Contingency

by Florian Nagy

  Chapter 22

  The Imperial Destroyer streaked through hyperspace alongside its massive escort. Four destroyers and several frigates moved in a close formation at unimaginable speeds. They had been recently dispatched and were on a tight schedule. The pieces had fallen into place, and with a bit of luck they could pull their mission off flawlessly.

  The Skyrrnian camp bustled with activity. Artifacts were being carried out as fast as was possible from the factory, and not a pair of hands was idle. Researchers analyzed what they could of the alien relics, but for all their efforts they could be illiterate simpletons trying to unravel the knowledge of an ancient tome. In the three days after Khrrn’s team had brought news of the legendary discovery, the team of researchers had produced next to no results.

  The technology they found operated on an entirely different scale, one far above their own. They could not begin to comprehend its design. The vast majority of the salvage was meant to be used in combination with other devices. They were parts, such as the engine to a ship, things which are extremely useful but worthless without their entourage. The team rarely had luck with piecing together parts that worked in unison. Salvage that seemed to be functional was then oftentimes entirely incompatible with their systems. The design of Skyrrnian technology, its ships, its buildings, its vehicles, was as different from the designs of the Kher’Somaaw as the DNA of a carbon-based life form would be from that of a silicon-based life form.

  Yet here and there, the team found that a device that functioned on an entirely closed circuit: not needing outside information, and not feeding out any data either. These devices required only power to function, which could be easily fed into its system. Because they did not have to communicate with another entity, they could, in theory, be transplanted for use elsewhere. Self-targeting ship cannon arrays were among the most prominent discoveries. The weapons must have been quite inefficient for the ancient ships they were designed to protect. Automated guns could be turned only on and off and could not be used by the ship to target specific ships or to carry out whatever objective it had at hand. The guns could not easily be controlled and were probably used only as fail-safe backup weaponry in case parts of the ship’s computer were damaged.

  Such discoveries were given the most attention. Already tens of blueprints had been put together in which the Skyrrnians hoped to develop new ships and weaponry to incorporate the new technology. There were only a limited number of these relics in the cargo bay, but enough to provide substantial benefit. The Skyrrnians sent out scouts all over the planet to seek out more stashes of Kher’Somaaw production, and some reported minor success.

  Khrrn had hesitated to broadcast his findings. He knew that as soon as word of their discoveries left the planet, the entire galaxy would flock to the system like flies. He knew there would be a tremendous conflict in which the humans would invariably come out as victorious. They would take all the marvelous technology for themselves and only further tighten their grip upon the throats of all the people of the galaxy. Their totalitarian reign would only be made all the more absolute.

  Khrrn had set up controls over all the communications of the group. No signal was allowed to leave the planet. He had held an extensive speech to the entire assembly and had also confiscated all personal emitters. Only public communicators were allowed. Every block was in place. He had to be sure they would be in absolute seclusion until they were ready to make a move. The camp was operating entirely independently of any other Skyrrnian group.

  The android was also troubled, but for an entirely different reason. He had secretly stored the logs he had found in the facility’s computer. He had reviewed all the data stored inside its ancient banks, and slowly and carefully analyzed it all. Most of it he already knew, but there was one project of which he was unaware. It was a joint operation among many of the planets’ factories and labs. It must have come into existence after his deactivation, because he had had access to even the most classified files in the computer’s database. The project aimed to warp space. The Kher’Somaaw had become bored with the physical matters of the universe. He knew that their interest in advanced weaponry, engineering, biology, chemistry, and their infernal list of material things had dwindled. They had done so much that they no longer felt it worthwhile to pursue those roads any longer. He remembered that they had begun to kindle a fascination for abstract sciences. They had loved to deal with the imperceptible and to nurture the unseen.

  The new information he had found proved that they had truly pushed the boundaries of their capabilities and had increased their physical potency exponentially. The entire planet was bent on this project, and it seemed to carry the utmost weight for them. The project’s details were in an ultra-advanced stage. What were recorded were not early research notes but end-stage production and implementation plans. The entire process had been completed and apparently concluded.

  The results of the project, however, were nowhere to be found. There was no way to determine what had happened with the testing of the production. The logs ended abruptly at the production and implementation stage of the Kher’Somaaw’s long and arduous work. There were no records of a termination but that seemed to be the most logical conclusion to the process.

  The entire process must have been wholly discarded and the logs kept for analytical purposes. The android quickly revaluated his options. He thought he might escape from his captors and try to make for the complex in which the development of the device had climaxed. That site, unfortunately, was a quarter of the planet’s surface away. Driving a stolen land vehicle would take him far too long to reach his destination. The Skyrrnians would surely notice both his absence and that of one of their machines, and quickly find him. They would catch up with him and reclaim him. Although they had no way to force information from him because his internal makeup was entirely foreign to them, he would have gained nothing by trying. He thought of stealing their ship, but it was occupied at all times. The Skyrrnian encampment surrounded the landed ship like a sea of algae hugging a jagged rock sticking out of the water.

  The android watched the movement of the Skyrrnians closely, but the ship was always occupied by people using its equipment and lab. There was little opportunity to somehow overtake it. Without a ship, getting to the site of the main experimental facility was near impossible. Furthermore, the android was unsure of what outcome might unfold if he was able to reach the facility. It would doubtlessly require power, and he had no means by which to provide it. He calculated factor after factor, and there was a near zero chance that he would be able to use the Kher’Somaaw’s newly made creation alone. He would do much more good if he remained on good terms with the Skyrrnians and tried to uncover more about the planet’s history and to bend their actions to serve any purposes he may have in the near future.

  In the next communication exchange with the analysis team, he decided to voice his knowledge on the matter. After he had finished sharing with them the details of a piece they were analyzing, he included his data on the planet-wide project. The scientists were taken aback for a moment, because they weren’t expecting another transfer. They quickly read through what they could, and then one of them jumped out of his seat and ran as fast as his feet would carry him to find Khrrn.