A Simple Truth (17 page)

"Any idea of size
?"
h
e asked, now sharing Hank's anxiety to the full.

"No, we can't determine that yet, but they're only
twenty-one
million kilometres away now, so we'll soon know all about them."

"What was Naganda's reaction?"

"I can't reveal anything about our internal communications, sorry, security you know."

"Yes of course, shouldn't have asked.  Speed and direction as expected?"

"Yes, speed is down to
fif
teen
kilometres
per second
but the direction is unchanged."

As soon as Hank had gone Lincoln tried to contact Naganda but he was not available.  He desperately wa
nted to know how he had reacted.  D
id Naganda share the very real alarm that he himself was feeling?  It would not take much provocation for a powerful leader to precipitate an attack while there was still time.  Lincoln remembered his own famous rule, but also felt his own faith in it weaken.  The human animal was only superficially logical.  It liked to think its head ruled its heart but where matters of love, hate, greed or especially fear were concerned the heart showed its true power.  Lincoln was learning more and more of his own nature in this affair, and was not proud of it.

Khan shared his fears, but together they resolved to maintain their original position and hoped that they could sound confident.  They were soon asked, and very bluntly.  Naganda was back from whatever business he had been conducting only minutes after Hank's call.

"Well Arthur?  What do you say now?"

"Nothing's changed as far as we're concerned.  For heaven's sake don't do anything rash.  Let's give them every chance
,
" was Lincoln's equally blunt reply.

"Good man.  Thought you'd say that.  But just in case they mean trouble I have all my glaser power lined up on them.  My arsenal makes Raminski's beam look like a popgun.  So we wait then eh?" 

"Yes we wait
," c
onfirmed Lincoln.

Naganda had not panicked nor been anywhere near it.  Lincoln felt certain that even if he had recommended an attack Naganda would not have deviated from his planned course one iota.  He was taking every possible precaution and giving them every possible chance.  Leaders with such strength of character and courage were rare indeed.

11
   
A F
irst
L
ook

There was still no word or indication of where George Dent had gone.  His disappearance had raised much controversy and intrigue at the time and the media had expended considerable effort in trying to track him down.  He had created a mystery and there would be rich rewards for the news agency that solved it.  As time went on though it became difficult to sustain public interest so the story was dropped.  There was still an occasional stir when a journalist short of news decided to follow up one of the many claims of knowledge as to his whereabouts.  There was no shortage of these, both well meaning and mercenary, but by and large the story had died a death.  Wherever he was he had made a thorough job of insulating himself from the public eye.

Coincidences happen from time to time and the 'Procyon Encounter' had its share just ten days after FTF12 had made the first radar sighting.  Three things occurred within half an hour, and their effect completely stunned the world.

Lincoln had been busy making arrangements for a manned research ship to be deployed on a reconnaissance mission.
It had to be fuelled and equipped to make as many observations and gather as wide a range of data as possible.  It was a precautionary measure, necessary in case they sped past the earth unchecked, and knowing what he now did Lincoln hoped they would do just that.  The arrangements themselves were relatively easy for a man in his position to make.  The difficult part was thinking up a plausible reason to order such a thing.  The contrived story only had to last at the most for about five days though since the truth would certainly be public knowledge by then, the ground
-
based radar stations and optical observatories would surely see to that.  It was surprising that the secret had lasted this long.

As it turned out all his scheming was unnecessary.  Early one morning his
communicator
indicated that Sagadewa wanted a word.  Lincoln was surprised and disturbed.  Hank normally called later in the day than this
;
perhaps something else had cropped up.

"Hi Arthur
,"
began Hank informally, and Lincoln relaxed immediately.  His tone indicated that there was better news on the way.  "Know what?  The resolution is more precise now and there aren't hundreds of separate vessels at all." 

"Oh?" 

"No.  It
'
s just a single structure consisting of hundreds of sections all regularly arranged and interconnected.  It's an enormous structure.  We can't tell yet just how many sections there are but the presence of connecting links has been established to a probability of better than point nine
-
nine
-
five
." 

This was indeed good news, t
he best news possible.  A single vessel, regardless of size, was a vulnerable vessel.  Many vessels signified strength simply because of their ability to disperse and approach from many different directions.  A single vessel was a weak vessel militarily.  This made the likelihood of hostility very much less.

"That's wonderful
.
"
H
e knew better than to ask if Hank was sure of his facts.  Sagadewa was a cautious man and when he reported a fact it could be trusted completely
.
 
"
S
o it's not an attack force after all." 

"No, and I don't think it constitutes a breach of security to tell you that I've just left Tony Naganda a very happy man.
I'll have to go Arthur, there's an urgent call
for me;
I'll get back to you later." 

