Prologue:Jacob
"There it is... my god it really is beautiful," Father’s eyes well up with tears as he spoke.
"You have done it Abraham. We never would have made it without you," Mother embraces him tenderly burying her face in his chest.
My brothers and sisters as well as the few families that make up rest of the tribe have gathered in front of the massive window on the bridge of the ARK and are gazing out towards the birthplace of humanity. We are looking at a long dead star, and the remnants of its satellites. Everything looks ruined and grey, nothing like the paintings and pictures in the Holy Books. Those depict the Sun as a bright and shining yellow sphere, and the Earth as a swirling mass of white clouds and blue oceans. Everyone else is embracing and crying and falling on their knees to pray, but I don’t feel anything. All I see is another cloud of dusty rock and gas, like the thousands of others we have passed by in our travels.
I was born on the ARK, just as my father and his father before him were, and my father is the Chieftain of our tribe, just as his father, and his father’s father were. My brother Joseph would have become Chieftain after my father, but there is no need for that now. We are at the end of time, and in three days there will be no tribe left to need a Chieftain.
Later we all gather in the temple for our daily reverence. My father begins the ceremony by approaching Reactor, our conduit to God, and saying the invitation to prayer.
"Lord above the stars who lights our path, and sets our coordinates that they may ever lead us home, hear us in your celestial kingdom."
"Hear us Lord," the people say in unison.
"Today is a marvelous day. We have lived and toiled in your holy vehicle that is may be a home for us, and may lead us to the end of time and our eternal salvation. Now that we have reached Earth, the holy ground where you planted the seed of Humanity, we have completed our labor, and await the end of time when you will take us back into your arms."
This is different than our normal reverence, a special ceremony created for just this moment. I wonder silently to myself if this was in some special holy book or if father just made it up while we were in our last warp toward Earth.
"...And now we partake of the final sacrament. We drink your own blood, poured forth from your living conduit, that it may sustain us for the Journey we are about to embark on."
Father takes a chalice and holds it to a spout on the Reactor. It fills slowly with a glowing blue liquid. He walks with a rigid piety, as if the liquid that he holds really is the blood of god, bringing the chalice to each family of the tribe. They take turns drinking while we all sing solemnly, and when the chalice is empty, father refills it. Then he brings it to my family.
Mother drinks first, her eyes locked with father’s, and when she pulls away there is a smile on her face. The love she bears for him plain upon it. My little sisters drink, and then my younger brothers and then Father brings the chalice to me.
"Jacob my son, this is the blood of God, the elixir that will see us through the end of time."
I tip the chalice up, and let the cool liquid touch my lips, but I do not part them. I do not consume the wretched stuff. I know that this is not the blood of God. The Old One has warned me of this.
My father seems to have believed my charade and he moves on to give Joseph the chalice. The pride in his eyes when he looks at Joseph causes something to rumble inside me, but I can’t let it show. The ceremony finishes with another song and some closing words from Father.
"Now my people we will retire to our homes and spend one last night with our families. Tomorrow at the first bell we will all go to our private places to fast and meditate. On the last day we will meet on the bridge to begin our final Journey together."
Everyone has been preparing for this for so long. Some of the children look scared at the idea of fasting alone, but my father and their parents have all told them that paradise is awaiting them so they are putting on a brave face. As I walk with my family to our quarters and watch all the others walking to theirs I fight down a sick feeling at the unfairness of it all. These people weren’t given a choice, they don’t know the old one. They haven’t learned the truth like I have.
My family spends a quiet night together and when first bell rings through the ARK we all go our separate ways. The ARK is huge. No one has ever even seen all of it. Sometimes acolytes have to probe the deep dark places of the ship when the blessed instruments give them a task, but even they would get lost without proper guidance. This made it easy for me to go to places that no one knows about.
I have never been faithful, and as a result I have always been a misfit. So when I was younger I would often play by myself and explore the ARK, even though it was expressly forbidden. I found all sorts of marvelous things like giant tubes containing bodies of creatures suspended in fluid that looked nothing like the animals that the ARK provided for us in the agri-synthesis chambers. I found a hall of statues that looked like the suits of armor that the angels wore in the Holy Books. I found a massive room filled with Chariots that looked the ones that Daniel rode into the sun of old Earth to stop it from dying when the Human Race was still young. I also found the Old One.
