Bright Horizons (6 page)

“Thanks,
but I feel like it.”

“Had the
MRI yet?”

“Nope,
had the snake yet?”

“Yep, got
that the first day. Knew it was coming, asked to be first in order to get it
out of the way.”

“Good
call, Alex waited and now he is all worked up about it.”

The door
opened and in walked an old man with a full head of white hair. He didn’t say a
word, he just walked to a desk and hit a few buttons.

“Over
here, gentlemen” he said as he walked over to a small white table. He hit a
switch on it and a hologram of a molecule floated above the table’s surface.

“Mister
Martin, how familiar are you with chemistry?”

“Colonel,”
Williams said reflexively.

“What?”

“Colonel.
His name is Colonel Martin, not Mister Martin.”

“Do I
have to salute him?”

“Well,
no, you don’t.”

Kyle
smiled at Williams. “He’s got you Sergeant Major. Why don’t you call me Kyle,
Doctor Schroeder. And assume that I am as familiar as Sergeant Major Williams
here. If I need to ask a question along the way, I will, don’t worry.”

“Very
well, Mister Martin. Do either of you gentlemen know what this molecule is?”

Williams
looked at it closely. “I’m more familiar with non-organic chemistry, but it
looks like a protein.”

“Very
good, Mister Williams. It is a protein. It is in fact a protein taken from
human saliva. Now what do you think this is?”

The
hologram shimmered and changed.

Williams
looked at it closely and finally shook his head.

“It looks
like a protein again, but there is something wrong. What is that, and that?”
Williams said pointing at little parts of the molecule.

“Good
eye, Mister Williams. Those are why I called you today. This is a protein from
a sample of saliva we were able to retrieve from the Fletcher. We are positive
that it is a sample from a Hedali. In fact, I have been in conversations with
the Hedali and they confirmed that is what we have. I reciprocated by sending
molecular structures of many different materials from earth, and you know what
they told me?” he paused for dramatic effect.

“What did
they tell you Doctor Schroeder?”

“They
told me I was modifying the information. That I was leaving something out.” He
leaned over to the hologram and pointed at what Williams had found odd. “They
claim I am leaving out that.”

Williams
stared at it intently. “It is a bond of some sort, like a peptide, but not
quite right,” he said softly.

“Mosar.”

“What?”

“Mosar is
what they call it.”

“What is
mosar?”

“An
element we missed on our chart Mister Williams.”

“Excuse
me? We missed it?”

“Yes
Mister Williams, we missed it.” Schroeder walked back over to his desk and
pulled up a small piece of cardboard with the periodic table printed on it.

“Tell me
Mister Williams, what are we missing on this chart?”

Williams
took the chart and looked it over. “Nothing Doctor Schroeder, everything is
here from Hydrogen to Untroctium.”

“What
about zero, Mister Williams? What element has no proton?”

“There isn’t
an element without a proton. There can’t be.”

“Just
like there can’t be a number that doesn’t represent anything?”

“Zero.
That was what opened up mathematics.” Williams fumbled for a stool nearby and
sat down. “But how did you discover this?”

“The Hedali
explained it. They were rather dismayed that I didn’t understand a basic
building block of chemistry. They rather looked down upon me when I expressed
my ignorance.”

Kyle was
a little confused, but he thought he was starting to catch up to speed. ‘So Doctor
Schroeder, are you telling me that you have discovered a new element that makes
up our bodies?”

Schroeder
looked at Williams and smiled. Kyle heard Williams start to hyperventilate.

“No
Colonel, he’s telling us that we don’t have this element at all.”

Kyle
looked at the hologram as the implications came closing in.

Chapter 7

04 August
2042

Emily Troy
stood on her toes looking over the small crowd.

“Great,”
she thought. “I look like a seven year old on the first day of school.  Why
couldn’t he be taller?”

Her
brother was only 5’ 8” tall, not exactly what someone would imagine of one of
the most highly decorated Marines in U.S. history.  He was also very good at
moving through a crowd unseen.

“Hey
sis!” Alex Ramirez said as he pinched Emily’s bottom.

She
gave a sharp yelp and slapped his shoulder as she turned towards him.

“Jerk!”
she laughed as she gave him a big hug.

“It’s
good to see you,” he said gripping her so tight she squealed a bit. “How are my
nieces?”

“They
are doing great! Marcy had the lead in her third grade play and Becky is this
tall now,” Emily said holding her hand out right at Alex’s chin.  “She is the
second tallest in the entire fifth grade. And she loved the card you sent her
for her tenth birthday, Alex, she was so excited that she slept with it under
her pillow. I told Mom, and she said that she had gotten a call from you the
week before, but was in such disbelief that she didn’t want to tell me until
she could be positive that you had been released. Why did they let you out?
Scratch that, you couldn’t tell me anyway. So anyway back to the girls, Marcy
and Becky said to give you a hug when I see you, so here is a hug from both of
them.”

