The Long Day

by Robert Harrison

  She answered, “The royal court is ranking queens of Tecama.”

  “There is more than one queen?”

  “One govern each city,” she responded.

  She continued. “We awaited return of emissaries. They bring knowledge of your planet. Have observed three years. They share knowledge with us. We find gains from further contact. We send queen to Sapiea to see your leaders.”

  The translation was still not smooth. The Tecate’ speech was mostly nouns and verbs. Their grammar was abrupt and lacked conjugation and prepositions. The translator adjusted again to further refine the speech. The queen continued speaking, only now the device was able to properly syntax the translation.

  “The queen will require an accompaniment. Two drones and two workers. The queen also requires special nourishment and must take at least five crates of manava.”

  The Sapiens knew from their tour of the farms how large a Tecate’ crate was. Each was the size of car. The ship orbiting above was a smaller passenger vessel and did not have sufficient space for five crates, let alone five Tecate’. The bulky size and shape of the Tecate’ made them cumbersome in a normal passenger vessel. They had fit the two emissaries easily enough, but five Tecate’ would cramp the space.

  Gaba said, “The ship we have now cannot carry five Tecate’ and the manava. It’s too small. We’ll have to send a cargo ship.”

  The queen responded, “We can wait for suitable transport.”

  Avan added, “We will need to speak with the council. They are expecting us to return alone. We must speak with them to confirm and arrange suitable transport.”

  The queen replied, “Speak to them and give us your answer.” The queen reclined to her horizontal position. The meeting was over. Tecate’ were very to the point and did not engage in idle conversation or niceties.

  One of the blue drones stepped forward and led the ambassadors back to their quarters. They were excited about this sudden turn of events. Finally they had made progress. As soon as they arrived they activated their QETAR to inform the council. Their message read:

  Have made sudden breakthrough with Tecate’. Spurred by report from returning Tecate’ emissaries.

  Tecate’ social structure more complex than we knew. We have met a queen and have seen blue Tecate’.

  Tecate’ want to send queen to meet with council. The queen requires accompaniment of four Tecate’. Also requires supplies. If you confirm desire to meet must send cargo ship with more space. Current ship has insufficient capacity.

  Please acknowledge. *END

  The ambassadors anxiously awaited the response. Finally it came:

  Interesting development. Council would be pleased to meet with Tecate’ queen. Arranging cargo vessel. Expect arrival in ten days.

  Please leave one ambassador to make return trip with queen. Other should return on current ship to brief us before arrival of queen. *END

  Avan Moc was the senior ambassador and they decided it was most appropriate for him to accompany the queen on her voyage to Sapiea. Gaba would return to Sapiea to brief the Council of Elders.

  Avan summoned the Tecate’ that had served as their liaison and sent word to the queen that suitable transport would arrive in ten days. Gaba boarded the shuttle to start the voyage back to Sapiea. Avan remained behind.

  During his wait Avan noticed a change in the Tecate’ behavior. They were all now greeting one another with a hug, as he had seen when the blue drone met the returning emissaries. Avan thought maybe this was a sign that the Tecate’ were happy about the upcoming meeting. He was uncertain. All he could do now was wait for the transport to arrive. He waited.

  Chapter 8: The Great Void

  The Maximus had been in FTL Flight for several months and was nearing the great void. The initial anxieties the crew had about the coming darkness and a great war had subsided and everyone returned to their normal routines. As they neared their destination the crew found a renewed sense of excitement and optimism about what may lie ahead.

  The ship dropped from FTL flight. It was in deep, empty space, beyond the edge of the galaxy. Further than any Sapien had ever gone, or ever imagined going.

  The crew gathered at the port observation portal. The Nanda watched from their monitor. Outside the entirety of the galaxy lay before them. They saw the great spiral arms extending out from the galactic center; they saw massive accumulations of clouds and dust forming the great nebulas and star nurseries; they saw the bright glow of the galactic core, ablaze from the light of tens of thousands of stars. They were seeing the exact same view that Bishop Avery, Karen White, and Jason Smith were seeing at this very moment as they peered into the sphere.

  The ship’s starboard observation portal was less interesting. It revealed blackness, a black blacker than anywhere else in the observable universe. A black so black it could be seen by the naked eye, even from as far away as Sapiea. But from this point of view it was not as pronounced as the view from further away. From a distance the blackness was apparent when contrasted with the faint glow from the cosmic background. From this vantage point the blackness filled the entire field of view and was unobservable. This was the great void.

  The word Vhamora was sometimes heard amongst the crew, whispered softly just below the breath. Thoughts of the gods were in the heads of many, but no one spoke of it openly. A few thought their presence here may be an offence. Others thought that maybe the gods had been waiting for them to arrive all these many eons, and some thought nothing of the gods or Vhamora. They thought only of the mystery of the unknown.

