Awakening Threat

by Patrick G Cox

  Objective Six, a small system of seven planets orbiting a star slightly larger than Earth’s Sun, seemed a much better prospect than the dead worlds of Objective One.

  “Looks as if there will be plenty for your geology team here,” Harry remarked as he and Roberta Klonowski studied the inner planets of the system.

  “I expect so.” The geologist frowned. “Though, some of the moons appear unusual. Look at that one—the small lump orbiting Planet Four. It looks almost like a ship at this angle.”

  Harry peered closer at the image. “It is a ship. Look at those readings. The whole thing reads as an unnatural mass. But it has no power signature and no energy signatures.” He activated his link. “Commander, there appears to be a derelict ship of unknown configuration in orbit at Planet Four.”

  “Planet Four? It has several moons and asteroids. Are you sure that’s not what you’re looking at?” There was silence for a moment. “Ah, I see it now…took it for an asteroid at first. Right, send out a probe and ready up a boarding team. I’ll alert Lieutenant Commander Penn. She will be in charge.” He paused. “Are you recording everything?”

  “We are, sir.”

  “Good. This looks very odd indeed. Very well, patch your data through to the Captain and me. I’ll alert him of this immediately.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.” Harry gave the ship the instructions necessary and then contacted the leaders he needed on the boarding team. Finishing, he turned to Roberta again. “I’ll make a wager with you that within the next ten minutes, Dr. Palmer will be trying to browbeat the Captain.”

  Roberta laughed. “No taker! I never accept a bet against a certainty. In fact, I should think he’s on his way there already.” She studied Harry with a quizzical expression. “How can you be so sure he already knows of this?”

  Harry grinned. “Beagle tells me whenever anyone attempts to access anything I am looking at, recording or examining.” He paused. “Someone in the Alien Cultures team has just made an attempt.”

  “Were they successful?”

  “Perhaps. They got something, but not what they were seeking.” He frowned, his mouth a thin line. “I do not like people who seek information by underhanded means, and I particularly do not like those who attempt to plant things in my mind in an effort to manipulate the ship’s AI.”

  His friend looked at him, her face serious. “What do you mean?”

  “They have someone who is supposedly an expert in what you call hacking. He has now made two attempts to obtain access to my cyberlink—the last while I was asleep. He has also attempted to obtain access to the ship’s hypercom transmitters. They will have a very nasty encounter if they make another such attempt, I assure you.”

  A glance at Harry’s expression warned her not to press for more details, and shortly thereafter, Harry was called away to the Command Centre. Roberta felt that she’d had a glimpse of a different Harry, one who was far older than his physical age of twenty-two years. She saw a very ruthless Harry who would not hesitate to take violent and very lethal action if an enemy pushed him too far.

  In the large laboratory used by Dr. Palmer’s team, Yanik Hallam tried to keep out of the doctor’s way. It wasn’t just that his boss was in a foul mood, or that he’d had a very one-sided confrontation with the ship’s coms officer and the officer responsible for all the ship’s scanning equipment.

  His latest attempt to hack into Harry’s cyberlink had produced a result that left him in no doubt that continuing would be complete folly. Heron knew that he was hacking him. Worse, Heron knew exactly what he’d attempted and what he’d taken from the other science teams.

  “What’s up, Yan?” Josie lounged in her seat. “You look as if one of the Canids has you on the menu for his dinner.”

  He glanced to where Dr. Palmer was haranguing another assistant. He lowered his voice and said, “You know I’ve been trying to tap into Lieutenant Heron’s cyberlink, right?”

  “You succeeded?”

  “Sort of.” He swallowed. “He’s hacked me, and there’s going to be hell to pay when Palmer finds out.”

  “The ship is of unknown origin. Probably nonhuman and totally derelict, sir,” Lieutenant Commander Penn reported. “She’s been stripped of everything. There’s no trace of her machinery, any of the ship systems you’d expect, or any remains. Whoever did this has done a very thorough job of it.”

