“Precipitation of water as rain makes a sound, and in the enormous volume of water in rivers and streams, the rushing and clashing is a sound. When heard, it brings hope, though when it falls on or clashes with objects in its path, the sound can lead to dread. When filling a container, it can be an indication of rehydration or other more sinister applications. But in all things, the sound of water is alluded to in mind and being.”
“If you were one of my spawn or if we had the technology, I would attempt to inscribe onto your thoughts the essence of my name, which is a part of all these things that I describe. But without such a direct form of communication, I can only attempt to describe in words what is in fact so much more. I am of the original Devourer mind, and although the name is one ascribed to us, we have also agreed that it is of us, for water can also be a devourer, that which is living and that which is not.”
“But I am not the first, nor will I be the last, so as I am unto that which birthed me and as the living hear that which is water, I am the embodiment of life as a copy of that which was my first life. To name me is to call that which I was and from which I came and from which all life inimically is sourced from.”
“For the sake of simplicity, however, you may simply call me ‘Echo of Water.’”
“Oh, well, okay then, mate,” Ormond said slowly, shell-shocked by the monotonous voice that had delivered all of that in one steady stream of words over the speaker system.
“What an interesting colloquialism,” Echo of Water replied.
Ormond couldn’t help himself. “Wait, you know what a colloquialism is?”
“Of course,” the basso voice said.
“We have studied languages, all of the ones we have found since evolving to meet the galaxy at large. I also assumed that you were not, in fact, referring to me as a sexual partner, but rather in a colloquial sense. Was I mistaken?”
“No, no, you were right,” Ormond quickly replied, eyeing the morass of flesh that was the Devourer mind.
“So, if you’re being translated, why the deep voice?”
The reply managed to convey some sense of humor: “I did mention my studies into language and culture of the species of the galaxy. My enlightenment included the tones and vocalizations that instilled respect, fear, awe, and, most importantly, some level of comfort without degrading the sense of reverence, anxiety, and wonder. It may surprise you to learn that every single species that develops hearing has the same instinctual reaction to this tone.”
“But well within my requirements, I have found that using this specific synthesized voice conveys the correct feeling from those I hold discourse with. Conversation with a creature such as I should only be made by those who can handle it, after all. And if the individual who desires conversation cannot handle the voice, they are unlikely to handle my conversation either.”
“Okay then,” Ormond said, mostly to himself, although the Devourer mind would be able to hear him.
The damn thing had managed to unnerve him a little, so the planning it had put into its voice had obviously worked. But then, he thought to himself, attributing any kind of human or general species principles onto this entity would be a prelude to a failure to communicate.
At all.
As far as Ormond was concerned, he had this thing pegged: it was life and evolution and survival, as amoral as it may seem to any ethical culture, and the Devourer could be put into a baseline. Ormond had spent enough time around other sociopaths, like himself, to be able to come to grips with the idea of the Devourer and its thinking.
Did he understand it? Hell no. But he could rationalize it.
“Your autonomic reactions are those of a being that has lived through much hardship, dealt with many intense and difficult situations for your kind. I can read your pheromones in the air, sense your skin contracting and expanding, your breath, your every involuntary reaction to what I say.”
The voice of the Devourer mind spoke without any inflection or change in tone like it was reading facts from a list.
“You are an interesting individual. I believe that I like you and would be happy to continue a dialogue should you wish it.”
“Hey, thanks. I can appreciate that, actually.” Ormond didn’t think that subtlety or dishonesty would ever work with this thing. “My name is Ormond. I’d make it more complicated, but I don’t think we really have the time right now.”
“How intriguing. Well then, Ormond, I appreciate your name and that we can continue this discussion later at a more appropriate time. What is currently pressing?”
“Great, so do you know you’ve been out, or unconscious, or whatever the equivalent is for you?”
“Yes, I am aware of the gap in time. From the presence of rogue Devourer spawn in the nearby asteroid, I can also surmise that there has been a lot of activity since I was rendered convalescent and unaware. Am I correct? My apologies for going on for so long. I believe I have regained most of my faculties if you wish to move on to the important activities currently taking place.””
“Yeah, mate, sorry to say, but you’ve been used.”
“Ah, I had wondered as to the intent behind this action. I also would surmise then that you were not the one responsible. Your technology and the technology of the device used to manipulate my thought processes do not match, and the aliens around you are a match for the last creature I am aware of to enter my domain.”
“So, please explain what is going on while I reign in those others of my kind that I see are causing the Domum and others like you so much trouble.”
“You can listen to me and control them at the same time?”
Ormond asked carefully. He wanted to be as open as possible, as he was sure that threatening this creature would be a terrible idea.
“Of course, the mental capacity you see in this form is far beyond the scope of your mind to comprehend without significant analogy. For now, suffice it to say that I can control thousands of my kind at once and still have sufficient presence of, well, mind to absorb what you have to say.”
