“He means the flying units and the crab-things,” JT clarified. “It's true we took some casualties, but given the numbers on their side we never should have made it back to the ship. What's more, humans would have quickly turned a supply of antimatter into a variety of weapons—ones powerful enough to destroy our ship at a distance.”
“I see.” Jack stood quietly for a moment, a look of introspection on his face. “Well, thank you gentlemen, that is certainly useful information to ponder. I have something that you might wish to consider. To start with, what might an alien warship look like, and by that I mean its capabilities and weapons. It would be good to have some estimate of what we might be facing in the future.”
“Certainly.” Rajiv smiled. “And?”
“And consider the possibility that those we have faced so far are the equivalent of local native levies, fighting with substandard weapons, and not the real foe at all. According to Dr. Tropsha, the creatures we have encountered are actually cyborg constructs—part machine, part organic—that are probably no more intelligent than farm animals.”
“Well they certainly didn't react like a group of humans would,” JT replied. “So you're saying we haven't met the real E.T. yet?”
“Precisely, Mr. Taylor. I do not believe we have met our true enemy, but that day is sure to come.”
Cargo Hold, Return Voyage Day 3
The Captain called an all hands assembly in the cargo hold to have a memorial service for those who had died. The crew was summoned with the traditional words, “All hands bury the dead.” Four caskets were present on the hold deck, each covered with an American flag.
After talking to the Gunny and then the other surviving Marines it was decided that the remains of Cpl. Sizemore and PFC Davis were so badly disfigured that transporting them back to Earth was probably not called for. They would end up with closed casket funerals anyway, assuming next of kin could be found to hold one. The same applied to Tommy. Susan, of course, was already gone, her atoms dispersed across the Beta Comae system, her coffin empty.
The Chief had taken the Captain's order to “get that trash off my ship,” literally. He had Hitch and Jacobs throw the Russian's corpse out the port personnel airlock. To ensure that his body was not recovered by the aliens, it was then vaporized by the X-ray laser battery. At the end of the ceremony for the others, their remains would also be vaporized.
Since the deceased were all nominally Christians, a couple of traditional hymns were sung, everyone joining in irrespective of personal religious affiliation. The Captain read the approved verses of scripture for such occasions, followed by a eulogy.
“This mission has gained knowledge of critical importance to the survival of life on Earth. None of us wish to see our world laid waste, like the dead planet we found in this system. Not withstanding, we have paid a steep and terrible price for this knowledge. We have lost several dear companions in combat with opponents we do not really know or understand. The fallen Marines, Cpl. Leonard Sizemore and PFC Harold Davis, died fighting for our world in accordance with the highest traditions of the United States Marine Corps.
“Tommy Wendover, though not a willing participant in this expedition, nonetheless died aiding his shipmates while under enemy fire. I would ask those of us who thought ill of him to say a prayer on his behalf, as I have.
“Finally, there is Susan Write. Miss Write came on board as a news reporter, looking for a story. She, like many of you, found herself on a mission not of her own choosing. Regardless, when the boarding party called for assistance, knowing how critical our mission is, she volunteered to go into the alien space station to help ensure the station's destruction. Through circumstances no one foresaw she became trapped in the aliens' antimatter repository.
“In the end, we know that Susan herself set off the charges, detonating the cache of antimatter. She had waited alone in that place, giving the rest of us time to escape, before making sure that the aliens could not disarm the demolition charges she herself helped put in place. Susan Write gave her life so that we might live to complete our mission. She was one of the most courageous people I have ever known.”
Standing in the ranks, head bowed, silent tears staining his cheeks, Billy Ray said in a quiet voice, “You know, Bobby, I really loved that gal.” Bobby, standing next to him, placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and replied, “I know you did, pardner. And though I'm not an expert in such things, I think she loved you too.”
Eulogy complete, the Captain finished with words from the common book of prayer, slightly modified.
Unto Almighty God we commend the souls of our companions departed, and we commit their bodies to the void; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; at whose coming in glorious majesty to judge the world, space shall give up its dead.
