Off Course

by Doug Farren

  “I think it was carved out of heavy foam and coated with some sort of quick-drying plastic,” Thomas hypothesized.

  “I don't care how they made it,” Heather, who was lounging on one of the inflatable beds, replied. “I'm just glad they did.” Looking over at Scott she added, “Put your work aside for a few minutes and get yourself a shower – you stink.”

  Scott looked up from his ever-present computer pad. He had a worried look on his face. “This,” he said, tapping the pad, “stinks a whole lot worse.”

  AJ pulled a chair over and sat down next to Scott. “What's that?”

  “I've been going over the scans we made of the Akuta ship,” he began. “Something about the radiation signature of that engineering section just didn't seem right. I had the computer run an analysis of the energy spectrum and I certainly don't like what I see here.”

  “Can you put it into simple terms for us?”

  “Sure. The Keldans have always assumed the high radiation levels were coming from the destroyed fusion reactor. But the gamma spectrum is not consistent with what would be expected from neutron activated structural components. It's there, but most of the radiation is coming from something else.”

  The others had put their own activities aside for the moment and were listening. “So where is the rest of the radiation coming from?” Thomas asked.

  “That's the part that really stinks,” Scott replied, holding up his pad so everyone could see. A spiky, multi-colored graph was displayed on the screen. This is the energy signature of an unexploded thermonuclear warhead. Based on when the ship crashed and the amount of radiation being emitted, I would guess there were several thousand warheads aboard that ship when it crashed.”

  “Holy crap!” Thomas exclaimed. “They're lucky the whole thing didn't go up in one gigantic nuclear explosion.”

  “Nuclear explosions are a lot harder to generate than you might think,” Scott said. “From what I can tell, it looks like the high explosive components detonated which spread the fissionable material all over the wreckage.”

  “Why would the Akuta be carrying so many warheads? That's enough to wipe out … Oh my god!” Heather interrupted herself as understanding set in.

  “Exactly,” Scott said. “That Akuta ship was sent here to wipe out the early Keldans.”

  “But why would they do such a thing?” AJ asked.

  “Why did the Akuta do the things they did to the Keldans?” Heather asked shaking her head in disgust. “Nothing they did makes any sense.”

  “Are you sure of this?” AJ asked.

  “Yes. The computer has confirmed it.”

  “We need to let the Keldans know about this,” AJ said, standing up.

  “Before you do,” Scott said, setting the pad down and standing up. “There's one more piece of information you might want to show them.”

  “You mean there's more?” AJ asked running his hand through his hair.

  “Did you happen to see that damaged ring at the sight we visited?”

  “I did. What about it?”

  “Did you also happen to notice that two of the rings of the engineering section were warped?”

  “No. They looked fine to me.”

  “It wasn't very noticeable,” Scott explained. “At first, I thought it was an optical illusion caused by our viewing angle. But, I had the computer check it out and it confirmed that two of the rings are no longer perfectly round.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Those rings are virtually indestructible. Most of them survived reentry and the crash. The others were probably damaged before the ship entered the atmosphere. Some type of weapon powerful enough to effect dimensionally altered dark matter hit that ship. That's what knocked it out of the sky – it was attacked.”

  “Civil war?” AJ conjectured. “Could that be why the Akuta left this planet so quickly?”

  “That, or they were at war with another race.”

  “Someone else attacked the Akuta? You mean there might be another aggressive race out there?” AJ asked.

  “Could be,” Scott replied, shrugging his shoulders. He grabbed a clean set of clothes and headed for the shower. “You might want to ask the Keldans what they think about all this.”

  * * * * *

  Goeglict looked at Thumis, “Could they be right?”

  The Keldans had been listening to the entire conversation by way of several tiny listening devices planted inside the shelter. “We’ve never tried to measure the rings of that section of the ship,” she replied, her feeders twitching in self-annoyance. “The radiation levels in the area are simply too high.”

  “The humans have made two significant discoveries in only a single visit to the Akuta ship,” Goeglict said. “Discoveries, I might point out, that we ourselves should have made. I want you to find out how this could have happened.”

  The hairs on Thumis' back stood up in anger at the accusation. “We have not been adequately funded,” she replied, not attempting to hide the anger in her voice.

  Commander Toonpin waved for silence as AJ's voice issued from the speaker. A second later, the computer provided the translation. “Computer, attempt to contact Councilman Goeglict. Tell him it is urgent.”

  “There!” Vevicty exclaimed. “Would an Akuta reveal such information? I told you the humans were not Akuta. Do you believe me now?”

  “Councilman Goeglict,” the Keldan AI began, “There is an incoming call for you from Captain Zak. The request is marked as urgent.”

  “Accept and mute audio from the human living quarters,” Goeglict replied.

  “Acknowledged, connection established.”

  “Captain Zak, this is Councilman Goeglict, how may I help you?”

  “Councilman,” AJ's translated voice replied, “we have reason to believe that the Akuta ship we visited today was on a mission to annihilate your ancestors and was destroyed before it could complete its mission either by another Akuta ship or an as yet unknown race.”

  “Captain, I am sending transportation. You and I need to have a long talk.”

