by Chris Hechtl
Jack snorted. “Sorry, I'm imagining their gym,” he said when Mort looked at him in curiosity.
It was the chief engineer's turn to snort. He shook his head.
“I don't see what's so funny,” Ynes said with a disapproving frown.
“It … never mind. Okay, so we don't … wait, what about airlocks?”
“What about them?” Ynes asked.
“Well, we build them to our size, right? Or a bit bigger to move equipment in and out of. Can we get a rough estimate based on that?” Jack asked.
Mort scowled as the others gasped. “Damn it, how'd we miss that? I mean we're the so-called experts …,” he looked at Ynes and the others. Captain Cooley shrugged. Eventually their attention returned to Jack.
“There is a reason I'm good at what I do. Lots and lots of practice,” Jack said, smiling thinly. “I've always been good at putting things together. Synergist they call it. I'm also an engineer. Being in charge is rough, you get saddled with way more meetings, briefings, and paperwork than I liked, but sometimes, when you get a breather, you can see things others missed. You get a perspective others lack.”
“Planning and letting others handle the execution. That's what they taught us. Delegate,” Captain Cooley said with a nod of approval.
“That too,” Jack agreed with a knowing nod to the captain. “Having good people who know what they're doing is vital. However, we're digressing. Can you do it?” he asked, turning to Mort and the sensor tech sitting near him.
Mort turned to Kathy Dugan. She frowned thoughtfully and then shrugged. “It will be rough, but yeah, I'll get you the numbers.”
“Okay then,” Jack said with a nod to her.
“There is going to be a lot of speculation on what they look like. And remember, they could be snakes or … whatever,” Kathy reminded them.
“No need to cover your ass, we get it. But something is better than nothing,” Jack said.
“I was thinking bizarre aliens with tentacles or something,” the engineer said, wriggling his fingers in demonstration, “or little green men. It'd be nice to find out one way or another,” Mort said.
“They could be anything. Reptile, mammal, fish … Omnivore, predator …” Ynes shook her head. “We don't know what they breathe or how …,” she shook her head some more. “The problem is, we just don't know. Guessing is dangerous.”
“But the airlock thing, that's a good start. Taking a hard look at it … do we have good enough resolution in the files to see any controls maybe?” Mort asked, tugging on one ear. “I mean, we didn't see hull markings in general, but directions?”
“If they put any there. In a spectrum, we could see,” Kathy reminded him.
“Oh,” Mort replied with a grimace.
“I'll check. We scanned the file images when we had the spare computer capacity. But we didn't dig too deep. I didn't want to addle the computers since we were in hyper for so long on a blind jump,” Kathy said. “I've got the computers doing what they can now …,” she turned a hopeful look to Jack.
“You've sent me everything. Jeeves is looking into it on our end. We'll process what we can. Keep up to date with him. Send us your results and we'll do the same on our end so we can compare notes.”
“Gotcha,” Kathy said with a relieved nod.
“Many hands make light work. And many eyes see what one set might have missed,” Jack said.
“Not always,” Ynes said softly.
~~*^*~~
“What did you mean by not always?” Captain Cooley asked Ynes after they'd left the meeting.
“I … it's nothing,” she replied.
“Ynes,” he drawled.
“Sorry. Okay, sometimes people follow the leader. If an expectation is set, some sort of mindset about something, a variable, an assumption, it can get locked in, right?”
The captain nodded. “I see your point. But that will hopefully not happen here. And remember, this is Jack Lagroose we're talking about.”
“He's human. He's not infallible, sir. Nor are we. We shouldn't expect that. It's a mighty damn big fall if he screws up. A lot of people will get hurt or killed,” Ynes said.
“Well, we won't be here.”
“I know. But I feel for the people who will be if he gets it wrong,” Ynes said quietly.
~~*^*~~
The following morning Miss Dugan and Mort had come up with some very rough numbers on the potential size of the aliens based on the size of the airlock opening.
