Three Thousand, A.D. - The Chronicles of the Pleiades [Dec 2013]

Three Thousand, A.D. - The Chronicles of the Pleiades









3021 - Ignition

Jay looked up at the blue sky, in whose zenith was burning a blue sun, like a sapphire in an ocean. There were other suns in the sky above Jay, but Asterope was by far the brightest. As Jay watched the Asteropeshine burn the desert with its cool light, he wondered how he was supposed to feel. How is one supposed to feel... after the end of a World?

He could still remember when this desert was a lavender field. But that was before the invasion by the god-like Astar Galactic Empire, which covers most of the Galaxy except the Core and the Edge (the Edge being Federation territories). Already decades ago, Jay saw the whole pleiadian cluster fall into Astar's dictatorship, as Astar snatched the cluster away from the peaceful Federation's maps. Astar requested bloodbaths from the Asteropian people, and ushered a setback to Bronze Age on all continents by dubbing technology "evil" (except when it was beneficial to the Astar) and morality "un-natural". These operations generated a chaos so great that Asterope d lost all of its pre-Astrian culture, and values.

Of course most people weren't exactly okay with that forced assimilation, so they tried to revolt against Astar. It turned out to be a big mistake. The Astar ended up sterilizing the surface of the planet by shooting asteroid-sized uranium projectiles at it.

Billions of innocent humans were killed - a death toll which the surviving humans were taught to accept as "natural for evolution to occur". The uranium projectiles fractured the tectonic plates, generating mindbending earthquakes, world-large tsunamis and supervolcanoes. The Asteropian population almost got wiped out. After this apocalypse the Astar moved in, and built upon the ruins of Asterope d. Members of the Astar Council had long ago transferred their minds into robotic bodies, which made them "suprahumans". As of 3021, many of the Astar Council were build to survive anything, from kinetic impacts to energy weapons, and could survive for eternity free floating in space - provided that they had a source of energy such as a star.

But Jay Theiodore Vegah-Kaayn was neither an Astrian "suprahuman", nor a common human. He was... a tourist, one might say. You know, the kind of tourist that jumps from star-systems to star-systems and check things out.

There was a few differences, though, between Jay and a "normal" tourist. "Normal" tourists aren't supposed to be 457,995 years old, for one. Also, most "normal" tourists don't look like a handsome 7 feet tall man with a perfect hollywoodian smile, and cool 4-dimensional glasses which allows to see the dimension of time. And, just as a last comparison point, "normal" tourists don't have the most uncommon ability to bend the laws of physics. No, he's not Jesus, nor Buddha, nor Isa. Well, I don't think he is. I'm not sure. I've been wrong before. After all Jay did visited the Earth a long time ago.

Anyway. So, this Jay was now currently looking up at the sky.
"I bring hope", he thought. This was, by the way, his motto. Hope is a far more powerful of a weapon than any material weapons of destruction, for Hope is a weapon of creation. Hope is the kind of weapon which can literally change the power balance of the Galaxy. And Jay was carrying such a weapon, not in his hands but in his past and future actions.

And now that the Astar figured out that he wasn't obeying some of the laws set forth by the Astar, he had to pass to justice in the city of Tuthankhanubis. Everything was going as he wanted it to go. He kept on walking unto the desert, smiling. This was going to be fun.


"You. Identity. ", asked the judge.
In other words, the judge wanted to know if non-Astrians were circulating, and if so, assess the threat they may pose to the planet's mafia-like Astrian system.
"Jay Theiodore Vegah-Kayyn. "
The left carbon-NT eyebrow of the Astrian rose up.
"Your name is not old egyptian. You're from the Fed? "
"Em, no actually", corrected Jay with an agreable smile. "I'm from outside this universe. "
"That's impossible. There's no way one can cross between universes. "
"How come? It worked for me just fine. "
"Textbooks said it's impossible. "
"You mean that Maat said it's impossible. "
"Maat is the greatest scientific authority in the Galaxy. He's never wrong. "
"That's because he's also head of Astrian Journalism and information distribution. Meaning that most of the time, when he's wrong, you guys never hear about it. "
The judge didn't answer. Jay seized the opportunity to admire the courtroom. Its 4 walls formed a pyramid. The style was predominantly Ancient egyptian. On all four walls were dispalyed sculptures of lions butchering gazelles.
"Jay Theiodore Vegah-Kayyn. Your felonies are: breaking Law 1.1 of the Astar Galactic Empire's code of conduct... "
"I know, your honour. I was the one who broke it, remember? "
"...Astrian Law 1.1 states that, 'No individuals under the authority of the AGE may favorably alter the fate of another individual, as favorably altering such a fate would disrespect the Law of Eugenic Selection, such as helping a meek to survive an attack will result in this meek's higher probability to reproduce and pollute the genetic makeup of the organic people of the AGE'. You broke this law by tempering with the fate of an Astrian children named Meryaten. Do you plead guilty? "
"Yes. I'm guilty of saving the starving child, a child which the AGE wouldn't feed. Sorry", shrugged Jay.
"You'll now receive sentence. Death by exposure to antimatter. "
Jay was lifted by the guards, and put unto a weighting scale. The scale would allow to know how much antimatter mass would be needed to Annihilate Jay.
"600 kilocarats", announced the judge.
Jay was confined inside a glass room. With precision, the executioner aimed a positron cannon directly at Jay.

