Earth to Centauri: The First Journey (Captain Anara - Antariksh Book 1)

by Kumar L

  Anara looked at the small object in her hand. The alien spoke to her again. This time its voice came clear through her suit. She looked at her team and all of them seemed to be hearing the exchange. It looked like they had managed to isolate the team’s comm frequency and were transmitting on the same. And they seemed to enjoy the advantage of having an English language database. She moved her fingers and input her system to record the exchange and build its own translation database.

  ‘Why have you come here?’ she heard it repeat the question.

  She composed herself and replied ,’We have come to meet the people who sent us a signal to our planet. I think the better question is - why have you called us here and then attacked my ship?’ She hoped her tone would demonstrate her seriousness. And by the way - we are pleased to meet you too! - she thought.

  Apparently the aliens understood her well enough. ‘The signal was a mistake send by some of our people who want to expose our world to other species. We are telling you now to go back.’

  ‘And on whose authority are you telling us this. Do you speak for your government?’

  ‘Government? We do not recognise the Discat’s authority in this matter. These new-worlders have been allowed to stay on HuZryss only because of our mercy. We will not allow any other aliens to infest our planets.’

  ‘Infest? You call living, breathing, intelligent human life as infestation?’ Anara felt her temper rising.

  ‘Human life is not our responsibility. We did not call them here, we do not want them here. We removed them from Kifrwss and now we will remove you also.’

  ‘I don’t care really what you have done and what you believe. I represent the combined people of Earth here. Since you speak our language and the complete lack of surprise in finding us here, I think you know more about my planet than we know about yours. I will speak only to the proper representatives of your planet. I will not respond to your threats.’

  Her own team stood around her equally defiant while the HuZryss were listening to this exchange in shock.

  ‘We have already defeated your ship, you have lost. You have to go back right now and you will not return.’

  ‘And if we refuse?’

  ‘If you refuse then you will stay here forever. You will never see your planet again.’

  ‘That’s a very strong threat. I hope you have the means to back that up besides one measly ship.’

  She saw that she had hit her mark, the Kifrwss was rattled. They did not have the means to back up the threat, she realised.

  The leader stood silent for some time. Then it barked some orders to its people who pulled out some articles and pointed towards her team. There was no need to guess that these were weapons.

  Rawat moved to draw his own gun but she restrained him with her left hand. There would be a time to fight but this was not it. She needed to keep these guys talking and learn what she could and to give Ryan time to recoup and come back. She and her crew were pushed into the room. Surprisingly, their equipment and weapons were not taken. She guessed the Kifrwss’s believed that without a ship the Earth people were not going anywhere.

  23rd June 2117

  The Asteroid

  Eighteen hours had passed since the ship had landed on the asteroid for repairs. Ryan had multiple teams working on getting the ship back in shape. He felt dead tired. While he’d ensured all teams got at least a couple of hours of rest and rotation in their work, he and Madhavan could not do the same. They were both at their stations directing their respective teams. Limited power had been restored but most was being directed towards the repair efforts. Half the ship was still dark and non-essential systems were down.

  He was fortunate there had been no major injuries in the attack. That seemed to be as much due to the ship’s construction as due to the fact that the aliens were probably not aiming to kill. That gave him hope that the Captain and the team would be safe for some more time. He had checked all visual and audio records from the ground sent earlier but there was no further news. He knew the ground team data would be continuously uploaded to the pod on the pole of the planet and his first task would be to retrieve the logs. He also needed to figure out about the radio telescope on the ground.

  ‘Manisha, time for team 3 to return. Get team 1 prepared please.’

  ‘Already on it, Commander. Ready to go in 15 minutes. We have completed repairs on areas three, five and seven. Six more to go.’

  ‘Alright and how are we doing on time?’

  ‘Two hours delay on sections two and eight, Sir,’ reported Manisha. ‘We had two tool breakdowns and we are down one engineer who’s now recovering in medical.’

