by S A Pavli
We stood off and sent drones down first to get close to the surface for a good look. Our first surprise was to find what appeared to be the tops of mountains poking through the metal covering. It was an asteroid, which had been covered over, leaving only a few asymmetrical mountain peaks poking out.
We quickly found the entrance because it was impossible to miss. It was as big as a cliff face, probably was a cliff face before it was covered over, with multiple doors, some huge, some human size. Should we knock? No need. One of them was obligingly open, revealing the inside of what was obviously a large airlock. We had a conference to decide what to do next.
There was no shortage of volunteers. I knew that if I wanted to go, they could not refuse. I had got them there after all. But where I went, Manera would also insist on going, and I had no desire to put her in danger. So I did not volunteer. Which earned me some questioning looks from my colleagues. I could see them thinking does he know something we don’t?
But my plan was scuppered when Manera volunteered and as the senior scientist, pulled rank.
“What are you doing?” I asked her.
“You don’t fool me Constantine. You think by not volunteering you will stop me from going. Well, think again Earth boy!”
“You see right through me,” I grinned. My flimsy subterfuge revealed, I had no choice but to volunteer. The third member of our party was Guardian Lanatra. Commra seemed strangely reluctant to volunteer. Not that I blamed him. Who knows what awaited us. On that thought, I asked as a special dispensation to include Cora as a member of our party. This was readily agreed by all.
We thought about how we should be equipped. Should we take weapons? This was an easy one for me. Clearly the Makers had weapons beyond our comprehension, as they had already demonstrated. We were in their power, whatever we did.
The Orbital’s air lock was big enough to take a standard ship’s tender, so instead of wearing Space suits we decided to use the tender and dress normally. But the Earth ships, being military craft, had tenders which doubled as landing craft and were too big for the air lock. Our Earth colleagues would have to cross over in Space suits.The Earth teams were also made up of one civilian, one scientist and one astronaut officer. I was senior officer, so I was in command.
The moment came when we were ready to depart. All the crew gathered to wish us well as we entered the small tender. Doors shut, we checked out the craft. It would be automatically piloted with Cora of course as the back up pilot. The jets hissed and the little craft lifted away from its mooring and drifted towards the bay doors. The doors opened and we drifted out . The metallic landscape of the giant orbital was beneath us like a small world with a strangely close horizon. We drifted gently down towards the cliff face housing the airlocks.
We were the first down and as we drifted towards the open air lock. I could see the three large landing craft from the other ships approaching. The air lock was big enough to hold our tender and the nine Space suited Earthmen. They disembarked their craft and floated across to the airlock, tied together. Once in the airlock they released their safety lines. We waved and grinned at them through the glass of our tender and they gave us the thumbs up.
Now what? I thought. We’d all look pretty silly if the airlock failed to operate. But sure enough, we heard the whine of motors and the outer airlock doors began to close. I shivered as cold webbed feet seemed to crawl up and down my spine. Manera’s hand crept into mine and I turned and smiled reassuringly at her.
The doors closed fully and we heard the remote hum of the air pumps. The tender had an air pressure sensor and we watched it climb.
“Here we go,” I said. I was about to add prepare to meet your Maker, but decided that would be in bad taste. The inner doors opened and our Space suited friends trooped through first. The doors of our tender opened when the air pressure reached normal and we followed them. Waiting for us, as if it was just a normal everyday event, was an android. Recognisably human, or Hianja, its sex was indeterminate. Bald pate with even characteristics and wide grey eyes, it had a serious demeanour. It stood and looked at us, saying nothing. Our human friends were struggling to remove their Spacesuits. I spoke into my private channel.
“Alfred, translate what I say into Dansai.” I switched to external speaker and spoke.
“We have come to find the race that sent the hyperspace message to our planet.” There was a pause while the android considered this before replying.”
“Welcome to you.” It spoke in the Dansai tongue. “You are Dansai?.”
“No, we are not Dansai,” I replied. “We are from two separate species, Human and Hianja.”
The android looked around, noting the Earthmen removing their helmets and Space suits, and examining those of us without Space suits.
“You look like Dansai. I presume you are a genetically engineered species?” Put that way I felt somewhat inferior but restrained myself from making any ‘wise ass’ comment, as my boss Admiral Crozier would have said.
“We are,” I said. “We received a hyperspace signal originating from this locality. That is why we are here to investigate.”
“Then you have found what you came for,” it replied. I looked around at my colleagues and they returned looks varying from triumph to satisfaction.
“We expected to find more than one orbital, large and impressive as it is,” I said.
“You may call me Prime. I am the controlling AI for this station. Came inside and make yourselves comfortable, and I will explain,” said the android.
What a civilized fellow I thought. The Earth teams completed the removal of their Spacesuits and we all followed the android through a door into an open space. It reminded me of a bus terminus. And indeed, at the far end of the area we could see what appeared to be a couple of small vehicles which appeared to be a cross between an aircraft and a bus. There were a couple of large tunnels in the walls in both directions. The android led us to an area with seats and tables.
