by Guerin Zand
Maria and Prima just laughed at me. They couldn’t argue the point anymore because the fact was, I was right. Then, as they say, out of the mouth of babes, Gamma jumped into the conversation.
“He’s right.”
I wiped the remains of my shawarma off my hands with my napkin and grabbed Gamma, lifted her onto my lap, and gave her a big hug and a kiss. Then I looked at Maria and stuck my tongue out in triumph.
Maria, being my daughter, wasn’t going to admit defeat. “Not you too, Gamma? You can’t believe that the lack of cheeseburgers in the universe has any deeper meaning than the obvious.”
“Well, I don’t know anything about a deeper meaning, but it is strange. They have things like meatloaf, and even something like Salisbury steak at the restaurants here. The hamburger was invented on Earth by some person who just thought, why not put this meat patty between two slices of bread to make it easier to eat. This, Denisda, shows that the concept of putting meat in bread is not foreign to them. So, somebody, somewhere, should have had the thought to put one of those meat patties in bread, but they haven’t. It doesn’t make sense.”
“You’ve been spending too much time with our father, Gamma. You should probably spend more time on your studies, and less time listening to Dad’s crazy conspiracies. And you, Dad. The fact that the only one who agrees with you is a little girl should tell you something.”
“Don’t be so jealous of your sister, Maria. Just because she can see the obvious and you can’t.”
“Argggh!” Maria was admitting defeat. “Whatever! I’m going to my room.” She tossed a dirty look in the direction of Gamma and me as she walked out of the Captain’s mess.
I stood up, holding Gamma in my arms, and Prima joined us as we took my ‘good’ daughter to her room to tuck her in for the night. I was going to tell her a very special story that night to thank her for standing up for her father.
Chapter 32
Just Another Stupid Plan
Finally, it was time to set off on our mission to Taes. It had been quite some time since I had the dream that was the reason for this trip. Besides handling any Trogan issues, Steve and Jackie were going to escort the cargo ships and crews on their first deliveries. David had scheduled stops at eight different worlds for this first convoy. We had made contact with representatives of these worlds during David’s little open house, still, it would be the first time Terrans officially visited any of these planets. All the captains of the cargo ships were trained in the basic first contact protocol, but we decided that Steve and Jackie would be handling the initial contact. Since Jackie was Bree, I thought that would be the best way to introduce Terrans to new worlds.
I gathered the crew of the Ryvius in the mess hall. It was time to ask for volunteers. I looked at the crew and saw the anticipation on their faces. My reputation for, well let’s just say creative thinking, had the crew speculating for the last several months exactly what it was I was planning. It still wasn’t time to let them in on the secret though. They’d have to wait a little while longer to know exactly what stupid plan I had up my sleeve.
“Ok, as I’ve mentioned before, the Ryvius is going on a mission that isn’t exactly sanctioned by anyone but me. I can’t tell you what the mission is right now, but at this time you all have to make a choice. You can stay here on Trinix, join the Voyager crew, or one of the cargo ship crews, or you can take a chance and join me on this mission.”
Soo-jin Kim, the ship’s medical officer, raised her hand. I nodded for her to speak. “Will we be putting the ship and/or crew in danger on this mission?”
“There is always that chance,” I replied. “But we put the ship and crew in danger when we left for Trinix.”
Kevin Frye, a medic on the ship, spoke next. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll know when we get there. Once we arrive, I’ll hold a briefing to explain everything. Until then, you just have to rely on your best judgment to decide if you want to be a part of this mission.”
“Ok, Dad, I’ll bite. Just how stupid is what you’re planning? I mean, on a scale of one to ten, with one being your everyday average stupid, and ten being running off to assassinate the Trogan emperor stupid.”
I waited a minute or two for the crew to stop laughing before I answered. “My plans aren’t stupid, Maria. If they were stupid, they wouldn’t work. I think outside of the box, and it’s not my fault if I’m the only one who gets it.”
“Whatever, Dad. So just how outside of the box is this little plan of yours?”
“Well, in this case, there is no box.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we’re going to be breaking the rules in a big way, but since there is no box, there are no rules.”
Senri was smiling. We really had a lot in common. It’s not that she understood me, but she, just like me, really didn’t care about the rules.
“So, how much trouble are we going to get into with the Collective because of this?” Maria raised an eyebrow.
“I’m probably going to be in a fuckton of trouble. I wouldn’t doubt if they find out what I’m doing that they’ll send someone to try and stop me. The rest of you can just say you didn’t know what I was doing until it was too late. Trust me, they love blaming everything on me. They’ll probably just leave the rest of you alone.”
“Probably, Dad?”
“You can choose not to go with me, Maria. It’s your choice.”
“And miss you doing something incredibly stupid? No way.”
“I really can’t answer any of your questions about what I plan to do right now. If you want to stay behind, then pack your bags and go now. In ten minutes the Ryvius will be leaving with or without you.” I had picked a crew that would not be afraid of breaking the rules, and I was not surprised when no one chose to stay behind.
