Shanna

by Bill Nolan

  “They didn’t know where to find you! They’ve been searching for you for years. I was the only one who knew how to find this planet, remember? You told me the location, and you said it was a secret, and I never told. I still haven’t. You didn't give me permission to tell. I came in a skipper, and I set the final push myself. Nobody knows where I am, so if you want to stay lost, just kill me now, and get it over with, but if you’re ready to start doing the things you were meant to do, let’s collect your ship and jump!”

  “It’s been a long time, little sis. Things change. People change. I don't know if I can be that person anymore.”

  “Really?” Kysandra snapped. “Have you changed that much? Have we? Has the Universe? What’s changed? You fought the fight that got you banished because those four called you a coward. Were they right? Don’t forget who you are, Robert Allen. I haven’t, and neither has anyone else. They still speak your name in a whisper, when they dare to speak it at all. The queen’s men like to say you’re dead, but they're just wishing, and the common people know better. You’ve only been sleeping, and now it’s time for you to wake up.”

  Robert sat staring into nothing for a time. Whenever one of the women started to speak, he waved them to silence. Finally he shook his head sharply and stood up. "Kysandra Nutima, help Jane Kjersti pack. There's no dog food on board. I'll go to the store and get some. We'll leave when I get back. I just told Shanna to go to full action status. She'll drop a skipper on County C to pick us up. I told her to make a big radar image. I have some plans for later. Execute!" That last word was delivered in a voice Jane had never heard before, and Robert was out the door while the echo still lingered.

  Twenty minutes later he was back, and there was a large pile of luggage and clothes on hangers in the back of the attached garage. A few minutes later it was all in the back of the Explorer. Robert seemed in a big hurry.

  They got in, with Roughneck the Doberman taking the extra back seat. About a half-hour later they had cleared city limits and were heading into the countryside. Robert turned sharply on County C, drifting through the corner like a race driver. The car coming the other way was a Sheriff, and he flipped a fast U-turn to come after them. Robert pushed the pedal to the floor.

  "Bob, what are you doing? Pull over."

  "Sorry, honey, Shanna's already on radar, and we can't stop. My guess is there'll be F-somethings all over this area in 10 minutes."

  The speedometer read 105 when Jane saw the ship settle toward the road a few hundred yards ahead of them. The cop was maybe ¼ mile back and closing. Robert kept it floored until they were really close to the ship, and then hit the brakes. As they skidded toward the ship, Jane saw a ramp dropping out of the bottom. Just before they reached the ramp, Robert got off the brakes and stood on the gas. They practically shot up the ramp, into what must be a cargo hold. The vehicle stopped like it had hit something, but Jane felt no deceleration. One moment they were moving and the next moment they were stopped. Robert and Ky were out of the car before Jane realized it had quit moving, but she surprised herself by being only an instant behind them.

  She looked back and saw that the ramp was closing, and the ground was a long way down. They were clearly airborne, although she didn't feel like they were moving. The impression she had was that the ground had decided to rush away from them. Jane caught up with Robert and Ky as they slipped into seats behind what looked like a control console. Robert's hand moved over the surface and the walls just disappeared. Jane realized a moment later that the walls must be some sort of view screen, but the effect was breathtaking. It was like sitting on a platform among the clouds. Robert had never taken her into space before.

  Jane saw some dots off to her left, getting larger. "Robert, planes coming in from 9 o’clock!"

  "Thanks, honey. I see 'em. Let's go say 'hi'." Seconds later they passed over the four planes, missing them by less than 50 feet. They were fighter planes, and the missiles under their wings were white. Jane knew that practice missiles are blue.

  The skipper turned and went after the planes. Well, "turned" didn't quite describe it, Jane thought. It seemed to reverse direction instantly as Robert's hands hovered over the console. An instant later they were pacing the fighters, holding position about 100 feet to the side and a bit above.

  "Shanna, do you have their frequencies?"

  Jane heard a very familiar female voice say, "Now I’m insulted, Robert. Do you want the guard frequency or one of the encrypted channels?"

