Prospector of the Silica Seas by Shashi Kadapa
This story originally appeared in Alien Dimensions #11 – Glossary below
Shiva, the ‘born complete’ non-carbon life form of the prospector class, watched the silica seas whose molten sand dunes rolled across the horizon in unending cascades, driven by fierce gravitational waves.
He had come to Planet HD 19906265SS to mine the Archisanium धातु (1). With ample quantities of the metal retrieved and locked below the deck, he was getting ready to return home.
His काल दंशिन् was linked to the main ship moored in orbit, which was in turn integrated with his home planet. (2) The time dimension system allowed him to fly to another time dimension, relative to his home planet. He could take off from his planet, wander for more than a billion parsecs, and yet still be able to return to his original time dimension, unaffected by time dilation. This feature allowed prospectors to travel far backward or forward in time, collect resources and touch base at the current time, on the home planet. However, for the system to work, time on the home planet could not be changed, and it always had a present state.
Archisanium, a name derived billions of parsecs before Intergalactic Time IG 00.00, meant ‘ray of light’ in Sanskrit, the language of those times. Archisanium, atomic number 476, was the source of white light, and just a few atoms could power planets and life. With stars dying and turning into white dwarfs, Archisanium was the source for life on Shiva’s planet Dharwad of home star Punarvasu, in the Vulpecula constellation. Even so, the metal had a negative property. If corrupted, it would give black light, which ended life, something that Shiva worried about.
Shiva continued to watch. Waiting for the right moment. Weather on this world was very hostile and decimating. The planet moved erratically on its highly elliptical orbit around a white dwarf. As it neared the apogee, it would slow down, reverse gravity across the poles, almost inducing weightlessness. When it crossed the apogee, and headed towards the perigee, it would accelerate, like a comet on a celestial slingshot, inducing cataclysmic changes in the weather.
Intense gravitational forces battered the surface, and burning methane and sulfur fumes rushed out in jets from underground magma, spreading through the environment with flames that reached 3000 degrees centigrade. Incendiary silica and powdered volcanic ash flashed across the surface in a wave, lit by lightning from the methane gas clouds, crushing and atomizing everything in their path. The planet rotated on its axis twice diurnally, and night temperatures dropped to -273 degrees centigrade, when all molecules and atoms stopped, a time when the volatile Archisanium could be mined and capped.
Electromagnetic radiation from ‘above gamma rays’ class with the frequency of 1000 Exa Hertz, and energy of more than 9.3 Megavolts, lashed across the surface, splitting molecules and dislodging electrons from super actinide series elements, and creating isotopes with half-lives of sub billion pico seconds. These unstable isotopes quickly vanished and settled into stable metals.
One unstable isotope was formed when a few electrons were knocked off from the d, p, f, and g shells and replaced by electrons from silica electron, creating the elusive metal Archisanium. Conditions for Archisanium were impossible to replicate in labs, and the metal had to be prospected in hostile environments, under deep low temperatures, quickly capped and transported in environment neutral containers.
Shiva banked the pod and briefly hovered, to logic the next action. His mother ship was about 1000 हर्दरि away safely moored in an orbit. (3) Driving straight up through the dune wave would mean the end. The intense radiation, strong magnetic field, and fierce winds with speeds of 50,000 हर्दरि per शक्षन would destroy his pod and incapacitate him, leaving him floundering on the burning desert. (4)
The present time was 20.00.00 + IG 00.00 parsecs after IG 00.00, a time long after the Solar System had been destroyed, and non-carbon life forms had evolved, some naturally, while others had been grown in labs. Each life form had been coded with a designated task such as builder, doctor, prospector, and each life form grown in the lab had been infused with the required light circuits embedded with a few atoms of Archisanium to help it perform its work.
Was Shiva alive? Was Shiva an ‘it’ or a ‘he’? Could it feel emotions, pleasure, display affection, and care?
