The Contact Episode Four Read online

  “Is that them?” Kimble asked the pilot.

  “It’s them all right.”

  “Are they transmitting directionally?”

  “No, they are broadcasting in all directions. They haven’t worked out where we are,” replied the pilot. A barely noticeable tinge of fear could be heard in his intonation.

  “That’s good. And what about our parallax?” said Kimble, changing the subject.

  “Just a second. Now. It’s done. We need to take two more measurements to make it reliable,” said the pilot, now in a more confident voice. The Captain’s calmness had had a positive effect on him.

  “It’s a small u-ni-verse, we shall meet a-gain, Cap-tain Kim-ble,” said the sepulchral voice.

  “I’m going to tell that bastard what’s what!” shouted the pilot angrily.

  “Stop!” roared Kimble.

  “Skip, they haven’t intersected our position, they can’t catch us up,” replied the pilot.

  “Never make your opponent mad. Don’t make him act against logic. Do not break radio silence,” the Captain ordered, quietly but firmly.

  “Yes, sir,” replied the pilot, disappointed.

  “In which direction are they located?” asked Kimble.

  “From our position, roughly in the direction of Arcturus.”

  The Captain looked round for the star. The view was obscured by the protective film, but the film was semi-transparent in the visible band and Arcturus could be seen clearly through it. Kimble looked at the sky for a few minutes, as if trying to make out the pirates’ ship, although it was perfectly clear to him that at that distance it wouldn’t be visible even through a telescope.

  Kimble gave the “Do as I do” command to a robot. The robot acknowledged the order. The Captain stretched out both arms towards Arcturus and made a hearty gesture with his middle fingers. The robot also extended two of its feelers and activated the middle small-motor manipulators which took the place of human fingers.

  “I can’t wait!” said Kimble under his breath.

  Anomaly

  “Good day, gentlemen, how can I be of service?” asked MacQueen as soon as the connection on the closed communication channel had been made.

  Steve and Clive had just finished work on analysing the errors occurring in the calculated location of certain spacecraft and other objects. Almost as soon as he received the report on their work, Shelby requested a private audience with MacQueen. Although MacQueen was extremely busy, once he knew the subject of the proposed conversation, he appointed a virtual meeting for 15 minutes later.

  This time the camera showed a panorama of the room in which MacQueen was sitting. There were several people alongside him, who, judging from their appearance, were no less important than the General himself. However, MacQueen did not take the trouble to introduce them; given the level of secrecy, this was not taken as impolite. In fact, as far as Clive was concerned, he actually preferred it when the useless rituals of mutual niceties were reduced to a minimum and people got down to business.

  “General,” began Shelby, “some days ago, my young colleagues drew attention to a certain anomaly which affects fast spacecraft.”

  “What sort of anomaly are we talking about?” asked MacQueen.

  “We are not yet confident enough to give you a complete answer to that. The only thing we can say at the moment is that this is the first time such an anomaly is known to have occurred in astrophysics, but it may have far-reaching consequences in the context of the use of modern weapons.”

  “Please explain in more detail,” the General said.

  “This anomaly was noticed for the first time in analysing data from fast-moving objects. Your blockade group has deployed static weapons and they, if I remember rightly, fire pulse charges which move in space at sub-light speed. I fear that shots from these weapons will be particularly strongly affected by this anomaly.”

  The General looked round those sitting alongside him, after which he again looked at the camera.

  “Professor, in that case, let’s have it from the beginning,” he asked.

  “OK. General, do you remember our experiment in remote manipulation?” asked Shelby.

  “Of course,” replied MacQueen.

  The other people sitting with him also nodded in confirmation.

  “Are you acquainted with the theoretical part of the matter?”

  “Not very well.”

  “Then I’ll explain. This whole technology of remote manipulation is a huge breakthrough in science. For the first time, we have a tool to influence not only objects within space-time, but space-time itself.”

  “I have heard that many times, but I must admit I have never understood it,” MacQueen interjected.

  “It is not easy to explain to anyone who is not a specialist in physics. But I shall try. An understanding of the concept of space-time is important for understanding the nature of the problems which my assistants noticed.”

  “You have my undivided attention, Professor,” said the General, leaning back in his chair.

  The faces of the others present expressed clear discontent mixed with impatience. One of them, a man in a grey suit, would have tried to object, but MacQueen dismissed his protest with a sharp gesture.

  “You see, our Universe exists not simply in some emptiness, but within space-time. This concept is difficult to understand, it seems like some arcane abstraction, but nevertheless, its existence has been confirmed by many experiments.

  “I explain it to first-year students by the following example. Imagine a computer game. The action of this game takes place in a virtual world, in a virtual universe. This game universe exists within its own space-time, which does not intersect our own, but exists outside it. The game world does not exist in our world. Whatever journey you set off on, however long you look for this virtual world, you will never find any door through which you can physically go there. Can you follow my explanation?”

  His listeners nodded in unison.

