When Sobuku didn’t respond, Kenshin asked, “Are we clear on this?”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Prepare for another brace of weather condition examinations,” Kenshin told Sobuku. “I’ll begin running the pre-flight check for the return voyage.”
Sobuku rounded up her gear and hauled it to the surface. With each passing second, she felt as if a battle was taking place in her head: on one side, adrenaline boosters and post-hypnotic suggestions demanded completion of the mission. On the other side, the strong desire to try and make contact with creatures living on the ice-shelf worked its way into every conscious and sub-conscious thought.
Inside the ship, Kenshin continued with his duties. Years of treatment and hypnosis had broken down any feelings of doubt, leaving the mission as the ultimate driving force in the captain’s mind.
As he was about to transmit the initial signals to the BESTIOS, he glanced at incoming sonar. Kenshin dialed in the interpreter. Flashes of red glowed on a blue background. Kenshin zoomed into the console. The red point moving on the screen represented high thermal temperatures readings. Adjacent areas appeared as yellow, turned to green, and then faded to blue.
Kenshin recorded the initial signal input.
Sobuku packed up the gear and returned to the ship. On the bridge, she glanced at the looping image sequence depicting the heat transfers.
“These signals …” Kenshin motioned to the display and then went on, “have triggered a response pattern. I must investigate.”
“What do you think it is?”
“I can’t give a definitive answer,” Kenshin replied. “It appears to be a heat source carving a path through the ice. The discovery of the Brahmantium spear-tip and the heat signatures have prompted me to assess the situation.”
“How may I help?”
“Remain with the ship,” Kenshin said. “I’ve rigged my goggles to record images and transmit them back to your console.”
“Aye, Captain Kamura,” Sobuku nodded and took a seat.
Kenshin climbed out of the tube and dismounted the ship’s head. When he was on the ice, he switched on the camera. Sensors picked up translated sonar waves, and converted the waves to Kenshin’s optic nerve patterns. Sobuku saw what the captain saw.
Kenshin made his way across the ice to the last known coordinates of the strongest heat signatures.
19
A CRATER, FILLED with water, now stood where the bear had been killed. Tunnels branched out from smooth walls. In the clear water, Kenshin saw the caves criss-crossing the ice-field.
Kenshin dipped his hand in the water. The protective skin recored temperatures. The sides of the tunnels emitted heat waves that prevented the water filling the caves from freezing. The blowhole converter worked on the same principle. Could a spear-tip do the same thing?
After recording the crater from every angle, Kenshin returned to the Gato.
“These tunnels appear to be constructed,” Sobuku remarked as Kenshin climbed down to the research deck.
“Indeed,” Kenshin nodded. “We can agree a humanoid may be using Brahmantium based tools to excavates tunnels under the ice.”
“And …?” Sobuku pressed for an answer.
“If we’re dealing with a sentient being, one capable of thought and perception on an advanced level, we may be able to communicate through the sonar adaptor.” Kenshin hesitated and then asked, “As Mission Specialist, what do you think?”
“I concur, establishing is the best course of action.”
“Install the lingual package into the outgoing sonar signal and deploy the update.” Kenshin returned to the bridge.
Sobuku leaned back and plugged into the network. From the streams, she downloaded the full linguistics database: a recording of every language ever spoken on Earth. Once she encrypted the data and loaded it into the sonar, Sobuku transferred the plugin to the captain’s console.
She messaged:
— Update ready to deploy, Captain.
— Very well. Begin analysis immediately.
Kenshin transmitted the enhanced signal. Sobuku studied the incoming visualizations.
One hour passed. The signal remained the same.
Two hours passed. Incoming signal unchanged.
Three hours later. Still nothing.
Sobuku wondered how long this could go on. What was out there? An advanced being possessing technical expertise or a primitive biped with a fancy spear.
On a hunch, Sobuku decided the check the outgoing sonar signal. Blocks of data, randomized by the encryption process, came back sorted and filtered. With each flash of the beacon, the audio interpreter out on the ice deciphered the contents.
