by C J Klinger
Talo mentaled Jon, “She’s telling the truth.”
When Captain McKinnah, Talo or Lieutenant Burns didn’t say anything, Annika interpreted it as disapproval and started to get up. “I’ll get my gear and disembark.”
“You haven’t been dismissed Commander,” Jon said with a tiny trace of a smile.
Annika sat back down wondering what was coming next. She was past the point of being embarrassed any more.
Jon said, “The truth is Annika, we knew that already. We wanted to hear you say it before we proceeded.”
Somehow, she was not surprised that they knew. It was obvious the Terran Space Force Intelligence Service had severely underestimated their counterpart in the Confederation Space Force. “Why do you want me to stay?” she asked, not understanding why they would want her to stay after what she had revealed about her mission.
“Because we really believe what I said about the greater human cause, Commander,” Jon said with his first display of emotion since they had set down at the table. “We know Earth has problems and we want to help. Who is better qualified than the Confederation to educate you on ways to survive on a hostile planet? Admiral Dexter made the decision to use you as a conduit back to your bosses on Earth to convey our willingness to be a part of the solution, not as a neighbor to steal from.”
She had been wrong, Annika discovered she was embarrassed again by his characterization of her actions, but she had to admit he was correct, she had been put here to steal. She looked at Jon and asked, “Do you agree with the admiral’s decision, Captain McKinnah?” She wanted to know if this man was just obeying the admiral’s orders and was tolerating her presence under duress.
“Yes,” he said, “But only if you agree to be a willing, cooperative member of this crew and open about what you report to your bosses on Earth,” Jon answered, staring her in the face. “That’s the reason for this meeting.”
Annika sat back, stripped of all pretenses. She desperately wanted to be part of this mission, to work with these people. It had nothing to do with her assignment; it had everything to do with the greater cause Jon had stirred up in her soul.
She forced herself to look him in the eye and said, “I humbly ask your pardon for my deception, Captain McKinnah and request that I be allowed to stay aboard and become part of your crew.” She knew there must be glints of tears in her eyes because her vision was blurred.
Jon smiled broadly and extended his hand across the table. Annika accepted it and returned his brief squeeze. He stared at her intently with those fathomless brown eyes and said, “Your request is accepted, Commander Masterson.” He tore the envelop open and said, “Now let’s see what the old man has in store for us.”
Chapter 11
Palace of Information, Alpha Tau Alpha
The spindly creature moved in a graceful lope through the garden paths. The low light of the ancient sun gave the flowers a blue hue, but large eyes allowed the being to see and enjoy the full range of colors. He was tempted to stop and enjoy one flower in particular since it bloomed only once a year for less than one solar cycle, but urgent business awaited him. Soon he was joined by several other creatures all traveling to a common location, the great conference center. Normally they met via holographic projection, but the Common Leader had urged them to attend in person. The request was unusual enough to prompt the Disciplines’ Representatives to comply. Curiosity was the driving force behind all their affairs.
The novelty of the occasion caused the scheduled beginning to be delayed, a novelty in itself. After a moment, the creatures’ sense of order brought them to their seats, and the conference began.
“They come,” Common Leader Ruuhr said.
No explanation was required. The Disciplines’ Representatives were fully aware of to whom the Common Leader referred; the humans.
“How soon?” Kloeum of the Chemistry Discipline asked, voicing the question on everyone’s mind.
“Soon, very soon,” the Common Leader answered.
Another Representative rose to be acknowledged, “Does the Leadership consider them to be a threat, neutral or helpful to our cause?”
“Unknown,” the Common Leader said, “But, History suggests neutral to helpful, depending on the first contact.”
Broyenn of The History Discipline rose to comment after receiving recognition from the Common Leader. “Previous observations suggest humans are rarely prone to senseless violence, but once provoked they can become mindless and utterly vicious. Most human aggression is for economic reasons related to the distribution of natural resources. That has diminished since they developed an FTL drive and can import scarce material.”
Mrall of the Physic Discipline asked History, “Will the humans become warriors in our cause?”
History answered promptly, suggesting they had studied the matter extensively. “The Humans will fight if they believe it is their fight. If the humans believe that, they will become a fierce ally.”
The Philosophy Discipline, known for her hypothetical conjectures, asked, “Will we have set loose the Demon by inviting them into our conflict?”
He Common Leader paused and finally said, “That remains to be seen.”
Chapter 12
Newhope, Space Center
Precisely on schedule, The CSF Islandia II lifted off from her assigned slot. The gleaming black, arrow-shaped spaceship rotated on her axis and steadily gained altitude. Once over Noble Bay, the ship accelerated, breaking the sound barrier at 3,000 meters. In five minutes Islandia II had passed the boundary into the blackness of space.
