Alien Enigma

by Bain, Darrell; Teora, Tony

  Keane nodded. "Very good, Jer. That should show you all the difference between a professional and an amateur astrogator. We'll use it."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "How about rules of engagement, should that become an issue?" Dunaway asked in his soft voice.

  "Good point and it's been covered with Major Rambling and his officers, but it can't hurt to reiterate. The safety of this ship is of paramount importance. Actions from anyone or anything that might compromise its integrity is to be met with force. I am leaving it to the judgment of the officers in charge of their departments to make the decisions should there be no time for consulting with me or the XO. Just use good sense and we'll back you up. Clear?"

  "Clear, sir," came the murmured responses and affirmative nods.

  "All right, one more point then we'll begin reviewing operational planning insofar as that is possible. Once we reach Xanadu the first-the very first thing we are to look for is whether or not that unfinished part of the city has been completed. If it has we can assume the aliens intend to use it in some fashion. If it's not complete that will be a strong indication that it's being tended by robot caretakers. It will also be an indication that possibly it was robots that have been interfering with the ships that didn't return. Only an indication, though. We have no idea if there are even robots there, much less aliens. In either case we have contingency plans, and that's what I'd like us to review now."

  This might be boring, Keane thought, but necessary. He didn't intend to lose his ship for lack of planning. The reviews continued until shortly before the evening meal. He dismissed everyone then and began his preparations for dinner in a well-satisfied frame of mind. He had done all he could think of now. Every action in the future would be in the realm of the unknown and he had his ship as ready as possible to meet it. That was all anyone could do.

  Chapter Nine: Bolt Cluster Planets

  If man makes himself a worm he must not complain when he is trodden on.

  - Immanuel Kant

  The boy in the shorts he had seen before poked his head between the parted curtains. "Bonge!" he said and quickly retreated.

  "Oh, shit!" Clemmie exclaimed. "That bastard is coming here! Quick, get out of your clothes and under the covers in there! Hurry!" She pointed to the bed in the next room with one hand while ripping the tabs of the shirt he had given her loose. She shrugged it off her shoulders and tossed it away.

  All Doug had on was his trousers and underwear. He stripped quickly and hurried to the bed, not worrying about his nakedness but hesitant about offending her.

  "Hurry! Under the covers."

  He lifted the rough covering and slid under it. Their bare bodies touched.

  "Get on top of me! Act like we're fucking," she said, her voice urgent.

  As he moved to cover her body with his he found she was trembling. He was certain it wasn't from desire. He had no intention to try taking advantage of the situation but he couldn't help responding. It had been a long time since he'd had sex. She was just short of beautiful and the moment he was in position she quickly wrapped her arms and legs around him.

  "Move," she ordered, "but don't you dare do anything!"

  "I won't," he said, but now his own body was trembling. It was the strangest situation he had ever found himself in. An erection he didn't want but couldn't help forming made it even worse. He began moving his buttocks but was careful to avoid penetrating. "Sorry," he muttered. "I can't help it but ..."

  "Do you think I don't know that? Hush and keep moving." She shifted slightly to keep the unwanted from happening. He helped by moving upward so that his erect organ was flattened between their bodies.

  Her body shook again. At first he thought it was from fear or even disgust but then he realized she was doing her best to keep from laughing. That set him off, tickling him even while his traitor body refused to obey his orders to stop his arousal. He had to shout something unintelligible to cover the laughter that threatened to erupt.

  "Breeding. Good!" A Sinchik voice grated in the room. He hadn't heard the approaching many-treaded footsteps while in the throes of acting, or trying not to act, or whatever the hell term one used to describe the situation, if there was such a term.

  Clemmie half-screamed, half-laughed and gasped for breath. During the momentary silence he heard the steps of the Sinchik retreating. He was sure it never occurred to the being that sex should be private but at the moment it certainly didn't matter. He listened until there was no noise at all.

  "I think he's gone," she said. "But hold still for a few minutes. Act like we're finished and just coming down."

