In Space, No One Knows You're an Alien
Chapter 5
Alliance Interlude
Osiris
The Operative had been called away from his task of finding River Tam and her brother Simon.
This was a most unexpected development. It had, after all, been his understanding that Ms. Tam was in possession of highly-classified information that she had allegedly lifted directly from the brain of one of the senior-ranking members of the Alliance Senate.
What could be more important than keeping the Senate's dark secrets from coming to light?
He met with Senator Torres in the senator's private office. With him was Dr. Mathias.
The Operative frowned at the scientist's presence.
"Ah," Senator Torres said. "You're here, and now we can begin the briefing."
"Briefing…"
"Yes," it was Dr. Mathias who responded to the Operative's unspoken question. "We have something much bigger than River Tam to deal with right now."
"Such as..?"
"We are not alone," Mathias spoke solemnly.
"We are…what?"
"Our ever-so-slightly addled friend is correct," Torres sat, indicated the others to take seats too. "We have…aliens in our midst. One that we know of, possibly others as well."
"Aliens," the Operative repeated the word thoughtfully. "Alien, as in…"
"Alien as in non-Terran ancestry," Mathias said. "All of us, no matter our planet of origin, share a common genetic identity in that our ancestors all came from Earth."
"Yes," Torres nodded. "You and I, those from the Rim, and those from the Core, we all have this much, at least, in common."
Ah, now I see…
"You've discovered a sentient non-human species."
Mathias shrugged.
"Non-Terran, yes; but non-human…that might be debatable. Show him the recordings, Senator."
"Yes," Torres pressed a button. The lights went out, and a holo appeared over the Senator's desk.
It showed a man; tall, lean, with short-cropped dark hair and compelling dark blue eyes.
"We had sent some manned probes out to explore this sector of the galaxy."
The Operative's eyes widened
"But that would take hundreds of years to do!"
"Or a functional hyper drive," Torres eyes twinkled as he spoke.
"We have…"
"Yes," Torres addressed the Operative. "We finally have true hyper-spatial travel. So we used it to explore our near neighbors; first with un-manned probes, then with crewed ships."
"And you found a civilization," the Operative nodded. "I'm impressed."
"Actually," Mathias raised a hand. "We didn't. We found the wreckage of one though; the planet itself had apparently exploded. What we found was…a pod…of sorts. That man was inside it. At first, we thought he was a fellow explorer; I mean, he looks utterly human. But the language he spoke when we were able to fully revive him…"
He shook his head.
"It was totally unlike any of the languages in our files; and we have all the old Terran languages on file, including the ancient ones, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. This man spoke a language that none of our best linguists ever heard. There were other things too…"
"Such as?" the Operative could hardly believe what he was hearing.
A true, sentient, non-Terran species; and he looks exactly like us?
"The speed with which the man learned our language," Torres continued. "He learned it-grammar, syntax, everything-literally in two days. Our specialists think he may have access to a true Universal Translator. But if he does, our best scanners couldn't find it. But that truly is the least of it, as you shall see…"
He pressed a button, and the recording started…
Five years previously, an undisclosed location
"The subject is an adult Male, late thirties to early forties, in excellent health…"
Dr. Saul Lorenzo broke off his recording to look at the subject. The man worried him a little with his restless pacing.
Like a caged tiger…
Still, the man was in the cell, with its electrified walls, and shock-fields…
Lorenzo shrugged and went on with his recording.
"However, in spite of the subject's apparent leanness, and obvious physical fitness, he weighs almost six hundred pounds."
That had been a shock to all of the faculty at this secret Blue Sun research center; so much so that Lorenzo had ordered all the scanners to be recalibrated. Then he had the man weighed again.
Still almost six hundred pounds…
On a whip lean frame.
Other scanners reported the man's bones as being much denser than what one might expect of humans, and the same for muscle density.
He had also initially had trouble adjusting to Earth-normal gravity, air, and pressure; experiencing at least one fainting spell.