“You have to understand, it's tentative,” Miss Dugan said as a qualifier. “We don't know their body shape. They could be octopi for all we know.”
“Or space hamsters in mech suits, yes, I know,” Jack replied with a nod. “But it's a start. Based on this, you've got them pegged at three meters tall and two meters wide. That is not quite our scale but pretty close,” he said as he examined the images and reference marks.
“We had to draw on other objects for scale so it isn't exact,” Miss Dugan said.
“Give or take a couple centimeters …,” Jack shrugged. “I'm not going to sweat it. This is good. Any ideas on the controls?”
“Unfortunately, no. We did find this though,” she pointed to an image of an airlock half in shadow. With computer enhancement, she pulled up a grainy image of a wheel. “Interesting.”
“It is indeed. They'd need some sort of grasping appendage to handle that. Trunk, tentacle, or hands,” Jack muttered.
“I thought it was interesting as was this,” she pointed to the center of the wheel where a nut could just be made out. A shift in perspective allowed them to see a 3D rendering of the scene. It looked like an octagonal nut.
“Base eight?” he asked.
“I'm not sure. A nut might be a nut, but it is interesting that they have mechanical fasteners like that, isn't it?”
Jack nodded. “It might mean something or not. I'm hoping it means their tech isn't so far advanced compared to our own. But we'll have to wait and see I suppose,” he said.
~~*^*~~
Jack listened to the next leadership meeting. It boiled down to a basic assessment of everything going on. Their growth and expansion plan was currently on hold with the crisis in front of them. That included the plan to land probes on planet two to begin mapping it for future terraforming.
Sharif pitched the idea that someone should go with Magellan. All eyes turned to Jack. Jack shook his head. He refused to go. “Not enough room for many people. One maybe.”
“Sir, you are the logical choice. They'll listen to you,” Elliot stated.
“And not you a retired Space Marine general with an impeccable war record?” Jack asked. No, I'm staying.”
~~*^*~~
Jack shook his head as he worked on the dishes with Menolly overseeing him. It always amused him to have her lord over him in “her” kitchen. She had a thing about loading the dishwasher a certain way and prewashing everything. He had other ideas, so of course she had to “supervise.”
He just took it as good quality time for them to catch up. When she finished talking about her day, he told her a bit about his. When he got to the part about Sharif's proposal, he stopped and snorted. “Can you imagine that? Go back to Sol, hat in hand, begging for help?”
“You should go, Jack. They'd listen to you,” Menolly said from her seat.
Jack stared at her. He could see her biting her lip. He shook his head in refusal. “I am not going. Put that out of your head now, gal,” he said as she wrung her hands together in agitation. “I'm not abandoning anyone. You'll just have to put up with me.” She stared at him. “You aren't getting rid of me that easy, lady,” he teased huskily as he got closer to her.
Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Now I remember why I love you,” she said, one hand over her mouth as she reached for him. He let her pull him to her.
“Huh. It took that sort of a reminder?” he demanded.
“Oh, shut up,” she gurgled a watery laugh as she dashed tears and pulled him close for a kiss
.
“Help, help! I'm being assaulted by a … pregnant …”
“Will you shut up?” she demanded kissing him again.
When the kiss broke, he grinned. “ …Horny …”
Her eyes flashed and her long fingers darted out to his ribs. He gasped. “No fair!” he wailed, laughing as he tried to get away. She dug in though, trapping him.
“You give?” she demanded, eyeing him as her fingers kept dancing on his sides.
“I give! I give!” he laughed as she kept tickling. Finally, she relented and kissed him again.
~~*^*~~
Jack nodded as Jeeves put a call through to his office a short time later. “All set?” he asked after the image of the captain stabilized.
“Yes, we are. Thank you for the supplies.” Captain Cooley said.
“Use them wisely. Get to Sol and get us some backup.”
“We'll do our best.”
“Good.”
“Preparations to get underway are complete,” Ynes said from off camera.
“Good luck and Godspeed. Safe sailing Magellan,” Jack said formally.
