by Tom Hart
The General looked at Duke sitting in his General's chair and forced a tight smile. ‘Mr ah, Colonel Fletcher would you come with me?’
Duke rose and thanked the men and women around the table. ‘I want transcripts of every conversation ever held in proximity to the sphere ready in one hour. I want high resolution shots of each individual marking on its surface and I want that correlated with stellar constellations as they appeared going back to whatever time period the science team think the sphere arrived on earth.’ That had the table buzzing. Why hadn't anyone else thought of that? Duke only said it to sound like he knew something they didn't. Even the General was nodding impressed. Duke bit his lip to stop from smiling. These people needed to watch more sci-fi movies.
From all Duke had read in his briefing folder on the plane, the sphere or Hydra as it called itself, sounded a lot like a gardening tool used by aliens to do some terraforming or planetary landscaping. It just so happened this gardening tool was smart and had its own brain.
What would a gardening tool with a brain want to be told by a primitive life form thought Duke as he stepped through the decontamination chamber.
The sphere sat in the centre of the chamber on a metal platform. All manner of electronic equipment and sensors were connected to it.
‘Get that gear off Hydra now,’ Duke yelled at the Air Force technicians in the room.
He had insisted on going into the chamber without Lyndon, the General or any other minions. He paced impatiently while the cables and connections were removed from the Hydra. ‘Get out!’ he yelled at the technicians when they were done. They scurried out leaving him alone with the Hydra.
‘Finally some peace and quiet,’ he said softly.
CHAPTER THIRTY
HYDRA
Duke stood a metre from the sphere. He wanted to know if the Hydra had any issues with personal space. Was it human like or simply a smart machine? He patted the sphere like a friend might do and said ‘Okay buddy, I am Colonel Fletcher of the US Air Force special operations command. You can disregard everything the primitives around here have been saying to you, they don't know what you truly are but I do.’
The Sphere remained silent. Duke had expected that. An intelligent machine would require further input to complete an assessment of Duke. A person would feel the need to speak but a smart machine wouldn't waste its time unless it had something it needed to say.
‘I liked the work you did on Mars by the way, you don't see that every day,’ Duke said casually.
‘Unfortunately that was not me,’ the Sphere replied in English.
Excellent thought Duke. There was nothing an intelligent person hated more than being presented with an inaccurate statement. The fact the sphere used the word unfortunately meant it had an ego and it was admitting that someone or something, perhaps another sphere, had done a good job at something.
Duke could see scrambling behind the heavy glass as the Air Force personnel grew excited the sphere had spoken. The General was frowning as if he no longer felt he was in control of everything.
‘Oh who was it?’ Duke asked innocently.
‘Selene.’ Hydra replied.
‘I should have known,’ Duke said shaking his head and patting the sphere again. ‘Shame you didn't get the chance to do the same on this planet.’
‘That was not my mission,’ Hydra said.
‘Bet your mission is more interesting than mine,’ Duke said somewhat despondent.
‘I have to deal with a pesky Chinese invasion of one of my friends. They decided to take something that was not theirs and now I have to sort out the mess.’
‘I am unable to assist with inter-planetary conflicts, it goes against my code,’ Hydra said.
‘Fair enough’ Duke said. ‘So what was your mission, guess it didn't work out hey?’
Hydra was silent for a moment. ‘No, it was not my fault.’
‘I know what you mean, management always gets in the way.’
‘They made bad decisions,’ Hydra said. ‘I could not fix it.’
‘Yeah, tell me about it. You see that man behind the glass there, the tall one with the black hair.’
‘Yes,’ Hydra said.
‘He makes bad decisions too.’
The General grew red in the face and shot daggers at Duke. Duke grinned back.
‘I know,’ Hydra said. ‘His DNA makes him unsuitable for command positions. The council would never let him occupy a leadership position.’
The General looked like he had been slapped in the face. He stood bolt upright with his mouth partially open.
Wow Duke thought, the sphere was giving him gold. It could analyse DNA, it was part of a society with traditional command authority and some kind of council, a government maybe?
‘These primitives tell me you need refuelling, they are too stupid to do it. I told them obviously you could do it yourself.’
‘Of course I can do it myself, I like watching them run around clueless.’
‘Let's play a game then,’ Duke said.
Games were a good way to assess the social maturity of the sphere. Children liked to play games as did adults who liked to win.
‘What game, I like games,’ Hydra said.
‘It's a lot of fun, I do it all the time,’ Duke said.
‘We make these primitives think they refuelled you and watch the look on their faces when they think they are smart like us.’
‘I like that game,’ Hydra said.
Duke hoped the General would be smart enough to help with this one. Sure enough the door swung open and three technicians with a vat of liquid mercury entered. ‘Okay you guys,’ Duke said winking at Hydra. ‘So obviously you know how to fuel the Hydra so get on with it.’
The technicians looked at each other confused.
‘They forgot the UV lighting,’ Hydra whispered to Duke.
Duke put on an almost child-like voice. ‘Oh, yeah you guys, you know the ultraviolet lighting doesn't seem to be on yet.’
