by David Buck
The matriarch knew this was the home world of the humans and that their human population that had been recently decimated. She considered both pieces of information and evaluated what was occurring as most decidedly odd. On the report she then flagged the Sol system with increased importance as a location to be closely watched. Little did the matriarch know that as she formulated yet more plans across the sector, that this one star system will occupy much of her thoughts in the many years to follow.
***
Steve leaned out of the hovering helicopter and looked down at the strange rig floating in the water. The cylindrical object was about thirty metres long and eight metres in diameter, with sturdy skids protruding from under the inflatable collar that kept the object afloat. The first impression Steve got was that it was like a research or rescue submersible, but he could see no signs of a power plant at all.
A folded radio mast and a large hatch were evident on the top surface of the object, and a series of portholes lined the front and sides of the object. Interestingly the hatch appeared to be well secured by a large jury rigged welded plate, almost as if to keep something inside from getting out. Steve looked over the strange floating object further and gave possibly spurious orders to Mark, even as he noted that the belly cable with the underwater loudspeaker attached had already been retracted.
‘Mark, keep us several metres off to one side and at our present height please.’
The floating collar looked durable, but Steve was not taking any chances and radioed the Aurora Discovery.
‘Aurora Discovery can I have an ETA on the ship reaching my position? Over’
The crew on the bridge gave an estimate of within two hours then Steve spoke again for the benefit of the chief engineer on his ship.
‘I want the chief to rig the rear gantry, we have something here I want to recover if I can.’
The chief engineer came on the radio briefly. Steve gave him the estimated length and mass of the object, to which the chief replied that he though the rear gantry should be able to handle the lifting of the object. Dan had been looking over the object as Steve was on the radio, and he suddenly gave a start as Steve finished his radio message.
‘Steve I think something is below the object underwater as I can see flashes of light like there is a diver below.’
Mark kept the helicopter level as Steve looked with Dan for a minute or two, and confirmed Dan’s discovery.
‘There is definitely someone down there Dan, and it is hard to tell how far the down the lights are from up here. I think if I get into the water alongside I can snorkel under the object and find out what is happening.’
Quickly Steve left his satellite phone in the seat pocket, undid the seatbelt and donned a lifting vest from the helicopter recovery kit near the side door. He put together a pack consisting of life jacket; some tools, torch and marine radio, then he donned the mask, snorkel and flippers.
Steve clipped the kit to the vest, and then the vest onto the recovery winch. He verified the attachments and then spoke to the pilot.
‘Mark, just ease me down into the water along side the object, as the sides of the floating collar are too difficult to climb back up.’
By this stage Dan was also in the rear crew section, had on another lifting vest, and was clipped off to the front bulkhead. Mark acknowledged the instruction and the side door soon opened, as the Dan gave a simple test of the winch by releasing three metres of line and winding two metres back. Steve indicated he was ready, and Dan slowly lowered him fifteen metres into the slight chop of the Indian Ocean.
Steve floated on his back checking the snorkel, mask and fins by habit. He then unclipped the lifting cable from the long tail at the neck of the vest, clipped the life jacket to the lifting cable, turned on the torch and swam strongly to the side of the strange alien object. Steve could see inside a couple of the portals and was aware of being watched by three large red forms inside the object. The beings inside boasted a mass of teeth and red skinned limbs tipped with long claws. He felt the sensation of being watched by them was like an antelope being studied by a pride of lions. As he stopped for a moment beneath the collar floats of the large object he radioed a call to Dan.
‘Dan I think something of concern is locked in that object, the creatures look dangerous and they possibly have been secured for a reason.’
Dan acknowledged Steve’s concern.
‘Well as long as they are not in distress no one is going to open that hatch.’
Steve then turned and immediately dove under the object.
***
Apart from learning the human language from the research notes at an impressive rate, Captain Narindestat was much too busy planning on getting his ship ashore to worry to long about the Maveen probes leaving the ship. The lead probe was a stickler for protocol the captain decided, though he could see the wisdom of the probe’s constraints on the Traders all too well.
The captain did wonder why only the six small Maveen probes had again left his ship, and also why the larger Maveen ship had remained behind still and silent in his hold. He considered to himself that the best solution would have been that all the Maveen ships should had left, despite the Maveen probe's instructions. Then he would not have been as constrained as he was to launch back into space. He had also considered sending a sneak ship to recover the body of his son. But he had soon discarded the idea as he noted the great depth of the ocean at the point his son had fallen out of the ship. The sneak ship would struggle to retain structural integrity at those depths, even if it could locate the body of his son.
Emeria had fled to her quarters weeping on hearing the news of Garendestat, her second piece of bad news in just over a week. However she had later returned to care for the sickening crew looking both distant and fragile.
The crew went about their duties stoically though several still coughed badly or had bandaged patches secured about the infected glimmer tattoo sites. The glimmer illness in his crew concerned the captain greatly, as the normally placid crew had begun to show signs of stress and aggression. Several of the senior crew members had looked at the captain with fixed looks, that while lately full of sympathy, only just stopped short of a challenge. Captain Narindestat suppressed a shiver, mutiny was unknown amongst the Traders in space, but then the loss of the controlling mechanism of the glimmer tattoos amongst the Traders was largely unknown as well.
