“What are we looking at?” Zak asked.
“Alright, so I noticed that the crystal refracts the light when you open the door,” Krenek said, “and that the angles differ based on the time of day.” Shana was impatient but bit her tongue and let him continue at his own pace. “Of course, that’s nothing special. But then I thought, what if I gathered all the instances of light hitting the crystal and put them in order of angle, based on different times of day? I don’t have all of them, but I have enough to get a pretty good sampling. Here it is.” The second video showed a series of video frames cut from the longer video, but in each of these the door was already open, allowing light in. The video went from morning to night, pieced together from many different days, and along the walls they could see the progression of light refraction from the open door and through the crystal. There were some jumps and gaps, but overall, it was an impressive compilation. It must have taken a long time to put together.
“That’s very pretty, but what does it mean?” Kelsan sounded more impatient even than Shana felt.
“Nothing by itself, but watch this.” Krenek hit a few keys on his console, and the video changed again, this time the same patched together light display, but in infrared. And they saw it. Within the refracting light, minute flashes of light, each with its own rhythm. Krenek slowed it down, and they could see thousands of pinpoints of light, flashing different patterns on the wall.
“It’s a code,” Krenek said. “I know it is. That’s our user manual.”
Elton leaned forward in amazement. “And this is only with the light from one door; imagine if we experiment with light from multiple angles, over time.”
“Amazing,” Shana breathed. “Truly amazing.”
“Nice work, Krenek,” Pixie clapped.
Kelsan said, “It may be a code; it may be a trick of light. Let’s not get our hopes up until we figure out how to decipher it.”
That brought them all back to reality, but Krenek just grinned. “We’ll get it, I know we will,” he said.
“And if that’s true, all we need to do is figure out how to make a crystal ourselves to go with the code once we solve it. At least we’ve got a starting point. Nice work Krenek,” said Kelsan earnestly.
****
They didn’t know it, but at that same moment, Prometheus received a message from one of the saucer probe ships. It was compressed and encrypted, but when opened, it included thousands of star charts, one from each location the ship had appeared out of non-space. Some of the charts had been pieced together into a tentative star map, where overlaps and consistencies had been carefully overlaid and, when possible, points were added to show where the saucer had been. The message was brief. “Prometheus, this is Saucer Three, sent by Wanderer. Wanderer is safe, on colony planet Hope. Star charts as seen from that system are transmitted with this message, in hopes that it will eventually mean something to you. No progress on navigating the crystal drive.”
“They’re alive!” Colin shouted, leaping from his chair at the news. He announced it over the Link so everyone would know. “Wanderer is safe—they found a colony planet! We can’t contact them, but we know they are okay!” Everyone in the ship began cheering and hugging one another, ignoring their work or school in their excitement. “This calls for a celebration!”
Once the initial excitement had settled down some, Colin was able to take a closer look at the transmission. By the time the transmission was received, the Saucer ship had already jumped again, so they could not respond to it, but at the moment the message was sent, they were a little over six thousand light years away. From the maps, they had been as close as three thousand, and as far as ten. The star map was not complete enough to pinpoint the colony planet in relation to Prometheus, but there was enough there that Gemma thought they could use it to postulate where they were in connection with the saucer’s travels. And, if they received messages from other saucers—there were apparently at least two more—they could eventually locate the colony. Of course, it wouldn’t make any difference without knowing how to navigate the crystal drives.
“Perhaps we should try to jump the entire asteroid,” Ian suggested one night as the old Detrepid gang sat together quietly discussing their situation. Petya had finally let them in on his suspicions about the shortened life span of the MCS, in hopes that they could help come up with a solution. “We could at least get closer, and maybe a transmission is easier to catch if we’re in non-space.”
Melli shook her head. “It’s too dangerous with such a massive ship. If what we think is true, we could arrive so close to a gravity source—a planet or star—that we’d simply get sucked in.”
“Then, what about enough smaller saucer ships to transport all of us?” Tom asked.
“We’d all be separated,” Amber said with a frown. “Which would give each group a disadvantage when surviving on a new planet. It’d be better to stick together.”
“In any case, we don’t have enough crystal for either suggestion,” Colin concluded. “So for now we’d better work on shoring up Old Miss and hope for the best.”
His hope was answered within the year, as they detected a large meteor chock full of both the crystals and the metal. Three ships left Prometheus to harvest it, and then were hard pressed to catch up with the asteroid since it was at its maximum speed, trying to make up as much distance as possible while they could. It took almost a month for the mining ships to return, but they were successful, and had collected enough crystal that they could probably move the Prometheus, if it was their only option, and if they only knew how.
It was another year before they received a message relayed from Olympus that Earth—which had been frighteningly silent for so many years— had suffered a war. The war had done a great deal of damage, but the planet and humanity had survived, and it had taken quite a few years to get their space programs and communications facilities running effectively.
