On to Tau Ceti

by David McCahan

  “General, I would suggest you don’t so much as catch a cold down here or you’re not ever going to hear the end of it.” Adam added.

  “Uh-oh, good point Adam. I may have made a big mistake.” At that Rhonda gave Jeff an elbow to the ribs and shook her finger at him before letting loose the snicker she had been fighting to hold in.

  “Yes Sir, so much as a sniffle and we leave you behind.” Rhonda said.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen we’re coming up on the landing zone now.” Lt. Sato informed them as he circled around the landing site then leveled off and set the shuttle down with hardly a bump. “Welcome to Pav4” he said as he opened the side hatches and lowered the rear loading ramp.

  As they exited the shuttles Glory took a look around and was astonished to see scenery eerily similar to Babylon only with a correct color palette owing to the light being nearly the same color temperature as Earth’s sun. She looked at Saoi questioningly

  “We had thought of Babylon to them and how much everyone liked the site. They thought of a very similar site here and decided it would be a good place for us to settle.” He thought

  Glory looked around again and a difference was a number of huts similar to those the Collective lived in back on their home planet spread out across the area and continuing in the distance.

  “Not packed together like your settlements but also not nearly as spread out as we are used to. This will work nicely though.” Saoi thought while viewing the settlement.

  Glory then saw a group of their hosts, the other Collective, walking towards them. There were similarities with Saoi’s race in the small mouth, large eyes and bipedal but they were slightly smaller, brown skin and brown hair of varying length instead of the long blonde hair of the Collective.

  Saoi then looked from their hosts to Jeff “General may I present the Collective. Since they do not yet know your language I can translate and relay communications between us.”

  “Thank you Saoi.” Then turning to the other Collective Jeff continued. “We are happy to finally meet you and glad we were able to help.”

  “Not nearly as grateful as we are that you have come to save us from the Basel Confederation.” Jeff looked from Saoi to their hosts in shock because Saoi did not translate, instead they spoke. “We picked up your language as we merged with your Collective and we didn’t think to mention that we could speak as well as our being telepathic and so Saoi did not know. Our apologies for the confusion. You can call me Ginnish by the way.”

  Jeff was completely dumbfounded for a second and then finally regained his composure “I am Jeff Fitsimmons and command the Columbia, our ship. This is ..”

  “Glory Callaghan, we are very pleased to meet you. You have made quite the impression among the Collective. The personal merge between you and Saoi is really intriguing. We would love to have the opportunity to study that. Since we have some experience with individuality we might have some unique perspective to bring to the subject. Saoi why is she turning red like that?” Ginnish stopped talking while observing the crimson blush Glory was displaying.

  “Oh she is displaying embarrassment over what she regards as a private matter being common knowledge. Somehow she relates our merge as being similar to procreation.” Saoi explained.

  With that Glory decided that a change of subject was overdue. “Ginnish I see that you have huts setup for our Collective to settle here. We had not planned on a settlement here due to the distance between here and our home planet but considering that we now have a way of traveling between our home in days instead of years I am wondering if we might not create a small human settlement here as well? We certainly would not have any communications problems. I really cannot believe that your vocal cords were not picked up on.”

  “Well now that you mention it we believe that would be an excellent idea. We are not as few as your Collective but we certainly have a large amount of open space we could share with some of your human populace. Actually we would be willing to take quite a few more than you were thinking of. As we understand the capacity of your colony ship we could easily create at least four settlements of a full ship each.” Ginnish explained.

  “Ginnish that is a total of two million settlers. Are you sure about this?” Jeff asked

  “General, if not for you we would shortly have been extinct. We have the room and besides we find you interesting. Glory our offer to help with your getting lost in your merge stands. I really think..”

  Saoi interrupted quickly “Ginnish, I think it best that we leave this subject for now if you please?”

