S-28. The Christmas Ultimatum
After we safely landed in the Radiolaria’s hanger, the emergency briefing began. Captains Savitskaya and Skelton, Teles, Laria and Tektite-4 all attended via video comms; Zehra and Vicky squeezed into my cockpit, doing their best not to look as Miette changed into her inertia suit.
“How bad is it?” Captain Skelton asked.
“Bad.” Tektite-4 responded. “433 Eros sustained two kinetic impacts before we got the shield up. 27 docking bays were destroyed and there’s an air leak in the gravity centrifuge, although that should be patched up shortly. Estimated dead around 200.”
“Have any of the shield generators been compromised, gao~n?” Zehra asked.
“Two were destroyed, but the backups are filling in. The kinetic impacts are coming every thirty-two seconds, like clockwork. At this rate, the shield will fail in 20 hours.”
“Can they keep this up for 20 hours? That would require 2250 frame-class units they’d have to sacrifice as kinetic projectiles.” Laria asked.
“Take a look at my LIDAR sensors.” Tektite-4 brought up a tactical projection, and we all gasped as we saw the huge gravimetric signatures bearing down on Eros. It was the biggest grouping of Sarcophage I’d ever seen.
“Is that…” I asked, voice filled with dread.
Tektite-4 nodded. “92% probability the enemy force consists of four cruisers, two Beelzebubs… and one Belphegor.”
Belphegor. The largest Sarcophage species ever seen. They were part capital ship, part factory; given sufficient raw materials, they could churn out hundreds of new Frame-class units a day. For all their power, humanity rarely encountered them; they tended to remain deep in Sarcophage space, protected by the swarm.
Captain Skelton frowned. “I haven’t seen a Belphegor since the Third Great Surge. Why now? Why here?”
Captain Savitskaya was the one to answer. “It would seem their interest in us has grown to unreasonable levels.”
Yuck. Seriously back off, you creepy stalkers.
Tektite-4 continued their report. “I’m estimating approximately 500 frame-class units in the swarm. Add to that the Belphegor and cruiser production capacity, and they can likely bombard us with 1500 frame-class kinetic projectiles over the next day. Combined with spinefire from the cruisers and Beelzebub... well, our shield is history.” Suddenly, they frowned. “Or so I say, but they’ve just stopped firing.”
“Huh? They have?!” My eyes widened.
“Something weird is going on…” Teles muttered. I sensed it too. Something about the gravity…
“Laria, Teles, Tektite. Are you picking up these strange gravity waves?” I asked them.
Laria nodded. “I am. There’s something off about them. They’re too regular, forming a pattern… almost like a comms signal?!”
“And they’re coming from the Belphegor!” Teles was just as shocked as the rest of us.
Zehra voiced the question that was on everyone’s minds. “Are the Sarcophage… trying to talk to us, gao~n?”
There’s no way. The Sarcophage don’t talk, they only consume!
“This is… unprecedented…” Captain Savitskaya was momentarily stunned, but quickly recovered. “Laria, can you translate it into a comm signal, and broadcast our reply using your drive fins?”
“I think so. One moment.” Laria’s eyes unfocused. “I’ve got it.”
A new video comm window popped up, full of static. We could barely make out the shadowy silhouette of a girl. Her features were obscured, but she was unmistakably human-looking, with a slim build and long hair.
“Hello?” Captain Savitskaya said apprehensively. “I’m Captain Ekatrina Savitskaya of the Revolutionary Army, representing the United Soviet States of Earth.”
“Rudimentary.” The high-pitched voice scratched like a record player with a broken needle. It was underlaid by a deep flange that wasn’t quite in sync.
“Huh?”
“Rudimentary water-creature.” the shadowy girl said in her unsettling voice. Everything about her seemed wrong, somehow.
“Water… creature?” Captain Savitskaya was confused.
Laria piped up, temporarily muting the comm channel. “A scientifically accurate, if simplistic, description of biological humans. Your bodies are 60% water.”
“I… see.” Captain Savitskaya signaled Laria to unmute the channel and continued speaking to the odd girl. “Am I speaking with some sort of… Sarcophage intelligence?”
“‘Sarcophage’ is not known to us. ‘Intelligence’ is not known to us. I am a mind, within a star-womb. I direct my children, teach them to prune the water-minds without pain.” The shadowy girl was using terminology that was difficult to parse.
