Space Scout

by S A Pavli

  “And I will see you all tonight for a few drinks?” I asked, which also elicited a chorus of agreement. I had noticed that Manera was not to be seen anywhere amongst her scientific staff but decided not to ask for her whereabouts. Probably giving evidence to the Guardians I thought which reminded me that I was still on probation. As if to dampen my mood, Alfred’s English drawl interrupted my thoughts.

  “Paul, Captain Sametan Tenaka asks if you are available for a meeting in the next hour.”

  “Yes Alfred, tell the Captain that I am indeed available. The sooner the better,” after a few seconds, Alfred’s responded.

  “Then please ask Nastro to direct you immediately to conference room 1 on deck 16. I shall be in constant communication throughout the conference.”

  “So it’s a conference is it?” I inquired dryly.

  “The Guardians will be present, as will Manera and Smetronis,” my heart lurched. This is it I thought, I was about to meet the obnoxious Smetronis at last.

  Chapter 20

  Conference room 1 on deck 16 was large and airy, and clearly very well equipped. One whole wall was covered with screens, and each seat had its own screen and what appeared to be a virtual reality headset. But it was more like a courtroom than a conference room. The Dias at the head of the room was wide enough to hold 5 or 6 people and there were something like twenty seats in the auditorium. To one side there was a refreshments area and a dozen or so individuals were standing around with glasses in their hands. They all turned as Nastro and I walked in and, for the first time since I had boarded the Tanu I was struck with how alien it all was. These people were strangers I thought. Well, not even strangers, they were strange. Alien creatures whose thought processes could be quite different from mine.

  But then I spotted the tall slender form of Manera , wearing a slinky pale gold and sky blue robe, belted loosely at the waist, her rich black hair falling like a silky wave across one shoulder, and the strangeness disappeared. I remembered my conversations with the Guardians, Captain Ranice and my scientist friends and reminded myself that I was dealing with beings whose cultural standards were not too dissimilar to mine.

  I strode confidently towards the assembled company and Guardian Kemato detached herself from the group.

  “Captain, welcome,” she said with a cool smile.

  “I understood that I was meeting with Captain Sametan?” I enquired with a stiff nod. The Guardian nodded.

  “Yes, and we apologise for this change, but events have moved far quicker than we expected and we would like to bring this matter to a close,” she replied.

  “Without even allowing me to give evidence?” I replied with a frown. Guardian Kemato moved closer to me.

  “The situation is very clear Captain,” she said severely. “Having examined the records provided by your AI and Manera’s personal recollections, which you will agree are superior to yours, we do not think your personal testimony would add anything.”

  “I see,” I said cautiously. I directed a worried look at Manera, who was looking blank and inscrutable. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach and my sense of aloneness in an alien environment returned with greater strength. Don’t prejudge things Paul, I thought, let’s see what they have to say.

  “Please take a seat and we will proceed,” said Guardian Kemato. “Captain Sametan will present a summary of the facts first, and we will then give our conclusions.”

  People had started to take their seats, and the three Guardians sat at the front. The Captain took the podium and his executive officer Commander Verisho sat at a control console at the front. She was clearly in charge of the Computers and graphics. Manera came over and looked me straight in the eyes in a peculiar way. I gave her a questioning look but with a tiny shake of her head she took my arm and directed me to a chair at the front. She sat next to me and placed her hands on the desk in front of her, looking as calm and serene as I had ever seen her. Smetronis walked in front of me and as he passed he directed a long and impassive stare in my direction. I returned his stare with a bold glare and he stalked past and took a seat further along the front row. At the podium, Captain Sametan cleared his throat in a very human way, fixed the audience with an intense and unsettling stare, and began his presentation.

