“It would also have an inside sphere for communications and scanning like our ships do, reason being is it could drop to normal space in stealth mode and have regular sensors to pick up normal space communications, while still monitoring subspace scans. In essence, it would have the advantages the stealth sensor net does as well.
“In fact, it would be nothing but a subspace drive, a very tiny Dark energy reactor, a small gravity drive, and a bunch of sensors. That small, our large scale fabricators could build about twenty at a time, probably more. We could have one for each galaxy in about a week, although the fine tuning of the subspace array with a quantum level fabricator would take an additional two days each. So a little over a week.”
She raised an eyebrow, “You’ve thought a lot about it?”
I shrugged, “Mainly bored, I haven’t had time to focus on anything new, so I kind of combined two projects together. My make current things better project, with my snoop on the universe project, and that’s what came out. I’m worried though that I’m just being nosy, is what we have good enough or do we really want to spy on over a hundred galaxies.”
Kristi grinned like the answer should be obvious, and said, “Let’s spy on galaxies, you’ll also be able to learn their languages with the new probes, so if we ever need to talk to them…” she trailed off and looked thoughtful.
“Maybe, the humanoid races anyway. We haven’t had much luck speaking to the Drenil, Bugs, or Reilan. I’d say our chances with the other eight are equally as dismal. Not impossible, just really difficult.”
I sighed, “Al you heard the lady, activate project Snoopy. So needless to say, it looks like the seeders were definitely involved in other galaxies as well.”
Kristi asked, “Why do you suppose they did it. I know you don’t believe in the king of the hill theory. I promise I won’t laugh, what do you really think?”
I snorted, and took a sip of my coffee.
“They were lonely Kristi. That’s what I choose to believe. We aren’t an experiment at all. We are a gift, to ourselves, and others.
“Our planet formed what, a few billion year ago? So they were in the oldest part of the universe, and while our galaxy was still barely congealing stellar dust they were crawling out of their oceans. Maybe they looked to the skies like we did, and then they yearned to see what was out there. When they gained the knowledge they built their ships, created FTL, and found nothing.
“Then they created wormholes and made it where we are today, subspace. Then they went out and searched all the other galaxies, and found nothing at all. Just hot gasses and cosmic dust congealing into asteroids and worlds.
“So they decided if they wanted others to hang with, they’d better make them. They designed our worlds, and our evolutionary path, and now they’re either gone, or waiting for us to catch up before they come back and say hello.”
She giggled, “You really are an optimist, do you know that?”
I shrugged, “Liar, you said you wouldn’t laugh. If we were just a science experiment, why make it on such a large scope? Although I have to admit, I thought of the idea a while ago, long before today and the scans backed up my feelings. Ultimately it doesn’t matter why, it’s our story now, even if we were mixed up in a galactic petri dish. Unless they come back of course.”
Kristi looked shamed, and nodded, “Sorry, I guess it’s just as valid as any other theory.”
I grinned widely and winked, “It was also on a Star Trek episode I think. You know the one, where the seeders left a message in the DNA of Humans, Klingons and Romulans, and the only way to see and hear it was for them to all cooperate together?”
My smile was beatific, since it wasn’t very often at all that I got one over on her like that. I think Bill had rubbed off on me a bit, his story telling skills were legendary after all.
Kristi growled, and I ran out of the lab giggling. Not very mature for a head of state, but it was extremely fun.
Who knew though? It might even be the real answer. The truth was that there was probably no way to know, short of them coming back to tell us.
Chapter Seven
I was in my lab, going over the designs that were currently being fabricated. It all looked good, small, efficient, and not overly engineered for a small probe that wouldn’t be missed if it blew itself up. Chances were it wouldn’t though, and would last for many thousands of years with the maintenance nanites on it. Maybe longer. So far, I hadn’t found anything else to tweak.
Al informed me, “Karen would like to speak with you if you have a moment.”
I nodded slowly, and got up and headed to Karen’s office. At first I’d felt that not saying thank you all the time was rude, but I knew he’d read that from my mind. He’d told me as well, that the verbal thank you was superfluous. With this new interface, Al wasn’t the only one that was changing.
I froze as Karen’s door opened, and I saw a smiling Nadia in one of the seats. I pulled it together and smiled as I moved in and took a seat.
“Nadia? How’d you get here?”
Karen said, “She came on shuttle from one of the old treaty worlds.”
Nadia nodded in agreement, “By the time I got my finances and all straightened out, I knew I wanted the job. It’ll be nice to work for a head of state who I won’t have to protect my back from. The president took my resignation happily enough, and approved my request to visit other worlds in the treaty. I chose an old treaty world of course, but also one that I knew already had scientists here. After that, I just had to hitch a ride.”
I smiled, “It’s good to have you. They don’t know you’re here, so won’t they get mad when they find out?”
Nadia shook her head, “They know, I told them as we docked here. I thought that would be better than them finding out some other way. I just didn’t want them to stop me, so I waited until I was here.”
Karen said, “As long as I have you here, most of the applicants were turned down. They were either spies, or wanted to work the system and try and get rich. We do have a doctor now though, and a chef for one of the restaurants.”
