by P F Walsh
“If I said this once I’ve said a hundred times. You can’t give just one potato chip.” He said with a smile.
“Here’s what I recommend. The President is leaving for Denknish on their Speaker’s ship so we don’t have to worry about giving him a ride back to Earth. So, first we notify Allister that the Seeker departure is being delayed two weeks, have him send a drone to Earth explaining the demand for Earth’s cultural activities exceeded expectations and you are all staying for two more weeks plus travel time to return to Earth. Then in the first week, have Millie begin booking the two Orchestras for concerts and Ballets with at least one of them on another member world selected by lottery. Have the Debs ready to perform at those concerts with their dancing. On the second week, set up a day schedule by reservation for the Debutantes and their escorts to help teach young Hhearn ladies and gentlemen how to waltz. That same week could also be used to make appointments for potential students to meet with musicians.”
“Liesl, you can set up contact with your Vienna suppliers of gowns and tiaras. You have a good idea how much those will cost on average so the locals can plan. You also need to find a volunteer here on Hhearn to be the on-site vice chairperson for the next Ball, because it sure looks like there will be another one. I suggest starting with the Senior Councilor’s Mate. How’s that sound?” He said.
They all looked at each other and almost in unison said “Yes!”
“Now, before you do all that, you have to get the agreement of the musicians, the debs and their escorts, the ballet dancers, and the singers all have to agree to the delay by majority vote but not necessarily to perform.” He said.
They rushed out to call a general meeting to explain the huge demand and hopefully persuade all the others to join in.
A general meeting was held in the main dining room and Maejel, Millie and Liesl explained their plan and the demand. It was very well received, and a majority by vote confirmed a new program for Hhearn and one other member planet was in the works. Allister contacted the Central Exploration Management and got approval for yet another non-exploration engagement. The word about this latest cultural exchange quickly reached the Council from the Senior Councilor’s Mate and it was decided, based upon recent beneficial use, that Seeker 18 should be transferred to Nasht-Mer’s Diplomatic Department.
Sean was pleased this was such an easy problem to solve. Make everyone happy and it works. He strolled out of the Seeker in a good mood and was immediately confronted by two Sisters of Mak’am, he couldn’t tell whether these were the two that had traveled with him to Denknish since they didn’t seem to have names or individual characteristics. He walked over to them and bowed his greetings. They bowed back and chimed into his mind,
“We are here on a mission of critical importance to our Mill Den. Mother Primitia has asked for your company with us. There has been a great discovery and we must have a spokesman.”
Sean replied with thought,
“I am available to serve your needs, lead on.”
Chapter Sixteen
Book Two
The vid camera was lowered into the drill hole that had just been dug when it hit an object harder than the drill head coring bit. It went down about fifty strides and bumped into the obstruction. They drew the camera back a few units so it could focus. The Job Boss and the drill operator stared at the screen in amazement. It was black, mildly curved, and looked like something with a glass coating. They could see one seam that was coated over with the glass layer. No question this was not natural.
“Err Boss, we have company.” As the drill operator looked behind the job boss. Standing there was Captain Flynn and two of the black robed ghosts he brought to Denknish. The job boss jumped up and backed away with the drill operator.
“Nothing to be afraid of guys.” Sean said through his translator.
“I do have some bad news about your construction schedule though.” Sean said while he looked at the vid cam monitor.
What you guys have hit is a starship that has been buried here for a few hundred annuals, maybe more, it’s a little unclear how long exactly, but it is still under power and needs to be excavated before you can build. I can’t tell you the dimensions of the ship since my associates here use a different measuring scale than either of us humanoids do. You’ll just have to dig it out.” Sean said.
By now the job boss was more composed and was becoming very unhappy that his excavation costs would skyrocket and the project would get delayed.
“Who’s going to pay for that?” He barked.
“Oh, I think that is the least of the problems. Your costs will be reimbursed. This is not your construction problem; this is a local Hhearn problem and the bill will be paid. Now if you don’t want to get too far behind your construction schedule, I would advise you to begin excavating now. By then, the depth of the excavation should accommodate the second basement, so I don’t believe you are going to lose much time. We’re also going to need a local crane to raise the ship once it is exposed. We’ll get Hhearn to provide that.” Sean said.
“A starship? What’s it doing down there?” The job boss asked.
“According to my associates here, it was a crash landing after engine failure. The ship belongs to my associates here and contains valuable religious articles they have been unable to recover. I am assured that if the hull is not breached there is no danger.” Said Sean and continued,
“I’ll clear all this with the Senior Councilor so there is no dispute.”
“They’re sure there is no danger?” Asked the job boss pointing at the Sisters.
“Certain. Just try not to puncture the hull.” Said Sean.
