Carillo removed the headphones. “Wow. That’s an earful.”
As Kiera removed hers, she said, “I take it you went back in time and listened for the quiver in earlier recordings.”
“Yup.”
“And you detected it.”
“Right again.”
Carillo smiled. “And you identified when it first appeared, and our exact position when that occurred.”
“You guys keep going, I’ll stop you if you get off track,” Ajay said, leaning back in his seat and propping his feet on the console.
Kiera closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples. Then she gasped and her eyes shot open. “There’s a large asteroid near where the quiver started, isn’t there?”
“Don’t know,” Ajay said. “Outside of my wheelhouse. But it wouldn’t surprise me.”
“The infrared data,” Carillo said to Kiera. “How wide a field did the Recons scan?”
“Pretty damn wide. Let’s pull up the files and find out.” She high-fived Ajay, then planted a kiss on his forehead. “Elroy to the rescue once again!”
Ajay blushed as she slid into a seat at the bank of spectrometer displays next to him. He gave her the date and time he first detected the quiver, and she searched the scan files for the period in question. There was a separate file for each of the six Recons, meaning they would have to review each individually.
“Can we divvy it up?” Carillo asked. “There’s another spectrometer console in the lab compartment.”
“Yeah, absolutely,” Kiera said. While the two women began to discuss their plan to divide up the recordings, Ajay cleared his throat. “Um, I think I can simplify your task.”
The women turned their heads in unison.
He smiled. “I think I know the direction they came from.”
Carillo’s mouth fell open. “You can tell that from the audio?”
Ajay shook his head.
“Then how?” Kiera asked.
“I went through the video cam files of the Shields.”
“What? Why the Shields?”
“It was a hunch, really. The first time the quiver shows up on the audio, there was more than one quiver tone. One was much louder than the other. It was as loud as the chirps from our own colony.”
“Okay…so?” Carillo said.
“Our colony has been flying behind Rorschach, just outside our ion-shield, so if some of the quivers were just as loud as the chirps, to me that meant some of the BLUMOs must have been very close to us…as close as our UMOs. So I wondered whether the louder quiver might be a scout calling back to the BLUMO colony. A ‘Hey, look what I found!’ kind of thing. Like I said, it was just a hunch.”
Kiera leaned forward, her eyes widening. “Oh my God. You saw a scout party on the video. Just like the one that hit our CubeSats in the belt last year.”
“Port side, Shield-3.” Ajay smiled.
Carillo turned to leave. “I’ll go pull up the video file from the lab. Kiera, you handle the infrared files.”
“Hold up,” Ajay said. “No need, I’ve already queued up the video files.” He stood and stepped aside from the console.
“Files? As in plural?” Kiera asked.
“Uh-huh. They stalked us for almost twenty hours before they attacked.”
Ajay, Kiera and Carillo arrived at the ready room to find the door closed and the fireworks between Morgan and Shilling still going.
Ajay turned to his shipmates. “Are you sure we should interrupt them?”
“This can’t wait.” Carillo stepped forward and pounded on the door.
“What?” Morgan yelled from inside.
“We need to talk with you. Both of you,” Carillo said.
“Not now, Julia.”
Carillo pushed open the door to find the two red-faced men glaring at each other from opposite sides of the table. She motioned for Ajay and Kiera to follow her into the room.
“I said not now,” Morgan said.
Carillo took a seat. Ajay and Kiera joined her at the table.
“It’s important,” Carillo said. “It’s about the BLUMO attack.”
“I don’t care if—”
“Ajay, set up the display,” Carillo said.
Ajay opened the laptop he’d brought from the comms center. While he activated the wireless connection with the flat screen monitor on the wall behind Morgan, Carillo kicked off their presentation.
“We have something to show you that puts a whole new spin on the attack. Ajay, it was your discovery. You do the honors.”
As Ajay opened his mouth to begin the briefing, Morgan turned to Shilling. “This conversation isn’t finished, Doctor. Understood?”
