Galactic Startup

by Brian Whiting

  “I’ll do it later.”

  Alex looked at Timmy, who seemed disappointed. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing” Timmy and Jorge both said at the same time, then they left the room.

  ***

  “White fur? Oozing acid? You can’t be serious,” yelled Hammond into the phone in his office.

  “That’s what they said, sir,” came the voice in the receiver. “They’re trying to keep it hushed up, but Ms Reese let it slip. She’s very enthusiastic about biology.”

  “If you say so. I guess it’s something to keep the President happy, add to his little off-world menagerie. But it’s not what we’re after, agent,” grumbled the NSA Director.

  “I know that, sir. You want the propulsion specs. I’m working on it. They trust me more every day.”

  “We can’t wait forever.” Hammond put the phone down emphatically.

  ***

  Minutes later, Alex too was hanging up after a call from security. He made for the bio-containment unit, where he thought he’d find Amanda.

  “Who did you tell about the white alien that oozes acid?” he asked, as soon as he saw her. She straightened up from the samples she was examining, and grinned.

  “That was Jack!” she said. “I can’t believe it really worked.”

  Alex looked down at his data pad. Amanda wondered if she had missed something, Alex looked puzzled. Absent-mindedly, he wandered off without another word.

  ***

  Jack left the bathroom to face a line of security guards in the hallway, with Alex standing behind them. He froze, then looked down.

  “Escort him to the conference room.” Alex’s tone held no anger or malice. If anything, he sounded unsure about something.

  Moments later, large hands pushed Jack into a chair. There were several people in the room, including Renee and her camera, waiting for Alex to start asking questions. Jack glared up at them.

  “I want in,” he said. There was a silence. Alex looked at the guards, to see if they had any idea what Jack was talking about.

  “Come again?”

  Jack retrieved a data stick from a chain around his neck.

  “I got the schematics,” he said, eyes defiant. “I hacked the computer on the way back from Mars. I have all the schematics for the propulsion drive. I could have passed them to the NSA whenever I wanted, but I didn’t. I want to work for UEF.”

  Alex pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “That is not what I was expecting to hear. So you’re a federal agent. You infiltrated our operation, but now you want to work for us, and I am suppose to trust you because you confessed after you got caught.”

  “I joined the NSA because I thought I could make a difference in the world. But the stuff you guys are doing here… this will make the biggest difference humanity has ever known. If I can be here, I know it’s where I should be.”

  “Jack, I saw your hack. The system is designed to alert us. Those files you stole were from a very old work in progress. They bare as much relation to our drive as the Wright Brothers’ plane to a jumbo. You didn’t steal anything. But you did report confidential information to the government.”

  “I had to give them something. It was just a-”

  “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. You’re going to finish the job I assigned you and pick up the materials we need. And then I’ll decide what to do with you.”

  “I can be a big asset to the team. I saved Jorge on the way to Mars. I can help you negotiate the feds.”

  Alex sighed. He tried to imagine being an agent of the government, stumbling on this magical ship and exploring alien worlds. How would he fell about it? Would he too have mixed feelings?

  “As I said, I’ll think about it. Now get going.”

  Jack stood up. “The extraction team is local. It’s on the way. They’ll take the white alien with the acid.”

  “There is no white alien! Amanda invented something different for each team member. You’re a terrible spy!” Suddenly, Alex felt sorry for him. “But thank you for the warning.”

  Jack left the room in a hurry. The head of security, Curtis, turned to Alex.

  “I wouldn’t trust him, sir. Don’t let him back in the compound.”

  “Thank you for your advice, Curtis. I’ve had my suspicions about our friend for some time now, and he’s right. He never did send the plans he stole.”

  Before Curtis could respond, Alex had walked away.

