by Thomas Fay
‘Well, this is different,’ I said, after a momentary silence.
‘I’ve never seen anything like it before. Is it Cetian technology?’
‘I don’t know. Something about it feels old. Ancient, even. I think it’s been here for a long time.’
‘What makes you say that, sir?’
‘This asteroid field has been around for a long time. Yet there’s no sign of impact damage on the structure. In fact, the asteroids appear to be moving around it as if the structure was a part of the field.’
‘But, sir. The field must be hundreds of thousands of years old at least.’
‘I know, Lieutenant. Fascinating, isn’t?’
Lieutenant Gage leaned forwards.
‘What is it?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know ... something. It looks too perfect.’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. A perfect sphere.’
‘I guess we’ll find out once the drones finish their sweep.’
A proximity warning alerted us to the Space Navy strike force approaching.
‘Looks like the cavalry’s here. At least if this thing turns out to be an ancient doomsday weapon built by the Founders, we’ll have backup,’ Lieutenant Gage said.
‘That’s the spirit, Lieutenant.’
‘I’m just saying, sir.’
****
The strike force consisted of a dozen ships: two tetrahedron-shaped interceptors and ten Raptor heavy fighters. The ships decelerated around us, slotting into a loose holding formation. The interceptors carried fully armed squads of space marines, highly trained, heavily armed and boosted by the most potent neurological stimulants concocted by the CARIL facility on Luna. Another thing I disagreed with at a fundamental level—the use of stimulants to make the marines into lethal killing machines. They were effectively immune to pain, ignoring all but life-threatening injuries, and reacted faster than humans were ever designed to. It made them almost unstoppable in close quarters. It also made them easier to command.
‘This is First Lieutenant Marcus Reaver in command of strike force Delta,’ one of the Raptor heavy fighter’s coms announced. ‘Orders, sir?’
‘We have deployed class V drones to scan the unknown installation. We believe our target has entered the object. Standard sweep pattern—make sure there isn’t anything else hiding in the asteroids around us,’ I said.
‘Understood, sir. Delta 1 and 2, follow me. Remaining ships hold position.’
The heavy fighters’ twin class C engines ignited. The three ships accelerated into the asteroids. I checked the status of the scan: five per cent complete. It was going to be a long hour.
I flicked through the menu options on the screen in front of me.
‘They really should at least put Two-Down in these things,’ I said. ‘Although, some form of asteroid blaster might be more appropriate, given our circumstances.’
Lieutenant Gage laughed.
****
The drones had completed their scan. The Raptor heavy fighters had returned from their reconnaissance sweep almost at the same time as the last drone had finished transmitting its data. The heavy fighters’ sweep had not turned up any other objects or ships. We were alone in this region of space. Except for hundreds, if not thousands of asteroids. And the mysterious moon-sized sphere.
‘Are you seeing this, sir?’ Lieutenant Gage asked, watching the drones’ scan data flow across the view screen.
‘I am. This makes no sense,’ I said. The screen was filled with detailed scan data. The drones had managed to capture all sorts of readings across the full spectrum of their instrumentation.
‘It appears as if the object is sitting in a nil-gravity field,’ Lieutenant Gage said.
‘No, it’s even more bizarre than that. The object appears to be generating a gravity field and an anti-gravity field at the same time. Like I said, it makes no sense. Unless …’
‘Sir?’
I pulled up the gravitational sensor analysis of the sphere. There appeared to be a dense gravitational field at the exact centre of the sphere while the exterior shell was generating an anti-gravity field.
‘It can’t be …’ I said, staring at the image.
‘What is it, sir?’
‘I know what it is. It’s a Dyson sphere.’
‘I thought they were theoretically impossible.’
‘So did I, Lieutenant. Yet there’s one floating in space directly in front of us.’
Lieutenant Gage peered at the screen.
‘Isn’t it a bit small to be a Dyson sphere?’
‘Yes. It’s too small. It’s theoretically impossible. It’s in the centre of an asteroid field. Yet there it is.’
Silence. Then:
‘So what do we do?’ Lieutenant Gage asked.
‘We go inside, of course.’
****
First Lieutenant Reaver’s voice resounded across the coms.
‘Sir, multiple contacts inbound.’
‘Cetian?’ I asked.
‘No, sir. Unknown. It appears they came from the sphere. They look like short-range unmanned defence drones.’
The view screen showed five conical objects lifting up from the surface of the sphere. Their aft sections ignited. Instead of the familiar ion or particle trails, they exuded a single point of dense light. The light was extremely bright, akin to a class B star.
‘It looks like … photonic propulsion!’ Lieutenant Gage exclaimed.
‘I see it, Lieutenant,’ I said, my eyes transfixed by the strange alien drones. Photonic propulsion was purely theoretical. At best, UEP scientists had managed to create a miniature reactor in a laboratory setting. Practical application for spaceships was decades away—which made what we were seeing that much more frightening.
‘Orders?’ Lieutenant Gage asked.
‘Hold. We don’t know what they are yet,’ I replied. ‘Are they transmitting anything?’
‘Negative, sir.’
