The Last City (The Ahlemon Saga Book 1)

by Casey McGinty

  The Professor turned back to his guests. “There were numerous other fields we explored that brought wondrous discoveries, but in particular, we became obsessed with the search for human life beyond our planet. As you may have experienced in your own culture, when a person becomes inwardly fulfilled, they begin to look outward for greater purpose. And so it was with the entire human race on Ahlemon: we looked outward in hopes of finding a sister humanoid race in the universe and the origins of our existence. Our search led us to advancements in subatomic physics, from which we developed polarity fields, like the one used to block the leviathan, and our suspension technology, which is partly responsible for your travel to our planet.”

  Restless, Tygert stood up and started to pace behind the sofa. The doctor leaned forward in rapt attention. Kane was relaxed, absorbing the information.

  “Then came our most monumental discovery. We confirmed the existence of other humanoid life in the universe and, simultaneously, discovered a means by which to reach it.” The Professor paused, then asked, “Are you familiar with animals that have an innate instinct to find their way home, even over great distances?”

  “Yes, homing pigeons do this on Earth,” the doctor said. “It has never been explained.”

  “Well, such a link exists between humans. Through an accidental observation in a suspension experiment, one of our physicists identified a unique resonance that existed between our planet and another planet. In short, the resonance was a link between humanoid life forms. To our amazement, it reaches across astronomical distances, connecting with other human life resonances.”

  “And was that planet Earth?” the doctor asked.

  “No, it was another.”

  “So there are a number of planets in the universe with human life?” the doctor asked.

  “Yes,” the Director answered. “There are numerous planets with humanoid life, each one at various stages of development.”

  “At various stages of development,” the doctor echoed, visibly excited. “So they are all evolving out of their own ecosystem?”

  “Not exactly,” the Director said. “Your question is rooted in your theories of biological evolution. While there is always a subtle evolution to biological systems, the independent planetary humanoid communities we have discovered are evolving as civilizations, not so much biologically, as you suggest. While we have not studied these communities, based on our brief contact, it would appear that each humanoid group was planted there.”

  Dr. Manassa stood up, lifting his hands in amazement. “Do you realize what you’re saying? The ramifications to our theories of the origins of human life? Our assumptions? How many worlds have you found with human life?”

  “Nineteen. Earth was the nineteenth.”

  “Unbelievable,” Tygert said, clearly struggling to accept what he was hearing. Kane sat with his arms crossed, quietly taking it all in.

  “Nineteen” the doctor said, in awe. “And are we the first you have brought here?”

  “No. We have brought humans to Ahlemon from three other planets.”

  “And what happened to them?”

  “They were safely returned to their home planets.”

  At this point, in an obvious effort to regain control of the conversation, the Professor turned his attention to the doctor. “Sir,” he began, “you sound like a man of scholarship. What is your background?”

  “I’m Dr. James Manassa, medical doctor, surgeon, and a student of various disciplines.”

  “Dr. Manassa, I am pleased to meet you, and I would very much like to engage in a lengthy discussion with you about each of our worlds. But for now, I really need to convey the simple elements of our story so you can fully understand why you are here. I beg your patience and assure you that we will address all of your questions in time.”

  “Yes, of course,” the doctor said as he sat back down.

  “This human resonance between planets is potent but extremely subtle, and very difficult to identify. The resonance revealed itself only when a condensed suspension beam accidentally crossed the path of the resonance, outside of our planetary atmosphere, and at a precise calibration. At first discovery, we did not know what we had found. Once identified, we further experimented with varying attenuations of the suspension beam and a most amazing thing happened. For lack of a better description, a fourth dimension was revealed. We discovered a portal—a hallway, if you will—that connected the two resonant planets across the interstellar distance. In Earth vernacular, we found a wormhole. It was as if the portal had been deliberately hidden, waiting for the exact interaction of technology and resonance to reveal the doorway. I must say, in a lifetime of research, it never ceased to amaze me how one discovery is often a prerequisite to the next, as if there is a predetermined sequence for ongoing scientific revelation. But I diverge; that is a philosophical discussion we can enjoy another time.”

  Tygert refilled drinks for everyone and returned to take a seat on the sofa.

  “We were on the verge of launching our first unmanned, interstellar expedition to the resonant planet when a catastrophic event struck Ahlemon. Our sun generated a solar storm that emitted an abberant ionic particle. We were aware of the storm when it occurred, and we even detected the existence of the new ionic particles soon after they struck our planet. But it would be several years before we realized their devastating affect on our way of life. To our horror, we discovered that the DNA of all humanoid life on Ahlemon had mutated, rendering the next generation sterile; humans could no longer reproduce. All land-based mammalian life was similarly affected. Aquatic mammals, all non-mammals, plant life, and aquatic life were not rendered sterile from the ionic particles.

  “With this discovery a countdown commenced, and we began a race for our very existence. We immediately discontinued all nonessential programs, including our interstellar expedition, and focused all our resources on medical and biological research. We explored every conceivable idea to restore our mutated DNA. I was a middle-aged physicist when the sterility was discovered, and I devoted the rest of my life to finding a solution.

