by S A Pavli
“Alfred , it’s obvious. It’s a Hyperspace Communications Device - that’s why it’s so small and there is no Reaction Drive.” A few moments passed while Alfred considered my suggestion.
“Your deductions appear to be correct Paul,” he responded. “That would also explain its synchronous orbit.”
“Absolutely,” I replied “But you know what that means?”
“Yes, it would be logical to deduce that the Aliens have established a base on the planet, in line of sight with the satellite.”
As Alfred said, the Aliens had no doubt established a base on the planet and left the HCD in orbit as a permanent connection with their home planet. It remained to be seen how extensive their settlement was. Was it a fairly new exploratory base or was it a permanent settlement? Alfred’s scans of the planet had not shown widespread habitation. No towns or cities, no major areas lit up at night to show extensive built up areas.
“Alfred, continue scanning the planet, particularly beneath the HCD.”
“Should we make any attempt to hide our approach?” questioned Alfred.
I considered for a few moments “Let’s just go straight in. No stealth, establish us in orbit next to the HCD and put up a big sign, Earthmen have arrived, lock up your daughters.” I chuckled at my attempt at humour. “Their daughters are probably as ugly as sin.” I added.
“That has never stopped you in the past,” quipped Alfred and I did a double take.
“Alfred,” I laughed “Are you developing a sense of humour?”
“Who’s joking?” he retorted. I snorted my amusement.
I returned to my quarters and decided that any further sleep was out of the question and prepared some breakfast. Over coffee I pondered the mind boggling possibility that I was about to make contact with Alien life forms. The thought suddenly occurred to me that if there were Aliens out there, they could give me a lift home! But there was a problem; Procedures dictated that under no circumstances should the Galactic location of the Earth be revealed to any Alien Civilization. The Ship’s AI and Computers were programmed to cover up the location of our home star system. Space navigation used Galactic co-ordinates unrelated to Earth. Paranoia walked hand in hand with Procedures back at SES headquarters.
Procedures were also very explicit about Alien contact; the Scout would minimize contact, setting up a meeting with the Aliens at an agreed location and time, and hightailing it back to Earth to report to his superiors. Sadly, this was something I could not do.
After a leisurely breakfast I made my way back to the Control room again. The alien ship was still displayed, with increasing detail.
“How are the scans of the Planet’s surface going Alfred?” I asked.
“They are proceeding well,” he replied.
“Let me rephrase that, have you detected any signs of life on the planet?” I re-iterated. Sometimes I forget that Alfred is just a Computer.
“There appears to be some constructions on the surface, immediately beneath the alien HCD. Resolution is poor at present, if they exist, the structures are small.”
“Constructions,” I exclaimed in shock, “Bloody Hell!” then I collected my thoughts. “It’s not a city then?” I asked.
“No, just a cluster of structures, five or six, covering a small area.”
“How small?”
“One to two hundred metres square.”
“Put them on screen Alfred, and show location on the map.” One screen displayed some fuzzy images, a group of pale oblongs arranged in a square, with one large oblong in the middle. On the other screen, the coastline of one of the equatorial continents was displayed, and then zoomed in to one part of the coastline, a deep bay with low mountains behind it. The alien structures were at the neck of the bay, with the mountains immediately behind.
“How high are the mountains?” I asked
“Very low, two thousand metres or less.”
Hardly mountains I thought. It sounded a very pretty location. “Probably an alien holiday resort,” I muttered to myself.
“It does not look like a holiday resort Paul,” said Alfred, taking me literally. “It is more likely to be a base for exploring the planet and its biosphere. The vegetation is very rich there and there is no doubt an abundance of wildlife.” I thought about this for a few moments because something was bothering me. Then it came to me; “Alfred, do you see any aircraft at the settlement?”
“No aircraft.” he replied.
“They may not be home,” I suggested. “Out and about exploring no doubt.”
“I have adequate resolution to detect an aircraft either in flight or on the planet’s surface,” replied Alfred.
