Beyond the Event Horizon Episode One, Page 4

Jupiter, and stayed in Jupiter's orbit all the time we were communicating with it. A few weeks after it had been detected, the situation got out of control. It then left the Solar System."

  "What does 'got out of control' mean?"

  "It means that we fired a cannon at it."

  "Good grief! Couldn't you think of anything better than that?"

  "It's a long story."

  "Did it threaten us, or what?"

  "Not directly, no. But there were grounds for believing that it was playing a double game."

  "Surely we didn't have to fire at them?"

  "It was either a technical hitch or sabotage, we don't know for sure. But fire was opened without orders."

  "So you mean they flew here to make contact, and we shot at them?"

  "One shot was fired at the alien ship, but it remained serviceable. Or at least, it was able to leave the Solar System under its own power. What damage was done to it, and whether anyone on board was killed, we don't know. Since that strike, we have heard no more from them."

  "Bloody hell!"

  "Quite so."

  "This anomaly we're flying to, is it somehow connected with them?"

  "We don't know for sure, but it most likely is. When the military got involved, they naturally started an electronic intelligence survey. They listened in to all the frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum, and we also monitored them in the gravity waveband. The alien ship did not use the usual means of communication, such as radio or laser. But we did once manage to detect the weak radiation of gravity waves. We believe the aliens know how to use these waves to transmit information.

  "The incomer may possibly have started out from some kind of mother ship, which remained in the shadows but observed events from afar the whole time. According to our calculations, this ship or base could not have been more than six or seven light years away.

  "After intercepting the gravity-wave transmissions, we began to study the space around the Solar System within that distance. That was how we came across the anomaly to which we are now heading."

  "So we are expecting to find an alien base there?"

  "I don't know what we'll find there. It is too great a distance for radar scanning. But quite possibly, yes."

  "OK, so we fly to this anomaly, and wow! We see a great big spaceship. Then what?"

  "It depends on the circumstances. Our primary task is to find out what we're dealing with. It is quite possible we are wrong, and the aliens have nothing to do with it. In that case, it will simply be a scientific expedition."

  "You said we attacked it. What if they attack us when we approach?"

  Steve was at a loss when he heard this question. He had to admit that this was a thought that he himself found deeply troubling. Kimble, who was sitting alongside him, stepped in.

  "What would be the sense in that?"

  "Well, we attacked them."

  "You mean revenge?"

  "Well, it's a possibility..."

  "They saw us destroy our own weapon after it had fired on their ship, so they must know we had technical problems. Revenge in this case would be out of place."

  "But what if they mistake our ship for a military one? We might have another technical problem."

  "We don't represent any threat to them. Our weapons couldn't harm the alien ship when we attacked it in Jupiter's orbit, and a whole battle group of combat ships were involved in that. They're not afraid of our weapons. There would be no sense in attacking us."

  "Our weapons? I thought this was a civil mission."

  "Yes, we are armed, but only for defensive purposes. When the incomer took a fancy to orbiting around Jupiter, the military withdrew their forces to the inner planets. They reduced their presence in all lower-priority areas. As a result, the crime situation in space has become much worse. As far as flight security against armed attacks is concerned, we have been set back thirty years. Attacks by pirates have become an everyday occurrence, as they were in the past. Unfortunately."

  "Could you tell us what we're armed with?"

  "Well, let's just say it would not be an easy matter to take us by storm."

  The questions from the team suddenly dried up, and silence reigned. Taking advantage of this, Steve changed the subject.

  "During the flight, we shall naturally be studying the gravity waves emanating from the anomaly. We will also be measuring the parameters of space-time, since the incomer apparently exerted some sort of effect on it during its visit. To some extent, you could say that was the very reason we attacked the alien ship.

  "On the back of this, I would like to say to every member of the team: if you notice anything strange, report it immediately. Last time we were too late in noticing certain changes in the structure of space-time. If we had noticed them earlier, we could have prevented the attack on the alien ship."

  "Report what, exactly?"

  "Anything at all. Strange instrument readings, problems with navigation, communications, the operation of the reactor or the thrust of the engines, the atmosphere inside the ship, changes in how you feel. Anything, in fact. The alien civilisation is so far ahead of ours that we haven't even a rough idea of what technologies they have at their disposal. Therefore, we must be on the alert. Throughout our expedition, the same rule applies as in military counterintelligence: nothing happens by chance."

  3

  After the briefing, Steve returned to his cabin with the firm intention of having a good sleep. There is no concept of day and night in space, so sleeping and waking regimes have to be created artificially. To avoid jet lag, the time zone from which most of the team had come would normally be applied. However, if the team were too variegated in time zone origin, the time zone of the flight control centre would be applied.

  After determining the time zone to use on board, the ship's AI adapted the lighting and climate inside the living accommodation, basing them on natural conditions. Morning began with cool air and yellow light, which became white by midday. Towards evening, the air temperature in the ship was raised, and the light moved more and more towards the red end of the spectrum. At night, however, the light inside the non-working compartments and corridors became like moonlight, which, along with the quiet coolness, created a realistic sensation of night. This impression was increased by a gentle breeze in the corridors.

  The longer the flight continued, the more the team enjoyed this breeze, even if it was artificial. If you went out into the corridor and closed your eyes, you were no longer in a tin can in the depths of empty space but on Earth, with a cool evening breeze on your face. Because of this breeze, the expression "Let's go and get some fresh air" came to be used by the team to mean taking a walk along the corridor. Naturally, the air there was no more or less fresh than within the compartments, but in the corridors the air conditioners blew irregularly, creating a semblance of natural wind.

  Steve washed himself and lay down on the bed. He did not feel remotely sleepy, despite the fact that in the time zone from which he had taken off that morning, it was already late at night. He was too busy thinking about the briefing that had just ended. The theme under discussion had really been very exciting. For Steve, unlike the rest of the team, the alien ship's visit was not a surprise, but man is a pack animal, and the mood in a group affects all its members.

  He lay his head on the rather coarse but comfortable pillow and closed his eyes. A picture floated into his head of himself and Maggie returning from a short walk in the park just as the news that the alien ship had been fired upon reached the base and a state of emergency was declared.

  To Steve's surprise, there had been no panic among the scientists. No-one had run around the situation room with a mad look in their eyes crying blue murder. Most of the scientists had just taken the information on board with a laconic shrug of the shoulders. Over the several weeks they had been involved in the project, they had developed an immunity to exciting news, no doubt learning this from the military.

  On the same day, after receiving th
e first detailed information from the blockade group commander, General Rohas, the Space Force High Command made contact with the Academic Council from their secret bunkers. It appeared that the situation, which had been gradually heating up in the past few days and was beginning to come to the boil, had resolved itself of its own accord. The alien ship had simply gone back home without a word.

  The Academic Council was kept together for a few more days in case the incomer suddenly made itself known. A few days later however, when nothing had happened, the 'Dawn' project was put on hold. By an absolute majority of government representatives from every country on Earth, it was decided not to remove its secrecy rating.

  The military removed their stationary weapons from Jupiter's satellites and dispersed the groups of ships they had formed all over the Solar System, leaving only a few craft equipped with scientific apparatus to study the consequences of the strike against the incomer. The consequences of the explosion to Jupiter's atmosphere, which were too noticeable to be hushed up, were explained to the public as a test of stationary weapons for use against super-large asteroids.

  After that, the space forces embarked on the greatest inquiry ever undertaken. As well they might. It had been the first armed conflict with an alien civilisation in history. Everything was subjected to exhaustive study and critical analysis, including the principle of subordination and interaction of all the offensive and defensive forces in the space fleet.

  Naturally,