Conclave
Page 42
“They won’t be transported directly to Sol, will they?” Lucia asked.
“Negative,” Mickey replied. “That’s why I want the same crews. They were a tremendous help moving the parts. They understand the process.”
“Okay, done,” Lucia said.
“You have to stop,” Jess grumped.
“Engineers plan; commanders ruminate; admirals act,” Lucia replied. She leaned over and kissed Jess’s temple. “Hermione will see to the recruitment of the captains and their crews.”
The delegates remained on Sol for three more days. The majority of their time was spent in media interviews. Quickly, the media found that interviewing the Veklocks was a waste of scheduling time.
However, Earthers couldn’t get enough of the likes of Bortoth and Daktora, Talsoma, Tockitak, Suntred, Nemanous, and, of course, Oforum and Phette.
In the Pims’ first interview, the reporter, who started the session thinking she had a cute pair to interview, was shocked as the Pims’ story unfolded. The producer and the reporter were stunned to learn the Pims hid underground to escape the Colony’s infestation of their planet.
As the interview continued, the producer was ecstatic to watch the fast-rising repeats of the viewers. They were spreading the Pim session throughout the system.
While Oforum described hunting the insectoids riding the grav shadows that the Omnians had built, she sent images to the reporter’s implant. The woman nearly fell out of her chair when she saw a huge red rear in front of the tiny Pim on her flying weapon.
Those images were relayed to the producer, who sent them out. That first Pim interview became the most highly viewed piece of Sol vid in more than a decade.
After the delegates had enough of the media’s efforts, they sought the tranquility of the city-ships.
Alex replied with a sigh.
Hector replied.
Soon, Alex’s ship broke though the atmosphere, targeting the location of the three travelers that kept watch over the Swei Swee. Reaching the shoreline, Alex triggered the ramp down, and he stood on its edge.
The three Swei Swee were spotted shooting from wave crest to wave crest. They weren’t frolicking. They were racing for shore, which was about two kilometers away.
Alex selected the link, which allowed him to connect to the controller’s view of a section of ocean about two hundred meters behind the Swei Swee.
“Black space,” Alex mumbled. He ran swift calculations on the velocities of the two groups and factored in the distance to the shore. According to his estimate, the Swei Swee wouldn’t make it. They’d be caught about twenty meters from the beach. He could hear Swei Swee whistles, and he strained to make out the words.
Wave Skimmer was arguing with his companions.
Deep Diver and Swift Eyes wanted to fall behind and defend their hive leader.
Wave Skimmer ignored their entreaties. He whistled, “They will cripple you, chase me down, and dine on the three of us. Focus on making the shore.”
Alex replied,
Alex quickly designed a flight maneuver, programmed the four traveler controllers, and executed the directive.
The pilots lost access to their controllers, discovering Alex was in charge of their ships.
The travelers gained height and then inverted. They dove toward the Swei Swee.
Alex, through the ship’s sensors, could see pairs of eyes swivel toward them, while the other pairs focused on the next wave crest.
Twenty meters above the Swei Swee, the four travelers described a ninety-degree arc and cut across the ocean’s surface toward the orcas. Skimming mere meters above the waves’ crests, the wake of the four ships flying in tight formation swept aside hundreds of thousands of tons of seawater.
Alex was overjoyed to see the orcas cease their hunt and dive to escape the disturbance. Three minutes later, the Swei Swee made the shore.
Viewers along the beach and the street above had watched the scene unfold, and Petula was there to capture the chase and the ships’ intervention on her drone.
Alex leapt from his traveler to imprint his weight about fifteen centimeters into the sand.
“Dangerous hunters,” Swift Eyes whistled. His pitch was higher than usual.
“Fast,” Deep Diver added. He was as unsettled as Swift Eyes.
“We must return,” Wave Skimmer whistled urgently.
“To be eaten?” Alex whistled in query.
Tweets expressed Swei Swee amusement about Alex’s remark.
“Alex, we return to continue listening to the large air breathers,” Wave Skimmer urged. “They sing to one another.”
“You want to sing to the whales?” Alex inquired.
Wave Skimmer warbled his amusement. “Not us, Dassata. We return with the hive singers. We must understand their songs and learn about them.”
Alex considered the desire that drove Wave Skimmer. The Swei Swee would endure a round-trip floating in a pool aboard a city-ship to pursue this new opportunity to speak with Earth’s leviathans.
