Koban

by Stephen W Bennett

  “The clans here did not know you had been granted Ra Ka Endo before arriving, this is not standard. No other human arrivals have had that status or were given weapons. There will be weapons available only after you are inside the dome.”

  “Will you inform the Krall in the compound and on the landing pad that we have been granted Ra Ka Endo? If some of my people get weapons inside the dome, they can return to protect those that stay behind to remove the engines.”

  “I will do that before we leave.” He conceded. “But weapons in the human compound are not stored close by any dome entrance, and I do not think you can expect those humans to come out to protect your people. You are new, and few will risk their lives to protect you farther away than from the shelter of a dome entrance.”

  Thinking quickly, Mirikami asked, “Can we use our own weapons from the ship for protection? Before we get the ones you give to the other captives?”

  Telour made the Krall snort of humor. “Of course, any weapons you have, if you think you can kill fast flying things with them, and not kill yourselves.” He snorted again, proving how much confidence he had in their chances.

  Well, the Captain thought with slight satisfaction, he thinks I meant the crossbows or the few grenades we showed him. Good. He’d have to speak with Walters, the Chief Steward, at the first opportunity, and with Dillon.

  Parkoda arrived on the Bridge within minutes of his shuttle’s arrival. As before, he sprang up over the stairwell railing with barely a sound. Having raced up almost the length of the ship, against one and a half g’s of gravity, he didn’t even appear to be breathing hard.

  Telour straightened as he arrived. Both Krall’s internal ears sprouted like flowers, as they spoke in the usual eerie lip wriggling silence. Parkoda spoke Standard to them when they were done.

  “Telour says you able to take this ship to Koban without wait for tachyon. That you have engines to use to land at **********,” which was apparently spoken ultrasonically.

  “I’m sorry Parkoda but we could not hear where we will land.”

  Parkoda looked to Telour and they had a quick exchange. Telour said two words in Standard. “Koban Prime.”

  Parkoda looked back to the Captain. “The humans call where they stay Koban Prime. You see Koban on screen. Go closer and I tell where to land.”

  He was obviously referring to the beautiful blue green world, which Noreen had placed on the main screen. Koban it was.

  “Should we start accelerating now, Sir?”

  “Yes. Go close now, and orbit near so I can show where to land. The Clanship will follow.”

  With a mixed sense of relief, Mirikami realized that by using the thrusters they didn’t have to reveal they had Traps already holding high-energy tachyons. Nevertheless, it meant the trip would take longer, and at even higher gravity as they accelerated. He wondered why the Clanship detectors hadn’t revealed what their Traps held. Perhaps with Krall onboard, they were unconcerned. One more example of lax security, or supreme confidence.

  He called the Drive Room and told a surprised Willfem to start a vector towards Koban using only the main thrusters, and not the Normal Space propulsion system. He manually fed the Navcomp coordinates he had read off the main screen to vector them closer to the planet. He wasn’t about to talk to Jake to have him do anything. Nan already knew how to signal Jake to take over the landing sequence once they had coordinates.

  The acceleration warning sounded as the ship changed orientation, rotating the nose towards the planet and then the main engines kicked in. The short trip would be slower than the Normal Space propulsion system could have provided, and the mass of the ship had to be overcome with more effort, throwing a lot of reaction mass out the rear as plasma. However, with such a short distance to travel and no future use for the fuel, Mirikami was practically throwing away the expensive fuel so the ship could reach orbit sooner.

  The career Interworld Captain had an amusing thought. This final little trip was more costly in fuel than Interworld would ever have tolerated. He would be fired!

  He made a call to Chief Haveram, using a handset. “Chief, I assume you have gotten the information about where we are, and the length of time to reach close orbit?”

  “Yes Sir, a friend told me.”

  “Right. Will your teams be able to do their jobs as planned, in that time frame?”

