Chapter 16: The Artifact

The UHN Opet initiated another teleportation jump towards the great object. This time it got much closer to it. Taking up a vast majority of its sight, the great thing was seemingly black as the great light that hit it was being blocked from the other side. It was adrift in space, but it was steady in its path. A smaller broken piece was seen not that far from it that was also following along with it. Both Raavi and Opet watched as the computer was doing deep scans of it.

“How ... is that possible?” Raavi remarked.

“Even Ptah or the other mythics would have to spend countless years to create such a monstrosity,” Opet commented. “The magic alone would be enormous.”

Akari was busy analyzing the data that was being shown. Despite the dark side of the wall like object, there was still starlight that was hitting it. It was nothing more than a megalith.

“It is nowhere near any stars,” Akari commented. “The closest to it is over two light-years from it.”

“Currently, we are located forty-five degrees from the port bow below us,” Aegus explained.

“It is the only way we can scan it. The first series of scans were not enough.”

“How about now?” Opet asked.

“Barely, but it is better...”

“It would still create its own gravitational pull, though. Such an enormous thing like that would have to draw in objects. Its power alone would have to be...”

“According to this, the mass is approximately ... two solar masses.”

“That’s not possible. That thing is colossal in size. It only has that amount of mass?”

“Yes, Opet,” Akari said as she put her hand to her rodent-like ears. “I can’t explain it either.”

“What about its composition? What is it made of?”

“It is made of...” Akari shook her head. “I don’t know. The computer is working overtime in breaking it down ... but it is having difficulty deciphering it.”

“Are we sure that this isn’t a natural phenomenon?” Raavi asked.

“Not in this way. The biggest stars are things like UY Scutti or ZU Ralu that would easily consume Earth’s orbit around its sun. The biggest black holes would be something like Galsa UX, TON 618, or the SPT Phoenix LUN. Even then, it wouldn’t be like this. It wouldn’t be some giant sheet of metal floating in the galaxy either.”

“But, we are looking at it,” Aegus replied as he gestured at the screen.

Akari sighed. “The computer is still having a hard time analyzing it. It is ... no wonder...”

“What?” Opet asked her.

“It is still reflecting our scans.”

“I don’t understand.”

“It’s the composition of the material. The computer is picking a form of reflective alloy, but ... there is much more to it. There are numerous other materials and composites that are combined with it. It is essentially a sheet of metal that stretches to that of Pluto’s orbit ... that is ... if it were in the Sol System. Heh ... I wouldn’t even know how to make it. Hmmm...” Akari was looking at the data more and more. “We are having better luck with the second piece behind it. It looks like they were both together before they split apart from each other. At our direction, we can get more of its side rather than directly in front of it.”

“It is confirmed that they were both a part of the same structure,” Aegus added.

“And what structure is that?” Raavi asked.

“We don’t know,” Akari continued. “We need more information. What we do know so far is that the broken sheet of material is about a kilometer thick. There are numerous impact marks on it from nearby asteroids but not enough ... no ... there are marks but no appreciable damage on it.”

“Any life signs?” Opet asked.

Akari shook her head. “I wish there was ... no ... I don’t see anything on it.”

“So...” Opet remarked as she pointed her finger at the screen. “We have picked up an artificial structure of some sort ... some enormous creation by an alien race. Any idea of its age yet?”

“The computer is still trying to figure it out. We are still too far away from it.”

“What about any other structures on it?” Aegus asked.

“So far, it is very flat. The highest spots on it are only a few millimeters long, but that isn’t including the spacial debris that has collected on it. I am going to have to recommend that we get closer to it.”

“Why?” he asked.

“We are only getting so much from this range. At this angle, it is better, but it is still hard to read it. I might recommend that we also approach it from the other side. It would be easier to look at it.”

“Would that be safe?”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“This is an artifact of alien creation,” Aegus explained to everyone. “Something big or something powerful managed to construct it. It is hundreds of thousands of times more massive than New Olympia. Are we picking up any signs of the Itreans?”