“That’s a promise, Wave Skimmer,” Alex replied. “Do you think you can board the travelers without being consumed?”
The Swei Swee headed for the travelers that hovered at the surf’s edge, while they warbled and tweeted. Much of their humor was an emotional release from narrowly escaping their demises.
* * * * *
Sol’s new carrier was readied for Mickey, who’d returned to Pyre. The Crocian engineers and techs were waiting for him at the outpost.
To the assembled human dome whisperers, Mickey said, “The four of you should prepare to sail to Sol with the carrier when it returns from Re-Gen. You’ll spend time on Earth while we reassemble the dome.”
“Where’s your installation target?” Pia inquired.
“Unknown,” Mickey replied. “President Fowler will have a say in our final choice. It could be Mars. The planet’s two moons are small. Phobos is only twenty-two kilometers across, while the smaller moon, Deimos, is only thirteen kilometers.”
“Why not Earth?” Kasie asked.
Mickey started to reply. Then his brain caught up with his mouth. “Good question,” he said. “I’ve an idea why not.”
“It’s been painfully obvious that the Messinants planted the domes on satellites that orbited the planets as a means of enticing the developing sentient races to investigate,” Kasie pressed. “The dome placements were meant to encourage the races to achieve spacefl
ight.”
Mickey eyed Kasie. He knew that she knew the answer to her question.
The routine was well-established for Mickey, the three humans, the SADEs, the Crocians, and the Pyrean spacers.
Sol’s carrier arrived at Pyre, as requested, without travelers. The bays were empty to maximize room for the larger pieces of the Re-Gen dome. Mickey had realized that everywhere the carrier sailed, there’d be travelers he could use.
Lucia had ordered Tridents to the Re-Gen system. The warships carried cargo model shuttles. The seats of half of the travelers had been stripped out to accommodate dome sections. Still various dome items had to be secured for transport, as they stuck off the lowered rear ramps.
The SADEs adapted various grav devices to accommodate moving parts to and from the shuttles.
Within a few days, a routine was established at Re-Gen. Piece by piece, the dome disappeared from the moon into the belly of the carrier. The bays, corridors, and some cabins were required to cradle the dome’s parts.
As the last traveler launched from the Re-Gen moon with a section of the lowest deck, Mickey gazed at the two empty craters.
Mickey sent. He wanted to slip an arm around Pia and feel the warmth of her body, but they were encased in environment suits.
Mickey replied. He grinned at Pia through his faceplate. Then he touched his helmet to hers.
It was decided that the Mars atmosphere, thin as it was, would disrupt the gate’s energy releases. Therefore, the dome site became Phobos, the larger moon of Mars. Although, Phobos was more akin to a large asteroid than a moon.
The spacers excavated the new pit, and the six sections of the lowest platform, with their legs, were transported to the surface.
The SADEs employed one of their newest inventions to fuse the regolith around the legs before the spacers backfilled regolith under the deck.
After that, the reassembly of the dome followed quickly. As expected, the Messinant tool triggered the console and activated the dome.
“Well, that’s disappointing,” Kasie remarked. She’d opened her helmet after the dome activated and cleaned its surfaces. Despite the primary panel lighting, the secondary panels remained dark.
“This is where we start,” Edmas offered.
“Right,” Kasie grumped. “We search, fail, and get frustrated. I’m familiar with the routine.”
“We’ve solved these problems before, Kasie,” Pia soothed.
Kasie harrumphed. Then she accessed the primary panel’s routine to display the star field overhead.
Meanwhile the audience, who’d assembled to enjoy the momentous event, quietly sat on the deck along the periphery.
Later, Kasie commented, “That’s even more disappointing.” She’d been unable to slide the display any farther than the edges of alliance space.
Luther and Minimalist had access to the carrier’s extensive star charts, which had been downloaded from the Omnians’ travels stored aboard the Freedom. They’d guided Kasie in her search for Sol.
From the edge of a platform, where Pia, Edmas, and Jodlyne were seated, Edmas said, “So our dome is ignorant of where it sits. Then we need to educate it. The answer seems obvious.”
Kasie frowned at Edmas. She was frustrated by the dome’s inability to connect its original gates, and she worked to keep her own gates clamped shut.
“I think my fancifully speaking partner is alluding to a method to input a wider star map into the console,” Jodlyne explained.
