by Mike Freeman
“We have to go.”
Weaver turned to look. The bronze sky increasingly resembled a burnished copper. Stone grinned as he pointed at the minaret.
“How good is that?”
Weaver gently pushed him toward the shuttle.
“Let's go, Mister.”
Stone and Karch set off and she followed. She looked back over her shoulder as she walked away.
At the strangest physical phenomenon that she'd ever witnessed.
84.
Havoc looked down through the translucent disc from his spectacular position high above the floor of the amphitheater. Kemensky tilted his head back, surveying the scintillating gemstone that provided the ceiling.
“What is this place? And what are those panels?”
Charles pointed at the altar above them.
“Can we?”
Havoc glanced up at the altar as he took Kemensky's arm and guided him away from the edge of the disc. He nodded at Charles.
“Be careful.”
Charles’s face brightened. He climbed toward the altar with Tomas in tow. Charles stopped on the top step, examining the crystalline structure above him. Tomas nudged Charles, urging him to move onto the altar. Havoc decided to move up with them.
“Stay there please, Charles. You coming up, Kemensky?”
Kemensky gazed upward.
“The readings around those tiles are most peculiar.”
“Kemensky?”
“I'll stay here.”
“Ok.”
Havoc climbed the upper staircase and stopped one step below Tomas. He turned to survey the chamber again. This was possibly the most extraordinary place he'd ever been. Charles waved his arm at the expanse of atmo around them.
“They must be able to fly? Don't you think?”
Havoc checked the time.
“We have to go soon. One more minute and we're leaving.”
Kemensky pointed toward one of the tunnels in the ceiling.
“I see something in the pattern. There’s––”
A bright light illuminated the disc around Kemensky from above. Havoc’s shadow fell across Kemensky’s face.
“I...” Charles said.
Havoc whipped around. The altar glowed like an illuminated crystal. It was suffused with a radiance that partly encompassed Charles.
Above Charles, one of the hexagonal tiles in the ceiling lit up. There was a shape there. It looked somewhat formless. As Havoc focused it looked vaguely humanoid. Definitely humanoid. Human, even, wearing a suit.
A voice projected out of the plinth toward Charles.
“Hello.”
Charles mouthed like a fish, dumbfounded, as he stared at the altar.
“You speak our language.”
“It is a function of the system you are accessing to translate between us.”
Charles looked incredulous.
“This system? But how?”
Havoc's mind was reeling. He scanned for threats. Nothing seemed different.
“The system has observed you since you entered. It has scanned you for all sense response and higher order associations and your communication with your others. It has mapped these appropriately.”
“Already?”
“It is successful at what it does. Can you tell me your identity-and-purpose?”
The last three words were run together as if a foreign concept was being roughly translated.
If there was one thing a Royal Prince knew how to do, it was how to introduce himself. Charles's back straightened in a reflex action as he assumed the posture suitable to his station and superior breeding.
“I am Prince Charles Jaegar-Paladin of the Falas System of the Neuworld Empire of the Alliance of Free Peoples. We are here looking for an energy source.”
Kemensky waved at Havoc.
“What do we do?”
“Energy source?” the voice said.
Charles nodded, projecting an assured demeanor.
“Yes, the source that drives the gravatic beam.”
Kemensky waved his arms, casting to Havoc with panic in his voice.
> Havoc, the protocol.
Kemensky was right – Charles was breaking all the rules.
“The protocol?” the voice said.
Fuck.
Havoc stared at Kemensky. The voice had heard that? An encrypted cast?
“And you are?” Charles said.
“A prisoner.”
Charles nodded gravely. Well of course you are.
Havoc cast to Charles instinctively.
> Shut up, Charles, you aren’t authorized to communicate.
“Why does he say not to communicate?” the voice said.
Havoc spun, exasperated.
“Damn, we need to get out of here.”
“Your name is also Damn?” the voice said, presumably to Charles.
“Come on,” Havoc said.
“Ah, I see it is not,” the voice said.
Charles looked flustered, wondering if something was inside his head.
“I’m sorry; I’m not authorized to speak for us. Humanity. I'm sorry. Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
“And thank you again,” Charles said.
Havoc reached up past Tomas and grabbed Charles’s boot.
“Come on. We need to move. We need to move now.”
“And thank you again,” the voice said.
“Back off, Charles, move away,” Havoc said.
“Goodbye,” Charles said, stepping down.
The light collapsed and faded. Havoc pinged the exit.
“Everybody out, now!”
Havoc dropped quickly down the steps. He reached the disc, grabbed hold of Kemensky and stepped off the disc. Kemensky looked horrified.
> There’s a procedure for this.
Havoc thrust forward with his jetpack as they fell. He nodded.
> We just blew it wide open.
> Watch out!
Havoc flared his jetpack and landed lightly beside the passage they’d entered through the colonnade. Charles and Tomas alighted next to him and they ran for the exit. Charles's face was wild with excitement.
