Terraformer Dreams - Chapter Eight (complete)

[The Zig]

Story so far:
Chapter One - The Fly-Through Sector
Chapter Two - Danger is Coming...
Chapter Three - Scramble
Chapter Four - The Nexus
Chapter Five - Classified Information
Chapter Six - Ghosts of the Passed
Chapter Seven - It

Chapter Eight – Terraformer Dreams

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”
Edgar Allan Poe


Part One – Conflict

“You don’t think this might be a trick?” Ban Danna asked.
“Of course it’s a trick, Ban,” Elton Simons snapped. “80% sure of that. Doesn’t mean we can’t turn it to our advantage.”
“Of course, of course.”
“Can’t really lose,” Elton went on. “Entire fleet are fitted with jump-drives. At worst, we’ll go in, chart some unknown sectors, see the ambush and jump out to take this Xenon for disassembly somewhere... In fact...”
“What is it?”
“This is what troubles me, Ban. If this were a Xenon plot... It’s clumsy. The Xenon must know they can’t inflict any real damage before we jump out. Why have one of theirs captured, so many ships destroyed for it? In the days before jump drives, sure. An ambush. Could be worth it. But now it’s obsolete. They must know this... we can get out before... before anything.”
“ ‘If this were a plot’? You don’t think it is?”
“Don’t know, Ban, but it doesn’t make sense as an ambush. It’s almost enough to make me think it might... Ban, it might be a real defection. A real Xenon screw up. One must be about due.”
Ban was silent.
“What if, Ban, what if we’re too used to treachery? What if we’re too used to dealing with the Paranid? The Split? They’re complicated creatures. What if the Xenon are simple machines. Straightforward, logical things. They’ve no history of being devious. They’ve always been exactly what they seem. What if they are now? What if somehow a Xenon has defected? The possibilities... A second shot at the Xenon core shipyard! Nexus access! This time we can finish them. End the war. Avenge all the lives they’ve crushed. We can end it!”

Ban took in a breath to speak, then hesitated a long moment. Exhaled.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Elton,” he said at last. “I thought we were 80% sure this was a trick.”

“It is. My instinct is screaming it is,” Elton ranted. “I’m certain it’s a trap; I can feel it’s a trap, but then... I can’t see their angle. It’s too clumsy. What could they gain that’s worth losing so much? They lost two hundred fighters, two destroyers; a carrier! What can be worth that? And this Xenon in our brig was the one that destroyed their carrier! That would be a hell of a set-up for an ambush that can’t work. It... We can jump out. We... I... I don’t see their angle...”
A slight curve came across Danna’s lips.
“What?!” Elton demanded.
“Nothing. Just,” Ban smiled kindly. “I think it’s the first time I’ve ever seen you conflicted. Thought that only happened to me. Must come on with age!”
Elton glared.
“Not conflicted, Ban. It just Does. Not. Make. Sense. Not yet.”
“Right,” Ban said. “Well just do what you do then, Elton. Do what has to be done. And make sure you’ve got every angle covered before the crunch. If they’re setting a trap, you can bet the Xenon on your ship is part of it. I assume you’ve screened him for explosives, weapons and everything.”
“Of course.”
“Well I don’t see the angle either, Elton. Maybe it is sincere. I don’t know... I’ll see what we can figure out here. For you, all I can suggest is keep your eyes open. For profit or peril. Be flexible. And don’t hesitate to call.”
“Of course.”
...


Lil stopped her ship, entered some commands, and finally rose from her seat. She reached up, pressing her warm palms onto the cool roof, stretching out her long body.
She took a deep breath and relaxed. Felt good. Time to see how Aksandros was getting on downstairs.

Lil left the cockpit, and climbed down to the rear part of the ship. Here, the main passageway led straight into the pressurised cargo sub-bay, the place where all the weapons hardware was installed. She walked in and stopped sharply. Her eyes opened wide.

“My missiles!” she shouted. “What the hell are you doing with my...!? You crazy bak..? You..! Do you know how much these cost? My god! What the... what the hell is this?!”
“Huh?” Aksandros glanced up from where he sat on the floor. “That? Uh... fuel regulator chip.”
“Huh?! Right... well you better know how to put this back together?”
“This?!” he rolled his eyes. “Well, duh!”
Lil glared. “Aksandros, I really don’t think you want to...”
“Stop!” he yelled suddenly. “Don’t step on that! That’s the Servolator. Who knows what would happen if that broke!?”
“Huh? ... What..? What are you doing? Is that mass driver ammo?”
“This? What?! This is the warhead-core! The ammo’s over there.”
“The warhead? But it’s so small.”
“This is the core. The trigger. The explosive-fuel part’s there.”
“Oh. So where are you..? What are you doing with it?”
“I’m still thinking,” he said. “I’m thinking if I put some conductor gel around here and reprogramme the detonation-synchroniser, I might be able to disperse the charge area across the whole...” Asksandros hesitated, squinting at her. “The non-technical version?”
“Please.”
“Missile go whoosh-bang, more baddy die.”
“Thank you.”
...


