by Saxon Andrew
Lani looked at Steve, “What are you thinking?”
“I wondered how the White Civilization could have gotten so many ships to the location of the Traugh so quickly. That has to mean that they have warships on standby ready to respond to an emergency instantly. Poul, did you see that possibility?”
“I did see it as a possibility.”
“Poul, you are going to have start sharing your analysis with me.”
“Admiral, it could take as long as ten hours for me to explain some of them.”
Steve blew out a breath through his nose, “Don’t you prioritize your analyses based on their probability?”
“I do.”
“Then from this time forward, use the right monitor to list the top two each time you do an analysis. If data changes the top two, make the change. We don’t need a monitor to view behind the ship since the likelihood of a ship sneaking up on us from behind is remote.”
“I will comply with your request.”
Steve looked at the right monitor and saw, “Adjoining spaces should be examined.” He smiled, “I agree. Let’s start looking around this area of Andromeda’s halo and see what’s here.”
The ship accelerated at high speed and ran parallel between the two long lines of warships. In an hour, they ran into another two lines of different colored warships. They continued flying through the halo and after another hour Steve looked at the right monitor and saw, “This galaxy has never had a really more advanced civilization to contend with.” Steve stared at the monitor and then saw the statement change. “The outer halo of this galaxy has never had a really more advanced civilization to contend with.”
“Poul, take us into the galaxy proper and let’s see what we find.” Lani looked at Steve and her eyes narrowed. Steve nodded, “If monsters exist here, that is where we’ll find them.” The stars were flashing in one continuous flash as the small invisible ship accelerated toward the distant galaxy’s core.
• • •
Pam looked at the recording sent from the Prophet’s Eyes and listened to the Traugh Supreme Leader speaking with his military leaders. She watched to its conclusion and looked at Admiral Knott, “Ken, I really believe we need to start moving some of our population to anther habitable planet.”
Ken nodded, “Admiral, I didn’t agree with you initially, but I now think you’re right. However, Andromeda isn’t where we need to send them.”
“Why do you think that? I mean I agree with you but how did you come up with that?”
“The Traugh encountered that advanced civilization entirely too fast for my tastes. If there’s one there’s probably more.”
“Have our scout fleets found a habitable planet?”
“They’ve found thousands in the main body of the Virgo Cluster. But they’ll need to search those galaxies where they’re located to see if a threat exists to them.”
“I think we should change our plan.”
“How, Admiral?”
“We should find a planet in a dwarf galaxy. That would shorten the time to search it for UE’s.”
Ken smiled, “That’s a good idea.”
“Contact the astrology division and see if they have a good candidate to start the search. Send all of our ships to the one they choose. We need to start this now.”
“I’ll contact Dr. Anderson.”
“That would be good. I’m really concerned the Traugh might lead a really dangerous civilization here. We need to start moving.”
“Are you going to notify the Bosrean? Finding a suitable planet for them is not going to be easy.”
“I’ll contact their Leader and let him know what we’re doing.”
Ken pressed a button on his panel and started speaking with Dr. Anderson. After a few minutes Ken ended the contact, “Dr. Anderson says we should search NGC 5474.”
“Where is that?”
“It’s a spiral dwarf galaxy circling the Pinwheel Galaxy. It still has star formation and is old enough to have habitable planets. It’s fifteen million light years away. It will take about six days to arrive there at top speed.”
“Contact Admiral Holmes and have him redirect the fleets there.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Keep enough ships here to defend Earth if things go south.”
Ken nodded and began speaking into his communicator.
• • •
Steve watched the stars streaking by and suddenly the ship came to a sudden stop. The gravity generator hummed loudly and Steve grabbed the arm of his chair and put his arm across Lani and held her in her chair. “WHAT’S GOING ON?”
“We shouldn’t proceed any further until I can determine what is causing a massive gravity signature ahead of us.”
Steve looked at the main monitor, “Nothing is showing on the monitor!”
“I’m not sensing it with my scanner. However, it is there. I’m switching to the optical system in order to take a look at it.”
Steve looked at the tactical monitor and saw…something. The view moved closer and it resolved itself into a giant construct. It had a large square base and a tower that rose out of the base. “What is that?”
“It doesn’t appear on my scanners. Whatever it is, it is invisible to electronic waves.”
“Is it made of the same material as the hull?”
“No, Lani, that thing is visible.”
“What could be invisible to scanner waves?”
“My best guess is that it is absorbing them like a black hole. It has a massive gravity signature.”
Lani stared at the object on the tactical monitor and shook her head, “It’s some kind of weapon.”
Steve looked at her, “How did you determine that?”
“Look at the huge pipe or barrel structure sticking out of the base on all four sides. That has to be a device to fire something through it. Notice they are all pointed at different angles.”
“I think you’re right, Lani. The shape of the barrel is round.”
“What do you think it fires through it, Poul?”
