by David Buck
Steve countered with a statement of his own as he sought to start questioning the probe.
‘We can always obtain a ride with the Traders if we have to leave urgently. Now I have some questions for you and I would expect concise answers please. Can you explain the reasons for your ships wandering over our planet and collecting several species of plants and animals?’
Steve was following Ian Ridge’s advice as he listened to the probe’s reply.
‘I can tell you we are following mission imperatives in one of our prime roles as conservationists and it may be a considerable time before we can return to this world again. Your planet has suffered greatly due to the actions of your species and we seek to provide the same second chance you were offered to these other species from this world. My team and others has spent the last few days taking these species off world to safe locations so that they may survive.’
Samantha quietly recorded the probe’s responses as Steve asked additional questions.
‘So Earth probe, I am to assume you have more than one sanctuary world available to ensure the survival of other species? How many of these worlds are there? And would we as colonists have access to them at some stage?’
The lead probe knew that these questions were expected and had a careful stipulation to apply as it replied.
‘Steve, If your species embraces a more responsible commitment to ensuring the continued ecological balance of your worlds and the survival of biological diversity then I see no problem with your request. Other worlds do exist but they are closer to your new colony than to your home world. I am not prepared to divulge the locations or numbers of these worlds, but when the circumstances are right we will inform you of their existence.’
Steve was considered this statement when the probe spoke again.
‘One of our ships in orbit has detected a fleet of Barus warships entering your solar system. We are recalling all our ships and will be leaving this world as soon as we can do so. This means the last three of your ships will be left behind and that you should now board the Trader ship.’
Steve turned to Samantha and spoke silently as several beams of blue light now linked the Maveen ships.
‘Please ring Ian Ridge or the command post at Rat Island and try to send him the last recording of the probe’s comments. Otherwise just give him a quick update.’
Steve was already on the phone to the Aurora Discovery and gave orders for the last three ships to head immediately through the gateway. He then rang Dan again and spoke quickly but politely.
‘Dan, there is not enough time for us to return and for you to get the Aurora Discovery through the gate way, so go now please and we will get there via the Trader ship. We will have Ian, Mei, Sanjay and Helen come with us on the ship. Now both you and Douglas are to be lieutenant governors until I arrive, and I suspect that arrangement will become permanent. All the best mate and Samantha will call you shortly.’
Samantha had moved off several meters and managed to get the command post on the second attempt, as Steve spent a frustrating two minutes trying to get the Earth probe to speak again. The probe suddenly gave Steve a direct look from his blue sensor strip as Steve spoke again.
‘Earth probe, we insist that the last three ships are allowed to transfer to the new colony as they are vital to our efforts. One of the three ships is my command ship and the other two ships are needed for law enforcement and medical support. The delay they need to transfer will not add much to the time you need to leave our world.’
The probe immediately replied and Steve thought it sounded resigned.
‘I assumed you would just leave your last ships and go with the Trader ship. We are short of time we need to get our surplus ships off world and then dock onboard the Trader ship with two gate ships. Note that we have to dock our gate ships to the external pylons and this will take time. However we will comply under protest with your request.’
Steve noted the swarm of Maveen probes and gate ships that flew through the gate way in an orderly fashion as they left for the colony. The three surface ships had just started to make for the gate way, and he estimated they would be through in half an hour, as he replied to the Earth probe.
‘Thank you for doing this for the new colony. I may be able to assist the Trader captain in talking our way out of a confrontation.’
Captain Narindestat now walked over and had caught the last comment that Steve had spoke to the Maveen probe.
‘Earth probe, the humans can only help in talking to the Barus fleet, and we can train them in our technology further as we make the long trip to the colony.’
The Maveen Earth probe looked around at the captain and now gave a short buzz of what sounded like irritation to Steve, as it was obviously expecting an argument from the Trader Captain.
‘Captain, we may not be able to get all our probes off world before we have to leave. I insist that your ship take additional Maveen probes on board as cargo if required.’
Captain Narindestat seemed to be actually relieved that they finally were leaving, and no doubt was not too concerned about the Barus fleet either as he replied.
‘We can only detect a Barus cruiser squadron supported by several research ships and we have some time before they arrive. For some reason the ships of other galactic races have not arrived, and I am eternally thankful for that. The Tilmud, with their twisted concepts of honor, would have shot at us first just to see us retaliate and take out the ships of other races.’
The captain paused for a moment to see if the Earth probe would comment, but the Maveen remained impassive and silent, so he spoke again.
‘The parity between our forces is about even and the Barus Admiral, whilst competent is unlikely to risk his whole squadron unless we enrage him. You can load up to six Maveen probes in our hold, but the only gate ships we can take have to earn their keep on one of our pylons. So that means a minimum of two gate ships as discussed previously and a maximum of four gate ships.’
The Maveen Earth probe now wasted no time in his reply.
