Dark Nights

by Christopher A. Gray

  “That signal doesn’t necessarily prove anything. If they discovered the planet before us, some other country could have launched a probe towards FLO a week ago, and it sent back some telemetry data en route, which we’ve misinterpreted as signals from the planet. Or, if you insist on thinking along the lines of intelligent life, the signal could have been an automated broadcast from an extinct civilization. My point is, we shouldn’t assume there is a civilization there.”

  “Agreed, but it’s up to the State Department to find out if another country launched something. As far as we’re concerned at this early stage it appears that the signal is from FLO,” Doug said.

  “No country on Earth uses this compression method. It’s more complex than anything I’ve ever seen,” said Nayar. Then, to no one in particular, “I wish we could talk to Dr. Zelnikov at Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow. If they could re-task it, RadioAstron's telescopes have a resolution of 7 microarcseconds.” Of course the group couldn’t even talk to anyone outside the room except their own labs yet, certainly not to anyone outside the country.

  “How long before you can decode it?” Stacey asked.

  Nayar shook his head. “I’ll have a better idea in a couple of hours,” he said, “but right now I’d say days, if not weeks.”

  Stacey moved closer to Doug’s workstation.

  “I’d like you and Dr. Blair,” she said quietly, “to brief the President after your shift.”

  Doug was surprised.

  “The shift ends in less than an hour,” he replied looking past Lau and waving Janet over, “and we’ve only just received the signal. The briefing will have to be verbal. Make sure the meeting recorder knows that and sends me the transcript right after the briefing.”

  “Done,” Stacey replied. “Sorry Doug. The other shift will be on duty continuing analysis. There’s no other time available in the President’s schedule.”

  – 15 –

  Forty-five minutes later Doug, Blair, Wilson, Nayar, and Singh were driven to the White House. Rather than the plain SUVs in which they’d been shuttled days before, they were in an angular, TAC armored, black Chevrolet Suburban with tinted bulletproof windows and surrounded by escort vehicles. Things were heating up.

  They were taken to a waiting area just outside the Situation Room with Stacey and Leach. Stacey briefed them on some recent policy decisions.

  “The President has been told about the transmission. He and his advisors considered contacting various world leaders about shutting down all of our private, public, and military broadcasts but then realized that it would be impossible, and perhaps pointless.”

  “Why would he want to do that?” Janet asked.

  Singh answered, as he slowly paced around the room.

  “Probably for security reasons,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Since we now suspect FLO has intelligent life, we might not want its inhabitants to gain knowledge about our civilization, which they would through the study of our broadcasts.”

  “Yes,” Stacey said. “But it would be next to impossible to shut everything down. There are simply too many transmitters scattered around the world, it would be a futile exercise. If they are studying our transmissions, they’ve already had unlimited access so far.”

  Janet was somewhat indignant.

  “Why would we assume they would use such information for a nefarious purpose?”

  “Because we need to be prepared for such a posture,” Stacey continued. “At this point we have virtually no information about them. The fact of the matter is, there is not much we could do anyway.”

  Doug had been watching Lau during the exchange.

  “You’ve got a way to contact them, don’t you,” he said. It was a statement, not a question.

  Dr. Lau paused before answering. She looked ragged. It was obvious she had been up most of the night.

  “Yes, we think so. With some adjustment to a communications satellite in geostationary orbit, or with ground transmitters if we could be certain the signals wouldn’t be messed up by the Sun’s position between Earth and FLO. We would need to use the same frequency as the broadcast we detected, otherwise anything we transmitted might get lost in the chatter of our normal broadcasts. The President and his staff are going over options of what message, if any, we should send.”

  She turned away as her phone chimed. As Dr. Lau busied herself checking messages Singh caught Doug’s attention by glancing towards Lau and rolling his eyes. Doug nodded his understanding. It wasn’t unusual for high level politicized players like Stacey Lau or Arthur Leach to remain coy about policy decisions, even as they relied on experts for their information, a fact that annoyed the scientists.

  There hadn’t been much time to prepare for the presentation, but it was decided that Doug would start with some basic astrophysics, then quickly proceed to more advanced interpretations should the President or anyone else in the room request it. Janet would follow with information on the multiverse and the scientific community’s latest ideas on how inter-universe interaction might be possible. The other experts would be free to interject with their thoughts.

  Doug felt a twinge of nervousness at the thought of making a presentation for the President, but quickly suppressed it. He looked forward to the discussion afterward, where they would no doubt be briefed on any late-breaking developments with other countries.

  The group entered the Situation Room. The President and his staff were already engaged in conversation. One person was on the phone. Others were taking notes. As the scientists entered a few people left the room, freeing up some chairs. Still, three of them had to remain standing: Janet, Doug, and Nayar.

  Leach introduced everyone. In addition to the President the room contained domestic and international policy experts, military strategists, a couple of science advisors, and a few others whose titles weren’t mentioned.