What had happened was that a group of religious extremists had gotten control of an abandoned nuclear facility. The group apparently believed that leaving Earth—even flying, but especially space flight—was an abomination against God. This group of “Earthers” as they called themselves had arisen long after the first ‘Roid ship had already left Earth, and while they could not punish those space travelers, they felt obligated to stop any future travel. They attacked almost every station where space craft or tools were held; successful almost entirely due to the fact that such a plan was almost inconceivable to the governments and peoples of the world. The good news, such as it was, was that Earth was still there and recovering from the insanity, though still rattled by despots and plagues, and instability both physical and social.
“That’s what we left behind,” Melli said. “That’s why we’re out here, to build something better than that.” Colin could only nod in agreement.
****
The children were fifteen when Gemma, with input over the years from all of the crew and even some of the children, particularly Krenek and Nippa, finally cracked the crystal code. The complex set of patterns, like an infinitely diverse Morse code, provided a computer program that drew for them a set of schematics for building a machine to shape a crystal exactly like the one they had. A machine to cut all of those facets, and to mold the metal frame. It was a miniature of the manufacturing plant they had seen on the Saucerite moon, where the Octo-bots worked. The instructions required use of a substance that they could best translate as “borodrium,” but they had no idea what that was.
Gemma showed the diagrams and pages of explanation to the entire colony, including the children, at the same time. “The remaining unsolved variable is the material listed for grinding the crystal surfaces,” she reported in her new, clipped manner. “The borodrium does not interact with the crystals the way most other substances do, which makes it an ideal medium for shaping the facets, but it is not an identifiable substance.”
“What if we can’t identify it?” N’ixie asked. “What then?”
>
Krenek spoke up. He had made the crystal code his life’s work, to that point, and they gave him deference when it came to matters related to it.
“The crystal was given to us ready to work,” he said. “The instructions were there, we just had to find them. Which means the materials are here, too; we just have to identify them.”
“That’s a pretty big jump in logic,” Kelsan said with a raised eyebrow.
“Sometimes you just know something,” Krenek smiled. “And I know this. We have borodrium; we just need to find it.”
“Alright,” Shana said, directing her question to Gemma, “give us more information. How do we find it?”
“I have analyzed the molecular and atomic structure provided in the program, but cannot use it to synthesize the material because one of the atoms includes an alien particle unreported in any of our data files, including all of the alien DNA we’ve sampled during Wanderer’s travels.”
“So, presumably it’s naturally occurring, like most elements—can we scan the planet to see if anything lights up?”
“I have done so,” Gemma said. “And turned up nothing.”
Elton spoke up. “Could it be a byproduct of processing some common item? Something hiding under our noses? Like coal that hasn’t yet turned into a diamond?”
“I’ve considered that as a possibility,” said Gemma, “but there is no obvious item, nor obvious process, that would result in borodrium.”
“So we just have to start looking?” Tanya asked. “Start sampling everything and anything, using whatever processes we can think of?”
“Yes, I think so,” Gemma said simply.
“If it’s a substance from closer to the heart galaxy, it may exist in meteorites, so we should check out any impact sites,” Zak said.
“And in the meantime,” Shana concluded, “We can build the rest of the device and worry about installing the grinding head if and when we find the borodrium.”
Lilly spoke up. “What about navigation? We had hoped the light code would include instructions on using the crystal, not just creating it.” The children around her—young adults, Shana realized with a sudden surge of affection—nodded. Clearly they had been discussing the issue amongst themselves.
“There is more to decipher, with a different codex,” Gemma reported. “I welcome your input in reviewing it.” She sounded sincere; she was not one to coddle or condescend to the children. She must really value their input.
“We have to keep up with school and maintaining the homestead,” Elton said, turning to the children, “but I want you to select a delegation to coordinate the search for the borodrium. Everyone should participate, but not to the detriment of anyone’s school or community work, got it?”
“Got it,” Krenek replied.
“We’re going to scan every inch of the planet for anomalies until we find it,” Sati spoke up. Tanya and Kelsan’s biological daughter, Sati was often so quiet they forgot she was there. Shana was pleasantly surprised to hear her speak up.
“Excellent,” she said. “Those of you who wish to work on decoding in place of non-critical elective studies, check with one of us or the Striders and you may do so.” She stood up. “Thank you, Gemma,” she said.
Gemma’s hologram nodded in acknowledgement, then winked out. Shana missed having more time to really talk to Gemma as she used to, and she hadn’t seen Cap in several years. Time changes many things, she thought, as she walked out into the cool night air and looked up at the splash of bright stars, now so familiar to her.
And so they began their systematic research in hopes of finding the borodrium particle. Probably the biggest single problem was the fact that they had no idea what kind of anomalous readings they were actually looking for—but who knows what they could discover in the process of searching for it. Many major discoveries throughout history had been made by accident while searching for something completely unrelated!