  “We begin with the initial attack on our exploration base on Omorphia. The planet was discovered by Mesaroyat two years ago and was found to be favourable for settlement. There was no intelligent indigenous life forms and the environment was extremely favourable . The base buildings were built by the initial exploration team last year. The current scientific team had arrived on the planet 35 semska ago to conduct in depth biological and environmental studies prior to settlement. The attacking ship, shown on the screen 3, appeared without warning. It appears that it had arrived on the planet prior to the exploration team, and had remained hidden until the attack. What is peculiar is that the attack took place during the day when all the scientific team, except for two maintenance and engineering staff, were out in the field. The engineers were fortunately not harmed because they ran into the forest where they were able to have a good view of the attacking ship.

  The ship made a number of passes over the base, they think five or six, each time firing projectile weapons at the buildings. The ship made no attempt to pursue the engineers into the forest. It then flew off and we believe made rendezvous with its mother ship, and left the system. On returning to the base the engineers found that the power generator had been damaged, and the science laboratory with its equipment totally destroyed. Some of the scientific staff in the forest nearby had of course heard the attack, and a number of them had also seen the attacking aircraft, and they returned quickly to the base. They quickly concluded that they were not able to continue their work on the planet due to the destruction of the base, as well as concerns for their personal safety. They thus loaded up their equipment to the shuttles and departed the planet.” Whilst he had been speaking, his assistant had been displaying footage of the attacking ship which had been taken by one of the scientists. Also shown was the damage to the buildings, in some detail.

  “We now move on to the period when the investigating ship Pesmisk arrived at Omorphia 13 semska ago,” continued Sametan. The Pesmisk is a Vasmerantan ship which was had been fitted with experimental weapons by the Vasmeranta Academy of Military History which was researching the effectiveness of different weapons systems under a program sanctioned by the Vasmeranta Guardian Council. It was coincidentally on a visit to Mesaroyat , at the moment when the scientific expedition returned to report the hostile attack by an unknown ship. The Vasmerantans offered the ship as transport and armed protection for the investigation team. For the benefit of Captain Constantine..,” and at this point Sametan paused and turned his attention in my direction. “Hianja have abandoned the use of weapons, thousands of years ago now, other than small personal weapons for protection against predators on hostile worlds. We have no armed ships, not having had a war for more than twenty thousand years. We also reasoned, that any space faring civilisation we may meet would have peaceful intentions. However, Hianja technology and manufacturing capacity would be able, if required, to construct large numbers of heavily armed warships in a very short period of time,” he paused at this point and fixed me with a stony look, as if to say.. so don’t try anything buddy or you’ll be sorry.

  “Since the Pesmisk was so fortuitously available,” he continued, “The Mesaroyat authorities agreed to the Vesmerantan offer and the preliminary scientific team headed by Manera-ka was dispatched, with a number of additional individuals trained in the use of arms, and a number of general purpose robots, also converted quickly to act as security guards. The crew was mostly Vesmerantan of course. In addition, a message was dispatched to Hianja itself, describing the dramatic development on Omorphia. When the Pesmisk arrived at Omorphia, they were surprised to find an alien starship in orbit, and even more surprised to receive a communication from an unknown alien source on the planet.


  They naturally believed that this was the attacking alien ship, but examination showed that the starship in orbit could not have been the attacker and there was no sign of an atmosphere craft. It also became apparent that the aliens had taken possession of the base. Their shuttle must therefore be hidden on the planet. This behaviour was considered suspicious and the Pesmisk prepared itself for military action, the first military engagement to be fought by Hianja for Twenty-four thousand years.” Sametan paused dramatically and despite my mounting alarm I had to admire his timing.

  He then proceeded to describe events on the planet as they occurred, leaving out no details and castigating severely the decisions made which had led to such a disastrous loss of life. I started to relax, my faith in Hianja justice restored, as he went on to describe the attack on the Hianja shuttle and my rescue of Manera, the second attack on our campsite and its destruction, our escape and the battle at the base camp leading to the downing of the remaining Hianja shuttle. Throughout all this, Commander Verisho busily displayed images and film supplied by Alfred and Sundance, showing the battles in graphic detail. There were gasps and comments from the audience, particularly at the description of the attack on the Hianja shuttle and my rescue of Manera. There was a murmur of voices at this and Samatan had to pause to allow the audience to settle down. At the end, I confess that I felt we were home and dry. Smetronis had received a bashing and I was a hero. Sametan then paused for a few seconds and waited patiently for the audience to settle.

