Children Of Earth (Tales from the 23rd Century Book 1)

by Paul J. Fleming

  Maddox grimaced as his hands were forced behind his back and restraints put around his wrists, despite his weakening efforts to pull free from his assailants. He glared up at Marcus, who had moved around the table, watching the struggle with almost abject fascination. The other council members had retained their seats, but were regarding his struggles with fascination.

  ‘What now? You shove a thing in my head to scoop out my innermost thoughts?’ he managed to slur angrily at the young man, frustrated that he had been so lulled into a false sense of security and had been so unsuspecting of how much danger these children and their digital AI posed to himself and the rest of the Earth.

  ‘I do not think it would be wise to proceed with full integration at this time Captain, rather to utilise the technology to upload your consciousness as we have done with the others previously. In light of your resistant attitude and spiteful thoughts, our technicians may have to filter some of your most recent aggressive ideals, but that is of no matter. On the whole your contribution will be recognised by the community as a whole soon enough and I would thank you for that in advance. It is regrettable that you will not be able to join with us yourself, but I feel your beliefs and reservations are too deep seated for that procedure to ever have a positive outcome on your psychological wellbeing.’

  Maddox wanted to retort, but the waves of nausea and tendrils of unconsciousness which pulled at his mind simply allowed him to burble and mumble incoherently. As he fought against these effects and his assailants, his gaze rested upon Praia who had turned her seat to bear witness to his struggle. There was a look of sadness upon her face.

  With a simple nod from Marcus, Maddox was physically hauled up and out from the meeting room, through the operations cavern where many pairs of eyes turned to watch him leave.

  They seemed to linger for a moment and then returned to their screens, the excitement now passed they had work to complete.

  13 Dissension In The Ranks

  Marcus stood beside the table and waited as the council members all stood and made their way out to their respective tasks, all but the young girl called Praia who remained seated with her gaze fixed upon a spot on the table surface.

  Marcus waited for a moment for the door to swing shut before he took his seat across the table from her and met her gaze as she glanced up towards him.

  ‘Is there something bothering you Praia?’ he asked, his brow furrowing with genuine curiosity as he could hear no conflict within her thoughts.

  ‘The same thing that should be bothering you Marcus,’ she replied quite directly. ‘That man who was dragged out of this very room, the unexpected visitor who we’re now about to subject to a procedure against his will?’

  ‘What of him?’

  ‘Are we to simply ignore his wishes and force him to undergo the process, forcibly extracting his memories?’

  For a moment Marcus broke eye contact and glanced down to the table surface, for he had to admit to himself that the act of forcing this Captain Maddox to undergo the procedure was not sitting all too well with his own conscience, but then he had to remind himself that their goals were of good intent and their actions to achieve them would justify their means.

  ‘I do understand your reservations,’ he said as his gaze raised to once more meet his young companion’s. ‘I hold the same concerns too, but we must hold fast to the understanding that our efforts here are all towards the success of our return to the core worlds and helping our brothers and sisters back on Earth.’

  ‘What of him, though? What of the man? You know as well as I do that forced extraction using the digitisation headsets could cause irreparable damage. I know that our intent is good and our goals are to help everyone back home, but do we have to do it at the expense of this man’s life?’

  Marcus tapped the table top with his forefinger thoughtfully for a moment and then stood from his seat, rounding the table to arrive by her side and rested his left hand upon her right shoulder.

  ‘In the coming days Praia, there will be much adversity and undoubtedly a measure of conflict for which we must be prepared. I am more than certain that we will have many others rallying to our cause once we return, but we must be aware of current social interactions and the much varied tapestry of life as it exists presently within the core worlds from a personal perspective if we are to properly integrate ourselves and prevent further suffering and death. In essence, his singular sacrifice may help us to save many more lives. Is that not a price worth paying?’

  It took a few moments before Praia turned her gaze up towards Marcus’ face, but she did not speak, simply nodded in reluctant agreement with his words.

  ‘Very good,’ Marcus said as he encouraged her to stand and accompany him over to the door, which he opened before her. ‘There is much for us to do in preparation. The ship’s computer has many layers of security surrounding the core which we need to penetrate to have full control over navigation and propulsion, I would suggest you take the opportunity now to have a brief rest period before commencing your work. Try not to concern yourself too much with our man from the stars, he will play his part in our endeavours as will we all.’

  Praia glanced at Marcus as she passed by him, his beaming smile at the end of his statement reciprocated briefly by her thin smile as she exited the small room and made her way through the operations centre.

  Marcus watched her progress for a few moments as he released his hold on the door and it swung to a close. He could not help but ponder her concerns and mull over her words in his own mind, but his reverie was interrupted.

  ‘That one has always been outspoken against our efforts,’ the voice said inside his mind. ‘Our goal to strive for a better future for Earth, all our work towards these cumulative moments and the eve of our return to be now questioned by a mere girl?’

