Alpha Centauri: The Return (T-Space Alpha Centauri Book 3)

by Alastair Mayer

  “Just a moment,” she said.

  “Yes?”

  She held up her omni. “I have a file for you. Four years of mission reports. Bedtime reading.”

  Drake laughed and tapped his own omni to receive the file. “Actually, we listened to the last few months’ worth on the way here. You had me worried when the transmissions stopped.”

  “Yeah, that was the giranno stampede. The damage to the Anderson took out the ground-to-orbit radios.”

  “I thought it might be something like that when we saw it. I’m glad it wasn’t worse.”

  “Roger that. Anyway, good night.”

  “See you in the morning.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  The Camp Anderson residents lingered after the last of the Endeavour crew left, although children had all been put to bed. Sawyer surveyed the room, looking from face to face. They were quiet, waiting for her to say something.

  “Well, today has been interesting,” she said. That drew a few amused chuckles in response.

  “That’s one way to put it,” said Tyrell. “At least it’s not the Chinese. Or aliens.” Their discussion the previous evening, after they had spotted the ships in orbit and not recognized the design, had covered both possibilities.

  “Right. It’s a rescue team. Among other things. It sounds like interstellar commerce might really become a thing, at least with Kakuloa. The question is what that means for us.

  “Last night, after we spotted them in orbit, the general consensus was that we wanted to stay here, so long as we had access to better technology and with the proviso that round trips were possible. That sounds like it may be the case. But now you’ve all had a reminder of what we might be missing on Earth, you might have changed your minds. That’s fine. The kids seemed to acclimate to the strangers okay. I guess our movie nights helped.” They’d had plenty of entertainment vids, surprisingly even children’s vids, in the ship’s library. “So, do we stay, or do we go?”

  She saw Tyrell and Klaar whispering to each other. “Fred? Ulrika? Something to say?”

  Klaar nodded to Fred Tyrell, who raised his voice to speak. “Yes,” he said. “We like the idea of staying, especially if we have regular access to Earth, but I wonder just how that’s going to work. More specifically, can we expect more settlers to start arriving, or Earth-based officials to start ordering us around, or just what? If the Kakuloa resources are exploitable, then clearly that place will see settlers. We’ve hardly explored this planet at all; there might be things just as valuable here.”

  “It’s a good thing they acknowledged our sovereignty by asking permission to land, then, isn’t it?” Sawyer said.

  “Wait, what? Did I miss something?” asked Fred, looking bewildered.

  “When their drone first contacted us. Finley said they had to request permission to land.”

  “But they didn’t ask. They just said....” Tyrell trailed off, remembering the words. “Something about ‘is it okay if we land by the river?’ They did ask. Pete, you sly son-of-a-bitch.”

  Sawyer wondered if Drake had known exactly what was going on when he had phrased it that way. Technically a request, but a plausibly deniable one if he got flak for it. She wouldn’t put it past him.

  “But,” Tyrell continued, “can we do that? Claim sovereignty? And even if we can, how do we enforce it?”

  “The Treaty of Svalbard,” Klaar said, speaking up. “That and the Outer Space Treaty.”

  “What’s the Treaty of Svalbard?” Finley asked.

  “Svalbard is an island in the Arctic Ocean north of Norway,” Klaar explained. “The treaty makes it essentially international territory. Anyone from the signatory nations is free to travel or live there, set up a business, and so on, no visa required. Local legal matters come under Norwegian law, but Norway is limited otherwise. It can only collect taxes there for the benefit of Svalbard, for example.”

  Tyrell looked around. “That might even work. I see six countries represented amongst the eight of us. Seven if you count Australia,” he added, nodding at Maclaren.

  “Debatable, mate, I’m a US citizen. But I’ll take it,” she said.

