by Ivan Turner
Though he desperately wanted to order a withdrawal, Beckett could see no good reason to do so. Despite Tunsley’s off handed comment during the conference, even Beckett had to follow some rules. So, with serious misgivings, he ordered another attempt at a landing. Dorian deftly moved the ship into position, requiring neither reports from Boone or Tunsley, nor orders from her captain. Boone kept an eye on the radar.
As the scene beyond the portholes and cameras turned from space black to sky blue, Beckett felt his stomach sink. It wasn’t just the normal “sea sickness” that hit many astronauts as a ship adjusted from artificial gravity to natural gravity. Beckett hated leaving space. There was something about the cold and black that appealed to him. It didn’t hide anything. You could look out the window of a boat and see a bright blue sky when the environment outside could burn your lungs or freeze the skin to your bones. But in outer space, you knew what you were dealing with. There was no room for man out there. He had made room. And space had stepped aside to allow it, but there was a limit even to that allowance. No matter how bright and beautiful the star off the bow, space would kill a man if he dared to take it on naked.
“Make three passes over Walker’s landing sight.”
Dorian didn’t even acknowledge him, a habit he had grown to accept. The ship lurched once as it went through some changes in thermal currents. Ukpere reported on the atmospheric readings that were crossing his screen and Beckett cut him off. None of that was important just then. He was looking over Dorian’s shoulder, checking out the photos.
They passed over some bright green water, the waves crashing against each other as conflicting tides battled. It was an odd sight, but beautiful just the same. Beckett had once visited a world where undersea quakes were so frequent that almost the entire planet was treacherous. And yet some pirates had explored enough of the world to find a safe haven. As an Infantry Officer, he had led a strike team into the pirates’ den. It had been a successful campaign, all but one of the outlaws captured and brought back for trial.
Using the data from Walker’s Black Box, they had managed to pinpoint the coordinates for his landing. Digital imaging sent back pictures of a stone patio that bled into soil on the outskirts of an odd jungle. While there was more than enough room for the Einstein, the Valor because of its length, would never have been able to land there. Even if it had, Applegate warned against spoiling the site. There was no sign of the Einstein, nor was there any evidence of anything ever having been there. Of course, after two centuries, the place could have been wiped clean ten times over and they would never even know it.
Satisfied with what he had seen, he ordered Dorian to scout for a landing site. There were a few on the opposite side of the cliff and some on top, but Beckett automatically ruled them out. Landing on top would require a treacherous scaling and he was not interested in sending anyone into that type of danger. Though the closest sites were around the other side, communications would be impossible because of the rocky division. Dorian finally discovered a clearing on the opposite end of the jungle. It would require a walk of just over a mile, but Rollins was confident that their communication equipment would be able to pierce the foliage. Worst case scenario, they would have to hammer in a few relays in order to keep in touch. Beckett okayed the site and Dorian touched them down with barely a jolt. He opened up a communications channel.
“Lieutenant Tedesco?”
“Yes?”
Beckett fell silent, containing his rage. Her insubordination would push him over the edge, he knew.
After a moment, Tedesco came through impatiently again. “What is it?”
Beckett felt a low growl escape his throat. “Who am I, Lieutenant?”
“What?”
“Who am I?”
There was a hesitation. “You’re the captain?”
“Yes,” he breathed. “That’s right. What does that mean to you?”
More hesitation. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
“Let’s put it this way.” By now he knew that every officer on the network was listening in. They all knew he had formally requested to have her removed. “It will be much more satisfying to have you dismissed from duty for your incompetence than it will be to bust you for insubordination.”
They could feel the steam coming from her ears. “My apologies, sir.”
“That’s better. You’ll lead a small reconnaissance team to Walker’s landing site. Don’t touch anything. Just assess the danger.”
“Yes, sir,” she said rather brightly. He supposed that she hadn’t expected this kind of responsibility. But it was common for captains to send their lieutenants out on planetary expeditions. Officers were needed on board ship except in extreme cases.
“Sergeant Rodrigo?”
“Standing by, Ted.”
As if to thoroughly diminish Tedesco’s significance, he ignored the familiarity with which she addressed him. Besides which, she had earned the right to call him by his first name in just about any setting. “Choose two people to go out on the expedition. I’m relying on your experience to determine whether or not there’s any danger, but Tedesco’s the officer of rank and her word is law. Is that clear?”
“Clear as day,” she said with just no hint of emotion. That wasn’t necessarily a good sign.
Crossing Paths
Alone in the computer control room, affectionately known as Compcon, Lawrence Rollins watched his sensors intently. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for, but he had a pretty good idea. This was going to be his best opportunity to prove his theory and learn the truth. In researching the events of the Einstein, he had taken many faces. None of them had helped him into a position of authority, a position where he’d had the autonomy to simply sit and study the events as they unfolded. Now, as an officer on the Valor, he was poised to learn everything he wanted to know.
