Clidepp Deja Vu

by Thomas DePrima

  "I haven't selected a volcano for our landing site, Captain."

  "It sure looks like a volcano. The last one we used as a hiding place erupted, and we barely got away with our lives."

  "It's not a volcano, Captain. It's a meteor impact site. The database lists the impact date as being roughly two thousand years ago."

  "That can't be right. Look at the vertical rise in the walls."

  "That has to be because of the soil composition density and the fact that there's limited atmosphere on the planet, which means erosion is almost non-existent. It's probably looked the same way for all of those two thousand years."

  "But the planet is almost green. How does the flora survive without rain?"

  "I don't know, Captain. Perhaps there's a very high water table and the plant-life has deep roots."

  "Okay, Nav. We'll accept your word that we aren't going to burn up in a fiery explosion."

  "I can't guarantee that another meteor won't land in the same place while we're here, although the odds of that happening are so remote as so be absurd, Captain."

  "Have there been an unusual number of meteor strikes on this planet?"

  "No more than any other world with limited atmosphere. Without a decent atmo, even the tiny ones get through to the surface since they don't burn up on the way down."

  "Are there any records of annual meteor showers on this planet?"

  "There's nothing in the database."

  "Make a note in the duty log that I want all navigators searching the sky during their watch since they won't have any other assigned tasks during that time."

  "Aye, Captain. I'll enter that note in the log."

  "Okay, Helm, set us down nice and gently."

  "I'll touch the ship down so lightly you won't even know when we're on the surface, Captain," Caruthers said with a smile.

  * * *

  Chapter Five

  ~ December 20th, 2286 ~

  "Aye, Captain," Lieutenant(jg) Galli said during a meeting with the Engineering staff before they deployed to begin their camouflage efforts, "I suggested to Lt. Olivetti that she select a meteor crater for our landing site. A meteor disrupts the surface and may fling hundreds or even thousands of tons of surface matter outward from the impact spot. I hoped that might have exposed more minerals than we're likely to find on the undisturbed surface. If we don't find what we need at the lowest point in the crater, we'll next search the walls. We'll move outside the crater last if we still haven't found what we need by that time."

  "Good thinking, Lieutenant. I hope your idea proves out. Are you ready to begin?"

  "Aye, Captain. My people are anxious to get to it. We know what we have in the ship's storage lockers, so we have an idea what to look for. We're hoping to find enough to allow us to produce something like white paint with enough metallic flakes mixed in to reflect a solid radar signal. I have a couple of Marine volunteers grinding down a spare piece of equipment— nothing we'll ever miss— to produce the metal filings."

  "I really hope it's something we won't miss. It's not a temporal generator, is it?"

  "No, ma'am. It's an air circulation pump. We have a spare in the Justice and in the engineering section of every habitat, which means we have nine spares on this voyage. They almost never break within their estimated lifetime so it's unlikely we need more than one spare."

  "Very good. Go to it, Lieutenant."

  "Aye, Captain."

  On their previous trip into Clidepp space, the Justice hadn't had any of the oh-gee carts used in maintenance bays aboard most ships, so when a problem arose with the temporal generator they'd had to improvise with an oh-gee robot. Owing to those maintenance difficulties during the previous voyage, Sydnee had requisitioned two of the collapsible carts for this trip, and they were stored in the access corridor of one of the two weapons habitat containers beneath the ship. All weapons chambers were still fully accessible, but several meters of that corridor couldn't be used as a running track on this trip. The two-meter by three-meter carts that, once opened, resembled the rear of a flat-bed truck with a meter-high railing, were self-propelled and would allow the engineers to reach any exterior part of the ship, as well as using them for basic transportation in and around the crater while searching for the paint-making ingredients they lacked. Colonel Dennier had immediately agreed to Sydnee's request and assigned four of her aircraft mechanics to assist in the operation. There would be two teams consisting of two engineers and two mechanics in each cart as they searched the crater and surrounding area for the minerals and plant-life they needed to make the paint.

  * * *

  After almost a week of effort, the teams had amassed enough raw materials to begin production. They had rigged a crude pile-driver to smash the rocks collected and an equally crude cooking chamber using laser weapons for a heat source since there wasn't enough oxygen for a fire outside the ship and Sydnee wouldn't agree to preparation of the paint inside the ship because of the danger of possible toxic fumes. While outside the ship, the workers were encased in EVA suits with independent oxygen supplies.

  When the collected materials were ready, the engineers mixed a sample batch with the lubricants, metal filings, cleaning materials, and cooking supplies taken from aboard ship.

  The first effort adequately covered the flat rock chosen for the test, but the paint cracked and peeled off as it dried, and so began days of effort to find the right formulation from the collected and assembled materials.

  * * *

  "How goes it, Syd?" Kelly MacDonald asked as she sat down in one of two available chairs in Sydnee's tiny office.

  "The engineers are hard at work. They still feel confident they'll be able to come up with a paint that will hold up during travel through the cold of space on our return to Yolongus and also withstand the journey through the atmosphere there."

  "Have they tried to paint over the Dakinium yet?"

  "No. They want to wait until they have a paint formula down for the first problem. Then they'll work on the second."

