The Vostok Revelation

CHAPTER NINETEEN

January 2239. 0845 Hours. Washington Township, Executive Office.

Daily Staff Meeting.

“Mr. Parker,” a chestnut haired young woman, an associate of Kathy Westbrook, Chief of Science, said nervously, “Ms. Westbrook sends her apologies. She is running a little late and will be here as soon as she can.”

“I hope everything is okay,” the Executive said with genuine concern. Westbrook was an integral part of his Cabinet. To lose her expertise, particularly at this time, would leave him less informed and impact his ability to make decisions.

“She’s fine, sir,” offered Charles O’Brian, head of Intelligence. He nodded, giving the Executive a look.

“Thank you for delivering Ms. Westbrook’s message. Let her know that we will be here when she’s ready to join us.”

“See you later, Deb,” Jerry Warnke said. The woman flushed red and made a quick exit out of the executive meeting room.

“Son, you lack a certain amount of sense,” Chuck said with a grin. Dennis couldn’t help but chuckle. “You embarrassed that pretty young girl. You better start working up your excuses.”

Jerry was about to reply but Dennis cut in, “Okay Chuck, Why isn’t my chief of science here yet?”

“Right,” Chuck was back to business. “About eight last night information began arriving from our sensors attached to the entity on Utopia. Kathy has been running tests and compiling data the entire night.”

“Was our asset compromised?”

“No, the lizard skin developed by the guys in Franklin worked like a charm. Our guy was surrounded by hundreds of security personnel and was in and out in less than twenty minutes.”

Jerry cleared his throat and gave a crooked smirk.

“And yes, Jerry’s organic grafting patches worked flawlessly.”

Prior to a couple of days ago there was no environmentally adaptive stealth suit and there was no organic technology infused skin graft that would enable tests to be run on the alien device. In a matter of days, the American Republic had learned of a potential threat, devised a solution to assess the threat for itself, and successfully executed a highly dangerous mission under the noses of the Fed and the alien technology. By far, this mission was the largest and most technically complex clandestine operation that he or any American Executive, had ever undertaken. The American people, the people he was chosen to lead, rose to meet the challenge and succeeded on every conceivable level.

“Hello everyone. Sorry I’m late.” Kathy rushed in, placed a stack of papers and tablet on the conference table, took a seat and spoke rapidly, “Jerry, please get me a cup of coffee. If this caffeine rush ebbs even a little I’m going to crash. I’ve got way too much to do to sleep.”

Jerry rose from his seat while Kathy organized her papers into short stacks and then booted her tablet.

“So Kathy, I understand its Christmas in the sciences lab,” Dennis said, passing a ceramic cup of coffee across the conference table.

“Yes, it’s been very exciting. Jerry, your grafts are working perfectly. We are receiving the results from the tests we’ve run in bursts every eleven minutes.”

“Do share.” Jerry placed his elbows on the conference table and leaned forward.

Despite the heavy bags under her eyes, Kathy’s face lit up, “This object, which the Federation is calling an obelisk because of its shape, is comprised of an indeterminate amount of nanites, microscopic machines, and several tons of solid matter. The nanites are absorbing all manner of energy from the object’s surroundings and using the roughage, the solid matter, in its “body” to facilitate growth and replicate as needed. While it appears to defy gravity the object is, in fact, using a form of repellent magnetism unknown to us to move about. Based on readings from our grafts, the object has used a portion of its mass to extend thousands of nanoscopic threads into Utopia City.”

“Is the Federation aware of these microscopic threads?” Dennis asked.

“Nanoscopic threads and it’s highly doubtful,” Kathy responded after downing a large mouthful of coffee. “The only reason we’re even aware of these threads is because our grafts are banded around the object and are constantly evaluating the its mass. These nanites are detaching in strands only a half-dozen wide, far too small for the human eye, and then combining to make the threads which are extending across Utopia City. Even as thousands or millions of nanites leave the object the overall mass of the object is only slightly diminishing. Visually, if you were standing right in front of it, you wouldn’t see any change in the objects dimensions or any idea that the threads streaming from it.”

“Do we have any idea what these threads are doing?”

“No. Our grafts are affixed to the object itself. We lose the ability to track the thread once it leaves the objects body.”

“I think I know,” said Chuck and Jerry in unison. With a nod Jerry indicated that Chuck should speak first. “If I were in unknown territory the first thing I would do is assess the enemy. I would send out teams to determine the enemy’s strength’s, to determine where the resources we need are located and how we can obtain them, where the largest bodies of opposition are located and to map out their supply chain so we could weaken them if we need to. I’d wager that those strands are weaving their way into the Federation data banks to extract as much information about Earth and mankind as it can before opening up a dialog. The more they know about us, our technology, our biology, what we need and what we want, the more than can adjust their posture to their advantage.”

“The threads could also be seeking out power sources. If what Kathy said is true, Utopia City has plenty of raw materials for it to assimilate for mass and enough raw energy that it could expand or even replicate itself,” Jerry said, fidgeting in his chair. “You know, given its composition and given enough mass, it’s safe to speculate it could change its shape at will or even divide into multiple independent objects, each with its own degree of intelligence. While these things aren’t alive in any sense that we understand, they really can’t be considered a computer as we know computers. Frankly, this is the coolest thing I ever saw and at the same time it freaks the hell out of me.”

Executive Parker sat, elbows resting on the arms of his chair, hands joined into an interlaced fist that rested against his lips. His eyes were locked onto an ancient framed National Geographic map of the Earth on the far wall. After two solid minutes he finally spoke, “It has been on the deck of Utopia for roughly twenty-four hours. In that time it has made no effort to communicate.

“I think both Chuck and Jerry have valid points when it comes to these threads. If what they’re saying is true the Federation is being set up to be knocked down. If the Federation get knocked down and if that object represents something more, an invasion force, then we and every other human being on Earth and beyond is at risk of subjugation or annihilation.”

He fell silent for a second before turning to Chuck, “We need to tip the Federation to the presence of these threads. Let’s not jeopardize our assets on Utopia City, but the potential threat is far too big to keep them in the dark.”

Executive Parker looked to Kathy and Jerry, “If the shit hits the fan I want to know how to slow, hurt and kill these things. You two work together to figure out what damage we can do. I will not have the American Republic left defenseless.”

“Sir,” Kathy called out just as the meeting was breaking up. “You need to see this… we all need to see this.”

January 2239. 1655 Hours. Utopia City. Unity Square.

No one noticed that the obelisk had split down the center until half of it assumed a humanoid form, took two steps forward and stopped before the bandstand wall. A guard, finally noticing a new solid black shape, immediately notified the rest of the security contingent. In seconds, the lighting in the courtyard brightened, and several hundred weapons instantly trained on the mysterious creature.

January 2239. 0905 Hours. Washington Township, Executive Office.

Daily Staff Meeting.

The Executive and his Cabinet members looked on as Josefa Serrano slowly approached the two meter mountain of nanites shaped as a human. The Director was again in her ceremonial suit of her office, standing with her arms stretched wide, her empty palms turned upright, vocalizing the same salutation she had before. This time the thing, its face a smooth blank sheet of absolute darkness, only looked at her and did nothing to acknowledge her presence. Again, Director Serrano waited for a minute before she lowered her arms. Annoyed, she turned her on her heel and took a step away.

“Greetings Director Josefa Serrano,” the entity said in the common language. “I am Xi Bharata, leader of the people. I speak through this construct from across the stars. We are human. We are your ancestors.”