***
Admiral Johnston reviewed the decision process that had led to the disastrous battle. The Unified Command office in Hawaii was sending the original admiral of the US 5th fleet back two days early to resume command when they returned to Diego Garcia. The admiral expected to be exonerated in the formal enquiry in Hawaii next month, but would be then compelled to retire in a closed door meeting that was typical of senior naval command out of the spotlight. He knew that if the alien ships had been captured then the losses the US 5th fleet had experienced would not have been held against him so much.
The hue and outcry from the international media about the attack by the fleet was definitely driving his own problems he decided. Indeed the relationships between the US and her western allies had cooled markedly to a level near that of the epidemic ten years ago. The Australians had been uncharacteristically cold about the event, especially as it had occurred on their own doorstep. With no ships in danger of sinking, the Australians had later only offered limited assistance to the damaged ships of the US 5th fleet.
The damage reports of the fleet ran through several reports, and the two Zumwalt cruisers would need extensive repairs back in the US, as entire sections of the vertical gun assembly were either melted or fused to the rest of the ship. The senior fleet engineer though that the cruisers would have to have complete new centre sections built. The more pressing problem was that the whole fleet was largely blind to underwater and aircraft threats. A Chinese submarine or aircraft carrier could decimate the US 5th fleet in the current condition it was now operating. A series of air patrols was mitigating that very
unlikely risk, and he considered that the fleet would return safely to Diego Garcia in three days time.
By habit the Admiral again looked at the reports and estimated losses for the alien ships. Two frigate sized objects had been observed by the sonar buoys slowly falling the two kilometres to the Naturaliste plateau, even as the remaining alien ships had powered away to the north-east. The two ships he organised earlier would suffice to salvage those space ships he decided as he reviewed their specifications. To cover the salvage ships he sent back a replenishment ship, two destroyers and three frigates. The salvage ships would have minimal protection, but he was hoping to get to the downed space ships before the aliens either destroyed them or returned for them. This time he decided to himself, he would accomplish a mission objective by stealth rather than confrontation.
‘Let the Unified Command parse that any way they will.’ he thought to himself sombrely.
***
Omerio considered the latest star system he had entered with unease, and quickly verified that the engines and cloaking device were working correctly. The young star system was full to overflowing with several belts of asteroids and two forming planets closer in to the star.
The trail from the Tilmud ships arrowed straight across the system from what he could tell. He noted that one of the frigates had left the small fleet and taken a different course directly back towards populated space.
Possibly the lone Tilmud frigate had run into mechanical problems. Cautiously Omerio plotted a staggered course though the cluttered system. It would be a great place to hide or launch an ambush he decided, as he charted a course that reduced that risk.
***
Garendestat was totally exhausted and he could no longer feel his left arm, unless he knocked it against his side. He then felt his broken arm too well, especially when he had managed to free his arm carefully earlier on without sliding off the end of the cable. He now slowly climbed the tie down cable with the thick cable clamped between his legs. From time to time he had paused and secured the tool grip holder around another section of cable, and then lowered the deeper parts of the cable beneath him. He knew he could not lift the entire cable easily in his weakened condition.
As Garendestat continued his low climb up the cable, his space suit voided a series of large bubbles. The suit's inbuilt computer gave concise readings of temperature, now rising, and pressure, still slowly falling, and adjusted the space suit environment to suit. His air had already gone past the thirty minutes mark, and he decided that he was using less air as he rose to the surface. The mechanics of water pressure in the oceans dominated everything he tiredly evaluated. He was still twenty meters from the surface, but felt he could go no further, as he rested for two minutes. The young Trader raised his helmet to the surface and the space suit’s proximity alarm went off.
Garendestat felt cold and remained still as he looked up at the surface. The proximity alarm was in a code that meant a flying object with no Trader recognition codes was within hand weapons range of his position. The object was stationary from what he could tell, so it was probably one of the human’s strange rotary aircraft and it would be over the research rig containing the last of the Voorde. The thought that the Voorde could escape and decimate this world spurred the lieutenant to immediate action, and he started to climb the tie down cable again. As he climbed the air supply buzzer started to protest constantly and he knew his air supply was going.
The lieutenant’s vision started to flicker and he momentarily spotted a strange form with fins on long legs above him near the surface. Garendestat checked his depth display as he climbed with fifteen meters to go, and his body was giving what little it had left. Ten meters and his joints seemed ready to explode and dimly he was aware of a pressure failure warning coming from his suit. The suit pressure was decreasing so rapidly that his vital signs were showing that gas bubbles were forming in his joints.
Garendestat recalled Halbindestat mentioning that the highest pressure changes in an ocean occurred in the first several meters of depth, and he was approaching the surface. The space suit was venting a solid trail of air now as it sought to both save him from injury and also not rupture from the pressure differential. He knew that if he could get to the surface and stay with the floating research rig then the suit should keep him alive.
