ISO- Beyond the solar system

by Travis Sande

  “I know what you mean. This morning I felt like it was over, and I was relaxed for the first time in two weeks. Didn’t take long for that to fade.” Derrick said. “If you head over within the next hour or so, I will probably still be there. Talk to you later, Ben.”

  “See you later, Derrick. Let me know how it goes.” Ben said as he continued gathering a new sample.

  Derrick left the bio lab and walked down into the rec area. The doors opened, and he could immediately hear a loud ruckus erupt through the opening. Hank, Luke, and Nik were all inside playing some sort of augmented reality game. It looked intense as Derrick moved closer. Without a headset he couldn’t see what they were interacting with.

  “This AI sucks!! That one shouldn’t even count; did you see him stuck in the corner?” Hank yelled as he gestured at an open space beside him.

  “Don’t be so hard on Gator!” Luke yelled, barely able to contain his laughter.

  “Why is his name Gator anyway? That makes no sense.” Hank was visibly angry at the situation. His frustration only fueled the laughter of the other two. “Why would that be the default AI name, I mean, Gator? Come on. How do I rename him?”

  Nik couldn’t contain her laughter as she struggled to talk. “He… He just sat there, what was he waiting for?” She was nearly falling over from laughing so hard. “Oh my god, the blank stare on his face is killing me.” She couldn’t stop laughing.

  Derrick saw a large smile emerge on Hank’s face as he heard Nik’s reaction to the situation. Derrick couldn’t fight off a smile anymore either. He didn’t know if he wanted to join or just keep watching them. Before he could decide, Hank noticed him.

  “Derrick!! Get in here, Gator is a nightmare!” Hank shouted.

  “Betraying Gator, after all he did in game one?” Luke said, still smiling.

  “He died in the first twenty seconds and I beat both of you.” Hank yelled, emphasizing his anger for comedic effect.

  “You’re so quick to dismiss his sacrifice.” Nik said as she finally caught her breath.

  Derrick grabbed a headset from the AR section of the room and secured it to his head. He ran his hands over the helmet and found a small button on the right side. Pressing it, he watched as the lush environment around him faded and a neon environment emerged. The others were suddenly adorned in brightly lit outfits. There must have been some sort of real-time mapping of the room. Hank was holding a shiny blue ball in his hand that matched the blue lines that highlighted his suit. Derrick looked down and noticed his own matching suit. In his hand he found a glowing ball.

  “Ok, so what’s the objective here?” Derrick asked the room.

  “You throw that ball at Hank.” Nik said. She immediately started laughing again. Her laughter took its toll on Hank and he began laughing too.

  “Like this?” Derrick threw the ball as hard as he could at Hank. As it made contact, Hank’s entire suit went dark, highlighting that he was eliminated from the game.

  Hank stood still, silently betrayed by what had just happened. Nik and Luke both continued to laugh as Hank’s deadpan response proved too much for them to handle.

  “I think Nik lied to me.” Derrick said to Hank, breaking into a smile. “Are you okay, Hank? Your suit went dark for some reason.”

  Hank continued to stand silently, staring directly at Derrick.

  “No, she’s serious, you need to obliterate Hank, just like the hero known simply as Gator.” Luke said.

  Hank couldn’t keep a straight face after Luke’s comment. Derrick watched him keel over with laughter. He could hear the wheezing as he struggled to regain his composure.

  “Gator!” Hank said as he could barely speak. “Hahaha!”

  “What is happening?” Derrick couldn’t help laughing along, even though he felt he was missing the majority of the joke.

  “Oh… Oh my god, I am crying.” Hank said. “Sorry, Derrick. Oh, Jesus” Hank paused again to collect himself. “Gator was my AI partner.”

  “Gator?” Derrick said. “What a dumb name, did the programmer think that sounded tough?”

  “Don’t say it, oh my god, why is that name so funny.” Hank started to lose it again. “Hooooo.”

  “Is he ok?” Derrick asked Luke and Nik. The laughter was so contagious Derrick couldn’t resist chuckling along with Hank.

