Creative Destruction
by Bill Kowaleski
Creative Destruction is a sequel to the novel Brighter Than the Stars, in which Earthlings meet technologically advanced space aliens. The Cygnians come only to do business, but their schemes to sell fusion-powered generators become contentious and competitive.
Many human and alien characters return from the previous novel, including Jim McDermott and his team, who try to reduce the risk of societal upheaval that the new technologies threaten. Meanwhile, many different groups are either plotting to steal the technical advances for their own purposes or trying to destroy it and drive the Cygnians off of Earth.
| Cast of Characters and Species | Table of Contents |
Chapter 11: Detection and Decisions
Guard-Robert had insisted that they meet immediately. McDermott, a man who loved the familiarity of a fixed schedule, was annoyed, but he realized that Guard-Robert was not one to impose himself frivolously. He joined Guard-Robert and Dr. Landis in a secure-side conference room.
There was one other attendee, Paul Welton, the newest member of the team, happy to have escaped exile to the Cygnian prison planet, happier still to be working once again at the cutting edge of his profession.
But the divorced, silver-haired Texan was cut off from everyone on Earth. He lived on the “secure side”: a strange limbo of no television, radio, or cellphone signals, an island of buildings around a central garden that faded into a foggy, unattainable barrier just a few hundred yards beyond the outer walls.
He had tried to breach the barrier several times but, as he neared it, he slowed down, eventually unable to move even a step forward. The Cygnians and four humans he worked with never responded to his questions about the Barrier, a phenomenon he’d come to think of as something that should be written with a capital B. They’d change the subject or just turn and discuss something else with each other.
Welton, Landis, McDermott, and Guard-Robert were now sitting in a conference room with windows facing the lush inner courtyard, an oasis of incredible, ferny plants, some over one hundred feet tall, sprinkled throughout with irregular outbursts of vivid flowers, each grouping in a single color but covering most of the visible spectrum over the hundred or so groupings.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice,” Guard-Robert began. “We have received unmistakable evidence of an altverse tunnel usage in the southern part of the African continent. It was what we call a type-3 tunnel; that is to say, a personal tunnel, suitable for individuals and equipment up to a mass of five thousand kilograms. It requires only one fixed endpoint—”
“OK, OK!” grumbled McDermott. “No need to recite the specs. What could it mean? Can you tell where it was coming from?”
“As I was trying to tell you, sir,” Guard-Robert continued patiently, “it is a type-3 tunnel and therefore portable. But we could tell that its fixed endpoint was on Cygnus Prime, though we have no data more specific than that. We also know that it was activated four times, consistent with two arrivals and departures. However, the third activation involved a significantly higher mass, which I believe indicates that some large piece of machinery was delivered through the tunnel.”
“Well, we clearly have got to find out just who or what came through that tunnel,” McDermott asserted. “Do you have good coordinates on the Earth side, Guard-Robert?”
“Yes, sir, precise to one centimeter.”
“Yes, well, that should be good enough.” McDermott stared into space, eyes flitting.
Guard-Robert had been stabbing at a computer keyboard while talking, using his six-fingered paws to bring up a map that he projected onto one wall of the conference room. “Here, you can see the location. It is in the nation of Botswana.”
“Sir, if I could...” Paul Welton said. “I know you’re thinking about what to do, but I’d like to suggest something, if it suits you.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“One of the companies I worked with in the Middle East had a mine right in that area, I’m not sure of the exact location. We should verify that the location Guard-Robert is showing is close to that mine. If so, I’ve got a connection, a name, you could use as a starting point.”
Guard-Robert’s eyestalks wavered rapidly with excitement. “A mine! It makes perfect sense. Our planet is poor in minerals. We must buy minerals from off-planet in very large quantities; they are crucial to the industrial products we sell, like fusion reactors. Perhaps someone from another Cygnian company has gone to the mine to inquire about purchasing their ores.”
McDermott smiled, evidently relieved. “Of course you’re right, Guard-Robert. That’s got to be it. The mine has some critical mineral that this company is looking for, that’s why they’re way off in Botswana. Let’s double-check that mine angle and, if the mine is indeed there, I see no reason to investigate this further.”
Landis intervened. “You’re probably right, but shouldn’t we investigate every incident like this? Even if it’s just as Guard-Robert says, we need to stay on top of all Cygnian contact with humans. It could get out of control in a hurry.”
McDermott pulled in a breath, expelling it slowly before saying, “Yes, I suppose you’re right. But how do we investigate an incident in Botswana? CIA? Probably. Let me get in touch with them.”
Dr. Landis recalled his first encounter with the Cygnians, when he had first discovered they were aliens. He recalled how the Salesman had intended to start selling fusion reactors to the general public immediately, as though they were refrigerators. “I think I’m going to have a short chat with Sociologist-Andrew,” he said as he stood to leave the meeting. “I think he’d better find out what his marketing department is up to.”
Copyright © 2019 by Bill Kowaleski
