A discordant sound reverberated in Hawkins's ears, like the sound coming out of a car's speakers as you try to tune in to a distant station. The spot of white light in the center elongated and pulsed. Hawkins started as the static suddenly disappeared and words echoed in his head. "You can call me the Speaker. It is my role to communicate with you."
A red dot appeared to the left of the white light, followed by a blue one to the right. The white image remained elongated, pulsing as the words came. "I am joined by the Mediator and the Defender. We represent the Coalition."
Another long silence filled Hawkins's head.
"It is the Defender's message I will communicate first." A multicolored glow appeared in the air between Hawkins and the others and the far wall. It fluctuated briefly, then coalesced into an intricate system of numerous glowing dots. With great effort Hawkins twisted his head and looked to his left. He could now see the others in the reflected glow. Levy's eyes were focused ahead and she seemed unaware of anything except the lights in front of her.
Hawkins tried to speak and nothing came out. He concentrated hard and tried again. "What is it?" he managed to croak out.
Levy blinked and only her eyes turned, acknowledging his words. "That's a star map," she replied.
"I will orient you," the voice in his head said. The left center section of the map glowed bright green. "That is the Coalition." On the outer edge of the Coalition a spot started flickering. "You call the third planet of your system-the planet you live on-Earth. I will use the same term. Earth is there."
Hawkins licked his lips nervously. If that one dot was the Earth, the Coalition consisted of thousands of star systems.
A large section outside the Coalition suddenly turned bright red. "That is the Swarm. For three hundred and twenty thousand of your years there has been war between the Coalition and the Swarm. It is not a war we wish. It is a war we must fight for survival."
One factor stood out to Hawkins immediately: The tiny flickering dot that represented Earth stood at a point where green and red surged up against each other.
"Although we are not of your species, we are similar. We are able to communicate with you in this manner and through our transmissions. The Swarm is different. You would not understand their thinking. They would most definitely not be interested in understanding yours. And they would not attempt any form of communication other than death. They hold nothing outside of themselves"-for the first time the Speaker, hesitating, seemed to be searching for words, — "they hold nothing outside of themselves worthy of respect. They are not individual entities as you understand life to be. They have what you might call a race consciousness that supersedes the individual life-forms that make up their race. We have never been able to speak to them. The only communication between our races has been death.
"We first encountered the Swarm over three hundred thousand of your years ago. To that point we had not known interstellar war. The last planetary war in the Coalition had ended a millennia previously. Once a planet was accepted into the Coalition, it was past the point of aggression-otherwise it would not have been allowed in."
A large section of the red area bordering the green was highlighted. "For six hundred of your years the Swarm overwhelmed us before we were able to make adjustments and defend ourselves. We lost all those systems marked and all the life in them in that time. Billions of life-forms perished in the fighting. Entire species were obliterated.
"Since then we have been able to keep the Swarm at bay." A brief red glow showed on the far side of the star map. "We believe that the Swarm has expanded in the other direction away from the Coalition, but no probe through Swarm space has ever returned. Over the years the Swarm has continued to attack our border at sporadic times, at points seemingly chosen at random."
A bright white line suddenly glowed, dividing the red from green. "To contain the Swarm, two hundred thousand of your years ago we developed a defensive boundary. Because the border was too vast to patrol constantly, we devised a static planetary surveillance line to be supplemented by mobile Space Forces."
The map swirled and the glowing dot that was Earth expanded. Hawkins realized that the area around Earth had been blown up for clearer viewing. He could see small representations of the sun and the other planets, hovering in the air in front of him.
"Your solar system was chosen to be incorporated in that surveillance line for two reasons. Primarily because of its location. But also because of the presence of life on the third planet. Deep-space sensors and weapons were placed at the edge of your system and oriented outward." A series of small glowing dots appeared outside the orbit of Pluto.
The air cleared and then there was only Earth hanging in the air, slowly rotating. "The control system and master relay were placed on the third planet." Six small spots glowed on the surface of the globe. Hawkins could immediately place each spot as the continents came into view: Tunguska, Ayers Rock, Ries Basin, Vredefort Dome, Meteor Crater, and Campo del Cielo.
"The Swarm attacked in force through this part of the Coalition approximately one hundred and ninety thousand years ago. The defense system succeeded in its primary task of giving sufficient notice, and Coalition Space Forces responded. A great space battle was fought three hundred parsecs from your solar system and the Swarm was beaten back despite heavy losses to the Coalition. The defense system only partially succeeded in its secondary mission of protecting this solar system."
Half the lights winked off on the globe-Ries Basin, Meteor Crater, and Campo de Cielo. "Three of the relay sites were destroyed by the Swarm. There were near misses at the ones you call Vredefort Dome and Ayers Rock."
The scene expanded again to take in the solar system. Many of the small red dots around the rim of the system disappeared. "Forty-three percent of the deep-space sensors and automated weapons were also destroyed. Despite those losses, though, the system remained functional, as the original had had redundancy built in." There was the briefest of pauses. "With the recent loss of the relay under Vredefort Dome the system is no longer functional to the satisfaction of the Defender."
There was a long pause. Hawkins stared through the display at the three points of light. He glanced down at his hands and could see the wrists where they disappeared into the red glow. He again tried to withdraw his hands and failed. He forced himself to relax and slow his heartbeat.
"The Defender has proposed to Council three options. The first option is to repair the defense system." The lights in the Solar System blinked back on. Then the lights shifted back to the star map. "The second option is to expand our border beyond the vicinity of your planet and build a new defense system here in what you call the Sirius Alpha and Beta system and another here in the Epsilon 2398 Alpha and Beta system to adequately defend the new area." The green sphere crept outward a tiny fraction. ''That would move your solar system from being on the border to being inside our border.
"The third option is to contract our border and build a defense system here in the Barnard's star system." The green sphere edged back a fraction of an inch. The small flashing dot representing Earth stood alone between the red and the green.
Hawkins glanced to his left. Levy was staring at the star map. Beyond her Tuskin turned his head and met Hawkins's eyes. They were both military men and understood immediately what the three proposals represented in strategic terms. The Speaker's next words confirmed what Hawkins had feared.
"The Defender recommends option three."
In the silence following these last words Hawkins could hear the sound of his own heartbeat thudding through his arteries. He was startled when Levy spoke for the first time.