The starchild compact, p.10
The Starchild Compact, page 10
"Captain, it's Elke," she said on her Link, "I found them!"
#
Carmen had spent most of her waking and sleeping hours with her two patients. Chen remained unchanged, vitals well within normal range, and brain electrical patterns nominal. Yet he remained in a coma. She had attached both electrical and mechanical stimulators to his extremities to maintain his muscle tone, and she fed him intravenously. The crew's regular diet contained carefully designed levels of mega vitamins, and Carmen ensured that Chen's feed line was similarly fortified. She was convinced that sooner or later he would come out of it.
Carmen's other patient was well on the path to recovery, so much so, in fact, that she reduced his sedation, and allowed him to become aware of his surroundings. When he first awakened, he seemed confused, bewildered even at his circumstances. He muttered something that Carmen could not really understand, even though she was fluent in eight languages, and conversant in a dozen more. She placed herself in his line of vision and said to him in Arabic, "I am Dr. Bhuta, Medical Officer on Space Ship Cassini II. Do you understand me?"
Saeed looked at her through eyes that appeared still a bit out of focus. "How do you know my language?" he asked, followed immediately by, "What happened to me?" He tried to move his arms and legs, but discovered that they were restrained. He began to struggle.
"If you do not settle down," Carmen told him in Arabic, "I will sedate you again." He stopped struggling immediately, which she took as a sign that he was more lucid than he appeared. "You were seriously injured by radiation," she told him. "A crew member gave you a bone marrow transplant, and that saved your life." She left his field of vision to let him think about that for a bit.
"Captain," she said on her Link, "you asked to be informed when Saeed awakened. He is awake."
"Roger that, I'll be right down."
Jon showed up several minutes later with Ari in tow. He was carrying the two communicators.
"He's still a bit bore sighted," Carmen told him. "It helps to place yourself in his line of vision."
Jon floated so that Saeed could see him and what he held in his hands. "I am Captain Jon Stock, Commander of Space Ship Cassini II."
Saeed looked at him with stoic eyes.
"Do you recognize these?" Jon asked, indicating the communicators. Saeed remained silent. "I asked you a question." Jon's voice took on a demanding tone. "I know you speak English – Answer me!" Saeed continued to remain silent.
Jon turned to Carmen. "Unhook him from everything, Doc." He turned to Ari. "Ari, cuff him!"
Carmen started to protest, but Jon raised his hand with a look that instantly silenced her. A minute later, Saeed floated between Jon and Ari, his hands cuffed behind his back. He wore a loose fitting white jumpsuit and no shoes. They crossed the compartment to the airlock opposite Sickbay. Unceremoniously, Jon shoved him into the lock and closed the inner door.
Carmen was horrified. "Captain…Jon…you can't do that!"
"Silence, Dr. Bhuta! Not another word!" From his tone, Carmen was convinced that if she spoke again, she would follow Saeed into the airlock. She watched in sickening horror as Ari began to cycle the air pump, sucking the air out of the lock. Jon activated the intercom. "You have fifteen seconds to start talking or I'll open the outer door. Do you understand?" Jon turned to Ari. "Tell him in Arabic!"
Ari did, as he continued to pump air out of the lock. "Ldyk khmsh ashr thanyh lbad'a almhadthat aw swf yfth albaaba alkharjialkharjy. Hl tfhm?" Ari continued, "…ashrh thanyh..."
Ten seconds, Carmen whispered to herself. Speak you little fool!
"…khmsh thanyh…"
Five seconds, Carmen held her breath.
Saeed began to scream…high pitched and terrified. Ari stopped the air evacuation, but kept the pump running. "Wswf tjyba ala aseelty?" Ari demanded, asking if Saeed would answer his questions. Saeed continued to scream. "Hl ant?" Ari demanded again.
Will you? Carmen whispered.
"Nam, aqsm baallh, nam, wsajyba!" Saeed screamed
Yes, I swear to Allah, I will answer! Carmen continued to translate under her breath, simultaneously fascinated and horrified by what was transpiring before her.