  “Absolutely. We are finishing the final partial cuts right now, and the three teams will all take couches near their assigned work areas before we drop out of orbit. The engine compartments are a bit hot right now but they work in soft suits anyway, so they have cooling. Unless you call it off, we will jump right to it as soon as we land.”

  “Thanks Chief, Out.” He was pleased they were able to work under the extra thrust. However, something nagged at the back of his mind. He couldn’t quite place what it was, but he needed to get off the Bridge for some privacy, so he pushed it to the back of his mind.

  “Noreen, please keep watch while I get a bite to eat. I didn’t know we would White Out when we did and I’m hungry.” He released his restraints and stood up, and then it hit him.

  The added acceleration was being automatically compensated by Jake, he realized with surprise. That was what had been nagging him. He hadn’t felt heavier than one and a half g’s, and neither did the work crews. At least not more than the tiring fifty percent heavier they had experienced for about two days. The almost full g of reaction thrust wasn’t adding to that, it was being compensated.

  He had not told Jake to do that specifically, but the literal minded AI had been told to increase and hold gravity at one and a half g’s, so he was doing exactly that. Except gravitational compensation could only be done with the huge energy taken from tachyons caught in a Trap field. Apparently, Telour and Parkoda had not thought of that, or not being K’Tal didn’t know. Their ships would likely always compensate.

  He hoped if Parkoda had brought a K’Tal back with him, that he wouldn’t think to mention a commonplace process like inertial or gravitational compensation.

  Parkoda spoke to him as he passed him on the way to the lift. His first words, following behind Mirikami’s previous thought briefly sent a chill down his spine.

  “We needed bigger tachyons for this jump, like I told you. My K’Tal said we could be caught forever in Hole, when we did not arrive when he expected.

  “Now I know I can take whole human ships with me, even if slow. I will gain status to share this with all clans.” How convenient to forget that the credit for the idea came from humans.

  Mirikami assumed the remark was intended to gall Telour, since he surely didn’t think the human animal needed to know that. Damn, that little jab might make Telour less willing to inflate Parkoda’s status even more at the clan meeting.

  Mirikami decided he needed a little damage control. “This ship is a great prize for you to show to all the clans. It will forever be an example of what you did, when other clans see your perfect prize sitting on Koban. It will be an efficient use of a place to store humans as the dome becomes crowded.” That was to fertilize the seed that Telour was supposed to plant in Parkoda’s mind, and to remind Telour of why he needed it planted.

  Taking the lift to deck 8, he bypassed the small galley below the bridge. The Krall’s super hearing would have overheard him that close.

  As he stepped out, he saw a black clad warrior he’d not seen before, who must have arrived with Parkoda. In fact, he realized just then that he was able to tell them apart much better now, and wasn’t sure exactly when that had happened.

  As he walked to the snack bar, he nodded and spoke reassuringly to the people he passed using the lounge couches, most of them with anxious faces. He asked that they remain seated and strapped down unless they had need of a toilet break, or a quick snack as he was getting. The snack area had no couches, and was around a corner from the Krall warrior’s view.

  After the usual question and answer, he knew he was unobserved. He selected a sandwich
from the automatic dispenser, and a drink. “I’d sure like a Link to Mister Walters right now, if he is unobserved by anyone unfriendly.”

  “Mister Walters is near several passengers, but no Krall are monitoring his dinning alcove on deck 6.”

  Knowing his voice would be recognized, Mirikami spoke without any preliminary conversation.

  “Nory, if possible don’t do more than acknowledge when I ask, but you are presently unobserved by anyone large and red. I expect us to land on Koban later today. I’m asking you to organize an evacuation through the cargo hold, not the usual passenger escalator ramp. We need the wider ramp for speedier disembarkation, and for greater protection from dropping engine parts. Understand?”

  “Aye Sir.” was all he said softly. Good man.

  “After you instruct the other Stewards to line people up for the evacuation, don’t start anyone down until Noreen or I give the order. We will be using the stairs to descend as well as the lifts. All of the Krall will be off the ship by then. Before that starts, I have a special duty just for you, and don’t mention it to anyone.

