Shroud of Doom

by William Manchee

  Chapter 28

  Picking a Delegation

   

  Petrina Garciah, their son, Eroh, and daughter, Ellah, sat spellbound by what their father was saying.

  “We’re going to Earth. I have been appointed Ambassador to the United States of America and must leave at once for important negotiations.”

  “We’re all going?” Petrina asked.

  “Yes. I’ll be gone for three cycles and with the state of affairs on Tarizon I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving you behind.”

  “But won’t it be dangerous?” Petrina objected.

  “No, mama. It will be fun,” Eroh argued. “We should go.”

   “It will have its risks, but I think it will probably be less risky than staying here. The purpose of the trip is to negotiate the acceptance of 20 million Tarizonian citizens for permanent settlement in the United States. If we are successful you would be going to Earth eventually anyway. So, why wait.”

  “What about the rest of the population?” Petrina asked.

  “That’s the most we could possibly hope to transport to Earth. Even that number is probably unrealistic.”

  “So, how will this work?” Petrina asked warily.

  “There is an Earth shuttle being prepared for the trip as we speak. It is commanded by Captain Sarrin Shilling. She apparently has been to Earth before on several reconnaissance missions. We will take with us twelve diplomats, three representatives from each of our life-forms on Tarizon, and six scientist to explain the technology we are offering to exchange for allowing us to settle on Tarizon.”

  “Technology?”

  “Yes. The nations of Earth are very competitive and we feel by offering them technology that will insure their dominance over the other nations will be too alluring to resist.”

  Petrina nodded. “If they are like the politicians on Tarizon that should work like a charm.”

  “So, will you come?”

  Petrina sighed.

  “Yes, mama! Say, yes?” Eroh urged.

  Petrina smiled at her enthusiastic son and then turned to Ellah. “What do you think, Ellah? Should we go to Earth?”

  Ellah swallowed hard. “How long will it take to get there?”

  Rammel frowned. “Well, my love. About a year but it will only seem like a single night. The way it works is once we get out of Tarizon’s atmosphere the ship goes FTL, so you have to be put in a sleeping chamber for the duration of the trip. That means you’ll go to sleep and when you wake up we’ll be on Earth.”

  Ellah’s eyes widened. “I’m going to sleep for a year?”

  Rammel laughed. “Yes, but you won’t age but a day. And you’ll love Earth. The air is pure, the trees are bright green and there is plenty of food for everyone.”

  Ellah tilted her head. “I should like to see Earth and it would be nice to be able to go outside without a breather.”

  “You’ll love it,” Eroh said excitedly. “It’s like Tarizon used to be three hundred cycles ago.”

  Ellah shrugged. “Okay, it should be fun,” she said tentatively.

  “Good. Then it is settled,” Rammel said. “You’ll need to start packing. We’ll leave in just a few days.

   

   

  The following morning Rammel and his family left by jet copter to the Spaceport at Gallion. When they arrived Rammel’s family was taken to barracks set aside to house the crew and other passengers going on the trip. He was taken to headquarters to meet the captain and the other diplomats making the trip. Colonel Zitor greeted him when he arrived and took him into a conference room.

  “So, who has been selected to accompany me on this trip?” Rammel asked.

  “The Purists insisted they be represented, so they have sent Captain Rugge Brunns as your first deputy. His aide is Ensign Aerial Muri.”

  “What’s his authority? I don’t want someone second guessing everything I do.”

  “He’s just along for the ride. You have complete authority to negotiate the treaty. Just don’t get sick or die. If that happens he’d be in charge.”

  “Well, if he or one of the other Purist don’t poison me, we should be okay.”

  “That’s actually a concern, so I’d be careful.”

  “Wonderful,” Rammel moaned.

  “Don’t worry all the cooks are Seafolken, so the Purists won’t be able to buy them off.

  “That’s a comfort.”

  “You’ll also have Lucillia Reppa, as your assistant. She’s one quarter Seafolken, speaks English and has strong telepathic and telekinetic abilities.”

  “How is it that she speaks English?” Rammel asked.

  “She apparently leaned it at one of Threebeard’s classes at Mapi. When central authority found out Threebeard spoke English they had him set up a class to teach it to shuttle pilots and their crews. Ensign Reppa was one of his pupils as was Ensign Muri.”

