New Hope: Book 1
39

“Who are you?” said Ellie, remembering the betrayal of the last representative of an intelligent race she had to deal with.

“You can call me Aurora,” she said.

“Like that planet?” asked Ellie.

At first, the form was taken aback and a bit astonished by the astronaut’s knowledge and went speechless, but soon she contained herself and replied with a smile, “I see you know a little about the Protagonists. I’m impressed,” she said with a broad, very sincere, and human-like smile “Though perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. After all, we are in my race’s installation on your planet, in the middle of a glacier. I doubt you’d have discovered this place accidentally, so it shouldn’t surprise me you know something about my race,” she replied. “Yes, exactly like our planet.” She nodded inquisitively at John, who had just started reaching with his good hand for the holster containing the gun. “Is that gun still necessary? I assure you, you are in no danger.”

John looked at the newcomer with disbelief. In the course of just one day, he had traveled through space, landed in a spaceship in the polar circle, fought for his life with cosmic artificial intelligence in a metallic robot body, and now...? An alien again?

“John,” said Ellie to the lieutenant, placing her hand softly on his, which was resting on the holster of his weapon. “I know our experience so far hasn’t given us any reason to trust aliens but we can’t treat everyone like a potential psychopath and a threat,” said Ellie to the lieutenant. John looked Ellie in the eyes, then reluctantly took his hand away. “I guess there’s been enough violence here today,” he said to the newcomer, not taking his eyes off her and examining her every move, gesture, and reaction.

“Whatever you think, Ellie, I’ll follow your intuition. But I’m not going to watch everything that happens here unquestioningly,” he said cautiously. “No offense, I just don’t trust strangers!”

“I don’t know what you experienced, but if this picture,” she pointed to the motionless service robot until recently occupied by Elrael, “is any indicator, then I think I can guess the reasons for your skepticism concerning representatives of alien technological races,” replied Aurora.

“Skepticism? That’s very mildly put,” said Lassiter. “This robot inhabited by a Sarassian not only wanted to harm us but also bring his entire family here.”

“That’s why the robot wasn’t behaving in compliance with its initial programming...” said Aurora to herself, then she looked back at the humans. “I think the Sarassian you’re talking about will not cause us any more problems. I destroyed his body and programmed our firewalls in a way that won’t allow him to gain access to this facility in the future,” she said. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to erase his permanently, and our firewalls couldn’t do more than remove his program from our local system. If his operating program used the resources of another installation, that’s probably where he returned after this… deletion.”

“Probably to the Moon... Or the other end of the galaxy,” said John somberly, looking at Ellie in understanding.

“So he came to Earth from the Moon...” said Aurora with a concerned tone of voice. “When we were closing down that facility, we knew that Sarassians might find it sooner or later, but we didn’t think they’d succeed so quickly. Too little time has passed,” she explained. “Although...” she paused and looked at Ellie first, and then at John, “Which one of you is responsible for opening this facility? How did you manage it?”

“It’s my fault,” said Ellie a little abashed. “Suffice to say, after several adventures with the Protagonists’ technology, it turned out that I can operate it. And when Elrael, um, the Sarassian, realized this, he sent me to this complex under false pretext. At first, he pretended to be our friend and a Protagonist left on the Moon to watch humans... I was naive to believe him so blindly!” replied Ellie.

“Fascinating!” said Aurora and took a few steps toward Ellie. In response, the lieutenant tightened his grasp on the weapon, but Ellie stopped him with a gentle hand gesture.

“Why is that fascinating? Didn’t you leave artifacts on the Moon, including hovering orbs, so they could assess the development of mankind? And who are you anyway? Are you really here, or are you only a copy of a live Protagonist, like Elrael?” asked John, still not seeing a reason to drop his guard in the presence of the newcomer.

“Well, I’m here for real. I’m a being made of flesh and blood, just like you,” said Aurora as she slowly approached Ellie and extended her hand toward her. “Touch me. I won’t vanish into thin air,” she said, smiling. “I promise”.

Ellie stepped toward the alien and touched her hand. The first thing she noticed was that her body was cold to the touch.

