The Circle and Star

by John Foster

  West and Theo nodded their heads in unison.

  West looked out at the camp below and it was a beehive of activity with people pulling together gear, tents being struck, and the entrance to the tunnels being sealed.

  “What’s going on?” said West.

  “The crew heard most of the battle and were quite excited, they had broken out some of the ships small arms and were getting ready to go to your rescue, when I decided the fastest way was with the Paradig,” said Theo.

  “Well, you certainly called that one correctly,” said West patting Theo on the shoulder. “You saved our lives Theo and we’re grateful.”

  “As always,” said Theo, his arms crossed and his chest buffed out. “One other thing, I had Malena and Leda finish the excavation of the burial and it has been safely recovered and stored in the Paradig.”

  “I assume we have all the data we will need?” said West.

  “Count on it,” said Theo, “you know that Leda and Malena wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  Volkum and Dickens entered the ship and moved to the bridge where the others stood.

  “You all right Volkum?” said West.

  “Yeah, I’m good, just beat up a bit.”

  “What happened to you Dickens?” said West.

  “I guess, I slept through it. When I finally realized, something was up, I ran into the tunnel and came across Volkum, Thomas, and Malena and so I helped them get back here,” said Dickens.

  “Good,” said West, “Those guys that stole the disc all got murdered and cut up.”

  “Damn, by whom?” said Volkum his eyes wide.

  “We don’t know yet but there were two other groups out there trying to get that little artifact, and they wound up fighting over it with both sides losing men...... or creatures,” said West.

  “Creatures?” said Theo.

  “Yeah, friendly little guys with big teeth and larger claws,” said Madison.

  “I want to go take a look at them,” said Volkum.

  “Feel free, but take a lot of people with you and large weapons,” said West.

  “It took heavy military blasters to bring those things down,” said Madison her eyes sparking with anger at the memory of the encounter.

  “I’ll alert the Gobi authorities and take some tissue samples from one of the corpses,” said Theo.

  “That’s a good idea. We’ve got some decisions to make and have to decide what our next steps are going to be,” said West looking around at the rest of the team. “The first tasks are to figure out how all of these people knew what we were doing and who they were? The third one is how to figure out what star system that disc was pointing to?” said West.

  There were no answers to these questions and no one spoke. West wasn’t surprised at the silence.

  “It is likely that someone here in camp is a spy or someone has hacked into our camera relays and knew precisely what we were doing. Since, the walls of the tunnels don’t allow much in the way of transmissions, it is likely that we have someone who is the leak,” said West.

  “Who would do that?” said Theo.

  West shook his head slowly and said, “Well, that’s the question we need answered or at least one of them.”

  West turned to Madison and said, “Madison, when you last used your computer station on the Paradig? What time did you sign off?”

  “I don’t know sometime right after dinner, I guess about 6 pm.”

  “I was in the Paradig at 9 pm and saw your monitor blink out from the time out,” said West.

  “What?” said Madison, her eyes narrowing and her mouth slightly open.

  “Yeah, someone was using your workstation to access the feed from the tunnels and knew exactly what was going on down there. When I came in to check messages, it winked out and at first, I thought it was you but then couldn’t find you in the ship,” said West.

  “Somebody else was in there and didn’t want to be seen?” asked Volkum.

  “Precisely,” said West.

  “Okay that’s Problem No. 1, No. 2 isn’t going to be obvious, and what about No. 3, the location that the disc was pointing to?” said Theo.

  “Well, that’s going to be tougher nut and I don’t have an answer to that as of yet,” said West.

  “Hmmm........ let me think about that for a while,” said Madison.

  They all turned to Madison who started to tap her finger slowly on the table.

  Madison looked up and noticed they were all looking at her and she smiled back at them.

  It was decided that Malena and most of the crew would stay with the excavation, secure the site, and notify the authorities until West could return to the Gobi. At the conclusion of the meeting only West, Theo, Madison, and Volkum remained.

  “Okay, what do you have up your sleeve Madison?” asked West.

  “Yeah, I could hear that little bell going off in your head saying you thought you could figure a way to find out what was on that disc,” said Theo.

  “You’re right,” said Madison, turning on the room computer and accessing her work station programs.

  “It’s a chance, but probably the only one we have right now,” said Madison.

  They all crowded behind Madison in her chair as she manipulated the menus to get to the tunnel video.

  “This is the video spool that alerted Theo that there were intruders in the tunnel,” said Madison looking up at them as they crowded behind her.

  She started a high-speed scan of the footage, first showing Taos and then Tsamar walking up to the burial and then attempting to obtain the disc. She slowed the scan down as Taos and Tsamar changed places and eventually were rewarded when Tsamar jerked the disc up and out. She slowed the footage down so that they were looking at each individual frame. Finding one that looked good, and had most of the disc in view, she zoomed in.

  “It’s too dark, we can’t see the pinholes,” said West.

