Space Scout

by S A Pavli

  “I echo those remarks Manera,” I replied. “My race has not waited as long to find another intelligent species, but I am sure the excitement will be intense.” She inclined her head in agreement.

  “Tell me,” I went on, “has news of this been sent to other Hianja worlds?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “We could not keep this to ourselves. A Hyperspace message capsule was transmitted to our world, and it will arrive in a few days. We can expect a reply soon after that, and I am sure the Governing Council will send other ships and officials. Prepare yourself for many questions.” I grunted my agreement.

  “Fortunately my tireless friend Alfred will be able to answer most of them.”

  “Yes, your AI is a very advanced machine. I am impressed that you have such advanced technology. It has taken us thousands of years to develop our AI’s to this level of sophistication,” she replied.

  “True, but you are more advanced than us in many other areas,” I said. “For example, we have no Gravity Control,” I pointed out.

  “That discovery was made soon after the Hyperspace Switch, some eighteen thousand of your years ago,” she replied.

  “Only eighteen thousand years ago,” I laughed. “Human Civilisation only goes back three thousand years. Before that, we were savages living in caves.” She shook her head and looked at me with a peculiar expression.

  “Yes, that is amazing to us, that you have made such incredible technological progress in such a short time. But I have to tell you, it is a worry. Smetronis believes that your technological progress has not been matched by equivalent psychological progress. He maintains that you are like children with powerful toys, a very dangerous combination.”

  “Smetronis is being patronising,” I said with annoyance. “Our species cannot be stereotyped in such a way. We have not had a war for two hundred years, and all races and peoples are committed to peaceful means for resolving conflicts.”

  “But nevertheless,” she said insistently. “The average human is immature and subject to the whims of their emotions, can be easily controlled and swayed by others and has little understanding of their psychological nature. They are easily prone to violence, and indeed, violence is a form of entertainment to them.” I was puzzled and shocked by this and gazed at her with surprise. To my knowledge, we had not provided the Hianja with the sort of detailed information on human psychology that would allow them to draw such conclusions.

  “What is your factual basis for making that statement?” I asked.

  “This is Smetronis’ assertion, and he brought certain facts to my attention to substantiate it,” she said and again there was an expression on her face I could not fathom.

  “What facts?” I asked “Where did he get these facts?”

  “I presume these are facts that you have supplied,” she replied, and there was a hesitancy about her speaking.

  “We have not supplied any facts that would allow such conclusions,” I exclaimed. She seemed nonplussed by my response and I continued quickly.

  “His knowledge of human culture and psychology is brief and incomplete, yet that does not stop him from drawing simplistic and insulting conclusions. ” I felt my face grow hot with indignation . I was speaking emphatically, and Manera pulled away nervously. Her armed guards shuffled closer, eyeing me carefully.

  “I am sorry if we have given offence,” she said nervously , and I began to feel that I was losing control of the situation. But damned if I would allow the Human race to be rubbished by some patronising alien I thought. Alfred’s voice in my ear brought me up short.

  “Paul, please remain calm.” Was the bugger monitoring my physiological state I asked myself. I would not be surprised I forced myself to be calm.

  “Smetronis does not have a right to pre-judge or make decisions about the future of our races. This is out of his hands, now that you have communicated with your home planet. Others must make these decisions and shape the future of our races.”

  Her face had dropped as I had spoken.

  “I apologise for my rudeness,” she said softly. “You are correct. We should not jump to conclusions. I was presenting Smetronis’s argument, without thinking how this would affect you. It was insensitive of me.” She seemed genuinely chastened.

  “He should present his own argument,” I said “Why did he not come with you.?” I asked.

  “He felt that you and I would understand and relate to each other more successfully if he were not here,” she said. Her quietly melodious voice made me suddenly feel guilty that I had snapped at her.

  “Come, let’s move on to other things. Would you like a tour of the Base?” She inclined her head in agreement.