‘Captain, thank you for your assistance as we will have to ship three or four probes in the hold, and then place two gate ships only on your ship’s pylons. The gate ships will themselves have several docked probes present and both of them will be shielded. However their weapons will be deactivated unless we are attacked. Remember what I said about all our ships being aboard before you leave this planet.’
The Earth probe did not comment further, and now lifted off in a brief sandstorm with the other probes to fly the short distance off shore to take up station near the gate way. Captain Narindestat had then turned to speak to Steve, now standing again with Samantha, who had recorded the discussion between the aliens.
‘Steve, please get your team aboard as soon as possible as the Maveen will need all my attention shortly. Emeria will arrange quarters for you at a later stage.’
Steve replied as he noted Samantha was now in a quiet phone conversation with Dan.
‘We have a few short phone calls to make and then we will go aboard.’
Steve was on the phone again and watched the Trader captain walk off and start giving orders to his crew. In minutes they had packed the awning, hologram and large table aboard the ship and cleared the island of other pieces of equipment. Steve and Samantha rejoined the other mission team members again at the foot of the ramp, and Steve noted Ian’s apparent nervousness as he spoke with humor.
‘Ian, just a week ago you were for shooting them down when they leave and now you are a guest aboard their ship when they leave. So how is that for a turn around?’
Ian gave a good natured though nervous chuckle as he replied.
‘Steve, I started to get used to going through a gateway later today, but now we leave in a star ship. It is turning out to be an interesting week for sure.’
Mei now placed her hand on Ian’s shoulder as she excitedly spoke.
‘Just think that we are going to see other planets and stars, not just orbit th
e Earth and maybe go to the moon. Fortunately we did get several tonnes of our food onboard over the last three days so we will not go hungry. You could say we are arriving at the new colony in style.’
The six mission team members watched as several Trader males dragged the beached aluminum runabout further up the beach. They then picked the boat up like a toy between them and unhurriedly carried it across the island and up into the main hold. Emeria walked down the ramp towards them. After a moment for a last look at the island and ocean, Steve led the team members as they stepped off the island, and Earth, for the last time and walked up the ramp to board the Illuria.
***
Altarebe had a suggestion or itch in the back of his mind that something was not quite right. He could see nothing on his scopes and he had the presence of mind to avoid making a powerful active scan of the system he was currently crossing. By convention he avoided all larger masses in the system, even though he was cloaked and beyond detection. The last thing he needed was for a Tilmud squadron to spring another ambush.
Altarebe accessed his extensive database on alien races but nothing obvious was listed as he neared the next exit point. Acting now on instinct, he remained cloaked and aborted his next hyper jump. He then accelerated heavily and angled off in deep space towards several small ice asteroids. After his ship reached the largest of the asteroids, he decelerated heavily and came to rest, before he powered off all his systems excepting the cloak and his passive scanners.
Altarebe was settling down for a long wait, but within two hours a strange ship was heading over to the exit point he had not taken. He now considered the incredible threat the ship represented, as it was a massive silver globe like that he had encountered previously with his father. He remembered that they had encountered one of these ships and it had surprisingly immediately broadcast a neutrality clause, before urging them to hide on the asteroid where his father now remained hidden and asleep.
At the time the two ships had been too pre-occupied by their own damage problems to give much thought to what had actually occurred. Altarebe had briefly asked his father about the large ship. But his father’s response had indicated that he was as mystified as much as he was by their actions as he passed across what little information he knew.
‘Altarebe, the story varies from who is telling it, especially the grievances, but the Sspol and Maveen had been in a shoot on sight relationship for millennia. We best stay well away from that part of galactic affairs.’
So he now knew their name and that they could be potentially lethal, but little else, of the race that flew the massive silver globes. They were the enigmatic Sspol; hydrogen based life forms, which had for many thousands of years been at war with the eternal servants. He did not know of the origin of the war between the Sspol and the Maveen, but he knew that he did not want to be caught up in the middle of it.
Altarebe’s thoughts were interrupted, as he realized that the Sspol globe was now heading towards the icy asteroid he remained hidden behind. He paid careful attention to their approach because he wanted to establish how well his cloaking mechanism was working. As he waited he could feel the itch in his mind return and he considered that the Sspol globe may well be a cause of it. He thought somberly that he would have a lot to talk about when he finally returned to his father’s side.
Altarebe also noted that the Sspol globe was transmitting a low powered signal in his direction and he automatically tuned his interpreter to get a rendition of the message. He then registered that the Sspol globe transmitted a universal neutrality clause and that the weapons systems of the globe were powered down. He finally detected though that the Sspol ship’s powerful shields remained active, before he listened in amazement to the poorly interpreted message.
‘##$$ greetings ancient, we regret and are sorrowful for war with the eternal helpers.’
‘^^%% much death and destruction has marred the galaxy and we seek an ending.’
‘((@@ we promise we will not attack as we have much to talk to you about.’
