The Circle and Star

by John Foster

  The First Officer listened in to the communications with the security teams and was slowly nodding her head. She looked at Amal and seeing her watching her rose and walked over to her. “They report all crew dead and six Sovar troopers were found at the bridge door,” said the First Officer. Amal wondered at that. “Did the Soshi crew kill the Troopers?” Amal asked.

  “It appears that the crew have been dead for several hours,” said the First Officer. “The Sovar troopers were recently killed and from laser blasts rather than our stiletto beams.”

  Amal turned from the First Officer to consider this news. It was obvious that the Terran ship had been at the site of the Sun Seeker and now it seemed that they had killed the Sovar troopers too. That raised some new questions as well, where was the Sovar ship that had delivered the Troopers or were the troopers killed by their own crewmen? No other ship had been seen or detected. Mutiny was something the Soshi were unaware of and had never experienced it in their own history.

  Amal looked to the First Officer. “This is a mystery my friend,” said Amal her brows knit in thought. The first officer had been considering the same scenario and nodded slowly.

  “They’ve broken off pursuit Captain,” said the Leda.

  “Very good, reduce speed to get us out of the red zone so Theo doesn’t have a heart attack,” said West looking over to Theo whose neck was seriously red and not from sun burn.

  “Make for the jump spot,” said West.

  “On our way, Captain,” reported Theo.

  West wandered out of the bridge and headed for Madison’s work station. She was busy correlating data of some kind when he whistled from the door. She looked over at him and as he nodded his head, her face was grim and her mouth set in a tight line. She was concerned about Thomas but West had directed her concern where she could do the most help and that forced her energies into something she could get her anger and frustration to focus on.

  “Any progress?” asked West.

  “Not yet, still trying to see if any of our sensor systems picked up anything that might tie into our mystery ship. The pulses that Theo detected were a massive energy generation and somehow tied into the ghost phenomena of the alien ship. The question is why the pulses?” asked Madison rhetorically.

  West sat on a table nearby and put his chin in his hand, one of his unconscious poses Madison noted. He looked at her. “Maybe they can’t contain all the energy and it leaks?” asked West. “It is a small vessel and even smaller than ours,” said West.

  “True, and that may be part of what’s going on here,” said Madison.

  The personal intercom for West chimed. “Captain, we’re about to make the jump,” said Theo.

  West pressed his HDA and acknowledged the message. “Making the jump?” asked Madison.

  “Yes, and I wonder what we’re gonna run into when we come out at Tene System,” said West.

  LANDING AT JO-TENE

  The Paradig entered the Tene System without mishap or conflict. It was something of an anti-climax after the last system entry but they were pleased that they weren’t thrust into the middle of a battle as in the last location. Theo cruised into orbit around Jo-Tene, taking the polar route to assess water resources and life forms. Scanners lit up with signals indicating both primitive and semi intelligent life forms as well as other forms not easily understood by the ship’s technology. Madison was busy looking at the readouts from the major sensor array and looking up to West said, “Not much in the way of plants, conditions are quite arid with only small lakes dotted around the two poles. Looking at her readout again she said, “The poles are really not much more than snow covered mountains and lacking ice sheets such as earth had,” she paused and then said, there are some rivers that I am seeing that appear to be tied to the canyons that lace through the various regions of the planet.”

  West nodded his head, thinking about the global meltdown earth experienced 300 years ago.

  “Looks like the planet is plagued by major sand and dust storms on a regular basis.” said Madison.

  “Okay, what about radiant energy, radio waves, and other technological signatures?” said West.

  “Well, let’s see what we have here,” said Madison as she started typing into the system computer on her desk.

  She pulled an old wooden pencil out of her desk and started to slowly chew on it. West watched in amusement as she moved the writing instrument like a drum major’s baton.

  “Well, there are no obvious energy sources but there do seem to be some low level transient power surges in the equatorial region,” said Madison as she zoomed in on an aerial view of the middle of the world. The picture broadened and she increased the magnification. “Look there,” she said pointing at what looked like a building complex with radial patterns spreading outward. West could see that it indeed looked like a small city, although parts were covered in high dunes and spreading sands.

  “Infrared?” asked West.

  “Getting it up now,” said Madison. The aerial view changed to essentially a black and white image but with pulsing points that popped up on the map.

  “Well, something is definitely using energy but how it is generated isn’t immediately clear,” said Madison.

  “Let’s see if the image shifts as we fly over,” said West. “I want to see if the pattern continues.”

  As the Paradig passed overhead the scanning indicated that there were many energy points that were being used but West couldn’t see any pattern that made sense to him.

  “Continue to scan and map the energy readings and see if it forms any patterns. If my hunch is correct, we’ll see a convergence on one location and, if we’re lucky, that place might be where our weapon is,” said West.

  Madison looked up at him surprised that he would say this without any preamble or explanation but then again, he had searched alien worlds before and she assumed his experience was coming into play.

