Authors: Mark Henrikson
“This is certainly an interesting debate Hastelloy, but what does this have to do with your being here seeking help?” Jeffrey asked with a concerned expression beginning to cross his face. Years spent as a psychiatrist interviewing patients was beginning to send him warnings that something big, unpleasant, and completely insane was about to be revealed.
With a sudden move, Hastelloy leaned forward in his chair and stared straight through Dr. Holmes. It was not a look of anger or hatred, but it did carry the weight of complete sincerity. “It’s of profound relevance because we were there for all of it. From the construction of the great pyramid of Egypt to this very moment we’ve existed among you. I watched man go from wooden twigs and grunting sounds to the stars. To me it’s been a lifetime. To you it’s been the entire existence of human civilization.”
And there it was, the insanity laid out plain as day. Usually this degree of communication took months to develop. Yet here they were five minutes into the conversation, and they were already getting to the heart of the matter. Jeffrey was hardly expecting to reach this critical therapeutic moment
so soon.
As crazy as Hastelloy’s claim was, it was real to him. Dr. Holmes knew better than to directly challenge his belief. Doing that would
cause the patient to feel threatened, insulted and ultimately retreat within himself. The appropriate way forward was to talk with the patient as if he believed the outlandish story but with skepticism. He would eventually build upon that skepticism until Hastelloy himself saw the error in his logic.
“Just to make sure I understand what you just shared with me,” Jeffrey said as diplomatically a
s possible. “You believe your life began during the time of ancient Egypt and you’ve lived through the ages to participate in significant events in human development. Do I understand you correctly?”
“I’m afraid you don’t understand me at all my dear Holmes,” Hastelloy challenged. “I used the word ‘we’ for a reason. There were five of us in all, plus a few extra visitors along the way.”
Hastelloy paused before continuing, “Did you notice the clue I just gave in my prior statement?”
“I did. You said ‘visitors’ which leads me to believe you are an extra terrestrial,” Jeffrey responded with care.
“Extra terrestrial, alien, off worlder, whatever you prefer. Yes, that is who we are, and I noticed you made an extra effort to emphasize you ‘believe’ me,” Hastelloy said letting the good doctor know he was onto his mind games. “I appreciate the gesture, but I’m under no delusion you believe me in the slightest. Who in their right mind would?
“As we talk I would just ask you to refer back to the pledge I made earlier. From here on out everything I say will be the god’s honest truth; no
games of any kind. You will find as we converse that above all else I am a man of my word.”
Dr. Holmes became a bit unnerved, thinking he really had his work cut out for him with this patient. He was smart, aware, and otherwise perfectly well except for this delusion of being an alien from another planet who lived for thousands of years. Jeffrey couldn’t wait to hear this man’s story. He opened his notebook.
“Hastelloy, would you do me a favor and tell your story, starting from the interesting part this time. You mentioned it all began in ancient Egypt, right?” Jeffrey prompted.
“I did mention Egypt, but my story gets interesting far earlier than that. If you’ll indulge me, I’ll begin my story out among the stars,” Hastelloy said as he eased back into his chair and settled in for the story to come.
Professor Russell had
been excited to see the sonic density mapping results of the second and third pyramids, but neither turned up any new discoveries. His disappointment only lasted a moment though. All Brian needed to send his spirits back into the stratosphere was glance back at the first digital map and marvel at the four newly discovered chambers.
“Just for good measure, let’s have a look at the Sphinx. I doubt we’ll find anything since it’s well documented the sphinx was carved out of an existing rock formation rather than built from the ground up like the pyramids. We’ve already had four surprises today though so why not try for five?” Professor Russell chuckled.
The results of the study were already beyond anything he could have imagined. Finding just one chamber would have been a magnificent discovery, but four was completely off the charts. It dwarfed even Howard Carter’s unearthing of King Tut’s tomb in 1922.
As the computer generated a relief map of the Sphinx the professor’s jaw dropped open with amazement. Had he been a cartoon character, his tongue would have rolled out across the floor for a passerby to trip over. There was a large 10-foot by 30 foot room right in the middle of the monolith’s body. Not only that, there was a tunnel leading to the chamber. The mysterious passage went down about three hundred feet and then moved in a straight line toward Cairo’s city center.
