by Adair Hart
When Dr. Snowden arrived at the conference room, he noted Emily had on her survival suit and was already seated. The suit had a solid light-gray material as the base layer, with dark-gray fiberglass-like padding covering the major sections of the body. There was a belt that had several pouches on it and a slot to hold her PSD. It reminded him a bit of Evaran’s outfit, but much darker.
Evaran sat at the end of the rectangular conference table, with Emily to his left. V in body mode was seated on the right.
Dr. Snowden had come to enjoy this room. It existed outside normal space and time in its own dimension. Dimensional mechanics as Evaran had called it. The room had matter replicators that could make any type of food it had a pattern for. Dr. Snowden had spent many a morning enjoying his coffee here, and also good conversations over dinner. He took a seat next to Emily.
“Now that we are all here, let me show you where I am being summoned to,” said Evaran. He tapped at the embedded console in front of him. A projection shot up from the middle of the table, showing a map of the Milky Way galaxy. He pointed at a red dot on it. “We are going there, in the year 3104. I am not sure what awaits us, but it is approximately seven hundred forty light-years away from Earth.”
Emily wrinkled her eyebrows. “Can’t you look it up? I thought you had all the milestones of humanity.”
“I do. However, they are, for the most part, extremely high level. Most of the events are pulled from sources in the future, and I make sure to only grab the event title, not the details. For instance, with the Fredorian Arkaron event, the title was, ‘Fredoria finds the lost Arkaron and grows in power due to trade deal with the Kreagan Star Empire.’ That was it. When I first came to Earth, I spent some time traveling humanity’s timescape. It is larger than you might realize. What I do know is that Earth was one of the founders of an empire named the United Planets from around this time period. I suspect whatever is waiting for us there will involve that to some degree. I do not know if they have reached this far out into space, but we will find out.”
“Oh,” said Emily.
Dr. Snowden scooted to the edge of his seat. “It’s quite a bit away from Earth. If we did expand out this far, I would think travel time and communications would be rough.”
“Indeed. However, humanity has learned the basics of condensed space travel and long-distance communications in this time period,” said Evaran. “We will need to be careful.”
Dr. Snowden raised his eyebrows. “Even when we are careful, danger seems to follow.” He glanced at Emily.
Emily shrugged.
“There is always that possibility. Are we ready to go?” asked Evaran.
Dr. Snowden and Emily both nodded and then assembled in the command center.
Dr. Snowden sat in one of the U-shaped seating areas to the sides of Evaran’s command chair. He liked the layout of the ship in general. It had an entrance in the back, with three doors on each side that led off to dimensional rooms that existed outside normal space. He remembered seeing the rooms for the first time and trying to figure out if it was a display trick, but they were real. A lift to the roof was in front of the entrance. Ramps hugged the sides of the ship and led to a central walkway that separated the entrance area from the command center.
He had spent a lot of time in the command center. It was roughly one-third of the main area of the ship. Evaran’s command chair sat in the top center of it, with ramps leading to a depressed area.
His eyes focused on the immediate front of the ship. V stood before a U-shaped console that had three angled holographic layers above it. Dr. Snowden had learned how to operate it, and it was more intuitive than he had originally thought. The front wall was one screen, but usually split into a left and right screen. He recalled that the left screen showed a real-time view outside the ship and the right was more for tactical views or information.
“V, take us out,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged,” said V as his hands flew over the console.
The Torvatta ascended through cloud cover and reached space. It flew a bit away from Kamala before holding position. It then shot out a gold beam that formed a silver-ringed portal with a light-blue rippled surface.
Dr. Snowden enjoyed seeing the portal formation. He had come to understand that the colors of the beam, the portal ring, and the surface corresponded to where they were going. He had seen it change color when they went to another timeline, and once again when they went to a pocket universe.
The Torvatta flew through the portal into a tunnel with pinpoints of light appearing then disappearing as fast as he could register them. They exited the tunnel into deep space.
Dr. Snowden scanned the front left screen, then the right one. “I don’t see anything …”
“We are in the interstellar medium outside the solar system of our destination, roughly two light-years away. We need to go forward in time still, then head in,” said Evaran.
“Why didn’t we head in and time warp there?”
“I do not know what is there. We could be entering into a hostile situation.”
“We could stealth,” said Dr. Snowden.
Evaran shook his head. “It should appear that we are coming into the solar system like a normal ship. Whatever authority claims the space will then contact us without dealing with something appearing out of nowhere.”
Dr. Snowden bobbed his head. “Fair enough.”
The left screen showed the stars fade out, then shimmer back into view.
“We have arrived on June 13, 3104 at six a.m., Earth time,” said V.
“Excellent,” said Evaran.
Dr. Snowden remembered the uneasy feeling that had swept over him the first time he had seen the Torvatta go through time. How it worked was beyond him, and Evaran never fully explained it. Maybe it was a feature of the Torvatta that even he did not understand. Evaran said that he would explain it sometime, which always seemed to be pushed back.
“Now we go in,” said Evaran. “V.”
“Acknowledged.”
