The Alien Whisperer Book 2

by Ira Tabankin

  “We have also uncovered intelligence of a strange ship, comprised of two large saucers connected be a large thick central tube. We do not know anything else about these ships except we believe they may be with the new raced which has allied with our enemy. These ships seem to fly in two-ship formations. You have to do everything possible to stop the enemy from conquering the Earth. We may need it sooner than we thought.

  “Remember, if you do not believe the Earthlings can be brought up to the technological level to fight the enemy, then begin your alternative orders. You will have to make this decision within seventy earth years. We know how painful having to implement your alternative orders will be after all of the work and time you have placed in your mission, but you know time isn’t a resource we have.”

  Kalteck shook his head to clear his mind. “AI, what is the status of my ship?”

  “We are three months away from completion.”

  “Have any other ships shown on our system sensors? Anything unusual happening in the sector?”

  “All negative. There haven’t been any ships detected in over six months, which is very unusual since many have come for the minerals left behind in the remains of our mining planetoid or for the helium in the gas giant’s atmosphere.”

  “Have you run the diagnostics on the sensors?”

  “Yes, all have reported normal with no anomalies.”

  “Can the nanites assemble additional sensors?”

  “Yes, however, doing so will delay the updating of your ship. Would you like to make that trade-off?”

  “Yes. The sensors can give us much needed advanced notice of any system incursion in time to respond. I always have my life pod…”

  “If an incursion happens now, how are you going to respond if your ship isn’t flyable? Your life pod isn’t designed to fight. If it gets damaged, you could lose your life, and your mission will fail, along with the Earth. I strongly recommend we have the nanites complete your ship before assembling additional sensors. Or, I could create additional nanites…”

  “What percentage of allowed nanites have you already completed?”

  “I have already exceeded the one hundred percent level. If you want to increase the number of nanites, you will have to use your override code to allow me to produce them.”

  “Then I guess we wait and pray to the Creator of All…”

  A moment of silence passed while the AI continued to flash the message, “Please wait, using all available cycles to investigate occurrence in the outskirts of the system.”

  Kalteck wondered what his AI had picked up, without a working ship there wasn’t much he could do.

  “Kalteck, my sensors have picked up two unknown ships that have entered the outer edge of the system. These two ships match the description of the unknown ones that you were alerted to.”

  “Define unknown.”

  “Unknown is the definition. The ships do not match anything in my updated files. They are using antimatter drives and have exited a wormhole, which is how I picked them up. My sensors were alerted to the energy flash from the opening of the wormhole. Their course will take them above the elliptical line of planets. If they remain on course, they will pass through the system while Earth is on the backside of the system’s star. Their sensors are most likely good enough to have already scanned the system. They’ll know Earth is teeming with life.”

  “Can you determine if they’re armed?”

  “They are still too far outside the system for me to determine their exact weapon’s suites. Since their drives are using advanced antimatter, it’s an excellent bet they have weapons.”

  “Are they transmitting any signals?”

  “Nothing I can pick up. I have already programmed the nanites to speed up their work on completing all of the upgrades in case we have to fight. I have taken it upon myself to increase the production of nanites…”

  “I thought you couldn’t do that without my authorization. What changed?”

  “Your ship’s AI remembered you’d given it the order to increase the production of nanites, so together we are constructing your ship. We have also constructed additional robots to handle some of the large modules being added to your ship. The ship should be completed in time for you to intercept the newcomers before they enter the orbit of the ninth planet.”

  “Excellent. How far over the limit of nanites have the two of you produced?”

  “One thousand and six percent.”

  “By the Creator of All, this is not going to go down easy with the council. Mark it as approved under emergency orders.”

  “Thank you. I do not wish to be terminated.”

  “Don’t mention it. Just make sure my shields and weapons are ready. I have a bad feeling that I’m going to have to use them. I will begin the check out her new systems while you gather all of the data on those new ships you can. Send a message to the closest relay station informing the council of them. Send all the data you’ve collected. They’ll want every bit of data we can collect on them.”

  Six hours later, the AI woke Kalteck, “Your ship is ready, it has been stocked with your favorite foods. Please note that the ship is brand new. It hasn’t even flown yet.”

  “I know. I want to know who these other ships belong to and where they came from and what they want here.”

  “May the Creator of All watch over you.”

  “Thank you. I will make sure you receive all of the data I collect.”

  Kalteck’s modified ship accelerated many times quicker than previously. He told the ship’s AI to take him to meet the unknown ships while using the ship’s laser comms system to broadcast using every known language and basic math to address the newcomers. Kalteck hoped the unknown ships would respond and that he could learn more about them.

