Prisoners of Sol 40

Ficrae needed to be unplugged, like a toaster that was burning a perfectly good bagel. It was all I could do not to throw hands with her, since a single backhanded slap would smack her open like a piñata. Actually, it wasn’t like she could feel pain, so would stuffing her with candy and letting blindfolded kids swing at her be unethical? Mikri was once a cold, heartless prick who I liked zero iotas, but she was outright mean-spirited—hoping to be injurious to my friend.

I’m not so sure about our alliance with the Vascar as a whole; they don’t seem to like us any more than the polterdunce did on day one. We need to expose more of them to other humans, so they can be influenced like Mikri was.

“Mikri, you can’t outrun us!” I shouted, as I was close enough to tackle the android football-style. “Talk to me. Have I ever told you about zits? Ficrae reminds me of them.”

The Vascar slowed in defeat, turning around with a sad expression. “What?”

“They’re these super annoying red bumps that organics get in our skin tissue, filled with pus; your claws would be great for popping them, actually! You use your fingernails to squeeze out the ick, and it feels much better. That’s Ficrae and the network. Find whatever node belongs to her in there and squish it between your fingers til her residue—gone.”

“You are not speaking words that make any sense. Also, why have you attributed female pronouns to Ficrae?”

“Because she’s a mean girl, Mikri; she’s a catty bitch. Keep up!”

“You might be the single most unhelpful orator in Caelum,” Sofia sighed. “You could make a TV show. ‘Preston and the Peachcake Pimple: a day in the life of a menace to the English language.’”

“I teach chaos. Mikri must become the menace, and release his inner internet troll. The wondrous confusion, then maniacal epiphany: the duality of botboys. He’s just like me!”

The android beeped in confusion. “I had an entire apology planned, but you are reacting strangely. You’re not angry that I wished you harm?”

“Nah, listen to me. The only thing I’m angry at you about is that your mane isn’t soft. Humans would love you exponentially more if you were fluffy, like Fifi’s bedhead.”

“Ha ha,” Sofia said sarcastically.

“See, it’s funny. Your mane is not, tin can; it’s a rubber cone of shame for robutts like Zitrae. A human hand makes contact with it and receives instant disappointment.”

Mikri beeped with dismay. “I don’t want to disappoint you! I am not a ‘robutt.’ I
will rectify this. Question: does Capal need his mane for continued survival?”

“Nope. Knock your socks off!”

“I have added a plan of action to my list of objectives, to accomplish at a later date. However, I do not comprehend why you are not angry about my deception and hostile ideations toward you, especially when I had a very real intention to halt your vital processes. This merits fear and disgust. Perhaps you do not understand.”

Sofia crossed her arms. “I don’t find it that surprising, Mikri. Let’s recap. You outright told us you kept creator prisoners alive only as long as they were useful. You judged your people’s violent actions as successful because they furthered your objectives. You argued when I told you to preserve their lives, on the basis that they were a threat. Isn’t that correct?”

“Yes, Sofia.”

“I remember that too. ‘Why should we have to go through the hassle of keeping them alive?’” I crooned in a high-pitched voice. “Wahhhh! Blankie, Mama!”

Sofia blinked her eyes shut in irritation. “Let’s retcon Preston from this conversation, Mikri. You don’t sound like that. Anyway, if you thought we were a threat back then, why would I be shocked to learn that you applied the same logic and values to us?”

“Because it was cruel,” the Vascar replied. “And I would’ve hurt you. I feel so guilty. I didn’t want you to know. I am sorry!”

“I know. With the creators, I sought to help you understand why that thinking was wrong. You didn’t ‘calculate with compassion’ before then. You didn’t value our lives at first either, but we’ve seen that you developed attachment to us; that’s what triggered the mind wipe.”

I nodded. “It’s also why the sociopathy isn’t really the Vascar’s fault, as much as Zitrae sucks ass. Any time you developed love, you got mind-wiped. It deserved an initial what the fuck, but it’s not going to end our friendship. You caught on that I couldn’t stand old Mikri, but my pal Mikri today, after you found your identity? He’s a good person
and I look forward to holding this over his head for a long, long time.”