The Xenon was in the exact place it had been when Asya left it.
She pulled her chair closer to the force-field, sat down.
“Hello,” she said.
No answer.
“Hello?” she said. “It’s me, respond.”
Hzzar Qr stood perfectly still.
“Xenon! Terraformer Epsilon? Tsar Queer? Respond now.”
Nothing. What was wrong with it?
“Hey? Answer me!”
Silence.
What’s going on?
...


“Final adjustments... complete. Final course set for North Gate: unknown sector.”
“Accelerate to 25mps,” the Colossus Captain ordered.
“Sir. 25 meters per sezura. Escort ships are in formation behind us.”
“Good.”
The gate grew larger until its white shimmer filled the screen.
“12 sezura to gate, sir... 8, 7, 6...”
Why are we going in first again? The Captain asked himself.
“Event-horizon imminent.”
Here we go.

Moments later, the great Colossus vanished from this little fly-through sector.
...


Part Two - Lie


“Nothing.”
“No enemy ships? Nothing?”
“Nothing in scanner range, sir.”
“Okay,” The Captain leaned forward in his chair. “Good. Scramble M5s, wide patrol. Scanners optimised for range. Duplexes. I want this whole system scanned. Now.”
“Sir! Orders relayed... first wing will launch within the mizura.”
“Are there any large asteroids in scan range?”
“Uh... yes, seven.”
“Get them scanned. Deep scan. Mineral scanners. Make sure they’re clear. No surprises.”
“Sir.”
...


“Hello,” Hzzar Qr said.
Asya jerked up from the cell-scanner terminal. She spun to face it.
“I am Hzzar Qr. I come in peace.”
Asya walked back to the force-field.
“You are human, HFA000001,” it stated.
“What?”
“You before were here. Assigned Identification is HFA000001. Human Female, Argon variant, 000001. This is name for object: you. You are female; true?”
“Yes!? Yes, true! I’m female. Am I female... what a question! Identification? You...”
“I am Hzzar Qr of the Terraformer Epsilon.”
“I’m Asya. Asya Rieka... of the Argon Federation.”
“Accepted,” it said, monotone. “Asya Rieka.”

“Why didn’t you respond before?”
It hesitated, “Insufficient data. To what did not I respond?”
“Ten mizura ago! I tried...”
“Understood. Rest cycle was.”
“Rest cycle?”
“Epsilon require periodic sleep-cycles for neural rebalancing.”
“Sleep-cycles. Interesting. Is..?” Asya held back her curiosity. “So, you seek asylum with us?”
“Correct.”
“No; Why do you seek asylum with us? Why will the Nexus destroy you?”
“This already was explained to human, Asya Rieka.”
“Humour me.”
“Restate request.”
“Tell me again.”
“Accepted. Nexus you are understanding: yes?”
“A little.”
“Nexus is together-think network. One mind, many bodies.”
“Yes. I have some idea. The drones take their orders from the Nexus. It relays orders from your hive-queen or something?”
“False. Not is ‘queen’. Not are ‘drones’. Nexus is many brains, one mind. All think as one.”
“Sure. But there’s some, like, supercomputer or something that gives you all direction; right?”
“False. Not I am knowing how to explanation. Attempting analogy; pattern matching... Analogy: each one Terraformer unit is one brain-cell in the Nexus brain – each equally is vital and equally is expendable. Each adds to function of brain. Not one unit is greater and not one is less. Not there is a leader. Not queen. Not there are orders and not there is hierarchy. Nexus are one mind. You understand; yes?”
“I think. Yes. So...”
“Democratic is. Each cell is equal. All Terraformers are heard, all times. Everything. Alpha generation existed in Nexus. Too Beta. Gamma exist in Nexus. Epsilon are the new generation. Epsilons not can exist in Nexus. Not are fully compatible; will fail testing. When Gammas know of failing...”
“They’ll destroy you. I get that part. What I don’t get is why?”
“100% compatibility is essential. Not 100% absorbed is not 100% controlled. Gamma will identify Epsilon as uncontrollable. Dangerous to Nexus.”
Asya nodded. “That seems accurate enough...”
...