‘Broadcast a standard greeting on all frequencies, short range only. Let’s not alert any Cetian forces out there to our presence.’
‘Broadcasting now.’
‘Anything?’
‘No response.’
The defence drones continued to accelerate away from the Dyson sphere, spreading out in a wide arc. Reaching a distance of two-hundred kilometres from the surface of the sphere, one of the defence drones peeled open like a flower. The five ‘petals’ rotated as its propulsion system cut out.
‘Sir, I don’t like the look of this!’
‘Neither do I, Lieutenant.’
I hit the coms switch.
‘All ships, defensive formation.’
The Space Navy strike force sprang to life. The Raptor heavy fighters formed up around the interceptors, in full combat mode. The shields on the interceptors expanded. I could almost picture the marines inside, gripping their weapons tighter. The neural stims would be pumping through their bloodstream. They would be ready for anything.
‘Sir, something’s happening!’
The dense light from the lead drone’s propulsion system appeared within the centre of its ‘petals’. The light glowed brighter than a class A star. Without any warning, it erupted in a blinding flash of light. One of the Raptor heavy fighters glowed brightly in the aftermath, its shielding dissipating rapidly as it attempted to absorb the tremendous amount of energy contained within the photonic blast. Secondary and tertiary graviton flux generators came online and failed instantly. The Raptor’s shielding vanished and the ship exploded.
‘Direct hit. Delta-4 is down!’
‘It punched right through their shields!’
‘All ships disperse!’
As the coms were momentarily overwhelmed by the pilots’ chatter, I watched the cone-shaped drones. Another one was slowing down. Then its propulsion cut out and it began to open.
I activated the coms.
‘All fighters—target the lead object. Destroy it before it can fire!’
The Raptor fighters responded as one. Nine beams of weaponised energy lanced out. They streaked towards the opening cone-shaped drone. Its ‘petals’ unfurled. The light built within its core. Then the fighters’ energy beams struck it. The drone exploded.
‘So much for the diplomatic approach,’ I whispered under my breath as I activated the coms.
‘Lieutenant Reaver, destroy the remaining drones,’ I said. ‘We’re taking the interceptors and we’re going inside the sphere. We need to figure out what the Cetians are hiding from us and what that Nautilus-class ship was carrying.’
‘Yes, sir. All ships—engage!’
The Raptor heavy fighters accelerated into the fray. Two drones unfurled their ‘petals’. Two blinding flashes of light followed. Another fighter exploded. The remaining ships deployed countermeasures as they initiated extreme evasive manoeuvres. Another drone began to peel open. A pair of fighters managed to destroy it before it could unleash its deadly photonic charge. The remaining three drones, which had already fired, floated in space. They appeared to be dormant.
‘Sir, it looks like these things only have one charge in them,’ Lieutenant Reaver said.
‘Quite a charge, though. Better let Command know what we found. Tell them to send reinforcements and hold this position,’ I said.
‘Yes, sir.’
I turned my attention to the sphere.
‘Let’s go, Lieutenant,’ I said.
‘You’re sure this is a good idea, sir?’ Lieutenant Gage asked.
‘No, but we’ll never find out what the Cetians are up to if we stay here. This is some very advanced technology they’ve got access to. You saw how they took down one of our best fighters with a single shot. We need to know what’s going on.’
‘Yes, sir. Heading for the sphere.’
The interceptors formed up behind us. The remaining heavy fighters spread out, watchful for any more of the deadly drones.
‘Sir, we’re approaching the sphere. There appears to be no discernible way to enter.’
‘That Cetian ship got in somehow. Pull up our drones’ scan data. There has to be a way in.’
The drones’ scan results scrolled down the side of the view screen: gravitational data, surface scans, temperature, density, composition. On and on the data came.
‘There!’ I exclaimed.
‘I see it, sir. That has to be an opening. Changing course now.’
Raptor Echo-1 angled down towards the surface of the miniature Dyson sphere. A narrow opening in the densely interwoven mesh appeared before us. The scans confirmed it was only three hundred metres wide and about a kilometre long.
‘This is going to be very tight—hold on!’
The heavy fighter rolled as it dove into the Dyson sphere. The interceptors followed, one by one, in single line formation. The asteroid field disappeared as our ship passed through the opening in the densely interwoven mesh structure. I clenched my fists as darkness pressed in all around us, a sliver of light ahead the only guide to our destination. I experienced a moment of crushing gravity as we passed into the Dyson sphere’s gravitational field, before the ship’s graviton flux generator was able to compensate.
‘Sir, we’re detecting more drones,’ Lieutenant Reaver’s voice resounded over the coms. ‘We count—’
The coms cut off as we passed deeper into the outer shell of the Dyson sphere. In my mind, I pictured another wave of the cone-shaped drones detaching from the surface of the sphere. I could see their aft sections igniting, propelling them towards the remaining Raptor heavy fighters. Then, as their photonic weapons began to charge, another wave detached from the surface of the sphere. And another.
****
We emerged into daylight. A deep-auburn sun hung suspended in the sky before us. It illuminated vast landscapes which stretched out in every direction, lining the interior surface of the Dyson sphere: forests of dark-blue trees standing in fields of purple grass, oceans of orange water, deserts of crystalline sand. It was a truly alien world wrapped around a miniature sun.
