Variance Page 2

  “Hold on!” the man shouted, and everything around the ship blurred.

  Paul was uncertain what to hold on to. His eyes drooped as blood rushed away from his head. The ship slowed to a halt and hovered over a familiar forest—five trees surrounded by a snowcapped mountain range. Am I home?

  The man appeared over Paul and patted him on the face several times. “Are you all right?”

  What just happened? Am I dead?

  Paul’s vision returned. His facial-recognition program failed to identify the man’s rough, hairy face. He raised his hand and held the detector tightly in his grasp. His communication interface blinked for his attention. He breathed in fresh air through his mouth instead of his dust- and smoke-filled nostrils.

  “Are you all right?” The man maintained a firm stare.

  Paul Audialed, “I’m alive. Woo!” He tried to jump for joy but instead kicked his arms and legs in his floating position. He laughed and showered his family with words of love through Audials and body language. He held on to his family’s projection between his hands and blew kisses.

  Behind his Visuals, the man stood with crossed arms.

  Paul Audialed to his family, “Hold on a second. I have to thank this man for saving me.” Paul then Audialed to the man, “Sir, may I stand?”

  “You’re connected to the suit.” The man’s voice gargled with phlegm.

  Paul found the interface and selected the option. He returned the detector to his back, shook the man’s hand with both hands, and then embraced him in a tight hug. “Thank you. Thank you for saving me.”

  The man struggled to pry Paul off. “Utopian Paul Benedict of Forest Omicron, why did you jump through a wall of fire only to land in the presence of a Crimson fighter? Why are you not dying helplessly like the rest of the Azurians?”

  How did the man know him? “I needed to collect data, sir.”

  “Data for what?”

  “Data—” Paul noticed the last Cellular Infinity warning blinking behind layers of messages and alerts. More than fifteen minutes had elapsed, and no drones had arrived to abduct him for exile. “I wasn’t banished.” He gave a half smile. The other half went to uncertainty.

  “I handled that. What data were you trying to collect, Mr. Benedict? Please answer the question.”

  Who was this man with the authority to abort or postpone his banishment, who also possessed warfare technology?

  Paul moved the alert aside. “Sir, I apologize for answering your question with a question, but will I be able to see my family again regardless of my answer?”

  “Yes.”

  Paul looked away, as the man’s impatience made him feel uncomfortable. The man had saved his life, so he should trust him despite his unusual Utopian appearance and behavior.

  Point of no return.

  His neck tightened. “I needed data from the Crimson suit’s energy output to develop a battle suit to stop the invasion and save as many people as possible. There. I said the truth.”

  The man remained still, with the exception of breathing.

  “Please don’t kill or banish me.”

  Paul stood in front of his residence in a hallway decorated with flora along the ceiling. The door opened, and his family lunged at him with hugs. Amaryllis tried dusting off his head. They flooded his Audials with questions and concerns, disregarding the man who’d arrived with Paul.

  Paul still could not believe he had survived. His forehead ached from sustaining widened eyes. He cleared his throat. With a high pitch and broken voice, he said, “Amaryllis, Statice, Lily, I would like you to meet …” He put out an open hand for the man to introduce himself to his family.

  “My name is Kaiser.”

  Statice gasped. “Father Kaiser? Founder of all Utopians and Cellular Infinity?”

  Kaiser nodded. “It’s amazing what enough facial hair can do for people not to recognize you.”

  Impossible.

  Paul had expected the man to be a Kazat in Utopian clothing, not the man who was the reason Utopians existed. “Father—”

  “Don’t call me Father. Just call me Kaiser. Can we please step inside your home?”

  “My apologies, Fa—Kaiser. Please have a seat in the living room.” The door to their residence slid open, revealing a living room and kitchen.

  Amaryllis led the way. “Would you like to clean up? Would you like some water or fruit?”

  Kaiser shook his head. “I’m fine. The couch will do.”

