On to Tau Ceti

by David McCahan

  “Yes Ma’am. Bay A3 is already open and ready for us to make emergency approach. On our way now. Ma’am would you keep a watch on the shuttle pressurization?” Lt. Sato commented and the shuttle began to ascend into orbit to dock on Columbia.

  “Glad to Hiroshi.” Glory assured her pilot.

  For all the anxiety they shared the approach was uneventful and the shuttle set down in Bay A3. “Bay pressurized, opening hatch now.” Hiroshi informed the crew.

  Glory stepped out of the shuttle and came around the front of the shuttle to get her first look at the damage and was quickly joined by Lt. Sato. He let out a whistle and said “I’m glad I didn’t get a chance to look it over first. She took one heck of a beating.”

  “I would say that if the Collective hadn’t driven it off of us when they did we would have lost the shuttle. Look at those dents and scrapes.” Glory pointed to the 6-foot-long lines carved nearly through the shuttle armor.

  “Colonel is anyone injured? What were you thinking bringing that into space?” an astonished General Fitsimmons was staring up at the shuttle damage.

  “No Sir, no injuries and we quite frankly had no idea that it was this bad or thought that even an animal as large as that could damage a shuttle this badly. We had no desire to risk setting the shuttle back down to examine the exterior when the patches held, but now I wish we had.” Glory responded while still staring at the damage dumbfounded.

  “I followed the exterior views and com traffic. I guess that would be a little unsettling.” Jeff relaxed his tone some. Seeing Colonel Unbuntu next to him also staring at the shuttle Jeff asked “Jasper, how much information did your team get from the scans?”

  “Well Sir we obviously didn’t get all we want but until the other three trashed the scanners we got quite a bit. We’ll have a better idea in a few hours and probably a day to really analyze it but I think we got a pretty good look.” He replied.

  “Keep us informed of the progress and we’ll get senior staff together when there is anything to report on.” Jeff commented while still staring at the shuttle.

  “General would you like to keep a section as a souvenir. We’re just going to cut the whole front section of the roof off and replace with new so we can mount it somewhere if you like.” The chief of engineering had joined the group staring at the damage.

  “No Javier I think the Colonel here would just as soon not have any reminders for her lying around.” Jeff looked at Glory and raised in eyebrow.

  “Oh no Sir I absolutely don’t need any reminders of that experience!” Glory responded. “Javier please make sure it is completely disposed of. Thank you.” Then turning to her commander. “General unless you need me for anything at this time I think a really long hot shower would be great right about now.”

  “Nope we’re good. Go unwind and then why don’t you and Saoi join me in my quarters at 1400 and I’ll order some food up and we can talk then?” Jeff asked/suggested.

  “Sounds like a plan Sir. We’ll see you at 1400 then.” With that Glory took Saoi’s hand and headed for the crew quarters.”

  Rhonda had checked with the crew for any injuries and saw them leaving. “Well it looks like their relationship is finally moving into the romance area.” She commented to Jeff.

  “How so?” he asked.

  “Oh you should have seen how I found them earlier today at the dining hall.” She began telling him about the merge she witnessed while they also began to walk together towards the exit.

  Index

  Chapter 8 - Settlement

  “I still cannot believe it jumped to the shuttle roof like that. I mean just the fact that considering we were holding 20 feet off the ground it needed to clear more than 50 feet in height plus what was needed above that to make a jump from over 50 foot away.” Glory was discussing the encounter from just a few hours earlier. “I mean to make that jump in the first place was out of the realm of our thoughts considering the size of the raptor but it didn’t even twitch a muscle let alone take a step to get moving. This was just a standing broad jump. What are its capabilities with a running start? Let’s say that worst case scenario that it is warm blooded and life sciences can’t figure out a non-lethal deterrent. How do we build a safe settlement? A dome that the inhabitants can never set foot out of? Then could we be sure they couldn’t tear through whatever material we use. I suppose we’d need a plasma field covering it for protection.” Glory shrugged her shoulders and then sat back in her chair and sipped on her drink.

