The Brilliant Doctor Kondor
By Andy Morris
If asked, The Brilliant Doctor Maximus Kondor would describe himself as a great man and, a genius. He was also rather modest and didn’t like to brag about his superior intellect. Unfortunately, like most geniuses; he didn’t receive the acclaim and recognition he deserved. So maybe he was a little too modest, but, serving in the Earth Alliance one had to conduct oneself with appropriate decorum.
His current assignment saw him aboard the starship ‘Daniel Johnson’; a mediocre science vessel deployed to the far reaches of space. It was a long way from the endless academic politics on Earth and; the escalating conflict with the Rylons.
The crew of the Daniel Johnson were most certainly not his intellectual equals, but they were secretly proud to serve alongside him. After all, he had transferred here with such an abundance of praise and flattery from his former supervisor it was hard for the crew not to feel a deep sense of pride at having him on board. The acclaim was well-founded of course, but there was once a malicious and spurious rumour that his former commander considered him to be a ‘twat’ and was just desperate to get rid of him.
Envy!
It was so unbecoming, but it was not unexpected. When The Brilliant Doctor Kondor arrived here he’d demanded he have the largest laboratory on the ship. This request; delivered eloquently and with fine arguments, had been declined. Instead, they’d stuffed him into this small corner of the ship, into a laboratory that had also doubled as a storage space. Nevertheless, Doctor Maximus Kondor wasn’t one to be put off by a challenge. He made the space his own and continued his work: Studying dust samples to help shed light on the origins of the universe. That was all very well and good, but it didn’t help humanity in the way his own personal research promised: Immortality!
He’d begun his secret ground-breaking work when he was a member of the Order of Scholars working amongst the scientists and academics of the Earth Alliance. He soon found them to be too narrow-minded and self-obsessed, so he transferred to the Order of Engineers. Here, he received the cybernetic implants that enabled him to put his theories into practice. He’d already made significant gains before his arrival on the Daniel Johnson. As time went by he found his own work needed to take priority over his official tasks. The dust samples quickly became a distraction and before long he found he was spending only half his time on the dust and half on his own schemes. He reflected that, as no one had bothered to get to know him or shown any adoration in his excellent dust sample work, there was no point in devoting all of his genius to it! It simply wasn’t worth his attention. After a while, he decided to abandon it altogether and devote all his time to his own research. No one asked about his dust samples when they stopped receiving his data, so there was no need to justify his decision and reveal his pioneering work prematurely.
His breakthrough came exactly two years and three months ago. All his test results showed incontrovertible proof that he – The Brilliant Doctor Maximus Kondor – had unlocked the secrets of immortality. His years of research had improved his cybernetic implants and biological enhancements to a level where his body could sustain itself indefinitely. His superior immune system could fight off any disease and the speed with which his body could regenerate lost or damaged tissue was exceptional. His mechanical implants could synthesize all the nutrients his body needed so he never had to eat or drink again. His organs no longer relied on oxygen either. All his systems were supported by his cybernetics. He could survive in any environment, forever. He was a god, but he was a benign god who was willing to share his gift of immortality with his lesser counterparts, in time.
First, he needed to become more aesthetically pleasing. If he was going to live forever, he was going to need a perfect body in which to exist, otherwise what was the point? Thus, he had begun the painstaking task of fine-tuning his appearance. When that was finally done he’d step into the limelight and publish his findings.
This was what he was thinking as, for the one hundred and sixth time, he rose from the regeneration tank in the corner of his laboratory. The milky white amniotic fluid drained off him as he turned to the holographic display. His slightly transparent doppelganger mirrored his movements as he studied his naked form with a sense of restrained satisfaction. He sent a thought-command and the hologram rotated allowing him to study himself from all sides. He was at the peak of human evolution. With his perfect geometric vision, he saw that he now stood zero-point-eight centimetres shorter than before – exactly as he’d planned. His muscle mass had increased by five per cent and his sublimely even skin-tone was two degree’s darker than before. Less observant people wouldn’t notice these differences. They would only see a fine-looking man – a-near-perfect-looking man – with the standard cybernetic implants customary to those from the Order of Engineers. The most obvious of these implants were the four metallic limbs that reached out from between his shoulder blades, giving Engineers their distinctive arachnid-like appearance. The appendages enabled people to carry out tasks more efficiently than a normal person, or a machine because they were wired directly into the brain. They allowed him to lift incredibly heavy objects, as well as providing the delicate motor-skills necessary to perform complex surgical procedures on himself. He regularly maintained his implants, as he did the rest of his body, to stay in peak physical condition.
