Six Bits

by Laurence Dahners

  Even before they were seated at the long table the president was asking questions. "What the hell do you mean ‘we don't know what it is’? I thought that was what we spent all the money on space radar for? Just last month you told me you knew the location and function of every significant bit of space junk out there, and now you tell me that a flash so bright that it was seen all over this hemisphere came from some object directly above the North American continent that you didn’t even know was there?"

  "Well, ahh, Mr. President it is a very black object with a very strange radar silhouette."

  "And what's that supposed to mean?"

  "Well, being black it’s extremely difficult to see with optical sensors. The radar silhouette is very faint, but appears extremely large. It appears to be at least six times larger than the space station, which is the biggest thing ever launched into orbit. I suspect that any operator who’s seen it in the past has simply assumed it to be a glitch in the system."

  "Six times larger?!"

  "Well, yes sir. Actually it appears very long and narrow. But we suspect that someone has simply discovered a way to electronically alter an object's radar return from small and dense to large and dim. A neat trick, I'm afraid and one we'll have to be on the lookout for in the future."

  "Hell, Damn and Spit! And what was the bright flash? Some kind of nuclear weapon?"

  "Oh, No sir. There was no radiation or EMF, sir. We don't know what it was."

  Nedcam was working furiously to set up his transfer-ring. The four men were too close together for him to pick the president off alone, no matter how he angled a ring and no matter where he started and stopped its travel. The flash from a ring big enough to get them all would crisp the remaining occupants of the room.

  Ah, two of the group of four stepped away to a 2-D viewscreen on a side table and then the president stepped very close and began talking quietly into the ear of the uniformed man. Nedcam could take them both with the 1.5 meter transfer-ring. There! He had it lined up and ready to track. Waiting, waiting, everyone in the room was starting to look away toward the big display screen at the end of the table. Now!

  There was a loud bang and a blast of air that blew every paper off the table. Even though they were all looking away, the men in the room were temporarily blinded by a brilliant flash of light. When they turned back, the carpeted floor had a 1.5 meter “crop circle” of closely trimmed fibers where President Rayland and General Price had been standing. A small oval of brown leather from the sole of the president’s right shoe curled up and rocked back and forth just off center. For a moment everyone blinked and stared.

  Then alarms began to ring.

  GUNNERY/TRANSFER ROOM—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—COMETARY EARTH ORBIT

  0915 EST

  The president dropped a sudden inch, then stumbled to the side in the lower gravity. A blast of higher pressure air from the ship eddied little curls of carpet fiber around his feet. He and the General found themselves on a small pedestal in the center of a 1.5 meter ring that lay on the floor between two vertical rails. He could feel heat still emanating from the ring that appeared to have been the source of the blinding flash. He looked about, seeing that he was in a room with several similar rings of different diameters, all of them also on rails.

  The computer translated for Lt. Snellen and synthesized her voice speaking English. "President Rayland, I’m Lt. Snellen of the DNA humaniform spaceship Exceltor. I apologize for this rude abduction, but it’s necessary that we move quickly. Please put on the mask you see on the table in front of you. The air pressure on board this ship is quite high compared to your planet’s, so we need to supply you an altered mix containing helium in order to keep you safe."

  The president felt a wavering sense of unreality about the whole thing. His entire worldview reeled. For a few seconds he’d feared that he might be going to pass out, but apparently the sensation of lightness he felt was because his weight had truly diminished. The hard evidence of his senses was incontrovertible. He was awake. He’d just been moved to a completely different location and environment in a flash of light.

  For his part, General Price took a few steps toward the bulkhead door, then returned uncertainly to stand next to his commander in chief.

  Snellen’s voice came on again, “Sirs, please. We need you to put on the breathing masks so I can equalize the compartment’s pressure to the ships’ and take you to the captain.

  Neither of them said anything. Then President Rayland reached out, picked up the mask and put it on his face. The general frowned, “What if they’re poisoning you?”

  Rayland snorted, “It’d be a lot easier to just shoot me, wouldn’t it?”

  General Price hesitated another moment, then put on his own mask. With a whooshing sound the pressure started going up.

  The president and his advisor began vigorously cracking their jaws as they tried to adjust to the painfully higher air pressure in the ship.

  Rayland said, “Damn! My ears hurt. I was never any good at diving to depths more than a few feet.”

  Not knowing that a port in the mask supplied their breathing mixture, Price had been wondering if the masks really did anything, but the high pitch of Rayland’s voice told him they really were breathing helium.

  BRIDGE—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—COMETARY EARTH ORBIT

  0916 EST

  Azimus stopped weaving in his seat for a second and then turned to the captain. "Sir, there’s a krane light carrier in low P3 orbit!"

  Damn! Damn! Damn! Leis thought, nothing but bad news! “How’d you find it so fast?"

  "Sir, at first I thought it was actively radiating. Instead it seems the locals are bouncing all kind of microwave frequencies off of it. I suspect they're just trying to figure out what it is, but they're lighting it up like a Sinto beacon. Do you want me to pass the location on to gunnery or are we getting out of this orbit?"

