Obsidian Ressurection

by T J Bryan

  As Smilot led Toni to the Xamans she whispered, "The one in yellow speaks, but it is the one in blue who decides."

  Following introductions the Xamans led Toni and Smilot on a slow tour of the items on offer. Among the first items was statuary of the human form made from white stone and to Toni's un-artful eye simply beautiful. There were other figures of the human form equally stunning and some were of stone and others of a dull metal.

  Toni asked the origin of these statues and the man who Toni though of as Yellow replied. "Ancient lands of Earth. From Sol. Pre Empire period. Very old."

  The next statue, was not of a human form, but of a rather deformed large and rather ugly creature.

  Yellow spoke. "This is Hitti. Also old. Very old. 6,000 years. Found in situ at old Hitti home world. Many meters of debris down. Much digging."

  The little tour continued and eventually they came to the technology section. Or at least that is what Toni assumed the section was, for most of the items on display were obviously mechanical, or made of metal, with some intended purpose. Toni stopped in front of what looked like a tangle of small pipes and wires.

  Yellow man spoke, "An element of a Greayson propulsion system. Found in Greayson home world only 50 years ago. Very rare."

  "And what does this component do?" Toni asked.

  "We have no idea." Yellow replied. "Greayson propulsion most complex. Self destructs. Fragment remained somehow."

  Next was an assortment of klein jars for storing anti-matter. Toni recognized them although there were many different kinds and in a number of different shaped containers. None looked like the toroid in the hold of Greenland, but she was interested if the price was right. The Collegium might well appreciate the bottles for research.

  Another item caught Toni's eye. Three small orbs, a little larger than a fist were suspended a few centimetres above a what appeared to be small wooden blocks. The orbs were painted black on one hemisphere and white on the other. Toni thought they almost looked like children's toys.

  "Q balls' said Yellow. He reached down to one suspended ball and turned it so that only the black face was upward. Moments later the other two balls rotated their black face in the upward position. Yellow then move a different ball to the white upward position and the other two followed moments later.

  Toni was intrigued but thought there must be some communications device located either in the orb or in the wooden block that held the ball. "Are these simple toys?"

  Yellow man responded. "These are Qualoos. Found on abandoned Qualoos colony station. Under much debris. Very old. Children's toys we believe."

  "How old and what is their purpose?" asked Toni.

  Yellow man thought a moment before replying. "Very old. Almost at the bottom." Toni could tell there was more to these Q balls so she pressed further. "And if I turn any one the others follow?"

  Yellow man looked to Blue and Blue nodded.

  The Yellow continued. "If you turn any one the others will follow. Regardless of distance."

  Tony replied, "Ah so if one ball is in one room and the others are in another room they can communicate their position?"

  "Yes," replied Yellow. "Any distance."

  "Any distance?" Toni asked again.

  "Yes. Any distance. But they do not work while in the tunnel."

  "They don't function in tunnel travel between portals?"

  "Yes. They will not work in tunnel."

  Toni was about to go to another item, but the phrase 'any distance' kept bothering her. "You said any distance. So if one orb is here and another on the moon Lol, they will mimic each others position?"

  Yellow replied, "Yes. Even one star system to another. Any distance."

  Toni was stunned. If the Xamans were right these orbs were some kind of instantaneous inter-stellar communications system. But Toni was sceptical. "Do you know how the Qualoos did this. With the orbs that is?

  For the first time Blue spoke. "Quantum physics."

  At that moment Toni decided she would bid everything they had if the orbs actually worked. Toni did some quick calculations in her head. If you turned one ball the others seemed to take perhaps three or four seconds to respond. If one were to adopt a coding system from one stellar system to another the bandwidth would be extremely low. But for simple communications, such as 'all is right' or 'under attack' the Q balls would prove invaluable. "Let us continue," Toni said as she turned one ball to black and the others followed.

