NEBULAR Collection 4 - Second Reserve: Episodes 17 - 21

by Thomas Rabenstein

  Hosch shrugged.

  »Sorry, but can’t explain it. I can’t detect a source. It seems as if the energy comes from nowhere.«

  He figured that more machines must be located below and above their location.

  ›This room must only account for twenty percent of the spindle,‹ Hosch thought.

  »Something tells me that these spindles are not just simple crash-landers,« Main suspected.

  »Exactly, Boss!« Hosch agreed with a strange undertone in his voice, making Main look at him briefly. »Well, I said it before, this is a walk-in freezer.« He looked at the perimeter walls and pointed his laser instrument at the cooling fins, protruding from the walls like strange ornaments. »I’m not exactly an expert of refrigeration technology, but I think this is a huge heat exchanger. Our alien friends like it cold … damn cold!«

  A thin smile crossed Main’s face.

  »You’re probably right, that’s why they have chosen Greenland.«

  Hosch shrugged again.

  »Think for a moment,« Main added. »Where would you land, if you visit a strange planet with different climate zones? The desert or would you pick the ocean or an area with moderate climate and green environments?«

  »On a south sea island with palm trees, coconuts and busty, brown skinned, long legged beauties!« Hosch grinned, at his own typical Tiller answer.

  Main frowned.

  »There we have it, an island for you and Greenland for the Frigonans.«

  »They came from an ice-planet?« Hosch asked.

  »We don’t know that, but it seems that way,« Main suggested.

  They recorded everything and added some comments.

  »Is everything okay, out there?« he asked Bondifar who was securing the spindle.

  »All ockitocky, Boss!« Bondifar replied briefly, then added, »The occupants have arrived in the igloo village, welcomed by a group of robots. The extraterrestrials were escorted inside the pyramids while the new robots joined the other machines. It seems as if the robots are building a circular foundation. By the way: in the meantime two more spindles have crash-landed on the other side of the circle.«

  »Roger,« Main acknowledged. »I want you to establish a satellite up-link to get a more precise picture of the landing area. »There’re some energy signatures inside the spindle we can’t explain. Check how many spindles have landed and how they’re distributed over the region.«

  »I’ll try it, but I have to make you aware that we might be at risk, because the bolide can detect our activities. I’m also trying a passive detection scheme.«

  »Okay, but make it snappy,« Main approved the action and looked at the energy conduits. »I have a strange feeling …«

  Listen closely

  The temporal field collapsed suddenly as they walked through the main corridor. Nok felt nauseated for a brief moment as the different temporal zones equalized.

  A young female scientist stood before Nok when the field collapsed and paled as the team suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The scared scientists regained her self-control when Nok put her index finger on her lips since a group of Moxantans was standing only twenty meters away. Nok didn’t want to cause an ugly scene.

  Daralamai winked at the young woman and slipped by her. She was heading for a staff officer meeting room not far away, normally used for top secret meetings. She hoped that this room hadn’t been compromised yet.

  ›Nothing is safe anymore!‹ Nok corrected herself inwardly. ›The Moxantans may have already installed some undetectable bugs.‹

  The team avoided the Moxantans in the corridor and arrived at the room a short while later. Nervously, Nok entered the secret access code and a small retina scanner deployed before her face. After the scan, the door locking mechanism clicked and opened the door. Nok pulled Hassan and Nuri quickly into the room and locked the door behind them. The illumination had come on automatically. Nok quickly looked around – they were alone!

  Daralamai was breathing hard and glanced at Hassan who seemed exhausted. So far, he had never shown any signs of weakness.

  Nok signaled Hassan with a circling hand movement to quickly check the room for any bugs since the Moxantan spy drones were all over the base.

  Hassan fell in a trance and as he opened his eyes again he said, »Nothing in this room.«

  »That’s good enough for me, Hassan,« she thanked him with a friendly nod and rearranged her long hair, which had become messy during the confrontation with the Moxantans.

  »I assume that you weren’t able to maintain the temporal field for much longer?« she inquired.