  “I would like to involve two of my scientific colleagues in the examination,” she said. I nodded my agreement and she spoke a few words into her communicator. Two individuals stepped out of the shuttle and made their way to us. One was clearly female, dressed similarly but not so extravagantly as Manera, and the other was a portly male with almost no hair and a bustling no nonsense manner. They were introduced as Karema and Solon and they both exchanged shoulder ‘hugs’ with me. Karema was older than Manera but she had the eager expression of the dedicated Scientist. We all headed up the incline towards the base buildings. Manera’s guards followed a few paces behind, their eyes moving constantly.

  We spent the next hour going around the base while the scientists examined the damage, poked around the instruments and the destroyed power generator. I introduced them to Butch and Sundance, who they treated with great respect and a little nervousness, which surprised me somewhat until Manera remarked that Sundance looked remarkably like a feared predator from ancient history called “the Fangoratse-Da.”, a mythical monster destroyed by a legendary hero. A sort of Hianja King George and the Dragon! I described our own legend and this went some way to re-establishing our mood of friendliness and companionship.

  They were very interested in the packaged rations which remained and the fact that I could eat most of them with no adverse effect caused a great deal of excited technical babbling which Alfred did not bother to translate.

  “Our biochemistry must be very similar.” remarked Karema, who was the Biologist and Biochemist. I remembered that we had the advantage of them because we had conducted extensive chemical and DNA analysis of their food cache. I explained this to them and offered to share our results, and to make available the human DNA database. The scientists, including Manera responded with enthusiasm. Old Solon was rubbing his hands with glee at this, no doubt already making up the titles of the learned papers that he would write. Manera was caught up in the excitement, her eyes sparkling, but every now and again she would glance at me and quickly look away if I noticed, her eyes downcast. I felt a pang of guilt at being angry with her. It’s that suspicious bastard Smetronis I thought. Manera is a scientist and I was sure she was being manipulated by him. He was putting ideas in her head. But why? I asked myself. Why would he be so negative, did he know something we didn’t? The idea took hold and I decided to pursue the line of thought later.

  My ruminations were interrupted by Alfred.

  “Paul, a craft has just been detected taking off . It appears that it has been in hiding all the time and we have not detected it.”

  “Jesus, Alfred!” I gasped “How far away is it?”

  “Fifty or so miles , behind the inland range of mountains. It is the Raytheon class shuttle that carried out the earlier attack.” The aliens were clearly also informed of Alfred’s announcement because they were babbling into the communicators in an agitated fashion.

  “Is it heading our way?” I asked, knowing the answer before it came.

  “Yes,” said Alfred.

  “Suggestions Alfred,” I asked.

  “You should leave the base area and find cover,” said Alfred.

  “I agree,” I said. I turned to Manera who was in talking into her communicator.

  “Manera, we should head for cover,” I said ,“towards the mount
ains.” She shook her head.

  “Smetronis says we should head back to the shuttle. You must come with us.” Her eyes were huge and fearful and I was sure her voice trembled when she said that.

  “No!” I said. “We’ll be sitting ducks in the shuttle. In the lee of the mountain they will not be able to attack us. That is the best place to hide.” She looked confused, her eyes darting fearfully around while she talked quickly, seemingly arguing with Smetronis.

  “Translate please Alfred,” I ordered.

  “She is arguing with Smetronis, telling him what you propose, but he insists that they return to the shuttle and take you with them, if necessary by force.” So that is why she is so agitated I thought. I was getting ready to head out and leave them to it, but Smetronis was one jump ahead. Ignoring Manera, he seemed to have communicated directly with the captain of the guards, because they turned their guns on me immediately. Manera remonstrated with them angrily but the guards were impassive. Their guns remained trained on me unerringly, and their captain, a short stocky individual, almost as broad as he was tall strode over and grabbed my arm, pulling me roughly towards the shuttle. If I resisted, I thought, it would delay things and we would all be caught out in the open. I quickly nodded to Manera, and grabbing her arm I hustled her quickly towards the shuttle. She was still protesting to the captain of the guard, but came with me. The others followed behind, caught on the hop by my speed.