  ‘She means well. Praia has always been the most emotive and compassionate amongst our number, as well you know. I cannot fault her for raising these concerns for it is without compassion and the consideration for the individual that gives rise to the chaos and despotic rule we seek to overcome. I would be lying if I claimed I did not have my own reservations,’ Marcus admitted to the AI as he moved back to his seat and almost slumped down into it. Raising his hand to his forehead, he rubbed his eyebrows with his fingers and realised just how tired he actually felt.

  ‘You are tired, my young friend,’ the AI observed. ‘Why not take your own advice to young Praia and take a rest period. Much hard work awaits us, for which we require your best performance.’

  ‘I may just do that,’ Marcus admitted as he stifled a yawn. ‘The excitement of that unexpected arrival and our preparations has kept me going for a while, but will you not need me to oversee the up-link to the ship’s core?’

  ‘Rest assured Marcus, we are more than capable of this task whilst you recoup your energy.’

  Quite pleased of the respite, Marcus nodded and stood from the table, but not before he glanced over to the chair in which the enigmatic Captain had occupied before his impromptu outburst and departure. Trying to push such thoughts away as disruptive, he turned to the door and left without any further words with the AI.

  Despite his best efforts, the sedative which had been forcibly injected into his system had taken effect and Maddox had fallen into unconsciousness as he was carried along the tunnelled out corridors.

  Working in unison, his escort manoeuvred his unconscious body up and onto a metal diagnostic bed which was tilted upright at first and then once he was properly restrained, it pivoted half way along its length to lay him flat, the end of the table nearest his head securing on a waiting post with a heavy clunk as spring loaded clasps snapped around the frame.

  The definitive jolt and clunk seemed to rouse Maddox with a start and he blinked as his eyes tried to adjust to the bright lights overhead, his hands refusing to move from his sides as he tried to bring them up to rub his eyes and face. Confusion, followed by a sudden realisation of the recent events flooded h
is mind and he pulled against the restraints as best he could, the cobwebs shrouding his thoughts flitting away quickly as his adrenaline pumped to try and give him that extra boost to pull free but sadly to no avail. He was held fast.

  Turning his head and glancing about his new accommodation, his gaze came to rest upon a young woman stood roughly an arms length away from the head of the table he was strapped to, her attention seemingly absorbed in the work she was doing and not having registered his state of consciousness as yet.

  ‘Listen to me,’ he said pleadingly to the young woman, who wore a white long lab coat together with a face mask and was now the only one of his captors remaining in the small medical bay with him. ‘I came here by accident, but really want to try and work things out with you. I’m part of a resistance group too, and we try to interrupt Martian operations as best we can which is why I want to try and work out an alliance with you so we can all work together to achieve our aims, not join your group or be uploaded into some data-bank.’ He paused as he watched her simply continue on with her work as if he was not even there. ‘Hello? Are you even listening to me?’

  ‘Yes,’ she replied whilst continuing her work to the side of the table. ‘Our goals are compatible and we should combine our knowledge and efforts to achieve success.’

  ‘Yes, exactly!’ Maddox said enthusiastically as he perceived an opportunity opening. ‘That’s what I think too, exactly! To see how we can work together to achieve our goals.’

  ‘This is encouraging to hear Captain. Once the anaesthesia I am about to administer has taken effect and your natural pain receptors are nullified, the nano-meds within the compound will work within your hippocampus to bolster passive neural activity by naturally inducing a state of REM sleep, allowing more proficient recording of your experiences without interference from your conscious mind. Obviously the more accommodating you are, the quicker the effect will take hold, allowing for a much shorter time for the process to be complete.’

  Maddox felt his new found hope evaporating as quickly as it had arrived.

  ‘What? No! Hang on a moment, that’s not what I meant! Look, I am offering to sit down at the table and we can discuss our options but…’

  His words tailed off in a yelp as the woman turned and pressed a cylindrical device against the base of his neck, which was cold at first, but then the contact area erupted in a sharp stabbing pain which remained once the device was removed.

  ‘Talking is an ineffective method of collaboration,’ she said quite plainly. ‘There may be areas of your expertise which you may not allude to as you feel it's not relevant or important, but which may lead to our success over the enemy. We can examine experiences and knowledge and add these to our shared repository from which we can plan and prepare our next strike or to counter any resistance the Martians and their collaborators may present.’

  Maddox wanted to reach up and hold his neck, to rub the affected area with his hand, but the restraints prevented even this small bit of relief in his current situation. Turning his head and ignoring the disorientation washing over him at that moment he regarded the young woman with a harsh indignant glare. These people seemed to like jabbing things into necks, and it was becoming irritating.

  ‘So is this how you’re proposing to free everyone back on Earth? Subjecting them to this procedure against their will and forcing them to submit? Very encouraging,’ he snorted out sarcastically.

  He knew that she was quite obviously part of this shared mind and therefore his arguments and protestations were bound to be refuted immediately, not seen as conducive to the success of the greater good or some pathetic excuse like that. However, he was still intrigued by how much of the individual person actually existed within the individual parts of the whole thing. He had seen Marcus himself exhibit emotions and nervousness behind the facade presented during their time together. He saw a look of sadness on young Praia’s face. Maybe it was possible to tap into the individual and….

