USS Kepler Dawn

by Gerald Lane Summers

  The forest itself smelled clean and bright and reminded me of the many videos we had watched while on our journey to Dawn. Every conceivable place on Earth had been digitally photographed so the curious could visit the home planet anytime they wanted. Artificial scents were included in the videos and we could experience the full beauty of whatever landscape we chose to visit. It was a great touch.

  The trees surrounding our campsite must have been very old but did not give off that appearance. It also made me wonder of the validity of the Umon story. If all animal life had been destroyed, why were we seeing this contradictory evidence? Humans had not provided these animals. It would have taken years for the fish to grow as large as they now were. Had they recovered without the Umon knowing about it?

  We spent a final night in the shelter and took off for the bay the next morning.

  I fabricated a walking stick and was using it to probe along the edge of the river, trying to see if I could flush anything up that we might add to our menu.

  As we poked along, admiring the beauty of the area, we heard more panicky sounds from the fish. I looked all around to see what might be causing them to do it. Nothing caught my eye and the fish continued to leap high out of the creek. Suddenly a huge Umon elder came into sight. It had no necklace feature and was slowly wading upriver, its huge eyes curved and focused downward toward the water.

  Without warning, it stood up straight and stared at us. “Computer, contact the Umon in the river and tell it we mean it no harm.”

  “I’ve already done that. Unfortunately, from its expression it appears to be hostile. Also, it is not one of those we have met before. It may be what you would call a lone wolf, perhaps one that has been kicked out of the main tribe.”

  “What should we do to emphasize our peaceful intent?”

  “I’m not sure. You might try extending your arms with your palms up as before.”

  I did that and the Umon immediately fired a burst of focused microwaves in our direction. It was a hasty movement and passed between the two of us.

  We both dove behind a large boulder conveniently lying next to the creek and started yelling at the Umon to cease fire.

  The computer also yelled, but in the Umon language. It did no good. “Stand by and stay out of sight,” it said.

  In a few seconds, our fighter was hovering above the Umon, its cannon pointing directly at the huge creature. A loud screech of static came from the ship as the computer tried to communicate with the thing.”

  “Raise the ship’s shields,” I yelled.

  “Done, but I don’t know if it will stop the microwave beams.”

  It did, and the Umon seemed puzzled. It tried once again and this time it exploded. Just like that. The Umon blew up as if it had ingested a great deal of explosive. Large chunks of its body flew all over the place and of those that fell in the creek many were gobbled up by the fish. It was a fish boil battle unlike any ever likely to be seen again.

  “What happened?”

  The computer paused for a moment and then suggested that when the Umon attempted to fire a larger blast, its presence in the water shorted its entire energy collection system.

  “Apparently they cannot upload energy from the planet as effectively when they are in water,” I said.

  The computer was silent for a moment. “This is not a good day for me,” it said. “I am ashamed to say I had been within a nanosecond of firing the cannon. While he was not human, he was a sentient being and my protective program was conflicted the whole time. I do not know if the cannon would have killed the Umon, but I think the odds of it doing so were very high.”

  “Jean-Luk, don’t worry about that. You did the exactly the right thing. You were carrying out your duty to protect us. Sometimes such orders conflict with other directives, but the most important was our lives. He was trying to kill us. And, of course, you did not kill the Umon. His own anger and impatience did it.”

  “Thank you Commander. That is at least a comfort.”

  “So, now what do we do,” I asked?”

  “We must notify the Umon council immediately,” Miki said.

  “Are you sure? They may not take this well.”

  The computer volunteered. “Yes, Commander Sakura is correct. We must notify them or risk violating the terms of our treaty.”

  “What treaty? We haven’t finalized anything.”

  “Yes, but a temporary agreement was reached in the beginning whereby neither side was to harm the other while complying with the verbal terms for an agreement to transfer title. Final agreement was to be reached when all the temporary terms had been satisfied.”

  I thought about this for a moment. “Did you record all of this?”

  “Yes. You previously instructed me to record everything so we could show the people of Dawn how the Umon lived.”

  “Okay, contact the elders if you can and ask them to come down to see what has happened. Tell them we were confronted by an elder who immediately attacked us. It was in the river when we apparently startled it with our presence. We were fired upon and took cover. It fired again and then exploded. Tell them we have video of the entire event.”

  “I will have to do that from the fighter at a higher altitude. There are no suitable relays here and they are on the far side of the satellite.”

  “Okay, do it and then come right back. There may be more of them around.”

  Chapter 34

  Our fighter returned with a whoosh as it flew directly overhead, using up the energy it had gathered on its journey. It made a wide sweeping turn while reversing its AG engine and then settled in precisely the same spot as before. In a few minutes, two more fighters arrived and I recognized them as models designed specifically for Umon elders. They were much larger through the fuselage than ours. Both were expertly flown and touched down so that all three fighters were properly lined up.