  “If they can, have gunnery run some locator lenses over and sit them right on the surface of that bastard. Don't heat them yet, the treaty’s in effect 'til they act in a hostile fashion or we reach an agreement with the humaniforms.” Leis turned, “Swayze is that president on board yet?"

  GUNNERY/TRANSFER ROOM—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—COMETARY EARTH ORBIT

  0920 EST

  Lt. Snellen stepped in as soon as the air pressure in the transfer room stabilized at ship normal. "Gentlemen, I’d like to take you forward to meet the captain."

  The two men jerked back as they heard both Snellen’s voice and the translation coming from overhead speakers. The General stepped between the president and the Lieutenant and they both goggled at the sight before them. The Lieutenant appeared human, yet, oddly alien. She was short, about 1.6 meters and had a wide pelvis, but a narrow chest. Her eyes were set a little too far apart, her hair was very light blond, almost white and was combed back from an extremely low hairline that almost merged with her brows. She looked mammalian or at least had masses of flesh in the same locations as human mammaries, though they looked odd on her small chest. She had no apparent weapon visible. General Price said, “What the hell are you and how do you know our language?”

  “I apologize. I’m Lieutenant Snellen and I don’t actually know your language, but our language computers have worked up a reasonable translation algorithm based on many hours of your 2-D video transmissions. Translations are being delivered from those computing resources.” She held out some small objects, “If you’d put in these earbuds, the translation won’t have to be broadcast from the overhead speakers. I’d like to explain all this in more depth, but time is very short.”

  President Rayland recovered his grip on whatever reality this was and in his usual assertive, confident style brushed the General aside to pick up an earbud. "Hell, General, if these people wanted to hurt me, they would've done it by now."

  Thinking that her skin was too pale, the president followed Lieutenant Snellen out into an astonishingly long, narrow corridor. Her limbs seemed surp
risingly thin, though still muscular. Despite all the oddities, he still felt sure somehow that this "Lieutenant" was a human female. Or some kind of human female anyway.

  For her part, Snellen thought the earthmen's larger chest cavities and thick heavy legs made them look like aging bodybuilders who’d forgotten to work on their arms. She wasn’t sure whether to appreciate or be concerned about the president’s rapid assimilation of the situation and almost sudden cooperation.

  BRIDGE—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—COMETARY EARTH ORBIT

  0925 EST

  As they walked quickly along the interminable corridor, the president and General Price passed several compartments filled with an incredible variety of odd human types on the way to the bridge. The bridge was the same. Numerous beings, all of whom appeared to be humanlike, but who varied widely from Earth normal, stared into three-dimensional images in the bridge.

  Due to the fact that Earth had a thinner atmospheric density than any other known populated planet, all of them seemed to have small chests and pale skins. Thicker atmospheres on their home planets allowed smaller lungs and filtered out the UV which selected for additional melanin on Earth. Though they had small chests and pale skins in common, otherwise there was tremendous variety in size, shape and feature. As he looked around, President Rayland thought he saw some with similar variations, as if they might have come from the same sub-species.

  A bald young man with a ring of short dark hair just above surprisingly small ears turned to face the president. "President Rayland, I am Captain Leis, commander of the Humaniform Federation's light cruiser Exceltor. We are very sorry to have abducted you, but your world appears to be in grave danger from an alien race known as the Krane.”

  Rayland gave the young captain a dubious look, “And I’m supposed to believe this, just on your say-so?”

  Leis said, “No, though I fear we may not be able to prove it to your satisfaction. However, we do expect that you’re aware of the arrival of a krane light carrier in Earth orbit a little more than seven of your hours ago. It would have arrived in a flash of energy easily visible at your planet's surface. Currently your planet is bombarding it with microwave radar and other imaging radiations. We expect that your people are trying to figure out what it is. To radar imaging techniques its appearance will be quite dim due to sophisticated absorption and diffusion techniques."

  Rayland and the General glanced at one another as they thought about the commotion they’d just left at the White House. Then Rayland looked back at the captain and frowned, “We’re aware of such an object. What kind of danger are you claiming it poses?”

  Leis took a few moments to explain the presence of LSA and DNA life-forms in the galaxy as well as the ongoing battle between humaniforms and kranes for the small liquid water planets. "Both species are currently surveying star systems for suitable worlds and trying to protect worlds populated with their own life-forms.” Leis shrugged, “Unfortunately, both are also trying to convert worlds populated with non-sentient species to make them suitable for their own life-forms.”

  General Price narrowed his eyes, “Convert?”

  Leis nodded, “By wiping out all existing life and seeding the world with their own form of life.”

  The president’s stomach lurched at the implication, but he didn’t show it on his face. “But they wouldn’t wipe out life on our planet because of the intelligent life there, correct?”

  Leis got a pinched expression, “There’s the problem. Defining what’s intelligent or sentient is always open to interpretation. Kranes have been known to wipe planets populated with intelligent humaniforms, claiming that they believed the occupants to be no smarter than monkeys. Recently the Krane Empire agreed to a treaty with our Humaniform Federation protecting worlds belonging to either group. Unfortunately, that treaty does not extend to your planet because you are neither a member, nor a protectorate of our Federation. We think it likely that the krane carrier intends to sterilize your planet and begin seeding it with LSA forms prior to any chance that it might become a part of our Federation."

