by Jeff Sims
Both fleets regrouped into a single unit and flew to Advranki-2. It was traditional for everyone to have a celebratory dinner and a week of leave following the competition.
………..…………
Today is the day, Solear thought.
He spent the last week attending a few celebration dinners and even one retirement banquet. Solear had sought to retire with as little fanfare as possible, but that became nearly impossible after his stunning and decisive victory.
Solear smiled outwardly, but inwardly he felt tremendous turmoil. The moment was bittersweet. He was somewhat starting to look forward to a new career or at a minimum a new adventure after retirement. On the other appendage, he had spent the last 60 years of his life in the military and in all honesty, knew very little else.
Solear had a quiet breakfast and reminisced about his considerable career in the Navy. He really couldn’t believe that it was over. He wiped a lone tear from his eye and smiled for real this time as he thought about Clowy and her emotional outbursts.
He said just barely aloud, “Yes, I am even going to miss her … someday.”
It was time. Solear left his quarters on the military base and walked the short distance to the admiralty building. There were only 3 other admirals in the entire Advranki-2 system and all of them were waiting for him inside. Well, 4 if one counted the admiral of the Advranki-3 fleet. And since he was sitting inside, he probably should be counted.
He reached the entryway just as his communication pad activated. He briefly considered reading it since he was a couple of minutes early, but decided to go ahead and enter before reading it. The pad’s computer beeped annoyingly and said:
…You have a priority message that was sent directly to your communication pad via the star chip. You must read it immediately…
Solear stood next to the door and dutifully opened the message. He read it. He reread it. He read it a third time desperately hoping that it would somehow say something different. It didn’t.
He couldn’t believe what he had just read. He figured that it was some poorly considered prank. He opened the door and saw that the other four admirals were also staring at their communication pads in disbelief.
One of them saw Solear and said, “Is it true? Is it really true?”
Chapter 7
Lorano said, “Okay everyone, we are in position. Put on your helmets, lock your boots to the floor, and attach your breathing tubes to the wall.”
Lorano left the control room of the mini-freighter Travesty and hurriedly walked back to the main cargo bay. Everyone else was waiting for him there. Lorano quickly got into position.
He detached the deflated helmet from the collar of his smart suit. He pulled it over his head and verified that the seam was airtight. He next verified that his boots were magnetically locked to the floor. Of all the things that he wanted in life, being sucked out into space was not one of them.
For that matter, neither was suffocating to death. He pulled the expandable air hose from the oxygen port on the wall and plugged it into his suit. The hose served two functions: it provided air and it served as a tether. The hose had enough length that it could unwind and allow him to move 10 meters (33’) in any direction. If he needed to go farther, he would have to unplug himself and plug into a different socket.
Lorano double checked his smart suit and verified that he was ready. He dithered for a moment and then decided to verify that Clowy was ready. She was; her suit was on properly and she was attached to the floor and to the oxygen line.
Lorano contacted Carank and told him that he was ready. Carank activated a control on the wall panel to remove the air from the main cargo bay. An internal suction, similar to a large vacuum, activated and pulled the air out of the bay. The air was then stored in a giant bladder located between the inner and outer hulls.
They could have just opened the main cargo bay door and immediately exhausted the air, but it would take the mini-freighter a lot of time to produce the necessary replacement oxygen. It was faster and more efficient to simply store the air in a bladder until it was time to refill the cargo bay. Fortunately, the bladder was located in a spot that wouldn’t affect the space garden.
When the air was fully evacuated, Carank activated the control to open the main cargo bay door. They each grabbed a section of the hyperspace communication device and pushed. It took multiple tries, but eventually they were able to push the large satellite out of the hold. Carank then closed the cargo bay door and refilled the main cargo bay with air.
Lorano activated the hyper communication satellite. The satellite had two distinct purposes. The first was to communicate with other solar systems and the second was to perform an incredibly detailed scan of this solar system.
Lorano activated the scanning system and set it to scan the entire solar system. He then activated the communication portion and set it to send and receive. Now they could communicate with anyone in the galaxy on a regular basis.
Each hyper communication device had a defined physical location in space with a set of corresponding hyperspace coordinates. Each new communication device had the location of all of the existing commercial ones loaded into its memory.
The device initialized itself by sending a hyperspace message to every other hyper device. The message contained return coordinates and established a time that it would send and receive messages. The device was programmed to send and receive messages from every major planet and inhabited system twice a day.
He programmed it to transmit to almost all known locations. The two exceptions were Earth and Solaria. Earth’s existing hyper communication device only pointed in one direction – toward Solaria - and could not be adjusted. As a result Lorano could not fit a straight line between the two devices. Solaria was excluded for sheer paranoia.
There was little fear that the Hiriculans, or anyone else for that matter, could triangulate their position. The hyper communication satellite opened up a tiny hyperspace window and shot a laser beam through it. The associated mass of the beam was infinitesimal.
This allowed the beam to travel in a straight line directly from one communication device to another. The beam would have to pass directly through a sun or a possibly a planet to get disrupted. The odds of it hitting something in the vastness of space were negligible.
