by J G Clements
Often unable to sleep, he spent many nights on the Bridge. When he was there, everyone left him alone. But the Stewards broke their rules that only official Bridge crew got served coffee or tea while on duty. Instead, they always kept a cup of hot tea by his elbow.
At some level, Jim knew why the Sisk had been asked to stand-down. The Oddjob or the Logan was coming for him. He knew he didn’t belong on the Sisk, at least not permanently. The Sisk might think of itself as a hunter, able to protect this entire solar system. But the answers he sought wouldn’t be found here. No, he was determined to unravel the mystery of the Swarm, and though he wasn’t yet sure how to go about it, a patrol ship on a defensive mission was probably not the best way to proceed.
Instead, he was trying to figure a way to follow a Swarm ship back to its home. And the more he saw of the Swarm, the more certain he was that they didn’t live on any sort of sphere or ball world. Or if they did, it was inside it. No, they must be creatures of space. But from the size of the behemoth ships, he was developing a theory that somewhere out there, there would be massive free-floating cities. And he knew he wouldn’t rest until he found them.
Sue also figured out that Jim would be leaving. She could go with him, but her thinking was to spend at least another year on the Sisk. Whatever Jim was going to do, she knew that it wouldn’t include her, other than Jim being polite. The Swarm problem had gotten ahold of him and wouldn’t let him go. Instead, as second-in-command, she was getting the feel for running a Dreadnought. Jake was a good teacher, and knowing the absolute lack of good command personnel, he was thrilled to have her on board.
The Logan arrived first, but almost three hours steaming time away from the Sisk. The Oddjob did much better, arriving less than an hour’s steaming time. Rendezvousing with the Sisk, members of the McKinsie Fleet serving on the Oddjob were the first to skiff over. Jack and Jennifer arrived as well, and within minutes there was an unofficial re-union of many of the McKinsie Fleet.
The stewards were unflappable, and within minutes the mess had been converted to a reception hall, with all the best snacks the Sisk could offer. Though a dry ship when on combat or escort duty, this was not the case today. Everyone was relaxed, even if still tired from the last four months. There would be no training tomorrow, and a number of more forward-thinking McKinsie fleet personnel were busy trying to trade their duty roster tasks with non-McKinsie fleet crew.
The crew from the Logan arrived several hours later, and there was a lot more of the McKinsie Fleet personnel than Sue expected. Even more interesting, they were all wearing the jumpsuit-tunics that the Oddjob had first donated to the fleet. While everyone was busy catching up, Sue began a mental check-off of each Fleet member present, and was surprised to find that as far as she could tell, everyone was there, even the Moonfleet. With all of them moving around, she had a tough time actually doing a count, and then an idea struck her.
Pulling the podium out a little from its niche, she mounted it to get a better view. But it had an effect on everyone that she didn’t expect: The noise died away, like a ripple of silence going out from her. Now several feet above the assembly, she realized what she had done. They expected her to address the Fleet. Momentarily at a loss of words, she recovered and realized it wasn’t about her anyway, it was about the Fleet. And if she had any premonition of the future, she knew that this was most likely the last time they would ever be in one place.
Having worked with them for so long, she knew everyone’s name and number by heart. Without any notes, she read off the role-call of each member. “William-1”
“Present”.
“Cindy 2”
“Present”
“David 3”
“Present”
“Tina 4”
“Present”
“MD-5” She smiled at the fact he used no other name.
“Present”
Without any hesitation or confusion, she called the entire roster, up to number 114. As she ran through the names, everyone seemed to grow more quiet. Sometime before she had gotten to number 88, a Steward had gone to retrieve Jim off the Bridge, and after a moments confusion, immediately had gotten into the mood of the evening. Basically a beer drinker, he made every effort to catch up.
Of the fleet, only four were missing. Three were known to have taken berths on ships there were too distant for the Crekie to recall in time, and one was just missing. He had taken a single ship and had not been heard from again. But it was clear that this re-union had been orchestrated by the Crekie: They had assigned and moved all the Fleet to these ships, then made sure they would all be together.
She didn’t really have any announcement prepared, so instead, after offering a toast to the Fleet, asked everyone to take a minute and tell what they had been doing. The idea was immediately seized on, and by their numbers, each crew member gave a short thumbnail summary of what they had been up to. And while each crewmember had an interesting story, when it was Jim’s turn, they demanded a lot more detail. The weeks Jim had spent out by himself drifting, then voluntarily destroying his ship and living in his suit had made him a celebrity.
Though he did his best to tell the story, it took the perspective of Sue to fill in salient points that he would have left out entirely. Aware he was taking too much time, he tried to get off the podium. Doing his best, he turned it over to the next crewman and tried to blend back into the crowd. Out of respect for the next speakers, the assembled crowd remained quiet, but many of them watched him as he moved back toward the bar.
A lot of the crews from the other ships were there as well. Both Captain Jack and Captain Jake knew that only skeleton crews were on duty, but this far into gravity lock there weren’t worried Most of them seemed to hang back by the bulkheads, ceding the podium area to the Fleet. And besides, they were as interested in the stories as anyone. The stewards knew the party was going to continue all night, and everyone was more than happy to help make it so. But the surprises weren’t over for the evening.
