Usurper of the Sun (33 page)
“Anybody have ideas?” Aki asked.
“I’m tapped out,” Joseph said.
Aki looked at Raul. He was busy interacting with the computer and screen in his suit, distracted and lost in thought.
“This room is filled with a quiet noise. I thought it was static or white noise but it’s not. There’s information embedded in it. Without a quantum computer to use entanglement to crunch the data, there’s no hope of decoding it from here,” he muttered. “Spectral analysis shows sub-millimeter waves at a frequency of six gigahertz coming from these beasts’ bodies. There are filaments along the branches that act as booster antennae. The electromagnetic waves are everywhere. Similar signals came from Mercury and the Rings, but we could never make sense of them.” Aki wondered if Raul even knew that he was talking out loud.
“If they’re the ones flying this ship, this could be utopia to them, something even more comfortable and fulfilling than their home planet,” Joseph said.
“It is a dystopia for us,” Aki said.
“Maybe happiness for them is right here, lying in this meditative state, deep in thought, free from worry or doubt,” Joseph said.
“You would think they would have some music playing,” Aki said, frustration getting the best of her.
“Music creates a relationship between Mozart and Salieri,” Joseph said.
“Maybe their civilization reached its apex, and they realized that all they needed for true happiness was simply to exist and produce offspring…until something forced them to leave their home world, never able to return.” After speaking, Aki realized that he may have sounded naïve or idealistic, but Joseph’s ideas rang true for her. She had to slow down. She had to find a way to make the best she could of the situation.
“The Builders came to our solar system to build a Garden of Eden on Mercury?” Raul asked.
“Their nanotech takes care of their needs, even their interstellar migration. All they need is to live and reproduce. Maybe the purpose of their technology is to sustain their lives in our galaxy,” Joseph said.
“And the purpose of our tech is to destroy them before they succeed,” Aki said. She could not help but empathize with the vehemence in his voice, but she knew differently. “That is what we need to avoid. Being human does not mean we get to run the show,” she said.
“But it’s destructive. No matter how advanced they are, their indifference is causing us great harm in the end,” Joseph said.
“I prefer not to look at it that way.”
“With all due respect, I think you’ve lost your perspective. Frankly, all this time you’ve assumed they were benevolent and that our encounter with them would be nothing but shared joy and wonder. Do you think it was a coincidence that the Builders happened to be the first alien intelligence that humanity interacted with?”
“What do you mean, Joseph?” Aki asked.
“We know there are at least two intelligent civilizations in this tiny and forgotten corner of the galaxy. That means tens if not hundreds of thousands of other civilizations in our galaxy alone. Nonetheless, the first one we met killed well over a billion people. Isn’t it possible that the benevolent species are the ones staying at home minding their own business and the ones traveling from star to star are destructive and imperialistic, with no regard to whatever life they snuff out?”
Aki glared at Joseph, astonished.
“Is that what you’ve thought all along? Is that why you wanted to be part of the Contact Team?”
“I’m not an assassin; I’m also not a welcome wagon. I will, however, say that I’m skeptical of their intentions. Like you, I’m here because I want to know why they came, ma’am.”
“Oh,” Aki said. She wondered if she had lost perspective after all. Had she made judgments based on what she wanted instead of based on the facts? Embarrassed by the accusation that hung in the air, Aki realized that she had not lost touch with her objectivity. She had acted on intuitions about the Builders that only she had been privy to. After all, Aki Shiraishi had been the first person to set foot on the Island. She was the one whose intuition led to the discovery of how to destroy the Ring. She was the one who had realized that humanity needed to rebuild the Vert-Ring.
In her heart, Aki knew that since the moment she had squinted into the telescope and thought she saw a tower, a voice within her had guided her thoughts and actions, providing special insight into the Builders. If there was a way out, trusting that voice was what was going to get them through.
“The signals are too complicated to crack. But there’s too much data coming and going for these to be livestock in a pasture. I’m convinced these are the Builders,” Raul said, interrupting Aki’s thoughts.
“You’re sure now?” Aki asked.
“Positive. The downstream source from Alice’s implant is transmitting enough information to fill a library every few hours. That’s too excessive for the only thoughts in her head to be daydreams of grazing in grassy pastures. The same goes for the upstream—it’s millions of times greater than what would be necessary to just keep their minds blissed out or serene.”
“What are you saying?” Aki asked.
“These gals are running this Ferris wheel, no doubt about it. I bet each one could outthink a continent full of humans in their sleep. The question is: where is this information being sent?”
“Do you think there’s some kind of core or central brain on the ship? Maybe that was talking to Natalia?” Joseph asked.
Raul frowned, concentrating. Aki worried that he was going to lose his focus again.
“I can’t see a core. If you look at the human brain, it doesn’t have a core of consciousness. Communications networks don’t have cores either. The same goes for Natalia. I think advanced systems like the Builders’ intelligence exist across all components, spread far and wide. It’s called nonlocality.”
Aki wondered if the Builders were individual cells. When combined, they could create a composite being much greater than the sum of the parts. If that were true, then each of the beings shared information with the others, which explained the presence of the embedded transmission devices.
“I don’t get it. So they’re interlocked with each other in a state of meditation as they go from star to star? What’s the point? Some kind of society that completely conquered their individual egos?” Aki asked.
“No idea. Do you think the Builders turned into this after they developed their incredible tech? Maybe their society took a wrong turn somewhere and we’re looking at the wreckage of a societal breakdown.”