“None,” Akari answered.

“It would have been the first thing picked up by the computer’s sensors too,” Opet added. “We are at least five thousand light-years from their dead space.”

It was somewhat ominous for Raavi as he looked at the thing. On the one hand, it was wonderous. Something big or something of great power managed to build this thing. It floated in space, seemingly forgotten or waiting for some lone visitor to happen upon it. The angle made it seem like a giant black wall floating and moving very slowly in the galactic drift. It was even possible to see a shining light from the nearby star that reflected off the surface. Nothing else could be made from it, and more needed to be done.

“Computer,” Opet paused as she seemed to think about it. “Take us closer to the floating debris wall. Take us approximately a thousand kilometers from the starboard portion of the debris wall.”

“Belay that,” Aegus waved his hand.

“Aegus?” Opet asked as she almost gave him a surprised look.

“Portside. I don’t want us to be in front of this thing. This thing is so huge that I don’t want us to be in the traveling line of it.”

“Captain, I have to agree with him,” Akari said. “Like anything in the galaxy, we are caught in the galactic orbit of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Galactic Core is where the gravity and orbits are the strongest. That ... whatever it is, is moving at a constant speed for some time now. I recommend that we approach from the other side. There is a wide amount of space between the main chunk and the broken piece where we can scan them both more effectively too.”

“Alright ... do it,” Opet agreed.

“Computer set a course between the two largest portions of the wall debris. Initiate jump,” Aegus said.

There was a sense of unease in the Admiral’s voice that Raavi noted. The ship’s drives began to power up as it was preparing to make another jump. The familiar hum began to pick up as the vessel was about to initiate a new teleportation jump that was almost on the other side of the great monstrosity. Instead, it was now going to get even closer to it.

“Are they sure that there isn’t any life here?” Raavi asked almost quietly. Opet briefly looked at him, but Akari’s rodent-like ears turned in his direction.

“Don’t worry, Raavi,” Akari said. “Our goal is to learn ... not to bother the residents.”

Suddenly, a bright flash erupted from the bridge. The vessel made its teleportation as the stars and location shifted immediately. Arriving almost directly on both sides of the panels, the large gap spanned hundreds of thousands of kilometers apart. Without the wall in the way, the full light of the galactic core radiated into the bridge display.

“Computer, focus the display on the ... the wall debris,” Opet commanded. “Run full scans of the composition of the material. Activate the ship’s engines and take us onto a safe perpendicular orbit over the object.”

The rear engine thrusters began to activate as a blue flame erupted from the ship’s stern portion. It was slow and gradual at first as the ship started to accelerate to faster and faster speeds. With space being so enormous, even a vessel that was moving a few kilometers a second would take hours just to achieve it. The power continued to amplify as the ship accelerated to faster and faster speeds.

The display on the ship turned towards the sidewall of the largest floating object. With it only being a kilometer thick, it seemed like looking at a sheet of paper from its side rather than in front of it. The computer was working on processing the data as there were numerous portions of the material that was being looked at and analyzed.

“There we go,” Akari said as she was looking at the new numbers and information. “That made a difference. The scans aren’t being deflected anymore. The closer proximity is making a difference too.”

“Any signs of life?” Aegus asked.

“None so far. Not picking up any facilities that indicate the presence of life either.”

“Why would an alien race create such a thing as that?” Raavi asked.

“Any Itrean compositions in the material?” Aegus asked.

“None. There are no Itrean vessels on the other side of this either.”

“What about cloaked ships?” Opet asked. “The Itreans do possess cloaking technology.”

“If they were, then they are pretty far from us,” Aegus explained as he was pointing at the data. “I can see it now as well. Cloaked ships can be picked up within a million kilometers from our sensor ranges ... I don’t see anything.”

“I guess it wouldn’t make sense of them to be out this far anyway,” Opet commented. “The Itreans don’t do much for exploration except moving and settling ... at least according to the T’rintar clan database. Their most ancient of history shows that they navigated and settled in the opposite direction of where this thing is located.”

