Onekka - The Tragedy of Jaqui Fennet (18 page)

"They grew a blob of matter from the DNA provided in the aliens' message,
grafted it to the brain of a scientist, and strapped him into their prototype
chair. He tried to infiltrate a ship controller and ascertain the offensive
capabilities of the vessel, killing the controller in the process. Our hosts
quickly put a halt to that, but it was a bold statement of intention. Realising
the possibilities, the humans rigged that upper area of Onekka as a huge
amplifier, much like the bowl we sit in now. Since then, they've been using
their chairs to search for alien vessels and their home world, but they should
have known better than to play a technically superior race at their own game.
The hosts knew, after that; humanity could not be trusted. One day, they would
seek to dominate."
There was a long silence that neither felt the need to break. Jaq worked
through her thoughts, trying to process the imagination. That same lack of
vitriol was present, preventing her from reacting too much based on emotion,
and she suspected it was a side effect of being in a cloned body rather than a
human form, with all its imbalances and questionable chemistry. It was too late
to stop anything, too late to regret or take back her actions, too late to
apologise to Henrickson, to let him know he was forgiven. Eventually, without
the urges of her previous body to influence her, she realised there was only
one thing she wanted to know.
"So, what happens next?"
Thirty Seven smiled. "We are almost there." She waved a hand towards
the domed ceiling, and Jaq saw Earth, hiding behind the great cube that was
Onekka, the only home she'd ever had that mattered.
Three shall watch, one shall fall. Many come to conquer all.
This was reality, she thought. Watching, helpless, as everything you'd ever
know was turned to dust. Who could ever claim existence was more than that?
Onekka sat, still and silent, a passive footnote to an aria of horror, while
strange, alien weapons tore her to pieces. Then the weapons turned to their
true targets - targets she'd seen correctly plotted on Onekka's defence
displays - and Jaq wondered if she even existed any more.
Three things flashed through her mind in stark clarity; the tenets that made up
the life and times of Jaqui Fennet: Violence, death, and desolation. Jaq had
followed her instincts to their natural conclusion, as curious as the cat that
trespasses in the wrong garden, but in seeking revelation, she'd blinded Earth
to the enemy.
And just like that, the world was lost.