  Among the items were what could only be called lumps of metal that had once been part of something larger but had obviously been melted or burned. Some items Yellow man described. Others he simply said they were 'old' and in some cases 'very old.'

  At the end of the tour Yellow asked if Toni was interested in any of the items. Toni was anxious to conclude an agreement for the Q balls, the single bit of Greayson GWP tech, and the klein jars. But she wanted to ensure that the Xamans understood that the Jamon System was interested in other items as well. So she said she was also interested in two of the human statues, a dozen wooden tables and chairs described as also from ancient Earth, the Hitti statue, a few other tech items that simply looked interesting but whose function was unknown, and a two dozen old texts written in a non-standard form of English.

  Without waiting for a reply Toni simply offered what fission fuels she knew Greenland held in her reserve of trading items kept for just this occasion.

  Without haggling Yellow looked to Blue and the deal was done. Later that day the items were transferred to the loading dock of Greenland and payment made to the Xamans.

  However before the Xamans left Toni drew up a list of technology items she was seeking for future trade and at the top of the list was 'Any remaining Greayson technology as well an any Qualoos items.' Blue nodded his head and accepted the list. Further Toni said that if the Greayson tech items were too large for the Maximon to move, the Jamon System would pay for finding them, and haul them away on their own ships. Nine hours later the Xaman Ek were gone. They seemed pleased with their trade and Toni wondered if they had taken a gamble on Wu station possibly arriving without the fuel to return home.

  Two days later all of Toni's acquired trade goods and her detailed dispatches were loaded onto Captain Marx's Sigrún for his return to the Commonwealth. All the trade goods, but for one orb that Toni kept aboard Greenland. Given the known tunnel time to Nelots and the return to the Jamon system Tony worked out a test schedule for the orbs once Captain Marx was at Nelots and then at home. Toni had worked out a simple code based on white or black faces displayed within a short period. First was black, white, black, then a pause of one minute. That code meant that all was well or was an affirmative reply to the same query. White, black, white was a negative response, or a signal that there was trouble. Toni was certain that if the Q balls proved useful then a more complex, although very low bandwidth, coding system could be developed between three locations. A system based on Q balls would never work for real time communications of complex issues such as battle control, or news updates, or even of limited conversations; that is unless one were willing to wait two hour to complete a simple statement. But for simple notifications the Q balls might prove the most valuable piece of tech in the OCN after only the SAR's themselves.

  Chapter Seventy Nine

  Narlanda - Elevator Complex - Year 3247. June 21 ET: 09:53

  "We are grateful for your visit and to learn of both Jamon and your new navy." said Thucydides. "And we are happy to provide you, and all you are in contact with, the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Gallectica."

  Farn, Thucydides, and his granddaughter Aelia sat under a blooming grape arbour drinking tea and nibbling on sweet snacks. Thucydides continued, "You will however find these latest editions lacking. The Great War has ever so greatly reduced our updates from so many worlds. Many worlds have simply disappeared and their journal entries lost to The Dark. Our input of information for the last three hundred years has been but perhaps 10% of what we received before
the conflict. Further editing has become exceedingly difficult given we have few confirming reports from other sources. Our editorial standards remain unchanged, but the updates will probably be paltry compared to what you might reasonably have expected."

  Farn sipped her tea and glanced up toward the grape arbour hanging above her head. Sunlight streamed down through the leaves and hanging grapes. Farn had never felt so at peace as she did now, but she knew the feeling could not last.

  Farn was about to say something in gratitude to Thucydides when Nomi and John Beckley appeared at the top of the sloping garden path which led to the arbour and on to the elevator station. Nomi appeared determined to follow the path with some speed, and in the last few days Nomi had seemed less distracted and less anti-social than usual. Nomi's intensity was not diminished, but her intense concentration seemed focused on a tangible result rather than endless hypothetical's which often clouded her thinking and caused frustration. Farn knew from Nomi's behaviour, as well as from John Beckley's comments, that Nomi was about to conclude one of her discoveries. The subject of that discovery no one really knew. Farn always remembered that Nomi was Nomi, and until Nomi was certain her thinking would remain a mystery.

