In the past, Mantis’ missions had primarily been for the KSF, so Ximon wrote reports much like he had during his decades of KSF service. However, this time Mantis’ contract was with Robatham Associates and they were operating under an agreement that limited how much they could discuss without approval from Robatham. This was odd and unfamiliar to Ximon, so he was working closely with Silas on reporting.
Ximon would owe reports to Robatham on different aspects of the mission and Silas would owe some as Robatham’s investigator. It would then, notionally, be up to Robatham to inform their customers of their findings, including the KSF. However, Ximon felt he had an obligation to pass some of this stuff to the KSF as soon as possible. He had gotten Silas to agree to send a message to Robatham as soon as they were back on a communication route. Ximon’s hope was to get approval to report at least some of this to the KSF as soon as they got back to Tixaya, preferably by the time they got to Xalanan or whatever Scout base they hit first. Otherwise, he would have to be very careful what he could say. In case that was a problem, Ximon had worked out a scheme with Mantis and Euclidia where certain sections of reports would be flagged with different symbols so they could quickly generate different versions if there were only some things they could share.
Ximon also ensured that everyone was keeping track of supplies and consumables used so he could keep a reasonably up-to-date invoice of costs thus far. They had gotten a pretty good advance of funds but would still have a hefty invoice to submit when they got home, assuming they did.
Ximon also wanted to plan for the mission in Suva, so a few days into jump he had Silas, Elsbeth, Shao, and Peter join him in the cargo bay for a meeting around the beacon they were to put in place. Mantis, as ever, was nearly omnipresent in most areas of the ship. Silas and Peter had already uncrated the beacon and had it up on on a stand, so it was easy to see. It was an irregular shape about one by two meters. It was a strange gray-black color with a few buttons and a small display on the top and a couple of well-sealed access doors near the bottom. In addition to the main beacon device, there were four small black spheres approximately 20 centimeters across sitting on the stand.
After they all stared at this for a few minutes, Silas started. “As per the directions, we are to emplace these small spheres at certain coordinates about 1.5 AU from the star. Then, we’ll use these to place the beacon at very specific and precise coordinates. Assuming we’ve got it placed correctly, we basically push a single button on top here to let it test. If works fine, we leave. If not, we keep working with the placements as we can.”
Shao stared at the thing perplexed, “What the heck does this thing do?”
Silas shrugged helplessly.
Elsbeth took up the narrative. “That’s not entirely clear. They told us it’s a hyperspace reference beacon but haven’t explained what that means. I did some careful scanning, but it’s well shielded, like they don’t want people messing with it. All I can tell is that it has a small, atomic pile in there, so it’ll probably work for several hundred, or thousand, years. Its case is also VERY tough and would be hard to detect with sensors. Again, that screams ‘leave this alone.’ It does have a small door on the bottom, but it won’t open. My best guess is that it will extend a probe or antenna of some kind and somehow send signals into hyperspace. Not at all sure, but I think this might help them navigate jump space like that Rep jerk said they could.”
Shao picked up one of the small spheres. “And I tried scans on this and the big beacon. As Elsbeth said, these will be almost impossible to detect at any range. We could pass ten of these a day and likely never know it.”
“I think we might. They probably have hundreds, if not thousands, of these things scattered about and we’d be none the wiser.”
Ximon looked at the sphere and felt its coating. “So, is there anything we need to do to ensure we get this thing placed properly?”
“Other than be careful and follow directions, I’ll need to deploy these with the cargo arm. I also recommend that we adjust Mantis’ default navigational calculation values. She’s operating at something like eight or ten decimal places and we need twelve or fifteen. That’ll slow down some calculations, but she’ll compensate so it’s not an issue.”
“Why wouldn’t we do that all the time?”
“Mainly because there’s rarely any value and because it can slow things down. It could substantially increase the portion of processing power just going to these calculations.”
