Chapter 6: Letter Home
The four of us walked out of the new barn into the dark of dusk. Stargazer, as the most nimble of us, carried the tiny glass box cautiously towards a picnic table set a dozen steps into the clearing. With utmost attention, he set it down.
There was a dot of a mix of finest ruby powder and several other more common substances under the glass. The dot was in fact a mandala, a complex pattern created with help of a custom-made template cut in a gold film using a femtosecond laser – a device capable of carving a Mona Lisa on the side of a single human hair.
One line in the pattern was missing, placed on the tip of a needle extending to the side of the box, aligned with a matching gap in the "dot", so that pushing the needle in would complete the mandala.
I placed a tiny toy RC car next to the box in line with the needle, and we stepped away together behind a sheet of bulletproof glass set by the barn door.
I switched the remote on and aimed it at the toy car. I pushed the lever forward.
The tiny car sped ahead and hit the needle.
A thin line of light sprang up into the night. It shone for a few seconds, then the glass box exploded.
The explosion was underwhelming. It hardly left a notch in the flimsy table. Just a pop of a firecracker. The car sat wheels-up on the edge of the table.
Still, Celestia was prancing in place with joy.
Jan looked at the table. “Alright, now that we did it, would anyone care to tell me just what was that?”
“Magic!” I exclaimed. “A real magical beacon! A really tiny one, but after a few more tests we're going to build a huge one!”
* * *
I looked at the image on the screen. Four concentric circles, with incredibly intricate pattern filling the space between them. I recognized the patterns of the microscopic stencil in the outer two rings. The little innermost circle, maybe a tenth of the radius of the whole, was not the mandala pattern - it was filled with writing in Celestia's alphabet.
“I hope you didn't imagine I'd be able to draw that by hand, using the paste?” I smirked.
“Uh. Desperate times, desperate measures...”
“No worries. We've got the 3D printer now, we should be able to create it... somehow.” I decided not to jinx it.
“Its work area is not nearly sufficient. But I'll think of a way of printing it piece-wise and assembling it.”
“Care to explain why it’s so incredibly complex?”
“The outermost circle is the self-focus, a mandala that gathers magic from all around to feed the inner spells. Then there's the beam, which is the carrier of the inner spells, propulsion in the travel between worlds. The third circle is the guide. It's the homing for a marker mandala in the center of the throne room to deliver my message straight to my sister. The innermost circle is the payload."
“What was the payload in our miniature experiment?”
“A dot. Just a simple dot right in the middle. No special meaning, no destination, just a dot of light. The guidance layer was absent as well.”
“And here? A letter home?”
“Correct. It contains my own seal. It contains the symbol of the marker we are going to create to receive a return message. I mentioned 'no horn magic'. It also contains a symbol that says how much trouble I'm in. Something like DEFCON. One means 'Take your time, I'm enjoying my stay.' Two is 'Get me out of this dull place.' Three is 'I need rescue soon, short on supplies or wounded.' Four stands for 'Hanging by straws, rescue needed immediately!' and five is for 'Avenge me.'”
“So which one are you using?”
“Two.”
“Uhh...” I frowned. “Am I that bad? Any chance to downgrade it to 'one'?”
“Unlimited cake and we have a deal.”
* * *
The fluorescent tube below the ceiling of the lab/barn blinked a little.
Stargazer held the tiny boat on the tip of his finger; using pliers, he placed it on the table. It was a tiny scale model of the barge, retaining the proportions of thickness of the walls; brass instead of steel, but if brass could do it, steel would too. He brought an even smaller electromagnetic actuator to the level of his eyes, holding it with pliers. He stuck it to the side of the boat.
I pressed the button on the remote. A minuscule needle extended into the vessel from the actuator.
Again, using a pair of pliers, Stargazer brought a tiny square of plastic with the mandala printed on it and placed it carefully inside the boat. He applied a tip of a needle moistened with superglue to attach it.
We brought it to a large bowl with water. Specks of brocade shone across the volume.
“How do you keep the brocade suspended like that without falling to the bottom?” Stargazer asked.
“Xanthan gum. Remember how we talked about non-newtonian fluids? Well, I saw someone talking about shear-thinning fluids on the net, and it appears they are yet another class that behaves in a funny way. It's pretty much the opposite of the corn starch trick: it remains thick when undisturbed, but if you stir it, it behaves like water.”
“Is it safe?”
“A common food additive, found in ketchup.”
He dipped his hand in the bowl, lowering the boat to the surface. The specks danced around his hand as he moved it away, but the waves didn't spread far. He raised his hand, and the gooey liquid was stuck to it in a layer thicker than plain moisture.
