Starship: First Steps to Empire

by R J Murray

  “That makes no sense at all. You will explain, yes?” Juan asked.

  “Yeah, that one is a little vague.” Lee agreed.

  “I had a leak and needed to replace my air. While I was there, I refilled my water tanks, but not because I needed any. It was because I like taking long hot showers. When I started replacing my water for my hot showers at every stop, every ice belt, I washed the drugs out of my system. The drugs gone, I could think and I started even then to collect data on a subconscious level, of this unbelievable string of accidental miracles. If I took short showers, we would be in the control of the Otstrand by now, yet another slave society, drugged to the hilt and obedient unto death. The Otstrand would then possibly return, and we replace the former slaves, the Beaks and Catroph.”

  “What did she find? You didn’t say what Martha found”

  “Wait, the Catroph and the Beaks were slaves of the Otstrand?”

  Lee and Horace both spoke at once.

  “Yes, they were slaves. They revolted ten thousand years ago and this war started. Martha found that they all shared a common ancestor. A very short time ago, as far as the universe is concerned, they were one species. Something happened on their world, several hundred thousand years ago or a million, who knows. It was bad, catastrophic. The die off was significant, but it left several openings for an up and coming organism. That organism was the ancestor of all three races. In addition, they all need that nautilus thing to get certain enzymes into their diet. Without it, they can’t reproduce so it goes to every planet they can inhabit. Without it, they do not even try to land and plant a colony.’

  “That means they were controlled like we were on Earth. How did you come up with the common ancestor?” Lee asked.

  “Martha and her team did that. They had enough corpses to run tests on them and compare the data with the med records of the Otstrand. They have biologist, and anthropologist and ten other gists on the team so I took it from them and I believe it. It makes sense. It was the same with the nautilus critter and the enzymes. The evidence is in the corpses.” Eric said.

  “So the Beaks and Catroph worked together. Why did the Beaks leave the Catroph behind?”

  “The Catroph were slaves to the Beaks. The Beaks are more machine oriented and a bit smarter in a sense. The Catroph had a chip in their skulls and were controlled by the Beaks. Eventually I think the Beaks just didn’t need the Catroph so they dumped them, took the nanobot factories from the ships they left behind and moved out toward the outer arm. Now here is the interesting thing. The history in the computers on Latonia shows that the Otstrand had FTL for fifteen thousand years.”

  “Wow. No wonder they are so far ahead of us.” Horace said.

  “Well yes and no. Until the revolt, they were no better than our ships at the beginning of our journey out here. Until the revolt they didn’t need anything better. Once the Beaks started building weapons and bigger ships to carry them, the Otstrand began a weapons race to be the biggest and best. Three thousand years ago, they succeeded and the Catroph went back down the arm to hide and the Beaks went out the arm to escape. Two thousand years ago this war was over.” Eric paused and let the two think about this new information for a time.

  “Then why . . .” Lee stopped to think some more.

  “Yeah. Why did they leave? Why are we fighting now?” Horace asked.

  “Mistakes, accidents, automated machinery and misunderstandings. They shot first, at the base right? Was it manned by anything living?”

  “Well, no. The machines were still running because of the nanobots.” Lee answered.

  “How many bases were still operating that were not occupied by the living Catroph? We found thirty unoccupied bases so far.”

  “Just that first one. Uh-oh. The Otstrand?” Lee asked.

  “Yeah, the Otstrand. They set us up. Why so many prime planets empty? Why didn’t they stay here on Acadia after the war was over? How could nanobots survive that long without and energy source or a working factory to make more? And the last one. Why do none of the active Catroph ships or bases have nanobots?” Eric asked.

  “Just tell us. I’m tired of guessing wrong.” Horace said.

