by David Buck
The two female humans and the female Trader continued to discuss the biology of both their species as the morning progressed. At several stages Samantha looked thoughtful as she considered how the Traders had ended up with their tattoos in the first place.
***
The six mission team members looked at hologram showing the aero-spike design details in awe. Halbindestat made a quick point about the shield technology, and even Steve, with his generic engineering knowledge could get the gist of his reasoning. The shielding technology underpinned both the aero-spike and the fusion drives that the Traders used in their ship.
‘Our shielding allows us to prevent high temperature ablating and maintain laminar flow inside the aero spike engines. However we have a usual fault with one of engines that I am investigating.’
Ian was amazed at the design aspects as he pondered the performance figures against the stated output of the fusion reactors. The brilliant American scientist seemed to be mentally calculating the figures as he spoke.
‘The power from those aero-spike engines during their operations time is amazing. Even so you produce a lot of power, but your combined engine performance is marginal in an atmosphere without the aid of your sneak ships?’
The Trader engineer looked at Ian with further approval as he answered.
‘The Illuria has power and fuel conduits running to each of the main wing pylons that allows the sneak ships to be powered past their standard drive output rating. Our design is actually the best one for our needs as a space based race. None of the other races operate larger ships that can land on your world. The Jerecab lifter is a third of our size and one quarter of our engine performance, so they would land but not be able to leave unaided. The other races all use specialised civilian lifters that are much smaller than our ship.’
Steve then did not have to think too much as he asked his first questions of the day.
‘Captain, you seem to have a large reserve of power generation compared to engine power in your ship. So am I correct in assuming that most of power reserve is used for either weapons or shielding during battle? And on the subject of other races, they would have to bring atmospheric ships to land on our world?’
Captain Narindestat ruefully looked over the avid faces of the humans as he replied.
‘Well the main guns take most of the surplus energy in combat, as our aim is to avoid damage in most cases. If we are disabled in this part of space, we would be attacked by successive waves of Tilmud frigates until they took or destroyed the ship. We deal with the opportunistic Tilmud from a position of strength by having more powerful ships and not staying in the one place a long time. Now with regards to the other races, I did say larger ships. Note that most of their smaller frigates and destroyers are capable of landing on your world. Also the bigger cruisers can use their strong shields to enter your upper atmosphere in high speed strafing attacks.’
The now mollified humans looked at each other and grimaced, and the Trader captain continued on again.
‘Now the two smaller ships we are leaving you with are not capable of flight, though the design cues and technical information they contain are valuable. They are merely smaller wingless versions of our main ship. If you would like to follow the chief engineer we will now take a tour of our main guns before we return outside for a meal.’
As they moved through the ship towards the main guns, Steve was trying to parse the ramifications of what the Trader captain just told him.
‘So how do we defend ourselves in such a potentially hostile galaxy?’
The Trader captain now walking slowly ahead looked around at Steve as he replied.
‘Well I have a few suggestions for your race and they are not all military in nature.’
Steve listened carefully as he followed Captain Narindestat, and he repeated key points aloud, so that Dan and Douglas could in turn follow the conversation.
***
Samantha and Rebecca had remained with Emeria in the sick bay and conferred over the few remaining patients that still occupied beds. The human medicines appeared to be working well, and Emeria congratulated the two humans.
‘Now just remember, the galactic races are not infallible and your assistance with treating our illnesses proves that as well as being invaluable. We are truly in your debt.’
Samantha and Rebecca graciously accepted the warm gratitude of Emeria. Samantha then moved onto her own research results as she fetched her data tablet from her backpack.
‘Emeria, I looked at the tissue samples and I obtained some interesting results. The tissue sampling from the tattoos seems particularly interesting. I think that the immunological affects of the tattoos are largely in place, though I cannot say how the changes will affect your species’ life spans or reproductive abilities.’
Emeria looked at the data tablet as it quickly started up in front of her. After several moments she positively evaluated both the human technology and the results displayed.
‘Samantha, I understand your race has enjoyed a growth in computer technology and what I see here is an impressive offering for a junior race. You should highlight this technology to the rest of our crew. Now the results you show here are very similar to my own findings.’
The Trader medical officer looked over the results and charts to verify what she was observing. She then asked a question about an enzyme workout chart towards the end of the findings.
‘Samantha, these charts are in a series of three elements, only one of which I recognise as belonging to Trader biology, though it is skewed from my own estimations?’
Samantha knew too well what the charts represented, as she had spent two very late nights with Rebecca working over the results of the enzyme sampling.
‘Well Emeria, possibly our methods are different. Now you are seeing two human element profiles, before and after our pandemic, plus your own Trader element. I have no previous Trader enzyme element profile, but I stand by my earlier comment for what it is worth.’