  The ship’s AI informed him, “Kalteck, we have received a response. It is visual. Should I display it?”

  “Of course. Have you checked it for any hidden hooks or spies…”?

  “Of course, I have. The communication is clean.” The bulkheads of the command room changed to show the interior of the alien ship. Kalteck was shocked. He looked into the eyes of a Neanderthal, one that looked very similar to the ones in the rows of frost covered tubes inside the Devil’s Tower. This one appeared to be taller, more muscular and was wearing some sort of uniform.

  The Neanderthal said, “Hello, fellow traveler. We recognize your ship as one from the old race which once lived on the fourth planet of this system. We are on an intelligence-gathering mission. We are seeking our race’s home world. Our legends speak of our Gods taking us from a war-torn dying world and bringing us to our new fertile home world. In your travels, have you come across a planet with lifeforms similar to us? We would be forever indebted to you for any information you could share with us.”

  “I haven’t found any, however please let me check my AI’s files.”

  “Thank you. Please don’t be put off by the many weapons our ships have. We came from a war-torn planet. Our God’s words told us never to look for it because the planet would be consumed in eternal war and death. Our race wishes to locate our home so we can bring peace to it. We mean you no harm.”

  “No offense taken. It is always better to be prepared against the unknown.”

  “Thank you for your understanding. Our sensors tell us your ship is also armed.”

  “It is and for the same reason as you are. Space is huge and a being never knows what it will run into. I require a moment to check with AI so it can inform me if it has located any planet with similar life forms to you.” Kalteck paused his communications with the Neanderthals.

  Chapter 11

  Kalteck was shaken to his core. He asked his AI. “Can you confirm from the images if these are really Neanderthals from Earth? Is it possible this race evolved on another planet or are we looking at some who were taken from Earth all those thousands of years ago? How is this possible?”

  “I need more information before I can supply any feedback.
I suggest you reopen communications and see how open they are to a discussion. It would be good to see if they could provide some data on their original home world.”

  “Hello travelers, my name is Kalteck. You are correct, my people were native to the fourth planet of this system. I was homesick and came here to look at what we left behind. We destroyed our own home. I was checking if the planet had begun healing itself or if it was even possible to heal our old home.”

  “Interesting. We know of the people of the fourth planet of this system. We see you are on an intercept course. Why don’t we meet in orbit around the ninth planet?”

  “Agreed, an excellent idea. Intelligence missions can be very lonely.”

  “You are correct, my crew has been together since we left almost fifty rotations of our planet around our star. It will be good to host another and share stories and data.”

  Kalteck’s AI spoke as soon as the conversion with the Neanderthals ended, “Kalteck, their ships are altering course to the ninth planet. I will set a course to bring us in parallel to them. I have never recorded such ships. Two giant thick saucer shapes connected with a central hub. These meet the description home warned us about. I suggest great care be taken in approaching these ships. Each of the saucers was slowly spinning in a different direction. I do not understand why the spin isn’t fast enough to generate gravity, and any race which can build such large ships should have calculated how to generate artificial gravity. Kalteck, most of my scans are being blocked or bounced back to me. I recommend placing my weapons on standby and proceeding with extreme caution.”

  “Agreed, set all weapons on hot standby and shields to automatic. How large are their ships?”

  “They can easily hold over fifty of me inside of them plus their drive, weapons, and crew. Each saucer, one above the other, is the same size, they are, using the General’s measurement scale, two and a half miles across and a mile thick. They are massive ships. I have plotted hundreds of weapons stations on their external hull. These are interspaced with sensor and unknown blisters which cover both of the saucers. Their drive is antimatter-matter annihilation. I’ve scanned their ion trail. The annihilation appears to be more complete combustion than our latest which would appear to mean their drives are more advanced than ours.”

  “How is this possible? If they were taken from Earth then it had to be when we were performing experiments on them. How could they have advanced so quickly?”

  “There is only one answer to your question and it is reflected back at you. The only way they could have advanced as quickly as they have is if they are the same race as was on Earth before you sterilized them and they had help. Just as you are helping the Earthlings. If we make the assumption that these are the same core Neanderthals from Earth, then it’s very clear that someone helped or is still helping them. Whoever their guardian angel is either doesn’t know the truth of their history or has intentionally kept it hidden from them. Remember the warning from home. Our enemy may be behind their development in which case we might be facing very advanced weapons.”

  “Could it be the Emperor’s people?”

  “There is a high probability it was. However, if it were them, the odds and logic say they would have become the foot soldiers in the Emperor’s army. I suggest since they are wearing uniforms that you wear yours too.”