Today’s results were pleasing. He was getting closer to the absolute perfection he strove for, but there were still imperfections within him. They weren’t obvious to him at this moment, but he knew they were there, and it would take careful forensic analysis to find them and correct them. Only then could he welcome the rest of humanity into the Age of Immortality. He would revel in the glory and celebrity status that had been so scandalously denied thus far in his life. People would sing his praises because fears of dying and conflicts with alien races would fade into insignificance.
As he stepped gracefully out of his tank, he became aware that the subtle vibrations of the ship had changed. Only he possessed the highly tuned sensitivity to detect the molecular vibrations running through the Daniel Johnson. Not even Kez, the human representation of the ship’s artificial intelligence system could detect them. Kez – in The Brilliant Doctor Kondor’s opinion – was largely inefficient anyway. There was nothing he could do that an Engineer of Maximus Kondor’s standing couldn’t do quicker. He also didn’t like the way Kez was able to manifest anywhere on the ship. The holo-emitters that allowed this were disturbing and so the brilliant doctor had disabled them in his laboratory. He had isolated his lab from all communications, so he was effectively cut off from the rest of the ship. This was a necessary precaution to guard against academic espionage. Plus, he couldn’t abide interruptions when he was working. His internal chronometer told him it had been thirteen months and nineteen days since his last contact with anyone else on the ship and it was even longer since he'd actually stepped foot outside his workspace. Thirteen months and no one had come to see him? Were they so in awe of him that they felt inadequate to visit? What about his welfare? They didn’t know if the greatest genius in the Earth Alliance was alive or dead! A lesser person may worry his crewmates had forgotten about him. A lesser person may feel resentment towards them, but not The Brilliant Doctor Kondor. He had risen above such petty thoughts and instead looked down on his colleagues with pity rather than bitterness.
In a rare deviation in thought, he allowed himself to become distracted by the intensity of the micro-vibrations. Something out of the ordinary was happening beyond his lab and so it would be prudent to investigate. He sent a thought-command and remotely accessed the Daniel Johnson’s main computer systems, easily bypassing the weak security protocols, thus linking his brilliant cybernetic brain with the ship. This was highly illegal but that didn’t concern him. His status should entitle him to go wherever he needed on the ship. As The Brilliant Doctor Kondor became one with the Daniel Johnson, he learned that something was terribly wrong. Alerts of every kind were screaming for attention: Causalities here and fires there.
They were under attack!
Life support was down to forty per cent. On some decks, it had failed altogether. Dozens of Rylon fighters were blasting the Daniel Johnson from all sides. Shields had dropped to thirty per cent efficiency and the newly installed weapons systems were firing beyond capacity.
Fellow engineers were in this virtual computer network as well, although they were too preoccupied to notice him. They worked with Kez desperately trying to reroute damaged systems and prevent critical parts of the ship from going permanently offline. It was a futile endeavour; as soon as they patched up one system, two more failed. Even as the Daniel Johnson’s pilots – lesser cyborgs from the Order of Navigators – manoeuvred the ship out of the path of a hulking Rylon cruiser, the forward shields collapsed.
All the recent battle reports were instantly assimilated into Dr Kondor’s brilliant mind. It was surprising how fast the conflict escalated: The Earth Alliance was now on a war footing with this newly encountered alien race.
Why hadn’t anyone told him? He wouldn’t have minded bringing his great wisdom to help strategize a way forward. This was another example of the poor judgement and limited intellect of the crew. Was it even worth bestowing immortality upon them?
He turned his attention to the bridge.
Captain Boucher was dead, and Lieutenant Wilcox now sat on the captain’s throne. Kez stood at his side flickering in and out of sight as the holo-emitters slowly broke-down. He was listing failures in critical systems like some computerised prophet of doom.
“Shields are down to seven per cent,” Kez intoned in that depressingly flat emotionless voice. “And our distress signal is still being jammed.”
“Can you open a warp gate yet?” Lieutenant Wilcox asked as another explosion almost threw him to the floor.
