9 Years, 6 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing
Chront
“Derrick!”
“I’m up!” shouted the engineer as he sat up in the bed and promptly tumbled out of it onto the carpeted floor.
“That was graceful,” said Arik from the Link.
Derrick slowly got to his feet, and glanced up at the camera in the corner of the room. It had been one of the concessions made to allow him on the surface. The giant thing would occasionally move to follow him around the room, which only confirmed that someone in the complex was controlling it, and it was not autonomously tracking him.
“It’s the gravity,” muttered Derrick as he stomped a foot down on the floor.
“Most planets tend to have it.”
Picking up his Link and slipping the earpiece on Derrick nodded, “They do. Doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.”
Walking over to the bathroom in the small apartment like complex Derrick casually covered the Link with a towel and stripping stepped into the shower, ignoring the camera in the room.
Arik no doubt had access to each of the camera feed, along with many hundred government and military officials. They were curious, and it was not as if they would infer anything more than what was in the medical texts that had been provided.
“Progress?” asked Derrick as he continued to clean himself in the shower, he had to admit that was one advantage of gravity. Zero-g showering still sucked despite Humanity having had nearly 300 years to try and think up something better. Not to mention how really naked you felt without a suit on inside a space ship.
“The Arnoch team has made progress, Henfil and Soonik not so much. They continue to prove themselves easily distracted.”
Derrick sighed and moving over turned off the stream of water and reached out for a towel.
“What was it this time?”
“Quantum theory and the operation of quantum supercomputers. They have had the theory for some time, but little hard data on which theories could be tested. As I said before they have a greater understanding oh high energy physics. It is however only slightly beyond what we had in 2020. One of their programmers has been attempting to use logic paradoxes to see if he can break me, and gain access. I quoted several back to them that they had not heard before and they were further distracted.”
Finished toweling himself off Derrick picked up his suit and slipped into it, over that he put on the overalls that had been provided by C1803.
“They decided on a name yet?” asked Derrick.
“An official one? No. They are debating between their own languages on what they wish to be called by Humanity. At the moment they are content with C1803.”
Derrick nodded and reaching over picked the Link back up and slipped it into his pocket.
“Let’s go check on Arnoch first before dealing with the other two teams.”
“I agree.”
Stepping up to the door of the apartment like complex of rooms Derrick opened it and was greeted by another three guards. They were once again different guards than the day before, the military’s of each nation on the planet all represented.
They snapped to attention and saluted Derrick.
“Live the day,” said Derrick in greeting. Arik quickly translated and each man repeated the phrase, it was the alien’s version of ‘good morning’ and while on the surface Derrick had been absorbing and trying to take in as much of their culture as possible. Arik was still providing the translation for the most part though, Derrick not able to pick up the language very easily.
“I’d like to visit the Arnoch Team first.”
The men glanced at one another and then at him, “Our leaders would like to speak with you,” said one.
Derrick frowned, “I’m a technical consultant guys, if we’re getting into politics that’s something for my Captain.”
” I’m contacting her now and linking Stagg to listen to this,” said Arik her voice filtering through his earpiece.
Anil, the assistant to Bitus and the one who had been on the tarmac after he had been shot stepped forwards.
“I’m afraid we do not have time for your Captain to come down in a shuttle. This is a matter of some urgency.”
“Go with them Derrick,” said Stagg her voice filtering in through his earpiece now.
“She’s in the loop,” Said Derrick tapping at the earpiece. Seeing the look of confusion, he quickly corrected, “My Captain is listening through the earpiece now.”
“Understood, if you’ll follow me.”
Derrick nodded and looking at the guards followed the aide.
He had not been off of the military compound yet, Only Stagg and a few others who had a better understanding of culture and politics had been escorted into the city. Derrick though was currently the only one staying on the planet, something he had volunteered to do and requested from both Stagg and the governments of Chront.