I frowned, “So we have two positions filled out of fifty or so?”
Karen shrugged, “More like eight out of fifty, like I said a few of the spouses of the scientists wanted jobs. Regardless, with only one chef, and an assistant, the restaurant will only be open for lunch and dinner five days a week. Still, that’s a lot better than nothing.”
Yeah, but we had like four restaurants that needed full staffs, not to mention a club, a bar, several store fronts. I didn’t know what to do, I wasn’t offering pay, and I wasn’t letting people run a scam out of here either.
“Let’s give the ads a little longer, are we running them on all the worlds that sent scientists?”
Karen nodded, “We are. I think another of the problems might be the news. Earth hasn’t been all that shy about saying you’re a fugitive, even if they have no proof. I wonder maybe if it isn’t the pay as much as I believed, but a safety concern instead.”
Nadia sighed, “That’s definitely a possibility.”
I shrugged, “Just keep the ads going then, I don’t know what else we can do. Maybe when a little time goes by and Earth is still talking, but very little else, we’ll get some more bites.”
I turned to Nadia, “Any advice for me?”
Nadia shook her head, “Things are fairly stable right now, perhaps simmering on Earth, but there isn’t anything you can really do except not trust anything they do or say.”
I sighed, sage advice, but it rubbed me wrong. Kristi was right, I am an optimist. At least as far as people were concerned.
“Let me know if you need help settling in, in the meantime let me know when you need something job wise, or personally. I’m glad you’re here.”
Nadia smiled, and actually gave me a hug. Maybe she liked me more than I’d thought, and could show it now that she wasn’t stuck trying to assist in my downfall?
“Anything else Karen?”
/> She shook her head, “I don’t think so.”
I headed back toward my lab for the rest of the day…
Bill and I had had guests for dinner that night. I’d invited Nadia, Kristi, and Joe to come eat with us. Karen as well, but she declined as she had her own family to get home to. Things were going really well until Kristi put me on the spot.
“So, when are you two going to tie the knot? I’ve been waiting a whole two days to be asked to be your maid of honor, obviously I had no choice but to take the position by force to get things moving along.”
I stared at her dumbfounded for a minute, I’d never pressured her into marrying. I could see that she was teasing, mostly, but she was also deadly serious. Maybe she was getting me back from my sad lonely alien story that I’d stolen from Star Trek.
I looked over at Bill who looked amused.
“Next month?” I kind of just threw it out there.
Bill nodded slowly, and drawled, “I suppose I can wait that long.”
I grinned, “So… who is coming. You’d better invite out families, Nora and Senna, any of your old police force buddies?” I asked of Bill at the end.
He nodded slowly, “Sure, I’ll send Kristi a list by tomorrow.”
“Mine is pretty short, just my family, Nora, Senna, Nadia, and Karen. Maybe Caroline? Did I miss someone Bill?” I asked with a twinkle in my eye.
He drawled humorously, “I don’t think so, though something tickles the brain. Shouldn’t you invite your maid of honor?”
I frowned in deep thought, and Kristi giggled, “Fine, I suppose I deserved that. So next month? Send me all that stuff and I’ll organize it. I’ll even get the caterer, which will be easy since there’s exactly one chef on station. The only question is…”
“Peach, definitely a peach dress.”
Kristi glared at my interruption, “I didn’t make you wear peach! Oh, never mind, the only question was actually who would be doing the marrying?”
“Hmm, good question. We have no priests or reverends, or even a judge for that matter outside of us.”
Bill asked, “Joe, you up for being best man?”
Joe shrugged, “Sure, I can make sure you make it to the altar.”
“I have another question, and no Kristi I won’t make you wear peach, but how will we get our families off of Earth, not to mention Bill’s friends on the force? I mean, we can send a stealth ship, but they’ll see it as soon as it enters the atmosphere.”
Nadia said, “I’ll look into that, and I’ll get with Nora and Senna, I’m sure they’d help. They best bet is for a third party to do it, like I got here.”
“Maybe, but they’re no doubt watching Bill and my family rather closely.”
Nadia shrugged, “I know, have a little faith. Just let them know it’s coming, and I’ll pass on the how through you two to them when I know more. You can communicate privately with them right?”
Bill and I nodded.
I wasn’t sure at all about the other question, did we want to get religion involved with marriage like it was on Earth? I had no particular reason not to, but on the other hand we would be a melting pot of sorts of all different worlds. I also realized I was in charge of this world as well, so I suppose I could just declare us married. I wouldn’t do anything that tacky… but I could.
“How about this for Minerva. To be married under the law here, you have to make vows witnessed by an A.I. for legal reasons. Other than that, it’s up to the couple what else they have. They can do the vows alone, with a priest, or a rabbi, or whatever they want, a dancing monkey. As long as there’s a legal A.I. witness.”
Kristi, Bill, and Joe nodded.
Al said, “I’ve added that to the current laws.”
I shrugged, “As for us specifically, how about we exchange our own vows in front of family and friends. Or do you want someone to guide things, like a priest or even judge back home would do.”
