God of War

God of War

by Morgs

I took my coffee and biscotti from the teen age assistant at the deli paying the 50 Euro; I remember when a coffee was 40 Euros. She called me a fascist. I said at least I’m somebody pointing at her pink I’m an Anarchist Hello Kitty T shirt.

I made my way across the floor and watch the sun rise. The atmosphere processors spewed a healthy blend of water vapour and O2 down the steep slope of the crater wall as the sunlight shone through it rainbows appeared and vanished framed with a red and orange halo just below the blackness of space like the God of War himself wishing me good morning.

I said hi to Silvia as I made my way to the elevator, she looked tired and handed me my days work. I work for the United Nations Armed Forces; it’s a good job for a triple Masters Degree death strategist like me. I work long hours, I get good vacation and can retire on a pension that most of the citizens of Mars would wish was their yearly salary.

When I sat down at my desk I frowned looking at the report that had arrived on the overnight print run. It was thick, dense, heavy, bound in plastic. The front page told me it had been carefully constructed with a summary to be handed out to the grunts and an appendix that would make the scientists salivate. It was perfect; United Nations Explorer Service had done their homework. The calibre of the writing was excellent, centuries of practiced Earth bureaucracy had honed the creation of documents of evidence down to a fine blade and all it needed was the stamp of my approval. The machine of Mars would go to war and one million highly trained genetically altered killing machines would board their ships and cross the galaxy to give it to any enemy we told them to. They would ask questions, and they would be answered by the document.

The scientific detail about the Osteo-Chords in the analysis showed clearly how to kill them, how to maim them and how to just slow them down. I imagined the soldiers fighting on the frontlines using weapons of mass death to blow the enemy to pieces. As I thumbed through the scientific analysis I paused. Nervous tissue surrounded with bone, decentralised motor control, brain split up into seven apple sized bundles. They were tough, build for combat; maybe Mars had finally met his match. Maybe Mars was paying a visit to Hades.

As I got to the strategic section, I was having doubts; not doubts that we wouldn’t win doubts about the accounting. The report didn’t speculate how our own people would react as much as I had liked. That made me worried it had happened before; Vietnam, Canada, Titan and Europa. Wars we had gone to and got the leash put on and then lost. Well, they won’t be able to call us back anyway, and after 20 years of mission the troops that are left will probably need to be segregated anyway.

Entry point photos showed herculean buildings on Venus millennia old, surrounded by ice. I frowned more, advanced technology. Nothing a good amount of nuclear ordinance won’t fix I figured. I could imagine all the religious delegates at the UN talking about demons and judgement day and end of all things etcetera. I wouldn’t buy into that, I’m an atheist; science is real there is no room for devils and angels in my world, although I do admit they look kind of like devils. According to the brain boxes, they use those massive wings to fly through the other dimension we call hyperspace. That’s a problem, how do they pop out see page 1400 appendix Xx. Gradual amplification of electromagnetic and gravitic fields generated by a series of ceremonies they perform brings one of them from hyperspace into real space using their brains as amplifiers, during this time they are disorientated. That’s good news maybe we can sucker them all in I wonder. I pull the top of the red ink, get my solid gold stamp of my department seal and slam it down hard. I get the pen my niece gave me for Christmas and sign my name Markus Hawthorn Fleet Admiral of Mars. That was a pretty good day, the next few weeks with the UN would be a suck fest like nothing else.

I stand up from my chair at the United Nations Assembly Hall on Mars. I like my job, its cold it’s hard it’s factual although at the moment I’m a whore. In my best persuasive voice, I begin to clearly state the facts and my conclusions. I look out at the delegates and I’m immediately disgusted by the fear on their faces.

This report has been approved by the Mars branch of the United Nations Armed Forces. There is a clear and present danger presented by these hostile Aliens at any time. You have read the report and seen the footage; you know what must be done. I sit down, I look calm and collected ready to kick Aliens the out of the sky.

A Sufi by the looks of it stands his frail frame holding up his pointed hat, the man seems to grow as he speaks commanding respect. Obviously a practiced orator probably schooled for a long time in rhetoric. He speaks loudly into the microphone no malice or venom in his voice but the stern resolve I wish my superiors had. The Quran and the Bible has many writings detailing Djjin or Demons. This act will be catastrophic, plunging us into a war against the fallen, if you invite evil in it will come. The Collective will stand apart from the United Nations, Ala have mercy on you if you start this war.

I hear one of the delegates from Mars whisper something like shit maybe it’s a bad idea is it too late to pull out. I just keep thinking back to the report how I had to read that massive tome of knowledge and weigh up the probabilities in my own mind of wining loosing, causing a stalemate. These guys aren’t going to let me go. I’m thinking of my retirement plan to buy a place on earth on the northern tip of Australia. Not much I can do now, it’s coming down to a vote shit.

