T'aafhal Legacy 1: Ghosts of Orion

by Doug L. Hoffman

  “If you are looking forward to conducting basic training I'd say you are ready to get out of that bed. I'll bring you a new jump suit and booties.”

  “Outstanding, thanks Doc.”

  Officer's Quarters, Peggy Sue

  Will Krenshaw was having a crisis of conscience. He had been less than fully candid when he signed on for the voyage, claiming that he had been affiliated with a university back on Earth that had been destroyed during the alien bombardment and was left unemployed. He was a qualified microbiologist, and he had worked at a university, but he neglected to mention that he was in the pay of Fleet intelligence.

  His mission was to watch the officers and crew of the Peggy Sue, and report any questionable activities or unlawful acts they might commit during the voyage. The Intel section was convinced that Captain Vincent and his merry band were no better than buccaneers and pirates, out to plunder any planet they happened upon.

  At first he suspected that the Fleet officers were right, the crew certainly seemed filled with questionable characters. The Captain all but blasted his way out of the solar system, ignoring orders from Navy vessels to stop. But then, after arriving in this system, Will began to have doubts.

  The merchants were cautious to the point of paranoia about contaminating the targeted planet, or risking the lives of the Marines and scientists sent to the surface. The officers all acted professionally and Dr. Ogawa insisted on maintaining the highest professional standards. They left Paradise intact for the arriving colonists and headed farther out into the system. That's when Will really began to suspect he was on the wrong side.

  The explorers went to great lengths, at no small personal risk, to make contact with the lava creatures. They actually made friends with the sentient boulders and exchanged items with them—possibly mankind's first act of friendly interstellar trade. Will suspected that the Fleet would have either ignored the fascinating silicon life form or simply blasted their little moon to bits and been done with it.

  Then came that horrible business with Joe Rogers. Granted Joe was a bit of a loose cannon, but what a ghastly way to die! More importantly, the Captain didn't just cut and run. He raced back to Paradise to warn the colonists. The crew of the Peggy Sue risked their own lives trying to rescue those poor settlers while the Colonization Board people stood by and watched. The Captain and crew of the Peggy Sue were looking more and more like the good guys here, and not the avaricious plunderers the Navy had described.

  In the end, he wrote a fairly neutral report, which was hidden inside a seemingly innocuous letter to a colleague back at Farside. That letter was included in the electronic mail to be sent back on the survey drone. True, several hundred people died and the Peggy Sue did destroy the transport ship, but he'd be damned if he didn't think they'd done the right thing. Oh well. Perhaps the merchants would commit an unspeakable atrocity or two at their next port of call.

  Cargo Hold, Peggy Sue

  The Captain and Sailing Master were examining a large cylindrical container, which lay on its side near the starboard cargo door. It had been built by Engineer Baldursson's artificers to fit into a bay on the planetary survey drone. The bay used to contain disposable survey probes that had been expended during its mission to Paradise. The drone itself floated in space just outside the cargo door.

  “So we can fit a half a ton of jewels and a sample of the alien tech from Paradise into this thing?” asked Billy Ray.

  “Aye, Captain,” replied Arin. “Plus a beacon tuned to company frequencies and all the encrypted video.”

  “Both the alien recordings and our own records of what happened here?”

  “Ja, that and the survey drone's data.”

  “Good. Let's get this installed in the probe and send it on its way. If there was a way to send some of the survivors I would send them as well.”

  “You should have thought of that before you vaporized the transport ship,” said Bobby, teasing his friend.

  “Did you want to round up that black stuff that was in her hold, pardner?” Billy Ray shot back. “Besides, the controls had been locked, sending Fortune back to Earth.”

  “Yeah, there wouldn't have been anyone left on arrival. Nothing but ghosts.”

  “Yer right, and there's already an awful lot of ghosts in the Orion Arm.”

  The engineers finished closing up the capsule and two of them wearing space suits pushed the cylinder through the cargo door. Following the cylinder, the men disappeared through the door into the vacuum outside.

  “You think the authorities will shit doughnuts back at Farside when they find out almost all the settlers are dead and we blew up the Colonization Board ship?”

  “I don't know, Bobby. We included statements from the surviving settlers and crewmembers. The new pilot, Frank, and his buddy Leon were quite explicit about Captain Chakrabarti freaking out after the settlers were all slaughtered. I hope they understand why we had to do what we did. Hell, we almost lost one of our own rescuing those two girls after Chakrabarti refused to try and rescue anyone from the surface.”

  “Yeah, but you know politicians and bureaucrats, they only see things from their own selfish point of view. If it doesn't benefit them personally they don't much care. Hopefully the beacon will attract a company ship first.”

  “Either way, its gonna tight beam the recorded material to company HQ after emergence. That should give TK and the board enough ammunition to fend off the jackals.”

