Enigma: A Far From Home Novel

by Tony Healey

She closed the comm. channel and looked at the others.

  “Now what?” Selena asked her.

  “If you’re all in agreement, I’d like to keep looking about,” Rayne said.

  The others agreed.

  “Good. Selena, you pair up with Gary. I’ll go with Mark. Let’s see what we can find,” Olivia told them. They fell into their two groups without fuss and split up to explore The Chrysler while outside, around them, a tempest thundered over the surface of C-3.

  45.

  Whether through fatigue, the drugs Dr. Clayton had given her, or just plain luck, it was by far the best sleep Jessica King had had in a long time. Her limbs ached, but more from the exercise of the day before than the MS. It felt good to get up, stand under the hot shower. Clean and refreshed, she made her way to the mess for some coffee and a blueberry muffin if the Chef had any luck.

  “Ah, Captain, I thought you might be popping by,” the Defiant‘s Chef said with a grin. He handed her a little saucer with a juicy muffin on it, covered in wrap.

  “You don’t know how good this looks,” Jessica said.

  The ship’s head cook tilted his head. “All in a morning’s work, Ma’am.”

  She collected her coffee and sat down. The steady heartbeat of the ship underfoot was reassuring and made her feel at home. In many ways the Defiant was her home. She’d spent the majority of her service aboard the old girl.

  Jessica looked away toward one of the viewing ports. They gave a fine view of the Enigma, and beyond that, the murky colours of the planetoid NA-45.

  She sipped her coffee, then headed for her meeting with Dr. Gentry to hear his probably wild ideas and theories.

  * * *

  “Shall we sit?” she asked him.

  Dr. Gentry dropped into a chair near her. He swiped through several items of interest on his data tablet before beginning.

  “Well . . .” he said, then appeared to get lost in thought.

  “Doctor?”

  He snapped to. “Sorry. I’m still trying to figure out how the computer beat me at Tajem last night. It’s quite baffling. I don’t know if Admiral Grimshaw told you, but I’m quite the Tajem champion. The Defiant‘s computer surprised me. It had a few tricks up its sleeve.”

  “Well, you know,” King said. “She’s something of an antique. You’re probably not used to playing a lady of her age.”

  Dr. Gentry seemed to find this hilarious. He broke out in a mad cackle, the likes of which Jessica couldn’t help joining in on. “I want to apologise for my actions on the Enigma, Captain. I didn’t mean to undermine you, or startle the others.”

  “I know,” Jessica explained. “But you have to understand I can’t have that. Not a single weapon fires without my order first.”

  “Yes, of course. It was just that I could see no other way. And in any case, we would have had to kill the thing anyway to dissect it,” Gentry said.

  King couldn’t argue with his logic, and yet it still bugged her what he’d done over there. Grabbing Chang’s weapon like that, executing the scorpion.

  “Have you had military experience in the past, Doctor? You seem to know how to handle a weapon,” she said.

  Gentry shrugged. “Some. I’d rather not discuss it, if you don’t mind. I’m a different person now. I prefer to be a man of science than a man of war.”

  Jessica nodded her consent, but filed it away for future reference. She’d have to go through Gentry’s file when she got the chance. Clearly it held more than Academia related endeavours…

  “Anyway, about that thing out there,” he said.

  “Yes. Go on.”

  “There’s been quite a few surprises. The most prescient seems to be the discovery of the creatures in C-1,” Gentry said. “More than anything else, they indicate to me that the Enigma is not awaiting a crew but hiding one.”

  Jessica’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You think? It seems like a ghost ship to me. A very big ghost ship.”

  “She’s big because she’s intended to sustain an entire people. A colony,” the Doctor explained. “Awaiting the day when they will re-populate the Namar and bring them back from extinction.”

  “That’s what you think it is? An insurance policy against oblivion?” Jessica asked.

