by S A Pavli
Later that afternoon the door to my room opened and I had a visitor, Admiral Crozier himself, no less. He paused at the door and scowled at me.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay out of trouble Constantine?”
I jumped up.
“Did she get away admiral?”
He stared at me, seemingly debating with himself whether to answer my question. He actually growled, deep in his chest, closed the door and walked into my room.
“Sit down Captain. We have to talk.”
“Please admiral, I need to know. Did she get away?”
“Yes, she got clean away,” he snapped. I punched the air and gave an “Oh yes!” of relief
“I should reserve your happiness for later if I was you Captain,” he scowled. There was something about his mood that made me pause.
“Why, what is it admiral?”
“That damn flyer that picked her up.” He shook his head . “Got under our radar, we didn’t know it was there. Sheer chance that one fighter wing spotted it. Tried to shoot it down but it was too fast. The thing must have accelerated at six gravities. It had interceptor missiles which destroyed ours as if they were toys.” He paused and looked at me grimly. “It also shot down two of our fighters. Pilots didn’t make it.”
The bottom seemed to drop out of my world. I groaned and slumped forward, my head in my hands, trying to control my despair.
“Oh God!”
“Tell me Captain, was that one of their so called Peacekeeper fighters? I nodded.
“Yes admiral. The Hianja have given up all military forces. The Peacekeepers are the only military force they have.”
“If that thing was anything to go by, they don’t need anything else. They would make mincemeat of our forces.”
“Oh yes, without doubt,” I agreed. “It only accelerated at six gravities because Manera was on board. Otherwise they are capable of more than twice that. Combination of AG and fusion ram jets. Incredible acceleration and manoeuvrability.”
“Don’t rub it in,” he said with a sour expression.
“Admiral, I was just being informative. I am so sorry.”
“You see what this means don’t you?” The admiral fixed me with a steely look. I nodded.
“It means all their pre-conceptions about the Peacekeepers have been confirmed. They have no inhibitions against using excessive force or causing unnecessary deaths.”
“Exactly.” He leant back in his chair and sighed heavily.
“So tell me,” began the admiral in a conversational manner. “What did your young lady, Manera? Come for? Why did she come to see you? And how the hell did she manage it without being detected?”
“The Hianja wanted to know why we have ignored them. And Manera is the only one with a command of English that would allow her to move around without being noticed. She was landed by a cloaked fighter in Scotland and she made her way to London to find me.”
“She walked?” he asked, disbelief on his face. I shook my head.
“No, she sold some jewellery and caught the train.” He looked flabbergasted.
“And how did she know where to find you?”
“Ah sorry, my fault. I inadvertently told her where I lived. We were just making conversation, you know, and I told her my address as a joke. I told her she was welcome to visit me anytime.”
“And she remembered the address?”
“Photographic memory.” He leaned back in his chair and breathed out a sigh of surprise.
“Incredible. She is quite something. Are they all that…. able?”
“I don’t know admiral. She is an exceptional person, even by Hianja standards.” He looked at me keenly for a few moments. I squirmed a little under his stern gaze. I’d never known my father, and I realised that the admiral was probably the closest thing to a father figure that I’d ever had. I had this sudden need to explain and justify myself to him.
“Admiral, I can only apologise for my carelessness. It appears I gave away information that I should not have. I’m not sorry I did it because I believe the Hianja are no threat to us. To the contrary, an association between our two species will bring enormous benefits, mostly to us.”
“Captain, you have forgotten one basic principle of the SES. We are explorers. Our job is to find and report. Decisions are made by others.”
“I understand sir. Unfortunately I was not in a position to return and report. Which is why all this has happened.”
“All this has made things much worse,” he said morosely. It occurred to me suddenly that the admiral may not be in agreement with his superiors.
“Thanks to you and your lady friend they have now had the military power and ruthlessness of the Peacekeepers very dramatically demonstrated.” I knew, without question that he was right.
“You have scared the be-Jesus out of them,” said the admiral. “They want you out of the way Captain, they don’t want your alien lady friend with her fearsome military weapons coming back to abduct you.”
“I suspect that she will come back sir. But not to abduct me. With a couple of Hianja starships and a few hundred of her leaders.” I looked meaningfully at him and he grunted.
“Between me and you Captain, I hope she does. I for one would like to meet her.” He stood up. “But for now they want you out of the way. There’s a plane waiting to take you to the Cape. Your ship is standing by in orbit and you have a new destination to explore. Do your job Scout.” He saluted me smartly and I jumped to attention and saluted him back with a smart “Yes Sir.” As he exited the door I added a “Thank You Sir.” and he nodded.
“Take care of yourself Captain.” Then he was gone and the door was closed by a uniformed officer. I had another mission. Another star system to explore. I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or sad.
Chapter 10
As we approached the Cyclops space station, I could see that the Lisa Jane was still inside the servicing dock. The shuttle parked one hundred meters or so from the station and we watched the small square tender approach the shuttle. There were eight of us on the shuttle. Myself and another Scout Captain, Harry Connors, and a bunch of engineers to relieve their colleagues on the servicing docks. Harry was an amiable American, stocky pug nosed forty year old, on scout ships for ten years now and approaching retirement. I’d asked him what he fancied doing once he retired from scouting. He’d said buy a boat and sail around the world.