“Look it’s happening, shouldn’t we just let it happen?”
Kemensky turned to Charles as they ran down the passageway.
“You really have no fucking idea what you’re doing, do you?”
85.
Weaver was reclining, pinned in the seat of the shuttle as it rattled through the upper atmosphere, when Havoc's voice came over the radio.
Whatever they had found, she was sure that this time it couldn't be as incredible as the findings at the Colosseum.
“We are out safe and returning to disc six.” Havoc paused for a second. “We have Contact. We have confirmed Contact in the pyramid.”
Weaver’s jaw fell open as wide as her eyes.
86.
Havoc sat between Stone and Stephanie in the Hub Hab as Abbott triumphantly addressed the crew.
“This is a truly historic moment. A genuine Contact with another intelligent, space faring species. It could be a turning point in human history. And how fortunate for us and without being immodest, all of humanity, that the responsibility to represent our species falls to us. Many are called but few are chosen. We have been chosen. We humans may have our faults, but we shall let our new friends know about our culture, our arts and our desire to lift ourselves beyond the limits of our corporeal appetites.”
Havoc felt concern about Abbott’s growing hubris. Grandiose statements about his place in history might be what Abbott usually thought, but they certainly weren’t how he normally spoke. The specter of tettraxigyiom contamination raised its head. They might be about to hand humanity's first ever human-initiated Contact to a man who was losing his mind. Havoc wondered if the alien would be able to tell.
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe you spoke to it,” Stone said.
The sense of awe in the room was palpable. Havoc was surprised to fee
l Stephanie’s hand taking his and giving it a little squeeze.
Abbott looked at Weaver and smiled.
“I’m led to believe that the scientific potential is no less dramatic?”
Weaver nodded enthusiastically.
“These are potentially the most significant scientific discoveries in generations. Maybe ever. I don’t think it's any exaggeration to say that what we could learn on Plash could transform human civilization. And there is so much that we haven’t even got to yet. We’ve barely scratched the surface.”
Abbott sat down and Whittenhorn, who stood to one side, stepped forward. Havoc wondered how Whittenhorn would organize the mission, particularly given the impending arrival of the other civilizations, without spreading their resources too thin. Whittenhorn clasped his hands behind his back.
“The other ships are taking up station. Their platforms are already detached and advancing toward Plash. It’s clear that we have to make the most of the limited time we have before they arrive.”
“I trust no one would argue that a diplomatic mission to the pyramid is the primary objective,” Abbott said.
Whittenhorn bowed his head.
“Of course, of course.”
Touvenay stood up. His tone was decisive.
“The library offers the potential to unlock at least one of the languages of this world as well as a myriad of other discoveries. It’s clearly a priority.”
Touvenay sat down. Whittenhorn blinked at Touvenay as Bergeron put her hand up.
“I remind everyone that the mission charter is primarily concerned with Contact and energy systems, some of which Mr Touvenay himself appears to have located.”
Whittenhorn nodded.
“True. That is true.”
Whittenhorn glanced back and forth.
They waited.
Whittenhorn smiled.
“So here we are, about to make history...”
Oh dear, Havoc thought.
Tyburn stood up.
“We have three priorities. Mr Abbott should take his team to the pyramid in the north to open diplomatic relations with the alien, Miss Weaver should lead the research at the library under the Colosseum and I will oversee the recovery of the energy systems from the shaft that Touvenay located in the south east.”
Whittenhorn pursed his lips, clearly trying to project an image of considered leadership. He nodded.
“Yes, that is what we will do.”
Havoc thought maybe Tyburn didn't need to be in command to take charge after all.
87.
United Systems: Top Secret, Compartmentalized 5
Coding Frame: XWTHVQ TransSlipkey: 836-PLWMX
[Full key omitted]
Timestamp: #661-439-283-482# (Recent-1)
Origin: Scarlet Barracuda
Status: Assumed Secure, Agent Intact
[no deception flags raised]
Coded transcript: Complete, follows
[streaming authentication omitted]
[Geographical data file #837-861-009SB# enclosed]
Scarlet Barracuda> We have Contact.
US handler> Please confirm last.
Scarlet Barracuda> We have definite, confirmed Contact in the pyramid. Energy systems located at the shaft. Library located under the Colosseum. Surface location for my tettraxigyiom treatment identified with possible timeframes. Map and detail enclosed.
Handler Observations
1. Confirmed Contact. Rules of engagement revised to ruleset four. Conflict reservations degraded. Restrictions lifted on first strike and ship kill.
88.
Havoc set up their environment in the pyramid.
Just inside the eastern entrance he erected an air tent and two screen locks. The air tent was only a fraction of the height of the arched ceiling overheard but provided ample working space. For his own piece of mind, Havoc also taped off the obsidian panel at the end of the entrance hall that dropped the roof.
