[Untitled]

by Matthew Denfeld

Marcus awoke to the shaking of his rickety ship. “Hold together Beatrice,” Marcus whispered, placing his hand on the wall behind him. The two of them had made many journeys together, but he feared she was reaching the end. He looked around the iron womb that housed him. Little had changed since his departure from Zeta-3. On his left, his eyes lingered on the cockpit door. It had long been sealed up by Primarius. Now the law forced an AI to pilot his ship. He longed to fly again, but it was another thing machines robbed from him. Centering himself, he looked back around the compartment toward his crew.

On his right sat a humanoid machine – it was only human in shape, lacking any warmth to it. By the cockpit door that he wished would open sat two more bulking hulls like the one to his right. Moving on from the hunks of steel, he breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing his other human companions.

Across from him sat Florence, nicknamed Flow – it was easier to say over the radio. To her left sat the burly Demetri, a large man and new recruit to this half-human crew. Both of them were on high alert. Marcus had grown used to the sleep agent that sped up the journey, but the other two had not. This mission would be much more difficult with a high strung crew. Marcus needed to diffuse the tension.

“So, Demetri,” Marcus started, “how did you end up on this half-human crew?”

Demetri gazed into Marcus’ eyes. The large man's stare seemed to pier into Marcus' soul. Marcus felt exposed. His clever trick to dissolve tension didn’t seem to work on this new member. Despite the knowing look, Demetri played along, stating, “A change of scenery, that's all.”

Flow playfully tapped Demetri on the shoulder. “No one joins a recon force just to see the galaxy. It's much too dangerous,” Flow stated. She spoke with authority despite never experiencing anything but recon life.

“I’m serious. But since you don’t believe me, how about you tell me why you're here?” Demetri responded in a soft voice. It sounded like a father talking to his skeptical kid. 

With a look of excitement, Flow began her tale. “I never really joined, I was born into it. My father was part of the force that wiped out the Omicrons. He was on the research team and told me all about the technology and tactics. He also told me we were lucky—that when they struck first it wasn't against the Prime system. If they had, we would have never retaliated and survived. I don’t want that to ever be a concern again. I’m going to stop any other aliens from destroying humanity. And if that means striking first, so be it! I’ll be the one to discover alien life and be a hero for stopping them!”

Flow was sticking her hand up, celebrating a victory for a battle she never fought. The passion in her voice resembles a military captain, railing her troops against a nonexistent foe. After a beat, Flow realized how silly she looked and put her hand back at her side.

Marcus chuckled at the sight of Flow’s impassioned speech. It reminded Marcus that she was young. She hadn’t seen enough of the galaxy to be beaten down by it. She didn’t know what it's like to lose someone. 

Marcus wanted to find other life, but not to kill. He wanted to know he wasn’t alone in the universe. Anything to fill the void that humanity left in him.

“Your speech seems well rehearsed.” Demetri teased. Flow turned red from the remark and started to shrink into the corner. Marcus glared at Demetri, who just gave a defeated sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

With the tension broken Marcus spoke up. “We have 10 minutes till we land, review that map,” ordered Marcus, throwing a folded piece of paper to the duo. “The drop zone will put us a half mile from the lab. We’ll bring the machines along and secure the outside perimeter for 100 meters on each side. Once secure, we will infiltrate the lab, investigate the distress signal, and find out what they wanted. We have no audio from the signal, so we're going in blind as to the danger. Demetri I need you,” gesturing to the two robots by the cockpit, “and these two, to secure the south while the rest of us secure the north. Any questions?”

Demetri spoke, “Why don’t we have the humans and robots in separate squads?” 

“Because these aren’t Primarius premier robots. There the best Zeta-3 could manage but I don’t trust them to operate independently. I’m putting you with two of them because I know you have experience with these types of machines.”