Emeria accessed a nearby console, and hauled up a hologram display that somewhat matched the information on Samantha’s data tablet.
‘Samantha, this is our initial Trader enzyme baseline. Can you please call out your own information and I will overlay it on my display. Call out the Trader sequences first then both your human enzyme elements.’
The initial reference line soon had three other lines present on the display, and Emeria circled the slowly rotating display critically for several more minutes before speaking again.
‘Samantha and Rebecca, once again I am in your debt. I will have to talk to the Captain again, but what I request is that you carefully analyse the Voorde fragments with your technology. I have some frozen samples here and they are full of pathogens so be careful. I agree with your assessment about our health status, subject to further verification. Now we should consider going back outside to rejoin your team on the island.’
After several more minutes the frozen Voorde samples were loaded into the medical samples box in Rebecca’s backpack, Samantha repacked her data tablet and they headed out of the sick bay. As they walked the long corridor down to the ramp Emeria seemed preoccupied, and she paused before commenting about another concern that was bothering her a great deal.
‘As I mentioned earlier, all our males are experiencing an increase in aggression, though this has not reached a dangerous level as yet and is not likely for some time. However it would be a tragedy to safely regain space only to have fighting start between crew members. Interestingly, Garendestat states that he feels no increase in aggression and this concerns me. For either something is wrong with most of our other males or Garendestat?’
Samantha considered the latest observation Emeria had made as they reached the outside of the ship to rejoin the others.
***
Captain Narindestat stood quietly with Garendestat and Halbindestat at one end of the awning, as Steve conferred with the senior members of the mission team. They were all suitably impres
sed by the inspection, even if the weapons technology had been hard to follow. Samantha and Rebecca walked under the awning and went to greet their respective partners, as Emeria moved across to quietly talk to Captain Narindestat and Garendestat.
‘Captain we gave made progress on the biology and medical areas that concern us due to the assistance of the humans. I will give a full formal briefing on our findings at the end of the day.’
Captain Narindestat was intrigued by the medical officers’ quick report, and he drew Emeria to one side to obtain the gist of the morning discoveries in several whispered paragraphs. He looked thoughtful for several moments, then moved closer to the humans and gave a low formal bow.
‘I thank you on behalf of my crew as your medical technology has been of great assistance to us.’
Steve and his senior team members had in the meantime got a brief run down of the mornings discoveries. Steve had yet again reminded them all of their agreement to keep the tattoo losses confidential, and the reasons why they had to do so.
‘Well Captain hopefully this will go some way to assuring you of our good intentions. Now we should start discussing this two part deal you are recommending. However I must tell you we are still wary of the Maveen, due in part to our limited involvement with them.’
Captain Narindestat gave a start, but recovered before casually picked up a large drink he had placed on a nearby table. He sipped the drink thoughtfully as he looked at the humans under the awning for several moments before he replied.
‘I will go and talk with the Maveen lead probe again, and my engineers will raise one edge of the awning to admit the probe. Now I will not guarantee that the lead probe will even talk to you. Please wait here and I will be back soon.’
The Trader captain replaced his drink and determinedly strode from the awning over to the line of resting Maveen probes.
***
The Maveen lead probe watched as the Trader captain approached with no great surprise. The group of probes had evaluated that they would have to take a riskier line of involvement with the humans to achieve their goals. Captain Narindestat strode up to probe five and brusquely called out.
‘Are you awake and are you going to help with these negotiations in a direct manner now?’
The lead probe replied in a calm metallic voice as it rose several meters into the air.
‘Captain, you address probe five not me. Note that it was always my intention to help in the negotiations.’
Captain Narindestat stifled a snort of indignation as he now addressed the lead probe.
‘How am I supposed to know one identical Maveen probe from another? Now don’t answer that, as I have to bring you into this meeting with the humans as soon as possible.’
The lead probe considered the Trader captain for several seconds even though it already knew what it wanted to say.
‘Captain, we have sampled the biology of this world, and we have found that the humans have not looked after the ecology of this planet since their industrial revolution. Also we are aware that the interaction with the galactic races will increase risks on human survival for many centuries to come. We will therefore increase the size of our deal to address these two issues.’
The probe then listed the changes in the deal to the dumbfounded Trader captain. Narindestat responded in a flurry of gestures, and sharp comments, as he paced up and down in front of the lead probe.
‘You cannot be serious in what you are suggesting in your changes. The galactic races will turn up in force for sure if you go ahead with your final proposal. The original plan was better as it could be argued that what came here on our ship left on our ship. I am starting to think this world is affecting your programming.’