I’d asked him, jokingly, if he hadn’t had enough of his own company. He had grinned broadly. “Who said I’d be on my own? Girl in every port buddy. That‘s something you don‘t get in Space!”
I could not help thinking, You may be wrong!
The space station had a docking extension and the shuttle drifted slowly towards it, well clear of the station. Docking complete we made our way through the airlocks. Inside the station I reported to the SES Operations room to be met by the chief engineer Bob Jacobs, a lean tousle haired Texan of indeterminate age. He was craggy and lugubrious. But Bob was everybody’s Dad, fatherly, supportive and an all round nice guy.
“Here’s the Scout Service pin up boy!” he greeted me with a grin. “Lock up your daughters.”
“Bob, you never told me if you had a daughter,” I said giving a wink in the direction of a couple of grinning engineers.
“Ha! If I had a daughter I wouldn’t let her anywhere near you matey!” He pronounced the ‘matey’ with a pretend English accent which earned chuckles from his fellow engineers.
“You don’t have to worry old chap.” I decided to play along with the English stereotype. “As I said to your wife, I prefer the older woman.”
“Ha! Since you’ve met the wife, I know you’re joking.” Bob’s wife was a chubby lady who combined a teaching career with a passion for gourmet cooking. Getting an invite to dinner at Bob’s house was highly prized. I grinned and shook hands with Bob and the other two engineers and we made small talk for a bit, exchanging news about people we all knew.
Bob leaned over and spoke qui
etly, a confidential look on his face.
“What’s the beef with the Lisa Jane Paul?” I looked at him blankly.
“The Hyperdrive man. Never seen one like it before.” I realised what he was saying; The ship’s hyperspace drive had exploded when it had exited Hyperspace too close to a planet after the navigation co-ordinates had been corrupted. My Hianja friends had kindly equipped it with another, but it wasn’t a precise copy.
“Ah right. Er, what have the authorities told you about it?” I asked. He looked at me peculiarly.
“Don’t you know?”
“Me? Nah, they don’t tell us pilots anything.”
“Come on Paul. You left with a standard HS drive and you come back with something else, and you know nothing. Who are you kidding.”
“OK Bob, you got me. This is what happened.” The guys dropped what they were doing and came close. I spoke with a conspiratorial whisper. “There was a navigation error and we exited Hyperspace too close to a planet. The HS module detached and exploded.” There were exclamations of alarm from the men.
“I had to land on the planet. When I got there I found an alien base and an alien HCD in orbit.” There were gasps of disbelief from the men.
“Jesus H, an alien base? Sure it wasn’t one of ours?” asked Bob.
“No, technology was different. And this was an unexplored planet.”
“So what did you do?”
“Landed on the planet and checked out their base. It was unoccupied but there were pictures of the aliens on the wall.”
“No! Damn, what did they look like?”
“Not very different from us. The females were fucking gorgeous.” I made a lecherous face and waved my hands in a simulated female shape. There were cries of disgust and laughter from the men when they realised they’d been had.
“Constantine you bastard!”
“Get outta here!”
I joined in their laughter and then apologised.
“Sorry guys, I wish I could tell you but apparently it is top secret technology.”
“Yeah, the design boys came and detached it,” said Bob. “Took it back Earthside, You have a nice new standard HS module, fitted it ourselves and checked it out.”
“Okay. No navigation errors this time right?” I said with a mock severe look.
“Get outta here before we throw you out the air lock,” laughed Bob. I left with a wave and a promise to buy the beers when I returned. The old adage that sometimes reality can be stranger than fiction, was clearly true.
Next stop was the Project office where I was briefed on my destination, a main sequence star 6000 light years from Earth. The trip would take three weeks, with a week there to explore and three weeks back. The star possessed a number of giant planets and two rocky planets roughly in the habitable zone. Probably copies of Venus and Mars if past experience was anything to go by but one of the rocky planets had an atmosphere and traces of oxygen and water vapour had been detected so there was a chance that it was habitable.
The information had already been downloaded to Alfred so I was cleared for departure. George Albert the Frenchman in charge of the Project Office was curious.
“Quick turnaround Captain,” he remarked. Scouts normally had at least a month off between trips. Mine had been less than two weeks.
“I’m taking extended leave after this one George, “ I explained. “Get a few personal matters sorted.”
“Good for you Paul. I do not know ‘ow you guys spend so much time out there on your own with only a computer for company,” He said with his strong French accent.
“It’s a job. There are some compensations.”
“Like?” he asked with a questioning expression.
“I’m trying to think of some,” I grinned and he chuckled.
“’Ave a safe trip Captain.”
“Thanks George.” With a wave I departed the Project Office and headed for the air locks .
Entering the Lisa Jane airlock I was greeted with a “Welcome aboard Captain” from Alfred.
“Thanks Alfred. Can’t say good to be back. Nothing personal.”
