Behold....I have...er, something? Was meant to be a short prologue that became something larger and not really related to the story, in the way it introduces none of the main characters. So I'm not sure if I would include it in the Anthology. But, since I got swept up writing, I thought I'd share it anyways. The actual proper chapter should follow hopefully in the next week.
PROLOGUE
***Mauna Kea Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii: 24/7/2084***
"....Which is fitting for those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Nothing can repay the debt we owe them for our freedom, so the least we can do is honour their memory forever".
"And when can we expect the monument to be completed?"
"We are on course for completion in the next 2 weeks, just in time for the anniversary of the Great Triumph. I look forward to its unveiling, so we can all stand back and admire the resolute nature of Mankind and trust me when I say, when we are united, we a force to be reckoned with! If any other beings not from this earth wish to test us, then I say......"
Click! With one press of a button, the two figures on the screen were gone. Both the Minister and the reporter, along with their cosy looking interview set faded and dissolved into darkness. Satisfied with the now blank and silent tv, he tossed to remote back onto the already cluttered desk.
"Hey, I was watching that" a voice called out lazily.
"What? The report that's been on 8 times today already?" he questioned, as he looked across the room to the source of the objection.
"Well yeah, its better than silence aint it?". The owner of the voice was a young woman with a decidedly disheveled appearance. Her clothing was creased and her hair a tangled mess. She was currently lounging on an old worn out sofa on the far side of the room. Moonlight streamed in from huge glass windows adjacent to her, glinting of her glasses that sat unevenly on the bridge of her nose. She hoisted herself up into a seating posistion and inspected the older man in front of her. He was equally bedraggled, his tie loosely hung around his neck and his shirt was untucked. Untidy stubble flecked his chin and cheeks. "You don't like that kind of thing do you Moreno?".
"Huh?" the man looked up having been inspecting a docket on the desk. "What thing Lydia?". The woman swung her legs out to sit upright and properly on the couch, before sighing heavily as if thinking of the correct way to phrase her enquiry.
"You know, things about the war and stuff". The man smirked despite himself. 'And stuff' she had a way of over generalising things, no matter how heavy the subject. The man, Moreno let the page he was holding fall back onto the table and began to wander over to the window. He stopped halfway to gaze at a wall console. Beneath the peaceful display of steady numbers streaming across the screen, a tarnished poster was taped to side panelling. It showed an image of a group of Men and women, a mixture of all ages and ethnicities hand in hand. They were all standing proudly, gazing up at the flag of the United World Federation, which hung above them. In bold letters read the caption "Alone in the universe, together we stand".
"It's this kind of thing I don't like" Moreno said, running his hand across the picture. "This propaganda that they shove down everyones throats". His hand had turned into a fist and was pressing against the poster. After he realised what he was doing, the weary looking man pulled his arm back down to his side. He then continued his stroll to the large window, that comprised most of the far wall of the room. Moreno gazed absently out of the window. There wasn't much to see. The light of the moon only afforded a view so far and even then, there wasn't much to observe aside from the neighbouring Satellite and Telescope arrays. Being near the summit of a dormant Volcano didn't tend to throw up much in the way of a landscape. Without turning, Moreno continued.
"They tout it as the greatest achievement in the history of man, a step forward for our species...". He ran a hand through his unkempt and starting to grey hair. "But I think...I think it's quite the opposite". Lydia was sat upright, listening intently. She'd not heard Moreno be so open about his feelings since she was assigned here. Perhaps the sleepless nights were wearing his mental resolve away. Still gazing out the window, but this time up at the clear star filled sky, Moreno continued. "What if the first encounter was handled differently? What if war never broke out? What if we resolved our differences without the use of military might?".
He leaned onto the window sill and sighed heavily. "Imagine if we'd stood as allies and not enemies? Can you begin to imagine the kind of Utopia that would've awaited us?". Moreno's head dropped again. "It's that very reason I became an Astronomer in the first place! Alas, that future has gone. We're much too afraid of what could still be out there to ever trust again".