Sobuku put together a brief report and sent it to the captain.
Kenshin messaged:
— Conclusion?
— It looks like it or whatever is using the sonar signal to learn our language.
— We’ve been broadcasting that signal for over three hours. Take it down.
Sobuku removed the plugin. If the being on the other side could decrypt the message, it probably had the ability to copy the message. Is it was up to her, she would add to the message.
Once the normal sonar signal had been deployed, an incoming beacon flashed during the lag time between output and input.
Sobuku plugged in, uploading the signal to the network. Analysis revealed suggestions for a common language to be used by the People of the Whale and The People of the Ice.
This is it, Sobuku thought. Contact.
As Mission Specialist and Science Officer, Sobuku felt it was her duty and responsibility to be the first to make contact.
Sobuku programmed the language coding algorithms into the Coreglass network. She activated audio interpretation mode. The interpreter adjusted vocal cords to achieve the pitch and range of sound needed to speak the chosen tongue. It was simply a matter of speaking in one language and the words coming out in another.
She messaged:
— Captain, the interpretation protocols are set.
— Very well. Prepare a signal indicating we are prepared to speak.
Kenshin plugged in and received the download. Sobuku finished transmitting the acknowledgement just as Kenshin unplugged from the network.
Another message came from the outsider:
— Setting visual beacon on the side to match the radar tower revolutions.
Sobuku messaged Kenshin:
— Expect return signal @ 20 pulses per minute. The outsider has no concept of I. It refers to its position as the side. Perhaps, we should factor this into all upcoming communications.
— What are you getting from all this? Is it breeching our system?
— So far, there is nothing to indicate any firewall penetration. Its used conventional methods of establishing contact through our sonar relay.
— What about unconventional?
Sobuku hesitated. She thought about this: the ship was a long way from home. Choices were limited. She messaged:
— If the outsider is powerful enough to break into the Coreglass, our lives are in its hands. And if that’s the case, it could kill us any time. We have two choices: leave now, or meet with the Outsider.
— Agree to meet … with conditions.
— ?
— The meeting must take place here.
Sobuku put together the message, paying close attention to the phrasing and being careful to avoid references to names.
“This is it?” Kenshin asked Sobuku as she stepped on the bridge.
“Yes,” Sobuku nodded.
“It’s a bit confusing,” Kenshin muttered.
“This is the language the one who waits on the ice requested,” Sobuku shrugged. “There has to be a reason why,” she insisted. “Living objects are referenced by what action they are taking or what action is being taken upon them.”
“All right, begin by identifying us to ice guy. We’ll meet here in one hour.”
Sobuku spoke the words first
then played back a recording. She made a series of edits, adjusting the structural content to reflect the idiosyncrasies of the Chosen Language.
With nothing to do but wait, time passed slowly, for Sobuku and Kenshin, each subsequent minute seemed longer than the one before and increased exponentially.
At 54 minutes, the radar tower camera recorded an object moving under the ice. A white light shimmered. Multi-colored coronas blossomed in the ice crystals.
Captain Kenshin Kamura and Mission Specialist climbed out of the Gato Kujira Maru and stepped onto the ice. The moving light came to a halt and then intensified into a flattened disc of dazzling brightness.
Sobuku took a deep breath and set her shoulders back. She was excited about establishing contact with a sentient being living without protection at the North Pole.
Kenshin wondered if they were going to make it out of this meeting alive.
20
MISSION COORDINATOR KAMURA and Mission Specialist Sato climbed out of the converter tube. They stood on the Gato’s wide head. Kenshin remotely commanded the watership to lower its head level with the ice. They stepped off and waited.
The approaching ellipse flashed as it darted under the ice, and then eased to a stop. The light rose, making sweeping arcs. Melting ice parted in its path.
