The Sha'lee Resurrection

by Paul G White

  The pair spent the next fifteen minutes deep in conversation, which consisted of a strange blend of mental imagery and spoken language translated by the ubiquitous Hela.

  Eventually, the AI announced, “Parel is close to awakening.”

  Makeman and Shenna looked up to see everyone else present staring at them in wonderment. Neither Makeman nor Shenna was aware that Hela had enclosed them in a bubble of silence, and Makeman’s colleagues thought they had witnessed the pair conversing with no difficulty at all. Ellie Merrill gave a tentative clap, which was immediately taken up by others until the applause rang around the cold sleep area.

  Shenna inserted a query into Makeman’s mind and he replied verbally, “Everyone is saying ‘well done’ to both of us. I think the last thing any of us expected was to be able to communicate so easily – and telepathically too.”

  The astronomer replied in her own language and Hela announced, “Shenna is certain that, with training, Philip Makeman’s telepathic ability will prove very strong indeed. She also believes that if this nascent ability is present in one of such a small number of your race excavating the Comora, there is hope that many other telepaths will be discovered scattered over your planet.”

  Hal Kleineman added, “Wouldn’t that be something?”

  The iridescent blue numbers of the holographic clock flickered onto 15:31:21 . . . 22 . . . 23, and continued onwards to 15:32 and then 15:33. At 15:34:10 the metallic sphere took station above the sleep unit, and the cryo-capsule slowly sank until it projected above floor level no further than the one recently vacated by Shenna. The diagnostic sphere continued to take readings from the awakening Parel for three more minutes until, once again, the sudden hiss of the breaking seal made the humans start nervously.

  This time it was Shenna who announced in Sha’lee that Parel had awoken, and the announcement was swiftly followed by Hela’s translation. Shenna held Phil Makeman’s arm and urged him gently along to stand beside her at the sleep unit. The lid hinged upwards, revealing Parel, blinking his eyes into focus.

  Shenna, who had been communicating telepathically with her mate for several minutes, all the while apprising him of the circumstances of their disinterment and the strange and alien nature of their rescuers, announced, “I am here with my human friend, Philip Makeman. There are other humans here and they are all my friends. Hela will present everyone to you, so that you will know them and understand they are your friends also.”

  As Hela translated Shenna’s words, she had begun the procession of holographic figures alongside the cryo unit, announcing each name and specialisation

  Parel watched the stream of images avidly, and when the display was over and the last of the figures had flickered and died, he turned his head and gazed into Phil Makeman’s eyes. Tentatively, he formed a thought in Makeman’s mind. The images projected a vague sense of helplessness – a need for strength in a time of weakness. Makeman instinctively knew what Parel was seeking; he took a step forward and held out both hands for the Sha’lee to hold. With Makeman’s support, the astronomer forced himself into a sitting position before asking for help once more. Leaning on Makeman’s arm, he managed to stand erect, wavering unsteadily for more than a minute, holding on to the comparatively giant frame of the geophysics expert.

  Finally, Shenna urged both of them over to the two seats they had vacated and called another one for herself from the wall. When she was confident that her mate was comfortable, she announced, “Would all our friends please allow Parel a little time to recover? Sha’lee males are traditionally less robust than females, and the awakening process has left him weary. Hela will provide nourishment to build his strength and dispel the tiredness from his body and mind. Meanwhile, we shall converse, the three of us, and my spiritual partner will learn how alike we and our rescuers are in so many of those ways essential to friendship between our races.”

  When Hela had translated, Hal Kleineman asked, “How long do you think you will need?”

  Shenna spoke to the AI and Hela announced, “One hour.”

  “In that case,” Kleineman said cheerily, “I’m going to the canteen for something to eat. I’m famished.”

  Mike Carter agreed, “It’s well past lunch time and who knows when the next opportunity will arise. Hela, can you show us the way out?”

  “Of course . . . and I will provide food suitable for the metabolism of Philip Makeman.”

  Carter was surprised by the development. “Are you happy with that, Phil?”

  “I don’t see why not,” Makeman replied with a grin. “We’re all happy with Hela’s assessment of the bacterial situation, so I reckon she’ll be able to concoct something that won’t harm me. Who knows, I might even like it.”

  With an airy wave of his hand, he dismissed his friend and the rest of the medical team and settled down to converse with Shenna and Parel. The food consisted of a warm, homogenised soup, which carried a taste reminiscent of minestrone, and in which floated several pieces of a starchy, bread-like substance. Makeman was astonished that the ship’s systems had been able to produce any kind of food after lying dormant for many millions of years. The utensils provided by a dispenser in the wall would have been acceptable in the site canteen, and Makeman wondered why he should be surprised. After all, the Sha’lee were physically similar to humans in a great number of ways. Apart from their size, the proportions of their limbs and an extra joint in their legs, they possessed the same bipedal physical characteristics that had developed in humans over the past four million years. They had three fingers on each hand with an opposable digit, instead of four fingers and a thumb in humans, and Shenna’s manual dexterity differed little from that of humans.

  Makeman finished his soup and said, “That was good,” and Shenna and Parel sensed the approval in his thoughts.

  When everyone had emptied their bowls, they made themselves comfortable in anticipation of a long conversation whilst Parel regained his strength.

  The astronomer’s first question came as a surprise. “Who will be next to awaken?” he asked Phil Makeman.

  “I’m not sure,” Makeman replied, “but I think I heard Shenna mention the name, Lessil.”

  The two Sha’lee stared at each other for several seconds, and Makeman thought he must have said something wrong. Finally, Parel said, “We have searched Shenna’s memory together, and we are certain that Captain Lessil’s name has never been mentioned by her. Hela,” he called, “has our captain been mentioned by name at any time since first contact with our human friends?”

  “No, Astronomer Parel.”

  Both Sha’lee turned their attention to Makeman.

  “Have I said something I shouldn’t?” he asked, radiating worry.

  “No, Philip Makeman,” Parel assured him. “What you have done is display the ability to ‘hear’ unspoken Sha’lee words. We are both astonished at this development, and when Captain Lessil is fully recovered from cold sleep, we will inform him. He will then almost certainly decide on the nature of your training, and Shenna will be first to volunteer as your teacher.”

  Makeman shook his head. This was all moving too fast for him to maintain a firm grip on events. A little while ago, he did not have the vaguest suspicion that he possessed even the most rudimentary of telepathic ability – in fact, he had always considered believers in all forms of the paranormal to be cranks. But now he had just been informed that he had ‘heard’ words in either Shenna or Parel’s mind. He felt out of his depth – lost – and both Sha’lee were engulfed by his anguish.

  Shenna leaned forward in her seat and took hold of Makeman’s hand, gently caressing his skin. At the same time, with Parel’s help, she projected a sense of calm and freedom from worry, overlaid with the scents of blossoms beside a singing brook on Sha’lee’an. The therapy was almost instantaneously effective and Makeman’s troubled thoughts receded like the fleeting memory of a dream.

  Makeman grinned and commented, “You should patent that. It would make a lot of pe
ople happy if their troubles could be whisked away so easily.”

  Parel listened to the AI’s translation, but made no comment. Instead, he asked Makeman, “Would you like to know how many intelligent species the Sha’lee people have encountered in their millennia-long exploration of the galaxy?”

  Makeman nodded. “I’d be very interested, yes.”

  The astronomer hesitated for a moment before he announced, “One!”

  Incredulous at the revelation, Makeman asked, “Only one before you came to Earth?”

  “No, Philip Makeman, your human race is the first. There were none at all until Shenna awoke from cold sleep to find herself surrounded by human beings. We have discovered many planets, a very small number of which bore life in any form. When we landed here, we were surrounded by an abundance of plant and animal life forms, and many of the wild creatures were both gigantic and mindlessly ferocious. We chose to land on a small island because the animals were generally smaller than on the larger landmasses, but even so, their size and ferocity was an insurmountable problem.”

  Seeming to gain strength and resolve from Shenna’s presence, Parel continued, “We could have exterminated the beasts, but the idea of wholesale slaughter of indigenous wildlife to enable us to settle an otherwise untameable planet was abhorrent to us. We decided to move on, but first Captain Lessil gave orders for a survey of the island species and all but a few of the crew went out to explore. Then the disaster happened and the Comora was buried so deep that even her meteor defences could not be employed to free her. Even if that had been possible, the tiny number of crewmembers remaining on board would not have been able to take her into space.”

  Makeman felt tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. His Sha’lee friends were broadcasting their sadness, and he did not have the skill to isolate himself from their feelings. “Can you explain something that’s been bothering me?” he asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

  “If possible, yes.”

  “I was wondering why you can’t just ask Hela to take the ship into space. I mean, we’ve seen how the AI has looked after everything for the past sixty-five million years without help. If she can control all the Comora’s systems the way she does, why can’t she fulfil all the functions of a crew? After the attack on the ship, why didn’t she resupply with oxygen and escape as soon as the last of the soil and rocks were cleared away, and afterwards begin the process of awakening the crew once the Comora was well away from Earth?”

  “That is a very perceptive question, friend Philip. The answer is a simple one, but the reasons why it is simple are very complex: no artificial intelligence is capable of running a ship alone.” Parel conversed telepathically with Shenna for a few seconds, receiving her approval for his course of action. “We feel we will not be usurping Captain Lessil’s authority by relating a short history of artificial intelligence and space travel. You see, the first ships to begin galactic exploration centuries ago—” he halted in mid-sentence as he realised the centuries had become many millions of years, “—centuries before the Comora was built, had smaller crews – and AIs capable of controlling the ships in an emergency. However, in an incident stamped indelibly upon Sha’lee history, the AI on an exploration vessel malfunctioned . . . and mutinied. No one knew the manner of the malfunction, but the communications officer was able to transmit the plight of the ship and crew back to Sha’lee’an before the AI intervened – with deadly consequences for the ship and everyone aboard. The wreckage was discovered several years later on the surface of an airless moon orbiting a gas giant.”

  The astronomer continued, “All exploration vessels were recalled immediately and new AIs were fitted, AIs which had been redesigned to eliminate all possibility of a recurrence of the mutiny. One of the changes was a hard-wired prohibition of any AI’s ability to control a ship alone.”

  Makeman whistled. “So you had to restrict the AIs’ abilities in order to feel safe?”

  “Yes, and during the ensuing centuries, no more ships were lost. Sha’lee spacecraft are designed and built to function for many centuries without needing to be repaired.”

  “Then I reckon the Comora has exceeded design specifications by a significant margin,” Makeman chuckled, and the two Sha’lee enjoyed his feelings of amusement along with him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Hal Kleineman and Mike Carter were the first to return to the Comora, followed very quickly by the rest of the medical teams, until the cold sleep area was once more alive with activity.

  “You’re still alive then, Phil,” Kleineman commented drily and Makeman laughed.

  Kleineman’s comment drew a question from Parel. “Why might you be dead, Philip Makeman? You have been in no danger.”

  “It was just a joke,” Makeman explained. “No one expected me to come to any harm, but the idea of being the first human being to eat food prepared by the AI on an alien spaceship that’s been buried for millions of years, would be daunting for most people. Not for me, though. If Hela can keep all the surviving crew alive all that time and then bring you out of cold sleep, I’m confident she’d have no problem with mixing the right food to suit my metabolism.”

  Parel said nothing, but he projected a feeling of gratitude into Makeman’s mind.

  Makeman said, “You’re welcome!” and Carter raised his eyebrows.

  Hela chose that moment to announce, “Captain Lessil is fifteen minutes from awakening.”

  The clock materialised above a sleep unit, positioned in the centre of the chamber. As everyone drew closer, they realised that the cryo-unit was at the centre of a diamond-shaped grid of five units, raised twenty centimetres above floor level on an oval platform, which was surrounded by two shallow steps. Carter reasoned that the ship’s captain was considered to be worthy of a personal sleep unit, and the others probably contained the surviving officers.

  Shenna and Parel stepped onto the platform, accompanied by Phil Makeman, whilst the medical teams stood well back, barely able to contain a mixture of eagerness and exasperation. Up until this point, they had had very little input in the process of awakening the Sha’lee sleepers, but human feelings of impatience were beginning to surface. The medical teams were eager to be involved in the procedure, however mundane their task, to dispel a growing feeling of redundancy.

  The two Sha’lee astronomers were oblivious to the uneasiness around them as they sought contact with Captain Lessil’s torpid mind. Both Shenna and Parel were strong telepaths, and their memories of Captain Lessil prior to his cranial injury and enforced cold sleep, were of a supremely-skilled officer with a vibrant, powerful mind, endowed with undoubted telepathic ability. And yet, individually, they were experiencing great difficulty in forging a telepathic link with their captain’s slowly emerging consciousness. Combining their two minds, they forced an opening into Lessil’s sluggish brain, but with an almost complete absence of response.

  At this point in his awakening, Lessil’s mind should have been communicating on a subconscious level prior to the resumption of voluntary thought. But this was not happening; and clearly the injury had been more serious than had been apparent at the time of the disaster.

  Makeman hissed to the humans around them, “Quiet, everyone. The captain isn’t responding and our friends don’t need any distractions.”

  Silence, disturbed only by the soft murmur of hidden machinery, filled the vast chamber.

  Parel gave a sharp command, “Hela, display images of our captain’s skull before and after his injury!”

  Instantly, two highly-detailed, translucent holograms appeared in front of the Sha’lee medics. The human doctors craned forward to get a better glimpse of the holograms.

  Abe Hertzog called softly, “Hey, Shenna, can we get a look at those images? Who knows, one of us might spot something if you miss it. After all, humans get brain injuries too.”

  Shenna consulted Parel telepathically and seconds later ordered the AI to comply with Hertzog’s request. A second pair
of holograms appeared in the midst of the human doctors. Within moments, the doctors had formed a circle around the images.

  “Anybody got a pencil to use as a pointer?” Hertzog asked, and someone handed one over. “This is more like it,” he grinned. “Let’s get to work.”

  Shenna and Parel were deep in discussion regarding what course to take in view of the development. One thing was certain: the captain could not be allowed to fully awaken until the extent of his injury and resulting incapacity had been fully investigated and, if possible, remedied.

  Parel said softly, “Hela, please suspend Captain Lessil’s revival at the present level, and halt all further awakenings until our captain is fully recovered.”

  “I have already anticipated your order, Astronomer Parel. All activity is now halted and will be resumed only at your command.”

  “Thank you, Hela. Please test the viability of your stocks of neurological and surgical nanomachines. Captain Lessil may eventually require injections of either or both varieties, and it would be prudent to be prepared for that eventuality.”

  “Of course, Astronomer Parel, I will see to it immediately. Meanwhile, I will continue to compare the images of Captain Lessil’s injury.”

  Hertzog called out once again, “Hela, can you change the colour of one of the holograms? Then can you increase the size of both of them and superimpose them so that any differences stand out?”

  Hela complied and Mai Chang, an x-ray technician, gave a restrained whoop of triumph. “I thought so,” she said, stepping forward and warily inserting her fingertips into the combined hologram as if expecting some kind of shock. The downy hair on the back of her fingers responded to a mild electrostatic field, but the effect was not unpleasant. She pushed her arm into the image, pointing with her index finger at a slight anomaly. “There’s a difference right here. I don’t know how significant it is, but as there should be no changes at all, I’m betting this is where at least some of the problem lies.”