Kasie’s expression changed dramatically, and she swung her gaze toward the SADEs.
Luther activated a portable holo-vid and selected a display of a compacted star map, which included Sol and the Re-Gen star.
“There you go, Luther. Put it in there,” Kasie said, laughing and pointing at the console.
The group was energized and crowded around the console.
“We’ve only the primary panel to use,” Jodlyne mused. “If I were a Messinant engineer, I’d have a routine to expand my dome display.”
“Then we would have Sol appear overhead,” Pia added. “Afterward, we can return to the selection process for new gate activations.”
Kasie held up a finger to allow her a moment to think. “Under the panel’s submenu, which produces the star display, there are two items that have yet to be understood,” she said under her breath, as if she was talking to herself.
Hurriedly, Kasie’s fingers danced across the primary panel and located the appropriate submenu. She stared at the two selections, which before now had failed to produce any response when selected. She turned and gazed beseechingly at her companions.
Minimalist requested the holo-vid from Luther. Then he eased beside Kasie. “Try the first item,” he instructed.
Kasie touched the panel’s icon, and Minimalist tilted the holo-vid, allowing the display to float above the panel. Nothing happened.
“Try the other icon,” Minimalist requested. The result was the same.
“Good try,” Jodlyne said encouragingly.
“A satisfying reaction would be a better result,” Minimalist replied.
“I second that,” Kasie added sourly.
“How does the panel know the image is there?” Pia asked, genuinely confused.
Kasie regarded Pia, or rather she looked in Pia’s direction, but her eyes were focused far past the medical officer.
“Perhaps, try the icons in succession or at the same time,” Luther suggested.
Kasie tried three variations of input, while Minimalist held the display over the panel.
“No one answered my question,” Pia pointed out, when the latest three attempts failed.
“Probably because no one has an answer,” Jodlyne replied.
“Then help the panel out,” Pia said. “Kasie, run through the five variations again. Minimalist, invert the holo-vid display. Point it at the panel, and make sure that the target stars fall within the panel’s surface.”
Kasie heaved a sigh of exasperation. She was confused as to why the change would make a difference.
It didn’t for the first three attempts. On the fourth try, pressing first the upper glyph and then the lower one produced a laser scan that ran from th
e top of the panel to the bottom.
“Wow,” Kasie uttered. She immediately accessed the star display and searched for Sol, but the star was not to be found. “It couldn’t be any more disappointing,” she muttered.
Edmas rubbed his chin. He’d no doubt that Minimalist’s star display had been loaded into the console, and he searched for a reason why Sol wasn’t there. Minutes later, a snap of the fingers attracted the team’s attention to him.
Simultaneously, Edmas, Luther, and Minimalist said the same thing, “Reboot.”
“Reboot,” Edmas repeated, pointing excitedly toward the console. Then he closed his helmet’s faceplate, and the audience and the investigators followed suit.
Kasie shrugged her shoulders and acquiesced to the suggestion. She shut down the dome, waited for a minute, and then powered the console.
When the whirlwind cleaning activity ceased, Kasie opened her faceplate and accessed the star display. Directly above her was a new star. “Is that Sol?” she asked.
“Affirmative,” Luther said proudly.
“Kasie, look at the panels,” Jodlyne instructed. All three secondary panels were lit.
“We did it,” Kasie rejoiced and blasted the humans.
Luther and Minimalist recorded the greatest energy spike from an empath since SADEs had first monitored the unique women. Of course, while they were recording, they were catching three staggering humans.
“Oops,” Kasie remarked, as she attenuated her gates. When her companions were seated on a platform, Kasie retrieved a cube, and said, “Minimalist, would you do the honors?”
Minimalist recorded a message. Luther placed it on the gate to dome one, which had been reconnected to their dome, the Re-Gen dome.
Luther stepped away from the platform, and Kasie triggered the gate from the secondary panel. The gate fired, and the cube was gone. Kasie’s grin was enormously broad.
In no time, the cube returned, and Luther retrieved it.
Kasie set the messages to play.
The team heard Minimalist again. The SADE had said, “The dome whisperers strike again!”
The reply from dome one was nothing but cheering, whistling, and the cacophony of SADEs.
Isolated by the dome, the team couldn’t share their success directly with the carrier and the Tridents that floated nearby.