  A wave of nausea overcame his thoughts and his fingers and toes began to tingle with an intense sensation of pins and needles. He quickly shook his head a couple of times to try and retain clarity of thought.

  ‘Stop,’ he gasped out as he closed his eyes firmly to try and prevent the room spinning. ‘Not good… feeling… sick…’

  He forced his eyes open once more and tried to focus on the white coated person stood beside him. She had returned to his side holding an instrument resembling a table tennis bat, but one side of the ‘paddle’ was an illuminated screen displaying Maddox’s vital signs. Waving the device along the full length of his body, then pulling it closer to her she examined the readings.

  ‘Very good. I must say these are the best results I have seen under this procedure in an older subject. The nano-meds are currently adjusting your nervous system, so there is bound to be a certain level of discomfort whilst they undertake their task but this will pass. The nausea and slight disruption to your cognitive abilities are the result of their minor interference with your normal brain signals whilst they establish contact around the brain stem and various locations about your brain itself. There may be further discomfort and interruption as they adjust to your brainwave activity in order to fully integrate and then we can begin to establish a link with the mainframe.’

  ‘Your….. bedside…. manner… stinks…..’ Maddox managed to spit out amidst waves of intense confusion and urges to retch.

  He wanted these things out of his system, but any attempt to form a coherent sentence or argument was met with further sensations similar to being uncontrollably drunk on Mercurian ale. Thinking was an effort.

  The last time he had been feeling this way he had stupidly tried to make his way back to the Erstwhile through the warrens of low town on Mercury, nestled in the passageways tunnelled miles below the planet surface adjacent to the space port. It had taken Ezri a few hours to locate him as he lay stripped naked in a back alley surrounded by a pool of his own vomit. It was not a very happy memory at all and one they had never spoken of since.

  Closing his eyelids tightly provided a small respite, but the longer he held them closed the more he wanted to simply stay that way and drift off to sleep. It was obviously the effects she had spoken of and there was no way Maddox wanted to make this a walkover for them.

  He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were so heavy, only allowing him a few fluttering moments of sight which was met with the harsh bright lights above the diagnostic table and even in that small fraction of time his eyelids had fluttered open, they left residual spots onto his retinas.

  He could hear movement, activity and voices from somewhere within the room, but could not deduce who was speaking or where they were in relation to himself. Trying to focus as best he could on one thing, something he relied upon to pull him through and something which always seemed to be there to console him or temper his enthusiasm, he concentrated hard on an image of Ezri.

  He had no idea how the Erstwhile had fared, or if Ezri had perished in her effort to save him, but he sincerely wished she was still out there somewhere and would burst in any second to pull him out, but he had a sneaking suspicion that this time he may be beyond her help even if she were able to.

  Then the voices stopped, the noises abated and he slipped into unconsciousness.

  Maia waited eagerly for the airlock cycle to complete depressurising and allow the outer door to open, despite her fears that she was being led into some devious method of disposing of her. Repeated checks on the amount of air in the tank her guide had provided for her, as well as the integrity of the EVA suit helped to calm her suspicions for the time being, but she could not help but retain a cautious air as the outer door swung open to reveal the rocky landscape of the moon’s surface.

  As far as the very nice young girl called Praia had explained to her on their way to the airlock, the Captain was being held in the colony’s medical facility awaiting some form of procedure but that he was being forced against his will. Although Maia had
protested that she could not just leave him at the mercy of those who sought to do him harm, the young girl had reassured her that once Maia was safely out of confinement and on her way to their ship across the surface of the moon, she would be returning to the Captain to see if she could free him also. It seemed that Maia was being used as a pawn to force the Captain’s hand, which grated on her sensibilities terribly, but at the same time she could not fault the actions of the young girl as she had delivered Maia to the airlock as promised and given her the necessary equipment for her journey. Although being apologetic that it was a solo perilous excursion she tried to reassure Maia that it was for the best.

  It did help her mood that Praia told her the Erstwhile had crash landed not too far away that she should attend to repairs in order to make the ship space worthy once more, but as she took her first step onto the rocky surface she began to have severe reservations about her current course of action. What if the Erstwhile was beyond repair?

  She had taken a beating under the barrage from the Martian ship, then through the EM field surrounding the graveyard. Now she’d apparently been shot down to impact on the surface of the rocky moon. Even though Ezri had proposed that the ship was a tough old bird and could handle a variety of rigours inflicted upon her, Maia had to wonder whether she had taken into account colliding abruptly with a stellar body.

  As she moved clear of the airlock outer door it closed in her wake, causing her to turn slightly with mild alarm and an increasing feeling of fear as she was alone and exposed on the surface. Not that working solo actually bothered her as she had been caused to do so many times before on work duties including EVA emergency repair jobs, but the fact was there was normally a working com-link with someone at the other end she could talk to should she encounter difficulty. Right now she was divested of this safety feature, just her and the flimsy protection afforded to her by the material of the EVA suit against the harsh environment outside. Taking a few deep breaths to steady her nerves, she rallied herself to not prove Maddox’s assumptions of her helplessness to be true.