The lost fleet box set, p.40
The Lost Fleet Box Set, page 40
part #1 of The Lost Fleet Series
Kelsey set up the necessary hyperspace equations and, with Clarissa’s help, soon had a course plotted. Once she was satisfied they could safely travel through the tunnel, she turned toward Admiral Barnes. “The course is set, but I should warn you. If we encounter a Simulin vessel coming down the corridor, we could be thrown into the dark matter wall. Also, if that huge energy-collection station activates a vortex and releases its energy into hyperspace through the corridor, our ship could be destroyed. I’ve plotted our course to one side and perilously close to the dark matter wall to reduce the possibility of that happening.”
“Any signs we’ve been detected?” Kathryn was concerned the Simulins might have spotted the Distant Horizon when the ship exited the spatial vortex.
“I’ve located six Simulin battlecruisers and ten escort cruisers near the station,” reported Captain Reynolds, as he looked at the red threat icons now showing up on one of the tactical displays. “Four of them are breaking orbit from around the energy-collection station and seem to be heading in our direction.”
“Probably detected our exit vortex,” Commander Grissim said, as her eyes focused intently on the tactical display.
They didn’t need to get in a battle with the Simulins, if they could avoid it.
“Take us into hyperspace,” ordered Kathryn. They were committed now.
Instantly in front of the Distant Horizon a swirling blue-white vortex formed. Lieutenant Styles sent the ship hurtling rapidly toward its center with some unknown aid from Clarissa. Their course had to be dead-on when they hit the vortex, and she was making sure it was.
The trip down the corridor was harrowing for the crew in the Command Center; they knew at any moment they could encounter a Simulin ship coming from the opposite direction. If they did, their ship could be knocked out of hyperspace and into the dark matter wall. Even if they survived, it would only be a matter of a few minutes before other Simulin ships arrived in the area.
A few moments after entering hyperspace, the Distant Horizon flew out of the exit vortex.
“Full stop!” ordered Kathryn, as the systems came online, and warning alarms sounded. Her eyes focused on the large viewscreen, but all it showed was darkness. No light, no sign of other ships, just a vast, empty nothingness.
“Where are we?” asked Colonel Leon.
Kathryn had never seen anything like this before. It was a frightening sensation not to be able to see any light.
“Inside the dark matter cloud,” uttered Commander Grissim grimly.
“I’m picking up numerous Simulin ships, hundreds of them!” warned Captain Reynolds, as red threat icons appeared on the tactical display.
“Our stealth shield?” inquired Kathryn. With that many ships, the Simulins would detect the Distant Horizon quickly, if their shield wasn’t working.
“It’s up,” Clarissa answered. “However, I would recommend moving away from our exit point as the Simulins might have detected the vortex.”
“Move us away at two-thirds sublight,” Kathryn ordered, as she considered what the ship’s sensors were detecting.
“I have something on the sensors, but it doesn’t make any sense,” Captain Reynolds said, a look of confusion on his face.
“Why is that?” Kathryn asked Reynolds.
“It’s too big,” Reynolds said in a shaken voice. “Nothing can be that big!”
“What are you talking about, Captain?” demanded Kathryn. The man sounded frightened.
“I’m picking up an artificial object with a radius of 1.2 AU.”
“Check your sensors again,” ordered Kathryn with a deep frown. “Clarissa, run a diagnostic. Those numbers can’t be right.” Just what the hell had they stumbled into?
“I’m afraid they are,” Andram said, turning to face Admiral Barnes. He’d been talking to Shilum about the sensor readings. He turned back to his science console and adjusted the viewscreen. Even in the darkness, an area of even deeper blackness appeared. “What you’re detecting is a Dyson Sphere. It completely surrounds the star which Shilum and I suspect is at its heart.”
“A Dyson Sphere?” repeated Kathryn in disbelief. She looked intently at the dark object on the viewscreen. “I thought those are impossible to build. Are you telling me the Simulins have the science to construct one?” If they did, then how could they ever be stopped? That would indicate their science was far in advance of the Federation’s and even the Altons’.
“No, not impossible, just extremely difficult,” Andram replied with a deep sigh. “I’ve made a few additional scans. The Dyson Sphere is at least three million years old, and the Simulins didn’t build it.”
“Then who did?” Kathryn was growing even more confused.
Andram looked at Shilum, who nodded back. “The Originators,” he said in a soft voice. “The Originators built the Dyson Sphere.”
“Originators?” Kathryn repeated, her eyes narrowing. “Who the hell are the Originators?”
“That’s a long story,” Andram replied, his eyes focusing on the admiral. “We didn’t believe anything they built had survived.”
Kathryn looked at the viewscreen and then back at Andram and Shilum. It was obvious they felt uncomfortable talking about these Originators. “I’m waiting.” She strongly suspected she was about to hear more news she wouldn’t like.
Chapter Ten
“The Originators are an ancient race who predates ours by many millennia,” Andram explained. “There’s not a lot known about them.”
