by H. G Ahedi
“It’s not junk,” Emmeline insisted. “The diaries are over five hundred years old. Most of them are personal logs. Some of them are computerized, and others are handwritten. Fortunately, the handwritten ones have been well preserved. I’ve spent a lot of time digitizing them. You can’t imagine, it’s like watching them living their lives. It’s fascinating to hear how different their lives were than ours.”
“Did they mention about Nemesis?”
“Oh, yeah. It was a cruel life. Our family had lost almost everything… but we were better off compared to others. We were fortunate not to be cruelly exposed…” She stopped and closed her eyes on remembering the horrors described by her ancestors.
The cockpit became silent.
“Did you find anything important related to the myth?” Delta asked.
“Last month, I found an entry in one of the diaries dated in the 1900s. It describes a plaque.”
“Hold on,” Delta said. “In the 1900s, they didn’t have digital tablets?”
“In archaeology, a plaque or tablet was an ancient medium of writing.”
“Ah, I see. What were they made of?”
“Clay, rock, or metal.”
“Okay. What about this plaque?”
“It’s made of rock and was found when a bunch of explorers sailed to a frozen continent called Antarctica,” Emmeline explained. “As soon as they returned to their homeland, they sold it to the highest bidder. Fortunately for us, the highest bidder was a lady of some power.”
“You found her diary?” asked Delta.
“Not hers, but her son kept written notes and made drawings of the plaque. There are a couple of them in the diaries. Then he married and had a daughter. The plaque was passed on for generations.”
“Wait a minute. You told me the diaries you have belong to the twentieth century. This plaque appears to be ancient,” Delta said.
“I think it was bought by our family in the nineteenth century and remained with us for generations,” Emmeline replied. “Down the line, a young girl found it in the basement of her father’s old home. Her name was Beverly Watcher. She was the first person to study it with a historian.”
“Did they find anything?”
“No. To the best of the historian’s knowledge, it wasn’t of any known origin. But he noted the plaque had a figure which looked like a sun and seventeen circular indentations on it. He couldn’t interpret what it meant.”
“So, this Beverly lady had this plaque all this time but found nothing?”
“No. I think, at some point, she gave up,” Emmeline replied. “Remember, they had very limited resources in the nineteenth century. No one cared about it until the twenty-third century. Out of curiosity, Alexander Hendrix, one of my ancestors began studying it.”
“And?” Delta asked.
Emmeline gave a weak smile. “And there is the greatest mystery of my family. After that, Alexander and the plaque both disappeared.”
“What? How could someone just disappear?”
Emmeline had many theories, but she was reluctant to share them. Unfortunately, his disappearance had earned him a reputation as a traitor because he’d vanished with important information about Nemesis and he was wanted by the Imperial Command. Emmeline decided to keep this information to herself for now. “I agree. People don’t just vanish into thin air. I studied his personal logs, and I traced his disappearance back to Sector 1001.”
“Did he die on impact?”
“No. He and his family were traveling at the time and survived the catastrophe. But he was a planetary geologist.”
“So?”
“Who led one of the teams elected to study Nemesis.”
“Ah. Now, that is interesting,” Delta replied. “What did he find?”
“That’s the thing. No one knows,” Emmeline responded. “He worked for five years on that project, spending every day collecting, analyzing, and cataloging his findings. He and other teams reported hundreds of elements found in Nemesis. Then one day, he just disappeared. So, did most of his data and the plaque.”
They became silent for a moment.
“Maybe he found something. Something he shouldn’t have had. He reported it to the government, and they killed him. Or perhaps it was the government who built Nemesis and targeted it at Earth,” Delta speculated.
Emmeline folded her arms. “We don’t have that kind of technology. And why would our government destroy its own world?”
“You’re right,” said Delta. “But you have to admit, it’s bizarre.”
“There is another possibility,” Emmeline continued.
“What?”
“He didn’t want anyone to know what he’d found.”
“Why? Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know. It’s just a thought.”
Silence dominated the cockpit for a few moments.
“Well, thank you for the history lesson. Alexander is possibly dead. The plaque is lost. I don’t give a damn about Nemesis. So why are we going to Sector 1001?”
“Two months ago, I put together Alexander ’s entries, his data and his logs,” Emmeline said.
“And you found nothing. Again! Did you check his rock collection?”
“I did. Nothing unusual there.”
“But you found something. I can sense it.”
“While others disregarded his personal logs as mere words, I could not,” said Emmeline. “One thing I realized from his diaries was that the guy loved solving puzzles and uncovering hidden clues. He also liked to create puzzles and leave clues for his daughter to find. I ran all kinds of encryption algorithms on his logs. I searched for any encrypted keywords or hidden texts. Found nothing. Then I came across a poem written by him to his dear wife, stored in a vacuum document protector.”
Delta nodded.
“I did all kinds of tests on it.”
“Enough. Tell me you found something.”
“I think you should see it to believe it.”
Delta raised her eyebrows and gave a mischievous smile. She placed Astra on autopilot, and they left the cockpit.
They sat at a small table. Emmeline reached for her bag and took out a silver box. Then she took out a triangular glass object.
“What are you doing with a prism?” Delta asked.
