Family Law 2: The Long Voyage of the Little Fleet

by Mackey Chandler

  The current road on the south side of the gap had a high point of three thousand meters and a bit from the level of the western plain. The notch being cut below it on the north side was currently about five hundred meters lower. The fleet engineers had no idea at what difference in height they would switch over and the artificial pass was widened generously as it was lowered. There were no steps in the slopped side walls to give a clue. The engineers estimated that if the number of diggers remained the same as what they saw now, they had been digging the channel for four or five thousand years. It might continue another ten or twelve thousand years before it was level with the plain. The crew was large, much of the labor done by hand and the excavating equipment small for such an undertaking from a human viewpoint. The excavated dirt wasn't taken down to the plains level but instead north or south and dumped at the head of long valleys cutting into the mountains,

  The gap in the mountains was already so large it had a fan of vegetation on the lee side where the rainfall was greater due to the air channeling through the notch. At times the winds must be impressive through the gap. The entire west side of the range was covered in dams, as the art work they'd studied had suggested was important to them. They appeared to be for water conservation and agriculture, there were no power distribution lines associated with them.

  Apparently opening a level road was more important to the natives than the climate change cutting a full break in the range would create. If they hadn't known what it would do when they started digging they had to know by now, because the fan of greenery on the east side of the gap now was obvious even from orbit. The road continued on past the mountains, straight to the far sea and a port, but without the build-up of civilization along it, and secondary roads radiating off north and south that the west side of the continental road had.

  The bigger continent had a similar road, but it was easy to see it didn't have any barriers to compare to the small continent. Nevertheless it cut straight through any hill or valley. They were cut or filled in with a stubborn single mindedness. The surface was still brick, no large slabs or seamless surfaces.

  Both large cities showed lights at night, but nothing on the scale an Earth city would. There were electronic emissions that indicated they used electric motors. The sole city on the equatorial island showed some lights at night too, but less than the two grand cities. The rural areas were near as dark at night as wilderness. If the natives ventured forth at night it was without the help of traffic signals or street lighting. Though they did spot a very few vehicles at night using electric headlamps.

  There didn't appear to be any satellites emitting navigational signals, but there were radio beacons in the few active harbors and the two big cities had airfields that appeared to light up for a specific aircraft coming in, not all night. They counted the airfields and large aircraft parked at them and concluded there were only about two hundred airplanes on the world. If any were for passenger use and not freight they didn't have the custom of windows. None appeared to be transonic. They used very efficient scimitar curved propellers allowing them to push the Mach number.

  There were a few dozen very small aircraft that might carry six or eight passengers. All apparently of the exact same design. Most of them were parked near the two big cities and they only saw two at distant fields. One however was in a very rural area, without even farmed fields, beside a large building they suspected was a palace. There were about three dozen such elaborate buildings, most again near the cities.

  The aliens must have launch facilities, but they saw nothing indicating any real permanent infrastructure dedicated to regular launches. They looked hard, especially around the areas having aircraft facilities, but nothing resembling the sort of empty launch pads or gantries the expected was visible. The tech level of the satellites looked like about what Humans had not long after the First Atomic War, but they showed the survey people historic photos of launch sites from that era and nothing seemed to match. Maybe they assembled them and took them down after each use? If there weren't any obvious satellite lifters to be seen at least there weren't any possible interceptor sites to worry about either.

  A primary function of the large cities seemed to be to facilitate the shipment and storage of grain. They were serviced by roads, they apparently never invented the railroad. The few Human farmers assured them the row on row of cylindrical buildings could be nothing other than grain silos. There were regional storage facilities too, but nothing like the two big cities.

  The city on the main continent was different in another way. There were apartments, large residential buildings in the main city and one smaller facility of apartment buildings in the second largest city and in the island city. In the smaller city of the three it was almost all small residences and one palace, though many homes were of a size and sprawled construction that suggested extended, multigenerational family groups.

  The fleet had a small group of trained ground troops aboard the Murphy's Law although they all held other daily duty posts. The troops could be quickly assembled and deployed as a group if they were needed. Their direct commander was a Fargoer Marine, Canny McDonald, and he was in the command circuit examining the incoming surveillance data.

  "Barracks," he informed them in conference, after barely glancing at the photo.

  "Why so sure, so quickly?" Gordon wondered.

  "Because you have a unique structure here that tells me who occupies those apartments," he said, tapping the offending structure a kilometer away from the big buildings with his finger. There was a road directly from one to the other. "That's a shooting range and that small mound here is an ammo dump. What I'm missing is they don't seem to have any kind of air defense sites around what is a sort of military base. Although it lacks a well defined perimeter too. Which is odd."

  "They have no opposing governments to attack them," Lee concluded. "I'd say they have been in power so long they are comfortable keeping a minimal force to guard against rebellion. Any trouble they expect would be small and local and not well equipped."

