by James Warner
“Bleep,” it answered, flashing two green lights in the back of its “head” at me. I felt better having communicated to it. It was, after all, doing us a great service. It could be smashed to pieces in this kind of exploration.
Anyway, the door at the end of the tunnel wouldn’t open for the ‘droid.
“I’m going to push on this door. Meph, make sure you record everything.”
“Yes, Captain.”
I pushed on it in frustration, expecting it to be rusted shut or something, but it opened easily into a familiar room. It was just like the one we had visited by elevator a few, what was it, centuries ago?
There was a metallic door opening, of course, into a learning room complete with chair, screen and all the trappings of the last one I had experienced.
“There are your gold tablets, Captain,” Meph said, pointing to four tablets encased in some sort of crystal box, which was sitting on an Artifact shelf unit.
“Yes. This room looks just like the other one.”
“Right Captain. Are you going to try out the chair?
The ‘droid and I will watch over you.”
“Not right now.”
I studied the tablets and the second one said that the Repair Station was on the fifth planet and gave the coordinates. That was all I needed for now.
“Sassy, we are with the gold tablets. Are there any other signs of gold on the planet?”
“Oh yes Captain. From my survey I have records of over one thousand large, easily mined deposits of gold and other precious metals. This is a nearly virgin planet so far as development of its mineral resources is concerned, just like y...”
“Thank you Sassy,” I interrupted a particularly sassy comment I heard coming.
I wasn’t ready to submit to the chair and probes just yet. We left the room, went back up the stairway and to the pod. The ‘droid disappeared in the bottom of the pod somewhere and we went back in. It was dark inside now, with only the glow of the instruments and the stars for illumination. But we could see those stars above us as if we were still outside. I loved it.
I felt at home here. More than any other place in the galaxy I had ever been. I was shivering with excitement.
“Meph, this place is perfect. I’m going to do it.”
“Do what, Captain?”
“North pole,” I stated matter-of-factly to the pod. I was about to do something I had never done before and could only do once in my lifetime. And I was a bit nervous about it. We faded out of the jungle and hovered over a small island, part of an archipelago that was covered with a thick layer of ice for a distance of about a hundred miles in all directions at this planet’s North Pole.
I put on my warm suit from the pack I always carry on explorations. I didn’t say a word to Meph. During the ceremony I was about to perform, nothing could be said to any witnesses. But I was glad to have Meph as sometimes a computer record could be forged and so living beings are encouraged to participate in the ceremony. I think Meph knew what I was going to do. After all, it is something every Scoutship Academy student studies during training. It isn’t emphasized, but everyone understands its significance to his or her careers.
“Take me to the surface. Meph, will you and Sassy witness?”
“Yes sir.” Sassy replied instantly.
“Certainly, sir. It would be an honor,” Meph answered, getting into his own warm suit. It was usually fascinating to watch him change some portion of the outer garment, putting all those legs into sleeves, wriggling his large body into what appeared to be a big insulated sack with a helmet built in. But this time I had other things on my mind.
The door of the pod opened and we both stepped out onto the frozen island. I chose the point which I had marked with a beam hole, set up my flag which was dark purple and silver with my family crest and the words Nostra Terminus Invictus Eternus (Ancient Latin: Our Boundaries Unconquerable Without End) on the crest’s banner. It was very much like the ancient McDowell coat of arms, except for the motto. I put the flagpole into the hole and melted the ice around it with my blaster set on low power. It was solid in less than a minute and I took a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. Then I began the ceremony.
“With the authority of the Admiralty and the tradition of Family Trusts, I hereby, on this date and time, name this world Caryna 4. I hereby name this star system Caryna. I claim all planets, moons, asteroids and other matter orbiting the star in this system and the star itself, by right of first discovery. I also name the star Caryna, in addition to its astronomic name as found in the Galactic Encyclopedia.
“From this time forward, I give to all my heirs and their Families and their heirs the right of settlement, exploration and general and specific use as set forth in the Galactic Standards for Discovery and Settlement, dated Stardate 5179, Mean Terran Standard. Additionally I require all Standards in the McDowell Family Book of Galactic Standards be upheld as a part of this trust by all parties to settle, visit, or be born on any of these worlds.
“I hereby swear that I am doing this for the first time of this lifetime and all the above is witnessed by the being(s) here with me, as witnessed by my First Mate Mephistopheles and recorded by my Scoutship Silver Hornet, a possibly sentient being and relayed in real time to the Galactic Encyclopedia Database. Date and Time stamp now.”
I stood there a few more moments, enjoying the thrill of what I had done. My EV suit helmet was fogging up. I can’t imagine why.