“Just watch,” Emmeline said. “Astra, turn the lights off.”
The room turned dark, and Emmeline placed the silver box opposite to the prism. Then she pushed a button on the silver box. A sharp beam of light passed through the prism, and a band of colorful light appeared from the other side.
“Okay. Now impress me,” Delta remarked.
“As you know, when white light goes through a prism, it splits into seven colors.”
“Yeah. Everyone knows that.”
“The wavelength and the refraction angle determine the ratios of colors we see in the rainbow,” said Emmeline. “Don’t worry. I will not bore you with the details.” She reached for her pad and punched in a few numbers. There was a slight variation in the colors of the rainbow.
The document protector looked like an A4-size glass frame. Emmeline placed her palm on the document protector. It came to life and began glowing. Sentences began appearing on the glass, and it recited the terms and conditions of opening this preserved document. Emmeline waited for it to finish, then said, “I agree.”
The frame slowly opened from three sides. The thin plastic film covering the document moved like a book opening. Emmeline gently picked up the letter and placed it in the path of the multi-colored beam. Suddenly, the old-looking paper turned golden and glowed.
On it appeared a message: The secret to the stars, their end and the beginnings, lies in the crypt of your ancestors.
“Wow!” Delta cried out, leaning forward. “How did you do that?”
“I found it by accident. I’d been trying for days to find a clue about this plaque. Frankly, I’d given up. Four weeks ago, I was sitting with my desk lamp on, and the rest of the room wa
s dark. I was drinking tea and placed my glass between the lamp and the document, and it began glowing. At first, I could only see the letter S. It took me a while to figure out that it would take a prism to unlock the entire message.”
“So, it appears only when exposed to a certain spectrum of light?” asked Delta.
Emmeline nodded. “Yes. A very specific spectrum. As you know, infrared and ultraviolet rays always form the borders of a rainbow. Infrared is the highest, and ultraviolet is the lowest. In this case, the distribution of the wavelengths had to be exact.” She referred to the pad. “Infrared at 800, red at 700 nanometers, orange and yellow at 650 nanometers, green and blue at 500 nanometers, and violet at 400 nanometers. This distribution ends with ultraviolet at 300 nanometers.”
“How did you find this?”
“It was hard,” Emmeline admitted. “The computer must have run a million algorithms. But once I had it, that appeared.”
They sat wordlessly, looking at the glowing letter.
Delta faced Emmeline. “This must be really important. What are the odds of this spectrum of light hitting this letter?”
“None unless someone was looking for it.”
“What do you think it means?”
“I think the message is straightforward. Let’s go to Sector 1001 and look in my ancestors’ crypt.”
Titan, Deck 10, Midnight Orchid
With Emmeline gone to Earth, Argon felt more alone. Then he found out that Selina had escaped school. He tracked her down to Midnight Orchid. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the attention of a group of traders visiting the space station. Argon wasn’t worried because the bartender was his friend and promised he would look out for her.
Argon didn’t rush his little sister away from her new friends. Instead, he watched as she chatted away to them. He was a bit surprised since her teacher had told him she was very shy. Perhaps she didn’t like her teacher, he thought.
Soon, Selina left the group and ran to embrace Argon. He didn’t scold her, though a part of him told him he should. She was on Titan, and she was wearing her communicator. She was safe, but he was still worried.
“I know. I know. I shouldn’t have left,” Selina said. “But school is so boring.”
Argon smiled. It was almost time for her to go home anyway, so they walked toward their quarters.
As soon as they entered, they found Aceline walking up and down the living room. “Darling! Where were you?” she said, picking Selina up. “Please don’t do that! Your teacher called and told me you were missing.”
“Mom. You shouldn’t worry. As long as I’m on Titan, no harm will ever come to me.”
Argon studied his mother’s worried face.
Selina looked from one face to another, “Believe me. As long as I am on Titan, no harm will ever come to me.”
Argon smiled. “You’re right, Selina,” he said. “But you shouldn’t leave without telling the teacher.”
“You do,” she argued.
“We’re adults.”
“So, I’m treated differently because I’m a child?” Selina sulked. “I am not just a child!”
Argon changed the subject. “Tell me, Selina, how did you get out.”
Selina made a face as Aceline put her down.
“I’m not telling you! You don’t understand. You will never understand!” she cried out, turned and walked into her room. Aceline and Argon looked at each other.
“Mom?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what to say… she is what she is.”
Argon bit his lips. Is Selina telling the truth? Could she just tell the computer to do what she wanted it to do? Of course, the odds of any harm coming to Selina on Titan were low, but how did she know she was safe? Wasn’t she afraid?
Sector 1001
Astra
Delta reduced speed as Astra flew past the Challenger colony.
Emmeline cast her eyes over the colony that stood between Earth and the moon. It was over 100,000 kilometers away from Earth, a sort of midpoint between two planetary bodies. From above, the colony looked like an enormous snowflake. The middle section was round, and from it, five long cylindrical passageways spread in all directions. At the end of each passageway were two smaller extensions. These were ports for spaceships. Three of the spaceports were occupied. Emmeline remembered watching the stars with her grandpa as a child, trying to identify all the constellations. From Earth, the Challenger colony looked like a shiny dot.
