SODIUM:6 Defiance

by Arseneault, Stephen

  We spent most of the day talking about the symbols and what they could mean. Someone, or something, had been aware of our existence long before any of our species were advanced enough to move out into space. I wondered about how the technology of others might have evolved in those 70,000 years. For Man, travel to the stars, had only taken a few thousand years since we had first begun to write. Hershen could not comment on the Kurtz as they had no history beyond that which the Frekkin had given them, nearly 4,000 years of Frekkin rule had wiped it away.

  As we continued to ponder, the DaCuban night descended as the twin suns moved over the horizon. It would be thirteen hours before we again saw their light. But the DaCuban night was not dark as the third star in the system shined brightly in the night sky. Alnitak c was in an orbit that brought light to the world on which we stood. In another 500 years it would be just another small twinkle in the night sky.

  When the suns set the temperatures dropped to 40 degrees below zero. With our helmets deployed our BGS suits kept us toasty and warm. We sat in a large circle kicking around ideas as to what we could do next. As the discussions continued I stood and walked over to the prostrate human symbol on the surface.

  As I looked at the pictograph a thought entered my head. I knelt down beside the symbol and then stretched out my arms just as it depicted. Nothing happened. In curiosity Hershen soon joined me. He wanted to know what it was that I was attempting to do.

  I tried several more times but nothing came of my efforts. Hershen then suggested that I should once again begin the gesture, and this time I should situate myself directly over the symbol. My hands should be outstretched to the ring before me. Again I tried the gesture but nothing happened.

  We continued our attempts as the science team watched-on from their circle. Giggles could soon be heard after each attempt. I reached out to the clear stone in the center of the ring and then moved my gloved fingers across it. As I did so the second time I could feel something pushing back on my hand as if to push it away from the stone.

  I stared at it for several seconds and then pulled the glove off my left hand. The frigid air quickly took hold as the pain of the cold shot through the nerves in my hand. I placed it squarely down on the stone and was dismayed when nothing happened. When I tried to withdraw it I realized that it had become frozen to the bitter cold stone. I could feel the cold spreading through my fingers as they began to freeze solid. In less than minute I would lose my entire hand.

  A strange light then appeared below my fingers. A faint red glow soon warmed them and my hand was released from the stone. The red glow remained as I quickly put on my glove. I looked over at Hershen and then back at the stone as the red glow faded. I repeated the process with the same result.

  Hershen then stepped over to the Kurtz symbol. He knelt down before its ring and then removed both gloves from his hands. He then stretched out, again in a prostrate position. When he brought both hands down on the stone before him the warm red glow appeared. This time however, he did not remove his hands.

  As he lay bowed towards the great door the warm red light of the stone continued to grow in intensity. Soon after it began to pulsate with bright white flashes and following shortly after bright lights appeared around the seams of the great doors.

  In less than a minute the great doors began to slide backwards into the mountain. When they reached a position nearly five meters deep they came to a stop. Hershen continued to lie with his hands on the stone. The bright lights surrounding the stone then began to fade. As the light on his stone faded Hershen could feel the cold returning to them. He sat back up and put on his gloves.

  We walked into the tunnel but there was nothing to see but smooth walls on its sides and the smooth floor beneath. Hershen again attempted the bow before the stone but nothing further was revealed. The twin suns soon shown on the horizon and the great doors moved back to their original position.

  I attempted the same with the Human stone but only received the warm glow. We soon found ourselves again sitting in a circle discussing the implications of what we had discovered. It seemed all these species of beings were somehow tied together.

  There were a number of them that we had not yet encountered. We had dealings with four of the beings on the left door and with six of those on the right. When including those that were warn away it left us at less than half of what was shown. Were these the only sentient beings in the galaxy? Was this arm of the Milky Way the cradle of life? The questions continued to come as we talked.

  Deep scans of the mountaintop revealed a large rectangular area within that our scans could not penetrate. The area measured nearly 500 meters square at our location and descended for two kilometers into the mountain rock in the shape of a pyramid. We made several trips around the mountain in search of other entrances, none were found.

  We tried repeatedly during the day to move the great stone doors backwards without any luck. When night finally took hold of the skies I tried the Human stone once again. This time the doors began to glow, but they would not move back as they had done the night before for Hershen.

  As I lay prostrate before the Human ring Hershen attempted the same from the Kurtz ring. The great doors moved back five meters. After nothing but a glow from my attempts I stood and called one of the scientists over for an attempt. The great doors glowed and moved back another five meters.

  I was unsure of why they had not moved for me, but it was a breakthrough that we found exciting. Hershen reasoned that perhaps we would need all 24 species of beings present before the great doors would open. There were only two species present.

  As we pondered our new discovery I had the urge to call upon my new friend Kurg. With him, he could bring a Nickarian as well as a Jessian. But we did not know these species well enough to trust them with our find. I then became concerned that if the Frekkin returned they would find us sitting before what might be one of our most important finds ever. Sitting... waiting for its secrets to be taken from us.

