The Ganymede Legacy Read online

  The Ganymede Legacy

  Origin Chronicles Book 1

  By Alex Bonesteel

  © 2020 Alex Bonesteel. All legal and human rights reserved.

  Cover art by Tom Giffin. A million thanks and compliments to an amazing artist and friend.

  I once had a strange dream. Upon waking, I thought it would make for an interesting sci-fi series. When I told you my crazy idea, you told me to go for it and encouraged me every step along the way. This book would not exist if not for you. I know the life we built together couldn't last forever, but I will always hold a special place in my heart for you, baby grr. I love you now, and forever, in this life, and the next.

  Prologue

  A wave of fear grew within Alice as she slowly walked forward. Her arms hung stiffly at her sides, and the sharp echo of her boots beat a melancholy rhythm against the smooth titanium floor beneath her. With each step, her heart beat faster. She had felt an unsettling apprehension for days, but it had grown into full-blown fear once she had boarded the Ark.

  The Ark was a massive space station, and one that few people in history had been invited to board. She didn't want to be there, but she had received a Council-coded recall directive, and she had to obey it if she wanted to live.

  As Alice continued down the immense entry hall of the Ark, she couldn't help but marvel at its stark beauty and massive scale. The hall stretched before her majestically, seemingly infinite in its length. Even though she was sure that it would be the place where she found her final, overdue, and terrible end, it was still impressive.

  After walking for what felt like hours, Alice tilted her head back and looked up at the stars. They were there, in their millions as they twinkled above her, clearly visible through the transparent nano-polymer ceiling hundreds of meters above.

  Nano-polymer was a technology that had only existed for the prior three centuries. The little organic machines that made miracles a reality were worthy of amazement, though hers was tainted by simmering resentment.

  If so programmed, nano-polymer machines could reproduce using only the hydrogen molecules around them for energy, arrange themselves into any shape and density, and form materials with wildly different properties.

  Alice had held nano-polymer weapons in her own hands many times and flown in ships built with the technology. She resented those uses, yes, but she reserved pure hatred for the weapons of mass destruction that had been created using the technology. She had seen the terror and death that they could cause first hand.

  At the first whiff of those memories, Alice tore her eyes from the stars and shook her head roughly. She stopped walking and caught sight of her reflection in the smooth titanium wall to her left. As she looked at herself, she was proud that tears of despair weren't yet streaming from her eyes, but neither did she see much good within them.

  She couldn't help but appraise her appearance. Her curly hair was cropped crudely at her shoulders, and it shined with a deep auburn hue. Her dark, ebony-toned skin was pleasing to her, but was yet another reminder of her past. Her father had been an Oberonian and had passed on his good looks to her. At least, that's what her mother had told her, for Alice had never met him.

  If nothing else, she cynically reasoned, perhaps the Council would think her beautiful, and if they did, maybe that would sway them to treat her with leniency. Such were the crude habits of many people she had known.

  As Alice continued to appraise herself, a wave of disgust suddenly grew within her, and she had to look away. With an angry shake of her head, she started walking again, but now with greater urgency.

  Alice's steps resumed their echoing patter down the entry hall, and her mind quickly traveled to a familiar place.

  She could remember a conversation regarding the Ark, and shecouldn't help but think back on it. It had taken place during the battle of Ganymede, eight years prior. That was where the New Republic had made their last stand against the Origin Council.

  The New Republic had initially found success in that terrible war, mainly due to their popular support. They had spoken of ideas that had become taboo and unfamiliar to most of humanity. Ideas like individual freedom and liberty, and promises to eliminate the use of biotechnology in humans. Though alien and regressive, those ideas had lit a rudimentary and animalistic spark within many, many people.

  The New Republic got its start as a radical fringe group, but they had quickly mutated into a full-fledged fighting force. There had been many dark days for the Council, and Alice herself during that particular war. Many people had feared that the New Republic would destroy everything the Council had worked so hard to build.

  If they had lost, it would have been a step back into an unspeakably horrible past. A past where crude tribalism ruled the day and any crimes were justifiable. Everything Alice had fought for since she had joined the Council when she was just seventeen had been threatened.

  Alice quickened her pace as memories flashed in her mind's eye with more speed and intensity. The terrible memories she carried from that conflict were always on the edge of her thoughts, polluting even the most pedestrian of mental pursuits.

  Suddenly, she became aware of her tightly balled fists. Her fingers had ratcheted down into her palms with so much force that it caused her to feel sharp pain within them.

  Alice stopped and inspected her hands. They were marked with indentations caused by the pressure of her fingernails against her palms. With a grunt of disgust, she spread her fingers and stretched them away from one another as far as they could go before returning her hands to her sides.

  With a deep breath, she continued her journey and made a conscious effort to relax. She couldn't afford to display the slightest sign of aggression or anger.

  Alice's mind was clear for a time, but with each step, her memories slowly wormed their way back into her mind.

