Hey guys, a bit late, but as stated in my previous chapter, my current schedule doesn't allow me to write as much as I want, and of course sometimes it is good to take a small brake, all the better for the story. Anyways, I got a few questions from guest reviewers about the time field, and seeing that I can't answer them via PM, I'll do it here.
TheJoining: Can you physically pass through the edge of Chronosphere's area of affect?
The answer would be no, as you would be experiencing time in two separate regions. Imagine your red blood cells suddenly clotting up near the edge of the Chronosphere's SOI. Live beings would certainly die. Solid objects can pass trough, but would most likely be broken due to two parts moving at different "relativistic speeds". So to truly answer the question: the field acts like a true border.
Jotunsquid: The Quarians especially might be taken aback by the mass of true AIs extant. Do those AIs have Asimov's Laws of Robotics hardwired into their systems to prevent them from going rogue?
A.I's are like human beings in all they do. They're considered full citizens and are recognized as such. Naturally there will always be some dissenters, but in my humanity such a trait is rare even in humans, so a rogue A.I. would be very, very rare.
Thanks for all the views, follows, favourites and most of all, Reviews!
Let's get going!
Chapter 2: Into the deep
The last few weeks had been rather tiring for Jonathan and his crew. Exciting, but challenging all the same. They had spent day after day exploring system after system, charting and securing human space through reconnaissance and observation. The Into the Abyss had already visited over 100 different systems, and they were currently in orbit around a star about a 1000 light-years from Earth. Most of these systems contained at least 4 or more planets, but Arcadia was still the only class-3 garden world they had come across. It seemed that perfect conditions for life were a bit rarer than they had believed previously.
During the past few weeks, humanity had expanded greatly, though the 100 light-year border was still in effect. In total they had found two class-3 garden worlds in their sphere around Sol, both of which they had started colonizing slowly. A lot of humans believed that they shouldn't destroy any form of complex life to provide living conditions that would be perfect for humans. For that very reason, both of the Garden worlds, Arcadia and Eden, were being colonized with different approach compared to the other human colonies. Both planets now boasted a single city from where humans could enjoy the natural landscape of the planet, study the local biosphere and experience the many facets of art, music and other cultural highs of human society. Both planets were, in essence, quite heavenly, and humanity had achieved a true synergy with nature on both worlds.
Apart from the two class-3 worlds, some of the explorers had stumbled upon one class-2 and several class-1 worlds. Class-2 worlds were planets that supported life, albeit based on a different biology compared to Earth-organisms. They were, in all essence, completely comparable to class-3 worlds, except for the fact that the worlds were completely unsuitable for humanity. Standard procedure when class-2 planets were concerned was to establish listening and observation posts in orbit, which is exactly what humanity done with the class-2 world they had found. Class-1 worlds were planets that could support life in theory, had done so in the past or supported microbial life. These planets were a prime target for terraforming and full scale colonization.
Of course, humanity hadn't stopped building their own worlds and stations. Due to the advancement of time-field technology in the last few centuries, quantum nanites were capable of constructing a new world within weeks if given enough resources. Starmines were being been constructed in most of the star systems within the 100 light year sphere, and they were all using subspace transporters to transport their gathered resources to the Arcturus star system, where humanity was constructing multiple worlds within the habitable zone. The system was to be the military capital of the Confederation, boasting three fortress worlds and a massive shipyard and station in stellar orbit.
"Captain, incoming transmission from the Rear Admiral," Selene stated abruptly.
Grissom's head suddenly appeared on screen.
"Captain Walker, we're sending you to a different cluster. We've been detecting anomalies in the Sagittarius arm that could have been caused by an intelligent civilization. Headquarters wants us to gather intelligence on any potential alien empire or society out there. We've got most of the explorers still mapping more star systems in our own galactic arm, but we're relocating about one hundred ships to various points in the galaxy. You are to travel to these coordinates," he said as a set of numbers appeared on screen," and create a "rail" of monitor systems, 200 light years standard distance."
"Any protocol change for first contact, sir?" Jonathan asked, wondering if we would be authorized to approach possible aliens.
"No son, you are to remain undetected. Feel free to observe them however."
"Understood sir,"
"Good, I want you out there ASAP, so ready your ship Captain. Grissom out," the Rear Admiral said as he cut the connection.