It was possible that some intrepid engineer could be able to figure out where the hyper communicator was located in physical space by tracing its communication path. However, sending a beam of light through hyperspace was not the same as jumping a ship with a considerable mass.
However, in this one particular case, one could literally follow the hyper beam’s path from Solaria to Lorano’s present location in the newly discovered system without issue. He knew this because he had just done that. Well, he technically hadn’t followed a hyperspace beam – no one does that: it would be silly.
What they had done though was jump from Advranki Prime to Conron and then from Conron to Solaria. Exactly 14 minutes from then end of their 8 hour journey from Conron to Solaria they exited hyperspace. This distance placed them at the far outskirts of Solaria system; far enough away from Solaria that their presence could not be detected.
Crista programmed the transponder with the original coordinates to Solaria a second time and ran the simulation. She locked them into the system. If anyone were to check the transponder, it would look like they dropped out of hyperspace for 4 minutes and then continued on with their journey.
Lorano then made several calculations and provided Crista a new set of coordinates. She manually entered them into the transponder. She didn’t check these for accuracy or run a computer simulation. They needed the ship to record that it was still headed to Solaria.
As a result of this direct, apparently uncomplicated path from Solaria to this new system, Lorano protected the route by disabling the communication path between here and Solaria. If someone did attempt to find the new planet, they wouldn’t be able to do it by following a commu
nication beam from Solaria.
The new system contained the aforementioned habitable planet with an existing atmosphere, flora, and even some small fauna. Carank had tentatively named the planet Caloron; using the first two letters of his name, then two letters of Lorano’s name, and finally the moniker ‘ron’ designating that it was discovered by an Advranki. Lorano thought that Localon sounded much better.
So far they had agreed to disagree. However, it really didn’t matter what they named it because the system and the habitable planet would be renamed by whichever species claimed it. Since the planet was halfway between Solaria and Earth, they assumed that it would be claimed by one of those two races.
As a result, Lorano had recently started calling it Earth 3. Lorano argued that Earth was humanity’s birthplace so it should be renamed Earth 1 or Earth Prime. However, knowing the humans they would probably just leave it as Earth. Since Solaria was technically the second planet settled by humans, it should be renamed Earth 2. This new planet therefore should be Earth 3.
Carank disagreed. He really didn’t care what they called the planet, he just wanted to disagree with Lorano. Therefore, he reasoned that the planets should be named in geographic order instead of chronological order; making Earth become Earth 1, then the new planet called Earth 2, and then Solaria renamed Earth 3.
Better yet, Since Solaria was a better name than Earth; Carank reasoned that the humans should rename the Earth Solaria 1 and then number the other two planets Solaria 2 and 3 respectively.
Lorano disagreed by stating that Solaria shouldn’t have to change its number and they could accomplish the same thing by renaming the Earth either Solaria 2 or Solaria 3 depending upon whether they went numerically or astronomically.
Clowy overheard the last bit of the argument and asked, “What is the name of the new planet we are investigating?”
Lorano summarized, “We can’t decide. Do you have any suggestions?”
Clowy said, “Well, since it is unnamed and unregistered, you have to include all of our names because Lexxi and I have technically discovered it as well.”
Carank said, “That makes perfect sense. What did you have in mind?”
Clowy replied, “Clowy and Carank start with ‘C’. Lorano and Lexxi start with the letter ‘L’. I think we should call it 2C2L.” She paused for a moment and said, “No, I think I like C2L2 better.”
Carank said, “Lexxi, do you have a suggestion?”
“Melancholia.” Lexxi suggested.
Lorano replied, “C2L2 has a certain ring to it I suppose.”
They landed the mini-freighter Travesty in a large, relatively clear area about ½ of a kilometer from the large Altian energy pyramid. The computer had chosen this area for landing because the area was generally flat and had a thick layer of rock just below the surface. This was the exact same location that Carank and Lorano used during their previous visit to the planet.
The pyramid and the surrounding paved road and apparent landing pad were the only artificial structures on the entire planet. They provided clear and unequivocal evidence that the Altians had visited the planet in the distant past.
Perhaps even more interesting than the fact the pyramid existed was the fact that it was the only structure that existed on the planet. The ancient Altians clearly stayed long enough to build a power generation pyramid, but they left before they built anything else.
Conversely, perhaps for some unknown reason a group of Altians landed on the planet for the express purpose of building a pyramid and then left when construction was completed. Either way, Lorano was determined to discover whatever mysteries remained here.
Lorano hooked a Model 224.58.07 precision air analyzer to a hover cart. This was the best one that money could buy. There were rumors that a model 59 was in development, but no one had seen a working prototype yet.
The precision air analyzer measured a large list of atmospheric gases including dust/particulate count, ozone level, trace gasses, and toxic pollutants such as mercury or chromium. This time they would be able to get a detailed analysis of the air quality.
It connected wirelessly to the ship’s communication system and sent a continuous signal back to the ship. Carank put on an environmental suit and pushed the cart out of the ship. He pushed it about 20 paces away from the ship, left it there, and returned to the ship.