“Hmmm, that doesn’t make sense,” I muttered to myself “Keep looking Alfred, maybe it is on the other side of the planet. It’s bound to turn up eventually.”
The hours passed slowly, and gradually details of the planet and the alien settlement became clearer. But still no aircraft of any shape or size. We were due to make orbit in three hours and were now braking heavily, adjusting speed and direction to slip into a synchronous orbit next to the alien HCD. I passed the time checking out Epsilon’s flight systems. The shuttle was a beautiful craft, both in an aesthetic and technical sense. She was sleek and streamlined, with swept back delta wings. She was equipped with an immensely powerful fusion reaction drive as well as atmosphere jets which also operated in vertical take off mode, allowing the ship to hover and land without use of a runway. She was also designed for both manual control and automatic control, under Alfred’s guidance. I spent a couple of happy hours checking out her systems and then, not having heard from Alfred I wondered back up to the Control room to see what was happening.
The alien structures were now clearly visible; six oblong structures arranged in a square with a single square one in the middle. There was a flat area surrounding the structures, extending down to the beach at one end. The buildings were set up on a raised section of land extending from the beach back to a sheer rugged rocky cliff that was the start of the rocky mountains. It was a protected and secluded spot. But there was no runway, and, inexplicably, no sign of an aircraft of any type. There was also something not quite right with the buildings.
“Alfred, can you zoom in on those buildings” I asked. The buildings expanded to fill the screen and I could not restrain a gasp of surprise. “Shit look at that, Alfred those buildings, look at them.”
“What am I looking for Paul?” inquired Alfred.
“They are falling down man. Look, there are holes in the walls and roof, that one on the left, the big one, its almost completely collapsed.”
“They do look in a bad state of repair,” agreed Alfred.
“Yes, more than that, they must have been abandoned a long time ago to have collapsed like that.” I didn’t know whether to be happy or disappointed. Clearly the settlement was abandoned, which explained the lack of any aircraft.
“No aliens Alfred, they have all gone,” I said wistfully.
“Yes there does seem to be no activity on the site. I have seen no movement of any form.”.
“But why leave a HCD in orbit about an abandoned planet?” I mused. “Perhaps they intended to return, but never made it?” Alfred recognised that I was thinking out loud, and did not respond. “Perhaps they could still return?” I added. Clearly more questions than answers here.
“Still, those buildings do look as if they have been abandoned a long time,” I went on. Was I trying to reassure myself ?
We were now very close to a synchronous orbit and approaching the orbiting Alien ‘ship’ from above, just a couple of hundred miles away. I could not see the object with the naked eye yet, but Alfred’s electronic ‘eyes’ were much sharper than mine and the detail on the screen was becoming clear and distinct. It had the characteristic shape of a Hyperspace starship. The doughnut of the Hyperspace switch was at the front, at the end of a long pointed ‘nose’. This Switch established the field that allowed the ship to exit from our sp
ace-time. Unless the Aliens were also very small, it did not seem to be a practicable Starship. The more I saw of it, the more I was certain that it was a HCD.
“No sign of little green men yet Alfred?” I asked superfluously.
“No sign of life of any sort, green or otherwise,” he replied. “Synchronous orbit has been achieved,” he announced, “We are just fifty metres from the alien craft.”
“Well, if there was anybody around they would have seen us by now,” I remarked, “What do you think, shall I carry out an EVA to have a look at it?” I asked.
“It would be safer and more instructive to use the EE Robot.” I pondered this for a few seconds. Alfred was certainly correct that more information about the alien would be gleaned by using the EE Robot, which was equipped with far more sensors than me, and far more sensitive ones as well. It has visual, electromagnetic and radiation monitors. It also had touch sensors which could be placed in contact with the alien ship to detect audio and heat sources.
“You are right Alfred,” I agreed, “The EE Robot has to go, but there is any reason why I should not accompany it?”
“What is to be gained?” asked Alfred. I sensed that he was not going to be very obliging here.
“Well, this is the first alien object ever discovered Alfred. I would like to go across and have a figurative look through its windscreen and kick its tyres.”