Bill shrugged, “That works for me, whatever makes you happy.”
“Alright, so a month from Saturday?”
Everyone seemed happy with that, and then Joe asked, “What about your honeymoon?”
I shrugged, “Bill? Any planets you want to go visit?”
Bill frowned in thought, “I wouldn’t mind seeing Athiren. I’m curious about other Knomen, for obvious reasons, and I liked the way you described the place when you were there with Kristi.”
“Sounds like a plan. We’ll leave Kristi in charge until we get back.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and we got back to our meal.
And then of course, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Holy crap, I was getting married in a month…
It was much later that night, that I had if possible an even more serious conversation. Bill held me while we were in bed, and his voice was curious.
“I love you Alicia, but one thing we never discussed was children.”
I nodded, “I didn’t see the point, we can’t have any, and I’ll be happy with just having you, happier and more fulfilled than you know.”
He nodded, “I appreciate you saying that, but I don’t want you to regret anything. There may be a time where you want kids. If you do, I’d be more than willing to raise them as their father.”
I frowned, “What exactly are you suggesting?”
He shrugged, “They must have something like humans do on their worlds right? I mean, there’s only two options for us to have a family, we’d either adopt, or artificial insemination if you want to have a child of your own blood. Either way is okay with me. If you don’t want to, that’s fine too I suppose. You’re all I need, I just don’t want us to regret it, if you really want a family, but we’d never talked about it.”
I think I’ll have to think about that, I know Al must already be researching it, because the idea does interest me. I’m just not sure, I always just assumed we wouldn’t, which was obviously a mistake.
I kissed him then, and we went to sleep. I was almost in shock from the seriousness of the discussions tonight. I felt like we’d just got engaged, and now we had our marriage planned, at least the outline of it, and now were talking about kids too.
The really scary part, was the only thing that bothered me was that nothing about it bothered me at all. He was perfect for me, and I couldn’t wait…
Chapter Eight
It was three-eighteen in the morning when Al woke me at severe risk to his continued operation.
“What is it Al?”
Al replied, “The Drenil have sent a ship to right outside of our heliopause, and it has entered normal space.”
“Holy crap.”
Al replied, “Indeed.”
I shook Bill awake, “Get dressed, we have a guest. We’ll take the house ship, it’s the only other one here with subspace capability.”
I didn’t think they’d attack, they came here after all, and are most likely waiting for a response. Still, they could quite easily destroy an unshielded shuttle, and some caution was called for, just in case.
Bill muttered, “Guest?” as he pulled on a pair of jeans over his pressure suit.
I nodded as I slipped into my own skin tight pressure suit and pulled on a pair of jeans and a decent blouse. Then I explained who our guest was as we headed for the landing bay. I debated waking Kristi, and decided to err on the side of caution.
After some fast talking, she agreed we all shouldn’t go at once, Kristi and I were the true rulers in this place, simply because we were the only ones who could control our true military might. Still, she’d be there virtually watching everything, along with Joe.
We got on the house ship, and as soon as the house ship’s hanger closed, the station’s hangar started to depressurize, and once the doors opened we flew out into space. Bill and I were in the kitchen, and it occurred to me he’d never been on the house ship before. I’d have to give him a tour later. For now though, we had a snack and drank some coffee to wake up.
Then we and the Drenil kind of stared at each othe
r for a while. I tried sending communications their way, but they didn’t understand us, not even a count from one to ten.
Al reported, “They are clearly trying to talk to us, their shield fluctuations and harmonics are pointed our way. There is no pattern of communication that I can discern.”
It was several hours later, and for the sake of Al’s continued existence, several coffees later when something finally changed. The Drenil ship completely dropped their subspace shields, before that they’d been maintaining what for us would be five percent, just enough to stop any attack based on missiles or plasma weapons.
I imagined it would also stop a subspace wave.
Then an aperture appeared on the bottom, and a small shuttle came out of it. A quick scan revealed nothing but gravity technology, it was a shuttle that could at best reach point six five of light speed. Then it took off toward Minerva. At that speed it would take close to a day to get there.
I appreciated their caution in keeping their main ship at the door so to speak, and not barging in. There was another part of me however, that groaned at the idea of waiting twenty-four hours to see what happened next.
“Al, drop the subspace shield, bring up the anti-mass field just far enough to follow that shuttle at the same speed it’s going with our gravity drive.”
I wasn’t sure how much that was, except it was probably a lot less than one percent.
Al replied, “Please verify command. That is not recommended, we won’t have any protection from the Drenil’s shield weapon.”
I sighed, “Just do it Al, their shuttle is unprotected, they trusted us first, and now it’s our turn.”
Kristi’s hologram said, “I agree, reluctantly.”
As I’d expected, the large Drenil ship did not react.
Joe asked, “Any idea what they plan to do?”
I shrugged, “We’ll find out in a day, but I have a feeling they’re going to land for a face to face meeting. Just like I wanted to do on the Drenil world when we failed to open up communications the first time. This time I’m landing to meet them. Alone.”
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