On their way out of the Earth’s system, the Cainth encountered one of Earth’s new battle cruisers returning from the Virgo cluster and proceeded to attack it. Unlike the first encounter, this Earth ship had new weapons and was able to hold off its attackers for an hour. It had more than two hundred ships chasing and firing at it, but it still managed to destroy two Cainth destroyers and disable a cruiser and battleship before it perished. The Cainth suddenly realized that in the future it might not be so easy to destroy this young civilization. The final message from the admiral was, “Next time we’ll bring four fleets.”
Even bad things sometimes yield good results. The weapon designers learned a great deal from that battle about the Cainth offensive and defensive capabilities, which would lead to great improvements in Earth’s ships’ armaments. The Directorate felt all along that Cainth visitors showed up looking for an excuse to eliminate a possible rival from the universe. Again, we have to thank the creator that not all races in the Alliance were as bloodthirsty as the Cainth. Another good thing that happened as a result of the Earth’ ship’s destruction was that the Cainth were reluctant to attack with only their fleets. The effectiveness of the Earth ship in battle concerned them, especially since they had no idea how many ships Earth had built. So from that point on, even if they had a reason to try and justify an attack, they had to persuade other members of the Alliance to join them. After a hundred years of hearing numerous petty reasons from the Cainth, most members of the Alliance just ignored them.
So he sat on the moon and thought about why twenty ships were looking for him. He guessed that stealing that ship frightened the Directorate enough to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. “They’re overreacting,” he thought. “Even I wouldn’t dare go outside the twenty-light-year limit. That would put Leila and Danielle in danger and I just wouldn’t do that. I was hoping to make it to a new colony located near Ross 248. Of course, since they didn’t know about Leila or Danielle, they couldn’t trust what I would do. Well, it shouldn’t last too much longer either way. A closer shot from a laser or suffocation would end it.” He wondered how much longer they would continue to look if they didn’t find his body.
He stood up and stretched his legs, moved a little deeper in the shadow, leaned back against the wall to relax, and fell back flat on his back. There was a hole in the wall leading into some kind of a cave. It was in the pitch-black of the crater’s shadow and he had sat down right next to the opening and hadn’t seen it. He stretched his arms out trying to touch the walls but could feel nothing within his reach. He took a few steps further in and turned on his small suit light and immediately saw a body lying at his feet. It had on a strange-looking blue spacesuit that appeared to not have any seams, and it looked to be about seven feet tall. He reached down to turn the body over and as soon as he touched the suit several things happened at once. The opening to the cave instantly disappeared and was replaced by solid rock, lights came on, and he felt and heard a roaring vibration that ran through his entire body. As he fell to his knees in fear he saw a small ship in the back of the cave and knew that because of his stupidity he had just placed Leila, Danielle, and all of mankind on the path to total and complete annihilation.
Chapter 21
Tag stayed on his knees beside the body of the alien for several minutes. Then he looked into the face plate of the dead alien’s helmet. The alien’s face was similar to a human’s except the alien had eyes with no lids and a lipless mouth that looked like a smooth line. Its head was hairless and somewhat triangular in shape. Its facial features looked relaxed, like it had died peacefully and not in pain. Although it was seven feet tall, it was slim and probably didn’t weigh more than a hundred and sixty pounds. The suit that it had on was formfitting and Tag could not see any joints where the suit fit together, not even where the helmet attached. There was a fine coat of dust covering the alien, and Tag sensed that it had been in the cave for a very long time. He stood up, turned, and walked toward the small ship sitting in the back of the cave. He felt a vibration emanating from it. “This must be an Alfont and its ship,” he thought. The Alfont were the oldest and most technologically advanced race that had ever inhabited the universe. They disappeared millions of years ago according to the Alliance. Every child learned about them in school because they represented a real danger. When the original restrictions were placed, the Alliance told the Earth leaders that any discovery of Alfont artifacts must be avoided at all costs. The Alliance forbade any race access to the technology of that ancient race. If their technology was discovered and it was still active it would emit a vibration that, once it was touched, would instantaneously be heard and felt by every living being in the universe. So far, according to the Alliance, three races had been exterminated because of their contact with an Alfont artifact. The most recent was about ninety years ago. It happened about ten years after the last Cainth invasion. A peaceful race that had opened trade with Earth was totally destroyed after one of those tones originated from one of their worlds. An Alliance fleet of eight hundred warships arrived two weeks after the tone and obliterated all traces of their civilization. No exceptions were made, no questions were asked. Once the source of the tone was determined, that marked the end of that civilization. Now Tag had caused the tone by touching the dead alien.