  Sava Doll was among those that maintained the pragmatic view. His focus was on the practical. He ordered all science stations to take every reading possible and record every detail for analysis. The crew worked tirelessly gathering and collating the data from every sensor log.

  It took several days of observation, but an anomaly was noticed. There was detectable light coming from the void. Not reflected light, but light whose source was from beyond the barrier. This was happening because the filter Jason had created to allow the passage of visible light worked in both directions. The light exiting to the lab was a dense concentration of light from the entire galaxy. The light coming in from the void was only the light from the lab which landed on the area of the filter, and it was sparse and highly diluted. It took days to collect even a few photons, but the results were conclusive; there was something beyond the void.

  A sense of awe and apprehension filled the ship. What did this mean? Sava Doll was determined to find out. He ordered the ships computer to begin a detailed analysis and run extensive simulations on how they could break beyond the void, if at all. In the meantime, he sent a shuttle to investigate more closely.

  The shuttle reported they could not clearly judge the distance to the boundary. Sava ordered them forward at ultra-slow speed. They inched toward the void, then suddenly they could go no further. Rather than proceed forward, further from the ship, the shuttle began to slide sideways. They tried several times. Each approach yielded the same results. Upon reaching the void the shuttle’s trajectory would suddenly start sliding left, or sliding right, or sliding up or down. They had reached a barrier the shuttle could not pass.

  They concluded this was the edge of their universe. Before this moment it was unknown if the universe was infinite or finite, but now it was clear. The universe was finite and it had an end. This brought to mind the multi-verse theory that had often been postulated. The most common theory of the multi-verse was that multiple universes gathered together like soap bubbles. Some bubbles touching others, some fully formed inside a larger bubble, some at the edge, standing nearly alone.

  During breaks and rest periods the crew discussed their own theories about what the other universes may be like. Were the alternate universes a different reality for each decision ever made; one in which you did marry your spouse and one in which you didn’t? Were the different universes all totally different realities, each what they were because of pure random
chance occurrences during their own formation? Did each universe comply with the same laws of physics, or was each vastly different with its own unique properties? The possibilities were mind boggling, but they did provide for lively and interesting conversation.

  Sava and the other scientists agreed the bubble theory was the most understandable possibility, so they adjusted the computer simulations to assume that as the reality and worked from there. The goal of the simulations: to penetrate the barrier by any means possible.

  Sava ordered a message sent to home world:

  Have reached the great void. Evidence of something beyond is now clear. Working on means to pierce the boundary. *END

  The reply came:

  Message received. Exciting and surprising news. Thank you for your efforts. Proceed as planned. *END

  Sava and the crew went about business as usual while the computer ran simulations. Their computer system, often referred to as CHRIS (Crystalline Holographic Imaging System) was capable of running a trillion simulations an hour. It took over a week before the alert came:

  SYSTEM SIMULATIONS COMPLETE. READY FOR TESTING.

  They reviewed the scenario presented by CHRIS. It seemed risky and possibly dangerous, but it was a simple suggestion: use the gravity well generator to try to collect a sample from beyond the edge. It included various charts with probabilities for the optimal focal range and power settings.

  Since the shuttle had reached the barrier they now knew the exact distance to the boundary, so a focal range could be calculated with relative certainty. The power settings were more uncertain.

  Sava scheduled a trial run for first thing the next morning. Word of the test quickly spread throughout the ship. Everyone was anxious. No one slept well that night. The next morning everyone prepared.

  Four engineers were sent to the cargo bay to ready the test. The collector platform had a diameter of twelve feet, so the coordinates of the gravity well were set to collect a sample from a circular area extending twelve feet beyond the barrier.

  The engineers opened the cargo bay door, set the containment field, and set the initial force level to 2%. Everyone braced. They pressed “Fire.” Nothing happened. They raised the power level to 4%. Again the same results. They continued: 6%, 8%, 10%. Still nothing.

  The computer had indicated a maximum value at 18%. They tried that as well. Still nothing. They would go higher, but the probabilities from the computer simulation indicated that anything above 18% would put too much stress on the ship’s hull and could rip the ship apart. It seemed the test was unsuccessful.

  Then Sava got a person-to-person call from the Nanda. The Nanda said the power level was 96%. It was being sensed in their mind. The Nanda did indeed possess some sort of special intuition and had been right before, but following their intuition before did not put the ship at risk. This was different. Then the Nanda Dot spoke, “I do not know how, but somehow this number is coming to us from the Mahatma.”

  The other Nanda chimed in, “Yes, the Mahatma.”

