The Long Day

by Robert Harrison

  The shuttle docked at the port side docking station and everyone disembarked. The interior of the ship was pleasant and pleasingly designed. It felt more like a home than a vessel. That was intentional. A lot of effort had gone into making the interior living spaces feel warm and cozy. This ship was designed for long duration flights and the thought was that this would make the crew feel less stressed.

  As they boarded they formed a single file line passing a reception desk. A small circular disk was attached to the left side of each crew member’s neck as they passed. This disk served several purposes: it was a health monitor, a location monitor, a communications device, and it networked to the ship’s main computer. It also served as a universal translator. The translator was based on the initial systems designed by Paumi, but this was a greatly miniaturized version that could be easily updated with downloads from the main computer.

  The disk was attached in such a way that the sounds it made were heard in the inner ear of the wearer, but were not audible to others. It also detected the speech of the wearer and transmitted that to other devices or to the main computer. It allowed for general conversation or provided person to person communications between any two people.

  After being fitted with the device, Asha headed to her quarters. Along the way she saw two of the Doleks who had previously boarded passing by. “Hello,” she said.

  “Hello,” she heard in response via the translation device. She thought it was a bit odd hearing a voice directly in her ear, but it was something that would probably become second nature after one got used to it.

  The Doleks paused for a moment and then the female continued speaking. She said, “I am hara-swan. I will be serving as a cook and nutritionist. I have brought a great abundance of foods and spices from Dolis and will be preparing a variety of Dolek dishes for your enjoyment. I hope you are ready for some new culinary experiences.”

  “I am,” Asha replied. “I look forward to it.” She continued, “I am Asha. I will serve as an ambassador to whatever new species we may encounter, and along the way I’ll also be serving as ship’s counselor. Please feel free to see me if you ever need to talk. Just consider me a friend.”

  “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you,” replied hara-swan.

  “And I am madi-tah,” the male Dolek replied, “warrior and chief of security.”

  Asha thought this was unusual. Sapiens had no warriors. Sapiens had never had a war and had no need for defense on Sapiea, so a warrior was something new to her. But the unknown nature of what they could encounter and the possibility of some unforeseen threat made the Doleks think it was a good idea to be prepared, so they sent two warriors. The Sapien council also thought it prudent and agreed to allow it.

  “It’s nice to meet you both. I’m sure I’ll see you again soon,” Asha said before continuing on her way. She found her quarters, and as she entered her room, she saw Paumi coming out of the door of the next room. They both smiled and nodded as he passed.

  Paumi was on his way to visit the Nanda. The Nanda were on deck nine, directly below. The ship had thirteen decks in all. The common area and entertainment center was on deck seven, in the center of the ship. Decks six and eight were living quarters for the Sapiens and the Dolek. Deck nine had been converted to an aquatic space for the Nanda. Most of the deck was filled with seawater, but there were several passages that passed through to the lower decks below, and a reception area where the air breathing species could meet with the Nanda.

  Paumi entered the reception area. One of the engineers was there making some adjustments to the Nanda’s space. They thought it was a bit too cold for their taste, so he was adjusting the water temperature. Paumi looked around the space and saw only chairs and a sofa. “Where is my translation console?” he asked the engineer.

  “Oh, there is no console. Like us, the Nanda have been fitted with a disk. Theirs has been modified to match their physiology. The health monitor is, of course different, and the translator is interfaced with their optic nerve. We don’t even need a display inside the tank any longer. Their cortex is more easily reached than ours, so the interface for them is connected directly to the central nervous system. They can actually speak without flashing now too. They just need to think what they want to flash and the translator picks it up.”

  Paumi was impressed. “Thank you,” he said.

  Paumi looked through the observation glass into the tank. It was different that he expected. Somehow he expected just a tank filled with water, but this had a complete undersea environment in it. It looked like the Nanda’s home world.

  “Where did all this come from?” he asked the engineer.

  “Well, mostly from your recordings,” he said. The remote devices you attached to the Nanda recorded a lot of detail about how and where they live, and we modeled this environment after what we saw. “They seem to like it,” he added.

  Just then a large figure approached the glass, “Hello friend,” he heard.

  “Hello,” he replied. Paumi recognized him from the sessions they had together. “It’s nice to see you again, friend. What is your name?”

  “Ah, we don’t have names that translate well to an audible language,” the Nanda replied. “Our names are actually visual patterns, but we have considered that and have named ourselves based on our patterns. You may call me Dot,” he said.

  The other two Nanda also approached the glass. “You may call me Dash,” said one.

  “And you may call me Arrow,” said the other.

  “I’m please to meet you both,” said Paumi. “And you may call me Paumi.”

