He stared at the sky again; it was cloudless and blue. The clarity of the sky above allowed him to watch the various shuttles entering and leaving orbit. Some sparkled as they reflected the morning star, others were high and dull, only vapour trails giving away their movement.
Harry looked from the sky to the ground and then the city around him in disbelief. He was standing on what was once the second (only to Earth) most secure and defended planet humans had occupied. Now it was being abandoned, just like that. The people showed no regret, remorse or even joy about it. They simply got on with it. Whatever Artimus had done, he had been thorough and effective about it.
He did not go to work that day, instead he went back to his apartment and packed some essentials. His new job had involved overseeing the shutting down and mothballing of various infrastructure services, so they would be ready for any potential future return. It was an optional job. People had insisted there was no point in doing what he did, but he had not given up hope.
He still held onto hope, but it was a different kind now. Before the message earlier he had hoped for something concrete, that they could somehow save The Colony and beat the strange alien menace. Now, it was a simple hope, to prevail.
When he was packed he finally had to make his choice: to go to the Solar System and an uncertain but potentially survivable fate or to the Project Beta Fleet and, apparently, certain death. It was at this point he realised he had already made his decision, he had done so earlier when he heard Conner's message. He still had hope, and so headed for the civilian space port for a one way journey to the Solar System.
At different stages of his journey he was able to look out of various windows and gaze at the stars. He did so to pay his own private tribute to the Beta Fleet. The Ark Project Beta Fleet was another attempt to save humanity, in a completely different way.
The First and Last Colony had been The Ark's Alpha Project. It was to be a stronghold, a show of force. Hundreds of years ago, with the old systems of power in place, it had initially been planned by some, with political power, whose plans were officially rejected. Over time it had morphed, to be eventually taken over, behind the scenes, by The Ark Project - an organisation set up when it was clear humanity had taken a dark path that was leading them to destruction.
The Beta Project Fleet was at the other end of the spectrum. The fleet was entirely unarmed and shield-less. It was full of special recruits: scientists, artists, engineers, musicians, writers, philosophers and many more. The ships were filled with famous pieces of art and significant artefacts.
The fleet was an offering, a final desperate appeasement to the aliens. Their mission was to be spared and hopefully save everyone else. They were to show the aliens the good of humanity. No one on board was meant to have any connections at all with the pirates of old or anyone in the military. The thinking was that such an innocent and interesting fleet could not possibly be attacked, let alone destroyed. The aliens would hopefully at least board or communicate with the fleet and so finally humanity would have good dialogue with them and hopefully spare the rest of the humans from whatever was going to happen in the Solar system.
Harry looked out into the stars many times, he had no idea if the fleet was still out there or if it had already been wiped from existence.
After five months of travel, the ship he was on arrived in the Solar System. Once they were within the orbit of Mars the ship's Captain spoke on the intercom.
'I have just received special information that is only shared when we're within Mars' orbit. I'm instructed to let every one know this: We're going to fight back and it starts here.' The Captain did not betray any sense of excitement, if there had been any in the first place.
For a moment Harry was expecting applause or cheering, instead people just looked at each other and a few shrugged. That was it; there was no further explanation from the Captain.
A few days later Harry transferred from the transport to a larger and more comfortable Space Cruiser. Once there he set about finding out what the fight back would entail. It did not take long, the plan was no secret, most people simply did not appear to care.
For many years human forces had been building a vast set of arrays set at Lagrange points. They were placed in orbits around the sun, in-between Earth and Mars. The arrays were designed to work together, providing a massive weapon system that could repel the forces of the Reapers and their ships. Harry often forgot that most people still thought there were powerful alien ships out there called Reapers.
The weapon system would be backed up by the combined fleets of human space craft. The previous decades had seen heavy losses, due to, as Harry knew, sabotage; not space combat. Yet here everyone was, preparing for some great final battle.
Over the following two months, Harry desperately tired to find someone like himself, anyone who had doubts about the weapon arrays and their purpose. At every point he was greeted with indifference. He felt as if he was in a dream, it was like he was the only person with any sort of personality.
The construction of the weapons array had coincided with the retreat of humanity. Harry could see how everyone had been herded into the solar system, ready to be subjected to an unknown fate that would be provided by the weapons array.
At the end of the two months the last few human star ships arrived. The gathering had been going on for years. Harry only had to wait an extra two months because The Colony was one of, if not the, last remaining places of humanity outside the solar system.
The day after the last ship arrived an alien task force of thirteen ships turned up, just like Event One. Again, Harry felt alone. No one else was remotely bothered about the coincidence, that the aliens should conveniently arrive just as the humans were assembled, or contained, as Harry thought.
In an incredibly rare occurrence, the aliens initiated contact. To Harry's surprise they were broadcasting the real time images and location of The Beta Project Fleet.
