by Dietmar Wehr
“There is no good reason for not doing it that way; however, my conditioning, which assigned the highest priority to determining the fate of my people and which I have now done, is telling me that regaining at least limited combat capability should be my next priority. I will try to make the trip as interesting for you as possible. Now that you’ve learned our language, I can share my people’s culture with you. There is a particular type of music that I enjoy very much, Troy.”
Ronson shrugged. “Well, you’re the Captain of this ship, and I’m just a passenger, so if you want an extra day, then that’s how it’ll be. By the way, I brought back a bunch of personal electronic items I found down there. Do you still want to examine them?”
“Yes, Troy. Please put them in the compartment behind you.”
Ronson looked behind him and saw that what he had assumed was a blank section of wall was actually just a cover for some kind of compartment. He dropped the items into it, and the cover closed.
“You must be hungry by now, Troy. I have a meal waiting for you in your quarters.”
Ronson smiled. “Let me guess. Spam and broccoli again, right?”
“I’m afraid so, Troy, but tomorrow it will be an Aesirian meal.”
“Looking forward to it.” As Ronson walked down the corridors to his quarters, he hoped he wouldn’t encounter any ascended Aesirians. One was quite enough, even as a recording.
Ronson was relieved when the ship finally arrived in the Sol system. As fascinating and friendly as Val Ky Ree was, he was beginning to miss human company, and there was a limit to how much Aesirian music, writing and culture he could absorb without feeling overwhelmed. He had taught Val Ky Ree to play chess, but his enjoyment of that had only lasted until she got so good that he was clearly outmatched.
Val Ky Ree knew where Vesta was from the data she had downloaded from the Busted Flush. As soon as they were within five light seconds of the asteroid, Ronson recorded a brief greeting, which Val Ky Ree transmitted on a dozen different frequencies that Ronson knew Vesta would be monitoring. The five second lag each way would be an irritant to communications but not prohibitive. The reply came very quickly, even with the light speed lag.
“Vesta Base to Val Ky Ree. Welcome to the Sol system, the home of humanity. We were expecting you back much sooner. Glad you finally made it, Troy. We’re all anxious to hear what you’ve learned the past weeks. Over to you.”
Ronson paused to organize his thoughts. There was so much news to share. “Troy to Base. I have a lot to tell you, and you’re going to have a lot of questions. I’ll give you a quick overview now and fill in the details when I get there. All of Val Ky Ree’s people are gone. That’s a story in itself, but it means that she can fulfill her promise to help humans without any divided loyalties. She has an auxiliary craft that’s FTL capable. It would make an excellent trading ship. It’s also armored and armed. I’ve already tested the weapon in an encounter with the Koron at Foxbaact Station. Val Ky Ree is willing to give us her auxiliary craft if we give her enough metals and other materials to allow her to build a new one. I’ve saved the best news for last. There’s a habitable world that her people had only begun to colonize. We can establish our own colony there and use that world as a temporary haven until Earth is habitable again. Okay, overview finished. Over to you.”
This time there was a much longer pause in addition to the light speed lag. “Base to Troy. You’re right about us having a ton of questions. We’ll wait until you get here. Do you need us to send a ship to get you? Over to you.”
Before Ronson could respond, Val Ky Ree interjected. “You can take Spearthrower to your base, Troy. Let everyone have a good look at it. You can then use it to transfer the metals to the ship. In the meantime, I’ll resume repairs to the other turret.”
“Thank you, Val Ky Ree. Troy to Base. No ship needed. I’ll pilot the auxiliary craft, which has a name by the way. It’s called Spearthrower. Wait ‘til you see it. Troy out.”
It was almost an hour later when Spearthrower carefully dropped down through an opening on the surface of the Vesta asteroid and into the vehicle airlock. The opening above the craft closed, and air rushed into the vacuum. The craft was then moved forward into a new section that had air in it all the time. When it reached the designated landing pad, the large doors behind it closed so that the vehicle airlock could be used again. Ronson was quite proud of the fact that he had piloted Spearthrower himself. Piloting the small ship was becoming easier each time he did it. There was a crowd waiting for him when the cargo hatch opened. With the hangar bay having only one quarter of Earth’s gravity, it was easy to jump down the two meters to the deck. Within seconds, he was surrounded by people who wanted to shake his hand, slap him on the back and in some cases hug him. Everyone was talking to him at the same time. Eventually the well-wishers drifted away, and he was left with Nakatomi, McKnight and Andreason, the Chairman of the Emergency Committee. Andreason held out his hand, and Ronson shook it.
