Encounters (The Spiral Slayers Book 1)

by Rusty Williamson

  ---

  Adamarus was getting dressed when they got to his room. His nose was bandaged, but otherwise he looked fine. He looked up at them as he buttoned his shirt. “Well, that was fun.” That got some smiles. “But I hear it worked.”

  Leewood said, “Really, it was Harrington’s charm.” Harrington smiled sweetly on cue.

  Adamarus sat on the bed and put his shoes on. “So, what’s the schedule?”

  “Bugs, or rather his avatar, will meet us in the situation room in…” Leewood consulted his watch, “fifty minutes. Bugs has promised to answer all our questions.”

  ---

  A little before the appointed time, Adamarus and Harrington were there waiting along with the two guards. Ten minutes previously, the light outside the listening chamber’s door turned red. A minute later, the light turned green again. The door opened, releasing white mist and cold air, and the five-foot metallic robot that was Bug’s avatar stepped out. Condensation immediately formed on its almost cute form, fogging the few chrome areas and the bluish metal. Cold radiated off of it.

  The head turned, looking at each one with its two black eyes, then returned to Adamarus. “It is good to see you, Adamarus. I am glad I did not kill you.”

  Adamarus raised an eyebrow, “Hello, Bugs. I too am glad that you did not kill me.”

  Bugs turned to Harrington, “Lorraine Harrington, hello. It is good to see you again.”

  Harrington nodded her head.

  Bugs turned to the guards intending to continue pleasantries, but Adamarus waved his hand in front of its eyes, “Bugs, please come this way, okay?” Bugs hesitated for only the briefest moment then followed Adamarus and Harrington.

  There were a dozen people in the situation room including Woodworth and Leewood. They sat around a large conference table. Three of the screens along the wall were active, showing the President and two top advisors who were teleconferencing in. Adamarus and Harrington led Bugs to the head of the table indicating this was his place, and then took their own seats. Bugs did not attempt to use the chair and remained standing.

  The President started right in, “Bugs, all of us are devastated by the horrific news of your home system and your…people. The magnitude of the tragedy is unimaginable. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help or if there is anything you need.”

  Bugs said, “Thank you, President Wicker. We will do that. Right now I have a request: that you ask the questions that I know you must have.”

  The President nodded then turned to Leewood. “Commander Leewood…”

  Leewood nodded back and then looked at Bugs. “Bugs, what can you tell us about the attack on your star system?”

  Bugs’ head swiveled from the President to Leewood. “Not much, I’m afraid. What we know is from the ship we encountered. Our world detected the alien ship on long-range Tachyon scanners forty-five years after we left. Ten years later, our world dispatched a fourth ship here to inform us of the development.”

  “Surely some type of communication could have been sent to you and/or the ship that was sent here,” Leewood said.

  “Outside of pre-arranged signals, superluminal communication such as our Tachyon com system will not work over interstellar distances. After about three light years, the increasing lines of probability blur the signal and the only thing that can be determined are fairly large energy discharges. It is true that a light speed message would have arrived a little sooner than the ship, but then…‘you’ would have detected the message and we did not wish to alert you to our presence until we had studied you and decided it was safe. We sent a message to our world the day after our first meeting with Adamarus okaying communications, but that message was traveling at light speed and it will take over one hundred years to arrive. At this time, our only two sources of information are from the ship we encountered and the Tachyon scans of our system.”

  This information hit everyone hard. No one had known how much information they would be getting, but they had all thought that it would be much more. They had hoped for firsthand accounts on what the black hole had done when it reached the Loud’s star system; what, if any, communication had taken place between the Loud and the aliens; and finally, how an attack from a black hole was even possible? They had also expected information on how the attack had started and progressed and what kind of weapons both sides had used.

  Adamarus had been told that the ship they had intercepted had left well before the alien had reached the Loud’s world. Had they thought it through, they would have realized that no direct lines of communication existed—that meaningful information had no way to get through. But no one had and the disappointment was obvious.

  When no one said anything, Bugs continued, “We do know, however, that our world planned to break communication silence should the alien ship turn out to be hostile. Therefore, we can assume that some information is en route and should arrive in about one hundred years.” This revelation restored some of the dark mood. Bugs continued, “Shortly after we encountered our ship and, coinciding with the estimated arrival of the alien, Tachyon scans showed enormous amounts of energy being released within our system. The only explanation for this seemed to be a massive and powerful attack by the alien ship. Three weeks after the attack, Tachyon scans showed our sun exploding.” Bugs’ avatar seemed to stagger slightly, but it was subtle.

  Alarmed, Leewood said, “Are you okay, Bugs? Do you need a break?”

  “No…I am not alright. None of us are. This is the reason we did not anticipate your need for additional information. In retrospect, given the things we have told you, it is obvious and I apologize for this oversight. No, I do not need a break. I have been medicated so that I can function well enough to answer your questions.”

  “All right,” Leewood said. “We greatly appreciate your efforts. Can you tell us everything you learned from the ship you encountered?”

