Axis crossing, p.13
Axis Crossing, page 13
“Looking too good,” Timor said. The data stream froze on the final measurements. “Perfect for humans,” he noted.
“Could this be for our benefit?” Rachner asked. “Meaning, the aliens know what we need, even though it’s not right for them.”
“One way to find out,” Timor said. “Does everybody exit, or are we asking for a volunteer?”
When nearly everyone, except Harlyn, raised a hand to volunteer, Harlyn laughed. “I don’t want to see bloodshed about who gets to go out. I guess we’re all exiting.”
Harlyn glanced up to catch Knut’s disappointed expression. He was standing in the doorway to the pilot’s cabin. “If the opportunity presents itself, Knut,” she promised, and he nodded his acceptance.
Knut made his way past the specialists and equipment racks to the rear hatch. As a habit, he checked his telltales. They were all green. Then he smacked the hatch release. The door swung open, and a short ramp extended from the undercarriage.
Harlyn descended the ramp first, and the specialists followed her.
The team stood on the deck for a few minutes, observing the bay’s spotless interior.
“My cabin isn’t this clean,” Harlyn commented.
Dan held a small instrument, which he pointed at the only possible exit from the bay. “The energy in that screen isn’t weak,” he said. “It’s not decorative. I think it’s a barrier.”
“To act as an airlock or to keep pesky humans out of the ship’s interior?” Dan asked.
The team was heading toward one of the vessels, with its distinctive hull, when Sherilyn whispered urgently, “The energy barrier.”
Harlyn and the specialists saw the barrier shimmer. Then a beautifully proportioned woman, with an attractive face, passed through the curtain to enter the bay.
“A human,” Harlyn whispered. She and the team were relieved to see her.
“Greetings,” the woman said. “My name is Miriamal.”
11: We Need Your Leader
“Hello, Miriamal,” Harlyn replied. “Why have you come here?”
“It was not our intention to meet you,” Miriamal said. “Circumstances dictated otherwise.”
“Are you in trouble?” Dahlia asked. There was something in Miriamal’s nature that bothered her. Her mannerisms were improbably smooth and practiced.
“Our ship encountered difficulties passing through the anomaly,” Miriamal replied. “We’ve need of replacement parts that aren’t carried aboard. We must manufacture them planetside.”
“I doubt we would have the necessary processes to construct your parts,” Timor said. Like his partner, he was unsettled by Miriamal’s behavior.
“Assuredly, you wouldn’t,” Miriamal replied, with a bright smile. “We would be willing to exchange our fabrication methods for the use of your facilities.”
Harlyn was suddenly excited. She’d hoped for such an outcome from their first contact, but thought it was an absurd fantasy. “I think that offer would be something our director of operations would find acceptable,” she said.
“Is this the title of your leader?” Miriamal inquired.
“On this planet, which is a mining company, Peter Doell is the senior person,” Harlyn explained.
“We would appreciate an introduction to Director of Operations Peter Doell,” Miriamal said.
“Is it possible to tour your ship before we make arrangements for your visit planetside?” Erin asked.
“Regrettably, that can’t be allowed,” Miriamal replied. “The anomaly’s energy exceeded our ship’s ability to absorb it.”
“Absorb?” Rachner inquired.
“Our hull’s shell collects gravitational energy to power our engines,” Miriamal explained. “We can use the forces to push or pull our ship within a system.”
“You were saying why we can’t tour,” Erin pursued.
“Many of the parts that were destroyed released toxic gases,” Miriamal said.
“Yet, you walked into this bay without protective gear,” Dan pointed out.
“Forgive me for not explaining,” Miriamal said. “I’m not human. We’re called SADEs. The term is an acronym for self-aware digital entities.”
“You’re digital sentients?” Rachner asked, in surprise.
“Indeed, we are,” Miriamal replied. “Don’t you have them among your human population?”
“Our worlds are entirely human,” Harlyn replied. “You’re our first ...”
