Radin answered, “The word singularity has five syllables, singer only two. It’s more efficient,” He shrugged, “Besides the singularities do sing.”
Adamarus gave him a look.
“Listen for yourself,” and Radin nodded to the com officer.
A sweet melancholy melody came over the bridge speakers. It was so incredibly sad. Adamarus’ spirts, not high to begin with, plummeted. He was about to tell Radin to turn it off when his first officer did it on his own.
“We don’t like to listen to it. It makes a lot of people sad.”
“Yeah?” Adamarus brushed it off. “It did sound… un-cheerful.” It was the sound of entropy, he thought. “So, is everyone calling singularities singers?”
“Everyone but you.”
“ETA to singer?” Adamarus asked shaking his head.
The refueling from the singularity or singer went off without incident. It blew up and would, after 400,000 years sterilize the galaxy around it.
Chapter Twelve - Winter Storm
“An object that is accelerating has positive energy being applied to it. An object traveling at a constant speed has zero energy being applied to it. An object under the influence of gravity, say in orbit around another object, is in a state of negative energy—ergo, you must add energy to it in order to break its orbit in order for it to travel at a constant speed and have zero energy.”
The Loud Named Bugs
Opening Speech, 23rd Amular Symposium on Quantum Physics
Source: The Archive
At 101.5 million normal years, 820,610 ship years and 89 experienced years they reached the third galactic group. Made up of 68 spirals, 12 elliptical and 4 irregulars it was a massive cluster visible from Amular as a hazy cloud and it had been named Winter Storm centuries ago.
A hundred times larger than any galactic cluster they’d encountered so far and it contained a pulsar. And Nemesis came the closest yet to losing the Blackship.
“Report,” Adamarus said as he walked onto the bridge.
They were closer than ever to the Blackship but that wasn’t always an advantage. “It’s gone into that big spiral there,” Radin said. He put a ring around a particular spiral in the holograph. It was only partially visible. Dozens of galaxies lie in-between it and Nemesis. This blocked even the Tachyon scope from seeing either pole where the Whiteship would exit. “We can get in position to see one pole or the other pole but not both at once.”
“Where do we think they’re headed next,” Adamarus asked.
“There are three possibilities really, all are equally out of the way.”
“So,” Adamarus stood with a frown, “We have a 50/50 chance of having a 66 percent probability of losing the Blackship… forever?”
“Ah…” Radin rubbed his chin, “I see what you mean.”
“We know about when they’ll come out,” Adamarus countered. “Is there any spot we can get to in time so we can see where they are going on either side?”
Radin got up and walked back to where Adamarus was standing. “The problem is as we get closer the spiral itself blocks our view of one side.”
“Then let’s not get closer,” Adamarus said.
“Back away?” Radin asked astounded.
“We do not want to take any chances, we cannot lose it, Radin.”
---
The Nemesis backed off from the Blackship losing ground but finding a place where it could observe both sides of the spiral.
It was these circumstances that placed Nemesis near the fringes of the super group and, due to pure luck and chance, they stumbled upon the anomaly and the secrets it led to.
Radin was the one who noticed it. With a puzzled look, he turned to Adamarus, “Maximus, look at sensor 1-15-2b.”
Adamarus had been rubbing his chin, wearing a frustrated expression as he stared at the hologram and the endless expanse of galaxies. He stifled a yawn as he turned to Radin. “What have you got?” His hand reached out and swung the right-hand satellite console into place.
“Tachyon echoes.”
Adamarus quickly found the feed for the one narrow focus sensor out of 600 that dotted the ships outer hull. “Damn. Not much, barely there at all. Good eye. Feedback or echo from the ship?”
Radin had walked over. “At first that was my thought but…” he leaned in and tapped the console bringing up the history log, “see…” he pointed at an entry, “and here.”
