by Jeff Sims
Victor said, “I saw an Alliance Navy transport sitting over there behind the Navistar truck. It doesn’t look like it has been here very long. That is probably the one that you are trying to locate.”
Paul looked at all three of them and said, “Thank you for helping us. I think we all realize what would have happened if you had told them the route to Earth.”
Paul looked over at the Navistar straight truck. It was in perfect condition and was neatly parked against the wall along with a collection of other items. However, Paul thought that it looked strangely out of place. It was after all sitting in a giant hangar bay in a hollowed out asteroid in another solar system.
Paul said, “Are you guys going to take the truck back to Earth?”
Victor responded, “No. There isn’t enough room in the V… mini-freighter. I have arranged to have it shipped to Solaria where it will be put in a museum. I have a question though. Do any of you know how to perform a 10,000 mile check-up on this truck?”
John said, “Yes. It is fairly straightforward. What we really need though is a sticker that shows the inspection is completed. Does anyone have a label maker?”
Carank smiled almost as brightly as an Altian.
John performed a perfunctory inspection and declared the truck okay for duty. Carank printed out a sticker and affixed it to the window.
At this point they were joined by Clowy, Lexxi, and Crista. Carank gave a brief round of introductions. Ace and John had never met Clowy or Lexxi personally. Everyone knew Crista.
They walked as a group to the transport. Paul took the lead, primarily because no one really wanted to stand in front of the massive gun. Paul stepped well aside when they reached the transport and John opened the rear entry door.
They looked inside and saw assembly machines and the components that were ready for assembly. Lorano entered the transport and briefly reviewed the cargo. He quickly realized that someone had given a lot of thought to the contents. He had expected to see fifty or sixty fully assembled bubbles.
However, what Lorano saw was that the transport was packed very precisely – and very tightly. There was one small path that led from the rear of the transport to the front. Every other space was filled; including a significant portion of the pilot cabin. Lorano eased himself into the confined space and made a detailed analysis of the contents.
The four machines required to actually assemble a hyper bubble were included along with enough components to make a few hundred bubbles. There were enough bubbles here to keep a fleet running for quite a while.
Further, when the humans needed more bubbles, they didn’t have to worry about creating final assembly machines. They only had to devise a process to produce the raw components. It made the task a thousand times easier and turned his time estimate from decades back to years.
Lorano exited the transport and said, “Kolvak and Shole did an excellent job. Everything that you need to build a hyper bubble is present.”
Paul said, “Excellent. Then it is time to go. Are you going to follow us to Earth?”
Lorano said, “Actually no. You are going to follow us.”
Lorano really wanted to volunteer Carank for the up-coming task, but he knew that wasn’t really fair. He briefly considered grabbing Carank’s label maker and printing out the necessary coordinates, but again decided against this course of action. It would be somewhat problematic if the Sunflower got lost in space.
Lorano said, “We have something very important to show you. Basically, we know another secret route to Earth and it is significantly shorter than the one you’re about to take.”
Paul replied, “Okay, where?”
Lorano said, “The Hiriculans are likely monitoring our ship-to-ship communication, so I cannot send you the coordinates or electronically tie our navigation systems together. Therefore, I will ride with you back to the Sunflower and give them to you there. Once we arrive at our destination I will switch back to the mini-freighter.”
Both John and Ace looked at Paul for confirmation. Paul replied, “Okay. Let’s go then.”
Ace shimmied and danced his way past the hyper bubble equipment and spare parts. He eventually reached the pilot seat and sat in it. Lorano initially tried to follow him, but quickly realized that there wasn’t enough room for a second being to sit.
Ace began the transport’s warm-up procedure while everyone else walked the short distance back to their respective ships. Lorano entered the transport and took the seat directly behind John. Paul entered last and took off his armor. He eventually joined the other two in the cockpit area.
Victor signaled that the Travesty was ready to leave. Ace also signaled that he was ready to go. John repeated the signal and grabbed the controls.
Lorano looked around the hangar bay. He couldn’t technically see it since there were no windows in the transport. Therefore he was in reality just looking around the transport and pretending that he was seeing the fort. He stopped about three-quarters of the way through his revolution because he had a sudden thought.
He said, “John, hold for a minute.”
He grabbed his communication pad and connected to the asteroid fort. He said, “Computer, effective immediately extend the protection to the interior of this fort. No one is allowed to land on this station unless they are Human or are on the pre-approved list.”
He paused and added, “Append the crew list of the Sunflower to the pre-approved list. Now, update the rule granting approval to the following: no one is allowed to be added to the pre-approval list unless they first obtain pre-approval from someone already on the pre-approval list. When in doubt keep them out.”
…The new command has been accepted and appended to earlier commands…
A few minutes later the two transports landed on the Sunflower. Paul escorted Lorano to the bridge. Lorano had to admit that being alone on a ship full of humans still gave him an unsettling feeling. He had learned to live with it, but it was unsettling. He felt a little safer on the bridge; the confined space and fewer humans seemed to help a bit. He really wanted them to shut and seal the bridge, but he knew better than to ask.
