“It just seems odd to me that they stopped talking to us,” Tomen continued. “Captain Diaz and his colony ship discovered the Alpha on the world they were supposed to colonize. They made first contact since the ship didn’t have enough supplies or fuel to make it back to Novus or any other habitable planets.”
“Right,” Scoren confirmed, now taking an actual interest in the conversation.
“Captain Diaz and the colonists resided on that world for fifty years before gathering enough fuel and supplies for the return trip,” Tomen continued. “From all accounts I’ve ever read the colonists cultivated a limited, yet friendly relationship with the Alpha. When they finally left the planet Captain Diaz vowed to maintain close communications with them. Why would they converse with us for the first 100 years and then suddenly stop talking to us all together?”
A slightly confused look came across Tomen’s face as he went on, “I’ve read Diaz’s autobiography. When he returned to Novus he personally took charge of all communications with the Alpha. At that time the Captain firmly believed they were a friendly and curious people honestly interested in knowing how their stellar neighbors were doing.”
Scoren sat upright in his chair sensing a serious discussion. Manning a listening outpost at the outer limits of Novi space could get a bit tedious, to put it mildly. Any break from the monotony of monitoring radio frequencies and sensor grid disruptions was a welcome change of pace.
“I think you can piece it together from their last few transmissions,” Scoren said. “After Captain Diaz’s ship returned to Novus, the council determined we were to limit communication with the Alpha. Sharing of technology or any information at all about the Novi was forbidden. I guess the council figured enough damage was done by the Captain’s original decision to land and they couldn’t risk making matters worse.
“Over time the Alpha grew increasingly interested in our technology and learning more about the Novi. Our reluctance to talk about ourselves no doubt turned them away. They simply didn’t understand the moral obligation we were under.”
Scoren paused to better formulate his response. Tomen had only been on the listening outpost for a few days so Scoren felt a need to impress upon the youngster that he was the ranking officer for a reason. “As time went by Diaz noticed subtle changes in their attitude. They grew more guarded, less open to friendly parley. They increasingly asked questions about technological issues.
“I personally think the last message Captain Diaz sent accidentally gave away a critical piece of information. The Alpha had inquired about whether radio waves were primitive and what form of communication the Novi used. He gave an evasive answer; however, just as he finished his explanation, the Captain’s son burst into the room complaining about wanting to use the Flashtrans device to contact his mom. Soon after the Alpha sent their last signal thanking Captain Diaz for the information saying it would prove most useful.”
“Big deal, they heard the word Flashtrans,” Tomen countered. “The council cleared the Captain of any wrongdoing and concluded no harm was done. They issued orders banning any Novi ships or probes from coming within ten light years of the Alpha home world. They were to be left alone.
“I am still baffled that we hear dead silence from the Alpha,” Tomen went on. “It’s as if all forms of communication stopped emanating from their world 1,000 years ago; radio transmissions or otherwise. We are the closest listening outpost to Alpha space after all. We should be picking up some sort of transmissions from the planet, even if they aren’t trying to speak with us directly.”
Scoren decided to throw his own opinion on top of the official recording of events. “I personally think they developed other means of communication, such as compressed gamma rays, subspace, or even flash technology.”
“You know that’s impossible,” Tomen objected. “The Alpha are only in the second computer age according to the Neo scale. It will be thousands of years before they even learn about compressed gamma ray technology let alone flashtrans capabilities.”
This debate was getting good. Even though Scoren was not showing the rookie who was boss, he was appreciative of having a lively intellectual discussion for once. The last ensign assigned to the outpost could hardly put two cohesive sentences together without stumbling over his own words. However, it was time to drive his point home.
“Perhaps first contact skewed the Neo scale so it no longer applies to the Alpha,” Scoren replied. “The colonists lived among the Alpha for 50 years. Even knowledge of their existence could be enough to alter their Neo scale development, let alone living among them where they saw the advanced technology in action.”
Tomen sat still for a few moments staring at nothing in particular. He looked lost, like the foundation of his entire educational background had been knocked out from under him.
From birth, every Novi child was taught the natural progression of a civilization’s development through the Neo scale. One level of technological and social advancement had to be met before the next could begin and that was all there was to it. It was dogma, it was lore, and it was practically an act of heresy to deny or even question it.
Finally Tomen spoke in a soft and distant voice, “You might be right. They may be advancing faster than normal because Captain Diaz inadvertently gave them ideas. It could have taken them in directions they wouldn’t have thought about on their own for thousands of years.”
Realizing he’d won the debate, Lieutenant Scoren chose to press his luck and put forth a particularly ludicrous conspiracy theory of his. “Now here is a truly scary thought. What if the Alpha were able to develop or mimic our flashtrans communication technology 1,000 years ago?
“The Novi have been communicating freely using that technology for millennia now. Ships logs, research papers, diagrams, schematics, weapon system designs, and so on. What if the Alpha have been eaves dropping on our flash transmissions this whole time? For all we know, they could be just as advanced as we are by now.”
