NEBULAR Collection 6 - The Great Tremor: Episodes 27 - 30

by Thomas Rabenstein

  While Bruno pulled his foot out of the hole, aided by Tebitt and now getting stuck on the other foot, Fitz noticed a flashing dot in the sky.

  What’s that? he thought, surprised. A satellite, a meteor, or a spaceship?

  The dot became bigger fast. It glared like a diamond and contrasted considerably with the flowing energy of the solar shield.

  »What could that be?« Fitz asked with a loud voice while pointing upward.

  Tebitt, who had his portable holographic panel, connected to the Hawk’s neuronal computer. He checked the sighting immediately and shouted, »I can’t say what it is, but it comes directly toward us at high speed! Watch out!«

  Jonathan Fitz stared mesmerized at the flashing dot.

  Whatever it is, it has a very high reflection, almost like a mirror, he thought.

  »Good Lord!«, Bruno shouted excitedly and grabbed Fitz’s arm. »This could be a flying bomb! Come on, Professor! Let’s take cover under the Hawk!«

  Judging distances in space without a familiar fixed point is damn difficult. This is especially true on this celestial body, whose horizon seems just a stone’s throw away.

  While Fitz thought about it, the unknown object had quickly descended. It literally fell out of the sky with several kilometers per second and aimed precisely at the center of a large crater about fifty meters away from the Hawk.

  Too late, Fitz thought and instinctively dropped to the ground. While falling, he angled his arms in such a way that he dampened the fall. The object hit the crater surface like a bullet.

  A flash of light marked the point of impact. The automatically reacting visor filters prevented the men from becoming blind from the high-intensity flash of the crash.

  A strange phenomenon, Fitz thought. Even though the explosion occurred in absolute silence, the unleashed energy scares you to death!

  Stones, dust, and glowing ashes as well as other debris that was hurled up by the explosion slowly fell back to the surface. Fitz remained on the ground for several minutes until most of the dust had settled. He could see the vapor rising above the crater’s edge. Then he stood up, staggeringly walking over to the Hawk. Bruno had already come back on his feet. Tebitt sat in a strange body position in front of the Hawk’s airlock.

  »Are you okay?« Fitz called him. He didn’t receive an answer.

  Alarmed, Fitz knelt beside Tebitt and shook his shoulders. The body of the pilot seemed strangely stiff.

  »Bruno, come over here quick! This is serious!« he called his assistant, then he discovered the small hole in Tebitt’s helmet visor.

  He carefully lifted the pilot’s head and then turned his eyes away in horror. He signaled Bruno, who had just opened his emergency medical pack, to stay away. »Wait! It’s too late. Tebitt is dead. You don’t need to see this.«

  »What?« said Bruno shocked. »How’s that possible?«

  »A small rock hit his helmet like a bullet and went right through his head. He was most likely killed instantly. The explosive loss of pressure did the rest …«

  Fitz was shocked and swallowed hard as he looked into the pilot’s empty, blood-encrusted eye sockets. Only tissue fragments of its former blue eyes were left. A moment later, he cautiously released the pilot’s head to rest on his chest.

  »It went fast,« he concluded.

  »That’s horrible!« Bruno said worriedly.

  Fitz laid Tebitt’s stiff body flat on the ground and then looked at the glowing impact crater.

  »We try to make radio contact with the Dragon, then we’ll go to that hole in the ground and find the guy responsible for this mess!«

  Bruno’s voice trembled.

  »Who? I think there is no one there? What kind of bomb was that? Was that meant for us?«

  »This shining sphere that fell from the sky was not a bomb,« Fitz replied thoughtfully. »It was a Techno-Cleric!«

  Who are you

  Communication is probably possible only via the speed of light principle. Interferences repeatedly interrupt the connections. This way the translation equipment will never work properly and only produce meaningless fragmented sentences, thought Nok.

  »We haven’t been able to get a visual contact, but we keep trying,« the communications officer said.

  Fascinated, Nok looked at the main holographic display.

