“With all due respect sir, why don't you contact Zak directly, seems to be the one person who has the abilities to reason with Mindy, good day sir.” The esteemed professor hung up on the president of the Americas. Hicks made no mention that his inspection of the ship included riding into space on it and this bolstered his resolve. Meanwhile government types were lurking in the shadows everywhere watching and listening to every thing, 'such pests' thought Hicks.
On Panther the call was just coming through from The President. Earth station three, General Murphy had taken a prior call getting chewed out for not knowing what was going on with the Panther but all he could say was, “Sir, that thing is way beyond anything we know, we have no Idea how they are shielding communications, we have can't even get close to the thing.” On the bridge Zak, Giraffe and Panther had been listening and appreciated General Murphy's dilemma. Then they connected with the president of Americas and he came on hard, “We are friends are we not? You should have come to me first,” the president said. Zak returned , “We did not want to bother you on this until we knew for sure that Professor Hicks would be on board with this.”
“The location we will be touching down on is on his land, as soon as he confirmed, you were contacted.” Zak had a way with placating officials. Zak continued, “By keeping this earth visit quiet we hope to avoid creating a circus, we will not be staying any longer than for the professor to come through and then we go back in orbit.” The president was not pleased, “We had hoped to have a better sharing of technologies after providing skilled workers and accommodating the repairs on your ship.” Zak rejoined, “We do appreciate your cooperation and hope that after the test flight you will invite the other two presidents to join you so we can discuss a solution to your food shortage issues.” This statement froze the president, nothing about the global problems of food shortages had ever reached the public. It was Panther, reviewing earth records that had found a pattern of humans not adjusting to long term weather cycles that created this problem. In that the alien was so aware made the president conclude the call with, ”I look forward to talking about this more in the near future.” Zak seemed to enjoy the back and forth but Giraffe was happier studying ship systems and operations.
With a Federated escort, the Cyrillium explorer ship worked it's way past Edahni on the way to the gray nebula. The grax engineers, Uhr and Dihr were arguing with the Cyrillium scientists, “It is senseless to send a probe into a gray nebula, that has been done, the signal will be lost in 60 seconds” said Uhr. Dihr added, “If we jump a probe in an approximate of what the Panther would do in emergency jump, then we may result.” The scientist did think the idea had merit but were reluctant to try and insisted that it would be better to navigate around the nebula and that the Panther may have found a way out. This idea did make sense because there were some record where ships claimed to have made it through a nebula but, none of those records indicated such an event in a gray nebula. In the end it was decided by the captain to try both. “We will launch three test buoy as Dihr suggested and an anchor buoy so that as we continue on we can still receive any possible return signal.” The calculations on how to duplicate the Panthers possible jump into the nebula would take time and meanwhile the Federated escort ship departed, alone on the edge of the gray, they set to work. But, in all the known worlds no signal or object had ever passed through a nebula therefore, the Panther must be lost.
It was Dihr that pointed out, “Not all nebula are the same, no one has jumped the same ship, the same way, into a nebula.” This was an astute observation and irrefutable logic. Going on the theory that something could pass through this nebula brought about the risk that any explorer ship faced, what was out in unknown space may not be friendly. The communication streams put out by a buoy could possibly goon for light years so explorer buoys were programmed to to narrowly search for an anchor signal. A signal on the path it was launched from and lock on to that before any outward search. The idea was that if the buoy encountered anything perceived as hostile it could sever communications with its anchor and destroy itself. It was decided that they needed to wait at least five days for each buoy to return a signal before calling it lost and they had just sent the first one, meanwhile, they would be doing detailed charting of the area.
On the Panther repairs were underway with the spine sealed and finally having atmosphere where the damages to the conduits were. “Oh boy, was some one sure dumb about routing and redundancies.” Giraffe said as she looked at the upper conduits which were overloaded. The engineers agreed and Zak was at a loss for words.
Zak finally said, “My engineers, the grax, have been telling me that it all should be reconfigured but I always said no, because it all worked.” Giraffe rejoined, “Until it didn't, and I think that since it has to be fixed anyway we might as well follow those recommendations and fix it right.” The spine of the Panther, like any container ship is where the huge containers connected. Other than that, it is not much more than one long corridor that contain the conduits above and below that in essence connect the fore and aft of the together. What had happened to the Panther is that one missile took out all essential communications and the redundant backup systems. All at once because the backup systems were along side the primaries. Instead backup systems should be in a different location, in this case, in the bottom conduits. In space every system is generally triple redundant but in the Panther, because of age many systems had never been repaired and just ran on back-up which is one reason the bulkhead doors did not close automatically and caused explosive decompression on the bridge. Since Panther the AI had been 'asleep' for a long time she had not been able to bring attention to these problems but now that she was awake a whole list of issues had been generated.
