Encounters (The Spiral Slayers Book 1)

by Rusty Williamson

  Finally, Leewood said, “The black hole will not actually hit either planet, but Aster’s thirty-six moons and rings, as well as Serena’s twenty-two moons, will be disrupted. The gravitational disruption will strip many of the moons from their orbits and fling them across the star system. In addition, when the black hole passes Aster, it will do so very closely—within Aster’s rings, in fact. Our best guess…there is a fifty percent chance that Aster itself will be destabilized, possibly coming apart, possibly exploding.” For the third time chaos spread across the assembly, but there was no hope of regaining control this time.

  ---

  Day two…

  On the second day, they got right to the subject of how the Loud, with their advanced sciences and technologies, could help with defenses and improve weapons. After the revelations of the previous day, the assembly was subdued, morale was low, and a feeling of hopelessness and inadequacy had settled over the group. Seeing this, Bugs started by saying that solutions for both the comets and the moons of the gas giants existed. This went a long way in restoring morale. Bugs studiously avoided the subject of the stability of their largest gas giant, Aster.

  The avatar spent the morning discussing improvements that could be made to engines, missiles and to the maser and laser cannons mounted on the battleships and fighters. These improvements were very impressive and everyone went to lunch with renewed spirits. After lunch, the discussion turned to orbital fortresses. These could only be discussed in broad terms as designs had not yet been drawn up. A panel was selected and assigned to begin deliberations on planning and design. Finally, after the 3:00 p.m. break, they got to the subject of the bomb.

  Everyone knew that the bomb was their only possible salvation from the moons and comets that the alien’s arrival would send flying around the star system.

  “The next topic on the agenda is the subject of explosive devices,” Leewood announced. “The last request made to the Loud was that they, using their advanced technology, come up with a plan for the most powerful bomb that they could create.” He looked up at the observers’ section, “At their last meeting, Adamarus made the request…” he looked back at the avatar, “and…” he extended his hand out, palm upward towards the Loud and raised his eyebrows, “Bugs, you came up with an answer, yes?”

  The avatar stood calmly, looked at Leewood and said, “No.” Then it leaned forward and busied itself at its access console.

  Around the avatar, everyone froze. Leewood looked around helplessly for a second then he stood uncertainly. His mouth parted to say something, but whatever it was wouldn’t come out, so he just stood that way, mouth open, eyes looking curiously at the Loud.

  Adamarus saw immediately what was happening. Slowly over the months of his discussions with Bugs, Adamarus had figured out a little quirk with Loud/human communications. He should have sent out a memo or something, he chided himself, as he got to his feet. Leewood had inadvertently phrased his last sentence in just such a way that the Loud had been thrown off as had happened to Adamarus from the very first day. At first, Adamarus had thought that it was a problem with the translator, but slowly he had figured out that, if before asking the question you mentioned something that happened in the past, this set the timeframe for the question! Leewood had done this by stating just before his question that Adamarus had made the request at the last meeting. Therefore, Bug had interpreted the question to be ‘You came up with an answer at the last meeting,’ which had not been the case.

  Disregarding protocol, Adamarus said in a strong voice, “The Loud has misinterpreted your question, Mr. Chairman. It thinks you stated that the Loud had had the solution on the same day that the request was made.” Adamarus waved his hands, brushing the incident aside, “Let’s move on.” Adamarus turned and directed his voice towards the avatar, “Do you have a solution today?”

  “Yes,” the avatar answered. It had stopped what it had been doing to watch and listen to Adamarus. It cocked its head as if attempting to determine what had happened, then went back to what it had been doing.

  Adamarus sat back down. Everyone was looking at him curiously…as well they should, he thought. He made a quick note to explain this quirk. As he leaned back, he suddenly frowned…alarms had started going off in the back of his mind. Bugs had started speaking and Adamarus tried to focus on both the Loud and what was bothering him, but whatever had set off the alarms had slipped away. He shrugged and focused on the Loud.

  The Loud explained what they had come up with and the participants were suitably impressed. It was a graviton bomb or grav-bomb. Although testing would be needed to be certain of the theories and precise yields, it was believed that base level yields would be in the 4000 to 6000 megaton range with upper end yields of 3000 to 4000 gigatons. An 8000 megaton yield would vaporize Aster’s largest moon, and maximum yields of 4000 gigatons would knock out widespread groups of comets pulled loose from the ice cloud. Development would begin immediately and initial testing might begin as early as next month. If the new grav-bombs were going to be placed near the ice cloud, they needed time to get them there and set them up.

  Someone suggested that a path might be cleared for the black hole to pass through, but this was shut down when it was pointed out that the ice in the ice cloud was constantly moving and rotating all at different speeds.

  Aster’s rings would still be a problem—it was estimated that twenty percent of the ring material was just big enough to potentially wipe out a good section of a city. An idea from the Loud that might deal with this: a dozen large graviton enhancement devices, similar to the Umbrella Ship gravity engines, would theoretically divert the rings, forcing them down and into the gas giant.

  ---

  Day Three…

  The third day opened and the spotlight turned to Evelyn and Brandon Eden and estimates on getting Hideaway up and running, implementing ship upgrades, and new ship production.