  »I’m sorry; actually I had established three temporal fields! I miscalculated,« Hassan replied weakly.

  »Don’t worry, Hassan,« Nok nodded with understanding, »no need to apologize. It baffles my mind how you can do this.«

  Nuri smiled, embarrassed, but appreciated her words. Nok appeared to have accepted Hassan and her as normal people with special abilities.

  »I have received Friedberg’s signal just before the Moxantans stormed into my suite. Operation – Circle Buster has begun!«

  Nuri’s eyelids twitched. It was obvious to Nok that the young woman was very afraid. She couldn’t blame her.

  »What does this entail and what do you expect from us?« Nuri asked in a trembling voice. »Are we going to war?«

  »No, Nuri,« Nok replied softly. »We cannot win an open war. We foremost need to impede the Circle’s activities and deal a couple of blows below the belt. We are coordinating the action plans. It’s very important that these generals don’t capture the octahedron data.«

  »That sounds difficult. What do you have in mind?« Hassan inquired.

  »Let’s talk about your Moxantan observations first,« Nok replied.

  »We’re dealing with aura anomalies,« Nuri explained. »All of the attackers in your suite had one thing in common. It’s difficult to describe, but as Hassan and I followed them to your suite, I felt the presence of General Mindbreaker inside their auras!«

  »How can you detect these components? Can you still remember the Quadranans emissions?« questioned Nok.

  »She can!« Hassan interjected. »The meeting on board the Boodrum has sensitized her.«

  Nuri tried to describe, »The aura of normal Moxantans tastes sour, while the Quadranans taste somewhat sweet. The Moxantans who stormed into your suite tasted …«

  »… let me guess: sweet-sour?« Nok chuckled.

  »Kind of, yes,« Nuri replied with a nod.

  »There’s more,« Hassan added. »The split auras or for lack of a better term, personalities, can be detected with heightened senses. These two groups do not talk to each other. They actually avoid each other. It’s happening behind the scenes.«

  »Wait a second,« Nok teased out. »You’re telling me that there are two opposing groups of Moxantans?«

  »That would be too easy,« Hassan replied. »We do not understand yet how the Circle structure works.«

  »You’re certainly correct, Hassan,« Nok agreed. »So far, none of the Quadranans or a member of a presumed fourth Circle society has ever set foot on Triton.«

  »Not presumed, Commander,« Hassan corrected her gently. »There’s definitely a fourth society. They’re called: Kresolytes and are under the command of Circle General Fortressmaster.«

  Nok looked inquiringly at Nuri, who lowered her eyes.

  »He did it again, I witnessed it,« she ratted on Hassan.

  Nok frowned.

  »Did you penetrate Moxantans again?«

  »I know this is all strange to you, but I can obtain a lot of information about the invaders this way,« Hassan defended.

  »Fine with me,« Nok threw her hands up into the air, indifferently. After receiving Friedberg’s signal the gloves were off. »What did you find out?«

  »I think I know where these Circle people come from,« Hassan explained. »They’re coming from a small star cluster, Collinder 399, located in the Fox constellation.«

  »What? You fou
nd that out from the Moxantans?« Nok couldn’t believe her ears.

  »Not directly, only the space vector and the distance or better the flight duration on the standard tachyon trail,« Hassan admitted. »The rest was like putting one and one together.«

  Nok nodded slowly, imagining that he had calculated it himself by means of his new-found abilities.

  »Just a couple of years ago, this information would have been unbelievable. This also means that the Circle empire is located relatively close to our solar system.«

  »Well … Collinder 399 is still four hundred twenty lightyears away from here,« Nuri remarked. »The constellation is also known as: Coat Hanger!«

  »Regardless, they’re living in our neighborhood so-to-speak. Not a pleasant thought,« Nok replied, a hint of worry in her voice. »They could therefore easily deploy more of their ships. I don’t know, if I should be rejoicing or not …,« she added sarcastically.

  »There’s one more question,« Hassan continued mutedly. »If that’s so easy then why didn’t they call them yet?«

  Nok looked up and noticed Hassan’s strange gaze.

