By Scott W
9/14/2021
The deep space data collection ship, Frontier, floated 18,000 kilometers from the structures, the ship’s spatial positioning system doing its best to balance out the gravitational flux fields emanating from multiple directions. Any closer to the complex of structures would have risked contact with an asteroid field and Dr. Kimble didn’t want to risk it, not after having already flown through the chaos of interplanetary bodies to get here.
Eight planets, some gas and some solid, including countless moons and planetoids, formed a 400,000 kilometer wide spherical system around the complex now framed in the center of the ship’s viewport. “A mini-solar system, with a distance comparable to that of Earth to her moon in the old system,” Dr. Kimble mused wistfully as he looked at his ship’s mapping system. They had intended to bypass this quadrant as they made their way to Iris, but they had picked up a signal. Lured to it in fact as if by the siren’s sweet song compelling them to visit this planetary graveyard.
The compound of buildings appeared to include a series of temple structures, massive in scale and immaculate in construction and condition. Around the complex the cataclysm unfolded slowly, a dance macabre of half broken planets rent apart and disgorged from untold millennia of playing the game of gravitational push and pull. Only the structures appeared unrent, even though half of the main temple in the middle, the largest of them all, hung precariously above a yawning canyon of flowing lava and fiery engorgement that would have destroyed any normal structure of current human technology. In fact, it was as if that place was itself the conductor of the multi-planetary display of dismemberment that floated around it.
Dr. Kimble stood up from the captain’s chair and moved closer to the viewport, as if the few extra feet gained would help him understand the significance of this place.
“What are those structures Fortuna?”
“Still analyzing doctor,” said Fortuna.
“What is the size of the complex?”
“I estimate 20 kilometers wide by 20 kilometers long by 10 kilometers high.”
“Why are you estimating?” Dr. Kimble asked.
“Small temporal distortions are making our scans less than 100% accurate.”
“Can you detect any life forms?”
“None that I can detect.”
“Power sources?”
“I detect strong fluctuating energy fields that do not emanate from any of the surrounding planetary masses, but I cannot identify the specific source.”
“Can you determine the type of power?”
“Sensors pick up an excess of helium and neutrons that are at signatures inconsistent with what we would expect in this environment. It appears to be fusion based doctor, but I believe at an efficiency level exponentially advanced to our current knowledge.”
The doctor slowly walked back to his seat, hesitated, and began pacing.
“Tell me about the main structure please.”
“It appears to have carbon nanotube ribbing covered with multiple graphene skin layers over an aerogel lattice. The transparent sections, which may I suggest are windows, appear to be made of transparent alumina. There are other materials of which I cannot determine. Furthermore, our sensors cannot penetrate the external walls and analyze the inside.”
“You’re telling me there is technology in this thing that we can’t even understand? What the hell is this place Fortuna?”
“I do not know doctor. Perhaps one of the other factions…. doctor, the structure appears to have registered our presence. We are receiving an active transmission.”
He stopped pacing and swung to look at her, “What is it? Can you translate? Are they hostile?”
“Analyzing…one second please…”
Dr. Kimble looked around the empty command cabin and found himself wishing he had a human companion to share this moment.
“The data transmission is in the form of a chain of data blocks. By applying pattern recognition algorithms, it would appear these blocks represent symbols. Their composition and orientation would suggest mathematical equations related to string theory, or at least our current theoretical understanding of string theory.”
Dr. Kimble placed his hands on the control panel and looked intently at the halo image of Fortuna with a stunned countenance. “String theory? Can you give me more specifics Fortuna?”
“I propose I am detecting hints of superstring M-theory equations doctor.”
Dr. Kimble lost himself in thought as he turned his gaze to the complex. M-theory, the unified theory of all the fundamental forces of nature. Stunning. After 600 years since humans began researching string theory and proposed the M-theory hypothesis we had still only begun to understand 1% or so of the theoretical limits of string theory math. It was like only knowing how to utter the word “ugh” to god and believing a conversation could occur.
“My apologies doctor but I can’t give you a more thorough analysis. The information is presenting itself in a quantum manner, a wave-particle duality that requires probabilistic determination regrettably beyond my database ability to compute. I believe we are being sent information comparable to that of a code… no… rather I would infer a key. I have the full repeating data block now, but we will need a larger quantum computing facility to decode this.”
Dr. Kimble tore his gaze from the complex and began to pace as he muttered to himself, “So, the symbols are incomprehensible, but the AI’s initial assessment is that this is mathematics. That makes sense. The common language across the universe, regardless of species type or level of knowledge, is mathematics. It would just be a matter of understanding the symbols representing the commonality of mathematical equations applicable to all space time.”
He looked over to her, “We can’t access anymore data?”
“No doctor, we are at 100% capacity.”
The ship’s database was already overwhelmed with the terabytes of data it had received and yet Dr. Kimble felt like he was scratching the surface of a wealth of knowledge, as if standing at the door of an old bullion bank vault and he’d only placed his fingers gently on the cold dial.
He traipsed the command room aimlessly a few times. What a startlingly discovery. This had to be shared but should he? Inevitably someone else would stumble upon this and they may not believe in the equitable sharing of knowledge that he believed was so desperately needed for the three factions to live peacefully together.
He found himself at the digital statue of Fortuna and paused retrospectively as his gaze softened on the image of the beautiful woman he had once loved and lost, now standing in a ballerina like stance on the control dais as a 3D halo AI. “This is too big for one faction to have arbitrary control over Fortuna. We need to share this discovery with all of them. Calculate an optimal jump route to one of the factions please.”
“Calculated…doctor, one more thing. The movement of the celestial bodies around us does not appear to be following the law of normal gravitational forces.”
Dr. Kimble was alone, except for Fortuna, but it was as if the ship fell supernaturally silent. After a moment, “What are you implying Fortuna?”
“Simply that an external force is acting upon them.”
Dr. Kimble shivered as an iciness crept up his spine, and he suddenly felt very isolated in his little ship floating at the edge of a fascinating yet terrifying discovery. He found himself wanting very much to rejoin civilization.
He stared out the viewport at the complex and pondered over its stoic solitude juxtaposed against the cataclysm surrounding it, a beating heart of pulsating knowledge and destruction. Who had created it and why was it calling out? This was going to change everything. He felt the power of this place. And he knew now with certainty, the trajectory of events between the three factions in this little quadrant of the galaxy, spinning within the immensity of the universe with a trillion other dancing galaxies, was about to be upended. But perhaps that was a good thing.
“Shall I initiate the jump doctor?”
“Initiate.”
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