H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS

by Natalie Wright

  Jack shrugged. “Don’t know. Just a hunch, I guess.”

  She pushed the number to go one floor up to the lab. “You’ve got good instincts, Jack. Follow your gut.”

  “So you can help us?”

  She smiled. “Leave the armory to me.”

  24

  tEX

  The sky was still full dark outside the window of Tex’s room at the VLA. With Dr. Lewis and her assistant in the small room with him, they barely had room to turn around. They helped Tex shimmy into the insulating long-underwear layer of his space suit. Having someone help him into gear and fussing over him brought to his mind his days at A.H.D.N.A. In some respects, the experiences were little different. He was still an experiment, but this time he was going to an unknown planet. His every breath would be measured and analyzed. When he got back—if he got back—they’d no doubt want to pick his brain and prod his body for information about the journey. Only this time, it is by your choice, Bodaway.

  Drs. Lewis, Fisher, and Randall along with the other scientists at the VLA had worked tirelessly for a solid week to get things ready for Tex’s journey. Dr. Fisher had managed to get Arecibo on board fairly quickly. Egypt was another matter. The Great Pyramid was their greatest treasure, and Tex’s plan was likely to irreparably damage it. Dr. Randall did his best to urge their cooperation, but the M’Uktah truly pushed Egypt to action. The invasion was spreading, and the Egyptian government saw the writing the wall. They finally acquiesced with the plan and committed the resources needed.

  Dr. Lewis had engineered a state-of-the-art biosuit that Tex would be the first astronaut to wear. Gone was the bulky white air-filled suit of the early days of human space travel that had made astronauts look as if they were wrapped in a white helium-filled balloon. Dr. Lewis’s suit utilized smart fibers and integrated circuitry to apply the steady pressure needed to survive space.

  The assistant strapped a unit onto his back that looked like a large backpack. It contained two oxygen tanks as well as other equipment.

  Dr. Lewis helped the assistant get the pack strapped onto Tex’s back. “Depending on a person’s metabolism, there are twelve to sixteen hours of oxygen in these two tanks. Because we haven’t had a chance to run you through simulations, I have no idea whether your metabolism runs high or low. Let’s be conservative and assume twelve hours.” She fastened the last strap to hold the unit onto his backpack unit, which she referred to as the PLSS.

  “I can alter my metabolism,” Tex said.

  She stared at him as if trying to figure out if he was joking or being earnest. His kept his face a stoic mask.

  “Well, that may be. And if you can slow your breathing, you’ll have a bit of cushion, then. But I’m still going under the assumption of twelve hours at most. So this is important. As soon as you get there, synchronize your watch. It’s there, on the computer screen embedded in the left arm of the suit.” She lifted his arm gently and tapped the screen.

  A display came on and flashed the time and date in bright green digital numbers. After a few seconds, the display changed to a screen with several icons. One was labeled “Comm,” another “Stat,” and the third “Anal.”

  Tex knew what the first abbreviation meant but was unsure, even with icons, what the second meant. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know what the third term referred to. “What do these stand for?”

  “Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting this is all new to you.” Dr. Lewis smiled briefly. “A tiny screen without much room, so we had to abbreviate. ‘Stat’ stands for ‘status,’ and it refers to the status of your suit and life-support systems. If your onboard computer detects any flaws in your suit or if your oxygen is running low, for example, it will alert you by flashing red and telling you what’s wrong. If you tap that icon, it will give you the current status. Go ahead. Try it.”

  Tex did as she suggested, and a display showed a diagram of his suit and reported all systems at one-hundred percent. “Useful,” he said.

  Dr. Lewis nodded. “Very. Wearing this gear is like carrying the conditions of our planet with you. And seeing as how you’re adapted to this planet and we don’t know what you’re stepping into, it’s very important that your mini Earth functions exactly as needed to keep you alive.”

  “And this last abbreviation?” The third abbreviation had an icon of what appeared to be a graph under it.