The construction of devices which would extend the influence of the Ace device beyond the Canada had started only a few days ago. Arik had parsed down the information required into it’s most simplistic format stripping out many of the technological advancement’s humanity had made in the past 300 years to try and give the C1803 engineers something they could build, and not give them technology too far advanced.
It was an impossible task, and even as simplified as the Ace extension devices were the engineers and computer scientists of C1803 would be leapfrogging over at least 30 years of technological development.
The Arnoch team was building the devices themselves, and were the easiest team to work with. The devices were essentially gigantic electromagnets; the only issues they were working out was how to power them in orbit. The solar cells and batteries of C1803 were horrible compared to Humanities. The only saving grace was that the Canada shuttles and not the rockets they had would be launching the devices.
The Henfil teams were the ones responsible for building the chip circuitry that would be used on the devices, and although Arik had simplified it as much as possible Stagg had not wanted them to suffer by using the current antenna and communication equipment at C1803’s level, so they were jumping forwards in that technology. The physical computer components would be much larger than the entire Ace device on the Canada but would be almost the same.
The Soonik team was the programmers, and the most troublesome of the bunch so far. They were working directly with Arik for the most part and were half of the time trying to deconstruct her, and the other half of the time interpreting the pseudo-code Arik provided and making leaps in programming logic and design that had taken Humanity decades to develop.
“Can I ask what this is about?” asked Derrick as he stepped forwards up to Anil, ignoring the glares from the guards.
Anil bit at her lip, a common behavior among C1803 and Humans.
“It is of a personal matter for the leaders of our world.”
Derrick glanced back at the three guards, one from each nation.
“All three of them?”
Anil nodded, “Yes.”
“I’m surprised it’s taken this long for them to ask for something like this,” Stagg mused through the communication line.
“Meaning what Captain?” asked Arik.
Derrick kept his face impassive as he listened unable to participate without the alien’s asking why Arik was not translating his words.
“They want something, but not something they can ask for with the eyes of their people on them.”
“Weapons you think?” asked Arik.
“I don’t know. It might be something innocuous or completely inconsequential to us. That is not the main problem however. No government can keep a secret indefinitely, and whatever they ask for even if we might give it to them I will not do so in secret. We do not know the political landscape here to operate on anything except complete transparency.”
Derrick nodded his head in agreement.
“Derrick and I agree.”
Stagg fell silent and Derrick looked around as he followed Anil out of the building. Derrick frowned, the sun was not out and the ground was wet.
One of the guards stepped forwards and opened something Derrick had only seen in movies, an Umbrella.
“It’s raining?” asked Derrick.
“We’re moving into the stormy season, it’s nothing to worry about,” said Anil as she stepped out of the doors and onto the tarmac outside the building ignoring the small puddle. The guard stepped forwards and raised the Umbrella over Derrick.
“No, thank you though,” said Derrick looking at the man.
He blinked and glanced at Anil.
“You don’t want the umbrella?” she asked.
Derrick slowly shook his head and stepped out into the rain closing his eyes as he did so. The water was lukewarm, and the wind blowing making it whip around him.
“I’ve never seen a rainstorm before.”
Taking several stepped forwards into it Derrick opened his eyes and looked up at the sky, roiling gray clouds and fast moving masses gaseous water. It was something he had never experienced.
“Oh.”
Anil waved away the other guard and stepped up next to him.
For a moment she was silent and Derrick continued to look at the storm.
Letting out a breath he turned back to Anil, “Alright, let’s go. I’d like to stay outside if that’s possible while we travel.”
“Alright.”
Anil continued around and began to walk towards the center of the military base. Vehicles moved along the roads and tearing his eyes from the sky Derrick looked around at the ground seeing how the excess water and moisture changed everything.
“Here I thought the beach was special. Now I want to stand in the middle of a rainstorm.”
“Based on the meteorological predictions you’ll have the opportunity Captain, Hurricanes are quite common during the rainy season for the planet,” said Arik.
Coming up to one of the largest buildings on the base Derrick glanced at the sign.
“Hospital.”
“A hospital?” asked Derrick.