“Welcome home, Mister Ronson. Captain McKnight told those of us on the Committee about your unilateral action to revive this…Valkyrie…ah, ship, and I have to tell you that our initial reaction was not a positive one. But it appears that your dice roll worked out. My God, that ship is big! And this craft,” —he nodded in Spearthrower’s direction— “that’s a hell of a windfall. We got the list of metals and quantities required. Getting all that material ready is not going to be easy. In fact, some of the rarer metals like iridium, we just don’t have period. Is there any way we can keep this craft without giving Valkyrie everything she’s asking for?”
Ronson was stunned by the suggestion. He looked over at McKnight who looked unconcerned and at Nakatomi who was frowning. “Val Ky Ree,” —he made sure to emphasize the last syllable so that Andreason would know the correct pronunciation— “and I have discussed the practical details of how she can help us. She understands that we may not have all of the required materials available now. That’s why she’s willing to lend Spearthrower to us, so that we can use it to trade for what we don’t have. We won’t get absolute control over Spearthrower until she has all the required materials. Attempting to renege on the agreement would not only not work, it would be supremely stupid on our part, in my opinion. This metal-for-ship arrangement isn’t just a one-shot deal. She’s willing to duplicate her ship’s ability to build more Spearthrower ships and give that to us. The ability would also allow building other equipment such as power generators, which we could either use ourselves or trade for something else. Given all of that, do you really want to piss her off by reneging on the agreement?”
Andreason’s smile was gone, and he was blinking furiously. “Ah, I had no idea that…I thought it was just this one ship. Naturally we’ll comply with the agreement. Thanks for setting me straight, Mister Ronson. Let’s go someplace more private. I don’t think the hangar bay is the appropriate place for this kind of discussion. You two are invited as well,” he said to McKnight and Nakatomi.
When they arrived at a conference room, Ronson saw that the other four members of the Committee were there and already seated. Andreason stood behind the chair at the head of the oval table and waited until everyone else had taken a seat. As he sat down, he said, “This is not an official meeting of the Committee. We committee members are here to listen to your report, Mister Ronson, and then to ask questions so that we can decide what actions the Committee should take. I don’t mind telling you that seeing that kilometer-long warship floating nearby is making me nervous, so anything you can tell us that will allay those fears will be welcome. You can start your report, and don’t leave anything out.
Ronson spent the next 15 minutes detailing what he had learned from Val Ky Ree, what they had discovered at the Command Base and home world, and the visit by the Aesirian ‘ghost’. When he was done, he looked carefully at the faces of the five Committee members. Andreason was frowning as if he wanted to believe what he had heard but had difficulty doing so. The others all looked skeptical. McKnight ha
d her poker face on, and Nakatomi was smiling. She clearly believed him.
“Did you personally see the ghost of this dead Aesirian woman,” asked Andreason.
“Not when it happened, no. I saw a holographic recording after I got back to the ship.”
“So you can’t be certain that it really did happen that way, right? Val Ky Ree could have fabricated the whole thing in order to justify changing her mind about letting us resettle on the Aesirian home world.”
“I can’t be one hundred percent certain, but I believe her. Her Warrior Code would not condone the kind of deception that you’re alluding to, and quite frankly, she doesn’t need an excuse to change her mind. If she didn’t want us on her home world, she would just say so.”
Andreason looked around at the other committee members and then back at Ronson. “You have to realize, Mister Ronson, that this is all very hard for us to accept because it just sounds too good to be true. The offer to let humans colonize this Gunnir planet for instance. How are we going to do that? We don’t have the transport capacity to move thousands of people in a short period of time. And we don’t have the necessary equipment to set up a proper colony. Is Val Ky Ree going to use her ship to move us there? How many people can that ship carry at one time? Another thing, you haven’t seen this planet, so how do we know it’s even suitable for humans?”