Senri and I were on the bridge preparing for our departure. We would leave the system per our standard procedure, using our gravity drive for takeoff and to travel at least an AU from Trinix before engaging the star drive. We’d use the star drive to get us a few light years out of the system before opening a transit portal to our final destination. When the ten minutes I had given the crew to make their choices expired, Senri started playing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” over the ship’s PA system.
The Ryvius left the surface of Trinix. I smiled at my friend Senri while shaking my head. She just smiled back. She suggested that we make that song our standard countdown message to the crew whenever we departed a planet. I thought it might get a little old if we were landing and taking off a lot. She agreed and said we should maybe just use it before departing on a really stupid mission. I laughed and told her that was probably a good idea.
As we approached the designated spot to engage the portal drive, I took the helm from Senri and entered the coordinates for the Taes system. I gave the crew a minute warning before we entered the portal. Once we exited the portal, I put the ship into stealth mode. We were still several light years outside the Taes system. I engaged the star drive to bring us into the system. Hopefully, the Collective hadn’t updated their sensor net around the system to detect our star drives and we wouldn’t be detected, at least not until it was too late. We had a couple of days before we entered orbit around Taes. It was time to come clean with the rest of the crew about why and what we were going to do. I called them all together in the ship’s lounge for a few drinks and the mission briefing.
When everyone was assembled, I brought up the viewer to show the crew where we were and where we were going.
“First, congratulations to us all. We’ve just gone where no man has ever gone before.” I brought up a view of the Milky Way galaxy. “We’re here.” A little arrow with the caption, “You are here”, popped up on the display. “We’re out towards the outer edge of the Milky Way galaxy in an area we refer to as the Perseus arm.” I zoomed in the display slowly to the Taes system.
“This is where we are going, the Taes system.” The display continued to
zoom in on the Taes system showing the current location of the three planets, Maric, Taes, and Bayr with little label tags identifying the planets. “This is a rather unique system in that we have three Class M planets in what we refer to as the system’s Goldilocks zone. That term couldn’t be more appropriate for this system.”
“The outer planet, Bayr, has a breathable atmosphere, a slightly larger mass than Earth resulting in approximately 1.33 Earth’s gravity, and it is a bit on the cold side. The temperature in the most tropical zone around the planet’s equator runs around 40 degrees Fahrenheit on a good day. The temperature throughout the majority of the planet is below freezing for the entire Bayr year. The Bayr day is about 36 hours and a Bayr year is approximately 573 Bayr days. The atmospheric pressure is around 19 psi.”
“The inner planet, Maric, also has a breathable atmosphere. It has about 80% the mass of Earth, thus .8 g’s on the surface. It is on the hot side. Around the equator, the temperatures can range from 130 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and that area of the planet is mostly a barren desert. The temperature at the poles of the planet only gets down to the mid 80’s normally. There is no ice on the surface of the planet anywhere. The planet is close to 80% ocean. The Maric day is approximately 16 hours and the Maric year is around 321 Maric days. Atmospheric pressure is on average 12.8 psi.”
“That leaves Taes, and, as in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this planet is just right. The environment on Taes is as close to Earth as any planet I’ve ever seen. Mass and gravity within a few tenths of a percent of Earth normal. The atmosphere only slightly higher in CO2 and Nitrogen than Earth. Atmospheric pressure is 15.1 psi. The surface is 60% land and most of that land surface is clustered around the equator. The regions closer to the planet's poles are entirely water and ice. The temperature varies across the planet in much the same way as on Earth. The local day is 24.7 hours with a Taes year of 352 Taes days.”
“Are we talking colonization, Captain?”
“No, Alonso.” Alonso Leiva was one of the junior crew. We referred to them as able spacers. They would work where needed and would probably one day move on to an officer’s position on one of the Earth designed cargo ships under construction. “As I said, this is a unique system. All three of these planets are home to intelligent life.”
I zoomed the display in on the planet Bayr and brought up a picture of the intelligent species that lived there. “This is a Bayru. A little furry for me, but generally what we would consider humanoid. Typical humanoid layout with two arms, legs, ears and eyes. They stand about five and a half feet with a weight of around 300 lbs. on Earth. Their fur is a mottled black, grey, and white. They’re big brutes and a bit on the aggressive side.”
“This is a Maricindi. Again, typical humanoid basically. They stand around six and a half feet tall with a normal adult weight around 150 lbs. on Earth. Their skin is as close to black as I’ve ever seen, which might make sense with their planets location. They’re not as aggressive as the Bayru, but that doesn’t mean they should be underestimated. Both of these species are the apex predators on their planets which means they know how to survive.”
“Here is a picture of the Taesrin.”
“They’re human?” Anita Adams, the ship's purser, yelled out. She wasn’t the only one who was thinking this.
“As much as we are Bree. From all the information we have from the Collective, they’re probably even closer to human than the Bree.”
“They look a little primitive to me.”
“Relatively speaking, you’re correct, Kelly. But not quite as primitive in comparison to how the Bree see us.”
