“You risk letting the Organics know where we’re going by doing that.”
“We’ll encrypt our communication so that it can only be opened by human-made AIs,” Sophie said. “It’s the best we can do.”
“And how will they get out of this solar system if we’ve wiped out all the Organic ships?”
“Sonya only gained control of Organic-operated vessels. Any vessel that was left vacant or had a manmade AI operating it would’ve been left intact.”
“The odds aren’t good that anyone survived out there, much less is able to get control of an Organic ship.”
Sophie gave him a sorrowful smile. “Every day on Earth, Alexia told us our odds weren’t good. They were abysmal, in fact. But we made it, Lieutenant. We’ve made it this far despite every indication that we shouldn’t. If we can do it, so can other people.”
Diego nodded at that. He couldn’t argue with her tenacity. Once Sophie was resolved to do something, there was no turning back. She succeeded, and if there was any human out there with half the determination she possessed, then Sophie was probably right. That person would still be alive, fighting the Organics until their last breath.
“Lieutenant, you go ahead with your final sweep through the ship, I can take over command here,” Sophie said.
The way she said it, he could tell she wasn’t just making a suggestion. This was an order, packaged in a slightly nicer package.
“Yes, Doctor. I’m on it.”
As Diego left the CIC, newfound power coursing through his half-alien muscles, his mind raced through all the uncertainties they would face. Maybe they stood a chance at surviving space in this huge, unfamiliar vessel. Maybe they could make it to a habitable planet and reinvent civilization. But then, what? Would the Organics still find them? Did the Organics harbor a sense of resentment and vengeance? How long would humanity be given to rebuild before the next great threat arrived?
He passed out of the CIC as Sophie traded requests and orders through Sonya. Whatever challenges they faced, he knew the people aboard this ship, the people leading this crew, would not back down. Hoffman had been wrong in concluding that humans had to live as slaves to the Organics in order to survive. But he had been right about one thing: humans were creative and curious. Invention had taken humankind from throwing wooden spears at woolly mammoths all the way to shooting pulsefire at ugly aliens on Mars. No matter where these people went, they would find a place for themselves. And where they did not find a place, they would make a place.
Even among the stars, Diego was certain that human ingenuity and invention would not only survive.
They would thrive.
Epilogue
Sophie took a deep breath. The smell of fresh grass and pine greeted her—a scent she’d never thought she would smell again. She sat down on the soft earth and waved her hand so the blades of grass tickled her palm. There had been many months back on Earth, and later, during their brief time on Mars, when she’d thought she would never feel grass again or sit under a pine tree, like those that had once lined the mountains in Colorado.
A gentle chirp of an insect or bird—she wasn’t quite sure what it was—sounded in the distance. A smile crossed her face.
If Emanuel were here, he’d be able to identify whatever it was. His love of biology hadn’t been restricted just to what he could see through a microscope, but also encompassed the world around them.
She wished he could join her now, to enjoy this peace with her.
Across a bubbling stream, Jeff and David were playing a game of catch with Owen and Jamie. Several smaller children Sophie recognized jumped between them, running for the ball. One of the children, no older than three, slipped on the wet grass and slid across the ground. A twinge of alarm crossed Sophie’s mind, wondering if the child had hurt herself. But as Sophie watched, the child stood and laughed it off.
These children weren’t the only ones that now called this planet home. Several of the people aboard the ship had found themselves romantic partners during the long journey to the TRAPPIST-1 solar system, and had begun to start new families. Even with the faster-than-light travel capabilities of the Organics’ zoo ship, the journey had taken them the better part of three years. That had given them plenty of time to learn the capabilities of the ship. Not only had they kept themselves alive, but they’d tested the genetic engineering capabilities of the ship too. The zoo ship enabled the development of brand new lifeforms—chimeras, based on compatible genetic data between species. That was the basis for the technology the Organics had used to create the Hybrids.
But Sophie’s crew had had other ideas.
“Sophie,” a low voice said in greeting.
She looked up to see what appeared to be a beautiful flower. Only, it had vaguely humanoid facial features and a torso, as if it was something straight out of Alice in Wonderland. The sentient plant-being was one of the many species the humans had worked to release from the shackles of the zoo ship. She’d seen this particular species in her visions all the way back on Earth, and watching the alien living free on this planet with humans made her think she was living in a dream.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Sophie said.
“It always is, here.”
The alien continued its stroll through the forest, following the river toward the hilly parts of their colony. It offered a final viny wave before disappearing out of Sophie’s sight.
