Beyond the Event Horizon - Episode Three

by Albert Sartison

  It was this need for the support of parliament and of various groups representing different interests that put shackles on his dream. He had already lost count of the good ideas that could really have given impetus to the development of mankind, but which had failed for this very reason. But the aliens had finally given him the opportunity of accomplishing the sort of thing he had long been thinking about. The scale and potential profit of the cooperation they proposed went beyond the bounds of fantasy.

  Several months ago, when he was first told of the appearance of an alien ship in the Solar System, his first question was: “Where are they now?” On hearing that it had put itself into Jupiter’s orbit and was calmly circling around it at a great distance from Earth whilst trying to make contact with human civilisation, it lifted a weight from his mind. He may well have been the only one who felt no fear at that moment. But if they, the aliens, were trying to enter into contact with us, and were so delicately avoiding any provocation by remaining at a great distance, then they had come to enter into partnership with us, certainly not to make war on us.

  So far, events had confirmed his assessment of the situation. If you ignored the incident with the first ship, which military intelligence believed had been provoked by the aliens, then they wanted cooperation. And that being so, it would be a sin not to make use of the opportunity. Chances like this don’t come along every day.

  Naturally, remembering all those numerous conversations during the presidential race, John often asked himself if he might be mistaken about the aliens’ intentions. After all, sooner or later it would come to the point where he would have to decide if cooperation between civilisations was worth the risk involved in agreeing to the aliens’ proposal.

  The president brought his thoughts back to the present. He looked at his watch. At this moment, the contact should be starting, but because of the great distance between Earth and the sector of space in which the aliens’ cloud was located, the report on the state of affairs would not arrive for another half an hour. Meanwhile, he had ordered that he should not be disturbed, to give him time to get his thoughts together. During the live contact, replies to many questions would appear, after which he could forget about spare time.

  A red light diode winked on his tablet lying nearby. The president touched the screen, opening the inbox.

  The first message included an attached video made up of photos from space. On one of the images, taken from a great distance using a camera with high magnification, the capsule could be seen floating against a background of stars. With the enormous cloud a little further off, it looked like bait thrown out while hunting a large predator hidden deep in the mysterious nebula, stretching out its feelers towards it.

  When he had finished admiring the beautiful spacescape, the president opened the second video. It showed a ship separating from the cloud and moving towards the capsule. A brief description was added to it.

  “The ship has left the cloud and has delivered a delegation of aliens to the meeting point. Three aliens have entered the capsule. Await transcription of the dialogue.”

  5

  Maggie was the first to recover. Overcoming with difficulty the horror aroused by the sight of the three unnatural corpse-like smiling faces, she switched on the link to the aliens.

  “Welcome to the Solar System.”

  Maggie’s voice, quivering with anxiety, brought Steve back to his senses. He was about to raise his hand in greeting, but stopped himself, remembering the instructions in his dossier. It was highly undesirable to make symbolic gestures. He was advised to sit as still as possible, but at the same time to be relaxed, and not to gesticulate.

  Steve realised that he was sitting like a bundle of muscles stretched to the limit, immobilised by cramp. Without turning his head, he glanced at Maggie. She was managing to follow the behaviour instructions for the contact much better.

  “Welcome,” he forced himself to say.

  The aliens appeared to be trying to behave in a similar way. Their limbs barely moved, and the same welcoming grimace was stuck firmly on their faces as if glued there. Welcoming in theory, but actually it was hardly possible to look at their faces without shuddering.

  “Our meeting will lay the foundation for the fruitful cooperation of our civilisations,” was the reply he heard.

  If the aliens looked just like people, surely they must at least move their lips when they spoke? Steve watched them carefully to see if he could tell which one was speaking from the movement of its facial muscles, but in vain.

  Maggie made a barely noticeable gesture with her fingers, deactivating the link to the aliens.

  “Steve, why are they staring at me all the time?”

  “At you? They’re not taking their eyes off me!”

  “The one sitting on the right. Which way is he looking?”

  “He’s staring at me; he never takes his eyes off me.”

  “Right now?”

  “Yes.”

  “That must mean that they’re not faces, they are only projections,” concluded Maggie.

  “Where do you get that from?”

  “Because I can clearly see that he is looking at me. He can’t be looking at us both at the same time. And the eyes are absolutely immobile.”

  “But their faces look three-dimensional, not like images on a screen.”

  “That could be holography or something.”

  “And the others? Where are they looking?”

  “Also at me. I thought it was strange from the outset that they were only looking at me, as if you weren’t there.”

  Trying to move as smoothly as possible, Steve switched the image from the normal camera displayed on his console to one from an infrared camera and then to an ultraviolet one.

  The faces of the three behind the glass could only be seen in the visible spectrum. On the other cameras, their visors looked absolutely black.

