XIN: The Veiled Genocides, Page 6

  Chapter 6

  A grain of sand

  It was Saturday, 6:35 a.m. when Yamir pulled up in his white two-seater. Dave had just finished loading the last of the cardboard boxes into the small rented truck he had acquired the day before. He turned to greet his friend. “Hi, Yamir. All I have left to get is my couch.”

  “I thought we were going to Drumheller,” Yamir remarked in confusion. “It looks like you’re moving.”

  “We are, and I am,” came back the reply as Dave disappeared into his apartment building.

  Yamir looked in the back of the red and white truck to see about a dozen moving boxes, a couple of guitar cases, a TV, a few suitcases, and the majority of Dave’s modest furniture. Dave was moving alright.

  Dave came back out through the propped open front doors a few minutes later. He was carrying his 400-pound couch over his right shoulder as easily as one would carry a large bag of fertilizer.

  “Wow!” was all Yamir could blurt out. If the arm was a great trick, this one was the encore.

  Dave went to the back of the truck, lowered the couch gently down in front of all the other items, and closed the door with a metallic snap. “Get in.”

  It wasn’t that long a drive from Calgary to Drumheller, but it seemed to take forever for Yamir. No amount of pleading with Dave did any good. He wouldn’t tell him anything more until they arrived at their intended destination. Dave kept insisting that it would just be easier to show him, and that he wouldn’t believe him until he saw it for himself. And what did he mean by ‘it’?

  After almost two hours on the road, and to Yamir’s shock and surprise, Dave swerved the truck off the road, leaving behind a billowing cloud of dust as they roughly bumped ahead toward the heart of the Badlands. The terrain became very rugged, very quickly. They didn’t go too far, but going deep into the desert was never Dave’s plan. He just wanted to get the truck far enough away from the road so that any motorists driving by wouldn’t see what was about to happen next.

  “What the hell are you doing, Dave!”

  Dave didn’t reply, he just braked, exited the truck, and scrutinize an outcropping of rocks several kilometres in the distance. Dave knew that Xin was out there. The implant in his skull made the connection. Then he saw her as she poked up out of her hiding spot. He didn’t know what creature to thank for his extraordinarily improved eyesight, but he would find out soon enough. “Yamir, I seem to recall you loved robots when you were a kid,” he said as he continued eyeing something Yamir couldn’t see.

  “Yeah, sure – R2-D2, Robbie, Data... so?” Yamir wasn’t sure what Dave was getting at.

  “Well, you’re about to meet a real one,” Dave answered with a dash of satisfaction in his voice, and added, “don’t be afraid, she’s a friend.”

  “SHE?”

  Before Yamir could form his next sentence, questioning how a machine could have a sexual orientation, Xin zipped up to them in her usual, mind-unsettling way.

  “Hello, Dave,” greeted Xin with her mellow radio announcer’s voice. “This must be Yamir, your friend.”

  Yamir just gave her an open mouth stare, and was motionless, as if the mythical Medusa had turned him into stone.

  “Is he all right, Dave? He doesn’t look at all well.”

  “He’s OK. He’s just a little... overwhelmed.”

  “So... so th-th-this is y-your friend,” Yamir finally stammer out.

  “Hello, Yamir. Nice to meet you.”

  “Hell-o,” was all Yamir could manage, as he now began to realize why Dave had refused to tell him the mystery of Drumheller.

  In the next few minutes, Dave gave Yamir the shortest possible version of what was going on – what happened to Xin, what Xin did to him, and what they were planning to do next.

  Yamir tried to take it all in as his blood pressure came back down to something approaching a high normal range. If he still needed more proof to dispel any disbelief, he was about to get it.

  “Let’s get back in the truck, Yamir,” instructed Dave.

  Yamir slowly forced his body back into motion, and climbed into the passenger side of the truck, slamming the door shut a second behind Dave’s door.

  What happened next was both unexpected and amazing. Xin used her anti-gravity field to raise the truck up off the desert floor about two metres. Before Yamir was able to get past that shock, they started moving forward, and quickly picked up speed. Xin was a truck length in front of them, towing the truck over the uneven, beige ground. The dusty floor of the desert passed underneath them at a dizzying speed, creating a competition between the eyes and the brain to determine the true reality. Yamir could hear Dave’s voice, but it sounded muffled and far away; he was far too distracted to focus on what he was saying.

  When they reached the outcropping of rocks the science ship was hidden behind, Xin elevated the truck up and over the timeworn obstacles. The truck was gently lowered, and came to rest next to the silver, elliptical shaped craft. Even though it was considered a small ship by Z’va Prime standards, it had the length and breadth of a full grown Blue Whale, dwarfing the small rental truck directly adjacent to it.

