Chapter 2
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IT WAS black. Like space devoid of stars. A nothingness encased in a tall aquarium-like container. It was ordinary, placed in an extraordinary place. There were cables as thick as human leg connected to it at its base. It piqued the interest of Justy. Why? He doesn't know.
Justy held out his hand to touch it. He felt a cold glass between him and the container. “What is this?”
Mu finished typing something in a holographic keyboard. “The Suit. Ultherion Exosuit, Mark I.”
An image of a popular powered cybersuit he saw in movies appeared in his mind. Justy looked hard, examining carefully the container if there was really a suit hidden in it. But he found nothing. It was all black. “Can you removed the black stuff, so I can actually see the suit.”
To see first hand an alien tech, an exosuit no less, will make any Engineer in Earth to drool. And he was no exception. Justy noted the size of the container and theorize that it must have been designed for a tall alien. He wondered what could this suit do.
“What are you talking about? That black stuff is the suit.”
“Eh?”
“The Ultherion Exosuit Mark I is comprised of fifty billion advance nanomachines. The CENs.”
Justy's eye grew wide in amazement. After all, Nanotechnology in Earth is like working on a microchips with boxing gloves on. If the Veerians is closely working on nanomachines, then they were far advance than Justy initially thought.
“CENs? I am thinking that these are not normal nanites?”
“Continuously Evolving Nanites. You are right, this are not some nano computers, this technology is thousand years ahead of yours, if I daresay.”
“Thousands? Try hundred.”
“You don't understand. This is one of the, not to brag, many pinnacle of our intellectual prowess. A suit that evolves with the user. It does not only adapt. It could even learn, based on the actions of the user.”
“Cool. Can I try it?” Justy said.
“Of course. But there is someone, well, depends on your philosophy, he could be something. Anyway, wait a second. Activate C R A B T R E E program.”
Nothing happened.
Mu let out a sigh. “Crabtree, I know you are in there. Meet Justy, quite possibly to be your next partner.”
Partner? What were they planning to do to me. Justy wondered.
“I don't like that weak looking earthling, Dr. Mu.”
Justy didn't mind what the deep sounding voice said about him. In fact, he even agreed. Justy, after all, was too skinny for his height. The first thing you would notice about Justy was his prominent cheekbones. Aside from that, his sunken eyes and scar in his left eyebrow made him looked liked a lifeless drug addict.
“What is he?” Justy asked.
“Computerized Realistic Artificial Bio-Transformed Rational Enhanced Entity. A really advance A.I.”
“Highly.” the deep voice interjected. “Computerized Realistic Artificial Bio-Transformed Highly Rational Enhanced Entity. That means I am smarter than you, you bag-o-bones of an earthling.”
“Crabthree, then?” Justy looked at Dr. Mu.
Dr. Mu shook her head to and fro. “Go with it for now.” She whispered to Justy.
An A.I with a personality? Holy shit. This keeps getting better. Justy said to himself. He also wondered if Turing would rise from his grave if he knew about this Crabtree.
“A pilot.” Dr. Mu said.
“Huh?”
“We need you to pilot this exosuit. By the way don't you feel anything strange about your body?”
“Now that you asked. I feel good. My body seems light. Did you do something about it.?” Justy asked.
“Well, yes. We treated your body. Cured it from ailments and defects.”
“What do you mean cured me?”
“Do you know you have a cholesterol problem despite your physique? Also, there's a minute tumor in your pancreas, give it a year and you would have Diabetes.” Dr. Mu said. “And If you survived that, a defect in your genome puts you in a great risks of having heart problems. Additionally and most likely, you would have an Alzheimer disease when you turn forty or fifty.”
Overwhelmed by his grim future, Justy sunk in silence. It's one thing to face the reality that everybody die, but to know how you might die, it's a different thing entirely. Dr. Mu sensed a momentary grief of Justy. She knew it was something she said. As a species who had lived for centuries thanks to wonders of technology, Dr. Mu had forgotten, in fact, their entire generation had forgotten what it feels like to die of sickness and old age.
“Well, on the plus side, we had removed all of those threat. You're fit as a fiddle, as what they used to say in your world.”
Justy realized they have been observing Earth for quite some time. He also realized he may not be the first human to be abducted. But Justy feels safe. He couldn't understand it but in some unusual way he feels no harm will come to him inside the ship. Not yet anyway.
