Earth Interstellar_Proxy War

by Scott Olen Reid

  Shortly after Hanks' request for a vid with an alien, his request was granted as the xeno-techs switch to a different video. This one showed an alien sitting at a table, disassembling a long mechanical object as it spoke and pointed out various items to demonstrate how they worked.

  "What is that he's working on?” Asked Hanks, ignoring the fact he just saw his first alien not a Rool or Vrene.

  "It looks like a weapon. Like one of those chemically charged slug throwers you pick up in Apocalypse Down Under," Vitahl observed, referring to one of the games they played.

  "It does! Wow," Hanks exclaimed, giving his stamp of approval at watching a show about weapons, one of his favorite types of vid programming. "Hey! Why'd they pause the feed?"

  Over in the main instance, Xeno Technologist Linstrom paused the video playback and scrutinized the alien's every detail, "Bi-symmetrical, same as us. Their eyes are different, with a sideways oval kind of like you would see on a frog and farther apart. It has a nose, for lack of a better term, that extends down just past its mouth. We found a hygiene vid that was very educational that shows they have a ridge, rather than teeth. It could be they are descended from an amphibious species of some sort." After five minutes of taking note of the alien's features, including its light, brownish red, scaly skin and six-digit hands with double opposable thumbs, the xeno-tech advanced the video for another minute. "This looks like a training vid of some sort,” observed Linstrom. “Look at the scope on the weapon. It looks like it’s close range tactical in nature. I don't think it’s for hunting.” He frowned, catching himself. “All right, it’s not the time for speculation, let’s get back to the cultural study; put on the next video. Hopefully, we'll find some entertainment vids soon."

  Whether the aliens had entertainment programming was a concern for xeno-techs; if the aliens did not have a robust entertainment industry or the arts, it could be an indication of a rigid social structure. Xeno-theorists believed it could be a problem when it comes to humans relating to aliens, and visa-versa, when there are large fundamental cultural differences. Even Human history had hundreds of examples of incompatibility in international relations for far less reason.

  Over the next several weeks the Cousteau's sensors captured and recorded nearly a million terabytes of communications data. The ship's quantum computers, having analyzed half a large portion, developed emulators for the communications technologies so they could be played in their original format. As data was received, it was reviewed repeatedly by the quantum computers as updates continued to expand the language program and translate the alien’s communications. The data itself was thoroughly analyzed and sorted into hundreds of categories and subcategories that were then further analyzed by the quantum computers to develop models of the alien culture, economy, government, military, technology, group and individual psychology, and a host of other variables. Once the modeling was done, the xeno-techs reviewed the results and made adjustments to the weighting of the data forming the backbone of their analyses of the aliens.

  Captain Kree entered the all-hands meeting as soon as the XO gave her the green light the crew was present and accounted for. The instance for the meeting was designed to look like a small lecture hall in any of a number of institutions of higher learning on Earth. The crew occupied the seating around the rows, with the usual suspects occupying the upper-level seating in the back of the room. The purpose of the meeting was to present initial models of the aliens, who called themselves “Rheas.” The quantum computer analyses created from the nine hundred twenty terabytes of intercepted communications was the foundation for the modeling. The crew, from the most junior technician to the captain, was expected to provide detailed feedback on the models for what they agreed and disagreed with or believed was not addressed by the models.

  After the meeting and collection of feedback from the crew, the xeno-techs would review the recommendations and incorporate them, if they felt they were valid, into the analyses and run the whole thing through the quantum computers again to analyze and take into consideration in a second, third, and even fourth iteration of the Rheas model. The goal was to develop an accurate and usable simulation to be used in evaluating the Rheas’ likely reactions when they were contacted.

  "Mr. Linstrom, you can begin your presentation," said the captain, sitting down in a chair at the side of the lecture hall so she could view the entire room all at once.

  "Thank you, Captain." Xeno-Technologist Arnie Linstrom stepped up from his seat in the front row and turned to face the assembled crew, "We've been studying the Rheas for the last thirty-two days. I know it is not lost on me, and I hope it is not lost on you, the monumental responsibility to Mankind, and to the Rheas, we carry in developing an understanding of who they are and how humanity can best interact with them. They will be the only race in the Seventh Consortium that is actually junior to us, and for which we will, invariably, have the dominant role and responsibility. We were fortunate when the Vrene, and their representatives, the Rool, came to Earth 322 years ago. When they made first contact, they met with every nation; nearly two hundred countries existed back then. Each of the representatives of those nations was spoken to by the Rool in their native language. A number of rulers were actually born in other countries and the Rool spoke with them in the language and dialect of where they were born. It is an amazing example of what we are trying to achieve here.” The xeno-technologist paused to let the magnitude of the study on Humans done by their benefactors sink in before continuing, “The meeting with the United States of America was held in a place called Area 51, seemingly to avoid panic and because of its history as a mythical place aliens visited before. It sent a message to us they knew our history and preconceptions of aliens. Why else land in a desert? They were able to do this because they did their homework. They knew everything there was to know about us before they ever tried to make first contact. It is imperative we do the same with the Rheas if we want to have the same success with them the Vrene had with us.

