stickmaker | Space Opera Novel In Progress Excerpt

Behind the Cut

"Not again!" yelled Chrel over the noise. "I thought you put in blockers?"

"This is different," said Andars. "Pulrue, translation, please?"

"'Primary attractive signature detected,'" the researcher supplied, having kept an Adagentai translation routine handy following their previous experiences.

"Again, not very helpful. Andars, did you complete the expanded Archive query you initiated?"

"No, but I've acquired considerable background information," the human female replied. "The Adagentai fought some sort of mystery enemy - something later records commenting on those days refer to as the Purifiers - three times in their history, spread over 58 million years. They established the oldest components in our sensor system to detect further incursions. This enemy must have made a major impression on them, because the effort involved in creating the warning system continued for over ten million years after the last incursion was repulsed."

"Did you uncover any details on this enemy? While it is unlikely to have survived the intervening period without being discovered by others, there might be some remnant left which could be causing this trouble."

"Not yet. The Adagentai records seem to assume that anyone reading them would recognize the references without needing more information."

"Typical, from what I know of them," said Heeker. "They were very sociocentric. Thought anyone who didn't know and eagerly adopt everything about them wasn't worth consideration. Of course, they did rule most of the known universe for hundreds of millions of years. They may simply have set a standard and expected those under their rule to follow it."

"What else do you know about them?" asked Chrel. “That is, the Adagentai. I know only the basics.”

"They had a very high level of technology," the Yerl continued. "Much higher than anything available now except for some relics and the best efforts of the Vig. While not the pinnacle in terms of sophistication, they were almost compulsive in having the equipment with the best performance. Their trade ships were the fastest around, for example. However, for some reason, late in their history they prohibited the drive system which made their ships so fast. They purged the technical information on this drive, and even all descriptions. This was part of what led to their decline as a great power. The Linked Rings hadn't been invented yet, and previously the Adagentai had dominated intergalactic trade. After this prohibition they had to compete on an equal basis, and didn't do well."

“Now I’m getting notices of related messages,” said Pulrue, opening some of them. “Wow. It’s like a major mobilization.”

“Summarize, please,” Chrel requested.

“Throughout the Local Great Cluster, on stations, worlds, free planets, asteroids, moons and planetesimals, installation after installation is reporting status.” Pulrue sounded awed. “Most are Adagentai, or built by one of their known allies. Others seem to date from well after the initial creation of the system, probably incorporated into the network by the Adagentai when they began to lose their dominance.”

“Wow,” breathed Andars, who was also checking the messages. “A lot of these are damaged, but most say they’re in perfect working order, just waiting to be told what to do. They must have been held in long-term reserve just in case this enemy returned. And there are thousands of major installations...”

“Looks like that old Adagentai sensor network is also a military communications network,” said Heeker, nervously. “Not only is it using its own components, it’s incorporating everything added to the Network through time. Including our spatiophysical monitoring equipment. There’s some surprisingly adaptable algorithms at work, here.”

“Adaptable and intrusive,” said Chrel. “Please do what you can to resist this disruption of our efforts.”

“That... might not be a good idea,” said Heeker. “The software might see that as sabotage, or an enemy attack...”

Chrel dithered, then shivered, its species’ equivalent of a sigh.

“Consultation with superiors is required for advice. For now, do nothing.”

“Except silence those alarms,” muttered Pulrue.

On a nameless world left lifeless by the death of its sun long before the Adagentai evolved, installations which had baffled thousands of generations of explorers stirred. Though known to have been constructed by those former lords of creation, their purpose was a mystery despite millions of years of study. There were no trade routes here to protect, no travelers to host, no important targets to guard or threaten, no unusual resources to gather. The mystery the world presented attracted representatives from nearly every culture which learned about it. Despite the near universal drive to solve mysteries, little was known about this place and what it harbored.

This was in large part due to the facilities being set to protect themselves against intrusion. Given the technical competence of the Adagentai, even the small progress which had been made had come at great cost in resources, including lives. All anyone currently knew was that these were automated fortresses, of great power and flexibility, which had lain dormant for hundreds of millions of years. Some thought them long expired, the detectable trickles of energy all the facilities were capable of. No living creature had been on this particular world in millions of years, but machines still kept watch.

Now, those devices reported anomalous activity, though in many cases there was no-one left to hear these reports. Oceans of power began to flow, and the massive devices were physically moving. The structures spread evenly over the frigid surface of the planet opened like blooming flowers. Their now-exposed internal structures, preserved by the cold and the vacuum and near-miraculous technology, glittered in the dim, stark light of the white dwarf primary as components shifted and reconfigured. Only a few did not so stir, and most of those were active internally, as independent repair units did their work. Within seventy-five hours all but two would be operational. Of those, one would simply explode, shatteringly, causing damage to some of the others, though they would survive and heal. The other would suddenly grow hotter and hotter until it sagged, glowing whitely, and to sink into the long-cold body of the planet. Once all the surviving units were fully operational they would mesh into a single purpose, a massive phased array. Even then, the specific purpose would be unknown to those now watching.

This was only one world of hundreds in the Milky Way; besides those major installations there were thousands more locations with less extensive preparations. However, space is vast, and these installations therefor widely scattered. In most cases time and the natural flow of bodies in the galaxy had moved them away from whatever positions they originally held. Often, whatever they had been made to protect was itself long gone. Unless the enemy they had been made to fight happened to come within their long reach, their might would be useless, their purpose frustrated.