  When Yamir got out of the truck, he could still feel the residual effect of the unusual transport that had so quickly gotten them here. Both men were standing so close to the craft that their peripheral vision couldn’t take it all in.

  “This is it!” Dave announced, hands on hips. “Isn’t she amazing!”

  There was no sound from Yamir. He just stood there in awe for a moment trying to digest it all. Then, he slowly turned his head from left to the right, viewing the alien craft in its entirety bow to stern. “Holy...”

  “She’s 20 million years old – they sure built them to last!” Dave half joked. Yamir didn’t hear him.

  “This is a f#@%ing UFO!” Yamir finally yelled in excitement. “You found a space ship! W-we-need-to-tell-someone.”

  “You weren’t listening to me in the truck, were you?” Dave assessed dryly.

  Dave repeated the basic details about the science ship – where it had been found, why it had been timelessly frozen, and what he and Xin were planning to do with it.

  “So this is YOUR flying saucer?” Yamir was astounded.

  “Well, it’s really Xin’s, as far as I’m concerned, but I guess I’ll be kinda the crew.”

  Xin had been quietly observing their interaction as if it had been one of her planetary life form documentations, now she hovered toward the two friends. “This craft is a tool to be used by those who need it. It has no ownership,” Xin interjected in way of a correction. “However, if it was a sentient ship, we would have to ask it nicely,” she added jokingly in her mellow, synthesized voice.

  “What’s with the female voice? It sounds real familiar,” Yamir addressed Dave directly. Yamir wasn’t yet in the habit of speaking directly to the small probe. He treated Xin like one would a ventriloquist’s dummy, with Dave being the puppeteer. Perhaps in his subconscious, he still couldn’t be sure if everything wasn’t just one big magic trick or hoax.

  “She sampled it from a radio station. Believe me, it’s better now than what it was before,” Dave smiled. “Talking to yourself took on a whole new meaning.”

  Over the next couple of hours, Yamir was given a tour of one of the most advanced space vessel in the known Galaxy, followed by Dave filling him in with a more detailed account of the adventure thus far.

  “Before I left for home the last time, Xin had uploaded some information about this science ship directly into my cranial implant. Well, that’s what I call the little computer chip thing attached under the back of my skull. Xin’s name for it takes too long to say.”

  “I don’t know how it works exactly, but I just think about something like I normally do, and the next thing I know, information is there in my head. If I make calculations, the numbers I want to use are visualized very clearly, and the answers just pop back – it’s conveniently seamless! Somehow, the cranial implant communicate
s directly with my brain. I can’t detect what’s happening inside the device any more than I can see what’s happening inside a calculator or a computer. I just think about what I want; it does the work, and gives back an answer. My thoughts are the input device. It sure beats typing.”

  “Anyway, I used the science ship’s information details and schematics to work out a floor plan.” Dave reached into his pocket to produce a piece of paper he showed Xin and Yamir.

  “The top half of the craft is the crew space, but most of the interesting stuff is found in the bottom half, under the floor. This area houses the central computer, the Z’va reactor core, the water reclamation system, and many other systems and devices that keep this ship functioning. The two large elliptical shaped protrusions on its sides are the locations of the propulsion systems. They incorporate all the devices for movement and space travel, as well as the phase apparatus.”

  Dave continued with even more enthusiasm. “This ship is remarkable! It’s not biological, but to a certain degree, it simulates a living thing. It heals itself when it’s damaged, pumps and purifies water and oxygen for its crew like a circulatory system. It even reacts to damage as if it were pain. This ship has a fight or flight response, and will take the best course of action its AI can come up with to survive. Unless, of course, someone else takes over the controls.”

  Yamir was looking at the bridge design when Xin made her constructive criticism. “Well done, Dave! It is an optimal use of the space, and has all the necessary amenities. However, we will need storage containers in the cargo bay for various elements, and other raw materials to be used for processing your nutritional requirements, for example.”

  Xin scanned Dave’s drawing and recommended that Dave and Yamir go back to the truck, while she would stay inside the science ship to create Dave’s interior vision of the craft. “This will take approximately 1.5 of your hours,” she estimated.

  Yamir walked though the ship’s portal, leaving behind the sterile, cyan coloured environment of the craft’s interior. He was greeted by the bright warmth of the Sun on his face.