  The president listened to both the captain speaking unintelligibly and the small voice translating in his ear with a sense of unreality. He did his best to show an outward calm despite a heart hammering in a chest become too tight. "I suppose that you feel that this krane carrier is capable of such a thing?” He wondered briefly to himself just why he even began to believe the captain’s incredible story, but then reflected that, in view of what had just happened to his own person, he must either believe in the incredible—or find himself insane.

  “There is no doubt,” Leis responded solemnly.

  “We’ve been assuming that some kind of electronic trickery has been making its radar image both dimmer and larger. How big is the damn thing in actuality?"

  "Seven hundred thirteen meters long."

  “Holy shit!"

  The general turned and whispered to the president. "Sir that's not too big to nuke."

  Making it obvious that he had heard and fully understood the general’s whisper, the captain said "It is true that one of your nuclear weapons would readily destroy the krane ship, but the krane will have little difficulty destroying any rocket driven delivery systems. Do you have anything faster?"

  An uncomfortable silence reigned while the president considered. He felt as if he was in a situation careening out of control. "Can you help us, and if so, how do we know that you actually are the guys in shining white armor?"

  The small synthetic voice in the president’s ear queried as to whether “guys in shining white armor” meant “helpful or good beings.”

  The president nodded.

  Leis said, "Mr. President, we can enter into an agreement between you, as the highest available Earth authority, and myself, as the highest ranking member of the Humaniform Federation. Earth would become a protectorate, subject to later ratification by both sides. For such a protectorate treaty to be held valid requires at least token payment. One nickel iron asteroid of your choice, but greater than fifty-three meters on its smallest axis would be satisfactory. As evidence that we are indeed the good guys, this would come due only upon incontrovertible evidence that the krane intended to damage your planet and our successful intervention to prevent such an outcome."

  “And what else would we owe afterward?”

  “Nothing more would be owed. Once this immediate crisis has been resolved, you would then negotiate Earth’s entry into the Humaniform Federation with a diplomatic team.”

  The president shrugged, "I’m happy to agree to have you protect our planet. A single asteroid which we can't currently use is well worth it. However, I won't agree to anything further until we know more. Can you print up a document for me to sign?"

  "Sign? Oh! The computers have recorded your verbal agreement. That’s sufficient.” He got a grim look on his face, "Unfortunately, we may not be able to uphold our part of the bargain. Exceltor is only a cruiser. We are facing a krane light carrier which not only holds a host of smaller flickerships, but undoubtedly is escorted by one to three destroyers or possibly even some cruisers."

  The president’s eyes cast about the room for a moment. "Why don't you send for help?"

  "I sorely wish that I could. The nearest help is nearly 12 light years away. Our shift inaccuracy of one percent means that a message capsule sent that far would have an average error in its arrival of 43 light days. Thus after arrival, its radio beacon would take weeks to arrive. We could go ourselves, but with shifts, recharging of our accumulators and correcting shifts it would be at least 36 hours before we might be able to return. The krane already know we’re here and they will certainly see us depart. By the time we could return they would probably have destroyed most of your planet’s ability to sustain DNA life-forms."

  “Okay,” President Rayland said, pale with dismay. His voice rasped, “Do the best you can for us."

  Captain Leis gave a jerky nod then turned to the young woman beside him, “Ensign Mallor,
escort our guests to the bridge visitor’s seats and answer their questions."

  The president retrieved the hand he had extended for a shake, but which the captain had not noticed. He and the general moved to the rear of the bridge with Mallor.

  The crew on the long, narrow bridge all seemed busy at one task or another. The president couldn’t avoid a subliminal feeling that they were all underdeveloped weaklings because of their small chests, but they appeared to be quite efficiently performing their assigned tasks. All had slender metallic halos about their heads, but rather than passing about their brows as with a biblical halo they passed obliquely over both the ears and mouth and presumably were the means by which their constant low volume murmurings were picked up by the computers. The personnel were arranged in ranked seats before the captain, facing away into tanks containing various three dimensional images. The arrangement was such that the captain could see over each of his officers’ shoulders and into the officer’s holocube. An enormous 3-D image hanging out in front of all of them appeared to represent the solar system.

  Captain Leis had a hawk-like gaze which flashed here and there, pinning anything or anyone like insects inspected under a magnifying glass. "Lt. Snellen!" he barked, "Extrude an antenna near that moon and prepare to send a message to the krane as follows, 'Any krane vessels within this solar system, be aware that this humaniform planet is now a protectorate of the Federation of Humaniform Systems. Any move against this planet or its intelligent, sentient, humaniform inhabitants will be construed as a move against the Federation. Please remain stationary and communicate with us regarding your intentions in this system. Shifting your ships will be construed as a move of aggression if carried out prior to an agreement approving your method of departing this system.'"