"He swears he will answer," Ari said. Jon nodded, and Ari commenced repressurizing the lock. Halfway to full pressurization, he stopped and said through the intercom: "Hl ant mtakd?"
Are you sure? Carmen whispered. Say yes!
"Wana wathq… wana wathq… wana wathq! Aqsm baallh, wana wathq!" Saeed was screaming hysterically again.
I am sure…I am sure…I am sure! I swear by Allah, I am sure! Carmen continued to translate under her breath, terribly afraid for what might happen next.
"He says he'll talk – he swears he will," Ari said with a grin. "Just like old times, huh?" He turned to Carmen. "Did you really think we were going to jettison him?" He slipped an arm around her tiny shoulders. "You know better than that, Doc. We're the good guys!"
Chapter 10
Carmen hovered in a lotus position next to Chen, looking at him, and thinking about the half hour past. Her long black hair was wrapped around her head and piled so that she appeared to be wearing a dark crown. Her pale blue jumpsuit showed her svelte form without advertising as Michele did. She was deep in thought. What would have happened had Saeed not agreed to talk? He certainly believed he was moments from an agonizing death. She had thought so as well. She simply couldn't wrap her mind around what had happened. Two powerful men had bullied a sick little human into agreeing to betray his own beliefs…but what about their safety? What about the mission? What about her own beliefs? Carmen kept stumbling on the simple fact that Jon's and Ari's threats violated every tenant of her Christian faith and her solemn Hippocratic Oath. And yet, without the information they would have obtained by now, they all were threatened. It was confusing and complicated – somewhat like what she experienced when she first began to study biology.
Her childhood faith required that God put his finger into the mix and bring things about in a way that simply didn't agree with what she was learning about what science had discovered. With time, however, she came to understand that her faith had plenty of room to incorporate anything science had to offer. Just as the Church had once believed that the Earth was the center of everything, as human knowledge grew, so – eventually – did the Church's understanding. Not only was it okay for the Sun to rule the Solar System, in the long run, the Solar System's real magnificence totally dwarfed what the Church had earlier believed, and this – in turn – had led to a deeper understanding of God's magnificence. The question of how life came about brought Carmen another quandary, but ultimately, she was able to see the hand of God in the spectacular machinery of life, and in the intricate detail of her own specialty.
Here and now, however, Carmen was faced with another kind of challenge. How do you juxtapose the safety of all against the safety of one – especially when that one has transgressed so grievously against the rest? Where does expedience trump principle?
At that point, Elke drifted into Sickbay, bearing two bulbs of coffee. "A Latté for my favorite Doc," Elke said with a warm, inviting smile.
This was not the first time Elke had come, bearing gifts, and not the first time Carmen had been taken aback by the gesture. "Thank you, Elke. What brings you down here?"
"I heard about the interrogation, and thought you might want some company." Elke reached out and touched Carmen's cheek.
Inwardly, Carmen withdrew, suppressing a sense of revulsion. Instead of responding, she sipped her Latté and busied herself with Chen's feeding tube.
"How's our patient?" Elke asked.
"It's a mystery," Carmen answered, glad to be on another subject. "I've really never seen anything like it." Elke floated to her side, and Carmen allowed herself to drift away from the close proximity of the woman on the make. "Elke…can we talk?"
"Sure…what's up?"
"I know things are pretty loose and randy around here. I also know that you are a confirmed lesbian," Carmen winced a bit at the word, "and I get it that you are attracted to me." She paused and took a long breath. "I'm not wired that way, and my religious faith prohibits what you are asking me to do. Can you understand that? I don't want to hurt your feelings, and I don't want to insult you, but I don't want you to insult me either." Carmen allowed herself to display a little smile. "Can I be your doctor? Can we be friends…without that other intruding into the friendship?"
