by Robert Culp
The briefing officer motions for quiet. “At ease! Calm down, both of you. No plan has been adopted, no order issued yet. You all have your instructions, marching orders, etc. Ladies,” he points to the biologist and me, “work up your plans, name names, intramail your digital versions to me, Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Hogan, Operations Officer Gallagher, within two hours. SarMajor Call and Chief MacTaggert, for the robot, be prepared to rig it to carry hydrophones and explosives. Dismissed.”
I stop the biologist outside the briefing room. She’s not a fan of mine but I really don’t care. I’m not here to win any popularity contests. I’m here to do what needs doing; whether it’s for my shipmates or me. “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Sonia MacTaggert, Engineering. How do you propose to communicate with that…whatever it is?”
“Leka Ulfdottir, xenobiology. I plan to program an automated translator. It can speak thousands of languages. If the creature is similar to what I think, there is a species off the coast of Atlantis that I can use as a model. If it responds to something we put out, maybe we can make some headway. Perhaps we can find out what it wants or what is frightening it. I think you’re going to find it’s a pleasant enough animal and was scared so it defended itself.”
“But there’s no way to know that for sure,” I point out.
“Not at this time, no,” she begrudgingly agrees. “And if we can’t find any common ground, then—given the Captain’s directive—we’ll have no choice but to kill it.” I nod. “As stupid and short sighted as that idea is. Oh, crap, I said that out loud, didn’t I?”
“I didn’t hear it.” I have enough careless ramblings of my own. “I’ll catch up with you later, I have to get a robot prepared and you have to find a psychic. I’d start with Arnold Kreq. He’s a logistics handler for the kitchens. He also teaches Shra Kuhn in his copious spare time.”
A week later, the medical section declares the ship to be prion free. Which comes as a relief to everyone. The damage that was inflicted is, in most cases, correctable by the medical team. Sadly, not everyone recovers.
The Operations officer for the Gallagher mission did approve my plan, so I got real busy real quick outfitting the robots. There’s a message waiting for me when I get to work. It’s from the Captain.
The mission to neutralize the creature and release Gallagher from the ice will launch at 0800 tomorrow. We have been hurried by business that is not for dissemination. Execute.
No ‘Are you ready?’ I suppose by now, if we aren’t I’ll be fired at our next port of call. I can't help notice he used "neutralize" not "kill" or "eliminate" the creature. Perhaps he agrees with Leka that it's possible to establish communication and persuade the creature not to kill us.
I type out a brief reply of, “Aye, sir.” My next message is to my team what the go time is and a directive to alert me when everything is inspected, packed up, and ready to go whether I’m there or not. The Engineering members and materiel of this mission will be ready to depart by 0800.
I go down to the small craft bay to oversee the loading. I can tell the protective coating on the ship has been reapplied, I’m sure it has on the pinnace as well. While I’m there, Freddie walks in. I grab him for a quick conference, “I know the good idea window is closed, but would it be a good idea for us to split the personnel and take a second shuttle?”
“Just like you, Squats. To recommend a mission amendment that stands the thing on its head at execution time. But just to satisfy your curiosity, that was suggested and the Ops chief shot it down. The advantage to not having all the eggs in one basket was trumped by flight difficulty. Just like before, Shawna will pilot the SDB, Athena will fly the pinnace. There aren’t any better pilots aboard. And there aren’t any androids that can be detailed away from their current assigned duties. So what we have is what we take. Now if you’ll excuse me,” he gestures towards a collection of people in marauder suits putting their gear together. “I’m going to pull a PCI on Demo Team Charlie.” His pre-combat inspection will either satisfy him that they are ready to go, or point out discrepancies that they need to correct.
We exchange a few more bits of information couched by insults before I board the SDB. From the hatch I can see that the missile rack is now loaded for the precision ice crack. I can only imagine what the missiles are programmed to do, that wasn’t part of my problem to solve. My problem was the robots.
On the flight deck—I've never understood why a room is called a deck—Shawna is all business. Her flight suit is zipped up to her neck, her hair arranged in a bun to stay out of the way until she dons her flight helmet. She’s loading flight profiles and checking various instruments. Usually we’d engage in some kind of light banter but she’s way too busy right now. She barely acknowledges my presence. I continue into the cargo hold. The big doors are open, as the pinnace hasn’t been loaded yet.
I see the robots being moved into position. There are the WARBOTs that Freddie wants and what we have dubbed the Talkbot that Leka wants. Leka is preparing her robot for action. I tap her on the shoulder, “I know breakthroughs don't follow time lines, but how long should we wait for communication? I hate to be a bitch about it, but we do have a clock to watch. We certainly haven’t bought ourselves some time by being forced to leave early, but I don't feel like I can give you the full eight hours. I'll split it with you and give you four."
“You’re right, there’s no way to know. But I agree with you. If we can’t get anything going in the first four hours, I don’t think the next four will make that big a difference.”
Over time, the remaining equipment is loaded. The team is ready to leave before time. The last item on the checklist is to load the pinnace into the cargo hold of the larger System Defense Boat. The SDB will be a midpoint between Star Chaser and us so they’ll already be in space when we are ready for extraction. Or we scream for help.
