We've Seen the Enemy

by Paul Dayton

  “Well?”

  “Not sure, Sir, just coming over the horizon…maximum resolution…” They all watched as a tiny blip on the planet’s horizon continued to grow, until the ship computer recognized it and placed a blinking red triangle around the object.

  Emerfield couldn’t believe it as he watched a frigate, similar in class to the freighter they were about to attack clear the horizon together with its complement of another seven attack fighters. Frigates were slow and their weapons were average for their class, but this raised the odds that some alien craft might escape. Worse, the fighters wouldn’t pick up this new group with their limited tactical range, and they were running on silent communication.

  “Captain,” Evelyn’s voice sounded stressed. “One more frigate coming around the horizon…”

  ‘Shit,’ he thought. Of all the things that could go wrong… “Lieutenant, I want three torpedoes cycled, loaded and ready to fire by the time we jump into this mess! Comm to all gunners, man your guns immediately! I want you firing as we finish the jump! Targets will be loaded!” he yelled as he watched the count come down to zero.

  True to his command, torpedoes were locked and target acquired as they exited the jump, and many of the gunners had reached their station. “Launch remaining fighters,” he yelled, knowing it would take them a minute to suit up and get ready.

  “Fire all batteries!” he added, and watched as the three torpedoes launched and made their way to each enemy frigate. The enemy fighters had engaged immediately, and Emerfield was worried that some might jump without a fight. Frigates were already trying to avoid the torpedoes, but it was a lost cause as all three torpedoes hit their target one by one. Emerfield watched happily as the last one to clear the horizon slowly started dropping into the planet’s atmosphere, its midsection on fire and heavily damaged.

  The rest of the fighters cleared the flight bay and were heading to target when Emerfield realized that he had somehow been duped. Hidden behind Lucious Prime’s moon had been another ship, but this one was no frigate. Unknown to Emerfield, the previous inhabitants of Lucious Prime had established a significant base on the moon, and a capital ship was assigned to clear all life from it and dispatch ants to dismantle and scavenge any useful equipment. It had just finished the assignment and was preparing to join the two frigates and one freighter, unaware they had been under attack. It had now set itself up for an attack run.

  Emerfield saw everything fall apart. The jig was up, the enemy knew they were in the area, and Timothy and Ruth’s life just became much more difficult. Sixteen enemy fighters were destroyed, they lost one and had eight of their own heavily damaged, and the Capital ship was ready to pick a fight.

  “Comm to all fighters, return home now. We’re jumping.”

  Jump coordinates had already been calculated for Gliese 876-3 and now was as good a time as ever - Emerfield thought about this as his screw-up sat like a brick in his stomach.

  CHAPTER 29

  Gliese 876-3

  Timothy and Ruth watched the display of the large water world they were orbiting, teeming with underwater life. There was not one speck of land on the large planet, and Timothy didn’t even know where to start. They were supposed to contact the alien inhabitants somehow. The Council had provided some information, but they felt like two blind people walking into a room full of expensive china – one wrong move and it could spell disaster.

  The signal ship had been sent and they had waited the requisite 12 hours. It would supposedly take that long for the aliens to react to the signal ship’s complex set of kilometer-long sound waves, and now they were descending in their own atmospheric flyer to dock with the floating signal ship.

  Timothy and Ruth had been warned this species was telepathic and were told to remain in the shielded signal ship at all times to prevent the species from reading their minds, but Timothy felt he had nothing to hide. Still, he decided to remain in the shielded ship as the council had requested. They felt the gravity increase to almost double of what they had been used to on Earth, and Ruth felt extremely uncomfortable now with her pregnancy in its third month.

  Once they landed and docked, a feeling of curiosity enveloped them like an invisible mist. They sluggishly transferred over to the shielded signal ship, and were happy to see a message already waiting.

  Underwater cameras displayed several hundred mammals swimming in a circle around the two locked spacecraft, and Ruth and Timothy were astounded at their gracefulness. The council had sent holopics of them along with the scant information it had, but seeing the creatures up close was a different experience.

