“Emden here.”
“Are you seeing my data uplink?”
“Yes, and I’m wondering why you’re preparing a surveyor craft for launch.”
“The data seems to be the answer to our question about the alien ship. The Siddhiche call them the Niburu. They want us to send a surveyor launch equipped with locator beacons to the vicinity of the LPSL ship for some reason. Did you notice how their transmissions have been shut down completely?”
“Ah. So they’re talking to us now. Have they shut the LPSL down?” There was a pause. “This is going to take a little deciphering. Have you got anyone on it yet?”
The Captain chuckled. “That’s my next step. We’ve a ship full of scientists who are about to find themselves tasked with deciphering it in the next few minutes. The only pity is that some of them seem to be keener on the LPSL ideology than finding answers, but I don’t have a choice in that.”
“Just keep them focused and out of my hair if there’s a scrap coming up. Anything they can make out of it, I need to know ASAP.”
Dr. Greg Palmer’s anger radiated from him. “What the hell do you mean the LPSL Protector has shut down her broadcast? Get me a link to her immediately!”
“It just shut down, Doctor. The emitter is dead – no carrier signal, nothing. Nothing from her on any comms channel.” Yannik’s face was paler than normal. He knew the risk he was taking, hacking into the comlink programs so he could monitor what the Beagle was receiving and sending. “If I try to open a link, they’ll know I’m in their system …” He hesitated. He had no desire to get the response he got the last time he tried to hack Heron. He still wasn’t sure what hacked his interface, or if it was still there.
“I don’t want any excuses out of you!” Palmer checked himself. Exposing their eavesdropping would ruin everything. “Let me think about this for a minute . . . are the Fleet ships jamming their transmissions? Have they done anything to destroy the coms arrays on her?”
“I don’t think so. Captain Kretzmann and the cruiser Captain have talked about it and don’t seem to know what has happened either.”
“Keep listening. They must have done something!”
“They’re talking about launching a survey barge. They say there’s something approaching the Protector, and want to make sure they can see it.”
“What? That means they’re planning to prevent contact with our messengers. Keep listening. I’m going to see the Commander. I’ll soon put a stop to that!”
Watching the door close behind his superior, Yannik sighed. “Here we go. They’ll want to know how he knew that they were launching the barge. They’ll check the system, and—ow!” He ripped the earpiece from his ear. “Damn, that hurt.” He checked his interface. “Shit. They locked it. Now they know who did it and how . . . ”
Commander Polen let Dr. Palmer deliver his tirade, his face impassive as he stood confronting his visitor, his arms folded across his chest. When Dr. Palmer finally took a breath, he cut in. “The only way you would know this is if you were monitoring the Captain’s secure transmissions, Doctor. That is an extremely serious offence in both civil and military law.”
“What? You can’t accuse me of that!” Dr Palmer steadied himself as the import of the Commander’s statement sunk in. He tried to bluff. “What have you done to shut down all communication with the Protector? Why has her peace message to the aliens been shut down? You have no authority to do that! And then you launch a Survey Barge under the command of a man who has broken the Protocol and done more to damage alien societies than anyone alive.”
The Commander held up a hand. “I’d stop there if I were you, Doctor.” He touched his comlink. “ComOP Farant, have you identified the eavesdropper?”
“Yes, sir. Shut him down. Mr. Yannik Hallam, a member of the Linguistics team, sir. Shall I send the Regulators, sir?”
The Commander held Palmer’s glare. “Not just yet. You’ve warned him and broken his link?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very good. Keep monitoring that group.” He closed the link. “Now then, Doctor, this is not the first time your team have attempted something like this, but it will be the last. We have not jammed or shut down the transmissions from the Protector, nor has Captain Greenway’s squadron. We think our new visitors, the Siddhiche, might have done. I’m sure they will have a very good reason for it. Now, I suggest you return to your laboratory and warn your Mr. Hallam that if we discover any further attempts to access parts of our AI, the coms or anything else without specific authority to do so, he will spend the rest of this voyage in the brig, and face criminal charges on our return to Earth.