Rollins had been on duty now for almost thirteen hours. After the briefing, he had taken some time to eat, shower, and shuffle his department’s schedule, but that time had been short. Beckett had wanted all of his officers on duty and Rollins had wanted to be there. He could have easily dropped his shift once they were on the ground. Since the captain would want him on duty once Tedesco took her party out, he should have gone for food. Still, he couldn’t. He knew that whatever was going to happen, was going to happen in that intervening time. The moment that was about to come was the moment he had been waiting for ever since his research had begun.
“I’ll relieve you now, Rollins,” came the voice of Humphrey Applegate behind him.
Reluctantly, Rollins turned away from his sensors to lock eyes with the giant man. At first, a panic set in. Applegate outranked him, so Rollins was duty bound to follow his orders. If he allowed himself to be relieved now, though, he would miss it. If he spent too much time arguing, he might miss it as well. Worse still, Applegate might see it.
That’s when he began to calm.
Why would Applegate relieve him? If Rollins needed relief, he had a staff that was trained to operate Compcon. As records officer, Applegate was competent in a pinch, but certainly not someone called upon to regularly man the station. That was when Rollins realized that Applegate knew what was about to happen.
“Thank you, but that’s not necessary, Mr. Applegate.”
Applegate hesitated, then gathered himself up. “You’re relieved. That’s an order.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Mr. Rollins, this insubordination will not be tolerated.”
“Mr. Applegate, you are free to report me to the captain.”
Applegate’s cheeks burned red.
Instead of waiting for Applegate to respond, Rollins continued. “You have no justification for relieving me. Since the captain is already suspicious of both you and Mr. Ukpere, I don’t imagine you’ll be able to provide him with a satisfactory explanation.”
It was clear that Applegate hadn’t expected to run into any interference. He was as much panicked as Rollins had been
initially. Unfortunately for him, though, he had nothing to fall back on. Short of physical violence, he wasn’t going to be able to get Rollins out of Compcon.
“If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Applegate, I have a lot of work to do.”
The large man seemed just about ready to give up the fight when his expression altered. The redness faded from his cheeks and the tense wrinkles around his eyes smoothed out. He even smiled as he took the empty seat.
“What are you doing?” Rollins asked him, an edge creeping into his voice.
“I have nowhere to be,” Applegate answered. “Perhaps I’ll just stay here, unless you’d like to report me to the captain.”
“You need to go,” Rollins said, a little too abruptly.
“Why?”
Now Applegate had the upper hand. Rollins couldn’t force him out of the room either. Even if he could, there was no time.
“Suit yourself,” he said, unconvincingly, and turned back to his instruments. He tried to ignore Applegate as he watched the sensors for what he knew must appear. Every once in a while, he touched something, turned something, or pushed something just to make it appear that he was working and not watching. Soon enough, the maneuvers would be more than just camouflage. If he could disguise what he was doing, Applegate might walk out none the wiser.
Applegate was not to be fooled.
“There it is!” he shouted, pointing at the instrument panel.
Rollins had seen it. Even before Applegate’s exclamation, his hands had been flying over the keyboard, typing out instructions. The sensors had picked up a signal entering the atmosphere. Rollins captured the signal quickly, ran it through some heavy analysis, and rerouted its existence into a subroutine.
Applegate leaned forward, his mouth agape. “You hid it.”
Rollins nodded.
“Aren’t you going to tell the captain about it?”
Rollins looked right at him. “No. Are you?”
Walker Log 2
Today I took a walk on an alien world. Jesus, it was hot, but it was so much like the Earth that I kept having to remind myself that I wasn’t simply in some secluded spot in my own backyard. Alice picked just the greatest place to put the ship down. I mean, a cliff wall at our backs and a jungle in our faces. The sky above me was bright blue and the ground below was runway smooth.
It’ll be a great place for a resort.
Alice, Gil, and Marcia (Thomas) joined me a few minutes after I’d gone out. They gave me that time alone. As the leader of the expedition, it was my duty to step out into this alien environment first. But it was also my privilege. I so desperately wanted to say something poetic, but the words just never came. I guess I’m no Neil Armstrong. While I stood there, looking up at the sky and daydreaming, my crew was back on the ship doing their jobs. They were mapping coordinates and taking air samples. They were testing the planet for its habitability. But I already knew that all of that was unnecessary.
This world is perfect.
There’s barely a couple of hours of sunlight left now and I don't want to waste it. It’s time to venture away from the ship, get a real feel for the environment. I’ve arranged a party of myself, Gil, Jude (Leaventhall), and Danielle (Smith). I want Jude and Danielle to collect some plant and insect samples, maybe try and categorize some of the animal life. Gil just wants to come along. I must admire his explorer's spirit because he has no business being off ship right away. How can I hold him back, though? How can I expect any of us to show any form of restraint? It’s Christmas morning and Santa has brought us a brand new planet!
God I love this stuff!
Colonel Nicholas Walker
March 27th, 2056
The Big Bad Wolf
Four people stepped out of the Valor’s main hatch into the near tropical heat of an alien jungle. It had taken almost two hours to complete the preparations for an on-foot expedition.
