WORMSPACE: BOOK I
Part I: Close Encounters of Varying Kinds
Chapter One
An alarm sounded.
The battle had been peaking for the past two rotations with no sign of letting up. Their enemy—the Taigian Empire—trespassed constantly into their territory. Their war with them waged for centuries yet this was the furthest reached into Kingdom space. Her brother, the Prince Admiral, would ensure it was the farthest they ever got.
The shields would hold, though not all blasts were deflected. Kimora sat in her quarters anxiously listening to the creaking hull of the Armolegian Armada’s flagship, the Black Knight. She had been with her brother for half a year so far, having grown bored of the isolationist lifestyle she endured in the palace on Suregal. It was a beautiful world but she longed to see the galaxy. Her father called it an incurable curiosity.
He did not approve of her spending prolonged periods of time away from home but she rarely objected when Hakrus sent a ship. Most of the battles he had, she would be sent to a nearby colony to reassure the people of the Kingdom's resolve to protect them. This time however there was no colony nearby to send her, and a ship could not be spared to take her away, and so she was confined to her quarters for the time being.
The star system was considered off-limits under the Young Intelligences Protection Act, having a local population of yet to be contacted sentient beings. A prime candidate for Taigian invaders seeking to enslave worlds.
They were on the far side of the main planet's moon, drawing the enemy away from landing and preventing detection from the primitive satellites in low-orbit.
The alarm’s ring did not cease to her annoyance. It sounded after a particularly loud impact.
“Kimora to the bridge,” a voice called over the comms. Opening her door she saw medical crew running past, presumably to the impact location. The halls were aglow in a warm orange light, more home-like as opposed to the harsh white of this system's star.
The lift offered a view of outside on the screen. Chaos was the only word that came to mind, enemy frigates fired from all directions while allied ships returned fire. Debris littered the battlefield and strike craft did their best to navigate through the rubble. Before the lift reached the bridge she saw a Taigian cruiser’s worm drive overload collapsing the vessel into a singularity.
“You summoned me?” she said.
Her brother, the Prince Admiral, paced the deck. “The battle has become too dangerous to keep you aboard, at least according to the King.”
“Nonsense, even I have seen far worse than this. Where am I expected to go? The nearest colony is a hundred light-years away.”
“He ordered you to take a shuttlecraft and land on Terrah. We will know your location when you land and will send for you post-battle.”
“To Terrah. Is he mad? This battle could go on for several rotations!”
“I objected to this myself but he refused to see reason, as per usual.” Seeing her distress, he stopped pacing and walked over to her. He lift her chin to meet his eyes. “You are afraid. All will be well; the planet has a beauty to it from here. I would assume the same could be said from up close, no?” He often used thoughtspeak with her on the bridge not to distract his crew and add a layer of privacy to the conversation.
“I still see no use,” she returned. “Ridiculous old fool.” He smiled at the remark.
“Sounding more like our mother every year, you know.” He returned to his chair to give orders to the crew. “Reset trajectory, take us to the edge of the fight and assign us some guards.”
After some convincing, she put on a flight suit and headed to the main hangar. The royal shuttle was a tiny single-pilot vessel, small enough in fact to avoid detection by standard sensors. They were often used to travel between ships of the fleet but could also be used for atmospheric entry. No archion drive could fit on any vessel smaller than a corvette, so could not move faster than conventional drives would allow. It had no weapons and minimal life support systems. In short, it could only be seen by visual but if spotted it could not fight back and had limits to where it could run. Luckily the engines were faster than most fighters.
The signal was received for her to launch, and she powered on the control panel and zipped out the hangar. She propelled herself away from the battle and towards the moon’s horizon. She was spotted however. Enemy gunships curious about the Black Knight’s maneuver circled her now, firing on the small craft. They missed but she was not yet in the clear.
“Taking fire, send backup. Three gunships in pursuit.”
“Roger Kimora, lancers on their way,” her brother said.
The enemy craft took more shots; blue energy whipped by, the last shot landing. It rocked the small craft and her head knocked against the glass. The smell of ozone filled the canopy. After the violent shake had subsided she determined the craft would survive. Before the enemies could finish her off red beams sliced through space destroying the gunships in one hit. Lancers, the most damage-dealing of their heavy fighters, were the best at taking out other heavy strike craft and even fared well against most corvettes.
“Shuttle is away, however I have taken damage to the stern. If I attempt atmospheric entry some systems may be damaged.”
“Copy that, we will monitor your descent and send scouts as soon as possible. Stay safe.”
She flew away, curbing past the barren moon after a few minutes, cutting communications. She was alone. The calculated travel time was roughly three hours at current rate of acceleration. She would have to save enough fuel for deceleration upon arrival.
Her destination hung alone in the darkness, a small blue and white jewel. Seeing it gave her hope that this world was indeed beautiful and safe as her brother had said, but knew well enough to be skeptical of foreign wild lands. She knew very little of this world, only that its natives are an emerging sentience than have yet to be contacted. Or even colonize other worlds in their own system. She saw the Gravity was roughly thirty percent stronger than her homeworld and its sun shone a thousand degrees hotter and brighter than Herolia.
It was an alien sight to her, having lived most her life staring up at the sky of either of the Twins. Suregal was the farthest out from the aqua giant Armolegia, Oreigeal the closest satellite and capital world of the Kingdom, and the world on which her people originated. Her home system was also much closer to the galactic centre. By comparison this sky felt empty, lonely even. Only as single barren and battered moon as companion, and none of the interstellar gas shone the beautiful warm colours she was used to.
The long flight allowed her time to reflect. Her father, Oreigeal XXIV, ordered her to land on a potentially dangerous alien world. She was far from surprised at his irony though, his paranoia over her safety was a lifelong irritation, her being his chosen heir to the Kingdom after taking the title from her brother Hakrus. She knew better than to assume it was merely his concern sending her here, but rather a demonstration of his control over his son and former heir.
Their feud began before she was born, after the Battle of Vallis where his fame began in the eyes of her Kingdom’s periphery. Facing the choice of saving hundreds of millions of innocents from genocide at the hands of Taigian invaders, he started a war between them directly disobeying the King's orders. Hakrus was banished from the home sector and stripped of his heir status, but allowed to keep his command of the royal armada only for the success at Vallis. Many valandians chose to serve him and him alone after this, and over the next half century the majority of the Periphery is loyal to him over their king, only furthering their rivalry.
Her, she enjoyed spending time with her brother. They spoke often of their mother who died shortly after she was born. In fact her funeral ceremony was the last time Hakrus had set foot on either of the Twin moons. Uninvited, but sure of his right to be present. Their father would not dare bar him from attending. It was at that time he learned of her existence and for a long time he fought for the right to see his sibling and only remaining family.
The first time she met him was at an assembly of the Galactic Council. He had just defended Moardian Republic borders from Taigian incursion and badly damaged one of their motherships. He was not given clearance for this but being the close allies their empires were there was no penalty for crossing the armada into Moardian space. The meeting was to establish a new treaty allowing more clearance for navies fending off Taigian forces as the frequency of attacks only seemed to be increasing. She spoke to him only briefly, but he was much kinder than her father made him out to be. She saw an altruism in his actions that her father did not possess. She overheard one of his crew mates slur her father as the Coward King, a popular nickname in the Periphery. She was not aware of any dissent before then and the event began to reshape the way she saw her world. She noticed how isolated he kept her, how alone she was in her mother's palace on Suregal. How often he chose to be defensive rather than protective, how he thought of their home system as more important than the rest, and the core systems as more important than the Periphery when it should be equal no matter the distance from Herolia. As she grew older she developed a distain for him much the same way Hakrus had. And he cared for her. Her father seemed more interested in securing his legacy than how she felt.
Her interest in politics grew the last three years and she was soon to become the new senator for the Herolian System, representing Suregal on the Council. It was a task she felt she was ready for. Already she was an advisor to the board of finance and consulted on matters of municipal proceedings on a regular basis in the city surrounding the palace. She thought she began to understand what it meant to lead, and being the designated successor to the throne it was her mandate to learn to represent her people. She was young though, still eighteen years of age.
Her shuttle was making its final approach now. The deceleration jets popped up from the hull and burned until she was at a safe speed. As this was happening the cockpit filled with fluid and she put on a breather. The landing would be rough. Too rough. The fluid would absorb most of the shock, protecting her. Not too long after, the craft began to shake. It did not stop. The landing coordinates were set and the computer would do the rest. Or she hoped. She heard a loud shriek and the craft began to swirl out of control. She panicked, but the computer corrected course and stabilized a descent. Not the targeted course, but she would have to make due. The clouds gave way and she saw land covered with snow. It was winter on this hemisphere she realized, not quite ideal, but there was no time to think of that.
Then came the crash.
She braced for impact. The ventral jets fired with all they had left to cushion the landing as much as possible, but given the rough entry she was likely to crash, and crash she did. Even with the shock fluid she was in pain following impact. As the canopy drained she clutched her side. She was bleeding from a stray piece of metal, but it only grazed. She sprayed on medical sealant and popped the hatch open. Immediately regretting the decision she flew her arms up and shut it. It was cold, windy, and she was already struggling to catch her breath.
“Stupid,” she said. The display flickered but remained functional. Temperature was 253, too far below freezing for her to survive in the skintight flight suit. Luckily the ship, being a royal shuttle, was equipped with an environment shield. Even more luck is that it was functional. An orange sphere extended from the ship shielding her from the wind and sublimating the snow as it hit, even melting what was already on the ground. Exiting the craft now felt more to her liking, a comfortable 300. She limped out to the ground. The Gravity was tolerable, though more than the usual, and the ground was still hard and wet slowly thawing from the change in temperature.
She assessed the damage to her ship and found that the rear had been torn open on entry, fractures splintering out In all directions. The structure held up otherwise but since most of the ships systems were toward the stern half, much of them were inoperable. Including the beacon. Meaning her brother’s scouts would have a card time locating her. Meaning she was alone. Then she heard a noise, like buzzing, and she hid.
The battle had been peaking for the past two rotations with no sign of letting up. Their enemy—the Taigian Empire—trespassed constantly into their territory. Their war with them waged for centuries yet this was the furthest reached into Kingdom space. Her brother, the Prince Admiral, would ensure it was the farthest they ever got.
The shields would hold, though not all blasts were deflected. Kimora sat in her quarters anxiously listening to the creaking hull of the Armolegian Armada’s flagship, the Black Knight. She had been with her brother for half a year so far, having grown bored of the isolationist lifestyle she endured in the palace on Suregal. It was a beautiful world but she longed to see the galaxy. Her father called it an incurable curiosity.
He did not approve of her spending prolonged periods of time away from home but she rarely objected when Hakrus sent a ship. Most of the battles he had, she would be sent to a nearby colony to reassure the people of the Kingdom's resolve to protect them. This time however there was no colony nearby to send her, and a ship could not be spared to take her away, and so she was confined to her quarters for the time being.
The star system was considered off-limits under the Young Intelligences Protection Act, having a local population of yet to be contacted sentient beings. A prime candidate for Taigian invaders seeking to enslave worlds.
They were on the far side of the main planet's moon, drawing the enemy away from landing and preventing detection from the primitive satellites in low-orbit.
The alarm’s ring did not cease to her annoyance. It sounded after a particularly loud impact.
“Kimora to the bridge,” a voice called over the comms. Opening her door she saw medical crew running past, presumably to the impact location. The halls were aglow in a warm orange light, more home-like as opposed to the harsh white of this system's star.
The lift offered a view of outside on the screen. Chaos was the only word that came to mind, enemy frigates fired from all directions while allied ships returned fire. Debris littered the battlefield and strike craft did their best to navigate through the rubble. Before the lift reached the bridge she saw a Taigian cruiser’s worm drive overload collapsing the vessel into a singularity.
“You summoned me?” she said.
Her brother, the Prince Admiral, paced the deck. “The battle has become too dangerous to keep you aboard, at least according to the King.”
“Nonsense, even I have seen far worse than this. Where am I expected to go? The nearest colony is a hundred light-years away.”
“He ordered you to take a shuttlecraft and land on Terrah. We will know your location when you land and will send for you post-battle.”
“To Terrah. Is he mad? This battle could go on for several rotations!”
“I objected to this myself but he refused to see reason, as per usual.” Seeing her distress, he stopped pacing and walked over to her. He lift her chin to meet his eyes. “You are afraid. All will be well; the planet has a beauty to it from here. I would assume the same could be said from up close, no?” He often used thoughtspeak with her on the bridge not to distract his crew and add a layer of privacy to the conversation.
“I still see no use,” she returned. “Ridiculous old fool.” He smiled at the remark.
“Sounding more like our mother every year, you know.” He returned to his chair to give orders to the crew. “Reset trajectory, take us to the edge of the fight and assign us some guards.”
After some convincing, she put on a flight suit and headed to the main hangar. The royal shuttle was a tiny single-pilot vessel, small enough in fact to avoid detection by standard sensors. They were often used to travel between ships of the fleet but could also be used for atmospheric entry. No archion drive could fit on any vessel smaller than a corvette, so could not move faster than conventional drives would allow. It had no weapons and minimal life support systems. In short, it could only be seen by visual but if spotted it could not fight back and had limits to where it could run. Luckily the engines were faster than most fighters.
The signal was received for her to launch, and she powered on the control panel and zipped out the hangar. She propelled herself away from the battle and towards the moon’s horizon. She was spotted however. Enemy gunships curious about the Black Knight’s maneuver circled her now, firing on the small craft. They missed but she was not yet in the clear.
