by Ken Pence
Andrew gave the alien all the requirements for the set and he was prepared when Ivan delivered the set. One alien crewman brought it into the room as if it was a quart of nitroglycerin. It was an extra meter and a half-square set from one of the lounges. The set was simply a good quality assembly line model because many of the shipboard items were made much better commercially rather than custom designs. The viewing panel of the set was gray with a simulated wood-grain case about ten millimeters thick and the panel sat on a rectangular base that contained all the controls and adjustments.
The Chief Technician inspected the set while one of his subordinates attached the power leads he had prepared. Brad explained the controls to the fascinated alien as Andrew moved his seat to a more comfortable viewing position. Brad then had the Chief Technician turn on the set.
All the aliens let out a gasp almost as a group. This receiver was one of Earth's latest and besides being in color; it displayed a simulated three-dimensional picture using solid-state laser projection elements and a reflected image having the second holographic projection superimposed electronically. There was almost an hour of viewing before the special documentary was to be shown and the time sped by. Andrew used his computer linkage through his Mem-Dex and turned down the language broadcast in English so the aliens could hear the programs in a language they could understand over his Mem-Dex.
Not having been conditioned since birth to ignore commercials, the aliens were soon swaying to ridiculous tunes which showed how psychologically similar they were to humans, unlike Rett. Then the documentary came on and superseded the other broadcasts. The story of building Earth's first starship and the story of its crew unfolded. The story omitted that any technology originated anywhere other than on Earth and Andrew saw the rapt attention of the alien commander. Andrew also noted that the alien Technician looked like he wanted to take everything apart and see how it worked. Good luck, Andrew thought. Earthly electronics firms didn't put these products together anymore with user serviceable parts.
Andrew stood up. "I would like to present this to you as a gift from our people to your Confederation. Now that you know that we are of Earth and that we will soon build more ships to visit the stars, let us get down to the business of working out a trading agreement to prepare for smooth interstellar relations."
The alien dismissed everyone but his linguist and Andrew chuckled when he saw the alien Chief Technician carrying out his new playtoy. Andrew wondered if frustration or the high voltage in some sections of the set would kill him first. It was now time to set the parameters of the agreement. Andrew had to find out what regulations Earth would face while trading with other planets and what the Exploration Service had to offer plus a million other facts.
The Exploration Service officer was trying to decide how best to exploit the naivete of these natives to get the fastest transfer of electric technology. He didn't understand enough yet to call it electronics. He was also considering how to get off this ship and get promoted when he returned.
Andrew was not long in finding objection to several points the E. S. officer brought up. The treaty was to be indefinitely binding and binding on Earth's population generally. It was not solely with any government entity as the World Government because that could change. Internal politics was not to alter the treaty. There was a serious clash of wills because the Exploration Service ships were to have a service base built and they were to be the only ships enforcing the treaty. Rather than have the discussions break up at this point, Andrew suggested that this would be a good time for a short break where Brad and he could return to their ship. The E. S. officer was also feeling the strain and consented.
Brad had only stepped back aboard behind Andrew when Susan came up to them.
"We've been monitoring everything but the military can monitor all the outside computer link-ups and I'm afraid they'll break your digital-analog coded signal if they get access to the right equipment and have too much more time. Their encryption standard was good but could be broken given time and enough multiprocessing power. General Alexander has been calling every thirty minutes and he's threatening to force his way in here and take over," Susan said.
"I guess being delegated to being a security guard for these meetings instead of writing policy himself leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. Brad, you work with Susan and set up some response tactics for different ploys old 'Hawkeye' might make," Andrew said being suddenly very tired. "I'm going to get the computer to brush me up on a couple of subjects while I get something to eat."
In several hours, after Andrew had eaten and rested, they returned again to the alien ship. At that point, progress was made. Andrew traded information on Earth system for a star map and language training system that used memory cylinders. The computerized printer was used to produce hard copy photos and technical information, translated into the alien written language. Compared to the Earth information, Andrew felt the metallic 1200 paged color atlas of E.S. language training was Earth's best bargain.
The Exploration Service officer had negotiated over two dozen such agreements and knew it was rare, but not out of the scope of his authority to negotiate a treaty with a planet that did not wish to even become an associate member of the Central Confederation. The E. S. officer explained that he could not protect a non-member but the native captain was adamant and insisted Earth could take care of itself.
Andrew got the officer to concede that no trading ships would appear on Earth until after one Earth year had passed from the treaty signing. Then all ships would have to stop first at the abandoned lunar station that had been deserted soon after the Viral B outbreak. Andrew noted from the officer's reaction, that this was standard procedure on most planets, even though Andrew had only just thought of it. Working out mediums of exchange took little time and Brad saw to it that precious metal and mineral exchanges for goods would be limited. Barter was allowed but knowledge in exchange for knowledge was to be the most desired formula for trade though there would soon be demand for anything interstellar. Trade goods would usually come later except for those rare items that would invariably show up as desired by another.