It’s standard procedure that when a ship arrives, scheduled or unscheduled, the Captain should be notified immediately. As Jake and Jack was to learn however, there was someone who could order the Bridge crews to remain silent. There was a commotion out in the corridor, mostly by a pair of stewards who were insisting on announcing someone. Instead, two well known figures entered the mess, and everyone immediately fell silent. Without a word, a path was made for them, and they were allowed to take the podium.
Still dressed in his now signature black uniform, the Recruiter stood and faced the group. He had the ability to keep everyone’s eyes riveted on him. Seeming to smile more from his eyes than from the faint smile on his lips, his gaze seemed to touch everyone there. Having their attention, he turned his attention and thus everyone’s attention to focus on the woman standing next to him. Nowhere near the presence of the Recruiter, Helen looked at the crowd with a sunny smile that just exuded confidence. Everyone knew they were receiving a rare visit from a Crekie. And if the Recruiter had silenced the crowd, she seemed to totally put them under her spell.
Without any preamble she started. “McKinsie Fleet, on behalf of the Crekie we want to thank each and everyone of you. You have no idea on how much you’ve done for us, and how important you have been to the protection of Earth.” She paused enough to let that sink in, then continued. “The Earth is now surrounded by over one million manned Picket ships, and the Beamers are in place. Using the tactics that were developed on this ship,”…several of the crew couldn’t help but glance over at Jim…”We are now prepared to hunt the Swarm. It has taken us several hundred years to turn the tables on them.” There was applause, and she was gracious enough to wait for it to die down before she went on.
“Because of what we learned, we have now commissioned some new types of ships to help in the hunt. The Dreadnoughts remain the main battle platform, but we now have some unusual scout ships that can help the dreadnoughts find the Swarm. If anyone is interested, ask us l
ater and we can fill you in.” She seemed to finish, then as an after thought, “And we need Captains for these ships. Just in case anyone wants a new challenge.”
There was only polite laughter at that comment, and Jake knew it meant a lot of them were very interested. And from what he saw of the McKinsie Fleet, that seemed fine with him. Then, for just a second, he wondered if there could be enough opportunity for the entire Fleet to take up residence in one Solar system, or better, be the staff on a single battle group. He was pondering this thought when someone threw a question at the Recruiter.
“We thought Earth was going to give you a hard time with letting folks go into space. What gives?”
Helen looked at the Recruiter and made it clear it was his turn. “Like most problems, there are multiple solutions. First, we put an official spaceport at one site in the United States, a second one in France, and a third one in the US Virgin Islands. Except that one is more like a base or embassy ceded to the Crekie. We made it clear that if the passenger traffic drops below several thousand émigrés a day we would move elsewhere. We agreed that passports would be required to leave and return, but anyone without a passport can be finger-printed and either allowed to proceed to our facility or be returned to their country within 24 hours. Anyone leaving is not committing a crime and anyone returning will not be arrested by customs.
“Two, we asked Scotland to put a spaceport in their country, mostly for logistics. Few passengers. McKinsie would have liked that. It’s an underground railway for anyone who arrives at the border, with or without a passport. They are arrested by Scottish authorities, then taken to the spaceport for an interview. We question them there, and if they seem OK, get them off Earth and into jobs.” He stopped, but he wasn’t done yet. The crowd knew that he had done something else, and was waiting to spring it. “Its amazing how many cruise ships now visit Scotland”. Smirking, he went on.
“And three, for countries that just won’t let their populations leave, we now offer ‘dial a ride’. Folks that want to leave signal us, and when the time is right, we drop down and pick up anywhere from twenty to fifty volunteers. The United Nations as well as a number of dictatorships are screaming about this, but they can’t stop us.” Then he paused for second. “Or whoever it is that is doing it. The Ants blame the Beetles, the Beetles blame the Shria, and the Shria really don’t ever answer their phones.” Laughter from the crew, he took a second to let it sink in. “Soccer games are particularly good places for them to gather. We can drop in and be out in less than a minute and a half. To date, using all three methods, we have brought over six million humans into space. And we expect to evacuate at a rate of over several million a year with no stress on our foodworlds or ship supply.”
Helen had another comment. “Humans are now well established in Space, and are already forming raftcities in their home solar system. Welcome, humans, to the galaxy!” Holding up the glass someone had put in her hand, the entire audience reciprocated. Then, in some odd custom of the Fleet, they all slapped their thighs in a slow rhythm which increased in both frequency and sound, accelerated it a a full crescendo and ended with a cheer.
******
Later that evening, Jack DuBois did indeed convince Helen that keeping the Fleet together…voluntarily, of course…by offering whatever each Fleet member wanted…as a unified group not only made sense, but was the human thing to do for a group of people who wished to be together.
With so many jobs to fill, it was pretty easy, too. Ask what any member wanted to do, then make sure that job existed. A lot of them wanted Scout Ship berths, and this was fine with Jack. Sue was the one that sold it to everyone in the Fleet, and having her second in command of a dreadnought didn’t hurt, either.
