21_The Lost Civilization

Here you will find each story posted in a readable format. This is a copyrighted work and is protected by intellectual property laws recognized by most nations. In other words read and enjoy but post no where else.
Locked
User avatar
Diaho
Site Administrator
Posts: 527
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 12:05 am
Location: In my computer seat or Lafiel's lap.
Contact:

21_The Lost Civilization

Post by Diaho »

The Lost Civilization


The transport, Ku Dorin, exited the Sord and made its way towards Shahrazad. Atosuryua sat watching the planet come into view, this had been a very lucrative trip. The Ku Dorin was carrying two hundred thousand metric tones of finished goods, everything that was on the Council’s shopping list and a few extra items she traded for along the way. She was considering how to spend her free time when the navigator interrupted her thoughts.

“That’s odd, there is no response from the planet. In fact it would seem the automated defense system is on line and functional. We are being warned to not attempt orbit.” Her blank facial expression jarred Atosuryua into action.

“Raise the fuel depot. See if they know what’s happening and then arrange for a berth there. We would have to refueled sooner or later, might as well be sooner. Then try to raise the planet once more.” She moved towards the main viewer. Shahrazad was now in view, for the most part the planet looked as she had left it, yet she now felt something was desperately wrong on the surface.

“The Depot has a berth for us, they have no idea what’s going on planet side, however, they did warn us to avoid the platform it seems it’s on full auto and full alert.” Atosuryua acknowledged the navigators statement and directed her to plot a course that steered them away from the planet and the platform. “We’ll be at the depot in five hours.” The navigator said. Atosuryua nodded as she left the bridge. A sudden empty feeling had taken hold of her.

*********
“I’ll be.” Scholar said. “Looks like I’ve been cloned.” The life form that stood before us bore a striking resemblance to Scholar except for one minor detail her hair was bright red. Scholar noted the difference and said. “It’s my clone alright, years ago my hair was that red, it’s faded to its present color.” I raised my scanner towards the clone and she knocked it away. “You will not do that again. I am your guide, if you will follow me I’ll take you to the Guardian.” I picked up my scanner and looked at Lafiel. She gave me that look that said don’t push my luck any further. I then noticed the key was around her wrist, which meant she hadn’t opened the locker, and we were unarmed.

As I placed my scanned back in its holder I placed it on a passive scan, even though passive meant a lot of details would be missing it also meant we’d have some information about the life form that was leading us to the Guardian. It was a short walk to the entrance we had used before although this time the consoles were well lit and quite active. I moved towards the closest one and was greeted with a shock. It had a force field around it. “You’ll not leave the group.” The guide said. “Disobedience of my words will cause you great suffering.” Her command of the spoken word would lead one to believe she was more computer than human, yet my initial scan showed a life form and not a mechanical device. I followed Lafiel who was behind Scholar. Our guide led us down a corridor to a lift device. We entered it and were soon plunging deep into the planet.

The lift door opened on a massive floor carved into the rock. There was machinery, the likes of, I had never seen before, it all seemed new in appearance yet I could also tell it had been here for a long time. Our guide stopped, faced us, pointed in every direction then said. “Twenty of your kilometers in every direction is the size of this complex we are three kilometers underground.” Then as if she was orienting her self she turned slowly and said. “If you will follow me the Guardian awaits your presence.”

As we passed a large machine I strayed a little close to it. I felt my hair being attracted towards it. It too was surrounded by a force field. I caught up with Lafiel, our guide either didn’t notice my slight absence or ignored my curiosity. We proceeded down a corridor carved into solid rock. The remarkable part was the walls were as smooth as a mirror. What ever made this passage was a technology far beyond anything I had ever seen or heard of. I could see a bright light ahead it looked like we were about to meet the Guardian.

*********
I awoke; I could move my head and had feeling to my fingers. “Doctor!” It looks like I could speak as well. The Doctor came into the room he faced me and said. “You’re making remarkable progress Captain. According to my scan you should have feeling in your legs shortly.” He got a very stern look on his face and said. “However Captain you’ll stay in this bed until I release you I want that understood.” After experiencing the last few hours I had no other choice than to agree with him. I had gone from a fully functional being to a lump of flesh I rather liked being fully functional. The Doctor smiled and said. “Should I call the Commander? She wanted to be notified once you were awake and able to speak.”

I lay there staring at the ceiling, half of me wanted Dai here the other half wanted to read her the manual about assuming command and then disobeying orders. “Have her come here, and have a shot ready for me incase I agitate myself into such a state.”

The Doctor placed his hand on my shoulder. It was a feeling I though I’d never feel again, the touch of another being. “Captain, she did what she felt was right and she’s been on the bridge ever since second guessing her actions. Be easy on her, if you throw the book at her you’ll only make things worse. Remember she does care about you although she never shows it, at least where the crew is concerned, until now that is, her abruptly leaving the transport and running at battle speed for the past ten hours has even the most aloof of the crew convinced she’s more than your second in command.” The Doctor left the room I could hear him calling the bridge and Dai’s voice. It sent a chill down my spine; she would be here in a few moments. What do I say to her? How do I greet her? I broke out in a cold sweat.

