Humans Don't Hibernate [Part 27/?] (Patreon)

We spent a good chunk of the day deliberating over every last detail we were able to scrape from the satellite’s databanks. Indeed, much of the time was spent ensuring that we were able to grab every last scrap of data from that relic of the past. Every square nanometer of each and every storage module, and every last line of code had been meticulously cross referenced, verified, and organized with an excruciating emphasis on ensuring that we left nothing behind. Indeed, whilst this would’ve taken Vir barely a half hour to do, the AI insisted on ensuring that he did this right, which meant a total of 10 hours was spent performing the same checks over and over again, just to ensure that all precautions were taken in facilitating what would be the start to an entirely new chapter in our new mission.

I took this time to familiarize myself with some of the literature concerning the Vuark, or rather, its true nature beyond what the contemporary atlas’ at the time spoke of it. Whilst it had at first disgusted me to no end, so much so that I had involuntarily been scratching the back of my head where it should have been when I’d first heard of it immediately after my time in the medical bay, now I just felt like I’d become numb to it. The realization had indeed hit me like a freight train at first, but as the days went on… that realization evolved into a strange calming acceptance, and eventually, catharsis. A strange sense of relief washed over me with each and every reminder of just how far Elijah’s team had gone in order to remove what was in effect a latent mind control device from my head. Every rub against the back of my head felt like a bizarre reassurance that I was, in fact, free. It was perhaps akin to the feeling recently freed slaves might feel upon the removal of a collar that had been intended for permanent wear. Except I’d only just learned of my own collar the same day it was revealed to me that it had been removed.

The more I read through of the studies and literature the humans had on this subject, the more I became acutely aware that the fabric of my society had been all but an elaborate farce. A farce constructed by the Interlopers for their own ends. Hibernation, the very cornerstone by which all life had functioned, was a fabricated reality we’d accepted as fact for hundreds of thousands of years. This brought me to the sickening realization that we had inadvertently been doing the Interlopers’ dirty work throughout the entirety of our existence. As was the case with Earth prior to the evolution of the humans, we’d intended to sentence it for systematic desaturation, in accordance with our politics on ecological malignancy. We saw what should have been normal as abnormal. We saw the healthy as diseased. we‘d seen those that were actually free, as shackled to an abnormal form of biological function.

My entire worldview prior to Elijah’s intervention was false on every conceivable level.

How many worlds had we doomed to systematic desaturation as a result of our policies unfounded in scientific truths? How many species were sent to an early grave before their civilizations had the chance to even develop fire? How many fates had we cut short because of our service to the Interlopers?

How much of me was actually me if prior to Elijah’s intervention, I was in effect both living a socially constructed lie, and controlled to some extent by the Interlopers?

All of these questions circled through my head as I made my way up the bridge again, having completed a thorough reading of several papers on the topic, and having gone through both lunch and dinner in the span of those 10 hours.

Strangely enough, I felt my existential worries melting away as I faced the AI’s platform. It was as if this sense of purpose and direction had more or less ensured that any intrusive thoughts of dread stemming from the past was all but moot. As the future lay in both of our hands, and what happened next ultimately placed us at the helm of a future I was determined to make right.

“Bring me up to speed, Vir. Have you gotten everything you needed to check off done and sorted?” I asked with a chipperness to my voice. Whilst the circumstances we were in, was dire, there was a certain optimism that flowed through me despite it all. Having just come off the tails of two successful engagements with the Interlopers, and of course the confirmation of humanity’s existence, there was an overall sense of positivity that I just couldn’t let go of. This was probably catalyzed further by the message left behind by the Director, as I felt as if I was now part of a grander tapestry that had yet to be finished. A tapestry stretching back thousands upon thousands of years, tying me back not to some interloper game but a human commitment to freeing a universe from tyranny.

It was both a heavy weight placed on my shoulders, and the source of a fiery passion to make sure I do right by generations of sacrifice.

“Affirmative, Lysara. Everything’s checked and accounted for. All that’s needed now is a plan of attack, a heading, and a direction.” Vir responded promptly.

“That sounds like a plan.” I began, settling myself down at one of the seats around the tactical table. “First off, we need to throw everything we’ve learned from the Director relating to the tactics and strategies intended  for our one-man war against the Interlopers out of the window.” I stated boldly, causing Vir to raise a virtual brow in surprise. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Vanaran society, and this revelation regarding the Interlopers, is that only a dead and stagnant society views all messages from the past as sacrosanct. I’m not discounting or completely disregarding the Director’s plans against the Interlopers, Vir. What I’m saying is that we regard it with the massive caveat of the fact that it was meant for a completely different context and situational landscape. The fact of the matter is, the plan was clearly meant for a scenario where humanity no longer exists in any meaningful capacity. However, as we’ve seen from the humans we’ve just met, that simply isn’t the case. To simply follow the Director’s plans blindly and without question, is to make the same mistakes my kind and the rest of the known galaxy have done for centuries. If we are to honor the sacrifices of the humans that have come before us, we must adapt and improvise, and tailor the data we’ve accumulated to fight the war we find ourselves in. What’s more, I personally don’t believe that we’re equipped enough to deal with this at all.” I ended off my preamble, which only prompted Vir’s confused expression to grow increasingly concerned.