  “We’re not done yet, boss,” said Madison, a little half smile forming, bending over the view screen and punching in some commands on the keyboard. She clipped and copied the frame, and opened another program in which she pasted the image. She expanded the image again, and then started to apply different filters to the image and eventually found one that showed each and every pinhole except for those right under Tsamar’s fingers.

  “How about that?” exclaimed Madison looking up in triumph.

  “Damn, you’re good,” said West with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes.

  “What do you think Theo?” asked West.

  “I think we might be able to work with that,” said Theo looking over Madison’s shoulder.

  “Send me a copy and I’ll start to figure out where that is,” said Theo, slowly twisting the end of one side of his mustache.

  “Better yet, I’ll bring it to your station and we’ll do it together,” said Madison.

  “Hey, you got a deal,” said Theo rubbing his hands together.

  Madison got up and downloaded the image onto her personal HDA and started to follow Theo.

  “Make sure you encrypt anything you do with that image,” said West, calling after them.

  “Right,” said Madison and Theo at the same time.

  Several hours later, Theo and Madison returned to the Paradig and found West speaking with Malena and Dickens about securing the site. Dickens was talking fast as he spoke with West.

  “I really want to go to find that artifact West,” said Dickens.

  “I hear you but I want you to assist Malena with getting this place secured. We don’t know what else might be here and you’re the second-best technology guru we have. Between the two of you I’ll have the greatest confidence that we’ll get anything that’s still here,” said West.

  The arrival of Theo and Madison stopped the conversation and Theo stepped up to Dickens.

  “You’ve been in the Tene system before haven’t you Dickens?” asked Theo.

  Dickens looking like he saw an opportunity said, “Yes, many times after
we made contact with the Sovar. They invited a select group to tour some of their mining colonies in that quadrant and I was checking for possible alien sites.”

  “Well, it looks like that’s where the disc was pointing,” said Theo.

  Madison nodded her head in agreement.

  “The Tene Quadrant?” said West.

  Both Theo and Madison nodded again and Madison accessed her work station on the room computer and typed in some coordinates and a group of stars appeared. She enlarged them and with her HDA synced to her work station, the pin holes of the disc appeared and she manipulated the image over the star map, making a perfect fit.

  “Impressive,” said West.

  West then turned to Dickens.

  “You know these planets?” said West.

  “No, but I know these two over here,” said Dickens pointing to the top of the view screen. “They’re Class II planetoids, heavy in irons and some heavy metals.”

  “Okay, you’re in Dickens,” said West making a sudden decision and turning to Malena.

  “Sorry, Malena, you’ll have to shoulder this one alone with 20 other people,” said West smiling.

  “I hear you, but I’d sure like to go with you,” said Malena her face pouting.

  “You’ll get your chance,” said West.

  West stood up signaling the meeting was over and asked Malena to send an armed party to recover the bodies of the aliens and dead soldiers before they were too far gone.

  “Put them in refrigerated freights and under lock and key,” said West.

  “Gotcha,” said Malena, “When do you leave?”

  “Tomorrow, tomorrow morning,” said West as he turned to look out a porthole and up into the deepening black of the night sky.

  There would be 20 crew and passengers on the Paradig. The crew consisted of Theo, pilot, Madison as Science Officer, Leda acting as Communications Officer, West as Captain, and Dickens as acting navigator since he knew the system. Two other crew were Martin, and Debbie who served as engineers and maintenance operators. Kal was head of Security and Samson and Zerg performed dual roles as security and assistant science technicians. The remaining personnel were archaeologists, technicians, and equipment operators who had volunteered for the mission. All of the Gobi crew had volunteered but West was firm in that only a minimum number would be allowed to make the journey due to the danger.

  “We’re ready, Captain,” said Theo, seated in his massive chair in the front of the control center.

  “Permission to take off,” said West smiling.

  “Aye, Captain.”

  The Paradig was one of the fastest of the utility ships meant for exploration of mining planets and then adapted, with little modification, to become an archaeology research vessel. West had used the vessel for exploration of new systems that had been identified by Terran scientists, the Sovar, and the Soshi. Utilizing various technologies Terran astrophysicists had successfully identified more than 10,000 planets that had the correct parameters to support human life. It was expected that many of these worlds might only be marginal but there appeared to be some with sufficient resources to support life or that had the potential for augmentation of the environment using existing technology. These planets were earmarked for exploration as potential colony sites for human expansion. If the planets were suitable for life, then it was possible that either there were existing life forms already present or that evidence of extinct life might be found.

  The Paradig rotated and took off, using its maneuvering rockets pods to elevate, turn, and then make way until the main rockets could safely fire. At 20,000 feet, Theo fired the main engines and the Paradig vanished in a streak of light heading to the zero zone where they could hyper jump to reach the next solar system. While technology and science had allowed faster than light travel, it could only be done in small increments, essentially from system to system. The planetary dynamics of a sun as large as or larger than Earth’s provided the environment to use the hyper drive and while not as efficient as bypassing the intermediate points, it was the safest way to travel. It was rumored that the Soshi could make longer jumps but so far had refused to discuss sharing that technology or even acknowledging that it existed.

