Asteroid Vanvas: Part 2

From the desk of Vitasta
Notes: This is my tribute to the Star Trek Universe, which I love.
Time: irrelevant

Chapter 3:

What is the intrinsic value of happiness? How do you gauge it? Is existing without being depressed about your circumstances the same as being happy, is the absence of sadness any determination of happiness? I have not been happy in a long while. I live around the base camp in a state of disillusion. I feel disconnected with everything I do, everything I'm involved with, and there is nothing that brings me peace. And for this, I blame the agency. I remember growing up happy, just fooling around with my friends in the many cafes that littered main street in New Paris. It was the best time to be alive; there was music in the streets and so many interspecies collaborations. That was the vibe. But then the war came, and even though we were never in the front lines, we felt the horrors of it in equal measure. And ever since I lost touch with my parents, I don't even know if they survived. Where were they now? In a prison camp, or in hiding somewhere? I don't know if I would ever see my mother's face again, but I dream about her often, and of my father fixing his old mobile. Those are the only thoughts that bring me peace. But now, things had changed. After all these years, there was a glimmer of hope. That message, as circumstantial as it had been, it had brought in a new energy in the camp, and everyone hoped that someday they would return to their homes, someday, and with the blessings of the First Men no less. 

Sita had called me to the inner chamber of the camp. It was a dome structure with no windows. It was dimly lit and it smelled of incense sticks. It was where the telepath who piloted our ship hibernated. I had only caught glimpses of the telepath when the ship picked me up from Earth Station X in orbit around Mars. They say meeting a telepath for the first time can be very disorienting. Their thoughts jab through your skull like volts of electricity. And now, I can see the sleeping form of the telepath, like a small mountain on the floor, his skin like grey leather. His name was Karna, Sita said. And he was viscous. Sita wanted me to re-calibrate his nasal sensors, to gently wake him up from his 9 year slumber. I was a bit apprehensive to be truthful. The massive form that lay before me, he was ten feet tall, and one Tom told me that during the journey from Earth to Mars and then to the Hilda belt, the telepath in a rage had eaten three passengers. Worse yet, there was another telepath it seems. A bit different than the others. His skin completely pale, an albino. When they landed on the asteroid, and this is what he told me, for I was still unconscious and lying in the infirmary, an altercation had broken out between the two telepaths, and Karna, our sleeping giant had stabbed the albino to death. It was then that the other two warcrafts, the one with Rama and the other one had left this camp and settled on the other asteroid. The albino had been master of Rama's warcraft. I wonder how he felt about this.  

"Is it wise to wake him," I asked Sita, "I mean he ate three of our people. And I heard he killed the albino telepath"

"We don't have a choice", she said. "Wake him."

I began to re-calibrate the sensor which adjusted the amount of air that passed through his respiratory system. Meanwhile, Ram had come in with the veterinarian. Our vet was old now, almost senile, but he kept us all healthy and alive. After the first inter-species exchange on Earth, doctors had become almost obsolete, and vets that could treat multiple species quickly became the chiefs of medicine on different worlds. I  remember reading about them in the history text books. It must have been such a glorious time, the first discovery, the first everything! 

"It's done." I said to Sita, and the vet indicated that I stand back. He was getting a syringe ready. 

"It's adrenaline. It will speed up his heart rate."

The vet quickly administered the injection. Soon the sleeping form of the telepath began trembling and shaking, and we stood back, watching in quiet horror.

Telepathic Brainwaves. Image Source: Mind Control World CACH

We all felt the sharp pain rising from the back of our brains. Then came the waves of agony. The telepath was waking up. Strange thoughts whizzed through our minds, touching ever corner of our brains, asking questions, seeking answers. There was an alien presence probing through our skulls, going through our intimate secrets, setting a flame all our personal firewalls, accessing long forgotten memories, reliving trauma, crying, laughing, galloping, and we stood still through all this drama, as if stuck in an elevator falling rapidly to the ground. Then there was clarity, thoughts began to form. Not our thoughts. None. 

...time...what year was it...how long was I asleep...the war...did the war end..my brothers...my home...my ...arrgh....hunger..FOOD..I'm hungry...how long...how long has it been...where are they know...when did i sleep...who are you...why did you wake me....WHO ARE YOU....where....where am i...who sent the message...the message....where....wh...no no it can't be...they came...they came...the First Men....oh... 

We stood there in silence. The thoughts had stopped forming. The telepath let out a breath of air. Slowly he opened his ruby red eyes. "Show me," he said, his voice as cool as a summer breeze, "take me to the message from god."