He deployed static defense stations outside the entrance, in the corridors leading to the amphitheater, and just outside the central chamber. At Abbott’s insistence, none were placed in the amphitheater itself. Havoc did, however, install three heat hides on the amphitheater’s outer walls, installing chemical state sinks and spraying conductive tracery across the walls.
He secured the other three pyramid entrances, working inward from each of the entrance fields. Inside the entrances themselves he dispensed, shaped and solidified layer upon layer of coded foam, completely blocking each entranceway with material that, on setting, resembled a supertough hornet's nest. In each entrance hall he placed mines and static defense stations. He gave the access codes only to Abbott.
After he'd verified everything he wandered back to the air tent. He checked in with Novosa on the way.
> We're set up. All good outside?
He waited. Given the distance, it was an odd feeling.
Fifty five seconds later he got his answer.
> All fine here, Havoc. This delay is weird.
> I know. We’ll see what we can do.
The pyramid’s entrance field was an extraordinary phenomenon. Curtains of alien nanotechnology covered the entrance and parted around them as they passed through. The entrance field disrupted all communication across all wavelengths and furthermore if anything was left in the field its energy intensity increased. Havoc had discovered this when he’d straddled the inky blackness and he'd quickly stepped out of the way. Afterward he’d run a cable through the entrance and less than a minute later it’d been cut. Through trial and error they’d found that the field did not get stimulated if they sent a drone through at most once every thirty seconds. Novosa was outside, in the shuttle, keeping overwatch with her blades. At periodic intervals two drones passed through the field in opposite directions to convey messages. Hence the communication delays. The process felt archaic but there it was. Of course, the purpose of a structure that could block all communication raised wider questions.
Havoc entered the air tent. He retracted his visor and walked over to join the group who sat in deep discussion under the lights. Humming generators pumped and filtered air in the background.
Charles was putting the finishing touches to a tattoo of a smiley face on the stump of the fourth finger on his right hand. The optimism of youth, Havoc thought.
He stopped next to Stephanie and she reached out and squeezed the leg of his suit. Opposite him, Jafari accompanied his comments with enthusiastic gesticulation.
“The idea that something scanned Charles's mind and analyzed his ‘sense response’ to understand our language is nothing short of incredible. The implication is that every nerve sensation and physical and emotional reaction has been mapped to concepts and language, almost instantly. I can’t imagine the computational complexity. And if it was the alien that read Charles’s mind and not just the translation system then we truly have nothing left to hide.”
And what a mind to read, Havoc thought. The Neuworld Empire's entire creed was based on martial strength and conquest. Violence however you looked at it. Not exactly a warm hello to their new neighbor.
Stephanie sighed.
“We really compromised the Contact protocol. We gave so much away.”
Havoc agreed with Stephanie’s bleak assessment. The encounter had been a blur of indiscretions. Jafari looked between him and Charles.
“Was there any indication when this process started? Do we know if the system can eavesdrop as soon as we enter the chamber or at some other point before we access the altar itself?”
Havoc shook his head.
“We don’t know. What we do know is that if the interception starts before the altar illuminates then our information security is blown. A listener to our secure comms before the altar lit could draw inferences about our mission, resources and capabilities as well as the incoming civilizations.”
Stephanie looked bewildered.
“How is it possible for something to decipher encrypted casts on the fly?”
“It implies either a total break or global deduction. Before today, I would have said it wasn’t possible without conscious subversion.”
Havoc nodded.
“I agree, but do you really think one of us voluntarily communicated decrypted communication to an unknown alien voice on the fly?”
Jafari rubbed his forehead with both hands.
“No. But what you experienced should be computationally impossible, or as good as.”
Abbott spoke musingly.
“Maybe there’s no ‘prisoner’ and this is an elaborate experiment designed to test our reactions.”
“Well, we ran away,” Stephanie said.
Tomas sat up.
“Not all of us wanted to.”
Abbott sighed.
“So in summary, there is almost no end to what we don't know, very little that we do know and the capability of the alien technology, whatever it is and wherever it resides, is extraordinary.”
“That’s a fair assessment,” Jafari said.
“If the alien has bad intentions then why would it let us know that it can understand us?” Stephanie said.
Abbott tipped his head sideways as he weighed this point.
“That is a positive.”
“It might be terrified,” Jafari said.
Abbott nodded.
“We don't want to scare it. We'll communicate incrementally and cautiously.”
Havoc chuckled.
“You mean other than slagging their guardians from orbit, scattering their wonderful obelisks and running away?”
Abbott gave Havoc a withering look.
“Yes, apart from that.”
Havoc conveyed Abbott’s look to Charles.
Charles stared at the floor.
“And if this 'prisoner' asks to be released?” Havoc said.
“Not a chance,” Abbott said.
The others nodded at Abbott’s assessment. The consensus of opinion was clearly against. That was fine with Havoc – they didn’t know anything about what they were dealing with.
Abbott waggled his hand equivocally.