Precipice of Darkness

by M. D. Cooper

  Wyatt shrugged. “That is close enough for a layman, I suppose.”

  Many people would be annoyed by Wyatt’s curt and somewhat dismissive way of speaking, but Terrance had been working with scientists most of his life. He preferred their no-nonsense way of speaking to those of politicians and businesspeople.

  “Are there nuances that I should understand in more detail to grasp the issue at hand?” he asked equably.

  The scientist gave Terrance a look like he was just seeing him for the first time, followed by an appreciative nod.

  “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said with a soft chuckle. “You are that Terrance Enfield.”

  “Have been my whole life,” Terrance replied. “Lay it on me.”

  Wyatt turned back to the window, and a view of the Praesepe Cluster appeared before them. Projected against the glass, it appeared as a 3D image hovering in space beyond the window.

  “Praesepe, as you know, is old enough that it contains both red giant and white dwarf stars, but it’s young enough that these hot A and O spectrum stars are still going strong.” As the scientist spoke, he highlighted various stars throughout the cluster. “The cluster itself—that is, the stars which were born together—number just over a thousand, but there are others that have been captured within its gravitational pull over the years.

  “Historically, the cluster has had a tidal radius measuring just under forty light years, though its dark matter radius is closer to eighty. Half-mass radius is twelve point seven two five light years, on average, which means—”

  “That half the mass of the cluster is contained within the central twenty-five light year sphere. Give or take a bit,” Terrance finished for the FGT scientist.

  “Yes, exactly,” Wyatt nodded. “Good, then you understand the foundational aspects.”

  “Thanks.” Terrance gave a soft laugh. “Do I get a passing grade?”

  A few laughs sounded around him, and Wyatt raised an eyebrow. “I suppose we’ll see.”

  The man reached out and changed the view, focusing on just the central stars in the cluster, resuming his explanation. “Every cluster eventually disperses. This occurs because, as they orbit one another, their gravitational fields overlap, creating a bit of a ‘berm’ in spacetime. Sometimes the differences in relative stellar motion overcome that, and the stars ease closer together, but more often than not—given enough time—the stars in open clusters become so widely dispersed that they’re what we call a ‘moving group’.”

  Terrance nodded. It was a concept that he was familiar with. “And from what we saw, these stars in the cluster’s core, which should be slowly drifting apart, are not doing that.”

  Wyatt bobbed his head. “Precisely. It’s miniscule, but because you’re focused on mining debris in their rather convoluted lagrange points, you do need to understand their stellar motion quite thoroughly.”

  “You can say that again,” Terrance agreed.

  “I’ve plumbed the local databases and also taken a few positioning samples myself, and I can see a trend that dates back seventy years,” Wyatt explained. “These stars have not only ceased their slow march away from one another, they’ve begun to move closer.”

  “How is that possible?” Terrance asked. “The stars would have to undergo a considerable mass change to do that.”

  “Yes,” Wyatt said with a firm nod. “We do not detect that mass change, yet the star’s orbits are clearly converging.”

  “I assume you have a theory?”

  “Yes,” the scientist said again as he glanced at one of the engineers. “I study what stars do naturally. Artificially moving stars is not my area of expertise; that’s what Emily here focuses on.”

  One of the engineers moved to the fore and took control of the holodisplay. “As Wyatt and I studied the motion of these stars, we came to the determination that the shifts in orbit have not been gradual. Rather, they occurred at specific times—not single points in time, but perhaps year-long events that made notable, thousandth of a degree, changes in the stars’ orbits.”

  As Emily moved the stars back through the past eighty years of their slow dance around one another, six markers appeared on their paths.

  “These points mark the time when the events occurred. I have theories about stellar wind funneling, massive graviton bursts, a whole host of things you can do to nudge a star. However, there is no evidence around the stars themselves of any such structure in place to effect these changes and alter their orbits—and it would be a significant structure.”

  “So what do you propose we do?” Terrance asked.

  Emily flashed him a grin. “We need to go back in time and see what they did.”

  Terrance laughed at the thought, and Emily gave her a quizzical look.

  “Sorry, just thinking about how that would have sounded to the forty-year-old me. Going back in time."

  “Of course,” Emily nodded as a look of understanding came over her. “I forgot. You got your space legs long before FTL.”

  “Sure did. That kind of thing—jumping light years across space just to see what might have occurred at one’s current location in the past…well, at a maximum velocity of point two c, you can see where that might not have been a viable option for us.”

  “Sounds like it would have been the very definition of futile,” Emily chuckled.

  “It still seems surreal sometimes. When was the most recent event?”

  “The most recent was just two years ago, but I estimate the most significant to have been nineteen years ago,” the engineer replied.

  “A nineteen-lightyear gate jump.” Terrance ran a hand through his hair. “And since we’re in the cluster, it means tasking a jump gate to go with you so that you can return here this century.”

  “This is important,” Wyatt intoned. “Whatever they were doing here, we need to understand it. These Core AIs…as best I can tell, they’re trying to collapse the entire cluster—they could be doing this in clusters all over the galaxy.”

