The S.U. Space Station

Michael and the others stood in that room for a long time, yet not one of them would have left it for anything in the world.

This was a momentous and earthshaking revelation, and echoes of it were the reason why they were in space right now. If Michael had never stumbled on the Excalibur, they would be still on Earth, and the Solarian Union would not exist.

He patiently waited to hear the end of the story, but as Ision said at the beginning, there would be no happy endings to it; he already had a good suspicion of what disaster would again fall on both of these peaceful people.

Ision showed them the landing of the big colony ship after the agreement between angels and Atlanteans was made. The ship itself wasn’t as big as he thought it would be, its lines reminded Michael of the giant Sikorsky SkyCrane helicopter, without the propellers, though. However, the highly reflective cargo section supported under the ship was substantial. It was the stasis chamber in which all the surviving children were sleeping. They were another reason why Mikell and the ship’s crew needed Atlanteans’ help, since there were more than two thousand children on it. Twenty-five adult angels that were asleep with them were far too few to take care of them all.

Before they made contact with Atlantis, detailed surveys of the entire Earth were made. Mikell told Ision how all they witnessed was war and conflict, primitive tribes fighting for supremacy, or resources. Only the Atlanteans upheld values that were similar to the angels’ culture.

Gaina had a weaker gravity than Earth, as a result, angels could not fly here; at best, they could glide for short distances. One thing they had going for them was that biological sciences were never fully repressed, so using DNA manipulation every angel on Earth received a significant strength boost, making the full 1G gravity easier to bear.

A few months after the colony ship landed, they started waking up the children and caretakers from the stasis and integrating them into this new joint community. The images of small angel children crying for their dead parents were painful to watch. They had been ripped from their homes and now were awoken in a strange new world, so different from anything they knew before. The Atlanteans made every effort to make them feel at home, and the families that were consequently created, were some of the most out of the ordinary the world has ever seen. The hologram showed them dozens of images of human parents with a mixed group of human and adopted angel children.

One of the greatest gifts Atlanteans received was the CEI implants, that allowed them to make an immense technological jump in a very short time. In the next few decades, Atlantis prospered beyond anyone’s imagination.

A great city was built, with tall buildings that reached the top of surrounding glacial walls. The new technology was pursued with an abundant vigor; made possible by many minds that look differently at things, working together in solving a singular problem. Nanotechnology was fully resurrected from the ancient data, and medical nanites became a faster way of treating injuries. Soon, simple construction nanites followed, which accelerated their progress even more. The camouflage technology was discovered, and together, the two races even started building a prototype spaceship; the same ship that would one day carry the name Excalibur.

The angels were still planning to leave Earth one day, and to find a suitable world of their own, with somewhat lower gravity. To do that, those children needed decades of learning, so they could become engineers and builders to finish the mission.

“For both of us, it was an age of discovery and progress, our children grew up knowing new technologies and improving some of them even further than the angels did. All that was possible because of the cube which is standing before you.” Ision pointed at the memory cube that they brought from the ocean’s depths.

“Mikell called it the Knowledge Vault, and it was one of their most prized possessions. His family safeguarded it for a thousand years, never revealing its secrets. It was one of the few things Ariel, Mikell’s father, managed to bring from Gaina when he was exiled. You see, it is a repository of all ancient angels’ knowledge before they turned against technology. If The Elders knew what it was, it would have surely been destroyed. It has a massive storage space, and the images of Gaina you saw were stored in it. However, it was not easy to retrieve information out of it; imagine a library as big as a city and you need to find one specific book in it, a daunting endeavor.”

“But wouldn’t an AI expedite that process to be much faster?” Michael asked.

“Leader Freeman, there were no AIs in Atlantis, or even on Gaina anymore, for that matter. I was the first and the only one created in Atlantis. The Great War fought in their past, which almost eradicated their species, was started by an AI, so there was a strong cultural imperative that they would never create another. No angel would ever agree to be turned into one. AI’s and nanites were forbidden technologies on Gaina, and we resurrected them only in consideration of a great need to speed up our progress.”

“But they copied you into the AI-core, so technology was there,” Michael replied, confused.

