The Risks of Dead Reckoning

by Felicia Watson

  “Exactly,” Aqila agreed. “We’re still trying to figure out what prompted the worms to develop these abilities. They must have had a natural foe which used something approaching sensor technology to detect prey.”

  Finnegan blurted out, “Oh no! You mean there’s something else hiding out in those tunnels?”

  “We don’t think so,” Lateef said. “Sensor readings would’ve spotted anything like that. Also, both the Featay and the Maykure have legends or stories about the veil-worms but nothing about other animals living in the float-ways. It’s more likely that the natural enemy of the veil-worms died out years ago.” She waved a hand in Jallow’s direction. “Sanaa’s agreed to interrupt her DNA analysis of the peerazu samples, and tackle some from the veil-worm. That might tell us more about their evolutionary development.”

  Moira shot a startled glance at Sanaa. “You can use that instrument on something other than humans? I didn’t know that.”

  Jallow looked up, her smile glowing white against her dark complexion. “I didn’t know it either – not until Aqila explained it to me. It turns out, a lot of alien creatures have molecular structures similar to humans: DNA, proteins, enzymes…just like us.”

  His eyebrows raised, Con looked back and forth between Sanaa and Moira. “If you didn’t know that, then what were you intending to use it for? Disease diagnosis in humans?”

  “No,” Sanaa said. “Eric Baseman has one in Med-bay for that sort of thing. This one was reserved for genetic assessment of New Earth’s colonizing personnel – to determine the best prospects for parenthood.”

  Bly asked, “You mean after a couple has decided they want to have children, you tell them if there are any issues?”

  “No, I do pre-screening and then make suggestions to couples who would produce the fittest offspring.”

  With an exaggerated eye-roll, Deck quipped, “How romantic.”

  Moira cocked her head, apparently parsing the sarcasm for a moment. “How is that you people decide to have children, if it isn’t based on genetic fitness?”

  While the Lovelace crew exchanged amused glances, Deck retorted, “Uh, we have children because we want to.”

  “And because it makes sense for our situation in life,” Aqila added.

  “Nice save, honey,” Con muttered.

  “Okay.” Naiche put her hands on her hips as she surveyed her teammates. “Let’s focus on the problem at hand – you know, the veil-worms? How do we defeat their stealth systems so that we can detect them with sensors?”

  “Why is it so urgent for us to do that?” Bly asked.

  “Because,” Aqila sighed, “this morning, they somehow convinced Commander Lindstrom to let them take a trip to the home of the Intabet – in those float tunnels.”

  Brodie’s mouth fell open for a moment. “Wow, you have?”

  His hands up, in a quelling gesture, Con explained, “Only if I can assure him that the journey will be a safe one. And the first step in that task is figuring out how to deal with the veil-worms.”

  Lateef said, “We’ve tried using a solution similar to the one we developed to penetrate the cloak around Maykah – with limited success. The problem is these animals are using an active rather than a passive cloaking technology. So, it works – but doesn’t yield instantaneous data.”

  “Yeah,” Deck said, “that won’t do. Those things move fast and are super deadly. We need to know where they are – not where they were. Can you rig something up to defeat their stealth abilities entirely, rather than just penetrating them?”

  “I’m sure we could come up with something eventually, but not in the timeframe you need.” She shook her head while running a hand through her short dark hair. “I wish I knew more about how the UDC overcame the stealth technology the Eternals had during the war. I believe the Eternals’ methodology was much more analogous to what these worms are naturally doing. However, I was a second-year cadet in those days and wasn’t privy to those data.”

  “The Eternals had stealth technology?” Bly asked. “Yikes. When was that?”

  “You never heard about it?” Kennedy responded. “It was back in ’19. The Eats had developed a crude form of it for their battle-cruisers. It was effective enough to cause major trouble for the Astra-combat squads.”

  “Ricci told me about those days,” Decker mused. “They lost a lot of fighter ships until Engineering finally found a way to nullify the Eats’ tech.”

  Moira, always eager to make some kind of contribution, suggested, “Would Lieutenant Avery know how they beat it? He’s an engineer.”