  I gave the orders that the loose rocks be pushed back in front of the doors and that we should move back down to the walled compound that had been abandoned. I gave my reasons as a need to keep our new discovery secret if our enemies were again to show up. The scientists didn't need much convincing.

  When we landed back in the compound I asked Harris if he had made any headway with translating the other symbols that adorned the walls surrounding the doors. He was only confident with two symbols out of the more than 1,000 he had scanned in, one was a pictograph of a mountain and one of a tree. The other symbols did not have the same graphical implications as the two.

  We continued our explorations of the planet as we awaited the full science team. No other finds of significance came to our attention. DaCuban was just a big beautiful unspoiled world waiting for sentient beings to take advantage of. Scans showed many useful mineral deposits with the large oceans containing 17% more life than those of Earth. It was a planet that begged for inhabitants.

  As we waited for the full science team I decided the site we had discovered should be better hidden. A quick trip up in the Saxon and a snow bank sitting above the small plateau was pushed downward covering the area. I used the reverse polarity of the ships gravity weapon to then move several large rocks in front of the geometric shapes that had first drawn my attention to the site. When I was done the area looked like any other mountain top. We now had nothing to do but sit and wait. After returning to the compound the time was spent sharing stories with the crew.

  Chapter 4

  Two months after our discovery the full science team arrived. There were 244 members of the team which had previously been assigned to solve many of Earth's major issues. It was their work that had sped the adaptation of the Sodium shield for Earth as well as most of its enhancements. Many of the senior members had worked for me on the original teams that had managed the evacuation of Toleda. I trusted their judgment.

  Within hours of their arrival we had once again cleared the
mountain site and brought them up to speed on our discoveries. Harris now had a dozen linguistics experts helping him decipher the alien symbols. Discussions went on 24/7.

  A construction crew was brought along with the task of creating a faux canopy over the site. It had been decided that if the Frekkin returned we did not want to expose the site to their prying eyes. Walls and a roof had been prefabricated on Earth and within two days the site was no longer visible to the eye, or to what would be expected from most sensors. It was just another snow covered peak.

  As the scientists got to work Hershen and I realized that we had nothing but free time. I asked for and was granted permission to return to the Blake Adventure to begin logging any technologies that we might find useful. Two scientists were assigned to us for the purpose of studying the Mundari static field that had been used to hold us in place. I herded them aboard the Saxon and we were soon walking down the corridors of the giant cruise vessel.

  We started at the end opposite of where the Frekkin had first come aboard. It was a green sphere approximately half a kilometer in diameter. As it turned out, it was a giant luxury accommodation for a single party. The rooms had a posh appearance with furnishings trimmed in gold and jewels. Soft fine linens adorned large bedrooms with great stone baths attached to each.

  The dining area would easily hold 50 guests and the kitchen behind it had food preparation stations that would rival the best I had seen on Earth. It was obviously a self-contained suite for someone of high importance of financial stature. The next five pods we entered offered similar accommodations.

  The sixth sphere was larger at nearly a full kilometer in diameter. The lower floors held power and maintenance facilities while the other floors had hundreds of stores that offered everything from clothing to jewelry to electronic gadgets and adventure outfitting. On a lark I entered a jewelry shop and selected a rather large diamond pendant from a case.

  I placed the pendant around my neck and paraded myself in front of a wall of mirrors. Hershen looked-on with a fascinated expression. It had been the first time I had thought of jewelry in many years. When I was done with my display of vanity I turned towards the door with the pendant still around my neck. A static field prevented my exit until such time as I returned the pendant to its display. I found it to be an interesting and effective method of anti-theft protection.

  The two scientists that were walking with us, Lisa Fogg and James Williams, immediately got to work on analyzing the static field. Hershen and I continued to wander the mall as Lisa and James followed the static field conduits back to their control circuits. After several hours of study they had an understanding of how the field worked.

  The Sodium skin of our BGS suits and our ships functioned by bringing the electron spin of the Sodium atoms to a near halt. With almost no spin it seemed that anything coming in contact with the atom would simply be passed on through. The static field made use of a reverse spin. While matter with a normal spin would offer the normal interactions that our world of physics described every day, our discovery of virtually no-spin had made not only our shields possible but faster than light travel as well.

  A reverse spin was something our scientists had only toyed with in the labs, not knowing how to bring it back to normal. The static field in the shop was made up of air particles whose electrons were spinning in reverse. The result was a blocking of any physical interaction at all. Nothing of normal spin would pass through or interact. When the field was turned off the particles were returned to their normal state. I had been told repeatedly how simple it was and yet the concept continued to be confusing.

  Further study by Lisa and James revealed a control box that generated the field and magnetic conduits that were used to focus it. After removing the control box and several of the conduits we returned them to the Saxon for further evaluation. In a matter of hours the control box had been hooked to the ships power and the conduits had been used to project a static field in front of us. It was like an invisible wall that could be felt, but not seen.

