Ally or Alien: A Sci-Fi Novel (14 page)

"Yes, sir."

Dr. Rao showed his cooperative side again. He must have realized that working together was more important than personal ego at this point.

The doc ran toward his drone equipment and took out its components from the crate. He brimmed with the innocent energy of a child who was going to use its favorite toys again. In that case, he behaved like eLoom who couldn't wait to return to her lab.

It put a smile on Bellrock's face. Close to the male Newtype, he said,

"Doesn't matter whether you're made of flesh or plastic, a geek's still a geek, eh?"

eVax sighed.

"eLoom is not a geek. She is a respected scientist and explorer. Unlike your adolescent partner, she has over forty-two years of field experience, both in planetary and orbital territories. Please do not conflate her status with your so-called pseudo-scientist."

Pseudo-scientist?

The shell took the slightest comment as an insult. How could a plastic entity be so full of vitriol? 

Back at home, Bellrock would have countered with a sharp comment or a dull fist, but now he behaved. Representing Earth kept his ego in check.

"I'm just trying to up the mood, man."

"Well, consider your attempt a failure of the first degree."

This guy... was something else.

And with eLoom gone to her repair station, eKazumi now had to play the mediator between the male units.

"Hey, let us all set our differences aside and enjoy being together."

She stretched her arms into an arch and grinned. 

"Let us sit down and have a positive conversation."

While Dr. Rao established his drone setup, Bellrock had some minutes to kill. He sat down with his Newtype hosts on the opposite side of the couch ring. Only a white, transparent table separated the two factions.

Bellrock looked at eVax looking at eKazumi looking at Bellrock and vice versa.

"This isn't awkward at all."

Pause.

Then came the obligatory comment from eVax.

"We are going to wait until eLoom has repaired her ribcage rear."

"I'm not going to wait for her," Bellrock said.

"My partner's going to create high-quality stills of the biomorph. Then we decide how to proceed."

Still throwing nitro at the fire, but the Newtype was asking for it.

Seriously, if looks could kill, his would have heated up the air by over a thousand degrees. And now asset eKazumi, sitting next to eVax like a trophy statue, played her sugary voice.

"Everyone, please relax your aggravations. We have encountered and interacted with a new life form which will advance our shared humanoid knowledge about the galaxy. This is a magnificent moment for both of our races.”

She put so much positive spin on her statement, Bellrock hated to break it for her.

"Well, if the biomorph breaks out of that dome field, it could be the worst day for both of our races.”

eVax expressed the ugliest grin Bellrock had ever seen—ready to unleash another snarky remark.

Bring it, Bellrock thought.

The Newtype said,

"Always thinking in destructive terms, aren't you?"

"I'm practical. Seeing an alien swallowing up ships and humanoids doesn't give me happy feels."

eVax tilted his visage. 

"Mmm, there is a famous saying—if you are a rocket, every object looks like a target. It fits the human mindset rather nicely."

"Maybe. But that mindset has also helped us survive traversing the galaxy, colonizing planets along the way. Well, until some obsessed freaks separated and started to cause havoc on humanity."

Boom, Bellrock thought.

All shots delivered, accuracy rate: a 100% percent. Now he smiled back, twice as hard.

But eVax just wouldn't let him have the last word.

"I always believed humans were only one step out of the jungle. I'm starting to believe you never left it in the first place."

Bellrock put on his fake Sorry Face.

"At least we have a jungle. Even artificial ones, thanks to our terraforming experiments. Looking out your transparent walls, I see nothing but canyons and rugged surfaces. Maybe you guys need a lesson in how to colonize a planet."

eVax pressed his thin lips. Bellrock believed he heard the grinding of artificial teeth. His glance lowered to the Newtype's hand that twitched. That shell must have cooked from the inside out.

Goood.

"Oh believe me, human, we have superior terraforming technology. We just chose not to intervene with the Martian habitat, thanks to our belief in absolute sustainability. A concept that still seems foreign to your race, considering how you fail to deal with resource abuse and overpopulation." 

