"Something big," muttered Jolly, looking away from the young woman and up at a speaker grid.
"Rumors are spreading faster than fact about the discovery of a manned vehicle to be brought aboard the Galactica," continued the commander. "I must ask you all to be patient and cautious in your optimism. The incoming vessel will have to be placed in careful quarantine before we can allow anyone near it for fear of jeopardizing not only our own lives but the lives of whoever may be aboard this space craft. Bulletins on every phase of our operation will be transmitted to all of you as soon as reliable facts become available. I ask you to bear with us and be patient. Thank you."
Jolly rocked back in his chair as the commander's last words faded away. "Hey, that's darn exciting," he said, tugging at his moustache.
An excited murmur of talk was filling the lounge as the other patrons began to discuss Commander Adama's message.
Zixi said, "It may mean we'll be able to settle on Earth."
"It sure might." Jolly popped up to his feet. Then he bent and took the young woman's hand. "I remain deeply devoted to you, Zixi . . . Did I pronounce it okay that time around?"
"Pretty near."
"Good. Anyway, I want to scoot to the docking area right fast," he informed her. "We'll rendezvous again soon as this crisis passes." Bowing, he deposited a smacking kiss on her hand and then went trotting out.
CHAPTER THREE
Starbuck, chewing hard on the end of his latest cigar, went hurrying along the metal-walled corridor. "I'd like to see 'em try," he was saying.
Apollo, lagging a few paces behind, said, "You know damn well they won't let us anywhere near the thing until it's safely decontaminated."
"We found that ship," said Starbuck. He halted before an elevator door and gave the down button an angry push. "We hauled it back here to the Galactica, at great personal risk of life and limb. Hell, Apollo, it's our baby. Sort of, you know, like an orphan we found out in a storm or a stray dog we took in out of—"
"Quit, quit, you're bringing tears to my eyes," laughed Apollo.
The elevator door whooshed open and the anxious Lieutenant Starbuck dived in. "I'd dearly love to see you get exuberant about something. Here we've made a fantastic find and you—"
"People can be pleased and not flap their arms or shoot steam out of their ears."
"But that's what life is all about. Flapping your arms, jumping up and down, having a good time and showing it," said the lieutenant as the elevator cage dropped them swiftly toward the docking area where the ship they'd found had been taken. "That's how you know you're alive."
"There are other ways of telling."
The doors swished open and they saw a long corridor crowded with people. At its end two impassive security guards stood blocking the entrance to the landing bay.
Spotting Starbuck and Apollo, Lieutenant Jolly pushed his way back to them. "Hey, fellas, what gives?"
Starbuck asked him, "Are those security nitwits yonder keeping everyone out?"
"Yep, they are," complained the hefty lieutenant. "I came hustling down here from the lounge, leaving behind an absolutely striking young woman with hair the color of—"
"Spare me the details of your sordid love life, Jolly." Starbuck, using elbow and shoulder, pushed into the curious crowd.
Following in his wake, Captain Apollo cautioned, "Don't go punching anybody in the snoot, good buddy. Because I won't come visiting you in the brig."
"Hooey," observed Starbuck, his cigar tilting to a warlike angle. "All I'm after is fair play. It's an established rule of galactic salvage that the discoverer of—"
"We're not talking about derelict cargo ships."
"Stop right there, Starbuck," advised the larger of the two large guards.
Hands on hips, Starbuck scowled at the young man. "Look, try to comprehend what I am about to impart to you. Utilize every single cell of that pea-size brain of yours. I intend to—"
"No admittance."
"Listen, I'm the guy who found that damn crate," Starbuck informed him. "I've got a right to visit . . . Quit poking me, Apollo."
Someone had tapped the feisty lieutenant on the shoulder.
"Now, as I was saying . . ." Starbuck noticed that the guard had stiffened to attention and he decided he'd better look back over his shoulder. "Oh . . . How do you do, Commander?"