Jonathan stared at his holo-display of the galaxy, and linked his received coordinates to the designated system.
"How long for us to get there, Selene?" he asked.
"23 hours, 38 minutes and 15.0132 seconds, Captain," the A.I. said smugly.
Jonathan sniggered at her response, "Selene, a simple "about a day" would have been more than suffice."
"I aim to please, Captain," said Selene with a wink.
"Alright, ready a jump to subspace."
"Right away, Captain."
Soon after the Into the Abyss shot forward into subspace, leaving behind a faint blue flare as the arch into subspace closed behind it.
The distinctive bluish flares of subspace were skimming the shields of the Explorer when Jonathan decided to head down to the crew deck. They would be traveling for almost a day, so there was no reason to remain on full alert all the time. As he reached the ship transporter, his XO, Commander Everheart joined his side.
"Heading down to C-Deck as well, sir?" she asked.
"Yes, commander, Selene can handle the ship just fine for now."
"I don't doubt it, sir," she replied, smirking slightly, "If you don't mind me asking, sir, where are you from?"
"Earth-born, commander. European megalopolis to be more precise. Damn city is so big it covers five historical countries, at least… partly. What about you?"
"Luna, sir. At least until I transferred to Apollo 60 years ago. I joined a military research division until the recruitment call for Explorers 10 years ago. You know the rest."
"Yes I do, commander. Rather glowing recommendations and all. Still, a commander after only ten years, it's almost unheard of."
"I might have had some luck with my posting under Grissom, sir. He… kind of made sure I was one of the best, and I aim to keep it that way."
"Grissom's favourite huh," Jonathan muttered.
"No sir," Catherine almost yelped, "He just trained me really well."
Jonathan eyed her incredulously, but made no more mention of it as the two of them stepped out of the transporter. They made their way to the crew lounges, which were surprisingly empty given that they were about to spend a day in uneventful FTL-flight. There were only a few soldiers and engineers scattered amongst the many "booths".
The crew lounges were a set of three large rooms filled with comfortable sofas and tables and had a large bar along one of the walls. The lounge was designed with a jazzy club in mind, giving the room a very relaxed atmosphere.
Catherine and Jonathan chose one of the booths to sit down, and promptly started discussing their next assignment.
"Sir, I saw our target system. I ran a few scans before jumping, and they showed that we can expect a massive star. And when I say massive, I mean blue giant massive. About 200 solar masses."
"Now that would be an interesting one to mine, wouldn't it," Jonathan replied, "Sadly, we're not dropping any construction nanites in system, just recon probe with subspace linking."
"I know sir, I read the briefing. We're going there to observe possible Extrasolars." Catherine said, internally noting that that term would have to be changed again, given that a lot of humans were "extrasolar" already, "What I don't get is why we're using these random jumps to find them. Wouldn't it be easier to simply follow the relays?"
Jonathan chuckled, "And just how would you think we could find these partner relays. It's not as if we can tell where they point without jumping through, and that's against Gatekeeper protocol. And you know that we removed all the relays within the Sol sphere, so we'd have to find a new one first."
"I'm sure we could figure it out sir. Just seems like a tedious way of handling this, that's all."
"Commander, don't forget the secondary objective here. By establishing these recon systems, we can monitor a large part of the galaxy a lot easier."
"True sir, hadn't thought of it that way," Catherine said as she opened a holo-display of the Sagittarius arm. She zoomed in on a star cluster about 2000 light years from their target system.
"Anyways sir, I ran a few long range scans aw well, and I've confirmed the anomalies the Admiral briefed us on, however, I did notice that the anomalies seem to be concentrated on this particular star cluster. Might be worth investigating…"
"Good find commander, although don't I believe our scientists didn't pick this up. We'll place one of our monitor probes there as it's along the path we've been given."
Jonathan and Catherine continued discussing the mission until they started slipping into different subjects. They were soon joined by a few other heads of their respective divisions, and all of them were eager to find, study, and possibly meet these aliens.
The rest of the day passed without anything noteworthy as the Into the Abyss drew nearer to their target system. Some crewmembers, including the captain and his XO, used the time to catch up on some long needed sleep, and they slept until Selene announced that the ship would be re-entering real space within 30 minutes.
Jonathan got up as soon as Selene had made the announcement, and within 15 minutes he was heading up to the bridge. When he got there the bridge was already spurring with activity.