  “Since aquatic life was unaffected, we built underwater habitats in an attempt to shield us from the effects of the ionic storm and potentially reverse the mutation. We never fully determined if it was the DNA of the aquatic life or the water itself that served as a protection from the aberrant particles. But it didn’t matter; the underwater habitats failed. We built shielded and self-contained environments underground in hopes of deflecting the ionic particles, halting the mutation, and giving us a place to cultivate a restored DNA; they failed as well. We even built a special installation on our moon, to no avail.

  “Simply put, we were too late. The few years of unfettered exposure to the ionic radiation had caused irreparable damage. Despite all our advancements, we could not re-create a pure human DNA strand, and we faced a stark conclusion—in order to save our race, we needed two things: a pure human DNA strand, and we had to wait until the ionic effects of the solar storm had fully receded. Alas, there were no pure human DNA strands left on our planet. And we estimated that the ionic storm would last almost a hundred years beyond our longest projected life expectancy.”

  Tygert stood and began pacing again. Dr. Manassa was nodding his head as if he suspected where this was going. Kane waited patiently, storing the information for evaluation after he knew the full story. The Professor continued.

  “Upon reaching this conclusion, we focused our worldwide resources on two courses of action. The first included the building of this city, Alto Raun, our City of Hope. It is an enclosed community with a fully self-sufficient ecosystem. Not only was it the last city on Ahlemon to host human life; it was designed to be a place for a future iteration of our race to regenerate and grow. Which leads me to our second action . . . our final hope for averting total extinction. We devised a plan to bring a clean humanoid DNA to our planet to restore our race after the ionic particles dissipated.”

  “Astounding,” D
r. Manassa whispered. “And we are your clean DNA.”

  “Yes.”

  The Professor paused to allow this to sink in.

  “What do you intend to do with us?” Tygert said defensively, his fists clenching. Kane stood up, ready to restrain the captain or fend off a counterresponse from the Director.

  The Professor seemed prepared for this reaction, and he spoke in a calming tone. “Do not be afraid; we will not harm you in any way. And, rest assured: we will not force you to do anything against your will. You must willingly choose to help us. It is our way.”

  “Willingly? So why were we so unwillingly taken from our planet?” the captain retorted.

  “Your abduction was my decision,” the Director said. “I regret the method, but I felt that I had no other choice.”

  Tygert looked to Kane and Dr. Manassa. “You really OK with this?”

  “Captain,” the doctor said. “It’s not like they need to dissect us to get our DNA; they could pull it out of a strand of our hair. I believe them. I think we should hear the rest of their story.”

  Tygert relaxed a bit and shook his head as they all sat back down.

  Dr. Manassa addressed the Professor. “I’m puzzled, though. If your people died off so long ago, then what is left to regenerate with our DNA?”

  “Ah yes. My earlier choice of words was not entirely accurate; I was being overly dramatic. I was the last living human on Ahlemon, and it certainly felt dramatic at the time. In any case, we did not die off exactly. There were two components to our final plan. One was to bring a compatible human DNA to our planet. The second . . . well . . . let me back up a bit. I mentioned the suspension technology that we had developed. It is an astounding technology, with multiple applications. One is for interstellar travel. Another is the suspension of activity at the atomic level.” He paused, clearly excited about what he was about to say. “Deep underneath this city, there is a chamber holding one hundred and twenty Ahlemoni humans in a state of suspended animation. We refer to them as the Colony.”

  Kane glanced at his colleagues. While the doctor looked dumbfounded, the captain jumped in.

  “Do you mean to tell us,” Tygert said, “that there are people who have been frozen for two thousand years, and you plan to bring them back to life and restore them with our DNA?”

  “Yes. But not frozen—suspended. In your interstellar travel to our planet, you were suspended for a very short period of time. The suspension slows all activity at a subatomic level to virtually zero, suspending aging and bodily activity, and without any decay.”

  “Will they be aware of the passage of time?” the doctor asked.

  “Technically, no. However, we do not really know the possible effects of such a long suspension. Were you aware of the time it took to travel through space to reach our planet?”

  “No,” they all said together.

  “Director, how long were they in deep suspension during their interstellar travel?”

  “Four Earth hours.”

  “Four hours to travel how far?” Tygert asked.

  “One hundred thirty-seven light-years.”

  Tygert whistled. “I’ve got to know how that works.”

  “It is an extremely complex process,” the Professor said. “I’m sure the Director would be happy to discuss it with you another time.”

  Dr. Manassa continued with his questions. “So, if you just needed a pure DNA strand, why didn’t you just extract samples from our planet? Why did you need to bring a hundred humans across the galaxy to restore your DNA?”

  “Based on our best modeling, isolated DNA manipulation is not an optimal restoration solution. Our greatest hope for successful DNA regeneration is through mixing of the races via the actual reproduction process. The offspring should have a fully regenerated DNA.”