“Good,” Shilling said. “Because I have plenty left to say.”
Just as it appeared their fight might erupt anew, Carillo tugged on Morgan’s arm. “We were stalked, Paul.”
“What?”
“The BLUMOs stalked us before they attacked. Go ahead, Ajay. Show them.”
Ajay led Morgan and Shilling through the audio and video data. Here and there, Kiera and Carillo stopped him to add their perspectives. As Morgan’s and Shilling’s ire subsided, the two men took their seats at the table and focused their attention on the latest twist in UMO behavior.
When the briefing concluded, Morgan shook his head. “Unbelievable. Every time we think we’ve figured UMOs out, they remind us how ignorant we are.”
“Agreed,” Carillo said. She turned to Shilling. “Have you seen this kind of predatory behavior before?”
“With my UMOs? No. What you recorded is beyond honeybee behavior, beyond swarm and flock behavior in general. It’s closer to pack hunting. Tracking us, biding their time, waiting for conditions that favored their attack.”
“Pack hunting? You mean the BLUMOS are like wolves?” Ajay asked.
Shilling nodded. “In a way, it’s an understandable adaptation given the scarcity of ions in the asteroid belt.”
“Explain what you mean,” Morgan said.
“Pack hunting is most prevalent in harsh environments. Environments where it’s hard for individual animals to find food. Safaris, deserts, tundras. Those kinds of places.”
“I don’t understand,” said Ajay. “If there isn’t enough food for them, why would the BLUMOs choose to live here? Why wouldn’t they go toward Jupiter? Set up their colony in its huge magnetic field?”
“That’s a good question — it does seem like a strange choice. But then again we have no proof that UMOs can live in Jupiter’s field. It might be too strong. It might be inhospitable for them. We know they don’t care for X-rays, and Jupiter’s field at the poles is X-ray dense.”
“Oh, come on,” said Kiera. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am being serious. They’ve never been observed around Jupiter. Nor, if I recall correctly, did your CubeSats encounter them in orbit around Callisto.”
“There’s a gigantic hive in the Calliston spaceport,” Kiera countered. “If they’re not feeding in Jupiter’s field, where are they getting their food, Einstein?”
Shilling clenched his jaw. Before responding to Kiera, he glared at Morgan. “Tell me, Dr. Walsh, have you seen this gigantic hive?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know it exists?”
“Cetus Prime. The crew. They said—”
“That was twenty-four years ago, Doctor.”
“Fine, you want more recent proof? The NASA pictures of them de-icing the spaceport.”
Shilling let out a short laugh. “That’s your proof? Rorschach’s colony is, or was, larger than the clusters of UMOs in those pictures. Face it, Doctor, your only proof comes from the words of people who’ve probably been dead for more than two decades.”
“All right, Bob. That’s enough,” Morgan said.
“No, it’s not, Colonel,” Shilling said. “If there’s a pack of BLUMOs hunting us, this mission is definitely over.” He pushed out of his seat and turned to leave the room.
“Stay here, Bob.
We’re not done,” Morgan said.
The scientist kept walking.
Morgan roared, “Get back here, Shilling! Right now!”
Shilling paused and turned back toward Morgan. Though his face was red and his stance was rigid, his tone was calm. “Look, Colonel, based on what’s in those videos, those little blue bastards are coming back, and we don’t have a prayer of stopping them. We’ve got one choice and one choice only. Abort. Now, I’m going to the lab to write up a report to send to Mayaguana saying just that. You can try to stop me if you want, but if you value the lives of this crew more than those of the Cetus Prime crew, you won’t.”
Ajay raised a timid hand. “Excuse me, Dr. Shilling. How do you know they’re coming back?”
“Simple. Pack hunters don’t give up easily.”
Morgan rose to follow Shilling, but he was dissuaded by Carillo. “Let him cool down, Paul. You’re not going to make any headway until he does. Until you do, too.”
Morgan halted in the doorway and bowed his head. “You’re right.”