“I know, my skin must feel quite cold. Forgive me, but after such a long time in hibernation, my body needs time to recover. This can last a few hours or days, it’s normal for my race,” she explained, understanding why the astronaut withdrew her hand so quickly.

“You’re a real Protagonist?” Ellie still couldn’t believe she was standing in front of a representative of the creators of all mankind. “How did you get here, and why now of all times?” the astronaut blurted out.

“Exactly,” added John. “You appeared just at the right time. One more minute and that robot would have turned us into a bloody pulp. Now that’s perfect timing!” said the lieutenant.

“Well, I must admit I’d been watching your conversation from the shadows for a few minutes. In the beginning, when this facility’s computer awoke me from my slumber, I didn’t know what was going on and why. It was only after I’d consulted the AI managing this installation, I realized we had intruders, and the reactor cooling system had been switched off, creating an unprecedented threat to the entire facility and the nearby areas. I had to try getting all the necessary systems back up and running, but I couldn’t do this without understanding what was happening here,” said Aurora. “That’s why I couldn’t react right away. I had to assess whether our robot had taken you for the intruders and accidentally damaged the cooling system, or whether something else was happening. When I found out the robot’s body is being occupied by someone you called Elrael, I knew what had happened here,” she explained. “As soon as the robot attacked you, I deactivated its circuits remotely, and then instructed the AI to reactivate cooling and deactivate any commands given to the computer by people other than the Protagonists before hibernation.”

“So that’s why the robot suddenly collapsed and the alarm went off!” exclaimed Ellie joyfully, but her joy faded just as quickly when she realized the main reason for deciding to blow up the complex.

“The hyperspace transmitter!” she cried, then sprang to her feet, but Aurora stopped her before she could take a step.

“The computer canceled all the commands not given by the Protagonists... That means the hyperspace transmitter was also turned off,” she said reassuringly.

Ellie, whose heart was racing in her chest a moment ago, realized that the worst could actually be over. Elrael has been sent back to a place where he couldn’t do much more damage, and the lives of Ellie, John, and the billions of people living outside the installation on Earth were no longer in danger.

“So it’s all over?” she asked in disbelief.

As soon as she spoke, Julius Cousteau burst into the room with Sergeant Burrows accompanying him. When they saw the situation they had interrupted, Julius cast a questioning look at the Doctor.

“Ellie?”

“Relax, Julius, this is Aurora,” she replied. “A Protagonist in the flesh and blood,” she added, making quite an impression on the two soldiers.

“But how?” gasped the Captain, unable to believe what he was seeing. “What about the alarm and the countdown to the explosion?!” he asked nervously.

“Everything is alright. The countdown was stopped, and the threat,” Ellie pointed to the mechanical body of the nine-foot giant lying at her feet, “neutralized.” “All thanks to Aurora!”

The newcomers quickly approached the other two astronauts, and after a superficial examination and an attempt to stop the bleeding from the lieutenant’s arm, Ellie asked the Protagonist to continue her story. Though the alien had saved Ellie and John’s life, the fact alone in no way answered the questions that were rolling around in her mind.

“May I go on then?” asked Aurora. “Good. When my race left this place some 12,000 years ago, as it seems from my consulting with the facility’s AI, convinced the Sarassians had found us, several of us stayed here in deep hibernation, hoping to wake up when humanity was mature enough for real contact with alien races and could show a maturity we were never able to see in the Sarassians,” she said. “I was one of those people who volunteered to be frozen in wait of the future. It seems these times have come. I must add, if the computer had woken me up just a few minutes later...,” she paused. “Suffice to say, I entered the engineering section at the perfect moment to overhear a fragment of your conversation, which told me all I needed to know about the situation. If the robot were to succeed, the lives of everyone in this complex, and those within a radius of a few hundred miles, would be in immediate danger. Not to mention the radioactive fallout that would have happened, which would eventually reach other continents. The melted ice would cause quite a tsunami wave, and this was only the beginning of more serious consequences...,” added Aurora gloomily. “It was extremely close. We were all very lucky,” she added.

