Ghosts of Ophidian (6 page)

“And a
scuttlebutt
is a drinking fountain, but enough with the lessons for today,” Conner said, “The hallway looks to be clear in both directions. For now, I recommend going aft since the passageway appears to be shorter. This has me curious, especially since we entered this vessel nearer to the front of the ship than the rear. Logic suggests the hallway should be longer going aft, but it’s not. McKenzie is the leader of the mission though, and is therefore the one who states where we go.”

“Tha
t’s actually a good suggestion, Steele,” he replied, “I’d like us to move single file with Conner taking the front and Roberts taking the rear with their weapons ready.”

“Why do I get the back?” Roberts asked.

McKenzie turned to him, confused momentarily by his question.

“There are two military men in our crew, Roberts, and you’re one of them. I’d like to think it makes sense that the two of you would be trusted to protect the group,” McKenzie said, “And I must say, you’re starting to concern me.”

Roberts raised his hand defensively and nodded, “I’m sorry. I understand now, Doctor. I’ve got your backs.”

“Good,” Lentz said sarcastically, “I feel much better now.”

“Me too,” Crossway added with equal sarcasm.

Ten

The passageway offered nothing but a series of doors, which they all agreed would remain unchecked for the time being. The alarm stopped by the time they were halfway to the end of the passage.

“Do you think they gave up on warning the crew?” Crossway asked.

“Doon sen wa skon ee tor,” a gurgling voice called over the intercom, “Doon ree o
oooooooorrrrk ooorkkkk oooooorrrrkkk.”

The alien voice was changing
now as it seemed to stretch out the words it spoke. The gurgling sound faded from its words as it repeated those last foreign words. They paused and looked up toward the ceiling as though the voice was coming from above.

“Hok roin
cowl,” the voice spoke slowly in a deep baritone, “Wuh wuuuhhh wuuuuuuuhhhhh whyyy do I get the back?”

“
What was that? It just spoke English,” Roberts blurted, aiming his weapon at the ceiling, “Do you think they are trying to communicate with us?”

“
It repeated exactly what you said earlier. I really wonder if it is searching for a way to speak to us. They’ve got to know that we wouldn’t understand their language,” McKenzie said, “If they wanted to communicate though, it would make more sense to meet face to face and start with gestures.”

“Hok roin cowl,” the gurgling voice repeated, then added, “Ee homa heelkin.
Wuuuhh Whaaat was that? It juuuhh just spoke Englishhh”

“It can hear us. It’s repeating our words
,” Crossway said, “I wish we could reply.”

“I’d rather not say anything they could misinterpret. McKenzie is right – we’d be better off meeting face to face
with this alien if it wants to communicate so bad,” Lentz agreed.

Conner
slowly proceeded down the corridor, letting the others follow if they wanted. He kept his weapon ready just in case one of the many doors along the hallway opened up suddenly.

“
I’d be more worried that a face to face meeting with us would more than likely be misinterpreted by our alien friends up here,” Roberts stated, “Seeing as we’re roaming around inside their ship with our phasers set to kill.”

“I’m not shooting this weapon unless I feel that our lives are threatened, Roberts,” Conner replied, continuing toward the door at the end of the hall, “And I’d expect that these aliens would have a security force who may be armed as well. If
they are civilized in any way, we could very well find ourselves faced with something of a standoff until we learn each other’s true motives. We’re ambassadors for the human race, so I’m hoping for a civilized meeting where things can be resolved without any shootings and perhaps a method of communication can be established.”

He maintained a weary distance from each door they passed while keeping his weapon trained in the direction of
any potential assailants.

“I’d say our country picked the right man to be wielding the P90 then,” McKenzie stated, “
I think I’d rather find a peaceful solution also.”

“Speaking of peace, I say we blow this door,” Conner said, sm
acking his palm on the door at the end of the passage.

“I’m for it,” Roberts added, “Everyone loves a good fireworks show.”

