Ally or Alien: A Sci-Fi Novel (10 page)

"That's a good idea," Bellrock said and watched how the female Newtype projected the footage depicting their ship infestation over the center of the table. A Tri-D motion map glistened in the brightest colors and switched view points. He saw everything from the first-perspective, which made it look like an ego-shooter. Four arms sealed a shutter gate with some kind of semi-transparent substance. The person floated away from the mechanism, back to the tight corridors of the ship. 

It looked like a horror movie at this stage.

Dr. Rao glued his eyes to the happening over the table.

Science porn for the nerd.

"That's fine footage. Nothing on Earth looks even remotely like that. You all did a fine job."

eLoom either nodded or bowed, it was hard to tell. Either way, it carried the same courtesy reaction of the Japanese, which came at no surprise. A lot of Mars' early colonists were of Japanese origin. Looked like traces of their culture transcended into the Newtype mind. 

eLoom scratched the remnants of her fake veggie meal.

"Oh, you are too kind. The footage was taking from my optical sensors and uploaded to the network. You can watch everything—even the moment where I wrecked my body."

Pause.

"And if we have enough time, I can show you how the technology works."

"I'd love to know," Dr. Rao said with the brightest smile on his face.

The guy scored high on the Newtype likability scale. But hey, Bellrock couldn't complain. Someone had to counterbalance his brashness. 

In-between the footage presentation, he tapped eLoom's shoulder.

"When are we leaving?"

"Anytime now."

"Sounds good."

Bellrock leaned into his adaptable chair and gazed at the Tri-D presentation. Watched as eLoom rushed around the ship's corridors, trying to seal the door behind her as she headed toward the escape pods—which seemed to fail because of a problem with the opening mechanism. He never saw any footage of the alien itself, which rubbed him off. Didn't they have any footage of the organism, or did they purposefully avoid showing it to him?

Once or twice during the 'show', Bellrock noticed eVax staring at him. The unit sat two seats left of him with quiet intensity. Maybe the shell's powercell was leaking...

Once the presentation was over, eLoom jumped up and expressed a grin. She waved her hand palms at each other as if to conjure an invisible fireball. 

"I have another surprise for you, but you will have to wait. I need to prepare for the descend first."

Descend?

Dr. Rao lit up, Bellrock's grimace darkened.

Surprises and the Newtype, they went together like potassium chlorate and gummy bears…

27

eLoom revisited her lab office and prepared for the launch. eVax followed her all the way to the desk and grew a serious face. eLoom sighed and realized she felt a rare emotion that caused a tightness in her body.

"Why are you following me?"

eVax halted, clearly taken back by her attitude.

"Your B2B was set on private, so I could not reach you. I thought it was better to visit you in person."

"What for?"

"I wanted to see if the Earthlings caused you any more trouble." 

"But we had a splendid time."

eVax shook his head and pranced toward the wall. He made a slice transparent, gazed at Mars and observed the incoming space traffic. Without looking at eLoom, he said,

"Please do not be naive. You are treating this situation like some kind of happy get-together, but it is serious."

He paused and focused on some distant mobile platform.

"I believe you do not realize how important the next sols will be for our future."

"You speak in riddles. Clarify."

His body stiffened.

"Have you seen their build? Which human scientist is almost two meters in height and carries more muscles than an athlete? These are not explorers. They are soldiers."

Sounded like a logical answer, but eLoom knew better. Bellrock was a veteran who had quit the services many years ago. Dr. Rao was a young scientist with athlete-grade training.

Time to explain it to the perpetual mistruster. 

"They traversed millions of kilometers in space, eVax. To cope with the bone loss and the muscle atrophy, they have to be in excellent physical shape. Besides, our scanners haven't picked up a single weapon system on their ship. How are they supposed to fight? Punch holes into our space station?"

He exposed his teeth, his eyes pressed together.

"You can justify anything, can't you? You sound like one of their despicable politicians."

She walked closer to him and rested her hand on his shoulder.