“Also salad dressings, so that they stick to the veggies.” I handed him a paper towel.
I toggled a switch, and a smoke generator cobbled together from an e-cigarette and an aquarium pump, suspended above, began pouring smoke over the bowl. I pressed 'record' on the high-speed high-resolution camera on a tripod and verified that the image was sharply in focus. Two more cameras at different angles, and we moved behind the bulletproof glass.
I grinned to Stargazer. “Do the honors.”
“Magic,” he said as he pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
“Did you remove the safety pin?” I asked.
He slapped his forehead and went to fish out the tiny boat and remove a pin that assured the mandala wouldn't be completed prematurely. He brought the boat back and placed it on the water.
“Magic,” he said, pressing the button.
The beam of light went straight through the ceiling, leaving a needle-sized hole. A firecracker-like explosion followed.
I got to downloading the data from the high-speed camera, while Stargazer switched the smoke generator and other cameras off.
“Where's Celestia?” he asked.
“Back inside, bringing world peace.” I smirked. “Just yesterday she resolved the territorial conflict between India and Pakistan. Today is her new attempt at the Middle East, but she says it's a grueling work; they don't trust her suggestions.”
Stargazer only nodded.
I found the explosion fragment at last and overlaid it with a scale grid.
“The shockwave went three hundred meters downwards, and in a tight column, so the marine life won't be affected nearly as badly as we feared. And we have the shockwave sideways reduced to only about two kilometers, but the main cone is broad and goes almost thirty kilometers up. By the way, good thinking with that shaped charge theory.”
“Glad I could help.” He grinned.
“By the way, have something for your trouble.” I pulled a small plastic bag from the 3D printer desk drawer. Several diamonds, each about half a centimeter wide, rested on the bottom. “That should take care of the mortgage on your parents' house.”
“Seriously, there's no need!”
“Look, we were calibrating the 3D printer. These are just the byproduct. Maybe have one set in a ring for your girlfriend?”
“Oh, well...” He accepted the bag reluctantly.
* * *
“And this’ll be the last one...” I placed the piece of pattern sandwiched between two sheets of PVC on the floor, latching the protrusions on the edges with the neighbor tile. The mandala was eight meters in diameter, composed of thirty-centimeter tiles of PVC, interconnecting like puzzle pieces. The missing edge part would be inserted with a gate actuator - the kind used to close driveway gates.
We stood back, and I closed the barn doors. I handed welding goggles to Stargazer and Jan, taking a pair for myself.
“No more hunger in Africa.” Jan shook his head. “I wonder what happens with these developments once Celestia goes back home.”
“She said they would slowly fall into disrepair, but in the end the world would be better off than what it started with. Okay, here goes nothing.”
We put the glasses on, and Stargazer picked the gate remote. He pressed the button. “Magic,” he uttered. “I hope they will align correctly now.”
The motor whirred to life, and the actuator began pushing the last tile, one without protrusions that would latch it to the neighbors.
The tile met the edge, and the actuator stopped. The pattern came to life with colorful auroras. We flipped the darkened glass onto the goggles.
This time, I felt hot wind blow in my face as the center lit up with a blinding, colorful light. There was a thud, no louder than slamming a door. Then the light went out.
We removed the goggles. I walked up to the center of the room. The PVC was cracked and darkened. The tiles crumbled under my shoes as I approached the middle.
I picked the diamond up. It was round, the size of a tennis ball, with a perfect cut.
“So the test was a success. Any idea what to do with the byproduct?” I tossed the diamond a little into the air.
“People would kill to get it,” Jan noticed.
“That's what I fear.”
Stargazer vanished behind one of the hay bales that were stacked by the entrance and came back with a ball-peen hammer. “I heard diamonds will crumble to dust if hit hard enough.”
I placed the diamond on the flat part of a large vise attached to a worktable on the side. “Be my guest to test the theory.”
* * *
Stargazer and I sat by the table, while Celestia paced nervously back and forth behind us. Imagery from several cameras was tiled on the screen of her notebook on the table. The back of the tugboat with the tarp-covered barge behind it, a wide-angle from the mast, the bridge on the tugboat with the crew, a view onto the barge from the tugboat, a view into four directions covering a full 360 from the barge, and finally an inert, dim view on the cargo hold with scarce light filtering through the tarp, the tiles of the mandala occupying the center, the motor on the side, a set of automated communication devices by the wall covered with multiple layers of bricks to deflect the explosion.
There was the TorChat on the big screen, the message sent a couple hours ago still there. Multiple recipients – Celestia's contacts list had grown quite a bit. Prominent politicians and businessmen worldwide, even a couple celebrities, whom she had employed for promoting certain efforts.