The vibration from the ship was growing. He walked towards the ship and the vibration became stronger. The ship was only ninety feet long and had a brilliant surface that appeared to be polished mirror bright. It was shaped like a cylinder with rounded ends, and Tag saw no breaks in its surface. As he approached he noticed an indentation in the side of the ship close to the front, about chest high, shaped like a five-fingered hand. The digits were slim and Tag guessed that this was where the alien would enter the ship. Tag was scared, but out of curiosity he placed his hand on top of the indentation. He half expected another tone, but none occurred. Suddenly, the surface of the ship seemed to melt around his hand and hold him there. He tried to remove his hand but it wouldn’t come out. Then he felt a tingling start moving from his hand up his arm. He pulled hard but his hand wouldn’t budge. “Let me go!” he yelled.
“Who are you?” a voice said inside his mind.
He continued to pull his hand and he heard it again.
“Who are you?”
He felt his arm going numb up to his elbow. “I’ll answer your questions if you stop hurting my arm!” he yelled.
Feeling returned to his arm.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Thomas Gardner.”
There was a long pause, and then the voice in his head asked, “What have you done to my…?” and he heard a word he couldn’t pronounce.
“Are you asking about the body just inside the cave entrance?”
The vibration increased for a moment, then subsided, and the voice asked, “What did you do to it?”
“Nothing. I found him like he is! He looks like he must have died a long time ago and he looks like he died peacefully.”
Again the vibration rose and subsided. “Yes, it appears he did. Who are you?”
“I’m a resident from the planet below,” Tag said. “My race is called human.”
Suddenly Tag felt a jolt move up his arm into his brain. He fell to his knees and was left hanging from the ship by his hand. After a few minutes he asked, “What did you do to me?”
“I’ve sent a link to your mind to better hear your thoughts. It also allows me to determine who and what you are.”
Tag slowly managed to get on his feet, and he felt a vibration in his head. He asked, “May I ask you some questions while you’re examining my mind?”
There was a long pause, and then he heard, “Yes.”
“How long have you been in this crater?”
The vibration from the ship returned for a moment, and then the voice said, “Sixty-five million rotations, according to the current position of the stars.”
“Is a rotation the amount of time it takes the plan
et below to revolve once?”
“No. It’s the time it takes the planet below to completely circle the star in this system.”
Tag was stunned. “That’s sixty-five million years! Have you been conscious that entire time?” There was a vibration in his head that didn’t hurt but was distracting.
“I had to find ‘conscious’ in your mind. No.” Tag heard the unpronounceable word again, followed by “told me to go on standby until he returned. I shut down my systems, turned on my recorders, and waited for him to reactivate me. He died sixty-five million years ago and I’ve been waiting for his signal.”
“So for you, consciously, no time has passed since you went on standby?”
“You use the word conscious with me and I’m not sure it applies.”
“Do you think?”
“I process information, evaluate, and then make decisions. This process is for the purpose of helping…” The voice paused and continued with, “my master. I detect you’re having trouble with his name.”
“You’re able to look in my mind for words I use?”
“Yes.”
“Then look for the word ‘think,’ and tell me how it’s different from what you do.”
He felt the vibration again and then the voice said, “Yes, according to your meaning of the word, I think.”
“Are you alive?”
“I’m not organic. My systems were designed by my master’s race to include independent decision-making capability.”
“How long can your systems last?”
“For as long as the universe has energy.”
“Are you a warship?”
There was another vibration in his head and then the voice said, “No. They thought war was a tremendous waste of time and energy, although I can defend myself.”
“Can you talk with me now without keeping my hand trapped on your surface?” The surface turned liquid and his hand came free. “What do you normally do if your master dies and you’re isolated from your makers?”
“I contact…” the voice paused again, and then said, “my master’s race and request instructions.”
“We call your master’s race the Alfont, named after the first race to uncover one of your artifacts.”
“I noticed in your mind that race was destroyed due to that discovery.”
“Yes,” Tag said. “Any race that uncovers any Alfont technology is destroyed to prevent them from using it to subjugate everyone else like the Alfont did.”
“My master’s signal is what brought me out of standby. Does that mean your race is now targeted for destruction?”
Tag thought for a few moments and then realized the entity had access to his thoughts. He decided that honesty was always the best way to start a new relationship. “Yes. I’m afraid I’ve doomed my race and my planet.” He felt the stark fear again.
“I’ll, as you say, think about that. I can sense your fear, and it does seem irrational to do that; I’ll ask my masters if they wish to take any action.”
“What happens if someone other than someone from your master’s race tries to enter you?”
“Usually, I kill them by disrupting their cells.”
Tag said nothing. Then he said, “Was that what you were doing when my arm went numb?”
“I started to disrupt your cells, but I noticed that my master was present and I wanted his approval before I completed the process.”
“Now that you know he’s dead, why did you not continue?”