  The alien ship burns like a flaming torch. All adjacent units of the assembled fleet hastily leave their position to gain distance. Even out here, the sun’s particle stream is dense enough to cause unyielding interaction with the ship’s defense field. The crew must be deploying immense energy resources to uphold the defense field. Otherwise, they would’ve been annihilated already.

  Nok was tense, but Hassan Khalil also seemed extremely focused and tried a first analysis, »The defense field prevents annihilation between the sun’s particle stream and the ship’s hull. The principle is simple, but its implementation requires an incredible technology. At each incident, each particle is somewhat neutralized by a corresponding anti-particle. The annihilation is virtually diverted to a safe distance from the ship’s hull and occurs in the defense field. An enormous amount of energy is required to keep up the field.«

  Nok’s looked at the Techno-Cleric. 40028 hovered in the command central and seemed to watch the pictures attentively.

  »You said you know this ship? What more can you tell us?« she inquired.

  The Techno-Cleric hovered up and down undecidedly.

  »I do not know this ship and its crew. Its arrival and manifestation are timestamps, anchored inside my basic program which was activated recently.«

  »Timestamp? Are you talking again about the time experiment of your creators?« Hassan asked. »Why’s the ship’s arrival so significant to the existing timeline, except that it is very striking and unfamiliar?«

  »It has a meaning, even if I can’t tell you what it’s about right now. I cannot explain my forward memory,« 40028 said emphatically.

  »Forward memory?« Nok repeated surprised. »If you know the future, tell us what happens next. What does the crew of the ship have in mind? What does the arrival mean?«

  »That’s not how it works,« 40028 dampened Nok’s expectation. »The data will become apparent to me only when corresponding events occur. However, it is not a realization of my current perception. I’m aware that I knew it already. The information was just not released.«

  »To recognize the future only when it occurs, makes no sense,« said Nok disappointed. »Such a program is useless. If you tell us the truth, then you’re not different from us because we see things only when they happen.«

  »Maybe I was misinterpreted, Commander,« 40028 replied friendly. »I’m sorry if my statement regarding the timestamp caused some confusion. If a timestamp occurs, then it’s almost as if I could feel it.«

  Nok shook her head.

  »I can’t follow you.«

  Nok wanted to turn away as Hassan suddenly said, »I think, I understand! It’s like a Déjà-vu experience.«

  »I don’t know what that term means,« 40028 admitted, but Hassan was confident.

  »The Techno-Cleric can’t see into the future, but he can assess, using his forward memory, if the events develop correctly. I’d find it interesting to know how the robots react if an expected timestamp doesn’t occur.«

  40028 pulsated slightly.

  »These are interesting questions and conclusion, Hassan Khalil.«

  Nok wiped the statement away with a hand gesture and turned back to the burning ship. As she looked at the holographic image, she asked casually, »If the Creators have actually seen the future, I would be interested in finding out why they denied you access to this forward-looking information. Did they not trust you, despite your cosmic morals and loyalty programming?«

  Hassan knit his eyebrows. He didn’t like how Nok addressed the Techno-Cleric. They had protected Humanity from the Circle Generals

  40028 hovered toward Nok with a slight hum. It sounded as if a servo motor was positioning
itself.

  »This is not a question of trust. The one who is able to look into the future is also committed to it. The Creators had chosen this mode of operation for us so we don’t compromise the only true timeline.

  Nok whirled around, her eyes becoming narrow. Hassan suddenly realized her tactic and that Nok didn’t want to affront the robot but to bring him out of his shell.

  »Uhh … I think, I understand you now!« she spontaneously said. »Your cosmic morals could make you do things which could affect the timeline. Ergo, the future must not be changed, even though it hasn’t occurred yet?«

  Hassan lifted an eyebrow. He hadn’t thought about this aspect yet.

  »Whoever sees the future, as my creators did, automatically becomes part of it. But who, in this vision, acknowledges his fate and, nevertheless, denies it endangers his own existence and that of the entire universe,« the Techno-Cleric exclaimed with a calm voice.

  »Are you talking about a paradox?« Hassan asked anxiously.