  "I'm sure as hell not coming down, not in this position," Doug said. "It's impossible but ...oh, hell. He must be gone by now. Can I get off?"

  Instead she held him tighter.

  "What ...?"

  Her arms moved over his back and her hips shifted. She inserted her hand between their juxtaposed bodies. Her fingers wrapped around his erection and guided him into the proper position, then pulled him closer. Helpless to resist, he slid inside her.

  "What ...I thought ..."

  "Hush. My last implant might still be good and it's been too goddamn long for me, too. And you were a gentleman."

  He didn't try to stop, not any more. If the Sinchik came back during the next couple of hours neither of them heard it.

  ***

  "It won't be too much longer now," Bullet said. He stroked Barbara Zembra's cheek where she was stretched out with her head in his lap. It was surprising to him how he had ever thought she was unattractive. The longer they were together the more he thought she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever been with.

  "Are you scared, Bullet?" She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

  "It's more like being pissed because we don't know what shit we might get into, but yeah, I'm a little scared. Probably a good thing too."

  "Me, too. I keep dreaming of aliens with big tentacles wrapping me up."

  "That's just me holding you while you're sleeping."

  She reached up and slapped his face, but gently. "That's why it's so nice when I wake up." She giggled.

  "All right for you. Next time you have a bad dream I won't touch you."

  "I was kidding."

  "I know it, Sweetie."

  "Hey, Bullet?"

  "Uh huh?"

  "Where'd that name Bullet come from?"

  "I dunno. I was an orphan. The lady that left me said that was my name. Dan Bullet."

  "Really? An orphan?"

  "Yup. It don't bother me, though. Besides, I like the marines. I'm going to re-up. How about you?"

  She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. Did she want to stay in or not? "It's not a bad life, over all. Travel, chance to get an education, free healthcare and another two years of guaranteed gas rations. Pay's not bad once you make sergeant. A girl could do worse."

  "A girl could get killed, too. That's the downside. You think about that?"

  "I'm not worried. I'm a sniper first and if anything gets close, I'm on the big MG. That thing'd take down a dinosaur."

  "Yeah, but suppose somebody's shooting at the fucking ship, not us personally. Not much to do about that shit."

  "You worry too much."

  "I worry about you." He moved his hand down to her breast. "Do we have time?"

  "If we hurried but I don't like to hurry. Let's wait."

  "A double to make up for it works for me."

  Barbara smiled, glad that the two hit it off. But she did worry about the mission, a troubling sense that something really bad was coming, like she saw in her dreams. She wanted to brush it off. It was only a dream after all.

  ***

  "Deal the cards," Julio Martinez said.

  "You gotta put up some chips, you're the small blind," Platoon Sergeant Marilyn Terrance said to her counterpart from A Company.

  "I am?"

  "Yes. That's how we play Texas Hold 'em. Dealer, small blind, big blind," Marilyn said, p
ointing to players.

  "Sorry. This waiting always makes me nervous." He put his chips in front of him while waiting for the people to start betting.

  "Yeah, know how it goes." She began sliding cards across the table to the other three platoon sergeants. "The troops're getting antsy, too."

  "It's the not knowing," Sun Lee offered. "Are we gonna fight or not? Or just get blown to hell with the ship?"

  "Don't talk that way. Cap'n Keane won't let anything happen to his ship."

  "He's not immortal," Martinez said. He looked at his cards and opened.

  "He's good, though. And I heard he's lucky, too," Jeeta Suharto said. "You going to call?"

  "I'll take luck any day."

  "Nah, good is better. Call."

  "Pass."

  "I call and raise a ..."

  The general quarters alarm disposed of whatever Terrance intended to raise. The sergeants tossed in their cards, grabbed back their antes and rushed from their day room, never knowing if this was going to be the real one or not.

  ***

  "Astrogator, Helm, set approach vectors on bearing requiring twelve hours to reach orbit," Keane ordered once his orders had been relayed to the other ship. "Maintain continuous all systems search for sentient life."

