by T. R. Harris
As the aliens built their bridge to the Milky Way, they first used conventional gravity drive to travel deep into the intergalactic void, where they built the first of the elongated gravity generators. The first was LP-1. It reached from the galaxy out to a point forty-seven thousand light-years into the void. Here the Nuoreans built LP-2, with a range of ninety-four thousand light-years. Through this process, they kept hopscotching farther into the vast emptiness between galaxies. LP-5 reached from Andromeda to the one-and-a-half-million light-year mark. Here the midpoint generators were built—designated LP-6. They were the largest and most-powerful gravity generators ever constructed—how big, Adam and his team had no idea. Scientists in the Milky Way had their estimates, but only the Nuoreans knew for sure.
This fact confounded Adam’s plans even more. He had no idea how effective the explosives they carried aboard would be on something that big, even using nukes. But that was something they’d assess on site—once they got to LP-6.
And the way to LP-6 was through the LP-5 transit line.
“Have some patience,” Adam said. “We’ve just begun our mission. And contrary to popular belief, I’m not calling this a suicide mission. I want to live, just like the rest of you.”
Sherri snorted.
Adam wrinkled his nose at her. “It’s always been the belief that the LP-5 transit zone would be close to Nuor. There’s been no need to change it, not like with LP-6. They would keep it static and close to their supply sources. Once we find Nuor, half our job will be done.”
Copernicus raised his hand, but began talking before he was called on. “After our unexpected arrival, the Nuoreans probably have several thousand ships out looking for us. We may not have to go out looking for a Nuorean ship with a nav computer. They’ll come to us.”
“That’s another possibility. The bottom line is the mission doesn’t really start until we learn the location of Nuor.”
“I thought you said the mission began when we escaped from the middle of the Nuorean fleet?” Jym pointed out.
“Or when we made the jump to Andromeda?” Riyad added with a grin.
“You’re right, both of you. But this is mission-start two-point-oh.”
“Three-point-oh.” Sherri corrected.
Even though he knew they were toying with him, Adam could relate to their frustration. “Tell you what. Give it another three days to find a nav computer. If we can’t locate one in that time, we’ll make for the LP-6 transit zone. That’ll give us a day to get into position for a possible jump back home.”
“And if we miss that, the TZ shifts,’ Copernicus stated.
“At that point, we’ll have no choice but to continue. The Nuoreans will move the transit zone and the destination point in the Milky Way. After that, the only way to get home will be to learn the new location at the LP-6—or wring in out of some high-ranking Nuorean who knows.”
“I like the sound of that,” Riyad said.
“Trust me people, I don’t want to die in the Andromeda galaxy.”
“Then lead on, Mister Cain,” Copernicus said.
Adam opened his mouth to speak, but Sherri shut him down. “Don’t! It’s getting really old.”
Chapter 5
It was with reluctance that Copernicus made his report.
“Gravity sigs, moderate space traffic and comm chatter,” said Copernicus. “All signs of your everyday, run-of-the-mill star-traveling society.” He knew this meant a continuation of the mission. He wasn’t happy.
“Have they scanned us?” Adam asked. It was two days after the last meeting on the bridge, and they were just now entering a promising star system on the edge of the Andromeda galaxy.
“General scans of the system only. They know we’re here, but no one’s making a fuss about it.”
“Good. Get us within long-range visual distance as fast as you can. I want to see what we’re up against before they send out the welcoming committee.”
All the crew was on the bridge and at their stations as the Najmah Fayd approached the planet. By then they’d identified five distinct varieties of gravity signatures from the nearby ships, meaning five different manufacturers with slightly different designs. That was a lot. In the Milky Way, nearly all gravity-drives followed the same basic Klin blueprint, with only slight variations. The Human and Juirean designs varied the most, and that was mainly out of racial pride. Neither wanted to be accused of copying the other.
