Zero Sphere: A Space Opera Thriller Page 4

‘You trust me don’t you?’

  I do

  ‘Then chill and take your clothes off.’

  Are we alone?

  ‘We’re always alone in the end, Ianna.’

  You… I know what you’re doing to me

  ‘Do you now?’

  I’ve done it to others as well

  ‘Is that right?’

  Yes

  ‘Then what’s holding you back?’

  Nothing, baby. Absolutely… nothing. Come here.

  I’m in a sea of orange and blue, white and black, up and down, positive and negative. The connections of all we’re to be comes to me like it’s been waiting there an eternity. How long you held yourself back for this? These things on our fingers – it’s always been true, till death do us part. I feel your heat against mine. You’ve always known how to operate your mouth on my soft parts. All of them. You’re driving me crazy. It’s not sex, it’s love. I love when you go down on me, don’t worry - I’ll return the favor. Scrape my back, dig your nails into me – make me feel that storm in you because you’ll feel the Valkyrie in me. Show me that tempest that burns brighter than any sun, the fire that shreds every piece of doubt in me. I know it’s there. I love it. Bite my neck, choke me; I’m yours – your mine, I can be on top, I can be doggy. Push it into me. Make me feel that warmth I came here for. There’s no armor baby.

  I love you.

  We couldn’t sleep after that. Kept waking up, again and again to continue, pause, continue, pause and yeah, yeah we just couldn’t stop. I missed him. It was like reuniting with your lost half and then you wonder how were you going on without it? For crying out loud, he’s more than a lover, more than a ‘husband’ or any of those stupid titles. Not just a mere partner or an accomplice. My legit ‘other half’. My ‘soulmate’.

  “You brought that up here?” He questioned me reaching for my cigarette and lighting the bad boy up

  “What can I say?” I spoke breathing the fire out of my lungs – “I’m a bad influence.”

  After that supernova I needed a cig, who wouldn’t?

  We laid around in bed naked. Then I feel his hand trail up my leg, to my thigh, my hip, my chest, neck and then my hair. He observes me, like a magnificent piece of artwork. His only, true physical treasure. His returned ‘other piece’.

  “I missed you.” He says and his glare draws me in - “I love you.”

  “I love you too baby.” I reply.

  Now his hand finds a new destination: my engagement ring finger

  “Why are you up here Ianna?”

  What kind of stupid question is that?

  “Why else? I came here for the life we promised each other.”

  “Is that right?”

  I looked at him with a face asking if he’s serious with two words ‘question mark?’ at the slip of my tongue. I needed to let him know - “You never stopped pursuing the goal, all the way onto Mars. The idea of an idealized society? A new world of evolved humans living under natural order and pursuing peaceful means? I never gave up on the ideal. Here I am.”

  “Why now?” He asks

  “I had to experience it for myself. You were right. You were always right all along and sure, you have the privilege of telling me that – whatever; I’m here now. I needed time to discover it within. I want this with you. So let’s do this.”

  I let him know I’m not playing. This time, there will be no running. He looks at me almost unmoved. Seven, what happened to you?

  He stretches his hand forward and I feel the ground almost shake for a second. The lights dim and I see the walls of the house temporarily bent from pure telekinetic distortion. A flying piece of jewelry levitates slowly into his hand.

  “Make no mistake, I am very glad you’re here.” He offers me the jewelry locket I left with him. I open it up to see a picture of us. It’s funny, I hate pictures. I’ve always had a paranoia about them. They’re like a conduit for telepathy but with him, I didn’t mind.

  He gets up to take a look outside and it’s quite the peep show, seeing the parts he used to pleasure me.

  “I’ve been waiting for you for years Ianna. No doubt, it’s been monumental progress since the time we started with just books. Now we’re on Mars. Another chapter and another step closer to creating an actual Utopia.” His face grows serious as he looks at me – “But this isn’t going to be a walk in the park. Utopia won’t fall in our hands so easily. It’s going to take hard work, not to mention, I don’t know what they put you up to. You need to tell me what’s going on.”

