Ring of Silence

by johnnedwill

The deep-space exploration vessel Niven had been in the system for almost a month. With the first flight-segment of the mission completed, command had passed from Captain Miller to Doctor Cho - the Niven's chief scientist. It was Doctor Cho's habit to attend the handover meetings at the beginning and end of every watch, to keep herself abreast of any developments or discoveries. By her own reckoning, she had participated in over two hundred of the meetings; and each one had been more frustrating than the last.

The handover sessions took part in the Niven's astrogation pit. It was the only space big enough to hold everyone involved, and it also had a state-of-the-art holographic display system. In the dimness of the room, the holotank was a brilliant column; the simulated light of a main- sequence yellow dwarf star illuminating the faces of all those present. Around the star, highlighted in stark false colour, was what the Niven has come to investigate - a ring one million kilometres in width and almost three hundred million kilometres in diameter.

Doctor Cho settled into the seat that become regarded as her's. It faced away from the astrogation pit's only hatchway, allowing her to see the holographic display without interference. "Good evening," she said. There was a chorus of responses from the others sitting around the table. "Are we recording this for the log?"

Yeoman Sadr looked up from his data tablet. "We are now, doctor."

"Good." Doctor Cho leaned forward and looked around the table. "Is there anything to report from the last six hours? I think we shall go in alphabetical order. So - let's begin with the astronomy section."

The Niven had been despatched to investigate an anomaly that had been noticed during a routine astrophysical survey. A new radiation source had been observed in the constellation of Carina. The spectrum of the source was characteristic of a flare star, rich in fusion daughter products. However, the light had been doppler-shifted, indicating that the star was moving at an unusually high speed. This information had piqued the interest of the scientific community on Earth, and a lot of bandwidth had been devoted to discussing the ins and outs of the phenomenon. The discussions had only intensified when data was published showing that the flares were not random. Instead the stellar outbursts occurred at regular intervals and all in the same direction - opposing the star's direction of travel. As one eminent astrophysicist had summed it up: "Somebody's using a star as a braking thruster!"

A number of automated probes were despatched along the Einstein-Rosen geodesics to gather data at closer range. The star's motion made it difficult to calculate the probes' exit points, so the first sets of data packets received back on Earth were not of the best quality. Images were distorted; scans low on detail. At first the scientists analysing the data rejected what they were being told as impossible; the result of software glitches, miscalibrated instruments or just plain transmission losses. But, as more data was received, the conclusions were inescapable.

The first picture released would not have been impressive to the layman. It showed a yellow point of light, barely bigger than the flame of a birthday candle. A brilliant needle pierced the light, then tapered into darkness the further away it got. However, to those wise in the stellar sciences, this image was fantastic. The flame was no candle, but a sun just like Sol. The needle that seemed to stab at it was actually a jet of plasma and ionised gases. It was proof that it was possible to wield such power and control it. However, in the furore of debate and speculation that followed this devastating revelation, an even more important - if less spectacular - discovery went almost unnoticed.

In the darkness that surrounded the errant star was a shadow - a slender loop of thread that orbited its primary at a distance of almost one astronomical unit. This was only detected by chance, when the star passed close enough to one of the probes sent from Earth for the flare light

to be obscured. When it was realised exactly what had caused the occlusion, more probes were sent to intercept the star with the intent of determining exactly what was there.

Doctor Cho listened patiently to the reports from the previous watch, jotting down notes in her personal log. When the last scientist had spoken, she sat in silence. The logic of the situation was obvious to her, and likely obvious to the others. "So," she began. "In the last forty-eight hours there has been nothing new uncovered?"

The scientists around the table looked at each other. Then, one of them raised a hand and waited for Doctor Cho to acknowledge her. "We're still analysing the emission spectra from the ring to try and determine what it is made from. There are some interesting gamma peaks that - ."

"And how long will that take, Doctor Burton?"

The scientist bent over her data tablet and scrolled through the information on its screen. "It depends on the Niven. The diffraction spread is problematic, so we could do with being at a better tangent to the ring."

"And that will be when?"

Doctor Burton shifted in her chair, trying not to look directly at her senior colleague. "Maybe in another sixteen hours or so?" she hazarded.

Doctor Cho suppressed a sigh. "Very well. We shall reconvene in," she checked the time on her tablet, "five hours." She waited for the astrogation pit to empty before leaving herself. However, instead of heading back to the cubby that served as both her living quarters and office space, Doctor chop made her way towards the Niven's command centre.

