The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (22 page)

As they entered the bridge both Karagunis and his companion stopped and looked at the strange beautiful projection in front of them. They knew that it was artificial but she was so beautiful. And she certainly looked real.

Moments later both Ellis and the group that was with Fillip entered the bridge as well. While the scientists were studying the AI the soldiers started spreading out and surrounding her.

She noticed that and she looked at them. Even eons later the marines never seemed to change. They were always careful, always watching. And in the past always ready to talk to her. She noticed the steady movements and from the sensors she could read that unlike the scientists they were not excited or better say that they kept that excitement down.

She knew that she had to talk to them and she carefully scanned the signals that were coming on their net and then she turned her attention on the outer sensors and started scanning the signals and planetary network on their distant home world.

As she received the information she was surprised from the diversity of the languages. There were so many. She scanned for languages that were most used and she noticed that despite the fact that two nations on the continent called Asia had almost half the world’s population their languages were not the most used internationally. The most common and most used language was called English. She quickly absorbed huge amounts of information and started learning the language.

As she did she noticed that one of the scientists approached her and spoke something. She was surprised that she knew some of the words.

Karagunis spoke to her in the ancient language of his ancestors the ancient Greek. And then he repeated the same thing in Latin.

The phrase was simple. It was just “
Hello we are humans from Earth
.”

He knew that it was stupid and he heard the smile from the Macedonian soldier and from his colleague but it was the only thing that came to his mind. He nearly smiled himself.

And then they all noticed her reaction as she heard the words. She turned and looked directly at him and before he was aware she spoke to him. She spoke the same thing a second time this time more slowly and as he heard the words his eyes widened. And he knew that everyone who knew some of the ancient languages would’ve had the same reaction.

“Jesus. Her words, they are the common base for all the languages spoken in the Mediterranean cultures.”

“Yes they are.”-the words came from Fillip.

And before he could react he stepped forward and started speaking.

Karagunis couldn’t hide his surprise as he heard the young man’s voice. He knew that he was a linguist but he never imagined the extent of his knowledge of the ancient languages. Fillip spoke fluently.

“Hello. Who are you? What is your name?”

These three sentences were spoken in ancient Greek, ancient Macedonian, Latin, Phoenician and Egyptian.

The women turned from him to Fillip and she looked at him for a second.

Anaya looked at the young face of the soldier that spoke to her. As she listened to his words she noticed that there were many similarities between them and the Alteran language. She turned a small part of her processing and searched the words and the languages on the net. The languages were dead languages that were spoken thousands of years before. And as she looked at their generic structure she finally understood. The languages had a single ancestor but in time that language died, and as the Alterans spread around the world the language changed and several more were born from it. The learning of these languages was easy and quick. There were many similarities with the Alteran language.

As she studied the language at the same time she was studying the soldier that spoke to her.

Fillip watched the AI carefully and continued shifting between languages.

“My name is Anaya. Welcome home.”

It took a second for the words to register. When she repeated the same words in Latin again both he and the linguists and several of the other people that understood Latin gasped. It took them a second to get their bearings.

The first ones to recover from the shock were Fillip and Karagunis. The soldier spoke first.

“What do you mean home. We have a home. It’s Earth.”

Anaya considered his words carefully. It was obvious that none of them had any knowledge about their past, about the past of their race. No one knew about the sacrifices her last crew had to make for this planet, this system to remain safe and secret. That thought brought back the pain, and the memory of that last goodbye. She knew that he and everyone else were now long gone, nothing but dust that was spread through the distant world for twelve thousand cycles, but for her those last memories, those moments were just hours away, before she went to sleep.

As those thoughts past through her she realized that there will be time for her to tell their story, but that that moment has not yet come.

And, as she prepared to speak the flood of data from the ships sensors and the probes in the system over flooded her with data that were gathered for so many cycles. The shock was so intense that the hologram disappeared. She was still here but she couldn’t keep her hologram active and receive all the information at once.

As she disappeared everyone stepped back surprised.

“Where did she go?”

The question came from Edward.

Fillip turned to him and lifted his shoulders.

“Don’t know. Maybe it was some malfunction. This ship is old.”

“I don’t think so. The chip is still active. She must be here. If Edward and what we believe is right and she is the ships AI then she might be accessing the ships data or preparing it and she can’t do the two things at once.”

The reply came from Hans.

When everyone looked at him he just shrugged.

“He might be right. She probably has lots of things to check and lots of data to see.”

The soldiers looked at the scientists who started chatting among themselves.

Fillip raised his hand and gave several signals that everyone of the soldiers understood. Without a word the group of soldiers dispersed, only two remaining on the bridge, while the rest started another search of the ship.

While Fillip and Ellis watched carefully the bridge they received the information on their military channel. There was no sign of any changes so far and as the search continued they were both confident there won’t be any.

