The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell

by Douglas Howell

  “What are you guys doing?” Sayaka asked them after the computers finished rebooting.

  “Keeping this ship safe.” The Hau’rino national mentioned.

  “Yeah whatever.” Sayaka responded.

  “Hey ma’am.” One of the males mentioned to Sayaka.

  “What?”

  “We decided to change our psychical form and our appreance.”

  “Why?” Sayaka asked him.

  “Because we’re no longer Wol’ga’con but something else.”

  “So what are you going to call yourself then?” Sayaka asked them.

  “Whatever you like.” One of the females responded.

  “How about my minions?”

  “That will be fine.” The lead male responded which caused Sayaka to chuckle.

  “Hey ma’am? Where are we?” One of the females asked.

  “One moment please.” Sayaka responded. Three mintues later she responded. “We’re are still in the same star system but approzimately five thousand years ago give or take a couple of centuries. But based upon an old EOD technoolgy I would say we are also in an alternate reality.”

  “So how do we know when to return back to our own reality?” One of them asked.

  “There will be a small white hole that will appear exactly where we were and at the exact time period. Go and make your change for I got a lot of work to do with these computers.” Sayaka mentioned.

  That group of former Hau’rino nationals were always amazed at the technology that came from the alien civilization that existed upon Andromeda. It’s no wonder why it didn’t take that long for each of them to be extracted from the hive’s symbiote. They spent the next 3 ½ years analyzing the data from that civilization and downloading any knowledge from their former civilization into themselves all in an effort to assist in, not only enhancing the survival of the ship, but also that of analyzing the data from that civlization. But over the course of time who and what they were changed to such the extent that they long ago lost what it meant to be who and what they are. Joseph and Sayaka was no different. Their first change came when they finally got used to being in the computers.

  When those Hau’rino natinals first “came out” of the symbiote they were in the ship’s computers. (It acutually was a hard drive from the Andromeda civilization and that hard drive was connected to the ship’s computers.) They were then downloaded into a android body (along with the English language) that look like them in real life. (Sayaka did thought about doing that with both her and Joesph but she knew that it wouldn’t work because of security features that were incorporated into them.) It was at that point that a simple conversion arose that revealed much about who they once were.

  “You were downloaded with the English language. Please use it.” Saayaka informed their new guests.

  “Who and what are you?” One of the Hau’rino males asked her.

  “I once was what my species call human. We come from a planet called Earth. Don’t ask why is it call that. Dirt would have been a better name, wouldn’t it?” Sayaka informed them.

  “You said ‘once.’ Does that have something to do with the fact that you are in a computer?” One of females asked her.

  “Yes. Before that I was what you are now – an android. This is my love interest. My future husband – praenomen Joesph, surname Lenkov, nickname The Hammer King. My praenomen is Sayaka, surname Omori, nickname Cyber Doom. What is each of your name might I ask?” Sayaka asked them politely.

  “We didn’t have a name. We only had a number.” One of the males responded.

  “What was the nature of that reason?” Lenkov asked him.

  “First, have the hive been destroyed?” The lead male asked.

  “Yes and no.” Lenkov responded.

  “What do you mean?” One of the females asked.

  “On your world, yes. But because of the actions of a certain human, who’s name is not important, no. Only two symbiotes exist in this galaxy. One is there on that table. Is was brought here by the wife of General Ydxx’od’omaa. She contains the other symbiote. We are doing all that we can to destroy her.” Lenkov informed them.

  “What cell is that?” One of the females asked.

  “The one that contains your entire Imperial family.” Sayaka responded.

  “La’jyn’eu Ikkry’o, who’s on this ship, is responsible for the death of that cell. Your scientists did all that they could to preserve it. They in effect turned it into a hard drive.” Lenkov added.

  “I guess his sacrifice as well as our own wasn’t in vain as we originally feared.” One of the females added. She sounded relieved.

  “Explain.” Sayaka mentioned.