  “If we really want to press it, we could extend our claim to Kakuloa too,” Sawyer said. “Five of us walked on it. I don’t imagine that claim would hold for long, but it’s a bargaining point. But,” she said, pausing for a moment, “to bring us back to the original point, do we want to stay? Keep in mind that if our superiors—or ex-superiors—on Earth want to play hardball, they can just cut us off. We’ve been self-sustaining for the past four years, but it hasn’t exactly been fun, and it will get worse as our high-tech gear wears out.”

  “Is that likely?” Tyrell asked.

  “I suspect if it were just up to Drake, he’d be willing to go along with whatever our decision is. But it’s not just up to him. And our Doctor Krysansky may also be subject to the orders of whoever is captaining the Vostok.” She looked towards him.

  He shrugged. “Is complicated. And, to tell the truth, I would kind of like to go back. I am getting too old to be pioneer. But I will stay until you get replacement doctor. And if you come up with treaty, I will sign. What can they do, exile me?” He smiled broadly at this last.

  “Thank you for that, Doctor, and for your honesty.” Sawyer wondered if that would sway anyone else who might be on the fence. Hell, she might be on the fence herself.

  “We don’t need to make a decision tonight. In fact, we should think on it for a while. I’ll speak to Drake off the record and see what his thoughts are. He knows the political situation back on Earth probably better than anyone else within four light-years. Either way there are a lot of details we’d have to work out.”

  There were nods all around, and few low murmurs between couples. “Does anyone have anything to add now?” Sawyer asked. “If not, I suggest we clean up and all get some sleep. If anyone wants to talk to me in private, you know where to find me.”

  Nobody had anything to add, and they quietly cleared away the last of the dinner dishes and headed to their respective beds.

  Chapter 33: Sawyer’s World

  Next morning

  “I did stay up reading your reports. Skimming them, anyway. They make quite a story. You should write it as a memoir, it will be a bestseller,” Drake said to Sawyer the next morning over coffee. Real coffee, from Earth. The Anderson crew regarded it as an incredible luxury.

  “Ha,” she scoffed. “Not me. Maybe someone can ghost write it.”

  “Either way, you’re all going to be quite the celebrities when you return to Earth.”

  “Ah, about that.”

  Drake detected something in her voice he couldn’t quite nail down. “Yes, what about that? Are you worried there’s not enough space aboard? We’ll work something out. The Victoria and Vostok are going to be in-system for a while exploring Kakuloa. We can do a round-trip to Earth in the Endeavour while they’re still here, or wait and split you all up between us.”

  “No, that’s not the issue. Not everyone wants to go back. And the kids have never known any other home.”

  “Kids adapt. People move all the time, from one country to another, they get used to it.”

  “Sure, but it’s tough. Ask Maclaren sometime. She was a kid when her parents moved from Australia. But you’re sidestepping. Not everyone wants to go back.”

  “Do you?”

  Sawyer hesitated before answering. “Not permanently. Yes, I’d like to go back for a while. Get the leg fixed, for one thing, if I can. But I think humanity needs to build a colony here. We’ve already got one started. Sure, more by good luck than by good planning, and we’re lacking a lot. But it’s a start. Remember Robert Heinlein’s quote about humanity’s eggs shouldn’t be in just one basket.

  “But,” she continued, “I’m going by what people said a few days ago, when we f
irst spotted you in orbit. Minds may have changed. We should call another meeting and let you hear what they have to say.”

  Drake had been about to suggest the same thing. He wasn’t completely surprised. If the original crew had been barely hanging on to survival, with or especially without children, he was sure they’d have been anxious to get back to civilization as soon as they could. But they had built homes here. Nothing fancy, and without a level of civilization that could sustain itself for long, but they’d been here long enough to accept that they might never see rescue, and had come to think of it as home. That most of them were raising families here emphasized that. The fact was, as soon as he’d seen the children, he’d wondered how eager everyone would be to leave. Perhaps over the course of the next week, as they reacquainted themselves with the conveniences they’d learned to do without, that would change.

