Alicia Jones 4: Enigma (3 page)

“Good morning,” Kristi said, and I managed a wave.

Nadia said, “Good morning, follow me to the conference
room.”

We walked along behind her to the conference room. 
Nora, Senna, and a couple of other aliens I didn’t recognize were in there
already.  We took a seat, and Nadia walked up front.

“Thanks for coming, you know everyone except the
Omarans.  This is Talmor, and Blue.  I want to show you a video, and
then I’ll explain why you’re here.”

The Omarans were a humanoid race like the rest, they were
pretty close to the same as human, except for their hair, which was looked
slightly thicker.  Talmor’s hair was bright green, and Blue’s hair was
quite blue.  They also only had three fingers which were thicker, and the
opposable thumb, instead of the usual four.  Otherwise they were
remarkably similar, including their dark tan skin, and brown eyes.

A video came up, and it looked like data from one of the
probes I built.  It was out in space.  I didn’t have to wait long for
things to get started.  I watched an approaching swarm of the bugs. 
The video panned around in a circle and showed data.  There was no
technology that we could detect in the system, but there was a world close by.

It was brown, with clouds of black.  It looked
remarkably like Venus, though it obviously wasn’t, there was data on the
screen, it was mostly carbon dioxide, and the black clouds were storms raining
acid. 

Nadia said, “This is a world occupied by the Drenil. 
It looks rather uncomfortable, and you can see it’s over four hundred degrees
Celsius.  I know the probe shows no life signs, but the Drenil don’t have
life signs.  At least, not any that we can detect or understand.”

The camera turned back toward the bug swarm fleet.  I’d
been sure I was about to see them hit the planet.  There was nothing to
stop them.  Then there was a white flash on the screen, if I’d have
blinked I would have missed it.  A moment later the swarm fleet started to
explode, starting with the ships in front, and going toward the back like a
wave.  Another two seconds, and it was over.

A single white flash, and a million destroyed ships.

“What the hell was that?  And how did we even get this
data?” I asked, curious despite myself.

Nadia smiled at my question, “Here it is in slow
motion.  And we got it by sending a probe a few weeks ago.  They
ignored it.”

She replayed that section frame by frame.  Something
came on the screen, and Nadia paused it.  It looked… amorphous.  It
wasn’t one of the aliens though, it was a ship, and its shape was extremely
random.  Curves, points, and angles that overlapped, it looked
random.  Like a one-year-old with a crayon had scribbled, and this is what
came out.  It was translucent white, and seemed to generate a light of
some kind, it was also partially transparent, I could see stars behind it.

Nadia went another frame, and it appeared more solid, and
brighter.

Another frame, and white dominated the entire screen.

One more frame, and the ship was gone again.

She sped it up to a quarter speed, and we watched again as
the ships exploded, like dominoes falling. 

I couldn’t help it, that was impossible, and I gaped.

Finally, I found my voice, “So, when the Seltan told us the
Drenil were extremely powerful, but peaceful, they weren’t kidding at all.”

Nora chuckled, “You could say that, which brings us to the
point.”

Nadia smiled, “The council, along with Tressia, Leira, and
Omara want to send an expedition to Drenil space.  The Seltan failed to
open any kind of meaningful dialog in their attempts, but perhaps some of our
best scientists from four of our worlds will have a better shot.  Plus,
maybe we’ll be able to figure out what that was, if not how to do it
ourselves.”

I looked to Kristi, and she nodded.  Truthfully, I was
a bit curious, and the rest of me didn’t care if I went or not.  So I
figured, why the hell not?

“Alright, how many are going, and when?”

Nadia replied, “The people in this room, and we have to
swing by Tressia and Leira to pick up a couple of more scientists.  Senna,
Nora, and myself are coming just in case you succeed and we can open diplomatic
negotiations, and to be honest we all want to go see, and can get away with
doing work remotely for a while.  As for when, we’re ready when you are.”

“Can you give us an hour?  And approval to land a
shuttle here from orbit?  We all won’t fit in the sports shuttle, and we
need to go home and pack first.”

At the very least, we needed to pick up our body conforming
pressure suits.

Nadia shook her head, “Make it two hours, and pick us up at
JFK.”

“Alright, see you then.”

It took a surprisingly short time.  The longest was
getting out of New York City to a place we could fly off from, and we went
straight back home.  We both changed.  I chose to wear a pair of dark
jeans and a red shirt over the pressure suit, Kristi also wore clothes this
time over the skin tight suit.  Maybe because we were having guests?

I considered packing, but I still had a number of clothes to
wear aboard ship, so I decided there was no point. 

Kristi was ready a few minutes later, and we were on our
way.

The truth is, I felt a little worried, because I truly
didn’t care.  What I’d seen on the video had been amazing, I should have
been charged up, excited for an opportunity to even try to talk to and study
the Drenil. 

Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to give a crap.  It was
barely two weeks since Nathan died, still, shouldn’t I have bounced back, at
least a little by now?

Perversely, I decided to look into it in spite of
myself.  Almost as if I feared if I didn’t, I might as well just roll over
and die.

“Al, bring up the raw scanning data and particle emissions
for the time the Drenil ship was visible.  On second thought, add in a
second before and after.”

For two and a tenth second span, there was a hell of a lot
of data to go through.  There were many types of radiation and particles,
and I was sure there were some our scanners couldn’t see yet.  But if I
could figure out what, maybe I could figure out how?

Kristi looked at me in surprise, and that made me feel a
little guilty.  I wasn’t the best friend in the world to begin with, and
I’d been a completely crappy one lately.  Nathan was gone, but I had a lot
to be thankful for in this life, and she was near the top of the list, if not
the top.

I started to feel so guilty, that I teared up.  I was a
mess.

Kristi asked in a concerned voice, “Alicia?”

This time I was the one that hugged her as I broke down and
bawled.  It was different from last time though, these tears weren’t the
same.  They felt cleansing, as if I were letting go instead of holding on
tight in denial.  She held me while I got it all out, and I hoped that was
it for a while, I really hated crying.

“Sorry,” I muttered, a little embarrassed now.

Which as strange as it sounds, was progress. 
Embarrassment meant I cared.  I still missed him but I could feel, and
breath again, all at the same time.

Kristi shook her head, “I’m still not telling you what I’m
working on…”

I whacked her on the arm playfully, which made her giggle,
and I asked with false excitement, “So, ready to invade JFK with an armed
shuttle?”

She nodded, “Sounds fun!”

The sad truth was I had nothing big enough that wasn’t
armed.  I’d have to fix that.

I added, “Oh, could you double check the security, we’ll
have nosy scientists on board, and I prefer they don’t figure out the
converters, dark energy reactor, or the wormhole device.”

Kristi nodded, “I’ll double check, but no one but us should
have access to those rooms, and the database is locked down by the A.I.”

“Good.”

It turned out nine of us would be going in total, four
ambassador types who wanted to come along just in case, although I imagined
they were curious, and then five scientists.  We needed to stop at Tressia
to pick up a scientist called Nalla, and then on to Leira for a scientist named
Ellis before heading to Drenil space.  I still missed Nathan, but my mind
seemed to be working better again, as if I’d stopped punishing myself.

For what, I wasn’t sure.

Kristi asked, “You stopped the taxi build?”

She must have reviewed the ship’s status.

I nodded, and looked around the bridge as Al opened up a
wormhole to Tressian space.

“I’ve been thinking.  They ignored our probe right?”

Nadia nodded at me slowly, like I’d said something stupid,
and looked as if she were wondering if I was feeling okay.

I smiled, had I been that bad?

“Well, I was thinking, the probe wasn’t armed right?  I
mean, I don’t want to assume they’ll ignore any ship.  After all, would we
let a race armed like this ship is, to approach one of our worlds, from a race
we couldn’t talk to or understand yet?  Granted, they’re different, but
they clearly defend themselves from the bugs, so we have that much in common at
least.”

Senna nodded, “That makes sense, but what can we do?”

“I’m going to redesign the taxi by pulling out the wormhole device,
and make it big enough to comfortably fit nine, and then finish it up.  I
suggest we park this thing on the edge of their space, specifically, on the
Seltan side of the border.”

Nora asked, “Will that take long?”

I shrugged, “Just a few minutes for the design with Al’s
help.  The changes are small, since its already an unarmed hull.  I
just need to add life support and creature comforts which we already have
specifications for.  It should take a day to finish from where it is now. 
Nora, do we need to pick up your scientist, or is she taking a ship up?”

Nora replied, “She has her own shuttle.”

Kristi interjected with humor, “Well, were at Tressia, so
tell her to come on up.”

I took a few minutes to remove the systems we didn’t need, and
to make room for what we did.  While I tuned out the conversation around me I
swapped some stuff around and restarted the build.  It was twice the
length of a standard sized shuttle, there’d be plenty of room for nine people
to work comfortably, with a restroom and some basic food and amenities, but it
would have no sleeping berths which might get old fast.  I supposed we
could always come back to the battle cruiser to sleep.

“Anyone hungry, or want a drink?” I asked curiously.

There was a general affirmation to the idea, and we all
filed off the bridge.  It would actually take longer for the shuttle to
arrive than the trip from Earth to Tressia had taken.  I frowned, I knew
eventually the tech would leak out, spying was pretty standard to all humanoid
races.  I was friends with all these people though, well, most of them,
and I hoped there would be no misunderstandings. 