*********
Being at the rear of the group I was the last one to enter the room. Scholar and Lafiel stood motionless as I came along side Lafiel, I too stopped in my tracks. Before us, in a large circular room, on a pedestal table sat encased in a force field of some kind were three humanoid brains. Our guide approached the center one, which sat slightly, elevated above the other two and said. “I give you the Guardian.” She then moved to the furthest brain to the right and stood motionless. That brain became active as if everything our guide had witnessed was being downloaded into it.

Telepathy was something the Abh were accustomed to, but the conversation that was to ensue went beyond the scope of any telepathic experience I’ve ever had.

“You violated our agreement. You brought weapons with you, yet you left them aboard your ship why was this?”

The Guardian then probed each one of our minds; it was impossible to resist its probe, although Lafiel almost did. I would guess her experience with being probed before gave her a leg up on the rest of us. Then the three brains started a communication, which I could sense but not understand. It was at that time I tried to move and found myself frozen, paralyzed to be exact. Since I could not hear Scholar or Lafiel I assumed they were experiencing the same condition that I was. My eyes were the only things that I had control over and although I tried to move them towards Lafiel I couldn’t see a thing. She was at an angle that exceeded my range of vision. My effort did not go unnoticed though.

“Your friends are unharmed. You’re being restrained until we decide what to do with you.”

The Guardian had confirmed my suspicions, we were being judged and we had Lafiel to thank for it. My blood started to boil yet I could do nothing to stop it. Once again the Guardian spoke this time it was more conciliatory.

“We’ve probed your minds without your permission we ask your forgiveness, this was done to gain the truth the only way we know how. Your unsolicited responses to our probe indicate that although you do pose a threat to us. We also can pose a threat to your kind. You came seeking the truth and in peace although one member of your party decided to arm the group her intention was purely defensive. We will start negations with you as soon as you are ready.”

We spoke in unison and with one voice. “We are ready right now.” I could move, turning towards Scholar and Lafiel. I saw sweat pouring from Lafiel, and Scholar’s always-calm demeanor had been ruffled as well. Our guide became active once again, she lead us into another room just off the room we were in. there we found a table with a viewing device and chairs. We were instructed to sit and a video started. The dialog, I found out later, was not spoken but delivered by telepathy.

*********
The last ten hours had seemed more like ten days, the Doctor’s message that Duhiel was awake and wanting to see me brought an end to this part of my nightmare. However there was more going on that I would have to deal with. The crew has an impression that Duhiel and I are more than Captain and First Officer. My taking command disobeying orders and heading towards Shahrazad at battle speed has left them with the impression that we might be… Damn them and their petty gossip… I’ll figure this out later, right now I’m heading to the medical facility, I want to see Duhiel.

When I first learned of Plakia’s involvement with a member of the royal family I was of the age where I thought she was living out a fairy tale where the commoner meets royalty and lives happily ever after. After her death I found out she was very much in love with Duhiel’s father not because he was royalty, she would have loved him if he’s been a commoner as well. So now the question has been posed do I love Duhiel? Right now that is a silly question, I have far more important things to do than pine over him like Plakia did over his father. I’m standing at the door to the medical facility and I’m breaking out in cold sweat. I opened the door.

*********
We were presented with the complete history of the Guardian’s race. This planet is only five hundred thousand years old. The Guardians created it as an outpost when they arrived in this part of space. This explains some of the features of this planet; I always thought they seemed a little too perfect now I know why.

The notable part of their history started almost thirty eight hundred years ago. That’s when the Great Experiments started. This complex was built to house their greatest experiment. We learned that space travel at high speed for extended amounts of time was one of the experiments. They also longed to be able to extend themselves, increase their life span, and several experiments were started to accomplish that goal. At the height of the experiments something catastrophic happened, it not only tilted this planet on its axis but left a very few survivors it was something that was not presented to us in any detail.

The presentation ended, what we thought was maybe forty-five minutes turned out to be almost five hours. The Guardian had some how modified the laws of space and time to give us the impression a short time had passed while to the outside world five hours had passed. Lafiel, Scholar and I sat taking in everything we had been presented. Lafiel and Scholar spoke at once. “What an advanced civilization, I wonder what went wrong?” They had expressed my thoughts as well. Our guide entered the room and escorted us back to the main chamber it was there that the Guardian change the rules once again.

“We can sense you’re tired and instead of continuing this conversation any further, we are asking you to return to your ship and rest. We will allow outside communication for a limited period. We insist that you communicate with your fellow beings. We know they must be concerned with your sudden disappearance and as stated in our agreement we do not want any other visitors.”

Our guide stood before us and lead us back the way we had come. When we approached the ship she informed us that any attempt to leave would be met with deadly force. Those words we readily understood, the Abh would have used deadly force to keep the Guardian at bay after seeing what we had seen. We entered the ship our guide returned to the complex and I stopped my scanner.