As the SDB takes up its overwatch position, the rest of us board the pinnace for the very bumpy ride down. We have a better understanding of the local area so we land closer to the wreck site. It’s still a fair hike, but it’s not as long. The ride is pretty similar as it was the first time, only this time I tell everyone to turn his or her microphones off except for emergency. It’s a decision that pays off. I’m the only one that gets sick on this trip. Did Beebles fast knowing she was slated for this trip? Clever girl. I wish I’d thought to do that.
Freddie comes over our headset. “The missiles are tasked and targeted, but I don’t want to have to break that beast loose twice. Sonia, you’re the away mission commander. What’s your plan?” He knows it as well as I do, but I humor him.
“Once the pinnace is down and secure, the away force—basically us minus a spacer we brought to let us know if something horrible happens to the pinnace—will make our way to Gallagher. Leka sends in her Talkbot with a WARBOT as an armed escort, Athena stands by to take control of that one. The rest of us stand by observing the ship. If Leka cannot establish communication in four hours, the WARBOT kills whatever is in that tank. Either way, once the biologic problem is solved, we fire up the ship. I will lead the engineering effort in the power plant and engine room. Athena will prepare to do the pilot stuff from the bridge. Once we have power flowing and the engines warm, we evacuate to just outside Danger Close, Athena signals the SDB to fire the missiles. They should break up most of the ice holding the ship. Once Gallagher is free, the smart kids then move in and we get the beast airborne. While that's happening, Team Charlie moves around removing any ice the missiles missed. Any questions?"
“None,” Freddie says. ”Your mission is a ‘go.’ Good luck. SDB out.”
We have an advantage this time; we know exactly where we’re going so getting to the lab is not the task it once was. The forkbots and spacers had to work a bit to get the robots into the ship, but we have enough muscle in the armor to get them off loaded much faster.
It takes a few minutes to get the robots to the lab. The Talkbot wasn’t built for speed. At the corner of
the corridor leading to the lab, we verify that the video and audio on the Talkbot work and we send the mechanism trundling towards the lab and the tank. The bodies of our troopers provide obstacles the Talkbot has to get around. As soon as the two robots move into the lab, the water in the tank begins roiling. The robot moves to the tank and places a transducer against it and begins playing the recorded messages. The WARBOT stops at the entrance to the lab. We wait anxiously as the Talkbot begins its mission. Each of us is hoping for an answer from the creature in the tank. Leka murmurs while we wait, “I wonder where it’s from.”
“You don’t think it’s from here?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “It doesn't make any sense. Like I said at the briefing, the ship crashed here. We are led to that conclusion by the ice, and the crazy angle, etc. right?”
“I’m with you.”
“So, why would they be so interested in finding and capturing a local creature, that they wouldn't get their ship free?” Leka asks. “It doesn’t make sense to me. But if it crashed with them, well, that fits the scenario better.”
I can’t argue her logic. We make small talk for another thirty minutes then Leka suddenly squeals with glee. “We have a solution. Who’s our group spokesperson?” All eyes are suddenly on me.
Athena breaks the silence by stating the obvious, “Chief MacTaggert is the mission commander.” Leka plugs a cable into my communication module. I am too stunned to resist.
“Any time you’re ready, Boss,” says Leka.
I have no idea what to say! I’ve never even considered first contact with another species. Maybe I should start with a few assurances? “Hello, we would rather not hurt you. How did you come to be here?” I hear the computer translate and play a series of high-pitched squeals, whistles, chirps and pops. I can only hope it is accurately relaying my words, hopefully the intent at the very least. It takes a few minutes, but I hear some tones similar to what we played come from the water.
Shortly after that I hear, “I not hurt.”
“It said…” I start but Leka interrupts me with a wave. She reaches over and disconnects the cable.
“We can hear what you say and the translation. You have the cable because only what you and the creature say is, as far as the translator computer goes, all that’s important.”
“If you say so. Someone advise the SDB that we’ve made contact, and are communicating.” I take the cable from her and insert it back into my comLink port. “Is this planet your home?” I think I know the answer but I want to hear it anyway.
It takes a while. The computer must be making some assumptions and experimenting with the languages it has access to. We see the translator’s activity indicators blink on and off. What happens next takes us all by surprise.
Leka snaps upright and throws her rifle against the wall. She then turns to me. “Your name is Sonia MacTaggert, you are an engineer and in command of this excursion. This individual's name is Leka Ulfdottir. She is a scientist and companion of yours. I mean you no harm. What happened before was unfortunate and unintended. Do you seek revenge?” The translator continues to record what I and the creature say. I trigger my own comm recorder to capture what comes out of Leka’s mouth, as I'm certain this conversation will be of interest to many people for quite a while.
I gape at her for a second or two. It feels like much longer. “That is up to you,” I say. “The woman you are speaking through is one of our crew and we care about her and what happens to her. Is she in any danger?”
“No,” Leka’s voice says, “but this method is easier for me and faster for you. I can speak to her mind and she can translate more readily than your computer can. She values life, so I know she is not a threat to me. You value her opinion, so you will do what she says as much as possible.”
