by Don Foxe
Chapter 17
Following his shower and a change of clothing, Cooper used Angel 7’s com to contact the bridge of the Star Gazer. He asked the coms officer to pipe him through to the Fellens’ cabin.
“Yes, Coop?” Sky replied to his call.
“I’m going to stay on board Angel. I want to use my tactical systems with the data we have to create possible responses, should the Zenge arrive and engage.”
“While you work on tactics, we will thoroughly scan the Star Gazer files to see if there is anything more about the Zenge,” Sky replied. “Ancillary files about attacks, or systems going dark before the Osperantue realized the Zenge were at war may exist. We may discover a plan, or timeline, or even a method to their attacks that has not been obvious.”
Cooper agreed with both the search, and the chance of files that referred to attacks, but not specifically to the Zenge.
“If the Osperantue travel and trade as much as you say, reports, even rumors about attacks moving though the galaxy may exist. If the Fellen trade technology as much as you have indicated, similar rumors might turn up in your data bases.”
Sky agreed, saying, “The computers aboard our escape shuttle would have been synced with the main ship. We will run a search through our own files to see if anything seems related. Thank you for the idea, Coop.”
“No problem. You two search data bases, and I’ll run tactical simulations on what we already have. We can get together in the morning and compare notes.”
He grabbed a bottle of water from his cooler, and settled onto the com-tac station chair. A tedious few hours loomed ahead. For comfort, after he turned on the computer system, and opened the tactical simulation module, he activated the voice mode. Now he could talk to the system. With the enemy information already stored, and current strengths and weaknesses of Angel 7, as well as the 109 contributed, basic battle plans should emerge.
His feet on the desk, the monitor tilted so he could see it while his head resting on the seat-back, he was comfortable in the com-tac station. He began working on the boring, but most necessary components of war -- enemy assessments, potential offensive and counter-offensive scenarios, and defense.
It was nearing midnight, and Cooper was close to falling asleep in the chair, when a rapping on the landing gear pulled him from a semi-snooze. A quick voice command, and the com-tac computer switched to a cctv view of the outside of the ship.
AStermalanlan stood at the base with arms crossed. Obviously Angel’s protective forcefield presented no barrier to the Fellen who installed the security system.
He sent the crew lift down, and brought it up as soon as she stepped onto the platform.
Cooper asked “Is there a problem?”
“Yes, there is a problem,” she said, her tone somewhere between sulky and angry. Petulant the term that jumped to mind. “You gave ASkiilamentrae a nickname.”
She was angry and upset about a nickname. Cooper relaxed, at least they were not under attack by Zenge warships. “It is easier to call her SKY. It wasn’t done to upset you.”
“Well, I want a nickname, too,” and with that AStermalanlan crossed her hands under her top, and pulled it up and over her head. Before Cooper could do more than admire the view, she two-hand pushed him against a bunk. It made contact behind his knees. He landed with a thump. She kicked off her shoes, and wiggled out of her tights. A show worth any cost. She stood nude. Physically, he was responding to the view.
“We don’t need to have sex for me to give you a nickname,” he told her.
“I would not think so,” AStermalanlan replied, moving closer. “Tonight is my turn. You can give me a nickname tomorrow.”
The two hours he spent with Sky the previous night seemed like a short feature before the main movie. In two hours he was ragged, and AStermalanlan was most assuredly a screamer. She also had tremendous endurance. Cooper felt like she was getting her revenge for being bested on the mat earlier. Sweet revenge.
Chapter 18
Coop awoke unable to decide which bunk he was in (they had used three), which direction he faced (his eyes remained closed), and whether any of his muscles would ever again work properly.
The sound of voices forced him to open his eyes. He was still unsure which bunk he was in, but he was facing a wall. He rolled over, and found Sky, and AStermalanlan at the table. The bags for the jerky and dried fruit were empty, and the platter between them.
AStermalanlan turned to look at him. She had obviously showered and dressed. Sky had come aboard, and he continued to sleep. Either he was extremely exhausted or, no, no other option . . . he was that exhausted.
“Do I get a nickname?” she asked
“Storm,” he said. “AS - storm — ah — lan — lan,” he spoke slowly, emphasizing the variation from AS-term to storm. “Because you are a total freak of nature. Unstoppable. Unpredictable.”
“Storm,” she said aloud. “I like it.” She returned to her conversation.
Cooper noted his translation ring was lying beside the bunk. He had no idea where his clothes were. At this point in the relationship with the two women, it no longer mattered. He got up, noted the time was after 9:00am. (Why hadn’t the alarm gone off? Had it? Had he turned it off without waking up? Where was the chronometer?) Nude, bruised, and battered he headed for the head, and a hot shower. He might have bested the two women on the mat, but, clearly, they were his physical superiors.
A shower, with a shave to remove the stubble that grew in over the last three days; a change into comfortable sweatpants and a short-sleeve sweatshirt; a protein shake -- a second protein shake, and he was ready to face the world.