‘Sir, this is …’
‘Incredible!’ I exclaimed.
‘Yes, sir. I’ve never seen anything like it before.’
‘Neither have I, Lieutenant. Neither have I.’
For a moment we watched the inside of the Dyson sphere expanding before us on the view screen. The curvature of the interior of the sphere was disorientating and fascinating at the same time. The landscape enveloped us. My attention was drawn to the miniature star at its centre. I checked the results of the ship’s scanners. My eyes widened.
‘Are you seeing this, Lieutenant?’ I asked.
‘Yes, sir. There appear to be two counteracting gravitational fields at work here.’
‘It makes sense, otherwise everything would be drawn into the sun’s gravitation field and the entire Dyson sphere would collapse. It also explains the readings we took from outside the sphere.’
‘What could be generating the counter-gravity field? I’m not seeing any power readings on the surface.’
‘I don’t know, Lieutenant. I suspect this installation’s technology is so far beyond our understanding that we may never figure out its secrets.’
A proximity alert began to flash on the screen.
‘Sir, I’ve picked up the Cetian ship,’ Lieutenant Gage said.
‘Good work, Lieutenant. Any other ships in here with us?’
‘No, sir. Not that I can detect anyway. There’s no sign of any electromagnetic fields or any radiation. I’m not reading any animate life forms either. The vegetation appears to be the only thing alive in here.’
‘This makes no sense …’
‘Sir?’
I stared at the alien world wrapped around us. It was incredible, the sheer complexity beyond comprehension. Vast seas of tangerine-coloured liquid flowed across the alien landscape, lapping at the purple grass on the shore. If it weren’t for the alien colour palette, I could have been looking at Earth from space. But this was definitely not the blue-green planet of my birth and my sense of intuition was screaming at me.
‘There’s something wrong here.’
‘I sense it too, sir. As if—’
‘Something wiped out whatever animate life was here. The vegetation is all that remains.’
We stared at the alien landscape in silence for sixty seconds. The proximity alert reminded us about the object of our pursuit.
‘Sir, we’re nearing the Cetian ship. It appears to have landed on the surface. Orders?’
‘Let’s go get them,’ I said. Switching coms, I addressed the interceptors, ‘We’ve located the target ship. Prepare for deployment.’
‘Yes, sir. All squads are armed and ready. We’ll follow you down,’ the interceptor pilot replied.
‘Keep scanning for any sign of those defence drones. If you see them, pull back and deploy countermeasures.’
‘Understood, sir.’
‘And advise the marines to hold their fire when we reach the ground. We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.’
‘Yes, sir. I’ll relay your orders.’
We descended through the auburn sunlight, the interceptors close behind. Levelling out two kilometres above the inner surface of the sphere, we skimmed above banks of wispy clouds. Despite the danger from the advanced technology and lack of information on the installation, I found myself marvelling at the landscape below, beside and above me. Whoever had created the miniature Dyson sphere had achieved something which humanity couldn’t even conceive of theoretically. This was technology bordering on the magical. That sense of foreboding, that something terrible had happened here, remained. In fact, it seemed to be getting stronger as we neared the surface.
‘Sir, I’m detecting a structure on the surface, near the Cetian ship.’
‘Onscreen.’
A ghostly computer construct of an elongated structure appeared on the view screen. The Raptor heavy fighter’s sensors were unable to penetrate inside the structure. Whatever it was mad
e of, it was too dense or too well shielded. It was also huge, easily five hundred metres high, made of a dense, dark material. It appeared to rise out of the ground, stretching up towards the auburn sun.
‘What is that?’ Lieutenant Gage asked.
‘I don’t know, Lieutenant, but if that’s where the Cetian ship is, then that’s where we need to be. Bring us down as close as you can.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Dropping through the wispy cloud layer, we skimmed the tops of lush, sapphire trees. Reaching a clearing, we circled once and settled onto purple grass-like vegetation. The unknown structure towered over us, stretching far into the auburn-coloured sky.
‘Gravity is registering at about 0.9 Earth standard. Temperature is a steady twenty-four degrees Celsius.’
‘How’s the air?’ I asked.
Lieutenant Gage checked the instrument readout.
‘That’s strange. According to this, it’s breathable. In fact, it’s almost the perfect balance of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide and hydrogen for human beings. How is that possible?’
‘Let’s find out.’
I pressed the button that opened the forward hatch. Despite Lieutenant Gage’s assurances, I instinctively held my breath as the outside world was revealed. I took a cautious sniff of air. It smelled fresh with a hint of overripe vegetation. Sixty seconds later I forgot about the air and began to breathe normally.
The marines aboard the interceptors weren’t taking any chances. They wore full combat gear, including dense force-field armour and integrated breathing helmets used for deep-space infiltration. Each one carried a modified lunar disruptor with a beam weapon attachment. The sight of twenty-four heavily armed Space Navy marines standing in a field of purple grass brought a smile to my face.
‘Now there’s an image for the Space Navy’s recruitment campaign,’ I said.
