Consortium of Planets: Alien Test

CONSORTIUM OF PLANETS: ALIEN TEST

DESCRIPTION

Wystl is a Searcher for the Consortium of Planets’ scientific “think tank” known as the University. She hunts the galaxy for species compatible with C.O.P. interests. When she discovers one with potential, she studies their members in depth and tests their response to a threat. Few can pass her challenge and those who fail are sterilized. After hundreds of trials she is ready to retire, but University scientist Reggiald talks her into one last mission far beyond the galaxy core.  

The Consortians believe that if they fail to grow by discovering new civilizations, they will wither and die. Since the Battle of Trinity forty thousand years ago, the Warrior Caste has reluctantly allowed Searchers to use their ships to search for appropriate species.

Before the Battle of Trinity, the Warriors enforced a cruel Consortium dictatorship that plundered and destroyed newly discovered civilizations. After the battle, they lost status to the University, and some in their ranks now plot a return to their lost glory.

Wystl’s current mission finds her setting up a research base on the Earth’s Moon to determine whether the Human race has the potential for admission into the C.O.P. During her fifty-year study, Earth Chancellor Jonathan Visen uses terrorism to consolidate all the planet’s governments under his control. The Searcher finds that the Humans may be worthy and begins her test. Earth’s United Defense Corps responds by sending their best asset, Colonel Dean Forge, to the Moon. There, he confronts a colorful, flashing ray of unknown destructive force as it advances relentlessly toward Earth.

Definitions:

Chn-maa
– Human ancestors that conquered a quarter of the galaxy but were beaten by the C.O.P. at the Battle of Trinity. Some managed to escape to Earth and establish a colony.

Consortium of Planets or C.O.P.
– Intergalactic trade organization made up of 1,500 hundred different species that is always looking for new members.

Cycle
– The time it takes for the C.O.P. home world of Consortia to orbit its sun, or about 26 Earth months.

Dimensional Shifter or D.S.
– Matter-altering device based on the science gathered from many civilizations spread throughout the galaxy.

Groutin
– Normally docile, these slimy, green, smelly creatures can attack with sharp fangs and talons when aroused. Beginning life as an ugly, wiggling larva, they grow to a few thousand kilos as adults.

Hyperparabolic Drive –
C.O.P. propulsion system that uses ten, 500 megawatt pulsed lasers. Amplified electromagnetic radiation from the lasers is focused by parabolic mirrors into an absorption chamber. Dark matter in the chamber is heated to 30,000 degrees Celsius, converting into plasma. When the plasma explodes, the spacecraft is given forward thrust.

Light Second, Light Minute, ECT.
– The distance light travels in a given amount of time.

Network
– An organization established by General Martle to counter Earth Chancellor Jonathan Visen’s growing power.

Praser
– Preferred destructive force used by a variety of C.O.P. weapons. Similar to a laser, it uses a powerful blast of highly excited protons.

Rotation
– The time it takes Consortia to rotate 360 degrees; one Consortium day or approximately 20 Earth hours.

Travel Dimension
– Alternate universe that allows vast galactic distances to be traversed in hours versus thousands of years.

United Defense Corps or U.D.C.
– The unified Earth’s military/police force that took the best people and resources from all of the world’s old governments.

University
– C.O.P. science branch, charged with finding compatible species and adding those species’ technology to its own data base.

Warrior Caste
– Military arm of the C.O.P.

Warriors for Change or W.F.C.
– Clandestine revolutionary group within the Warrior Caste.

Characters:

Assassin Svetlana
– Thirty-three-year-old human driven by hate to avenge the death of her parents, who were murdered when she was five. Orphaned at Master Sung’s legendary martial arts school, she became an expert in multiple disciplines and prefers the rope dart as her weapon of choice.

Captain Adryn
– One-hundred-year-old Warrior who commands Wystl’s research vessel. He secretly belongs to the Warriors for Change and plans to revolt with them.

Captain Amy Argnoe
– Twenty-five-year-old pilot with quick reflexes who was recruited from the United States Air Force to become General Stranova’s wing mate.

Colonel Dean Forge
– Forty-two-year-old, powerfully built martial arts expert, nicknamed “Superman” by the press because of his heroic deeds. For the last twenty years, this former U.S. Navy Seal was instrumental in creating the U.D.C. During that time, Visen used Colonel Forge – without his knowledge – to conduct terrorist activities in order to establish a united world government.