Yes. Shiva was embedded with light neural networks that mapped emotions and thought processes of the long extinct humans. On his home planet were only lab grown beings. Animals, plants, birds, and more, were incubated and grown in labs. The universe however had strange and unknown life forms that evolved, mutated, and were deadly. Some of the known life forms were carbon, non-carbon, arsenic, methanogens or methane based xeno-nucleic acid – many unknown mimetic life forms that could adapt to the environment in which they were placed. Even after billions of parsecs had been explored, much of the universe remained unknown. There were rumors that a few members of the ‘born original’, human race had survived through the ages and settled somewhere in deep space. No one had ever seen them.
Shiva’s main concern was not the good the metal would do for his planet or the vast रोकक he could exchange. (5) रोकक allowed him to indulge in pleasures, and lead a life free from drudgery. His concern came from the huge wall of sand that hovered over the horizons, propped up from front, underneath and behind by massive opposing gravi waves, forming a thick envelope like a canopy. Lightning shattered the dune, striking sand, setting them on fire, sending out huge waves of energy that rocked his prospecting pod.
#
While feelings of caution, love, care, and anger were programmed into his circuits, panic and fear were not. Shiva turned to his AI bot companion.
‘Hey Debris, what do we do now?’
The AI replied ‘We can move to coordinates 4.5763X, 23.5389Y, -10.8937Z to reach the null zone. We can ride out the storm that has an estimated life of 21.356 शक्षन.”
“Then what?”
“We can then ride out to the ship and take off.”
“Any संदेश from the अग्रजःस?”(6)(7)
“Yes. The message asks us to hurry. The काल दंशिन् system has weakened due to lack of Archisanium. A large number of beings on our planet have almost exhausted their system. We can reach Dharwad in 20 तासु.”(8)
“Let us move to the निरपाय स्थाली and wait for the storm to pass.”(9)
#
The निरपाय स्थाली, also known as Sambhalah, place of peace, was an oasis in extreme places, operated by the vicious असुर, a malevolent life form that ate guests who picked fights or did not pay. (10) The place was a closed enclave, guarded by strong electromagnetic forces that shielded inmates from the external hostile environment.
Shiva paid the entry fee and settled in, his circuits cooling down from the extreme stress they had faced outside. He relaxed as warm cool fluid coursed through his system, easing stressed joints and fibers, joining ruptures, healing broken down atoms, strengthening the electron bonds, and giving him energy.
He woke with a jerk deeply aware that time was ticking by, the deadline to take the metal to his home planet was fast approaching. As he booted up, he became aware of a chatura, crawling towards him. Shiva knew that these chaturas were extremely cunning, smiling bestial forms, who won the friendship of people, and waited for an opportunity to strike. When they struck, it was very swift and silent, and victims would never know until a projectile or poison entered their system.
He kicked at the form, growling “Get away!”
“Nothing prospector, I just want a ride home to Punarvasu. Will you take me?”
“Get lost you pest, before I pay the असुर to eat you!”
Muttering with rage, the chatura walked away while a large असुर watched them quietly, waiting for a chance to grab and feed in case they got violent.
Debris flashed a message that the weather was calmer now and, after paying the required रोकक, Shiva went out. Huge hissing craters of molten lava speckled the ground. Molten sulfur and silica particles driven by the slight solar wind dropped into the crater, creating small fires.
As Shiva walked to his pod, he sensed that something was lurking behind a rock, and he halted. The wily chatura stood there with two more life forms of the चालीसपद class. (11) The चालीसपद stood on their hundred venomous limbs with the jaws and fangs hacking menacingly. Even a touch from the legs would flood toxins in his system clouding the sensors, making them clash, until his life fluid hardened, killing him. Shiva sensed the danger, the life forms could crawl very fast, much faster than he could glide, and they could fly on their leathery wings even faster.
“Ah Shiva. You want to feed me to the असुर! Well, meet my companions, they are hungry, nothing edible exists in this desolate planet.”
“What do you want?”
‘Ah, what do I want? How about giving me the metal you carry? You can then take me to your ship and then we shall sail to your star.”