  Dr. Gentry nodded in agreement. “Yes. Somewhere on that huge ship is a crew, I’m sure of it. If not a crew, then the means to make one. We know from history that the Namar dabbled with cybernetics, fusing machine and man into one being. There are countless reports of their unstoppable armies from long before the Draxx War.”

  “I know. I read the file on them. You really think they did that? Left this out here in the middle of nowhere in the hope no-one would stumble upon it?”

  “It’s feasible. At least it is to me. They were a powerful race, Captain. But they were dying. Their day had come and gone. I think the Enigma was their way of ensuring they got another one.”

  She took a few notes on her own data tablet.

  Gentry folded his arms in front of his chest. “How much do you know about Galileo, Captain?” he asked.

  Jessica shrugged. “Not that much, I’m afraid.”

  The scientist smiled. “That’s perfectly fine. Do you have time for a history lesson? I promise to give you the digest version.”

  Jessica nodded her consent. “By all means, go ahead,” she told Dr. Gentry.

  Gentry poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher in the middle of the table. He took several sips before continuing.

  “Galileo was already a noted astronomer, but it was when he discovered Murano glass that his abilities reached new heights. With the almost crystal clarity of that glass, he was able to make new, more powerful lenses and dramatically improve the capability of his telescopes. And if memory serves, he managed to achieve a magnification of twenty times,” Dr. Gentry told her. “This allowed him unprecedented views of the night sky. And in January of 1610 he made observations that would change astronomy — and science — forever.”

  “And what was that?” King asked him.

  “Well, when he pointed his telescope toward Jupiter, he observed for the first time a line of four distinct lights in front of it. Over time he noted that the lights changed their position, and correctly hypothesised that they were moons in orbit of Jupiter. Now what you have to remember is that up until that point, there were two acceptable models of the universe.”

  “Interesting,” Jessica said earnestly as she now poured herself some water. “And fascinating, to think that this was once modern science. Astronomy at the very edge of sophistication.”

  “It is fascinating, isn’t it? So yes, there were two,” Gentry said. “The Ptolemy model, whereby the Earth stood at the centre of everything. The entire universe literally revolved around the Earth. Copernicus refuted this theory and claimed that, at far as our own solar system was concerned, everything orbited the sun. After all, the Greek for planet is ‘wanderer.’”

  “How was it decided that the Copernicus view of the universe was the correct one?” she asked.

  “For that, we come back to Galileo. By observing Jupiter, and proving that Jupiter had its own moons in orbit, he was able to substantiate Copernicus’s theory. He published his research in a slim volume entitled Starry Messenger. In fact I have a copy in storage on Station 6.”

  “The church at the time must have taken a dim view of Galileo’s findings,” Jessica pointed out.

  Gentry nodded. “Yes, it was the cause of some scandal. However, about a hundred years later, we had significantly advanced equipment with which to prove that he was right. We were able to observe stellar parallax – which is what Galileo himself had seen when he watched Jupiter and its moons interact with one another – the shift in the relative position of the stars and the Earth as we orbit the Sun. It’s a shame it came too late. I’m sure he would have enjoyed seeing his theory proven.”

  “Great minds are rarely appreciated in their own time,” King said.

  “Indeed,” Gentry said
. “Copernicus came up with the idea… but Galileo proved it. That is science. Everything that has happened since is due in part to Galileo and another fellow called Kepler, who showed that the orbits of the planets were not circular but ellipses. We owe the very fact that we’re here, right now, to those two men.”

  “Amazing, isn’t it?” Jessica said with an incredulous shake of her head. “Look at how far we’ve come.”

  “Galileo once said ‘The laws of the universe are written in the language of mathematics,’” Gentry said, moving on with his tale. “And perhaps as a footnote to my less than concise history lesson, Galileo was known for making several other discoveries during his lifetime. He proved that objects of different sizes and weights fall at the same speed. The old wives tale of Galileo dropping a canon ball and a feather from the top of a building is wildly inaccurate. He also proved that it was the density of an object, and not its shape, that determined whether or not it would float.”

