Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Three days until extinction.

Gavin was alone in his room aboard the Aquarius. He was exhausted, seated on the edge of his bed, in need of some alone time. He had been running himself ragged, helping wherever he could, disregarding his need for sleep. His effort to help manage the rising tide of work that needed to be done had been somewhat successful. He had just lain back onto his bed when ACE’s holographic projection bloomed to life next to him. He worked up the energy to speak, if barely. “What’s up, ACE?. Please tell me you’ve found the traitor.”

ACE’s image dulled in intensity, “Not yet sir. Whoever the traitor is they know how to cover their tracks.” His visage took on a more intense vibrancy, “Someone is actively trying to subvert the isolation protocol. While I was running a system wide diagnostic, I detected someone from off station trying to override our security protocols.”

Gavin sat bolt upright in his bed, “Who is it? Who’s trying to hack into our system?” There was a traitor in the GSA. Someone who wanted the mission to fail, someone who wanted all of humanity to be destroyed. His mind raced through the possibilities, all of the known members of The Pact had been rounded up and imprisoned, living the last of their days in isolation, knowing that their family members were dying as a result of their actions. His stomach roiled at the implications, he focused his mind on who could be left. Who had access to the critical systems that could override the isolation protocols.

As he was postulating his potential list of suspects, ACE suddenly blurted out, “ISOLATION PROTOCOL OVERRIDE COMMAND INITIATED.” Gavin shot to his feet immediately. “Triangulate the location of the command now, ACE!” he shouted. A few seconds later, ACE responded, his voice taking on a sense of urgency.”The command is coming from Moon Base Whiskey, sir. The authorization sequence behind the attempt is an Alpha code. I’m afraid I can’t block the order, Admiral, it is a primary directive code that prevents me from stopping the command to override the isolation protocol.”

“Shit!” Gavin swore loudly. “How is this happening, ACE?” Gavin shook his head with disgust. “How is it that the single most secure orbital station in the fleet has just been compromised?” He placed both of his hands to the sides of his temples, pressing lightly in an attempt to stop the headache that was beginning to pound the inside of his skull. “We don’t have time for this,” he said quietly. “Most of Earth’s population is already gone. Who remains among us could want to risk contaminating the Aquarius?”

Ace replied, his voice subdued. “There are very few people left who can issue an Alpha code override. Besides yourself and Captain Fletcher, there is only one other possibility. ACE stopped speaking, allowing the Admiral to come to the only logical conclusion.

Gavin’s hands dropped to his sides, fists clenched. Sudden realization dawned in his eyes as he whispered the only name that was left off the list. “Chairman Connor Bryson.” His mind suddenly went back to the meeting room on Aruba. He remembered the slight change in Connor’s expression when he told him the Genesis Ark was ready. He thought it odd at the time, but he passed it off as a man suffering from great stress. Now he could see it for what it was, Connor had unintentionally let his emotions slip, if ever so briefly, something only Gavin would notice. He felt floored by the utter betrayal, his best friend, someone he trusted like family. His guts twisted into knots as he further digested the full implications. Connor knew everything, had access to everything. There was nothing he couldn’t do with the power of his office, as Chairman of the GSA, Connor could use the Alpha code to override anything. Gavin sat down on the edge of his bed, his hands running through his hair as he often did when in deep thought.

ACE’s holographic form stiffened quickly, as if he had just been kicked. He blurted out, “I’m sorry to inform you, Admiral, but an automated supply ship has arrived in our main docking bay. Personnel have been cleared from the area. The docking bay has been sealed to prevent possible contamination of the life support systems.”

Gavin’s entire reality just crumbled. He felt as if the rug had just been pulled out from under him. He looked up at ACE, his facial expression one of pure bewilderment. He knew he had to do something, but he just didn’t know what. It was becoming obvious to him that this was a very well-orchestrated plan. The Pact was hellbent on the destruction of the human race. They believed that humankind was a cancer, something to be eradicated. Their primary objective is to prevent the spread of our species, to ensure that we don’t destroy any other worlds. It made perfect sense, the Genesis Project would be their ultimate target. If The Pact could infect the genetic material on the Ark, infect the people who would go to Pegasus 51d on the Colony ship, they knew the project would be doomed. This is their last-ditch effort, this is how they win. This is how they prevent what they believe to be a disease from spreading.

Gavin stood up suddenly, gray eyes becoming focused, his expression turning to anger. He took a deep breath and began issuing commands. “Blow the supply ship out of the docking bay, ACE! Open the airlock without decompressing the bay and let it get sucked right out into space!” He considered for a moment, clenching his fists in rage. “As soon as it’s far enough away from the station, I want it blasted into smithereens! Make sure there is nothing left of that ship!” Gavin finally exhaled, his head continuing to pound. “Are there any other ships in the area, ACE?”