  Farn stood and was about to thank Thucydides. The New Hildr was scheduled to depart within the hour and Farn was anxious to return to the Commonwealth with her valuable cargo; knowledge and a new current edition of the EG.

  Thucydides also stood and spoke with a determination that Farn had not seen on the old gentleman's face in the past two weeks.

  "Farn, we in Narlanda wish you well and our prayers will be with you and your new navy. As we have agreed my granddaughter will accompany you to your home world and represent Narlanda's mission to your Commonwealth. But let me be very frank with you."

  Farn was somewhat startled by Thucydides tone and serious expression.

  Thucydides continued. "Farn, we here in Narlanda have seen empires rise and fall, whole civilizations grow and collapse, star systems prosper and then disappear, wars of liberation followed by the liberation of wars. We have seen much. And we wish you well."

  Farn interrupted, "However?"

  "Indeed," replied Thucydides. "We have discussed your navy and your Commonwealth at great length here in the Athenaeum, and we fear that your efforts, that is the efforts of your Jamon System, are unlikely to succeed. The Dark is simply too heavy, to great in scope, and too chaotic, for any tiny system, even one as well endowed with technology as yours, to overcome the vast expanse of ignorance and greed that has descended upon our universe."

  Farn thought a moment. "And yet you send your granddaughter Aelia to travel with us and to join in our Commonwealth?"

  "Yes, Farn. We send Aelia because you are the one hope, our only hope, of ending The Dark and returning humankind to civilization and knowledge. The Dark may be overwhelming, and chaos may well rule for a million years, but some day, someone, some vestige of human kind will throw back The Dark and return us all to the light. I hope, in fact I pray that it will be you and yours. However we know that the odds, or even the stars themselves, are not in your favor. Yet, you and the Jamon must press on. You must take this one chance. And that chance is you Farn. You and your tiny navy and your rather unusual democracy you call the Commonwealth."

  Farn simply did not know what to say or what to respond. Nomi and John had arrived and appeared anxious to depart. Aelia had boarded the elevator moments before. It was time to leave Narlanda.

  Six hours later the OCN Destructor New Hildr and the SAR Mist departed the Narlanda System on its' long four month journey to Wu Station and then on to home.

  ...

  Wu System - Holgata Station Complex - Year 3247. August 19 ET: 18:18

  Months had past and the construction of Holgata Station was slightly ahead of schedule, but Toni Hamilton was not happy. The station needed to be completed as quickly as possible and although progress was substantial, nothing could match her expectations or even worse her desire for a swift completion of the basic build. A basic build that would be armed to the teeth as the old expression went.

  The pre fab central hub had been completed within weeks of arrival at Wu, and soon after six fusion engines had been installed on the hub, and another four on the moon Lol. Sixteen thick steel cables spread out from the hub in what looked like the beginnings of a complex spiders web, and with each day newly manufactured hull sections were lifted from the fabricators on the nickel rich surface of Lol and put into place by tractor trucks and automated plasma welders. The automation discovered in the remnants of a long dead Wu shipyard had significantly advanced the schedule, and Toni was grateful that the engineering crews were not pushed to exhaustion as had been the original plan. There had as yet been no fatalities in their hasty construction. But Toni knew she was only lucky so far. But the balance of haste against attack by outsiders was not an easy one, because the one thing Toni was certain of was that The Dark would eventually strike back against the tiny glimmer of light that had become Wu Station.

  Iceland had returned to the Commonwealth and Silvi's squadron had proceeded on to Hypsistos to try to open a line of commerce with that distant system. SAR rotations had continued each month and as Toni glanced up at her critical path chart stuck to the wall of her large spacious office in what had once been the Wu liner, she noted that the SAR Brynhildr with Captain Vidar Thoranson would soon relieve the SAR Hrist which had been on picket duty for almost a month.