  “Probably not,” Con said. “He’s about my age, meaning he’d barely entered secondary ed in ‘19.”

  “What does ‘in 19’ mean?” Moira asked.

  While the others directed perplexed gazes at Moira, Decker had become acclimated to these sorts of questions from her. “In the year 3019.” When the girl continued to look slightly doubtful, glancing over at Sanaa for help, Naiche added, “Which was twenty-two years ago – most likely well before you were born.”

  With a broad smile, Aqila waved a finger in the air. “I just remembered – there is someone on this mission who was an engineer in Command Operations back then – Commander Lindstrom. He might be able to help us.” She quickly sent a request that their CO join them in the lab.

  A few minutes later, Lindstrom strode into the laboratory and listened somewhat impatiently while Aqila explained the problem. “Did it not occur to you, Lateef, to check the Engineering database for a summary of the solution we employed?”

  “Yes, sir, it did, but nothing came up in my search.”

  Raising a skeptical eyebrow that was echoed in his tone, Lindstrom said, “Is that right?” He pulled out his hand-held computer and scrolled to the database listing. “I submitted that document back in—” After stopping abruptly, Lindstrom frowned at his screen for a moment. “Why in the hell is that white paper still marked as classified?” He muttered about bureaucratic incompetence while transferring the data to Lateef’s hand-held with an exasperated swiping motion.

  Decker watched as Aqila quickly scanned the document, with Brodie reading over her shoulder. “Huh, you actually ‘taught’ the sensors to tell the difference between the real signal and the stealth ones. I didn’t realize that was possible.”

  “It’s only possible if there are micro-variances to be found between the authentic sensor bounce-back and the faked ones. That’s usually true with a moving target – like the Eternals’ battle-cruisers, and it sounds like it might also be true of these so-called veil-worms.”

  Still reading the document, Lateef said, “Though it seems it wasn’t quite that simple – the Eternals’ stealth programs automatically re-modulated their signals upon detection.”

  “Yes, but once we calculated all of the possible variances and programed them into the sensors, we were able to permanently defeat their technology.” Lindstrom directed a baleful look at the worm remnant. “This should be a somewhat simpler task since I don’t suppose these repugnant creatures are capable of re-modulating their signal emissions. Some small blessing, at least.” His tone brightened as he said, “Show me all the data you’ve collected so far. This shouldn’t take too long.”

  Brodie and Lateef escorted him over to the main computer and the three of them conferred over the data screen.

  Decker said to Kennedy, “I guess there’s nothing more for us to do until they’ve figured this out.” She smiled at Kayatennae who was still glaring at the worm segment suspended in the clear amber liquid. “Come on, Kay, let’s go for a run. You need the exercise more than that thing needs a guard – it’s not going anywhere.” They started for the lab door and Naiche looked back at Con. “Coming, Boss?”

  “No, you go ahead. I’m overdue in Med-bay for a check-up on my leg and I’ve kept Doctor Uddin waiting long enough.” Finnegan volunteered to take Con’s place and they headed for Aurora’s exit ramp together.

  Once outside, Moira said, “Is it okay if
we walk rather than run? I don’t care much for running.”

  Naiche was busy using her hand scanner to search for any sign of peerazu. She read the area as clear and answered amiably, “Sure – but it’ll still have to be a fast-paced walk to give Kay enough exercise.”

  “Okay, I’ll try. But we could simply take a longer walk, can’t we?”

  “I suppose so – and maybe when we get back, Lindstrom and the others will have solved our problem with the veil-worms.”

  They walked in silence for a moment, watching Kayatennae eagerly sniff the ground. Deck could tell Moira had something on her mind and figured it wouldn’t be long before the girl shared it. She was right. “Is Commander Lindstrom always like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “You know…not very nice?”

  Deck chuckled in surprised amusement. “Was he ‘not very nice’ back in the lab?” When Moira nodded emphatically, Naiche shrugged, saying, “He takes some getting used to. He’s not one to suffer fools gladly – and he doesn’t hide that fact.”

  “But Commander Lateef didn’t do anything foolish – did she?”