  "You may be right," McDonald said very tentatively. "Would you do a computer search and see how many structures similar to the barracks and firing range you find on the settled parts of the planet?" The computer scanned their entire mapped area and came up with three. One by each big city and on the island.

  "This tells me a great deal about them too," McDonald said after some thought. "They have a line of target pits at about fifty and hundred meters. There is a small group here, four pits, at two hundred meters. They either have crappy equipment, or can't shoot for shit. My boys start training at two hundred meters and the snipers are expected to qualify at a kilometer. The good ones, the artists, can shoot up or down hill, in a cross breeze and rain or shine, snow or heat at half again that distance. I'm really looking forward to seeing how these guys are kitted out."

  He stopped and thought a bit. He seemed to be slow to throw out his first thoughts without reviewing them. "I don't want to give you the wrong impression. That doesn't mean we are invincible. We can put a squad of about twenty expert marksmen on the ground, maybe another thirty who know how to shoot competently, but not experts. Surround them with ten thousand guys with bows and arrows, slings and spears and they'd still overrun our asses and kill us all if we have no line of retreat. Keep that in mind. We can't fight a whole world for you. Not at the ground level you need to take it and hold it. Our very few heavier weapons wouldn't matter. We just don't have enough of them. Of course you can drop three nukes and this world is conquered," he admitted. "But do that and I can assure you one of your own will stick a pistol in your ear and change the line of command. None of us would sanction genocide. Destroy that grain distribution system in the cities and I'd guarantee much of the countryside would starve the in next year too," he said cheerfully.

  * * *

  Gordon, consulting with his officers, decided to make a minimal video as soon as their survey was done and the warships could assume a higher orbit. I
t would have as little attempted speech as possible. There weren't many words they were confident they understood. There, because of three instances it was used with pointing. A word that meant a group of some sort, but with no certainty it applied to any set number or gender or class. They were pretty sure they knew the numbers one through twelve, but not zero or more than twelve. They knew the name of a fruit that grew on a low bush and the irksome word Teen, which might mean God, or be a title of nobility, or just an expression of allegiance, completely abstract and not attached to any person or group smaller than the nation. They were pretty sure it was one big worldwide nation and single political or philosophical party or church. The few who favored a religion were bothered there didn't appear any building for assembly in any of the towns. What sort of church didn't hold meetings? Or at least conduct sacrifices atop big pyramids. But there were no theaters, sports stadiums or playing fields either.

  "Something is bothering me," Thor announced the morning they intended to shoot their greeting video.

  "The whole place is creeping me out," Lee admitted. "What did you notice now?"

  "There aren't any cattle. They must be vegetarians, or only raise something small like rabbits or chickens. Our photos have good enough resolution I think we'd have seen anything as big as a pig. You certainly couldn't hide cattle or horses. There are no pastures or feedlots. Have the computer scan, with particular attention to the wild area left like the far east side of the smaller continent. See if there are any wild animals left in the undeveloped areas."

  "Vegetarians suggests they choose to eat the grain we see them raise as their principal food. They may actually be obligate herbivores," Gordon theorized.

  "Maybe. Not a single sentient race we've found has been though," Lee reminded them.

  The scan showed deer sized animals, that kept to the wooded areas, never in the open plains and on the far coast some sort of analog to a seal or walrus. In the civilized area there was nothing. Not even in what appeared to be managed wood lots. Every meter was groomed and managed and allotted down to the smallest area. There wasn't any place left for what you'd class as wild. Gordon wondered if they even had weeds, or had managed to eradicate them too. He didn't think he'd like that sort of world.

  Their mapping complete, the warships abandoned the lower orbit and positioned themselves near the geostationary satellite the natives had directly over the big city. Gordon kept thinking in terms of capital and firmly reminded himself that was an unfounded assumption. The Sharp Claws and Retribution were now at the same level as the DSE's, some ten degrees between them in orbit. Everyone felt safer higher. Even though they hadn't seen a rocket lift from the world. The few satellites showed they had the tech.

  * * *

  Lee was dressed casually for the video, as she usually liked. Sturdy pants, a soft loose top and a vest with pockets over it all. Full face spex, but at full transparency so her face wasn't hidden. She had on a holster with a hypervelocity pistol and magazine carriers, as well as the fancy dagger Gordon gave her. She still liked the lighter six millimeter size and she wore her favorite gold Byzantine necklace from Earth of gold and platinum. She wore her voyage rings and the prominent front earring with an emerald that declared she was a discoverer of a living world. Like most she wore a small pad computer on her belt without any thought to its being there. She wore the black band of the Little Fleet around her left wrist, tied in a fancy knot like gift wrapping.

  Gordon wore his fur and a Sam Brown belt with proportionally large pistol holstered on the supported side. He wore a fancy engraved bronze ax on the other side tucked in the belt without holster. His hand computer was clipped on his belt and he had a black silk ascot knotted around his neck. His voyage rigs were prominent, the front ring showing both a blue and a green stone, declaring he was a discoverer of both a water world and a living world. Not many wore any stones, much less two.