  "Patch me into an encrypted channel. That should make them think."

  She heard Shanna’s voice again. "Set, go ahead."

  Robert said, "Hi fellas — oh, and ma'am. You looking for us?"

  "Sir, identify yourself and prepare to land. We will instruct you where."

  "Sorry, son. I don't think I can do that. I do have a message for your President. Tell him I'll be by to see him. Tell him it will be a month or two, and then I'll drop in. You got that?"

  "Sir, if you don't land, I'll have to shoot you down."

  "You know better, don't you, son? That's a nice plane, but compared to this one, it's a kite. Remember to tell the President. About a month, maybe two."

  Robert's hands moved again, and they shot upward. Jane was fascinated, because Robert didn't appear to be actually touching the console. In less than a minute, the sky was black, and Jane saw another ship ahead. As they approached closer and closer, she realized it was really big, like an ocean liner is big, but this ship was round. No, she corrected herself. Spherical. “Wow!” she thought to herself, “Shanna is huge!”

  A door opened in the side just before they reached it, and the skipper glided into the huge ship. The walls were still clear, and she could see the door closing behind her, cutting off her first view of Earth from space. Involuntarily, she made a little disappointed "aw" under her breath. Almost instantly, the clear back wall of the skipper was replaced by a view of Earth. The female voice she had heard earlier said, "Sorry. That was your first look at it from space, wasn't it? I'm Shanna, and you must be Jane Kjersti. I am honored to meet you." Clearly Shanna was also playing the ignorance game.

  There it was again. That was the second time someone had said that. Jane thought she really had to ask about that when there was time. She looked over at Robert, and saw he was watching her.

  "Are you OK, Jane? Things are moving pretty fast, aren't they? Now that we're in my ship, we'll have some quiet time to discuss things. Let's go pick out some rooms. You can have all the space you want. There are only eight staff people on board, and this ship is a really big girl, aren't you Shanna?"

  "Don't start with me, Robert! Just ignore him, Jane. I do. I'll show you where your rooms are located. I set them up years ago, and Robert knows it. I've really been looking forward to this day. Robert, shouldn't we be going? We’re still on their radar."

  "Put us in orbit around Saturn, Shanna. It's a nice view, and it will take us a day or so to settle in.

  * * * * * * * *

  Adam arrived at the gate right at nine in the morning. His appointment was at ten, and he didn't know how long it would take to do the security stuff. The guards checked his ID, looked in the trunk, and told him where to park. A pair of agents met him at the car and escorted him into the White House. He walked through a metal detector, and they also used a wand. "Well," he thought, "if I was dealing with a man who said he'd seen a flying saucer, I'd be a little paranoid, too."

  One of the agents, a very pretty one, showed him to a room and told him to have a seat. She sat across from him. He tried to make conversation, but she didn't seem inclined to indulge in chitchat. At exactly ten, he was ushered into the Oval Office by the female agent. It struck him that she had never told him her name. He decided not to bother asking her out.

  There were two other men in the room with the President. One he recognized as the National Security Advisor, General Smithson. The General stood up to greet him. "Lt. Col. Adam Conway, I'm sure you recognize President Fuller.
This is Dr. Hanaway, and he advises the President on science related matters. Please sit down, Colonel."

  "Thank you General. Mr. President, it’s an honor to meet you."

  The General said, "Colonel, I asked you to meet with us today to get your impression of what happened two days ago. I've been briefed on the radar data, and I've seen the video from the nose cameras on the planes. I've also read the statements from you and the other pilots who were with you. You were very careful in your statement. You said it was an unknown craft. You said you were hailed on an encrypted frequency. I've got all that. My question is, who do you think they were? UFO's? Aliens? What's your opinion, Colonel?"

  "I don't know, Sir."

  "I didn’t call you here to bullshit, Colonel, and I didn't ask you what you knew. I asked you what you thought. If you're saying you have no opinion, then I'm calling you a liar. What do you think? You're a Colonel. At this level, you're paid to think. What do you think?"

