Space Trader (Galactic Axia Adventure)

by Laughter, Jim

  “That was close!” Ian exclaimed as he brought the Express to a stop. “Where are we now?”

  “Still more or less on the signal vector!” Lyyle announced happily. “Reverse your heading and I’ll direct you back to where we were.”

  Ian spun the axis ball and then nudged the throttle bar. The Express obediently moved closer to the planet while Lyyle continued to watch his equipment.

  “Give me a little warning,” Ian said after a few seconds had passed. Knowing they would be getting close, he slowed their velocity.

  “Coming up on it now,” Lyyle replied. He held a hand up. Ian slowed the ship. “Closer... closer... there!” he snapped as he closed his fist. Ian brought the Express to a stop and let it hang there in space.

  “How’d I do?” Ian asked from the control chair.

  “Close enough at this range,” Lyyle answered. He worked his equipment a little more. “Feeding you the coordinates now.”

  “Got it,” Ian said when he saw the data appear on his navigational display. Pulling up the image of the planet below, he superimposed the target area on it. A glowing circle of approximately five miles in diameter appeared on the display.

  “You sure about this? That’s a pretty small area from this range.”

  “Best I could do with what you gave me,” Lyyle said with a grin. “If I’d been able to get a better vector on his signal, I could have refined it further.”

  “Impressive,” Ian admitted. “And you say you’ve never worked with tight beam equipment before?”

  “Never,” Lyyle said as he stretched a kink out of his back. “But it isn’t that much different from some of the relay equipment we developed back on Vogel. You just use higher frequencies and have different ways of keeping the signal from scattering. Not bad for a ground-pounder, eh?”

  Ian just shook his head and then turned his attention back to the display in front of him.

  “Are you ready to go do some poking around?”

  “If you’re waiting on me, you’re late,” Lyyle offered with false humility. “How long do you think it’ll take to cover that area?”

  “It could take hours,” Ian said, studying the display. Lyyle looked dejected.

  “Don’t worry,” Ian assured him with a grin. He moved the controls and the Cahill Express started its decent toward the atmosphere below. “I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  The attacks continued, the text read, and still the large ones did not answer.

  Ert paused reading the ancient human texts to ponder the implication. Here was irrefutable evidence that humans and Horicons had interacted, albeit indirectly. The chronicler of the texts had obvious knowledge of the Horicon, but how had that come about? The Horicon had never been able to travel in space, and these humans had been planet-bound as well.

  Digging through all the texts available to him, Ert searched for references to both the Horicon and Red-tails. The later was easy to find. Roughly a generation before this planet had been razed by the Red-tails, the attacks had begun. When the Red-tails found that these people were helpless to defend themselves from space-borne invaders, the attacks stepped up in intensity. After that, the actual invasion had begun and the entire human population of the planet killed or taken captive for later consumption. Ert had read similar accounts in the history of the Axia. Only cosmic weapons and large fleets had stemmed the invading tide unleashed many centuries before.

  The only references Ert was able to find concerning the Horicon themselves were very few and usually by inference. Clearly, there had been a technological leap by these humans during an otherwise slow plod upward from barbarism. Prior to that leap, their advancement, especially concerning space, was virtually nonexistent.

  Ert realized this would require further investigation. There were simply too many gaps to establish a coherent explanation of why this far-flung and backward branch of humans knew of the Horicon. That they were wiped out by the menace that the Horicon had helped unleash on this galaxy added a particularly bitter ending to their civilization, and stirred up a guilty sensation in Ert’s internal self.

  ∞∞∞

  “What are we going to do now?” Lyyle asked as the Cahill Express sped through the darkness of space.

  “I think we might have better success back on some of the other planets,” Ian said while he double-checked the navigational settings of his ship. Satisfied, he turned the autopilot back on and stood, stretching a bit. He then headed back to the galley to fix himself a cup of tea. Lyyle joined him but he prepared coffee.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a better fix than I did,” Lyyle apologized again, “but it was the best I could do with the signal we received.”

  “To tell the truth, I think they were actually down there somewhere,” Ian replied as his tea maker finished its work.

  Taking their cups, Ian and Lyyle headed back to where they had the navigational data displayed on a separate monitor. Ian thought about the two hours they had spent doing a close scan of the target area and shook his head. Such were the vagaries of life. Lots of hints, and even a few ghost signals, but no Red-tails.

  “So why didn’t we find them?” Lyyle asked.

  “Because they were masked by something,” Ian said. “I know my sensors. It would have to take a lot of rock or something similar to hide the energy signatures that I was looking for.”

  “Or maybe they weren’t there at all.”

  “Then explain why that ship signaled the surface with a tight beam,” Ian came back. “Believe me, you don’t waste technology like that just to pass the time or talk to a bunch of butterflies.”

  “Let’s say you’re right,” Lyyle began, “and that we might have more success at one of the other planets. That they aren’t masked or hidden in some way and we find them. What do you plan to do then?”

  “That remains to be seen,” Ian replied slowly. “It depends on what we find. Even though we are able to remain hidden, we are still only one ship. We have to balance the wisdom of taking direct action against getting this information back to someone who can more effectively handle this problem.”