Lorano said, “Your timing couldn’t have been better. It is an amazing coincidence that we met.” He gave Russ the coordinates for the first jump and said, “Let’s go.”
Jim pointed to the countdown clock. It read 14:02. He said, “We still have a few minutes before we can jump. Do you know why the forts fired on the Hiriculans?”
Lorano smiled and replied, “I may have accidentally reprogrammed the fort’s computer to be a little more aggressive in defending Humans. We may be able to use this to our advantage at some point. Switching subjects, what have you been doing since the last time I saw you?”
Jim replied, “We were sent on a mission to rescue a Hiriculan defector, but it proved to be a false lead. Otherwise, we have just been guarding the Waylon system. How about you?”
Lorano replied, “Well, I have been working on my favorite research project – the origin of the Solarians. I have conclusively proven that Humans and Solarians are the same race and the race began life on Earth.”
Russ said, “You mentioned Atlanteans in your last communication.”
Lorano replied, “Yes. I had almost forgotten that. Believe it or not, my race used to be called Atlanteans. They shortened it to Altians about 3,800 years ago.”
“Meaning that the Altians, or Atlanteans, or whichever actually visited the planet Earth four millennia ago. That seems amazing.” Russ said.
Lorano replied, “That isn’t all. I have something else to show you, but I am going to keep it a surprise for a few hours.”
Fourteen minutes later the Travesty and the Sunflower aligned themselves in the middle of the Conron – Earth hyperspace lane. The Travesty jumped into hyperspace and 70 seconds later the Sunflower followed it.
…………………….
Admiral Valod’la said, “I need an update. What just happened? Why aren’t our ships answering their hai
ls or providing updates?”
Savan’aa responded, “I finally have an update. The guard forts activated their ion cannons and destroyed our three ships. There are no survivors and everything was completely obliterated.”
Sierr’aa continued, “A transport left the Alliance cruiser and docked on the fort. A few minutes after that the transport returned to the Sunflower followed by a second transport and a mini-freighter.”
Admiral Valod’la asked, “Where did the mini-freighter come from?”
Savan’aa replied, “I just received a report from traffic control. One Victor Bullpeep in the mini freighter Vista entered the system from Solaria and micro jumped there a couple of hours earlier.”
Valod’la said, “I was informed that that hyperspace lane is corrupted beyond repair. What is he hoping to accomplish by going there?”
Sierr’aa answered, “Victor told traffic control that he knows a route to Earth.”
Valod’la asked, “This cannot be a coincidence. What are the odds that two ships jump into the Conron system at virtually the same time and both jump to an unused hyperspace lane. Further, what are the odds that they both land on the hangar bay inside the fort at the exact same time?”
Savan’aa responded, “Slim.” Sierr’aa finished, “To very slim.”
Valod’la continued, “The two ships must have had a prearranged rendezvous. Apparently I misjudged the Humans motives. They weren’t going to attack the system. They must have arranged for Victor to lead them back to Earth – provided he really does know a route.”
Savan’aa said, “This is interesting. The mini-freighter that left is named the Travesty, not the Vista. Further, there are 5 beings aboard.”
Sierr’aa added, “And one of the transports contains an Altian.”
Savan’aa asked, “Should we send a ship to follow them?”
Valod’la shook his head no and replied, “No. Our forces are spread too thin right now. If they want to leave, I say good riddance; let them go. Besides, it saves having to do a lot of paperwork.”
It really didn’t – the amount of paperwork to describe losing 3 warships via an ion cannon blast was technically greater than that the number of forms required for putting 64 beings into confinement. In Valod’la’s defense though, he probably didn’t realize that he needed a separate Form 1040.22.87 with a corresponding schedule A, B, and C for each warship that was lost.
Valod’la said, “Why did the automated fort fire at our ships without warning or provocation?”
Sierr’aa said, “I am querying the fort’s computer now.”
Savan’aa said, “I have a response. The computer says that it was given authorization to fire by the beings named Clowy, Carank, Crista, Lorano, Lexxi, and Victor.”
Valod’la stated, “Some of those names actually sound familiar to me. Why would I have heard them?”
Sierr’aa replied, “I ran a search. The two Advranki and the two Altians were recently credited with discovering the location of Old Solaria. The planet threw a two-week celebration in their honor.”
Savan’aa continued, “There is a recent news story stating that the aforementioned four beings left on a two-year voyage to research lost civilizations in uncharted space. They are traveling on a mini-freighter named the Travesty.”
Valod’la responded, “They are supposed to be in uncharted space, and yet they somehow managed to be at this fort at the exactly the same time as the Solarians and the Humans. I think the odds of this being a coincidence just reduced from slim to none.”
Sierr’aa added, “This is odd. I just cross-checked the six names and I discovered that two of the six were officers aboard the Sunflower when it attacked the Spindle Station.”
Valod’la said, “Computer, mark the previously mentioned six beings as interstellar terrorists and send out a communication to every sector of the galaxy with their status update. They are to be captured at all costs, dead or alive. However, if they are killed, they should be revived immediately thereafter or if that isn’t possible then at a minimum they should be placed in cryogenic stasis.”