The digging continued. First with the heavy shovel now that they knew how deep the ship was. As they dug, more of the Sisters of Mak’am gathered around the construction site looking through the fence protecting the site and shielding it from prying eyes. The digging continued until they reached a level where the shovel bucket was too close to the ship’s hull and Sean, receiving a message from the two Sisters told them to stop.
Sean told the construction workers to call it a solar, he would get a team of Hhearn laborers to hand shovel the rest. Some of the Denknish construction workers recalling what Captain Flynn had done for their planet volunteered to help. As the heavy digging machine rolled back up the ramp to leave the excavation, Sean reached for his pocketcomm and called the Senior Councilor.
“Sean, good to hear from you, let me thank you again for your people arraigning that wonderful evening. My Mate is excited it is to be an annual event now. That’s great, all the Councilors loved it.” He said cheerfully. Sean allowed him to continue and then said.
“Senior Councilor, there is a situation that will be of very great importance underway right now at the new buildings construction site. In the process of drilling for footing columns, the drill struck something solid. It chipped off the cutters on the drill head.” Sean said, and the Councilor broke in,
“That’s nothing to be worried about, we’ll get another one over there right away.”
“Councilor, that’s not the concern. The Sisters of Mak’am came to me and told me it is their starship, the one that brought them to this planet. It was a crash landing and the ship burrowed into the soil over a century ago after discharging a complement of the Sisters here. They want the ship excavated and returned to their care. It still maintains power and an AI.
Fortunately, the ship is at or near the level they were going to excavate for the sub-basements anyway, so it is not going to delay the construction very much. But we will need dozens of laborers, shovels and wheelbarrows to remove the soil so a crane can lift it out. There is no way you can build on top of it.” Sean reported. The Senior Councilor was stunned.
“A starship, buried under our city?” He asked
“Yes sir, that’s correct. There seems to be no danger, but we will need a crane to lift it out and heavy transport to move it away from here. Some of the Denknish construction team have vo
lunteered to help, but we will need dozens more.”
“How do you know it is a Sisters’ ship?” He asked.
“Some time ago before I left for Denknish, I went to the old Mill and was admitted. I met with their Mother Primitia and was given the ability to converse with them. It’s a bit complicated, but I can speak with them.” He told a surprised Councilor.
No one on Hhearn had ever made that claim, but the Councilor had come to know that Sean was full of surprises and if he said he could talk with them, he was inclined to believe him. In fact, there were a ton of things he would like to know about the Sisters and their mysterious existence.
“Sean I can’t think about anything else to say except I’ll make a call to our works department and get you what you asked for. Then, I’ll be over there to see all this for myself, if there is no danger?” He asked.
‘Sir, if you stand clear of the excavation efforts and removal, I am assured it is all safe. Feel free to join us.” Sean said.
The Councilor hung up his comm and sat there for a minute thinking,
“What a solar, people are stealing freighters, old starships from a junk yard, and the ghosts have a buried starship. Zom’s Balls what a solar indeed.” He reached for his comm to call the works department for what they needed.
The President of the United States had left for Denknish with the Secretary of State on the Speaker’s starship. This was an executive model and came in three sizes. They were traveling in the smallest one which could accommodate fifty passengers. The largest one could accommodate two hundred and the interiors were the closest to Earth’s airliners in appointments. The President could see these were exactly what they were looking for to travel back and forth to the Council Worlds and the twin planets, Secretary Lewis agreed. As they were approaching Denknish the President looked out the portal and saw all the space junk from close in battles, some of the smaller pieces bouncing off the Speaker’s ship as they passed through the ring of debris.
Madam Speaker,” He said after adjusting his translator, “I had the occasion to talk with the leader from the Council Member world Leerkon. They’re specialty is recycling. They cleaned up all the orbiting junk at Hhearn and several of the other worlds. He told me of their orbit cleaning service that is implemented by a large scooper ship which has a crusher that feeds into an onboard furnace. This melts down and separates the metals and non-metal components into formed briquets for use again. I asked them to give us a price on cleaning up Earth’s orbiting junk pile. You might want to get in contact with them.” He said.
“Mr. President, thank you for telling me that, we were going to let that cleanup slide since we don’t have a ship for doing that, but maybe we can get cleaned up sooner, thank you, and please call me Doreem.” She said with a smile in her voice and her eyes.
After looking at several ships, some in the process of being converted, and some already built that way, the United States agreed to buy two and agreed to take delivery of two more at the end of an annual. One was the same model they rode to Denknish in, the second was a 200-passenger model. The second set ordered was identical. All came with a single shuttle of appropriate size. The United States now had a fleet of five starships, three freighters and two passenger models. The President was pleased that the passenger ships were not only available at a discount price, but were both equipped with effective defensive weaponry. In a peaceful society, like the Council of Worlds, this would not be the case. But Denknish and Lotma had been at war for decades, and each ship they built was able to defend itself, at least against a ship of comparable size and type. The extra weight of the weapons and heavier defensive plating made the ships unable to land in atmospheric settings. They would have to be boarded and un-boarded in space by shuttle.
