Six Bits

by Laurence Dahners

  Well, there was nothing to do except wait for the human to move and thus show its head-hand.

  BRIDGE—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—5.2 AU FROM SOL

  0850 EST

  Feeling refreshed from his little nap, Leis said, "Well Mr. Swayze, what have you got for me?"

  "Sir, Lieutenant Snellen has developed 2-D visual images and audio signals from P3. There don't seem to be any 3-D transmissions, though not all signal types have been successfully analyzed as yet. Sir, the visuals show humaniforms! The chest cavities are quite large as you might expect for a world with such a thin atmosphere. From the appearance of the images, the DNA-based life on this world has evolved familiar appearing species that fill similar ecological niches to those back in our home worlds. Many species were probably dropped off by earlier DNA star travelers. The medic says, however, that the humaniforms and some primates appear to be so similar to us that he would bet that P3 was colonized 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, just before the collapse.”

  "P3?"

  "Yes sir. According to orbital analysis there’s a small planet, P1, hidden behind the sun, so we've shifted all the P numbers up accordingly."

  Swayze glanced back at the holo, "P3 is the only one from which we've detected any evidence of technology and that includes its large moon. P3 has an abundance of artificial satellites, many of which seem to be used for communications. Very few of the satellites, however, are large enough that they are likely to be occupied. It seems almost certain that they haven’t rediscovered Vinzearian physics or shift technology. The satellites were probably launched with old-style rocket technology.”

  Swayze gestured at the blown up image of P3 in the back corner of the main holo. "P3 has a lot of water and several major landmasses. It seems to have a large number of different languages.

  “A disproportionate amount of 2-D with accompanying audio comes from this landmass—he lit it up—that they call ‘North America.’ Because a large part of the 2-D from there is for entertainment, it’s been relatively easy for the 'puters to analyze the language they speak there, called English. The computer’s translation algorithm is already up to 5,000 words.

  “P3 doesn’t appear to have established a planet-wide government. Instead we believe there are at least 20 and perhaps several hundred separate governments. The government of the North American landmass appears to be a democracy and, judging from the amount of criticism leveled at it by the press, not very repressive.” He glanced uncomfortably at Leis, “Um, we've picked up one 2-D image of what appeared to be a nuclear explosion."

  Leis gave him a grim look, but only said, “Go ahead.”

  "The system is incredibly rich. Both P2 and P4 could probably be made livable. Except for its thin atmosphere, P3 is almost perfect. The belt of asteroids is likely heavy in metals and a huge bonus is P3's satellite." Ticking on his fingers, "It's already bordering the temperate zone, it’s close to a livable planet and it’s very large for a moon."

  "Well, Mr. Swayze, what are your recommendations?"

  Swayze was expecting this question. The captain considered it an important part of officers’ training to demand decision recommendations from his staff before issuing his own commands. Woe be upon the officer who made a recommendation which the captain considered to be reckless or ill considered. However, not having a recommendation was considered to be almost as bad. "Sir, as the krane are actively surveying this region, it's only a matter of time before they find this fertile system. As in the Saltan incident they are not likely to view the destruction of humaniforms not affiliated with the Federation as a violation of the current treaty and in fact would probably rapidly proceed with sterilization of P3 so that they could begin repopulating with LSA life-forms."

  Mention of the Saltan homeworld produced leaden stomachs all over the bridge. Most of the crew had lived through Exceltor’s inability to prevent the deaths of millions of sentients during the kranes’ sterilization of that planet.

  At least we arrived here in plenty of time, Leis thought.

  Swayze continued, "I would recommend making a command decision that the Federation will wish to protect these people and that in order to do so it will need to enter into a treaty with them. The most rapid way to accomplish this goal would be for us to establish contact with one of the governments on P3, and then immediately return to Avajan with a small group of their diplomats. Fleet could then dispatch a group to provide protection to P3 during the negotiations."

  "Agreed," Leis said.

