SODIUM:6 Defiance

"Sometimes you get what you ask for. Sometimes you get what you deserve. More often than not, you get what you are not expecting."

S.A.

View the author's website at
www.arsenex.com

Follow on Facebook at
StephenArseneault10

Follow on twitter at @SteveArseneault

Ask a question or leave a comment at
[email protected]

Copyright 2012-2013 Stephen Arseneault, All Rights Reserved

The Kurtz and the Humans had been busy for four years. There had been no sign of the unknown attacker and their mammoth red ship. The Kurtz were building a planetary shield of their own around Toledus, while the Humans continued to upgrade and tweak the one surrounding Earth. Transparent panels now adorned the Sun facing side while the remainder was covered with the standard Sodium skin.

In the blink of an eye the Earth shield could be activated making the planet and its moon invisible. All forms of energy and mass would be absorbed by the shield and passed around to the opposite side where it would continue on its way. The Sodium skin and its physical workings remained an unknown, but highly prized phenomenon.

On the physics front, our scientists had several large breakthroughs. They could not only stop the spin of electrons in the Sodium skin, giving it its invisibility and shielding capabilities, they were now able to reverse that spin. And when the high magnetic and gravitational fields that had been applied were turned off, the Sodium skin would stay in the reverse state.

The working theory was that the material did not revert to its normal spin, but instead continued on to have a state with the opposite spin, effectively moving it into another dimension, all speculative of course, and beyond the ability of most to comprehend. It was a mystery of science that only in the beginning stages of being unraveled.

The planet Alvin had grown to a population of almost two billion Human citizens, Earth had leveled out at four billion and the twin worlds of Toledus and Mabia at nearly five billion souls each. The Alliance of Major Planets (AMP) was again hitting its stride.

Our latest Black Hole Drive (BHD) had reached an astounding 10,040 times the Speed of Light (SOL). The Starburst weapon had been improved in its speed and power. The BGS suit power, food and filter packs had been improved with the standard units now integrated into the suit itself. The uniform belt now held spares effectively giving the suit's wearer double the sustainability.

Scientific expeditions resulted in the exploration of six new habitable planets and two new minor species. The species evolution was such that it was determined to be better to leave them as they were rather than to encounter them and interfere with their evolution. It was an edict that I put in place while Supreme Commander, but had never made use of.

Hershen and I continued our life in captivity on the Frekkin ship and had fallen into a routine that bordered on complacence. It was a difficult task to maintain the physical readiness and mental state that I was sure would one day allow us to fight for our freedom, but that day of fight was not going to come.

The Frekkin scientist who had overseen our captivity came into our adjoined cells with a grin. We were told that we would be going home. A ship was being prepared that would take us back to Earth where we would be released, no questions asked and no ransom to be paid. Our usefulness had reached its end and our captors had gained the knowledge they sought.

When the scientist left, I turned towards Hershen with a smile of disbelief. Was this it? Were we really going home? And what exactly was it that they had been able to achieve? Four guards soon appeared at our door and the transparent field keeping us captive was shut off. We were given our BGS suits and several techs assisted as we put them on.

We were then escorted through several hallways and rode an elevator that moved from a Frekkin indicator of floor 1027 down to floor 18. The elevator doors opened into a massive hangar where a small black ship was being prepared.

We were marched aboard and then made to lie in stasis chambers for our journey home. We were not told how long that journey would be or how fast the ship would be moving. The Frekkin had no interest in giving away their new home position.

The transparent door to the stasis chamber soon closed above me and a sedative mist filled the chamber's air. As my eyes grew fuzzy I could see Frekkin engineers moving about in the ships single cabin. When I lost consciousness the engineers exited and the outer door closed. I was in wonder at how quickly our journey home had begun.

I was next awakened by a small vibrating prod to my lower back. It was an irritating way to be awakened, but effective. I was soon sitting in the cockpit and looking at what I knew to be the planet Saturn. We passed Jupiter and Hershen stepped in to occupy the chair next to me.