From the interior of a newly formed crater, a creature leapt up and stood on the ice. White fur, from neck to feet, covered heavy muscles. Long strands of white hair framed a square jaw. Deep-set, golden eyes glittered under a high forehead. A full beard hung low and merged with thick, white fur on the shoulders and upper chest. The Outsider held a massive spear in one hand, its crystalline tip glowed, casting sparks up and down the faceted shaft. A long knife, forged from the same crystalline material as the spear, hung from a leather strap.
Seconds later, the Coreglass communications fiber indicated a massive source of data streaming into the ship’s memory banks.
Kenshin searched data fibers and located the source of the transmission: it originated from the tip of the spear in the Outsider’s hand. It named the visitor, Báixióng Pushaman.
Kenshin returned the greeting by transmitting Mission Coordinator, Kenshin Kamura and Mission Specialist, Sobuku Sato. Pushaman confirmed this and loaded another stream into the memory banks. A mass of colors corkscrewed out of the ice and formed into the holographic image of Natural Science Director, Masato Hasegawa. The image spoke: “Captain Kamura, Specialist Sato, if you are receiving this message that means you have met Báixióng Pushaman.” The holograph looked from side to side and then continued. “You must aid Pushaman in the development of an anti-airship weapon.”
It seemed as if the holograph picked up on thought patterns because the image said, “Yes, Captain, distribution of long-range weapons outside of a government agency is illegal. We are acting under a special amendment to the constitution in this matter.”
Hasegawa’s image turned its attention to Sobuku: “I understand weapons design and manufacturing is outside of your defined role as science officer; however, the fate of the earth’s climate may rest on the construction of the device.”
“Is Director Hasegawa speaking to us remotely …?” Sobuku trailed off as she asked.
“No, he’s not,” the image answered. “I’m a composite built by Pushaman and the Brahmantium deposits in the tools he carries. The Second One thought it would be helpful in establishing a strong communications bond.”
“When you say ‘Second One’ are you referring to Báixióng Pushaman, The One Who Walked Through Ice to Meet with the Whale?” Sobuku asked the holograph, adjusting the pitch of her voice and uttering trilling sounds used in the Chosen Language.
“Yes, the assumption is correct,” the image answered in the same strange tongue. “Any more questions before the narrative begins,” the holograph asked in Oceanic.
Kenshin replied, “Negative.”
“No,” Sobuku, switching back to the language used by the Oceanics, replied.
Hasegawa’s holograph began its narrative: “Báixióng Pushaman was conceived in the city of Zardokazon in the North American continent 8,000 years ago by a group of genetic engineers known as the First Ones. The First Ones were the first humans to discover Brahmantium. The Zardokazonians called the energy filled liquid at the heart of the a white mineral the Water of Flame. Hundreds of years of experiments with indigenous people and animals finally led to success. After 48 hours of painstaking bone tissue fusing, nerve end splicing, and blood vessel bonding, a man and a polar bear were united as one hybrid animal. Carathuk, the Second One was born.
“The First Ones, always striving to produce a perfect race of genetically altered humans, fell victim to their own desires. Over time, the entire population was rendered infertile. The goal of creating life from living cells and measured doses of Brahmantium never came to fruition.
“In the final years, the few remaining First Ones placed Carathuk in a state of suspended animation in the Ice Tower, the stronghold housing the largest supply of Brahmantium on the planet.”
Hasegawa’s image concluded the initial narrative with a brief history lesson of known and unknown facts related to the Tulanos and the First Ones. Known: accumulation of greenhouse gases eventually forced the inhabitants of Mt. Tulan to live underground. On the surface, temperatures soared until the icecaps melted and covered the earth in a sheet of water 15,000 meters high. Unknown: as a result of shifting tectonic plates, the Ice Tower moved to its present location at 90° north.
Sobuku asked, “Were the First Ones aware of the climatic crisis ahead?”