  It’s hard keeping secrets from someone who knows you inside out

  “Let’s start with you first.” I divert him – “What do you know about…”

  “The Ancient Ruins?” He stops me

  Ancient Ruins? Is he referring to the bases?

  “That’s what they really are. Old constructs of our ancient forefathers.” He continues

  “Seven…” I had to get up and briskly walk over to him in deep paranoia, urging him to keep his voice down in case they were listening – “How do you know about all this?”

  “I’ve seen it in my visions. I know what’s really in there. That’s why they’re interested in me.”

  This part I connected on my own

  “They want to know more about what I know and they want me to keep my mouth shut.”

  “Will you?” I ask him suspiciously. On one hand, I do want him to keep quiet. No sense in making enemies up here. Then there’s another part of me that wants the masses to know… I mean, why the heck not? This discovery is glorious.

  His face grows into this ‘are you serious?’ kind of deal

  “So that’s what they sent you here for…” He looks away from me, pointing his gaze to the rising sun at the horizon – “Absolutely not. I don’t think you realize what’s going on up here. What’s out there is about change all of history. Soon all of Mars will know and all of Earth will know too, it’s never been alone and never will be alone. This is a point in the evolution of this solar system’s human race, and you think I give a damn about small minded, power-hungry mongrels too stupid to appreciate this revelation? No.”

  I understand that, yet still I’m wondering if we’re alone on this

  “How do you know the people are ready?” I ask

  “Ready?” He pauses thoughtfully – “How can anyone not be ready for the truth?”

  I enclose myself into his arm and knead my head into his shoulder while I listen to him continue speaking

  “Whether Earth accepts the truth or not is up to them. They’ll come to face it sooner or later, but up here, this is our new home. I won’t let the same mistakes on Earth follow us up here. Are you with me?”

  A deep simmering in me digests everything this man’s been relating rather blissfully. There’s gonna’ be danger ahead, no doubt about that and yet this devious smirk comes on my face, ready for it all - “Till death do us part.” I tell him.

  2049, An Ancient Discovery

  I am with you, believe me. Trust me. Wait for me. Let me do my part. Stay safe until then; don’t go poking your nose where it doesn’t belong. The public can wait. No point in striving for a better world if you’re not even safe.

  “You ready?” John asks, strapped up and ready to go downstairs in the EDF garage facility. The squadron of fifteen were all armed and piled into the three armored tank, eight-wheeler dune buggies waiting for the go.

  “Of course I’m ready.” I tell him with a cocky smirk – “I’m Valkyrie.”

  John gets that butterfly feeling in his stomach. I can tell because his face beams with a fat smile, hinting he’d love to stick it in if only he’d get the chance. The kind of attraction that turns on men easily, which ironically, makes them more vulnerable creatures than they’re willing to admit. Funny, really.

  The drive out to the dune filled me with excitement and mystery. I was so curious to know what was out there while the other soldiers sat in deep paranoia. I observed our tech. It wasn’t
standard like on earth. These had upgrades. We were connected to each other through nano-interfaces, but we didn’t have a limit of only 4-member connections. All soldiers were connected to the entire battalion who happened to be under order by… yours truly: me. A hive with a queen bee.

  “John.” I called for my second in command – “Display the mission parameters again.”

  I wanted to double-check, triple-check and skin the knee of every piece of information we had. Acceptance that this base was ET just wasn’t going to cut it for me. What if we had something missing? Who knows? OCD took over. Had to make sure everything was in order.

  Sure enough, everything did check out the way it’s supposed to. Except one thing. The name of the area: EDF-P:M_ZA2049.

  “What’s this crap supposed to be?” I hissed, pointing my concentration on the name. Naturally, we were all hooked up, so the others knew what I meant, “This is too complicated. From now on, we’ll go with a simpler designation.”