Mantis took that as her cue. “Captain, I would concur that it’s not typically recommended. However, it does appear necessary in this case to get the level of precision required. I will also use six to ten stars at navigational reference points instead of three to five. I will, of course, compensate and do things in stages. The final navigational answers will take a while, but I’ll first get standard values for us to work with.”
“Ok, Mantis, enable that a bit before exiting jump and warn me if it’s becoming a problem.”
“Yes, Captain.”
A few days later they exited jump. Ximon sat ready at the helm, with Elsbeth beside him, and Shao behind. Silas sat in a jump seat next to her.
“Mantis, position. Shao, scans.”
After a few moments of silence, Mantis reported. “Captain confirm Suva System with three stars. Continuing calculations with additional stars and precision. The system has a small, fading sun, one small planet, four asteroid belts, and 12 known dwarf planets. Records indicate no life or commercial activity.”
Shao jumped in. “No other ships or nearby collisions detected.”
Elsbeth touched a few things on her screen and four dots appeared evenly spaced around the sun on a large map of the system on the main screen. “These are the four points for those little reference spheres. Just head to that one and then we’ll throw this first one out.”
Ximon headed that way, ETA ten hours. Everyone switched off and alternated shifts as they flew calmly on.
As they got close to the first point, Elsbeth was back on the cargo arm, with Peter assisting. Ximon navigated slowly to the designated point and Elsbeth deployed the small sphere. As soon as it was ‘free’ it lit up slightly and made some small maneuvers of its own.
Over the radio Elsbeth said, “Well, if I knew it’d position itself, I would just have thrown it out the back. I’m doing that with the next one.”
Mantis noted, “The Sphere is now at precisely the coordinates indicated.”
They flew to the remaining three points over several hours and repeated a similar process. They all deployed seamlessly and quickly with no issues. Ximon then headed for the placement point for the main beacon. After about seven hours they were ready to deploy that, Ximon having brought Mantis to a dead stop at the directed location.
Here, Elsbeth hit a button on the top of the beacon. Then, she and Peter carefully maneuvered it with the arm, while Silas sat next to Ximon on the bridge giving directions.
Silas read down directions on his screen. “Deploy the beacon with an 007.X.89 orientation at the designated coordinates.”
Ximon could hear Elsbeth’s exasperation. “Give me a minute. We’re still getting the damn thing out of the bay.”
Peter read off stats from a screen near the arm controls. “Cleared bay doors … five degrees … ten degrees …”
“Okay, everyone shut up for a minute.” Elsbeth could be heard breathing hard in concentration. “Peter, what are you showing?”
“Elsbeth, I am showing arm extended properly. Attitude needs adjusted to 007.X.89.”
“Yeah, yeah. Turning this sucker now. Crap – overshot … I’m showing 007.X.89 now. Peter?”
“Roger, showing correct orientation.”
“Silas, Ximon, what are you showing?”
“We show correct position and orientation.”
Silas added, “I’m showing a green light that confirms it sees the reference spheres.”
Ximon said, “Cut the sucker loose … carefully. Shao, sca
n that thing, all bands, continually so we get a record of what it does.”
Elsbeth said, “Okay, going for a gentle release. Watch orientation and position.”
Again, to their surprise, as soon as it was free it made some very minute adjustments on its own.
Silas said, “I’ve got another green. I think we got a hole in one.”
Ximon watched eagerly on the screen to see what happened next. He could see nothing.
Shao projected an image of the beacon on the viewscreen. “I’m detecting minute emissions and a very faint jump space distortion. I think it may have just deployed a probe into jump space somehow, but even that distortion is fading. If we weren’t looking right at this thing and watching for it, we’d never see that.”
Ximon backed Mantis away slowly. “My screen just switched to jump selection. I think it’s telling me we can use it to jump. Suggest everyone get situated. I’ll try to jump in about ten minutes.”
Mantis highlighted options on Ximon’s screen. “I’ve just been fed complete jump equations for Labeveri and Kaqarbius. It would appear those are our only two choices, but you should just be able to engage.”