  He smiled wryly.

  “What?” asked Sawyer, seeing his expression.

  “Well, I agree we should discuss this with your people. But I’m thinking that Shackleton never had this problem.”

  Sawyer laughed. “No, I don’t suppose that he did.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Camp Anderson, the meeting

  “We’re not going to kidnap anybody. I suppose in theory I could order the original team back to Earth, but—”

  “What about our children?” Tyrell interrupted.

  “That was my ‘but’, if you’ll let me finish.”

  Tyrell muttered an apology.

  “Clearly,” Drake continued, “we can’t leave kids here with no parents, and I have no intention of taking them into protective custody. It would piss you all off, and we’re not equipped for that. We weren’t exactly expecting to need child-care facilities aboard ship.”

  “Then what are we going to do?”

  “Obviously, anyone who wants to go back can go. I believe Doctor Krysansky is ready for that, he hasn’t seen his grand-kids in five years.”

  “Grand-kids?” Tyrell turn to Krysansky. “Pavel, you never told us.”

  “What’s to tell?” Krysansky said and shrugged elaborately. “I see them when they were little toddlers. By now they would be third, fourth year of school. Just starting to get interesting again.” He turned to look at Drake. “But I will not leave unless you have medical replacement.”

  “That can probably be arranged,” Drake said to Krysansky. “Doctor McFadyen has expressed interest in staying, at least for a while.” He turned to the others. “But as I mentioned earlier, I think we’re going to see regular flights out here from now on. The squidberries that Klaar and Tyrell discovered, or rather the yeast that grows on them—and so far, only them—turns out to have surprising properties. The Skrellan Pharmaceuticals company paid for a good chunk of this mission.” He didn’t mention the arm-twisting that had gone into that, that was a story for another time. “Sure, they’ll mostly be heading to Kakuloa, but you’ve established a solid beachhead here. You’ve certainly proved humans can settle this place. So, you can expect company. You might want to think about an immigration policy.”

  “The more the merrier,” Finley said.

  “That could get out of hand quickly,” said Sawyer. “We’ll welcome settlers of course, but we should have some kind of covenant they’ll have to agree to. If not, it’s a big planet. They’re free to settle elsewhere. Svalbard rules.

  “That sounds reasonable to me,” Drake said. “But back to the question of returning to Earth. You might consider going back briefly, before returning here. Get thorough medicals to make sure living here hasn’t affected you in some subtle adverse way, catch up with family and friends, and figure out what you want to bring back.”

  “You think they’ll allow us to come back once we’re on Earth?”

  “They’d be stupid not to.”

  Sawyer just looked at Drake and raised an eyebrow. “And that has stopped them before...when, exactly?”

  “Point taken,” Drake said. “But you’re the experts on this planet. If anyone wants to settle, they’ll want your advice, and at first hand. Also, and I’m not an expert on this, but there are child protection laws that may require the kids be repatriated if adjusting to Earth is too difficult for them.

  “I would suggest you rotate, don’t all come back at once, unless you want to.” Drake paused to look at Finley, then Sawyer, before continuing. “And, since Doctor Finley so cleverly established precedent by requiring us to get permission to land, assert your sovereignty. Space law says that no Earth nation can claim this place, it doesn’t say anything about settlers declaring independence. Although you might have to give up citizenship in an Earth nation to do that. I think it can be worked out—you folks will be heroes, having not only survived but thrived out here, so popular sentiment will be in your favor, with the right spin.”

  “Geez, Frank, are you turning into a politician in your old age?” chided Sawyer.

  “Hey, watch it. But I’ve learned a lot more about playing politics than I ever wanted to over the past four years. I haven’t told you half the stories about what we went through to get this return mission launched.

