The Scalian Legacy

Horace and Jack spoke for well over an hour. Horace explained what he could understand about how gravity wells worked, namely, that they warped space to allow for faster-than-light data transmissions, probes, and even manned space travel. The technology was based on the evolved concepts of gravitonic physics and took centuries to develop and stabilize. While the gravity wells could not traverse strong gravitational fields such as those existing near planets or stars, there is plenty of empty space in between to allow for long paths to be forged along which bursts of data transmissions—or humans—could travel. Once the technology was mastered, gravity wells finally allowed humans, or pseudo-humans, as Jack now began to call them, to escape their solar system.

Horace went on, talking about humanity’s first discoveries of nonterrestrial microbial life and eventually nonterrestrial sentient life, namely Drumans.

Drumans were plant-like creatures from a large, slowly rotating planet that never evolved life-forms that feed on other life-forms. All life depended simply on sunlight, water and minerals. Drumans also had no speech, per se. They communicated telepathically through their ability to generate electrical signals. Their civilization was complex, with a variety of species ranging widely in intelligence, size, shape, colors, and even textures. No one species was dominant. Some had lengthy appendages with finger like capability, while others were larger with great strength. Their variety was a benefit for them as a community rather than a source of conflict. They all cooperated and performed functions within their capacity to help society flourish.

Drumans had developed sophisticated technology that allowed their cities to rotate with the planet and remain sunlit at all times. Drumans also had satellites and advanced terrestrial communication systems. While Drumans enjoyed rest, they never slept. As they advanced technologically, they began to experiment with space travel. Then the human probes arrived.

It took decades for humanity and Drumans to understand enough about each other to communicate effectively. The distance also posed a challenge, as the Druman home world was over forty light years from Earth. Meanwhile, humanity continued to refine their ability for manned space travel using gravity well technology. Finally, after over a half century of knowing about each other, humans visited. The relationship grew slowly and steadily, with humanity at first sharing gravity well technology only for communication purposes —and then eventually for space travel.

More than a century after discovering Drumans, humanity discovered its next extraterrestrial sentient life, Pendorans.

Pendorans were a very odd-looking, multi-limbed species that dominated a turbulent world. They were smallish, three to four feet in height, with smooth, light, almost translucent skin, and a large single torso. Their limbs were lengthy and could be used interchangeably as arms or legs. Pendorans could sprint nimbly on any of their limbs and climb just as quickly. Each limb had three digits to help them manipulate objects. Pendorans advanced their technology over the centuries in an effort to fend off other disparate species on their own planet. Mistrust and aggressiveness had become a common Pendoran trait.

Thus, when the human probes arrived, they were not well received. The Pendorans refused to establish a relationship with humanity and instead began to build a more sophisticated arsenal in preparation for war. This, in turn, forced humanity to do the same; but the two species remained separate and conflict was avoided for many decades.

Then, human probes discovered yet another species, Galatians.

The first probe to the distant planet of the Galatians intercepted radio transmissions and other obvious signs of intelligent life; but the probe was not able to establish communications. Several months later a second probe, designed to begin the process of establishing a relationship with this species, arrived to find the planet obliterated and surrounded by space ships! The probe’s mission immediately changed from one of establishing relations to one of recognizance. The probe helplessly witnessed the finalization of what appeared to be the genocide of the Galatian species by marauders that humanity would eventually come to know as Scalians.

Humanity warned the Drumans and Pendorans of what they had witnessed. The Pendorans and humanity increased their urgency to build their war machine. After a couple of years of cooperation, humanity shared gravity well technology with the Pendorans. Humanity shared their technology because the Drumans refused to prepare for war. The Drumans claimed to be a peaceful, evolved species that would not get involved in such conflicts. Despite the official Druman stand, many Drumans did get involved, allowing for the start of a relationship between Drumans and Pendorans.

After more than a decade of preparation, the Scalians finally attacked and it was the Pendorans they targeted. Despite the preparation, the attack was still a surprise—it was swift and highly aggressive. The Pendorans reached out for help. Humanity, with a small contingent of Drumans, came to their aide. The battle was fierce, but in the end, they fended off the Scalian attack and saved the Pendoran species. The attack shook the Druman’s pacifist beliefs as much as it did the Pendorans’ sense of self-reliance. A strong alliance was forged by the three species.

As the battle scars healed, the Pendorans, Drumans and humanity fortified the defenses around each of their planets. For years, no word came from the Scalians; the thought was that perhaps they had decided to avoid this section of the galaxy and take their aggressiveness elsewhere. However, they would not. More than a decade after the battle for Pendoran survival, the Scalians began small attacks against the Pendorans. The attacks seemed to grow in intensity month after month, originating from various directions, as if the Scalians were probing how best to approach a full-scale assault. This caused more and more forces to be deployed to protect the Pendoran planet and the surrounding space.

After more than a year of attacks, the great Scalian offensive was finally launched—but not against the Pendorans. It was against Earth!

The surprise incursion was detected by distant monitoring probes far from Earth’s solar system, and forces from all nearby sectors were called in for support. Days later, when the Scalians arrived, they were engaged immediately by these few, nearby ships and Earth’s remote defenses. However, the Scalians had come with much more firepower than these limited resources could withstand. The Scalians broke through within a few days, and the onslaught on Earth began. While Earth had developed a complex global defense system, the Scalian barrage overwhelmed it at its weakest points—the poles—in just a couple days. Soon the Scalians landed on Earth’s surface and began their ground offensive, while the barrage from space continued.

Just when all seemed lost, ships from the Druman homeworld arrived and began to push the Scalians back, allowing humans on the ground to begin holding their own against the Scalian forces that had landed. The multifront battle would go on for a few more days, with the Scalians slowly making ground and threatening to overrun both fronts. Finally, more than two weeks after the Scalians were first noticed, ships from the edges around the Pendoran homeworld arrived. The tide turned. The battle in space ended fairly quickly; only a few severely damaged Scalian ships managed to escape. The campaign to secure Earth itself, however, took another week, as the Scalians refused to quit. In the end, nearly a billion lives were lost in the most traumatic battle in human history.

“When was this?” Jack asked.

“A little over fifteen years ago.”

Horace went on to explain that after the defeat of the Scalians, members of the Pendoran, Druman and human alliance decided they needed to take the offensive and not allow the Scalians to regroup as they had before. The Scalians had indeed been weakened; and as Earth healed, the forces of all three species surged ahead with continuous offenses against the Scalians, driving them back towards their homeworld. After more than a decade of battling, the coalition forces had surrounded the Scalian solar system and were preparing to invade. Then a little less than two years ago, the Scalians surrendered and asked for peace. Tired of years of war, the alliance agreed but imposed strict terms, including full rights to search any vehicle that came in or out of the Scalian Sphere.

“Scalian Sphere?” Jack inquired.

Horace leaned back and stretched. “The Scalian home planet is surrounded by a network of space buoys that envelop the entire area with a shield. No non-Scalian ship or person has ever entered the sphere—and it was agreed to in the truce that no one ever would.”

“So where are we, now?” Jack asked, trying to get his bearings.

“We are on a spaceship that stands guard at an outpost not too far from the Scalian Sphere. There are dozens of similar ships that surround the Scalian Sphere. Most are occupied by humans, but there are many Pendoran and Druman ships as well. The truce allows us to stand guard like this indefinitely.”

Jack got up and began to pace. There was so much to digest as he tried to work through the implications. What did this mean for Robbie and Marcelo? They were with a ruthless enemy! What did this mean for humanity? If the Scalians are traveling to our past, that’s a really bad thing! Jack’s nervous pacing increased as Horace watched on.