Commandant Bany’r –
Two-hundred-year-old commander of the C.O.P. Warrior Caste. He is slowly going crazy but has established the revolutionary Warriors for Change to regain his lost Warrior prestige.  

Doctor Reggiald
– One-hundred-sixty-year-old C.O.P. University scientist who loves Wystl but can’t tell her for fear of jeopardizing their professional relationship. He discovered an interesting signal from across the galaxy and sent Wystl to determine its significance. He develops revolutionary weapons based on scientific knowledge gained from newly discovered civilizations.

General Martle
– Sixty-five-year-old seasoned military leader who heads the United Defense Corps. At the urging of numerous world leaders he created the clandestine Network to counter Chancellor Visen’s growing power.

Major General Sasha Stranova
– Forty-year-old multiple aerial ace who was recruited from the Russian Air Force by Martel. She commands the two-year-old underfunded – and previously overlooked – U.D.C. Space Operations Wing.

Searcher Wystl
– One-hundred-fifty-year-old female alien sent throughout the galaxy by the Consortium of Planets’ scientific University. She seeks compatible species to join the 1,500-member C.O.P. trading organization.

Tilcas the Leader
– Thirty-eight-year-old leader of the simmering Chn-maa as they prepare to fight for their freedom from Consortian oppression.  

United Earth Chancellor Jonathan Visen
– Seventy-year-old ruthless politician who secretly used terrorism to trick all of Earth’s governments into giving him control of their military and police. He has achieved world domination and no longer needs Colonel Forge.

Warrior Yeoman Alont
– Young, fifty-year-old alien male with a strong sense of duty to Consortia and a knack for escaping tight situations.

Consortium of Planets

Alien Test

Cover and art by Kevin Love

Edited by Michael Goldsmith

Copyright by Jack Wells

To Michele,

with love

Introduction

It has been said that time does not exist
on its own. Upon very close examination it is identical to matter and energy. At the subatomic level of existence, all three look the same. Such strong evidence suggests that existence doesn’t happen chronologically but all at once. If that is true, then past, present, and future are simultaneously happening at this very moment. At our level of existence, we don’t have the senses to perceive such a complete reality.

So is it just a matter of time before aliens contact us, or are they doing it right now?

Prologue

Like many species throughout the galaxy, Wystl did not sweat, but her skin felt clammy anyway. That made her short black fur uncomfortably warm and heavy. With each faltering step that she took, both of her hearts pounded more and more violently. In fact, they threatened to explode right through the wall of her chest. As the desperation grew, the last bit of self-control slipped agonizingly away through her long, dark fingers. She knew the panic she felt was an autonomic response to the engine’s relentless hum and vibration. Over so many cycles, she had grown to hate the feeling, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t control the terror that always came.

Just a little bit farther!
She screamed silently into the chaos that ripped at her mind.

It didn’t help that she was on a military ship that had seen more action than anyone could remember. Horrible, negative energy from its history of death and destruction permeated its very essence. In some way, she hoped that her efforts could bring balance and positive energy back to the vessel and herself while ultimately helping her home planet of Consortia. With her will quickly waning, she struggled to continue one step at a time down the metallic, dimly lit corridor that seemed to curve away into a black hole.

The thought of her crew finally ended her mind’s frantic collapse. What would they think if she began running hysterically through the Consortium of Planet’s premier research vessel? In order to achieve success on several levels, she had to maintain their respect. By focusing her thoughts on them, she found enough strength to continue toward her cabin.

A few cautious steps later, a cold tingle began to creep up her spine.
Something is
behind me!
Wystl’s hearts raced again and there was no time to think. She bellowed out a primal howl and dropped to the cold metal deck in a defensive crouch. Before her wail finished echoing down the corridor, she tensed her body and spun around with a powerful leg sweep intended to take down whoever was there.

A bewildered gasp slipped from her lips when she failed to make contact. She got up as gracefully as she could and scanned up and down the empty corridor in vain. A sense of self-depreciation began to come over her. She had lost control after all. In an attempt at self-consolation, she reminded herself that this was how she always felt when they “jumped the gap” between universes.

