Extinction: The Will of the Protectors

by Jay Korza

  “If their existence was real, then I will assume the myths about them to be true as well. They were once aligned with the Nortes before we ever had an empire. The Cherta scientists were the ones who spearheaded the warriors’ genetic research.

  “My father’s friend, Dr. D’Bath, was related to a Nortes scientist who was also on the team that worked on the warriors. For so many generations, Dr. D’Bath’s tenth great-grandfather was given the sole recognition for creating the breakthrough in cloning and genetic sequencing that gave rise to the supposed protectors of our empire. The warriors ended up being our conquering monsters and enslaved so much of our part of the galaxy.”

  P’Tong sat in contemplation for a moment before he continued. “How did you find the link to them?”

  “One of the empire’s slave races became extinct about five hundred years ago. They were eventually replaced as shipbuilders by the Detrill. The original race of shipbuilders worked closely with the Cherta before the warriors were created and the Nortes enslaved the empire.

  “Because of their work with the Cherta, members of the royal family decided the shipbuilders needed to become extinct, along with several dozen other races, to help with the Cherta cover-up.

  “Before they were put out of service, they were allowed to pass on their shipbuilding knowledge to their Detrill replacements. They must have known what was coming and why, because they secretly passed along information about the Cherta to the Detrill. The Cherta were referred to as Original in order to keep their identity concealed.

  “For instance, an instruction manual might say ‘the original way to perform this function would be to…’ or ‘the original source of this material can be found here…’ Meaning, the Cherta first did this function in this way, or the Cherta obtained this type of material at this location.”

  “Amazing.” P’Tong couldn’t wait to read the report in detail.

  “Yes, it is. Once I figured out that original meant something else, it was just a matter of searching all references to that word until I had enough information to put together what it meant. I have to tell you, though, correlating original with the Cherta is a leap of faith. If I wasn’t looking for proof of the Cherta’s existence, I never would have made that leap based on the information I have.”

  “What you are saying is, you are certain they were trying to hide something, a code of some sort, in the information they passed down to the Detrill. But, there is no way to know for certain they were talking about the Cherta.”

  “Exactly. I highlight in my report the pieces that fit my theory, but I will need to do a bit more traveling to try to prove it. But this is important enough that we see it through.”

  “Yes, it is. Finding a way to destroy the warriors and their birthing planet once and for all is worth more than any of us can imagine.”

  Chapter 12

  The team had been on the planet for more than five weeks and Emily started to lose hope they would find anything that could help them. The only break they had was at the mission’s onset when Shar’tuk identified the ruins as an ancient Nortes design. Since then, they hadn’t found anything.

  “Ma’am.” Jeeves rolled into Emily’s command tent. “I have finished mapping the underground tunnels. They are utility access-ways and storage areas as we surmised they would be. I am sorry I did not find anything else.”

  “Thank you, Jeeves. And don’t apologize; it’s not your fault. You’ve been very helpful to this mission. You have surveyed more ground than anyone else could have in the same amount of time. Why don’t you go check in with Stroth and see if you can help him and Shar’tuk.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Jeeves rolled away with his new orders.

  Seth walked in a moment later. “How are you holding up?”

  Emily turned, rested against the table and rubbed her temples with a heavy sigh. “Not good, to be perfectly honest. We haven’t found a shred of information and I’m getting pressure from the brass to pack up and move out. They keep saying they could use our team on the front line, now that all-out war has broken out with the Cherta and the Warriors.”

  “I know. I keep getting the same communiques. Our soldiers are really getting torn up out there.” Seth sat in a chair near Emily.

  “You want us to leave, don’t you?” It sounded more accusatory than she had wanted.

  “No. I mean yes. But not why you probably think I do.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “Don’t you ever read the after-action reports and think that if we had been there, it might have been different? We might have saved a few of those soldiers? I don’t think that what we’re doing isn’t important. And I don’t want to die in combat or have anyone from our team die either. Both of which are real possibilities if we deploy with the troops. But I want to help them. Somehow.”

  Emily took the chair next to Seth. “You’re right. I read those reports and feel the same way. I try to console myself by thinking about how this mission might end the war with the Cherta and/or the Warriors. In the end, that would save far more lives than us being on the front line with the troops.”

  “I know you’re right. I’m just afraid that if we never find what we’re looking for, I’ll always feel like we hid and did nothing.”

  “I know.”

  “But, I have faith in you, Emily. I’ll back you up as long as you need me to.”

  “Thank you.”

  Two weeks later, Bloom excitedly commed Emily. “Captain, I found what we’re looking for!”

  Emily knew better than to question her operators so she forwent the natural reflex to ask whether he was sure. “Where are you? I’ll be right there.”

  “I’m with Stroth and Jeeves near the bungalow.”

  The bungalow was the team’s designation for the small detached dining structure near the emperor’s bedroom on the east side of the palace.

