Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller Read online

  Remember the days when there wasn’t traffic from AM to PM, 24/7, all day-every-day? Not sure I can say I do any longer.

  All of these people, so cold and pale, and loveless; distant from the other. Selfishly wrapped in their own sick worlds, they unconsciously release their inner venom like little bites in their outer man. They are so unnatural. Some of them wearing augments, because they find it the new fad, the new trend. Look at that guy, he has an aug hand and that girl, her eyes are augged too. Cute couple.

  Yes, let’s all become robots – let’s join with technology and completely neglect our consciousness’ poverty. Sounds swell, I’m sure machines will cure that.

  I’m sure that through the demented creators’, the creations won’t multiply the atrocities. Yes, machines are the new answers boys. You guys totally figured it out. Has nothing to do with fixing the mindset you’re in. Nope.

  “Scuse’ me miss!” The raspy voice of a man calls pulls me out of my meditative thoughts.

  Oy?

  I look around to catch that voice. Thousands of ants crawling around this slum and you pick me? It’s not my red hair, is it? There he is, staring right at me. Oh, it’s him. What’s he…

  “What are you doing here John?” My words could barely get past all the racket around

  “EDF keeps close eye on its assets. This is not really a place you’d wanna’ be. You should know that.”

  “Think I can handle myself.”

  “Not doubting that. I didn’t come here to lecture you about where a grown woman should be handling herself.”

  “Then come, don’t waste my time. What do you want?”

  The wind shuffles past everyone around and hits the mid-length hair across his eerily smiling tan face. He offers me a cigarette.

  “When was the last time you had one?”

  Too long, give me. I try reaching for it but he slyly pulls back

  “Not so fast tiger. Let’s talk, I have some real good news.”

  Typical, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

  John leads me past the thick crowd to his car parked back in a sketchy alley. Naturally I’m paranoid. I can’t help my nature, but John’s a trusty cat. He’s had my back in the past more than once. As I get in his car, I look up and see the advertising image of the man pointing to the skies.

  OUR FUTURE LIES IN OUTER SPACE! DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? THINK FUTURE. THINK – MARS!

  Seven, these billboards don’t do you any justice. I hope you shaved that beard and your head’s bald. Don’t like seeing that fur on you. Just not your style.

  “So, what brings you back to the ole’ Greece?”

  We’re barely pulling into traffic and already he’s asking me this kind of shit.

  “Cigarette first.” Those are my terms

  “Go on.” He passes me the box for self service.

  I don’t mind. Now go ahead, ask your peeping tom queries

  “Well?”

  “I wanted to see home again. Been too long.”

  “Still the same slum you left it, Xei.”

  “I can see that.”

  John steers us past the traffic, into the east route and toward the highway.

  The glares of all the skyscrapers so neatly tuck together hits my eyes in their ambient orange neon flashes. The night makes the whole grid look like a giant battery.

  I reach into his pocket, he only flutters a little, knowing my nature. I shift around till I find what I went in there looking for – his lighter.

  “Still can’t believe you smoke those old things.” He says

  “Really? What do you want me to use? Those electronic playthings? Give me a break. You’re not turning soft on me, are you?”

  He starts chuckling, putting on that look on his face filled with respect and amusement, saying ‘Xeilya, once a Gladiator, always a Gladiator.’

  “Now spit it out, what’s this news you were talking about?”

  John clears his throat and there’s not much of an amusement anymore – “EDF’s had me keeping tabs on you since The Eastwater’s Incident a few months ago.” He diverts his attention to me, “How’s your shoulder?”

  “Fine.” I cut him from going in that direction – “Go on.”

  “Anyway…” His sight returns to the road – “That lil’ display of show you had on the battlefield caught the attention of The Board. They’re thinking of treating you real special.”

  “Like a promotion?”

  “Something like that, yeah.”

  Open the window. I think now’s the time to light it up and take a drag. Much better.

  “How do you know about all that?”

