by Neely Dobbs
* * *
With the group reassembled in the Visuals Room to eat, Vick and Sabanda quickly up-dated everyone on what had been learned during the recess: virtually no progress had been made. The recordings from the rescue shuttles had offered no new clues. The remaining sensors aboard the Wasp were either out of order or out of position and had picked up nothing new. Shallen and Alten had gotten nowhere but frustrated trying to decipher the signal. Sabanda reported that her attempts to crack the code had yielded no new insights.
When the discussion shifted to speculation about their prior findings, Jazon called a halt. “Let's belay that until we've heard from Kyell. While his idea is only a working hypothesis, it hopefully will trigger new thoughts. Kyell, the floor is yours.”
Kyell stood and asked, “Do you remember Burgstrom droning on about his pet subject during the Academy class in nuclear physics?”
Vick looked perplexed, but Sabanda replied with a laugh, “Professor Burgstrom had an exceptional talent for droning on about everything! Still, I do remember that he was especially pontifical when he got to ranting about the 'eternal inviolability of matter and energy.' Is that the one?”
Lights clicked on in Vick’s eyes. “I'm amazed I could have forgotten old 'Spacey Bug-storm.’ He was constantly reciting his pet mantra: ‘Matter and energy are eternally interchangeable, yet neither can ever be created or destroyed’.”
“That's it, word for word,” Kyell confirmed. “He hammered on that point until my head hurt.”
“I remember that too," Sabanda said, "but I still don't catch the connection.”
Jazon, now on the scent, offered a clue. “Consider the aftermath of the SDs. What indications did we find of the missing systems?”
“None," Sabanda answered. "Well, of course small parts of some systems were left behind. But as far as what signs were left of what had actually disappeared? Nothing! No rubble, no debris, no energy sig…”
Vick thumped his cheek and shouted, “That's got to be it! No trace of remaining matter or energy. No indications. Absolutely nothing!”
“That's at least the heart of my theory,” agreed Kyell. “A total loss of mass, with no sign of it being converted to energy. Even if the intruder could transform the mass of a system completely to energy, and then somehow drain or store it, that would leave behind trace signatures of the energy conversion that we could find. So, if the mass of the systems couldn’t have been destroyed, and there are zero indications they were converted to energy, then what option is left? Is it possible that the systems were actually hijacked and... somehow transferred?”
Uncharacteristically, ADIZ interrupted. “Please excuse my intrusion. However, your question may be considered an extension of the probability analysis and speculation requested by the Vice-Admiral. My clarifications on the issue could prove beneficial. Should I proceed?”
“ADIZ," Jazon replied, "any light you could bring to this subject would most definitely be appreciated.”
“Thank you, Sir. The total conversion to energy of the matter of even the smallest vanished star system would have resulted in an explosion at least 2000 times that of the system's star going supernova. Since not even the smallest trace of residual energy from such explosive forces has been detected, the probability is one hundred percent the systems were not destroyed. They were unquestionably transferred.”
Leaping to his feet, Kyell barked, “Yes! But transferred where... and how?”
“Unknown; insufficient data.”
“Then speculate, or generalize," insisted Kyell hotly, "whatever it takes Damn it, A-to-Z, give us your best guess!”
“Yes, Sir. If you insist.” There was a long pause. Then, “The systems were transferred…to another location…somewhere…else.” ADIZ stood ominously silent.
Seeing Kyell's livid face, Jazon prevented the robot's being forced into a destructive loop by saying, “Kyell, don't push it. His generalization program can go only so far.”
Struggling to stifle his frustration, Kyell still audibly muttered, “A-to-Z my ass!”
Despite the incongruity of the comment, only brief chuckles ensued. Then Kyell realized the humor of the situation and began laughing. His infectious laughter allowed the others to join in wholeheartedly.
As the laughter died out, Kyell wiped his eyes and said, "Sorry, ADIZ. You didn't deserve that. It's just my own frustration showing."
Sabanda offered Kyell an approving smile and asked, “But why were they transferred? And why is it critical to the intruder that the sun and planets are taken at the same instant?”
Vick gave his cheek a two thumb thump. “Of course! It's the only reason that makes any sense. It's the only way the Intruder can assure that the captured planets will still have heat and light!”
Sabanda's face clouded. “That would be an even stronger indication that the disappearances are directed by some intelligence. They’re making certain that the transferred systems' conditions remain stable in order to assure the survival of the inhabitants. Is that your theory, Kyell?”
“Yes, basically, although you're already coming up with implications beyond what I was thinking about. Of course, none of what we're coming up with explains why they're capturing systems.”
