The Long Day

by Robert Harrison

  Bishop said, “Scotch, I haven’t had scotch in years. May I please?”

  “That’s why I brought it,” said Aaron. “I’ve always liked you, so I’m allowing you this luxury, but depending on your story, this may be the last you see of this for a long time.”

  Aaron got a glass and poured a healthy serving for him. Everyone was now back in their seats and fully attentive. Bishop continued.

  “Anyway, we needed to see inside. The space inside was completely separate from the space outside so it was not an easy task. We monitored the sphere for almost three weeks before we had any ideas. Again it was Karen who had the idea. We used some of the spare quantum rods to create a sort of filter, a window that would maintain the integrity of the sphere but allow the passage of visible light.

  “This morning we installed the filter. In order to get it to embed in the sphere wall we needed to reset part of the sphere. Fortunately that could be done by making some adjustments to the control software. I adjusted the control program while Jason and Karen mounted the device. We were ready. I engaged the new program. There was a slight sparking like an electrical arc, then the sphere reset and the window embedded in the surface. ”

  “It worked. We could see inside the sphere, but it was not what we expected. We looked through the portal and it was immediately obvious what was in the sphere – it was a galaxy. An entire galaxy. We could see stars, nebulas, and the distinct bands of a complete spiral galaxy, not dissimilar from how we envision our own Milky Way. We were never sure if it was something we had captured from somewhere else, or if it had somehow formed inside the sphere.”

  The room was silent. Bishop looked up and he saw a look of shock on some faces, awe on others, and confusion on all. He continued, “We could even see the slow rotation of the galaxy as it spun on its axis. Almost immediately we realized that space and size as we view it are relative. Not just size, but the speed of time as well. Perhaps the difference in the passage of time is proportional to the difference in relative size. I do not know for sure, but we surmised that thousands of years were passing as we watched.

  “Then Jason noticed some sort of distortion rippling across the galaxy, like a wave. It was expanding out from a point of origin that intersected the viewing portal. I’m sure it was caused by the reset we initiated when we embedded the filter. We watched as it rippled across the entire galaxy. ” Bishop paused for a moment, then continued.

  “We barely had time to comprehend what was going on before it happened, but then something hit us. We had a feeling almost like falling, then all went dark for a moment – then the light came back. We were somewhere else. Then Jason fell over. His left foot was missing, severed cleanly below the knee. Blood was pouring out of his leg. The slice was so fast Jason hadn’t yet felt the pain and couldn’t understand why he fell.

  “Then I realized where we were. We were inside the sphere. While we were looking in someone was looking out. We were in another universe.

  “I will tell you the story of what occurred there, but it doesn’t begin from our capture. It began the moment we embedded the viewing portal.”

  Chapter 2: The Call

  In a dark cave on a dead planet, undisturbed for eons, lay a great force. Sleeping and silent and bored of darkness, it awoke. Something was coming. It could sense it. It mustered all its strength and threw a thought into the air. “Come,” it cried.

  A wave passed by and the thought was carried away.

  *****************

  Paumi stood near the edge of the underwater observation deck looking out into the sea. The observation station was one of three the Sapiens had built on Aquita. He was watching the Nanda swim in various formations, splitting apart then regrouping in new formations. They were playing some sort of game, and as they swam about they flashed brilliant colors at each other in amazingly complex patterns they displayed on the surface of their skin. He knew they were having a conversation and communicating with those bioluminescent flashes, but he could make no sense of it.

  The Nanda were the dominant life form on Aquita. They had translucent skin that changed hue, depending on their mood. Their core body ranged in size from three to five feet. They had fluke tails that made them agile swimmers, and six flexible arms, several feet long, extending forward. Their arms were extremely malleable and capable of grasping and manipulating objects. They also had large dark eyes with overly wide pupils, probably because vision was so important to their communication. They were playful and highly intelligent, and Paumi was certain those bioluminescent flashes comprised a structured language capable of communicating complex ideas.

  Paumi Dor was a linguist. He had been sent to Aquita to figure out how to communicate with the Nanda, but he was beginning to feel frustrated as all his attempts repeatedly failed. He was the right person for the job. When the Sapiens first discovered intelligent life on the planets Dolis and Tecama, it was Paumi they sent to establish communication. It was he who created the artificial-intelligence for the universal translator now used by all space-faring Sapiens, and it had successfully deciphered the languages of both the Dolek and the Tecate’, but this was different.

  Like the Sapiens, the Dolek and Tecate’ were land dwelling creatures that communicated with vocalization. Aquita was a water world with only a few small patches of island land where the Sapiens set up their base stations. The inhabitants of Aquita, the Nanda, were sea based life forms who communicated with visualizations, and most contact between the Sapiens and the Nanda was made through the glass windows of the observation deck.

  The translating device he built detected patterns of sound and matched them to observed responses and behaviors, and after enough exposure it was able to decipher a rudimentary language. The AI in the device would learn and improve with time and use.