  “But there is another version of events,” he said, and my heart sank. “What you have just heard is the version described by Manera-Ka and supported by video and evidence supplied by Alfred and his robots. There is another version of events, supplied by Commander Smetronis. Unfortunately, because the commander claims to have suffered catastrophic Computer failure on the Pesmisk , he is unable to substantiate his story with any machine evidence. However, it is my duty to repeat his deposition. It is as follows; The Earthman, Paul Constantine is in league with the attackers on the unknown ship. At the point when the ship reappeared and started attacking the base again, Constantine’s robots opened fire on the Hianja crew and robots, catching them by surprise. But nevertheless, they prevailed and Constantine was taken prisoner. The decision to re-enter the shuttle and take off for orbit was made by Manera-Ka, because Smetronis had lost communications at that point. The shooting down of the shuttle by the intruder, left Manera-Ka in Constantine’s hands. Unfortunately, the Computer failure to which I have referred occurred prior to the appearance of the intruder, so there is no computer evidence of anything that happened after that. The final received transmission from Manera-Ka said that she and the crew were under attack from the alien. Fearing that Manera-Ka was being held hostage, Smetronis used the second shuttle and the four Tanseh to search for Manera-Ka, finally locating them at the hidden camp site. Unfortunately again, because of the breakdown in communications, orders were garbled and the security crew on the ground opened fire on the campsite instead of attempting to rescue Manera-Ka,” as Sametan went on to describe the rest of Smetronis’s fabricated story I started to relax again, secure in the belief that his story was so feeble, and unsubstantiated, that no one would believe him. I was actually feeling outraged that he should insult the intelligence of his peers by asking them to believe this codswallop. Sametan came to a stop at last.

  “That is the end of Smetronis’s account of what took place, and brings us up to the point when the Tanu arrived and we began our own investigations,” he paused and looked at the Guardians who nodded their approval.

  Guardian Kemato stood to address us, pausing thoughtfully for a few moments before starting.

  “Commander Smetronis is a respected figure on Vasmeranta and, despite the lack of corroborating evidence, we cannot dismiss his account out of hand,” I gaped with disbelief at what she was saying. “The evidence supplied by the alien AI, while convincing and graphic, could be completely fabricated. It is also apparent, that Science Officer Manera-Ka has become somehow mesmerised by the Earthman and is under his control. I do not believe that we can trust her description of events,” she paused, but my shock and dismay were so great I had been temporarily struck dumb. “We do not know at this point whether Captain Constantine is some sort of interstellar pirate, acting in consort with others to terrorise us into abandoning our claim on Omorphia, or whether he is an agent for Earth, doing the same job on behalf of his planet. It is not a question we can answer, at this point,” I’d had enough of this by now and I jumped up in outrage.

  “How can you believe that rubbish from Smetronis?” I raged. “A child can see that it is a fabrication, and a very bad one at that. And to say that your chief science officer is under my control is an insult to her intelligence and her allegiance to her race,” I was gearing up now for a good rant, but the Guardian interrupted me loudly and firmly.

  “Captain, it is not our custom to allow individuals to interrupt Guardian business,” she said severely.

  “I’m not just any individual you moron,” I protested vehemently “I am a representative of the Human race and I demand you treat me with the respect that I am due,” I raged, aware that I was being both rude and pompous but not giving a shit.

  “Or what Captain? Will you send some warships to castigate us?” I pulled myself together and drawing myself up to my full height stared the Guardian straight in the eyes.