  “Yes. My world detected a gigantic black hole with an event horizon measuring ninety million miles in diameter approaching at just below the speed of light. It was maintaining a precise deceleration curve, indicating that it was not a natural object. This told us that it was a ship that was capable of controlling and using a black hole and that the ship’s destination was our home planet.”

  “I see.” Leewood consulted his notes again.

  Adamarus noticed that Leewood’s hands were shaking a little. It was obvious that, like everyone else, he was feeling overwhelmed by disappointment, frustration and the raw fear of the unthinkable object coming at them.

  Finally, Leewood looked up, and doing his best to keep his voice level, he asked, “So, between the time the alien was first detected and the time the ship left to come here, your world learned nothing else about the alien?” Leewood shook his head in frustration and held out his hand, beseeching the avatar, “So, you do not know…” Leewood touched his first finger, “who the aliens are,” he touched the second finger, “where they came from or,” he touched his third finger “why they attacked you?”

  “No,” the Loud replied. Leewood and Adamarus exchanged looks. Adamarus subtly shrugged, indicating that he must have been wrong about Bugs knowing who the aliens were. Bugs continued without noticing, “They could not know of the ship’s intentions at that point, but were aware that the possibility of hostile intent existed. Also, seeing how advanced the race was, they knew that if the ship were hostile, they would not be able to win a conflict with it. They decided to send one ship out to our location to inform us of the development just in case it did have hostile intents.”

  “Do you know, from the ship they sent, if plans were made to attempt to communicate with the ship?”

  “There was no actual planning done before the ship left. However, it is a certainty that every effort would have been made to communicate with the aliens. I imagine efforts started as soon as the ship was within range—say three light years away—and continued up until the end.”

  “You said that your planet knew that the p
ossibility of hostile intent might exist. Do you know what efforts were made to defend your world against these aliens?”

  “As I said, seeing how they could control a black hole, we knew they were far more advanced than us and that an armed conflict would be hopeless.”

  Leewood stared at Bugs in confusion for half a minute before carefully asking, “Bugs, do you mean to say that your world made no attempt to defend itself once it was attacked?” Leewood could not keep the incredibility out of his voice.

  Bugs replied, “That the alien would win any armed conflict with my planet was a certainty. Therefore, the efforts and cost to prepare a defense would be simply a waste of time and resources.”

  Everyone around the table started talking in low voices. Leewood and the President exchanged meaningful looks then Leewood knocked on the table with his knuckles to silence the talking. “Bugs, does your world have any…weapons of war? Are your ships in orbit armed in any way?”

  “No and no.”

  “I see. Okay, do you know if your world, knowing that the possibility of hostile intent existed, might have evacuated some portion of its population, say in a large ark ship?”

  “Yes, the ship we encountered. It was the only other space craft that existed and there was not enough time to build and test another ship.”

  Leewood started to question that statement but then changed his mind. Instead he asked the next question, “Bugs, you said that your Tachyon scope showed large amounts of energy being released three weeks before your star exploded. What can you tell us about this energy release: how much, what type, how long this lasted? Anything will be helpful.”

  “Tachyon scans are not too good at showing these things. From what we could tell, there were energy peaks of (≈1046 joules)[21], but that is all we can tell. The type cannot be determined. The energy releases lasted 29.207 hours then stopped. There was a twenty-hour break followed by a second energy release of much larger magnitude for a period of twenty-eight minutes. This is all we can really be sure of from the scans.”

  Leewood leaned back and consulted his notes for a minute, then asked “Alright, does anyone else have anything?”

  Adamarus leaned forward, “Bugs, what’s the rotation period for your planet?”

  Bugs’ head swiveled towards Adamarus and considered him for a minute. Finally it said, “Very good, Adamarus.” Everyone looked a little confused except Adamarus. Bugs continued, “It is 29.207 hours. Yes, it appears as though the alien ship may have stood off and destroyed our world as it made a single rotation below it. Then, it seems to have fired some kind of weapon at our sun, which damaged it enough to cause it to explode three weeks later. After it accomplished this, it simply left.”

  ---

  Before the meeting had adjourned, the President requested they all consider what Bugs had told them—“sleep on it”—that important follow-up questions would arise by the next morning that would need answers. He apologized to Bugs, explaining that this was the way his species assimilated information. He asked if Bugs could possibly meet with them again the next day at twelve noon, and informed the alien that they would try not to bother it further unless it was absolutely necessary, for as long as the Loud needed to come to terms with the disaster that had befallen their home world. Bugs had reluctantly agreed. Then the avatar simply went inactive, standing there like a statue.

  When they got back to the situation room, refreshments and sandwiches were brought in and a follow-up meeting was held. The President and the two other high-ranking men teleconferenced into the meeting also had lunch brought in.

  “I can’t believe that they just did nothing! Did they just stand there and let these aliens wipe them out?” Leewood said.

  “You can’t apply human values to them,” Woodworth said.

  The President shook his head as he stirred his cup of tea, “True, but Leewood’s question is a good one. I mean…what did they do when the ship started firing at them? Did they run? Did they hide? Or did they just stand there and die?”