  “Tim, I feel funny looking at them,” Ruth said.

  “Is the baby okay?” he said worried.

  “Oh, it’s not that. I feel them. I mean, they’re beautiful, almost like the dolphins back on Earth, but I feel their presence.”

  “I know what you mean. I feel it to. Captain, isn’t this ship shielded?”

  “Yes, but not entirely. They can still sense us, as we can them.”

  They looked at the comm screen and read the message.

  “Visit. Why?”

  Timothy looked at Ruth and said, “Here we go,” and typed in the words, “We’re here because of a threat to your planet from a dangerous species.”

  All of the dolphins stopped swimming at the same time and floated completely immobile.

  “Is something wrong?” Ruth asked Timothy, but before he could reply, they started swimming again and a message showed up on the screen, “Show danger we.”

  Timothy had prepared 2 dimensional images of the ants and the destruction they caused, and after trying to transmit them, the dolphins once again said, “Show danger we.”

  After a second, the word “You” showed up on the screen. He was about to re-transmit, when Ruth stopped him.

  “Timothy, they want to see it. In our minds.”

  Timothy was frustrated. He knew this wasn’t working but he was unsure if he should allow them to read their thoughts.

  “They sent us, and they did it for a reason. If all they’re going to do is use us as an intercom, then we’ve become useless. We have nothing to hide, husband. Trust your instincts.”

  He went over to the ship control panel and lowered the electronic barrier that prevented the dolphins from reading their minds. Immediately, a flood of questions barraged them – who they were, did they have offspring, what games they liked to play and so on. The language syntax errors disappeared as they both laughed at the incredibly detailed thoughts being transmitted.

  Timothy cleared the clutter and said in a clear mental voice, “My name is Timothy, and this is Ruth, my wife. We represent all humans.”

  Questions came in as to the meaning of a wife, but the general consensus among the dolphins was the idea of a life partner.

  “Who can we talk to and what should we call you?” he added.

  “On our first contact with your people, the visitor called us dolphins, after a mammal on Earth. That is fine. You can speak to us, we all listen.”

  “Very well,” Timothy thought. “This species has attacked Earth and tried to destroy it. It wanders the galaxy consuming resources, regardless of the damage and destruction it causes. We need to stop it.”

  The dolphins considered the thoughts, but Timothy saw some of them start to swim away as feelings of boredom started coming through.

  “We see no danger to us from these creatures. They have no interest in our world.”

  “That may be true,” Ruth said, “but the destruction of many species because of the greed of one should be a concern to all.”

  “Why?” came the reply.

  Timothy struggled with a reply. He had no idea how to make this war relevant. “Well, we’re all interconnected. What affects one species affects all…”

  More dolphins had started to swim away. “We are not affected. The ones you speak of have no interest in us.”

  By this time, most had left the area, and the few remaining ones wer
e already turning away. Ruth didn’t know what to say, and Timothy felt defeated.

  “This is a waste of time,” Emerfield said as he watched the last one swim off. “If I had known the details, we wouldn’t have bothered.”

  “Captain, that is not your place to say,” Ruth said, but the captain’s anger started blazing again.

  “Not my place? Not my PLACE?” You’re right. It’s not my place. Not my place to waste time here. If you haven’t noticed, we’ve lost thirteen major skirmishes in this last month alone. And here I am on a water planet talking to fish. You’re damn right it’s…”

  “CAPTAIN!” Timothy yelled. “You have no right to speak to my wife in that manner!”

  Emerfield stopped, and with great effort controlled his temper. He finally replied, “First Lady, I apologize for my outburst. I assure you, it wasn’t personal.”

  “Apology accepted Captain, I understand your frustration. Nevertheless, it would be good to keep things under control.”

  “Speaking of which,” Emerfield said as he looked out the large screen and into the vacant sea. All the dolphins had left.