  “Is the hull intact? How did you gain entry?”

  “Through what must have been a docking bay, sir. We landed straight on. Must have been hit by something, though, as several sections of the outer hull show damage, the rest looks as if it’s been degraded by something, and the atmospheric integrity is compromised.”

  “What about propulsion systems? You said her machinery was missing, is that right?”

  “That’s correct, sir. She had pods of some sort, but they’ve been dismantled. Just the skeleton remains, and there’s nothing of any other arrays either.”

  “Very well, plant a beacon on her, record any damage and anything interesting you find, and then return to the Beagle.”

  The signals warrant interrupted. “Captain, a signal burst just emitted from somewhere on that hulk. Very focused, but it’s unreadable on our systems.” He stared at his display with focused intent.

  “Did you capture any of it?”

  “Just the band signal, sir. It only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was very strong.” He hesitated. “I don’t think we’d have caught it if it hadn’t been focused on something on the other side of us by the direction.”

  The Captain frowned. “That’s not a good sign. In fact, I don’t think I like the thought of that at all.” He keyed his comlink. “Commander Penn, keep your eyes open and don’t hang about. Something on that hulk just sent a message that we can’t read. Do your recording and get back here as soon as possible.”

  Commander Polen strode into the Command Centre. “Sir, I think you should know that Dr. Palmer is threatening to involve the Ministry, the WTO Alien Relations Bureau and a host of other people if we do not immediately withdraw our people from that ship and hand it over to the LPSL research ship that he claims is on its way.”

  “Damn! Take over here, Number One. Where is that damned jackass? I’ll go and deal with him myself. A word of warning, though: something aboard that ship sent a narrow beam signal to somewhere in the direction away from the star around the area of our encounter with that strange ship. Be ready to take us out of here immediately if it makes an appearance.”

  “Will do. You’ll find the beloved doctor cooling his heels in the conference room.” The Executive Officer grimaced. “I gave him some busywork to keep him occupied—some images we’re getting back from Joan and her team. Oh, and I’ve put an absolute bar on any transmissions being sent without your authority.”

  “Good.” The Captain made for the door. “Mind the shop for me, and don’t hesitate if you need to move us quickly.”

  Dr. Palmer nursed his mug of coffee and his anger. The Captain reminded him of a teacher he’d had in primary school. He was deeply insecure, the legacy of a very unhappy and unsettled childhood. His parents had both been brilliant scientists, and very domineering. They’d always made him feel inadequate, and it drove him to control his environment and everyone around him. He could never bring himself to admit a mistake or reveal his uncertainty, and his desire to control everyone made him something of a bully to those who fell under his authority. That he stood no chance of browbeating Captain Kretzmann was clear.

  He looked up as a figure approached. “Yes, Yanik?”

  “You wanted me to rig up something to get into the ship’s hypercoms, Boss. Someone is monitoring it and has set up some traps. I’ll keep trying, but—”

  “Quiet, you idiot.” Looking round quickly, the doctor lowered his voice. “Save it for now. They’re watching us. I’ll let you know when to do it.” He hesitated. “Pity you can’t find a way into Heron’s link.”

  Yanik Hallam looked round. He rath
er prided himself on his ability to get into any AI system, and wasn’t about to admit that his latest attempt got a result, but not the one he expected. He’d been shaken by what the system did, and could only hope he’d managed to remove what it planted.

  “I’ll keep at it, Boss,” he said with cocky confidence. “That bastard needs taking down a bit. I’ll enjoy cracking it.”

  Chapter 5

  Stalker

  The Captain called the meeting to order. “Right, gentlemen, update me, please. What are the science teams doing, and what is the progress on this survey?”

  The Commander spoke first. “Mr. Heron has managed to image all of the planetary surfaces on the inner four, sir. Our surface teams have landed on two, and the rock collectors have lifted another few tons of soil, rocks and some interesting fossils from the fourth.” He glanced at Harry. “Dr. Palmer and his team are still making waves about the derelict. We let him do his own survey, and he’s still not happy. Now he thinks that we may have violated the thing, and he claims that signal was a distress call.”