  “The perks of being in The Intelligence, Xei. EDF likes to keep their assets real close. You’re not exempt from that rule, girl. It’s just good business.”

  A promotion, huh?

  “Yeah, well. Whatever. I have things to take care of first. I hope you’re taking me where I wanna’ go.’

  “Home, right?”

  “That’s right.”

  John and I get along to our fond farewells at the doorstep of my old ruin. The rain picks the perfect time to turn into falling daggers while I watch the abandoned, murky place. Lights haven’t been on in there for years. Unbothered, no neighbor would come around here. It was the home of the witch and her family. The girl your mother warned you about.

  Old or not, nothing remains unchecked. When I get to the door, a reminder of the time shoves away past memory.

  ‘Welcome Home, Ianna.’ The computer speaks neutrally.

  Like I said, no one would bother coming around here. Everything in this day and age is well checked, monitored and controlled. An old shack like this; the one I call ‘home’? No difference.

  I open the door and take a good look around. The smell of a dirt collection welcomes me with a nice clogging to my breathing. When I checked back here a couple years ago, I installed some automated systems. Computers, what not. Tried renovating, you know. Keep it up to date, and I mean, why not? The old can use some new now and then. So, should I do it again?

  Ahh, my Joystation-5. I was the literal definition of a closet nerd. The kind that would be the coolest cat in your eyes, but an avid game pounder in the dark. I remember Seven teasing me about consoles and how behind they always were, always will be; compared to the glorious ‘Master PC Race’.

  Amusing, I think of him now. And amusing this ring never left my finger.

  The place is dusty, dark, a shadowy reminder of what I was. It’s smaller than I remember it - fitting a kitchen and living room in one. Two small bedrooms on the side with a leather couch and a TV set in the middle.

  Can’t believe a family of four fit in here. Can’t really say we were comfortable either. The pictures on the walls, those old memories. A father that didn’t care and a mother that never shed tears, a sister lost and confused. All of it, just the way I left it. Only thing different is dust and the dark-haired girl that ran these walls so innocent, so freely. She was someone else now. Someone red.

  “Computer, turn the lights on.”

  I had to see it with new eyes. I didn’t come here to gloom, I came here it embrace it all. To let go of the bad and take the good with me on the way out. The lights flicker a second or two, then I take a step forward to hear a croak and it reminds me of how shitty this dump really is. Placebo Xei, not here to gloom.

  Hmph, think I’ll take a shower.

  Turning on one valve meant another had to close off. I didn’t mind. Everything might’ve been falling apart, but I could care less. Had a lot of good times here too. It’s like a coin. It came with both sides.

  Ow! My shoulder really does hurt. I’ll take it easy, no need to rush. Just enjoy the warm shower. At least that still works. No need to shave, I’m still bald there. Check every part of my body; alright, I’m good. That’s enough.

  The bathroom mirror’s broken. I don’t remember how that happened. Could’ve been one of those times I decided to let the beast out. When my dad wou
ldn’t shut up about his stupid morals, or how much I failed him by not being the boy child he really wanted.

  “Computer, TV.”

  “This house is unconnected to the main grid’s cable system. Would you like to purchase…”

  “Yes, yes, yes – do it. Just turn this TV on.”

  Life comes to the dead, audiovisual transmitter and it’s all the same. Channel after channel, nothing new – all the advertisements, the same shit about how much you need this and that, and why you will be so much happier or a better person by putting your hard earned coin in the hands of a fat, grinning, cigar-smoking- monocle-wearing ape.

  How pathetic. A whole society raised to be customers. Grown to be entertained, to spend and to look cool. A world of sleepers and thoughtless sheep.

  “Computer. Advanced Search – Space.”

  “One moment. 320 results found in current stations.”

  “Narrow search to only include educational faculties. Exclude all results only related to entertainment purposes but leave exceptions that combine both.”

  “One moment. 16 results found.”

  “Display.”

