Excalibur's Quest

by Dietmar Wehr

  “External duration would be approximately twenty-four point nine years. Time dilated duration would be approximately two point one years.”

  “And at point nine nine?”

  “External duration twenty-two point six years. Time dilated duration fourteen point six months.”

  “Would the hyperspace maneuvering technology be able to bring a ship back down to sub-hyper velocities at those speeds and in the inter-spiral void?”

  “A definitive answer cannot be provided now; however, experience to date suggests that the answer is yes.”

  “Interesting.” It sounded like it could be done but not by a ship like Excalibur. She barely had enough cargo capacity to carry a year’s worth of food. That wouldn’t even last a one-way trip, let alone enough to get there and back. Although with the time dilation factor, who would want to make a two-way trip knowing they’d come back 45 years later? But if the ship were big enough to carry lots of food and was intended from the very beginning to be making a one-way trip, then finding a new home in the Perseus Arm would pretty much solve the danger from the super-wave for many thousands of years. How big would a ship like that have to be he wondered. He decided there would be plenty of time to ponder that question on the way to their first destination.

  “Delete star map, Astro.” With the map gone, he resumed his unpacking.

  Chapter Ten:

  The first star system within the Zukas-explored space had been designated Z1 for obvious reasons. It was a typical yellow sun, much like Earth’s, and therefore had a relatively high probability of exploitable planets that the Zukas might have colonized. Excalibur dropped back into normal space with running lights off and hull camo turned on. Until Koenig had some idea of how the Zukas might react to visitors, he intended to play it safe. As the ship decelerated and surveyed the system, it also listened for any kind of intelligent transmission from nearby star systems. The verdict was in after only a few minutes.

  “None of the planets in this system are capable of supporting life. No signs of alien activity in this system. We’ve picked up one interstellar signal source from a star that lies approximately in the center of the area that the Vergon believe the Zukas have explored. AstroComp calculates a ninety-three percent probability that the source of this signal is the Zukas home system,” said the astro AI.

  “Only one source of EM transmissions. I would have expected multiple sources like we saw with the Sengals,” said Koenig.

  “It may be that with their FTL capability, all current signal traffic is conducted using a technique that we can’t detect. We are far enough away from the source that these signals were sent over fifty-five years ago, possibly before the Zukas developed FTL com technology,” said the com AI.

  “That makes sense. Get us on our way to the Zukas home system, Astro. Let me guess, you’re going to designate it as Z2, right?”

  “Affirmative, Commander.” Koenig was still chuckling as he left the Bridge.

  Both Koenig and Vasily were on the Bridge when Excalibur dropped into the Z2 system at the very edge of the star system, much farther out from the star’s gravity well threshold. Koenig wanted to get a good look at the layout first. AstroComp found what appeared to be a habitable planet at the right distance from the star to be liveable. The com AI was picking up lots of low powered EM transmissions that ComComp evaluated as being for local use. There were also transmissions coming from open space that had to be generated by ships too small to see visually from this distance. The tactical view of the entire system showed that Excalibur was below the system’s ecliptic, still travelling at slightly less than the 5% of light speed necessary for a hyperjump.

  “Astro, how big of a time lag would there be in communications if the ship remained outside the gravity well at the closest point to the Zukas home world?”

  “Two-way communication would experience a delay of thirteen point seven minutes.”

  Koenig thought about that answer for a few seconds. “It’s longer than I was hoping for, but I can live with it. Bring the ship to the closest point to the Zukas home world that’s still outside the threshold and zero velocity.”

  “May I ask why you’re not willing to get closer, Wolfe?”

  “I want plenty of time to detect any Zukas ships that they might send out in our direction. Their sun will be behind their planet, and we may be able to see their ships silhouetted against the sun. If we see them coming at us, we should still have time to accelerate up to jump speed. I believe that we can reach minimum jump velocity at max Gs from a dead stop in sixteen minutes, right Astro?”

  “Sixteen minutes, two point five seconds to be exact,” said the AI.

  “What about getting closer and retaining substantial velocity?” asked Vasily.

  Koenig shook his head. “Unless we got very close, we might not pick up their reply if they use narrow micro-wave or comlaser beams that are aimed at where we were when we sent our messages. If the ship has moved during the lag, their return signal will be aimed at the wrong spot.”

  “Oh, yes. I should have thought of that myself,” she said in obvious embarrassment.

  “Don’t give it another thought. I won’t. What I would like your input with is the content of the first message we send. Here’s what I was thinking…”

  By the time the ship was in the right position, they had a message that satisfied them both.

  GREETINGS FROM THE UNITED EARTH TREATY ORGANIZATION. WE COME IN THE HOPE OF ESTABLISHING PEACEFUL CONTACT AND A MUTUALLY-BENEFICIAL EXCHANGE OF TECHNOLOGY. WE ALSO HAVE INFORMATION TO SHARE WITH YOU CONCERNING A FUTURE DANGER TO YOUR SPECIES. IF YOU REPLY IN THE VERGON LANGUAGE, WE WILL BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT.