“What's the catch?” Justy asked. Justy knew from various experiences that when someone do something good about him, there's always a catch.
“I told you. We need you to pilot this exoSuit.”
“Why?”
Dr. Mu breathed deeply. “Open file, 00AS dash X001.”
The lights went out and a 3D hologram of a planet appeared. Justy saw a golden ring enveloped the blue planet. It looked like earth, without the ring, at first glance. It was beautiful, Justy thought. But Justy was more interested in the 3D hologram technology. The lighting was solid, no scattered lights, no distorted pixels. It was a marvel, Justy thought.
“This is the home of a highly advance species, who want nothing but peace.” Dr. Mu said. “But now, look at its current state.”
The scene changed. It was now rocks of varying sizes and metal scraps floating in the vast emptiness of space. The once magnificent planet was gone. Justy looked at Dr. Mu. He knew how hard it was, to lose a home. After all, he too, had suffered the same fate. He knew first hand what it feels like. It was a feeling that part of you, a greater part of you, was gone and replaced by a void that can't be filled.
“What happened?” Justy asked.
“The Galactic Empire of Frennins happened. We are a species famous for our intelligence and advancement in science and technology. The scientific problems you earthling trying to solve? We had solved it thousand years ago. You could say that our ego, put a target to our back.”
“What did you do to the Frennins?”
“That was our downfall, we didn't do anything. The Frennins asked us to create a weapon for them. But we refused. We are a peaceful species, we don't like war and violence.” Dr. Mu gasped. “You see, we are a species that transcended the notion that conflict arises innovation. We are perfectly capable of advancing ourselves through collective and peaceful initiative.”
Utopian civilizaton, I can't believe such thing existed. Well, last week, I didn't actually believed Aliens existed either, so what do I really know. Justy thought.
Dr. Mu continued. “We became a pawn in a game that has been going for a thousands of years. The Frennins leaked a false information to their enemies stating that we signed an agreement with them to provide them with weapons.”
“In turn, the Frennins' enemy attacked your planet in retaliation, but all of this was a trap set up by the Frennins to ambush them. Am I right?” Justy asked.
“Yes. We defended our planet successfully from the Frennin's enemy. But we were spent. When the Frennins defeated the attacker in our planet, they turned their entire force against us. Billions of Veerians lost their lives that day.”
“You wanted revenge.”
“Personally, yes. And to all Veerians in this ship, they too, want revenge. We lost our families and our home that day.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Justy scratched his head. It was a sad moment in their history, but Justy couldn't see why they wanted him. “I am not really seeing why you needed me?”
“We are not warriors. We are thinkers.”
Justy felt a bit insulted to those words, but he tried to shrugged it. “Well, quite frankly, my level of intelligence may not be as high as you guys, but I ain't a warrior either.”
Dr. Mu snapped her head to Justy. “Yes, you are. You show your true nature when you play those virtual games.”
“Well, there's a clear distinction between games and reality, you know. Look at me. I can barely lift my own weight.”
“That's not actually a problem. Think of the Suit as one of your characters in your games-”
“Except this time, its for real. How about if I die?”
Dr. Mu looked away. “I-if, if we could recover your body, then there's a high chance we could revive you.”
“That's not the point!” Justy shouted. “Look, tell me. Why would I risk my life for you guys?”
Dr. Mu was shocked. She turned around and walked towards the Suit's container. “I understand. I'm sorry for dragging you into our own personal war. You were right. It's not your battle.”
Justy said nothing.
“It may take 24 Earth hours to bring you back to earth. Meanwhile, you could rest into your room for a while. Don't worry about us, you will not remember anything that happened here, when you get back to earth.” Dr. Mu whispered something and the door opened.
“Look, Dr. Mu. There are billions of us. I am sure there is one far better choice than me. Don't waste it on me, Dr. Mu.” Justy said.
Justy left the room. He knew it was the right choice. It may not be a courageous choice but sure it was the right one.
. . .
Battleship Class: The Devourer
Somewhere in the outskirt of A1128 Galaxy, Leo Supercluster – 400 Million light years away from Earth.
