Human Starpilots

by F Stephan

  “But what made you go?”

  “The same story as all of you,” sighed the teacher, his voice suddenly dropping to a whisper. “This is why I stand by and will support any choice you make tomorrow.” With that, silence fell between them. After a few minutes, the teacher came out of his fugue. “I invite you to adjourn to the official reception hall. I still have a few of your comrades to meet, but I will be with you very soon. The envoy and the guild master will both address you and confirm what I have said. Then, we will have a meal all together and a small party.” Brian was reminded of the Roman gladiators. They had had good meals before the games in the arena and their probable deaths.

  19 Brian

  Half of the students in the group remained in the basement, before the medical room. It was one of the rooms from the ancient times protected by the round seals Brian had already seen in the complex. The stairs leading to the room were more recent additions with water infiltrations. The contrast with the pristine ancient room was striking.

  Two marines were stationed in front of the door, a very rare sight at the university. They looked stern and severe in the gloomy metal corridor under the stark white light. Their uniform was dark blue, and they wore light protective headsets and small sidearms. They didn’t have any of the special gear Brian had expected from an elite force. But then, he reflected, maybe their ability to perform without impressive weaponry and technology was the sign that they were special. Brian had never had much interested in the military.

  Already, ten students had gone in for their injection. Only nine remained after the morning. While they went out for breakfast, Chilin from Pelor, a friend of Illoma, had come out of his room, red eyed and shaking, asking to see the dean. Illoma had commented drily, seeing him, “He is going to make a hell of an engineer. Anyway, he should have been sent there directly after what happened to his cousin. Waste of time.”

  “What happened?”

  “Nanite blindness. Quite rare nowadays but still possible. And the genetic markers are unclear for him.”

  “Unclear?”

  “If the probability had been higher than thirty percent, he would have been de facto excluded. Yet the probability remains higher than the five percent where occurrences are extremely unlikely.”

  “Why weren’t we told about probabilities?”

  “What would it change? You don’t have any existing baseline for them. You know the risk, and it is real. This is the only true thing you and I need to know.”

  All talk had died away when the first of them, Sonter, had gone in the room. Now, the casual talk from Illoma repeated in Brian’s head. With his bracelet, he projected images he had brought with him: his parents; his sister; his ex-girlfriend, who had freaked out entirely when he had been selected; Chicago when he was young and Chicago ravaged by the mosquitoes. They had proliferated in the industrial swamps created around the Great Lakes, unbeknownst to anyone, and ten years ago had launched an attack on the city. They were mutant, ten centimeters long and a living nightmare. The army had closed the area for ten days to prevent the ravenous beasts from spreading. Then it had moved in to exfiltrate inhabitants from their homes, city block by city block. Brian had lived through a week in hell before the Rangers reached their block and had seen many of his friends die in the attacks. This had been his reason to begin pilot training. This was why he would try today. With all that had been lost, somehow, he had already died once.

  They had drawn lots on the previous night to decide in which order they would go. Willfried had entered a few minutes ago, the first of the Earth students. Brian had always wondered why the sceptic Willfried had agreed in the first place to join the program. And now, the first to go was the least convinced. Ironic. Tasha was behind Brian, still withdrawn after the news of her family but with a determined look on her face. She would go all the way. Leopold and Li Bao were further along the line. Emily was seated just after him, her teeth clenched, her eyes elsewhere. Brian didn’t ask.

  Suddenly, a siren rang in a piercing shriek. The two marines turned and went immediately into the medical room. The light around them turned to a dull red. A prerecorded metallic voice sounded in an inhuman calm. “Please return to your rooms immediately and do not leave them until further notice from your teachers. Red arrow to the dormitories. I repeat…” They looked at each other while walking back to their rooms in an incoherent chatter. Brian tried his bracelet, but all connections had been cut down. Illoma took his hand and they moved up the stairs. Before they had reached the main hall, Nerm and two other grim-faced employees of the academy hurried to organize the return. The sirens had stopped and were replaced by the swoosh of the double doors sealing tight behind them and the electric whine of weapons turning to track them. Brian stopped breathing until they reached the cafeteria. Nerm positioned himself at the entrance of the dormitories, sealing all of them inside while the other two counted everyone. As soon as Brian was in his room, the door locked itself and the light went back to normal. He was shivering. He was entirely alone in his nicely furnished metal prison.

