“Their separate cells appeared to perform different tasks, although we have not unravelled what each of the cells was originally intended to do,” he said. “We believe that the Killer intelligence is formed when enough of the cells come together to form a hive mind, suggesting that the Killers may both be individuals and part of an overall collective intelligence. Some of the cells show what we believe to be memory storage material — a RNA analogue, perhaps — but we have been unable to figure out how to read it out. It may be possible for a Killer mindset to exist within the MassMind — indeed; they may have blended their technology and biology far closer than humanity ever did, even the Spacers — and there is no real reason why they shouldn’t have one themselves. I have a hunch, however, that they won’t have invented one; they’re effectively immortal.”
Tabitha frowned. “They’re immortal?”
“We checked the age on some of the dead cells,” Jones confirmed. “The youngest was well over a million years old. I suspect that they actually repair or replenish themselves without the need for artificial aids; quite literally, they live on within their children, if children are the right term. They may reproduce by asexual division rather than a more human-style method.”
His voice darkened. “They may have other advantages over us,” he added. “They should be, in theory, considerably more intelligent than humans, perhaps even capable of low-level telepathy. I have a theory, however, that the Killer we killed had stagnated; it showed little reaction to the boarding party until it had been well and truly compromised. I doubt that a Defence Force starship would have just ignored a team of Footsoldiers breaking into the ship. My guess is that the Killer had never been boarded before and simply didn’t recognise the threat. I don’t think that the other Killers will make the same mistake.”
“And they’re on a crusade to wipe out all other forms of life,” Brent said. “I don’t suppose that you’ve unlocked that mystery?”
“No, Admiral,” Jones said. “I have been unable to do a direct memory read from the Killer cells, so I have no idea what drives their determination to destroy all other forms of life. I do think, however, that when they get an idea into their heads, it’s difficult for them to get rid of it. In that respect, they are very much like humans.”
“Which leads to another question,” Brent said. “How do we kill them?”
“Easily, if we could gain access to the Killer inside the ship,” Jones said. “They’re actually considerably more vulnerable than humans in their natural form. The trick is breaking through their technology, which is, I’m afraid, formidable.”
Arun chuckled as Jones faded out of existence. “The research program into the Killer biology is ongoing,” he said. “The technology, however…”
He made a grand gesture and Paula Handley materialised in the chamber. Tabitha smiled, remembering the young Technical who had accompanied the Footsoldiers into the Killer starship and struck the fatal blow that killed the Killer, capturing the ship. She looked tired — she’d probably had little sleep since being transferred to the Cinder, the star that had been blown up to harm the Killers — but surprisingly happy. Tabitha could only hope that that meant that she had good news.
“My researches confirmed one suspicion many of us had held about the Killer technology from the start,” Paula said, without preamble. “The Killers use gravity the way we use electricity; it powers their civilisation and provides the key to understanding their technology. They may not have warp drive, or the Anderson Drive, but they possess a technology fully equal or superior to our own. They simply never needed to discover other methods for themselves.”
She altered the display to show the captured Killer starship. “The core power source of this craft was a tiny black hole — and tiny is the appropriate word,” she continued, as the display opened out to reveal what the researchers had discovered. “The black hole was housed within the rear of the craft and kept under firm control by manipulation fields, preventing it from either expanding to consume the Killer starship or falling back into the quantum foam. I believe that the Killers created the black hole by applying their gravity technology to the fabric of space itself and, once they had an active black hole, transferred it to one of their ships. This may have been well over a thousand years ago. The Killer starship’s age has been confirmed as well over a million years. That one ship is older than all of human civilisation.
“That black hole provided enough power to actually warp the fabric of space itself. Their wormholes were nothing more than them exerting enough pressure on space-time to form a link between two separate locations — we suspect that the power levels rise astronomically, if you’ll pardon the pun, the further away the destination — and this may explain why they have no known extra-galactic settlements. Their more normal FTL drive is actually considerably less mundane; in simple terms, they actually lock onto the fabric of space and use it to pull themselves along. The power requirements are actually considerably less than warp drive. Given enough time, we could design a similar system and outfit our own starships with it.”
Her voice rose in enthusiasm as she continued. “We haven’t solved all the mysteries — far from it — but we have made considerable progress. Their indestructible hull material is actually rather clever, because it’s nothing of the sort. Somehow, they use their power supplies to bind the molecules in their hull together, even against very heavy bombardment. We might as well have been throwing rocks. This explains the power surges the Defence Force recorded when they engaged various Killer craft — and why it was possible to delay the Killers. They had to shift power from their drive to keep the hull intact.”
She hesitated. “This allowed us to deduce what happened to the starship at Cinder,” she added. “The force of the supernova created an implosion pattern in parts of the hull. The result was that the remaining indestructible parts of the hull channelled the radiation right into the heart of the starship… and, well, the Killer in command of the ship was killed almost instantly. I believe that the safety systems on the ship pushed the black hole back into the quantum foam before it could expand and destroy the ship. The Killers may intend to return to the Cinder and salvage what they can.”
“A concern,” Brent agreed. “Can we use what we’ve learned to harm them?”
“Yes,” Arun said, flatly. “We have already started the development of new weapons.”
He nodded to Paula, who stepped forward and continued. “We have studied their hull material carefully and concluded that it should be possible to duplicate the effects of the supernova on a very small scale,” she said. “The implosion bolts — as we have termed them — will cause low-level damage to the hull, preventing it from retaining its integrity. The result should be a series of hull breeches — and, given that we can fire hundreds of implosion bolts at them, the Killers should find it disastrous. The interior of the craft is tough, no doubt about it, but it doesn’t include the hull’s ability to stand off incoming fire. A hail of implosion bolts should allow us to confront them on more even terms.
“However, we have been unable to either duplicate or defend against their main weapon,” she said, grimly. “Once the Killers realise that they can be hurt, they will certainly attempt to wipe out the attacking starships as quickly as possible — and that is very quickly indeed. It will be a battering match; you’ll have to degrade them while they try to drive you away. It won’t be much of an equaliser.”