  “Biological warfare. The atmosphere contains a few bacteria that make the enzymes in the nautilus into a sterilizing agent. We are not affected, don’t worry. But the Otstrand found that they had no colony worlds left in the section and the Catroph and Beaks did. But the Beaks had the bio weapons and could hit any planet the Otstrand were on. They left to find some prime real estate and keep growing without slaves other than their own kind. That was in a file on Latonia so I did not have to figure it out, this time. There is a massive amount of data on that computer I’m sure they would rather we did not have. Which is another reason why I think we won the war on the computers at least.

  “Nanobots can’t survive without intelligent beings keeping them going. The nanobots are all Otstrand, not Catroph or Beak, including the ones we ran into that killed our men. The Otstrand used them to kill, not the Catroph so the Catroph dumped the factories and left them out of all ships and bases. It was suicide if they left them aboard any ship, base or planet. That is the third reason I think we won the computers, because we are not being eaten alive.”

  “I can’t think of any words strong enough. Just pure evil. So why would they want to restart the war?” Horace asked.

  “Beats me. I have no data to support any reason. The computers on Latonia had most of what I’ve shown you and told you except why they want to fight now? One more thing. They came back to set this up. No, that’s not right. I believe they came back to set this up based on what they did on Earth, but I can’t prove it. I don’t think they went to another galaxy. I think they jumped a few thousand light years away and started over. One reason I believe this is because Martha pointed out to me that the government of Earth is the same setup as the government of the Otstrand. The same tiers and civil servants, the same levels and the same slave level. They are the enemy, the ones we need to fear, not the Beaks and the Catroph. They set up the Earth as a copy of themselves and engineered this whole event. That is why our ships are identical, why they are arranged the same way and our technology is the same as theirs. It is their technology, their oldest technology.”

  Chapter 23 The Neighbors

  “Talk? Are you nuts?” Hobbs asked.

  Juan smirked and nodded. “I think so. All of us are perhaps or we would not be here.”

  “Maybe a little.” Eric agreed. “Who wouldn’t be by now. It can’t hurt to try and if we shoot now then we are the ones starting a war. We keep making the smart probes just in case but if I can convince these Beaks that we are not the enemy, that the Otstrand are trying to start something, then maybe we can avoid a war. They can’t use these planets anyway and we can. The bio stuff affects them as much as the Otstrand or the Catroph.”

  “How do you talk to them anyway? They are birds more or less. Do they speak parrot?” Hobbs asked.

  “We speak their language. We figured that out a long time ago, both Beak and Catroph. Catroph is easier due to the fact that they have similar vocal organs. The Beaks require a computer to translate between us.” Martha answered. “Which is why I am here. New words may be used or may have evolved over the last few thousand years and I may need to add some input to the program.”

  “Why can’t Betty figure it out on her own. She did last time.” Eric asked.

  “She got a start on basic language. I fine tuned it and added another thirty percent to the files later on. It takes a human to grasp some of the fine details in a language, intuition. You should know that by now, the way you flit through programs so fast.” Martha answered.

  “Flit? Fast? What do you mean?” Eric asked.

  “You really don’t know, do you? It’s like this . . .”

  “Approaching location. Ships detected breaking orbit and moving in our direction.”

  “Later sweetheart. Betty, begin transmissions.” Martha ordered. />
  “Affirmative.”

  Sounds came from the com, nothing a human could utter but the Beaks slowed down and finally stopped at the ice belt.

  “Hold position here.” Eric ordered.

  “They have agreed to listen. They armed all weapons systems however.” Betty said.

  “Your turn.” Martha nudged Eric in the ribs. She wore a headphone and listened to the native language as the computer translated.

  “I am Eric Maddwell of The Empire. We are not your enemies. The Otstrand are trying to restart a war that ended two thousand years ago and we don’t know why. We wish to live in peace with you. Please respond.”

  There was silence for several seconds before a flat emotionless voice came from the computer.

  “How can we trust you? You have destroyed our ‘unknown word’ members. You fly Otstrand ships and use their weapons. You live on their colony worlds. Explain these things and we will listen.”