There was still a lot to learn about these other species, but at least the Organic technology they had coopted allowed them to communicate with and study the other sentient beings within the zoo ship. So many now coexisted, building a new civilization unlike any the universe had seen. Still, some species had been far too warlike and dangerous to release. Sophie hated keeping those aliens imprisoned. She didn’t want to think she or the humans were anything like the Organics, but they’d had little choice in the matter. They couldn’t risk the extinction of every peaceful species—human and otherwise—that now called this planet orbiting TRAPPIST-1 home.
It hadn’t taken long for those species colonizing the planet to start calling it Paradise. The planet definitely wasn’t an easy-go-lucky place of no work and all relaxation, but after what everyone aboard that zoo ship had gone through, it felt heavenly to be free from the shackles of the Organics and able to forge a new future for themselves.
The zoo ship was still the central hub of colony activity, providing vital medical resources and, most importantly, what they now called the birthing chambers. With only a few dozen humans on the planet, there was no way to ensure the population was genetically diverse enough or strong enough to survive more than a few generations. They had determined it was necessary to use the Organics’ genetic engineering techniques to grow humans and other species within the birthing chambers.
The whole process was strange, certainly. But that’s the way survival worked now.
She lay back in the grass and watched the puffs of white clouds drifting overhead. As soon as she did, exhaustion threatened to take her. Working long shifts on the science team with a host of other strange aliens tended to zap her energy. Her eyelids fluttered, and finally she succumbed to their weight. As the last remnants of consciousness gave way to sleep, she found herself again wishing she had Emanuel by her side. She wanted desperately to spend this miraculous moment with him. Something that had been nearly inconceivable only a few years before.
“Hey, Soph, you off for the rest of the afternoon?” a familiar voice asked.
She opened her eyes, rubbing them. “Was I asleep?”
Emanuel, big brown eyes and closely-trimmed beard, beamed back at her. “Maybe you still are.”
Don’t let this all be a dream.
Then Emanuel pinched her. She yelped.
“Nope,” Emanuel said with a grin. “Looks like you’re wide awake.”
He sat beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him, enjoying his comforting warmth. Months had passed before he’d recovered in the
medical chamber of the zoo ship, but once he’d finally woke from his coma, it had been impossible to tell he’d ever been on the brink of death. There was a revitalized energy about him.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” she said. “Did the Council end early?”
“They did,” he said. “The first batch of sentients”—that was the inclusive name they gave to humans and other aliens growing in the birthing chambers—“will be ready for their foster parents in a matter of weeks.”
“It’s a miracle, isn’t it?” she asked.
“No.” He laughed. “It’s science.”
She gave him a playful push. “You know what I mean.”
They sat for a while as the laughter of the playing children continued across the river. The calls and songs of other creatures, alien and Earthborn, all taken from the zoo ship, carried on around them. A jellyfish-like creature floated on a breeze, changing colors as it drifted in the wind.
Sophie grinned when she saw it. “Some days I think I’m back on Earth, then I see things like that.” She shook her head incredulously. “How are Bouma and Diego doing?”
“They’re still promising they can have all these people organized into rough military shape by year’s end. At least, they’ll be good enough to man the turrets and shoot some rifles.”
“Holly’s busy today, too.”
“Oh?” Emanuel inched closer to her.
“Seems like business is booming for a psychologist on Paradise,” Sophie said. “Plenty of people want to know how to cope with all these changes and leaving everything behind.”
“It’s a damn good thing we have her.”
“It is,” Sophie said. “And they set a date.”
“When did that happen?”
“They want to make it official by the month’s end,” Sophie said. “They just need a minister.”
“They got someone in mind?”
“You’re looking at her,” Sophie said. She couldn’t help the grin spreading across her face. She was only too happy to preside over the union of two of her best friends. There was really no legal need for the ceremony, but it felt good trying to do things like normal. “I think life is going to be okay here.”
“It’s hard work,” Emanuel said. “But it beats being integrated.”
“Diego…” Sophie pictured the man. Twisted by nanobots. A vision of what might’ve happened to her.
“I had my doubts about him back on Mars. I feel guilty about that after everything he’s done for us, I don’t know how I could’ve doubted him.”
“Or Ort.”
“Agreed.”
They sat in companionable silence for a while.
Being next to Emanuel really was like a dream. Maybe this was all some carefully orchestrated vision from the Organics. If it was, Sophie didn’t care. This planet was beautiful and peaceful, and everything she had wanted since the Organics invaded Earth.
If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up.
The sky began to darken, and the first orange pangs of twilight shone along the horizon. TRAPPIST-1 was beginning to set, giving off its characteristic brilliant red hues.
Yes, this was everything Sophie could’ve hoped for. She was ready to slip off into sleep again, beside Emanuel. Her eyelids drifted, and she forced herself to stay awake. They watched the sunset, holding each other and soaking in the atmosphere. Finally, the sun disappeared beyond the tree-soaked landscape.