I was terrified when I saw him at first. He looked like my grandfather, but he was suspended in a glass tube, like the ones babies are grown in. Except he wasn’t a baby, he was even older than my grandfather, wrinkled and withered. When I entered his room I was about to turn and run immediately but his eyes opened and when he looked at me it was like I couldn’t move. Then he spoke, without moving his mouth. His voice was like my Father’s, deep and rough but I heard it everywhere around me when he spoke.
"I have seen you boy. I have seen the light in your eyes. You look like someone who wants to know the truth."
He taught me many things. He taught me that the chariots I found were ships, made to fly through space, and that the ARK was just a ship as well, a huge one. He taught me that the angels armor were actually something called robots. Living things that had once been servants to humans. He taught me about planets, and stars, and showed me the most amazing truths about the universe. As he taught me I came to realize that everything my father told the people was a lie. There was one thing that was very real though. The universe was dying, and the end of time was coming.
The Old One told me why the ARK had really been built. It contained within itself an incredibly powerful device. The Reactor is what powered it, and it was designed to make the ship travel through time itself. This is why our ancestors had built this ship and sent it with a crew of tens of thousands on a mission to preserve the human race. As soon as I learned the truth I wanted to tell everyone, but the Old One warned me not to. He said that he had watched my Father, and his Father and many generations before them. They were too wrapped up in their faith to see the truth now. They had lost sight of why we were here.
I was close to going to Father with the truth anyway, but when I approached him, I saw in his face the blind faith of generations. I thought of what had been done to those who questioned the Holy Books, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I had a precious knowledge and I knew I couldn’t risk losing it.
The Old One had told me that this day would come. He had told me that the water from the Reactor was poison, and that Father would try to make everyone drink it. The Old One could see everything that happened on the ARK, and he watched Father’s fathers write the Holy Books. He had tried to reason with them but they wouldn’t listen. They knew they couldn’t destroy him because he helped keep the ARK alive, but they shut him away so that he couldn’t poison the minds of anyone else with the truth.
That is why I didn’t drink the poison, and I kept quiet, even as I watched my friends and family seal their fate. When everyone else goes to fast and meditate I make my way up to the Old One’s chamber. I follow his instructions. I make sure every system is in working order, and spin up the reactor on the highest setting. It takes the entire day of meditation and into the next just to make sure everything was ready. When the moment comes I can feel it, starting to happen. A terrifying roar begins to shake the foundations of the ARK. I can only imagine what the poor souls dying on the bridge must be seeing. Finally it is time to initiate the sequence that will send the ARK back, but I hesitate. I feel the cold creep of fear spread throughout the entirety of my self. What if the Old One has been lying, what if it doesn’t work? What if we are doomed no matter what?
"You must have faith boy." The Old One’s voice echoes from all directions around me.
Faith. Something that I thought was useless. Something that I held disdain for all my life. But now I need it more than all the knowledge I have ever gained. I take a deep breath and turn the last switch. A moment later the roaring stops. Nothing has changed as far as I can tell.
"Go and look upon your new future." Before the Old One has finished his sentence I am running. I run as fast as I can, carelessly and dangerously. I make it to the bridge and see the bodies of my tribe, consumed by the poison that my Father fed them. I feel horror, but then I see it. The Earth. It is bright, blue and white with greens and browns. A beautiful tapestry of life, not the dusty dull rock it was a few days ago. And on it shines the light of a warm yellow star. A tear falls down my face and I squint into the light. I have done it. We have a chance to start again.
Chapter 1: Marcus
"Nitrogen: 71%, Oxygen: 25%, Methane: 3%, other gases detected in negligible amounts." My excitement grew with each figure the computer read out.
"Numerous soil regions with a high organic colloid density detected, and favorable pH balances." This was too good to be true!
"Computer, what about bodies of water near those regions?"
"Numerous bodies of water detected with a pH balance ranging from 6.5-8 suitable for human consumption and possible irrigation."
"Computer you have no idea how happy you have just made me!" I was beyond happy. I was elated. I had been combing through backwater systems for the better part of 5 years and hadn’t hit anything even remotely like this. Such is the life of a planetary prospector I suppose, most people don’t get into this line of work for the stability.