  “You seem to be somewhat in awe of the man,” the Captain said.

  Dr. Gentry laughed. “I guess I am. As a man of science, I do not see how I cannot be.”

  She frowned. “Not to be rude, but how does all this tie in with the Enigma? Or have I just missed the point?”

  “You mean, ‘was this all just chat?’” the Doctor asked.

  Jessica laughed, but nodded all the same.

  “I did have a point,” he said. “And it ties into what we were discussing before.”

  “Oh?” she said.

  Gentry stood and walked over to the nearest porthole. Beyond lay the Enigma. With his back to her, hands in his pockets, he spoke in a far softer voice.

  “I am often in awe of that time, when the first pioneers in the field attempted to understand the immensity of the heavens,” he said. “It seems almost romantic to me, that age of discovery of innovation. And it isn’t just nostalgia; we’re still looking. Even now, on ships such as this, we’re still star watching and dreaming of what lies beyond in that starry sea we call the cosmos . . .”

  He turned back around, and in the flash of the overhead lights, Jessica was almost certain his eyes glistened. Here was a man who, on previous occasions, had proven to be erratic, unpredictable and a certifiable crackpot. And yet he stood before her now, a wise man, a scientist, a man visibly moved by his field of study, and all those who’d come before him.

  Her opinion of Wilf Gentry had changed.

  “We do not know all that is out there,” he said, his voice wistful as he continued on. “We can imagine, and theorise, but if there’s one universal constant, it is that the truth will always be far stranger than anything we could possibly imagine. Captain King, I have no definitive answers for you. You have my theories, my speculation. My thoughts on just what the Enigma is, what we may yet still find over there on that mysterious time capsule of a world. But what none of us can ever escape is the same sense of wonder humanity has always felt when they’ve gazed up at the stars. It is the unknown, and there is no way of predicting what you will find when you venture forth into it. No matter how well informed you are, there’s no telling what might happen. Surprises always find a way of presenting themselves…”

  46.

  Selena Walker and Gary Belcher stood in awe. What could only be the power core, or the reactor, of the Enigma shone like a miniature sun before them. It was a sparkling cascade of energy trapped within a hexagonal chamber. The chamber was completely transparent, and as much as the light it exuded was blinding, it also had a mesmerising quality. They couldn’t stop looking.

  “Now we know how it moves,” Belcher said.

  “Yeah,” Walker agreed.

  “It looks like Christmas,” Belcher said.

  Selena shook her head. “It looks like Heaven. In a bottle.”

  Being so close to it made the hairs on their arms, and at the back of their necks, stand on end. It hurt their eyes. And yet it was so entrancing . . .

  “Walker, come in,” a voice said. It snapped them both out of it.

  Selena spoke into her comm. unit. “Yes, this is Walker.”

  “Come find us. You have got to see this,” Rayne said.

  “We found something pretty interesting here, too,” Selena said, though she was more than happy to get some distance from it – whatever it was.

  47.

  “Look,” Rayne said as Gary Belcher and Selena Walker approached from down the corridor. Olivia and Lieutenant Jackson stood directly in front of a display showing several suits of armour, old fashioned sword-like weapons. A kind of lance, and something that could only be a whip of some sort.

  “Very peculiar,” Walker said. She noted the design of the armour, too. “It’s almost ceremonial.”

  “What do you mean?” Jackson asked.

  “You know, something you might wear to a special occasion, or a coming of age test. It almost looks –” Selena started to say.

  “– feudal,” Jackson interjected.

  “Yes,” Walker said. “Definitely feeling the warrior vibe with all of this.”

  Olivia started to walk off. “And that’s not all of it.”

  The others followed her into a large oval room, crammed from floor to ceiling with consoles and displays. Not one seat in the whole place. There was no display screen, like most Union vessels, but some kind of holo-display emitter at the centre of the room.

  “This has to be a bridge,” Belcher said. “Just looking at the layout, the design. It’s clearly intended to orchestrate events.”