  “He would think that.” The Captain turned to Harry. “Anything interesting in your survey imagery?”

  “A few things, sir. The third planet is a strange one. It has an atmosphere and is volcanically active. The topography is very rugged and seems to be in a constant state of upheaval. We recorded major earthquakes occurring roughly every few hours.” He grinned. “The geology team said it was like walking on jelly most of the time, and the atmosphere is poisonous and corrosive.”

  Lieutenant Rao interjected. “Their EVA suits have to be scrapped, sir. The atmosphere down there has degraded all the systems to the point that my people can’t repair them.”

  “I see. Anyone put forward any theories about the reason the planet is so active?”

  Harry glanced at the Commander and received his nod. “According to Dr. Klonowski and Dr. Knop, it’s because the second planet and the third are very close to each other at this point in their orbits, sir. Dr. Knop thinks that they disturb each other as they pass, and the attraction between them sets off these eruptions and quakes. We’ve observed a similar pattern on the second one, but can’t land there. It’s far too hot on the surface for us.”

  “Okay.” The Captain turned to the Commander again. “It seems as if the fourth planet has potential, though. Anything on that one?”

  The Commander consulted his tablet. “It has an oxygen atmosphere, and global temperature ranges are perfect for life. The oceans have a lot of small plant and animal life, and there was life on land at one time, and some form of avian life as well.” He looked up. “But it’s barren now, and the bodies of water contain no large marine animals either.”

  “Could our derelict be related to the absence of life, do you think?”

  “It’s possible. It could have been some sort of ark to carry any life forms from there. Dr. Borner’s team are trying to find some viable DNA traces, but without any idea of who or what built it, or of who or what once populated the planet, it’s a bit of a stretch to connect the two.”

  The Captain gave a short bark of amusement. “But I expect Dr. Palmer won’t have much trouble reaching that conclusion—with or without evidence.” He paused. “Anything else? Mr. Heron?”

  Harry nodded. “There are a lot of population centres, all derelict and with major destruction of buildings, as you’d have from an assault. There are road networks and transport infrastructure, also damaged, and depressions in the ground that look like impact craters.” He paused. “Curiously, everything metallic is badly degraded, every trace of technology, and all animal remains are gone.

  “Gone? There’s nothing? So we don’t know who built this or what technologies they had?”

  “Nothing we have found gives any indication, apart from the derelict, which may not be from here at all.”

  “What about these craters? What caused them?”

  “The geologists say these are caused by something below the surface converting to gas, or perhaps vaporising.”

  The Captain frowned. “Some sort of weapon? Against whom?”

  “No suggestions, sir. We’ve no idea who or what might have warranted such an assault.”

  The Captain nodded, his expression neutral as he weighed this information. “So we have a habitable planet, craters that suggest some unusual weapon discharge, a total absence of life on land or in the air, but a lot of small stuff in the oceans and a derelict ship that’s been stripped clean and sends out a message when we board it.” He paused. “Anyone thinking that we might have encountered evidence of another species out here—one with a penchant for destruction?” He looked at the Commander. “Any sign of that ship we met in Objective One?”

  “No, sir, not that one, but Mr. Heron is watching something on the outer edge of the system. The only reason we know it’s there is the occlusion that occurs when it passes in front of one of the stars.”

  “Right. Time to chase up the cavalry, I think. I’ll contact Command and request a defensive escort. I don’t like unknowns lurking in the shadows. Any news on the LPSL research ship? That’s a complication we can do without.”

  Harry’s teams shuttled science parties around the several small moons orbiting the fourth planet, currently designated Kepler 646-4 Galapagos. Several landings on different parts of the planet’s surface all found the same thing. A wide range of vegetation but no animal or avian life forms. The destroyed ‘towns’ suggested an advanced civilisation, but the surviving buildings were devoid of everything that might have indicated who used them or the level of technological development the inhabitants had attained. Even the insect life seemed to have been severely curtailed at some point.