  “Guardian Kemato, I am seriously disappointed in the honesty and integrity of your so called Guardians. You invite me here without giving me an opportunity to speak, and then you make a bizarre and insulting judgement that goes against all the evidence. Frankly, I believe that you have no commitment to the truth, you have arrived at a conclusion that suits your purposes. There is therefore no point in me taking any further part in these proceedings. Make your decisions and let me know what they are,” mustering my dignity as best I could I turned my back on the Guardian and walked out. Nastro scuttled after me hastily catching me at the door.

  “Paul, I am sorry,” he gasped. “I cannot believe this.”

  “Neither can I Nastro,” I sighed wearily.

  “I have submitted my evidence to the Guardians supporting Manera,” he said “Although I was not involved in the crucial times unfortunately.”

  “Thanks for your support Nastro,” I said gratefully to the little fellow. “No need for you to feel bad. It’s Manera I feel sorry for,” I groaned.

  “Paul, Manera is very fond of you, but she would never lie to protect you, or anyone,” he said as we boarded the elevator. “And she is certainly not under anybody’s control,” he added.

  “I know that buddy. And Kemato must know that. Which is why I cannot understand what is going on.” We had arrived at my apartment and Nastro took my arm as I was about to enter.

  “Paul, would you like to meet for dinner tonight?” he asked solicitously.

  “No Nastro, I am not in the mood for partying. I think I will go to my ship and talk privately to Alfred later.”

  “I am not sure if they will allow you Paul,” replied Nastro looking behind me. It appeared that we had been followed from the conference. Two security guards and two security robots had trailed us. One of the security guards approached me.

  “Captain, I have been asked to ensure that you stay in your apartment tonight. Food and drink will be brought to you,” I was a prisoner! I shrugged resignedly and walked into the apartment leaving Nastro conversing with the guards in the corridor. A chat with Alfred was called for, but I was sure that they would be able to overhear our conversation.

  “Alfred, what’s going on?” I asked.

  “I presume you are referring to the Guardian’s decision?” replied Alfred, as calm and serene as ever.

  “No, the Mad Hatter’s tea party,” I growled, “Because that’s what it was.”

  “The decision reached by the Guardians was certainly surreal,” he agreed. “It remains for us to see what action they intend to take. We are after a
ll totally at their mercy.”

  “Yes, thank you for reminding me of that.” I paused for a second, then cleared my throat pointedly before continuing.

  “Nomizes oti meloun Ellinika e kyrie?” (Do you think the gentlemen speak Greek?) I asked, switching to a language which I was sure that the aliens would not be able to translate, namely my Grandfathers village Greek dialect.

  “Ohi, den nomizo.” (No I do not think so) Alfred replied. An English butler speaking village Greek, with a perfect accent.

  “You have a perfect accent Alfred,” I continued in Greek. “Did you holiday in Greece sometime?”

  “No, I had a Greek mistress.” he replied dryly. I guffawed loudly, more in relief than appreciation of Alfred’s comic genius.

  “You old dog, I can see you in the Taverna playing backgammon with the village elders and reminiscing about the past,” I remarked. Alfred and I had whiled away a few hours playing backgammon. Trouble was, he was so good, he could thrash me every time. The only chance I stood was to force him to calculate Pi to a million decimal places while solving the equations describing the Big Bang at the same time, and make his move within .05 of a second.

  “Maybe when I retire,” he quipped. “And get a body,” I helped myself to a glass of whisky from the almost empty bottle, chuckling at the vision of Alfred with a body, sipping Ouzo and playing Backgammon.

  “What now compadre?” I asked. “If I made a break for it, do you think we can get out of here?”

  “If you can board the Lisa Jane we can definitely get out of here,” he replied. “One missile will clear the shuttle bay doors. But where do we go from there?”

  “Yeah, with no Hyperspace drive we are dead in the water.”

  “I think, with respect Paul, that you and I are, as they say in the movies, ‘small fry’,” Alfred continued. “The Hianja are too civilised to mistreat you in any way. The issue is, future Hianja-Human relations.”