As we passed through Mars' orbit I was taken aback by the giant silvery white ball that sat in the position that Earth should have occupied. I immediately began to curse the Frekkin wondering what it was that they had done, but I quickly came to the realization that it was Earth, only now surrounded by an outer Sodium skin.

The ship's receivers scanned all frequencies for signs of communications, but none were found. Our engineers had seen to it that the planet had gone dark to all signals that could be detected by an enemy. All communications were now done through a new and improved QE comm transceiver.

But our defense teams were monitoring all incoming signals and a warship was soon riding alongside us. We were given an optical comm link to the ship and were soon floating dead in space, waiting to be boarded. Three Marines then blinked in behind us with their weapons drawn.

An hour later I was standing in a debriefing room on the surface. Hershen had been taken elsewhere for separate questioning. I cooperated fully and told the interrogators everything I knew. An hour after the questioning began one of my senior staffers arrived and stepped into the room.

The interrogators were soon dismissed and Colonel Robert Thomas got down to the business of filling me in on all that had transpired. I was saddened to hear of the demise of the 11 billion Borten citizens and their three worlds. I was then told that because I had been compromised by the Frekkin I would not be returning to my prior position as the Supreme Commander.

I had been replaced by a dozen members of my senior staff along with four members of the Kurtz. They had done well to protect Earth in my absence and I agreed with their reasoning as to my possible compromise. We were still at war with the Frekkin even though they had fled the general area. In the days after my return the black ship had sealed off and then misted itself. It had quickly decomposed before our engineers could gather any information from it.

I was told that the Frekkin had made contact with Command using my QE comm. The message was brief and only mentioned that they were in possession of the QE comm device. Command had been told, that if the Frekkin so desired, they would be in contact with them. They however, would not be responding to any inquiries or requests from Earth.

In my time in captivity I could tell the Frekkin were an advanced species when it came to science. I was introduced to very little technology but from my previous visit to their world and with what I had been able to see of the small black ship that brought us home, I could see that they were far ahead of us on many technological fronts.

When our interrogations had drawn to a close and full body scans had been conducted, Hershen and I were refitted with new BGS suits and audio implants. We were then given 30 days leave to get our lives back in order. Hershen was at a loss as to what to do with his time, so I invited him for a visit to the farm. When we arrived things had again drastically changed.

Gone were the cornfields, they had been replaced by natural growth. Gone were the new barn and other buildings. All that remained was the modular home, a small garden and a cow pen. When my air taxi landed I was a little uneasy when my parents, Zack's mother and Zack's wife came out to greet me wearing their own BGS suits. The civilian models were covered in pattern designs that were an attempt to give them a modern style. I was not impressed.

With all food now being prepared in factories and stuffed into BGS suits and their food packs, there was no longer any need for farms. They had quickly become a thing for die-hards and the curious few. The nutrients required by our suits were now drawn mostly from the oceans and heavily processed before getting stuffed into the small packs contained in our suits or worn on our belts.

With factories automated, the Human day was now largely filled with free time. My mother insisted of cultivating her small flower garden and my father had taken to studying gemology. They kept themselves entertained by interacting with other older couples in the holo-screen room. Various mystery and detective holo-games were among their favorites.

I wondered if we were not losing some of those Human qualities that had allowed us to survive. The desire to move ever forward and make better the lives for ourselves and our offspring seemed to be missing. Everything was too easy and I wondered if one day it would lead us down the path of being lazy and ill-equipped to deal with hardship; a hardship that could easily return if we were to be attacked.

After an introductory game of Holo-Mystery-Theatre I sat out on the new modern porch with Hershen, discussing my thoughts. He was of a similar mind. He wondered if the Kurtz on Toledus were doing the same; spending their time being entertained rather than pushing forward. We both wondered if our species was reaching a plateau of evolution. It was an unsavory thought.