  “If it’s not a bridge then it’s a war room,” Jackson said.

  “There was a class of Union runners that had bridges like this,” Belcher explained. “Back a century or more. They were like the old submarines from Earth’s history. You ever seen one of those things?”

  Olivia nodded. “Yeah in a museum one time.”

  “Well, they had something similar. Only it was a cube with displays on each side, and that sat in the middle of the bridge,” Belcher told her. “But still, very much like this.”

  “So this is where they control the Enigma from,” Walker said.

  “Or would’ve,” Olivia said. “If they were here . . .”

  48.

  “Well, I won’t be too long,” Dana Oriz said as she hefted the sack containing the scorpion up off the deck.

  “They’re already at the other side of the airlock, waiting,” Chang told her.

  “Right. See you soon,” Dana said and donned her helmet. Lieutenant Chang watched her walk off toward one of the elevators that would take her to the airlock.

  * * *

  Olivia Rayne answered her comm. and smiled the moment she heard Chang’s voice.

  “Lisa!”

  Jackson threw her a strange look, so she went to one side and spoke in a lower voice. Selena and Gary had gone back out to get another look at the swords and armour.

  “Lisa, I didn’t know you were going to call,” Olivia said. “Boy oh boy, have we found some stuff over here.”

  “Thought I’d surprise you,” Chang said. “Doctor Oriz has just gone up to the airlock. They’re taking that creature aboard now to study.”

  “Oh. Will you be all right over there on your own like that?”

  “Sure. They’ve shown us no interest. We’re going to try and get some decent footage of them, though, once Dana comes back.”

  “Good. We’re having a storm here.”

  “Same as what we had here in C-1,” Chang said. “It’ll pass.”

  Olivia took a deep breath. “Lisa, I –”

  “Yep, I know,” Chang told her. “Me too.”

  “See you soon?” Olivia asked.

  “You bet, Liv. Even if I have to travel down there in that storm,” Chang said. And do me a favour, will you?”

  “Anything.”

  “Stay safe.”

  * * *

  When Dana returned to C-1, she and Commander Chang followed the first scorpion they could find, filming its every move. They watched as it cleane
d every surface it came into contact with, using its mouth. With its claws it picked up anything out of place. A ball of dust blew in front of it, and the two women watched in surprise as it neatly plucked it out of the air and slipped the dust ball into its mouth.

  Yet again, they observed as the scorpions disappeared into the floor, and yet were unable to open the hatches themselves, let alone get a real glimpse of what was down there.

  “This is the skin, and that’s the flesh underneath,” Dana stated after they watched yet another of the scorpion creatures do a disappearing act on them.

  “Then in this case the flesh truly does crawl,” Chang was quick to answer.

  49.

  Dr. Clayton removed his gloves. Jessica looked at the milky, blue fluid splattered up the front of his apron. The scorpion lay on its back, legs splayed out, underbelly cut open.

  “So?” she asked him.

  Clayton took a deep breath. “Far as I can tell, it’s biomechanical.”

  “Biomechanical?”

  He nodded. “Yes. There are parts of it that are wholly organic, side by side with mechanical components. And there’s parts of it that seem . . . well, a bit of both. As I said, biomechanical. A melding of organic tissues and mechanical parts.”

  “Right. So this thing’s not strictly a robot.”

  Clayton laughed. “Far from it.” He indicated the blood on his apron.

  Jessica watched as he tossed his gloves, apron and face mask in the waste, then followed him into his office.

  “Have you ever seen anything like that before?” she asked him.

  Clayton sat down. Behind them in the medical bay, the nurses dealt with the corpse of the scorpion. It would be frozen and put into storage until they could get back to Station 6.

  “Of course, there are replicants, but they’re not strictly biomechanical,” Clayton explained. “Artificially created beings, modified to have certain traits. This is different, though.”

  “Yes. These are, as you say, a mix. Do you know if the Union has ever tried such a thing?” Jessica asked him.