Elke's face dropped, and Carmen thought she might begin to cry. Then Elke sighed and gave Carmen a sheepish smile. "I think I really knew that, Doc. I'm sorry…you are my doctor, and you are my friend. We'll keep it that way."
#
"Cassini II is near the Jupiter boost, Sahib." The gray bearded man in flowing robe and turban bowed low before the seated Caliph. "Your Houston Hashashiyyin reports that the ship suffered a near disaster when the after tether was struck by a small asteroid."
"Such things are possible?"
"Yes, Sahib…there is more." He placed his forehead on the glistening floor tiles, fully expecting the Caliph's wrath. "Your Jihad Warrior Saeed Esmail was discovered by the crew – he is seriously ill caused by radiation from a solar storm."
"And the rest of the crew?"
"They were protected by a shielded compartment, Sahib."
"And Esmail…?"
"He was undiscovered at the time, Sahib. He was unaware…"
"So the crew was not at fault?"
"No, Sahib. In fact, the crew saved his life…an Indian doctor, Carmen Bhuta – a Christian, Sahib."
"And Esmail's last transmission?"
"Just before the asteroid hit. He was already seriously ill, Sahib. His mind was affected."
The Caliph stroked his beard in contemplation.
"There's more, Sahib." He rolled his shoulders forward, pressing his face against the cool tiles. "The Israeli Ari Rawlins donated the bone marrow that saved Esmail's life."
The Ayatollah Khomeini rose to his feet, his 190-centimeter stature towering over the terrified messenger. "A Jew…a damnable Jew! A Jew saved my warrior?" He lifted his hands into the air just above his face. "Damnation!"
#
Jon informed Houston of the two burst transmissions from Saeed. He told them that he was confident there were no other transmissions. With one-way time at about half-an-hour, two-way conversations were tedious, complicated by the eyes-only restriction Houston had placed on all communications. Rod Zakes especially wanted to know if there had been any transmissions from Cassini II besides Jon's and Saeed's. When Jon told him no, he even asked if Jon knew for sure. Once Jon had satisfied him, Zakes explained.
"NSA has picked up some chatter apparently emanating from the Caliphate that contains current information that only you, I, and a half-dozen other persons know about. I was hoping it came from your end. If so, you could fix that with no Earthside complications. It seems I've got a leak here, Jon, from the inner circle. Do you remember that code you and I created when we attended Crypto school together? The one that nobody could crack? Computerize it at your end. Use an off-line unit, and never put that unit online…ever. We'll use that from now on."
Jon remembered the code well. They each owned original editions of Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and James P. Hogan's Code of the Lifemaker. Their code was a simple double encrypted word substitution. They started with the last word on the last Heinlein page, creating a substitution cipher with those letters followed by the remaining alphabet in order – that for the first word of the message. The next substitution cipher was the second-to-last word on the next-to-last page, then the third-to-last on the third-to-last page, and so forth. If a message actually went through all the book's pages, they would start the cycle again with the second-to-last word on the last page. The encrypted message was then run through exactly the same procedure using the Hogan book. Each successive message in a thread would commence with the next word on the last Heinlein page. The resulting double encrypted messages were virtually impossible to crack without knowing which specific books were used.
Ever since then, Jon had carried page images of those books on his personal digital stash, as he knew Zakes did. He programmed his offline unit to create two word lists following their old algorithm, and then set it up to produce a final double encrypted message copy. He tested the encoder by encrypting a short poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay that both he and Zakes loved:
I burn my candle at both ends,
It will not last the night.
But oh my foes, and oh my friends,
It gives a lovely light.
He sent it off, and about an hour later received an encrypted reply. It broke out to: Yes it does, doesn't it?
They were in business.
#
Saeed's life had always been filled with certainty. He was a devout Shi'i, devoted to the Caliph. He was a Jihadist, a warrior assigned to the most noble task in history. His purpose had always been clear and his focus sharp. This was even more so after his epiphany in the Box, with his new understanding of Allah's purpose in his life (may Allah be blessed).