As expected, Rodrigo had selected Jason Cummings and Ken Bonamo to accompany them on the expedition. Cummings was a career soldier like Rodrigo. He had some more experience with the computers on board ship and could man a post if need be, but he was mostly a classic gunfighter. The man could fire a pistol from his hip with enough accuracy to knock a caterpillar from a leaf at a hundred yards. During war games, Cummings always chose lightweight pistols over the heavier rifles. He was fond of saying that the size of the shell was meaningless if you never got to fire it. A tiny bullet in the brain had the same effect as blowing someone to bits. It was the kind of logic with which you couldn’t argue and the kind of argument you couldn’t win. Beckett suspected that Cummings had trained himself so well with handguns to make up for the fact that he really couldn’t handle a rifle. He was a small guy, just over five feet with practically no weight on him at all. He was a jokester and a friendly guy in his personal life, but he was meaner than all hell when it came to a fight, an attitude he’d developed as a defense mechanism while growing up.
Bonamo was an up and comer. He’d been active for six months and with Rodrigo on the Valor that entire time. For some reason, she’d taken a shine to him. Beckett had seen her do that from time to time and found that anyone she respected did very well in the UESF. He had more than a foot on Cummings, but was soft spoken. Though he was an adequate shooter, his strength was his ability to keep his head in any situation. He was thoughtful and decisive. He was intelligent and, in combat situations, acted with practiced precision. He was officer material for sure, could even make captain eventually.
The fly-by photos didn’t do the terrain justice. The jungle that spread out before them was a combination of wide fern-like plants with big purple leaves and large branchless trees that sprouted green tufts of moss where the sunlight could reach their trunks. The soil beneath their feet was fine and soft, but not as dry as they would have expected in such heat. There was very little moisture in the air, which made them wonder if they had just missed a rainy season. The plants looked well nourished and thrived in the soil. Perhaps they needed less water. If it was one thing a person learned in the UESF, it was that the accepted laws of nature learned on Earth did not apply everywhere one went. It was a lesson well heeded.
Wandering forward to the edge of the foliage line, Cummings took inspection of one of the great wide leaves. He noticed it was dotted with small uneven holes and there were tiny bugs crawling all over it. Toward the edge of a leaf, a larger creature with three legs on one side and three wings on the other sat motionless. It had a sticklike quality to it, making its supposed texture enticing. He reached a finger out to touch it.
“Hey!” Rodrigo shouted. “Is this your first day?”
He looked at her. “Have a look at this thing.”
“I’ve got enough trouble just looking at you.”
He huffed.
“Keep your hands to yourself.”
Put out by the display, Tedesco began her march into the trees. Cummings and Bonamo hesitated, waiting for Rodrigo to fall in behind her, but the sergeant ushered them on ahead. She wanted to keep a close eye on them.
Once totally engulfed by the jungle, Tedesco signaled the ship to make sure that communications were still available. Apparently, Rollins had misjudged the effect of the jungle because the reception was already scratchy. A couple of hundred more yards and they wouldn’t be able to speak at all. Bonamo, the sack of relay dishes on his shoulder, was sent back into range in order to hammer one into the ground.
A Tale of Four Blips
During a planetside expedition, Captain Beckett rarely sat in Control. The best seat in the house was in the Computer Control Room. From Compcon, a crew member could view through any or all of the ship’s external cameras at any time. There was a screen for each and they were situated in such a way so that the screen faced the exact angle as the camera. This was a design feature that existed on every UESF ship. As a result, the shape of Compcon was different on each ship. To match the design of the Valor, Compcon was long and narrow, with four levels of cameras and two fading all
eys to represent the wings. There were two stations for manning, but on Beckett’s ship, Rollins was often alone. In fact, Beckett often suspected that this isolation was what had attracted Rollins to the Valor in the first place. The stations shared a console and four monitors that detailed statistics and the status of operations on the ship. It was the job of the technician on duty to make sure all of the automatic feeds sent that information to the proper parties (engineering, navigation, medical, weapons, etc…). If the feeds were misfiring, it was the up to the tech to do the job manually while working to fix the automatic feeds. Rollins was exceedingly good at dispensing information. In fact, Beckett often suspected he was doing it manually by choice.
Since its inception, many captains had taken to running battles from Compcon. On New Earth ships, it was standard practice. Still, weapons and navigation, while accessible from Compcon, were more difficult to handle. Captain Beckett liked his control room. If he needed to fly, he could fly (not that piloting was one of his finer skills). If he needed to shoot, he could shoot.
Now, though, he sat beside Lawrence Rollins, ignoring a man who preferred to be ignored. On one monitor was a photo scan of the terrain, beamed to them from the tracking satellite, matching orbit above. Each member of the expedition carried a chip which transmitted a signal to the tracking satellite. That signal was then bounced to the Valor so that Beckett could see where his people were and what they were doing. The mossy clouds prevented the satellite from taking actual photos of the expedition. Audio communication didn’t seem able to reach the satellite either, thus the need for the relays. Still, the tiny blips were more than enough. Watching them, Beckett listened to their discussions through his earpiece and imagined the scenery. He said nothing and would continue to be silent unless circumstances warranted his official involvement. Though he didn’t think Tedesco could handle even this small an operation, he was determined to play it by the book. Let her hang herself.