“Noel what are you doing?” Lafiel asked as I placed my scanner on the table. “Getting at the truth.” I said. With those words I interfaced my scanner into the ships main computer and had it download everything it contained. The computer estimated about four hours before it could completely compile the data.

I turned to Lafiel and Scholar and said. “My scanner was on passive most of the time we were in the complex. I switched it to normal as we left. The data it contains might give us some clue about who or whom the Guardian might be and the guide, she not completely human either.”

Lafiel sat at the communications console as we were told the shuttle began receiving data from the orbiting satellites. Once the shuttle was synced with the network Lafiel made a startling discovery. “Look at the ships chronograph, we been here that long?” I looked, according to it we had been here sixteen and three quarter’s hours. It had felt like three or four hours yet I was getting tired.

Scholar leaned back in her seat and opened her mind her blank expression became confused then she smiled. “I’m glad you set your scanner Noel. I was completely inhibited in that complex. It was as we were in…” Lafiel and I had a feeling too we expressed it as best we could. “Plane space or maybe a rift in time?” We looked at each other it was eerie, we had the same impressions but the logic was escaping us.

Lafiel raised the Residence and spoke with Jinto. She assured him we were unharmed then explained we wouldn’t be returning for a while longer. I’ve known Jinto and Lafiel for quite sometime they have developed a code mostly unspoken between them. I do believe Lafiel explained our present situation to Jinto without using the words, we are being held here against our will. Jinto’s response was candid and left Lafiel blushing.

“I understand Lafiel. I’m glad you are safe and I’ll keep our people away. Take care my precious, precious, princess.”

With that communications were severed but the shuttle kept receiving and transmitting data to the network.
“The network knows the shuttle is safe, they have figured out that much.” Lafiel said as she turns towards us. “Now I wonder what they read when they scanned our minds? I wonder if they got enough information to out guess us?”

I pointed to the computer, it was dutifully compiling the data I had gathered and said. “We’ll know something about them in four hours. I for one want to grab a nap till then, do you agree?” Lafiel nodded and Scholar was already napping at the console. As I went to lie down Lafiel took the key place it in the locker and turned it. She turned to me and said. “I trust our host about as far I as can toss this shuttle, the door’s unlocked if I’m wrong we may have to fight our way out of here or die trying.”

I nodded and understood she was still the warrior our people had trained her to be. I too was a part of that warrior class and would fight if necessary to remain free. Our freedom unlike that of our people had a deeper meaning we will fight for this planet and those we loved and cared about. Unlike the Abh, who fight for control of other worlds. We are fighting for this world and ourselves. Maybe the fight is the same everywhere after all. I’m asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

*********
We felt great relief when Jinto come outside and announced that he had just spoken with the party and they were all right. Painiach and Sobbash were being entertained by Saio’s attempts to walk. Samson and Risch had been deep into the plans the Suran had left us and I sat watching. After Jinto’s brief statement he went back inside the Residence. I followed him inside and back to the communication room. Jinto sat at the console and motioned me to sit where I had a view of the display as well. Jinto instructed the computer to replay Lafiel’s message, paused it then looked at me and said.

“Lafiel, along with a number of others, were exposed to the Untied Mankind’s feeble attempt at mind control, which I have to admit was more formidable than the Empire would ever admit and since you and Painiach were involved in that incident you’re aware of what Lafiel and I went through.” I nodded and Jinto continued his expression change to a more concerned look. “What you don’t know and I’ll tell you now is Lafiel has had…” Jinto paused he was searching for the words then he said. “Visions, very vivid visions of a disconnected place and a people she couldn’t describe. It was shortly after they started, that she went to the council and forced their hand to make sure she went on this expedition.”

Jinto faced me and continued. “Kufadis, you know Lafiel and I have developed an unspoken code that we’ve used for years right?” I nodded and Jinto said. “What you don’t know is we’ve progressed to the next level.” I sat dumbfounded; Jinto smiled and started the message playing.

Lafiel came on the screen and delivered her message at first I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary until I looked closer. Lafiel sat at the console talking to the screen yet her data crystals were plugged into the master console, you would only do that when you were receiving data from the ships computer or in Lafiel’s case you were transmitting data. “She fed you data via the ships navigational link?” Jinto nodded and opened a cabinet behind him he removed a version of the entertainment device that the Abh commonly use and said. “You know how one of these work?” I nodded every member of our race is taught at an early age how that device works.

Jinto placed the device on the table, powered it up, connected it to the main display on the wall and said. “Want to see what Lafiel sent us? “ What else could I say but. “Yes.”

The images that were displayed were unnerving to say the least and bordered on the down right scary. We saw what the force field did to the landscape, we saw the above ground area and finally we saw their guide. The information ended suddenly it was replaced with a blank screen and Lafiel’s final thoughts.

“Jinto they probed our minds I resisted the best I could however they made inroads how much information they gathered I do not know but I am now convinced that these are the people I was having visions about. We are at their mercy they could have eliminated us on several occasion but I think mutual curiosity is what is keeping us alive. Jinto I cannot tell you the outcome I have no feelings either way. Remember my love I will care about you always.”

