Space Scout

by S A Pavli

  “We wish to examine the Base,” said Kemato. “We can talk as we do so?” she asked questioningly.

  “Of course,” I replied. And so we did, wondering around the buildings, looking inside, they continued to ask searching questions about Earth, Humans and me in particular. Manera stuck close to us, giving me little looks of encouragement and occasionally adding her own answers and explanations.

  “Was the base exactly in this condition when you arrived?” asked Melanisa at one point.

  “Yes” I replied, “Except for the accommodation building which we partly repaired in order to live in it.”

  “Why did you not continue to live in your Shuttle?” asked Melanisa.

  “My Hyperdrive was destroyed and I was not sure how long I would be marooned here,” I replied. “I thought I would make myself comfortable. The facilities here are much better than my shuttle,” I smiled. “I particularly enjoyed your stock of Janu!” I added .

  “Humans also enjoy alcohol?” asked Hamolatonen.

  “Yes, I found your Janu very agreeable to human taste,” I replied.

  “Well, we have that much in common,” he replied dryly.

  “I think that you will find we have much more in common,” said Manera and our eyes crossed meaningfully. Whoa girl, I thought, carefully putting a neutral expression on my face and nodding earnestly. The Guardians looked doubtful, but did not peruse the question. At the end of the ‘tour’, we gathered in the common room of the accommodation building where Manera offered refreshments. The Guardians gracefully accepted, and with glasses of Janu in our hands we settled comfortably in our chairs and continued our discussions. I sipped the fragrant drink carefully, wanting to keep a clear head. The Guardians also brought Alfred into the discussion, and having a computer comms screen available Alfred was able to display recordings of the various incidents from the previous weeks, particularly the attacks on us by the Tanseh and the shuttles. The Guardians were non-committal throughout, asking questions and listening gravely to the answers without comment. They were playing their cards pretty close to their chest I thought. This sort of informal round the table discursive affair was not quite what I expected. I was expecting a more formal ‘court’, on the human model, with a prosecution and a defence. I raised the question with the Guardians.

  “Will there be some sort of formal Inquiry?” I asked. It was Kemato who answered.

  “Normally, a more formal procedure is adopted. However, since we cannot convene a Court as such, we will solicit evidence directly from source, and question the individuals directly. In the present case, the circumstances I think you will agree are unique. We can hardly apply Hianja law to you, an Earthman,” she finished.

  “I was not thinking of you applying Hianja law to me.” I said stiffly. “I was thinking that you should apply it to Smetronis. His actions have led to the death of a large number of individuals. Should he not be held accountable?”

  “And he will, if we believe that there is a case to answer. However, this is not a court, but an investigation,” she replied. She stood up and the other Guardians followed suit.

  “Manera, I believe that you should accompany us back to the ‘Tanu’,” she said, turning to Manera. I guessed this was the name of the largest Mother ship in orbit.

  “Captain,” she addressed me. “You are free to stay here or to accompany us back to the Tanu. We will prepare quarters for you on board the ship. I believe the investigation will proceed more smoothly if we are all together in one place?” she finished questioningly. I considered this for a few seconds before replying.

  “What about my ships, the Lisa Jane and the Epsilon?” I asked.

  “There is one empty slot in the Tanu’s shuttle bay ,” she replied.

  “I can dock the Epsilon with the Lisa Jane. Is the spare shuttle bay large enough for the Lisa Jane?” I asked. After a few seconds conference with the Mother ship, it transpired that the Lisa Jane did fit into the empty bay. We all prepared to take our leave of Omorphia. I suspected that we would not be returning to the planet. It would have been nice to have one last night with Manera, get up in the morning and go for a swim and come back for a leisurely breakfast I thought as we made our way down to the landing area. The Guardians and their Hianja guards boarded the shuttle, leaving Manera to get on last. She turned and took my hand.

  “It would have been nice to have one last night on this lovely planet,” she said wistfully.

  “The thought had crossed my mind,” I said with a heavy heart. “This is a lovely planet. I would like to return one day.”