Lorano checked the readouts from the air analyzer. Carank leaned over Lorano’s left shoulder and doubled checked the Altian’s findings.
Carank declared, “The air is fine. We can go outside.”
Lorano said, “Wait. I want to run another test first.” He contacted Clowy and asked her to come to the portable lab in the main cargo bay.
When she arrived Lorano said, “Clowy, would you like the honor and privilege to be the first being to breathe the air and walk unfettered without an environmental suit on a new planet?”
Lorano cringed as he realized that he had left the question open-ended. He saw her forming the word ‘what’ and quickly added, “On planet C2L2.”
Clowy smiled broadly and replied, “Thank you.” She paused for a moment and asked, “Are you three going to join me?”
Lorano said, “Not immediately, no. We are going to stay in the ship and record the event for posterity. Besides, if we all went together you wouldn’t be the first.”
He then tore the backing off of a Model 178.36.11 precision bio analyzer strip and stuck it to her neck. He ran his fingers around the edges to ensure that it was glued down and snug. The bio analyzer looked like an oversized bandage. It monitored all of Clowy’s biometric functions and also sent the readings continuously back to the ship via her communication pad.
Clowy stood in front of the control room and waited for Lorano to activate the switch to open the main passenger entryway. She turned around and stepped into the hatchway between the inner and outer hulls. Lorano closed the inner hatch. He then pressed the control to open the outer hatch and extended the ramp down to the surface.
Clowy walked down the ramp and onto the ground. She stomped her feet a couple of times and turned around in a circle. She contacted the ship via her communication pad.
Lorano responded, “You are doing great. Try jumping up and down a couple of times.”
He waited for her to perform the exercises and said, “Now try taking several deep breaths and don’t forget to smile for the camera.”
Lorano checked the readouts from the air analyzer and the bio analyzer. Carank leaned over Lorano’s left shoulder and doubled checked the Altian’s findings.
Lorano said, “She’s fine. Let’s go.”
Lorano, Carank, and even Lexxi joined Clowy on the surface. They investigated their immediate surroundings. They inspected the large deciduous trees nearby. This trip Lorano had remembered to bring the Guide to Properly Identifying Alien Trees.
They cross-referenced the trees on the planet to the trees in the guide and eventually decided that these particular trees matched every classical definition of a tree. Further, they seemed to roughly match the trees found on other planets.
Lorano wondered if all trees looked alike or if there was some cosmic Johnny Appleseed that had planted the same trees throughout the galaxy several millennia ago.
They then walked the half kilometer to the pyramid structure. They brought a ground car, but decided not to bother to get it out of storage just yet.
Clowy noticed something on one of the lowest stones. She walked over and inspected it. She said, “Hey, this pyramid is labeled ‘Altian Energy Pyramid’ in Alliance Basic. Is that how you knew what it was?”
She had directed the question toward Lorano, but Carank answered, “Yes. As you know, it is critical to have things properly labeled.”
Lexxi wandered off about three hundred meters (¼ mile) to the north of the pyramid. She yelled back, “It’s too bad that they didn’t label whatever this is.”
The other three walked over to where Lexxi was standing. Lexxi pointed to what appeared t
o be a portion of a slab-like structure barely peeking out of the surface. Carank cleared some of the soil away with his fingers. The slab looked rather large based on the portion he had been able to clear. By that time though it was getting late and they decided to return to the ship for the evening.
They returned to the spot the next day with the ground car and two hover carts filled with equipment. They performed a detailed scan of the entire area. They found several anomalies in the area including the slab that Lexxi had found and several other objects a few paces farther north from the slab.
The slab measured roughly 2 meters wide and 3 meters long (6.5’ by 10’) and covered an underground structure about 2 meters deep and the same length and width.
Carank cleared away most of the soil with an electro vacuum. He was careful not to blow the dust toward the pyramid or the unidentified objects to the north. When the majority of the soil was removed, Lorano used a dust atomizer to clear the remaining soil away from the slab. He chose this tool because it removed soil slowly and precisely. He didn’t want to accidentally destroy a clue.
A couple of hours later he had removed all of the soil on top and surrounding the slab. However, there was very little reason for the caution. It was just a 5 cm (2”) slab of concrete. There was no writing or inscriptions of any kind on it.
The slab was extremely difficult to move because it was not sitting on directly on top of the chamber. It was resting on an interior lip of the walls and was flush with the top of the wall. The net result was that they had to lift the huge slab up and out of the chamber instead of being able to spin it.
They applied enough hover lifters to the slab to make it nearly weightless. They pulled up, but the slab was still stuck. Lorano inspected the edges and found that they had been sealed with an intelligent sealant. The sealant was designed to expand to fill the tiny gap between the cover and the case and make the entire unit airtight.
When removing the lid, the sealant was supposed to retract. However, sometime during the last 4,000 years the sealant lost its mind and was no longer capable of retracting. Lorano tried several things including chemicals, nitrates, and select curse words. None of them worked.