“They appear to be at the technological level of the native American Indians that the Europeans first encountered in the New World. Like those native Americans of that time, their knowledge of metallurgy seems to be very limited. They do work in gold and silver, but mainly this is for adornments, jewelry and such. They hunt with bow and arrow, and spears that still use stone tips. Their knives are also made of stone. They haven’t unlocked the secrets of iron and steel at this point even though the elements needed are found in abundance on Taes.”
“So, if we are not here for colonization, as Alonso suggested, why are we here?”
“The Taesrin need our help or they’re going to be wiped out like the ancient natives of South America when the Europeans landed.”
“You can’t do that, Dad! I just looked this system up and it’s a protected system. We can’t interfere with the local development.”
“Who says we can’t? The Collective? In case you forgot, Earth is not a member of the Collective. We don’t have to live by their rules. Besides, they’re wrong in this case.”
“This isn’t just bending the rules a bit, Dad. There will be hell to pay for this, and it’s not just you that will pay. They may punish the Terran system for your interference.”
“Is that true, Guerin?”
“No, Kelly. My daughter is being a bit dramatic.”
“I am not!”
“You are. First off, the Terran system is in no way involved in this mission. They can’t make that argument stick, and you know it. They’ll blame me for this and I’m sure there will be some form of punishment. I’ll burn that bridge when the time comes. The Collective’s standard protection policy for developing worlds doesn’t work here, but they have decided to ignore that fact. That policy was designed to protect developing systems that have only one intelligent species evolving. As I’ve been trying to tell you, this system is unique. The Collective has never dealt with a similar system. Still, they refuse to make an exception, which is why I say they’re wrong. Besides, I was invited here.”
“How could a primitive species such as the Taesrins invite you. You just said they aren’t advanced enough to have even developed steel, let alone know how to communicate across the galaxy.”
“Well, they didn’t invite me. Remember that dream I had, Maria? The one everyone thought I was overreacting to?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I was right. It wasn’t a normal dream. It was a message. I was able to recognize the Bayru, Maricindi, and Taesrins from that dream. People don’t dream of races they’ve never seen before.”
“That’s impossible, Dad. At most, it’s simply coincidence.”
“It’s not, Maria, and you need to accept that. I’ve had this discussion with people a lot smarter than the both of us. They all agree that I’m right.”
“Who?”
“I’m not saying. This is all on me, Maria, and that is the way it has to be. For once, you need to simply trust me and stop arguing with me.”
“Ok, then who sent the message?”
“That’s why we’re really here. It’s possible it came from outside of our known universe. At least that’s what some of the Collective scientists who studied my case believe. The Taesrins receive these dream messages, they call them naissarance, from what they call Guides. I don’t know that you would call it a religion. They don’t worship these Guides like gods, but they interpret these messages and use them to guide their decisions. They have no history of ever physically encountering these Guides. This has all been documented by the Collective during their exploration of this system.”
“Ok, for argument sake, let’s accept all of that.” It was Huiliang he decided to break up the argument between me and Maria. “Why are we here, and what are we going to do?”
“We discussed the current level of technology of the Taesrins but not the Bayru or Maricindi. Both of those worlds are about where humans were in the early 21st century.” I referred back to the display. “Notice that none of these planets have any moons. For Earth, the first big step was to land a man on the moon. What would that first step have been if we didn’t have a moon?”
“Mars?” Kelly answered.
“Right. So, for the Bayru and Maricindi, the logical first step was Taes. It’s actually much closer than Mars is to Earth, so it was achievable. In fact, they both achieved this almost f
ifty years ago. There’s also a cold war of sorts going on here. The Bayru and Maricindi have been aware of each other for several centuries. In recent history, they’ve been monitoring each other’s electronic transmissions. Both species are apex predators. What usually happens when two predators come into contact?”
“Conflict.”
“Right again, Kelly. These two worlds aren’t close enough for either of them to travel between directly for several more decades, if not a century. That is, except if they were to use Taes as a midpoint.”
“So, they both see Taes as a strategic asset. It could be used to launch an offensive from, or to mount a defense against the other.” Kelly had it.
“And if Taes was not inhabited by an intelligent species, I’d agree with the Collective and say let them have at it. But Taes is inhabited, and this conflict between their neighbors is going to spell disaster for them. So to answer Huiliang’s question, we’re here to send the Bayru and Maricindi packing. Then we’re going to set up a protected area around Taes and we’re going to enforce it.”
“I’m not looking for an argument, Dad, but the Collective will never let you get away with this. You may be able to get the Maricindi and Bayru off Taes for now, but they will never let you remain here and enforce this. In the end, we’ll have made no difference.”
“You let me worry about the Collective. I know how to handle them. I have a few friends left with a bit of influence. As a great person once said, ‘It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.’”
“Who’s that great person, Dad, you?”
“No. One of the most intelligent persons of the 20th century, Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper.”
“So I suppose you have a plan to get the Bayru and Maricindi to leave Taes.”