep crevasse at forty-two kilometers, Mr. Hardy. And it’s water-filled, we can drop right in.”

  Mace gestured, “Put us there and power down our systems, Mr. Hobbs. It’s time to go dark.”

  Johnny said, “You sure you want to do that? If they discover us we’re gonna be dead cold.”

  Mace replied, “The reactors will all be online and the charge wells full. Will only take a sec to hit full power on the drives or weapons.”

  Johnny held up a hand as he turned back to his console. “No problem then.”

  The Rogers set down gently near the bottom of the kilometer deep crevasse. Her drives, weapons and all environmentals were switched off. Eight hundred meters of Reddack water lay overhead.

  Mace said, “And now we wait.”

  Chapter 20

  *

  Humphrey gestured toward his console as they sat in the dark. “Passive sensors are functional, Mr. Hardy. Let me power on my console and we’ll see if they’re out there.”

  Mace shook his head. “Jeff’s out on the catwalk. If he detects anything, we’ll know. We’re well shielded from broadcasting signals. I’d rather not take the chance of that console being detected. None of these species has impressed me as being particularly thorough. If we go an hour without issue, you can turn it on then.”

  Johnny said, “You do realize we don’t have any shields while in this state, right?”

  Mace replied, “If Jeff sees anything, we can flip them on almost instantly. I doubt if they’re bringing either of those Muhatha down here to search. They perform poorly in atmosphere. Probably have a half dozen shuttles looking for us.”

  Johnny crossed his arms, “Won’t they be looking for wreckage?”

  Mace nodded. “We would be. But as Jeff said, if that bomb exploded in close proximity, there might not be any. Those ships weren’t broadcasting a signal back to the Dellus. We were out of line of sight, so for all they know one of those ship bombs found its target.”

  Johnny said, “That’s a risky assumption.”

  Jeff walked onto the bridge, his battlesuit still dripping. “I’ll be staying in here for the remainder, thank you.”

  Johnny asked, “What happened?”

  Jeff replied, “I came this close to being eaten by some sea monster. Probably forty meters long. I almost got pulled off the catwalk by the currents as it went by. Came out of the blackness while I was looking at my holo-display.”

  “You weren’t using the gravity wall?”

  Jeff shook his head. “Powered down.”

  The hour passed without further incident. Humphrey enabled his console and with it the passive sensor readings. No indication of Dellus ships were seen.

  Mace said, “I’d like to stay here for a full revolution of this planet. Mr. Humphrey, how long is the Reddack day?”

  Humphrey replied, “Just over twenty-eight hours. Reddack is slightly smaller than Earth, but spins faster. Also has a denser core, making gravity almost exactly even at 99.4 percent.”

  Johnny smiled. “I do like the lower gravities.”

  Mace said, “Speaking of that, while we’re waiting, we have the gravity on this ship set to match Earth’s level. I was wondering if it would be to our advantage to add a couple percent to that pull. Anyone have any thoughts on that?”

  Johnny raised his hand. “I do. I mean I get the perceived benefit of us growing stronger from it, but at the same time, if we board a ship with a substantially lower gravity, it kind of throws us off balance. Me anyway. Makes me feel clumsy.”

  Mace laughed. “I don’t think that’s what makes you clumsy.”

  Johnny half scowled. “I’m not clumsy. I said, on a low-gee ship, I feel clumsy. Big difference.”

  Mace chuckled. “Just filling in for Jasper.”

  Johnny sat back in his chair and sighed. “Wish we had this stuff settled so we could search for him.”

  Mace replied, “I can’t imagine he’ll be too hard to find. He leaves quite the impression wherever he goes. Kind of hard to miss.”

  The Rogers stayed hidden for the remainder of the twenty-eight hour day. Power was fully restored to all systems and the ship lifted slowly up through the water to the Reddack surface. A massive dust cloud in the atmosphere obscured their view of the sun to the east.

  Mace said, “Mr. Hobbs. Take us up to ten kilometers. Mr. Humphrey, I want a deep scan of every direction.”

  Humphrey pushed the results to the wall display. “No indication of any ships out there, Mr. Hardy.”

  “Mr. Hobbs, take us up to a hundred.”

  Seconds later, Liam stated, “One hundred kilometers.”

  Mace glanced over at Humphrey Mallot. “Anything?”

  “All clear.”

  “Mr. Hobbs, take us around the planet.”