  Dave was right behind him, but before exiting, he looked over his left shoulder to see Xin floating over the hexagon shaped main control panel busy at work. Near the bridge area, a cyan coloured barrier literally grew up from the ship’s floor. It made contact with the elliptical contour of the inner hull’s ceiling, sectioning off the bridge from the rest of the interior. “Xin, can you change the ship’s interior hull colour to white?”

  “No problem, Dave,” Xin replied, proving she was quickly learning the colloquial nuances of the English language. “If you decide on another colour at a later date, the walls can be instantly changed to whatever you wish. Having said that, I do not recommend your favourite colour.”

  Dave smiled and walked on, leaving Xin to her work. Yes, he thought, a bright yellow probably wouldn’t be a good choice.

  Good to her estimate, Xin was finished on time, and next used her anti-gravity ability to move in most of the truck’s cargo. Dave brought up the rear with his couch on his shoulder once again. Once everything was moved in, Xin went over the interior design with Dave to make sure that every room was completed down to the smallest detail. All of Dave’s personal furniture, once in position, was permanently attached to the ship’s floor. Wherever the furniture made contact with the white floor, the ship’s floor grew up, melded and bonded with it.

  Xin couldn’t argue Dave out of the running water idea. Dave wanted it; she thought it was a waste. Dave won out when he argued the psychological reason for a relaxing hot shower, leaving Xin to wonder if giving him an upgraded brain was such a good idea after all. Running water, she thought, how primitive. There were several dry shower technologies, or even the cruder antibacterial body congealants available.

  “Well, that’s it, I think,” Dave announced. “If we missed something, we can make minor adjustments as we go. Just one thing, this ship needs a name.”

  “This ship already has a designation, Z’va-0167,” Xin informed, then added. “Only sentient ships have names. You humans don’t give your toasters names.”

  “Well, we do give our ships names, it’s an old tradition. I thought about this all day, and I think the ‘Odyssey’ works well for me. 2001: a space odyssey or Homer’s Odyssey both came to mind for inspiration.” Dave took Xin’s silence as a supportive yes.

  Dave turned to Yamir. “I guess this is goodbye, at least for a while,” he said sadly.

  The two friends hugged. “Take care of yourself,” Yamir said, “and remember, take all the necessary safety precautions. I wish I was going with you, but I just can’t. Even if my family would believe me... well, my place is here. I’m not the adventurer like you are. Never have been.”

  “Yeah, I understand. That’s why I didn’t try too hard to talk you into it.” Dave smiled. “Goodbye, Yamir.”

  Yamir reluctantly got back into the truck, and Xin took him back to the road by the same unsettling method they had arrived.

  Back at the road, Yamir jumped out of the truck as Xin hovered toward him. “Goodbye, Yamir. May your Universe ever expand,” Xin said solemnly, as a formal farewell to Dave’s best friend.

  “Live long and prosper,” responded Yamir, realizing it didn’t make any sense to say that to a machine. Well, at least he didn’t do the thing with the fingers, he thought.

  “Don’t worry, I will make sure no harm comes to him,” Xin assured.

  Yamir just replied with an apprehensive smile.

  When Xin returned, Dave asked, “So how we going to do this?”

  “I suggest you force-strap into the chair on the bridge, and I will control the ship for now. At least until I transfer information on the workings of this craft to you. Do you remember how I showed you?”

  “Sounds like a plan, and yes,” Dave replied.

  Yamir was leaning against the truck, and peering back at the outcropping of rocks far in the distance. A few minutes later, he could make out the tiny, silver shape as it slowly poked up from its hiding place. The elliptical craft hovered in place for a moment, and then flew straight up into the twilight sky. It accelerated from slow to way-too-fast in a couple of seconds, and disappeared into some billowy clouds.

  Dave started to fully appreciate his upgraded body, as the g-force on him was much higher than any astronaut had ever experienced. Had he not been enhanced, he would have experienced crushed ribs as well as internal organ damage from the extreme acceleration. The small machine that shared his skull with his brain told him that much. The only thing he could compare it to were a couple of the carnival rides he enjoyed as a kid. But this was different, and it wasn’t at all enjoyable. He now felt as heavy as he really was.

  “We are clear of the Earth’s atmosphere,” Xin informed. “You may get out of your chair.” She was hovering over the main control panel, about fourteen metres behind Dave.

  The Odyssey was now in a high orbit around the Earth. Xin made the bridge transparent for Dave’s benefit. The white hull walls faded away, and were replaced by hundreds of glittering stars. The Earth loomed below Dave’s feet in all its majestic glory. It felt so surreal, but damn it, he was here, he thought. For a couple of minutes he just enjoyed this almost dizzying moment as he stood over the Earth.