Flow was about to shoot out another question but the ship's shuttering— signaling atmospheric entry—stopped her. Beatrice was not the finest ship in Primarius military fleet, but she worked well. Besides, none of the gear they had was top notch. A few minutes after the initial shutter, the crew jolted forward and the bay door opened. The three machines sprang to life with luminous yellow eyes and mechanical movements. All six crew members exited the ship and split into two groups to secure the area.

The group jogged the half-mile and observed the wreck of the research station. The two doors had been ripped off their hinges, and all the windows were shattered, leaving bits of glass everywhere. Despite the desire to investigate, both teams stuck to the original plan and secured the area surrounding the station. After ensuring no present danger, Marcus and Demetri set the robots to sentry mode and entered the building to start their investigation. 

Near the doorway was a large amount of footprints going both in and out. Entering the lab resulted in a horrible picture. All the test tube and machinery had been broken, some with small burn marks scorched into them. The tables had been turned over and similar burn marks scared the table top. Pushing forward into the living quarters they found all the rooms in disarray with personal belongings scattered about and some items shoved into disheveled suit cases. Once the final room was scanned and cleared the group split up to investigate different aspects of the mystery. 

The investigation warranted a long silence. Flow, drawing no conclusion on her own asked. “So Cap, what do you figure happened?” 

“It looks like a hostile group broke into the site and started destroying stuff, taking personnel with them when they left. I’m guessing an outworld group, maybe the World Purers or some insurrectionists.” The captain half-heartedly deduced. Marcus wasn’t convinced by these conclusions.

Flow and Demetri looked skeptical. The scorched holes could not have been from human weaponry. They looked like mini laser holes, and no weapons like that were ever developed. Marcus was hopeful of the answer he might find. He kept running from clue to clue until Demetri spoke up.

“What are you hoping to find? You're tampering the evidence by kicking up so much dust.”

Marcus looked up with a spark in his eyes. “The footprints!”

Marcus rushed to the door and fell to his knees. He looked frantically at the indents in the ground till he finally found it. “I’ve got it! There are aliens here!” Marcus jumped up and faced his crew members inside the lab, longing to explain. But before a word left his mouth an explosion rang in their ears followed by gunfire.

Rushing out the door, the group saw two of the robots firing into the forestry. Their programming dictated they return fire wherever the shots came from. The air was filled with smoke from the robots' guns and small blue light beams that litter the remaining machines with laser holes. Searching both for cover and the third machine resulted in a bad situation all around. There was no cover. The last robot was engulfed in a blaze, with only a pair of legs remaining. 

Flow and Demetri prepared their weapons, but Marcus yelled at them to hold fire. He rushed to one of the scientist's quarters and quickly tore a portion of the white bed sheet. He heard another robot explode, witnessing the fire consume it through the broken windows. Rushing outside, he ran to the last robot and hit its emergency power switch, waving the torn bed sheet frantically as he went. He fell to his knees and waved his white flag until one of the laser shots hit him in the shoulder. He continued waving his message for peace as his shoulder throbbed. The last robot exploded right next to Marcus, throwing him hard against the ground. Marcus passed out before he knew if his plan worked.

✵✵✵

Marcus opened his eyes to see a face looking over him. He tried to make out the details but failed to make out anything in his blurry vision. He felt around himself and discovered he was on a soft bed; it felt like a cloud as it wrapped itself about him. A soft outline watched over him, and he could make out vaguely human features. From the figure came a soft female voice, a voice he had not heard in a long time. 

“Rest for a few more minutes. You’ve worn yourself out trying to fulfill your promise.” He tried to reach out to it but couldn’t find the face that the voice belonged to. The memories flooded back to him, the mission he tirelessly worked on. His last goal before their reconnection. Tears started flowing down his face as he choked out. 

“I found them.”

