Carillo sighed. “Yeah. We’re on our own.”
“By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask you something. When I came in here to get you water earlier, I found tubes like this. What is it?” Shilling said. He held up a tube containing a golden liquid. “More of Morgan’s mai tais?”
“Probably.”
“I didn’t realize he’d brought so much aboard.”
“He didn’t. That’s probably the last of it.”
“Uh, I don’t think so.” Shilling swung the door completely open for Carillo to see. The bottom shelf of the cold storage unit was packed with the tubes.
Carillo frowned and joined Shilling at the refrigerator. There were hundreds of them. She picked one up and examined it more closely. It was a different shape from the pouches NASA had supplied A3I for the mission, and the straw design was different too. It had no bar codes, no identifying marks of any kind.
“This isn’t from our food supply,” she said. “The Suhkai or Nick must have left it when they brought us back to the ship.”
“Is it food…or medicine?” Shilling asked. “Maybe something to make the blue go away.”
Carillo shrugged. “Who knows? We’ll sort it out later. We’ve got bigger issues to deal with right now.”
Holding cell — Suhkai facility
Saturn moon Dione
Ajay rubbed his bare chin and looked out the towering window at the icy crater. Though it looked different than he had expected, he was glad they had made it to Callisto. He couldn’t wait for the others to awake so they could all finally meet Nick Reed and interact with more of the Suhkai.
The only thing he wasn’t thrilled about was meeting them wearing the garment he’d been dressed in when he awoke from the detox regimen. The Cyton assigned to him had called it a “robe,” but it looked and felt more like a muumuu. A little too breezy for his tastes. He’d asked if he could re-board Rorschach to fetch his flight suit but, after several confusing exchanges with the Cyton, Ajay learned that Rorschach was still docked with Nick’s Ethel in orbit — and that a smaller vessel had carried him and the others down here to the surface. So it was the muumuu or nothing.
Ajay turned from the window and walked across the stone floor. On his bare feet, the surface was surprisingly warm. He knew that outside it was two hundred degrees below zero, but inside his quarters the temperature was as pleasant as his dorm room on Mayaguana. And the rations were okay too. A Suhkai had laid out food and drink earlier on the table beside his bed. None of it was “Earth food,” but the Cyton indicated that Nick had chosen the fare, so presumably this was the most Earth-like food they had. It included a squishy, gray, bread-like loaf that Ajay had initially viewed with skepticism, but which turned out to be both flavorful and filling. He wasn’t as enamored with the golden gelatin, which tasted like metal. But it was the berries, despite their unusual shapes and colors, that he liked best. He had devoured most of them earlier and scooped up the last of them now.
The door to his room slid open and Ajay’s Cyton floated in, accompanied by a Suhkai. Ajay waved at both of them, his mouth full of berries. The Suhkai waved back, but said nothing, which was fine with Ajay. The last time one of them had spoken to him, the screeching whale song had almost deafened him.
Ajay looked at the Cyton and thought, “Time for more medicine?”
The Cyton flickered. “Yes. Lie down.”
For the third time since his arrival at the Suhkai facility, Ajay lay on the bed and closed his eyes. The medicine, the Cyton had explained, was necessary to help him adapt to the atmosphere in the spaceport. While the injections didn’t hurt, they did put him to sleep, and when he awoke, his muscles ached. But those were small inconveniences. He wanted to explore the spaceport and was willing to endure whatever side effects were necessary.
The Suhkai lifted the sleeve of Ajay’s robe and pressed the nozzle of the injector against his bicep.
Seconds later, Ajay was out cold.
The sedative was so effective, Ajay was oblivious to the Suhkai lifting him from the bed and carrying him from the room. He didn’t see or feel the lizard-man loading him onto a floating gurney and transporting him to a distant part of the facility, where several Suhkai and Cytons had prepared a table for his arrival.
And he didn’t see Kiera…unconscious on the table next to his.
Suhkai ready room – Suhkai spacecraft Ethel
In orbit around Saturn moon Dione
The chamber in which Morgan met with Nick, Haula, Zoor and Maggie reminded him of Rorschach’s ready room — with two rather significant exceptions.
