Toll followed the pair of excited nerds at a respectable
distance. Regardless of the fact that Rusty said he had made the choice to come
along, so far the trip had contained very few pleasant surprises and Ophelia
was quickly turning out to be one of them. At first Toll was pretending to be
interested in the seemingly endless hallways, but now, nearly ten minutes into
their walk to an unknown destination, Toll found himself genuinely shocked at
the size of the underwater facility. Each window gave him something new to
investigate. He almost missed it when Ophelia took a right and led Rusty into a
meeting room. He finished watching a shark casually swim by and followed the
pair in. Ophelia was setting up a presentation of some sort on her computer,
which had its display projected onto the wall. Toll flopped down into the
nearest chair.
“So what do we need to know that we don't know already?” He
asked. Ophelia smiled as she worked on her machine.
“That depends on what you think you already know.” She fired
back.
“Seems pretty straight forward. Earth and all its colonies
are property of one, possibly more, corporations. The Pacific Free Zone is like
nerdy freedom fighters that grow computer squid, because...um...computer squid
don't really need an excuse. And we're from a super old colony and everyone
wants us dead, because we're a reminder that you can successfully revolt, or
rebel, or fight the power...Rusty you got anything to add?” Toll asked. Rusty
shook his head.
“What could I possibly add to that?” He asked.
“My thoughts exactly.” Toll looked to Ophelia. “How'd I do
teach?” Ophelia shook her head, a smile on her face.
“Not too far off actually.” Toll held up a hand and Rusty
gave him a high five. Ophelia roll her eyes. “Lets start with filling in the
holes and correcting some of your assumptions. First off, no one wants you
dead. Everyone assumed Colony Six was gone forever. The rings sent with that
colony ship were sent out before the PFZ started installing sub light
communications systems into the rings.” Rusty raised his hand. Ophelia smiled.
“You don't need to raise your hand you know.”
“I didn't want to interrupt you.” He offered as he lowered
his hand. “So you're saying that our colony was presumed lost or destroyed but
there are other colonies out there that you can communicate with even though
they have their rings shut off?” Rusty worked through the thought out loud and
Ophelia nodded. He continued his thought
train. “So our colony started a galactic war and we didn't even know it?” He
asked. Ophelia shook her head.
“We're not at war yet.” She picked up a small remote from
the table she was sitting on and pointed it at a projector which produced an
image of the known galaxy and every planet colonized by humans. “It's a little
more difficult than what you've put together, and by a little, I mean a lot.”
She moved the presentation to the second slide. “Over the last three hundred
years The Corporation has sent out forty eight colony ships to planets
throughout the galaxy. These ships planted slip rings along their travel route
and when they reached their final destination, the colonists on the ships were
free to settle the planet and prepare it for inclusion to The Corporation.” The
next slide showed that several planets had been shaded out. “Over the years,
for a great number of reasons, several of the ships either never made it to
their destination, shut off their rings when they did make it to their
destination, or were wiped out by disease or other hostile threats. Today we're
in constant contact with thirty seven colonies throughout the galaxy. The
Corporation has identified eleven colonies as lost or destroyed. Of those
eleven, six are still in contact with the Pacific Free Zone and consider
themselves free and unaligned planets.” She moved the presentation to a slide
showing a list of the other five planets, which included colony Six.
“What about the five you're not in contact with? I mean
other than our planet.” Toll asked. Ophelia shrugged her shoulders.
“That is an excellent question. The corporation has sent
scouting parties to take the slip rings as far out as they were placed. The
last ring in your line let out in the middle of an asteroid field and there was
ample evidence to suggest that the colony ship had been completely destroyed.
Almost half the scouting party was demolished before they could travel back
through the ring. One of the other planets sent a message that there was a
disease that was incredibly fatal to organic life. They destroyed their ring
and surrounded the planet with probes warning off anyone who might arrive at
the planet. We lost ten thousand colonists in a matter of days. Two of the
planets we're still not sure about. The rings stop in unoccupied space and
there has been no successful communication to or from the ships or planets. New
probes are still on their way to both planets. Lastly we have a bit of
situation.” Ophelia paused for a second, and clicked the presentation to a
slide that highlighted the fifth planet. “We were able to find the colony ship.
There were no survivors but everything was still intact and functional. There
were several video recordings and journal entries referring to an unidentified
craft.”
“Unidentified craft?” Rusty repeated. Ophelia nodded.
“You mean alien in origin.” Toll clarified. Ophelia nodded
again. “You've got evidence that aliens actually exist and everyone is excited
about two random dudes from a human colony? That doesn't make any sense.” He
sat back in his chair. Ophelia moved on to the next slide, where there were
videos waiting to be played.
“It's a very difficult situation. One that will make a lot
more sense once you see the videos. Ophelia clicked the remote and a video feed
popped up. It was a feed from the ship's bridge camera; exactly what the
captain and bridge crew had seen. And what they saw sent chills down Rusty and
Toll's backs. It was impossible to discern how large the ship was or how far it
was from the colony ship, but it moved with an unnatural silence. It appeared
to be an impossibly large stone statue of a man with crossed arms, he was
wearing a robe and his eyes and mouth were closed. The statue had no visible
engines, but all the same, it passed by the colony ship under its own power.