When the Into the Abyss came out of subspace, the ship found herself in high stellar orbit around the massive star.
"Captain, I am detecting an anomaly in system, although it would really difficult to track without our kind of sensors due to solar radiation. There's something in very low stellar orbit, about 500 meters in width and 6 kilometres long. And it's emitting radiation and energy of its own, although nigh enough untraceable," Selene said.
"Selene, how low are we speaking here?" Jonathan asked.
"Orbital altitude at 200.000 kilometres above the solar surface, Captain. Given that the star in particular has a radius five times that of the sun, the orbital altitude is one where we would consider building starmines."
Jonathan was alarmed; if they'd found a civilization capable of building starmines then they were possibly as advanced as, or even more advanced than humanity. "Selene, does the anomaly resemble a starmine?"
"No captain, no pull of stellar materials detected."
"Well then, let's go and take a closer look, shall we?" Jonathan said, "Activate active camouflage."
"Activating," one of the bridge officers said as the ship headed towards the anomaly around the star.
"Captain, I'm getting imagery," said XO Everheart as a holo of the facility appeared, "Still unclear though, we need to get closer to do a full interior scan."
The anomaly looked like station of some kind, with something that could only be described as a ridiculous solar shield attached to one side. Instead of using quantum energy shielding systems as humanity did, the civilization that had built this facility seemed to have built a gigantic and immensely thick "mirror". It was a crude solution, and one that would eventually fail as the enormous temperature of the star slowly but steadily decayed the material, but they had somehow found a material that could take the enormous amounts of heat and energy emitted by the star.
"That has to be one of the crudest, but also one of the most expensive ways to get a station to survive so low in orbit around a star like this," Catherine mumbled.
"You are correct, XO Everheart," Selene said, "I am detecting active coolant systems around the… station. Using energy shielding would be approximately 150000% cheaper."
"No kidding," Jonathan mumbled as the ship approached the station. Now that they were close they could see strange markings etched into the surface of the station, which was rather plain. There were a few distinct levels, but in all honesty the station looked like a gigantic box with the solar reflectors on the side facing the star.
"Any lifesigns, Selene?" asked Jonathan.
"I've got about 50.000 of them, very faint. They're all in suspended animation."
"A cryostation?" Jonathan muttered, slightly surprised.
"Captain, do you want to send in a scouting squad?" Catherine asked.
"I'd love to explore that personally, Commander, but that wouldn't be very wise, would it. Send in Alpha and Beta squads, active camouflage mandatory." Jonathan said as he screened the alien station.
Within minutes the scout squads were ready to explore the construct, and the leaders of the two squads reported to launch deck. They would be entering the structure using phasing technology, where they would partially shift their being into subspace, rendering them able to pass through solid material.
(Into the Abyss, Scout Team Alpha & Beta)
"Chief Petty Officer Rodriguez, reporting sir!" said one of the scout squad leaders as Captain Walker's avatar appeared on the launch deck.
"At ease, chief," Jonathan replied.
"We're armed and ready to go, sir!"
"Very well, you're cleared for phasing, you may depart when ready."
"Understood sir," Rodriguez said as the rest of his squad approached him.
"Alphas form up. Activate combat hard-suit gravity-thrusters and phase field emitters, we're going in!"
"Sir!" the other members of Alpha Team saluted.
Both squads rose and passed the containment shield of the Into the Abyss's launch deck, making their way to the alien station that was about 1 kilometre away from them. They were headed for one of the more obvious "levels", where the lower level was clearly sticking out a bit. The outer hull of the station was made of a material that was similar to the mass effect Relays, which sent a chill down Rodriguez's spine.
As the two teams neared the station they activated their phasing field as a soft ripple through space hinted at their disguised forms. They passed through the hull easily enough, and after almost one meter of solid metal, the teams found themselves drifting through a large hallway with dozens of stasis pods placed along the facing wall in orderly fashion.
"Deactivate Phasing Field," Rodriguez ordered through the Neural network. The human neural network made sure that soldiers could receive every piece of data simultaneously and it allowed for silent communications, giving stealth squads a definite edge.
The same ripple that could be observed earlier now ran through the large hallway, ignoring any kind of object as if it wasn't even there.
