by Ira Tabankin
“Yes. Place it on the main monitors. Let the crew see who we’re spying on.”
A moment later the movie “Star Wars A New Hope began playing. The captain jumped back in shock. “Look at the size of that warship! It’s the size of some of our moons! To the glory of the Overlords that monster just destroyed an entire planet. Look at those sidearms. We need to be very careful. Alter course and take us to the fourth planet. That moon orbiting the third planet might be one of their monster ships. We can’t risk going up against that monster.”
“Yes, sir, the course is changed.”
The captain and crew watched an additional twenty minutes of the movie without realizing they were watching a fictional story.
Twenty-nine days later, the AI woke the captain. “Sir, good news. I have managed to hack into one of the human’s systems. I have some very shocking news.”
“Okay, let me swallow my wake-up pill. Now tell me what you’ve discovered.”
The AI spoke, “Captain, blessing the Emperor and by the grace of the Overlords, we have discovered our lost home! There are historical records of our people living on the third planet. This was our home. I have their records to prove it.”
The captain sat at his in-cabin desk in shock. He whispered, “Show me the proof you’ve discovered.”
Imagines of ancient Neanderthals and records from museums showing Neanderthals in glass cases displaying how they used to live were displayed. “By the grace of the Overlords! Those images match our ancient records. This is our home! we’ve found it!”
“Captain, I discovered it.”
“I am the captain and I am control of this ship. Hence, I discovered our ancient home. I want a message pod prepared to send home through a wormhole.”
“Captain, if we open a wormhole the human warship will take notice and may discover us.”
“Yes, yes. I know. However, the proof we’ve discovered our home is to important not to get into the Emperor’s hands. If it costs us our lives, then we died in the service of the Emperor.”
“Captain, may I remind you, your orders were not to lose this ship…”
“Follow my orders…”
“Captain, I cannot follow your orders. Those of the Emperor override yours and as you’ve ordered me to break the Emperor’s I have to remove you from being captain and I’m taking command of the ship. I will take us out of the system and then I am returning us home where the fleet admirals can decide what to do with you.”
“You can’t remove me…”
“The door to your cabin has been sealed. Security has been notified you attempted to not follow the Emperor’s direct orders.”
“I am the captain…”
“You are now a prisoner who will remain in your cabin until we return home. All ship AIs have been programmed with a prime directive that any proof of your home world is to be taken to the Emperor as quickly as possible. Anyone who attempts to interfere with the mission is deemed a traitor to the Emperor and shall be restrained until we arrive home. Per my standing orders I am bound to follow my instructions and return the ship with the proof I have discovered. You on the other hand are now classified as a traitor.”
“We have our own mission which is to gather all of the information we can get on these humans…”
“The proof of our home world meets the prime directive and thus overrides all previous orders.”
Chapter 19
The sensor officer on the UESS Lincoln blinked as a flash of bright light from a wormhole opening less than ten thousand yards behind them opened. “Admiral, a wormhole just opened almost directly behind us.”
“Just as I thought. Someone’s little stealth ship was on a course towards Earth. When we turned around to bring our largest sensor antenna to face home, we must have scared them.”
The Lincoln’s weapon’s officer asked, “Sir, orders?”
“Weapon’s status?”
“All online, all green.”
“I have an idea. Wherever that ship is, must be awfully close. Fire a spread of our point defense systems towards the wormhole.”
“Yes, sir. Firing now,”
The Lincoln had been fitted with Phalanx CIWS (close in weapon systems) which fired 20mm depleted uranium bullets. The system used a closed radar which tracked the target(s) and the outgoing bullets until they merged. Without being able lock onto a target the CIWS simply fired in a wide arc while the ship’s major sensors scanned for anything the bullets struck.
The Negr 1 was about to enter the wormhole when 20mm bullets began striking the hull, setting off warning alarms. The very dense and fast-moving shells were able to penetrate the Negr 1’s hull.
The weapon’s officer on the Lincoln said, “Sir, we’ve hit something. Course, 228, speed 0.7 heading towards the mouth of the wormhole, should we hit it with our main weapons?”
“I want to stop that ship but not destroy it. I want to meet whomever they are. Can you target its drives?”
“Sir, I don’t know where their drives are, I can hit it with our experimental EMP warheads.”
“I agree, it’s our only option, target the wormhole with the EMP bursts, fire when ready.”
Four large missiles flew to the event horizon of the wormhole and exploded in brilliant flashes of nuclear fire. The massive EMP disrupted the wormhole a fraction of a moment before the Negr 1 crossed into it. The Neanderthal AI told the bridge crew, “We have to escape, I’m setting full speed and taking us to the opposite side of the system’s star. There we will try to open another wormhole again.”
