The man who was called to rule a civilization of Kardashev type 7
The year 2723.
Meeting deck of the interstellar ship Buzz Aldrin.
The navigational officers gather for a "state of navigation" briefing.
A figure of speech much used in the fleet to avoid admitting that they are meeting to
deal with a really serious problem.
There is indeed a lot of tension.
And even the unusual presence of a good portion of the scientific staff does not bode well.
The captain enters and imposes silence.
Gentlemen officers ... as you all know, for several weeks now we have been grappling with
a problem that in the long run could even endanger the safety of this ship.
For the past 86 days we have in fact been sailing as if we had left behind the extreme
edge of the universe, and in front of us lay a boundless ocean, empty of all land.
Stars, nebulae, dark and luminous matter, galaxies - light!
Everything is now behind us.
In front only absolute emptiness, and darkness.
Other times we found ourselves in similar conditions, but the great voids we passed
through were still dense with the matter, even if invisible... and however extensive
they were they could be overcome in a few hours.
In these three months, however, we have brought the velocity down to relativistic levels and
nothing seems to change.
From the maps we have, we should even be in the center of a supercluster of galaxies,
but we see no sign of it either in the visual or in the gravimetric measurements.
So much so that by tomorrow we will have to decide whether to continue or reverse course.
We are at the point of no return for the ship's autonomy.
But there is more.
Apparently, the nothingness we are passing through has anomalies in the values of universal
physical constants, such as the speed of light and the half-life of the plutonium we have
on board.
In light of these facts, which are beyond my comprehension, the scientific committee
on board has put forward a hypothesis, which I would like to have explained to you by Dr.
Twissel here, a member of the crew and an eminent physicist.
Applause.
The captain comes down to the audience and sits next to the second-in-command.
The lights go out and only the stage remains dimly lit, illuminated by a few spotlights
and the light from the large screen on which images, formulas, and diagrams are projected.
Twissel takes the floor.
Gentlemen, colleagues...
To give you a clear understanding of what we are talking about, it is first necessary
for me to bring back to your memory something that you have undoubtedly studied in your
years at the academy, but which only a few among you will then have had the opportunity
to touch upon in previous missions.
I am referring to the classification of alien technological civilizations according to the
Kardashev Scale.
A buzz in the room stops the exposition for a few seconds.
Then after a stern circular glance, Dr. Twissel resumes speaking.
As a civilization grows and progresses, its demand for energy increases rapidly due to
population growth and industrialization.
In light of this, the Kardashev scale was developed as a way to measure the technological
progress of a civilization based on the amount of usable energy it could possess.
At first, there were only three types considered.
The first, the one at the lowest energy level, is the civilization defined as Type I, which
is able to collect and harness all the energy a planet receives from the parent star.
Not only that.
To qualify as such, a Type I Civilization should be able to completely control the climate
and natural phenomena of the planet on which it lives, as well as its gravitational sphere
of influence.
As I'm sure you know, our species is estimated to have reached this level around the year
2400, while the only example of an alien Civilization with these characteristics was found a century
later when one of our ships encountered the Przybylski star - 370 light-years from Earth
- and its planet “Przybylski d”.
A planet that was - and still is - so under control that it has always prevented us from
any form of communication.
Type I civilizations are obviously very rare, but recognizable when encountered because
of the chaotic noise of their electromagnetic emissions.
We on our home planet release an absurd amount of them.
Absurd and dangerous - so much so that we suspect that any Type I Civilization soon
learns to dampen these emissions, and effectively make itself invisible to outside threats.
The next level allows a hypothetical Type II civilization to harness not only the energy
received from the planet, but that emitted by the parent star in its entirety.
This is where the hypothetical "Dyson Sphere," the cyclopean piece of engineering capable
of encasing the star's entire surface in armor of solar panels, and thus harvesting most,
if not all, of its energy, would come into play.
I speak of this in the conditional tense, because even at this level we have so far
had only one example: the red dwarf system Krass 3212, 30,000 light-years from the Sun.
Whoever controls the star, controls basically the whole solar system that belongs to it,
and that is why we have not had a chance to ascertain whether Krass 3212 was actually
shielded, and with what.
Our exploring ship, was the year 2666, was in fact denied access when it was still 70
billion kilometers from the star, and therefore we were content to detect only the anomalous
and characteristic infrared radiation.
We, humans, are still a long way from this level, having only recently begun to try to
harness the energy produced by the Sun.
Let's say we are currently only 3 percent of the way to building a Dyson Sphere--with
the expectation of completing it perhaps in a thousand years.
Thus we have arrived at Type III, for which there is even speculation that a civilization
might be able to control-not a planet or an entire planetary system-but even an entire
galaxy.
How it might be able to do that, we don't know.
We think it might use the same techniques employed by a Type II civilization but applied
individually to all the stars in one or more galaxies.
Or, it might even be able to tap into the energy released by supermassive black holes
found at the center of most galaxies.
But already at this level, we would be forced to speak of a "master race," capable of imposing
its vision on billions of other worlds and species.
Which is absolutely unimaginable for us - with the added suspicion that such beings should
have long ago abandoned any connection with the typical traits of the animal species,
and look more like demigods than material beings.