"Fine, Lieutenant Starbuck," replied Commander Adama, who'd made his way to the door. "Allow me to personally congratulate you two for the excellent job you've done."
Grinning, Starbuck snapped his fingers. "All in a day's work, sir," he said modestly. "Now will you explain to these overzealous guardians here that I have a perfect right to—"
"I'm afraid none of us can get a closer look until Doctor Salik says it's safe," the commander said.
"Not even you?"
Adama shook his head. "Not even me."
"So what do we do?"
"We wait."
A temporary wall of tough see-through plastic stood between them and the space craft. The vehicle looked much smaller sitting in the vast landing bay.
Doctor Salik took off the headpiece of his decontamination suit and then nodded back at the ship. "It's clean," he said.
His two associates, Cassiopeia and Doctor Wilker, were standing nearby.
Adama, flanked by Apollo and Starbuck, faced Salik. "What can you tell us?"
Stroking his chin, Salik leaned against a metal guard rail. "It's possible, based on fairly unsophisticated early tests, that this craft you've brought to us is from Earth."
"Told you so." Starbuck bounced on his heels and chuckled.
"Remind me to give you something for your nerves," said Salik.
"Nerves? Hell, I'm the only one around here with any feelings." Starbuck pointed a thumb at the ship. "Everybody ought to be excited as I am, Doc, because right inside that crate yonder may be the answers to all our—"
"Perhaps," said Doctor Wilker, moving nearer to them.
"You just now said it came from Earth," said Starbuck, impatient.
"On the contrary, young man, it was my colleague who alluded to the possibility of an Earth origin for this ship," corrected Wilker. "Let me, before we proceed further, remind you that he is a medical man and I am a scientist. Our points of view, therefore, won't always match up nor—"
"Holy H. Crow," said Starbuck, waving his cigar in the air and gazing up at the fretwork high above. "Don't give us a whole darn lecture in Dumbbell Science One-A, Doc. What we—"
"Lieutenant," said the commander, "suppose you allow me to ask the initial questions."
Starbuck took a deep breath. "Okay, sorry."
Cassiopeia smoothed her tunic and then sat on a stray metal drum. "Let me anticipate one of your possible questions, Commander," she offered. "We did confirm the life signs within the ship."
"Yes, that is certain," said Doctor Salik, nodding. "There are six separate entities, all alive."
"Six," said Adama, "and all alive?"
"Yes, exactly," answered Salik.
"Yet there's been no response from within the vehicle?"
"None thus far," said Salik. "I believe, however, that there is a simple explanation for that, and my associates agree."
"Partially," put in Doctor Wilker.
"You think," Adama guessed, "that these people inside, whoever they are, must be in some sort of state of suspended animation?"
"We do, yes."
"That," added Doctor Wilker, "is one possible explanation."
"We have established that none of the people inside are responding to this present situation at all," said Cassiopeia. "Their life signs are all even and there have been no increases in heart rate or respiration to indicate fright, anger or even simple awareness that their flight has been interrupted."
"Has any attempt been made," asked Commander Adama, "to enter the craft?"
"I wanted your direct order first before attempting that," said Doctor Salik.
"We ought to go in at once," said W
ilker. "I see no reason at all to delay further the—"
"Wait a moment," said Adama, thoughtful. "Will we be likely to upset any critical balance by violating the seals and entering the ship?"
"That is not likely," answered Salik. "We were able to penetrate the hull with a probe. The gas levels and atmosphere inside were sampled and tested."
"And you learned what?"
"There is almost zero atmosphere. There are traces of oxygen, carbon dioxide . . . Certainly nothing that would sustain life as we know it."
"Since no one could survive under such conditions," said the commander, "we must assume that these six passengers are being cared for in a separate and isolated life support system somewhere within."
"Yes, exactly," said Doctor Salik.
"Very well." Adama locked his hands together and bowed his head for a few seconds. "Let's go into the ship."