  “I want you to go alone to the locker in the corridor near mine and Noreen’s quarters, and use your code to open it, which I will authorize, and remove all ten of the objects and accessories, placing them in the black soft sided carrying case also stowed inside. Take that bag to the cargo hold and stow it where we can get to it in a hurry. Tell just Noreen and me where it is. Understand what I’m speaking about?”

  “Aye Sir.”

  “Excellent. Captain Out.”

  “I’d like Mister Walter’s emergency access code to be enabled for opening any and all compartments.”

  “It is Done Sir.” Jake responded.

  He then called Maggi, Aldry, and Dillon, on a com line conference call rather than a Link via Jake. All of them had gone to their cabins as arranged after the White Out. Jake confirmed they were not observed.

  When they all had picked up and acknowledged him, he said, “Folks, listen to me first. Telour says after landing we will have to offload everyone into the dome then bring them back to the ship later. Frankly, it is their first test for us on Koban, and we will be running some sort of gauntlet, unprotected from Koban life.

  “To do this quicker, we need to use the ramp from the cargo hold where we can evacuate faster, and with a larger ramp to shield against engine parts falling out of the Flight of Fancy’s bottom. Parkoda and Telour will be leaving almost immediately on Parkoda’s shuttle, as will every Krall onboard.

  “Any Krall outside the compound are going back inside the Clanship then, and we will be exposed to native Koban bugs, birds, bats whatever the hell they are as we dash for the dome. They are drawn to landing ships, and might attack and kill anyone spotted outside. Telour tells me we can’t count on the humans from the dome for covering fire before we get inside. They apparently don’t risk their asses for strangers. Dillon, is that idea Neri dug out of the war records yesterday ready for use?”

  “Ah…, Sir, you know we couldn’t test them here inside, didn’t you? We have three of them built, but not loaded or pressurized. When do you want them?”

  “Right after that cargo hatch opens. As soon as the Krall shuttle leaves and the cargo haulers roll down the ramp. I already told the two drivers, Chack and Ricco, to wear hard suits, despite how clumsy and heavy they are. They aren’t as strong as I hope the armor will be, but the haulers also have the roll bars and metal cages over them for extra protection. Have your gear ready then.”

  “I’ll go see Bob and Neri as soon as you finish with me. I don’t think we need very long to load and pressurize them, but who do we want to use them? They are pretty damn heavy, even if simple to operate.”

  “Look for big strong volunteers. In addition, stick them in soft suits with faceplates closed if necessary for protection. More from themselves than the animals, I think. We have a lot of those suits in all general sizes in the cargo hold. You had better get going. I have a hunch we will need those operational soon after we land.”

  “On my way Captain,” he clicked off.

  “Ladies,” he shifted focus. “I’ll need you to listen to our friend’s recording of my conversation with Telour and Parkoda on the Bridge after the White Out, and then use your network of contacts to impress on your people the need to rush like hell to get to that dome when they get off this ship. Please gather up the drugs we have produced from the pharmacy, give everyone that wants them a Pep or Oxy pill to take when we break orbit. And they can carry anything they can use as a weapon, like a walking stick, umbrella, or anything like a club or knife.”

  “Tet?” asked Maggi, a puzzled look on her face. “That’s the exact opposite of what they were told when the Krall stormed aboard. Weapons like that are useless anyway.”

  “Oh, sorry, you haven’t heard the recording yet. This has nothing to do with fighting the Krall. We’re worried about the native life. The Krall are making this our first survival test. Unfortunately we don’t know anything about what we might face.”

  “Actually, we do a little bit,” Aldry interjected. “It wasn’t related to our survival strategy or Krall defense tactics, but a few of our biologists had questions like that. We know which flyers are supposed to be the most dangerous, like the wolfbat, as the other captives call them, and the scorpion skeeter.”

  “What? Are you flipping serious?” Mirikami demanded. “Why the hell didn’t I hear about them?”