His body was so tense.

An overcharged powercell brimming with energy, too much for his own good. But this was a time for eVax to blow off steam, so she listened to his words with care.

"That Bellrock brute admitted he carried a very dangerous auto-immune virus."

"It was a joke."

"He unleashed his inner, bacteria-infested substances onto your face." 

"That was because he never rode a tube before, at least not in space."

eVax grumbled.

"No, it was a biological attack."

"Attack?"

"He is deliberately unleashing micro-aggressions to undermine your authority. It is a common human manipulation tactic."

Oh eVax.

She hugged him with all her might, synced her body energy with his and understood the struggles still going on inside his hull.

Even a decade after the Separatist War, eVax still suffered from trauma. Not even correction programs and upgrades to his neuron system changed his nightmares. Maybe in time, he would find his peace with the people from planet Earth. That's what eLoom hoped from the bottom of her nanotubed spine. 

eVax said,

"I think it was a mistake to let them enter our system. But now that the decision has been made, I have to adapt. Thankfully, I am incredibly flexible."

He smiled for the first time, but it felt out of place.

"Make an educated guess."

"Mmm?"

"I'm coming with you."

eLoom lacked words which prompted eVax to continue.

"I have the authorization from the Exec. Ping them if you do not believe me."

Oh, she believed him. eVax was the definition of proper conduct. In fact, one of her secret names for him was Captain Protocol. 

eLoom rubbed the back of her hand.  A very human reaction she had once seen in an ancient moviefeed. First the Exec assigned the probationer unit and now him—eLoom started to feel like a helpless embryo.

"I can handle myself, thank you very much."

"Do not be so individualistic, you know you need me. Teamwork is the foundation of Newtype success. The more eyes and arms are down there with you, the better. Those humans can not be trusted. They might be scheming a plot this very second."

eLoom didn't know what to say.

Maybe it was best to accept the decision.

Go with the flow, as the Earthlings had said.

Besides, engaging with the biomorph was the reason she loved this mission.

Not even eVax could change that.

Now he looked at her and tried to ooze his charm. Problem was: he didn't have any.

"Please change that disturbing look on your face. It does not fit your character."

"Do not tell me how I should behave."

"Come on, eLoom. I just want the best for you."

He tried to nose-kiss her but she sidestepped his attempt and focused on some distant star on the transparent wall. eVax gnarled in the background and crossed his arms in protest, but she ignored it. If he was going to sabotage her mission, she'd give him classic hell. 

eLoom was a scientist. 

An explorer.

A seeker.

That just wanted to be left alone. 

The mysteries of the universe were begging to be discovered and no petty personal problems would get in her way. Neither on the human nor the Newtype front.

eVax bowed and targeted the door.

"In any case, I will be ready to protect you."

Pause.

"Mark my words, eLoom. You will soon see how dangerous those primates really are."

"Good recharge, eVax," she said with zero passion.

"To you as well."

The door closed behind him. She checked her HUD and counted down the launch time with closed eyes.

Biomorph, here I come...

28

Launch window: ten minutes and twenty-nine seconds. Bellrock and Dr. Rao took the tube to the central counterweight section of the space elevator, positioned at the very center of the ringstation. The duo from Earth carried their civilian EVAs for the relatively short trip down to the Martian surface. Bellrock had tried to convince the folks at NASA to give him at least a medium-armored military grade EVA, but the scientists refused.

"Any sign of visual violence could trigger a negative response from the allies," those imbeciles had said.

The oxygen recycler on Bellrock's back was on standby and would last for at least five hours on average consumption. More than enough, in case the lift malfunctioned and forced them to halt midway down. 

The Earthlings teamed up with their Newtype ambassadors in front of the climber entrance. eLoom's asset eKazumi helped them carry all the equipment to the cargo section of the lift climber. She wore an upgraded exoframe that wrapped her body like an artificial skeleton armor. It made her look like the female version of a mech walker. Every limb movement of her was poetry in motion. She wasn't carrying stuff, she was dancing with the load. Dr. Rao seemed to love watching her, but captain Bellrock snapped him out of it.