  "Sir, I've been flying since I was sixteen. In my career, I've flown the best we've got, and I thought our planes were the best on Earth. I still do. That ship, whatever it was, made my F-16 look bad. No sir, that's not the right word. It made my plane look primitive. He out-flew us without even trying. My radar refused to lock on, and I got no heat lock, either. He called my plane a kite. I don't know where that thing came from, Sir, but I never saw anything like it. I am assuming it was armed, and if the weapon systems are as advanced as the ship, it would chew me right up."

  Dr. Hanaway spoke up. "How was it different, Colonel?"

  "Well sir, it had no visible engines. It had no heat signature on my instruments. It seemed to appear on my targeting radar only when it wanted to, and it accelerated like nothing I've ever seen. It turned on a dime. I don't think we've got anything like that. I'm sure you've seen the radar reports. It was big, fast, and had no apparent means of propulsion. In fact, it had no control surfaces. I don’t know how it maneuvered. I also don't know how the pilot saw where he was going. I didn't see any windows."

  For the first time, the President spoke. "Colonel Conway, have you seen the report of the sheriff's deputy outside Milwaukee? He saw the thing come down, pick up a Ford Explorer he was pursuing, and take off again. That was just before your squadron arrived on the scene. He said it shot straight up. My first inclination is to dismiss this whole deal as some sort of mirage, but there are just too many trained observers who saw the damn thing. Plus, NORAD got a real good look at something a lot bigger about 150 miles up. You've been around long enough to know that all those tall tales about government cover-ups, that Roswell crap, all of it, it's a bunch of hooey, but this looks like the real deal."

  Adam answered, "Yes sir, Mr. President. It looks real to me, too. I've been seeing that thing in my dreams, and I just can't make it out to be anything but some kind of alien spacecraft. He said he was going to come and see you in a couple of months, sir."

  The General stood up. "Good brief, Colonel. I don't have to tell you not to talk about this with anybody, do I?"

  "No sir," Adam replied. "Besides, nobody would believe a word of it."

  After the agent had led Adam out, the President turned to Dr. Hanoway. "He doesn't seem crazy, and the other three pilots all tell the same story. So tell me, Dr. Science Advisor, what do I say to the spaceman when he drops by?"

  * * * * * * * *

  For the first couple of weeks, Maria threw up everything she ate, and hardly slept at all. She had planned her escape to a new life so carefully, and then been caught by a chicken hawk after only 12 hours. She tried not to think about it, because every time she did, she started crying. On the sixth night, she had tried to run away from Jake, but he knew she would, and so he was waiting for her to try. The beating that night had been something extra special.

  Maria had always thought of herself as a smart person, but Jake stayed one step ahead of her without even really trying. Down inside, she knew it was because he had done this before, to a lot of girls, and he knew from experience what his victims would try, and when. Knowing didn’t really help, though.

  Maria couldn’t think of what to do next. A lot of the Johns had been dealing with Jake for a long time, and she knew they would tell him if she said anything to them. As for the others, Jake told her that if she tried telling one of them, she’d get to watch while they beat him to death with baseball bats. One night, while working a street corner, Maria had been picked up by a college guy. He was just a couple of years older than she was, and she really wanted to ask him for help, but in the end, she was too scared.

  Homecoming

  As they walked through the corridors of the ship, Jane was awed. It wasn't just big, it was luxurious. The corridors were wide, at least 20’, and the open spaces were huge. They walked through one "room" large enough and high enough for a football field. She asked, and was told the ship was about 3,000 feet in diameter.

  After about a ten-minute walk, including several level changes, they came into an area that was a garden. Jane couldn't tell how high the ceiling was, because it gave a convincing imitation of the sky on a bright day. The ground was soil, and was covered with plants, including some fair sized trees, and many flowers were blooming. Jane was a gardener, and she was pretty sure she had never seen most of the plants. In the center was a house, and Shanna directed them to it.

  Shanna told them she had created this garden and home for the two of them, but if they didn't like it, it could be redone. Jane exclaimed that it was perfect.