“Nuorean sigs showing up,” Jym said from the nav station. Sherri confirmed his findings. From experience, they could identify the unique signature of Nuorean grav-drives. The pattern was well-known throughout the Milky Way.
“As we expected,” Adam said to calm any run-away nerves. “We’re still within five hundred light-years of the current LP-6 TZ. And this is Nuorean territory. They’ve had thousands of years to colonize this part of Andromeda.”
“There’s only a few of them,” Sherri reported. “Most of the other sigs are different. I thought the Nuoreans were supposed to have wiped out all intelligent life in the galaxy? That’s why they came after us.”
“Keep us clear of the Nuoreans,” Adam said to Kaylor in the pilot seat. “Put the images on the main screen. Let’s take a look at the planet.”
Since Nuoreans were classified as Prime in the Milky Way, any world they chose to inhabit would naturally fit a common mold. And this one fit it to a tee. It was slightly smaller and less dense than Earth, but had the same mix of ruddy brown land, covered in vast expanses of green vegetation, yet dominated by huge seas of cloud-patched blue. Sensors indicated an average temperature of fifty-six degrees Fahrenheit around the zones with the largest population concentrations. From this vantage point, there were nine of these major cities visible from space, with countless others of smaller size.
Adam was in the command chair behind the pilot stations when he leaned forward and pointed. “What are those dark circles to the left of that large city?”
A moment later, the ship was close enough to recognize the shape of Nuorean combat arenas. There were hundreds of them, filling a great plain to the west of the city, with a rugged coastline to the east. Yet as they achieved orbit and zoomed in closer, they could tell most of the arenas were in a state of disrepair and abandonment.
“Signs of more a prosperous time?” Copernicus said, “before they ran out of aliens to fight.”
The camera swept over the city, which didn’t fare much better than the arenas. But here there were signs of habitation, with box-like transports passing along mostly-deserted roads. It was nearing dusk in this part of the hemisphere and lights could be seen popping on in the bulk of the buildings. A large rectangle of evenly-spaced lights came on to the northeast of the city. Upon closer examination, the crew saw the familiar signs of a spaceport—not large—but with a cluster of small-to-moderate sized spacecraft placed haphazardly around the grounds. And each one of those ships would have a nav computer onboard….
“No challenges?” Adam asked, knowing the answer already.
Riyad shook his head. “I guess that means free parking.”
“Let’s see. Kaylor, take us down. And if there are any Nuorean ships in port, park as far away as you can.”
“As I was planning.”
********
The ship set down on what appeared to be a dirt field, but was in reality a concrete pad covered over with years of blown dust which no one bothered to clean off. Kaylor positioned them behind a bulky cargo vessel, with a Nuorean destroyer-class starship on the other side and some distance away. No one was on the field; they were either in town or inside their ships.
“Oops, there’s someone,” Sherri said from the nav station. She had sensors out looking for any ground movement. A transport was coming their way; a boxy wagon with an enclosed top. They couldn’t tell who—or what—was inside.
A data stream ran along the side of the main view screen. It indicated a suitable atmosphere outside for Humans and a gravity coefficient equal to point-s
even-nine of Earth.
Adam unbuckled his seat restraints. “Sherri, you come with me, along with Kaylor and Jym. I want them to see we’re a diverse crew, and not manned by only mean-looking Human-types.”
“Weapons?”
“Ankle holsters only. We don’t want to make the natives nervous. Riyad, Coop, you have our back.”
“Yessir,” Copernicus said, seriously. He was all business when facing an unknown race on an alien planet in the Andromeda galaxy.
A moment later, they cracked the hatch and stepped out onto surface. They wore heavy coats to protect against the rapidly dropping temperature and constant wind blowing in off the nearby ocean.
The vehicle pulled up to the four crewmembers and an entourage of natives climbed out of the truck. There were nine of them, smallish creatures with iridescent skin stripped in a rainbow of colors. Their faces were thin, with wide, crazy-looking eyes and mouths that appeared to carry perpetual snarls. They wore thick clothing of a variety of styles—not uniforms—that appeared stained in the fading light of early evening.
