by Dean, Warren
She joined Hans and Harry at the table they had commandeered and beckoned Carson and Vitaly over.
"Good speech, commander," said Vitaly approvingly as he sat down.
"I'm giving you two a task," she said. "Most of the people on this ship didn't sign up for this trip and I don't want them becoming restive or rebellious. I want you to assign research projects to everyone who is not directly assisting Hans and Harry. Stress that the more data we collect the more valuable it will be when we get back."
The two men nodded their assent.
"And make sure that everyone keeps to a day-night schedule," she continued. "I don't want people going stir crazy through a lack of sleep." She glared at Hans and Harry. "That includes you two. I don't want you working for weeks without sleep and turning into blithering idiots. You both do enough stupid things already."
She turned her full attention on Hans. "Haven't you ordered me any food yet, Hans? I'm starving."
The German flushed scarlet for the second time that day and hastily began flicking through the menu on the table top touchscreen. The other three hid grins behind their hands.
Katya wasn't surprised when Harry's four to six week estimate turned out to be on the low side. The check and re-check regime imposed by the two astrophysicists was frustrating and time-consuming. It took them days just to collate the data needed to calculate the ship's rate and direction of drift since arriving at what they began calling Point X; their point of entry into Centaurus A. Then followed a lengthy manoeuvring process; with Vitaly carrying out tiny course corrections as they got closer and closer to Hans and Harry's estimation of where Point X should be.
When the two astrophysicists were finally happy with the ship's position, they insisted on recalculating the return vector from scratch. Just to make sure that the alteration in their course and position hadn't had some unknown effect on the equations. As it turned out, it hadn't.
Eventually, they opened a wormhole and sent through an advance probe. They insisted on collecting a week's worth of data from the probe before pronouncing the destination safe. Then they conducted the practice run again, sending through a different probe to rule out any glitches in the probes themselves. They compared the data from the first probe with the data from the second probe and confirmed that it was the same.
All in all, it was nearly five weeks before they announced that they were ready to go.
Katya ordered the crew to assemble in one of the passenger cabins, reassuring them that everything had been double-checked and explaining exactly how the life-support cocoons worked. Although everyone knew what to expect, having already experienced wormhole travel, there had been no time for a proper briefing on the last occasion. She made sure that it was understood that the initial jump would not take them all the way to Earth; she didn't want panic in the ranks when they got to the other end and found themselves in unfamiliar territory again.
She put Carson in charge of the people in the passenger cabin, and returned to the bridge. She joined Hans, Harry, Vitaly and the six technicians who would make the jump on the bridge, one to each console. She had assigned the central pilot's console to Vitaly, and strapped herself into one of the others. She barked the order to go and then tried to relax. She was not much more than a passenger on this trip; the astrophysicists would manage the process of acquiring the wormhole and Vitaly would do whatever flying was required. Her task was to stay conscious so that, if anyone had a problem, she could step in.
She watched spellbound as the roiling mass of matter and energy formed by the star drive coalesced into an enormous vortex. Vitaly set course directly for the imposing phenomenon and she had to fight off an attack of vertigo as she watched it sink inwards, centre first. As the ship entered the funnel it had created, she caught a brief glimpse of an immense tail stretching away into the distance. Then the ship entered the wormhole's gravitational field and was catapulted forward, careening through the hole in space for a long four minutes.
Katya gritted her teeth, determined to keep her stomach under control this time. When Earthworm emerged into normal space again, she gave herself a moment to take a deep breath and then, as the external feeds came back on line, she concentrated on calculating their new position.
Hans beat her to it and gave a whoop of excitement. "One thousand two hundred and seventy-two point seven four light years from Earth! We are back in the Milky Way, guys. We must have been no more than a kilometre and a half away from Point X."
Relief swept over Katya like a wave. They weren't out of the galactic woods yet, but at least the first part of the plan had been successful. And this close to Earth, their own star charts should be reliable enough to take them the rest of the way back. Hans immediately began work on the next phase and this time the others were unable to tear him away from his console. They left him to it and joined the rest of the crew who had started an impromptu party in the dining cabin.
Before calculating the next vector, Hans, Harry, and their assistants spent a week carrying out a verification process of the human star charts of this part of the galaxy. They assimilated all of the observable changes and then began calculating the vector. When it was complete, they sent through the first advance probe. They received no feedback at all; the machine seemed to vanish completely. They waited a few days, rechecking everything, and then sent through a second probe. It also vanished instantly.
Katya, Hans, Harry and Vitaly held an emergency conference and decided that they would have to abandon the vector. They had no idea what was at the other end of the wormhole and they couldn't risk running into something that would destroy or cripple the ship. It was Katya who came up with the best alternative; divide the journey into two vectors. The first would be calculated to take them to within a hundred light years of Earth. Then they would be in a much better position to calculate the vector which would put them precisely in orbit around the planet.
