The Spiral Slayers
(Book One of Four)
Encounters
Rusty Williamson
http://www.RustyWilliamson.com/
http://www.TheSpiralSlayers.com/
Book Trailer
http://youtu.be/e_qrp-b7B6c
Copyright © 2012
Ronald (Rusty) Williamson
Virtualmedia Studios
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion
of brief quotations in review, without permission
in writing from the author/publisher.
"Williamson’s fascinating tale of benevolent aliens who’ve come to the human race with advanced technology and warnings from outer galaxies.
When inhabitants of the planet Amular witness a mysterious darkening of stars in outer space, Capt. Adamarus Maximus leaves his planet to investigate. But the mission goes awry, and Adamarus is unlikely to survive. Unbeknownst to the captain, aliens, called Loud, bring him aboard their ship—the source of the visual anomaly. The Loud have been observing Amular and its inhabitants for years. The aliens treat Adamarus and return him to Amular; when he recovers, he’s 20 years younger. At the aliens’ request, he re-enters their ship to speak with their ambassador. He finds a massive, unbearably loud, hill-like creature who communicates through translators and wants to share the Loud’s advanced technology. The aliens offer all the gift of youth and eternal life. After everyone undergoes the transformation, the humans’ benefactors develop methods to house and feed a growing, unlimited population and then leave for their home planet some 200 light years away. But after only a few years, the Loud return bearing troubling news: An enemy force wiped out their entire planet and now plans to destroy Amular. The distraught Loud insist that the human race has no chance. But those on Amular put the Loud’s warning to good use and prepare for an epic battle.
Williamson’s novel tackles complex issues surrounding the problems of immortality and perpetual youth, along with facing insurmountable challenges, without stinting on an emotionally compelling, action-packed plot. And the multilayered, eclectic characters each have their own carefully woven emotional patchwork. The first installment of an intense, philosophical sci-fi series."
--Kirkus Reviews
The Spiral Slayers Series
A four volume science fiction epic
Rusty Williamson
Encounters
Book One of Four
Countdown Armageddon
Book Two of Four
Now Available
Odyssey
Book Three of Four
(2017)
The War Lords
Book Four of Four
(tba)
(From Back Cover)
Encounters
(Book One of The Spiral Slayer Series)
The Spiral Slayer Series: Book One…
An advanced alien race called the Loud make first contact with the humans of Amular, a planet that lies at the edge of the Great Coma Wall of galaxies. The social impact plus the scientific and political upheaval, is only exceeded by the gift the Loud have brought—one humans have always dreamed of. However, it is a two-edged sword and one they may not survive.
Time redefined, scientists obsolete…
Then, a shocking discovery is made: since the dawn of time, a force has been working its way across the observable universe and is now upon them. As the mind-boggling truth is uncovered, it becomes clear that it’s an ancient alien who intends to destroy them on their way to a far more devastating and unfathomable objective.
An unstoppable black hole is coming at the speed of light…
Neither the Loud nor the humans can hope to stop the approaching blight. There is no negotiating, no surrender and nowhere to run. A hopeless battle must be fought and somehow survived.
(From Back Cover)
About The Spiral Slayers Series
A science fiction odyssey…
The cycle of universes: big bang, expansion, big freeze, death and then…it starts all over again. Universe after universe, a cycle that has endured for time without end. But now something is going wrong—an increasing number of universes are ending prematurely, unable to fulfill their grand and mysterious destiny, and this is causing the great endless cycle to become unstable.
Existence itself is threatened…
An advanced species observes their own premature cosmic ending, realizes this is causing the cycle of universes to decay and finds a way to send a warning into the future. Eventually, in another universe, another highly developed civilization finds that warning. In an effort to save existence itself, a way is found to send a hasty and desperate fix beyond their own cosmic ending, through the succeeding big bang and into the next universe…our universe.
An exponential step beyond anything before it…
In ships powered by black holes, an immortal species as old as time itself is pursued between galactic superclusters across the known universe. Forged in the fires of the early universe, their scientific journey is complete…they know everything…including the answer to the ultimate enigma…why we and the universe exist.
Dedicated to
My wife Denise, my sister Cathy and my friend Angie who is 'proof' that not all knights in shining armor coming to the rescue are male.
Contributions
I wish to thank my wife Denise and my sister Cathy for comments on grammar and substance; Angie Sampson for the tedious job of proofreading; and too many .com friends to mention for their thoughts, comments and encouragement. I owe a huge debt to a half dozen science forums on the web that kept me from sounding too stupid in certain areas (and if I still sound foolish only I am to blame). And last but not least, to the Writer’s Meet Up group of San Diego for making me redo everything.