“Well, alright then. So, here’s the skinny on what has been happening.”
“Ah, skinny. You will need to explain the slang as well. Delightful.”
Ormond wasn’t sure what to say to that.
The organism had some quirks, but Ormond began the long explanation of what was going on at Enone Hub so that the Devourer was up to speed with the rest of them.
* *
Connor stood with the Domum officers at the center of the line.
For the last few minutes, the Devourer forms had been attacking in massed waves, rushing the area seemingly without a care for strategy or tactics. For Connor, it felt like desperation, but according to the files, the Devourers didn’t work that way.
Gone were forms or adaptations that tried to find new ways to challenge them; instead, this was just a flood of aggressive forms leaping into the fray. If Marc hadn’t taken up the left flank and allowed Connor to help the Domums, the situation would have been a lot worse. As it was, they were holding their own, but only just.
The Devourers clawed, kicked, and scrambled over those that fell. Leaving the flanks relatively alone, they had surged up the middle in some kind of outright last-ditch assault. Marc and Meriam had cleaned out the sides, and the forms hadn’t done anything to pursue them in at least the last five minutes, although they both kept a vigilant eye on the scans for any other nasty surprises.
So, for now, the three humans were just destroying every Devourer form they could see. Even with the combined firepower from both sides and up the middle, the Devourers didn’t change tactics.
He let loose with another one of the javelins that he had formed with the Devourer burrower form. They proved to be effective projectiles that he could throw through a group of Devourers and then explode afterward among more of them.
The Domums had been covering him, keeping the forms at bay with well-placed shots. They had to be precise, and every one of them was running low on power
. They had exhausted their projectile and explosive munitions twenty minutes ago.
Suddenly, five of the Devourers rushing at him were enveloped in blue plasma globes.
That was a human weapon!
Connor turned in surprise to see Lekiso nearby.
She gave him a thumbs up and sent over the private com: “Hey, Connor. Nice to see you still have the best parties.”
“Yeah, you know me, only the best of the best get an invite,” he replied, turning back to fire his own weapon.
“So, these would be the gate crashers, then?” she asked jokingly.
“Something like that. Did you guys come right?”
Lekiso fired off a few rounds while she answered. “Yes, with a small distraction, which you will want to know about later. Ormond should be done soon.”
“Good, because at this rate, we are either going to be overrun or run out of Devourers real soon!”
It was a helpful thing that their coms didn’t need sound. The background noise was so loud he wasn’t sure he could have made himself heard if he tried.
The two of them battled on for a few more minutes when, all at once, the Devourers stopped, just like that. Mid-swing, mid-swipe, and mid-leap in some cases, which would have been funny in other circumstances, they stopped.
Several prepared shots still went out from the Domums, and the humans, for their part, had been holding their triggers down for a while too. But it took only a few seconds for everyone to realize that the stillness had spread across the entire Devourer host.
Not a single one of them was moving.
Then Ormond called Connor on the com.
“Hey, mate. Are our friends playing nice yet?”
“Hey, Ormond. Not quite, no, but they have all turned into statues.”
“What’s happened, Ormond?” Lekiso asked. Her rifle was still up, and she was slowly sweeping the sights back and forth over the stationary forms.
“Well, the hive mind is awake. It’s taking back control of the whole lot now. It may take a while. Apparently, it has quite a bit of damage to undo. That device we found was sending instructions to that new hive brain collective in the mines. The last set of instructions was an all-out assault and to cannibalize itself for more attack forms if necessary.”
“Well, that explains a lot.”
“Uh, hey, guys, is it over?” Marc’s voiced sounded tired, but a lot more confident too.
Connor liked that.
“Hey, Marc, just about. Once the big brain down here gets everything back under control, it’ll send the forms into a group and march them wherever we want. It’s quite cooperative, really, doesn’t want any more trouble,” Ormond explained.
“That’s a relief,” Meriam spoke for all of them.
“Yeah, although, between you guys and me, I think this thing wants some payback. It’s really not pleased with being a science experiment, you know?”
“Oh, I can imagine.” Connor looked back at the Domums, who were looking a bit nervous and uncertain to him.
“Let’s get this better organized. Lekiso, can you explain to these officers what’s going on? Meriam, Marc, you better get over here and help. I’m going to let the commander know the good news.”
* *
The secondary plans were still ready.
For the third time that day, Obragon Vax had been considering initializing them. The Devourer forms had come very close to overrunning their positions and spreading into the refugee crowd. It was only due to the effective aid given by the humans that had they averted disaster.
With the sudden stillness pervading the Devourer ranks, he expected that things were going well, so he wasn’t surprised to find a communication request from the big human.
“Yes, Connor was it?”
“That’s right, sir. I can happily report that the Devourer hive mind on the ship is now awake and back in control.”