  "Why don't we just hire the Rool to make first contact for us with the Rheas? That's what the Vrene did," said Hanks. Everyone turned to look at his avatar. "Oh, sorry. I was thinking out loud again," he said, much more meekly, shifting his look to the captain to see if he was going to be thrown out of the meeting.

  Captain Kree brought their attention back to the front, "Hanks, that is exactly the type of observation we are looking for. Only provide it after the presentation; during the presentation, do not interrupt. We have a lot of material to cover."

  The meeting lasted several hours with Linstrom and the ship's xeno-planetologist and geologist taking turns making presentations. Finally, the captain spoke up and said, "All right, I think we've been bombarded with far more information than can be digested in a single sitting. You will all find the presentations, models, and collected data available in the xeno library. I want all of you to go through the data. Form groups if you need to. Your opinions matter and will be a part of the final report to the first contact team, so give it the effort it deserves. Thank you, Mr. Linstrom, Mr. Gibson, and Mr. Herst. Well done. This meeting is adjourned."

  Suggestions, analyses, and even a case for throwing out the modeling for social etiquette and starting over were submitted by members of the crew and the working groups they put together. Members of the Exploration Service were recruited and thoroughly evaluated for their profession. They were further evaluated by their curiosity, motivation, analytical ability, and their desire to investigate the unknown. It was a luxury the service had as hundreds of thousands applied for each class of three thousand who were recruited annually.

  After incorporating several of the recommendations of the crew, and coming to a compromise with the group of bridge crew members who proposed throwing out the social etiquette model altogether, new presentations were made. With the second presentation came another round of critiques from the crew. The process would repeat itself continuously until the ship was relieved by the first contact team and t
hey had to present their findings.

  Chapter 5, Black Rock Three Base, Waypoint Star System 48127

  Admiral Reginald Bilford was sitting in his office reviewing, via his neural net, the latest surveys brought back by the XSS Farsight after its eighteen month journey in which they explored sixteen previously unexplored systems. The immersive vids of each system brought back by the Farsight provided overviews of each system's star, planets, moons, asteroids, and comets that were detected, with spectral analyses and survey data provided on each for opportunities for resource exploitation and suitability for habitation.

  Trolling through surveys of star systems was a favorite past time for the new Commander of Exploration, Black Rock Region, located a little over forty-one light years from Earth in what was historically known as Star HR483, and more recently rechristened "Waypoint Star" by the builders of Black Rock Three. Rear Admiral Bilford was legendary in the Exploration Service as he was the commanding officer of the first exploration ship to find a planet with a fully developed ecosystem on par with that of Earth. Unfortunately, as with every planet found with life on it by humans, no intelligent life had been found and the planets’ biospheres were toxic to humans.

  The communication's console on the admiral’s desk pulled him back to reality, which had better be important for the caller to have overridden his privacy setting placed in the system prior to his jacking into the neural net. He pulled the neural interface webbing off his head to answer the communicator's incessant beeping, "Bilford. Go," he growled.

  "I apologize for the interruption, Sir. This is the Communications Center, Ensign Wright. We are receiving an encrypted data dump from a high-speed drone passing through the system. The drone is from the Cousteau and traveling at point-five light speed. It isn't slowing."

  "How good is the data?" asked the admiral, knowing the difficulty in communicating at extremely high relative speeds.

  "We are only at eight percent accuracy, but the dump is repeating every fifteen minutes. The computers are estimating ninety-two percent accuracy will be the best we can achieve before it exits the system."

  "Let's see what we have before sending a ship out to recover it. Send me a feed on the Gamma Network of the compiled data." The admiral un-parked the large display screen connected to the neural net that sat on his desk. It was a poor substitute to the immersive neural net found in EGG Habitats but allowed him to stay in reality to make the calls he needed to arrange pick up of the drone if the data dump retrieval failed or if the data on the drone was too important to leave drifting through space.

  Waiting until the following morning to give the drone enough time to complete another forty data dump attempts, the admiral made his first attempt to view the data sent from the Cousteau. The Gamma Network was a closed system network that only allowed hard-wired connections. Data could only be physically moved off the network in the communications center and commander’s office.

  Un-hackable data systems were humanity's answer to Rool monitoring of communications networks as no encryption ever created by humans was able to keep the Rool from reading every piece of wireless networked communications Humans made over the last 322 plus years. The encryption used by the Cousteau's drone was a single use quantum cypher whose decryption key was only kept in two stand-alone computers: one in Black Rock Three’s communications center, and one in the communications archive on Earth. Still, when talking about the Rool, it was only a matter of how long it would take for them to crack an encryption, rather than if they could crack an encryption.