  “On my way!” She couldn’t keep the excitement from her voice.

  When she arrived, she found Bloom protecting a broken datapad that he found behind a place setting cabinet. The cabinet had been pulled away from the wall and the datapad was in the position it was found.

  “Captain,” Bloom began, “this datapad has the information on it that we want.”

  “But?” Emily knew Bloom was being pensive about something.

  “But, the data is degraded, encrypted, and there is physical damage to the storage medium. That’s why we haven’t touched it. Any stray static discharge could finish the job of destroying what’s left. Any physical movement could severe a tenuous connection that is still intact and keeping this thing alive.”

  “Good call on not moving it.” Emily looked around the room to make sure there wasn’t anything nearby that could add to the precariousness of the situation. “Tell me what you know so far.”

  Jeeves took the opportunity to roll forward and take over. “We know it is an ancient Nortes datapad. It was created in the same manner and time frame that I was. Because of this, I can access a fair amount of its security protocols. Once I get passed the damaged sectors, that is.”

  Bloom stood and stretched his back. “We found Cherta DNA on the top of the datapad. The sample’s age corresponds with when the Cherta were at this planet right before us. They purposely destroyed this tablet. Since we haven’t found any other acts of wanton violence or destruction, I assume that this datapad was damaged on purpose to destroy its contents. Someone on their cleanup crew didn’t realize it fell behind the cabinet and it got left here.”

  Emily shook her head and smiled. She was always amazed at the infinite amount of coincidences that take place throughout the universe in order to make any single event occur. Life itself, in any form on any planet, required millions of variables to come together in just the right way for a single cell to come into existence. How many little mistakes did the Cherta make for this one discovery by her team to have been possible?

  “Good job, fellas. What do you need from me?” Emily would have loved to have been the
one to dig the information out of the datapad herself, but she knew her specialists where better equipped to take on that task.

  Bloom looked to Jeeves. “Time. I can’t tell you how much, but eventually we’ll get everything that’s still intact on the device.”

  “You got it. I’ll have some of the guys bring your personal gear here, along with food and water. If you need anything, anything at all, just ask.”

  That night, Emily reviewed some of the extracted data with Daria and Davies. At times, the three still fell into their old clique.

  “This datapad belonged to the emperor’s love interest, Hugesh. She was a member of his intelligence community. If we didn’t have Jeeves with us, we never would have been able to get through some of the security on this datapad. The fact that he was a security droid for the empire gives him certain access rights that he was able to exploit.” Emily absentmindedly ate from her MRE pouch as she read.

  “I wonder why the Cherta were erased from the old Nortes Empire?” Daria asked to no one in particular. “The Nortes went through a lot of trouble to wipe the Cherta from the official records.”

  “Whatever the reason, the Cherta were interested in this information, too, so it has to be important.” Davies was still a little uncomfortable around Daria, especially now that her husband was back from the dead.

  “This is why.” Emily sat forward and dropped her meal pouch. “Hugesh found definitive evidence that the Cherta were the primary creators of the Warriors. A Nortes scientist ended up getting all of the credit, but it was they who masterminded the whole operation.”

  “Why would that be important?” Daria scooted next to her friend to read over Emily’s shoulder.

  Davies thought a moment. “If the Cherta created the Warriors, maybe they’re looking for the research and stuff left behind by their ancestors. Maybe they want to start the research or process over again and make their own new batch of warriors.”

  “I don’t think so.” Emily continued to read. “I think the Cherta are advanced enough on their own to make more warriors now if they wanted to. It has to be something else.”

  Daria moved back and grabbed her own datapad. She punched in a few commands, and pulled up the data location that Emily was currently reading through. A few minutes later, she had her own ah-ha moment.

  “I found something else. We know the warriors are able to detect the genetic coding of anyone from the Nortes royal family. And, anyone from the royal family can take command of the warriors. Since there is no one left from the original royal family, the Nortes can no longer command the warriors.”

  “Right.” Emily prodded Daria to move faster with what she had found.

  “Hugesh found out that the Cherta also spliced their royal family’s DNA into the warriors as well. It was supposed to be a joint effort between the royal families of both races. They wanted to use the warriors together, to maintain a peace between their worlds and any others that wanted to join their group. The warriors were supposed to be genetically engineered to be impartial third parties.”

  “Whoa, that’s huge.” Davies snacked on the food Daria and Emily had forgotten about.

  Emily looked at Davies. “Some things never change.”

  “Nope,” he said through a mouthful of chilimac.

  Daria looked to both of her friends to see if she could continue. “Somehow, the Nortes scientists hijacked the project and the warriors, turning them against the Cherta and creating the first Nortes Empire.

  “As the Cherta were being hunted down and killed off, some were able to escape. The Cherta royals were killed off first, along with their entire family line. The Nortes didn’t want them to ever be able to take control of the warriors. Hugesh’s notes talk about possible hiding places for the Cherta outcasts. She has several lists of places to look. They are ordered in different ways. Most possible to least possible. Most recent information to the oldest. Several other sorting methods are here. She was a very thorough analyst.”

