Vessel Blue 84210 was an interstellar warship as large as Earth’s moon, and in its position outside Jupiter’s orbit, it was like an extra planet in the solar system. It fired a four-dimensional beam that moved through three-dimensional space nearly instantaneously. In a moment, the beam had arrived at Earth and pierced the roof of the village school’s dorm. It scanned the eighteen children inside down to their elementary particles and transmitted the enormous amount of data back into space at an unimaginable rate. The main computer of Vessel Blue 84210 had a storage capacity larger than the universe itself; in an instant, digital copies of the children were constructed and stored there.
The eighteen children floated in an endless void whose color was indescribable. In fact, it didn’t strictly have a color. It was a limitless field of perfect transparency. The children instinctively tried to grab hold of nearby classmates, but their hands passed through their bodies without resistance. They were terrified. The computer detected their fear and judged that they required some familiar objects for comfort, so it altered the color of the simulation’s background to match their home planet’s sky. Immediately, the children saw a cloudless, sunless, deep blue sky. There was no ground beneath them, just endless blue, the same as above, and they were the only things in it.
The computer reassessed the digital children and found they were still panicking. In a hundred-millionth of a second, it understood why: Whereas most life in the galaxy had no fear of floating, these creatures were different in that they lived on land. The computer added Earth-like gravity and a ground to the simulation. The children were astonished to find under their feet a pure white plain, extending into infinity in all directions and crossed by a neat, regular black grid, like a huge piece of writing paper. A few children crouched down to touch the ground, and it was the smoothest surface they had ever touched; they tried taking a few steps, but the ground was completely frictionless and didn’t move beneath them. They wondered why they didn’t fall down. One child took off a shoe and threw it level with the ground. It slid along at a regular speed, and the children watched it glide off into the distance, never decelerating.
They had seen Newton’s first law.
A melodious, ethereal voice permeated the digital universe.
“Commencing 3C Civilization Test. Question One: Please describe the basic principles of biological evolution on your planet. Is it driven by natural selection or spontaneous mutations?”
The children had no idea. They stayed silent.
“3C Civilization Test, Question Two: Please briefly describe the source of a star’s power.”
Silence.
…
“3C Civilization Test, Question Ten: Please describe the chemical composition of the liquid in your planet’s oceans.”
The children still did not speak.
The shoe had slid off into the horizon, where it became a black point and disappeared.
“That’s enough!” said the fleet commander to the High Archon, one thousand light-years distant. “We won’t be able to complete the first phase of the project on time if we keep on like this.”
The High Archon’s smart field vibrated slightly, signaling his consent.
“Fire the singularity bomb!”
The beam containing the command shot through four-dimensional space and arrived immediately at Vessel Blue 84210, which was holding its position in the solar system. A faintly glowing ball left the long track at the front of the ship and accelerated along an invisible force field toward the sun.
The High Archon, the senator, and the fleet commander turned their attention to another region of the isolation belt, where several planetary systems with life had been discovered, the most advanced of which was a brainless, mud-dwelling worm. Exploding stars filled the region, like galactic fireworks. They all thought of the Battle of the Second Arm.
A while later, a small portion of the High Archon’s smart field split off from the rest and turned its attention back to the solar system. He heard the captain of Vessel Blue 84210.
“Prepare to exit the blast radius. T minus thirty to warp. Commence countdown!”
“A moment, please. How long until the singularity bomb reaches its target?” asked the High Archon, attracting the attention of the fleet commander and the senator.
“It’s passing the orbit of the system’s first planet. Approximately ten minutes to impact.”
“We will take five minutes to continue the test.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
The duty officer of Vessel Blue 84210 continued administering the test. “3C Civilization Test, Question Eleven: What is the relationship between the three sides of a right triangle on a flat plane in three-dimensional space?”
Silence.
“3C Civilization Test, Question Twelve: Where is your planet’s position relative to the other planets in your star system?”
Silence.
“This is pointless, Your Excellency,” said the fleet commander.
“3C Civilization Test, Question Thirteen: How does an object move when it is not subjected to any external forces?”
Beneath the endless blue sky of the simulated universe, the children recited, “A body at rest or moving in a straight line at a constant speed will maintain its velocity unless an outside force acts upon it.”
“Correct! 3C Civilization Test, Question Fourteen…”
“Wait!” called out the senator, interrupting the duty officer administering the test. “The next question is also about heuristics in low-speed mechanics. Doesn’t that violate the test guidelines?” he asked the High Archon.
“Of course not, as long as the question is in the database,” interjected the fleet commander. He was shocked that these unassuming life-forms had answered a question correctly, and all his attention was now on them.
“3C Civilization Test, Question Fourteen: Please describe how two objects exerting force on each other interact.”
“When a body exerts force on a second body, the second body will exert an equal force on the first body in the opposite direction!” said the children.
“Correct! 3C Civilization Test, Question Fifteen: Please describe the relationship between an object’s mass and acceleration when an external force acts upon it.”
In unison, the children said, “The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force acting on it, and inversely proportional to the object’s mass!”
“Correct! You have passed the Civilization Test! Confirming that there is a 3C-level civilization on Planet Three of Target Star 500921473.”
“Reverse the singularity bomb! Disengage!!” The High Archon’s smart field flashed and vibrated frantically as he sent his order through hyperspace to Vessel Blue 84210.
The force-field beam began to bend. Its hundred-million-mile path through the solar system curved away from the sun, like a tree branch that had been weighed down. As the force-field engine on board Vessel Blue 84210 worked at maximum power, its enormous heat sink glowed, first dark red, then with a bright white incandescence. The beam’s new thrust vector began to affect the trajectory of the singularity bomb, which curved away from its target. However, it was already inside the orbit of Mercury, very close to the sun, and no one was confident that the force-field engine could bend its course enough to prevent impact.