“You’ve never ventured outside?”
“We have no need.” Wimund took a sip from his cup and continued. “But we believe the gradient was formed during the early expansion of the universe, a discontinuity that resulted in a more disordered eddy. As a result, we are in the future relative to the outside. Our physicists postulate that elsewhere in the universe a companion to our ‘bubble,’ as you call it, exists where the entropy is much less ordered. The time inside that bubble, according to our learned scholars, remains in the past relative to the universe you know.”
“Incredible, but it makes sense.” Scott’s eyes widened with sudden insight. “That’s how the overall entropy balances. The total of entropy in the two systems matches the entropy of the universe.”
“Quite right.” Proconsul continued. “The mirror system of lesser entropy contains the past. It eventually drifted away from the gradient we live in as the universe expanded. And yes, no doubt the sum entropy of both systems matches the entropy of the universe overall.”
“You still have the craft to carry you into space, I presume,” Scott said in an attempt to gain some knowledge of Niobian technical skills. “Since your ancestors traveled through space to get here, I would think you still have at least that technology.”
“We do, although we pay little attention to it. When our ancestors arrived on this planet, they devoted most of their effort to understanding this planet and its surroundings. We simply continued their persuits. Our space travel needs are minimal, and we’ve no need to travel outside the gradient. You’ll find our technology in this area quite primitive compared to yours.”
“Perhaps we can help you advance your space travel capability.” Scott tested the proconsul’s willingness to share scientific knowledge and to find common ground.
Proconsul walked back and stared out the window but said nothing.
Scott pressed. “I have but one question for you: Does the name Prometheus mean anything to you?”
For an instant, he noticed a nervous slip in the proconsul’s countenance.
The Proconsul put his back to the window and studied him for a long moment. “Regrettably, Captain, the time for that discussion is not yet at hand.”
Earth
~~~
Commander Schwartz sat at his desk and put his palm on the secure link screen. It processed the biometric activity of his nervous system and opened the direct line to Admiral Camus.
“Yes, Schwartz, what is it?”
“Sir, I have a message regarding Pegasus. I thought you’d like to know.”
Camus’ drumming fingers echoed across the comm link. “Meet me at my office in thirty minutes. I’m on my way back from a secret session with the Senate Committee for Defense. I fought those space brains for hours, and still they wouldn’t assign me authority over Exploration Command.” Camus closed the link.
The line echoed with the abruptness of a hammer blow.
Schwartz stepped through the door of the waiting area outside Camus’ office just as Camus strode in. “The meeting with the Senate Committee for Defense didn’t go well, Admiral?” From the admiral’s red face and unpleasant demeanor, it clearly hadn’t.
“Don’t bother me with nonsense. What’s this message you spoke of? Is it the news we’ve been expecting? I could use some good news after the grueling session with the committee.”
“This may well be what you want, Admiral.” Schwartz pulled up the message on the briefing screen.
FROM: KASIMIR
TO: DIVISION 788
~~~
CONTACT MADE WITH THEMIS DESCENDENTS ON NEWLY DISCOVERED PLANET. PLANET, NIOBE, PROTECTED BY TIME BARRIER. DRUMOND NOW PLANETSIDE. KASIMIR.
“Refresh my memory. Who is Kasimir?” Camus frowned and stared Schwartz in the eye. “And this reference to a time barrier? What’s that all about?”
“Kasimir is the codename for the agent we placed on the Pegasus before it left on its mission to the Hyades Cluster. We have no idea what a time barrier is. I have our staff scientists researching it now.”
“And that’s all the message contains?
“Yes sir. It seems Drumond is on the surface of a planet meeting with the likely descendants of the Themis.”
“Don’t bother me with the obvious. Did this message arrive through Defense Command ECCO?”
“No, Admiral, it came through ECCO Central. Kasimir has no way of sending messages through Defense Command ECCO. All messages from Pegasus go through Central. When he wants to send us something, he includes the Division 788 header. Another of our covert agents here on Earth works in ECCO central. He checks all messages for Division 788, a division that doesn’t actually exist.”