  After lunch, the Edens wrapped up with preliminary estimates for converting both the Anderson and Bentley shipyards for warship construction.

  ---

  The meeting broke up a little early because Radin and Burnwall had asked the seventeen people at the conference table to assemble in the command center’s large viewing room at 5:00 p.m. The 82 observers and the various aids had also been instructed to assemble in various areas where they would also have a view. No one knew why, but figured that it was important. Once they were all assembled, Radin asked them to find a place where they could look out of the large view ports.

  At first, nothing happened, but then a Leviathan Battleship came into view and began traveling past the window, then another and another and another. Formations of L-fighters streaked past, traveling between the large ships. After several minutes, all forty battleships were visible. They were in a formation that allowed all of them to be seen and they seemed to fill space itself. It was a monstrous show of force and it was powerful and very impressive. It was just the morale booster everyone needed at this stage.

  Radin had also requested Bugs’ presence and Adamarus, Leewood, Radin and Woodworth stood around the avatar, watching the overwhelming sight.

  Harrington came up and merged into the group. After a few minutes, she bent over, and speaking over Bug’s shoulder in a voice just loud enough for the group to hear, she said, “Bugs, tell me now what chance you think we have against the alien.”

  Bugs did nothing for several seconds, then he turned and said, “No chance. We have no chance at all against the alien.” The show of force had not changed its mind.

  Chapter Nineteen – Private Disclosure

  “Communicating with an alien ‘human’ species would probably be fairly easy, although you can never be sure. This is because mammal brains all work in the same basic way and at about the same basic speed, and nature’s blueprint for mammals is the same here on this planet as it is seventy-eight billion light years from here. However, communicating with an alien of a different species could be very tricky. The brains of othe
r species work in different ways as well as different speeds. Obvious differences will come to light right away, but subtle differences may slip by unseen, or they may be caught and seemingly corrected while, in fact, they are not. Layers of falsehoods and misunderstanding can easily build unnoticed until sooner or later the layers collapse under their own weight.”

  Dr. Lorraine Harrington

  Lecture on The Dangers of Non-Human Alien Communications

  Source: The Archive

  After Radin’s “show of force” demonstration, everyone seemed to have more of a spring in their step. Adamarus, however, had returned to his room feeling spent. He did not turn on the lights…the dim light coming through the cabin’s view ports painted everything in a half light that fit his mood. He collapsed onto an overstuffed recliner, leaned back in the dark and closed his eyes. He was too tired to focus on anything in particular and he let his mind wander at random while he drifted into a state that was neither asleep, nor awake.

  Actually, things were going well, he mused.

  He kicked off his shoes.

  Considering…

  A laugh almost bubbled up to the surface.

  Considering…an alien ship powered by a black hole as big as a small star system was coming directly at them at almost the speed of light, the same ship that had destroyed a civilization a thousand years more advanced and had done it in a single day. And now it was coming to pay them a visit.

  That pretty much summed up the number one problem on their list of problems.

  This time the laugh made it, escaping from Adamarus’ lips as a sharp bark, breaking the silence of his dark room.

  He forced his mind to go blank. The blackness behind his eyelids swirled and flowed…

  He remembered how Leewood had asked Bugs about the “super bomb.” Bugs had answered “no” because of the way the question was phrased. No, that wasn’t right…it was because of the sentence uttered before the question. The Loud took any kind of time qualifier and extended it until another was in some way indicated. They would have to be very concise in the way they phrased their questions from here on out.

  Adamarus rubbed his eyes and wondered if anything else had been misunderstood and answered incorrectly in this way. Unconsciously his hands squeezed the chair’s armrests as an uneasy feeling coursed through him.

  It had certainly taken the wind out of all of them when Harrington had asked Bugs if he still maintained that they had “no chance” against the alien. Once again, it had answered, “You have no chance at all”…“No chance at all”…“No chance at all”…how could it be so certain? It knew nothing of the aliens. It had not seen the alien weapons used on the Loud’s home system. That the aliens had harnessed a black hole to power their ship was a huge point in favor of the Loud’s view, but it seemed to Adamarus that Bugs was basing it on more than just this.

  Adamarus immediately looked for some “qualifier” within Harrington’s question that might have skewed the Loud’s answer but could find nothing.

  He remembered that after he had corrected Bugs’ answer about the bomb, something had bothered him…almost panicked him. What had he been thinking? Again, he came back to Bugs’ “no chance at all”—how could Bugs be so sure? Bugs had said that the Loud knew nothing about the alien, so…

  Adamarus’ eyes opened wide and he bolted upright.

  What if, when they asked Bugs what the Loud knew about the alien, some “time qualifier” had been mentioned beforehand! That would be ridiculous, he thought. He settled back into the chair but couldn't relax. Well, it'd be easy enough to check. He moved to the computer console and drilled down into the Archive's data. After several minutes, he pulled up the transcript of that first meeting after the Loud ships had returned. After scanning it, he was a little surprised to find that there weres only two places where they had asked that question, and he read them carefully.

  Leewood: “Bugs, what can you tell us about the attack on your star system?”