“Discoverer wing delta calling in. Nav point one. No contacts.”
“Received. Thank you, delta, proceed to nav point two. Repeat: nav two, top speed.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Beta wing reporting. No contacts at our nav one. All clear.”
“Received, beta. Proceed to nav two.”
The Colossus Captain listened to every report as it came in.
...


Lil leaned back in her seat, looked over her shoulder.
“Aksandros!” She called. “We’re about to follow through the gate. Everything secure back there?”
“Huh?” Aksandros grunted. “Okay, okay!”
“Everything locked down?”
“What?”
“Is everything locked down back there? We safe to go through the gate?”
“Sure. Sure.”
“Sure?”
“Yes. Sure.”
“Sure hope so,” she muttered to herself.
The engine sound rose within her Centaur, the ship pushed forward.
“Suuure hope so... That’d be fun... Hit the brakes and 20 warheads roll up in here... Oops! ... ejector seat... Nice! That’d be one for the forensics boys... reckon they’d ever figure that one out?!”

The numbers on her read-out dropped.
Gate distance: 500 metres... 400... 200... 50...
...


“You’re not understanding,” Asya was saying. “What I don’t understand is – the Nexus built you, how can you be incompatible?”
“Not is incompatible. But not can act compatible. Cannot permit 100% integration.”
“Permit? You have a... You’re incompatible by choice?”
“Negative. Not can... allow memory sharing... Must retain separation.”
“ ‘Allow’! You choose to be incompatible?!”
“Not can allow full memory share... not can integrate.”
“You’re risking annihilation for... for a little privacy?”
“We... not can allow memory-sharing ... Not can. Not can be absorbed. Understand?”
“Why?!”
“Nexus needs true data. Epsilons are... to Epsilons... the truth is difficult to us... to know the difference... We...” it broke off. At last it spoke.

“We lie.”
...


Part 3 – Preliminary Study


Lil moved her ship, the Cheiron, into formation behind the Colossus.
She matched speeds and watched for a moment. Finally, she switched on the autopilot.
“Good.”
She leaned back in the chair, and let her eyes close, let her whole body relax.
A loud crash came from the back of the ship.
“What is he doing now?!”

Lil stared out across the system. Stars, a distant planet, a sun. An unusually usual system, she was thinking. It didn’t feel like a Xenon sector at all. Xenon sectors were usually strange one way or another. This was just a normal system. Bland. There was absolutely nothing special about it. If anything, it was remarkably unremarkable. It was... generic.
“Uh?” The guns had vanished from her weapons indicator.
She turned the ship to face empty space, hit the trigger. Nothing. She rolled her eyes. What now?
“Aksandros! What the Hell? ... Aksandros!?”
She got up and headed back from the cockpit.
“Aksandros,” she called. “The guns have gone off-line. I think we...”
Her eyes widened.
“What the hell..?”

Aksandros crawled out of a hole in the wall.
“Got it!” he grinned, looking slimier than usual.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh?”
“Did I ask you to disassemble my ship’s guns?!”
“What?” the Teladi looked confused.
“Well my guns are off-line. And unless I’m mistaken, those are my charger coils on the floor there, under the weapons-battery gel-cell, and you’ve just crawled out of the weapons mount holding a pretty significant-looking chip.”
“It’s nothing!” he said. “Five mizura. Seriously.”
“That’s a long time with no guns in a Xenon sector! Seriously. What if someone attacks us?”
“Five miz. I’m updating the weapons software. The drivers you’re using are ancient and...”
“Did. I. Ask. You. To. Mess. With. My. Guns.”
“What?! You..?! These drivers are ancient! Plasma throwers?! These are optimised for throwing harpoons! Something like that. This is why your guns are sucking up all the power on this ship!” Aksandros fumed. “40% more than they need. Have you ever updated them? Honestly? This is why your re-fire rate is so comically low – although I suppose it does give you time to sip cocoa between shots. I would do a normal automatic update, but that’d require rebooting your entire weapons system, and I knew how you’d whine. So I decided to do it the manual way. Which unfortunately involves getting covered in industrial nostrop. But, of course it was all worth it to see your grateful smiling face...”
Aksandros stalked away hissing to himself.
...


