by Blair Wylie
“And the aliens have given it all to us! Chamberlain especially should find this place truly fascinating.
“As for our status, well, we’ve got things pretty well ready for the next operational phase. We just need the ‘go’ order from New Earth to launch the twelve modules that will self-assemble into our six ‘sentinel’ spacecraft. We held off on that deployment operation as part of the secrecy ‘conspiracy’, if that’s the right word for it.
“And the modules for another eighteen alien spacecraft all check out okay! That in itself is astounding, considering how incredibly old everything is around here! Our alien allies really knew how to build things to last, and how to protect things from radiation, et cetera.”
“I think we’ll get the ‘go’ order to construct the six sentinels immediately, or at least after the government issues a few well-crafted press releases,” offered Weismann. “And I know you both are about to be promoted again, Colonel Knudsen to Brigadier General and Major Maldonado to Lieutenant Colonel. Actually, I heard the promotions will be retro-active to the day I left you both here. So, you’ve earned a bigger wad of back-pay than you might have expected.
“I also think they will want you back on New Earth right away, for face-to-face debriefings. But, is that possible? I mean, the leaving soon part? And if it is, have you thought about a handover process? And how long that might take us to accomplish?”
Knudsen looked at Maldonado, and nodded for her to answer. So in a clear, strong voice she said, “Yes, we have given that a lot of thought.
“There are some domestic things we should run through with you all right away, like how to prepare food properly, so you won’t poison yourselves. And how to manage waste disposal. Everything is automatically and safely recycled here, including human waste.
“We’ve made a lot of e-notes for you, but we probably should do some structured, hands-on mentoring to help you get properly familiar with the base, and the myriad of strange things inside of it. It took us a year to get where we are, and we know we have really only just scratched the surface!
“Ultimately, deciding when we should leave will probably be your call.
“As for promotions, Colonel Nils Knudsen is a career military man, but I’m a civilian at heart. I want to get back to my academic career, but maybe stay on as a reservist. We’ll see, I guess.
“That’s because we also have an, ah, an announcement to make. We want to get married, right away…” She trailed off as her eyes met Knudsen’s. She looked embarrassed by the thought that she may have revealed far too much personal information in their military setting.
But Knudsen laughed with joy, and said, “Well, we had to tell them our news some time, Francis! We made no reference, of course, to our currently common law marriage in our report, but I’m sure there has been some speculation back on New Earth by the few people in the know?
“No matter though. It is strictly our business. And as the aliens liked to say to us, ‘We will not elaborate’. Just know that there has never been any conflict of interest up here.”
Weismann smiled and said, “Yes, it is entirely your own business, of course! But I know for a fact that the few people ‘in the know’ back on New Earth were hoping it would work out that way for you two! Your fan support includes General Kepler, remarkably.
“And strictly speaking, you have both officially been ‘presumed lost’ until just a few minutes ago, just like me, of course. I am really looking forward to having a conventional family relationship again!”
Knudsen nodded with sympathy and understanding at Weismann, and said quietly, “Yes, we figured it has not been easy for you either, Asher. Thanks again, by the way, for doing what you did. Now, what can you tell us about it?”
Weismann looked sad for a moment, but he caught himself, and forced a smile. Then he said quietly, “I guess it was not that bad, really. They decided to risk bringing a supply sergeant on the base into the inner-circle security loop. His name is Staff Sergeant Jefferson, a really nice guy with lots of useful, discrete, logistical connections. He secretly went to work converting my secure holding area on the base into a two-bedroom apartment.
“Then the security people brought my wife and two kids over to live with me. The surprise reunion was pretty dramatic, as you can probably imagine, with lots of tears and laughter at the same time.
“Fortunately, Sergeant Jefferson’s daughter, Jill, has always been out favourite babysitter, and she was brought into the top-security loop, too.