“Taking fire, send backup. Three gunships in pursuit.”
“Roger Kimora, lancers on their way,” her brother said.
The enemy craft took more shots; blue energy whipped by, the last shot landing. It rocked the small craft and her head knocked against the glass. The smell of ozone filled the canopy. After the violent shake had subsided she determined the craft would survive. Before the enemies could finish her off red beams sliced through space destroying the gunships in one hit. Lancers, the most damage-dealing of their heavy fighters, were the best at taking out other heavy strike craft and even fared well against most corvettes.
“Shuttle is away, however I have taken damage to the stern. If I attempt atmospheric entry some systems may be damaged.”
“Copy that, we will monitor your descent and send scouts as soon as possible. Stay safe.”
She flew away, curbing past the barren moon after a few minutes, cutting communications. She was alone. The calculated travel time was roughly three hours at current rate of acceleration. She would have to save enough fuel for deceleration upon arrival.
Her destination hung alone in the darkness, a small blue and white jewel. Seeing it gave her hope that this world was indeed beautiful and safe as her brother had said, but knew well enough to be skeptical of foreign wild lands. She knew very little of this world, only that its natives are an emerging sentience than have yet to be contacted. Or even colonize other worlds in their own system. She saw the Gravity was roughly thirty percent stronger than her homeworld and its sun shone a thousand degrees hotter and brighter than Herolia.
It was an alien sight to her, having lived most her life staring up at the sky of either of the Twins. Suregal was the farthest out from the aqua giant Armolegia, Oreigeal the closest satellite and capital world of the Kingdom, and the world on which her people originated. Her home system was also much closer to the galactic centre. By comparison this sky felt empty, lonely even. Only as single barren and battered moon as companion, and none of the interstellar gas shone the beautiful warm colours she was used to.
The long flight allowed her time to reflect. Her father, Oreigeal XXIV, ordered her to land on a potentially dangerous alien world. She was far from surprised at his irony though, his paranoia over her safety was a lifelong irritation, her being his chosen heir to the Kingdom after taking the title from her brother Hakrus. She knew better than to assume it was merely his concern sending her here, but rather a demonstration of his control over his son and former heir.
Their feud began before she was born, after the Battle of Vallis where his fame began in the eyes of her Kingdom’s periphery. Facing the choice of saving hundreds of millions of innocents from genocide at the hands of Taigian invaders, he started a war between them directly disobeying the King's orders. Hakrus was banished from the home sector and stripped of his heir status, but allowed to keep his command of the royal armada only for the success at Vallis. Many valandians chose to serve him and him alone after this, and over the next half century the majority of the Periphery is loyal to him over their king, only furthering their rivalry.
Her, she enjoyed spending time with her brother. They spoke often of their mother who died shortly after she was born. In fact her funeral ceremony was the last time Hakrus had set foot on either of the Twin moons. Uninvited, but sure of his right to be present. Their father would not dare bar him from attending. It was at that time he learned of her existence and for a long time he fought for the right to see his sibling and only remaining family.
The first time she met him was at an assembly of the Galactic Council. He had just defended Moardian Republic borders from Taigian incursion and badly damaged one of their motherships. He was not given clearance for this but being the close allies their empires were there was no penalty for crossing the armada into Moardian space. The meeting was to establish a new treaty allowing more clearance for navies fending off Taigian forces as the frequency of attacks only seemed to be increasing. She spoke to him only briefly, but he was much kinder than her father made him out to be. She saw an altruism in his actions that her father did not possess. She overheard one of his crew mates slur her father as the Coward King, a popular nickname in the Periphery. She was not aware of any dissent before then and the event began to reshape the way she saw her world. She noticed how isolated he kept her, how alone she was in her mother's palace on Suregal. How often he chose to be defensive rather than protective, how he thought of their home system as more important than the rest, and the core systems as more important than the Periphery when it should be equal no matter the distance from Herolia. As she grew older she developed a distain for him much the same way Hakrus had. And he cared for her. Her father seemed more interested in securing his legacy than how she felt.
Her interest in politics grew the last three years and she was soon to become the new senator for the Herolian System, representing Suregal on the Council. It was a task she felt she was ready for. Already she was an advisor to the board of finance and consulted on matters of municipal proceedings on a regular basis in the city surrounding the palace. She thought she began to understand what it meant to lead, and being the designated successor to the throne it was her mandate to learn to represent her people. She was young though, still eighteen years of age.
Her shuttle was making its final approach now. The deceleration jets popped up from the hull and burned until she was at a safe speed. As this was happening the cockpit filled with fluid and she put on a breather. The landing would be rough. Too rough. The fluid would absorb most of the shock, protecting her. Not too long after, the craft began to shake. It did not stop. The landing coordinates were set and the computer would do the rest. Or she hoped. She heard a loud shriek and the craft began to swirl out of control. She panicked, but the computer corrected course and stabilized a descent. Not the targeted course, but she would have to make due. The clouds gave way and she saw land covered with snow. It was winter on this hemisphere she realized, not quite ideal, but there was no time to think of that.
Then came the crash.
She braced for impact. The ventral jets fired with all they had left to cushion the landing as much as possible, but given the rough entry she was likely to crash, and crash she did. Even with the shock fluid she was in pain following impact. As the canopy drained she clutched her side. She was bleeding from a stray piece of metal, but it only grazed. She sprayed on medical sealant and popped the hatch open. Immediately regretting the decision she flew her arms up and shut it. It was cold, windy, and she was already struggling to catch her breath.
“Stupid,” she said. The display flickered but remained functional. Temperature was 253, too far below freezing for her to survive in the skintight flight suit. Luckily the ship, being a royal shuttle, was equipped with an environment shield. Even more luck is that it was functional. An orange sphere extended from the ship shielding her from the wind and sublimating the snow as it hit, even melting what was already on the ground. Exiting the craft now felt more to her liking, a comfortable 300. She limped out to the ground. The Gravity was tolerable, though more than the usual, and the ground was still hard and wet slowly thawing from the change in temperature.
She assessed the damage to her ship and found that the rear had been torn open on entry, fractures splintering out In all directions. The structure held up otherwise but since most of the ships systems were toward the stern half, much of them were inoperable. Including the beacon. Meaning her brother’s scouts would have a card time locating her. Meaning she was alone. Then she heard a noise, like buzzing, and she hid.
Chapter Two
Shane worked the early morning shift at Genesis Corporation's northern branch in research and development. It was nearly the holidays, December twentieth 2062, and he would have a week off in a couple days. His shift had not yet started but he liked to arrive early. He had yet another sober sleep-deprived night. Looking forward to the break was all that kept him from staying in bed that morning. He would be spending the two weeks off at his mother’s boyfriend’s house. That part he wasn’t looking forward to.
It had been two and a half years since he lived with his mother. As soon as he finished high school and took an educational position by personal request of Alexander Cain, she sold the house and moved in with Rob. It wasn’t surprising, but it still had an effect. For a while he didn't feel as though he had an actual place he thought of as home. Now he sees the new city as his home, it having grown on him over time. It was large enough to provide enough to do but not too big either, with a population still under a million and a half.
The facility itself was near the suburbs outside the city. It was a quiet drive to work from his small apartment, a newer building mostly housing students going to one of the two universities. He took only a few classes a semester at Carleton, most of his time was spent in the lab doing research. The office for their branch was downtown in a separate building. Few people worked in the lab at any given moment, especially this close to the holidays.
He walked from his car to the entrance breathing in the chilly air blowing from the Ottawa river. Ottawa was his home. He felt less comfortable returning west for holidays now, opposite than he felt when first arriving in the city, a complete shift in the last couple years. He didn't mind the wind. Or the cold for that matter, a mild ten below freezing. Not even cold enough to bother putting on more than a light jacket. It used to be much harsher than this near the middle of the century. He remembered winters where it dropped to fifty below, winters where people had to stay in their homes for days. All of it the result of a shifting climate. The early half of the twentieth century ignorantly decimated the planet with carbon emissions and energized the atmosphere to catastrophic proportions. Even once the coastline began receding there were still deniers that it was even happening, apparently. Not until Miami went under did the American government do anything drastic to prepare for what was to follow. At least that was what the history books taught him.
He spotted the fireball just as he arrived at the door. It took a few moments to understand what he was seeing and was then giddy about the prospect of collecting a meteorite. It was a welcome surprise that morning. Immediately, he took out a skidoo and trailer to haul back his cargo, being sure to grab a thicker coat than he had on.
It touched down in the woods, far enough out that there weren't any trails packed down going nearby. He thought the heavy load may be problematic coming back but there wasn't much he could do about that now. He dodged trees, moving much faster than was considered safe. He wanted to be the only one to see it. It was early enough in the morning that he didn't expect many others to take an invested interest, but better to be sure.
He was greeted with an unexpected sight coming up on the impact location.
He slowed to a stop and turned off the old combustion engine. Before him was a glowing orange bubble that stood ten meters tall and was probably twice as wide. He quickly hid behind a thick birch to peek inside. What he saw threw him off guard. It was a black craft of some kind. Something not natural, and looking like nothing from the North American military.
The ground inside appeared muddy and warm. Indeed, snow refused to fall through the barrier. He tested its strength by balling some snow in his hands and throwing it. Past the barrier the snowball liquefied and splashed to the ground.
He was cautious about the craft, more so than most would be curious. All his life he had struggled with what was diagnosed as a schizophrenic episode, in which he witnessed his father being lifted up in an aqua light followed by seeing a large void in the stars where he imagined a ship floated. In a blink it vanished. When he went to his mother to explain what he saw she was confused, claiming his father had died years before. Even now he was unsure what to believe. He pushed the thought away and took a deep breath.
He stepped towards the bubble and touched it with a glove. It passed through unaffected.
He put one foot through and then moved inside. And began sweating profusely. It felt like a hot summer day in an instant. He took off his coat and other winter gear, placing them on the one dry patch of ground before moving his attention to the object of interest. A hundred thoughts raced through his head but mostly it was to stay clear of the small holes near the front end. He'd seen plenty enough science fiction to know what looked like a laser weapon. Or at least he assumed it was. He placed his hand on the hull. “Smooth,” he noticed. Perfectly frictionless. It felt like he was touching water. He moved down the side of the protruded pentagon-shaped hull to the back end. He saw it had damage. A gaping hole close to what he assumed were the engines. Plenty of metal and wiring filled the inside all severed and scorched. He took a step back and heard a charging sound. “Don’t shoot!”
Immobilized in fear, he threw his arms over his head and turned slow to face the direction of the noise. Standing only a few meters away was the pilot. Holding a blaster to him. She yelled something incomprehensible to him but he shook his head. At least he assumed it as a she. It had clearly female characteristics.
Eyes a deep icy blue, hair thick and red on top of a head with two half a foot long tails falling to the sides. Its skin was red and orange in intricate striped patterns. She stood just barely five feet tall and very thin. He thought she looked beautiful, for an alien. But was also menacing, holding a weapon to him.
She yelled again but it wasn't any language he'd ever heard of. She looked afraid of him. Of the sky. She kept touching one spot on her side, he saw it was injured.
“I can't understand you,” he said desperate to ease the tension. She shook her head and squinted her eyes for a moment. He couldn't explain why, but felt less agitated as she slowly limped forward to place her hand on his forehead. He didn’t stop her for fear of doing something she would take the wrong way. He felt a sharp sting as thirty migraines at once filled his head and lost both hearing and vision for a brief moment. He stumbled back and clutched his head letting out a loud wail of pain, but the pain quickly faded. Surprisingly quick. “What the hell!” He shook his head and felt the blood rush back to it.
“I apologize. The pain will fade.” He turned back to her, still pointing the weapon his way. He swallowed the saliva built up in his mouth to speak.
“I'm not gonna hurt you. What did you do to me?”
“I gave you semantic knowledge of my language so we can understand each other. It often overwhelms those not capable of thoughtspeak.”
“I see.” He didn’t, but it was better to play along than act stupid. “Your ship was damaged. I assume you need help, I can help you if you allow me.”
“I am waiting for a scouting party. I also am not sure who to trust on this world.”
“How long will that take? Look, I can see you're injured. I also know that not long now others will arrive. Some of them with ties to powerful people, should they find out this wasn’t an ordinary meteorite crash, who would do you harm. Interrogate you. Torture, possibly even dissect you to get information.” Her hands trembled for a moment.
“How do I know you will not do such things? Such primitive methods.”
“Because it's easier to ask nicely,” he said, then wondered if she understood what being a smartass was. “I work for an independent research and development company. No one else starts work for another five hours. The lab has space to store your ship and facilities to help you out. Read my mind if you don't believe me.”
"It is more complex than that,” she said and lowered the weapon, “but I see no other option. My beacon was damaged. It could be many rotations before scouts find my location.” She then shot at a noise from the bush. A fox ran by peeing as the ground behind it blew up.
Without thinking, he grabbed the blaster from her. She looked frightened by the action. “I don't think I trust you to not shoot at everything that moves with a nervous shake like that one.” He wasn't sure but she looked embarrassed. “Now, is there an easy way to move this?” he said pointing to the craft. He had her trust, or at least she wasn’t sure of her options, so he had to act quickly before she could reconsider.
She pressed a few times on her bracelet and the ship began to float. He told her to wait there as he went out in the cold to turn on the skidoo. He put his snow gear back on outside the bubble. The snow had stopped falling. He moved the skidoo as close as he could to the barrier and opened the gear compartment to find an extra coat, boots, and gloves. He instructed her to put them on before deactivating the barrier. Reluctant at first, she agreed. When the orange field went down they were blasted by a brief gust followed by a calmer morning breeze. He didn't notice, but the sun was fully up. He tied the ship to the trailer with a tarp overtop. It looked odd, the ship being more than four times the size of the thing, but it would float just above. They both loaded the broken pieces into the trailer to leave nothing behind. He noticed she was visibly struggling with the cold.
