He sat back, then remembered Alan, who was slumped in his seat nearby, writing something on his pad.
“Any thoughts Alan?”
“No, not really. That was close but brilliant.”
“Wasn’t it just. Exhilarating by any standards. What are you writing?”
“Oh, nothing important, just a record for myself.”
“Fine,” Frank said. Then carried on with his own work. Adjusting his televiewer to focus on the planet below, knowing that other departments, more equipped for the job than him, were doing the same. The view from the televiewer swelled on his screen.
“Search for the alien wreck,” he ordered.
Immediately, the scene swung quickly to the left, then stopped above a crater, in which remains of an alien craft rested. The crater was some 10 kilometres wide and was strewn with glittering fragments of the ship.
Smoke, from a larger piece of wreckage, drifted upwards, mingling with the fog that remained from the bombardment two days earlier, by Arans fleet of Crillon ships.
He zoomed his screen in on the largest part, but it wasn’t clear. Then, debris in the planet’s atmosphere obstructed his view so much that he finally gave up looking.
Then, opening the memo section of his tactical pad, he made notes for the forthcoming meeting.
The meeting began with all the department heads arriving well on time. Frank started by asking Susanna a question.
“Do you think the alien ship managed to transmit a call for help? Andromeda hasn't registered anything.”
“I don't think so. We came upon the ship fast so the turmoil created by our intertwined force fields would have disrupted any communications. At least, it should have.”
“That makes sense. Ned, what have you got for me?”
“Well, if we were close enough. We would know when a warp-entry took place because the power needed to initiate warp sends a ripple through the space-time fabric. Like the waves produced when throwing a stone into a pond.
We can't yet identify a warp-exit, but we haven’t detected an entry pulse for a buoy.
However, from the initial sensor analysis. We believe that the vast section of the alien’s ship on the planet’s surface is quite likely to be their warp-drive. Or, at least part of it,” Ned paused. “Both Mark and I would like to inspect it physically, to confirm this.”
“OK. Andromeda will prepare two of our Force craft for you, and you can take up to four people each, plus two marines to each craft, for security,” Frank replied.
“How long will you be able to give us on the surface Frank?” Mark asked.
“Andromeda and I both think two days will be OK, but the atmospheric contamination is dangerous, so you'll have to use the force-suits.”
“Ok, no problem.”
“Tim, Is Astro getting enough help with collecting all the data?”
“Yes, Frank. We've already confirmed it to be the only planet in this system. Observation also confirms that it's orbiting a K2-V class type star, and there's a single large asteroid belt between the planet and that star. The chromospheric-atmosphere is highly active. There's a dense magnetic field, and the planet has half the rotation time of Earth.
Frankly, I would be surprised if life sprung up here at all. So why these aliens were out to destroy it, is beyond me.”
“I agree with you, but maybe it was terraformed by another race.”
“So, if these aliens are this close to Earth, why haven’t they invaded Earth?” Alan asked.
“Earth didn't have interstellar capabilities until thirteen years ago,” Andromeda replied. “But now, with it, we could be perceived as a threat.”
“Susanna, Brian, how are you doing with your side of things?” Frank asked.
“We’re working closely together,” Brian answered. “We've decrypted a massive amount of data from the SD1 and SD2 stealth drones, even though the recordings are fragmented. But I'll let Susanna fill you in on a couple of interesting things her people have come up with.”
“OK,” Frank said. Watching Susanna’s shapely figure sway, as she moved in her chair trying to get more comfortable. I'm going to marry you one day, he thought to himself.
“All the data is being uploaded to Andromeda as we speak,” Susanna said.
“We've found out that the alien ship was from something called the Crillon Empire. We also know the ship’s ID, was of a Commander Axon. Maybe, these Crillons call their ship heads, commanders, instead of Captains, as we do? Also, it seems that he had been ordered to stay behind for two days, before re-joining the other five ships heading to, Sector Two. Presumably to help look for us.”
“However, we don't know why Axon's ship was ordered to stay behind,” put in Brian.
“Which throws up another anomaly,” Susanna continued. “It was just about to leave when we plunged into it.
But it was only two days ago, that the Crillons first heard about us,” she paused again. Took a sip of water, then continued.
“Yet, it must be nine days ago, when we were beside the 'Hawk,' and first engaged an alien ship. So, now we have more information, we know that must also have been a Crillon ship.”
“The time difference could be because we were travelling out, along the expanding Galactic Plain,” said Andromeda. “But then, we returned going along the Galactic plane, towards the centre of our Galaxy. So, maybe this is time-related. I'll consider it further.”
“Could there be more of a time-shift than we thought?” Alan asked.
“It's possible,” replied Andromeda.
Frank looked around the table. “OK. Ned and Mark make it two days’ maximum on the surface. Unless something unexpected happens.
We'll have another meeting before the Tau Ceti jump. That's all, thanks, everyone.”
Chapter 16.
Vital Information.
Their two Force craft went down to the planet's surface carrying the survey teams and security marines. Three stealth drones also began to sweep, searching for any sign of life and, at the same time, mapping the terrain for future use.