  The translator was very successful with the Dolek, and the Sapiens and Dolek could now converse about even the most abstract ideas. The Sapiens had good relations with the Dolek and had established trade and diplomatic affiliations between their two planets. Clearly a great success for Paumi.

  Communication with the Tecate’ was still rudimentary, but the vocalizations of the Tecate’ were also rudimentary. They had a language consisting of clicking sounds, which seemed to be used mostly for transmitting commands. Many believed the Tecate’ had other communication methods, but no one had any idea what those methods may be. Relations with the Tecate’ were limited, partially because of the difficulties with communications, but also because the Tecate’ were very different from the Sapiens and Dolek. There was no trade with the Tecate’ and only minimal contact, but the Tecate’ and Sapiens had exchanged emissaries. Two Tecate’ had been sent to the Sapien home world to ‘observe’, and likewise two Sapien emissaries had been stationed on Tecama.

  The Sapiens were humanoid beings, bipedal, with hands that had opposable thumbs and a face with forward facing eyes. They were very similar to humans, but there were differences. They were slightly smaller than humans, averaging just a bit over five feet in height. Their skin was golden-brown and hairless, but they did have hair on their heads. Their head hair was generally multicolored and symmetrically patterned. The patterns of hair were distinct to each individual and could be any combination of black, white, brown, blonde, silver, red, or orange. Many Sapiens wore long hair, but some kept their hair cropped short to show their natural pattern.

  The Dolek were also bipedal, but smaller than the Sapiens, generally around four feet tall. They too had a face with forward facing eyes. Their eyes ranged in color from green to dark yellow. They had dexterous hands and could grasp items and work with tools. Doleks all had teal colored skin and were covered with a light coat of fine white hair resembling peach fuzz. Doleks were different, but they had a pleasant, friendly appearance.

  The Tecate’, on the other hand, were more formidable. Tecate’ were large creatures with a hard exoskeleton like a beetle. Their bodies were segmented into three parts: an abdomen, a thorax, and a head. The abdomen
and thorax each had four legs. Their abdomen was always horizontal with all four legs on the ground beneath it. Their thorax and abdomen were jointed in such a way that a Tecate’ could be horizontal with all eight legs on the ground, or they could bring the thorax upright and use their front four appendages like arms. There were claw type appendages at the end of their upper arms which seem to be adaptable for use as feet when horizontal or as hands when upright. The Tecate’ head was jointed in such a way that it was always facing forward, regardless of the orientation of the thorax.

  Tecate’ had large bulbous eyes oriented more toward the side of their heads. Their eyes were black and glassy, and it was impossible to tell where they were looking at any given time. They seemed to have range of vision around 270 degrees. They could see forward, sideways, and slightly behind at the same time. Unlike the Dolek and Sapiens, the face of the Tecate’ expressed no emotion and gave no clue as to how they may feel or what they may be thinking.

  When the Tecate’ stood upright they were over six feet tall and displayed a large reddish-black crest centered in the front side of their thorax. The crest was shaped like a shield and always looked as though it were wet or oily.

  Most Tecate’ had a shiny black exoskeleton shell, but the Sapiens stationed on Tecama had also reported seeing, more rarely, Tecate’ with electric blue shells. In general, the Tecate’ looked like an armored vehicle prepared for battle. They could be a bit menacing, but no Tecate’ had ever shown even the slightest sign of aggression, so the Sapiens disregarded their appearance. The Tecate’ seemed to mostly be insatiably curious. They constantly watched everything the Sapiens did, and the two emissaries they sent to Sapiea, when they did communicate, mostly asked to be shown processes or procedures, or for a tour of some facility. They were curious about everything and how it worked, and wanted to see as much as they possibly could.

  As chief linguist and a lead for first contact with alien species, Paumi had much experience with both the Dolek and the Tecate’. He considered his attempt to establish communications with these species a success, albeit to different degrees. He felt his advances with the Nanda were, on the other hand, less impressive.

  He had modified the algorithms in his translating device to analyze visual patterns instead of sound. He had also installed a visual display just outside the observation window to mimic a Nanda’s communication. He hoped this would help, but the device also needed to observe responses and behaviors, and with the Nanda being sea creatures, that level of observation was more difficult to obtain and more difficult to interrupt.

  It was clear the Nanda understood Paumi was trying to communicate, and they were trying to communicate as well. Every day on a regular schedule two or three Nanda would show up outside the observation portal and start flashing patterns at Paumi. He would return patterns on the display, hoping to illicit a response, but his patterns were as indecipherable to them as theirs were to him. He could also see they too were frustrated by the lack of progress. The sessions would often end with one of them flashing a quick series of complex patterns, the abruptly swimming off. He sometimes though that was the Nanda version of cussing.

  Paumi was now in one of his daily sessions. This time two Nanda were outside the window working with him. The process was as usual, painfully frustrating. Then something happened. Paumi heard the word “Come.” It was from inside his head, but it was as clear and loud as though someone next to him had spoken it directly into his ear. At the exact same moment the Nanda flashed. Not just the Nanda he was working with; all the Nanda flashed, and they all flashed exactly the same pattern. He was surprised and curious about the sound he heard, but his attention was on the Nanda.