“Okay, but I want full external video as we do this. Shao, scan what you can. I’m not sure if it’s going to look different and want to capture it if it does. Razia, please join me on the bridge. Everyone get strapped in and be careful over the next couple of days. We’re heading for Labeveri, but I’m not sure how long this is going to take.”
Ximon extended his finger toward the button with great trepidation. “Okay, jumping NOW.”
Entering jump was normally a completely underwhelming event that just looked like you were turning all the stars off. But this was different. There was a momentary flash on the screen. Then it was primarily darkness, but they could make out very faint stars as if they were seeing them through a dark lens. Other than eating a sandwich and dessert that Raiza had brought, Ximon just watched for hours. Raiza sat silently as if respecting his reverie. There were also occasional phenomena of great color, akin to nebulae. The ship moved past these as if they were small and they were passing them at speed, but in jump space there was no telling how distant things were.
Shao, who had been watching silently behind Ximon said, “What do you make of that? I’m only getting faint distortion on sensors. It’s like we’re detecting something, but its either diffuse or everywhere.”
“This is interesting. I’m sure some scientists will find this very interesting, assuming we can tell them.”
Raiza said, “I believe that one could consider it both interesting and beautiful. It is hard to guess how many humans might ever have seen this.”
“Perhaps none, at least few that lived to talk about it.”
Mantis noted, “Captain, updated jump calculations suggest we’ll be leaving jump in 1.9 days at 20:47:39.”
“Thanks Mantis, pass that to the crew so everyone can plan to be sitting down.”
Chapter Nine: Labeveri
The exit from jump was also slightly different, with a bit of a flash and far less momentum shift than normal. Mantis confirmed they were in the Labeveri System and Shao found nothing dangerously close.
Mantis noted, “The system has eight planets, two of them gas giants. It also has 24 dwarf planets. Records indicate some attempts at past mining, but records indicate no current life or commercial activity.”
“Okay, we’re going to refuel and then head to Labeveri-4. ETA 12 hours to the gas giant and then 13 to Labeveri-4. Everyone let’s get ready for some big game hunting. We need to nab a mating trio of these things.”
“Captain, I think we’re supposed to capture them alive.”
“Yes, but we do have to find them first. That’s still hunting, just without the killing.”
“As you say.”
After about a day, they were orbiting Labeveri-4, with Shao and Mantis doing scans. Silas sat nearby watching and considering ideas.
Shao summarized, “It’s pretty good size, 40% water, reasonable atmosphere. Lots of grassy plains, with some green forests, somewhat cold.”
Labeveri-4:
Diameter: 13,600 km
Surface Water: 40%
Distance from sun: 3.8 AU
Atmosphere: Moderate density.
Gravity: 0.95 G
Ximon said, “Okay, we’ll do several orbits and build some mapping data. Silas, how do you want to handle this? I think you ought to take the lead here.”
“Aye, I think so too. Let’s get those maps and then isolate some likely areas for these buggers.” He made some adjustments and sent some images to the main screen of the creatures they were looking for – moderate-sized, six-legged bear-like creatures walking alternately on all sixes or upright. “From what we have, these guys are sizable omnivores, roaming the forests and plains nearby, generally near water. That’s about it.”
He paused for a moment and looked at his screen. “Oh, and they’ve got three sexes. We can probably call those X, Y, and Z or male, female, and go-between. The info says they’re different in build and coloration but doesn’t give us more. So, I propose we pick a few areas, do low flying passes to look for them, then spend some time on the ground watching them. You don’t have an air raft, right?”
Ximon looked a bit abashed since their air raft had broken some time back and he had never gotten it replaced. “Yeah, unfortunately, no.”
“Okay, then we’ll have to hoof it. Depending on how skittish they are, we may need to land three or four kilometers away and go in on foot. Like I said, I think we’ll need to watch them for a day or two, so possibly a camping trip. I can go with just Io, but I’d appreciate backup. I’ve got a tranq gun that should be able to take them down, but I’ll obviously need Mantis to come land nearby. I’d estimate they weigh around 100 to 150 kilos.”
