We have them
under observation at all times. As soon as we see their missiles fueling, we
will plan a time on target strike to get them while they are starting their
accent.
Try to avoid
casualties if possible. But get their missiles, no matter what. I don’t want
us to suffer casualties either.
He cut the link
so his brother wouldn’t listen in on his next thoughts.
Surely they
wouldn’t be crazy enough to start a nuclear war. But if he believes his
murderous God will protect him, no matter what, he might just start a nuclear
exchange
. The First Councilman shivered just a moment with real fear.
Hrrottha was also the name of the blue giant that Scientist Sharrann Lestacor
was so afraid was going to supernova in less than two years. That was no
coincidence, since the Honish worshiped the brightest star in the sky.
And
if it blows, none of the rest of this crap matters. But I can’t think like
that. I have to plan and lead as if there is a future. Not like it’s going
to end any instant.
* * *
“You have
gravity?” was the first thing that Lamsat said as he stepped onto the deck and
the human captain came forward in welcome. “We did not see your ship spinning
when we approached.”
“We have
artificial gravity,” said the human as she pushed forward her strange looking
manipulation unit again.
Artificial
gravity?
thought the Astronaut, looking at the member and wondering what he
was supposed to do with it, then reaching a pair of his manipulating tentacles
forward to clasp the unit.
Is such a thing possible?
We have known
of the possibility for over a decade,
came back the thoughts of one of his
siblings, one who worked in high energy physics research.
But we are many
decades away from being able to manipulate gravity in such a way, if not
hundreds of years.
Then all
thoughts of artificial gravity were no longer at the forefront, as he watched
the officer the human was introducing come forward.
“This is the
commander of my Marine detachment, Lt. J’rrantar.”
By the Gods
,
thought Lamsat, looking up into the face of the being. What he saw was an
alarming set of jaws in a scaled face, with intelligent green eyes looking at
him with interest. The creature was six limbed, walking on four, with a second
torso reaching up from the first, sporting two very strong looking arms and
manipulation digits similar to those of the human’s.
If they have warriors
like this, we would be doomed even in a conventional fight.
“And Petty
Officer Hi’tarris, one of my electronics techs.”
The second being
was also larger than the Captain, about of a size with Lamsat himself. And
while not as fearsomely armed as the huge Marine, his sharp looking beak was
still a formidable weapon.
“And this is my
crewmate, Hzzart Nastra,” said Lamsat, introducing his partner. It still
sounded strange using the translation program the humans had provided. When
they spoke, they heard the words come out of their own mouths in their
language, yet the aliens seemed to understand them. When the aliens talked,
they could hear the foreign, incomprehensible words, but they also heard their
own language.
“How many
species have you enslaved?” asked the female Astronaut, her own primary eyes
moving back and forth between the two alien species.
“The Phlistarans
and Gryphons are not slaves of my people, but free members of our Empire,” said
the human. “As are over a score of other species. And we trade with even
more.”
“And do you
fight any of them?” asked Lamsat, unable to tell if the alien was speaking the
truth or not. After all, he could not even begin to read their body language
or voice tones. It might be years before any of his people could. He hoped
the same was also true the other way, but had no way of knowing.
“We try to get
along with the other space going species,” said the human, showing her teeth in
what looked like a grimace, but could have been anything. “But not everyone
gets along, and there have been wars. We’ve even started few ourselves, I’m
sorry to say.”
The human looked
around for a moment, then motioned toward an open hatchway. “And if you would
come with us, we have a more comfortable venue where we can talk.”
Hzzarts wants
to know if you believe them
, said one of his siblings.
Lamsat glanced
at his companion for a moment, nodding his head.
I do believe them, to a
point
, he told his sibling on the planet through the quantum connection of
their brains. That sibling talked with one of Hzzarts’ sisters, in the same
room or by communicator. Only siblings from the same litter could communicate
in such a manner, but using this method was the next best thing to his having
telepathic communication with his partner.
And they can’t tell what we’re
saying to each other, or even if we’re communicating.
And then a thought
struck that concerned him. If the aliens also had quantum connectedness in
their mental makeup, they might guess what was going on, and with their tech
they might actually be able to intercept it.
They walked
through thirty meters of corridor and entered a lift, which whisked them away
from where they entered to somewhere else on the ship. The lift opened up on
another corridor which looked much like the one they had just left.
“Did we even
move?” asked Nastra as they stepped out of the lift. “I felt nothing.”
“The
compensators in the lift took up all the inertia,” said the human, giving them
another of those full tooth grimaces which Lamsat was beginning to suspect
weren’t such after all. “It’s the same system we use on our ships when we
move, though nowhere near as powerful.”
The door to a
room opened as they approached, sliding into the wall smooth and silent, and
the Captain gestured them into the chamber, which had a long table and some
chairs, as well as a bench like thing that defied their understanding. Until
the huge alien settled himself into it and made himself comfortable.
“I’m afraid we
don’t have chair configured to your physiognomy, at least yet. But if you sit
in them for a little while they will start configuring themselves to you. As
far as refreshments, I have ordered water, as well as a sampling of other
beverages, to be delivered here. As far as we can tell, you have a similar
enough biochemistry to our own that none of our foodstuffs should cause any
harm, though I can’t guarantee the taste.”
“How do you know
we have the same biochemistry as you do?” asked Nastra, her secondary eyes
moving in alarm. “Do you have sensory systems that allow you to do that?”
“It was the
nanites that have gotten into your systems since you came aboard,” said the
human Captain, who then looked as if she had mentioned something she shouldn’t
have.
