Science Fiction NarrativeHarry Rogers

“Jacob.” Your aide-de-camp is standing, lost in thought, obviously ignoring his duties. “Sir?”“What are you doing?” “Thinking, sir. Sorry si-”“What about?” You cut him off abruptly. “Nothing, sir.”“Feeling guilty again, are you? Don’t. It’s them or us; we need the resources, we take it from them.” “But...”“But nothing. Who’s more important to you, Jacob? Them or humanity? It’s necessary.”“Yes, sir. I’ll get back to work, sir.” Your words don’t seem to have done much, but at least he is back to the routine inspection of the mineral surveyors rather than his usual fruitless pondering.

Jacob turns to continue his work, heading towards the signal relays at the edge of the crevasse. Moments later, he stumbles and slips on the frozen ground, combat boots affording him little traction on the glassy plain. Despite the situation, you can’t help but think that he was careless, forgetting to wear crampons. He slides the short distance to the edge and is soon hanging from the icy precipice, dangling above the black chasm that now seems akin to a monster’s maw than a mere cleft in the ice.

You rush to save him, throwing yourself.....You turn and contemptuously stalk away....

You rush to save him, throwing yourself forward across the ice. Heedless of your safety you grasp his wrists and, using your technologically-enhanced strength, hurl him away from you. Saving him pushes you further towards the edge, but you manage to find some purchase on the polar ice and get yourself to safety too. “We’re leaving,” you bark into your com unit, “It’s not worth our lives.” You signal to the men, then turn and walk towards the transport. Jacob takes a few seconds to collect himself before following after you, visibly shaken.

The screens implanted in the table come to life, streams of information and data running across them. You take it all in, and are quick to accept it. A pointless formality, but it is your duty to accept or deny any recommendations made by the enormously powerful onboard computer as to the next planet to have its resources stripped.Seconds later it is confirmed, the other half-dozen councillors in the room also accepting the decision. It is always done this way. You turn to your now recovered aide-de-camp, Jacob, as you leave the room. There are many pointless formalities for someone of your rank...

The enormous ship is now in the huge void between solar systems, and everyone is making the final preparations for what will be over 50 years in cryogenic sleep.A measure of the civilian population will stay awake, of course, to live and die happy and mediocre, as well as small parts of the military; not that the police really are part of the military in any case. All people of import, though, would be asleep, safe in the knowledge that the enormous computer behind the day to day functioning of the metal behemoth would wake them if needed.You step into the cryogenic chamber and calmly wait for the sedative to be administered. Moments later, everything goes black.

The first sound you hear is a hissing one, long and drawn out. As air rushes into your cryo-capsule your eyes open, and you slowly begin to wake.Several hours of acclimatisation later, you are in the briefing room, which looks as if it was last used a day ago, not the fifty years it has actually been.You are in a fairly standard star system, with eight planets orbiting a G2 Star. The starship is just passing the outermost planet, a moderate sized gas giant, relying on drift rather than propulsion.It will be weeks before you reach the inner planets and the asteroid belt, where the valuable resources can be found. Especially of interest is the largest of the non-gaseous planets, which has an atmospheric makeup that suggests the presence of life. Not for long.

“Preliminary scans indicate a society that is moderately advanced technologically. Probably limited nuclear capacity, manned flight-capable vehicles, but no weapons that pose a threat to our shields, and nothing beyond a simple satellite in terms of space travel. Their communication systems are well-developed, though. We’ll need to bring them down quickly or we’ll lose the element of surprise.” “Good. See that it is done.” You smile. Easy prey. “Get a ship ready. I want to be there for the first strike. See what we’re up against.”You turn and walk away, moving with powerful strides.

“Patching it through, sir.” The transmission comes through, the screen in front of you lighting up and beginning to display the no doubt hastily-constructed presentation for the “alien” visitors. Luckily, the ship’s computer can decipher the data format and images begin to appear. “Pause it!” The images on screen stop flashing. “Dear God, is that...?” Murmurs fill the room. On the screen in front of you is a human, rendered in all its pixelated glory. “Impossible...” “It can’t be...”Another transmission comes through. This one is live, though. A man is on the screen, trying desperately to look peaceful and hoping that the ‘aliens’ won’t take offense to him breathing. Fool.Then, incredibly, he begins to speak, and the words coming from his mouth are understandable; he is somehow fluent in a legible, if somewhat stilted, version of Standard.