Eight metres to go, then seven and Garendestat was totally spent. He stopped and his legs could not continue to clamp the cable much longer. He felt a curious detachment as he considered the possibility of the long fall to dark depths of this ocean. A human swam in front on his face plate and looked at him for scan seconds from a few meters away, before it gestured upwards. Garendestat gave a small start, realised that the human was not armed, and then casually pointed to his arm hanging down his side. The human seemed to recognise his plight as he glanced at the Traders injured arm and the amount of air pouring from the valves of the space suit.
The Trader watched as the human quickly attached two self inflating lifting bags to the lifting ring of his suit. He then inflated the bags as he breathed from a small air tank slung across a shoulder. Garendestat was promptly grabbed under the good arm by the smaller human and rapidly propelled to the surface along the cable.
***
Steve swam swiftly under the floating object and considered the lights he had seen dimly from the helicopter. A thick cable descended from the floating object and Steve evaluated the cable as a restraint of some type. Possibly the object had come free from the big ship he was hearing about. But why was it hanging straight down like an anchor?
Steve then grabbed the cable and he could feel something moving further down the cable. He then rose to the surface for another gulp of air and gave Dan and Mark the 'ok' symbol. Steve quickly dove under again and grabbed the cable as he surveyed the water underneath the cable. Suddenly he could see a large suited form with a light on what must be the helmet pointing at the surface. The alien might not see him, as he had the dark mass of the floating object behind him as he watched the being slowly climb the rope towards him.
Steve knew as he went back to the surface that the alien was still too deep for him to get to without scuba tanks. He made a point of being visible now by swimming a few metres out from the object to the recovery line from the helicopter. He again spoke to Dan and Mark via the microphone on the lifting vest.
‘We have someone or something down here in about ten metres of water. Dan can you quickly drop a small recovery air tank and two fifty kilogram lifting bags?’
Dan acknowledged and Steve grabbed the requested equipment as it landed in the water two metres from him wrapped in two more life vests. Steve left the life vests attached to the recovery harness, and with the small air tank over his left shoulder he swam quickly over to the side of the object, before he dove down the thick cable again. He saw that the alien had climbed the cable to within seven metres of the surface, but now seemed still.
Steve then realized both that the alien seemed injured due to how the left arm hung down to one side, and that possibly the space suit was failing as it seemed to be discharging a lot of air. He took a decent gulp of air from the recovery bottle and dove down strongly alongside the heavy cable to the still form of the alien. The creature was large he evaluated, it would easily top three metres when it stood, and in the space suit it must at least weigh three or even four times his own one hundred kilogram weight. He had the presence of mind to stop for another breath of air from the recovery bottle, then placed himself in front of the alien from a distance of three metres. The alien gave a small start as Steve gestured to the surface and then the alien pointed at his obviously injured arm.
Steve now wasted no time, as he quickly attached the lifting bags which inflated via their own gas charges after several seconds as he breathed again from the recovery bottle. He then firmly grabbed the injured alien under the good arm and propelled him towards the surface. Steve could feel the mass of the alien and his suit holding him back, as he powered towards the
surface with strong kicks from his fins. He had to slow once for another quick draft of air, but the alien was easier to manage in the last few meters as the space suit seemed to gain a little buoyancy. They both reached the surface in an explosion of effort and spray, and Steve quickly grabbed and attached the recovery harness to the stout lifting lug on the back of the space suit.
Steve could see that the alien had some sort of cable restraint mechanism rigged to an equipment belt on the space suit, and he had the presence of mind to shorten the cable once he had the alien laying on his back. He then quickly attached both life vests to the shoulders of the space suit, and checked on the alien inside, who regarded him calmly as he used his good arm to place his broken arm across his torso. The alien seemed to be breathing a bit easier and Steve could hear a valve opening and closing on the top of the space suit.
Steve knew that the recovery harness would be what kept the both of them afloat at that moment. He gathered his breadth, then he radioed quickly on an update of how long until the Aurora Discovery reached their position. Finally he asked Dan to drop two more life jackets that he could secure to the upper torso of the alien’s space suit.
Mark quickly explained for Dan’s benefit that the alien in his space suit was too heavy to lift with the recovery cable, and that they would await the arrival of the ship. Steve positioned the extra life jackets under the shoulders of the space suit and was careful not to knock the alien’s broken arm. Steve noticed that the alien again regarded him calmly, though he had yet to make a sound.
***
Chapter 14
The Maveen lead probe considered the details of the weak scan it had conducted on the approaches to the huge underwater canyon two hours after leaving the Trader ship. Three other probes would return shortly from a high speed survey of the canyon closer to the main land. Speed was the essence, though they would have to observe the forms and reassure those that they sought that the risks of interaction were minimal. In moments the other three probes had returned and after a quick exchange of information, all six Maveen probes accelerated back to the original plateau where the Trader ship had landed. The probes ensured that they were cloaked and not disturbing the ocean layers in their rapid journey.