Ally or Alien: A Sci-Fi Novel (7 page)

And unfortunately zero point zero weapon systems. 

As Bellrock glanced through the wall-window of the bridge, he released a sigh and made sure his nearby partner heard it.

"I think it's a big mistake going to Mars without any defense measures whatsoever. I get the panic over torpedoes and rockets, but we could have at least used some kind of kinetic impactor turrets."

The doctor shook his head and flicked 'captain' Bellrock a dismissive glance.

"The Newtype would detect the turrets the second we neared their sector, which would render our agreement useless and evoke hostility for years to come. We must avoid any form of provocation on our side."

Sounded like a textbook example from the school of diplomacy, which made Bellrock wonder which side the doc was really on.

Well, it didn't matter as much as the ship's lack of armor.

Its hull-plating wasn't made for orbital warfare, which meant a single, well-targeted rocket could destroy the ship and wipe out its two-men crew. But apparently, no one at NASA seemed to mind, not even the international crew inside the astroport. They drooled at the sight of the stained freighter.

An announcement voiced by a female came through the bridge's intercom. Bellrock detected a German accent.

"Attention. Astronauts Captain Bellrock and Dr. Rao, please prepare for the boarding process of the Pilgrim Type-II in the main hangar bay. The launch protocol and pre-flight checklist will be updated on your commlinks. Please ensure that your EVAs are 100% cleared before boarding the vessel."

Dr. Rao flicked a glance at the captain.

"This is it. Are you ready?"

"I was ready the second that ugly-ass alien showed up on my newsfeed."

It never did, because there was no footage of the life form itself, but an organism that destroyed a civilian ship and its crew must have been ugly. 

Uranus kind of ugly.

The doc sighed, he probably expected an answer with less attitude. Tough luck with Bellrock, he was 150% attitude and twice as much horsepower pressed into humanoid form. 

"Let's motor," the captain said and acted the part.

The duo walked into the preparation room which harbored the EVA suits for their interplanetary trip. The EVA was an updated spacesuit version that replaced the ancient and bulky EMUs—Extravehicular Mobility Units, which paradoxically, restricted the mobility of a human manifold.

Dark old times.

Everything inside the locker room smelled like metal with bubblegum flavor, but that was the least of Bellrock's worries. With the help of the international crew, consisting of men, women and 'liquids' hailing from South Korea, Russia, Germany and Italy, they put on the suits in no time. Checked the oxygenators and thrusters on their back and put two thumbs up. Bellrock shook inside his suit, because now came the part he dreaded the most.

Close quarters sleep.

He dreaded it so much he looked at Dr. Rao walking up the ramp with rising anxiety. He squeezed out words with unusual hesitation.

"Can't I supervise the flight with you? You know I have a STEM degree as well."

"Do you know the schematics of a Pilgrim Type-II freighter?"

Bellrock shrugged.

"No, but I'm a fast learner."

"I'm sorry, sir, but don't worry. Mars is only millions of miles away. No FTL, which means it will be a quickie, so to speak."

Well, that was one quickie Bellrock would have loved to ditch.

19

Meanwhile, many, many millions of kilometers away.

An array of orbital stations floated in the cosmic soup. Each section was connected to the network to rule all networks: the central ringstation, named the Ares Nexus, looked like a giant, white halo piercing through the darkness of the void.

Giving light to explorers and searchers from across the sector.

Hundreds of manned ships and droids left the docking bays of the ringstation and eclipsed around the Martian orbit before entering. Inside the Ares Nexus halo throned a hall section with capsules protruding from the walls like cylinder-shaped thorns.

Glowing, flickering, vibrating. 

Magic was happening here.

A Newtype unit walked into the hall and approached pod number SO2001. A holo-warning flickered on the surface's hull.

"Do not intervene—printing in process."

He looked through the transparent pod shell and watched as three robotic arms reconstructed a human figure from its nanoprinted wireframe design. Well, it wasn't entirely human, at least according to the brutes back on Earth.

Special additions were made to the humanoid body: anti-dirt, water-resistant bioplastic skin with an upgrade to breathe in the Martian atmosphere via its bionic gills filtering system.

A bendable, graphene-enhanced bone structure that allowed the body to carry cargo three times its weight. A fresh powercell integrated into the heart, upgraded to last 72 hours with a single charge. A skintight, all-purpose armor layer that could be easily upgraded with orbital and planetary models. And a nano-optic fiber systems of veins and neurons to transport nanodroids and electronic pulses at the fastest speed available.

In short, the construction arms created a masterpiece of technology, superior to any other organism in the known galaxy. eVax grinned as the printing process came to its end. Over six and a half hours of building, and the flawless shape came into being.

Finally.

"Recreation complete," the pod said as it opened its hull. 

A young woman awoke inside and peeked out the port. Her sleepy eyes adjusted to the dim, artificial sun light of the recreation hall. She looked confused for at least a nanosecond but recognized the unit standing in front of her pod. Both mind and body synced with the central network of the Newtype.

eVax grinned like a boy from Earth. Thank tech no one was watching him expressing wasteful emotions. But seeing her, he just couldn't help it. She lit up his neuron membrane structure.

"Welcome back, eLoom."

20

eLoom climbed out of her pod and felt as if she awoke from a century-long sleep. It reminded her of a human fable where a sleeping beauty was revived through the exchange of an orally-transmitted mouth fluid, or kiss, as the Earthlings had called it. To be honest, it was a wonder she even received a respawn, after all, she had wrecked her body twice in a decade, and that didn't fare too well with the Exec. 

Wasteful behavior be damned. 

eLoom searched the network for the command:

The second she sent out the request, eVax responded to her verbally. For some reason, he preferred wave chatter over mind matter. 

