yet they still think of themselves as custodians of our galaxy?”
“You forget, they weren’t entirely gone,” Barrick responded. “I don’t know their entire history, but some of them stayed behind, eventually evolving into the Raakarr.”
“Those who stayed behind were the more progressive types, I’m guessing, judging from the Raakarr ship design,” Jonathan said.
“Yes,” Barrick responded. “And that progression extends outside of ship design. Off the record, I have reason to believe the Raakarr employ some sort of accelerant to increase mutation rates. They’re trying to evolve into what they believe is a higher species—the species they were meant to be. It’s part of their religion, I think, and the two major factions in the Raakarr follow different variations of that religion, and hate each other for it. In any case, because of those accelerants, I suspect at this point they look nothing like they’re Elder ancestors.”
“We’re digressing a bit,” Jonathan said. “You said the Elder have a warning to give us. And you still haven’t told me if they’ll agree to leave the farthermost Slipstream pointing to Vega 951.”
“The warning...” Barrick replied. “The Elder have been watching us since we took their offspring, and they saw us battle the Raakarr. Originally they only intended to give the warning to us, but after seeing the two of us war, they’ve decided to warn both of our races.”
Jonathan felt his patience growing thin. “And the warning is...?”
“Only, be careful.”
Jonathan frowned. “Be careful...”
“Yes,” Barrick replied. “They are going to be watching us in the coming months and years, to determine if we’re worthy of wielding the power of the planet killer. You see, the Elder nearly destroyed themselves when they discovered a similar weapon five hundred thousand years ago.”
Jonathan glanced at Robert uncertainly. “And by what criteria will they determine our worthiness?”
“They haven’t said. Only that they will be watching us as part of some grand test. And to answer your last question: yes, they’ve promised to change the endpoints of both Slipstreams to point to Vega 951 so that we can return to our own galaxy.”
Jonathan had to suppress a laugh. “This is ridiculous. What kind of warning is that? They’re going to be watching us... are you sure there was nothing more specific?”
“No,” Barrick said. “Only that we must use the power of the planet killer wisely.”
Jonathan finally chuckled aloud. “And if we prove ourselves unworthy and fail this so-called test? A test whose metrics of examination we know nothing about?”
“The punishment for failure was not mentioned,” Barrick responded.
“Well get Valor to ask them for clarification,” Jonathan ordered brusquely.
Barrick gave the response two minutes later. “If we fail the test, they promise to knock one or both of our races back to the dark ages, if they don’t obliterate the two of us entirely.”
“Nice guys,” Robert said. “Promising to obliterate their own descendants...”
Jonathan nodded distractedly. He thought of the vision he had seen and wondered if the Elder had somehow used their offspring to send that warning directly to him. Because that was what it had to be... a warning only, not a guarantee of things that would come to pass.
He glanced at the 3D display.
“One thing,” Jonathan said. “I’m looking at my tactical display, and it’s obvious the Raakarr fleet is going to exit the system before us. Ask the Elder what they’re going to do to ensure the Raakarr don’t ambush us when we pass through to Vega 951.”
“You mean the Elk faction?” Barrick asked.
“Yes yes,” Jonathan said. “The Elk faction.” He didn’t really approve of any of the names Barrick had come up with for the aliens and their factions, but Jonathan supposed humanity needed to call them something .
The prerequisite exchange of gamma rays occurred
“You forget, they weren’t entirely gone,” Barrick responded. “I don’t know their entire history, but some of them stayed behind, eventually evolving into the Raakarr.”
“Those who stayed behind were the more progressive types, I’m guessing, judging from the Raakarr ship design,” Jonathan said.
“Yes,” Barrick responded. “And that progression extends outside of ship design. Off the record, I have reason to believe the Raakarr employ some sort of accelerant to increase mutation rates. They’re trying to evolve into what they believe is a higher species—the species they were meant to be. It’s part of their religion, I think, and the two major factions in the Raakarr follow different variations of that religion, and hate each other for it. In any case, because of those accelerants, I suspect at this point they look nothing like they’re Elder ancestors.”
“We’re digressing a bit,” Jonathan said. “You said the Elder have a warning to give us. And you still haven’t told me if they’ll agree to leave the farthermost Slipstream pointing to Vega 951.”
“The warning...” Barrick replied. “The Elder have been watching us since we took their offspring, and they saw us battle the Raakarr. Originally they only intended to give the warning to us, but after seeing the two of us war, they’ve decided to warn both of our races.”
Jonathan felt his patience growing thin. “And the warning is...?”
“Only, be careful.”
Jonathan frowned. “Be careful...”
“Yes,” Barrick replied. “They are going to be watching us in the coming months and years, to determine if we’re worthy of wielding the power of the planet killer. You see, the Elder nearly destroyed themselves when they discovered a similar weapon five hundred thousand years ago.”
Jonathan glanced at Robert uncertainly. “And by what criteria will they determine our worthiness?”
“They haven’t said. Only that they will be watching us as part of some grand test. And to answer your last question: yes, they’ve promised to change the endpoints of both Slipstreams to point to Vega 951 so that we can return to our own galaxy.”
Jonathan had to suppress a laugh. “This is ridiculous. What kind of warning is that? They’re going to be watching us... are you sure there was nothing more specific?”
“No,” Barrick said. “Only that we must use the power of the planet killer wisely.”
Jonathan finally chuckled aloud. “And if we prove ourselves unworthy and fail this so-called test? A test whose metrics of examination we know nothing about?”
“The punishment for failure was not mentioned,” Barrick responded.
“Well get Valor to ask them for clarification,” Jonathan ordered brusquely.
Barrick gave the response two minutes later. “If we fail the test, they promise to knock one or both of our races back to the dark ages, if they don’t obliterate the two of us entirely.”
“Nice guys,” Robert said. “Promising to obliterate their own descendants...”
Jonathan nodded distractedly. He thought of the vision he had seen and wondered if the Elder had somehow used their offspring to send that warning directly to him. Because that was what it had to be... a warning only, not a guarantee of things that would come to pass.
He glanced at the 3D display.
“One thing,” Jonathan said. “I’m looking at my tactical display, and it’s obvious the Raakarr fleet is going to exit the system before us. Ask the Elder what they’re going to do to ensure the Raakarr don’t ambush us when we pass through to Vega 951.”
“You mean the Elk faction?” Barrick asked.
“Yes yes,” Jonathan said. “The Elk faction.” He didn’t really approve of any of the names Barrick had come up with for the aliens and their factions, but Jonathan supposed humanity needed to call them something .
The prerequisite exchange of gamma rays occurred
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