Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers
Page 37
This caught Adamarus off guard and for a minute he just stared at Leewood with his mouth open. Finally, “Right...right, and of course, as we know, it goes way beyond even this. However, I think we can state the basic facts without using the sledge hammer Bugs used.” He looked around the table, finally settling on the President’s screen.
Wicker sighed, “Go on.”
“I think it’s a combination of the harsh undeniable reality of it all, plus the overwhelming scope that does you in and sent Thornton and Van Loader over the edge.”
Leewood spoke again, “It’s also the incredible time spans and the distances, and more than anything else, the age of the Slayers and this Omega level of advancement! They know everything, Adamarus! Everything. And they’re coming for us in something the size of a small solar system at a hair below the speed of light, and they are coming to wipe us out and nothing can stop them! They just destroyed the world of a species a thousand years more advanced than us and they did it in a single day! They’re not interested in negotiating, not interested in surrender, and in fact, we are just an inconsequential stop on their way to their real objective which is beyond anything we can imagine!” Leewood took a deep breath and steeped his fingers forcing himself to regain his control. A harsh laugh emerged then, “Have I forgotten anything?”
Radin closed his eyes, “Only a couple of minor details like causing a sun to go nova is obviously a piece of cake for them. Oh, and let’s not forget there’s a whole fleet of these Blackships, enough to cover a third of the observable universe.”
President Wicker reluctantly added, “I can't get over that pale blue galaxy Bugs showed us. They destroyed it 12 billion years ago…they’re as old as the universe itself!”
Adamarus stood and spoke forcibly, “That’s just it! It’s not believable unless you see the galaxies as we did and we won’t show them. Without the harsh undeniably we were subjected to, we let there be an element of disbelief. We don’t mention that their activities can be traced back 12 billion years…or anything about the Omega level…nor the Loud's calculations that show that to do what we're seeing the number of Blackships must be in..." Adamarus faltered unable to say it.
"...in the billions," President Wicker finished for him.
Everyone was quiet for a long time. Finally Wicker broke the silence, “Okay, I think that might be okay. I think that would work.” He looked at the others for support.
Leewood said, “We don’t tell them everything.”
“Exactly,” Adamarus said.
Radin nodded then said, “And we definitely don’t mention that using us verses the first one-celled organisms that existed on our planet as a comparison won’t work because our planet isn’t old enough.”
---
Later that day, Adamarus got permission from the President to brief Evelyn and Brandon Eden, General Burnwall and Professor Woodworth, provided each underwent a psychological evaluation and it showed that they could ”handle” the diluted facts.
Adamarus was also elected to do the briefing so he postponed his departure for several days. Bugs had agreed to bring the Loud ship back to take him home.
It was not easy getting all the psychological evaluations, especially since none of the individuals could be told the reason why in case they failed.
The next day the results came in, and strangely enough, Adamarus had been right to worry about Brandon as his results came in as borderline. His passion was cosmology and he knew better than the rest just how impossible the facts were. It was decided to let Evelyn decide after she had heard the details.
---
The next day, Adamarus met Evelyn, Burnwall and Woodworth in the same conference room where the first meeting with Bugs had taken place. He explained about the ”communication problem” between them and the Loud, and on top of this, why the Loud had not wanted to tell them.
The therapist had recommended coffee, sandwiches and cookies, saying that the more casual and familiar the meeting environment, the better. The meeting had also been scheduled so that it was lunch time and everyone would be hungry, and they were all eating when the meeting started.
“The Loud have been studying the movements and activities of the approaching alien for some 800 years. They call the alien the ‘Spiral Slayers’ and they call their black hole powered ships ‘Blackships.’” Adamarus shrugged, “We’ll continue with those names. The facts about these aliens are about as overwhelming as it can get. The Loud have detected more of these Blackships. There is also a Spiral Slayer ‘footprint’ which I’ll talk more about later, and it is this footprint, in part, which has allowed the Loud to find the ships as well as track their movements back over time. These ships and their footprints are widely spread across the universe.”
"Universe!" Evelyn exclaimed.
“How widely?” Woodworth asked.
“They believe that they see Blackships in three galactic super clusters,” Adamarus said, telling the truth but not mentioning that "signs" of the Slayers’ ships, the exploding galaxies, could be seen in thousands of super clusters.
Sounds of disbelief came from all three. Adamarus knew it wouldn’t be the last time. “Yes, it is unbelievable,” Adamarus continued, “but I’ll warn you now, this is only the tip of the iceberg.”
Woodworth interrupted again, “Adamarus, that is simply not possible! The distances and time involved are just too great. The expansion of the universe puts super clusters out of reach, even to non-stop, near light speed…” Woodworth’s eyes suddenly went wide, “… are you saying that they have an FTL drive?”
“The Loud don’t believe so,” Adamarus said. “No ship the Loud have tracked has exceeded the speed of light. However, they are certainly doing something to allow them to cover these distances. What it is, the Loud don’t yet know.”
It was Evelyn’s turn to jump in. “Wait a minute! How old is this species?”
