The Singer Report

NEXUS RESEARCH Special Report
By Cpt. Dox Starr, NX Aristotle II, 01-156

SINGER REPORTS AND OTHER INTERESTING STUFF!!
(As gleaned from the Dominium Review (DR), Interstar Chronicles (IC), Delta Group's Dominium Status Report (DSR) and other reports)

(Ed. Note) Over the past 18 years, reports have been filed by starship captains of sightings of Singers, unexplained transportings of ships, expeditions and entire cities and explorations of mysterious alien artifacts, all seemingly interconnected and linked to the ancient race called "The Patriarchs", who came into this section of the galaxy over 150,000 years ago. The following articles were collected from public newspapers and unclassified documents. We, at Nexus Research, hope this information will assist all intelligent life forms in the galaxy to know and understand the forces at work around us.

10-138 (DR) Classified Ad... The sons of Shebalco are here among us. We have always been and always will be. We urge you to forsake the ways of greed, disruption and evil. The light is still strong in the galaxy.

07-140 (DR) Article "Delta Alpha Disappears - Is Presumed Destroyed" DM/C Marathon Reach - Data is now being corrolated by Frontier Guard HQ, but it would appear that DG/C Delta Alpha was struck by a "beam" which originated from the planet Starn and is missing along with several ships in the immediate vicinity. A list of the missing and their last known locations are as follows:

DG Arcanus (In orbit near city)
DG/C Delta Alpha (In orbit around Starn)
DR Miss Universe (Docked at the city)
DR Polaris (Locked at the city)
FG Star Hunter I (In orbit near the city)
IN Angela Marie (In orbit near the city)
OL Rolling Stone (Locked at the city)

Several ships which entered the area reported some residual radiation and a white glow, but no debris of any size was sighted.

08-140 (DR) Article "New System - New Manager at Delta Alpha" DG/C Delta Alpha - Through reasons unknown at press time, this city and all the ships docked there were mysteriously transported over 25 light years away from the Lastport System. City officials did not allow reporters to give out the exact location, but did promise a full story next month. A statement released by the city announced that Jhared Korinthos resigned as city manager and former head manufacturing tech, Kon Nor, would be the new manager.(etc)

10-140 (DR) Article "Details on Delta Alpha Relocation Revealed" DG/C Delta Alpha (Orbiting Meridian:Holliman System) - A spokesperson for Delta Group explained that DG/E Mining A had been lost to alien control several months ago. When DG/E Expedition E checked on the settlement they found "blank looks" on the faces of the inhabitants and, upon contacting the settlement via comlink, found the group was under the control of an alien force called "Solomon". The communication stated over and over again, "We are Solomon. We are one. We are we. You must go. From the land. From the sky. This is our place. For now. For eternity. Eternity awaits. Eternity exists. Oneness exists. We are Solomon. We are one..." The expedition also observed a "skyward pointing device" being constructed. It resembled a small radio telescope dish and had many cables feeding to it from one of the ore complexes. Delta Group stated that it tried frantically up until the transfer to arrange for orbital bombardment of the settlement, but was struck by a beam from the surface and transported to the orbit of Meridian the same month the bombardment was to take place. In a recent development, DR/E Mining C has been taken by the Starn native "Solomon" as well. It would seem that Dominium ships should stay clear of the planet.

03-142 (DR) Article "DG Mirage Thrown Sixty Five Light Years" Coradane System - FCDR Merek Cain of the DG Mirage reported his ship was thrown sixty five light years. The DG Mirage for the last four months has been studying the phenomenon known as the "Singers" in Gondrill System. When the ship moved into orbit around Singer Beta, it was tossed from Gondrill System to Coradane System. FCDR Cain stated, "We spent three months studying the Singers. We even tried on several occasions to scan them but they just seemed to swallow our signal. Our science team in conjunction with our navigators seemed to think they had finally figured out the Singer's movement, so we approached. We were grabbed by some kind of tractor beam and were thrown into the Coradane System. I'd say, "ALL SHIPS ARE ADVISED NOT TO APPROACH THE SINGERS".

11-142..(DR).Article "Aurora on Starn Raises Questions" DM/C Prime Base - Strange lights and glowing storms have been on the increase all over the surface of Starn over the last several months and observers are speculating about what may be happening on that mysterious planet. Earlier manifestations were attributed to a being which called itself "Solomon", which seems to have been responsible for the re-location of DG/C Delta Alpha during 06-140. One theory put forth is that someone has landed on Starn and has once again disturbed the strange, ghostly forces at work there which are possibly the result of an intelligence beyond imagining. If that's the case, all ships are advised to remain clear of Starn's orbit until the disturbances have abated.

11-142 ..(DR).Ask Dr. Science Article "Black Holes" Some interesting info on black holes.

12-142 (DR) Ask Dr. Science Article "Black Holes, Part II References the experiences of the FG Minnow and the FG Sapphire experiments at the Dark Well. Both ships were thrown, one 30 light years and the other 50 light years to other parts of the galaxy.