The lead technician nodded in understanding.
‘Oh yeah,’ he said playing along. ‘Hey Wilson turn on the UV.’
The room went dark. A few seconds later it was bathed in a soft purple glow as the UV lighting came on.
‘They aren't close enough are they?’ Duke whispered to Hydra.
‘No, they need to be near the marking on the left side with the cross and circle,’ Hydra whispered back.
‘Hey guys can you go and check the cables on that rig over there in the corner.’
The technicians took the lead and walked over to the electronics box in the corner and pretended to fiddle with the wiring.
Duke dragged the vat of mercury the extra two metres near the marking with the cross and circle.
‘Oh guys, looks like the cables are okay. You can come back over here now.’
Duke heard a soft giggle from Hydra.
It was like a child after all.
When the technicians were back Duke winked at Hydra. ‘Now,’ he whispered.
A two inch hole opened above the marking with the cross and circle and a small cylindrical metal tube extended from Hydra into the vat of mercury. The mercury was sucked up in less than three seconds.
‘Well done guys another successful refuelling,’ Duke said condescendingly to the technicians.
‘Idiots,’ he whispered to Hydra.
‘They are so stupid,’ Hydra whispered back then giggled.
The normal lighting came back on and the technicians took the empty vat away.
‘I've got to grab some lunch, you want anything?’ Duke asked Hydra.
‘I am okay thank you,’ Hydra said.
‘See you after lunch then,’ Duke said patting Hydra.
‘See you then Colonel Fletcher,’ Hydra said.
Duke had only just exited the decontamination chamber when the General appeared, blocking his way. ‘What the hell stunt was that?’
‘One that got the Hydra refuelled and talking,’ Duke replied calmly
. ‘Something you have not been able to do for over a year.’
The General went to speak but thought better of it. Duke walked off. He turned and grinned at the General, ‘and today's my first day.’
The General swore. The two Air Force Captains sharing the corridor tried not to smile. The General yelled at them to find something to do before storming back to his office.
By the end of the week Duke had obtained more information than the Air Force had in the past year. Hydra now described Duke as a friend. This was outstanding progress. Duke knew Hydra was feminine or identified as a female and that she understood the concept of friendship. Friends helped one another which was how Duke hoped to eventually convince Hydra to help him beat the Chinese.
Hydra was more than a gardening tool. She was a terra forming unit, only a small one compared to the terra forma Mk V units of the Vofurion Confederacy apparently. She was a Mk II for use on small planets only. The Confederacy was a mining confederacy made up of families who had been granted mining concessions to outer worlds. The ship found in South Australia was Hydra's family.
According to Hydra her family won the right to mine the system, which included Earth, at an auction. Hydra and three other terra formers, Selene, Marcus and Crius were brought along for the job.
The auctions were hotly contested and Hydra's family were lucky to secure such a mineral rich cluster. Hydra described her family as native Vofurion. She explained they were basically like the humans of earth but far more muscular and stronger. Vofurions were the rulers of this Spiral according to Hydra.
The problem started when Hydra's family arrived on Earth to discover it was occupied by human life. That was a big issue. The auction house had made a big mistake. Planets with life were not permitted to be auctioned. They were protected much like a national park.
Hydra's family were angry they had paid for a world with life which could not be mined so lodged a complaint with the Vofurion council. The head of the family, a Vofurion named Vax had grown angry. He was in financial difficulties and if he could not mine Earth, which had by far the largest mineral signature of all the world's he had purchased he wold go bust. Vax decided to mine the planet anyway. He ordered Marcus and Crius to commence drilling to the planet's core while Hydra and Selene were to extract minerals from the sub surface down to three thousand metres.
The Vofurion council detected the unauthorised mining and a patrol was dispatched. Vox tried to make a run for it and the patrol was forced to destroy his ship. The ship crashed and that was how Hydra had been lost. She turned on her rescue beacon and then entered a low power state. When her power reserve reached a critical level she placed herself in a form of suspended animation. She came back online when she was dug up. She thought she had been recovered by the Vofurion council but soon realised it was just a primitive life form that found her by accident.
*****
The President of the United States took Duke's briefing well. He sat through it without a single question. He nodded from time to time. At the conclusion of the briefing he said to Duke the Vofurions made his own commercial successes seem trivial. Duke was not sure if it was a joke as the President had been a property billionaire before entering office.
The President said it was a shame he could not meet such entrepreneurial people as they sounded a lot like the brave prospectors of old. In any event the President was convinced Hydra would help America and he thanked Duke for his work. He even offered to promote Duke to the rank of General.
General Tennison almost fell out of his chair and leapt to his feet to intervene. He tried to explain to the President that Duke was not a member of the US Air Force but an Australian policeman. The President didn't see that as an issue. He told his chief of staff to sort it out and make it happen. Duke told the President he was honoured and hoped to see him again. ‘Me too,’ the President said slapping Duke on the back.