Okay, things were getting childish now. 

Even eKazumi jumped up from her part of the couch and clapped her hands with enough grace to not produce a sound. A gesture she must have copied from eLoom. 

"Hey now. Maybe sitting around is not a productive way to reach high harmony levels."

Her artificial eyes moved around her sockets.

The asset approached Bellrock, exposed her bleached teeth and stretched her mouth edges so wide, they were about to breach her cheeks. She was going to open her mouth when another female voice intervened... 

36

eLoom.

Standing with her 'natural' two arms, looking as fresh as ever. All the scratches and the damaged ribcage area had been replaced with a new skin layer. She crossed her arms but delivered the next words with a faint smile. 

"What is the matter?"

"Nothing," Bellrock said, "we're just setting up the drone."

Dr. Rao finished up his setup and embraced the ergonomic remote controls of the Hyperion III reconnaissance drone.

"Is there a way for my baby to get out there?"

eLoom winked at him. Almost in a sexual way, according to Bellrock. He watched the two looking at each other like teens before prom night. Which was impossible, given that the Newtype refused sex, or so he had heard.

eLoom said,

"I'll have eKazumi take your drone to the hangar bay from where it can reach the atmosphere.”

The asset took the toy from Dr. Rao, bowed with closed eyes and marched toward the bay. Meanwhile, eLoom helped Dr. Rao projecting the footage on the white wall. After a few minutes of syncing, the live-feed updated and showed the first-person perspective of the drone as it hovered over the crimson wasteland of Mars. Apparently, Newtype tech was downward compatible with devices from Earth. That had to be a deliberate design choice. Bellrock watched the wall-screen and wiped his lips when the dome field arrived on the horizon. The biomorph structure resided on the same place, not moving an inch, with some of its antennas still reaching for the sky. Dr. Rao made the drone circumnavigate the installation to scan high-res images from every angle, just as Bellrock had ordered him to. He watched the process with rising interest.

"Can you get closer?"

"Of course."

The drone descended until it was only two arm-lengths away from the wreckage's top. Bellrock could detect the crevices between the outer hull plates. Deep within, it looked like a cable network holding everything together. A dark maze of tubes and ship modules meshed together, spammed with trash.

eLoom 'oohed' and made everyone look up at her.

Everyone but Dr. Rao, who sat on the white ergo couch with his monitor glasses on, leaning his head on the back and fumbling with the controls.

"Spit it out,” Bellrock said to the female Newtype.

"All the intact hulls plates are placed on the top of the construction. In case you do not know, but our ship's armor also functions as solar panels. I think the biomorph is recharging itself."

"For what?"

Bellrock answered the question for himself. A creature like the biomorph only consumed and destroyed, preferably in that order.

"With so many weeks under your supervision, you should have figured out its pattern by now.”

She shrugged.

"Since it crashed on the Martian surface, it has not moved beyond the crater's perimeter. It only rearranged the rubble of the cruiser ship to accommodate its energy needs."

eVax stepped up and showed his smug face.

"You see, human, there is nothing to worry about. We have everything under control. You could have just asked us to send you our superior data and saved yourself the trip across the galaxy. It would have been better to the environment as well."

Maybe, Bellrock thought, but the way the biomorph structure reacted when eLoom touched its surface showed the alien's true nature. It would certainly attack if it had the resources to do so. He continued the investigation as Dr. Rao's controlled Hyperion drone neared the antennas of the wreckage.

"Can you move closer?"

"Absolutely."

"Be careful, don't come into contact."

"Don't worry."

The drone hovered a palm-length over the wreckage's peak. The plates were arranged like an shell, similar to a turtle with its bony armor. So maybe the energy from the sun was channeled through the cables which powered the core, hidden inside like an organic heart. If it was up to Bellrock, he would have wiped out the area with a long-range weapon. Why take chances? The first contact with an alien was hostile. Nothing about the biomorph's behavior was compatible with peace. If it had at least resembled a human in form and morals, it would have been a different matter.