"Quiet!". Finally Moreno did turn around. Lydia also shifted in her seat to gaze at the person asking for Silence. Over the balcony, past the lounging area she and Moreno occupied was a shallow pit in the center of the room. In middle of the depressed area, the planet Earth turned slowly and carelessly. It was an incredible sight, fully rendered and detailed as a high definition 3D Holographic projection. Even the moon and the space between it and Earth was on display. The planet measured roughly the same height as the man stood alongside it, who before speaking up had been studying its outer orbit intently.
A scrawny rake of a man, his slicked back hair was losing its bleached blonde colour. His attire was a simple black t shirt and pants. He was glaring at Moreno. "I thought you were resting Moreno?". Moreno nodded.
"I am. You're the one who told me to take a break Kanoa" Moreno retorted. "Then if you're going to rest, go do it. I can't focus with you babbling up there".
"Sorry Kanoa, he was just answering my questions". Lydia had got up and was now stood near the top of the steps of the balcony. Her face twitched in mild irritation as she noticed Kanoa was standing on the polished surface of the Projection plate barefoot once again. His hooded eyes switched their focus to her, his expression not changing. "You weren't complaining when the TV was on earlier" Lydia enquired.
"Thats because he's a Xenophobe Lydia. He just didn't like hearing an alternate take on the war" butted in Moreno, his arms folded.
Kanoa shook his head at this "Don't start with that crap again".
"Why not?" said Moreno, shuffling towards the stairs. "Are you so afraid of another opinion? I know why. It's easy to just hate isn't it? Rather than applying logic and reason, that would be too much trouble wouldn't it?" said Moreno, the volume and emotion increasing in his voice with each sentence. He was moving down the stairs as he spoke. "You Kanoa. Your the kind of person that makes this whole business such a sorry affair".
With this, Kanoa threw the Projection control he was holding to the floor, the remote bounced off the metallic surface with a hollow ping and skittered away.
"Logic and Reason!? Let me tell you the logic behind the way things played out!". He pointed to the projection of Earth behind him. "They showed up uninvited. We didn't know anything about them, but we took their word and let them in anyway. Then they turned on us. Okay!?" shouted Kanoa, clearly riled up himself. "So Mr. Logic and Reason, what other choices were there, but to fight!?".
Moreno shook his head fervently. "You really think things were so black and white? Do you have all the facts? Were you there when they declared war against the world!? Or did you just take the Fed's story as gospel like the rest of the herd?". The two were stepped towards each other confrontationally.
"Oh yeah? Well, wheres your proof otherwise huh?" shouted Kanoa. Moreno faltered slightly.
"My..my older brother, he was part of the contact team. His DNA samples confirmed they were our ancestors, just like they claimed!".
"So what!? Who they were doesn't change what they came to do!" Kanoa shot back. Moreno's anger flared again and he got closer still to Kanoa, jabbing his finger into the chest of the younger man.
"He was convinced that it could of worked! We could've lived together! He died fighting for them and that cause!".
Kanoa shoved Moreno's hand away from him. "Well my brother died fighting against them!".
"STOP IT!!!!"
Never had Lydia even raised her voice in the Observatory and the pair were so surprised by her booming shout they immediately stopped to look at her. She bounded down the stairs, equal parts of fear and anger etched across her face, her eyes struggling to fight back tears. "What the hell is wrong with you two!? Where's all this come from? We're supposed to be adults!". The two men looked at each other, then back to Lydia. Tension hung like a cloud of fog in the air, before Moreno finally broke the silence.
"Yeah, you're right" he muttered sheepishly. "I got swept up in the moment, I don't know why I got so worked up?".
Kanoa drew a ragged breath and stepped back. "Yeah....". Lydia gave a weak smile.
"It must be sleep deprivation catching up to us" she said, trying to sound encouraging. "I think we can all say that". Moreno nodded to her, while Kanoa simply turned away from them.
"Huh?". Both Moreno's and Lydia's attentions were drawn to Kanoa, as he scrambled to pick up the device he'd discarded in anger. He snatched it off the floor and feverishly began studying it, turning it in all directions and running his fingers over it.
"Are you...Okay there?" asked Lydia, slightly concerned.
"It's definitely fine, no damage to the remote...." murmured Kanoa to himself. He then gazed at the Holographic projection, a look of concern in his face "Which means....".