After months of scanning the planet for any anomalous readings, they’d found a number of uranium deposits and a lot of gold, silver, copper and diamonds, but none of the material that contained atoms with that new particle in it. The old ammunition shed had been turned into a warehouse of sample minerals, plants, vials of water, scales, animal bones, sand, and every other imaginable item, neatly organized and tested by the children. Based on a review of the structure suggested by the schematics, they had calibrated their scan tools to seek out uranium-similar structures. So far nothing (other than the uranium) had been a match.
Krenek and Lilly were working in the warehouse, scanning a collection of sea weed and shells, when Sati came in, laughing. “Shoo!” she said at the door, and waved her arms at something they could not see.
Sati turned to them. “Silly Teddy has been following me around all day.”
Lilly smiled. “Come see what we’ve got so far.”
As Sati approached, the light on the side of the scanner began to blink.
“What the heck?” Krenek said. “Sati, step back!” She did, and the light stopped activating.
“Come back,” Krenek ordered. She stepped forward, and the light began blinking again.
Both Krenek and Lilly were now looking hard at Sati. “Did you bring us a sample?” Lilly asked hopefully.
“No!” Sati said, confused. “I just came to say hello!”
“Well, it’s not just you; you’ve been here before and never caused this reaction.” Krenek said, puzzled.
“Where were you today?” Lilly demanded.
“I have been in the homestead all day, in classes,” Sati said. “Nothing unusual. Then I went to refill the nut machine over by the Teddies’ cave, and played with them for a bit, and then came here.”
Krenek’s eyes widened. “Take off your shoes,” he said.
“What?” Sati asked, but began unlacing her boots. Krenek turned the boot over carefully and looked in the treads. There was a tiny trace of dark mud clinging to the inside edge of the deepest treads; the rest of the sole was covered in a fine powder. He held the boot under the scanner and it began to blink wildly. He began to laugh.
“What is it?” Lilly and Sati both asked, still uncertain what was going on.
“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” Krenek laughed.
“You’re not making sense,” Lilly said, crossing her arms and beginning to sound annoyed.
“It’s the droppings,” Krenek announced. “The Teddies’ excrement. It disintegrates so easily, we never think of it. But in its original form—before it turns to dust and changes structure—it contains borodrium.”
“So the secret ingredient . . . “Sati prompted, starting to smile.
“Yep,” Krenek nodded. “The secret ingredient is shit.”
Shana and the others were just as stunned as the children were at the discovery—and even more pleased, if that was possible. “Well, no wonder the Saucerites process this on that airless little moon rather than on some world more hospitable,” Zak said, looking at the tiny sample they had been able to salvage without turning it to dust. “This stuff is so unstable, the slightest friction, even wind, dissipates it. And the borodrium particle separates from the atom the moment it turns to dust.”
“This also explains why there were Teddies on the planet with the blue people,” N’ixie said, remembering again that strange planet full of terrifying predators, and the bio-dome of protection housing a utopian village of hobbit-like beings and Teddies. “The Saucerites must have seeded them there, and probably here, as a source for their manufacturing tools.”
“There’s something else,” Elton said, studying the output reports in the computer. He looked up and grinned at Shana. “When the borodrium disintegrates into powder, the gas it gives off is largely argon!” Shana was startled, then laughed.
“It’s a sign!” Shana Argon exclaimed.
Communication and Encryption
And so they had the key to creating a crystal that held within it the capacity to control its destination, t
hey believed; although they still did not know how to use it. But once they did, they could take a crystal, and the borodrium, which they were learning how to handle and how to synthesize, to Prometheus. They decided to build the crystal manufacturing machine on their moon, and most of the Striders took the mining robots up there to construct it. Shana liked to look up and see the glint of metal on the side of the otherwise rather characterless moon, and know she was possibly closer to seeing her brother again. She wondered if the Octo-bots were like the Striders, bodies for Saucerite intelligences; but it was impossible to know.
Now, of course they still had the mystery of the Saucerites themselves. Who were they, from where, and why their bizarre approach to helping them without ever making contact? Why didn’t they stop to get to know them, and were they the same ones that were occasionally seen on both Earth and New Reesh over the centuries? Shana thought often of the Saucerites, hoping to have the opportunity to speak to them. If she could, what would she say? A passionate plea for the safe passage of Prometheus; for the capacity of the human race to inherit their remarkable technology? She wondered if they would listen.
With the prospect of new crystals, some of the children were beginning to talk of exploring themselves; taking saucer ships out into the universe to discover how to navigate more quickly than they could through their current method of analyzing the crystal. Shana wondered if she would want to travel again, and glanced at Elton. He still didn’t look much older than the kids themselves, but he had a kind of comfortable settled look that showed his age. She thought he was probably happy to stay in this beautiful place, where he could be proud of everything they had built. But Shana felt the pull of adventure again. She pushed down the thought, but couldn’t help smiling to herself that it was still there.
Starborn Odyssey: Voyage of the Lost (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 3) Page 25