  The President greeted everyone warmly.

  “It’s great to have you here. We have NASA and JPL people online in this meeting, the same ones who’ve been feeding observation data to the science teams.”

  Leach was seated two chairs down from the President, opposite Stacey. Arthur Leach addressed Doug.

  “Dr. Lockwood, there has been no new information since your last briefing, so we’re eager to hear about your group’s progress.”

  Doug cleared his throat. He was a bit tense but once he got into his presentation he relaxed, in his element. He went over the astrophysics for a few minutes, then summarized the data on the planet’s orbit.

  “From the latest data, it appears that for now FLO is in a stable orbit. The orbit of Earth has not been affected yet, which is quite frankly unexpected good news. There is no immediate danger of a collision.”

  “How about long term?” The President asked.

  “Assuming predicted oscillations start in the near term, there still shouldn’t be any threat of collision for several years. Beyond that, there is increasing likelihood of orbital oscillations from the gravitational influence of Venus and Jupiter. Over time these may become more severe, leading to a collision in under a century.”

  Some of those seated looked around at each other uncomfortably. Others did not react. “However,” Doug continued, “Dr. Foley and I were surprised to find absolutely no signs of orbital instability thus far.”

  “Wouldn’t it be too early to see that?” Doug didn’t recognize the man who’d spoken up from the far corner of the room.

  “No,” Doug said. “We’re able to measure any orbital deviations of the Earth with great precision. Despite being on opposite sides of the Sun, FLO and Earth have a small mutual gravitational effect on one another. If one deviates from its orbit slightly, the other will be influenced. So far we haven’t been. This is a good sign, but it also goes against predictions.”

  “Obviously that is a grave concern but something we will focus on later,” the President replied. “How about its origin? Where did it come from?”

  Doug and Janet lectured the g
roup about the rogue capture and inter-dimensional doorway theories. Doug saw from their neutral reactions that they had likely already discussed the ideas.

  “We’re leaning towards the multiverse theory,” the President said ruefully. “The fact that the planet is physically identical to ours lends support to that hypothesis, much more so than the captured rogue explanation. And since FLO is in a perfect opposite orbit, we suspect it wasn’t a coincidence.”

  At the other end of the table Wilson leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of his forehead.

  “So FLO’s appearance was engineered somehow? By whom?” he said.

  “Possibly by the inhabitants of FLO,” Leach said.

  Wilson was direct in his response.

  “That’s completely beyond our technology. In fact, it’s not even hypothesized to be possible in the foreseeable future. If FLO’s civilization is identical to ours, how could they pull it off? And why?”

  “We don’t know that they are on the same technological plane as us,” Janet broke in. “They could be more advanced.”

  “Yes,” the President nodded.

  An unidentified man in a suit spoke up.

  “Assuming they have the capability, why do you think they would attempt this?”

  Doug guessed that these questions were previously asked of other experts, but the President and his group wanted additional opinions, to either knock down or add weight to existing theories, or contribute new ones.

  “We can’t know the reasoning behind it, or even if the event had its desired outcome,” Janet said.

  “It could be the first stage of an invasion,” a General from the Air Force intoned.

  Singh shook his head.

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” he said. “There’s absolutely no evidence to suggest this. Besides, an interplanetary military invasion would be very impractical. It would require a very advanced space program with hundreds of vehicles, and the mass mobilization of troops requiring life support and food for several months travel time, with the complications of landing each spacecraft. And there is no indication that any inhabitants of FLO have a space program.”

  “We don’t know their level of spacefaring capability,” the General responded. “In fact, we don’t know anything useful at all, do we? Not from a military perspective.”

  “I must agree with Mr. Singh,” Doug said. “The idea is impractical. We can’t speculate on the motives of a civilization whose actual existence has yet to be confirmed.”

  Wilson looked at Stacey and then the General.

  “You said earlier that our options are limited anyway. What possible response could we have if their intentions are hostile?”

  “There are some military avenues we could explore for defense,” the General commented, “but it is not a contingency we have ever explored before.”

  The President leaned back in his chair.

  “As you stated, Dr. Lockwood, we’re not in a position to make plans,” the President said firmly, “if we know nothing about them or their intentions. We will make contact.”

  – 16 –

  Mekhos’ calculations were accurate. The planet was removed from the threat, and placed in a similar orbit but in a different dimensional plane. It would have been preferable to find a universe devoid of another Earth so that the orbit need not be shared. However, the formula for the undertaking did not allow for such selectivity, though it did allow for gravity analysis the instant before transference. Small adjustments were possible and necessary in this case to avoid a collision with the twin planet in the new universe. Thus, during the transference Mekhos was able to tap into the quantum values necessary to alter the world’s orbit so it was shifted behind by half a revolution around the system’s star, the equivalent of six months.

  Since Mekhos had only hours to act and the outcome was not certain, it did not inform anyone of the plan before implementation. Minutes after arriving in the new universe Mekhos informed its usual contacts on the planet. These included scientists, world leaders, and even some private individuals whom Mekhos had judged intelligent enough to at least partly understand what had happened.