“Please tell me I’m not the only one seeing this. Another room, and a way into it,” the professor stammered. “Can . . . can the helicopter follow that tunnel to its source without ground receptors in place?”
After what seemed like an eternity, Alex finally snapped out of her trance. “Yes. It can track the density difference, but it can’t create an image.”
“Who cares about a computer picture of the thing, I want to know where to find the entrance so I can get in there and see it for myself. My God, this is incredible!” Professor Russell exclaimed.
“Frank, track that density differential to its source,” Alex ordered into the microphone.
“Alright, let me hang a bed sheet out the window so the wind can catch it and turn me in the right direction,” Frank responded over the radio. “I swear to God this airship must have been built by the Vikings . . . Hail Mary mother of grace . . .” Frank’s voice crackled and trailed off into the background as he continued his complaining.
While they waited for Frank to follow the tunnel, Professor Russell stood and faced the observer from the Egyptian Organization of Antiquities. The
usually talkative old man had remained eerily silent for the past half hour and it concerned Brian. Was the director suffering from a state of shock?
“Dr. Andre. Are you alright?” Professor Russell asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“You will have to excuse me professor,” Dr. Andre finally managed. “I have been at this a very, very long time and I never thought this day would come.”
The almost distressed look on the good doctor’s face soon morphed into a bright smile. The transformation was completed with an enthusiastic clap of the hands. “I have never been so happy to be proven so wrong. Congratulations to both of you. How long do you think until we hear back from Frank?”
“Not long,” Alex replied.
Ten painfully slow minutes passed before Frank radioed back. “I’ve pinpointed where the differential ends. The entrance is about three miles from the pyramids in the Garden City district of Cairo. It’s nestled somewhere among a cluster of warehouses.”
Alex immediately reached for the keys to the truck. “I’m driving.”
“Shotgun,” Professor Russell called.
“Now hold on just a minute,” Dr. Andre cautioned. “People own those warehouses. You cannot just go breaking into their property because you are curious. There are laws and procedures that need to be followed. There are people who must be notified.”
“You’re right. Professor Russell and I can’t do it alone, but the three of us could.” Alex suggested.
Before Dr. Andre could protest the professor added his thoughts on the matter. “We’re not necessarily talking about trespassing here. If it’s in the open we’re good to go. If the tunnel entrance is inside a building we can simply make up a story and ask the occupants if we can have a look around.”
“And what if they do not buy this hypothetical cover story?” Dr. Andre challenged. “If the occupant knows their building conceals a secret entrance to a tunnel that has been hidden for who knows how long, I am quite certain they will not be receptive to random visitors.”
“It doesn’t hurt to drive three miles to find out,” the professor concluded. Dr. Andre could only nod in agreement. “To be frank though, if we’re told to get lost I am not above trespassing.
Dr. Andre seemed upset at Professor Russell’s criminal side and was about to vocalize his feelings when Alex jumped back into the conversation. “Going through official channels could take months or years. That’d give whoever owns that entrance time to block us. For all we know they’re connected well enough in the government to fend off our requests indefinitely. We need to act now before any adversaries have time to prepare. This is too important.”
Professor Russell didn’t wait for further discussion. He grabbed the microphone off the desk. “Frank. I need you to document the precise coordinates of the tunnel entrance and transmit them to my GPS device. Oh, and we don’t want to draw too much attention to this just yet so return to the airstrip once we have the coordinates. Nothing says we’re onto you like a hovering helicopter overhead.”
“By God those are the sweetest words I have ever heard spoken. Forget kissing the ground when I land, I am going full out make love to it.” Frank proclaimed.
Considering the plan a go, Professor Russell and Alex walked toward the tent door. “Now let’s gather some tools and get in the truck - quickly.”
Dr. Andre stood motionless for a few seconds. The distressed look on his face was back. “I concede your point that we need to act fast and keep this information confined to a limited circle; however, what if something happens to us over there? This discovery might be lost.”
