Ally or Alien: A Sci-Fi Novel (9 page)

Two 'beds' in total, so enough to take care of Bellrock and his partner. The Newtype had thought of everything—at least they didn't suck at service.

eLoom headed straight for the wall and fumbled with it.

"I want to show you something."

A wall, how impressive.

"Oh yes. That is the best part," her female Newtype friend said.

In fewer than two seconds, tiny plates of the wall changed colors, no, they phased into transparency. The two men from Earth stared at the view with mouths wide open. Bellrock stepped forward to get an even better grasp.

The red planet glowed in the center, surrounded by ships and drones coming in and out. Stations hovered around the orb like mechanical bees. Mobile platforms circumnavigated the bigger ones and did some repairs or maintenance. 

Busy space. 

"Bite me," Bellrock said.

eLoom joined his stare and smiled.

"I've seen that planet 1828 times from my quarters now, but the view spellbinds me every time."

"No shit," Bellrock said.

He wasn't much of a stargazer, but that landscape, or spacescape for that matter, flashed every part of his iris. The universe was truly an eye-pleaser of a place.

A hostile and mean mistress.

And yet sooo damn beautiful.

eLoom accompanied his stare with soft-spoken words.

"You have two hours and thirty-five minutes to rest from your travels. After that, we will meet up in the community center where you are able to eat nutritious matter. I'm sure you are hungry."

"My stomach's a super-massive black hole."

Dr. Rao supported his gesture. eLoom looked triple-happy.

"Splendid. We don't have the technology to stuff a black hole, but we do have food printers that can take care of your basic nutritional needs."

"Thanks for that."

eLoom bowed again and waved her friend over.

"By the way—this is eKazumi, my asset. She will stay with you and answer any question you might have."

Bellrock exchanged a confused glance with Dr. Rao. 

Asset up his ass.

The girly Newtype was a security camera in humanoid form.

A CCTV chick—ready to report on them.

"Do you mind if we two could have some private time? It has been a long trip." 

eLoom cocked the artificial place of her skin where an eyebrow would have been located. She looked as if she couldn't comprehend his sentence.

"eKazumi will not disturb you. She is the definition of helpfulness."

The asset exposed her cutest smile and looked like a plastic doll. The tech tunic and the circuit pattern on her 'skin' gave her sweet outside a creepy cybernetic flavor.

Bellrock wasn't convinced in the least.

"I bet she is the best asset in cosmos. But it's been a loooong way from home, and we're all a bit cranky. It would be awesome to have some...you know...personal time. This place is still new, we gotta adjust."

eLoom gave him an empty stare.

"Whatever you prefer."

She bowed one last time and left the quarters with her so-called asset. Before she traversed the frame, Bellrock called her name.

"And sorry for the face-puking. It wasn't on purpose."

"Whatever makes you comfortable."

And with that, she left the quarters for good.

Once the door slid down, Dr. Rao cracked up like a little boy from the playground.

Bellrock didn't get it.

"What?"

The young scientist mimicked his partner's scratchy voice.

"Sorry for the face-puking.”

He followed up with rebound laughter and added, "that has to be the worst sentence to be ever uttered in outer space."

Bellrock shrugged.

"What can I say—I’m not made for tubing around places. That's gonna stay a pipe dream."

Not the best pun, but he needed to let if off his lips. 

"By the way, what do you think of this place?"

He almost stopped himself in mid-sentence and looked up. Even with the asset gone, this perimeter was probably wired to the max. He couldn't recognize any security cams, but the Newtype were so advanced they probably used a more intricate way of spying on their visitors. 

Either way, Bellrock would make sure not to spill out any sensitive information regarding Earth.

He flicked a glance at his team mate.

Dr. Rao understood.

The scientist pushed his face against the transparent hull and focused on Mars. The planet's glow illuminated each part of the quarters. Beautiful but deadly, because it was infested with the most deadly creature of the solar system. The doc tilted his head and addressed Bellrock.