  “Maybe we will,” she replied. “I will see you back at the Tanu. You will love the ship and I will love showing her to you,” she said eagerly. I threw off my sombre mood and smiled. It was indeed a great adventure I thought. I am going to board an alien starship! With a squeeze of my hand she bounded off, up the steps and disappeared into the airlock.

  It took an hour or so to close down our affairs on Omorphia, gathering our goods and equipment into the Epsilon and make it ready for departure. It was getting dark when I waved goodbye to Omorphia and boarded the Epsilon. Checkout proceeded smoothly and Alfred lifted her off with a roar of the jets, out to sea and climbing steeply. The ground receded rapidly beneath us and the sky was soon replaced by the black of space. I admired the blue globe beneath with some regret and nostalgia, my thoughts on the first time Manera and I had made love on the beach. I put the past to the back of my mind and focused on the future. A potentially great future, with the Human race in partnership with the more advanced Hianja promising enormous benefits. The worry in the background of my thoughts, was that someone or some group was trying to put a curse on this future, to turn Human and Hianja against each other. Why, I asked myself? Was it fear of something new? Change always threatened the status quo, with some people benefiting and some losing out. Alfred’s voice in my ear interrupted my thoughts.

  “Approaching rendezvous with the Lisa Jane Paul,” I looked out of the window for the first sight of the Lisa Jane, which was already being displayed on the computer screen. The ship looked in one piece, but the comms dish had disappeared and the area around it was scarred and blackened where it had been blown off by Smetronis’s forces to prevent my communication with Alfred on the Epsilon. A sudden thought occurred to me.

  “Alfred, how are we going to communicate with the Lisa Jane’s on board computers?” I asked. “We need them to open the shuttle bay doors.”

  “There is an externally operated Bay door mechanism, Paul, which can be remotely operated,” he replied. “Naturally I have the code sequence,” he added.

  “Let’s hope it works,” I said

  “I have already received a positive response to the ‘open door’ sequence,” he replied. “Manoeuvring for entry now,” she shuttle pitched to the left and up, aligning herself with the rear of the Lisa Jane and slowly with great precision and delicacy, slid between the external encircling water cylinders and through the open bay doors. The doors closed behind us and we were in.

  “Here we are, home sweet home,” I muttered. I disembarked from the shuttle, and made my way through to the Lisa Jane’s control room. I powered up the ship’s systems and carried out the system checks while Butch and Sundance disconnected the big fridge that was Alfred’s brain from its home on the shuttle and transported him back to his normal location on the Lisa Jane. Installed and working, Alfred continued with the system checks while I prepared myself for my new home on the Tanu.

  Alfred informed me after an hour or so that he had contacted the Hianja Mother ship and was preparing to dock the Lisa Jane onto the Tanu. I strapped myself into the Pilot’s seat and we worked our way through the engine start-up checks. All systems were green and I felt and heard the gentle cough of the Lisa Jane’s reaction engines as they started. It was a short trip, the Tanu being just a few miles away on the same synchronous orbit as us. As we approached the Hianja mother ship its size began to become apparent. It absolutely dwarfed the Lisa J
ane which looked like a small shuttle next to her instead of a starship in her own right.

  The Tanu was impressive. Its main body was shaped like a gleaming cylinder, with rows of windows around its circumference, I counted about twenty rows. A long spindle at the front ended with the huge doughnut of the Hyperdrive and was complemented by an equally massive doughnut at the rear which was the AG drive. The overwhelming impression was one of power and functionality. I had been struck by the Hianja’s apparent love for beauty and design and the Tanu was no disappointment. The shuttle bay doors were at the rear of the Tanu. There seemed to be six rectangles, in two rows of three, and one of them turned from silver grey, the colour of the ship, to black, as it gaped open.