  »Tell me, what else is there?« she demanded.

  »As I mentioned, we don’t understand the Circle structure yet. I think, however, that we have the means at our finger tips to defeat them as soon as we know how they tick.«

  Nok Daralamai straightened.

  »This leads me to our orders from Friedberg … please, listen closely …«

  Way to cold

  Bondifar called. Seconds later, Main signaled Hosch to follow him outside.

  »We gotto go, eh?« Hosch asked irritated, but followed Main outside regardless.

  Montas Bondifar was waiting for them and pointed toward the igloo city.

  »They’ve become more active over there,« he greeted them. »More robots have arrived, but no more crash landings within in the last ten minutes.«

  »Is there any news, concerning the requested data?« Main inquired.

  Bondifar sighed deeply and replied, »Well, you were right. There is a pattern. We cannot see much from our location, especially if you’re not particularly looking for it.«

  »Don’t keep me in suspense, Montas, I’m not British! What is it with you Merinians?« Hosch complained, but fell silent as he saw Main’s scolding glance.

  »The area in question is an exact circle. Imagine an octahedron which tightly encloses the circle … I know that sounds strange … creating eight small triangular areas. The spindles have landed exactly inside these triangular areas.«

  Main looked at the sketch Bondifar had drawn into the snow before him.

  »Is that what you come up with all alone out here in the cold?« Hosch chuckled and shook his head. »I don’t like it a bit, Boss. Not to mention that these penguin beings are obviously like eight-sided structures, it could mean that …«

  »… in addition,« Bondifar interrupted him, »… all the spindles are leaning toward the center of the circle whose line of sight intersect at the center’s imaginary zenith. This is not a coincidence! That proves that the spindles did not just randomly fall out of the sky …«

  »… but?« Main asked quickly.

  »… they were landed and aligned exactly where needed,« Bondifar finished.

  »Okay, let’s copy the info. It could become significant. By the way: I received the signal and we immediately proceed with our mission,« Main announced.

  Hosch and Bondifar looked at Main attentively.

  »Our mission is called: Operation – Circle Buster! Our objective is to observe extraterrestrial activities, trick them, deter them or interfere with their actions. We have a window of exactly four hours in which we have to deactivate the robots, advance toward the circle center and try to rescue the woman, if possible. Clear? Any questions?«

  Hosch and Bondifar looked at each other perplexed.

  »Understood, yes. Motivated, yes. Crazy, maybe, but shouldn’t we have a bit more background info?« Hosch inquired. »No info? Then it would explain why two knuckle heads like me and Bondi are part of this mission.«

  Sawyer Main grinned reminiscently of all the stupid stunts and hairbrained schemes he’d read about.

  »I won’t let you die ignorant, there’s something we need to discuss or do you think that I want to commit suicide out here in the middle of nowhere?«

  »Huh … way to cold for that, Boss,« Bondifar shook his head vigorously.

  »Okay, listen up boys! Friedberg expects us to follow the orders to the tee!«

  That thing works

  The Paradise Bird was a first generation Pulsar Class cruiser and deployed as a relay ship to maintain the comm-links between the colonies and the bases. The duty on board the ship was monotone, like an ancient lighthouse, as Commander Jonathan Friese once said. Most of the time, the crew tried to find meaningful ways to keep themselves busy until the next rotation crew arrived. The crews were rotated from close-by bases every three weeks, only Friese remained on board the ship as he had done for the past couple of years. He considered himself an integral part of the ship, while the crews felt it as punishment. As a matter of fact, some base commanders threatened their crews with assignment to the Paradise Bird if discipline was slipping. The motto was: Don’t screw up or you’ll spend the rest of your days on board the Paradise Bird!

  Jonathan Friese, from the northern German region of Eastern Frisia, didn’t want to know about these rumors. He loved his ship and knew every nook and cranny on board. Every three weeks, supply ships rendezvoused with the Paradise Bird, to either replace the crew or deliver some goods.