Shao chimed up. “I can go. I like hiking and camping.”
Silas smiled at her but narrowed his eyes in uncertainty. “Are you sure, babe? A couple days camping with a couple of guys and a robot?”
“As long as one of the guys is you.”
Ximon laughed. “Silas, we wouldn’t send you by yourself. Perhaps Shao, me and Peter, unless Elsbeth wants to go. I think I know the answer to that one.”
Silas added, “That sounds reasonable. We’re not planning to shoot these guys, but we’ll definitely want weapons in case of trouble. On some break, you may want to check your survival gear and see what you want to bring – all my gear will only fit one or snugly two.”
“Right. I’ll check that while we’re doing mapping. Mantis will signal us when we’ve got a reasonable amount of mapping done and will highlight some areas that fit your criteria. I’ll also have Elsbeth and Peter work out somewhere we can keep these guys. Our cryo chambers are full and these things probably wouldn’t fit anyway, so we can’t keep them frozen the whole way. Maybe Raiza can give them some sedative to keep them mellow.”
Silas chuckled. “I hope so, or we’ll need a good-sized bear enclosure.”
The detailed surveys and general maps were completed in a few hours. Ximon verified that Elsbeth did not want to go but was okay with Peter going. Everyone also got all their gear ready and situated and Raiza loaded everyone up with rations and water and checked the completeness of the medical kits.
Silas identified several key areas to try. The first area was keyed to observing as much of the creatures as possible, more or less a nature study. Mantis would land on a high slope behind a large cliff that overlooked the likely area. From there they should be able to see a couple kilometers pretty well and surveys had shown considerable activity in the area.
Ximon brought Mantis in for landing low and slow that night. The crew kept sensors running all night but waited until dawn to set off.
The entire crew gathered as they set off. The Survey Team of Silas, Shao, Ximon, and Peter were all geared up, with Io following.
Raiza reminded Ximon that someone had to check in at least every two hours as they ha
d agreed. Then she gave him a hug and a kiss and said that she hoped to hear from him otherwise.
Mantis confirmed she would continue monitoring and would send any noteworthy sensor alerts. She would also be ready to receive any data they sent back, filter it, and consolidate as appropriate.
Elsbeth patted Peter on the butt. “Be careful out there, big guy. Don’t get eaten by labe-bears. I’ll be thinking of ways for you to make it up to me when I get back.”
“I will miss you and will happily comply with any requests upon my return.”
Elsbeth pointed at Peter with a thumb. “See, that’s why I love this guy.”
Ximon said, “Labe-bears?”
“Yeah, you know – from Labeveri. I think you’d know by now that I should handle all naming of new species. You should probably tell KSF HQ that, as well. I’m willing to help for a small fee.”
Ximon could only chuckle and roll his eyes in reply.
The Survey Team set off, advancing about 1.5 kilometers up a hill to a rocky cliff with some trees at the top. They set up camp about 50 meters behind the cliff face. Silas had a tent for two. Ximon set up a hammock tent between two trees. Peter set up a covered awning, a few camp chairs, and a small, chemically powered camp stove. This would take the place of a fire and provide both cooking and warming heat with no smoke and as little light as they wished. The general plan was that, at night, the humans would sleep, and Peter and Io would keep watch.
After getting their camp set up and resting for a few minutes, they advanced quietly up toward the cliff edge. Peter tied several ropes to trees and insisted on attaching one to anyone who got within three meters of the edge. He also set up several cameras covering the area below. At first, they all laid down and watched the areas with binoculars. However, Ximon and Shao soon got bored of just watching and either sat back and rested periodically or roamed back to camp. About noon, Silas snuck down around to the ground below the cliff, with Io in tow. He moved about quietly, placing motion activated cameras in several clearings or along trails.
Vast Mantis Page 14