The delegate from the Anarchist colony on Europer stands up some queer looking guy in a turtleneck. I instantly don’t like him, he’s not the fake Anachist in the deli he’s the real deal born and bred die hard. Although we can’t speak in an official capacity as we have not received sovereign state status from the UN I speak for some of the Anachist movement and state we do not approve of any hostile action toward any alien regardless of how dangerous they appear. This report has no proof that they will attack earth, merely that they have the capacity to do so from their base on Venus.

Shit I say under my breath, for a weirdo from a busted up colony on a shitty moon of Jupiter he has a point. I knew the accounting section was fubr, sassy bastard must have read the whole thing.

Like biscotti dissolving in my coffee, the delegates start to separate and crumble. I see their resolve slipping from sullen faces. With all the pages of evidence and countless plans and re-plans they are going to vote No, I’m sure now. The God of War will have to go home and wait for the call. Instead of marching out and confronting the enemy, Mars will sit silent waiting, soldiers prepared and ready. I change my retirement plans and buy a large apartment in Tharsis Crater just opposite the Mars Military Academy.

Darken World, abound the storm

His long, dog like alien jaws opened, and he began to address the assembled members of the united nations, and the members of the committee, his body was a shiny obsidian and his eyes sparkled like gems. His long white and yellow robes seemed to be made from some cotton like substance. He wore simple jewelery which we had been informed earlier by MI5 was in-fact a graviton field generator capable of either projecting or deflecting forces, including bending light. He was for all intents and purpose invulnerable to us, and due to recent events where one of his species was tortured to death for information. I could understand his concern. Never the less the ambassador to Sirius had alerted the UN that their ambassador would be attending the conference and presenting information regarding a threat to all human kind.

The alien then spoke softly into the microphone, in English his presentation, began accompanied by very simple graphics as if he expected us to unintelligent thugs.

My name is Raheil, but that is unimportant to your species and your survival. Even though you have attacked us, and been soundly defeated my leader has decided that I should inform you of dangers close to your systems.

In ancient times, during the second war we discovered something new in the galaxy, a rare thing indeed for our knowledgeable and traveled race. I was a young warrior at time piloting a scouting ship looking for the light bringers near the arm of Sagittarius. Our leader, Osiris had given us strict instruction to find the colony world, confine the wormhole and slay all inhabitants of the breeding world, a simple task for warriors such as ourselves.

We found them there, already among the dark matter world a place where we could only detect their presence for at the time we had not learned how to transcend this universe of light matter to the universe of dark matter which exists in this same space and time. Somewhere within the cluster the world existed bending light from a nova behind them making their presence know.

The captain commanded us to investigate the presence of strange radiation, emanating from the worlds, he was detecting your species know this radiation as Bekenstein-Hawking radiation, the evaporation radiation from a black hole. Impossible we thought, why would this be emanating from the area?

Our navigator observed that there were three gravity signatures equality distant masking the source of the radiation, curiously they were orbiting quite quickly around the black hole. However, the worlds weren’t feeding the hole merely orbiting it.

The ship sailed into the subspace in the general region of the cluster to try to see if we could detect anything there. Our computers registered the presence of a great mass below our ship, about the equivalent of one of your suns. We observed nothing however other than a gravity signature. We then detected fluctuations in space time, in pockets in subspace and in our slip engines.

It was conceivable that there were dark matter ships nearby investigating our signature unable to interact but able to detect the graviton disturbance of our engines.

We recorded data for a few minutes, then re-entered real space and proceeded with our mission.

The breeders were primitive the way the watches liked it superstitious, terrified and wholly dominated by their priests, they had only a few watchers who posed a minor threat to our five warriors. We dispatched the watchers and the moved onto the breeders, none of them had developed any ability however we did discover some strange mutations, and they presented information, which had never before been seen in the genome. We deduced that, the mutations may indeed alter their species away from their original form and on the world we found the same mutations in all the plants and animals. Deep in the oceans, we found semi sentient colony creatures, which seemed to storing the Bekenstein-Hawking radiation within crystals that they grew in their cells. We had no theories at the time, so we proceeded with the cleansing slaying all the breeders quickly first using our neural stunners then severing the spinal chord, in the article prescribed manner.

We returned to our world, and handed the data to our scientists, who came after a few short months to an interesting hypothesis. This world, was indeed intended to be a breeder world, however the mutations had forced the watchers to abandon this world because the genetic differences interfered with the retro virus used to change the breeders into warriors. The light bringers had abandoned the world, because of this problem, but they had remained to study it. Had they been more through in their investigations, they may have studied the native life and seen the pattern repeated in every species on the world. The simple plants and animals that had evolved there had changed, some growing crystals to collect Hawking radiation, why? What purpose did this radiation serve? Our scientists deduced then from our subspace recordings that the radiation emanating from the black hole, pulsed and formed a wave a constant stream of information slowly and methodically adjusting the genetic sequence over centuries of live, slowly adjusting every living thing on the cluster light worlds to a new form, a new life.