  “This means that space-time is something like a stage on which the events of our Universe take place. It contains not only objects but empty space itself. However absurd it may sound, empty space only exists inside something. And this is what we call space-time.

  “Previously, before the advent of the remote manipulation technology, we were only able to act on objects within space-time. We invented cranes, for example, which lifted heavy blocks for the construction of the pyramids of ancient Egypt; we invented rockets to fly off into space, and so on. All this was acting on objects within space. Using the analogy of the theatre stage, we were simply moving objects on that stage.

  “But the remote manipulation technology opened a new era. Now we are able to change the stage itself. For example, we can make the stage wider. If previously our stage could only hold, say, 20 actors, now it can hold, say, 40. We are not operating on the actors on the stage, we are changing the stage itself.

  “Now imagine this change. For example, we incline the stage by two degrees to the horizon. The actors did not notice anything. Their position relative to the stage floor remained unchanged, but suddenly they notice that balls dropped on the floor begin for some unknown reason to roll in a certain direction. The surface of coffee poured into a cup suddenly begins behaving as if someone had tilted the table slightly.

  “Note that for us, manipulating the stage, the behaviour of the balls on the floor and the coffee in the cup are absolutely understandable, we created the incline. But for the actors, who have not noticed our manipulations, this remains a riddle, an illusion, a secret. A consequence without a reason.

  “Returning to space-time, the same thing also happens when using the remote manipulation technology. We changed the parameters of space-time, we ‘tilted’ part of the stage of our Universe, due to which Mercury rolled into a gravitational pit and its orbital speed increased.

  “As you know, before, during and after the experiment, we tracked the parameters of space-time in order that we could understan
d more deeply the mechanism of the new technology. There is a small nuance here, namely that space-time is not available for direct observation. We are obliged to conduct cunning experiments to measure its properties in an indirect way.

  “Since we are again going into the depths of theoretical physics, I shall return to the example of the inclined stage. Imagine that our actors notice the strange behaviour of the coffee in the cup. If there are physicists among them, they will most likely come to the conclusion that the vector of the Earth’s force of gravity has changed direction in some miraculous way. To check this theory they need to conduct an experiment, but what sort of experiment?

  “For example, they can try to move objects across the floor and see what comes of it. If the vector of the force of gravity has really changed, or to put it in simple language, the floor of the stage has become inclined to the horizon, it will be more difficult for objects to move uphill than downhill. By studying the difference in forces as objects move across the floor in different directions, they will be able to determine the angle of incline and its direction.

  “Returning to our situation, we can observe the parameters of space-time by analysing the movement of our spacecraft. The higher their speed, the easier it is to notice any changes.

  “In anticipation of this tremendous experiment, we had already spent several years observing the parameters of space-time, and they always coincided exactly with the theoretical values. Now we are noticing that its parameters have changed somewhat. This has an influence on the flight trajectories of fast spacecraft.”

  “So by playing about with Mercury, you have broken our space-time?” asked one of those sitting with MacQueen, much to the amusement of the others.

  Shelby smiled politely, but the smile quickly left his face.

  “Hmm... I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it is very probable that this is not connected directly to our experiment. It only helped us to draw attention to the anomaly. The important thing is that in the new conditions, the pulse charges from your static guns and your bombers’ guns may not be able to reach their usual speed. And this will reduce the efficiency of these weapons and make it more difficult to home in on a target.”

  “How can we neutralise this anomaly?” asked the General.

  “Firstly, you must calibrate your targeting apparatus. Secondly, we have to study the anomaly more deeply, because we have a suspicion that it is not uniform, and has different values at different points in space. Putting it simply, it may act more strongly on Earth and more weakly around Jupiter, or vice versa. This means that calibration will be required not at some random point in the Solar System, but as close as possible to the alien object.”

  The General sighed.

  “That will be difficult. Do you realise that? We can’t set up a firing range next to the alien ship because it would most likely consider this a hostile act. The conflict might escalate.”

  Shelby nodded.

  “I understand you, General. I’m not a soldier, simply a scientist. It is my duty to report the anomaly to you.”

  “Yes, I understand. You said that the anomaly changes its values depending on location. Can you compile a map of the changes for the Solar System, so that our ships can make the necessary corrections?”

  “For that we’ll need your help,” replied Shelby.

  “Whatever you want, Professor.”

  “The ships whose data we analysed were exclusively in the plane of the ecliptic. This is only to be expected, since all economic activity takes place in that plane, following the orbits of the planets. Beyond this zone there is only empty space, there is no reason for ships to fly there. But that is just where the parameters of space-time are of greatest interest to us.

  “Fortunately, there is one large cargo vessel transporting ore from the asteroid belt towards the centre of the Solar System. For unknown reasons, some time ago, it sharply changed trajectory and left the plane of the ecliptic. It has now gone quite a long way outside assimilated space, and to all appearances, the anomaly is strongly affecting its trajectory.

