A gentle rhythm rang across the ship, a tell-tale sign of the active Cloak Frame. Thousands on microscopic point-like machines emitted local disturbances into the surrounding fields, which teleported particles around Matrioshka’s ship, rendering it invisible.
Unless of course, you were close enough to use gravitational sensors. Which with the ship’s weight of 382 tonnes, was little under 3.9 kilometres away. Satisfied they were secure for the time being, Matrioshka materialized in her chair on the bridge.
The rest of her crew appeared as well, this time each taking a place next to a decorative console.
Damien’s processing power reduced somewhat since he observed the arrival of the unknown ship. It was still high above normal, Matrioshka reasoned he was struggling to keep himself under control. She decided that Damien must have known of the second ship, he was too insistent on using the sensors.
As the captain, she had the necessary permissions to directly access his mind, and effectively read his thoughts. This was a great perversion of her power and Matrioshka hated doing it. Damien was being less than truthful, but his actions hadn’t threatened the crew so far. Matrioshka decided she will give Damien some time to come clean.
All 5 of them were currently safe from death. Right after each of their minds was booted, Matrioshka establish a live connection through the Set to the Imperium. Their minds were being actively uploaded to whichever company her crew had chosen as their lattice operators.
If their lattice in the Empire system was destroyed, they would be awakened from the most recent copy of themselves. While they would survive, the mission would be deemed a failure. Matrioshka found that unacceptable.
With her crew assembled before her, Matrioshka began:
“It is my great pleasure to welcome you all aboard the Sliver of the Sun. I am sure all of you are aware of our mission, each of you did sign up for it, but I will repeat it. We are on a recon mission to the system previous known as IRMA-8AKL13, now the Empire system. IRMA has identified 7 planets, which I have confirmed upon arrival.
At least two of which, have been predicted to be class-A terraforming targets. This will be further confirmed or denied by Officers Viris and Lavigne.”
Nods from Damien and Rhea.
Matrioshka continued: “Upon the delivery of their analysis, we will plot a course across the system, with completion expected in 3 to 5 months. I expect dedicated and accurate work from my crew. And I will do the same as your captain. Any questions?”
PesKal raised their tail and asked: “Has there been any signs of Precursor artifacts?”
Damien replied: “None so far. If they are any, they are either in the sub-1000-kilometre scale or buried beneath sufficiently obstructing material.”
PesKal continued: “I have great desire to see an artifact up close. It is fascinating. A civilization grander than the Imperium existed upon the Milky Way.”
Makoe added: “They are indeed fascinating, both from an engineering perspective and aesthetic. I have worked on several artifacts in my time, I can show them to you in the virtual, Officer PesKal.”
PesKal’s head fins quivered, showing excitement. “I would very much like to see them, Officer Rue.” PesKal noticed Rhea for the first time, who was right next to him near her console. He stilled and battled to not scrounge his face; his lattice worked overtime.
Matrioshka pitied him slightly. His kind used to be under constant predation by a long-lost offshoot of their specie’s lineage. PesKal’s fear of tall bipedals was inherent to his DNA.
Rhea noted this as well, and Matrioshka saw her send a visual interface to PesKal. If he accepted and installed it, all crewmembers taller than himself would appear shorter in his vision without affecting his behaviour or appearance. PesKal accepted it.
Makoe smiled, and slowly turned to Damien. She watched him for a second too long and said: “How is the geological analysis going? I could help if you like Officer Viris.”
Matrioshka saw Damien think, processing speed at max.
He sighed and said: “It hasn’t been going at all.”
Rhea raised her brow at Damien, interested.
He continued: “I have detected a Set jump flash which preceded our arrival by about 1.3 hours. Interested, I continued to observe the system, hoping to identify the ship.”
Matrioshka was glad she wouldn’t need to reveal this to the rest of the crew. She was slightly disappointed Damien hasn’t come clean completely. But trust takes time. She could wait a little while.
Rhea asked: “That explains why the Cloak Frame is initiated.”
“Yes. Until we identify the unknown vessel, standard protocol is stealth. We will have to deal with the reduced sensor capabilities.” Matrioshka replied.
The Cloak Frame prohibited most particles from reaching the ship, so sensors were forced to use small pinholes created by the Frame to do all their observations. They now need to be much closer to celestial objects if they wished to conduct study.
She continued: “As per standard procedure, we will execute successive jumps towards the nearest celestial body. Study it, then repeat the process.”
Damien added: “Whatever this vessel is, it cannot track the Sliver through its Cloak. Which doesn’t mean it cannot indirectly track us. If they were aware of Imperial procedure, and wanted to intercept us, they would be waiting in orbit around the nearest planet, The King.”
Damien referenced a golden gas giant with 4 large moons, currently the closest planet to the Sliver. The sensors could pick up its coloration and point-like moons, tiny near their parent planet.