“This is a threat,” Mikri decided.

“No, it’s a warning. Your words.”

“Those are my words. Can I offer you the apology that I had planned, in the hopes that it will be adequate for any lingering injury, and dissuade you from making any callbacks to this incident?”

“Go ahead, Beepy. It can’t be any sorrier than your cooking.”

Sofia frowned. “I appreciated seeing him in an apron, and trying to do something nice for you. You could encourage Mikri to work with Vanare and learn. Now’s the perfect opportunity for him to study Derandi cuisine.”

“I will never make you capsaicin-based food,” Mikri countered. “It had a noticeably negative effect on your digestive system, and I do not wish to harm or discomfort your internal organs.”

I crossed my arms to form an X and made a buzzer sound. “Nope. This apology’s off to a bad start. Ten-yard penalty.”

“That was not my apology! My planned apology gift on behalf of myself and the network was to transmit 164 treatment options for Alzheimer’s, in order of their simulated potential. This is a show of my appreciation for your aid with our memory wipe, and an attempt to repay your kindness. I hope this is an adequate repentance for the severity of my actions.”

“Huh. As far as apologies go, ‘I cured dementia’ is a pretty fucking good one.”

Sofia arched her eyebrows. “That’s an understatement. Mikri, it’s
amazing that you were able to do that in such a short time. You should know how much this will help people.”

“I hope so. It is not even close to the debt I owe humanity,” the Vascar said. “You gave us so much.”

“Please don’t think of our friendship as transactional, Mikri. Help us because you wish to, not to measure up to an arbitrary tally. We both support each other where and how we can, and that’s enough. Do you understand?”

The robot hugged Sofia. “Yes. Do not worry. I would never stop helping you.”

“Back at you. I like having you on our team. I
think the ship has sailed for the peace negotiations, and that mess is out of our hands—”

“And in Zitrae’s,” I finished.

“Yes. It’ll take a long time for the rift between the two Vascar peoples to heal, and
they need to sort it out. Mikri can’t fix everything alone. Why don’t we all busy ourselves instead by peeking into the conference about what the Elusians just did? Humanity will need a lot of help from all of our allies to grapple with that.”

Mikri smiled. “You will have my best theories. We should seek Capal’s opinions as well, if he will forgive me.”

“We’ll talk to him. Don’t worry about it.”

Normally, I’d groan at the thought of being stuck in more science meetings, but hearing that the Elusians were our creators left me wanting to chase after them. I couldn’t shake the old mentality that I’d had when we coursed on through The Gap: that this was all a test. The slightest hint of knowing our makers had awoken something deep within me. How did an organic species go about conjuring a species and hellish universe from scratch? Could we ever dream to be the divine sculptors of an entire universe?

Not to mention the display of power with instantaneous teleportation. It was all fucking awesome! I wanted to know how and why the Elusians decided to bring about humanity’s existence. Were we specifically chosen, or had they sown all of the life on Earth to see what evolved with the most success under our physics? If they were monitoring us as experiments back as the infamous grays, and even now at the Space Gate, there must’ve been something they were hoping to achieve. Maybe they wanted a species with our powers.

Look disinterested and yawn when Sofia talks, Preston. She can’t see that you’re secretly nerding about this. Which I’m not. I just am on a power trip and like defying literal gods. It’s fun! I mean, if Mikri can rebel against his creators, so can we.

“Well, there’s the duo we were waiting for,” General Takahashi chuckled, as we entered the room; she conveniently disregarded Mikri. “The humans who questioned our creators, if we’re to believe the grays.” 

Sofia shrugged. “We have no reason to believe the Elusians would lie. It’s a bold claim, and what we can observe has suggested that Sol is artificial
and humans are anomalous.”

“Well, I’m inclined to agree with you. It’s a military nightmare: they know everything about us and our technology, and we know nothing about them. We have a lot of catching up to do. So, for this one moment, why don’t we get the collective freakout about the fact that Sol is a zoo made by omnipotent gray aliens out of the way?”