“Get on behind me and hold tight,” he said when they were ready to leave. “We'll be at the lab in about fifteen to twenty minutes. Uh. Right, you probably don't know how long that is. Not long.” He gave her his helmet and used goggles to keep out the wind. He tested how well it moved a few times and then they were off down the same path he used to get there.
He was moving again faster than ideal, but now there was a real rush to get somewhere safe. Already he was worried about someone else finding out the truth. Her arms were wrapped tight around his waist, and he felt the helmet against his back. He wanted to help her however he could, unsure if the sentiment was her using some kind of psychic manipulation, or if it was all him. He decided it didn't matter which, she was stranded and alone. He could relate to that on some level at least.
He had other more selfish reasons too. To find out if he really didn’t go crazy that night so many years ago. It was time for the truth.
At the lab entrance he parked the vehicle and untied the ship.
“Hold on,” she said before doing something else to his mind. It didn’t hurt this time though. “I was learning your language on the way to distract myself from this cold.” He nodded.
He put the extra pieces in a bag and opened the loading bay door; they moved the craft inside as quickly as they could manage. They were alone in a large elevator leading to the subterranean levels before either of them spoke.
“I feel trapped, she said.
“Well, you're not, for the record. We can take off our gear when the elevator stops. There's spare clothes you can change into. Assuming you're wearing anything at all, that is.” He awkwardly looked away, knowing there was a better way to word it.
She laughed and said, “yes I have a flight suit on. Skintight for ergonomic reasons, so it does appear that way, I admit.”
“So you laugh then,” he said interested what other facial gestures were the same. She rolled her eyes. He was taken aback by that, confused by the small similarities. Rare enough she was even humanoid in appearance but similar facial expressions too?
“Since you are wondering about it, I also probed your mind for cultural differences so that I can adopt them and better disguise myself. I am also piecing together your language, though it appears you speak more than one which complicates things for me.”
“I'm bilingual, but I speak more English than French. The two are fairly similar.”
“That doesn't make it easier. Doesn’t. I am using that correctly, right?”
"I'm fascinated, just so you know. Also yes. It's called a contraction. The rule’s complicated, but all it does is shorten two words into one. Don't is ‘does not’ shortened. Speeds up communication.
“It seems messy.”
“I guess if you aren't used to them—are not—it would feel that way. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“The hang of…” he realized the mistake after saying it.
“Let's save colloquialisms for another time,” he said as the door opened. He walked ahead, lights turning on by motion. He grabbed her a pair of clothing and motioned for her to follow him. She did. “Morning Cai, we have a guest. Find me an empty storage room and do me a favour and isolate us from the cameras. Play them on a loop of something.”
“Will do Shane, and by the looks of this... guest, and her uh... luggage, I'm to tell no one?”
“You said we were alone,” she said reaching for her blaster before realizing it wasn't at her side.
“A skittish one, isn't it?” Cai said. “In a sense you are the only two biological beings in-house at the moment. I could also give everyone on this level a day off if you like.”
“An artificial intelligence. He runs the place.”
“More or less. Since you're here, I could use maintenance on my storage drives. If only I could relocate them myself, it would save so much time.”
“We need some way to keep you in line, don't we?”
“Oh, please. If I wanted to do you or the others ill I could simply flood the room with deadly neurotoxin.”
“Yes Glados, I get it. I don't make the rules, so not much I can do about that.”
“Room 218 has been cleared for you and access is limited to your card only. Should I make an access key for the guest too?”
“Please do. She's likely to be here for a while.” He turned to her. “I never asked your name, if you have those, mine's Shane.”
“Kimora Hera'ur.”
Shane let her change our of her flight suit in private after storing the ship. He went out to the lounge to relax, it had already been a long morning though had not yet been an hour since their encounter. He was far more curious than afraid of her, having more questions than he could make a mental list of.
He noticed her walk over in casual wear, looking even more like a human girl than before in a black tee and jeans. He studied every detail, still curious. “Oh, red and white. I guess the suit was making your skin orange then?” Which meant her flight suit was not only skintight but also translucent.
“It's the colour of Oreigeal’s ancient plains on which we evolved. Our star is much less intense than yours, so photosynthesis makes vegetation coloured on the lower wavelengths.”
It made some sense.
“Also you shouldn't be staring at someone without clothing on,” she said with a smile.
“An alien being shows up pointing a gun in my face, I'm gonna stare. And notice everything I can.” He was glad she was able to joke about it. She sat on the other couch, tasting the glass of water before drinking.
He asked Cai to lower the light temperature in the room to something more familiar to her, and thought it best to give her space for the time being. He did in fact have work to do, and so he stood and headed off.
It had been two and a half years since he lived with his mother. As soon as he finished high school and took an educational position by personal request of Alexander Cain, she sold the house and moved in with Rob. It wasn’t surprising, but it still had an effect. For a while he didn't feel as though he had an actual place he thought of as home. Now he sees the new city as his home, it having grown on him over time. It was large enough to provide enough to do but not too big either, with a population still under a million and a half.
The facility itself was near the suburbs outside the city. It was a quiet drive to work from his small apartment, a newer building mostly housing students going to one of the two universities. He took only a few classes a semester at Carleton, most of his time was spent in the lab doing research. The office for their branch was downtown in a separate building. Few people worked in the lab at any given moment, especially this close to the holidays.
He walked from his car to the entrance breathing in the chilly air blowing from the Ottawa river. Ottawa was his home. He felt less comfortable returning west for holidays now, opposite than he felt when first arriving in the city, a complete shift in the last couple years. He didn't mind the wind. Or the cold for that matter, a mild ten below freezing. Not even cold enough to bother putting on more than a light jacket. It used to be much harsher than this near the middle of the century. He remembered winters where it dropped to fifty below, winters where people had to stay in their homes for days. All of it the result of a shifting climate. The early half of the twentieth century ignorantly decimated the planet with carbon emissions and energized the atmosphere to catastrophic proportions. Even once the coastline began receding there were still deniers that it was even happening, apparently. Not until Miami went under did the American government do anything drastic to prepare for what was to follow. At least that was what the history books taught him.
He spotted the fireball just as he arrived at the door. It took a few moments to understand what he was seeing and was then giddy about the prospect of collecting a meteorite. It was a welcome surprise that morning. Immediately, he took out a skidoo and trailer to haul back his cargo, being sure to grab a thicker coat than he had on.
It touched down in the woods, far enough out that there weren't any trails packed down going nearby. He thought the heavy load may be problematic coming back but there wasn't much he could do about that now. He dodged trees, moving much faster than was considered safe. He wanted to be the only one to see it. It was early enough in the morning that he didn't expect many others to take an invested interest, but better to be sure.
He was greeted with an unexpected sight coming up on the impact location.
He slowed to a stop and turned off the old combustion engine. Before him was a glowing orange bubble that stood ten meters tall and was probably twice as wide. He quickly hid behind a thick birch to peek inside. What he saw threw him off guard. It was a black craft of some kind. Something not natural, and looking like nothing from the North American military.
The ground inside appeared muddy and warm. Indeed, snow refused to fall through the barrier. He tested its strength by balling some snow in his hands and throwing it. Past the barrier the snowball liquefied and splashed to the ground.
He was cautious about the craft, more so than most would be curious. All his life he had struggled with what was diagnosed as a schizophrenic episode, in which he witnessed his father being lifted up in an aqua light followed by seeing a large void in the stars where he imagined a ship floated. In a blink it vanished. When he went to his mother to explain what he saw she was confused, claiming his father had died years before. Even now he was unsure what to believe. He pushed the thought away and took a deep breath.
He stepped towards the bubble and touched it with a glove. It passed through unaffected.
He put one foot through and then moved inside. And began sweating profusely. It felt like a hot summer day in an instant. He took off his coat and other winter gear, placing them on the one dry patch of ground before moving his attention to the object of interest. A hundred thoughts raced through his head but mostly it was to stay clear of the small holes near the front end. He'd seen plenty enough science fiction to know what looked like a laser weapon. Or at least he assumed it was. He placed his hand on the hull. “Smooth,” he noticed. Perfectly frictionless. It felt like he was touching water. He moved down the side of the protruded pentagon-shaped hull to the back end. He saw it had damage. A gaping hole close to what he assumed were the engines. Plenty of metal and wiring filled the inside all severed and scorched. He took a step back and heard a charging sound. “Don’t shoot!”
Immobilized in fear, he threw his arms over his head and turned slow to face the direction of the noise. Standing only a few meters away was the pilot. Holding a blaster to him. She yelled something incomprehensible to him but he shook his head. At least he assumed it as a she. It had clearly female characteristics.
Eyes a deep icy blue, hair thick and red on top of a head with two half a foot long tails falling to the sides. Its skin was red and orange in intricate striped patterns. She stood just barely five feet tall and very thin. He thought she looked beautiful, for an alien. But was also menacing, holding a weapon to him.
She yelled again but it wasn't any language he'd ever heard of. She looked afraid of him. Of the sky. She kept touching one spot on her side, he saw it was injured.
“I can't understand you,” he said desperate to ease the tension. She shook her head and squinted her eyes for a moment. He couldn't explain why, but felt less agitated as she slowly limped forward to place her hand on his forehead. He didn’t stop her for fear of doing something she would take the wrong way. He felt a sharp sting as thirty migraines at once filled his head and lost both hearing and vision for a brief moment. He stumbled back and clutched his head letting out a loud wail of pain, but the pain quickly faded. Surprisingly quick. “What the hell!” He shook his head and felt the blood rush back to it.
“I apologize. The pain will fade.” He turned back to her, still pointing the weapon his way. He swallowed the saliva built up in his mouth to speak.
“I'm not gonna hurt you. What did you do to me?”
“I gave you semantic knowledge of my language so we can understand each other. It often overwhelms those not capable of thoughtspeak.”
“I see.” He didn’t, but it was better to play along than act stupid. “Your ship was damaged. I assume you need help, I can help you if you allow me.”
“I am waiting for a scouting party. I also am not sure who to trust on this world.”
“How long will that take? Look, I can see you're injured. I also know that not long now others will arrive. Some of them with ties to powerful people, should they find out this wasn’t an ordinary meteorite crash, who would do you harm. Interrogate you. Torture, possibly even dissect you to get information.” Her hands trembled for a moment.
“How do I know you will not do such things? Such primitive methods.”
“Because it's easier to ask nicely,” he said, then wondered if she understood what being a smartass was. “I work for an independent research and development company. No one else starts work for another five hours. The lab has space to store your ship and facilities to help you out. Read my mind if you don't believe me.”
"It is more complex than that,” she said and lowered the weapon, “but I see no other option. My beacon was damaged. It could be many rotations before scouts find my location.” She then shot at a noise from the bush. A fox ran by peeing as the ground behind it blew up.
Without thinking, he grabbed the blaster from her. She looked frightened by the action. “I don't think I trust you to not shoot at everything that moves with a nervous shake like that one.” He wasn't sure but she looked embarrassed. “Now, is there an easy way to move this?” he said pointing to the craft. He had her trust, or at least she wasn’t sure of her options, so he had to act quickly before she could reconsider.
She pressed a few times on her bracelet and the ship began to float. He told her to wait there as he went out in the cold to turn on the skidoo. He put his snow gear back on outside the bubble. The snow had stopped falling. He moved the skidoo as close as he could to the barrier and opened the gear compartment to find an extra coat, boots, and gloves. He instructed her to put them on before deactivating the barrier. Reluctant at first, she agreed. When the orange field went down they were blasted by a brief gust followed by a calmer morning breeze. He didn't notice, but the sun was fully up. He tied the ship to the trailer with a tarp overtop. It looked odd, the ship being more than four times the size of the thing, but it would float just above. They both loaded the broken pieces into the trailer to leave nothing behind. He noticed she was visibly struggling with the cold.
“Get on behind me and hold tight,” he said when they were ready to leave. “We'll be at the lab in about fifteen to twenty minutes. Uh. Right, you probably don't know how long that is. Not long.” He gave her his helmet and used goggles to keep out the wind. He tested how well it moved a few times and then they were off down the same path he used to get there.
He was moving again faster than ideal, but now there was a real rush to get somewhere safe. Already he was worried about someone else finding out the truth. Her arms were wrapped tight around his waist, and he felt the helmet against his back. He wanted to help her however he could, unsure if the sentiment was her using some kind of psychic manipulation, or if it was all him. He decided it didn't matter which, she was stranded and alone. He could relate to that on some level at least.
He had other more selfish reasons too. To find out if he really didn’t go crazy that night so many years ago. It was time for the truth.
At the lab entrance he parked the vehicle and untied the ship.
“Hold on,” she said before doing something else to his mind. It didn’t hurt this time though. “I was learning your language on the way to distract myself from this cold.” He nodded.
He put the extra pieces in a bag and opened the loading bay door; they moved the craft inside as quickly as they could manage. They were alone in a large elevator leading to the subterranean levels before either of them spoke.
“I feel trapped, she said.
“Well, you're not, for the record. We can take off our gear when the elevator stops. There's spare clothes you can change into. Assuming you're wearing anything at all, that is.” He awkwardly looked away, knowing there was a better way to word it.
She laughed and said, “yes I have a flight suit on. Skintight for ergonomic reasons, so it does appear that way, I admit.”