  “Uh…,” she stammered. “I.., I wasn’t aware you hadn’t heard the stories. Sorry Tet. The Krall don’t even consider them to be very dangerous.” She ended lamely.

  “Tet, I’m guilty too,” confessed Maggi. “I heard the stories over lunches and never thought to mention them to you, or asked if you’d heard them. You have been so focused on our real survival problems, and bugs and bats seemed too trivial. They were something we could learn about after we met our co-captives.”

  “Ok. Then make sure no one else about to face them is as ignorant as I am! I need to get back to the Bridge, so you’ll have to ask our friend for that recording. I’ll get back to you when I can.”

  He switched off abruptly, piqued that they hadn’t told him these things. Then as he headed for the lift, he considered the little things he didn’t always tell them about each day. Like what he had planned with his Stewards after they landed. Ahh nuts! I owe them an apology.

  As he stepped off the lift he bit into the last half of the sandwich he had saved, just to demonstrate what he had been doing while off the bridge. He knew both Krall would have their blazing red pits boring into him when the door opened.

  He resumed his seat. The two Krall continued standing silently and patiently watching. Considering they never slept, he wondered again, what they did to occupy the longer days they were so proud of not sleeping through. They loved to brag to the humans, but didn’t seem have a lot of conversation when they were together. Perhaps they talked more with fellow clan mates, and as far as he knew, none of the Krall aboard came from the same clans.

  Noreen filled him in on minor happenings while he was away, as if he wouldn’t know. Such as arrival time to orbit, fuel consumption, relaxing the acceleration restrictions for a couple of hours.

  The latter was to let people eat, go to the bathroom, and learn about and prepare for the landing and evacuation.

  In the lift Mirikami had spoken to her by Link to let her know what was being planned, and then instructed Jake on what to report, to himself, Noreen, Willfem, and Jorl’sn, just as soon as his passive scans were complete.

  That report came about ten minutes after Mirikami had returned to the bridge.

  “I have completed a preliminary survey of this stellar system, and of Koban” Jake announced, “and I have located our galactic position relative to the Hub. As instructed I will compare Koban to Earth and Sol system, in the order of information requested, and I will attempt to be brief and concise.”

  Sure you will, each of the crew thought.

 
“Koban is the second planet from the G class star, and is in an orbit slightly more elliptical than Earth’s with an average distance close to one astronomical Unit. A year here is slightly longer than standard, at 371 Earth days. The length of a day is just over twenty-two and a half hours, which results in 395 days in their year.

  “The planet has an axial tilt of roughly twenty five degrees, compared to 23.44 degrees for Earth. The planet will therefore experience greater seasonal variation than does Earth. I have identified a strong magnetic field, and the northern hemisphere is in late summer, the southern hemisphere in late winter. On this side of the planet there are two continents visible, unless the observed land mass extends all the way around the planet. There are four continents reported by the Krall, and the relatively narrow ocean between the two coasts seen on this hemisphere is one of three seas Koban is said to have. Heavy forestation, possibly jungle, is visible away from the coastal plains of both visible landmasses. There are nine active volcanoes observable, and two are in eruption. Three mountain ranges are on the western continent, one range on the eastern land mass.

  “The single moon is two hundred four thousand miles from the planet, closer and larger than Earth’s own moon, and it is denser, as is Koban when compared to Earth. The tides will be significantly higher, and nights with a full moon will be brighter. There are fewer large craters on the moon, which might be explained by the observation that there is no apparent asteroid belt between Koban and the first of four Saturn to Neptunian sized gas and ice giants in the outer system.

  “The inner terrestrial sized planet is on the far side of the star and not easily observed. It has an orbit that lies within the habitable zone. It appears to be only slightly smaller than Earth, and I detect signs of a biosphere. However, the star’s glare makes this difficult to be certain.

  “This system is just over eight hundred ten light years from Earth, and almost two hundred fifty light years from Newborn. A galactic map is available when you wish to view that.”