  “He’s just a little delusional. Playing with a legend like Gator is a childhood dream of many people.” Luke said, Luke appeared to be the only one capable of keeping it together.

  “Ok, I am going to need to hear the rules from Hank since he’s on my team. No offence, Nik.” Derrick said. “Can we start the round over?”

  “Sure.” Luke agreed and toggled something on a small interface that appeared in the space adjacent him.

  Hank managed to pull himself upright and stop laughing. “I’m actually crying. Ok, Derrick. The objective is to throw the ball in your hand at Luke or Nik. Do you see the coloured boxes behind them?”

  “Yeah, I see them.” Derrick said, noticing the small markers.

  “The large boxes on the outside are worth five points, the smaller inner boxes are ten. That single box in the middle is worth 25. You can also hit Luke or Nik to deactivate them for the game or ‘kill’ them as we put it. The game starts when we throw these two balls. Your hands are the only part of your body that can block the balls. If you block the throw you catch the ball and can throw it back. Seems simple but it gets crazy once both balls are flying around. You can use the outer walls as well to change the trajectory. Got it?” Hank turned to Derrick, looking for confirmation that he understood the rules.

  “Yep, sounds pretty easy.” Derrick felt the rules were quite simple and was ready to get started.

  Hank came over to Derrick to discuss strategy. “Nik is the weakest link, I think we should both target her at the start and get her out quick.”

  “You know the game better than I do, sounds good to me.” Derrick agreed to implement the strategy.

  Derrick and Hank slowly paced back and forth on their side of the room. Each team had an outline in the color of their team defining the limits of the play area. Hank hid his hand and began counting to three. Derrick got ready to attack with Hank. Once the count reached three, they both unleashed their balls.

  As soon as the ball left Derrick’s hand he heard a loud laser-like sound emitting from it as it soared toward Nik. The balls also left a long trail behind them as they moved through the air. Both balls were on target and Derrick awaited Nik’s early exit. To his surprise, Luke jumped to the front and intercepted Hank’s ball approaching from the left. Nik grabbed Derrick’s attack with ease. Luke and Nik were now on the attack.

  “I thought you said she was weak.” Derrick whispered to Hank.

  “I said she was the weakest link, I didn’t say she was weak.” Hank corrected Derrick.

  “Now what?” Derrick asked while on his toes.

  “Get ready!” Hank abruptly pointed to the other team.

  Just then, Derrick heard the whistling of balls moving toward him. The sound was slightly different when the red team threw balls. He didn’t have time to analyze anything else as he ducked to avoid a ball aimed directly at his head. The second ball was still coming at him as he barely got his hand up to catch it. A loud chime echoed through the digital arena as Nik’s ball entered one of the targets.

  “Yes!” Nik shouted. “Ten points!”

  “Come on, Derrick!” Hank yelled.

  “Derrick? I caught one, where were you?” Derrick threw his arms up.

  “Miss Gator, Hank?” Luke jabbed.

  “It’s my first game, you guys are ruthless.” Derrick could feel his competitive side emerging as a result of all the taunting.

  “Get your head in the game, Derrick!” Hank yelled. He laughed and slapped him on the back as the ball materialized in his open hand.

  “Ok, new plan. You’re going to throw yours off the wall. Make it bounce all over the place to distract them. As it is about
to hit them I will whip mine at Luke’s head.” Derrick had a plan to get Luke out of the game,

  “You sure you can hit a target that small?” Hank asked.

  “I pitched in university, what do you think?” Derrick said. He was lying.

  “Well, let’s make them pay for being rude to you.” Hank tried to rally Derrick.

  “You were the rudest one.” Derrick laughed at Hank.

  “Focus!” Hank said with a smile. Hank turned and smashed his ball into the wall near him. It started bouncing frantically around the room.

  Luke’s eyes darted back and forth as he tried to position himself in a spot to catch it. Just as it was about to land in their zone, Derrick fired a shot at Luke’s head. His attention was still affixed on Hank’s shot as Derrick’s approached. Luke had calculated correctly and caught Hank’s. Just then, timed just right, Derrick’s ball flew past Luke’s head. It missed by roughly two meters and hit one of the outside boxes. A small chime sounded and the scoreboard on the ceiling changed to reflect the new score; 10-5 for Luke and Nik.