Tomen looked at his commanding officer with a wide open smile. This theory of Scoren’s went too far now and crossed the threshold of being a joke. “You have a rare grasp of the conspirator’s mind, sir. Going down that train of thought, isn’t it just as likely they blew themselves up trying to perfect one of these advanced technologies they gathered while covertly listening in on our transmissions that are thousands of generations ahead of their capabilities?”
Scoren’s monitoring console released a soft alert that drew his attention away from the conversation momentarily. While hitting some controls to bring up the details of the alert message, he said, “Laugh all you want ensign, when this sensor grid alarm winds up being a fleet of Alpha ships coming to destroy the closest listening outpost to their system you’re going to look like quite the fool.”
The sensor readings came up onto Scoren’s screen. A space fold was forming close by. He focused the sensors on the projected destination and waited for the arrival of a Novi ship.
As if appearing from nowhere, 35 large vessels came through the event horizon. Warning sirens wailed as the computer quickly determined the ships were not of Novan design. All readings and data were instantly transmitted back to Novus as part of the emergency protocol.
A sharp blast of static came through the Flashtrans system followed by an eerie silence. Suddenly a harsh series of barks came through the speakers which the computer immediately identified as the language of species Alpha and translated, “Let it begin.”
Lieutenant Scoren watched in dismay as his console tracked a massive volley of torpedoes launched from the armada. He looked over at Tomen and in a defeated tone said dryly, “I hate being right all the time.”
**********
Hastelloy waited for Dr. Holmes to finish jotting down notes before continuing his story. “As it turns out, the decision by the Novi council to stay away from the Alpha system was a catastrophic mistake.”
“The self-imposed limitation left the Novi woefully unaware of the Alpha’
s hastened development, much less the massive military buildup that had taken place over several generations. The Novi were not prepared for conflict on such a massive and sudden scale. Before we could amass a proper defense against the Alpha attack our adversaries already assimilated four nearby habitable planets and employed the populous into their war machine.
“In the end it was no one’s fault, and it was everyone’s fault. The Novi were merely exploring the galaxy when they happened upon the Alpha and forever altered their perception of the galaxy. The Alpha simply tried to protect themselves and become as technologically advanced as their competitor. Both had ample opportunity to communicate and make peace with the other. Neither side availed themselves of the opportunities that came and went.
“The Alpha time line was fractured forever,” Hastelloy concluded. “A once peaceful people transformed into a ruthless war machine bent on conquest. The tragic result was war on a scale never seen before in the galaxy.
“This is where my personal story begins. I’ve been alive for over 10,000 years. I have spent that entire lifetime at war with the Alpha.”
With that last statement Dr. Holmes felt the need to interrupt and clarify a few things. “So the method you and the Alpha use to travel great distances is space folding? Could you describe that process for me please?”
Hastelloy seemed to welcome the break from his story and looked thoroughly satisfied that Dr. Holmes was engrossed enough in the story to ask clarifying questions. “The technique is very complex, but the concept is quite simple. You can take any two points in space, no matter how far apart and fold them together. When these two points in space touch an event horizon is created and you can go through it, instantly moving to the new location. It’s just like opening your office door and stepping through to the other side, but instead of moving to the next room, the space fold moves you to another point in space entirely.”
“Wow,” Jeffrey responded privately thinking how nice it would be to space fold to work rather than dealing with the construction delayed traffic each day. “One other point I’d like to clarify is how you’re able to live so long? Part of your story indicates the Novi species has a limited life span, while another section paints a story of an almost infinite life span. Can you reconcile the differences for me?”
Dr. Holmes watched Hastelloy’s reaction very closely. Pointing out this major inconsistency was the first challenge to the believability of his story. The patient paused for a moment as the corners of his eyes and mouth ruffled ever so slightly. He was mentally chastising himself for letting his story telling get away from him and now was struggling to find a way to bring it back together.
Dr. Holmes, for his part, simply waited patiently for the reply and to find another hole to poke in the tale. The hardened facial expressions eased and Hastelloy slowly leaned forward in his chair to deliver his response.
“I can see where your confusion lies. Prior to the Nexus, the typical life span of a Novi was about 200 earth years. That all changed nearly 12,000 years ago when the Nexus was developed.”
“And what is this Nexus?” Jeffrey asked.
“Like all living things, the Novi feared the one certainty life brings with it - death. The only difference is the Novi advanced enough technologically to do something about that former certainty.
“About 2,000 years before my birth, a device was invented to capture an individual’s life force upon death and transfer that life force into another form. Not just any form, but a cloned body that could be shaped into anything desired. The only requirement is the individual needs to be within range of the device when their body dies. That range is about 10,000 miles. That may seem like a lot since it encompasses this entire planet, but it’s actually a very limited range when you’re moving about in space.”
Jeffrey could only sit and marvel at the creativity. Not only did the concept of this Nexus device explain how he could have personally been alive for thousands of years to take part in all of human history. It also explained how he and his crewmen could live on earth and pass themselves off as human beings. They simply instructed this Nexus device to generate a body that looked human since it was utterly preposterous to believe that two species evolving on separate planets in separate parts of the galaxy could look anything like one another.