  “Dear all, the security procedures have activated this morning. In the exercise, everyone behaved perfectly, and I would like to congratulate you all on this.” Bullshit, thought Brian. “It will take some time to stand down on this; you will need to remain in your rooms until every check has been completed according to standard operations and we have the go from the Response Team. We have locked down interpersonal connections, but I have been authorized to release access to all entertainment contents from the DataDump.”

  Master Reinkel’s voice had sounded calm, but his words lay heavy on Brian’s heart. He sat in his bed and engaged the reader on an old movie from his early childhood, a community comedy. He needed the presence of the known actors around him. Willfried had been there. What had happened to him?

  Three long hours later, the taciturn Nerm appeared at his door. “Would you please follow me to the medical center?” he said, and he turned to leave. Brian followed him, the fast walk leaving no time for small talk. In the basement, the two marines were back in position, calm and competent, looking relaxed. This slightly reassured the shaking student. He entered the medical center and found Dr. Nilse and a nurse he didn’t know waiting for him.

  “Welcome, Brian, and sorry for the commotion earlier. I think this is the first time you’ve been through this type of alert, and I know how I felt that first time. Are you ready to proceed? If yes, we will give you a small injection of nanites today. We will monitor closely how you react for the next few days and then more remotely for the next year before a next injection.”

  “Sir, what happened to Willfried? He went in just before we heard the alarm.” Brian couldn’t stop the words.

  “He has had a bad reaction, but he will recover in time. We had to adjust the nanites to his metabolism. The dosage was a bit too heavy, but they will work more adequately for you now.” Rat in a lab. An old rhyme from his childhood engulfed him. The doctor waited a few seconds to let him digest the news and continued. “Have you been informed of the danger linked to the injection? You know that we cannot anticipate how your body will react, even if we take all the precautions we can.”

  “Yes,” Brian’s voice was subdued.

  “Do you formally give your consent?” The doctor had opened a 3-D recorder. “You are aware that once the nanites are injected, we cannot remove them? That your acceptance of this injection does not commit you to any new injection, should you decide not to continue? And at last, that if you choose to stop now, you will have protection from the Federation, a place in the corporation, and a financial bonus for your planet?” The words were almost a psalmody.

  Brian nodded at each of the questions quietly. He had already set his mind. He didn’t really have a choice with Earth, his family, his friends in the balance, however scared he was. What had happened to Tasha could happen anywhere sooner or later. The bonus was not significant enough to matter today. But succeeding would, he hoped. Finally, he
said aloud in a clear, slightly trembling, voice. “Yes, I do.”

  “In that case, please sign the form.” The nurse brought an electronic sheet and took his biometric acceptance. “And then, lie down on the bed.”

  Brian swallowed and obeyed. The nurse took a blood sample and injected it into a small container that had been waiting on a large desk behind him. He inserted the container into a centrifuge for a minute. “Ready?”

  Brian nodded and closed his eyes. There was a jab, a sting, and he lost consciousness. When he awoke, the world was swaying around him. Everything blurred and shifted around him. A shriek pierced his ears. Light exploded in his eyes. He sank into the table. His blood burned. The air corroded his lungs. He lost consciousness again.

  Time and time again, he opened his eyes to an ever-shifting world. Sound and sight attacked him. Pain receded progressively. And at last, he found himself in a white dim room listening to a regular beep. His mouth was dry. He felt a bed under him. The mist disappeared slowly from his eyes, and forms materialized: the nurse, a chair, monitors at his side.