The lead probe regarded Captain Narindestat in silence for several more seconds. The Trader had moved closer to a secret the Maveen would never reveal, but he could not be permitted to even surmise in that direction. The Maveen lead probe now gave a shrill beep of annoyance. The tactic seemed to once again have the desired affect, and the Trader captain stopped pacing around to balefully glare back. Satisfied now on Captain Narindestat’s discomfort, the Maveen lead probe spoke again.
‘Captain, do not worry about the details of our deal. We only need to add one ship to give you the required means to leave this world quickly. Here is how we are going to do this deal, and I will then address the humans as well as I want no misunderstandings on their part.’
Captain Narindestat listened for several minutes as the lead probe repeated his earlier points and added extra information.
***
Garendestat looked over at the Maveen probes as he heard the shrill beep from the lead probe. He then looked over at the chief engineer who tried to ignore what he had just heard. Garendestat was not in such a conciliatory mood, and he dryly observed to both the humans and the Traders what he felt was occurring.
‘It looks like father is having another troubled meeting with the lead probe. I am sure the Maveen are programmed to be both demanding and obtuse, and we are not the only ones to think of them in this manner.’
Halbindestat gave Garendestat a measured look, who for his part just adjusted his arm sling. The chief engineer decided to let his comment slide, as the lieutenant was not on the ship, even if he was on duty. Emeria looked at Garendestat and he locked eyes with her for several moments. He then smiled and moved to the edge of the awning to further regard the Maveen probes.
Rebecca hauled out her data tablet and moved across to speak with Samantha. Samantha looked at the now open data tablet, and then her eyes sought out Emeria, who soon crossed the several meters separating them. Emeria glanced at the images on the data tablet as Samantha asked her a question.
‘Emeria, has your race ever experienced nitrogen narcosis?’
Emeria looked at the images of Garendestat when he first arrived on the human ship and it all started to make sense from her perspective. Garendestat saw them looking at the data tablet and moved across to stand by Emeria’s side. Samantha looked up at his much taller height and gave him a smile as she spoke.
‘Garendestat, did you have any pains in your joints and a bad headache as you ascended into shallower depths or immediately afterwards?’
Garendestat reached into a large hip pocket on his uniform to fetch his view finder as he replied.
‘I certainly did experience those symptoms, though my suit protected me by pressurising my body to compensate. I guess the compensation may not have been adequate at the time. Note that my view finder has a copy of the suit data for analysis.’
Emeria sequestered the view finder and in moments was viewing the air pressure profile. A couple of short intakes of breath indicated both her concern and panic as she fought to calm her emotions. Samantha asked the question that concerned her as Emeria now lent against Garendestat for support.
‘So is the suit data indicating both oxygen and nitrogen over pressures for your race?’
Emeria nodded and then replied after a few more moments to compose herself.
‘Yes the suit did a remarkable job of keeping him alive. He experienced a near lethal dose of oxygen and nitrogen poisoning. No wonder you could not get much out of him over the first day or so.’
Samantha then drew an interesting conclusion from the information.
‘So Garendestat is the only one to both experience an over pressure and to not experience any increases in aggression. I think that this is significant as it can be a major source of trauma for humans as well.’
Garendestat studiously avoided making a reply, as he was watching Captain Narindestat led the Maveen lead probe underneath the now raised awning. The two human medics and Emeria moved to one side and whispered amongst themselves as they looked in turn at the data tablet and the view finder. The Maveen probe halted after partially entering the awning and came to rest on the ground.
***
Captain Narindestat straightened his ornate jacket and called the assorted assembly of humans, Traders and the
sole Maveen to order. Steve had just walked back in with the other members of the human mission team. He had been off again inspecting the two damaged sneak ships and the equipment stockpile with his mission team and several Trader crew members. The Trader captain stood in front of the Maveen lead probe and turned to address the meeting.
‘Now that we are all assembled here I ask that only the lead probe, Steve and myself speak initially as there will be time for questions later hopefully. Lead probe, I do not want any shrill noises and remember you promised to answer all reasonable questions from the humans.’
Steve and the lead probe gave curt replies and the Trader captain continued to speak.
‘The deal involving the two damaged sneak ships and the equipment stockpile is understood, has been agreed to, and is a prerequisite for another deal with the Maveen. We are all in agreement that if you do not like their deal, both we and the Maveen are still free to complete our own arrangements and leave your planet.’
Captain Narindestat was quietly hopeful that this would be the case, as he was still very concerned about the humans being attacked by other galactic races. However the lead probe’s instructions had been explicit and he continued to speak.
‘The Maveen offer this deal, and it has to be decided upon urgently and in confidence due to our need to leave your world as soon as we can do so. I understand that you have no singular planetary authority but I recommend you accept this deal. The Maveen are known in the galaxy as the eternal helpers or the makers of worlds, and it is in this role that their offer is made.’