Ision sadly shook his head. “There wasn’t a 100% chance that the procedure would even work, it was highly experimental and only re-created as the human part of our community thought that an AI could expedite the rebuilding of the colony ship’s bridge drive. We did not even know how to make the AI-cores. As a matter of fact, together with the Knowledge Vault, there were only two blank cores that were left from Gaina’s ancient times. One is now used by me and the other is Max’s… that one was intended for my brother who was its test pilot, and it was a fall back option for reaching the children, in case something happened to him during the flight. Unfortunately, my brother was murdered before we could reach the ship. He sacrificed his life in vain, just to give me a chance.” Ision closed his eyes and took a few moments to collect his thoughts.

“Where was I? Oh, yes…Working together, our two races recreated the machine intelligence which helped us automate plenty of things, yet they were far from being sapient; they were nothing but highly smart computers, something your civilization is on the cusp of making.

“For the next two decades, we flourished, but still isolated and cut off from the outside world. The consensus among us was that the rest of the human race should be left to pursue their own path to progress. We had big plans for our future, mostly involving the same things exiles of Gaina wanted; finding new life-bearing worlds, and creating colonies of our own. That was not meant to be…”

A digital tear slid down ancient AI’s face. “Maybe if we have done something differently, or if the AI-core was used sooner… maybe things would have not ended the way they did. You see, we felt safe in our little world, so sure that nothing bad could happen to us. Mikell and the angels had escaped the Hemina star system using blind translation, and as far as they knew, those were impossible to follow… they were wrong.

“One of the few satellites we put into orbit detected a translation event on the edges of the Solar System. Immediately, all our telescopes were turned in that direction, and it was not before long they captured the first images of what caused it. Mikell recognized it instantly, the harsh lines of that distinct design were unmistakable… it was a demon ship.”

Ision closed his eyes with painful remembrance, determined to tell the story even when it was opening barely healed wounds.

“We panicked, knowing what the demons did on Gaina. The only way to find out where the colony ship went, was by checking every single star system on the original trajectory, and that was most likely the reason why it took them so long. Who would have thought that the demons would pursue those few souls that escaped so relentlessly?

“We made plans out of desperation, anything we could think of to survive the coming confrontation. Escaping the system was not an option this time, the colony ship’s bridge engines were still not something we could repair, and we had no weapons as we never needed any.”

The hologram in front of them showed a grainy image of the demon ship, taken by a telescope. Red in color, as was the demon's skin, its menacing presence dominated the pitch-black void it was traveling through.

“There was a two-week window before the ship would arrive to Earth from its translation point, and we used every second of that time to prepare. So many plans… and most of them failed. I being turned into an AI was somewhat of a gamble, in case we somehow prevailed and had a chance to rebuild, I was meant to be an adviser and guardian of the knowledge. Mikell would have been a far better choice, but even under these circumstances, he could not force himself to overcome his species aversion to such a procedure. The traumatizing racial memory of dark times in their planet's history was hard to overcome; I volunteered.

“Most of the Atlanteans and all the adult angels were evacuated to various places on the planet. Thinking at the time was that if we dispersed, they would not be able to find us so easily. At the same time, we could not risk our children in such an endeavor; the world outside our paradise was still brutal and unforgiving, and our children were the product of technological civilization, not prepared for that harsh and untamed environment.

“The angel children barely grew in those twenty years, their species needed much longer time until they reached maturity than us. Therefore, all of them and the human children of Atlantis were placed into a stasis chamber; they were the ones we needed to protect the most.”

Ision paused again, remembering the painful moment of his life.

“Our experimental ship was hidden far away from Atlantis and buried underneath the ground. The MI that was left as a custodian, was ordered to create a crystal matrix cocoon around it, so it would be very difficult to detect by the demons’ ship scanners. Its Gravity-drive was of the same design as that on the colony ship, and we knew the demons could notice those emissions. The ship had a major role to play in our plan for the children, and the second AI-core was put there for my brother, together with a modified AutoDoc that would record the gestalt of his mind. On a slight chance that it could be found by demons, we scrubbed most of the ship’s memory, so it would not give our secrets away.”

Ision looked at Michael. “That is why Max was created, a case of mistaken identity. When you fell down the ship’s entrance shaft, the MI assumed you were my brother, and since you were close to dying, it copied your mind in case you did not make it, so the mission could continue.”

Michael’s eyes were wide open, “but how could the machine intelligence confuse me with your brother? And what mission?”

“I will get to that, and remember, MIs are nothing but smart computers, very good for simple tasks—not so dependable for complex ones.”