Aki brought her hands together. “We are asking unanswerable questions. I know we want to forget that the graser strikes in an hour, but let’s try everything we possibly can.” Aki walked around the group of Builders lying near them. She turned on her external speaker. “Hey! You need to get out of here and go back up to your jungle. It’s not safe here!”
She smiled and pointed toward the branches.
“Do you understand?”
None of them moved.
“I’m sorry that we hit you earlier, but this is going to be goodbye for us all,” she said.
Aki walked toward Alice and caressed her face as tenderly as she could through the gloves of her suit. She stepped back and waved farewell.
The two men watched without saying a word. Together, they climbed back into the jungle and tethered themselves to the sturdiest branches they could find. The suits were designed to absorb most of the effects of shock or collision, but it was time to prepare for sudden course changes that the Builders’ ship might make.
Once they were secured, Aki said, “Men, because we are shut off you are the only two that can hear this, so I will say it plain. This ship might be able to produce dozens of Gs, and a direct hit from the graser will disintegrate us before our brains even notice. Honestly, I am sorry that it has come to this. I know you made your decisions to join my team on your own, but I feel responsible.”
“I’ve had a good life. Igor and Aida were envious that they had to wait on the ship. Now I’m envying them,” Raul said. He was pale.
“No regrets. I wrote my will before I left,” Joseph said. To Aki’s amazement, he was smiling.
“You’re a pessimist,” Raul told him.
“Semper Fi means you never know what comes next. You never know which mission is going to be your last.”
“We all knew it could end this way. I programmed the
Phalanx
’s computer to beam my research into space if I didn’t make it back. That’s the part of me that I want to live forever, the part I want to eventually reach the corners of the universe.” Raul’s voice sounded far away.
“I wish I had thought of that,” Aki said.
“Crazy lady, we don’t know that the graser will work,” Raul said, his voice stronger.
“If it does, I’m grateful I got to serve with you,” Joseph said.
They soon ran out of things to say and could only stare at the countdown. Aki closed her eyes.
ACT VII: AUGUST 1, 2041
1 AM GMT
THE
PHALANX
ACCELERATED
away from the Builders’ flight path, reaching the safe zone outside of graser range. The UNSS
Thompson
, which carried the graser, was on an interception course. The
Thompson
would reach the point where the two ships would nearly intersect in about three hours. Given the power of the graser, the Builders’ ship was already well within range.
To be on the safe side, the UNSDF had shared very few details about their trump card of the hijacked alien weapon even with the rest of the fleet—but Igor knew that the first graser emission would be triggered in less than a minute. He backed up the ship’s data in preparation for the electromagnetic shockwave that would follow the blast. He continued examining the incoming data, trying to take his mind off the fact that three of his crewmates were still inside the alien vessel.
The countdown reached zero. The beam would travel for less than a second before striking the Builders. The light from the resulting explosion was expected to reach him four seconds later. Igor counted the time to himself nervously:
one, two, three, four
…
Nothing. Even after a full minute, the explosion did not happen. After five minutes, he received a message from the UNSS
Becquerel
.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Aida asked from her cocoon.
“No idea. I’m sure the UNSDF planned for this. They must have a trick up their sleeves. The Builders must have overridden the graser, or at least thwarted it somehow. Maybe it’s programmed to recognize their ship.”
“What do you think Phase II means?”
“It’s so top secret that they haven’t told me and I’m the acting commander. Look. It’s moving.”
The image from the camera on the outside of the
Becquerel
showed the engines of the unmanned
Thompson
, carrying the enormous cannon, firing at full thrust.
“Are they trying to ram them?”
“Can they move fast enough to block the Builders’ path?”
The trajectories of the two ships were updating on the operations map. The map showed that the vectors of the two ships would intersect in fifty-four minutes.
“That gives the Builders an hour to attack the
Thompson
. They will never even get near the
Thompson
because the Builders will vaporize it.” Then Igor realized what Phase II was. “That’s it! Fleet Headquarters was planning this all along in case the graser didn’t fire.”
“Planning what?” Aida asked.
“The graser cannon is made of the same material as the Rings. The Builders’ attack beam won’t be able to destroy it.”
“We’re going to use the graser as a shield?”
“Can we win a battle with nothing but a shield?”
The Builders must have known that their beam would be useless against their graser cannon. They made no attempt to fire upon the massive roadblock that was approaching their path. Instead, the Builders made a slight course correction to avoid the potential collision. The ships would now miss each other by less than three hundred kilometers, but the ships would not collide.
After some time, a second flash of light appeared from behind the graser, accelerating away from the
Thompson
. Then the flash split into four separate pillars of exhaust. As Igor had suspected, the
Thompson
had been carrying nuclear missiles. The iris of the Builders’ engine dilated and closed as it prepared to fire its attack beam on the missiles. The first missile was struck down almost instantaneously. The remaining three were within two hundred kilometers.
Seven seconds later, the second missile was destroyed. The remaining two crossed the one hundred kilometer mark. Six seconds later, the third was eliminated. A single missile was still on target. Three seconds after that, the nuclear missile struck the Builders’ ship and a blinding flash filled Igor’s screen.
The filters failed as the explosion overwhelmed the cameras. Both his primary screens then went blank. Because of the dimensions of his cocoon, Igor was unable to turn away. Instead, he closed his eyes. Aida’s sobs came through his speakers. There was a dull rumble he could not place. Even though he knew it was a hallucination, the faces of his three friends appeared in the reflection of his dead monitors. That image would haunt him for the rest of his life.