“We should’ve continued with our mission. Why were we recalled?” You shout angrily, despite knowing the answer full well. “With respect, sir, they’re human. We can’t just annihilate them, they’re like us!” Jacob, ever the moral fool, decides to interject.“Humanity consists of the inhabitants of this starship, not some neanderthalic bunch of cavemen who happen to look like us and speak our language! You didn’t have this problem with the countless other worlds we’ve visited, and their populations!”“They survived the war too, sir, and they somehow found Earth! There could be others! And this isn’t some random desolate rock, this is our home planet! It was lost before the war; we can’t just leave this behind! Aren’t you sick of living like locusts? We can rebuild. Make humanity great again, an empire spanning the galaxy!”

“Look how that worked out last time! We don’t need...”“Both of you, silence!” The other council members are tired of being ignored, it seems. “We need to make a decision now. Do we do what we always do, or do we stay here and settle?”Some of the other councillors look conflicted. “I believe we all need some time to ponder this matter,” you say, smiling as nearly everyone nods in assent. There’s always time to rally them to your cause, weak-minded fools that they are.You leave the room happy. You have a few hours; all the time in the world to get the other council members to see your side.

The fate of a planet and it’s all too human-looking inhabitants is once again in your hands.“Sir, please, listen.” Jacob again. “You can’t just destroy a planet, sir.”Of course you can. Can’t you?

Do you:Destroy the planet, harvest it, and continue onward?

Settle the planet, and work with its inhabitants towards a better future?

Between Paths.....Please go back a slide. You have obviously

navigated forward without choosing an option.

You turn and contemptuously stalk away. The look on Jacob’s face turns from shock to despair, and moments later he drops away, falling into the infinite darkness below. “Sir!” exclaims one of the survey team members, “Aren’t we going to do anything? We could...” “He’s not worth the effort.” Your curt reply cuts him short. “Pack it up, we’re leaving. Let’s not waste any more lives.”You turn and head for the transport, ignoring the murmurs of discontent amongst the men.

You arrive on the ship, disembarking from the shuttle with quick, hurried strides. You try to ignore the fact that a man just died, and focus on the fact that yet another incompetent fool is no longer obstructing you. It is not till later that you are told, and you hurry to the medical centre, eager to ensure that your hands really are clean of blood. And there he is, sleeping now, his condition serious but stable. A few words with the Doctor and a brief glance at his body are enough to assuage your guilt. Your irritation that the survey team disobeyed you is balanced by your happiness that there will be no investigation into Jacob’s death.

The screens implanted in the table come to life, streams of information and data running across them. You take it all in, and are quick to accept it. A pointless formality, but it is your duty to accept or deny any recommendations made by the enormously powerful onboard computer as to the next planet to have its resources stripped.Seconds later it is confirmed, the other half-dozen councillors in the room also accepting the decision. It is always done this way. You turn to your now recovered aide-de-camp, Jacob, as you leave the room. There are many pointless formalities for someone of your rank...

The enormous ship is now in the huge void between solar systems, and everyone is making the final preparations for what will be over 50 years in cryogenic sleep.A measure of the civilian population will stay awake, of course, to live and die happy and mediocre, as well as small parts of the military; not that the police really are part of the military in any case. All people of import, though, would be asleep, safe in the knowledge that the enormous computer behind the day to day functioning of the metal behemoth would wake them if needed.You step into the cryogenic chamber and calmly wait for the sedative to be administered. Moments later, everything goes black.

The first sound you hear is a hissing one, long and drawn out. As air rushes into your cryo-capsule your eyes open, and you slowly begin to wake.Several hours of acclimatisation later, you are in the briefing room, which looks as if it was last used a day ago, not the fifty years it has actually been.You are in a fairly standard star system, with eight planets orbiting a G2 Star. The starship is just passing the outermost planet, a moderate sized gas giant, relying on drift rather than propulsion.It will be weeks before you reach the inner planets and the asteroid belt, where the valuable resources can be found. Especially of interest is the largest of the non-gaseous planets, which has an atmospheric makeup that suggests the presence of life. Not for long.