The AI’s eyes returned to the hologram of the demon’s ship approaching the Earth.

“Mikell trusted me so much, but in the end, I failed in my mission. As soon as that ship reached Earth’s orbit, all our plans were put in motion. Mikell and his crew launched the colony ship when the demon ship’s orbit placed them on the other side of the world. As they reached Earth’s escape velocity, the stasis chamber that held all our children was detached, and sent on a ballistic course toward the fourth planet from the Sun, or the red planet Mars, as you know it. The camouflage system, hastily installed in the previous weeks, together with primitive propulsion systems, ensured that it would not be detected. The MI guiding it had orders to hide it on the red planet until we came to collect it.”

They all watched the recording of the colony ship’s liftoff from the Atlantis, its engines steadily rising it above ground, until it broke through the cloud cover and reached space. The stasis chamber went on its way with a trail of exhaust gases from the propulsion rockets attached to it. The camouflage systems were activated, and it completely disappeared from the view. The ruse worked, the aggressors were entirely oblivious to such a soft target.

“The demon ship started the kinetic bombardment of Atlantis, as soon as its orbit brought it above it. That bombardment destroyed the fragile balance of the thermal Atlantean environment, waking up a sleeping giant whose quiet slumber was responsible for the very creation of that oasis. Lava gushed from the thermal vents, and our lakes started to boil; whatever of our infrastructure was left from the kinetic weapons, ended up covered under the liquid rock and ice that melted and froze over after a while. It is as if my home never existed at all. The only consolation I had at the time was that there were not many people left in Atlantis, just a few who refused to be relocated all over the planet… at least it was a quick end for them.” Once again, the ancient AI had to stop the story, the words were too painful to express his feelings for the obliteration of his home.

For the second time, Michael had to witness the wanton destruction of an entire civilization. Elizabeth could hear the cracking of his teeth enamel, caused by a hard tightening of his jaw. Dozens of fairy meteorites fell on the green oasis, each one producing a familiar mushroom cloud of devastation. Fire, steam, and earth mixed in an infernal amalgamation, obscuring the view of the once verdant ecosystem.

Ision waved at the hologram, as in anger, and the image again showed the angel's colony ship.

“Mikell did what he planned from the start, the only way he could ensure that the rest of us, and especially the children, had any chance of surviving. He used their colony ship as a weapon and rammed the demon ship head-on. I guess they never expected something like that; their point defense was seriously lacking.”

Everybody in that room felt a sense of elation as they watched the smaller ship, under its full power, went hunting for its larger prey. The demons’ response was immediate. Automated weapons fired thousands of projectiles at the smaller ship, ripping its front to shreds. Yet, in the medium of space, mass and velocity were true rulers, and Mikell had redlined his engines. His desperate gambit worked; his sacrifice was not in vain. Millions of super-fast debris hit the demon ship, followed by the hardened engine compartment that was still in one piece. The attacking behemoth soon started showing cracks on its hull; the fires within were expelled into space as the vessel started losing its atmospheric containment. It was too fast to see which ship’s power core exploded first and it did not matter—the results were the same—obliteration.

Ision watched the video, one of his hands lifted as if he was saying the final goodbye to his angel friend. “My part in the plan was to hide on this continent, and in case Mikell’s sacrifice was unsuccessful, to wait with my group, for a time when the demons left the Solar System. Then, using the Excalibur, to travel to Mars, and the children; finally, to restart both of our civilizations anew. The Knowledge Vault was too important to lose or to be allowed to fall into demons’ hands. It was hidden on the bottom of the Mariana Trench, together with an inactive copy of my AI-core.

“Unfortunately, several demon lifeboats managed to escape their ship’s destruction, and they landed on Earth. Then… the hunts began.

“Before the demons came, we made many solar-powered monitoring drones, used for the study of Earth’s emerging cultures. Now, they recorded what was happening in the aftermath of Atlantis destruction, and transmitted the data to the Knowledge Vault. That is how I know what happened after my gestalt was copied into the AI-core.

“A few dozen demons managed to survive, and they were somehow able to detect the CEI implants in us. They used their lifeboats as means of transportation and were systematically hunting every angel and Atlantean on the planet. Only those who were still too young to receive implants were somewhat safe. Those monsters did not lack for food, and many human tribes were hunted to extinction, like animals for their feasts. They were so devastating to our entire species that the memory of their image still endures to this day, seared into humanity’s very soul.