  “No, but Lindstrom’s always been pretty intolerant of any perceived errors from his crew and he might be a bit worse right now because he’s under a lot of stress.”

  “You mean because he’s letting you and Commander Kennedy go on this mission in the float-ways?” Since the real reason was nothing Decker was looking to share with Finnegan, she agreed with her supposition. “Why are you so determined to find out what the Intabet know about the peerazu? What does it matter? We’ll be leaving soon.”

  “Yes, but the Maykure and the Featay aren’t. If the Intabet really do know how to manage the peerazu – just think what that knowledge could do for the rest of the Tolutay. They wouldn’t have to live in fear anymore.”

  “That’s very good of you to take such a risk for an alien race.”

  Decker rocked her head from side to side as she considered how to explain the obligation they’d collectively incurred. “As interstellar explorers, the UDC have met all kinds of aliens – good, bad, mainly indifferent – but we still try to leave behind a favorable impression of humanity whenever possible. Here on Tolu we’ve done nothing but cause trouble for these people; Con and I would like to make up for that.”

  Moira’s shoulders slumped and her gaze fell to the ground. “All that trouble for the Maykure and Featay was because of us – the Children of the Valiant. Not those of you from the Lovelace.”

  “Hey,” Deck murmured, gently nudging Finnegan’s arm, “we’re in this together. One of the kindest men I’ve ever known said that we have a duty to help other humans out here – and he was right.”

  “Was it your father who said that?”

  “No, it was Commander Talako Jacoway.” Her voice warmed as she added, “He’s a very good friend of mine.”

  Moira perked up at that news. “Is he a romantic interest of yours? Will I get to meet him?”

  “Yes, he is and…” Naiche paused and somewhat wistfully added, “….and I sincerely hope you’ll get to meet him. If not on this mission – at least on Uniterrae.”

  Moira nodded thoughtfully before asking, “Deck…what if some people – some of us that is, don’t want to go to Uniterrae? Do you think they’ll be able to stay on Jileesa instead?”

  “Who doesn’t want to go to Uniterrae?”

  “A group of us were talking about it, today at lunch….” Finnegan stopped and looked up at Naiche. She interrupted herself, complaining, “You and your crewmates never join us for meals in the canteen – why is that?”

  Avoiding the truth – that the Lovelace crew found the Aurora’s cuisine off-putting, Decker gave her a tight-lipped smile. “Oh, we have all of those meal packs from the shuttle to eat up.” She purposely gave the impression that the packs needed to be consumed before they went bad, knowing the girl wasn’t aware that Decker would be looking to retire before those packs officially expired.

  “I would think you’d all be ready for a hot meal by now.”

  “Meal packs are self-heating. You just pull the tab and ten seconds later – boom, hot meal.” She could tell Moira was about to raise other objections to the idea of meal packs so Naiche adroitly redirected the conversation. “You were saying something about Uniterrae?”

  “Oh, yes. Some people don’t like the idea of living on Uniterrae. It sounds rather…overwhelming – billions of people, having to think about money, and all the choices you said we’re going to have to make—”

  “Hey, it’s not as if we’re gonna throw you all in the deep end and say, ‘sink or swim.’ There will be a lot of support offered to all of you. Like we did for the Chelmanians.” Decker proceeded to tell Moira about Lovelace’s discovery of the ancestors of the Valiant’s sister-ship, Intrepid. “I’m sure the Uniterraen government could even arrange for you to meet with some of them. After all, they’re sort of like your cousins.”

  “I suppose…but does that mean we all do have to go to Uniterrae – whether we want to or not?”

  “That’s not our call.” Expelling an uneasy sigh, Naiche said, “If someone is determined to stay on Jileesa – then, I guess, ultimately that would be up to the Lignatians.”

  “Oh, if that’s the case, then I’m sure it will be fine – the Lignatians would do anything for us.”

  “What makes you say that? What are they like?”