  This was going as well as he could hope for. Ryan needed some more time to figure out his course of action once the ship was ready. An idea was forming in his mind to get a slight tactical advantage in rescuing his crewmates. It would require a bit of guile and a lot of daring.

  Meanwhile in the heart of the ship Madhavan’s team was struggling to get power back. The backup generators had been working for the last eighteen hours and he could manage on them for many days if required. But that would leave the ship low on fuel for backup especially for the return journey. He needed the main engines back online as soon as possible.

  In the back of his mind he was replaying the Captain’s orders regarding the radio telescope on the surface. He needed to hack into it but with everything going on he wasn’t sure he would be able to get enough time to do that. He needed to get near the telescope to scan for its frequency and then find a way to break into the system. Though he still wasn’t sure what the Captain hoped to achieve by this whole exercise.

  He was also looking for ways to enhance the defensiveness of the ship to withstand future attacks. They couldn’t always be running away to carry out repairs. He had thought of increasing the armour on the hull but that would require too much specialised material which he did not have. There was however something he wanted to adapt for defensive use. The multi-layered navigation system.

  His engineers had identified the exact frequencies of the laser beams being used by the aliens in the two attacks. The frequency had not changed and he knew it would not be easy for the aliens to modify the frequency of their weapon without major changes to the whole emitter setup. He now had two people working on modifying some of his own navigation shield emitters to match. It had never been tried before but he hoped it would provide some amount of additional protection to the ship.

  Most of the crew had taken to rest in the cafeteria itself which was churning out endless cups of coffee and plates of food. It resembled a refugee centre with various people curled up asleep in corners and the continuous coming and going of people. There was some noticeable despair after the latest setback but most of the crew was too tired to think about the enemy or the future. There was just too much to be done and as always the time was too short.

  24th June 2117

  Captives

  All humans on the planet had been confined to the communal hall and it was quite crowded in there. Anara and her team were sitting quietly in one corner. She did not feel like having company right now, just some space to think and plan the next move. It had been almost twelve hours since their meeting with the Kifrwss. They had refused to speak to the humans again so far, though she had sent Joe with a request two times. She was disappointed but not surprised by this development.

  They had all slept on and off for a few hours on the rough floor. The suits were not designed for sleeping and she felt sore all over. The Doctor was however firm on the need to keep inside the suits. There were any number of organisms in the air which could kill the team in his opinion and a bit of discomfort was a small price to pay.

  She stretched and got up. Three pairs of eyes followed her as she slowly walked among the sleeping bodies around her. Joe was sitting a few meters away from her and looked fresh enough to talk. These guys had a different body rhythm she’d noticed. Probably adapted from their time on Kifrwss and Huzryss. Bett
er get used to this day night cycle, she might be living the same way shortly - she thought drily.

  She gestured to Joe to follow her and they walked together to the corridor next to the hall. It was empty and they stood side by side.

  ‘How are you, Captain?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m alright, Joe, just couldn’t seem to get to sleep. So I thought maybe you and I could chat up and maybe I could find out more from you about these people who are holding us here.’

  ‘Yes. But I have some question also.’

  ‘Uh huh. Why don’t you start first then? We have time on our hands - I don’t think we are going anywhere soon.’

  ‘What is Earth like, Captain Anara? What do people do there?’

  Anara smiled at these questions. It was time to give Joe perspectives from Earth. She called up a screen and called up videos of Earth.

  ‘This is my home, Joe,’ she pointed towards the blue, green and white sphere as it rotated slowly on the screen. 10 billion people Joe - just like you and me.’

  ‘It’s so beautiful,’ Joe said as he watched the video on the screen, raptured by the scenes of everyday life. ‘My planet looks so dull in front of so much colour.’

  ‘And here are our children, Joe,’ said Anara as images of children playing came up.

  Joe’s eyes lit up. ‘They are beautiful!’’