  The Muhatha had gone. The Rogers returned to the landing pad of the small space port. The small building that had once graced its southern end lay flattened from a shockwave that had spread outward from the previous day’s blasts. A dusty haze filled the skies.

  Mace was the first down the ramp of the Rogers. “Glad these suits have filters.”

  Johnny replied, “The question is, how good are they and will they clog. Our oxygen supply won’t last forever out here.”

  Jeff looked over the wrecked building. “We may have a way through here.”

  Johnny said, “Anyone else see that flashing red light on their helmet display?”

  Mace replied, “Fallout indicator. Just keep that battlesuit on and we’re fine. We’ll have to go through decontamination when we get back.”

  The group crawled through the building wreckage to an open stairwell that extended downward into dimness.

  Jenny laughed. “Glad I only weigh in at one thirty-five. That is gonna be a monster-load of stairs coming back up.”

  Jeff said, “Won’t be as bad as you think. Just set the gravity assist on those boots and it should be no worse than a walk.”

  The trip down lasted fifty-eight minutes. At the bottom of the stairs a long hall went off in two directions.

  Mace said, “Jeff, you come with Jenny and me. Johnny, you and Jane check that other door. Everyone, keep an active feed running on your comms. Anyone runs into any hostiles, pull back and wait for the others to join.”

  The teams split.

  Jenny walked out front. “I’ll take point if you don’t mind.”

  Mace nodded. “Not at all. Just keep those eyes and ears peeled.”

  Jenny turned a handle and slowly pushed open a door. “OK. I have to ask why it’s dark in here.”

  Jeff said, “Hold on. Light switch on the wall over here.”

  The entire room illuminated with a soft glow. Thousands and thousands of the pseudo-uterus stations stretched out almost as far as the eye could see. Only the occasional large stone column broke the pattern.

  Jenny walked to the nearest station. “Power’s off. And somebody tell me what that is?”

  Jeff moved over, gazing for several seconds. “I believe what we have there is some kind of Human-Mawga hybrid.”

  The trio stared at the translucent skin-like sack that covered the nearly mature being. Jeff poked a finger through, peeling the covering back.

  Mace walked to the next station. “This one is slightly different. Look how long its legs are.”

  Jenny moved to the next. “Gross. This one had two heads.”

  Jeff said, “They all look to be dead. Those explosions must have knocked out power or disrupted operations somehow. Perhaps that blood flo
w being stopped was all it took.”

  Jenny turned back. “This is horrible. How could they do this?”

  Jeff replied, “I’d say this is an experiment station. All of these fetuses had slightly different modifications. My guess is they are trying to make the perfect Human-Mawga hybrid warrior.”

  Johnny came over the comm. “I see you’re seeing the same thing. Thousands of these stations. All specimens dead.”

  Jane said, “What would the benefit be to cross-breading Humans with Dellus?”

  Mace asked, “What? Did you say Dellus?”

  Jane replied, “What are you seeing over there?”

  Mace positioned his helmet camera and zoomed in. “We have Human-Mawga hybrids.”

  Jeff said, “I think we should look around.”

  Johnny said, “System consoles over here are still active.”

  Jeff replied, “Attempt to connect and download. We might just find exactly what their goals are if we can harvest the data.”

  Jane said, “This one looks like a Targarian.”

  Mace shook his head. “I bet we find examples of all the species in here.”

  Jeff waved his hand in the direction of one wall and then the other. “I count about twenty thousand stations in here. If Johnny and Jane are seeing the same, that hardly accounts for five million embryos.”

  Jenny said, “I wonder how many of these locations they have spread throughout their systems?”

  Jeff replied, “Our data from Rhombia pointed us here. Could be this was just the first stop of many for the resource deliveries.”

  Mace sighed. “Great. So now we have possibly hundred of these locations to scout out. And what are we supposed to do when we find them alive? They aren’t Humans anymore. And who knows if they are even viable lifeforms on their own. This is too messed up.”

  Jane came over the comm. “You better get over here. I’ve got a live one. And it looks Human to me. In fact, this whole row looks Human. At least mostly so.”

  Mace asked, “You have a whole row alive?”

  Jane shook her head. “No. Just this one so far. Hey little fella…”

  As they walked to the other room, Jeff said, “Admiral Geerok indicated a thirteen month gestation period. It has been more than eleven. It is possible a hybrid could have survived for some reason. Although, I find it difficult to believe it would be the only one.”