  Adamarus washed down a bite of ham and cheese sandwich with mineral water and dabbed his mouth. “Well, we won’t be doing that, right?” He got nods from the others. “And I’m hoping the Loud will see things our way and help us – if not directly fighting, then by using some of that thousand years of advanced technology they have to improve our chances!”

  “Absolutely! And that’s what we’ll discuss with the Loud tomorrow,” the President replied.

  Woodworth spoke up, “If I may ask, what, if anything, do we have right now as far as weapons of war? The last war we fought was over fifty years ago. Are we pretty much starting completely from scratch?”

  Leewood said, “Almost. We still have the ten battleships that settled our last conflict, though I cannot say what shape they are in.”

  Woodworth replied, “About fifteen years ago, I visited Anderson, and while there, I toured the Leviathan class Battleship Victory. It seemed to be well-maintained, but whether or not it still worked…” Woodworth trailed off as he looked over to the one man who would know—the President. Then everyone followed suit.

  The President, noticing all eyes on him, gave a helpless smile. “Honestly, I’m not sure, but I will find out and let you know.”

  Adamarus spoke up, “Mr. President, we need to take stock of what we have and then decide how best to use the time we have left to prepare for this alien ship. What about the original facilities that built those ships?” He looked around to see if anyone had the answer, but saw that everyone was looking at Wicker, so he turned back to the President as well.

  President Wicker set down his cup of tea and looked back at them. “I guess I need to explain that there are certain things that I cannot disclose without going through proper channels. Safeties were put in place to protect everyone—it is that system of checks and balances—remember that? Rest assured this will be my top priority, but it may take several days…” the President looked away for a moment then refocused on the camera, “…it might take as long as a week, I guess. This has all happened so quickly. Under the circumstances, I think I can tell you that we have things…that will help. We won’t be starting with only ten fifty-year-old relics but,” he held up his hands in an apologetic manner, “more than that I am not at liberty to say just yet. However, even if it were just those ten battleships, one big problem we face is trained and experienced people. No crew has manned a battleship and very few have flown a fighter craft in forty years.”

  ---

  The next day, at the second meeting with the Loud, “We need to understand this a little better, Bugs, and we’re hoping you can help us,” Leewood said. The same group as yesterday was gathered and to everyone’s relief, Bugs seemed less stressed…less robotic. Also, before Bugs had joined the group, Harrington had initiated a strategy at the start of the meeting—she had refused to sit down. When asked why, she told them that yesterday it had been uncomfortable with everyone sitting while Bugs had remained standing. At once everyone had agreed, so they were all standing, some holding the backs of their chairs, some standing at parade rest and others, like Leewood, pacing back and forth. The meeting had only just started, but it was obvious by the way Bugs’ head swiveled from one of them to another that he had noticed something.

  It was the third day since they had found out that a civilization that was 1,000 years more advanced had been wiped out…in a single day. Found out that the thing that had done this was an unbelievably huge black hole that was now coming straight for them and coming at almost the speed of light. Every person there looked 10 years older…as if the Loud’s anti-aging treatment had stopped working.

  To one degree or another, everyone assembled there was in a state of disbelief and shock. And everyone there was utterly exhausted for no one was sleeping much. Some of them had broken out in welts or hives. Irritability, tempers, headaches, bloodshot eyes, stomachaches and chest pains were all signs that the stress was taking a heavy toll. In these circumstances, humans always sou
ght a release of some kind, so when they found themselves all standing instead of sitting, and Bugs looking from person to person and then chair to chair, all of them had trouble keeping a straight face, despite the dire circumstances.

  “Of course, I will do all I can to help you.” Bugs replied. Its head swiveled from one person to another again, and then it looked lower and went from one chair to another again.

  “Excellent,” Leewood said. “Right now, the alien ship looks to us like an enormous black hole—its diameter is ninety million miles. Do you know, from the ship that left your system, if the object we are seeing is similar to what your planet saw?”

  “Yes, it is the same.”

  Leewood stopped pacing and turned to the Loud, placing his hands on his hips. “While we know this object is moving in ways that a natural object—indeed a natural black hole—could not…we cannot imagine how this black hole can be an alien ship. Your race is more advanced than ours, and so we are hoping that you understand how this black hole could possibly be a ship. Can you help us understand this?”

  Bugs stepped forward and grabbed the back of his chair with both hands, imitating how some of the humans were standing. “Sometimes I wonder which of our races understands ‘certain’ things better.” He pulled his chair out, stepped around and turned as if he were going to sit, but then remained standing and crossed his arms in a very human-like manner. “But I believe one thing is true,” one arm raised up and rubbed what would be the closest thing to a chin the robot had, then he sat down in the chair, scooted it up to the table and then placed his arms upon the table. Being only five feet high, the chair was definitely too low for him. “Your race appears to be a lot sneakier than ours.” He opened his arms indicating that the rest should also sit. Everyone laughed as they sat down, a release they desperately needed. Now they looked down at Bugs and it had to look up at them. “But your antics to gain slight psychological advantages…” his neck began to extend out from his chest, raising his head until he was again looking down at everyone else, “…is at times too obvious.” Bugs then said, “Are we all more comfortable now?”