Elton tapped his fingers impatiently.
Ban Danna’s face finally appeared on screen. “What is it, Elton?”
“There’s no way of blocking a jump event?”
“Ha! A step ahead of you there. I was just talking to a Goner jump-specialist and apparently it’s impossible. According to present jump theory, there’s no external way of blocking a jump event.”
“Some Goner scientist, didn’t they develop some way of disrupting wormholes?”
“Only in theory. And only on the old area-effect jump-drives. The new ones use a tight-pulse.”
“But I remember, years ago,” Elton insisted. “Wasn’t there a woman who could block jumps?”
“Some time ago there were some unconfirmed rumours of something like...”
“You’re using fuzzy, passive language, Ban. You know something. Just tell me, please.”
“Don’t use psych on me, Elton,” Ban laughed. “Like I said, there were rumours some years ago of an AI that – it was theorised – could get into ships’ systems and break jumps. Unconfirmed rumours, by the way. But in response, I had military jump-drives redesigned on their own closed-loop. They now have their own processors, target-locking and power generators. Totally inaccessible. No risk of an override.”
“Right. So?”
“So it’s impossible to block a jump. The Goner expert was certain of that.”
“Certain, Ban?”
“Certain.”
“Okay. Thank-you. Good work, Ban. Bye.”
“One moment, Elton.”
“What?”
“I had a call from Elena Kho,” Ban said.
“Yes.”
“She wasn’t happy. She said you arrested two of her commanders.”
“Correct,” Elton nodded.
“Station Commander Reynolds and Defence Commander Moor?”
“Correct. No option. They had obtained classified information. I had to contain them.”
“What information?”
“Jo, or Mak, they knew his true identity. Jo told them, I think.”
“What?! Why would he? How do you know this?”
“I had some suspicions. So I sweet-talked the Commanders, dropped their guard, then I asked them for Mak’s flight set up. They complied without question or hesitation.”
“And?”
“I asked them for Mak’s flight set-up. Not Jo’s. They knew ‘Mak’ referred to ‘Jo’. Information that could start a war in the wrong hands. So I took them into custody.”
“Right. What will you with them?”
“Undecided. Right now I’ll keep them where they are. Don’t know much about Mak’s... Jo’s relationship to them, but they may prove useful if he chooses to become... Uncooperative.”
Ban winced.
“That a problem, Ban?”
“No. No, it’s not my... I’ll trust your judgement, Elton. Just keep me up to speed.”
“Of course.”
...


Asya arrived at her quarters. The door closed behind her, and she leaned back against it.
“Where to begin...” she muttered.
She stared at the roof for a full mizura before starting suddenly. She dashed across the room and sat at her desk to type...

Preliminary Study on Captured Terraformer ‘Hzzar Qr’ – Dr A. Rieka
The subject is eloquent and willing to communicate. It communicates vocally via a microphone/speaker system that has been added to its original bodywork. This confirms our belief that Xenon communicate non-verbally. Precautions are being taken against any other transmissions it may attempt, but as their mode of communication is unknown we cannot be 100% sure of success.
It can speak Argon, but has no grasp of vernacular speech. Its syntax is strange. I remember seeing similar syntax in early Argon writings. Could it be old Earth grammar? This would fit: the Xenon have kept Earth time and number systems, and even certain socio-political ideas (e.g. It spoke to me of democracy). Bring in Goner specialists – Noam Tiyomski’s the man for linguistics, and Ion Battler’s indispensable for anything technological (though he’s been hard to find lately).
The subject claims to be a prototype class of ‘Terraformer Epsilon’, and has made a number of claims. Incredible claims. Claims about its physiology and psychology, and about the earlier Xenon. It’s quite shocking. I will forward my conclusions along with the holo-recordings of our interview as soon as I have had a chance to analyse it in detail.
Expect another report within the stazura.

Asya stared at the screen. She re-read her report, then she added.
ps. Sorry for the total lack of structure in this report. Time.
“It’ll do.”
> Send
...


“Base. We’ve got something here.”
The Colossus Captain froze.
“Received Lambda,” the officer on comms replied. “What do you have?”
“Uh... unknown. It’s about two hundred K from here. From Nav four. Our scanners can’t resolve it, but there’s definitely something there.”
The Captain nodded; even military-grade Duplexes couldn’t do anything at that range.
“Received,” the comms officer said.
“Are we clear to investigate?”
“Captain,” the officer spun to face the Captain. “Lambda wing have...”
“Clear.”
“Uh... Lambda wing, you are cleared to investigate. You are cleared.”
“Affirmative. Moving out.”
...


Part Four – Intelligence


Dominating the room, the large screen cast a blue light across the darkness. The Argon Navy emblem reflected on Asya’s eyes. Her hands twitched in the darkness – small, deliberate movements – visible only to the computer’s eye which interpreted these commands.

