by Doug Farren
Several people began to raise their voice to ask questions but AJ stymied them with an upraised hand. “Please! Let me finish – I'll open this up for questions in just a moment.”
Taking a deep breath, AJ pointed to the map and continued, “There is some good news. The third planet of this system is habitable. It's an Earth-like planet with large bodies of liquid water and a comfortable, although warmer, climate. Gravity is zero point nine G's. There’s one small problem though – the planet is already home to a technologically advanced, civilization.”
AJ could see the apprehension growing. He wouldn't be able to hold off their questions much longer. Since they were still respecting his wish to remain silent, he forged on. “We really have only two options: We can stretch our supplies and remain aboard the Star-Pulse for the next six months or more while the ship is being repaired or we can make contact with the culture on the third planet and return home as one of the very rare crews to have discovered a new race. Their planet has plenty of water. Questions?”
There was an immediate uproar as everyone tried to speak at once. “Sandy, you first,” AJ chose someone at random. The others quieted down so they could hear her question.
Sandy Cornelius, one of the deck hands, stood up. She was a frail looking woman of 26 with thick, short-cut, brown hair and a face filled with freckles. “I thought this ship had an automated repair system capable of fixing anything that could possibly break.”
Commander Moon stood up to answer the question. “I've seen the damage with my own eyes. I'll be putting the pictures I took on the network if anyone’s curious. The structural steel in that section of the ship has been severely damaged. Our robots can repair it, mostly by salvaging structural steel from other parts of the ship but it's going to take them at least six months.”
“How advanced are the aliens?” Petty Officer Second Class Scott Burger asked.
“Difficult to say from this far out,” AJ replied. “Based upon the movement of some of the signal sources we've been tracking, it appears as if they’ve established a respectable presence in space. There are a large number of transmitters in orbit. It doesn't appear as if they have jump technology. Spectroscopic analysis of the planet's atmosphere indicates a very wide-spread use of fossil fuels.”
“How about other sources of deuterium?” Heather asked.
“There are two other sources of water in this system,” AJ replied. Tapping the map of the system he said, “Both are orbiting the innermost gas giant. As a contingency, I plan on sending one of the shuttles to investigate those moons while the other makes its way to the third planet.”
“I take it you’ve already decided to make contact with the inhabitants?” Lieutenant Commander Johekar asked.
“I have,” AJ said with certainty. “I'm planning on taking one of the shuttles down myself. Perhaps they will allow us to stay on their world while we repair the ship. They might even be able to help if they’re advanced enough. Plus, their planet has plenty of water and extracting deuterium from their oceans would be a lot easier than getting it from a frozen moon. I'm sure we have something we can offer them in return. Advanced knowledge is always a good bartering tool.”
AJ could tell there were doubts. Contacting another race was a risky adventure normally reserved for specially trained individuals. They had no idea what the political situation was between the inhabitants. If there were multiple countries standing at the brink of war, their presence could trigger a global conflict. It had never happened in the past but the possibility was always there.
“Think about it!” AJ tried to win them over. “We could return home as the discoverers of a new race. Although I love this ship, the thought of spending the next six or seven months inside her does not sit well with me. I think we should at least try to make peaceful contact with them, especially since they most likely already know we are here.”
“What?” an unknown voice spoke the question that popped into everyone's mind.
“The energy spike we created as we exited hyperspace was strong enough to be easily picked up by their instruments,” AJ explained. “They may not be able to see us, and they may not know what caused the spike, but they know something strange happened out here. They might send a probe or, if they’re capable of doing so, a ship to investigate.”
“Who's going to go with you?” Delgordo asked.
AJ brought the room lights back up to full intensity so he could clearly see everyone's face. “I'll need a good pilot and two other volunteers. Commander Moon will be in command of the ship while I'm gone and I'd like Chief McKintyre to stay aboard to supervise the repairs.”
“I'll go,” Heather said without hesitation, standing up to emphasize her point.
“I would like to be your pilot,” Thomas said, also standing up.
AJ nodded his head then looked around. “I need one more volunteer.”
There was a moment of silence as everyone glanced around the room, each person looking to see who else would speak up. Finally, Scott Burger stood up and announced, “I'll go.”
“We have our first-contact crew,” AJ said. “It's been a long day, and there's no rush to get started. The trip's going to take several days so let's make sure we’re provisioned accordingly. Commander Moon, select a crew of two to check out the moons of the gas giant and restructure the crews to provide adequate bridge support. Chief, prep the shuttles for launch. We’ll leave at zero eight hundred tomorrow morning. Dismissed!”
Commander Moon met up with AJ in the passageway. “I saw the look you gave me, what's on your mind skipper?”
“Just to be on the safe side, I want you to maintain radio silence until told otherwise. I’ll send you periodic updates. If we don't contact you at least every other day then you should assume the worst. In that instance, harvest the deuterium from those moons and stay put – even if it means sitting out here for eight months. Understood?”