  »Wait a second, hang on a second,« Nok interrupted. »Is it like the often tried old parable: I travel into the past, kill my grandfather before he can procreate and I will never be born – how can I go back in time and kill my grandfather then?«

  The Techno-Cleric hovered quite close to Nok and said, »I know that our creators didn’t make an easy choice. Presumably, they realized too late what fatal consequences their actions can lead to. Maybe they wanted to spare their children this experience.«

  Probably, mused Nok. They consider themselves as children of the Creators. These robots are becoming more and more mysterious to me. What is their role in this whole cosmic entanglement?

  »We can possibly stabilize the connection by switching to a broadband link and call the ship on different frequency bands simultaneously,« suggested a communications officer. The officer pointed to the burning vessel. »We’ve aligned the antennas and interfaced the Shwakan universal translator. Please, try again, Commander.«

  Nok Daralamai stood before the holo and said in a loud voice, »This is the commander of the Triton Base. To the crew of the burning spaceship! Identify yourself, please!«

  First there was no response, then came a staccato of chaotic tones from the receiver. Nok looked at her specialists, but they just shrugged. No one understood the message.

  »Only interferences, presumably caused by the strong effects of the unknown defense field,« the communications officer replied regretfully.

  Then, however, the messed up swirling fragments of holographic transmission stabilized. Millions of pixels formed a stream. They revolved around a virtual center as they organized and arranged themselves. The image of a three-dimensional skull became visible, but disappeared again after a couple of seconds, only to appear again shortly afterward.

  Mesmerized, Nok stared at the holo, which became increasingly stable.

  Two eyes, a mouth, something that looks like a nose, hair ... The being is at least remotely humanoid. I hope this is a good omen.

  Nok listened attentively to the garbled words.

  »I ... Klor ... ar. ... Bri ... a ... message ... roid ...«

  »Did he just say Arkroid?« Nok asked surprised. »Hassan did you also hear that?«

  Hassan watched the stranger in the holo.

  »I’m not sure. It was difficult to understand. Maybe we should …«

  »In the name of the seven-spine cockroach of Klorian! Does everyone in this solar system have seven right thumbs?« Suddenly, the squawking of the unknown stranger sounded via tachyon-comm. Nok noticed surprised that the stranger had found a way to overcome the strong interferences of the tachyon beacon.

  »Since you people are incapable of establishing a reasonable radio transmission, I had to ask my assistant Verzimut to re-adjust your primitive radio bridge remotely. If he hadn’t intervened, I would have to wait for your radio call to the last of all days.«

  As Nok just stared at the holo transmission and didn’t answer, he continued, »By that I mean the day when the universe freezes over. Just like you!«

  Daralamai was speechless and watched as the stranger inflated two airbags at the base of his neck, producing a croaking sound. The unknown guest wasn’t finished yet. A moment later, he drew a deep breath. »An active tachyon portal, a system enveloping energy field which ripped me from tachyon space, a Caravan Scout beacon that blew up my radio receivers. Then we have a planetoid that, because of its strange isotope count and infrastructure, doesn’t belong in this solar system. Not to mention a never before seen assembly of galactic peoples who are orbiting around a small icy moon. What, in the name of my dry-skinned forefathers, is going on here?!«

  Who had never seen Nok speechless, now had the chance.

  Nok Daralamai needed endless seconds to process what she had heard. Twice, she made an attempt to speak, but in the end she just said, »Who ... are you?«

  The Robot must have gone mad

  Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the sky over the planetoid accompanied by strong radio interference.

  Stephano Bruno, who was desperately trying to gain access to the Hawk via the emergency airlock, winced frightened. He clutched his helmet with both hands as if he could protect his ears from the infernal noise in his helmet receiver. The high superimposed radio interference happened at the same time as the bright light dot in the sky had appeared.

  »What is that?« he asked with a disturbed face, not daring to look up. Instead, his eyes were glued to the corpse of the dead pilot who was still lying on the rocky and icy ground next to the Hawk. Bruno’s eyes remained focused on Tebitt’s empty eye sockets. His eyes had imploded, giving him an eerie look.