The first one, Morgan had expected: the table and chairs were Suhkai-sized. Haula was kind enough to lift and place Morgan on a chair that, though far too big, had at least been modified to accommodate a human. In other words, he was placed on a booster seat. Nick sat across the table from him, similarly boostered, and Haula and Zoor sat at opposite ends of the oval’s rounded peaks. Maggie hovered over the table.
The other difference from the Rorschach ready room was the large window on the wall behind Haula. It looked upon an icy moon. In the distance, Saturn shone like a beacon in the darkness of space.
Morgan frowned at Nick. “You want to explain why I can see Saturn? We were in the asteroid belt before coming aboard.”
“Precautionary measure,” Nick said.
“Precaution against what?”
Haula answered through Maggie. “Zikzaws. They will not venture this far out now. There are few places to hide, and not enough sustenance.”
“Zick-what?”
“Zikzaws,” Nick said. “Creatures like the one your ship’s magnetic trail attracted in the asteroid belt. Nasty bastards. You’re lucky the Cyton patrol homed in on you before the Zikzaw did, otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to save you.”
Morgan thought back to the BLUMOs battling with the pink cloud. “What are the Zikzaws?”
“Best way I can describe them — massive electromagnetic snakes,” Nick said. “To the Suhkai, they’re like vultures, though. They’ll consume any potent source of magnetized radiation, but it’s their love of metallic hydrogen that makes them tenacious adversaries to the Suhkai.”
Nick explained the Suhkai had mined Jupiter and Saturn for thousands of years, extracting both liquid metallic hydrogen and liquid metallic helium from their atmospheres. They refined the two superconducting materials into fuel that powered their ships’ propulsion systems.
“So the facility on Callisto isn’t a spaceport, it’s a refinery,” Morgan said.
“Correct.” Nick pointed to the window. “There’s another one down below on Dione.”
Morgan recalled Mayaguana’s description of the Saturn flashes and how the trails had disappeared behind Dione. The image of the ice castle transmitted by the Callisto queen popped into his mind.
Nick continued. “Anyway, the Zikzaws used to hover around Jupiter and Saturn, just waiting for one of the Suhkai cruisers to come up out of the atmosphere so they could envelop the ship and absorb their mining booty.”
“They became too troublesome,” Zoor communicated through Maggie. “Our people left to work at extraction centers in other solar systems free of the Zikzaw scourge.”
“But you left ships on Callisto,” Morgan said. “And a hive of Cytons. Why?”
Haula answered. “The planets you call Jupiter and Saturn are still very rich sources of raw materials.”
“Ah. So you didn’t abandon the refineries — you just mothballed them.”
“What is mothball?” Haula asked.
“Sorry. I mean you closed them for a period of time, expecting you might return and open them again.”
“That’s right,” Nick said.
“Is that what’s happening now? You’re returning to reopen the facilities?”
Nick looked to Haula and then Zoor. In the middle of the table, Maggie flickered at an intense rate, but Morgan received no thoughts from her. Finally the flashes abated, and Nick spoke.
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br /> “They came back for me, Christine and Avery,” he said. “The Suhkai had no intention of returning here for their own purposes and, honestly, they hoped they could come and go without being noticed. Unfortunately, y’all kind of messed up that plan. Actually, it’s partially my fault. I told them there was no way anyone from Earth would ever find Cetus Prime.”
Early in Ethel’s return to Earth’s solar system, Nick explained, the Suhkai had messaged ahead to the Cytons on Callisto and Dione to alert them they would be visiting the facilities, and they asked them to prepare for their arrival. It was during the clearing of ice covering the Nuada crater that the Cytons melted away the ice entombing Cetus Prime.
“Honest to God, I didn’t remember leaving the EVA comms on when I shut her up. It was damn clever of your Ajay to pick up the signals. When we learned y’all found the ship…and the Suhkai refinery…that kind of shocked us all. Still, we thought we were in good shape to beat you to Callisto. Then you go ahead and move up your launch date. Really lit a fire under our butts to track you down and slow you down.”