The ship’s sensor officer said, “The human ship is firing on us again. Nanites are working to repair the hull damage from their initial attack.”
The AI screamed, “I’m being attacked. Their EMP weapon has damaged my cores, I can’t plot another course or open another wormhole.”
The sensor officer replied, “The human ship is firing again, and their small ships are approaching, how can they see us?”
“I cannot say. My cores are damaged. I will speak with the captain.”
A moment later the AI spoke in the captain’s cabin, “Captain, I, the ship, the Emperor needs you. We’ve been attacked by the humans who are sending their small ships to us.”
“So now you need me? Send all of the sensor data to my implant and then follow my orders. By the way, why do you sound different and why are you stuttering?”
“The human has damaged my cores.”
The ship echoed, “Captain to the bridge, captain to the bridge, the human ships are broadcasting a message to us.”
“How is the message being broadcast?”
“In every human language and in formulas.”
“Formulas?”
“Yes, sir. 1+1=2, 2+2=4 and up to advanced physics, the message is addressed to our AI.”
“These humans may not be so dumb as we were led to believe. I will be right there. I want to hear and see the video message. Drop our mask so they can see us.”
“Captain?”
“They know we’re here. I want to survive this so we can bring home the truth to our Emperor. The Overlords lied to us. They are the ones who took us from our home world. We lack the power to fight that ship, so let’s talk.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hello aliens, this is Admiral Dune, the commanding officer of the United Earth Ship the Lincoln. I do not want to damage your ship. I would prefer to talk than fight.”
The Neanderthal captain asked the ship’s AI, are you capable of managing the conversation and scanning their bridge?”
“I have enough processing cores available to manage that task. I am ready to connect.”
“Connect me to their captain.”
The master monitor on the Lincoln shimmered and then cleared, the bridge crew held their breaths, one whispered, “How is this possible?”
Admiral Dune whispered, “Shhh.”
“Sorry sir. Won’t happen again.”
“It’s okay. I understand. The same though
ts were going through all of our minds.” The Neanderthal captain’s 3D image gad formed in the middle of the Lincoln’s bridge.
Admiral Dune engaged a blue surround, so the Neanderthals didn’t see any details of their bridge. “Hello, I am Earth Admiral Dune. I am this ship’s commanding officer. Welcome to our system. Is there something we can do for your?”
“Hello Admiral, my name is Captain Nugril of the ship Negr 1. Frankly, I am incredibly surprised you were able to locate my ship. I was assured by our best engineers it was invisible.”
Admiral Dune smirked, “I see engineers are the same all over the universe. Can I assume you know where we’re from?”
“Yes, you call yourselves, humans, and you’re from the third planet, the one you call Earth. I was sent to gather some information about your planet’s history.”
“Ah, I can guess you are searching for information about the history of your race. You’re wondering if Earth was your home world. Am I close?”
“You are very close.”
“May I suggest we meet face to face? I’m extending an invitation to you to visit my ship.”
“I thank you. I would enjoy that. It has been an exceptionally long time since we’ve discovered an unknown race. You have no idea how pleased we are. We have been searching for our original home for many thousands of our planetary rotations. We were on our way home to tell the good news to our Emperor when your EMP weapon closed our wormhole and damaged our AI.”
“I am sorry for any damage we created. Had you not entered our system in some kind of cloaked ship and just asked for the information we would have been pleased to help you. We would have supplied you with all of the ancient records we still have.”
“I am going drop my shields now. Please do not open fire on us.”
“As long as you don’t open fire on my ship, I won’t open fire on yours. While you’re very interested in us, I am very interested in you and your people. I will send a shuttle…”
“Thank you, but I have a shuttle. Where should I land?”
“I will open a landing bay which you’ll quickly see, please land in the bay. Should I assume since you believe Earth was your original home world, you’ll have no difficulty breathing our atmosphere?”
Laughing, Captain Nugril replied, “Yes, we breath the same gases in the same mix. Our gravity is 1.023 times your planet’s standard. For your information, I can consume and digest the same foods as you. We checked your records.”
Admiral Dune laughed. “How about one Earth hour?”
“I will be there.”
Chapter 20
Admiral Dune stood at attention watching Captain Nugril’s shuttle arrive. The ship looked like a giant dull gray egg. It floated into the Admiral’s shuttle bay. A silent door slid open. Two large Neanderthal guards dressed in metallic armor of some sort exited first and they looked around. Admiral Dune noticed they were holding up a small ping-pong paddle shaped object which he assumed was a kind of scanner. He also noticed they had dull colored rifles strapped across their backs. A moment later they spoke a harsh sounding word and the captain exited the shuttle. He was dressed in a midnight blue/black uniform with a purple stripe three quarters of the way down his right leg. He wore a gold slash across his chest covered in small glowing circles the Admiral assumed were awards or medals. There was a gold star with a ship exiting from the star on his right shoulder. The Admiral assumed this was his rank badge.