  “It looks as if you’re right. Their faces can’t be seen in infrared or ultraviolet. Although it could be just that the helmet visor screens them... OK, we’d better get on with it.”

  This time Steve switched on his link to the aliens floating in front of him as if they were hanging on invisible threads.

  “You came to us with a business proposition,” he began.

  “We did. Have you come to a decision about it yet?”

  “We would like to clarify a few details,” Steve replied, and gestured to open the list of questions received from Shelby on the console in front of him.

  “For a start, changing the orbit of Mars. It is a planet, and consequently exerts great influence on other bodies in the Solar System. Changing its orbit would mean that the orbits of the other planets would have to be corrected.”

  “The influence of Mars on the gas giants and the planets beyond Uranus can be ignored. The orbits of those you call the inner planets will be corrected by us at the same time as the orbit of Mars.”

  “Does that mean that you guarantee the stability of the Solar System after the reconfiguration?”

  “It does.”

  “What about the threat of meteorites?”

  “For a civilisation at your level of technological development, the meteorite threat has no significance other than its economic costs. The advantages of the project outweigh them.”

  “All right. Your proposal includes altering the climate of Mars so that it is suitable for the life of our race outside sealed habitats. But our physiology requires a certain atmospheric pressure, for which the mass of Mars is insufficient; nor does it have a magnetic field. Even if an atmosphere of the required thickness and composition were created, Mars could not retain it.

  “Furthermore, you require as payment minerals amounting to a third of the planet’s mass. That complicates everything. Mars’ force of gravity will be reduced by a third. The question of planetary stability arises.”

  “Some of the rock mined from within the planet will be used to create a frame, which will solve the problem of planetary stabil
ity. The lack of mass will be compensated technologically. On completion of the terraforming, Mars will have the same free fall acceleration as Earth. It will be given an artificial magnetic field. Atmospheric escape will be prevented.”

  “The creation of an artificial gravitational field is not possible by means of any technology known to us. Do you intend to pass on the technological know-how to us?”

  “Only to an insignificant extent. The technology you used to change the orbit of Mercury will be sufficient.”

  “But the question of energy supply arises.”

  “We propose a solution to this question.”

  “And talking of energy: you want half the energy of our central star over the course of one billion years. Why specifically for this period?”

  “By the end of this period, you will have to leave Earth, because the Sun will begin gradually passing into the red giant stage, which will make life on your home planet impossible.”

  “But we could reconfigure the orbits of the planets again, and take Earth to an orbit farther out to compensate for the greater intensity of solar radiation.”

  “Technically, you could remain within the Solar System for several billion years. But by altering the orbit of the cradle of your civilisation so much, you would lose your status as an indigenous civilisation with property rights. After that, we shall no longer consider it necessary to coordinate our activities within the Solar System with you.”

  “How do you intend to take half the Sun’s radiation?”

  “Using the material we have mined from the inner planets of your star system, we shall build a sphere almost completely enclosing the Sun. All the radiation falling on its surface will be absorbed and concentrated for further use.”

  “If you encase the Sun inside this sphere, our planets will be cut off from its radiation. Life on them will become impossible.”

  “The sphere will be built beyond the Earth’s orbit. The inner planets will receive an equal quantity of energy.”

  “But what about the outer planets?”

  “For them, the Sun will virtually cease to exist, with the exception of its force of gravity, light of negligible intensity in the infrared band and something approximating to solar wind. This is not a big problem, since these planets are uninhabited.”

  “How long is the life of the sphere?”

  “On condition that the star inside it remains stable, its life will be as long as that of the star.”

  “But what will happen to the sphere if it collides with some cosmic body?”

  “There will be a breach at the point of impact, which will close up in time. The material of the sphere is capable of self-repair.”

  “Do you mean that it is some form of living organism?”

  “The sphere has some of the features of a living organism, but it is not actually a living organism itself.”

  “How does the damage correction take place?”

  “The sphere catches the solar wind and absorbs its material into its own structure. Because of this, it grows in the same plane in all directions. That is how breaches are made good. As soon as the sphere reaches its final form, the growth stops. This process is more like crystal growth than a living organism.”

  “And what happens to the rest of the solar wind?”

  “The sphere radiates it into space from its external surface.”

  “Interesting... But what is the limit of its strength, up to which it is capable of restoring its structure?”

  “The sphere is able to withstand any natural cataclysm which may be expected in this sector of the Milky Way until the Sun becomes a red giant.”

  “Which will take place about a billion years from now...”

  “Exactly.”

  “...and throughout all this time, the sphere will supply energy to you.”

  “Precisely.”

  “It is customary in our civilisation that if you use someone’s natural resources, you pay compensation over the entire period of use.”