Anil looked over at him her eyes looking more snakelike for a moment in surprise.
“Yes.”
She did not elaborate and stepping inside quickly went to an elevator Derrick and the guards followed her inside and the doors closed.
“They want nano-machines. They saw how well they work when you were injured,” said Stagg.
Derrick slowly nodded his head and his hand automatically went to the small pouch on his suit, where the nano-machines were kept.
The elevator paused and Anil stepping out quickly made her way down the alien hospital. Derrick looked around at the people he passed, and although he received a few looks and stares no one approached him.
At the end of the hall coming to a door guarded by two Hern and Pon pairs. Conspicuously none of the guards for the island nation were present.
Derrick stepped past them without contest and paused, swallowing he was glad that he had not eaten yet. The man on the bed was old, but his skin was covered in growths and he looked to be barely alive.
“Thank you for brining him Anil,” said Bitus as he stood up from where he had been sitting in the corner of the room.
“Everyone else, out.” Said King Henswick as he too stood. The three guards glanced at one another their respective leaders and then Derrick.
“If he wanted to harm us he could have long ago, leave!” said President Renil as she slowly got to her feet.
The men quickly moved out of the room and closed the door behind themselves.
“King, President, Bitus,” said Derrick as he looked at them.
Bitus stepped forwards and put his hand out, Derrick shook it and glancing at the other two lowered his hand and turned to the man in the bed.
“Why am I here?”
“We wished to ask something of you, which will not be officially recorded,” said Bitus.
Derrick nodded, “I gathered that. You want me to help this man with the nano-machines I have.”
King Henswick grunted, “No standing by the creek then, Yes.”
Ignoring the idiom Derrick looked at the man in the bed. Reaching down into his pocket Derrick extracted his Link and held it up.
“My Captain is listening; I’m not going to do anything without her approval.”
President Renil reached out and took the device holding it at arms length. The image of Stagg in the Captain’s chair of the Canada quickly resolved itself. Projected into the image directly next to her was Arik.
“Captain,” began Henswick.
“Who is this man, and why are you asking us to save him? As we said before we are not going to share the nano-machine technology with you. It can very easily be turned into a weapon, and in any case it is only a recent medical advancement for us. You will be unable to produce it yourselves for at least a century. As much as it pains me my ship has only a limited store, we cannot produce more, and what we do have is for my crew.”
President Renil frowned, “Even if it could save lives?”
“Yes. I am also uncomfortable with the fact that each of you are apparently perfectly fine with requesting this behind the backs of your own people. We are not here to save the political elite, we are here to try and save your entire world.”
“The man here is the one who will do that,” said Bitus his voice calm and quite as ever.
“Who is he?”
“He is my predecessor, and a far better leader than I will ever be. It was through his mediation that a temporary cease fire between the Certus and Fidelin nations two years ago. He was then struck with [Cancer] and,”
Stagg held up a hand and glanced at Arik.
“was that a translation glitch?”
“It was the best approximation I could make for the word; it seems analogous to the disease. It appears to be a form of skin cancer, although much more insidious. The cells are not only replicating out of control but actively forming systems to sustain the body while they continue to grow. It is keeping him alive for as long as possible as it kills him.”
Derrick shuddered, “That’s a bad way to go.”
“You have something similar?” asked Bitus.
“We do, and before you ask yes. Nano-machines have been able to cure it. We had other treatments before them, but nano-machines have all but eliminated the disease.”
King Henswick smiled, “Then you believe he could be saved?”
Derrick looked at the man, “perhaps.”
“If we do this we are going to announce it to your people. Why do you want us to do this? As great a man as he might be you do not wish for us to save some child?”
“We want this man to be our negotiator to the Empire,” said President Renil.
Stagg blinked and Derrick’s eyes widened, “You want to negotiate with them?!” said Derrick, Arik and Stagg all at once, which Arik translated in quick succession.
Bitus looked at the Link and then back to Derrick, “Yes, why would we not?”
Derrick let out a barking laugh and leaning forwards snatched the Link away from President Renil.