A few years ago there were rumblings about a population crisis that precipitated a massive rush to find as many planetoids that were likely candidates for terraforming as possible. Things were getting crowded in the core systems and the people in power started paying huge bounties for the discovery of new viable worlds. It was manifest destiny on a galactic scale, and any two-bit pilot who had a ship with a warp drive could become a prospector.
"Alright Computer I am going down there to bring back some local flora and fauna samples. Prep the shuttle and wake up Jeb, he is coming with me."
"Of course Marcus."
I hustled from the bridge to the shuttle bay and started getting into my Exo-suit. This planet had living organisms on the surface, and it wasn’t on any charts anywhere! With some samples as evidence I could sell the coordinates to this place for a fortune to one of the big cultivation corps.
"Good morning master Marcus," Jeb said with his characteristic formality.
"Jeb how many times do I need to tell you to just call me Marcus?" I sighed, "I am going to have to crack open your head and mess around with your base programming if you can’t learn to chill out a little bit."
"My apologies mas- ...My apologies Marcus. I will adjust some of my subroutines and conversation protocols for a more ’chill’ setting," It was extremely subtle but I thought I detected a hint of sarcasm in Jeb’s metallic voice.
"No worries Jeb, but how about you help me get this helmet on so that we can get down to that planet." Jeb approached and assisted me with the pneumatic seal on the Exo-suit’s helmet. Normally it sealed automatically, but the mechanism had failed a few weeks ago on a dingy little celestial dwarf and nearly killed me. I jury-rigged a manual valve but it needed a tremendous amount of force applied to seal properly, so now I couldn’t even get into the damn thing without Jeb’s help. It was just one more thing on this damn rustbucket that I would be able to fix if things went well and I sold these coordinates to a good buyer.
"Marcus, the sensors have picked up a large cluster of moving heat signatures on that plain at coordinates 47.6 North by 32.8 east."
"That sounds like as good a place as any to start Jeb. Go ahead and take us down buddy." My palms started sweating in my suit as Jeb began our descent. I was trying not to get my hopes up too much but I couldn’t help it. This planet was in a perfect Goldilocks zone, had a viable atmosphere that didn’t require any altering at all, not to mention potable water and existing life forms. The corps always paid more for planets that required less work, and this place was practically move in ready, not to mention the curb appeal.
We touched down using the grav drive about a thousand meters away from the heat signatures so that we wouldn’t spook them. Jeb and I got out and I immediately fired up my scanner array.
"Well things are looking good so far. The readings down here are confirming what we saw from the ship. This air is breathable baby!"
"I am elated for you Marcus, but sadly I do not share your enthusiasm for breathing," Jeb was methodically unpacking the equipment from the shuttle as he spoke.
"If I didn’t know better I would say you had made a joke buddy," I smiled in spite of myself. "Jeb if you want to start bagging and tagging some of these plants around here I will go ahead and see if I can get closer to those heat signatures. Actually help me off with this helmet first, I want to get a whiff of that sweet sweet atmosphere."
"I can certainly do that, but do you not think it would be prudent for me to come with you? We know next to nothing about those creatures or how dangerous they might be," Jeb said while helping me disengage the seal on my helmet.
"Aww Jeb, and I thought you didn’t care," I gave Jeb my silliest grin but I think the subtlety of my joke was lost on the android. "Listen, we have coms, if I feel like I am getting in over my head I will buzz you and you just take the rover on over to my location and scatter the bastards."
"Very well sir." Jeb didn’t sound pleased with my instructions, but this was the first promising find I had in a while and I was feeling adventurous.
I approached the heat signatures as quietly as I could in my clunky Exo-suit, which made for very slow going. When I finally got within about 300 meters I came over the crest of a hill and I saw them. They were huge beasts, easily 2 meters tall, and I guessed they could weigh upwards of 900 kg. They had four legs and massive heads with small horns protruding from the sides. The neck and head area was covered in a curly short hair while the rest of the body was covered by longer hair. They looked like something I had seen before but I couldn’t place it.
I was considering how I was going to separate one of these magnificent beasts from the herd when I was startled out of my trance by a shrill cry coming from copse of trees bordering a nearby river. I watched in amazement as a group of creatures that appeared to be humanoid burst out of the trees, riding on the backs of some other four legged creatures! It was the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen. It seemed like such an impractical way to travel, but the creatures the humanoids were riding were much leaner and faster than the grazing animals and they were able to encircle them quickly. Most of the herd stampeded away in a cloud of dust and turf, but the strange humanoids with their mounts isolated a few of the massive beasts.