“Frank will know and be able to tell the story.”
“Right. Well as
much as I love having that foulmouthed clown as my backup plan I am afraid my answer is still no,” Dr Andre challenged.
All was silent in the tent for a set of heartbeats before Alex piped up with a compromise. “Here’s how I see it. The professor and I are concerned about not letting anyone else know about the chamber just yet. Your concern is someone needs to know in case anything bad happens. Right?”
“Right,” Dr. Andre and the professor responded in stereo.
“How about this,” Alex continued as she pointed toward Dr. Andre. “Your boss is out of town until next week. Why don’t you leave him a voice mail detailing what we’ve found? If the three of us are successful today, there’ll be no harm done. Otherwise the information will reach your organization when he returns to the office.”
“That will be satisfactory,” Dr. Andre said as he flipped open his cell phone and began dialing.
Professor Russell leaned into his assistant so only she could hear. “I think you just earned that pay raise you’ve been asking me about.”
Dr. Holmes sat
across from his patient waiting for the man to begin his delusional tale. He resisted the urge to tap the eraser end of his pencil against the note pad as the silent seconds dragged on. The story would come when the patient was ready.
“First things first,” Hastelloy finally began, “I believe I owe you an honest introduction. I am Hastelloy, Captain of the star ship Lazarus or at least I was until our crash landing on this planet over 4,000 years ago. My home world is located approximately 26,000 light years from earth, and resides very close to the center of the Milky Way galaxy.”
“Wow, you don’t waste any time do you,” Jeffrey said trying to buy himself some time to process the dump truck load of information that just clobbered him over the head.
“You indicated earlier your time was valuable, I was just trying to be considerate.”
“Let me start off by asking how you wound up on Earth?” Jeffrey enquired. “What could possibly be so interesting about our planet that brings you half way across the galaxy to see it?”
“Answering how we got here is a lesson in technological advancement,” Hastelloy began. “My people, the Novi, took to the stars 50,000 years ago. At first they did it much the same way humans have over the last 100 years, using rudimentary rockets and liquid hydrogen fuel.
“Regrettably, I wasn’t alive to witness those heroic days of first flight for my people,” Hastelloy said with a solemn voice. His tone perked up noticeably as he continued. “Gratefully, my time here on earth gave me a second chance. The bravery that your first astronauts displayed was almost beyond comprehension, especially the Apollo flights.
“I took for granted our technology of using self contained gravity fields to lift off from a planet’s surface and break free into outer space. The first humans into space had to; quite literally, strap themselves to a fifteen-story building loaded to the bulkheads with highly explosive fuel. Then they set the fuel ablaze and hoped the explosive reaction could be directed properly to propel the rocket hundreds of miles vertically. Then they entered a place devoid of even the most basic elements needed to sustain life; namely oxygen. It’s been an honor and a privilege to witness such valor.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Jeffrey said. “I read somewhere the computers used to run the Apollo moon landing missions had about as much computing capability as your typical microwave oven does today. Remarkable,” Dr. Holmes added while shaking his head in disbelief.
“As time passed the Novi got better at space travel,” Hastelloy continued. “The ships grew bigger, safer and, most importantly, faster.
Eventually it was concluded the Novi needed to explore beyond our solar system. At first we launched small probes that left the system at crawling speeds.
“Twenty thousand years later we pushed out with ships traveling near light speed velocity. The travelers passed up the probes launched in the early days and kept on going. Colony ships were sent out soon after.”
“So earth is to eventually become a colony for the Novi?” Jeffrey asked, trying to feign mild alarm with his question to show belief in the story. The doubting look on the patient’s face let him know he failed miserably in the attempt.
“No, not at all,” Hastelloy said fighting back a chuckle at Jeffrey’s poor acting ability. “Any sentient species we discover are cataloged and left alon
e to develop on their own. There are strict rules against cultural contamination. Not just rules, they are unbreakable regulations created through hard lessons learned during first contact with the Alpha.”
“Who are the Alpha?” Jeffrey asked. “Do they have a cousin named Omega to round off the Greek Alphabet?”
