Shadows

by Brian Whiting

  Alex hid a smile.

  ***

  It had been several days. The newly joined ship, Dauntless, was in orbit above the Gothan homeworld. The The Gothan built Dauntless comprised the front and upper two thirds and the Hermes comprised the lower rear remaining third of the conjoined ship. They had just recently completed attaching the ships together, which took them longer than they had anticipated. It was, in fact, not so easy to conjoin two ships. Sure, it was simple enough to weld them together like two bricks. But then they needed to share power, and then they needed to be able to move from one ship to the other. It was in fact a task they only barely managed to accomplish.

  If it wasn’t for the Humani sensors on the Hermes they would have stayed and continued working and forging the joining of the two ships. It seemed they were running out of time as the Humani were systematically jumping from star to star nearby to find the scout ship, and they would be arriving soon.

  Alex looked over the ship’s crew roster as the conjoined ship left orbit.

  Tulie, Annunen, Ga Ra Tor, Ga Jute Pae, Gs Shlee Bek, Gs Port Tha, Gs Lent Tu, and of course Symboli, which was secretly and securely installed and interfaced into the Hermes via Alex’s cabin. He really didn’t know anything about any of them except that they were all going to be together for, at the very least, the next year.

  “Did they arrive yet?” Alex asked, worried that the Humani would soon find them in the system.

  “If they arrived outside the system, it would take some time for their light to reach our position. They could be there right now and we wouldn’t know,” Tulie stated plainly.

  “How long until we transition?”

  Just then Alex noticed the screen phase into a cacophony of colors just as the screen went black.

  “Why is the screen black?” Alex looked to Annunen.

  “The FTL field prohibits light from reaching the ship, the camera is still on, it’s just there’s no visual wavelengths reaching the lens of the camera. It’s very simple, really.”

  “I really need to understand how that’s possible,” Alex insisted.

  “Well, remember that light is just a wavelength. The intensity or frequency of the wave allows the variety of colors. Our ship travels faster than even one tiny portion of a complete wavelength being able to reach the lens, so we see nothing,” Annunen said plainly.

  “The drive appears stable.”

  “What do you mean, the drive appears stable? Why wouldn’t it be?” Alex asked with new concern.

  “Alex, this drive is a fourth-generation prototype. We do not know for certain it will carry us all the way to our destination; no one has traveled even a reasonable fraction as far.”

  “You mean we could be stuck out there in deep space?”

  Tulie slowly turned to look at Alex, who appeared both surprised and desperate. “Are you suggesting you have not considered this to be a likely possibility?”

  “Well, yeah, but I didn’t really think it wouldn’t work out.”

  Annunen looked to Tulie with a straight face. “Repostulate.”

  “Indeed,” she responded.

  Alex looked back and forth between them. “Repostulate what?”

  “Our opinion of you, for better or worse.” Annunen focused back on his display screen while Tulie was obviously suppressing a laugh.

  Alex heard groans and thumps and looked around, then realized it was the Gothans above and behind him, situated near the ceiling working at their consoles. Alex was familiar enough with the Gothans to know they were displeased about something and he had a good idea about what, since he was irked himself.

  It was about fifteen minutes or so when Annunen unbuckled himself to make way off the bridge.

  “I suppose we need to come up with a duty roster and assign everyone assignments.”

  Annunen stopped at the bridge doorway and turned back toward Alex.

  “Alex, Tulie and I would like to talk with you in private, please.”

  “You think now is the best time?” Tulie twisted in her chair to look at Annunen.

  “I see no logical reason to delay.” Tulie secured her station and stood up, waiting beside Annunen.

  Alex looked at the Gothans. “At least two on the bridge at all times.”

  Alex walked into the corridor and was led into a small multipurpose office space, or perhaps it was a lab; Alex wasn’t quite sure.

  “Alex, we appreciate your drive and motivation to get us to the center of the galaxy. However, would you agree that we have more experience than you in space?”