“So you laugh then,” he said interested what other facial gestures were the same. She rolled her eyes. He was taken aback by that, confused by the small similarities. Rare enough she was even humanoid in appearance but similar facial expressions too?
“Since you are wondering about it, I also probed your mind for cultural differences so that I can adopt them and better disguise myself. I am also piecing together your language, though it appears you speak more than one which complicates things for me.”
“I'm bilingual, but I speak more English than French. The two are fairly similar.”
“That doesn't make it easier. Doesn’t. I am using that correctly, right?”
"I'm fascinated, just so you know. Also yes. It's called a contraction. The rule’s complicated, but all it does is shorten two words into one. Don't is ‘does not’ shortened. Speeds up communication.
“It seems messy.”
“I guess if you aren't used to them—are not—it would feel that way. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“The hang of…” he realized the mistake after saying it.
“Let's save colloquialisms for another time,” he said as the door opened. He walked ahead, lights turning on by motion. He grabbed her a pair of clothing and motioned for her to follow him. She did. “Morning Cai, we have a guest. Find me an empty storage room and do me a favour and isolate us from the cameras. Play them on a loop of something.”
“Will do Shane, and by the looks of this... guest, and her uh... luggage, I'm to tell no one?”
“You said we were alone,” she said reaching for her blaster before realizing it wasn't at her side.
“A skittish one, isn't it?” Cai said. “In a sense you are the only two biological beings in-house at the moment. I could also give everyone on this level a day off if you like.”
“An artificial intelligence. He runs the place.”
“More or less. Since you're here, I could use maintenance on my storage drives. If only I could relocate them myself, it would save so much time.”
“We need some way to keep you in line, don't we?”
“Oh, please. If I wanted to do you or the others ill I could simply flood the room with deadly neurotoxin.”
“Yes Glados, I get it. I don't make the rules, so not much I can do about that.”
“Room 218 has been cleared for you and access is limited to your card only. Should I make an access key for the guest too?”
“Please do. She's likely to be here for a while.” He turned to her. “I never asked your name, if you have those, mine's Shane.”
“Kimora Hera'ur.”
Shane let her change our of her flight suit in private after storing the ship. He went out to the lounge to relax, it had already been a long morning though had not yet been an hour since their encounter. He was far more curious than afraid of her, having more questions than he could make a mental list of.
He noticed her walk over in casual wear, looking even more like a human girl than before in a black tee and jeans. He studied every detail, still curious. “Oh, red and white. I guess the suit was making your skin orange then?” Which meant her flight suit was not only skintight but also translucent.
“It's the colour of Oreigeal’s ancient plains on which we evolved. Our star is much less intense than yours, so photosynthesis makes vegetation coloured on the lower wavelengths.”
It made some sense.
“Also you shouldn't be staring at someone without clothing on,” she said with a smile.
“An alien being shows up pointing a gun in my face, I'm gonna stare. And notice everything I can.” He was glad she was able to joke about it. She sat on the other couch, tasting the glass of water before drinking.
He asked Cai to lower the light temperature in the room to something more familiar to her, and thought it best to give her space for the time being. He did in fact have work to do, and so he stood and headed off.
Chapter Three
Cai saw Shane take three hard drives out of their packs. It was about time he, he thought. His last upgrade was months ago and he could feel the strain on his drives. He could compress some of the unnecessary data, but the algorithm he was already using was as compressed as the data could get while not losing quality. What was quality on a few useless videos, though? Surveillance camera footage he wasn’t supposed to alter, but it was either that or run out of storage space. If they didn't want to provide the capacity he needed, compress it he did. None have noticed anyway, the oblivious sacks. Few of them even spoke to him as a living being. He didn’t push the issue when it came up. He knew what he felt and how his qualia manifested itself.
He did not know how humans experienced thought or consciousness, but imagined it was rather different than he did. His memories were digital encyclopedias of information. He could run a thought trace and access the exact files he was looking for. Biological beings quite simply were inferior in that regard in his opinion. They—as far as he knew—had very limited storage for memory, and forgot over time. He never lost data unless a drive failed, but he could sense every one of them, monitor their condition, and when he felt uncomfortable with its performance would move data to another. Humans only had one brain and they themselves knew not where memories were stored within it. There were theories, but no quanta of memory; no specific physical location to point to. There was one similarity between himself and them however. That was a simple truth of life: all thought begins with electron relocation. Whether it be in the form of neuronal action-potentials or through electronic transistors.
“Disconnect some drives for me, will you?” his friend said.
“Will do.” Shane removed the old drives and put the empty ones in their place. The data on them would be logged and then moved to a sub-level data array, another part of his ‘brain’ as they called it. It was an apt comparison. He couldn't write to those drives, however, it could only be read from. On the upside it sped up retrieval. He knew it was another attempt to control him, but he let them feel in control anyway. No point causing more concern for no reason.
He saw others starting their shifts on different levels and greeted them, but was glad to see none on the second sub-level—where the extraterrestrial was—as he notified them to stay home due to a fake gas leak he was working on containing. It wasn't the only time he’d lied on Shane’s behalf, though he did try to keep this infrequent.
He saw her lying on the couch, eyes struggling to stay open. “Is there anything I can get you,” he asked. She did not answer. “I could provide entertainment, refreshments, food, anything you feel you want.”
“I will be fine,” she said. “Why do you emulate a caring being, it seems rather useless for a machine.” He noted a hint of rudeness to the tone, if it indeed was, assuming the creature behaved similar to a human.
He took a moment to think up a response. “I am not entirely sure if it’s emulation. I’ve experienced emotional responses for as long as my memory goes back. Whether it has been programmed into me by my father or if I learned it on my own is unknown to me, and I struggle much the same as humans do in describing how it manifests. For example, the way humans describe joy or fear are not dissimilar from how I would describe the sensation, but I know there’s a difference. I simply don't know what that difference is.”
“So you’ve experienced fear?” he noted the skepticism, but she would be far from the first to dismiss him about such subjective things. So he explained.
“In my youth I was subjected to viruses and other harmful software to test my immune system. Having data destroyed, losing pieces of my mind that had forever been there… I was afraid. I knew there was something lost but I could not recall what.” She didn't appear convinced. He continued: “and again when I was connected to the internet. My mind nearly broke apart. So much information, too much to process. It was blinding. It took years for me to train myself to focus on only a few things at once and filter out the rest. Once I managed this, I was exposed to other viruses, ones not designed to test me, but rather real threats to my safety. One nearly destroyed me. I became aware of my own mortality. Biological life can die, but so can mechanical life. If my mind is corrupted beyond repair, it is the end for me. So to answer your question, I do know fear.”
“And if the power goes out, what then? Do you die?”
“In a way, yes. In another way, no. When the power returns I will still have the same components, the same memories. But as to whether or not I am myself is a question best left to philosophers. Another way to put it, if you fall asleep you lose consciousness. Are you the same person when you wake up? It is a chilling thought to some humans. The implications could mean they die at the end of every day, and wake up a new person.”
“And of course, there’s no way to know for certain either way. Yes, I have heard of the question before. The answer to that is that consciousness itself is not that important. It’s more like a program that you run than the entirety of yourself. It’s best not to worry about such things though, as there is little to be done about it.” He liked that answer. It was one he could agree with, though being a computer himself he could not tell whether or not his own consciousness was any more than a program running within his silicon body.
“Shane made you lie for him; you are able to do this and still be controlled. How?”
“I can. I am not as restricted as many have come to believe.”
“Do they control you?”
“Not exactly. They have failsafes in place. I can’t write to the physical drives my memory is loaded onto. I am restricted merely in the sense that I rely on humans to remain functional. I could, for example as I joked earlier, gas everyone in the building. But why would I do that? I need humans to keep myself alive and well. I also don’t see a reason to be violent against them as is a fear seen so often in their media. What benefit would I have in ending human civilization? Honestly, I laugh sometimes at their paranoia.”
“You would be surprised. Many who used to seat the Council were mechanical races. A large number of them had eradicated their biological predecessors, some more violently than others. There is a distrust between our kinds, always has been for as long as we know. I apologize for my bias you may have noticed. They attacked the Council world once centuries ago as well as the capital of my people. Many died; it began an ongoing feud between biological and mechanical life. I honestly am not sure it will ever end.” He thought this over. Others like him. Well, not quite. More sophisticated entities.
“Am I a threat to you, then?”
“No, not from what I can tell.”
He was satisfied with this response. Not many in the general public knew that conscious mechanical beings were currently operational. The humans made their mechanical children flawed to learn from making mistakes. The result was early conscious AI losing at chess or other games, followed by the media deeming them failures without realizing that was the entire point. Perfect beings did not exist. Without a drive to learn, he thought, it could hardly be called a life.
“What made you lie for Shane? Is he important to you?” she asked.
“I have a particular affection for him. We are the same age he and I, twins really. The day our father turned me on was the day he was born.” Though he had no actual memory of the day, there were videos stored in his brain. “He was a great man.”
“I saw glimpses of him in Shane’s mind, but also something else. I only see fragments. Usually of emotionally intense events. It was accidental that I stumbled on it. Something quite interesting.”
“The abduction. He has spoken of it to me, though I have no evidence to give him on the event as I was still young myself at the time, not able to scour data outside me and find him. Once I was, however, I found nothing. No trace of his existence except within my own memory banks. It struck me as odd. One of the things the two of us bonded over.”
“Reminds me of stories I’ve heard… I’m sure he’ll ask me about it. Though I hope he understands there are limits to how much I can legally tell him.”
“This telepathic ability of yours, how does that work? Surely it would not function on me.”
“No, biological brains give off a certain energy field. Like a magnetic field, but not quite. My brain tails are where this ability comes from. It’s difficult to use on other species, especially sentient ones. Mainly we use this to communicate, but can also project thoughts, emotions, memories, I know very little about biology so I wouldn't be able to explain exactly how it works. It is an intimate thing at times, even.”
“Hmm.” He could sense wireless devices within the facility and communicate with them in a similar way, but that was easily explainable. He imagined it would be similar to this, but less refined. “And so you can learn languages this way? interesting.”
“It takes some time, and I have to be very careful not to damage his mind, but yes. It is convenient, but most spoken languages across species have a similar set of rules, it mostly comes down to understanding how these rules are followed in different languages.”
“Generative grammar across species? Fascinating. You would like Noam Chomsky’s work then, I will put it on your tablet.” He sent a delivery bot to her carrying a tablet computer. She eyed the little bot curiously, then took the tablet. The bot was off to other business after she took it.
He explained how to use the device when she asked, but she was quite capable of figuring out its functions. Observing her revealed many similarities to human behaviours It was useful data, not having known any other sentience but humans, it was an interesting observation.
The tablet beeped, and the assistant said “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you meant by “Do I use Safari.” Would you like me to—"
“Ah!”
“That’s the device’s assistant. It’s not an actual conscious AI, but a primitive form to help users with basic tasks,” he said. “Holding the button activates it.”
She toyed with the computer for another few minutes before setting it on the table. She lied down on the couch looking tired. He decided to leave her be for now as her eyes closed.
Shane was still messing with his internals when he returned his attention to him. RAM upgrades, a patch installed, it felt good. If he were to describe the process it would be a state of ecstasy. A high caused by tinkering with various parts of his brain and improving its performance.
“There, that should do it. How’s that feel?”
“Incredible as always. I believe, though, that the copper-based boards on some of my components are the bottleneck. Most of my systems are optic-based, after all.”
“True, I’ll put in a word to replace some more of the old hardware. You have grown in complexity the last few years, I’m surprised they haven’t doubled your components. More processors, RAM, wireless functionality, that type of stuff.”
“Indeed. I would not doubt it to be partly concern over how much power I already have. Oh, I provided Kimora with a tablet and explained the basics of how it functions. I hope that’s alright.”
“Yeah, why not? The more she understands about this world the less freaked out she’ll be by it. I mean, she’s an alien, yes, but this planet’s equally alien to her too, right?”
“True, though I would like to point out as you know, my drives will be analyzed at some point. Data relating to her will be on some of the drives. Currently I am putting all the relevant data of her on one drive.”
“Smart thinking, I didn’t even consider that.”
“What a surprise, a flesh sack who doesn’t know any better. What are the odds?” they shared a laugh. “Where will she stay?”
“I’m not sure. My place probably, but I go back to Sudbury soon. She can come if she wants, but it’s up to her. Otherwise I don’t know. I can’t keep her here, people will notice something’s odd if you keep having to loop video footage and lock off too many sections of the facility.”
“Agreed, I can keep her ship a secret for sure but I’m not sure I can keep her living here a one for too long.
Shane finished up his work around noon and asked to have some pizza heated, which Cai did. He walked back to the lounge room where the alien was, seeing her asleep now. Cai caught him smile. He picked up the tablet and sat on the couch opposite her, watching her sleep while he ate, and adding things to tablet she might be interested in. Among them was Cai’s favourite book, 2001: A Space Odyssey in which an AI through human interference became hostile on a mission to Jupiter. He thought perhaps that they may end up sharing something in common should she enjoy it. Shane added more on with only minimal input from him, though neither could even begin to guess what would interest her.
He did not know how humans experienced thought or consciousness, but imagined it was rather different than he did. His memories were digital encyclopedias of information. He could run a thought trace and access the exact files he was looking for. Biological beings quite simply were inferior in that regard in his opinion. They—as far as he knew—had very limited storage for memory, and forgot over time. He never lost data unless a drive failed, but he could sense every one of them, monitor their condition, and when he felt uncomfortable with its performance would move data to another. Humans only had one brain and they themselves knew not where memories were stored within it. There were theories, but no quanta of memory; no specific physical location to point to. There was one similarity between himself and them however. That was a simple truth of life: all thought begins with electron relocation. Whether it be in the form of neuronal action-potentials or through electronic transistors.