A Note from the Author
This story begins about 300 million years ago, 300 million light years from Earth, in a galaxy on the edge of the Great Coma Wall of galaxies, on a planet named Amular.
What can I say… “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away”.
The intelligent life on Amular would, of course, speak different languages and, by default, have different names for everything. I decided that the ‘story’ was more important than trying in some way to reflect these differences (after all, I’m rather forced into using one of Earth’s languages). Therefore, almost everything has been ‘converted’ to Earth, USA, Twentieth Century jargon (and yes, feet and miles). It helps that humans just like ourselves evolved on this distant world.
Wait, how could humans just like ourselves evolve on such a distant planet?
One of today’s current theories is that the seeds of life are spread by comets or meteorites. In this story, once life is seeded in this way on biocompatible worlds, it then takes hold and progresses in the same manner everywhere. What kind of, if any, intelligent life arises is, for the most part, determined by extinction level events—exactly as it did on Earth. If the meteor that hit the Yucatan Peninsula 75 million years ago had missed and not wiped out the dinosaur kingdom, raptors might have arisen as the intelligent species. If another were to hit tomorrow, termites or bees might get their chance. In this story, humans are the most common type of intelligent life in the universe, though not by much.
In addition, although it’s part of the underlying theme of the story, I’ve limited the science element mostly to chapter introductions and it is not necessary to understand the story. I’ve added a limited number of fictional extensions to the current standard models of quantum mechanics and cosmology—my ‘extensions’ however, do not include the ability to accelerate past the s
peed of light. Therefore, to travel, let’s say 300 million light years to Amular at less than light speed requires an unlimited life span, technology for sleeping millions of years, unlimited power, and materials that regenerate or last a very long time. However, to travel much further across a universe that is expanding faster than the speed of light without being able to exceed the speed of light you need a little bit more but…well, read the story.
More information on the science of the Spiral Slayer universe can be found on my science fiction blog at www.rustywilliamson.com.
Enjoy,
Rusty Williamson
[email protected]
Contents
Prologue
PART ONE - FIRST ENCOUNTER
Chapter One – Sightings
Chapter Two - Encounter
Chapter Three - Rescue
Chapter Four – Recovery
Chapter Five – Best Laid Plans
Chapter Six – The First Meeting
Chapter Seven – Subsequent Meetings
Chapter Eight – Immortality
Chapter Nine – The Avatars
PART Two - Second ENCOUNTER
Chapter Ten – Distant Devastation
Chapter Eleven – Event Horizon
Chapter Twelve – Forced Entry
Chapter Thirteen – Alliance
Chapter Fourteen – Hideaway
Chapter Fifteen – Preliminary Actions
Chapter Sixteen – Public Disclosure
Chapter Seventeen – Initiating the War Machine
Chapter Eighteen – Council of War
Chapter Nineteen – Private Disclosure
Chapter Twenty – Secret Disclosure
Chapter Twenty One – Aftermath
About Book Two “Countdown Armageddon”
About the Author
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”
Star Wars
Prologue
The three alien ships hung in the darkness of deep space looking down on the distant planet. It was just a tiny white crescent at this distance. Most of the time there were only two ships at this location with one stationed closer to the planet, but one had just returned—a shift change.
Arranged in a triangle, the three ships were identical. Seven miles in length, they looked like three umbrellas hanging upside down. What passed for the umbrella’s handle was a half mile in diameter and covered with dark cubes and domes. At the end, the curved umbrella-like awning was four miles in diameter and a quarter mile thick. The inside of its curved surface was a jumbled yet elegant maze of complexity bathed in a soft green glow.
The outside of the awning, which faced the planet, emitted all the radiation it blocked—all the stars, nebulas and distant galaxies that lay behind it. Everything that the ships blocked out from every angle was collected and reproduced. Visually, and in every other way, the ships where invisible should anyone on the planet happen to take a careful look.
They had been in operation for just over three years, covertly listening, watching and studying the intelligent species on the planet below, learning their languages, customs, social structures, politics and their dreams and aspirations. Their primary source for this knowledge was the rich profusion of audio and video transmissions. The planet had not been hard to find, for hundreds of light years in any direction it was the noisiest object in the sky.
They had probed the planet from afar and, using smaller crafts with better stealth, they watched the species close up as they worked in space on the thousands of asteroids they had gathered and set in orbit around their planet.
One of the ships powered up. More lights came on and the green glow intensified. It moved slowly forward until it was well in front of the other two ships. Then, it rippled and vanished. A few minutes later, the ship reappeared much closer to the purple planet.
Sixteen smaller ships deployed from the central shaft. They were smaller copies of the large ship. In a cubed formation, they headed inward, vanishing from sight as they went.
