Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers

by Rusty Williamson

  Although the President’s eyes looked a little glassy, he nodded and asked, “So, the event horizon is what you see when you look at a black hole…what does it look like?”

  “The event horizon forms a sphere around the singularity, and this sphere would be invisible except that a certain kind of radiation comes off its surface which makes it appear a deep purple.” Leewood rubbed his chin realizing that, technically speaking, his statement was misleading. Unless… “So if it were someplace where only faint light sources were in the background, say outside the galaxy, it would appear as a purple sphere. However, normally there are stars in the background and all light passing near the event horizon which does not get trapped within it gets bent and distorted, so what it really looks like to the human eye is a powerful lens distorting the stars behind it.”

  The President nodded and after a moment signaled a resumption of the meeting.

  Everyone looked back at Bugs and it attempted to answer again. “As I was saying, there is a possibility that the aliens are using a mathematical anomaly. It has to do with a space time construct we call…” the translator stumbled for a minute then found what it needed, “…an I-Sink. Essentially it is a space time fold which has infinite storage capacity. It takes vast amounts of energy to place and retrieve anything in an I-Sink. Essentially the black hole, along with its influence, would vanish for as long as needed, and then reappear when needed.”

  Leewood leaned back and steeped his fingers. “Bugs, what’s wrong with a much simpler scenario? Like…like a black hole just happens through your solar system causing your sun to explode?” asked Leewood.

  Bugs looked at him for a beat then replied, “That scenario does not match the data. Given the data, the black hole reduced its speed and size until it came within the orbits of the gas giants. At this point it was traveling at about one percent the speed of light and it was about half the size of your smallest gas giant. Then, the black hole simply vanished. Something, we assume a ship, then carried out the attack. This is what the tachyon scanner data indicated to us. In addition, entering a solar system any deeper with the black hole would be dangerous – if it accidentally destabilized our sun, this could disrupt the alien ship’s control over the black hole.”

  Leewood nodded. “Okay. So, to the best of your knowledge, this alien ship simply attacked and destroyed your solar system for no apparent reason?”

  “This is true.”

  Leewood looked down at the notes on his PDA though he did not really see them. It was time to ask the question he had been dreading and he wished he had a better way to do it. Oh well, he thought. “Bugs, here is what we intend to do: between now and when that ship arrives, we will focus on preparing defenses for a hostile encounter with this ship. When the ship is close enough, we will attempt to communicate with it and try diplomacy. If this does not work, we intend to fight this alien with everything we have.” He paused but Bugs remained motionless, saying nothing. “We would like you to join us—help us defeat this thing. Will you?”

  Bugs stared at Leewood for a long moment. Finally he spoke, “Commander Leewood…” he looked at each of them, “…sirs and madams…” he looked at each of the teleconferencing screens – the President’s last “…distinguished Senators and President James Olson Wicker, right now you have an opportunity and a choice to make. The aliens will not talk with you. You cannot defeat them. But you can save some of your race. I beg you: take all of your ships and make each one an escape ark. Fill them with your best people, your most valued animals and your most beloved plants. Then, keeping your sun between your arks and the approaching Blackship, have them sneak away as far as they can get. It will be hard to save only some while condemning most, but it is the best that you can do. It is what we intend to do.”

  These words washed over the gathering and chilled them to the bone. Adamarus, who had been quiet most of the meeting, spoke first, “I’m sorry, Bugs, but we are not built that way. We will try to talk and, if needed, we will fight no matter how hopeless the situation is. It is our way.”

  Bugs reached out with both arms, “Why? What is your logic for this?”

  The President answered, “Because if we take the actions you suggest, then we are defeating ourselves before the aliens even get here. If we are to be defeated, it will be the aliens who do it, not ourselves. And we would also do it for…for hope’s sake. Any number of things could change the outcome of a battle. Many times in our history hopeless battles have been won. Until you are defeated, there is always some hope.”

  Bugs leaned forward in his seat even more, stretching his arms further out across the table, “Okay, fight your battle. But you can still prepare a fleet of arks and send them out of harm’s way so that if worse comes to worst, you have a chance to save your species.”

  The President leaned back and rubbed his chin. “This is what all of your ships will do?”

  Bugs just stared at the President for several moments before he replied, “You said you wanted our help. What kind of help?”

  Leewood answered, “We had hoped that you would stand with us and help us defend our world.” Leewood paused for a second, his eyes boring into the robot. “And, with your advanced technology, we hoped that you would improve our defensive and offensive capabilities.”

  Bugs considered this then said, “We will make a deal with you. If you will send out three arks holding 3,000 of your people, and as many animals and plants as you can, then we will help you improve your defenses. Also, we will only send out two ships to preserve our species and the other two will remain, fight by your side, and help you in all the ways you have mentioned.”

  The President smiled, “Bugs, you have a deal.”