✵✵✵

Marcus shot up to see Flow sitting over him. He tried to take in his surroundings, but the searing pain in his shoulder made him fall back to the cold, firm ground underneath him. He tried to sit up again and found that Demetri was sitting a few feet away with his eyes trained on something in the distance. He looked himself over, finding the only abnormality to be the white cloth with red stain wrapped around his shoulder. He quickly wiped away the fresh tears that stung his eyes. He managed to choke out a few words, trying to keep the confident demeanor that made him captain. “What happened?”

Flow, looking at him and restraining her anger, said, “You charged head first into the alien group and somehow got them to hold their fire.” Flow’s face glowed red with fury. She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she stood up and walked away. Marcus tried to stand up and follow her, but his throbbing shoulder kept him from pursuing her. She would kill him if he wasn’t her captain, friendship be damned. Marcus knew their difference in ideology would cause a divide, but he defended it, knowing they would never have found other life. 

“I don’t know why you have such a fondness for them,” Demetri thought out loud. “The last time we met one of them they tried to wipe us from the galaxy.” Although he spoke to Marcus, he never broke his distant gaze. Marcus let the words hang in the air, unable to tell him the real reason. 

Finally Marcus gathered enough strength to push himself up and see what Demetri was staring at. A sense of awe overpowered all the pain the captain felt, as he saw a small crowd of them. Light blue humanoids that seemed to be gathered in a circle around something. He could not make out any distinctive features yet, but he would. He would be a liaison, a champion for them. He would make sure that peace was established, not war. Their aspirations would be achieved. They could rest knowing they achieved their goal. They could rest easy, him and… 

Marcus' thoughts were interrupted by a loud whooshing. He felt himself pulled off balance by a large gust of wind. His brief scan showed all things: trees, broken glass, rocks, aliens, Demetri and Flow, everything pulled strongly toward the same direction. His two crewmates looked confused, but Marcus knew what it was. 

A large ship emerged from seemingly nowhere. Only the most important ships were equipped with the power to use wormholes. Fear overcame Marcus. He had seen these once before, at the last stand where the Omicrons were exterminated from the galaxy. Large flags unfurled, bearing the symbol of extraterrestrial eradication. A Conquistador ship.

Pushing through the pain Marcus stood up and rushed toward Flow. He never thought she would go this far. “Why would you call an extermination?” Marcus screamed. 

“I didn’t call for anyone!” Flow screamed back. The words could barely be heard over the launching of drop pods. Flow’s gaze shifted from Marcus to something in the sky. He matched her gaze to see a cone shaped ship flying toward them. Thinking quickly, the captain pulled Flow to the ground and tried to cover her with his own body. Marcus was paralyzed with fear, the arrow shaped ship was going to run through. Demetri came barreling toward them, tackling them to the ground before anything could happen. Marcus felt a scorching pain on his back for a moment before it dissipated. A pain unlike anything he had ever felt, but he couldn’t fail now. He must protect the aliens. Standing up Marcus grabbed the first weapon he saw and stood ready to shoot whomever came out of the drop pod in front of him. Flow looked at him with shock while Demetri was disappointed at the choice he made.

Marcus pushed Demetri off him and rushed to grab the first weapon he could. Flow was shocked he would abandon her. Demetri, seeming to always know, looked to Marcus with disappointment. Marcus stood ready to fight against anything that exited the pot.

Marcus' stance was thrown off by several more drop pods landing in a circle around the lab. He stared at them to see which would open first, but he noticed a disheartening sight. Beatrice, his beloved ship, was crushed beneath the exterminator's tombs. He heard a noise from behind him and flipped around, only to feel a surging pain sear through his legs. He looked in front of himself to see the deadliest military force ever, dedicated to the protection of humanity. He tried to fire, but the weapon was ripped from his grip. He looked around at the rest of the eradication force. The soldiers were dragging the aliens toward their new prison. This was the end, he had lost. Flow and Demetri would be left without a captain because he chose the aliens over his crew. He hadn’t kept his promise, he just caused pain for those he cared about.

Marcus felt his conscience leaving him, but he barked out one last question before he returned to her, “Why can’t we exist in peace?”

But there was no answer.