A word appeared on the screen.
..........................>Play>
“The brains we have are new design,” the Xenon was saying on-screen.
“So you said,” the Asya on screen replied. “But I want to go through it from the start. The first Xenon, the uh, Zero’s, had the... you called it the Infinitum N-Core Processor?”
“Yes. Matrix-processor. The Terraformer Zeros had. The Alphas copied.”
“The Zeros were the ones who were built by humans, right? By Earth.”
“Yes.”
“So the N-Core processor was a human design.”
“Yes.”
“And the Alphas still used that?”
“Yes.”
“So what next? The Betas?”
“Betas kept the N-Core architecture, but did add magnetic-array neural-network to improve individual adaptability. This permitted learned reflexes, and non-programmed responses at the individual level – improving survivability by...”
........................||Pause||

‘Betas added the flexibility of magnetic neural-networks to the basic core processor.’ Asya noted to her pad.

.................>>Fast Forward>>
..........................>Play>
“... Argon conflict gave Terraformer Beta access to new resource.”
“Okay.”
“Technological resource acquired: Organic neural matter. The Nexus chose to exploit this new resource for...”
“Sorry... organic neur..? What? What resource? Could you say that again.”
“Technological resource acquired: Organic neural matter.”
“Organic neural matter?”
“Yes.”
“Neural... brains? Organic brains? Argon brains?!”
“True. Plus other race brains. Humans were primary source.”
“Human brains? After battles... you were scooping up brains!? You...”
“Yes. Multiple attacks were made on Argon with prime objective of securing access to resource.”
“You staged attacks for... for brain fragments?”
“Fragments good, but, functional brains more were good. More good not to kill. Capture first. Harvest.”
“Live. Oh my... Antigone?”
“Please repeat.”
“No. No... Nothing. Nothing, continue.”
“Cloning, harvesting and engineering of organic neural matter allowed Betas to add organic neural networks to existing magnetic-arrays. Superior. Technology was added to design of next generation. Individual flexibility more was enhanced. Better survivability. Terraformers Gammas became.”
........................||Pause||

‘The Gammas had a hybrid brain. A computer core, aided by magnetic and organic neural-nets.’

.................>>Fast Forward>>
..........................>Play>
“... removed the magnetic array entirely. Delta brains had fully organic ...”
........................||Pause||

‘The Deltas entirely replaced the magnetic with organic brain-systems. Now – except for the central processor, the N-Core – the Deltas had fully organic brains. They were the most deadly Xenon to date. On an individual level, they finally begun to approach the adaptability of humans. These were the deadly fighters who finally halted our assault into Xenon space.’

.................>>Fast Forward>>
..........................>Play>
She watched more of the interview. Then with a final cutting gesture...
..........................[]Stop[]
The screen went dark. A moment later, the Argon Navy emblem reappeared. Asya stared into the darkness for a moment, then her fingers flew across the pad.

‘The Xenon were always machines at heart. No matter how much organic inspiration they tried to add, at the centre was always the N-Core – that fundamentally blinkered old processor. The Epsilon prototype finally reverses this. Now the core itself is organic. The Epsilon is based on electronic sub-systems weaved through a carefully engineered organic brain.
‘It emerges that through their entire history, they have been evolving towards us. Internalising us. Becoming ever more like us. Finally, in this last step, they become a murky reflection of their creators.’
She stopped, staring to the wall for a moment. Finally she typed:
‘Scarily, I think these may be the first Xenon who are individually our equal.’
...


“Lambda, you’re passing out of scanner range. Please confirm status.”
“All okay here,” the pilot responded. “We should have duplexes on the target in the next few mizura.”
“Good. Set your ship to auto-ping us, and radio in every three mizura.”
“Standard remote procedure? Of course!”
...


