Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers

by Rusty Williamson

The President smiled and nodded too, “Good. That works out well. Okay, that covers the short range plans to light some fires, get things moving. Long range it would seem we need to get crews for the warships, pilots for the fighters and probably a lot of other support people. We need to get them trained and going. The ships – all forty—need to be updated with the latest advancements. And we will also want to start the production line going again, build more Battleships and fighters. We may want to enlarge the shipyards to give us more production capacity – not just Hideaway, but all of them.”

  "We also need fixed and orbital defense elements. Heck, what we need first is a list of what we need – because you know…” he smiled, “if it isn't on a list…it doesn’t exist!”

  “Leewood,” he said with a gleam in his eyes, “in your spare time,” several of them laughed, “I’d like you to take charge of compiling a list of things we need to think of doing next. As always, consult with everyone,” he waved his hand at all of them, “and grab whomever and whatever else you need. If something gets in your way that you can’t move aside, just call me.”

  The President looked down consulting his own list. “Oh, yes… Shelly White will be joining the team. I know…she’s a reporter…” he rolled his eyes and chuckled – reporters were usually thought of as being ”on the other side." “Actually, she’s ‘the’ reporter and that’s exactly why we need her. Someone who’s a leader, someone the public trusts and, last but not least, someone that ‘we’ can trust, and Shelly has shown time and again that she can keep things ‘off the record’. Shelly will be the method by which we filter and control the information flow to the public.”

  “Questions?”

  There were plenty, but the President wasn’t the person to ask. President Wicker signed off and the screen went dark.

  Chapter Fifteen – Preliminary Actions

  “Knowing facts is not the same as understanding them or how they relate to each other. For this reason there are several states above the Phi State, the understanding states. As the Phi State is almost impossible to reach, reaching these higher understanding states is thought to be impossible as a practical matter. The highest state is the Omega State where not only is everything known, everything is understood. It is estimated that several hundred million years would be required for a species to reach the Omega State.”

  The Loud Named Bugs

  Opening Speech, 23rd Amular Symposium on Quantum Physics

  Source: The Archive

  Evelyn was lying on the couch in the hotel room reading. Their room was on the 12th floor and she had the sliding glass door that led to the balcony open. This let in the muffled sounds of the city as well as a cool breeze.

  The sound of the doorbell caused her to look up. She bent the corner of the page, got up and headed for the door just as Brandon came out of the bedroom. Evelyn opened the door and standing there was a man and a woman. The man had military written all over him – tall, short hair, a rugged face with a hint of arrogance and a build that conveyed power. The female was tall and very good looking – not military but definitely a professional.

  The man nodded his head slightly, “Mrs. Evelyn Eden?”

  She smiled, “Got me.”

  “I’m Commander Patrick Leewood and this is Dr. Lorraine Harrington. President Wicker sent us.”

  Evelyn nodded, “Please, come in.” As they entered, Brandon came forward and Evelyn introduced him, then she guided their guests to a grouping of comfortable chairs at the other end of the living room. Evelyn remained standing, “Can I get you something? Tea, coffee, or perhaps something stronger?”

  “If you have some water, that would be nice.” Harrington said.

  Leewood smiled, “The same, please.”

  While Evelyn went into the kitchen, Brandon slapped his hands on his knees. “Well, we’ve been imagining all sorts of reasons why we were brought here. Are you allowed to tell us anything?”

  Evelyn heard the last part of the question as she returned with four bottles of spring water. “I certainly hope so! This is a nice little ‘hideaway’ but we’re running out of things to do.” She passed out the water as Leewood and Harrington did a mental double take at her blatant mention of Hideaway.

  Leewood opened his water and took a sip as Harrington answered with a chuckle. “Yes, we are authorized to tell all. Of course you’ve guessed correctly, it does indeed pertain to the Hideaway Yards as well as the thirty Leviathan class battleships there.”