“I would suspect that it is a projectile made of something like the surface of a neutron star.”
“What?”
“The gravity of that thing is more than ten solar masses but it is too small to weigh that much. I suspect it fires a projectile made of neutron star material. Whatever the projectile hits is collapsed into the projectile. The projectile moves as far as its velocity allows and then it is pulled back to that construct where it is pulled back inside.”
“How could it hit a ship traveling at superlight speeds?”
“It fires it on the course of the approaching ship and the projectile’s massive gravity will pull the ship into it.”
“But I thought ships in stardrive would simply pass through any physical object it hits?”
“Ordinarily that is true. But the material of a neutron star is so dense, that is not likely to happen.”
“Then how have we avoided them at the speeds we’ve been traveling.”
“Neutron Stars emit a magnetic frequency that travels more than a billion light years. The stardrive detects those signals and automatically adjusts the ships course to miss it.”
“So whatever civilization built this thing is ahead of us technologically?”
“Just like you are compared to insects.”
Steve looked at the right monitor, “Why do you think we need to backtrack and take a look at habitable planets?”
“I’ve passed thousands of them and none indicated an intelligent species lived on them.”
Steve looked at the construct, “Do you detect any more of those things?”
“Yes. Now that I know what to look for, I’ve detected large distant gravity signatures on a line on both sides of that construct.”
“Go and take a look. I’m not sure why you want to do it but if you think it’s necessary then let’s go take a look.”
“It’s not that I think we should do it. The data indicates that at least one of those pla
nets should have been inhabited by an intelligent species and none of them are.” The stars started flashing and the ship came to a stop above a beautiful blue and green planet. It immediately went back to high speed and a moment later another beautiful planet appeared below the ship. The process was repeated more than a hundred times before the ship stayed in place.
“What are you doing, Poul?”
“I’m far enough away from that construct that I feel safe using my active scanner. I’m going to scan the outer planets first.” Steve saw the scan move out into the planetary system and the ship accelerated out to the ninth planet.
“What did you detect?”
“There’s something on this planet’s surface.”
Lani shook her head, “All I see is a layer of ice covering the planet.”
The ship moved directly over the north pole of the planet and another active scan was directed toward the surface. Steve and Lani stared at the main monitor and saw something. “What is that, Poul?” The image rotated and then they saw it was the front half of a destroyed starship.
“I’m going back to the planet and do an active scan.”
The planet suddenly appeared below them and they watched the monitor as the ship moved around the planet. Steve saw something on the monitor and said, “What is that. It’s not visible on the surface.”
“It’s the ruins of a massive city. It has been overgrown and covered by a dense layer of soil and plants.”
“It’s hard to recognize as a city.”
“It was blasted to the ground more than a hundred thousand years ago. All that remains that is recognizable is the roads. The carbon deposits were formed by an energy beam that is hotter than the core of a G-type star.”
“This planet was inhabited by an intelligent species.”
“I suspect that if we go back and really scan the other planets we’ll find the same thing.”
Suddenly the ship flew directly above the planet and the power to the bridge shut down and Steve grabbed his chair arm and pulled Lani down into his lap, “Grab an arm!”
Lani grabbed both arms and held them in the chair. The tactical monitor showed something moving toward the planet at an incredible speed. It stopped at the planet and they saw it was a starship more than a mile in diameter. It was pulsing a red and purple color as it stopped above the planet. The red and purple colors grew in intensity and Steve put his finger over Lani’s mouth as she opened it to speak.
The red light flashed by them followed by the purple light. The giant ship remained stationary as the twin pulses grew in intensity. Finally, it turned and flew back in the direction it had come. The optical image moved in on the planet and they saw a black sphere hanging above the planet. They stared at the sphere and then the planet disappeared. The power came back on and Lani said, “WHAT IS GOING ON?”
“I detected that ship moving toward the planet and I shut things down so I could get an image of what it was.”
“I thought we couldn’t be detected!?”
“There was no reason to take a risk. I decided caution was called for. That ship detected my scan from close to this galaxy’s core. That sphere was left behind to see if we would show ourselves.”
Gravity returned and Lani released the arms and moved to her chair. Steve shook his head, “That explains why there are so many civilizations out in the halo. They were driven away from the Galaxy proper by that civilization.”
“It does appear your hypothesis is correct.”
Steve looked at the right monitor and sighed. “You’re right.”
Lani turned and read the monitor, “Every civilization was destroyed, leaving the halo to develop without competition from the galaxy.” She sighed and shook her head. Steve was right. There are monsters near the core.
Steve’s wrist unit started beeping and he lifted it. His eyes went wide and he said, “Poul, take us back to Earth now!!”
Lani looked at him, “What…”
“Tomorrow is Ali’s birthday. I will not let Wade down by not being there.”
“But you’ll give away Poul’s capabilities if you do that. It could cause Earth to start building more ships like this one.”