"It was a carefully weighed decision from the Exec. There are some pressing issues coming up that require your personal assistance."

She ignored what he said. Because with her brain booting up, she now remembered the most important thing of the past. The reason why she was dis-bodied in the first place.

"What about the biomorph?"

eVax hesitated. 

"After taking control of our ship, it crash-landed on the Martian surface. It is being contained in the Midland section. Recon droids are monitoring the life form."

eLoom tried to access the relevant section where the droid data would be saved, but she couldn't find it. 

eVax said,

"The Exec want to speak to you."

The trio of the wisest Newtype projected in-between the two. Three humanoid avatars, flickering in their Tri-D resolution. 

"Respawning your entire crew has cost us resources. You have violated at least five protocols by bringing the unknown organism into the ship without proper preparation." 

Oh no, eLoom thought.

Here we go again—the protocol lecture parade. 

A tiny bit of adventurous rush and the galaxy was ready to stick to it to her.

The trio of the Exec paused, as usually, when they unleashed their demands.

"However, what happened can not be undone. We have to focus on our circle of influence now. eLoom, we have a mission for you."

"What is my directive?"

The Exec simultaneously spoke to her and eVax in the most neutral voice imaginable. It always felt like an inner voice lurking in the back of her mind.

"The American Commonwealth of Earth is sending a civilian ship to our Ares Nexus. It is already on its way and will reach our station in 504.3 hours. We have allowed them to access our sector under the condition of restricting their personnel to only two people, using non-lethal equipment. The military advisor and the scientist will first board our ringstation, then descend onto the Martian surface to investigate the life form under our surveillance."

So many news. 

eLoom still didn't know what to make of this. It looked as if every humanoid faction wanted a piece of that new organism. 

"May I ask why the Earthlings are getting involved?"

For some reason, she didn't find that info in the databases.

The Exec spoke again.

"Earth knows about our first contact with the alien. The AC government in particular is worried that we won't be able to deal with the life form in a proper matter. Their expert team is supposed to gauge the threat level of the organism." 

eVax chuckled. The Exec picked up on it. 

"Is there a problem?"

The Newtype spoke with a stretched face.

"Those primates dare to think we cannot deal with this on our own? Their planet’s pollution is probably messing with their critical thinking ability.”

The Exec sounded.

"eVax, that is an unproductive thought and adds nothing valuable to the conversation."

They focused on eLoom again.

"We see this as a chance to further deepen our relationship with Earth. If we work together on this issue, we can look forward to an ongoing peaceful alliance. We can finally leave the primitive times behind. Progress is the only way."

Everyone seemed to nod, except for eVax. 

He crossed his arms and raised his chin.

"There is no peace with savages."

A rare tension filled the hall, so eLoom quickly trailed back to a constructive approach. If the Exec had spent precious material to respawn her, they must have really needed her assistance.

"That sounds interesting, but why did you pick me?"

"Reason 1: you are the first unit to make contact with the biomorph, which makes you the formidable candidate for the mission. Reason 2: you are fond of Earth's culture and its habitants. This positive bias will ease the communication between the interracial nature of our representatives. Your directive: eLoom will accompany the AC team to Mars and assist their investigation while acting as an ambassador between our races.”

eLoom wanted to squeal inside. 

No more rusting in the station.

No more mundane work in the quarters.

She was going back to the home planet.

Getting closer to the foreign alien object now known as the biomorph.

And maybe, just maybe, she was going to lift its mystery.

"It will be an honor. Thank you so much for giving me another chance."

"Thank us by being useful. We will track your progress closely. If you choose to waste our time and resources, we shall never respawn you again."

Sounded drastic, especially when delivered with the Exec's lack of emotion. But eLoom was glad she existed again. She had missed her body.

"That won't be necessary. I will do what is asked of me."

Every avatar of the Exec nodded.

"You may go now. We will update the information about the duo's arrival soon. It is wise to study the AC's customs to properly negotiate with them. Your success, or lack thereof, will dramatically influence the future between our two collectives.”

eLoom bowed one last time.

"I will access every info concerning their behavior again. These Earthlings will receive the best service they have ever experienced in their short lifetime."

She paused with a giggle.

Passion was getting the better of her.

"In fact, these Earthlings will leave our sector with glowing smiles painted on their imperfect faces."

eVax twisted his lips. He hovered his palm, telling her to keep it down. He even added a B2B message.

You're getting emotional again.

Do not>

She took the cue, toned down her movements and spoke with a flat voice.

"I will simply maximize my hospitality," she said. 

The avatars of the Exec nodded one last time before their Tri-D motions vanished. Only eLoom and eVax were physically present in a radius of ten meters. She hugged him with all her might and smiled at his frosted face.

"Thank you for orchestrating this."

"Do not thank me yet. The Exec are not letting you off that easily."

Her smile vaporized.

She looked for clues on his face and tried to read his channel.

"What do you mean?"

"They have assigned a probationer asset to you."

"That is unnecessary. I am capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much."

"You dis-bodied our entire crew through your so-called passionate approach. eTrinity wishes to never see your model again."

"That was an accident. The life form was sealed up in my lab."

Silence buzzed through the air. Only the adjacent pods and their life support system could be heard humming.

"Look, eLoom, check the network. The Exec has made up their mind. You must accept or they are not letting you enter Mars."

There was no room for arguing now, eLoom thought. She had to be glad the Exec allowed her to investigate the biomorph with the Earthlings.

It was only a matter of sols before she would earn her original value again.

"Okay. Get me the asset unit.”

21

"O-hello, eLoom. It is my pleasure to serve you from now on."

The probationer asset found eLoom like a homing missile. She approached her while the two Newtype traversed the shutter gate from the recreation hall. eVax excused himself and resumed his current directive.