CHAPTER FOUR
Doctor Salik crossed the threshold first, stepping into the dimly lit control room of the mystery ship. "Sufficient air from the landing bay has seeped in here," he announced. "The rest of you can come on in."
Wilker said, "I don't quite see why viper pilots should be allowed to get in the way of—"
"Listen, Doc," said Starbuck, putting his hand on the scientist's arm, "this baby is just as important to us as—"
"Doctor," said Commander Adama evenly, "these men are here at my invitation."
"Very well." After making a mock bow, Wilker stepped into the ship.
"After you, Cassie," Starbuck said to the young woman.
As soon as she entered he followed.
There was only a faint glow of light in the control room, coming from thin panels of frosted glass along the floor line. Two of the walls were thick with dials and switches, buttons and grids. The walls and ceiling, part metal and part plastic, were pale blue and pale red. The pebbled floor was a grayish white.
Starbuck crossed to what was obviously the pilot's seat and scrutinized the controls. "Never seen anything like this before," he remarked.
"Everything seems to be functioning," Cassiopeia observed.
"Doc," said Starbuck to Wilker, "your boys ought to be able to figure all these gadgets out."
"Given time, yes, certainly." Hands behind his back, he was scanning a wall. "They seem to favor a different mathematical system than we do, but once I feed some of this data into my computers I—"
"Good lord," came Doctor Salik's voice.
Commander Adama crossed the control room to the short corridor the doctor had entered a moment before. "What is it?"
"I've found them," he said, coming back toward the commander.
He led him down the metal hallway into another room. Built into its floor were two rows of glass boxes, each of which held a body. There were six in all.
Dropping to his knees before the nearest box, Doctor Salik stared into it. "This is how they've journeyed across space."
"Are they alive?" the commander asked as he knelt beside the doctor.
"This fellow certainly is," Salik answered, easing a pencil-sized instrument out of his pocket and touching it, gently, to the lid of the box. "Yes, all his vital signs register. But he's functioning at a very low level, in a sort of trance state."
"He looks to be a young man somewhere in his late twenties," said Adama, studying the sleeping face on the other side of the glass wall of the coffin.
"About that, yes."
"Some of them are just kids," said Cassiopeia, who was slowly circling the built-in boxes. "This little fellow here can't be more than five or six."
"This guy's wife is sort of cute," commented Starbuck, pointing down at the slim blonde young woman who occupied the glass box next to that of the dark young man Doctor Salik was hunched over. "Not a very romantic trip for 'em, though. Laid out in see-through coffins. They should've asked their travel agent for first class accommodations instead of—"
"Hush up, good buddy," advised Apollo.
"Yes, do," seconded Wilker, who was studying the complex of wires and tubes that came snaking out of the metal walls to attach to each of the six glass coffins. "Obviously their metabolism has been lowered to its minimum for sustaining life. This support system is set to maintain that life for as long as need be."
Folding his arms, Apollo leaned against a wall. "How long have they been like this?"
Salik answered him. "Quite a long time, I'd say."
Still surveying the sleeping young woman, Starbuck said, "We have to talk with them, communicate in some way. How do we wake 'em up?"
"Very carefully," answered Salik. "If their awakening isn't handled exactly right, they'll no doubt die."
"You may be exaggerating," said Wilker.
"We've found humans," said Starbuck. "Quite probably from Earth. How soon before we can revive them and have them talk to us?"
"You can be sure our curiosity is as great, if not greater, than yours, Lieutenant," said Doctor Salik. "The revival of these half-dozen wayfarers will be accomplished as quickly as it can be done without endangering their lives."
"I'd be inclined to select one of them and start making tests at once," said Doctor Wilker. "We can start with one of the children, say. If something does go wrong, which is highly unlikely, we've only lost a—"
"You'll use none of them as guinea pigs, Doctor Wilker," said Commander Adama slowly and carefully. "Is that absolutely clear to you? Who these people are and where they're going may be critically important to our own survival. I want absolutely no chances taken."
