Encounters (The Spiral Slayers Book 1)

by Rusty Williamson

  Leewood smiled widely, “We are all glad that you seem to feel better today.”

  Bugs said, “Improving moods, even in dire circumstances, seems to be a gift your species has and, I must admit, one that we could use more of. There is no doubt that this improves functionality and it is during dire circumstances that this is needed most.” The avatar looked around and then shocked everyone by drumming the “fingers” of one manipulator. “But returning to the business at hand, actually the ship that returned with us, during its voyage here, gave a lot of thought to the Blackship and how such a thing could work.”

  Leewood interrupted, “Blackship?”

  “This is what we call this type of ship because it is powered by a black hole. As you know, our ships are powered by engines that use gravity waves. This knowledge was one of the first useful things that our translators extracted from the super speck vibrations. The basic principles are the same but on a much larger scale. In addition, methods, technologies, and exotic materials for manipulating a singularity which are unknown to us are being used.”

  Leewood nodded. “But where is the ship? Is it inside the event horizon?”

  “This is not my specialty, but I had a briefing on this so I will try to answer your questions, and if I can’t, I can probably find out. Yes, to the best of our knowledge, the ship resides within the event horizon.”

  “How can it survive there?”

  “Gravitational forces, no matter how strong, can be bent, reflected and reversed so that a ZOB, or zone of balance, is created. Upon this structure, a BOS, or bubble of stability, can be created. The ship may sit above the singularity controlling it with some sort of zero mass structures.” Everyone was lost and it showed. Bugs seemed to sense this. “Some of these techniques are known to us and, on smaller scales, have been created in our labs. Although I know and can quote some of the basic principles and techniques, as I said, this is not my specialty and I do not really know the underlying science.”

  Leewood had lost track of his line of questioning and had to consult his PDA. “Let’s see…from our studies and our theories of black holes, nothing can escape once it is inside the event horizon. Does the ship simply stay there…was the attack which you said you detected on your Tachyon scope somehow made by forces or devices which are outside the event horizon?”

  “This is another problem we have been studying,” Bugs replied. “As I understand it, they may be using a mathematical anomaly. It has to do with singularities which…”

  President Wicker interrupted in an uncharacteristically meek voice, “I must ask a stupid question…”

  Leewood, attempting to save face for Wicker, evoked the old adage, “There are no stupid questions, sir.”

  The President gave him a grateful look, “Yes, well then, what exactly is a singularity?”

  Leewood turned to give his full attention to President Wicker, “I will try to explain, Mr. President. Picture an immense star—a red super giant a thousand times larger than our sun. It has enormous volume (i.e. its size or the space it takes up) and it also has enormous mass (how much matter it contains). While the nuclear reactions at its core are strong enough, it holds off all the gravity created by the star’s mass and the star’s huge size is supported. Do you have that picture?”

  “Yes, go on.”

  “Now imagine that the nuclear reaction runs out of fuel and stops. Suddenly the immense gravity causes the star to collapse inward and the massive star gets smaller and smaller. As this happens, its gravity grows stronger and stronger because it is all contained in a smaller and smaller volume. This in turn causes the star to fall in on itself with more and more force, faster and faster. Now, for simplicity, I’m going to skip some of the details okay?” The President nodded.

  “The giant star’s matter is getting packed together tighter and tighter (i.e. the star’s density is increasing). Soon it becomes packed so tight that atoms are crushed together, and then the subatomic particles are crushed together. All this time, the star’s gravity increases as it gets smaller and smaller until its volume becomes microscopic and finally zero—there is no volume. At this point, its gravitational force reaches infinity. This is called ‘the singularity.’” Leewood paused to let this sink in then continued. “At this point, even light gets trapped by the gravity. Light tries to radiate away from the singularity, but at some distance away from the singularity, the light is pulled back. The distance depends on how much mass the singularity contains. So the point at which light is pulled back is called an ‘event horizon’ because no ‘event,’ that is, no information, not even light, can escape beyond this point. All is trapped within, and anything entering the event horizon is trapped as well.”