  Madison continued to punch in different queries and she started to see what might be a pattern of energy pulses. She made some slight changes to the parameters of the questions and one area started to look like it might be central to the energy usage. She overlaid the graphic that the computer was generating on the aerial view and was satisfied that something was happening there.

  West left without a word and Madison assumed he was returning to the bridge. She returned to the aerial scanning and watched as the world moved below her. The planet looked bleak and slightly menacing as if the dark red colors of the vast deserts promised a stark existence. She wondered what types of life forms existed, hidden in those endless canyons and dark recesses, and would they look up right now and see her looking down. She pushed back from her desk suddenly depressed at her thoughts. She felt responsible for Thomas’s capture and was terrified that he would be harmed by the obviously vicious creatures that had taken him. She started to work on trying to identify the energy signature of the alien ship that had taken Thomas. She tapped her pencil on the desk top and realized that she would have to enhance their energy detection to pick up the intermittent patterns that characterized the alien vessel when it was cloaked. The energy they detected was powerful and she theorized that the pulsing represented an insufficient power source or an overloaded one. That might just mean that the cloaking could not be maintained for long periods of time and as such the down time would represent an opportunity to detect the ship. Since there was transient power in play as galactic static, detection would be difficult, but Madison thought that having recorded the alien ship’s unique signature, it would only be a process of fine tuning their sensors to identify the source. Madison thought the aliens probably had better sensors to detect other ships or relied on the galactic static to cover them while they initiated cloaking. To detect the aliens, she would have to extend the sensor range beyond what was being currently used which would create a host of other issues that would have to be resolved. She started to list them by complexity. After several hours, she found herself asleep at her desk, an
d decided that it was time for bed. As she walked back to her quarters, Madison worried that any delays might harm their chances of freeing Thomas and she continued to fret about Thomas’ fate.

  Theo stood behind the pilot seat, the actual working of the ship in the capable hands of the Second Pilot, Anna. He leaned back, his arms crossed, in deep thought. Thinking of Thomas who was lost somewhere and probably dead. Although, no one had taped the monster that had grabbed Thomas in the monitor, West and Madison were certain it was either one of the creatures who had stolen the disc or a close relative. West had described them as semi-intelligent and feral like. Theo reasoned that space flight development much less operating a ship was out of the question for them, although Madison seemed to think at least one of them had operated a plasma beam cannon, and rather effectively too, indicating either that some were capable of higher thought or that the machines were easy to use. The description of the creatures made Theo’s hair stand on end. Dickens had been particularly descriptive of them and was sure that the creature had meant to eat him. Theo decided that sleeping wouldn’t be a good idea right now and watched the planet pass below.

  West sat on his bunk, running his hands through his hair. He looked at the blank door in front of him. He was supremely tired and kept thinking about what he could have done about Thomas. For god’s sake Thomas was no more than 20 years old and now he was either dead or was wishing he were. West stood suddenly as if the nervous energy flowing through him demanded some release. He started to pace, striving to put the dark thoughts out of his mind. This journey could go anywhere and how many more of his friends and crew might die? He realized that these thoughts were going to drive him crazy and he walked down to the observation station under the bridge where you could look out and see a vast panorama of stars. The room had turned into an unofficial place where you could be alone with your thoughts and seek solace through introspection. West entered the room and took a seat near the window and looked out at the reddish glow created by tremendous storms on the surface below. In the conflict of day and gathering darkness, West watched the maelstrom of weather in a wicked brew of elements. The swirling sands, dark and brooding, rising miles above the ground, spreading dunes, lifting rocks and boulders and then sweeping them away as in one mighty stroke, the devastation swift and almost homicidal with violence. In light of recent events, West started to think that the weather was going to be the least of his problems in the coming days.

  The Commissar walked up to Dragaan on the bridge and stood silently. “You have something to say?” asked Dragaan.

  “The Terran ship is at Jo-Tene and in orbit and our fleet of five ships does nothing.”

  “I’m aware of what and where it is,” said Dragaan, putting down his hand monitor and looking at the man in front of him. Dragaan detested the political commissars that plagued all the star craft and in fact each and every part of their society, like parasites.

  Each time this pestilence talked to him he felt like crushing the life out of him. Unfortunately, there were always several aboard the craft and most were anonymous so they couldn’t be annihilated with impunity.

  “Are you going to allow them to seize the weapon and run to their masters on Terra without lifting a hand,” asked the man, his lip curling back in a sneer.

  “I’m perfectly confident that we’ll be able to monitor them with our spy and capture them when the weapon is found,” said Dragaan.

  “I don’t share your confidence that your spy is so able. He failed to secure the disc when it was critical and what makes you think he won’t fail again?” The Commissar started to pace the room and then said, “I will communicate my lack of confidence in your authority if you don’t take some direct action that will prevent them from leaving with the weapon,” said the man.