Schwartz paused and studied the admiral’s expression to make sure he followed the explanation. “If our agent finds the header, he sends us a copy of the message, and he destroys the original. He then alters the ECCO Central logs in a way that neither Central nor Exploration Command is aware that the message was received from Pegasus.”
“Schwartz, keep on this time barrier thing. If it has a military application, I want to know about it.”
Camus rose from his chair, walked around and sat on the front edge of his desk facing Schwartz. “A barrier that can shield an entire planet would be invaluable to the Panhelion. We don’t want such a thing in the hands of hostile extraterrestrials.”
Camus reflected on the consequences. A new, unknown technology that could protect an entire planetary system in the hands of a hostile alien race could pose a serious problem. Now Drumond, the very person he distrusted most, was meeting with the people who appeared to have it. Presumably, they were humans descended from the Themis, but the thought didn’t alleviate his concern.
“Schwartz, send a message to Kasimir. I want to know more about this barrier and how Pegasus got through it.”
“Kasimir can transmit to us via Central, but the reverse isn’t possible, not without exposing our agent. But Kasimir will likely anticipate our questions anyway and eventually tell us how Pegasus got through.”
“Damn, you mean we have to leave this to chance?” He slapped his swagger stick on his boot and rotated his chair. He had one simple focus, to show that Delmar had endangered the Panhelion and then to convince the committee to give him command of all the Panhelion military forces. Only then could he be certain that he could defeat an alien threat.
“Yes, sir, but we’ve intercepted another message from Pegasus as well.” Schwartz held out his e-projector. “It’s for Admiral Delmar at Exploration Command. Our agent at Central sent us a copy.”
“What’s this, Schwartz?” He pointed at the jumble of alphanumerics filling the display.
“I’ve no idea, Admiral.” Schwartz shrugged as Camus studied the jumble of symbols that followed the plain text header directing the message to Delmar. “It makes no sense.”
“I can see that. What I want to know is what the hell these symbols are and what they mean.”
“It seems to be a private code,” Schwartz surmised. “I’ve already asked our cryptography people to decipher it, but it’s quite sophisticated. So far, they’ve had no luck. Drumond probably found something he doesn’t want us to know about, and he transmitted it to Admiral Delmar in code.”
“Drumond is onto us,” Camus mumbled under his breath. The capillaries in his nose flared into a web of crimson lines. “If not there’d be no need for a coded message. Something has gone wrong.”
“Sir, we can’t tell Admiral Delmar that we have either of these two messages without exposing our agent in ECCO.” Schwartz rocked from one foot to the other.
“Agreed. How soon will Aurora make her transition out of warp-space?”
“In another two months at most, she’ll transition to subluminal near the anomaly. What orders shall we send her?” Schwartz leaned forward, anticipating Camus’ response.
“Send them the information on this time barrier thing. Tell them I want to know more about it. How much of a barrier is it?”
/>
“Is that all?”
Camus thought for a moment before he answered. “Tell them when they reach this barrier to test their weapons on it. I want to know if they can blast their way through.”
“They’ll be low on quantum fuel when they reach the anomaly, and that means Aurora would be out of service for an extended time. Can we spare her?”
“Send a refueling ship to meet them at the anomaly. If it leaves immediately, it can be there in six months. We can spare Aurora for a while, and the re-fueler can take its time getting back. What support do we have available?”
“Sir, that would be the Beluga. She’s our fastest,” said Schwartz.
“See to it.”
Two miles away in Exploration Command Headquarters, Admiral Delmar poured over the message traffic from his scout ships when ECCO Center called to inform him that a message had arrived from Pegasus. He paused for a moment to calm his pulse rate and hit the call icon for Commander Eisler.
“Eisler? Admiral Delmar here. ECCO says they’ve received another message from Pegasus. Get over here right away. Meet me in the briefing room in twenty minutes.”