  “I thought you pitched in university?” Hank turned to Derrick, upset at the result.

  “It was little league, and I wasn’t very good.” Derrick admitted.

  “No more of these falsehoods, Derrick. This is team blue! Does that mean nothing to you?” Hank feigned team loyalty.

  “No, Hank, it doesn’t, it literally means nothing to me. Maybe if it was green, we could talk.” Derrick laughed.

  “You sully the name of Gator, your predecessor.” Hank acted offended at Derrick’s comments.

  Nik and Luke could overhear their conversation and were laughing too hard to throw their balls. The moment seemed to linger as Derrick looked over at them. He really enjoyed the joy on their faces. It was never more evident how much they needed the rec area. The simplest game had relieved all of his stress in mere moments. Luke and Hank always made it easy to join in and have a good time. Derrick could feel his cheeks starting to ache as he hadn’t stopped smiling since arriving.

  Looking over, Derrick met eyes with Luke. Luke squinted angrily and leaned in to whisper something to Nik. Just then, Nik nodded with a sinister smile on her face. Derrick couldn’t help being captured by the light-hearted feeling in the room. Seeing Luke and Nik staring back at him warmed his heart, even if they were plotting his demise.

  The next hour went by in a flash. Completing six games, they were tied three games to three. Tensions were growing as they prepared to settle the score between them. Derrick’s heart was beating fast from all the exertion. He wondered if his CCD was counting this as his cardio for the day.

  "Game seven!" Derrick shouted.

  "We saved all our tricks for last." Luke bounced from one foot to the other, preparing for the final round.

  "Forfeit now, save your pride." Nik shed her warm compassionate persona, becoming ruthless in competition.

  "I don't have any pride, do you, Hank?" Derrick turned to Hank.

  "Never heard of it." Hank replied.

  Nik and Luke began a dance as they prepared to launch their attack. The dance was ridiculous and had its intended effect. Derrick started laughing and he looked over to see Hank laughing as well.

  "Concentrate, Hank!" Derrick yelled

  "I am trying but their moves are mesmerizing!" Hank said.

  Just before Luke and Nik could fire, the AR shut down around them. The neon walls faded, giving way to the rec room. Their suits flickered and vanished. Nik stopped in her tracks and looked around the room. Luke continued spinning in fabulous fashion with his eyes tightly shut. He was fully committed to his routine. Nik placed her hand on his shoulder, waking him from his trance-like boogie.

  "What?!" Exclaimed Luke.

  All four of their CCDs began chiming, a call for another meeting. It was rare to have multiple official meetings in a single day. Derrick was concerned as they removed their headsets and placed them back in their cases. He could clearly see that concern reflected in the faces around him.

  "They probably just gave the go-ahead to torch that membrane." Luke speculated. “Can’t come soon enough.”

  "So that counts as a tie, right?" Derrick asked, trying to lighten the mood as they left the room.

  "We will settle this later." Luke pointed directly at Derrick, emulating his best intimidating voice.

  The four of them left the room and met up with Ben in the corridor. Looked like it was going to be a full crew conference, Derrick thought. With a smile and a nod, Ben joined them as they moved to the lower deck.

  “How was it in there?” Ben asked, matching the stride of the other four as they moved through to the lower deck.

  “Ruthless.” Derrick said, still catching his breath from the competition.

  “I already miss Gator.” Luke said, smiling at Hank.

  “Hah!” Hank called out as he wrapped his arm around Luke.

  The five of them moved down through the galley and directly toward the main conference room. Once inside, they spread around to the open seats and awaited the start of the meeting. Shortly after they were seated, Lorn began.

  "I apologize for the short notice. There has been a development regarding the membrane. Earth was able to reproduce the results." Lorn proudly stated.