“Way too jumpy, anyway,” she mumbled to herself.

Hey, was that a pun?
She managed a weak smile at herself. Leaning heavily against one of the corridor’s arched walls, she tried to steady her shaky body. The wall was actually the ship’s bulkhead; it gently curved up against her back and completed a dome about three and half meters above her head.
This is no time for humor…or is it?
The wall felt cold and solid, but she could draw no strength from it.

After filling her lungs with a deep breath, she tried to focus her thoughts. During the slow exhale, she noted how the corridor followed the contoured hull of her ship and gently curved out of sight in both directions.
Could someone have been there after all and ducked into one of the corridor’s many doorways when they saw me react?
Her large, black eyes blinked nervously as she considered the thought.
No!
She shook her head.

You’re doing it again!
She yelled silently once again into her mind to control its emotional collapse.

Still shaking her head, she once again started for the safety of her cabin and tried not to think about her frazzled nerves. Her thoughts rested on her position of command. It had its irony.
At the moment, no one is approaching me, probably because they think the mission is going well. Throw in a problem that isn’t covered by tradition and the crew will crowd around me like a pack of hungry groutin and ask for guidance.

Fortunately, she had a knack for dealing with what the crew could not, and they seemed to respect her for that ability. For all that respect, Wystl had no one on board that
she
could turn to for answers. There was no one that she could call “friend,” and today she needed a friend. She hoped that the familiar things in her cabin would help her deal with the feeling of panic that threatened to suffocate her.

She had dreaded this day since leaving her home and friends on her home world of Consortia because once again she would “jump the gap” and feel its pain. This adventure began like all the others: the scientists at the University had laid out the mission and now it was her duty to complete it. That same organization of scientists had greatly impressed the C.O.P. long ago at the Battle of Trinity. The University scientists used their vast knowledge in that decisive encounter to save the Consortium from certain destruction.

From that time forward, it was customary for the University to place their scientific Searchers in command of advanced C.O.P. war vessels in the pursuit of new knowledge and partners. The Warriors assigned to Wystl’s ship were respectful, but she knew that they resented having to answer to a scientist.

Wystl thought about her friends and what they told her the night she left her home world on this mission. The dimly lit cantina where they gathered to talk was crowded and smelled of cheap alcohol. Thick smoke hung heavy in the stale air and caused an eerie halo around each of their faces. Through the haze and traveling raunch band’s intrusive music, she could still hear her friends say all of the usual words of encouragement, but they had never made the Jump. Only Reggiald, her mentor, knew about her fear. He waited for her friends to say their piece and watched patiently as each one departed. Once they were alone, he leaned in close to her and gently gave her encouragement too. He told her that the more times she made the traverse, the less it would scare her.

As he spoke to her, Wystl felt the pleasure of his warm breath on her neck and wanted more. But his words forced her to relive all of her previous traverses in excruciating detail. She held back the urge to tell him that suffering through the process never got any easier. Causing him to worry about her was the last thing she wanted. She did not want to let him down. She owed him all that she had become.

The vibration and muffled pinging that emanated from the engine’s hyperparabolic drive began to invade her thoughts and her panic returned. Fighting the feeling once again, she stopped and leaned anxiously into one of the ship’s arched viewing portals. She hoped to see a splash of glittering stars hovering against the black void. Even as a fledgling, she found that the twinkling formations helped her to relax.

In her haste, the long, tapered fingers of one of her left hands brushed the portal’s frigid metal frame. The sudden stab of cold jerked her thoughts back to reality and made her gasp so loudly that she startled herself.
It seems the Warrior Caste isn’t interested in insulating their vessels.
Wystl recovered quickly and glanced up and down the deserted corridor to see if anyone noticed her outburst. Carefully, she looked through the oval shaped window a second time.

No matter how hard she tried, Wystl couldn’t get used to seeing the soft glow of vortexes that now replaced those beautiful stars. She knew that the vortexes were really the gravity wells of stars and planets in the normal universe that they left behind; however, the vortexes were dimmer than the stars that they represented, and that made this universe appear darker and more forbidding. It was a phenomenon that occurred to the cosmos each time they shifted from their universe or “jumped the gap” into what functioned as a travel dimension. The heavy mass of stars and larger planets in the dimension that they left behind would create the gravity wells and pull at the membrane that separated the two universes.

