Panther and Giraffe

by Gregory Anderson

  A big smile crossed Mira's face as she felt the comfort of the artificial gravity. Then they were hit with the rich aroma of the earth recipe stew as Zak brought out bowls, glasses and silverware. Mira seemed to accept these things openly while George, perhaps understanding how close to a miracle this all was just shrugged his shoulders and smiled as they all tucked in to the delicious meal. After they all finished George had to ask, “I do not know how you came up with this food but if it is something you could share with the station we would really, really appreciate it.” Giraffe returned, “We have discussed this and decided that it is something that we are wiling to share with earth, we will be giving you a small mana-maker and you can decide the best use for it.”

  George accepted graciously realizing just how far advanced the rest of the galaxy was. George finally asked the question that needed asking, “You know that from your missing person report we exposed a big conspiracy and fortunately all but one is in custody.” He hesitated like he already knew the answer, “Would you happen to know or have seen a specialist Henry Wadlow?” Zak replied, “Yes” George paused and knowingly ventured, “And we do not have to be concerned about Henry at this time?”

  Again Zak replied “Not at this time.” Zak, George and Giraffe smiled. Mira helped Giraffe clean things up and then sat back down saying, “Thanks for including me in this dinner, it is a true honor, you know, I never could quite understand why we went into space. We spend so much money and yet no one gave much thought to aliens yet here you are. I do understand why earth is not ready, I will keep your confidence.” With that Giraffe said, “Panther, zero gravity please.” And the ship responded, “As you command captain.”

  9

  Before final checks, Giraffe had one more thing she had to do, “Panther give me the airlock where Henry is please.” Once connected she said, “Henry, you have two options, we can space you on the way down or leave you on the ground which do you prefer.” Henry replied with vehemently, “You bitch, you have no authority over me let me out now!” Giraffe came back, “Very well Henry, disable alarms, open outer airlock door on my command.” “Wait wait!” screamed Henry, “I will get out on earth.” Giraffe said tiredly, “Very well Henry listen up real good.” She paused before continuing, “I'll only say this once, when we land the outer door will open and a rope will deploy, go down the rope and run like hell.” Henry whined, “I don't know if I can do that.” Loosing patience she replied, “Fine but if you do not get out the door will stay open until you are sucked out and fry in the thrusters burn, I do not care one way or another, captain out.” Henry screamed but no one heard.

  Zak looked over at Giraffe and smiled, “You are the better captain, good at making those hard decisions with compassion, I think I would have just spaced him at the outset.” She replied, “Just an earth thing maybe.” Later, after the final checks were made and crew was all secured a call was placed to General Murphy of their immediate departure. Sending along with the coordinates and trip data, they told him they would be back in just over an hour. Mindy “Giraffe' McCord gave her first 'official' command as captain of the CS Panther, “Begin undocking and distancing, ready for burn.” Zak replied, “Aye captain,” it felt weird for him to be in this position as it used to be his ship, but ever since she somehow activated the dormant AI it became her ship. Most of these actions were done by computer but it would be Zak piloting the ship on this short trip. And it did seem short, as soon as they were clear of the station and oriented the full burn had them punching into atmosphere in a mater of minutes. Panther reported several radar pings tracking them but no aircraft close as they started the one hundred eighty degree flip. This was extremely disorienting and despite the inertial damping they could feel the pull of over ten gees for a few seconds. Part of that pull was that of gravity as Panther increased it to earth normal so the air inside and out were equalized upon landing. The crew had been totally silent on the descent until Giraffe said, “I'm going to the docking station now so we can get the professor secured as soon as quickly as possible, as soon as I have him secured I'll say, 'go go,' then I want to feel the thrust of takeoff immediately.” The ship quickly slowed to a stop sand she extended the docking tube then waited by the inner door.

  Professor Hicks looked out his window and saw the same government car that had been there for weeks and he waved, they did not wave back. They followed him every where but kept their distance and he knew his phones and computer were tapped but it did not mater. Tonight he would be taking a little trip into space. No one would say a seventy year old out of shape professor was a good candidate to handle the rigors of space. When Mindy McCord called and asked for help he could not turn her down, besides, even if he did not survive it sure would be a good way to go. Looking up at the clock, he compared the time with the time on the tablet on his arm, they matched, grabbing the keys off the table he shut out the light and headed out the door and locked it. Empty handed he strolled to his jeep, a bag, telescope and other things were already in the back. His tail followed him out to the highway on his way into the desert and in an hour he would be at the designated spot and wait. The telescope was a ruse but a good one because when the ship broke atmosphere there would be a visible trail giving him an early alert. No doubt his government tail would be freaking out but he hoped they would keep their distance, he did not want to see anyone get hurt. Not sure as to how long the wait would be he popped the back hatch and got out a folding chair and then set up the scope aimed at where he thought the ship would enter the atmosphere. All set up he went back and grabbed a radio and cooler then set about what might be his last hour on earth. But for all intents and purposes the professor was just out stargazing on his own property. The agents in the car behind frantically called in a report sure that something big was going to happen, they were right. Up the chain of command a high priority alert went out to all in the western desert of the Americas, all eyes on the sky. Up on station three General Murphy was informed of Panthers immediate trip with coordinates for trajectory and landing for all to stay clear of, this was confirmed from the ground.

