The Cartographer (4 page)

“What was that?” I gasped.

Calypso touched the panel and the wall covered the monitor. “That happened to your people over 200,000 years ago.”

I looked at him incredulously. “That's impossible. The Earth never had cities like that 200,000 years ago.”

Calypso turned on the lights and the panels in the ceiling slid closed, cutting off the view of Earth. He smiled and motioned for me to follow him out of the room.

“You are correct, Nathan.” When I got to the door, he placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “But that wasn't Earth.”

Men Are From Mars…

I
turned toward him, my eyes narrowing. “OK, I'll bite. If that wasn't Earth, what was it?”

Calypso's answer was interrupted by a tall, muscular, gray-skinned humanoid wearing a black tunic manufactured from some sort of alien synthetic fabric that I had never seen paired with form-fitting pants that reminded me of Spandex. He wore a symbol on the left side of his chest depicting a gold star with a comet splitting the center. He fixed me with a sour look before shifting his gaze to Calypso.

“I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but we need to leave Earth's orbit. A Russian satellite is scheduled to pass by this region shortly.”

“Nathan, I would like you to meet the captain of the Cirrus,” Calypso said and placed his hand on the man's shoulder.

I held out my hand and he looked toward Calypso, who offered him a small nod. Reluctantly he shoved his hand in mine and it felt like I clutched a piece of granite.

“Captain Natronix,” he offered. “I apologize for your situation, but you should have plenty of time to complain to Satou during the return voyage.”

I retracted my hand and made sure it was still attached to my arm. “Return voyage?”

“Go ahead and set course for the Argus,” Calypso interrupted.

“Wait a minute, what's going on. What planet was that on the video? And what does he mean by `return voyage'?” My voice cracked as I rapid-fired questions at him.

“Remain calm, Nathan,” Calypso replied calmly. “I am sure Satou explained the issues in returning you to the planet at this time. Earth is not prepared for that yet.”

The mysterious statement caught me off guard and caused my anger to roll away like a tumbleweed. “What the heck does that mean?”

He grabbed my elbow gently. “I assure you all will be explained in time. In fact, I have had Satou set you up with your own private quarters for the journey. I am sure you will find the accommodations to your liking.”

I followed him down the hall and decided to hold my questions for later. Satou was standing outside a metallic door with two decorative metal bars forming an X across the front. When he saw us he turned and pressed a button on the wall panel, causing the door to slide open from the middle, like a mouth ready to swallow us whole.

“I put this room together from intelligence gathered on Earth so I hope you like it,” Satou said. “If we missed anything, please speak up.”

I entered, and my mouth dropped open when I realized I looked upon my bedroom back on Earth. The television stood in the northeast corner of the room with an Xbox attached to it. My bed along the far wall (with the same bed sheets) and my computer desk, complete with a laptop, sat in the southeast corner. Everything started to blur when tears of homesickness rimmed in my eyes and the reality of it all hit me—I was never going to see home again. Sam would forever be alone in his adventures and neither he nor my parents would ever understand what happened to me. God only knew what the news reports said right now about my disappearance.
Remote cave eats teenager, news at 11.

“It is tough, Nathan, to be taken from your home and thrown in the middle of the unknown,” Satou sympathized. “We are here for you, whether you believe that or not.”

I sat at the makeshift computer desk and placed my hand over my stomach. I could feel it rumbling and suddenly remembered that it had been some time since I ate anything.

“Well, for starters, I haven't eaten in a while. Is there any way you could get me a cheeseburger or something?”

“I am afraid I don't know what a cheeseburger is, but let me show you how you can feed yourself from this room.”

Satou walked over to the west wall where stood a metallic box similar to the one that popped out a soda earlier. He pushed a button that had a picture of a sandwich and typed in the word
Cheez Berger
. The machine hummed for a minute before a red flashing
ERROR
message splashed across the digital screen. He scratched his head and looked at me, perplexed.

“Um, you spelled it wrong,” I chuckled. I moved around him and typed in
cheeseburger
and the door slid open. Out popped a cheeseburger on a red plate with fresh steam wafting from it.

“This machine is called a Sustanant,” Satou beamed. “It is one of Caelum's greatest engineered products. It has the ability to transform any organic waste product and re-engineer it into an edible food product. I programmed this machine to include most delicacies on Earth.”

“Are you trying to tell me that this cheeseburger is made from poop?” I grimaced and slid the plate away.

Satou frowned. “No, not really. Try it, I guarantee you will like it.”

I didn't move toward the burger. I continued to scowl at it like it was a moldy piece of bread weeping raw sewage.

“How about I make you a deal?” Satou asked. “If it tastes like some kind of waste product, I will resign my position as ship's Engineer and request that Calypso promote you in my place.”

I narrowed my eyes, lifted the burger to my lips and willed myself to take a bite and overcome my doubts. It smelled like a cheeseburger, but I wasn't sure if they used some sort of alien odor eater or some contraption to make it endearing to unsuspecting humans. Despite my reservations, my hunger overwhelmed me and I took a bite. The meat was bland and tasted like average fast food, but it was indeed an edible burger and not hamburger-shaped feces. My rumbling stomach accepted it and I swallowed it so fast that I almost choked myself in the process. Satou grabbed a drink from the Sustanant and held it out for me. Cold, stale water washed away what remained of the burger.

“Thank you,” I sputtered.

Satou turned to walk away but I grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at me. He turned back and cocked an eyebrow.

“Wait a minute, I want to ask you something,” I blurted, inadvertently spitting hamburger bits on his tentacle beard.

He showed no reaction to the little specks of cheese dangling off his chin, and I found that his indifference made it hard for me to read the emotions of an octopus.