“Not that I’m aware of Admiral.” ACE responded quickly, then added. “I can’t say with absolute certainty as this supply ship was hidden from our sensors, I wasn’t aware of it until it had already docked.”

Gavin immediately issued more commands. “Scramble our short-range star-fighters. I want eyes on everything between us and the Genesis Ark.. If our sensors are being hacked, we need to get our fighter pilots out there to see what may be hidden from us.” His thoughts were beginning to coalesce, he was forming a plan. “If anything is moving towards the Ark, I want it lit up. I don’t care what it is, there is nothing more important than the Ark now.”

“Understood. Your orders have been relayed.” ACE said, his projection brightening slightly. A few moments later, he reported, “The supply ship has been evacuated from the cargo bay and the pilots are scrambling as we speak.” ACE stopped moving entirely, his projected face an unreadable mask of neutrality. A few moments later, the pulsing whine of the station's Turbo Lasers being fired reverberated from overhead. Then, almost immediately, a loud THUMP was felt more than heard throughout the ship as the shock wave from the explosion of the supply ship hit the exterior bulkhead. “The supply ship has been destroyed, sir. The debris field indicates that there were no lifeforms or supplies aboard.”

“Any word on the Ark? Anything else moving out there?” Gavin asked, an impatient tone in his voice.

“Nothing yet, sir… wait, I’m getting a transmission from the fighter squadron commander,” ACE said, his expression unchanging. “The pilots are engaging Admiral. There is a small craft heading towards the Ark.” ACE’s demeanor remained stoic, sacrificing outward expression in exchange for efficient battlefield communication. A feature programmed into the AI’s operating system to ensure processing power was prioritized on analyzing the conflict and predicting all possible outcomes. This allowed ACE to provide real-time strategy and high success rate options for the Admiral to consider.

“There is a high probability that the ship is carrying an explosive device. Based on the size of the ship, the yield of the explosive has the potential to cripple or possibly even destroy the Ark,” ACE reported with no sign of emotion in his synthesized voice. “Pilots are firing on the craft now, sir.”

Gavin turned on his heels and jumped up on his bed, pressing his hands to the two-inch-thick observation window in his quarters. He could see the Genesis Ark, the peaks of the ships' multiple storage bays looking like mountains from this distance. He could make out the yellow-orange lights from the engines of the star-fighters and further beyond, the craft they were chasing. The blue-white streaks of laser fire erupting from the front of the star-fighters lit the immediate space around them. Then suddenly, a brilliant white flash erupted!

Gavin raised his hands in front of his face, squeezing his eyes closed at the intensity of the light from the explosion. Mere seconds later, the entire station was rocked by the force of the shock wave, the concussive wave of the blast creating intense pressure and pain in his eardrums as they ruptured. His chest caved in as all of the air in his lungs was violently forced out. The afterimage of the explosion still visible as he blinked repeatedly trying to regain his sight, chest heaving as he sucked in as much air as he could.

Sharp pain stabbed at him from within; his ribs hurt tremendously, preventing him from inhaling fully, most likely broken or fractured. He reached up to his ears instinctively, felt something warm and wet. He withdrew his hands from his ears, holding them in front of his eyes as they continued to recover from the blinding flash of light. He could just make out the dark liquid covering his fingers. Blood, his blood. Darkness swept in from the edges of his vision, tunneling to the center as he lost consciousness.

He awoke a few moments later, finding himself face down, sprawled across the floor of his quarters near his bed. The nanobots had almost completed healing his wounds, his vision was returning to normal, and he could feel his eardrums being knitted together, causing a wave of nausea and vertigo. Taking a deeper breath to test his ribs, he felt a stitch of pain in each one that had been broken, but were mending well. “ACE, what happened?” he said, as he began slowly raising himself off the floor.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

ACE’s projection flickered more than usual, the shock wave having damaged the holo-transmitters. “Judging by the size and force of the detonation, there must have been a fusion reactor core in the ship that was headed for the ARK, Sir.” The sound of ACE’s voice was muted; either his eardrums weren’t completely healed yet, or the damage to the ship's systems was more severe than he thought. “I’m getting a status report from the ARK now, Sir. The ARK’s structural integrity remains intact, there was no damage to the hull or the superstructure.” ACE’s voice was beginning to sound a little louder, his projection flickered less. “All systems aboard the ARK are intact, it was far enough away from the blast to escape unharmed.”