  Although the President’s eyes looked a little glassy, he nodded and asked, “So, the event horizon is what you see when you look at a black hole…what does it look like?”

  “The event horizon forms a sphere around the singularity, and this sphere would be invisible except that a certain kind of radiation comes off its surface which makes it appear a deep purple.” Leewood rubbed his chin realizing that, technically speaking, his statement was misleading. Unless… “So if it were someplace where only faint light sources were in the background, say outside the galaxy, it would appear as a purple sphere. However, normally there are stars in the background and all light passing near the event horizon which does not get trapped within it gets bent and distorted, so what it really looks like to the human eye is a powerful lens distorting the stars behind it.”

  The President nodded and after a moment signaled a resumption of the meeting.

  Everyone looked back at Bugs and it attempted to answer again. “As I was saying, there is a possibility that the aliens are using a mathematical anomaly. It has to do with a space time construct we call…” the translator stumbled for a minute then found what it needed, “…an I-Sink. Essentially, it is a space time fold which has infinite storage capacity. It takes vast amounts of energy to place and retrieve anything in an I-Sink. Essentially the black hole, along with its influence, would vanish for as long as needed, and then reappear when needed.”

  Leewood leaned back and steeped his fingers. “Bugs, what’s wrong with a much simpler scenario? Like…like a black hole just happens through your star system causing your sun to explode?” asked Leewood.

  Bugs looked at him for a beat then replied, “That scenario does not match the data. Given the data, the black hole reduced its speed and size until it came within the orbits of the gas giants. At this point, it was traveling at about one percent the speed of light and it was about half the size of your smallest gas giant. Then, the black hole simply vanished. Something, we assume a ship, then carried out the attack. This is what the Tachyon scanner data indicated to us. In addition, entering a star system any deeper with the black hole would be dangerous—if it accidentally destabilized our sun, this could disrupt the alien ship’s control over the black hole.”

  Leewood nodded. “Okay. So, to the best of your knowledge, this alien ship simply attacked and destroyed your star system for no apparent reason?”

  “This is true.”

  Leewood looked down at the notes on his PDA though he did not really see them. It was time to ask the question he had been dreading and he wished he had a better way to do it. Oh well, he thought. “Bugs, here is what we intend to do: between now and when that ship arrives, we will focus on preparing defenses for a hostile encounter with this ship. When the ship is close enough, we will attempt to communicate with it and try diplomacy. If this does not work, we intend to fight this alien with everything we have.” He paused but Bugs remained motionless, saying nothing. “We would like you to join us—help us defeat this thing. Will you?”

  Bugs stared at Leewood for a long moment. Finally he spoke, “Commander Leewood…” he looked at each of them, “…sirs and madams…” he looked at each of the teleconferencing screens—the President’s last “…distinguished Senators and President James Olson Wicker, right
now you have an opportunity and a choice to make. The aliens will not talk with you. You cannot defeat them. But you can save some of your race. I beg you: take all of your ships and make each one an escape ark. Fill them with your best people, your most valued animals and your most beloved plants. Then, keeping your sun between your arks and the approaching Blackship, have them sneak away as far as they can get. It will be hard to save only some while condemning most, but it is the best that you can do. It is what we intend to do.”

  These words washed over the gathering and chilled them to the bone. Adamarus, who had been quiet for most of the meeting, spoke first, “I’m sorry, Bugs, but we are not built that way. We will try to talk and, if needed, we will fight no matter how hopeless the situation is. It is our way.”

  Bugs reached out with both arms, “Why? What is your logic for this?”

  The President answered, “Because if we take the actions you suggest, then we are defeating ourselves before the aliens even get here. If we are to be defeated, it will be the aliens who do it, not ourselves. And we would also do it for…for hope’s sake. Any number of things could change the outcome of a battle. Many times in our history, hopeless battles have been won. Until you are defeated, there is always some hope.”