  * * * * *

  AJ desperately wanted a beer—no, not a beer—a glass of good whiskey would have been better. He stood staring out the window trying to wrap his head around what Goeglict had just told him.

  “So let me get this straight,” he finally managed to say. “Even after giving you the technology to build room temperature super conductors, compact fusion reactors, and a faster-than-light drive, you still believe we might possibly be Akuta?”

  Goeglict realized that the Captain had been caught off-guard by his frank admission of what they had done and allowed him to process the information in his own manner. “That’s correct,” was all he said.

  “You bugged our shelter, you rummaged through our emergency support pod, and your ships had instructions to blow the Star-Pulse to bits at a moments notice.”

  “Correct again.”

  “How long would this have gone on had we not discovered that the Akuta ship lying in your desert was probably on a mission to wipe you out?”

  “I don't know,” the Councilman admitted. “Vevicty, along with several others, tried to convince us that you were not Akuta, but a lot of us had reservations. I hope this hasn't permanently damaged our relationship.”

  AJ turned around and took a step closer to Goeglict. “No – it hasn't,” he said looking the Councilman directly in the eyes. “Fact is, I think if the situation had been reversed we would have done exactly the same thing. But from here on out we must trust each other.”

  Goeglict moved a little closer and extended his hand. “I agree,” he said. “I believe it is human custom to clasp hands in a situation such as this.”

  AJ hesitated for just a second before accepting the offer. The Keldan's six fingered hand was considerably warmer than his own and slightly harder. Goeglict held his hand steady and faltered for a split second when AJ performed the obligatory pumping action. A moment later, despite all the control he could muster,
AJ was laughing.

  “Have I offended you?” Goeglict asked, worried that he had perhaps violated some unknown human custom by not properly performing the handshake.

  “Not at all,” AJ replied still trying to control his laughter. “I would never, in my wildest dreams, have imagined that one day I would be shaking hands with a giant spider. Yet, here we are.”

  “With your permission,” Goeglict said, withdrawing his hand, “I will send a crew over to remove the listening devices from your shelter and I will deactivate the ones inside your ship.”

  “Granted! I'd like to know how you managed to plant the devices. You guys don't exactly fit through our doors.”

  “We never entered your shelter,” Goeglict replied. “Small holes were drilled through the outside wall stopping just short of the inner wall. Sensitive microphones were then installed.”

  “Ingenious.”

  “I’m curious,” Goeglict said. “How long will it take you to extract enough deuterium to refill your tanks?”

  “We have two extraction units,” AJ explained. “If the concentration of deuterium in your oceans is roughly the same as ours then it should take about four months. It's going to take at least that long to repair our ship.”

  Goeglict cocked his head to one side. “One more question, how do you store the deuterium fuel?”

  “We liquefy it and store it in cryotanks.”

  “We store our deuterium in the form of deuterium oxide – water.”

  It took AJ a moment to understand the bombshell that Goeglict had just dropped. Not wanting to seem greedy, he held his excitement and said, “That makes sense. It's much cheaper to keep it in that form and then use electrolysis to extract it when you need it. But water is heavy and bulky so storing it in that form on a ship would be inefficient. Do your fission reactors use heavy water as a moderator?”

  By now, AJ had learned to recognize a Keldan smile and Goeglict was now smiling openly. “No. But we have been extracting deuterium for a number of years and storing it as heavy water in anticipation of someday being able to use it in a fusion reactor. We have accumulated quite a bit.”

  AJ could barely contain himself. “How much is quite a bit?”

  “I’ve been told we have several hundred million deciliters sitting in our storage tanks. Would your extraction machines be able to convert our heavy water into liquid deuterium?”

  “You bet they can! We could fill our tanks in a matter of days.”

  “Then it is settled,” Goeglict replied. “I will make arrangements to have as much deuterium oxide as you need delivered here so you can process it.”

  AJ could hardly believe his ears. If Goeglict had been human he would have hugged him. “I can't thank you enough,” he managed to say. “Now all we have to do is to get our ship repaired.”

  “It’s the least we can do,” Goeglict replied. “You’ve given us access to a technology that will allow us to save a much larger portion of our population than we ever thought possible. It’s a debt we will never be able to repay.”

  “Councilman, saving lives should never put the people being saved in debt.”

  The sun was nearly touching the horizon by the time AJ returned to the shelter. He noticed that the surrounding security forces were packing up their equipment. After bringing the others up-to-date, AJ went to the shuttle to get himself something to eat.

  “So you shook hands with the Councilman,” Heather said, causing AJ to jerk his head around. He had not heard her arrival.

  Heather stopped behind him and started rubbing his shoulders. Her fingers, far stronger than he would have guessed, seemed to know exactly how much pressure to apply and where to apply it.

  “I did,” AJ replied. “That feels good!”

  Heather bent down and kissed him on the cheek. “You deserve it.”

  AJ turned in his chair so they could engage in a proper kiss. “I'm not sure I deserve you though,” he said, his voice shaky from emotion.