They pulled what looked like sharpened sticks out of slings on their backs and threw them with a deadly accuracy into the stampeding creatures. The creatures hardiness was remarkable. They shrugged off being stuck with the sticks and even kicked and bucked at their pursuers. One of the large beasts caught one of the lean beasts on the cheek with a well placed hoof and the rider and mount went down in a tumble. The other hunters seemed to shout something at the fallen rider but didn’t stop their pursuit of their prey. The hunt continued wildly racing along the plane leaving the fallen rider far behind.
At this point I was completely at a loss. So many questions had popped up in my mind. How did unregistered humanoids find their way to this planet? Why were they so primitive? How did the scanners not find any trace of them from orbit? As I sat there contemplating my curiosity began burning like a fire inside of me. Then I heard a shout come from the creature.
It was high-pitched and sounded feminine in a way. It also sounded like it was in pain. I looked through my viewscope and saw that the humanoid was struggling under what appeared to be the dead weight of the larger creature. She, I noticed at this point that it was clearly a she, tried and strained to move the large thing off of her but to no avail. That is when I made up my mind. I mean a damsel in distress is a damsel in distress regardless of how far into the backwoods of the milky way you are, and how much trouble you could potentially get into for tampering with a previously undiscovered sentient race.
I ran up to the female quickly and when she caught site of me approaching in my Exo-suit she began shouting excitedly.
"Ma oaka, ma oaka! Neh falloh tel gaddah!"
"I am sorry little lady but I have no idea what you are saying and neither does my translator so we are gonna have a hard time talkin to each other," I said in the most comforting voice I could imagine. When I got close I noticed how much she resembled a human woman. It was uncanny. I couldn’t find a single feature that distinguished her species from your average human, except that she wasn’t average, in fact she was beautiful.
She had long straight black hair, and deep brown eyes. Her skin was the kind of dark tan that women on the core planets would pay hundreds of credits to have. I was mesmerized and I didn’t even notice that she was still babbling in whatever crazy language she was speaking. I didn’t notice it until it abruptly stopped that is. That is when I realized that there was a pool of blood building up underneath where her legs were pinned down by the large creature she had been riding. I also realized that the sounds of the hunt that had faded off into the distance seemed to be coming back in this direction now. I made a snap decision, probably a stupid one, and cranked up the skeletal assist on my Exo-suit. The additional strength was easily enough to allow me to lift the beast pinning my damsel to the ground, and I grabbed her up gingerly cradling what looked to be a badly broken leg and took off for the shuttle at a rapid clip.
"Oh dear, this does not bode well," Jeb was in the middle of packing up the last of his samples into the shuttle when I made it back.
"Save your opinions for later Jeb, we need to get out of here fast."
"Of course sir, I had anticipated that when I saw you sprinting this way with a herd of strange creatures in pursuit. The shuttle is ready to launch."
That android was damn snarky but he was good to have around in a pinch.
We made it back to the Osprey without incident and I rushed my delicate cargo to the med bay without even taking my Exo-suit off. I had managed to stop the bleeding with a kit on the shuttle but I needed to see how bad the injury was and get the bones set with some graphene nano-foam as soon as possible. When I got there dripping with sweat from the stress and exertion of the past few hours I placed her in the bay with extreme care despite my exhaustion.
"Computer I need a full diagnostic on this organism’s injury... and while you are at it go ahead and sequence her genome for me." I might as well try and learn as much about this thing as I could while we worked on the injury.
"The injury consists of a compound fracture in 3 places of a bone resembling the femur, as well as spiral fractures in bones resembling the tibia and fibia. The subject is unconscious but is experiencing elevated heart and breathing rates. Would you like me to administer a sedative?" the computer asked coolly.
"Yeah go ahead. I don’t want her waking up before I have a chance to decide what to do with her anyway."
"Very well... If I apply graphene nano-foam immediately and initiate an aggressive osteoblastic augmentation therapy I estimate that a full recovery will take 96 hours." 96 hours was way to damn long. The injury was worse than I had thought, but I still didn’t want to keep this creature on my ship for 4 days. I considered just setting the leg with the foam and taking her back down to the surface, but when I looked at her face something made me stop. There was just something so familar... so comfortable. Some deep part of me didn’t want to let her go...
