by PP Corcoran
“Good idea, Robert. As soon as you can, please.”
“Yes, sir.” Ranking signed off.
Christos sat back in his chair and began to put together a plan to save as much of this dead civilisation as his small ship could hold before returning to Earth with his solemn news that life no longer existed in Delta Pavonis.
#
Charon Base - Orbit of Pluto - Sol System
Lt. Cmdr. Elizabeth Wilson once again found herself in the office of Adm. Aleksandr Vadis, Commander of Operation Minerva on Charon Base, orbiting Pluto.
The solemn mood of the base reflected that of its commander. TDF Vasco De Gama had not made contact confirming its safe arrival at Gama Leporn. Vadis had authorized the dispatch of two courier drones to the system to make contact with the missing ship. Both had returned intact and had reported that there was no indication of either the ship or the communications buoy it should have released on its arrival in the system. Vadis was only delaying the inevitable by not declaring the ship lost but, Elizabeth reflected, he was the admiral and it was his decision.
Vadis turned from the Holo Cube that was showing an image of Gama Leporn to look at Elizabeth. “So, Commander. Give me some good news.”
“Sir, Captain Radford has safely arrived in the Sol system and are due to dock within the hour. We have received a courier drone from Captain Papadomas. He requests that he be allowed a further seven days in Delta Pavonis to secure as many facts as possible on the indigenous civilization.”
Vadis nodded. “Granted. Inform him as to the current situation with TDF Vasco De Gama. Make it clear that he is to leave Delta Pavonis at the first indication of any trouble. We still don’t know what happened to Captain Witsell and her crew. I don’t want to lose another ship.”
Elizabeth made the annotations on her PAD before continuing, “As for TDF James Cook: Captain Lewis reports safe arrival at 31 Aquilae. That is all at this time.” Elizabeth keenly felt a sense of relief at that particular news. She and Robert Lewis had enjoyed each other’s company while preparing for the survey missions and she missed being able to talk to him. Elizabeth shook herself internally; Robert is old enough and bold enough to look after himself without you worrying like an old woman, she thought to herself, and promptly halted her pondering as she waited for Vadis to reply.
“Very well, Elizabeth. Inform Captain Radford that I expect a full briefing from him two hours after he docks, and please ensure that the yard gets TDF Henry Hudson turned around as quickly as possible for redeployment.”
“Yes, sir.” Elizabeth stood to leave then paused. “Sir, if I may?”
Vadis broke his gaze away from the image of Gama Leporn in the Holo Cube. “Of course, Elizabeth.”
“Sir, as you have pointed out, we have no idea what has happened to the Vasco De Gama, so maybe we should wait for a little while longer before we write them off?”
Vadis considered for a moment. “As always, Elizabeth, you know what to say and when to say it.” Vadis gave her a small smile, the first she had seen since TDF Vasco De Gama had failed to make contact. “Maybe a few days more before I make any calls to the families.” And with that, Vadis’s eyes returned to reflect on the image of Gama Leporn, and Elizabeth left the room.
CHAPTER TEN
Trip Wire
TDF James Cook - 31 Aquilae
TDF James Cook arrived at the pre-planned distance of 52 AUs from the primary star 31 Aquilae, some 49.41 LY from Earth. 31 Aquilae could be seen by the naked eye from Earth. The star was some 116 per cent of the mass of Earth’s own star and some 138 per cent of its size. Spectrograph readings showed it as surprisingly rich in elements, with the exception of hydrogen and helium, for its age, some five billion years old – which put it about half a billion years older than our own sun. A blink of the eye on a cosmic scale.
Capt. Robert Lewis looked around his bridge with paternal pride. His people were going about their jobs with the utmost professionalism and if truth were told, he felt outright redundant. Robert had been, perhaps, more surprised than the other captains on hearing their selection to command Earth’s first extra-solar survey ships. Robert was only a few years from retirement and had already been planning how he was going to spend his free time – commuting between his home on the south island of New Zealand and his daughter’s home on the north island. He had gone as far as considering selling his place and moving lock stock and barrel to be closer to his daughter. However, his home on south island was where he and his late wife, Colleen, had lived, raised a family together and where, if it had not been for the cancer, they had planned on growing old together.