“So not acting like an echo should. Well, too weak to get any kind of profile on it.” Tachyons were related to many natural events as well as unnatural ones; like the things the Blackships did. They knew the profile for Tachyons coming from the Nemesis as well as the Slayer’s Blackship. A Tachyon echo was the disturbance left behind by strong Tachyon bursts, both natural and otherwise, and could linger for millions of years.
Adamarus looked at Radin with a slight smile playing on his face, “Let’s see if we can trace it – something to do anyway.”
There were various ways to attempt this but it was a challenge involving detective work, skill, intuition and lots of luck.
The fact that only one of the narrow focus sensors was picking it up meant that the subatomic disturbance was omni directional but that had very little to do with where the original burst had come from.
As the ship continued its vigil, the two worked at it; following the echo from one narrow focus sensor to another as the ship rotated and altered course monitoring its strength and characteristics. After 2 hours Adamarus spotted what might be a pattern.
“So,” Radin laughed, “that maybe narrows it down. So… 200 possible radial points across 3 square parsecs?”
Adamarus was already turning to the long-range sensors, “Far better than the infinite number we had a second ago.” He entered in a distance of 180,000 light years and leaned back looking at what was in the space around the ship.
Radin ran his hand over his face in mock exasperation, “And what makes you think that 180,000 is the magic number?” He smirked and shook his head, “The source, could be any distance from us.”
“Because, Radin, if it is further away than 180,000 light years,” Adamarus pretended to yawn, “it will be too far away for us to investigate.” He started to zoom the sensors in on open areas in between galaxies where the sensors could penetrate further out. “In other words, we will find it within this area or, it’s not something that will matter that much and therefore, for the purposes of our existence, the source does not exist at all.”
Radin opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Then he gave his friend a look and shook his finger at him. “Nice try.”
Almost at once Adamarus whistled and whispered, “Hello.”
It was said so softly Radin almost missed it. He stepped to Adamarus’ side and looked at the display. Adamarus was zooming in on… nothing. “I… don’t see anything.” Radin felt there was something very wrong but could not put his finger on it. “There’s nothing.”
“I know,” Adamarus said with emphasis.
It hit Radin like cold water sending chills down his spine. “Where are the background galaxies and stars?” he whispered.
“Exactly.” Adamarus zoomed back out until stars and distant galaxies came back into view around the edges of the display leaving a black circle in the center. Then he switched to infrared, “Behind this.”
“My God.” A huge spiral appeared on the display. It was horribly disfigured and scarred by the tremendous forces that had ripped it apart. Thick clouds of gas coming from the center above and below indicated the huge jets of plasma that had blasted away from the center when its black hole had exploded.
“A black spiral, completely dead, emitting no light and almost as cold as space itself; I think we found our source,” Adamarus said.
Both men stared at it in silence for several minutes as they absorbed the implications of what they were seeing. For the lower gas jet abruptly veered away at a 90-degree angle and that could mean only one thing; another Bla
ckship had been here.
---
Adamarus stood before his senior staff in a conference room.
“About 300 million years ago, something, almost certainly another and different Blackship was in that spiral. Before that, that galaxy was the largest spiral in the group and the controlling spiral of this super group.”
The lights dimmed and a holograph of the black spiral appeared above the conference table. “With the source of the echo nailed down we’ve been able to break down the disturbance pattern. Two Tachyon bursts came from the spiral. One from this point,” a red dot appeared about quarter of the way in, “and, of course, one from the center. The black hole at the center was so powerful we may add a new class to the singleton rating system.” A graph appeared, someone whistled. “It’s rupture caused damage on a scale we’ve not seen before.” Adamarus pointed at the hologram showing the warped and twisted shape of the black galaxy.
Adamarus took a drink of water then started walking around the conference table. “We cannot afford to pass up this opportunity. We must confirm what we think we are seeing.” He held up one finger, “That it was, in fact, a Slayer ship that was here… and not something else.” He held up another finger, “That the MO we have is consistent.” Another finger, “That weapons systems and capabilities are the same ones we know.”