  “We were fired on and we defended ourselves. Perhaps we entered your territory and that was why your people fired, but we did not know. If we wish to fight, why would we arrive here with only one ship?”

  “We do not know the answer.”

  Martha giggled. “Not an exact translation. They have bad words in their language too.”

  “We live on worlds that meet our needs, just as you do. These worlds were empty due to your success in driving the Otstrand away. They are perfect for Humans. We are Humans, by the way. We found a ship drifting. We took it and one way or another found more. What we did not know at the time was that the Otstrand were using us, planting technology where we could find it and tricking us into fighting the Catroph. We no longer fight them and we do not wish to fight you.”

  “The Catroph are nothing. Kill them if you wish. We have no need of their ‘unknown word’. Our ‘unknown word’ controls this arm of the galaxy beyond this point. We will keep what is ours.”

  “We agree to you keeping what is yours and we wish to keep that which you cannot use. Those worlds you have contaminated with the virus. Our people will use them and the Otstrand will not return. Together we can keep them at bay.” Eric said.

  “We are not together. Trust is required and we have none. We will watch. Remain out of our ‘unknown word’ territory and we shall have peace. Enter and we will kill you or die in the effort.”

  “We must know where your territory begins. We do not ask for locations of worlds just where it starts. We must have a line in space that says do not cross for both our people.” Eric said, getting frustrated.

  “If I may.” Juan stepped up to the com.

  “I am Juan Abdullah Huang, Governor of the Humans living on Acadia. I believe you also would wish peace between us. I ask if you would place buoys, satellites along your border. We will place the same along our border and each of us promises not to cross into the space between without permission or to repair a satellite. Is this possible?”

  “You are not of the ‘unknown word’ aboard the ships?”

  “Clan! It means clan or group.” Martha almost shouted. “Wahoo!”

  “Nice. You get points for that.” Eric said.

  “That is correct. We are divided into clans. Star systems hold one clan each. The ships are a different clan called the Empire. The Empire protects the system clans and the system clans give support to the Empire. Our clan is called Acadia.” Juan answered.

  “We are similar in that respect. Each star system has one clan but some clans have more than one system. We hold many and we each have many ships. You are not Otstrand. They ‘unknown word’ upon the clans and believe the Otstrand way is superior. We will place these buoys across our border and do as you have suggested. Do not cross without permission or a need to repair. The space between belongs to both and neither. We will go home now and begin to build these buoys. You will do the same.”

  “We agree. We are leaving now and after you begin to place buoys, we will match them. You were here first, after all.” Juan said.

  “You will allow this?” Even the monotone computer voice sounded surprised.

  “Consider it an act of trust from our clans to yours.” Eric answered. “We must begin somewhere.”

  There was no response for almost ten minutes and the crew began to get fidgety.

  The com came alive once more. “We are shamed before you. We thought to take more and force your hand to test you. We will be ‘unknown word’.”

  “The word is ‘honorable’.” Eric said.

  ~~~~~~

  The ships orbited Acadia and the conference coms were busy.

  “So we have an understanding at least. What do we do with the Catroph?” Juan asked.

  “What we started to do before Hazer and his gang arrived. We study them. Get the teams back on the Pur Dank and learn about them. I’ll bet they have clans too.” Eric answered. “What does Pur Dank mean?”

  “Damnation. Seems the Otstrand liked to give really nasty names to the ships.” Martha answered. “Steve’s ship is Slaughterhouse.”

  “We had a suggestion for you.” Martha continued.

  “We?”

  “Yes. The science department. We need to be attached to the Empire. The Survey can be part of our department as well as part of the Constabulary. They need skills in both areas. Because of this, you need a ship, Admiral or not. You need a big special ship. I’ve been chatting with Betty on Latonia about the needs and they have something in the files that would work. I already told them to begin work on it.”

  “I see. May I at least see the plans?”

  “Maybe. You come down here and have a nice dinner with me and then we can go over the plans for your new flagship.”

  “Deal.” Eric laughed. “Never has blackmail been so sweet.”

