Author's Preface
Hollowed-out asteroids crawlonizing the galaxy. Giant O'Neill cylinders carrying Humans to the edges of the universe. Monstrous Master Chief rings illuminated by artificial suns, waiting in the dark between the galaxies for a secret signal.
If we believe Nevil Mugabe, author of Inside Shambhala, all of these fantastical things are true. And more.
But are they? Or is this just the author's fantasy gone wild? Is there truth behind his claim that Humanity had a secret colonization program? Or is it something boring and ordinary?
I'm your host, Whistler AI, and on today's episode of Decodographics, we dive into the truth behind Earth's secret colonization conspiracy.
— Excerpt from "Did Earth Have a Secret Colonization Program?", Whistler-Tube, ca. 350 Post-Independence
Nixtred looked at the menacing-looking guard in front of her. The Human was as tall as a full-grown Shraphen, a rarity, and his hands and shoulders looked like he could rip a Hunter's head off barehanded.
Good, if he's representative of the installation's security, it's safe.
Major Pfershy next to her finished his retina and genetic scan, then pointed at her.
"She's with me, Corporal."
The guard scanned her with some kind of portable scanning device and then nodded at Pfershy.
"You can enter, sir."
The door was a large and sturdy-looking thing that couldn't swing open but rather rolled back into the wall. Passing it, Nixtred estimated it was at least a meter thick. Behind it was only a small elevator.
Major Pfershy pointed into the world's most boring elevator.
"After you, ma'am."
Nixtred could swear she felt a small prickle of a static force field as she entered the steel-framed elevator. Pfershy followed her and took a key from a chain around his neck.
So many theatrics… Why not use simple genetic keys and be done with it… Humans, lovable retro.
To her surprise, the elevator didn't go anywhere. Instead, the back panels opened, and she saw her new home for the first time.
"Welcome to Area 13, Shambhala, or as I call it, Humanity's madhouse."
The door had opened to a gallery, and from her elevated position she could see a small city. With forests, farms, and even a lake. Left and right of her, the ground moved upward in a gentle slope and became the sky, full of forests, houses, streets, fields.
Was that a river? They built a river inside a space station?
On the lake she could see boats moving. A breeze brought the smell of fresh-cut grass and grilled meat.
A breeze… they create artificial wind… for what?
The sun, if she could call it that, was a bright line in the sky at the axis of the cylinder. The light felt warm and looked natural.
Plasma?
"What?…"
There had been discussions, back before gravity plating, of rotating cylinders to create artificial gravity. But the concept was never built; the technical issues were too high.
Pfershy smiled at her.
"We call the design an O'Neill cylinder. The station was drilled inside a large asteroid to protect it."
She estimated the cylinder to be ten kilometers long, with at least the same circumference.
They could not have built that thing since their rebellion, no chance… Not in two years.
Putting a hand on her shoulder, he pointed at the landscape.
They have clouds… clouds!
"Take your time. It's a shocking view for every newcomer. Hell, I have to adapt every time I come back."
"Where are we?"
Pfershy looked at her, puzzled.
"Shambhala. I just told you."
"No… where is the station?"
She had been sedated, and her lower body hurt like she had been given a catheter. It was entirely possible they had been on their way for months.
"Ahh. Yes. Good question. We're about 295 AU away from Earth, and we're leaving the Sol system at about 300 km/s. Back when Drake was under attack by the Batract integration officers, the company drilled this hole into a giant asteroid, built this station, and accelerated the whole thing out of the system."
Nixtred began calculating the power requirements. Even a small asteroid would take insane power to accelerate out of a system.
"So they stole an asteroid? How did no one notice?"
Pfershy began walking down the gallery, beckoning Nixtred to follow him.
"Let's walk to Café Han O'Lo's. It's the unofficial administration of Shambhala. Anything important will pass through there at least once a day. Sitting there with a coffee under the sun is the best way to spend the first day."
Nixtred's head was still spinning from the fact that they were in an asteroid racing at 0.1% of lightspeed into open space.
She didn't want to annoy the officer, so she joined him. The gallery led to a car park, no different from any car park outside a Shraphen shopping center.
It was the ordinariness that made it all so exceptional.
