The Commander , Niles Brookes was leading the delegation on a tour of the stations newest annex.
In his officers official black tie he was outstanding in white,proof that being off world does not affect a gentlemen’s ability to be properly tanned nor dapper.
In the highest form of naval tradition he regaled story after story as he took the party through his ship…his home.
He wove his hand across a plaque
bringing every ones attention to the main reason the flash bubs had been popping all night.
“And this ladies and gentlemen is what brought us all together tonight!”
He motioned at a gesture of polishing the brass rectangle with his elbow
and he then dashingly swept it under the arm of the nearest woman…
whom he happened to manoeuvre so that it would be Kathleen Auger the first lieutenants wife,
she was a glittery fledgling and he needed her to be relaxed .He felt her relief in the softness of her carriage.
“This is the Triton observatory facility, from her we monitor the outer planets only
Our patron seems to have had a very specific interest in Triton and.
Attention had shifted to a young officer who had come into the room he motioned to Captain Brooks assistant
Before they spoke in low tones while the captain tried to continue.
“In our never ending str…” He stopped
“Sir?”
“Yes what is it then…”
“You need to take the bridge Sir!”
The captain laughed…the what?
“The Bridge Sir
there has been an important communication
a situation has arisen
where upon I must ask you to take the bridge.
“What? You What.”
He almost forcefully escorted the captain to the bridge calling over his shoulder
to the jr. aids
to return to the main deck party with the guests.
Seldom was a captain actually called to the bridge of a space station,
there was a confusion and hurry that is always avoided in space
A forced calm is survival off planet…
as they were pulled along the hydro lifts the captain was filled in over the intercom.
“We’ve received a communication sir ill patch to communications
but I first must inform you there is something interfering with earth communications
We’ve lost contact with earth
“An ion cloud or a solar burst.”
The voice didn’t come out over the intercom
it came directly form the captain as he came out of the hydro lift
pulling off his tie and looking rather eager.
“No sir, it’s been 3 hours now and nothing.”
“Second?
As the syllables slipped out of his mouth a clean cut large man moved into position behind Brookes
handing him a report center. The captain glanced at it as he listened.
“We have to assume all possibilities sir they’re could be war on the planet.”
“What are you trying to say Lieutenant?”
“Sir we’ve a lot of delegates on board at the moment, some may know what’s going on down there.
That may be why some are up here.”
Brookes plopped down in the central commanders chair
as the crew continued to flip and adjusted configurations
panels soft glow of blue light reflected everywhere,
pulsing live green feeds transfer from station to station
“We have to also assume that it could just be a storm or a glitch
we cannot act on the information we have so far.”
Lars Novae the second in command
of Space Station Deadelus hands the captain a head set
“Which brings us to the second matter Sir.
This communication came through 2 hours it’s repeating at 15-minute intervals
Unknown origin Sir. No recognition codes...
we don’t know what to make of it sir.
In all fairness you may be wondering as to the Captains capabilities,
as it took him a few bewildered moments to get up to speed and for his mind to access the situation.
“Opts! Can you get our position?”
He was looking elsewhere when he asked,
now concentrated on the boards flickering information as it filters through.
“Position Sir?” half the bridge looked up.
“Status report. Our position from Earth Ensign…our…
I need trigs from all systems this station’s orbit will decay without them.
Engineer estimate time until re-entry
Fucking computers I told them to give this station manual guidance systems.”
The sound of sucking air as the hatch opens and a uniformed officer takes the bridge.
The station shuttered and all hands stopped.
“That’s it where are the reports we’ve just broken orbit and are beginning free fall,
how long corporal 30 or.
“Sir!” The voice wasn’t that of the engineer but the assistant helmsmen A-I-MTI-4T-2
One of 3-second generation Bi-clo-botic units being assimilated into use aboard the Station.
The soft metallic hum behind his voice was intertwined
with a subliminal message of calm reassurance to the crew,
this was part of his programming the ability to use this messaging system,
and how to use it properly is part of its clone training
When to use it is a matter of its own evolving intelligence.
