Ally or Alien: A Sci-Fi Novel (2 page)

She sounded angrier than she actually was, but eVax sometimes triggered her.

eLoom rolled her eyes. It was hard to believe this Newtype unit was thirty-five years her senior. But this wasn't about her ego, which she shouldn't have had in the first place.

This was about science.

Progress before pride.

eLoom said.

eVax chuckled over the connection.

No more chit-chat for eLoom. She wanted results.

eVax said like a serf, although jokingly.

23 kilometers afar, eLoom saw the white, slick-curved recon droid with the carrier module leaving the ship's bay. The robot looked like a dagger-shaped insect, adapting its trajectory to the asteroid's. She watched the beloved droid as it decreased the distance between the two.

Come, come into my arms, eLoom thought.

The unmanned robot extracted its claws and targeted the foreign sample eLoom had discovered. The droid fanned a shield around the target area and collected the content. 

eVax said.

He hated it when she used Earth-based terms for him. That's why its effect looked so much sweeter on his face—a contorted grimace with narrowed eyes. eLoom took a snapshot for future reference, in case she wanted to peeve him again. 

Just a little.

But now, she held onto the rear of the recon droid with her suit's claws. She used its thrust and thus saved hers—at least that part was going according to protocol. The autonomous CarryAll transported the foreign sample and thwarted Pandora's super-low gravity. The droid targeted the fastest and safest route back to the ship. eLoom smiled as the spaceship appeared closer on her HUD. Soon, she'd be analyzing her fascinating finding in the lab.

Nothing could stop her.

Well, except for him...

3

Back inside the shuttle, eVax awaited her at the central hub of the ship. He and the rest of the crew sat inside their pods and glanced at eLoom's direction with half-closed eyes.

Three against one.

eLoom felt as if she was on trial again.

"Did something happen?"

eVax sighed.

"This is hardly the time for jokes. What was this whole situation about?"

She lifted the transparent mobile crate with the foreign object inside and held it like a trophy in front of her crew. She even raised her chest and proclaimed,

"I have what I came for."

She pressed the crate between her hands and grinned like a schemer from an ancient cartoon feed.

"This may be the answer to life itself."

She was the only one who believed it.

The second most experienced unit in the collective, eTrinity, raised her head and used her roaring voice.

"Your action was 100% uncalled for. If your maneuver had failed, you would have wasted your body, your recon equipment and even the droid. That behavior is unsuitable for a Newtype."

eVax nodded, changing his supportive stance to a critical one.

"Just what is the matter with you?"

eLoom had many matters.

Curiosity.

Adventure.

The sheer lust for knowledge.

But they would never understand.

So eLoom brushed aside her compeers' vitriol. Space radiation seemed more pleasant than these lifeless bureaucrats. The real question should have been—what's the matter with all of you? Had the obsession with security dulled your spark for life?

eLoom cursed at herself for keeping these thoughts on a private channel, but she didn't want to trigger her crew anymore.

"I'm just glad I'm part of something greater now."

"You already are," eTrinity said.

eLoom disagreed, but kept that thought hidden. It was better to leave the area of tension and do what she was meant to do: discover and analyze.

"Are we finished here?"

eTrinity reacted faster than eVax.

"We will have you undergo a correction course back at the ringstation."

"Fine."

Which meant she was good to go, for now.

"If you excuse me, I'm heading for the lab. I have a sample to analyze."

She grabbed the crate and hovered through the two shutter doors until she reached her second most favorite place in space—the ship's science lab. eLoom accessed the work area of deck 02 and put the mobile crate behind a transparent hull, located in the testing area. She grabbed a twin-pair of exo-arms from the locked showcase and synced the additional cybernetic limbs to her body. With the nano-scanner clutched in her surrogate arm, she opened the crate. Its mechanism unfolded itself till only the foreign object remained.

Treasure on a tray.

eLoom's eyes glowed and it wasn't just because of the lab's spotlight. The scanner zoomed into the hull's surface. Details updated on her HUD. With the help of her extra twin-arms, eLoom moved the object around the pedestal and tried to capture every close-up detail in stunning hyper resolution.

360 degrees, all the way.

When she zoomed into the nano-realm, eLoom squealed. 

Her assumption was right.

She had discovered something alien...

4

eLoom carried enough passion to burn through the ship's hull layers. She wanted to shout the news into every Newtype network but decided to tell only one unit—for now.

eVax, the wisest compeer within the ship's perimeter.

Message: sent.

eVax arrived two minutes and thirty-two seconds later and looked as if a battery had exploded near his face.

"What is it this time?"

She rotated while two of her cybernetic arms still worked on the alien object. 

"It is a cyborg."

"What?"

"It seems to be charged by some kind of internal powercell that reduces its vital function to an absolute minimum. Probably a measure to ensure its survival on the hostile environment of asteroid Pandora-5."

She updated her Tri-D images to his feed. The bombast visuals flashed his optical sensors in rapid succession. eVax had to step back and O-shaped his mouth.

eLoom added her thoughts in verbal form.

"I can't interact with it, yet, but I'm working on that."

"What makes you think it is a cyborg?" 

"It does react to its surrounding. If you zoom into the surface, you can see it's made of nano plates that shift direction based on the angle of incidence, which means it's smart. The question is—how smart? I will know. Soon. Sublight-soon."

eLoom's smile was about to break out of her snowy cheeks. A warm glow devoured her body. But good old eVax didn't share her sentiment. He looked almost distanced.

Confused.

"That is...good."

"Good?"

She let it burst out.

"Good?"

Passion dominated her body and used her lips.