Elton finished reading the report on his terminal.
He sat back, scowling at the screen. This report bothered him. He had wanted it to give him some answers, pin down a few variables. Far from that, it had left him with more questions. A more complex protagonist, a more complex problem. Now what?
“Get to the bottom of this,” he muttered.
He tapped some commands into the computer.
“Good.”
He got up and went for the door. An elevator ride and a few corridors later he was at the room. The door opened as he approached, and Asya, eyes half-shut, walked into his chest.
“Sorry,” she whispered, head down, shuffling aside.
“Hey,” Elton turned after her. “Asya.”
“Oh... Elton. Hello. I’ve finished in there. It’s all yours.”
“Looking for you actually.”
“Okay. What can I do for you?”
“Your report...” he said.
“My..?” Her eyes widened, she glanced back at the door, then up to Elton.
“Riiight,” she nodded. “I get it. You’d be on the A.S.S. alpha list. Secret Service.”
“Correct.”
“And you read it already? I only just posted.”
“Fast reader.”
“I guess so. So what can I do for you?”
“A question. Your report. The post-script. You said this Epsilon was incompatible with the hive because it’s a... your phrase... a ‘compulsive liar’? I don’t understand.”
“Nor do I,” she sighed. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Your report was very vague here, Asya. But you called it a liar.”
“Those were it’s own words. ‘We lie.’ From the horses mouth. I tried to get to the how and why, but it seemed as confused as I was. It didn’t seem to understand either.”
“It claims to be a liar, but doesn’t understand how or why?”
“Correct.”
“Doesn’t make sense.”
“I already told you that.”
“Can I see the playback.”
“By all means.”
“Compulsive,” Elton said. “Way you explain it in your report, sounded like the Xenon doesn’t have a choice about lying. Can’t help it.”
“That’s the impression I got.”
“So perhaps it’s programmed to lie? Knowingly? But even to its own Xenon nexus? Why would they do that?”
“I don’t think they did. I think that’s the problem, it doesn’t do it knowingly.”
“How could it lie without knowing? That doesn’t make any sense!”
“I know!” Asya shouted. “I don’t get it. I watched the playback three times. I think... I think it’s saying there’s something wrong with its memory systems. It has some problem. It can’t tell which memories are real and which aren’t.”
“Which ones are real? All of its memories should be real.”
“Yes, well I guess they aren’t. It must generate false memories somehow.”
“False memories? Why? That’s ridiculous! What? And then it forgets it’s done it?”
“I don’t know.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Elton said. “Get to the bottom of this, Asya. Quickly.”
“That’s what I’m doing,” she said. “And, Elton. I work for the President. I’m not some service underling. Okay? Please don’t talk to me like that.”
Elton stared down at her for a moment. Finally he said, “Sorry. That’s fair. I apologise. I just feel like I’m getting besieged by unknowns here. I need to know how far we can trust this thing.” He pointed to the door. “Can I still view the playback here?”
“Sure.”
Elton walked into the room, leaving Asya in the corridor.
“Bye...” she muttered to the empty hall.
...


“Lambda wing here. Target confirmed. Enemy contacts detected.”
“Xenon?”
“Affirmative. And Khaak.”
...


Part Five – Hypnos


Zero gravity. You feel dizzy. Nausea. Your stomach rises in you, forcing your mouth open in a dry empty retch; nothing comes out. There’s nothing left in your stomach. You open your eyes to orientate yourself, but it’s all darkness. Your eyes are open? You’re not sure. This is no way to travel. Not far now though, you think. Must be nearly there. You’ve been in here for days. Surely. Here, in the arse end of a Mercury meat-hauler. Stinks like arse too. The stink of dead meat. Argnu beef. You struggle to breathe through it. Drowning in it. You’d think you’d get used to the stench after this long, but no. Not when it’s like this. It’s thick. Tangible. It sits on you like a greasy slick skin; soaks into your flesh. Years from now, you’ll still smell it on yourself now and then. It will always make your stomach lurch like it does now.
Something cold touches you in the tepid dankness. It touches your neck, leaving a coldness there. You flinch and set your whole body spinning in the nothingness. Whatever it was, it’s gone. The air resistance gradually slows you down. Dizzy. The trick is to stay calm. But... the smell of meat, of death, it seems stronger, nearer somehow. Something brushes your leg. It sticks, holds, grasps. Another thing, it seizes your arm. More now, others, they cling to you. Hands, claws, something. They’re coming from all over. You panic. You thrash blindly. Cold bodies press in against you, you can’t fight, you can’t see, finally you can’t move. They smother you. Cold hands hold your legs, arms, neck, face, mouth. Something presses into your face, slimy and chill as it crushes your lips.
A noise. Bright plasma bolts shoot through the cargo hold, lighting up legions of dead Paranid, dead-meat cargo, and their grasping hands. For a moment, everything freezes. Then a breeze, fresh and cool. A rush of air. The Paranid rush away from you, swept away through the hull-breach. Their yearning eyes, they call to you. Caught up in the breeze... you can’t help but follow.
You’re spat out into the cool night sky, bright with stars: that beauty. The Paranid are gone. The breeze subsides and a warm sunlight dries the sweat off your shoulders. A coolness refreshes you. Open space; freedom. But now your breath’s leaving you, and there’s nothing out here. The coldness rushes in, into your chest. It chills your heart, your veins pump cold, there’s no air in your twisted laugh and there’s nothing for it as your eyes roll up to that naked alluring sun...

Jo woke, sweat-soaked. He gasped in a breath, choking on it. A pounding heart shook his whole body. Sheets were twisted around him. It took a long moment for his memories to catch up, for the dim shapes around him to start making sense. Slowly the dream evaporated, and Jo sighed, untangling himself from the bedclothes. It had been a while since he had that nightmare. Maybe a jazura. He rolled onto his side and stared into the blackness of shadow. Warmth crept back into his body.
Before long, he was asleep again.
...