Three hours later FC1 landed next to the largest surviving piece of the alien ship.
FC1 was carrying Mark Trask, Ned Parker and his team-mate Bill from quantum, Plus Brian Walters from encryption, and the two marines.
The other Force craft, FC2, Carried four of Geo department’s team and their two marines. They headed for an unusual looking, somewhat man-made structure, that was on the side of the crater some thirty kilometres further out.
Meanwhile, the team from FC1 stood on their individual field-generator platforms, their force-suits active and the platforms hovering about ten centimetres off the ground. Then headed for the object, about thirty metres away.
The alien ship's copper-colored section showed some dark and deep looking jagged grooves, and was pitted and dented all over, but still looked pretty impregnable.
Mark ordered the two marines to fire their high-powered blast rifles at an area on the side of the ship’s hull. This glowed white for a moment, then returned to its original color.
“Damn!” Mark said as he manoeuvred his suit to the place. He reduced the suit's field strength around his hand, and touched the surface through his suit’s force wall, then said. “Still cold.”
“Ned, this could be a door,” Bill, the other scientist, suggested. Noticing what seemed to be an outline, on the surface, giving the impression of a rectangle.
Moving over to have a look, Ned replied. “If it is then it can't be the warp generator. But, you're right, we almost missed that. It is a door, with what appears to be a small control panel next to it.”
Then after studying the faint symbols on the door’s panel, he turned around and said.
“Brian, we need your encryption magic here. There are symbols that I don’t understand.”
Within a moment, Brian was by his side.
Moving forward, Brian said. “Let’s have a close look. Well, we certainly need more computer power to identify these s
ymbols.”
He ordered the force-suit to photograph the panel and send the image to Susanna. There was a faint sound, as the platform's comms system sent the photo, followed by a “Sent” voice confirmation.
The panel had a star symbol at the top, three different moon-phase shapes across the middle, and four dots in a row at the bottom.
“It’s an entry security pad, for sure,” Brian said. Then, “Suit. Open a video link to Susanna now.”
Ten seconds later Susanna's face appeared to hover just in front of him on the suit's force wall.
“Hello Brian,” came Susanna's soft voice. “Have you missed me then?”
“In your dreams, Babe. We can’t work it out, so what do you make of the panel?”
“You need more lessons,” she said jokingly. “Well, it's definitely a security keypad. The star would be like an entry symbol. What we need now, is the operating sequence.”
“Exactly what I would have said.”
“I'm running a probability analysis now. Give me three minutes, and I'll get back to you.”
Three minutes to the second, Brian's suit beeped as Susanna's face reappeared again on his force suit’s screen.
“OK. We have an operational sequence for you to use on the keypad, which will, hopefully, open the door. I'm downloading it now to your suit's computer.”
There was another sound from the suit's platform then, “Data download is complete. Do you want me to display the data for you?”
“Of course,” Brian grunted and the data immediately showed up in his force suit’s screen. He studied it, with Bill looking over his shoulder.
“Wow, that’s a weird conclusion.”
“What do you think Brian?” Susanna asked.
“Interesting. I guess we'll have to try,” he said. Keeping his eyes on the alien’s keypad, while reducing his suit's force field density enough to allow his fingers to feel the symbols through his suit’s force wall.
“H'm.” His finger paused a centimetre from the symbols. “Susanna, I would have thought the middle moon symbol should be first?”
“But that would mean the third symbol on the bottom row has no purpose,” came the reply.
“OK, but what about the moon on the right? It isn't mentioned.”
“Agreed, but we think this is a deliberate omission. Try the sequence.”
“Oh yes, I see what you mean. Here goes. Force Suit, do not allow my force-suit to touch the ground,” he ordered.
“Confirmed, sir.”
Brian started the sequence, speaking out loud as he did so.
“Bottom 1, left Dot. Then, Left. Moon. Star. Then, Bottom 4, right Dot. Middle Moon. Star. Then, Bottom 2 left Dot. And Bottom 3, left Dot. Left Moon. Then finally, Star,” he finished.
Nothing happened. “Just our luck, nothing’s ever straightforward,” Mark grunted.
“Maybe it needs power, to open the door,” Ned suggested.
Then, suddenly, the door started to open, sliding jerkily, causing them all a nervous shiver.
Meanwhile, Tom and Peter from Geo, together with their two Marines, were all on board the FC2, and hovering over a crater some forty kilometres in diameter. Then, after photographing and taking soil samples, they headed towards the site of the alien wreck.
They stopped again to hover over the next crater, once more taking photos and soil samples. Then moved on and landed near the strange looking structure on the side of the third one.
The four men exited FC2, and, standing on their field-generator platforms, tilted their heads slightly in the direction they wanted to go. Ordered the suit to ‘go,’ and headed out to the alien looking structure.
On reaching the structure, they moved slowly around photographing the outside, without saying a word. With the two marines holding their weapons at the ready.
The structure appeared to be like half of a dwelling, with what may have been windows and doors, but which were now just melted openings.