‘##** what concerns us is the role of a vassal to the heretics.’
Altarebe by habit made the small changes to his interpreter that allowed the removal of the spurious four characters at the start of each sentence, though he hoped he was not causing the interpreter to start dropping information. His worries continued as the message was repeated, and Altarebe noted the characters at the start of each of the four lines and attempted to parse the significance of each one of them.
The intelligent interpreter flashed up a warning on the screen, and he noted the interpreter’s concerns that the tone of each message line was different. He considered the four original lines he had received and sent his additional adjustments to the interpreter based on the four character initial string that he evaluated as emotion with an emphasis context. Altarebe then listened with relief as the full message was replayed again with the changes he had specified.
‘We are heartened we can speak with you, Greeting ancient, we feel real pain and remorse over a matter; we regret and are sorrowful for war with the eternal helpers.’
‘Our race is decimated and damaged, much death and destruction has marred the galaxy and we seek an ending.’
‘We are not aggressive and will not attack; we will not attack as we have much to talk to you about.’
‘A race has taken a dangerous direction; what concerns us is the role of a vassal to the heretics.’
Altarebe considered the messages for several minutes, as he thought again about how powerful the Sspol globe was and how little he knew about them. He also noted that the Sspol globe had now halted several thousand meters from his position, and that the message was being transmitted to him directly. All the while the itch in his mind had increased and he now thought about that interesting observation as well. He was looking into alternatives before he remembered the leap of faith that had led him to earlier trust the Barus trader Omerio.
Altarebe used his race’s inbuilt affinity for language context as he constructed his own four lines of reply. He also ensured that both the cloak was still working and that his engines were now ready to flee.
‘I am heartened I can speak with you, greetings race of Sspol, I feel unease and uncertainty of your presence; your mind tag that tracks me is painful and I still want to talk.’
‘I am from a race decimated and now rare; much death and destruction can be avoided once we ancients craft our new beginning.’
‘I am small and not aggressive; we seek not to be attacked as we listen to learn truth.’
‘A race has done something evil; the Tilmud looses Scourge with Zronte complicit.’
Altarebe paused for a moment and ran the message through his mind again. He wanted to say something about the Voorde as he was not sure Omerio had survived to pass on his message to Barus authorities. But would the Sspol even know or really care about the release of the Voorde scourge on so many worlds? Was he reading between the lines of their messages correctly? He finally sent the message and readied to run for his life.
Altarebe noted something after several moments, as he awaited the powerful active scan and heavy attack from the Sspol globe he was sure would follow. The itch in his mind vanished and the Sspol globe had now ceased transmitting their original message. He noted that the globe still had not powered weapons and now remained stationary as another longer message was received after a significant wait.
‘We apologize and we act in contrition; the mind tag will never be used on your race again.’
‘We both need rebirth and renewal; we seek to redress our folly in warring with the Maveen and assisting in your downfall as the Zronte now offers only their treachery.’
‘We value truth and integrity; we act in contrition to prove integrity and the other ship needs sanctuary elsewhere.’
‘We despise evil and treachery; we would deal in faith with Barus, Cephrit, Deltas Vass and even Vorinne, we would not deal with evil Tilmud, greedy Jerecab and merciless Zronte.’
‘We seek to protect life and remain independent; the work of Maveen is holy despite our differences, and the Traders are not well known but respected.’
We seek to prove our honor; we would cleanse the worlds of Scourge anti-life if found.’
‘We seek to hide truth from evil; the foul Zronte cannot learn of our mission and alliances between new friends should remain hidden.’
Altarebe considered the new message and the third sentence immediately stuck out as something he had to address for his father’s sake. He also sent over the list of worlds Omerio had provided that were now infected by the Voorde. He retained his fears on his father’s safety for long enough to craft another longer message of his own in the context of the Sspol. The ancient was also smart enough at this point to consciously refrain from mentioning his ultimate destination until he could speak with his father.
‘I feel relief and thank your efforts; my mind is free of pain.’
‘I understand and think on your remorse; the Maveen and other ancients are not near and I know of no recent battles between Sspol and Maveen.’
‘I offer advice based on respect; time must be allowed for your message to travel.’
‘I feel concern and time is short; the second ship risks death?’
‘I value good and integrity; the good of vassals is undone by blasphemous acts.’
‘I find the path of evil and report; the Tilmud release Scourge on a list of worlds.’
‘I offer renewal and surprise; I have spoken with lone Barus and remained a secret, I would seek and speak with honored Traders and remain hidden.’
‘I inform and guide on truth; the Maveen are eternal helpers to all and to ancients they are eternal servants.’
‘I seek to hide truth from evil; the foul Zronte and evil Tilmud cannot learn of my mission, and alliances between new friends should remain hidden.’
The Sspol ship remained in motionless in space and Altarebe felt that the crew must be considering his news amongst themselves. Eventually the Sspol continued on with another complex message.