  ∞∞∞

  “What have you been up to, my friend?” Professor Angle asked upon entering the computer lab.

  “I’ve been researching those texts you set up for me,” Ert replied through one of the console speakers. “There appears to be significant gaps in the records.”

  “You noticed that too?” the professor quipped as he sat down at the main console. Pulling the keyboard over to a comfortable position, he logged into the system. “Which gap seemed to be the most egregious?”

  “First of all, there is a serious lack of information of how long humans were on that planet out on the rim,” Ert said. “It would seem they were there many generations before your Axia had effective space travel.”

  “I noticed that too,” the professor agreed. “It is possible that they were a forgotten colony established during the Axia’s first surge into space.”

  “That is possible. However, their low level of technology would seem to contradict that premise.”

  “Isolated colonies tend to regress,” the professor answered. “It’s happened countless times before.”

  “Was there any evidence of a higher level of technology in the diggings?”

  “My friend has noted they have not found any,” Angle answered. “Their development seemed to be fairly straightforward.”

  “With the odd exception that they wrote their chronicles in the Horicon language, was there any indication that they had any other language with which they communicated?”

  “Yes there was,” the professor answered as he finally started typing. In quick order, the files on the archeological dig appeared. “Note these passages here,” the professor added. In a flash Ert assimilated the information.

  “Why would they have two languages?” Ert asked. “It seems inefficient.”

  “Many human civilizations have more
than one language,” the professor answered. “Most often a planet has diverse nation-states, each with its own language and sub-dialects.”

  “But that doesn’t fit what the archeologists found,” Ert commented. “Their culture seemed to be monolithic planet wide.”

  “The appearance of the Horicon language does seem to be sudden,” the professor said as he pulled up yet more files. “And it appears in parallel to their native language.”

  “Exactly where were the records found?” Ert asked. The professor scanned his files before answering.

  “They were uncovered in one of their major cities. Why do you ask?”

  “Only that one location?”

  “So far. They haven’t excavated the entire planet but these records were only found at one place.”

  “Anything else unique about that location?”

  “From what they’ve found, it would seem that it was likely their preeminent site for technological development,” the professor answered.

  “That would parallel something else I found in your human records.”

  “And what would that be?”

  “Cargo cults,” Ert answered.

  “I’m not familiar with the term,” Professor Angle said as he pushed back from the console. “Enlighten me.”

  “In your human history, when a technologically advanced civilization came in contact with and overwhelmed a lesser advanced one, it would have severe social consequences for the less advanced people,” Ert said. “When that contact would be terminated, things would not return to normal. The less advance people would miss the technology of the advanced visitors.”

  “So what’s that got to do with, what did you call it? Cargo cults?” the perplexed professor asked.

  “I was getting to that,” Ert answered. “Quite often the lesser advanced people would try to imitate the technology of the visitors, usually in an effort to entice the visitors to return. The natives would even build ships and aircraft made of wood or other natural materials in their effort to imitate the visitors.”

  “And how does this apply to these humans we’re discussing?” Professor Angle asked. “There was no evidence that these people had any interaction with a more advanced branch of humanity.”

  “I noticed that as well,” Ert agreed. “But the visitors don’t have to be human to have influence.”

  “So who were the visitors?”

  “The Horicon,” Ert answered.

  “But the Horicon were planet-bound. You gave us vast chronicles yourself of the futile efforts to take the Horicon into space. Are you now telling me that they somehow succeeded?”

  “Not the Horicon themselves,” Ert answered, “but their technology.”

  “Continue,” the professor prompted.

  “What I am proposing is that somehow these humans came in contact with one or more Horicon probes.”

  “There were enough of them,” the professor agreed. “Do you have any records showing where they were sent?”

  “Unfortunately, no,” Ert answered. “Remember, my main purpose was infrastructure, not exploration.”

  “So you’re saying these people found a Horicon probe and were somehow able to utilize its technology? That’s quite a leap of logic.”

  “Compared to other examples in your human history, not really,” Ert said. “Horicon probes were basic and rugged. If a civilization were ingenious enough, they could quite easily reverse engineer the Horicon technology.”

  “Then explain their use of the Horicon language?” the professor challenged.

  “That is where the concept of a ‘cargo cult’ comes in,” Ert answered. “They clearly extrapolated knowledge of the Horicon from the probe as indicated by their reference to ‘the large ones’ in one of the texts. What I am hypothesizing is that they were trying to contact the Horicon in their own language. After the Red-tails started attacking, these humans reference actively trying to contact the Horicon for help and protection. There is no reference to having received a reply.”

  “Why would that be?”

  “Not having direct records of that, I can only surmise,” Ert answered. “By that time in the Horicon history, there was an aggressive effort underway to hide the planet from the Red-tails. That they would not reply to such a call would follow with the policy of hiding in effect at the time.”

  “So the Horicon hid from the Red-tails,” the professor commented sadly. “I would have thought the Horicon could have countered the threat somehow.”

