“Morning Song, please clear your screen for the moment,” Maria asked.
The big screen cleared.
Roscoe had no idea what he would do if Chairman Ray said no to this scouting idea. There was no way he was going to spend years preparing a mission without knowing a little of what they were facing.
He had been in the military far too long to do that. He wasn’t going to take millions of humans on Morning Song into some huge disaster or fight without being prepared correctly.
And correctly meant he needed to know what they were going to face, even a million and a half years in the future.
THIRTY-NINE
MARIA WAS HOLDING Roscoe’s hand when Chairman Ray and Tacita appeared. Ray was in his standard gray slacks and silk dress shirt and Tacita had on dark pants and a white blouse that set off her black hair.
She looked stunning to Maria.
“Thank you for joining us,” Roscoe said as Chairman Ray nodded to each of them.
They were all standing on the second deck behind the big chairs, Maria and Roscoe together, Ray and Tacita together, touching but not holding hands, and Callie and Fisher standing together.
“It is always a pleasure,” Ray said. “So what can we help with?”
“We have two ideas that are linked,” Roscoe said. “First, we hope to add into the overall mission the building of jump stations as we go along.”
“Jump stations?” Tacita asked, frowning.
“Yes,” Maria said, taking the lead with this idea, “stations on planets or in orbits or in deep space of some sort that we will design ahead that will allow any Seeder to jump back to the Milky Way and Local Group from any point along our mission. Or any galaxy we have left and recruited from as we move forward.”
“Spaced about every one hundred thousand light years,” Roscoe said, “a normal range that most Seeders can jump.”
“It will help with my project of adding in a historical memory for Seeders,” Maria said.
“And it will help in recruiting over the next few years,” Fisher said.
“We call it Project Breadcrumbs,” Maria said.
“Has that been tried before to your knowledge?” Roscoe asked.
Maria watched intently, her stomach twisting slightly as Chairman Ray glanced at Tacita, then shook his head.
“Such an obvious and good idea,” Ray said, “but it has never been done to my knowledge.”
“It is a very good idea,” Tacita said. “Once the basic stations are designed, it could be fitted into the Local Group here as well, since all races in this area are still young and many Seeders would love to return at times to their home planets.”
Roscoe smiled at Maria who squeezed his hand in excitement. She couldn’t believe they liked the idea and that it had never been tried. Of course, Maria knew that if Roscoe hadn’t thought of it, it still wouldn’t be happening.
“I assume the second idea is the one that is in question,” Chairman Ray said.
Roscoe nodded. “You recruited us because we were young and also had a military sense about our culture.”
“That is correct,” Ray said, nodding.
Maria was almost holding her breath she was so worried about this suddenly.
“So we need to act in a military fashion right now,” Roscoe said.
Ray looked puzzled.
Tacita said flatly, “I do not understand what you mean.”
“In any military situation,” Roscoe said, “no army or soldier will ever go into a battle or mission without good advanced intelligence. Right now, we are planning this mission on extremely old data and that kind of reckless movement could well lead to disaster.”
“What do you suggest?” Ray asked, his voice low and not cold, but not welcoming.
“We scout the target galaxy again, right now, so our preparations are in line with the threat we face,” Roscoe said.
Maria turned to the big screen. “Morning Song, please put on the big screen the galaxies between here and the target galaxy.”
The image of the Milky Way appeared with the galaxies between it and the target galaxy, again marked with a red “x” over it.
“Thank you, Morning Song,” Maria said. “Now show the location of all Seeder Scout ships along that line.”
The green dots appeared along the way.
“We can tell,” Roscoe said, “at least from any reports coming from that lead scout ship, that the Lotus is not within two galaxies of that lead ship’s position.”
Ray nodded, looking up at the big screen. Then he frowned and shook his head.
Roscoe turned and looked directly at both Ray and Tacita. “I propose we jump to that lead scout ship and take a look at the Lotus galaxy before we go too much farther with large-scale plans to include a large military force on Morning Song when there is a good chance it won’t be needed.”
Maria could feel herself still holding her breath. This was one of those turning point moments and both she and Roscoe knew it. She wasn’t sure how they had gone from making love to having a moment that might change decades and maybe centuries of work, but they had.
Ray stood there for a moment, then asked a simple question. “Morning Song, what is the name of that lead scout ship?”
On the big screen the words appeared over the images of the galaxy.
I do not know for certain, Chairman Ray
Maria watched as Ray nodded, then he said simply, “We will return in five minutes.”
Tacita and Ray vanished, leaving the Command Center in silence.
Maria just shook her head and squeezed Roscoe’s hand.
“When I’m that age,” Fisher said, “I hope I explain my actions to the poor people around me a little better.”
“When you’re that age,” Roscoe said, “you won’t have to.”
Maria laughed.
Fisher said, “Good point.”
Then standing there in silence, Maria looked up at the screen and suddenly had a thought she didn’t much like.
“Morning Song,” Maria said. “How do you know the location of those ships? And do you know who sent them on those missions?”