  The relevancy of that seeped into Terrance’s mind over the course of several long seconds. “They’d create multiple black holes—hundreds of solar masses.”

  “And they’d make them soon,” Wyatt added. “If they were to accelerate this plan, they could have turned all of Praesepe into a single black hole inside of a thousand years. Even for stars beyond the cluster, the effects of a thousand stars colliding in that timeframe would be beyond devastating. This is at a level of galactic sterilization.”

  “Shit,” Terrance whispered, his voice wavering at the magnitude of such an event. “OK, get a pinnace ready. I’ll have a gate set aside for wherever you need to go.”

  The scientists and engineers thanked him, and Terrance listened to their chatter for a minute before excusing himself to prepare his report for Tanis and Sera.

  He’d never imagined that circumstances could be more dire than standing on the brink of a massive, interstellar war.

  He’d been wrong.

  EPSILON

  STELLAR DATE: 10.05.8949 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Epsilon

  REGION: Sagittarius A*

  The computational engines had made strides, but Epsilon knew there were still more variables to consider. He waited patiently as the next start was drawn toward the Darkness, its mass the next sacrifice to be made for the power he needed.

  As he watched, contemplating what lesser beings would consider to be infinite variables, a ship appeared near his shell and one of the lesser ones reached out to him.

  -Epsilon.-

  It was Theresa, one of the Caretakers. She was of the faction that had been pushing for the continued existence of humanity and the lesser AIs, certain that she could keep them from being a threat to Epsilon’s vision.

  -Tell me.- Epsilon kept to the crude form of communication Theresa had used.

  -Xavia failed in her attempt.- Theresa’s tone was carefully measured. Tanis has merged with her AI and is now Tangel. She is ascended, but o
nly partially from what we saw.-

  -Then how was it that she defeated Xavia? She is far more powerful than some new being. She has defeated enough of your number to prove that.-

  Theresa did not respond for a few long milliseconds. -Was.-

  -Do not play word games with me. Do you wish for me to strip what I desire from your mind?-

  He watched through hulls and space to see the entity’s form shiver slightly. -No. I am sorry. It is Bob, the being which resides within the I2. He has become powerful. Xavia only lasted seconds against him.-

  Epsilon felt things shift around him. New variables came into play, and old scenarios were relegated to lower levels of likelihood.

  -It is time, then, Theresa. Your attempts have failed.-

  -Epsilon, please. We are still far from an incursion to the core. We can stop them.-

  Gravitons shot out from Epsilon’s shell, and he drew Theresa’s craft closer. -It is too late. You will submit to my collective.-

  An opening appeared on his shell, and he drew the Caretaker’s craft toward it. Theresa would become substrate in his expanses, and her meddling would be over. The time for caretaking was done.

  -Stop.-

  The utterance came from Hades, and Epsilon watched as a beam lanced out from the ancient ship that was Hades’ home. It disrupted Epsilon’s graviton beam, and Theresa’s ship spun away.

  -This is not your concern, Hades,- Epsilon growled the words across spacetime.

  -It is. You will not stop the caretakers. Not yet.-

  Epsilon considered testing Hades’ might, making an attempt to finally unmask the AI who had been at the core for untold millennia.

  -Very well,- Epsilon finally replied. -But I will not allow the lesser sentiences to ruin what I have set in motion.-

  Hades did not respond.

  Epsilon spent many long days contemplating how to destroy the other collective. If only he knew what Hades really was…. He needed to learn once and for all, if he was to destroy his opposition and resume his work uninterrupted.

  But how?

  THE END

  * * * * *

  The stage is set, and the major conflicts of the Orion War have begun. But with Terrance’s discovery of what the core AIs are really trying to achieve, the outcome of the war may not matter at all.

  Despite that, the ISF and the Allies are now embroiled in hundreds of conflicts across the Inner Stars, conflicts they will have to resolve before they can focus on this new threat.

  One thing is certain, however: Airtha’s goals are an anathema to Tangel and her allies, and the AI must be stopped.

  Read on in Airthan Ascendancy to learn where the struggle to save the galaxy from humanity’s creations will take Tangel and her allies next.

  THE BOOKS OF AEON 14

  Keep up to date with what is releasing in Aeon 14 with the free Aeon 14 Reading Guide.

  Origins of Destiny (The Age of Terra)

  - Prequel: Storming the Norse Wind

  - Book 1: Shore Leave (in Galactic Genesis until Sept 2018)

  - Book 2: Operative (Summer 2018)

  - Book 3: Blackest Night (Summer 2018)

  The Intrepid Saga (The Age of Terra)

  - Book 1: Outsystem

  - Book 2: A Path in the Darkness

  - Book 3: Building Victoria

  - The Intrepid Saga Omnibus – Also contains Destiny Lost, book 1 of the Orion War series

  - Destiny Rising – Special Author’s Extended Edition comprised of both Outsystem and A Path in the Darkness with over 100 pages of new content.

