CHAPTER 51: JOHN
John
“I can’t seem to figure out which ship. No, I don’t think it’s a single one. All of the capital ships are broadcasting!” John thought, speaking to the station's AI in his head, a sense of urgency pulsing through him.
“I have come to the same conclusion. Unfortunately, I am unable to mass jam the signal without initiating a complete EM Blackout of the system. That would blind every ship, and your pilots would lose control over the drones.” The AI’s voice was calm, but John could sense the gravity of the situation.
Frantically, John ran through the system specs in his mind, desperately attempting to find a solution, but one eluded him. One by one, hundreds of thousands of Alliance ships flooded the system, a staggering array that included everything from nimble frigates to imposing dreadnoughts, completely overpowering and overwhelming his forces by a factor of a thousand to one. The Alliance forces were done playing games, and the reality of their might weighed heavily upon him.
“Oh my god!” was the only thought that pierced through his mind as he watched in horror as all of the drone ships were annihilated within minutes. “What can we do now? What do we have to stop this!?” Panic began to seep into his thoughts, the dire nature of their predicament gnawing at him.
“There is only one solution.” This was not the AI speaking, but the voice of Memi, echoing with a strange resonance. “It is your destiny, your purpose, the reason you are here now.”
“I don’t understand. What are you talking about?” As John grappled with her words, the world around him started to slow to a crawl before stopping entirely. His surroundings became distorted until they disappeared completely. When his vision returned, he was enveloped by an entirely different world that flooded his senses with its alien sights and sounds.
“I’m sorry, the tech is not ready,” a man standing at a podium said, facing a panel of men and women dressed in attire completely unknown to John. He walked through the room, completely oblivious to everyone around him, his eyes darting around as he observed the interactions taking place, each moment steeped in tension.
“What is this? Another simulation?” John asked, his voice tinged with confusion.
“A memory,” Memi appeared next to him, her presence both familiar and unsettling.
“What is the delay? We need this weapon now. Alliance forces have penetrated the galactic barrier and have completely overrun the outer rim.”
As John moved about the room, the memory seemed to pause, allowing him to absorb the strange technology, architecture, and clothing that surrounded him—everything about this place seemed alien yet achingly familiar. “I don’t understand. Where am I?”
“John, what I am about to tell you may not be the easiest to take in or understand. But believe that it is the truth,” Memi explained, walking up to John, worry etched across her features.
“I understand.”
“Earth isn’t the birthplace of humanity. In fact, it isn’t even in the Milky Way galaxy.” Stunned, John simply continued to listen, his mind racing to process her words. “This memory you see has been genetically planted in your DNA—well, not you specifically, but within the DNA structure of the Terran species. Over many millions of your years, that DNA mutated and grew to produce what you now know as the modern human. You see, humankind is what you would call a child species of Terrans. We lived and thrived in our home galaxy for millions of your years. One day, we unlocked the mysteries of black holes and discovered a way to use them to transit between galaxies. Your galaxy was the closest and easiest connection we could make with our wormholes, so we began to explore and colonize it. We spent several hundred thousand of your years building an empire that spanned two galaxies, bringing peace and prosperity to many different species, cultures, and civilizations. Then, one day, something happened that changed it all. I still don’t know what prompted the Almorian Alliance to declare war, but that war ended with our destruction. What you are seeing here was the beginning of our end.”
“Sir, for some reason the AI subsystems are overriding our commands. They are prioritizing their survival above all objectives. I fear if unchecked, they will turn on us.”
The memory continued, and John observed the interactions intently, his heart racing as he sensed the impending doom.
“General, what about Project Eden?” one of the female leaders asked, her voice tinged with desperation.
“Ma’am, the project is ready. We can deploy at your command,” the general replied, his tone serious.
“Don’t do this! I beg you!” A familiar voice pierced through the tension, screaming with anguish. John realized this was Memi’s voice, but it wasn’t coming from the AI construct with him; this was actually her, in the memory, pleading for reason.
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“You were here?”
“I am just a construct; the real Memi was, yes. She fought bravely to stop what was about to come.”
“My research was not meant for war! This technology is designed to create life, not destroy it!” The anguish in her voice reverberated through the memory, filling John with a sense of dread.
“I must remind you, Doctor, your research is funded by the Empire, and we will do with it as we please,” the oldest leader finally spoke, his voice cold and unyielding.
“Admiral, prepare a task force. Deploy the weapon; your target is Almora. We must strike now before they completely overrun our galaxy! Doctor Grafti, continue to develop the Legion Project and be ready to deploy the moment we need it. I fear we may need it sooner than later.”
The environment altered, the room shifting like sand beneath John's feet. Suddenly, he found himself aboard a military spacecraft, observing the scene unfolding through the viewport with a knot of anxiety in his stomach.
