by Lea Tassie
The tragedy of losing their children to the cicada scourge meant that all hope vanished of a democracy for humans, except for the Great Eight and the twelve constructs. For the Taskers, the biomechanical drones, their life of blind servitude would continue until technology improved enough to provide them with fully competent human brains.
Then everything changed.
One day late in the year 2090, a ship from Earth entered the orbit of this small world and sent a landing party to make contact.
The meeting went badly. The conversion of the Mavens to biomechanical constructs had come with a serious departure from the human form. The lack of eyes and a mouth was the most obvious, but the many limbs were nearly as shocking. Speech between individuals was done through radio frequencies, as the Taskers were never designed to express language. Over time, conversations had evolved into a series of efficient binary bursts of information. No one regretted the loss of eyes because the Tasker form made more efficient use of light through the infrared and ultraviolet bands. But, to the landing party from Earth, the Taskers were completely unrecognizable as human.
As the small landing craft flew over the cities of New Eden, several large Taskers flew up to greet it, forming ranks around the craft and guiding it to the main building of the Great Eight, which was covered with thick, green, ivy-like vegetation. The craft landed in a big open area in front of the building. Many of the city's inhabitants rushed to the site to get a glimpse of these visitors and soon the small craft found itself surrounded by curious onlookers.
The humans remained in the ship for some time, not sure if leaving the vessel was a wise idea. Finally, they decided that since they hadn't been attacked so far, they would venture forth in hopes of discovering what had happened to the kids from Earth.
Three humans in encounter suits left the craft and cautiously walked toward the building, watched closely by the remaining crew members huddled in the main window of the ship. Elvin and Eve came down the long steps from the main building. They were highly decorated and colorful as befitted regal leaders of this new world. The Earth leader began communicating in English to Elvin, asking if the Mavens had landed here in the distant past.
Elvin understood every word spoken to him, but he could not answer any of the questions put to him in a way that the humans could understand. All they heard was a series of clicks as a response to their questions.
The confusion went on for some time as the small groups faced each other, trying to find ways to communicate. Pictures were shown that Elvin could not see, questions were asked that Elvin could not answer. Body language and math equations were tried, which all led to dead ends. Frustrated, the humans decided to return to the small ship to try to find another way of communicating. Several hours passed before the three re-emerged to try again, this time carrying a blank piece of paper and some colored pencils.
Elvin and Eve had also spent time trying to find a way to communicate and decided that the only way was to wake one of the eight humans in stasis. They chose the best preserved member of the original group to revive.
Elvin and Eve came to meet with the humans, guiding a confused and bewildered young girl struggling with the effects of many years in suspended animation. Blurry-eyed and groggy, the young girl stumbled forward to meet the three humans in encounter suits. Shocked at what they saw, the three humans began yelling about the discovery of a survivor who had obviously been held prisoner.
When the mother ship broke orbit and headed back to Earth, it carried video footage of the entire encounter. The overwhelmed young girl screamed at the sight of the Taskers and the confused humans opened fire on the Taskers.
The response of the planet's inhabitants to aggression from the small band of humans was immediate and absolute. Footage of the complete destruction of the small landing craft and its crew was transmitted to the mother ship in orbit, and thence back to Earth.
Chapter 3 The plumber brothers go to war
"Wrench it again!" Bill was watching from his comfortable perch on a wooden chair.
Dave threw down the wrench. "Damn alien junk, this shit never works right! Got to go back topside for more tools."
"Kay, I'm just gonna sit here and drink my coffee then, but I'll bet yah one more turn of that nut, and pop, she'll be off," Bill said.
"What the hell would you know? You don't get paid to think, you get paid to do. I'll be back in five." Dave stormed off, back along the dark tunnel that led to the surface and the truck he had parked just outside.
Dave was only thirty-five, but looked older. He'd always worked hard to get a few dollars so he could stagger out of a bar late every Friday night. He thought of himself as a lady's man, too, and could not figure out why any lady he started dating usually called it off after a few days.
