The Secret Beneath the Ice

PART 1 - A STUNNING WORLD

A crisp chime echoed within the command bay, and Oonak's eyes flashed open. He was a tall man of indeterminate age, and his light brown skin contrasted starkly against his silvery uniform as he sat in the command chair in the center of the room.

"Sleep cycle complete. Vital signs and ship systems are nominal."

Memories of the last few weeks rushed back to him. Even though Oonak had only known Navika for a short time before they'd departed, the ship was now second nature to him. Of course, he wasn't entirely surprised. He had long reveled at how effortless and natural it was to converse with a thoughtship solely through his mind. And when it came to thoughtships, Navika was a rising star.

From the outside, Navika was a three-sided ivory pyramid about seven meters in height, and from the inside it was more spacious than anyone could ever guess. That is, if one was lucky enough to ever see Navika at all, for the ship was outfitted with the most advanced cloaking systems Sumanas had ever created. It was necessary, they had said, for the critical mission Oonak had taken on. And for many days now, Oonak and Navika had slipped almost completely undetected across vast swathes of the western spiral arm of the galaxy.

"Any sign of the Enemy?" he asked.

"Negative." Navika replied. "It's possible they haven't made it out this far. However, I recommend once again that you spend your sleep cycle in your quarters. Falling asleep in the command chair is not recommended for an optimal sleep cycle. You know that as well as I do."

"Indeed, but I have my reasons."

"Irrelevant. By ignoring my advice, you are putting your mental alertness at risk. You cannot allow what happened to Lorelle to disrupt your focus now, Oonak. Need I remind you that the Sumanas High Command have put their complete faith in our ability to conduct this mission and return intact? After all, there is no one out here to help us."

"Of that, I am exceedingly aware. And please do not mention Lorelle. Why do you do that? You somehow consistently bring up the one subject that I do not want to focus on, especially during a mission of such importance."

"What subject is that?"

"Death."

"That is blatantly false! I seek only to understand any weaknesses you have and to adequately compensate for them. That is why I ask you now: why have you repeatedly ignored my recommendation to sleep in the appropriate place?"

For a moment, Oonak regretted that the mindcap allowed him to have long conversations with Navika in the space of only a few seconds. In times like these, he found Navika's insistence irritating and would have preferred to hear the ship's crisp voice echo throughout the cabin instead of within his own mind.

"Logically," Oonak said patiently, "by sleeping here, I reduce my reaction time should they attack while I am asleep. If we see them, I do not want to be anywhere else."

Navika was silent. The wall ahead was completely transparent now, and a pale blue dot was just visible against the expanse of stars before them.

"When will we be within range?"

"Three minutes, sixteen-seconds."

Oonak sat in silence for some time, admiring the world as they grew nearer. As more details filled his view, he couldn't help but notice similarities to his own world, except that it was much bluer. Oceans ruled most of its surface with a spattering of a few continents as their only rival. Yet, there was more. Now that Oonak was closer, he noticed a wealth of island chains scattered throughout the planet, some clustered around continents and some amidst the vast oceans. These archipelagos were not unlike many he'd seen before, except something was different.

He strained to figure out what it was.

And then his perspective shifted and he saw one simple and remarkable difference: the forests that covered them were a radiant shade of blue.

"Intriguing..." The word left Oonak's mouth slowly so that it seemed to float in the air for a few moments. "Navika, can you confirm that what we are seeing is non-verdant flora?"

"Affirmative. Foliage hue ranges from cyan near the poles to near indigo at the equatorial regions."

"Is there anything similar in Confederation records?"

"Yes, but it is exceedingly rare. It seems we have stumbled across a rare gem."

"Indeed, it seems we have. Can you confirm Hatchling Status?"

"Confirmed. No timespace signatures detected. However, I have detected hundreds of active cities, including observational and communications satellites in varying orbits around the planet, although nothing remarkable. No one on Avani will ever know we were here."

As magnified views of various cities below flashed into Oonak's mind, his understanding of the planet grew, and as his understanding grew, the more excited he became. Here was a compassionate civilization. Everywhere he looked, they strived to create a balance between their own technology and the surrounding environment. The Enemy would never harm this place. Oonak would make sure of this.

"Quite a stunning world, isn't it?" A wave of conviction swept over Oonak in a way that he hadn't felt in a long time. "We are going to meet them someday. Mark my words, Navika. We are going to meet the Avanians. They will join the Confederation. My intuition tells me nothing else."

"Oonak, I've just detected an intense epsilon pulse emanating from the surface of the planet. It's possible that such an intense burst could disrupt the cloaking field."

"Move out of range so that-"

And then everything around him exploded with light and noise.