  “Unfortunately, no,” Ert agreed. “Even with their advanced technology, they could not stand up against that frightening tide of savage warfare.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  What am I doing? Ian wondered. I’m a trader, not a combat vessel!

  The front glassite windows of the Cahill Express displayed space streaming by in a colorful panorama, belying the indifferent hazards of the cosmos. Although it was what would be night watch on a fleet ship, Ian found himself more comfortable out in the control room rather than in his cabin. He could hear Lyyle snoring in his auxiliary cabin.

  Since discovering the Red-tail courier and the possible bases it had revealed, Ian had been heading for the nearest Axia base for the help and firepower needed to deal with the problem. And although the Cahill Express had the advantage of the Optiveil, Ian did not want to try taking on an unknown force of Red-tails alone.

  This has been one interesting trip! Ian thought with a quiet chuckle. Finding a hidden planet had been understandably unexpected. He’d experienced more than his fair share of odd events in his life as a trader but that one topped them all. And now his ship was equipped with technology that made that feat possible. From a tactical viewpoint, the advantages the Optiveil would give a ship in combat would be enormous. He was also starting to consider the advantages it might give him in a trade situation. More than once he’d been forced to watch his back from duplicitous customers.

  I wonder what Tyrone would think? Ian thought. Having a ship suddenly appear undetected at his landing pad would be quite a shock, even to an experienced spacer like Tyrone. The stir it would create at an Axia spaceport would be something else. Although he was tempted to make such an entrance when they arrived, he decided to make a more conventional approach. No need to upset friends unnecessarily.

  Scanning his sensor display, Ian was pleased to see no signs of Red-tail ships in his vicinity. Even veiled from detection, he had no desire to go into combat right now. He knew he would have the advantage against one ship but such a fight would not only attract other nearby Red-tail ships, it would reveal the advantage of the Optiveil as well. There was no telling if the Red-tails might figure out a way to detect a veiled ship. It would help them considerably if they knew to look for one.

  Leave that problem for the Axia to solve, Ian thought as he scanned his instruments again.

  Deciding that he could relax a bit, Ian double-checked his autopilot and sensor systems. All were operating within parameters. Smiling to himself, Ian settled back and closed his eyes. At their current rate of travel, they’d make the Axia base tomorrow. The double surprise of a veiled ship and news of a Red-tail incursion should make for a rather interesting day.

  ∞∞∞

  Ert pondered his conversation with Professor Angle, and though the evidence they’d discussed concerning human and Horicon interaction was fairly obvious, there was more on the ancient computer’s mind. Ert felt inwardly guilty for misleading the professor concerning the humans deciphering Horicon technology. In truth, the possibility was highly unlikely. Personally, Ert suspected some outside influence had facilitated the transfer of technology but he hadn’t voiced it to the professor.

  While considering the implications of such an exchange of information, an incoming signal caught his attention. The Jibbah ship was sending a signal as prearranged earlier. Pleased to see that it was following the designated flight plan, he knew its small pilot was now downloading the information Ert had requested.

  It only took a m
atter of seconds to record the data and then the Jibbah ship sent a request for further orders. Ert pondered his options and then replied to the query. The orders sent, Ert then turned to the data he’d just received.

  First was the Jibbah pilot’s report on his encounter between a human and Red-tail ship. Ert noted that the Jibbah had been as surprised as Ert had been when first witnessing such an encounter. That this human race had the courage and ability to fight the red scourge was heartening. Neither the Horicon nor the Jibbah had been so fortunate, so they had undertaken a policy of hiding from the threat. Ert was chagrined that his creators had not applied their considerable intelligence and technology to stop the menace they’d helped unleash on this galaxy. And now the Horicon were gone.

  Feeling vicariously responsible, Ert was determined to try to right that wrong. But he couldn’t do it openly. In his estimation, it was necessary for optimal results for the humans to be the primary instruments in fighting the Red-tails. He could indirectly provide help but the humans would have to do the work.

  Then there was the mystery of that missing ship. Once, briefly, Ert had tapped a sensor signal that showed the ship near the location in space where it had earlier disappeared. But then like before, it vanished completely. On a hunch, Ert tapped into a wider net of sensors of Axia bases in that region. He hoped to find new information that would eventually reveal its fate. Add to that the ongoing mystery of where an entire planet had gone. This was beyond any experience or record that Ert possessed.

  What few records Ert had on the missing planet had shown a human colony but that had been eons ago. At that time, the Red-tails were just starting to sweep through that region. But that was all he had. If they had decimated the planet like they had so many others, there would be a scorched orb or debris field as evidence. Even destruction of the planet by natural or unnatural means would have left some debris as testimony of its fate.

  Another sensor tap alerted Ert’s monitoring program. Analyzing the information, he determined that a small Red-tail fleet was penetrating Axia space. He extrapolated its location and determined that it was probably the cluster the Jibbah pilot had observed emerging from a transit tube. Tweaking the sensor system, Ert was pleased to see that the enemy fleet still carried the ionic signature from its transit through the distorted wormhole. He added this new data to the compilation of information he was making, hoping to find a way to turn this into a positive advantage.