“We assume their intentions are to intercept, the Imperium has had problems with artefact theft since its founding.” Rhea added.
“Are you speaking of the thieves of Precursor artefacts, Officer Rhea?” PesKal asked.
She nodded; “Affirmative. They have been active in this sector for centuries.”
“Despicable actions indeed.” Matrioshka said. “But they are not our immediate concern. This is a recon mission; we will remain Cloaked while we study the system. I have already informed the Imperium of the unknown vessel.”
“Time until earliest possible response?” Damien asked.
“11.77 days communication. 214.69 days until possible backup, 150 if they send one of the Navy Titans.” Matrioshka immediately replied.
Massless particles travelled through the Set ππα-1 times faster than particles with mass. If there was a precursor artefact hidden within the system, leaving was out of the question.
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“I agree with the captain’s assessment. We should proceed to The King.” Rhea said to the room.
Slightly frustrated, Damien clenched his jaw. Matrioshka half expected him to reveal all he knew of the unexpected visitors, but he remained silent. His gaze flickered to Matrioshka’s, and she held it.
All minds knew it was safe to assume the mind with the highest level of clearance, in this case Matrioshka, knew everything. Their total access allowed them to freely monitor all activities, and covertly read thoughts. As evident by Damien, it did not stop them from trying to keep secrets.
Matrioshka gave Damien a quick wink, at which he seemed startled, and she said to the room: “It is decided. Prepare for a Set jump to within 4 light-seconds of The King. Due to the reduced sensor functionality, expect the jump to occur within 30 minutes.”
“Understood captain.” Said Rhea and dematerialized, with Damien following soon after.
Makoe remained and said to PesKal: “Do you want me to show you the Precursors tech I worked on?”
“Yes! Let us depart.” PesKal said excitedly and dematerialized with Makoe. They appeared in Makoe’s room, which she was in the process of flooding with water.
“You do not have to do this Officer Rue; I am quite content with air!” PesKal said to Makoe as she adapted her room to Ankrahi standards.
He was telling the truth, nanites used electricity, he didn’t need to inhale a breathable atmosphere, nor eat or drink. He could have also added water around himself in VR, but then it wouldn’t be the real thing. The Sliver was filled with pure nitrogen for the same reason - it felt good for humans to have something real to breathe in and out, even though they didn’t need it.
“Nonsense, I quite enjoy swimming, and just because you’re amongst human minds does not mean you should endure a waterless existence.” Makoe said.
Matrioshka was proud of her, and then felt embarrassed. She attached fast to her crewmates. It always happened.
Time for Set equations. She thought and devoted 80% of her lattice to it. Keeping the remaining 20% to monitor the ship and crew.
Rhea and Damien were hard at work with analysis, Damien for real this time. And Makoe was beginning to simulate a large construct in VR.
A wall of her room gave way to a simulation. A large domed structure appeared, half buried beneath a red ground. A large grey planet hung in the sky illuminated by the lights of countless cities.
Makoe explained: “This was 400 years ago, during my academy years. I have been sent, along with my entire class, to observe one of the most well studied Precursor artifacts in the Imperium.”
Matrioshka recognized the artifact. It was the Dome of Parthalom.
The Dome is wildly believed to be some sort of advanced energy generator. Insights from it helped create the Null-Point reactors which powered 90% of the Imperium and Matrioshka’s own ship.
Matrioshka could probably reveal its true purpose. Each member of the Red Violin’s crew could.
But none would.
They swore.
Matrioshka half listened to Makoe’s adventures surrounding the Dome and focused further on her calculations. Soon it was time to jump.
As the Sliver of the Sun quieted, Matrioshka’s crew and herself soft encrypted, the Set drive once again engaged. This time they travelled 36.76 light-minutes in distance in 2.68 minutes of time. Matrioshka awoke her crew and gazed at the planet.
The King was yellow, banded with orange, and dark red on its poles. At 0.54 Jovian masses and less than a tenth of its density, The King was a respectably large gas giant. It’s 4 moons shone bright in the sensors.
With the jump complete, Matrioshka relaxed, observing the crew.
PesKal was saying to Makoe: “If they all truly vanished how had their artifacts maintained structural integrity? Would they have not decayed without proper maintenance?”
“A topic of much debate. Precursor materials are deeply incomprehensible. They conduct and reflect heat away from themselves. They are opaque to gravitational waves, and most of the electromagnetic spectrum. They make radioactive materials near them inert. They sometimes emit stable frequencies of sound but sometimes not. We simply do not know.” Makoe said.
“I am excited. A question unanswered tempts exploration. Exploration summons answers. And so, I am here; to explore.” PesKal said, quivering his fins.
“Were you interested in space exploration before the Imperium arrived?”
“Not so much.” PesKal answered. “There was little else to think about besides shelter, food and my family.”