  Gently, Alfred nursed the Lisa Jane towards the Hianja mother ship, lining its blunt nose with the open port. Alfred was still able to communicate with the Hianja ship via the Epsilons systems, and so he was guided in to the port with unerring accuracy. I wondered what would happen as we came within the Tanu’s Artificial Gravity field. My question was answered when Alfred started to manoeuvre the ship to face outwards from the Hianja ship. We were going in bottom first. Alfred then shut down the Lisa Jane’s engines when we were still a hundred metres or so from the Tanu. Lisa Jane drifted slowly towards the Hianja mother ship’s huge open port. We could see nothing inside the port, only blackness, but as we came closer, Lisa Jane started to accelerate under the influence of the Tanu’s AG. A gentle blast from the Lisa Jane’s engines slowed us down to a crawl and we were swallowed by the blackness of the huge ship. A further gentle blast and we came to a stop. I heard a number of gentle thumps as something mechanical engaged with the Lisa Janes’s outer Hull. We were in and moored.

  “We have docked Paul,” came Alfred’s voice. “They will connect a sealed gangway to the front exit port. The reception committee is waiting for you.”

  “Nice work Alfred. Will I be able to remain in touch with you via our comms system?” I asked.

  “Yes , that is fully functional,” he replied. “I will continue to interface with you and the Hianja via the existing microwave link,” I adjusted my uniform, and made my way to the forward exit port. It was still closed but after a minute or two there was a thump from the outside. A couple of minutes later the door hissed open and I was confronted with a corridor at the end of which was a brightly lit room where I was met by my old buddy , the chunky Nastro, who beamed at me in welcome. I felt a stab of disappointment at not seeing Manera there to meet me, but grinned at the beaming Nastro.

  “Paul, welcome,” he cried in English. He had worked very hard with Manera to learn English during our stay on Omorphia, and with great success. He was not as proficient as Manera of course, but he could manage a simple conversation quite well. As if reading my thoughts, he went on. “Manera, she busy with Guardians,” he said with his clipped vaguely Japanese accent. “I, be your guide. Go to your rooms now?” he inquired.

  “Hello Nastro,” I said cordially. “I am very pleased to see you, yes I am ready to go to my rooms. Can I return here to take clothing and other personal items?” I asked.

  “Uh...return here..er..ah, clothing, yes.” he said struggling over the language and finally triumphing. “Of course, come back any time,” he said nodding. “Follow me?” he added.

  “Right behind you sport.” I grinned and followed his blocky figure towards a corridor leading into the interior of the huge Hianja ship.

  Chapter 18

  If the exterior of the Tanu had been impressive, the interior was doubly so. Spaceships had changed drastically from the early days of space travel when Astronauts had to put up with appallingly cramped and uncomfortable conditions. The interior of these early ships had been more like living inside a combination of Fridge and washing machine for the suffering Astronauts with electronics , cables, pipes and motors protruding from every wall and hanging from the ceiling. The Lisa Jane was a vast improvement on these crude conditions. Electronics and plumbing was decently hidden behind bulkheads, cables were hardly used in modern electronics, fibre optics and electromagnetic transmitters connecting the mass of computers and electronics. The improved compactness and miniaturisation allowed some decent room for the human inhabitants. Living conditions in the Lisa Jane were therefore very comfortable for the crew of one.

  But the Tanu was in a different league. Where the Lisa Jane was functional and adequate, the Tanu was more like a five star hotel, which for all I know she may have been. Where the Lisa Jane used bland aircraft style interior fixtures and fittings, with beige and pale blue much in evidence, the Tanu used natural materials, real wood, glass, aluminium and steel, beautifully polished and worked, in tasteful and restful colours. And this was just the corridors.

  We arrived at a central area which had two other corridors branching off from what appeared to be the ‘spine’ of the ship. I guessed that the central column contained the electronics linking all the decks of the ship with its ‘brain’, the AI and Computer complex which was at its head. Two elevators were also part of the central spine and Nastro operated a button on one. I had to chuckle to myself at the thought of elevators in a Starship. As we waited , Hianja wearing grey and blue overalls scuttled by on various errands, looking at me curiously as they passed. A number of robots and mechanoids also whirred scuttled or rolled past buzzing busily to themselves. The doors opened silently and we stepped in to the small elevator. Nastro indicated a button to me, as he pressed it.

