“They are reading us… or our system, Sir!” Rogers exclaimed. “Backup record date and time?” he asked Spook.
“This date, one hour ago, Commander. Data is secure. I am being scanned.”
‘U R A LNG WY HOME. THS DNGER PLCE’ the text read. And quite understandable.
“Can you hear me, sound?” Angela asked, speaking normally, even with her heartbeat at nearly half again normal.
‘SNSE NOISY LFEFRMS. HEAR? WAIT… WAIT… WAIT… WAIT… YES.’ The indicator lights for the system were lit up at a furious pace, the alien was sampling the onboard dictionary!
“I am Captain Angela Washington, high Command of the Resolute, a transport ship to settle a colony… somewhere. Who are you, and we thank you for removing that asteroid.”
She annunciated carefully, slowly, wondering if their system had found the dictionary inside their own. Then she realized it was a compound question and statement. Had she overrun its thinking?
‘I R TAL’KEN LFEFRMS MECH… CHANICAL…ROBOTIC…BLEND… AST… ASTEROID… WAIT.’
Before Angela could think to handle this information, the letters formed again.
‘ASTEROID. ROCK. YES. EAT ROCK. EN… EN… YES… ENERGY SOURCE.’
“Are you reading our computer system?”
“We should shut it down, Captain, they can…”
“Silence, Commander. They could take us out any time they want,” Angela whispered.
‘READ SYSTEM… YES… SLOW… SYSTEM… SMALL… WAIT… WAIT… DATAFLOW. WE CN TLK ON WIN… WIN… WAIT…VIDSCREEN… YES.’
She almost chuckled. The fastest computer system in the known universe had just been badly trashed by the aliens.
“Are you lifeforms?”
‘NO LFEFRMS AS U KNOW LIFE. BLEND.’
“Are you a computer?” She felt like she was playing twenty questions.
‘CMP…COMP…SYTEMS… WAIT… COMPUTER, YES… MOST OF ALMOST.’
She tried again, “Are we communicating with a single entity?’
‘EN…TITY…WAIT…WAIT… WAIT… ENTITY. NO. MANY ENERGY UNITS. NO UNDRSTN ENTITY. R CHOOSE SYMBL VIDSCREEN YOU CAN UNDRSTN.’
“Got us there, Commander,” Angela whispered. She was now standing beside the rather pale Commander, just in case he went rubber-kneed.
“Why are you staying near us?” That ought to be interesting, she thought.
‘DNGR. U R HEAD… GO… HEADNG ZEPHROAN UNIT SPCE. KILL U.’
“Are these Zephroan sentient beings?”
‘WAIT… SENT… IENT… SOME. MANY ROBOTIC… ROBOTS… MNY MILL… WAIT…’
They could almost hear the systems trying to read one another. They waited.
‘YES. MILLION TO ONE RA… RATE… RATIO… YES. MANY ROBOTS, FEW SENT… TIENTS… BEINGS.’
This was almost as frustrating, thought Angela, as talking to a three year old. But the alien vessel or system, was actually catching on quite quickly. Better than the other way around, apparently.
“We are sent to a four star system, a galaxy five light years ahead of us on this bearing. Is that owned by Zephroan?” Angela asked, almost holding her breath for the answer. Even if it was a compound statement and question. He seemed to handle it quite easily.
Moments passed, no signal. But the board for the system was fully lit, steady. Angela was about to ask again, when the letters appeared on the vidscreen. ‘U BE TURN BCK. ALL DEAD IN ZEPHROAN CONT… CONTROL… YES… CONTROLLED SPACE. STARS? GALAXY? WAIT… WAIT… YES, ZEPHROAN KILL U… WAIT… WAIT… EVERYWHERE!’
“How far ahead of us are the Zephroan? How many light years?”
Immediately, the message appeared. They were getting faster, better. ‘ALL AROUND U. MANY LIGHT… WAIT… WAIT… WAIT… COM… PUTE… LIGHT YEARS… MANY MORE ZEPHROAN, NOW ALL AHEAD U.’
“Are you at war with the Zephroan?” She was seeking an explanation for the light show, behind them.
‘WAR… WAIT… WAIT… BATTLE… WAR… YES. LONG TIME. TIME… NO UNRSTN TIME… NO REFERENCE… YES. WAR.’
“That makes sense, Captain. Out here, there is no night and day, or seasons, nothing. Time is an invention of humankind,” Commander Rogers offered. At least he was no longer so pale.
