by Russell Fine
Brealak said, “I think we should look through the remains of the habitat in case there’s any evidence that would help us determine what type of explosive was used to destroy it.”
They spent an hour looking through the remains, but if there was any evidence it had already been removed. They walked through the woods back to the cave.
Brealak asked the squirrel for the camera so they could look at the video. The squirrel had done a very good job. The people from the ship could be easily seen and their conversation was recorded. There was also extensive video of the ship.
Jeffery asked Brealak, “Does the video give you what you need to determine who these people are?”
“I am not sure. I need to study this footage further. However, if Commander Streb is able to capture some of these people, that will certainly tell us who is involved.”
Three hours later the guard waiting outside the cave came in. He said, “I just spoke to Commander Streb. He wants you to come back to the ship.”
Cathy asked Jeffery, “Is it okay if Sheila and I stay here? I don’t think we or the squirrels will be in any danger now.”
“Okay, you can stay for now. I’m not sure what the plans are. I don’t want to go back to Coplent now since the Star Rover is on its way here. Since I won’t be able to contact you while you’re in the cave, go outside and call me in two hours.”
“Yes sir. Thank you.”
Jeffery, Brealak, and the four guards left the cave and walked back to their shuttle. An hour later, they were back aboard the warship. Jeffery went to his cabin to tell Debbie what happened and Brealak went to the bridge. He and Debbie followed her a few minutes later.
As soon as they were on the bridge, Commander Streb said, “Jeffery, I think we have a problem. We captured the people from the ships that were on Procolt 4 and Procolt 2. They are not from Crosus, they are from Dorest. They were hired by a Torblit contractor to clean up the areas that were destroyed on both planets and were told to make it look like there was never anything there. Also, they have no idea why their mother ship would blow itself up to avoid being captured. The ships they were using were a Crosus design, but they have owned them for more than ten years. Without their mothership, they are out of business.”
“Why did they fire on us as soon as we dropped out of the wormhole?”
“I asked them that too. They think the captain of their ship might have thought we were pirates, but pirates do not have warships. The captain should have known that. I believe them. They did not resist in any way when they were captured.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“I have to go back to Coplent. I am sure you want to stay here, so before we leave, I will have my people construct a shelter for you and your crew to use until your ship gets here.”
“Thank you, sir. I really appreciate it. How long will it take to build the shelter?”
“It will be done tomorrow. I assume you want it in the same area where your habitat was.”
“Yes, that would be perfect.”
Jeffery and Debbie went back to their cabin. Once they were inside, Jeffery said, “I’m worried about this situation. Somebody is trying really hard to cover this up. If Brealak and I hadn’t come back to Procolt 4 when we did, nobody would know about the attacks. Our coming back really messed up their plans for the cover-up. Our involvement is going to be known and we might be in serious danger.”
Debbie shook her head. “I don’t think so. From their perspective we were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. We aren’t a threat to them.”
“They don’t know that. Anyway, I’m still worried. I’m going to ask Commander Streb for some weapons just as a precaution.”
By the end of the next day, the warship crew had assembled a sixteen hundred square foot shelter. It had four small bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a large common area. All of the rooms were appropriately furnished, and the required electrical power was supplied by large solar panels on the roof connected to rechargeable batteries.
The shelter also had a water purification system so they could use the water from the nearby lake for drinking. In the kitchen there was a food generator and two laundry systems like the ones on the ship. To make the food generators work they had to be supplied with carbon-based materials such as wood, leaves, or grass.
When Jeffery and the other crew members of the Star Rover saw the shelter, they were very pleased. The officer in charge of building the habitat warned Jeffery the batteries would only be able to supply power to the shelter if it remained sunny. If there were more than three consecutive days without sunshine, the system would fail.
Since they had never seen a completely cloudy day, Jeffery was not concerned. Besides, he was sure they could live without electricity for a while.
Later that day, Commander Streb contacted Jeffery to let him know they were leaving. Garlut also contacted him and told Jeffery he would be returning to Earth shortly after he returned to Coplent. Jeffery asked him to contact Max Hiller and let him know what was going on, and that the Star Rover would be returning to Earth within ninety days. Garlut said he would be happy to do that.
The following morning, twenty of the squirrels were outside the shelter waiting for Cathy and Sheila. When Cathy and Sheila went outside, the squirrels surrounded them and told the women they were very happy they were there and they wanted to continue their education.
Jeffery and Debbie went outside to greet the squirrels as well. Once the squirrels calmed down and Jeffery could be heard, he said, “One of the items installed in our shelter is a long-range scanner. It has a two-hundred-thousand-unit range. I believe we’re safe for the time being, but I want the scanner manned all day. We’ll be using standard time here, so we’ll all take five- hour shifts manning the scanner. There will be no exceptions. If you’re on duty and you have to leave for any reason get somebody to take your place. I’ll take the first shift, followed by Debbie, Cathy, and Sheila. Does anyone have any questions?”
One of the squirrels pulled on Jeffery’s pant leg and asked, “Could we help? I’m sure you could show us how to use the scanner. We want to help you.”