  Bugs leaned forward in his seat even more, stretching his arms further out across the table, “Okay, fight your battle. But you can still prepare a fleet of arks and send them out of harm’s way so that if worse comes to worst, you have a chance to save your species.”

  The President leaned back and rubbed his chin. “This is what all of your ships will do?”

  Bugs just stared at the President for several moments before he replied, “You said you wanted our help. What kind of help?”

  Leewood answered, “We had hoped that you would stand with us and help us defend our world.” Leewood paused for a second, his eyes boring into the robot. “And, with your advanced technology, we hoped that you would improve our defensive and offensive capabilities.”

  Bugs considered this then said, “We will make a deal with you. If you will send out three arks holding 3,000 of your people, and as many animals and plants as you can, then we will help you improve your defenses. Also, we will only send out two ships to preserve our species and the other two will remain, fight by your side, and help you in all the ways you have mentioned.”

  The President smiled, “Bugs, you have a deal.”

  Chapter Fourteen – Hideaway

  “As many of you have probably guessed by now, given the time, it is possible to extract all of the data from the speck’s vibrations—to know everything there is to know. This state of species advancement is the Phi State. To work through and translate each of the trillions of vibrations would take, by our estimates, a minimum of two hundred and fifty million years. We believe few species survive long enough to accomplish this.”

  The Loud Named Bugs

  Opening Speech, 23rd Amular Symposium on Quantum Physics

  Source: The Archive

  Seven weeks later…

  Adamarus was angry, but he tried to hold it in. All this cloak and dagger stuff was ridiculous. For six weeks, he, Leewood, Harrington and Woodworth had been cooped up in a shuttle traveling at high speed, on a course heading in-system; in fact, heading right for the sun. The President had told them to go, but he would not tell them where they were going or why, and as far as anyone could tell, only empty space and the sun lay ahead.

  The Loud had “loaned” the President one of their short-range Tachyon communication sets so that the President and his team would have instant communications instead of the annoying delay the distance would have normally caused. This voyage was acting as the first field test of this latest invocation of Loud-ware.

  At the moment, the President was talking to Leewood as the rest of the team stood around him and waited for some answers. But Leewood rolled his eyes and then shook his head as he listened.

  “I’m sorry, Patrick,” the President was saying, “but this was tied up with checks and balances that were placed there for everyone’s protection and safety. I’ve gotten all the other signatures and only the leaders of the House and Senate are left. One’s just taking off from Banner and the other’s already on a plane on the way. It’s going to be at least several hours before I can release any information and really…you’ve got at least that much longer before you arrive…please don’t ask me ‘where’…not yet. Tell everyone to just try and be patient.”

  Leewood spoke for another minute and then disconnected. He related the conversation to the others which was met with groans and sighs. Sliding in next to Adamarus, he mumbled “I cannot believe this crap. This had better be good. Hell, it better be better than good!”

  The craft was one from the Presidential fleet and was very high end. It was really quite luxurious, comfortable, well-equipped, and well-staffed. And the food was incredibly good. But a junket like this was pushing the limits for its design.

  The steward served lunch which killed some time. After lunch Leewood and Harrington went down to the small gym, Adamarus slept, and the rest donned headphones and watched a video. Two hours later the video ended, they griped, read, talked, slept and then they griped some more.

  Adamarus was looking out the forward view ports, which were almost completely blacked out to compensate for the blinding light from the sun. He sensed Harrington move up beside him. “We’re obviously headed towards Cinder,” he said. Cinder was a small planetoid and the closest object to the Sun.

  “Cinder? You think? No one else has said anything about that.” She looked back at their companions sitting in the oversized leather seats. She was holding a drink and was a little tipsy. “I thought Cinder was nothing but rivers of molten rock.” She swayed her hips, bumping him playfully, “So… a hot date?”