“What do the Zephroan want?”
‘WAIT… WAIT… ZEPHROAN ABSORB … … ENERGY … LIFEFORMS… BUT SEEK METALS. ABSORB BOTH, GROW… WAIT… YES…STRONGER. YOU TINY… WAIT… YES… SHIP FEED ZEPHROAN MUCH.’
The discussion could have gone on in that vein for a while, but Angela was unsure how long the alien would put up with her single minded approach. She changed direction.
“Do you have a home star, a galaxy?” Angela asked.
One, sad, word, ‘LOST.’
“Are you lost? Is your star lost or destroyed? Please clarify.”
‘WAIT… CLAR…IFY… LOST. I AM WHERE I AM. STAR IS LOST.’
Ah, ha, perhaps an attempt at humor? Or did she inadvertently insult the aliens? Now, it used the I pronoun. A single entity? Maybe a single, very high powered system. “Please help us understand. Is your star system destroyed?”
‘ZEPHROAN KILL ALL. DES… DES… WAIT… WAIT… DESTROY. YES. DESTROY ALL. NO HOME LAND…PLANET. PLANET METAL… ZEPHROAN TAKE ALL!’
“What do you call yourself?” Angela asked, trying to find some kind of relationship grounds.
‘NOT TO KNOW. MISS… MISTER… WAIT… MISSION… KILL ZEPHROAN. FIND U CURES… NO… CURIES… WAIT… CUREST… WAIT… WAIT… CURIOUS. HUMAN… MAN?’
She took one giant leap forward for mankind, and a tentative step for the life of her and her ship, “May we call you ‘Friend?’”
Silence. The lights for the system load were blinking furiously, indicating that this alien was now almost in control of their computer. She had signaled Radar to cut the ties to manually cut the two back up units free, earlier. Only one system was in handshake with the aliens. Turned out that Spook had done that via its programming at first contact to prevent a virus intrusion. However, anything done with programming can be undone by an entity taking control of Spook.
‘FRIEND… WAIT… WAIT… IS GOOD. CALL FRIEND. NO HELP U IN ZEPHROAN CONTROL… SPACE. U IN TOO DANGER. ME… YES… TOO. TOO MANY ZEPHROAN!’
Another chance to take: “Please tell us where we must go to start a colony, Friend? We need oxygen, nitrogen, water and land. Liquid water. Can you help?” The percentages did not matter. If they had water, the rest would sort itself out.
Silence. The lights flashed so furiously on the wall signifying Spook’s thoughts, they were practically solid, hardly any blinking at all. This time it drew on and on. Angela was beginning to think the friend moved on.
Then, ‘WAIT… LIGHT… YEAR… WORKING…WORKING…WAIT… UNRSTN ATMOST… WAIT… ATMOS…PHERE IN … WAIT… SHIP? YES… SHIP. WATER. WAIT… WAIT… NO UNRSTN WATER… WAIT… NOW UNRSTN WATER. AIR. SEA. LAND. YOU SYSTEM HIGH DATA. SLOW. I FIND PLANET? ... YES…WAIT… PLANETS… YES. WAIT.’
Another long silence, which might have been a minute, but in this flurry of communication it seemed like forever.
‘STARBOARD… WAIT… YES… TURN ONE QUARTER FULL TURN STARBOARD. THREE YOUR LIGHT YEARS TO STAR… SYSTEM. HAS WATER PLANETS… YES… PLANETS. LOWER FORWARD… NOSE… WAIT… YES, BOW ONE TENTH FULL TURN AND HOLD. I WILL FOLLOW. NO ZEPHROAN.’
“We are very slow in a turn of any kind, Friend. It will take a long time to complete the maneuver!”
‘MAN…UEVER… WAIT… WAIT… NOW I SEE. WAIT, DO NOT ALARM. I HELP U!’
The system sounded an alarm, anyway, and cried an audible, “COLLISION ALERT! COLLISION ALERT!”
Just then, the softest bump could be felt under their feet. In fact, along the whole ship. Fortunately, it was momentary.
“Radar? Report!” Captain Angela ordered, hurrying, as were the others, to her seat and restraints. It was almost a panic run for all of them still on their feet.
Radar said, in total awe, “I think… we are sitting on its… back. Somehow. At one quart
er light speed. Amazing… uhhh, ma’am.”