With the discovery that the ring around Carina-A1 ('Carina' for the constellation it had first been spotted in; 'A' for 'Anomalous'; and '1' just in case there were more surprises to come) was not a natural object, the focus of the scientific community turned to who - or what - might have constructed it. Hitherto theoretical concepts were discussed: like Shkadov thrusters and Kardashev Type II civilisations. Every bit of data from the probes that had been sent out was scrutinised and analysed in the hope of uncovering something - anything! - that might unlock the secrets of Carina-A1. However, the probes were too limited in their capabilities. There was only so much that could be placed in a starwisp. It was therefore decided to send a manned expedition to investigate. And maybe to make contact with those responsible for this feat of stellar engineering.

Fortunately, the accumulated data had allowed the course of the rogue star to be determined with sufficient precision to allow a vessel to emerge close enough for an interception. A suitable starship - a bulky tug with engines designed for hauling massive cargoes - was located, commandeered and refitted for its new role. Tradition and the extent of the modifications demanded that the ship be given an new name; and some anonymous wag, concealed deep within the labyrinth of bureaucracy, gave it the name Niven.

A crew of scientists was selected from the hundreds of volunteers, and the Niven was sent on its way, riding the Einstein-Rosen geodesics to its rendezvous with Carina-A1.

And those left behind on Earth waited.

The Niven's command centre was located deep in the core of the ship, to give the essential functions the greatest protection the vessel could afford. Now, with the ship in normal space and fixed in its orbit around Carina-A1, there was only a skeleton crew present - the captain amongst them. Doctor Cho waited for permission to enter the compartment, then made unerringly for Captain Miller.

"Miranda. Excuse me - Doctor Cho." The captain, used to informality among his crew, had to remind himself of the hierarchy that existed amongst the scientists. "What can I do for you?"

"Captain." Doctor Cho returned the greeting. "I've just been at the handover meeting. There was nobody from the crew there again, apart from Yeoman Sadr."

Miller took a moment to scrutinise the screen of his data tablet. For a moment it seemed that he was avoiding answering Doctor Cho's accusation. Then: "Yeoman Sadr is your designated liaison."

"I know. But there was nobody actually representing the crew. There was no-one to provide a report on ship's status or functions or -."

"Ah." The captain held up a hand to interrupt Doctor Cho. "You are correct, doctor. But I didn't think it was worthwhile -."

"Worthwhile?" The indignation and disbelief were obvious in Doctor Cho's response. "I think you'll find that I'm the one who decides what is 'worthwhile' during this phase of the expedition."

"I did not think it worthwhile," Captain Miller stressed the word, 'to burden you with a report that could be summed up in two words. 'No progress.'"

The chief scientist took a deep breath. The advantage in the conversation had passed to the captain. "Nothing?"

Captain Miller tapped on the screen of his tablet, then handed it over to Doctor Cho to view. "As you can see, my crew has been following your instructions to the letter. We have implemented your protocol and have been trying to communicate with the putative inhabitants of the ring. But there has been no response."

"None at all?"

Miller shook his head. "None at all. We have tried every means at our disposal to attract t their attention. Radio. Ansible. De Broglie wave. Laser. Maser. We've even tried pulsed fusion bursts from our main thrusters and waggling our wings at them. And, in return we have heard back nothing. About the only thing we haven't tried is going down there and knocking on their doors."

Doctor Cho handed the data tablet back to the captain. "I take it you are continuing with the protocol?"

"Of course. I doubt we will be hearing back from anybody soon, though. We may just have to face it - there's nobody at home, doctor."

"You mean that we haven't managed to attract anybody's attention yet. It doesn't make sense to construct something that big," Doctor Cho waved a hand towards the command centre's navigation console, "then abandon it."

"I'm no xenopsych, doctor. But that's what it looks like to me."

"There are other possibilities." Doctor Cho took up the stance of a lecturer in front of an audience of first-year students. "For example, the inhabitants might be in some kind of hibernation. Perhaps they have regressed to a more primitive level of technology. But the fact remains, Carina-A1 is under some kind of control. Therefore there must be some guiding intelligence that we can contact. We have to continue with our attempts."

"You're also assuming that whoever is there would want to talk to us." "Why would they not want to? Do you think they're afraid of us?"

Captain Miller glanced towards the navigation display, then back to Doctor Cho. "I doubt they're afraid of us. But they might well be afraid of something else. And that raises the question, who - or what - might beings who move stars be afraid of?"