There was a great flash of light.


"Ooh, that one felt hot, " admitted the still-intact Jay in the glass room.
"Uh?! Er, Sir?" panicked the executioner. "The positrons got deflected and didn't hit the target. It annihilated with the glass instead. "
Jay walked out of the glass room, brushing the fine ashes off his coat.
"The prisoner is escaping! " reported the executioner.
"Guards! Get him!! " ordered the judge.
Jay was already at the entrance door. The robotic guards made a run for him. They jumped so to intercept Jay and hopefully knock him unto the floor. But Jay snapped his fingers and mumbled,
"Oops, I forgot my car keys. "
He changed direction at the last moment and went back to the courtroom. The guards collided in mid-air with each other. Jay grabbed the keys on a table, went back to the entrance, stepped over the many guards on the floor, and got out.
He located the judge's flying car. A thing of beauty. Jay got in the car, inserted the key, and parked the car just in front of the entrance. Then he got out and walked away.
"Sir", said a guard. "He blocked the entrance with a car, we can't chase him! I'll use the antimatter cannon to blow the car out. "
"No! That's my car! " panicked the judge. "Don't blow it! It cost 3 thousands! "


Light years away, the Sun was watching the escape with its galaxy-wide surveillance camera system all linked through entangled signal feeds. More accurately, Ryan Dekker-Wiestmannen was watching the escape. His cold, steel grey eyes narrowed.
"Wow. That guy is good. "

-


On the Sun, whose light was dimmed by the ugly artificial surface which the Astar has built upon the photosphere, Ryan was reporting all the galactic turmoils to Maat.
"... and the support for Pacifism has risen to 1.78 percent in the AGE, despite all your efforts to convince the people that true evolution only spring from contact with violence... "
Maat was sitting back in his chair, boiling inside.
"... and finally, one of our new addition to the AGE, the Pleiades cluster, presented a rather strange anomaly. "
"What do you mean, 'anomaly'? Be CLEAR! " ordered Maat, stabbing the round table with his pen.
"Y-Yes, sir. By that I meant, of course, that someone is resisting the Astar laws on Asterope d. An organic being named Jay Theiodore Vegah-Kayyn. "
Ryan couldn't help but smile. There was a high probability that Maat would mispell Jay's name - almost everybody did.
"What is it, Ryan? " asked Maat.
"What? Er, Nothing, sir", lied Ryan. "I got a malfunction in, er, in my cheek motors. "
"What did this Jay Terodor Veja-Can do? " Asked Maat.
This time, Ryan suppressed a laugh, which he disguised as a cough. Maat ignored him.
"Jay Theiodore Vegah-Kayyn broke Astrian Law 1.1, and faced justice on Asterope d. He was sentenced to death, but he survived the positron beam. Then he walked away. "
"He just 'walked away'?! I don't understand! Didn't our guards neutralized him? "
"No, sir. Jay is capable of accurately predicting the guard's next moves. He didn't even fight one Astrian. "
"No fights?! How can that even be possible?! Our men are trained to physically neutralize any threats. "
"Naturally, this event got the admiration of the Astrian pacifists. There have been peace manifestation all through Asterope d. Their activity spiked at unprecedented levels, now that they have a hero figure. "
"Where is this Jay Terodor Veja-Can now? "
"Nobody knows, sir. He is hard to track, even with our surveillance system. Backed sighting reports are coming from almost all major stars in the Galaxy at the same time. This man is good. "
"Well Ryan, you are in charge of the Asterope d case. I want it to be resolved by tomorrow. "
"I will resolve the problem, as you kindly suggested, sir. "
Ryan stepped out, unto the artificial surface of the Sun. The ground under his feet was made of super-transparent carbon glass, a glass which was transparent to most electromagnetic frequencies. It was literally transparent to heat. Its darkness was caused by microfracture which were included in the glass to divert the heat away from the surface, towards agreed electromagnetic vents. The heat was just diverted, not resisted. Ryan looked up at the Pleiades. The Galaxy was about to change. And the time... was now.