  “Children are how we reproduce, Joe. I guess the Kifrwss are reptilian and may reproduce from eggs and I really do not know if you have seen their young ones. You remember your own childhood, of course?

  “Childhood?’ he sounded confused.

  ‘When you were younger. On Kifrwss .. in the building.’ she prompted.

  ‘Oh that was long ago. I don’t .. remember much. We were in .. rooms. Many days we stay there. They do many things. It was .. difficult,’ he said with sadness in his voice.

  ‘I can understand it would not have been easy for people as young as you. Tell me how did you get your names?’ She had been wondering why all of them had such simple names.

  ‘I don’t know. The Guardians said these are our new names. They said it will be easy when people came looking for us.’

  ‘Did they tell you who would come looking for you?’

  ‘No. We asked but they did not tell. We were .. taught the new language every day. But only few learnt to speak well.’

  ‘Hmm. Okay.’ She paused, thinking, while Joe kept looking at the videos playing on the display. She made her decision.

  ‘You know, there is something I had to tell you.’

  He looked sideways at her, inquiringly.

  ‘We found something when we tested you earlier today. One of the women is pregnant.’

  ‘Pregnant?’ asked a new voice behind Anara.

  Anara turned sharply to find Lucy standing there.

  ‘What is pregnant?’ asked Lucy.

  ‘Er..,’ Anara hesitated. ‘It’s you. Lucy. You are pregnant.’

  ‘What is pregnant? I don’t understand.’ said Joe.

  ‘It means she is going to have a baby, Joe, a child. The first child to be born on Huzryss. The first true Huzryss.’

  ‘Baby? Child?’ Lucy seemed in a shock.

  ‘Yes. Its .. the way humans .. multiply .. reproduce. The females give birth to babies and then they are called mothers. Lucy you are going to be a mother! On Earth this is a very happy occasion. And don’t worry, I will have Dr. Khan explain everything to you. You will of course be telling us all about the father too.’ she said smiling looking meaningfully at Joe.

  She left the two of them together and went to find Dr Khan. She needed to brief him and get him to talk to Lucy. And after that she was going to force the hand of the Kifrwss’s.

  As she walked back to her team the door to the hall opened. To her surprise, through the diffused sunlight she could make out three Kifrwss enter the hall. She changed her direction and made her way towards them. She stepped right in front of them blocking their path. Hopefully this would be a positive development.

  ‘Good to see you back,’ she said, ‘hope you’ve come to apologize and release us so we can discuss the situation.’

  ‘Release? No release. No discussion,’ said the apparent leader, his voice coming through the translator. ‘We have come to see if you are ready to go back. Your ship has returned to pick you up we think.’

  ‘I don’t think so, ‘replied Anara coldly. ‘They have not come to pick us up, they are here to send you off.’ She kept her fingers crossed hoping Ryan did have something up his sleeve.

  24th June 2117

  Strategy

  The last few hours had been even more hectic on board the ship. Repairs had been completed and with full power restored, the crew had tested all sub systems to make sure they were in working order. Ryan had managed to force two long breaks for the crew in groups and after a few hours of sleep he himself felt more alert and confident.

  ‘The FTL system still needed work to be done but everything else is functional for the moment, Sir,’ reported Madhavan as he stepped into the conference room. After a long time he was smiling.

  Ryan waved him to a seat. Manisha and the Keisham were also sitting around the table.

  ‘Lieutenant, is your work on the devices complete? When can I deploy them?’

  ‘It’s ready Sir, but I hope you have considered the implications of what you are proposing to do.’

  ‘Leave that to me, Lieutenant. The responsibility if something goes wrong will be mine. I’ve noted it in the log. Now get me the trigger and prepare for deployment please?’

  The Lieutenant nodded in acknowledgement and left the room.

  ‘May I know what you are planning to do, Commander?’ asked Madhavan.

