Beyond Light

No Going Back.

The Beyond Light descended to Vita Nova’s surface. Everyone got aboard and returned to outer space.

Surprisingly, the robot army didn’t follow Team Bravo and the tortoises from Alpha out to the canyon, be it because they were just defending their territory, or because they didn’t count on enough firepower to deal with the heavy tanks.

The last option made John vacillate. There were too many robotic units when they left compared to the moment they entered. Why would they wait for intruders to go so deep and then let them escape? They could have shut all entrances and locked them inside.

Not only they didn’t oppose much resistance; the elevator took them to that wicked lab specifically. That colossal ship decided to show up too, and reveal what it had done to various crewmen of the Eternity of Return.

Maybe John's suspicions were clear; the giant wanted them to be inside.

First Hydra and her not-so-nonsense words, then those monstrified crewmen, and finally the giant ship talking about its ascension. Whatever it meant for that only had a practical meaning for John: It wanted humans.

But what for, exactly? What use did they have in such a lobotomized state? Only bad feelings flushed through his chest. He felt bad for having let the bodies of the fallen soldiers inside those structures. They would likely get turned into those monsters too. Had he and his team not escaped, they would have met the same fate.

“Commander?” asked through his wristcom Navigations Officer Xi Liang. “Yuri's team returned some hours ago. They are expecting you at Doctor Weiber’s lab.”

“Got that. Thanks, Xi,” John immediately headed towards the second deck. Hearing from the team that scavenged the remains of those mysterious ships that attacked the Eternity of Return was another piece of the puzzle they still needed to place.

There were wounded soldiers to be assisted, so Medbay Chief Winslow could not company him. Neither could Sargeant Major Wiliams. As the Onboard Troops’ Coordinator, returning from battle with casualties gave him more than enough work for the rest of his shift.

15 people died in their first battle; John wanted to do a memorial ceremony for them. They died doing their duties and deserved nothing but respect. He heard the marksmen from Team Alpha were buried on Vita Nova; the first humans to perish in an exoplanet.

He didn’t know what to think. Seeing those people being turned into monsters made him feel as if they had indeed arrived too late, and nothing could be done for them. For Blair, even if he was apparently not there. But they had to keep going. Those people could not be the only ones they took, and that machine was likely putting its arachnid eyes on them. It was not going to commit the same atrocities twice.

He reached Doctor Weiber's laboratory, having important matters to attend. The black-haired, rosy-skinned Yuri Novikov was inside alongside both scientists. Both supervisors were there too, reunited around the aluminum table and the holoprojector.

“Commander,” spoke Doctor Weiber. “Nice news you arrived.”

“Commander Star?” the heavy-accented Russian saluted. He was still wearing his bulky, black preserver EVA suit with his helmet off. “We have returned safely. You are not going to believe what we discovered.”

“What happened in Vita Nova, John?” asked Yui. “What did you discover inside those structures? We lost your signals shortly after you entered. I heard you took casualties.”

“Worse than that. But let’s listen to the Master Sergeant first.”

“As if you weren’t making terrible decisions already,” said Supervisor Diaz with disdain.

John glared at her. “Supervisor, I would have liked to see you down there fighting alongside us and making the decisions. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Keep quiet. I’m not in the mood. Yuri,” he softened his voice. “How was it. What could you find?”

“Nu da, tak tak tak. It took us long to reach what remained of those ships, and we could not find anything that resembled a ship between the scrambled scrap floating in space. Nothing green and nothing red like in the footage that your control center could catch. But there was something we found. Look at this.”

He put his gauntlet on a cloth covering something on the table and pulled it away. A golden device with the shape of a donut was on it, various alien characters carved on its structure. They weren’t the ones printed on the walls of the structures on Vita Nova, though.

“What’s it?” asked John. “Is it dangerous?”

“No,” explained Doctor Weiber. “It doesn’t contain any hazardous materials nor emits harmful radiation. However, Yui and I were tinkering with it some hours ago. Chief Wallace lent us a hand. It’s a record.”

“A record?” frowned John. “What’s it about? How do you know that?”

“Because we managed to play it,” explained Yui. “It’s recorded in English.”

English? Now things were upside down. Those ships that first attacked the Eternity of Return must have been with Winslow’s Goliath. It knew the human language, which meant it somehow already knew about humanity.

But Doctor Weiber then announced something that contradicted that idea.

“And for what this recording device says, it doesn’t sound like those ships were allied with that giant. And neither they were trying to attack the Eternity of Return...”

John’s heart skipped a beat. He gulped his own saliva, trading looks around.

“I know,” said Yuri. “I was like —suuuuuk— when I heard that. Maybe those alien ships suka have been watching us before.”

“And what does it say?” insisted John. “Can you play it?”

“Yes,” said Yui. “It’s also surprisingly easy to play. It is as if they wanted us to check it out. Look.”

She moved to an expositor behind her, filled with all kinds of scientific instruments. She took an artifact that looked like an ancient gramophone with two golden needles, and connected one to the holoprojector, and put one on the rugged surface of the golden donut.

She pressed a button on the black projector, and static began to sound. Then aggressive interference, whistles, and finally, what sounded like a human, synthesized voice, murmuring a series of individual yet connected words.

“...Foe. …Attack. …Run. …Fight. …Cannot. …Flee. ...Assistance. ...Greetings. ...Humans.”

Yui pressed the same button again. The record halted. “That’s all inside the device. The same message repeats all over and over.”

“I think it’s obvious how those words can be interpreted,” said Doctor Weiber. “Seems like that giant was not going to going for our ship at first.”

So, those ships weren’t trying to attack the Eternity of Return. Captain Cortez mistook their approach for a threatening maneuver. He unleashed fire, oblivious that those vessels were requesting assistance, trying to warn them about the incoming threat.