“Our kids, a boy and a girl, Sam and Trish, are ten and eight, respectively. My wife, Francine, had been working as a high school English teacher. But she adjusted easily to our new, rather surreal family situation, and multi-tasked as mom, personal teacher and tutor to our kids.
“The two Jefferson’s, father and daughter, really helped us out, a lot, by fetching the stuff we needed, and helping to keep up our morale.
“I had the easy bit, of course, being able to leap right back on the career horse again, so to speak, and start secretly training for this ‘rescue’ mission with Ibrahimović and Chamberlain.
“I also was actively involved with the top-secret, reverse-engineering study of the lifting-body spacecraft that took me back to New Earth. We have been making good progress, but we are still a long way away from understanding how the artificial intelligence system in that weird, highly complex machine works.
“But we had a reasonably normal family life in the evenings. And now things can get back to normal again for my wife and kids. I’ll be away again for a while, of course. But that’s happened before. And whenever they have been asked about what I do exactly, they have always just replied that it was ‘top-secret stuff’ and explained they could not talk about any of it. If their friends won’t accept that, well, they immediately become ex-friends. That’s just the way it has to be in our line of service. And I know you guys know all about that harsh reality, too.”
Maldonado was crying now. Weismann’s mostly heart-warming story had brought back many repressed memories of her own family and friends back on New Earth. She remembered she had been terribly lonely at times, even while her romantic relationship with Knudsen had blossomed into the real deal. She abruptly leaned over to give Weismann a hug. Weismann was caught completely off guard by the spontaneous gesture, but after a moment, he heartily returned the hug. Knudsen just shook Weismann’s hand again without trying to say anything.
Then a few long moments elapsed as the five astronauts struggled with their own thoughts about home, and friends and family.
Then Knudsen suddenly put his headset back on and growled, “Okay, I’m now the yet-to-be-confirmed Base Commander again everyone, until they make me a desk-jockey, a New Earth General, or whatever they’re going to do with me. So, let’s get ready to upload a couple of important files to our friends and colleagues down in First Town Mission Control!”
18
Patricia Hernandez was sitting behind her massive, ornate, antique desk, and uncharacteristically, she was daydreaming.
It had been another long, frustrating day. Unknowingly, she was an incurable perfectionist trying to lead a large, bureaucratic government in an imperfect world.
She was still undecided if she would call for an election, and run for her third term as Prime Minister. She was proud that the economy was growing at a record pace, mostly through the introduction of all the amazing, incredibly advanced technology that Addy Moon Base had provided and was still providing. And she was also proud that she had finally made a few inroads into curbing the illicit black market.
But she also knew that a huge chunk of the economy was still functioning outside of the centrally-controlled, highly complex and overarching Resource Development Plan. In her mind, fuelling the problem were some revolutionary, step-change initiatives championed by her predecessor, Phillip Wong, over his long tenure as Prime Minister.
Early in his first term, fulfilling a campaign promise, Wong had re-introduced electronic and paper c
urrency for all transactions. And then, for the first time on New Earth, he started allowing wage differentials to widen between different jobs and professions, and even within those job families and professions, based upon merit and experience.
But Hernandez knew it would be political suicide if she tried to reverse those fundamental policy and macro-economic shifts.
They were proving to be just too damn popular.
On the flip-side of populism, Wong had also introduced a very unpopular five-tier income tax system, and a value-added tax on all sales and services. But the resulting hard currency revenue flow to government coffers made it all work, and that just had to continue.
Hernandez was thinking in a fuzzy way about a possible beach vacation when the telephone on her desk rang. She was tempted to ignore the incoming call, even though she could see by a glowing yellow button on the hard-wired, ultra-secure device that the call was coming from her office administration assistant. She let the phone ring three times, then she snatched up the handset, and snarled angrily, “Yes, what is it this time, Marge?”