  We bundled through the still open hatch of the shuttle into what was clearly an airlock. The hatch closed with agonising slowness, but they did not bother with contamination procedures. The inner door opened and we hurried through. I felt a humming vibration and the floor lurched, steadied and I felt the acceleration push me down and back as the pilot engaged the gravity drive. We were in some sort of open loading area, and we staggered quickly through that into what appeared to be an embarkation/reception area, with seats around the walls and along the centre aisle. There was room for about ten people to sit and the Captain of the guard gestured for us to sit. The acceleration was now quite heavy, and we all hastily took our seats. The ship was going straight up, which was a good strategy. Within the atmosphere I doubted that this ship had the legs of the old Raytheon class shuttle. But once outside, it could use its maximum acceleration.

  “Alfred , how are we doing ?” I asked after I had settled into my seat.

  “Touch and go Paul,” came the laconic reply. “The Raytheon is coming up fast, it’s almost on you.”

  “Paul, what do I do if you do not survive?” asked Alfred. I was startled, but composed myself. Alfred was doing his job, and I needed to do mine. I stopped the facetious quip that was on the tip of my tongue and thought desperately.

  “Alfred, get the Epsilon off the ground and see if you can stop the Raytheon. If we do not make it, the Epsilon is your defence. Keep it in orbit and tell Smetronis to back off. You must survive until other alien ships arrive because I do not trust Smetronis.”

  “Agreed. Good luck,” he replied.

  “Thanks, you too,” I said.

  Manera stood up and staggered across the room to sit next to me. She spoke, her voice low and musical, but no translation came through.

  “Alfred, are you still translating?” I asked.

  “Yes Paul, but the alien AI has gone off line. I am not receiving anything.”

  I looked at Manera , tapped the communications device around my neck and shook my head. She nodded and tapped her own communications device dismissively. The shuttle was accelerating heavily now and appeared to be trying some evasive manoeuvres because it lurched down and sideways before surging upwards again. Manera staggered in her chair and almost slid off. I grabbed her arm and pulled her up, then braced my right arm across her lap to press her back onto her seat. She looked startled at my contact, but did not resist. The shuttle continued to lurch one way and then the other. Alfred’s voice came through.

  “It has fired a missile Paul, brace yourselves.”

  “Manera, hold tight,” I shouted and mimed my hands gripping the chair. We were in the middle row and there were seats ahead of us, so I took the brace position, head down, legs drawn up. I pushed her down as well, showing her what to do. Her eyes were huge, her mouth open, but she complied. Barely were we in position then a giant hand grabbed the shuttle and shook it like a deer in the jaws of a lion. A horrendous noise crashed around us and suddenly a huge hole appeared on the opposite wall, a blast of hot air and a huge concussion flooded the compartment. The shuttle lurched sickeningly and started to drop. I embraced the seat ahead of me as hard as I could, gripping the legs of my chair with my feet, hanging on for dear life as the shuttle veered sideways on, still dropping. Manera was closer to the hole than me and she struggled to fight the suction. I released one hand and straining I held her down. She took a fresh grip on the seat in front and pulled herself back. I heard screams and saw bodies flying out of the hole in the side of the aircraft. Through the hole I could see the sea , and it was not far away. The pilot seemed to have coaxed some power back to the Gravity engine because our fall slowed and stabilised.

  “Paul, A second missile has been fired.”