“Understood Paul. You have my sympathies.” Could a computer be sympathetic? Never mind, it’s the thought that counts!
“How much do you know?” I asked.
“I have been fully briefed.”
“So you know that they want me out of the way for a while.”
“Yes, I suppose that is a logical interpretation. I am pleased that Manera got away safely.”
“Thank you Alfred. We have all been through a lot together, you, me and Manera. It cannot be for nothing surely?”
“They will have to proceed with contact Paul It is inevitable.” I was amazed that a computer could come to an obvious decision that the world government seemed incapable of.
“Alfred, I vote for you as president of the Earth Federation.”
“Perhaps one day I will be able to stand,” he replied. I had to smile. “In the meantime, we have a starship to fly.”
“Let’s do it Alfred.”
Chapter 11
Three weeks on a starship passes quickly. I guess it’s the sameness of each day, merging one into the other until time comes to a standstill. I was impatient with the present, my mind on the past and the future in the hope that it will bring something better.
We exited Hyperspace without mishap, exactly where we should have been in relation to our destination star, and began our initial long range examination of its planets. There were in fact three inner rocky planets and three large Jupiter type gas giants. One of the rocky planets was in a Venusian orbit but it was too small to have a significant atmosphere It was a baking hot ball of rock. .
The second inner planet was a little closer to the sun than Earth and much more promising. A little larger than Earth but with a smaller inner iron core giving it slightly lower gravity, it had a good thick atmosphere with a significant oxygen content. Analysis showed the presence of organic compounds. There was life there.
We surveyed all the planets while we set course for the second from the sun.
“Thick atmosphere, hot and humid with thick jungles. We may find Dinosaurs Alfred,” I mused.
“Oxygen content is a bit low to support very large animals Paul,” Alfred pointed out.
“Very large animals with very large lungs?” I suggested hopefully. “That move very slowly?” I was joking but Alfred took me seriously.
“Possibly,” he said. I suspected he was humouring me. “It is more likely that life is in the early stages of evolving on this planet. I would expect thick vegetation but mostly insects and small animals.”
“We shall know very soon,” I said.
It would take a couple of days using our fusion rockets to get to the planet and we continued collecting data as we approached it. Half way to our destination we had to turn the ship around and start slowing our approach. I took a short nap, washed and had some breakfast and joined Alfred on the Bridge.
“How’s it looking Alfred?” The planet was large on the view screen, a hue of greens and blues, very Earth like. I could clearly see the continents and large expanses of ocean. But the equatorial areas of the planet were devoid of greenery. Huge areas of desert covered all the continents around the equator.
“The planet is closer to the sun than Earth and has a high carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere,” explained Alfred. “The equatorial regions are 50 to 60 degrees Centigrade. But the polar regions are much more amenable.”
“Suitable for human habitation?” I asked.
“Oxygen content is 50% Earth,” he replied. “It would be a hard place to live.”
“Could be suitable for mining. And the jungles may have some plants with pharmacological uses,” I suggested. Some alien plants had been discovered which had therapeutic or medicinal properties.
A few hours later we were in orbit around the planet and Alfred was busy collecting data. My job was secondary at this point. While Alfred collated the data I wou
ld examine it, try to extract the significant or possibly valuable elements in order to decide where to concentrate our efforts. We needed a geological survey to determine whether valuable minerals existed on the planet. Then we would need a number of landings to explore and collect biological and plant samples.
It took a couple of days for us to survey the planet thoroughly and then I chose a number of landing sites to explore, mostly in the polar regions where the climate was less extreme and there was some chance of finding useful plants and minerals. I was sure that this planet had the capacity to be a valuable resource for humanity.
My first landing was in the northern polar region. There was a continent, roughly in the same location as Greenland on Earth. The climate was tropical with temperatures in the high thirties and forties. I piloted the shuttle over miles of lush jungle before finding a range of hills and low mountains which were clear of trees. I brought the shuttle down on top of a hill and secured it. The forest was a few hundred yards beneath us.
The survey robots, named by me as Butch and Sundance after the western outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, were to accompany me in my exploration of the forest. Butch was a low slung chunky robot with wheels and small tracks. His job was to take samples of the local flora and fauna, as well as samples of earth, soil and rocks. He had a high speed drill and a selection of cutting slicing and chopping implements. Sundance was designed for more inaccessible locations. He was an insect like machine with four legs and two ’arms’ ending in multiple appendages. He was also equipped to fend of any local predators that may decide to make me their lunch.
It was very warm and humid and the oxygen content was low enough to cause me difficulties in breathing. I had to stop regularly to rest, but I soon acclimatised. As long as I took it slowly. This was the best part of my job, exploring an alien planet with my ’buddies’ Butch and Sundance, with Alfred watching over us from orbit.
The forest was not un-familiar; trees and plants all over the Galaxy used photosynthesis and that led to identical ways for doing the same thing. It was genetic convergence at work. The same applied to animals, who used the same basic designs. The ultimate mystery was the shock of finding that this also extended to the higher animals, including ourselves. How else to explain the fact that Humans and Hianja were almost identical in appearance?