  "If the paint doesn't stick, the first part of the effort is wasted."

  "Yeah, but I'm letting them make the call on this one. If their efforts fail, we'll just fall back on the plan to go seed space around the planets on our list with the communication satellites."

  "Ya know, Syd, I half expected to face some emergency after we landed on this planet. I mean, like wild vegetation that could attack anything that moved or some hidden form of wildlife like those things on Yolongus that come out only at night to grab you and coil around your body, crushing the breath from your lungs."

  "I know what you mean. So does Blade. His offer to have some of his Special Ops people stand sentry duty on our perimeter probably came from his memories of the situation on Yolongus. So far everything has been quiet. And since our people have to wear EVA suits when outside the ship and they go through the standard decontamination process in the airlock every time they reenter, I feel confident we're not bringing any dangerous pathogens aboard. We'll just have to continue as we've been doing and respond to any situations as they arise."

  * * *

  A few days later, Lt.(jg) Galli reported that they had finalized the formulation for the paint insofar as the basic requirements were concerned and that they were about to begin testing to see if the paint would adhere to Dakinium.

  * * *

  All initial tests failed. The paint would not stick to the Dakinium sheathing on the shuttle section chosen for the initial attempt.

  "No luck again today, Captain," Lt.(jg) Galli said as he sat across from her in her office. "We're going to put our heads together after dinner and try to come up with a solution."

  "There may not be one," Sydnee said.

  "Perhaps, but I'm not ready to give up yet, unless you order us to stop our efforts."

  "No, I'm not ordering you to stop— yet. Let's agree that one more week will mark the end of this attempt. Either you find a solution by then or we terminate the proposed mission. Okay
?"

  "Okay, Captain. We'll work on this for one more week and then call it quits if we haven't found a solution."

  * * *

  Six days later an excited Lt.(jg) Galli entered Sydnee's office with a huge smile on his face. "I believe we've found a solution, Captain. We've added more metal filings to the paint formula we developed."

  "And how do extra metal filings make the paint better adhere to the Dakinium?"

  "By themselves, they don't. But everyone knows that Dakinium absorbs energy like a sponge and that the absorbed energy actually causes the Dakinium's structure to change at a cellular level, making it more resistant to outside forces. In fact, it doesn't just absorb available energy, it's more like it actively sucks it in. When Admiral Carver originally discovered the material on Dakistee, the energy not being used to enhance the physical structure of the Dakinium was just being dissipated. These days, with Dakinium sheathing on all of our newest ships, the excess energy is routed to our graphitic-crystalline storage cells. Anyway, we managed to glue a tiny conductor wire to the surface of the Dakinium hull using a tube of experimental glue Space Command has distributed to Colonel Dennier's ordnance people. They have it because they're responsible for maintaining the new missiles where Dakinium strips have been glued to the missile casing. Then we pushed a small electrical charge through it as we painted over a small area of the shuttle's outer skin. During all past attempts, the paint immediately flaked off. But this time the paint stuck."

  "Interesting. Do you believe the paint will stay in place during flight operations?"

  "Yes, I do. I tried to peel it off and was unsuccessful. The Dakinium is holding onto it like a starving man would hang onto a loaf of bread."

  "How much energy will be consumed by the process?"

  "Virtually none. The charge sent through the connection is absorbed by the Dakinium, which then returns any excess to the storage cells. It's like a perpetual motion process so the loss of energy is negligible."

  "And where is the power connection point on the shuttle? Will it interfere with building a double envelope while the shuttle is attached to the Justice?"

  "I'm not sure if the paint will prevent a double envelope or not. It shouldn't interfere with the establishment of resonance in the Dakinium, but only an actual test will show us whether it does. As for the power connections, I'd suggest several, but they will not interfere with envelope creation. We'll tap off energy connections in hull-mounted sensors. The wire will be glued to the hull so there will be no gaps between the hull and wire. The envelopes should follow the outside contours, as always."

  "How soon can we be ready to head back to Yolongus?"

  "Two days max, Captain. My people are ready to make the electrical connections and paint the shuttle hull as soon as you give the approval. We've computed where we have to paint and how much coverage is required based on the metal content of the paint to give a radar footprint similar to the one that Yolongi shuttle has."

  "Excellent work, Lieutenant. You have a go."

  "Aye, Captain. We'll get started right away."

  * * *

  Two days later the Justice lifted off from Vucoppi and was on its way back towards Yolongus. Their stay on the planet had been uneventful. No volcanoes erupted, no meteors hit the part of the planet where the Justice had landed, and no dangerous animals tried to chow down on crewmembers as the engineers and mechanics went about their work.

  "Chief," Sydnee said to the com petty officer, "We're still receiving a constant feed from the sensor buoy we dropped at Yolongus, aren't we?"

  "Aye, Captain. It apparently hasn't been discovered yet."

  "I'd like you to put together a report that lists all identifiable arrivals and departures of shuttle flights to and from the planet other than to or from ships in orbit. I need the date and time of each contact. Possible?"

  "I should be able to produce a list based on communications and clearances if they're not encrypted."

  "Good."