11-143 (DR) Article "Rikel City Reports Strange Sighting" A report of a strange passive scan sighting at extreme sensor range is puzzling the manager of this small trading outpost in the Coradane System. The object was sighted at (-76/-42), far out in interstellar space and showed on the passive scan as "NEXIV GD". The detected tonnage was zero.

01-144 (DSR) Article "Rosette Information Released by Rikel" RT/C Miite - An informed source at this city provided some information, recently acquired by the RT Riiyom, on the Rosettes, an unnatural stellar formation in Maelstrom Sector. "They found six planetary sized artifacts orbiting each sun. Each artifact is somehow specialized. He's managed to explore one or two of them, and found extensive technology such as buildings and lots of collectors stuff, but nothing intelligent was living there. It's almost as if they all left at once or something. I think, maybe, the Rosette was built by some advanced race and they advanced beyond the need to use it," the source told this reporter. More information will be provided by the source as it becomes available.

02-144 (DR) Article "Nexiv GD Spotted Again" FG Sky Hawk - The apparition was spotted again in Ramrod System. Last known coordinates are (-79/+40). It seems several rumors or theories are being tossed around about what exactly this "thing" is. The ghost of the DG Vixen, which was lost in jump space several months ago, is the biggest theory which sounds the best so far.

04-144 (DR) Article "Singer-Beta Sighted in Shin. DG Hyperion In Trouble?" MF/C Ibean Station - Singer-Beta, one of the inigmatic planetary artifacts of Gondrill System has been sighted in the Shin System jump range. This astounding sighting is made more unusual by the fact that it apparently has the DG Hyperion in its clutches. The Hyperion is listed at the same coordinates and the ship's status shows as "In tow". This is the first known sighting of a singer outside of Gondrill System. (Ed Note: The DG Hyperion, commanded by CPT Jon De Falco, was destroyed by an expedition of the Fist of the Allmind FA/E White Star in 08-145).

06-144 (DSR) Article "FCpt Jon DeFalcon Reports on Encounter With Singer Beta"...DG/C Dela Alpha - After recently docking at the city, the crew under FCpt Jon DeFalcon of the DG Hyperion gave some information regarding his encounter with the Singers in Gondrill System - particularly Singer Beta. One state "It was real scary. We tried to orbit it, and did that okay and then we tried to map it . We couldn't get our scanners to cut through the interference! So then one of us - I think it was Charlie - thought we could just send down a shuttle. Before the research techs could figure it out, we was in tow from Beta and jumping through systems. We ended up in Shin System that first month and then it dropped us in Meridian and took off. It blanked all our computer records and put this matrix type thing in there." Between the memories of the crew interviewed by this reporter, the text of the matrix was apparently something like this:

STAYLXA
YOURLPH
SYSTEMT
TELLTAA
ENEMYWE
MAKEBAD
AWAYBYO

DG experts admitted thay could find no complicated code in the matrix and pretty much decided it stated, "STAY AWAY BY YOUR SYSTEM WE MAKE BAD ENEMY", but noted several other words could be deciphered, such as "SYSTEM, a "DEATH" and many smaller words. Other phrases could not be identified. They noted any assistance by others would be greatly appreciated.

03-145 (DSR) Article "Yardley Technology Declassified" DG/C Delta Alpha - A remarkable discovery was announced by Head Research Tech Thoshimas Dan-Ares late last month concerning the archiological finds discovered by a Frontier Guard expedition several months ago. The FG expedition turned over the finding to Delta Group in hopes to discover the origin. Among some of them were book fragments, constructed of "permaplast", a "holotape of temple" and three small cubical crystals. Also found was some equipment designed to use the crystals. The crystals are some sort of recorded text which the equipment translated for the techs at DG/C Delta Alpha. In this two parts series, the text of the data cube will be re-printed, followed by some theories that might explain how the Urr, Rikel, Taywan and some other races and regions of space, in the Atlantis Arcsector, share a common history.

Before the text of the cube is revealed, the data on the planet on which the cubes were found should be introduced.

Planet Name: Yardley
Location: Emilar System
Coordinates: (+03/-02)
Gravity: 0.4
Atmosphere: Ammonia
Temperature: -50 C.
Additional data on the planet: Yardley is a small, cold, hostile planet, second from the sun in the Emilar System. Much of the surface is covered by ammonia ice. Occasional mountain ranges are the only other surface feature. Your comlink operator reports a regular rising and falling radio signal which seems to originate from the planet's surface. Triangulation of this signal is impossible from orbit.