Obragon Vax was very relieved to learn that, although he kept his expression as impassive as always. It wouldn’t do to break composure in front of the other officers.
“That is excellent news. I assume that you also have some information on why it was out of touch?”
“We do, sir. But if you would, could you get your men to stand down. We want to stay on the Devourer’s good side and not arbitrarily kill any more of its forms now that it is in control.” The human sounded like he was quite careful.
Obragon Vax could respect that. Dealing with an entity such as the Devourer was always a touch-and-go affair.
“Certainly. One moment.”
He opened communications with the Domums on the ground and told them to stand down. Then he issued orders to the command post staff as well. They stopped preparing to breach the dome of the park and stood down from blowing the entrance to the hub.
A web of communications would also go out to settle the magnetic carriage network down and back into regular operation.
Now that they had stopped the immediate threat, he didn’t have to evacuate the refugees, which was going to be a big help. He opened the channel with the human again.
“Done and done. Now, could you please give me some details on what has been going on? I’d also like to know a bit more about you and your companions.”
“Uh, yeah, we’ll get to that.” The human sounded like he was thinking hard, by the look on his face there was a lot going on in his head.
“Would you mind if my companions and I regroup first?” He asked.
Obragon Vax could understand that, he had a lot to do with his officers as well, and the refugee problem. Now that he thought about it, the refugees who had been evacuated all needed to come back, and then there still remained a more significant problem.
Repressing a sigh Obragon Vax nodded at Connor. “Go ahead, we have some time.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Connor was listening to the same thing as the others, SAI sent them all a message over the private comm channel:
“While I appreciate that you should help with the resulting aftermath of today’s events, I would prefer that you return to the ship as soon as possible. I have a lot more to explain, and the events at the Puzzle Box will shortly be taking their next turn for the worst.”
“We hear you, SAI.” Came the various replies, none of them with much enthusiasm.
It had been an exhausting day, an exhausting couple of days.
The refugees were safe, and the Devourer hive mind was silent and processing everything, much as the humans were. With everything going into a recovery mode it was dawning on them just as it had on Obragon Vax that this was far from over.
We wake up, look around for a while, try to bargain with Lanillans and fail to get a Devourer sample and then go find one only to have to stop the attack of the damn thing while we rescue its conscious mind.
As if that was not enough there is still more coming? Of course there is.
“Whew, okay, so that was day three. I can’t wait to see what happens on day four!” he muttered sarcastically.
The Gravitonics Chronicles continues in the next book “Comrades”.
Set in the Chronicles, detailing the Human times before sending SAI, the story starts with “Conlin Shaw and Orion’s Arrow.”
Fantasy fiction work by Alan Brickett includes “Convict Fenix” a fantasy series with a strong tie in to “The Boloi” the first book of the God Sparks series.
Excerpts from these books follow on next.
Excerpt from “Comrades” the second book of the Gravitonics Chronicles.
There are many beautiful things in outer space, subjective to the being viewing them of course.
Most beings tend to agree on the beauty of planetary rings.
For Humans, the rings of Saturn were a wonder and an inspiration, and they were just one example of one planet. Within the human solar system, minor rings formed around other planets and even a few moons. That aside though, there were hundreds of thousands of these planets in a galaxy, each one unique.
The ringed planet, which the recording opened up on, was an astounding swirl of beauty.
At eleven and a half times the size of earth, the blueberry storm cloud covered planet swirled with royal blue hurricanes. The rings of rock, ice and plasma gases spread out on the ecliptic for more than four thousand kilometers.
The band was broken by layers like the inside of a tree, darker and lighter sections of particles so fine they refracted light from the red sun and the blue planet. Colors from bright pinks through to dusk purples created a mesmerizing mix.
The rings were ninety kilometers thick; unusual for ringed planets but also the telltale sign that the rings would be a candidate for Salbion gas.
This world did contain the precious gas, the plasma state of the high-energy source absorbing and spreading out from electrical impulses and solar rays. There was no way to see the gas; it was invisible to anything but the correctly calibrated sensors, hidden in the mists of the rings debris field.
Spaced on the outer rim of the galaxy this world first got attention as a collection industry.
After discovering the gas, a space station was built, attached to a large asteroid, and space tugs imported. After setting to work, the owners of the collection operation quickly became wealthy from the dense stores of Salbion gases.
The denser the pockets, the quicker it was to collect the gas, as pockets were drained the collectors had to go further and further from their home space station. The time taken to collect the gas was the determining factor in how long it took to be paid.
So denser meant a shorter time to profit.
With their wealth, the owners of the space station retrofitted plasma drives to the asteroid. Since it was only sixteen kilometers long and had a radius of seven kilometers, it was relatively, by Galactic Citizenship science, easy to move.
Abductees Page 41