  “Unfortunately, we are not receiving telemetry data from this ship, because after it changed trajectory, it ceased cooperating with the trackers. And the data from their radars does not enable us to determine its position with sufficient accuracy. Therefore, we can only estimate the degree of the anomalous effect on its flight trajectory approximately. If the ships of the blockade group could track its flight from several points, the quality of our data would improve considerably.”

  MacQueen moved his head round a few times to relieve his neck.

  “What is the ship’s identification number?”

  “THP 11600.”

  “OK.”

  MacQueen made a gesture to the computer.

  “Write a report for Rohas.”

  Just give me an excuse...

  Major-General Rohas, who was commanding the blockade group, was a tall man with a sportsmanlike figure, his temples already touched with grey. He was watching the shadow of Jupiter’s satellite Europa slowly creeping across the planet. It had almost reached the ‘Eye’, the Red Spot in the southern tropical zone, which was actually a super-giant hurricane that had been raging on the planet for several centuries now. Lightning flashes of titanic dimensions could be seen in it every now and again. Looking at them from a great distance, it was hard to believe that this Jovian storm was comparable in size to the planet Earth. It helped Rohas to form a better idea of the true size of the gas giant.

  Jupiter was like a potential star that had never become one. In size, it was classed as a very large planet, possibly even the biggest of its kind. As if regretting that it hadn’t managed to become a star, it had taken on the role of guard dog of the Solar System, protecting the inner planets from the deadly impacts of comets and asteroids. With its powerful gravitational field, it drew in the cosmic waste flying past it and mercilessly destroyed it, pressing it down into the depths of its own body.

  Over the entire history of the existence of planetary bodies in the Solar System, Jupiter had swallowed an innumerable quantity of large and small celestial bodies carrying doom to the new-born and eventually flourishing life on Earth. Mankind is obliged to it for its relatively peaceful existence. It seemed that this time too, Jupiter was destined to play a fateful role in the history of human civilisation.

  Looking at the turbulence in Jupiter’s atmosphere, which had become thoroughly familiar to Rohas over his long years of service in the space fleet, and at the object making another loop round the planet, he felt his hands twitch nervously. They were itching to send the order to the static weapons deployed on Jupiter’s satellites to aim their huge barrels at it and fire a great salvo. This spacecraft, of unknown technology, unknown origin and unknown intentions, worried him. It smelt of unpleasant possibilities, and the General was not accustomed to trifle with such things. It wasn’t the first time he had commanded heavy weapons, and the power intoxicated him and made him think that no-one was strong enough to withstand him.

  Rohas stepped away from the screens showing live pictures from the external cameras in order to drive the evil thoughts from his head. Of course he understood the risk to mankind if he were to let his feelings take over. After all, it was not for nothing that he had been appointed to command the greatest concentrated strike force in the history of mankind. He was renowned for his steel nerves; he could be relied on at a difficult moment. But the thoughts going on inside his head were no-one else’s concern.

  The General sat down in his chair and leafed through the latest intelligence data about the object. A spectral analysis of its exhaust trail had not revealed any traces of an induced protective field round the incomers’ ship. That meant it was flying without protection, and if the occasion arose to attack it, it would hardly be able to survive a massive strike from the static weapons and those of the bombers. This inspired confidence that his plan of attack had an excellent chance of success.

  He closed the file and turned to h
is First Mate.

  “Is the simulation ready?”

  “Yes, sir,” was the instant reply.

  Rohas glanced at the clock.

  Then he gave the order: “In thirty seconds, simulate the ‘Red Max’ scenario.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Well-practised work at once began in the command compartment. Operators rapidly issued commands to the computers preparing the latest test for the ships of the blockade group.

  The ‘Red Max’ scenario assumed that the incomers’ ship would unexpectedly leave the orbit of Jupiter and set off towards the centre of the Solar System. Such a development of events was viewed as the greatest threat to Earth, which was why the colour red was in the scenario’s title. ‘Max’ (maximum) referred to the complexity of the object’s manoeuvre. According to the scenario, it would leave its previous trajectory in the most unfavourable way for a direct strike, then quickly accelerate to sub-light speed and eject several false targets.

  “Countdown to start of simulation in seconds: five, four, three, two, one, start!” commanded one of the operators.

  In spite of the cosmic distances, the simulated speed of the object was so high that the whole battle only lasted four and a half seconds. When this time had elapsed, the table of results appeared in front of Rohas.

  According to the results of the combat exercise, two fixed guns and about half the ships of the group had managed to attack the object. The object had suffered numerous hits, but the most powerful effect was from the simultaneous hits by the static weapons. They had jointly attacked the hull of the incomers’ ship with the equivalent of 850 megatons of TNT. It was not possible to imagine that such a small object would be able to survive such a monstrous blow. If this had been a real battle, the object would almost certainly have been transformed into a cloud of plasma.

  Rohas laughed and nodded in approval.

  “Just give me an excuse,” he said, turning back from the results table to the image of the object. The object, making another loop and flying close to the north pole, barely noticeably winked in the dim reflected light of the sun, as if having heard the General’s words, and disappeared from view, plunging into the planet’s shadow.