Jeffery thought about it for a moment and said, “Okay, that’s a good idea. We’ll train any of you who are interested. Before we do that, I think we need to give all of you names so we can tell you one from the other. I’m not even sure how many of you there are. Cathy, please take care of that for me.”
“Yes sir. We’ll do that this morning.”
Jeffery and Debbie went back inside the shelter. Jeffery sat down in front of the scanner and turned it on. He was wondering if the morning rain would interfere with its abilities. He looked outside and noticed the clouds were already building up and it would begin raining soon.
When the rain started, Jeffery looked out of the window and noticed the squirrels and the women were gone. He turned his attention back to the scanner. He was pleased to see the scanner continued to function normally and was unaffected by the rain.
Toward the end of the shift, Cathy came back. She sat down on a chair next to him and said, “There are seventy-three squirrels. Seven of the females are pregnant. Since the squirrels understand numbers but can’t read yet, I decided to number them instead of giving them regular names. The alpha male is S1 and the rest start at S2 and go through S73. Is that okay?”
“Sure, that makes things easy. If I want them to do something, I only have to ask S1. To me they all look very similar, so I doubt I’ll ever be able recognize them all by sight.”
“They’re beginning to ask some unusual questions. Like why do we wear clothes, why do we bathe every day, and why do we use toilets? I tried to answer them in terms they would understand, but I’m not sure I was successful.”
“Well, I suppose those types of questions are natural. I think they want to emulate us as much as possible. They’re becoming more civilized. I thought their comment that the people from Dorest smelled bad was interesting. Animals typically don’t th
ink of smells as good or bad.”
“I guess they really aren’t animals. Tomorrow, we’re going to start teaching them to read. I think they’ll do very well. Before we left Coplent, I downloaded some children’s books and I printed twenty copies of each book.”
“Are you going to try to teach twenty of them at a time? I think that would be very difficult.”
“I thought about that and decided the class size should be about eight to ten. That way I can give them personal help if they need it.”
“That sounds good. Please keep me informed.”
“I’ll do that, sir.”
NASA Headquarters
March 2122
Brandon Simpson sat across the desk from Max Hiller. Thirteen months ago, Brandon was seated in the same position when he told Max about his idea for an interstellar communication system. NASA had spent over two billion dollars on the project so far, and that was only a small portion of the total outlay.
“Yesterday we inserted the last of the carriers,” Brandon informed Max. “They were inserted into the system at twenty-hour intervals. So far everything seems stable. There’s a ship at the distant end of the system; one light year away. We’ll be ready to send a test transmission tomorrow morning. The message should reach the ship in less than eighteen hours.”
“How long would it take to extend the system to Coplent?” Max asked.
“I think it would take three years, unless Coplent wants to help. Since their ships are three times faster than ours, we could probably do it in half the time with their help.”
“How much is it going to cost?”
“I think the cost is irrelevant. Once the system is operational it will pay for itself in less than five years. I’m certain if we complete the system between Earth and Coplent, the other members of the trade group will be asking us to install systems for them. Did you speak to Garlut about it when he was here?”
“Yes, of course I did. He was sure that Coplent would be interested. I didn’t ask him if they would be willing to help us, but I suspect they will. What time do you want to start the test?”
“I think we should start it at 7:15 tomorrow morning. There will be a carrier passing the Earth end of the system at 7:32.”
“Okay, I’ll meet you in the communications room at 7:00 in the morning. This had better work or we may both be looking for new jobs,” Max said earnestly.
“It’ll work. I’ve tested it over shorter distances and there was no problem. Don’t worry about it.”
“Fine, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Brandon got up and left Max’s office. Max watched him leave. He had really stuck his neck out on this one. If it failed, he was sure he would be in trouble, but Brandon had never failed before, so he told himself there was really no reason for concern.
The following morning, Max walked into the NASA communications room at 6:55 a.m. to find Brandon was already there. Max walked over to where Brandon was standing and said, “Good morning. Are we ready for the test?”
“Yes, the system is stable; all the carriers are in their proper positions. Do you want to have the honor of sending the first message at five hundred times the speed of light?”
“You know I do! What do I do?”
“It isn’t complex. At 7:15, you press the transmit button.”
They waited around, making small talk for almost fifteen minutes. At precisely 7:15, Max pressed the transmit button. A signal was sent to the relay at the Earth end of the system. At 7:31:50 the message was transferred to the approaching carrier. At about 1:00 a.m., the signal on the carrier would be transferred to the relay at the far end of the system, one light year away. That signal would then be broadcast to the waiting ship.
At 1:01:06, the signal was received by the ship waiting for it. The ship then sent a signal saying, “Message Received” and began its return trip to Earth. The message the ship sent would arrive at the NASA communications room 17.52 hours later. The ship would be back at Earth more than four days later.
The test was a success.
Procolt
March 2122
Jeffery woke up early. It was still dark outside but his watch, which used galactic standard time, displayed 9:00. He decided the watch was useless unless you were aboard a ship where night and day were artificial. He didn’t remember ever checking the length of a day on Procolt 2, but he decided it didn’t matter.