  The military was mobilized and rolling for the landing site, aircraft were on standby. Strict orders were to not interfere, just observe, and make contact only if requested, too bad they would be late to the party.

  Right on time a white streak appeared on the horizon it was moving at an incredible rate and witnesses swore it was an asteroid till it slowed down impossibly fast. Hicks looked at his watch and waited the ten minutes for cool down and another five for the drive to the landing site. When he got up to go to the jeep he looked back at his tail, they were standing on the roof of their car with binoculars and he waved at them, they did not wave back. As he was just about to get in his car he turned to the agents who were getting off the roof of their car, he yelled back at them, “Do not come any closer please.” In short order the huge space ship loomed before him, the pictures really did not tell just how long and big the thing really was. Hicks pulled right up to the docking tube, it was baking hot outside as he grabbed his bag and hot footed to the docking tube, he could smell melting rubber. Quickly he moved through the docking tube door and up it's steps. His government tail had stayed back but had watched him enter the tube, they were calling it in. On the other side of the ship a rope dropped down and a few seconds later a figure came down, stumbled, and then took off running for the road.

  The docking tube retracted and the airlock door on the other side closed as a mighty rumble shook the earth, the Panther was space bound after less than twenty minutes on the ground. Professor Hicks looked though the inside window at the smiling face of his former student, he returned the smile as the outer door sealed shut and the inner opened. Mindy McCord hugged him quickly said. “Go go!” Mindy rushed him to the bridge, got him strapped in and returned to the captains seat. Zak turned and said, “Welcome aboard professor.” The whole ship was lifting off the ground with the front climbing faster till it was upright, tall as a sky scrapper the
n the four huge ion thrusters fired full power as the Panther started its vertical climb faster than anything the earth had ever seen.

  Henry Wadlow had just made it to the road ditch far enough away that he did not get fried. The agents in the car were thanking the stars they had not gotten any closer as there was no evidence of Hicks car anywhere but they did see the guy crawling out of the road ditch. Military units were still twenty minutes out and the jets just could not keep up with the Panther as it rose into space. Maybe late for the party but awestruck never the less. “Panther, step gravity to zero by docking time.” She turned to the professor and said, “So good to see you, how are you holding up?” Hicks replied, “A little dizzy but otherwise OK, this is an impressive ship, ah is Ling on board too?” This was a dicey question that Giraffe had no good way to answer so she would leave it to Panther since Ling was her invention. “Once you are settled in we'll introduce you to Ling, just be patient,” she replied.

  On the ground Henry Wadlow was explaining about how he had been kidnapped by the aliens and had just escaped, the two government agents that had been following Hicks asked him to be quiet, still trying to put the events in some sort of perspective. Neither agent had believed the reports of an alien ship till now and while this Henry was wearing some sort of space suit his disheveled appearance made it hard to believe anything he was saying. Better to wait until someone else came on the scene to take charge of him so they told him again to shut up. When he would not they cuffed him. With threats to leave him they shoved him in the backseat of their car. Henry Wadlow would be left in jail for a long time before they figured out what to do with him, just as Giraffe had predicted. Meanwhile the landing site was scoured for clues but all they found was glass. Glass created by melted sand from the Panthers powerful engines.

  The group aboard the Cyrillium explorer ship had been waiting four days before a weak signal had been received from the second buoy launched into the gray void. The length of time it took the signal to come back and the weakness of it indicated that it was either a long ways away or being partially blocked by something. The immediate conclusion was that the gasses and particles were partially blocking the signal but still this would be the first time that an object had survived a nebula. The crew members of the Panther, Uhr, Dihr, Junes and Hart were convinced that this meant their captain Zak could still be alive. The scientist on board were not so convinced., “The buoy has connected but has not sent any information like location or objects it has scanned so this means nothing,” they said. Uhr opined, “While all true, what we do have is a buoy somewhere, possibly still in the nebula or possibly beyond the nebula and still functioning, that is something.” Hart speculated, “Something could be blinding the scanning systems which has happened before or there is nothing to scan.” Junes added, “We will wait two more days and if there is no data sent back we will adjust the trajectory and try again.”

  With this there was agreement all around. At the same time, a meeting had just started at Federated headquarters. Federated headquarters were on board Hallbrook's ship docked at Colusis two station. Two items were on the agenda, what to do to resolve the Edahni situation and whether or not they could get away with 'doing away' with that pesky Cyrillium explorer ship. The earth buoy out past Pluto had company but it was small enough that it did not see it. The alien buoy was damaged and it's scanning antenna could not deploy so all it saw was a blinding signal from the other buoy, it was however, likely to run into the earth buoy's giant solar array in a few days time.