“I’m on my way,” Eisler said. The tone of his voice betrayed his excitement.
Twenty minutes later, Eisler met Delmar in the briefing room and saluted the admiral.
“Sit down, Eisler, and let’s get to the message.”
Eisler pulled up the file and they both starred at the jumble of random alphanumerics.
Delmar’s frown morphed into a smile. He immediately recognized the encryption technique. Drumond had double encrypted the message with a technique known only to him and Drumond. He sequenced the file into his private decryption program.
Stunned, he read over the decoded text and broke out in a light sweat. Drumond reported ECCO log errors and an unreadable file in the Pegasus’ computer memory. He put the decoded text on the doc-projector where he and Eisler could view the clear text.
He turned from the words and glared at Eisler. “Christ, if ECCO on board Pegasus has been compromised there’ll be hell to pay. Camus will have it in front of the Senate and argue all Panhelion space activities be placed under his command. Drumond better get to the bottom of this, and soon, if both our hides are to be saved.” He sat back and chewed on his lip, then rotated his chair toward the window overlooking the space port, where departing shuttles awaited clearance and where arriving shuttles maneuvered into their docking bays. This turn of events courted disaster.
Eisler’s implant buzzed. He turned his head away for a moment and refocused his attention on Delmar. “Admiral, ECCO just sent over a second message from Pegasus.” Eisler displayed the message with his own doc-projector. A longer, clear text message from Drumond rolled across the projection. Eisler read the text, stabbing his finger at the display and blurted in amazement, “They’ve found the Themis survivors. They’re living on an undiscovered planet. The report gives the details.”
Delmar’s jaw dropped for a brief moment. “Hold on, Eisler. Those can’t be survivors from the Themis. They’d have died years ago. These must be their descendants.” He put his finger on the projection. “See here, Drumond reports some of his crew attended a dinner, a social event. They’ve landed in a damn resort. Feasts? Next they’ll be getting massages from the natives. If Camus learns of this he will have a field day turning the screws on us.”
“Eisler, get a copy of this second message to Admiral Camus. I don’t want him to think we withheld it from him. However, don’t mention the coded message or the possible compromise of the ECCO system.”
Three hours later, Camus burst through Delmar’s door followed by Schwartz. “You all know Commander Schwartz, my special liaison operations officer for the Hyades operation.”
Delmar and Eisler nodded in silence.
“I read the message your boys gave me, Jestin.” Camus sneered. He wasn’t about to reveal that he had read a copy an hour before Delmar had received his official copy. “What’s this about Drumond having some sort of bacchanal on a planet in the far reaches of the Hyades Cluster? I told you he was a loose cannon.” He jerked a chair back from the table and sat down with feigned indignation.
“Hold on a minute, Andre.” Delmar put his hands palms down on the table. “That’s not fair. Drumond followed all procedures in every respect. He completed the protocol for intelligent alien contact even after he discovered that the inhabitants were human. Calm down so we can discuss the situation rationally.”
“All right, what I want to know is why the Niobians attempted to hold Drumond and two of his crew hostage on the planet’s surface.” Camus attributed the warmth in his face to his rising blood pressure. “If that’s the case, I will order Defense Command ships to take the necessary steps to thwart any hostile action from these Niobians.”
“Andre, you’re overreacting. We have no indication of hostile intent. We don’t even know what military capabilities they have. Drumond is still assessing their technology. The problem you’re referring to was simply a case of some sort of interference with their interceiver unit. The Niobians resolved the problem.”
“You can’t deny that they were unable to leave the planet’s surface until the Niobians, or whatever you call them, stepped in and removed the interference. In my mind, that’s not a friendly gesture. Had they wanted to hold them, Drumond and his crew would have been stranded until... well, just until.” The frown on Delmar’s face told Camus his rival wasn’t buying the argument.
“Drumond has assurances from the Chancellor of Niobe that it won’t happen again.”
