The Slow Tide

Jak watched the two suns of Podrax through the transparent walls of the space station. The smaller orange star lay on the face of the larger white one, giving the appearance of a sickly eye.

“Enjoying the eclipse?” asked Drann as he entered. He wore a rigid grey uniform.

“It's a pleasant surprise,” said Jak. “How often do they occur?”

“A couple of times a year."

"I should visit more often."

"Why don't you? Who was that funny blue creature I saw you with earlier?”

“Oh, that was Sannolq. You must have seen Feramoser before.”

“Not in real life. What are they like?”

“Not so different from us,” smiled Jak. “I've worked with a few of them. In fact, I often find them easier to talk to than humans.”

"Really?" Drann looked puzzled.

“He's here for the same reason as me, to see your defences. This must be the safest system in all the known worlds.”

“Probably, if it wasn't so exposed, right on the frontier. We are proud of our defences. I recently journeyed to the system's farthest outposts. They are manned entirely by androids. I had to wear an artificial stomach on my way out there because they have no food or oxygen.”

“Sounds uncomfortable," said Jak. "Do the androids not like humans?”

“It's not that, it's just cheaper to build it that way. They are dead worlds. Occasionally we send a technician there, but usually that's an android too.”

“If you say so.”

“After I returned, I was so happy to eat solid food again that I gained some weight. My trousers complained at me for weeks.”

They both laughed, as a tall uniformed man with a bushy white moustache entered. He wore a monocle, which Jak suspected was not a simple glass eye-piece.

“Splendid,” said the newcomer. “I see you two are having a jape.”

“Commander Tagrey,” said Jak.

“Sir,” Drann saluted.

“At ease,” said the Commander. “Not so formal today, Drann, when we have visitors from Intelligence. Now, before we begin the day's meetings, I'd like to ask you two into my office. I have a riddle for you.”

They walked through dark corridors to another large office with transparent walls. From here, the planet of Podrax III began to reveal its bright blue face, shining below them.

“Control, opaque,” ordered the Commander. The room turned a metallic shade of grey. He smiled at the others, “I don't know why but I always feel exposed when viewing the sky as if I'm outside, although I'm sure it makes no real difference. Now, about this riddle.”

He touched a few buttons and on one wall a picture appeared. It depicted a grey-green rectangle containing a monstrous black emblem. It consisted of a bloated shadow with many fingers or tendrils around it, each of which sprouted more fingers.

“What do you make of that?” he asked. “The governor of Podrax received it this morning on a standard frequency, but there was no message, only this image.”

“Is that what the Vyrgth look like?” said Jak.

“I was hoping you could tell me.”

"I've never seen one," said Jak.

“Are you sure it's not someone playing a prank?” said Drann.

“Perhaps. That might even be preferable. Some of my people have said it's a warning.”

“You should ask Sannolq,” said Jak. “The Feramoser people have had far more contact with the Vyrgth than us.”

“You're in Intelligence, I thought you knew everything they knew.”

“We try to, but we're not psychic.”

“Very well. Then let us join the others.”

They continued to another room where a human, an android, and Sannolq himself waited. Sannolq was a short humanoid creature with dark blue fur and wore an immaculate white bodysuit. His large eyes widened and he smiled when Jak nodded at him.

“Greetings,” said the Commander. “We are all here now. Sannolq, I believe you have met Engineer Drann, and this is General Lunga and Lieutenant 374.”

The others sat down, while Commander Tagrey remained standing. Behind him he brought up a schematic of the solar system.

“This is a great era in human military history. Our gravitational wave detector has been operational for two months now. Any object in the entire system heavier than about a ton can be detected using our array of sensors. Threats can be identified quickly and neutralised where possible, using our advanced attack capabilities.”

“What happens if there is an object smaller than a ton?” asked Jak.

“In that case,” the Commander turned to Drann, “I believe we will still be able to detect it, but not until it is further into the system.”

“Correct,” nodded Drann.

“As you know we Feramoser lost several worlds from Vyrgth attacks, including my own homeworld,” said Sannolq. He let out a breath. "The Vyrgth do not use projectiles but a wave from unknown type. Would that appear from your map?”

“What signals did the wave give out?” said Drann.

“We don't know. Those worlds simply disappeared, and few recordings survived. People who escaped have described seeing a wave-like rift from space-time.”

"I thought you said your own homeworld was lost," said Drann.

Sannolq breathed deeply. "I wasn't there at the time."

“Now might be a good time to bring up the message that the Governor received this morning,” said Commander Tagrey. He pushed some buttons and the image he had shown earlier appeared behind him.

Sannolq opened his mouth and let out a shriek.

“What is it?” asked Jak. “Have you seen this before?”

“I recognise the symbol, although I have never seen it, only heard from described. This message is received from before a Vyrgth attack starts.”

“Why would the Vyrgth send that?” asked the Commander. “Is it a warning? Or a threat?”

“We believe it is not sent from the Vyrgth themselves, but their attack waves may trap other beings, and those people send out this warning. But it's unknowable. And excuses but I must go.” The furry creature ran out of the room without looking back.