Robert shook himself out of his reverie. None of that was to be, now. In any case, he had found a resurgent interest in his career. On receiving the briefing by Adm. Vadis and Lt. Cmdr. Elizabeth Wilson on Operation Minerva at Charon Base, Robert had found himself spending many hours with Elizabeth going over details of the operation. Not only during work hours but also over the odd late dinner. Robert had been surprised to hear that Elizabeth too was a widow, her husband having died in service early in her career. Lewis still thought that he had made a mistake in not inviting her to see New Zealand with him. Perhaps when this mission was over.
“Captain!” Cmdr. Torrance, his XO, called and attracted his attention.
“Yes, XO?”
“Sir, if you would care to look at the Holo Cube, astronomy have finished their plot of the system and have confirmed their findings.” Robert spun his chair to get an unobstructed view of the central Holo Cube. As it sprang into life, Torrance continued. “As you can see, sir, the system consists of nine planets. Two are gas giants, three are effectively balls of ice, being too far from the system primary to receive anything in the way of heat, and another two are so close to the primary that they make our own Venus look like a nice place to vacation. One is just outside the Goldilocks Zone and this one is just right,” Torrance paused.
Robert interjected, “This sounds like the story of the three bears, Bruce.”
Refusing to acknowledge the pun, Torrance carried on. “So far, sir, spectral analysis of the atmosphere has a high amount of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons.”
Robert raised a finger to stop Torrance in mid-brief. “XO, are you going where I think you are going with this?”
Torrance let a small smile reach his lips. “As usual, sir, you are a step ahead. I’m saying what you’ve already guessed –– that these are four of the principal greenhouse gases that accumulate in the atmosphere, causing concentrations to increase with time. On our own planet, levels of this sort occurred in the industrial era.”
“No sign of artificial power generation?” asked Robert.
“None, sir.” confirmed the XO.
Robert sat back in his seat and involuntarily began to stroke his grey goatee. Torrance remained silent, allowing his captain to mull over the information.
“Very well,” announced Robert, turning to face his navigator, Lt. Ash. “Mr Ash, please plot us a spiral course for Planet IV. I want to have a look at the outer planets on the way in; no sense in taking any chances.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Lieutenant Marcks. I want passive sensors only, but get as much information as you can.”
Marcks, the tactical officer nodded, “Yes, sir.”
“And with that, XO, I shall leave the bridge in your capable hands. Download all our information to a courier drone and get it away please. Ensure the deployment of the communications buoy.”
“Understood, sir.”
“I’ll be in my quarters, taking my pensioner’s half hour. We of the older generation require our midday snooze, you know.”
Torrance allowed himself another smile. After watching how Captain Lewis had driven the crew in preparation for this mission, he had more stamina than half the crew put together and could give the marines a run for their money as well. Instead he replied, “I’ll be sure to wake you for dinner, sir,” before turning to c
arry out his orders.
#
Robert was fast asleep when his Comm buzzed urgently. Without even opening his eyes, he had hit the accept button. “Captain. Go ahead.”
“Sir, Lieutenant Ash. Could you come to the bridge, sir? Passive sensors are detecting what Tactical are classifying as an artificial power source on or near Planet V. Approximately two point eight AU from our current location.”
That brought Robert straight to full wakefulness. How could that be? There should not be an artificial power source out here. “Signal all stop, Mr Ash. Rouse the XO and get him to meet me on the bridge.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
Robert swung his legs out of bed and dressed while ruminating the implications of an artificial power source in the system. Well, no need to over think until he received more information, he would just have to wait.