“According to their database, they only encountered a couple of alien civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy,” Akari explained.

“Quite sure that the Itreans probably wiped them out...” Aegus said.

“I don’t think so,” she continued. “According to them, they usually just ignore them unless they prove hostile. The only recent extreme threat would be the Emphra that decimated their people. The clans had to unite to wipe them out.”

“The Emphra...” Aegus remarked. “I remember reading a little bit about them. Supposedly, the Itreans completely wiped them out, and what remains are scattered throughout the galaxy.”

“Let us hope that is not the case,” Akari answered as she gave a discouraging look. “They are ... they are really bad if a single one survives.”

“I never even heard of them,” Raavi said.

“It might be best not to ... I heard a rumor from my mother about something that happened just recently from the UHN ... I hope it isn’t true.”

“Could this be an Emphra creation?” Opet asked.

“No, no, no...” Akari corrected her. “The Emphra wouldn’t bother with something like this. They go from planet to planet, not create giant slabs of debris to float in space. No, it couldn’t be them at all.”

“What about other alien races?”

“The Itreans did encounter other alien races, but the civilizations never got off the ground of their home planets. If anything, the human race and us were pretty lucky to get this far.”

“What do you mean?” Raavi asked.

“I mean, look at what happened to Earth. Humanity was lucky to have Mars to go to after they evacuated to it. Most other races simply perished from their own actions. It is sad to see that alien civilizations fall victim to their own actions or because of some other celestial phenomenon. I took a study on the Fermi Paradox that discusses that in further detail.”

“What would they say about this, though?” Opet asked. “An entire advanced civilization that managed to create ... that.”

“I don’t know. The only other alien race that the Itreans encountered that was alive was the Venermax. However, they never leave their system. They prefer to keep their fleet isolated and never responded to them with the exception of automated mathematical tones.”

“Would they have the resources to make this?”

“No ... they don’t even have gate folding technology either.”

“Hmmm...” Opet said as she turned around and looked away from the screen. “One of the greatest discoveries ever made by us, and we have almost little to go off of.”

“I wonder if we should leave from here and let this thing just float endlessly in space,” Raavi commented.

“I am beginning to wonder about that,” Aegus said. “Something powerful that could build this could prove a threat to us ... even the mythics could be vulnerable to the technology that this ... this civilization created.”

The ship continued to accelerate to greater and greater speeds. From the display, it only seemed that the sheet of material had nudged by the slightest degree. It was so enormous that the screen only showed a flat growing area. Just leaving from the edge of it, the material stretched to a length of five million kilometers. The UHN Opet was not even a dot when compared to it. The only thing that could be seen, at least from their angle, was that the other side was well lit from the galactic core’s lighting. It was pretty, and it was much easier to see than the other side. The ship was making a slow turn to put itself into a perpendicular orbit towards it.

“That isn’t possible,” Akari commented as she was looking at the scanned data.

“What is it?” Opet asked.

“The ... the artifact. It is over eight billion years old.”

“What?”

“Scans from seven different locations on the sides showed that this thing is over eight billion years old. It is almost twice the age of Earth.”

“Eight billion years old...” Opet said as she faced the display. “Some ancient civilization managed to create this thing before Earth ever even existed.”

“Before many things existed. Even if the Milky Way Galaxy is over thirteen billion years old, it wasn’t like this long ago. Big stars would have formed and collapsed before this. Even Sol didn’t even exist. It wouldn’t have taken much for some civilization to rise and fall. The remains are simply left behind and discarded into space.”

“Yeah ... but something that made that?”

“There is something else too,” Akari noted. “The alloy is a composition of many materials including ... neutronium.”

“Neutronium?” Raavi asked. “What is that?”

“Neutronium...” Akari explained as if she didn’t believe her own words. “It is ... it is a material that consists of only neutrons. It is a compact material that is ... it is only found in things like neutron stars or pulsars. We have been toying with the idea of creating ships with it, but even then ... we never really tried walking on a pulsar’s surface either.”