  Alex already knew what point they were about to make and tried to head them off. “I don’t think that matters. If not for me, you would not have a treaty with humans, you would not have the resources of the Gothans, and you would not be on this ship. I chartered this mission, I will lead it.”

  Tulie and Annunen looked at each other. Alex closed his eyes momentarily and reached out to sense their emotions. It was hard for Alex to label what he felt, but if anything he felt only heightened concern.

  “The scout ship comes lightly armed and is not well defended. But we know its systems far better than you. Our experience in space has taught us many things that you have no concept of. It would be foolish to place you in charge,” Annunen said.

  Deep down Alex knew he was right but he also didn’t want to give up control. An idea occurred to him.

  “Are you saying I am mentally insufficient to complete the task at hand?” Alex cracked a smile.

  “Poor choice of words, but yes.”

  “Then let’s have a challenge of intellect. Which one of you intends to be in charge?”

  “It would be Tulie, without a doubt,” Annunen said.

  In secret Alex was pleased; he would rather it be her than Annunen. “Then you, Annunen, will create a series of questions, any question not related to your culture, advanced sciences, or personal information that you think Tulie would be able to answer and I wouldn’t. Let’s see how we compare.”

  “Alex, I wouldn’t want to embarrass you,” Tulie said weakly.

  “Come on, let’s get this over with,” Alex said with amusement.

  “At our current speed how many seconds would it take to complete two and a half round trips between our planet and Earth?”

  Symboli spoke the correct answer into Alex’s headset, and before Tulie could pull up the information on her datapad Alex responded with the answer.

  Annunen’s face showed genuine shock, as the answer was correct. “Repostulating!” he said with enthusiasm.

  “Indeed,” Tulie said.

  “So you have a gift for math, that does not make you the best person to lead our mission.”

  “Fine. Next question,” Alex responded.

  “Captain, we are approaching a preprogrammed waypoint,” one of the Gothans announced out over the intercom.

  “Waypoint?”

  “Yes, Alex, we need to scan a system before we proceed.”

  “Can the Gothans on the bridge hear me?” Alex asked.

  “Yes, we all have heard the entire conversation,” one of the Gothans responded.

  Tulie and Annunen both looked shocked, while Alex gave them both a smirk.

  “We are returning to the bridge,” Alex said as they left the room together.

  Tulie reached the bridge first. “Bring us to a stop well outside the system.”

  Alex reached his bridge chair and strapped in. As soon as he did so the viewscreen blinked on. “Why are we here?”

  “Our ships have never traveled this far; the furthest we ever came was about two stars behind us. This system was producing a lot of subspace signals with very concerning frequency. We have wanted to explore it ever since.”

  Alex wasn’t sure what he should be more upset about; the more he thought about what was happening, the more his blood began to boil, and it hadn’t even been a full day yet. They had managed to userp ship authority and function without any input from Alex.

  “Initiate scans
,” Tulie said.

  “We will take orders only from Alex,” one of the Gothans said from above.

  It occurred to Alex that what he needed to do was get to know his crew better.

  If Tulie was frustrated, she didn’t let it show. Instead she reorganized her display screen to initiate the scan herself and within a minute she had the scan started. Apparently she didn’t need the Gothans.

  Annunen stood directly over her shoulder as they waited for the results to appear. They didn’t have to wait long.

  “Nothing,” Tulie said quietly.

  “We are too far for any relevant details, we need to move in closer,” Annunen said.

  “Agreed,” she responded.

  “No,” Alex said firmly. “We are not doing this.” He looked up at the Gothans, embarrassed that he didn’t know which one was in charge. “Take us out of the system.”

  “No, we are going in.” Tulie began to plot a course on her display screen.

  “Stop!” Alex yelled. But she ignored him. Alex began to unbuckle from his chair even though he wasn’t sure what he was about to do.

  Just before the course was plotted, Tulie’s screen went dark, followed by the bridge, and then the whole ship went dark. The emergency lights blinked on.