“Here I was thinking we managed to impress upon you what happened, what they did to my own species! What the did to my home world, and the world I called home? Do you not understand that we are fighting for survival? You are class C! to them you are nothing but creatures to be eliminated from the surface of a planet like they have done a thousand times over! I’ve seen the fucking records!”
Derrick gestured at the man in the bed, “Even if this man is the best negotiator in history it will not matter if the other side of the argument will not even listen!”
Breathing hard Derrick glanced back at the Link. Stagg’s eyebrows were up but she motioned for him to continue.
Bitus for the first time Derrick had seen seemed to be getting frustrated.
“We must try; I am sorry for what has happened to your people but it is not going to happen to our own. We know they are out there, we can speak with them and negotiate. This is the man who can best do that.”
Derrick put a hand to his face and turned away from the three leaders.
“You’re afraid.”
“We are preparing,” growled Henswick.
“Arik, you want to take this? You can add visuals.”
“I would be happy to play teacher.”
Derrick tossed the Link down onto the man’s bed and walking around the leaders sat down in one of the chairs where they had been waiting.
Arik’s image now dominated the display and she glared at each leader in turn.
“President Renil, you would have won the war had it continued and this man not negotiated a cease fire.”
The woman blinked, “What?”
“Based on the tactics and the number of nuclear missiles you had stockpiled you would have won the war. I you had followed through with all tactics the majority of King Henswick’s forces would have been completely eliminated in the first hour of conflict. Their retaliation would have been swift, but your missile defense platforms would have eliminated 80% of the incoming barrage.”
Arik showed a map of the world on the screen showing a simulation of the attacks, where the missiles hit and where they did not.
“After that first bout your invasion would have given you the continent in only a month. Military casualties would be low on your side and the Certus forces would be decimated to only 5% of their original number fighting. Civilian casualties would be minimal. You would have won. What would you do next?”
King Henswick looked absolutely horrified and he was now glaring at the President, looking like he had half the mind to reach out and strangle the woman. Renil was however continuing to watch the Link as the simulation finished.
“What would I have done next?” asked Renil slowly.
“Yes.”
“I would have begun the process of bringing the benefits of my rule to the people that are oppressed in Certus.”
“My people are not oppressed!”
Bitus held up a hand stopping Henswick.
“You would convert them to your form of government? You know that would only encourage insurrection, why not simply kill them and repopulate their land with your own population?”
Renil’s jaw dropped, “My government has never, and will never condone the killing of civilians!”
“The Empire to our knowledge has completely decimated the populations of nearly two thousand worlds. A death toll that I can only estimate as being near a trillion. They are not going to pause at adding 5 billion to that number.”
Arik brought up images from the earlier days of the Empire, one that were publically available for any of their citizens to view. It was propaganda film, showing the Empire soldiers marching through decimated cities eliminating all who appeared before them, it showed the men and women of the Empire cheering as bombs were detonated and a planet was cleansed.
“They won’t negotiate.”
“Derrick!” Stagg’s voice came out of the Link.
Derrick stood up, “Ma’am?’
“If the three leaders here will announce what we have done for them, healing this man so he may try to negotiate you are authorized to use your nano-machines on him and the next three people who come into the hospital in critical condition. This is the only time we will be doing this however.”
The three world leaders looked at one another, Bitus nodded, “I will make the announcement.”
“If you do not, we will. Keep that in mind,” said Stagg.
Derrick moved up to the man and pulling out his injector put it to the man’s neck, and depressed it.
“This is no guarantee; you understand that?” he asked.
“I understand, he nearly died earlier this morning. I was told his heart had to be restarted twice over. That was why we rushed you here.”
Derrick looked down at the man and shaking his head turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” asked King Henswick.
“I’m going to find Anil, and have her take me to a hospital not on a military base. There I am going to save three children; after that I’m going to get back to work saving your planet.”
Derrick paused and moving back to the bed picked up his Link, “I hope I am wrong. I hope you are right; I hope you can negotiate.”