  2012: A SPACE LIE

  THE ELECTRIC UNIVERSE

  EVOLUTION AND ITS EFFECTS

  UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS

  BILLY MEIER’S CONTACT REPORTS

  THE JOURNEY TO MARS

  DARK STARS

  BLACK HOLES: THE UNIVERSE’S RECYCLERS

  DARK ENERGY: THE PUPPET MASTER

  FLUIDAL FORCES – WHAT THE EYES CAN’T SEE

  …

  “Stop scrolling. Go back to ‘The Journey To Mars’. Display info.”

  A DOCUMENTARY BY MICHAEL BETHER. OUR WORLD IS REACHING CATACLYSMIC STAGES OF OVERPOPULATION, JOIN US AS WE EXPLORE REALISTIC COLONIZATION TO THE ONLY OTHER PLANET CAPABLE OF SUSTAINING US.

  “Would you like to view this material?”

  Hmmm...

  “Yeah, turn it on.”

  I’ll admit, I’m interested.

  2049, Voyage To the Red Planet

  I don’t know how you convinced me. You haven’t said a word to me and I’m getting on this ship. That documentary didn’t help either. Especially when I can’t get you out of my head. Had to pull a few strings, though, wasn’t the easiest thing to do. The sign-ups were as anal as they come. The typical treatment you’d expect from the super high-nosed intelligent fools who think IQ tests actually mean something.

  Do you have ‘this and that’, are you qualified in this particular expertise? What can you provide for the mission? Are you healthy? How’s your vision? How’s your hearing? What pieces of manmade plaques do you have to offer to show your worth as a human? Blah, Blah, Blah – the same old, same old.

  I got past all that. EDF wants to promote me, well, they’re going to sit there and wait for a bit. I’ve done enough for them and for my country, no, I’ve done enough for the whole damn world as far as I’m concerned.

  Earth Defense Force – an international defense agency that was founded on the basis of removing terrorist threats around the world as one ‘world’. Sounds great in design, but fat paychecks, power and control, stimulates the hearts of the rotten. Somehow their acid melts away the genuine ideals and all you’re left with is a grand charade. And me? Well, I was their puppet.

  The Valkyrie of War.

  I didn’t sign up to fight for apes. I signed up because the world needed to be a safer place. People shouldn’t have to wake up every morning, terrified or bullies shouldn’t pick on other countries just because they have bigger nukes. Freedom, peace, harmony, justice and love – those were the values I strived for. That was why I did what I did. For a better a world. So that one day, we could lay down our swords.

  Of course it didn’t happen that way. I was just an innocent, stupid little rebel girl, fresh out of university with high ideals who ended up selling herself to those con artists who call themselves a military. See war to them, or fighting in general? It’s not about who you are or what flag you’re waving. It’s about showing the taste of power, and you, you’re the hand that gets their dirty work done.

  I’ve had enough of that life.

  I’ve tasted it and the sweet turned to bitter.

  A new chapter begins and this time, it’s got hope. I’m alive. I have another chance to hold onto what I am and not what they wanted me to be.

  The space shuttle’s about the size of a large, old Boeing aircraft. It doesn’t resemble any of the things those silly sci-fi games taught us. In fact, it’s closer to the retro design of old UFOs, with the exception of a more elongated disk shape to fit all the passengers on board.

  The inside feels very calm, minimalist in nature with very few details and an ‘aura’ to make you feel at peace. There are a few leather-inspired seats in a circular formation, windows for viewing pleasure and soft hues of yellow light.

  Not to mention, the ship’s completely rocket-free.

  This state-of-the-art baby utilizes two propulsion drives. One that regulates speeds up to the speed of light and lower, and the other that can travel millions and even billions times the speed of light – a hyperspeed that becomes hyperspace; a space where every mass expands in proportion to the increase in speed. Space and Time becomes null-space and null-time – they cease to exist and so, we can be hurled light years in space and travel great distances within fractions of a second.