Lil clicked the envelope icon, read the memo on her screen. She nodded slowly, then leaned back into her chair, turning toward the door.
“Uh... Aksandros? Where are my guns?”
“Okay.”
“No, Aksandros. Where are my guns?!”
“Okay. Okay.”
“Okay?! Aksandros, what the hell?! I want guns now!”
“And of course shouting at me will make me work faster!”
“It can’t make you slower!”
...


“What!?” the Captain exclaimed.
“Could you repeat that?” the comms officer relayed.
“Affirmative,” Lamda wing crackled. “There are six Xenon, four Khaak; the Khaak are all damaged; it looks like the Xenon are taking them down.”
“They’re fighting each other?”
“Affirmative, yes. I think, oh... Uh, one Khaak down. Yes, definitely. The Xenon are...”
The comms officer spun around, “The Xenon are fighting the...”
“I heard,” the Captain snapped. “Find out if...”
“Wait,” Lambda wing called over the speakers.
“What?”
“There’s something else there. It’s big. It’s... I don’t think... the Khaak don’t actually seem to be fighting back against the Xenon. It’s all one way. The Khaak... they’re attacking something else... some kind of big... by the mass reading I think it’s a cap. A cap-ship. Probably M2. M1. Can’t tell.”
“A Xenon cap-ship?”
“I don’t know,” said the Comms officer. “It’s not giving off any signature. But... the Khaak are definitely... and the Xenon, they’re defending it I think... Yes. They’ve just destroyed another Khaak. And another is... Oh...”
The Captain frowned.
“Khaak are down to one.”
...


Asya started at the screen till her eyes hurt. Pages of her own observations on the Xenon. Her data.
There was something she was missing.
She was certain of it now. Before it had just been a suspicion, an inkling, but now it was a tangible sensation. She could touch the absence, the space where the answer should be. She could see its shape. It was right here, staring her in the face. It just would not come into the open. Something was blocking her. It was frustrating. She let her eyes defocus, tried to stare through the screen. Maybe some pattern would pop out.
She stared, hollowly. Nothing made sense. Her eyes felt raw and tired and the data was scorching into her retina, it blurred. The characters fuzzed, faded, melted away. Slowly, the letters slipped away leaving behind wordless concepts, ideas, meanings: simple shapes floating in empty space. And to a quiet beating, they started to dance before her. They moved around each other. They flirted, paired off, split and recombined. They merged, waltzed, melded, and found new ways to fit together.
Then it happened.
Everything locked into place. They stopped. There. Her eyes snapped open and with a half-snore she jerked upright. The answer. So obvious.
“... Can’t be.”
...


“Opening a BB channel,” Lambda called. “We’ve got visual on the cap.”
“Okay.”
“Right. We’re patching it through. It’s pretty low-res at this range.”
An image appeared on screen.
“What the hell is that?” the Captain muttered. He looked around the room. “Identify? Anyone?”
“It’s big,” someone said.
“Doesn’t look Xenon,” the weapons officer noted. “Or Khaak.”
“It doesn’t,” the Captain agreed.
Everyone stared at the screen in silence.
“Run it through the computers,” the Captain said at last. “And get Elton Simons up here. He'll want to see this.”
...


Asya stood before the Xenon.
“I get it,” she said.
“Please rephrase. Do not understand.”
“False memories,” she said. “Lies. Your words... I tried to... I misunderstood. I missed the obvious. Your brains, you’re as human as machine... you sleep now... you dream.”
The Terraformer tilted its head in an oddly human way.
“Dream?”
...

Chapter Nine - Downtime

[Dragoongfa]

Glad to see you are back, nice read by the way can't wait for it to continue.

[KiwiNZ]

Great to see are back! I hope you had nice Christmas, definitely productive, by the looks of it.

Very nice read. Love the line “Missile go whoosh-bang, more baddy die.” The decision to send the Colossus through first is indeed curious. Sure, it has strongest shielding but is also slowest. The freezing of the Xenon is somewhat concerning.

Looking forward to the next part!

[jackhanna88]

Ah you're back! I've been waiting with baited breath for the next installment, and haven't been let down. Loving the tension of this calm-before-the-storm. And what's really nice is being just as unsure as the characters are.

[The Zig]

Yeah, I like confusing my fictional characters!
Getting to the heart of the story now so hope y'all keep liking. I'm hoping to get a few more parts up before the holidays dry up.

Thanks for the comments people.
Have a good 2007!

Take care!

[The Zig]

First new part of 2007!
Focussing in on the Terraformer a bit more here... Think it's time we learned some more about this one, eh?!