The flags were removed and folded, they would be delivered to the next of kin back on Earth. One by one the caskets were carried to the crew airlock, forward of the cargo bay, and ejected into space. The Marines carried their own while the Chief dragooned Hitch, Jacobs and Adams to carry Tommy Wendover. Susan's empty casket was carried by JT, Billy Ray, Lt. Curtis and Dr. Tropsha, her closest friends.
The crew reformed ranks in the hold and watched on the bulkhead monitors as four shots were fired from the port X-ray battery. Each discharge brought a flair of light as one of the drifting coffins was vaporized.
* * * * *
The service complete, Captain Sutton again addressed those assembled. “As most of you know, this ship has no name. We have been referring to her as Parker's Folly for lack of anything better but I think, now that people have fought and died on her, it is time for a proper christening. I would like to propose to the ship's company that we name this ship after Susan Write, the hero of Beta Comae.”
“Peggy Sue,” said Billy Ray, in a loud voice.
“I beg your pardon, Billy Ray,” the Captain asked, “what did you say?”
“Susan's real name was Peggy Sue,” Billy Ray replied. “Peggy Sue Whitaker of Kermit, Texas.”
“I can confirm that, Captain,” added JT. “Susan Write was her TV News name, but she was really Peggy Sue Whitaker.”
“And you feel that she would prefer being known as Peggy Sue?”
“As much as she made fun of being from West Texas she was proud of who she was and where she came from, Sir,” JT continued. “I think that she would rather be remembered by the name her parents gave her than as a reporter for KWTEX TV News.”
Billy Ray, over come with emotion and barely able to speak managed to choke out, “I agree.”
“Very well, the name changes but the circumstances do not. All in favor of naming this ship the Peggy Sue say Aye.”
A resounding chorus of “Ayes” echoed across the cargo hold. “That's it then. By acclimation of the crew this vessel is now officially the Peggy Sue. Dr. Tropsha, would you please do the honors?”
Ludmilla stepped forward, carrying a bottle of champagne. “In the name of the people of Earth, I christen thee Peggy Sue. May God bless her and all who sail in her.” She then smashed the bottle of champagne against the forward bulkhead releasing a flood of foam and broken glass.
A cheer went up from the assembled ship's complement. Smiling, the Captain spoke into his collar pip, “Folly, you will henceforth respond to the name Peggy Sue.”
Within the computer's quantum matrix new routines were called forth and executed. Good, the continuity of sentient life has been reestablished. The Earth creatures have picked up the torch. The ship replied, in a voice that sounded suspiciously similar to Susan's, “Captain, I am honored to be called Peggy Sue.”
The Bridge, Peggy Sue, 12 Hours Later
The crew returned to their duties and a more normal schedule following the funeral. The air of darkness that had inhabited the ship since the destruction of the space station began to lift. As the Captain had hoped the ceremony had cathartic power, helping to heal the pain inflicted by the battle's losses. Of
course, the free flowing champagne in the lounge afterward hadn't hurt. Once the ship slipped into alter-space it would be a week of smooth sailing, time for a sense of normalcy to return.
“Mr. Taylor, are we on course for alter-space entry?” the Captain asked JT, who was once again manning the navigator's console.
“Yes, Captain. We should reach the insertion point in under a minute.”
Jack looked around the bridge, at the crew at their stations. I do love a well ordered ship, he mused, and this random collection of strangers is now a damn fine crew. He looked to the helmsmen. “Mr. Vincent, is our vector correct?”
“Aye, Sir. We will be there in 15 seconds.” Billy Ray was still not back to his old self, but the raw wound of Susan's loss was starting to heal. Having the whole ship's company honor her was a help.
“Very well. Peggy Sue, take us into alter-space on the helmsman's mark.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” replied the ship's computer.
“Three, two, one, mark!” called Billy Ray. The ship's view ports went opaque and the deck shuddered slightly. In normal space the ship shimmered and vanished.