He joined them at the table, now cleared of left-over breakfast. “Are you both okay with this?” he asked. Better to get any problems dealt with now, than to allow emotions to simmer, and boil over later.
Sky smiled, relaxed. “Coop, I do not know how your race deals with sex. In our experience with other worlds, it is sometimes the same, and sometimes unique. On Fell the ratio of females to males is about four to one. There was a time, in our past, when females did not survive as well as the males, so more girls were born than boys. As we advanced, and our medical knowledge improved, females became more hardy, able to survive, and thrive the same as the males. Only evolution has not quite caught up. There are still more females born. It is not unusual for a Fellen male to have four or five females.”
He now had a great deal of respect for Fellen males. Any man who could handle more than two of the females was a stud.
“Earth,” he explained, “has as many ways of dealing with sex as there are societies -- and we have a lot of societies on Earth. The norm is still one man and one woman, but it isn’t a rule. Some members of a group known as Mormons practice the marriage of one man and multiple sister-wives. There are a few places where one woman may have multiple husbands. Having multiple lovers is practiced around the world by men and women.”
“You are agreeable to the two of us sharing?” Storm asked.
“Emotionally I’m fine,” Coop said smiling. “Physically I might not last a week.”
He dropped his PDS mini-pad on the desk in front of Storm. “I met a Bosine kid with a rectangular box with music on it.”
“A PPS, a Personal Player Stick,” Storm said. “We developed them on Fell and they are traded on dozens of planets. Almost unlimited storage.”
“Do you think you can configure a way my PDS,” pointing at the mini-pad, “and a PPS can communicate? Share music libraries?”
“I’ll have to take your pad apart. It looks pretty simple. Give me a couple of hours.” Storm was now translating into contractions. Did sex effect the rings?
They moved on to more pressing concerns.
“Before Storm left last night, we found more information that is probably related to Zenge attacks,” Sky told him. “From what we put together, the attack on Fell was their latest, and done simultaneously with the invasion of Osperantue. The Zenge had enough ships to
launch multiple attacks, while maintaining a huge numbers advantage.”
Storm took over for Sky. “They sent about twenty-five ships against Osperantue, knowing they would not be facing fighters. They did not expect much resistance, and they did not get much. They sent one hundred against Fell, knowing we would fight, and defend our world to the death if needed.”
Sky added, “They have obviously gathered intelligence about the worlds they attack before they invade. While they depend on superior fire-power to overwhelm the enemy, they are smart enough to make plans based on what reactions they expect from their enemy.”
She continued. “We have also back-tracked from Fell and Osperantue. We were checking data for any notes made about systems Osperantue or Fellen ships have visited. Planets or systems where there were problems with contact, or communications. We think we may have found a pattern.
“The initial planet to go unexpectedly silent is called Stamalah 3. Their main source of income is the trading of wormhole charts. It appears the Zenge attacked this system first. It is about five channel jumps from Fell.”
“Channel jumps?” Coop asked.
Sky continued his education regarding wormholes, and interstellar travel they had begun before the sparring session the previous day.
“With wormhole travel, we open a gate to a channel,” Sky explained. “We travel through a selected channel to a destination. Regardless of where it opens, this is a single channel jump. A jump either takes you to your final destination, or you open another gate, and take it to where it leads. Some gates open where you have from two to a dozen options. Multi-point, or multi-gate locations are like hubs that give you many options for travel. Some channels open where there is only a single other option. Some channels have no other options. The wormhole gate you exit is the only gate available to re-enter. The wormhole channel that brought us to your solar system is like that. It is the only way to or away from your system. Unless, of course, you have space-fold.”
Storm continued the lesson. “Over hundreds of centuries, many species have mapped channels, and those maps are traded among worlds like any other commerce. From Fell to where we think the first system was attacked by the Zenge, it would take a minimum of five channel jumps.”
“Why do you think it was first?”
Storm answered. “Communications were lost to this system by a number of trading partners. The notes in our data bases indicate this was the first such loss of contact. Also, at least two ships from separate worlds going to, or through this system have been registered as lost. It is not unusual in space travel for ships to get lost, or for trips to get side-tracked. A ship expected to return in one month may not show up for several.”
“No one thought there was a major problem, only a couple of lost ships, and no recent contacts by this world with others,” Coop said.
“Exactly,” Storm agreed. “Unless you were looking for a pattern of lost contacts, missing ships, worlds with trading partners not showing up when the gates were aligned properly, you might not notice anything. Not until a gate opens, and the Zenge come through.”
“Are channels the same length?” Coop asked.
Sky answered this time. “No. Following a channel might take a ship a couple of days to reach a gate, or it could take months. That is why it is important to have channel charts. You might take four jumps to reach a location where one jump could have done the same thing, but the four might actually take less time than the one.”
“Channels are measured by time, not distance. How many jumps did the Star Gazer make, from the multi-channel where they picked you up to entering this solar system?” he asked.