The following is a translation of data cube #1. Some areas of the information on the cube has been wiped, probably due to long term exposure to ambient small particle (neutrino) radiation. Graphical data and interpolations from the temple/library wall symbols and maps (thanks to the holotape research team), have been used to arrive at approximations of the proper nouns in the text of the translation. These are enclosed in parentheses:

TEXT OF DATA CUBE #1:
" are (insectoid) in nature with rigid internal skeleton as well as a hard carapace. We evolved from an omnivorous species on the broad grasslands... ...spent our lives roaming space in small starships, gathering information on other species, although our main interest has been in the race we call the (Patriarchs) whose artifacts abound in this region of... ...have accumulated a large volume of information on them despite... ...captured from its orbit in our star's life zone by a shift in the orbit of the gas giant, (Rur). This cataclysm nearly wiped out our culture and brought about an age of ice to our once... ...that we are trapped by our loss of starflight capability and can only hope to preserve the knowledge gathered over the ages... selected on the hostile planet of Yardley, where it should be safe for several eons at the very least. The planet is ill suited as a repository, but our remaining technology forbids us access to (Viba-janu). Our scientists have done their best to circumvent the corrosive atmosphere. The library should last for several millennia unscathed...holographic cubes as well as durable permaplast text, should its discoverers not understand the cube reader. The cube data should be proof against the ages should the permaplast fail at... ...only hope that an intelligent race will happen upon our beacon and can decipher and make use of our legacy. Prepared by (Tana-33), (Head Librarian)."

04-145 (DSR) Article "Yardley Technology - Continued" DG/C Delta Alpha - Continuing with the release of information on the Yardley artifacts as described last month.

TEXT OF DATA CUBE #2:
"...came into this area of the galaxy some 150,000 years ago. We are unsure what their true name was, but we dubbed them "(The Patriarchs)" because of their work in seeding planets with life and then nurturing that life to intell... ...afted the (Rosette) System to be their home. The emmense power involved in tha... ...tected by planet sized war machines called the (Singers), which we have learned were used sometime around 65,000 years ago when the (Taywan) race and its young empire had the folly to... ...destroying many (Taywan) planets. At this writing, the only known (Taywan) outposts exist in (Loram) and (Ara-Jen) systems, and these are at a very low level of technolo... ...ther engineering feats include an artificial planetoid in the (Um) system designed as a testing ground for new biological experiments, although we have no evidence that it was ever used. Another i... ... transmission device on (Kird) in the (Trusker) syste... ...achines include the (Singers), planet sized war machines capable of unbelievable destructive power. Attempts at communications with these artifacts seem to indicate advanced artificial intelligence. Three of the (Singers) can still be found in the (Gondrill) system, which was once the home system of the (Taywan), but which was completely cleared of its planets in retalia... ...smaller artifacts found in several places are thought to be scout devi... ...track the progress of young civilizations. We will probably never know for sure, for their technology is still millenia ahead of ours, although they seemed to use the simple methods wherever they were appropriate. The use of solar panels on many of their artifacts is a good example. Prepared by (Tana-33), (Head Librarian)."

TEXT OF DATA CUBE #3:
"...xplored far in each of the four galactic directions before the young crews returned to help us face the catastrophy which engulfed us... ...used in an attempt to halt the advance of the ice. A tragic mistake. But I degre... ...imward they found a rift in the stars some 80 light years across, and although there may be a route around it, it would have taken many years to find it. Closer to home, a number of young, but... ...drew them ever farther antispinward through the fairly thick drift of stars forming this arm of our gal... ...ife everywhere, but the only sapient species are in their infancy. Prime example is the race found on (Sol-III), which has only just developed primitive agricul... ...dence of the hand of the (Patriarchs)... ...to spinward have an equal influen... ...artling discoveries were found to be coreward where several ancient, but decadent civilizations hold sway over vast regions and are at constant war among themsel... ...mong these are the (Endoplasmoids), an aquatic race with a hatred for everything living, including their own ki... ...amazing that such a civilization could make it to the stars, although their decline is evident. Having annihilated most of their competitors, they turn increasingly cannibalistic... ...an only hope that they will feed on each other until none survive. This would be a blessing for the galaxy. Prepared by (Tana-33), (Head Librarian)."

During the collection of the information, various research techs offered their opinions as to what the interpretations of the cubes meant for the Dominium. One tech by the name of Samual Nor (no relation to CMgr Kon Nor) stated, "I believe the Rikel or the DD (Dendritti) or even both are the generic experiments Tana-33 told us about. We know that the DD are. From what I understand, the Urr and a race on Tether are related and maybe decendents of the Taywan Race." Another tech working on the project stated, "I was working in this very same lab when Delta Alpha was transported from it's orbit around Starn to where we are now - Meridian. I believe that there may be a connection between the Old Ones and this "Solomon" that did the transfer. Maybe he is one of the Old Ones in retirement! Nobody has ever gone down and done some heavy investigating of Solomon, so I guess we will never know." Some citizens of Delta Alpha were asked what they knew of the discoveries. One, rather outspoken individual, had this to say, "In the job I am in (Alien/Historical Research), I hear a lot of things about these Patriarchs, and it scares me! In my job, it kind of lets you know how much we humans don't know about space. About other races. When I hear some Dominium citizens squawk about "aliens" intruding into "our" space, I think that it is we who are the real "aliens"! We came waltzing into this sector more than a hundred years ago, not knowing anything about what or who we were intruding upon. I mean, the Urr were here before us, we insulted them, and then because of our ignorance with "alien" cultures, we caused a war between our two kinds. A friend of mine, who enjoys the comedy of H.U.D.S. (HUmans for the Domination of Space) meetings, overheard someone say that "Faust" is planning to start a few wars in order to justify ship build-ups! Now call me stupid if I think this guy is a maniac! I never believed that a head of our military organization would WANT war. The thought of it sickens me! I hope the DD wipe the FG (Frontier Guard) and DR (Dominium Rangers) out completely! Maybe then we can get some responsible people running things in the government!.