It may have been inevitable, but it wasn’t going to happen
on my watch, or my ship.  I wondered if I was getting a bit cynical, but
decided I wouldn’t be as worried if we weren’t bringing along four total
strangers.  It also occurred to me I’d never asked who had requested I go
on this mission, Nadia had been very vague about that.  Okay, now I was
paranoid.  Still, what if it hadn’t been the council for the USFS, but our
allies, and they had more than one reason to request my presence.

I shook it off as we got to the galley, and grabbed a
coffee…

I nodded congenially when Nalla walked out of the back of
her shuttle, “Welcome aboard.”

Nalla looked almost grave, “Thank you.  Do you know
when we’ll get started?”

Nalla struck me as being uptight, studious, and
arrogant.  That was my first impression of her anyway, hopefully she would
warm up or this would be a long trip.  And by first impression, I meant
soul reading, she
was
uptight, studious, and arrogant, it hadn’t been a
guess.  Still, that could change and was only her outer feelings for the
moment.

Kristi interjected, “It will be at least a day, we’ve
decided not to go into Drenil space with an armed ship.”

Nalla didn’t look too happy with that delay, but she nodded
in acceptance.

I added, “It will give us some time to go over data we
already have.  It wasn’t much, but I already have some speculations.”

Nalla looked slightly mollified by that idea, and I wondered
if I knew the true meaning of workaholic after all.  I also considered I
might be a lot like her if I didn’t have Kristi as a best friend.  A best
friend who constantly tried to make me unwind and relax, and forced me to go
out dancing and not be a hermit.

I decided I probably would be, and sent Kristi a grateful
look that she probably couldn’t decipher the reason for.

“Al, move us to Leira please.”

He replied out of the deck speakers, “On our way.”

Nalla asked, “You said speculations?”

I shrugged, “Let’s wait until we pick up the Leiran
scientist so we don’t have to cover old ground.  Keep in mind its mostly
speculation based on limited data, not a true theory at all, but it will be
somewhere to start from if no one else has alternate ideas.  In the
meantime, food and drink, or would you like to see your quarters?”

Nalla sighed, “Very well, a drink would be acceptable, as
for quarters I’d prefer to use my shuttle.”

I tried not to be offended by that, she probably just liked
having her own stuff around her, and was comfortable there.

By the time we walked back to the galley, it was time to
turn right around and return to the landing bay.  The wormhole drive
really did speed things up.  Of course, it would be hurry up and wait,
since we’d be stuck at the border until the shuttle fabrication was done. 
I decided on a whim to label the design a science research shuttle, and saved
it.

The Leiran scientist came out of his shuttle with a smile
and a walk that was just short of a swagger.  After Alnot, his family, and
Senna, I’d come to the half-baked conclusion that all of the Leiran’s would be
reserved, but not so for this one.

“Doctor Jones, a pleasure to meet you,” and he shook my hand
excitedly.

I watched a little in amazement as he went around the room
greeting everyone as friends, he knew all their names and was gracious and
outgoing.  My newfound pessimism decided if anyone was a spy for Earth
tech, it would be this man.  Of course, the more likely reason was Senna
had sent him an info packet on everyone going.

He turned back to me, “So, how about a tour of this amazing
ship?”

I almost laughed, probably not a spy then.  Not subtle
enough. 

Nalla looked scandalized by his attitude, which made me
cough to hide my amusement.

“I’d be happy too, but perhaps later?  We have a plan
to figure out, and a little data to go over.”

Ellis nodded enthusiastically, “Wonderful idea, after you?”

Kristi and I took the lead, and walked them to a nearby
conference room where we all sat around the table.

“Al, put the data up on the screen please?”

I turned to the table, “Has anyone else studied the data
from the probe yet?”

Nadia shook her head in disbelief, “When the hell did you
have time to do that?”

I grinned, “On the shuttle ride to JFK.  I hardly
performed an exhaustive analysis, but something did stand out to me right off.”

Nalla narrowed her eyes, “What?  I didn’t notice
anything when I reviewed it.”

“Al, bring up some of the wormhole data and put it side by
side.”

I turned toward Nalla and explained, “Probably because you
haven’t seen a scan of an open wormhole yet.  You can see they look very
different, but have a few commonalities.  They both share a few types of
exotic radiation not found anywhere else.”

Ellis said, “Yes, but they’re very different in scope.”

“Agreed,” I said, “the wormhole shows much more
radiation.  But I think that’s because the wormhole drive is very
crude.  We are basically punching a hole and drilling a tunnel in space
time.  It’s different as well because the Drenil ship never moved, it just
appeared and disappeared, so obviously they don’t create a hole, I think they
simply slip between dimensions, or subspace layers if you prefer.  The
radiation is a result of the two layers coming together when they shouldn’t,
their technology is just more refined.”

