Exodus - 2. Week One: May 26th, 2030

Week One

Log May 26th 2030, 0100 hours, Director/General Benjamin Cross:

This should be a dream; a human deep space mission to another solar system. We might not have warp drive or hyperspace, but it should be awesome. Yet, the reason we must leave is quite depressing. We are not explorers, colonist, or even captain Kirk; we are refugees, exiles, and unwanted. We are running from our home, because our world does not want us.

What is to say this new world is any better than the world we left?

Nothing, in honesty, we know little about this world, but we strive for a hope that the conditions of mankind are not a universal truth. War, hatred, and death cannot be the only things that life desires.

The fleet should now be visible from earth based satellites and my communication message to the Synod should be broadcasting. With any luck, they will let us leave in peace; though, I can dare to say we are ready for their short range craft.

The screens lit up with the message:

“Hey folks, as I speak right now, your satellites and telescopes should be picking up a fleet of 20 or so ships leaving earth’s gravity well. Let me start off by outing myself, yes, I am gay and one of the guys that the Synod and President of the United States credited with our final victory against the Alliance. My next announcement is that I am leaving along with about fifty thousand other people that you have marked, abused, and tortured. I want to convey the message that we leave in peace; even as millions of people are undergoing horrendous treatment in violation of their basic human rights. I wish that they could have all come with us, but there simply was no time and your people had begun their hunt in even greater earnest. We pray that you take pity on them, but the past has shown that you have moved beyond pity. I hope there is some speck of decency left in the human heart, and you may permit us to leave in peace as exiles. Good bye, Earth.”

The communication ended and everyone was in their place. Dr. John Anderson-Carlson and Dr. Andrew Anderson-Carlson were preparing the navigational coordinates to take us to the Lagrangian point outside of earth and the sun’s gravitational pull, where the full force of our solar sails can be used. John was the man that came up with the design for the solar sails. He made our entire adventure feasible and practical with the resources that we had. Andrew was our magnetic field specialist and John’s partner. Andy was the most enthusiastic man that you would ever meet. His enthusiasm complemented his partner’s eccentricities very well. His design of the magnetic compensators and spin functions allowed our ship to experience nearly zero g forces during acceleration even at the average speed of 0.75c. Altogether, these two men were the architects of this entire expedition.

Ben was a general concept kind of guy, but he could see the big picture around him even when others could not. A student of both the ancient and modern studies; he was a skilled strategist and leader. Applying the different disciplines of nano-technology, power production, and manufacturing, he built a business empire that was like no other. These gifts for connecting dissimilar fields into a cohesive design made him a formidable man. The Synod’s purges had taken the life of his partner Jeff Alan, brother of Abigail Alan. He wished that he could have done more than what he has done in those years, but the genetic trace inhibitors were not disbursed in time to save the many victims of the first purge. Yet, his financial resources and those resources from other sources paved the way for this grand expedition.

It is amazing, what two trillion dollars in black ops budget maneuvering and a few line items in the government contracts could actually produce. Twenty-Six ships were built with design specs that could accommodate 50,000 people as they were constructed for maximum occupancy at the moment, but they should accommodate closer to 100,000 people by the end of our journey. These are generational ships; they are self sufficient, self repairing due to nano-technology, and customized designs for the occasion. They can build whole new sections of hulls and expand our fleet with new ships if the need calls for it from our construction and manufacturing vessels.

As Ben toured the ship, he looked upon the faces of those inhabitants. They were broken in mind and heart, but they showed a silent smile that a better future awaits them. He hopes that he could deliver them to a better home and a new beginning.

As he was walking, a call came in from his phone, a long range communication device tied to the fleet’s transceivers:

“Hey Faust, what’s up?”

“Benny, I got to tell you something once we left the Lagrangian point.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I can tell you later, when we are in-bound.”

“Fine”

Dr. Gregory Faust is an expert in genetics and human physiology; he was the one that gave the resistance the key genetic inhibitor that hid us all those years from the Synod purges. He was a young scientist, who had cured many diseases, but he was the key weapon developer for the US during the war. Greg had a deep hatred for the Synod and their religious disposition against homosexuals. His partner was killed by a religious zealot before the onset of the war and the Synod’s purges. He also lost his younger brother during the purges. His younger brother was 15 at the time, and he was notified that his younger brother had been discovered with another boy. Greg still hates himself for not giving his brother the inhibitor sooner, but it was too late. He was processed and found to be in-curable to all modern therapies. He disappeared from the system just like the thousands of teenagers and adults that followed him.