  “Who are you?” The question was direct and firm.

  He searched for a while until two names popped up in his mind. “Brian Evans.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “Earth, Chicago,” his voice blurred as uncertainty crept over him. Other places came into his mind. His voice slurred.

  “Stay with me,” the nurse continued calmly. “You are Brian Evans from Chicago, Earth. I am showing you a 3-D of yourself. Can you see it?”

  Before him, someone appeared. Head, torso, arms, hands…As he focused on each minute detail of his body, he reacquired feelings and aches. The light increased, nearly blinding him.

  “How do you feel?” The sound distorted again.

  “Aching everywhere. The 3-D is blurry. Light hurts.”

  “This is normal. Now, lie still and close your eyes. This has been quite an effort.” He closed his eyes. Silence and darkness welcomed him back.

  “Who are you?” Every now and then, he opened his eyes, and the strange procedure started again. Yet, each time, he owned his thoughts and controlled his body a little better. The third time, his memories flooded back to him, his whole life assaulting him in a rush. He fainted at that stage. During the next sessions, he learned to move his arms, his legs, and his head.

  On the eighth attempt, Dr. Nilse entered.

  “Hello, Brian, nice to see you. You have really improved. This is good. Let me check your vitals, and then we’ll talk.” He moved to the monitors, mumbling. “Tension, good; heart, good; blood, good; oxygen, good; blur, good. These are good signs. At last, you are now adapting to the nanites.”

  “How long have I been out?” His voice was hoarse and came out in a whisper.

  “We have kept you under fully for two days. Your body needs to get used to the nanites. Now, you need a drink and a bit to eat.”

  “How are the others? Illoma, my friends? What happened to them?” His throat had adapted to the soreness, and he spoke now better. For a moment, he lost track of his thoughts, and he couldn’t feel his throat and mouth, but when he focused, everything came back into order.

  “As well as can be in the current situation. We will talk later about them. They are resting now. You will now have a warm meal, and we will see if you can go back to solid food. Please, small bites at the beginning. I will check on you later.” At the thought of food, Brian felt his stomach growl, and he tried to rise from the bed. He didn’t see the doctor leave the room. His legs were shaking, and it took all his will and the help of the nurse to sit. A waiter brought a platter, and the odor of the soup woke a hunger he hadn’t felt before. Twenty minutes later, his meal finished after several frightening moments, he slumped on his bed and saw the doctor appearing again.

  “My hand went through the spoon. Are you drugging me?” His voice was now too sharp and pitched higher than normal.

  “We’re giving you a happy mix to keep the anxiety down. Being scared is a primitive reflex that would not help you deal with the nanites right now.”

  “What is happening to me? The nanites should only help for the command interface, shouldn’t they?”

  “And they will. But you need to control them for this task. Currently, they are wandering freely in your body, learning how it works. They’re also rewriting themselves with your DNA, and you will progressively direct them unconsciously. This control is felt differently by everyone, and you need to work it out by yourself.”

  Brian slowly digested the information.

  “You’re going to rest again, and you’ll have several work sessions tomorrow before we release you for light duty and then your exam preparation for the semester. We’ll help you control them, and then we’ll talk more about their influence on you. It may seem impressive, but for now you have a very limited amount of nanites in you.” Brian gulped. If this was a limited amount, he couldn’t imagine what would be large. “Last, do not try to use them for the next two months. We’ll monitor you, and we will be alerted if you activate them on-planet.”

  “Why inject now if not to use them?” Brian felt drowsy, and the last words slurred in his mouth.

  “Because we want them to mesh into your body before the next stages. It will help the next nanites rewrite themselves.”

  As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was sound asleep again. “Light duty and semester exams, what a joke,” was his last thought.

  20 Brian

  A week passed. They all left the medical center, except Willfried. They resumed courses and exam preparation with heavy hearts, and they took turns to stay with their comrade as much as they could in their current light duty.