“With the current number of people working, to repair the ship to minimum safe conditions will take about four weeks.” Said Panther. Giraffe and Zak were on the bridge and talking vocally with the ships AI. Zak asked, “How much time till we could make the test run in atmosphere?” Panther replied, “Maybe two weeks but I would not recommend it without all systems in compliance.” Giraffe stated, “We need to move as quickly as possible because the earth governments will sooner or later, try another power play and I would like to avoid that if possible so I think we will plan on that.” Panther added, “And you will have Hicks on board to to help out and I believe he can be an valuable asset.” Giraffe was curious, “Have you been checking out the professor?” “I have been in text communication for some time so yes,” Panther answered, “I contacted him as professor Ling of Novtgrad and we have been discussing space anomalies.” Zak said, “I did not know deception was possible with your programming Panther.”
Panther replied, “As part of achieving a non violent goal, a small subterfuge is within parameters.” Then she added, “You look cute when you are alarmed Zak.” Giraffe just laughed and Panther joined in, Panther was developing a personality.
7
Rodney Downs was one of the volunteers working on the Panther and like the others kept to himself when not working. All the EDF volunteers were quartered together on the station and while they could use any of the facilities like the club or theaters most stayed apart to save from being asked questions about the Panther, which they were sworn to secrecy about. Specialist Henry Wadlow and his group had been studying the volunteers and found a target in Rodney Downs. Rodney fit the profile of the shy overachiever, so he was vulnerable to feminine attention. Henry's friend Becky had volunteered to seduce Rod, the first step in compromising the young engineer. Once seduced, Henry could get all the information on the Panther and it's security systems. Becky had been working on Rod for a few weeks now by arranging accidental meetings. Her patience had finally managed to get the shy man on a date to the theater. After that, since he was such a sweet guy, getting him drunk would be the next step to suckering him into bed. Henry was determined to get on that ship and expose it and the crew for the real threat that it was, he would be a hero. The only t
hing Becky was able to get out of a drunken, satiated Rod was that there seemed to be another unknown person on the ship, claimed he had her voice more than once while working outside the bridge door. This was the kind of thing that fueled Henry's imagination. As a technician Henry had almost unlimited access on the station so finding some drugs to loosen Rod up had not been difficult, the plan was coming together nicely.
Every one had gone for the day when Zak called to the bridge, “Giraffe please come to the galley, dinner is served” Giraffe replied “on my way,” Curious to what this was about as the galley had not been in use. Even before she got there she smelled a delicious aroma and when she got there Zak asked, “Could you secure the door and turn on gravity so I can do this right?”
Giraffe had barely spoke, ”Secure...” Then they started to feel the pull of gravity. Panther had acted the second Giraffe started to ask, Panther then said, ”You are welcome, enjoy your dinner.” Zak pulled a covered pot and a couple of bowls from a cupboard then added spoons and then reached in a cooler for a bottle of wine set it all on the table. He said, “Sit please.” It was nice to be in gravity, it made eating a pleasure instead of a squeeze tube fest and the aroma was making her hungry so as soon as he served she tucked right in. “Mm this is sure good and I really appreciate the effort it must have taken to get real earth food brought in.” Zak had a big smile on his face, “It is a earth recipe but the food came from right here in the galley, I fired up the mana-maker.” She kept eating and after another bite said, “What is mana and how is it made and do I really want to know?” Zak replied, “Mana has been a mainstay on ships for over a century, it is actually not made but grown, it's a high protein fungus that comes in different textures and it absorbs spices and flavors very well.”
After they had finished eating Giraffe said, “I swear this is real meat and potatoes in this gravy, is it easy to grow?”
“We grow it in boxes that are temperature and humidity controlled on wet plates, just a few spores and a batch is done in a day.” Zak replied, “Save a few spores and it will just keep growing more, if you add vita-packs into the food you can live on it, give it a reasonable place to grow and you could feed a planet with it.” “Mana was discovered on a wet planet whose inhabitants had been living on it forever but it had a name that was long and hard to pronounce so someone took to calling it mana, from an ancient book that claimed that it 'fell from the stars' the name stuck.” Zak stated. Both Giraffe and Zak felt a pull towards each other and it felt good, in the quiet of the ship, till Panther piped up and said, “I sure like it when a plan comes together! good night now.” Now Panther sounded just like someone's mother.
The earth presidents met again to discuss who to appoint to the admiralty of the EDF with the consensus being that Commander Jalbahn would be the best choice because of his more level approach.
They all were worried the more militaristic approach of former Admiral Scotts was a bad choice considering the poor outcome in dealing with the aliens. Captain Johns turned out to be a highly skilled politician despite his claim of just being a simple galactic trader. They hoped to not underestimate him again. As soon as Jalbahn accepted the position as First Admiral they hoped he would be able to visit captains McCord and Johns on the Panther directly. So far General Murphy of station three where the Panther was docked had kept a certain distance. He only had a few brief meetings with the EDF volunteers, only to confirm how things were progressing and asked no specific questions about the ship. The upcoming trip to earth and back was coming up soon and after that was the time Murphy thought, to pay a visit on board the Panther. Commander Smyth had wanted on board the Panther as soon as it docked and that is why the presidents decided he was not a good candidate for First Admiral. This lack of knowing was hard on the presidents and all those in political power because for once, they were faced with something way beyond their control, even though it was just one alien and one ship. The up coming trip to earth by the Panther was kept under wraps more because they really had no idea when it would happen than anything else, they did not even know the location!