“You telling me that the stuff is made out of pulsars ... like the one we were just at?”

“It is possible. It might be possible even to create your own, but even with our magic and technology ... it is hard to make it. The forges that are needed to make this alloy must be insane.”

“That piece we are looking at it over billions of kilometers long...” Aegus commented. That thing fully covers it.”

“It also doesn’t explain how its mass is significantly smaller than Sol,” Opet said.

“I don’t know either. If this race could mine neutronium from a dead star somehow or create their own, it would have to be enormous. The number of dead stars needed just to create this would be a colossal undertaking alone. Then again, it isn’t the only other material that is found in it. There are other things that mixed into this alloy to make it something else. The best way that I can describe it is reflective neutronium ... a form of new element or material that we can’t even fathom.”

“I never even heard of something that can do that.”

“And something capable of being incredibly light. I would have to say that there is probably a good reason why that thing is mostly intact. That thing could probably handle the most powerful weapons ... be incredibly durable or ... even handle almost any celestial object in space that would collide with it.”

The UHN Opet had cleared enough of the side that it had fully achieved, pointing its bow perpendicular to the surface of the gigantic floating debris. The engines continued to push the ship to faster and faster speeds as it used its vectoring thrusters to achieve a proper orbit. The seeming endless wall would start to consist of the starboard side of the tiny white vessel.

Looking straight ahead of the display, the wall was getting bigger and bigger as it was consuming the entire picture. The ship’s magnification was highlighting the edge. There were numerous cracked areas as if the whole piece was ripped apart from something even more extensive than it. Even with Akari explaining it, she was seemingly amazed by this discovery. Raavi was doing his best just to understand the greatness of this thing. Both Aegus and Opet were continuing to analyze this.

“There would be no way that humanity would ever spot this thing,” Opet commented. “It would be on the other side of the galaxy.”

“We can at least confirm that the Itreans couldn’t have built this,” Akari continued. “The things they created were amazing, but it is nothing like this. There is something that we are starting to pick up. There is a slight curved incline to the piece by at least two degrees on both sides.”

“Could this have been a part of a Dyson’s sphere?”

“With this? This thing would be too enormous for it. Even the biggest stars would be too small, plus they wouldn’t be practical for it. The amount of energy to harness it would be difficult, and to even make this material alone would require way more than a star could ever provide. Even the starfortresses of the Itreans don’t come any close to this.”

“Hmmm,” Aegus noted. “The sensors are starting to pick up landmasses on the plate.”

“What type of landmasses?” Opet asked.

“Computer, focus the display on the highest peak within one million kilometers of the ship,” Akari ordered.

The image displayed a box that highlighted an area. It then zoomed in on a tiny dot of the overall landmass. It was coated in black as if it smashed into the side of the debris. Its gargantuan size seemed to act as armor, as the blackened area looked like a mountain or hill that went up for hundreds of thousands of kilometers in all directions. There was also stellar dust that was all over the region.

“Computer, scan the highlighted material that is on the surface,” Akari asked.

It was quick as the details began to register on the screen immediately. Everyone continued to show their own form of dismay at the great object that was floating in space. Aegus remained quiet as Opet began to read the conclusive data.

“High concentrations of hydrogen and helium,” Opet commented. “There are iron deposits, degenerate matter, and other elements also mixed into it ... Is this the remains of...”

“A star!” Akari interrupted her. “It’s the remains of a small star ... most likely a red dwarf star that collided with it.”

“Are you serious?” Raavi questioned her. “You are telling me that was a star that slammed into that thing?”

“Yes ... I need to analyze this material or alloy that this thing is made of, but the metal piece actually handled the impact of a star slamming into it.”

“How is that even possible?”

“Simple,” Opet explained to him. “The center of the galaxy is a hub of activity. You have stellar phenomenon that is flying in all directions. An object like that is floating in space is bound to be hit by different things.”