  Chapter Fourteen – Hideaway

  “As many of you have probably guessed by now, given the time, it is possible to extract all of the data from the speck’s vibrations – to know everything there is to know. This state of species advancement is the Phi State. To work through and translate each of the trillions of vibrations would take, by our estimates, a minimum of 250 million years. We believe few species survive long enough to accomplish this.”

  The Loud Named Bugs

  Opening Speech, 23rd Amular Symposium on Quantum Physics

  Source: The Archive

  Seven weeks later…

  Adamarus was angry, but he tried to hold it in. All this cloak and dagger stuff was ridiculous. For six weeks he, Leewood, Harrington and Woodworth had been cooped up in a shuttle traveling at high speed, on a course heading in-system; in fact, heading right for the sun. The President had told them to go, but he would not tell them where they were going or why, and as far as anyone could tell, only empty space and the sun lay ahead.

  The Loud had ”loaned” the President one of their short range tachyon communication sets so that the President and his team would have instant communications instead of the annoying delay the distance would have normally caused. This voyage was acting as the first field test of this latest invocation of Loud-ware.

  At the moment, the President was talking to Leewood as the rest of the team stood around him and waited for some answers. But Leewood rolled his eyes and then shook his head as he listened.

  “I’m sorry, Patrick,” the President was saying, “but this was tied up with checks and balances that were placed there for everyone’s protection and safety. I’ve gotten all the other signatures and only the leaders of the House and Senate are left. One’s just taking off from Banner and the other’s already on a plane on the way. It’s going to be at least several hours before I can release any information and really…you’ve got at least that much longer before you arrive…please don’t ask me ‘where’…not yet. Tell everyone to just try and be patient.”

  Leewood spoke for another minute and then disconnected. He related the conversation to the others which was met with groans and sighs. Sliding in next to Adamarus, he mumbled “I cannot believe this crap. This had better be good. Hell, it better be better than good!”<
br />
  The craft was one from the Presidential fleet and was very high end. It was really quite luxurious, comfortable, well equipped, and well staffed. And the food was incredibly good. But a junket like this was pushing the limits for its design.

  The steward served lunch which killed some time. After lunch Leewood and Harrington went down to the small gym, Adamarus slept, and the rest donned headphones and watched a video. Two hours later the video ended, they griped, read, talked, slept and then they griped some more.

  Adamarus was looking out the forward viewports which were almost completely blacked out to compensate for the blinding light from the sun. He sensed Harrington move up beside him. “We’re obviously headed towards Cinder,” he said. Cinder was a small planet and the closest object to the Sun.

  “Cinder? You think? No one else has said anything about that.” She looked back at their companions sitting in the oversized leather seats. She was holding a drink and was a little tipsy. “I thought Cinder was nothing but rivers of molten rock.” She swayed her hips bumping him playfully, “So… a hot date?”

  The sudden mock flirtation surprised Adamarus and he laughed at her. There was no doubt that it was done in fun. Harrington and his wife had become close friends and it was absolutely something Harrington would do for its shock value. He pointed out the view port, “Actually, Cinder’s both the hottest and the coldest planet in our solar system,” emphasizing coldest for no real reason except to cover the slight awkwardness he felt. “It’s tidal locked so that one side always faces towards the sun and the other faces away. The one that always faces away is the coldest place in the solar system.”

  Harrington leaned in close to him teasingly and shook her head, “You’re always the party animal.” They both laughed.

  “Don’t make me hurt you,” he replied. “Ah! Look!”

  Harrington cocked her head and squinted her eyes—barely visible outside the view port was a round circle darkening the surrounding space. As she watched she could actually see it growing. “What is that?!”

  “Cinder’s light cone – the ship will get inside it to shield it from the sun. We must be close.”

  Harrington had turned, “Hey, you guys! Come look at this!” She turned back to the view port, “I don’t quite understand.”

  “Cinder casts a shadow and we’re getting in it. In truth, it’s mostly the solar wind that’s being blocked—as you can see, it doesn’t block much of the light or the heat from the sun.” Everyone was gathered around the small view port now. “But about fifty percent of the glare we see is the solar wind. Cinder has a magnetic field that is roughly three times the diameter of the planet and this is what diverts the solar wind.”

  Harrington pointed out the view port with her drink, “Never a dull moment.” The way she said this caused everyone to chuckle.

  Leewood gave her an appraising eye. Although they had worked closely together for quite a long time, he had not seen her flirty side. He was more than a little annoyed at the discomfort he felt over her flirtation going Adamarus’ way, even though he knew it meant nothing. “Well, at least we know where we’re going now. I’d completely forgotten about the rock.” Leewood commented.

  “What could be on Cinder?” Woodworth asked.

  Adamarus’ smile turned down, “Most likely something in orbit – obviously a geostationary orbit so it stays on the far side away from the sun.”

  Soon they could see Cinder as a small black circle against the turbulent surface of the sun – the round shadow the ship was staying within radiated from a seemingly invisible circle which was much larger than the small planet.