As Morgan processed Nick’s last comment, he felt his ire spike. Rorschach’s harrowing encounters with the BLUMOs were intentional efforts to delay them from reaching Callisto?
“You realize those Cytons damn near killed two of my crew,” he snapped. “Why didn’t you just radio and ask us to hold off? If you knew it was me at the helm, you know I would have respected your wishes.”
“Couldn’t,” Nick said. “Didn’t want anyone on Earth to know I was aboard.”
“Why?”
“It would only have caused trouble.”
“Why would you think that? The world will be ecstatic to learn you’re alive.”
“Come on, Paul. Look at me, for Christ’s sake. I’m dying from the long-term effects of radiation exposure. There’s nothing the Suhkai or Cytons can do about it anymore. I’m too far gone. And if they can’t help me, you can be sure no one on Earth can. What good would it do me to ride in on a spaceship, step off and drop dead on the tarmac? Besides, I never intended to stay. We’re just dropping in long enough to pick up what we need.”
“Wait — are you telling me you left Avery and Christine on Tula eleven years ago just to come back to Earth for supplies? And then what? Turn around and spend another eleven years flying back to them?”
“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”
“What kind of supplies would be so important that you’d devote twenty-plus years of your life to pick up?”
A thought from Haula entered Morgan’s mind. “Humans.”
Morgan turned to the Suhkai male. “Excuse me?”
“Avery, Christine and Nick desired to start a human colony on Tula. Alone, they could not accomplish this task. They needed more humans to join them.”
At times Morgan could be slow on the uptake, but he connected the dots real fast this time. Nick didn’t want anyone to know he was coming back…because he intended to kidnap humans to seed their colony on Tula.
Now the size of the Ethel made sense. It was a freaking ark!
“You’re insane, Nick,” he said. “You can’t just roll up, snatch a bunch of people and fly off. I can’t believe any of you would even consider it.”
“It’s the only way,” Nick said.
“Bull. I am certain thousands of people, tens of thousands, would jump at the opportunity if you offered.”
Nick laughed. “Really? Imagine the scene, Paul. We land on Earth. I go before the media and announce I’m seeking two hundred people, two-thirds women, to join us on Tula. Primary qualifications needed? Young and fertile. Two hundred people whose primary task for most of the rest of their lives will be to breed…and breed…and breed. Starting during the eleven-year trip, continuing once we land on Tula, and on and on until they can’t breed anymore.
“I say to the world: ‘I need the makeup of the colonists to come from multiple generations, ranging in age from five to thirty-five.’ Who’s going to offer up their five-year-old daughter for a lifetime of breeding?
“I tell those who want to volunteer: ‘Hey, once we leave Earth, there’s no turning back. You’ll never see Earth again. You don’t like Tula when we get there, too effing bad. Oh, and a good twenty percent of you will probably die during the journey, and another twenty percent won’t survive more than a year on Tula.’ No one’s signing up for that kind of deal.”
“Do you hear yourself talking?” Morgan said. “You think enslavement is a better solution?”
A thought from Zoor invaded his thoughts. “A small price to pay to extend the reach of humans, to create a new civilization.”
“Small in whose mind, sister?” Morgan said. “To the slaves, it won’t seem small. Or to the families of those you snatch.”
“Skywalker, we have colonized planets, moons and asteroids in many solar systems throughout the galaxy. It is a grueling, unforgiving process to establish a foothold on a new world. In order for a colony to survive, the first several generations must be committed to growing the population. The first generation is the most critical. They must do their part, whether they want to or not.”
The last of the thoughts from Haula sickened Morgan. He turned to Nick. “Avery and Christine are on board with this?”
Nick nodded.
“The radiation sickness has scrambled your brain, my man.” Morgan cupped his bald head in his hands. “This is lunacy. You can’t do this.”
“You’re right about that last part, Paul,” Nick said. “I can’t do it. I’m not going to live long enough to see it through. That’s why you’re going to help — for Avery, Christine and me.”