The Peggy Sue was going home.
Epilogue
Beta Comae System, 1 Day Later
Far out in space, an alien probe ship headed away from Beta Comae. Well off that system's ecliptic plain, the ship was already more than 30 AU away from the star shrinking behind it—as far away as Neptune from Sol. It had been waiting silently, observing the system and refueling station when a strange ship, closely followed by another probe like itself, entered the system from alter-space. The station had relayed the burst of information the second probe delivered just before its destruction.
The deep probe continued to observe as the strangers destroyed the fueling station and departed. With the alien ship gone, other directives stirred the probe to life, powering up its main drive and directing it to a distant destination. Now the probe's objective was a point in 3-space that would allow it to drop into alter-space and bypass the cosmic speed limit imposed by the speed of light.
Pathways through alter-space represent lines of equal gravitational potential between significant massive bodies, usually stars. Other factors can complicate things, but generally, the more massive the two objects—meaning the steeper the gradient of their gravitational wells—the closer in the transfer points and the faster the transit. The transfer point that the probe was seeking lay well out from Beta Comae, implying that the object on the other end was tiny, as such objects go. In fact, what waited at the other end of the alter-space passage was not a star at all, but a planet.
It is a common misconception that the star Earth orbits is an everyday run of the mill sort of star. Perhaps this is because astronomers call Sol a dwarf, implying that it is of diminutive size. While it is true that there are stars more than 150 times the mass and a thousand times the size of the Sun, the fact of the matter is that Earth's star is no piddling example. The star that warms humanity's home world is in the 80th percentile of all stars in the Universe.
That there are so many small stars only became apparent to human science as telescopes improved. There are tiny red dwarfs with no more than 50% the mass of the Sun, and they can be much smaller. Some have as little as 7.5% the mass of the Sun, the minimum mass needed for a star to support fusion in its core—the nuclear fire that makes all stars shine. Below this mass are failed stars, called brown dwarfs, and below that giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn.
Planets are usually thought of as being kept in thrall by a star, condemned to orbit endlessly until their parent star goes nova or swells into a red giant at the end of its life. But, as human scientists have recently discovered, there are a large number of planets that are not trapped in orbits around stars—these are classified as rogue planets. Dark vagabond worlds, between the size of Jupiter and the smallest brown dwarfs, they wander the interstellar void. Warmed only by gravitational contraction and radioactive decay, they exist in a far different realm than planets found in the zone of life surrounding G type dwarf stars.
Life, however, is tenacious, inventive and infinitely patient. Even in the dark and frozen environs of these rogue worlds life exists—intelligent life, malevolent life. Life that, for reasons known only to itself, looks upon the warm and verdant worlds circling true stars with hatred and disdain.
It was to a world ruled by these dark creatures that the probe ship was headed. Following its shallow path through alter-space would take five Earth months to cross the 1.2 light-years to its dark masters' frigid realm. But that was its purpose, to watch the bright worlds and to inform the masters when a new infestation of warm life erupted—for that was something that the dark ones just could not abide.
Table of Contents
Preface
Prologue: Arabian Peninsula, 1986
1. West Texas, Present Day
2. The Parker Ranch
3. On Board Parker's Folly
4. Unwanted Guests
5. Unscheduled Departure
6. Canterbury, England, 1178 A.D.
7. Low Earth Orbit
8. Rescue In Space
9. Welcome Aboard
10. A Trip To The Moon
11. Captain And Crew
12. Crater Giordano Bruno
13. Pursuit Of The Alien Ship
14. Discovering Alter Space
15. Afternoon Watch
16. Love Finds A Way
17. Beta Comae Berenices
18. Space Mushroom
19. The Alien Egg Room
20. Lt. Bear Finds Another Probe Ship
21. Susan's Scacrifice
22. Trechery On Board
23. Peggy Sue Goes Home
Epilogue: Beta Comae, 1 Day Later
Parker's Folly Page 37