“What are
nanites?” asked Nastra, as Lamsat wondered yet again if he was misreading the
aliens.
Our experts
think that we are starting to get a read on the body language of the humans,
said his sibling who was a psychologist.
The images coming across are
clear.
Amazing
technology
, thought the Astronaut in his own private processes. Everything
he was seeing was also seen by his siblings while he allowed those images to
pass from his mind to theirs. And the Psychologist was able, through a state
of the art implant, to transmit those images to a vid for other experts to
watch.
She was
definitely uncomfortable with what she just said to you,
came the thought
of his sibling.
“Nanites are
nanoscale robots,” said the human after a long hesitation. “We use them for
just about everything on this ship, from basic maintenance of equipment, to the
protection of our bodily systems. As soon as you came aboard you must have
ingested some into your systems, and they looked over your cells and sent the
information to our medical database.”
“You let these
things get into us,” said Nastra, her primary eyes widening while her
secondaries went into overdrive. She started scratching at the back of her
tentacles, as if she felt the things attacking her.
“They will not
harm you,” said the human. “We have been using them for over a thousand years,
and they are perfectly safe.”
Not according
to our research,
came the thought to Lamsat from his sibling.
Our
researchers feel that they can be as dangerous as any technology we have ever
developed.
But they are
so much more advanced than we are
, sent back Lamsat, trying to imagine just
how much further along the tech scale these aliens were.
“Our people
think these, nanites, can be dangerous if not deployed with sufficient safety,”
said Lamsat, looking into the eyes of the human. A moment later he was
interrupted as more humans entered the room, bearing trays with glasses full of
several colored liquids.
“We have a lot
more experience with this tech than you do,” said the Captain, picking up one
if the glasses from a tray and taking a sip. “Try them. They’re safe as
well.”
Lamsat reached
for a glass that contained an orange colored liquid, brought it to his
ingestion orifice, and took a sip. He gave a grunt of surprise at the taste
and sipped some more. “This is delicious.”
“That’s orange
juice,” said the human. “It comes from a Terran tree.”
“My brother
thinks it’s delicious,” said Lamsat, closing his mouth tight as he thought what
he had said.
They don’t know we can communicate with each other mind to
mind. And that is an ability I’m not sure we want to give up yet.
“Why would your
brother think it’s delicious?” asked the large alien they called a Phlistaran.
“He couldn’t have known anything about orange juice.”
“It’s just an
expression,” said Lamsat, communicating through his link to his sibling, who
talked to his partner’s sibling, who communicated back to her.
The human
Captain looked at him strangely, and he looked away, refusing to meet her gaze
while he talked in lies. He looked up after a moment, still aware of her gaze
on him through his secondaries. He really didn’t know how intelligent these
creatures were. More than his own people? He wouldn’t be surprised, not only
because of their tech, but also due to their ability to get along with other
species, while his own couldn’t even get along with themselves.
“And what does
your high command think of us?” asked the Captain, narrowing her eyes at
Lamsat, another gesture he was unsure of. “Do they see us as friends from the
stars, or invaders?”
“They’re not
sure yet, Captain,” said Lamsat, knowing exactly how his high command thought,
if not the commanders of the other nations. He could feel his hearts beating
faster, knowing that he did not like this kind of maneuvering. Especially with
creatures he could not read all that well. And the information being sent to
him by his sibling was all guess work as far as he was concerned. “That is why
we are here.”
* * *
Are you
thinking what I’m thinking, Exec,
sent Albright through her com link.
Telepathy,
ma’am?
asked Sekumbe.
Do you really think that’s possible? Or if it’s
just a misunderstanding of the translation program.
That would be
the smart way to bet
, sent the Captain, rubbing her chin with her thumb and
forefinger.
But we’re not picking up any kind of transmission from them to
the planet. In fact, with our EW platforms active, that would be impossible
for their tech level. If there is a chance that they have some kind of mind to
mind transmission, we have to pursue it. What do you think, Doctor.
The nanites
are sending back a pretty complete physiological profile,
sent back Lt.
Commander Sophia Romanov, the ship’s surgeon, as well as their chief of
exobiology.
If he were human, I would say he is distressed by what he is
saying. If he were human, I would say he was lying. And I’m getting a fairly
complete energy profile on his brain. A small area in one of the lobes has
been very active in both of the aliens. I can’t say what it is, but it is not
activating in response to their speech.
“I’m sure you’ll
want to contact your high command,” she said to the larger of the aliens, the
male. “We can put in touch with them through our com.”
“I would
appreciate that, Captain,” said the Alien.
Albright nodded
to Hi’tarris and the Gryphon tech manipulated some controls on his board. At
that moment the face of another alien appeared on the holo over the table, and
Lamsat started as he found himself looking through the holographic
communication. The aliens started speaking, and though they heard everything
that was being said through the translation program, everything seemed to be pretty
innocuous.
Those brain
areas are radiating with high energy
, sent Romanov.
Again, not in sync
with their speech. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m willing to bet that it’s
some kind of communication.
“Excuse me,
gentleman, and lady” said Captain Albright. “I have a question to ask you and
your leader.”
Both the alien
on the holo and the two in the conference room looked at her, all of their
eyes, primaries and secondaries, focusing on the human.
“And you able to
communicate mind to mind?”
All of the eyes
changed, turning to a fierce glare on the leader, and to panicked orbs on the
Astronauts.
That caused some physiological stress on the two on board
,
came the com link transmission from the Doctor.
I think you hit a real
nerve there.
“Ma’am,” came a
call over the voice com. “We’re tracking a launch from the largest land mass.”