"This is THE discovery in the history of humanoids. I have found the first life form on a strobing asteroid. Celebrate. Recharge. Marvel."

Her energy kept flowing into her limbs. She would have embraced everything in a wide arch if hadn't been for the two ersatz arms still attached to her back.

eVax at least made an effort to smile.

"You are right, it is amazing. Sorry, I'm still baffled by your solo-trip to the asteroid."

He gestured left and right as if to look for eavesdroppers.

"eTrinity is sending a cautionary report to the nearest relay. She says your ruthless behavior wasted resources."

“I didn’t waste anything. I traveled to the asteroid myself.”

“You are a resource.”

eLoom bit her lips, which she had never done before. Here she was, making the discovery of a life cycle, and her compeer denounced her for deviating from protocols. This wasn't the way of the explorer. This was the attitude of a coward.

She said, 

"Since when is excitement a crime?"

eVax focused his blue iris.

"No one said anything about a crime. It is about your emotional outbreaks. We are worried about you."

The next phrase seemed to be stuck in his throat.

"You almost behave...like a human child."

The phrase contorted his face.

As if his spit tasted like acid, corroding his mouth. But to eLoom, it wasn't an insult. She remembered luminaries from ancient Earth, flesh-based beings with many faults, not nearly as perfect as her. 

But they still longed for knowledge. 

Like her.

They wanted to debunk the mysteries of the universe.

Like her.

"What is wrong with sharing the traits of human offspring?"

eVax shook his head in disgust.

"I pretend I did not hear that."

He looked over her shoulder and focused on the foreign object with partial interest.

"Analyze your finding and share it with us. And watch your energy levels—your last recharge was over 29.3 hours ago."

"Thanks for reminding me, papa."

eVax wrestled with his lips and narrowed his eyes till only stripes of blue remained.

Oh, how he must have burned from the inside. 

"Please, do not call me that. It is becoming patronizing."

"Leave me alone in my lab, and I promise to drop the Terran slurs."

eLoom bowed and rotated toward her testing stage. eVax rolled his eyes and aimed at the exit gate of the deck. During his mid-float, he rotated 180 degrees one last time and said, 

"I wish you much success with your discovery. But make sure you do not become obsessed. We have come so far with our collective and must not revert to our primitive roots."

eLoom couldn't, wouldn't, hear him.

She was already back in her world, where only the hulled testing stage, the nano-microscopical scanner and her two extra cybernetic arms existed. 

A world filled with wonder and new discoveries.

Ready to get debunked…

5

For the next hours of local ship time, eLoom burned with curiosity. She analyzed every surface pattern and checked possible matches via the database. If possible, she would have attached five more arms to each of her sides to speed up the process. There were simply too many questions: where did the object come from? Was it sentient? How did it function?

Thousands of more questions stormed through her neuron highways. The only thing eLoom could claim with clarity was that the organism stayed in some kind of hibernation to preserve its energies. Speaking of preservation, the warning voice of the local aid echoed through her brain.

"But I'm in the middle of work."

She checked her biometric avatar on the upper-left of her HUD. The emerald color had changed into a green-yellow mix and flickered. eLoom had more than enough power to work for another five hours without fearing any trouble. But then again, it had been an eventful time. Plus, her crew was watching her process, anticipating another screw-up on her side. She already peeved them by solo-venturing toward asteroid Pandora-5. Refusing the recommended recharge times would taint her reputation even more. eLoom held still and exhaled deeply. Watched the round-shaped organism and pressed her lips.

"Fine. You win."

The aid sounded its delicate voice.

Imagine all the discoveries I’ll miss by going off the grid, eLoom thought.

But the discussion was over. eLoom sealed off the organism behind the transparent hull, shelved her exo-arms in the locker and moved her body into the clearance area for the decontamination process. Before she traversed the shutter gate of the science lab, she winked at the organism behind the sealed section.

Do not run away from me, hear me?

The object didn't reply.

eLoom floated back to the central core of the spaceship and found every other crew unit still inside their pods, checking their protocols and preparing for the recharge. eLoom slipped inside her capsule and ignored the looks of her compeers. She closed the hull when eVax pushed his arm between the opening. His face revealed a smile, but she was too annoyed to welcome it.

"What is it now?"

He grimaced at first but quickly swapped to a smile—one that couldn't look any more artificial. 

"Nothing. I am just glad you came to your senses. It feels good to follow protocol once in a while, doesn't it?"

She tilted her head.

"No, it does not. I have already wasted 12 minutes and 45 seconds."

He exposed his smug grin and was unable to brush it off. eLoom closed her eyes but could feel eVax staring at her through the hull. 

"Are you going to sing me a lullaby now?"

He grumbled.

"That would be childish, eLoom. Besides, do not be mad at us. Everyone is doing their part of the protocol, to the best of their abilities.”

No, she thought, I'm more curious than all of you combined.

More driven and determined. 

And I'd outwork every single one of these pod-poopers with half a recharge.

Thank tech she had her privacy on, or else everyone would have leaped from their capsules to start another endless protocol debate. eLoom needed to store her energies for the work that truly mattered.

I.e. deciphering the mysterious object.

A scientist and explorer of her caliber had no time for petty interpersonal problems. That's why she forced her lips upwards and said,

"You are right, eVax. We are all working hard. Thank you for reminding me."

eLoom tried to make it sound sweet, but eVax must have guessed that she was faking it.

With a half-hearted smile, he said,

"Good recharge, eLoom."

"Same to you."

Finally alone inside the pod, she dimmed the lights till the perfect darkness enveloped her body. The sounds of her surrounding tuned out till only the humming of the life support system remained.