From what this reporter has been able to determine from these investigations, something has come up several times. First, the Singers exist in "cleared" systems only. Second, the Singers only activate when they "feel" threatened. Case in point, the DG Mirage was conducting research on the Singers in the Gondrill System. The DG Mirage then closed in on Singer Beta, in order to establish an orbit around it. The Singer responded by "throwing" the DG Mirage 65 light years away to the Coradane System. Some time later, the DG Hyperion was conducting similar research with the Singers and was towed through jump space by a Singer into another system. The memory banks of the DG Hyperion were completely wiped out, then filled with a message matrix that basically stated that the Singers make very bad enemies and that EVERYONE should stay clear of them. Third, according to the data cubes, the Singers activate when the "...(Taywan) race and it's young empire had the folly to..." perhaps attack the Singers themselves? Or maybe another race? Some races currently known, believe that the Singers only activate when they are notified/instructed by an outer-system source. The source described by the cubes, "...transmission device on (Kird) in the (Trusker) System..." According to some of these races, whenever a violent race is on the excess, the Singers intervene. The (Taywan) were excessively violent, as were the EP (Endoplasmoids). Something interesting about these "transmission devices" is that they seem to be planted for every race that the Patriarchs (Old Ones) had anything to do with. Since it is not believed that the Human Race was a product of the Patriarchs, and that we extended into this area of space, there are no transmission devices for us. However, the devices around us are monitoring the races and their interactions with other races. In essence, the Singers are the "guardians" that "curb" the violent tendencies of some race by completely destroying that races' planets, cities, ships, etc. There is a frightening joke going around; "The (DG) ships that are (currently) headed out for Earth in Sol System are not going to find Mother Earth there waiting for her children to return home, but only three Singers in orbit. The System data will probably read; "Three Singers are the only objects to be found in Sol System. All other bodies have apparently been cleard away at some time in the recent past..."

04-146 (DSR) Article "Gondrill Singers May Have Been Re-activated!" DG/C Delta Alpha - Thoshima Dan Ares held a brief press conference last week describing the possibility of "Singer Re-Activation." The news came when a DG ship was investigating a strange, seemingly unrelated, phenomenon in the Rimgart Sector. "While one of our DG exploration ships was investigating a strange artifact in a classified area in the Rimgart Sector, this artifact transmitted an encrypted message to Gondrill System", she stated. "The transmission was so instantaneous that any effort to record and decipher it would have been futile." She ended on a warning to Dominium ships, "Any ships who identify a Singer on their passive scans, should report it immediately to the proper Dominium authorities, DG/C Delta Alpha and/or your corporate president. The DG ship may have inadvertently re-activated a Singer." No telling what the message said or what the Singers will do next! Be on your guard!

08-146 (DSR) Article "Singer Beta: Rikel's New Weapon?" (Commentary by Cpt. Kurt Navarro, DG Maelstrom) Does anyone REALLY know the Rikel? Does anyone REALLY believe what they say? They say that they are a peaceful race. That they cannot take a violent position in any situation for that is against their nature, and to do so would mean banishment from their society! Yet they seem to find that it is easy for them, and justified, using battle droids against the enemy! "We don't kill", say the Rikel, but their battle droids that they operate, do! If the Rikel operate a mechanical device that does the dirty work for them, then they have no direct tie to any violent actions, thus preventing them from going against their morals.

Now it appears that they have taken an interest in the Singers of Gondrill System - Singer Beta. It was sighted in the system in "orbit" around Panum a few months ago. Do they intend to use the Singers like they do battle droids? Are they going to begin inposing their views and beliefs on other races?

Now the latest news says that "Solomon" of Starn has visited the Rikel home system. (Solomon was the entity responsible for transporting all of Delta Group's expeditions and city Delta Alpha from Starn in Lastport System all the way to Meridian in Holliman System). Does this "Solomon" have something to do with the Singers? Something to do with the Patriarchs? Who knows? The Rikel do, and it appears that they are not going to share that information with the citizens of the Dominium.