But Kardashev's scale does not stop there.
Indeed, it was deemed necessary to hypothesize, by a kind of "internal logic of the assumption"
(as physicists say), also the existence of Type IV, capable of harnessing the energy
content of a supercluster of galaxies.
And then, by the same logic, Type V.
But from this step up one would have to think of Civilizations composed of superior beings
capable of manipulating the universe to their liking.
A Type V civilization would have to tap into energy sources unknown to us using strange
or currently unknown laws of physics.
But we also know-and with this we are at the level VI-that our universe is only one of
many that make up the multiverse...
So that somewhere must exist-now, in the future, or in the past-a civilization capable of deciding
second by second the fate of a multiverse or megaverse...
At this point, Dr. Twissel pauses for a few seconds and looks past the glass windows overlooking
the vacuum outside.
He wipes the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, drinks some water, and then
staring at the room also bathed in darkness, resumes his exposition: but he seems confused
and very upset...
I, of course, am only reporting facts...
No, sorry, I meant to say hypothesis...
You must not think that I can really believe that...
Please excuse me again.
. Where were we?
Ah yes, to the multiverse...
A multiverse is a collection of multiple observable universes.
Each universe in a multiverse shares common physical laws, elementary particles, and everything
else with the parent universe.
Universes within the multiverse may be called "alternate universes," "parallel universes,"
or "many worlds."
But then, to complete the whole, at the top of the pyramid stands the eerie shadow of
the omniverse, which is a superset of every single multiverse that has existed or will
exist.
Omni in Latin means "all things."
In essence, the omniverse is the theoretical source of our universe as well as every other
universe contained in the multiverse.
And if the omniverse is indeed a real entity, then in the opinion of our best physicists
"cannot but exist" a level of civilization capable of manipulating the energy of such
a monstrosity: namely, a Type VII civilization.
Needless to say, those who govern the omniverse must have for billions of years abandoned
all connection with the matter and its animal origin, if they ever had one.
And that such transcendence can only bring to mind our old idea of an anthropoid god,
able to create other universes at will, as well as destroy them, or to change the laws
of physics on the fly.
Beyond Type VII civilizations, there is no possibility of ramifications of other phases
on the Kardashev scale manifesting in our lives.
The omniverse must be considered the end of the line.
Such a civilization could not be detected, since its activities would be indistinguishable
from the workings of nature.
But it would look very much like what we are seeing out there: nothingness.
Because gentlemen ... that is exactly the point.
Apparently, all of us on this ship have now stumbled upon - or perhaps we have been chosen,
who knows - one of the rare manifestations of this superhuman civilization, or worse,
this lonely superhuman entity...
Perhaps a signal, an experiment, or even just a whim...
The space we are passing through at seemingly superluminal speed - and I say "seemingly,"
because we cannot be sure of even that given the lack of any landmarks - is something that
should not even exist.
It is a place where we have not detected even the presence of the virtual particles commonly
found in a quantum vacuum - and where the temperature of background radiation cannot
even be measured.
At this point, my colleagues and I have nothing else to propose but to reverse course before
it is too late.
Assuming we can still talk about the course, direction, speed, and orientation.
And we need to do it now.
The half-life acceleration of the plutonium we have on board is steadily increasing, and
we may not be able to get enough propulsion to turn back.
The last word, of course, goes to the commander, whom I would ask to join me to begin the discussion.
I have concluded.
Lights, please.
No reaction in the room.
The lights do not come on, and the commander does not respond to the invitation.
No one takes the stage.
Dr. Twissel brings his hand to his forehead to shield the light from the spotlights that
illuminate his station.
And he calls again for the lights to come on.
To no avail.
He steps off the stage, pretending to be almost amused by the little incident.
He reaches the commander's row.
Last seat on the right.
But it is empty.
Just as all the others are empty.
There is no one there.
Or maybe there has never been anyone or will never be anyone again.
The ship is empty.
Twissel realizes that it is over, that it would also be pointless to go check in the
other rooms or call the bridge...
He sits down and wearily stares at the big screen that is calling to him.
And where letters slowly begin to form, and then these words:
There was then no Death, not the Undeath.
No sign distinguished Night from Day.
The One breathed, but no breath was heard.
Outside the One, there was nothing else.
Only there was darkness enveloped by darkness.
The Universe was but an indistinct wave.
The One breathed, born by virtue of heat.
But it was an empty beginning, enveloped by the Void.
Then in the heart of the One arose desire, the first seed of consciousness.
Thus, peering into their own hearts, the wise discovered in non-being the bond of Being.
Like a rope stretched sideways.
What below?
What above?
Below, the seeds; above, the matrices.
Below, is the answer; above, is the call.
But who can know, who can say, Whence sprang this Creation?
The gods, they came later.
So then, This Creation came from where?
From where it came, whether it really was created, no one can know, except the Overseer
who watches over the world from behind the firmament.
Or perhaps not even He, can know?
Pause.
End.
Then everything starts moving fast.
Reality dissolves, the spaceship and the screen collapse.
The vision of his dog running toward him as a child is the last human trait that pierces
his heart.
Before he is embraced by the black bitumen of perfect knowledge.