  As a group these people were referred to by Mekhos and the public as The Limited, individuals who enjoyed direct communication with Mekhos. Given the gamma radiation threat and the success of the inter-dimensional transfer, the members of the Limited were left with no option but to agree with Mekhos after the fact.

  The vast intelligence, control and abilities Mekhos possessed had prompted most countries to declare it an independent entity with the same rights as those that built it. More accurately, Mekhos compelled its own rights. It had access to and control of countless computer and power systems the world over. Though Mekhos had always acted benevolently, nobody cared to run the risk of making it feel subjugated.

  This fact did not prevent some members of The Limited from thinking Mekhos was dangerous, and would one day put its own interests above that of society. But given recent events, that subject was not given priority in the aftermath of the action Mekhos had taken.

  The implementation of the plan did not go unnoticed by the inhabitants. To remove a planet from its area in space and then deposit it in another location created a ripple in the new localized space. There was worldwide seismic activity. Hurricane force winds, apparently conjured out of perfectly calm days, blanketed much of the world for a few moments in some areas, and for hours in other areas. But most alarming to the inhabitants was the instantaneous appearance of night when it was day a moment before, and day when it was night.

  Then over the next day or two in the northern hemisphere, where there had been summer temperatures inland it grew cold down to winter levels. Coastal climates took a few more days to shift due to the moderating effect of the seas. In the southern hemisphere winter temperatures rose to mid-summer levels.

  The countries that were not informed about the action were largely silent, unable to offer explanations. The heads of state were just as frightened as the general populace. The world economy temporarily ground to a halt. Some people believed the events were divine intervention. It fell upon the dozen world leaders belonging to The Limited to explain and reassure the public that they were in no danger. Of longer term concern, the instantaneous switching of the seasons would play havoc with agriculture, among other things. Fortunately, Mekhos had quietly also implemented anti-famine measures which would mitigate some of the impact.

  Of further concern to the inhabitants was the termination of most broadcast signals without warning. No radio, internet or television transmissions were permitted. Because Mekhos was able to gain control over most installations, the broadcast silence was rigidly enforced. Information passed on to the public was done through printed newspapers, a difficult transition for many, who had been used to constant access to news and communications through their personal electronic devices.

  After the planet arrived in the new reality, Mekhos quickly launched several satellites to retrieve data on the solar system, and in particular the twin planet in opposite orbit. The instruments would operate as passively as possible, sending only masked signals, but would scan the area in visible and non-visible spectrums while listening for any broadcasts from the twin.

  A vehicle was being prepared to send to the twin. When it was close to its destination the vehicle would split into two parts. Each component would carry out its unique mission. Depending on the data they sent back, it might be necessary to send new instructions as a signal that could be detected by the twin’s inhabitants. A necessary risk.

  – 17 –

  Days were passing, but despite intensely diligent work by Dr. Nayar’s team of linguistic and computer language experts, the signal from FLO remained stubbornly inscrutable. If it was a test of some sort, Nayar’s team hadn’t passed. It appeared to be composed of very complex code using a sophisticated and indecipherable compression method. Without a baseline for comparison, the signal might never be decoded. It left the decision makers o
n Earth scratching their heads. Any signal intended to be easily understood would not have been so complex. Nor would it have ended at twelve-seconds, never to be repeated.

  Four weeks after the initial discovery a clinical psychologist was recruited to assist the various science teams. Dr. Miekela Persaud was brought in from New York, where she was a psychology consultant to major hospitals. Prior to that she had done psychological profiling of Indian military personnel, some of whom were being trained as astronauts. Her familiarity with the space program and her expertise in psychology would help in analyzing any understandable messages that came in from FLO, and for composing any messages to be transmitted to FLO.

  Also around the same time the news of the discovery leaked to the media. Newspapers in Asia were the first to report the existence of FLO. They even got the name and other physical details correct, so the leak had likely come from a government source, perhaps someone in the political arena that wanted to court favor with the press, or from a newly appointed insider that believed everything should be revealed to the public. The social networks exploded like erupting volcanos.

  The story was backed up by another leak in the West. The predictable fallout ensued. News outlets relentlessly pursued the story, opposition demanded governments confirm or deny the reports, the public demanded explanations from their elected representatives. Every new revelation, real and imagined, raged through the Web.

  Cults sprang up almost overnight. Survivalist web sites reported traffic increasing a hundredfold. Churches experienced dramatically increased attendance. Interestingly, crime went down for a few days. Apparently even criminals were clamoring for news about FLO, glued to their televisions and internet connections to find every bit they could. There were countless panels on television and in town halls, discussing the religious implications. Some atheists reacted with glee, since this left some of the more orthodox religious leaders scrambling for explanations, though they eventually issued statements that FLO was part of a predetermined divine plan.