Alex
hugged her twice and started to speak, but Emily cut him off again.

“I
was so excited when Dr. Berg called. I mean, to get a call from the head of
NASA’s exobiology department saying he wants me to be his team lead on a new
project. It’s just unbelievable.  I haven’t talked to him since we were in
Argentina, and out of the blue he calls me. It’s so exciting. Rumor is that
they found a couple of fossils in a meteorite on the moon. Do they know the
origins of the rocks? Look who I’m talking to, why would you know?”

Alex
stood shaking his head. She was still his little sister. Even though he missed
her 40
^th
birthday last year it didn’t stop her from talking full
speed like she had when they were teenagers.

“Come
on, let’s get in the conference room” Alex said as he started moving her
towards the door of the auditorium.

Emily
thought it was strange to hold a meeting for a bunch of geologists in the
Pentagon, but she also thought it odd that she didn’t recognize many of those
wearing the guest tags.

“Hi
Emily.”

Emily
caught her breath when she saw Kyle.

“Kyle.
Colonel Martin... why are you here?” Emily asked, clearly confused.

She
thought back to the first time she had met Kyle Martin.

It
was 18 years ago at a cookout at her parent’s house.  She was halfway through
her Doctorate program and was home for a visit with her husband when in walked a
very normal looking man and his pretty, very pregnant wife.

Her
father had seen him and waved him over.

“Kyle,
so glad you and Sandy could make it. This is my daughter Emily and her husband
Brett.”

“Nice
to meet you both, thank you for the invitation, General.”

“Are
you in the Marines, Kyle?” Brett asked without a hint of sarcasm.

Emily
had rolled her eyes at this question, as anyone who spent time around the
military would instantly pick up on the subtle hints that Kyle was a Marine.

“Yes,
I am Brett. What line of work are you in?”

Emily
had noticed that Kyle had quickly, and effectively, changed the subject.

“I
just finished Law School and am studying for the Bar right now,” Brett replied.

“That’s
great Bill. General, is Alex here yet?”

He
knew Alex. A cold chill ran up her spine.

After
Kyle had excused himself, Emily had asked her father if Kyle was one of his
officers.

“No,
he is Alex’s CO,” Victor Ramirez said looking into his daughter’s eyes with no
doubt as to the real question and answer.

Again
Emily shuddered. She and Brett had left the cookout early when she told her
husband she was feeling sick. She never told him the real reason. Emily had
just met a man who was a cold blooded killer. A few years later the world knew
him as “The Butcher of Hyderabad”. She just knew him as “Kyle”.

“Emily?”
Alex shook her shoulder a little harder to get her attention. “Earth to Emily.
You there?”

Kyle
was looking at her expectantly.

“I’m
sorry, must have zoned there for a second. How are you Kyle?” she finally sputtered.

“I’m
good.”

“And
why are you here?”

“Because
I’m the military liaison for this… endeavor,” Kyle said.

She
looked at Alex and back at Kyle.

“So
the reason Alex is here…?”

She
let the question trail as she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer.

“I’m
here because Colonel Martin needs an aide,” Alex said.

The
three of them stood there in awkward silence for a few seconds.

“I
never got to extend my condolences to you. Brett was a good man,” Kyle said
with surprising warmth.

“Thank
you Kyle, it’s been hard but we have adjusted for the most part,” Emily said.

Alex
coughed to get her attention. “Come on, let’s go get a seat. Everything will be
clear in the next half hour or so.”

Emily
let her brother guide her into the auditorium as Kyle said goodbye and walked further
into the lobby.

She
was still trying to get over the shock of seeing Kyle Martin when a man stepped
up to the podium.

“Thank
you everyone. Please find your seats.”

“That’s
Ambassador Thomas,” Alex told her as more people started filling up the room.

She
wasn’t that politically aware, but she still didn’t think very many people
would be able to name any ambassador.

“Alex,
I thought this was a geological project. Why are there so many military people
here? And why is an Ambassador in charge of this meeting?”

“Shhh.
You’ll find out in a couple of minutes.”

“But…”

“Shhh.”

“Don’t
you shush me, tell me what…”

“Am
I going to have to separate you two?” The cheerful voice of Doctor Amanda
Reeling suddenly interrupted as she stuck her head between the squabbling
siblings.

“Amanda,
what are you doing here?” Emily said as she stood up and hugged her dear
friend.

“Doctor
Berg asked me to be a part of the project, do you know who is heading it up?”

“I
am,” whispered Emily as the doors closed and quiet finally settled over the
room.

“Good
afternoon everyone, thank you for coming,” Ambassador Thomas began speaking.
“Those who are not familiar with our project will be given a set of data with
all information. Please hold all questions until the end of our presentation,
if you will. Let me lay out a few basic facts that you may need time to adjust
to.”