  “Are they gone for good, or did they go to confer?” Timothy asked confused.

  “I think if they wanted to help, we would have known,” Ruth replied.

  “How can they help? Honestly, what can a group of fish do to help?” Emerfield said. “This was a mistake, Timothy. We shouldn’t be here, plain and simple.”

  Timothy stared at the empty sea, not bothering to correct Emerfield’s description of the dolphins. Perhaps Emerfield was right. He couldn’t even begin to imagine why they had been sent here or what these mammals could do to help. He was about to turn to Ruth when she spoke up.

  “Captain, these mammals are complex, right? I mean, they communicate with kilometer long sound waves. They must be able to hear each other over huge distances.”

  “Yes, but how is this supposed to help us?”

  “I haven’t gotten that far yet. We’re still trying to make our case relevant. Why don’t we show them relevance – make them understand why they should help us if they could.”

  “How?” Timothy asked.

  Ruth bent down to look through the ship’s library. Picking out a file, she broadcast it through the ocean and waited. Within a minute, the first mammal could be seen and it was soon followed by others, curious as to this new sound.

  “Sound is what?”

  Ruth was happy at their response. “This sound is ugly,” she said. “You should hear it as it should be heard. Listen.”

  She stopped broadcasting and put the sound on inside the ship. As it played, they listened, and the dolphins mentally listened in. Soon, more dolphins started coming, and within a few minutes, thousands surrounded the ship as they floated perfectly still, listening as the music was played. After a few minutes, she asked, “What do you think of music?”

  It took a long time to get a reply, but finally the message came back. “Give us more music.”

  Timothy was happy they enjoyed Bach, so he searched for Beethoven’s Midnight Sonata and played it.

  They did the same again, floating perfectly still as they listened to the sound. Once it was over, Timothy said, “That is music. But we also have history - stories, amusing games, knowledge and yes, beautiful music. So do many other species. Once they are destroyed, all this is lost forever, together with many other things. We need your help to prevent this.”

  It took a moment for the dolphins to react, but the reply finally came. “Give us more music,” They said. “We will help you.”

  ***

  They sat in the conference room, watching Emerfield walk back and forth as he mumbled to himself. Timothy watched quietly, somewhat amused at the furious captain although he dare not say anything. Nan’mtek was on the viewscreen, also watching quietly. On the table in front of them was a bag of a white powder, composed of two primary compounds.

  “Half way across the galaxy...useless bag of shit...We’re talking to fish for god’s sake. Everyone knows that it’s technically impossible for fish to make even the simplest of computers, not to mention make it into space. Forget the fact they have no opposable thumbs. They have no hands!” he said sarcastically at Nan’mtek now that he had stopped pacing for a second. “Water and spaceships, water and lasers, water and computers, water and electricity of all things! They DON’T MIX!” he said, yelling. “It’s come down to this - a taxi service ferrying a...”

  “Careful, Captain,” Nan’mtek said. Emerfield stopped, and once he got his anger under control, he turned to Timothy and said through clenched teeth, “Sorry, for that last part,” and glared at Nan’mtek.

  Timothy was about to accept the apology but Ruth wouldn’t let him. The captain had an obvious problem with Timothy’s authority, not to mention the authority of the council itself. She knew the captain would have to work it out for himself, but the issue was serious and Timothy wasn’t seeing the danger.

  “Captain, the dolphins obviously thought this very important. It’s also obvious that we are missing something here. Perhaps our time would be better spent if everyone here went back down to the lab, analyzed this in a little more depth, and butted our heads together.”

  “Ruth,” the Captain replied, “It’s a bag of sugar! The dolphins gave us a bag of SUGAR. How the hell are we going to fight this war with a bag of sugar? What is there to analyze?”

  “It’s not only a bag of sugar captain,” Ruth said calmly. “It’s a bag of unusual sugar. And your... anger,” she said, trying to be diplomatic, “…isn’t helping us solve this puzzle.”