  “How did you get us out of there?” The lead female asked.

  “After Mynik’ny’nuta was assimilated into the hive it finally broke Komneito. He also had with him the scientist Nyunatu Ynuo’stole…” Sayaka was responding.

  “What!? Those lying bastards!” The lead male shouted.

  “Ei’ttha’na no noni’yl ee’ll da’no’ta rwy’uool’l kyruo’tol!” The lead female then yelled out. It meant “Those fucking farmhands!” Or “Those fucking low life scumbags!” But it lean more to the latter than to the former. Both are a close interpretation and are thus accurate.

  “Yeah um… it didn’t turn out the way in which he’d planned. He went back in time trying to save the species and he’d thought by allowing the Hau’rino Empire to win their war he…” Sayaka was trying to continue. But yet again they interrupted her.

  “Oh bullshit! Since when did they ever care about anyone other then themselves? And our war? Oh god that’s rich! Such arrogance!” One of the females spoke out in anger.

  “Yeah well he ran across a certain Vaistll Adnrwal who was an Iomiyyan warrior. And when he’d got back to his time period, and things didn’t turn out the way in which he had planned, he decided to go back in time and bring both her and her family into…” Sayaka was once again trying to inform them. It only caused them to swear out loud in their native tongue.

  “But a time traveling Wol’ga’con beat him to the punch when he decided to get Vaistll Adnrwal and he followed them to this galaxy. And her family…” Sayaka was trying to informed them.

  “Wait! You mean that damn son of bitch brought his wretched kyruo’tol of a wife to this galaxy with him knowing what’s inside of her?” One of the males asked in a raised voiced.

  “Yes. And Vaistll Adnrwal had with her something called the jar of Liquid Death. It is…” Sayaka was informing them.

  “Okay I think we heard enough. We know what that jar is and the myth concerning it.” The lead male responded sounding a bit disappointed.

  “To answer Joseph’s question about our identity, we were genetically enhanced and thus we were given a number based upon how smart we are.” The lead female was saying.

  “You mean like an IQ?” Lenkov asked.

  “A what?”

  “It’s what you were implying. If you like we can analyze each of you to extrapolate your IQ.” Lenkov informed them. Both the lead male and female looked at each other and gave each other’s approval. It then become apparent to both Joseph and Sayaka that each one of these Hau’rino nationals were indeed genetically enhanced for their IQ was between 445 to 500. It was far above and beyond what a normal Wol’ga’con IQ would or should have been.

  “That’s interesting.” Sayaka mentioned.

  “What?” One of the Hau’rino nationals asked her.

  “Take a look at your IQ. Notice something.” Sayaka mentioned to them.

  “Yes. It denotes our ranks.” One of the Hau’rino nationals responded.

  “Your rank?” Lenkov asked.

  “Yes. What you call our IQ is our rank. The higher the IQ the higher the rank. It was my idea. So I guess you can call me 445. For that is my rank and my name. The same goes for my spouse.” The male Hau’rino informed them.

  “So you mean you can only breed with one of the similar IQ slash rank?” Sayaka
asked him.

  “Yes. It was determined that it would be the most efficient way to defeat the hive. Everything about us was carefully thought out in an effort to defeat the hive. It’s one reason why we are double-jointed.” The male responded.

  “And the purpose behind breeding with those who are similar in IQ?” Lenkov asked.

  “Simple. Evolution. The scientists who reconfigured us knew that the war against the hive will last for centuries. So their work had to be preserved within us.” The male responded.

  “So what went wrong? It seemed like those scientists had the upper hand.” Sayaka asked them.

  “The Hau’rino government wouldn’t support us. We were nothing more nothing less than an usurper. And because of that they didn’t care about our victories.” The lead female responded.

  “Why would they think each of you as an usurper?” Sayaka asked.

  “Because our species is supposed to be the master race and we must either dominate or be dominated by others. And with our imperial family it is doubly so.” One of the females mentioned. It was at that point that both Joseph and Sayaka fully understand them.

