Hybrid 3, Chapter 31: The Garden of Eden

Chapter 31:
The Garden of Eden

March 5th, 2361

    Alpha hovered to Alexander’s door and knocked. Alexander and Vyla literally jumped as they were wakened by the knocking. They were still naked. Vyla covered herself in a blanket in case Alpha comes in. Alexander brightened the room as he reached for the light switch.

    “Alexander,” Alpha called through the door. “Your door is locked. Is everything alright?”

    “Yeah, everything is fine,” Alexander said as he tried. “What is it?”

    Alpha said, “Everyone is ready.”

    Alexander fell silent for a moment as he sat at the side of the bed. It was time for them to go to the Garden of Eden and stop Cahan. The Spacers and Helbots would all be gathering to use that artifact to destroy them. He started to feel nervous, unsure if he was ready.

    Alexander sighed, “I’ll be right there.”

    “Very well,” Alpha said and hovered away.

    Vyla got out of the bed and pulled her jumpsuit back on. Alexander put his pants back on. She put her arms into the sleeves as she was looking at the window. Alexander stood beside her.

    “Alex, you’re ready right?” she asked.

    “I don’t have a choice,” said Alexander.

    He looked at Vyla and they both took a moment to look at each other. They embraced and shared another kiss. He held her for as long he needed.

    “It’s time,” said Alexander.

    “Yeah,” Vyla agreed as Alexander put his shirt back on and they left his quarters.

                                       **********

    He hurried into the engineering station as his starsuit was being repaired. They tore it apart as they were trying to save his life. The suit took heavy damage when he was fighting Cahan’s Spacers. He thought would it be still be ok to use. He even thought of wearing a marine suit if the starsuit it too damage.

    In the engineering station, Yuya attached computer gadgets into Alexander’s helmet. Moses used laser saws to cut apart Helbot armor and attached it to the starsuit hovering above a circular platform. The original outer armor had been burnt to a crisp, which made it difficult to repair. Large cylinders of green-blue nanobot ooze stood at the side of the starsuit. Once Moses was finished replacing the armor, he attached many tubes into the sides of the suit and ooze started filling the layers.

    Alexander and Vyla came in and Moses greeted them. “Alexander, Yuya and I have just finished rebuilding your starsuit.”

    “Excellent,” Alexander said and looked at it. “Wow, you did a lot of changes to the armor. This is Helbot armor?”

    “That is correct,” said Moses. “I removed any implants and gadgets so Seiton wouldn’t have control over it. I kept the original design of the suit, just only changed the armor material. I was able to save some of the nanobots and replicate them.”

    The nanobots had been inserted into the suit and it was lowered into the floor. Then the back of the suit opened wide for Alexander to go in.

    “Moses you did more than just change the armor,” said Alexander feeling suspicious.

    Moses added, “The Index is not in place. Originally if you remove the Index from the starsuit, the armor material rearranges to make the suit fold-able. Now it opens the back while keeping the same structure. You will also know some other modifications as well.”

    “You did this all night?” Alexander asked.

    “With Yuya’s help of course,” Moses nodded.

    Alexander cautiously stepped his foot into the suit and then put another foot in. Yuya offered him the Index as he got his arms in. As the Index was in place, the back zipped up on its own. He began to move his arms and legs around as he was trying out his new suit.

    Moses added, “You could still communicate and move the same way as you could with the original starsuit. I have also added projectile wings.”

    Alexander raised his eyebrows. “Projectiles wings?”

    Moses nodded, “There is a button on your left wrist to push while you take off.”

    Alexander pushed the button and white wings grew out of the back of the suit. He was lifted off the ground by surprise. Everyone backed away as he was flying up the ceiling. He pushed the button again and he landed back on the floor.

    “This is cool!” Alexander smiled.

    Moses said, “I must warn you. You could only with those wings for 5 minutes. Once 5 minutes is up, you will have to wait 15 minutes for the suit to charge up and use the wings again.”

    “Got it,” said Alexander and grabbed his helmet. “Is everyone ready?”

    Everyone nodded. “Ok, it is time.”

    Alexander headed to the bridge as Vyla, Moses, and Yuya followed him from behind. When they got there, David stood next to the controls and greeted him. Aoife and Howie held their miniguns as they were ready for battle. Alpha hovered to him and awed by his new starsuit.

    “Alexander, that is a nice suit you got there,” said Alpha.

    “Thanks,” said Alexander. “Now I would be able to fight the Helbots with this.”

    “Alex, you have a huge bite on your neck,” said Aoife.

    Alexander forgot that he had the bite mark Vyla made when they were making love. “My suit doesn’t cover it.”

    “Only when you put your helmet on,” said Alpha.

    “Right,” said Alexander.

    Aoife asked, “How did you get that bite?”

    “It’s a long story,” Alexander said. “Anyway, it is time for use to head to the Ras Alhague system. We’ll go through a Spacer gate close by. Once we get to that system, turn our invisibility cloak on and fly into that Garden’s portal. Is that clear?”

    “Yes sir,” said his crew.

    “Alright, let’s do this!” Alexander shouted.