  ‘I have a plan but the risk is too great. It requires two teams to be dropped on the surface and carry out separate tasks,’ he briefly outlined the plan causing Madhavan to whistle.

  “That’s pretty bold, Sir. If they don’t take the bait..’ he left the sentence unfinished.

  ‘Then we will be back to square one and in a lot of hot water,’ answered Ryan drily. ‘Now, I have given a list of people who will be part of the teams to Manisha. One danger is that we will not be able to able to pick them immediately once their work is complete so they need to be prepared for an extended stay on the surface hidden from view.’

  ‘Now Madhavan, I want you to personally lead one team. Get your people ready to break into the telescope. Take whatever you need. We must break in.’

  ‘Sir, aren’t you spreading your resources too thin? With the Lieutenant and Madhavan both on the surface we will have no one senior left on board.’ remarked Manisha.

  ‘You don’t think the two of us can handle this, Manisha?’ asked Ryan with a smile. She smiled back, a bit more confident but still reserved about her ability to support him alone.

  ‘Anyway, if this works out, we will have all our people safely on board very soon. So let’s go and get this done. Madhavan, remember we need complete radio silence once we are on ground. We cannot risk anyone getting to know you are on the planet. Manisha, it’s all your now - find a landing site near the settlement.’

  The three of them got up and went into Ops. Madhavan went off to get ready with two people who would be part of his team, one security and one engineer. The Lieutenant was already getting dressed with his team member - an engineer in this case. They got the device on a grav platform ready to move.

  Antariksh lifted off from the asteroid and slowly gained both altitude and speed. Manisha steered it in the direction of Huzryss at cruise speed while scanning ahead for any ships.

  ‘Visible orbit around the planet is clear, Commander. I think they are still on the ground. No indications of other ships from the scans from the pod.’

  ‘Keep scanning, Manisha. We don’t know if they have someone on the ship looking out for our return.’

  Manisha moved Antariksh in an orbit far from the settlement and then slowly started losing altitude. The plan was to reach as
close to the ground as possible and land ten kilometers away from the settlement. At minimum flying speed using least number of thrusters hopefully the sound of their arrival would not alert the aliens in the village.

  ‘I can see a good landing point, Commander,’ reported Narada. ‘Ten point two kilometers from the settlement, heading 221.’

  ‘Coming about,’ acknowledged Manisha as she steered the heavy ship with only two thrusters. They were just a couple of hundred meters above the ground barely making headway. The ship was designed for spaceflight and felt like a deadweight so close to the ground. ‘Ready to land, Commander,’ she reported once they reached the designated area.

  ‘Madhavan, Keisham. We are going to land. Be ready and best of luck. Signal when you are ready.’ They would need at least six hours to make the trek to the site over the terrain in their suits and complete their respective tasks.

  The ship landed softly on the ground and Manisha kept the engines idle. The two ground teams opened airlocks and stepped out. The Lieutenant’s team dragged out the grav unit with its heavy device and the five people stepped away from the ship. The ship lifted off, gained altitude and slowly disappeared in the distance.

  The ground team turned on the camouflage setting on their suits making them effectively a part of the surroundings and taking turns they started walking, guiding the heavy unit towards the settlement. A few kilometers meters away, they silently split up - one towards the telescope and the other towards the Kifrwss ship on the pad.

  Antariksh lifted off into orbit and circled on the far side of planet away from the settlement. They would wait here hidden till the teams on the surface completed their tasks. There was complete radio silence and the ship was blind for the next six hours while they waited.

  Madhavan and his two people reached the radio telescope. Gaining entry inside the structure was easy, there were no fences or guard houses. The entire area was dark and their data indicated that they could count on another 4 hours of darkness. They worked their way carefully through the antennas somewhat similar to those back on Earth looking for some sort of control room. The engineer saw something in the distance and gestured to his mates to follow him. It was some sort of a small building without windows. They walked around it and found a door set in the east wall.