“Completely Sir. Any idea how you're going to communicate with them?”
“I've already checked on that. The ship's main computer has a whole suit of first contact language development programs available. I'll be loading them into the shuttle's computer before we leave.”
“I hope they work,” Moon replied, slowing as they approached the Captain's stateroom. “I’d hate for you to ask them to take you to their leader and have the computer tell them to surrender or be vaporized.”
“Me too,” AJ replied, ignoring the attempted joke. He spun the handle of his stateroom and pushed the door open. “None of us are linguistic experts.”
“Get some sleep AJ. I'll make sure the shuttle is ready for departure by zero eight hundred.”
“Thanks Patrick. Good night.”
Chapter 8
“Captain?” Thomas spoke softly so as not to wake the others. When AJ did not respond he gently shook AJ's shoulder.
AJ opened his eyes and then got up on his arm, “What is it?” he asked, while still trying to wake up.
The shuttle had been in transit for over three days. They had reached the half-way point 57 hours after departure and were now decelerating. “They've spotted us. There's a strong radar beam locked onto the shuttle.”
AJ quietly flipped the covers aside and rolled out of the cot. He and Thomas had been taking turns at the controls as the shuttle moved closer to their destination. “Already?” he asked, keeping his voice low and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “How far out are we?”
Thomas delayed his answer until they were clear of the sleeping passengers. “Just over 75 million kilometers.”
AJ's head snapped around and he gave Thomas a critical look. “That's one hell of a range for a radar,” he replied. They stopped by the micro-kitchen. As AJ made himself a cup of instant coffee, he asked, “You don't suppose they were looking for us, do you?”
“I doubt it,” Thomas replied as they headed for the cockpit.
Thomas sat down in the pilot's chair and began entering commands to the computer. One of the displays c
ame to life showing a series of small bumps in an otherwise straight line. “I started seeing the sweeps about three hours ago. Based on the duration and frequency of each sweep I've determined there are multiple radars continually scanning all nearby space. My guess is it's some type of asteroid detection system.”
“And they found us,” AJ replied. He leaned over Thomas’ shoulder and used the screen's touch control to scroll backwards and forwards in time. “They must know by now that they're not tracking an asteroid – we're decelerating.”
“Do you think we should try to contact them?”
AJ moved over to the copilot’s position and sat down. “I don't see why not. We're not geosynchronous so they'll have to switch between receivers. Any idea which frequency we should use?”
Thomas keyed in another command causing one of the screens to display a wildly oscillating line. Several touches quickly caused the line to be stretched and a section magnified. “They appear to use Ka-band for space-based communications. Any signal we send should be picked up by their planetary-based antennas.”
Pointing to a dip in the graph, Thomas continued, “There doesn't seem to be much traffic here. If we use this frequency we shouldn't cause too much of a disruption in their normal communications.”
AJ turned to his own computer interface and spent a few moments typing away. “There’s a contact protocol that utilizes long-distance, high-frequency communications. I'm going to activate it now.”
After completing the command sequence and confirming that the computer program was running, AJ said, “We still have about eight hours before we arrive. Go get some sleep. I want us both to be rested when we get there.”
“Yes Sir. Any idea how long it will take the computer to figure out how to translate their language?”
“I have no idea. I guess it depends a lot on how cooperative the aliens are and how quickly they figure out what we're trying to do. Now get to sleep. I'll wake everyone an hour before we're there.”
“Aye Sir.” Thomas vacated the pilot's chair and headed back to the passenger section of the ship, yawning as he did so.
AJ made himself a small breakfast shake then followed it up with another cup of coffee. He was enjoying his second cup when he heard a faint rustle behind him. A moment later, Heather dropped into the copilot's seat. Her hair had the tell-tale signs of someone who had just gotten up from a night's sleep. She pulled the top off a prepackaged breakfast and sniffed.
“Ug! Cold artificial eggs with sterilized bacon. Are we there yet?”
AJ couldn't help but chuckle. “The shakes are only marginally better. Thank god the coffee's real!” Glancing at the display he answered her question. “We'll be there in about an hour and a half.”
Heather looked out the window but could see nothing of their destination. The ship was still 2.5 million kilometers from the planet and at that distance it would be hard to distinguish from the myriad of stars peppering the blackness of space.
The distinctive sound of a thick shake being rapidly agitated caused AJ and Heather to turn around. Scott was just stepping through the small hatch separating the flight deck from the kitchen. Beyond the kitchen was the passenger compartment.
“Good morning everyone!” Scott announced himself. “Thomas is awake Captain. He told me to tell you he'll be up here in a minute.”
“Good morning Scott,” AJ replied. “If you two want to stay on the flight deck you'll have to stand at the back. Thomas and I are going to be busy setting our orbit in less than an hour.”