“It has been out here all this time...” Aegus said. “That alloy must be the strongest material ever made. A kilometer thick...”

“I am now picking up other objects that have collided with it as well. The damage is ... there is scarring marks, but damage to the alloy itself is light.”

“A form of neutronium ... I wonder what would happen if we fired our railguns at it?”

“It wouldn’t do anything to it,” Akari said. “The tungsten round would just fragment upon impact. Theoretically, neutronium itself is one of the most durable materials that you can ever find. This mix of whatever was added to it would make it even stronger, especially if a star slammed into it and did nothing. Even the fusion cannons from the dreadnoughts would just bounce off of it.”

“So this alien race,” Raavi wondered. “They just go and construct this ... this thing. Why would they do that?”

“I don’t know.”

The vessel itself was now beginning to get a better and better view of the overall structure. With the immense size, the entire wall spanned almost forever. Its sheer size wasn’t indefinite, however. As the display reset away from the focus of the star’s charred remains, it showed the broad side of it. Even Raavi could see the very faint edge of the other side.

“Then here comes an important question,” Aegus asked. “If a star couldn’t pierce through this alloy, what did?”

The question seemed to shake everyone in different ways. Raavi knew it was a logical question, but to imagine that was already too much.

“These people ... this civilization,” Akari explained as she pointed at the screen. “They had the power to create this ... if this thing could withstand a star impacting it, then it could easily deflect a supernova explosion. If anything, this thing has been absorbing radiation and deflecting it for a very long time. It has been collecting stellar dust for eons. To crack this would require the strength of a black hole ... but even that would be difficult to achieve. The energy to shatter this and the other piece apart would have to require an energy that even we can’t generate.”

Those words started to get Raavi nervous. “That ... this is ... that can’t be.”

“It exists because we see it,” Opet answered. “The computer on this ship is reading this thing. Even the data is showing that there is gravity pulling our ship towards it.”

“Ship’s thrusters are working to keep us away from it,” Aegus said.

“Akari, is there anything else that the T’rintar clan has in information about this?” Opet asked. “Anything that could help explain this?”

Akari shook her head. “Anything else simply gets into legends from their society. There is nothing really to help us on trying to figure this out.”

“What about the legends,” Raavi asked.

“Well...” the rodent woman said as she closed her eyes and began to think. “There is the devourer that is mentioned to be some sort of god or gods of the Emphra.”

“The Emphra had a god?”

“Well ... I don’t know if it would be called that or not ... honestly, I don’t know much about it. There was mentioning about races that existed before the Itreans.”

“A race that existed before them?” Opet asked.

“Yes. According to the T’rintar, they called them the Kiline. The translation is called ‘The First Ones.’ They were an alien race that was either responsible for creating the universe or was the first alien civilization to ever come forth since the birth of the universe.”

“Sounds like the idea of progenitors. What else do you know about it?”

“Unfortunately, that is really it,” Akari said as she shrugged. “The legends of them can be easily fabricated or stretched beyond the truth. For all we know, the Kiline is just a made-up story.”

“This is no made-up story,” Opet gestured to the screen.

“I agree ... umm ... the most that I know are just artifacts scattered throughout the galaxy. I guess ... maybe that they are not native to this galaxy or that they come from somewhere else. Two artifacts are in the Itrean museums. One of them is in the T’rintar clan, and the other is in Aksren clan space. Both were found in space as debris that was estimated to be ... wait...” Akari paused as she seemed to think.

“What?” Opet asked her.

“Computer, bring up the T’rintar clan database on the Kiline artifact. Show a description of it and its approximate age.”

A picture showed from the display that depicted a small gray cylinder. It was chipped in one side and proudly displayed with a white and blue sheen to it. The object was no bigger than a human hand. There was a symbol carved into it that portrayed two black dots. One was over the other, and two curved lines were beside it. The data was displayed, and Akari was starting to scratch her head.

“It’s around the same age...” Akari said as she displayed even more shock. “Computer, what data is available on the other Kiline artifact?”