On reaching the bridge, Robert took his centre seat just as Torrance came through the bridge hatch, slightly out of breath, and talking into his wrist communicator. Lewis smiled at him, “A little out of shape, XO?”
“Running and talking at the same time, sir. Need to get to the gym more, I think.”
As Torrance moved to his console, Robert noted more harried-looking, out of breath officers were arriving. Torrance had been rousing the senior bridge staff to replace the night crew. Better to have the A Team on duty; good idea Bruce, thought Robert. For a few minutes Lewis let his team get themselves up to speed before getting down to business, “Okay, XO. What do we know?”
“Captain, approximately…” Torrance took a quick look at the bridge clock, “seven minutes ago, Tactical detected an artificial power source emanating from the general location of Planet Five, which has now been narrowed down to a point approximately point five AUs from the planet. Although the power source is quite weak, Tactical are positive that it is artificial, and having looked at the data so am I. Until now, we have not detected any attempt to sweep for us using active sensors.”
“Can you be certain that we remain undetected, XO?”
“I cannot guarantee that at this point, sir. Whatever is the source of the energy signature may have capabilities that we cannot detect.”
That was food for thought, agreed Robert. Well, we cannot just sit here. “Recommendations, Bruce?”
Now it was Torrance’s turn to take a breath. Robert waited patiently as his first officer ran through the various options in his mind, calculating what was best for the ship and the mission.
“Sir, I would recommend holding station. We have the ability to observe the location of the power source with the passive optical equipment we have on board. Whatever it is, is twenty-two point four light minutes from us. It has made no aggressive moves that we have been able to detect; let’s see if we can get a good look at it first before we decide on a course of action.”
“Sounds good, XO. Let’s make it happen and see what we’re really dealing with here. How long before we get results?”
“I’ll meet with Lieutenant Curran from Supply and get the required equipment broken out of stores. Ensign Yamata has a first from MIT in Astrography and is my choice for setting it up.”
Robert could see the cogs turning in his XO’s head.
“Say three hours to locate, track, image and be ready to present the findings, sir.”
“Make it happen, Bruce. Tactical, I want a permanent passive weapons lock on that source, but do not power anything up without my express permission. And notify me the second we have any change in either its output or aspect.”
That got an “Aye aye, sir,” from Marcks at Tactical.
“XO, I also want everyone fed and watered. I fear that we may have a long day ahead.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll see to it.”
With that, Robert left the bridge and headed for his cabin for what, he had no doubt, would not be his first mug of coffee that day.
#
Three hours later, Robert sat in his chair in the Briefing Room of the TDF James Cook with the rest of his command team and a seemingly aloof Maj. Karen Mills, the CO of the James Cook’s Marine detachment. All were eagerly awaiting the XO’s presentation.
Robert found it hard to relate to Maj. Mills. She was obviously competent or she would not be here, but she kept herself and her marines apart from the rest of James Cook’s crew. Robert did not like this aloofness; however, he understood his officers had their own command style. Until it became an issue, he did not feel the need to interfere. Robert looked across at Torrance, “XO?”
“Sir, the last three hours have been very productive. We can now confirm that the source of the energy readings is in fact from an artificial object which is station keeping at that point.” Torrance activated the Holo Cube. There was a small and, what appeared, quite battered object. It looked remarkably like an old-style communications satellite without the solar panels – a large box, roughly the size of a ground car, with two long antennas protruding from it and a large dish mounted on it. As the image rotated, one side of the box appeared covered in glass lenses and, as the image rotated further, Robert could see that on the opposite side of the lenses there was an even larger dish, which covered one side of the box.
As the image rotated, Robert asked, “What is your assessment, XO?” A darker patch on the object had caught Robert’s eye.
“Without stating the obvious, sir, we believe that this object is not the product of any civilization in this system. Our analysis of the capabilities of Planet Four show no sign of space travel at their current level of development. That leads us to conclude that it must have been placed by some other, unknown, non-indigenous civilization.”