The message stopped and so did Lafiel’s data transmission. Jinto pointed at the main console and said. “I don’t know how they did it but the Guardian is allowing the shuttles general house keeping data to be transmitted.” I looked at the console Jinto was right we were receiving a constant data stream from the shuttle. We knew the crews condition and the environment they were in, at the moment it showed they were asleep and the main computer was processing a priority one assignment. I looked at Jinto and said. “The main computer is on a priority one project?” Jinto nodded and pointed to the user that started it; Ekuryua, and then said. “Noel’s resourceful I bet she managed to keep a scanner going and is now compiling the data.” This is one time I would agree with Jinto, Noel Ekuryua was not only resourceful but given the opportunity she could be down right sneaky too. Painiach and I have had first hand experience of her resourcefulness.

*********
I entered the medical department the attendant showed me to where Duhiel was. He was lying on a med bed he must have heard my footsteps because he turned his head faced me and said. “Commander I’m glad you’re here as you can see I’m recovering nicely.” My blood started to slowly boil. I approached him and said. “Captain I’m glad you’re feeling better I guess you know where we are going?” Duhiel raised his left hand and I grasped it with both of mine his touch and the look on his face calmed me greatly.

Then he got a look upon his face that let me know what was about to transpire. “Dai your concern for my safety and happiness has touched me greatly, yet when Central Command finds out what you’ve done I won’t be able to protect you. You’ve placed me in a very difficult position but I’ve made my decision should this all go wrong I’ll not sacrifice you to them we will share the same fate.” My hands started to tremble a gentle squeeze from Duhiel stopped them. In a very philosophical way Duhiel then defined our future together.

“I must admit Father and Plakia had it fairly easy.” I looked at Duhiel my confusion prompted him to continue. “It’s very simple Dai, they had a universe at peace to explore and all the time they needed to fall in love. We on the other hand are constrained by this on going conflict, grabbing a shuttle and wondering off for months on end is not possible.” I widened my look did Duhiel in his own round about way just tell me he loved me?

He motioned with his right hand for me to come closer. When I was in range he placed a kiss on my cheek and said. “I’m getting tired Dai, can we finish this conversation later?” My kiss on his cheek answered his question. I left him sleeping peacefully and half way to my quarters it all hit me, I managed to get in the door before I became too giddy. I stood in front of the mirror taking in the view and thought, ‘he didn’t say he loved you but he did kiss you.’ Thirty seconds later panic set in, he said we were going to share the same fate that meant he might not sit on the Jade Throne. Thoughts of an angry Lafiel now filled my brain. The only reason I slept was pure exhaustion, but that was short lived, one hour and twenty minutes after I fell asleep we cleared the Sord at Shahrazad.

*********
As we were leaving the communications center a call from Atosuryua arrived Jinto took it and was greeted with an angry person asking one question.

“What in the universe is going on down there??? The planetary defense system is on I can’t get close to you without drawing fire. Right now I’m berthed at the fuel depot with a lot of perishable goods that should have been planet side several hours ago. By the way, you might want to tell Lafiel her ice cream is starting to melt too…”

Jinto glanced at the control console for the orbital platform. It had switched to defensive when Lafiel’s shuttle disappeared. Jinto entered the code to return it to its passive state then addressed Atosuryua. “We’ve had an incident down here, I’ve switched the platform back to stand by. I’d say wait about an hour and try approaching the planet again. If Lafiel was here I’d tell her about the ice cream but she’s not.” Jinto ended the conversation.

The display went dark and Atosuryua sat quietly absorbing what Jinto had said. She was about to get the real message when the navigator spoke. “Captain a warship just came through the Sord and is heading to Shahrazad at high speed…” Atosuryua over rode her conversation and yelled at the communications officer “Get those fools on the link, tell them to stop their approach. If the platform hasn’t reset and scans them, it will deem them hostile and blast them to space dust.”

*********
As Chief of Engineering I seldom get to sit in the ‘center seat’ however with the Captain injured and the First Officer sleeping it befell me to take command of this vessel. This would be a simple task to complete, or so I thought, all we had to do was clear the Sord and orbit the planet Shahrazad. The First Officer had made it clear once we were in orbit I was to wake her and she’d assume command. Yes it all seemed very simple, I got complacent for one moment and…

“Chief, incoming communications, it says, abort approach to planet, defensive platform active. The message repeats.” I sat stunned for one moment and then I realized what the message said. “Veer off, get as much distance between us and Shahrazad as you can.” It was too late the platform pinged our ship. “Electro-magnetic Shields! Battle Stations! Rig for Collision!” I knew the firepower of that platform even a glancing blow would be fatal. The first volley went beneath the port side of the ship and astern. The near miss shook the ship violently. “Chief it’s targeting us again.” A spilt second is all I had then I saw it… “Head for the Sun, maximum speed.” A massive solar flare was heading out towards Sord, if I could place the ship between it and the platform, the massive EM disturbance would scramble the tracking sensors on the platform. Our only other worry was not to get to close to the flare because it would render our propulsion system inactive and a sitting duck we didn’t need to be.