There was a brief pause, then her receptionist replied meekly, “I am very sorry to disturb you, Prime Minister, and I know this is against your scheduled meeting protocol. But, General Knudsen has just arrived in reception! And he has two members of the Privy Council with him, ah, Francis Maldonado and Asher Weismann. They say they have an urgent matter to discuss with you. They will not tell me what they intend to discuss with you, or why it is all so urgent. Should I send them away?”
Prime Minister Hernandez considered blowing off the brash intrusion, but she realised with a bit of shame that she had been indulging in selfish, useless time wasting. So instead she answered, “No, as it so happens, I can spare a few minutes for them right now. Please show them in, Marge. Oh, and I’m sorry I barked at you just now.”
“Oh, that’s okay, Prime Minister,” Marge replied brightly. “Okay, here they come now.”
The prime minister rose from her desk and formally greeted General Knudsen just inside her office door. The general’s handshake was as firm as ever, and Hernandez noted with lustful approval that he was still a handsome devil. She had a quickly fleeting thought that it was too bad he was married. She remembered that his wife certainly did not deserve a failed marriage because of an affair.
Knudsen’s hair was still blond with no sign of grey. He had held the top post in the combined military and security force for two years now, since General Kepler had retired with full honours. Knudsen seemed to have adjusted well to the high work load and elevated stress level that went with the outrageously difficult Minister of Defence and Security role.
Knudsen’s wife, Doctor Francis Maldonado, was following right behind the general. Hernandez took a moment to carefully study her face as they shook hands. Francis had a few more wrinkles around her eyes, but otherwise she was still very pretty. She was the mother of two healthy and bright kids, a boy and a girl, but her figure was still quite youthful. She was also the Chancellor of Abubakar University, and her supporters within that politically-powerful and highly-innovative academic institution were many.
Following right behind Maldonado was Doctor Asher Weismann. He was dressed in a smart-looking, dark grey suit. He was no longer in the professional military and security force. Actually, he was no longer even in the reserves. Hernandez noted that he was also ageing well. He was wearing expensive-looking, wire-rimmed glasses, which suited him far better than the black-rimmed, plastic, antique clunkers that he used to sport. He was now the Dean of Astrophysics and Space Engineering at Abubakar University.
The prime minister motioned for everyone to take a seat in the adjacent lounge area in her cavernous office. When everyone was settled, Hernandez barked, “Well, isn’t this interesting? Judging by this elite cast of characters, and our shared, rather turbulent history, this must have something to do with aliens? Am I not mistaken?”
Knudsen cleared his throat, and said calmly, “Yes it does, Prime Minister. Unfortunately, our concern today is not with our secret friends, you know, the benevolent kind of aliens.”
Knudsen leaned back for a moment, and had a quick glance at his wife, and his close friend, Weismann. They both looked grim, but they nodded back at him for support.
“If you recall, Prime Minister,” Knudsen continued while leaning forward again, “We sent six alien robot sentinel spacecraft radially away from New Earth, or more precisely, radially away from our star, Sol. They are now all about half-a-light-year away from Sol. That puts them in the inner reaches of the Sol-system equivalent of Earth’s Oort Cloud.”
“I recall the staged deployment of the six alien-designed spacecraft, but I am at a complete loss to remember anything about an Oort Cloud,” admitted the prime minister. “What is it, exactly?”
Knudsen nodded at Weismann to field the question, and Weismann answered in the manner of an experienced lecturer. He first covered his mouth with his right hand, and quietly coughed to clear his throat. Then he said, “The Oort Cloud, Prime Minister, is a region of relatively small, icy and primordial objects at the very edge of our solar system. It is the most likely source of the comets we occasionally observe from New Earth. Infrequent, close interaction between the ice balls can redirect them towards Sol, causing comets.
“Something like the Oort Cloud probably surrounds every solar system.
“So, our Oort Cloud surrounds Sol, all of the planets in the Sol-system, and the Sol-equivalent of Earth’s intra-system asteroid belt. Our limited surveying from afar suggests it is indeed composed of mostly icy planetesimals, but we suspect there may be a few rocky bits within in it as well.