  He keyed into his console a directive to repeat the pattern the Nanda had just flashed. The display lit up and the Nanda approached. All the Nanda in visual range approached the window and looked directly at him… then he had an idea. He reversed the pattern. The Nanda backed away. He then repeated the first pattern. The Nanda returned.

  He keyed into his console a positive hit on patterns for “come” and “go.” The console lit up as the translation algorithm ran through all the patterns it has accumulated from the Nanda in the previous exercises. He could hardly contain his excitement as it began to return hits – simple words, but hits nonetheless. He keyed into the display panel, “up.” The Nanda rose up to the top of the window. He keyed in “down.” The Nanda went down to the bottom of the window.

  Suddenly there was a large school of Nanda outside the observation window, all excitedly flashing at one another. He tried a few other words that were coming back in the data screen. He tried “flip.” All the Nanda turned upside down. He tried “swim.” The crowd of Nanda swam off in various directions, then returned. He wanted to continue but he knew his algorithm would have to run the analysis for several more hours before he could try anything more substantive.

  He searched the data stream for a few simple words. He keyed in “Thank you. Return tomorrow.” The Nanda all flashed back “Thank you,” then swam off.

  Paumi shut the curtain over the observation window then hurriedly ran into the common quarters. He started yelling out to tell everyone about his breakthrough, but everyone looked at him and said “Shhh!” There was a message from home world coming in on the QETAR.

  The QETAR was the device the Sapiens used for interstellar communications. It was an acronym for Quantum Entangled Transmitter and Receiver. It allowed for instantaneous communication between two QETARs using a pair of quantum entangled particles. Altering a particle in one box had an immediate and opposite effect on the paired particle in the other box, regardless of the distance between them. This allowed for the instantaneous transmission of a bit value.

  Each box had several cards in it, and each card had one of a pair of quantum entangled particles. Each particle matched a corresponding particle in a different box, so each box could communicate with multiple locations. Since the transmissions were bit-based, messages were slow and limited to text.

  Paumi took a seat with the rest of the crew, watching as the message slowly build out on the screen. It took almost half an hour for the message to complete. When completed it read:

  The word “Come” heard by every Sapien on home world.

  Reports coming in from Dolis and Tecama indicate message heard there as well. Doleks also report hearing same.

  Tecate’ unresponsive and seem unaware of message. Suspect you heard same on Aquita. Please confirm.

  Analysis ongoing to pinpoint source of message. Plans to investigate source in process. Expedition to include Devor Bon, Paumi Dor, Asha Aah.

  Sending transport. Arrival in two days.

  Prepare for immediate departure. *END

  After reading the complete message, Devor, the leader of the expedition stood up and said, “Send a reply, ‘Confirm message heard on Aquita. Preparing for transport.’,” then he stopped and looked up. “Everyone did hear the message, didn’t they?”

  Everyone nodded their head or gave some sort of confirmation. Then Paumi added, “You should probably add that the message was also heard by the Nanda.”

  “What, how do you know that?” asked Asha.

  “We had a breakthrough,” Paumi said. “It was because of the message. The Nanda heard it too and flashed out the word ‘come’. That gave me a key and we went from there.” He explained the rest of the process and told them the translator was still running the analysis.

  “I’d expect to be able to have some simple conversations by tomorrow,” he continued. “Based on the advances we just made I don’t really want to return to Sapiea right now, but I understand the importance. We’ll see what progress we can make before I leave.”

  The next day Paumi pulled back the curtain for one final session. To his surprise the sea was filled with Nanda – hundreds of them. Apparently word had gotten out. He sat at the console and prepared to start a conversation, but before he began typing a large Nanda moved right up against the observation w
indow and flashed out a message.

  The translator interpreted and a message displayed on the console. “We want to ask you about that message. Every Nanda we could reach says they saw the word – it flashed right before their eyes. What does it mean, and how did you do that?”

  Paumi replied. “I did not do it. You saw it. We all heard it. It was heard on other worlds too. It came from far away and we don’t know from where. I will have to leave soon, I am being sent to investigate.”

  “We understand,” the Nanda flashed. “Must add. We sensed a great loneliness. You must go.”

  Paumi and the Nanda continued to converse for the next several hours. The conversation was a bit choppy, but flowed well. It was apparent the Nanda were highly intelligent and intuitive. They wanted to communicate with the Sapiens, and learn, and teach.

  Paumi explained that a new person, an ambassador from Sapiea, would be arriving the next day to continue communication and serve as his replacement. He also explained how the translator worked and that their ability to communicate would improve even more if it could observe them and their conversations more closely. He asked if any Nanda will be willing to wear a remote unit for several days so they could make more detailed observations. Several Nanda immediately flashed out their willingness to wear the device.