Aetheran Child Read online

  The tin box slid open on the top and revealed a thick liquid. Lexan dipped his hand inside and watched the gel climb up over his skin and envelop him within a minute. He had to close his eyes as it spread over his face. Lexan shivered slightly as it seeped deep into his pores like cold icy water. When the boy opened his eyes, the liquid drowned his irises and enter his pupils. When he screamed, the liquid traveled inside his mouth.

  The process ended abruptly and the boy realized he did not feel the substance anymore. At the bottom of the box lay a set of clothing, shorts and a short-sleeve shirt. Both were black with a red button from which several red lines spanned and enveloped the pieces. The clothing was not particularly tight but it did somehow fit. Alexander pressed the buttons once they started flashing and the fabric tightened and wrapped closely around his body, but not too tightly as to cut the circulation. It warmed the boy’s body when he shivered and it kept the moisture level on his skin comfortable. He left the bathroom promptly.

  “Raki?” Lexan asked.

  “Call me Master or Master Raki. What is it?” The man asked as he left the navigation room opposite the hallway.

  “What was that stuff in the box?” The boy asked.

  “The liquid you put on were nanobiots, they will shield you from diseases, infections, well anything that your body is not used to and cannot defend against. They will also continuously upgrade your immunity system and your body’s ability to shield you from various poisons and radiation.

  “The clothing you are wearing is a basic uniform that we use on starships. It regulates temperature for comfort and keeps your body pressurized in case of a leak. It may not do much but it will help you survive. It also adds a psychological effect with the constant pressure against your body. It may sound stupid but it will make you feel less alone.”

  “Alone?”

  “The isolation of space causes many disorders and a dynamic pressure against the body prevents some of those. The red lines check your vital signs and send out a signal to the nav computer for further monitoring. It is also self-cleaning. That’s about it.”

  Lexan stared at his clothing for a second and turned to Ma Raki again, “So what now?”

  “Last thing to put on,” The master stepped away to show a robotic suit. It was a body suit with black comfortable upholstery inside and a sleek silver finish outside that revealed subtle muscular structures. Inside, even a corpulent body could fit. A steel mask stared dispassionately ahead. Ma Raki waved his hand over the steel expressionless mask to show a more comforting emotion of peace with a slight smile, “You can change the face plate to any particular emotion but not now.”

  Lexan looked over the suit in dismay.

  Master Raki saw the look and so he explained, “It’s a robotic enhancement suit. It will provide you with extraordinary strength, speed, and endurance.” He walked over to the suit and exposed his arm, “It will enhance your muscle tissue and boost your abilities. It also serves as a training module. For now though, it will bring you up to speed with the kids your age on the planet and serve as life support during hibernation.”

  “I’m no kid,” Lexan mumbled as he walked over to the suit and watched it snap open at several places intended for the boy’s limbs and body. He slid his feet into the bottom part.

  “It’s cold.” He said.

  “The suit will adjust the temperature when you are completely submerged inside.”

  The boy continued by putting his arms in the cushioned holsters and raised his arms to secure the pieces. The suit snapped shut and closed up completely behind Lexan. Excessive air hissed as it was pushed out. Back part of the suit clicked several times and tightened around the boy. Temperature finally stabilized and the boy felt sudden comfort inside. He bent over and placed the final piece, a helmet, over his head and it, too, snapped shut.

  “The helmet has a translator built in,” Master Raki informed the boy, “Most of the inner-suit functions can be toggled on and off with a simple, concise thought or a hand movement.” The Master curled his hand into a fix and stuck out his small finger. Lexan repeated the movement and a sweet voice answered, “Smart Vision on.” The boy smiled at this and tried several random hand movements

  As the boy moved around in the suit, which felt weightless, he noticed that the helmet improved his vision and whenever he stared at a certain object long enough, a description with several pathways would overlay his vision.

  “What else can the suit do?” He asked.

  “It has numerous functions. You’ll have to read the manual to know all of them. It’s rather useless because you will have to wear it only during hibernation.”

  Lexan proceeded to mess with the suit some more and made a simple hand movement shown in the corner of his smart vision.

  “Good day. How shall I service you?” A computer voiced greeted the boy.

  The boy smiled at the pleasant surprise. He was happy; he would definitely have to explore all the suit could do.

  “Do you know who I am?” He asked cautiously and saw an icon at the edge of the screen indicate

  “No, but I can access the data on the ship’s computer if you have a registered profile,” the computer answered.

  “Main computer?” The boy called out but noticed no change in the mute icon.

  “Las cannot hear you at the moment. The conversation is set on private,” The suit answered.

  “What is your name then?” Lexan wondered for a second if he will have to remember the name of every single computer he will encounter.

  “My name is Braynya or Bran.”

  “Thank you, now could you contact Las?”

  “Yes, she is in.”

  “Las,” he called out, “Can you tell Bran who I am?”

  “Done,” Both computers answered at once.

  “Lexan?” Master Raki watched the boy closely for a few seconds.

  “Yes?” he replied a few seconds later, once he figured out how to unmute his suit.

  “It looks like you are getting the hang of it but you will need to enter hibernation soon,” Master Raki responded.