  The sudden mock flirtation surprised Adamarus and he laughed at her. There was no doubt that it was done in fun. Harrington and his wife had become close friends and it was absolutely something Harrington would do for its shock value. He pointed out the view port, “Actually, Cinder’s both the hottest and the coldest planet in our star system,” emphasizing coldest for no real reason except to cover the slight awkwardness he felt. “It’s tidal locked so that one side always faces towards the sun and the other faces away. The one that always faces away is the coldest place in the star system.”

  Harrington leaned in close to him teasingly and shook her head, “You’re always the party animal.” They both laughed.

  “Don’t make me hurt you,” he replied. “Ah! Look!”

  Harrington cocked her head and squinted her eyes—barely visible outside the view port was a round circle darkening the surrounding space. As she watched, she could actually see it growing. “What is that?!”

  “Cinder’s light cone—the ship will get inside it to shield it from the sun. We must be close.”

  Harrington had turned, “Hey, you guys! Come look at this!” She turned back to the view port, “I don’t quite understand.”

  “Cinder casts a shadow and we’re getting in it. In truth, it’s mostly the solar wind that’s being blocked—as you can see, it doesn’t block much of the light or the heat from the sun.” Everyone was gathered around the small view port now. “But about fifty percent of the glare we see is the solar wind. Cinder has a magnetic field that is roughly three times the diameter of the planet and this is what diverts the solar wind.”

  Harrington pointed out the view port with her drink, “Never a dull moment.” The way she said this caused everyone to chuckle.

  Leewood gave her an appraising eye. Although they had worked closely together for quite a long time, he had not seen her flirty side. He was more than a little annoyed at the discomfort he felt over her flirtation going Adamarus’ way, even though he knew it meant nothing. “Well, at least we know where we’re going now. I’d completely forgotten about the rock.” Leewood commented.

  “What could be on Cinder?” Woodworth asked.

  Adamarus
’ smile turned down, “Most likely something in orbit—obviously a geostationary orbit so it stays on the far side away from the sun.”

  Soon they could see Cinder as a small black circle against the turbulent surface of the sun—the round shadow the ship was staying within radiated from a seemingly invisible circle which was much larger than the small planet.

  An hour later, the PA system chimed and the Captain spoke, “We’ll be flipping over and firing thrusters in about fifteen minutes to begin reducing our speed. If you need to go to the restroom or want something to drink, please take care of that now. When we fire the thrusters to flip the ship, everyone will need to be in their seats and buckled up for thirty minutes or so.”

  Once everyone was seated and strapped in, the ship rotated on its center of gravity until the back end was facing forward. The roar of the engines could be heard as they fired up. Finally the engine roar died, the ship flipped over again and the seat belt sign went off. Everyone got up and crowded around the forward view port. Small forward jets were still slowing the craft down.

  The planet Cinder now hid the sun completely. There was no light and the planet’s surface was completely black—nothing at all could be seen. Then the ship turned so that the planet was beneath it. The totally black surface stretched out in every direction to the planet’s horizon. There, the black surface ended sharply and millions of tiny glowing particles shot upward creating a circular wall of light that enclosed Cinder’s dark side—the solar wind. Looking up through the view port in the ceiling, the circular wall extended up until it faded away. It made for an unusual and beautiful sight.

  The ship continued to make its way across the dark side of Cinder, though to its passengers, there were no visual cues to suggest that anything was moving.

  At last, something dark could be seen blocking the spectacle of the solar wind. There seemed to be many objects, but this far away and with no light, they were just black, half-imagined silhouettes. Finally, the ship bridged the distance. Now the shapes could be seen more clearly. Slowly the ship glided up to one of them and came to a halt. It seemed to be a large, oblong rock but no details were visible. And it was impossible to tell its size as they had no idea how far away they were. The ship drifted to the right and now four additional rocks appeared beyond the first.