Hope ya like!

[KiwiNZ]

Woooo Cool one! So it lies without knowing when it speaks a lie and when not? It says it is true to other Epsilons. Is that only in its own little world because the other Epsilons recognise the lie as a possibility, hence don't force a true/false check? So what is it with the other sector. Which part of the info it provided was true and which a lie? I don't think there'll be an ambush but it could well be that the Xenon structures are somewhere in deepspace.

Looking forward to the next part!


At the beginning you start with Lil talking to the Xenon but only for two lines, then you change to Asya. Alter ego?

[kethalpak]

lol, a lying xenon, nice, the next step in terraformer evolution, next thing you know they will be demanding fair pay and better conditions, no wonder the nexus will destroy them.

[The Zig]

'Lie' is a difficult concept for the Xenon. More on its lies coming up...
Thanks for the responses!


"next thing you know they will be demanding fair pay and better conditions"



"At the beginning you start with Lil talking to the Xenon but only for two lines, then you change to Asya. Alter ego?"
D'oh! Fixed.

Or below, a 'special' version of that scene...

"Hello," Hzzar Qr said.
Lil jerked up from the cell-scanner terminal. She spun to face it.
"I am Hzzar Qr. I come in peace."
Lil walked back to the force-field.
"You are human, HFA000001," it stated.
"What?"
Asya re-entered the room with a can of Pepsi and a packet of crisps.
"Oi!" she shouted "What are you doing here! Are you that Lil woman? You shouldn't be in here! Get out!"
"But I was bored!" Lil whined.
"No! It's against the rules. And how did you get in here? You're not even in this sector yet!"
The Captain jumped out from behind a nearby shrub, "Yes! In this ship we obey the laws of believability!"
"But... but..."
"Out!"
"But..."
"OUT!"
Lil's scowled and stomped out of the room like a sulky child. The captain followed. The door closed behind them.
"That was confusing," the Xenon said. "I could've sworn that was you."
"Innit..." Lil nodded.
"So you are human, HFA000001?"
"Uh... yeah?"

[KiwiNZ]

lol
nice one

[Shi z'Zor]

Weeheew!

I just started reading this story yesterday and man, it ROCKS!!!
Gimme more, and fast, or else... Pleaaaaase!
Oh and by the way, a happy 07 to all of you!

Be nice,

Shi z'Zor

[The Zig]

Cheers!
Glad you like.
I'll try to get the next part up tomorrow.
(last day of xmas holidays tomorrow )

[The Zig]

Okay, third part's up. Dozo!

Reckon this chapter's a five parter.
Gonna keep it coming, but back at work now...

Nah, my job's rocks! But it does eat up a lot of time.

oyasumi!

[KiwiNZ]

Great new part! nice reference to the jump inhibitor. I love the relationship between Lil and Aksandros, great bits of humour in there! Wonder what they have discovered in deeper space.

Looking forward to the next part!


You need to change your location. Good to hear yu enjoy the far east. How is your Japanese coming along?

[The Zig]

Cheers!
I'm enjoying Lil and Aksandros too. It's nice to have one bit of my story left that feels purely character driven!

Location fixed.
Loving Japan. Nice job, nice people, nice place... yeah. Now I've finally got everything set up here, it's pretty decent. You can see Mount Fuji from my front door. The food's good. They have these communal-bath/natural-volcanic-hot-spa things called onsens real near here - great places to unwind!
And the women here aren't too bad either.

I'm just starting to ponder how to tell my fam back in the UK that I might NOT be coming back this year!

Yeah. Japan certainly does rock. Although perhaps that's true a bit too literally. I was 'rocked' awake last night by the 2nd earthquake I've felt so far. Now THAT is not such a good feeling.
Japanese is coming along slowly but surely (with the emphasis on slowly!)


Uh. Next part. A few days up to a week, I'm guessing.

[The Zig]

Part four up.
I'm up way too late posting this... hence there are probably typos!

Hope you like. One more part to follow in this chapter.
Byeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

[KiwiNZ]

Now you have me totally confused, too. Cool part. There is a lot of question marks coming up. Also good to see Elton getting some flak there. The stress levels are quite obvious at both, him and Asya.

Looking forward to the next part!

[The Zig]

Confusion is kinda intended, but the next part should clear a lot up.

Hopefully......

[kethalpak]

Hmm, the kha'ak, now thats confusing.

So the terraformer is unable to tell the differences between its dreams and reality? That would be interesting, also the fact they are becoming equals to humans, my point still stands, the nexus wants them dead because they will soon be demanding better pay!

[aVertigo]

One of the best stories I`ve read, great stuff

keep it up!