The two groups faced off, neither speaking, as first-contact protocols were observed.
In the unseen world of electronic communications, translation programs set about searching for established baselines between the various languages being transmitted in the ether. When a match wasn’t found, the programs set out deciphering the languages using a tried and true method. At the speed of a supercomputer, millions of images and videos—displaying actions, emotions, objects and concepts—were matched with those in a variety of languages. Each program had their own set of standards, which were used to match words, building up the vocabulary at the speed of light. The computers knew what they were doing, and within forty seconds of being linked, the basic translation was complete.
Adam heard a soft ‘speak’ in his ear. He stepped a little closer to one of the smaller creatures.
“Greetings, we seek landing rights to your port.”
One of the creatures stepped forward, and without warning, two wide fans of flesh, located on each side of the thin face, flared out and began to vibrate. Startled, Adam stepped back. He’d seen this before, on certain lizards on Earth and in pictures of extinct dinosaurs. But on these aliens, it came as a shock.
What came next should not have been surprising.
The alien spit on him.
A thick glob of yellow mucus hit him in the chest and oozed down the front of his coat. Without thinking, Adam laid the alien out cold with a quick hit to the side of his head.
“Why did you do that?” This was asked by an older alien. His fans had begun to come out, but were quickly pulled back in.
“He spit on me!” Adam yelled. “Is this toxic or an acid? I’ve seen this kind of thing before.”
“I want some of that,” Sherri said, as she leaned in with a datapad in her hand.
“What the hell for?”
“To test it, stupid.”
Every datapad had a sampling wand, used primarily to test food and drink before consumption. It could tell if the slime on Adam’s coat was dangerous or not.
Two other aliens were on their knees, tending to their fallen comrade.
The old alien was in Adam’s face. “That was a greeting, a welcoming to our planet.”
Adam looked down at the front of the alien’s garment. It was stained in a sickly-looking brownish color…as were the fronts of all the others.
“A greeting?” Adam stammered.
“Yes. It is custom.”
Adam looked at the unconscious alien. “Will he be all right?”
“Yes. She will recover.”
Adam caught the gender indication. He looked at the creature on the ground and then at the others. They all looked alike. Were they all female? He was afraid to ask.
“It’s just mucus and saliva,” Sherri reported. “Nothing to worry about.”
“I’m really sorry,” he said to the old alien. “I wasn’t expecting that type of greeting.”
“That is apparent. What are you…and why are you here?”
“We’re a crew from a distant part of the galaxy. We have come to restock our supplies.”
The alien suspiciously scanned the others, resting his eyes a little longer on the tiny bear-looking Jym. “I have not seen your particular kind here before, either as neutrals or as contestants. You did not give the names of your species.”
“The names would not mean anything to you. Are you the authority here? What must we do to get permission to land?”
The alien snickered—a very Human-like expression. His fans extended out half way and began to wave. “Permission? You have already landed. Permission to remain should now be your greatest concern.”
Adam pursed his hips. He was cold and really wanted to get inside to clean off the slime from his coat. “Okay then, do we have permission to remain?”
“Remain if you wish. We have no force to stop you, although we could inform the Nuoreans.”
“Are you affiliated with them?” Adam asked.
The alien looked over his shoulder in the direction of the Nuorean warship. “You do not know the Nuoreans well if you ask such a question. No race is affiliated with the Nuoreans.”
“We spotted hundreds of arenas on the way in. Do they still hold games here?”
“Not for many years, except for a few testing contests.”
“What is your name?” Adam asked.
“What is your name, alien?”
“I’m called Adam.” This time the Human bowed slightly. In almost every culture, a bow conveyed friendship, if not compliance and servitude.