“How was it? Life with fear of death?” Makoe asked, quiet and respectful. Matrioshka focused on the room more.
“It… ate at you.” PesKal said slowly. “The fear. It was overwhelming. Looking back at my own memories, I cannot understand how I was functioning, looking over my shoulder constantly. Thinking a predator was waiting in the shadow next to me. Thinking a fellow Ankrahi would strangle me for my food…” PesKal had to calm himself and reduce his processing speed. He continued:
“At any point in time, I could have injured myself, the wound could have gotten infected and I could have died. I watched it happen so many times, Ankrahi dying to disease.” PesKal’s face showed fear.
“To my first daughter. To two of my sons. But we didn’t know, we didn’t know of bacteria, we didn’t know not to eat certain fruit, we didn’t know how to clean wounds, we were barely more than animals.”
“It is true then. Imperial estimates put Ankrahi culture about 50 000 years before pre-Imperial humans.” Makoe said.
“Yes, we were barely cavemen.”
Sensing this topic had run its course on poor PesKal, Makoe suggested to him:
“Want to observe the Gloomies study?” After PesKal made a confused face, Makoe added: “Damien and Rhea. The captain gave them a nickname.”
Matrioshka smiled.
“I am… reasonably certain if they truly are the Gloomies, they would not appreciate disturbances.”
“Eh, they will deal.” Makoe said and sent a ship wide request for a bridge meeting.
Excellent, another chance to sit in the chair. Matrioshka thought and accepted the invite.
After they all materialized, Makoe said to the Gloomies: “Would you mind a status report on the King system?”
Damien opened his mouth but Rhea overtook him by creating a VR of the King and its moons. She said:
“Another sulfureous gas giant. Not much else of note. Three of his moons are also nondescript terrestrial ice class objects.” Rhea showed each moon in turn, they were dark and grey, each spattered with a few unique characteristics but ultimately boring.
Then she showed the final moon, the closest to the King. It was completely shrouded in a purple haze. Matrioshka had named it Jane’s World.
“I recommend further analysis of this object; at this distance, the sensor resolution is insufficient to identify sub-meter distances. Its atmosphere is unique enough to warrant more resolution.”
Damien finally managed to intercede: “I have identified a mass of processed steel near the moon’s southern pole.”
Into the silence which followed, Damien showed a low-resolution hologram of the object. Its dimensions measured at least 34 by 28 by 12 meters.
“I agree with the Officer Viris. Any objections to a closeup inspection?” Matrioshka asked.
Nobody complained. After all, humankind hadn’t used steel in millennia.
So, if humans weren’t using steel, the Ankrahi were unable to travel faster than light before humans met them; How did this mass of steel get here?
Oh, I have missed this. Matrioshka thought and started on the Set equations.
20 minutes later they were in orbit around Jane’s World. Its purple atmosphere reflecting brightly the light of the Emperor and Empress. The King was even bigger in the sky, and now as the Sliver was near one of its moons, its deep yellow almost seemed menacing.
Eager, the crew of the Sliver of the Sun waited for the sensors to resolve the steel object. The atmosphere, made of compounds of Bromine and Iodine, lengthened the process somewhat. Soon, on a small hill near an active volcano, a wide metal structure resolved.
As the initial readings indicated, it was much shorter than long and wide, it had a glass roof - long since shattered, clear corridors, keypad doors and hundreds of smaller machines.
“The structure is not Precursor made…” Makoe was the first to speak.
Damien added: “Surrounding regolith suggests an approximate age of 6200 years.”
“Sensors indicate technology level comparable to 22nd century Imperium.” Rhea said.
Everyone’s processing power was at max.
“There have been no other signs of an advanced civilization within this system?” Makoe asked.
Matrioshka answered: “None. No signs of polluted atmospheres, no terraforming, no stellar swarms… A civilization with 22nd century tech should have made a very detectable signature.”
“Whoever or whatever they were, they were bipedal, shorter than humans but taller than Ankrahi, and slept in human compatible beds.” PesKal said and displayed corridors, tools operable by two hands and crew quarters filled with small beds.
The hologram was fed information directly from the sensors. Here, 3000km above Jane’s World, it produced an impressively detailed depiction of the unknown structure.
“Odds of it being human? Created by the same individuals on the unknown vessel?” Damien asked.
“0%” Rhea replied simply, and turned to the captain with a small smile, expectant.
“Its purpose?” asked Makoe.
“An extraction facility of some sort. I detect a 2-kilometre-deep borehole beneath the structure. Though its exact nature is undeterminable from here.” Damien answered.
Whatever this structure was, its true purpose may be unlocked from within its walls, not here in orbit. Matrioshka looked at Rhea and nodded slowly.
“We descend. Prepare for atmospheric entry. The goal is straightforward; information gathering.”
Matrioshka’s excitement levels had to be adjusted. She lived for this.