  Dr. Lewis smiled and covered her mouth to hold in a laugh. “Oh, that one. A little joke, I suppose, by smarty-pants engineers. That means ‘analyze.’ You tap that when you want your onboard computer to analyze the environment outside of the suit.”

  “A weather app?”

  “Well, yes, I suppose, but more than just temperature, barometric pressure, and humidity. It will also analyze the composition of the air outside the suit as well as inside the suit. That way, you know if the air is compatible to breathe or not.”

  “You’re saying that if I get there and the computer says I can breathe the air, that I can take the helmet off?”

  Dr. Lewis did not hesitate when she said, “No. Don’t do that.”

  “But if the air is safe to breathe—”

  “Air quality is only one part of the puzzle. The helmet also protects you, especially your eyes, from harmful radiation and flying dust and debris. You’ll be there by yourself, without the possibility of medical assistance. For your protection, keep the whole suit on the for the duration—that includes the helmet.”

  Tex didn’t like the idea of having a glorified fish bowl on his head. Though the suit was not bulky, it fit like a full-body neoprene glove. It kept the astronaut safe in space by applying pressure throughout the body. Tex felt as though he’d been wrapped like a mummy, and the boots were heavy on his feet. Though he was stronger than he’d ever been and in peak condition, the whole thing still weighed him down. His movements were much slower than he was used to. He attempted to walk across the room with preternatural speed but managed only a fast walk.

  Panic seized him. Does this suit somehow nullify my telekinetic abilities? Tex searched the room for a small object to test his powers. He raised the T-shirt he had taken off and hovered it in the air briefly. A sigh of relief escaped his lips.

  Dr. Lewis stared at the shirt with wide eyes. When Tex released it back onto the bed, she smiled at him in wonder. “Amazing. I would like to learn more about how you do that.”

  “Perhaps when I get back.” He forced a wan smile. “But I have a job to do now.”

  “Yes, of course.” Dr. Lewis brought her attention back to Tex. “We’ll monitor your vitals constantly.”

  Tex walked back to where she stood. “If you can receive a transmission.”

  Dr. Lewis nodded once. “True.”

  “Let us assume—to be conservative, as you suggested—that we will not be able to communicate with each other. I will not be able to signal my readiness to return. How will I—”

  “Get back?”

  Tex nodded. He tried not to think of the possibility of never returning because when he considered the odds, he realized they were not good. If I acknowledge the realistic chance of my success, no one will let me go. “Not much point in me going if I never return. Then you would miss out on the information needed to quash this M’Uktah threat.” A hint of sarcasm had seeped into his tone.

  Dr. Lewis caught his eye. “You’re cynical about humans, aren’t you?”

  Tex tugged at his left glove, trying to get it to be less bunchy at the tips of his fingers. “Perhaps I have reason to be.”

  Her lips turned down into a frown. “I can only imagine.” From the dour look on her face, she seemed to be imagining it, in fact. She ran a hand through her pale white-gold hair, adjusted her glasses, and forced a drawn smile. “I want you to return, and not just to study you. I enjoy your company.”

  Tex believed her. He formed the opinion without the need to read her mind. He was learning to size people up the way Erika and other humans did.

  “We will keep the dishes aligned in t
he same pattern until you return, our assumption being that you will return the same way you went.”

  “Please ensure they stay aligned, Dr. Lewis. If the gate closes, there will be no hope of my return.” If Tex was stuck on an alien planet, he might survive there. For all he knew, he could end up in a place more hospitable to him than Earth. If he did not return, though, he feared Erika would have little hope to survive.

  Dr. Lewis’s face was grim. “Then failure of the gates to remain open isn’t an option, is it?” She tried to smile at him, but his lack of mirth in response made her smile fade quickly.

  ____________________

  Tex walked between Dr. Lewis and several technicians as he made his way through the hallways of the dormitory and into the cold late-night November air. The courtyard was empty, and they walked as quietly and quickly as they could to avoid unwanted attention from military personnel. Drs. Lewis and Fisher were, after all, violating the direct orders of General Hays by helping Tex and Dr. Randall.