"Marcus, I have finished sequencing the organism’s genome and it is a 99% match for human DNA. Marcus... for all practical purposes, this girl is a human."
I reeled as if the Osprey had just collided with an asteroid. I couldn’t believe it. Human? A million questions jumped into my mind and started fighting each other for space. How have these people gone unnoticed? How the hell did they get there? And most importantly, how was I going to sell those coordinates without getting into a shitload of trouble?
"Computer, go ahead with the treatments and keep her sedated. I am going down to the kitchen to have a drink."
The drink wasn’t going to do anything to clear my head, but it would work wonders for my nerves that felt like they had just been sucked out of an airlock. Plus I had 96 hours to kill and I needed to figure out what my next move was going to be.
Chapter 2: Marcus
I sat in the kitchen nursing a dwindling glass of Kvatch, and trying not to fall apart at the seams. The constant whining of a leaky gasket in the synthesizer did not help the situation at all. I swirled the dark amber liquid around a bit before draining the last of it in one swift gulp. It burned pleasantly on the way down, but I could taste the copper pipes and plastic tubing of the synthesizer in it. I finished my last bottle of real liquor a few months before when I hit a wicked electromagnetic storm while prospecting in a remote asteroid belt, and ended up having to coast on inertial velocity for two weeks until I was out of it. Not much to do in that situation other than drink.
“Sir I finished transplanting the plant samples to cultivation chamber. Is there anything else you need me to do at the moment?” Jeb was clearly holding back some questions about the girl. I could read that Android like a cheap holotape.
“No Jeb everything is ship-shape. Totally under control. Business as usual. We just have an unregistered human colony down on that planet and one of their females up here in the med bay. We probably won’t be able to sell these coordinates, and more than likely we are going to be in some deep shit whenever anyone important finds out what we have stumbled on to. So yeah, pretty much just a typical Tuesday, ” I took perhaps a little too much pleasure in berating him, but the synthetic liquor in my belly had only made my sour mood worse.
“Very well sir. I noticed a few issues with the the shuttle’s grav drive on our descent to the planet, I will occupy myself with diagnosing the problem.” Jeb started to walk out of the room.
“Jeb… Hey I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be an asshole… I am just trying to figure out what to do next, and frankly I have no idea what we are going to do here.” It was strange, but that bucket of bolts was the closest thing I had to a friend, and I felt bad about being rude to him.
“I understand sir, and may I reassure you that I am incapable of being offended by any ‘asshole’ remarks.” Jeb’s voice dropped to little more than a whisper, “I should be used to it by this point anyway…”
“Thank you though, for taking a look at the shuttle.” I said, “Oh and while you are at it, see if you can’t do something about the shuttle bay doors. They are getting sticky again and I don’t want to be caught outside the Osprey because we can’t open the damn front door.”
“Of course sir. If you need anything you know where to find me…” Jeb hesitated at the doorway, “Marcus, for what it is worth, I am bound to help you whatever you decide. I just hope you will weigh the options carefully.”
A few hours and a shower later I decide to look through the computer’s report on the subjects we had brought back in more detail, so I headed to the Osprey’s lab. The Osprey was a prospecting ship, so it had an impressive array of scientific equipment. How much of that equipment was still in working order was a different story. The ship was originally designed for a crew of 8, and even though Jeb and I worked our metal and fleshy asses off respectively, we simply couldn’t keep up with all the maintenance necessary to keep every single thing in perfect working order. Not to mention the fact that our flow of credits had stagnated recently, making the acquisition of parts and gear more than a little bit difficult.
I dragged myself into the lab and powered up the main analysis terminal. I could talk to the computer anywhere, but I had always like seeing the data for myself as well.
“Computer pull up the analysis of the plant samples Jeb brought back.”
“Yes Marcus, here they are.” Three dimensional models of the six different plant species that Jeb had brought back instantly appeared over the holo-viewer. I touched one that looked like a species of grass and it expanded to occupy the whole field of the viewer.
“This subject is an herbaceous plant consisting of narrow leaves growing from the base and very shallow root structures. It appears to have several characteristics in common with similar species from core worlds that I have cross referenced here.” The computer brought up a list alongside the rendering of the plant, and it included almost a hundred different species of grass found all across the core worlds.