It seemed to be the only object on the planet to have survived the alien bombardment. Nothing else was recognisable.
The two Geo's and one of the marines then guided their force-suits into the building, being careful, not to touch anything.
“Tom, Look here,” Peter said. Pointing his sensors at what could have been a small part of human-like skeletal remains.
“My sensors indicate that these remains seem to have been here for only three to four planet-days.”
“Yes,” Tom agreed, having looked carefully at the remains.
“Suit, contact cryogenics lab now.”
After a slight pause, he heard. “Pickering here sir.”
“Prepare a stasis chamber, fast. We've got something to preserve,” Tom ordered.
“It'll be ready, sir.”
“Good.”
Then Peter called Tom. “See if your suit can pick up these remains and put them into the platform's specimen box.”
“OK.”
Peter moved his suit out of the way, as Tom manoeuvred his suit just above the object.
“Suit. Secure the specimen I'm looking at and put it into the box, now.”
“Yes, sir.”
At once, the suit's force field extended to include the remains. A few clicks and hisses and the remains were safely in the box. “The object is secured,” confirmed the suit.
Meanwhile, the crew of FC1 prepared to enter the remains of the alien wreck.
As the door slid open, air rushed out, pushing Brian's force-suit back like a dandelion’s seed head moving in the breeze.
Before he could recover, the two Marines in their force-suits moved swiftly to the opening, weapon muzzles protruding through their force fields.
After a moment, all six men gathered around the open door and peered in as a fogginess, caused by air pressure equalisation, slowly cleared.
“I reckon, it must have over-pressurized when it hit the ground,” Brian speculated.
Five of the men then drifted through the open door, leaving one marine on guard outside.
Once inside, they could see that it wasn't part of the alien ship's warp-generator. Nor a control room. But what appeared to be a self-contained metallic survival pod, probably for the Commander.
Like having a lifeboat, solely for his use. Designed to protect him, in the case of a disaster in space. But it hadn’t been able to save him as he crashed on the planet.
The spherical ‘pod’ was kitted out with very few items: A sophisticated comms board. A computer screen, together with what, although very different in style, appeared to be a bed.
An alien was lying on the bed, at first glance, he seemed to be quite humanoid. His eyes were almond shaped, with pupils black as night and staring blankly. His mouth was open, and there was congealed red blood on his chin and neck that had trickled down from his mouth and ears.
He looked quite tall, with dark skin. His bald head had high bone-like ridges and ears similar to human ears.
The alien, evidently the Commander of the ship, was dressed in a grey uniform with red epaulettes and decorations like medals.
He could never have expected another spaceship to plunge into his.
“Brian, what can we do now?” Mark asked.
“Talk to Frank,” he looked around at the others. “Mark, photograph everything. Bill, holograph the same, and make sure we take 3D records in case we have to leave all the other evidence here,” he paused.
“Suit. Video link to Captain Richardson. Now.”
“Connecting sir,” came the suit's voice.
Brian waited patiently for what seemed a long time. But he knew that the video link would have to be sent, from the force-suit to the Force craft, then to be relayed to the ship and vice-versa.
Frank's face finally appeared on the inner surface of Brian's force-suit.
“Hi Brian, we've got a lot of data through the uplinks, but what are you thinking?”
“I know there's probably not much of interest here about weapons, for Mark. The same with Ned's
quantum engineering department.
But, we’re interested in the alien’s body. So, if we can get this computer running, Susanna and I may be able to get a lot more information on it.
“But, you’d need their programs and file structure algorithm, which we don’t have.”
“True. But we were thinking of copying everything in its start-up menu. Then turn it off, tweak it, and start again in full copy-mode. Then send it to my memory core,” Brian replied.
“It may be worth a shot,” Frank agreed. “I assume you realize that it could self-destruct without a password or something?”
“I've thought of that, but I think it's worth the risk.”
“OK. So, you want to bring the whole alien pod up to the Andromeda?”
“If it's possible, yes.”
“What's its diameter?”
“About ten metres.”
“Give me a moment Brian,” Frank's image disappeared for fifty seconds, then came back.
“Andromeda and I both agree that we should try to bring it aboard. We're making space for it now. The planet’s mass is only about three-quarters of Earth's so that will reduce the energy needed.
We're sending another FC down to you. So, along with FC1 and 2, you should get enough lift, with all three in a triangular configuration.”
“Great. Thanks.”
Chapter 17.
The Next Step.
Within twenty minutes, the third FC landed close to FC1. Ten minutes later FC2 joined them after finding nothing more of interest at their site.
Then the survival pod’s door was closed, and Mark and Ned entered FC3, collapsed their personal force-suits, and placed the platform discs into their racks.
All three FCs now had equal weight, so they tethered themselves together with the pod. Forming a triangular configuration, with the survival pod suspended in the centre.
The Definitive SpaceFed Trilogy (SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy).: A thrilling, action-packed Sci-fi space adventure. (SpaceFed StarShips Series Book 8) Page 10