“I’ve discussed the logistics of using her ship as a transport with her. She says that her life support systems could handle 200 passengers for the length of time it would take to get them to Gunnir. With sufficient raw materials, she could make a lot of the equipment that the colonists would need.”
“So 200 at a time means 25 trips to carry all of us to Gunnir, and then what? The entire human race would be on a planet that could be targeted for another asteroid strike by the Compact, and this time they’d get us all. I’m not convinced that colonizing Gunnir is a good idea at all!”
Ronson saw a couple of the other members nod. “I understand your concern, but I think the risk of that happening is small. The Compact doesn’t know about the Aesirians and certainly doesn’t know about Gunnir. We can keep the station orbiting Earth operational, plus leave a few hundred here on Vesta to maintain the illusion that we’re all still here for the Compact’s benefit.” He paused and pointed to the rock walls. “We’ve gotten used to living inside rock, but I can’t help wondering if the poor health of our newborns isn’t related to this environment. When I was on the Aesir home world, I got to stand in the sunlight and feel the wind in my face again, and it felt damn good! Maybe if our babies grew up in the sunlight and natural air, they might not be underweight and sickly. And at the rate we’re having children, our population will still be under five thousand in fifty years time. You can’t tell me that that’s a good thing. There’s one more thing, though,” he paused again. “I think a lot of us living inside rock would jump at the chance to colonize Gunnir. Since Val Ky Ree is willing to transport the colonists and help with equipment, how are you going to stop us from going there? Val Ky Ree doesn’t have to build ships like Spearthrower for us, and if you try to obstruct the colonization effort, she might decide to withhold her assistance to the Committee. Do you really want to risk that?”
One of the other members, a woman, turned to Andreason and said, “Frank, maybe a colony on Gunnir could serve as a sort of nursery. We send newborns and their mothers there until the babies are old enough and healthy enough to come back here. We got to start having more kids soon, Frank. The demographics are starting to look scary.”
Andreason’s expression said that he clearly didn’t like being reminded of that. “I suppose that with the right guidelines…the right approach, a colony on a habitable world makes sense. That kind of project will need some careful planning, including sending a survey team to Gunnir to check it out. In the meantime, getting our hands on several ships like Spearthrower would make a huge difference to our relationship with Compact races. You’ve proven that a Spearthrower ship can hold its own against Compact ships. Can you teach others how to fly them?”
“I can. They’re very easy to pilot.”
“Good! Then you’ll be our Chief Spearthrower Pilot Instructor here on Vesta,” said Andreason with a smile. When Ronson didn’t agree, Andreason quickly lost his smile. “You don’t like that title, Mister Ronson?”
Ronson looked uncomfortable. “Val Ky Ree and I have developed a good working relationship. I’ve learned enough Aesirian language to be able to converse with her in it. I get the distinct feeling that she enjoys the company and likes to interact with a human. Therefore I think that we should have a liaison person on her ship all the time, and I’d like to volunteer for that assignment. It doesn’t have to interfere with Spearthrower pilot training. There’s more than enough room on her ship for a few more people who can practice piloting Spearthrower under my supervision. In the short run though, Spearthrower will have to trade with some Compact races to get the critical materials needed to build another Spearthrower. As the only experienced pilot at the moment, I would seem to be the only one who can undertake that mission. I can begin training a couple of other pilots during that trip too.”
Andreason’s sigh was a clear indication of his unhappiness. “I can’t speak for the other Committee members, but I don’t like how this discussion is going. You seem to have decided to exploit your relationship with Val Ky Ree for all it’s worth, Mister Ronson. I can’t help wondering if you’ve put your own personal agenda ahead of the good of our people.”
Ronson took a deep breath while he contemplated his response. Andreason was validating Ronson’s suspicion that at least one Committee member’s ego was having difficulty adjusting to the new reality that the Committee was no longer going to get its way all the time.
“May I be blunt, Mister Andreason?”
Andreason’s frown turned into the barest hint of a smile. “By all means, Mister Ronson.”