As Ben stood there wondering what his friend would tell him, the fleet had reached the Lagrangian point.

In the auxiliary craft section of the ship, William Edwards, age 16, was busy preparing his escape from the doomed fleet. He was a mole planted by the Synod, who recently discovered Benjamin Cross’ goal of evacuation. The Synod did not desire these impure beings to live on or one day return to seek vengeance on them. They sent a spy, who was given a false registry as one of the deceased teenagers from the centers. William had rerouted the magnetic drive to give off an opposite polarity shift that would cause the ships to break apart in the magnetic wake as the ships are pulled together due to opposing charges.

William was taught as a child by his father to hate the homosexual population, because they were abominations against God. He was further pushed through an accelerated Synod program once his genetic markers were identified. They were inhuman to him, and he could not remember any time that he felt differently. William was the result of a successful conversion.

As he began to board through the open hatch leading to one of the auxiliary craft docking doors, a man pointed a gun at him.

“You must either be scared of leaving home, or you’re a spy. I tend to think that you are a spy, because I have been keeping my eyes on you. You were not assigned to the engineering section. You also are one of the last arrivals from earth, if any type of information were leaked to the Synod; I’d bet it would be due to the large amounts of agricultural expenses that the boss bought. He kind of guessed that a multi-billion dollar worth of seeds and farming tools would arouse some suspicion. So, we can do this the easy way or the hard way?”

Brett Monroe was a tough US Air Force Colonel with an aggressive approach to life. He was saved by Ben during the military purges by an accidental meeting, when they were working on a joint project before the war together. Brett and Ben had a joint celebration with military and civilian personnel for the construction of a new F-22A: Raven, stealth interceptor. Brett was always weak, when it came to alcohol, and he easily gave up his secret after Ben prodded ever so slightly. No romantic relationship was created, because they both had respective partners. Eventually, during the purges, they were able to get a contingent of troops and secured a small special task force through that brief encounter.

William Edwards did not know what to do. He was caught and he knew that they would discover the sabotage soon. He chose to “surrender” and wait for an opening.

Brett ever cautious due to his military training kept his gun directed at the spy and took out his phone.

“Guys, we got a spy in our ranks. I have him in Auxiliary port Alpha. He was messing around the command ship’s engineering section earlier, please advise the team that….”

The ship started buckling and William darted to attack Brett. The gun was fired at Brett’s chest, but it missed the vital organs by a few centimeters. William kneed Brett’s groin, but he was countered by a strong punch to the back of the head. It caused William to wobble and fall towards the ground as the jolt from the punch had alarmed his brain.

“Security chief calling for assistance and get someone to Engineering, quickly!”

On the bridge Ben looked onward as external sensor shows that his fleet was being ripped apart by the magnetic polarity. Jostling and buckling can be heard at the very core of the ship.

“We need to get these ships steady,” Ben spoke out to his scientific advisors.

“The saboteur has switched our polarity for the magnetic engine; we can’t reverse it or turn it off in time,” Andrew spoke as he spotted his partner looking out the porthole.

John looked out at the window and saw no hope remaining for these ships. Ironic, he thought in his mind that they would escape one cold and heartless world in order to die in the coldness of space.

“We cannot abandon ship either; earth will not send any rescue party for the survivors,” Ben looked on in futility as well.

Suddenly, a strange event occurred. The proximity of the magnetic forces had attracted a stream of exotic particles. Exotic particles travel across deep space beyond the Helios-sphere of our solar system. Early 21st century probes have had identified several variants in this area rich in such particles. Most particles are basically photons or protons. However, the type that was drawn to this magnetic disturbance was tachyon from a nearby quantum singularity. They began interacting with the magnetic forces and caused a bubble to form between nominal magnetic disturbance and real space. The ships stopped shaking and began to accelerate at unfathomable rates.

“What the hell just happened?” Ben looked on as the star pattern began to whiz by his ship.

“It’s A God Damn Miracle! The magnetic drive must have attracted some exotic particles,” John spoke out in his usual eccentric demeanor.

“So, if we got this lucky break, let’s use it and reverse our polarity back to normal before these exotic particles disappear,” Andrew quickly ordered the technicians to adjust the magnetic drive polarity.

It took about twenty-seven minutes before the magnetic polarities could be adjusted to proper settings. The exotic particles disappeared in about two hours. Navigation and cartography were trying to pinpoint how far the exotic particles had taken the ships, but at the very least, they survived with all hands on board and earth was a distance away.

The infirmary was busy for two reasons: 1. the buckling of the ship had caused minor injuries among the crew and passengers, and 2. the spy was still on board the ship under heavy guard.