Emmeline looked ahead. The big blue planet dominated the viewscreen.
“Why do we have to go through this every time?” Delta complained.
Emmeline smiled.
Ships going to restricted areas on the Earth needed a permit. These sections were not tourist sites, and civilians were prohibited. Most of the quarantine sections were hubs for environmentalists, scientists, and medical researchers. Although Emmeline already had a permit, the guard ships would check their credentials.
There was another place that was restricted to civilians, and no matter how much she tried, Emmeline would never get access. But why would she want to go to a criminal facility?
Enforcement of law and order by the Imperial Command was common practice. The punishments for law-breaking were severe, but treatment of prisoners was mostly humane. Still, there were exceptions. Emmeline’s eyes rolled up, surveying the cold northern hemisphere. There, somewhere, was the Specter colony, a prison created for criminals, its computers designed to deliver merciless sentences.
Astra slowed down when two guard ships blocked their way. Delta opened a channel. “This is Astra. We have authorization to land and visit Sector 1001.”
Emmeline always wondered who’d designed the guard ships. They looked like huge gray eggs with a round red area right in the middle. She narrowed her eyes and saw the pilot through the red glass. The guard ships were heavily armed, but she didn’t understand the logic behind guarding these sections. Why would people want to go to that area of Earth? It was flooded with radiation, had low levels of oxygen, and had been barren for over hundred years.
The robotic voice on the commlink said, “Checking credentials. Please wait.”
Emmeline surveyed the bright white light surrounding the planet. Nemesis had forced humanity to think outside of the box. It had taken them years to build the generators, and the amount of energy required for this endeavor had been tremendous. But it had been worth it. Emmeline had not shared this with anyone, but Alexander Hendrix and her grandpa had speculated that the mythical device was a source of extreme power. If she succeeded in finding it, it could reduce their dependence on fuel, alloys, nuclear power, and solar energy. Exploring deep space would be much easier. It could change everyone’s life, including hers.
“Credentials approved. You can approach Sector 1001. Please be aware that Sector 1001 is an abandoned and hazardous area. Please wear protective gear. In case of emergency, contact the nearest guard ship. You are not allowed to stay in the area for over ten hours. When your time is up, leave immediately. If you fail to do so, the guards will escort you out of Sector 1001. Do not take any objects out of this region without conducting a thorough scan.”
“Oh, shut up,” muttered Delta, but the guard ship didn’t.
“Be cautious. To avoid detention outcasts and criminals, sneak into Sector 1001. If under threat, immediately contact the nearest guard ship.” The robot recited all the safety precautions and measures.
Emmeline waited patiently.
Soon, the guard ships cleared the way, and Delta guided Astra closer to the white shields. A flashing bright light appeared, and a gate opened.
The computer announced, “Welcome, Delta Dune and Emmeline Augury. We hope you have a pleasant stay.” Then it fell silent once more.
Delta guided Astra through the huge spiral gate and entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Astra shuddered. Emmeline grabbed her chair and heard something rattle. She glanced at Delta, but she didn’t seem worried. Astra rocked, and a loud beeping
noise echoed in the cockpit.
“Ah, don’t worry,” Delta said, increasing speed.
“That’s a bad idea,” Emmeline warned her.
The ship vibrated. Emmeline could hear the engines screaming. What she saw next scared her even more. Bright beams of yellow light surrounded them; the temperature rose inside the cockpit. Astra jolted. “Delta?” said Emmeline.
Before Delta could reply, Astra crossed the troposphere and flew smoothly miles above the ground.
“All good,” Delta replied, smiling.
Emmeline relaxed.
It was early in the morning. Astra flew over the Pacific Ocean, and the sun shone over the horizon in the cloudless sky. Emmeline saw tall buildings in the distance. Several small craft hovered about the buildings like bees. Life moves on, Emmeline thought.
Sector 1001
Astra approached Sector 1001, and sadness washed over Emmeline. She could only imagine the horror of the people who had witnessed the incident.
Soon, they approached another whitish dome. As Astra flew closer, Delta eased it down toward the circular gate. “Here we go again.”
Two guard ships approached them. While Delta dealt with the guard ships, Emmeline looked beyond the dome. This was her second visit to Sector 1001 in the last two years. Her father did not approve, but she wanted to solve this family puzzle. She wanted to know if the fairy tale was true.
She eyed the barren landscape. It stood solemn, even under the beautiful cloudless sky. The comet’s impact had created such an inferno that, although it had touched the ground miles from here, it had turned everything to dust.
It was a sorry sight. A few buildings stood strong, others half broken and fallen to pieces. The structures that had survived bore the wounds of the hit and had turned black over time. A few streams of muddy contaminated water flowed under the three crippled bridges. Emmeline eyed a small army of robots working near the riverbank. The cleanup was ongoing. She didn’t know if it would ever be successful; no one did.
The circular gates whizzed open. Delta eased Astra into the sector, and Emmeline felt as if she had entered an alien world, a strange world. The dome extended for miles and was built not only to stop people from entering the area but also to minimize the aftereffects of the impact.