  ***

  The alien recovery team arrived ten minutes later. They literally had vests stenciled with the words ‘Alien Recovery Team’. By that time, the crew had boarded the Destiny, aside from those who had gone offsite to obtain supplies, and they were hovering a couple of feet off the hangar floor. They decided to leave the hangar doors open, having been recently reinstalled since the last ones were blown off. Just inside the hangar entrance sat a large bio-containment box with a label that read: Titan fish inside. We think we killed it. Please take and go away.

  The team stared at each other. They opened the box to check the contents, and took it as they left, just as quickly as they had come.

  The Blackhawk helicopters fled the area. Once they left, the Destiny landed, opened the ramp and closed the hangar doors. Zeek watched Alex closely. Instead of his losing his temper over the fact the government’s second flagrant theft, he looked calm. Eager even.

  Several hours later, Alex got a call from someone named Todd.

  ***

  The week was nerve-wracking for Alex. Most of it was spent obtaining and installing the new battery array for the ship. It took far longer than he wanted, but it would almost triple their capacity.

  Jorge and Cindy turned half of one of the extra storage rooms into the secondary battery power storage bank. The primary array was between the second and third decks. It bothered Alex, strangely, that the secondary bank was now more powerful than the primary. But it wasn’t worth the hassle to make changes on such minutia.

  At the same time, he could no longer ignore the media firestorm surrounding UEF’s exploits. News of two alien discoveries was all anyone could talk about. Some were fearful, and many were suffering a crisis of spiritual beliefs. Others were overjoyed, and thrilled at the prospect of more to come.

  Alex decided to attempt a voice of calm, presenting a clear vision and direction for the future. In a short clip of his latest video he said the following.

  “United Earth Fleet will take humanity to the stars. We will discover new life, we will explore new worlds and we will make existence better for everyone. These life-forms in our own solar-system have always been there. Nothing has changed, except out knowledge of their existence. These discoveries have already showed us much. Our wonderful Martian worm employs a biological compound that completely blocks many forms of radiation. It will prove revolutionary to many industries, and will be shared freely. The lifeform we discovered on Titan was still being studied when it was confiscated by our government…”

  Rather than calming people, the video merely shifted attention back to the UEF. Its popularity skyrocketed, and with it the number of applications they were receiving. Alex had given Timmy the task of designing a second and much larger ship. Fortunately, he would have help from the new ship designer from NASA, Todd Mackie.

  The ship was nearly charged at one hundred percent when the liaison from the White House appeared at the front gate. Alex took that as the cue to leave.

  As before, the Destiny collected and disposed of a container from China before departing for Titan. Once they were on their way, Alex called a meeting in the conference room. Everyone on the ship attended.

  There were new crew members, as well as Jack, who looked alert and eager to please.

  “Thank you for coming. I’d like to personally thank Dr. Todd Mackie for joining us on this mission. He is the first guest on our ship that is not affiliated with the United Earth Fleet. He has already signed the necessary NDAs, though I don’t know why we bother, since Renee tells the public
everything anyway.”

  There were a few chuckles, and Renee’s camera got a shot of several people waving at it.

  “I’d also like to congratulate our newest additions, Wilma Peterson and Brandon Marco, and I’d like to welcome Jerry on his first mission. Why don’t you both introduce yourselves?”

  “I’m Brandon. I worked in a shipyard for the last twelve years, hauling cargo containers.” He stopped, unsure of what else to say. Brandon was big and bald, and looked like he had worked on a farm all his life.

  “My name is Wilma. I am shipbuilder, I’ve spent the last four years at the Norfolk Naval shipyards.” She smiled. “And I’m thrilled to be here.”

  There was a slightly confused silence. Before anyone could question the need for the new additions, Alex lowered the lights and toggled the wall screen to life. He plunged right in.

  “These are images of a downed spaceship on the surface of Titan. For now, we will refer it as Dark Star.”

  The room was silent as a grave. It was the hush of a room where everyone had forgotten how to breath. Alex knew he needed to plow on, quickly. But secretly, he enjoyed casually dropping the bombshell.