“Elrael’s main objective was to inform his kind on the other side of the galaxy about where to look for Protagonists,” said Ellie, looking Aurora straight in the eye. “He even started preparing for the hyperspace transmission...”

“Fortunately, my command given to the computer resolved the problem. The Sarassian’s entire message is still in the buffer, ready to be sent, but without a specific command the transmitter only managed to activate for a fraction of a second and communicate only hyperspace readiness for transmission,” added Aurora.

“In other words, only a short signal of readiness was sent, which, even if picked up by anyone, would only indicate that someone, somewhere, had activated a hyperspace transmitter. The risk that the Sarassians will receive and correctly interpret this signal after traveling through the galaxy for thousands of lightyears, and also locate the source of the signal, is infinitesimally small,” said the Protagonist. “I think we can breathe a sigh of relief,” she added.

“I don’t know,” Julius finally spoke up. “This short signal goes somewhere, after all. What if they pick it up and decide to check where it’s coming from or if your people sent it? I mean, we’re not prepared to face such a hostile race!” he said. “We barely managed to survive this. And this was just ONE of them! Without your intervention everything would have ended up as a smoking hole in the ground...” he added. “Besides, most people are unaware that man has had a permanent base on the Moon for so long, not to mention establishing contact with an alien race. Not one, but two at once - and one of them wishing only to erase us off the face of this planet!” he gasped.

“Julius, you’re right,” replied Lieutenant Lassiter, whose face was still pale. “We can’t wait around with our arms folded and hope this galactic war passes us by somehow,” he said. “We know that the Sarassians began their conquests tens of thousands of years ago and that they eliminated all the races they encountered. I think we can safely assume that, sooner or later, it’ll be our turn - unless the Sarassians come across someone stronger than themselves,” he concluded sadly.

“But we’ll be ready,” said Ellie, turning to Aurora. “Will the Protagonists help us prepare for the coming war?” she asked.

“As a rule, we should not interfere with the development of any race, but...” she trailed off. “Technically speaking, we’re pretty much past that point as we tried to actively educate people 12,000 years ago, thus influencing the development of your species. Yes,” she added, “our interference with humans was not as extensive as with the Sarassian, but it was not out of ill will or favoring our own murderers. We hoped to help you develop organically, albeit in line with what we saw for you based on our own history,” she said. “Anyway, to sum up… Yes, I guess we don’t even have much of a choice. The Sarassians will arrive sooner or later, and when they find out we’re here, they won’t rest until they track down the last of us.”

“Although Elrael represented the enemy, and he had no reason to tell us the truth about everything, I have a feeling he did not lie about this one thing,” said Ellie, turning to Aurora. “Is it true that the Protagonists went to some nearby planetary system, and no one but you knows where it is? Apparently, you have a colony where you’ve been trying to rebuild your civilization for thousands of years?” asked Ellie intrigued. If this was true, the fate of mankind would not need to be sealed. If the Protagonists did manage to restart their own civilization, build it anew and increase their numbers... Well, that kind of help would be a true gift. Humanity would not be alone in this conflict. The Protagonists’ help here on Earth would be invaluable, for sure - just a look at our technological development and advice would be priceless! Physically, of course, humans would need to fight this dreadful enemy. But if the Protagonists were still alive, in larger numbers...”

All faces in the room turned, as if on cue, to the alien. She stood still for a moment, collecting her thoughts, then took a deeper breath and assumed a more upright posture.

“When I fell into a long sleep, not knowing when or even if I would ever wake up, we actually had talked about establishing a new colony in the vicinity of Earth,” she began. “Let me add that what I am going to say is top secret and must remain so. I know there is no risk right now of this knowledge falling into the wrong hands of the Sarassians, but if it were to become public knowledge, should the Sarassians arrive on Earth, they would know immediately where to find the Protagonists. We can’t let that happen, because my race, second to humans, is the last hope of stopping this nefarious plague,” replied Aurora, then she sighed. “My brothers and sisters were going to the fourth planet in the system called Strikktr,“ Aurora thought for a moment. “I assume your system names are different from ours, but suffice to say, it’s a system just 12 light-years from Earth. In terms of space, it’s practically right next door. A stone’s throw, you could say,” she added.