Carillo turned to Kiera. “What’s the ETA for the Cargos now?”
Kiera glanced at her smartwatch. “I’d say a little over thirty minutes.”
“All right, then let’s get a move on. The quicker we dock, unload and retrofit, the faster we can get out of here.”
“And go where?” Ajay asked. “Back home?”
“I’m not ready to give up. Not yet,” Carillo said. “Are you?”
“No way.”
“How about you, Kiera?”
She shook her head. “No thumb-sucker here.”
“Roger that.” Carillo looked to Morgan. “What do you say, Skywalker? Are we gonna do this or what?”
Morgan raised his head to see the others staring at him. “You all go ahead. I’ll catch up with you in a few minutes. I need to take care of something on the flight deck.”
Laboratory compartment — the Rorschach Explorer
Shilling was apparently so engrossed in composing his pack-hunting report, he didn’t notice Morgan enter the lab until the commander closed and locked the door. He turned at the sound.
“Ah, Colonel. So you’ve come to stop me. Is that it? How are you planning to do it? Break my fingers so I can’t type?”
Morgan smiled. “No, that’s not my style.”
“What’s it going to be, then?” Shilling stood and slashed a make-believe sword through the air. “You have lightsabers in your quarters for just such an occasion?”
“No, I don’t have any lightsabers.” Morgan laughed and stepped closer.
Shilling balled his fists. “I’m warning you, Colonel. I will defend myself.”
“Relax, Bob. I haven’t come to fight you. Just to talk.”
“What’s the point?” Shilling said, unclenching his hands. “We’ll just wrap around the same wheel again.”
“Please, sit. This will just take a minute.”
Morgan’s matter-of-fact tone seemed to puzzle Shilling. He squinted as if trying to read his commander’s thoughts. “I prefer to stand.”
“Fine, have it your way.” Morgan sat down at the console station next to Shilling’s and looked up at him. “I’ve had some time to think about some of the things you said earlier. About taking unnecessary risks. About my motivation for leading this mission. I appreciate your candor. It was a good reality check, and it’s good to know where you’re coming from.”
Shilling crossed his arms over his chest. “You almost sound sincere.”
“I am sincere. Just like I’m sincere about this. It’s one thing if you challenge me behind closed doors, Bob. It’s another if you defy my direct orders, especially if you do it in front of the crew.”
Shilling sat down and glared at Morgan. “I’m trying to save our lives, Colonel. If it means stepping on your authority, so be it.”
Morgan shook his head and let out a long sigh. “I’m disappointed to hear you say that, Bob. I really am.” He stood and turned to leave.
“That’s it?” Shilling said.
“Yeah, that’s it.’
“What about my report?”
“What about it?”
“I wasn’t joking, Colonel. I will send it to Mayaguana.”
“Let me know when it’s ready to send. I’ll be in the storage room helping to unload the Cargos.”
Storage room — the Rorschach Explorer
The first Cargo to approach Rorschach was Cargo-2. Kiera activated its auto-docking system from the auxiliary flight control console in the engine room, and the system guided the probe to the rear starboard airlock. As soon as it was docked and pressurized, Kiera and the other crewmembers, sans Shilling, lined up in a chain gang to unload its storage containers. Carillo, inside the Cargo, pulled containers off shelves and passed them to Ajay, who ducked through the airlock and into Rorschach’s primary storage room. There he relayed the containers to Morgan, who carried them into the main corridor and lined them up against the wall for Kiera to inspect. She moved between the containers and removed the necessary replacement parts to convert the two Recons into Shields.
In all, it took them forty-five minutes to clear Cargo-2, pull the needed parts and stow the leftover supplies in the storage room.
When the job was finished, Kiera said, “On to Cargo-4. Or should we skip it for now?”
“Do we need anything from Cargo-4 for the retrofit?” Morgan asked.
“No, but it does have circuit board replacements we need for Rorschach.”
“All right. Go ahead and dock it, but let’s not waste time unloading it now.”