“Until you hurt her or use her to hurt us.”
“Neither of those will happen. With the others, when I touched their minds, they were thinking of killing me. Am I not allowed to defend myself?”
Every creature in the universe wants to live. Its request is not unreasonable. Although, that will be a tough idea to sell to some of the troopers. Especially to those who lost some friends. “They were soldiers. That is what they do. If they were thinking of killing you, it was only as a contingency. Had you attacked them."
"The outcome is unfortunate, then. For what it is worth, I apologize."
I don't see any benefit to belaboring this so I change the subject. "We have questions,” I tell it.
“Disarm the explosives on your robots, reorient your weapons and I will tell you whatever you wish to know to the best of my ability.” What we eventually find out is that the creature was captured. Some form of flying object and bipeds in metallic suits destroyed its home planet. As it happens, the creature is a female. Her tale of woe is compounded by the fate of her family: The invading force ate them. Her opinion is that she was only spared to be either a zoo exhibit or a scientific carving dummy.
Gallagher picked her up in an automated life pod. She doesn’t know exactly what happened, but the slaver ship was destroyed and her tank was jettisoned. The pod was too small for her, the crew of Gallagher built this field expedient tank for her. She begs to be taken to as clean ocean and freed. She promises that if she is left in peace, she will harm no life form aside from food. She realizes that bipeds are not food, so they are all safe. After the interview, Leka’s body relaxes. Her knees buckle and her eyes flutter. We catch her before she can fall.
I hear Leka call the SDB. “Sergeant Major, this is an intelligent creature. It is a refugee. Please, we need to take it with us. It won’t hurt us or anyone else. Two forkbots can move her tank. Please, Freddie. She’s probably the last of her kind. It’s just wrong not to let her live out her days in peace.”
Freddie’s response is not very encouraging. "That's a decision way above my pay grade. The best I can offer is to let her stay where she is until such time as we find an ocean fitting to her needs. But I’ll relay the request up the chain. That’s the best I can do right now."
The translating computer was operational throughout our conversation. I open a channel into the tank. "I can't transfer you to our ship without my Captain's permission. What I would like to do is seal your tank for a short period, get the ship out of the ice and into space. Once the ship is proven sound, your tank will be unsealed. Or perhaps the Captain will allow you aboard our ship. It is a research vessel after all. But my first order of business is to get this ship into orbit. Is that acceptable to you?"
Leka answers first, “That won’t work. According to your plan, this ship will be depressurized and there’s not a way to seal this tank. Her water will boil off and she will die. If her lungs aren’t crushed by her weight, the vacuum will kill her. We have to move her to the SDB.”
“Impossible,” Athena says over the link. “Even if we built a tank on the pinnace and transferred just her, we would require days we do not have. The only option is to transport her in place.”
I look at the tank and consider sealing it. We could cover it with something. Weld that to the frame and…the oxygenation system. Water filtration. My eyes slide down the length of the tank. Easily half a dozen holes where one thing or another feeds into it. They would all have to be patched. A nightmare at best.
My next thought is to build a pressurized environment around the tank enclosing all of the support plumbing. That might work except where am I going to get that much material? Strip it from the airtight non-critical walls elsewhere on the ship? Wait a minute! “Athena, can you access the design specifications for this ship?”
“I have, what do you wish to know?”
“Can this compartment be pressurized independently?”
“Accessing. It can. There are quarantine protocols to over-pressurize that compartment.” The crew of Gallagher must have thought of that first. I wish I had met their engineer, probably could have taught me a thing or two.
“Excellent! Now, how do we keep the water and
the creature in the tank in microgravity?”
One of the troopers speaks up, “Why not a tarp?” He points to a pile of them in the corner of the room. I hadn’t noticed them, but he’s right. Just because a solution doesn’t involve welding doesn’t make it the wrong one. There are also some rolls of plastic sheeting. All we need is the epoxy from the tool kit and we’re in business. We can fabricate a cover to keep the water in place while the ship stumbles its way to orbit. It may not be a one hundred percent solution, but it’s near enough. Of course, once I have the plan moving, I’m needed in the reactor room. I can have Leka and a pair of troopers finish assembling the tank cover and getting it in place. They don’t need me for that.
“Freddie, we’ll be able to transport the creature—I guess it’s some form of whale—in place. I’m heading to the engine room to get the power plant warm. I could use some help.”
“What you have is what you got. We don't have another pinnace on the SDB, so I couldn't send any hands if I wanted to. Handle it in your typical efficient manner,” he replies.
It’s unfortunate this ship was never intended to be in an atmosphere. That means it has no parking thrusters. There is no way to keep it stationary at low altitude so we can allow the water to drain then patch any holes. In layman’s terms, it can’t hover. Instead, we’ll have to get it to orbit in some way, shape or form. Lack of streamlining means lack of wings, so even if …when the engines come on line, steering it will be a royal pain. Usually that means towing. Chains and cables would either snap themselves or pull free of any attachment to which they were attached. If they didn’t cut through the hull. And we’d be right back where we started. So a tractor field it must be. The SDB doesn’t have one though. But I believe Star Chaser does.