If the Rikel have gained the knowledge for controlling the Singers, then we may very well become slaves to their will. Fortunately, it is against what the Rikel stand for, for they are a peaceful race. Or are they?

09-146 (DR) Article "Solomon Arrives Following Departure of Singer" RT/C Miite (Um System) - This system now has its second strange visitor this year. The Rikel citizens of the city have been attempting for the past several months to summon the being known as "Solomon" by using their rite of collective consciousness. Now, it would appear that Solomon has arrived. A glowing storm approached the city from across the reaches of space, but as messages of greeting and goodwill were broadcast, the phenomenon settled on the surface of Panum, where widespread climatic disturbances could be observed. Stunned city officials were unable to comment on the development.

The arrival of Solomon follows closely on the heels of a visit by Singer-Beta, which caused a complete shutdown of all city power and a wipe of all data in the city computers. Apparently Singer-Beta paid the visit to demand the return of some sentient beings "collected" by the Rikel, but city management will not comment on the subject. It is believed that CMgr Kaldiiriios gave the Singer what it wanted, whereupon it departed.

The being known as "Solomon" was last known to be on Starn in Lastport System and is believed responsible for throwing DG/C Delta Alpha from Lastport to Holliman System during 06-140.

11-146 (DR) Article "Rikel Struggle To Unravel "Solomon" Mystery" RT/C Miite (Um System) - City officials here continue to work long hours in continuing attempts to uncover the mystery surrounding "Solomon", a mysterious entity previously thought to be a native of Starn in the Lastport star system. The Rikel citizens have made repeated attempts to use their "rite of collective consciousness" to contact the entity, but rumors circulating through the city indicate disturbing results.

Solomon is evidently doing something on the surface of Panum, the planet-sized artifact around which Miite orbits. Garbled reports and rumors indicate that all contact is lost with several surface settlements and that unusual activity has been detected on at least one site. City management was hesitant to comment on the matter.

The entity Solomon is known to appear as a "glowing storm" and is believed responsible for throwing DG/C Delta Alpha 30 light years back in 06-140.

(Ed. Note: The planet Panum and all of the Rikel citizens on the planet disappeared sometime after the year 151, and has never been reported to have been found in explored space).

07-147 (DR) Article "Ask Dr. Science"

Q: Dr. Science. We have heard rumors that one of the MG research projects hear on Head II was using Singer Technology. Can you tell us what is Singer Technology. I do not know that these other techs are working with AI Units. Sincerely, Tech JG Stan House, MG/E Thermopylae.

A: Corporate espionage has never been one of my strong suits, so anything I say will have to be comprised of general observations and vague speculations. Fortunately, vague speculation is one of my strong suits.

So-called "Singer" technology is named after three enigmatic artifacts discovered in the Gondrill System. The trio, respectively known as Singer-Alpha, Singer-Beta and Singer-Gamma, collectively make up the entire contents of the star Gondrill's solar system. Each is a spherical, planet sized artificial body. It is now believed that everything else in the system was destroyed by the Singers themselves. Two years ago, a major archeological find was uncovered by an FG expedition on the planet Yardley: an intact alien temple-library whose histories indicated a connection between the Singers and the ancient pre-human race scientists call "The Patriarchs". According to the Yardley finding, the Patriarchs were builders of the Singers, as well as other enormous structures such as the Rikel "planet" Panum, and the Kird "Grid". The uncanny symmetry of the Maelstrom Sector's 5-star Rosettes also bears witness to the Patriarch's origin.

This is all very well and good, I hear you say, but what is Singer Technology? Aside from their unique origins, one of the most noticeable things about the Singers is their inexplicable power to move enormous masses through space. The Singers have never been mapped, because they can and do actually move themselves out of their regular orbits to avoid close contact with starships.

This extra-orbital gambol and frolic has been well documented. In 03-144, the late DG Hyperion attempted to map Singer-Beta during an expedition to Gondrill. Her captain, Jon De Falco, tried to second guess where Singer-Beta was going to appear based on earlier observations. Sure enough, the trio followed the pattern and the Hyperion was able to orbit its target. To the Hyperion's surprise, however, Singer-Beta immediately followed suit by seizing the ship with a tractor beam, towing it out to jump range and jumping repeatedly until it arrived in the Holliman System and dropped off the Hyperion.
There are no solid explanations on how such a huge construction can posses jump drive capability. The Singers themselves give up no information about themselves willingly. Attempts to map them have invariably failed in a depressingly dependable way: On approach, the Singer appears a smooth featureless sphere. When mapping begins, you discover that you are reciving a scan of your own ship - your scans are bouncing back from the surface! In the middle of this frustration, the artifact moves away to a new orbit, removing the last doubts on the feasibility of the project.

The most disturbing aspect of the Singers is not their power or advanced level of technology, but in their purpose. According to the Yardley fragments, the Singers are "planet sized war machines capable of unbelievable destructive power". It goes on to report that 65,000 years ago Gondrill was the home system of the violent Taywan Empire. The Singers were employed against the Taywan to completely clear out the star system. Who were the Taywan? Ancestors of our old friends - the Urr.