  Bugs: “Not much, I’m afraid.”

  Adamarus let out the breath he hadn't realized he been holding but then shook his head. This question asked about the 'attack', not the aliens. He scanned further down and found what he wanted.

  Leewood: “So, you do not know who the aliens are, where they came from or why they attacked you?”

  Bugs: “No.”

  Adamarus quickly looked at the transcript above these entries for any kind of time reference and saw it at once. Running everything Leewood had said together would read:

  Leewood: “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? You do not know who the aliens are, where they came from, or why they attacked you?”

  Bugs: “No.”

  Adamarus felt his insides twist. He stared at the screen in incredulity.

  He reread the question and the answer and the time qualifier: “…between the time the alien was first detected and the time the fourth ship left to come here.”

  This was not good.

  Adamarus rubbed his eyes, trying to throw off the fatigue. He scanned through the rest of the transcript as well as the transcript for the second meeting, praying he'd find something more solid. No, they had really only asked the Loud that one time: “You do not know who the aliens are, where they came from, or why they attacked you?” And if you applied the previously mentioned time period to it, Bugs would not even know an alien approached!

  The room seemed to swirl around Adamarus. This is crazy, he thought. This can't be possible.

  He got up and left his cabin.

  ---

  He found Bugs’ in the main hanger discussing improvements to the maser cannons with Radin. He walked right up and inserted himself between the two, interrupting their conversation. “Bugs, do the Loud know more about the aliens or their ship or their motives or their actions than you've told us?”

  Bugs just stared at Adamarus for almost 30 seconds then replied, “We have answered every question you have asked us.”

  “Do you know more than you have told us?” Adamarus asked again, more sternly.

  Again, Bugs paused for many seconds before replying. “What other questions do you have?”

  Adamarus exploded. “Damn it! That IS my question! Answer it! What the hell is wrong with you?” Adamarus hollered at Bugs. Half a dozen people scattered around the hanger heard this and turned towards them.

  Bugs looked around at them then said in a lowered voice, “This discussion should be continued in private.”

  Bugs, Adamarus and Radin left the hanger and found an empty conference room. They went inside and closed the door. Adamarus and Radin faced Bugs and waited.

  “We know more,” Bugs said without further pretense.

  Adamarus demanded, “Exactly what? Tell us.”

  “It is a substantial amount of information, Adamarus,” Bugs replied. “Around 800 years’ worth.”

  “What?” Adamarus asked incredulously.

  Radin was beside himself. He leaned in towards Bugs and yelled, “You told us that you knew nothing about the aliens! You…you lied to us? Why, Bugs? Why?”

  “We did not lie,” Bugs said. “We did what…”

  Radin lost it and screamed at the avatar, “You said you knew nothing, had no information! Now you say…you say…”

  Adamarus grabbed Radin’s arm and pulled him back, “Radin, listen to me. Listen to me! Strictly speaking, based on the way we phrased our question, Bugs told the truth. But…I do think this is total bullshit.” He turned to Bugs, “You knew that we needed all the information you had. Why did you withhold it from us?”

  Again, Bugs paused for many seconds before answering. “We did not believe that you could handle the truth.”

  A chill went up Adamarus’ back and now it was he who paused for many seconds. Then, “I will call an emergency meeting and you will tell us everything you know. Everything!”

  “Okay,” Bugs’ avatar actua
lly seemed to slump a little, “but, I strongly advise you to keep this meeting very small—no more than absolutely necessary. Once you’ve heard what we know, then you can decide how many people should hear the truth.”

  Adamarus stared at the Loud as a sick feeling spread through him.

  ---

  Adamarus and Radin were pretty sure where Leewood could be found and decided to go up one deck and check there before trying to raise him on the com unit. They found him just where they thought they would—in the 14U. He was sitting at the bar having a drink with Harrington and Evelyn. They walked up behind the group and Leewood sensed them and turned. His eyes crinkled in a smile, “Gentlemen! Have a seat,” he turned and raised his hand to get the bartender’s attention.

  Adamarus reached up and caught his arm, stopping him. He leaned in and spoke in a low voice, “We need to talk.”

  Leewood started to protest, but saw something in Adamarus’ eyes—his smile faded a notch, “Okay.” He took another sip of his drink then got up, “Ladies…if you’ll excuse me, duty calls…I guess.”

  ---

  In Adamarus’ cabin, he had just finished telling Leewood all that had transpired. Leewood was still for many seconds, using all his will power to contain the fury raging inside him. Leewood had never trusted the Loud and regardless of how he had phrased the questions he had asked, Bugs damn well knew that they had needed all the information available on the alien. Moreover, in all the time since their initial conversation on the alien…all their meetings on the subject…all the questions they’d pondered…how could Bugs sit there quietly offering nothing? Finally, “Bugs said it wasn’t sure we could handle the truth, huh?” He looked over at Adamarus then Radin. “That’s exactly what Bugs said?”

  Radin nodded, “That’s exactly what the tin man said.”

  “And when you asked it what it knew…what did it say?”

  Adamarus looked away, “It said it was a substantial amount. It said, 800 years’ worth.”