  Tygert started to squirm. Kane looked from him to the doctor, who seemed more at ease. The Professor continued:

  “Thus, we needed to bring you here. While reproduction could happen through artificial insemination, we hoped that the two races would actually—”

  The red in Tygert’s face was half anger and half embarrassment. “You mean you brought us here to mate with your two-thousand-year-old kids?”

  This time, the doctor stood up and put his hand on Tygert’s shoulder. “Captain, imagine it. What desperate lengths would you go to if you were faced with the extinction of all human life on Earth? While it pushes our cultural norms, this makes total sense.”

  “Yeah, well, why didn’t they just ask us for help?” Tygert asked.

  “That was my decision,” the Director responded. “Allow me to explain. We did not have the luxury of introducing Ahlemon to your planet as humans; we could only appear in our robotic form. Our analysis of your media and history led us to believe that Earth humans would not respond well to the discovery of other human life in the universe, particularly a small, post-apocalyptic colony under the oversight of robots. There are extreme ramifications to a humanoid system when they unexpectedly discover that there is other advanced intelligent life in the universe. I was deeply concerned about the possible adverse impact to your entire world culture if we revealed ourselves to Earth. So I determined it would be better to bring you here first, without an introduction. I knew that doing so carried a risk of your rejecting our request for help. I hoped that after meeting the Professor and the colonists and hearing our story, congenial relations would develop between the races on a small scale, after which you could both determine the proper course, if any, for the introduction of Ahlemon to the people of Earth.”

  “Captain, you have to admit, that makes sense,” the doctor said.

  “Yeah, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  “Again,” the Director said, “I am deeply sorry for the trauma and loss that I have caused.”

  Tygert eased up a bit. “Can you can get us back to Earth without our plane?”

  “Yes.”

  All three men visibly relaxed at this news. There was a short silence in the room as this sank in.

  “Will you help us?” the Professor finally asked.

  “Do we have a choice?” Kane asked.

  “Yes. It is your choice. When we set this course two thousand years ago, we determined that we would not force another human to help us against their will. If you choose not to help us, we will return you to Earth. In such a case, we will cease any further interaction with your planet and the Director will resume his search for another compatible humanoid race.”

  “Fair enough,” Tygert said.

  “No, it’s not,” the doctor said firmly. “We must help them. We can’t just leave these people. This is a turning point for Earth, for all humanity; a momentous opportunity has been placed in our hands. Besides, if they took us back to Earth and left without a trace, nobody would believe our story; the whole world would think we were crazy. I would go crazy knowing that we had missed such an opportunity—”

  “Hold your horses, doc,” the captain interrupted. “I didn’t say we were leaving them. But we can’t decide for everyone. Each person will have to make their own choice.” Then he turned to the Professor. “We should return to our people to explain the situation. Besides, we need some rest. After that, I guess we should meet your colonists. Where are they?”

  The Director responded. “They are in the suspension chamber deep underneath—”

  He stopped midsentence and stood silent, as if listening for something. The Professor’s holographic image shut down.

  “What’s wrong?” Kane asked.

  “We are under attack.”

  “The serpent is back?”

  “No, it is not the leviathan.”

  “What is it?”

  “The Breakers are attacking the city.”

  6

  Day 1

  1800 hours

  Central tower, Alto Raun

  “Breakers?” the three men asked in unison.

  “The Breakers are Mekens who have broken from their o
riginal program mandates. They no longer serve the purposes intended by our creators.”

  “You mean they’re rogue robots?” Tygert asked.

  “In a manner of speaking. In addition to our function and logic programs, some Class 2 and all Class 3 and higher Mekens have an empathic program. This program was designed to empathize with human emotions so we could better serve our creators. But it was an untested enhancement in Meken robotics at the time of the Colony’s suspension. After hundreds of years with no humans to serve, the program started evolving on its own. After a thousand years, a group of Mekens collectivized and declared their independence. They would no longer perform their functions to preserve the Colony or the city, nor would they assist in our ongoing search for a compatible human race. Ultimately, they became a liability to our mission and we asked them to leave the city.”

  “You exiled them?” Tygert asked, his voice rising.

  “They agreed to leave.”

  “My God,” the doctor breathed. “Evolving sentient robots . . . and they live how long?”

  “With proper maintenance, indefinitely.”

  “Are our people in danger?” Tygert asked, moving toward the elevator. The others followed.

  “Not at this time. The attack is confined to the hangar in which you entered the city.” The Director tapped a code into the control panel to recall the elevator.

  “How do you know this?”

  “All Mekens are connected to a satellite-based wireless communications network, potentially allowing communication between Mekens almost anywhere on the planet. Our Meken aircraft also have video surveillance capabilities that are transmitted to the central computer. At this time, our submersibles and aircraft are monitoring several Breaker submersibles just outside the hangar where you entered the city. The Breakers are using lasers and explosives at the weakened hangar door, attempting to gain entry.”

  “What about the supervisor . . . or the Mekens at the cafeteria . . . can you communicate with them?” Kane asked.

  The Director paused. “No. They are not responding.”

  Kane and Tygert exchanged concerned glances.