by Brett P. S.
Chapter 5
Ultimate Eventuality
Planetoid Vessel, Energy Nexus
Logan Bradley, Captain of Cruise Light, found himself in a precarious predicament. His mission to the fourth planet of the Aquinas system might never see its end. Sadly, he may never witness another sunrise. His hands pressed firmly onto the cold metal flooring, his right palm uncovered from his suit.
Blood stained the inlaid grooves of the floor as he continued the pressure against his rib cage. Blood loss would eventually take him, but damned if he was going to let it happen without a fight. Logan cursed under his breath as the shock began to set in. What had he done wrong? A slip of the tongue? A misappropriated phrase? No, the surveyors were too different. There was no recouping his losses.
“P … Please,” Logan said with a stutter. “Let us leave. We’ll go back and never …”
The sounds of laser fire cut his sentence short. Logan watched with wide eyes as the blue beam of a second-generation bolt rifle whizzed through the creature’s collection of body particles. It burst into a thick misty cloud; BC fired successive shots into the fray. Logan clutched his aching body and tried to stand in futility. BC ran over and snatched up his arm. The young man pulled him to his feet, despite his reluctance.
“Do I have to do everything myself?” BC shouted, hoisting him. “We need to get out of here now before …”
BC lurched forward mid-speech as something thin punctured him from behind, a black metal protrusion sticking out through his chest and suit layers. The needle stopped inches from Logan’s throat and gradually retracted, leaving him to catch his fallen friend. He forced himself up with the last of his strength as he shouldered BC’s body, a rage building inside of himself. He lacked the fundamental strength to do any more than stand where he was, but he stared down the multifaceted creature as it solidified once more. It cocked its head.
“You ask for this collective to make your truth evident,” it said. “Do you see now?”
Logan knelt down and laid BC’s body across the floor beside him. He shook his head and wiped the bit of tears from his eyes.
“No, I don’t see. All you’ve done is made us suffer for no good reason.”
McKenzie stepped up ahead of him, laying a hand on his shoulder before staring down the collective.
“I’ll field this one, Captain,” she said, turning to the creature. “I think I know what you wanted to prove, Surveyor. You wanted to show us that with the proper provocation, one of our kind can act in a chaotic manner.”
“Correct,” it replied. “In any given interstellar population, chaos becomes inevitable.”
“So long as said beings are free,” McKenzie said, folding her arms. “But we can police our own. I don’t see the problem with a few bad apples.”
“Your sphere is not yet interstellar,” the creature said. “Propagation and access to destructive technology expands exponentially following interstellar progress. Conventional restrictive efforts expand linearly. In ten centuries, you cannot police yourselves without restricting freedom absolutely.”
“I refuse to lay down what makes Terrace strong,” Logan stammered. “You can’t expect us to change our nature because of some self-posited eventuality.” He winced as he stood up. “We’ll fight for our right to explore other worlds. We’ll fight you as well.”
“Captain, I wouldn’t suggest …” McKenzie started, but Logan cut her off.
“No, this is where I make my stand. I’m sick and tired of this game. Terrace will not change to suit your needs. I don’t care what kind of galactic powers you have at your command. I will not relinquish my free will for the sake of your cosmic preservation.”
“Unfortunate,” it said. “We have observed spheres similar to Terrace, and all have ended in destruction. Would you allow your infection to spread across stars to sate your thirst? Would you let rogue factions within your civilization vaporize worlds and lesser peoples in the midst of chaos and disagreement?”
Logan huffed. “We would try to stop them.”
“Effort is insufficient,” it replied. “Your sphere must make the choice to come to agreement. There are many means of doing so, but you must do so.”
“Captain, this is over,” McKenzie said. “We have two dead, and you’re not going to last much longer unless we get you treated aboard Cruise Light.” She paused. “He doesn’t want to kill us all. He needs a few alive to send a message.”
Logan sneered at the creature but fell to the floor regardless. McKenzie set down her tools and grabbed him by the shoulder, hoisting him up beside her slender frame. McKenzie forced a smile as she helped him hobble toward the doorway. He didn’t bother to glance back at the creature, which he assumed remained at its station. The surveyors would not allow Terrace any further. The notion left a sour taste in his mouth as McKenzie and Stinson carried him through the kilometer of causeways. What would he say? What could he propose that would make his people listen? It was as if he’d hit a brick wall. For the first time in his life, Logan lacked the primal resolve that he’d come to know as integral to himself. He’d lost this battle. He was just going to have to get used to it.