“You really think the Greeks came up with that on their own,” Hastelloy challenged with a soft smile before continuing. “My crew stumbled upon your planet completely by accident after a battle with the Alpha, so they are probably the best place to start my story.”
The patient lifted his hands above his head and extended his fingers. “In all, ten colony worlds were founded.” He lowered his left hand and closed his right fist with the exception of his index finger still pointing upward.
“One of those early ships was commanded by Captain Diaz, and events didn’t unfold as they should have causing tragic consequences for countless worlds,” Hastelloy said as he lowered his hand to rest lazily on his lap.
Dr. Holmes shift
ed to the side in his seat but was careful to keep eye contact with the patient. The story was going to be complete nonsense of course, but it would be interesting at least. He made sure to take meticulous notes to use when contradictions invariably surfaced.
**********
“Why are they called the Alpha?” Ensign Tomen asked his commanding officer.
“Because they were the first sentient race the Novi discovered,” Lieutenant Scoren replied in a lazy voice. “Since then the council has alphabetically named each species discovered.
“How long has it been since we detected the last transmission from their world?” Tomen went on.
Fighting back a yawn Scoren replied nonchalantly, “Over 1,000 years, why do you ask?”
“It just seems odd to me that they stopped talking to us,” Tomen continued. “Captain Diaz and his colony ship discovered the Alpha on the world they were supposed to colonize. They made first contact since the ship didn’t have enough supplies or fuel to make it back to Novus or any other habitable planets.”
“Right,” Scoren confirmed, now taking an actual interest in the conversation.
“Captain Diaz and the colonists resided on that world for fifty years before gathering enough fuel and supplies for the return trip,” Tomen continued. “From all accounts I’ve ever read the colonists cultivated a limited, yet friendly relationship with the Alpha. When they finally left the planet Captain Diaz vowed to maintain close communications with them. Why would they converse with us for the first 100 years and then suddenly stop talking to us all together?”
A slightly confused look came across Tomen’s face as he went on, “I’ve read Diaz’s autobiography. When he returned to Novus he personally took charge of all communications with the Alpha. At that time the Captain firmly believed they were a friendly and curious people honestly interested in knowing how their stellar neighbors were doing.”
Scoren sat upright in his chair sensing a serious discussion. Manning a listening outpost at the outer limits of Novi space could get a bit tedious, to put it mildly. Any break from the monotony of monitoring radio frequencies and sensor grid disruptions was a welcome change of pace.
“I think you can piece it together from their last few transmissions,” Scoren said. “After Captain Diaz’s ship returned to Novus, the council determined we were to limit communication with the Alpha. Sharing of technology or any information at all about the Novi was forbidden. I guess the council figured enough damage was done by the Captain’s original decision to land and they couldn’t risk making matters worse.
“Over time the Alpha grew increasingly interested in our technology and learning more about the Novi. Our reluctance to talk about ourselves no doubt turned them away. They simply didn’t understand the moral obligation we were under.”
Scoren paused to better formulate his response. Tomen had only been on the listening outpost for a few days so Scoren felt a need to impress upon the youngster that he was the ranking officer for a reason. “As time went by Diaz noticed subtle changes in their attitude. They grew more guarded, less open to friendly parley. They increasingly asked questions about technological issues.
“I personally think the last message Captain Diaz sent accidentally gave away a critical piece of information. The Alpha had inquired about whether radio waves were primitive and what form of communication the Novi used. He gave an evasive answer; however, just as he finished his explanation, the Captain’s son burst into the room complaining about wanting to use the Flashtrans device to contact his mom. Soon after the Alpha sent their last signal thanking Captain Diaz for the information saying it would prove most useful.”
“Big deal, they heard the word Flashtrans,” Tomen countered. “The council cleared the Captain of any wrongdoing and concluded no harm was done. They issued orders banning any Novi ships or probes from coming within ten light years of the Alpha home world. They were to be left alone.
“I am still baffled that we hear dead silence from the Alpha,” Tomen went on. “It’s as if all forms of communication stopped emanating from their world 1,000 years ago; radio transmissions or otherwise. We are the closest listening outpost to Alpha space after all. We should be picking up some sort of transmissions from the planet, even if they aren’t trying to speak with us directly.”