  Catching Saoi’s mental description of Glory’s discomfort he relented. “Absolutely, oh I had not noticed this creature before but I don’t sense a living animal. Is this one of the artificial animals?” Ginnish had noticed Missy was standing next to Jeff and the conversation turned to the robotic companions.

  Index

  Chapter 15 - Home

  “Glo, I’m sorry you were embarrassed down there. I’m glad we finally got off the subject of you getting lost in your merges with Saoi. I was laughing so hard I was afraid I was going to pee myself and I apologize for that too.” Rhonda and Glory were back on board the Columbia. Saoi and Jeff stayed behind while the rest of the 2,000 of the Collective were shuttled down to the planet where they were going to live.

  “Oh don’t worry about it. I don’t know why I find the whole thing so personal. The thought of the Collective monitoring our merge just seems like an invasion of privacy in an embarrassing way.”

  “I’m not going to claim to be the expert here, that would be Emma’s territory, but I believe that what you and Saoi are experiencing is intensely personal. Probably more personal than when a couple makes love so I think you are fully justified in your feelings.” Rhonda did her best to console her friend and then continued “Saoi doesn’t understand because there is no concept of privacy when you only know a culture of being a single mind. As fast as he picked up on everything about us he is still not human and maybe he needs to listen with you more on this subject to understand.”

  “That’s the problem we get lost when we listen on this. I know what you mean but even though he is not human he still is a man and aren’t they all a little dense in this area?” Glory was thinking out loud.

  “A LITTLE dense. You way overestimate men I think.”

  “Rhonda I believe you are probably correct on that.”

  “Columbia we approve your delay of two weeks to fabricate the components and place a Grav Station in orbit of Pav4. We also approve your request to leave 2,000 volunteers on planet to establish a scientific outpost along with 12 shuttles and such materials as you can spare in order that they can construct housing and support infrastructure after you depart for Earth. Considering you can now make that transit in a few days that should be a considerable amount of materials but no more than 2 weeks. Good job Columbia. Emerson out.”

  “Well as you see we have authorization for the settlement of Athens here on Pav4 but we only have two weeks to get done what we have to in order for them to be able to construct the settlement. Obviously the Grav Station is top priority in order to provide GravCom with earth and the other settlements. Jasper, I understand you are requesting to be allowed to be part of the settlement?” Jeff was meeting with senior staff to prepare to place a settlement on Delta Pavonis 4.

  “Yes Sir I would love the opportunity to be a part of this.” Lt Colonel Jasper Unbuntu, Head of Geo Sciences, replied.

  “Excellent, approved. You’re also appointed settlement commander so get your materials list together and meet with Colonel Callaghan to review the list of volunteers to decide the best 2,000 that fits the needs of the settlement but also leaves Columbia’s systems covered.”

  “Congratulations Jasper. I’m forwarding the list of volunteers which includes their bio information and a summary spreadsheet that includes their specialties. Once you’ve reviewed that, make your recommendations and then we’ll meet to discuss. I’ll also include a breakdown of
equipment and materials used in the first two settlements along with what we can spare. If you will review that and prioritize the list, then we can get the shuttles to start moving it planet side.” Glory informed him of the impending data dump in his inbox.

  Jasper suddenly went pale and looked between his commanders and then responded. “Thank you Sir and yes Ma’am I’ll get right on those.”

  “Excellent. Well considering the amount of work we all have” Jeff gave a side glance and wink to Jasper “I think we best dismiss this meeting and get to it. We only have 336 hours until we launch for Earth. Speaking of which Glo ..”

  “I’ll start a countdown clock in Command and Control Sir ….. 336 hours and counting down, mark. All set.”

  “In that case everyone is dismissed and since you’re so efficient friend we have a little surprise for you for a change. Rhonda and Eva would you lead the way?” Jeff waved his hand at the door indicating they should go ahead.

  “Actually Jeff I have a better idea.” Rhonda said and Jeff raised an eyebrow in question. “Missy, take us to room Alpha Delta 441 please.”