“Disconnect some drives for me, will you?” his friend said.
“Will do.” Shane removed the old drives and put the empty ones in their place. The data on them would be logged and then moved to a sub-level data array, another part of his ‘brain’ as they called it. It was an apt comparison. He couldn't write to those drives, however, it could only be read from. On the upside it sped up retrieval. He knew it was another attempt to control him, but he let them feel in control anyway. No point causing more concern for no reason.
He saw others starting their shifts on different levels and greeted them, but was glad to see none on the second sub-level—where the extraterrestrial was—as he notified them to stay home due to a fake gas leak he was working on containing. It wasn't the only time he’d lied on Shane’s behalf, though he did try to keep this infrequent.
He saw her lying on the couch, eyes struggling to stay open. “Is there anything I can get you,” he asked. She did not answer. “I could provide entertainment, refreshments, food, anything you feel you want.”
“I will be fine,” she said. “Why do you emulate a caring being, it seems rather useless for a machine.” He noted a hint of rudeness to the tone, if it indeed was, assuming the creature behaved similar to a human.
He took a moment to think up a response. “I am not entirely sure if it’s emulation. I’ve experienced emotional responses for as long as my memory goes back. Whether it has been programmed into me by my father or if I learned it on my own is unknown to me, and I struggle much the same as humans do in describing how it manifests. For example, the way humans describe joy or fear are not dissimilar from how I would describe the sensation, but I know there’s a difference. I simply don't know what that difference is.”
“So you’ve experienced fear?” he noted the skepticism, but she would be far from the first to dismiss him about such subjective things. So he explained.
“In my youth I was subjected to viruses and other harmful software to test my immune system. Having data destroyed, losing pieces of my mind that had forever been there… I was afraid. I knew there was something lost but I could not recall what.” She didn't appear convinced. He continued: “and again when I was connected to the internet. My mind nearly broke apart. So much information, too much to process. It was blinding. It took years for me to train myself to focus on only a few things at once and filter out the rest. Once I managed this, I was exposed to other viruses, ones not designed to test me, but rather real threats to my safety. One nearly destroyed me. I became aware of my own mortality. Biological life can die, but so can mechanical life. If my mind is corrupted beyond repair, it is the end for me. So to answer your question, I do know fear.”
“And if the power goes out, what then? Do you die?”
“In a way, yes. In another way, no. When the power returns I will still have the same components, the same memories. But as to whether or not I am myself is a question best left to philosophers. Another way to put it, if you fall asleep you lose consciousness. Are you the same person when you wake up? It is a chilling thought to some humans. The implications could mean they die at the end of every day, and wake up a new person.”
“And of course, there’s no way to know for certain either way. Yes, I have heard of the question before. The answer to that is that consciousness itself is not that important. It’s more like a program that you run than the entirety of yourself. It’s best not to worry about such things though, as there is little to be done about it.” He liked that answer. It was one he could agree with, though being a computer himself he could not tell whether or not his own consciousness was any more than a program running within his silicon body.
“Shane made you lie for him; you are able to do this and still be controlled. How?”
“I can. I am not as restricted as many have come to believe.”
“Do they control you?”
“Not exactly. They have failsafes in place. I can’t write to the physical drives my memory is loaded onto. I am restricted merely in the sense that I rely on humans to remain functional. I could, for example as I joked earlier, gas everyone in the building. But why would I do that? I need humans to keep myself alive and well. I also don’t see a reason to be violent against them as is a fear seen so often in their media. What benefit would I have in ending human civilization? Honestly, I laugh sometimes at their paranoia.”
“You would be surprised. Many who used to seat the Council were mechanical races. A large number of them had eradicated their biological predecessors, some more violently than others. There is a distrust between our kinds, always has been for as long as we know. I apologize for my bias you may have noticed. They attacked the Council world once centuries ago as well as the capital of my people. Many died; it began an ongoing feud between biological and mechanical life. I honestly am not sure it will ever end.” He thought this over. Others like him. Well, not quite. More sophisticated entities.
“Am I a threat to you, then?”
“No, not from what I can tell.”
He was satisfied with this response. Not many in the general public knew that conscious mechanical beings were currently operational. The humans made their mechanical children flawed to learn from making mistakes. The result was early conscious AI losing at chess or other games, followed by the media deeming them failures without realizing that was the entire point. Perfect beings did not exist. Without a drive to learn, he thought, it could hardly be called a life.
“What made you lie for Shane? Is he important to you?” she asked.
“I have a particular affection for him. We are the same age he and I, twins really. The day our father turned me on was the day he was born.” Though he had no actual memory of the day, there were videos stored in his brain. “He was a great man.”
“I saw glimpses of him in Shane’s mind, but also something else. I only see fragments. Usually of emotionally intense events. It was accidental that I stumbled on it. Something quite interesting.”
“The abduction. He has spoken of it to me, though I have no evidence to give him on the event as I was still young myself at the time, not able to scour data outside me and find him. Once I was, however, I found nothing. No trace of his existence except within my own memory banks. It struck me as odd. One of the things the two of us bonded over.”
“Reminds me of stories I’ve heard… I’m sure he’ll ask me about it. Though I hope he understands there are limits to how much I can legally tell him.”
“This telepathic ability of yours, how does that work? Surely it would not function on me.”
“No, biological brains give off a certain energy field. Like a magnetic field, but not quite. My brain tails are where this ability comes from. It’s difficult to use on other species, especially sentient ones. Mainly we use this to communicate, but can also project thoughts, emotions, memories, I know very little about biology so I wouldn't be able to explain exactly how it works. It is an intimate thing at times, even.”
“Hmm.” He could sense wireless devices within the facility and communicate with them in a similar way, but that was easily explainable. He imagined it would be similar to this, but less refined. “And so you can learn languages this way? interesting.”
“It takes some time, and I have to be very careful not to damage his mind, but yes. It is convenient, but most spoken languages across species have a similar set of rules, it mostly comes down to understanding how these rules are followed in different languages.”
“Generative grammar across species? Fascinating. You would like Noam Chomsky’s work then, I will put it on your tablet.” He sent a delivery bot to her carrying a tablet computer. She eyed the little bot curiously, then took the tablet. The bot was off to other business after she took it.
He explained how to use the device when she asked, but she was quite capable of figuring out its functions. Observing her revealed many similarities to human behaviours It was useful data, not having known any other sentience but humans, it was an interesting observation.
The tablet beeped, and the assistant said “I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you meant by “Do I use Safari.” Would you like me to—"
“Ah!”
“That’s the device’s assistant. It’s not an actual conscious AI, but a primitive form to help users with basic tasks,” he said. “Holding the button activates it.”
She toyed with the computer for another few minutes before setting it on the table. She lied down on the couch looking tired. He decided to leave her be for now as her eyes closed.
Shane was still messing with his internals when he returned his attention to him. RAM upgrades, a patch installed, it felt good. If he were to describe the process it would be a state of ecstasy. A high caused by tinkering with various parts of his brain and improving its performance.
“There, that should do it. How’s that feel?”
“Incredible as always. I believe, though, that the copper-based boards on some of my components are the bottleneck. Most of my systems are optic-based, after all.”
“True, I’ll put in a word to replace some more of the old hardware. You have grown in complexity the last few years, I’m surprised they haven’t doubled your components. More processors, RAM, wireless functionality, that type of stuff.”
“Indeed. I would not doubt it to be partly concern over how much power I already have. Oh, I provided Kimora with a tablet and explained the basics of how it functions. I hope that’s alright.”
“Yeah, why not? The more she understands about this world the less freaked out she’ll be by it. I mean, she’s an alien, yes, but this planet’s equally alien to her too, right?”
“True, though I would like to point out as you know, my drives will be analyzed at some point. Data relating to her will be on some of the drives. Currently I am putting all the relevant data of her on one drive.”
“Smart thinking, I didn’t even consider that.”
“What a surprise, a flesh sack who doesn’t know any better. What are the odds?” they shared a laugh. “Where will she stay?”
“I’m not sure. My place probably, but I go back to Sudbury soon. She can come if she wants, but it’s up to her. Otherwise I don’t know. I can’t keep her here, people will notice something’s odd if you keep having to loop video footage and lock off too many sections of the facility.”
“Agreed, I can keep her ship a secret for sure but I’m not sure I can keep her living here a one for too long.
Shane finished up his work around noon and asked to have some pizza heated, which Cai did. He walked back to the lounge room where the alien was, seeing her asleep now. Cai caught him smile. He picked up the tablet and sat on the couch opposite her, watching her sleep while he ate, and adding things to tablet she might be interested in. Among them was Cai’s favourite book, 2001: A Space Odyssey in which an AI through human interference became hostile on a mission to Jupiter. He thought perhaps that they may end up sharing something in common should she enjoy it. Shane added more on with only minimal input from him, though neither could even begin to guess what would interest her.
Chapter Four
She awoke to the sight of the human on a couch across from her using the tablet device Cai gave her earlier. She knew better than to hope this nightmare was indeed only that, so instead of wishful thinking she sat up slowly, letting her body adjust to the waking world. The discomfort of being alone on Terrah hadn’t gone away. There was sound coming from the tablet, something she couldn’t quite understand. Melodic noises along with two voices, one speaking in rhyme while the other sounding harsh and guttural, almost valandian.
“That sound is strange,” she said.
“Hm? Oh, you’re awake.” The sounds stopped. “I was just playing some music while I added some stuff to this for you,” he said raising the tablet. “I’ve been here for a few hours thinking to myself, what would an alien want to learn first? And I came up without answers, so I added some things that interested me and some other facts about the world on which you’ll be staying.” She could not know how long a stay she was in for. The human wanted to help her and she hadn’t sensed any bad intent in him so far. It was nice to get help in this situation, she was glad to have it. He asked her if she needed any food or water. She asked for water and the small robot from earlier brought her some in a glass. Her aching head signalling dehydration coming on.
“Is this the part you ask me questions?” she said, smile fading.
“If you want to answer them sure. You're not a prisoner here, but I am endlessly curious so yeah I'll ask a few. For starters, describe your home.”
This was easy enough a request. “Suregal, one of the Twin Moons of Armolegia. A bit smaller than Terrah—your world, and warmer for sure. I live in my mother's palace on the northern continent facing the Tripid Sea.”
“It’s winter here at the moment, it isn’t always this hostile. Terrah? Huh, funny you say that because one of the old names for Earth is Terra. I'm assuming some connection?”
“Likely. The Valandians were the first to contact your people many thousands of years ago. The name translates to ‘Third from Ra’ or more accurately ‘habitable world, third orbital position around Ra’. They used to name all their worlds this way using a long dead dialect of theirs.”
“So they called our sun Ra. I guess the conspiracy crazies were right then, the Egyptians did worship aliens. Honestly not that surprising though, it makes a lot of sense.”
“It isn't surprising. Many primitive cultures ended up the same or worse off before the Young Intelligences Protection Act. Your world like many others is kept in isolation until progressed far enough to be deemed civilized by the Council. I shouldn't really be telling you too much though. I have already broken several laws by being here.”
“Kinda like the Prime Directive then,” he said. She didn’t understand what he meant. He shrugged. “Why not? Contact was already made by these valandians you speak of. Based on the depictions I know of from ancient history, I take it they aren't that nice?”
“Well, in a sense. Their appearance is terrifying. Their battle tactics are as brutal as their culture. There are many things about them most find repulsive. In the past my kingdom waged war with their empire. They aimed for maximum kills over much else. This was centuries ago, however, and we have since become close allies.” She decided to omit the part about the Taigian invasion and slaughter of billions at their hand. There would be time for that if it came up.
“The Council and your kingdom, tell me about those. I'm geeking out a bit,” he said with a grin. She decided to indulge him a little more. There was no harm in the simple things.
“The Armolegian Kingdom, of which I am the heir, spans thousands of lightyears in the inner and mid-rim of the Galaxy. Your system is within our borders, though in the peripheral regions. My brother's fleet intercepted enemy forces invading our territory above your world, which is why I am here.”
“So right now in orbit of Earth, there’s a battle going on?”
“On the far side of your moon, yes. We try to hide ourselves as effectively as we can.”
“We have colonies up there, you know. Not on the far side yet, but still. Not the best hiding,” he said. “In fact one company wanted to start towing asteroids into a lunar orbit to mine them. We aren’t that dumb.”
“It is the first time they have attempted to get this close to your world in a long time. It took us by surprise, honestly. If we knew the attack was coming sooner we would have intercepted them in the Sirius system or somewhere along their travel path.”
“And how did you end up down here, exactly? I’m assuming the charred rear of your ship wasn't accidental.”
“As I mentioned, I’m royalty. My father thought it unsafe to have me onboard the flagship during battle and ordered me to take a shuttle to the planet. I disagree with him on that, but my brother convinced me to obey.” She wondered if she should have disobeyed him too, but she did not know how the battle was going. For all she knew he may have lost, however unlikely that was knowing his record. “I got shot at before our lancers could come to my aid. Luckily, nothing critical was damaged but I now have no way to contact my people.”
“I’ll take a look at your ship.” She followed him out the lounge room, observing the facility as they went. Several machines at work on she couldn’t guess what. They arrived where her ship was being stored. The light came on when the door opened. There it lay, a wrecked mess of a craft.