  Swayze glanced at his screens, "Sir, the accumulators have stored enough energy for a shift to P3 with a backup shift of 7 light months. I recommend that we use a shift I’ve had positioned behind that big moon. We’d shift in at a velocity which will bring us almost immediately out of the moon’s shadow in a high speed flyby cometary orbit. During the flyby we should use passive sensors to more closely inspect and evaluate P3. At some point during that orbit we can open a small port to the surface in order to make contact and pick up a diplomat. That orbit will also give us time to complete charging the accumulators for a shift to Avajan. If we need to shift unseen so as not to frighten the general populace, we can just wait until we arrive back behind their moon before departing."

  Leis gave him a warm smile, "Excellent, Mr. Swayze. Prepare your plan for execution, proceed when ready." He turned towards the communications team, "Lieutenant Snellen. Have you located the head of government of this North America?"

  Like finding the proverbial grain of sand, she thought to herself. "Sir, there seem to be several countries in North America, but the most populous is known as the United States and the head of its government is usually located in one building. The 'puter is currently trying to pinpoint its location."

  BRIDGE—KRANE FLAGSHIP—LIGHT CARRIER XAJION—EARTH ORBIT

  0855 EST

  Kinjie spun his saddle-seat and raised his heads to examine the intruder on his bridge. Diplomats! He thought with fury. He couldn't understand why the empire had seen fit to load him with such unwanted baggage. Even worse to give this degenerate titular control of a simple military mission to sterilize a DNA planet. Just because there were a few DNA humaniforms on it, the empire sends a diplomat "in case of political problems.” Now, even worse, merely twelve hours into the actual mission, Federation humans had arrived to provide a situation that could be construed as a diplomatic problem.

  Quell's cilia were writhing above his fully extended heads and a scritching sound came from under him where his footclaws kneaded the steel deckplates. "Why wasn't I informed of the human ship's arrival?"

  "I was waiting to collect more information"

  "And now that you have?"

  "The human ship arrived two hours and 15 minutes ago. We picked up the arrival one hour and 45 minutes ago because it arrived at a point 30 light minutes from the nearest flickership. No further human ships have arrived and it has not moved. Thus it’s probably alone and currently carrying out analysis."

  "And why didn’t you attack it at once?"

  "Because, I felt it wise to wait to determine whether it was accompanied and whether it would proceed directly to P3 suggesting previous knowledge of these humaniforms.” Kinjie continued frostily, “I might point out that either of these two possibilities could have presented you with considerable diplomatic difficulty."

  Quell regarded him but did not appear chastened. "Yes, well, what if this human ship immediately shifts back to Federation space with its findings?"

  Kinjie stared at the diplomat for a moment, then decided to bury him in analysis. "Analysis of its shift-flash has been carried out by a flickership which was situated farther from its arrival site and had time to align a telescope on the arrival site prior to arrival of the light wave-front. Its shift-ring diameter of about seven meters suggests a human cruiser. Spectral analysis indicates it’s using General Superconductor Products’ shift-rings. Those rings are usually associated with high quality construction at the shipyards at Lissholm or Taynome. Shift-ri
ng reflection analysis of the cruiser body itself leads us to believe it is probably the Humaniform Federation cruiser Exceltor. Flash brilliance indicates it just made a ‘zeroing in jump from about 0.1 light years out. Assuming a Federation warship’s usual one percent jump error, the original jump was ten light years. We know the humans’ accumulator charge rates are poor. Their storage rates only give them about 60,000 additional discharge megawatts every hour, and their capacities are relatively low. So, unless it sat out there at 0.1 lights and fully recharged its accumulators, it won't have enough charge on board for a ten light year return shift for at least 8 more hours."

  Kinjie thought Quell had had a hard time following his explanation, but the diplomat didn’t admit it. Instead, he said, "What’s your plan then?"