Grabbing another tool box from the truck, he lugged it down the tunnel, back to his waiting brother, Bill. As he neared the door, Dave could hear Bill talking to himself.
"You should have listened to Mom. She said be a doctor or an electrician, or a scientist like her and dad, but no, you had to be a plumber." He laughed.
Dave flung the door open, wheezing for breath. "Shut the hell up, you brat. Why I hired you, I will never know." Finding a larger wrench in the tool box, he fitted it to the nut and pulled hard on it. This resulted in a loud snap as the nut sheared off, and curses flowed like a river from his mouth.
Bill laughed again. "Maybe if those damn aliens took a decent crap like us humans, we never would have gotten into this mess."
Bill had been the kind of kid everyone liked, the total opposite of Dave. He was handsome, funny and quick-witted, though always unemployed unless his older brother hired him. They had left Earth a few years back, hoping to find good jobs on Neo Terra, the captured, hollow alien world.
After a very long day and several cuts and bruises, Dave and Bill fell into their chairs in front of the television when they got home. They ate instant meals and flipped channels until Dave caught the word 'recruitment' on the news channel.
"This item in again, for those of you just joining us. The president has recalled all military personnel back to their assigned bases for active duty," the blonde newscaster said. Part of the transfer program to Neo Terra had stipulated that service with the military was mandatory and at least ten years of participation was required.
"As if I haven't had enough shit and abuse for one day, now we have to go to the base for more?" Dave snapped.
"Don't sweat it so much, bro, probably just another one of those spontaneous exercises the commanders like to order when they want some attention," Bill said, through a mouth full of food.
"Well, I'm not going till morning. I've had enough for one day. They can wait!" Dave snarled.
Morning came too soon for Dave, but when he finally got up, he found that Bill had already packed a bag for him and prepared a good hot breakfast.
"We're going back to the military. They don't give out raises, and neither do I," grumbled Dave as he sipped his coffee.
Bill grinned. He knew that was his brother's way of saying thanks.
After a short drive in their rattling old truck, they arrived, along with many others, at the gates to their assigned base.
"That's not what I heard," a young freckled-faced kid was saying to his friend. "The Explorers Guild found another world for us to colonize, but it's inhabited by some bug things."
"You're wrong, it wasn't the Explorers Guild, it was some sort of top secret military group, and they got killed by some bugs from a strange world," another kid said.
"Ah, shit, what are you guys – like twelve?" Dave sneered.
"What the hell's your problem, old man? Fill your diaper?" the pimple-faced kid asked.
Dave dropped him like a stone right there, causing an instant commotion. The base police were quick to act. They put their boots to the mob and hauled Dave and Bill aside, along with a few others.
Over the loudspeakers came a gruff voice. "Good to see you're all ready for a
fight. Get these grunts shaved and stacked inside the base. Then we'll see how tough you really are."
After processing, the reservists were formed into ranks on the parade square, shoulder to shoulder, then reformed into battle groups. Finally, as evening closed in, the man who had spoken over the loudspeakers earlier made his way to the podium to address the troops. "My name is Captain Buxton and I'm here to tell you why you've been reassembled." The Captain was a huge man, well over six feet and over two hundred pounds. He bore scars across his heavily creviced face, and walked with a slight limp.
"A lot of rumors have been flying around today, but here are the real facts. In June of last year, we received intelligence that the terrorists who stole a cargo ship from military command back on Earth years ago were located on a distant world. A ship was sent but the landing party dispatched to the planet did not return. I have a video to show you, taken from the ship's recorders and transmitted to us, of what happened to that landing party." From behind the captain's podium, a large monitor flared to life and the video began playing.
Bill and Dave found themselves next to the two pimpled-faced kids they had had a run-in with earlier that day. Both of them sported cuts and bruises. "I'm Bill. Hope we didn't break too many of your bones," he joked.
