by S. H. Jucha
“Approximately two point twenty-five to two point five years, professor,” Trixie replied.
“Enough time to make a start,” Nema noted. “The children will be advancing in language and knowledge, which means they’ll be anxious to expand their horizons.”
“Hector was wise to set aside an entire deck of the city-ship,” Storen said, nodding to Trixie. He knew his compliment would be relayed to her partner.
“What of resources, Trixie?” Yoram asked. “Was there anyone aboard the Freedom who would be sufficiently trained in the difficult task of rearing alien children?”
“Alex mentions a woman he believes is well qualified,” Trixie replied. “Etoya Chambling ran an extensive crèche department for the Confederation.”
“That’s a start,” Yoram acknowledged. “We must concentrate on developing their understanding of Omnian values.”
“Yes,” Priita agreed, “Knowledge of language and facts don’t tell us how they’ll incorporate that information into their mental framework.”
“Good point,” Boris added. “The children might well become disruptors of Omnian culture when they’re introduced to our society. They could harbor an innate anger against their rescuers for any number of reasons.”
“It will be critical to monitor the play areas and observe the children’s responses to a number of predetermined tests,” Yoram stated unequivocally, which had the other professors nodding in agreement. “Trixie, we’ll begin immediately to design the deck’s structures for Hector.”
“Thank you, professors,” Trixie replied. She was relieved that her idea to contact these individuals had borne fruit.
“One moment, Trixie,” Yoram said, halting the SADE’s exit. “You’ll realize that for our work to be implemented well, one or more of us must accompany the Our People to fetch the children. We can’t see our efforts put to poor use, during the intervening time it will take the city-ship to return.”
“That will be Senior Captain Hector’s decision,” Trixie announced proudly.
“Wonderful, a promotion for Hector. Well done,” Nema announced, clapping her hands, and Trixie relayed every moment of the professors’ congratulations to her partner.
* * *
The professors dutifully applied themselves to the design of the city-ship’s deck to accommodate the children. Several engineering SADEs took their ideas and modeled them for the educators, who reviewed them on a holo-vid. The professors were in their element. They enjoyed the challenge of planning for the potential problems the children might encounter, while integrating them into Omnian society.
The tricky part was creating an evolving system for the children, which would accommodate them for a period of years. They started with dormitories to allow them to stay together and feel safe, but they planned to move the older children into cabins, as they matured, to give them privacy. The study areas had to be elastic, able to accommodate an ever-growing curriculum and range of interests. It wasn’t enough to study, for instance, engineering. The tools and methods of engineers and techs had to be brought to them.
Priita wondered about the world the children had inhabited. “We’ve no idea what they’ve seen,” she said. “They could have been raised underground, in a ship, or on a planet that we’d consider unnatural.”
“They need access to the gardens to understand what we consider normal,” Boris concluded.
And so a lift was dedicated to the children’s level for their exclusive use that would take them to one of the city-ship’s secondary parks. That park would remain off limits to all personnel, except for the children’s staff, for the length of time they inhabited the Our People or until they were released to join the Omnians.
While the professors were engaged in their design, Hector worked on his more critical need. To execute that, he contacted Trixie. In turn, Trixie reached out to the medical facilities at Omnia City. It offered the most advanced, experimental medical services in the human worlds in that it cared for three species: human, Dischnya, and Swei Swee.
After the Our People took up station above Omnia, the New Terran crews were rotated through the city-ship’s medical suites. They had no sooner received their Méridien medical tech than a group of engineers moved in to upgrade the facilities.
Hector drafted several SADEs to help referee and drive the implant games, and he requested the commodore include the Méridiens in the teams. There wasn’t much time for the New Terrans to become proficient with their implants before they set sail for the far-flung system, but Hector wanted them to have the implants while they practiced battle maneuvers at Omnia. It would stress the importance of developing their skills before dangerous events deemed those skills critical.
