The World Of Alcubierre

Episode VII

Premier Valast's ears perked up with interest as he entered the enormous hall that served as the diplomatic meeting space on the Halcyon way-station. On the far end was a gargantuan metal tank, its exterior featureless and smooth. For all of Valast's experience in treating with the various species that made up the Combine, this was a novel experience. His eyes quickly darted to Overseer Neeria, his whiskers twitching slightly.

She nodded in response and spread her arms wide, her eye slits shifting to the neutral blue of communication. "Premier Valast, I present to you Plenipotentiary Xy, Left Float Superior and Plenipotentiary Zyy, Right Float Superior, Emissaries of the Zix Collective, Species X-4831 of the Pan-Universia Combine." She bowed, the fingers on her upper arms fluttering slightly. Premier Valast inclined his head slightly and turned to regard the tank expectantly.

There was no response.

The moment of silence stretched on awkwardly, until a full minute had passed. Premier Valast shuffled his feet and then gave a small cough, "Overseer Neeria, do our guests have the capacity to speak?"

"Premier, I analyzed the diplomatic archives in preparation for this meeting and, judging by prior interactions, long pauses are to be expected. The Zix must reach consensus before they offer a response." The Overseer kept her tone carefully neutral as she relayed the information.

"Pauses? How long? As you know, there is some urgency to the matter." Premier Valast replied.

Neeria shifted uncomfortably, her gaze fixed on the tank, "Premier, the archives indicate it takes a Zix pair between a day and three days to respond. Considerably longer if more than a pair is involved, so we are quite fortunat--"

"Three days?! Is this true?" Premier Valast "For a response? This must be wrong."

---

Xy and Zyy were not in consensus. Their cilia flailed at each other, intertwining and separating as they shuffled through dozens of thought threads in an attempt to find a common ground. As usual, Xy was finding the Right's ideas to be utterly preposterous. Not only was the Right's suggestion in direct contravention of their explicit orders but it was entirely beyond the scope of their consensus mandate. It was dangerous, toxic thinking.

The Right wanted to return Premier Valast's greeting.

Xy shoved another cilia into the mix, layering in an emotion thread to ensure that Zyy would understand precisely how preposterous and frustrating Xy was finding the situation. Their consensus mandate had been explicit: they were permitted to carry the response from Halcyon back to the Zix Collective, nothing more. A response of any kind would constitute singular contact, which was specifically prohibited by their mandate.

Zyy seemed to think returning the salutation was simply a perfunctory and neighborly thing to do. That they could not receive the response without engaging with the Premier. If Xy had not spent the entirety of its existence coupled with the Right, it would think Zyy was a singleton. The very thought of being associated with such heresy was deeply disturbing. It had been some time since their tank had been scoured, perhaps the build up of pollutants was causing some mental deficiency in the Right.

It was one thing to be Right-minded, it was another thing entirely to disregard the consensus of the entire Collective. Xy wondered, for the hundredth time, why two observation-specializations had been selected to perform as Plenipotentiaries. It was clear from this situation that they were thoroughly unequipped for the rigors of diplomacy. There were simply too many intricacies and interlocking parts involved for them to possibly perform this task.

Zyy's own frustration now flooded into Xy, the Right taking umbrage of the characterization that it was a dangerous singleton in need of a diagnostic. It argued that they were sent because they were the most familiar with the underlying information, and that they were therefore the best positioned to inform the Combine of the possible threat to help the Combine formulate a response. Indeed, the Right seemed to be ready to exit the tank and spend their time among the Combine chatting freely about anything and everything it deemed fit, consensus mandate or not.

Xy began to doubt the wisdom of having Rights. It was not the first time it had thought this, but it was the first time it began to believe it.

---

"Yes, Premier Valast, three days." Overseer Neeria shrugged, "sometimes more."

---

Science Officer Jack Griggs started from his slumber as the door to the lab slid open to admit Admiral Levinson. The Admiral conducted a brief survey of the chaos within and the disheveled state of his Science Officer before forging onward. "I want good news and great news Jack. You've had your twenty-four, now I want to know what our options are."

Jack groaned and rubbed his eyes with his balled up fists, "For the love of the black Kai, I've been pulling triples for a week. I'm doing what I can." He waved a hand about, "It isn't like we're on well-traveled ground here. The implications of all of this are staggering. We've spent our whole existence learning checkers only to learn the universe plays chess. Even more concerning than the fact that two plus two equals grapefruit is the fact that something or, more accurately SOMEONE put us in that little box to play checkers." His words fell off as his eyes stared into the distance, "We aren't alone Kai. After all this time, now we know it." His throat contracted as he swallowed, his mouth opening but no words coming out.

Kai watched in silence for a moment before snorting, "Well, if they're out there, then it'll be a shame if our first hello is a death halo." That was what they'd taken to calling the nova of destruction that would be unleashed if they did not find a way to avoid the collision with the Proxima Barrier.

Jack was quiet, taking a few steadying breaths, "I don't have anything for you. I'm trying to apply the new rules as fast as I can figure out what they are but I need more time."

"That's the one thing you can't have. It ain't fair, but the black never is. You know that just the same as I do."

Jack's shoulders slumped, "We're still over fifty lights. None of this should be possible, none of it makes any sense. We dropped the bubble and somehow we pushed through the distortion to ride the wave on the other side. We're supposed to be dead stopped but instead we're a weapon of galactic destruction."

"Not yet, we aren't. You've got six days to find the solution and implement it Jack. Try not to spend the next one the way you spent this one." Kai kicked a discarded bin with his boot, "I'll send a few cadets to help you get the place straightened up. Go get a shower and then come back in here and save the world."

Jack gave the slightest of nods, but his mind was far away.