  ~~~~~~

  “Nice selection.” Eric said slicing off a piece of nautilus. “The ale is good too.”

  “It’s not the dark stuff but I thought it needed to be a lighter taste with seafood.” Martha said. “I’m glad you like it. Everything we make here has a slightly different taste than Earth, don’t you think?”

  “Yes. I have said before that I prefer Acadian to Earth products mostly. Could be that fox and grape thing though.”

  “Explain?”

  “The fox wants the grapes but he can’t reach them. After a time he gives up and says, ‘they were probably sour anyway’.” Eric said.

  “So since we can’t get Earth foods, ours are better.” Martha said. “That makes sense. You’re good at that too.”

  “Too?”

  “Programming. Remember?” Martha grinned.

  “You never did explain that one.” Eric reminded her.

  “The programs you wrote for the tapeworm were far in advance of anything I have ever seen. Most of the things you did to Betty on the trip out were the same way. For a time I was worried that the Otstrand had done something to you, but the timing was wrong. You were doing it well before you reached the Astangii. You are not an average person.”

  “Of course not. I am a mad space dog who breaths vacuum and spits out stars.” Eric laughed.

  “That is another difference.” Martha said.

  “It was a joke. Hu-Mor.”

  “No, not that. You like space. The size, the distance between the stars. You even like the vacuum. Normal Humans fear space. It scares me every time you go out and even more when I am out there.” Martha said.

  “Really? You’re afraid of it. Why do you go?” Eric asked.

  “Humans can be trained to do things. We can overcome fear, trials and tribulations and almost anything, given time. You were like that from the first moment. All of you spacemen are that way. The Empire is in space and that seems appropriate since you are all adapted so well. Have you ever stepped out into space. Outside your ship?”

  “Yes, many times. Refilling at the ice belts, when I found the first ship. Other times for repairs.” Eric said.

  “Were you afraid, ever, any of those times?”

  “Not th
at I can remember. It was pretty, the Milky Way spread out in front of me, behind me, above me. Did I mention behind me yet?” Eric grinned. “I liked it, the feeling of absolute and total freedom.”

  “Freedom. There was nothing for millions of kilometers, you had nothing to hold or a place to put your feet and it was freedom. Do you really consider that normal?” Martha asked.

  “You don’t? Really? I guess it’s not then. I never heard any of the crew on any of the ships say it was scary.” Eric was surprised by her words. He had never truly felt fear during his time outside the ship in space. At launch, waiting to see if the engines were going to blow up and his first time standing in the airlock, wondering about his suit, those times he felt fear. Once he stepped out, once he saw the unending expanse and the beauty, he was fine.

  “Spacers are all like you. It’s fine with them to stand on a billion kilometers of nothing. There are a few of us who like dirt to stand on.” Martha said with a smile. “Although, if you were not you then I would have picked someone else.”

  “I see. So I’m just strange enough. Nice to know.”

  “Want to see the ship we are building as headquarters for the fleet?”

  “Sure. That was the deal, yes?”

  It was not quite what Eric had expected.

  “Well, it is big enough for a headquarters. Are you planning on hollowing out a moon or are you just going to build a planet?”

  “Yes. No, not a planet. A very small moon. More like a planetoid like the base stations just a little bigger. We need the space if we put the academy inside, ship yards, science department and other things. It won’t be ready any time soon, not for a project as large as this but it will be wonderful.”

  “This section, is that a school too?” Eric asked.

  “Training section for Survey and our ship board forces, whatever we are going to call them.”

  “Troopers? Constables? Big guys with guns? I like that one.”

  “Moron. We will have contra gravity, standard engines, FTL and the wormhole. We have enough space to build big for energy, engines, weapons and everything. In a few years, we will have a new home in space. We normal people will have room for gardens and plants and even a few ponds. The rest will be perfect for you strange people.”