  “They’re the all-knowing givers.” When Deck pressed for a better description, Finnegan hesitated. “Well, I’ve only ever seen one of them – on launch day for the Aurora. Captain Maddox has completed over seventeen age-cycles and says they used to come amongst us regularly in the days of her youth, but only one does now. I don’t know why. That one I met was quite striking, though – smooth and bluish-colored, without features, and glowing like a lamp. Their voices are identical to the one the Aurora uses.”

  “Mechanical, you mean?”

  “I suppose so.”

  Deck grimaced as the aliens took shape in her imagination. “They sound seven kinds of creepy to me.”

  Moira stopped dead and gave Naiche an affronted glare. “That is most unkind. You seem to have taken a dislike to the Lignatians – for no good reason.”

  “Not at all,” Decker retorted, willingly giving the false impression that she was responding to the former accusation, rather than the latter one. She whistled for Kay who was nearly out of sight. “Let’s head back – see what kind of solution the scientists have come up with.”

  ***

  Kennedy was back in the lab, listening to Lateef and Brodie enthuse about the reprogramming they’d done on one of the hand scanners. Bly was saying, “Based on all the tests we’ve been able to run on this remnant, the recalibrations work and the scanner can now reliably detect a veil-worm. Unfortunately, that’s based on an N of one, since we can’t get a larger sample size to do more testing.”

  A cheery voice rang out across the lab. “That’s good enough for me – I trust it.” They all looked up to see that Decker and Kay had burst into the room.

  Con rubbed his hands together and nodded. “I agree with Deck. This sounds like it’ll work great. Perform the same mods on our hand scanners and I’ll tell Lindstrom he can definitely green-light this mission.” He smiled at Naiche. “We’ll leave in the morning at first light. Speaking of which, where’s your little shadow?”

  “Maddox is leading something called, ‘a guided meditation’ for her crew right now and Finnegan said she couldn’t miss it.”

  “Oh, yes, Sanaa always goes to those, as well,” Bly said. “They do it at least twice daily – Maddox says it’s vital to maintain their equilibrium.”

  “Maybe they should do it more often,” Con joked. “Giving Moira something to do besides follow us around would help maintain Deck’s equilibrium, too.”

  “Tell me about it.” Kennedy’s soft chuckles died abruptly when Deck added, “Though, I did promise her that we’d all four have dinner with them t
onight.”

  Bly said, “You did? Why?”

  Kennedy stared at Decker, waiting for the punchline, instead all he got was an apologetic expression. Puzzled by this sudden desire to break weird crimson bread with the Aurora crew, he asked, “Have you forgotten about that gray so-called ‘meat’? We’re not that desperate yet – there’re still plenty of meal packs in the—”

  “I know – but it looks like us avoiding their canteen is starting to hurt their feelings. I tried to get out of it, but Finnegan kept bringing it up. It’s obviously pretty important to her. How bad could one meal be? They do have fresh greens from their hydroponic gardens, you know. That’ll be good for a change.”

  “Yeah, I asked Sanaa about that,” Aqila retorted. “They only serve them steamed, with dilute acid and salt – nothing else.”

  Decker scratched her head and shrugged. “It’s sorta like a warm salad, I guess.” She looked up at Con. “Come on, we can do it – we ate roasted ash-mice on Centauria that one time. This can’t possibly be any worse.”

  Her brow creased and nose delicately crinkled, Aqila exclaimed, “You ate ash-mice?”

  Con said, “Yeah, our squad had gotten trapped behind enemy lines and food supplies ran short.” He sighed and then threw his hands up in defeat. “Okay, Deck, you win. We’ll have one dinner with them. But if this turns out to be my last meal – I’m gonna haunt the shit out of you.”

  “No way will this be our last meal.” With a light laugh and a wink, she said, “We’ll have breakfast before we leave in the morning.”

  Chapter 15

  Invisible Fish

  "Invisible fish swim this ghost ocean now described by waves of sand, by water-worn rock." Joy Harjo, Invisible Fish

  Decker and Kennedy would have preferred a quiet start to their mission to Intabah, but their wishes were not widely known and were therefore widely disregarded. In addition to all of their Lovelace crewmates, a large contingent of the Aurora people braved the early morning chill to see them off.