Beyond Light

Find the Truth.

Six months after…

November arrived on Earth, and as per the military calendar, there was still one month before John’s second paid leave came. It was what he desired the most, as that current year proved to be a stressful one, not because there were lots of work to do, but because it turned to be tediously boring and repetitive. 

For classified reasons, most of the admirals and other higher pay grades were absent in most of those long months, and as such, it had fallen on everyone below the Navy S6 rank (or Commander) to supplant them. Lots of monotonous and dull paperwork were added to their routine responsibilities. If any of them thought that being a high rank was an exciting job, their expectations died as they discovered what their duties were. 

Besides the juicy pay of the admirals, nothing was entertaining nor exciting in their work. For someone like John, who preferred to be in the action, it became the epitome of boredness. It was until then that he would have preferred to keep his career in the SolOps instead of becoming a commissioned officer in the Navy.

But that Sunday 10th, he was on his weekly day of military break. All he wanted to do was to relax or maybe do something fun to break the routine. New Toronto was less than 50 kilometers from Ciel Noir base, where he had been stationed for the last 3 months. 

Maybe he could go there and pick a drink or visit a VR battle arena. Ganymede was one of the places in the whole system with the most things to do, and the natural (or artificial) forests and valleys were locations good to spend time with nature and fresh air. 

It was also tidally locked with Jupiter, meaning that one side of the moon always faced the gas giant. The night lasted seven Earth days, and due to the distance from the Sun, the sky was always black to dark navy blue. Jupiter could always be seen above. It was one of John’s favorite landscapes. There was a reason why it was called the Planet King. Not even Saturn and its dazzling rings were as majestic.

That morning all John did was to stare at it through the window of his dorm, but knockings on the door pulled him out of his thoughts. Who could it be? He got up and put on his white pants and t-shirt. He just hoped it was not Major Kopp telling him that he would need to stay on base. His head would explode from stress.

He unlocked the door, but the two people outside weren’t anyone he had met before. It was a pair of men wearing black suits of silver underlining; a uniform he had also never seen.

“Lieutenant Commander John Star?” asked one of them.

“That’s me,” responded John. “...May I have the honor?” 

“James Brown, from the Independent Intelligence Service,” the bald man showed him a badge with an eye surrounded by a pair of wings: the emblem of the ISI.

The other man, an Asian of jet-black hair spoke. “Xi Piang, from the Upraulenye Razvedki Bezopasnoti, or the Office of Intelligence and Security. URB,” he raised his own badge: a seven-pointed star surrounded by a halved circumference, with the initials of his service written in both Cyrillic and Hanzi.

The URB? what were they doing there? was John still dreaming, or maybe he had woken up some decades into the future? He frowned. The last thing he expected before opening that door was an agent of the PFSR’s intelligence service, and much less standing next to an ISI agent.  

“May we get in?” asked James Brown. “We are here because we want to discuss with you a classified matter.”

John hesitated for a moment. What in the world did they want from him? he had not dealt with nor broken into any classified affairs lately. Was he arrested or something? It made no sense. He could have done some admiral’s work recently, but nothing too critical for him to get involved with the ISI.

“...We come directly from Royal Admiral Frost, Lieutenant,” explained Xi. “We are here to talk with you about Project Ad-Infinitum.”

Admiral Frost? Project Ad-Infinitum? John had nothing to do with it. Were they there to tell him something about Blair? maybe something went wrong. He spread the door. “Come in,” both men crossed and didn’t speak until John closed it again. 

“Lieutenant Commander,” spoke James. He expanded a holographic interface on his wristcom and put it at the level of his chest. “We are here to talk about a delicate matter that requires confidentiality grade: OMEGA. Before we continue, we need you to swear to the microphone that you will keep the ultimate discretion, and you are ready to assume the consequences in case you shall violate the code.” 

John felt uncomfortable, but if they were there to share such confidential information with him, then it was something to not take lightly. He raised his hand and pronounced the words. “...I swear it under my nation’s name.”

“Very well,” James nodded and dissipated the holographic screen. “let’s begin. Lieutenant Commander John Star, we are here because of two reasons: to give you a status report, and to make you a special offer. We will be direct with the first one: All connections were lost with the Eternity of Return at Vita Nova shortly after his arrival. The ship was attacked by a group of unidentified vessels.”

John’s pupils contracted on themselves. Were they some kind of pranksters carrying hidden cameras? “But I’ve been receiving messages from my brother, who was there, every two months. The website of the INIS also publishes constant news from the Eternity of Return’s mission.”