  “Still, it would just be a shame for some ass-hat from the Fleet to get all that alien poo.” Bobby looked at his friend and grinned.

  “We got several more tons of the stuff right over there.” Billy Ray motioned at several sealed containers farther aft in the hold. “But you're right, they don't deserve a thing. Come on, let's go to the bridge and watch the probe head back home.”

  “Right there with ya, Billy Ray.”

  Bridge, Peggy Sue

  “The Captain is on the bridge,” announced Nigel Lawson, acting OOD.

  “I have the deck and the conn, Mr. Lewis,” Billy Ray answered. With increasing tension and threat levels more Navy formality had crept into the crew's interactions. Certainly the entire crew was deadly serious when the Fortune was destroyed and its survivors rescued.

  Bobby took his seat next to Nigel at the helm, while Beth and Mizuki occupied their usual positions behind the Captain. With the bridge fully manned the ship was ready to sail.

  “Put the survey drone on the forward screen, Dr. Ogawa.”

  “Hai, Captain.” Mizuki focused the ship's largest telescope on the survey drone as it approached the alter-space transit point back to Earth. A holographic projection replaced the normal view forward through the Peggy Sue's transparent bow.

  “Less than two minutes to transit, Captain,” reported Nigel.

  The bridge fell silent as all hands watched the drone. Just large enough to house the necessary shields and gravitonic drives, the drone was as small an alter-space capable object as Earthly technology could build. The seconds to transit ticked down.

  The slender drone shimmered and vanished.

  “Very well,” Billy Ray said, “that particular die is cast.”

  “I wonder what the reaction will be back home,” Beth mused.

  “An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told.”

  “Shakespeare, Richard the Third, Sir,” called out Nigel from the helm, causing the Captain to smile. Identifying his quotations had become a popular game among the bridge crew.

  “Whatever the reaction is, we won't find out for another year or so, plenty of time for any ruckus to die down. What they decide to do with the next colonization effort remains to be seen.”

  “I hope they do a more thorough survey next time, it might save innocent lives.”

  “Not our call, Number One.” Billy Ray remained pensively silent for half a minute before issuing new orders to the crew.

  “Alright people, we have new stars to see and new aliens to meet! Helm, align us for
transit to Gliese 667's primary stars. From there we're headin' out into unknown territory.”

  The crew's spirits rose as the ship left the ill-fated planet named Paradise and the ghosts of Orion in her wake. The prospects of greater, and more profitable, adventures lay before them as the Peggy Sue headed for unexplored space.

  Epilogue

  Board Room, Orion Arm Trading Company

  TK Parker sat at the head of the boardroom table, an ostentatious slab of polished hardwood worth a fortune on the Moon. There were seven board members present, including the former Texas Oilman, all wealthy and successful before they were forced to flee Earth. They came from many countries and were of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. What they had in common was wealth and the overwhelming desire to acquire more.

  “Let's come to order, people. We got a lot of things to discuss today, including more fallout from the Peggy Sue's actions at the Paradise colony.”

  “So have we heard back from the follow-up science expedition sent to GJ667Cc?” asked Indu Nadar, a former Indian manufacturing magnate and the board's only female member. “It has been almost eight months.”

  “We have, Indu. I have a short recorded message from Dr. von Langsdorf, the expedition leader. If no one objects I'd like to play it.”

  No objections were raised and TK called up the holovid recording on the table's center projector. The image of an erect older man appeared. He seemed to be facing each of the attendees, regardless of their position at the table. The man's image began to speak.

  “This is to inform the board that we have made great progress in analyzing and controlling the contagion that infects planet Paradise.” The man paused as though he anticipated the murmurs that circulated around the table. The lead scientist continued.

  “We have come to the conclusion that the organism itself is an artificial life form, or ALF, an engineered creation smaller than a nanite with its own metabolic pathways, genome, and life cycle. It's genetic material is simple and unlike any found in known warm life.”

  The man's figure was replaced by a scene from the planet which showed a field of growing plants, presumably Earth life, being overcome by the black pestilence.

  “It is simple, rugged, and effectively immortal. Without intervention it will keep its host planet clean of life as we know it forever.”

  TK paused the playback.

  “Now here's where it gets interesting, people.”

  The recording resumed with a different field of grass as the scientist's voice-over continued.

  “We have made a number of advances with respect to controlling or eradicating the contagion. The presence of organic molecules stimulate the ALF, causing it to emerge from hibernation and enter its active state. Using robotic devices and teleoperated laboratory equipment we have identified a number of exogenous antagonists that prevent the ALF from reproducing and from absorbing other living organisms, which provide energy for its growth.”

  Again the black strands began to ravage the growing plants, dissolving all they came in contact with. But then the spread of the contagion stopped. It rebounded from a strip of plants that formed a boarder around the field. This effectively contained the outbreak, which soon withered and vanished back into the sandy soil.