“Alpha lead, this is Foxhound One. Stealth systems holding steady, target in sight.”
A planet quickly approached them, overtaking the view of the viewport ahead. The beautiful blue and green planet resembled Earth, but in stark contrast, ships and space stations orbiting it all bore the unmistakable designs of the Alliance.
“Is this Almora?” John asked, the words escaping his lips with a mixture of awe and horror.
“Her final moments,” Memi whispered, shame etched across her features.
“Permission to deploy weapon,” one of the pilots asked, the tension palpable in his voice.
“Foxhound One, permission granted. Weapon free.”
“Target locked; we are within range. Deploy, deploy, deploy!” The urgency in the pilot's voice rang out, a countdown echoing in John's mind.
The view altered once more, and John found himself floating in space, helplessly watching as the stealth craft launched a ball of energy toward the planet. The spectacular light of energy encapsulated a missile housing a specially engineered package of biological nanobots, a horrifying testament to the destructive capabilities of technology.
The ball of light struck the planet, and within seconds, the luscious blue and green world transformed, piece by piece, into a red and brown barren wasteland.
“Oh my god!” John nearly cried, his heart shattering at the sight.
“We committed genocide that day. My—or rather Memi’s—life work was altered to create the deadliest weapon known to us. Her technology, meant to terraform barren worlds, repair destroyed climates, and maintain beautiful planets, was used to ravage and destroy. Within hours, the planet burned, and trillions of lives were lost that day. That was the moment the rest of the Empire turned on us. Suddenly, we found every species allied with us against us. The war between the Terran Empire and the Almorian Alliance had transformed into Terran versus the Alliance. Even the Sumerians withdrew support and became neutral. We then deployed the Legion, thinking it was our last resort. Then they turned on us, just as Grafti warned. Knowing what we did to Almora, the Legion feared for their own survival and vowed to eliminate every biological life they encountered.” A single tear formed on her face, glistening with the weight of sorrow.
“What happened next? How did you survive?”
“We didn’t. After the Almorians became enraged, they went from conquest to annihilation, slaughtering every Terran they encountered—men, women, and children. They sought to cleanse the universe of us completely. Grafti and I took a team of scientists and engineers and retreated to the last place we could, the planet you discovered in the system you called Wolf 359. We rebuilt our civilization there, and for several decades, we began to thrive again. However, we knew it wouldn’t last, so our goal was to seed a system so our species could survive once more. We wanted to skip evolution and create a civilization right at the point where we were to start fresh, but they found us before we could finish. The battle above the planet raged for hours, debris raining from the sky and destroying building after building. Grafti and I had no choice but to launch and hope we would be successful one day. We targeted Earth and created life.”
“Where do I fit into all of this?”
“Your DNA holds a special code, one we managed to implant in the genetic sequence of the human genome before we launched. One we hoped could one day be used to stop the Alliance from total annihilation. This code was the final piece to fix the problem with the Legion.”
“So, how do we use it?”
“I’m so sorry, but there is only one way.” She looked down, knowing the news would not be welcome, her expression heavy with regret.
“The extraction process for the code. I won’t survive it, will I?”
“There is no other way.” Her voice trembled as she sobbed, the weight of the truth crashing down upon them both.
John watched Almora burn, the cries of the innocent echoing in his ears, the pain of children piercing through his heart. What the Terran Empire had done was undeniably wrong, but The Alliance was not innocent in this fight either. Slaughtering humans to pay for the sins of their ancestors was equally abhorrent. He did not want to die, did not want to lose the future he had always envisioned—marrying the love of his life, raising children, growing old and dying with her in his arms. Yet, he could not be selfish. He would not let his desire to live cost the lives of the innocent.
Closing his eyes, he tried to speak, but Memi spoke for him.
“There’s one last goodbye, isn’t there?”
“Char.” Without hesitation, he agreed, his resolve strengthening.
“Make peace, and enjoy your time.” The view changed once more, and John found himself standing on the sandy beach of Key Largo, the only other person in sight being the love of his life.
As John's eyes awoke once more, reality returned to him with a jolt. The pod surrounding him felt like a cage, but he knew what he needed to do. A tear ran down his cheek in the real world, nearly collapsing under the braces that held his weight. “I understand. I’m so sorry, Memi. So sorry, I... I didn’t know. All those people, the children... Oh my god!” Tears flowed from his eyes as a wave of emotions overcame him, a torrent of grief and determination. “It must be done.” The process began, pain overwhelming him as the machine ripped his DNA from his body, molecule by molecule. John Henderson had given the ultimate sacrifice, a final act of defiance against the darkness that loomed over them all.