James and Xi interchanged serious looks. “...You were lied to,” said James. “those messages are all falsified. Everyone with familiars aboard the Eternity of Return has been receiving similar notifications. The website of the INIS is also fabricated. False reports to keep the public deceived.”

Something burned inside John. They lied to him. His brother could be dead, and he had gone all this time thinking that he was safe and alive. He felt like an i***t for believing the hoax of the INSU and the INIS. 

Mike was right. Even if he was drunk, something was destined to go wrong in such a mission, but everyone let their hype keep them blinded from reality.

“Unidentified ships?” continued John. “But how’s that even possible? Maybe the PFSR—”

“No. Impossible,” responded Xi Piang. “Several experts have evaluated the recordings before the connection was lost, and they don’t belong to any known vessel design.”

Before John could say anything, the Chinese man raised his wristcom and played a video before him: the Eternity of Return; from the moment his crew connected with Control Center, to the instance the communications got jammed. It was total chaos. 

John was well-acknowledged in warships, and although he was no expert in aeronautics nor engineering, just by seeing those mysterious green ships covered by spikes and rounded finishes, he could say that they weren’t anything seen before.

Xi released the holographic screen. John gaped at both. “But what about the Eternity of Return? What about Blair Star? Captain Cortez? are they still alive?”

“...We don’t know,” James dryly responded. “We have not received anything from them since the moment communications were lost. All attempts to re-establish connections have failed. Someone or something jammed and damaged the Post-Accelerating Light Converter Buoys left in the way. It’s impossible to repair them at such a distance. Your brother, as well as everyone assigned to the Eternity of Return, is currently classified as MIA.”

John bit his teeth and slowly negated with his head. The bitter flush of impotence rushed through his veins. Blair could be dead! and so everyone aboard the ship. Yet those rats in the government and the ISI were deceiving their families, and basically, everyone who cherished their achievements. 

And those ships, if they weren’t PFSR, then what? It could have been a montage, although it looked to be too real to discern any special effects. 

Aliens? his heart skipped a heartbeat. He always fantasized with them as a kid and would spend long nights drawing them, or imagining how they would look, as well as how they would meet humanity and how would their relationships be. 

But now, thinking about them as a valid option, it was like being inside a psychedelic trip. 

“...Sorry about it,” apologized James. “I know it must be hard. But we are doing everything possible to go down the rabbit hole. And this is where we have the offer for you that we mentioned.”

John avoided arguing with him about how shady and hypocritical he sounded when they were working for the ISI. They were just doing their job, after all, and obviously weren’t the masterminds behind their intelligence services. But their offer dragged his attention. What did they want him to do?

“The INSU and the PFSR,” said James. “Both reached an agreement to take action together in the matter. We have been working side by side for the last six months on a solution.”

“Project: BLACKCAT,” explained Xi Piang. “Many resources have been spent on it. Its goal is to send a highly advanced stealth ship to Hawking-616a, and find out what happened to the ship your brother was in: the Eternity of Return.”

“And we want you to lead the mission,” said James. “You have an extraordinary history in the Navy, as well as in the short time you served in the SolOps. We want you to be the captain of this ship, and make the second manned trip to an extrasolar system. From all the few candidates we’ve selected, you’re the fittest for this operation.”

“What do you say, Lieutenant?” asked Xi. “It’s your choice. You are not obliged to accept. But know that we have talked with other candidates already, and they all have accepted. If you say yes, we’ll discard all of them and you’ll be assigned this mission.”

“We need to leave now,” said James, turning back to the entrance. “the rest of the details can only be discussed once you’ve accepted the offer and signed.”

Xi gave John a card with a phone number and a direction in New Toronto. “Please inform us of your choice before November 17th,” he also turned around and followed his companion. 

John looked at it, but he didn’t need time to think. His brother disappeared and he had the opportunity to find the truth. Not only about Blair —who would also have accepted the offer if John had gone missing— but also about Project Ad-Infinitum in general. 

The Eternity of Return was the most advanced warship ever built. The godmelter could go through basically anything, yet some mysterious ships of clear non-human origin obliterated part of its hull, and some of them survived his attacks. Things were up to no good on the other side, and assuming Blair and the rest of the crew were still alive, they needed a helping hand. 

Not accepting was like abandoning Blair when he needed him the most; he had already saved John's life on more than one occasion. And more than an opportunity to experience, accepting that offer felt like a part of his duty. And more than a duty, it was a personal task.

He stopped the two agents from leaving. Determination burned on his brown eyes. “There's no need to wait. I’ve made my choice. I accept your offer. What’s our next step?”