When Commander Jalbahn was contacted, he accepted the appointment of First Admiral. He immediately appointed his own successor and would be shuttling up to station three and establishing command there. Still, he would follow General Murphy's lead on getting on board the Panther.
On the Cyrillium explorer ship just beyond Edahni at the gray nebula they were waiting for any return from the first buoy they had launched and so far, nothing. While they waited for the five days before launching another buoy they probed and charted the nebula and started to find interesting readings. They were not what they expected. A nebula is comprised of gases and tiny particles of dust and most are colorful because of the different gases but a gray nebula is thought to be made up of only one gas. Also, the density of a nebula is quite consistent with it getting 'thicker' towards the center, but this gray nebula did not follow that pattern, in one area it did not seem to get thicker going in and this is where the Panther had supposedly jumped in. Uhr said, “We have some confirmation of something unusual even though the probe has not returned a signal, this is a hopeful sign.” One of the other scientists added, “Perhaps we should look at mapping this anomaly and finding if there may be a center to it?”
This created some optimism for what seemed nothing more than a long shot. If there was some sort of hole in this gray nebula it would be a major discovery even if they never found the Panther. Hart, the hegmon navigator had a confidant smile on his face upon hearing the news, “We are getting closer friends, and we will find Zak, of that, I now have no doubt.”
On earth, professor Hicks was discussing the composition of nebula with his new found friend Ling of Novgorod. He stated, “If a nebula has only one type of gas then it would be only one color, but that does change the density factor so it would still hold that a solid object could pass through it.” Ling, aka Panther the AI replied, “Has anyone tested the density of a nebula and if so how did they do it?” Hicks was impressed, Ling was more than his equal in theoretical astrophysics and he said, “You know we have not done that, we have barely mapped our system so far but your question on how to measure density is simple, radar.” Ling came back, “We could use multiple frequencies on varied power levels, can you write a proposal?”Hicks replied, “Sure but I do not know how much time I would have, there is a project coming up soon that will be taking all my time.” Ling answered, “I think you have time before your project comes up please consider this.” Hicks was taken aback, how could Ling have any idea when his project would start? “Ling how could you possibly know when my project is going to start.?” Ling was silent for a moment before answering, “Just a woman's intuition dear professor, just a woman's intuition, I'll talk to you later.” Hicks signed off thinking ' I think I may be in love'.
That is why Panther the AI was shut down, she would not let you do your drops on Edahni” Giraffe inquired, they were on the bridge going over the sequences of atmospheric landing and take off. Zak replied. “Well, it may be a little more involved than, the AI was experimental and deemed 'possibly unstable' so it has been sleeping for a long time and yes, Panther will not let you exceed the inertial dampers and yet you know the human body can handle ten gees, earth normal for small periods of time without passing out.”
Inertial dampers work to counter act the effects of extreme gravity and the Panther could press 20 gees on braking in earths atmosphere this is about the max that the ship could handle. Sixteen gees could kill a human or hegmon and definitely kill a grax. Zak had exceeded the dampers by almost ten gees in dropping the overloaded containers on Edahni, a testament of how well designed and powerful the Panther is. To enter atmosphere is to go at full thrust till through and then flip the ship one hundred eighty degrees and then use the mains to brake the ship to zero. At the landing thrusters lower the ship to horizontal and set it down, then reverse the operation for take off. Giraffe said, “It's hard to believe that this huge
ship can be on the ground in less than four minutes from hitting atmosphere. Earth shuttles take over an hour because we have no inertial dampers so this landing is going to freak out everyone watching.” Zak asked, “Do you think they will have time to watch?” Giraffe said, “Even though we will notify EDF just before going, their radar systems may be able to lock on and for sure by the time we take off again. We will look more like an asteroid coming down, they will not believe that a ship can go that fast.”
She looked thoughtful and then added “I want to take her in.” “Negative,” stated Panther, you have no experience at all and have not had enough time in simulations for that.” Shocked by the reaction of Panther, Zak “I suppose that you think that you are going to be taking us in then,” Panther replied, “No, you have over 300 real landings and take offs therefore, are most qualified, I will co-pilot to adjust for any system failures that may occur, Giraffe will observe.” Giraffe exclaimed, “Wow, talk about taking charge, I am not sure I like that.” Panther replied, “It is the most logical course of action but very well then, with your permission captain McCord.”
“OK, now that that is settled we need to decide who should come along of the volunteer engineers, any recommendations?” Giraffe asked. Panther replied, “Simson, Colby and Marx, providing they are willing” Zak added “Simson and Colby would be my choices too but why Marx, he is young and has little experience.”
Panther and Giraffe Page 5