  He didn’t want to go but his teacher did not seem like a man that would take no for an answer. Lexan was at his mercy for the time being.

  Raki took out a syringe and emptied it into a hole that led from his neck to his back where it disappeared.

  “Injection sedative, approve?” Bran asked.

  “Yes.” Lexan approved and a little while later, something stung him in his left arm. He was sure it was an injection and its sedatives. After a few short moments, Lexan felt sleepy and very drowsy. He walked toward the hibernator chamber and opened it. He turned around, lied down, and quickly, fell asleep.

  III

  Hibernation entails a process in which the body slows down to its minimum sustainable state. The temperature decreases, and the heart beats once every few minutes. It may take days until the user can reach such stasis but once it happens, he or she will experience total loss of consciousness. Before that takes place, the user will experience dreams and hallucinations that not even the strongest hallucinogens can generate. And so, Alexander dreamt.

  IV

  Is this a dream? The boy thought. Darkness spread all around with no light to pierce it. Lexan felt a sense of repetition except this dream was unlike the others. It did not include any flashes, no sudden thoughts, or figures as he had seen before. He stood still and called out.

  “Where am I?” He expected no answer in return.

  “We’re going to the dance, remember?” said the person next to him.

  The boy looked questioningly upon a girl next to him and then he froze in shock. Alary looked back at him and nudged him with her elbow. She wore a dark blue robe that matched her eyes. The robe fit tightly against her torso where a thin silver ribbon fastened it. It widened, however, at her ankles and also at the sleeves which bore ornamental silver-lined letters. The girl’s hair went down to her shoulders with a few elegant curls and silver, matching, dyed stra
nds. She resembled a character in a fairy-tale because her thorough beauty stunned Alexander.

  The boy looked down upon his robes. He too was dressed up, but he wore dark brown robes, so dark they may have been black, with a golden line coming down the middle from the bottom to the neck. It was also a bit tighter at the ankles, about only shoulder wide. Unlike Alary’s robes, his covered his whole body, while hers were low-cut. He felt the tightness of the fabric across his chest. Lexan noticed a single symbol on his shoulder with the same golden motif.

  He also noticed that his hair was no longer long but rather short and spiked with gel in a chaotic way.

  Within a few moments, the boy noticed that both of them stood in a large room. It was more of a theatre or an auditorium but without any chairs. He and Alary walked through enormous ancient doors that instead of opening outside or inside, completely disappeared into nothingness.

  Strange creatures crowded the enormous structure. Large spiders stood upon their numerous legs, human-looking beings eyed him with ease. They were blue, green, stripe-skinned, with horns, tails, duplicate eyes, and other features showing. Some head animal-like faces while others did not bear any markings or parts upon their heads at all. They were faceless, devoid of noses, mouths, and even eyes.

  They all expectantly watched Alary and Alexander. The boy noticed a single girl waving at him, which caused him to feel warmth around his heart. It started beating loudly so loudly in fact, that Lexan felt the urge to scream at it to shut up. He felt a sting in his arm, and his heart quieted into a murmur.

  Next to the girl stood a boy, also waving, happily. A spider next to the boy created flashed a myriad of colors with one of his legs, no, tentacles, which replaced a symbolic wave.

  Everything around, Lexan noticed, was blurry. He could not focus his eyes on anyone else beside those three and Alary. Even as he looked around and tried to distinguish the strange creatures, he realized that he never saw all diversity, he inherently knew it.

  Music started playing, distorted again.

  “This must be a dream,” Alexander muttered to himself and then turned to Alary, “Alary, I will never you again. The real you is back on Earth. Everything is gone.”

  “What?!” She asked in surprise and with that everything shattered and disappeared.

  Once again, Lexan fell into the darkness of sleep and hibernation.

  CHAPTER SIX

  I

  A hiss sounded pierced the total silence. Needles pressed tightly against Lexan’s skin from all around. The boy could hear Raki’s voice reverberate through his head.

  “Do not move, Lexan. I am using an alien equivalent of acupuncture. A wrong move will cause you pain,” The world cleared and the haze dropped as the boy opened his eyes to see the professor making adjustments on some device, “It was actually us, Aetherals, this technique to the Earthlings.” Master Raki chuckled and the needles withdrew from Lexan’s body.

  “Done. Now get up and let’s go eat. We have a lot of material to cover and we need to start right away. I also have a new suit for you,” Raki moved onto the central computer console in middle of the room which changed its texture to wood instead of metal.

  “Should I take my suit off now?” the boy asked, his throat dry and voice raspy.

  “In exactly fourteen minutes it will be six months, which is the required time. An alarm will sound at that time, “Master Raki abandoned the table and walked around the room. He took a box out of shelving that was not there before, “Put this on, it’s a new and better suit.”

  Lexan opened the box and laid a silver suit in front of him. Its metallic sheen sparkled from the lights above. A thin monitor lined the forearm on top. More display screens lined the shoulders and the back. They seemed to be woven into the fabric and did not protrude in any way nor did they affect the thickness of the suit. A monitor on the chest read “A student in or before initial training” and then switched to a blue rectangle with “logo” written in the middle.