  Ultimately, even the superior numbers and natural resources of the New Republic couldn't compete with Council technology. The sheer technological capabilities of the Origin Council had assured that the victories of the New Republic were all quickly and horrifically reversed.

  The Battle of Ganymede had been the last of those brutal reversals.

  Images of Captain Shonn suddenly flashed in Alice's mind. He had been a widowed father of five and had served the Council since the age of fifteen. He was as intelligent, kind, and dutiful a man as she had ever met, but he had also been melancholy. There had been a strain of sadness within him, which came through only in his intense stare. He had given her one of those deep stares during their final mission on Ganymede eight years before...

  Suddenly, Alice was startled out of her revery by a deep voice that echoed loudly and imposingly through the high chambers of The Ark.

  "Ah, Alice... You're finally here... The Council has been waiting for you..."

  Alice felt immediate and intense anger at herself. She was ashamed to have been ambushed so easily. Nevertheless, she immediately stopped and turned toward the voice.

  When she caught sight of the ambusher, her breath caught in her throat. The man appeared to be in his mid-fifties, and he towered over Alice's slight frame as he walked towards her.

  She recognized him not by his short blond hair, or the scar above his right eye, but by the large section of his right jaw where human flesh and bone should have been. The milky white shimmer of organic nano-machines had assembled into a configuration designed to replicate his natural facial features, and it made for a disturbing sight.

  The man was Redden Norwalk, Executive Director of the Origin Council Special-Ops Division, and her highest ranking superior apart from the Origin Council themselves.

  She quickly snapped to attention and placed her right hand over her left eye. Redden didn't re
turn the salute but instead continued speaking, this time more quietly as he approached her.

  "Yes, we've been waiting a very, very, very long time. Much too long, in my opinion. Hell, waiting five seconds for you to show up is longer than I would call acceptable."

  Alice quickly decided that silence was the best option, at least until he asked her to speak. She said nothing and tried to maintain her calm as he continued.

  "Why the hell would the Origin Council, flawless in their judgment for all eternity, order me to drag a disgraced operative out from the asshole of the solar system? Why would they bring you here, to the heartland, to have a personal audience with them?"

  After a brief period of silence, Alice knew it wasn't a rhetorical question and decided to answer. "My apologies, sir, I don't know. I wasn't given any details. I received a code-four recall order, and I..."

  Alice teetered on the edge of panic. Her impending meeting with the Council and the appearance of Director Redden had shattered her calm. Her nerves had gotten the better of her, and she was rambling.

  Redden's gaze intensified as he stared into her eyes. She thought there was a glimpse of shimmer behind his left eye. It was probably outfitted with level-four visual enhancement.

  Redden cut through her panicked rambling and continued as if she hadn't spoken.

  "I offered them a free choice from my collection. My best operatives. Good, hardworking men and women who have never made a mistake during a mission. The absolute best people you can find. Not a single one of them has ever given me a reason to show them my bad side. But no, they ask for you. 'Bring us the Ganymede Operative,' they said to me. And, I knew who they meant, you see, because there is only one 'Ganymede Operative. At least, only one left alive."

  He became more and more intense as he spoke, each word seemingly pushing him further into the depths of rage.

  "But you weren't just the only operative to survive, were you? You were the only survivor period. Everyone died, except for you..."

  Beads of sweat dripped down Redden's face as his voice dropped to a low growl, and he leaned in closer to Alice.

  "Now, call me silly, but I think it would make sense that if you survived, some others might have too. But no, it was only you. Out of all the great men and women on that beautiful, cursed moon, none survived except for you. Some second-rate, low-ranking female operative with no special ability or intelligence at all..."

  Redden leaned in until his face was just inches from Alice's. She could see the pure hatred he held for her within his cold and unblinking stare. Little did he know that her hatred for herself was far worse.

  "You are the woman who pushed the button on Ganymede... If it were up to me, you would be executed for high treason."

  He leaned even closer, and his nose lightly grazed hers. Alice wanted to pull away from him, but she held her ground.

  Redden grinned as he continued. "Hell, I would do it right now, with my bare hands around your throat. I would watch the light leave your eyes with a smile on my face, knowing that I had done justice for humanity."

  A maniacal fervor seemed to be taking over Redden, and Alice didn't want him to harm her. She had no strong desire to live another day, but she had already experienced enough torture in her short life to satisfy the insane urges of any demon in hell.

  Alice met Redden's eyes and spoke in a soft and confident voice.

  "Director Redden, Sir. I know you lost a lot of friends on Ganymede. I know you lost family... Your son... I know what it feels like to lose family too. I also lost a lot of friends on Ganymede."

  Pain blossomed within Alice as she nicked that hidden wound. Still, she might only get one chance to explain herself to Redden, and her ability to live or die in peace might depend on it. So, she ignored the pain and continued, even as her voice broke with emotion.

  "I lost the love of my life on that god-forsaken moon, sir. I held him in my arms as he died. When it ended, the only thing I had left of him was dust. You must have seen me testify after Ganymede. I told the truth then, and I'm telling you the truth now. I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know what it would do. All I know is that I was ordered to do it. I was given orders by my Captain, who had received orders directly from Executive Director Marcus. I don't know how I survived, and to be honest, I wish I hadn't."