“So what do you suggest then, Lysara?” He snapped back.

“We have everything the humans don’t. The data, the cure as I’ll call it, the data that they need to finish this fight. We however, lack everything the humans do have: the manpower, the personnel, the expertise, and most importantly the intel. Suffice it to say Vir, we’re still very much blind. We might have learned a bit more from Captain Veers, but we have nothing concrete to work off of. So if we decide to do this alone, we’d be… as the old Vanaran saying goes, surveying a new map that has been surveyed twice before. To actually win this war, and to win it in a reasonable timeframe, we need to pool our resources with the humans. We need to take this data to the UN, and work with them to propagate this cure en masse.” I ended my piece simply, all the while gauging Vir’s response from his faceplate.

His reaction was as I’d expected, nothing short of confident and agreeable.

“Am I to assume we’re to chart a course to the humans?” Vir asked with a certain excitement in his vocoded voice.

“Yes. That’s the only logical course of action. Track down the humans, or at least, the UN, as quickly as we can. The quicker we can get this data to them, the quicker we can forge a strategy to beat back the Interlopers once and for all… and of course, free the entire universe from their clutches in the process.” I spoke confidently, yet that same confidence would be tempered not a moment later by a sudden realization that hit me around the same time Vir made that same thought known.

“That’s a sound plan, Lysara. Unfortunately we have neither the intel or the stellar charts to properly determine where our next destination or course would be.” Vir began, which sent a shiver of apprehension up my spine. That was, until he sported that signature grin that completely shifted the entire dynamics of the conversation. “That is, of course, if it wasn’t for our dear Captain Veers slipping something into the few files he sent over.” Vir brought up the holographic table, and highlighted a map of the local galactic arm. “You see, whilst the overview of the galactic maps he gave us was intentionally vague, highlighting only the general political maps detailing the extent of UA and UN territory, there was something else hidden underneath all of that glitz and fluff.” Vir began running several programs concurrently, causing the hologram to shake and shudder in place. A number of static distortions appeared, then slowly cleared up to reveal a series of destinations within the local galactic arm, vague, but there.

“It seems like the Captain was trying to send us a message underneath the useless generalized data he sent over. This seems to be a patrol route, or at the very least, an intended scouting and recon route by the looks of it. It seems like he sent it to us so that we could catch up with him in case something went wrong, or maybe he was intending on explicitly telling us before whatever the hell that was came in and scooped him off.” Vir explained further, gesticulating wildly at the end of that explanation.

“Right, so we should hit up each of these destinations? In hopes of maybe encountering the Endless Transgression?”

“That’s our best course of action I think.” Vir responded simply, to which I could only nod in approval at.

Yet something remained amiss throughout all of this. A single question dawned on me that made me wary of executing what should have been a straightforward plan. “Whilst I have no personal gripes about going forward with this, indeed, I think this is our only means of moving forward… I can’t help but wonder. Why exactly was the Captain intent on hiding this data, rather than outright telling us or informing us beforehand?”

This question lingered in the air for a good few seconds, as the both of us stared at one another in mild concern.

“If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say maybe this was just a means of ensuring that we had a means of keeping in contact with him in the event of something unexpected happening.” Vir offered.

“If that was the case, why didn’t he just label the file outright? Why didn’t he just send it, instead of going through this roundabout means of encryption?” I retorted. “Interception? Couldn’t be, there was no one else there. There’s only one possible answer to this and I’m not sure if I want to continue overthinking this.”

“What is it?” The AI’s platform cocked his head ever so slightly.

“I think that maybe, just maybe, he doesn’t want people within the UN itself, or his crew, to realize he was sending us these coordinates. I think that potentially, he doesn’t know how they’d react if they realized the extent of their discovery.” I paused for a moment as I pondered the thoughts I’d more or less spoken out loud. “Again, I don’t think it matters. Let's just focus on the task at hand and get ourselves to that first destination.”

“A bigger question would be if they survived whatever… that encounter was.” Vir offered, to which I could only wince in response.

“I’m sure they survived. If there’s anything about humans, I know their tenacity can get them through anything.” I responded without a hint of hesitation in my voice. There was no doubt we'd be able to meet Veers and his crew again. I was sure of it.