“Let’s do it then,” McKenzie stated, putting his arm out to stop the others from getting closer.

It only took Conner two minutes to get his charge set. He then urged the others to move
further away from the door. A moment later, the charge exploded, sending the sheet of metal sailing into the space beyond. They heard the resounding clang of the door as it bounced off something in the distance. The first thing they noted was that there was no sudden rush of air indicative of a vacuum beyond. They would be faced with another room or passageway with an atmosphere.

“Let me check it out,” Conner stated, confused by what he was already seeing beyond the doorway.

It wasn’t until he was inside the doorframe that he understood the magnitude of the room he had entered. He was faced with a catwalk that led to the left or to the right, then branched out over a huge expanse of a room before him. He was standing at a metal guardrail, looking down at perhaps thirty or forty levels of identical catwalks that all led outward in fifteen or twenty branches per level leading to God-knows-where.

“You’ve got to see this,” Conner stated, stepping onto the metal grate that made up the base
of the catwalk, “This room is as big as the ship itself.”

The others joined him, sharing his feeling of awe. He looked up at the ceiling, determi
ning by the arc that indeed, the room probably was taking up the full interior of the ship.

“It looks like Alcatraz
in here,” Lentz said, “I wonder if those buildings out there are a bunch of jail cells.”

The “buildings” he spoke of did rise up from the ground level all the way
up to the ceiling. The catwalks reached out to these skinny buildings, permitting access to both sides of every building. Each building, about ten in all, couldn’t have been more than twenty feet wide, but each stood probably thirty or forty stories tall. This meant that there were thirty or forty catwalks on each side of the buildings that all led back to the forward portion of the ship where the BP1 crew all stood.

“Seriously, what do you think th
at is?” Crossway asked, “The buildings are too skinny to be living spaces even if this really is a jail.”

“I’m not afraid of heights,” Conner stated, “I’ll take the catwalk out there and check it out.”

“Same here,” Roberts said, “Besides, if there were any aliens in here when we blew the door, I don’t think they would have had time to scurry away without us noticing in a room this size.”

“Indeed,” McKenzie stated.

Conner located the door he’d blown off down on the bottom level. That explained the delay in the sound of it hitting against something.

“Should we split up and take two
or three of the catwalks to cover twice as much ground?” Crossway asked.

“I’d say that whatever we discover in one of those build
ings will be exactly the same in all the others,” McKenzie said, “So I’d rather we all stay together.”

“
Agreed,” Conner added.

He led the way down the
right side of the wall, following the catwalk until it branched out toward one of the distant buildings. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the giant room as they continued onward. Conner glanced down along the front of the buildings as they walked, noting that the front of each building was lined in cables. At the base of each building was a protruding room or a porch that jutted outward on the bottom level. This room appeared to be something of a power station for each building as it accepted that twisted multitude of cables through its roof. These cables began as only two cables coming out from the top level, joined by two more on the next and so on until a wide, twisted cord of several dozen cables entered the roof of that bottom porch.

“Conversat
ion,” the alien voice echoed throughout the massive room.

Conner stopped and aimed his weapon around the room. He couldn’t tell if the
echoing voice came from the intercom or if an alien was nearby. Roberts also had his weapon drawn, aiming at the catwalks of the lower levels.

“I’m not afraid of heights,” the
deep alien voice called out in clear unhindered English, “Peace… blow this door.”

“It’s repeating things we’ve said
, but now it seems to have lost that drowning sound in each of its words,” Lentz said, “It’s monitoring us and I’d venture a guess that it was probably the one who hacked into the shuttle’s computer earlier.”

“Conversation… face to face,” it said.

“Yes, we want to meet you face to face,” Crossway shouted toward the ceiling, “We just want to talk and find out why you’re here. Who are you?”

“Conversation,
not
face to face,” it replied, “No face. I am alien, you call.”

“
It can form its own sentences,” Crossway whispered more to herself than to the others.