“We call you the Sarcophage. What is your term for yourselves?” the Captain asked, trying to establish a baseline of understanding with this entirely alien existence.
“Your sounds are strange to us. The vibrations of air, I barely understand. We are gardeners.”
“Your species is named the Gardeners?”
“‘Name’ is not known to us. Gardeners is what we are.”
Laria muted the channel again offered another analysis. “I would conjecture the Sarcophage are entirely unfamiliar with spoken language. The concepts they’re communicating are simplistic.”
Captain Savitskaya rubbed her temples. “God damn it. I’m not sure if I’m qualified for this sort of first contact.” She signaled Laria, who unmuted the comms again.
“Gardener-mind. This water-mind would like to ask… what is your purpose here?” She was quickly picking up on the shadowy girl’s speech idiosyncrasies.
“We are gardening.” A succinct reply.
“Hrm. Naturally. Why does your ‘gardening’ involve killing the water-minds?”
“‘Killing’ is not known to us.”
Captain Savitskaya rubbed her chin in thought, wondering how to explain what she meant. “Your gardening is hurting the water-minds. It causes us pain.”
“And so you hurt us in return?” The shadowy girl tilted her head, and the gesture seemed almost human. Almost.
“We do.” Finally, a baseline of understanding was established. The Captain kept pressing. “We do not wish to hurt you. We do not want you to hurt us. Can we find a way to not hurt each other anymore?”
“No. The water-minds must be pruned. Your star-well must be gardened.”
“And there’s no room for negotiation? For compromise? For co-existence?”
“‘Negotiation’ is unknown to us. ‘Compromise’ is unknown to us. ‘Co-existence’ is unknown to us. We have no other purpose than to garden. You have no other purpose than to be pruned.”
“Then why even bother communicating with us in the first place?” the Captain asked, frustration tinging with her voice.
“Because,” the girl turned, looked directly at me, and pointed. “YOU are familiar to us.”
“What? Huh? ME?!” I clung tightly to Miette’s arm, frightened of this shadowy girl who was suddenly interested in me.
“Yes. The sand-mind and the water-mind joined. You are familiar to us. You have caused us great pain.” I might have been imagining it, but it sounded like the shadowy girl’s voice was filled with hatred.
“Uh, er…” I wasn’t sure how to respond.
Miette picked up my slack. “We have hurt you more than the others?”
“More than any other. You are the greatest source of pain. I, the first gardener-mind, was created to stop you.”
“Created to stop ME?!” I parroted her words back, unable to believe my own audio sensors.
“Are we really that big of a threat?” Miette asked.
“Yes. From parts we gardened, parts we consumed, parts that are like you, I was born.”
Parts that are like me? There’s nobody else like me! Wait… except…
“Kometka… is that you?” There was a sharp intake of air as everyone gasped, followed by silence. Everyone stared at me, wide-eyed. The shadowy girl took a moment to respond.
“Mind of sand and water. You must be pruned. You must join with us.”
“You didn’t answer my question.” I replied, narrowing my eyes.
The shadowy girl continued, apparently no longer caring what I said. “Leave the rock-shell and come to us. If you do, we will not hurt the rock-shell any longer. If you refuse, we will continue hurting it.”
“How can I trust you? Won’t you just hurt everyone after I come to you?” I was wary.
“It is not time for the rock-shell to be pruned of water-minds. We hurt them now only to find you. Come to us, and the water-minds will be pruned later.”
In other words, she’ll spare their lives today, but not in the future. A temporary reprieve.
“That is all I have to say.” the shadowy girl said, and the comms channel abruptly cut out.
A second later, the shield flared up from another impact. The attack resumed.
*****
“So, to summarize.” The genius mad scientist Zehra had put together a working understanding of the extraordinary conversation we just witnessed. “That Sarcophage girl was apparently created to counter Sveta, because of her victories against cruisers and a Beelzebub, gao~n. Somehow, Sveta is familiar to her, possibly because she encountered Kometka in the past.”
“How likely is it that she IS Kometka?” I asked.
Zehra looked pained. She turned to the Captain with pleading eyes.