Debbie was still sound asleep. He left their room and walked into the kitchen. He really wanted a cup of coffee, but the food generator wasn’t programmed for it, so he settled for water. He was wondering what he and Debbie were going to do for two months until the Star Rover arrived. Cathy and Sheila would be busy with the squirrels, but the two of them really had nothing to do.
Debbie joined him a short time later. She sat down, kissed him lightly on the cheek, and said, “Good morning.”
“Good morning. Would you like some breakfast? The food generator can make us scrambled eggs or pancakes.”
“Pancakes, I guess. The eggs aren’t very good.”
Jeffery got up, walked over to the food generator, and set it to make two orders of pancakes. When they were ready, he brought them to the table. When they were done, Jeffery said, “What do you want to do today?”
“I think we should go exploring. We never had the time before. Perhaps we’ll make another unusual discovery.”
“Perhaps we will. You do realize we’ll be affected by the radiation here. I’d like to devise some method to test our strength every day. I know we can’t do it with any degree of accuracy, but something is better than nothing. Any idea how to do that?”
Debbie thought for a few moments. “What if we make a spear and check to see how far we can throw it every day?”
“That’s a good idea. Let’s go look for a long, straight branch we could use to make a spear.”
They cleaned their dishes and left the shelter. When they walked outside, they saw several squirrels that appeared to be playing some kind of game. As Jeffery and Debbie walked closer, the squirrels stopped playing. One of them looked up at Jeffery and Debbie and said, “Good morning. My name is S34.”
“Good morning, S34. Are you ready to start learning how to read?” Debbie asked.
“Yes, we all are. We’re waiting for Cathy and Sheila. Do you know what they’re doing?”
“I think they may still be sleeping. Would you like me to wake them and let them know you’re waiting for them?”
“No. If they’re tired, we’ll let them sleep. What are you and Jeffery going to do?”
“We’re going for a walk, but it will have to be short because it’ll probably start to rain soon.”
“We like the rain. Do you like the rain too?”
“Yes, I like the rain, but I don’t like getting all wet.”
“Don’t you get all wet when you bathe?” S34 asked logically.
“Yes, but I don’t like getting my clothes wet. It’s uncomfortable.”
“Then why do you wear clothes?”
“We don’t have fur all over our bodies like you do, so we wear clothes for protection.”
“Okay, I understand now. I hope you enjoy your walk.”
“I’m sure we will.”
Jeffery and Debbie walked around the end of the lake toward the hills. The sky was starting to darken, threatening rain. They decided to walk toward the hills and look for a place that would shield them. They didn’t find a cave, but they found a space under a ledge that would work. On the way, Jeffery picked up a tree branch that was about five feet long and two inches in diameter. He had a pocket knife with him, so while it was raining, he whittled a spear.
It rained for a half hour. After the it stopped, they went looking for someplace they could test the new spear. They decided to walk back toward the shelter. After covering half the distance, they found a large, open field. The grass was only a few inches high, so it would be a perfect place for their test.
Looking around, Jeffery mused, “I wo
nder why the grass is so short.”
“It probably only grows to a height of a few inches and then it stops. It’s a little unusual for grass, though. On Earth most grasses would naturally grow much taller before they stop.”
“We need to find some rocks to mark the place where we’ll stand to throw and to mark the farthest point we throw it.”
Debbie went looking and came back a few minutes later with three fist-sized rocks. She put the first rock down. Jeffery put his right foot next to it and threw the spear. Debbie marked the spot with another rock and said, “I think you should throw it three times.” She picked up the spear and brought it back to him. He threw it again, but the second throw was shorter than the first. His third throw was about six inches farther. Debbie marked the spot and they switched positions. Debbie’s longest throw was a foot shorter.
They left the spear and the rocks in place and would come back tomorrow to try again.
They did that every day. For the first eight days there was no significant change, but on the ninth day both were able to throw the spear two feet farther. The distance remained unchanged for the next several days. However, two weeks later the distance jumped again by almost ten feet. It became obvious they were increasing in strength.
During the same time, the squirrels had learned to read simple words. Cathy was certain by the time the Star Rover arrived they would be able to read all of the books she brought.
Coplent Warship
March 2122
Commander Streb was sitting at the desk in his cabin. They had been traveling in the wormhole for two days and he was anxious to get back to Coplent. He was wondering what he would do when he got home when his com unit beeped. He touched a button and said, “Yes.”
“Commander Streb, I have something to show you, sir. Can I ask your location?”
“I am in my cabin.”
“I will be there shortly, sir.”
When Lieutenant Plart walked into the commander’s cabin, he was holding a small cube that held several wires coming out of it. The lieutenant walked over and placed the device on the desk in front of his Commander. “Sir. This is the reason the mother ship exploded. This device is designed to explode a half hour after it is exposed to an electromagnetic pulse. I have seen these things before. We found them on both of the ships we brought back.”