“I understand,” he replied, “If we were able to return to Earth I would advise against an EVA. Safety would be the paramount consideration. But since this is now not possible, you may satisfy your curiosity if you wish.” I was not quite sure what to make of his reasoning, was he saying that since I was now as good as dead, then getting myself dead in practice would make no difference? AI logic was sometimes remorselessly indifferent to Human feelings.
“Um thank you, I think,” I replied.
We began the preparations for my EVA after I had again prepared the EE Robot and sent it on its way. I agreed with Alfred’s suggestion that we should carry out a thorough examination of the alien object using the EE Robot, before I went anywhere near it. I sat and watched the pictures and data from the EE Robot with interest for a while, and then started to suit up. Spacesuit technology had progressed enormously since the early days of space travel, and my high tech suit was comfortable and light. Throughout the EVA I would continue to be connected to my ship by a safety line, although my suit had a built in mobility unit under Alfred’s control. He would jet me across to the alien ship, and only then allow me to manoeuvre myself using the fine controls of the suit.
The excitement of a space walk, particularly when in planetary orbit, is something that never fades. The stunning beauty of the blue green planet beneath, set against the star studded blackness of Space never fails to kick the adrenalin into action. But, as I floated out of the airlock, my eyes were not for the planet, but for the metallic shape of the alien artefact floating in Space beside us. Seeing it close-up, it was indeed small. The main body was barely any bigger than a large bus or lorry, its nose extending about ten metres from the body with its characteristic Hyperspace doughnut. As I came closer, I could make out a number of hatches and protrusions, one that looked large enough to be an airlock. The EE Robot was latched on to the surface of the alien, carrying out audio and heat tests on the surface, as well as a metallic analysis of the surface material.
“Anything going on internally?” I asked Alfred.
“The object is powered up , but there is no movement or signs of operation.”
“Bloody Hell, Powered up, how do you know?”
“Its ambient temperature is well above zero. It is emitting heat. But there is no audio activity from inside, nothing moving.” I pondered this rather shocking news for a few seconds. If this was an alien HCD, and it was still powered up, it could not be so old. Its owners may well return to reclaim it, or perhaps just to service it. I was floating next to it now, and reaching out I placed a hand on the alien machine and gave it a pat. I could not feel anything of course, the material of the space suit insulated me from any contact.
“What is its temperature?” I asked.
“Minus one hundred and twenty degrees Celsius,” replied Alfred. Just as well the material of the space suit was highly insulating. At that temperature, my skin would be immediately welded by the cold onto the metal.
“Warm and cosy,” I muttered, “Nice shirt sleeve weather for nitrogen breathing aliens.”
“The internal temperature would be much higher,” said Alfred, “Between minus fifty and minus ten.”
“Mmm, so we can discount the possibility that anything organic is living inside?” I asked.
“Yes, it is almost certain that this is an automated machine which has been left on standby,” replied Alfred.
I made a few rotations of the alien object out of curiosity, closely examining its construction and engineering. There seemed no way of gaining entry to the ship, no buttons or control panels that I could see. It was all fruitless, the alien object refused to respond to us, so after half an hour of pointless experimentation I reluctantly made my way back to the Lisa Jane.
“Nothing much to be learnt here Alfred,” I said, “Tomorrow we’ll get down to the planet and have a look at those buildings.”
Chapter 3
We decided to hold off going down to the planet until the morning, that is, morning at the landing site. This was in twelve hours time, being late afternoon at this point. This gave us time to finish the shuttle checkout, load up supplies and get some sleep. My thoughts turned to the possibility of meeting hostile Aliens. It was a quixotic thought, because the Epsilon was not armed, but she was equipped with two under wing cartridges of missile, eight in each cartridge. These ‘Surveyor’ missiles, with programmable charges, were for rock sampling. A small controlled charge would vaporize rocks and allow analysis of the gasses. In addition to the missiles, we were equipped with a couple of hand held missile launchers for the same purpose. A rifle and two small pistols to defend ourselves against over inquisitive predators completed our armaments.