We had forgotten that for the telepath, the enigmatic First Men where more than just legends and myths, for them, they were Gods. And the telepaths revered them. There were tales told in their culture of the great return of the First Men and the deliverance of their children from this realm to the next. And if we had been thinking that we needed to persuade the telepath on joining us in this mission, we had been foolish, for the telepath would gladly lead the way to Hygiea, and he would gladly risk his very life in the process. This idea of the First Men, of their return, of their message, it would seem that for the telepath this was the realization of a long cherished dream. 

The telepath slowly sat up and stared at us, as if assessing our kind, humans whom he regarded as the cause of the intergalactic war. 

Bring me the message.

The thought came violently crashing into our minds. 

Sita finally spoke, "Not here. You will have to come with us to the control room. That's where the radio equipment is."

The telepath regarded her for a while. Then spoke. "Are you scared of me?"

"No," She lied. "Well, maybe, a little. It is terrifying to look at you. But we need your help. And maybe in a way, you need ours as well. Are you hungry? We have extra rations for you. We can.."

"No," the telepath cut her off, "No, the message first." He began to get up, "I must hear it. Then I will dine. How long has it been? 10 years?"

"9" I said. 

The telepath nodded. He was having trouble getting up. 

"Can he walk," Ram asked the vet.

The vet nodded, and then the telepath turned to Ram and asked him, "Are you their leader?"

Ram winced a little at the question and did not answer. But I suppose the telepath could sense what he had to say. 

We watched as his massive bulk staggered up to his feet. For a minute he just stood there, adjusting his stance. I suppose finding his feet after a nine year coma. Finally he walked up to us. Firm he was, as if his dormant years didn't matter, as tough he had been walking all these years. He stood near Ram who finally addressed him. 

"I came on warcraft 3," he said, " You killed our pilot Chandra. He was my friend."

"That albino?!" the telepath said incredulously. "He was no one's friend", he gaffed. Then turning to Sita he said almost politely, "I must see this sacred transmission. Take me to the control room. And then maybe I will eat."

Control Room. Image Source: Open Source

The telepath paced the room. The radio crackling had died down. For three days straight the message had been relayed on the same frequency. Nothing had changed, no new information had come in. And we were apprehensive that the Agency had also picked up the message by now. 

"I'm not saying that it's not a risky venture," Ram was telling Jerry, "But you have to admit it's them. We need to be united on that front."

"It's them", the telepath added, "It is them. For long we have believed Hygiea was their domain. It's even mentioned in the sacred texts of Decartha. I will lead you there, we must go. They have come to deliver us." And then, just as before, we could feel the waves of his troubled misery surfacing in our own minds. "How long have we suffered. How long have we searched for meaning, and for me, me, this nobody to find myself here, to be the first of my race to hear these words. No, I must go. I will go." He said.

"But", I added, "we need to be careful. This could be some Agency trap. This could be some giant hoax. We can't just gallop there and pretend the war, none of this matters."

"No", said Ram, "but if we give up on our only lead in the past decade, if we turn our backs on what could be a sign from the FIrst Men, we might as well give up our hope of ever seeing our home again, of ever reuniting with our family. I cannot let that happen. I will go with the telepath. We will get our team up. You can chose to stay here Jata", he said addressing me, "we need goood men here at the camp."

I looked away. The thought of reuniting with me parents, it brought me sadness but also a sense of purpose. If it was decided, then I would go to. "You'll need me", I said, "I set the engines straight. How will you manage the warcraft without me", I grinned.

It was settled. We needed to get the warcraft ready. It was in hanger 4 outside the base camp, and it would take at least four of us to bring it back into action. Ram, meanwhile decided to head back to his camp to bring a couple of ex-military combat specialists with us on the journey in case it indeed was an Agency ploy, and the telepath roamed the camp with the vet getting appraised about the happenings since he fell dormant. Sita had set up a lunch for us, before we went our separate ways preparing for the trip, and I was suprised to learn that the telepath was a vegetarian. 

"But they say you ate people!" I could not hold back my curiosity. 

"Yes. I ate them, just as I will eat the hearts of every enemy solider we meet."

It was late and we all left our separate ways. The trip to warcraft was a day's journey to the north of the camp. And in atmosphere suits, it seemed to take just that much longer. One Tom, and two other boys came with me. I hadn't seen the craft in almost a year, since my last maintenance check, but now, I was scared. Would it fly? Would it soar through the skies as it did when I first came aboard it?

And we did not have too much time left. We would leave for Hygiea in three days. I needed to fix the fuel line, clean up the inner compartments, and taxi it down to the camp. "Yes", I said to myself with determination as we walked slowly towards the craft in the barren desert plains of the asteroid, "Yes. We could do this. And maybe, we could defeat the evil Agency."

~