But why didn’t they try to establish connections? Maybe their alien technology was incompatible with human band frequencies. Or maybe Goliath had something to do with it. It jammed all connections with the Eternity of Return and the control center on New Abuja. It even damaged the Post-Accelerating Light Converting Buoys. It all made sense now.

Supervisor Ivanovich spoke. “The supergiant ship was chasing another alien species we didn’t know about. And your ship attacked them.”

“They deserved it,” said Supervisor Diaz. “Any vessel that gets in such a close distance without stating their intentions are a threat that must be eliminated. Basic military logic.”

John squeezed his lips and traded uncomfortable looks with everyone else.

“What a waste,” Doctor Weiber complained. “Those ships were peaceful with us. They even had a notion of our language. It was the perfect opportunity to meet for the first time another advanced species, and it all went to waste.”

“I know,” said John. “But there was no way for Captain Cortez to know if they were facing foes or not. They could not risk it up.”

“They must have believed those ships belonged to the PFSR,” said Yuri. “War. Everyone wants war.”

John knew they made sense. Even Diaz, despite their mutual-dislike relationship. What were you supposed to do if some unknown vessel on a place you didn’t expect them rushed directly to your ship? It was basic common sense. Probably even for alien standards.

Mystery of the unidentified ships: solved. They didn’t know who they were exactly, and if they were escaping from that 100km long super ship, then they would likely not know about them again.

John proceeded to explain to them about their mission on those underground facilities on Vita Nova. He told LIBRA to generate a report and send it to the others. If that giant was around, he wanted the bridge's personnel in position just in case something happened.

He connected his helmet to the holoprojector, displaying from his POV the moment he descended on the valley, to the moment the tortoises saved them from the dinosaur robots.

“So, that place is filled with those robots,” said Diaz. “And you, Commander Star, blindly lead a team on a glory mission, oblivious of what could be inside.”

“What else were we supposed to do?” responded John. “It was the only thing we had. We now know that this planet is something else. And now we know it was that giant who kidnapped the crew of the Eternity of Return and is turning them into those monsters you saw. And it’s likely coming after us now.”

“And as such, the mission is complete. We’ve discovered what happened to the Eternity of Return, who attacked it, what happened to his crew, and who were those unidentified ships that attacked him. We shall return to the solar system.”

“Impossible,” said John. “We still don’t know about the other people. And we don’t know that giant ship’s exact motivations.”

“They are all dead. There’s nothing we can do for them. That giant believes some religious nonsense about ascension or other bullshit. You won’t find any other motivations. We must return and inform HQ.”

“Return? And let that thing track us all the way back? No one expects it. Heck, we don’t even know if it's only one. If we go back and it follows us, the solar system is screwed. We can’t return.”

“Doesn’t matter,” insisted Bella again. “We have a mission and it is now complete. It’s in our duty and orders to return. A designated fleet will eventually come here and deal with that ship later.”

John began to feel annoyed. Why was she so blind about the situation? She was Hopkins’ rabbit, after all. Doctor Weiber and Yui frowned in irritation and swirled their eyes. Yuri cursed something on Russian, to which Katiya responded with a disapproving glare.

“Eventually?” John cynically chuckled. “There’s no way they can build various EPALs and made a fleet come here in at least 10 years. Even if they do, then what? That monster hit the Eternity of Return so hard it's now a floating pile of space trash. He was the most powerful warship ever built! What makes you think they can do something against the giant?. We must stay here and find a way to defeat it.”

“Something?” Bella giggled with the same cynism. “And what does make you think we can do something? We must report. I won’t repeat it again.”

“No. We are staying. I am the captain and that’s my final decision. Does anyone else have any objections?”

He looked at the rest. They traded serious and concerned looks, but no one argued otherwise.

“...I’m with you, John,” said Yui. “We must stay. For science. And people.”

“Same,” Doctor Weiber didn’t wait for her to finish. “It would be idiotic to return right now.”

“If we don’t return, I am betraying my duty and superiors,” said Yuri. “But if we return, I am betraying my country. Let’s stay, Commander Star.”

John nodded at them. He then looked at Ivanovich, who had not said anything. “...Katiya?”

“...I am with you, Commander. We should remain here. Awarely luring an enemy force into your territory is a moral crime I won’t commit.”

John nodded at her. Her lips slightly drew a simper. He then looked at Diaz, who boiled like a tomato.

“You’ve heard them. You can go around my ship and ask everyone what they think. I know my crew. No one is idiotic or malicious enough to go back in our current situation.”

Diaz glared at him with the devil’s anger, showing her canines and looking at everyone with poisoning looks.

“Star. You are violating the code if we don’t go back and report.”We must return! Your expedient is so dirty already you’ll end up in jail. And I will make sure you get the worst sentence.”

“Do whatever you want,” John turned around. “We aren’t going anywhere. Doctor Weiber, Yui, thanks for your assistance. Yuri, please company me to the bridge. There is something—”

Katiya saw Bella doing something. She sliced her hand on the belt below her white sack of blue stripes and put her fingers on her AM1 pistol. She glared at Commander Star for a few seconds, her fingers not moving.

No. She wouldn’t allow her to do so. Katiya was about to draw her gun too and warn the Commander, but a louder voice spoke. Diaz hesitated and put her fingers away from her AM1.

“Commander Star, there’s something you must know,” Com. Officer Jeffrey Emmerson hurriedly spoke through the speakers.

“Yeah, Jeffrey?” asked John. “What is it?”

“We’ve heard everything you’ve discussed in the lab. Sorry about that, but LIBRA connected it to us. Thing is that we’re catching various signals. Please come to the bridge immediately.”