Lincoln went over to his favourite armchair and sat back, closing his eyes.  Khan was over in Brisbane so unfortunately there was no-one who could immediately share his relief.  He had been worried, really worried.  An approaching fleet of hundreds of vessels meant only one thing to a man with an ounce of insecurity in his soul, and who hadn't?  An interconnected structure Hank had said, what marvellous news.  He could allow himself the luxury of curiosity again now, fear had a knack of subordinating such secondary instincts, but now it reasserted itself with renewed vigour.  He guessed that the separate parts would be spherical, many starship designs using interconnected spheres had been proposed and the arrangement had much to recommend it.  As every schoolchild knows, a sphere holds the maximum volume for a given surface area and hence mass of containment material.  The aliens had probably taken advantage of this fact.  A series of interconnected spheres also improved security, since a major atmospheric leak from one would not jeopardise the remainder providing the links contained airlocks or had rapid isolation capability.  It felt reassuring to suppose that the very same principles had been used by the aliens as were used by humans, a similar reasoning process indicated common ground right away.

But Hank had said hundreds.  The vessel must indeed be gigantic.  It must present an awesome spectacle.  Lincoln could now hope again that the vehicle was undamaged and that it would successfully achieve an earth orbit.  His earlier thought struck him again.  Yes, a series of interconnected spheres was indeed more secure, a failure of some from Raminski's attack would leave the remainder intact and still functional.  Suddenly he felt very optimistic indeed.

Lincoln's personal communicator announced another call from Sagadewa.

Hank was even more excited this time.  "Arthur, they're changing direction.  They've almost exactly realigned themselves with Procyon and have started to approach us directly." 

"Fantastic
,"
exclaimed Lincoln, "how long has the change been going on?" 

"W
e take measurements every hour and a number of readings are needed
to gather enough consistent data to indicate a
definite
course change so taking account of that
we believe it's between four and
five hours." 

Lincoln could not keep this to himself.  Khan was attending a meeting to discuss the following year's expenditure so Lincoln guessed that he would welcome a break from so dry a session.
He guessed right.  While a secure connection was being established Khan complained about the tedium.  "You've no idea Arthur, accountants, economists, estimators, government officials, they're all here, arguing about budgets, cash flow, targets, you name it and they're arguing about it.  I feel like a spectator at a tennis match.  Science and the potential of many of our resear
ch programmes cut
very little ice with these people." 

He was having a bad time.  "Never mind
,"
consoled Lincoln as he noticed the 'secure connection confirmed' light, "I've some news that will cheer you up in no time." 

As it turned out Lincoln need not have bothered with a secure connection.  Within two minutes of completing the call he received an impassioned message from his old friend Dag Fransson at
Mendeleev
.

"Arthur.  The alien ship is OK.  We've picked up the music again
, and the signal is much stronger than before.
  Everyone's gone
crazy;
we just can't believe our ears.  In truth we'd all given up but we still tuned in the Big Ear periodically
,
more out of desperation than any realistic expectation." 

'
And that's why they have re-aligned themselves with Procyon
,
'
thought Lincoln while Dag was talking.

Dag was so excited he wouldn't let Lincoln get a word in.  The one
and a
quarter
second delay in moon to
earth communication did not help either.  It meant that a listener on earth needed a long gap before
he or she could be
confident of being heard by a speaker on the moon without being ignored.  If the speaker started to talk again before the listener's voice had been heard
the speaker
would invariably continue, knowing that the other person would have to
wait
.  For this reason the old system of saying 'over'
when a person had finished speaking
had been revived
by regular earth-moon communicators
.  It was found to be the best way of preventing confusion and frustration.  Eventually the onslaught subsided and the long awaited 'over' was uttered.

"Dag old pal, have I got news for you!" Lincoln responded with a smile, glad that the secret was out at last and eager to share all he knew.

It was now eleven
weeks since the disaster.  The initial shock had subsided and the world had started on the long process of recovery.  Gradually the necessary adjustments were being made to resume what might be considered a normal way of life, and people were starting to think about the future once more.  The aliens and their mysterious craft were no longer at the forefront of everyone's mind.  This was a state of affairs that was about to change very abruptly.

Less than an hour after Dag Fransson's call the full story was out and the prearranged publicity machine swung into action.
First off was a joint statement by Naganda and Lincoln.  Lincoln explained briefly the known facts and the conclusions that had been drawn about the failure of Raminski's attack.  He explained that the survival of the craft had been discovered by one of Naganda's people some time ago, and indicated what had already been done by way of signalling to them about the attack being a major error.  He gave the current
range of
estimates about time to arrival and ended on an upbeat note to the effect that there was no reason to fear hostility, in spite of our misguided action against them.

Naganda followed by setting out his own position in the affair, making it clear that he was taking personal control of developments, at least until firm two-way
communication
with the aliens had been fully established.  He supported Lincoln's analysis concerning non-hostile intent, but stressed that 'suitable precautions' had already been taken 'just in case'.
He then paused for a couple of seconds before looking directly into the camera and stating with measured forcefulness his warning that there was to be no hostile action against the aliens except on his direct order.  Any violation of this command would be treated as an act of war on Africa, and would be dealt with accordingly.

Although afterwards this threat was criticised widely as unreasonable and out of proportion to the as yet uncommitted offence
,
no-one suggested that he was bluffing.  Tony Naganda was a man of his word.  He had proved that many times in the past and to assume otherwise was an act of extreme folly.