  “I saw Dark Star as we left Titan on our last visit. It appears to be approximately three hundred meters long and thirty wide. As you can see here –” Several parts of the image were highlighted to focus the audience’s attention. “The ship is exposed to space in several locations. It appears to have made a low angle decent to its current location. The debris trail extends for several kilometers.

  “Our mission will be to gain access to the ship. Determine potential threats, if any. Extract any and all artifacts and information. Renee, how you choose to capture this moment in history will have lasting effects.

  “Todd, this is why I asked you on this mission, and to bring your equipment. We’ll need detailed scans of the ship if we are going to properly explore it. In addition, I’d like you to create a 3D model of the interior. Jerry and Jack will train you on the EVA-”

  He was interrupted by the sound of someone moaning or giggling. It was Mason, it bothered Alex that he couldn’t tell which. On the other side of the room, there was desperate panting coming from Wilma, who was having a panic attack. Mac was crossing himself and muttering fervent prayers. Others were staring at the screen, white as sheets, or smiling at the edge of their seats.

  Alex felt his face suddenly burned with emotion. He knew this would be hard to accept but he had completely misjudged the reactions he expected to receive from those he knew. It made him feel uneasy and unsure of the crew stability.

  Zeek jumped up in a frozen stance. Alex stared at him.

  “Okay, obviously this is big news and we’ve got some time. Let’s meet back here tomorrow and discuss our plans then.”

  Several people fled the room immediately, others more gradually. Only Amanda, Cindy and Renee seemed unfazed, staying in their seats, although the reporter had an expression of wild, frenzied joy.

  “I can’t believe you were a better judge of people than me,” said Alex to Zeek, who shrugged. Amanda coughed and leaned forward.

  “Listen, just tell me if this is real. If it’s some kind of joke, I will not be impressed.”

  “It’s real.”

  “Huh.” She leaned back.

  “I for one don’t see the problem,” said Cindy. “I’m excited. This is going to be a great opportunity. Do you need me to do anything in the short term, or can I go check that Mason’s OK?”

  “You can go, thanks Cindy.”

  Shortly after Cindy left the room, Jorge came back in.

  “I want to talk to you.”

  Alex was busy putting papers away in a folder. “Sure.”

  Jorge sat down and waited to get Alex’s undivided attention. After Alex had packed his notes and realized Jorge was not leaving the room with him, he sat down in a chair next to him. “What’s up?”

  “You’ve always been kind of arrogant. You take a lot for granted –”

  “What are –”

  “Let me finish!” Jorge took an exaggerated breath and continued. “Fact is, we are kinda used to it. We’ve been with you as long as I can remember. You had the nice house and the best toys, we looked up to you, envied you.”

  Alex leaned back against the seat as he began to drink in Jorge’s words.

  “It’s true that, later, envy may have turned to jealousy. Your attitude didn’t help much. But for some reason we always stuck together. Then you joined the military and things have been different between us.”

  Alex held his breath and stiffened almost unnoticeably.

  “When you first came back, you were depressed. Then Timmy and I came to you with this idea, and you took over like it was your baby. If I’m going to be honest, we needed that. We had been thinking about it for a long time, but never actually got around to building the thing until you came back.”

  Jorge paused a moment, scanning Alex’s face. As if he could somehow stare hard enough and read his mind.

  “Did you ever think that maybe I didn’t want to be involved with this alien ship? How about when my face got plastered on national TV, or my family was wanted by feds? This whole time I thought we were friends. But I didn’t know any better, not until I saw you and Zeek together. Now I realize I was just a guy that was always around you, someone you knew well but didn’t really care about.”

  “Come on, that’s not true.”

  “Really? Let’s do a little experiment. I am going to give you my opinion and we are going to watch you do what you wanna do anyway. Ready?”