  Paul dimmed the wide window, with its view of five towering trees. He stared aimlessly. He could not break away from shock and disbelief.

  His family sat opposite Kaiser on a separate couch. He sat next to Amaryllis and gave her a hug. His daughters gave him hugs. He finally blinked. It was great to be home.

  “Will it come off?” Amaryllis tried to wipe Paul’s face. “Are you sure you don’t want to clean—”

  Kaiser cleared his throat.

  “I’m sorry,” said Paul. “We’re really happy to be together again.” He could not refrain from petting and hugging his family.

  “I can tell. As you experienced firsthand, Mr. Benedict, your planet is under attack, and we don’t have time for formalities.”

  Again, Kaiser displayed non-Utopian behavior, but he was right. Forest Omicron could be next on Crimson’s path of random acts of terrorism.

  “How can we help?” Paul asked.

  “Now that you have data on Crimson’s technology, how would you propose to save lives and end the invasion?” Kaiser said.

  Paul looked at Amaryllis. Her eyes gave him confirmation to proceed. Where should he start? “May I share my Visuals with you?”

  Kaiser nodded.

  Paul selected a coordinate in the middle of the room and displayed videos of previous attacks. “Crimson uses gravity-based technology.” A white moon with a honeycomb pattern and a black hole in its center appeared, along with technical information. “Our gravitational moons also use the same technology but on a larger scale. We can’t use our moons to protect us, because there’s a high risk of losing the planet’s artificial gravitational pull from Sol. We don’t have the capability of downsizing it to a personal device that’s strong enough to perform as a weapon and not kill the user with radiation.”

  A black diamond-shaped aircraft replaced the moon’s image. From nose to tail, the aerodynamic hull spanned eight hundred meters. “We have terraformers that use both gravitational and magnetic technology to protect our gravitational moons but are also built to a large scale. Of course, we need to protect the moons with the terraformers. Since we don’t have technology to counter Crimson in kind, we had to assess readily available technology.”

  “I don’t need all the background stuff. Just cut to the chase.” Kaiser crossed his legs.

  Startled, Paul removed the information, and a display of various furniture, vehicles, and machines appeared around them.

  Kaiser rolled his eyes and sighed. “What relevance does a couch have?”

  “We’re masters of hybrid xenoalloy-xenopolymer-electro-nanotechnology. We can create anything and everything as long as the cells are not exposed to a high radiation source, like a Crimson suit. Based on the data, a lattice will freeze a meter away from the suit or when succumbed to a gravitation field, like what happened to Leader Kynast.” He wanted to stop for a moment of silence, as he remembered the agony and the snapping of bones.

  Kaiser’s stare kept him talking.

  “So we went into our libraries and analyzed old Earth and pre-Sol battle suits for their strengths.”

  A simple, bulky white suit appeared above the Crimson suit. Unlike the traditional mechanized battle suits, the glossy suit was small and slender, with no firepower appendages or attachments.

  “If we combine all of the strengths into one using our technology, coupled with Utopian bel
iefs of preserving all life through defensive combat and disarmament, we can end the war in a peaceful manner.”

  Lily highlighted the features of the suit’s electronic countermeasures. Her soft and pleasant voice clashed with her technical language. “Inspired by jamming technology, an artificial intelligence program will allow us to remotely hijack Crimson spaceships, regardless of language system. As long as they have digital technology, we may be able to break through any encryption system and keep them in space or grounded.”

  Kaiser rubbed his chin.

  Statice highlighted the suit’s physical features. “That’s when they’ll send their armies, and we’ll send ours. We will use Azurian technology with preprogrammed disarming attacks to defeat Crimson gravitational suits. The attacks have to be faster than the cellular freeze rate. Once the radiation field is disabled, the Variance material will return to normal.”

  Kaiser hummed. “Variance?”

  “Correct.” Statice smiled.

  Paul knew she was proud of her research. She should have been. She was a talented and smart girl.