“Wow. So close, yet so far,” Julius said. “I don’t want to pop any bubbles, but right now, our spacecraft travel at speeds that would take us... How many years to cover this distance? 10 thousand earth years?” Plus or minus five thousand? Before we reach this system, to even check if it is inhabited by living Protagonists, the Sarassians will have had time to reach Earth a hundred times over and completely wipe out all life,” he replied. “There has to be a way to get there faster?” he asked Aurora directly, but Ellie decided to put in her two cents.

“What about the superluminal cores?” she asked.

At this, Sergeant Burrows took off his backpack, removed one of the metal balls from the storage room, and placed it on the desk in front of Aurora.

“Is this what we’re talking about?” he asked.

Aurora raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I see you don’t miss much... Indeed, without the cores, it will be impossible to travel to the stars in a reasonable time, and we must assume that we do not have enough time to try to reach the stars at relativistic speeds.”

“What speeds?” asked Sergeant Burrows.

“Relativistic speeds are sub-warp speeds, but still high enough to make the effects of time relativization noticeable. In other words: the faster the flight takes place at sub-warp speed, the slower the time flies for travelers. For the outside observer, time flows normally, while a fast-moving spacecraft just… moves fast, though still slower than light,” explained Ellie. “To illustrate, if a spacecraft were moving at the speed of 99.99% of the speed of light, the time on board would pass nearly 70 times slower than for an outside observer. Such a passenger would be able to cover a distance of nearly 70 light-years over one year of flying time. And although only a year would have passed for them and that’s how much they would have aged, 70 years would have passed for the entire Universe,” she added. “If we were to travel at sub-warp speeds, the Sarassians could arrive on Earth before we could even make those 12 light-years to Strikktr,” she finished.

“Oh...” replied the sergeant, rubbing his temples with his hands, trying to grasp the concept of time dilation, though failing miserably.

Ellie just smiled at the reaction. Not everyone understands science. Not everyone has to, she added in her mind.

“You asked,” she said playfully, with a twinkle in her eye.

“I already regret my curiosity...” replied Sergeant Burrows, and went back to his own thoughts about the whole situation.

One matter was bothering Lieutenant Lassiter and he decided to join the conversation again, addressing the newcomer directly,

“I don’t want to be perceived as ungrateful and selfish, but…” he thought for a moment how to raise the topic without offending Aurora, “how can you help us? In general, how can the Protagonists help us?” he asked. “We know that there is certainly some short transmission from a local transmitter heading toward the Sarassian and that it may be picked up and located. So we have... Roughly 50 or 60 years before someone comes to check it? I know that this may seem a long time away, and in all probability, none of us here, except you, Aurora, will live to see the effects of this transmission with our own eyes but I don’t want the next generations grappling with what we have caused by our presence here!” he emphasized for effect. “How can one person, even a Protagonist, change what is to come?” he asked, resigned. “What hope can we have that when the Sarassians arrive, they won’t find humanity in the same place as it is today? With all due respect, Aurora, there is only one of you here, and your people may be even 12 light-years away, and they probably don’t even know you’re alive. Or that a great danger might be approaching us, and also them,” he continued. “I am a soldier and I can confidently say that I was almost born ready to fight. But most people are not like that, and without the right weapons and technology, even if we enlist them all into the army, we will simply lose. And miserably,” he finished.

Aurora was staring intently into the lieutenant’s eyes as if deciding whether to say something or better keep the secret to herself for now. After a long moment, however, she concluded that both the lieutenant and everyone gathered there deserved to know the truth.

“I’m not here alone,” Aurora began. “I was supposed to wake up first, in case of an emergency, but also to find out if it was safe. If that were my diagnosis, I could start waking up the other members of my expedition.”

“Other members?” Julius asked hopefully. “How many of you are still sleeping in this center?”

“Not many in this facility, only fifty, including me,” Aurora replied. “But all over the planet, in other complexes hidden in all corners of your world, there are tens of thousands of us. Our soldiers and the most eminent scientists, people of art and culture are among the sleepers. Basically, everything you need to launch your civilization on the way to the stars at a truly express pace.”

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