  Missy gave a short bark in acknowledgement and then lead the way out of the room, tail wagging happily as she went.

  “Glo and Saoi if you would follow our guide please.” Eva indicated for them to follow.

  Glory looked around and then “OK, buddy I’m not sure what to make of this but I guess we’ll follow that puppy and find out.” and took Saoi’s hand and headed after Jeff’s dog.

  The room indicated were officers quarters near C&C and so Glory was thinking that they were providing Saoi quarters closer to Glory’s quarters as well as closer to C&C. When they arrived Missy stopped at the door, gave a bark and the door slid open. Glory and Saoi and the rest of the group followed her in. Glory stopped and looked around. These were not quarters that she was familiar with at all. In fact, they were quite a bit larger and appeared to be a suite. There was a common living quarters as well as two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Glory looked around, then looked at Saoi who just shrugged and then looked around at her friends who all had silly smiles on their faces. “Ok did I miss a memo? Since when do we have quarters like this and why the mass reveal?”

  Eva looked at Jeff “You’re right Sir. She can see 10 light years and miss what’s right in front of her.”

  “Alright I guess we had better spell it out for her. Glo, since you two are always together it seemed inefficient to have your quarters so far apart.”

  “Well actually since you two are more and more becoming one person we decided you should have quarters to share.” Rhonda finished the thought.

  Glory began another of her famous blushes and began to protest “Now I know we spend a lot of time together but living together now that’s a big leap.”

  Saoi turned to Glory and took both hands in his and looked into her eyes. He cleared his throat, which seemed odd to Glory, then …. he …. SPOKE “Glory, you know that our friends are correct and also you notice that there are two bedrooms so they are not violating any privacy as to how or if we use them. This means we do not need to waste time with separate living quarters and I want to be with you always.” The voice was a bit raspy and the pronunciation of some words was a bit off but he SPOKE!

  “You spoke, but how?” a very startled Glory asked.

  “We did not develop the ability to speak because we did not need to and saw no reason to, until we met you all. We are working with Doctor Evans to help humans to develop at least the ability to hear the Collective in our thoughts, so why not convince our bodies to develop vocal cords and speak?”

  Glory then looked at Jeff very intently and thought “Jeff … can … you … hear … me?”

  “If you were giving me a dirty look I promise his speaking is news to me also, but if you were thinking something at me then I’m not there yet, although judging by the look I’m not sure I shouldn’t be thankful at this point.” Jeff replied.

  “No I was just asking real hard if you could hear me.” Glory stood looking around the quarters again and then to Saoi. “I agree with you and want more than anything to be with you and this is a good solution. Thank you all, what a wonderful surprise.”

  “Glo I know that you find the thought very embarrassing but I know you want to be able to merge with Saoi and not lose yourselves. You might consider taking Ginnish up on his offer before we leave. Considering they already had some measure of individuality before we got here he might actually be able to help.” Jeff hoped she might actually see the reasoning was sound.

  Glory looked at Jeff then back to Saoi and around to Rhonda and Eva. Suddenly Missy barked and sat wagging her tails. “Uh-oh it looks like I’m being out voted. Jeff there is so much to do in such a short time.”

  Jeff cut her off “We can make time. Jasper has the task list and we have plenty of personnel to pick up the slack.”

  “Ok then we’ll head down on the next shuttle.” Glory said but looked at Jeff for confirmation. He just nodded his acknowledgment.

  Glory, Saoi and Ginnish went off to a quiet area away from all the bustle of the Athens settlement location. “Now I’m not going to join or interfere with your merge but just monitor to see if I can stay in contact of your merge.” Ginnish said.

  “Are you ready Glory” Saoi asked.

  “Your voice sounds better but is going to take some getting used to. I like it by the way. Yes, I think I’m ready.”