The Torvatta angled itself toward the solar system and flew in. After three hours, they passed the first planet, and several red dots appeared on the solar-system map.
“Analysis. Seven ships of unknown configuration headed at an intercept angle.”
“Hold position.”
“Acknowledged.”
Dr. Snowden watched the ship wireframe on the right screen that showed thruster activity. It showed the middle of the Torvatta pivot 180 degrees, then fire the main thrusters. He observed the speedometer decreasing. It made sense that to slow their inertia, they would have to fire in the direction they had momentum in. Being able to rotate the ship quickly to fire in any direction was something the Torvatta had as an advantage. He remembered seeing it in action before but also knew there were thrusters in the front and sides and that they could be angled. Those were probably more for steering.
After twenty minutes, an image of the ships appeared on the left screen. One was much larger than the others.
Dr. Snowden figured they were fighter craft of some sort. The profile of the larger ship was unusual to him. It reminded him a bit of the Torvatta, except the ship’s profile was much larger and more flattened. On the backside were two large finlike pieces that looked like they were clamped on. The gap between the top part and the bottom part was a mix between glowing blue panels and what appeared to be metallic ones. He did not see anything that resembled a bridge. If anything, the top surface and underside were smooth, to the point that the only discernible feature on them were raised bumps, some segmented lines, and a symbol of three circles with a triangle in the middle.
Dr. Snowden pointed at the symbol. “Umm … I hope that’s not a derivative of what I think it is.”
Evaran shook his head with a smile. “No, it is a United Planets symbol, according to the Torvatta symbol registry.”
Dr. Snowden exhaled from his nose. The last time he saw a symbol with circles and triangles, it was the timeline-inva
ding Purifiers. The six smaller ships flying off to the side looked like cylindrical cannons with triangular-shaped wings on the top and bottom and to the sides. Between the wings were slits that were lit blue. He was beginning to sense a pattern in the design. They looked too small to house a human. Probably support drones of some type. He also noticed that the ship was not in front of them, but above them and to the side, relative to their position. Ships meeting face-to-face was something he saw in science fiction, but he knew that in space, it could be in any direction.
Evaran raised a hand. “Set Torvatta scan profile two.”
“Acknowledged,” said V. His hands went to work on the front console, and after a moment, he said, “Torvatta scan profile two activated. Shields weakening now.”
When the lead ship was in range, it shot a beam that washed over the Torvatta.
“They are attempting to contact us. Analyzing communication protocol,” said V.
“Once established, transfer it to full screen,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged,” said V. After a moment, he said, “Communication protocol established. Transferring visual.”
The front screen changed to a live feed of a metallic humanoid sitting in a command chair. In front of him was a row of workstations manned by humanoid robots and other humanoids like the one in the command chair. The robots had polygonal robotic faces with a single red eye encased in a steel cylinder as the main facial feature. Their bodies looked like they had the bare essentials of legs, arms, and a segmented coil that served as a backbone to a semitransparent chest plate.
In contrast, the other robotic humanoids had a white faceplate that mimicked a human face, with a body that had dark-gray metallic skin with lines that segmented it into sections. The humanoid in the command chair had a United Planets symbol emblazoned on the right side of its chest.
It was the furry four-foot humanoids in the back, and some on the side, that caught Dr. Snowden’s attention. They reminded him of what a meerkat would look like it if were humanoid. They had on a different type of suit than the humans and robots. His attention focused on the humanoid as he spoke in a soft yet commanding voice.
“I am Z7, a United Planets Bureau of Law Enforcement agent. You have entered Kalesh space. Please identify yourself.”
Evaran stood and bowed with his left hand across his stomach. “I am Evaran, and this is my ship, the Torvatta. I have with me Dr. Albert Snowden, Emily Snowden, and V. We are explorers and new to this region of space. We only seek a place to stock up and take a break from our travels.” He reached into a small compartment on the side of his chair and pulled out a small device. “If it helps, we do have some identification you may be familiar with.”
Dr. Snowden noted it was the device that had been given to them by the Helians, a nonhuman power group that essentially ran Earth in the past. It was meant to identify Evaran to humanity via the Evaran Protocol, something established in their last adventure.
A beam washed over the Torvatta again.
Z7 tilted his head for a moment, then straightened it. “An ancient identification, but it is valid. You have been cleared to enter Kalesh space. I am relaying to you the coordinates of the Corunus station above Roeth, fourth planet from the sun and home world of the Kalesh. Proceed there to receive final clearance. So you are aware, your ship will be monitored at all times. United Planets and Kalesh regulations have been sent. Please confirm you have received them.”
Evaran looked at V.
“Regulations received.”
“Please read through them prior to your arrival at Corunus,” said Z7.
“We will. Thank you,” said Evaran.
The screen flashed off.
“Once we are out of range, revert back to Torvatta scan profile one,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged.”
“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” said Dr. Snowden. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Torvatta scanned before. What was all that scan profile stuff?”