The scout teams used their gravity-manipulating thrusters to position themselves on what seemingly looked like a walkway. It overlooked a large part of pods that were giving the hall a faint greenish glow.
"Selene, can you detect artificial gravity?" Rodriguez asked as he linked up with the Into the Abyss's A.I.
"No gravity detected, all squads are advised to switch to suit based gravity systems," Selene answered.
"Acknowledged," said Rodriguez.
The activation of suit based gravity was one of the handier parts of combat hard-suits. They contained a gravity field generator capable of letting anyone feel as if they were experiencing a comfortable Earth 1G, whilst using microscopic gravity fields and magnetic fields to attach the suits' boots to any surface.
"Chief, I want you to find a hardware station, see if we can get Selene into this station," said Walker over the neural network.
"Yes sir, on it."
The two squads split up and started searching the various side rooms situated along the walkway, but none contained any kind of viable station.
"Sir, we should head down to ground level," said one of the squad members.
"I agree," replied Rodriguez as he took point and led the team down using a gravity assisted jump.
In both directions Rodriguez could now observe hundreds, or even thousands of pods, all of them emitting the same faint glow hinting at something still being alive inside.
"My god…" the Chief gasped.
"It's… a lot of pods," said one of the squad members.
"Wow," said another.
Alpha squad then started moving in search of some kind of console. As far as they could tell the wall of pods ran the entire length of the station, but every now and gain there was an intersection usually leading to another pod-hall. These new halls ran parallel to the hall the team was currently scouting, and truly gave the squad a sense of just how many beings were stored in this facility.
"Chief, we've got something here," one of the squad members a few meters ahead of Rodriguez said as he was peering into yet another intersection.
There was a server-like room at the end of the intersection, containing a few machines that bore a slight resemblance to human data consoles. There were also rows of larger machines behind the consoles, glowing with faint greenish light and enveloped in a soft mist.
"Seems like we found the place, good job," said Rodriguez.
"Captain, we've found said hardware station. Selene, can you try a remote access?"
"Release a quantum swarm, Chief," said Selene as she prepared herself for interfacing with the foreign systems.
"Releasing," said Rodriguez as faint cloud left one of the sockets of his combat hard-suits, leaving behind a small gap in the suit that was slowly restoring to its former status.
The swarm of quantum machines quickly spread into all of the systems in the room, which began lighting up almost instantly.
"I have full control of the systems, Captain," Selene said to both Walker and Rodriguez, "Their cyber-defences were almost none-existent to be honest, really underdeveloped for a species with a cryo-station such as this one. I recommend caution on revealing my presence should you decide to wake one of them up."
"Excellent, can you find out something about their origins? I would like to know a bit more about who, or what we are dealing with here before deciding on anything. I am contacting Grissom at the moment to update him on the situation, so take your time to delve through the systems."
"Acknowledged Captain," was Selene's reply.
The A.I. continued her work as she interfaced the many quantum machines with the alien systems, gathering and analysing every bit of data available.
"Captain, we're done here. Permission to return to the Abyss?" said Rodriguez.
"Granted, Chief."
"Alphas, move out," the Chief ordered.
"Yes, sir," was the swift reply as the squad left the computer room and made their way to the upper level once more. There, they activated their phasing fields and left the station the same way they had come in, using their gravity engines to propel themselves back towards the ship.
At the same time beta squad was also returning to ship, leaving the station as lifeless as it had been once more, with one small difference being the dozens of quantum machines now present in the station's systems.
(Into the Abyss, Bridge)
"Selene, what have you found out?" Jonathan asked curiously, wondering about the discovered species."
"Well Captain, a few really interesting facts actually," Selene started, "First of all, most of the stasis pods are active, but do not have the required amount of energy to actually open, only three of them have those kind of reserves. Next, the station has been in orbit around this star for over 300.000 years. Thought that might pique your interest, sir. Oh, and I have been able to upload a full translation of their language into the local neural network. You should be able to communicate with them flawlessly."
"300.000 years…" Walker said, slightly startled, "Modern Homo Sapiens didn't even exist back then. Have they been in stasis for all those years?"
"It appears so, sir," Selene replied, "That they are even alive leans credit to their scientific and engineering skills."
"That it does, Selene," Jonathan said.
At that moment, Grissom returned to their view.