The data was incomplete to give a proper answer. There was no picture this time, but the data was similar. The age was very close.

“The Kiline...” Opet began to wonder. “We might have very well helped prove the existence of this great civilization,” she said as she smiled. “The legend of a people before there were people. This is incredible.”

“I am so excited!” Akari exclaimed. “Finally found something in almost an entire year of exploration.”

“I admit that this is rather interesting,” Aegus commented. “However ... we are looking upon something that is rather disturbing.”

“Awww ... why do you have to be so down on this?”

“Because I am looking at something that means that they are clearly more powerful than us. We held a major advantage over the Itreans, and yet we are now looking at ourselves in the same regard.”

Raavi had to consider all of this as he looked upon Opet. She shared a seemingly relieved look of being able to discover this, but at the same time, Aegus was correct.

“The Artifact...” Opet said. “We will call this the Artifact. We have the coordinates of this location for future study.”

“Aww, seriously,” Akari complained. “Are you talking about us leaving this when we have a month left to explore?”

“I don’t know what to say. I...” she paused as she was in thought. “I would love to evaluate this thing. The discovery of this shows us that there were other alien civilizations out there. This one was able to create great feats of engineering that would make us seem like nothing.”

“This may very well be a Type 3 civilization...” Akari remarked with a smile. “It is incredible.”

“But dangerous...” Aegus countered. “Captain, I have to suggest that we leave this thing. Maybe we can send other ships to here and learn more about it in the future.”

“Why?” Akari asked. “This is just a slab of metal.”

“Of something that was way larger. An alloy so strong that it can withstand almost any damage thrown at it, and yet it was destroyed billions of years ago. This is a sign that there are things that are so powerful that we are easily in the greatest danger that we could ever imagine.”

Raavi didn’t like the sound of Aegus’s words. In one hand, he remarked of the beauty of this sight. It was a literal wall in space. It was a monolith or megalith of sheer power and might. Something or someone had managed to outdo the former gods of Earth. The artifact was a testament to this incredible strength.

“We have no idea if the Kiline ... assuming it was them,” Akari countered. “That they were hostile or not. According to the Itrean legends, they held the Kiline in high regard. They looked at them as gods or travelers.”

“Exactly,” Aegus argued back. “The gods of an enemy to the UHN.”

Akari was walking back and forth. Her rat-like tail stiffened as she seemed agitated. “This is the greatest discovery ever. If we leave, we might not get this opportunity again. The New Olympians might pull back on its exploration efforts. Opet ... even you know this.”

Opet seemed to think about it even more as she looked at the significant artifact. A part of her started to feel a sense of unease the more and more she looked at it. Raavi continued to feel anxious. Everyone seemed to be correct in their arguments.

“I don’t know,” Raavi said. “I leave this one to you guys.”

“What else do we know about the Kiline?” Opet asked. “Computer, pull up the databanks on the Kiline. Show all available data.”

A small amount of text began to show up on the screen. Surprisingly, the description was rather light. It could have only consisted of a page alone.

“That much?” Opet asked.

“I only know so much because the Itreans only so much about them,” Akari said. “The only way that we can learn more about them is if we stay and continue analyzing this thing.”

“According to the oldest Itrean history, the legends of them include abandoning the sacred world of Itrea. No data exists on the civilization before them,” Opet said as she read the text on display. “The oldest artifact of their sacred world is recorded on a parchment of paper that describes the continents and surface of the planet.”

“It isn’t a surprise,” Akari added. “The Itreans date back over a million years of civilization. Their wars destroyed most of the data and history to almost nothing.”

“According to this, there is a legend or speculation that the Itreans might not have discovered the ability to fold space that they used to abandon Itrea. Most historians believe that the Itreans discovered it on their own, but a small amount of them proclaim that it was given to them.”

“That is a similar argument with the human race. We found the Equatis Wreck that contained the technology that was reverse-engineered into the ability to fold space. Most of the scientists and historians believed that it was an ancient Itrean ship, but there is little to officially prove it.”