If the Singers frighten you, welcome to the club. (And you thought cyber-fighters were scary!) On the plus side, however, the Singers seem by all observations to be perfectly content to stay where they are, and I don't see any Dominium research projects approaching anywhere near patriarch technology.

Incidently, the Gondrill Singers are not the only Singers around. Three other Singers (Delta, Epsilon and Zeta) were discovered in the Unverg System, and no one knows if any more trios are out there somewhere else, waiting...

09-147 (DR) Article "DG Atlantean Announces Discovery Of New Space-Faring Race: The Tar-Kel" DG/C Delta Alpha (Holliman System) - Captain Dannuth Klyor of the DG Atlantean held a press conference today to announce the discovery of a new race in the Grodmutter Star System.

The Atlantean was recently rescued by the TN Tiiriil when the star went supernova. Further contact with the Tiiriil revealed that the TN call themselves the Tar-Kel. According to them, the system was destroyed with the help of a "starsailor which gave his life" in order to purge the system of "an evil known as Shebelco".

This disclosure caused a surprised outburst from reporters as the so-called "Sons of Shebelco" have a been a Dominium mystery for generations.

Unfortunately, Cpt. Dannuth had no further details regarding the Tar-Kel physiology or culture, but said that "strong contact has been established, and the Tar-Kel appear genuinely friendly and curious about us." Dannuth promised to continue contact efforts, despite his resignation from Delta Group.

02-149 (IC) Article "DR Atlantean Discovers Alien Artifact Link" DR/C Athena Forward (Glade System) - Dominium Ranger sources today confirmed rumors that a Ranger vessel has made an amazing discovery in the Dran-Ja System.

The vessel, the DR Atlantean, has experienced a variety of strange phenomena, and has also just managed to make contact with an alien artifact on the airless surface of Ja-ha. LCdr Dannuth went on to report that a transmission of some sort, carried on an amplification wave of tremendous power, was witnessed by the expedition. The signal was determined after careful triangulation to be aimed at the Gondrill Star System, itself an enigma. This is the first time a definite correlation has been found between the mysterious Singers of Gondrill, three planet-sized artificial bodies and the three metallic masses on the surface of Ja-ah. LCdr Dannuth Kylor has promised further information as it develops.

03-151 (IC) Article "Ask Dr. Science"

Q: Herr Dokter. What are the difficulties in exploring these planet-sized artifacts in the Um, Gondrill and Unverg Systems? Do they have powerful shields, impenetrable point defenses, or simply no entry hatches? Who explored them? Can you make comments on my theories of Panum being a signal beacon and the Singer Triangles being inactive long-range star gates, related to their maga-version: The Rosette Cluster? Signed, Chief Scientist Albert Zweistein, MF Ainulindale.

A: There are many different xenoarcheological sites in our corner of the galaxy, and almost all of them appear to be remnants of the same civilization - that of a pre-human race we know only as the Patriarchs.

The most famous of these sites is in the Gondrill System, a solar system devoid of all matter except the three planet-sized machines called the Singers. The Patriarchs, when they created them some 65,000 years ago, instilled them with fantastic power and a reclusive temperment. They have made it clear on several occassions, that they wish to be left alone. This has not, however, dissuaded explorers from tying to unlock their secrets.

These would be first contacters found two immediate obstacles. The surface of the Singers appear to be smooth and devoid of features. They reflect back scans, so that when you try to map them, you receive a very nice scan of your own vessel. About the time you are discovering this, the Singer moves its planet-sized mass to a new orbit, leaving you alone in space.

The only captain that successfully managed to outsmart a Singer was the late Jon De Falco of the DG Hyperion. For his troubles, the Hyperion was snatched up by a tractor beam of enormous power and escorted by the Singer-Beta all the way across human space back to Holliman System, where it was ingraciously dumped. The ship's entire data network had been wiped and replaced with billions of copies of a short but cryptic matrix which when interpreted seemed to convey a message of "stay out or else".

To date, these would seem to be the only defenses that the Singers have revealed, but as a word of caution, these artifacts are tremendously old and powerful, and we know virtually nothing about them. Let the captain beware. In addition to the Singers in Gondrill System (Alpha, Beta and Gamma), there are also three in the Unverg System of Delta Sector (Delta, Episilon and Zeta). The Unverg Singers seem to correspond to the Gondrill Singers exactly. It's anyone's guess whether there are any other Singer trios in the stellar neighborhood.

The artifical world Panum in the Um System of Rimgart Sector is clearly another product of Patriarch-level technology, but it does not share the Singer's disposition to life forms. The Rikel consider it their homeworld, which presents the question, "How could a sentient starfaring race evolve from a relatively young, artificial planet?" When I asked then-city manager Kaldiiriios, the White, about this some years back, he/she explained it this way:
"The Panum artifact was built for us by our ancient benefactors to protect their peaceful children from the violence of other species."