But a sentient 'wreckage'?

Not worth the risk.

Bellrock watched the close-ups taken near the antenna when something from the wreckage's surface shot up.

"Sriniva."

An arm extracted from the rear and grabbed the drone in mid-air. Bellrock launched from his couch and gasped.

"Pull out. Pull the damn thing out."

"I'm trying," Dr. Rao said, fumbling around his controls like an e-sports player. 

His efforts were in vain.

The plates around the arm opened up as it dragged the drone into its inside. The second the cybernetic limb vanished into the deep of the cable maze, the plates retracted and closed up again, like a venus fly trap.

eVax chuckled and made sure the humans heard it. 

"Well, that was bound to happen."

The wall-screen fizzled out. 

Fragments devoured the display.

"Warning. Signal lost." 

The message flickered in red/white/blue color combos. 

Goodbye drone.

eLoom sank her glance and softened her voice.

"If it makes you feel any better, we have a vast array of recon droids. We can grant you full access."

The male-looking Newtype seemed to differ.

"No, that is against our agreement. Human resources only."

"eVax."

While the two Newtype switched their argument to the silent B2B level, Bellrock moved to Dr. Rao's ear and whispered.

"I need to speak to you in private. Now."

37

About twenty-five meters away from the situation room, Bellrock pulled the scientist around the corner and murmured. The walls probably had build-in surveillance devices. With Newtype tech, everything was possible.

"Did you see that arm?"

"Of course," Dr. Rao said.

Like, d'uh, who didn't.

"It's the same cybernetic arm eLoom lost during her approach."

The scientist puckered his lips.

"Well, it's not exactly the same arm, although it used parts of it. This version looked more primitive and bigger, almost like the limb of a construction bot."

He paused.

"It's likely the biomorph can integrate any technical device and manipulate it as an extension of its body. I don't know how that's possible at such a speed—maybe through an artificial virus?"

Scary shit, right there.

Bellrock pondered the devastating scenarios. Even Dr. Rao pressed his lips.

"I'm sorry about the drone, sir."

"To hell with the drone. It's the creature I'm worried about. Do you realize what will happen if that thing gets in contact with advanced cybernetic equipment?"

A fully-operational ship, or a hi-tech base, for that matter. Controlled by a hostile organism with zero morality but endless lust for destruction.

Dr. Rao said,

"It could turn into a potential WMD. A self-replicating virus that infects every electronic device. It could transform each of our military vehicles and use them against us."

Doomsday scenario deluxe. 

Envisioning the horror whirled Bellrock's inside out.

"Amen," Bellrock said.

"Do you still have the footage prior to the drone's destruction?"

"Of course. The mirror backup is on my local server. We always live-save everything in case of system failure."

At least there were some good news. Bellrock would have to send the report, consisting of the best footage and his commentary, to the Commonwealth ASAP to show what menace they were dealing with. The new findings should satisfy Taurus and validate this mission.

Bellrock wanted to ask Dr. Rao another sensible question when he saw the young scientist's face twitching. His left iris moved to the corner of his eye.

Bellrock followed its direction and saw eLoom standing near the situation room's entrance.

"Do not worry, my friends. The biomorph will never breach the dome shield's perimeter."

Damn Newtype was eavesdropping again. Some habits just never changed, not even after a decade of frail peace. Bellrock cleared his throat and raised his chin. His voice traveled at full volume. 

"That was a private conversation, eLoom."

"We cannot afford privacy at this stage."

A typical Newtype thing to say. They carried no respect for the individual and its secrets. But she was right about one thing—this wasn't the time to discuss personal matters. 

eLoom added,

"In any case, we have acquired high-quality close-ups with nano-accurate depictions of the biomorph's structure and parts. Even better: the second the arm extracted from the structure, it revealed a glance at the inside machinery of the wreckage. We have all the visual data we need to make an assessment."

"So?" Bellrock said. 

There was too much attitude in his voice, but eLoom seemed to glance over that. She focused her optical sensors on Dr. Rao and said,