"You have to admit this is a friendly welcome, sir. The Newtype representatives are doing their best to fulfill our needs."

Bellrock unstrapped his EVA suit, stuffed it into the spacious, oval-shaped lockers that extracted from the walls and climbed into the pod bed.

"Let's wait for the actual investigation and take a rest before we eat with them. Maybe we can squeeze out some vital information."

Pause.

"But let's keep it low-key. No need to piss 'em off."

Dr. Rao smiled again.

"Says the guy who vomit-shamed the Newtype diplomat."

"Oh boy, you're going to hold that against me, aren't you?"

"Till your very last breath."

They both grinned.

Bellrock wiped the pod hull shut and dimmed its light. Closed his eyes and pondered the past experiences. 

One part of him was terrified of the Newtype technology. So far, everything from architecture and infrastructure seemed to surpass the AC's tech at home, and he hadn't even seen their military units yet. But no matter how friendly they behaved, he could detect something behind their cold orbs. Some hidden intent, covered up by their superficial politeness. Their tech may have changed, but their ideology hadn't. They were the same scheming bastards from the Separatist War.

Bellrock had to watch his every step from now on...

26

After a short sleep, the two men joined their hosts at the community hub. On Earth, a place to hang out, eat and have a jolly good time. But not so much within the Newtype territory.

First of all, no one was eating. 

Bellrock recognized eLoom, her asset eKazumi, and the male unit with the disinfection joke called eVax. Since everyone had an 'e' in front of their names, it was hard to keep them apart. The sameness of their looks didn’t help.

"Please, let us have a seat," eLoom said.

They sat around a circle-shaped table. The food dispenser machinery was located in the middle of the circular structure, with every seating position built around its center. Despite being called the community hub, this place looked more like a sterile science lab. 

Time to put some fire into this cold world.

Bellrock said,

"That's one unique design you got right there."

eLoom nodded.

"As I said before, it is inspired from nature. The common design originates from insect colonies."

"Fascinating," Dr. Rao said as he touched the surface of the table. 

"Do you want to eat?" eLoom said.

"Sure. What do you have?"

She pointed toward the oval-shaped machinery embedded into the center pillar of the chamber.

"These are our food printers. Since we don't require edible energy sources, we do not use them very often."

"So why do you still have them?"

Bellrock realized he spiced up the sentence with too much attitude, but he was damn curious. 

eLoom didn't seem bothered by his forward-style.

"We can still eat if we want. We kept that option as a backup, in case our solar supply fails. The more ways we can transform energy, the better. You never want to be dependent on a single supply line."

"Smart."

She projected a digital menu in front of him.

"We can provide every known food item you have on Earth. It will not taste exactly as yours, but similar enough to trick your senses."

"Even meat?" 

"It will be a synthesized paste with meat-flavor, yes."

Let's hope it tasted better than it sounded.

Dr. Rao found his way into the conversation.

"Can you create food based on the Paleo-diet?"

"Of course. We can replicate tastes such as grass-fed meats, fish, seafood, fresh fruits and healthy oils. Not to forget nuts, eggs and seeds. Your choosing is our command."

"That sounds so sustainable.”

The young scientist's eyes glowed with excitement. He seemed genuinely interested in their food production service.

When everyone ordered, eLoom's asset served the steaming food on white trays. During the meal, Bellrock jumpstarted the hot topic.

"How's the situation with the biomorph looking?”

eVax looked up from his half-empty tray. He spoke for the first time since the gathering.

"The biomorph is alive but safely contained."

eLoom chimed in.

"And it has not destroyed anything—neither a body nor a Newtype facility."

eVax sharpened his lips.

“There is nothing in the proximity except for rocks and soil."

Bellrock swore there was disagreement in the air. Sounded as if not all shells thought alike.

Good to know.

eLoom intensified her eye contact with Bellrock and offered her service smile, which reminded him of serf bots in Japan. 

"I know the intel you've acquired sounds a bit...off-putting, but I can guarantee you that we have everything under 100% control. There is nothing to worry about—once we go down, you will realize that, too."