Inside the bridge of the battleship class, The Devourer, sat one of the most ferocious commander in Frennin history. His atrocities and crimes were enough to send shiver to all enemies and allies alike. He became famous in the battle of Astrin, where he massacred millions of Jauerts, even those who surrendered to him. He skinned every enemy commander he fought, even go as far as skinning all of their relatives wiping them from existence. With such brutal methods he became known as the Flayer, the Skin Eater, the Genocider, and many more. If there's one Frennin that you should avoid at all costs, its Frekim Mondragon.
His loyalty to the Frennin Imperial Emperor knows no bound. He was the Empire's hound dog. The judge, jury and the executioner. Not only ruthless in his method, but also efficient. He'd rather die than to fail in his duty. And his current duty, in which the Emperor himself ordered, was to wipe out the remaining Veerians.
“Sir, we picked up the tracks of Tellaveer in Virgo Supercluster.” said one of the officer in deck.
“That's a dead sector. What are they doing there?” Mondragon said. His voice roared throughout the room. He was big. Bigger than any Frennins in his entire fleet. The sit he was sitting, barely enough to cover his enormous size.
“Something is masking the sector, but we found out there's a living planet there, sir. Quite possibly, a civilization might exist there.”
Mondragon caressed his red chin. He loved how his webbed fingers goes through his bushy black beard. He smiled and licked with his large tongue his several pointed yellowish saw-like teeth. “All ships, prepare to warp.”
“Aye, sir.”
. . .
The alarm woke Justy in his sleep. He jumped from his bed and out to his room. The alarm is still blaring, and Justy realized that it might be a ship-wide alarm. He went straight to Dr. Mu's laboratory. Much to his surprised, the door opened even before he could knock.
“Justy, what are you doing here?” Dr. Mu asked.
Justy looked around. “What's happening?”
Dr. Mu grabbed his hand. “Come, you'll find out.”
Justy followed Dr. Mu in a very small room. It took Justy a couple of seconds to realized it was an elevator of some sort. He didn't feel any movement at all. Before he knew it, the door opened and saw several beings with long ears doing something. They were all busy to noticed Justy and Dr. Mu who had just entered the bridge.
“Ga'lek, what's the situation?” asked Dr. Mu as they walked towards the center.
“Th-” Ga'lek stopped abruptly when he saw Justy. “What's he doing here, Dr. Mu?”
“He needs to know, Ga'lek.”
Ga'lek sighed. “Fine. The Frennins have found us. Well technically, they found our meticulously covered tracks.”
Justy's full attention was to the three giant monitor in front of him. He saw what looked like Earth. It was the same planet he saw in the pictures published by NASA taken from International Space Station. However, with a slight difference since he is seeing countless ships surrounding the planet.
“Is that Earth?” Justy asked.
“Yes. And it is being held hostage by Frennins.” Ga'lek said.
Dr. Mu concerned by the welfare of the people of the Earth asked Ga'lek. “Can we do something to help them, Ga'lek?”
“I am sorry. I am risking the lives of every Veerians in this ship just by staying here.”
Dr. Mu looked at Justy. “Don't worry, Justy. They want us. Not your planet. There's a high chance they will slave your planet instead of destroying –.”
Everyone gasped when the Earth exploded suddenly. The explosion was massive but in an instant something sucked all of it from the center, in the end there were no trace of Earth left. It imploded. The earth was gone. Justy started to breathed heavily. He can't understand what he is feeling right now, but he knew it was a familiar feeling.
He saw it in his own eyes how the Earth vanished into thin air. Just like how he saw their house swallowed by the fire, along with his family. Tears fell on his eyes. A feeling of hate about himself started to resurface. He hated himself for being helpless, powerless. Again, Justy lost a home. Everything he loved and once loved, everyone he knew and forgotten, every place he visited and hoped to visit, they were all gone. In a matter of seconds, everything was gone. Because of someone's whim, everything was gone.
"Dr. Mu, does your offer still stand?" Justy asked.
"Justy-"
"Dr. Mu, does it still stand?" Justy cut her off.
Dr. Mu looked to Ga'lek. But Ga'lek gave her an approving nod. "Yes, Justy."
Justy turned his full attention once again to the monitor. Countless ships were still there, but there is no more sign of earth.
It's on, motherfuckers! Justy said to himself.
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Chapter 3
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