  The issue with the hyperdrive is that we haven’t perfected it nor can we use it around the vicinity of nearby planets. It’s possible to suck them in with the ‘hyper jump’. Not to mention, we’re still very new in this area so the technology is very unstable. We’ve had many crashes into other suns and other planets or being randomly flung into another space or time with no contact and no possible return. It’s messy, but we’re getting there, step by step.

  So to make sure we get to Mars safely without pushing the over enthused flag ‘for science’, we’ll be taking the safe, boring, under-light speed trip of seven bloody hours.

  Great.

  “Excuse me?” A fair-skinned, light-blonde haired woman comes to my right side. She looks around the same age as me – late twenties, “Is this seat taken?”

  I look to my left to confirm or deny – “It’s free, take it.”

  “Thank you.”

  She’s very beautiful, the kind that religious people would instantly label an angel. Seriously, I’ve never seen a woman so beautiful in years. Naturally, I’m curious. She’s wearing a long white dress and the moment she takes the seat, her green eyes shoot out all focused on a book she pulls out. Wait, I have that book – it’s Nyxe, isn’t it?

  “That’s a good book.” I try striking up conversation.

  There’s something about this maiden. She’s different

  “It is indeed.” Her eyes never leaves that book and her voice is not only confident, but focused and very, very certain.

  You have my attention girl

  “What chapter are you on?”

  “Oh…” She paused, looked over and fluttered her eyes at me and then my heart probably skipped two beats. I felt completely naked. My body got all wobbly. There was a calm so deep it was practically disturbing, “I’m just reviewing, I completed this book earlier today. It is a fantastic work.”

  “Yeah…”

  What’s with this chick?

  “What’s your name?” I ask her, words crumbling to leave my mouth.

  “I am called Astraea.”

  I tilt my head in curiosity. Never heard a name like that before

  “What are you called?” She asks

  “Xeilya.”

  “Interesting name, what does it mean?”

  Poison…

  “Flower.”

  “How lovely! It is a gorgeous name.”

  Lovely? If only you knew the things I did lady

  “Thanks.”

  A peculiar smile comes to my face, I want to know more about this, ‘Astraea’ – “So what do you do?”

  “What do I
do?”

  “Yeah, everyone here’s got a reason to be up there. An occupation on Mars. It’s not like this is a standard passenger flight for a vacation.”

  “You are a curious creature aren’t you? I am an analyst and a historian.”

  An analyst and a historian, huh?

  “And you?”

  And me? Well…

  “You can say I do security.”

  “Security, ahh! Defense is always necessary, even for the peaceful.”

  I didn’t say a word about defense, how did you reach there?

  “You know, you’re different.”

  “Am I now?”

  “Yeah, everyone around here – their ‘petals’ are all the same color. But you, you’re blooming a whole other rainbow.”

  She closes her eyes warmly and smiles. The kind of wise look a gentle, loving teacher would give you when you went wrong.

  “That’s quite an imaginative analogy Xeilya.”

  “It’s spot on, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe.” She leans back into her seat and looks around the room with a glimmer in those pearly greens

  “Are you going to tell me more? Or are you the kind of woman that walks all demure?”

  “Be careful Xeilya, there might be some things you won’t want to hear.”

  Is that so?

  “Really?” I lean in a little closer to her, my focus growing clearer – “Try me.”

  She turns to me and gives me this, motherly smile. The kind that melts your heart. The kind that stays with you in the dark.

  Solar Opus

  From the desolate red surface, a new civilization will be born after countless expeditions of failures and all the blood, sweat and tears to go along with it. Man will triumph over his past folly. He will take the best of his kind to his new world, hopefully leaving behind the perils of his ancestor’s old.

  There will come a time where it won’t only be earth men walking on foreign red shores. Soon, it will become a place where red shores beget its own crimson children and they will rise. Steadily, slowly but surely, they will rise and find a bold treasure left behind. A monument that shall change everything the way we knew it and not one lip from here or there may deny its true origin ever again.