Toll found himself wishing the video would end and that he never had another
reason to speak of the statue again, but the feed kept playing as the eyes and
mouth opened. A swarm of ships poured forth like a never ending cloud of angry
bees. They descended on the colony ship impossibly fast and the video feed cut
out. Ophelia clicked to the next slide. There was silence in the room. Toll
cleared his throat.
“What the hell was that?” He asked. Ophelia shrugged her
shoulders.
“That's what we were hoping you might be able to tell us.”
She said. Rusty and Toll looked at each other.
“We've never heard of or seen anything like that. And if we
had, I doubt we'd be alive to tell about it.” Rusty offered. Ophelia nodded.
“Still, you are proof that colony Six still exists, and that
puts your colony at the top of The Corporation's repatriation list.”
“Repatriation list?” Toll asked. Ophelia nodded.
“The Corporation has been preparing a battleship that is
geared to make the trip out to the separated colonies and either convince them
or force them to rejoin The Corporation.”
This revelation stunned both Rusty and Toll.
“Let me get the straight.” Toll demanded. “The Corporation
knows for a fact that there are creepy nightmare aliens out there in the galaxy
and their plan is to attack and subdue some colonies that decided to declare
independence?” Toll looked to Ophelia and she nodded again.
“But only if they get their battleship, which they won't
because we're going to steal it.” Rusty dropped his face into his hands.
“Toll, can we go home now?” He said from behind his hands.
Toll leaned forward in his chair while pinching the bridge
of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “That's why Carter is so concerned
about the squid'puter? Because you're going to steal the ship it's supposed to
be installed in?”
“I'm not stealing anything!” She stood up from her perch on
the table. “The Pacific Free Zone has decided to take an incredibly dangerous
action to benefit pretty much everyone but the Pacific Free Zone, including
your colony, because if The Corporation gets their ship then you can bet colony
Six is at the top of their list of places to visit.” Rusty stepped in between her and Toll.
“Ok look, we get that things on this side of the ring are
pretty intense. But you have to admit that stealing a battleship is a bit
extreme. Once you get control of the ship, if you get control of the ship,
there is no place you'll be able to take it that The Corporation won't be able
to find.” He explained. From the doorway Carter responded.
“You're not the first one to point that out. But truthfully,
it's do or die time. The second we saw what the ship was capable of we knew it
could never become fully operational in the hands of The Corporation. It
shouldn't even be operational at all, but at least we can use it to try and
reach the colonies that we've lost contact with.” He stepped into the room and
sat down on the table where Ophelia had been sitting.
“So, if you can successfully steal the ship, you're going to
crew it for a very long term mission, and visit colonies that might be long
dead.” Toll clarified.
“Exactly correct.” Carter smiled. “And don't think that was
a plan that was easy to come up with. We've been working out the details for
almost eighteen months now.”
“So what happens when everything about the highjacking goes
wrong?” Toll asked.
“We have several contingency plans, and when those fail we
have emergency backup plans.” Carter offered. “We're almost positive this won't
start a three sided war.
“Three sided?” Rusty repeated.
“Between the Pacific Free Zone, The Corporation, and
Laborite.” Ophelia offered.
“Who or what is Laborite?” Toll asked.
“The second largest company currently running. They make
robotic laborers to do work that is too dangerous for humans.” she explained.
“They have quite a few scores to settle with The
Corporation, but we're pretty sure they won't make a move, because if they do
then the Baceten will be forced to get involved.” Carter continued.
“Who or what are the Baceten?” Toll asked, feeling a lot
like a broken record.
“The robotic laborers created by Laborite started out
partially intelligent in order to make decisions in the moment. Laborite used
to own a small moon where they dumped the laborers that broke or failed to function
correctly for whatever reason. Over the first five years of production they
must have dumped a few hundred thousand of these things onto their trash moon,
but not all of them were turned off or brain dead. So they started rebuilding
themselves on the junk moon. When they had a large enough population and enough
credit to get the attention of the arbitration guild they bought themselves an
organization registration and made a claim to the forge moon where Laborite
builds its robots. The guild denied their request so the robots claimed the
junk moon as their home planet and called themselves the Baceten. They have
been openly at war with Laborite over rights to the forge planet ever since.”
Both Rusty and Toll sat quietly and took everything in.
“So, there are sentient robots, on top of the creepy aliens,
which is in addition to The Corporation that wants to force the galaxy back
under its control. What a wonderful world you guys live in.” He said as he sat
back and massaged his temples.
“Already told them about the statue then?” Carter asked
Ophelia. She nodded. Carter stood.
“Well then, sounds like you know everything about
everything. Who wants to go swimming with a giant bio computer?” He asked
forcing a smile on his face.
“I'll just watch thanks.” Rusty shook his head. “That thing
honestly creeps me out a bit.”
“Does it help if by 'swimming', I mean ride in a fully stocked submersible
designed for high speeds?” Carter asked.
Rusty shook his head again. “Not really.”
Ophelia took a step forward. “I'm pretty sure I can keep him
entertained. We could spend a few days just talking about the differences in
our computer systems.”
“Cool, Toll you coming? I can't imagine you'd pass up the
chance to pilot what amounts to an underwater fighter jet.” Cater offered.
Toll sat forward. “You had me at underwater fighter jet.” he
said standing up.
Carter joined him. “That was at the end of the sentence.”
“It wasn't an easy sell.” Toll said as they headed for the
door.
“Picky, picky!” Carter complained.