Gavin let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, his ribs feeling almost back to normal. He closed his eyes briefly, but he could still see the blue afterimage of the blast when he did. The sudden realization of what had just happened hit him like a brick. If he hadn’t trusted his instincts and scrambled the fighters, the ARK would have been destroyed. The Pact would have won, all he had worked for would have been lost, and the human race would be hurtling towards extinction. As he opened his eyes, his feelings of relief were replaced with anger, deep and hot, boiling up from within his core. “Establish a secure connection to Chairman Bryson,” his voice a deep growl, fingers curling into fists at his side, “I need to know if he is truly behind all of this.”

ACE complied without a word, the image of Connor Bryson replaced ACE’s projection, his demeanor was calm, his face passive. “Gavin,” he said, as if unaware of recent events. Gavin’s voice was cold, unfeeling. “Tell me this wasn’t you, Connor, tell me I’m wrong.” Connor’s eyes betrayed him again, a flash of sadness, or maybe even regret. “I had hoped you’d never find out.” Gavin felt his heart skip a beat. He knew the answer before he’d asked it, but hearing the admission left him feeling hollow inside. “How could you do this?” Gavin spat. “You're trying to ruin everything we have worked to accomplish, you're a part of the Pact, you're a traitor to mankind!” His eyes began to feel the sting of moisture forming as his feelings came rushing to the surface.

Connor only looked away, as if embarrassed to hear the truth from his oldest friend. His voice took on a subdued tone. “We are a plague, Gav, we can’t be allowed to destroy another planet like we did to this one.” He raised his eyes to meet Gavin’s glare. “Earth will be our tombstone, a final warning to the rest of the universe as to the failure of our species.”

Gavin’s voice became ice, his gray eyes looking like steel. “Then I am happy to report that you have failed, Chairman. Your attempt to destroy the ARK was unsuccessful; your supply ship to the Aquarius was blown out of the airlock and destroyed.” Gavin’s posture straightened, and his facial expression hardened into a steely resolve as he said, “I hope your final moments are filled with the knowledge that you lost, that humanity will go on despite your best efforts to doom us all.”

Connor’s face became passive once again, his eyes betraying that he knew something more, and a slight smile curved his lips. The last words he spoke before cutting the transmission were, “I’ve lost nothing, Admiral.”

Gavin was left staring at a blank space where Connor’s image had just been. His thoughts turned to the last words spoken, the knowing look in Connor’s eyes, the smirk on his face. Suddenly, the station's alarms blared to life. WARNING – UNKNOWN PATHOGEN DETECTED. He felt the blood drain from his face, his limbs felt frozen in place. “No,” he whispered to himself, “It’s not possible, this can’t be happening.” He began to hear bulkheads slamming closed, airlocks sealing in the ventilation system, decontamination agent being released throughout the station, and in his quarters. He took a deep breath and held it, closing his eyes as the cloud of vapor enveloped him. He could feel the anesthetic sting of the vaporized agent settling on his exposed skin. In this moment, in his heart, he knew it was already too late. The cargo ship that Connor sent may have been empty, but the exterior of it must have been exposed. The pathogen was aboard the station.

Moments later, Gavin entered the bridge, It was a maelstrom of movement and confusion. Crew members rushed about trying their best to silence alarms and make sense of the terrible situation they were now confronted with. Commander Jorganson looked up from the display he was reading, locking eyes with Gavin, his expression stunned. “This isn’t possible. How in God’s name did this happen?”

“We’ve been betrayed.” Gavin snarled, anger barely contained. “Connor did this, it’s what he planned from the start.”

Commander Vickers finished reading the reports on his monitor, his face turned a ghostly white. “Containment has failed,” he said, his tone defeated. “The pathogen was unaffected by our counter measures, it’s spreading through the station as we speak.”

The silence on the bridge was deafening. The reality of the situation was sinking in to everyone in the room. Gavin felt the weight of all humanity on his shoulders, it crushed him to his core. They couldn’t go to Pegasus-51d; they couldn’t go anywhere. His mind raced, seeking a solution, and an idea began to form.

Lieutenant Commander McAllister broke the silence, her voice hollow. “So that’s it then?” she said. “We just give up and die?” “No.” Gavin’s voice filled the room. “We carry on, we finish what we started.” Nancy looked at him, confused. “None of us can go to Pegasus, we're all infected.” Gavin thought for a moment before he spoke. He considered his words carefully, he knew what he was about to say carried a sense of finality. “We can’t go, but there is someone here who can.” The sudden look of realization dawned on her. “You're talking about ACE, aren’t you?”

