Mindscape: Book 2 of the New Frontiers Series Read Online Free
Author: Jasper T. Scott
you to look upon your legacy.” The voice was deep and inflectionless, not a woman’s voice at all.
The camera switched from the dilapidated CIC to a darkened space, crammed with floating debris. Alexander sat forward in his couch and peered at the main holo display, trying to decide what he was looking at. Lights flickered between the floating bits of debris as they shifted through the room. Based on the ceiling height and openness of the space, Alexander decided he was looking into some kind of hangar bay or cargo hold.
“Hayes, can you shine some light on the feed?”
“On it, sir. Here comes the sun…”
A second later the darkness peeled away and everything snapped into focus. A few of the crew gasped, and Alexander felt his gut churn.
The debris was bodies, hundreds of them, all floating in zero-G, limbs tangling, mops of hair drifting like seaweed. Fully half of the bodies were children, and all of them wore pressure suits emblazoned with a familiar hammer-and-sickle pattern of gold stars on a red background—the old Confederate emblem.
The scene lingered there a moment longer before cutting back to the woman with the black eyes. “Any race that can do this to its own kind will do worse to others. You have been judged and found guilty. Your sentence will be delivered soon.”
The transmission faded to black, and Alexander scowled. “Hayes—analyze that recording.”
“What am I looking for, sir?”
“‘Scapers tags, signatures, anomalies—any sign that what we just saw is part of a mindscape, and if possible, some clue that might lead us to the ‘scaper who built it.”
“On it, sir.”
“You don’t believe it’s real,” McAdams said.
Alexander regarded her with eyebrows raised. “Do you?”
“I guess not, but if this was the work of some rogue ‘scaper terrorist, why were there no demands?”
“What if someone from the Confederate colony fleet actually did make it?” Bishop suggested from the helm.
Alexander shook his head. “Even if that were possible, it would mean that that bit about passing judgment and delivering a sentence was just to make us wet our pants. There’s nothing they can do to us from the other side of the wormhole.”
“Her voice was off,” McAdams said.
“And her eyes,” Cardinal added from gunnery.
Alexander considered that. “Assuming I believe this signal is real—which I don’t—those features could be explained by implants used to repair physical damage after traveling through high radiation and high gravity zones inside the wormhole.”
“Her word choice was also wrong,” Hayes added. “She called us wretched creatures , as if she didn’t consider herself to be one of us. Then there’s that part about how a race that kills its own will do worse to others. It’s almost like she was trying to say that she isn’t human.”
“So what is she then?” Alexander asked. “An alien? She looked human enough.”
“Maybe that’s what it wanted us to think,” Hayes said. “We still don’t know who created the wormhole. We’ve known from the start that it can’t be a natural phenomenon.”
Alexander shook his head, incredulous. “Come on people—there’s a rational explanation here, and we’re going to find it. Remember Wonderland? Fool us once, shame on them. Fool us twice—I’ll be damned if there’s going to be a second time. Things aren’t always what they appear to be. Someone, somewhere, wants us jumping at shadows. The question is who, and why. It’s our job to find out. Hayes, pass that recording back to fleet command. Maybe they can make more out of it than we can.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
Alexander frowned, and went back to studying the view from the Adamantine’s bow cameras. Lunar City was now almost directly below them. Alexander absently watched the towering spires, all glittering with lights. He remembered when Lunar City had been nothing but an Alliance naval base. Now it was a bustling city with a population
The camera switched from the dilapidated CIC to a darkened space, crammed with floating debris. Alexander sat forward in his couch and peered at the main holo display, trying to decide what he was looking at. Lights flickered between the floating bits of debris as they shifted through the room. Based on the ceiling height and openness of the space, Alexander decided he was looking into some kind of hangar bay or cargo hold.
“Hayes, can you shine some light on the feed?”
“On it, sir. Here comes the sun…”
A second later the darkness peeled away and everything snapped into focus. A few of the crew gasped, and Alexander felt his gut churn.
The debris was bodies, hundreds of them, all floating in zero-G, limbs tangling, mops of hair drifting like seaweed. Fully half of the bodies were children, and all of them wore pressure suits emblazoned with a familiar hammer-and-sickle pattern of gold stars on a red background—the old Confederate emblem.
The scene lingered there a moment longer before cutting back to the woman with the black eyes. “Any race that can do this to its own kind will do worse to others. You have been judged and found guilty. Your sentence will be delivered soon.”
The transmission faded to black, and Alexander scowled. “Hayes—analyze that recording.”
“What am I looking for, sir?”
“‘Scapers tags, signatures, anomalies—any sign that what we just saw is part of a mindscape, and if possible, some clue that might lead us to the ‘scaper who built it.”
“On it, sir.”
“You don’t believe it’s real,” McAdams said.
Alexander regarded her with eyebrows raised. “Do you?”
“I guess not, but if this was the work of some rogue ‘scaper terrorist, why were there no demands?”
“What if someone from the Confederate colony fleet actually did make it?” Bishop suggested from the helm.
Alexander shook his head. “Even if that were possible, it would mean that that bit about passing judgment and delivering a sentence was just to make us wet our pants. There’s nothing they can do to us from the other side of the wormhole.”
“Her voice was off,” McAdams said.
“And her eyes,” Cardinal added from gunnery.
Alexander considered that. “Assuming I believe this signal is real—which I don’t—those features could be explained by implants used to repair physical damage after traveling through high radiation and high gravity zones inside the wormhole.”
“Her word choice was also wrong,” Hayes added. “She called us wretched creatures , as if she didn’t consider herself to be one of us. Then there’s that part about how a race that kills its own will do worse to others. It’s almost like she was trying to say that she isn’t human.”
“So what is she then?” Alexander asked. “An alien? She looked human enough.”
“Maybe that’s what it wanted us to think,” Hayes said. “We still don’t know who created the wormhole. We’ve known from the start that it can’t be a natural phenomenon.”
Alexander shook his head, incredulous. “Come on people—there’s a rational explanation here, and we’re going to find it. Remember Wonderland? Fool us once, shame on them. Fool us twice—I’ll be damned if there’s going to be a second time. Things aren’t always what they appear to be. Someone, somewhere, wants us jumping at shadows. The question is who, and why. It’s our job to find out. Hayes, pass that recording back to fleet command. Maybe they can make more out of it than we can.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
Alexander frowned, and went back to studying the view from the Adamantine’s bow cameras. Lunar City was now almost directly below them. Alexander absently watched the towering spires, all glittering with lights. He remembered when Lunar City had been nothing but an Alliance naval base. Now it was a bustling city with a population
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