"Kanoa? Whats the matter?" Lydia questioned again, her sense of unease rising. This time he did acknowledge her. He pointed to a spot in front of him on the Hologram. It was a featureless patch of darkness, some distance from the Van Allen Radiation belt, on the edge of the projection. She stared at it blankly for a few moments "What is it? I don't see anything?".
"Exactly. The Kovak Satellite should be visible in this area, as well as the light from distant stars too".
It began to dawn on her. "Ohh, so the Projectors faulty?". Kanoa put his hand into the projection itself, the image shuddering at the point where his arm broke the picture. He pulled back, as if plucking something from the hologram. With this motion, Kanoa enlarged the image. Now Lydia could see more clearly, she could see just make out the rough boundaries of the blank part of the hologram.
"The Device is fine. At least this is" he said, tapping his foot on the Projection plate. "However....the satellite for it isn't".
"The Kovak one?" asked Moreno, who had shuffled over to take a look.
Kanoa shook his head. "No, thats an old Russian device, its basically scrap metal. I mean the one for this device in that area".
"Wait, this projection is a live feed from satellites?" enquired Lydia, a look of surprise on her face.
"Yeah, they're known as the Sentinels, or perimeter Satellites. They're part of the early detection system" Kanoa informed her, as he marched over to a bank of consoles to the left of the Hologram. He began operating two separate screens simultaneously, rapidly swiping and tapping on the desired information. "There!" he announced, having found what he was looking for. "We lost contact roughly 3 minutes ago!". He spun around, looking flustered.
"What does it mean?" asked Lydia worriedly.
Moreno put his hand on her shoulder. "It means that it's bust, thats all" he said reassuringly.
"Or something has taken it out" Kanoa said solemnly. Moreno turned and looked at Kanoa.
"What are you doing?" he said, approaching the slender scientist.
"We need to inform the UWF that we have potential contact" said Kanoa, now busy punching in a code on another screen.
"Hang on! You're being rather hasty" uttered Moreno, as he rushed over to Kanoa. He saw Kanoa was already on the Comm. Call and quickly pressed the close down button on the top of the touch screen.
"What the hell are you doing!?" cried Kanoa, who looked at him alarmed.
"It's probably a false alarm! Think of how stupid we'd look if we called it incorrectly!" replied Moreno.
"Guys, look at this!". They turned back to Lydia who was staring at the projection in panic. Spreading from the original blank space, more areas of the image were dimming and turning blank as well. Soon almost a third of the Projection was completely blank.
"False alarm!? You think this many would go down at once? This has to be a co-ordinated attack!" shouted Kanoa. He thumbed the screen back on, spurred on by adrenaline. "I can't believe something like this is actually happening" he said to himself, as he set the device back up. "Crap, Moreno! What's the calling code for Contact Reporti...Agh!!". Before he could finish his sentence, Moreno shoved Kanoa away from the Console. He flew back and crashed into the bank of consoles, hitting the back of his head hard on the metal panelling that concealed the devices innards and sliding down it.
"Kanoa!" cried Lydia, as she spun around upon hearing him collide with the machinery. "Moreno! What the hell!?". The man look panicked, as he looked between his two colleagues.
"I..I..I just think..we need to do this properly".
"What's that supposed to mean?" she replied, deliberately keeping her distance. He looked at her wide eyed.
"Don't you see? If we raise the alarm, there will be panic! We'll shoot first and ask questions later. Thats not how this will go down! I won't allow it!" he cried, standing firm. Lydia stood firm too, although inside she was trembling. She could see in the way Moreno was breathing and the look in his eyes, something had snapped inside him. At the very least she needed to distract him, to get him away from Kanoa in case he attacked again.
"So, whats your plan Moreno?" she asked.
The man tugged at the knot of his tie aggressively as he thought to himself. "We contact them! Then we'll meet them. learn who they are and talk to them. Then I just need to convince the UWF they are not hostile!" he said, his lips twisting into a grin as he thought about this strategy.
"How would that work? How would you even contact them?" she said, backing away towards the stairs.