He waited a moment for that to sink in. “We will deploy our unmanned sensors to watch for signs of the Slayers while this ship heads towards the location of the first tachyon burst at best speed.”
Adamarus had completed his circuit of the table and now came up beside his chair and placed his hands on the table. “I must tell you that I have talked to Bugs and it does not agree with this course of action. It says it already knows what we will find. Never the less, we need to know.”
He leaned in over the table, “With luck,” he pointed at the hologram, “this place will have the answers we need to know before we face the Blackship.” He looked around to see if there were any questions. He saw only understanding and determination. He nodded approvingly, “Dismissed.”
---
Up close the black galaxy was not so dark. The huge complex clouds which hid the main body of the galaxy were subtly lit by a sparse number of stars just outside the expanding plume.
The ashen clouds now surrounded the ship taking up three-quarters of the sky. But they were not pretty; sickly dim shades of gray ash with no color they looked foul and dirty, like poison and death.
Fortunately, there had been large gaps; clear areas the ship could slip through. But no more, the wall of ash approached. Sensors showed the clouds to be surprisingly dense in areas.
Despite assurances from the science department that nothing inside would affect the ship Adamarus was nervous. The wall of gray looked very solid. “Time to impact?” Adamarus deadpanned.
The navigator laughed, “Time to entry three minutes, thirty-two seconds” came the reply.
Adamarus looked at Radin. He wasn’t the only one nervous about entering. He got up and walked toward the main forward holograph; nothing but gray. He looked to the side. Better, he could see the wall of clouds stretching off. Whiffs of gray started passing by. They looked deceptively small and close. Traveling at just short of light speed he knew they were distant and many light minutes in length.
Dark gray rolled over the side view just as Radin announced the ship had entered the plumes. Adamarus looked around, the holograph was completely dark, all the same dark gray. They were in it now. Over the next hour, the gray darkened until it was almost black.
For five months ship-time they were surrounded by the unbroken gray then the density began to vary. Sometimes stars could be seen passing in the fog, other times they’d suddenly hit clear pockets many light years across. Several times they passed star systems close enough to get visuals on solid atmosphere bearing planets – in all cases, they were a uniform color: gray.
This was a depressing place, and Adamarus and Radin put the regular crew on a 3-month Hiber-sleep rotation or busy on maintenance. The science crew was kept busy planning what could be done once they reached what they suspected would be the remains of a destroyed star system.
Finally, after 14 months ship time, they approached the target area; a sphere 75 light years in diameter. The ash clouds were dense; interstellar visibility was down to a couple of light seconds. Fortunately, stellar wind would clear the area around a star. Out of 32 systems, seven stars fit the likely profile.
---
In the 2nd ship-month inside the area Nemesis broke through the ashen cloud around the 3rd candidate; a yellow dwarf with seven gas giants and seven inner planets.
Adamarus slammed his hand down on the arm of the command chair and jumped up. A couple of whistles sounded around the bridge. A full quarter of the yellow star was a deep angry red. There could be no clearer sign – nothing in nature would do this. Only a fully focused energy beam from a Slayer’s Blackship.
Adamarus walked the hologram, “Show me the planetary orbits, Mr. Holtz.” The wounded star vanished and a tactical of the inner star system appeared. Adamarus rubbed his chin as he took in the data. Radin came up beside him. Adamarus leaned towards him and lowered his voice, “Could be four or five.”
Radin nodded, “The sixth planet out is a possibility too, hell… even seven.”
“Hm… seven is too far out, you think?”
“Well, number four is the best bet and we have to pass by seven anyway so...”
Adamarus nodded “And I suppose we’ll want at least a flyby on each one anyway.” Adamarus nodded again, “Very well. Plot a course to take us to the fourth planet with a flyby of the number seven.”
The seventh planet out had what they were looking for; definite evidence of Slayer bombardment and sites where ruins might remain. However, just as they were discovering this, long range sensors confirmed thousands of small satellites orbiting the fourth planet and, more amazingly, radio transmissions.