  “I suppose that if push came to shove we would abandon Tau Ceti and ask to reassign to an alternative solar system. Since we now have light year per minute travel CentCom could well grant that request, but we’ll wait to see what the blood sample and scans provide before we give up here. No telling what dangers another world could harbor.” Jeff said and then took a bite of the Pumpkin Pie he had ordered from the dining hall along with their meals.

  “Maybe we could offer to share your pie with the beasts down there as a peace offering?” Glory asked.

  “Nope, if it comes to that we move to another planet.” Jeff replied with a wink.

  “I second that motion” Saoi commented as he was also enjoying the dessert selection.

  “Well here’s hoping that life sciences can find a proper Spiritusraptor repellant then” Glory raised her drink in a toast.

  “Hear Hear” Jeff toasted her with his pie plate and then reached for another slice. Noticing Glory shaking her head and giggling he commented “We can’t have it go to waste now can we?”

  “I second that motion” Saoi said as he also reached for another slice.

  “You two enjoy your dessert but I think another shot of scotch is in my plans.” Glory was reaching for the bottle but pulled up short and sat frozen with her arm outstretched for a moment. “Jeff, Jasper Unbuntu has some preliminary findings and is asking to brief senior staff. Considering the importance, I sent out meeting requests for 30 minutes from now. Thought you’d like time to finish your pie first.”

  “You are absolutely right on that. I would have hated to have to put another disciplinary action in your file.” Jeff gave her a wink.

  “General we didn’t get everything we wanted but we may have a workable alternative from what we have learned. We will continue to study and perhaps another mission to obtain more complete scans might be attempted but here’s what we know at this point.” Jasper brought up a 3d model of the raptor on the conference room plot. “As we have already witnessed it is very strong and fast. It can leap airborne shuttle craft in a single bound, though maybe not tall buildings.” He looked over at Glory with a wink.

  “I see you’ve availed yourself of the 20th century Superman movies in archive Jasper.” Glory responded.

  “At least it can’t fly so not quite Superraptor.” Turning back to the plot image he continued “While the strength and speed are amazing the hearing, sight and smell are very average. Basically on par with humans.” That brought a few murmurs considering how they seemed to sense prey from great distances. “Also even though they have great speed they have evolved as more of a plains hunter than mountainous. Their legs and feet work best on flat even ground. It is estimated that they would be very average or even struggle with rocky, hilly forested terrain. They are warm blooded and so their territory has more to do with the range of their prey rather than needing warm environment.”

  “Colonel Richardson. I know you’ve been working up possible plans for different scenarios. What are your thoughts?” Jeff queried Lt Colonel Eileen Richardson, the Paititi settlement commander. Jeff commanded the Columbia but the decisions about site placement and safety was the site commander’s responsibility. Colonel Richardson would decide if the planet was safe and where the settlement would be placed.

  “Yes Sir, we’ve worked up a couple of scenarios we thought might make for defensible sites. When given this information one popped to the top of the list. If we could make a safe, habitable place to live it would probably be in
the mountains.” Eileen motioned to the plot for Jasper’s permission to take over the controls which he motioned his agreement. “Until we found our hostile raptor we had thought of locating Paititi here on the plains near this lake.” The image of Atlantis showed a satellite image with an icon blinking near a lake. “However, about 400 miles to the northeast there is a mountain range which we could build our homes in the side and top of the mountains. The rock formations are mainly limestone and so stable, strong and not overly hard to bore out. Also this central spine of the mountains provides some additional security in that any raptors would need to go over these other mountains or travel some distance up these valleys.” The mountains appear on the plot as three long mountains running parallel with two red lines showing the valleys on either side of the central mountain.

