by Howard Marsh
“OK,” Brad answered. “There’s no rush. We’ll need at least another year, probably two, to get things ready and to recruit our exploration team. We plan on taking at least two or three thousand humans and Chanreeks, plus a few thousand robots, so this won’t happen very soon. We also have to make the arrangements for Nebula and the Chanreeks to transfer ships and other equipment to us. Seduro and Grakoo, the new Chanreek prime minister, are supportive of the idea, but the details need to be worked out, and the value of those assets will generate a lot of discussion. So take as long as you need.”
*
Harry thought about the offer for two days and then replied to Brad. “Count me in. I have a taste for getting back into space, and I like the idea of exploring instead of fighting. When can I start?”
“How about tomorrow?” Brad replied. “We’ll send a shuttle to take you to our base. It’s on Mars, near the Chanreek colony by our old bunker. You won’t recognize the place. A lot has changed since we left. I’ll meet you there, and we can get started on your new assignment.”
Epilogue
“Unidentified craft, bearing point five radians to starboard, approximately three light minutes distance.” The report from surveillance section rang through the operations center, and General Kragin almost spilled his tea as he rose to get to the control station.
“General quarters,” Kragin commanded, and the claxon rang on all ships as human and Chanreek crew scurried to their posts. “Decrease speed to zero point one c, and maintain heading.”
Brad and Harry entered the operations center seconds later. They’d been playing bridge with two Chanreek officers and were only several meters away in the lounge near the operations center.
“What’s up?” Brad asked.
“Unidentified ship,” Kragin replied. “I think that we’ve finally met another spacefaring species. I hope it’s a peaceful meeting, but I’ve issued the order to prepare for whatever happens. I’m keeping shields down for now. Let’s look as peaceful as possible and try to make contact. But we’re on ready alert.”
They waited tensely as the strange spacecraft approached them. They could see that it was also unshielded. Kragin ordered signal lights and transmissions, both microwave and gravitational, to be broadcast with a pulse code that had been established as the best way to make first contact. The code was a simple 1, 2, 3, … count up to ten, then another up to twelve. Then it was followed by the numbers to indicate pi to ten significant figures, using groups of pulses separated by an interval to encode pi in base ten, so the first group consisted of three pulses, the second had one, and the third had four, and so forth. Then they did the same for pi in base twelve, going to twelve significant figures. Then they waited.
After three repetitions of the one-to-ten, one-to-twelve, and pi sequences, the other ship responded. It used a similar code, broadcast with light pulses, microwave pulses, and gravitational pulses, precisely repeating what had been sent by the human-Chanreek ship. Then they added another message. The ship’s computer took several seconds to recognize that the alien ship was sending decimal data that defined the number “e”, the base of the natural logarithms, to ten significant figures. So, the conclusion was that these aliens most likely were saying that they had ten fingers, or whatever types of digits served as fingers. And they clearly were willing to establish communications.
Kragin ordered the fleet to stop as the other ship approached. The other ship stopped too. They were now about two light seconds apart, just standing still and watching one another.
“Brad,” Kragin said, “We need to approach them, but I don’t want to seem threatening. I want you and Harry to take a runabout and see if you can get close to them. Maybe they’ll even let you dock.”
“Right,” Brad answered, and he and Harry turned to leave.
“Wait,” Kragin said. “You need to take a Chanreek officer too. If they let you in, they’ll see that we have two distinct species onboard, so they should get the message that we’re open to working across species and civilizations. Take Dragoy with you. Wasn’t he with you in the lounge?”
“Yeah. We were playing cards.”
“Tell him that I want him to join you. If things start to look like trouble, get back here as quickly as you can. We’ll give you cover fire if necessary, but so far it looks peaceful. Take one of the ships with an escape pod, just in case. They seem friendly so far, but I don’t want to take any more risks than necessary.”
“OK,” Brad replied. “Let’s go Harry.”
The three of them suited up, went to the hangar deck, climbed into a runabout, and flew off into the unknown.