---
Adamarus pulled himself along the tube to the shuttle hatch. He pulled himself into the hatch and looked around. People were busy stowing equipment and getting situated. Radin was forward talking to the pilots. He made his way towards him.
They had arrived in orbit 6 hours ago whereupon they’d discovered that the thousands of objects in orbit were the wreckage of what had once been ships, stations, manufacturing plants and satellites. The transmissions they’d picked up were from pieces of equipment hooked to solar energy panels that were somehow still functioning.
As far as the science team could figure out, most of it was emergency locator signals, maydays and SOS signals.
The surface of the planet was covered with a thick cloud layer but sensors had picked up what appeared to be the ruins of cities on the one continent and smaller land masses.
He walked to the front and patted Radin on the shoulder as he passed by him and took the center seat. The pilot and co-pilot were going through the pre-flight checkout. Radin waved to Adamarus and headed to the rear to depart the drop ship.
Nemesis had twelve drop ships that could make planet fall and Adamarus was using all of them for this recon of the surface. He pulled down the master console which summarized ship’s functions and reviewed the current status; all was now green, they were ready to eject and were waiting on the bridge controller. He hadn’t noted who the pilots were and realized Radin had probably handpicked them being that Adamarus was acting as captain.
Adamarus felt excited. There was definitely what they needed down there. He heard the clang of metal and the ship moved over the air lock and then was lowered into it. More sounds as the crane released them and the door above them closed. He turned the display off and looked up.
The countdown began and he grabbed the sides of his seat.
---
An opening appeared in the underside of Nemesis and after a beat, the drop ship shot from it at enormous speed. It angled towards the planet and fired it’s after burners and rocketed downw
ard. At five second intervals, eleven more drop ships exploded from the huge white hull.
Their search patterns had already been determined based on the information that the sensors had gathered.
Adamarus’ ship burned through the atmosphere and into the gray clouds. There were high winds and the ride was rough for a while then it calmed down. They broke through the clouds and Adamarus leaned forward but quickly discovered that he could not see much through the forward viewer and brought his console up. He immediately saw the long furrows from the Slayer’s planet killing weapon.
The gray and rose-colored clouds rushed across the sky but breaks in the cloud cover let the light from the wounded star through so that everywhere orange rays of light raced across the land. The ground was black, burned. It looked like burned tree stumps covered the surface but at this height, he could not be sure. They passed over a dry lake then the ruins of a city appeared.
They flew over the vague shapes of ruins and lines that were assumed to be roads. The land rose up, the city went on forever. After 30 minutes they came to a mountain range and the city finally thinned until no ruins could be seen. As they flew up the mountain the black dust covering the ground thinned out until they could see rock and finally at the top, very dirty snow. They dropped down the other side and at once encountered strong winds.
“How much further?” Adamarus asked.
The pilot answered, “It’s coming up now. This is the largest area of ruins we’ve found on the planet by far. Some of the analysts have speculated that it was an important site, perhaps a capital. There’s a very large structure at its center.”
They were coming down the mountain but clouds hid what was before them.
The co-pilot commented, “It seems so strange that another Slayer ship was here. It means its path crosses the path of the ship we’re chasing.”
Adamarus nodded and looked forward again. “Yes. It’s something we’ve not seen before. It’s hard to say what it means except what we’ve suspected and, what the Loud has told us; that there are many Slayer ships out there.”
The clouds broke and Adamarus bit his lip. Black dust covered the landscape, so deep that the land features were hidden and there was nothing but a flat plain. But then the land rose again and the winds picked up and Adamarus suddenly sat forward for the black dust was gone and buildings and streets could be seen. Not ruins but in tack. The ware of ages – wind and water erosion were visible even from this height but they were not rubble. But looking ahead he saw the furrows and the large areas around them where the destruction had gone sideways. It was much like it had been on their world. The Slayers could not lay waste to everything.
Odyssey (The Spiral Slayers Book 3) Page 16