  *

  An hour later Sydnee was in her office scanning the list prepared by Chief Petty Officer Lemela as she planned the upcoming mission to the planet. In case new trespass safeguards had been installed at the minister's home since he'd been abducted, he wouldn't be returned directly there but would instead be dropped off at a place where he could contact someone to come pick him up. The communications satellites to be dropped by the shuttle as it entered the planet's exosphere and reached a point about thirty-five thousand kilometers above the surface had been tested for proper operation and programmed to seek and then maintain specific assignment locations via terrain identification while they continued to record interplanetary communications traffic and retransmit the data in high-speed, encrypted bursts toward GA space.

  "Captain," Sydnee heard in her CT, "we've just received a Priority-One message from the Denver."

  Touching her SC ring to activate a carrier, she said, "Put it in my queue, Chief."

  "Aye, Captain."

  "Marcola, out."

  Sydnee opened her message queue and selected the newly arrived video message. She had to lean in so the computer could perform the required retinal scan, then sat back to learn what was important enough to justify a Priority-One classification. An image of Captain Lidden appeared almost instantly.

  "Hello, Sydnee. I've just received a briefing from an SCI officer. This information is so sensitive they didn't even want to send it to me through normal Priority-One communication channels, but they understand we must use this system now to communicate the data to you. According to SCI, an undercover agent has reported that he has new information regarding the attack on Freight-One and believes he has discovered the secret identity of the Rebel leader who, until now, has been known only as Citizen X. The communication system he was using isn't secure enough so he couldn't send the information directly. They want you to take whatever steps are necessary to recover that agent from Yolongus as soon as possible. So stop your distribution of satellites and get back to Yolongus. This mission must be completed as quickly as possible, even if the entire Yolongi fleet is still in orbit around the planet. Perhaps you can combine the delivery of the package at the same time, but if not, recovery of the agent and his information takes priority over everything. You must recover him at all costs. The full details are attached in text form. Good luck, Sydnee."

  Sydnee took a deep breath and sighed. The original mission had been to simply drop off the package and return. Then SCI added the requirement that they deploy satellites all over Yolongi space. Then the crew of the Justice learned that the entire Yolongi fleet was parked in what seemed like permanent orbit around the planet. Now an additional layer of difficulty had been added, i.e. rescue an undercover agent at all costs. And the newest layer involved the greatest risk of all. It reminded her of the last mission to Yolongus where they had to meet a contact who might be able to get them a necessary part to repair the ship. The Special Ops team had been lucky to complete that task without the Yolongi Intelligence Service crashing the party, but they'd killed three members of the Yolongi Secret Police in doing it.

  Sydnee hadn't reported that they'd never begun the satellite distribution process, so Lidden probably believed they were far away from danger, not back on danger's doorstep and just one brief step away from more potential trouble than they had so far faced.

  "Major Blade," Sydnee said after activating a carrier with her ring."

  "Blade here, Captain."

  "Would you join me in my office? And if Colonel Dennier isn't busy, ask her to join us as well."

  "Will do, Captain. Blade out."

  "Marcola out."

  Sydnee was reviewing the text included with Lidden's message when Blade and Dennier arrived.

  "Come in and take a seat," Sydnee said. "We have a lot to discuss."

  When Sydney had related the mission revisions, Blade asked, "So do we deliver the package and then pick up the SCI agent during our return to the ship?"

  "No," Sydnee sai
d. "We have to assume that once we deliver the package, the Yolongi government will possibly be alerted to our presence in the area."

  "Possibly?" Dennier posed.

  "There's always the possibility they will believe the minister was away voluntarily, such as for an extended love tryst."

  "For so long?"

  "They might believe he intended to make it permanent but things didn't work out. But I'm going to assume the worst case scenario, which is that they'll believe everything he says and start hunting for us immediately. We know there's no guarantee the agent will be able to make a scheduled rendezvous, so until the SCI agent is recovered, we'll keep the package in our possession."

  "So when do we go in?" Blade asked.

  "I've reviewed all the communications since we first arrived and dropped a sensor buoy. No one should take notice of a change in schedule for the shuttle we're going to simulate because it appears to have no schedule. The danger is that the real Patoosch will show up while our MAT is on the planet. So we want to get in, get our agent, and get out. Once the Justice reaches the location where we parked following our initial arrival in this system, we'll send a message via laser beam to the sensor buoy so there's no chance of anyone getting a fix on our location. The buoy will then relay it to the agent. The buoy is so tiny that it's unlikely the Yolongi fleet could ever identify where the signal came from. As soon as the SCI agent sets a timetable and location for the pickup, we'll commence the operation."

  "So the order is to be ready on a moment's notice," Blade said. "We can handle that. Just my Special Ops team?"

  "That should be more than adequate for this operation. This is a simple pickup."

  "Nothing ever seems to be simple when you're in hostile space," Dennier said.

  "True," Sydnee replied. "But I always live in hope that this time will be different."

  "Don't get too hopeful, Captain," Blade said with a chuckle.

  * * *

  An encrypted response from the SCI agent arrived the next day. It included the proper recognition code and identified a date, time, and coordinates for the pickup.