  A jeep waited for him. The techs helped him get in, and they drove over the rocky terrain and dusty soil of the high desert to the center of the array of radio telescope dishes.

  From afar, the dishes looked small, so he was surprised to find himself dwarfed by them as he stood on the ground and looked up at one. The brilliant whiteness of the radio dish was like a giant ghost in the black of the night. Stars dotted the sky, and the Milky Way hinted at the galaxies that lay beyond his own. I’m going there. The realization was both thrilling and chilling at the same time.

  “This way,” a scientist said.

  Tex followed the man to where a small crowd had gathered. The spot was in the center of the top of the Y shape the dishes had been arranged in. Tex didn’t recognize most of the faces, but he knew one of them in an instant.

  Erika stood in the center, her arms wrapped around herself for warmth, a hoodie over her head. His heart quickened at the sight of her.

  People chattered in his ear about protocols and what he was supposed to do and what to do if this happened or that happened. Their voices were an annoying hum in his ears.

  Erika smiled at him.

  “What do you think?” he asked.

  “It makes you look… larger,” she said. Her cheeks were flushed red.

  He was close to her—close enough to smell the soap she’d bathed with and the coffee she’d drunk, close enough to feel the warmth rise from her body and to hear the beating of her heart.

  With his boots on, he was a few inches taller than her, and she had to crane her neck upward to look into his face.

  “It kills me that I can’t come with you,” she said.

  “I wish I could have you by my side, as well.” He drank in the color of her eyes, the same hue as the brownies they’d shared the day before; the rosy pink of her lips; and the curve of her neck, the paleness of her skin the color of shells. The journey was full of unknowns, the chief of which was whether he would ever return and, if he did, whether he would be too late. He figured he had slim odds of ever seeing her again. This moment will have to last me a lifetime.

  With that thought, he did what he had previously lacked the courage to do. He bent his head, put his hand at the small of her back, and drew her to him as his lips met hers. He practically felt the crowd watching him, but Tex did not care. He held a universe in his arms, the whole world at his lips.

  Tex had often imagined what kissing Erika would be like. They had shared that marvelous dream, which had been as close to reality as he thought he would ever get with her.

  Never in his imagination, though, could he have conjured the sensation that coursed through him. Her aroma was all around him, intoxicating and maddening at the same time. Her lips were soft yet insistent, moist but not wet. Her breath was in him, and his was in her, and as she pressed against him, her warmth seeped into him.

  His loins tightened, and his breathing became ragged. He wanted to hold her like that for the rest of time and to know her as fully as any man had ever known a woman.

  But Dr. Lewis’s gentle cough reminded him that then was not the time. Duty pressed on his shoulders as if gravity had suddenly doubled.

  He withdrew his lips from hers and felt as though all the warmth he had ever known had been sucked out of him. Her eyes had been closed, but they fluttered open yet languid. Her lips were still parted, and though she looked like she wanted to speak, she said nothing.

  Tex remained silent as well, allowing their kiss to be the final word between them. For now.

  The lead scientist told everyone to clear out, and they scurried away.

  Dr. Lewis was the last to leave the area. “Good luck,” she whispered. She kissed him lightly on the cheek then helped him get his helmet on and fastened. Then she, too, walked away, leaving him entirely alone on a spot in the center of the array marked with a fluorescent green X.

  The helmet muffled sounds, but he could have heard them clearly if he’d wanted. He decided, though, to save his energy and focus instead on the task at hand. He would need to be more focused than he had ever been if the plan was to work.

  As he attempted to meditate, doubt played at the fringes of his mind. He had convinced those scientists to put themselves at risk to support a plan based on implanted memories he had received in the future from a race that had intended to kill at least three-quarters of the population. What if the Conexus history I accessed in their future world was merely myth? The flicker of doubt pulled him from his meditation. What if all of this is simply a fantasy I created because I want so badly to save her?