"It's all good, old-timer. I'm Foster and this is Jimmy," Foster replied.
From the front of the platoon, Sergeant York turned around and gave them a stern look and a gruff bark. Everyone in the ranks fell silent again.
For about an hour, the large video monitor spelled out the situation. The appearance of the Taskers, which did look like large bugs, sparked an instant reaction from the soldiers. The three dead humans in encounter suits being ripped apart by the bug-like aliens all brought growls of anger. It was difficult to see how the fighting had started, but the camera did get a close-up of a young girl from the original terrorist group which stole the old cargo ship. Her look of terror and confusion had all the soldiers believing the other young kids had been killed by the bug-like aliens, and that this girl was a captive.
***
"As with some math, there are things that we know are true, but which can never be proven," Sergeant York said to the new friends he'd made. A graduate from MIT, York had never fit into any group, so perhaps it wasn't strange to find his choice of friends were of less than average intelligence, people he could easily control or impress. "Thus chaos theory is only stable now in relation to our accumulated human knowledge base to date. As we progress as beings, we will understand new forms of intelligence not yet realized due to our limited development."
"Yup, that's what I was trying ta tell yah, Foster, the big vampires we got on board are from another galaxy," Jimmy said to his bunk mate. Foster looked a bit suspiciously at Jimmy and asked York if he believed the vampires were from another galaxy.
A broad grin formed on York's face. He did not want to let on that he knew more than his new friends. They would not want to be friends with someone as smart as he was. "I was told these Hyborg soldiers are from our own world of Earth, developed in some government lab, though they've been working on Mars the last few years. But the aliens we are heading for have had vast amounts of time to develop principles and understandings beyond our ability to comprehend," York replied.
"So we are taking mutants from Earth to help fight aliens from time?" Foster asked, sounding dazed.
"I suppose that's one way to look at it," York answered, trying not to smirk. "So you don't have to fear the mutants. They're on our side."
Feeling a bit safer and less intimidated because of what he had just learned, Foster rose from the table and boldly walked over to Jill to introduce himself. Both Sergeant York and Jimmy stared in horror.
Within seconds, Foster was flat on his back, facing teeth and growls of intense ferocity from both Jill and Mac as they paced wildly around the young man, clawing and scraping at the metal floor. The soldiers scattered back against the walls of the space ship's mess hall, as panic-stricken shouts arose from all around. Several other Lycans began moving around the room, facing off with soldiers who were now scrambling for anything to use as weapons: spoons, knives, forks, plates, anything they could grab.
Sergeant York lurched forward, his hands out-stretched as he tried to reach for his friend Foster cowering on the floor. A large firm hand fell on York's shoulder, pinning him solidly where he stood. An old man's husky voice barked out commands which caused all the Lycans to back off and retreat to one side of the room. The other hand, so large it almost enveloped Foster, picked him up off the floor and handed him to Sergeant York.
"Bad idea to approach a Lycan from behind," the gruff old voice said.
Unnerved, York replied, "Yes, you are very right. I will make sure it never happens again. Thanks for helping Foster."
Shaking uncontrollably, Foster stumbled back to the other humans still guarding their positions along the walls.
York stopped and turned to face the old vampire. "What's your name? I'd like to know who I'm thanking."
It seemed to take forever for the old vampire to answer. In all the battles through all the years, very few had ever asked his name. "Charger!" he barked and moved back to the far side of the room, back to the shadows.
Days turned into weeks, weeks into months and months into years, as the soldiers aboard the combat ships traveled through the vast darkness of deep space toward New Eden. The troops were awakened from their stasis chambers at weekly intervals to conserve precious resources. Cryogenic sleep required a lot of power from the ship's engines, and became a luxury as crews were rotated in and out of stasis.
A day came when Jimmy was again shaken awake and found that his friends, York and Foster, were already missing from their chambers. He knew they'd be in the cafeteria; they always went there after waking up.