"Walker, the data you sent us, it's… well it's something else. Board has decided you are to initiate holographic contact, whilst keeping the ship cloaked. You may proceed when ready, son."
"Al right, sir," Jonathan answered, "Any instructions for dealing with any kind of offer or request from the aliens?"
"Not yet Walker, we'll be following your progress live. Expect instructions and orders to come in as necessary."
"Understood, Walker out," said the Captain as he gave a salute.
Grissom disappeared once more, giving Jonathan a clear view of the station on his display once more.
"Selene, out of those three pods that could be activated, does any one of them contain a person of notice?" Jonathan asked.
"I cannot tell, sir. The contents of the pods aren't specified, although I have determined with 100% certainty that the other pods' lack of power was done on purpose. I recommend opening the three pods simultaneously, sir."
"Very well, get me a live feed of the pods in question and prepare of holo-avatar near them."
"Already done, sir," Selene replied smugly.
"What would I do without you," Jonathan wondered aloud.
"I'll leave you to ponder that one for while sir, you'll figure it out eventually," she said playfully.
The view of the station changed into the live 3-dimensional feed of one of the pod halls.
"Selene, can you highlight the to-be activated pods?"
"Yes sir."
Three pods situated near the end of the row became highlighted with a lightly orange hue.
"Start the activation procedure," Jonathan said.
Soon after there was a slight release of fog as the three pods shifted in position, moving towards the centre of the aisle between the two rows of pods. A distinct hissing sound could be heard as three hatches disconnected, reconnecting the contents of the pod with the outside air for the first time in thousands upon thousands of years. The lid slid off slowly, revealing the being that had been sleeping beneath.
It was human-like, bipedal and bi-ocular, but with a much thinner body and only four digits on its "hands". The fingers, if that was what you could call them, contained no nails or even a sign of bones underneath the smooth skin. The being was rather tall, measuring in at almost 2.2 meters, but the extremely thin waist, arms and legs did not give it the appearance of being particularly strong or heavy. Another prominent feature was its disproportionally long neck, thin and lean like all its other body-parts. Last, the beings head was rather small, completely smooth and bald, with two small nostrils just above a tiny mouth with no visible lips. Its eyes were dark grey, black even, with a faint difference in colour hinting at the presence hinting at the presence of something that functioned like an iris. They were large, taking up about an eighth of its entire face each, and were in stark contrast with its smooth light grey skin.
The being remained still for minutes, all three of them to be precise, until one of them started showing small signs of movement, of life. One of its fingers twitched, and soon afterward it arched its head a bit, taking in its surroundings. It was difficult to predict the being's emotions, but one could argue that it was slightly surprised at even waking at all. It continued looking around a bit, getting used to its surroundings until the other two alien beings regained consciousness as well. All in all it took them quite a while to adjust to their new situations, but in the end they started conversing, albeit softly.
"Prime An-abin, it is good to see you breathing and moving once more; I had thought our slumber was to be near-eternal," said one of the beings with a low cracking voice.
"I had the same thought, Prime Jin-Sulan, although I must say that it pleases me most sincerely to discover that was not to be," said one of the others, this one having a high toned musical voice.
"I concur, Primes. It is most pleasant to find ourselves among the living once more, although the question on the forefront of my mind would be who disturbed our slumber," said the last of the three, again with a lower, slightly cracking voice.
"Ah, Prime Awei-Jin, I agree, it would be most unpleasant to find out we were awakened by mere chance alone. Give me a moment to access our station scanners," said the being with the higher voice as "she" moved towards a section of the wall and placed the four digits of her hand on it. To her left side, a small console slid out of the wall, showing a faint map of the facility. Her fingers moved over the interface quite smoothly for a being that had just awakened from cryosleep, even though it had taken its time to adjust to its surroundings.
"It appears we are alone after all, my fellow Primes. The scanners show no activity or presence within the station, or any kind of it outside the station. It seems we've got ourselves quite a bit of a mystery."
The two other Primes looked at each other with face that could only be interpreted as slightly distraught.
Back on the bridge the crew of the Into the Abyss was watching the scene unfold with careful attention. Apart from the Prothean ruins, this was the first spacefaring alien organism that they had come into contact with.
"Shall we introduce ourselves, Captain?" said Everheart from behind her station.
"It would be prudent, would it not?" replied the Captain, "Selene, could you be so kind as to create a holographic presentation of myself near the three beings."