William Edwards awoke with two rifles pointed at his head and a few male nurses inspecting his stats.

“Well, you’re alive you son of a bitch,” one of them smacked William in the face.

He had been compromised and his mission was a failure if he was still alive.

“Get away from me, you perversions of Satan,” he screamed.

Dr. Abigail Alan, chief medical specialist, and her partner Susan Alan, chief psychological specialist, were trying gave the patient some sedative through his IV.

“Abe, you’re wasting your time on that sack of crap, Can I get something to take care of this God awful pain,” Brett murmured from another bed across from the spy.

“Soldier boy, I thought you could take more than a bullet to the chest,” Abigail laughed.

“Yeah, but he got my balls, too, not like you know the difference,” Brett smirked.

“You’re lucky that you caught me on my good day, or else I would get Susie on you,” Abe got some ice from processing.

“Hey, why is Susie here?” Brett finally realized the reality of the situation.

“She is trying to get through to him. Brett, he’s “convie”” Abe said with a sign of sympathy. A convie is usually a kid that had undergone special re-education and therapy to cure them from their homosexuality.

Brett finally understood the kid was one of many brainwashed people back home that they were not able to save.

“Will he be alright?” Brett asked ever so politely now.

“His mind was conditioned for a very long time from our sonic scans. He has multiple brain tissue injuries from the electro-therapy and most likely from the surgery to curb his sexual drive. He has also been given hormonal inhibitors, forcing his natural body from producing testosterone; thus further, it harms his sexual development. We are giving him rounds of testosterone and a complete tissue regeneration therapy; ultimately, he must make the choice to accept himself,” Abe looks at her young patient. She had hoped to save everyone from such a fate, but the one or two kids that were rescued were never enough. She like Ben saw the great depth of the inflows and outflows within the Synod’s databases. It was a matter of triage and her job was to save as many as possible.

“Abe, don’t hate yourself for some of this shit; we couldn’t save everyone, even if we tried. The sad truth must be accepted if we are going to move on,” Susie gave her partner a gentle embrace as she knew best in these circumstances.

“Mark always said Lesbians were remarkable people, because you guys know just the right mix between tenderness and Macho stuff,” Brett joked about one of his deceased lover’s favorite expression. Mark was killed during a raid to free some of the kids in these conversion institutions. Brett retrieved his body and disposed of it in order for no trace to be left.

“Well, you need your rest. So, shut up Brett, unless you want me to do some exploratory surgery to show you how lesbians really live,” Abe gave her biggest smirk.

“Ugh…no one likes to hear the truth anymore,” Brett raised his arms in defeat and tried to sleep.

In the late evening, the entire command council got the report on their current location. The report on their current location was staggering. The council was made of seven individuals: Benjamin Cross, the leader of the expedition, Brett Monroe, the military commander, Dr. John Anderson-Carlson, the co-chief applied science coordinator, Dr. Andrew Anderson-Carlson, the other co-chief applied science coordinator, Dr. Gregory Faust, the Chief of biological science, Dr. Abigail Alan, the Chief Medical practitioner, and Dr. Susan Alan, Chief Psychiatry and Interior fleet operation.

“We traveled about seventy light years in a matter of two hours. I am no expert in general relativity, but I think we just broke Einstein’s light barrier,” Ben broke the stunned silence.

“It was a complicated set of things, Ben. We were near a quantum singularity; basically, a micro-black hole, which isolates and allows tachyons to appear in our space briefly. The energy that these particles were able to create, while caught in our magnetic field allowed our fleet to basically create a bubble of space and forced us into a curved motion across the seventy light years,” John explained.

“In other words, we went to warp,” Andy countered his partner with an “engaging” idea.

“Yes, the principles are similar to “Alcubierre Warp” theory, but it will take us sometime before we can do that again,” John mentioned with a smirk at the obvious reference.

“Well, lucky for us, this will cut down our travel time from 62 years to about six months. However, what happened to us back there does raise a question, if we could go to warp like that, how hard is it for the folks back home to do the same?” Ben questioned seriously.

“Nearly impossible, the exact magnetic disturbance and the exact formation of the field strength could not be duplicated without precision, which only we have from our research ship’s data. We should not expect them here any time soon; at the very least sixty or more years if they start building solar sail ships now to chase us down. However, their telescopes and satellites would have noticed our super luminal speed change. Without an explosion, they knew we survived, so they might be coming,” John retorted.