He found Foster at a table by himself. Sergeant York was across the room, at a table with the old vampire, in a dark corner of the cafeteria. "What are you doing sitting alone?" Jimmy asked Foster.
"I'm not going over there after what happened the last time. Those Lycan things still give me the shakes," replied an uneasy Foster.
Sergeant York came over to their table and sat down. "Okay, his name is not really Charger. Guess that's what he got called the first day he signed up for the experiments. Hard to get any information; the guy doesn't talk much. But he said it had something to do with his car. Also, if you notice, he's the only vampire with two Lycans. Guess that makes him the vampire leader or something."
York did not tell Foster and Jimmy that the vampire had also said something about being good at math. The sergeant didn't quite believe that, but there was no doubt in his mind that Charger was not somebody you wanted to mess with.
Sergeant York pointed at Jill and Mac and said in a low whisper, "Those Lycan things are somehow linked to Charger; you can tell if you watch closely. When I made a few comments about the military and this trip to New Eden, they reacted the same way Charger did. They also seem to look at objects at the same moment and they move in unison sometimes as well. Must be some kind of neural link."
"What kind of link?" asked Foster.
"It's a way of connecting brains together in thought, like computers joined over the internet," York replied.
Suddenly the floor plates shook violently and alarm bells began ringing all over the ship. The reaction from the men was one of surprise. No one had told them the ships were now slowing their rate of speed in preparation for arrival above New Eden.
Commanders barked orders to troops as crew members were awakened and prepared for disembarkation to the planet below. It had taken three years to get to New Eden and now the soldiers were mere hours away from breathing fresh air. The excitement was nearly palpable as they boarded small transport drop-ships stationed on the massive command battleships. The drop-ships were not pretty, nor aerodynamic in any sense; they were simple boxes. Military personal were strapped into harnesses in these boxes, and then shot on rails out of the co
mmand ships toward the planet.
As the drop-ships plummeted through the atmosphere, motion sickness caused soldiers to begin vomiting. This didn't bother Bill; he just laughed and cheered as his brother Dave stared at him in disgust. Foster rapidly checked his gear while Jimmy continued picking his nose.
The violent shaking and tumbling suddenly stopped when small thruster rockets were fired to stabilize the descent and massive parachutes erupted from the tops of the ships to slow them down. With tremendous thuds, the ships hit the ground. Soldiers, shaken and staggering, poured out of the crafts to take up positions of defense being coordinated by commanders all over the field. Within hours of their arrival in orbit around New Eden, drop-ships containing tanks, soldiers, Hyborgs and command structures dotted the landscape.
***
Elvin stepped back from the terrace overlooking the city proper and responded in binary language to the Tasker that had rushed into his chamber. "Tell the preceptors not to engage the humans. We must try to communicate better with them this time. Bring Gerald out of stasis, and tell the others to join me at the city gates."
He moved across the room to the chamber where his wife's dead body lay. "They have returned. I knew they would, and I wish you were here to counsel me. I miss you so much, my love." Elvin reached out and, with one of his metal limbs, gently touched his wife's body shell.
Though the Taskers did not normally maintain a military, since they felt no need or desire to dominate anything on their planet, they had managed to create a rather sizeable fighting force after the previous encounter with humans from Earth. Their great capital city, ringed by walls of natural wood, was a paradise of nature and technology combined to create a perfect new Eden. Now, as had happened in ancient fortresses of Earth, the Taskers gathered along high points around the walls, looking out at the massive fields of trees and flowers, watching for approaching humans.
"Gerald, I want you to walk with me to the human camp. We need to try to talk with them to prevent any further hostilities." Elvin communicated through a device that Gerald held in his hand. The unit was a small translating device which the Taskers had developed to convert their binary speech into something understandable by humans. Gerald had been removed from stasis after the first conflict, and was instrumental in the development of this technology. It had been decided then that if the humans returned, he would be brought out of sleep again to represent the human face that the Taskers once had, all those many years ago when they first stole the cargo ship and set off to find New Eden.