“Chatura, step aside or die.”
“And how will you do that?” the Chatura gloated.
“Like this!”
The prospector class has several miniaturized tools stored in tool kits, strapped to their arms and backs. These are activated by thought impulses and operated by sight.
Shiva activated the laser cutter, a handy device that could cut with a beam strength of 10 peta watts, enough to burn through Velsenum, the hardest metal with a hardness of 500 Mohs. The चालीसपद were beginning to clamber on their hind legs and preparing to jump, when the cutter cleaved through their heads, spilling their fluids, like a slashing knife through Cesium. Some of the gore spilled on the Chatura, and it shrieked from the burning fluid.
Shiva looked at the cowering form and spoke in disgust. “Go away you thief, never cross my path again.”
Debris spoke in rising panic. “Shiva, the काल दंशिन् program has crashed. However, there’s still a chance as we are now in the same time dimension as our planet. We have just 15 तासु left.”
This was bad news. ‘Let’s get going, then.’
#
The pod raced across the ravaged scape of the planet, over mountains that were buffeted by the radiation winds. Chunks of rocks ripped off by the harsh winds came hurtling at the pod. The AI system dodged them quickly, weaving in and out of the path, soaring over the mountains and then leveling when it came to the silica seas, now calm as the wind rippled and lapped, creating small waves that dappled and shone when fiery radiation particles ignited molten sand. On the horizon, the white dwarf star shone on, the energy muted, but still strong enough to light up the surface.
Shiva sensed that the ship was slowing down, almost struggling. He shouted ‘Debris, why are we slowing?’
“Shiva, गुरुत्वकर्षन (gravity) from a तिमि is pulling us down.” (12) (13)
The तिमि was almost a हर्दरि long. It lived deep in the underground wastes of the silicon seas, and remained safe from the harsh weather outside. Fitted with gravity generators on its head, it exerted immense gravi forces to pull down rocks, magma, and ships that passed by the planet. Escaping the force was not possible with the limited power of the pod.
There was only one way to escape, race towards the gravi source and then use the force as a slingshot to escape from the clutches of the तिमि. The pod hurtled down on a tangential curve. The AI calculated the escape velocity as
The results were dynamic, fluctuating erratically, indicating that the planet mass varied, and that the contour was uneven. It was also evident that the nearby white dwarf was losing its grip, making the planet wobble.
“Debris, when will the planet gravity reverse?”
“In just a few शक्षन.”
“We will ride along with it, then escape.”
When gravity reverses, there is a quick realignment of the atoms, and polarity changes. It is almost like getting turned inside out.
As the force started reversing, the pod slipped into the stream, travelling at very high speeds. The तिमि had shut down its force and the pod swung along, skimming the waves, moving faster, until it hurled free into space. It then sailed with the momentum and reached the ship, mooring in.
#
The captain, of the manager class welcomed Shiva, their minds locking in a brief clasp.
“Shiva, नमस्कारं. (14) Glad that you came back safely with the Dhatu. Our काल दंशिन् network has crashed. It will recover when the machine on our home planet is replenished.”
“Yes.”
“You have to sail back to the planet. Take my emergency racer pod, it has hyper capabilities, faster than FTL systems. You can reach our home planet very quickly without time dilation. This huge ship can, at the most, reach FTL.”
“Yes, Captain. I will fly now.”
The racer pod was sleek, slim, and one could only lie down in it. There was no space to stand up. It could merge with the gravity waves, draw sustenance from energy fields and race straight out. While it did not have extensive life support, entertainment, and offense systems, it had many multiples of FTL capability. Shiva and Debris strapped in, with the precious container of Archisanium. The racer took off, sailing into the deep void, past the white dwarf that glowed menacingly.
He would have to move slowly for a while since the path was littered with क्रव्याद शिला, flesh eating predatory stones. (15) Some of the stones were mimetic, meaning they could copy any feature, blending with the dark space. Some were sources of intense gamma rays while others had magnetic fields. These predatory asteroids gulped down any object that came near.