They walked along a road through a forest that looked old. She lacked the knowledge of Earth's biosphere, but on Burrow, this forest would be at least decades old.
"The asteroid was one of the millions in Sol's Kuiper belt. No one can observe all of them out there. Not 40 years ago."
"Huh?"
Nixtred was deep in thought. The knowledge that she was inside a cylinder rotating at 450 km/h to make it feel like one Earth G was… overwhelming.
She had just thrown some pinecones into the air to see the Coriolis effect live for the first time.
"You asked me how one can steal an asteroid. You take it from somewhere no one misses it."
"But why build… that?" She pointed at her surroundings.
Pfershy laughed — really laughed, the last thing she expected from him.
"Renthai, that was exactly my question. Back then, Drake didn't know when the rebellion would be ready. The Batract were abducting Earth's elite. So they thought about a way to safeguard as many scientists and skilled Humans as possible. Ships are too confining, and we Humans need open space. So the madman built this."
Pfershy mirrored her gesture.
"Hmm. So why Area 13? Are there more?"
Pfershy only grinned before answering cryptically.
"There are many lost cities in Earth's mythology."
A little girl on a steel contraption with rubber wheels rolled past them.
"Hello, Major!"
The Major winked back.
"Hi, Zoe."
"Children? On a secret science station?"
"Families, children, hospitals, cinemas, bars. In Section 2 there are nightclubs and even a mountain to climb. You wanted to join the best research program Humanity has. This is it. Shambhala has three million inhabitants, roughly half of them experts in all possible fields. And some have lived here for forty years already. It's your new home."
Before Nixtred could say anything, Pfershy continued.
"We have a decently sized Shraphen community here as well, and Cavern 4 will be regulated to Shraphen gravity and include an island with a Shraphen biosphere."
Nixtred grew tired. There were so many new things.
"Do I need to ask?"
"Cavern 4 will house our newest and by far largest cylinder. Fifty kilometers in circumference and sixty kilometers long. But that's the far future."
They had reached the city limits. Nixtred ignored the small houses built out of brick and stone. She was baffled by a sudden realization.
This wasn't just a scientific community. It was also a generation ship.
"Enough. I… I just want to get to my laboratory and start working."
"Tomorrow. Today you meet the new civilian head of Shambhala and get acquainted."
They had reached what seemed to be a main street. Small shops stood left and right, electric cars drove by, and were it not for the rising walls on the horizon, she would have sworn she was on a planet.
The main road led to an intersection, and Café Han O'Lo's was the biggest building on one corner, with a large outdoor area of around thirty tables. All seemed filled, and everyone looked at her.
The logo of the café seemed odd to her. A metal moon firing some sort of laser.
One of the bartenders, a big man wearing a black apron, greeted the Major from a distance as he cleaned the tables.
"Major, here. I've reserved this table for you and our newest citizen."
Major Pfershy leaned over, whispering to Nixtred, who got the feeling she was some museum exhibit everyone wanted to see.
"That's Hannes, the owner. And a gossip cat."
Good to know. Now I just need to figure out what a gossip cat is. And whether it's dangerous.
Hannes walked over to them, and Nixtred immediately smelled food, an incredible variety of it. She'd been wrong. Hannes wasn't a bartender. That man worked in the kitchen and, from the smell, lived there as well.
She suddenly noticed her hunger.
"Welcome, welcome, come sit, you must be hungry, you poor thing. I made spaghetti Bolognese for you. The other Shraphen here love it. And for dessert I made some Frulk mousse."
The host's monologue made Nixtred dizzier than any lecture on high-energy field physics ever had. She stared wide-eyed at the chef-slash-bartender.
Pfershy was right. Better take it slow today.
As they sat down, Nixtred saw an odd pair coming down the main road. An elderly man, his face marked by deep wrinkles, a dog on a leash, and a young woman. Both seemed to be arguing about something.
Without really thinking about it, Nixtred turned her ear to listen.
"And I tell you again, no uplifting. We have enough problems already. I don't need the Shraphen to complain that we're starting to uplift dogs now."
"But it would be so cute. And what we could learn!"
"What, why they sniff each other's ass? Victor, I swear, if you uplift Sir Lancelot, I'm done. Now come, we have a meeting."