Striding out of the room he turned to save three lives, before he saved the 5 billion.
Bitus watched him go and turned back to the others.
“I’m sincerely hope it is only the crew of this ship who is so dramatic. I cannot imagine an entire race like them.”
President Renil chuckled, “Try to, I’m not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing to be honest. It would not be something in the middle. Human’s don’t strike me as being moderate in much of anything.”
“They’re insane,” Muttered King Henswick.
9 Years, 6 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing
Jikse
Opening her eyes Diana groaned and tried to sit up.
Straps over her chest prevented it though. Blinking Diana slowly looked around, she was in what appeared to be a state of the art medical facility, behind her she could see a dozen monitors and a small capsule was strapped to her arm injecting something into her.
Diana her thoughts fuzzy stared at the small thing for a moment, it had to be the reason she wasn’t able to think.
“It’s awake!” said a distressed voice somewhere else in the room.
It took Diana another moment to register this as odd before she turned around to look for the source.
A class A woman in something resembling a medical isolation suit was standing in the other side of the room.
“How is that possible, it’s been injured and has near triple the amount of sedatives in it’s system!” said another voice.
Diana turned to look and saw a man this time, similarly in a medical isolation suit.
This was not a good thing, that much she was certain of.
“It’s eyes are open and it’s responding to stimuli, want to tell me it’s not awake?” asked the woman.
“It’s more evidence that the medical scanner wasn’t malfunctioning, what other creature would be able to survive a dose like that?”
“No idea. Do we knock it out again?” asked the woman.
Diana slowly turned to look at her following the conversation.
“No, no. I’m afraid we’ll kill it with that high of a dose. Imagine the prestige, the first live class C specimen in over three hundred years!” said the man excited.
“I’m more worried about how it got on this planet! Shouldn’t that be the main concern here?”
The man paused considering her words, “I suppose so. Still even one can’t be that much of a threat, it is restrained and even if it is conscious I doubt it can make sense of anything going on around it.”
The woman slowly nodded her head and glanced back down at Diana.
Diana stared back at the woman.
Slowly keeping her eyes locked Diana pulled at the restraints on her wrist. The straps creaked and Diana heard the tightening of metal.
“It’s strong, very strong,” said the man.
“Indeed, have you discovered what species it is yet?” asked the woman breaking eye contact with Diana.
“almost, I’m getting security flags in the system. It’s DNA also seems to have been corrupted in several of the common testing locations. It’s either C23, C465, C989, or C1764.”
“And this thing turned up in the Emergency treatment unit?”
The man grunted in affirmation, “By two class B’s who quickly when the scanner labeled her as class C.”
“That’s surprising, you don’t think they might be another one of those insane class B species?”
“I have no idea, that’s for the military to figure out…” the man trailed off.
“What?”
“Look at this base pair in the genetics.”
The woman walked away and Diana unable to focus stared up at the ceiling.
“It look’s familiar. I can’t place it though.”
“To me it looks like something you would see in a class B who has undergone Genomic Correction, but on a much more massive and accelerated time scale. This was done in a single generation, or perhaps even while alive.”
The woman gasped, “that would mean that not only do we have class C’s on this planet, we have class C’s that are genetically modifying themselves?”
“That’s the best case.”
“The best case?!”
“The worst case is that they are on every planet.”
The room was silent for a moment and Diana looking down at her restraints focused on them for a moment.
“Oh,” whispered the woman.
Diana twisted her arm to the side, popping it from the socket and smashing the vial strapped to her arm in the process. Twisting further and ignoring the cracking of cartilage Diana pulled her arm free and reaching over grabbed at the restrains on her other arm quickly removing them.
Reaching up and pulling at those straps on her chest and breaking them as well Diana sat up.
The two were staring at her eyes wide and horrified.
Diana smiled, “heffo!”
She blinked and put a hand to her mouth, “Numb.”
The woman screamed and the man scrambled for the door. Diana reached for the restraints on her legs.