A.I.: Orphans of Terra (HTTYD)

26

Chapter 26

"Just......... woah.........." Hiccup mumbled as he stared at the screen. The video kept playing but it only showed Hank and Mary shutting down J..... no........ Johann. "That was.......... Intense."

"I agree," Astrid muttered and Hiccup could feel the sour mood she was in. "Did you find anything else?" He asked.

"Not much, the data has been expertly encrypted." Astrid explained. "I did manage to get some data that was transmitted from the Mars colony but it doesn't make sense."

"How so?" Hiccup asked as he cocked his head. It had become a bit of a habit, even if Astrid wasn't directly looking at him.

"I shall let you listen to the full audio file. There is no video attached." Astrid said and then the holographic screen in front of Hiccup was loading another file. There was static for the first twenty seconds before a frantic voice filtered through "......yday Mayday, Hesperia colony under attack....." More static followed before the voice could be heard again "-equesting reinforcements and aid from Rhea colony. Attackers identified as Titan colony.......... -equest immediate assistance...... May-....... Mayday Mayday........"

"Hesperia colony?" Hiccup asked with a frown.

"Hesperia Planum is a broad lava plain in the Southern Highlands of Mars." Astrid explained. "I seemed to be one of the first human colonies assembled according to historical records. I had thought that this information might have something to do with me not being able to access the information obtained from the Mars satellites but it still would not make sense."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked. "It sounded like the Mars colony was being attacked by the Titan colony?" Hiccup somewhat asked. "So an interstellar conflict?"

"It is possible but........." Astrid paused here for a moment. "There is absolutely no record of a Titan colony being planned or existing. Ganymede, Callisto and Rhea had been designated as viable targets after the Mars project, but Titan, while possessing a natural atmosphere, was discarded as a colony target because the atmosphere was 50 percent denser than the Earth's and could not be easily terraformed." Astrid explained.

"So we have a colony that should exist but is gone and a colony that shouldn't exist but does?" Hiccup asked with a frown.

There are also other variables that make no sense." Astrid stated. "For one, it would take decades for a Genesis ship to reach its target. To go back to the first colony would take an equal amount of time. Second, the Genesis ships were not outfitted with weapons. Even the late 23rd century did not have weapons capable of firing through the vacuum of space. Third, colony development would have to take precedence before weapons development and travel time. There would be no way for humanity to advance so rapidly in only a few centuries. There is frankly too little data to speculate further."

"I kind of have to agree." Hiccup stated. "But while it is weird about what is going on up there, the priority should be to figure out what is going on down here. There are still several questions that need answering. Mainly, what happened to you, what project Re-genesis is and how Drago is involved."

"Drago?" Astrid muttered and then went silent for a minute before she returned. "You are right," She then said. "He wasn't in the experiment video logs at all. I will see what I can find out. This may take a while. What will you do in the meantime?"

Hiccup looked at the clock on the holographic screen and said "Well it's not too late right now. Maybe I could go talk to either Tuffnut or Snotlout."

"You really think you can convince them?" Astrid asked over the headset as the door to Hiccup's room unlocked.

"Maybe," Hiccup mumbled.