  “My wife is right, Captain, as she so often is. My listening to her has saved my life on more than one occasion. I would suggest you listen to her now.”

  Nan’mtek smiled as she watched the interchange, but she decided to stay quiet.

  After a few moments the captain said, “Very well. Council Member,” he added nodding a goodbye to Nan’mtek.

  Timothy had only partially listened as the chief science officer, a man called Stasi, came back with more information. He was as puzzled as they were, but there was something in the back of Timothy’s mind nagging him. “What’s this composed of exactly?” he asked.

  “A complex sugar molecule, called an oligosaccharide, an unusual combination of five mono…”

  “English, PLEASE!” Emerfield said, his voice rising again.

  “It’s a complex sugar. Unusual in small ways, but it has most of the properties sugar has. It’s also bound with corundum and other trace minerals.” Stasi waited for some reaction from the group, but got none.

  “You were expecting something, Mr. Stasi?” Ruth asked.

  “Well, yes. I thought it was obvious. All sugars are organic. Corundum is a mineral and not organic. Combining the two would be akin to combining water and oil. Not impossible of course, we do it all the time by making the oil soluble, it’s just that sugar and corundum is much more difficult. I have to analyze how these two ended up bonded together. It’s certainly not naturally reoccurring.”

  Timothy could see the crimson sign of anger rising on the captain’s face once again, and he was getting tired of his temper. He ignored him and concentrated on the sugar. “We have sugar on board and have used it for thousands of years. Why is this sugar dangerous to humans?”

  “We’re here to find out why this is dangerous to ants, not humans!” Emerfield said, exasperated.

  ‘What was it about this dust that was so obvious to the dolphins, but somehow missed by us?’ Timothy kept asking himself. Ruth had ignored Emerfield, and asked again, “You were explaining why this is dangerous to humans?”

  “Well, in its present state, it isn’t dangerous to anything I know of,” Stasi replied. “It’s basically a lump of inert material. But ground or crushed to the dust we received, it’s different. Once in this state, this is what you get.”

  Stasi turned to the quantum particle scanning microscope and displayed the view on the viewscreen. “On the left
is a standard sugar molecule, on the right, a crushed grain composed of the oligosa… of the five molecules of ‘sugar,” Stasi corrected himself once he heard Emerfield start to huff again. “Please notice the two areas in red.”

  Ruth read the tags below the areas out loud. “Al2O3, and CH2O. What does that mean? We haven’t received training yet in this…”

  “Forget the second one for now. The sugar molecules are bound inexplicably with two atoms of aluminum and three atoms of oxygen, or corundum as you know it.”

  “It looks course, or rough,” Ruth noted.

  “It is, very course. This, when crushed, is extremely abrasive, and very fine. I guess that here on board a WF ship it would be dangerous, perhaps even lethal if breathed in high quantities. It is a major irritant once it gets into the lungs. Once in there, I would suppose it would literally slice the lungs apart with each breath. However, the substance breaks down after a few weeks of sun and water, decomposing into its natural elements.”

  “A few weeks?” Ruth asked.

  “Tests are needed, but this sugar is more stable than the regular table sugar we use. A guesstimate is about a month.”

  “About the Corundum,” Timothy asked. “Isn’t that one of the crystals used in emery?”

  “Yes, but harder than emery. It scratches most other crystals.”

  Timothy thought about it. Sugar and corundum...They used emery as a polishing compound. Perhaps it wasn’t the sugar, he thought. What if it was corundum, with the sugar being a carrier... They had asked how this affected them, but it was the wrong question. The dolphins had given this substance as the answer to protection from the ants.

  “What about the other substance?” Ruth reminded Stasi.

  “Well,” Stasi replied with a smile. “That is formaldehyde. It binds very easily with the sugar molecules because they use the same building blocks, just different combination of atoms. What’s even better is that in this arrangement, it retains its properties. It is poisonous to the ants.”

  “That’s what I want to hear!” Emerfield said. “It’s in sugar. The ants would eat it, right?”