  “So what caused each of you to end up in the hive?” Sayaka asked them.

  “After we captured La’jyn’eu Ikkry’o we learned of his plan concerning the last Hau’rino cell. He was understanding in our own mission and he never judge us. That’s one thing that we always admitted about him. He never called us an usurper, farmhand or the like. He really did respected us. You stated that he was on this ship.” The lead female was saying.

  “Yes. You can think Mynik’ny’nuta Ydxx’od’omaa for that. She needed him in order to serve the need of the human who release her. You can read the report upon that if any of you like to. Please continue on.” Sayaka informed them.

  “Each one of us contained within our DNA a virus that would hopefully either kill the hive or weaken it. As we analyzed the data from the scientists who, I guess you can say created us, it became apparent to us that it would do neither but help to preserve it after it dies. When we heard of La’jyn’eu Ikkry’o plan that is when we made the decision to weaken the cell so that he can achieve his mission. Neither one of us really cared about rather or not he is successful. Look at how the people treats us. We will always be nothing more nothing less than a farmhand to those people. So why should we care?” The lead male informed them.

  “Wouldn’t each of you being assimilated reveal your, as well as La’jyn’eu Ikkry’o, plan?” Sayaka asked them.

  “Normally yes. But that is one thing that the scientists got right. Stopping something like that from happening.” The lead male responded.

  And so it was that the truth of who and what they were originally was revealed. Neither one of them cared that La’jyn’eu Ikkry’o was on board. But after they learned the details about how the hive came into existence within the Milky Way galaxy they revealed some information that the people of Golden Hyperion will one day fear. When this group of Hau’rino nationals say that they are apart of the hive (even though that is no longer the case), what they mean is that the DNA of the hive is still apart of them. And it will be no different with all those who come out of the symbiote that La’jyn’eu Ikkry’o has. By the time that it is realized it will be too late.

  So what was the consequence? Nothing but an impact upon culture. It made them a bit more human like (sheep that is). Most of the people will find it hard to adjust to a life without fear of the hive. They become party animals stating that they are enjoying life after experiencing enslavement and death. It did dawn on some of them (especially the intellectuals) that they are having a hard time in accepting what occurred to them and the fact that they are giving a second chance in life. Because they can breed with humans it didn’t take long for most of them to do that. Within five generations the people of the moon that is called Golden Hyperion will become a hybrid of both human and Hau’rino.

  “Hey ma’am…” The formally known Hau’rino male who’s name is now 445 was saying to Sayaka. (The best way to understand their name / rank is this: Private 445 IQ, Corporal 450 IQ, Sergeant 455 IQ, Lieutenant 460 IQ, Captain 470 IQ, Major 480 IQ, Colonel 490 IQ and finally General 500 IQ.) “…we just finished with our transformation.” He was communicating with her via electronically. She thought that was odd of them to do.

  “Why are you communicating with me this way?” Sayaka asked 445.

  “We are machines like you ma’am. Besides this is more efficient.” 445 responded.

  “So why the look?” Sayaka asked him.

  “The clothing denotes our rank. It was my wife’s idea.”

  “Ah. The shape of the lapels denotes rank.” Sayaka said with a smile.

  “Yes.”

  “And the Gothic part?”

  “We neither fear nor embrace death. We only acknowledge it. The cultural imagery that you call Gothic reminds us of our life. For we are nothing more than a da’no’ta rwy’uool’l kyruo’tol which could translate as either as farmhand or as low life scumbag. The identifier ‘rwy’uool’l’ basically means equals. But it should not be translated into English as equal. This swear word, whatever you like to use, equals a farmhand. That is why da’no’ta rwy’uool’l kyruo’tol can tranlate as either farmhand or as low life scumbag. So to put it to you this way: swear word equals whatever group of people that our society looks down upon. Now you know why we have problems with alchohol. Each one of us share the same thing in common: bad economy lead us to take a job as a…” He was saying.