Susan buzzed Andrew at a crucial point in the exchange with some disturbing news. Infrared sensors had registered a small body of men moving in toward the Earth ship from some distance. Andrew was deeply disturbed but could not break off negotiations now or show any Earthly dissent or factions without wrecking the treaty. He told her to handle it using whatever means, just so the talks weren't disturbed.
Damn, Susan thought... You handle it, he says. OK, I will handle it! Boy, that man sure picks a time to delegate authority. If I can't locate those soldiers, maybe I can get them called back to their base. They would probably be assigned to observe and report and probably capture any personnel from the ship if they were outside. Susan looked around her. Tod, Desiree, Fran, and Ivan were also prepared to suit up after the planning was done.
Susan smirked as they put their heads together and came up with a plan. It might work. I'd sure like to see old Hawkeye's face if this plan works. Susan had just sat down with the little group when she smelled something sweet and metallic and the room went dark.
RETT TO THE RESCUE
Rett's chest started burning as he sat at the computer console in his room. Soon it was very difficult to breathe. I must make it to an outside port. Fighting his way out the door and down the corridors with his heaving chest was an enormous effort. When he finally got to an emergency port, his head was spinning and the wash of cold air when it opened was startling. His pain and dizziness had already disappeared and whatever had made him sick was dissipating because it scarcely affected him at all, as he went back into the ship.
What could have happened? As he was walking down one of the center corridors toward the control room, he heard a commotion ahead. The last few minutes were unsettling enough so that Rett decided not to confront anyone until he knew about the situation so he stepped into a small storage room and left its door slid
open a crack. Watching out the opening, he saw a human, one of the soldiers like the ones who first captured him, but these wore filtering masks on their faces.
They not only brandished weapons but all but two carried what could only have been crewmembers of this ship across their backs. Rett couldn't tell most humans apart but this was serious. Rett didn't know if the crew was dead but the soldiers had made two trips past his hiding place carrying crewmembers. There could not be many aboard yet. Living among these humans on this ship was terrorizing enough, but at least he was learning here. Among the military who had captured him when he first escaped the Exploration Service ship, he had been treated as an animal. Rett had known animals he had treated with more care and respect. My first course of action must be to determine how many soldiers were aboard.
Rett hurried back to his compartment, locked the door and rushed over to his computer terminal. His few days here had passed swiftly after he had been taught the native language and taught how to access information on the computer. Now he must find if he could still use it.
"Computer. How many non-crewmembers are aboard this ship, not counting myself?" Rett asked the computer.
"Ten, but sensors indicate communication between members on board and a larger group of soldiers who are approaching."
"Can you tell me where the soldiers are located?" he asked.
"Four are outside Lounge 2, four are in the control room and two are at the room housing the Fast-Neutron Projector."
"Where are the crewmembers and are they alive?" Rett asked.
"All are inside Lounge 2 but respiration and heartbeat indicate they are unconscious," said the computer.
"Contact the Captain who is not aboard the Exploration Service ship," Rett said.
"You are not authorized to make outside contact," quoted the computer.
"Are any crewmembers aboard able to make such a communication?" Rett asked.
"No." answered the computer.
"Could you make contact with CaptainandrewWilliams?" Rett asked the computer.
"Yes," answered the computer, "I am signaling now."
Andrew was jerked out of his deep concentration by the buzz from his Mem-Dex. To further arrest his attention was the voice that answered him it was the synthesized voice of the computer.
"I have an urgent message for you Captain," said the computer.
"Go ahead," Andrew said before he even thought about talking with the computer.
"This ship has been boarded by ten soldiers. The crew is unconscious and appears under guard in Lounge Number Two. There is a company-sized force about two kilometers distant and approaching," the computer stated.
"Is everyone unconscious? How was it done?" Andrew queried the computer.
"No, the one called Rett is conscious. Probability is that a gas was administered through an open port," the computer answered.
"You mean Rett is alive and conscious. What is he doing?" Andrew asked. "He is conscious and sitting next to the console in his allotted compartment."
"Well, let him talk to me and we'll see if we can't work out something," Andrew said.
"What do you want me to do CaptainandrewWilliams?" Rett asked.
When Andrew, with Brad's suggestions, had finished talking with Rett he made excuses for Brad's leaving to the Exploration Service officer and went nervously back to the negotiations. He could not stop now without throwing all the previous work aside. He knew with calm certainty the fact that confronts so many leaders; someday you have to totally rely on the intelligence and competence of the people around you...in this case one "non-people." Andrew did not rely on Rett...he relied on Rett's self-interest and his desire to return to another world intact.
Rett knew there would be risk in this plan, but there was less certainty of death here. Life with the natives or returning to the Exploration Service ship was no alternative. Rett also knew the layout of this ship. Since he was now allowed limited access to the computer, he had been studying available information. Quietly, he made his way out the door and hurried down the corridor. He made it safely around the corner and soon saw the emergency airlock ahead.
