UNSDF Headquarters decided that Natalia should be allowed to continue growing, even though allocating the computer resources caused inconveniences for the crew. The five on the Phalanx had no objections. Natalia’s burgeoning awareness was the only gift that had been given to them by the Builders. They understood that Natalia had already lived for seventeen years as a nonadaptive intelligence.
Aki stared out the tiny window in the crew room, barely able to see the Builders’ gigantic solar sails reflecting the sunlight.
She wondered what kind of future would be in store for a species that had lost its ability to perceive the presence of others.
Aki felt certain that humanity would never choose such a lonely existence, especially after having seen what a relentless quest for pure intellect had done to the Builders.
Several months into the voyage, the idea that they were going home infected all five members of the crew with euphoria. Until that realization settled in, Aki had felt a nagging sense of sadness because her questions were left unanswered and her goals unachieved.
Now that the alien invaders had moved on, she knew that human beings would turn on each other—slipping back into pursuing selfish desires nearly as demented as the ones that motivated the Builders. She had tried to convince humanity that the Builders were benevolent. Now Aki would try to keep her species from forming its own merciless hivemind.
EPILOGUE
HE OPENED HIS eyes to the sensation that the sun was beating down upon his face.
The first thing he saw was a dazzling light shining through what appeared to be yellow amniotic fluid. It was a soft and soothing light. He felt an odd, dreamlike sensation of omnipresence, able to see multiple views simultaneously. He could look at the light, or just as easily shift his focus away from it and see nothing but the star-spotted darkness of space. The light now appeared reddish in color and was the central point of focus in many of the scenes he was seeing.
Somehow, he instantly knew where he was. He was seeing the star Epsilon Indi. He was orbiting the star at the distance of an inner planet, present in every point along that orbit at once. He did not know how this information was entering his mind. Why was he here?
He then recalled a distant memory, almost as if it belonged to somebody else, of being wrapped in tiny fibers and absorbed into the ring. As he tried to connect this memory and his present situation, again, the answer came to him spontaneously. The ring had absorbed him, assimilating every part of his consciousness and memory. It was one of these memories that it was playing back now. Another memory entered his mind. It was of Aki. She wore a look of both terrified horror and loving tenderness. It was the last thing he saw before being enveloped by the fibers. He then saw another vision of Aki; she was much older and was wearing a space suit. Tears rolled down her cheek.
He wondered if the Builders had revived his consciousness as a gift to Aki for taking his life away in the first place. More than anyone, Aki desired to know the truth. It would have been better had they just brought her here to see for herself, he thought. She did not need to come, a voice within him replied. For her, staying behind and experiencing the death of Mark Ridley was much more meaningful to her in the end. He then knew this was true and that she had even said it herself.
AFTERWORD
THIS STORY IS a compilation of “Usurper of the Sun,” “Haze of Black-Body Radiation,” and “Lost Thought,” three short stories that appeared in SF Magazine, a monthly science fiction magazine published in Japan.
The novel tackles the classic science fiction topic of first contact with an alien intelligence. I tried to approach it with both scientific accuracy and believability. Yes, first contact stories are a dime a dozen and there are few ideas left that have not already been explored. Nonetheless, I was drawn to incorporating the latest scientific knowledge into the subject, creating an alien civilization that would act as a mirror, reflecting glimpses of our world at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
While I tried to keep the science of space travel in the story as realistic as possible, I admit that there are a few spots that require readers to stretch their imaginations. One example would be the acceleration and speeds achieved by the ships in the story, which are nearly impossible even for a nuclear-powered propulsion system.
Countless people assisted and encouraged me in writing this book. It would be impossible to list every name here, but I would like to thank the following people in particular: Takumi Shibano and Akira Hori for their tireless advice throughout the creation of this book; Joji Hayashi, Tetsushi Kita, Iwao Eto, Makoto Kikuchi, Miho Sakai, Taizo Kobayashi, Hiroe Suga, Jun Fukue, Shinya Matsuura, Ryuichi Kaneko, Gen Kuroki, Atsushi Noda, Masao Hirota, Atsuhi Shiraishi, Tomohiro Araki, and Hidefumi Kagawa for offering advice in the form of their expert knowledge.
There is no way I can express enough gratitude toward Masamichi Osako and his organization, Contact Japan, for all the incredible influence their activities have had on me. Readers of Japanese can find more information on what they do at http://www.ne.jp/asahi/contact/japan/.
I would also like to thank those who gave their special congratulations when the short-story version of this novel, which was published in SF Magazine, won the Seiun Award in the Japanese short story category, in particular the members of the Space Authors Club; translators Makoto Yamagishi, Tetsuya Kohama and his wife Mii Mimura, Nozomi Omori and his wife Yoshiko Saito; and dubbing artist Eri Sendai.
Cover illustrator (for the original J Collection edition) Bukichi Nadeara and Kazutaka Miyatake, who drew the illustration for SF Magazine, both created images that far exceeded anything I could have ever imagined.
Finally, I would like to thank Yoshihiro Shiozawa of Hayakawa Publishing who went above and beyond the call of duty as an editor to provide me with invaluable ideas, without which this story would never have evolved into a novel.
AFTERWORD TO PAPERBACK EDITION
IT HAS BEEN three years since the J Collection edition of this book was published. With the publication of the paperback version just around the corner, now seemed like a good time to reread the book myself, which I did with a certain amount of trepidation. For good or for bad, there was nothing of particular mention that stood out as having become antiquated. Some of the basic ideas behind the Builders, such as the evolution of consciousness and theory of mind have remained popular topics of research and continue to be used in different types of literary works. Similar to Freudian psychoanalysis, I think that advances in neuroscience, cognitive science, and evolutionary psychology are destined to permeate our culture quite broadly.
One device mentioned in the original version of the book that has become somewhat old in the past three years is the Hubble Space Telescope. Although it has not yet become outdated, it does hang in quite a precarious predicament due to the fact that it cannot be serviced. Since it is unclear whether or not it will still be in operation in the the coming years and since plans for its successor are not yet decided, I have chosen to use the term “space telescope” in the paperback version.
I am not the only person who thinks that the threat of an alien invasion would be the one factor that would cause the space industry to grow by leaps and bounds. Of course, I would rather see it grow as a result of our desire to explore, rather than have it happen out of pure necessity. The former would allow humanity to finally take a good, hard look at itself objectively, eliminating the need for fictional stories such as this one.