From the captain’s chair, Jon surveyed the holographic projection of the space around Newhope. Every moving object within ten thousand kilometers was marked with a directional arrow and a small information tag giving speed, direction, and mass. No imminent threats, either manmade or natural were evident in the immediate proximity of his ship.
He said, “Navigation, post the destination coordinates.” The holographic display evolved to show a different view of celestial bodies suspended in the central display, detailing exactly what they would encounter in the area of their planned jump destination. In the center of the display was a small green square that identified their ultimate destination. The jump would put them just outside the orbit of the planet Vajrashila. If the citizens on the planet had telescopes, they would be able to detect the Islandia II, although it would be difficult to distinguish the black hull against the black backdrop of space.
“Status?” Jon asked. One by one the stations pronounced their sections ready to jump. Lieutenant Burns held out her key and said, “Permission to Jump, Sir?”
Jon inserted his key in the command chair arm and said, “Execute jump.”
The holographic projection changed instantly. The green tag identifying the target world was much larger, but still in the dead center of the display.
Talo and Commander Masterson stood off to one side and watched the procedure with different thoughts. Talo was connected to the ship’s computer, a specialized version of himself. He wanted instant access to all the incoming data from the planet. Stored in his massive memory was the original survey made by the Ankh, but it had been conducted six thousand years ago, long before the humans had arrived.
When Talo had first received the report that humans occupied this world, he was as surprised as he was capable of being. This was not a hospitable planet for an invading life form. The Ankh survey had detailed a planet filled with fauna and flora fully engaged in physiological warfare. The chief weapon employed was paralysis. The higher order animals and plants paralyzed they prey into a motionless state until they could capture them. The lower animals and plants deployed a defensive blocking method to ward off the physic effects of paralysis. The evolutionary give and take had been going on for many millions of years. No native life form had been able to achieve sentient-status in this environment. Talo was keenly interested in learning how the humans had managed to survive on such a planet.
Anni
ka watched the jump activities with a practiced eye. The procedures employed by the CSF were not too different than those used by her own Space Force. The difference between the two services was where and how far they could go. The CIP Space Force had unlimited access to the universe; the Terran Space Force was restricted to their own solar system. One of Annika’s assignments was to find out how the CFS knew when an armed Terran ship tried to leave the solar system.
Annika was still struggling with the results of her meeting the previous evening. During her restless sleep it had boiled down to a simple choice; join the CSF with utter conviction or withdraw and stay on the sidelines. She realized Earth faced the same choices; become part of the human adventure or remain the Terran Confederation. She was first and foremost a member of Earth’s Space Force. That was her love and her ambition. She had devoted her all of her teens and early adult years to get into the program and, once in the Space Force she had worked hard to get ahead. Her temporary assignment to the Terran Department of Future Human Welfare had come as a surprise, but she accepted it, thinking it would be a way to stand out from the thousands of other officers trying to become Commanders of the limited number of ships in the Terran Space Force.
Life on Earth was desperate for most. Her family had been marginalized by the lack of opportunity. It was that desperate hope for her family that had allowed her to bury any misgivings she had about her assignment’s espionage role. She wanted her family to have an opportunity to migrate to a pioneer world. Secretary Gavito had convinced her that the CSF was keeping the best, most habitable planets for themselves and would not share them with Earth. These planets could easily absorb many hundreds of millions of Earth’s excess population. Anita hoped that her service would earn her family a place on one of these colony worlds.
She was completely unaware that Talo, and as a result, Captain McKinnah were aware of her internal struggles. Talo was capable of reading most human’s surface thoughts, especially when they dreamed. Humans used dreams to coagulate their random thoughts and concerns into a comprehensible storyline and Talo could read these like a human could read a book. The McKinnahs, from Jonathon Senior on had grown up knowing Talo knew what they were thinking. For them, it was natural, even though it sometimes got them in trouble. As they got older, they learned Talo used this information to be of better service to the humans he served. They also understood that almost everybody else would disagree with them. It was a closely guarded McKinnah secret.
Jon surveyed the holographic display and saw no threats. He instructed Penny to move them to a stationary orbit point 32,000 kilometers above the radio transmission point. Once in place, he said, “Send our message.”
“Aye aye, Sir, the message has been sent.”
The outgoing message came through on the war room speakers, “Ave, sumus pacifici venimus de Terra.”
Talo translated for Annika. “Greetings, we come in peace from Earth.”
“Why did he say Earth instead of the CIP?” she asked, thinking she might know the answer, but wanted to hear Talo’s explanation.
Talo turned his enormous head in her direction. “We are assuming these people are one of the three lost colonies from Earth. They will understand ‘Earth’ far quicker than the ‘CIP’ which did not exist when they left Earth.”
Annika was still having a hard time with Talo’s pupiless eyes, but she was becoming more comfortable being near him. His explanation coincided with her thoughts.
The speaker came on. “Tationes hominum a Terra. Gratum tibi domum. Vis videre Seniorum?”