Opening his mouth to object, Greg Palmer realised he had best say nothing. “I’ll tell him.”
“Good. Now the Captain has a special task for you and your people. An alien script to decode. It comes from the Siddhiche, and we think they are trying to tell us something about these ships they call the Niburu. I’ll have my Comms officer bring it to you.”
Greg Palmer opened and shut his mouth. Was the Commander serious? It seemed so. His curiosity got the better of him. “What sort of message? What sort of script?”
“We think it’s binary in form, but it appears to be based on quantum principles. Think you can do it?”
On his mettel, Palmer nodded. “Of course we can.”
Chapter 13
A Very Close Encounter
Surveyor Four closed the LPSL ship Protector from below. Immersed in the computer, Harry was barely aware of his companions, Regidur and Sci’antha, as they prepared the ship’s small survey beacons for launch. “Surveyor Four, have the LPSL scanners been active? I detect nothing in your systems.”
“Their scanners are inactive, Harry. So are their signal emitters.”
I wonder what they’re playing at . . . Harry mused to himself.
“I cannot contact their ship,” said Surveyor Four. “Do you wish me to keep trying?”
Despite his tension, Harry laughed, causing his two companions to look up from their work. “I’m sorry, Four, no, I didn’t mean you to answer. I was asking a question of myself.”
Regidur’s bark brought Harry to the alert. “The stranger approaches. What orders?”
“We wait to see who they attempt to target.” Harry was concerned because the LPSL Protector showed no sign of activity. It was the closest ship to the giant shape now obscuring a small star cluster on the scanner display, and he could not escape the feeling that it might be the prey.
“I wish to launch those beacons as close to the stranger as possible and then do a microtransit out of their path. I think that may confuse them and prevent their reacting and destroying the beacons—and us.”
“As you wish, Navigator.” Sci’antha turned her attention to the preparation of the beacons.
Regidur gave his peculiar bark, which Harry now recognised as the equivalent of a laugh. “Someone else may have a different idea for tracking this enemy.” He indicated a small lifepod hurtling toward the approaching ship.
“Damnation!” Harry retreated into the computer. “Surveyor Four, pursue the lifepod. I wish to capture it.”
“Plotting intercept trajectory. Warning. Interception will be within two thousand metres of the intruder. Microtransit within one thousand metres may be subject to unpredictable deviation from intended course.”
“We’ve no choice. Commence.” To his companions he said, “Use the beacon recovery arms to capture the lifepod, and launch our beacons as soon as you have him. I will transit as soon as you have the pod captured.”
Harry focussed on the minute adjustments to the trajectory needed to ensure they captured the pod rather than hit it. He watched the looming capsule as the surveyor craft hurtled toward it. Beyond the pod, the intruder was a dark and menacing expanse. This close, some details were visible, and Harry had the suddenly unnerving sensation that the ship itself was a living being. A jolt told him the pod had been captured. “Transit, Surveyor Four. Now!”
> There was a frightening wrench as the ship entered hyperspace. “Exit transit in two minutes.”
“Counting down. Our course deviation is twelve degrees. Dropout point is inside the orbital path of Planet Three.”
Harry considered this carefully. “Identify any objects in our probable exit trajectory.”
“No natural bodies in that area.”
Harry listened to the count as it wound down to an end. Once again, a shudder and a wrenching jolt caused the hull to groan as they dropped out. The display of surrounding space cleared, and the reason was immediately apparent. They were hurtling past a large ship, one that Harry immediately recognised as the Consortium ship they had encountered previously.
He checked the scan records. “Where the devil did they come from? They weren’t visible on our scans.” He checked again. “They’re also not showing any electronic signature. Surveyor Four, were you aware of this ship?”