“Computer, how does it have so much in common with all these different species of grass? I mean some of these examples here are found in completely different climates and have been subject to generations of genetic engineering,” I asked while perusing the list.
“I have developed several theories on the matter.”
“I knew you would,” I said with a smile.
“This particular organism shows no signs of genetic manipulation so the first logical conclusion is that it is a product of untampered evolution. The similarities to existing core world species may simply be due to the ecological advantages of the present structures for photosynthetic vegetation on goldilocks zone planets.” The computer projected several 3D renderings of different plants and highlighted numerous anatomical structures that were extremely similar with notes describing the function of the various structures. “I have determined this to be the most likely hypothesis, but I have developed a second hypothesis as well.”
“As I am sure you know, many of the species of plants and animals found throughout the Federation today, including those on this list, are derivative of ancestors found on the core worlds of the First Empire. It has been theorized by historians that some of these ‘heirloom’ species may have been smuggled out to unregistered settlements and colonies during the collapse of the First Empire, so it is possible we have discovered one of these unregistered colonies.”
“That is a great theory, but if this was an unregistered colony, why are they so primitive?” I wondered.
“I lack sufficient data to formulate a hypothesis on that question at this time,” the computer responded methodically.
“Thanks computer, I was really just thinking out loud.” I swiped the diagrams and figures away and brought up the selection of plants again. “So I’m assuming it is the same story for the rest of these plants as well?”
“Yes Marcus, they all appear to have similarly untampered genetic sequences, and they all share remarkable similarities with core planet species.”
This was going to be one tough nut to crack. I was about 8 kiloparsecs from the outer rim of the Federation, which wasn’t too far in the grand scheme of things, but it was definitely far enough to where you didn’t often see life forms or ecology that was in any way similar to most of the core systems. Normally out here things developed differently, like an entire planet with methane based life rather than carbon, or subterranean rivers teeming with macrobacteria. I supposed it wasn’t impossible or unheard of for something like this to pop up on its own, but the more I thought about it the more this weird uncanny feeling about the girl, the planet, the organisms, and the whole situation would creep into the back of my mind.
“Marcus, I am receiving an incoming hail,” the computer said startling me out of my reverie. “It is from Daxxus Klar.” Damn. An encounter with that vacuum-headed piece of space garbage was the absolute last thing I needed. Klar was a Genarian, and if there was one thing the Genarian’s were known for other than their repulsive bug like appearance, it was their ruthless greed.
I had met Klar about a year ago when I limped into a little dump of a station called Xiaolong City about 2 kpc from the edge of the federation. I was almost completely out of viable fissile material for the warp drive so I was looking for any kind of work I could find to get me enough cash to scrape together some fuel and get me back out into the deep. Well, I was also looking for a stiff drink, but that is besides the point. I ended up finding the drink first, and that was how I met Klar. We split a bottle Redanian Sour in one of the three dingy saloons that Xiaolong had to offer and became fast... acquaintances. Friends is really too strong of a word to use for any kind of relationship with a Genarian, even if you are a Genarian yourself. We got down to talking business and Klar informed me that he ran a mining operation, amongst numerous other more unsavory enterprises. When I told him that the Osprey was packing a full array of what 5 years ago was state of the art mining equipment, he offered me a job.
There was belt of rocks less than 50 parsecs away that used to be home to a mining outpost before they had a run in with the Andromeda Gang. Those pirates took everything they could from the outpost, but didn’t have the expertise or more importantly the patience to mine the rest of the rock, so there was a sizeable payday in palladium, iridium, and tungsten still there. I worked those rocks for 4 months with the rest of Klar’s ragtag crew, and I came to realize that that they weren’t miners so much as they were a bunch of vultures.
They were sloppy, dangerous and quick to anger, always squabbling with each other. Half of them were Genarian, and the other half were an interesting menagerie of the various races of the federation and unaffiliated systems, and there was even an ancient Legionnaire who barely had two circuits that still worked. The only thing that kept them working for Klar was his remarkable ability to find buyers for the varieties of slag they managed to scavenge. They were too outlaw to make it as legit miners, but weren’t full blown pirates either. Don’t get me wrong they would dump someone out an airlock as soon as look at them if it would get them paid faster, but they were all too concerned with self-preservation to get into any kind of fight if they could avoid it. Klar and his crew made it a habit to cheat and steal from everyone they interacted with, and as it turned out I was no exception.