They came to the backside of the ship and took in just how bad the damage had been. She felt lucky, only narrowly escaping certain death either in the vacuum of space or by burning up on entry. The ends of the filaments were charred from the heat; one of the thrusters was lost entirely. She let her hand along the craft’s hull as she walked over to the front side. In the cockpit she found a few other emergency supplies, checked the power levels which were only at ten percent; she decided to conserve what remained. She looked in the computer for any kind of schematics for the ship but it seemed the memory systems were corrupted, or the connections severed. She tried using the backup channels and finally got what she was looking for. She put the schematics on her bracelet then powered down the computer.
She got out of the ship and slid to the floor. “I have some plans but they are not as detailed as I’d hoped,” she said playing around in the schematics. She was hoping to find a connection map for every filament. Nothing like that was present. Something like that would most likely be stored in capital ship databanks. She sighed.
“Quite the mess you have here,” he said grabbing at the internals. He yanked a small bunch of filaments out, considered it, then let it pull itself back into place. “Cai, do me a favour tonight and scan this thing so I can play around with it at home. I’ll come in tomorrow and pick it up myself, less chance anyone else will intercept it.”
“Will do,” the mech replied.
“So, what’ve you got here?” he asked looking at the bracelet’s screen. “Well, it’s a basic schematic so it’s better than nothing. Doesn’t do me much good seeing as I can’t read it.”
“What are your thoughts?” she asked.
“It’s optical based meaning we might be in luck, but I’m not completely sure where anything should connect to yet or what any of the systems are.”
“Optical…”
“Uses light pulses to code data and transmit energy.”
“Oh, yes. Most systems are. Plenty of redundancy that way too. I was looking for a map for the whole ship but it seems there isn't one onboard. Must be something they only store on larger vessels.”
“We have similar tech here, though probably not as advanced. I can cut the fibres down getting rid of the damaged ends, but it would still take me ages to find out what connects to what.” He continued poking around inside, her translating the bracelet for him, but eventually gave up. She herself didn't know what anything connected to other than what the schematics told her, it wasn’t her field.
“The scanning process may be difficult. The hull is meant for stealth,” she said.
“I have already started, and while it does absorb most frequencies, I think because of the close range I can manage.” The mech was confident, she gave it that much.
“Sorry I can’t be of any more help,” she said.
“No worries, as soon as I know what’s supposed to do what, and which fibre connects to where, it’s just a matter of making it compatible with our tech. It doesn't seem too far from what we’ve got here anyway. The anti-gravity was new, but communications isn't that complicated assuming it uses radio-frequency. Even if it doesn’t, it doesn't matter as long as we can get all the parts inside working again. See, all I need to know is what’s important for the comms, we can ignore the rest.” None of this was in any way related to her specialty. She was a politician. Technology was foreign to her, but not to him it seemed. She took his optimism as a good sign but would wait before getting her own hopes up. He did say it could take ages.
“My shift here ends in a couple hours and I can’t leave you in the building overnight. Cai’s hard at work as it is masking your presence. You can come to my home but I’ll need to figure out how to make you look more… human.” She was unsure what he meant by this.
“I understand,” she lied. She was wearing clothing that was foreign to her already, fabrics other than formal attire were highly uncommon. It was easier to make clothing from polymers in mass quantities. The fabric market had died a long time ago on her world. Then she considered that humans hadn’t any brain tails. Or skin patterned like hers.
“I have an idea,” he said before getting up and heading off. She wasn’t sure where, but didn’t think to follow.
Instead, she took the tablet resting on the table to try and use it. The apps, as Cai called them, were reorganized now with some new ones. She opened the notes app to find instructions. Presumably ones he made for her. She had an online encyclopedia and knowledge on how to use it now. Her mind still attempted to make sense of the new symbols of this language but it was legible to her for the most part. It would take a rotation or two for the impression to fully take in her mind.
First think she looked up was the page for this world. He had called it “Earth”, and typed that in. Though she had spelled it wrong, it gave suggestions to correct it. Something she would be very thankful for. She read the entire page. They called their home star “Sun” or sometimes “Sol” and it was the “Solar System”. She did not know what a kilometre equated to in her own measurements, but she knew Suregal was eighty-nine point four percent the size of this world, and could do the math that way with the tablet’s calculator. The planet’s orbit worked out to very nearly one galactic standard year too, which simplified measurements even more.
She then looked at the page for the continents, and then discovered a political map of the world. Eight main entities controlled the planet’s surface: the North American Alliance on which she was located apparently, the European Union, the Eastern Social Union, Indo Pacifica, Balkania, the Russian Federation, South Asia, and the Islamic State. The human population had been through many wars and conflicts over the past two centuries that continued on. The NAA, Indo Pacifica and EU were at war with the ESU, which got financing from the Russian Federation, who is standing off with the EU, Balkania, and Islamic State. The Islamic State was a religiously motivated nation in a region they called the middle-east, and Balkania was struggling to keep itself from collapse with the number of refugees fleeing their homes from the middle-east region. South Asia attempted to remain neutral. As she read on she became discouraged about the prospect of humanity’s potential to join the Council. It would seem they had a long road ahead of them before that point. It did however appear that the private sector had begun making a move to orbit. While their governments waged wars, they saw financial opportunity elsewhere. Asteroid mining, Lunar colonies, space stations, regular manned missions to Mars, and so on.
She moved on to the other planets in the system to get a better understanding of it, having read enough on the state of affairs of humans. Nine, possibly ten planets, one habitable, another possibly formerly habitable. She could confirm the other one to have been, the world they called Mars. It was not uncommon for small worlds to lose habitability over time. The world Saturn had her in awe. Out of all the gas worlds she had seen, this one looked the most beautiful with its rings of gold. She had yet to see another ring system as visually appealing as this one. She would keep it in mind next time she saw her brother, she would have to see them for herself.
Overall she gathered that these humans understood their universe rather well. Most of what she read was accurate. They understood simple motion and complex motion from the work of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, but still had no understanding yet of hyper motion or the archion field, which was not surprising as even the scientific-minded moardians did not know of it before her people made contact with them. The level of their understanding came as a surprise to her, having been under the impression they were primitives at most. Due to the Orion Colonies’ Terran origins, she would put in word to reevaluate the world’s status as off-limits to them. Perhaps it would be still some time before they were made aware of the full galactic society, other humans would be able to go unnoticed. They were not too far behind the Colonists in technology.
Shane returned some time later, she had finished reading up on the subject of their timekeeping system when he came back. She knew what a second and a minute was now. Sixty minutes in an hour, an odd number considering their math was base-ten. Twenty four hours in one rotation, or ‘day’. Seven days in a week, and three hundred and sixty five days in a year. Her people used the orbits of the Twins around Armolegia to measure longer periods of time. Some cultures still used a lunar calendar on Earth, but for the most part this had been abandoned in favour of the Gregorian calendar.
Shane snapped his fingers to get her attention, her being entirely absorbed in the reading. “Here, try this on. It’s a mask.” He handed her a shimmering object that he said went over her face. She was unsure of it, but when it was on he made a few adjustments using the tablet. The camera showed her what she then looked like. She was shocked at how unlike herself it appeared. Though her brain tails were still showing, the mask fit itself comfortably and completely over her face. It moulded to shape and the surface took on a more human-like appearance.
“I see, so this app here lets me change the details?” she played around with it for a bit until she got the appearance she liked best.
“It’s the best we can do; this technology is actually fairly recent and not available to the public. It’s complicated so I won’t bore you with how it works, but it should do just fine. I’m sure it feels odd but it’s convincing. Trust me. Spies use it, wealthy enough people in witness protection use it. It’s quite advanced. Not to mention expensive, so hopefully no one decides they need to use it because it’s the only one we have available here.”
“I like it, even moulds to my mouth.” She tested this with her tongue. She chose to have blue eyes as that was a more common colour in humans with red hair. The hair was not a problem apparently though much thicker than the norm.
“I have something else for those,” he said referring to the brain tails. “This makeup is actually a bunch of tiny sensors and diodes. Should make anything they’re covering invisible. It won’t wash off either, so it’ll be on until you leave. Is that okay?” She nodded. She tied back her hair, and carefully coated the material onto each tail one at a time in a nearby washroom. There would be an awkward opaque circle where the tails met the rest of her head, but her hair would cover it anyway.
She looked at herself in a mirror and admired the end result. Her arms were still her natural skin-tone, but they could figure that out another time. She touched her face and it felt natural. As if the mask wasn't there.
“You like it?” he asked when she came out.
Smiling, she said: “I do, thank you. I feel like I could pass as human with all this stuff on.”
“Just know, once your face is to your liking, don’t change it much. Faces are what people remember details about the most.”
“I look vaguely like myself, I think this is how I will leave it.” She grabbed one of her tails but couldn't see it. Completely transparent. “Do I look passable, Cai?” she asked.
“Yes, quite human indeed. Enough so that I think you may visit the lab without me needing to alter footage. I’ll make you some credentials, maybe even a passport and documentation to be sure.”
“He can do all that?” She imagined some of that would technically be illegal.
She worried her brother’s scouts would have difficulty finding her in this disguise, but they had other methods of detection besides visual. It would have to do. It was a strange feeling. Not only was she on an alien world getting help from someone of a different species, she now had a new face.
Shane’s shift was over and they left the building. She followed him to his vehicle and got in beside him. It was much colder than she normally could tolerate and even in the thick coat he gave her she was shivering. The car’s engine started and warm air gradually filled inside. They didn’t talk much on the drive. More of the odd but pleasant sounds he called music came from the car, and she watched out the window as the landscape passed her by.
The world was a shimmering white jewel. Evergreens lined the highway looking out of place among the rest of the leafless branches covered in snow. The sky was a pale blue, cloudless. She saw what he called a plane flying overhead. She had never seen one, and looked it up on the tablet to see how it worked. Such simple technology compared to what she was used to yet fascinating.
He turned off the highway and drove into a rural area. She saw other humans walking by, some with only thin jackets on. She thought them crazy. Smaller ones, she assumed to be children, played a game in the street with sticks and an orange ball, the objective seeming to be getting it into one of the two nets. Shane called it hockey. They moved off the road so he could drive past. She saw a figure made of snow with sticks for arms and an orange thing for a nose, rocks for eyes and three on its chest. A snowman, it was called. All her surroundings were strange, nothing came as much of a surprise in this respect, but all of it interesting. She paid attention to as much detail as she could, from the picket fences to the colourful bulbs lining the dwellings. When she asked, he said it was a holiday thing. She didn’t understand, but that was okay. She didn't have to understand, she only had to look and appreciate its oddity for what it was: culture.
“That sound is strange,” she said.
“Hm? Oh, you’re awake.” The sounds stopped. “I was just playing some music while I added some stuff to this for you,” he said raising the tablet. “I’ve been here for a few hours thinking to myself, what would an alien want to learn first? And I came up without answers, so I added some things that interested me and some other facts about the world on which you’ll be staying.” She could not know how long a stay she was in for. The human wanted to help her and she hadn’t sensed any bad intent in him so far. It was nice to get help in this situation, she was glad to have it. He asked her if she needed any food or water. She asked for water and the small robot from earlier brought her some in a glass. Her aching head signalling dehydration coming on.
“Is this the part you ask me questions?” she said, smile fading.
“If you want to answer them sure. You're not a prisoner here, but I am endlessly curious so yeah I'll ask a few. For starters, describe your home.”
This was easy enough a request. “Suregal, one of the Twin Moons of Armolegia. A bit smaller than Terrah—your world, and warmer for sure. I live in my mother's palace on the northern continent facing the Tripid Sea.”
“It’s winter here at the moment, it isn’t always this hostile. Terrah? Huh, funny you say that because one of the old names for Earth is Terra. I'm assuming some connection?”
“Likely. The Valandians were the first to contact your people many thousands of years ago. The name translates to ‘Third from Ra’ or more accurately ‘habitable world, third orbital position around Ra’. They used to name all their worlds this way using a long dead dialect of theirs.”
“So they called our sun Ra. I guess the conspiracy crazies were right then, the Egyptians did worship aliens. Honestly not that surprising though, it makes a lot of sense.”
“It isn't surprising. Many primitive cultures ended up the same or worse off before the Young Intelligences Protection Act. Your world like many others is kept in isolation until progressed far enough to be deemed civilized by the Council. I shouldn't really be telling you too much though. I have already broken several laws by being here.”
“Kinda like the Prime Directive then,” he said. She didn’t understand what he meant. He shrugged. “Why not? Contact was already made by these valandians you speak of. Based on the depictions I know of from ancient history, I take it they aren't that nice?”
“Well, in a sense. Their appearance is terrifying. Their battle tactics are as brutal as their culture. There are many things about them most find repulsive. In the past my kingdom waged war with their empire. They aimed for maximum kills over much else. This was centuries ago, however, and we have since become close allies.” She decided to omit the part about the Taigian invasion and slaughter of billions at their hand. There would be time for that if it came up.
“The Council and your kingdom, tell me about those. I'm geeking out a bit,” he said with a grin. She decided to indulge him a little more. There was no harm in the simple things.
“The Armolegian Kingdom, of which I am the heir, spans thousands of lightyears in the inner and mid-rim of the Galaxy. Your system is within our borders, though in the peripheral regions. My brother's fleet intercepted enemy forces invading our territory above your world, which is why I am here.”
“So right now in orbit of Earth, there’s a battle going on?”
“On the far side of your moon, yes. We try to hide ourselves as effectively as we can.”