  Paul remembered Kaiser blocking the Crimson scout’s gravitational pull on him. He waved his finger at Kaiser with joy. “You possess proven technology that can counter gravity technology. If we add that to the suit, Variance will be unstoppable.”

  “How is it that the whole family is aligned with this ridiculous idea?” Kaiser stood up and gazed at everyone, pointing at Lily. “Even this one. How?”

  Paul also stood. “If we are to be banished, I request that I go in their place. They don’t deserve to die. It was all my fault.”

  Kaiser chuckled. “I’m not banishing anyone, and no one is dying by my hands. It’s rare for a whole family to be defective. Remember, I created Cellular Infinity. The four of you are supposed to be perfect according to Utopian principles, not researching war history and conceptualizing a battle suit. You’re not supposed to have the urge to fight back. You’re supposed to smile in the face of danger and walk away.”

  Just like the millions of people crushed by the tree’s collapse, Paul thought. Or the thousands of people previously attacked. The deceased smiled and failed to act.

  “Are we supposed to remain in place and die?” Amaryllis held on to Paul’s hand. “We have to defend ourselves, right?”

  Kaiser brought up videos of Earth wars. “Our ancestors said the same thing, and look what it did to them. We left Earth because of war. We destroyed ourselves and our home planet.”

  Amaryllis stood up. Her hand warmed in Paul’s hand. “And now we’re letting Crimson destroy Azure. One trillion innocent people. I don’t mean to be offensive, but as the founder, how could you let that happen?”

  Kaiser sighed. “With the latest warfare technology, we can destroy the entire solar system.” Kaiser pointed at the videos. “I’d rather sacrifice Azure than lose Xameeshee, Sapphire, and Crimson. Have you forgotten that your planet was Crimson’s property before initial colonizers pulled it away from its original orbit?”

  Statice brought up the dark red planet. “We didn’t know. How could anyone have known? The planet is so dark that communication signals do not enter or exit. We are not accustomed to intelligent life that is capable of thriving in a sulfuric atmosphere. Nonetheless, we’ve exhausted all means of establishing peace and coexistence, and now they’re threatening to destroy us all.”

  “Which is why I am here.” Kaiser replaced the planet with Xameeshee. “I believe I know the source of Crimson’s attack. The Kazats wish to annihilate Utopians completely. They must have directed Crimson to occupy Azure. Once they colonize Azure, they’ll attack Sapphire.” With a grunt, he gripped his hair tightly.

  Kaiser’s behavior worried Paul.

  “I don’t want war,” Kaiser said. “I had a vision that unconditional love and peace would overcome all evil. Now, after hiding and searching for answers, your family is the only option I have left. To end the invasion”—he pointed at Paul—“you have to go to the source.”

  A man with aged facial features appeared on Paul’s Visuals. “His name is Shadow. He plans to destroy Forever Spring with his forces while employing Crimson to handle Azure and Sapphire. I know this because he murders our people worldwide—well, now solar system–wide. After several mysterious environmental incidents, he’s turned our land into a desert, and he tried to assassinate me. So I fled to Azure for answers.

  “The only possible way this ungodly man will allow a Utopian in his presence is through a gladiator system called Divine Might. He lives and will die for the system. It’s his way of controlling the world, and he fought for it with that name of his. If your suit is as powerful as you claim it is, I request that you use it to fight, without injuring or killing others, for peace for all Utopians. Or at a minimum, fight for peace on Xameeshee so that fleeing Azurians can seek refuge, should Crimson irreversibly reclaim Azure.”

  Why not just stop Crimson? Paul wanted to fight back but not in a gladiator-style battle. He could not believe this ancient form of entertainment still existed.

  “We were ready to follow through with our approach. What you propose is entirely uncertain,” Paul said.

  “How were you planning to mass-produce the suit? Under whose authority and resources?”