  Inside, Jane discovered that the "house" was really a collection of smaller structures separated by gardens, and joined by winding paths. There was also what appeared to be a spring, feeding a lovely, natural looking pool about 70 feet across, with a sandy beach on one side. Although private, their garden did connect to several others, each with apartments and homes fronting them. Shanna pointed out that under this floor of the house was an area set aside for their offices and other more public areas

  Even Kysandra seemed to think the home and garden were special. She asked Shanna what her rooms were like.

  Shanna replied, "I set aside a spacious eight by twelve area under a stairway near the main kitchens. You'll love it."

  Kysandra said, "I can't wait to see it. Let's go take a look. Then I want to get some sleep. I'll see you folks at dinner — say in four hours?" An agreement was struck, and she went off to see what Shanna had really picked out for her.

  Robert and Jane toured the rest of their new home, and ended up sitting around the table in the large room next to the kitchen. Jane couldn't decide if it was a dining room or family room. Robert said, "Well, I know you must have some questions. Let's talk."

  "Alright," Jane answered, "just who are Ky and Melia, and where are we going?"

  "Well," Robert answered, "I’ve known Kysandra since she was a child. She’s like my little sister. Melia is an old friend. I dater her before I knew you. Shanna you already know. She chose to partner with me."

  "Yes I did," Shanna chimed in. "Maybe I'm not as smart as Robert just said. Oh well, it will probably work out OK in the end, and if it gets a little rough, remember that I am a warship. I've been running projections, and a fight is definitely a possibility. What do you think, Robert?”

  "I don't know, Shanna. Life is always interesting, and there are a lot of loose threads starting to interact. More than you know about. One thing at a time. We need to go to the home system. I’ve already kept an old friend waiting too long, and then we need to settle this business with Melia. After that, we will see what happens."

  "Now, Jane, back to the rest of your questions. Yes, I had a bit of a falling out with my people, and they voted to banish me. You already knew the basics. It happened a long time ago, and it’s probably better forgotten. Anyway, Ky says they're over it. You know how I got involved with the To’Ach’an. When I was a teenager, I built a starship and went exploring. One of their ships detected my ship and brought me onboard."

  “You told me you built a work
ing starship when you were a teenager.”

  “Yes. Our people have different talents. One of my talents is math. In grade school, I knew that the math they were teaching me was wrong. I don’t really know how I knew, but I did, so I designed my own system of math, and in my system, starships didn’t seem too hard to build. The drive was easy. The hard part was the airtight box. I’ve since found out that my math system isn’t the same as the one used by the To’Ach’an or Empire, either, and that’s why I’ve been able to make some improvements with Shanna. My math does a better job of quantifying some issues.”

  Jane considered for a moment, and then said, "I'm going to reserve the right to come back to those questions later. A few minutes ago you said there were eight staff people on board this ship. I haven't seen anybody. Where are they? More to the point, who are they? Shouldn't we say hello?"

  Shanna answered. "They're downstairs in Robert's office. I told them you guys had a few things to discuss. Of course they know Robert, but they are very anxious to meet you, Jane. Also, Robert, did you forget your dog? He's still by the skipper. I have an area at the edge of the garden set up for him to use as a toilet. Maybe you should show it to him."

  Jane wanted to get cleaned up before meeting anyone, so Robert said he would take care of Roughneck. Shanna showed Jane where the shower was located, and how to use it. She suggested that Jane take a dip in the pool after her shower, and Jane thought it was a good idea. By the time she was done, Robert had Roughneck squared away. He found Jane wandering nude through the garden.

  "I finally figured out what seems different about this garden, Bob. There are no weeds. None. You know, I've been on this ship a little over an hour, and I couldn't find any place on it without Shanna's help, but I feel at home. I never felt this much at home when we were actually at home. I had Shanna show me the view outside. Saturn is beautiful. I must be numb or in shock. I should be upset, but I'm not. I feel content. This isn't how I should be feeling after everything that's happened."