“How extraordinary!” said the Commander. “Is he serious?”

“Absolutely,” said Jak. “We should be careful.”

“They're cowards,” sneered Drann. “They'd run away from a cloud.”

“The Feramoser are no cowards,” said Jak. “They have suffered a lot. Perhaps you don't understand the severity of the threat we face.”

“It's a good thing we have the grav detector,” said the Commander. “If the Vyrgth do attack, they won't find us completely unprepared.”

_____________

Jak remained at the outpost some days. He was surprised to learn that Sannolq had left on the first available ship without even saying goodbye.

On the fourth day after the warning message, the Commander sent an urgent summons to Jak and Drann to meet in an observation room.

“This is the data from our grav detector,” said the Commander, pointing to the system map. “Notice this area at the bottom of the map, which appears to be expanding towards the fourth planet.”

Near the edge of the display lay a large black area, with tendrils reaching out in all directions.

“What is it?” asked Jak.

“Possibly a malfunction,” said Drann. “The androids should have run systems checks.”

“It is no malfunction,” said the Commander. “We have live video from the fourth planet.”

He opened a second screen, depicting a barren red world under a starry black sky. Sandy craters extended to the horizon, but overhead a jagged green line loomed, crackling and pulsing. It flared with a few small bursts of light. Near the line, the skies were black and starless.

“Hail Lieutenant 512,” said Drann. “I wish to speak to him.”

“I'll open a channel,” said the Commander. “How long is the delay?”

“About five minutes each way,” said Drann. “Lieutenant 512, do you read me? If you haven't already, fire all ordinance at that...thing.”

They waited. The green line floated in the sky but the dark space around it grew slowly.

Ten minutes passed. It felt more like an hour.

“This is Lieutenant 512,” came the reply. “All weapons have been launched – conventional, antimatter and plasma – with no effect. What are your orders?”

“Get out of there,” yelled Drann.

The space station where they sat lay at the opposite side of the sun from the mysterious wave. Jak still had time to escape like Sannolq had. Most previous victims of the Vyrgth had not had such foreknowledge.

After another long wait, Lieutenant 512 spoke again. “Orders received. Five units will remain behind to observe the attack and transmit what information they can.” A group of androids ran across the view, while the green lightning neared the planet.

“What is that thing?” asked the Commander. “A breakdown of space-time?”

“It's hard to tell,” said Drann, looking at his own screen. “The readings the squad have sent show nothing, it doesn't register on any sensors. It's as if it's... eating space, and I know that sounds crazy.”

They watched the video screen for another hour until the signal stopped. The video feed faded to darkness while the green line hummed large overhead.

Some minutes later, Drann said, “There was no final message from the androids left behind on the planet's surface.”

Jak looked at the others. The Commander stroked his bristly moustache. Drann appeared terrified.

“We have more weaponry here than they had on Podrax IV,” said Drann. “The space-ripper. We should try that when it gets closer.”

“Good,” smiled the Commander. “I was wondering when someone would mention that. Let's give these Vyrgth a spanking.”

“Do you think it can beat that wave?” asked Jak. “We don't even know what it is!”

“There is no known substance that can resist the space-ripper,” said the Commander.

“I wish I shared your confidence.”

"What do you suggest?" asked the Commander.

"I wish we could communicate with the Vyrgth, but they aren't giving us any clues as to how."

"Then we proceed with the space-ripper. Maybe they'll understand what that means."

_____________

The shadow drew on. The dark patch spread across the system map. In another day it had consumed the sun.

The planet below lay in darkness – there was no day side to the world any more. The sky looked wrong, with a large black stripe hiding stars where the sun used to be. Only artificial lighting illuminated the space station, and an eerie coldness filled the air. The heaters worked overtime to keep the place habitable.

Jak looked at the dark sky. He could just make out the Vyrgth wave-line with his own eyes. “Is it not about time we launched the space-ripper weapon?” he asked.

“It has limited range,” said Drann. “We can only use it once the rift gets close, and it may have dangerous side effects on our own region of space.”

“Prepare escape vessels,” ordered the Commander. “But they are not to be used until I say so.”
_____________

The next day, the green line loomed threateningly large – like a wide jagged grin across half the sky.

Jak watched as the space-ripper was launched. The small silvery metal satellite shot towards the rift, and vanished.

A few minutes passed, then a blinding flash filled the sky. Jak had to look away, but even so, it took time for his eyes to adjust to such brightness after so many sunless hours.

It took almost a minute for the glare to die down.

The rift appeared unchanged across much of the sky, but in a small segment where the space-ripper had hit it a gap appeared. Jak thought he could see stars behind it.

“What happened?” he asked.

The Commander answered. “The Vyrgth wave still approaches, but we have found a weakness. We shall abandon the station shortly. The next system they attack will need more space-rippers, and perhaps a grav detector too. It'll be damn expensive! But given time and some luck, we have a chance to stop them.”