Chapter 32: Sara Valterion
Location: Solar System; Earth; Former United States of America; Valterion island
Welcome Miss Valterion.
I stare at the words on the panel, not believing my eyes. The pain in my shoulder is completely forgotten. I just stare, not able to form a thought.
Something presses against my shoulder, it’s a soothing feeling. I manage to turn my head. Maja is kneeling next to me, her hands on my shoulder with a big white plaster. It must have integrated painkillers. That thought brings me back to the present. I was shot! Then the pain comes knocking back at my brain. Luckily, it’s quickly receding. Thanks to the plaster.
I let out a deep breath. And nod at Maja. Thank you! She smiles back. Has she noticed? I don’t think so. That would be the world’s best poker face. I lay back down and close my eyes for a moment. I need to sort my thoughts.
Sara Valterion. DNA match confirmed. There’s no cheating on a DNA test. I truly am part of the Valterion family. This… It’s unbelievable. All those years not knowing who I am, and now on Earth, on flippin’ Earth, I learn about my family. What are the odds?
I can’t describe how I feel. Relieved? Happy? Curious? I don’t know. It’s completely insane. Not only does it solve our immediate problem with the vault, but it also is one more reason to visit The Empire as soon as possible. Wait, the vault door! I heard gears turning earlier. Was that the locking mechanism?
That settles me down. I have to prioritize the present. My family is something to think about later. But still, I finally have a surname. Sara Valterion. I admit, I like the sound of it. I open my eyes and jump. Maja’s face is only centimeters away and she wears an expression between shock and excitement. “Holy hell Maja, what are you doing?”
She quickly puts a more reasonable distance between our faces before replying. “You’re a Valterion!” She does sound completely out of it. Did that news break her?
“Yeah, looks like I am. Why were you so close?” I ask her while sitting back up. I glance at the vault. It does look like the door moved a bit, there is a small gap at the side.
“Well, you acted a bit weird when I treated your wound, then you laid down without a word. I got worried and looked around. Guess my shock when I saw the text on that panel with your blood on it.” She blushes a bit. “Then I had to check for similarities to the Conor dude of the video. Didn’t know you would be up again so soon.”
Huh okay, makes sense. I pat her on the shoulder and wince. Shouldn’t have taken the arm with the wound… “It’s okay, I understand. I just didn’t expect you to be this close when I opened my eyes. It startled me a bit. So, what do you say about similarities? I mean the hair and eyes are obvious, but what about the rest?”
Maja does a so-so gesture. “There’s nothing specific, I mean the general shape of your head is fitting, but that’s hardly a certain indicator… Also, it’s been more than 11,000 years. Who knows how many generations are between you.”
She’s got a point here. It’s something to look into later, we’ve got a vault to open. And it’s not even breaking in anymore. I’ve got full rights to what’s inside. Being a Valterion and all… Conor did say the message is for his descendants, which I am according to the DNA test. We’re just a bit early, but who cares? “Can you help me up? I don’t know if I can stand on my own right now. Being shot sucks, let me tell you.”
She chuckles and offers me a hand. I do use my uninjured arm this time, and she pulls me up. “Oh yeah, I can imagine. You humans and your squishy bodies.” She cackles an evil laugh.
I look at her with wide eyes. “You okay? You sound a bit like a crazy robot about to snap.”
She stops laughing and now only grins. “Yeah, just joking, don’t worry. Now how about you lean against the wall right here and I swing the vault door open?”
I nod and she leads me to the wall. I manage to keep standing on my own with the help of the nearby wall. Maja walks to the vault door and pushes her fingers into the small gap at the side. She’s struggling a bit, but then she gets a firm grip on the door and pulls. Once it starts moving, the door opens smoothly on well-oiled hinges. I get the first look at the room beyond. It’s not much, as I’m standing at a bad angle, but what I’m seeing surprises me. A living room?
What the hell, who puts a living room inside a vault? I take a cautious step. Everything seems fine, so I start walking the last five meters toward the vault door while stabilizing myself with my good hand along the wall. When I arrive, I finally get a good look at what’s inside.