#
The hyper time wrap machine racer space pod on which he lay dormant could shrink time and space, and travel at speeds of 10 kiloparsecs in one day. The AI mapped all the astronomical entities and plotted a clear path across them. It would switch to hyperspace wrap speed once it crossed the rock-strewn path. Shiva was relaxed on the harness, with Debris secured in the corner. Manual controls and drives were within easy reach. However, the AI controlled the flight.
He expected to see the horse head shape of the galaxy and set course for the home planet at right ascension coordinates of 05h 40m 59.0s and a declination of -02 radians, 27 minutes and 30 seconds in the first quadrant. The ship used the ancient intergalactic coordinate system that had the solar sun at its center at 0 degree, 0 minutes and 0 seconds. He ran a check on the system and glanced at the screen that showed external images of the Milky Way, in high definition 6D graphics.
Even with the high solar storms and the intergalactic dust, the Milky Way gleamed with more than 100 billion stars. The whole galaxy rotated around an unknown center and it carried many other dwarf galaxies such as the Canis Major and the Elephant Trunk Nebula in the constellation Cepheus along with the Whirlpool Galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.
The gas that formed the Dumbbell Nebula in the constellation Vulpecula glowed fiercely in purple and green, and it appeared as if the whole galaxy was a massive firework that glowed permanently, or at least until the stars ran out of fissile matter, collapsed to become white dwarfs, and were consumed by the black hole. Huge clouds of nebulas formed a fine veil across the Milky Way, and it was hard to image that these veils stretched more than a million parsecs in length. At the very epicenter, a large area was devoid of any light, and this was Sagittarius A*, the source of the notorious super black hole. Shiva had no intention to ever go near that entity.
As the racer adjusted its path and moved slightly, he saw a tracer ray flash across the starboard. The heads-up display scanned around and he saw a small fleet of मोष space pods racing in his wake. (16) These were bandits, pirates who pillaged space ways in small racers, gunning down and immobilizing large ships that they pillaged, selling the captives and taking the loot. They were the scourge of the space ways – very difficult to outrace and escape at normal speeds.
Static came across the sensors, and the AI told Shiva that the मोष leader was sending a संदेश.
“Ah Shiva! Got you now!” gloated the slinking voice of the chatura.
“You got the better of me on the planet. Now what will you do?”
“Your racer cannot go fast enough to escape us. You have minimal fire power. Surrender, handover the metal, and live.”
“Ah Chatura. I should have killed you there. I let you live. This time it is over.”
Shiva disengaged the autopilot, taking manual control of the system. The मोष pods had edged closer now. Their small size allowed them to move fast. The on-board sensor flashed a warning. ‘We are traced, the next burst will hit.’
Shiva slowed down slightly, encouraging two pods to come almost abreast. They were preparing to launch their snares to catch his pod. They thought that he was giving up and willing to be caught.
Shiva quickly accelerated, scattering multiple nano projectiles that moved to the nearest object, the bandit pods, attracted by the small heat and radiation. The projectiles were not explosive but they could enter the pod engines, effectively shutting them down, weathering the energy shields. It took just a few moments for them to take effect, and the pods burst into flames, lit by the cosmic rays.
A scatter of curses came through the messenger system, angry shouts in unknown tongues. Shiva did not even bother to turn on the translator in his system. Chatura was very angry, expletives coming out fast as he brought a मोष ship to intersect with Shiva and ram him.
Shiva sped up, going fast on a curve, heading to a dark ominous rock form that emitted small amounts of radiation. He took care to keep on the inside of the curve, forcing the tracking ship to move to the outside. His AI system had warned him that it was a क्रव्याद शिला.
The steep curve, at a sub FTL speed, strained both ships. Electromagnetic bonds that held the fuselage together started straining, while ship systems countered the outside centripedal forces.