  The cockpit of the first machine opened and the massive body of the elder flying it popped out. It did not try to climb down the ladder. It came out as if ejected by the survival seat. The sound was like that of a cork being pulled from a bottle of Champaign. A second later, the other Umon did exactly the same thing. Soon, we were all standing together.

  I was impressed. These Umon had mastered standard maneuvers and were clearly capable of putting the machines through all their paces. Such expertise was usually earned over long period of years, not the few we had been in the system.

  “Welcome, elders,” I said as I bowed slightly. “We have sad news for you and felt compelled to report it immediately. One of your people has been killed in a manner we do not yet understand. We do have a recording of the event made by our computer and you can judge for yourselves if we bear any responsibility for it.

  Jean-Luk, could you play the video of the event in question?”

  “Yes, sir. But I have no video display screen here. It will have to be holographic. Is that acceptable?”

  “Yes, please proceed.”

  The display showed Miki and I walking to the creek, then down along it to the point where we’d come upon the Umon. The view was from our rear. When the two elders saw the Umon in the river fire upon us, they both gasped. Or, at least, it sounded like a gasp within the AM frequency range.

  They were clearly fascinated by the hologram and what they saw happening.

  “Why would he do that?” I asked. “Do either of you know this Umon and what he was doing out here? We are terribly sorry for what happened, but cannot condemn the computer for attempting to carry out its protective function. Fortunately, the Umon managed to blow himself up before he could have been stopped. Nevertheless, it pains us deeply that one of your species has died because of our presence.

  They looked at each other and then sank down, inviting us to do the same.

  “Yes, we all know this Umon,” the first pilot said. “His name, Horribus, is used to terrify our young as a means of keeping them from wandering too far out of the stalks. Many hundreds of years ago he lost his mind
, killed several of our people and then escaped by running out onto the prairie. We searched for him for years and then gave up. Ultimately, we realized he had retreated into the forests here in the south and there was no way we could effectively scan for him.

  Most of us thought he would die from exposure to the radiation, but apparently he did not. At that time, it was still quite strong. It is less now, but still detectable. We can only guess that he had a stronger immunity to it than the rest of us, and of course there is another possibility. The radiation may never have been as dangerous to us as it had been to the animal life.”

  “Yes,” Miki volunteered. “Some animals have strong resistance to radiation. In fact, before our people boarded Kepler Dawn they were all required to undergo genetic transplants that made them immune to most radiation. No one has died from radiation exposure since we left the Earth, so it has clearly worked. In fact, no one has died from any cause during the voyage. That is one of the reasons we regulate the birth rate so carefully.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Yes, our medical systems are very good.”

  “This is all good to know.”

  “If you wish, we can add medical supplies and training to our list of negotiable items. Much of it would require an education program for selected individuals and is not easy to master, but the machines are basically self-executing. You tell them what you want them to do, and they do it.”

  “Now,” I asked. “Were you all aware of the fish and other animals still living on the planet, and if so why have you not moved out of the stalks before now?”

  They both paused and glanced at each other. I had the feeling they were embarrassed or ashamed of something they did not want to talk about. I did not consider taking the question back.

  We waited for a reply.

  Finally, the first pilot spoke again. He apparently outranked the other.

  “It is about who we are as a species. We knew of the fish, but as you have no doubt noticed, we tend to be solitary. Few of us were willing to leave the safety of the stalks to hunt for them. Horribus was one of them, and he only did it after losing him mind.

  After the alien invasion we became more solitary, all in the vain hope that if it happened again no one would be able to find us. But, they did and now you are here. While you have been the opposite of the aliens, you are a reminder of how poorly we have grown since our evolution into sentience. We should be much more advanced than we are and this is not a good feeling. Many of our kind prefer to go back to the way we were or to at least not allow you to influence our growth. But, the majority do not like being inferior and they want to do something about it. We evolved a very effective means of defending ourselves and that has led us to denigrate education and our own advancement in the sciences. Without fear and all the food we need, there is little to stimulate our desire for advancement.

  Another matter that you cannot be aware of is how we live. You came here yesterday in the hope that we would show you our cities and towns, but the reality is that we do not congregate in large groups at all. Each of us goes our own way, male and female alike. Our ability to control the EM spectrum allows us to communicate with any other of our species any time we wish. No one gets married as you do, they just live together for a period until a child is born. After that, the children must learn and grow up by themselves. They do that by observation and curiosity. You take much better care of your population and assure them of a safe place to live and a good education. This has been a matter of contention for us and a great debate has been going on since you arrived. The two of us are of the group that wants to grow and advance, but to be fair no decision should be made on any of the things you offer until all have had their say.”

  I looked at Miki and nodded. “I believe that would be the best course. You do not want to create a rift among your people and would have less chance of that occurring if all were required to attend and discuss the proper course.”