  The ship had seen better days and was considered outdated despite being space flight worthy. Its old propulsion system was still good enough to hold the ship at its current position, two lightseconds above the Asteroid Belt plain.

  The appearance of the ship was deceiving. The Paradise Bird employed the most modern comm-equipment and was, to a certain extent, automated.

  Since Friese was relaying all sorts of open or classified messages, he was well aware of the intruders. He was shocked as he saw how the Blosphor had ploughed through the Asteroid Belt. However, his ship was never at danger.

  The enemy battleships were far away from his location. An attacker would not find the ship even if they were operating in the near vicinity due to the debris of the Asteroid Belt which provided a good cover. In addition, the ship’s propulsion system was much smaller than the ones on newer ships. The smaller emission signature was therefore difficult to detect.

  Friese knew that the time on his ship was running out and that the Paradise Bird would soon be taken out of service due to the recent changes in communication technology. Relay ships were no longer needed in times where messages were sent via the tachyon communication bridge. He wasn’t very happy about these changes, considering no one understood how tachyon communication worked. Friese was very surprised when he received a call from a Hawk whose pilot had hailed the Paradise Bird.

  »Can you imagine? The highest state of security has been ordered,« Friese addressed his first officer.

  »I can imagine all kinds of things,« Digamber Chopra from India replied dryly, whose first name meant nakedness in his mother tongue. He had served as long as Friese on board the ship. »Don’t you get it? We’re being invaded!«

  Friese grinned, »Certainly, I’m well aware of it, but what does it have to do with us? Are we part of the last reserve or what? Well then, let’s charge the lasers and load the torpedo tubes!«

  Digamber looked at Friese with irritation on his face.

  »We don’t have weapons on board this ship, Johnny. You know should know better.«

  »Really? What can we do then, fly away, escape or go on collision course?«

  Chopra shook his head.

  »Our propulsion system hasn’t run under full load for quite some time, quite possible that the reactor won’t make it.«

  »That thing works, don’t worry! Friese countered proudly. »I know my ship!«

&n
bsp; He twisted his beard and looked at Chopra seriously. His water-blue eyes spoke volumes.

  »The best for us is to remain inconspicuous. The secret messages and the fact that we will get three new passengers is not a good omen. It would be much better for us, if we weren’t involved, believe me. If the invaders detect us, then we’re in deep shit, because we can’t fly away just like that,« Friese snapped his fingers. »I’m trying to be realistic and I’m responsible for the young men and women on board. They’re all wet behind their ears. A space battle is out of the question and pure suicide.«

  »We can’t just sit here either and hope that the events won’t catch up with us,« Chopra replied. »That’s unrealistic.«

  Chopra looked over to the main display of the passive scanner. A target echo had appeared on the holo at three hundred fifty thousand kilometers distance, and counting.

  »That’s the Hawk! They’ll be here soon.«

  Friese cleared his throat.

  »Alright Digamber, make sure we have their cabins ready. Scare up the crew and make them clean up the ship. I hate bad impressions, especially to mysterious visitors.«

  Chopra grinned.

  »Will do, Johnny. The crew will be hopping mad at us when they hear that they have to spick and span the ship.«

  »I’m convinced,« Friese smiled sourly. »These young nin-com-poops need to learn their lessons quickly and that includes housekeeping!«

  Defend yourself, girl

  A large section of the wall collapsed into dust. Holding their breaths, Hassan Khalil, Nok Daralamai and Nuri Jawa swiftly walked through the opening into the adjacent room.

  Nok waved her hands through the air to clear the dust before her eyes and said, »I don’t know what to think of you, Hassan. We just went through a wall made of titanium alloy!«

  Hassan turned around and looked at the opening which closed seconds later, while the ceiling illumination flickered briefly.

  »There’re two methods …,« Hassan explained, »… neutralization of molecular bonding or matter-energy transformation. I can control both methods mentally; however, the execution is done through one of my implants. This is not ESP, if you mean that. I couldn’t do it without the implants. On the other hand, the degenerated technology can’t do it by itself, it needs my impulses.«