  “Complete power loss?” Annunen asked with shock as he attempted to activate the display screens.

  “Unknown,” Tulie responded as she pulled out her datapad, which helped light up the room, but there was no pad-to-ship signal.

  Alex tried his pad as well, but there was nothing to connect to. He was just about to speak to Symboli and give its presence away, but one of the Gothans interrupted him.

  “I feel power! We have control of the ship we have built. Do not underestimate us, or it will be your wrong.”

  Alex squinted; he knew the words the translator was supposed to say, but it failed to catch the subtleties of the Gothan’s actual words.

  “Relent?” Annunen whispered to Tulie.

  “Agreed, this is counterproductive. Proceed with scenario four.”

  “What’s scenario four?” Alex asked.

  “We formulated five likely outcomes of the command structure. Scenario four is where you are in complete command of the mission.”

  Alex couldn’t trust himself to respond respectfully, so he simply sat down in his chair and simmered.

  “Shall we return power to the ship, Captain?” one of the Gothans asked.

  “Yes, that’s fine.”

  Alex happened to be looking up toward the Gothans when the lights came back on. He spotted one of them pointing a handheld device at Tulie, but then it quickly hid the object behind its body.

  Alex started to get a headache as he considered the possibility that one day they could be doing that to him.

  “Captain,” Tulie began. Alex realized it was the first time she called him that onboard the ship. “Annunen and I still believe we are the best people for the position. However, we will yield to your command and apologize if we have caused offense.”

  “Yes, you caused offense! I am of a good mind to go back while we can and drop you off on Earth.”

  “Our people are likely monitoring Earth very closely for this ship to appear. I would advise against that course of action,” Tulie said calmly.

  “May I plot a course closer to the star?” Annunen asked Alex politely.

  Alex forced out a deep breath; nowadays, it was so rare for him to make his body do such a thing that every time he did so, it was as if he had jumped into a cold shower, and his blood was energized for just a moment.

  “You might as well satisfy their great curiosity, Alex, they will harbor ill feelings toward you if you do not. In addition we are already here and the system appears to be empty. I do not see the harm in this slight delay,” Symboli said to Alex in his headset.

  “Yes, Annunen, you may plot a course for the star. Take us to just outside their largest planetary orbit, if you would.”

  “Wise precaution,” Annunen said.

  Alex rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. He waited for the viewscreen to move or do something, but nothing happened. He looked down at his display screen and realized the FTL system was charging up. A few moments later the viewscreen went black, and then after a heartbeat, it came back on again.

  “Scanning,” Tulie said from her chair near Alex. “There’s debris surrounding the fourth planet.”

  “It looks like a cloud in space,” Alex said aloud.

  “It’s our distance. If we got closer, the cloud would focus into large chunks of debris.”

  “Ship ascending from the fourth planet,” Tulie said, and then after a brief pause she followed with, “It’s a Zorn destroyer, and it’s changing direction to intercept us.”

  The bridge turned a slight red.

  “Where was it going before it noticed us?”

  “I cannot be certain, but it appeared it was heading toward the center like we are,” Tulie replied.

  “Fear not, this ship has shields. No matter how weak these shields are, we are impervious to their method of attack,” Annunen said, a bit smugly.

  “Let’s—”

  Symboli cut Alex off mid-sentence. “ETA if they don’t transition into FTL is thirty-two hours.”

  The bridge crew looked at Alex with curiosity. They of couse had not heard symboli speak.

  “Let’s plot a course to the main objective and return to FTL speeds.”

  “Sir, we can—” Annunen started.

  “No!” Tulie said firmly. “The order was given; our duty now is to obey.”

  “Of course, reverting to our original course.”