“That was awesome, Captain,” Meph said quietly.
“Congratulations, Caryn,” Sassy said on my embedded comm link.
It’s the biggest decision a Scoutship Captain can make. It can only be done once. But I was sure I had done the right thing. Somehow this world felt “right” to me. And I was happy here. This planetary system would make a good system for the re-advancement of human Civilization into this sector.
I took out the signal beacon and drove it into the snow and ice. It would immediately tunnel down and bury itself into the bedrock of this island. I only had to mark the rest of the star system and orbit one around the star.
“Sassy, please insert planetary beacons on all the worlds of this system and orbit one around the star. We will be taking the lander to the fifth planet.”
“Yes sir.”
Meph and I got into the pod.
“Go to orbit the fifth planet of this star system.”
We faded out stage right and faded in stage center in close orbit around the icy world. The snow and ice glittered making the planet look like a huge round diamond.
“Locate the largest artificial construction.”
We zipped around to the dark side of the planet and were hovering a few hundred meters above the rusty melted metal of an ancient city, mostly covered by a huge glacial finger jutting into a large iced over bay. It would have been a beautiful site when the city was new.
“There’s been one hell of a battle here, Captain,” Meph commented. The metal structures of the big buildings were actually melted into huge globs and puddles where I could see them. I could still make out the vague patterns of the streets and highways below that weren’t covered by thick glacial ice. It had probably been a city of about half a million to a million souls. It made me sick to think of the death recorded here.
“Don’t you think it’s interesting that none of the sentient inhabitants survived on these worlds, Meph?”
“Yes Captain. Apparently their wars were very thorough.”
This city, however, was not what I was looking for.
“Go to the largest structure below ground and hover there,” I told the pod.
The pod didn’t move.
“Show us all the structures in this location.” I said.
The pod’s imaging system took us on a 3D graphic trip down to the surface, then into the ice and below the ice into a cavern underground. It was like a construction holo. At the end of the cavern, the size of which was impossible to determine from the probe’s view, was the now familiar
door.
“The entrance has become inoperative due to a nuclear blast in close proximity to it. Special equipment will be required to remove the assembly and replace it. Until these tools are brought here the Repair Station is inaccessible.” The Hornet’s voice came to us in the pod.
“Well, Captain,” Meph commented, “looks like whatever is down there is safe for now.”
“Right. There will be time later.”
I was actually glad. At least this Repair Station would remain inviolate until I chose to open it.
“Sassy, is the Repair Station operational?”
“There are no communications with it at present. Unknown.”
“Well that takes care of that. But what the heck! Two worlds, rich in resources and very livable? I wonder what other surprises are waiting for our discovery.”
“That’s right, Captain. A perfect retirement home.”
“Never mind that, Mate. Let’s do a more thorough survey.” This was going to be my retirement home.
Someday! But not too soon!
“All right crew. Sassy, have the pod check out all this planet’s locations of tactical or historic interest. I want to see all the ‘hot spots’,” I said to change the subject.
As we zoomed around the planet every city we saw was either melted down or under ice.
“The age of these ice flows put the death of this civilization around ten thousand years ago.”
“You think it’s been that long, Captain?”
“Yes Meph. Look at the way those glaciers cover parts of every city. Those are mature glaciations. It takes quite a while to build up so thickly.”
“Okay, I’ve seen enough death and destruction. Sassy, what do I call this pod, anyway?”
“I think you can address it as ‘pod’ because there isn’t another one around,” she replied.
“All right. Pod, take us back to the Silver Hornet and we’ll dock there.”
We met her above the planet’s North Pole and docked. I got out in the cargo bay and looked the pod over very carefully. Inside there were the bridge controls on a pedestal, a small storage area in the back for specimens and our old seats for four people. It could hold several more. From the outside, I couldn’t figure out where they put the power plant – unless the entire skin was the power plant.
“Meph, where’s the power plant?”
“Excuse me, Captain?”
“Where’s the power plant for the pod?”
“I don’t know. Why not ask it?”
“Sassy, where’s the power plant for this pod?”
“I thought you’d never ask! The pod’s power system is in the skin. It uses the electromagnetic field permeating this star system, as well as the galaxy and acts like an antenna, picking up those vibrations and channeling them to energy converters located in the pod’s shell. The entire shell of the device is the power source, due to its antenna-like construction. It’s a zero point energy device. The engine is under your seats in the base.”
A zero point energy device? This was the stuff of science fiction for the last several thousand years of literature.
“Meph, what do you know about zero point energy devices?”
“More than you do, I’ll wager, Captain.”
“So are they real?”