“We cannot escape into warp space,” Kez advised. “Drive engines are off-line and we cannot open a stable warp gate…” He paused for a beat. “…Hull breach on decks ten through twelve. Port-side manoeuvring thrusters are off-line.”
“Sir,” a young man shouted. His robes suggested he was from the Order of Scholars. “There’s another consciousness in the ship’s main computer.”
“Have they accessed our systems?” The Lieutenant shouted, panic clear in his voice.
“Negative,” replied Kez calmly. “It is Doctor Maximus Kondor.”
Doctor Kondor felt the familiar sense of pride that came whenever someone uttered his name. Alas, it was short-lived.
“Is he still on this ship?” blurted the Lieutenant without a hint of respect. “What’s he doing? Never mind, just shut him out of there.”
“Right away, Sir. He does know that accessing this system is a breach of security.” Kez added, for no reason whatsoever.
“Such a twat!” came a remark from another crewmember. She was most likely referring to Kes, but there was no time to confirm this as the brilliant doctor was rudely expelled from the main system and locked out of the command deck. It didn’t matter, he’d seen enough to know he had to get off the ship and protect his research. He moved with prudence and responsible haste. They were in deep space and with nowhere in teleport range he had to find an escape pod. All of his work was backed-up in his internal processors, so he only needed to save himself. There was no need to panic! He swiftly made his way out of his laboratory and into a corridor choked with thick smoke. His vision and breathing were unaffected, thanks to his enhancements. Sirens wailed loudly and people stumbled this way and that. Fires burned and consoles blew sparks like golden rain onto the bodies of fallen crewmates. The ship groaned as if she were in her final death throws.
It was baffling that no one had warned him sooner. The greatest mind in the Earth Alliance could have been lost, without anyone of significance knowing about him! At that moment his personal force-field automatically flashed into life. A split-second later; the corridor exploded. The Brilliant Doctor Kondor was thrown backwards at a breath-taking velocity. He smashed through walls and bulkheads and was ejected into the cold vacuum of space. Helpless, he watched the Daniel Johnson blow apart in a huge silent explosion, and then everything went black.
Hours later and the Rylon fleet was gone. The Daniel Johnson was gone. Everything was gone. Well, almost everything: Drifting alone in the infinite darkness, The Brilliant Doctor Kondor opened his eyes.
His current assignment saw him aboard the starship ‘Daniel Johnson’; a mediocre science vessel deployed to the far reaches of space. It was a long way from the endless academic politics on Earth and; the escalating conflict with the Rylons.
The crew of the Daniel Johnson were most certainly not his intellectual equals, but they were secretly proud to serve alongside him. After all, he had transferred here with such an abundance of praise and flattery from his former supervisor it was hard for the crew not to feel a deep sense of pride at having him on board. The acclaim was well-founded of course, but there was once a malicious and spurious rumour that his former commander considered him to be a ‘twat’ and was just desperate to get rid of him.
Envy!
It was so unbecoming, but it was not unexpected. When The Brilliant Doctor Kondor arrived here he’d demanded he have the largest laboratory on the ship. This request; delivered eloquently and with fine arguments, had been declined. Instead, they’d stuffed him into this small corner of the ship, into a laboratory that had also doubled as a storage space. Nevertheless, Doctor Maximus Kondor wasn’t one to be put off by a challenge. He made the space his own and continued his work: Studying dust samples to help shed light on the origins of the universe. That was all very well and good, but it didn’t help humanity in the way his own personal research promised: Immortality!
He’d begun his secret ground-breaking work when he was a member of the Order of Scholars working amongst the scientists and academics of the Earth Alliance. He soon found them to be too narrow-minded and self-obsessed, so he transferred to the Order of Engineers. Here, he received the cybernetic implants that enabled him to put his theories into practice. He’d already made significant gains before his arrival on the Daniel Johnson. As time went by he found his own work needed to take priority over his official tasks. The dust samples quickly became a distraction and before long he found he was spending only half his time on the dust and half on his own schemes. He reflected that, as no one had bothered to get to know him or shown any adoration in his excellent dust sample work, there was no point in devoting all of his genius to it! It simply wasn’t worth his attention. After a while, he decided to abandon it altogether and devote all his time to his own research. No one asked about his dust samples when they stopped receiving his data, so there was no need to justify his decision and reveal his pioneering work prematurely.
