Scions of Humanity - A Metaphysical Space Opera Adventure (Aeon 14 Read online

  “A bit bold, that,” Mira said. “But OK…unless someone deliberately made this thing to look ancient, you’re probably right.”

  “So what do we do?” Brock asked. “Do we go back to Bysmark and report this?”

  Mira had already been thinking the situation over, and found it to be a bit of a conundrum. There was no protocol for ‘Ancient derelict alien station that’s being stripped by enterprising merchants’ in the regs. The closest was the discovery of a pirate stronghold.

  In that case, ships unable to directly engage were to remain stealthed and send a probe back to Bysmark with the pertinent information.

  That was what Mira decided to go with.

  “We’ll send an FTL drone back,” she informed the ensign. “But first, I want us to complete this pass and get any idents we can off those docked ships. Command is going to want to track down whoever has been stripping this thing without reporting it to the authorities.”

  “My money is on one of the new corporations,” Emma said. “They want to control the OA’s markets, and what better way to do that than ancient alien tech?”

  “Which might not be any more advanced than ours,” Janice pointed out. “That station doesn’t look like anything special.”

  Mira shot the AI a curious look. “You seem almost jealous.”

  “I guess I’m upset. So far as we know, no other sapiens of Terran origin have found alien artifacts, and here we find one, and it’s being stripped by…enterprising assholes. Makes you wonder how often this might have happened, and people just hid the finding.”

  “Hard to say, given how far we are from the rest of colonized space,” Emma replied. “Even so, the galaxy is so…empty. Our colony ships traveled a loooong way, and not once did they detect an artificial signal. Given how many light years they crossed, you’d think that they would have picked up something, if there was a civilization out here in the past.”

  Janice shrugged. “It’s feasible that we could have missed it. There’s nothing to say they didn’t have a very short time as a technological civilization.”

  Mira drew a deep breath, certain from how calm she felt that the reality of what they’d discovered had not yet set in.

  I’ll probably scream, cry, and do a happy dance later.

  For now, she had to remain calm and collected; the perfect commander, totally in control of her domain.

  The crew fell to discussing the fermi paradox, modeling humanity’s expansion over just a few thousand years against an alien species’. Most everyone had always believed that the answer to the paradox had to be some combination of the Rare Earth theory and the Great Filter.

  Janice argued that this was a very Terra-centric view. If life evolved to function in different environments than humans and other life from Earth, then the Rare Earth scenario fell apart as the number of locales that were both stable and habitable increased dramatically.

  “So it has to be the Great Filter,” Janice concluded. “The question is, what is it and does it still come into play with multi-system civilizations?”

  “The Great Filter is an explanation for why the galaxy isn’t teeming with space-faring civilizations,” Mira countered. “The death of any one particular civ doesn’t mean that the filtering process was in play.”

  The AI shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. One could argue that if we found this one derelict so easily, there are many, many more out there.”

  Mira stood her ground. “Or that there are none. But it doesn’t really matter, speculation on the situation doesn’t change what needs to be done in the here and now.”

  She turned to her cousin. “Brock, have we identified any of those ships docked with the station?”

  “Partials.” He nodded to the forward display, where a list of hull configurations and possible matches appeared. “None of them are broadcasting idents, and without an engine signature, it’s impossible to say for sure.”

  “Those are expensive ships, though.” Emma pointed at one of the larger models, a heavy freighter capable of carrying ten times its own mass in cargo. “That’s a Jalcor Titan IX. Only corporations own those—and the military, for our heavy equipment transports.”

  Mira turned to Emma, and both their eyes widened.

  “What if the OASF already knows about this place?” Mira asked. “What if someone is keeping this hush-hush?”

  “I can’t see that.” Brock’s tone carried nothing but certainty. “There would be a fleet here guarding it.”

  “Think so?”

  The bridge crew turned to see Aqua standing on the threshold.

  She nodded to Mira before entering, her long legs carrying her to the holotank in moments. “Figured you four had to be talking about our little discovery here.”

  “What were you hinting at, Chief?” Emma asked.

  “Well, what if it wasn’t the OASF that knew about this place, so much as an element within the military? In that case, you might not have a fleet here, but rather a cruiser, maybe a few destroyers, all running dark—just waiting for some interloper to poke their nose where it doesn’t belong.”