  This was the thought the Mahatma put into the mind of the Nanda when they orbited its planet in system Hail. Even the Mahatma did not know exactly what it meant, but it had sensed this number was important.

  This news about the Mahatma changed things. Now it seemed ever more imperative they try this setting. Sava wanted to proceed, but he could not put the lives of everyone on board at risk without the consent of the council. Sava told the engineers to stand by and requested the council be convened for an emergency meeting.

  There was much discussion, but the consensus from the council was that they had traveled too far and risked too much already to abandon the mission at this point. Everyone also had great trust in the Mahatma, and the Nanda, so the decision was made. Proceed.

  Sava returned to the bridge. Before going any further he made a ship wide announcement.

  “Our prior attempts to breach the barrier have failed. We have received word from the Mahatma to set the power level to 96%. The simulations run by CHRIS show a high probability that the ship will be torn apart at this power setting. That setting is nearly the full force of a black hole.

  “The council has met and the consensus is that we must proceed. We have come too far and worked too hard to quit now, and as you all have heard from the predictions of the Mahatma, the price of failure could have dire consequences for the entire universe, so we must try.

  “This may be the last thing we ever do, so whatever beliefs you have, take a moment to find peace and seek atonement now. I thank you all for your strength, commitment, and courage. The gods be with you.”

  That last thing was something Sava never said. He was not a believer, but now it seemed somehow appropriate. He alerted the engineers, “Set the force level to 96%, and on my mark, fire.”

  He hesitated a moment, then began a countdown, “Four, three, two, one, fire.”

  There was a loud thud. The entire ship rumbled and shook violently, then the barrier abruptly split apart and the gravity well tore through. Everything went silent.

  Suddenly, something appeared on the collector. Three beings were huddled together at the center, surrounded by various debris that appeared to be pieces of broken furniture. One of the beings fell to the ground screaming. Blood spilled out onto the deck. One being was missing a foot. The foot was cleanly cut. His foot was outside the gravity well and was left behind.

  The engineers immediately called for medical assistance. There was a great deal of confusion, but the emergency medical team arrived quickly and triaged the alien. They put a tourniquet around his leg to stop the bleeding.

  The aliens were humanoid and looked very similar to Sapiens. It was easy to understand the look of surprise on their faces. It was the exact same look as that of every Sapien in the cargo hold. And Bishop and Karen, in turn, saw and recognized that look immediately. Jason passed out.

  After a moment everyone re-centered themselves and continued with their business. The medical team carried Jason away to the medical center. The engineers spoke to Bishop and Karen, but it was a language they never heard before. One of the engineers held up his hands, palms out in a motion that seemed to communicate “Stay Calm.”

  Sava, Paumi, and Asha quickly arrived on the scene. They escorted Bishop and Karen out of the loading dock, through the halls, and to a waiting room in the medical center. They could see Jason being attended to through an open door. It was obvious they were providing assistance, and that helped calm any feelings of anxiety Bishop and Karen had.

  An engineer arrived and made a motion toward Karen with some type of device. Karen lurched back, then Paumi extended his neck and showed her the personal disk on the side of his own neck. He took the device from the engineer and showed them that it held the exact same type of disk, then he motioned to her neck. She was still uncertain, but she let him apply it. Then they repeated the process with Bishop.

  Paumi began speaking slowly, then he motioned for them to do the same. Bishop began speaking aloud. This continued for a while with them both speaking their own language.

  Paumi said, “Hello.”

  Then Bishop and Karen heard “Hello” in their inner ear. It was immediately clear to them both that this was some sort of translation device.

  Bishop said, “Hello.”

  Paumi heard “Hello” in Sapien. Apparently English was an easy language for the translator to interpret.

  Paumi said, “My name is Paumi,” and made a hand gesture pointing at himself.

  Bishop and Karen heard gibberish. Bishop shook his head no, but he got the general idea. He followed with, “My name is Bishop.”

  Karen followed. “My name is Karen.” That was sufficient.

  Paumi said again, “My name is Paumi.”

  Both Karen and Bishop understood this time. “Hello Paumi,” answered Bishop.

  Paumi, Karen, and Bishop continued this for some time. The translator gathered more and more data and had gotten to a point where crude translation was possible, bu
t it needed to hear more English.

  Paumi said, “Please speak to one another so I may gather more data.”

  Bishop and Karen heard, “Speak to each other. More data is needed.” It was not exact but it communicated the point. Karen and Bishop spoke to one another.

  “What just happened?” asked Karen.

  “I don’t know,” replied Bishop, “but I’m pretty sure we just got sucked into the sphere. Look at these people. They look a lot like us, but they’re clearly not human.”

  Karen and Bishop continued discussing the situation, the translator adapted. Then Karen got up and looked into the room where Jason was.