  Although expected, at this admission the Eden’s mood became more subdued. Evelyn’s smile faded, “Yes, we were afraid of that. Not another uprising in the settlements, I hope.”

  Leewood glanced at Harrington then back, and cleared his throat. “I wish it were that simple.” Harrington looked down, dreading having to tell anyone what was coming at them from space or what it had done to the Loud’s star system.

  Brandon’s eyebrows compressed in concern, “Certainly not the Loud but…in some way related, yes?”

  Leewood shook his head, “No. And yes. The Loud are our friends and allies. Of course you’re aware of the Loud’s early return?”

  Brandon glanced at Evelyn. They both nodded.

  Leewood went on to tell them the sequence of events. Both took the news of the destruction of the Loud’s entire solar system hard – first their eyes went wide with shock and their mouths fell open. Evelyn covered her mouth with both hands as tears came to her eyes. Brandon put his head down in his hands.

  At learning of the discovery of the black hole ship, with a one AU diameter event horizon coming at them at almost the speed of light, Brandon held up both hands. “Whoa…whoa! A black hole that large! What can anyone do with something like that! No amount of super weapons or ships will have any effect against something like that!” He looked from one person to another. Evelyn had crossed her arms and her entire body shook for a fraction of a second as if a chill had passed through her.

  Harrington said, “Granted, but we don’t think we’ll be facing anything like that. All the data from the tachyon scope studying the object and what happened at the Loud’s solar system indicate that the event horizon shrinks and…disappears before the attack. We have no idea how this can happen, but an alien ship of some kind is what we’re assuming we’ll face.”

  Leewood jumped in before more questions could be asked. “In any event, our orders are to get you out to Hideaway A.S.A.P. so we can immediately get the installation up and running. If you don’t mind, we can discuss the rest en route.”

  Harrington stood and rubbed her hands together, “We’ll be taking a shuttle up to Anderson’s where we’ll stay for a few days. This is so you can take a look at the ten Leviathans up there and meet with the people tasked with getting and training crews for the ships. The ships and crews are being prepped now and will depart for Hideaway as soon as possible.”

  Despite all the bleak news, Evelyn managed a slight smile, and more to herself than anyone said, “I can’t believe we’re going back after all these years.” She looked over at Leewood, “Tell me, has it really sat there in the dark for all this time?”

  “That’s my understanding.”

  She took a deep breath and let it out, “All those years we spent out there seem like a dream.” She looked at Brandon and he reached over and held her hand, “I never dreamed I’d see that place again.”

  ---

  Woodworth had been inside the capitol building several times over the last twenty years, and before that, so long ago that it seemed like a different life time, he had actually worked here for several months. As always, he felt somewhat awed by it all. There was so much history here, and so much power. Everything was so grand and dignified, but all in an older, more cultured sort of way.

  It had been built over 300 years ago and parts of the building were both larger and smaller than one would find in newer buildings. Large sweeping staircases rose and split off, graced by two 20-foot statues on either side. The walls were adorned with paintings of
former Presidents which must have measured ten feet in height. At the same time, right next door were the tiniest administrative offices, restrooms, and ancillary staircases, so narrow that you could barely fit between the walls. He sometimes wondered if people had been smaller 300 years ago and that somehow, that fact had simply gotten lost. Incredibly detailed carvings lined the upper walls and domed ceilings and great chandeliers the size of trucks hung in almost every room. It spoke of power and money, and also of times gone by.

  Woodworth received his color coded name tag at the security station, then asked for directions to the public relations office. The security officer looked down his nose at Woodworth, and in a condescending voice, rattled off the directions. Woodworth meekly nodded, feeling somewhat intimidated.

  Taking an antique glass elevator to the fourth floor, he watched all the serious people walking briskly about with things to do and people to see. The overall impression was organization, efficiency and professionals dotting every ‘i’ and crossing every ‘t’.