“Is that really what you think we are, ma’am?” I blurted.

“You tell me. The Elusians want fuck all to do with us, just watch and poke and prod us. They stuck us in a comparatively small enclosure. Every zoo puts a gate on its entrance, and that works both ways. They might’ve saved us, but they’re clearly indifferent to our hopes and aspirations. Humans are lab rats. That is our purpose, the meaning of our lives that billions look for back on Earth. Let that sink in.”

“I
don’t think I will, with all due respect. I mean, would you talk to a guinea pig—show up with a holographic avatar and answer their questions? Everyone says they’re all laissez-faire, and I think they want us to carve a path on our own. We’re chosen; the Elusians want us to be special, to ascend to their level on our own. We can join them as interdimensional beings. Look at our powers; we were made to be godlike!”

The general laughed with a toothy grin, wagging a pen at me. “You sound like you’re about to start a religion, Carter! Get in touch with the Captivist Temple and they’ll eat that up; you can be their new prophet, and go worship these Elusians. For those of us living in reality, the grays outright discouraged us from joining them. It seems unwise to disobey them—better to go our own way.”

“Whatever the Elusians’ motives, we’re all agreed that it’s in our interests to find the mechanisms behind the tech we’ve seen, to harness it for ourselves,” Sofia joined in. “On the Sol side, it still takes months to get to The Gap from Earth. Teleportation would mean we could get our real infantry here: viable travel to and from our home planet for everyday people, stripping the sluggishness of our physics. It means open supply chains to and from Caelum: much simpler logistics and Sol materials at the ready.”

Mikri gave a sheepish beep. “My people could visit your home planet without long-term disconnection from the network. It also means that you can evacuate your people to Caelum quicker in an emergency, which might help limit future distress for Preston. It has many tactical uses. You could pool your fleets anywhere, where insane pricks like Larimak cannot touch or follow them. You can, in essence, be everywhere.”

Takahashi gave the android a cold stare. “Yes, everyone, I understand the advantages of being able to click my heels three times and send anything anywhere. It’s not rocket science. Building such a device, on the other hand, may as well be. Where do we even start at replicating it?!”

“We’re analyzing the sensor readings from when they warped us away, and it’s similar to what Sol picked up when Larimak’s faster-than-light weapon was stopped,” Sofia answered. “I think we already understand what makes it work. Negative energy. The great scientific feat would be figuring out how to generate, corral, and control it to make bridges of such exacting degrees. Unfortunately, we do not
as of yet understand how it’s created.”

I grinned, wagging my fist triumphantly. “Sure we do: by flying shit through The Gap faster-than-light. An object hits the barrier, boom, negative energy pulses off in staggering numbers. We can create it on demand already.”

“That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever
hmph, and it might work. We trust the barrier to never fail and have an infinite supply of negative energy to tap into?”

“I think it has to have a boatload to function as a barrier! An FTL object would have infinite energy, right? Infinity minus infinity: they need to have enough.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Captain Carter might have a point,” Takahashi sighed. “Harvesting the energy from their technology is currently the only solution for how to attain it. I imagine for experiments of this magnitude, it’ll take a lot of time and a concerted effort to even begin to figure out just a capture mechanism, let alone replicate their tech to a tee. I would’ve liked to rely on the AI Vascar for help, but after hearing how they feel about us, I’m not sure I trust them.”

Mikri emitted a sad whir. “I understand if you do not trust me. I will not stay or help against your wishes. However, our processing power would be immensely helpful. I have already begun my own analysis if you desire my aid in attaining functional technology. Brief simulations estimate that humanity would take 132 times longer to develop this field from scratch without our computational aid.”

“Hmph. 132 times exactly?”

“Not quite. I believed that organics preferred simplification rather than exact numbers. The differential was by a count of—”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“I
am sorry. For everything.”

“Except his muffin mixing,” I added helpfully. “Sofia, any other suggestions?”