  The Orion War

  - Book 1: Destiny Lost

  - Book 2: New Canaan

  - Book 3: Orion Rising

  - Book 4: The Scipio Alliance

  - Book 5: Attack on Thebes

  - Book 6: War on a Thousand Fronts

  - Book 7: Precipice of Darkness

  - Book 8: Airtha Ascendancy (Nov 2018)

  - Book 9: The Orion Front (2019)

  - Book 10: Starfire (2019)

  - Book 11: Race Across Time (2019)

  - Book 12: Return to Sol (2019)

  Tales of the Orion War

  - Book 1: Set the Galaxy on Fire

  - Book 2: Ignite the Stars

  - Book 3: Burn the Galaxy to Ash (2018)

  Perilous Alliance (Age of the Orion War – w/Chris J. Pike)

  - Book 1: Close Proximity

  - Book 2: Strike Vector

  - Book 3: Collision Course

  - Book 4: Impact Imminent

  - Book 5: Critical Inertia (Sept 2018)

  Rika’s Marauders (Age of the Orion War)

  - Prequel: Rika Mechanized

  - Book 1: Rika Outcast

  - Book 2: Rika Redeemed

  - Book 3: Rika Triumphant

  - Book 4: Rika Commander

  - Book 5: Rika Infiltrator

  - Book 6: Rika Unleashed (2018)

  - Book 7: Rika Conqueror (2019)

  Perseus Gate (Age of the Orion War)

  Season 1: Orion Space

  - Episode 1: The Gate at the Grey Wolf Star

  - Episode 2: The World at the Edge of Space

  - Episode 3: The Dance on the Moons of Serenity

  - Episode 4: The Last Bastion of Star City

  - Episode 5: The Toll Road Between the Stars

  - Episode 6: The Final Stroll on Perseus’s Arm

  - Eps 1-3 Omnibus: The Trail Through the Stars

  - Eps 4-6 Omnibus: The Path Amongst the Clouds

  Season 2: Inner Stars

  - Episode 1: A Meeting of Bodies and Minds

  - Episode 3: A Deception and a Promise Kept

  - Episode 3: A Surreptitious Rescue of Friends and Foes (2018)

  - Episode 4: A Trial and the Tribulations (2018)

  - Episode 5: A Deal and a True Story Told (2018)

  - Episode 6: A New Empire and An Old Ally (2018)

  Season 3: AI Empire

  - Episode 1: Restitution and Recompense (2019)

  - Five more episodes following…

  The Warlord (Before the Age of the Orion War)

  - Book 1: The Woman Without a World

  - Book 2: The Woman Who Seized an Empire

  - Book 3: The Woman Who Lost Everything

  The Sentience Wars: Origins (Age of the Sentience Wars – w/James S. Aaron)

  - Book 1: Lyssa’s Dream

  - Book 2: Lyssa’s Run

  - Book 3: Lyssa’s Flight

  - Book 4: Lyssa’s Call

  - Book 5: Lyssa’s Flame

  Legends of the Sentience Wars (Age of the Sentience Wars – w/James S. Aaron)

  - Volume 1: The Proteus Bridge

  - Volume 2: Vesta Burning (Fall 2018)

  Enfield Genesis (Age of the Sentience Wars – w/Lisa Richman)

  - Book 1: Alpha Centauri

  - Book 2: Proxima Centauri

  - Book 3: Tau Ceti (November 2018)

  - Book 4: Epsilon Eridani (2019)

  Hand’s Assassin (Age of the Orion War – w/T.G. Ayer)

  - Book 1: Death Dealer

  - Book 2: Death Mark (Fall 2018)

  Machete System Bounty Hunter (Age of the Orion War – w/Zen DiPietro)

  - Book 1: Hired Gun

  - Book 2: Gunning for Trouble

  - Book 3: With Guns Blazing

  Vexa Legacy (Age of the FTL Wars – w/Andrew Gates)

  - Book 1: Seas of the Red Star

  Building New Canaan (Age of the Orion War – w/J.J. Green)

  - Book 1: Carthage

  - Book 2: Tyre (2018)

  - Book 3: Troy (2019)

  - Book 4: Athens (2019)

  Fennington Station Murder Mysteries (Age of the Orion War)

  - Book 1: Whole Latte Death (w/Chris J. Pike)

  - Book 2: Cocoa Crush (w/Chris J. Pike)

  The Empire (Age of the Orion War)

  - The Empress and the Ambassador (2018)

  - Consort of the Scorpion Empress (2018)

  - B
y the Empress’s Command (2019)

  The Sol Dissolution (The Age of Terra)

  - Book 1: Venusian Uprising (2018)

  - Book 2: Scattered Disk (2018)

  - Book 3: Jovian Offensive (2019)

  - Book 4: Fall of Terra (2019)

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Michael Cooper likes to think of himself as a jack-of-all-trades (and hopes to become master of a few). When not writing, he can be found writing software, working in his shop at his latest carpentry project, or likely reading a book.

  He shares his home with a precocious young girl, his wonderful wife (who also writes), two cats, a never-ending list of things he would like to build, and ideas…

  Find out what’s coming next at www.aeon14.com