  Heather pulled out a chair and sat down. She reached for his hands and said, “Please don't underestimate yourself – it's unbecoming of a commanding officer. If I didn't think we deserved each other, I wouldn't be sitting here.”

  AJ leaned forward and they kissed again. “I don't doubt that in the least.”

  Heather stood up, pulled a meal out of the pantry, then sat back down. After finishing his meal, AJ stood up and said, “I'm going to give Commander Moon a call and give him the good news. They'll need to modify the deuterium extractors to process heavy water and that might take a while.”

  AJ made his way to the cockpit and sat down in the copilot's chair. A sat in thought for a moment then began to dictate his update. As he was finishing, Heather quietly came in and sat down in the pilot's chair.

  AJ looked over and smiled at her as he continued recording his message. “I will expect a real-time call from you when you're about four hours from orbit. Given that our current round-trip communications delay is about 15 minutes, I’ll wait by the radio for the next half hour in case you have any important updates or questions concerning this transmission. After that, I'll be in the shelter. Captain out.”

  While AJ instructed the computer to compress and transmit the message, Heather got up and walked over to his chair. As she passed the cockpit door, she closed it and engaged the lock. She stopped behind AJ, and as she slowly spun the chair around, said, “So – we have a half hour to ourselves. What do you think we should do to occupy our time?”

  AJ reached over and tapped a command into one of the control panels. The windows polarized and the room became dark. The only illumination came from the gently glowing instrument console.

  “I'm sure we can think of something,” he replied.

  Chapter 18

  The next morning, a truck arrived and several Keldans disembarked. Scott recognized Vevicty and, accompanied by AJ, walked over to him. Heather was still in the shower and Thomas was inside the shuttle getting breakfast.

  “What's all this?” Scott asked, as two of the Keldans began unloading the truck.

  Indicating another Keldan who stood next to him, Vevicty replied, “I would like you to meet Piranta Drim-Byanth, lead engineer in charge of the construction of our space fleet.”

  Scott and AJ introduced themselves. Pointing at the small stack of boxes now resting on a cart, Scott asked, “What's all this equipment for?”

  “I asked the computer technicians if they could set up a graphics terminal for our use,” Piranta replied. “Once they understood why, they worked with your ship's computer to reprogram one of our graphics workstations so it could display and alter the construction diagrams of your ship. We would like to set it up inside your cargo bay.”

  “Of course,” AJ replied, then stood aside as they went to work.

  The Keldan technicians worked quickly and efficiently. The workstation (a very large, touch-sensitive, screen, set horizontally on top of a short supporting table) was connected to a small computer as well as a wireless communications device. Everything was powered from a custom-built power converter that pulled power from the shuttle.

  As soon as the workstation was up and running Vevicty and the two helpers climbed back into the truck and drove away. Scott and Piranta huddled together over the screen talking quietly in the language of engineers. AJ walked back to the shelter and found Heather sitting at a small table. A chess set with all the pieces arranged in their starting position sat in front of her.

  “Rumor has it you like to play chess. Do you prefer white or black?”

  * * * * *

  “All of the structural supports from here to here must be replaced,” Scott said, drawing a rough outline around the damaged area where the port-aft pylon had once been. Using a virtual slider control on the left side of the screen, he rotated the image until the pylon's retraction shaft could be seen. “A good part of the guide shaft has been damaged as well and will also have to be replaced.”

  Piranta stared at the diagram, expertly usi
ng the various controls on the large touch-screen to rotate and zoom the schematic diagram until he completely understood the extent of the damage. They were using a Keldan device with an impressively high-speed wireless connection to one of their computers. That computer, in turn, was talking to the computer aboard the shuttle.

  The diagram currently displayed had been updated with the latest damage assessment information. Scott watched as Piranta zoomed out then rotated the image until an undamaged pylon came into view. Zooming back in, he stared at the screen for several minutes then asked, “Is there any way to display the pylon deployment and retraction sequence?”

  Although the question had been directed at Scott, the shuttle's computer had been listening and replied, “Compiling video sequence – please stand by.”

  “So what do you think?” Scott asked the engineer while they waited.

  “Your ship has sustained significant damage,” Piranta replied. “But, from what I've seen so far, it appears to be repairable.”

  The screen suddenly cleared and a video loop showing how the pylons were deployed and retracted began playing. Piranta watched the loop through two complete cycles then entered a command causing the damaged section of the ship to be redisplayed. He zoomed out a bit and examined the surrounding area.

  “The pylon must remain absolutely stable with respect to the ship and the other pylons – correct?” he asked.

  “That's correct,” Scott replied. “There’s a certain amount of stress induced by the jump field that can't be allowed to alter the orientation of the pylons. That's the purpose of so much structural steel and the complex locking mechanism at the base.”

  “And they must be retracted when not in use?”

  “Correct. If the pylons are damaged, the hyperjump drive becomes inoperable. The emitter array mounted at the tip is easily damaged by even very small objects if they are traveling at a high enough speed.”

  The display spun, tilted, zoomed, and exploded as Piranta manipulated the touch screen. Scott observed, trying to figure out what the engineer was looking for. After several minutes, he finally asked, “Is there anything I can help you with – looks like you're searching for something.”