  Although, the light source in the sky was illuminating the surface of the planetoid, it didn’t radiate heat. It was a cold and harsh light.

  Jonathan Fitz’s visor filters had activated automatically. He looked up again and observed the phenomenon attentively. Then he opened a small flap hidden behind the neck ring of his helmet and unrolled a thin comm-cable. The magnetic connector was designed in such a way so that it could be quickly grabbed even with the space gloves. Fitz reeled off a few meters of the tear-resistant fiber link and connected the magnetic contact to Bruno’s helmet. Immediately, a small servo motor reeled back the slack of the cable. Seconds later, both helmet radio systems were synchronized.

  »Can you hear me?« Fitz asked. The interference noises had disappeared immediately with this method.

  »I can hear you, Professor,« Bruno replied. »I thought, we both had to die. The bright light … my screeching radio … the dead pilot …«

  »Nonsense! Pull yourself together!« Fitz replied emphatically. »We’re still alive and safe inside our suits.«

  »… but this light in the sky? What is that? A nuclear explosion or a supernova?«

  Fitz shook his head.

  »I reminded you before to use your head, Bruno. The light of an atomic bomb, exploded in space, would have vanished already. Forget about the supernova so close to the Solar System, we would know about that. It’s something different.« Fitz paused for a moment and took a deep breath. »Regardless, we can only speculate. Let’s concentrate on our situation, okay?«

  »The … pilot … is … dead …,« came the faltering words of the assistant across the comm-link.

  Fitz bowed his head and replied regretfully, »Yes, Bruno. I’m sorry, but no one could’ve foreseen the explosion that killed the pilot.«

  Bruno spoke hastily and indistinctly. He had suffered a mild shock.

  »I shouldn’t have looked into his eyes. The sight … I’ll never forget this. I’ve never seen a dead person, particularly a man who had died from sudden decompression. It’s terrible!«

  Jonathan Fitz was worried that Bruno would not be a great help in his condition. In the end, he’d probably lost his control and clear thinking. The professor, who knew Bruno for several years, also had an idea how to bring him back on track.

  »Don’t look at the bright light and at the pilot. We
can’t help him anymore. You should rather work on the emergency airlock. Everything we need is inside the Hawk. A life-sustaining system, food, radio and … weapons.«

  Bruno nodded faintly and began hitting the airlock opening mechanism.

  »This damn thing won’t open!« he drummed his fists against the lock. »He sealed the airlock before he died. We’re locked out! All we can do is wait until we run out of air!«

  Fitz pondered for a moment, looked over to the impact crater, then he walked to the dead pilot, turned him on his stomach and unlatched his oxygen supply tank.

  »What are you doing?« Bruno asked horrified.

  »He doesn’t need the oxygen anymore, but we do. Do you know how to handle a weapon?«

  With a quick move, Fitz pulled the pilot’s gun from the side holster and raised it.

  Bruno looked at the professor with big eyes.

  »What?«

  »I asked if you can handle a weapon, can you do it? Didn’t you receive training at the Fleet Academy or what?«

  Bruno looked at the Globuster fist as if it were a poisonous insect.

  »I just had general space training as any other scientist at the academy. Weapons training was only touched on.«

  Fitz seemed uneasy.

  »Look, Bruno. I’ve never used a gun in my entire life. I wouldn’t even know where to find the safety,« Fitz admitted.

  Bruno calmed down. He was astonished that the professor self-confessed that there was something he didn’t know anything about. Cautiously, he took the weapon and inspected it from all sides.

  »This is a special edition, not the regular Fleet issue,« Bruno explained. He touched a small sensor pad and nodded satisfied. »Well … at least the controls follow the standard. The clip is fully charged. I can handle the weapon, but I’m not a good shooter.«

  »That’s kind of irrelevant,« Fitz assured him. »It’s only when we need it. I hope we don’t have to.«

  Bruno pointed at the impact crater.

  »Professor, you said this was a Techno-Cleric?«

  »Yepp,« Fitz acknowledged. »It went very fast; I only saw a shiny sphere falling from the sky. It practically crashed at our location. Do you notice the gleaming rocks around the impact crater?«