Jim was another matter. Two days after the reunion, both Captains, Helen and the Recruiter had a meeting with Jim and Sue. Everyone knew that Jim felt he needed to be out looking for more clues, not organizing the defense of a solar system.
Sitting next to Jim, Helen could sense that she repulsed him. His body language was to lean away from her, and he was uncomfortable. There was little she could do about that now. Instead, she asked him to explain what it is that he felt he should be doing. “Jim, we think that you are still not finished studying the Swarm? That you have other theories you aren’t sharing with us. Is that right?”
Sitting across the table from Jim, the Recruiter read his face and had something to say. A voice in Helen’s head,”Spacegirl…be careful. To some degree, he’s losing himself to this problem. Remember how you warned me to not give up being human? He might stop being Jim and only become some aspect of a hunter. Ever read Moby Dick?”
Helen got that far away look in her eyes as she referenced Moby Dick. Startled, she glanced at the Recruiter then returned her gaze to Jim. Testing him, she reached over and rested her hand on Jim’s wrist. His body language revealed that he didn’t like her touch, but wouldn’t pull his wrist away for fear of looking silly. “Jim…you are the most creative and logical thinker here. But you need to let us in. What are you thinking?” Helen withdrew her hand, quietly placing it in her lap.
His ideas were not totally formed yet, and everyone knew Helen was asking for information that he hadn’t integrated into his model. So when he spoke, it was a random set of conjectures, provisional conclusions that he couldn’t defend. But he didn’t need to. Everyone only wanted to hear his thoughts, not his conclusions. “The Swarm must live in vast floating cities, much bigger than the Behemoth ships. Only I can’t figure out how to find them. I need a way of following their ships while we can’t be detected. And I don’t think the cities will have jump capacity. And I’m certain they don’t use railguns to accelerate their meteors. They most likely build jump fields around their killer meteorites, get them up to speed somewhere far away, then aim then at us. When they drop out due to gravity lock, they only need to be guided a bit. We’ve been wasting our time looking for their launch systems. They don’t exist. But this is all provisional.”
Both Captains leaned back as if they had the wind knocked out of them. But he wasn’t quite finished. “I want to retrace the meteors that they have tossed at us, not just to the Oort cloud, but as far as a jump would go before it gets gravity locked. I bet they throw them at us from Oort clouds of OTHER star systems. I know a straight line would be a lucky find for us, but I want to do it.”
The Recruiter was inside Helen’s head, making a case. “Helen…I know he’s important to you and to us. But if he goes off on his own to try to solve this mystery we’ll never see him again. And there is one more point. I think he’ll end up without any real human contact. Aren’t you always telling me that its important I keep all aspects of my humanity intact? He could very easily lose that.” Helen reflected back emotions to the Recruiter.
“I saved you. I know I can save him.” Then, out loud, “We want the Sisk to lead a battle group to look at these very issues. We were hoping you and Jake and the Sisk would train the new tactical groups that will be slated to protect solar systems for just a month or two, then we’d like you to assume command of the battle group. You will have absolute authority to go anywhere you deem fit. Your mission is to find out everything you can about the Swarm. Would this be acceptable to you?”
Without a second’s hesitation Jim replied. “No.”
No one had ever been offered a complete battle group before. And here one was being turned down. Across the table, the Recruiter smiled, well aware of exactly how Jim felt and knowing what Jim was about to say. Jack looked over at Jake and had anyone been watching them, it was clear both of them would have jumped at this chance. It was Sue who put a hand on his arm, and his body language was more relaxed than when Helen touched him. “Jim…why not? No one else has figured this stuff out. Why do you say no?”
A slight smile came to his face and he tilted his head a bit to one side. He seemed to have relaxed. “I’m not cut out to lead a battle group.” Looking around, he stopped when he locked eyes with Jack. �
�I would be happy to be a technical advisor, or an M.I.P, but not a commander. I’d get everyone killed if I was in charge.” While everyone was trying to figure out what Jim was saying, Sue started to laugh out loud and broke the tension.
“You already are an M.I.P. so that shouldn’t be hard!” Jake had no idea what an M.I.P. was, but Helen must have found the reference in her database. Instead of saying anything out loud, she let the Recruiter know, ‘wait for it’.
It was Sue: “Jake... M.I.P. is a slang term we use for Mysterious Important Person. It’s a sort of a catch-all for those folks that don’t seem to fit into a normal chain of command. It was something McKinsie used to use when he had folks train us before our launches.”
Jake didn’t laugh, but sort of snorted his acceptance of it. “So it’s settled? Jim, you’ll be whatever you want to call yourself, and I’m offering Sue a berth as my Executive Officer. Our intent is to offer everyone from the McKinsie fleet a berth. We’re more or less keeping the band together?”
As quickly as Jim had rejected being in charge of the battle group, he accepted. The tension was gone and you could see him visibly relax. Then placing his hand on Sue’s arm. “As long as it’s clear that Sue doesn’t outrank me, sure.” Polite laughter from everyone, but you could tell Sue and Jim were going to have fun with that issue. Clearing his throat to get their attention, the Recruiter reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a pair of a black insignia, identical to the one he wore on his collar.