As she looked at the raw data that was in her systems now, data from twelve thousand cycles, Anaya was shocked. She now knew the reason why no one knew of her or her crew. The Alterans were long gone and the continent where they settled was covered with thick miles of ice. And then there was the information’s and images of the strange visitations that came and went every couple of centuries. She didn’t know the name of the race nor the ships but she knew their purpose and it filled her with rage. They were slave ships taking the, at that time still not developed enough human beings who believed that these creatures are their gods. What before she only read on the human networks she now saw as she saw the rise of Babylon, ancient Egypt, the long gone civilizations before them, then Macedon and Carthage, and then Rome. She saw all the beauty and in the wonders of a new civilization being born and living through the horrors of the constant comings of those strange ships. But she had to give a do because they never seemed to want to destroy anything and they rarely took anyone by force. It was like they were trying to preserve humanity and only take someone who was lost.

She remembered the stories of her creators, all their history was safely stored in her information banks, remembered their rise that was helped by the Icarians…and their wondering how would have they developed if that help was not there. And now she was seeing it.

She saw the cruelty of the ancient times, the wonders as they discovered first the writing, then the fire, the metalwork, the first cultures and societies, the discovery of the stars above them, and then the wars between them. She saw the building of the ancient libraries and the hanging gardens of Babylon, the pyramids of Egypt, the ports of Carthage, the temples of Greece and then Rome in all its beauty. She saw the rise and fall of civilizations and the birth of new ones that took their place, she saw the birth of the religions that humanity still believed, the dark times that followed, the start of the religious wars that still plagued their world, and then as they developed she saw the birth of the first conscious thought of their existence as one civilization, as humans. And then she saw the real horrors that thanks to the Icarians the Alterans managed to avert. She saw the horrible wars that erupted with the discovery of the gun powder, and then the terrible what her new masters called First and Second world war, the use of the atom bombs and the rapid advancements, and then she saw again why the Icarians chose them as humanity realized the horror of the nuclear weapons and stopped it’s self before it was too late, she saw them turn to new fronts and challenges, the first satellites, the first landings on the moon and she smiled at the recorded broadcast, those simple words that held so much hope for the future.

And then… her consciousness screamed as she detected the signs of Dacarian ships in the system and she noticed that it was the third time that they were here.

As the marines searched the ship lights and sirens suddenly started blazing all around them.

“What the hell…”

Fillip and Ellis looked at one another and then at the scientists. As soldiers they both knew the meaning of those lights and sounds. It was the sound that was made before battle. The scientists knew it too.

And as they beckoned to the scientists to move to them the hologram appeared.

“Dacarian ships are detected in system.

Dacarian signals detected in system.

Ship is preparing for action.

All ships systems are activated.

All ships systems are activated.”

“What is happening?” - The call came from the Deadalus.

“Not sure sir.”

“Whatever it is you better get moving and do it fast. We are detecting vibrations on the scanners. And they are reporting that the ships systems are going active. We are leaving the ship.”

“Yes sir.”

Ellis turned to the scientists and shouted.

“Move it people. We are leaving.”

At those words the scientists rushed towards them.

“Lead to all teams. Lead to all teams, head to the barn. I say again head to the barn.”

Signals of acknowledgment arrived immediately.

The AI didn’t notice their confusion. It continued with scanning the ships systems.

“All ships systems report active.

Repeat all systems report active.

Ships shields at ten percent.

Ships shields at ten percent.

Weapons systems activated.

Ships armor massive damages on all sides.

Ships hyper engines can’t be activated.

Ship will hold but cannot fight a long battle.

Need for repair immediate.

Gravity is now being initiated.

Repeat gravity is now being initiated.

Atmospheric pressure is being restored to all sections of the ship.

Closing both hangar bays.

Sensors are now going active.

Dacarian probe detected.

Repeat Dacarian probe detected.

Scanning, scanning reports no other Dacarian ships in the system.

No ship emissions detected.

Long range scans show no Dacarian presence in five light years.

No other ships detected at the same distance.

Probe appears not active.

No life signs detected.

Red alert standing down, ships weapons systems deactivated.”

As the scientists exited the bridge, both Ellis and Fillip turned. As they started to run Anaya’s hologram appeared before them.

They both raised their guns instinctively but didn’t fire.

She surprised them both by raising her hands.

“Please don’t leave. The danger is passed. Please don’t leave.”

The biggest surprise came from the fact that now she was speaking to them in perfect English. But although their minds refused the fact they both knew enough to know that in fact she was an advanced computer system that was light years ahead of anything that existed on Earth. And she was obviously capable of fast learning.

“You speak English.”-the comment came from Ellis.

“Yes major.” - She answered calmly and looked at the major. And then she turned to Fillip.

“And I speak your language too colonel. Please tell your people that they return. There is no danger. At least not yet and there is much that we need to discuss. There is much that i need to tell you.”

“How do we know that we can trust you?”

She smiled at Fillips question.

“Because I have no reason to harm you…You are the descendants of my creators and because you can’t leave. The ships hangar doors are closed and the shields are still active. Call your radios and report to your ship that there is no need to panic. And tell them that they can start exploring more freely now that the gravity and atmospheric pressure is on.”