Above Eden: Of Science, Magic, and Gods

A single officer, dressed in a clean olive green dress uniform with a beret, marched through the halls of the United Nations Space Peacekeeping Forces Headquarters in San Diego. The tall, towering structure was a recent addition, constructed thirty years ago due to humanity's expansion into space. Fifteen stories tall and encompassing an area the size of a soccer stadium, the UNSPFHQ was the military arm of the United Nations at home and in outer space.

A military arm often fought over by the member states, especially among the eleven ruling members of the UN Permanent Security Council, the United Nations was only united in one aspect: trying not to destroy each other. Otherwise, everything else was fair game.

Still, due to the strict demilitarization of space for individual members of the United Nations decades prior, the UNSPF and the Discovery Corps were the only two entities available to aspiring soldiers and officers who wanted to deploy into space.

For the member states, these were the only two avenues of projecting their influence into the galaxy… which was filled with nothing but rocks and giant balls of gas until that discovery just over a decade prior.

Captain Jonathan Moore took off his beret and grasped it tightly while he marched into the office of one Brigadier General Robin Turtledove. The office was on the tenth floor, offering a spectacular view of the San Diego beachfront and the spaceport in the distance. The city of three million souls went about their daily lives under a clear blue sky. It would've been a perfect day for the beach, though the captain was here for more important matters.

The younger officer snapped a salute and stood at attention. "Captain Moore, reporting in, sir."

"Good to see you again, captain," General Turtledove acknowledged. The man had a forest of grey hair combed neatly to the side, his weathered face displaying only a tad of exhaustion. His sharp blue eyes remained bright, unmarred by any hints of age or wariness. "Congratulations on your promotion from first lieutenant. I've heard about your fine work on Nova. Take a seat."

"Thank you, sir." Captain Moore sank into the chair before the general's desk and awaited upright.

General Turtledove took the time to scan through the thin transparent computer screen on his desk and frowned. "I see that you've requested an assignment to either Luna or Mars. Why those two places, captain? A bright officer like you should be looking for better opportunities elsewhere."

"Some peace of mind, sir. I've had my fill of action on Nova… and I don't think I'm cut out for an administrative role."

"You wouldn't reconsider for a chance of a lifetime?"

"No, sir. I just want some peace and quiet, preferably away from Earth and Nova, for a nice change of scenery. Battling terrorists for two years on Nova and seeing an American city go up in smoke would do that to you." Captain Moore chuckled deprecatingly.

"Well, I feel a bit sorry for you, son," General Turtledove said. "Because you've been handpicked by one of your former commanders. You're slated to be sent somewhere else, not Luna or Mars."

"Where to? Io? Isn't there some training base that was recently built there?"

"No, to Roana."

"Roana…" Captain Moore's eyes widened as he bolted up from his chair. "That Roana? The inhabited planet they found eleven years ago? I thought it was quarantined!?"

"Do you follow the news at all, son?"

"No, sir."

"Well, they un-quarantined it. There's a UN mission set to depart for the planet in three months. Science and first contact, no big military action planned. It should be right up your alley."

The captain crashed into the seat of his chair. "I'll be damned."

"You've been assigned to Bravo Company, under First Brigade commanded by Colonel James Wilson. Sounds familiar? He requested you specifically."

Captain Moore sighed. "Of course he did. Is there any way I can…"

General Turtledove raised his hand. "No. You were also recommended by the CO of the Tenth Mountain Division, and since this UN mission is of utmost importance, we're sending the best of the best, which includes you and parts of Tenth Mountain. Some of the men under your command will be familiar since you will be leading a light infantry company formed with soldiers from Tenth Mountain."

"The biggest group I've led personally was a platoon."

"A platoon of Tenth Mountain men, from the reports. Something that happened accidentally, but a position you excelled at. There is no way out of this, captain. You're going to Roana."

"I… Yes, sir." Captain Moore's shoulders slumped, yet he maintained eye contact and held back a grimace. "I… I guess I'll do my best then. When do I have to report?"

"A week, captain. Take your time and get ready for the long trip ahead. The relevant material will be sent to you by the end of today. And remember, the mission is of great importance: our first opportunity to meet with foreign life. Failure will not be tolerated." 

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Outside the clear window, a wondrous darkness filled with shimmering stars gazed back at Captain Moore.

He stared at the reflection that appeared in the thermal glass, his crisp navy blue uniform blending seamlessly into the dark void. The few wrinkles on his face accented as his mouth drooped into a frown. A faded scar graced his forehead, making his brown eyes look even more tired and angry.

Looking past his reflection in the vast sea of space, he could faintly make out three small balls of fire: two were grouped together on one side while a lone orange star glowed further away from its sisters. Four planet-sized bodies orbited the twins, and while he could not see them from his seat, he knew three were barren, yet one was small and teeming with life—primitive life, with a lack of advanced intelligence, but life all the same.

That one was already being settled.