Silence descended on the table as people assimilated what Torrance had said: a civilization on Planet Four at a level of technology equivalent to Earth during the industrial revolution and also, somewhere else, there was another civilization. This civilization not only had the technology for spaceflight, but also must have the technology for interstellar flight to travel to this system from which they did not originate. A sobering thought – that man was not the only species currently traveling the stars.
“Going back to the object, XO. What are your thoughts?” asked Robert.
“If I were to equate it with our own technology, sir, I would say that it was some form of surveillance platform. My best guess is that the glass side of the box is the lens for some form of high definition space telescope. The protruding antennas are there to gather any electromagnetic transmissions; the larger dish shape to the rear is a broadcast array. The platform is situated in such a position that the lens is always pointed at Planet Four and at this distance from the planet, even if the inhabitants were to develop the technology to put their own satellites in orbit, this platform would remain undetected, possibly for decades to come.”
“Well thought out as usual, XO. That leaves only the questions of who is watching Planet Four and how do they collect data?”
“One other thing, sir”
“Yes, XO?”
Torrance fiddled with the controls for the Holo Cube and the image of one side of the platform enlarged. “If I could point out this particular image, sir…” It was the darker patch that Robert had seen earlier. “This would appear to be a jagged hole in the structure of the platform. It is my belief that something struck the platform, causing the damage.”
Robert regarded the image. “We have no way of knowing how long ago that damage was inflicted, XO.”
“We think we do, sir. Tactical noticed a slow, but steady, reduction in the power output of the platform. Now we have taken the time to observe it more closely, it appears to have a slight wobble.”
Lewis thought he could see where this was going, “Do you have a proposal, XO?” Out of the corner of his eye, Robert was sure he saw the cool Maj. Mills turn her head microscopically towards Torrance.
“Sir, I would like to propose that we close with the platform. Do an onsite inspection, and if deemed safe recover it, return it to Earth.”
Robert regarded Torrance for a moment. It was obvious the XO had thought this through at length, “What you are proposing is very risky, XO. If whoever placed the platform here comes back looking for it to make repairs and it’s simply vanished, that could prompt them to ask the same questions we are: Is there someone else out here?”
Torrance looked steadily at Robert. “Understood, sir. But I think that the risk outweighs the gain on getting our hands on this technology.”
Robert still was not convinced. At the end of the day, the decision lay with him. “Maj. Mills.” If a marine could come to attention in a seat then Mills did so. “Get together with the XO and sketch out a plan to approach the platform, inspect it and, if possible, recover it. Cover all our bases here, Major. If you consider the plan unworkable, then we leave the platform where it is, understood?”
Mills looked from Capt. Lewis to the frowning XO and back to Lewis, “Sir! Yes sir!”
Robert stood up. “Okay, people. We have a lot to think on. Communications! Get a courier drone away with images of the platform and a summary of my intentions. The rest of you are dismissed.” And with that, Robert left the Briefing Room but not before noticing, astonishingly, what appeared to be a smile on the lips of Mills as she approached a still frowning Torrance.
#
The plan that Bruce Torrance and Karen Mills developed was as straightforward and uncomplicated as they could make it. Karen was a firm believer in the KISS principal – Keep It Simple, Stupid. The more complicated the operation, the more chance there was that Murphy’s Law would come into play. This operation was too important to give Murphy any chance of screwing it up for them.
TDF James Cook was to hide itself on the far side of Planet V; that was the basic plan. From there, a Tanto shuttle would launch with a joint Navy/Marine recovery team on board. They would approach the alien platform with the planet at their back so the natural electromagnetic radiation, generated by the planet, would help hide the miniscule amounts escaping from the covert insertion shuttle on the off chance that the platform had the ability to detect objects approaching it. On arrival at the platform, the recovery team would perform an extra vehicular activity (EVA) – Navy speak for going out in spacesuits – and get a closer look at the platform after the Marine Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) had cleared the platform of any self-destruct mechanisms.