This kind of travel was necessary to cross great distances quickly, but whenever Wystl experienced it, both her stomachs felt like they were filled with heavy, baryonic dark matter. There had never been a tear in the membrane, but Wystl wondered if it was weakened with each new crossing.
Is it only a matter of time before it rips open uncontrollably? Then what?
Wystl sighed and gave up on the expectation that looking at this universe would help calm her nerves. The only thing that could help her now was getting back across the membrane to the normal universe.

Her contemplation was put on hold as the high-pitched whine coming from the ship’s engines shifted to a more calming, low moan. The new sound signaled that they had returned to normal space in the home dimension. Wystl pulled her eyes away from the disappointing view of the cosmos just as it was reverting to beautiful stars and normal space. As far as she could tell, the reversion to normal space had occurred without a problem; the membrane had held – this time.

She could finally let out that breath that she had been holding forever. A slight amount of pain was radiating up one of her arms. She glanced down and realized that she was squeezing the portal’s handrail much harder than necessary. Still distracted by her thoughts, she released the rail and absentmindedly held up her black, fuzz-covered hand and examined it.
If the University is correct about this out-of-the-way, bluish-green planet, then the anxiety caused by this trip may be worth it.

Scientists at the University had theorized about a multi-dimensional universe for years, but couldn’t quite make the mathematical leap to make it a reality. Then, on one of her missions, Wystl discovered a species that provided the missing formulae to the puzzle. Once they were able to create a stable rift in the universe’s membrane, the University was able to slip probes into the new dimension.

Their testing found that the dimension was an extraordinary way to travel tremendous distances in a very short amount of time. This newfound ability to shift between dimensions made it possible for the University’s Searchers to begin making contact with many new sentient life forms.

The probes found a correlation between the luminous depressions in the travel dimension and the stars, and the more massive planets in the home dimension. With points of reference between the universes, the scientists had an accurate way to navigate. After some trial and error, they were able to guide the probes through it and collect data from thousands of light years away. The next step was a piloted mission. Since Wystl was responsible for finding the formulae that made it possible, she was honored with being the first Searcher to enter the new dimension.

She began her historic mission with a formal send-off ceremony that, like most other formal occasions, she could have done without. They always seemed phony and strained. Consortia’s violet sun radiated hotly above the ceremony and only made matters worse. Mercifully, a gentle breeze helped cool her throbbing temples. The magnificent Grand Senatorial Palace was adorned with many colorful flags that seemed to be waving goodbye to her.

On the Palace’s steps, the new chairman of the Consortium stood bravely in the heat and spoke to hundreds of thousands about the importance of this mission. It sounded like he was running for office again. In his defense, he did say many wonderful things about entering a new era and how Wystl’s discovery of the new species had been instrumental in adding to the glory of their people. He went on for what seemed like hours.

For Wystl, all the sights and sounds blurred together into a colorful collage. She could only focus briefly before something else drew her attention. Sensing that the end to his speech was approaching, Wystl’s face lit up with a wide smile. With her arms held high, she waved in time with the chanting multitude, then disappeared into her sleek ship. She briefly listened as the chanting grew into a roar that drowned out what remained of the chairman’s words.

On that day, as she transitioned into the Travel Dimension, she felt a new horror for the very first time. It was as if every cell in her body was being twisted and torn. The pain suddenly stopped once the transition was completed. Shaken and afraid, Wystl looked down at her arms expecting horrible damage but found them perfectly normal. Her brain raced to find some explanation. She checked the University archives and found no record of anything like it. Deep in her hearts, she began to wonder if there was something fundamentally wrong with squeezing between two universes.
Could you force yourself right through the very fabric of space and time without consequences?

S
he wished that she had been more persuasive with the scientists at the University. But with no residual effects and only her “feelings” to go on, the scientists decided to press forward with their new technology.

Shifting her thoughts back to the present, she continuing down the corridor and approached the next portal. In what had been a dash to her cabin for safety, her anxiety had completely disappeared. She was able to appreciate the strange new star formations in this distant part of the galaxy.
Well, I guess if there is a sentient species on this world it isn’t their fault it’s so far from anything important.