“I'll go hang out in the passenger section,” Heather said. “Please give me a yell when the planet is in sight.”
“I'll do that.”
Scott followed her back. A few minutes later, Thomas showed up looking refreshed. He waited for AJ to move over to the copilot's seat before taking his place at the pilot station.
“Good morning Captain,” Thomas said, as his fingers ran through a series of commands. Screens flickered and information flowed across them bringing him up-to-date far faster than any verbal communication would have.
“Huh – that's interesting,” Thomas remarked staring at a one of the screens.
“What's that?” AJ inquired, setting his now empty coffee cup into the holder.
“No response yet from the aliens. I thought they would have responded by now.”
“Maybe we picked a bad frequency.”
“Perhaps. Should we try one with more traffic on it?”
AJ didn't want to upset the inhabitants by suddenly commandeering a heavily used frequency. But, then again, they needed to establish some sort of method of talking to them. After considering what few pros and cons he had available he replied, “Let's leave things the way they are for a while longer. If they haven't replied by the time we reach orbit then- - -”
A chime from the computer diverted their attention. “That was good timing,” Thomas said, “We’ve received a reply.”
“Now what?” AJ asked.
“We let the computer do its job. My suggestion is to orbit their planet until we can understand enough for them to give us landing instructions.”
“How long might that take?”
“You're asking the wrong person skipper – you know as much about first contact as I do. It might take an hour or a week.” Glancing at the screen he added, “Our computer believes it is communicating with another machine. If so, the process should move along much quicker.”
AJ and Thomas turned around at the sound of the hatch opening behind them. Heather came through first, closely followed by Scott. She was carrying a large set of binoculars. “Where did you get those?” AJ asked.
“Found them with the survival equipment. I thought I might try to see the planet from here.”
Their destination had quickly resolved itself into a bright sphere hanging in the inky blackness of space. It was still a long way off and appeared as only a bright, fuzzy point of light. Heather stood behind AJ, put the binoculars to her eyes, and peered out the window. She stood there for a few seconds then said, “These are really powerful. I can see the planet but what are those?”
She handed the binoculars to AJ so he could see what she was referring to. “I don't know,” he replied after a moment. “It looks like they're in orbit so they're either ships or space stations. Thing is,” he handed the instrument to Thomas as he talked, “if we can see them at this distance they must be gigantic.”
During the approach, everyone took turns using the binoculars to view their destination. The planet was dotted with many small continents giving it a mottled appearance from space. The atmosphere seemed to have an odd hazy look making it difficult to see any surface details. The most striking feature was not the planet itself, but what was above it. Hundreds of huge objects could be seen orbiting the planet. As the details began to resolve themselves, it became clear that many were still under construction.
As they were settling into a stable, high orbit, AJ finally spotted something. Pointing towards the nearest object he said, “There! Those are reaction engines – ion engines if I'm not mistaken. Those things are not space stations – they're ships.”
Heather, using a second pair of binoculars she had found, shifted her point of view from the surface of the planet toward the indicated ship. “I agree skipper. It's obvious they don't have jump drive. Man those things are huge!”
Thomas, who had been concentrating on putting the shuttle into a stable orbit, responded to a noise from his panel then announced, “Sir, some sort of high-powered microwave beam has locked onto us. It's coming from one of the ships.”
“Which one?” AJ asked.
After checking his screen Thomas pointed to one of the ships they were just now approaching. The orbit he had established was well above the giant ships but the shuttle's orientation was such that the occupants had a clear view of the planet below. The shuttle's artificial gravity, however, confused things making it feel as if they were below the planet.
AJ pointed his binocula
rs at the indicated ship and after a few seconds let out a whistle. “I'm no expert in these matters,” he said. “But I think those ships are armed. And we’re being targeted.”
“WHAT!” everyone else simultaneously exclaimed.
Dropping the binoculars to his lap, AJ said, “Let's not get excited. As long as we don't make any threatening moves we should be fine.”
“Why are their ships armed in the first place?” Scott asked sounding worried.
“Our exploration ships are armed,” AJ told him. “You never know what you might run into while exploring the unknown.”
“Still, they’re targeting us!” Scott fired back unsatisfied with AJ's explanation.
“Maybe we shouldn’t give out too many details concerning ourselves or our trading partners,” Thomas suggested.
AJ turned to his console. Speaking as he typed he said, “I like that idea. I'll instruct the computer not to identify any details concerning any of the worlds known to us.”
“How goes the translation?” Heather asked.
“All the computer will say is that a dialog is taking place,” Thomas replied. “You really can't predict when things will start clicking into place but once they do it should happen rather quickly.”
“They sure don't seem to care much for their planet's health,” AJ observed as the data from the external sensors streamed in. “From the looks of things, they've been burning fossil fuels like there's no tomorrow. We might want to consider wearing masks in some areas if we get down there.”
“What's that?” Scott, who had been scanning the surface of the planet below, asked.