In the fourth month of our operation there we were getting close to the end of what the rocks had to offer and the crew was getting restless. They weren’t used to such a long stretch of hard work and Klar’s boys were quite frankly getting bored. The miners had stowed away a couple of barrels of Redanian Ale that the pirates somehow never managed to find. We stumbled across them on our last night there and decided to celebrate the small fortune we were soon going to make. The ale flowed freely and people tongues got looser and looser as the night wore on. At one point when most of the crew was passed out I managed to overhear a conversation between a couple of Klar’s lieutenants. I gleaned that they meant to leave me high and dry in the morning. They were going to take all the cargo I had harvested as well as the Osprey and leave me without a ride on that godforsaken rock. Being the enterprising gentleman who hates being left to slowly die on an asteroid that I am I decided to get the jump on them before they could swindle me out of my share and ditch me. That night I fired up the Osprey’s warp drive with the last bit of fuel I had and hauled ass out of there as fast as I could with most of the operation’s haul in minerals in the Osprey’s cargo bay. Needless to say Klar was less than pleased.
“Alright computer, put him on. Let’s see what the damn bug has to say.”
The models of the plants and scrolling information was replaced by the nauseating, mandibled visage of my least favorite Genarian in the galaxy.
“Marcussss Jonah, my good friend. It hasss been far too long since I have ssseen your handsome face. It appearsss we had a bit of a misunderstanding when we parted waysss. I believe you missstakenly took a sizeable portion of my cargo, far exceeding your agreed upon sssshare.” I scoffed audibly at Klar’s thinly veiled attempt to keep things civil. “A contact of mine recognized your transponder code, and was kind enough to provide me with your last bearing. I am lessss than a million clicksss away and when I arrive at your location, I will expect you to have my cargo ready to transssport onto my ship.”
“Listen Klar, I know you were planning on marooning me on that rock. Don’t even try to deny it. Oh and you might want to talk to Claxxus and Dhar about keeping their mouths shut after they get into the Redanian ale.” I said with a shit eating grin. I was not familiar enough with Genarian facial anatomy to tell for sure, but I could have sworn Klar grimaced at the knowledge that his right hand men let the secret slip.
“Marcusss, Marcusss, you know how those men are. They are not men of substance like us. They say all kinds of stupid things after a few drinksss,” Klar paused and what appeared to be a menacing grin crept across his face. “Besidesss, they are here themselvesss I am sure they would be happy to iron out any falssse impresionsss they gave you.”
“Marcus I am showing three ships on sensors, Klar’s Anubis class frigate as well as two Merlin class gunboats within ten thousand kilometers,” the computer interrupted urgently.
“Hold the frequency and put the scans up on the viewer.” Klar went quiet and the computer brought up a three dimensional astronautical centered on the Osprey. There were three red pings rapidly approaching the Osprey and judging by the specs the computer was displaying Klar had done a few upgrades on the weapon systems.
“All right computer, tell Jeb to load half a ton of the Palladium we have left into a jet capsule and get it ready to jettison. Power up the shields and spin up the railguns. Go ahead and start the warp sequence but hold the engine in the ready pattern.” The Osprey could hold her own in a fight but she was by no means a match for two gunboats and Klar’s heavily modified frigate. I was hoping that Klar was just posturing and wanted to avoid a costly fight as much as I did. If I could get him to chase the cargo or even hesitate long enough for me to get into warp without him getting a bead on my bearing I would be ok.
“Ok bring the feed back up,” Klar’s face came back on the viewer. “Ok Klar listen. I am keeping my share because it is what I deserve. I am willing to give you the rest of what I have because we are such damn good friends. Plus my railguns have been on the fritz and I would hate for any unfortunate accidents to happen in the company of such fine business associates. Give me a few minutes to get the payload in a pod and I will sent it over.”
“Ssssee I knew we could come to an agreement. By the way, your warp drive ssseems to be malfunctioning asss well. My boysss have their guns trained on your engines jussst in case they need to do an emergency shutdown.” The bastard had better scopes than I thought, but if I could get him to take the bait I might still be able to make it out unscathed. I paused the feed again and jumped into action.
“Jeb, how is it coming down there?”
“The capsule is loaded and ready to launch sir,” Jeb answered dutifully.