Focus, my friend.

The two other Newtype eLoom and eVax approached them wearing tight, white space suits that melted into their skin. He noticed sockets and circuit patterns snaking through its fabric. The woman took charge, once again. She addressed the captain first. At least she understood the basics of the command chain.

"I hope you are properly rested, captain."

"Not gonna lie, it was the best sleep I had in ages."

Bellrock decided to play it suave. 

His scientist partner was right, being arrogant to their strange ways would risk the mission's success. These Newtards treated him well, so there was no need to piss them off.

"Your rooms are pretty comfortable."

eLoom grinned. 

"It pleases me to hear that."

eVax' face stayed grim. He looked past Bellrock's shoulder and inspected the human's cargo containers.

"Is that all the equipment you are going to bring onboard?"

Dr. Rao nodded and stepped forward.

"Yes, it's mostly scanners, monitors, exoframe parts, drone equipment, stuff like that."

The Newtype raised his chin and looked like a humanoid refrigerator. 

"You do know we have not only similar, but also superior, technology on Mars?"

eLoom flicked him a glance.

That Watch Your Mouth Look that humans loved to use.

Dr. Rao was pretty cool about it.

"That is likely, but I know how to operate our technology. Plus, we want to be respectful of your time by working as efficiently as possible. I'm sure that even I would be overwhelmed by your enhanced technology."

eVax shifted his weight to the right foot as if to assess Dr. Rao's statement.

"According to our agreement, you are not allowed to access our tech without our guidance anyways."

"Then why bring up your offer in the first place?" Bellrock said.

The Newtype ignored the captain's statement and inspected their gearbacks and cargo crates. He opened them up, checked their contents and rummaged through the parts. Was he scanning their utensils with his eyes? 

eVax' iris marked Bellrock.

"That is an awful lot of tech you are bringing. Are you sure there are no weapons inside?"

The guy was pushing it once again. How could this unit possibly add any value to the mission? Nevertheless, Bellrock played it smooth. 

"Your personnel already scanned our ship and checked our equipment multiple times. You even sent your crawler bots through."

"Possible. But maybe you managed to smuggle some additional hardware. Some of you do possess hints of cleverness."

Bellrock smiled.

"I doubt that. How could our primitive tech possibly trick your mega-advanced scanners?"

 eVax stood two breaths away from Bellrock.

They were burning the chamber's oxygen with flaming eyes.

"You better check your attitude, primate. We do not like your kind monkeying around."

Oh, this guy was really asking for it, wasn't he? Bellrock decided to join the verbal fray.

 "Ooh ooh ooh eee eee eee aah aah aah. By the way, do you have a banana for me?"

Dr. Rao watched them both with rising concern. He looked like he was going to intervene but eLoom leapfrogged him.

"eVax, I think everything is just fine. These gentlemen look very trustworthy to me."

"Looks can be deceiving. Let me do another thorough check-up."

eLoom clutched her fists.

"I believe that is one hundred percent unnecessary."

The Newtype pushed his visage into Bellrock's face.

"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about, right?"

"Knock yourself out."

"My pleasure."

eVax demanded their gearbacks and rummaged through the scanners, monitors and exoskeleton frames like a manic duty officer. Dr. Rao snuck over to Bellrock's position and whispered.

"Remember when we talked about appeasement hours ago, sir? Now might be a moment to jumpstart it." 

"Tell that to the shell over there."

eVax rotated around.

“We have exceptional hearing, you know.”

Dr. Rao's face contorted.

"I am so sorry. My captain is still a bit exhausted from the long journey. As humans, we're still susceptible to the effects of long-distance space travel."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious."

eVax picked up on his search spree until a discovery gave him an eureka moment.

"Aha."

He grinned with a dirty smile as he held up a pistol-shaped device. The Newtype presented it like a trophy worth a billion bucks.