-


3022 - Independence

"We will NOT reply to the Astar's last scramble for destruction. "
Ryan Dekker-Wiestmannen was standing on the Asteropian presidential platform. His grey eyes were full of determination as he scanned the crowd's reaction.
"As the new President of Asterope d, but also as an ex-member of the AGE, I know what is best for the Galaxy. It's been a year now since I took the great risk of turning against the AGE. On the start of 3023, I proclaimed Asterope as independent. Independent from the Astar's thirst for war, independent from the Astar's mad plunge into primitivism. Independent from a dark Galaxy. "
The crowd applauded.
"The most recent survey was quite clear: 86% of the Asteropian population is Pacifist. This 86% of the population is sick and tired of Astrian-forced violence in the star systems. Tired of Astar-backed guerrillas against the "meek" which everyone is forced to follow. Tired of turning on the Astar Media channels and see nothing but clips of lions butchering gazelles. Tired of having the Astar encourage chaos and immorality on our planets. Well I say, as the first president of the Asteropian movement, that I am with you. No peace will come as long as we fight fights with even more fights. "
An Asteropian asked Ryan:
"What about the Federation, on the Edge of the Galaxy? Will we be requesting their support? "
"The Federation is dying. We must prove that we can do it on our own. And now that the AGE is sending an army to destroy all of us Pacifists, the time has come to prove ourselves, to prove that we can make it even if we are alone in this Galaxy. "
The crowd agreed, but only one asked the all important question:
"How will we survive the AGE's coming fleet? "
Ryan smiled, and pointed to a device, which was shining far behind him, above the horizon.
The device reminded of a singularity generator, with graviton laser and antimatter-powered pressure energy. The difference was mainly the size of the machine - Ryan's version was several kilometers high.
"This is something which I stole from the AGE's secret files. It's called a Spin Integerizer. It was designed by the AGE to bypass the Federation's defences. But now, this device will help us... surprise the AGE. "

-


The fleet of one thousand warships from the AGE, after it swarmed out of the Aldebaran base, was now slowing to Mach 50. The whole of the fleet was robotic in nature, with each heavily armoured drone ships carrying a basic artificial intelligence and the firepower to destroy a world. The captain of the fleet, Anubissat, was alone in his 1 mile large ship, and all of the ship's functions were controlled by his brain's data port. His verbal orders would dictate the fleet's behaviour.
On the screen, Anubissat located Asterope d. He slowed his ship to Mach 5.
"This is going to be just as easy as last time. Go to holospectral imaging. Don't let anything escape Asterope d. "
"Yes, Captain Anubissat", obeyed the whole of the fleet.
"Now stop, and park over Asterope d. "
Anubissat gave the thought command to park his own ship. Only, the thought command didn't work. He was still racing towards Asterope d at the speed of Mach 5. And so was the rest of his fleet.
"What the heck?! I said, Stop! "
But the fleet didn't answer. Nor did his ship.
He jumped out of his seat and activated the manual break. Nothing. The planet started looking very real in his screen. He tried activating his missiles. Nothing responded.
"I've cut the red cable", casually explained Jay behind him.
"What?! How did you get into my ship?! "
"Talent, I guess. Now pay attention. Your ship is going to contact the surface pretty soon. You're going to eject yourself. "
"Don't tell me what to do. "
"I'm not telling you what to do. I'm informing you about what you're about to do. "
Jay grabbed the hatch door, flexed his legs two time, and pulled the door out of its frame. The decompression sucked Anubissat and Jay out of the ship.
"Told you", mouthed the grinning Jay to the grumpy Anubissat, both now safely free floating in space. "Congrats - you're now in the custody of Ryan Dekker-Wiestmannen. "
The whole Astrian war fleet went right at the planet... then passed right through the rocky ground, as if the planet was just an illusion made of smoke and mirrors.
"What the... " mouthed Anubissat, forgetting that sound didn't travel in space.
"The spin intergerizer", explained Jay. "Enables matter to escape most interactions with matter on the wrong interger value. Your own tech. "