He knew how to open the airlock with little fanfare so Brad could enter. As he crossed the last few meters, he heard a noise to his left and came face-to-face with a soldier carrying a shoulder weapon. For a split second they stood looking at each other, but before the soldier could even level his rifle, Rett hit him with his right arm in an imitation of how Andrew had hit him at their first meeting. The soldier's helmet went flying and the soldier crashed against the wall unconscious and with a dislocated shoulder. Rett quickly opened the emergency port and Brad, wearing his helmeted and sealed suit, came flying in and stopped to view the soldier lying against the wall.
"If this is what you call quiet, what do you call noisy?" Brad said, his sarcasm lost on Rett. "Follow me toward the lounge." As Brad started walking, he heard the sound of running feet from the corridor ahead. A short distance from the intersection, Brad put his back to the wall. When the soldier cut around the corner, Brad braced and hit him below his chin, in the center of his throat. There was a loud gurgle, then, the soldier crashed to the floor. Brad wasn't expecting the second soldier, who swung wide around the corner with his rifle in the ready-gun hip position.
Brad was standing near the wall and the soldier ran toward him without stopping. Brad couldn't disarm him from that distance so he did the next best thing; he turned his personal belt field to full power just as the soldier tried to butt stroke him with his rifle. The butt of the weapon stopped as it came into the field's influence and the eddy currents heated it instantly. The soldier yelped and dropped his rear grip on the rifle. Just then, Rett, who had been taking in everything from the middle of the corridor, decided to take a step forward. The movement caught the soldier's eye. Due to the motion in his peripheral vision, the soldier swept his head and rifle in that direction as he had been trained.
Brad switched off his belt with one hand and hit the soldier under and to the rear of one ear with the stiffened edge of his other hand. The soldier fell like a shot. Brad ordered Rett to help. After tying their hands and taping their mouths they tucked all the bodies into a nearby storage room. Then with extreme caution, they made it to Brad's laboratory.
Brad was a competent chemist though chemistry was secondary to intelligence gathering when he had first arrived at the starship project. Within a few minutes, Brad had chemicals and reagents out of their storage and was soon measuring and heating solutions. Brad knew the lab was well insulated, but he hoped the compressor's noise wouldn't draw any soldiers. It wasn't more than an hour before Brad had a small cylinder filled. He was now ready. Rett had simply noted the entire procedure from his post near the entrance door.
Brad resealed his suit and gave Rett an oxygen cylinder. He told him to remain in the lab and use it if he felt any dizziness. Then Brad made for Lounge Two. When he got close, he held the bottle, opened the valve, and lifted the bottle so that it almost touched the corridor ceiling. The synthetic gas Brad had made would seek the lowest level. The corridor vent would help spread the gas. So little was needed that Brad turned off the valve when he heard the first body fall.
Checking the lounge showed the soldiers in disarray on the floor, and the crew peacefully lying on the floor. Brad quickly bound and taped the soldier's hands, feet, and mouth and then checked on the crew's condition. According to the computer, there were still four soldiers aboard, near the control room, so he headed up ship.
He walked until he came close enough to hear voices coming from near the control room and opened the valve on the cylinder. Again Brad heard bodies crumpling to the floor and the talking ceased. Walking into the control room was different than in the lounge. As he walked in, he saw five soldiers and a man wearing a business suit lying on the floor. There were only supposed to be four left on board! Across the room, three soldiers were sealing gas masks to their faces after clearing them. One now noticed Brad coming in.
&
nbsp; He started reaching for his automatic and he grunted a warning to the others as he drew the weapon. Brad knew he couldn't get to the one drawing his gun in time. The other two soldiers were off to his right, a footstep away.
Brad jumped to the right, so the other two soldiers would be in the line of his fire of the first soldier. The younger of these two was attempting to turn and draw his sidearm but Brad trapped this one's gun hand above the elbow so he couldn't finish drawing his pistol and hit him under his breastbone as hard as he could. The air gushed out of the soldier's lungs and he collapsed unconscious. Brad grabbed the soldier standing next to him around the neck and swung him as a shield. The first soldier was trying to maneuver for a clear shot.
The soldier Brad grabbed acted drunk and probably had inhaled a little gas before getting his mask on. It wasn't until then that Brad noticed the rank of the officer he had grabbed. A general. He walked forward with the general in front of him toward the soldier, a captain, who had his gun leveled.
"You're not that good a shot, Captain. Are you going to risk hitting the general here? I'm unarmed," Brad said guessing the captain had orders to take prisoners alive and unharmed if possible.
The captain's gun wavered and Brad could see him weighing his options. It must have been Brad's statement that he was unarmed that finally decided the issue. Brad saw the man calmly holster his weapon and step forward. Brad shoved the general at the captain and the captain threw his arms up to keep the general from crashing into him. Brad leaped forward, grabbed the captain's gas mask over the mouth, and ripped up and back. As soon as the mask was stripped off, the captain inhaled from surprise, took two steps backward and collapsed in a heap.
Brad stripped the mask off the general who was coming around and stripped the mask off the soldier he had hit in the solar plexus and got the gas cylinder again and gave them both an extra shot of gas to keep them asleep. Then he bound and gagged all the soldiers, locked all hatches and turned up the outside field. It wasn't until then that Brad buzzed Andrew to report.