  Dot said, “Uh, sorry, but that doesn’t seem to translate.”

  “Wait,” Paumi replied. Then he used the interface to interact with the ships computer. “Assign a name to me please.” The Nanda complied and flashed out a pattern. The computer translated – “Paumi,” came out.

  “There we go,” Paumi said.

  Paumi and the Nanda continued to speak and get better acquainted. Meanwhile, Sava was on the bridge making preparations to get underway.

  “Prepare to disembark” came a ship wide announcement. It did not come through loudspeakers, rather it came directly from the personal disk attached to each crew member. Everyone heard it, including the Nanda. “Please, note you may feel some motion when we first start moving, but the inertial dampers should quickly engage and make our ride a smooth and pleasant experience.”

  There was a momentary jolt as the ship began its ascent, but that was it. The ship ascended upward, above the orbital plane of the solar system. Interstellar travel was not done in the galactic plane. A ship would rise above or below the plane and travel through empty space. This made interstellar travel more efficient. Fewer hazards to navigate and no impact from the gravity of passing star systems. The ship was underway.

  Chapter 5: Star System Hail

  The ship had been traveling in open space for many months now. By this time, the crew knew one another quite well. Many new bonds and friendships had been formed, and they all knew that whatever the future held in store for them, the friendships forged on this voyage would last the rest of their lives. And they all knew if it came to it, they would sacrifice their own life for any other crew member. This crew had indeed become a family, and the time spent together in the emptiness of space had not been as difficult as many had anticipated.

  As directed by Sava, the crew had formed a Council of Elders along the way. Because the ship’s contingent was small, the council they created was smaller than a full council. The ship had just over two hundred souls on board, so they decided a council of six was sufficient. Their council consisted of four Sapiens: Sava, Asha, and two others; the Nanda Dot; and the Dolek madi-tah.

  In the last few months, Asha had become an aficionado of Dolek cuisine. It seemed the Dolek liked spicy foods with very pronounced flavors. There were many hot dishes, many sweet dishes, and many dishes with flavors she could still not identify or describe, but the Dolek flavors were mostly pl
easing to the Sapien palate. And likewise, the Doleks took a liking to the Sapien food as well.

  Asha and hara-swan had become close friends. Even though Asha was serving as ship’s counselor there had been only limited call for her services, and she had an abundance of free time. She spent most of that time in the galley helping prepare meals. Hara-swan had taught her how to use Dolek spices, and in return, she had taught hara-swan about the numerous varieties of editable plants that were native to Sapiea. They had also begun to create their own recipes of Sapien-Dolek fusion food.

  During the voyage, the crew had made several alterations to the ship. One of these was to install an observation screen in the Nandas’ environment. The Nanda had expressed that, because of their restriction to the aquatic quarters, they felt isolated and disconnected from the crew. True, they could communicate with anyone on board using the personal disks, but with no knowledge of what was going on outside their own environment it always seemed out of context

  The Nandas’ observation screen was connected to the ship’s internal monitors, and they could now see what was happening in the halls, the galley, and the other common areas. It was also connected to the ship’s outer sensors, and they could observe the stars passing by in the galactic plane below. Sometimes the Nanda thought they saw patterns in the stars resembling communications. Perhaps the universe was trying to tell them something, or perhaps their own tendency to try to make sense of patterns was just playing a trick on them. They wondered.

  Paumi had always known the Nanda were playful. When he was on Aquita he‘d often observed them swimming about and making various formations in the open ocean. He always thought that it seemed like some sort of game. It turned out that was true. The Nanda did love games. They spent much of their time using the observation screen to participate in the games going on in the recreational center.

  They particularly loved to play Bemsi, a difficult game played with seventy-two multi-colored tiles and four to six players. It was a game of strategy and trickery. It required the players to think ahead many moves, but move in such a way as to mislead your opponent as to your true intentions. The Nanda had gained a reputation as clever opponents.

  The second of the Dolek warriors, manna-rah, also liked Bemsi. He frequently played with the Nanda. Manna-rah liked to talk, and while they played he would often tell stories of his encounters with the wild beasts of Dolis and his bravery while he faced them down in mortal combat. The Nanda liked his stories and, in return, they recounted the old Nanda legends of how their ancestors battled against giant sea creatures. Manna-rah liked those stories as well. He and the Nanda had become friends.

  The recreational center, and in particular the gaming center, was a more popular part of the ship than the original designers had anticipated. Expanding the gaming center was among the modifications they had made. There was one modification remaining; the installation of a gravity well generator.

  During the trip, one of the physics labs had devised a way to use the singularity in the engine’s core to create a gravity field that could, in essence, lasso an object outside the ship. The device would warp the gravity field of the singularity and create gravity well that enveloped the target object, then retract the gravity bubble to a collector installed in the ship’s cargo hold. This would capture the object and deposit it on the collector.