This time Talo translated for everyone, “Greetings, men from Earth. We welcome you to our home. Do you wish to visit our Leaders?”
Jon instructed the Communication ensign to broadcast, “We would be honored to visit your Leaders.” The translation to Latin was automatic.
Within thirty seconds, instructions on where to land were received. Jon had Communication acknowledge the transmission with additional instructions to inform them a party of three would be landing in approximately one hour, ship’s time.
Jon turned to Talo and asked, “What can we expect, Talo?”
Talo described the situation on the planet from his data bank of the Ankh’s earlier exploration. He closed with the note, “Keep in mind, Captain, this information is six thousand years old. There should not have been a significant evolutionary shift in that period, but I cannot explain how the humans were able to adapt enough in six hundred years to survive this environment.
Annika’s sense of order was shaken. Talo was talking about events that happened six thousand years ago with the same certainty as if they had happened yesterday. There was an order of knowledge and expertise here she was unaware of, and it was beginning to shake her foundation of Terran superiority she had relied on. Without thinking she blurted out, “How could you know that, Talo? From my understanding, the CSF just discovered this planet.”
Talo looked at Annika for a moment before answering, “The planet was surveyed by a civilization known as the Ankh. I have access to their exploration data.”
Understanding dawned on her. This was the secret behind Islandia’s phenomenal progress. In a daze, she asked Talo, “How old are you?”
“In your terms, I am six thousand years old.”
Annika’s head reeled. She wanted to ask more questions, but Jon interrupted. “We have a mission to get ready for, Commander. I promise we’ll answer your questions at another, more convenient time.”
Annika nodded her agreement, not trusting her voice. She was bursting with curiosity, not to learn the secrets behind the CSF’s success for Earth’s benefit, but for her own edification.
Jon said, “Talo, how do we protect ourselves on the surface?”
“I can protect you,” Talo said, “But you must stay within three meters of me at all times for my shield to be effective.”
“Agreed,” Jon said and looked at Annika to make sure she understood the importance of what Talo had told them.
“Don’t worry; I’ll be his shadow,” she said with the first trace of humor she had expressed since she came aboard.
Jon relaxed. She would be alright. He covered last minute preparations with Lieutenant Burns who, as XO would assume command of the ship during his absence. “If I am unable to communicate with you, take your cue from Talo on how to recover us.”
In the starboard hold, the trio entered the five-man scout, used for area explorations. Jon and Annika took the pilot and copilot’s seats. The three extra seats were stowed in the floor to make room for Talo. The compartment was sealed, and on Jon’s orders, the outer door opened. The blackness of space filled with stars greeted them. In the bottom quadrant of the view, the planet Vajrashila appeared like a green apple bisected by mountain chains. There was only one small body of water that straddled the equator, but even at this altitude, it was evident the world had a lush, organic environment.
Jon eased the scout out of the hold and moved a short distance away from the ship. He took a second to admire his command. If warships could be called beautiful, Islandia II was indeed beautiful, and deadly. He entered the coordinates into the computer and pressed the yoke forward. A path was projected on the screen, and Jon guided the small scout to stay within the lanes of the virtual highway projection. They lost altitude rapidly, and soon a hundred-kilometer-wide circle of cultivated ground became apparent. In the center was a modest city surrounding a series of structures built in a circular configuration. The computer projection led to a park, perhaps half a kilometer from the city center. They descended over neatly cultivated fields, and orchards and lined up for a landing in the middle of the park. Looking out the forward screen, Jon could see thousands of people surrounding the designated landing spot.
“We have a welcoming committee,” Jon said, stating the obvious.
“They don’t appear to be armed, or hostile,” Annika observed.
Talo said, “Their intentions are peaceful, but I sense an ability to read minds. Stay
close to me, and I will shield your thoughts, but I recommend you control your reactions.”
The scout settled on its gear and Jon did an atmospheric check. It was a little rich in oxygen but otherwise safe enough for humans, at least their version of human. It was obviously safe for the citizens of Vajrashila who did not wear any type of breathing masks. Jon popped the hatch, and a roar rose from the crowd as Jon and Annika appeared but stopped abruptly as Talo stepped out, towering above them. Jon and Annika wore translation devices that could both translate and broadcast their words in Latin.
Jon stepped forward and said, “I am Captain Jonathon McKinnah of the Confederation of Independent planets. This is Commander Annika Masterson from the planet Earth, a member world in the Confederation of Independent Planet.” He turned to the towering figure standing next to him and said, “This is Talo, my personal Avatar.”
Almost all of the people assembled wore colorful, short tunics. They were unnaturally tall by Jon’s standards, two and a half meters on the average. There had a variety of hair colors, but most of their skin colors ranged from pale to ashen. Talo messaged him mentally saying it was a genetic response to the lower-than-Earth gravity and the redshift of their sun.