  He located the appropriate office number only to find a note saying that the office had moved to a bigger area in sub-basement five. It was written on the back of a paper plate with a black marker. He blinked, stood there for a moment, and then rolled his eyes. How could he have forgotten?

  He looked around a second time seeing everything from a different perspective and nodded – it had been a long time, forty to fifty years since he had worked here, but now it all came back to him. Despite appearances, the fact was that most people didn’t know what the hell was going on and it was a miracle that anything got done! He remembered the all knowing condescending security guard and looked back at the note…this was typical…this was government.

  Backtracking to the elevator, he took it down and found the offices. You could hardly miss them as they took up the entire sublevel. A large sign facing the elevators said, “Public Relations Department”, handwritten with the same black marker on blue bar computer paper and held up by two tables turned on their sides. Behind it, work cubes stretched off for perhaps 200 feet and hundreds of people rushed about intent on various tasks.

  He moved into the large room and went to the first cubical which seemed to be set off from the others. Within, two young men typed on keyboards. “Excuse me, I’m looking for Jan Parker.”

  One of them stood and pointed, “First office.”

  Woodworth turned and noticed a row of offices along the same wall as the elevators that he had missed looking outward into the room. He waved a hand at the two men, “Thanks!” and started towards them.

  “Hey, excuse me.” Woodworth halted and turned. The other young man had gotten up and was walking towards him. “Woodworth? Dr. Floyd Woodworth?”

  Woodworth smiled, “Yes, that’s me.”

  “I thought so.” The young man held out his hand and they shook. “I’m Lenny, Lenny Grant.”

  “A pleasure, Lenny.”

  “Boy, are we glad to see you!” Lenny said. Woodworth cocked his head. The other man had walked up and Lenny turned to introduce him, “This is Trevor.” Woodworth and Trevor shook hands. “We’ve been assigned to dig up information on every war since the dawn of time and ascertain which ones had public support and which didn’t. We heard you were coming. Come on! I’ll take you over to Jan.”

  Trevor waved and returned to his work area while Lenny led Woodworth to the first office.

  Jan Parker was a small thin woman who wore thick glasses which magnified her blue eyes. She had stringy blond hair that fell to her shoulders and wore a conservative gray business suit. When they walked into her office she was standing, flipping through a ledger, a pencil held in her mouth. When she saw Woodworth, she set the ledger down, removed the pencil and came over and shook his hand.

  “Dr. Woodworth, I’m so glad you’re here.” She motioned him to a seat. “I see you’ve met Lenny.” Lenny leaned against a wall, a smile on his face. Jan walked around and sat down behind her desk. “So tell me, Floyd…may I call you Floyd?”

  Woodworth smiled, “Absolutely, Jan.”

  “Good. So tell me…” she opened a drawer and took out a pack of cigarettes and quickly glanced at Lenny who reached over and closed the office door, “… all those history books that you wrote…” she began tapping the pack, forcing a cigarette to slide out, “… the ones that all of us…” she put the cigarette in her mouth and tossed the pack to Lenny, “…had to memorize in school…” the cigarette drew circles in the air as she spoke. She took out a book of matches and struck one and stared at the flame, then shook the match out without lighting the cigarette and closed her eyes. A dreamy look appeared on her face. She removed the unlit cigarette and used it to point towards Woodworth “…how much of that history do you still remember?” She put the cigarette back in her mouth, cocked her head and stared at him with a sparkle in her eyes.

  Woodworth smirked then looked over at Lenny who also had an unlit cigarette in his mouth. At Woodworth’s look, Lenny smiled, removed the cigarette, and blew out pretend smoke. Woodworth just shook his head and looked back at Jan, “May I ask how old you were when the Loud gave out the immortality pills?” They had not been pills at all but something that looked like pieces of paper, however, everyone now referred to them as immortality pills or I-pills.

  “You may not.” Jan said, raising her eyebrows.