  Kinjie decided to keep telling the diplomat more than he probably wanted to know or could comprehend. “Unfortunately our surveillance records indicate that Exceltor is recently under the command of a Captain Leis. He has a well-founded reputation for causing us trouble completely out of proportion to his resources. This has however, resulted in excessively rapid promotion and he is relatively new to the command of cruisers. In addition, he cannot know we’re here in this system since we hadn’t had any shift activity for the hour before his arrival, and he arrived less than one light hour from our farthest position. I see this as a prime opportunity to rid ourselves of an annoying commander, a Federation cruiser, and an entire world full of humaniforms in one simple operation."

  Quell’s head-hands paused their motions and his footclaws stopped grating on the deck. Kinjie thought the sudden immobility was likely due to hidden excitement over the possibility of such a coup. Kinjie continued, "I expect that Leis’ plan will be to move to P3 orbit and try to make diplomatic contact with the retrogressed humaniforms there. As we’re already in orbit about P3 we should have the advantage of surprise and we will be able to destroy him without difficulty."

  "But you have only the one ship in P3 orbit! The others are at P2 and 4! If he’s lucky he might destroy us!"

  "He has a cruiser! Xajion is a light carrier! We have the advantage of surprise!” Kinjie gave Quell a disparaging look, “We’ll destroy him, don’t worry. In any event, as soon as we see his incoming shift-flash, we’ll message the two destroyers and they’ll immediately shift here as well, then it’ll be three on one."

  Quell's cilia relaxed. Grudging respect for the well-known Commander Kinjie won over his anger. His heads dropped a little from their fully extended positions. "What if he does nothing but wait to shift back to Federation territory?"

  "If he does nothing for the next six hours we’ll shift to his location and destroy him there."

  "Why not do that now?"

  "Because,” Kinjie said with a contemptuous wave of his left head-hand, “we’re at least fifteen minutes behind on his activities. If he had a high velocity on transfer, or if he made a shift during the last fifteen minutes, we could arrive to find nothing and lose the advantage of surprise.” He stared Quell down, “Warfare is my business. Surprise is the most powerful weapon we have in shift warfare. If you know where your enemy is going, and even better are waiting there for him, you have gripped him by his reproductive organs."

  Quell said nothing for about twenty seconds, then, "Very well, I’ll wait with you."

  Excretions! Kinjie thought. "I’ll tolerate your interference and follow your recommendations until battle is joined. Once a fight begins, I’ll be in command and I’ll brook no interference."

  After a moment, Quell grudgingly said, "Agreed."

  BRIDGE—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—5.2 AU FROM SOL

  0900 EST

  "Captain. We’re ready to execute."

  "Thank you Mr. Swayze."

  Leis contemplated his words for a moment so as to sound more assured and “in command,” then murmured, "‘Puter, all hands… All hands, we’re shifting to a location behind P3's moon. The humaniform population there will be eclipsed and won’t see our shift-flash. They don’t appear to have Vinzearian physics and so no form of shift technology. Nonetheless they do have other forms of sophisticated technology including nuclear weapons. I'll advise you all to remember the Latus incident ... a lack of shift technology does not make them ignorant savages and the fact that they are DNA humaniforms does not necessarily make them friendly. They could be dangerous and I don't want them to know we’re here. We will run quiet and alert."

  "Lieutenant Snellen, immediately upon arrival in P3 orbit, you and Gunner Nedcam will locate this White House and their president, then set up to transfer a party of three to that location."

  Snellen nodded.

  "Engineer Smide, are all antennas stowed and the ship’s exterior clean for shift?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Good, you will initiate a fast reload of another shift-ring after we arrive. If needed, I want to be able to shift away from P3 immediately…” he gave a grim chuckle, “or sooner."

  Leis turned, "Mr. Swayze, immediately upon arrival you will locate escape transfers, one max jump and one to P5 farside. You may now proceed with the shift to the backside of P3’s moon."