It’s still not what I expected, but it’s closer. To the right is indeed something resembling a living room. Complete with couches, a nice-looking carpet, and is that a TV? That’s ancient! Right behind the living room, a bit further in is a kitchen and a door leading further to the right. If it follows the pattern, that’s either a bathroom or a bedroom. The left side looks a bit more like what you expect inside a vault. It’s full of shelves, reaching to the roof. Probably where the valuable stuff is stored. I have to check that out later. The last thing and probably the most exciting is located in the back. I call it the office. It’s a few server racks and a circular desk with lots of computer screens. That’s where we’ll find the most.
I take the final step inside. Maja is right behind me. “Okay, we’re inside. Now we just have to find what Conor wants us to find. Can you check the computers? I think I’m going to lie down a bit more first.”
“Sure, no problem. Shout if you need something. I’ll do the same when I find something interesting.” Maja leaves me behind on the couches and walks toward the computers in the back. Meanwhile, I do as I said and lay down.
It’s still surreal… My parents… They were Valterions too. But they were simple workers on a freighter nowhere close to The Empire. Did the family spread so far over the years? Is it just a lucky coincidence that my DNA was good enough to open the vault? Can I even consider myself a Valterion? Still, I can’t be too far off the main family branch, otherwise, the DNA would have been too diluted, right? Actually, how is it even possible to match with a DNA sample from 11,000 years ago? Did they do something to keep our DNA from diluting too much?
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
That must be it. Otherwise, I can’t think it possible. Too many years went by, too many generations. With every generation, the DNA is mixed with another. Maybe they made the Valterion genes dominant somehow? I don’t know and it doesn’t matter too much right now.
But still my parents. Were they really just two random people and one of them can trace back their heritage to Conor Valterion, or were they from The Empire and were out on an adventure or something? Maybe they were kicked out of the family… I can’t help it. My head finds another possibility every minute. There is only one place where I can find out for certain: The Magicon Empire!
Either I find a wormhole that leads there directly, or I somehow get back to the Estriduros Republic and free Thomas and the others first. Then we travel to the Empire together.
“Sara!” I jump at the voice in my ear. My eyes flip open, and I look around. There in the back, Maja is standing and waving with an annoyed expression on her face.
“You need me?!” I shout back at her, and she nods while scowling. Did I miss something? Why is she so annoyed?
“Yeah, obviously. Now come back here, I have to show you something.” I stand up and start walking over to her while she continues. “What were you doing? I called you about a dozen times…”
Huh, didn’t hear a thing, oops? “Uh, I guess, I got lost in my thoughts?” I reply sheepishly. Now a quick change of topics and I’m good again. “Anyway, what have you got?” Maja huffs, but still activates a screen. Smooth Sara, real smooth.
Another video of Conor Valterion appears, and I immediately understand. This is what he told us about in the earlier video: The reason why he left something behind for his descendants. I still can’t believe that I’m one of them, even if it's far removed.
“Have you watched it already?” I ask Maja and she denies.
“No, it took me a while to get everything up and running and then I thought, why not wait a bit more and watch it together with you.”
That’s nice of her, although she probably could have watched it in a few seconds, but hey watching something together is way more fun. “Okay, let’s start.”
The video begins playing and just like before, Conor starts with a sigh.
“Now that your identity is confirmed, let’s get right to the point. I guess you have better things to do than listening to a long-dead old man.” He chuckles darkly and continues. “The reason you are here is the Worldender Ship. There is no other name more fitting. This ship was the sole reason why we all had to leave the Solar System and were never able to return for 20,000 years.”
I signal for Maja to pause the video. “Can you believe this? A single ship did all that. It ruined a whole star system.” I shake my head in disbelief.
“It’s crazy,” Maja replies. “Who would even build something like this? The scale of that weapon alone is insane. An effective area of billions of kilometers. But let’s continue, maybe he can tell us more.” I nod and the video resumes.
“I can understand that the scale of this sounds unbelievable.”
Yeah, true.
“But let me assure you, it’s absolutely true. You’ll find out soon. I don’t know how much information about the war between Earth and Utopia survived over the years, so I attached some recordings and other reports about the war at the end of this video.”
This time it’s Maja who presses pause. “I’ve already found those things, we can watch and read them later.”
“Good, I think that'll give us much-needed context. What he said right now is basically all I know. Thomas didn’t find out more when we were kids.”
“Can you summarize real quick?” Maja asks. “I didn’t even know that Earth existed before we came here.”