                                          **********

    Helen’s Bravery flew out of Lynx’s orbit and then the Chéseaux system. An hour later, they got into the deep regions of the Messier 14. The ship hauled as Alexander spotted a long train of Helbot ships flying into a moon. The invisibility cloak was activated and the ship flew closer to the train.

    “Remember, don’t let the ship touch them,” Alexander said to Boudicca.

    “Got it,” Boudicca nodded.

    The ship was now under one of the ships, nearly touching it. They flew in the same speed as the train. Everyone fell silent as they try to not to get the Helbots’ attention. Alexander looked through the window as they approach that satellite. The gate in the satellite would take them to the Garden of Eden in according to his plan.

    They went through the ring and found themselves at another region of space. Alexander thought this gate didn’t have a tunnel to travel through. The ships were in an unknown region of space with hazy red background and slowly fading stars being consumed by five super blackholes.

    They flew down and saw a massive large artificial structure shaped like a flower with Earth-like environments on each petal. Helbot and Spacer ships circle above the structure’s atmosphere. Helen’s Bravery flew away from the train and got closer to the structure.

    Alpha said, “So this is the Garden of Eden.”

    “This artificial space station has an Earth-like atmosphere?” Alexander asked thinking this would be an illusion.

    Alpha explained, “We know that the Garden of Eden is a Mechanoid structure used to create planets. Cahan and the Spacers want to use it as a weapon. The Mechanoids must have used this structure to create terrestrial landscapes as they try to create the planets. The surface contains 50% granite bedrock, 30% sedimentary deposits, and 20% organic soil. There is 55% vegetation and 45% ocean. Its atmosphere contains 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, and 0.1% trace gases, just like Earth. The Garden doesn’t have a glass dome to keep the atmosphere in place.”

    “Wow that is incredible!” Aoife shouted.

    “Now all we need to know is how exactly they are going to use it,” said Alexander.

    “We need to land at an area away from the Helbot activity,” said Alpha.

    “Got that,” said Alexander. “Boudicca, head this ship east to the clearing down that valley below us. We must stay hidden if we don’t want to be detected.”

    The ship flew through the structure’s atmosphere. The sky turned blue as they passed a few clouds. Mountains were covered with lush vegetation. Dark rain clouds were trapped by the peaks and unleashed rain. Their ship went through the rain clouds and the weather went from sunny to rainy. They hovered over the canopy of the jungle and dove down the slopes. As soon as they were down the valley, they hovered over an open field and landed.

    “Yuya, see if you could call General McKinley and O’Reilly,” said Alexander.

    Yuya typed the numbers on the communication panel and turned the antennae to get a clear signal. He pushed the talk button below the speakers. But the signal was static. He said to Alexander, “I can’t a clear signal.”

    “Keep adjusting while I am making the call,” said Alexander. “General McKinley and O’Reilly, this is Alexander McAuliffe of Helen’s Bravery. We have landed on the Garden of Eden. Do you copy?”

    The signal was too static to get a response. Yuya said, “It’s no use, we are too far to make contact with them.”

    Alexander asked, “Alpha, do you know exactly where we are according to the galaxy map?”

    Alpha scanned through the window and hovered into the galaxy map. “According to this, we are located at the galactic core, exactly at the very center.”

    “That explains those blackholes we have just passed,” said Aoife. “Those Mechanoids must have built that portal so we won’t get sucked in.”

    “That makes sense,” said Alpha. “The Garden of Eden is surrounded by them. Their gravitational pulls hold it in place. It is probably getting some matter and energy from them.”

    “The black holes must be blocking our signals,” said Yuya.

    Alexander said, “If we can’t communicate with the outer star systems, why don’t we try receiving signals from the Helbots without talking to them?”

    “Would that interfere with the cloak?” Yuya asked Alpha.

    “It shouldn’t,” said Moses.

    Yuya aimed the antenna down the valley and adjusted the frequency. Then he picked up a signal and adjusted to get a clearer sound. That voice was Cahan talking with the Helbots. He snarled,

    “Fabocusa had run off! He must be still working with those insects! He’s going to the library to retrieve the codex. We head to the library and stop him!”

    Alpha said, “Fabocusa is at the library.”

    “Where is it?” Alexander asked.

    “I don’t know,” said Alpha.

    Moses suggested, “If we know where the Helbots are, we can follow them without being detected.”

    Alexander asked, “Why can’t my father call us?”

    “He doesn’t want them to know we are here,” said Moses. “It is better to stay hidden until we get reinforcements.”

    Yuya said while looking at the radar. “Alex, Helbot forces are moving up to the edge of the petal left of us. These petals are each connected by cylindrical tubes. Do we have to take the ship off and fly there?”

    Then Alpha said, “I scanned more of the terrain and found what could be a teleportation platform about ten miles from us. Each petal of the Garden of Eden has one.”

    Alexander said, “Ok people, listen up. We will head to that platform and see if it is a teleportation device. If it is, we’ll use that to head to that petal with the library. We’ll go behind the Helbots and sabotaged them quietly. Remember we must stay hidden unless things go wrong. Is that clear?”

    “Yes sir,” everyone saluted.

    “Excellent,” Alexander nodded. “Get the warthogs and tanks ready. It’s time to stop this!”