“It is a dead ship. You did not ask if there were any ships here.” True to form, Surveyor Four got right to the point.
“What? Sci’antha, did you get our beacons away?”
“Confirmed, Navigator. What is your question?”
“Sorry, it was not for you. Surveyor Four tells me the pirate is a dead ship. What do you get on your instruments?”
Regidur responded. “The ship is correct. There is no indication of human or animal life, and no active systems on it.”
“What about our lifepod?”
“One life form: human.” Regidur gave his snorting bark of laughter. “Angry—and threatening us with prosecution for something called kidnapping.”
Harry laughed. “Well, I think we can contest that one. Have we suffered any damage?” He checked again with the AI. “Very well, now to rendezvous with Beagle. Any sign of the intruder?”
“Your capture was a little hairy there, Mr. Heron. You took a tremendous risk and got far too close to that ship. It certainly put the wind up both the alien and the LPSL.” Captain Kretzmann’s expression gave nothing away. “The Protector took off like a scalded cat, and the intruder vanished, but not entirely. Your beacons obviously found attachment points. Five are active, and we know where they are—still in system.”
“Yes, sir. I could not leave the man in the lifepod. I’m afraid he is not very happy, sir.” Harry shrugged. “He’s demanding a hypercom link to the LPSL’s legal office. He wishes to bring charges against me for kidnapping and deliberate endangerment of an alien species, and I assume several other offences related to their Protocol.”
“He can damned well stew then. Alexei, see to it that the fool gets shown the record we got when Surveyor Two was captured by that thing.” He paused. “Has Dr. Palmer talked to him?”
“Afraid so, sir. The doctor was all over us as soon as Surveyor Four was secured and we could access the pod. The damned fool thought that if he could board the alien craft, that would give him the legal right to prevent anyone firing at it. He’s convinced that the aliens on that ship are in need of protection from the rest of us.” He paused, and a frown creased his brow. “There’s something else. He had a data wand with all our communications and hyperlink frequencies and protocols, as well as the access codes.”
“What?” the Captain exclaimed. “Place him under arrest and in isolation immediately!” He shook his head in utter disbelief. “Has anyone any idea why they had their scanners down and their transmissions silenced?”
“Already done, sir,” said the Commander. “Dr. Palmer’s raising Cain, but I’ve warned him off. The other bit isn’t clear. They say we did something to disable them. According to our uninvited guest, they think we were jamming their scanners and signals, and there’s something else. We can see the Siddhiche, but they can’t. According to this LPSL fellow, they had no visuals and no scan of them.”
“Okay, conference time, I think.” He touched his link. “Get Emden on line.”
“That daring retrieval of yours was a little risky, Mr. Heron. My Flight Commander was convinced you were planning to ram our mystery ship.”
“They left me little choice, sir. I could not allow the fellow to sacrifice himself—not with what we know of the aliens. I calculated that our trajectory would take us close, and I used the other ship’s mass to boost our passage.”
“So we saw. Even so, the forces in play as you went to transit must have skewed your course.”
“It did, sir, by twelve degrees, which meant we dropped out again in a sector I would not have chosen. It was fortunate we missed the derelict when we dropped out. It was rather closer than I would have liked.”
“So I believe. We’ve examined the recordings you made as you passed her. It’s the Jellabah Khan all right, but she’s been stripped of everything. There’s not a single soul aboard her either, and the hull is undergoing some sort of transformation. The metal is being replaced by something else.”
“That’s what happened to Surveyor Two. The hull was transformed into some sort of hybrid organic material—same thing with all the metal fittings.”
“If I may, sir.” Harry closed his eyes as his thoughts flooded with code. When he continued, he spoke in a robotic tone. “Contact with that ship must be avoided. You must not permit the infection of any other ships.” Harry blinked and looked disoriented for a moment. “Sorry, sir, I lost my train of thought for a moment. I seem to have been distracted by a random download from the computer.” He realised they were all staring at him. “Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” Captain Kretzmann frowned. “Don’t you remember telling us we must avoid having other ships infected? What did you mean by that?”