Oh, I guess I can understand why Sean and the other programmers didn’t include Earth in her education. Nobody in the Estriduros Republic knows much about Earth anyway, so why should they bother?
“Sure, but it isn’t much. Basically, Earth and the whole Solar System is humanity’s birthplace. From here all the expansion across the galaxy started after they discovered magic. As not everyone could be a Mage, two movements started to form. Those who wanted to advance magic and those who wanted to advance technology to compete with the Mages.
“From what Thomas found out, Earth was led by Mages. I guess the leaders were the five big companies, but I’m not sure… It would make sense. Their counterpart was the nation of Utopia, located in neighboring star systems. There, Mages somehow lost their foothold and the anti-Mage movement started. I guess it was something like how Mages are treated in the Estriduros Republic, but I don’t know for sure.
“Anyway, that’s all the background information I know. The rest gets very vague. For whatever reason, Utopia decided to invade the Solar System and it came to a massive war. Nobody knows who won and the result was the destruction of Earth. At least that is what the history books tell us… As we are standing right here on the planet, something different must have happened.”
Maja is silent, clearly thinking about what I told her. She shakes her head. “There are clearly some facts missing… Maybe the files from Conor will shine a light on everything. It makes me very curious, why someone deliberately spread false information.”
She looks at me and I nod. Time to resume watching.
“The reason why you are here is to prevent what happened here from happening again. The Worldender Ship is a weapon that stands above everything else. Nothing comes close to its destructive power. It entered the Solar System when the Utopians realized that they were about to lose. Then they retreated and left the ship behind.
“It took us a while to realize what this ship could do. But it was already too late. The ship created such a high gravitational force, that we were unable to enter it. The gravity was so high, that we couldn’t even move it. It was completely anchored in space. Magical and technological means failed. Meanwhile, the ship kept powering up. Scientists estimated that it’ll reach critical mass within one year. When that happens, it will explode and spill deadly radiation throughout the whole system.
“Without any other options, we came up with Project Exodus. The complete abandonment of the Solar System within one year. At this point, I can happily say that we made it. The evacuation is complete and I’m currently recording this video message as the last thing before I leave as well.
“Now you are probably wondering why I did record the message and put so much effort into keeping it intact for 20,000 years instead of simply telling everyone about what I found out. I deemed the secrecy necessary, as I believe that I found a fatal flaw in the ship’s design. This can’t get out, or it will be fixed, and the weapon will be unstoppable again.
“When I analyzed it with my Space Sense, I got the feeling that in order to explode, the gravity anchor has to be turned off. That would give a Space Mage a small window to act and move the ship to deep space and jump back out before it explodes. I obviously couldn’t rely on that observation. It would have been way too risky, so we continued with Project Exodus, and I kept it to myself.
“To observe the explosion and to hopefully confirm my observation, I left a stealth ship with our best scanners behind. I anchored it at the very edge of the system to avoid the blast. The coordinates are attached to the video. I hope the ship can confirm the flaw. We will do everything to erase the existence of the Worldender Ship from history, but a backup plan is always worth it. I just hope that a ship like this never appears again. At least not within the span of 20,000 years. Our scientists deem it too unsafe to enter the Solar System before that time has passed. That’s why you are now here. Your mission is to go to the stealth ship and analyze the data. I wish you all the best of luck, Conor Valterion out.”
Holy shit! That’s big. “Can you believe this? The information is more valuable than I ever could have imagined! We have to check out that ship Maja.”
“Agreed, it’s very important. This could save so many lives in case a ship like the Worldender Ship ever comes back. He also said the stealth ship has the best scanners built in. Maybe it can find us a way out.”
My eyes go wide. “You’re right! What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” I stand back up and turn around to leave. “We can watch the war reports while we are underway.”
Maja holds up one hand. “Wait a moment, I’m getting the coordinates… Huh? That’s strange.”
I turn back and raise my eyebrow. “What is it?”
“The coordinates are almost where we appeared after the collapsed wormhole.”
I take a step back. That can’t be a coincidence. Wait, is that why? “Could it be that the ship is gravitationally anchored there? Maybe that’s what pulled us out of hyperspace!”
Maja rubs her chin, deep in thought. “That’s certainly a possibility.”