His breakthrough came exactly two years and three months ago. All his test results showed incontrovertible proof that he – The Brilliant Doctor Maximus Kondor – had unlocked the secrets of immortality. His years of research had improved his cybernetic implants and biological enhancements to a level where his body could sustain itself indefinitely. His superior immune system could fight off any disease and the speed with which his body could regenerate lost or damaged tissue was exceptional. His mechanical implants could synthesize all the nutrients his body needed so he never had to eat or drink again. His organs no longer relied on oxygen either. All his systems were supported by his cybernetics. He could survive in any environment, forever. He was a god, but he was a benign god who was willing to share his gift of immortality with his lesser counterparts, in time.
First, he needed to become more aesthetically pleasing. If he was going to live forever, he was going to need a perfect body in which to exist, otherwise what was the point? Thus, he had begun the painstaking task of fine-tuning his appearance. When that was finally done he’d step into the limelight and publish his findings.
This was what he was thinking as, for the one hundred and sixth time, he rose from the regeneration tank in the corner of his laboratory. The milky white amniotic fluid drained off him as he turned to the holographic display. His slightly transparent doppelganger mirrored his movements as he studied his naked form with a sense of restrained satisfaction. He sent a thought-command and the hologram rotated allowing him to study himself from all sides. He was at the peak of human evolution. With his perfect geometric vision, he saw that he now stood zero-point-eight centimetres shorter than before – exactly as he’d planned. His muscle mass had increased by five per cent and his sublimely even skin-tone was two degree’s darker than before. Less observant people wouldn’t notice these differences. They would only see a fine-looking man – a-near-perfect-looking man – with the standard cybernetic implants customary to those from the Order of Engineers. The most obvious of these implants were the four metallic limbs that reached out from between his shoulder blades, giving Engineers their distinctive arachnid-like appearance. The appendages enabled people to carry out tasks more efficiently than a normal person, or a machine because they were wired directly into the brain. They allowed him to lift incredibly heavy objects, as well as providing the delicate motor-skills necessary to perform complex surgical procedures on himself. He regularly maintained his implants, as he did the rest of his body, to stay in peak physical condition.
Today’s results were pleasing. He was getting closer to the absolute perfection he strove for, but there were still imperfections within him. They weren’t obvious to him at this moment, but he knew they were there, and it would take careful forensic analysis to find them and correct them. Only then could he welcome the rest of humanity into the Age of Immortality. He would revel in the glory and celebrity status that had been so scandalously denied thus far in his life. People would sing his praises because fears of dying and conflicts with alien races would fade into insignificance.
As he stepped gracefully out of his tank, he became aware that the subtle vibrations of the ship had changed. Only he possessed the highly tuned sensitivity to detect the molecular vibrations running through the Daniel Johnson. Not even Kez, the human representation of the ship’s artificial intelligence system could detect them. Kez – in The Brilliant Doctor Kondor’s opinion – was largely inefficient anyway. There was nothing he could do that an Engineer of Maximus Kondor’s standing couldn’t do quicker. He also didn’t like the way Kez was able to manifest anywhere on the ship. The holo-emitters that allowed this were disturbing and so the brilliant doctor had disabled them in his laboratory. He had isolated his lab from all communications, so he was effectively cut off from the rest of the ship. This was a necessary precaution to guard against academic espionage. Plus, he couldn’t abide interruptions when he was working. His internal chronometer told him it had been thirteen months and nineteen days since his last contact with anyone else on the ship and it was even longer since he'd actually stepped foot outside his workspace. Thirteen months and no one had come to see him? Were they so in awe of him that they felt inadequate to visit? What about his welfare? They didn’t know if the greatest genius in the Earth Alliance was alive or dead! A lesser person may worry his crewmates had forgotten about him. A lesser person may feel resentment towards them, but not The Brilliant Doctor Kondor. He had risen above such petty thoughts and instead looked down on his colleagues with pity rather than bitterness.