I was in a light sleep when the battle alarm rang, then the collision alarm rang, followed by a shockwave hitting the ship. I grabbed a top and forgot about my shoes. I was in a headlong dash to the bridge. The cold floor didn’t impede my movements actually I believe I ran faster because of it. The door to the lift opened and I saw the main viewer. Shahrazad’s sun filled the display. I was frozen with fear, and then I heard the Chief’s next orders.

“Put us in-between the flare and the platform and keep veering away from the planet.” I realized what had happened and it was my fault. I should have know when something went wrong planet side Lafiel’s toy would automatically protect the planet from outside interference. I failed to mention that fact to the Chief and he ran headlong into a hornet’s nest.

“Distance from the platform?” I asked. “Forty thousand kilometers.” The Chief replied. “Commander do you know the effective range of that device?” My mind went blank then I remembered something Lafiel said. The platform was deadly to twenty five thousand kilometers, the pulse cannon lost focus after fifty thousand and we were at forty thousand. But was I thinking right? I hoped so… “Chief, if memory serves correctly, fifty thousand should be a safe distance.”

“We are being targeted, the locks incomplete.” The tactical officer said then suddenly the platform went dead. “Chief, reading zero output from the platform.” The Chief looked at the tactical officer and said. “Verify that.” The tactical officer scanned the platform again and replied. “Platform output navigational only, the pulse cannon and tracking are off line.”

“Navigator get us out of the flare and head for the Sord.” The Chief was taking no more chances and my feet were announcing that they have had enough of the cold floor. “I’ll be back to relieve you shortly.” I said as I went into the lift. Five minutes later I was back on the bridge dressed properly and waiting for the Chief’s response to my failing to inform him about the platform.

“Commander, we both goofed.” The Chief said. “You forgot to tell me about the platform and I came blasting into the system without linking or communicating with Shahrazad. Both are errors we should never repeat.”

*********
Alarms woke me from a sound sleep. Scholar was still in the chair where I had left her and Noel was fast asleep. The shuttles link to the satellite was flashing a warning, I already knew what had happened, Jinto had sent the shut down command to the platform but he forgot it takes at least an hour for it to reset. I managed to send the disable codes from the shuttle. I have no idea who it fired on; my only hope was they were still alive.

*********
“You mind explaining what the hell is going on up there?” We had just finished stationary positioning at the Sord and the chief medical officer was on the link. I went to respond when he issued his next volley in my direction. “You’re lucky I got a force field up around the Captain, the blow would have placed him on the floor with the rest of us. He’s resting comfortably so before you try anything else exciting kindly let us know. Medical out!”

The Chief of Engineering placed his hand on my shoulder and said. “Doc’s a little edgy, he’s said his peace, but I suggest should you move the ship again you let him know.” I shook my head, in the past twelve hours I’ve commanded this vessel I’ve managed to alienate about half the crew, almost get us all killed, and get the medical officer totally incensed. Not bad I thought, I wondered what six months of command would be like, if we survived it that is. “Link with Shahrazad, then raise the planet, we’ll not approach till we get clearance this time.” My words brought a sigh of relief from the bridge crew. Two hours later we made the slow plod toward orbit. We arrived without further incident.

*********
The gentle vibration of my creunoc woke me. I looked at the display and the main computer had accomplished its task. Waking Lafiel and Scholar I checked the data from the satellite and was shocked with what I saw. “Lafiel looks like you came close to being an only child.” Lafiel moved to the terminal at my words and moved me aside. “Those fools! What were they thinking?” She then took another look and said. “What are they doing here? They aren’t suppose to here for another month, or has a month passed while we slept?” The ships chronograph showed we had been asleep a little over four hours and a look outside indicated it was almost sunrise. It took Lafiel a minute to comprehend everything then she turn to me and said. “Noel, is your information compiled?”

I nodded and place the data on the main viewer. What appeared was unexpected, yet none of us were surprised. Our guide it seems wasn’t as human as we first thought. “Synthetic life form, the Abh experimented with that, found it too complex to maintain and discarded the idea. Looks like these beings took the experimentation a lot further than we did.” Lafiel stared at the data and continued. “They took DNA and built a being we could communicate with. Its interesting that they used Scholars DNA and not yours Noel I wonder why?”

I shook my head, here I though Lafiel would be objective and instead she took a shot at my unique heritage. I was about to voice my opinion of her assessment when Scholar said. “I’m the most clone-able candidate, its very simple Noel’s mother so encoded her DNA as to make her difficult if not impossible to clone, where as I’m a product of generation cloning so.” Lafiel and I both took a long look at Scholar; generational cloning was banned years ago because of the genetic deterioration that occurred; yet here Scholar stood, a marvel of genetic engineering it would seem. Scholar then took over the conversation.