Emily
shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She had agreed to head up this project based
upon her previous work with Doctor Berg, but she now had the sneaking suspicion
that she had been had.

“The
first fact is that we have made contact with an alien race.”

Emily
felt the blood rush to her head. While others in the room gasped or went pale,
she became focused.

“The
aliens that we first encountered are known as the Hedali. Due to some
circumstances that arose during our initial meeting with them, we have been
invited to have a few of our scientists go to a deep space research facility.
This, I think we can all agree, will be a wonderful step towards expanding our
knowledge of the Universe.”

“Indeed,”
thought Emily. “This is like discovering fire.”

“Please,
let’s hold all questions for just a little longer,” said Ambassador Thomas,
trying to maintain control of the increasingly loud mutterings filling the
small auditorium.

Emily
barely heard the rest of the short introduction. She started devouring the
information pack and getting ready to lead her team. By the end of the day she
knew that she would be in deep space in two months and that her team would be
making breakthroughs that would lead humanity into the future.

28 September
2042

Emily
looked over and saw her brother strapped in next to her. He gave her a quick
wink and smile, which made her smile back at him.

The
Shuttle Greenway was roaring to life. Emily and her team were going to be
traveling to a deep space research station seventeen light years from earth.
Amazingly, the longest part of the trip would be the eight day journey aboard
the earth vessel. From there, the six humans who would be continuing on would
be in a Hedali scout vessel that would be able to reach the station in less
than fourteen hours.

Doctors
Amanda Reeling and Howie Grant were her fellow researchers on this mission. Her
brother and Colonel Kyle Martin made up the security detail for her team and Ambassador
Jim Thomas was the diplomat who had talked his way into being aboard the
station.

She
didn’t really care as she was going to be meeting aliens soon. Real, living,
honest to goodness aliens. She felt giddy and started to grin. Then she felt
the Shuttle moving and felt her stomach drop. She was never a big fan of
amusement park rides, and that is exactly what the launch reminded her of.
Gratefully the feeling stopped in a few minutes.

“Ladies
and gentlemen, welcome to outer space,” Captain Brendlin announced over the
intercom system. “We will be rendezvousing with the Space Station Galaxy in a
couple of hours. After a brief stop there, we will continue on to our final
destination.”

Emily
sighed and relaxed.

The
Hedali had given her team some files describing life on the station and some
details concerning the other races that would be stationed there. The station
itself was divided into various areas, including common areas and separated
living areas for each of the races. The common areas were the galley, the labs,
and the docking area. The Hedali had agreed to bring a supply ship for the
humans every two months, and to provide long range communication. They would be
seventeen light years from Earth, and yet they would be able to communicate
with NASA with only a six hour delay. That was an amazing thought.

Even
above the thought of being in deep space and all the magical-seeming technology
they would get to see, she was more excited to meet the four races that would
be sharing the station. They all breathed oxygen, they all processed foods the
same way, and they all had relatively similar requirements for temperature and
gravity. The Hedali would be in the warmest part of the station and the Sortag
in the coolest. The rooms set up for the humans would be the second coolest,
and have the richest oxygen mix.

The
Junniji had the most scientists and staff onboard followed by the Hedali. The
Iltia’cor had the same number of scientists and research staff as the Sortag,
twelve, but they also had the largest number of security, at twenty two. In
fact, the Iltia’cor had more security on the station than all of the rest of
the races combined.

The
most surprising thing Emily discovered while going through her information packets
was that Ambassador Thomas was not the only diplomat to be on board. An
Iltia’cor named Kiltao Bregan was someone of importance. Apparently the name
“Kiltao” was a title of command, but also a kind of noble ranking. This
particular Iltia’cor was interested in the field of xenobiology for the sole
purpose of discovering how easy it was to kill alien life forms; at least
according to the Hedali. The Hedali were afraid of the Iltia’cor for some
reason, and that was likely coloring their opinions of Kiltao Bregan and his
team.

Her
brother and Colonel Martin had warned the entire team to not stay in the lab if
the Iltia’cor came in when no other aliens were around. She thought it was pure
poppycock, but if it kept the Marines happy, she would make sure her team
complied.

But
she did hope to examine them at some point. The Iltia’cor had a very dense body
mass according to the Hedali. They were incredibly strong and quick as well.
She could see why they had an intimidating reputation and showed a penchant for
using their strength to get what they wanted.

The
Sortag were apparently able to breathe methane and survive in a high chlorine
environment.  She would love to get more data from them and see what else they
would reveal about themselves.

The
Junniji were a gentle, quiet race according to the Hedali, but they were also
among the first race to acquire space travel some two thousand years before.
Their superior technology and weapon systems kept them safe and their drive for
knowledge of all kinds made their scientists the most desirable researchers to
work alongside of. She certainly hoped they would help her team some.