Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers

When inhabitants of the planet Amular witness a mysterious
darkening of stars in outer space, Capt. Adamarus Maximus leaves his planet to
investigate. But the mission goes awry, and Adamarus is unlikely to survive.
Unbeknownst to the captain, aliens, called Loud, bring him aboard their
ship—the source of the visual anomaly. The Loud have been observing Amular and
its inhabitants for years. The aliens treat Adamarus and return him to Amular;
when he recovers, he’s 20 years younger. At the aliens’ request, he re-enters
their ship to speak with their ambassador. He finds a massive, unbearably loud,
hill-like creature who communicates through translators and wants to share the
Loud’s advanced technology. The aliens offer all the gift of youth and eternal
life. After everyone undergoes the transformation, the humans’ benefactors
develop methods to house and feed a growing, unlimited population and then
leave for their home planet some 200 light years away. But after only a few
years, the Loud return bearing troubling news: An enemy force wiped out their
entire planet and now plans to destroy Amular. The distraught Loud insist that
the human race has no chance. But those on Amular put the Loud’s warning to
good use and prepare for an epic battle.

Williamson’s novel tackles complex issues surrounding the
problems of immortality and perpetual youth, along with facing insurmountable challenges,
without stinting on an emotionally compelling, action-packed plot. And the
multilayered, eclectic characters each have their own carefully woven emotional
patchwork.

The first installment of an intense, philosophical sci-fi
series."

--Kirkus Reviews

Dedicated to

My wife Denise, my sister Cathy and my friend Angie who
is 'proof' that not all knights in shining armor coming to the rescue are male.

Contributions

I wish to thank my wife Denise and my sister Cathy for
comments on grammar and substance; Angie Sampson for the tedious job of
proofreading; and too many .com friends to mention for their thoughts, comments
and encouragement. I owe a huge debt to a half dozen science forums on the web
that kept me from sounding too stupid in certain areas (and if I still sound foolish
only I am to blame). And last but not least, to the Writer’s Meet Up group of
San Diego for making me redo everything.

Table of
Contents

Prologue

PART ONE - FIRST ENCOUNTER

Chapter One – Sightings

Chapter Two - Encounter

Chapter Three - Rescue

Chapter Four – Recovery

Chapter Five – Best Laid
Plans

Chapter Six – The First
Meeting

Chapter Seven – Subsequent
Meetings

Chapter Eight –
Immortality

Chapter Nine – The Avatars

PART
TWO - SECOND ENCOUNTER

Chapter Ten – Distant
Devastation

Chapter Eleven – Event
Horizon

Chapter Twelve – Forced
Entry

Chapter Thirteen –
Alliance

Chapter Fourteen –
Hideaway

Chapter Fifteen –
Preliminary Actions

Chapter Sixteen – Public
Disclosure

Chapter Seventeen –
Initiating the War Machine

Chapter Eighteen – Council
of War

Chapter Nineteen – Private
Disclosure

Chapter Twenty – Secret
Disclosure

Chapter Twenty One —
Aftermath

About the Author

“Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

Star Wars

Prologue

The three alien ships hung in the darkness of deep space
looking down on the distant planet. It was just a tiny white crescent at this
distance. Most of the time there were only two ships at this location with one
stationed closer to the planet, but one had just returned—a shift change.

Arranged in a triangle, the three ships were identical. Seven
miles in length, they looked like three umbrellas hanging upside down. What
passed for the umbrella’s handle was a half mile in diameter and covered with
dark cubes and domes. At the end, the curved umbrella-like awning was four
miles in diameter and a quarter mile thick. The inside of its curved surface was
a jumbled yet elegant maze of complexity bathed in a soft green glow.

The outside of the awning, which faced the planet, emitted
all the radiation it blocked—all the stars, nebulas and distant galaxies that
lay behind it. Everything that the ships blocked out from every angle was
collected and reproduced. Visually, and in every other way, the ships where
invisible should anyone on the planet happen to take a careful look.

They had been in operation for just over three years covertly
listening, watching and studying the intelligent species on the planet below,
learning their languages, customs, social structures, politics and their dreams
and aspirations. Their primary source for this knowledge was the rich profusion
of audio and video transmissions. The planet had not been hard to find, for
hundreds of light years in any direction it was the noisiest object in the sky.

They had probed the planet from afar and, using smaller
crafts with better stealth, they watched the species close up as they worked in
space on the thousands of asteroids they had gathered and set in orbit around
their planet.

One of the umbrella ships powered up. More lights came on and
the green glow intensified. It moved slowly forward until it was well in front
of the other two ships. Then, it rippled and vanished. A few minutes later the
ship reappeared much closer to the purple planet.

Sixteen smaller ships deployed from the central shaft. They were
smaller copies of the large ship. In a cubed formation they headed inward,
vanishing from sight as they went.

From the transmissions they monitored they knew that this was
a big day for the planet and its inhabitants. They wanted to watch the event and,
if possible, do even more.

As the smaller umbrella ships flew above the thousands of
asteroids, they detected activity ahead.

The aliens knew that their visibility cloaking was not
perfect up close, and in fact, preparing for contact, they had been allowing
brief glimpses of their ships for several months now.

Now, close to the planet, they circled inward until they were
among the innermost ring of asteroids. They detected radio signals indicating
that work was in progress. The formation split apart and started hunting… for
what, they could not say, but they’d know it if they saw it.

One of the ships tracked a pair of radio signals to one of
the spinning asteroids. This close, the signal was strong.