“They failed to solve the reproductive issues though.” Scholar said as she examined the data. Upon closer examination she was correct our guide was female in every respect except one, she was unable to conceive or carry offspring. Scholar leaned back in her seat and stared at the ceiling her next words brought chills to both of us.

“We were so few after the crash landing on Sol-Eros we had some viable DNA taken from those badly injured before they died, but for us to continue, we had so little, the cross breeding would have left us genetically unstable and would have killed us off years ago, so we took a page from our history and we delved into generational cloning. Unlike those original experiments we did do some DNA altering, not as much as the Abh do, but enough to give ones DNA enough differences, that eventually would lead to the health race you see today.” Scholar lowered her gaze and met our eyes; her next statement explained a lot that I had wondered about.

“Those early years were very difficult. We were genetically bound from birth to mate with a compatible match. That meant there was very little romance in our lives, just the duty to mate and continue the race. It was a terribly lonely life. That is why to this day those emotions are rarely expressed by my people and never in public. Hopefully living on this world and introducing new DNA to the mix my people will be able to freely express themselves once again.” She smiled reached forward and took our hands once that was accomplished she continued.

“We have you to thank for our very existence, had you not come looking for us, then rescued us, we would have perished on Sol-Eros and all of the work we’ve done would have been lost to the ages.” She looked at the data released our hands and said. ”They tried something, some massive genetic alteration, probably to extend life and it looks like it failed, and they need us as much as we need them. You’ll agree the technology we saw exceeds our efforts by centuries. We could use their help with our continued survival and they could probably use our genetic knowledge.”

I continued to sort through the data as Lafiel and Scholar sat quietly conversing about what Scholar had said. Contrary to popular opinion Lafiel is a caring, loving, being. That hard-core exterior she normally shows is a result of being a member of the Royal family. Scholar had sensed earlier that Lafiel was more than she originally appeared to be and the two of them having a good cry was evidence of Scholar’s hunch. Although our guide intrigued me, there was other data I hoped the scanner had captured. After an hour I found what I was looking for.

*********
“Soft seal established. You may transfer to the transport at any time.” The chief engineers words made this part of the journey easier. The transport Ku Dorin sat thirty meters to our port side the transfer tube was in place and I made the trek across to finally meet the former Admiral Atosuryua then go planet side with her and the transport. I had heard a lot about her and the infamous scourge squadron she had lead. I also knew I was in for a lecture as well she had made it plainly obvious when I asked permission to go planet side.

“Permission granted Commander, however I must insist you explain your actions. Since this part of the universe is not on combat alert your blasting into the system without clearance… We’ll discuss that on our way to Shahrazad.”

Atosuryua was going to be another learning experience. I hope that it will only be a learning experience though. I stand inside the airlock the technicians face shows no expression. All I see are her hands activating the controls. The light goes to green the door opens and Atosuryua faces me. She is as imposing in person as legend would have you believe. We make the walk to the bridge, by the time we arrive at the lift, my ears are ringing and my heart has sunk. Atosuryua has effectively read me the riot act for my actions, or most notably, lack of action. She maybe retired Star Forces but she still remembers the manual word for word. Before the door opened she faced me and looked me in the eyes and said.

“While the reason for your actions was admirable. Your lack of experience and your emotions got in the way of your rational decision-making.” Her hard eyes softened a calm look came upon her face and she continued. “I hold a great hope in your Captain’s ability to rule this Empire one day. I once held the same hope for his sister as well. She disappointed me, yet she’s has also made me proud of her. She left on a mission of peace to discover the true meaning of those who were here before us. However it seems she’s been detained, probably against her will yet she remains objective. I’ll never quite understand her, for one who had no intention of sitting on the Jade Throne she governs this planet as her family has governed this Empire. I guess it’s in the DNA?”

The door opened and we went to the bridge. It took another hour to complete the reentry and land on the planet. My last view before we entered the atmosphere was the ship in orbit awaiting my return. As it disappeared from view my thoughts ran wild. “Did I do the right thing in coming here? Well we were here and there is no undoing that. Have I jeopardized Duhiel’s chances of sitting on the Jade Throne? How angry will Lafiel be?” The buffeting of the transport increased, soon we were on final approach to the island. I would know shortly how much trouble I had caused. I closed my eyes and waited for the landing.

*********
“Self maintaining machinery, now there’s a novel invention.” Lafiel and Scholar took note to my outburst and stood beside me as I continued to ramble on. “I’m trying to figure out how those machines work? I saw no interconnections yet they functioned as ‘One Unit’.” I reviewed the scan again, it was Scholar that suggested I try the resonate frequencies, there it was, although at first I didn’t understand what I saw, but Scholar did.

“Brain waves, telepathy, that’s how those machines operate. That’s why I was inhibited in those caves, my senses were being overloaded by the thought transmissions from the Guardian.”

Lafiel placed her hand on my shoulder and said. “You’re telling me, those were actual brains we saw encased in the room?” I shook my head. “No, I haven’t figured out that part yet. Our guide has the same organ but it’s not a brain as you and I understand.” Before I could finish the Guardian contacted us. This message appeared on the main viewer.