“Are you saying that you don’t
want
to meet face to face?” McKenzie asked, looking up toward the ceiling.

“No face,”
it replied, “Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush.”

McKenzie shared a look of confusion with Crossway. She shrugged
.

“What about them?” McKenzie asked.

“I am Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it replied instantly.

“What did you do to them?” Conner
blurted.

“Hey, we’re still in the shuttle! T
hough I must say, I’d like to hear why the alien is talking about us,” Roush replied in their earpieces.

“I am Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Sa
ntini and Major Daniel Roush,” it stated again, “But here… not in the shuttle.”

“What are you trying to say?” Lentz asked, “How can you be one of our people.”

“People…
not
people,” it replied, “You are people. Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush are not people. I am not people.”

“We’re aliens?” Santini asked, “This is the first I’ve heard about this
. My wife isn’t going to be happy when she finds out.”

“You
know, you’re really starting to freak me out,” Lentz said toward the ceiling, “Why don’t you just come out and meet us face to face.”

“No face to face, just like Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it replied.

“Wait a minute,” Crossway said, “Are you the pilot of this ship? Like Santini and Roush are the pilots of our shuttle.”

“Pilot, yes. No face
, just like Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it replied.

“They have faces. They’re just not in
side your ship here with us,” Crossway said.

“They are people
like you are people?” it asked.

“Yes!” Crossway
replied.

“Then not like Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush,” it stated, “People have face.
You call me alien. I will use ‘alien’ as designation instead of Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Santini and Major Daniel Roush.”

“I think this ship must be piloted by a computer,” Roberts stated, “It sounds
and acts like… like it is probably a computer intelligence and thought that our ship was piloted in the same way.”

“Yes!” it said, “
If computer intelligence has no face and is not people, then I am computer intelligence and not alien.”

“Yes,
I believe that would more accurately describe you. It sounds like you are a computer intelligence or an AI. Can we call you AI?” McKenzie asked.

“AI is designation,” it replied.

“Good, we’ve established a name for you,” McKenzie stated, “Now, can you tell us why you are here?”

“It’s where I go,” it replied
, “It’s where I’m supposed to go. There is no ‘why’.”

“But why are you
here orbiting our planet and seemingly doing nothing more? What are these buildings for? What are you here for?” McKenzie asked.

“I have completed assigned duty. Don’t know
of buildings,” the AI replied.

“I
’m starting to think that this computer is not an actual artificial intelligence as we’ve come to expect AIs to be. If its programming was to simply sail the ship into Earth orbit, it probably won’t be able to tell us why,” Roberts stated, “Assuming of course that the reasoning wasn’t programmed into its knowledgebase.”

“What were you supposed to do w
hen you got here?” Conner asked, “The moment you arrived, I mean.”

“Send accomplish code to the cargo hold and maintain orbit
. Mission accomplished,” it replied.

“Is this
giant room the cargo hold?” Conner asked.

“Yes,” the AI
replied.

Conner turned and looked toward the buildings. McKenzie placed a hand on Conner’s shoulder and nodded toward the building where their
current catwalk would take them. He nodded in reply and continued toward the building.

“
If this is your cargo hold, then what is your cargo?” Crossway asked.

“People,” it replied.

Conner paused and looked down at his weapon. He kept it trained on the building up ahead, but hoping he wouldn’t need the thing. From this distance, he could already tell that the sides of the buildings they initially couldn’t see were made up of a multitude of glass doors. The place could very well still pass as Alcatraz, only with a million glass doors instead of iron bars.

He
took several more steps, then gasped when he was finally close enough to see what was inside those doors. He quickly closed the distance between himself and the first cell door. Inside, he discovered an upright humanoid creature on display as though in its own showcase. The alien that faced him had black, scaly flesh almost like that of a snake. The creature’s mouth and eyes were in typical human locations and thankfully, its eyes were closed. It had no nose to speak of and no hair. Its mouth appeared to be covered by an upper lip that extended down as four small tentacles like those of a black and scaly squid.