  Kaiser’s tone made Paul feel that his plan had greater potential for failure. His shoulders sank. The one person who could’ve helped had vaporized into tree dust. “Leader Kynast. We would’ve created a prototype and proven its effectiveness. With him and temporary exemption from exile, I planned to use the manufacturing plant somehow. My family and I will engineer the suit and then engineer the manufacturing process.”

  “Please go to Xameeshee.” Kaiser stood before Paul. “Your family can stay here with—”

  “No,” Paul interrupted. “I’m not leaving my family.” He shook his head and held his family close. “Sure, I went to another forest and did some crazy things, but you’re telling me to travel across the solar system. We need to stay together. I’m not leaving Azure.”

  “I can protect them here before the Crimson fleet arrives. Xameeshee is too dangerous. If you do not go, the Utopian existence will end in genocide. We were designed for peace. Kazats were raised to annihilate us. Crimson will take this planet back unless you win Divine Might. The rest of the solar system considers us demonic, unethical, and sinful. You can gain their trust and show them that we are pure, kindhearted people.”

  Lily stood by Paul’s side. “Sir, why can’t you do it yourself? We’re no more Utopian than you are.”

  Kaiser knelt down. “I do not have a fighter’s spirit like your father, like you. I lived through an era when only thousands of Earthlings remained, desperate for a world to colonize. And when we found Xameeshee, I followed my heart and created a way for humans to live forever—to protect our legacy so that we would no longer be on the brink of extinction. Could you imagine that? Humankind extinct?”

  Paul pulled his family close to him. “You want to fight, but you just can’t convince yourself to. That’s why you’re looking for a proxy to act on your behalf.” Kaiser was the founder of absolute peace. How could anyone expect a man like that to wear a battle suit?

  Kaiser walked over to the window and scanned the scenery. “If we work together, we can approach this on two fronts. I can stay here with your family to help mass-produce the suit and obtain the resources needed while you fight for peace in Xameeshee. This plan increases the chances of survival for your family—for all.” He pressed his head into the window.

  Paul wondered if Kaiser imagined his creation crumbling before him. Were there no other options? They didn’t have enough time to explore other options.

  The fate of all Utopians rested in Paul’s hands and not Kaiser’s. There was much to absorb, process, and act on. This was not a day full of joy and laughter. He needed to focus, but his emotions kept him from making a decision.


  He sat down and gazed beyond Kaiser. The magnitude of the task was greater than the mountains in the distance. He never grew tired of the view. He wanted to preserve the moments when he and his family could watch nature’s beauty unravel before them in their own home. They sat and watched him, deep in thought.

  His family was his focus.

  Fight a battle in which people want to kill you, or fight a battle in which aliens want to kill you. No matter what, a fight has to be delivered.

  Recalling the moment the tree collapsed, he imagined his family evacuating the same madness. To see his girls crying or Amaryllis stricken with fear would break his heart. Words churned in his chest, and he prepared to blurt out a statement.

  Again, another point of no return.

  “I’ll do it. I’ll go to Xameeshee to fight for peace, only if you will protect my family with your life at all costs.”

  Without hesitation, Kaiser turned and replied, “I will protect them with my life. You have my word.”

  2

  Engineering

  TIME WAS THE GREATEST CONSTRAINT. The full Crimson invasion would take place after seventy-five Azure days. With sixty days of round-trip travel time, that left Paul with three days for him and his family to develop a single prototype and fifteen Xameeshee days to win Divine Might. He had no time to waste.

  He stood in the center of an empty, soundproofed bay. He could scream or simply talk, and he would not be able to hear himself unless he used Audials. The bay was massive enough to fit a terraformer inside. Alone and able to concentrate, he opened the first training tutorial: memory.

  On his Visuals, a cube with a blue outline surrounded him. He stood at the center of the bottom square. Four plates appeared at random locations and angles within the cube and disappeared after a few seconds. The walls divided into hundreds of small translucent orange squares. One square appeared red.