The positions are their assigned projected positions at this point in time.
Chairman Ray sent them on the mission ahead of my being launched, ahead of the Seeder ships coming to the Local Group.
“Oh, crap,” Fisher said softly.
Maria’s stomach clamped up and she had a hunch their great idea to scout ahead had just been shot down.
“Are you telling me,” Roscoe said, staring at the big board with disbelief, “that those scout ships have been out scouting for almost two million years?”
“Yes,” Maria said softly.
“And that lead ship might not be there after all,” Callie said, “or it might have been taken over by Lotus if they are expanding?”
“Yes,” Chairman Ray said as he and Tacita appeared again. “That is exactly the result of using old data, as I have been asking you to do. That has been my problem and we need to correct that.”
Maria stared at Ray for a moment, surprised at that statement.
“Do we even know if any of those ships are in those positions?” Roscoe asked.
“We do,” Tacita said, “because being scout ships is their job and how they get paid. They scout and report back. Over the two millions years each of those ships has returned to a major Seeder galaxy many, many times for overhaul and updates of equipment. Scout ships always use the most advanced technology and have the best screens and speed.”
“They also send a comprehensive report back every ten years,” Ray said.
Ray turned to the big screen. “Morning Song, please contact my ship and update your records on this topic.”
An instant later, on the screen about a third of the green dots vanished. But the ship two galaxies away from the target galaxy was still there.
“The Horizon is the name of that lead ship,” Ray said. “It has over two thousand humans on board and is extremely fast and modern
. Chairman Strong welcomes the use of his ship for such a scouting purpose you proposed, Chairman Mundy. He will have his ship under way at full speed toward the target galaxy in three hours. It will take just over twenty days for him to get there.”
“How does he even know?” Maria asked, stunned, staring at the screen showing the incredible distance from the Milky Way over thirty galaxies to the solo green dot on the screen.
Ray just shrugged, as if that was a silly question. “I just spoke with him.”
FORTY
ROSCOE AND MARIA spent the next twenty days continuing almost day and night with the repairs to Morning Song.
And every day they found time to make love in their unfurnished suite. Maria insisted they spend that private time and Roscoe was not going to decline something like that with the most beautiful woman he had ever met.
And one he was head-over-feet in love with as well.
The crew on board had grown from the original fifteen to just over six hundred. And yet Morning Song still seemed completely empty to Roscoe.
Finally, after what seemed like an incredible task with more problems than Roscoe could ever imagine, the water systems on the ship had been completely repaired, recharged, flushed, and deemed safe. Having that system shut down and in near-zero temps had caused seemingly millions of problems. But now all the problems were fixed and it was functioning.
Finally, the original team could leave Fisher and Callie’s wonderful ship, get their own places to live, and let Fisher and Callie have some peace.
So Roscoe and Maria spent a few hours in the morning in one of the huge warehouses, finding furniture for their suite.
And by that evening, it was furnished enough to live in. Even the fireplace was working. They had put very soft brown area rugs in certain places for contrast, and the kitchen was completely stocked. Maria had even found some incredible pictures of various worlds, framed in storage, and hung them on the walls.
She said as they visited new places together, they would replace them.
Roscoe had to admit, the place felt like home, a home he would enjoy for a very long time.
When Roscoe told Fisher that their kitchen was finally stocked and working, Fisher offered to cook the four of them the first meal in the new kitchen. Both Roscoe and Maria had taken him up on that instantly, since they had come to love his cooking and Fisher loved to cook.
Maria said it was better to start off their new kitchen with a quality meal instead of something either she or Roscoe could do.
And the meal had been wonderful. Great chicken dinner with great friends and lots of laughter. Nothing could have better for the first full meal in their new home.
Then next morning, Roscoe told Fisher and Callie to take good care of Morning Song, and he and Maria jumped to Chairman Ray’s ship.
The Command Center there felt very small compared to Morning Song’s. Roscoe was stunned he had been getting used to the huge size so quickly.
Ray and Tacita were standing there in front of the big screen. And both nodded to them as they appeared.
Roscoe had no idea what might happen. He knew that being so far away from known homes bothered him more than he wanted to admit. Sort of feeling like he was out in an ocean and couldn’t see land.
Of course, over the next million plus years, all the galaxies they were going to jump over would be seeded with human life, by a ship and crews he controlled. But in the meantime, there just wasn’t anything in any of them. All scout ships had come up completely empty for any intelligent alien life in any of the galaxies.
“We’re only taking the four of us,” Ray said. “And I’m going to jump us all the way to The Horizon. They are nearing the border of the target galaxy.”
Maria glanced at Roscoe and took his hand. Clearly she was as worried about this as he was.
Roscoe just nodded and Ray reached over and took Tacita’s hand in his. Then he smiled and a moment later the four of them were standing in a very modern Command Center.
There were seven crew in the room, four manning stations on the upper level, three at stations on the middle level. The place was pure white and what metal there was shined.