  On board the Panther they were getting ready for a briefing after docking back at station three, many at the station did not even know they had gone. The earth news were reporting an asteroid strike in the western desert of the Americas including a video of a white streak across the horizon but what was not shown was that the 'asteroid' apparently stopped and then reversed itself. The three earth presidents were in conference reviewing the data of the incident. General Murphy on station three confirmed the event with the presidents who still had a hard time believing that the ship could leave, land on earth and be back in orbit in under thirty minutes. The new First Admiral was in route to station three when he received the complete information but he failed to show any reaction although his shuttle pilot commented, “If they can do that I would not like to be on their bad side.” The Admiral would wait until he had General Murphy in private before he let loose for not have been informed earlier. Meanwhile Commander Smyth had thanked General Murphy for the heads up on the First Admiral's visit. The preparedness of the station and the ship would be another bone of contention for the new First Admiral when he got there for the 'Surprise appearance'. Also for Murphy was that he had his wife was visiting and all this cut into time for her. Spouses were not often allowed on the stations or ships and only had twice yearly visits.

  The briefing on the Panther started with an introduction of professor Hicks whom, it seemed, everybody knew already. In fact young Marx had taken a couple of courses from him. And then there was Ling, who the engineers had not met and Hicks was expecting to meet in person. Giraffe said, “Lets get the reports out of the way before we bring Ling to the conversation, Simpson, your report.” Simpson replied, “All hull repairs are one hundred percent with no deviation in emitter arrays, although I feel a little beat up from the quick trip. There are still faults in secondary navigation control which are not critical but should be debugged in a couple days.” Colby added, “It has been incredible working on these systems and it will be hard to go back to earth based systems.” Simpson concurred with, “It has been a pleasure for sure, all that is left are some new lower conduit runs, about a week and you will be ready for long range, long term flight.” Zak said, “Thank you for that, the next step will a big one, figuring how to get back home.” Then Giraffe said, “Professor Hicks, I am deeply sorry but Ling is a sensitive issue, we could not risk you having contact until we had you on board and the rest of you engineers, will have to resign from EDF before you can meet the real Ling.” This left the room quiet, but revealing the presence of an artificial intelligence was defiantly more than earth could deal with and could put the engineers in jeopardy. These were smart men and may already suspect that the Panther was more than just a programmed computer voice. It was up to them to decide if they wanted the responsibility. Simpson was the first to speak, “I think I know where this going and must decline, I believe I can better help you by staying with the EDF and I will always, even under torture keep your confidences, with that said I will be back to oversee the final work tomorrow.” Colby then said, “That goes for me too, I know your next mission may mean you never come back so, till tomorrow then.” Everyone was looking at Marx who had been listening carefully to the senior engineers and quietly spoke, “I would very much like to join your crew for how ever long you need me and I will resign from EDF, I do not need to meet Ling just now, it seems that is for the professor so I will be back tomorrow also.” With that the three made to leave the ship and Zak added. “Thanks for your work and honesty”

  11

  First Admiral Jalbahn had been on station three for only five hours before he was firmly ensconced in his new offices while the station director General Murphy was scrambling to settle in to his 'supply closet of a space' after vacating his former, now Admirals offices. While it was sudden it was not unexpected as it made sense for EDF command to be where it worked, which was space, not on earth. The choice of stations was purely political since the alien ship was docked here. Admiral Jalbahn was very impressed with the readiness of both the station three and battleship three, he could not have known of the advanced warning they had gotten from Panther. The unannounced visit but was one thing but when word got out he was staying permanently, well, no one likes the top brass hanging around. Commander Smyth was making final preparations to depart on mission to the gray nebula beyond Pluto. It was decided that he was to maintain surveillance and stop any alien ships that may appear. This was a reasonable response to the Panther
coming from that area of space. Although, Commander Smyth did wonder what he could do to stop any ship with his ships meager weapons. While there was no sign of any weapons on the Panther it's ability to burn through atmosphere and appear out of nowhere indicated that the alien ship possessed defensive capabilities way beyond anything earth had. Meanwhile, Admiral Jalbahn was questioning the two engineers that had been working on the Panther and had been on board during the test flight. Senior engineer Simpson was responding, “We departed the station and moved at incredible speed to earth and landed for maybe fifteen minutes then headed back to station, our job was to monitor hull readings. How we moved so fast is beyond our ability to understand and when we docked Professor Hicks was on board.” General Murphy was also present and added, “We monitored the Panther as much as we could but it just disappeared from radar shortly after un-docking and then reappeared just before docking, our people suggest that they have some sort of stealth system on board.” Jalbahn asked the engineers, “Did you see anything like a stealth system on board?” Colby answered, “Admiral, the Panther is a marvel of engineering and we understand some of the theory behind some it's systems. But I think we can honestly say that we could not safely handle a ship like that if that is what you are asking.” Jalbahn replied, “That is what we needed to know and I have confidence in your opinion, thank you, this gives me what I need to report to the presidents.” The engineers were dismissed and then Jalbahn looked straight at Murphy ans asked. “Is there anything you can add to this?” Murphy replied with a smile, “Please join me for dinner and we can discuss it over stew.” They moved to the station's dining facility and the special meal prepared from the first batches out of the mana-maker. The Admiral was impressed but suspicious.