  One by one, they all shared worried looks.

  Mira pursed her lips and sighed. “We should assume there are stealthed ships nearby whether this artifact is controlled by the military or not. Hence our silent running.”

  “We’re going to have to stay on our current vector until we can transition several AU from here,” Janice said. “Once we get out into interstellar space, we can reorient and send a drone back to Bysmark.”

  Mira nodded. “Agreed. Then we’ll set ourselves on a vector to jump back here; slow passage past the artifact. We’ll keep an eye on it and gather more data until the cavalry arrives.”

  “Works for me,” Aqua said. “I’ll go prepare a drone. We’ll make sure it can get to Bysmark fast and only squawk on the right channels.”

  “Good, let me know when it’s ready.” Mira turned to Emma. “Ensign, can you get us to a transition point in the next few hours with minimal burns?”

  “I think so, I’ll just need to run some profiles past the nav system.”

  “Good, we need to make sure that no matter what happens, no one even suspects that we were here. We don’t want to spook whoever’s occupying the artifact.”

  With that, everyone returned to their stations, leaving Mira standing over the holotank, eyes locked on the strange cylindrical station, its pitted hull glinting dully as it rotated slowly in the starlight.

  What are you doing here…and why have these people hidden your presence?

  She didn’t have any clue what the answers might be just yet, but one thing was for certain: once her father learned of what lay on Regina’s outskirts, they’d all know very soon.

  CHAPTER 14 - SERA

  STELLAR DATE: 12.31.8959 (Adjusted Years)

  LOCATION: Grace O’Malley

  REGION: Sigma 1199 System, Norma Arm

  West was back in her customary place at the scan station as Sera entered the bridge. The scan and comms officer was poring over the data flowing into the ship as they closed on the planet it was orbiting, a frown creasing her brow.

  “What’s it look like?” Sera asked as she settled into her seat.

  “Look like?” West glanced up and shook her head. “It looks like I could make a career out of studying this system.”

  “Really?” Sera cocked her head to the side. “Why’s that?”

  West leant back, pressing her palms into her eyes. “Oh…I don’t know. Maybe because I don’t think it’s naturally formed.”

  Sera had pulled up the latest updates from the QuanComm network, but at West’s words, she sat forward, mouth open. “Not natural? So we’ve found evidence of the core AIs?”

  “That’s what’s got me all twisted around. Yes, the core AIs possess the technology to establish the orbital patterns in this system, as do we. The thing is…well, there’s enough data from the probe to extrapolate backward, and from what I can see, this system hasn’t been messed
with for at least twenty thousand years.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “It has to be wrong,” West muttered, looking back at her console, flipping through screens. “Either this system is fully natural, or any orbital changes had to occur more recently.”

  Jen said.

  “That’s my assessment as well,” West replied. “So the probe’s data must be wrong.”

  “Anything on why it’s settled in at this gas giant?” Sera asked. “Or did it get overwhelmed with the conundrum and give up?”

  West gave Sera a glance that was half nervous, half perplexed. “Uhhh, no, it picked up some ruins on one of the moons, and it’s been surveying them.”

  “Ruins?”

 

  The main display shifted to show a deep crater on the moon’s surface, most of the bottom shrouded in shadow. A moment later, the probe’s multispectrum survey appeared, overlayed atop the visual.

  For a moment, Sera wasn’t sure what she was looking at. A series of small ridges spidered out from the center of the crater, and at a glance, one might have considered them to be a natural occurrence, some sort of unlikely geometric pattern formed by the impact that made the depression.

  But then lines began to highlight the ridges, emphasizing a symmetrical pattern across the floor of the crater.

  “OK…” the captain whispered. “That’s certainly not natural—or if it is, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Jen added.

  “And we’re sure the core AIs didn’t make this?” Sera asked.

  West shrugged. “I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m really not sure of anything anymore. We’re on the far side of the galactic core from Sol…If a vast interstellar civilization was hiding just out of view, this would be the place they’d be.”

  “We’ve sent probes to over a hundred billion stars,” Sera said, shaking her head. “How is it that none of them have spotted anything like this?”

  Jen suggested.

  “OK, that’s fair,” Sera nodded. “One thing’s for sure, though. I want to get down there. That’s something that needs looking at.”