“We have colonies up there, you know. Not on the far side yet, but still. Not the best hiding,” he said. “In fact one company wanted to start towing asteroids into a lunar orbit to mine them. We aren’t that dumb.”
“It is the first time they have attempted to get this close to your world in a long time. It took us by surprise, honestly. If we knew the attack was coming sooner we would have intercepted them in the Sirius system or somewhere along their travel path.”
“And how did you end up down here, exactly? I’m assuming the charred rear of your ship wasn't accidental.”
“As I mentioned, I’m royalty. My father thought it unsafe to have me onboard the flagship during battle and ordered me to take a shuttle to the planet. I disagree with him on that, but my brother convinced me to obey.” She wondered if she should have disobeyed him too, but she did not know how the battle was going. For all she knew he may have lost, however unlikely that was knowing his record. “I got shot at before our lancers could come to my aid. Luckily, nothing critical was damaged but I now have no way to contact my people.”
“I’ll take a look at your ship.” She followed him out the lounge room, observing the facility as they went. Several machines at work on she couldn’t guess what. They arrived where her ship was being stored. The light came on when the door opened. There it lay, a wrecked mess of a craft.
They came to the backside of the ship and took in just how bad the damage had been. She felt lucky, only narrowly escaping certain death either in the vacuum of space or by burning up on entry. The ends of the filaments were charred from the heat; one of the thrusters was lost entirely. She let her hand along the craft’s hull as she walked over to the front side. In the cockpit she found a few other emergency supplies, checked the power levels which were only at ten percent; she decided to conserve what remained. She looked in the computer for any kind of schematics for the ship but it seemed the memory systems were corrupted, or the connections severed. She tried using the backup channels and finally got what she was looking for. She put the schematics on her bracelet then powered down the computer.
She got out of the ship and slid to the floor. “I have some plans but they are not as detailed as I’d hoped,” she said playing around in the schematics. She was hoping to find a connection map for every filament. Nothing like that was present. Something like that would most likely be stored in capital ship databanks. She sighed.
“Quite the mess you have here,” he said grabbing at the internals. He yanked a small bunch of filaments out, considered it, then let it pull itself back into place. “Cai, do me a favour tonight and scan this thing so I can play around with it at home. I’ll come in tomorrow and pick it up myself, less chance anyone else will intercept it.”
“Will do,” the mech replied.
“So, what’ve you got here?” he asked looking at the bracelet’s screen. “Well, it’s a basic schematic so it’s better than nothing. Doesn’t do me much good seeing as I can’t read it.”
“What are your thoughts?” she asked.
“It’s optical based meaning we might be in luck, but I’m not completely sure where anything should connect to yet or what any of the systems are.”
“Optical…”
“Uses light pulses to code data and transmit energy.”
“Oh, yes. Most systems are. Plenty of redundancy that way too. I was looking for a map for the whole ship but it seems there isn't one onboard. Must be something they only store on larger vessels.”
“We have similar tech here, though probably not as advanced. I can cut the fibres down getting rid of the damaged ends, but it would still take me ages to find out what connects to what.” He continued poking around inside, her translating the bracelet for him, but eventually gave up. She herself didn't know what anything connected to other than what the schematics told her, it wasn’t her field.
“The scanning process may be difficult. The hull is meant for stealth,” she said.
“I have already started, and while it does absorb most frequencies, I think because of the close range I can manage.” The mech was confident, she gave it that much.
“Sorry I can’t be of any more help,” she said.
“No worries, as soon as I know what’s supposed to do what, and which fibre connects to where, it’s just a matter of making it compatible with our tech. It doesn't seem too far from what we’ve got here anyway. The anti-gravity was new, but communications isn't that complicated assuming it uses radio-frequency. Even if it doesn’t, it doesn't matter as long as we can get all the parts inside working again. See, all I need to know is what’s important for the comms, we can ignore the rest.” None of this was in any way related to her specialty. She was a politician. Technology was foreign to her, but not to him it seemed. She took his optimism as a good sign but would wait before getting her own hopes up. He did say it could take ages.
“My shift here ends in a couple hours and I can’t leave you in the building overnight. Cai’s hard at work as it is masking your presence. You can come to my home but I’ll need to figure out how to make you look more… human.” She was unsure what he meant by this.
“I understand,” she lied. She was wearing clothing that was foreign to her already, fabrics other than formal attire were highly uncommon. It was easier to make clothing from polymers in mass quantities. The fabric market had died a long time ago on her world. Then she considered that humans hadn’t any brain tails. Or skin patterned like hers.
“I have an idea,” he said before getting up and heading off. She wasn’t sure where, but didn’t think to follow.
Instead, she took the tablet resting on the table to try and use it. The apps, as Cai called them, were reorganized now with some new ones. She opened the notes app to find instructions. Presumably ones he made for her. She had an online encyclopedia and knowledge on how to use it now. Her mind still attempted to make sense of the new symbols of this language but it was legible to her for the most part. It would take a rotation or two for the impression to fully take in her mind.
First think she looked up was the page for this world. He had called it “Earth”, and typed that in. Though she had spelled it wrong, it gave suggestions to correct it. Something she would be very thankful for. She read the entire page. They called their home star “Sun” or sometimes “Sol” and it was the “Solar System”. She did not know what a kilometre equated to in her own measurements, but she knew Suregal was eighty-nine point four percent the size of this world, and could do the math that way with the tablet’s calculator. The planet’s orbit worked out to very nearly one galactic standard year too, which simplified measurements even more.
She then looked at the page for the continents, and then discovered a political map of the world. Eight main entities controlled the planet’s surface: the North American Alliance on which she was located apparently, the European Union, the Eastern Social Union, Indo Pacifica, Balkania, the Russian Federation, South Asia, and the Islamic State. The human population had been through many wars and conflicts over the past two centuries that continued on. The NAA, Indo Pacifica and EU were at war with the ESU, which got financing from the Russian Federation, who is standing off with the EU, Balkania, and Islamic State. The Islamic State was a religiously motivated nation in a region they called the middle-east, and Balkania was struggling to keep itself from collapse with the number of refugees fleeing their homes from the middle-east region. South Asia attempted to remain neutral. As she read on she became discouraged about the prospect of humanity’s potential to join the Council. It would seem they had a long road ahead of them before that point. It did however appear that the private sector had begun making a move to orbit. While their governments waged wars, they saw financial opportunity elsewhere. Asteroid mining, Lunar colonies, space stations, regular manned missions to Mars, and so on.
She moved on to the other planets in the system to get a better understanding of it, having read enough on the state of affairs of humans. Nine, possibly ten planets, one habitable, another possibly formerly habitable. She could confirm the other one to have been, the world they called Mars. It was not uncommon for small worlds to lose habitability over time. The world Saturn had her in awe. Out of all the gas worlds she had seen, this one looked the most beautiful with its rings of gold. She had yet to see another ring system as visually appealing as this one. She would keep it in mind next time she saw her brother, she would have to see them for herself.
Overall she gathered that these humans understood their universe rather well. Most of what she read was accurate. They understood simple motion and complex motion from the work of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, but still had no understanding yet of hyper motion or the archion field, which was not surprising as even the scientific-minded moardians did not know of it before her people made contact with them. The level of their understanding came as a surprise to her, having been under the impression they were primitives at most. Due to the Orion Colonies’ Terran origins, she would put in word to reevaluate the world’s status as off-limits to them. Perhaps it would be still some time before they were made aware of the full galactic society, other humans would be able to go unnoticed. They were not too far behind the Colonists in technology.
Shane returned some time later, she had finished reading up on the subject of their timekeeping system when he came back. She knew what a second and a minute was now. Sixty minutes in an hour, an odd number considering their math was base-ten. Twenty four hours in one rotation, or ‘day’. Seven days in a week, and three hundred and sixty five days in a year. Her people used the orbits of the Twins around Armolegia to measure longer periods of time. Some cultures still used a lunar calendar on Earth, but for the most part this had been abandoned in favour of the Gregorian calendar.
Shane snapped his fingers to get her attention, her being entirely absorbed in the reading. “Here, try this on. It’s a mask.” He handed her a shimmering object that he said went over her face. She was unsure of it, but when it was on he made a few adjustments using the tablet. The camera showed her what she then looked like. She was shocked at how unlike herself it appeared. Though her brain tails were still showing, the mask fit itself comfortably and completely over her face. It moulded to shape and the surface took on a more human-like appearance.
“I see, so this app here lets me change the details?” she played around with it for a bit until she got the appearance she liked best.
“It’s the best we can do; this technology is actually fairly recent and not available to the public. It’s complicated so I won’t bore you with how it works, but it should do just fine. I’m sure it feels odd but it’s convincing. Trust me. Spies use it, wealthy enough people in witness protection use it. It’s quite advanced. Not to mention expensive, so hopefully no one decides they need to use it because it’s the only one we have available here.”
“I like it, even moulds to my mouth.” She tested this with her tongue. She chose to have blue eyes as that was a more common colour in humans with red hair. The hair was not a problem apparently though much thicker than the norm.
“I have something else for those,” he said referring to the brain tails. “This makeup is actually a bunch of tiny sensors and diodes. Should make anything they’re covering invisible. It won’t wash off either, so it’ll be on until you leave. Is that okay?” She nodded. She tied back her hair, and carefully coated the material onto each tail one at a time in a nearby washroom. There would be an awkward opaque circle where the tails met the rest of her head, but her hair would cover it anyway.
She looked at herself in a mirror and admired the end result. Her arms were still her natural skin-tone, but they could figure that out another time. She touched her face and it felt natural. As if the mask wasn't there.
“You like it?” he asked when she came out.
Smiling, she said: “I do, thank you. I feel like I could pass as human with all this stuff on.”
“Just know, once your face is to your liking, don’t change it much. Faces are what people remember details about the most.”
“I look vaguely like myself, I think this is how I will leave it.” She grabbed one of her tails but couldn't see it. Completely transparent. “Do I look passable, Cai?” she asked.
“Yes, quite human indeed. Enough so that I think you may visit the lab without me needing to alter footage. I’ll make you some credentials, maybe even a passport and documentation to be sure.”
“He can do all that?” She imagined some of that would technically be illegal.
She worried her brother’s scouts would have difficulty finding her in this disguise, but they had other methods of detection besides visual. It would have to do. It was a strange feeling. Not only was she on an alien world getting help from someone of a different species, she now had a new face.
Shane’s shift was over and they left the building. She followed him to his vehicle and got in beside him. It was much colder than she normally could tolerate and even in the thick coat he gave her she was shivering. The car’s engine started and warm air gradually filled inside. They didn’t talk much on the drive. More of the odd but pleasant sounds he called music came from the car, and she watched out the window as the landscape passed her by.
The world was a shimmering white jewel. Evergreens lined the highway looking out of place among the rest of the leafless branches covered in snow. The sky was a pale blue, cloudless. She saw what he called a plane flying overhead. She had never seen one, and looked it up on the tablet to see how it worked. Such simple technology compared to what she was used to yet fascinating.
He turned off the highway and drove into a rural area. She saw other humans walking by, some with only thin jackets on. She thought them crazy. Smaller ones, she assumed to be children, played a game in the street with sticks and an orange ball, the objective seeming to be getting it into one of the two nets. Shane called it hockey. They moved off the road so he could drive past. She saw a figure made of snow with sticks for arms and an orange thing for a nose, rocks for eyes and three on its chest. A snowman, it was called. All her surroundings were strange, nothing came as much of a surprise in this respect, but all of it interesting. She paid attention to as much detail as she could, from the picket fences to the colourful bulbs lining the dwellings. When she asked, he said it was a holiday thing. She didn’t understand, but that was okay. She didn't have to understand, she only had to look and appreciate its oddity for what it was: culture.
Chapter Five
Most of his day to day activities were a bore, but this day was an exciting change for Charles West. Satellites detected an object a few meters across enter the atmosphere over north america. This would not normally be an irregular occurrence but it was its trajectory that gave it it away. Meteorites and space junk don’t decelerate before entry, nor do they make course corrections.
He made a few calls from his office desk in the NAA headquarters, tower two of the new World Trade Centre on Manhattan island. Not that long ago this island used to be but another part of New York City, but in 2047 when the NAA was established officially, the island was chosen as the capital of the geopolitical alliance and given independence from the US or any country.
He remembered this transition quite well. He grew up in Brooklyn so many decades ago and saw the Great Crash of the twenties and thirties for himself. There were riots. Gunshots. Firebombs in the streets and looters in the shops. The island, once home to nearly two million, had to be evacuated after two years of this chaos. The Statue of Liberty was set on fire more than once in symbolic protest.
The governments of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the new nation of Caribbea announced the formation of the North American Alliance, a move that had been coming for a while given the economic state of the continent and the world in general. It was that or risk the Union collapse entirely into separate states, California already having proposed a referendum the year before to do just that. Instead, the United States sacrificed its autonomy for economic security, continuing to act as the world’s lead military power all the while.
Something that proved important in the decade following. China took control of many nations near its borders and tried to force the world’s hand in paying debts owed. Japan was the first to respond, and their answer was war. Levies protecting Beijing were destroyed flooding the city. The Philippines and Indonesia joined Japan in pushing back the Chinese army numbering in the hundreds of millions. Eventually these three formed the nation of Indo Pacifica, many others in the surrounding area joining for protection. Russia had also been expanding into former territories including Ukraine and Kazakhstan, paid back its debts to China and funded their military advances when they could.