  “That old, huh?” he said, raising his eye brows. “Then ‘you’ may remember that all that stuff that slipped away from us when we were old…how it came back as we became young again. Every page; I remember every page.”

  Jan gave Lenny a look, took another hit off her unlit cigarette and looked back at Woodworth, “Good. Because what we need to do is look back at each of our wars and figure out which one had the most public support and why.”

  Lenny picked up the thread, “We have over 200 years to prepare so we have lots of time to ease the public into awareness in any manner we need to…to insure their optimal support and optimism for the coming conflict.”

  Woodworth changed positions in his chair and cleared his throat. “I’m afraid it won’t be quite as simple as that. The attitudes and customs of the times have to be considered. For instance, 1500 years ago, in the Fourth Empire, most men lived to fight while women had no say, whatsoever, so public support for a war would always be positive. We’ll need to find societies and social structures that resembled ours. But there is a lot of history to choose from and even if there are differences, perhaps we can account for them to some degree.” Both Jan and Lenny had concerned expressions that told Woodworth they had not considered some of these elements.

  Jan stubbed her unlit cigarette out in an ashtray she pulled from her drawer, then passed it to Lenny who had walked over to her desk. Jan looked at Woodworth, considering for a moment, then asked, “Do you think what we are trying to do will be possible?”

  “Can we find parallels that can guide us? Certainly. Will what we do be based on this work? Can we create the public attitude we’d like to see, and perhaps more importantly, will it last for over 200 years? The public is a strange beast, and really, it’s impossible to know for sure. I think we need to identify groups that will oppose the war as well as those who are already on board. I think we will need to release facts and/or events over time to rekindle the public’s mind-set over time.”

  Woodworth continued, “Probably the most effective tool we have will be sympathy for what the aliens did to the Loud. We need to figure out how to play this one to the hilt, and how to slowly release each fact at the proper time, again, to pace the information flow so that it lasts. In this case, it can probably last the entire time.”

  “Why is that?” Lenny asked.

  “A lot of reasons, but one big one is because the light from their star’s explosion will take roughly another 110 years to reach us, which means that a little more than halfway between now and the alien’s projected arrival, the light from their exploding star will reach us. We’ll be sure to make a system wide event
out of it. The initial explosion will be an awesome sight as close as we are. But even after the main explosion fades, the expanding nebula will continue to shine and grow in our night skies for the remaining time. In fact, the expanding nebula will be much more interesting than the initial flash of the explosion.”

  “Wow,” Jan muttered. “How sure are you about all of this?”

  “We know it will definitely be visible to the naked eye and quite spectacular from viewing it in real time though the tachyon sensor. But this is not a natural event, that is, it is not a nova which is a nuclear explosion caused by accretion of hydrogen onto the surface of a white dwarf, or a stellar explosion caused by the collapse of a massive star. Somehow the alien destabilized the Loud’s star so badly that three weeks later, it literally fell apart causing a cataclysmic explosion. This means that the size and brightness of the explosion that will follow will be unlike anything we’ve witnessed before – there will be far more expanding matter than a nova, but less than a supernova so…” Woodworth trailed off as he realized he had lost their attention. He looked back and forth between Jan and Lenny; both were pale.

  Jan noticed Woodworth had stopped talking. She cleared her throat and said in a quiet voice, “How can we hope to survive against an alien that can do that to a star?”

  The fear and hopelessness in Jan’s voice shook Woodworth because he had experienced the exact thing himself. And he had expected and prepared for it in others. He rose from his chair and stepped forward, “Hey, we’ll have the help of the Loud. And, we’ll have over 200 years to prepare.” He waited, knowing what would come next.

  It came from Lenny with almost no lag time. “Look what happened to the Loud.”

  Woodworth was ready and rounded on him, “But they did not prepare.” He turned and faced Jan again. Saying each word precisely and forcefully, he continued, “They—offered—no—resistance.”

  Jan blinked and took a deep breath, then asked, “What do the Loud think of our chances?”