“Oh yes, absolutely they are real. We have the example of the pod. Also, I was working on a design for one to power my equipment, but since the Hornet has so much energy to spare, I haven’t given it much recent work.”
So here I was riding in one. In the back of my mind I was toying with the idea of a starship using such a device for power. We walked through the pod bay and back to Sassy’s bridge where I felt more at home. I really liked the pod, but the comforts of the Hornet’s bridge were where I worked. I checked out the transmitters that the Hornet had already planted. They were working fine.
“Sassy, take us to planet six.”
“Yes, captain.”
Planet six was not a gas giant either.
“Captain, the frozen atmosphere on this planet’s surface is similar in composition to Earth’s. It might be a candidate for terraforming,” Sassy informed me.
I thought about the new aliens we met on Last Chance. “Meph, I wonder – do you think the Frbylzks might be able to terraform this planet for their own habitation?”
“You mean Frbylaform?”
“Yeah, right. How did you say that? Do you…?”
“I have no idea. We couldn’t do it, unless the planet
was closer to a star. But really, who knows?”
Who knows indeed? Underneath that deep freeze was a cold, lifeless planet. Its central fires had long since gone cold. There was no sign of volcanic activity or continental drift. It was just a big rock snowball.
“Sassy, what’s under the surface ice?”
“I find this world has no molten iron core and there are many miles of ores at the top half of the periodic table such as aluminum, titanium and a lot of silicon. It has not been exploited at all.”
The whole upper half of the periodic table was there in abundance – again, rich for mining and chemicals to help synthesize starship fuel.
“Very well. Let’s go to planet seven’s orbit and see what’s left.”
“Yes, sir.”
Planet seven was no longer a planet, but a large field of asteroids, just like back home.
“Captain, I’ve spotted a small fragment, mostly of lithium. It appears to have something unidentifiable to the analysis scanner embedded in it. You want me to bring it aboard?” Meph said. “Oh, that’s great, Meph! Yes, of course. Usually the scanner only has trouble with Artifacts. Maybe that’s what it is!” I said, excited to have something to take home at last.
We brought it into the cargo bay with Sassy’s tractor beam. I raced Meph to the bay as the air pressure stabilized to see what we had caught.
Meph put the rock into a specimen box with a portable tractor beam and we studied it through the transparent lid. It was unassuming, about a foot and a half long and a foot around, with what looked like an Artifact dagger about a foot long embedded into it like a sharp knife into an apple. Meph and I fastened it down to floor tie down loops with a set of flexible cabling. It would be a useful artifact for confirming my claim.
“I think prospectors from Last Chance would enjoy working some claims here, Captain,” Meph said.
“Oh, right!” I exclaimed, still staring at the fragment with a magnifying viewer.
“Captain, shall I go to planet eight?” Sassy asked.
“By all means. Let’s see that one.”
Planet eight was a gas giant with five moons of various sizes, but a very large ring system, just like my home system’s planet Saturn. The largest moon was about the size of Mars in the Sol system and again covered with frozen water rather than the more likely methane or lighter gas. It tickled my curiosity about the history of this star system prior to the Parents’ fertilization.
Planet nine was the same, although the gas mix was a bit different and there were eight moons. Both were excellent sources of heavy and light gasses and their moons were fairly large, though not plentiful and contained the entire periodic table of elements.
Planet ten was a smaller gas giant, mostly frozen gasses. We could detect a small core of almost pure iron, possibly the actual planet, in the middle. In the weak light from the distant star the planet fluoresced slightly on the sun side though the dark side was completely dark. It appeared to be in a synchronous orbit and the sun side stayed facing the distant star. There were lakes of methane, apparently warmed enough to be liquid because they always faced the star.
Planet eleven, the outermost planet, turned out not to be a planet at all but another star. It was not radiating much but was not a singularity – just a very week Class C star like you find in systems that seem to have never completely formed.
“Sassy, do we have the technology to move planets nine and ten to orbit this proto-star?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of suc
h a thing but I have to admit star system terraforming is not one of my strong points.
“I’ll search the GED Captain. And I’ll ask Repair Station 142 if the Parents could do such a thing,” she answered.
“So Captain, now that we are potentially the wealthiest Scoutship crew in history, what are your plans? You must know, we might not be allowed to keep all this stuff, or even survive when the Galactic
Congress gets a whiff of it.”
“Meph, I feel really good about this. Let’s not dwell on the negatives. I feel the need for a celebration.”
“An excellent idea, Captain. If I recall correctly, your birthday is in a few days. Perhaps this is a good time to break out the Denebian Brandy I have been saving.”