  Toni heard a knock on her hatch. "Enter," she said.

  Martin Kárason, a nervous young man entered. He had become Toni's 'gofer' and expediter. Martin had served on Emmitt's navy munitions committee and had proven himself an able, if somewhat perplexing, administrator.

  "It is those u-bolts again. They just keep breaking. They are driving me nuts."

  Toni could see frustration in Martin as he spoke. She knew that the bolts were proving too weak to hold against the centrifugal forces of the spinning hub, but the solution had been to double them up and that had seemed to work. "Ok Martin. Why are they failing now?"

  Martin entered her red velvet lined office and peered out the plasticene window toward the slowly rotating hub. "It is that we just don't have enough of them. Doubling up was a good idea, but then we have only half of what we need. Toni, I tell you this is impossible. We will never meet the deadline with half the bolts we need."

  Toni leaned back in her rather luxurious soft chair. After all her office was once a first class suite on the Liner Wu Ascending. "Can we modify one of the smaller fabricators down on the surface to make additional bolts?

  "I tired that. Seems that nickel, and that is what Lol is made of, has a coefficient of expansion at these temperatures that makes them useless. No, we need a higher content of old fashioned steel to add to the nickel and apart from tearing out portions of this ship I don't see any around."

  Toni thought a moment. "What about that Unity wreckage that fills this system. I think that much of it is iron or steel."

  Martin looked up in surprise. "Yea. We could go grab some of that junk. Might take a few days. Perhaps a week. And drag it over here to Lol. Yea. That might work." Martin smiled and without saying anything left the office. Focus was a good thing Toni thought, but sometimes too much focus and you could not see the stars.

  Toni returned her gaze to her critical path charts when her vid-com chimed. She thumbed the comm line open.

  "Hello Toni," said Captain Smilot. "We have just had an entry from Severan and it is making a bee line to leave through the entry portal to Elegy. There is no hail."

  "What type of ship?" asked Toni.

  "Dumbbell. It is a Dumbbell ship."

  At the mention of Dumbbell Toni's prosthetic arm began to twitch. "How long will they be in system. Can Hrist intercept them?"

  Smilot replied, "Travel time from the entry at Severan to the exit for Elegy is eight hours. It would take our cutter about 30 hours to get there and your SAR Hrist just about the same time. No they wil
l be well gone before we can intercept them"

  "Any idea what they are up to?" asked Toni well knowing the answer before she asked.

  "Surveillance. If I were to speculate, and after all that is my job, I'd say they wanted to know what was happening at Wu Station. Not just the restoration of commerce. That they could find out by probably talking to some of our partners. No, I think they are examining our defenses. Given their attack on you at Fitz, it is best we prepare for the worst."

  Toni thought a moment. Toni was in charge of all OCN assets within Wu System, including Hrist and she needed to consider all possibilities ranging from an offer to trade to outright war.

  "For now Captain Smilot let us assume to best, and that the Dumbbells are only curious. But let us prepare for the worst. If a Dumbbell ship enters this system again and does not hail the station with a statement of its' intentions we must assume that it is hostile. Given the potential for hostility I suggest that your station monitor be prepared for immediate defensive action. I will contact Hrist in a moment and we need to coordinate any defensive plans. If a few days we will receive another picket ship and I will keep Hrist here for the indefinite future. As you know those Dumbbells pack a horrible punch."

  Smilot agreed and a planning meeting by vid-com was set for an hour later.

  Toni pulled up her OCN deployment status on her inter-tab. In a few days she would have both Hrist and Brynhildr in system. The monitor on Wu Station was now fully armed but still as a station she was very vulnerable. The old dead SAR Ragnarök might fool an opponent for a few hours but not much longer. Silvi with the Destructor New Ragnarök and her two escorting SARs might return within a week at the earliest and that was a very real and speculative assumption. Toni pushed out Silvi's return to perhaps around three weeks. At worst Silvi would not arrive at all.