  “Damn it, Mr Pilot, get this bloody crate down as quick as you can! Hold tight Manera,” I shouted grasping her hands and pressing them against the seat. I braced myself with renewed strength. The pilot seemed to have heard my cry because the ship continued down under a modicum of power. The sea seemed very close through the hole. The second missile hit with an even more stupendous bang. It must have destroyed what remained of the Gravity engine because the shuttle fell like a crippled bird. Fortunately for us, the pilot had done the right thing and we did not have far to fall. The ship hit the sea nose first, which cushioned the blow for us. It also meant the sea did not engulf us immediately, the ship settling slowly after its initial impact. But rush in it did and in seconds it was up to our waists. I started to take deep breaths and turned around to instruct Manera. She was collapsed between the seats. There was a massive bruise on her forehead, clearly she had taken a blow when the ship had hit the ocean. I shook her but she did not budge. I looked around the compartment and I seemed to be the only one standing. Bodies had been thrown around like dolls and those who had not been sucked out were unconscious. I saw the unfortunate Solon huddled up against the wall, his neck at an unnatural angle. There was no sign of Karena.

  I felt my chest choke up and I struggled to breathe. Desperately I shook Manera but she was not moving. I hoisted her limp body up and dragged her to the hole in the ship. There was just a couple of feet to go and we would be underwater. I had Manera in a lifesaving grip and swam backwards out of the hole, into the hot afternoon sun. I paddled desperately to get away from the sinking shuttle. The hole went underwater as it sank and a few minutes later the ship disappeared under the waves leaving the surface of the ocean covered in debris. I looked around me and to my surprise, the coastline was a couple of hundred yards away. Manera was becoming a dead weight and I doubted my ability to swim to the shore.

  “Christ you are a big girl Manera,” I groaned taking a fresh grip under her armpits. I looked around to see who else had made it from the ship but the ocean was empty of life. It looked like the pilot and crew had bought it from the second missile. My comms device hissed in my ear.

  “Paul, are you alive,” came the welcome voice of my AI, and I swear there was a nervous hoarseness about it that I had never heard before.

  “Chill your bones old friend,” I replied “still alive and kicking...literally!”

  “I am delighted to hear that Paul,” came the cheerful reply.

  “Only because you will now avoid the paperwork associated with my death,” I said.

  “There is no paperwork....,” he began then stopped himself. “You are being facetious. Can I offer any assistance?” he asked.

  “Only if you have a couple of lifebelts handy” I grunted. “Where is that bastard shuttle now Alfred?”

  “They are heading away f
rom the planet at maximum acceleration. We have detected a starship four million miles out and it is heading in that direction.”

  “They are getting away? Is there nothing we can do?” I gasped, with a combination of shock and exertion.

  “The Epsilon is in pursuit. I do not believe we will intercept them before they rendezvous with the starship.”

  “What about the aliens? Are they doing nothing?”

  “They have a ship also in pursuit. With its Gravity engine it will overtake the Epsilon and has a good chance of making an interception.”

  “OK Alfred, turn the Epsilon back, since there is no prospect of catching the intruder. We need some support down here.”

  “Right Paul, I have your position. I will bring the shuttle down on the beach. Are you OK to swim ashore?”

  “I am OK to swim ashore , but unfortunately the lovely Manera is not and I am having to tow her,” I said “And she is a big girl,” I added.

  “Take your time Paul, do not tire yourself,” said Alfred solicitously.

  “Hey Alfred.” I shouted, trying to avoid swallowing the ocean, “This is the first inter-species life saving act. I should get a medal for this.”

  “Indeed Paul, you are officially a hero. I will testify to that.”

  “Thanks Alfred,” I puffed. “Come on Manera, wake up girl and give us a hand.” As if in response, Manera stirred and raised her head. She suddenly started to struggle and gasp and my already feeble grip on her loosened.

  “Take it easy girl, take it easy!” I tried to sound soothing. “Paul’s got yer. Well I did got yer until you started struggling.” She turned her head around to look at me , her eyes wide. she gasped something in Hianja and I nodded reassuringly, trying to get a firm grip under her armpits.

  Her tense body relaxed and she started to kick her legs and paddle with her hands. She clearly was a very poor swimmer and it took us some time to make it to the shore where we both collapsed exhausted on the beach breathing heavily. She looked solemnly at me and then out to sea, where the wreckage and flotsam from the ship was floating. I nodded at her, making airplane motions with one hand, then diving airplane motions, then indicating her and me and hands spread open to show we were the only survivors.