  Ha-bob-bob-brie wore a gold wire necklace with his voyage rings slung on it. He adapted the traditional weapon of his race, a sword similar to a Japanese Katana, but about half again as long both in blade and handle. It was also straighter, having almost no curve. It was carried on the back, so the only thing seen from the front view was the grip sticking up over his shoulder. He also wore spex, clear and incongruous on his avian face and a tiny purse slung cross-wise from one shoulder. He had a black ribbon worn around his wrist with a small bow to mark his membership in the Little Fleet.

  Thor joined them, wearing fur and nothing else but a black wrist band, so there were two Derf. Just to make sure Lee wasn't thought full sized, Alex Hillerman from their power plant and engineering crew joined them. He was dressed in a practical jump suit, with spex and no weapon. He had the usual computer and many visible pockets and a black brassard on his arm. He was very dark black skinned and he kept his head shaved. Gordon wondered if he might not be mistaken for a different race than Lee, but didn't want a mob in front of the camera. Humans varied so much even a third sample might not represent their species sufficiently.

  They transmitted a picture of them all together on the flight bridge of the High Hopes, but relayed to the Retribution for actual broadcast. The engineering department requested they shoot the video looking toward the back of the chamber, so that the details of all the boards were not revealed. Each of them pointed at themselves and stated their name. Then they each named themselves again and Gordon and Thor identified themselves as Derf. Lee and Alex named themselves as Human and Ha-bob-bob-brie identified himself as Hinth. They all inclusively identified themselves as people. They waited to see if the natives would respond. There was silence and no response for fifteen minutes.

  "What do they have you doing on your work shifts if there is no planet worth exploring the surface?" Lee asked Ha-bob-bob-brie. "I hope you aren't bored and unhappy."

  "I have been doing maintenance and repair on both Derf and Human pressure suits and environmental suits, little sister. Since I had experience with Hinth suits I had a base knowledge to build on and it has been beneficial for all. I've both learned a great deal and been able to offer an occasional better way to do things. It hasn't been boring at all. If it ever does get boring or so caught up nothing is needed Engineering has indicated they would be pleased to offer me a course on instrument fabrication and repair. They indicate it requires a delicacy of touch I was surprised to hear not all Humans possess." Ha-bob-bob-brie held up a hand and looked at it like it was something new.

  "There is a huge variation in that sort of talent among Humans," Lee admitted. "I'm glad to hear you are busy. Sitting idle is harder than having too much to do, in my opinion."

  "Very much so," Ha-bob-bob-brie agreed, "no danger of that here." He bobbed a little bow and excused himself.

  Lee dipped her head to grant him leave. She was happy he'd called her 'little sister' with such warmth and so naturally. It reminded her how pleased she was to be 'known' to the Hinth. The honor had been granted her before she realized how rarely it was given.

  * * *

  There were two crewmembers with some talent with languages and working full time on interpreting the transmissions of the planet. They let them take over the screen and attempt to get words they wondered about defined. They drew animated outlined figures and identified body parts, had them do simple actions hoping the natives would see what they were doing and respond. They ignored them as much as the video of the crew.

  "How about if we just move on and tell them in effect to kiss our hairy little butts?" Thor suggested the next morning when there had still been no response overnight.

  "Maybe they don't believe the transmission?" Lee speculated. "Maybe they think it is an elaborate joke or a scam? Do they have sufficient image editing capacity to do a special effects short like a science fiction video with made up races and a fake background as complex as our flight deck?"

  "We haven't seen any ability to generate images," Luke, a fellow studying their transmissions responded. "They don't do avatars, not even simple sti
ck figures, they don't even do fades or titles with fancy text in 3D shapes. No arrows or highlighting or circling a choice with a line. My eight year old niece would be bored with the plain vanilla video they pump out."

  "I don't think they have computers!" Lee blurted out. "At least, not any decent ones..."

  "They are probably wondering how we draw stuff directly on the screen. They'd have to draw it in front of the camera on a white board, or a paper pad," Luke said. "We just take it for granted."

  "Whatever they can put in front of the camera lens, that's it?" Lee asked horrified.

  "Maybe put some of the words we see captioned on the screen and see if they offer any drawing to try to explain it? If they don't want to go the other way, with us drawing, time to change something," Luke suggested. "If it's as authoritarian as Ming thinks they may still be waiting for permission to speak to us. We may get a big rush of replies all at once when they get a go-ahead."

  "As long as they're not shooting at us, keep sending things, give them another day or two, let us know if you make any break through. If they don't respond we'll be thinking on what to do in a couple days. If they refuse to talk, well it's their planet. They don't have to answer the door," Gordon said.

  * * *

  "They are answering, very tentatively and limited," Luke said a few hours later.

  "We're making some progress," Luke reported two days later on. He looked haggard.

  "They started talking?" Gordon asked.

  "One word at a time. But on three channels. It's slow. You know 'Teen'?

  "Oh sure, that's the big one, so we have to get it right."