Beyond Light

For the Fallen.

The 3 robotic units guided John and his team back to the exit, remaining inside and getting lost into the conduits they used to come in and out. John could not put his eyes off the strange device. What was it about? A storage unit, or maybe some weapon? If that was the case, why were those robots helping them? Maybe Doctor Weiber or Chief Wallace could give it a glimpse and put to sleep his doubts.

They returned to the Beyond Light. The repairs had begun, and maintenance drones, working personnel, and crained Quokkas were all around the rear of the nearly kilometric stealther. Soldiers patrolled and guarded the perimeter around her. Three Tortoises and a Paladin roamed around, helping the working personnel move equipment and boxes.

Once inside the Beyond Light and with John’s team returning to their responsibilities, he moved immediately to the main lab on the second deck. There were Doctor Weiber, working on his holopad, Yui, doing some play or training with the furry cockroach on a cage, and the bitterness-inducing face of Supervisor Diaz, ignoring his presence.

"Hey, Doctor. We have returned,” he announced his arrival.

“Good. I heard LIBRA saying you didn’t find any foes. Did those robots really take you as the guests of their home?”

“That’s true. There are some interesting things inside that place. I’ll send you a POV footage and a report later when I have it.”

“Really?” Yui looked up, her eyes glowing. “Doctor, maybe John can give us permission to go there and investigate more!”

“...That’s actually not a bad idea, especially coming from you, Yui,” the old man didn't put his eyes off his holopad.

She frowned and launched a poker face to John. “I’m sure that if we got time maybe I can send you with an escort team," he nodded at her. "Well, I’m here because I want you to take a look at this.”

He extended to Doctor Weiber the platinized disk of shiny lilac center. Davis fixated his eyes on it as if he was trying to read something in an undecipherable ancient language.

“Any ideas about what can this be?”

“No. Those machines took us to some kind of virtual chamber to grab it. No instructing, not anything. I thought you could help us out.”

“Yeah… Yeah,” ge spun it between his fingers, touching its center or trying to find a secret button. “A storage device, perhaps. Let us try it out.”

He tried to connect it to his holostation, his terminals, or the improvised device that Yui used to reveal the contents of the disks that Yuri brought from the remains of the first alien ships. Nothing worked. He even tried to manually connect it to the wires of his terminals, open it up and reveal its contents —which didn’t work— or to subtract its data through a resomagnetic field, not having any success.

“Well, seems like you were given something as useful as a brick,” Doctor Weiber complained.

“Maybe it’s a souvenir for visiting their place,” Mike’s voice sounded behind. John turned around, and the Flight Ensign crossed inside, carrying a tray with soda cans on it.

“You brought mine!” Yui got up and picked up one.

“You know the deal. Where’s my candy bar?”

She picked it up and put it in his pocket. “Much better. Hello, John. Want some?”

“I thought you had work, Mike.”

“And that’s what I’m doing. There’s literally nothing for us to do in the meanwhile with our engines off, so Jeffrey, Xi, and I are helping everyone around.”

“And that includes distributing treats around to working personnel?” John raised one lip and one eyebrow.

“Eh… You know everyone’s gotta keep their energy up right now, huh?” he put the tray on the aluminum table. “By the way, it was crazy how those robots didn’t blow your asses away down there. Like, what the hell is going on? And then that thing?” ge signaled the device on Doctor Weiber’s hands. “They must want to tell us something. I bet it.”

“What else could it be?” said Doctor Weiber. “Well, if you excuse us, the lab is not a recreative area and we are currently working. Commander, I’ll try to give it a deeper look if you let us keep this. Maybe Wallace can assist us. If you don't have any other pending matters...”

“Of course, Doctor,” John responded. “please do that,” he put his hand on Mike’s shoulder and walked to the entrance, dragging him along.

“Bye, John!” said Yui. “Mike…”

Both stepped outside, beginning to stroll through the beige-colored passage. The sliding door closed behind. “So, seems like the Doctor could not do much with that," said Mike. "I’m only getting bad feelings out of all of this.”

“Welcome to the Beyond Light,” John cynically grinned. “Did anything happen during our absence?”

“Not really. Oh,” Mike raised his index finger. “Well, yes. I heard Bella recording some voice reports, and man, she’s about to explode. She doesn’t like where this is all going, and I mean you, not our current situation. She blames you for the casualties and the damage on our ship.”

“That doesn’t sound at all like Bella Diaz,” John sarcastically said, rolling his eyes. “Anything else?”

“Oh, yeah. I was looking for you, you know? Xi and I were talking. We’ll have a few breaks while we get the ship repaired, so maybe you could give everyone some speech or memorial about everyone who has died since we arrived… his cousin was on Deck 10. Nobody was found.”

John had almost forgotten about those between everything going around since they arrived at Hawking-616f. Mike was right. The minimum those people deserved were some words in their memories. He looked down and nodded, informing his decision.

“It’s a good idea. LIBRA?”

“Yes, Commander Star? Lab assistant Nanoka is reciting me some paradoxical riddles I can’t seem to solve. What’s it?”