  “That just makes our job that much easier.” Emily bookmarked information she wanted to review more closely later. “Bloom estimates he can get every last byte of data by tomorrow evening. We need to start making our travel plans.”

  Chapter 13

  880 Years Ago

  Hugesh sat in the circle with the others huddled around the fire, trying not to let any of its heat pass by them unused. The tribal members were used to the cold climate of their tidally locked world, but even they complained tonight.

  The communal bowl was passed to Hugesh. She drank the animal broth that was several degrees too hot for her tongue, but its fragrant steam warmed her face and her belly as she gulped it down. Hugesh passed the bowl and couldn’t help doing some quick head-math to determine how long it would take to get back to her. Almost three minutes, she estimated, until she could feel its warmth again.

  The Unwutine tribe had been in this land for more generations than they could count, and much longer than even their oral history dated. But there was a part of their history that they all knew well and Hugesh listened intently as they told her of the lost tribe, the Hurlkaferncherta.

  It was difficult for Hugesh to establish a proper time frame for the story, but she believed it took place between three and four thousand years ago.

  The Unwutine used a seemingly arbitrary life cycle reference in order to mark time as Hugesh was used to thinking of it. Because the Unwutine lived on a tidally locked planet, they didn’t have sunrise or sunset to measure days with. And they only recently, in relative terms, looked to the night skies and realized that the stars moved around them in a predictable pattern. They still weren’t at the point of realizing that they were in fact the ones who moved and the stars weren’t.

  The Unwutine maintained their village on the light side of the day/night division of their planet. If they slept on the night side, they would freeze to death. As it was, they still had to live in a cold zone because their planet went from extremely cold to unlivable hot in a very short span of distance between the night and day zones.

  They farmed in the middle area that wasn’t quite dark but not quite light either, but just enough of both sides to grow some crops. They would also hunt in this area but the game was small and not very hearty. When they ventured into the night zone, they could hunt the bigger and more resilient game that lived there. This food source was much more dangerous but tended to yield greater rewards for the tribe.

  As with the other data Hugesh had gathered, a lot of her conclusions were reverse engineered from information she already had or thought she had. She had a general time frame that she believed the Cherta had left the empire. Using that time as a variable in her equation, she thought she had properly deciphered the Unwutine’s time scale. Once they told her the name of the lost tribe, she knew she had it right.

  According to Unwutine legend, a never-before-seen tribe came to the Unwutine from deep within the frozen night zone of the planet. The tribe called themselves the Cherta.

  This meeting was the first time the Unwutine had ever seen another sentient species. They were completely unaware that another tribe could even exist somewhere else, not to mention one that was completely different from them in almost every way.

  Although the first contact was a surprising and scary event for the Unwutine, overall it went very well for both sides. The Cherta knew things, many things, and passed some of their knowledge on to their new friends. The tribes decided to work and live together.

  The Cherta were very hard workers, always eager to pull their own weight. They helped the Unwutine to set up better farming practices and made subtle improvements to the tribe without disturbing their way of life.

  The Unwutine called the new tribal members Hurlkaferncherta. They combined their words for friend and laborer with Cherta.

  As Hugesh listened to the story, she surmised the Cherta were doing their best to make a new home without disrupting the natural evolution of the Unwutine. At least not any more than they already had
.

  The chief continued with the story.

  After many years of living together, the first Cherta deaths occurred. A tragic hunting accident left two Unwutine and five Cherta dead.

  The Unwutine did what they always did with their dead: they stored them in a protected cave on the night side, frozen and waiting for the next food shortage that occurred every three to five generations. The Cherta bodies were, of course, added to the stash of emergency rations.

  With the help of the Cherta, the next food shortage didn’t come for six generations of Unwutine. Unwilling to advance the tribe too quickly beyond its natural evolution, the Cherta couldn’t stave off the inevitable any longer.

  The food stores were used and eventually the Cherta bodies found their way into the communal soup bowls and passed around.

  As Hugesh heard this part of the story, she gagged a little at the thought of drinking and eating the guy who sat next her, or at least, a prior family member of his. The chief saw her discomfort and laughed heartily. He assured her that the hunting parties had done well the last several years and she was enjoying a particularly dangerous beast from the night side.

  The side effects of the Unwutine eating the Cherta dead did not come about until the first Unwutine babies were born after the food shortage. Not all, but some of the infants were born with a horrible and deadly mutation.

  The Cherta determined their DNA had somehow infiltrated the Unwutine’s, or possibly a chain of prions from the Cherta bodies. The Cherta had long since abandoned their advanced technology when they were deposited on this planet generations ago; because of this, they could only theorize as to a diagnosis and not fix the problem. Luckily the DNA intermingling didn’t affect every child: most were born without issues.