  Hershen then asked if the control box could be coupled to a power pack. Lisa implied that it could and I gave the order to make it so. After several more hours of fabricating a power coupler the static field was put to a test. I held the box as Hershen pushed the button. Once again the magic invisible wall was projected out in front of us. The time was then taken to place the control box and conduit in a small case that could be easily carried by hand.

  When we once again began our exploration of the Blake Adventure Hershen insisted on carrying our new toy. He reasoned that perhaps some of the Frekkin had remained aboard or that perhaps they had left traps for anyone who followed. He wasn't sure how the static device could be used, but he wanted it with us. I offered no objection.

  Our next adventure took us again through a series of luxurious housing pods followed by another shopping area. This time, I took the effort to look up the control centers on the ship and was rewarded with the main deck only two pods away.

  The main control pod had five decks. The lowest two again housed power and utility facilities while the middle deck had crew housing. The fourth deck was stuffed with offices, meeting rooms and a large business foyer. The fifth deck held the ships bridge with all its controls. We spent the next two days going over the ships systems including environmental, propulsion and defenses.

  The ship had an active skin similar to our Sodium skin where the electron spin was brought to a near halt. The effect was an internal environment that was not affected by inertial forces. The propulsion was by means of an unusual variation of the spin principles. Particles could be accelerated to extreme speeds by alternating spins down a tube at high frequencies.

  The particle would first accelerate towards a normal spin and then be pushed further when the spin was reversed just as it reached it. The particle thrusters could accelerate the Blake Adventure to speeds nearing 600 SOL. The cruise had taken nearly a year to reach its destination with promises of a pristine world full of adventure. It had been an expensive and time consuming trip. The newest Mundari ships could do the run in just over a month. For us it was a little less.

  The ships defenses seemed to be limited to the static field and the protections it offered. So long as you had the power to keep it from being overwhelmed, it was all the defense you would need. And the ship was loaded with power. The reactors were Rubidium and the ships stores held an impressive stockpile. Even though the Blake Adventure had been in standby mode for 3,200 years the Rubidium stocks had been depleted by only half. It was an extremely efficient system.

  As we made our way to the next pod we ran into trouble. A static field dropped around us in the hallway and a holo-image of a Frekkin appeared before us. The image stated that we were now guests of the Frekkin Empire as they had claimed the Blake Adventure as salvage. We were trespassing and as such were being held in the field until such time as a Frekkin escort could arrive for a hearing.

  For two days we sat in our invisible cell, unable to communicate with the outside world. It seemed even the QE comm was not able to pass signals through to the QE link on the other side. We had attempted several times to use our static portable field to find a way out but success was not to be found. On the third day that changed.

  Lisa had come up with the idea that if we could reverse the polarity of the conduits we might be able to make a static field that went outward from a perimeter. Within the hour we had a perfectly square doorway in one side of the field. The only drawback was that we had to leave our portable static field in place in order to escape. Once out, we immediately began a search for the static field conduits that had held us in place and then for their power source.

  After a short search the controls for the static field were found and the field turned off. It was decided that James would then stay on the Saxon in case another emergency should arise. We picked up the portable field generator and continued our exploration. It took nearly two weeks to cover every sphere, corridor and deck on the Blak
e Adventure. Six more of the static field traps were sprung and six times we escaped. When we finally once again touched down on the planet I was happy to have left the cruise ship behind.

  For the next several weeks I struggled to keep my mind occupied. DaCuban was a beautiful planet, but there was only so much exploration of it that could be done before many of its features began to look the same. I was in need of a new challenge.

  After the full science crew had been evaluating the site for weeks their tasks began to wind down. Every attempt to discover some new bit of information about the two doors and their symbols proved fruitless. It was soon decided that a skeleton crew would remain behind while the main team returned to Earth. We were given the go-ahead to continue our exploration of the area surrounding the Flame Nebula.

  Our next stop was sigma Orionis, located just below Orion's belt in Earth's night sky. It was a 22 day journey from Alnitak and DaCuban. The clouds and debris that made up the reflectiveness of the Flame Nebula were a spectacular site as we traveled along. The scientists spent hours toying with the sensor feeds providing us with a kaleidoscope of colors on our holo-screens.

  As we approached the sigma Orionis system I slowed the ship until we could determine there were no threats. As we approached our scans told of 12 planetary masses orbiting the cluster of four young stars. The first eleven masses were too close or too distant to have life but the twelfth planet, although it was small, was perfectly situated in the habitable zone around the reddish D star of the system.

  As we closed on its position we began to pick up a low green glow surrounding it. A closer view yielded pinpoints of white light. The planet was almost 1,000 kilometers in diameter placing it on the small side. When we reached one quarter light year distance I brought the Saxon to a halt. Something about the planet was just not right as the multiple points of light were on the dark side, facing away from Orionis D.