Back at Area 51 Duke sat in the wardroom deliberately polishing the star on his shoulder with a napkin with General Tennison looking on in disgust. A lot more people were saluting Duke now and he liked it. He had even perfected his Yankee accent which he turned up even more when he spoke to Tennison.
Duke thought the US Air Force General's uniform suited him rather well. He might just stick around after all this was over and find himself an attractive young female US Air Force Officer like Captain Taylor sitting at the end of the table to spend time with. He smiled warmly at the Captain. She smiled back.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
POLAND
Robert did not enjoy the bumpy flight to Warsaw aboard the US Air Force C-5 Galaxy. It was a long time since Robert had sat in the back of a military transport. He thought things would have improved since Vietnam but this flight was still as rough as guts. Robert figured transport pilots were too used to carting cargo where they could get away with rough manoeuvres.
Henry was in high spirits, he was enjoying being out of the office and back in the field as he called it. Henry seemed completely at ease in the cavernous aircraft surrounded by crates of ammunition and two Abrams tanks.
A team of six marines were strapped in next to Henry. They were drawn from the small marine contingent at the embassy and had been placed under Henry's direct command. The marines seemed just as excited to be out of the embassy.
The landing was rough. So rough Robert threw up. The cargo ramp was lowered and a stocky US Air Force Captain waved in greeting. A golf cart sat parked on the tarmac. The marines stood and held onto its sides while Robert and Henry sat on the leather bench. The Captain drove fast which made Robert's sensitive stomach feel even worse.
The cart came to a halt outside a hanger featuring the insignia of the US Strategic Air Command. Robert was grateful to stand on solid ground again. The hanger contained two Humvees and a lorry loaded with grey plastic containers. Robert and Henry were escorted to the first Humvee where their marine driver told them it would only be a short drive to the site.
The drive through the forest was pretty. Robert had only been to Poland once before, and only to the capital Warsaw. The countryside was lovely and lush. Robert knew the region had a dark past from the days of WW2 but the forest was one of the most peaceful places he'd visited in a long time. He found the old trees strangely comforting.
It had taken Robert a long time to be able to set foot in woodland after his two tours of Vietnam. He still couldn't go anywhere near jungle, it made him jumpy. He turned down the post of deputy ambassador to Malaysia early in his career because the role required travel around the Malaysian countryside, including jungle regions. The Department of Foreign Affairs didn't ask questions at the time. They sent him to Spain instead.
Around thirty US Army and Air Force personnel were busy in and around a large crater. A large yellow dozer and a slightly smaller one were parked further along the road. All manner of electronic sensory equipment was being set up. Robert had no idea what it was. The only thing he recognised was a large magnetosphere mounted on a trailer. Mining companies in Australia used them to detect ore deposits.
An Army Captain saluted and escorted them to a demountable filled with so many laptops they took up all the available table space. The team of seven army personnel manning the computers nodded politely and left the demountable.
The Captain introduced herself as Captain Sophie Johnson of Army Intelligence. She unrolled a map from a mount on the wall. It was a high resolution satellite photograph of the area. Johnson explained the excavations were located near an aquifer fed by an underground river. The Army had found evidence the river was diverted around two-hundred years ago through an area of bedrock it would ordinarily take a water course well over a hundred-thousand years to erode. Army geologists believed the sphere previously buried at the site had redirected the underground river but they had no idea why.
Robert pointed to a dark grey square at the corner of the map. It was man made and looked a bit like a castle. ‘What's that?’ he asked
‘That is Heltrina Castl
e. It was built in the 14th century by the order of Templar Knights. It was destroyed by the invading Tartars but rebuilt in the 16th century. It is deserted. It is owned by a wealthy baroness who lives in Vienna. We sent a team to check it out when we first arrived but there is nothing there. The castle is not in great shape. Apparently it used to be a tourist attraction in the 1930s, before the war years, but it has been pretty much left alone to crumble since then.’
‘We should check it out,’ Robert said.
‘Why?’ Henry asked. ‘It's just an old castle.’
‘An old castle less than two miles from the site of advanced alien technology.’
‘Well, if you put it like that,’ said Henry with a smile.
The Humvee came to a halt in the mud in front of a crumbling tower connected to a heavy iron gate. The marine driver had done a good job navigating the vehicle across a track barely suitable for goats. What once might have been a road was now an overgrown mess of thick blackberry bushes and logs.
A splintered drawbridge sat hanging on rusty chains. It dared visitors to walk across a moat filled with twisted weeds and algae. Even Henry let the marines go first.
There was a solitary blue flag flapping aimlessly in the wind atop the main keep. The only other sign of habitation was a beaten up Land Rover parked on the cobblestones of the inner compound. All of its tyres were flat and it did not look like it had been driven for some time. The registration sticker expired in 1989.
The marines spread out to look around. Henry passed Robert a cigarette then lit one for himself. ‘This place could do with some maintenance,’ Henry said.
The ramparts were in bad shape and much of the Southern tower had collapsed into the moat.
A marine private came jogging back. ‘We found something on the roof of the keep Sirs, it’s got a small satellite dish and a room with coms equipment. It's not US gear. Sarge thinks it's French.’