His focus shifted back to the single orb, alone yet supporting several planets within its grasp. One of which was something the United Nations Space Force had been searching for three decades.

A planet that had nearly caused a Third World War on Earth.

He expelled the negative thoughts racing through his mind while he grabbed the thirtieth-generation iPad from his desk. "It can't be any worse than Nova…"

The captain ran his fingers through his jet-black hair and leaned back into his chair, which sat behind his desk in the office. It was a small, spartan place, with only a handful of small furniture packed into the compartment. If he weren't certain that he was in space, he would've mistaken it for the interior of a seafaring carrier. A small green blanket on the couch and a coffee mug with a picture of the Golden Gate Bridge were the only homely items within the space.

A few comfortable seconds of silence passed, and he slowly sank back into his chair. His mind drifted away while he mindlessly browsed through a few documents, reading and enjoying the neverending view out his window.

Out of nowhere, a slender arm strangled his neck, and a low voice rumbled in his ears. "Yeah, there ain't many things worse than a fusion explosion."

"Christ!" Captain Moore yelped, instinctively swinging the iPad into the person's face. "Where the hell did you come from?"

The officer, one Lieutenant Randy Choi, barely blocked the smash with his free forearm and winced. "Fuck, man. That woulda been the second time you rammed somethin' in my face."

Captain Moore snorted. "You wouldn't wake up after that night out in Apollo. Not my fault you were snoozing away even after I shook you for a full minute."

"Still rememba' the ass-chewin' I got from the colonel," the Asian-American officer said with a thick Southern accent. "What got y'all tensed up?"

"You know, the fact that we're on a glorified tin can billions of miles from Earth."

"Right… From how riled up you got, seems like you ain't settled from that mission on Nova."

"Like you said, watching an enhanced fusion explosion happen live will do that to a person."

"Heard it was the biggest firework on this side of the universe," Lieutenant Choi shrugged. "Mustva been one helluva view."

"It was. Too bad you missed it." Moore's snide remark rolled off his tongue naturally. He shrugged off Choi's arm on his shoulder and rolled his chair away. "How's work on your end?"

The lieutenant yawned and waved his hand. "Same ol' shit. Reading data from the synths on the ground. Humans are crazy enough, but magic an'all the other stuff... You're doing the fun thing and actually meeting the locals. I have to stay behind and compile all the info."

"You staying on the Nimitz? Or heading aground?"

"Back and forth, probably. At least I have a buncha books and games on my iPad. Brought my Nintendo Soar, too. Got that new Fallen game that came out a week before we left; shit has been fun so far."

"Hopefully, we can go out drinking on the ground after we settle down. We barely got any leave time on Earth before this deployment."

"Who the fuck cares? There's magic and fuckin' elves man on the planet, man."

"They're not going to fuck you, you 'tard. That's why you're being stuffed in an office."

Choi let out a rumbling groan. "The one time I regret being in data analysis. But it ain't like you're better looking, ya protosoy Californian ass."

"Get out and go count the number of clouds on Roana or something," Captain Moore said, tossing a crumpled paper at Choi and pushing him towards the door.

"Fuckin' killjoy," Lieutenant Choi muttered while he opened the door of the office. "Hope ya get magical diarrhea on the planet."

"I might get it before that with the chow we're eating."

The door slammed shut, and the captain was alone, stewing in his thoughts once again. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and turned on his iPad. He glanced through the dossier for the umpteenth time, noting the bolded "Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment" at the top.

With a single swipe, the names of two hundred souls under his command were sprawled out on the desk in front of him, the holographic display hovering a centimeter in the air.

"Thirty new guys rotated from Fox Company… One hundred and sixty from Earth, thirty-two from Nova, eight synths…"

"Technically, nine synths, sir; I just don't have a physical form yet."

A smile tugged Captain Moore's lips as a display of a young brunette appeared in front of him. "I never knew you counted yourself as a member of the Peacekeeping Forces, Iris."

"Well, I do finish most of your paperwork and keep your information organized and tidy," the AI responded. Although her holographic form was only half a foot high, she looked every bit as detailed and natural as an ordinary human. "I've basically been a part of every unit you've led."

He chuckled, wiping away the dossier from his desk and replacing it with a map of a continent on Roana.

The planet that had changed the course of human history: Earth's, Nova's, and Roana's.

"What do you think of the mission then, Iris? I don't agree with what our government thought about the issue, but they had a point."

"Having second thoughts again, sir?"

"Somewhat."

Iris paused for a moment. "Everything is a risk, sir. Humanity took a leap of blind faith when developing the first sentient artificial intelligence, no? For all you flesh ba…"

"Language." Despite his attempt at a stern voice, his eye roll gave away his true feeling about the sarcastic term synths and AIs often used.