Despite the relatively better accessability of Panum, I personally am unaware of any expeditions ever sent to the planet. However, it is a sure bet that the old 2nd Dominium military attempted reconnaisance of some kind.

Regarding your theories: Could Panum be a signal beacon?. Could the Singers (and the Rosette Cluster) be stargates? Hmmm. Can I make comments? Of course! To begin with, Panum seems to me to function perfectly well at what the Rikel believe it to be, a "homeworld" for their species. Whether this is the original purpose, or its sole purpose, is a matter of speculation. The Yardley fragments, our best source of information on the Patriarchs, propose that the planet was originally a testing ground for biological experimentations. All this aside, I don't see why Panum couldn't function as a signal beacon, but I resist the notion on three grounds: 1) It is a fully functional biosphere, which would be reason enough for its existence. 2) A signal beacon the size of a planet stikes me as being unnecessarily large. 3) There are other Partriarch artifacts which are better suited for the role. Case in point, the kilometer-long grid network on the planet Kird in the Tusker System, also mentioned in the Yardley texts as a "transmission device". Another intriguing possibility is the sunken metallic masses discovered in the Dran-Ja System on Ja-ha. These were investigated by the DG Sparrow Hawk, captained by Jared Vellacora, and later by the DG Atlantean, captained by Dannuth Kiyor. Both captains observed transmissions beamed from the planet...to the Gondrill System. The content of the transmissions remains undeciphered.

Could the Singers be stargates? Again, I am skeptical. While it is true that the Singers have been proven to posses jump capacity, (or at the very least, Singer-Beta has, twice) the available evidence indicates that the Singers were designed to be and remain weapons of war. If they were intended to operate as stargates ( and I do not doubt that the Patriarchs had the technology to do so if they wished) then I think they would have employed the ability before now. Thinking back on the Hyperion incident and other incidences, Singer-Beta would not have needed to leave the system if the Singer-triangle could form a stargate with which to give trespassers the boot.
Finally, is the Rosette Cluster a mega-version of the Singer-Triangle configurations in Gondrill and Unverg Systems? Good question! All our information concerning the Rosette Cluster (in Maelstrom Sector) comes from sketchy reports from Rikel explorers. According to their accounts all six systems contain six planet-sized artifacts in various states of dis-repair. The Yardley text seems to indicate that the Cluster was formed by the Patriarchs as a home base when they first arrived in this section of the spiral arm some 150,000 years ago. No recent expeditions to the Rosettes have been documented, with one exception, that of your own vessel, the starship Ainulindale. I hope you will be able to share new discoveries with us soon.

09-151 (IC) Article "History of Sol Sector, Part 2" (Excerpt) During 08-110, the OL Star Ripper, fleeing the defeat of the Vegan rebel fleet in Sol System, discovers a large planetary-sized artifact in Cyclops Sector, a Dark Singer. The Star Ripper transmits astrogational coordinates for the Sol System to the artifact and tapes of the battle. In 01-111, the Dark Singer arrives in Sol System.

10-151 (IC) Article "History of Sol Sector, Part 3" (Excerpt) 02-111 - RN ground based space defenses on Triton attack the Dark Singer. The rider forces and RN/C Yuma are destroyed in a single round of combat. Triton itself is destroyed soon after. 03-111 - All contact with Sol System is lost. 08-112 - A scoutship, the RN Pi Caroli, enters Sol System. It manages to transmit a scan of almost complete planetary devastation before transmission is abruptly cut off. The Pi Caroli is not heard from again.

03-154 (IC) Article "NX Guardian Angel Destroyed, Ship Exploring in Rosette System"...NX/C Alexandria (Glade System) - Capt. A. A. Michael and all of the crew on board
NX Guardian Angel met violent and sudden death during 12-153, while exploring the Rosette Artifacts in the Maelstrom Sector. Nexus President, Patrick O'Malley said, "The last holo-transmission" received at Nexus Research from Capt. Michael was grim and forboding.

President O'Malley went on to relay the last words from Capt. Michael's log, "We completed Phase One of our mission...and we are now proceeding toward the next Dancer Artifact...steady as she goes, Helmsman...(another voice) Captain, Captain, we have lost all helm and navigation!!...ship is being pulled into the star. Red Alert!, Red Alert!...(Captain's voice) All power to emergency engines...all crew stand by for...".

President O'Malley concluded, "All of us will mourn the loss of Capt. Michael and his brave crew, but this will not deter Nexus Research from seeking answers to the puzzling riddles and relationships between the Dancers/Singers/Solomon and the Patriarchs."