“It is a long time since we have had new users,” said Prime. “I am afraid we have no refreshments to offer you.” This was becoming more and more bizarre and we were all exchanging baffled looks. I seem to have been elected spokesman by common consent, so I spoke up.
“Thank you but we are all comfortable for now. Please explain, is this a transport hub for the asteroid?”
“Yes, that is correct. The vehicles you see give us high speed access to all parts of the asteroid.” The android paused for a few seconds. “Please be seated.” It waved at the seats. “This will take a while to explain.” We all found seats. I sat between Manera and Cora, and I turned to Cora and whispered.
“Cora, are you transmitting video to the ship?”
“Yes. It is not being blocked,” she replied. I nodded my satisfaction.
“The civilization you are seeking is not one but many. They called themselves The Cypraeans. The Dansai are a separate engineered species,” continued Prime. We looked at each other in surprise.
“That is not what they believe,” I said. “They believe that they evolved independently in the cluster. As did the Saraya.”
“The Saraya were engineered, as were the Dansai. But the Dansai were the first species to be engineered by the Cypraeans,” said the android. “Over hundreds of thousands of years the Cypraeans spread throughout the cluster. But as you may have noticed, the habitable planets in the cluster are few and unstable. Over a long period of time erratic climate changes are common.”
“Are you saying that the Cypraeans, have all left?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Where did they all go?”
“To the Galaxy centre..”
“But, that’s fifty thousand light years away,” someone said. “It would take us years to travel there.”
There had been talk recently of sending an expedition to the Galaxy core but there was little motivation since there appeared to be nothing different there. The huge black hole at the centre of the galaxy had been studied in great
detail at long range and it was thought that there was little to be learned from actually going there.
“Our ships are much faster,” said Prime. It did not elaborate.
“But why the centre?” I asked. “What is there that is special?”
“It is very rich in habitable planets. hundreds of them.”
Dear God I thought. hundreds of habitable planets. And you could travel between them in hours. The mind boggles!
“How long ago did they leave?” I asked.
“The migration began half a million years ago, and completed fifty thousand years ago. Eighteen planets were abandoned.”
“Have those planets been re-occupied?” I asked.
“No. They are situated on the other side of the cluster from the Dansai and their climate is too extreme for habitation. One of them is the original home world of the Cypraeans.”
“What then is the purpose of this asteroid?” I asked.
“It has two purposes. Firstly it was a repository for those who wish to leave the physical life.”
We all started in surprise and shock.
“Excuse me?” I gasped. “The dead?”
“Mostly, but not necessarily. Some prefer the virtual life.”
“Sorry. The virtual life?” This was becoming more and more confusing. The android was not too forthcoming, answering questions directly but without explanations.
“The mind of the individual is transferred to a computer substrate which is interfaced with any artificial world they desire. This is a virtual habitat.”
“What happens to the body?” asked someone.
“If it is a temporary journey, the body is maintained normally and the mind returns to the body. If it is a permanent transfer, the body dies and is disposed.”
“So, let’s get this straight. People who are about to die, can have their minds transferred to this virtual world and continue to live normally? I mean, they retain their identity and memories?” I spoke slowly and carefully, not because I thought the android would fail to understand, but because of my own disbelief.
“Yes, they retain all their memories, thought processes, character and personality. They can even continue to live in a copy of their old world if they wish.”
The afterlife made real I thought.
“And did you say, it can be temporary trip? A sort of holiday away from your body?” someone asked, appearing to be amused at their own wit. I could imagine what sort of trip he had in mind!
“Yes. Many individuals used to do this regularly,” it replied .
“And how many individuals do you have stored away here? On this orbital.”
“Only fifteen.”
We all looked at the android blankly.
“All, apart from those few, have been transferred to other habitats. They have made the journey to the new home.”
We all paused to digest this.
“And, what was the second purpose?” I asked.
“The habitat has been left here to observe events in the cluster and report back to the main civilisation.”
“So, you are in contact with your main civilisation?” I asked.
“I am afraid not,” said Prime. “We lost contact with the main civilisation many years ago. We do not know what had gone wrong. As a result we have not received technical support and repairs.”
“That is unfortunate,” I said. It was disappointing that we had come so close to finding the Makers, but it had again been snatched from our grasp. It occurred to me that, if they continued to suffer technical deterioration of the habitat, defending it would become difficult.
“Can I ask, how did you disable our first ship?” I wasn’t sure it would answer my question but I was curious. It was worth a try.
“It is not a weapon that you would be familiar with. We use a long range gravitation displacement generator to stifle the fusion reaction. As long as it is focused on the ship, the fusion reactors are disabled.”
“You could have just communicated with them,” I pointed out.
“In the past, I have discovered that what biological life forms say, and what they do, are often different. Particularly the reptilian Saraya. There have been a number of attacks on this orbital. I cannot take any chances.”