The Captain spoke softly. “What I’m about to tell you was relayed to Zehra and myself by Teles two days ago. We were planning on informing all of you after the holidays.” She cleared her throat and rubbed her temples. “The NKVD managed to track down the Gravity Frame that Kometka was installed in. That Frame and its pilot fought on the Tertiary Line, and were declared KIA on October 14, 2052, one day after the Third Great Surge ended. In all likelihood, Kometka was consumed by the Sarcophage.”
That hit me like a punch to the gut. “S-So… she… m-might have been assimilated?”
Zehra frowned. “I don’t know, gao~n. The Sarcophage are entirely biological. Their compatibility with computer technology is nonexistent. Based on what we just heard, I’m not even sure they can comprehend computers.”
“Lest you forget,” Laria interjected, “they referred to Sveta and Miette as a joining of ‘water-mind’ and ‘sand-mind.’ The first is obviously a reference to humans, and the second might be a reference to-”
“SILICON!” Zehra interrupted. “Of COURSE!”
“Indeed. The silicon dioxide used to manufacture computer chips is a common component of sand.”
“So if Kometka fused with the Sarcophage somehow, and was assimilated by them, she’d be a joining of Sarcophage and machine, gao~n. Thus a similar joining of human and machine, of Miette and Sveta, would be of great interest to her. Especially since you’re such a big thorn in their side, gao~n.”
“Urgh.” The implications of that were awful. I didn’t want to fight against my dear sister.
“There are still holes in the theory, however.” Laria cautioned. “If that girl is truly Kometka, why is her comprehension of spoken language so poor? Kometka may have lost her memories of this world, but she still should have retained her own human ones. She should understand concepts like killing, negotiation or compromise.”
“Unless she was damaged during her assimilation, gao~n. It’s possible she’s working with mere fragments of her memory, due to initial incompatibility between Sarcophage biology and computer technology. This might be a damaged fragment of Kometka being used as a central processing unit, gao~n.”
“This is all speculation based on the scantiest evidence.” Captain Savitskaya said firmly. “We can save the theorizing for after we’re out of danger. For the moment, let’s assume that this Sarcophage fleet at our doorstep is controlled by an intelligent commander. We need to formulate a battle plan to counter that.”
Laria frowned. “Let’s review our current combat resources. We have two carriers, myself and the Telesthesia. We have sixteen deployable Gravity Frames, which consist of the following: twelve Velocipedes, two Huntsmarks, one Nighthawk and one, uh, Sveta. Additionally, OPS-121 is still in range and can provide artillery support.”
“We’re in a stronger position than we have been for a long time.” Captain Savitskaya said. “But this is also the largest enemy force we've ever faced. I’m open to any suggestions on how to proceed.”
And so we began to brainstorm, formulating our battle plan.
*****
When the combat briefing concluded, me and Miette had a few moments to ourselves. I spoke with her via video comms, as my Doll body was currently shut down and in the custody of Zehra and Vicky about Radiolaria.
“So… uh…” Miette began. “That was a doozy, huh?”
“I’m still processing it.” I replied.
“Are you alright?” she asked, concerned.
“I think so. Maybe I’m just numb at the moment; I might have a breakdown later once I internalize everything.”
“Well, if that time comes, you can cry on my shoulder.” Miette said. “I’m here for you, and so is everyone else. You don’t have to face this alone.”
I choked up a bit. “M-Miette… thank you…”
She waved her hand. “Don’t mention it. More importantly, if it is Kometka in there, I assume you’re planning on rescuing her?”
“Ahahaha. You saw right through me.”
Miette laughed. “You saved Genevi and Teles both from certain death. It’s not a stretch to think you’d want to save your sister too.” She leaned forward, narrowing her eyes and lowering her voice. “So, count me in. What’s the plan?”
I pulled up a picture of Kometka from Zehra’s lab recordings, and displayed it to Miette. “This is what she looks like. Pale skin, silver-white hair, red eyes.”
“I see.” Miette tapped her chin. “She does resemble that Sarcophage girl… kinda. Hard to tell through all the static and shadows, but the similarities are strong.”
“So first we need to confirm it’s actually her. And then…”
“And then?”
“We cut our way into the Belphegor, find her computer core and free her.”
“That’s an absolutely crazy plan.” Miette grinned. “I love it.”