“Alien?” Miriamal suggested. “You’re welcome to use the term. We’re not offended by it.”
“Pardon this question, Miriamal,” Timor began. “You say your ship was damaged by passage through the wormhole. That intimates that your journey through it was your initial loop. How was it you came through it without first testing it?”
“Wormhole?” Miriamal queried. “Interesting name for the anomaly. I take it you’ve conquered travel through the wormholes.”
“Yes,” Harlyn replied. “We use Axis-ships. Spinning rings generate a magnetic field, which protects a ship that floats within the rings.”
Harlyn couldn’t understand why the more she spoke, the more the specialists cast warning glances in her direction. She was sure that Miriamal spotted these looks, and it embarrassed her.
“Our pilot hoped to examine one of these ships,” Harlyn said. “Would you mind?”
“Not at all,” Miriamal replied. “In fact, if you wish we can visit your domes in one of our travelers.”
“Then these ships are shuttles?” Sherilyn queried.
“Nothing more,” Miriamal replied. “They use the same propulsion method as this ship, which means they can traverse a system without the need to consume reaction mass.”
Harlyn summoned Knut, who happily exited Merrie to take a close look at a traveler. He ran his hand over the ultrasmooth shell. Standing at the bow, he sighted along the midship curve toward the after end. “Superb engineering,” he commented.
When Miriamal offered again to have the team ride with her planetside, Timor spoke first. “That’s gracious of you to offer, Miriamal,” he said. “Perhaps, a later time would be better. I believe it would be best for us to return in advance of you, speak to the director of operations first, and get his permission for your landing.”
“If you think that’s best,” Miriamal said, relenting.
“I would agree,” replied Dahlia, backing her partner before Harlyn could speak. “Your ship and you have been a complete surprise, and it’s best we explain your needs in person. Your offer has been most generous, and we’ll convey that to Director Doell.”
“Your support would be appreciated,” Miriamal acknowledged. “How will you communicate your director of operation’s approval?”
“We can flash the shuttleport’s landing lights,” Knut offered. “Repeating regularly and slowly is approval. Irregular and intermittent is negative.”
“If your Peter Doell is unswayed by our offer of an exchange, is there an alternative?” Miriamal asked.
“There might be,” Harlyn promised. “If that’s the case, we’ll return to discuss options.”
“You would find us pleased to accommodate your requests,” Miriamal said. “I’ll vacate the bay. After you board your shuttle, we’ll make arrangements to facilitate launch.”
The team members watched Miriamal exit the bay. The SADE’s entrance had taken them by surprise, but something inhuman about her motions had registered in their hindbrains. As Miriamal crossed the deck to leave, conscious thoughts recognized what had disturbed them. Miriamal didn’t so much walk as she glided.
Knut and the specialists turned and hurried to board Merrie.
Harlyn was surprised by the alacrity with which the team members raced up the shuttle ramp.
Anxious moments were spent, while the air in the bay was evacuated and the bay doors opened. Then Knut maneuvered Merrie out of the bay with thrusters. After clearing the alien ship, he fired his main engines and descended toward the planet.
“What did I miss?” Harlyn asked, after Merrie was underway.
“I don’t like her,” Sherilyn said flatly.
“Echo that,” Erin added.
“Specifics, please,” Harlyn requested.
“For one, Miriamal never asked for introductions,” Erin replied. “Why not?”
“I have the answer to that,” Knut called out. “I didn’t care for Miriamal either. On a hunch, I ran Merrie’s computer contact log. While we were aboard the ship, there were downloads, including the passenger manifest, which has your names, images, titles, et cetera.”
The team members turned to stare pointedly at Harlyn.
“Self-aware digital entities,” Rachner said warningly. “Maybe a giant ship full of them.”
“On another note, Miriamal never answered my question about why they’d enter a wormhole without first testing it,” Timor pointed out. “In fact, she neatly avoided it by changing the subject. You have to ask yourself why they would take the risk.”