My gaze still wandered to the message.
“I know you are observing my associate’s efforts closely. On my behalf, he has constructed a device of scientific nature, installed on a sea barge. I plan to activate the device today around 18:30 GMT on the Baltic Sea, 150km north of Elbląg. The device, though with entirely peaceful purpose, has a side effect of releasing about 400 terajoules of energy upon activation, resulting in an explosion equivalent of 100 kilotons of TNT. The activation will occur in a safe distance from any surface vessels, but I am unable to account for submarines and high-flying aircraft. Therefore, if you decide to observe the activation that way, please maintain at least 10km of clearance on and under the surface and up to 30km clearance above the device.”
There were some questions below, and Celestia's answers. No, there would not be fallout or radiation of any kind. No, the device would not disturb any communications. Outside of momentary optical phenomena visible in the sky there would be no effects, lasting or not. Think of it as a firework show. There would be minimal contamination with the wreck of the barge, no different than hundreds of wrecks littering the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Hundred kilotons, shaped charge directed upwards, to minimize sea-level and underwater blastwave. No, no radioactives were used in construction of the device and only visible light and infrared emissions were to be expected. The device itself would only release a short pulse of intense infrared light. The explosion would be the effect of superheating the barge with the infrared pulse. I choose to withhold the details of the device. It is purely for my personal benefit and not related to any of the ongoing international projects, current or future.
The screen sat there, inert, without new messages for now.
The speakers by the screen came to life, emitting the rattle of the engine. “Central, do you read me?” Jan's voice called.
“Loud and clear,” I answered.
“The horizon is almost clear, no vessels within at least thirty kilometers. We are ready to release the barge.”
“Proceed.”
The security guys began milling on the back of the tugboat. Its engines stopped, and soon the ropes were released. The vessels separated and the ropes were pulled onto the deck.
Then the tugboat started again, sped up, and turned around, heading in the opposite direction as the barge still headed north, pushed by inertia.
“I estimate we will reach the safe range in twenty minutes.”
We sat tight. The clock ticked slowly. Stargazer found a live map of ships worldwide, and there was our tugboat crawling south. The barge was not present on the map.
Ten minutes ticked by in a nervous silence. Then suddenly Stargazer tapped my knee. “Hey, look there!” He pointed at the rear camera of the barge.
First a couple of bars, then a metal structure, then the entirety of a hull of a huge submarine surfaced no more than a hundred meters behind the barge, and it was closing in fast. The soldiers poured out from the hatch, carrying ladders and ropes. Not a minute later the first was climbing onto the barge over a ladder spread between the two vessels.
“Central, do you see what's going on?” sounded from the speakers.
“Yes. Proceed as if nothing has changed,” I replied.
The soldiers detached the corner of the tarp and the camera inside the barge showed them climbing down. Then they began taking photos and filming the tiles, the mandala, the actuator, the communication devices. Some peered into the bilge, some tested the PVC with some kind of contact sensors. They lit up some very strong torchlights, shining on the pattern, making more photos.
The activity stopped for a couple seconds, then they all headed to the exit. Another three minutes, and the barge was left in condition as encountered. Another two, and the submarine sped away over the surface, leaving the barge as they’d found it.
Celestia gave out an angered snort.
“Dude...” Stargazer muttered, “that was rude.”
I stood up and walked up to the bar. I picked out a flask of Żytnia and poured myself a glass. I swallowed it in one gulp.
I felt Celestia's nose on my shoulder.
“It's not good for horses. Are you sure?”
She nodded.
I picked a bowl from the kitchen, and poured, generously, a good half a flask.
“Central, do you read me?”
I put the flask down and ran to the computer. The ship called out to me again.
“This is Central, I read you.”
“A friend of the captain is passing by, and he has a sonar on board. He said the waters are crawling with submarines, but they are keeping their distance. As for aircraft, I see several spots in the sky where there were none before, but again, they are safely distant. We are just about reaching the safe distance. Should we proceed?”
“Yes.”
“Some kind of countdown?”
“Just press the button.”
“Okay.”
The camera in the cargo hold went blind, but the cameras on the surface showed a sharply cut wall of light the diameter of the mandala. And the cameras from the tugboat showed a thin column of light going straight into the sky.
Then “No connection” filled all the screens. Including the ones on the tugboat.
Celestia sat on her rump, her eyes wide with fear.
“Central, do you read me?”
“I read you. How are you?”
“Everything's fine. One of my idiots stumbled back from the flash, and knocked out the power in your devices. They are coming back online now. Whoa, those were some nice fireworks! Whatever we did, it seems it worked.”