“Your curiosity shall be rewarded with a partial explanation. In times long past, this planet was the home of a mighty, noble race of beings who called themselves the Guardians. Ethically and technologically they were a five hundred thousand years ahead of humankind, and when in the course of eons they had abolished sickness and insanity, crime and all injustice, they turned, still in high benevolence, upwards towards space. Then, having reached the heights, this race disappeared in a single night, and we are the machines they built to serve them and to protect this world.”

The transmission ended. The three of us stood facing each other taking in the message we had just received. Scholar spoke first. “Remarkable race, but not much of an explanation. I wonder if the machines know what happened?” Lafiel stated my thoughts. “I wonder if the machines revolted against them?” Lafiel’s statement shook Scholar then she remembered. “The machines have revolted once before, you make a valid point.” Then I stated the obvious much to everyone’s dismay. “You know they are reading our thoughts or they are capable of reading them, how else would they know what we’ve been up to?”

Lafiel placed her hand across the console and pointed to the data stream connecting the shuttle to the satellite network. “They are not reading our minds. They’ve networked with our systems. They scanned the main computer about an hour ago.” She opened the log and sure enough there was a break-in to the system… “From now on we keep data from the shuttle.” Lafiel grimaced and continued. “They also know the shut down codes for the platform. I keyed them in from here when it fired upon Duhiel’s ship. They can be changed after we leave, if we leave, if not Jinto has lost a defensive advantage because only I know the master code. Which is something our host doesn’t know. I hope.”

Lafiel walked away from us it was something she did when she realized the error of her ways. This time Scholar followed her. “Wait let me understand what you said. The platform is shut down and there is no way to activate it?” Lafiel shook her head. “Jinto can restart it but now the Guardian has the shutdown codes. If we get to a non compromised terminal I can reset the codes.” Scholar’s anger filled the shuttle. “What were you thinking? You’ve effective left us defense less because of your pride. How could you keep the master code to yourself?”

Lafiel exploded and charged Scholar. I managed to get in-between them and pushed Lafiel aside. “Stop it!” I said. “Settle this after we finish our mission!” Lafiel was still incensed. She held her place. I turned and faced Scholar. “Right now it doesn’t make one bit of difference whose right or who’s wrong if we are not united in this mission then we might as well leave and get killed trying… You two fail to understand the gravity of the present situation. We are being held against our will or at least that was the message six hours ago. Put this petty argument aside and concentrate on the mission at hand.”

Lafiel pulled her tunic straight, grabbed a piece of paper and wrote, DIAHO. “That’s the master code, if one of us gets away…” Scholar read the word and said. “As written?” Lafiel nodded. “As written.” She then destroyed the paper and said. “Shall we contact our host and find out how soon we can finish this?” Scholar, her issued solved, for the moment, nodded and I opened a comm.-link to our host.

*********
Former Admiral Sobbash met me at the dock, at first I wondered why she was there but as soon as Atosuryua saw her, she decided that her conversation with Count Hyde could wait. I made the walk to the Residence with Sobbash she didn’t say a lot except when we arrived there. “Jinto’s inside, given his present emotional state I’ll tell you this, don’t push him, but he is interested in why you are here.”

I found Count Hyde sitting in the conference room just off the main communications room. He had a planetary chart lying on the table studying it carefully as I entered. “Commander I’m glad you are here, come, stand next to me.” I moved towards him he rose from his chair pointed at the chart and said. “Lafiel’s there, they have a formidable force field but I think should it become necessary your ship can level the complex.”

I stood motionless Count Hyde was planning a preemptive strike even though Lafiel was there? I finally stammered out the following words. “The situation has deteriorated to that point that an all out attack is now warranted?” Count Hyde glared at me and said. “I guess I’ll have to go over your head. Duhiel will understand what I’ve said.”

My fear was replaced with anger, I told Count Hyde in no uncertain terms what condition His Highness was in, that I commanded the ship and I wasn’t impressed with his assessment of the present situation. Count Hyde took a step back his expression changed his concern became evident. “Duhiel’s injured? Paralyzed? You’re in command. I see accept my apology Commander I assumed too much. If you’ll forgive me.” He turned and left the room. I stood looking at the map; the ship was in geo lock orbit above the area Count Hyde had indicated. Opening my Creunoc I ordered them to move to the southern hemisphere. I figured out of sight but not out of scanning range would be acceptable.

A hand placed on my shoulder drew my attention from the map. Sobbash stood next to me and said. ”Thank you, I’m not sure what you said to Jinto but he’s decided to wait this one out.” I asked Sobbash if there was somewhere I could get something to eat. She said she would take me to the Village. I followed her outside and found Saio sleeping in a stroller. Count Hyde was standing next to her.

“She hasn’t moved since you left.” Jinto said. Sobbash thanked Jinto for watching her, and then we took off towards the hover car and the trip to the Village.