“Roger that.”
Kiera saluted and headed for the engine room directly across the corridor to decouple Cargo-2 and maneuver Cargo-4 into position for its turn to dock. Morgan followed her and added, “Oh, and when you’re done, send a message to Maya and let them know we’re about to start prepping for Julia’s EVA.”
As he stepped back in the corridor, he found himself face to face with a livid Shilling. “You disabled my comms ID!”
“Hold on, Bob,” Morgan said. He turned to Ajay, who was standing nearby. “Ajay, secure the storage room airlock, then help Julia move the Shield parts to the cargo bay.”
“Roger dodger.” Ajay disappeared into the storage room, leaving Morgan in the corridor with Shilling and Carillo.
The commander turned to face Carillo, but Shilling stepped between them. “I demand you turn my ID back on.”
Morgan leaned his head around Shilling to address Carillo. “I’ll see you in the cargo bay airlock in about half an hour.”
Carillo bit her lower lip and left the two men alone.
“Now, what was it you were saying, Bob?” Morgan asked.
“You know very well what I was saying.”
“Oh, right. The comms ID. Yeah, sorry about that, Bob. No can do.”
“Is this some kind of game to you, Colonel? Our lives are at stake.”
Morgan shook his head. “Nope. No game. Now, let’s go take a look at the report you’ve written before I send it off to Maya.”
Dr. Dante Fulton’s office
A3rospace Industries Command and Control Center
Mayaguana Island, The Bahamas
End game.
Dante scribbled the two words on the cover page of Shilling’s “pack-hunter” report. An hour ago, Morgan had transmitted the report with a short preface:
In light of the new information highlighted in the attached report, there may be a stronger case for aborting the mission. However, firmly suggest seeking second opinion of Dr. Shilling’s conclusions before ordering a scrub. Concerned his personal preference for aborting shaded his conclusions. Until otherwise instructed, we are proceeding with the CubeSat refits.
Dante picked up the printout and left his office to meet with Amato. If Shilling’s assessment was correct, it was just a matter of time before the crew confronted the BLUMO colony again. While Dante gave weight to Morgan’s perception of Shilling’s bias, he found it dif
ficult to discount two larger points raised in the report.
First, Shilling suggested it was likely that other “packs” lurked in the asteroid belt. As basis for this claim, the researcher cited the high degree of hunting skill evident in the BLUMOs’ stalking of Rorschach’s fleet. On Earth, he wrote, such well-developed pack skills are honed through competition over prey. Shilling also pointed out that Amato’s CubeSats had encountered a scouting party from a different UMO colony in the asteroid belt the previous year. We have two instances of attacks on VLF-powered vessels with X-band radios and active spectrometers traversing two different swaths of the asteroid belt. Even if Rorschach successfully passes through BLUMO territory with no further losses, I believe there is a possibility we may encounter other UMO packs.
The second point that concerned Dante had to do with the UMOs residing on Callisto. If the ship made it all the way to the Jovian moon, Shilling asked, would the aliens there consider Rorschach friend or foe? In our haste to explore, we have, I’m afraid, assumed too much and proved too little about these alien beings. I am as guilty of this as anyone. In light of the varying behaviors we’ve now observed, how can we assume the UMOs on Callisto will welcome our arrival instead of viewing us as territorial threats — or as prey?
This very thought had been bouncing around Dante’s head for the last ten months. Cetus Prime had landed inside the Nuada crater with the help of UMOs, but it was unclear whether the assistance had been provided by the same UMOs that had escorted the ship from Mars to Callisto, or whether the UMOs from the alien spaceport had played a role. The crew logs extracted from Cetus’ computers shed no light on the mystery.
Those same crew logs, however, made it clear that Cetus’ flight engineer, Nick Reed, had developed an ability to communicate with the Mars UMOs after he was electrocuted by the creatures during a spacewalk. He described the communication interaction in one log entry.
Magwave (The Rorschach Explorer Missions Book 2) Page 9