  They looked at me expecting the order

  “Crimson Zone.”

  Nods of acceptance came from my men.

  “We’re near.” John silently spoke to me without the help of his visor. He peered outside and I followed the direction of his sight. The area, seemingly covered in just dust and a general bland of nothingness was for the sake of argument; disappointing.

  “Where is it?” I asked

  “Turn on your Projection Fix.” He replied

  Okay. There we go, oh… wow

  “Impressive.” I automatically blurted upon seeing an array of structural integrity. Buildings, to put simply. The bases we came here for.

  “So…” I thought well of how to express my understanding – “These bases were using holographic projectors to mask their presence, essentially ‘appearing’ as invisible or nothing to the naked eye?”

  “That’s right.”

  You know what that means, don’t you?

  “And you’re telling me that none of our men, the colonists on Mars or anyone else from any country of Earth had anything to do with this?”

  “That, my friend, is also right.” John sounded defeated.

  He probably went through a storm of research in the intelligence department trying to figure it out himself with no tangible results.

  Anyway, back to those bases. It shouldn’t take a genius to figure them out. Anyone with common sense can tell you, it’s logical; nature does not operate to such deliberate technological standards. This whole thing came from an intelligence.

  “Alright boys.” I spoke aloud, eyes still fixed on my target treasure – “Get ready to move out.”

  Easy does it, we’re not charging in like Galahad here. We are discovering the belongings of the unknown. Take your steps easy and tread lightly. Take two looks at every corner and if you see something, point and lock but don’t fire. Wait for my order.

  The sandstorm itself was just an illusion. These bases were seemingly dormant, waiting. The technology kept unwanted eyes away but it didn’t keep curious explorers from discovering. A half-covering.

  Why?

  “Major?” One of my men disrupted my scouting – “Think we got something here.” He uploaded his coordinates and camera vision to the nano-central hub, so everyone could see it as a collective. We were scouting the bases in standard procedure. Guns drawn using nano-thought-impulse leads to map the area. The concept remained basic on the outside; black buildings with golden coverings glyphs around them. There were no entrances, no signs of emissions or anything that would point unusual besides their structure. Until this soldier found a way into one of them.

  “What do you think?” John asked my side, the wind howling loudly in the background.

  “I think it’s time we go in.” I said.

  To that entrance. Scan vitals, energy signals and radiation levels before entry. Let’s make sure this a clean way in and hopefully a way out. I’ll have two of you stay out, keep the doorway guarded. The rest of you, come with me.

  I could feel my heartbeat rising. Each step, another step for mankind or another step that we’re going too far… again?

  Inside, there is dark and fog. The absence of light strikes away clarity – like a crystal haze, I know what I’m walking into yet everything continues to remain a mystery. The destination? You told me, remember? And I’m still in awe as if I hadn’t heard it before…

  Our nano-scanners map the area and we switch to nightvision.

  “Valkyrie, are you seeing this?” John asks, his camera vision showing me traces of what appeared to me as probably some kind of computer device? I’m not sure. That’s just what it looks like. The other men had their own discoveries. I could see them all as the queen bee. We were all each other’s ears, sight and thought. One thing could not be denied. This, is advanced. Advanced and… ancient.

  “Thermal readings detected!”

  Show me

  “We got company, 12 o’clock!” John alerted us

  There, right in the middle of the room. Alright boys, guns drawn, don’t take the shot until I call it.

  A strange, pea-sized light emits in the middle of the room, growing into… some kind of form?

  “Talk to me John, what the hell is it?” My eyes never leave my target and my aim’s ready

  “It’s holographic.” He says, - “Definitely holographic.”

  What the! It’s forming the shape of a faceless humanoid

  “What else you got for me, John?”

  “Electronic… No! Magnetic? Uhh, I’m not sure! It’s all coming up as unknown. It’s screwing with my systems.”

