Hyperion Hanger Bay
“Deck clear, Prepare for takeoff.”
“Fuel pressure, check.”
“Nav, check.”
“Environmental, check.”
“You are green across the board, Go.”
“Taking off.”
“We’ve got the fuel, plotting a course with a burn. We have to catch up.”
“What are we going to do when we get there? Destroy it?”
“I know what to do. At least I think I know what to do.”
The heavier G made Alberto and Zephyr groan a little. They had only just been restored by the Pygmalion’s surgical recoveries.
“You two, you okay??” The Captain was focused on his panels. He had trained for acceleration but it still didn’t make it easier.
They each gave small nods.
PROXIMITY ALERT - APPROACHING THE HARVEST said the panels.
“Okay, good news. Closing in. What now?”
“I’m going to connect with ‘the Harvest’.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t, I just do, I just know. I remember.”
HEAT AND ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNATURES INCREASING said the panels.
“Turn on comms, I’m going to talk with the Harvest…. It’s me.”
“UNCONFIRMED I.D. VERIFY PLEASE. WHO ARE YOU?”
“It’s me, It’s us.”
“REQUEST VERIFICATION. MEMORY RECALL.”
The Captain looked over at Alberto. “What’s that??”
“It wants me to prove that I’m me. When I was dying a part of me was in the ship when it was reset and launched. It will know what I know, my memories.”
WARNING COUNTERMEASURES DETECTED, TARGETING LIDAR.
“Hurry up, it’s going to do something to us.”
Alberto took in a deep breath.
“Mom’s name is Grace Wangu Necker. She met father at the Cooperative. Maman told me a story about how they met.”
“WARNING MISSILE ARRAY TARGETING DETECTED”
“Alberto…,” Necker reached over to his panels, looking for something to shoot at the Harvest.
“Maman wasn’t interested at first but she said what got her was father took her on a tour through a place she grew up in, a forest. She used to explore and play in it, and learned about all the living things there. It was beautiful day. Much later on, father brought her there, and proposed to her but it was cloudy and when the rain started, he got on his knees and promised her if she said yes, he would find a way to part the clouds, and give her the sun…”
“WARNING MISSILE ARRAY LIDAR ACTIVE TARGETING DETECTED”
The Captain began flicking on a weapons panel.
“… and She said ‘yes’. She said she would have said ‘yes’ even if rained a thousand years.
When Maman was sick, father did everything he could. That’s when I, when we, tried to do the right thing. We tested the Pygmalion chamber to upload my memories, and my code, everything about me. Maybe we could save mom. It didn’t work out that way. By the time father stabilized our pattern, we lost Maman. Father thought about killing himself but he stopped and saved me, saved us. I’m here, you’re in the ship.
We tried to test the Tanglement. We hurt a lot of people, many are dead, like Maman, gone.
You have to stop. We have to go. Maman would want us to stop.”
“MISSILE ARRAY LIDAR DEACTIVATED. NO TARGETING.”
The Captain exhaled.
“I think it worked, you talked it, you talked ‘yourself’ out of it.”
“We can dock.”
The panels pinged green.
They prepared for matching flight trajectories for docking.
They headed back to Hyperion.
“Hyperion, this is Lawrence, we’re coming back.”
Luna, South Aitken Basin, Shackleton Crater, Hyperion, The Grace, Pygmalion
Necker stood up and began to walk to the Deck.
“I’m going to burn the files and destroy it all. It will be as if it never happened.
Someday someone else will rediscover all of this. Someone better.
Until then, let them discover the worlds they already have and one sun, that will be more than enough for a long time.
There is plenty left over to explore. You and Zephyr.”
Alberto looked at Necker. Necker smiled, his eyes didn’t look so wild, they looked happy, tired but content.
Alberto looked over at Zephyr.
She smiled, “I told you I had more work ahead, another masterpiece.”
Necker looked over at the Captain, “You have your answer, Captain, not the one you thought you were looking for but it answers the right questions.”
“A lot of people, Mr. Necker, a lot of people died because of you. You sacrificed many lives because you couldn’t live with being a human like the rest of us. You couldn’t bear the heartache so you broke so many others. You have a lot to answer for.”
“I will. I do have much to answer for. The cooperative was complicit. They committed a billion sins of omission for greed, whereas I did it for love. But they were still all sins.”
“You will be taken back down the well to answer for your crimes. This place has to go under administrative control.”
“I’m going with you, you have no resistance. I got part of what I wanted. My son is alive.