“I even have recordings of my own death; my brother and I were close to the Excalibur when they found us. As I said, the ship was originally meant to be the way to reach our children, but now we needed it to make a desperate attempt to get our hands on technology that would allow us to fight back. We even managed to kill the hunting party that was after us, but I was mortally wounded… I have failed to reach the ship.”

The aerial videos of demons’ savagery were disturbing on a completely new level. Michael could see whole communities killed and butchered, and fleeing Atlanteans and angels hunted for sport. These were the images that could rival the greatest atrocities of the Nazi death camps, a testament of loss and hopelessness.

Ision’s image stood there, on the holo-screen, with closed eyes and silent tears, while his body shook from the repressed screams he kept inside of himself. Nobody said a word, wanting to give him time to collect himself; on a hologram before them, the images of boundless savagery were still running.

Five minutes later, the ancient AI managed to restrain his grief, and the video of the past ended.

“Ision…” Emma said, raising her hand.

The old AI shook himself and looked toward her.

“Yes, Dr. Williams?”

“But… we never found any traces of those events… I mean… the ship's debris, satellites in orbit…”

“Dr. Williams, all these events happened almost thirteen thousand years ago; the satellites, and most of the debris from the ships’ collision, fell to Earth a long time ago. Some burned out from friction produced by entering the atmosphere, but some did not, and caused destructive events for thousands of the following years.

“The result of demons’ kinetic bombardment and those largest parts of debris triggered an abrupt climatic change, that your scientists call the Younger Dryas period. The amount of dust in the atmosphere triggered a sharp decline in temperature over most of the Northern Hemisphere, and any large mammalian species that existed at that time, became extinct. The environmental impact was devastating and a mini Ice Age swept the planet, consequently changing the face of the entire world. Your Bible refers to that time as the Flood. Some residual debris that were in odd orbits fell to Earth in recent times. I extrapolated, and Max concurred that the last fragment impacted in 1908; the explosion it made upon landing is referred to as the Tunguska event.”

The shocked silence that followed was interrupted by Ben.

“And the stories about angels and demons… how did they become part of our myths?” Ben asked.

“Some of my people and a few angels survived; then they told their story to their descendants and other people. As I said, throughout the millennia, the story was changed and embellished by countless retelling, until it held little truth of what actually happened. The demons, no matter how long-lived, died out over time too, and I am afraid the remaining angels shared their fate.”

Ision then looked piercingly at Michael.

“And now I come to the most important reason for telling you all this. Leader Freeman, the Excalibur would have never accepted you if it was not for your DNA scan. Your genes identified you as one of the Atlantean descendants; in a long line originating from those who managed to survive the demon hunts. And I want to make a deal with you.”

Michael looked at the AI with suspicion in his eyes. “I may not be a geneticist, but if Atlantean DNA is in my blood, wouldn’t that mean that it is in other people too?” he asked.

Ision smiled for the first time. “Yes, you’re correct. It is safe to say that a large percentage of humans alive today have some Atlantean DNA in them. Diluted over time by crossbreeding with ordinary humans, but the genetic markers are still there. Max even postulated during our talks, that because of Atlantean genetic influence, the entire human species advancement was unnaturally rapid. Most of humanity are our descendants, and that gives me a small feeling of contentment that some of our heritage still lives on within you.”

Michael regarded Ision’s image on the holo-screen and asked, “What sort of a deal?”

“The Knowledge Vault has technical information that would advance your new civilization in unimaginable ways. Even with the help of an AI, it would still take you hundreds of years to develop them yourself. I was placed as the custodian and protector of all that knowledge. If Max had tried to pry it out by force, it would have self-destructed. I am willing to give you full access to it, and in exchange, I need you to rescue all Atlanteans and angel children that are in the stasis chamber on Mars. And then to provide a home for them in the Solarian Union.”

He already knew what his answer would be, but he looked around himself and saw confirming nods from the rest of his people.

“That goes beyond saying, the information from the Knowledge Vault would be appreciated, but even without it, we will do everything we can to help them,” Michael answered, looking at the face of the relieved AI.

“Thank you, I will never be able to express the depths of my gratitude for their salvation.” Ision quietly replied.

A few moments later, his image disappeared from the holo-screen.