  “As you can see, the contagion is unable to infest fields of specially modified Earth plants. The plants are genetically modified to host symbiotic micro organisms which secrete the antagonists that halt the contagion. While this gives some protection against the contagion, it is not a cure for the planet's infestation.

  “We are now working on a constellation of micro organisms that, when applied to an infested planet, will actively deny the spread of the contagion and eventually destroy it in its dormant spoor state. Once this is done we will be able to disinfect Paradise, making it safe for colonization by Earth life.”

  The hologram faded from view, leaving the board members sitting in contemplative silence. Henri Bouchard, a former Swiss banker, was first to break the silence.

  “So this means we can claim the planet and colonize it ourselves? I'm not sure I would want to be among the early settlers.”

  “I think we'll need to terraform the plant over a period of years to prove that the contagion won't come back, Henri. But yes, those dim bulbs over at the Colonization Board have given up their claim to Paradise.”

  “Initially, they seemed quite upset about the destruction of their ship,” remarked Indu Nadar, “and the slaughter of their colonists.”

  “Not really. Oh, they'll miss the ship, but the colonists? Not so much. Their real, long-term goal is getting as many human beings living on as many planets as possible. To the CB the settlers themselves were just livestock, additional gene pools to draw on if needed.”

  “I still don't understand why they sent those three sets of religious fanatics.”

  “First time out, send some expendables. Those poor people were not exactly highly sought after types. Under educated and mostly useless here on the Moon, or any other closed environment installation inside the solar system. They would always remain dependent on the state, a permanent lower class. Their presence would have eventually caused problems, so the CB decided to send 'em off to be farmers on a far away planet. Got 'em off of the Moon and they weren't gonna be missed if the colony failed.”

  “That's horrible, TK.” Indu shuddered involuntarily.

  TK shrugged. “Not much compassion over there at the CB. Still, it worked out for us—we got the planet after all.”

  “Imagine,” said Liong Tan, an Indonesian of Chinese descent, “controlling the wealth of an entire planet, one with much more land area than Earth. This certainly makes the company a profitable one, even if the return on investment will take some time to realize.”

  “It ain't just a planet, people. It could be dozens of planets.”

  “What? What do you mean TK?”

  “Think about it, Liong. We know of scores of planets, and a lot of them have indigenous life. This life may or may not be compatible with Earth life. Either way it can be a problem.”

  TK had everyone's attention now. After looking around the table at his fellow board members he pushed ahead.

  “Incompatible means we have to displace the native ecosystem and replace it with a more benign one. Compatible means there is a chance of infection, cross breading with native organisms, and other complications. Regardless, the best way to establish an Earth colony on an exoplanet is to remove any native life and replant the place with Earth organisms.”

  “And the contagion, if it can be controlled, can help do precisely that,” said Indu Nadar, as full realization dawned on her.

  “Right you are, darlin'. What we have here is a way to make spreading humanity, and all Earth life, across the Galaxy much simpler.”

  “But what about the military, won't they be wanting to classify this discovery and turn it into a weapon?” asked Norm Philips, a former Australian mining magnate.

  “Norm, there's some things too dangerous to trust the military with, and this is one of 'em. In fact, we need to keep this thing top secret.”

  “Why would you say that, mate?”

  “This can be our ace in the hole. Before we all left Earth we only had a single world for everybody. With this we can have a whole passel of worlds for people to live on.”

  “And we will be in a position to develop those worlds and to promote trade between them,” added Liong Tan.

  “Right you are, my friend, but only if we keep this quiet. We will proceed like we have been: building new ships, sending out exploratory missions, finding new aliens and habitable planets. Except now, when we find an Earth-like world with no indigenous sentient life, we sterilize it and plant a new ecosystem. We get perfectly inhabitable new planets with nobody the wiser.”

  “Do we know who made this contagion? Was this their intended purpose for creating it?”

  “We may never know. Whoever they were they weren't very considerate of others. They eff
ectively committed genocide—or is it ecocide—on Paradise.”

  “They were obviously advanced, will we run into them somewhere in the wider galaxy? Will we have to fight them?” asked Liong Tan.

  “Don't know. After 10,000 years maybe they killed themselves off, or maybe the Dark Lords got 'em. For now, let's not borrow trouble.”

  TK looked around the room and saw the others were already tallying the wealth to be gained from such a scheme. In truth, Parker saw this as a way to help mankind spread to the stars, a goal he shared with the Colonization Board. To survive, humanity needed to grow strong enough to resist the Dark Lords and their minions, who were sure to return one day. If the greed of his fellow board members helped him accomplish his goal, so be it.

  “So what do y'all say? Are we in agreement?”

  The sly old Texan raised his hand, signaling a vote of the board. Around the table all the hands went up.

  “It's unanimous,” he said with a smile. “I say we seal the records of this meeting and get back to work.”