04-154 (IC) Article "NX Ship Thrown 210 Light Years" NX/C Alexandria (Glade System) - Capt. Zacharia of NX Cat's Cradle hastily reported on 01-154 via holo-com to Nexus Research a narrow escape from destruction by a mysterious Singer in the Maelstrom Sector. Capt. Zacharia explained, "Our crew and an expedition on the surface of the planet were conducting exploration and research to determine the nature of the three perfect spheres that are visible from space. We intercepted and translated the following coded message,"Scout Unit 10011100111...suspect code...identity unknown...agressor units summoned...stand by for agressor unit arrival."

"It was shortly after that," Capt. Zacharia went on, "that our scanner showed an object in orbit around the planet that had no mass and a transponder-like signal that read SINGER-GAMMA. We attempted to jump out of the system, but then all hell broke loose. Our ship was pulled closer and closer toward this Singer-thing and then beams of white light started sweeping over our ship. The next thing we knew our ship's systems went crazy and then...Aaaarrrggghhh!!!", Capt. Zacharia went pale.

Capt. Zacharia paused for a moment to regain his composure, then continued, "I guess we were lucky to survive. I'll bet we scared the hell out of EM II Hyped, when we suddenly appeared on their scanner in Ribal System in Bravo Sector, 210 light years away. Say, this may be the next generation stargate for Nexus Research. I'll get the boys to start working on it right away!"

12-155 (IC) Article "Who's Singing Now? - Singers Disappear From Gondrill" NX/C Alexandria (Glade System) - Nexus Research President P. K. O'Malley announced, "Current reports from Nexus Research ships in deep space during 10-155 indicate that the three (3) Singers, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, that inhabit the Gondrill System have disappeared. Previous reports of missing Singers have always preceded some Singer-related activity, such as ships, cities or expeditions being randomly transported to various parts of the galaxy.

President O'Malley went on the say, "All ships, cities or expeditions should be on the alert for sudden changes of locations or intrusions of Singers in their occupied "space". If anyone receives information from passive scans of the whereabouts of any of the three Singers, or experiences any re-locations of cities, ships or expeditions, please contact President O'Malley of Nexus Research immediately. We are actively engaged in exploring the activities and actions of the Singers and all of our research will eventually be revealed to all of the civilized galaxy.

01-156 (News Release Nexus Research) "First Recorded Live Encounter With "Solomon"! NX/C Alexandria - The Nexus Research Expedition NX/E Cradle 2 recorded the first reported live encounter with the entity known as "Solomon" on the planet Starn in Lastport System.

For the last several months the expedition from Nexus Research has been exploring a far distant planet called Tic Toc. This planet proved to be a "wishing planet", evidently created by the ancient race called The Githwindi. After several months of trying the learn the secrets of the planet and it's strange apparitions and succumbing finally to the "mind-games" required to control the thoughts of the expedition members, the entire Nexus Research Expedition was transported several hundred light years to the planet Starn in the Lastport System of Endeavor Sector, during 10-155, by an unknown force. The only anomolies recorded were several "glowing spheres" seen by the expedition's leader, moving behind a mountain after the arrival on Starn.

The "spheres", about a meter in diameter, were glowing with a soft "inner light" and seemed almost shy or reluctant in their appearance. A close encounter with the spheres by one of the expedition's female Rikel scientists reported a "sense of anticipation", as though someone or something was being summoned. Indications were that these spheres were an intelligent life form worth futher investigating. One of the scientists actually touched and was engulfed by one of the glowing spheres. After about three weeks she suddenly re-appeared to her expedition members, but only remembered a "mental wind". Hypnosis of the scientist recovered only a sense of disatisfaction with the leadership of the expedition.

Then suddenly several scientists cried out and pointed to the horizon. There, a white glow was seen rapidly growing in size and intensity. Telescopes showed tens of thousands of glowing spheres moving closer and closer to the expedition. Within a short time, the expedition was engulfed by the "glowing storm". Expedition members sensed a "wind" blowing through their minds into all the dark places and hidden corners of the "self". Then a voice spoke, "I am Solomon. You will not disturb me further. Your people seek violence. Your people seek vengence. They plea with me for justice. These things are nothing to me. Your forms are nothing to me. YOU are nothing to me. Tell the Githwindi. Now GO!!!"

Immediately after this, the Nexus Research expedition found itself transported 30 light years away to the planet Meridian in the Holliman System, Endeavor Sector, right in the heart of the First Imperium!

Although there was no loss of life, the Rikel Scientists were greatly disturbed. Their consensus of the entire adventure was forboding. Civilized, intelligent life in this sector of the galaxy must stop their violence and self-seeking power, or "Solomon", with perhaps the aid of the Patriarch's "Singers", will do what they did to the advanced Taywan empire some 65,000 years ago, when the entire Taywan race was destroyed. All signs and rumors currently point to some imminant occurance soon, and with unbelievable forces at work. All Rikels are urged to meditate and devote all their free time to ascending states of consciousness for the good of all and for Riistral. "Peace be to all", was the last words from the Nexus Research scientists.