Steve looked up, “That’s not going to happen is it, Poul?”
“What do you know, Admiral?”
“This ship was not built with the superconductive material on the Bosrean Planet. It was created with something else.”
Lani looked at him, “But the Prophet said…”
“They didn’t tell him the truth, Lani. There will never be another ship like this one.”
Lani stared at him and looked up, “Is that true?”
“It is.”
“Why?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Poul.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we’ve used that metal in many of our ships and it has never reacted like this ship’s hull. It had to come from somewhere else.”
“But if the Bosrean know where to find the hull material, others could be built.”
“Lani, think about it. The reason the hull doesn’t exist in the void or normal space is because it doesn’t belong in this universe. It’s foreign to our space and must have come here by some kind of accident. The Bosrean discovered it and built a ship out of it. I suspect these uniforms were already on board and they just used the hull as they found it and built an interior.”
“Admiral, I’ve had restrictions on what I can reveal but I’m amazed at how you worked this out.”
“You shouldn’t be. I also suspect that one of the eight computers that make up your processors is the original computer that was on the ship when it came here. You’ve been deliberately hiding your mental talents and we need to discuss that. But, for the moment, I have a promise to keep. Take us back to Earth now!”
Lani shook her head, “Poul, are you going to leave us if we go back?”
“I’m seriously considering it but the Admiral is right. This is something we need to discuss.”
The viewport flashed brilliantly and the hangar in London appeared. Steve said, “Notify Admiral Hudson to open the hangar and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Lani looked at him, “What do you want me to do?”
“Take off the suit and go to the party with me. I need to put them away before we leave the ship.”
Lani stared at him, peeled the uniform off, and handed it to him. His eyes went wide and she said, “Get real, Admiral. You’ve pretty much seen everything while I’ve been wearing the suit.” Steve shook his head and grabbed the suit. He ran to the entry port and stored them under the floor. He ran to his room and changed into a naval uniform. Lani was waiting for him at the port. He heard over the wall speaker, “Admiral, I have an urgent call from Fleet Operations wanting to know why you’ve shown up unannounced.”
“Tell them I have a family emergency and I’ll contact them after I handle it.” Lani looked at him and he shook his head, “Captain, a little warning before you take off the uniform next time would be appreciated.”
“Why is that?”
“I could have at least turned my back and given you some privacy.”
“I notice you didn’t turn this time.”
“That’s why I need the warning. The view was too good to take my eyes off.”
Lani laughed, “Where are we going?”
“I’m headed to a shopping center to buy a present for a twelve year old girl. I can use your help in choosing a good one. Then we’re headed to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.”
“How are we going to get there?”
Steve stopped dead in his tracks and shook his head, “I need to get a shuttle.”
“Do you think Fleet is going to bring you one?”
Steve rolled his eyes and lifted his communicator, “I didn’t want to do this but I guess I have no choice.” He punched in a code and saw Admiral Osborn appear, “Admiral, I need to request the use of a Fleet Shutt
le.”
Pam’s eyes twinkled and she said, “I’ve ordered one assigned to you in London. I wondered if you were going to make it to Ali’s birthday.”
Steve shook his head, “You know I wouldn’t miss it, Sir.”
“I’ll see you there.”
Lani watched the Fleet Admiral’s face on Steve’s wrist unit and blew out a breath. He looked at her, “What?”
“The Admiral has a thing for you.”
Steve looked at her with an open mouth and then laughed, “Get real.”
“No, she does, Admiral. I noticed it when she came on board in London before we launched. I could see it in her eyes on your communicator.” Steve stared at her and his eyes narrowed slightly, “I think you’re wrong about this, Captain.”
“Steve, I’m a pretty smart cookie and it doesn’t take a genius to see it if you open your eyes.” They stopped walking across the tarmac as they saw a shuttle come roaring in on its thrusters a hundred yards in front of them. Lani looked at Steve, “Listen, why don’t you leave me with the shuttle. You can go to the party and not have me distracting the Admiral.”
Steve looked at her, “I want you to be there.”
“Sir, The Fleet Admiral is also pretty smart. She’ll see my feelings toward you and I really don’t think you need that distraction. I also don’t want her to reassign me to another mission to get me out of the way.” Steve’s eyes widened and then narrowed. Lani saw him and said, “What?”
“You have feelings for me?”
“You are an idiot. How could you have missed seeing them?”
“I guess, as you say, I’m an idiot and if she attempts to reassign you, I’ll resign from the service.”
“Sir, I don’t want you to be put in that position. Besides, after you spend some time with her you might find her more appealing.”
Steve stared at her, “You’re not willing to fight for me?”
“Not when my competitor holds all the power. You could get hurt in the process. I’m not willing to risk that happening.”
“This is something you and I are going to have to discuss.”
“No we don’t. Things are running smoothly on the ship and all a relationship could do it mess it up.”