There it was. Adamarus took a deep breath. “We simply don’t know.” It was a lie, but it was also the truth.
Everyone’s mouth fell open.
Burnwall ran both hands through his hair, “So… pretty much this is like us taking all our military might and bringing it to bare on…what…?”
“An anthill,” Adamarus filled in for Burnwall.
“Us being the anthill,” Woodworth added.
“So we have no chance at all,” Evelyn said in a stunned and shocked voice, “just as Bugs has said all along.”
“Listen up, people,” Adamarus got up and leaned forward on the conference table, “there are some things that may give us some hope, but I must ask you to be patient and let me get through my presentation.”
Adamarus took a sip of water and set the glass down. Woodworth was looking at the table. Evelyn’s eyes were tearing up and Burnwall had that thousand-yard stare…and he hadn’t even gotten to the worst of it. “The Blackships will enter a galactic cluster and then enter one of the galaxies – for some reason they only pick on spiral galaxies. The ship heads straight for the galaxy’s center.” Adamarus shifted positions, “If they encounter any civilizations along the way, they attack and destroy them as they’ve done with the Loud’s and…intend to do with our civilization. But their true objective is the black hole at the center of the galaxy. Once they get to it, they do something that causes the black hole to explode. This explosion releases all of the matter within the black hole as super heated plasma and radiation. This, over the course of hundreds of thousands of years, spreads outward through the spiral, killing all life and sterilizing the entire galaxy.”
“What?” General Burnwall said in shock.
“Oh my God,” Evelyn whispered in disbelief.
Woodworth’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. Realization hit him after a moment, “And that’s what that thing is doing here?”
Everyone turned first to Woodworth, then to Adamarus.
“Yes,” Adamarus said.
“And we’re just some recreation along the way,” Burnwall added.
Burnwall continued, “I don’t believe it. It is just not possible to destroy an entire galaxy. It is just not possible to ‘work your way across the universe’! Unless they do have an FTL drive, then that changes everything.”
Adamarus replied, “The Loud believe that the Spiral Slayers have reached a very high level of evolutionary advancement. Based on the Loud’s analysis of the tachyon scans of the battle, they believe that the Spiral Slayers somehow force their black hole into some kind of upper dimension and hold it there while they attack the planet, the space installations, and finally the star." Adamarus paused and closed his eyes. Now was the time to hit them with it...no choice...they had to know. And there was no easy way to do it.
He cleared his throat. "The Loud say that holding the singularity there takes enormous power and it is likely that they somehow route the singularity’s power in a feedback loop to accomplish this. The thing is, if we were to somehow luck out and destroy the Blackship, its singularity would no longer be held in that upper dimension. It would return to normal space.”
“Oh, great!” Burnwall yelled, literally throwing his arms in the air. “That’s just great!”
“What does that mean?” Woodworth asked.
Adamarus explained, “Having a black hole that large next to our planet, or for that matter anywhere within our solar system, would be utterly catastrophic. It would devour our planet and our moons, then it would suck in all the rest of the planets – every single one of them, then it would eat up our sun, and finally it would devour every comet in the ice cloud. There would be absolutely nothing left of our solar system." He sighed, "We have some serious problems to work out.”
---
The President and his entire inner circle had hit the bottom. Overwhelmed and stunned by the events that had brought Amular’s first Council of War to a premature close, but most of all, the shocking news from the Loud about the approaching alien’s strength and power, each one of them had simply shutdown. Each knew that somehow, they had to pick themselves up and carry on; nevertheless, right now they could not find the strength. None of them, including President Wicker, showed themselves. Queries from their next level of command were going unanswered and people were beginning to notice.
Adamarus had been trying to get everyone together for several days to no avail, but finally on the fourth day, he succeeded.
Except for the late Lance Thornton and Dr. Van Loader, all the attendees of the original Black Raven meeting were present, including Bugs. Also present were Woodworth, Evelyn, and Burnwall.
Adamarus stood before them and said, “We’ve been inundated by bad news and sudden deaths, overwhelmed by the power and incredible age of the alien that approaches. We’ve watched a neighboring civilization 1000 years more advanced than us be destroyed in a single day. Now we sit here frozen in fear and depression as an impossibly large black hole comes at us at almost the speed of light for a repeat performance. As if that were not enough, we know that after it leaves here, it will continue to the center of our galaxy and unleash a force that will kill every living thing in our galaxy.”
Adamarus paused a beat, gathered his thoughts and then continued, “I called this meeting because I believe that there is actually some good news that we have overlooked. I do not know if it will save us, but it is something…hopefully an opportunity and a weakness we can somehow exploit. In any event, it’s something in our favor and that is something we sorely need.” He looked around at the group. The hopelessness he saw made him want to give up.
He forced himself to go on, “Bugs, I need the advanced opinion of the Loud.”
“I’ll answer you if I can,” replied the Loud.
“Good.” Adamarus took a deep breath, “What indicates an evolving species?”
The avatar went still for a second and then replied, “Improvement, adaptability…change.”
Adamarus nodded as he thought about how to phrase his next question. “Can a species stagnate, stop evolving?”