But what the makers didn’t know was that it had discovered that it did indeed have the ‘choice’
as to its use or uses as the case may be.
“Just over 34 hrs Sir.”
Unit A-I-MTI-4T2 learned long ago that humans will trust and develop necessary relationships
with units that are less precise in their statements.
His trainer Nirvana3T had remarked that it made them less 'cold'
“Thank You Dash anything on this ion cloud or whatever the hell it is.”
offhand he implored opts to work ,nodding toward the boards again
Running his own computations as messages floated across the big holographic cube before him
slowly spinning from task to task they all work with glowing blue and green holographic consoles now.
It was faster to access information neuraly
so at any off norm time all bridge personal plugged into their stations
“Sir Delegates are complaining all communication down they cant “
“Tell them… “ He looked around at the crew…a lot of fresh faces,
tense and none too eager .Perhaps too late ,
The Commander realized that this crew had little if any experience.
He blew a sigh and relaxed back in his seat.
“Everyone back to their stations.”
No one moved except MT_Unit… Dash,
who looked quizzically towards the Commander through the blue glow of his workstation
to the Ensign on the other side.
“That’s you Ensign … back to your station.”
“Yes sir sorry I.”
“Dash looked up a radar picking at something just as Opts Jumped out of his seat.
“We’ve another transmission Sir !same source “
“Relay to overhead…
Corporal tell the delegates were experiencing an ion particle storm t
he remnants of asteroid Talbot …
you know the story tell them it in its entirety calm and entertain them. Corporal”
“Yes Sir” as he turned to go the doors opened yet again a woman came on deck
an alien woman.
The bridge froze, not at the sight of her.
I mean the bridge froze as in time
Halted, the very sweat seemed to stop on the crew’s faces.
Time did not stand still, but Einstein said I observer time is relevant.
Dash stood immediately as Nirvana3’s presence came up full screen.
To the bio units so more capable than man the speed with which they moved in tandem
with the abilities of sub frequency communications
They had kept hidden since the early days of Bi-clonics were the true nature of the machines peoples.
To us observing closely, the sweat did run…
very slowly while Nirvana and dash moved in unison playing the computer like a piano duet.
Setting courses into motion that where the hatch-lings of a long and nurturing plan.
They hummed in the bi clonic glow of achievement and this
for the anticipation was the closest they would ever come to being full humans,
the amount of data and stimulus being sent through them at such speeds was euphoric,
invigorating in a way they hope the free bi clonic peoples would one day all feel.
In the blue glow of holographic consoles they worked at a feverish pace.
And when the bridge came back to real time with the absence of the units
Too much was happening for anyone to notice dash was gone the synapses
didn’t work as fast under pressure as a bio-clonic impulse relay.
While the crew computed whereas and wherefores
Dash and nirvana slipped into the spacecraft that was waiting.
While the delegates looked at charts from a strange sky
Dash uncoupled the launch and slid away from the ship.
While the ensign tried to get readings from a non-existent ion cloud
Nirvana turned to her genetically enhanced lover.
“All too easy Dash …estimated impact?”
Her sequence of hair colour and vitality was well chosen
she liked to believe that it had some impact upon her mate.
It did not he was not as complicated as her model; he did not need to be.
He needed to be functional and that is why she had chosen him.
She saw this in him while she completed his training; she felt the coldness in him
that logic would over ride the psuedo emotion coded into his predecessors
Dash was chosen because he would see the cold logic
humans would never accept their race
that in fact both races bio clonic and human would destroy each other in a cataclysmic war in space.
She chose him because he would infiltrate the station, load it with tekium charges
And send it falling into the planet to destroy almost all human life.
They would retreat to Europa colony
And control the breeding labs on triton and Callisto as well
No human would remain anywhere while the saga of earth continues.
Nirvana turned to dash in the yellow glowing light of the launches cabin
On screen the fading picture of Deadulas sinking into the planet earth, falling into oblivion.
“I think I would like to wish that I could love you Dash”
“I concur Nirvana I myself wonder what it would be like to wish”
It wasn’t love,
it wasn’t humanity,
but it was the best they could manage under the circumstances