As they appeared, everyone stood and bowed slightly.
Then a young man with a beaming smile and short, blonde hair stepped forward from near the center command chair. “It is an honor to have you on board, Chairmen.”
“The honor is ours,” Chairman Ray said, bowing slightly.
Roscoe had no idea what all the bowing was about, but at some point he needed to ask someone.
Then Ray turned to Tacita. “Chairman Strong, you know Tacita?”
Strong bowed slightly again. “Always a pleasure.”
Tacita bowed back.
Ray pointed to Roscoe and Maria where they stood holding hands. “Chairmen Mundy and Boone of Morning Song.”
Strong’s eyes got large and Roscoe was surprised at that kind of reaction. He bowed once again and said, “We are honored.”
Roscoe didn’t know what to say, so Maria jumped in. “We are the ones who are honored that you gave this mission such important attention.”
“Yes, very much,” Roscoe said.
With that, Strong nodded to one of his crew and turned around and pointed at the big screen. “Let me show you what we have found so far. We are within a few hours of the edge of the target galaxy at this speed and we are completely shielded.”
On the screen a large mass of stars appeared. Roscoe knew the galaxy was a cluster galaxy that sat alone, with no secondary galaxies or satellite galaxies even close. It had about the same number of stars as the Milky Way, but there was no telling how many were suited for life. Cluster galaxies tended to have fewer on average than spiral galaxies.
“Long-range scans are showing no signs of any forms of extremely advanced cultures at all.”
“Nothing?” Ray asked, sounding surprised.
“Nothing so far, sir,” Strong said.
“That should not be the case,” Ray said.
Roscoe wasn’t surprised at all. But he didn’t want to tell Ray that. Over the last few hundred years, and especially in the last forty working in the Sector Justice force, Roscoe had seen how short-lived dictators and totalitarian governments were. They often destroyed themselves quickly, even without Seeder help.
A huge ship full of humans had arrived here more millions of years ago than Roscoe wanted to think about. If they had managed to establish a stable, war-like culture, he would have been very, very surprised and worried. He was pretty sure a culture like that wasn’t possible for more than a few hundred years.
But still, the chance of that was why they were here. And that fear was why Chairman Ray had sent the Morning Song and picked him and Maria.
But the chance was not great anything remained here.
“Any sign of where the Dark Night might be located?” Tacita asked.
“Yes,” Strong said.
The image on the big screen focused in on a cluster of stars just inside the edge of the galaxy. “We located one of the beacons on it you said would be there, Chairman Ray. We will be in the same system thirty minutes after entering the galaxy.”
Ray nodded and Roscoe felt stunned. Maria’s hand gripped his tightly.
The big ship that had brought the Lotus here millions and millions of years ago was instantly found even from this distance. Amazing.
“How?” Maria asked.
“We planted numbers of signal systems in the big ship,” Tacita said, “that would last and could not be traced.”
“Is there a place we could wait and watch your scans and approach and not be in the way?” Ray asked.
Strong nodded. “Yes. I can jump you there if you don’t mind.”
Ray nodded and a moment later the five of them were in a large conference room with screens on all four walls and all sorts of stations around the walls.
Roscoe glanced around at the very comfortable space. In the center of the room was a white confer
ence table with comfortable cloth chairs around it and doughnuts and other baked goods, along with fruit, on the table. There were also pitchers of water and glasses.
All the screens came up live at that moment and Strong pointed to one in the center. “You’ll be able to follow us in Command Center there and all major scans and data will appear on the other screens.
“This is wonderful,” Tacita said, looking around.
“Yes, thank you, Chairman,” Ray said.
“My pleasure and my ship’s honor,” he said. “Now if you will excuse me.”
At that he jumped away and appeared in the Command Center, quickly sitting down in his command chair.
Roscoe could tell that Chairman Strong was as excited as he was feeling, maybe more, since he and his ship existed to explore new places. And this galaxy was about as new and different as it got.
FORTY-ONE
AFTER AN HOUR or more, Maria had given in and taken a doughnut and some water. The stress of watching and waiting was more than she could take. She wasn’t sure if the chocolate-covered cake doughnut would help, but they had smelled so good, she had to find out.
More than anything else she wanted to get up and pace, but she forced herself to sit and eat instead. And luckily, the doughnut tasted as good as it smelled and was very fresh. And the dark chocolate was her favorite.
Roscoe sat in the chair next to her, staring at mostly only three screens, all showing visuals ahead. She could tell he was in his military mindset and not moving at all.
Ray and Tacita sat near the end of the table, one chair separating the two couples. They were also staring at the screens, swiveling around at times to take in other readings from other scans.
Maria was about halfway through the doughnut when Chairman Ray turned to them. “What did you expect to find here?”
Maria had had no expectations, but she knew what Roscoe had expected, so she nodded to him.
“Not much,” Roscoe said. “But we had to know for sure, otherwise we would have prepared Morning Song completely wrong for her coming mission to seed.”
Smith's Monthly #9 Page 21