The मोष pod made one mistake. It should have continued on the path and tried to get close enough to snare the other ship. At the extreme end of its curve, it fired laser rays at Shiva’s ship. The slight recoil was sufficient to push it slightly off the path into another curve, and straight into the field of a predatory rock. One instant the enemy ship was gleaming in the weak starlight, the next it was gone, gobbled by the rock. Slivers of flames appeared for an instant, and then there was darkness.
Shiva came out of the curve, accelerating fast as he entered deep space. Now he was in his element, the racer pod could race and nothing in this part of the universe could catch him. The Chatura sent vile insults as his ship fell back. Shiva switched to AI drive and relaxed into deep resting as the ship switched to hyper FTL.
#
Shiva was gradually nudged awake by the AI. They had entered the Punarvasu system and set to dock at his planet Dharwad.
As his sensors booted up, a large number of संदेश came up.
“Shiva, we have almost finished the reserves of Archisanium.”
“We are dying, all systems are collapsing. You have to reach in the next 20 शक्षन.”
“Shiva, this is our last call.”
In deep distress, Shiva docked the ship at the port. He expected a horde to welcome him. There was no one around.
As he moved out of the port and glided on the streets with the precious Dhatu container, only silence of an abandoned and dead city met him. The magnetic transport pods stood silent, shops stood open and silent, entities lay on the streets, their life support exhausted.
He was too late!
He cursed himself for wasting time resting at the निरपाय स्थाली. If he had rushed on and taken the challenge of breaking the weather, he might have been in time. He cursed the Chatura for the delay. He cursed the काल दंशिन् for breaking down. Debris followed, its circuits and logic was limited to a few activities and it did not understand the situation.
Sorrow and care were programmed into his system and he walked down to the huge अधिवेशनं शाला room where the elders gathered. (17) The काल दंशिन् was situated in a small room at the back. His sorrow increased when he saw the fallen अग्रजःस. They appeared to be in deep sleep, unmoving, lifeless, and limp.
Shiva knelt on the floor, begging forgiveness at having failed. He had failed in the very purpose for which he was created. He saw his guru, his teacher who had taught him to use the embedded knowledge. Respectfully, he touched his feet, asking for blessings and forgiveness for having failed.
Shiva realized that this was the end. He had no future, no home, no tasks, and nothing to continue existence. He was a चण्डाल, an outcast without affiliation. (18) Only memories remained, some programmed, others gained from this experience. He would have to become a स्तेन, a thief, and wander around the galaxy, join some bandits, or self-destruct. (19)
As he turned to leave, a voice rang out, feeble and quavering, coming from a depleted form. Shiva looked back in wonder. His guru was beckoning, woken from the hibernative sleep that the city had imposed to conserve the last atoms of power.
“Shiva. We knew you would come”.
“Go quickly, place the metal into the काल दंशिन्.”
Shiva rushed to the room, opened the box and placed the metal into the system. Almost instantaneously, it came to life, sensors sending messages, powering the city.
Shiva looked across the hall and into the city. All life forms were slowly recovering, and then would reach full force quickly.
Yes, he had finally completed the mission for which he had been created.
अन्त (20)
Ancient Earth Sanskrit Language Glossary
(Closest approximate translation to ancient English)
1. धातु Archisanium – type of mineral
2. काल दंशिन् kaala vimtraya – time machine/system/network/program
3. हर्दरि hardari – kilometer
4. शक्षन shaxana – minute
5. रोकक rokka – revenue
6. संदेश sandesh – news
7. अग्रजःस agrajahs – elder
8. तासु tasu – hours
9. निरपाय स्थाली Nirapaya Sthali – relaxed place
10. असुर asura – daemon
11. चालीसपद chaaleesapad – centipede
12. गुरुत्वकर्षन gurutvakarshan – gravity
13. तिमि timi – like a whale
14. नमस्कारं namaskaram – salutations
15. क्रव्याद शिला kravyada shila – rocks that eat
16.मोष Mosha – space vehicle
17. अधिवेशनं शाला adhiveshanam shaalaa – convention or conference
18. चण्डाल – chandala – outcast
19. स्तेनः – stenah – thief
20. अन्त – anta – end