‘I SECURE YOU. NOT CHNG CORSE. WAIT… WAIT… NOW TAKE COLL… COLLISION STATION… UHHH PROT… WAIT… PROTOCAL… STRAPS… YES.’
It was learning English at a phenomenal rate, all drawn from Spook’s data banks…
CHAPTER 17
They all hit their protective chairs and got strapped in. The signal had gone out to the rest of the crew and military, but Angela was sure no one had left their seat since the first warning.
Two minutes followed with no word, no activity. Then there was an immediate sensation of being pushed hard into the back of their chairs. This would mean a speeding up. A serious acceleration. The collision alarm had every single soul on the ship in a secure seat, ready for whatever. Angela hoped none had failed to heed it. If they did not, well, Darwinian Principle at work. Strawberry jam on the back bulkheads.
Radar reported, a measured cadence at just short of thirty seconds each, “Speed increasing, Commander. Point six… Now, one point three four light speed. … One point nine… three times light speed!” her voice rising in disbelief, she practically yelled, unable to keep herself under control This was simply unheard of. “Now we are listing twelve degrees starboard… more… fifteen degrees, speed four point six… my equipment does not have the range. Still accelerating. Five g’s… ma’am.”
Now the weight was more to their bottoms, sitting hard and heavy on their chairs, and a sensation of tilting was easily apparent. Like the rides in the Earth amusement parks, though the cabin does not move that much, the tilt is registered as weight. But nowhere near this amount! It was hard to move, hard to talk, but after nearly three minutes of this torture, it was beginning to ease, Angela gritted out, “System, report!”
“New bearing ninety degrees starboard from previous, thirty-two degrees down plane, seven point two light speed. Stabilizing, Commander.” The only calm voice on Resolute, most likely.
“System, injuries, report!”
“Minor nausea, Commander. No injuries. No casualties.” That was to be expected. But to have turned the huge Resolute practically on a dime?
Every member on the bridge was stunned. The human race had struggled for years to reach light speed. These aliens were easily accomplishing seven times that and more! And, with the behemoth Resolute on its back!
Well, truth be told, she was merely a slight pimple on the huge alien ship. Or maybe, though too fantastical for belief, the alien itself…
-----
Over the next few days, as the crew got used to barreling through space at unbelievable speeds, they saw the front vid depict massive bolts of green light against unseen objects, issued from the nose of their alien carrier. Neither the alien nor the Resolute slowed, nor changed bearing.
In fact, the alien did not respond to queries, either. It was busy, and at this unbelievable speed, Angela was grateful all attention was to the fore.
Occasionally, they saw in the aft vid, similar lasers, but directed back and forth among unseen giants, green laser against blue, a real fireworks show, probably hundreds of thousands of miles behind them.
“Captain on deck!” cried Commander Rogers, as everyone leaped to attention and saluted.
“As you were. Commander, report!”
“The aliens have been undergoing training for communication, Captain, learning English syntax. They are… or it is… very smart. We are almost at normal child level, say seven to eight, though they do tend to take shortcuts. Like teenagers texting. But it is much better… ma’am!”
“Carry on, let me observe. Can they use speech, yet?”
“No, Captain. As suggested, they are not ready.”
A soft way of saying the system speech center was still under human control. We are not ready.
CHAPTER 18
Over the next two months, as the Resolute raced to its new destination very, very quickly, the alien stayed right under her, invisible, massive, and sometimes quiet for weeks at a time. In fact, only the occasional lash out of that massive laser told the crew the alien was still right there.
And it had wonderful sensors or optics, for it was taking out obstacles they could not see at all. The value was clear, they could not go this fast without seeing at least half the distance, or more, just to have time to nudge the huge Resolute a little.
Until Radar, this time in a young Ensign with crisp uniform and perfect haircut, turned and cried out, “Commander! Company! Several contacts!” He was suddenly as pale as a ghost.
“Bogeys on vidscreen, Radar!” Commander Willits called. “All stealth, now!”
“Yessir!” and the vidscreen showed massive returns inside their sphere’s radius of twenty-five thousand miles, each labeled from Target One to Target Twelve. They appeared to be in pursuit! Somehow, despite the terrific speed of Resolute and her carrier, they were gaining!
Text popped up instantly on the botton tenth of the vidscreen, ‘STAY COURSE. ZEPHROAN.’
“Well, that is encouraging,” Willits said, grimly, then remembered protocol, adding, “uhhh… Captain!”