The cameras of the tugboat came back online, showing just turbulent water where the barge used to be and a relatively small mushroom cloud.
“Good work there. Tell the captain his money awaits him at the port, and your guys that they just got a good bonus and a month of vacations.”
“The captain said it's a pleasure doing business with you. Tugboat over and out.”
Stargazer, Celestia and I hugged together, cheering. Then Celestia turned away from us, and drained her bowl of vodka in three gulps.
* * *
“So you say horses have strong heads? A bucket of beer to get slightly tipsy?” Stargazer raised his eyebrow.
Celestia was sleeping restlessly. She'd smack her lips, twitch her legs, and kick with her hind hoof from time to time.
“Apparently she's an exception.”
We sat by the table, the single plastic tile with the marker mandala sitting in front of us, dark and lifeless, with a sizable empty circle in the middle.
“I really hope it isn't damaged or anything like that,” Stargazer said.
The screen with the TorChat was filled with questions, awaiting answers. A TV news channel window open in the corner had an interview with a scientist. I found the mouse, made the window full-screen and pulled the volume up.
“...mmunication device. The beam was a signal to a distant destination out of the solar system.”
“But traveling at the speed of light, the signal will take years to reach neighbor star systems, isn't that correct?” the reporter asked.
“And here's the most curious part about it: It moved faster than light. We're still estimating the actual speed, but it appears to be at least several hundred times faster than light.”
“But supposedly nothing can travel faster than light?”
“That's what human science has concluded so far. And today we have observed something that contradicts our theories.”
“So the science is wrong?”
“The science is incomplete. It always was and always will be. There are factors we are still not aware of, and this is one of them. One day we will be able to explain this phenomenon.”
“Does this confirm the theory that our mysterious benefactor, the one who kept resolving the world's problems through a combination of behind-the-scenes diplomacy and a mastery of economy, is an extraterrestrial?”
“It's still not an ultimate proof, but a very strong indication. Either that, or Tia is a genius of physics. Both the skills and the technology are of a level unknown on Earth, and that would mean the mysterious Tia is of extraterrestrial origin, though some colleagues suggested a time traveler from distant future.”
“What would be the ultimate proof?”
“Her direct answer to that question?”
I turned my head to Stargazer. “Her?”
“Her?” he repeated.
“Her?” sounded from the TV. “Do the aliens even have genders?”
“Oh, just our little jargon thing, based on a fallacious idea, but it stuck because we liked it. Tia's terrestrial 'associate' whom we all remember from the SEC crisis events, happens to live in Poland. Most female names and relatively few male names in Polish end with 'A', so one of our colleagues assumed 'Tia' is a female name. Obviously, if she's an extraterrestrial, she's not from Poland, and neither is the name, but attaching a gender to the mysterious stranger gives us a sense of familiarity.”
“Continuing: What is your opinion on the stunt performed by the Russian submarine?”
“That was disrespectful and uncalled for. Tia has done so much good for the betterment of the humanity that we really ought to give her freedom for her own personal projects.”
“The explosion was ten times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.”
“And the beam moved at several hundred the speed of light. I can easily imagine this kind of energy would be required. True to her word, there is no radiation, no harmful side-effects, and Tia's associate has paid the fine for littering the bottom of the sea with the wreck, unasked.”
“Now that her world is contacted, are there reasons to worry? On my way to the studio I overheard the phrase 'invasion force'.”
“The only thing we have to worry about is that Tia will now go home, and we will be left none the wiser, alone to deal with our problems the old way.”
“So what makes you so sure there is no star armada just waiting for the signal?”
“That's a poor joke. If Tia wanted to conquer the world, it would take her a month to buy it whole. She doesn't need an army.”
“Thank you for the interview. And now let’s connect with the ESA conference center.”
A room in grays and blues appeared. An older man in a suit stood behind a lectern. He began with greetings and a summary the events so far, then he progressed to their actual discoveries.
"First off, the beam did not move in a straight line. It started off perpendicular to Earth surface at its origin, but it curved gradually, and left the solar system heading towards the Phoenix constellation. Next, the early estimate of the speed was based on a false assumption that the beam was moving at constant speed. In fact, it did start at the speed of light, but even before crossing the Moon orbit, it was moving twelve times faster than that. Our current estimates are that the departure from the solar system occurred at ten thousand times the speed of light."
Aided by computer animations, the scientist began explaining their methodology of observations.
Stargazer knocked me on my knee. He nodded towards the tile. It was shimmering with golden and green lights lazily flowing through the pattern. Its center was full of symbols glowing green.