  As they were talking Captain Shilling walked in.

  “Oh, Captain Shilling,” Colonel Zitor said. “I’d like you to meet Rammel Garciah.”

  “It’s a pleasure, Ambassador.”

  “Ambassador? That sounds strange,” Rammel said.

  “Well, you better get used to it,” Colonel Zitor replied. “That’s your new title.”

  Rammel gave the pretty Captain a long look. “So, Captain. I understand you have been to Earth before.”

  “Yes, I have.”

  “Did it bother you going to sleep and trusting the computers to wake you up when you got to Earth.”

  Captain Shilling smiled. “Yes, Ambassador. It was a bit unsettling, but as a pilot I’m placing myself at the mercy of the computers every day. Fortunately, they have triple redundancy, so it’s unlikely anything will go wrong.”

  “Well, that’s good to hear,” Rammel said tentatively.

  An aide stepped in the room followed by three other officers. They saluted Captain Shilling. “This is Ensigns Muri, Ensign Reppa, and Lt. Rossi Sincini. I have told you about Ensign Muri and Reppa. Lt. Sincini is my engineering officer. He’ll have a dual function for this trip as the ships engineering officer and the delegation’s science consultant. He’ll have the responsibility of explaining to the Americans what technology we will be offering.”

  “Excellent,” It’s a pleasure to meet you Lieutenant.

  “The pleasure is mine, Mr. Ambassador.”

  When everyone had arrived and taken their seats, Ambassador Rammel began the meeting.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen. It’s a pleasure to meet such a distinguished group of officers and private citizens. This is an historic occasion. Although we have known about our sister planet Earth and studied it from a distance for many cycles, we have never attempted to make contact with our brothers and sisters who live there. It has always been our objective to one day make contact, but our leaders knew such contact would be fraught with peril, so they didn’t want to do it until we understood the situation on Earth well enough to avoid causing panic and hysteria. But the current crisis on Tarizon makes contact now imperative. There is no guarantee that anyone on Tarizon will survive another ten cycles under current conditions. We have to evacuate as much of our population on Tarizon as we can before our citizens are so sick that they cannot travel.

  “Therefore this mission is of the utmost importance. The very survival of our people is at stake. Now, with that said I’d like to discuss the best way to approach the American government. Obviously, if an Earth Shuttle suddenly lands in Central Park in New York City there could be very serious consequences.”

  Captain Shilling smiled. “Mr. Ambassador. There are many lightly populated areas north of New York City where we could land without the likelihood of being seen.”

  “Why are we going to New York City?” Ensign Reppa asked.

  “That’s where the United Nations is situated,” Rammel replied. “I have been told the proper person to make contact with would be the American Ambassador to the United Nations. Although he technically isn’t authorized to
represent the U.S. government in its relations with other planets, since they have no such Ambassador he’s our best bet, I believe.”

  “How do we know this?” Lucilla asked.

  “Apparently we have been studying the American government for many cycles. Their media broadcast thousands of video and audio programs every day. By monitoring those broadcasts we have learned a lot.”

  Lucilla nodded. “Can we see some of those videos before we leave to give us an idea of what to expect?”

  “No. There is no time now. You’ll have plenty of time, though, when you get there. We expect it to take up to six phases, or months, as they call them on Earth to make contact once we arrive. During this time you will have to learn English fluently, pick up their customs, dress, and gain insights into their political institutions. It is imperative that we not attract attention when we get there. It will not be easy to get an audience with the U. N. Ambassador. If we all end up in jail or dead the mission will be a failure.”

   

   

  When Threebeard and Artis went to the Nanomite replica the next morning, the Nanomites indicated their willingness to at least to discuss with Central Authority the proposal to enlist the help of the Nanomites in rebuilding Tarizon. As Threebeard requested the Nanomites agreed to leave some swarms at the Mighty Jolly in case something went wrong with the building experiments and the Nanomites somehow perished.

  “So, what is the best way to divide your swarms and transport you to Fasoon?” Artis thought.

  “If you will find a sandy location nearby and set our city next to it we will build transport cubes which will make it easy for you to transport us.”