"I certainly didn't mean to imply we'd be slipshod in—"
"Just so we understand each other." Adama turned to Salik. "Before any attempt is made to open a single one of these cases, you'll run every test possible. And then, Doctor, I want you to confer directly with me before taking any further step."
"Of course, Commander. I was intending to proceed in that manner anyway."
"Might I make a suggestion?" said Wilker. "Now that the sightseeing is over, I'd like you to leave us alone to our work." He nodded in the direction of Starbuck.
Deciding not to thumb his nose, Starbuck said, "They're all yours, Doc. For now."
CHAPTER FIVE
Excitement had spread to every part of the Galactica, even to the school bay of the huge battlestar, where a slightly distracted young woman was trying to conduct a class in Applied Science. She stood, not quite patiently, at the head of the domed room and watched the two dozen children in her charge. They were whispering and chattering among themselves.
"Kids," said Athena, clapping her hands, "let's settle down again and see if we can't get some work done before the period ends. Okay?"
A silence, momentary at best, settled over the children and they all gazed up at the slim, chestnut-haired young woman.
"I know most of you are aware that something special's been happening. Naturally you're interested and excited, but still we—"
"People from Earth!" spoke out a brown-haired boy at a desk near the front of the room. "We've found people from Earth."
"Boxey, when you want to address the class, use your question indicator. Please?"
"Yesum, Athena." The boy brushed a lock of hair off his high forehead. He flipped a toggle on his desktop and a red blip of light flickered. "But that's what they found, sure enough."
"That seems the likely conclusion, although Doctor Salik and his staff aren't absolutely certain yet," said Athena. "And it's possible, therefore, that what happens in the next day or so will have an effect on each and every one of us."
Another little light flashed, at the desk of a small blonde girl.
"Yes, Loma?"
"Are there really people inside the ship that Lieutenant Starbuck brought back?"
"As far—"
"It was my father, Apollo, who found the ship and brought it here," put in Boxey. "I mean, Starbuck was along, but it was—"
"Boxey, your light. Remember?"
"Sorry, Athena. But she hadn't ought to say that it was�
�"
"Yes, we understand. It was Captain Apollo and Lieutenant Starbuck, while on a scouting patrol, who found this mysterious ship and brought it back to us," said Athena. "Now, did you have a question, Loma?"
The little girl made a face at the nearby Boxey. "Every time I try to ask something, he hollers at me."
"Boxey didn't mean to interrupt you, Loma. And he's sorry."
"Yeah, sure," said Boxey. "I'm sorry. But it was my dad as much as—"
"Boxey."
"Excuse me," the boy said.
"Loma?"
"I wanted to know if there were really people in the ship?"
"There are, yes."
Another light flashed.
"Yes, Wally?"
A black boy asked, "What kind of people? Are they monsters or what?"
The teacher smiled. "They appear to be very much like us, so I guess we can't call them monsters."
Loma asked, "Why don't the people come out?"
"There are several reasons. The main one being that they're apparently in a state of suspended animation," answered Athena. "Do you know what that means? Boxey?"
His light had been flashing. "Means they're sort of like taking a nap. Only one hell of a . . . excuse me. One awful long one."
Wally's light blinked. "Why are they asleep? Wouldn't you want to stay awake on a trip, so you could see everything?"
Athena said, "Well, on a very long trip, when you're traveling immense distances, you have to sleep. In fact, you have to be put in a state where your body is slowed down. That way you don't age much."
"Otherwise," said Boxey, "everybody'd get to their destination and be old. A bunch of old people wouldn't do much good on a rough—"
"Boxey, there are many benefits that come with age. One of which is patience and tolerance."
"I flashed my light that time," he told her.
Wally asked, "Where are they going to?"
"We don't know that yet."
Loma said, "Maybe they'll never get there now. On account of we stopped them. Was that right to do?"
Athena rubbed her palm with the fingers of her other hand. "We think it was, since these people may be able to tell us things that are very important to us."
Battlestar Galactica 8 - Greetings From Earth Page 2