Harry frowned, trying to recall what he had said. He shook his head. “I regret I can’t recall saying anything about infection, sir.” He paused. “I think I was about to suggest that we attempt to place recorders aboard the Khan as we did with Surveyor Two. Was that not what I said?” His temples throbbed as he spoke, and he recalled the sudden rush of code in his conscious mind. “I think I know what is happening, sir. The Siddhiche are trying to warn us of something.”
“Why the blazes don’t they just tell us then?” Captain Greenway snapped.
“I don’t think they can communicate directly, sir.” Harry rubbed his temples. He was developing a massive headache. “They seem to be able to work inside the AI network, but every time they try to communicate with me, I end up in a med-unit.”
“I thought you looked a little odd.” Captain Kretzmann touched his link. “Surgeon to my quarters.” He passed Harry a drink of water. “Drink this, and then try to tell us anything you can about these Siddhiche.”
Harry gathered his thoughts, but it took some effort to think. “I don’t really know a great deal, sir. They are able to enter our network to retrieve information. The trouble for me is that when they try to tell me what they want or what they have, all the code flashes in my mind’s eye. I have to read it and sort out where it came from, and then I have to decide what they want me to look at.” He grimaced. “And that is what gives me the headaches. My brain simply cannot handle the volumes of data they try to give me.”
“Hmm. So you’ve never actually seen one?”
“Not as such, sir. At least, not that I am aware of doing.” Harry paused to consider the best way to explain. “I suppose one way of thinking of them is as some form of very controlled force field—one that is able to shape itself when it needs to. My former guardian, Admiral Heron, told me he had seen something of that sort when they tried to contact us at Pangaea.”
“Yes, so he told me. So what do they want? Better, how the hell are we supposed to figure it out?”
Harry frowned. His headache was making it difficult to think. “Sir, if I recall correctly, they actually left cryptograms in the network on Vanguard.” He gulped. He was now feeling slightly nauseous, a sure sign that he was in for a monumental headache this time.
“The surgeon’s here. Let’s see if he can sort out that headache for you.”
&n
bsp; Dr. Palmer stormed into his laboratory office and would have slammed the door if he could. His interview with the man retrieved from the lifepod had been brief, but long enough to confirm in his mind that Fleet had absolutely no intention of allowing the LPSL ship or its representatives to make contact with the new race. Worse had been Heron’s absolute certainty that he had saved the fellow’s life. And then there was the Captain’s absolute insistence that his study of the alien – Siddhiche? – ‘message’ was under no circumstances to be shared with anyone without express permission. It was proving fiendish to crack, though he also suspected someone else was manipulating it even as his team worked on it.
“How the blazes could he know what these people are like? He just assumes they’re aggressive!” he raged to the empty office. He looked up as one of his assistants appeared in the doorway. “What do you want?” he demanded.
“Um, sorry to bother you, sir, but the Commander wants to see you.” She looked scared. “Something about wanting to discuss what Tom Loftus had in the lifepod with him.”
He was tempted to tell her to get out, but he reminded himself that she was just the messenger. “Okay. I’ll go.”
He fumed as he strode to the Commander’s quarters. Loftus—so that’s the fellow’s name. Damn fool should have destroyed the wand. Now the Fleet know what we’ve planned. Moron.
Chapter 14
Risky Endeavour
“It’s one hell of a risk, Mr. Heron.” Captain Kretzmann exhaled to release his tension. “Thanks to those beacons you planted on instructions from the Siddhiche, we have some idea of where that thing is, but you know how fast it can put in an appearance when it wants to.”
“Yes, sir, I am well aware of that, but if I can get enough of our recorders aboard the derelict, we might be able to get a better idea of who these creatures are and what they are doing.”
Awakening Threat Page 12