But then everything changed. Allah seemed to have abandoned him in the middle of his journey, his task unaccomplished. Allah had stricken him with a terrible disease that the Christian doctor had cured with the generous, life-saving donation of a crew member he had tried to kill. To make matters worse, under questioning, he had failed his faith and his training. The Captain and the one they called Ari had broken him in less than a minute. He hung his head in abject shame. He was unworthy of the name warrior. His Jihad was an ignominious failure.
#
With Ari's report that Cassini II's exterior was undamaged, Jon had the crew set up for a burn that would place them for an optimum boost from Jupiter's gravity. Jupiter's disk was visibly growing by the hour, like the hour hand of a clock. You couldn't see it move, but when you looked back, its movement was evident. So, with Jupiter. Jon assembled his astrogation crew in the Core. The first step was to flip the Pullman back to its burn orientation. Once Jon initiated it, the ship's computer was entirely in charge of the operation. Nevertheless, Ginger, Demitri, and Ari took their accustomed places in the Core, strapped in, ready to take over should something go amiss. With the experience they had gained during the first flip, they were able to accomplish this one in a bit less than fifteen minutes. With the Pullman's base firmly locked to the Box, they were ready for the correction burn. Demitri did a final astrogation check, Ginger opened her communication channel and verified that the holocams were receiving, but recording only, since Jon's transmitting prohibition order still was in effect. Ari conducted a final systems check, and all three gave Jon a thumbs-up.
"Let's do it," Jon said, and Ari activated the VASIMR master control. Gyros whined as Cassini II changed her aspect, guided by the computer. Then a slight sense of weight settled over everything, as the VASIMR engines commenced their thrust.
"One tenth gee," Ari announced unnecessarily. "About four times the gravity on Iapetus," he added.
The burn lasted for nearly an hour before it shut down. They now were on the ideal orbit for the Jupiter boost.
"We're doing about one-hundred-seventy kilometers a second," Demitri said as they unbuckled, and headed for the Canteen. "That's going to increase dramatically in the next couple of days.
Jon floated to the port in the crew area, from which he could see Jupiter clearly, its bands appearing angry and alive. "It's beautiful," Ginger said, gliding up beside him, handing him a globe of coffee straight from the urn. They floated in silence, side by side, sipping their coffees, sharing the moment.
Jon was keenly aware of Ginger's closeness, and felt a powerful attraction that was difficult to shake. Over the weeks, he had come to understand that Ginger was signaling, without actually doing so. He remained aloof, not because he wanted to, but because his job demanded that he be. Ginger seemed to respect that, but he often found her nearby when he was not doing anything.
"Mon Capitaine …mon Cherie Ginger!" Michele floated into the space between them, her bubbly presence totally altering the mood. "It's sooo beeeutifool," she said expansively. "I could look at this all day."
Jon had to agree. As they watched, the Great Spot crept past the western edge to begin its transit of the planet's face. Jupiter was noticeably larger as Jon retreated to his cabin. He was expecting traffic from Zakes any time now. As he shut the door, Ginger poked in her head to announce incoming traffic, including a personal from Zakes.
Jon took the message off the Link and passed it to his offline unit where his program quickly made it readable.
"I found the leak. It was Alex Jinnah, one of my Mission Control engineers. His full name is Eskandar Ali Jinnah. It turns out this guy was a somewhat reluctant participant. Once I identified him, he spilled his guts. He was an Isma'ili sleeper, a Nizari Hashashiyyin, put in place while he still was in grade school. He was recently activated and forced to report to the Caliphate, by threats of violence against several distant family members in Iran. That's the bad news. The good news is that he will work for us as a counter-agent. I'm his control. With his assistance, I think we can get to the bottom of this."
There was more, but this covered the essence of their problem. Jon had to decide what to do with his unwelcome guest. It would have been much easier had he not survived the transplant, but now Jon had to deal with the problem. He called Ari by Link, asking him to bring Saeed to his cabin.
