His yellow-gold and blue world glowed behind him. A beacon of beauty and technology. A place where the Altaeth technology and cities were now fully occupied and utilized by a race that the Altaeth had seeded into existence just before they disappeared from the known universe.
The Exarch was swallowed by the Gate and the view of Haseon disappeared with the silvery light of the tunnel his ship was guided through automatically replaced it.
Khoth considered meditating so that his Xi and Xa were more in alignment when he reached Earth and met with his compatriots. He was not worried about the humans perceiving anything off in him. From his limited experience with them, they had only Xi. They expressed all they felt and thought at all times, even if it was not in their interest. Perhaps, especially, if it was not.
But the humans’ disinterest in his balance was not the real reason he did not mediate. He knew that he would not be able to reach the state of nothingness, and failing at this, would only increase his frustration. So instead, he brought up the reports that his mother had told him to read.
It took him two sub-cycles to read every report from First Contact to the present. The facts were these. Humanity had come to the Alliance’s attention when the Khul visited Earth.
The Khul had sent only a single squadron, which consisted of thirty vessels, but no Hive to the planet. The Alliance had fought them in orbit. Earth’s technology was so simplistic that they would not have known or understood that a battle was happening above their heads. It was only when one of the Khul ships had crashed that they were alerted.
The Khul had seemed almost desperate to get to something down on the planet. What that had been was unknown at first as there was no evidence of Altaeth technology on the planet and humanity--while it could be harvested and assimilated--appeared to offer no strategic advantage to the Khul. Yet the Khul, outnumbered and outgunned, had not retreated, but instead had crashed with intention in a desert by a tiny town that was just barely hanging on in the harsh climate.
The rules regarding not interfering in non-space faring species did not apply when the Khul had made contact with a world so the Alliance had flown down in their ships, alarming the primitive humans and revealing to them that the universe was not theirs alone. The Khul had been dispatched in short order. And it was only after the last death that the reason for their interest in Earth became apparent.
That single Altaeth Colossus ship.
It, too, had crashed just outside of the small town millennia past. The sands had buried it, but the Khul ship had drilled into the sandy soil down to it. It was only when the Colossus ship’s hull was exposed to the air that the ship sent out a single signal alerting the Alliance of its presence. How the Khul had known it was there without any signal was still unknown. Why the Khul had such an interest in a single Altaeth craft was also unknown. Considering the Khul had never returned to Earth made some believe that the whole thing had been a fluke.
But First Contact between the primitive humans and the Alliance had begun in the human year of 1947. And one thing had been clear from the first, the humans would not simply let the Altaeth technology be. For all of human simplicity, they were curious and determined and they would figure it out in time. They would learn everything they could of Altaeth technology regardless of what the Alliance wanted or heeded. So it had been determined that the Alliance would keep a small force on the planet to help humanity study the Altaeth ship and slowly help this reaction species be assimilated into the Alliance. Not as full partners, of course.
Humanity was so incredibly primitive, however, that those humans who “ruled” that area of the planet insisted on not sharing the existence of the ship, the existence of extraterrestrials or First Contact with even the general public, let alone the other humans “countries” on the planet.
This selfishness might have stymied humanity’s efforts to learn all it could from the ship. For despite the cycles that had passed since discovery of the Altaeth vessel, the Core of the ship--where all information was stored--remained curiously locked. None of the codes that the Alliance had learned or the tricks they had employed in other vessels had worked.
The ship had other secrets too. There were whole floors that could not be accessed. Nothing could cut calcanth. Only that initial gash in the side--potentially caused by the crash or perhaps an unknown energy weapon of massive mpower--gave them access to a fraction of the ship’s interior.
There was then a list of technology that had been discovered from the unnamed Colossus ship. It was impressive. More powerful weapon technology. More efficient engine designs. Other types of power sources that had been previously unknown. And much, much more.
So despite there being only one ship on Earth and despite only a fraction of that ship being accessible, more Altaeth technology had been gleaned from it than from any other. Khoth stroked his chin as he closed out the final report. He had to admit that he was interested. His gaze slid to his sister’s journal. What had she suspected? What had her instincts told her about this single ship?
He was just reaching for her journal when there was a soft ping from the Exarch announcing that they were nearing the Earth Gate. He watched as the silvery tunnel was replaced with another fiery red wall that he passed through and arrived in Earth’s solar system.
But the soft ping of his arrival was replaced by a blaring alarm. Khoth flinched at the sound. It was so startling because he had not expected to hear it again, let alone here. The screen showed the reason for the alarm immediately.
There was a Hive orbiting Earth.
The Khul had returned.
Don't Think
“Jace!” Sami cried. “Watch out!”
The note of warning and fear in Sami’s voice snapped Jace back to the moment. The Omull that had killed the soldier was still there. In fact, it was coming inside. It had to dip its head to pass through the window, but once inside, it straightened to its full seven-foot height. It loomed over him and the dead soldier. An axe whizzed through the air and hit the Omull’s dome of eyes. But it glanced off, making a sound like it had hit metal, and fell to the floor behind the creature. Sami grabbed another axe, but Jace knew it would do no good.
Only Altaeth weapons work against the Khul, Gehenna whispered in his mind.
Yes, I understand, Jace told her.
Without further thought or direction, he rose up. The weapon in his hand did as well and he aimed it at the Omull. His hand did not tremble. He felt quite calm and assured as if he had done this hundreds or even thousands of times before even though he had never held a gun, which this laser gun was the equivalent to.
You have done this thousands of times before, Jace. We’ve practiced in your dreams, remember? Or perhaps you don’t quite yet. But you will, Gehenna sounded amused. Don’t think. Just let yourself respond. The understanding of what to do is etched on your nervous system.
Her voice was clearer than it had been, but there was still a bit of a buzz and snap as if they had a bad connection or there was a storm in the area.
We will fix that later. We’ll fix everything with your head and your body later, I promise, Gehenna told him. We’ve found one another and that first step will lead to many others.
I don’t understand how this can be real, he admitted as he released a breath in preparation to fire.