From the transmissions they monitored, they knew that this was a big day for the planet and its inhabitants. They wanted to watch the event and, if possible, do even more.
As the smaller ships flew above the thousands of asteroids, they detected activity ahead.
The aliens knew that their visibility cloaking was not perfect up close, and in fact, preparing for contact, they had been allowing brief glimpses of their ships for several months now.
Now, close to the planet, they circled inward until they were among the innermost ring of asteroids. They detected radio signals, indicating that work was in progress. The formation split apart and started hunting… for what, they could not say, but they’d know it if they saw it.
One of the ships tracked a pair of radio signals to one of the spinning asteroids. This close, the signal was strong.
PART ONE - FIRST ENCOUNTER
“In general, it is peaceful and even pleasant as one calmly steps to the edge of the abyss.”
Unknown
Chapter One – Sightings
Planet: Amular (near the edge of the Great Wall[1])
Eleven years earlier…
“Fact,” one finger was thrust into the air and held there. “In less than one hundred years, depleting resources and rising costs will strand us on our planet.” A second finger shot up, “Fact, the only way our species can outlast the scores of extinct species that came before us is to spread out to the stars.” Both arms flew upward, three fingers each, “Fact, the only way out there is to build this five-mile-high rail gun. And fact,” both hands came down in fists slamming the podium, “the raw materials we need,” an arm shot up pointing outward at a forty-five degree angle, “are at the Astor Trojan points!” Both fists thrust upward, “We must approve Prop 824, The MUEC Asteroid Mining and Collection Proposal!”
Congressman Ronald Raymore
Representative, Southern District
Video Record of the 92nd Amular Congress
Source: The Archive
Present time...
His name was Adamarus Maximus. He was the captain of MUEC Asteroid Mining and Collection Project's flagship, The Bet'ti, and in charge of the ten-year project. At the center seat of the bustling bridge, he thanked the ensign for the cup of coffee and set it in the holder. As he looked upward towards a cluster of status displays, he had absolutely no clue that within the next 24 hours, his life and the lives of everyone on his world and throughout the star system would radically and forever change...no clue that within a day a chain reaction would begin that would alter everything.
Within the next day, Adamarus would die and, as a dead man, he would initiate his planet's first contact with intelligence from another planet. In fact, within the next 24 hours, Captain Maximus would be placed on a road that would first make him the most important person in the star system, and then in the distant future many millions of years from now, the most important person...anywhere.
Currently Adamarus' ship was at yellow alert and the bridge was bathed in flashing red and yellow light. His entire focus was on what would be the conclusion of the massive effort that had collected iron-nickel asteroids from around the star system and placed them in orbit around Amular. Now the process of extracting the metals and transporting them to the surface would begin so they could be used to construct a giant rail gun to transport payloads into orbit.
The Bet'ti was currently in a geostationary orbit hundreds of miles above the planet. Against the blackness of space, her bulky silver and white form was brilliantly lit in shades of orange and yellow from Amular's orange dwarf sun. She was, at her core, a 70-year-old Carrier-Class ship, an old workhorse whose design had withstood the test of time and utility. Like her seven sisters, the old gal was function before form. Her 841 feet were a maze of storage containers of varying shapes and sizes that were all somehow strung together with scaffolding to form a labyrinth of precise geometric alignment around a mostly hidden core.
On her large bridge, crew members rushed about dealing with assorted tasks while others manning various stations focused on their consoles. However, everyone was intensely aware of what was happening on the main viewer.
The 52-year-old Captain seemed to be studying one of the display screens that dropped from the ceiling. Actually, he was mulling over the fact that there were twice as many officers on the bridge as there should be but, deciding they wouldn’t get in the way, he just suppressed a smile—they had all worked hard for this moment. The Captain refocused on stirring his coffee as if commanding the huge ship and today’s event was of secondary concern.
Adamarus was a good-looking man with blue eyes and chestnut hair parted on the side, just starting to turn gray at the temples. He stood six foot one inch and had kept himself trim and fit. Like the rest of the bridge crew, he was dressed in a crisp khaki uniform with short sleeves and an open neck exposing a white t-shirt. Only the two gold bars on his collar marked him as the ship’s captain.
His reserved nature and the serious set of his features sharply contrasted with the slight twinkle of merriment always in his eyes and a dry sense of humor that made light of almost everything. However, still water runs deep and this outside veneer hid the thick scars of a particular event which had cost many lives. The mental wounds had taken two decades to heal and the pain had to be held within due to the top-secret nature of the event. But finally, the demons and bad dreams had faded—it was ancient history now.
Encounters (The Spiral Slayers Book 1) Page 1