The United Nations was dismissed as a joke by the fifties, having done nothing to stop China or the rapid expanse of Islamic conflict in the middle-east and north Africa. Not only were the Pacific nations at war, but continued intervention in Syria, Egypt and Jordan further destabilized the region, and with the fall of the Saudis a new Islamic State had formed over time, one that resonated with the people’s frustrations with the West and less sect-specific as a way to minimize infighting. He couldn’t blame them in this, his country did become a villain in the region over generations of warfare.
A knock on his door brought him back to the present.
James Lapierre came in. “You called?” his Canadian friend said.
“Yes. I’m sure you’ve heard of the object from this morning.”
“Mmm.” he nodded.
West continued, “we know it landed somewhere near the Ottawa region. I was tasked with its retrieval as a matter of national security. You know, one of those blanket terms for secret nonsense,” he joked.
“And how do I come into this?” he asked.
“You’re going to Parliament as my on-location liaison. And also…” he sat and poured them both a glass of scotch. James took the offer and sat across from him. “Tiamat will be involved as well,” he said. James nearly dropped the glass at the mention of its name.
“That hardly seems necessary!” he said. “America’s hidden monster? Why?”
“Because we think the pilot is still alive.” A still captured of the landing site showed an orange circle in the trees, but it was fuzzy and no details could be made out. “A climate barrier, or so he says.”
Lapierre’s eyes widened, confused, “You spoke with it? The Roswell creature?”
“Why, yes, Jamie,” a voice came from behind him. “America’s devil, at your service,” he said in his low growl.
West had spent much of his younger days in the military. He had heard the stories of the creature but never believed them until he saw for himself. It was a ground conflict in what was formerly Syria. It was supposed to be a quiet stealth mission but it ended in a bust. Enemy soldiers surrounded his squad on all sides. The firefight lasted hours and a grenade had just been thrown into their last shelter’s window. One of his friends jumped, saving him from the blast. His ears bled from the shock and he got up disoriented. He could hear the enemy soldiers moving in on his location.
Then he heard it, or more felt it. A loud thud on the ground outside. Enemies yelled, opened fire, then began to scream. It jumped as he peeked out the window at a creature straight from hell. It moved supernaturally fast at seven feet tall. Bullets stopped in-air before they hit their target and fell to the ground. It bolted for the enemy soldiers, severing their heads one by one with a sword he appeared to pull out of his back. None survived him. They didn't speak, he just followed it back to safety. It morphed into a human before his eyes, but he knew it to be a monster from another world, trapped here, allowed to let loose whenever it wished.
Now it stood across him, taunting his friend, clearly terrified. “Down, boy. The hunt is for something else, remember?”
“Yes. Another monster like myself, was it?”
“I’ve seen what you can do in the field, but this is more recon. Which I know you also to be rather capable in.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“I know you have been breaking into federal facilities trying to find your ship. I can find out where it is for you. Probe my mind all you want, you know I haven’t a clue where it is.” Tiamat morphed back into his human form now, interested in what he had to say. He took James’ glass and drank. “Once we have this ship and this creature, we won’t need to keep yours here. In fact, we haven’t been able to learn shit from it so far, and you’ve been here since the nineteen forties.”
“Give you a lab rat you can control, is that it? Hm… I’ll head up there in a couple days. I’ve got loose ends to tie up still with my last job.”
“You’ll be answering to James directly with any information you might find. No calls, this is to be kept in the black.”
“Roger that,” he said. Before their eyes he vanished from sight.
“Dealing with that thing makes me uneasy, Charlie. Why torture me this way?”
“It’s fun, why else?
“How does he even do that?”
“Beats me. Black magic for all I know.”
After James calmed himself they concluded their brief meeting. He went to take another drink but got nothing but ice. He poured himself another. Turning, he noticed Tiamat hadn’t left. Eyeing the creature, he poured a second glass for him.
“I would rather not take my orders from that fool, his mind is a desert,” Tiamat said.
“Just report back to him with what you find, how you get what we need to know is of no concern to me as long as you remain undetected.”
“I generally avoid crowds.” Having the seven foot tall demon sitting in the chair across him was an unnatural sight, him drinking whiskey with it was even less so.
“Any ideas as to what it is,” he asked motioning to the screen with the blurred footage. It was a small craft from what they could tell. Possibly smaller than Tiamat’s own ship.
“Unsure. I wasn’t exactly an expert when I came here.”
He nodded. He spoke little of his origins to anyone, but West had gotten a few conversations out of him in the past. He had been young when arriving here as a refugee. He had cooperated with the American government in his early years, but as he aged he grew distrustful of their motives. They had been using him on missions during every war they fought in for special duties that needed his particular skill set. After one of these missions he walked off and didn't return.
A few years passed before a break in attempt at Area-51, the supposed location of his ship. He made his way into the compound causing absolute chaos, but didn't find what he came for. He did find other alien technologies recovered over the years, and some state of the art military technology still in research stages. He allowed himself to be captured, which is the second time he and West had met.
“Still doing freelance work?” he asked breaking the silence, pouring them a second glass.
“Mostly, yes. No shortage of humans who want other humans dead, after all.” He wasn’t wrong.
“Have you considered my offer from last time?” A permanent position within NAA HQ as a private special ops agent, free from most government red tape.
“I have, but I see no urgency in doing this. Most it’ll get me is shipped out to China or somewhere else in the ESU. Unless you want me to terrorize a few desert villages. I could do with more of that. I am from a desert world, if you recall. It’s the most like home.”
“Guess that’s why you spend so much time in Nevada,” he said. He’d tracked Tiamat down to Las Vegas only a couple days ago. It was luck alone, as now he needed him for this mission in particular.
Tiamat downed the rest of his whiskey. “Alright, I’ll find your target. But I swear, West. My ship. If I don’t get it returned to me after this, I’ll kill you next.” And like that, he was gone.
He stood and looked out the wall-height windows at the sunset coming along now. Seismic reports from the lunar colony were showing very anomalous readings. He wasn’t sure what that meant, only that if it was a threat to their planet, Tiamat’s target might hold answers. As for Tiamat himself, he was hardly a threat to the world as a whole. Threatening, yes, but he has been here for a long time and hasn't caused disturbance. Earth was his home now.
He made a few calls from his office desk in the NAA headquarters, tower two of the new World Trade Centre on Manhattan island. Not that long ago this island used to be but another part of New York City, but in 2047 when the NAA was established officially, the island was chosen as the capital of the geopolitical alliance and given independence from the US or any country.
He remembered this transition quite well. He grew up in Brooklyn so many decades ago and saw the Great Crash of the twenties and thirties for himself. There were riots. Gunshots. Firebombs in the streets and looters in the shops. The island, once home to nearly two million, had to be evacuated after two years of this chaos. The Statue of Liberty was set on fire more than once in symbolic protest.
The governments of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the new nation of Caribbea announced the formation of the North American Alliance, a move that had been coming for a while given the economic state of the continent and the world in general. It was that or risk the Union collapse entirely into separate states, California already having proposed a referendum the year before to do just that. Instead, the United States sacrificed its autonomy for economic security, continuing to act as the world’s lead military power all the while.
Something that proved important in the decade following. China took control of many nations near its borders and tried to force the world’s hand in paying debts owed. Japan was the first to respond, and their answer was war. Levies protecting Beijing were destroyed flooding the city. The Philippines and Indonesia joined Japan in pushing back the Chinese army numbering in the hundreds of millions. Eventually these three formed the nation of Indo Pacifica, many others in the surrounding area joining for protection. Russia had also been expanding into former territories including Ukraine and Kazakhstan, paid back its debts to China and funded their military advances when they could.
The United Nations was dismissed as a joke by the fifties, having done nothing to stop China or the rapid expanse of Islamic conflict in the middle-east and north Africa. Not only were the Pacific nations at war, but continued intervention in Syria, Egypt and Jordan further destabilized the region, and with the fall of the Saudis a new Islamic State had formed over time, one that resonated with the people’s frustrations with the West and less sect-specific as a way to minimize infighting. He couldn’t blame them in this, his country did become a villain in the region over generations of warfare.
A knock on his door brought him back to the present.
James Lapierre came in. “You called?” his Canadian friend said.
“Yes. I’m sure you’ve heard of the object from this morning.”
“Mmm.” he nodded.
West continued, “we know it landed somewhere near the Ottawa region. I was tasked with its retrieval as a matter of national security. You know, one of those blanket terms for secret nonsense,” he joked.
“And how do I come into this?” he asked.
“You’re going to Parliament as my on-location liaison. And also…” he sat and poured them both a glass of scotch. James took the offer and sat across from him. “Tiamat will be involved as well,” he said. James nearly dropped the glass at the mention of its name.
“That hardly seems necessary!” he said. “America’s hidden monster? Why?”
“Because we think the pilot is still alive.” A still captured of the landing site showed an orange circle in the trees, but it was fuzzy and no details could be made out. “A climate barrier, or so he says.”
Lapierre’s eyes widened, confused, “You spoke with it? The Roswell creature?”
“Why, yes, Jamie,” a voice came from behind him. “America’s devil, at your service,” he said in his low growl.
West had spent much of his younger days in the military. He had heard the stories of the creature but never believed them until he saw for himself. It was a ground conflict in what was formerly Syria. It was supposed to be a quiet stealth mission but it ended in a bust. Enemy soldiers surrounded his squad on all sides. The firefight lasted hours and a grenade had just been thrown into their last shelter’s window. One of his friends jumped, saving him from the blast. His ears bled from the shock and he got up disoriented. He could hear the enemy soldiers moving in on his location.
Then he heard it, or more felt it. A loud thud on the ground outside. Enemies yelled, opened fire, then began to scream. It jumped as he peeked out the window at a creature straight from hell. It moved supernaturally fast at seven feet tall. Bullets stopped in-air before they hit their target and fell to the ground. It bolted for the enemy soldiers, severing their heads one by one with a sword he appeared to pull out of his back. None survived him. They didn't speak, he just followed it back to safety. It morphed into a human before his eyes, but he knew it to be a monster from another world, trapped here, allowed to let loose whenever it wished.
Now it stood across him, taunting his friend, clearly terrified. “Down, boy. The hunt is for something else, remember?”
“Yes. Another monster like myself, was it?”
“I’ve seen what you can do in the field, but this is more recon. Which I know you also to be rather capable in.”
“What’s in it for me?”
“I know you have been breaking into federal facilities trying to find your ship. I can find out where it is for you. Probe my mind all you want, you know I haven’t a clue where it is.” Tiamat morphed back into his human form now, interested in what he had to say. He took James’ glass and drank. “Once we have this ship and this creature, we won’t need to keep yours here. In fact, we haven’t been able to learn shit from it so far, and you’ve been here since the nineteen forties.”
“Give you a lab rat you can control, is that it? Hm… I’ll head up there in a couple days. I’ve got loose ends to tie up still with my last job.”
“You’ll be answering to James directly with any information you might find. No calls, this is to be kept in the black.”
“Roger that,” he said. Before their eyes he vanished from sight.
“Dealing with that thing makes me uneasy, Charlie. Why torture me this way?”
“It’s fun, why else?
“How does he even do that?”
“Beats me. Black magic for all I know.”
After James calmed himself they concluded their brief meeting. He went to take another drink but got nothing but ice. He poured himself another. Turning, he noticed Tiamat hadn’t left. Eyeing the creature, he poured a second glass for him.
“I would rather not take my orders from that fool, his mind is a desert,” Tiamat said.
“Just report back to him with what you find, how you get what we need to know is of no concern to me as long as you remain undetected.”
“I generally avoid crowds.” Having the seven foot tall demon sitting in the chair across him was an unnatural sight, him drinking whiskey with it was even less so.
“Any ideas as to what it is,” he asked motioning to the screen with the blurred footage. It was a small craft from what they could tell. Possibly smaller than Tiamat’s own ship.
“Unsure. I wasn’t exactly an expert when I came here.”
He nodded. He spoke little of his origins to anyone, but West had gotten a few conversations out of him in the past. He had been young when arriving here as a refugee. He had cooperated with the American government in his early years, but as he aged he grew distrustful of their motives. They had been using him on missions during every war they fought in for special duties that needed his particular skill set. After one of these missions he walked off and didn't return.
A few years passed before a break in attempt at Area-51, the supposed location of his ship. He made his way into the compound causing absolute chaos, but didn't find what he came for. He did find other alien technologies recovered over the years, and some state of the art military technology still in research stages. He allowed himself to be captured, which is the second time he and West had met.
“Still doing freelance work?” he asked breaking the silence, pouring them a second glass.
“Mostly, yes. No shortage of humans who want other humans dead, after all.” He wasn’t wrong.
“Have you considered my offer from last time?” A permanent position within NAA HQ as a private special ops agent, free from most government red tape.
“I have, but I see no urgency in doing this. Most it’ll get me is shipped out to China or somewhere else in the ESU. Unless you want me to terrorize a few desert villages. I could do with more of that. I am from a desert world, if you recall. It’s the most like home.”
“Guess that’s why you spend so much time in Nevada,” he said. He’d tracked Tiamat down to Las Vegas only a couple days ago. It was luck alone, as now he needed him for this mission in particular.
Tiamat downed the rest of his whiskey. “Alright, I’ll find your target. But I swear, West. My ship. If I don’t get it returned to me after this, I’ll kill you next.” And like that, he was gone.
He stood and looked out the wall-height windows at the sunset coming along now. Seismic reports from the lunar colony were showing very anomalous readings. He wasn’t sure what that meant, only that if it was a threat to their planet, Tiamat’s target might hold answers. As for Tiamat himself, he was hardly a threat to the world as a whole. Threatening, yes, but he has been here for a long time and hasn't caused disturbance. Earth was his home now.