  Something was nagging at him, though. Perhaps it was what humans called intuition. This mission felt right to him, and he focused on that. He stretched out his arms and tilted his head up toward the starry sky. The arid, high-desert air had been good for him. His synapses fired without obstruction. The conditions would never be better.

  Tex closed his eyes and signaled his readiness with a thumb’s up. He withdrew then into a deep meditation. He no longer fretted over whether they had gotten the Arecibo dish aligned properly or whether the north-south shafts of the Great Pyramid had the required chemicals flowing through them to create the reaction required.

  Tex focused on his breath and followed it down to an awareness of his body then to his cells. He was simultaneously cognizant of every one of his cells and was in direct communication with them. At the cellular level, he became aware of electromagnetic waves pulsing through him from the telescope array. His cells vibrated. That merest hint of movement was subtle at first, but the small vibration grew into an oscillation that was at once disorienting but also created a pleasant, tingly sensation throughout his body.

  He focused even more deeply, down to the atomic level, where the oscillation was a thunderous earthquake. His atoms threatened to rip away from each other and scatter, but they resisted. Pain like a million white-hot pokers tore at him, and he was aware on some level that he screamed in agony.

  With great effort, he pulled his attention away from the pain. He refocused on the wave pulse. It was there, moving through his physical body, yes, but also touching his consciousness. If all had gone as he had directed, the radio dishes had aligned the waveform to the proper destination.

  The feeling of ripping and splitting was replaced by immense pressure, as though he was being compressed down, squashed and smashed until he was no more than the size of a pinhead.

  Physical sensation ceased entirely. He was aware only of being aware. He was everywhere yet nowhere. The feeling was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. He simply was, yet he was not.

  Before he had the opportunity to grapple with that existential conundrum, sensation returned to his body, and he was slammed with great force. He felt as though his very being was forced back into his body, or quite possibly, his body was thrown hard against the ground. Either way, searing knives of pain throbbed in his legs.

  He blinked and, upon doing so, became aware that he once again had eyes and could see. His vision was blu
rry, the clear plastic of his helmet facemask covered in dust. He tried to see beyond the plastic of his helmet but saw only sand—no emerald-green spires of glass or wide boulevards of pink marble and gleaming stone as he had envisioned, based on the ancient history archives of the Conexus.

  He was splayed like a specimen ready for dissection. Tex tried to push himself up to standing, but the pain that shot through him revealed that both his legs were broken.

  Tex lay in the sand nearly blind, due to the dusty helmet and completely incapacitated by the fractured bones. The dust that smeared his helmet was the same color as the dust that had covered the ground he’d stood on at the VLA. I didn’t go anywhere. Though he had failed utterly, his only consolation was that he’d soon be with Erika again. At least until the M’Uktah eat us all.

  25

  JACK

  After trudging for nearly an hour through desert scrub, Jack, Anna, and Alecto made it to the hidden entrance to A.H.D.N.A. Their packs were heavy with body armor, weapons, and rappelling equipment. Despite the chill of a cloudy, late-autumn day, Jack’s back was wet with sweat.

  “We’ll be tired before we get there,” he said.

  Anna and Alecto breathed heavily behind him.

  Thomas had made a half-hearted demand that he come with them. When Jack explained that they would need to climb in complete darkness down a tunnel that extended without end for nearly a mile, he’d decided to stay behind and monitor things from his computers.

  Jack was glad of it. Thomas was at his best behind a screen, his fingers clicking a keyboard. Jack needed to focus on keeping Anna safe. He didn’t relish the idea of having to watch out for Thomas as well.

  Sewell’s directions and coordinates had led them easily to the hole in the rock that led to the tunnel entrance to A.H.D.N.A. It was the same route Tex had used to escape on that fateful night Jack had met him in the desert.

  They rummaged through their packs and donned the rappelling harnesses. Jack and Anna put on caving helmets equipped with halogen lights. Alecto could see in the dark as well as any night-dwelling cave creature and had no need for the lamp.