…Messages sent. They are now interstellar terrorists...
…………………….
The Travesty and the Sunflower made a series of jumps; first around the far outskirts of Conron, then to the 14 minute mark from Solaria, and finally to the newly discovered planet C3PO.
The habitable planet was currently in front of the other planets, allowing them to make one final micro jump directly from the edge of the system’s gravity well to the edge of the planet’s outer atmosphere. The planets were only aligned perfectly for micro jumping every so often, so saving the extra two jumps was well appreciated.
Victor landed the Travesty on one end of the landing area. Russ carefully placed the Sunflower beside it. Because the landing field had probably been designed for one large ship, landing two smaller ships side-by-side required meticulous pre-planning and careful execution.
Nor really. Basically, one ship landed and the second one landed beside it.
Everyone exited their respective ships. The vast majority of the humans raced ahead to the pyramid; far outpacing the aliens. Jim and Russ walked next to Lorano and the rest of Travesty’s crew.
Jim looked around in wonder and said, “This is the first alien planet that a Human has ever set foot on.”
Lorano laughed and said, “That statement is technically true. Approximately 4,000 years ago there were Humans on this planet. The six of us discovered, or technically rediscovered the planet and named it C3PO.”
Jim replied, “I stand corrected. This is the first alien planet that I have ever been on. I can’t believe how similar it looks to Earth. Oh, and we need a better name.”
Lorano replied, “Yes. To your first point, I am a little suspicious of that fact as well. It is quite possible that my ancestors introduced several varieties of Earth trees here. That said, I have to admit that trees look quite similar on every planet.”
Carank said, “Do you have any suggestions about the name. I do.” He proceeded to tell them both the Earth and Solaria naming conventions starting both genealogically and astronomically.
Jim replied, “I really like the name New Earth.”
Lorano realized exactly where the Solarians seemed to have gotten their lack of originality from. Clearly, things that fall off of trees don’t fall very far away from them.
They reached the pyramid and Lorano gave everyone a quick tour of the area and showed them the burial plots. He described their two leading theories – that the planet was settled and everyone died for some reason and the more likely scenario that this planet was initially inhabited, but was later abandoned in favor of Solaria.
Lorano then explained in great detail how an energy pyramid actually worked - plate tectonics caused by the planet’s rotation gently shake the ground. This is captured by the stone structure and converted into sound waves. The sound waves are then directed into a central chamber in the pyramid. Finally the sound waves travel through quartz crystal; whose piezoelectric properties convert the sound waves into electricity.
Some stayed throughout the entire presentation. Most left and organized the first game of kickball on a different planet.
After several hours on the planet Jim was getting restless. The new planet was amazing, but he was ready to go home. Lorano gave Jim the jump coordinates from this planet to Earth and explained that they were only one 11 hour jump away.
Jim said, “Are you coming with us?”
Lorano said, “We have a few more things to do here. We will go to Earth tomorrow. Besides, we basically have nowhere else in the galaxy to go.”
“Why?” Jim asked.
Lorano responded, “Download the news broadcasts. We are now interstellar terrorists.”
Jim opened his communication pad and was stunned to see the news report. Oddly enough though he was actually more stunned that an undiscovered planet got up-to-date news reports than he was that the Hriiculans had outlawe
d the group for helping them.
Jim opened a channel to everyone and said, “Come on everyone, it’s time to go home!”
Chapter 20
The jump clock was ticking down. It now showed twenty seconds until they reached the Solar System. Not just any solar system, the solar system.
Jim had slightly deviated from established Alliance Navy protocol for reentry to hyperspace. Per doctrine, everyone on board was wearing their full environmental suit, including gloves, boots, and helmets. However, they weren’t at their respective battle stations.
Not that it mattered he supposed. No one from the Alliance Navy was going to chastise him for the discretion.
Everyone wanted to see the first pictures from Earth. Jim was easily convinced to allow all 64 people on board to enter the bridge proper for the momentous event. It was extremely crowded, but there was a lot of positive energy in the air. They were excited about going home.
The moment the Sunflower transitioned back into real time Russ activated both the active and passive scanners. Twenty seconds later the active scan updated and showed that the space station had successfully made the jump. The laser drill and corresponding control platform were right beside the station.
The passive scan updated and showed … Earth!
The data from Earth was 2 hours old, but Jim doubted that much had changed in that little amount of time. It was still there, exactly where it should be and still a blue and white ball. Jim looked at the monitor and thought that it was the most beautiful picture that he had ever seen.
Jim waited for the cheering to die down and said, “Everyone, dismissed. You are free to go and watch television for the next few hours. Colin, Becky, hold tight.”
All of the pilots and maintenance staff cleared out of the bridge. Russ changed the image on the main monitor from the picture of the Earth to a football game. He stared at it for a moment and then put a different sporting event on every available monitor.
Jim said, “Russ, contact Mike on the space station. They are probably glad to see us after 20 days.”
Jim found himself absently staring at one of the games. He watched it for a minute and finally turned back to the engineers. He said, “I need an analysis. Can the Sunflower tow the space station through normal space to Earth if the tugs speed it to .04 light first?”
