Chapter four
“Oh shit,” Ellis gasped, her hand already on her mouth in disbelief. It must be a mistake, she must have made an error. But she followed everything just as she had read dozens of times as a teenager and young adult.
“450,” She whispered to herself with a feeling of awe and dread. The screen flashed and several more numbers and lines of text appeared. Element analysis: Y/N.
Ellis pressed ‘Y’ and listened to the hard drives continue to whirr and buzz. Her attention went back to the date. She pulled out a notepad and started jotting figures down. 450 Million. Her pen trailed down the paper. Her mind retrieved all the lessons and math she had recorded over the years, light travels 300,000km per second. 10 trillion in over a year. 1.23b x 10trillion… she paused. 25,000 lightyears. And that was if it travelled at the speed of light, which had never been proven possible. At least all the textbooks she had read suggested it wasn't. At least never by Humans.
Her mind strained with the thought, trying to imagine the distance, comprehend how far this object had travelled. It only reinforced her belief it was here for a reason. Why else would you invest that amount of time to randomly appear on a planet? Her mind was racing, so fast it began to feel like it was swelling inside her skull.
The elements analysis may tell her more, she glanced back as the screen - 1%. It was going to take some time. She had what she needed initially to try and get Raimes to give her more access to the archives. She needed maps, anything of the known solar systems.
Her fingers fluttered across the keyboard and the hard mechanical bleeping of a dot matrix printer broke the silence. The paper spurted out from the printer and she snatched it, tearing the perforation.
Ellis walked as calmly as she could down the corridors. The black tile echoing her footsteps as she passed guards stationed at the doorways. They hadn't been there earlier when she started the dating process. Raimes bust have bumped up security after their conversation.
As she walked the guards cocked their heads slightly observing her. She returned the curious look with a smile and a casual nod. She had her ID tag hanging from her coat so they could easily see it. She had gotten in fairly easily enough but she knew although she had been allowed to stay she shouldn't push her luck.
She rounded the corner and headed for the end of the corridor where the observation room was. As soon as she saw the door, she saw the guards. They were heavily armed. More so than the others she passed.
Keeping her pace she strode towards them. “I'm here to see Mr. Raimes,” She said as she raised her tag with a finger.
One of the guards looked at her and then looked at the ID tag. There was a brief pause, though she was uncertain if it was suspicion or attempted intimidation, before the guard nodded and stood to the side.
The door clicked and unlocked as the guard opened it for her. “Through there,” He said, and waved her through.
Ellis walked in and through the small hallway to the main chamber. No one else seemed to be in there, which was a surprise. If it were her project she would have all the competent people she knew in there analyzing the object. But then it wasn't her project, and she was further reminded just how much they had regressed.
The silhouette of a man slowly appeared as Ellis made her way into the main chamber. The room was still dark, but light enough to see the controls and the slight glow from the window overlooking the main chamber. As she entered the silhouette turned.
“Back already Ms. Ellis?” Raimes said, looking at her as she entered.
“Dr.” She reminded him as she came to stand next to him.
Raimes turned back to the window. Ellis saw two more guards standing near the door used to enter the main chamber. They were as heavily armed as the ones out the front, and they watched her intently.
“Mr. Raimes, I.” She stopped, “What are they doing?” Through the window two men in chem suits could be seen in the static room.
“They, are Mr. Stint, and our friend Walters,” Raimes answered with a tone of annoyance.
“They’re going in?” Ellise asked.
“Yes, they are Dr.” Raimes looked at the piece of paper she was holding, “Is that for me?”
“Uh, yes. It’s the U-pd results. The object, it’s…” She passed him the paper, “It’s old.”
Raimes took the single sheet of paper and ran his eyes over it. It didn't make sense to him but he read it long enough to warrant an explanation. “Old?”
“450 million years old,” Ellis said.
Raimes paused. “Jesus,” he said. His eyes were unchanged, as if he didn't believe it. “How can it be that old?”
“I don't know, but it's correct.” Ellis pointed at the figures, “And, that means it would have started it’s journey before we even existed, before dinosaurs existed.”
Raimes gave a puzzled look, wondering about the point she was making.
“If it was sent here that long ago, how does it know elements of our language?” Ellis looked at him, her eyes filled with wonder and curiosity.
“Does that make it a threat?” Raimes asked.
“I don’t know. It either shows advanced knowledge, or it’s one hell of a coincidence.”
“How do you mean?” Raimes still looked lost.
“You see, we know of galaxies and stars outside of our solar system. But, we see a delayed version of those stars. For example, the light from the sun takes about 7 minutes to reach us. So if the sun disappeared, we wouldnt know about it for 7 minutes.”
Raimes gave a shrug, “Ok.”
“Wherever this object came from, would have seen Earth approximately 800 millions years ago. That's before the evolution of the first animals.”
Raimes didn't exactly understand,“So how do we find out where it came from?”
“It could have come from anywhere. To know for sure I would need to get all the other information and…” Ellis was filled with excitement, “I need maps of the universe.”
“The universe?” Raimes questioned.
“I know they exist, in the archives, I need access. What ever we have.”
He turned back to the window, “You’ll get your access.”
“I will?” Ellis was surprised it was that easy.
“Mr. Stint has already agreed to it”
“Agreed? He’s from the Capitol?”
“Yes he is, we scratch his back and well, he will give us what we need.”
“Full access. In exchange for what?”
Raimes pointed to the two men, “For that.”
Ellise turned back to the men as they approached the door that led into the chamber.
to be continued.
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ADH Thomas
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