  Alex waited the required amount of time to transition back to FTL speed. As soon as the viewscreen went black, he got up and left the bridge. “Tulie, two on the bridge at all times,” Alex shouted as he left the bridge to walk toward his cabin, confused by the mixed bag of treachery and loyalty he had experienced all within the last hour. He was starting to regret the Humani being involved in the mission. Yet, he knew without their ship they wouldn’t stand a chance getting to the objective and back. It’s going to be a long trip, he thought.

  ***

  Grissom watched from the observation deck as the unfamiliar cargo shuttle silently glided over the perimeter walls of the primary UEF complex. It was very wide and had a small cockpit and no other habitable areas; the rest of the massive airship was devoted to cargo space. He was keenly aware of the latest update to the shuttle, which appeared to be a bottom-fitted decoupler turret.

  The shuttle reached the expected point and began to tip backward, the nose of the craft pointing skyward. Within moments all the contents of the shuttle were now splayed across the material-receiving pad, and small dozers began to move the material into a neat pile. Two dumptrucks pulled up to the area.

  “Fabricator material received, sir.”

  Grissom simply looked at his officer and nodded his head.

  “Mules are clear to launch.”

  Grissom watched as three of the smaller UEF shuttles lifted off the tarmac and began to follow the large cargo ship from the Latin Alliance as they set a course south. Once the airships were no longer visible, he walked away from the large windows and sat down at one of the many desks on the deck.

  The deck was a recent modification. As air traffic began to increase, it was important to set up an observation tower. Instead he simply added another floor to the UEF tower in the center of the complex. Thanks to the fabricators, building structures was now easy. No longer was it necessary to have dozens of different types of tradesmen invoiced to complete a room. Now various types of walls could be selected from a growing database of choices; they would all be built fully complete, they would interlock with adjacent walls, occasionally with sections welded together, and someone would have to connect electrical cables from adjacent walls. But it was quick and easy work. Unique trim work would be fabricated to cover up any seams from the wall sections. It made for some breathtaking designs. Once
thought to be too intricate to be considered feasible, now it was common.

  At his desk he opened the latest intelligence file from the Latin Alliance. Some of his people nicknamed it the Lower Alliance. Which, to be fair, did fit in terms of geographical positioning, in that they were located in the southern hemisphere.

  The report would indicate the Alliance still had fewer ships than the UEF, but they were on average much larger than the UEF ships, albeit most were open-air cargo shuttles. But at the current rate of increase, the Alliance would soon have more ships than the UEF.

  After closing the intelligence file, he reviewed some of the UEF correspondence. A small team of secretaries would categorize emails based on priority; some they would send to just one council member, and some would go to all members—as was the case when Earth received a subspace message from the Humani homeworld.

  It was a lengthy message that detailed the kidnapping of Alex and offered the Humani’s sincerest apologies. Grissom was getting used to being angry with Alex. Every time his name appeared, it meant some kind of mess for the council to clean up or to spend too much attention on. Grissom was trying to restart the planet and didn’t have time to worry about Alex’s curiosities. His datapad lit up: a message from Cindy, indicating that she would respond to the message from Humani.

  Other than being slightly concerned about the growing power of the Latin Alliance, he was pleased at the nearly complete annihilation of the Zorn threat. They would spawn soon, but his men anticipated only ten percent of the numbers that had emerged at the last spawning. A subsequent spawning would not occur. Now if only he could rally the surviving governments to become a one-world entity. It was becoming a bit easier than he imagined it would, due to the production of food and its delivery to UEF zones; other governments were facing starvation for their citizens, and in many cases they signed over rights for a direct line to food. Many of the European Union countries had already signed over along with many of the African countries and fewer of the Asian countries. The Latin Alliance was obtaining more countries at a faster pace, and the UEF even lost a country to them as they switched sides. It seems they have momentum, Grissom thought.

  He began to review the remaining countries that had not thrown their support either way. A majority of the world’s countries were on the list. However, he knew some of the countries no longer existed, so essentially getting their territory was simply a matter of claiming it. Yet manpower continued to be the number one impediment to anyone’s ambitions.