  The room broke into gentle applause, as everyone was relieved to know proper study could begin. Not only that, but the membrane onboard had served its purpose and could be destroyed.

  "I knew it!" Luke said. "So, we can finally torch that thing."

  "Correct, the message we just received was official orders from the Triumvirate to incinerate the specimen. Ben carried out those orders before joining us here. I trust you completed the task, Ben?" Lorn looked to Ben.

  "Affirmative, the membrane has been destroyed. We are clear." Ben confirmed the commander’s statement.

  "Finally!" Derrick couldn't help himself. The membrane was a constant reminder of a situation he just wanted to forget. “Wait, you were supposed to contact me, so I could be there!” Derrick regretted not witnessing the incineration but felt like he could finally move on from it.

  “I notified you, but you must not have noticed. I didn’t want to wait around any longer, so I went ahead with it, sorry.” Ben apologized.

  “I am just happy it’s gone.” Derrick said, relieved to put the whole thing behind him.

  "I believe we all share Derrick's sentiment." Sian nodded as she made eye contact with Derrick.

  "Is there something else?" Yanna asked. "This doesn't seem worthy of a full crew conference just to pass that information along."

  Although she was blunt about it, Derrick knew she was right. Something as simple as this could have easily been spread through a CCD message. A sinking feeling returned to his stomach.

  "There is." Lorn continued. "In order for the lab on earth to replicate the results, they needed to manually alter the membrane to accept the bacteria. It's just speculation at this point but it is possible that the section of infected membrane onboard was sabotaged to allow for this infection to take hold. The Triumvirate is currently investigating as we speak. I wanted to make sure every one of you was fully aware of everything going forward."

  "Are there any suspects, are we still at risk?" Concern gripped Nik’s voice.

  "As it stands right now it’s an open investigation. They believe it's possible for the membrane to have been naturally susceptible to the infection. The process of cloning and replicating Vryl tissue has been known to cause abnormalities in the past. The investigation is simply a precaution at this time, they don't want to rule anything out." Lorn attempted to mitigate any infighting between the crew.

  "The Vryl cloning process was perfected many of your years ago. We have not had an abnormal generation since then." Eilik confidently stated.

  "That information was the basis for the investigation’s launch. The membrane used was grown in the main Earth lab under Vryl supervision. Like I said, they are not ruling anything out and it is being investigated." Lorn
pushed on. "We will remain in close contact with Setu and the Triumvirate. Any information or updates I receive will be passed through to your CCDs. Whether it was a freak accident or deliberate sabotage, we have dealt with the threat."

  "Why would anyone want to sabotage a mission like this?" Derrick asked.

  "Once again, this is only speculation. There are multiple theories as to what motives could be. Without any more information we simply don't know." Lorn felt reserved in his response. Derrick felt like there was more to the issue than was being revealed.

  "What are the leading theories?" Yanna prodded for more information.

  "I don't think it’s helpful for us to sit here running through potential motives or scenarios. The Triumvirate and Setu both have teams working on it. The best thing for us to do is move on from this and complete our mission to the best of our ability. The ship is now functioning normally. I suggest we push this to the back of our minds and we can readdress it once I have more information from home." Lorn established a basis for the crew to remain calm.

  "My only concern with that is... What if the saboteur is sitting in this room?" Yanna said. "If it's an open investigation back home, shouldn't we follow the same procedure? Like you said, don't rule anything out."

  "Every person on this ship has invested their lives into this mission. The last thing we need are baseless accusations ripping the crew apart. We are all in this for another eleven months. We need to trust each other one hundred percent. Is that clear?" Lorn was passionate about the issue, Derrick could see it in his face.

  "Sorry, it's just a disturbing thought. Sorry, everyone." Yanna backed down from her position and relaxed in her seat. Derrick could see the tension building inside her.

  "It is a disturbing thought, I get that. However, we are a family. We have lived and breathed this mission for the last year and a half. I would trust any single person on this ship with my life, and quite frankly that's something we all have to get used to." Lorn said. "This is all the information I have from home, I made a judgement call to include all of you in this briefing, don't make me regret it."