“Perfect, computer set the capsule’s bearing at… 4.23 by 6.81 and get ready to launch on my command.”
“Bearing set Marcus but… I am afraid there is another problem.”
“What the hell could possibly be important enough to bother me with right now,” I asked.
“It is the organism you brought on board. Somehow she woke up a moment ago, and managed to get out of the sealed medbay doors. Marcus, I have completely lost track of her. She is not showing up on any of my scopes, but systems are going offline all over the ship. I can only infer that she is the cause.”
The Klax people have a saying that has held true for me over many years and could aptly describe the precarious situation I had somehow found myself in: When a man decides to take a shit, it usually falls where there is already shit. It is a lot more poetic in native Klaxxon let me tell you, but true nonetheless.
Interlude: Jacob
I make my way back to the Ark exhausted to the bone. The day has been long and I won’t know if my efforts will bear fruit for some time. The first batch of crops did not take, and the second died shortly after their roots found purchase. This world, the Earth, is fecund and virile, but there is something about it that is out of place.
When I set the Ark down I chose a verdant plain between two rivers. I spent almost a month using the Ark’s instruments to scan and search this world for an ideal location. I sought the help of the Old One, but something about the temporal shift had changed him. He seemed… tired, even older than before. There had been a light of knowledge in his eyes that had dwindled to a tiny spark. He would barely talk when I went to speak with him, and when he did it was in ramblings and riddles. I felt as if I had lost something very dear to me. The Old One had become like a parent to me, more so than my own flesh and blood had ever been. The knowledge that he would be there to guide me throughout my journey in this new world was what had given me the confidence to go through with this insane plan in the first place.
Upon my return to the Ark I go straight to the Old One’s chamber. Even though he is a shadow of what he once was I still take some comfort in talking with him. Without him all I have is my own thoughts.
“Hello Grandfather, I planted again today,” I say the weariness heavy in my voice.
“The boy returns…” He turns his face to look at me. It is even more withered than it was when we arrived.
“I made the changes that the Ark suggested, the readings seem promising. I can’t read them like you can but with what little I can discern, I am hopeful for this crop.”
“He doesn’t understand, he scrabbles in the dirt planting foreign seeds.”
“There are still three agri-synthesis chambers that function. They will provide food for some time still, but the rate at which systems on the Ark are failing, I know that I can’t rely on them forever.” I know that I am talking mostly to myself at this point, but it feels good to speak.
“Hehehehe… The Ark, yes… she is wasting away. She was not as strong as she thought she was. She wanted to take us there but she didn’t make it.” There is a thread of coherence to his speech that is rare these days, and I perk up at the sound of it.
“What are you talking about grandfather? What do you mean she didn’t make it? We are on the Earth now are we not?”
“Hoho! The boy presumes to know much!” He presses his hands and face against the glass of his chamber, the rapid movement disturbing the liquid he is suspended in. “Yes yes, the Earth… we found a place that we can call home, but it is not the where that is the problem…” I stare into his ancient eyes, but they do not look back at me like they once did. They seem to look through me, and it pierces me to my soul. There is emptiness behind those eyes. Doubt fills my mind again and I wonder again why I thought I could start a new life here.
“The new ones, they are almost finished. The boy must meet them soon, he must make the way for them. He must not lose hope for their sakes.” The Old One lifts a trembling hand and points toward the consoles along the side of the chamber.
They are displaying something. I wipe away the hot tears that have welled up involuntarily in my weary eyes and walk over to them. I see images of something that I recognize. They are displaying images of the glass tubes in the incubation chamber. It is remarkable, I know that I didn’t activate them, but somehow they are full. Thirty six tubes all have people in them in various stages of growth. Some of them are naught but tiny babes, but others are fully developed, and some even look to be close to my own age.
A new emotion fills me, a powerful desire. It is as much instinct as it is conscious thought. The sight of these new lives brings an understanding that I am not alone. I must find a way to create a new life here. The Ark may be dying, but in its final moments it is giving birth to a new generation of my tribe. My father explained things he couldn’t understand with blind faith in a God who never spoke to us, and I could never understand it. Now looking at the faces of my people, seeing this gift from the Ark, I am filled with a certain kind of reverence that I have never felt before. I know that the Ark is just a machine, but it has given me the gift of life and hope, and I will not squander it.