Kostelecky led Williams toward them while EVE’s flickering hologram followed behind with her hands behind her back. Many of the wounded robed people were resting comfortably on the medical beds. A few sat on the edge of their beds and spoke to each other, probably counting their blessings.
“I take it Tolukei wasn’t what you wanted to show me?” Williams said, observing a resting robed man.
“You catch on fast, Commander.” Kostelecky handed Williams her data pad. It displayed the results of her scans and analysis of the people they rescued. “Not sure how to put this, but these folks have traces of three different genomes. Linl, human, and a third I’ve never seen before.”
“So, we’re dealing with human crossbreeds?”
“Not quite, think of them, and humans, as dogs and wolves. Dogs only exist because a group of ancient wolves started keeping humans company after discovering they could get free food from them rather than having to hunt for it. Throw in thousands of years of human influence such as breeding, and domestication, and you have what we know as dogs today. These people are a similar deal.”
Williams began to wince at the news then faced EVE’s hologram. “This can’t be right . . . EVE?”
“Dr. Kostelecky is correct, Commander,” EVE said. “I have performed bioscan analyses myself, and have concluded that the Poniga are a result of several thousand years of crossbreeding between three species, one of them being human.”
“Wait, hold on, EVE, Poniga?”
“That is what they refer to themselves as, Commander. Those that are currently awake attempted to speak with us. I have detected words within their language that are similar to the Linl language along with traces of Arabic and Hebrew.”
“So, you could understand them?”
“Not quite, Commander, as there are several other words I cannot understand. Given time, I may be able to better understand their language and translate. However, I will need Dr. Kostelecky to continue to speak with them so that I may further analyze their speech patterns.”
“Great,” Kostelecky said sarcastically as she took back her data pad from Williams. “Because I’m just such a lovely conversation partner.”
Williams continued to gaze at the Poniga with his arms crossed and his face confused. “How the hell did humans make it to Sirius thousands of years ago?” he asked. “And Linl for that matter?”
“The Linl were a spacefaring race before joining the Radiance Union,” EVE said. “It is possible that some of their earlier exploratory ships arrived here thousands of years ago. The Linl home world is only fifteen light years away from Sirius, a thirty-year journey at sub light speeds.”
“If that was the case, what happened?” Kostelecky said. “I’ve seen pictures of the cities on Lejorania Sanctum and Morutrin Prime, those were all originally Linl colonies built before their time in the Union, why isn’t any of that here?”
“Unknown, Doctor, please keep in mind we have not yet explored all worlds in this system. It is possible ruins of a failed Linl colony exists or perhaps an external force attacked them before they had the chance to establish one.”
Williams stroked his chin. “Like the aliens we encountered.”
“And we are building a colony . . .” Kostelecky said. “Quite possibly on the same planet the Linl intended to build on before they vanished from the system. Awesome work, guys.”
Williams developed an uneasy feeling in his stomach. His call to establish the colony may have just doomed all the people on the surface currently building a new home, oblivious to an unknown threat lurking in the background. And now they were about to leave orbit and potentially pick a fight with the alien ship that might have the captain aboard, leaving the colonists to fend for themselves.
“So, somehow Linl and ancient humans found their way here,” Williams said. “And a third species . . . Lyonria.”
“That is unknown, Commander,” EVE said. “The Radiance database has no information pertaining to the genes of the Lyonria. There’s no way to know exactly what the third one is at this time.”
“It has to be, we found confirmation that the Lyonria once inhabited this system. They vanished thousands of years ago and according to you two, the Poniga have evolved after thousands of years of crossbreeding between the three. And all that most likely happened here in this system.”
“It is a distinct possibility, Commander,” EVE said.
“Hmm, all right, if you guys find out more, let me know,” Williams said as he began to make his exit from sickbay.
“Whoa, hold on there,” Kostelecky called out to him. “We ain’t done yet.”
Williams stopped and turned back to face Kostelecky. “There’s more?”
“Other than the fact they have higher resistances to radiation and psionic potential? Yes, a lot more, come with me.”
Kostelecky moved in between two beds with bodies draped in a white blanket over top, deceased Poniga he figured. She removed the blanket and unveiled one of the armored aliens that had attacked them on the surface, its body riddled with bullet holes from Williams’ pistol.
“Jesus Christ!” Williams said upon seeing the corpse.
“Don’t give me that, this is your handiwork,” she said, pointing her index finger at the chest wounds. “Nice shooting, by the way.”
“I was aiming for his head.”
“And I’m glad you didn’t hit the mark.” She placed a pair of medical gloves on and reached down to remove the aliens helmet. “It would have made my next discovery a real bitch to deal with.”
She pulled the helmet off its head. Williams took a peek down and saw what laid underneath it. The soldier had a humanlike appearance with cybernetic implants on the back of its head.
“A Poniga?” he asked.
“Bingo,” Kostelecky said, tossing the helmet aside then directing his attention to a nearby computer screen. “From what I can tell, these cybernetics are a form of psionic amplification.” She directed his attention to the second bed with a corpse covered with a blanket. “And behind door number two, we have this guy.” Another armored soldier, the type that had its laser weapon mounted to its arm. As she began to remove its helmet, he noticed that it was much more heavily augmented than the last one, with a sizeable hole through the side of its head.
“Ah, this must be the head I was aiming for.”
“Only it isn’t. An eWeapon didn’t create that hole; in fact, none of your bullets hit him.”
“Then, how did I kill him?”
“You didn’t, he was already dead.” Kostelecky began to run scans on the corpse, the data outputted to another monitor next to its bed. “From what I can tell its suit isn’t just armor, but a mobile cryostasis chamber and the body stuffed in it has been dead for the last two hundred years. How it was moving on its own I couldn’t tell you—”
“It was not moving on its own.” It was Tolukei.
The two turned around and saw that Tolukei had gotten up from his rest and hobbled toward them.
“You, back to bed. Now,” Kostelecky demanded of Tolukei.
“I am fine,” Tolukei said, and limped closer to them. “I was once a fighter in the war without end against the Hashmedai.”
Kostelecky winced. “Just because you got fancy space magic doesn’t make you a superhero, lay down now.”
Ignoring her request, Tolukei extended his hands forward. It caused one of the dead bodies next to Kostelecky and Williams to rise out of its bed as if it were still alive. Kostelecky dropped her scanner and data pad, Williams reached for his sidearm, a sidearm he didn’t have on him. The Poniga who were awake began to scream, EVE merely stood, watching, observing, and recording as the sight straight out of a zombie movie played out in front of them. The thought of calling for security crossed his mind briefly, only to remember he had just ordered them all to leave the ship, they were on their own.