In a rare deviation in thought, he allowed himself to become distracted by the intensity of the micro-vibrations. Something out of the ordinary was happening beyond his lab and so it would be prudent to investigate. He sent a thought-command and remotely accessed the Daniel Johnson’s main computer systems, easily bypassing the weak security protocols, thus linking his brilliant cybernetic brain with the ship. This was highly illegal but that didn’t concern him. His status should entitle him to go wherever he needed on the ship. As The Brilliant Doctor Kondor became one with the Daniel Johnson, he learned that something was terribly wrong. Alerts of every kind were screaming for attention: Causalities here and fires there.
They were under attack!
Life support was down to forty per cent. On some decks, it had failed altogether. Dozens of Rylon fighters were blasting the Daniel Johnson from all sides. Shields had dropped to thirty per cent efficiency and the newly installed weapons systems were firing beyond capacity.
Fellow engineers were in this virtual computer network as well, although they were too preoccupied to notice him. They worked with Kez desperately trying to reroute damaged systems and prevent critical parts of the ship from going permanently offline. It was a futile endeavour; as soon as they patched up one system, two more failed. Even as the Daniel Johnson’s pilots – lesser cyborgs from the Order of Navigators – manoeuvred the ship out of the path of a hulking Rylon cruiser, the forward shields collapsed.
All the recent battle reports were instantly assimilated into Dr Kondor’s brilliant mind. It was surprising how fast the conflict escalated: The Earth Alliance was now on a war footing with this newly encountered alien race.
Why hadn’t anyone told him? He wouldn’t have minded bringing his great wisdom to help strategize a way forward. This was another example of the poor judgement and limited intellect of the crew. Was it even worth bestowing immortality upon them?
He turned his attention to the bridge.
Captain Boucher was dead, and Lieutenant Wilcox now sat on the captain’s throne. Kez stood at his side flickering in and out of sight as the holo-emitters slowly broke-down. He was listing failures in critical systems like some computerised prophet of doom.
“Shields are down to seven per cent,” Kez intoned in that depressingly flat emotionless voice. “And our distress signal is still being jammed.”
“Can you open a warp gate yet?” Lieutenant Wilcox asked as another explosion almost threw him to the floor.
“We cannot escape into warp space,” Kez advised. “Drive engines are off-line and we cannot open a stable warp gate…” He paused for a beat. “…Hull breach on decks ten through twelve. Port-side manoeuvring thrusters are off-line.”
“Sir,” a young man shouted. His robes suggested he was from the Order of Scholars. “There’s another consciousness in the ship’s main computer.”
“Have they accessed our systems?” The Lieutenant shouted, panic clear in his voice.
“Negative,” replied Kez calmly. “It is Doctor Maximus Kondor.”
Doctor Kondor felt the familiar sense of pride that came whenever someone uttered his name. Alas, it was short-lived.
“Is he still on this ship?” blurted the Lieutenant without a hint of respect. “What’s he doing? Never mind, just shut him out of there.”
“Right away, Sir. He does know that accessing this system is a breach of security.” Kez added, for no reason whatsoever.
“Such a twat!” came a remark from another crewmember. She was most likely referring to Kes, but there was no time to confirm this as the brilliant doctor was rudely expelled from the main system and locked out of the command deck. It didn’t matter, he’d seen enough to know he had to get off the ship and protect his research. He moved with prudence and responsible haste. They were in deep space and with nowhere in teleport range he had to find an escape pod. All of his work was backed-up in his internal processors, so he only needed to save himself. There was no need to panic! He swiftly made his way out of his laboratory and into a corridor choked with thick smoke. His vision and breathing were unaffected, thanks to his enhancements. Sirens wailed loudly and people stumbled this way and that. Fires burned and consoles blew sparks like golden rain onto the bodies of fallen crewmates. The ship groaned as if she were in her final death throws.
It was baffling that no one had warned him sooner. The greatest mind in the Earth Alliance could have been lost, without anyone of significance knowing about him! At that moment his personal force-field automatically flashed into life. A split-second later; the corridor exploded. The Brilliant Doctor Kondor was thrown backwards at a breath-taking velocity. He smashed through walls and bulkheads and was ejected into the cold vacuum of space. Helpless, he watched the Daniel Johnson blow apart in a huge silent explosion, and then everything went black.
Hours later and the Rylon fleet was gone. The Daniel Johnson was gone. Everything was gone. Well, almost everything: Drifting alone in the infinite darkness, The Brilliant Doctor Kondor opened his eyes.