On the surface of the planet, Ryan yelled,
"Now! "
The Asteropians turned the spin intererizer off. Asterope d became solid again... trapping the whole war fleet inside the planet itself.
"My fellow Asteropians, we now have one thousand free ships. All we have to do is dig up the treasure! "
The people cheered.
"All right, now contact the planetary space station. We have an Astrian to pull out of orbit. "


-


3023 - Epilogue

On the year of 3023, the Pleiades cluster was re-colonized by the Asterope Empire, headed by Ryan Dekker-Wiestmannen. All attempts by the Astar Galactic Empire to destroy the Pleiades were unsuccessful, as the Asterope Empire could easily become physically transparent to any known attacks and, as a bonus, capture the attacking drones by clever use of the process. The Asterope Empire's growing, yet un-used captured firepower eventually started making the Pleiades a rather risky target to strike. Since Asterope's non-violence policy didn't apply to non-living things, there was a growing possibility that the Pleiades may launch an attack on a nearby Astrian drone base. In prevision, these Astrian bases were evacuated, and the sector around the Pleiades got heavily de-militarized. A cold war ushered in this sector, and the desperate AGE concentrated on attacking the Centaurus Edge sector (part of Federation territories) instead. The AGE collapse spread from the Pleiades, all the way to the other side of the Core. All over the wide Galaxy, the AGE started breaking up into smaller, local nations. It seems... that even at the darkest hour, hope lived.


-


Jay gazed up at the Asteropeshine. Before him... the lavender field was blooming in all of its beauty.

He heard a child laugh with joy, a faint sound in the far distance. This mere sound has been so rare on this world, that now the child's laugh sounded eerie, yet beautiful. This... was how Jay knew that his mission has been completely successful.

He picked up a flower, and walked away with a smile. The next day, he was nowhere to be seen in the entire Galaxy.

Link to Tothetenthpower's thread: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Asterope is a small star (as seen from Earth) which is located on the northern part of the star cluster.



Asterope is dim but still visible to the naked eye.

reply to post by swanne


That was good
I enjoyed reading that.

Good luck to you
Peace and love
-nat

reply to post by natalia


Thanks! As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan of Asimov/Roddenberry.

reply to post by swanne


Two of my favorites as well. Nice job Swanne.

Science fiction has always been my mistress.

reply to post by swanne


S&F for great SciFi!

reply to post by grayeagle


Hehe, Believe it or not, I actually learned alot of english words (I'm french canadian) because of Star Trek... "Shield" is one of them.

reply to post by swanne


Wonderful story! I just loved Jay Theiodore Vegah-Kaayn's character. Makes me think of a tamed Q.

That was a great story, well worth waiting for.

And I can't believe you wrote it in your second language! That is super impressive.

SnF, definitely.

reply to post by beezzer


Thanks! But your story has much more feelings to it. Mine look a bit like... a script, more than a true story.

Tsu322
That was a great story, well worth waiting for.

And I can't believe you wrote it in your second language!

Thanks! Yeah, this is actually my first serious story which I wrote in English. I'm starting to get the hang of it, but still find some words are difficult to translate, and I'm not perfectly fluent yet.

BTW I loved your own submission. You're a great writer, I hope you make it on the tops!

reply to post by swanne


I think you are doing wonderfully. I look forward to your future writings!

I have set myself a target of winning writer status before next summer, if I don't get anywhere I'm going back to daft poetry haha.

Good luck!

reply to post by Tsu322


Good luck to you too! Seems many are after the status.

Good read and thanks for posting... S&F

reply to post by DogMeat


Thanks, means alot to me.

starheart
reply to post by swanne

 

Wonderful story! I just loved Jay Theiodore Vegah-Kaayn's character. Makes me think of a tamed Q.

He's a very advanced being who can literally do miracles. I chose his name so that it gives J H VH if you read it with a bit of imagination. It is my belief that in the future humans will become almost godlike. But only a few of them.

That was very entertaining to read. You have a great imagination. I especially like the unique weapons (and anti-weapons) you've got going on there... very creative.