  "Twelve hours, aye, sir," Chavez acknowledged. She locked gazes with the Helmsman. He nodded, indicating he had it.

  "XO, battle stations, Condition Yellow, half on, half off."

  "Battle stations, Condition Yellow, aye, aye, sir. Notifications going out." Condition Yellow did not require the strident immediacy of the Condition Red alarm.

  "Com, record the following for a drone to be dropped immediately. Have it repeat in a closed loop. Message: To Santa Cruz: Am approaching earth-like planet on twelve hour path from arrival, mark 0724 hours, Twelve September at forty AU from its orbit. Hold Santa Cruz at ten AU from orbit and observe. Repeat, observe only. Do not interfere regardless of circumstances. Maintain an open circuit to Doc Travis and record all action. Keane, Doc Travis . Out. Add all the necessary parameters, inclinations from ecliptic, other planets sighted and all other standard astronomical data. Drop the drone then prepare our own satellite to be launched immediately and set the thrust to put it into orbit while we're still four or five AU out."

  "Got it all, sir," Lieutenant Bogarty said. "It'll on the way soon as we copy the recording to the drone."

  "XO, I want to go to battle stations when we reach three AU from orbit of ...was this planet named during that Wannstead survey? Brian?"

  "He's off duty this shift, sir," Dunaway said.

  "Get him up. From now on, I want him on duty with me. Find out the name, if any. If it hasn't been tagged, let the crew submit suggestions. We'll let the astro crew pick the one they like this time, then rotate among the other stations as we go."

  Keane noticed the odd looks he was getting from the officers in the control room. He knew they must be wondering why he hadn't waited until Santa Cruz arrived to begin his approach farther into this first system of the Bolt Cluster they were exploring. He looked around and smiled mirthlessly.

  "I can't see any advantages to waiting and letting our nerves get all jangled. Santa Cruz will be on their assigned station within an hour or two and I don't expect much to happen before then. Relax as much as you can and let's get this done. Com, are you getting anything at all?"

  "No, sir. Nothing at all resembling regular communications or power emissions, human or otherwise," PO Chen Zhou said. He was handling commo at the moment, but as they got closer in, Bogarty would take over.

  "Good. I'm not expecting trouble this far out so I'm going to my cabin and get a little rest. If I'm not back in three hours, send for me and put CPO Mura in the brig because she'll have fallen down on her job."

  Good natured chuckles told him his attempt at humor hit the right note and the control room crew was as relaxed as possible under the circumstances. He departed the control room with that in his mind and hoped it would stay that way.

  ***

  After two days in a ball of twine orbit around Wolf Pack, the name given the world by the astronomy/astrogation crew, Keane was almost wishing for action. The planet had been officially designated Wolf Pack after the sighting of numerous packs of large, wolf-like creatures on the scrub-covered plains of the main continent. No signs of habitation had been found nor any sign of the missing Wannstead ships.

  "Shall we let the crew touch dirt here, sir?" Dunaway asked in a private conference.

  "I have no objections so long as a marine security crew stays on alert while anyone is down. I think we need to limit the distance they can travel as well."

  "How long can we stay?"

  "John, I really hate to limit the time but liberty for the crew is not our mission. We'll give them just enough to keep their morale up, then move on to our next stop."

  "Aye, aye, sir. Two days?"

  "Sounds fine. Six hour shifts. Let's get started so we can be on our way."

  ***

  "Almost anticlimactic, huh?" Barbara said. She and Bullet were in the last of the marine contingents given a few free hours to let their feet feel dirt rather than steel beneath them for a change. As soon as they returned to the ship, Doc Travis would be on its way. They stood together gazing around at the first alien world upon which they had ever stood.

  "Yeah. What the hell, beats fighting BEMS, though," Bullet responded.

  "I wouldn't mind a BEM so long as it couldn't shoot straight."

  "BEMS don't necessarily have to be unfriendly, Barb. And just think, only one of the good worlds in the cluster showed signs of aliens during that initial survey. They could easily have missed a sub-tech species."

  "I guess we'll find out if we explore them all, won't we? Hey, have you definitely decided to re-up?" She eyed him anxiously.

  "Yup. How 'bout you?"

  "Same here. I told Top to put the papers in yesterday."

  "Hey, Sweetie, you know the marines try their best to keep married couples together don't you?"

  Barbara's plain face brightened with a smile that made her features a beacon of beauty. "Bullet, buddy, is that a proposal?"

  "Well ...yeah, I guess so. I'm sure not looking anywhere else with you around."

  Barbara Zembra took a quick sweep of the landscape and the scattered troops enjoying the sunshine and breezy fresh air then put her arms around his neck and kissed him with a thoroughness that should have taken place privately. Not a very romantic proposal, she thought, but that's just the way he is. And I like him like this. He's so bumbling sincere.

  The next day they took the oath together, changing their status from a reserve five year commitment to regular marine service, meaning they intended to stay in until retirement. From that point on, more opportunities and faster promotion would come their way, but with them would also come much greater responsibilities. Neither of them minded, certainly not at this point in their young lives. After the oath they decided to wait until Captain Keane wasn't quite so concerned with other matters to ask him to marry them.

  ***

  "Nothing, here so far, sir. Just like the last one."

  Keane nodded to the com tech. This was the third earth-like planet in the itinerary that had been mapped out, and a bit deeper into the Bolt Cluster. The last one, named Saudi-6, had been suitable for colonization though it had been somewhat dry, with extensive desert areas. It did have six moons, which made for a breathtaking night sky. This new planet, now known as Kim's World after one of the very bright and extremely well liked astronomy techs who had spotted it, was much better. Perhaps the initial colonization would be hard, chiefly because of the extensive jungle, but the atmosphere was a close approximation to that of Earth and the flora and fauna were compatible.

  Not a bad world at all, Keane thought, but they were searching for what caused ships to go missing, not planets to colonize. It was beginning to look as if Xanadu was where the mystery lay rather than one of the other systems on the itinera
ry. He could quickly skip the plan and shoot directly for Xanadu, but something inside told him that was a very bad idea. He still intended to stick to the plan he and his officers had agreed on. Go slowly, look over each star system, and gradually work their way toward Xanadu.

  "John, how about we let Santa Cruz have the liberty this time and we'll stay in orbit and watch for boogers while they enjoy themselves. Does that suit you?" Keane asked a day later while they were still examining the planet but finding nothing out of the ordinary.

  "Sounds fine to me, Captain. I'm sure they're ready."

  "Let's get on it, then. I'm getting anxious to move in deeper. I'd like to go directly on to Xanadu but I'm scared we'd miss something important if we do."

  "I agree, sir. Let's stick to the plan even if it does get to be a bit boring."

  ***

  Major Rambling had one big complaint about the accommodation for his marines. Individual staterooms were great according to the troops' opinions but there was a downside, he thought. Sleeping in their staterooms, they were deprived of the bull sessions that ordinarily took place among and between them. Sometimes great strategy and good ideas came from such gabfests. Here, with individuals isolated, they didn't grow into teams as close as they would have if bedded down in open bays, nor exchange views quite so frequently or openly. On the other hand, he had to admit that privacy had its merits, too. To prove it, he smoothed his hand over the curve of Commander June Mundahan's hip and down along the perfect length of her thigh to the bend of her knee.

  "Mmm. That feels good, but should we be thinking of that at a time like this?"

  "The Captain did say his off shift was to relax. The XO specifically advised us marines do the same thing. Who am I to dispute orders from two such august presences?" They were just beginning the first day of moving inward toward the life-zone planet in the fourth system of the cluster. It hadn't been given a name yet and was designated E67, but Rambling would be willing to bet it would wind up being called Sleepy from the way the one major continent formed an almost perfect Z as it meandered over a full hemisphere. The other side of the planet was dotted with many huge islands but no continents.