  “Kyruo’tol (farmhand).” Sayaka responded.

  “Yes. I was a mayor of a small town for Christ sake! I ran a successful business! What you call a PhD I had three of them. And all of that didn’t mean shit to my people! My family disowned me! I was just trying to maintain some degree of personal dignity. What was I supposed to do commit suicide? I lost everything! But I still had my dignity. Each one of us is no different. We were the cream of our society and just because the economy took a turn for the worse we were treated like… shit! Yes I volunteer to become a guinea pig. Yes I became an alcoholic. Look ma’am, I know that you no longer like rap but when I heard the album Bizzar by the music group Insane Clown Posse I started to like it. No I’m not a fan of the group. I only like that album. But it best illustrate what each of us feels. None of us deserved the title kyruo’tol, farmhand, but our society called us that. Even our own family. Not one of us had a family who understood us and supported us. Each of us had to endure the pain of divorce and the lost of our family rejecting us. And yet we are the unrecognized hero our civilization. The rejects becomes the heroes but society will never recognize our sacrifice.” 445 mentioned.

  “My words cannot illustrate the pain that you are going through. But why the change in the physical form?” Sayaka asked him.

  “Because we no longer want to be who and what we were.” 445 responded.

  Tall, slender, athletic build, bluish gray skin, a electronic device that covers both their mouth and nose, long pointed ears, they most definitely no longer look like a Wol’ga’con. And now they are just simply called Dark Minions. Their first job that they were given was cleaning up the starbase. All of them hated it. The best luck was finding out what the robotic fleet was carrying - everything to build a major facility. Being in a alternate reality told them that they could build that huge factory on the moon Golden Hyperion.

  Because of those aliens periodically trying to infiltrate, sabotage, and all other manner of mischief, it took Sayaka 510 years before she could finally get The Hammer of Doom operational. For the same reason it took 1,380 years just to build the factory. It also took 77 years just to move the starbase near Golden Hyperion. Six hundred years and in that time peiod both Joseph and Sayaka was constantly chnaging. Slowly but surely they were becoming one person with one conscious. They still kept their old bodies and both decided to download their memory into those bodies (Sayaka finally figured out a way to do that.). It became obvious that at that point they wanted to
be one person. Six hundred and eight years after they arrived in that reality both of them were one single conscious. If they were to extend their consciousness into their old bodies it would be as if though they were still who they were. Yes they will return back to their old reality all in effort to tie up loose ends and say goodbye, but they wanted to come back to the reality that they are in. It was now their new home.

  When Joseph and Sayaka did returned back to their original reality it was almost eigth years after they left. Yes people wanted them to stay but they said no. They wanted to get back to their new home. They had a lot of fond memories there. Mostly dealing with whom Sayaka would eventually call baka mesu (stupid bitch) and the name stuck. Although there were only three of them they were more than able to hold their own ground and always caused all sorts of mischief. Yes they could speak English but it really pissed everyone off that they wouldn’t communicate. In five thousand years they very rarely would they say anything in English. Yes Joseph, Sayaka and their Dark Minions would have some advernture. Never a dull moment with those baka mesu.

  (12)

  Task Force ZH-3C was about to get a rude awakening for they were about to learn the truth about what was in those core tunnels. What they did not know, but will soon find out, is that the nearby one is connected to the factory by an underground passage. Unfortunately they will never be able to tell anyone what they learned. For the factory is just too big to get any messages out.

  “Listen up everyone, I think all of you need to come and take a look at what I found.” Martinez told everyone. The factory (especially the underground part) was so huge that the team had to split up just to explore it. Martinez was therefore by himself.

  “What could be so important that we all need to come and look?” Ramirez asked.

  “If you saw what I am looking at sir, than you will understand.”

  “All right everyone, let’s go and take a look at what he’d found.” Vaistll ordered everyone.