“Like hell I am,” Morgan said. “I might not be able to stop you, but I damn sure ain’t helping you.”
Haula projected a thought. “You are angry. Nick told us you would be. It would be wise for you to return to your chamber and reflect on the implications of refusing to assist Nick.”
Morgan narrowed his eyes at Nick. “And what ‘implications’ might those be?”
“If you agree to help, we will release your crew and provide them safe passage back to Earth. After we have collected the new colonists.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then your ship and crew will disappear just like Cetus Prime did. Only this time, there won’t be anything left of your ship for anyone to find.”
“You’ll kill us. Is that it?”
“Not all of you. Ajay and Kiera will take their places as breeders in our colony.”
Morgan launched himself across the table. He managed to wrap his hands around Nick’s throat before Maggie shocked him into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER 20: DESPERATE MEASURES
Crew ready room — the Rorschach Explorer
Drifting at all-stop in the asteroid belt
September 11, 2019
The table of the ready room was piled with CubeSat components. Hands on her hips, Julia Carillo leaned over and assessed the collection.
“So, is there enough here? Can we do it?” Shilling asked.
She smiled and nodded. “It won’t be pretty, but we’ll be able to fly.”
Take that, Rawlings, you old fart! Though she would never have admitted it, the aged fellow astronaut’s quip about her post-NASA career had hurt her just as much as his barb aimed at Kiera. She spends her days teaching teenagers to build toy spaceships.
Those “teenagers” were actually graduate aerospace engineering students at the University of Virginia, where Carillo led the department’s advanced design research initiatives. It was a role that had allowed her to bring brilliant young minds together with those from some of the most innovative aerospace companies in the world. And she did, in fact, assist the students in the construction of conceptual designs, ranging from flight control to propulsion to instrumentation. Some might have looked like toys to Rawlings, but many of them pushed the boundaries of current standards in the industry.
Moreover, Carillo had soaked up the cleverness of her student
s. They were experts in turning less into more. Of all people, Carillo thought, fellow astronauts like Rawlings and Nick Reed should have appreciated that stranded astronauts wouldn’t just curl up and suck their thumbs.
As she began sorting through the parts, she looked up at Shilling. “I love it when people underestimate me.”
Rorschach’s engine and reaction control systems were damaged beyond repair…as was the radio equipment in the ship’s communication center. The drone-landers were also destroyed. But in their haste to render the ship powerless and voiceless, the Suhkai and Nick had overlooked the subtle in favor of demolishing the obvious.
Exhibit number one: while they destroyed all the remaining antennas and instrument receptacles on the damaged Recon-3 docked in the cargo bay, they didn’t touch its VLF engine or thrusters. Carillo guessed the wrecking crew had believed they had already scuttled the battered probe…which would have been true, were it not for the parts laid out on the table. They hadn’t bothered to open the storage bins beside the two docking platforms, and those bins housed the Shield replacement parts the crew had retrieved from Cargo-2. Among them were new batteries, UHF radio transmitter-receivers and UHF antennas.
Miss number two: the brute squad had ignored the cargo bay’s docking platform controls stowed behind a wall panel. They likely believed the controls were useless with Recon-3 out of commission but, as long as Carillo could supply the system with power by switching around batteries in the ship’s battery closet, she could use the docking system’s embedded short-range UHF radio equipment to control Recon-3’s engines and thrusters. The same was true for Cargo-4, docked on the starboard side of the ship.
And that was miss number three. The aliens hadn’t realized that Cargo-4, like any probe in close proximity to Rorschach, could be controlled from the cargo bay docking system. Or, if they had realized it, they were simply confident they’d inflicted enough damage on Cargo-4 to eliminate any possibility of using it. They’d opened the floor panel concealing the probe’s computer brain and battery and had removed and destroyed all the components. They’d probably destroyed the supply vessel’s antennas too, but that was okay. The duplicate parts intended for the second Recon-to-Shield refit were compatible replacements for those removed from Cargo-4.
Magwave (The Rorschach Explorer Missions Book 2) Page 27