"Of course, Captain," was the reply.
The three Primes looked at the patch of space in front of them that had been occupied by air only moments ago that now showed them a visual representation of their visitors. The three did not appear to be startled one bit.
"Ah, our visitors, it seems," said one of the Primes.
"Greetings," Jonathan began fluently in their language, "My name is Captain Jonathan Walker, Commanding Officer of the TCSS Into the Abyss, which is currently drifting close to your station. Our people, humanity, are a race of peaceful explorers, and wish to greet you with a hand of peace and prosperity."
The three Primes stared at each other, showing something of a smile on their respective faces.
"And we greet you in return, Captain. From your exquisite grasp of our language I would conclude that you already have our names, but in the name of civility, I would introduce myself and my fellow Primes. I am Prime Awei-Jin, and these fine Primes beside me are Jin-Sulan and An-abin of the Oviallan Triumvirate. We return the hand of peace and prosperity you offer."
Walker sighed in relief, glad that the beings seemed perfectly rational.
"I am glad to hear it, Prime Awei-Jin. My crew and I would offer you proper accommodations for establishing formal contact, but we'd like to know a bit more about you before we reveal ourselves, if it isn't too much of a burden."
"Not at all Captain, although my guess would be that you wish to know the reason my fellow primes and I, along with 49997 others of my kind were, or are still slumbering on this station."
"You would be correct," replied Jonathan.
"Then let me start the tale, Captain. But know this, it is a sad one…" said Awei-Jin.
"Our people, the Oviallan, were a peaceful and curious race, not unlike your own stated intentions. We prospered on our planet, where there was little conflict or hardship. The society we had built was one based on virtues, and we respected science most of all. For thousands of years we prospered, eventually discovering ruins of a civilization past on a moon in orbit around the farthest planet in our system. From those ruins we created our first FTL-capable vessel, and we reached a few stars near our own. However, almost like a stroke of bad luck, our own star determined its life was to suddenly accelerate by an extraordinary amount of time, and without warning, our world burned. The planet we called our home became a grave, the very atmosphere capable of killing us within seconds. We had been in space for about a century then, so all was not lost, but instead billions, our race could suddenly be measured in the hundred thousands."
"However, as if one disaster was not enough, soon after our star reached another phase of terror as the radiation it sent out started killing citizens on settlements not on Ovialla, our home planet. We devised a plan to save ourselves, and spent every working hour to complete it, and created this station, which is called an ark. It was one of two completed, and it carries a good portion of the remainder of our people. The station, or ship, as it is capable of FTL flight, was designed to find a suitable planet for us to re-awaken. But in the long years afterwards, searching for a proper planet, our energy reserves dwindled ever so steadily, until there was no more to power our drive core. We decided to activate our final preservation measure, known as the eternal slumber, in the hope that we would one day be found by another species. The ship positioned itself close enough to a star to produce the power required for the pods to remain active for millions of years."
"And now, it seems the day has come for us to humbly ask your species for help, as we have no hope of saving ourselves from doom. We can return to our sleep, but nothing more…" finished the prime.
Most of the crew of the Into the Abyss was flabbergasted that they had found such a thing out here in the vastness of space, but also felt proud that humanity could help life in need, as was their duty bestowed upon them by themselves.
"Your tale is… quite moving, honourable Prime. Whilst I cannot personally offer you what you seek, my superiors certainly can. If it is acceptable to you, I will send over a shuttle to your station, so we may converse in person, and relay our discussion to the people in charge of my mission," said Jonathan, happy to be able to offer help to a dying species.
"That would be perfectly reasonable, Captain. I will have a bay opened for the shuttle presently, and I look forward to meeting you and your species in person," said the Prime with a relieved tone.
"And I look forward to meeting you all as well," replied Jonathan.
He looked at the primes through the interface and smiled, knowing that humanity could make difference for these people.
And that's it for this chapter. I know, it's sort of a cliffhanger, but there will be more. Again, expect the next chapter to be up sometime in the next two weeks, perhaps a bit later (Christmas and all).
I'll be doing a bit more of world building before actually meeting a citadel species, but from your comments I have chosen to race to be met, so thanks for that!
As always, please Review!
PS. The Oviallan look like Kaminoans from Star Wars if you were wondering.