The New Terrans had weeks to adjust to their new technology and participate in naval exercises. Hector monitored the maneuvers, fascinated by the differences between the Méridien, New Terran, and Omnian captains. The Sardi-Tallen platform had produced two Tridents, and they were added to the New Terran forces. That made it four warships against the commodore’s five.
However, it quickly became apparent that the Omnians and the New Terrans weren’t fond of following the rules and constantly improvised, often defeating the commodore’s ships.
At one point, a Méridien captain complained to the commodore, saying, “What good are these exercises if the Omnian and New Terran captains refuse to obey the tactical parameters?”
The commodore considered the captain’s complaint and replied, “You can either learn how to survive under these unscripted conditions or you can wait until we join the Omnian expeditionary force. Then, when an alien captain attacks your ship, you’ll learn the true meaning of devious.”
After several more games, the commodore rearranged the two squadrons into three. He distributed the Omnian and New Terran Tridents among them, to improve the quality of the exercises. He also promoted two Omnians and one New Terran to senior captain positions, placing them in command of each squadron.
One night, in the early morning hours, Hector detected the transit of a fleet. That the ships’ vectors aligned with Bellamonde calmed him, and he waited for the telemetry update. Three Tridents accompanied a small fleet. A query of their controllers indicated they were Méridien, which indicated that the Harakens had supplied the crews for the warships. That also meant that additional Haraken Tridents weren’t coming.
As Alex would say, better three than none, Hector thought. He checked the warships’ manifests. They contained full complements of fighters and pilots.
The warships accompanied four heavy freighters, and Hector discovered the freighters’ controllers inventoried seventy-one fighters. The final ship in the fleet was a Haraken liner. President Lechaux was aboard, as were seventy-one junior fighter pilots.
Sharing the news of the arrivals with Trixie, Hector sent,
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At that moment, Hector received a comm from Terese.
This time, Hector heard Terese’s full-throated laughter. When she gained control, she sent,
During the city-ship’s time in Omnia, Hector loaded all manner of supplies and spare parts that he thought the expedition could use. Once the plans for the buildout of the city-ship’s lower deck were complete and the construction supplies were aboard, Hector recruited the individuals who would complete the work, while the ship was en route. The travelers and pilots had been transferred to his ship, and the freighters returned to their duties in the Confederation.
The professors had argued about who would go and who would stay. Yoram, as the senior professor, relented. He was the principal individual guiding the university and the Dischnya training center. Nema was adamant she was going, regardless of what the others decided. Boris, as a medical expert on human development, was considered a logical choice to go.
Finally, Priita relented. She considered Storen, as the xenobiologist, the better individual to take part in the trip. That was her excuse, anyway. Her real reason for abdicating a position was that she didn’t want to be absent when Olawale Wombo returned to Omnia, not that she expected him anytime soon.
Preparations complete, at least fairly so, Hector ordered the fleet to sail. He had one unresolved issue. Each ship contained the comm diverters necessary to protect it from a Nua’ll comm assault. However, for now, comms would be transferred through the controllers until Miriam copies could be installed.
Hector spoke with Trixie until the ships cleared the system and transited, beginning the first leg of a year-long journey.
-28-
One Ship
It had been nine months since Alex sent his message to Hector. By his calculations, it wouldn’t have reached the city-ship yet. And, it would be nearly a year and a half before he could expect the Our People’s arrival. He smiled at the memory of the heavy responsibility he had laid on Hector’s shoulders. The SADE would be attempting to perform his duties to the utmost of his abilities. What made Alex smile is that Hector would exceed his expectations, no matter what the extent of the SADE’s accomplishments.
The children’s progress had been remarkable. The Omnians had discovered they were quite adept at assimilating new information, which allowed for an accelerated curriculum and training. In turn, the children’s horizons expanded rapidly. What the Omnians wondered was what was the framework that the children possessed to which they hung the new information.
During this period, Alex decided on the final scenario for the system and met privately with Mickey.
“Mickey, have you created enough quantities of the nanites?” Alex asked.