“We have a number of Simulin vessels which have changed course and are heading where we exited the vortex,” broke in Captain Reynolds, as he studied his sensors. “They must have detected our exit vortex.”
“How many?” demanded Kathryn.
The Distant Horizon was moving rapidly away from that area, and the ship was in stealth mode. Kathryn knew, if they could put sufficient distance between them and their exit vortex, they might remain undetected. It was a gamble, but they had to learn more about the Dyson Sphere and what the Simulins were doing with it. This was the discovery of a lifetime; she only wished the circumstances were different.
“Twenty-six,” Reynolds replied. “All battlecruiser class.”
“There’s no sign they’ve detected us,” Commander Grissim added, keeping a close watch on the ship’s tactical displays. A group of red threat icons was moving steadily closer.
“Keep me informed,” Kathryn ordered, as her attention shifted back to Andram, wanting to hear more about these Originators. “Sorry for the interruption. You were saying these Originators are an ancient race?”
“Yes, in our early explorations we found evidence of a very advanced culture which once flourished in our galaxy. On several planets we found abandoned cities that, in their prime, would have been larger than the City of Light on Astral. The cities were mostly buried beneath the ground, and only their foundations remained. We did some excavating and found the building material to be far superior to anything we were using at the time.”
“Were there any tools, scientific instruments, or anything that might give us insight into who these people were?”
“We never found anything functional that would be of help,” Shilum said, taking over the conversation. “It was as if the cities had been carefully picked clean of any object or artifact that might give a clue to the science or technology involved.”
“On how many planets did you find evidence of this civilization?”
Shilum looked at Andram before replying. “Hundreds.”
“Hundreds?” Kathryn gasped, her eyes widening. “That’s larger than the Federation and our allies combined.”
“Yes,” Shilum replied with a slight nod of her head. “We estimated a population of three to four hundred billion.”
“What makes you think this Dyson Sphere was made by these Originators?”
“Our scans indicate the metal the sphere is made from contains several special alloys very similar to some we found on the explored planets,” Shilum answered. “No one knows what happened to their race. Many of our leading archeologists believe they died out from a virulent disease that suddenly appeared among their population, though there is no evidence to support that theory. The only thing we do know is they were very advanced, and the ruins on the planets are all from about the same time period.”
“Why do you call them the Originators?” asked Kathryn. She glanced at the tactical displays, seeing the Simulin ships were still inbound. On their present course, they would miss the Distant Horizon by several million kilometers. She could sense a heightened anxiety among the crew as the Simulins drew closer.
Andram picked up the conversation, as he was more familiar with this part than Shilum was. “Until the Originators appeared in our galaxy, only a few spacefaring races were present at any one time, normally no more than six. While many planets teemed with life, the necessary step to bring about intelligent life seems to have been absent from most. We believe the Originators traveled to many of these worlds and used gene splicing and genetic manipulation to bring about the necessary changes to create species more inclined to develop a technological civilization.”
“They played God then,” Commander Grissim commented with a deep frown on her face.
Kathryn knew Anne was from Ceres and how her parents were very religious. She also knew many people didn’t share Anne’s parents’ views. Over the years, the religious fervor of many people had faded, until only the most devout still believed.
“Perhaps,” Andram responded, his eyes taking on a faraway look. “Most civilized cultures have beliefs in a superior being or some type of life after physical death. Even among my own people there is a belief that the consciousness will continue on after the physical form expires, though there is no scientific evidence to support this.”
“That’s a debate which will likely go on forever,” Colonel Leon said. “So what else did these Originators do?”
“In our early days of exploration, we found a few ancient satellites in orbit around some of their worlds,” Andram continued. “They were brought back to Astral, but very little was learned from them. When the satellites were disassembled, we found their insides were burned out. Some of our top scientists and engineers believed that, once the satellites had served their purpose, some type of self-destruct destroyed the advanced technology they contained.”
“Admiral, my scans are picking up strange readings from several locations on the Dyson Sphere,” reported Captain Reynolds. “There are some very large energy spikes showing up on my sensors.”
“Can we magnify those areas and put them up on the main screen?”
“I’ll make the necessary adjustments,” Andram said, turning to touch several icons on one of the screens on his science console.
Instantly the dark area on the screen swelled until only a small section of that titanic construct was displayed. In the center of the screen, a swirling white vortex appeared.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Kathryn, as she studied the object.
“It’s a spatial vortex,” Andram confirmed, as he glanced down at some data coming across his console. “It’s also of intergalactic range.”
“I’m picking up four such vortices on the side of the sphere we can see,” Captain Reynolds reported. “There may be more on the other side.”
“When did they first appear?” asked Kathryn.
“I think they’ve been there all along,” Reynolds responded.
“Where are they getting the power?” asked Commander Grissim. “Even the AIs couldn’t keep their vortex open for more than a few minutes.”
“From the star inside the Dyson Sphere,” Shilum answered. “From my estimates the sphere would intercept 2,695 yottawatts of the star’s energy output.”
“There’s the extra energy the Simulins are collecting from the two hundred or so blue giant stars in this cluster,” Andram added. “They may also be tapping into dark energy or even converting the dark matter into a power source.”