Hastelloy’s delusion was elegantly crafted and well reasoned, which unfortunately made Jeffrey’s job to cure him that much harder. “That makes perfect sense to me now, thank you. You mentioned a battle with the Alpha left you stranded on this planet, would you care to pick up your story from there?”
“My dear Dr. Holmes, I would be delighted,” Hastelloy replied.
Chapter 6: Hastelloy’s Origins
“We’re coming into position behind Admiral Tridget’s command ship, Captain.”
“Thank you, Ensign Valnor,” Hastelloy acknowledged, “Maintain this distance and follow their lead.”
The captain looked up from the display built into his command chair to admire the image shown on the main viewer. The new Thorin class battle cruiser lay larger than life in front of him. The mammoth vessel was every bit as impressive as he’d hoped. Hastelloy could plainly see the designers incorporated numerous aspects of his suggestions into the final product. The ship was five miles long, two miles wide and only one hundred yards tall at its thickest point. The vessel looked as if an elongated diamond had been squished flat leaving four shallow sloping sides that met in the middle facing up and an identical configuration facing down. With the exception of the ion engines located at the center of each side panel, every square foot of the hull bristled with weaponry: wave blasters, ion cannons, fusion torpedo launchers, and pulls concussion launchers. Every aspect of the ship screamed ‘go away or you’re going to get hurt.’ It was magnificent.
The only sound on the tiny, oval shaped command bridge of the Lazarus was the soft hum of the ion engines coursing through the ship as everyone sat mesmerized by the image in front of them. Everyone except the brash young helmsman that is.
“So that’s the new ship?” Valnor exclaimed with disappointment dripping from every syllable. “I mean sure it brings a lot of fire power to the fight but that things got to maneuver like a fly stuck in honey, and they may as well paint a big bulls eye on those massive side panels. What enemy ship could miss hitting that? Who got drunk and drew up that design? They must have been hitting the sauce for a couple weeks before giving it a go.”
Hastelloy slowly turned the relatively oversized head attached to his three foot tall body to look over at his first officer. The man’s hairless white head rotated toward the captain until his rounded triangle shaped face dominated by two oversized black eyes met his. The grin on Commander Gallono’s thin lips kept on growing and nearly passed the flat ears on either side of his head. Clearly he couldn’t have been more amused had Valnor stepped on a garden rake to make the handle whip up and smack the young man in the face. Gallono raised a hairless eyebrow as if to ask his captain, ‘should I give him some salt for that foot he just stuck in his mouth or would you care to do the honors?’ After serving with Gallono for over a thousand years, Hastelloy knew better than to give him the lead on this occasion.
“So helmsman, you believe the ship presents a large target to the enemy?” Captain Hastelloy asked rhetorically in a stern tone that only a seasoned officer of the fleet could project. “That would depend on your perspective wouldn’t it, since combat in space takes place on three axes not just one. It’s true the vessel presents a broad target on one axis, but it presents an almost non-existent target for the remaining two. This is achieved while the Thorin is still able to fire its abundant array of weaponry in any direction. As to your question about maneuverability, I challenge you to look at the monitor again and this time I want you to assume the designers did know what they were doing. Give me your analytical assessment please.”
Valnor swallowed hard to dislodge the lump that had formed in his throat over the last couple seconds. The entire crew
was watching him now. In addition to the captain and commander, Tomal was now looking up from his free standing engineering station that stood just behind the Captain on his left side. Even Tonwen, the science officer, was listening to see what happened next from his station positioned behind the Captain’s right side.
After looking at the ship displayed on the forward wall of the cramped bridge for a few seconds Valnor summoned the courage to deliver his thoughts. “Each of the eight sides has its own ion engine. This would allow the helmsman to rotate the ship at a moments notice in any direction to constantly present the narrow profile to the enemy while still being able to fire its full complement of weaponry at the attacking ship. How did I miss that before? It’s brilliant.”
Hastelloy continued the lesson, “You missed it because you instantly closed your mind to other possibilities. You jumped to a conclusion and formed all of your logical arguments around that initial assumption. You’d do well to evaluate a situation objectively throughout your reasoning process. That way you’ll be free to see the whole picture.”
“I see your point, Captain,” Valnor conceded. “May I ask how you were able to so quickly assess the advantages the Thorin is able to utilize?”
Gallono could stay silent no longer. With a chuckle he finally spoke up, “Valnor, over the next few years while serving under Captain Hastelloy you’ll see countless instances of his keen mind at work. I assure you this is not one of them.
“The Captain was the lead battlefield consultant on the design team for the Thorin class battle cruiser,” Gallono continued. “All the ship’s features you just described were incorporated into the design as a direct result of the Captain’s knowledge gained while commanding the fifth fleet for the last 100 years. There’s no more experienced combat officer in the armed services than the man who sits in that chair. Didn’t you read up on your commanding officer before joining the crew?
Origins Page 4