"Oh shut up! What would you know about interstellar communications? You're just a data analyst!" he spat, stomping forward. Lydia began ascending the stairs, still facing her agitated peer. Moreno continued to follow her, as he spoke. "This is it! The second chance! I've dreamt of this for 6 years Lydia!". He seemed delirious. She continued to back away, but knew she has put herself into a corner.
CRACK! Moreno recoiled from the blow to the head, keeling over into a heap on the floor. Kanoa stood over him, the Controller for the Projector clenched in both hands, having been used as an impromptu weapon.
"You okay?" he asked Lydia, as he lowered the bludgeon. She nodded.
"The bastards gone nuts!" Kanoa said prodding the motionless body of Moreno with his foot. Lydia shook herself out of her stupor. "We'll deal with him later, we need to raise the alarm first".
No sooner had the words left her lips than a klaxon started to sound. They both knew what the ear piercing screech of the alarm meant. Something had passed the Proximity sensors in Earths Orbit, something large enough to set them off. Something that was currently inbound.
With but a single glance at each other, Kanoa and Lydia flew down the stairs and to the main Control desk. Lydia sat down at the desk and with a swipe of her hand on the table surface, numbered and lettered keys appeared. She hammered away, skimming through immense amounts of data.
"It's something colossal....No, there's more than one! Wait, theres some small things too! Oh no, I think they've launched something....." her voice trailed off as she gawped at the screen. Kanoa rushed across the room to an arrangement of screens and consoles surrounding a large chair. He clambered over the massive seat and tapped a screen.
"Give me visual input on Northern Hemisphere Unit 12!" he barked. The screen fizzled to life and a static picture came up. "Come on, come on, if we can confirm it, then we can call it in properly". The visual feeds static started to fade and picture became clearer. Kanoa never got to see what the image was though.
The noise of the gunshot rumbled through the enclosed space for a moment, before being overwhelmed by the Klaxon sound. A single hard round bullet had passed straight through Kanoa's chest from behind and punched through the screen in front. His body slumped forward off the chair, crashing through monitors and consoles on its descent to the floor, a mixture of blood and coolant fluid began to pool around the tangled mess of the corpse and machinery.
This was the sight that greeted Lydia as she turned. That and the image of Moreno, standing with a pistol outstretched. It was old, an antique in fact, smoke from the discharged gunpowder rose from the barrel. Moreno hopped down the last of the steps and turned to her. He no longer looked panicked or Delirious. He seemed composed and stone faced. This was at odds to Lydia, tears began to well in her eyes as terror overcame her.
"Why!?" was all she could utter as he sauntered over to her position casually.
"Oh this?" Moreno said, waving the gun in his hand. "An old heirloom, always thought to keep it handy. See no one checks for these kinds of weapons anymore, so easy to conceal anywhere" Moreno said smiling to himself, apparently proud of his foresight. "They're not as fancy as the new tech, but....". Lydia leapt from her chair at him.
Moreno pulled the trigger. Lydia fell back into her chair, which tipped over onto the floor. The bullet hole in her throat vomited blood onto the floor. Moreno looked down. He was covered in blood.
He reached down and pulled the bloody chair upright and dropped into it. After a few moments, he reached over and tapped at the keys on the tabletop. The klaxon seized its wailing. Moreno breathed a long sigh of relief. He continued to slothenly type with one hand. Soon the four screens composited the image he wanted. They showed him the ground level telescopes. More specifically, the one that sat on the very roof of their facility. Well, his facility now. It was what he had hoped. Far above, he could just make it out. The black ships, it was them. But more vessels and far larger. "Could it be..." Moreno wondered with excitement. He punched the air in glee. "The Vystopal...are coming home!".
His arm froze in mid celebration. There was something else on the screen. He craned in closer to take a look. Something was descending, with incredible speed. It flashed white and looked almost like it had a fiery tendril to it. He saw at least half a dozen more of them, but they branched off and away. It was only then he realised what they were and where they were going. He had no doubt in his mind those travelling away, were heading to other Observatories in the hemisphere. Which meant the one shimmering white light remaining was coming directly down upon him. These were not the welcome messengers he'd wished to see. These were messengers of a different kind.
He cast a look around at his surroundings, his lifeless colleagues. As the world turned to fire around him and his body was incinerated, he had just enough time to wonder if he had made a mistake.....