  As he heard the rumble of the shift-ring running down the length of his ship, Leis saw Snellen frowning at a bright red message on her holo. The bright flash from the shift lighted numerous instruments on the bridge as she turned. Her voice trembled, "Captain! The 'puter’s analysis of 2-D news shows from North America has noted several reports of an extremely brilliant broadband light flash in P3's near space about seven hours ago! They don't know what it is—it isn't ours—some kranes may already be here!"

  Resisting the temptation to swear at such news, Leis said in steady tones that surprised even himself, "‘Puter, all hands… Battle stations! Battle stations! Presumed krane ship already in orbit about P3! Let’s figure out where she is, no active systems, no EM radiation. All antennas deployed must be set for rapid collapse.” He studied the holo for a moment, then spoke to his bridge personnel, “They may not know we're near P3 because our shift-flash should have been screened by the moon,” he shrugged, “though they should have had observation ports back here. Place our own observation ports behind the moon, on the other side of P3, in between P3 and the moon and on the surface of Exceltor. Ship surface observers to notify me if they think they might have seen an approaching locator port, even if they’re pretty sure it was really only a meteoroid strike on our surface.”

  Leis felt good that he’d managed to keep his voice relatively calm through that whole set of commands. He wondered at how his team managed to look calm as well and wondered if perhaps he’d fooled them into thinking he had it all under control. Maybe they couldn’t tell how hard his heart was thumping. “‘Puter, bridge… That krane bastard sure as hell knows we're in the system 'cause our original shift-flash got here two hours and 45 minutes ago. Azimus, you're going to be able to see him in the reflected light from this moon and we know that his passive gear isn't going to work very well looking back toward the moon as we come out from behind it.” Damn, damn, damn, damn! Leis thought, then managed to continue, still surprised at how calm he sounded, “Let’s hope he’s not on the opposite side of P3, ‘cause we need to find him now.

  "Snellen, as soon as you and Nedcam find that president, snatch him. We'll talk to him here."

  “‘Puter, how many words in your translation vocabulary now?”

  “Thirteen thousand sir.”

  GUNNERY ROOM—HUMANIFORM CRUISER EXCELTOR—COMETARY EARTH ORBIT

  0905 EST

  Nedcam flipped his holocube image away from the 2-D pix of the president, thinking that this would be the first time his shiftgun had been used to kidnap a head of state. A glance at his panel showed all green. He started his scope. His holocube showed the sparkling lights of a P3 city beneath the opening of the port-ring. The minuscule port-ring had the snout of a hololens protruding a mere tenth of a millimeter. At this height and small size, no one should have seen the little flash when it opened
. He sent it rocketing toward the surface and then began to track laterally. He recognized the Washington monument from some of the 2-D pictures that Snellen had fed him. Right city! He settled down to the tedious business of looking for the White House. No maps on any of the 2-D entertainment programs picked up so far... Wait was that it?

  Yes!

  Nedcam felt incredibly lucky that the White House was so close to the monument. He sent his hololens approaching at high speed.

  WHITE HOUSE—WASHINGTON DC

  0911 EST

  A minuscule, faintly-glowing port-ring slid up to the door of the White House. Turning the orientation of the port-ring so that he was looking up, Nedcam slid the tenth millimeter sliver of protruding hololens under the door and into the hallway. It rose to the ceiling and moved down the hall, looking for areas that looked active and hoping he could recognize the voice of the president from the audio recordings Snellen had sent him. Because the atmosphere on this planet was much thinner, the recordings of the president’s voice sounded very deep.

  There! Nedcam and Snellen actually saw the president, walking down the hall towards the hololens. He was accompanied by a couple of men in uniforms and a man in clothing Snellen said they called a “suit.” Nedcam held the lens stationary as they came toward it. He knew that the 1 mm diameter wormhole was only emitting a hundredth of a watt and so the hololens would be difficult to see, but he suspected that, like most other humaniforms, their retinas were very sensitive to motion. After the men went by, the lens fell in just above and behind their heads and followed as they turned off into a large room marked "Secure".