Camus snorted in haughty disgust, making it clear he didn’t buy Delmar’s reassurance. “Yes, but a little late. A competent captain anticipates things like this. I’ve ordered my staff to revise procedures and training to cover this type of situation.”
“That’s your prerogative, Andre, but to make my position clear, I agree with you. Now, can we get on to more important matters? We need to advise Drumond on his next actions.”
Schwartz shifted his gaze from Camus to Delmar. “Sir, if I may, we need a great deal more information about the Niobians from Captain Drumond.”
Delmar rested his clasped hands on the desk. “I agree, but Drumond must also establish some sort of diplomatic rapport with them.”
“Drumond?” Camus scoffed. “Jestin, you know what I think about him. He has no training as a diplomat, and before we have serious discussions with the Niobians, as Schwartz points out, we must know a great deal more about them.” He sat up and spoke in an emphatic, clear tone. “We must brief the Panhelion Committee for Interstellar matters.”
Delmar stared him in the eye. “I’ve already requested permission to speak at their scheduled session next week. I presume, Andre, you also will attend. We can brief them together if that suits you.”
“Damn right, it suits me. It falls directly in my sphere of responsibility,” he groused. “If you’re quite done, I have work to attend to. I’ll see you at the Senate meeting, Jestin.” Camus and Schwartz marched out of the room.
Delmar lifted his hand. “Eisler, stay for a moment. I’d like to get your opinion on something. Did you sense anything odd about Camus?”
“Not sure what you mean, Admiral,” Eisler said, his brows pinched in tight furrow. “As far as I could tell, he acted in his typical, obnoxious character.”
“Just a hunch, but underneath the bluster his demeanor came across as too calm. If I’m any judge, he’s up to something. Whatever it is, it’s not in our best interest.”
Eisler tilted his head and shrugged. “Could be, if Drumond slips up, even a little, Camus will grind him into nanodust and spread him all over deep space.”
Delmar rubbed his forehead. “I know. If the Niobians don’t kill him first. Either way it would be a catastrophe. But if we’re successful, the Senate could swing our way. This is a win big or lose big proposition.”
“Yes, Admiral, especially for Drumond,” Eisler muttered.
Niobe
“The Niobians gave us the use of this larger room for our operations center,” Scott announced to his assembled crew. He glanced around the windowless room appointed with comfortable chairs and two tables. He wasn’t the type to spend time in an office. The command deck of a heavy cruiser suited him far better, and his role as an unofficial diplomat to Niobe annoyed him.
Anton worked at a table installing modules on the interceiver in order to mate it to Niobian power. “It’s working now,” he shouted from across the room. “With a solid power source, we can control the ship’s systems and onboard computers.”
“Skipper, how much longer will we be on this planet?” Marie leaned back, stretching her arms. Her impatient frown and the irritation in her voice reflected her sullen mood. “We’ve carried out our orders and found the Niobians, now what?”
Scott shook his head. “Depends. I’ve asked Command the same question. Now we wait for a reply. In the meantime, you and Klaas ask the Niobians for a glide-car. Can you operate it?”
Klaas leaned his elbows on the table. “Sure. They’re voice controlled. The thing’s so simple a monkey could operate one.”
“That means Klaas gets to drive,” Marie quipped.
Scott grinned. “Fine, get one and scout the local area.” He didn’t want his crew sitting around.
Klaas acknowledged with a nod as he and Marie started for the portal. As he passed Scott, he cast a sullen look at his captain. “Are we looking for anything in particular?”
“Not that I can say, but the ancestors of the Niobians worked on a project Prometheus.” Scott stroked his chin. “I want to know what that project was.”
Anton rotated in his chair to face the group and lifted his head. “The Hegemon made their first attack on the Prometheus researchers.”
Klaas leveled a frown at the Sub Lieutenant. “We’ve been over that, but it doesn’t tell us anything.”
Scott glanced at Klaas and sat back. “Go explore a bit. See if they have any technology that links to a weapon.”
Shroud of Eden (Panhelion Chronicles Book 1) Page 13