  “Major, we could use an EMP; knock it out.” One of my soldiers suggested amongst the rising paranoia of the unknown

  “Wait!” I halted their growing fear, looking over at the unknown. A face begun forming in the hologram. A face familiar to the others, I’m sure, but more than anyone else in all of space to me – Seven.

  “What are you doing here?!” I demanded.

  The holographic form of Seven looked at me directly, twitched its head to the left, acting off of a glitch then started speaking in a strange tongue completely foreign to anything I knew.

  “Translator.” I called on our central nano-interface computer.

  ‘UNKNOWN’

  “I don’t like this…” John was getting ready to do something stupid

  “Stand down.” I warned him. My eyes went back, fixed on the holographic Seven. A few more glitches and sporadic head tilts went by before the hologram finally decided to speak some damn English.

  “Sorry about, had to adjust the vocal frequencies. I haven’t had to do that before, since no one’s been here since a time long gone.”

  “Seven? Is that you?” I ask neutrally while the rest of my men were prepared to take any forceful means necessary

  “This is a restricted area!” John protested – “Shut off that holographic communicator immediately!”

  The hologram smiled, pretty much the same way Seven would too – “No, you see I got here before you. I’ve been here months before any of you even discovered this place.”

  “So it is you…” I discerned

  “Not exactly.” Seven responded – “It’s a consciousness projection of me, integrated into the central computer – which, happens to be an intelligent entity. That’s how I’m allowed to establish contact with you.”

  “This is a military operation. You are trespassing on…”

  “John!” I snapped – “Shut up! If Seven’s interjecting himself here, then it has to be for good reason.” I faced the likeliness of Seven, “What reason is it?”

  “You’re all in danger.” He replied unmoved – “You need to leave this place immediately.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked with eyes darting around the room

  “I don’t have control over this system. It’s merely a network that allowed me to use a manifestation form.”

  “Come again?” John needed more info on that last line

&
nbsp; “Look…” Seven continued – “I don’t have control over the system. It’s sending security your way now. All of you need to get out of there now!”

  “Seven, what are you talking about!” I really wasn’t in the mood for dealing with his cryptic slurs

  “For the last time…” His vocalization tinted into a serious monotone while the room decided to ‘turn on’. Light came from all directions and darkness was no longer, blinding all of us temporarily. I heard the sounds of something rolling during my blindness, something heavy. When sight came back to us, we saw four, quad-legged, panther-looking robots that held what looked to me like some kind of cannon weaponry on their backs. Possibly rail guns.

  “I. AM. NOT. IN. CONTROL!” Seven shouted before abruptly being switched off and now, we’re faced with… Oh shit! No time to monologue, these things are firing at us! Yup, as I expected, those are rail guns. Lightning emissions shot from the backs of the mechanical creatures. Took down at least two of my men with disturbing ease. Tore through their electromagnetic shields like they weren’t even there.

  “Take em’ out!” I ordered

  Need cover, need cover. Get me a damn barrier up! Keep those things back. John, give me a reading? What are they?

  ‘UNKNOWN’

  Great.

  Thick-plasma shots chase us behind our shields. We’re firing at the assailants and they are taking absolutely no damage. What the heck are they? Has to be a barrier of their own, absorbing our shots, similar to the one we have up right now. Except, theirs isn’t deteriorating; ours on the other hand… Look out!

  Whiff!!

  That’s one shield down. The other won’t hold for long.

  “EMP!” I order.

  We toss three at those panthers.

  Instant white. No noise. Sparks everywhere. Our visors shield us from the worst of it. A breakthrough at last. Their open for attack, temporarily disabled. Aim for the enemy. Take the shot. Good, now he’s not moving. Three more to go.

  “Major!” One of my men calls.

  His camera shows the field of view behind me. More panthers roll in. Great. Take down one, another two spawn? Best part is that, that’s the entrance way. We can’t even retreat.