“Good luck to you too. To all of us,” Captain Cooley replied as he cut the channel. Jeeves replaced it with the plot of the solar system. After a moment, the icon of Magellan blinked and a dotted line projected their new course as they broke orbit and headed for deep space.
Jack looked over to Max, then to Menolly. He could tell she was a bit nervous.
“Now we're on our own. I've never felt lonelier, even on a planet with over three million people on it,” Menolly said as she leaned against her husband for support.
“Yeah,” Jack agreed, wrapping one arm protectively around her.
“I don't regret the timing,” she said, one hand protectively cradling her swollen abdomen. She'd rapidly progressed past a baby bump to walrus, or so she said. “I just …,” a catch formed in her voice. She turned and sniffled into his arm.
“We do what we can in the time we're in,” Jack murmured, rubbing her bicep and kissing her ear. “Besides, this could all blow over … or take place a decade or two from now,” he said.
Her face looked up to him; her eyes brimming with tears searched him for reassurance. She found some but not a lot. She knew him too well. “But you don't think so, do you?” she asked.
“I …,” he couldn't answer. He couldn't lie to her.
Her searching eyes found the answer she sought. After a moment, she looked away. “I thought not,” she murmured. He rubbed her arm a bit more, then hugged her gently.
She wiggled and rubbed her face into his arm and sleeve, crying softly.
“Yeah, that's right,” Jack said, feeling uncomfortable. He tried to comfort her. “Just use me as a snot rag, it's part of the job description,” he teased.
“Oh, shut up,” she said with a watery laugh as the tears finally ebbed. He felt her grip his arm briefly and then she relaxed and laid against him.
Chapter 5
With Magellan gone, Jack dived into the war planning with as much energy as he could muster. The anniversary carnival took a back seat as he threw every resource into the colony's survival.
He had already decided to put Eden on a war footing. Elliot working on the militia end. He started his people on scouting the planet. Jack sicced Debbie, Paul, and Sharif to work on a full inventory of survival material while Elliot and Jeeves did their best to game out what the invaders might do. Once they had the sketch of a plan, Elliot uploaded it to Jeeves to run sims on what would happen. For every scenario, Jack insisted on seeing a best and worst case response plan.
“We'll have to come up with a response plan for all of them,” Sharif said with a shake of his head. “I don't know though. It's a lot to remember.”
“Like trying to remember football calls and plays,” Paul muttered.
“Yeah, good luck following any. We're talking aliens here,” Sheriff Tupper drawled. “Aliens,” he said, wiggling his fingers. “The ultimate bogeymen before Skynet came around.”
“No plan survives contact with the enemy,” Elliot said in agreement.
“Yes, I know,” Jack replied patiently.
“Yeah, well, we don't have a clue on modeling their psychology,” the sheriff pointed out. “So, we can't be sure about priorities.”
“But we can make assumptions. Secure the orbits for instance,” Jack pointed out.
“True. If they are hostile,” Jeeves replied.
“I think Magellan's point was clear there,” Alan said flatly. “Anyone who refuses to respond to hails and comes after you is hostile in my book. Throw in the fact that they are bigger and armed and you aren't, and it could have gone worse than it did,” he finished. Elliot nodded in grim agreement.
“The other big if is if they show up,” Paul pointed out.
“If, possibly when,” Jack said. “I don't know about you but I'm not willing to wait around and hope the sky doesn't fall.”
“Point,” Tupper replied. “But that brings up another ugly thought. The old military axiom, no plan survives contact with the enemy. When we get to know them, we'll know if we're successful or screwed.”
“Exactly. But I'm going to start planning and doing things now,” Jack said firmly.
The sheriff nodded. “Good. I think it's time we dusted off the evacuation plans and various contingencies. I know it could panic some folk, but we need to get them thinking about what to do and how to react and to not panic,” he stressed.