“Thank you. You may have forgotten that prior to the asteroid strike on Earth, I was a financial management analyst employed by the Stardust Consortium to make a tour of the Compact stations and recommend various trading strategies with each Compact race. That means I’m used to observing and dealing with individuals in high positions of authority and THAT means I can recognize when egos are in control. The Emergency Committee has absolute power over what’s left of the human race, and I understand the need for that. What I don’t think you and perhaps the rest of the Committee understands is that you’re not going to be able to order Val Ky Ree around. It’s unfortunate, but we need her more than she needs us. She follows an Aesirian Warrior Code that places a lot of value on personal honor, and not only will she not understand human politics and political motivations, she won’t put up with any political maneuvering on either the Committee’s part or on the part of individual Committee members. Here comes the blunt part, Mister Andreason. I’m convinced that if I’m not with Val Ky Ree to make sure our interaction with her goes smoothly, somebody will screw things up, and we’ll lose her. And I think you and the rest of the Committee are the ones most likely to screw things up.”
Andreason slowly turned to look at each of the other members before looking back at Ronson. “That’s actually quite amusing, because I had the same concerns about you screwing things up, Mister Ronson. I’m also concerned that you are trying to gain, or may already have, an excessive amount of influence over Val Ky Ree, which you could use as leverage to improve your own situation. You’re not the only one who observes human behavior, you know. Before you start throwing allegations of egomania around, maybe you should look in the mirror.”
Ronson felt his anger rising and barely managed to resist the impulse to yell that Andreason was an asshole. “Have I made any demands?” he asked. “Have I demanded, oh I don’t know…a personal harem to accompany me on Val Ky Ree’s ship, or a huge balance of credits to spend on luxuries that we don’t have, or maybe to be named as Chairman of the Emergency Committee? Well, have I?”
&nb
sp; Andreason looked slightly embarrassed. “No. At least not yet.”
“Well then, until I do, don’t tell me to look in the mirror. My conscience and I get along just fine. And just to reiterate, I have no problem teaching others to pilot a Spearthrower-class ship, but I don’t think it’s necessary for me to stay on Vesta in order to do that.”
Andreason looked like he was going to push back when the woman member spoke first. “I’m sure that something can be arranged that will keep everybody happy. Maybe we should move on to an in-depth discussion of the metals that Val Ky Ree needs, okay Frank?”
Andreason nodded but said nothing. The woman, whose name Ronson couldn’t remember off hand, seemed to relax, and in a more business-like voice continued speaking. “This much metal is going to take at least a couple of months to get together, and we’ll have to stop everything, including internal construction, in order to meet that goal. Right now, refined metals are the only items that we can trade at Compact stations. We have a list of high priority equipment that we desperately need, Mister Ronson. Do you have any suggestions as to how we can manage these competing priorities?”
Ronson relaxed too. This was the kind of matter that he knew how to handle. “Actually I do. I had some very productive discussions with Val Ky Ree about these kinds of issues. Right now, the ability to exploit Aesirian technology exists solely on Val Ky Ree’s ship. Her repair systems are programmed to be able to repair and if necessary replace every piece of hardware on her ship, including the repair system itself. She has proposed, and I agree, that the optimum way to exploit this capability is to duplicate it on Vesta. That way we can build more Spearthrower ships, or equipment like artificial gravity generators for the colony, or items like power generators that we can trade for things that Val Ky Ree doesn’t know how to make herself. The swap of metals for Spearthrower is a separate arrangement. She doesn’t want to be without one of those ships just in case she needs it herself, so we can either supply her with all the materials needed to make a new ship and then we get to keep Spearthrower, or we build our own version here on Vesta and then give the original ship back to Val Ky Ree. Either way, we’ll still have to trade something for the iridium and other rare metals that can’t be found on Vesta or our other asteroid colonies. Duplicating the complete repair system will take a few weeks, and she can’t even begin to do that until she’s finished repairing her last weapon turret. That by itself will take another four and half days. My suggestion is to agree to the offer of a duplicate repair/construction system. Supply Val Ky Ree with what she needs to do that, and when that system is in place, use it to build some power generation units that will be far superior to what the Compact has now and trade them for the iridium, the other rare metals and whatever other equipment can’t be duplicated.”