“You can tell me now, or we’ll just pull the plans from the Dunkerque’s memory banks. It’s only a matter of time, colonel. Give it up and tell me what’s going on between you and Hughes.”

Atwell continued to stare at the ceiling. The only evidence the man was even alive was his open eyes. The brig cell’s invisible forcefield hummed.

“What are you protecting at Raleo?”

That got the reaction Hunter presumed it might. Atwell turned his head and harumphed. “You’re so far behind at this point, Captain, your only hope is to run for home and kiss your loved ones goodbye.”

“Big words from a man in a cell, colonel.”

“What we discovered out there will change the very nature of reality itself. Your meaningless attempts to understand what is happening here do not concern us in the slightest.”

“And who is “us,’ colonel? I see a lot of Skywatch ships. I see an interdiction formation and I see a big gun with no power system hooked up yet. If I didn’t know better, I’d start wondering if this isn’t all an elaborate bluff just like your little toy.”

Atwell got to his feet silently and walked right up to the forcefield to stare Hunter down.

“You were warned. You were warned again. You chose to come here knowing full well things were not as they appeared. I tried to save you. The admiral ordered me to save you. But you didn’t listen. And now you and your crew are going to die. You speak of time, Captain. You have no idea how little of it you have left.”

“If you’re so certain of yourself, colonel, then why the constant stream of riddles? Speak plainly for a change. What is going on at Raleo?”

Atwell hesitated, apparently believing he was going to be able to get Hunter to blink. Finally he turned and went back to his mattress-less bunk and sat down. The man looked exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept in days. Perhaps he hadn’t, but Hunter had to have answers.

“The Dunkerque detected a structure on the surface of Raleo Two–”

“That planet is a ball of lava and thousand-degree rocks, colonel. Any “structure’ down there would melt into ashes in a matter of minutes no matter what it was made out of.”

“The structure we found is sixty million years old.”

Hunter didn’t answer right away.

“Then how–”

“How, indeed, Captain. When the obelisk was built, the Raleo system didn’t exist. Are you getting the picture now? Are you willing to put aside your cowboy hat and six shooter and allow your tiny mind to glimpse the true destiny of humanity?”

“Let’s say you’re right and the structure you found doesn’t make any logical sense. What does that have to do with Admiral Hughes and the crew of the Dunkerque?”

“Our first readings didn’t make any sense. They weren’t scientifically meaningful. They couldn’t be explained by anyone aboard, even our archaeological team. But that was just our first attempt. After a series of experiments, we determined the laws of physics were breaking down the closer our instruments got to the obelisk. Finally, we managed to complete a molecular analysis of the planet’s surface around the object and discovered five completely new elements, but that’s not what made us take the next step.”

“You sent people down there?”

“Our scientists had to know. Even our non-technical command staff knew something huge was right under our feet. So we concocted a likely story and came back out here with our cargo bays filled with specialized equipment. We have observed the impossible, Captain. What happened next cannot be explained by any science known to man.”

“What are we talking about here, colonel? You found El Dorado? Another dimension? Gateways? What?”

“Our astrophysicist calls it ‘quantum reflection.’ It’s as good a term as any, because our best efforts to catalog and replicate our experiments have all failed. Every time we test the zone around the obelisk, we get another set of readings that have nothing to do with the previous set. None of it makes any sense!”

“And all this data is on the Dunkerque?”

Atwell nodded wearily. “One thing we did find is that isotopes don’t decay here. They strengthen. So instead of going from unstable to stable in one direction, they go from unstable to more unstable in the other. Our theory is there is something affecting matter and energy that causes quantum effects to form feedback loops that build up unstable energy. The only thing keeping it from ripping the planet to pieces is the effects lose energy the further they get from the obelisk, but that’s not going to last.”

“Why is that?”

“Because the nature of these effects mean they build on each other, Captain. The longer that object stays in our space, the more powerful it gets. Eventually it will start to affect Raleo Two itself, and then it will start affecting the Raleo primary. If it gets a hold of that star’s energy, we theorize it will go hypercritical in a matter of hours. We have no idea what will happen next.”

“Then why don’t we just destroy it?”

“Still thinking with your guns, eh, Captain? This is why we don’t share important discoveries with average people!”

“I took an oath, colonel! And so did you! If that thing is a threat to human populations, I’m going to fly out there and punch its ticket! That’s my duty as a Skywatch Captain!”

“You can’t destroy it any more than we could. That thing would eat your weapons like candy and spit them right back at you. That’s assuming whatever is on the other side of that obelisk doesn’t simply kill you first!”

“What do you mean ‘other side?’”

“We got a voice transmission before we called in reinforcements. The commanders of those ships have all been apprised of the possible dangers. We still haven’t been able to translate it. The only thing our linguistics banks came up with was there are apparently over a thousand voices in the message, all overlapping in the same data stream.”

“There’s an intelligence involved here?”

“Far beyond our own, Captain. We could be facing an invasion, or any of a hundred other larger threats!”

“Well, there’s one certainty in all this, colonel. The answers are aboard your ship, and one way or another, I’m going to get at them.” Hunter started for the exit.

“Watch yourself, hot shot.” Hunter paused at the exit as Atwell raised his voice. “The Dunkerque was parked in orbit over that obelisk for days before we were able to evacuate the crew!”

Hunter left the brig and hurried for the Flight Deck.

“We have no idea what’s left aboard!” Atwell’s voice echoed throughout the detention section as Hunter climbed into the magneto-lift.