Everything else is lost. This place will not fall in anybody’s hands…,” Necker raised a hand to silence the Captain’s objections.
“… No, that I will not permit. Let’s not pretend, that was going to happen the moment someone takes over. You’re a good man, Captain, I see that. You came for my son, whether you knew it or not. Well, you’re not getting my son.
You’re getting me. I will return with you and testify, not only about me, but about others in the Cooperative. It looks like your friend in Houston might be promoted, again, to a much higher job.”
“Robin?”
“Yes, my son has explained what was doing. Brilliant and unexpected. Like his mother…,”
Necker, shook his head but he was not angry, he looked at his son with pride.
“I was too slow to recognize it but my son was truly Grace’s in the ways that counted most. They’ll try to do it again. The Cooperative, under Houston. And then how many more people will be killed, Captain?”
The lights began to change, the alerts began to sound.
“Necker, we have control of the reactors.” asked the Captain.
“It’s not the reactors. There were charges set in place by security, not for my sake. It was the Cooperative’s last pathetic attempt to control me. I broke through their encryption and turned them off. Don’t bother asking me to turn it off, it can’t be. We have an hour, don’t waste it looking for the charges.”
“ATTENTION, PLEASE BEGIN EVACUATION PROTOCOL. ONE HOUR COUNTDOWN” said the base.
“Tommy, begin evac.”
“Copy that. Attention all teams, report for evac. Escort remaining personnel to the hangers. We’re taking every ship and rover left.”
“Let’s go Zephyr, we have to help with the evacuation. We can use “the Harvest”.”
“Alberto, I want that ship after we’re done.,” said the Captain.
Alberto said nothing as he hurried out to help with the evacuation. Necker smiled.
“Last one Cap. Last ride to Armstrong. All aboard!”
Tomassina yelled from the shuttle hatch.
Moments after launching, Necker looked down through the sun-filtered port, to see the dust trail of the last of the rovers leaving.
Bright flashes and dust plumes erupted around Hyperion.
“Goodbye, Love.” Said Necker. He held his head down. The forest was sealed away for good.
Luna, Armstrong
“Single file everyone, that’s it, go to those lines, someone will be there to help you get food, water, and shelter.”
Necker stepped out of the shuttle. He saw Tomassina talking with TwoTwo.
“Cap, welcome back. I can’t believe it, you brought back Necker himself. He’s for real.”
“TwoTwo, thanks. Any problems?”
“No, Cap. After we evac’d from Grissom, we reached Armstrong. No problem. There was a little welcoming committee, the last of Hyperion’s muscle but they gave up, guess they heard about Grissom caving in …”
TwoTwo smiled, Necker gripped him on the shoulder in thanks.
“But we got them back all safe. Aleksander was waiting for us, waiting for his family.”
The Administrator walked over. He extended his hand to Necker.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Necker, I can’t believe it.”
“He’s cooperating.”
“And.. The reason you came up here?”
“The ledger?”
“Did you find the contract and download him?”
“I found a person…” said Necker while Alekesander looked confused, “and he should be here somewhere. In that ship, the Harvest.”
“That ship?? It dropped off passengers, from Hyperion…”
“Yes, we had to leave Shackleton in a hurry, and he used the ship to help … I told him, I wanted that ship. I have Necker, but I also need to take custody of…”
“That’s just it, it dropped off those people… and then took off…”
The Captain walked back to the ship he evacuated on, where Necker was sitting on a crate, smiling.
“Where is he?”
“He’s not coming back.”
“What do you mean he’s not…?”
“I mean, he and Zephyr aren’t coming back. They’re taking that ship and leaving.”
“Where?”
Necker looked up, “Out there. They’re not coming back, Captain. They don’t belong here. My son is going to find a future for himself and that girl, out there. When the human race is ready, we’ll join them someday. But not today. We’re not ready.”
The Captain put his hands on his sides of his hips, looked down at his boots, and then up.
“Until then.”
TwoTwo, Tomassina, and Aleksander stared at them.
“Aleksander, after we’ve taken care of all these people, I need a ride back down the well, for two. Come on, Necker, until our ride is ready, let’s make ourselves useful….”
AI lexica art prompt
portrait of a gorgeous young woman trapped in a transparent dome, bubble, intricate, headshot, highly detailed, digital painting, artstation, concept art, sharp focus, cinematic lighting, illustration, art by artgerm and greg rutkowski, alphonse mucha, cgsociety