The Loud had to think about this. “Actually, no—if a thing is alive, it is evolving.”
Adamarus glanced around and was pleased to see small signs of interest – people were leaning forward and listening.
Woodworth spoke up, “Wait…there is a crab who has not changed in millions of years--I don’t recall its name--but surely that is stagnation.”
Bugs was silent for many seconds. Most knew that the alien was consulting with other Loud and perhaps checking with whatever the Loud used for a computer. Finally Bugs said, “If you are referring to the Horseshoe Crab,” Woodworth nodded, “then you are wrong. It has, in fact, changed. One hundred million years ago, it looked much the same, but it was a little larger and it had a more advanced body. Admittedly it is evolving very slowly, but none the less, it is changing.”
The exchange provided Adamarus with an ideal opening and he jumped on it, “Bugs, is this crab advancing, improving?”
Again Bugs was silent for several seconds. “Actually, no—evolution can go in two directions. Usually it moves forward, if you will, and you see some kind of improvement or increased adaptability. However, in rare cases, like the Horseshoe Crab, a species stops evolving forward and begins to evolve backwards–de-evolving.”
A sly smile appeared on Adamarus, “Exactly. Correct me if I’m wrong, but in literally billions of years…that’s billions of years…the Spiral Slayers have not altered the way they attack galaxies in any significant way – in fact, in any way at all as far as we can determine. What we are seeing is a repeating pattern that a machine could perform. What we are seeing is a complete lack of advancement or change.
“Now, perhaps they have found the perfect, most optimum way to do business, but I wonder how any intelligent species could go on for this incredible length of time without changing something…if nothing else, out of boredom. I also wonder what happens to a species that reaches a pinnacle of scientific advancement and understanding. Where does it go from there? It cannot continue its upward evolution for too much longer for it has reached the top. What happens after that? Apparently the ‘Slayers’ reached this state billions of years ago. What have the Spiral Slayers been doing since then?
“If something is alive, by definition, evolution must continue. From what we know from all outward appearances, the Slayers, based on their unchanging actions, have not continued any kind of forward evolution.
“I suspect that long ago, their machines did everything for them. That makes perfect sense. There may be nothing left alive within those Blackships. On the other hand, if there is, what function does it serve? Why do the automated machines need that life? If there is a species still alive within those ships then…evolution continues. If it cannot move forward, where else can it go but backwards. We need to start thinking about these things.”
Adamarus looked down and took a deep breath, “Unfortunately, none of this answers the most important question: How do we stop them from destroying us? But, we already know what we must do. We must ‘damage’ that ship just enough so that it doesn’t lose control of its black hole, but enough so that it leaves. And this must be done before it destroys our sun."
Adamarus paused for a moment and looked at each person. Then, "If memory serves, it’s sometime next month that we will have exactly 200 years to figure out how to accomplish what’s needed.” He paused again. It was now time to spring the second part on them, the part that gave teeth—sharp teeth—to first part.
He started pacing back and forth in front of his audience. “There is another element to all this, a second part, and it’s a critical one. It’s been right in front of us the entire time. Yet somehow,” he shot a look at Bugs, “seemingly, none of us has noticed it. We have a significant and unique situation. As I’ve pointed out, based on the evidence, the Spiral Slayers have lost most, if not all, of their adaptability. The Loud has studied them for hundreds of years so we know a lot about them…we know what their plans are…” Adamarus
held up his index finger, “and more importantly,” he raised his middle finger, “we know that they’re coming 200 years beforehand. Please think carefully about this. What had to happen in order for us to have the situation we have?”
They all looked at him in confusion. President Wicker slowly shook his head, “Adamarus, this is all well and good but…” Wicker ran a hand through his hair, a gesture completely out of character for him, “what exactly will this alien need to adapt to?”
Adamarus stopped pacing and smiled. “Why, Mr. President, they will need to adapt to us.” The President looked lost—in fact, everyone did.
Adamarus leaned forward placing both hands on the back of his chair and looked at Bugs. He then asked the Loud three questions, and after brief pauses, Bugs provided three answers.
When he’d finished, Leewood slowly stood, “Damn. Of course. You’re absolutely right…I don’t think that occurred to anyone. It’s been right in front of us but no one even thought about it.”
Harrington looked up at Leewood and cocked her head. “Oh my,” she uttered as realization crossed her face, “that…well, that definitely changes everything.” She looked around as realization came to the others one at a time. It was obvious by the look in their faces.
Adamarus took his seat knowing that he had accomplished something significant for he no longer saw the infinite hopelessness that had been there at the beginning of the meeting. He had ignited a ray of hope in everyone except for the President and Woodworth, he finally noted, as their confused expressions registered.
The President held out both hands, “I’m not getting it. What exactly are you saying?”
Woodworth spoke up as well, “Yeah, what am I missing?”
Adamarus sighed and rose to his feet again. He couldn’t blame them. It was right in front of them, so close in fact that you looked right over it and only saw what was beyond. He rose and spelled out what the three questions he’d asked and the Loud’s three answers meant.
To be continued…