The Kerberos was a cacophony of unease. Each surface trembled under the stress of engines driven past their design limits. The air recyclers wheezed, imparting a flavor on the palate. Resting in the confined acceleration bunks was a battle against clamor and apprehension. For Devon the unending abrasive onslaught on his senses offered a comfort. It served as a barrier, against the quiet that had settled over the universe.
They were two days away, from Earth navigating the calming reach of the asteroid belt, when Javier, bent over a sensor console emitted a choked gasp.
"They succeeded " he murmured.
Nathania attempting to strengthen a power connection glanced over. "Who has done what?"
"Project Lentor. They have reached resonance." Javier's hands shook while he directed a data stream to the cabin display. It was a hacked, transmission, from the Bohemian facility's outer cameras.
The main chamber had transformed into a flawless gleaming silver orb resembling a droplet of mercury. The volunteers within had ceased to appear as beings. Instead they had combined into one human-form haze at the center—a figurine of unified tranquility. Encircling the orb the scientists and Weavers among them Flavio Fergal, knelt—not in reverence but, in a stance of quiet acceptance.
"They're no longer sending out a signal into the Quiet " Javier murmured his mathematician's intellect whirring. "They've adjusted their bubble to exactly reflect the field. They've ceased transmitting. They're… absorbing with their existence."
For an instant the display remained static. Suddenly the silver orb throbbed. It wasn't through light or noise. Through an abstract ripple that caused the sensors to glitch and the pixels, on their screen to appear to blur.
Then something came back.
It wasn't delivered as a radio signal or a digital message. Instead it appeared instantly within the sensor records and within the awareness of the tuned-in personnel, at the facility. On the Kerberos's display it took shape as a pattern. An extensive unfathomably complex and stunningly elegant web of linked points and routes. It was neither motionless nor moving. It was whole. It resembled the system of a galaxy-encompassing fungus or the captured instant of an extraordinary idea.
"That's a map " Nathania whispered softly.
"It is a map " Javier amended, his voice a mix of wonder and fear. "Observe the pathways of the volunteers." He brought up a feed. The combined brainwave pattern from the two hundred individuals, within the bubble was no longer a flatline. It had transformed into an exact copy of the expansive incoming pattern. "This isn't a message. It's a blueprint. A Blueprint of Stillness."
Flavio Fergal's visage materialized on a comms screen his countenance glowing with a tearful victory. His voice upon speaking was laden, with feeling. "Do you perceive? This is the solution. The universal solution. This represents the state. Not a society focused on action. A society focused on existence. A complete framework. No mysteries left. No lingering conflicts. Each possibility has been examined, every longing satisfied, every discord blended into this… this steady formation. It is not demise. It is fulfillment. The Quiet represents the realm this finished civilization resides in. It is their… their environment."
Devon gazed at the blueprint. Its elegance was unmistakable. It held the promise of ending every desire every solitude, every struggle of life. It represented the Stillpoint depicted through cosmic geometry.
"They're revealing their condition " Javier said, dazed. "They've figured it all out.. Their answer is to cease. This blueprint… it details how a conscious entity attains and preserves flawless, everlasting balance. It's the Lethargic Calculus worked out for X through a civilization."
On the display Flavio was currently speaking to the Earth. "We have established communication. Not with extraterrestrials. With a realm of tranquility. They present us not with a caution. With an offer. To become part of the completed world. To move beyond the flow of becoming and, into the serene sea of existence. The Confluence is not a conclusion. It is a beginning—the beginning of our mature life."
The broadcast from Earth displayed cities illuminated by a shimmering glow. Individuals were stepping outside their dwellings gazing upward their expressions devoid of fear but brimming with longing. The crafted longing, for hardship was dissolving under the assurance of a forever existence without struggle.
Thea Tove's voice burst through the ship's intercom, tense and urgent. "Everyone, brace, for emergency acceleration! The Martian perimeter sensors are detecting anomalies. They perceive this as a cognitive device. Interceptors are deploying. They won't allow this blueprint to arrive on Mars."
The Kerberos jolted as the engines surged to a relentless high. On the rear-view display tiny points of light broke away, from the spot of Mars—Prometheus Guard ships, designed for battle.
Devon glanced between the yet frightening blueprint, on one monitor and the hostile Martian points displayed on the other. The division was now complete, tangible and rapidly approaching conflict.
Earth had been extended an invitation, to a eternal repose.
Mars regarded it as a virus an indifference bomb and was preparing to eliminate the bearer.
And they, in their rattling tin can, were caught in the middle, carrying the last echoes of a messy, unfinished world into the crossfire. The Quiet was no longer approaching. It had sent its calling card. And humanity was shattering itself over the RSVP.