  “Your property rights expire in a billion years, when life on your planet ceases to be possible.”

  “We might have a different point of view about that.”

  “You are looking at the question from the point of view of the situation today. The full-scale colonisation of other planets will be impossible until you learn to use at least a tenth of the energy of your central star. At the present rate of the scientific, technical and economic development of your civilisation, this will mean for you a period measured in millennia.

  “But with our help, you will obtain the necessary quantity of energy today. Over the next few thousand years, you will be able to colonise several other star systems, thus gaining access to an incomparably greater quantity of energy than your own Sun is capable of providing.”

  “And if we refuse, because we do not consider your proposal profitable?”

  “You will lose the right to make use of the resources of the Solar System.”

  “For what reason?”

  “A civilisation that refuses to assimilate its own natural resources renounces the right to own them.”

  “It is not a question of refusing such assimilation, but of postponing it.”

  “Postponement for a long or indeterminate period when the possibility exists amounts to a refusal.”

  “But we are unable to do this; we don’t yet have the necessary technologies.”

  “We shall provide you with the necessary technologies, so you will have the opportunity.”

  Steve’s voice was gradually taking on a harder tone.

  “What are these rules to which you refer?”

  “They are the general rules for the peaceful coexistence of civilisations.”

  “So other civilisations exist?”

  This time, several seconds passed before the aliens’ answer arrived.

  “Yes, they do exist.”

  “So certain agreements between civilisations exist, but we know nothing about them. You do not have the right to decide for us.”

  Maggie touched Steve’s hand and looked at him expressively. Then she switched on the microphone linking her to the aliens.

  “We are not authorised to take decisions on our own. Our meeting has the aim of getting better acquainted, so that we can better understand our mutual interests. I would like to ask you some questions of a different kind.”

  “We have no objections.”

  6

  The negotiations with the aliens taking place in the capsule were being relayed directly to the Academic Council and the top leaders of the countries involved in the project.

  “It’s just as I said,” remarked MacQueen calmly, and sipped his coffee as if some everyday triviality were the topic. “They are playing games with us. All this business with the first ship was thought up to manipulate us and we reacted as expected. Now they’re waving some kind of rules under our noses.”

  “I can’t disagree with you,” replied Shelby, “but as a matter of fact, they are right. We can cling to the Solar System and remain a local civilisation, or we can step further into space, go beyond the bounds of our village and become stellar cosmopolitans.”

  “As far as I’m concerned,” said Sullivan, “I think we could find an acceptable model of existence living either separately or conquering other star systems. But I can already foresee which version will be to the taste of our politicians.”

  “Oh yes, there can be no doubt about that,” agreed Shelby.

  At that moment, the president joined them via video link. Judging by the expression on his face, he was in an excellent mood.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, isn’t this a wonderful day?” he began, smiling widely from the screen. “We have the great fortune to be members of the generation of people who have opened a new page in the history of mankind. At last we shall be able to go far beyond the bounds of the Solar System...”

  Shelby switched on his private line to Sullivan.

  “Ten seconds, professor. Only ten seconds have p
assed, and your prediction has been fulfilled! Admit it – you are a telepath!”

  Sullivan only smiled in reply.

  The president was unstoppable. And no wonder. All those in any way connected with a project on such a scale would have a secure place in history. Politicians can’t let opportunities like that pass even if they wanted to.

  “Professor Shelby!” he said. “Give me your valued opinion as an eminent astrophysicist. Tell me this is possible!”

  Shelby adjusted his tie.

  “What exactly do you have in mind, Mr. President?”

  “All that we have just heard. We are being offered the energy of a whole star. Just imagine, a star! And a whole planet like Earth too! Tell me it isn’t a dream!”

  “Well, yes. It isn’t a dream, that’s sure enough. But I would like to point out that Mars, even with an Earth-like atmosphere, is not a second Earth. It is considerably smaller. Although... it has no oceans, so if you are comparing dry-land areas there and here, they are roughly the same.”

  “Isn’t that marvellous?” The president’s euphoria knew no bounds.

  “Undoubtedly. But one point worries me. To create the structure to collect solar radiation, the aliens plan to use material from the inner planets, namely Mars, Venus and Mercury. According to them, they need a third of their mass.

  “It follows that there will be a problem with stabilising the planets themselves. Such massive celestial bodies have a powerful force of gravity that acts as a compressing force. If you took out all this rock, a planet, under its own gravity, would compress itself into a sphere of smaller diameter.

  “This of course is unacceptable, at least in the case of Mars, since its surface area will be reduced. The surfaces on which our structures already stand would undoubtedly be destroyed. Therefore the aliens propose to compensate for the cavity formed with a special ‘corset’ made of the mined material.