A little dispirited, they began the whole process over again. It had been three weeks since they had made their successful first jump and morale on the ship had begun to wane. Katya made sure that Carson kept the crew busy with their research projects and her insistence on following a day-night schedule kept most people on an even keel.
Thankfully, the next jump was a success. The probes that were sent through gave the all clear and the trip was mercifully short and uneventful. It had taken another six weeks, but they were now less than a hundred light years from home.
After another celebration, they got to work on the final leg. Hans and Harry were ultra-cautious, determined to get the final jump just right, and it was another four weeks before they decided that everything was completely correct. By the time they acquired the third wormhole, excitement on board was at fever pitch. The crew barely noticed the trip, it was a few seconds long and wormhole travel was old hat by then.
Katya didn't join in the wild exclamations of delight when the ship emerged in orbit around Earth. The first thing she looked for was the position of the Moon. Although it had been four months since they had left, it might still be under the control of the Chinese, and the last thing she wanted was another confrontation with General Chang. She was relieved to find that it was on the other side of the planet.
The second thing she did was to attempt to re-establish contact with Earth. She was a bit surprised that they hadn't been inundated with signals the moment they emerged from the wormhole. She tried to connect to the Personet, but couldn't find it. That was odd. She had never been unable to connect to the Personet before, even from orbit. She ran a diagnostic check of the ship's communications systems; perhaps something had been damaged in the wormhole jumps. She found everything in working order and decided to interrupt her co-pilot, who was enthusiastically congratulating everyone.
"Vitaly, can you establish Personet or radio contact from your console? I am having no luck."
He complied immediately. After a few minutes he reported back. "I am getting nothing from the Personet, commander. It seems to b
e down. And I have tried radio communications with NASA, London, and Roscosmos in Moscow. There is no reply from anyone. The only thing I am getting," he paused for a moment, "is a strange radio transmission from the western United States."
"What do you mean, strange?"
"It is in the form of binary code."
"Decode it. I want to know what is going on down there."
Aware by then that something was wrong; Hans sent a radio signal to Munich, trying to contact his superiors. Harry tried London, Paris, Madrid, and Rome. Neither of them received any response.
"What the hell has happened?" asked Hans.
Vitaly set up a binary decoder on one of his screens and fed the transmission through it. "It is a message being broadcast continuously from Hat Creek, in California," he reported.
"That's SETI's big radio observatory," said Harry.
"What does it say?" asked Katya.
Vitaly began to read what he had decoded. "WE, THE PEOPLE OF EARTH, A PLANET IN THE MILKY WAY GALAXY, SEND PEACEFUL GREETINGS TO ALL WHO MAY RECEIVE THIS. WE ARE PROGRESSIVE, INTELLIGENT, AND CREATIVE BEINGS. WE OFFER INFORMATION WHICH COULD BENEFIT ALL RACES WHO HAVE COME INTO CONTACT WITH… then follows an image of the face of one of the Faerie Folk. There is more; I will send all of you the whole thing."
There was a moment of silence as they all read the rest of the message.
"It’s a greeting to extra-terrestrial races," said Harry.
"It's a call for help," corrected Katya. "Someone down there has worked out what we already know; that the Faerie Folk are not to be trusted. They think there might be someone else out there who has had a similar experience."
"What are we going to do, commander?" asked Vitaly.
"We need information, and the people at Hat Creek seem to be the only ones who have some. Put us in orbit over North America and tell them that we are coming. We aren't the extra-terrestrials they were looking for, but I am certain that they will be interested in our research data."
Vitaly changed Earthworm's course and within a few hours they had taken up a geosynchronous orbit above Northern California. Leaving Vitaly, Harry, and half a dozen technicians in control of the ship, Katya packed the rest of the crew into a shuttle and headed for the surface. They landed in a field well clear of the telescope array, having been warned to be careful not to damage the sensitive equipment.
While they waited for someone from the observatory to arrive, Katya allowed everyone to climb out of the shuttle and stretch their legs. Some of the crew ran and jumped around, shouting with excitement at being on solid ground again. Others were more subdued, concerned about what might have happened to family and friends while they had been away in space.
After a few minutes, a convoy of vehicles approached, pulling up in a cloud of dust. A group of four men climbed out of the lead car and Hans and Katya came forward to greet them.
"I'm Clyde Snick," said a short middle-aged man with a receding hairline, "And this is Harold McKendrick, our chief radio officer."
Katya took Clyde's hand briefly, her cool reserve firmly in place. "I am Colonel…"
"Katya Kasparova," finished Clyde enthusiastically. "Yes, I know, you are something of a heroine in these parts after your daring escape from the Moon. A lot of my guys are dying to see your ship. I hope you will take us up for a visit at some stage."
"Well, er," said Katya, a little taken aback by the fervent welcome. "That isn't my decision to make. The ship belongs to the five delegations and I intend to relinquish command as soon as I am ordered to do so."
"Ah," said Clyde. "That may not be as simple as you think."