  An hour later, the PA system chimed and the Captain spoke, “We’ll be flipping over and firing thrusters in about fifteen minutes to begin reducing our speed. If you need to go to the restroom or want something to drink, please take care of that now. When we fire the thrusters to flip the ship, everyone will need to be in their seats and buckled up for thirty minutes of so.”

  Once everyone was seated and strapped in, the ship rotated on its center of gravity until the back end was facing forward. The roar of the engines could be heard as they fired up. Finally the engine roar died, the ship flipped over again and the seat belt sign went off. Everyone got up and crowded around the forward view port. Small forward jets were still slowing the craft down.

  The planet Cinder now hid the sun completely. There was no light and the planet’s surface was completely black – nothing at all could be seen. Then the ship turned so that the planet was beneath it. The totally black surface stretched out in every direction to the planet’s horizon. There, the black surface ended sharply and millions of tiny glowing particles shot upward creating a circular wall of light that enclosed Cinder’s dark side -- the solar wind. Looking up through the view port in the ceiling, the circular wall extended up until it faded away. It made for an unusual and beautiful sight.

  The ship continued to make its way across the dark side of Cinder, though to its passengers, there were no visual cues to suggest that anything was moving.

  At last something dark could be seen blocking the spectacle of the solar wind. There seemed to be many objects, but this far away and with no light, they were just black, half-imagined silhouettes. At last the ship bridged the distance. Now the shapes could be seen more clearly. Slowly the ship glided up to one of them and came to a halt. It seemed to be a large, oblong rock but no details were visible. And it was impossible to tell its size as they had no idea how far away they were. The ship drifted to the right and now four additional rocks appeared beyond the first.

  “So what the hell is this?” Woodworth asked.

  Leewood turned to him, “I think we’re here – wherever here is. However, until Wicker gets two more people to sign off, we won’t get to see anything.” After a while they drifted back to their seats and waited.

  Forty minutes later, everyone jumped when the Loud’s tachyon com unit buzzed. Leewood yanked it up. “Yes.” He listened for a moment then worked the controls. The President’s face appeared on the screen at the front of the cabin.

  “Can you hear me? Oh, okay, I see that you can. I’m sorry to keep you in the dark so long, but I think you’ll find that it was worth the wait. I am now authorized to tell you a story.” The President was sitting at his desk. He clasped his hands together and leaned forward. “At the end of the last war, then President Bonnet did not ever want another war that lasted as long or cost so much. What he did to insure this was called Project Hideaway. He also put stringent checks and balances in place to ensure Project Hideaway was never misused. Not even a President could, by himself, use or make known the details of the project. This is why it has taken me so much time to secure the proper authorizations needed to tell you about it. I sent you ahead hoping that when you arrived, all the red tape would be worked out and…the timing was almost perfect.”

  “As you know,” President Wicker continued, “the ten Leviathan Class Battleships, or Juggernauts as they were called, won the last war for us. The common belief is that the Bentley and Anderson shipyards built these ships in secret. That is not true. The shipyards that built them were constructed in secret – construction of these yards started almost as soon as the war started, and at first they were called the Leviathan Shipyards because they only built one kind of ship, the Leviathan Class Battleship. Eventually, due to popular demand, the name changed to the Hideaway Shipyard. You have just arrived at its location. Wanting to prevent another war that was so costly in lives as well as materials, Bonnet wanted an overpowering force to put down any future uprising. Construction of the Juggernauts did not stop after the first ten were commissioned, but continued in secret for thirty more years and was only shut down twenty years ago.” A great big smile appeared on the President’s face. “Enjoy the tour and we will talk later.”

  The screen went blank and everyone quickly made their way back to the viewing port.

  “I don’t see anything,” Harrington said.

  As i
f on cue, the lights came on.

  “Well fuck me,” Leewood exclaimed.

  Harrington could not make out what she was looking at. Whatever it was, there was a lot of it. “What am I looking at?”

  “The mass of lights and machinery in each of the – looks like five structures…” started Adamarus, but he was interrupted by a voice from behind.

  “Yes, there are five,” the Captain had come from the cockpit, “each one is almost as large as all of the Anderson Yards combined. Each rock can build one Juggernaut at a time.” He handed out folders to each of them. The folders were marked ”Top Secret – Red Raven Level." “These contain complete specs and details on the yards. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go start the tour.”

  Everyone started looking through the material that had been handed out.

  At the hatch leading to the cockpit the Captain paused and turned, “You’ll need to take your seats while we tour the yards – everything will be displayed on the large display up front and there are also the side view ports. After the tour is over you may get up.”

  As soon as they took their seats, the thrusters fired and the craft moved forward. It flew outward so all five installations could be seen, then flew back in for a close pass of the first one. It was enormous and completely empty of workers and ships. As the shuttle dropped down the large splinter of rock, more and more of the shipyard came into view. Space docks, tanks, pipes, cranes and all manner of machinery were lit in stark contrast by the bright harsh lights.