  So, when Leopold came running into the student cafeteria and shouted: “He’s awake; he’s awake,” they all jolted out their sinister mood. Leopold left with the same speed back to the infirmary and Brian, Emily, and Li Bao followed, laughing and running hard to catch him before he reached the door to Willfried’s room. There, a young nurse was waiting while a marine stood guard at the entrance.

  “You can all go in, but I will limit the visit to ten minutes. No raised voices, no shouts, no sudden movements, or you get out. You remember how you felt for the first few days. He’s in that condition right now. Understood?”

  This sobered them immediately, and they nodded in agreement. The nurse confirmed it to the guard, who opened the door. Brian had been too weak to notice it before, but this was the same double door he had found in the building, and it had been sealed. Tasha waited for them at the head of the bed.

  “Hello, lazy boy, still in bed,” smiled Emily to Willfried, who opened his eyes to look at them.

  “Lazy? not so sure I agree, gentle lady,” he said in a hoarse whisper. Brian eyed him closely. He looked pale and gaunt, with bloodshot red eyes. His hair had been thinning before, but it was now scarce on his head. Yet he was smiling at them, which seemed a good sign.

  “How do you feel?” interjected Leopold.

  “Much better. The world has stopped shifting continuously and is more stable now. Most of my senses remain blurred, but it should improve fairly fast now. That’s what the doctor says, at least.”

  “Good, everything is back to normal, then,” summarized Brian hopefully.

  Willfried winced and closed his eyes. “No, not really.” Brian stopped breathing. Emily and Leopold sat in chairs beside the bed. “The situation could really have been bad with the injection, and they decided to inject blocking nanites. My body cannot take any more nanites. The doctor says I will be very limited in piloting.” His eyes were downcast and his voice trembling.

  Leopold was unconvinced. “This is what they say now. Wait a few months and we’ll see.”

  “No, we will not. You don’t know what I have been through.” The voice was barely audible. Willfried strengthened and smiled. “I will be happy with my fate. Doctor Nilse told me that there are plenty of jobs where only the first injection is needed. I will not chance more risks.�
�

  “I’ll stop here too.” The strong assertion in the rumbling voice from Leopold shook them to the core of their being. They tried to plead, to understand, simply to talk with the former gamer, until they heard Willfried’s tired voice. “Stop. You all, stop.” His voice was no longer shaking, no longer blurring. It had the strength of steel. “It’s his decision, and everyone will accept it. We’ll both continue to learn with you, and Earth will be grateful to have local pilots. So, now, this ends.” They all looked down shame faced and left the room without a word.

  At the same time, on the other side of the building, Master Reinkel and Dr. Nilse watched the city under the midday sun. It was winter, and the temperature was cold enough for people to get out in the street for business during the day.

  “We came very, very close, Dean,” began the doctor softly.

  “Losing a student is rare now on first injection. Any idea why?”

  “Everyone in the Federation has a residual level of antinanites in his body. They protect us partially from the nanites like white globules protect us from infection.” The master nodded in assent. “Well, those kids have nearly no blocking nanites and no protection against nanites.”

  “Why was it not detected before?”

  “Because we can’t detect blocking nanites. Do you want me to remind you why?” answered Nilse in exasperation.

  The master cursed for a full minute before he got control over himself. “Any risk for the other Earthmen on Adheek?”

  “There is some, but it’s quite low. I’ve contacted the Federation Medical Office. They will organize a medical checkup, and we will control them regularly.”

  “Couldn’t we inject blocking nanites as a safety measure?”

  “We have even more risk of killing them this way. The Federation Trade Office will follow up on this.”

  “This will make matters more complex. What of the others?”

  “It took all of them quite a long time to get over it, but now their control seems rather good, maybe purer due to their lack of blocking nanites. I will monitor them closely like the others. Could you spread the word with the other teachers?”