  Dragaan stood silent compelling his fists to not strike the creature. He regained his composure and then settled on a strategy. “Weapons officer!” said Dragaan.

  A young man, smartly dressed, stood at a bridge station, and walked over to the pair and said, “At your order, Commander.”

  “Order a Cruiser into Jo-Tene orbit and have it use a fighter pair to attack the earth scout ship. They are under orders to cripple it but not destroy it. You understand?” said Dragaan.

  “Aye commander,” said the officer who then returned to his station and issued the order.

  “Will that be sufficient Commissar?” asked Dragaan in a voice that bordered on mocking.

  The commissar stood silent and then turned and walked off the bridge into his quarters in the back of the bridge. Dragaan watched him go.

  The ship moved over the bleak desert landscape, the light falling in and out of canyons as the ship transited the morning sky. West zoomed in on one part that was filled with a lush green zone along a narrow strip that must have a small river in it winding its way along the same path they were following. He watched it as they followed and was tempted to have the ship slow so that he could spend more time watching it. His reverie was suddenly stopped when the battle station klaxon wailed.

  “Enemy ships, small fighters, arming and approaching from behind. They appear to be making an attack run on us,” said the sensor officer.

  “Evasive movement,” ordered West his voice raised over the alarm.

  Theo slewed his controls far to the right and then up and back with the ship in harsh acceleration as the crew stumbled about the bridge with the gyrations of the craft.

  “They’re firing,” said the Sensor Officer, “Misses on the port side.”

  “Get us out of here Pilot,” yelled West looking through the stern view monitor that showed scarlet beams of light shooting around them as the Paradig weaved in and out of their path. Then the beams stopped and three small bullet shapes zipped out of the pursuing vessels and with streamers trailing after them, they followed, and then started to catch up with the Paradig.

  “Missiles on the stern,” yelled West, his hand reaching for the ship intercom, “Brace for impact.”

  The Paradig shifted suddenly going straight up and small missiles flew out of the back of the ship heading for the oncoming torpedoes, two of which changed course following the decoys but the last missile did not vary and came on unerringly as if it were not willing to be fooled.

  The ship jerked violently as the missile exploded a couple of hundred yards to the stern. Damage control sirens and automated systems came onto the status board providing instant status information on key components.

  West turned them off and called to Theo, “Damage assessment. How’s she doing Pilot?”

  There was silence as Theo wrestled with the controls and then he said, “We’ve got problems.”

  West turned to the forward monitor and watched the green strip of ground rise up to greet him. He looked ruefully at the monitor, and wished he hadn’t wanted to see it this bad.

  “Rig for crash,” yelled West to the floating intercom above his head.

  “Sensor Officer, status of enemy?” said West.

  “They’ve broken off and smoke is trailing after one of them; they must have taken damage somehow,” said the officer.

  “Theo?” asked West.

  “I’ve got control, or most of it anyway, but we’ll need repairs somewhere and soon.”

  “But where?” said West.

  A person came up to his side and West looked up to see Madison and he smiled. She looked down at him and grimly smiled back.

  “I think I have a place to land,” said Madison bending over Dickens’s shoulder and pointing to one of the navigation monitors. Theo and West both looked to her as she fed coordinates to Dickens.

  Theo was looking at the coordinates that Dickens was feeding into the navigation computer. Zooming in he, whistled softly to himself. “Okay, now that place looks interesting,” said Theo as he turned the ship slightly and was trying to level it out. West came over and stood behind him and looked at the view screen.

  “Are we going to have any problems reaching it?” asked W
est.

  “No, I’ve tasked some of the aft thrusters to give us some extra lift and that should be enough to get us there.”

  “What is this place you’re sending us to, Madison?” asked West.

  “When I worked on the transient power sources I started to see that different energy levels were occurring at different locations and as we got closer to this one point, it became evident that it was drawing power from outlying areas on the grid and that’s where we’re going. When I overlaid the power points on the aerial views it was evident that there was a vast city at the nexus, some of which is covered with sand dunes.”

  “So, we’re going to a city that still uses power?” asked Theo.

  “Yes, but that’s not the full story from the look of the city configuration, it looks like it might be a spaceport,” said Madison.

  Everyone turned to look at the view screen that showed a vast city of white buildings and broad streets, some of which were in ruins, and some of which were covered in mounds of encroaching sand.

  “As close as you can, Pilot,” said West.

  “Aye, Captain,” said, Theo, and the Paradig started to glide into the center of a huge plaza surrounded by tall spires of a reddish stone. In the adjoining streets was a vast complex of tall white buildings and a single red building with what appeared to be battle damage, surrounded by wide avenues of stone pavement.

  The ship hovered, jerked a bit at the unevenness of the powering as Theo wrestled it into a flat area that appeared to be some type of public square. The landing gear came down and the ship continued to hover as Theo fought for control.