Or maybe it was vertigo?
But he had quickly adapted to his new surroundings; and the ease with which he had learned the Terran language here…
Is he using a translator?
There were other worries too; far more pressing ones.
Does he realize he's a prisoner?
The door behind Lorenzo opened; Admiral Cho walked in, the door sliding shut behind him.
"Has he spoken at all since the specialists left?"
"Not at all," Lorenzo replied. "At least we know his name though."
Getting his name had felt remarkably like pulling teeth without anesthesia.
Suspicious personality, that one.
"So, what is it?" Cho demanded.
"Think its Dru Zod, sir."
"Zod…"
"Yes sir."
"Found in a pod, you say?"
"Yes," Lorenzo nodded. "Maybe he was trying to escape the destruction of his world. He did confirm that this world-Krypton, he called it-was his home world. He said its core collapsed because the ruling council mined the core for energy."
"Suppose we could learn from those mistakes," the Admiral grunted.
"I suppose we could," Lorenzo agreed. "But what do we do about him?"
All though this, Zod seemed to be looking up…
As if he's watching us, listening to us…
The general frowned at that.
"I've received my orders," he said. "Hope you're not in the habit of getting attached to your subjects."
"No," Lorenzo assured him. "Of course not."
"Good," Cho replied. "I have orders to terminate the subject."
Zod suddenly stopped pacing and stood still; looking up at the monitor.
Did he hear us?
Not possible…
But everything in the prisoner's body language, the sudden tension, the way he was looking about-searching for possible escape paths-told Lorenzo he had heard.
"Admiral Cho," Lorenzo began. "We may have a-"
Abruptly, Zod spun, punched a wall with a fist, and the wall…shattered.
The shock-fields worked like they were supposed to, not that it mattered...
Zod calmly walked right through all of the force-fields.
Like they mean nothing to him at all…
Alarms going off, sirens blaring, guards, armed with the best weaponry science had to offer, flooded the area, faceless in their armor; and they were like toddlers trying to swarm a giant…
Bullets meant nothing to him, and those who fired at him didn't get a second chance.
It was bloody carnage in there, bodies flying left and right. Then, Zod was out of the cell area, out of the prison compound, and into the free air.
Zod leaped…
That was it. He leaped, and…flew away.
He had killed over twenty guards; literally brought the compound down around everyone's ears, and…flown away…
Saul Lorenzo looked up at the sky in awe
He flew...Ta ma de…he flew…
The Operative sat there silently, as the vid recording wound to an end.
Hyper-strong, hyper-fast, immune to our weaponry, and able to fly…
"I hope you've been working on ways to contain him," he said. "Finding him would be easy, compared to bringing him down."
"As you may have surmised," Senator Torres replied. "Bullets, and even laser weaponry might not affect him. But our scientists have been working on weapons specifically designed for the Kryptonian neurological system. Something very much like an EMP, but designed for the Kryptonian brain."
The Operative nodded.
"Good," he said. "When I have the requisite weaponry, I will hunt him down. Now, the question is this. When I bring him down, what do you want me to do with him?"
"Kill him," Mathias stood. "But preserve the body. I would very much like to harvest the body for its genetic wonders. Think of the things we could learn!"
"The things we could learn…" the Operative scoffed. "You show me a man who is more dangerous than a pod of Reavers, and all you can think of is genetic wonder!"
"But if we could design someone to fight Reavers, with those genes," Mathias persisted. "If we could design such a hybrid-docile to us, of course-but capable of taking on, and killing, a pod of Reavers…think of the value of such a weapon! In…our…hands."
"Agreed," Senator Torres nodded. "Soon, we will have a weapon that can adequately deal with a Kryptonian. Then, once we have Zod, the rest shall fall into place."
The Operative nodded.
Very well. Finally, there will be a weapon to use against the Reavers. Then, once those are gone…
In a way, the operative almost felt sorry for the Rim worlds.
Once we have our perfect weapon, no one shall be able to stand against the Alliance…