Beyond Light

Absorption.

John brought the Soku aboard the Beyond Light, despite the discontentment of some —especially Supervisor Bella Diaz. Even if he wanted to know more about what their horseshoe crab-like ships were like, they didn’t trust the aliens enough to go into their own territory. Getting kidnapped was the last thing they needed.

“It’s a nice design,” Valva Okiel Soka pointed out as they approached the human stealther. “Aerodynamic. For Stealth Operations, may I guess?”

“You nailed it. The Beyond Light is not the most resistant of our ships and doesn't pack the biggest punch either, but no other ship like her would keep us alive at this point,” responded John.

Everyone crossed the ramp below the ship’s rear that led to the vehicle deposit. Reparations had been resumed, and drones and workers moved in and out transporting materials and machinery. They all stepped back and looked with admiration at the ape-like aliens towering in their way, following the Commander.

John and his team unsealed their suits once inside and put off their helmets. In case each team carried pathogens or any other microbian life that could be lethal for each other, the aliens didn't, even if both counted with disinfection webs in their ships.

They stopped near the workshop at the bottom, the section in which the DEFENDER.v4 Paladin Mechs, the K0-v Tortoise Tanks, and the M1-SMV Hamsterball vehicle stood. They reunited around a seatless, 10 meters long metallic working table.

“A primitive design,” one of the Soku ape-like aliens in crimson armor mentioned with a raspy voice, his companions and him looking around too. “Bad management of space and vehicles.”

“Surely you can teach us how to tidy up and make the place goodlookin’, big guy,” mocked Doctor Winslow sarcastically. “You totally don’t look like a brutish Gargantua.”

The gorillian alien frowned its prominent brow ridge and his tiny green eyes. He growled, about to show his teeth but Valva Okiel Soka intervened. “Manak, be respectful. This is not our ship and not our place.”

“Medchief,” spoke John. “Quit the play talk now. This is serious.”

The brown-haired Manak Soku only let out a growl, not putting his eyes off the bald, tattooed human, who only smirked at him without stopping the eye contact. Were those humans ignorant, disrespectful, or didn’t know about basic gestures? Probably the three combined. Manak didn’t understand why his father was obsessed with them.

“Forgive my son,” Valva apologized. “He is still too young and has lots to learn.”

“It’s alright,” responded John. “Forgive my people too. Some of them are too… mischievous,” he could not find a better word. “But they don’t mean to offend you.”

“Neither Manak nor my brothers want. People in our clan, the Vani, tend to be direct and we do not mince words. Other clans from other nations criticize that about us.”

Clan. Nations. They also possessed complex social systems and hierarchies, even if those words were likely mere approximates in the English Language.

“Very well,” said John. “Wish I could show you more of our ship and you showed yours too, but we have something more important to discuss. Goliath. Anuk, that supergiant ship. Can you tell us more about it? What is it planning to do with our people?”

Valva nodded, trading a look with his son Manak, and the rest of his soldiers standing behind. Doctor Weiber and Yui drew out their holopads and kept them ready to take notes. Yuri, Derek, and Heinrich leaned on the table.

John stood in front of them, Katiya next to him. Diaz could not look any more stressed; her already irritated face was about to explode. She had complained at explosion levels about John bringing the aliens aboard. He was about to explode at her too but refrained to do so for showing discipline to his subordinates and respect to their Soku guests.

“Anuk,” continued Valva, everyone fixating their eyes on his bulky figure. “It’s a word that doesn’t have a direct translation into your language, but the most approximate would be ‘Perdition’.”

“Interesting," said John. "You said it has damaged your people before. What’s that about?”

“Anuk is a mysterious force. We don’t know exactly who created him or what are his exact intentions. But what he does is prey on and invade the homeworlds of other sapient species. We already witnessed it ourselves…” he made a short pause with a touch of melancholy. “Anuk invaded Yuol, our homeworld 1143 cycles ago. That’s almost 600 Earth years for you.”

“Earth?” Yuri interrupted, wearing a surprised frown. “Wait. How do you guys know about our planet?”

Manak didn’t like him. Without authorization, only the leader spoke when two groups reunited with each other. The humans were simply uneducated. His father calmly responded.

“As I said, yes. We have been observing you in the past. Our species discovered the faster-than-light travel much earlier than yours. We discovered you, and observed, studied, and even vaguely interacted with your people.”

“Our ancestors always knew they were being observed,” said Doctor Weiber. “Guess they didn’t count with the technology to realize so.”

Valva Okiel Soka continued. “But that was more than 600 cycles ago. We stopped doing so when Anuk found us and began to take over us and absorb our people. Lots of information regarding humanity was lost. We call you the 'Nilu Ketil' which means in your language… Hairless monkey.”

“Hairless monkey?” Doctor Winslow chuckled. “Ya sure broke your heads thinking ‘bout that.”

Valva didn’t seem offended, however, Manak growled and rose his fist, but his father growled at him and showed his teeth. The young Soku lowered his head.

“Doctor, please show respect,” ordered John. “Please continue, Valva. You’ve been mentioning some ‘absorption'. What is that about?”

“Yes,” the black-armored and bearded simian nodded. “Anuk. Despite his genocidal tactics, he wants to do with every advanced species he finds to capture and absorb them. What does that mean? He takes them and transforms them into half-machine, half-biological beings. For combat, the most likely.”

Sergeant Major Derek Williams spoke. “Commander, so those altered people we found on Vita Nova…”

“Goliath is gonna make them its soldiers,” Yuri finished his sentence. "Blyat!"

John slowly nodded. More pieces connecting into the giant puzzle. The crew of the Eternity of Return got abducted, taken to the planet, and were now being ‘absorbed’ for Goliath’s own army, whatever it wanted it for. Making more species yield, probably. But the giant had shown particular interest in humanity. Why them, in specific?

Valva continued explaining. “Anuk has absorbed many of our brothers already. Before Yuol fell, he abducted many of our people and transformed them into synthetic beasts. He made us fight our own. We didn’t stand a chance.”

“And now it’s planning to do so the same with us,” said John. “Why? What does it gain by massacring alien species and forcing them into his files.”

“That is a mystery for us. When Anuk communicates, he talks about ontological words like ‘ascension’ or ‘cosmical redefinition'. He often mentions something he calls the ‘greatest plan'.”

“He said similar things to us before,” Katiya trade looks with John.

Yuri spoke. “The recordings my team and I saved from the remains of those… Soku ships. Anuk said similar things to the people aboard Eternity of Return.”

It was clear now. John asked Valva too about how he knew Goliath wanted humans in specific. According to him, a Soku fleet had been on the Vita Nova System before, exploring and studying it. Anuk arrived shortly after, and constantly mentioned another species similar to the Soku —Smaller and weaker, but more gracious, resilient, and adaptive.

But if Goliath was talking about humans, how could it know they existed in the first place? That was something that didn’t make sense. But if the Soku had been observing humanity centuries before, it was likely it knew more than John would have liked to recognize. Something nasty was coming for humanity. He felt the hunch that it was just a matter of time.