Nano Bytes - A Collection of Short SciFi Stories

Silent Garden, by TyborTigadoro

The machines—like the shuttles—are dotted with patches of orange rust. Their pneumatic joints grind loudly as they move.

"What is this place?" I ask. "Who is in charge here?"

"All will be answered soon, Captain Miller," the machine replies. "You must come with us."

Gonzalez shoots me a glance. I shrug. We're scientists, not soldiers. It's not like we have a choice.

We silently follow the machines through the dimly lit hallway. Their clanking echoes through the long corridor. It is eerie but more comforting than the silence.

At last, another round of deafening grinding greets us as the end of the hallway opens up into a large chamber. The floor lights up beneath us through the opening.

"Go ahead," one of the machines grunts.

We walk through into another dimly lit room. It is lined with an unyielding morass of wiring and electronics. Lights blink through a thick layer of dust coating every inch of the machinery.

More grinding as the wall closes behind us.

"Welcome to the Silent Garden," one of the machines says.

"Alright, enough of this—" is all I manage to get out before the machine lunges toward me with a syringe.

#

The first thing I feel is wind. Then sunlight. Then I hear gushing water. Holy shit, how long has it been since I heard gushing water?

I roll over, and soft grass tickles my face.

"Captain, you up?"

I sit up so fast I nearly vomit.

"What happened?"

Martinez, Sipes, and Cosgrove stare back at me, eyes wide. Their suits are gone—replaced with baggy shorts and skimpy tops. They would look more at home on a Centauri barbecue than on a mission on the fringes of known space.

"Best we can figure, we're on Earth," Martinez says softly, pointing up at the sky.

I look up, shielding my eyes from the setting Sun. Sure enough, there are two gray moons in the sky—faint but visible.

"What in the fuck—"

"I can explain," says the disembodied voice.

All of us turn at once.

"I know, I know. It's a little disorienting," says a man in a straw hat and sunglasses. "I'm Paul."

"What," I cough and sputter, trying to find my voice. "What is this place?"

Paul offers a warm smile. "The Silent Garden, of course."

"Ain't that the Silent Garden?" Martinez says, pointing at the second moon.

The man laughs. "I see how that would be confusing, but, no, I assure you, it is not."

"Can you just tell us what the hell is going on, Paul?" I say, rising to my feet.

"Yes, Captain Miller," he says. "Your bodies never left the station, but your minds have synced to the Silent Garden. That's where we are now."

"So what, we're in a simulation?" Sipes says.

Paul nods. "The station houses the infrastructure for it. It's a digital recreation of the known universe—or at least something like the known universe. We scaled down the distance between celestial bodies by orders of magnitude to save on processing power. It also means no decades of cold sleep to get between systems—something I'm sure your crew can appreciate."