  Glory thought of Saoi and the previous times they merged and found his presence and he was welcoming and there it was again, so totally wrapped in love and then they were one mind and thought and it was wonderful. “Love …… This is love …… I Love You” Glory suddenly was separate again and looked at Saoi. “Was that you or was that me?”

  “That was us.” He replied.

  “Yes you’re right that was us. I’ve been denying it but yes, I Love You.” With that Glory reached out for Saoi mentally and merge with him again. The same feeling of intense love enveloped her but now she understood and was not overwhelmed. They were still of one mind and thought but the time sense and the sense of the world around them was there. “YES!!” Glory stepped out of the merge again and now instead of holding hands they were embracing and Saoi was looking at Glory with a confused expression.

  “Yes?” was all he said.

  “Yes. I just needed to admit what I was feeling and then was not overwhelmed by it and kept awareness of the world around us to some extent.”

  Saoi thought for a minute then “I have listened on this and I agree. I was also denying the extent of my emotional attachment to you. That I am in love with you as well.”

  “So are we done here then?” Ginnish startled Glory.

  “Oh yes, thank you for your help.” Glory gathered her composure and answered.

  “Didn’t actually do anything but glad to be of help.”

  Glory turned to him “Just your being here in case we got lost gave us the assurance that we could again explore our merge in safety. We now understand it and for that we are grateful.”

  The 336 hours (2 weeks) passed quickly but the grav station was in place and 2,000 crew were now permanent settlers. The 12 shuttles and all materials needed to create a human scientific outpost were in place. It would take time for them to construct the settlement but everything they need is there. The remaining 5,000 crew and 1,000 of the Collective were now preparing to break orbit to get the Basel data cores back to Earth as quickly as possible.

  “We understand the urgency of getting that data back to Earth ASAP. Hopefully you’ll get those six shuttles to us soon but we’ll make do until them. Congratulations on a mission well done Columbia. Richardson out.”

  Glory, Saoi and Jeff were reviewing the message received from Eileen Richardson responding to the news that they could not stop to drop off the shuttles she loaned them for this mission. “It would be tempting to Jump to the edge of the Tau Ceti system and let the shuttles run in system on their own. They do have the range although
it would be a bit of a stretch.” Glory was thinking out loud.

  “I had thought of that myself but that’s a long stretch for our shuttles. With the amount of dust in that system I really wouldn’t want to put someone in that position. If it was Eden system then I might just do it.” Jeff replied.

  “Your right, that is not a good system to put a shuttle in that position. So time to break orbit?” Glory asked checking her own countdown.

  “I would say you are the expert on that so let’s get under way.” Jeff replied as they left his office with Missy trotting along happily bringing up the rear.

  Jeff keyed his com to the command network “All departments prepare for launch. Update system status please.”

  Glory began to roll through the status updates in her cyber merge and see that all systems were green and then with what she could literally call her other half see that the Collective were go for launch. “All systems report green for launch Sir.”

  “Very good, Engineering bring up the Grav Drives, Nav you may launch when ready.”

  Index

  Cast

  Glory Bria Callaghan – 45, 20 year veteran of the Western Republic Air Force, Colonel. 5’ 9”, 120 lbs. Appearance: by 20th century standards looks about 21, red hair (shoulder length), green eyes, fair complexion. She is the product of the latest generation genetic “correction” which now begins gene therapy in Utero and continues throughout life, correcting DNA errors, and initiating the body’s own T-Cell network to produce youthful cells to reduce aging (in the case of the current generation – halt aging?) The result is extremely slow aging past maturity, genetic based cures eradicating most all disease, and ideal (if not perfect) bodies. Glory also possesses the latest generation (straight from R&D accelerated testing) integrated cyberlink implantation. In essence, a supercomputer implanted in her head with full data connectivity to the surrounding network. She can lean on the ship’s main computer merely by thinking the request. Possessing excellent intellect (before the robotics) and a career focus she was chosen for 2nd in command of the Columbia mission.