The group remained silent, lost in considering the implications of the new theory.
Finally Vick stirred, thinking out loud, “The saving of the Wasp…was it an action of the same intelligent agency…for the same reason? Were they trying to prevent lives being lost as a result of having caused a partial transfer?”
“Let's hold on to that thought, Vick,” returned Jazon with a wry smile. “I like it a lot better than the alternatives.” Around the room, heads nodded in wary agreement.
“Vick, we need to hear your account now. And don't spare your personal impressions, especially of the events the rest of us missed before our arrival.”
“Yes, Sir.” He stood and stroked his long burgundy mustache. “Well, you've already read reports and seen visuals covering much of what happened before you arrived. And you were here to see much of the encounter. With most of the Wasp's compartments and its bridge locked down, I had been at our cobbled-together backup bridge for a little over fourteen hours when the proximity alarms sounded. I didn't react much at first, since I figured it was just one more in a long series of annoying malfunctions.
“Then Shallen was screaming, frantically, ‘Look out! Port side! What in the…' Fortunately, one of the portside viewers was working. I looked out and saw his monster was right on top of us and all I could think of was that we were dead for sure. It filled the screen, but I knew we weren't seeing all of it. I couldn't believe the readings— I triple checked the sensors. No way anything that far away could be big enough to more than fill the screen.
“After…I don't know, maybe ten seconds... maybe thirty… I thawed out enough to switch the viewer settings to wide angle and zero magnification. That worked. Sort of. Whatever it was still almost filled the screen. The view wasn't quite dead center, but one side showed enough edges to know we had to be seeing eighty or ninety percent of it.
“Then Shallen put up a replay of when he had first seen it. It was eerie. One second it wasn't there… the next, there was this giant thing on top of us!
"It's still hard for me to fathom, and I don't have the words to adequately convey the feeling." He took a deep calming breath. "I think I should run both Shallen's replay and the scene I saw.” He looked around for approval, then nodded to ADIZ.
The room again dimmed, its upper half becoming a void dotted by stars. Even though they had seen the Colossus on screen, when the impossibly large ship seemingly materialized in space, gasps sounded throughout the room. They watched as, at first, its size and position remained constant, indicating it precisely mirrored both the speed and direction of the Wasp.
The scene contin
ued and shifted slightly. A small dark spot curled over the huge ship's rounded central hub , then crawled slowly, crossing one of the larger flat sections near the central hub, rippling slightly as it crossed the boundary between rounded and flat sections. It moved on deliberately, then passed over the ship’s edge and disappeared.
In a tone of disbelief Sabanda asked, “Is it at all possible that the small dark circle that moved across the surface of the Colossus was the shadow of the Wasp?”
“Sure was,” confirmed Kyell. "And that little shadow you saw pretty accurately represents the relative size of the Wasp."
“Those three outer wheel-like cylinders— what someone called its "club feet"— remind me of huge flywheels," Vick commented evenly. "Even their narrower 'legs'— the cylindrical axles that connect those feet to the huge central spherical hub— must be miles in diameter.”
“I'll admit, Vick, that after running the numbers, I can see why you thought your distance sensors were fritzed. I did the calculations on the size of that thing three times before I could accept that the numbers were right. They show that each of those three flat cylinders— the three 'feet'— are right at thirty miles across and ten miles thick. And the 'legs'— those three axles— are each roughly eight miles across and thirty-five miles long. The central hub alone is about twenty five miles in diameter — five times that of the Wasp— and has way over one hundred times its volume. I haven't been able to figure out the entire thing’s total mass, but it’s gotta be about a thousand times more’n the Wasp.”
Jazon muttered absently, “And its shadow was like a spider crawling on a door.”
“What's a spider?” asked Vick.
Sabanda and Kyell laughed. Jazon rolled his eyes. “Sorry, Vick. You couldn't have known. It's a very small Earth animal, much like a teeka.”
They resumed watching. The Colossus began gradually moving directly toward the Wasp. Even as a holo-recording, its implacable approach made the hairs on the back of Jazon's neck stand out as he watched breathlessly, as if he still feared a collision. Then a fleeting shadow of intuitive recognition crossed his mind. Without taking his eyes from the unfolding scene, he said, “When does it make those clicking sounds?”
Vick said, "Not yet," as Kyell answered, “Just before it breaks off.”
"This is about where I changed my view screen to wide angle,” Vick noted. "The Colossus slowly rotated about one of its "legs" until one immense "foot" pointed almost directly toward the Wasp. “Oh, I almost forgot! We have yet to compare notes on that huge projection attached to that other leg, up near the hub.”