“Lieutenant Styles, put us in orbit around the Dyson Sphere. I want to know how many operational vortices there are.”
Kathryn was growing worried about what the discovery of the active intergalactic vortices might mean. It also concerned her that the Simulins had access to the Dyson Sphere and its advanced technologies. She would give anything if her crew could explore that massive technological wonder.
-
For the next fourteen hours, the Distant Horizon made a circular orbit around the Dyson Sphere, scanning its surface and the Simulin ships hovering about. In doing so, they found three more tunnels through the dark matter cloud, all of which connected to the blue giant cluster outside. During that time, the Simulins searched the area where the Distant Horizon had exited the vortex and then fanned out in a standard search pattern. As time passed, even more Simulin ships joined the search, until over 120 vessels were scanning the space around the Dyson Sphere.
-
“Twenty-seven possible vortex rings are in the hull of the Dyson Sphere,” Andram reported, as he studied all the data they had gathered. “It appears they only keep six or seven activated at all times, probably due to energy constraints.”
“All of intergalactic scope?” asked Kathryn. If they were, then the Simulins were even more widespread than originally believed.
“It appears that way,” answered Andram, with a crease on his wide forehead. “The bigger question is, are all those vortex rings connected to other Dyson Spheres?”
“That would give them access to a tremendous amount of Originator technology,” Shilum pointed out worriedly. “There may be other intact Originator artifacts in those galaxies.”
“We also detected 412 Simulin warships around the Dyson Sphere,” added Commander Grissim.
“Plus whatever ships may be inside,” pointed out Colonel Leon. “There could be thousands within the sphere.”
“What’s the current status of the Simulin search?” asked Kathryn, looking at Captain Reynolds.
“Still no sign they’ve detected us,” he reported. “However, the Simulins are in the process of moving ships to block the four tunnels which lead out.”
“They’re probably doing the same outside the dark matter cloud as well,” commented Commander Grissim.
Pursing her lips, Kathryn worried about how they would escape their current predicament.
-
Kelsey gazed at the viewscreen, then she heard Katie’s voice over their private channel. “I wonder if one of those vortices connects to our home galaxy?”
It was something Kelsey hadn’t thought of. Was there a way home right here in front of them? “Possibly,” she replied after a moment. “But how would we ever access it? I don’t think it would be practical to bring the fleets here.”
“Simulin energy cannons are mounted around the vortex rings,” Clarissa informed them. “Any type of near approach with the fleets would result in catastrophic losses.”
“With this Dyson Sphere the Simulins could easily mount an invasion of our home galaxy,” Kelsey said, as she began to fully realize the ramifications of what they’d discovered. Jeremy will be really upset when he heard about this.
“At least we got the probe launched,” Katie said. “It will give them some warning of what might be coming their way.”
“But will it do any good?” Kelsey asked poignantly. “The Federation and its allies have enough problems acclimating all the worlds which were once Hocklyn slave planets. Where would they find the resources or the ships to hold back the Simulins?”
Katie didn’t respond. She didn’t know the answer.
“I’m sure Jeremy will be highly interested in our discovery,” Kelsey said. “The only problem is, I don’t see anything we can do about it.”
-
“How do we get out?” asked Commander Grissim, looking back at the admiral. “Any way we go, we’ll encounter Simulin ships.”
“They’ll detect us when we activate our hyperdrive,” Clarissa informed them. “They’ll have time to react to that.”
“How much time?” Kathryn asked.
“Approximately twenty-two seconds,” Clarissa replied. She closed her deep blue eyes briefly, as if in deep concentration, and then opened them. “I would recommend we creep up as close as we can to these three Simulin ships here.” On one of the tactical displays, three red icons blinked. “We drop our stealth shield, activate our main energy screen, and fire our particle beam cannons and power beams at these Simulin ships. If we can take them by surprise, we just might be able to establish the vortex, fly into it, and jump into hyperspace, before they can respond.”
“That’ll take some careful timing,” commented Colonel Leon.
Kathryn knew the crew could do it, but just one slipup could mean disaster. She let out a deep breath. She knew what needed to be done. “Clarissa, if I turn over control of the ship to you, can you get us out?”
A look of pleased surprise crossed the AI’s youthful face. “Yes, Admiral,” she responded. “However, there may be more Simulin ships waiting outside the dark matter cloud.”
“We’ll deal with them when we get there,” declared Kathryn. She’d made up her mind, and it was time to go.
-
It took nearly two hours for Clarissa to maneuver the ship into the position she wanted. Carefully monitoring the ship’s stealth systems, and seeing to it that energy emissions and other system emissions were held to a minimum, the AI brought the ship to a halt within just a few thousand kilometers of the three ships she intended to target.
The Command Center was unusually quiet with the large viewscreen focused on the narrow tunnel, which was their escape route.
“Damn, those ships are close!” spoke Commander Grissim, sounding very worried as she gazed at the nearby tactical display. “They could detect us at any time.”