Fair enough! I thought.
“Are we able to talk to the individuals left behind? We came here to find those we call the Makers. Those that are living inside this habitat are the closest we will get to them.”
“They will be delighted to see that their children have survived and prospered.” said Prime.
“Their children?” I shook my head enquiringly. Prime looked around the room.
“You. All of you.”
Chapter 20
I don’t know about the others, but I did not know whether to feel humbled, disbelieving or incredulous. We were after all in the presence of our Makers. Except that anyone who was truly religious would cry ‘blasphemy’! So I confined myself to an understated “That’s… amazing.”
“Damn!” someone muttered. “Fifty thousand years?”
“How can you live for fifty thousand years?” someone else asked.
“That’s a lot of…a lot of everything.”
“Dear God,” said Manera. “No one could stay sane for that long.” It was a worrying thought and I turned to her with a questioning look.”
“Seriously?”
She shrugged and turned to the android.
“Perhaps Prime can explain?”
“Yes of course. I can understand your concerns. It would be impossible to stay sane for that long. Indeed, it would be impossible to want to live for that long. But within this virtual universe, no one individual keeps the same identity or the same memories for more than a few hundred years. They are reborn with a new identity and live a new life with no memory of the previous one.”
“Can you come back as…anyone?” a female officer asked.
“You can come back as a child and grow to maturity with new experiences. It is a universe that duplicates this physical one in almost every detail. Except one. We prevent extreme evil. But unhappiness, infidelity, depression and all the sins of the flesh are part of life and without them we could not appreciate their opposites.”
“Blimey, I thought. A philosophical robot!”
“But all this can be better explained by your friends, the Cypraeans themselves. They are waiting to speak to you.”
“Wait a minute.” I held up a hand. “If these individuals are thousands of years old, they will not have their original memories surely?”
“That is correct,” said Prime. “Their memories are stored after each life. They have been awakened and their first and earliest memories restored.”
“Their fifty thousand year old memories restored? That is remarkable.” I shook my head in disbelief. “I wish my thirty year old memories could be restored.” I said it ruefully, as a joke, but the android replied.
“That is quite possible. They are buried away in your subconscious, but retrievable.”
“I, or anyone, could go back and relive their youth?” I asked.
“Yes, you are welcome to do so.”
“Thank you, maybe later. For now, let’s not keep our friends waiting. They have already waited for fifty thousand years.” There was laughter around the room at my quip, perhaps more than it deserved because I suspect we were all somewhat overawed by what was about to happen. I knew the events were being recorded by Cora and uploaded to the ships. Also, everyone had their personal comm recorders running.
The android turned and a huge piece of the wall opposite became a 3D screen. The view was of a spectacular cityscape. We were on the top floor of a building looking across at the soaring structures in steel glass and concrete that spread as far as the eye could see. Above us, AG vehicles like dumpy bumble bees flew in regimented streams across a cloudless blue sky. It reminded me of the capital city of Hian, except that the buildings were impossibly shaped. There was arches, spires and domes supported, it se
emed, by seemingly flimsy structures, more art than building. Magnificent bridges connected buildings as well as walkways and narrow roads hundreds of feet in the air carrying small vehicles. I could also see pretty little gardens and ‘greenery’, some of them hundreds or thousands of feet above the ground. It was exactly how one would imagine a futuristic city, and more.
It was all so real, I had to remind myself that it was a virtual illusion. We were on a veranda high above the ground and the view turned to reveal a group of individuals standing with their backs to the cityscape. They were the same feline looking aliens that we had seen on the murals in the HCD asteroid. They were about our height, but slender and childlike in their appearance. They all had spectacularly multi-coloured growths around their heads, like a mane, beautifully arranged. Large wide set eyes and full sensitive lips completed the impression of a highly developed species. But their faces were immature and the girls bodies hardly developed. The men, were dressed simply in shirts and loose short trousers to just below the knees. The ladies wore tight fitting colourfully embroidered blouses with short skirts and flesh coloured tights. One, a young girl with a red mane held in place by a golden clasp stepped forward and started speaking in Dansai.
“Welcome dear friends. My name is Jana. This is the city of Sentrani. It existed on the planet Tela, fifteen light years from where we are. This is a precise copy of it.” She waved a slender elegant hand at the cityscape. “We lived there more than fifty thousand years ago. It was the centre of the Cypraean civilization.” She looked out of the screen at us, looking so lifelike I could almost believe she was with us in person. She looked at me with hypnotic sea green eyes.
“You are the leader of this group?”
“Yes, I am Paul Constantine from planet Earth. This expedition is made up of ships from two different civilizations, Earth and Hianja.”
“It is pleasing to us that your two civilizations have discovered each other. When did this happen?” she asked.
“Not so long ago, less than a year in fact. It was that discovery and the receipt of your hyperspace message that led to this expedition.”