“What’s your supposition, Timor?” Harlyn requested.
“I know what would force me to dive into an unknown anomaly,” Timor replied. “Terrifying fear of something chasing me that meant an end to my freedom or maybe my life.”
There was quiet, while the team thought through what was learned from Knut and offered by team members. The information shed a different light on Miriamal’s words.
“To continue the list of complaints,” Rachner said, “Miriamal never spoke of injuries or deaths. That implies every entity aboard the ship is a SADE. If so, why did only one individual enter the bay? As Timor pointed out, Miriamal deftly maneuvered around various subjects.”
“This might be petty to say,” Dahlia began, “but why would a digital entity choose to inhabit an avatar to appear like a perfect woman? An ancillary question is who was the model for the avatar? Another one is where did the SADEs originate that they knew humans?”
“In summary, Harlyn,” Dan said, “there are too many indications that Miriamal was directing the conversation. We must understand why. These SADEs represent a potential danger to those of us on Beta Two and to humankind.”
Harlyn was shocked at how she’d misread the entire encounter with Miriamal. X-Ore’s captive specialists had kept their eyes and ears open, and she hadn’t. She was alone with her thoughts until Knut flipped Merrie over and began the tail-down descent. The g-force of deceleration had the effect of clearing her mind.
If the sendoff had appeared to the team to be an unexpected occasion, their reception was an absolutely raucous affair, with twice the number of attendees crowded into the shuttleport’s passenger area.
Dahlia yelled into her partner’s ear to be heard. She shouted, “Hard to tell if they’re happy for us because they didn’t expect us to return, or if they’re celebrating a successful first contact.”
Timor shouted back, “I think it’s both.”
“They’ve no idea what we’ve encountered,” Dan said loudly to his partner, Erin.
“No, they don’t,” Erin replied. “I’ve a mind to meet Peter Doell. I think we have to take matters into our hands.”
Dan nodded, and the couple passed the suggestion to others, who readily agreed with the idea.
To the specialists’ surprise, Harlyn also approved.
“Doell and I don’t have the best of relationships,” Harlyn said, while leaving the shuttleport on a passenger transport. “He might take the news better from the group.”
“And what will be our news?” Timor asked.
“There’s potential danger above us,” Harlyn replied forcefully. “We’d better handle this contact carefully, or we might find ourselves in greater trouble than we could have imagined.”
“How do you think Doell will react to this advice?” Rachner inquired.
“Poorly, I would imagine,” Harlyn replied, “but we can only try.”
“When?” Erin asked.
“Now,” Harlyn replied. “Doell will be expecting us. We’ll meet in his conference room. His office doesn’t have chairs for anyone else.”
The specialists stared aghast at Harlyn, and she merely shrugged, as if to say that was Doell’s preference.
“You good with coming along?” Timor asked Knut, who’d sat quietly behind the group.
“Never met the man,” Knut replied laconically. “Thought it might be time.”
The transport stopped in the main tunnel near the elevator that serviced the planet’s administration building. Harlyn’s position allowed her access to the elevator to take them to the top floor. Soon the group was striding down the corridor to Doell’s suite complex.
When Harlyn entered the inner office, the assistant pointed at Doell’s inner sanctum. “He’s waiting for you,” he said.
“We’ll wait in the conference room,” Harlyn replied, leading the group to the adjacent room. “Tell Doell that he needs to hear from all of us.”
The shocked assistant watched the team file past. At the rear, Knut stopped, offered his hand, and introduced himself.
Immediately, the assistant ran to Doell’s office and informed him of Harlyn’s message. Doell imperially waved him out and sat thinking. He’d heard of the heroic welcome in the shuttleport. That he could have swallowed — allowing Harlyn her moment. However, her marching into his conference room with the team of specialists and the pilot spoke of important news about what they’d encountered.
Doell didn’t like surprises, and he considered how he might mitigate anything unsuspected. When the idea occurred to him, he commed his assistant and returned to reviewing reports.