  Artis and Threebeard agreed and went out to find a suitable location. Once they had found it they carefully carried the Nanomite replica to the location and set it down on the ground.

  “Now, give us until tomorrow to build our blocks. Come early in the morning and we will be ready.”

  Threebeard left Giant and several others to guard the Nanomites and then went back to the Mighty Jolly to arrange for the pick up. The next morning when Threebeard and Artis arrived at the site where they’d left the nanomites, there were four large cubes of hard white crystal in a neat row where the nanomites had been left. Giant took one of the cubes back to the Mighty Jolly and the other three were picked up by a TGA jet copter and flown to Fasoon along with Artis and Threebeard.

  When they arrived the cubes were transported to a laboratory where Baldrige along with three other scientist were waiting patiently. Baldrige introduced his assistants as Drs. Eristeff, Vogels, and Sturvin. When the cubes were in place Threebeard cleared his throat. “So, here they are. They have agreed to explore the possibility of helping Central Authority as we discussed.”

  Everyone stared at the three beautifully crafted cubes. Baldrige shook his head. “This is absolutely amazing. I am so excited to finally be communicating with the Nanomites. Unfortunately, I don’t have the gift of telepathy, so you’ll have to talk to them for me for now. Later on we’ll need to train others to communicate with them as I know you have other responsibilities to attend to.”

  Threebeard nodded. “Artis can communicate with them and she has agreed to stay with you as long as you need her.”

  Baldrige smiled at Artis. “That is very generous of you.”

  “Well, I’m very interested in the welfare of the Nanomites, so I’m hopeful your plan will work. We almost thought we had lost the entire life-form after the volcanoes began erupting.”

  “Yes, Threebeard told me about your journeys to find any survivors. That was very brave of you to venture out under such bad conditions.”

  “Fool hearty is probably more accurate,” Artis replied with a grin.

  “Nevertheless, I am honored to be working with you.”

  “So,” Threebeard interjected. “How do you propose we proceed.”

  “Well, I think the first thing is for you to introduce us and then my team has a lot of questions for starters. We need to understand how the Nanomites work so we can figure out how best to communicate to them the specifications for the buildings we need.”

  “Alright, do you have the questions written down?”

  “Yes, I have an initial set right here,” Baldrige said handing them to Threebeard.

  Threebeard took the list of questions and began reading them. When he was done he closed his eyes and made a connection with the nanomites.

  “Swarmmasters. We are ready to get started if you are?”

  “Yes, Threebeard,” the Speaker said. “Who are these men with Artis?”

  “The man in the white coat is called Baldrige. He has been studying your life-form for many cycles and will be in charge of the experiment. The others are Doctors Eristeff, Vogels, and Sturvin.”

  “Doctors?”

  “Yes, a doctor is someone who has studied a particular subject and is recognized as having a lot of knowledge about it.”

  “I see. So, how shall we begin?”

  “They have some questions for you to start with, which I will read to you and then relay to them your response.”

  “Very well?” the Speaker replied. “We are ready.”

  “Okay. What is the physical structure of the nanomite body?”

  “Each nanomite has a head, neck, torso, four legs for movement forward or laterally, two arms for manipulation, and two wings for flight.”

  “Does each nanomite determine his own movement or does he respond to a central command.”

  “Each nanomite moves with the will of the swarmmaster in one single fluid movement.”

  “Who directs the movement of the swarms?”

  “Each Nanomite swarm is part of the local Nanomite colony. All of the swarmmasters in the colony have equal voice in the Council of the Colony. If there is a dispute the majority rules.”

  “Where does this council meet?”

  “It meets in our minds. We just begin talking among ourselves until we reach a consensus.”

  “Who is in charge of the debate?”

  “No one. Everyone just starts thinking and our thoughts are exchanged and processed.”

  “Do you ever have a deadlock?”

  “No. We almost always reach a consensus since our interests are identical.”

  “So, how do you go about designing your beautiful homes?”

  “The ideal building structure for a nanomite city has been known for as long as there have been nanomites. We simple follow the same process each time we have to build.”

  “Do you think you would be able to alter your design and process if we told you exactly how we wanted a building built.”