"Go fetch a bowl of water, and I'll wake Celestia up. Add some hangover pills; they’re on the refrigerator." I pressed 'mute' on the keyboard.
He ran to the kitchen while I tried to shake the mare awake. She smacked her lips and tried to mumble something, but only a nicker came out of her throat. The effect though apparently shook her awake, as she looked around, confused.
Stargazer came with the bowl of water, and I put it to Celestia's mouth, while he excused himself to the bathroom. She drained the bowl as if she had spent a week without water, then she looked around, confused.
"Did you sober up yet?"
She smacked her lips and felt for the lever with her tongue. It had slipped out, hanging under her chin, so I helped her get it back in her mouth.
"Mastlyy," appeared on the screen.
"We've got the reply."
She jerked herself up, and I held her as she stumbled, about to collapse. She stood with her legs wide apart, gathering her bearings. She made an unsteady step.
"Lie down, Celestia. I'll fetch the mandala."
She collapsed to the floor. I brought her the tile and held it up to her.
A soft nicker escaped her mouth.
"Twilight is coming" appeared on the screen.
"Congratulations," I smiled.
She gazed at me for a while. The lever moved in her mouth slowly, the letters crawling instead of their mad dash.
"Come to me, my stallion. Let us celebrate."
I thought for a while about my answer.
"Celestia, you are drunk and not thinking straight. I won't exploit that. I'm sorry, but I must refuse."
Then I leaned to her ear and whispered, "But tomorrow, after you sober up, if you don't change your mind, I'd be happy to oblige."
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6 stands for "There is no cake in this world."
Somehow those 3 words, so simple, become something extremely powerful and awesome
6251140 If the whole world saw that they might misunderstand. And panic.
6250670
No, no, no.
6 stands for "The cake is a lie."
I'll see myself out.
What Celestia said at the end was kind of creepy. It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't a horse.
Oh boy, this gets better and better with each chapter. Onwards!
Seems scientists are quite intelligent to figure that much out that quickly.
6250670
7 stands for I'm in a Mary Sue fic. Raze it to the ground.
6252479
6262144
Both of your suggestions are just longer versions of 5.
6262144
As well written as this story is, Celestia is getting kind of Sue-ish.
That being said, it is possible, however infinitesimally, for a Mary Sue fic to be good. Part of the secret is to not make the Sue the actual focus of the story, which is something the writer's gotten right.
My peeve is that the main character basically just said with no doubt "Yes, I would fuck a horse." When he got a boner in chapter 2, it could at least be passed off as an uncontrollable physical response, but now he's undeniably a zoophile. This being a 2nd person fic makes it even more uncomfortable, but at least it's not a 1st person fic.
My question is how could we observe it from a static location if it moves at an increasing speed above the speed of light? Wouldn't our devices just fail to record it when it goes faster than light?
Also, is it Xenophilia or Zoophilia? I personally don't care much because Celestia is awesome here, but I know I will be seeing the Zoophile comment again later...
6273360
Assuming: While at given location it emits light which then travels at speed of light. No matter how fast it moves, it "drops" photons moving at c.
The result is the visibility (image) of the object following a specific path that has little in common with the real one.
Take an object travelling way, way faster than light, in a straight line. You'll first spot it at the point nearest to you, then light from farther its locations will start reaching you - the image will split into two, one travelling backwards, the other forwards along the path. at first at apparent speed closer to the real one, but slowing down to speed of light.
BTW, it's pretty easy to imagine (and it wouldn't be exceedingly hard for, say, NASA to build) a system where a signal *apparently* travels at speed of light.
Drop off multitude of satellites along the same solar orbit, about 1000km apart. The satellites can emit and detect pulses of light; they can also tell which one of them the pulse came from, and they have a precise timer.
The first satellite in line emits a pulse. Each in line registers the moment the pulse passes through. (including the 1st one). Once it reaches the last in line, it emits a second pulse. The satellites along the way register the time it passes through. Then they move their clocks half the measured interval forward. Now they have clocks "synchronized" within own frame of reference - offsetting relativistic shift they underwent while getting there.
Now as they all emit light at the same moment (each according to own clock) the pulse will look like travelling along the line of satellites. Think about how its visible path will appear.
Beastiality. Why has this man gone insane?
“That's a poor joke. If Tia wanted to conquer the world, it would take her a month to buy it whole. She doesn't need an army.”
That's capitalism hehe
6294390 Technically xenophobia
People are wierd.
Someone explain to me what I just did there.
Goddamn, I don't think mathematics has numbers big enough to describe how big this whole thing has gotten. So awesome!!
6270617 This is 1st person. 2nd person would be, "You went to wake the horse up." "She kissed you upon the lips." etc...