When our leave ended we returned to Command and asked for assignments. Because of our long captivity we were not trusted to take on anything of a military nature. Instead, we were offered positions on the next science vessel to be launched in search of other planets. I jumped at the chance to once again be productive in some capacity and Hershen signed-on beside me.

The vessel was named the "Saxon" and had a crew of 17 Human scientists, Hershen and myself. We were heading out on a one year assignment to explore the Flame Nebula. It was a two month ride out followed by eight months of exploration. Shortly after launch the crew members made their way to the stasis room and were soon fast asleep in a state of suspended animation.

Hershen and I chose to instead stay awake and to spend our time educating ourselves on the new politics of the AMP. As we listened to countless speeches we came to the conclusion that most of the decisions being made were along the lines of what I would have done had I been there.

But there were distinct divides growing between Earth, Alvin and the Kurtz worlds. The latter were growing ever more independent as was evidenced by the tone in many Kurtz political speeches, but to date only the trend was worrisome. The Amp would survive.

As we slowed on our approach to the Alnitak system the stasis chambers returned our fellow passengers to their normal state. I was perfectly content with Hershen's company but conversations with others were always welcome. As they entered the general crew room I had our destination showing on a large holo-screen.

Alnitak was a triple star system with the primary star being a blue giant that was 20 times the size of Earth's sun. The secondary star was a smaller blue dwarf which spun in a binary orbit with the primary. A third star, Alnitak c, was in a 1,500 year orbit around the binary pair. It was a spectacular system with nine planets orbiting the binary pair while one was in orbit around Alnitak c.

A quick discussion ensued and a decision was made to first investigate the single planet which was nearest to our position. Alnitak c1 was at a distance that would make it a habitable planet, but the close proximity to the binary pair had seen to it that no life had been able to take hold. It maintained a thin atmosphere of mostly nitrogen and its surface was hard and rocky.

We next turned our attention to the fifth planet in orbit around the binary pair. It was a stunning blue planet with a thick atmosphere of 20% oxygen. Liquid oceans covered most of its surface with clouds forming distinct Earth-like weather patterns. Rocky, snow covered mountain peaks pushed up through them. Our attention was immediately drawn to a small mass in orbit around the planet; a mass that was soon determined not to be natural.

The mass was made up of spherical structures that were interconnected to each other by long narrow tubes. It took on the uncanny resemblance of a giant molecule, a molecule hundreds of kilometers long. We approached slowly with our active skin on full.

We parked only a few hundred kilometers away and took study of the symbols on the structure and the signals that emanated from it. Our linguistics expert was hard at work attempting to decode the alien information as it came in. I turned to Hershen and asked if he was ready for an adventure... he was.

After two days of study it was determined that there were no signs of life on-board, and more importantly, no outward signs of hostility towards us. The team shut down the active skin and Hershen and I began our short jump to the alien station. We had been designated as first to go aboard due to our military experience. While the rest of the team was in great physical condition because of their BGS suits, they did not have the training needed to deal with the unknown... we did.

The sphere we had selected was bright orange in color making it stand out from the other blues and greens. As we approached I could see the exterior of the two kilometer diameter sphere was covered with piping and small utility junction boxes. There were no external indications of having any shields or weapons.

We drifted through the outer wall and into a room that looked much like a cafeteria, only the scale was much bigger. A dim glow was visible from a minimum of lighting. The room was deserted. As we blinked in, I was startled as the lighting in the room automatically came on full. Quick estimates told that the normal occupants of the room would have been three meters tall, similar to the biblical giants of Gath in stature. Thoughts of the story of David and Goliath quickly came to mind.

Our linguistics expert was excited by a video feed coming back from our helmet cams. The various food signs with their symbols would go a long way towards decoding their language. Everything in the room was bright, white and sparkling clean. As I approached a counter I was again startled when a giant holo-display head popped into view. I could only imagine by the expressions on its face that it was telling of the daily specials.