  “We don’t know for sure, but we will try. Theoretically we can build a structure differently if there is a good reason. For instance, when the lava flow threatened our city in the Ural Desert we built a wall to divert the lava flow. So, it can be done.”

  The question and answer session went on for several kyloons until Baldrige suggested they stop for lunch. This prompted questions about how the Nanomites received nourishment.

  “We are very small so we don’t require a lot of food from your standpoint. Usually the air is full of pollen, plant matter, seeds, and water. All the things that we need to survive. We also need a certain chemical which your scientist call bacuum. This chemical is necessary for our reproduction process and therefore critical to our survival.”

  “We have bacuum,” Threebeard thought. “How do you ingest it?”

  “We send a swarm through the rock or sand that contains it and carry it back to the other swarms.”

  “Okay, we can bring you bacuum that we have filtered and ground into a powder. Will that do?”

  “Yes, just make a small pile of it next to one of our stones.”

  “Is there anything else we can bring you right now for lunch?”

  “Yes, some dried grass or grain would be fine.”

  “Alright, I’ll have someone supply you with that and we will come back to talk some
more in a few kyloons.”

  “That will be acceptable,” the Speaker thought.

   

   

  Earth Shuttle 26 landed softly on the landing field at the Spaceport at Gallion. The crew and passengers that were assembled several hundred strides away watched in awe as their new home settled down casting off a cloud of ash in all directions. Fortunately, they all had breathers so they simply closed their eyes until the cloud had dissipated. A few seconds later the main hatches opened and eight gangways were lowered to the ground to allow passengers and crew to board.

  Rammel smiled at his daughter who looked a little pale. “Don’t worry, Ellah. Everything will be fine.”

  Ellah had been worried, not about the spaceflight, but by the thought of being asleep for a full cycle. She had asked many questions about how such a thing could be possible. In particular she was concerned about practical things like eating, going to the bathroom, and taking a shower. Petrina had explained how all of that was taken care of by tubes and monitors that would be regulated by the ships computers, but that had not been much comfort to her.

  “Why can’t we just stay awake?” Ellah complained.

  Eroh rolled his eyes. “You’re such a dirkbird.”

  “Don’t be cruel to your sister,” Rammel scolded. “Like we talked about before, love, it’s because the shuttles were built to transport a large number of people and that’s much easier to do if everyone is in a sleeping chamber. Plus sleeping people don’t eat and drink nearly as much as people who are awake.”

  A bell rang signaling that it was safe to board the ship. Eroh immediately rushed on board. Rammel took Ellah’s hand and she reluctantly followed him up the ramp with Petrina close behind. Once on board they were taken to a large room where the ship’s medical staff was preparing passengers to be put in their sleeping chambers.

  “I’ll go first,” Eroh said bravely, “so Ellah will see that it’s nothing to fear.”

  Rammel felt a sense of great pride for his son’s gesture. Eroh had always been very mature and responsible. He’d filled in for Rammel as a father figure for Ellah when he’d been appointed to the Council of Interpreters and forced to spend long periods away from home.

  A crew member helped Eroh take off his shirt and climb into the chamber, then she placed monitors at various points on his body and inserted several tubes.

  “See you on Earth,” Eroh said as he was given an injection and gradually drifted off to sleep.”

  The crew member closed the sleeping chamber and then looked up. Ellah squeezed Rammel’s hand. “No, father. I’m scared.”

  “I know, but it will be fine. It’s just like going to bed and waking up in the morning.”

  Ellah took a deep breath as Rammel picked her up and placed her in the sleeping chamber. She started to squirm but the medical tech quickly injected her and she immediately became limp. After she had been hooked up to her monitors and the various tubes inserted, the door was closed.

  “Well, I guess it is good night, dear,” Rammel said. “Pleasant dreams.”

  Rammel and Petrina kissed and then went to their sleeping chambers. Moments later they were both in a deep sleep. A sleep of a thousand dreams. Dreams of past triumphs and tragedies and hopes and fears for the future. A kyloon later Earth Shuttle 26 lifted off for its long journey to Earth with Captain Shilling at the helm along with six crew members who would be awake during the journey guiding the ship through space to its final destination, Earth.