“True. But make sure you let them know it's a drill. As funny as you might think it is to see people stricken, shitting themselves, and falling all over themselves to find shelter …,” he paused to see the sheriff's innocent look turn into a mischievous grin. “ …I don't need or want people getting hurt with you crying wolf,” Jack scolded. “Besides, they may not take it seriously the next time if it is for real.”
“Right,” the sheriff said with a slow nod.
“Elliot here is going to work with you on building a planetary militia. I admit it is going to be tight with resources and personnel. Do your best,” Jack said, nodding first to the general, then to Alan. He turned to Paul.
“Paul, you are going to be building us some emergency shelters. Fallback positions,” he said as Paul raised an eyebrow at him.
“What sort of thing are we talking about? I don't see any sort of building standing up to an orbital bombardment.”
“Which is why we're going underground,” Jack said. “Max and others are going to scout for cave systems. Caves far enough away from the cities so they won't get splash over from any bombardments.”
“Joy,” Paul said, making a face. “You realize that if they do bomb us, the tremors could cause damage too?”
“You'll have to factor that into your thinking,” Jack pointed out.
“I hate caves,” Paul said, face still working.
“Tough,” Jack said. “Any overhead we can get is good.”
“True,” Debbie said, interjecting herself. “Are you claustrophobic, Paul?” she asked, looking at the construction director.
“I'm not sure. I'm okay indoors but in a cave …,” Paul shook his head. “I keep thinking the cave is going to collapse. The ceiling comes down, trapping me. Or something in the dark will come out and bite me. With bombs being dropped …,” he shuddered.
“Thank you for that,” Debbie replied with a shudder of her own.
“Living in a dank cave for who knows how long? I think more than one person will go batty,” Alan said.
“Well, unfortunately, we don't have a lot of options. One, the cave will hide any thermal signatures. Two, don't think of it so much as a cave as a fortress or castle,” Jack said.
“A hold,” Paul said with a wan smile.
“Hold what?” Debbie asked, wrinkling her nose.
“Pern,” Paul said succulently. He shook himself. “My great gram was into it. Ancient sci-fi. She had the books. Real books I mean, paper, but old, so terribly old and yellow. Very brittle.
I saw the covers with the dragons and stuff as a kid; it intrigued me.”
“I thought you said this was sci-fi?” Debbie asked.
“It is. See, the dragons were gene engineered …,” he stopped himself. “Huh, I just realized the parallel. The series is about a group of people who go to a new colony to escape the end of a bad war. But they are attacked from space. In their case, it's by this silvery stuff … I can't remember the name …,” his voice puttered off as he scratched at his head.
“Never mind that. We're off point,” Jack said. Paul looked up. “Can you do it? Build a series of fortresses? They don't have to be pretty since time is of the essence. We can clean them up later if we have to.”
“With time and resources, sure,” Paul said. “And the right caves of course,” he added.
“I'll find what you need,” Max said from the window seat. He got up and shook himself then padded to the door. All eyes watched him go.
“He'll find stuff around here if he hasn't already,” Jack said.
“We have a map with some cave networks on them. Some fans who have spelunked them I think. I'll look into that,” Debbie said with a nod.
Jack nodded back. “Good. You do that.”
“I'll need heavy equipment. Cement, rebar …,” Paul grimaced.
“We're going to need more than one fortress. Use wood where you can,” Jack said. “We'll ship you stuff as quickly as we can, but we need to avoid roads and equipment outside the cave system.”
“We're going to need lead time to evacuate people. Those who will go. Some will resist,” Alan warned.
“We'll drag them kicking and screaming if we have to,” Elliot growled.
“If the aliens show up most will fall over themselves to go. Which is why we're going to drill. But we're also going to proposition equipment and supplies now,” Jack said, stabbing the table with the tip of his right index finger. “Food, water, and anything we can get away with putting there. I'd like to shift at least 10 percent of our industry underground if possible.”
“It's not just industry we have to worry about. We're going to need an entire complex down there. Kitchens, living spaces, barracks I admit,” Debbie said as she made notes. “Plumbing for bathrooms, plus a means to filter water and deal with waste …”