“Our Oort Cloud seems to be nothing like that which surrounds Earth’s Sun, but it is still highly significant. Our Oort Cloud is a spherical shell, whereas the Sun’s Oort Cloud has both a spherical shell, and a disc-shaped region in the orbital plane. Earth’s Sun seems to have been a bit of a space-junk magnet in our peripheral region of the galaxy, and as a result, it has a much higher density of objects in its Oort Cloud.
“But for perspective, the Second Chance generation spaceship that brought us to New Earth did not slow down while traversing and departing through Earth’s, or rather, the Sun’s Oort Cloud. And its original, professional crew did not pay any attention to the many planetesimals they knew were within it.
“And many generations later, another Second Chance crew did not concern themselves with the Sol-system Oort Cloud. The risk of collision was deemed too small to worry about. And that crew had lots of other things to worry about. They were frankly amateurish, but still, they managed to complete the long journey, and get us successfully re-settled on New Earth.
“That being said, the Second Chance spaceship did hit something in interstellar space, well outside of Oort Clouds. Even so-called ‘outer space’ presents many risks to human beings, and many unknowns.”
“Okay, but I still don’t see why we would want to position our sentinels, or first line of defence spacecraft, inside such a seemingly hostile place as an Oort Cloud?” asked the prime minister rather aggressively. “Why are we so unconcerned about a collision with one of these, ah, ‘planetesimals’, icy or otherwise? They must still be big enough to cause catastrophic damage to a relatively small, fragile, quickly-moving object, like a robot spacecraft?”
“Yes, we are concerned about that remote possibility, Prime Minister,” replied Knudsen respectfully. “But the Oort Cloud provides a number of natural defences for a scout ship, that is, if one does not want it to be detected.
“A spacecraft within the Oort Cloud could easily be confused with a natural object, such as a planetesimal, from far away.
“And a spacecraft guided by artificial intelligence can intentionally position itself behind an actual planetesimal, to hide itself from an object of interest that it is monitoring. That is an especially useful tactic to employ if the object of interest could be hostile.
“We believe the risks are well worth taking to ga
in a significant tactical advantage.
“But we are mostly here today, Prime Minister, to alert you to the recent discovery of what we believe is an approaching force of hostile spacecraft!
“We are fairly certain now that there are seven alien spacecraft travelling towards us in close proximity to one another.”
The prime minister’s facial expressions then went through a rapid series of fascinating and dramatic transformations. Her visitors watched with sympathy and understanding as she first recoiled with shock. Then she looked to be in total disbelief. When Hernandez noted that her three visitors were grim-faced and obviously very serious, she looked fearful, and perhaps even on the edge of panic.
Then after another long moment, Prime Minister Hernandez just looked angry, and mumbled sternly through gritted teeth, “Tell me all about it, General.”
“The approaching Armada, Prime Minister, if that is what it is, was first detected by the scout ship that we positioned to align with the Sol-system’s southern celestial pole,” replied Knudsen calmly. “The Armada has now also been detected by four other scout ships, the closest ones to the southernmost scout ship.
“The approaching group appears to have been heading directly for Sol at great speed, perhaps at one-twentieth of light speed. Doppler imaging suggests the alien fleet is decelerating. That undoubtedly means that the occupants of the spacecraft intend to visit our planetary system, not just pass through it. It also means we probably have some time to complete our defence readiness, but not a lot of time.”
“So, how do we know they’re not friendly?” asked the prime minister abruptly. “And you used the word ‘Armada’ a couple of times. How certain are we that this is a hostile force?”
“As certain as we can be, Prime Minister,” answered Maldonado quietly. Knudsen and Weismann both nodded at her for support, so she added more emphatically, “You see, Prime Minister, the hermit-like alien race that gave us the Addy Moon Base and our existing deep-space fleet, also told us exactly what to expect, based on their direct historical experiences.