“I want to see who and what you are and view the current situation so I can update my master’s race. You were right. My master died peacefully. He had an infection that, even with his technology, could not be cured. It took twenty thousand years for him to die and he finally did sixty-five million rotations ago; my sensors show that he did not suffer at the end. I think he came to this place to die because the life on your world fascinated him.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“Contact my masters.”
Then Tag felt it again, only this time the tone was strong enough to be painful. “Well, once was our death, two won’t really matter,” Tag thought.
Then the voice said, “My master’s race is dead.”
“You could make that determination that fast?”
“There are no living masters; there are only some of their constructions that still exist. Evidently, they all succumbed to the infection. It seems no cure was ever discovered.”
“I’m so sorry,” Tag said.
He felt that vibration in his head again for a long time. Then the voice said, “You have sorrow because of my being alone?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“You think. You evaluate. You make decisions. I believe you’re alive, maybe not life that’s organic, but from hearing you in my head, you’re alive. I know what it’s like to be alone. All of your civilization is gone. All the ones you shared your thoughts with no longer exist. There can’t be any greater loneliness. I think that’s terrible.”
“When you placed your hand on my entry port, were you trying to enter to take control of my systems?”
“No! Absolutely not; you have got to make your own decisions now about your destiny. I’m certainly not qualified for the job. I just hope you don’t still think you have to disrupt my cells.”
“Then what do you want? I sense in you that you do want something.”
“I want to be a friend, and I hope you’ll help me to somehow stop my race from being annihilated.”
The buzzing in his head lasted over a minute. “I’ll consider it,” the voice said. “This friendship concept is something I have no experience about. I’ve always had someone to issue commands.”
“Well, you need a name that I can pronounce; by the way, my friends call me Tag.”
“You must have numerous friends then,” the voice said.
“Why do you say that?”
“There is a lot of electronic communication taking place overhead and they are asking for you by name.”
“I can’t receive it in here.” Suddenly Tag heard Danielle’s voice.
“Tag; Come in, Tag. Please answer. Tag, I need you to answer.” She continued to call him over and over and Tag could hear the fear in her voice.
“I can’t answer her. My radio’s not strong enough.”
“Just say what you want to say,” said the voice. “I’ll transmit it on her frequency.”
“No. I don’t want them to find you. You have to remain hidden.”
“Why?”
“Look in my mind.”
The vibration began and then the voice said, “I understand.”
“We will talk about this later if you decide not to disrupt me.” All of a sudden Tag felt tone after tone go through his body and it seemed to last for a long time.
“What did you do?”
“If the tone you caused has to be traced, then multiple points must lock in on the line of origin and triangulate. If your technology is similar to everyone else at this time, then whatever is being used to hold the tone’s line of origin can only hold one line of origin. I merely activated five hundred constructions in different locations to all send a tone together.”
“How long did it take to send all those tones?” Tag asked.
Tag’s head vibrated for moment than the voice said, “Only three of your seconds. Your brain had to process each one individually so it seemed much longer than it was.”
“Did you do this to help prevent our destruction?” Tag asked.
“Yes.”
“Did it work?”
“They probably have already determined the line of origin.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Trying to determine all these other tones will delay them. If nothing else it should cause some confusion.”
“You still need a name.”
“What name would you suggest?”
Tag thought for a moment and then said, “It needs to be short and meaning
ful; your name is Atlas.”
The buzzing happened and then the voice said, “Why Atlas? Isn’t he supposed to have had your world on his shoulders in your mythology?”
“Yes, and you’ve had our world above your shoulders, metaphorically speaking, for sixty-five million years, and what you just did might save us. Atlas is the right name.”
“Thank you for my name. We will talk later; I see no need to disrupt you at this time. Are you ready to communicate with your friends?”
“Yes. I think I am.”
Chapter 22
State leader Sten sat in his office and listened to the chaos taking place. Everyone on his support staff was yelling at each other and there was an inordinate amount of finger pointing and gestures that weren’t the kind that should be used in the assembly. He sat and looked out of the window at the huge city that surrounded his office, which was located in the main government building 190 stories above the sprawling city. They were on the Central Alliance World where all the races of the Alliance were governed. Sten liked looking out at the lights of the city at night that went from horizon to horizon. Often alone, he found peace staring at the city lights. Sten was a Lozian, and he was almost white due to the color of his blood that flowed close to his skin’s surface. He was four feet tall and was hairless. He had small eyes that had thick lids that could be raised in normal light or lowered in bright sunlight below a protruding brow. His head was oval shaped but had a sharp protruding jaw and nose. His body was thin and his arms and legs were also small. Even though he was small in stature, he wielded tremendous power.
Annihilation: Love Conquers All Page 21