I would also be taking two of the ships robotic staff; I called them Butch and Sundance (after the famous western gunfighters of the same name – for those of you who have not seen the ancient classic film.). They were not fighting robots, they were built to assist in observation and analysis and had innumerable instruments built in. But they were also able to defend themselves and their human master. In this context they were a formidable pair; Butch was butch, broad and massively build, his job was to take samples of the environment and analyse them in situ. His square body contained gas chromatographs and analysers, as well as drills, scrapers and scoops to take samples. He was also armed with a small projectile weapons, bolted to his barrel ‘chest’ . Sundance looked like an insect and was incredibly agile. He was not armed, relying on speed, agility and outstanding sense organs to avoid trouble. He could intercept and grab any predator before I even moved a muscle. With those two guys next to me I felt as safe as houses.
Sleeping was a problem. I’d given myself a thorough physical workout in the ship’s small Gym and treated myself to a couple of brandies after dinner, so eventually I drifted off. I woke early and felt far too jittery to try to sleep more. I showered dressed and loitered over coffee and toast. At last it was time to suit up and go. I would be wearing a light protective suit atmospherically sealed and carrying my own oxygen. We had no idea what sort of nasty bugs and poisons lived in the atmosphere. Butch and Sundance would collect and initially analyse samples of the biosphere, but these could optionally be returned to the Lisa Jane for further analysis. It would be days before Alfred gave the go ahead for me to go surfing!
Suited up, I made myself comfortable in the Pilots seat, although I would not be flying the shuttle until we came to touch down. Re-entry was under Alfred’s control. I was still on ship’s air, the helmet would be worn when I stepped out on the planet’s surface. We worked slowly through the launch procedure with me doub
le checking Alfred’s countdown. Epsilon was released from the main body of Lisa Jane and drifted gently out from the rear.
As we cleared the body of the ship my screens lit up with a display of the planet beneath us. It was beautiful and so Earth like I found myself trying to trace the outlines of the continents. But there was no Africa or Australia here, the continents were quite different. There was the alien HCD again, gleaming metallic against the black backdrop of space, enigmatic and silent.
There was no time for rubbernecking though as Alfred pressed on with the countdown to firing the retros. All checks proceeded smoothly, the whine of the pumps was followed by ignition and the rumble of the reaction motor pressed me gently into my seat. The Lisa Jane displayed in one of the screens started to shrink into the distance. She appeared to be accelerating away from the shuttle, but in fact we were slowing down, to begin the drop into the planet’s atmosphere.
“See you Alfred, don’t get up to no good while I’m away.”
“The possibilities are fairly limited,” he responded dryly. “The same applies to you also Paul. ”
“I’ll try to avoid the local night life,” I promised.
I started to read off the altimeter and speed to Alfred, just to confirm that our instruments matched. We had enough fuel to slow the shuttle down to a comfortable re-entry speed. There was no need for a spectacular and dangerous high speed entry into the planet’s atmosphere. We would slow down to less that mach 10 before entry into the atmosphere and then rotate the shuttle around so that we were pointing forwards. I would then start the atmosphere jets and by the time we were at sixty thousand feet we would be flying like a jet aircraft at mach 5.
I sat back and thought of what may be in store for me. This was my third scouting mission. The other two had been to “dead.” systems, that is, neither of them had planets with life. Disappointing, of course, but most all missions would be like that. Planets like Earth and Omorphia were rarities, one in a hundred Star Systems would have such a planet. So I was very lucky to have found one on my third trip. It was unfortunate for me that I would not be able to return and report my discovery. It was also very unfortunate for the human race to lose such a beautiful Earth like planet, but I guess the human race, unlike me, would survive. Sometime in the future another scout would arrive at Omorphia and find Lisa Jane and my remains. And the Alien remains, I remembered. Would they wonder if I had met the Aliens I mused? I could become posthumously famous as the first Human to make possibly contact with Aliens. It was a possibility that left me singularly unimpressed!