  Eileen appraised the room for a moment and seeing no disagreement continued “We would setup plasma fencing surrounding the settlement to deter any raptors that might try to climb the mountain. While not ideal it would certainly provide for breathtaking views.” With that Eileen brought up a view from a probe currently at the proposed settlement site. While the mountain slope there was not a cliff it certainly was steep, about 1500 feet from mountain top to a narrow valley and the next mountain was a near mirror image. The mountain side was covered by trees that reminded one of Oak or Maple. A small river meandered through the valley lined by grassy clearings and stands of trees. They may not have the free run of the plains that the initial site had but picturesque doesn’t really do it justice.

  “Colonel, it’s your call. If you want to proceed then complete your plans and let’s get construction underway. I could certainly imagine morning coffee watching the sunrise over the ridgeline sitting on a terrace.” Jeff said while eyeing the image from the onsite probe.

  “Well General I’ll make sure the visitors quarters have first class views but then all the quarters will, but would you rather have a sunrise or sunset view. We will be using both sides of the mountain you know?” Eileen asked.

  “Oh sunset sipping a nice Merlot … I’m in” Glory mused.

  “Well it looks like we’ll be entertaining you two on opposite sides of the mountain then.” Eileen responded. “Sir as soon as the site plans are complete and we have a build plan together with a timeline I’ll send that to you and Colonel Callaghan.”

  “Colonel Richardson you can count on the Collective to help in any way we can.” Saoi offered.

  “Considering how helpful the Collective was at Babylon we would be most grateful for the help. That’s liable to cut our timeline in half!” Eileen responded.

  Construction began within a week. Shuttle lasers were refitted onto mobile rigs to cut through the rock and then members of the Collective and crew worked together to lift out large sections and lower them to the fabrication systems on the valley floor. The limestone was used as base construction materials, fabricated into panels and placed back into the hollowed out mountainside. Even with plasma fencing and motion sensors blanketing the area the fabricators were considered vulnerable and under constant guard by marines and shuttles. A month into the construction and the progress was about double what had been predicted using only human ingenuity. Glory, Saoi and Eileen were onsite to review the construction and Bonnie Anderson accompanied them just for the opportunity to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. They set down inside the perimeter fencing of Fabricator # 3. Captain Gerard insisted on accompanying them and providing security personally. As the shuttle hatch opened two marines in full armor stepped through and took up positions on either side of the hatch and then Captain Gerard stepped through and quickly surveilled the area. Marine Master Sergeant Kelly Edwards met him with a crisp salute. Adam returned her salute. “Sergeant we have some VIPs down for an inspection so let’s be extra alert.”

  “Adam I’m sure the good Sergeant here is always alert and no special security is needed now that they are not providing the rest of the time.” Glory said as she walked up beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder to make sure he did not take the light hearted ribbing the wrong way.

  “No of course not Ma’am but just the same I’m going to keep close if you don’t mind.” Adam gave a little wink.

  “Don’t mind a bit.” Glory gave a little pat on the shoulder. “Glad your along anytime.”

  At that the landing party began walking towards the fabricator to review the plans with the site foreman. Bonnie had brought Maggie along and was tossing a stick to play some fetch with her as they walked. Suddenly Maggie stopped, turned and looked off in the distance intently. Seeing her (robotic) dog stopped, Bonnie called for her. “Maggie come.” Maggie not only didn’t come as commanded but instead let out a low growl and moved slowly in the direction she was looking. “Maggie come.” Bonnie said again but her order was ignored as well.

  Just then Glory stopped in her tracks and adopted her seer stare for a couple seconds. “Captain, motion detection has a Spiritusraptor in bound from the south!”

  Adam keyed his com “Inbound hostile! All personnel to their shuttle! Let’s go Colonels back onboard.” He took up position with his Marines on the south side of the landing party as they moved back to the shuttle.

  “Maggie! Come!” Bonnie called again. Instead of coming her dog took off in the direction of the incoming raptor as fast as she could go.

  “Captain, please. We need to board up now.” Adam said while guiding Bonnie towards the shuttle.

