Rich spent three grueling hours combing the nebula. Near the heart of the cosmic cloud, the pilot of a small, spherical craft finally spotted the target: a machine oddly resembling an ancient temple. Several small crafts scurried along the mirrored surface, and a half dozen larger ones orbited it. Rich looked on in fascination, his finger stroking the trigger on the control stick gingerly. He knew his orders, but curiosity stayed his hand.
The pilot steered his ship further out, prompting a monotone voice to blurt, “Warning, target out of range.” A cyclone of star remnants vanished into the base of the machine and discharged from the top in a hot jet, coalescing into a rocky conglomerate that continued to swell. Rich watched, amazed that the machine could convert star matter into a planet so quickly.
“Reminder, Corporal, your objective is to destroy the target,” the voice in the speakers said. “Failure to do so will result in obliteration on grounds of presumed desertion.”
Clenching his jaw, he responded, “Why was I sent to destroy this? I have loyally served the Panstellar Conglomerate, and I’m rewarded with coordinates and a cryptic mission to eliminate an unidentified craft. What this thing can do is amazing! It should be studied, not destroyed.”
“Not your mission,” the voice countered.
“Ugh, why am I complaining to you? You’re just the on-board companion.”
“Compromised loyalty detected. Final warning issued.” Begrudgingly, Rich navigated closer to the alien structure. As he did so, the craft terraformed the surface of the newly christened planet. His hand extended to the trigger, shaking. Sweat slid down his palms onto the control stick.
“Self-destruct activated in ten, nine-”
The corporal pulled the trigger. Missiles launched, time slowed, and all air vacated his lungs. When the warheads hit, a white light momentarily blinded him before the familiar dark of space returned. Rich’s mind reeled, and breath lethargically returned to his lungs.
“Mission failed.”
“What?” Rich threw himself forward. The vessel was undamaged. “That-that’s impossible. Those are high-velocity atomic warheads, capable of destroying a planetoid!” Fear and relief welled within him simultaneously. The surface of the pyramidal craft shifted, extended, and folded, expanding the vessel’s size.
“Tell me, who are they?”
“Unknown.”
“Unknown? Then why destroy them then?”
“Questioning orders is forbidden.”
“I wouldn’t have to if the orders made sense.”
The alien vessel withdrew in a blink then reappeared a heartbeat later, filling Rich’s viewport with the point of the pyramid. At this range, the pilot could see that the smaller crafts orbiting the ship were metallic spheres with disks bulging from their equators. The strange spheres faded away as plates again shifted into place, elongating the ship further and producing arms that constricted around Rich’s vessel.
“Warning. Hull integrity compromised.”
“Obviously!”
Fingers danced along the control module, and Rich threw the accelerator forward. The thrusters whined, and the maddening din of metal against metal filled the cabin. Steering the ship sharply to the left then the right, the pilot slowly wiggled his craft free from the death grip.
“Take us back to headquarters!”
“Initiating,” the onboard companion replied. A slit of white energy tore through space, and Rich’s ship sped through.
#
Two days later, Rich met with his superior on the command center of the galactic space station, home of the Panstellar Conglomerate.
“Corporal,” the captain nodded.
“Ma’am, what was that thing? Why was I ordered to destroy it?”
“You overstep your bounds. It is I who should be questioning why the mission failed. You hesitated, and that’s concerning, but you still followed orders, even if it was under threat of death. I’m certain you are aware of how dangerous this target is.”
“I did attack them first, Ma’am.”
“Those were your orders. I issued them because this ship, if that’s an appropriate term, has been on our radar for a while. It deconstructs and reassembles inhabited worlds, triggers supernovas, collapses stars into black holes, and sometimes indiscriminately generates worlds. On the other hand, it has also aided alien planets orbiting dying stars. We do not understand its purpose, but if it’s not controlled, it poses a significant danger to all life in the universe.
“We’ve gathered what little information is available, but we cannot find signs of a similar civilization anywhere in the galaxy. Life must be present on board, though all data suggests nothing animate on it. Some of our scientists theorize it is a left-over machine from a long dead civilization operating on base programming, but others believe it may possess a sentience of its own. Whatever the case, the few this machine saved from catastrophe can’t negate the billions of lives it snuffed out. Your next assignment is to find a way to stop this thing.
“I don’t know if we can stop it, but there’s a chance we can contain it. We don’t even know if it’s really hostile or if it can be controlled for the betterment of all.”
“Then maybe the science department can provide suggestions, be it containment, destruction, or maybe a way to communicate with the mind behind the machine.”
#
Five beings with three spindly metal legs and glowing purple eyes stood before gray pod containing a human. The entities chattered to one another, motioning to Rich with long metal arms.
“This is the one who attacked?”
“Yes. We caught his ship before it could flee. He has been integrated into the system and believes he escaped.”
“Good work. Our mission cannot be compromised.”
The pod holding Rich lifted off the floor and inserted itself into an open spot, one of thousands plugged into the heart of the world builder.
—
R. Michael lives in rural Minnesota and is happily married. He has one son and a border collie foot warmer. He has four books published on Amazon and has works published in “365 Tomorrows,” “Altered Reality Magazine,” and “Ink & Fairydust Magazine.”