The trip back to Earth was made up of three ships, the two purchased ones, and a third which carried the President, the Secretary, and the Speaker of the Denknish Assembly. It would return home to Denknish with the pilots of the two ships the U.S. bought, along with the Speaker and her contingent when they were ready to leave. The Speaker was making a diplomatic trip to Earth to issue personal thanks to the Congress of the United Sates and the IRO for their generous help and friendship. It was clear she was going to mix in some shopping and food adventures while there. The weeklong trip gave them all an uncommon respite from the burdens of office. The President and the Speaker became mutual admirers.
Communications with Earth was not possible during transition yet, although it was rumored that the Council Member world Nexxu, which was so skilled in building anti-gravity generators, was testing such a system. No one had a clue as to how it worked, or if it did. The best starships could do now was to launch a courier drone. Because of its size and mass, they were faster than most starships and would arrive a solar or two ahead of the approaching starship. These were always encrypted and were received at Base Edwards since there was no orbiting docking station at Earth.
Weeks before, the United States had hired a large contingent of Hhearn starship employees to teach classes to A&E Mechanics, pilots, and navigators on operating the three starship freighters they bought right away. The school soon would be turning out qualified graduates, more than the ships the U.S. had. The immediate plan was to rotate crews as they do on nuclear submarines. Later when they had more ships that program would be replaced.
Congress in the meantime was playing catch-up to deal with all the changes that had occurred since first contact. The issue with Captain Flynn’s recovery of a Denknish ship lost in ‘no-space,’ caused the amending of the salvage laws to include space ships and devices with a forwarding to the International Courts for consideration of adoption. Now they were trying to codify law with regard to space immediately above any U.S. possession out to 100 miles. This restricted any ship, instrument, satellite or device not authorized by the U.S. to occupy a stationery orbit position above the U.S.
Orbiting Satellites and ships in motion were offered free unfettered passage. Ships on approach had to contact an approach control. At the present there were only three of those but more were being built. Other large nations that were space capable or about to be took notice and duplicated the restrictions. The European union decided to be treated as a geographical union with aggregate control. An International Aeronautical & Space Navigation committee had been formed out of the IRO to establish flight rules for approach and orbiting the Earth. Everyone knew that would take a few years while they dealt with politics, wrote rules, modified them, wrote more, and sent them out for comment. before they could offer them for acceptance to world space navigation under the IRO.
The construction site of the two new Hhearn Office buildings was full of laborers. They were now hand digging after the digging machine had come back down the excavation and scraped off some more soil. The ship’s upper side was exposed quickly. The ship appeared to have a glassine coating over a dark blue metal that shined brilliantly in the Hhearn sunshine which was now directly overhead. The Sisters were all lined up around most of the fencing that protected the site. They had their arms stretched out as though preparing to embrace. The Senior Councilor arrived and joined Sean.
“By the Gods, there is a ship down there. We never knew that. This has always been an undeveloped lot we kept landscaped with a few seating benches. Do the Sisters know how long it has been there?” He asked looking at the two Sisters who stood alongside Sean and slightly back of him.
“They believe it is a few hundred annuals. Some information got lost in the interim about exact times and dates when the first Mother Primitia died unexpectedly. This was the ship that carried them here.” Said Sean
“Why here?” Asked the Councilor
“The Sisters told me that they were forced to leave their home planet called Mak because their star was dying and expected to collapse. The humanoid inhabitants left in two hundred ships in another direction. There wasn’t enough room for everyone and many were left behind to await demise. There were several attempts to seize their
ship but they were able to rebuff those and cram all their Sisters in and leave after all the other ships had left. They traveled for quite a while and were about to investigate Hhearn as a new home when their engines failed, and their ship was forced down.”
“That makes sense, but how do ghosts get to have a starship?” The Councilor asked.
Sean asked the Sisters and was told there was a wealthy industrialist who had a small personal starship and owned a fleet of larger ships. He wanted to take only the best potential employee/workers to the new world and asked the Sisters to help with the interviews of who would go. There were many who lied in desperation, and the Sisters could flag those who were truthful, and of ‘clean hands’. In return, he gave them his small ship. Which could carry no more than four humanoids, but plenty of room for non- corporeal beings. And now, there she lay rapidly being uncovered, centuries later.
The site Manager had joined into the effort since the sooner they got the ship out, the sooner he could get back to building again. The Sisters around the fence moved aside as the huge crane arrived to position itself to attempt a lift once it was uncovered.
“JB, how do you want to handle this?” Asked on of his foremen.
“Once we get the sides all clear, dig a small tunnel under the ship in three places, one being the center where the engine weight would be. Then we can pass lifting straps under the ship and see if the crane can lift it.”