  It was translated into the Vergon equivalent and sent by both comlaser and micro-wave transmission to the Zukas home world.

  It took almost 20 minutes before the very short translated reply was on the display.

  ZUKAS HAVE RECEIVED YOUR GREETINGS. SPECIFY FUTURE DANGER.

  “Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be a long day?” muttered Koenig. “Okay, Karine, let’s get this conversation going.”

  After five and a half long hours of sending and receiving messages, Koenig leaned back and rubbed his eyes. The Zukas seemed to finally understand what the super-wave was and the danger it represented. They also were willing to agree to a three-way swap of technology beginning with them sending a ship to contact the Xenophobe race to try to trade the atom-manipulation tech for their own FTL tech. Once they had that, they would trade it to humans in exchange for both the hull camo and hyperspace maneuvering tech. Koenig and Vasily had both been surprised when the Zukas turned down the gravity cannon technology in favor of the hull camo tech. There was a catch though. They wanted the maneuvering tech upfront as a demonstration of human good intentions, proof that the technology really did exist, as well as because it would shorten the time for a round trip to the Xenophobes if the Zukas ship had that technology. When Koenig had checked with the astro AI on how long a round trip would take both with and without the hyperspace maneuvering, the difference was enough to make accepting the Zukas condition tempting.

  “What if they renege on the deal after they get our tech?” asked Vasily.

  Koenig shrugged. “Then we’ve learned a valuable lesson on how trustworthy they really are, but we won’t have lost anything we didn’t already have. I’m also wondering if they’re testing us to see how desperate we are. What I think we should do is agree to their condition but emphasize that they don’t get the hull camo tech until after we get atom manipulation.”

  Vasily concurred with his plan, and once the Zukas agreed to proceed, Koenig felt better. With Vasily holding down the Bridge and the com AI looking after translating and sending the maneuvering tech, Koenig headed for his quarters and some sleep.

  Over the next 48 hours, there were sporadic queries from the Zukas on certain technical issues that the Excalibur engineering team fielded, but Koenig was amazed that the Zukas did not seem at all inte
rested in learning more about humanity. At the end of that time, the Zukas sent a message saying that they had finished retrofitting one of their ships with the hyperspace maneuvering technology and that it had been successfully tested. That ship was already on its way to the Xenophobes. The speed with which the Zukas had exploited the new technology was nothing less than jaw-dropping.

  The minimum round-trip time for the Zukas ship to get there and back was estimated to be almost nine days. It therefore came as another huge shock when Excalibur received a very long, highly technical transmission that appeared to be the technical specifications of the atom-manipulation technology only 127 hours after the Zukas ship had departed.

  “Could their ship have made it there and back that quickly?” asked Koenig.

  “It is theoretically possible if the ship attained ninety-eight percent of light speed prior to jumping there and back plus were able to exchange technology in less than three hours upon arrival,” said the astro AI.

  “In other words, highly unlikely,” said Koenig. He stared off into infinity for a few seconds before shaking his head. “I’m very skeptical that this transmission is the real thing. Com, tell the Zukas that we will send them the hull camo technology as soon as our technical personnel have analyzed the data they’ve sent us in order to identify any questions that need clarification.”

  The reply, when it came, was not what Koenig had expected.

  SEND HULL CAMOUFLAGE TECHNOLOGY NOW.

  While Koenig and Vasily were pondering what implications that terse demand meant, the tactical AI spoke up.

  “Detecting a reflected sunlight source that appears to be coming from outside the gravity threshold. Range is indeterminate.”

  “Can a ship detect us from that bearing?” asked Koenig quickly.

  “Negative. Second reflected sunlight source also outside gravity threshold from almost the opposite bearing.”

  “I don’t like this,” said Vasily.

  “No kidding. This smells like an ambush waiting to be sprung if we don’t give them the hull camo tech. Hell, they might just spring the ambush even if we do give them the technology. Show me the contact bearings on the tactical display.”

  Koenig nodded when he saw the updated display. The bearings were nearly opposite each other, but at least Excalibur wasn’t boxed in. The Zukas would have no way of knowing what direction the ship was pointed at, and the two approaching ships, were coming from an oblique side angle. That’s if there’s only two of them. There might be more, and we just haven’t seen them yet.

  “I’m not taking any more chances with these fuckers,” said Koenig. “Com, send this translated message. Detection of unknown ships approaching from outside gravity threshold requires that we change our position. We will stay in this star system until we’ve determined the validity of your technical data and will send the hull camouflage data as soon as we’ve finished this analysis. Astro, get us moving at max Gs on our current bearing with minimal chance of being detected. Continue until your receive further orders.”

  It quickly became clear that there were more than two ships stalking Excalibur when a third ship began scanning with radar. The astro AI was able to rotate the ship’s hull to prevent the radar waves from bouncing back to the new bogey.