“Keep the shields up, full stealth. All weapons remain close standby!” Her board said so, and this was merely a tacit reminder to Willits to think, to calm down.
“Weapon fire around us, Sir!” yelled Radar, his voice cracking, indicating he was NOT handling this well. His screen not only showed all returns for any vessel, but monitored their readiness and their weapons. “These things are massive, but… Commander, they seem a tenth the size of our Friend. Perhaps three or four times our size, however!”
“Steady, Radar. We need you to focus!” Commander Willits intoned, calmly, more so than he felt.
“The firing is behind us, nearly thirty thousand miles, Commander. The big bright green one is our Friend, or maybe its friends, I think, and there may be more than one. I cannot read them. The others are more blue, and all twelve are firing away from us. I think our Friend dropped back and pulled them off of us…uhhh… Sir!”
“System, status! Report!” Angela called out.
“All systems in the green, Commander, speed seven point two three times the speed of light. No contacts thirty thousand miles out, spherical.” The system scanners were less easily defined, and thus limited in range. And everyone knew that without the Friend to blow up the obstacles, they would not even see what they hit!
Radar, who could focus his antenna wherever he needed, spoke up, “Bogeys still within thirty five thousand miles, and apparently traveling our same speed, Captain!”
Captain Washington thought about that marvel. Imagine fighting a give and take battle while over seven times light speed! Relativity at its best! Then, she spoke up, “There is nothing we can do for defense or offense at this point. If they can drop back that fast, or accelerate as quickly, we are badly outclassed. Do as our Friend suggested: Stay the course, Commander.”
“Yes, ma’m!’ and he repeated the command to the bridge.
“More vessels hit, Commander. Much debris. Six of the Zephroan are vanished. They are at the limits of our scan, but twelve went to six very fast, and the firing has dropped down, also, Sir!”
Then, he choked, grabbed some knobs and pushed buttons, and there, on the view screen, dead ahead of them, was the ass end of a very big alien ship!
It appeared to be one of those tube shapes, with three engines of some kind, and almost round. They could not see the length of it. Hell, they could not even see around the big ass end, and it was over a thousand miles away! The optics worked fine, forward, and it might as well have been several hundred feet off their nose!
Thank God it’s at our own speed! Angela thought as she took immediate control. “Weapons hot, forward photons, all four. If this thing makes one aggressive move, take it out. Do not wait for me to see it!” Resolute was under stealth, but that did not mean the alien vessel had no way to work past it. This thing was not this close by accident! It might not be their propulsion, for those were all cold. It would have to read their energy
emissions in stealth and internal use.
“Yes, Captain. The system is watching it closely, and offense has been assigned, ma’am.”
Photons were a type of laser, but rather than a single beam that focused and burned, it was single pulse, two hundred feet long, and many times that power. Anything it struck was dead. And four would guarantee it. It moved at the speed of light, above their relative speed. The only drawback was the five seconds necessary to recharge each tube. In space, with laser light everywhere, five seconds was a lifetime. The trick, then, was not to miss.
Suddenly, dead center between all three engines, the thing easily six or seven miles across, twice their own diameter, a bright blue glow appeared. At this distance, it was too far to see the diameter, but it had to be one hell of a laser lens.
Anyone knew what that meant, it was the final heat up for incandescence of a laser shot. The enemy had found them on their aft end, too close. Just that quickly, the photons were pulsed out in a bank of four, exactly eight point two two times the speed of light, considering the speed they were traveling. The big ship felt nothing as there was no weight.
Like the Zephroan’s, it was laser, and damned fast. The advantage went to size. The huge laser of the Zephroan would take half a minute to charge and fire. Photons took mere seconds. The laser reached the alien menace in less than a thousandth of a second, before the blue laser could fire.
The back end of the ship, nearly a thousand miles in front of them, literally exploded in bright light and dust, but no fire. Perhaps there was no oxygen inside the vessel, and fire needs oxygen. Cheers erupted on the bridge.
They had prevented the return laser. The huge thing sparkled in bright blue energy, the sign of an out of control laser bolt, and within moments, the ship was gone, leaving only dust clouds. Giant dust clouds. They sailed through them, the dust losing speed, but slowly.
Angela spoke, gravely, “Similar to the old saw of sticking your finger down the barrel of a revolver and pulling the trigger. Just remember, dangerous as hell! We got damned lucky. Radar, status! Report!”
The Resolute Page 24