  “What happens now?” Dave inquired with unrestrained curiosity and light-headedness.

  “First, we need to leave Earth’s orbit. Although the Earth cannot detect us with their devices, they can identify us visually if given enough time,” Xin enlightened. “We will set a course for your Moon, and orbit it while I upload the necessary Traveler training files to your cranial implant. These files will include information on the operation of this vessel, space/planet survival, combat training, details of your enhancements, and other information necessary to help you in your explorations and survival. You will need to know the basics of space travel before we go even a single light year.”

  The Odyssey turned toward the Moon, and quickly appr
oached one-quarter light speed. Following a similar course as the historic Apollo missions, the journey didn’t take days, or hours, or even minutes, but a mere five seconds. Unlike the uncomfortable trip leaving the Earth’s atmosphere, Dave didn’t notice any movement as the magnificence of the Moon swiftly filled up the full breadth of his vision. In only a few heartbeats, he was standing above Earth’s only natural satellite.

  This transparent ship feature was an incredible way to travel, he thought. It sort of reminded him of those glass bottom boats, so that the tourists could observe the coral, tropical fish, or what have you. But this, this was a glass bottom boat on steroids!

  The Odyssey established a high orbit around the Moon as Xin and Dave went to the medical lab to upload the necessary files into Dave’s implant. Xin had Dave lie down on the marshmallow-soft medical bed. She then connected to the implant in Dave’s skull, and began the download of information. There was no white streamer between the two of them, as per the brain scan – the excess energy wasn’t necessary – the implant made the transfer of information seamless, and less uncomfortable.

  It was a beautiful, clear night. Bob Johnson had his telescope pointed and focused on the Moon. “Emily,” he called to his eight-year-old daughter. “Come here; take a look at this!”

  Emily gleefully ran over to the large refractor telescope, hopped on the wooden crate placed for her benefit, and looked down into the eyepiece using her little hands to shade her eye. “Dad... what’s that sparkly thing moving in front of the Moon?” she squeaked.

  Bob phoned some of the guys from his astronomy club. They, in turn, made some calls, and before long, professional astronomers were contacted, and finally, the media got wind of the sparkly thing orbiting the Moon.

  A 40 something news anchor sits at his desk waiting for his ‘on the air’ signal. He has male model good looks, and hair that’s neatly trimmed, but prematurely white. He’s given the signal and puts on the charm that made him a household name.

  “This is Walter Murrow, and now for the Bottom Line News.... There is a sparkly thing orbiting our Moon. Well, that’s what the little girl who first saw it, called it. No Emily, it’s a lot more than just a sparkly thing. Astronomers believe the elliptical shaped object orbiting our Moon is possibly a meteor that somehow got caught in the Moon’s gravitational field. It’s about 100 feet long and 30 feet wide, and it’s probably metallic in composition....”

  Dave still had a bit of a headache from the massive upload of information, but this time, it was buffered by the implant. He could access the information, as he needed it, and was quickly learning how to clear his mind to concentrate on one thing at a time. At first, his curiosity got the better of him when he thought about the various subjects Xin had uploaded. The result was a bombardment of information that sent him into a tailspin. Now, he had it under control.

  “So, where are we going?” Dave asked.

  “As you know, I need to find the most advanced civilization to upload Z’va Prime’s library to. However, it must also be a non-aggressive and wise race, so they do not misuse the technological information contained within. I have identified a number of possible star systems based on the out-of-date information from the library. I then cross-referenced these with specific wave patterns presently emanating from space. Perhaps one of these may lead us to our goal.”

  The Odyssey pulled away from the Moon, and pointed toward the centre of the Galaxy. Dave had never seen so many stars as the ship headed directly for the densest part of the Milky Way. It was... it was... “A-amazing,” Dave managed to choke out. He had never felt so small.

  “Wait!” exclaimed Walter Murrow. “This just in.... The object orbiting our Moon has just disappeared. One minute it was there, the next, it was gone. Further, there’s no sign of it anywhere in our solar system, and it did not impact on the surface of the Moon, as was first believed. It’s now speculated that it was NOT a meteor. Well, everyone, I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but I’m reminded of the old Sherlock Holmes’ quote – ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?’ For now, this object will remain a mystery, and we’ll leave it to our viewers at home to make their own determinations. I’m Walter Murrow, and this has been BLN. Goodnight.”

  Earth, the blue and green ball teaming with life, rapidly shrank behind the small craft. The coldness of space, and billions of stars enveloped them as they headed toward the greatest unknown, like a grain of sand falling toward the Sahara desert.

  *****