  “I’m THIS close to showing these bastards what a gravity beam can do,” hissed Koenig.

  “They obviously can’t be trusted, but going out of our way to make an enemy of them by firing on them might not be our best option, Wolfe,” said Vasily.

  Koenig knew she was right, but the impulse to strike was oh so tempting. “We won’t fire on them unless they fire at us, and if they do, then the gloves come off.”

  After 7.7 minutes of acceleration, it was clear that Excalibur had escaped the ambush without being fired upon. When the technical team finally got around to reporting to Koenig that the Zukas technical data was a carefully crafted hoax, he was actually able to laugh at the confirmation of Zukas treachery. By then, the ship was moving at a very high velocity to nowhere in particular.

  “Do we try our hand with the Cloak-’A’s, Wolfe?” asked Vasily.

  “No. With their superior cloaking tech, we have less to offer them than we did with the Zukas. Our hull camo is almost as good, except at short ranges. We can live without their cloaking tech just fine. I want to do some careful recon of the Xenophobes, and then I’ll decide how to proceed. Astro, line us up for a jump to the nearest star system that the Vergon believe was inhabited by the race that the Xenos conquered. We’ll start there.”

  Chapter Eleven:

  That first star system was designated P1. It had a habitable planet, and the com AI was picking up lots of EM transmissions not only from the planet but also from various points in the system’s asteroid belt. Koenig was discussing with Vasily how he wanted the reconnaissance to be conducted when the tactical AI interrupted.

  “Very strong reflection contact detected. The object is either very close or very large. Recommend going to Battle Stations.”

  “Yes! I’ll take the con, Lieutenant,” said Koenig to Chen, who was in the Command Pod as BDO. They quickly exchanged places while Vasily headed off to her assigned Battle Stations post in Engineering.

  “Go to active scanning?” asked the tactical AI.

  Koenig almost said yes but changed his mind at the last minute. “Negative. Evasive maneuvers, Astro. Let’s get a different angle on this thing to see how close it really is.”

  With the ship at Battle Stations, the Bridge was now dead quiet as Koenig watched the tactical display intently. The line indicating the path to the reflection source was continuing to point in almost the same direction even as the ship made a wide S turn.

  Koenig was just about to say that the reflection source had to be a long way off when the tactical AI confirmed that very conclusion.

  “So, how big is this thing to be giving off that much sunlight?” asked Koenig.

  “Assuming a metal with typical reflectivity, the object would have to have a surface area of approximately twenty million square meters.”

  It took Koenig a couple of seconds to realize what that meant. “My God! Something would have to be five kilometers long by four kilometers wide to have a surface area that big!”

  “Or ten by two or any other combination of length and width that generates the same total area,” said the tactical AI.

  Koenig laughed. “The actual external shape doesn’t matter when something is that big. It’s still mindboggling. Can we tell if it’s near an asteroid?”

  “The object appears to be a minimum of three thousand kilometers from the nearest asteroid that is big enough to be detected at this range. It may be closer to smaller asteroids.”

  “We can revert to Alert Stations, I think. Have the XO come back to the Bridge, Com. Cancel evasive maneuvers. I want the ship to detour around the object at a minimum distance of five light minutes while also keeping the same distance from the habitable planet and any pinpointed EM source.”

  “Understood,” said the astro AI.

  Vasily was soon back on the Bridge. Her reaction to the news about the object’s size paralleled his. “Whatever that is, they have to be using the atom manipulation technology to build it,” she said in a tone that suggested she was thinking out loud.

  “Very likely, but what the hell is it?” asked Koenig. “This race is supposedly highly aggressive to the point of being xenophobic, so what could a race like that possibly build that’s this big?”

  “Well, if they know about the super-wave, they might have decided to build one really huge transport to carry their people to safety instead of multiple smaller ones,” said Vasily.

  “And if that one really huge ship was also armed to the teeth, it would make a hell of a warship too. In addition to their people, it could carry hundreds of assault shuttles and a ground force of potentially many thousands of soldiers. Hell, if they find a planet they like, and it happens to already be occupied, they’d be able to conquer
it and move in all at the same time.”

  “I would suggest that we be careful about making assumptions that may turn out to be false,” said Vasily. “The Vergon could be mistaken about their aggressiveness.”

  “But what if they’re not; that would be a more dangerous assumption to make.” Vasily said nothing as Koenig returned his attention to the tactical display. After a few seconds, he said, “I see a lot of signal sources that appear to be coming from various points in this asteroid belt. That makes sense if you consider how much metal that beast must need on a continuous basis. That suggests to me that these signals are coming from mining ships. If we can identify one that’s relatively isolated from the rest, we could maybe board it, examine its technology and perhaps establish a dialog with the crew, maybe find out what that monster is for.” He looked at Vasily for her reaction.

  “That sounds like a job for your XO,” she said with a mischievous grin. Koenig grinned back. Eriko would never have embraced the idea of that kind of dangerous mission with such enthusiasm.