  “I suppose it’s possible that whatever caused those craters also caused a massive climatic change that killed off most of the large life forms and insects,” Harry reported. “But there are no remains and no trace of that life now.”

  The debate among the science teams raged, which Harry had expected. Dr. Palmer and his supporters always seemed to be the most vocal, and they never listened to anyone’s ideas but their own. It was, therefore, with some relief that Harry handed over command of the surface depot to his friend Kallie Oosthuizen.

  “I’m glad to have you in charge of this duty, Kallie,” Harry said with a grin, “especially because of our chief stirrer. It has been a struggle not to call him out and inflict a mortal wound, I can tell you.”

  Kallie laughed. “Ja, I can imagine.” Glancing to where some of the linguists were gathered, he added, “Have you noticed? They all seem to have the same sort of attitude. Always right on everything, even when you can prove them wrong.”

  Harry nodded. “True. They won’t say when that LPSL ship will arrive, and the old man is more than a little annoyed that it won’t respond to his signals.”

  Kallie chuckled. “I hope their navigator fouls it up and drops them out too close to something big. Damned fools.” His manner brisk, he added, “Right, I’ve got the weight on this one. His Lordship, our esteemed exec, has a long list of tasks for you.”

  Among the tasks waiting for Harry was the job of analysing a large number of surveys of the moons surrounding the outermost planet, which was a small gas giant with a ring system and a strange collection of moons, asteroids and other debris orbiting it.

  Harry smiled a welcome as Dr. Sebastian Knop, the expedition’s astrophysicist and leader of the astronomic team approached.

  “Hello, Sebastian, how can I help?”

  “We need a closer look at the rings and possibly some sampling,” Sebastian told him. “Is it possible to arrange this?”

  “I don’t see why not. I can get a probe sent out as soon as we program it, but if you want to take a personal look, I’ll have to get clearance to use Surveyor One or Two. They have the ability to make short transits and can get you there in a couple of hours.”

  Sebastian nodded. “Can we do both? The probe can do a full scan, but it will be useful to actually get close and do
some measuring and observation ourselves.”

  “I’ll get clearance then. What will you need to take with you for your observations?”

  “My assistants and our instruments. I’ll draw up a list, but most of it won’t take up a lot of room.” He paused. “I think the geologists might want to send someone as well.”

  “I think there’ll be room enough as long as they don’t want to take aboard samples from every ring or land on any of the moons.” He paused as a rather attractive young woman entered the compartment and relieved a colleague. Her shapely figure distracted him, and his mind wandered until he became aware that Sebastian had been speaking to him, and he hadn’t heard a word he’d said. “I beg pardon, I didn’t hear you properly,” he admitted with embarrassment. “My mind was elsewhere.”

  Sebastian glanced across the compartment and chuckled. “I noticed. Who wouldn’t? Anyway, I’ll get my people sorted out and leave it to you to arrange the shuttle.” He glanced across at the technician again. “She’s married, you know, to one of the geology team.”

  Harry flushed. “I know—the lucky devil. The rest of us can only feast our eyes.”

  With the surveyor craft away, Harry and the other members of his team had plenty to occupy their attention.

  A TechRate got Harry’s attention. “Lieutenant, something out there keeps trying to run a scan of us. I can’t get a fix, though, because the pulses are too brief.”

  “What does it look like? Could it be a signal from one of our own? The surveyor craft perhaps?”

  “No, sir. It could be something run by one of our ships, but it’s not from Surveyor One. Look, she shows up bright and clear, and so do her scans.”

  Harry glanced at the display and grinned. “They must be running every instrument they have to make that signal.” He ran a check with Beagle to see what data was coming in from the surveyor craft. It was impressive. “Yep, they’re running under full canvas. I hope they remember to keep some power on for the evade system, or they’ll bump into something!”