  Vids and images were still lacking too much data to be viewable. However, a great deal of progress was made on the first two text files in the data dump that were both highly repetitive streams designed specifically for basic communications attempts between ships traveling at the incredible relative speeds that were not uncommon in interstellar travel. The first message was eighteen percent text completed, with another thirty-seven percent of the text filled in by the station's communication system based on its estimation of partially completed words. Not perfect, but possibly enough for the admiral to get an idea of what motivated the Cousteau to send a drone on a one-way, hell bent for leather, run back to base. The partial message the admiral was able to read was enough to start his mind racing: discovery of intelligent life.

  "Communications," said the admiral.

  "Communications, Lieutenant Olds. Yes, Admiral?"

  "Setup two Class 3 drones to be ready no later than thirty hours from now to make a high speed run to Earth. Cargo will be data cubes. Omega-7 level cypher encryption. Also, send a ship after that drone. We need it recovered yesterday."

  "Yes, Sir," the lieutenant acknowledged. "Sir, I was just about to call you. The ambassador’s shuttle is requesting to dock. Ambassador Dek wants to meet with you immediately."

  "Permission to dock is granted. Notify the Quartermaster to provide a suitable escort for the ambassador to bring him to my conference room and ask Captain Cross to give me a call."

  "Yes, Sir. He's right here, Sir. Would you like to speak with him now?"

  "Yeah, put him on."

  "Captain Cross here. Good morning, Admiral."

  The admiral, predicting the purpose of the ambassador's visit, told him, "Captain, I want you here for a meeting with Ambassador Dek. I'm betting the Rool bastard has already read and analyzed the information from the drone."

  "Yes, Sir. But, you're going to have to find another sucker to take that bet,” he replied, his smile coming through clearly in his voice. “You do know the ambassador is likely to have this communication tapped?"

  Barking a short laugh, the admiral dismissed the captain's warning, "Yes, I do. But all Rool are bastards by definition, so I doubt he’ll care."

  "Yes, Sir."

  "Bilford out."

  Ambassador Dek was a Rool engaged by the Vrene to manage their relationship with humans ever since first contact was made. The assumption was the Vrene have more important things to do than spend time shepherding a backwater planet full of human hicks.

  An artificial life form, the Rool were created thousands of years ago by one of the elder races to manage the day-to-day affairs of their empire. At some point they were given control of their own production, or reproduction, and joined the Seventh Consortium as a full member. They mostly provided their services to other races in a similar manner they provided them to their makers and were no more prolific than any other biological race. As such, they were not deemed to be a threat to other races and were welcomed into the invitation-only club of intelligent species. Ambassador Dek was an intimidating seven-foot tall, solidly built humanoid, with blue skin and a penchant for killing humans who offended him.

  The Vrene were the opposite. Barely five feet tall, the furry little bipeds were anything but intimidating. They made up for it with their technology. The one ship they ever sent to Sol System was a thousand meter long behemoth bristling with weapons and able to deploy hundreds of AI-controlled combat drones.

  The Vrene's philosophy with lesser races, enforced by the Rool, was knowledge had to be earned to be used wisely. Humans learned there were only two ways to get information from a Vrene, or their Rool representatives, steal it or observe it in use and try to figure out what you observed. Humans also did plenty of their own R&D, but a good deal of it was influenced by their exposure to the alien’s technology.

  The Vrene gave humans technology only once in their 320-year relationship. As a goodwill gesture, knowledge of genetic manipulation was transferred to wipe out major diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. Humans ran with the technology they were given and developed cures to those, and other diseases. Then they took it a step further when they needed a means of surviving the incredible G-forces required for interstellar travel.

  Everything else humans learned for building interstellar capable spaceships was learned from observing Vrene technology in use and figuring it out for themselves or stolen from one of the many human run Vrene manufacturing faciliti
es and shipyards located on the Moon and scattered around the Asteroid Belt. Vrene ship components, too advanced for humans to manufacture, were given to them to install in sealed modules. They were carefully tracked by the Rool, but difficult to account for if there was a catastrophic explosion. It was also difficult to tell if the seal on a piece of equipment was broken before, or after, the piece was smashed in some industrial mishap. It turned out humans assembling ships in space was a dangerous and accident prone business.

  The admiral's conference room was large and designed to host meetings between the sector commander and the many ship captains under his command. The table was cut from a solid piece of the same dense black stone making up the asteroid that housed and gave the base its name. Each wall had a single flexible vid display occupying its entire length on which were various views of the ships docked in the base’s main hangar bay.

  Admiral Bilford and Captain Cross were standing at the large vid monitors watching via the base’s closed-circuit security cameras the alien ambassador's shuttle. The Rool shuttle was a miniature version of their much larger, armadillo-shaped ships the Rool used for interstellar travel.

  "Excuse me, Admiral. The ambassador is here to see you," said his aide, stepping into the conference room a short time after the ambassador boarded the base.

  "Thank you, Higgs. Please show him in." Turning to Captain Cross, he reminded him, "Captain, just like we discussed."