Uplifting… What experiments do they run here?
Another staff member brought her a drink in a Shraphen slurping cup. She hadn't seen one since leaving Burrow. If Hannes had taken care to get Shraphen slurping cups, she could imagine feeling at home here.
Slurping her drink, she allowed herself the tiny flicker of hope that Hannes would have real Burrow Frulk mousse.
The odd couple had ended their discussion just as they were about to pass the table by the street.
The woman saw them and came up to their table, greeting Major Pfershy with a hug.
"Major, you're already here? I thought you'd arrive in three hours."
"Yes. The pilot… he was a showoff."
Major Pfershy turned back to Nixtred, who was focused on deciphering whether the two led this place together as more than colleagues. She didn't smell anything, but their behavior toward each other was… familiar but guarded.
"Nixtred, this is Dr. Jane Nesbitt, civilian leader of this installation and director of the research facilities here. Jane, this is Renthai Nixtred, former Shraphen head of weapons research."
The woman gave Nixtred a warm smile, then hugged her.
Did she hug everyone?
"Nice to have you here. I've heard so much about you."
"Oh, you did?"
"Yes. Aside from your file, your son Vextred always talked about you. How you taught him to be strong and self-sufficient."
She knew Vextred? How?
Pfershy solved the mystery unprompted.
"Dr. Nesbitt here and Dr. Cardinal—" he had to look for the older man, who was following his dog across the lawn "—were the two specialists who healed your son and found a way to flush his body of the nanites that attacked him."
"You?"
This woman had healed my pup.
Nixtred hugged Jane and had trouble fighting down her tears.
"Thank you. Thank you for saving my pup."
"Nothing to thank me for. Your son is a hero. Listen, you eat first, and then we'll talk, okay? I have to visit the Chief."
Pfershy raised an eyebrow.
"Problems?"
Jane shook her head, then looked at Dr. Cardinal.
"Just picking Claudia up. Someone thought it was a good day to test experimental fuels on her scooter without telling her."
Cardinal shouted back without looking at them.
"It was a test to see if we can raise the Templars' jetpack efficiency. I already said I'm sorry."
"The Chief rescued her on Circumference Road doing 300 km/h. She drove against the rotation and almost became weightless."
"I'm sorry."
Pfershy surprised Nixtred again with his real laughter.
"At least it worked. That's why I call this a madhouse."
Much to Nixtred's surprise, Jane nodded.
"Me too."
A heavenly smell distracted Nixtred. Hannes himself brought her a plate of the mysterious spaghetti.
After explaining how to eat it, he waited for her to test the meal.
One bite, and her taste buds exploded.
"You like it? It's a recipe from General Russo. Old family secret."
"It's… divine."
She forgot every conversation around her while she ate.
How long was I unconscious on the transport? To be this starved…
Pfershy watched her eat with a smile.
"I have to find out why all Shraphen are almost addicted to spaghetti."
The highlight of the afternoon, by far, was the dessert.
Real Frulk mousse, harvested from Frulk roots secretly grown in the hydroponics gardens, according to Hannes.
Pfershy looked puzzled at that revelation.
"Don't let the Chief find out. Frulk roots are a Class 1 narcotic for Humans."
Hannes wrung his hands.
"Yes, but they are sooo tasty."
"Like I said, don't let the Chief know."
"Ah, he doesn't care. He has enough trouble herding cats, as he calls it."
Are cats a rodent endangering the station? A simple autonomous hunting drone should be able to get rid of them.
Wait. The Major said Hannes was a gossip cat. Are they shapeshifting?
———
Nixtred dropped into her bed. A real Shraphen bed, handmade by a Shraphen carpenter living on the station. Neckrest and encircling pillow, exactly right.
This place is spoiling me.
The afternoon had dragged on. After she ate, one patron after another had come over for a talk. Her head buzzed with names and stories. Humans were natural smalltalkers. And they genuinely seemed to love the Shraphen.
Dr. Nesbitt had come by later, with a furious Claudia and a very quiet Dr. Cardinal. They set an appointment for the next day — access to the research cylinder, and a laboratory of her own.
Tomorrow I begin my project.
And I know exactly the right man to help me build my weapon.
Dr. Victor Cardinal.