  “While I change into my dreaded dress uniform, execute the course change to bring us to their port side, and keep our weapons on standby. Continue to try to scan them. I want to know everything you can find out about them and their ship. I can’t believe this race evolved on another planet. The only thing I can think of is either one of my people or the Emperor’s stole cells and cloned them. Or they took a handful of living Neanderthals to a new planet. We need to check their DNA against our old files.”

  “Either is possible, we should know very soon. I will ask the AI in the Devil’s Tower lab to send me the DNA files and a copy of the access log so you can see who’s entered the lab.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Should I check with General Yahnig to check their historical records?”

  “No, they don’t have many accurate historical records reaching far into their past. I was horrified to learn their records were kept on parchment and paper. They lost priceless records two thousand years ago when a central library in Egypt burned. Thousands of parchments were lost. Can you believe that more than once, the Earthlings considered anyone who studied science to be cursed or working for their Satan? What I wouldn’t give to be able to go back into the past and save those records, we might have found out how this happened.”

  “Kalteck, there are many human historical records of beings and gods coming down from the sky to ancient societies. Some of these had to be true. Even the images they recorded match our ancient history of the type of garments your people wore when they began a new planetary exploration.”

  “I’m sure many of their stories and paintings are true. Some of those people might have been ours or our enemy. Remember the old files. These Neanderthals were stronger in body and will than the humans which is one of the reasons we sterilized them. We did it so they’d die out, lest they kill the humans. It seems impossible to me that these could be the children of those Neanderthals since we exterminated them. AI, ensure they don’t hack into your memory and discover what we did to other Neanderthals, I don’t want to start a war with them.”

  “Their ship is loaded with weapons, it’s clearly a warship and not an explorer. The ship’s systems are all online. It has been scanning us since they discovered us.”

  “My spikes are tingling and telling me not to trust these creatures…”

  “I can’t speak about your spikes, but I can agree something appears to be off with them. Why would an exploratory mission require two heavily armed ships? We don’t send warships to explore. We and most races send lightly armed ships designed to scan great distances for life forms and minerals. I agree with your concern. If you decide to visit their ships, I suggest you carry your class one weapon and upgrade your normal self-defense box. You’ve become too used to dealing with the primitive humans who can’t harm you. These creatures can, so be very careful.”

  “Good advice, I had planned to upgrade my systems if I accepted their invitation. I’m very curious about them and I’m sure they are about me too. I don’t know what it is, but something about them is really bothering me.”

  @@@@@

  While Kalteck flew to Pluto to meet with the strange Neanderthals, Everett was attempting to cross-reference the hundreds of questions NASA was sending him through the Office of Technology in the Pentagon, which transferred the questions to Everett’s office in Area 51. NASA never knew where their questions went within the Pentagon, only that they were promptly returned answered. The answers helped NASA complete the Gemini missions and begin building the Apollo capsules. Everett had sent a strongly worded warning to NASA, one which was ignored, to not use pure oxygen in the capsules. He warned NASA the risk for an explosion or deadly fire was too great for the small benefit of using pure oxygen.

  Everett also responded to questions, though, not as many from the Soviet space program. He was distressed when he realized the USSR was using most of the rocket technology to design long-range, very large intercontinental nuclear-armed missiles instead of using the technology for space exploration. Everett reviewed his files on the Soviet leader, Leonid Ilych Brezhnev, who had been Nikita Khrushchev’s protege and deputy in the early 1960s. However, in 1964 he joined in the party coup that removed Khrushchev from power and he was named first secretary in Khrushchev’s place.

  As the first secretary, he initially shared power with Alexei Kosygin, who succeeded Khrushchev as premier. However, Brezhnev proved a more forceful leader. He moved Kosygin aside and emerged as the chief figure in Soviet politics.

  Brezhnev had agreed to honor the agreement between America and Kalteck, though he told Everett he didn’t believe there was any alien since Everett had come alo
ne to get his acceptance in writing. “I will honor this agreement Stalin signed for two years. If during those two years this fictional alien doesn’t show himself to me, I will tear up the agreement and assume you Americans tricked the USSR. Thus, I will use my strategic arsenal to destroy you. Am I clear American General Yahnig?”

  “Yes. You know that if you launch, the American military will counterattack. When the dust settles and the air clears, there won’t be anything left of either country. Is this what you really want your legacy to be. The Soviet leader who led the destruction of his country and most of the world?”

  “We will see. We are stronger than you believe. I believe you Americans are too weak to stop me. We have the strength to defeat you, and if I chose to, I can and will destroy you. Remember, you have two years General and not a moment longer.”