“Not yet, Alex,” Mickey replied. “We used up much of our existing stock, patching the holes in the Freedom and internal equipment of the warships.”
“Can’t we manufacture more stock?” Alex asked.
“We haven’t the resources, Alex, unless we want to start mining this system ourselves.”
“No, I don’t want to spread our personnel out that far. It would take too long to collect them if trouble approached,” Alex replied.
“I’m hoping Hector brings some stock,” Mickey said.
“I’m still intending to leave some of our ships here until the last drone has passed away,” Alex said. “Your engineering teams will have to educate those individuals on the dispersion techniques.”
“What of Faustus?” Mickey asked.
“The decision is still out as to what should be done with the digital alien,” Alex replied.
“Do you still want the several nanites versions you’ve requested?” Mickey asked.
“Yes, I want a minimum of manufactured resource material left in this system,” Alex said.
“We’ll need to be careful,” Mickey cautioned. “There’ll be similarities between the metal in the colony ship and internal elements of our ships. Most important, the ships that will disperse the nanites have to be shell-hulled. We can’t have any metal-hulled ships, freighters, liners, or city-ship in the system, when these nanites are distributed.”
“Understood, Mickey. I was considering asking for volunteers from Trident officers and crews, and your advice has confirmed that I should follow through with that choice,” Alex replied. “Another thing, Mickey, set the lifetime of the nanites for a half year.”
“Why that long?” Mickey inquired. “The nanites work will be accomplished in a matter of days.”
Mickey eyed Alex, when he didn’t reply. It wasn’t like his friend to leave something dangerous behind that could harm others. He could understand Alex’s anger at the ugly treatment of the dead colonists, and he hoped that it hadn’t scarred Alex too deeply. Certainly, every New Terran was wrestling with their reaction to what was discovered.
Alex returned Mickey’s stare and relented. “Adjust the lifespan of the nanites to what you consider appropriate, Mickey. You’re the engineer,” he said.
Mickey nodded, his eyes warming in appreciation of Alex’s decision.
* * *
Tatia examined the telemetry.
Alex sent.
Tatia, on the other hand, crawled out of her empty bed and climbed into the refresher to wake up. Alain, with his crew, had rotated back to his Trident after enjoying two weeks aboard the Freedom. She was tempted to wake Reiko, but a second check of the telemetry revealed the sphere was maintaining its position.
the sphere’s location,
Tatia grinned to herself, the warm mist of the refresher soothing her. She acknowledged Cordelia’s point, but it was hard to drop the feeling that the final responsibility rested with her. “You’re going to be an old woman and still worrying that everything was properly executed,” she muttered, signaling the refresher off.
At morning meal, Tatia sat across from Alex. He glanced at her and attempted to hide a grin.
“Yes, I admit it. I got up to consider my options,” Tatia grumped. Food was served her and, despite feeling drained, she picked up a bun and started shoveling fuel for her heavy-worlder body.
“And did you institute any changes?” Alex asked.
Tatia was miffed for two reasons. The first was that Alex appeared rested and, worse, chipper. The second was that he was probably aware that, despite racking her brain for several hours, she couldn’t think of a credible, alternate disposition of her fleet other than the one she had.
In reply to Alex’s question, Tatia bit heavily into her bun, tearing off a big chunk, and glared at Alex. Unfortunately, the attempt at silencing Alex backfired. He broke out in his booming laughter that echoed around the huge meal room.
“We’ll have a brief meeting following our meal, Admiral. Afterwards, I suggest you get some sleep. We’ll wake you if a battle breaks out,” Alex teased.
Renée silently admonished Alex, and he relented, saying, “Seriously, Admiral, when there is trouble, we’ll need you alert and delivering your best game.”
After the meal, Alex assembled his senior people, and the admirals, who weren’t aboard, joined in via conference comms.
“Not being the naval type,” Mickey said, as individuals took seats at the conference table and Cordelia brought the Trident admirals online, “could someone offer me an explanation as to this odd event?”