Sky answered this time. “One. But it was a dangerous, desperate decision. The wormhole was not listed on charts. The gate was closest to the ship. Poonch had to either take the channel and hope, or surrender.”
“In terms of time?”
“Three of your Earth months,” Sky replied.
“No other systems between Fell and Earth?”
“Not exactly,” Sky replied, again taking control of the answers. “Systems do not line up. Just like in your own solar system. Occasionally, the eight planets may form a fairly straight line, but how rare is that? Usually they are scattered about on unique orbits around your star. Systems are similar. They are set in space, but not stagnate. Your system was simply the destination of the channel Poonch chose. Take other channels, and discover other systems as close, or closer. You could visit a system which requires ten channel jumps, but takes two months. A month closer in time, but a trillion miles further away in space.”
“Therefore no reason to expect our system is next in line for attack. Can you track ships going through channels?”
“No. Once a ship is inside a channel, there is no way to know where they are. You can guess if you know when they entered, and the average speed the vessel normally maintains when traveling through wormholes. Even then you are only making an estimate. That still does not provide you a location in space; more of an estimated time of arrival at the gate.”
“Okay, that’s a lot to think about. Thank you both. I realize it is like teaching a child.”
“You are curious, and you are interested. Both are good traits,” Sky said.
Cooper was reminded of the saying: Curiosity killed the cat. Considering his present company, he wisely kept it to himself.
Chapter 19
“There is technology which will allow someone to follow the ion-trail left when a ship enters and exits a gate. The wormhole engines going on or going off emit minuscule amounts of ionized exhaust. You cannot actually track a ship inside a wormhole, but that would not matter. Once they go in, they have to come out.”
“Does every world have this technology?” he asked.
“No.” Sky answered.
“But the Zenge might?”
“Yes,” she said, hesitating a moment to consider. “They might have it on their own, but at least two of the known system we think they attacked had it. They could have stolen it from either of them.”
Curious about wormhole channels and flight, Cooper figured now was as good a time as any to get more answers about their method of faster-than-light travel.
“Once a ship is in a channel, must it complete the trip, or can in turn around?”
“If a ship is powerful enough to generate a strong enough forcefield, then it can reverse within a channel. Some extremely powerful ships have been known to reverse from a channel. If the forcefield is not strong enough, the stress reversing through a channel can rip it apart. Most captains, even if they think they possess a strong enough power source, will not take the chance. It is safer to complete the trip and then turn around .”
“Every gate exit is the reciprocal gate entrance?”
“Yes.”
“Can ships travel at different speeds within a channel. Say, if I had a more powerful wormhole engine, could I get to the exit before you, even if you started first?”
“Yes.”
“Ships can pass within a wormhole channel?”
“Yes, but you would scarcely know it happened. The sensors active within a wormhole will only warn a captain if the exit is too close to a gravitational phenomenon that could destroy or damage the ship at exit.”
“That opens up a couple of lines of thought. First, if a warning says, hey, you are about to exit close to a planet that will tear you apart, what does the captain do?”
It was Storm who took over. “The captain can reverse, if they have a powerful enough engine, or they can come to a stop and wait for the gravity well to dissipate as the planet moves away from the gate. Without a strong forcefield, the only option is wait, but,” and here she held up a finger to get Cooper’s full attention, “this is why channel charts are extremely valuable. No one will enter a channel that does not open safely. It is how we plan journeys to distant systems, and plan many journeys years in advance.”
“But someone has to try uncharted channels, or your networks would no
t grow. Like Captain Poonch coming here.”
“You take your life, and your crew’s life in your hands,” Storm told him. “Poonch acted out of desperation, and, honestly, lucked out. Hundreds of ships over thousands of years have gone into uncharted channels and not returned. Those channels are also noted and for sale.
“The Pagora of Stamalah 3, the first planet we believe attacked by the Zenge, are a sect who make a living by sending small, two-person ships into uncharted wormholes. When their ships return, they have newly discovered channels, and these are valuable trade. It is dangerous work, and at least one in twenty of the trips ends with no one returning. They may die, or get caught in a wormhole eddy. They could enter a wormhole channel which requires years to complete.”
“If channels flow in both directions, and a ship needed to stop and return to its entry point, why not shift over into the flow’s opposite direction, instead of reversing and fighting the current?” Cooper had move forward on his seat, both hands on the table. He was truly engaged in learning about the trials and tribulations of wormhole travel.
“The few reports I know of,” Storm explained, “where a ship tried to change directions by actually trying to find the opposite flow, resulted in the ship being shaken so hard the captain feared being shaken apart. This intense shaking was irrespective of the ship’s power source. Those who survived to make a report aborted the attempt, and either reversed, or completed their journey. There are no reports, we have found, where anyone was successful in actually switching directions within a channel.”
“When a ship receives a warning an exit is dangerous, when does it get the warning, and does it also let the captain know how dangerous the exit?”
Storm again answered. “Warnings happen at the half-way point of channel travel. First a sensor lets the captain and crew know they are half way to their destination, whether that is one day, or one year.”