Bullshit, Bellrock thought.

The Newtype was clearly trying to downplay the footage, and he wouldn't let her get away with it.

"Well, let's check the facts. The creature invaded your orbital territory, destroyed your ship and now infests the Martian surface. On Earth, we call that hostile behavior."

eLoom tilted her head.

"Destroying is such a loaded term. While it is true some of us lost their bodies, none of us actually died."

She pointed at the circuit patterns on her pale skin.

"My previous body was wiped out in the accident, but I'm still here, thanks to the Exec. So losing our ship and crew was an acceptable expense."

eVax rolled his eyes but didn't seem to add his thoughts, at least not verbally.

Bellrock wanted to know what the male Newtype disagreed with. He also made a mental note: check out the meaning of the Exec.

Seriously, he was learning so many keywords, it was fantastic. This was an interrogation disguised as a dinner.

"How's the synthesized beef?" eKazumi said, as if to loosen up the mood.

"Pretty good. I mean, the blood's missing, and it doesn't exactly smell of flesh, but it's an acceptable alternative if you don't have very high standards. You should try eating fresh game, it's delicious to the D." 

eKazumi and eLoom's eyes bulged out.

"You still kill animals on Earth?"

The female units opened their eyes and perked their sharp ears. They looked as if a cluster bomb was about to hit their well-formed faces.

Bellrock should have softened the statement, but man, he was really getting into it.

"Well, just a few weeks ago, I was visiting my parents on their farm. You know, Kansas—it's basically an emerald-green countryside with farmbots. My family owns a few animals, mostly cows and pigs."

He acted out his story.

"So one fine afternoon, I took that little piggy, swung out my tactical knife and decapitated the fatso with one slice. The blood bubbled out and splashed all over my skin. It was wild and juicy."

The mood around the table frosted to subzero.

Dr. Rao gave himself an invisible facepalm.

eLoom spoke with a faint voice.

"Is that still Earth-based humor?"

"No, it's home-style cooking."

The male unit called eVax averted his glance in disgust, only the asset eKazumi seemed to be unaffected. eLoom played her polite approach even though she must have been infuriated. 

"Why would you kill an innocent life form?"

"Because it tastes awesome. Don't judge me until you tried homemade pork. It's sex on your tongue."

Dr. Rao shook his head in slowmo, which reminded Bellrock to step back a bit. He wasn't winning any friends on the Newtype table today.

"But hey, that's just me. Seriously, we have a bunch of folks at home who think like you, not killing animals and stuff like that. Plus, we can have almost any flavor in vegan form, so it's not like we're a bunch of savages running 'round killing pigs."

eVax pursed his lips.

"That thought would have never crossed our mind."

"I'm actually a vegan myself," Dr. Rao said, "I detest the killing of innocent animals. That's why my entire family has switched to a vegan-only diet with artificial extracts."

eLoom sparkled.

"That is splendid."

She nudged eVax with her elbow.

"You see? Our Earth siblings are making progress."

eVax nodded with the passion of a comatose patient.

Dr. Rao continued his creaming.

"We actually learn a lot from you. The opposition in the government speaks highly of your civilization, even says that we should copy your sustainable governance. There are countless fan clubs, moviefeeds and events celebrating the Newtype way of life."

"That sounds aspiring," eLoom said, "I believe in a future where our races not only live in peace, but also thrive in unity. A harmonious convergence of diversity."

eVax rested his head.

He seemed to be enjoying this conversation unlike Bellrock, who was getting dizzy from all the brown-nosing.

"Well, we humans did thrive in harmony until a certain group decided to break apart and started a war."

Mood: burn.

Bellrock was about to add another comment, but Dr. Rao pinched his arm and mouthed a silent Do Not Say Another Word.

Bellrock realized it was the right choice for today.

eLoom broke through the awkward silence first.

"Well, in any case, tell me when you're finished with the food. I want to show you live footage from our biomorph encounter. Since it was recorded in hyper resolution, it looks crisper than real life."