  Miki added, “Yes. I, too, believe it is the best course and if you wish, we would be happy to attend so your people can ask questions of us. What you will be proposing would be a monumental decision that will change your society for all time. If we can help in the process, we will. On the other hand, you must know we are approaching the time when we will take our ship and leave this system. After that, how you and the colonists on Dawn interact will be up to you.

  I would be happy to conduct classes on diplomacy to help facilitate that interaction. There are certain principles involved that if known, could materially affect how you work it out. In fact, I think it would be best if you all attended the classes together rather than individually.”

  We talked about this for some time and then told the Umon we were on a vacation, a word they did not understand. We explained it to them as a necessary process of recovery from long periods of physical and mental stress. It did not make much sense to them because they were basically always on vacation. Nevertheless, they were intuitive enough to realize it was important to us.

  “We will be leaving shortly to travel back to Dawn. We will then explore the southern hemisphere there. The original idea was for us to locate pleasant natural places for others to seek peace and quiet.”

  They nodded, asked us to contact them in two weeks or so to discuss the situation further and see what the other Umon wanted to do. We agreed.

  As the two AG fighters took off, circled us and waggled their wings as they headed back to the bamboo, I couldn’t resist. “Well, so much for the prime directive. Now, Jean-Luk, prepare the fighter for departure. We will clean up here and go back to Kepler Dawn to report this new situation to the captain. After that, we will continue our vacation.”

  Chapter 35

  After reporting to the Captain and explaining what had happened on Umon, he agreed we should continue with our vacation plans. He and Smokey would take the matter up with the Umon and finalize negotiations between the two groups. Heartfield represented the colonists and finally appeared to have abandoned his superior attitude. He’d seen the power of the Umon and realized fighting with them would be a no win situation. So, we set off to explore Dawn with high expectations.

  Miki wanted to try flying the AG fighter. It was not difficult, I assured her, although it would require attention if done completely by hand. Maneuvering was another matter. She was not ready for that. Unlike early aircraft, these fighters were equipped with inertial dampeners which offset the effect of centrifugal forces and allowed the pilots to make otherwise impossible moves, turns and accelerations. With the dampeners engaged, the antigravity engines would offset any such effect.

  I gave her a basic course of flight instruction and assured her the ship was moron free. If its destruction was imminent, it would do whatever was necessary to extricate us from the situation. If we got lost, it would take us wherever we told it to go. Kepler Dawn was designated as “home,” and all we would have to do to get back would be to tell it how fast we wanted to get there.

  “What a lovely toy,” she said.

  After a half hour of waggling all around the sky, she got the idea. She must be easy on the controls to eliminate jerky moves. Once she understood and mastered that aspect of flight, we settled into a nice comfortable cruise. She set her course due south which is where the most empty land was said to be. It was also home to the great canyon we had observed from orbit, some mountains, tall trees and numerous rivers and creeks.

  When we spotted the canyon, our first instincts were to follow it to its full length. After two hours of flight without an ending in sight, we decided to fly down into it following the river.

  “How are you doing, kiddo. Have you had enough beauty for the day?”

  “I’d like to go down lower to check for camping spots. Unfortunately, I’m not comfortable doing it. Down low I feel like the ship is moving too fast for me to keep up. You take over and I’ll just watch.”

  I agreed. “We can work on your low level skills later.”

  The river we chose
wound through the massive canyon, its color a deep royal blue which I thought likely the result of its interaction with the red light of the dwarf star.

  After swooping down the river for several miles, turning and banking like an old hand; I decided I was pushing the envelope. I slowed down and we followed the river’s course just above it at a speed of no more than forty miles an hour and an altitude of fifty feet. Eventually, we spotted a flat grassy plain that looked perfect for a campsite. I circled the area once, looking for special places we might visit, and then set the craft down softly near a flat area and a small creek fed by water gushing from the cliffs.

  After turning off the AG engine, I activated the automatic exit ladder, opened the double wide canopy and stepped out. As Miki came down, I took her by the waist and lifted her onto the ground. Again, I marveled at her diminutive size, perfectly balanced body, feather-like weight and the incredible scent of her hair. I had a sudden desire for lemon meringue pie and snuffled my nose into her hair. She looked at me like I was mad.

  Both of us were entranced by the colors in the canyon, every layer different from the next. I looked around and realized it was rapidly getting dark and we did not gape long.

  The fact that the planet was ten percent larger than Earth had apparently protected it from the tendency of close-in planets to become tidally locked with their star, but its revolution about its axis was still a bit faster than that of Earth and days were short.

  I removed the shelter from an outside storage compartment on the ship’s fuselage and hurriedly put it up. It was a remarkable thing designed to protect the ship’s inhabitants from all of the vagaries of weather and could be quickly popped up. It was easy enough, because when the compact packet was dropped to the ground it automatically opened and secured itself. The material it was made of hardened into a form of plastic capable of keeping us either warm or cool, whatever the need was. We also knew it could just as easily reform itself into the packet for storage on the ship because it was made of a reactive material that could return to its previous state with the push of a button.