Captain Richards went through the system diagnostics again, everything was working perfectly. His life signs were being propagated throughout his ship, which gave the impression of many more souls being aboard; though he was the only real one. The fleet could not risk using completely fake life signs.
Just like every other captain, he had volunteered for this mission. They all had their own reasons for doing so. He confirmed his status with the rest of the Beta Fleet. The captains, the sole crew members of each ship, confirmed back, everything was fine. The decoy was working.
He opened a private channel to the captain of one of the ships, 'You ready?'
'I have made peace with myself. Our ancestors will be avenged,' Captain Mishra replied, 'How about you?'
'Not really. Even now I'm desperately trying to think of a way of saving myself, but I suppose deep down I know I can't.
'Justice, revenge, whatever we call it, we're doing it for Benjamin, Malati and every other human that deserves it.'
There was no further talk. Their ship's system lit up alerting them of their imminent destruction.
The Beta Fleet had presented itself to the alien task force, as an offering of peace.
A cold emotionless voice joined the alien video transmission, 'It is too late for meaningless gestures. Further disobedience will result in further destruction.'
Harry watched in horror as the aliens destroyed the defenceless fleet.
The voice returned, 'You reap what you sow.'
As the voice finished the giant, human built, arrays activated. A field of energy engulfed every single human ship and space station, as well as all of the settlements on Earth, Mars and their moons.
Harry watched on as every single military ship and installation was ripped apart and destroyed. He feared the remaining civilian craft were next. But then he lost his footing, his vision became blurred by surreal images of dancing rainbows, and then... Silence. The silence could have lasted an eternity or an instant, he could not perceive. It was ended by a warping of
time and space; music invaded his skull and millions of images flashed before his eyes. The cacophony reached an unbearable crescendo of image and sound. Then he fell to the deck of the ship, sweating and shaking. Someone helped him to his feet.
As he stood he looked around, no one else had noticed him fall, no one had done anything. He looked at his helper. It was Conner.
'You bloody bastard. I actually grieved for you, you know that, unbelievable.' Harry hugged Conner.
'Harry, it was good of you to grieve, because I am dead. No one else can see me. What you see now is a message, a message that would be activated if we - The Ark Project that is - were right. I will disappear once this message is delivered.
'The fight back really does start here; not just for humanity but for all the enslaved alien races out there. You, and a few others, are at ground zero. You've just become a human Infector.'
'What?' was all Harry could manage.
The construct of Conner continued, 'It was not your Sound Buffer device that was unique, it was you. When it was activated, the silence it created allowed your mind to become free of distractions. You were able to concentrate. Your mind, when focused, was able to repel Artimus's alien influence. We discovered the ability to repel could be adapted to influence. You are not the only one with this ability.
'As you know, we are not able to fight the aliens conventionally, we have to beat them at their own game. But in doing so we will also free the thirteen alien races we have supposedly been at war with. They are just as enslaved as humanity now is. Yes, the arrays have brainwashed almost everyone. Don't panic, we've sunk to our lowest depths, but now we will rise and defeat them.'
' Defeat who?' Harry asked.
'There is a fourteenth alien race, and it is that race that is infiltrating and controlling everyone else. They can exist as matter or energy or both. We can't fight them conventionally but we can now use their own methods against them. This involves you, but don't worry about what to do, just be yourself. Everything has been taken care of. The aliens think the Ark Project has been destroyed, both the The Colony and the Beta Fleet. We know they would have overheard the message I left for you back on the colony. It was to give them false evidence of our desperation and defeat.
'The energy, produced by the arrays that you and everyone else were subjected to, was a giant signal to fully enslave humanity and make everyone part of the alien influence grid. But you and a few others can now use it against them.
'The Ark Project was able to piggyback its own signal on top of the main one. However, as I said, just be yourself. They must not know we have done this. Myself, and a number of others who know too much, have made the ultimate sacrifice... We won't be coming back. We have put everything in place and now humanity must rescue itself.
'I actually told a bit of a lie earlier; there is one thing you need to do. It is the main purpose of this message implant, which is: There are certain people like yourself who have also been made into human Infectors, they will have also been given similar messages. You must not go near them. We need you to all spread out as far as you can, to widen your influence. Their names and faces have been placed in your memory.
'Hopefully you should now have the same protection from violence and attack that Artimus did. So just keep your spirits up, good luck.'
Harry's vision blurred, when it refocused he realised he was still on the ground; he had not stood up and Conner was nowhere to be seen. He got to his feet and looked at the people around him and muttered, 'Well you are all buggered then.'
As Harry continued to look around he heard Conner's voice one last time, 'Oh by the way mate, welcome to The Omega Project.'
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About TJ Hudson
TJ Hudson lives in Yorkshire, UK. Although his body resides there his mind can often be found wandering away to who knows where.
He decided it was about time these meanderings into the land of imagination were written down, and just maybe make some sense of it all.
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