  “In fact,” Drake continued, “Starship captains and fleet commanders are going to have a fair bit of political autonomy, seeing as how long it takes to get messages back to Earth. It’s like back in the Age of Sail, with no radio. I can’t formally recognize your colony’s independence as such, that would have to be ratified anyway. However, you and I could draw up some agreements which will give the lawyers something to argue about. We’ll call it the Treaty of Alpha Centauri.” He grinned. “The worst that can happen is they court-martial me again.”

  Sawyer glanced around at the other settlers, noticing a few nods and shrugs, but nobody seemed particularly opposed. “Okay. I have another matter to discuss with you anyway.”

  “Oh?”

  “I’ll fill you in privately. We observed a few unusual things here, unusual even for a planet terraformed sixty-five million years ago. Might be nothing, but I promised to pass it up the chain of command.”

  Drake’s expression changed to a puzzled frown. “All right, but if you’re going to do the independence thing, there’s no more chain of command.” He paused, considering his options, then said: “I will pass on an intelligence briefing from a friendly nation, though.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  “So what did you end up naming this planet?” Drake asked, making notes for the treaty document they’d agreed to write up. “I need to put down something. ‘Alpha Centauri A II’ is a mouthful, and ‘Able’ is boring.”

  “I, we... We never really thought about it,” Sawyer said. “It was just ‘this planet’, or ‘Planet Able’ in my reports. Ulrika Klaar was the first to set foot out of the lander, she should get naming rights.”

  “Me?” Klaar squeaked, caught by surprise. “But surely the captain...”

  “No, Ulrika, you choose,” Sawyer said.

  Drake nodded in confirmation. “Besides, you’re also the mother of the first person born here, who better to name it? No pressure, it’s not like you have to decide right now.” He raised his wrist to glance meaningfully at the time on his omni, suggesting otherwise.

  “I think,” Klaar began, “It was Captain Sawyer’s idea to land here in the first place, and she kept the team together through a lot of hardship. We wouldn’t have survived without her. I might have died in childbirth were in not for her. Poul might have died in the stampede.”

  “So, you want to name it...?”

  “Elizabethia?” she said, tentatively.

  Sawyer emitted a strangled sound.

  “No, that’s too cumbersome,” Klaar continued, “not a good name for a planet. How about...” she paused, weighing the possibilities.

  “Whatever you want, Ulrika, it’s your planet,” Drake said.

  “No, not mi
ne. If it’s anyone’s, it is Captain Sawyer’s. That’s what I choose; Sawyer’s World.”

  “No, wait—” Sawyer began, but Drake cut her off.

  “Sorry, Elizabeth, you don’t get a vote,” he said, and grinned.

  The others carried it unanimously.

  Epilog

  Kakuloa

  The Victoria, and a few weeks later, the Vostok, set down on the basalt plateau near the old Krechet lander, itself somewhat worse for wear after having stood abandoned for nearly five years. The research post they establish goes on to become the town of Krechet’s Landing, hub of both a thriving squidberry export trade and, somewhat later, a tourist resort whose beaches to the north boasted “the best surf of any known planet.” Chandrasekhar Valley, the site of the first landing, is designated a historical preserve.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Sawyer’s World

  The Anderson crew follows Drake’s suggestion to rotate back to Earth. Their official status is in limbo during a year of political wrangling until the—somewhat modified—terms of the Treaty of Alpha Centauri are accepted. Meanwhile the crew, whose research and experience on the planet is recognized as uniquely valuable, collect five years of back-pay. Much of that goes to pay for tickets back to Sawyer’s World. With more starships being constructed, emigration to the new worlds becomes increasingly popular, and the extrasolar human population grows.

  A new town is established some distance from the original Anderson landing site, with better access to mineral resources, fresh water, and agricultural land. And away from the giranno migration paths. To Elizabeth Sawyer’s chagrin, the new town names itself after the planet: Sawyer City. Camp Anderson itself is declared a historic site, with the Original Families, as the Anderson settlers become known, as the trustees. The surrounding area, where ancient stone tools had been discovered, is an archeological preserve.