Picture prompt from Wattpad @Ooorah, "The Ultimate Science Fiction Smack Down", Round 1, Part 1, November 2021

Story word count = 1493

"I have to admit, Dr. Jensen, I am somewhat surprised you agreed to meet with me. My kind is typically scorned." Candlelight danced in her big amber eyes, and burgundy lips matched the color of the wine that she swirled in her glass. Adding to her allure, a short black dress hugged a lithe figure. Her physical enchantment had already taken me.

But this woman sitting across the small table was also a powerful psychic, registered per governmental Mental Powers Regulations. These powers originated over a decade ago when experimenters accidentally released a lab-grown virus that spread across the world. For most, the effects were negligible, but for some, the virus activated dormant genes that gave them enhanced mental powers, such as clairvoyance, telepathy, and some forms of telekinesis. Many feared her kind, calling them witches or worse.

"How do I know you're not using your psychic powers to influence me now?" I asked, regaining my composure.

"That would be illegal and unethical." She tilted her head and pulled the corners of her lips up into a sly grin that was simultaneously enticing and disturbing. "But if I did, you wouldn't even know."

She also possessed more conventional mental abilities, such as being a renowned exobiologist and famous for classifying the small life discovered on Europa. By intriguing invitation, I agreed to a meet in this intimate cafe.

"About your proposal, Dr. Tanas. Is it such a good idea to announce mankind's presence to the galaxy?" I asked. "An advanced alien civilization drawn by your efforts may not have our best interests in mind. You may recall from our own history that the arrival of the first European settlers to the Americas did not turn out so well for the native population."

"True, but we have been broadcasting to the cosmos for over a hundred years. For all we know, there are little green aliens now watching our old sitcoms on some distant planet." She put down her wine glass and leaned forward, interlacing her hands with forefingers extended as if to make a point. "But I have no intention of announcing our presence, as you say, only to passively search for sentience among the cosmos, much like a telescope searches for stellar objects."

"And you think my quantum field analyzer would help with that effort?"

"Yes, I do, when linked with my abilities. I have a sizable grant from the SETI Institute. You would be well compensated."

For a moment, I wondered what kind of influence she applied to obtain such generous funding. The Institute was notoriously frugal, especially for non-conventional projects like her Sentience Search Initiative.

She continued. "Does this not intrigue you, Dr. Jensen? Wouldn't you want to know if there is sentient life out there? Or if we are alone in the Cosmos?"

"The sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke once said that either option would be terrifying. Sometimes, ignorance truly is bliss."

Smiling sweetly as if knowing I was hooked, she responded, "I doubt the scientist in you would favor ignorance."

She was right. "Okay, I'm in."

"Excellent." She extended a slender hand. "Since we will be partners, please call me Ember."

I grasped her hand to seal the agreement. "Isaac."

*****

It took months to develop a magnetic resonance interface that connected Ember's mind to my quantum field analyzer. The spiky metal helmet and wire bundles looked every bit like the creation of mad scientists. And maybe it was.

After a few trial runs, we had a system that could search remote space for sentient consciousness. To ease my concerns, Ember allowed me to link into the search with her, which was truly a mind-expanding experience. The link was more empathic that mind-reading, fortunately since sometimes my random thoughts were less than honorable, and we could communicate by directed mental dialogue. While working together and linking our minds, we became close friends.

Finally, we packed up the apparatus and traveled to a base on the dark side of the moon. There we would encounter less interference in much the same way that a space telescope encounters less optical interference than an Earth based one.

I gazed out of a window into the depths of the Cosmos. Countless distant points of light looked back at me. Surely, some of these systems harbored life? And for a moment, the nervous anticipation that tingled my gut abated.

"So beautiful," Ember whispered, as if her voice might spoil the wonder. "It is time to make history, Isaac."

Turning to her, I asked, "You never fully answered my first question when we met. Did you use your psychic powers to influence my decision?"

Her lips formed a seductive, pouty smile. "Oh, no. But I have other more traditional ways of influence."

That she did.

We descended through rock-walled passageways below the lunar surface. Once within our lab, the technicians wasted no time putting the spiked helmet on Ember's head and connecting the wires. We laid on narrow cots, side by side, and I grasped her hand. With a nod, she used her psychic powers to link our minds.

"Are you ready?" Ember asked through the mental link.

"Ready," I responded with as much confidence as I could muster.

In coordinated motion, we both lifted hands with the thumbs up sign, signaling the technicians to energize the quantum field machine. As it hummed to life, our minds leaped from the moon, flowing outward on waves of space-time.

Ember paused at Europa, where life beyond Earth was first discovered. "See there," she said, mentally pointing at the faint glow of primitive life that enveloped the moon, what she called an aura. Two other moons of Jupiter, Ganymede and Callisto, also showed signs of basic life buried deep within interior oceans.

"Already, we have discovered new alien life!" she said with an infectious excitement.

With another surge, we burst out of our solar system and wandered among nearby stars. If I had experienced this with my physical body, no doubt my mouth would have gaped in awe. How we spanned so far across space was a mystery, for it seemed to violate the known laws of causality.

We scanned the Centari triple star system, the closest to our sun, but found no sign of life. But planets circling other nearby star systems had a dim glow in the aura, indicating primitive life forms. More often than not, stable star systems like our own did harbor some sort of life, but nothing of advanced sentience.

Something different appeared as she scanned beyond Polaris. The sentience aura shined like a bright star. I could sense Ember's excitement as we neared, until the aura became almost too intense to handle. But it came not from within any star system, rather from a multitude of cylindrical metallic objects traveling at nearly half the speed of light.

"Star ships!" I said.

"Strange," she replied, "Many beings of different species, but only one strong sentience."

"A hive mind?"

Decidedly inhuman, its mind felt cold, machine-like, hostile. And it hungered.

"It senses us!" Ember gasped

Waves of dark despair washed over us like storm waves, a mental attack that threatened to strip away humanity and consume sentience. It compelled surrender and loss of self. Our minds together fought the desolation, but we were drowning against the darkness.

"Isaac, you have to get out!" Ember shouted over the mental blare.

She pushed me out of the mental link. I came awake in my body, gasping desperately for breath and tumbling off my cot to the floor. Ember's body quaked beside me, her fists clenched. While saving me, she now took the brunt of the mental attack.

A wide-eyed technician at the controls cried out, "What is happening--"

"Shut it down!" I yelled. "Sever the link!"

I yanked the helmet from her head and tossed it aside. Ember curled into a ball, hugging herself. Silent screams came from an open mouth as she trembled, and her eyes focused far away. The attack had reduced this normally strong and dedicated woman to sheer panic.

Sitting on the floor, I gathered her gently into my arms, whispering, "I have you, Ember. You are safe now."

Gradually, the trembling faded and Ember nestled her head into me. Tears moistened her cheeks as she said in an airy voice, "What have I done, Isaac? It now knows mankind exists and it will be coming."

The Fermi Paradox asked: with so many worlds, why have we not discovered advanced alien civilizations? One answer was that something ends them before they achieve off-world travel, a Great Filter it was called. The abomination we discovered might be such, devouring sentient life before it advanced. Arthur C. Clarke was right.

Tightening my hold, I rocked her in my lap and stroked her hair. "You have given humanity a warning. It will take hundreds of years for this abomination to reach the Sol system. Thanks to you, we have that long to prepare."