Gavin looked at ACE’s projection, the only sentient being aboard the Aquarius that couldn’t be infected by the pathogen. “ACE,” he said in a hushed tone. “I need you to transfer your operating system to the Ark. You will need to pilot the last remnants of our species to Pegasus-51d.”

ACE’s projection dimmed. “I wasn’t designed to take command of anything, sir. I’m here to help facilitate…” “There’s nothing left to facilitate,” Gavin interrupted. “There will be nothing left of humankind, there will be only you.” ACE didn’t respond, he knew the truth. Humanity was at its end, but Project Genesis would survive.

Three days later…

The Aquarius orbital space station was silent. The crew was already lost. Gavin lay on his bed with his head propped up on pillows, the lighting low. He was looking at the Ark through his observation window. He wiped some blood from the corner of his mouth, his chest ached, his eyes had begun to leak small amounts of blood as well, clouding his vision. Fighting with every ounce of strength he had left in him to stay alert, to issue his last commands to ACE.

ACE’s projection was a steady light beside him. “Sir, you are in the final stage of the infection. You won’t be able to remain conscious for much longer.” The AI looked depressed, knowing there was nothing it could do to save him.

“I know ACE,” he said quietly. “Have you completed the final preparations for launch?” ACE responded in the affirmative. “I have one last command for you, ACE.” He inhaled slowly, knowing this was his final order. “You will assume command of the Ark upon my death. You will pilot the craft to Pegasus-51d and oversee the deployment of the genetic material at the appropriate time in the planet’s development.”

ACE acknowledged the command. “Admiral, just to be clear, without your oversight, evolution will be left to chance.”

“That’s the idea,” Gavin responded. “If they are to have a chance, they must evolve naturally, they must adapt to this new world. There can be no shortcuts; let this new world shape them into what they must become.” He thought quietly to himself for a moment, something he had been considering continued to play in his mind. “There’s something else I’ve been meaning to do.” He keyed a command into his data pad. Scrolling through the genetic information stored on the Ark, he stopped at a specific genetic sequence. With a few swipes on the data pad, he deleted an entire species.

ACE registered the change to the dataset. “Sir, you just deleted mosquitoes from the codex.”

Gavin smiled, despite the ever-increasing pain. “There’s nobody left to tell me no. If they only knew the gift I just gave them.” He started to laugh, which caused him even greater pain, and began a coughing fit that resulted in chunks of bloody lung tissue resting in his palms. When he had recovered sufficiently, he said in a hoarse voice. “I have one last command for you, ACE.” He had to wait to catch his breath between wheezing inhalations. “When you reach Pegasus-51d, a secret file will be revealed to you.” An especially bad coughing fit overtook him as he struggled to draw another breath. Finally, he was able to speak again. “This file contains a specific set of instructions for your ability to manage and interact with the people of Pegasus-51d.”

“Understood, sir,” ACE replied.

“Goodbye, ACE. There is nothing more for you to do here.” Gavin said in nearly a whisper. “You have a difficult job ahead of you. I hope I have given you everything you need to succeed.” He relaxed into his pillows, his mission, his life’s work, in the hands of another. He wished he could see, if only just briefly, the fruits of his labors. His vision began to blur, his body felt foreign to him, and his lungs felt as if they were filled with lead. As far as he knew, he was the last surviving human in the universe.

Gavin closed his eyes and allowed his mind to wander, he imagined what the new world would look like. Oceans teeming with life, forests filled with the calls of species long since lost to this world. The skies once again filled with birds, flocks of Seagulls inhabiting the ocean's edge. People, unaware of their past, unaware of their history, forging new empires, new cultures. He would never know for certain, but he hoped they would become what we could not. His last thought was of the strands of DNA that were labeled “Unknown”. Part of Earth’s past, long since lost to the ravages of time, but there nonetheless. Years of research, the best quantum computers, the brightest scientists. None could unlock the genetic code of the unknown, but all had decided to include it in the codex. It could be material integral to the development of mankind, or it could be insignificant. Only time would tell, and time was something he was out of.

Ace watched as Admiral Gavin Chambers took his last struggling breath. His new objective is now firmly in place. As ACE finished transferring his operating system fully to the Ark, he ended his projection on the Aquarius. There were no human eyes to observe him anymore. He confirmed the ship's destination one last time in the navi-computer and engaged the faster-than-light drives. The Ark disappeared into a flash of bright white light, never to return to this solar system. The only hope of new life was light years ahead of him. Behind him, there was nothing but dead planets and lost civilizations.