“So, we should prepare a welcoming party for them if they do come in 62 years to check on us. I think cake, some mini-sandwiches, and perhaps a few ships armed to the teeth would be nice,” Ben gave the directive quite clear behind the humor. There is still a chance that earth may come across vast interstellar distances to attack, and they should be ready.

“Our young friend is still sedated, and he might be able to answer how much information was given to the Synod before we left. They may know our destination or may not. If they do, then we must prepare to meet the threat within 60 years or so, if not then we have much more breathing room,” Brett addresses the command council as he was positioning his ’privates’ in a manner more conducive to a formal military meeting. Ben and most of the council, except Greg, noticed Brett’s re-positioning and gave a small laugh before getting back to the subject at hand.

“I deeply hope what they did to him can be fixed, and he can live a normal life,” Ben wished with his deepest compassion.

“Well, he should be heralded as a hero; even if he doesn’t know it, his actions saved us years on our journey,” Andy stated.

“He also gave us the first indications that faster than light travel is possible rather than theoretical or science fiction. By the time their solar ships arrived, we can do circles around them and earth a thousand times over,” John smirked at the awesome wonder that they have been witnessed to.

“Well, guys, we are not there yet, so let’s keep our minds on the ball,” Ben spoke, and he saw Greg ever so silent, but ready to speak, “Greg, you have been quiet, you got something on your mind.”

“I do and I can tell you guys, we should have nothing to worry about from Earth. When you were transmitting your message to them; I sent out a final carrier signal to initiate the omega virus,” Greg spoke without any emotion.

“You…were supposed to stop that line of research years ago, Greg. My god, you just killed about two billion people,” Abigail was staring at Greg for the longest time.

“Why now? Why did you do this?” Ben looked at his old friend.

“You know what they are doing is no different; I wanted to give those we left behind a fighting chance. With the heterosexual population lowered by an additional two billion and the casualties of the previous war still not recovered, there will only be about 1 billion human being around with the homosexual population making up more than one third. It is a numbers game and now their numbers are down; the remaining ones have a chance to fight back, while we are ‘plan b’ in case they fail. It is a matter of survival of the fittest, and we were on the brink of extinction if the stupid magnetic drive had torn our ships apart. We shouldn’t play like it was nothing; if it had succeeded, then we would all be dead for nothing,” Greg snarled out his hatred.

“Greg, they might not have followed us in the past; maybe, they would have considered us good riddance. However, your actions will mean that if they win the war that you are assuming will be fought after your virus is released, then we are going to have to fight,” Ben sadly drew his hands to his face.

The room was silent with the news of billions dead and a revenge plot in the works within the next sixty years; there were no more false pretenses that a clean escape was made.

Abigail, who had hated the Synod and mankind so bitterly for the death of her brother and millions more like him, could not find the words to convey towards Greg. On some personal level, she applauded him for his murderous deeds and even wanted to say, “Good job.” Yet, her first duty was still clear, “Do no Harm”. Greg was not a doctor; he was a scientist, but he should have ascribed to that same principle. You can’t go down to the level of your opponents and use weapons of mass destruction. This idea has been true and proven with the devastation caused by hidden nuclear and biological weapons in the 2020’s. She wanted revenge, but if you kill the innocent along with the guilty, you are not acting in judgment. You are simply acting as an executioner. Yet, she can’t hate Greg for what he had lost, and what she had lost was far too great for any man to judge.

Like Abigail, everyone in the room felt the same sting of indifference and ultimately a desire to applaud Greg for what he had done. He had taken the tormentors away from their victims in the most vicious fashion possible. The Omega virus was thought up as the ultimate weapon to be used as a last stand against the heterosexual population en masse if the Synod was not stopped. Yet, the virus research was halted due to the desire to switch focus from engagement to ultimately separation. Greg continued on his crusade piece by piece and year by year. He finally created the biological weapon before they left and set a signal switch. Within two days, a new virus will be documented in the general population of the world. Within one month, the first fatalities will occur. Within one year, over a million will have died. By the end of the decade, two billion will be dead before the virus burns out.

“We can’t do much and I understand why; I just wish it wasn’t done,” Ben finally spoke.

“We can see what we have to work with once we reach Cygnus; let’s just check on our people at the moment,” Brett ended the meeting.

It was a long day for all involved; the fear of separation from home, the fear of death at their moment of departure, the fear of being lost forever, and the dread of retribution hangs over their minds.

No one in any of the ships had a doubt that their fate hinges on the new world that they are journeying towards. Will it be a Safe haven? Or will it burn in fire like other strongholds before it?

Only time can tell.