“Calypso showed me a video of a planet being attacked. The planet looked like Earth, but he said it wasn't. I know it sounds crazy, and I hope I'm not just rambling like a scared kid. I guess if I'm going to be spending time aboard this ship, exploring the galaxy with you people, I will need to put on my big boy pants but I need to know the truth. It looked like human beings jumping out of those burning buildings. So what's the deal Satou, was it
Earth
?” My emphasis on the word highlighted the panic creeping into my voice but I didn't care. I just wanted them to be straight with me.

Satou looked at me through sorrowful eyes. “Calypso was not lying to you, Nathan. What you saw was not Earth.”

“But?” I prodded.

He sighed, heaving his peacock-like chest. “You are correct, they were human. What you saw, however, happened a long time ago when they were attacked by an ancient force that the Consortium is afraid to mention. They dare not whisper their name even in the darkest shadows of the deepest cave under Mount Varnok.”

I had no idea where Mount Varnok was and I didn't care, I needed to get to the bottom of the mystery.

“Why are you afraid?”

Satou crossed his arms and fixed me with a fearless gaze, despite his claims otherwise. “They were evil, which is all I can say at this time.”

I threw up my hands in exasperation. “OK, so where did we come from?” I stood and pounded my chest dramatically, driving the point home with each thrust. “If not Earth, than where? I think I deserve to know the truth.”

Satou looked away and hovered over the Sustanant. “Your race came from a planet not far from where Earth is now. It was close,” he added cryptically. “We were afraid there was no compatible planet nearby.”

“Jesus Christ, will you stop being so damn mysterious and answer the question!”

“Mars,” Satou whispered. “You were watching the initial invasion of Mars.”

I slumped into my chair. I was speechless and thoughts fed upon what remained of my sanity like vultures on road kill. Everything I had ever been taught about the evolution of man and life on Earth just flew out the window. The textbooks; hell, even the Bible, you might as well just toss them out too.
It's spring cleanin' time for the ol' noggin, Nathan
.

Satou sat at the end of the bed and studied me. “I know this is a lot for you to process, but if you are to understand the Explorer's League then it is best that you know everything. Thirty one days after the initial attack, the hostiles launched chemical weapons, scorching the planet surface and creating holes in the atmosphere, eventually leading to total atmospheric loss. Initially, the Consortium received reports of the invaders entering Martian airspace and the Consortium launched support efforts, but our technology was archaic during that time period. Unfortunately we were too late, Nathan. The Defense Fleet managed to rescue just under 10,000 survivors before they destroyed the planet.”

I swallowed hard, trying to remove the sandbag that returned to my throat. “Rescued?”

“The population of Mars at the time of the attack was over 2.7 billion. Millions were destroyed during the first wave of attacks. We had no idea of the extent of their viciousness and had been caught unprepared.”

“Who was responsible?” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

Satou's eyes shifted nervously side to side and his chin tentacles matched the movements. Rubbing his hands together he hesitated, as if speaking their name would cause the ship to spontaneously combust in the middle of space.

“The Lumagom,” he muttered. “A hostile force of alien beings, a collective of various races throughout the universe with one mission—the destruction of all sentient life.”

“Why?” I asked.

The bed creaked as Satou stood up and he suddenly made his way to the door. Without turning to look at me he said something that made tiny icicles poke the base of my spine. “Sometimes, Nathan Chambers, ignorance is bliss. Unfortunately, to be a part of the Explorer's League, I am afraid it is a luxury we cannot afford. When the time is right, you will learn a lot of things about the universe, including the Lumagom, but you can rest assured with the knowledge that we have not had contact with them for centuries.”

A puzzled look crossed my face. “What are you trying to tell me?”

“I spoke with Calypso before he took you on the tour,” he said without turning around. “We agreed, based on your background, that you would be good fit with the Explorer's League. You have an explorer's spirit, Nathan, but to adapt to our way of life, you need to access the information that we have accumulated during our travels. That includes information regarding your roots, alien races, hostile forces, the Consortium hierarchy and others pertinent to our cause.”

“My background?” I snorted. “What background is that; my wonderful cave diving failures or my ability to kick ass in Guitar Hero?”

Satou shook his head, stepped out of the room and was gone. I was alone with my thoughts inside my makeshift bedroom among my makeshift belongings. The longer I stared at the closed door, the more I believed I had been imprisoned rather than accommodated.

I switched on the computer and watched it start with the familiar Windows jingle. Apparently Microsoft's dominance in the operating system world extended to space. Familiar icons mixed with the unknown on the screen but it was the desktop wallpaper that caused a lump to form in my throat. It was a picture of me flanked by my parents during a trip to Corpus Christi last year. My father had his arm around me and I was frozen in an eye roll between him and my mother with the Gulf of Mexico providing the backdrop. It was one of the rare times that my overly busy parents had some free time and decided to take me on vacation. Although our relationship wasn't the greatest I still felt a warm wetness rim my eyes, and fought to beat back the tears.

I wiped the blurriness from my eyes and stared at the screen. One icon stood among the rest:
Helios Protocol
. I clicked on it and watched paragraphs and diagrams splash across the screen. Despite the enormous amount of data, it was only the first section that interested me.

Evacuation Protocol

*INITIATION

-In the event of invocation of Helios Protocol, source planet must be deemed total catastrophic loss. Upon initiation, repopulation of indigenous species is priority one. Consortium High Prince to be advised of situation. Defense Fleet and Explorer's League will be dispatched for reconnaissance, protection and relocation of assets. Direct interference in events on the planet surface is prohibited unless absolutely necessary to fulfill mission. Always verify compatibility of host planet to make sure assets will adapt and survive.