Scoren decided to throw his own opinion on top of the official recording of events. “I personally think they developed other means of communication, such as compressed gamma rays, subspace, or even flash technology.”
“You know that’s impossible,” Tomen objected. “The Alpha are only in the second computer age according to the Neo scale. It will be thousands of years before they even learn about compressed gamma ray technology let alone flashtrans capabilities.”
This debate was getting good. Even though Scoren was not showing the rookie who was boss, he was appreciative of having a lively intellectual discussion for once. The last ensign assigned to the outpost could hardly put two cohesive sentences together without stumbling over his own words. However, it was time to drive his point home.
“Perhaps first contact skewed the Neo scale so it no longer applies to the Alpha,” Scoren replied. “The colonists lived among the Alpha for 50 years. Even knowledge of their existence could be enough to alter their Neo scale development, let alone living among them where they saw the advanced technology in action.”
Tomen sat still for a few moments staring at nothing in particular. He looked lost, like the foundation of his entire educational background had been knocked out from under him.
From birth, every Novi child was taught the natural progression of a civilization’s development through the Neo scale. One level of technological and social advancement had to be met before the next could begin and that was all there was to it. It was dogma, it was lore, and it was practically an act of heresy to deny or even question it.
Finally Tomen spoke in a soft and distant voice, “You might be right. They may be advancing faster than normal because Captain Diaz inadvertently gave them ideas. It could have taken them in directions they wouldn’t have thought about on their own for thousands of years.”
Realizing he’d won the debate, Lieutenant Scoren chose to press his luck and put forth a particularly ludicrous conspiracy theory of his. “Now here is a truly scary thought. What if the Alpha were able to develop or mimic our flashtrans communication technology 1,000 years ago?
“The Novi have been communicating freely using that technology for millennia now. Ships logs, research papers, diagrams, schematics, weapon system designs, and so on. What if the Alpha have been eaves dropping on our flash transmissions this whole time? For all we know, they could be just as advanced as we are by now.”
Tomen looked at his commanding officer with a wide open smile. This theory of Scoren’s went too far now and crossed the threshold of being a joke. “You have a rare grasp of the conspirator’s mind, sir. Going down that train of thought, isn’t it just as likely they blew themselves up trying to perfect one of these advanced technologies they gathered while covertly listening in on our transmissions that are thousands of generations ahead of their capabilities?”
Scoren’s monitoring consol
e released a soft alert that drew his attention away from the conversation momentarily. While hitting some controls to bring up the details of the alert message, he said, “Laugh all you want ensign, when this sensor grid alarm winds up being a fleet of Alpha ships coming to destroy the closest listening outpost to their system you’re going to look like quite the fool.”
The sensor readings came up onto Scoren’s screen. A space fold was forming close by. He focused the sensors on the projected destination and waited for the arrival of a Novi ship.
As if appearing from nowhere, 35 large vessels came through the event horizon. Warning sirens wailed as the computer quickly determined the ships were not of Novan design. All readings and data were instantly transmitted back to Novus as part of the emergency protocol.
A sharp blast of static came through the Flashtrans system followed by an eerie silence. Suddenly a harsh series of barks came through the speakers which the computer immediately identified as the language of species Alpha and translated, “Let it begin.”
Lieutenant Scoren watched in dismay as his console tracked a massive volley of torpedoes launched from the armada. He looked over at Tomen and in a defeated tone said dryly, “I hate being right all the time.”
**********
Hastelloy waited for Dr. Holmes to finish jotting down notes before continuing his story. “As it turns out, the decision by the Novi council to stay away from the Alpha system was a catastrophic mistake.”
“The self-imposed limitation left the Novi woefully unaware of the Alpha’s hastened development, much less the massive military buildup that had taken place over severa
l generations. The Novi were not prepared for conflict on such a massive and sudden scale. Before we could amass a proper defense against the Alpha attack our adversaries already assimilated four nearby habitable planets and employed the populous into their war machine.