Chapter 4
Guardian at the Gate
Planetoid Vessel, Energy Nexus
BC pressed his hand against a console to the right of the massive metal doorway. The structure seemed almost indistinguishable from the rest of the wall, but the fine grooves around the edges gave it away in the end. The console lit up and blinked for a moment before a grinding sound screeched at his ears, and the steel block of a door slid open.
“Like the gates of Heaven,” Logan said.
“Or Hell,” McKenzie said, smiling.
BC stepped back and held his scanner to the freshly made opening. While BC performed his standard set of investigations, Logan stepped up and peered into the thick of the chamber. It had struck him that, while the nuances of the station appeared alien, the overall structure felt to him oddly Terrace in design. Terrace and these aliens might not have been so different at one time. That thought brought some warmth to his chest. Common ground was a good thing.
The innards of the chamber contained the bizarre energy disturbance BC detected from the landing party’s point of entry. The room stretched about fifteen meters from corner to corner, relatively small by comparison to the halls they had traversed on route. The walls were inlaid with a number of light emitters, and the ceiling was no different.
Aside from a multitude of spire-like structures and some broken down equipment stuffed into the nooks of the chamber, his attention fixated on a central machine. It was a hexagonal console revolving around a spire. Electrical energy ran through rings layered up the spine.
“A little retro, don’t you think?” Logan asked.
“Call it what you want, Captain, but that’s our beacon,” BC said.
Logan stepped inside, BC having assured him the readings were sound. He strode toward the console with his hand at his side, gripping the butt of his bolt rifle. However, Logan stopped as a screeching sound whipped past him like lightning as electricity poured over the spire and the bulbs circling around it. He took a step back, fearful he’d angered something beyond his ken, a god of sorts if the word sufficed in this situation.
“What’s happening, BC?” he shouted.
“I … I don’t know!” he said. “It’s a massive energy displacement. Mostly electricity. No radiation.”
“Is it dangerous?” Logan said.
BC shrugged. “I wouldn’t run up and lick anything, but we’re fine so far.”
“Watch this, Captain,” McKenzie said, striding up to him. “This is our first contact.” She pointed out some filaments gathering into a cluster near the console. “The dust exhibits a pattern.”
“Nano-machines,” Ashley said. “There’s definitely something intelligent about them, almost like a consciousness.”
“Do they mean us harm?” Logan asked.
“Not sure,” Ashley replied. “There are so many layers, like mental blocks. I can’t discern their intentions.”
Logan sighed. “Well, damn.”
“You knew something like this would come to pass when you organized the away team,” McKenzie said. “I suggest we make the best of an uncertain situation.”
“Right, I’ll …” Logan started but trailed off.
The collection of dust particles solidified into a human form, perhaps to facilitate ease of interaction. He sincerely doubted the aliens actually looked like humans, but he allowed the lie to take him over regardless. Logan sized up the creature, a gelatinous mass of smoke and bustling blackness in the form of a human being. It had copied the relative form of BC, or so he imagined.
The creature bore neither facial features nor expressions, but it did walk with a smooth gait. That was probably for show. As a collection of Nano-machines, it could hover if it desired. The being had gone out of its way to approach them, though it had put up enough of a fireworks display to instill some level of fear in their party. Logan folded his arms and eyed the being.
“Greetings from Terrace,” Logan said. “My name is Logan Bradley, Captain of Cruise Light. We mean you no …”
The creature interrupted his speech. “Go back to your sphere.”
“Excuse me?” Logan said.
The creature spoke again. “Return to your sphere. Your world. Your species is ill prepared to leave it.”
Logan stepped forward. “Look, I don’t know who you think you are, but I can’t just turn back my ship. I have a mission, and I’m going to see it through or my head will roll.” The creature continued facing him. It had no eyes, but he guessed it was sizing him up. “Listen, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. I’m sure Terrace can offer something to your people.”
“We have observed enough,” the creature said. “Your sphere is in disagreement. You must be in agreement before we may allow your ships beyond your station.”
“You picked up on our language pretty quickly,” Stinson said. “How long have you been watching us?”
The creature cocked its head. “From the beginning.”
“Captain,” Ashley said. “I believe agreement is tongue in cheek for a more complicated expression. I suggest you inquire.”
“By all means,” McKenzie said, shrugging. “It wouldn’t hurt.”
“Fine,” Logan said. “What does it mean to be in agreement? How can we reach this state and maintain it?”
He stared down the mess of particles made manifest in Terrace form. The entity lacked any shred of sensibility or personable mannerisms. It paced around him with a mechanical stride and that damned blank empty stare. Eyes would have helped, though he figured everything on it was an eye of some kind. Logan imagined seeing in 360 degree vision or viewing everything in this planetoid station with absolute precision.
He had no doubt he was mingling with a super being beyond his abilities. Running would end in futility, and any arguments he might bring to the table would pale in comparison to its intelligence, but that wouldn’t keep him from trying. This was first contact, Terrace’s maiden voyage to another star. He wasn’t about to slip up in the face of uncertainty. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and the creature spoke at last.
“Agreement,” it said. “It is not something a collective can achieve through effort. There can be none of your kind with stray motives. All must work and act toward a common constructive end.”
McKenzie smiled and folded her arms. “That sounds awfully radical for a supreme being and equally boring.”
The creature looked at her. “Your sphere is not willing to sacrifice freedom for the sake of your propagation. You are a danger to yourselves and other spheres, which is why you must return.”
“Now, hang on, buddy,” Logan said. “I don’t believe you. There’s no way that …”
It cut him off. “Such is your choice. You will learn in time, or you will erase yourselves from the cosmos in spite. The surveyors will not allow your transgressions unchecked.”
Logan turned to Stinson. “Surveyors?” he asked. “Some kind of master race?”
“A collective, no doubt,” McKenzie said. “I venture that their peoples embraced the ultimate evolutionary leap.”
“Mechanization,” BC said. “This thing is too different. You can’t reason with it. At least, I don’t think you can. Doc?”
“I agree,” McKenzie said with a nod. “Seems we’re at a stalemate.”
Logan scratched his head and snorted in spite. “Well, we’re not turning back. Options?”
Logan glanced around at his subordinates, met with grim expressions and lack of resolve. No one had answers. For the first time in his career, a foe of impossible magnitude impeded him, and the frustration struck him deep inside. He shrugged off his building ego the best he could and approached the collection of Nano-machines. He offered his hand in a gesture of kindness. He even pulled off the gloved portion of his suit, revealing the fleshy substance underneath.
“Help me understand,” Logan said. “Everything I feel inside tells
me that Terrace will live on, that we won’t endanger your collective. I want to see your point of view, so make it evident. You have that kind of power, don’t you?”
The creature froze all motor functions. It looked at him with an empty face as the particles buzzed about in the thick of its form. Good. It was thinking, or so he figured. Logan kept his forward stance, his arm outstretched. To his surprise, the entity raised its own appendage, a black formless arm with a hand that gradually formed fingers. Logan smiled. He’d done something, took the first step at getting through to a being so far removed from Terrace ideals that …
A massive heat and energy buildup. A stream of searing fire in the thick concentrated form a laser shot out from the creature’s newly formed index finger. It ripped through his side and tore a hole through his suit and the flesh inside. Logan cried out in pain and cursed as he dropped to his knees but not before a much louder cry echoed behind him through the chamber. On his knees and clutching his side, Logan turned in time to see Ashley’s body hit the floor, a chunk torn through the center of her upper abdomen.