Resonance - Episode 2: From the Abyss

Episode 2: From the Abyss

The Earth glistened like a magical and otherworldly glass orb floating against a backdrop of the deepest black of space. In its highest orbit, where its gravity was merely a fleeting whimper, a tremendous, grey orbital station floated menacingly out of the shadows.

It was one of many that now clung to the Earth’s orbit by the remnants of its gravitational pull and cleverly calculated movements. But, such is the vastness of space, it appeared on its own in isolation in the swallowing darkness of the vacuum of space - the small marble of planet Earth on one side, and the seemingly endless night on the other.

Adorning the sides of the station were the words, UNITED GLOBAL ACCORD. The letters were thin and elegant; and yet the words were bold and the message even bolder. There were no rivets, no weld marks, no signs of human industry or struggle - just the silent, backlit glow of a logo that promised a peace and unity that felt indistinguishable from a grave, perfectly adorning a mechanical wonder of industry.

The orbital station was large and intimidating. It was the latest station to be installed by UGA for the protection of all.

The series of orbital stations now surrounded the globe, shackled to the planet to keep them from drifting off into the endless void, manned by UGA and its most innovative technology.

Looking out into the beautiful and all-encompassing abyss of the solar system was like sitting at the cusp of an endless and inevitable night. The mechanical whirring inside the station and the technology, weaponry, and surveillance that it housed, sat on the edge of a black storm as a symbol of man’s unquenchable desire for control over nature and the universe.

Suddenly, the harsh flashing of an alarm and warning jumped onto the screens in the main deck in the station.

“Sir, an incoming object in sector 6FF!”

There was regimental and structured clamouring and shouts in the station, as the men and women in their official UGA uniforms hurriedly tried to make sense of the warnings displayed across more and more screens.

“Well?!” spat a large man in his 50’s, his clean-shaved face was completed with a stern and harrowing brow, distinctive cheekbones that felt out of place for a man of his size, and two deep craters where his eyes sat.

“Is anyone going to provide an update or do I need to send you out there to look?!”

“Sir,” came a monotone reply devoid of any panic or emotion, “something has triggered the radar, but it has no identifying signal or tags, it has to be an asteroid or debris - we have full visibility of everything colony side.”

The stern-faced officer stood, cross-armed, staring out into the darkness through a large viewing window. The sharp white fluorescent lights framed the blackness of space with an impossibly magnificent contrast that was lost on the officer. His muted grey uniform and silhouette added the small flicker of a paintbrush on an otherwise black canvas framed by the piercing luminosity of the deck’s lights.

The shrieking of the artificial and vibrating alarm continued to ring out through the station.

The officer’s eyes narrowed, and his overbearing brow tweaked and angled as he focused into the darkness. Despite the ferocity of his glare, nothing was visible or moving in the depths of the solar system before him.

His focus waned, and the faint, ghostly reflection of an aging, greying man appeared in the thick window - his frown deepened and intensified at its presence and he expelled a violent rush of hot air through his nostrils.

The ghostly figure in the reflection faded into the darkness of space as the officer’s eyes focused once more. As it did, a small glint and a shimmer of light flickered in the distance.

He squinted, trying with all his might to make visible the sparkling flash now visible out of the abyss in front of him.

“What…the…” he mouthed with thin, pale lips.

“Sir! A mech!” came a now panicked cry from the bridge.

“A mech!” shouted the officer in reply, he spun around quickly, “well?! Who is it?!”

The robotic and calm demeanour of the station was creaking, and the air of anxiety and doubt was now infecting the bridge.

“It - it has no identifying signals- there’s nothing - the radar is saying nothing!”

“That’s impossible!” spat the officer. “There’s no technology that can hide from our radars!”

“It’s not hidden, Sir! There’s just no ID beacon, no AI signal, it’s either turned off and floating through space or-”

“Or what goddammit!?”

“-there’s no system input or AI software.”

The officer slammed his fists on the desk of the now visibly shaking soldier reading from the screen in front of him.

“Don’t be stupid! That’s impossible!”

He ran to the viewing window, and there he saw it.

Against the never ending darkness of space, a solitary white mech cut through the void like an angelic being of chaos and power. It flickered like a star against the black backdrop - its pure and brazen white illuminated as the rays from the distant sun caught its metallic features; such a contrast the mech created with the abyss, that the grey of the UGA orbital station faded into dark obscurity, sinking unintentionally to the black of space.

For a brief moment, the angelic image of the mech standing against the background of the solar system caused all emotion and defiance from the officer to drain away and fade, much like the ghostly reflection in the viewing window glass.

He squeezed his fist tightly with vigour and it shook under the strain - the veins in his hand constricted and pulsed.

“Fire all guns on the colony side at that mech!”

Hurried shouts of UGA soldiers hammering on screens and calibrating technology followed, and the dozens of large guns on the colony side of the orbital station all moved in a terrifying unison as they locked onto the white mech in the distance.

And from the dark grey of the UGA orbital station, a chorus of thunderous guns erupted with a glorious explosion of deathly intent - huge vibrations and crashes shook the very foundations of the station, and eruptions of fire, plasma, and lasers shot through the silent void of space in the direction of the mech.

In the blink of an eye, the glistening white mech was replaced with an expulsion of light and power. Vast explosions of death and fury erupted and painted the darkness with clouds and splashes of colour.

The flashes of the eruptions strobed the face of the officer as he stared in shock and awe.

As the brilliance of the explosions settled and faded, the black of space enveloped all - the white glisten of the mech was nowhere to be seen.

The officer’s thin lips curled into a devilish smirk.

“The power of UGA…” he muttered under his breath, “well, whoever you were, your insolence to even appear in our presence… it makes my blood boil! To think anyone could hide.”

He looked down at the palm of his hand.

“Power is ours, and ours alone - finally, we can ensure the safety and control of-”

“Sir! On the radar- something- it’s- the mech!”

The officer shot his gaze upwards in pure shock, and before him, separated by the thick viewing window and barely ten metres of unobstructed space, was the white mech.

The officer took a step back and trembled - up close he could now see the neon glow of the mech’s purple eyes. The deep, pulsing, purple cut through the officer’s soul. The glow hummed and leaked into the abyss of the black of space.

He took another step back.

The mech moved as though in slow motion. Its large metallic arm reached behind its back.

The bridge was silent save for the repeating and robotic warning alarm still ringing, although that too was strangled out by the heavy cloud of terror now engulfing the station.

The mech pulled from its back a pulsating plasma sword, unsheathing it like a mysterious samurai from centuries prior. The sword vibrated like glitching static, its purple flicker matching the neon glow of the mech’s eyes.

In one swift movement, the mech pointed the sword in the direction of the viewing window.

The purple hues and sparks of pure energy and feverish destruction arced and bled into space as the sword could not contain itself.

The viewing window started to crack and chip.

The mech drew its arm back as though to thrust forward.

Episode 1 - Synchronisation Complete

Episode 3 - Coming soon