WE HAVE CONTACT (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 12) (20 page)

“I take it you think they are idiots? Please, don’t hold back your opinion on this new species on my account.” Captain Kael-ven T’chmon hissed in laughter.

Royleen threw both of his arms out, “It'd be good if you would not bait me, Captain. I am too easy for you and no challenge right now. They are building what, at that base? Something, but then we have this affront to my eyes spinning in the air for us to look at in all of it’s horrible reality. They have no logic in their efforts.”

Captain Kael-ven T’chmon continued, “Ok, enough discussion about these people and their intelligence. Obviously, they are too easy a target,” Melorn hissed and then grabbed his mouth with both hands and his eyes turned towards his captain in alarm. “Do not worry, Melorn. In here, we are speaking. Do not be disrespectful on purpose, and I will not have an issue.” Melorn nodded his understanding and put his hands down. “Let’s get down to business related to the acquisition of intelligence. Namely, species samples.”

“Their world’s gravity is twelve percent heavier than ours; their oxygen based world is breathable without a mask. I might not suggest it considering some pollutants sensors suggest they are polluting their world. Perhaps that is why they are trying to do something so they can to leave the planet,” Royleen said.

“Still attacking them, Royleen?” Captain Kael-ven T’chmon asked.

“No, merely offering a logical reason for not producing beauty along with their practical efforts.”

Captain Kael-ven T’chmon turned to his military advisor, “Kiel, Tell me the plans regarding your mission…”

QBS ArchAngel

Bethany Anne walked in from the most recent meeting and tossed her tablet on her bed. Ashur wasn’t in her room, so she supposed he went hunting for food. She needed to see what she could do to find him some companionship.

She sighed loudly. Now they had a spaceship running around that wanted to know if humans would make good slaves while they stripped their system of anything we could use to get out on the galactic scene.

Fucking great.

At least she had the Defender positioned out at the exit. So long as the Annex Gate was live, they had a shot.

If they could grab the ship without the Annex Gate closing, that would be fucking outstanding.

>>Bethany Anne.<<

Yes, ADAM?

>>I find myself using more than an efficient amount of calculation cycles working out a way to help Yuko cope.<<

And you want, exactly what, Adam? Are you asking for advice, or are you seeking direction? What have you done so far?

>>I have read all of the necessary and pertinent information I can acquire through the Internet and other various means.<<

Hold on, what do you mean ‘and other various means’?

>>Would it be permissible at the moment to request us to move past that question?<<

Oh, hell no! Have you helped yourself to specific information that perhaps you should not have?

>>That is a subjective question, is it not? To understand what could be bothering Yuko, I needed to find information from doctors.<<

Bethany and considered his statement and parsed it before coming to the realization of what ADAM was not saying.
Did you go into doctor’s files and read their notes related to private conversations they have had with their patients?

>>Yes, it seemed the most relevant way to understand what might be bothering Yuko, and how a professional might try to help.<<

ADAM, that can be a very delicate situation. There is a lot of nuance a doctor is not going to place into their files and therefore can skew the results and or the diagnosis. Plus, that particular doctor might not be appropriate for the patient they are caring for. There are so many different ways that this could go wrong, I’m not sure I could even remotely figure a quarter of them out.

>>Unfortunately, I came to the same conclusion. I looked at the statistics and found that doctors, and psychologists in particular, have yet to figure out if it was their effort which helped. Or was it merely speaking to a doctor and the patient’s efforts to get better that was the primary factor facilitating the turnaround.<<

Okay, then why are you coming to me? Is Yuko trying to accomplish something to help her situation with her father?

>>I believe if she had an answer to help herself and needed my help, she would speak with me. However, I have figured out that her work efficiency has been dropping. She is now down 14% from her peak two months ago.<<

And what do you believe that is telling you?

>>I believe that she is going through a long-term mental sickness that she needs help to overcome.<<

And how do you propose we would do this?

>>Boss, that is why I came to you.<<

Bethany Anne flopped down on her bed, covering her eyes. Some days, it didn’t pay to get out from under the covers in the morning.

Ok, give me the overview from the top, quickly.
Bethany Anne sped up into Vampire speed, taking ADAM’s download in a second in a half.
 

Ok, here is what we shall plan to do…

Space Station One - L2

“I’m telling you Adarsh,” Coach said, “It’s the Cowboy Way.”

“I am not understanding what you are feeding me, Coach.” Adarsh was looking at the mess Coach had on the workbench in front of him.

“Adarsh, I’m not feeding you anything, I’m trying to explain,” Coach said, and added, muttering, “I swear, sometimes it’s like you aren’t human Adarsh.” He grabbed the roughly two-foot square device the two of them had made over the last couple of weeks and turned it. “Look, here is the adaption we did for the scope. Assuming our wayward visitor is upsetting anything at any level with gravity, it must be fluxing something, right?”

“Yes, that is what I explained related to Gauss’s Law for Gravity,” Adarsh responded. “So why are you destroying it?”

Coach laughed, “Adarsh, in the Navy we never destroyed anything, we did what our Army buddies would call field-expedient modifications.” He reached behind him to grab an oscilloscope, “So, we are going to tweak these filters you created…”

“Yes!” Adarsh interrupted, “That is what bothers me. Those are carefully calculated and painstakingly created, I might add, filters you are about to break.”

Coach attached two clips to the device in front of him, “I’m not breaking, so don’t get your panties in a twist.”

Adarsh’s shoulders dropped, “Coach, I don’t understand why you keep referring to my undergarments as panties. I have looked this up, and panties are strictly for females. I do not wear female underwear underneath my clothes,” Adarsh replied.