A sudden overhead roar crashed through the twilight, shattering their silence and threatening to throw them back into a nightmare. A bolt of adrenaline laced its icy fingers through Sophie’s body, and she jumped to her feet, Emanuel close behind. Birds and other animals screeched and squawked, taking flight or sprinting away from the din.
“What the hell is that?” she yelled.
The sky seemed to tear into two pieces as an orange streak blazed through the atmosphere.
Sophie looked across the river to see the children had long since returned to the colony. She and Emanuel took off at a sprint back through the woods toward the zoo ship.
“It’s a spaceship,” Emanuel said. “But who?”
Sophie held back her worst fear—that the Organics had found them.
They ran toward the zoo ship, where they would find shelter and weapons. While they were crossing the field toward it, she saw Diego and Bouma sprint inside, leading a group of humans and aliens. At least they would have their defenses ready to go should the worst happen.
As the ship approached, faster than Diego could set up any anti-air fire, Sophie noticed the sleek black shape of the vessel. A painful knot formed in her stomach. The ghostly pains of the nanobots within her returned. They’d since been eradicated, but her memories of what they’d done to her had not.
“It’s an Organic ship,” she said. Then she looked to the zoo ship. “Why isn’t Diego firing at them?”
“Why aren’t they firing at us?” Emanuel asked.
Was it the virus Sonya had reprogrammed coming to bite them in the ass?
They froze in their tracks. They would be dead running through an open field with no cover. They would never make it to the zoo ship in time.
But as the Organic ship lowered toward the ground, it still didn’t fire. Nor did Diego shoot back. Were the Organics taking control of the zoo ship, just like they’d done to the Organic ships on Mars? Were they going to put every single alien and human on this planet back into an orb?
A ramp lowered from the Organic ship. Silhouetted against the bright white light exuding from the open hatch was a single humanoid shape. Then more.
They were too small to be Hybrids. Not crustacean enough either.
“Holy shit,” Emanuel said.
“Holy shit,” Sophie agreed. “People. Actual people!”
The humans began filing out of the ship and fanning over the field. One raised a rifle as Sophie and Emanuel approached. The human leading the group apparently saw they weren’t using EVA suits or helmets, and took off his own helmet.
The knot in her gut loosened, and the cool sense of relief washed over her when she saw the bearded face she remembered from Earth.
“Captain Noble?” Emanuel asked, shock in his voice. “Is that really you?”
The man ran a hand over his shaved skull, his piercing eyes flitting from Emanuel to Sophie.
“God it’s good to see you two,” Noble said, his voice booming. “I never thought…” His eyes focused on the terrain over their shoulder. He walked toward them, holding his helmet under the clutch of his arm. An alien creature with squid-like arms moved behind him. Several other humans followed.
“This is Athena,” Noble said, indicating a woman beside him. “She saved the rest of my crew and helped get our asses here.”
“Athena, nice to meet you,” Sophie said, reaching out.
They shook hands.
“I can’t believe this is real,” Athena said. “You really saved our asses back on Earth.”
“How did you get here?” Emanuel asked.
Athena smiled. “An old friend helped us. You both remember Alexia, right?”
The name took Sophie’s breath away. “Alexia? Our Alexia?”
“Yup,” Noble said. “She hacked some of those Organic fighters, and when we found out you all had gotten the hell off Mars, she helped pirate this ship.”
Sophie watched as children filed out of the Organic ship.
“This is Roots,” Noble said. “Roots helped me escape on the Moon.”
“Moon?” Emanuel asked.
Noble chuckled and shook his head. “It’s a long story.”
She’d thought the first new humans she would see would be grown out of vats. Now they had a handful more joining their side. More people to ensure the future of this colony. To protect the humans and aliens here alike.
Captain Noble whistled as he looked around the landscape. “It seems to me like you all might have a hell of a story to tell, too.”
“We do,” Sophie said. “Care
to hear it?”
“If you’ve got the time.”
Sophie looked up at the stars. This truly was a paradise. A brand-new planet with new and old allies, and endless possibilities for their future.
“We’ve got all the time in the world,” she said. “Now come, follow me. I’ll show you our new home.”
—End of Book IV—
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About the Authors
Nicholas Sansbury Smith is the USA Today bestselling author of the Hell Divers series, the Orbs series, the Trackers series, and the Extinction Cycle series. He worked for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management in disaster mitigation before switching careers to focus on his one true passion—writing. When he isn’t writing or daydreaming about the apocalypse, he enjoys running, biking, spending time with his family, and traveling the world. He is an Ironman triathlete and lives in Iowa with his wife, their dogs, and a house full of books.
Orbs IV_Exodus_A Post Apocalyptic Science Fiction Survival Thriller Page 33