“No, even the most powerful minds, aided by Brahmantium energy cells, can only cast their vision a few seconds into the future or the past. The First Ones gambled on the outcome when they put Carathuk in hibernation: at the end the sleep cycle, when Carathuk woke as Báixióng Pushaman, the Third One, the hybrid would carryout the First Ones plan to reset climatic conditions by introducing doses of Brahmantium into the ecosystem.”
“That would explain the temperature and oxygen levels in the north ocean and the ice pack,” Sobuku nodded. “That doesn’t explain the need for a weapon —”
The radar tower alert sounded, cutting Sobuku off. Masato’s image froze and then faded in a flash. A black speck appeared on the horizon. As the object drew near, the elongated shadow of a set of jagged edged wings glided over the ice.
The object flew directly over the top of the world.
On the ground, a silhouette passed overhead at high speed. In these few seconds, the sonar scope homed in on the object and adjusted optical enhancement to maximum. Detailed renderings showed a bat-airship of the Khundari class. The brand of the Hyderabad Air Force — a stylized bat clutching a bar terminating in twin lightning bolts — was etched onto wings spanning 20 meters.
In the air, the passing bat received incoming sonar signals. The pilot identified the whale-ship at rest as the Gato Kujira Maru. On the next outgoing sonar signal, the pilot relayed the image and data and then continued over the pole.
21
ONCE THE OBJECT disappeared on the horizon. The holograph twisted up into place. “That was a scout ship on a reconnaissance mission. We’ve been spotted. The project must be expedited,” Masato’s flickering image said.
Sonar waves — enhanced over a thousand year period of genetic modification — carried the data captured on the fly-over and transmitted the encoded signal to a weather balloon cruising in the jet stream. A parabolic dish mounted to the underside picked up the signal, decoded it, and then delivered it on a chain of balloons eventually reaching the equator.
“It will only be a matter of minutes until the signal reaches Air Force headquarters in Hyderabad. We have one day until the Riverians response is launched—”
“Response?” Sobuku questioned, interrupting the holographic. “Are you referring to a military action?” She pressed for an answer.
“Yes, the response ship will be carrying a powerful explosive device built around a
core of Brahmantium.” Masato’s image glanced from Sobuku to Kenshin to Pushaman. It went on, “The pilot will be under orders to drop the first of many Coreglass bombs on the ice cap.”
At this point it all became clear: Riverians, in order to maintain control of Landring and its delicate ecosystem, were willing to melt the ice shelf. A group of Oceanics, hoping to break away from the glass dome and repopulate the earth, would defend the North Pole. It didn’t take too much imagination to see where a confrontation of this magnitude could ignite a civil war between the Coastline Citizens and the Riverbank Citizens.
Masato’s image continued. “As institute director and commander of this mission, I’m invoking Proxy Control Code. This holograph is assuming leadership based on a course of action derived from thousands of models and scenarios.
“Captain Kamura, you will accompany Báixióng Pushaman to the Brahmantium deposits. Sobuku, you will remain on the Gato and we’ll work together to design a prototype. When the prototype is finished, Kenshin and Pushaman will mine and excavate the raw material.”
Masato’s holograph shuddered. The head split down the middle. Features stretched on the edges of the increasing divide until two holographs of Director Hasegawa hovered over the ice.
One Masato joined Sobuku at her station on the research deck. The second instance stood next to the captain and the hybrid.
Pushaman motioned to the crater on the ice shelf. Golden eyes pulsed into bright pinpoints. Masato 2 spoke in a deep, booming voice: “Follow.”
With verbal contact established, Masato 2 dialed back resources and only kept the Chosen Language interpretation application running.
Pushaman slid down the sloped side of the crater. Kenshin slid down the face on his knees. At the rim of the crater, Masato 2’s image faded and reappeared on the floor.
As Kenshin and Pushaman penetrated the cavern, droplets of water formed on the walls. Kenshin put a question to Pushaman: “Is there any danger of a cave-in?”
Pushaman answered through Masato 2: “The caves are temporary. Water seeps in through cracks in the ice. If the passages are not swept or lit with white stone lamps, the water will return to solid matter.”
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