“It’s a common saying…Where did you say you were raised?” Coach asked, half listening.

“Detroit.”

“USA?”

“Is there another Detroit?” Adarsh asked in response, but Coach didn’t answer as he typed in a few commands and then unplugged a USB connection.

“Ok,” Coach finished, pulling off his clips. “Now we just need this to be put in the right place.”

“Where is that?” Adarsh asked.

Coach turned to look at him confused, “Outside, of course.”

G’laxix Sphaea

“Kiel,” the Captain's voice came through the speakers in the back of his office, “we are three solar hours from our drop off point, is your team ready?”

“Yes, Captain,” Kiel answered, “We have the acquisition devices tuned by Doctor Royleen. According to the old databanks information, these should work with little long-term physical damage.”

“How many are you taking on your teams?”
 

“Twelve, sir.”

“Who is seconded here on the ship?”
 

“Bo’cha’tien is staying. She is capable, sir.”

“I assume she is if you are leaving her in charge. Now, make sure you and your people come back yourselves. She doesn’t need to be thrust into responsibilities before her time.”

“Yes, sir.”

“T’chmon out.”

Kiel waited a moment, trying to understand the emotions he was feeling. He pinpointed the problem. His Captain cared whether he lived or died.

Kiel stood up from his desk and walked around it. Pushing his thoughts to the side as something he would unwrap at a later date.

—

“I’m British, and we are cynical that way,” Penn, the boss at Space Station One, was giving Coach and Adarsh a critical eye as they explained why they wanted to go for a space walk, “we assume everything is going to fuck up and then work from that assumption.”
 

“That’s…” Coach started and then stopped. Nothing he would say would change decades of cultural indoctrination.

“Right, that’s a negative way to look at life, but we would say it saves lives. Specifically, yours, perhaps. You two believe this,” he waved his hand and the metal box on the cart between the two men, “is going to help us?”

“Yes, sir.” Coach quickly spoke up.

Penn noticed Adarsh didn’t say anything, “Adarsh?”

“Well, sir, I believe it has possibilities. We have done our best, and then we have done our best to, uh, enhance it.” He finished, looking over at Coach who was ignoring him.

“Ok, permission granted, but you two keep your heads out there, ok?”

Coach smiled and turned to push the cart out of Penn’s office. He noticed Adarsh about to speak and ran over his foot with the cart, “Oh! My bad Adarsh. Hey, can you help me here?”
 

Penn rolled his eyes. He had just given permission to Abbott and Costello to go on a spacewalk.

God help him.

—

“Can I NOT get a decent cup of coffee?” Bree looked at the coffee maker in disgust. No matter how many times she tried to educate those around here on how to brew a good cup of coffee, the Neanderthals refused to learn about cleaning the brewer or using cold water. She could go back to her room and brew herself a personal cup with the small coffee maker Bobcat had sent up for her, but it was across the station which would be a pretty far walk. She pushed the carafe back onto the warmer with disgust.

Turning around, she saw Coach and Adarsh pushing something past the cafeteria’s door and started walking that way. She waved good-bye to Kris who was working on something at one of the tables.

Those two were always good for a laugh, and since she had no coffee, she needed something funny to help her mood.

ReaLea was walking along the corridor and waved to Coach and Adarsh as she headed towards the cafeteria. She was about ten feet from the door when Bree came blitzing out of the room, headed after Coach with a look of determination on her face. ReaLea stopped, looked at the Cafeteria door enticing her to come and enjoy the food within and then back to her friends. She rolled her eyes and turned around to follow Bree, “This had better be good…”

G’laxix Sphaea

“Kiel, this is the bridge, the Captain says one solar hour, is your team ready?”

Kiel clicked the microphone on his helmet, “Yes, we are doing last minute testing of our equipment, sir.”

“Understood,” the click in his ear signaling he was alone with his thoughts again. Kiel didn’t want to screw up this mission. He had personal conversations with Royleen, and now he was getting excited about the possibilities for the discovery. Apparently, this species could mine in outer space and had capabilities that allowed them to live and survive. While Royleen was still unsure if they were lucky idiots or idiot savants, he did admit the early indications from the research missiles they had released while traveling around the system were looking good.

They might have struck it rich in this system. It was out of the way, the Kurtherians weren’t here, so this world wasn’t previously claimed by the only other group that would make their King hesitate, and they could Annex it with first rights.

As far as Kiel could tell, his Captain was honest and wouldn’t do something to lessen the crew's shares when they arrived back at Yoll. If everything went as it looked like it should, in less than a standard solar year he would be independently wealthy.

The first of his family in total control of his destiny.

Unless Captain T’chmon asked him to join another research/scout operation. If he did, Kiel would be the first to sign up.

Life couldn’t get better than it was right now for someone of his caste.

—

Coach and Adarsh were locking the new data acquisition device down when Bree spoke over the group's comms, “Coach, update please.”

“The same as three minutes ago, Bree. We are outside, in space. I have mere millimeters of protection between my ass and vacuum. If that doesn’t make a man pucker up, I’m not sure what will.”

“Pucker up?” Adarsh cut in, “I thought that was a phrase for when a man asked a woman to kiss him?”

Coach smiled as the laughter from Bree and ReaLea came over the group's communications, “No, Adarsh. Detroit did you say?”
 

“Yes, why?”

“I’ve simply got to see your neighborhood. In this case, it means my sphincter can’t possibly get tighter due to worry about losing atmosphere.”