  With everyone back on board the shuttle hatch closed and they lifted off along with the shuttle that was on station for the fabricator crew. “Hiroshi let’s make sure we’re at a safe altitude but let’s have a look at our hostile please.” Glory said as she took up a position behind her pilot. Seeing Bonnie looking anxiously out the viewport added “and see if you can track Captain Anderson’s dog please.”

  “Yes Ma’am. No problem. I have a lock on her position and I’ll keep her on the monitor for you.” Lt Sato responded as he took up a position well above the fabrication facility. There was the robotic Beagle standing her ground at the fence while the Spiritusraptor was closing the last few hundred yards. Maggie opened her mouth and the raptor stopped instantly. It stood still and stared at the small dog and cocked its head.

  “Hiroshi, can you pick up any sound from those two?” Glory asked.

  He looked over at his co-pilot who shook his head. “No Ma’am we can’t detect anything coming from either of them.”

  Just then Maggie closed her mouth for a couple of seconds and then opened again. This time the Spiritusraptor took a step back, looked away and then back to the dog and then turned and left as quickly as it had come. Maggie closed her mouth, then turned and with tail wagging started walking back towards where the shuttle had originally landed. They were all astonished by what they had just witnessed. Glory looked at the monitor then Bonnie and then back to the monitor. “Bonnie I would say she looks rather pleased with herself.”

  “I saw it and still don’t believe it but if she just made one of THOSE back down then I would say she earned it.” Bonnie said while looking rather like a proud parent.

  “Ma’am I don’t know what just happened down there but motion detection shows the raptor left the area the way it came and we are now clear to land again.” Lt Sato reported.

  “Well then let’s go pick up our hero and see if we can figure this out.” Glory said as she gave Bonnie a high five.

  This time as the hatch opened Maggie was sitting a short distance from the shuttle hatch and when Bonnie called for her she jumped right in and into Bonnie’s arms.

  “Yep definitely pleased with herself. Ok Hiroshi let’s get back to Columbia and see what we can learn from our furry little hero here.” Glory said as she gave Maggie a rub behind her ear.

  The senior staff were gathered in the Commander’s Conference room four hours after they had delivered Maggie to Robotics to study her logs and sensors to try to determine what had just happened.

  Head of Robotics Lieutenant
Jonathan Whitcraft was briefing them. “As we looked through Maggie’s logs we saw that she detected a subsonic sound that turned out to be the Spiritusraptor. We had updated the programming of all the companions to include this threat and she put the incoming hostile and this unusual sound as possibly being connected. Captain Anderson, that is why she ignored your command to come since your safety overrode your command. Her protection programming kicked in and she focused on confronting the danger to you.”

  Maggie was still looking oh so pleased sitting on Jeff’s lap while he patted her chest.

  “At any rate” Jonathan continued “she took up position at the fence and continued monitoring the hostile. She also picked up some ultrasonic sounds coming from it. Our best guess was the subsonic sounds are to find prey at long distances and the ultrasonic to zero in at close range, much like bats hunting insects using echo location.” He let that sink in for a second and then continued “Maggie repeated back the low frequency sounds and the raptor stopped. Having recorded the ultrasonic sounds, she then repeated them back at 3 times the decibel level or about 200 decibels. I imagine that was a bit painful for our beast considering about 150 dB is enough to shatter a human eardrum. The Spiritusraptor bid a hasty retreat at that point.” Jonathan concluded.

  “General, this sounds like we may have just found both a raptor detector and repellant in one.” Glory said excitedly.

  “We may very well have at that. Eileen we’ll have Colonel Callaghan and Lieutenant Whitcraft put this to the test but we hopefully have just given the plains back to future Atlantis inhabitants.” Jeff said while continuing to pet Maggie.

  “I am right there with you on that and look forward to the results of the test. Our little mountain retreat is coming along nicely so we’ll stay put there for Paititi but a vacation home along the lake will be nice.” Eileen commented with a wink.