  As Alice spoke, Redden's eyes wandered away from her and moved to the stars above them. His face softened by an almost imperceptible amount, and a sneer broke across his lips. When he spoke again, his voice had taken on a new timbre of calm derision.

  "Marcus was a fucking moron. I told him he was going too far, and that the Ganymede technology hadn't been tested enough. I told him Exony was off her rocker. D'you know what he said to me? 'Glory to our origins, glory to the cause. Peace at any cost, and any risk.' He was a goddamned delusional, zealous maniac. He was the one calling the shots on that operation..."

  As Redden stared up at the stars, a coy smile began to spread across his face. "Marcus was an idiot, though. He didn't know that I had more operatives loyal to me than he did. I ordered all of them to find and destroy that package and to prevent its release at all costs. I tried to stop it, and I would have if it weren't for you."

  Redden's revelation and the casual disregard with which he uttered it stunned Alice. "You circumvented your superior? That's treason, sir. Does the Council know about this?"

  Redden laughed and looked down at her. "Why the hell do you think they made me Executive Director after Marcus killed himself? You know the creed. Accurate judgment is rewarded above all else. I was right, and that bat-shit psycho was wrong. Even treason is forgivable if you're right, and following orders is punishable by death if the orders are wrong enough. And that is exactly the reason you deserve to die."

  Alice's frown faded into an expressionless stare. Redden didn't know that she had had that same thought swimming in her head every day for the prior eight years. If it hadn't been for her, the mission might have failed, and billions of people would still be alive.

  Guilt overcame Alice as tears welled in her eyes. She wanted to run. She wanted to go back to her outpost in the outer colonies, enforce taxation on farmers and miners, and drink her way to oblivion. She wanted to quietly live out her days until the Council, in all their sound judgment, would one day decide to turn her off.

  Why had she even obeyed the recall directive? Why hadn't she ignored it? It would have taken days for a team to find her and attempt to extract her, and by that time, she could've been somewhere else...

  In spite of Redden standing there before Alice, awaiting whatever pathetic excuse she could muster, her thoughts turned to her memories once again.

  For two years after Ganymede, the Council's scientists had imprisoned her and studied her. They had wanted to know how she survived while everyone else on Ganymede had died. It took them two years of tortuous study to finally decide that her body could provide them with no more information.

  The pain she had experienced when they had injected her and cut away pieces of her had nearly driven her mad, and the only thing that had kept her sane was one singular purpose: To find Captain Shonn's orphaned children, and apologize to them, for that was all she thought she had left to offer to the world.

  When they were finally finished with her, she had expected them to dispose of her, but they hadn't. After those two long years, they had simply released her. They had reinstated her rank, declared her innocent of any wrongdoing, and assigned her a simple taxation enforcement posting. Like a lifeless husk, she had lived out that gloriously dull existence, right up until she had returned to the Ark.

  As walls within herself came crashing down, Alice could barely speak except to try to make sense of her pathetic existence.

  "That's why Director Marcus went directly to Captain Shonn," Alice quietly declared. "He may have been a moron, but he knew that you had compromised his operatives. He knew that you would stop at nothing to prevent the release of the package. And, he knew that Captain Shonn
would never betray his orders. Shonn had integrity. He was a good man. Marcus knew he could be trusted to complete the mission."

  An eerie change came over Redden and his anger began to dissipate. "A good man..."

  Then, he shook his head and abruptly started walking down the entry hall. "C'mon, we don't want to keep the Council waiting any more than they already have."

  Alice was filled with doubt and didn't immediately follow. What else could be waiting for her at the end of that hall except for further torment? Did they wish to discover some obscure piece of information regarding the mission? When they learned it, would they kill her? Would they hold her captive once again, and subject her to the needles, nanites, and lasers of their medical scientists?

  Whatever the truth was, she felt there could be nothing good for her at an audience with the Council. She could still try to run. She could still escape...

  But for what? What was her life worth, anyway? What did she have to save? With one push of a button, she had destroyed everything. With one decision, she had become the worst war-criminal of all time. They called her the sole survivor of Ganymede, but the truth was that she had died on that moon, just like everyone else.

  With that thought firmly fixed in her mind, Alice took a slow step forward, then another, and began to follow Redden down the hall.

  She slowly quickened her tempo to draw even with him and began to stare at him. She hadn't seen anything good within her eyes, but was there any good in his? Was she the villain, and he the hero?

  No answer rang in her mind as her eyes searched within his peripheral gaze, so she slowly turned away from him.

  Then, Alice gasped, for she could finally see the end of the immense entry hall. They were nearing the end of the long journey from the shuttle bay to the Origin Council Sanctum. It was a place that few had been, and a place that was a complete mystery to her.

  An elaborately carved archway stretched before her. It spanned hundreds of meters above them, Alice realized as she scanned it with her ocular implant.