Kyell responded uncomfortably, “Uh-huh…. It reminds me all too much of a thirty-mile long shuttle craft." He turned to Sabanda and Jazon. "It was mostly blocked from the view we had during the event. And this view didn't show it until the axle with that inscribed design— or maybe it’s writing— appeared after the Colossus rotated. It seems to be rotating slowly, but… Scabbus! I don't understand how anything so huge could possibly rotate that fast.”
A few seconds later, the screen view tilted, shook sharply, and then— except for occasional jiggles— steadied again. The Colossus was again firmly centered in the view screens.
“That had to be some powerful tractor beam they hit us with. We experienced about half a gee for almost two minutes.” Vick shook his head. “I'm not ashamed to admit that it felt like a lifetime.”
The Colossus seemed to recede for just a moment. “OK, Jazon. It's about here we received that signal.” It seemed for two seconds that the titan might shrink into the distance. Then it simply blinked out of existence.
Vick called for the lights to come back on, and Sabanda spoke immediately. “Why would an alien ship take the trouble to magically appear, rescue the Wasp, and then instantly vanish when its job was done— offering no more than a few rapid clicks?”
Jazon's brow furrowed as he again pondered the encounter. Finally he decided to air his questions. “Is there a link here to the SDs? I mean, some of the aspects are so similar." He paused, tapping his fingers on the table, thinking. "And those clicks…isn't there something familiar about them?”
No answers came. Unsure what to say and trying to clear his mind, Jazon rubbed at his temples and let his eyes roam around the room. He soon noticed a teeka, an ancient weaver of silk, quietly spinning her web high in one corner of the room. He admired her circular tapestry, created from seemingly continuous strands.
Then something clicked. He realized the “circles” were, in reality, straight line connections between adjacent radial lines of the web. His face clouded, briefly puzzled, then cleared.
Kyell, noticed the change and asked, “What is it, Jace?”
"Just thinking."
"So that's why you looked like you were in pain," Kyell laughed. "Careful, Jace. Thinkin' too hard will do that to ya'!"
"Well, buddy, it may have been worth it." Jazon grinned crookedly. "I may actually have come up with an idea."
“Well, don’t start holdin’ out on us now. Whatcha' got?”
"What if the signal was garbled somehow? And what if it's not really a clicker code?" Seeing that none of the group yet grasped the idea, he said, “It’s the clicks! They have no duration. But maybe there is a kind of duration… or, at least, a continuity… between them.”
"We’ve gotten nowhere with that signal anyway," Kyell responded dryly. “Why not take another stab at it?”
"OK," Jazon nodded. "Try this. What if time intervals between clicks are either long, medium or short? What if the longest and shortest intervals between clicks could remain silent while the medium intervals could be connected with a steady tone.”
Vick looked dubious. "But how could you decide which ones to connect?
Jazon smiled slyly. "Let’s just call it just a hunch." He winked at Kyell, then looked to ADIZ and asked, “Do you understand the parameters of the proposed replay?”
“Affirmative, Sir.”
“But run it much slower than before— at one-tenth the previous slowest speed. OK? Run it now.”
“Responding, Sir.”
Jazon’s fingers twitched as he listened. Kyell tilted his head to one side and, after a bit, one eyebrow raised. The others watched silently, but first Jazon and then Kyell began making notes on small sheets of villium. When they finished, they sat staring at each other for almost a minute, as still as two bookends.
Sabanda whispered, “Jazon! What’s wrong? Can you read it… Is it a threat?”
As though jarred from a trance, Jazon suddenly responded with incredulity, “Of course I can read it! So can Kyell. It’s just Morse Code— not even encrypted! We learned it as a hobby back on Earth.”
“On Earth!” Vick almost shouted. “That monster ship out there can’t possibly be from… Admiral, are you sure?”
Kyell responded before Jazon could reply. “Oh, there’s no doubt about it, Vick. It’s definitely Morse Code. We both got pretty good at it. This even has some kind of a familiar ‘Earth’ feel to the way it was sent."
"Kyell's right," Jazon confirmed. "But I’m stumped by your other question, Vick. The technology required to build that Colossus is far beyond anything we could do, let alone the Earth. But how could whoever created that gigantic ship have known Morse Code…and why would they use it?”
“That may take a while to find out,” Sabanda replied, “but I have a more urgent question. What does the message say?”
Jazon turned the piece of villium around so Sabanda and Vick could see what he had written.
On it was the repeated message: “ HOGA HOGA HOGA…”
“That’s definitely the message,” agreed Kyle. “But what the hell is HOGA?”
“I have no idea,” admitted Jazon, “but I have a nasty feeling we’ll find out all too soon.”