  The Soshi, while recognizing that Terrans and the Sovar were different entities, remained suspicious that species ties could well outweigh the bonds of friendship between different alien groups. Since the war between the Sovar and the Soshi had started, communications between Terra and the Soshi were minimal. There were no ambassadors or even regularly scheduled meetings. Several planets that were located in quadrants between the two groups were sometimes used for meetings but there were no organized facilities placed there. West had been present when the first contact had been made with the Soshi as he had traveled often with his father on mining expeditions. It had happened many years before.

  West and his father had been living on Jupiter’s moon Ganymede for most of West’s early life and Quinn, his father, had been heavily involved with developing new technology for mining and remotely controlled vehicles. The breakthroughs in processing that Quinn had created had saved huge sums in shipping and processing. Recognizing his skill in engineering, the Converse Corporation sent him on various expeditions and then later, when it became evident that he could lead as well, to captain various ships to farther and farther outposts to look for more mineral sources. West, who by then had reached 16, had been allowed to accompany his father. West’s mother had died when he was an infant in a dome rupture on one of the flying platforms hovering over Jupiter. Lera had been one of the leading scientists of the Converse Interplanetary System Corporation in mining gasses on the big planet. Her unorthodox manner and fierce passion for her work had led to several breakthroughs in mining rare gasses. Unfortunately, her designs for safely mining the gasses had failed and she had died as a result with four other scientists.

  The educational facilities on the Jupiter moons were excellent and in fact were almost as good or equal to those on earth since the CISC wanted only the best trained and most innovative people working in their facilities and believed that it was simpler to create their own labor force. Marriage or cohabitation was encouraged and outstanding facilities were built to accommodate the children of the workers including gardens, plying fields, and even a swimming facility. It was in this environment that West obtained a reasonably good education. His grandfather came to visit several times and it was then that West began to appreciate the mysteries of the past, the unique set of observations that led to an increase in knowledge, and of course the finding of very cool artifacts. Initially, West was put off by the fact that you couldn’t keep the artifacts but became aware, albeit slowly, that it was the knowledge that each item contained that was really important. Each piece of history was part of a language that each culture used to communicate both internally and externally. Learning to decipher the language of the artifacts was the key, and that had enticed West to study archaeology, so he returned to earth to begin his quest. West spent 5 years at the University where his grandfather taught. It was then that he visited the excavations in the Gobi that he had just revisited. He was the youngest student in the school, but the standards were less than what he was used to on Jupiter, and he did well. Graduating with honors, West returned to Jupiter filled with knowledge of something he doubted he would ever use on Jupiter or any of the other planets.

  Undaunted, West returned to engineering and working at his father’s side. They explored more than a dozen worlds in his father’s ship, called the Beetle, and then visited other celestial features of the immensity of black that was called space. On June 28, Terran Central, the Beetle picked up signals in a solar system it had just entered indicating that two active space ships were present around the planet that was the Beetle’s destination. The bridge was quiet as the news was broadcast to the ship’s crew. The alien space craft remained in orbit as if unaware of the presence of the Terran ship. That evening, the watch officers met in the conference room and disc
ussed their plan of action. Some were in favor of leaving right then and returning to earth, while others including West’s father, Quinn, felt that it was more important to meet this new race particularly since they did not appear to be armed or at least overtly hostile. A government vessel from earth would probably be armed for such a mission and Quinn felt they had a unique opportunity to have a peaceful first contact.

  The decision was up to the Captain, duly noting the concern of his officers who did not share this view, Quinn broadcast a message requesting contact. There was an immediate response and one of the alien ships moved out of orbit and then stationed itself several units away with its nose parallel to the Terran ship. Quinn interpreted this as a sign of peace. It was from these first tactful moments that contact was established with the Soshi.

  After days of learning to communicate with each other, the two alien races met for the first time on the planet that the Soshi had been orbiting. The planet, afterwards named Contact, was lifeless except for primitive plants and some evolved water forms that lived in the immense oceans of the planet. The Soshi proved to be a cautious folk but were interested in the Terrans. Quinn listened to them and what they volunteered and what they didn’t speak of. The Soshi were a humanoid species, long legged and tall creatures, who were pale grey skinned, had dark circles around their eyes that flared out in colorful patterns that stretched out and wrapped around their heads, and they lacked any type of hair. The eyes were generally green but there were individuals with other colors as well. Their skin had a minute pebbly texture with dark lightning bolt streaks that appeared to be either artificial or were some elaborate skin pattern. Their arms and legs were slender and graceful and they carried themselves with a confidence borne of experience and gravitas. They had small holes where humans had their ears. Their clothing was tight fitting, Spartan black or white, and lacked any ornamentation or color. As talks continued, Quinn was surprised to learn that the dominate sex was the female and that males were almost never present in their space fleet. This was not explained and the Soshi were surprised to learn the opposite was true for the Terrans.