“So, what really happened?”
“Well, it happened about a thousand years ago. At that time, there were five more worlds that had been colonized and fully developed. There were also about a dozen or so fringe worlds that had recently been settled. I guess you could say it was similar to the Pentaurus cluster, except a little more spread out, over about 100 light years, actually. But then there was a plague-the Great Bio-Digital Plague. That’s what we call it. This plague started as a computer virus that rapidly spread throughout the various networks on Earth and then eventually out to other worlds.”
“The terrible evil was a computer virus?” Josh asked. “How is a computer virus such a threat?”
“Back then, most people regularly used cybernetic implants to link their brains with computer systems. Through these implants, the digital virus would cause chemical reactions in the brain that would create a biological virus-a sort of super-cancer-that would rapidly reconfigure cells in the body and cause them to grow out of control. The result was rapid disfigurement, both internally and externally. It had a mortality rate of over ninety percent. And once it became biological, it was also contagious. To make matters worse, it constantly transformed itself, making it impossible to combat.”
“Damn,” Loki muttered. “Who would create such a thing?”
“No one ever found out,” Nathan told them. “Once the plague started spreading, everything rapidly fell apart. Economies crumbled. Infrastructure fell apart. Governments collapsed. People went crazy with fear, rioting, looting, killing each other in order to survive. In less than a decade, eighty percent of the population of the Earth and the Core Worlds had either died or left. If it weren’t for a small percentage of the population that seemed to have a natural immunity, the Earth and the Core Worlds would probably still be abandoned.”
“But I still don’t get why our tech is more advanced,” Josh said.
“With so few people left on Earth, there were not enough people to keep things going. Industry quickly ground to a halt, and within a century, the population of Earth became more tribal and agrarian. They were just trying to survive. Within a few generations, technology became nothing more than useless garbage. And since books had all been converted to digital format centuries earlier, there were no records of what once was. Everything was basically forgotten. What little was remembered was passed down through the generations through stories more than anything else.”
“How did you guys rebuild? I mean, obviously you did, or else we wouldn’t be talking right now.”
“Slowly, over many centuries. Most of our technology had to be rediscovered, relearned. We still had some memory of what we had been, but we’d forgotten a lot of the basics. Quite frankly, it was difficult. We lacked the population needed to support rapid industrial and technological advancement. And our health care was also sorely lacking. At the rate we were progressing, it would’ve taken us at least another five hundred years to get back out into deep space.”
“So how did you make the leap?”
“The Data Ark,” Nathan said.
Josh and Loki looked at each other. “The what?”
“A hundred years ago, archaeologists uncovered a massive underground complex in northern Europe. It contained all human history, culture, religion, and science, for as far back as human history had been recorded. With the knowledge contained in the Data Ark we were able to advance our civilization as much as three hundred years in only a century.”
“What about all of us?” Josh asked. “How did we get out here?”
“Well, we’re not really clear on that. It seems that only the very beginning of the plague was recorded in the Data Ark. Once it started getting out of control, the facility was sealed for fear of contamination. But what we have been able to piece together is that there were a lot of last minute expeditions carrying refugees trying to escape the plague. At first, they were trying to seek refuge on fringe worlds that had already been settled. But when the plague started showing up on those worlds as well, they started closing their doors to refugees. So the refugees must’ve gone farther out into the galaxy. There were quite a number of habitable worlds that had been cataloged and scheduled for exploration at the time. But to my knowledge, none of them were this far out. How your people ended up all the way out here is as much a mystery to me as it is to you.”
Josh was deep in thought as he considered what Nathan had just told them. It was an uncharacteristic expression for the young man, whose face was usually quite animated. “But our tech is not that much more advanced than yours,” Josh observed. “I mean, if we’ve had a thousand years to build on while you all were back to pooping in the woods-we should be a lot more advanced.”
“Most of those expeditions left in a hurry,” Nathan told him. “Like I said, the exact details are sketchy, since everything was falling apart as they left. But I would imagine that many expeditions left somewhat woefully equipped. Who knows how much tech, supplies, and equipment your forefathers brought with them? Or how many people were on your expedition as well? Or what happened to your settlements over all those centuries? There’s a lot of reasons that your development could have stalled to some degree. The fact that you have all done as well as you have, and this far away from Earth-that alone is amazing.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Josh agreed. “So who are these Jung I keep hearing your crew talk about?”
Nathan was a bit surprised by the sudden change in topic. “What are they saying?”
“We just overhear things, mostly. People talking about how they need to get back to Earth to help protect it against the Jung.”
Nathan nodded his understanding.
“So who are they then?”
“Gentlemen, I’m going to have to let the Chief here tell you about that. I’ve got to get some rest,” Nathan announced, stretching his arms as he prepared to depart.
“You cannot use our quarters,” Vladimir told him.
“What?” Nathan stopped in mid-stretch. “Why not?”
“It has been commandeered by medical. I’ve moved into Chief Patel’s quarters.” Vladimir shrugged sympathetically. “Sorry, roommie. I guess you’ll have to move into the captain’s quarters.”
“Yeah, I was kind of hoping to avoid that as long as possible,” Nathan admitted as he rose. “Gentlemen, I leave you in the hands of Chief Kamenetskiy.”
Josh and Loki bid the captain goodnight as he departed, a moment later, eagerly turning their chairs to better face Vladimir.
“So what about these Jung?” Josh repeated.
“Well, we do not know much about them,” Vladimir began. “In fact, we only learned of their existence a little over twenty years ago. We had not even gone beyond our own orbit at the time. All that we know, we have learned by monitoring transmissions emanating from other worlds in the core. We know that the Jung have conquered all of the core, except Earth. Alpha Centauri-the closest system to Earth-was the last to fall, not even a month ago.”
“What makes you so sure that they will come to Earth?”
“Well, no one can be sure. But their behavior suggests that their eventual goal is to control all human inhabited worlds.”
“Sounds familiar,” Loki said.
“This ship-and her sister ship, the Celestia-were to be the first ships capable of faster-than-light travel. We were going to try and negotiate a peaceful coexistence with the Jung Dynasty.”
“Do you think that would work?” Loki asked.
“Many people hoped so. But at the same time, we were preparing to defend ourselves against invasion. We already have four battleships patrolling our system. They are very powerful and heavily armed. But they are only sub-light ships, and not even very fast ones.”
“What about your jump drive? Can’t you put them on the other ships as well?”
“Ours is the only one in existence, I’m afraid.”
“Then what the hell are you doing out here?” Josh wondered aloud.
“That is also a long story,” Vladimir sighed.
“We’ve got time,” Loki assured him. By the rate that Josh’s head was nodding up and down, it was obvious that he had the time to listen as well.
Nathan pressed the touch-panel on the wall alongside the hatchway. In response to his touch, the lights in the room began to glow softly, coming up to half intensity a moment later. The room, although spartan, was much