  Dark circles lined the waist and the back meant to hold other pieces of the suit stored in the box.

  Raki laid out the other pieces made of light metals onto the middle console. There were large rings, bracelets, lining, and a silver belt. All the items shared common patterned ridges.

  “These fit on the suit. They will snap on automatically and -”

  A loud beeping noise interrupted the man.

  “Master Raki, please report to the cockpit. In Training student Alexander, please report to the dorsal turret.” Las announced.

  “Lexan, put on the suit and get to the turret.” The man left and ran to the cockpit. The doors, strangely enough, absorbed him and then solidified again.

  Slight vibrations shivered through the ship as the main thrusters powered on. The inertia inside the ship was unnoticeable.

  The boy dismantled the metal suit he wore for some six month and suddenly flew into the air.

  The artificial gravity seemed to have worked only with the suit. Lexan quietly swore and kicked off the ceiling toward the main room console. The weightlessness was amusing for a short while until he became nauseas and sought something to grab onto when the ship massively shook. The boy swayed harshly into a wall and his back cracked under the force of impact. Lexan winced and pushed off again toward his new suit.

  Grabbing the suit, he grabbed the edge of the table just as the ship shook again. Waiting a few seconds as a precaution, Alexander finally put on the tight-fitted shimmering cloth. Lexan noticed the condition his body was in, top shape. He had aged, grown to have a swimmer’s body, lean and strong. He marveled at it as he pulled on the suit and noticed the gravity return once again. Next, Lexan finished the suit by putting on the arm bracelets and other parts as well as a silvery liquid that automatically nestled itself inside the suit.

  “Please, put on the helmet, Lexan” Bran called out in a crystal clear voice.

  The boy opened another box close by and took out the helmet which was of spherical shape with a ridged front with air intake. It looked like a motorcycle helmet and it was cushioned a similar way inside as well except that it had several needles protruding on the sides.

  “Please put on the helmet,” Bran repeated and he placed the helmet carefully over his head, afraid of the needles, but felt nothing.

  “During your hibernation, I was instructed to insert standard nano structures into your brain as well as standard interface slots. As of now, you can speak the galactic standard as if it was your native language.

  “There are many other features which you can access with a single thought. Unfortunately, now is not the time to discuss this.”

  “Where’s the turret?” Lexan asked and looked around for some kind of opening.

  “Go to your cabin, there is an opening in the ceiling.”

  He walked and opened the door. A small trapdoor above appeared. When Lexan touched it, it slid open and the floor below rose upward. The ceiling inside the “turret” was strangely low so that the boy had to half crawl toward a circular indent wherein a set of screens displayed various information.

  A chair rose up from the floor and enveloped the boy. He found himself in space, he was still inside the turret but he was somehow outside, sitting on the smooth polished starship. His hands had become guns, enormous rail guns. He turned his head and the view shifted to the inside again.

  “The turret view will adjust to your needs. I will initialize the standard protocol.” Once again, Lexan found himself in the outer space, but it was red. Clouds of red and red stars swirled all around along with three or four other starships that were actively circling the boy and the starship he stayed on, The Needle.

  They attacked continuously but the power shields of The Needle held up very well. The vessels discharged concentrate beams of what looked like light. Some created purposeful rips in the space, it looked like, which siphoned energy into a black abyss.

  “I see you are in the turret. This ship has a charge particle cannon and multi-dimensio
nal pulse guns. I will put you on manual control in a second,” Raki spoke to Lexan. The boy instinctively touched a few of the screens surrounding him and guns rose from their grooves around him.

  As the ships zoomed in and out of range, triangular markers encompassed them. The guns started expelling massive beams of energy. One of the pulses hit a propeller of an enemy fighter, which spiraled out of control. The fighter slowed down considerably and winked out of existence.

  “Who are we fighting?” The boy asked the Master and swiveled around to track the remaining targets.

  “They are most likely from the mercenaries from the Outlaw Alliance trying to disable our ship and sell it for parts. It’s a prototype and they’re probably going after that.” Lexan thought to himself questioningly at the word “Nethers” but before he could ask Master Raki anything about that Las announced that the outer shields are down and the Hull emergency shield will not hold for long.

  “We need a boost or we’ll die,” Mt. Raki growled and the ship took a turn and accelerated. A low humming sound vibrated throughout the ship. It grew louder and louder with more beats joining in to form a pattern of a song. Lexan took a deep breath, feeling the music penetrate his body and invigorate him.

  He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, the universe seemed to slow down. The enemy ships gave off a faint glow, a glow that extended forward, mapping out their course.

  Lexan swiveled in the turret and started shooting aggressively, following the glowing lines backward toward the fighters. Within seconds, the ship imploded and once again, the ship disappeared into the glowing nothingness of the red space.

  Two ships remained. Lexan turned toward them and decided to use the multi-dimensional pulse and see its effects. An extending opaque fabric of space extended and then collapsed into a swirling sphere. The sphere accelerated and hit one of the ships where, upon collision, it enveloped the fighter and crushed it, absorbing even the most aggressive eruptions caused by the engines. The other ship was unfortunate enough to be in the direct path of a shock wave that followed.