  “Deck five Paul,” he said. “Is your room. And also mine and Manera,” he said. “This deck is zero,” and he indicated another button on the elevator control panel.

  “Thank you Nastro,” I said. “How many decks on Tanu?” I asked.

  “Ah, yes,” he nodded. “Tanu has nine decks,” he said, holding up nine fingers. I nodded in understanding.

  “All for passenger accommodation.? I asked.

  “Passenger? No,” he replied, “One for passengers, one for control, one for crew, two for power generators, one for catering, one for relaxation and two for stores,” he struggled through the description, ticking off the numbers on his fingers. The lift doors opened and we stepped out to deck five. The decor was different from deck zero, I was to find that each deck used a different theme and colour scheme. Five was golds, browns and greens, a sort of warm tropical theme, with leaf patterns prevailing. The floor appeared to be cool marble, but I had to believe that it was some sort of plastic. Nastro took one of the corridors and my apartment was the last door at the end. Nastro indicated the apartment opposite.

  “Manera here, and I am next door,” he said indicating the door next to mine. He pressed a panel on the wall, the door slid open and we walked in. I was immediately impressed with my new home. We entered into the living area which was easily ten metres by ten metres in size, one wall having three huge flat screens that looked like windows and displayed an incredibly lifelike view of an alien sub-tropical landscape of stunning beauty. Comfortable looking settees made a cosy square in one corner and what appeared to be a bar was in another. It was big and airy and so lifelike was the view I could easily believe that I had somehow stepped out of the elevator on to another planet. Nastro was looking very pleased as I looked about me, my incredulity must have been apparent on my face.

  “Beautiful huh Paul?” he asked. “That is Senansa, my home planet. You like?” he said indicating the view screens.

  “Nastro, it looks very beautiful,” I said. He smiled in appreciation and waved me on in the direction of the two other doors connecting to the living room.

  “Bedroom and Toilet room,” he said . “I show use of Toilet,” he grinned.

  “Very important,” I agreed. From a toiletry point of view, it was fortunate that Hianja and Humans were so physically similar. The bathroom was instantly recognisable as such, but being a Starship there were of course a number of technological ‘gismos’ to cope with. The toilets and showers were designed to work under weightless conditions as well, so they were equipped with
pumps, suction devices and extractors. Technical descriptions and demonstrations over, Nastro took his leave, promising to return in half a ‘sala’, which was a Hianja hour, equivalent to about fifty-five minutes.

  It had been a sweaty few hours packing our equipment to get off planet so I enjoyed a long hot soak in the bath before getting dressed in my uniform. They had left out some Hianja clothes which I decided not to use. Not ready to go ‘native’ yet I told myself. After my bath I raided the cocktail cabinet which contained a large number of multi coloured and shaped bottles. I noticed that the bottles were very light, clearly not made of glass. In addition, all the fixtures and fittings, although cunningly appearing to be made of natural materials, such as marble, wood and glass, were actually artificial materials, light strong and very realistic copies of the natural equivalent. If the Hianja decided to trade with Humanity, these materials would be worth a fortune. Over a cocktail I checked in with Alfred on my communicator.

  “Alfred, how’s it hanging with you ole chap?” I inquired, feeling relaxed and at ease with the Universe.

  “Hello Paul,” came the response. “I have been submitting evidence and information to the Hianja investigating committee.”

  “They are not wasting time are they?” I asked.

  “I am working with their AI’s at present, classifying and filing the evidence,” he replied.

  “Are they able to overhear our conversations Alfred?” I asked.

  “Yes Paul, our comms systems and computer translation facilities are fully interlinked. If you wish to converse with me in private, you must come to the shuttle.”

  “No problem Alfred. We have nothing to hide.”

  “Indeed,” he replied. “Are you comfortable Paul?” he asked.

  “Very comfortable. Our hosts have been very generous, I have a superb apartment. But I will need more clothing. Perhaps I will come down to the shuttle at a convenient time to collect some. Are all your systems operational?”