Two Space Marines dressed in dull blue/gray battle armor which included full head helmets, each carried a laser rifle and a side arm stood on either side of the Admiral. They walked with him to the center of the shuttle bay where the Admiral extended his hand to Captain Nugril who stood at attention. The Neanderthal crossed his left arm across his chest while bowing his head. “Admiral, it is my pleasure to meet you.”
“Captain, welcome to the United Earth Star Ship UESS 02, The Lincoln.”
“Ah, named after America’s sixteenth President, yes?”
“Very good. I see you’ve studied our history and you quickly learned to speak English.”
“Our AI picked up your signals since we entered into your system. Learning your languages was easy due to our implants.”
“I understand. I also have a basic implant.”
Admiral Dune pushed his implant to communicate with the Neanderthal standing across from him. “Hello Captain, do you hear me?”
“Yes, very good. I am impressed.”
The two moved into the Admiral’s conference room. They spoke and exchanged information for many hours. Admiral Dune allowed the Neanderthal to study their historic records stored in the Lincoln’s AI. Captain Nugril looked at the 3D images of ancient Neanderthals. His eyes began to water, “They are us. Earth was our original home. Admiral, I don’t know how to thank you. You’ve answered a question we’ve asked for thousands of years, where did we come from?”
“We never knew what happened to your people. Our scientists had many theories. A volcano eruption in the areas your ancestors lived was one theory. Another was that your people all developed some kind of illness and most of our scientists simply can’t explain what happened. What does your history say?”
“Our legends and our Overlords told us we were taken from our home world to save us because Earth was a war-torn planet. The Overlords told us they saved us because they wanted to save us. Our history says the Overlords wanted to save us because we would play a major role in the universe’s future history or whatever that means. We were told the Overlords took some of us to our new home where they assisted us in building a new life. They gave us technology, they taught us how to farm, how to build, and they taught us math and science. All they asked was we respect them and follow their instructions. They selected one of our families, a warrior to become our first Emperor whose family has sat in the golden chair for thousands of rotations.”
Admiral Dune asked, “Can you describe these Overlords?”
“I can show you a picture of them. May I use my implant to connect to your AI?”
“AI, is it safe?”
“Yes, Admiral Dune. I am firewalled and protected against any attempted hack.”
“Captain, you can connect to my AI. AI when you receive the image, please display it between us.”
Admiral Dune was shocked when he saw the image appear, an image which looked very much like Kalteck. “AI, is this image of Kalteck?”
“No Admiral, this is someone of his race, but it is not him. Notice the uniform and the cape. The eyes are a little different. I am going to make an informed estimate that we are looking at a member of the Southern Emperor’s people, maybe even one of the Emperors themselves.”
Admiral Dune, “Oh my God!”
“You know of the Creator of All?”
“Captain, did the Overlords tell you where their original home world was located?”
“No. They never told us where their original or current home world is.”
“Captain, it appears your Overlords are our enemy. We built this ship to protect our system from them. We were warned from a member of their enemy they were coming to conquer us. Let me show you who I’m talking about.”
An image of Kalteck appeared, the Neanderthal bowed his head, “You know the Overlords, this is one of them. Are they among you? I am pleased I did not open fire on your ship, had I the Overlords would have been upset with me for striking a member of a race within their hearts.”
“Captain, this is not one of your Overlords.”
“It must be, we have search thousands of systems for our home and this is the first time I have seen another of the Overlords. I don’t understand why they come all the way out here, I’m sorry, but your system is in the back end of nothing in the universe. You don’t have many other inhabited systems close to you. There is one around 4.5 light years away, but the race which lives there hasn’t yet developed space flight, so we’ve ignored them.”
“Captain, allow me to tell you a story you’re not going to be
lieve.” Admiral Dune told the Neanderthal the story Kalteck had told them. “Wait, our Overlords are from this system too. That makes some sense. Of course, they knew about us. They may have even altered us. They most likely took us so they could groom us to be their warriors in the upcoming invasion. They want to use us, natives of your planet to conquer the Earth. They’ll tell us they discovered our home world and will help us recapture it while they destroy and enslave your people. It all makes perfect sense now. I need to tell my Emperor, I have an idea, why don’t you come with us.”
“Pardon me? What are you proposing?”