“Your addressing him as Count Hyde is too formal. You should address him as Jinto and the Princess you should call her Lafiel. Those formal titles have little meaning around here.” Sobbash said as we drove towards the Village. I heard her words but my training was keeping me from… “Remember you’re not in space, and this is not the Capital either... Formality has a place here, don’t get me wrong about that, but we are one big family most of the time so try to remember that okay?” Saio sat between us that charming face all sleepy and oblivious to what was happening around her. Family. Sobbash said. I’ll try to remember that.

*********
It was early morning we had been here almost a full day and our guide was leading us back to meet with the Guardian. This time I was allowed to scan and I set my scanner to do that very thing. Instead of being led to the Guardian’s area, we were taken to the conference room we had viewed the history of the race. “Sit down.” Our guide said. As we sat the display in the room became active and we were shown how our guide came to be. As the presentation continued I noticed our guide was off line she stood motionless eyes open but non-responsive I turned my scanner towards her and scanned.

Our guide was more than a clone the first scans confirmed that. What we learned was they were designed as the replacement for the Guardians race. Self-maintaining almost indestructible beings or so we were led to believe, but where were the rest of them? How come there were only four that we had seen, the three suspended brains and our guide? Something felt very wrong, very wrong, then a new program started upon the display this one scared me but also intrigued me as well.

The Guardians had found, as the Abh had, that the weak part of the human organism is the brain. You can lengthen the entire body except the brain, after time it will wither and die no matter what you do. This was unacceptable to them. So an artificial brain was developed. It was this artificial brain that proved the races downfall. It was too perfect too powerful those whose essence were transferred into this brain and given a virtually indestructible body, became gods.

They were gods, plagued with every human weakness, even though they had conquered crime, sickness, injustice and insanity. They never completely controlled the Id, ego, and super-ego in all humans. Now those fragilities were encased within a super human body with a brain comparable with any super computer however they failed to remember the individual is unique no two are the same and no two are predictable.

It started slowly in the far reaches of this complex those who started testing their powers. Mental telepathy was first, reading of minds, the taking control of those who had either not converted to the new bodies or refused to. Then came the struggle for power those who had completely mastered their bodies took control of the computers and machines that were suppose to protect and serve. They turned the machines against those who opposed their will.

The final blow came from a dream, a dream so terrifying so real that in their sleep the race effectively killed them-selves off in one night. The Guardian that has greeted us consists of the three scientists that were awake when the nightmare manifested itself. They transferred their essence into the master computer and tried to regain control but they were too late the damage was too extensive and a failure of an above ground power plant tilted the planet into the orbit we found it in. Our attunement of the planet recovered about two thirds of the damage done.

The presentation ended we sat facing each other our guide was still off line. I ventured the following statement. “Through ignorance we’ve created our present situation.” Scholar stopped my thought and pointed to our guide. I turned and found her staring at me. “You will follow me.” She said. We rose and followed her to where the central computer and the Guardian were. The moment we were there the telepathy started.

“You now know what happened to our race. What we need from you is your help. We desire to return to corporeal form. It is the only way we can right the wrong that was caused centuries ago.”

Scholar stood shaking her head slowly from side to side. Lafiel and I sensed something was wrong then Scholar said. “I know what you’re asking and it’s not possible. You cannot transfer your essence into our bodies. We are not human as you define it. We are modified beings we have abilities, which you cannot control. I propose a different solution to your problem.”

“I understand, you’ve read our minds as we read yours earlier. We would have kept your essence safe but unwilling subjects are undesirable. Proceed with your solution.”

“The reason you’ve not created bodies like our guide here is they still possess the brain that caused the trouble in the first place. Am I correct?”

“You are. That is why we wanted to temporarily transfer to your bodies to develop a replacement brain. One closer to the normal human brain but that does not seem possible.”

Scholar faced us and took our hand in hers. She proceeded to communicate her plan. It was brilliant I must say Lafiel agreed and allowed Scholar to communicate it directly to the Guardian.

“Interesting. You’re able to produce human bodies with suitable brains in as little as six months using a mixture of our technology and yours. Then we’ll merge our essence into those bodies to produce an acceptable being. You also say you can fix the reproductive problem in the original design as well. Interesting very interesting.”

The wall behind the Guardian slid open and exposed an adjoining room. Scholar gasped when she saw its contents. “It’s a DNA bank and tissue repository.” She said.

“Correct! You see samples from the finest five hundred of our race. This is the material we wish you to use in creating our new bodies. Our personal DNA and tissue samples are stored here.”

The guide became active once again. She moved into the room and removed three containers from the bank. She placed the containers in front of their correct receptacles and said. “These are from the corporal bodies of those who inhabit the system.” The containers all bore information in a language we didn’t understand, but there was one universal indicator we all understood, the tags were pink in color.

Seeing this Scholar smiled and said. “I thought so, they were predictable. Their logic was flawless.” She smiled and faced the Guardian. “Ladies, we will be honored to reanimate you, so you may live once again.”


To Be Continued in “A Race Reborn.”

"Ah! You don't know my name?
Its very simple, Lafiel you shall say.
In return I'd like to call you Jinto."


Image
Locked

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests