by Jeff Sims
He made it to the center and stopped. The humans’ only acknowledgement had been their eyes. They had followed his progress across the floor and were still staring at him. He really wanted to run. He looked back and saw that Arean had followed him and was standing next to him. He gathered himself and said, “Hello, I am Solear, the captain of this cruiser. Do you understand me?”
All 20 shouted in unison, “Yes sir.” The sound shocked Solear and made him jump. He spun around and looked. None of the humans had moved. None had spoken further. The humans must have noticed the leap, for one of them said, “Yes Captain, we can understand Alliance basic. Please continue.”
There was a distinct accent to the words, but Solear certainly understood them. He realized that they must be waiting for him to speak. Solear said, “Welcome to the cruiser Sunflower. Effective immediately, you are all volunteer members of the Alliance Navy.” Victor hadn’t exactly specified whether he had kidnapped them or recruited them, so Solear thought it best to include the word in the official record.
Still silence from the humans. He wondered if they understood. He continued, “This is Arean, he is the commander of the fighter wing and your direct officer. Arean, please say a few words.” Solear took a step backward and waved Arean forward.
Arean was dumbfounded. He wasn’t prepared to speak. The humans were now staring at him in utter silence and he felt queasy. He didn’t know what to say so he simply repeated a slogan. He said, “May each of you have a rewarding career in the Alliance Navy.”
Arean’s speech had been met with complete silence. No response at all. It was weird and unsettling, so Solear decided to try something different. He said, does anyone have any questions?” Several of humans put their hands in the air, but again there was complete silence.
He whispered, “Computer, what did that mean?”
…92.2%. The ones with questions raised their hands. This way you can point to them one at a time and not get confused by hearing multiple questions at a time..
Solear thought that he actually liked that approach. He pointed to the nearest one and said, “What is your question?”
The human asked, “Are we at war yet?”
Solear asked, “At war with whom?”
The human responded, “The Hiriculans. Are we at war with them?
Solear responded, “No. However, we think the Hiriculans are building a secret base or a new weapon. We are currently on our way there to perform some reconnaissance.”
The first human seemed to be okay with the answer, so Solear pointed at a second one. The human asked, “When are you going to scan our brains and give us anal probes?” Oddly enough this elicited a response from the other humans. Several of them snickered. He noted that two others took their hands down.
Solear didn’t know how to answer the question. He wasn’t entirely sure what the question meant, but it sounded like the human wanted a medical exam. Advranki, well Alliance, medical technology was far superior to humans, so perhaps it was a reasonable request.
Solear answered, “I will check with medical and see when we can get that procedure scheduled for you.” That elicited twice as many snickers. He would have to ask the computer for clarification.
Solear pointed at the next and he asked, “Where is the maintenance crew for the fighters? According to the maintenance checklist, there are several things that need to be repaired.”
Arean answered, “The maintenance crew was busy on another project. Please send me a list and I will have them address each and every concern.”
The human asked a follow-up question, “Why can’t we just talk to them?”
Arean looked at Solear. Solear thought that it was a fair request. He said, “You can talk to anyone on the ship using your communicator pad. Simply press the icon called chat. You can also send messages to beings using the message command.”
Several of the humans had a strange look on their faces. Solear wondered how they could fly a fighter if they didn’t have the mental acuity to work a simple pad. He again questioned if having humans aboard was a great idea.
Solear pointed at a few others and answered their questions. Finally, there were no hands remaining up in the air, so he signaled to Arean, and they turned to leave.
A different human spoke without waiting to be called upon. He said, “Commander Arean. My name is Jim Donovan. I am the Commander, Air Group. If you have a question or only want to speak with one of us, please ask for me.”
Arean thought was an excellent concept. Talking with one of them seemed much easier (and safer) than addressing the entire group.
Jim continued, “We have flown multiple missions in simulators, but we have never actually flown the fighters. Can you prepare a training pattern for us to fly before we jump to this secret system?”
Arean asked, “Is that necessary?”
Jim said, “Yes, to ensure that the skills we learned in the simulator transfer into real flying.”
Arean said, “I will set something up for tomorrow.”
Jim said, “Commander, one more thing. I don’t think that the communication pads have been issued to us yet. Can you verify?”
Solear answered even though the question was not addressed to him. He said, “Yes. I apologize if they were overlooked. I will have our communications officer personally check into it.”
Both Arean and Solear turned and walked back through the double row of humans and into the main corridor. As soon as they left, the force field again snapped quickly into place.
Arean said, “Well, I thought that went well.”
Solear answered, “Certainly better than the first attempt.”
They had entered the bridge at this point. Solear answered, “Yes. It did. These humans didn’t seem that terrible.” They both gave a nervous laugh. He then said, “Clowy, did you issue communicator pads to the humans?”
Clowy answered, “That reminds me; I was meaning to ask if you want me to issue communicator pads to the humans.”
Solear sighed slightly and said, “Yes. I think that would be an excellent idea. Thank you.” Thinking back to the other question from the humans, he said, “Computer, analyze the conversation with the humans concerning the request for a medical exam.”
…Analyzing. Reviewing human videos and literature…
…71.0% Humans believe that aliens possess extremely advanced medical knowledge and can repair nearly any ailment if a baseline scan has been performed first…
…62.5% Humans believe that advanced aliens periodically come to Earth, kidnap humans, and perform unwanted medical exams on them, including inserting devices into their rectal cavities…
Lexxi, in reference to the second alternative, asked, “Ew, why would they think that?”
Ella answered, “Well, why do we think that they will eat us.”
Clowy said, “Because they will.” Unfortunately, Ella’s point seemed to be lost on both Clowy and Lexxi.
Arean chimed in, “Perhaps during one of the missions to Earth, someone did give a few humans a medical exam. It seems reasonable.”
Solear, tiring of the conversation, said, “Ella, set course for the Opron system, best possible speed.”
Ella responded, “Course and speed have been calculated. It should take 3 days to reach the Opron hyperspace lane.”
Ella had plotted a course directly through the center of the system and very near the mining platform. It was the most logical course, but Solear really didn’t want humans flying live fighters around Advranki colony. He said, “We are close enough to the edge of the system that we can micro jump around the outside without fear of hitting debris from the mining accident. Recalculate the course.”
Ella recalculated and said, “Computer, visual.” When the computer displayed the course, she continued, “If we make these 3 jumps, traveling as far as possible from the path of the asteroid debris, we can make it there in just less than 2 days. This spot her between jumps 2 and 3 would be an excellent location for the pilot training.�
� Ella pointed to a particular spot on the chart on the chart.
Solear said, “Proceed” and the Sunflower jumped into hyperspace.
Chapter 12
The next morning Ace awoke and went to the hangar. The fighters had all been put back into their individual bays. Also, sitting just outside the entryway to the pilot’s quarters was a boxed filled with communicator pads.
Ace picked one up and went through a brief set-up screen. He found an application for the fighters. He identified his fighter and was able to pull up its pertinent information. He noticed that every maintenance item he had identified had been corrected. Wow, he thought, the maintenance crew may be difficult to find, but they were certainly efficient. Ace was surprised when the pad suddenly spoke to him.
…You’ve got mail…
Ace eventually found the mail application and opened it. He was surprised to find two messages that appeared to be from his mother. He thought that it must be some alien mind trick. However, he opened and read them. Ace scrolled down and noticed that the first message was actually a reply to one that must have been forged by the aliens. He read the message.
Dear Edward,
How could you just go like that without telling your family? Is everything okay? We miss you already. Do you have any idea how long you will be gone? What can you tell us about the mission? Please reply as soon as you can.
Love, Mom
It certainly sounded like an email his mother would write. Ace brought in the com pads and distributed them to the others. Everyone had two emails and they all seemed to be real letters from their loved ones. Finally, Ace said, “CAG, can we respond to the emails.”
Jim Donovan said, “Yes, but let me try something first.” Jim sent Ace a message saying ‘test’. Ace received it almost immediately and responded back. Jim checked that he got the response.
Jim said, “Well, the email system seems to work. Remember though, the Advranki will probably read our emails and edit out anything that they don’t want us to say.”
Russ said, “So what do we say?”
Jim responded, “Well, write about everything personal. When you describe the mission, speak in generalities instead of giving specific details.”
Ace asked, “What do you think they will censor?”
Jim responded, “Avoid using the word alien or hyperspace or kidnap and you should be fine.” The pilots continued writing messages and playing with their communication pads until they were hailed by Arean.
Arean said, “Humans, the Sunflower has just exited hyperspace. You are now cleared to begin preparations for your test flight. I have designed a flight pattern for you to follow. I am downloading it to your com pads now. Please contact me when you are ready to launch.”
The pilots were already wearing their skin suits. They rushed to the fighter bay and put on their flight suits. The flight suit is a heavier version of the skin suit that provides the wearer much better protection in outer space and has a much longer oxygen reserve. It also has filters inside in the event fluids or air needs to be recycled. Each pilot gave his wing mate a quick review to ensure that they were properly attired and then they trotted to their fighters.
The hangar had one large bay that was used for a large variety of things, including take-off and landing of fighters and shuttles, maintenance repair of large items, and the transfer of cargo. The hangar had a wide opening on each side that was big enough to accommodate a large array of vessels. The opening was wide enough for four fighters to take-off side-by-side, but Navy regulation only permitted one fighter to land or take off at a time.
The fighters were stored in an elevator or a vertical garage. There were four sets of elevators in a row in the exact center of the hangar. They were aligned perfectly with the launch bay opening; the first one was aligned with the left edge, the second one with the left middle, the third one with the right middle, and finally the fourth one with the far right.
Each elevator had five slots and would go down all the way to the floor, meaning when the fighters were completely put away, the top of the elevators were even with the hangar floor. The hangar was tall enough to expose three rows of fighters above the hangar floor. When the bottom two rows of the elevator were above the floor the top two spots extended into the ceiling.
When they were ready to launch, a plate would appear behind the fighter. This served two functions; first it was a temporary shield protecting the back half of the bay. Its primary function though was a gravity plate. The plate creates a strong gravity field that repulses the fighter. It pushes the fighter forward hard enough to give it an initial velocity of .02 light, far higher than it could have achieved without a push. The net effect of the gravity plate is similar to drawing a rock back a slingshot and releasing it.
When the fighter lands it goes back into the elevator parking spot. If a fighter were to land from the same bay it left, then it would be facing directly opposite of its initial position. Therefore, the next time the fighter launched, it would be launch out of the opening on the other side of the hangar. If required for some reason, the fighter could be removed from the storage bay and manually turned around.
Jim Donovan climbed down the ladder beside the elevator to the first level. He found his fighter, climbed in, and started the pre-flight check. Everything was okay, so he donned his flight helmet, fastened it to the suit, and listened to the flight computer whisper to him.
Jim waited for the other 4 pilots in his elevator to get to their fighters. The pilot on the second floor decided to climb down to his fighter as well. The other three slid down the side of the ladder to their level. Jim wondered why the aliens had devised such a simple, manual solution to get the pilots to the correct level. He thought they should have been able to create some kind of anti-gravity plate that would whisk them down to the correct level. Oh well, he thought, perhaps he would ask Arean sometime.
All of the pilots were in their fighters, so Jim called Arean and said, “Commander, all fighters are ready to launch.”
Arean said, “You are clear to launch.” Arean had planned a big speech for the event, but decided against using it because this was only a training run.
Two of the four elevators rose up one level, exposing two fighters, one facing starboard and the other facing port. Jim activated his plasma reactor and blasted out of the hangar. Jim banked left and slowed down to allow the others to catch up. He was followed 8 seconds later by Russ blasting out of the other side. Russ veered right and also slowed.
Now, the second and fourth elevators took 14 seconds to rise up one level, exposing two more fighters, again one facing port and the other facing starboard. The gravity / shield plates moved into position. This was critical. If a fighter launched, its exhaust would destroy an exposed fighter sitting directly behind it. Blaze blasted out and veered left to follow Jim. Eight seconds later Ace blasted out and turned right to follow Russ.
In total, it took 50 seconds to launch the first level of 4 fighters (2–14 second elevator moves and 4-8 second launches). This was repeated four more times, so 50 seconds times 5 levels equals 250 seconds or 4 minutes 10 seconds to launch all fighters.
Arean announced, “All fighters have launched exactly on schedule.” That was a good start, he thought, they were actually able to launch on time and create a standard formation.
Jim checked his controls. The board was green. The computer was whispering flight control information to him exactly like the simulator. He was surprised how realistic the simulator had been. He really could not tell a difference between being in the simulator and being in the fighter.
All 20 fighters had launched and had moved into formation. They maintained this basic formation and flew in a left turn, then a right turn, then in a wide loop. The flight path that Arean had established was very basic. The fighters went through another two series of turns and changed from the box (4 X 5) to the line (10 X 2) and back to the box formation. Ace open communication to all fighters and asked, “CAG, should we go ghos
t?”
Ghost was the name they had given to switching off the flight computer and flying the fighters in manual mode. No one was sure exactly who had coined the phrase, but it somehow seemed fitting. Jim responded with a simple “No.” There was no point, the maneuvers were basic and the formations were spaced widely apart.
They had completed all of the assigned maneuvers and lined up into two single file rows of 10 to return to the cruiser. They spaced themselves out and began landing on the cruiser. Each fighter was spaced 50 seconds from the next, so one fighter landed every 25 seconds. All 20 landed perfectly in the elevators in 8 minutes and 20 seconds.
Solear said, “Commander, how did the fighters do on their trial run?”
Arean answered, “They actually did rather well. They launched successfully, followed the flight path exactly, and landed correctly.”
Solear said, “How do they compare to Advranki pilots?”
Arean answered, “It’s hard to tell. They did okay. They met all of the mission parameters, so they performed about as well as Advranki pilots.”
Solear said, “Well, that is a good sign I suppose. Now, I wonder if they will launch when called upon.”
Arean said, “I hold little hope, but hey, you never know.”
Ella said, “We are ready to make the next jump.” Captain Solear motioned okay and Ella engaged the hyper-drive. The Sunflower made a micro jump that placed the ship at the entryway to the Opron – Conron hyperspace lane.
“We are being hailed by traffic control. Clowy said.”
Solear responded, “Place it through the com system.”
Someone from traffic control said, “Traffic control here. Please state your business.”
Captain Solear answered, “We are headed for the Opron system. Please give us the first available hyperspace launch window.”
Traffic control responded, “You are clear for immediate passage. The entry coordinates are being submitted to your computer.”