  Jen asked.

  “Are you kidding?” Sera shook her head, mouth agape. “We find possible evidence of the first advanced non-Terran life in the galaxy, and you want to tag it and move on?”

  Jen’s mental tone was filled with mirth.

  “You did get pretty crazy-looking, there,” West confirmed, grinning unapologetically.

  Sera groaned. “You both are fired.”

 

  * * * * *

  Half a day later, Sera and Jason sat in the cockpit of their ship’s pinnace, gazing in wonder at the structure at the bottom of the crater.

  “That is definitely artificial,” he said, pointing at a section to the right of the small craft. “Look at that, I’d say that’s the remains of an antenna of some sort.”

  “There’s so much dust all over this thing, though,” Sera said. “Where did it all come from?”

  “Nearby impact?” Jason suggested. “Could have thrown the dust this far…actually, yeah, look at where the heavier concentrations are. It’s all facing the same direction.”

  Sera nodded. “Well, that’s one mystery solved. Means this place is younger than it would have been if this much decay had happened from time alone.”

  Jason circled the shuttle around the edge of the crater, a three-dimensional view of the structure building up on the forward display. It was over five kilometers across, some of the sections over fifty meters tall, though most were only five or six.

  “That is some…weird architecture,” Jason said. “Look at those angles—half the time, it’s doubling back on itself.”

  “Symmetrical, though,” Sera replied. “At least we have that in common.”

  Jen commented.

  Sera nodded in agreement. “Any sign of the entrance?”

  The shuttle came around another section of the structure, and Jason pointed at a gaping hole in the wall. “Will that do?”

  “I suppose. Not ideal, but at least we don’t have to dig a door out from under regolith.”

  Thirty minutes later, Sera and Jason stood outside the shuttle, staring at the strange edifice that loomed over them. The section with the hole in the side was near the end of one of the spindly branches where the structure was only twenty meters wide. From where they stood, a room that filled the width of the space was visible, indistinguishable objects covering much of the floor.

  Sera glanced at Jason, who was stretching his neck, head bobbing side to side in his clear plas helmet.

 

  Sera said.

  Jen drawled.

  Sera reported up to the Grace O’Malley, pointedly ignoring Jen’s comment.

  Cargo replied.

  Jason laughed, shaking his head.

  Sera asked as she began closing the distance with small bounds in the low gravity, her boots conveying the crunching sensation of the sharp dust particles grinding together under her weight.

 

  She glanced back at him, rolling her eyes.

 

  Ahead, the opening loomed, dark and not at all inviting. The objects inside—most of which had been flattened by the collapsing wall—coming into stark relief.

  Jen announced.

  A swarm of microdrones left Sera’s EV suit, followed by several larger units that took off from the shuttle. The big ‘uns—as Jason called them—activated floodlights, casting long shadows inside the room, and highlighting what appeared to be a door set into the wall on the right side.

  Jason said as he began to climb the debris at the edge of the hole.

  Sera muttered as she climbed up a fallen section of wall, coming to the apex of the debris.

  Jason glanced at her and shrugged.

  Sera wanted to argue with him—if for no other reason than to counter his smug tone—but she couldn’t think of an alternative, so she followed him silently down the rubble, careful not to step into the deeper piles of dust where gaps in the wall-slabs might lay.

  she said.

  Jason replied.

  she replied.

 

  They reached the room’s floor, and Sera approached one of the cylindrical objects arrayed in a strange pattern. She wasn’t sure if it’s wh
ere they had been placed, or if the blast that broke the wall moved them around.

  she asked.

 

 

  Jason snorted a laugh, carefully making his way around the cylindrical objects to the door. When he reached it, he began brushing dust off the wall.

  Sera asked as she approached and stood next to him before the two-meter-high portal.

  He pulled a portable grav shield off his belt and set it down on the ground. The field sprang up, strong enough to protect against kinetic rounds, which should suffice for holding back any atmosphere inside.

  Jen said.

  Jason glanced at Sera, eyes on her forehead.

 

  Sera shook her head.

  the AI replied.

 

  Sera shrugged and let the AI get to work.

  A minute later, when nothing happened, a sigh came from Jen.

  Sera asked.

  the AI replied.

  Jason said as he ignited his plasma cutter.