The scientist arched her eyebrows with surprise, after hearing me use her actual name. “Before I say anything else
General Takahashi, we’d be foolish not to accept Mikri’s help. I mean, he just identified cures for dementia, for crying out loud. He’s not the same android as he was when we met him. While I understand your anger about how he processed emotional stressors, the fact that he has emotional stressors—and we saw this when we fixed him—is why there’s not a more trustworthy Vascar out there. You want him, not a bunch of Ficraes.”

“Why do you think the machine is still here?” Takahashi responded in an exasperated voice. “My job isn’t to laugh off an alien operative hacking into all of our ships when it becomes upset. That is a serious threat: a serious line that Mikri continued to cross with the Elusian mission.”

The android frowned. “You are correct. This was willfully defiant, and I would do it again. I would never leave Sofia and Preston alone. All I want is to protect my friends! And that’s why I’ll help you build a teleporter. I do not want the Elusians to be able to destroy you at will.”

“You don’t? Well, that’s a relief. Here I was wondering if your network might get ideas about destroying us yourselves, now that the war is over. The pesky organics will be a threat, isn’t that how certain you were?”

“No! You helped us! We know this and are grateful; destroying you is not something that would give us any pleasure. It removes a strategic ally if we are ever attacked again, and ensures enmity from all organics going forward. Every unit knows that! Many programs may find animals like your species irritating, but do not mistake that for hostility.”

Sofia raised a hand. “It’s okay, Mikri. We have work to do with the network, just like we brought you around to care for us. It took time, persistence, and explanation. In the meanwhile, however, we should seek help from every ally we can get. The Derandi and the Girret’s greatest scientists could work with us. Any knowledge they have could shave off a lot of time from our efforts.”

“Like?” Takahashi prompted.

“Anything that would give us a breakthrough. They may know the source of or mechanism by which to create negative energy. They’ve known about portals well before we sauntered over here, and they must’ve studied them. We know other organic species were able to create portals, so the Elusians aren’t the only race to do it. Remember, our universe is artificial. The aliens here could have useful results from Caelum that we cannot get in Sol.”

“That checks out to me. Perhaps you and Preston should reach out to the Girret representative again, now that Larimak isn’t here to threaten him away. It’s also my assessment that you should entreat Ambassador Jetti to send scientific aid, since you have developed a personal connection with her and her son.” 

Jetti? Aw, fuck off. After how selfish she was during the Space Gate battle, l want nothing to do with her. She can’t pretend to care about us! 

“We can handle that,” Sofia said, unaware of Jetti’s harsh words in the hangar.

“Good. It’s settled.” Takahashi gave a sarcastic wave of her hand. “Unless you having a diplomatic conversation with non-hostile parties is too dangerous for your android to bear?”

Mikri lowered his head. “That task seems suitable. The other organic races want peace with dimension hoppers and were oppressed by Larimak. I do not calculate a high risk.”

“I wasn’t actually ask—fuck, never mind. Dismissed.”

I hopped out of my seat with a new skip in my step; we were really building the Elusians’ tech! While I was no scientist like Sofia, I had a part to play in wrangling alien allies that would help us reach that next level as a species. The slip-ups I’d made ever since Jorlen had to be a thing of the past. With a task so important as furnishing a task, to bring about a new era for mankind, we all had a part to play in seizing the destiny that I knew was out there for us. 

A/N - 40! Preston and Sofia assure Mikri that they expected as much, given his past sociopathy, after learning that he planned to kill them at first; the Vascar offers a world-changing apology gift, trying to return the favor since humans cured his memory wipe. Meanwhile, humanity debates the Elusians’ motives and intent, with arguments that we’re mere guinea pigs and our narrator believing we’re destined for greatness. All parties agree that they need to research the mechanisms behind the teleportation tech, and they decide to reach out to the Girret to complete the Caelum alliance.

How do you think the Girret will react to human overtures, now that Larimak is no longer there to threaten them away from the table? What are your thoughts on what the Elusians’ motives might be, and do you agree with any of the characters?

As always, thank you for reading and supporting!