“Can you reunite everyone out of the ship? We’ll have a memorial for the fallen. Please send me a list with the names of all casualties we’ve taken. Tell the medbay personnel to wrap the bodies we have aboard around white blankets with yellow and red ribbons.”

“Hmmm. A funerary ritual. A Jovian one? Interesting opportunity to study human sociology on my own. Wait patiently, Commander. I’ll inform you when everything is ready.”

“Please do. Very well, Mike, let’s get outside.”

“We’re having a Jovian funeral? Send me out like that when they take me out.”

“Shut up,” John punched his arm. “By the way, have you heard anything about Katiya?”

“Ivanovich? Like what? Ah… Let me guess. You’re finally gonna chase the rabbit, right?” he teased.

“If only...” John rolled his eyes with a half-grin. “But it’s more serious than that. If she’s now against me like Diaz it’s going to be a pain in the ass to deal with two supervisors.”

“I know, right? Women are like Veneranskaya beer. You like them but they more often than not cause headaches.”

“Yuri and the PFSR lads don’t seem to opine the same.”

“I swear their alcohol is on another level… They’ve always surpassed us. I’ll give them credit in that.”

And so, LIBRA informed John about his assigned task being completed, and everyone left the Beyond Light to reunite below her cockpit and the edges of her massive wings. John stood on a deployable platform under both suns on the clear sky, the 23 bodies they could recover from the attack of Goliath's ships, making a row in front of him on a metallic tray.

16 soldiers stood still on two columns at both edges, Sargeant Major Derek Williams standing close to them. Everyone else was reunited in front of John and the bodies, wearing serious, melancholic expressions inside their sealed suits as they looked at their wrapped comrades.

Were those the faces of grief and mourn for those who didn’t make it? That was one of the reasons, but John could feel something else. Those bodies symbolized the dark side of project: BLACKCAT, and a rather grim future for their survival that was slowly but steadily incoming. He stood closer to the assistance drone ahead of him and spoke through its mounted microphone.

“Personnel of both INSU and PFSR, soldiers, officials, navy men, scientists, engineers, and friends, we are here reunited to commemorate the honor of those who bravely made their journey with us and fought with might, and are not returning home. They fulfilled their duty in the most honorable way.”

He made a small pause, watching everyone but the still soldiers fixating their eyes on both him and the bodies covered by red and yellow ribbons.

“But their sacrifices were not in vain. They died so we could keep fighting. Thanks to them and their example, we will prevail, and we will not hesitate in doing the same shall the need arise. May they rest in a better place now. They deserve it. Let us not forget them nor their memories. Soldiers.”

The 16 soldiers on both columns rose their weapons up. “Atten-shun!" Derek yelled. "Up your weapons! Fire!”

They shot the blue sky of brown clouds in unison, thundering on it like a bolt of natural lightning. It was a beautiful, silent day, for what one could expect on a gas giant. No storms were to be seen in the area around.

The rotors of a Firefly chopper rumbled, shooting air around, and the fat vehicle began to descend above the bodies. It sliced down a cable, and the soldiers around tied the tray on which the bodies laid on its crane. It elevated itself and flew downhill almost 2 kilometers away, where the station finalized, and only clouds and gas hovered until the inner layers of the planet rested.

Everyone marched to follow. 20 minutes after, when they reached the edge, the chopper demagnetized its crane, and let the bodies and the tray plummet to the never-ending gas. They all launched one last military salute before breaking their formation and returning to the safer uphill.

But John remained for one last moment near the black edge.

“Commander?” A masculine and formal voice sounded. Flight Colonel Xi Liang walked ahead and stood next to his side, both contemplating the splashed landscapes of helium and hydrogen around, reflecting solar light. “Thank you for your words. They mean a lot to me.”

“Wish I could say it was alright. They deserved better... Sorry about your cousin.”

“Bao always wanted to travel to other galaxies. To go beyond our solar system… I guess he fulfilled his dream, and wouldn’t have wanted to have it another way…"

"That was the same dream as my brother, Blair..."

"...let us hope we can save him," both stared for another minute in silence, before Xi broke the silence again. "I’ll see you aboard the ship.”

John launched him a soft nod before continuing to stare. To think that if maybe those lives could have been saved in some way. What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to have all the answers? They had arrived too late at Vita Nova. Blair could be dead as well already, transformed into one of those monsters.

“Commander Star?” A feminine voice sounded at his left side. Katiya stood next to him, sharing his view. “Those words were good. We don’t have people like you in the PFSR.”

“...I guess that’s a compliment. Thanks, Katiya.”

“You know something? I honestly didn’t believe you were going to be a competent commander, but you have demonstrated otherwise. Don’t go hard on yourself. Someone else would have got us killed already.”

“I wish I could promise you or everybody that it’s going to be alright and we’ll get outta this, but I’m not sure about it… Just don’t tell that to anyone. I can’t let them down as their captain.”

He slightly downed his head to meet his eyes with hers at her 172cms of height. A slight grin formed on her always stoic face. John felt understanding flushing through his chest. She moved her head to continue staring at the frenetic yet slow clouds, but a voice sounded through both' helmets.

“Commander?” Jeffrey spoke. “We are detecting incoming signals from various incoming artificial objects. Please return to the Beyond Light immediately.”