This proved that there was a highly likely hood that the black hole and its three dark matter worlds orbiting were placed with deliberate intent. The inhabitants could not travel to our universe the universe of light matter but could arrive by slowly adjusting the DNA of creatures living in the light universe. The invasion had begun millennia ago this represented a potential threat, which we had not foreseen, nor had our allies.

I have told you this information human, because my time has come and the time of my people. We must go, to continue our fight against the light bringers, and follow those who have gone before to ensure a future for this all. All I can offer is my advice and this information formatted to your primitive computer systems so you may be vigilant and watch the clusters, we have marked all the dark matter clusters and you should have enough resources to deal with only a few hundred worlds.

And now, onto your very foolish invasion of Sirius two you attacked us and we have defeated you, in compensation I ask that you arm yourselves. We will make our caterpillar engine technology available to you, but in return you must create several dreadnought class ships and attack this world you can call it Ishtar, and you will find it on the other side of the galaxy…

Martian Sunrise

This is a section of text which I'm writing as background for Space Game. If you have suggestions or comments please leave them. I want to improve my writing skills.

Sunlight shone on the steel platform. Henry made his move. In a cascade of crimson dust he leaped to the impact zone. This time the experiment would be a success, the doors would open, and knowledge of untold histories and times would be unleashed into his mind.

Henry had prepared for this day; he had feed and purified his body and mind.
I wonder how different I will be? Will anyone recognize me after I return?

The virus was in him, nourishing his DNA with new information, rearranging his cellular structure and calling forth programming from long ago. Henry thought back to the time spent in the laboratory, the endless tests the endless injections taken from just one pure sample of the virus found in a speck of ice 400 million years old. How could human DNA have existed, back in the forgotten times? Was this the memories of a once proud and great race cast down by their oppressive enemies?

It took time for the virus to take hold; its work was much slower than standard RNA recombination and vectored based assertion. It worked more slowly deliberately every cell had to be perfect, prepared and ready to accept new instructions in the form of forgotten proteins and amino acids.

The Barkley scientists had assured Henry that he would retain himself he would remain in control during the experiment. He would become so much more than he is. No human hands had ever undone the knot of human DNA, stored and forgotten, labelled as junk in the early days of genetic research those memories now began to flood back into his mind.

A forlorn swampy land, foxfire in the sky, a lunar eclipse and a sunrise on a green and pleasant land. Yes long ago, we did indeed tread these ancient shores and built spires of glass to the heavens.

We found our new home in this moist and pleasant country. The stark beauty of the red sand, reminded us of our communion. We brought our slaves here, and we lay them to rest in stone beneath the earth.

What had happened, if only Henry could remember more about the past? His mind searched for reasons. Why did this place mean so much?

Falling, into darkness his mind swam with equations and formula he accessed places of the past, a swamp, a black wolf that padded through the turpentine. It howled at the moons and ate the crass and disgusting creatures of the swamp. The acrid stench and the stifling heat disturbed the beast not as it stalked its prey.

He saw the spires again, glass and shining in the sunlight, the faces pallid their lips damp with the feast they had had a day of celebration a victory against mighty Osiris. They would rule the universe; their light would be the light to behold. As the sunlight broke over Lucifer, a chill wind began to blow and a raw and bitter taste was there for all to behold. Others had come, unknown to them, immune to the powers of persuasion and trickery of space-time. They rearranged the universe around them, bringing an order locking of the doors and gates and keeping keys secret. Made of metal, they appeared striking first at the slaves with the one weapon that would hurt the masters the most, change.

The end came in a feeding frenzy, brother devoured brother, and father devoured son only the strongest would remain, and then they all were gone. The ancient empire of glass and light, had fallen to darkness and their god Lucifer had proved imperfect after all. They all became dust, and now they travel, in storms across a dry and desolate landscape.

More Flavour for the Sci-fi universe

This post is basically some really nice pod casts. I love pod casts because its easy to code while listening them them you can't really read a book while coding.

This is a story about the formation of the universe.
http://escapepod.org/2007/05/17/ep106-the-house-beyond-your-sky/

This is a really nice Sci-fi story, about an alien race which was passed by others.
http://escapepod.org/2007/04/12/ep101-the-43-antarean-dynasties/

This one describes the relationship that a boy has with alien assassin.
http://escapepod.org/2007/05/31/ep108-kin/

Classic Sci-Fi brutal in its accuracy in many ways.
http://escapepod.org/2007/05/24/ep107-eight-episodes/