“That,” Nalla paused, “Is pure speculation and
guesswork.  There’s no math or proof.”

“Absolutely,” I assured her, “I told you that already, it’s
just speculation.  Except, the flash of translucent energy also emitted
similar radiation.  I believe what killed those ships so fast was a…
rippled tear in normal space of some kind.  Why it destroyed the ships
though, I don’t know, I suppose it depends on what was in the subspace layer,
or dimension, on the other side of the ripple.”

Ellis frowned, “It fits the facts, but so do any amount of
tales I could make up.  Do you have any other data to support the theory
they are slipping into some kind of theoretical subspace?  Rather than
just some kind of advanced cloaking mechanism?”

“One more thing yes, but this is probably going to sound
nuts.  Also, remember this isn’t a talk about conclusions, it’s a
discussion to plan about where to start looking.  Anywhere we start will
just be a guess, this is just a slightly more educated guess backed up by
exotic radiation that comes from a place we know was punching holes through
space.”

Nalla grunted, “True, what was your other thought?  The
crazy one.”

Her voice implied all of my thoughts were nuts so far.  I
tried to ignore it.

“The Drenil have been called amorphous, because they have no
shape that can be objectively measured.  They constantly change in
appearance, size, shape, and for our three dimensional minds, some of those
angles and changes just look wrong and unnatural.  What if their ships aren’t
the only multi-dimensional thing about them?”

Kristi blew out a breath, “Are you suggesting they are
multi-dimensional beings, and we are only seeing a small portion of what they
truly are?”

Nalla shook her head stubbornly, “That is crazy, and impossible.”

I frowned, “Really?  Then show me your soul.  Can
you see it?” after a pause I added, “I can.”

Nalla looked unimpressed, “I don’t understand the
correlation.”

I sighed in frustration and reordered my thoughts.  Was
I crazy?

“The Knomen, what we can do when reading people, it’s called
soul reading.  There are humans on Earth who have what is called ESP, some
can… know things that seem impossible to know.

“As scientists, we know that these three dimensions are the
tip of the iceberg of true reality.  What we see is real, and correct, but
also incomplete and misleading.  My point about souls is, I believe we are
all multi-dimensional beings.  Science can’t find and measure the soul
because we’re looking in the wrong place.  Yet, to my senses the soul is undeniably
real and present in all of us here.

“Now, perhaps our five senses can’t see beyond the three
dimensions, but suppose that little extra sense, like ESP and Soul reading
can.”

Nadia interjected, “Isn’t this a bit far afield? 
What’s your point?”

I smiled, “I suppose I got a little side tracked, but it’s
applicable.  If humanoids can have senses that reach beyond three
dimensions, why can’t another race that is completely alien in nature have a
physical body that does?  It would also follow that if they did comprehend
more of reality with physical senses, wouldn’t their technology follow that
same line?”

Obviously not, if the stares were any indication.  Maybe I
was crazy.

Kristi asked, “I’ve never heard you talk about souls and
stuff like this before.”

I shrugged and tried to explain, “I’ve been curious about my
abilities that no one else on Earth seemed to have for a long time.  Especially
before I learned I was actually not from there.  I have no proof of any of it,
but it fits.  If my DNA has something in it that allows me to see more,
outside of this three-dimensional universal layer, why can’t the rest be
true. 

“Again, it’s just an idea, speculation.  If not that
though, it will be something else just as odd to explain why the Drenil are
amorphous.  It also might explain why the Seltan failed to make any
meaningful contact, suppose the Drenil’s ears and mouth, or whatever they use
to communicate, isn’t in this part of reality at all?”

Nalla said carefully, “I can buy in on the first part. 
The radiation is just circumstantial, but it does give us an obvious place to
start.  The rest however, is mystical nonsense.  It’s far more likely
that the Drenil’s body changes are just that, continuous changes.  Perhaps
that could even be the way they communicate.”

Kristi cleared her throat, “Well, we have about a day before
the shuttle will be done fabricating, I suggest we get some rest, and perhaps
study the data more completely and get back together tomorrow before heading
out.”

I nodded in agreement, and left the room.  Perhaps I
had gone too far with it, but if I was right, we’d need to figure out some
technology that could bridge that gap, which… might be impossible at our
current understanding.  Still, even Kristi had looked at me like I was
nuts, which bothered me a lot.  I’d like to think soul reading gave me an
insight maybe they didn’t have, but it was equally as possible I’d gone around
the bend with my mystical theory. 

It wasn’t mystical though, that was just the label stuck on
what science couldn’t explain yet.  The soul was real.  Was I asking
the hard questions others didn’t want to contemplate?  Or was I just
seeing what I wanted to see?  I went to my quarters and laid down, maybe I
just needed some sleep.