Evaran raised a finger. “Profile one is the default, and when active, the shields are fully powered and the Torvatta appears to not exist. Profile two weakens the shields and returns to the scanner a small ship with low power, no dimensional rooms or weapons, and cramped quarters.”
“Ha!” said Dr. Snowden. “You deceived them.”
“If I did not deceive them, they would visually see a ship that should not exist. That may be cause for investigation on their part.”
Dr. Snowden looked at Evaran. “Like you did on Kreagus. And I’m going to guess Z7 was an android or something?”
“You are correct. Z7 was an android. The robots around him did not have the same level of sophistication. I suspect the robotic aspect of their form was intentional.”
“Who were the furry ones?” asked Emily.
“They were most likely Kalesh. We will learn more on Corunus.”
Dr. Snowden smirked. “Well, let’s hope this goes a lot smoother than the last time.” He remembered the previous time they were given clearance. They were jailed shortly after landing.
“I concur,” said Evaran. “V, take us in.”
“Acknowledged.”
After an hour and a half of flying through mostly empty space, the Torvatta reached the Corunus space station that Z7 had directed them to. The left screen showed it in mid orbit over Roeth.
Dr. Snowden was impressed at how fast the Torvatta could move in normal space. Even without portals, it did one light-year in about two hours. He suspected they could have done that entering the system instead of going for three hours until they met something, but if they wanted to appear normal, it made sense to travel at a lower speed until met by whatever authority claimed the space.
Corunus had a spherical center, surrounded by a ring attached by large cylindrical connectors. Extending out from the ring were smaller arms. Larger ships were docked at the end of it, while smaller ships were coming and going from hangar bays on the sides.
While the station was impressive to Dr. Snowden, it was the right screen with the solar-system map that showed blue dots surrounding the sun that caught his attention. He pointed at it and looked at Evaran. “What are those?”
Evaran perused his ARI for a moment, then faced Dr. Snowden. “It appears to be what you would refer to as a Dyson bubble, or at least the beginnings of one.”
Dr. Snowden’s eyes popped open. “Seriously?”
“Yes. According to the long-range scans, there are one hundred twenty-two structures. I am not sure if they are collectors or habitats or a mix.”
Emily wrinkled her eyebrows. “I remember reading something about these long ago. I always thought that they had a shell or something.”
Dr. Snowden wagged a finger at her. “In a Dyson sphere, yes. A Dyson bubble is a variant of a Dyson swarm. They are a bunch of geosynchronous structures that are independent of each other. It’s a lot more feasible from an engineering perspective, at least from what I know of it.”
“We can check them out after this summons is dealt with,” said Evaran.
Dr. Snowden’s eyes lit up.
“Docking authorization received,” said V.
“Take us in,” said Evaran.
“Acknowledged.”
The Torvatta approached Corunus.
Dr. Snowden watched the left screen highlight the hangar bay they were to go to.
The door slid open, revealing a smoke-colored semitransparent shield. Several small drone ships escorted the Torvatta up to the hangar bay door. The Torvatta passed through the shield and landed.
Dr. Snowden noted that the door was sliding back when they went through the shield, effectively sealing them in. Security and docking protocols seemed much more formalized out here. They did not mess around. At least it would not be another human-supremacist situation.
Evaran stood and waved toward the Torvatta exit. “I do not think you will need your suits. Come.”
Dr. Snowden watched Emily follow Evaran. He turned toward V. “Are you coming th
is time?”
“Yes, but in body mode.”
Dr. Snowden grinned. “Great. I’m glad you’re coming with us.”
V’s chest lights glowed a bit brighter. “Acknowledged.”
Dr. Snowden knew V would have preferred orb mode, but given they had seen androids and humanoid robots earlier, V’s body mode would blend in better. He exited the Torvatta with V and rendezvoused with Evaran and Emily in the now-sealed docking bay.
They headed toward a doorway opposite the hangar bay door. It hissed, then slid to the side, revealing a small tunnel. After everyone stepped in, the door closed.
Dr. Snowden noticed the other side of the tunnel was sealed. He jumped when a flat layer of light rose from the floor to the ceiling and a mist shot out of several points in the ceiling. The smell reminded him of bleach. Looking around, he said, “What is all this?”
“Decontamination,” said Evaran. “They are also scanning our internals, or trying to anyways. It is similar to what the Helian structure did on Atlantis.”
“Oh … ,” said Dr. Snowden. “That was after we were outside the ship, though.”
Evaran raised a finger. “Not quite. The landing pad scanned us as soon as we stepped out. It would have formed a bubble shield if it detected anything.”
“I didn’t even notice. Huh. At least this one is more visible.”
The door opposite the one they came through slid back. They entered into a large hallway and began to walk down it, following large green arrows on the ground pointed toward the interior ring.
Dr. Snowden wrinkled his nose as they exited the tunnel. The smell of steak seemed soaked into the environment. As they passed by other hangars, he could see other ships, although he did not recognize any of their designs.
After walking the length of the hallway, they entered a room that was dome shaped, with a section off to the right that had a freestanding table surrounded by chairs. To the left were four humanoid robot guards.