"Many humans were afraid of AIs, especially ones with physical forms. Plenty of popular media made that clear: Ex Machina, I, Robot, Terminator, 2001: A Space Odyssey, that AI I sympathize with in The Avengers: Age of Ultron…"

"There's a difference between creating intelligent life, and interfering in the development of a separate intelligent life on another planet, which contains humans."

"And when has humanity, of all living beings, shirked away from danger and opportunity? Especially when it came to fellow humans?"

Captain Moore sighed. "That's just it. I'm just… getting massive 'colonizer' vibes from this mission."

"Considering that half the UN Security Council threatened to nuke the other half if such attempts occurred, I doubt any attempts at exploiting, kidnapping, or threatening the natives will go over well. Which is why UN Peacekeeping Forces Oversight's Assistant Director Fletes is on this mission with us, sir."

The captain tapped his fingers and pressed a few buttons on his iPad. "Iris, activate Protocol Saferoom."

"As you wish, sir." Iris snapped, causing the lock on the door to whir. Within a few seconds, he heard various devices and lights power down around him. "Is it time for your daily rant?"

"No… Yes. It's about the Nova mission."

"Is that why you're unsettled about this mission, sir?"

"Somewhat." Moore placed his iPad on his stand and folded his hands before the hologram. "Nova is considered an "equal" of Earth, yet it's… been a struggle to actually treat them as equals. All the people on Nova can trace their lineage back to Earth, but it's clearly a secondary partner, if anything, a "colony" of Earth. You know what happened on Nova, what the separatists caused."

His AI partner blinked. "The UN learned from the blunders on Nova, hence the extreme caution towards this mission. First contact will cause some shock among the inhabitants of Roana, and exposure to our technology and ideologies may be detrimental. But the UN has prepared for thousands of worst-case scenarios."

"Still," Moore replied. "I'm afraid we'll make a similar mistake on Roana, especially due to the massive imbalance of power."

"If there is anything I am certain about humans, is that they are capable of immense good despite the horrors they can unleash. Perhaps you're right, and we will make mistakes on Roana. However, I am approximately eighty percent confident that much of the UN leadership learned its lesson from the Nova Uprising and its centuries' worth of history on Earth and will ensure all protocols are followed properly. Even with the difference in the levels of civilization between our two worlds and unknown variables still surrounding this mission."

Moore raised an eyebrow. "Eighty percent?"

"I wouldn't put it past some of the more unsavory members to attempt aggressive coercion to learn more about the local mystic arts and other anomalies. Even then, I doubt that many would attempt something blatant as kidnapping."

"Sounds reassuring."

"Nothing is certain, sir."

"And an AI telling me that assures me a ton."

Iris scoffed, folding her arms in front of her chest. "They say that an AI learns much from the human it initially meets."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's just me and not the UN coders that live in a shed in Geneva. Begin the daily log, Iris."

The room whirred to life, and the door unlocked after Iris waved her hand. "... Recording will begin in five seconds."

Captain Moore waited for a beat to pass before speaking up, ignoring the annoyed stare from Iris. "Captain Jonathan Moore of the Third Unified Division under the command of the UN Space Peacekeeping Forces. Day fifty-eight of the UNS Nimitz's mission to Petroica, formerly Sector 36 Ophiuchi. The ship has exited warp speed, opting for a more steady cruising pace to finish final preparations before planetfall. With one hundred and twenty-five million miles remaining on our journey, it will take us approximately five days to arrive in orbit around Petroica II, also known by the natives as "Roana"…"

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AN: 

Where have you been?

Life. I have had some issues at work and some personal/family issues that have been keeping me from writing. Also, a healthy dose of writer's block completely killed any inspiration/desire to write, unfortunately.

Thankfully, I'm mostly fine now. I just finished moving into a new apartment and starting a new job, and I've managed to write for a week straight with no difficulty! So hopefully, I should be back for the foreseeable future!

What about the American Dream?

That story will always be my most cherished and beloved work. For now, I'm holding off on any updates even though I do have a chapter or two prewritten for it. I hope to return to it one day after I get back into my writing groove, but there are no guarantees.

What is this story?

Precisely as the tags/title/description states. It's a First Contact story between a near-future Earth and a much more primitive human civilization on another planet. Some inspirations for this story were spartandjango's fantastic series, along with GATE and Summoning America (the American version of "Summoning Japan").

Originally, I was going to write a pretty generic SI set in a medieval fantasy world, but I also wanted to write a sci-fi fic. After a few days of pondering, my brother suggested I combine the two, and voila!

After a few weeks of ironing out the world-building and ideas for the characters/setting, I finally managed to write the chapters. I have about a dozen chapters prepared so far, and I will be slow to release them until I have a sufficient stockpile to release them more consistently. I aim to release two or three chapters a week by August 15th.

I will be releasing advanced chapters on Patreon starting August 15th as well.

If you have any questions, feel free to drop them below, and I will do my best to answer them . Thank you to the readers who asked about my well-being both here and on other platforms. Your concerns were greatly appreciated, and I hope to continue writing for years to come.