“Preliminary scans indicate a society that is moderately advanced technologically. Probably limited nuclear capacity, manned flight-capable vehicles, but no weapons that pose a threat to our shields, and nothing beyond a simple satellite in terms of space travel. Their communication systems are well-developed, though. We’ll need to bring them down quickly or we’ll lose the element of surprise.” “Good. See that it is done.” You smile. Easy prey. “Get a ship ready. I want to be there for the first strike. See what we’re up against.”You turn and walk away, moving with powerful strides.

“Patching it through, sir.” The transmission comes through, the screen in front of you lighting up and beginning to display the no doubt hastily-constructed presentation for the “alien” visitors. Luckily, the ship’s computer can decipher the data format and images begin to appear. “Pause it!” The images on screen stop flashing. “Dear God, is that...?” Murmurs fill the room. On the screen in front of you is a human, rendered in all its pixelated glory. “Impossible...” “It can’t be...”Another transmission comes through. This one is live, though. A man is on the screen, trying desperately to look peaceful and hoping that the ‘aliens’ won’t take offense to him breathing. Fool.Then, incredibly, he begins to speak, and the words coming from his mouth are understandable; he is somehow fluent in a legible, if somewhat stilted, version of Standard.

“We should’ve continued with our mission. Why were we recalled?” You shout angrily, despite knowing the answer full well. “With respect, sir, they’re human. We can’t just annihilate them, they’re like us!” Jacob, ever the moral fool, decides to interject.“Humanity consists of the inhabitants of this starship, not some neanderthalic bunch of cavemen who happen to look like us and speak our language! You didn’t have this problem with the countless other worlds we’ve visited, and their populations!”“They survived the war too, sir, and they somehow found Earth! There could be others! And this isn’t some random desolate rock, this is our home planet! It was lost before the war; we can’t just leave this behind! Aren’t you sick of living like locusts? We can rebuild. Make humanity great again, an empire spanning the galaxy!”

“Look how that worked out last time! We don’t need...”“Both of you, silence!” The other council members are tired of being ignored, it seems. “We need to make a decision now. Do we do what we always do, or do we stay here and settle?”Some of the other councillors look conflicted. “I believe we all need some time to ponder this matter,” you say, smiling as nearly everyone nods in assent. There’s always time to rally them to your cause, weak-minded fools that they are.You leave the room happy. You have a few hours; all the time in the world to get the other council members to see your side.

The fate of a planet and it’s all too human-looking inhabitants is once again in your hands.“Sir, please, listen.” Jacob again. “You can’t just destroy a planet, sir.”Of course you can. Can’t you?

Do you:Destroy the planet, harvest it, and continue onward?

Settle the planet, and work with its inhabitants towards a better future?

“They’re no different from any other aliens, Jacob. They look like us, that’s all.”He doesn’t reply as you turn and make to leave the room.Suddenly, you hear a metallic, clicking, noise, like a gun being taken off safety. A single shot. The last thing you see is the cold, harsh, floor of the lifeless starship that you have made your home.“I’m sorry, sir.”

Fin.

“Fine. Alright. You win.” You can’t help deriding him even after you’ve agreed. “We’ll go give them a hug and apologise for being mean before we all hop into bed together.”Jacob can’t help smiling as you leave the room. It’s amazing how much better you feel after this simple act of charity.And maybe, hundreds of years from now, they’ll recall the great, compassionate, Admiral who stopped and helped the people of Earth, uniting them under the banner of humankind. A foolish thought, but all the same it is somehow an appealing one.

Fin.

“They’re no different from any other aliens, Jacob. They look like us, that’s all.”He doesn’t reply as you turn to leave the room.“Jacob?” You swing round. He stands in the centre of the room, looking out through the viewport at the planet nearby. “All right, sir. Your call. But the only reason I’m doing this is because you saved my life, you know.” His voice is harsh and pained. You wince from the tone, wishing that he would just see reason, but some burdens must be borne alone. You tell yourself it is necessary, but somehow even you aren’t convinced.

Fin.