  Alex didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t want to be anywhere near that ship. I don’t want to go. I don’t want you to go. It’s dangerous.” Jorge sat back in his seat with a confident smirk.

  He was right, Alex thought to himself. There’s no way I’m not going. He looked down and wracked his brain for a response.

  “It’s okay, Alex. Really, I only said all of that to say this.” Jorge stood up and peered down at him. “I am no longer a poor, neglected neighbor you went to school with. I am now a multi-millionaire, thanks to all of us. If you keep making decisions for me, or you keep looking at me like I am still the poor neighborhood kid, I will do my own disappearing act, like you did to us.”

  His words struck Alex to the core. The truth of it hurt the worst. He was so stricken he thought he could feel his teeth go numb.

  Jorge squinted his eyes just a bit as he left Alex alone in the room.

  ***

  The next day, the crew assembled once more. Mason looked as stoic as ever. Alex had spent time privately with each of the crew. It seemed they were ready. He took a breath.

  “Alright. Today we’re going to talk about our plan for when we reach Titan. I already explained Todd’s role. Gloria. I’m going to need you on the front line. We need to know if there are any biological threats to be concerned about.”

  “I can say with some certainty that there will be.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Even if they were just like us. Biological, humanoid. They evolved on an entirely different planet with any number of viruses or biological agents that could prove deadly to us. Historically, first contact has nearly always been a healthcare disaster.”

  “Are you willing to do it?” Alex asked.

  “Of course,” she said. “It’s my job. I’d like Amanda’s assistance to examine whatever we find.”

  “You’ll have it,” said Amanda. She looked at Gloria. Alex made a mental note at the appearance of a bond forming between them.

  He looked at Jorge. Yesterday’s conversation was heavy on his mind. He pointed to the screen.

  “I am thinking right here might be a good spot to set the ship down. What do you think?”

  Jorge sighed deeply and tilted his head. To Alex, he didn’t seem pleased.

  “That spot should work fine.”

  “Wilma and Brandon, I’d like the two of you to become familiar with the EVA
suits after this meeting. Once we arrive, you’ll be exploring the long debris trail. You can take the battery-powered ATV to help haul whatever you find. You are not authorized to separate.” They looked at each other and nodded.

  “So this is how it should go, unless there are objections. Todd will determine the best entrance into the ship based on design and structural scans. Gloria will enter alone to take air and surface samples for study. Once the results are assessed, we will hopefully get the go ahead for further investigation. Anything unusual or inexplicable will trigger quarantine procedures. The initial boarding team, after Gloria, will be myself, Mason, and Jack, our former NSA agent.”

  “I want to go!” cried Zeek.

  “Let’s keep the first boarding team to a minimum, just in case things go south. I need you in command on the Destiny.” Zeek could tell Alex’s mind was made up. He folded his arms.

  “So… what if we make contact?” Mason spoke up.

  “Looks like it’s been there some time. I am confident nothing is left alive,” said Alex.

  Gloria turned to him. “I have to disagree with you. You’re making assumptions based on life on Earth where there are creatures that live for hundreds of years. On another planet, it could be thousands.”

  “Fair point, Gloria,” said Alex. “All the more reason to be careful.”

  “We don’t have any way to protect ourselves.” Jack looked around. “It’s something we should consider.”

  “On our last layover, I obtained a crate of small arms. They’re in my cabin,” said Alex. He braced for fury, but everyone seemed fine. If anything, some people looked relieved.

  “However, the suits are too bulky to operate the weapons. That means they can only be used on our own ship.”

  There was some reflection, before Mason spoke again. He was back in authoritative mode.

  “Obviously, there is no rulebook for this kind of thing. If we’re careful and don’t rush into anything, we should be fine.”

  Conversation was slow moving on, but in the days to come, talk among the crew became quite energetic, as the possibilities and the terror were both explored.

  ***

  Jack was alone in the kitchen when Alex walked in. The agent was spooning one of the many pre-made meals out of a tub.