  The collector had been installed during flight, but the generator needed to be mounted to the engine core outside the ship, and that could not be done while the ship was in FTL flight. This final modification was scheduled for completion when they dropped out of FTL travel. The installation was estimated to take about six hours.

  Life aboard the ship had become somewhat routine. People repeated the same patterns day after day: eat, work, exercise, play games, sleep. They were ready for a diversion, then it came. The Nanda and manna-rah were engaged in a game of Bemsi when a ship-wide announcement interrupted.

  Sava spoke. “We are approaching the destination star system, Hail. Shortly we will descend back into the galactic plane and drop out of FTL flight near the outer edge the system. Everyone responsible for observation or monitoring the external sensors, please report to your stations. We will soon begin a scan of the outermost planet.”

  Everyone reported to their various stations. The Nanda were not officially responsible for monitoring, but they were curious and redirected their observation screen to the ship’s outer sensors.

  The ship dropped out of FTL flight and neared the outermost planet in the system. It was a small, solid white planet with no moons. In fact, the planet itself was not much large than an average moon. It was a cold, frozen world with temperatures not exceeding fifty degrees kelvin. Even the atmosphere was frozen solid. The Sapiens wondered if it may have once been a moon, long ago ejected from orbit around one of the inner planets.

  The starboard observation deck was filled with people as they watched the first planet pass slowly by. The Nanda also watched on their monitor. They had just become the first of their species to ever see a new world. As the planet faded into the background the crowds dispersed. Traveling at sub light speed, it would be another eighteen hours before they’d reach the next planet. Everyone returned to their previous activities.

  Sava thought this was a good time to install the gravity well generator, and he ordered the engineering team to complete the process. The team assembled in the cargo bay. The cargo bay was at the rear of the ship above the main engine. It spanned three decks, decks two through four. The cargo bay door was the full height of the bay so large objects could be moved in and out of the ship.

  The team activated the atmospheric containment field and opened the bay door. The containment field was a weak force field that prevented the atmosphere from venting out, but did not prevent the passage of solid objects. The bay door was now open to space. Two of the engineers put on environment suits and stepped out into to the blackness, carrying device and tools required to complete the installation.

  As estimated, the job took about six hours. It would be several more hours before they’d arrive at the next planet, so they still had time to test the device. One of the engineers ejected a cargo container out of the bay door and let it float off into space. When it was several hundred yards away an engineer set the coordinates of the gravity well to envelope the target object and set the force level to .0001%.

  He pressed the button labeled ‘Fire’. Instantly the cargo container was enveloped by the gravity well, then the gravity field retracted to the collector. It was fast. Way faster than they anticipated. So fast they didn’t even see the container move towards the ship. It just seemed to appear in place at the collector.

  It worked. The test was successful. The engineers closed the cargo bay door, removed their environment suits, and stowed their gear. They returned to their normal routines to await their arrival at the next planet.

  A small blue dot appeared in the distance. It grew in size as they approached until a massive blue globe lay before them. This planet was a gas giant with a nitrogen-methane atmosphere. They recorded intense winds in blowing in excess of 500 miles per hour. The planet had no moons, but it was encircled by a beautiful ring of dust and debris. This planet seemed an unlikely source of the call and was quickly ruled out.

  The next planet was nearer and was coming into view as they passed the blue gas giant. They could already see this planet was also a gas giant. It was yellowish in color and striped with a dozen or so bands of varying hues. This planet had many moons, some of which were quite large.

  The planet itself seemed unlikely to support life, but one of the larger moons was green and blue with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. It definitely had a biosphere. They put the ship into orbit around the moon and began planning a ground excursion.

  There was a buzz of excitement on the ship. Devor Bon assembled a landing party consisting of Asha Aah, the Dolek warrior manna-rah, and two other Sapiens. They boarded the port side shuttle and detached from the ship. On the
descent they could easily see the moon was covered with lush vegetation. Most of the surface appeared to be covered by a variety of tree like objects and was unsuitable for landing.

  When they were a few thousand feet above the surface they flew around to assess the situation. There was no visible evidence of a civilization or any technology, but they wanted to investigate from the ground level. They spotted a grassy meadow area with what appeared to be stable, level ground, and they landed. External readings indicated the air was suitable for breathing and free of toxins, so they exited the shuttle to look around.

  They’d been on the ground only a few minutes and were just a couple of hundred feet from the shuttle when they heard a disturbance in the forest at the edge of the meadow. Suddenly a large cat-like animal burst out of the forest and ran straight at Asha. It was obvious this was a predator on the attack, and Asha was its target.