“I am Afton. I hold the lowly position of port supervisor. My assistant is Nissi.” He looked down at the groggy alien on the ground, who was just coming to with the help of the other aliens. “She will long remember your arrival…Adam. Now what is your true purpose here? Those who are so quick to fight are not the kind of beings who would land with Nuoreans present. You are just what they are looking for.”
Adam studied Afton carefully. He sensed the alien didn’t hold any love or loyalty for the Nuoreans. In that case, he may be a valuable ally. Besides a nav computer, Adam needed information—information about this galaxy, about the Nuoreans and the general lay of the land. He looked at Nissi as she was helped to her feet. He hoped he hadn’t created an irreparable diplomatic incident with his impulsive fit of anger. He needed the aliens.
“May I extend my most sincere apologies again to your assistant Nissi,” he said with feeling. “And may I invite the two of you to a dinner aboard my ship? As I said, we are new here, and we seek your wisdom as to the proper protocols and traditions of your world.”
Afton eyed the eclectic mix of aliens from the alien starship. “If you wish to learn of our ways, then you should join the Us for a meal in our residence. Remaining sheltered and unaware within your craft will only make the lessons harder to learn.”
Adam bowed again and smiled. “That makes perfect sense. When and where?
********
The meeting was set for two hours from then; Afton would send a transport to pick them up. Adam asked if it would okay to have four guests total; Kaylor and Jym would stay aboard the Najmah Fayd to keep an eye on her. The alien agreed.
As the four Humans snapped flash weapons into ankle holsters, hidden under pant legs, Adam briefed Kaylor. “The ghost of my ATD is still active in the ship. I’ll send you a live feed of the conversation through the ship’s comm system so you can listen in. If anything goes screwy, you’ll know. Our location can be pinpointed through the ghost as well.”
“Will you hear me if we are approached by Nuoreans?” Kaylor asked.
“Just use the comm. I’ll be monitoring.”
“Can you trust the alien?”
“No more than he can trust us.”
“That’s what I am afraid of.”
Adam placed a hand on Kaylor’s shoulder before turning to the Humans. “Our ride’s waiting outside. We’re off
to have some local grub.”
“Remember,” Sherri began, “these are the people who spit on you to say hello. Who knows what we’re in for?”
“Just bring along your trusty sampling wand. It would be a shame to come all this way just to die of food poisoning.”
Chapter 6
Afton’s home was a simple box made of huge slabs of granite on four sides and the floor, with a lighter wood-frame roof covered with flat tiles. He lived not far from the landing field, at the end of a row of similarly built structures and facing an empty expanse of ancient lava flows that jutted out to meet the vast ocean. Half the homes were dark, and none of the natives were outside as the transport moved along the dimly lit street.
Most two-legged, mammal-like creatures shared the same basic accoutrements of life. They bent at the knees, which meant traditional chairs for seating. They had tables, running water and electric lighting. Most preferred to sleep on padded mats and somewhere within the structure was a bathroom. And the other trait of most alien homes—a god-awful smell.
Afton’s house was the rule, rather than the exception. It took a moment for the Humans to adapt to the stench, which came either from the unseen bathroom or from the food being prepared in the kitchen area. Mostly likely, it was a combination of both.
After sizing up the three huge Human males and the one intense-looking female, Afton introduced them to his mate. Her name was Kies—and she looked just like Afton. Obviously, there were differences in their anatomies somewhere; Adam just couldn’t tell without some probing.
The female Nissi was present, as well, half her face covered in an angry black and yellow bruise. She showed no emotion when Adam entered the home, seeming to still be a little rattled from the hit she’d taken. Adam was sure that if she had a choice she’d rather be home in bed sleeping it off.
The chairs they were offered around the large, rectangular dining table creaked as the heavy Humans sat down. Kies didn’t seem very happy about the impromptu dinner party, especially for what to her were a group of smelly aliens. Of course, this was Adam’s interpretation from the scowl on her face. For all Adam knew, this was the native’s look of absolute joy. She didn’t speak a word as she went about her chores.