Harlyn’s group, who had expected Doell to march into the conference room, sat for nearly a quarter hour discussing their contact with Miriamal and the alien ship.
Then Doell’s five senior managers were ushered into the conference room by the assistant.
The specialists stood, and Harlyn made the introductions.
“Our congratulations on a fantastically successful mission,” Lemil Boydston, the accountant, said expansively.
“Not bad for a bunch of captives,” Timor remarked sarcastically, and the senior managers had the grace to appear chagrined.
When Saran Auernhammer, the personnel manager, started to reply, Timor waved it away. “An apology at this late date really doesn’t interest us. Besides, we’d have no way of knowing whether you should be believed or not.”
In the awkward silence, Jeffrey Witcher, the engineer, asked, “Why have we been invited to this meeting?”
“Good question,” Harlyn replied. “My guess is that Doell is trying to cover his rear end. You know how he doesn’t like surprises or bad news, and we’ve both.”
The department heads exchanged concerned glances before they joined others at the table.
Soon afterward, Doell breezed into the conference room, took his place at the head of the table, and said, “I’ve got a few minutes. Please update me.”
While Harlyn figuratively bit her tongue and tried to think of an appropriate reply, Rachner said, “These domes are in danger of being taken over by an alien force. Thereafter, humankind might be in danger.”
For the first time that any X-Ore employee could remember, Doell’s mouth fell open and remained that way, while he struggled to respond.
“Perhaps, we should start at the beginning,” Harlyn said, careful to hide her pleasure that someone had gotten the best of Doell.
Doell gratefully extended a hand toward Harlyn to speak.
Harlyn faithfully reported every instance of their contact. For the moment, she left out the concerns and suppositions of the team.
“I’m not hearing of any danger,” Doell objected, when Harlyn finished, and he turned a baleful eye toward Rachner.
“That’s an objective summation,” Harlyn said. “I’d like the team and our pilot to report their analyses of the strange aspects of the encounter.”
Without waiting for approval, Harlyn gestured toward Timor, who began with his point about the SADEs looping through a wormhole without having tested it.
Timor’s conjectures shocked Doell and the department heads. They knew the history of Naiad’s decades of effort to successfully conquer wormhole travel.
Timor ended with his supposition about the SADEs being chased. “You’d have to ask yourself what would frighten the SADEs so much that they’d risk extinction by diving into an unknown anomaly.”
After Timor, the other specialists shared their suppositions.
When the team finished, the attendees turned their heads toward Knut, who hadn’t spoken.
“I’ve these two things to add,” Knut said. “First, either Miriamal or another entity within the alien ship bypassed Merrie’s security with ease, perused the computer’s entire data trove, and downloaded about a third of the information.”
Knut turned toward Patty and added, “My thought is that your networks and servers aren’t safe. Imagine if one SADE was inside a dome, and that entity took over our servers and shut down facility services. The SADEs probably don’t need air, water, or food, but we do.”
“And your second thing?” Doell inquired.
“You had to see that alien ship up close and that includes what they call a traveler,” Knut replied. “The engineering is exemplary. It far surpasses anything we possess.”
Doell’s few minutes that he had originally allowed the team had been far eclipsed by the discussions. Now, the attendees were quiet, digesting the information that had been shared.
“I’d like to offer my own supposition to the team,” Elisabeth Flaum, the facilities manager, said, “and I’d like to hear their opinions. Let’s take the stance that the SADEs do represent a clear danger to us. That their intentions are hostile if we fail to be completely cooperative. Then how would you view what you heard from Miriamal?”
The team laughed but not derisively.
“That’s an easy one,” Dahlia said. Then she enumerated the points on her fingers. “The SADEs are aware of wormholes. They can pass through them unharmed, and there never was damage to their ship.”
“Then Miriamal had another reason for not allowing us to tour the ship,” Harlyn interjected.