A thin, bearded individual pushed his way forward and seized Hans by the hand. "Dr Mattheus, I am honoured to meet you," he said. "I'm Edgar Cole. I've followed your career for years. I hope you won't mind if I ask you a few questions. Once you have had a chance to rest and eat, of course."
"Yes, speaking of eating, you are just in time for lunch," interjected Clyde. "We hadn't catered for so many, but we will do our best to feed everyone. We brought as many vehicles as we could, but it will take a few trips to get everyone back to the control buildings.
"By the way," he continued as people from Earthworm's shuttle began climbing into the various vehicles, "This is David Herald." He indicated the fourth member of his group, a slim, dark-haired man of medium height who had hung back so far.
David shook hands with Hans and Katya.
"You may have heard of him," said Clyde. "He is the inventor of the Forever Gene. He has an interesting story to tell about the Faerie Folk."
It took some time, but eventually everyone had been conveyed back to the control buildings. There wasn't really enough food to go around, so Katya ordered a few crew members back to the shuttle to retrieve some of Earthworm's ample provisions. After lunch, she and Hans told their hosts the story of Earthworm's escape from the Moon and subsequent experiences in space. Clyde, Edgar, and David were especially interested to hear of the difficulties the travellers had experienced with the Faerie Folks' blueprint and star charts.
Later, Clyde gave the crew of the ship an impromptu synopsis of what had happened in the world since they had blasted off from the Moon.
"Once Earthworm had gone," he concluded, "the Moon lost its strategic importance. Neither China nor the US had the stomach for a war over it, so they came to an agreement. They are presently exercising joint control of Moonbase Alpha, while China is busy building its own moonbase. Once it is completed, the Chinese will restore full control of the old moonbase to the Americans. They have already divided up the Moon's territory between them. Of course, the Russians," he nodded towards Katya, "don't acknowledge their agreement, but they lack the capacity to fight for their slice of territory at this time."
There was a deep, sorrowful silence in the room once he had finished. A large proportion of the crew were from Russia, Northern Europe and the United Kingdom, and they were coming to terms with the fact that most of their friends and relatives had probably been killed in the missile strikes on Europe's major cities. Clyde tried to soften the blow, ordering McKendrick to make Hat Creek's radio communications available to anyone who wanted to try to make contact with their homes.
Both Hans and Katya were relatively unaffected. Neither was married, nor particularly close to any relatives. Katya was an only child whose parents had died years ago. Hans' ageing parents lived some distance outside Munich and Clyde assured him that they were unlikely to have been hurt in the explosions which had devastated the city. Hans nevertheless joined McKendrick's queue to try to make sure that they were alright.
Katya found herself alone with Clyde, Edgar, and the taciturn David Herald.
"What will you do with your ship?" Clyde asked her.
"I don't know," she replied. "Perhaps I should surrender it to your government. It seems to be the only one of the five delegations, other than China, which is still functional."
Clyde grimaced. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Our government is still in place, but it has very little control over what is going on in the country. The cities are run by criminal gangs and the armed forces are virtually dysfunctional. The government is just a bunch of squabbling politicians who can't agree on what time to eat lunch. If you put Earthworm in their hands, it will probably be buried in a sea of red tape and never see the light of day again."
"But the ship is not mine to do with as I please," said Katya. "The only reason I took it in the first place was to prevent it from falling into the hands of General Chang. I believe that it should be used for the benefit of all nations, not just one. It was always my intention to bring it back and hand it over to the proper authorities."
"Which no longer exist," said Clyde.
Katya had no reply.
"What if there was a way that the ship could still be used for the benefit of all nations," said David into the silence.
Katya looked at him in surprise. It was the first time she had heard him speak. "What do you mean?" she a
sked.
"We know that the Faerie Folk are not what they seem." He quickly told Katya his own story. "And now they have taken what we estimate to be about six million people off the planet. We have no idea why. But given that they are capable of casually destroying an entire civilisation to achieve their aims, I can't believe that their true purpose is anything good."
Clyde and Edgar nodded their agreement.
"What does this have to do with Earthworm?" asked Katya. "How can one ship save an entire planet?"
"It can't," said David. "The planet is beyond saving. Those that are left will have to do the best they can to survive and to rebuild. No, the people who need help are the ones who have gone into space. They are our best hope for the future."
Katya looked at him with new interest. "You make a compelling argument. But how do we go about helping them?"
"We follow them and tell them what we know. They have been deceived and, whatever plan the Faerie Folk may have for them, they deserve to know the truth. Once they do, they will be able to make more informed decisions."
"They may not be in any position to make decisions," said Clyde.
"True enough," acknowledged David. "But that's no reason to abandon them to their fate. If there is a chance that we can help them, we owe it to them to try."
Katya promised to discuss the matter with the crew of Earthworm. Most of them no longer had homes to return to and the star ship was all they had left. They were entitled to a say in its destiny. When night fell, she ordered everyone back to the shuttle and they returned to the ship. There she discussed David's ideas with Hans, Harry, Vitaly and Carson.
