Carinae Sector: 01 - Traders' Scourge - Part 2 - Maveen Offer (6 page)

‘Research commander, can you please check over this for me, for as I suspected we would have a real problem.’

Gindane looked over the data and checked the output against the stated aims of the report, before uttering an oath of consternation. The test results indicated that the atmosphere was slightly opaque to their technology, and that included several types of communications lasers and all the active scanning technology. The data also indicated that any active scanning technology used by the galactic races would also be thwarted by the planet’s oceans due to same reasons. Gindane again checked the test results and then voiced a complaint.

‘So even if we were allowed to use active scans here the scans would not see anything in detail in the oceans.’

She paused and looked at additional reports coming into her command console before offering an aside.

‘Well I know of no suppression field large enough to hide a sneak ship, let alone their main ship. So unless the Traders are underwater we will not have a problem then will we?’

The researchers on the bridge wryly noted their commander’s wit with polite nods of agreement and continued on with their duties.

                                                            ***

The cordless phone tightened in the grip of Ian Ridge, and he surveyed the dark skin on the back of his hand, as he spoke with the Premier of Western Australia, James Southall.

‘Well James, we are doing everything we can on this matter. Yes I understand your anger at the actions of the US forces in the area. But I have spoken to the US president in strong terms about these matters and they should not occur again.’

Ian paused for several minutes as the WA premier outlaid all his additional concerns that he had about the Abrolhos Islands, before Ian again spoke to reassure the Premier.

‘Actually James, I agree with you on most of those points. I understand one of your agencies ordered people to leave the islands and that is a good move. But now we have to stop people, especially the media, from coming out to the islands.’

Ian listened as he got agreement from the premier before he continued again.

‘James, I will shortly declare the Abrolhos Islands a quarantine zone under combined police and military control. Now we will increase our military control by having our troops assisted by a US marine force that came to help us two days ago. We have a situation out there as a former naval officer is involved with his auxiliary vessel, and he will be allowed full access to the islands under federal authority.’

The premier made a few enquiries about what had actually occurred on the islands. Ian was aware of stunned silence on the other end of the line, as James took in all the information as Ian revealed what he knew. The two men again agreed on the quarantine being issued before ending the phone call.

Ian now considered the latest reports from the Abrolhos Island and sat back for a moment or two to think carefully. The mass media really had gone into a flurry over the momentous news, and the rooms of several ministers had crowds around their large televisions. On one media report he noted with approval that several boats had left the islands after the WA Department of Fisheries told them to leave. The two frigates still patrolled the southern and eastern approaches to the islands, and Steve Greene’s auxiliary vessel was still to the south west.

The reports of an alien, apparently injured, on Steve’s vessel had been confirmed by the RAN. Ian noticed with interest that senior naval officers wanted the alien transferred to a frigate under guard, but he would put a stop to that nonsense.

‘Gregson, please get me Admiral Watson at Fleet West on the phone urgently.’

The Prime Minister was speaking within minutes to the admiral and outlaying his concerns. Ian gave a few comparisons with US actions, and then began making recommendations after obtaining cautious agreement with Admiral Watson. He was most careful not to order the admiral at any stage. With evident satisfaction, Ian thanked the admiral for his time and hung up the phone. The issues associated with mass media involvement in this process now concerned the prime minister and he called in Gregson again.

‘We need to lock down the mid-west coast of WA until this matter is resolved. Does our emergency legislation cover us in this situation at all?’

Gregson did not have to think much to answer given his considerable political experience.

‘Well Prime Minister if we get the Governor General and the Opposition Leader behind you then it is straightforward from a Federal level. We already have the support of the WA Premier at the state level. All up we are good to go in two hours.’

Ian appraised Gregson’s answer with satisfaction, looked at the wall clock, and then he replied.

‘Okay we need to setup a media conference at 3pm with Fiona and Stuart present.’

Gregson assured him that this would not be a problem and left the room to organize the conference. Ian now turned on his own television to study media reports of the events unfolding on the other side of Australia as he crafted his speech.

                                                            ***

Douglas Stoneham led his science team down the boarding ramp onto the police vessel Southern Cross. An increased police presence was evident as they had arrived at the wharves. Three news teams, with their sound and camera equipment, had stood by the entrance to the small boat harbor hoping to get permission to leave Geraldton. When Douglas and his team had arrived they had pressed forward with questions, but were not allowed past the two police officers as Douglas led his team through. As the Southern Cross left the small boat harbor and rapidly headed out to sea, Douglas and his team yet again went through their notes on the police vessel’s rear deck.

Susan Roberts watched the Southern Cross leave with considerable disgust. Her news crew had flown up to Geraldton on a charter flight this morning and since then had struggled to get out to the Abrolhos Islands. Initially she had ranted at the indignity of not being able to do her job, until a police sergeant had become fed up with her and told her to keep quiet. Susan was already aware of one media helicopter being turned back by the Australian navy earlier that morning and was not wanting to repeat the experience herself.

The Southern Cross was a police vessel, and in a moment of curiosity, she asked one of the two police officers where the vessel was actually headed. The officer felt there was nothing wrong in replying and stated that the Southern Cross was heading to the south west of the Abrolhos Islands. Susan stood back and though about that for a minute or two before she turned to her team.

‘Back into the hire car, as I have an idea or two.’

As she drove the hire car down the marina access road, she outlaid her plan to her team, and in minutes they were heading to Dongara, a small port just south of Geraldton.

                                                            ***

Emeria thoroughly checked over Captain Narindestat in the ship's sick bay. She soon gave the captain instructions to sit up and don his tunic again. As she considered the initial results of the examination she voiced her opinion.

‘Now captain, these are only initial tests and I need to await the blood test results. But I think the infection is passing you by, and thank you again for letting me use you as a blind sample to qualify my research.’

The captain further straightened his tunic and resisted the burning urge yet again to scratch his glimmer tattoos. If the disease was passing him by and he felt like this then he could only imagine just how ill other members of the crew currently felt. At least a few things were now going right he considered.

For one thing, the fuel production process rate had climbed and they could possibly leave in a few days when the ship would have more than enough fuel. The water purification process had also yielded a dividend, as he now had enough fresh water to clean and disinfect whole sections of the Illuria.

Parts of the ship also appeared to be difficult to repair, as either he did not have enough crew or the damage was evaluated incorrectly beforehand. As he looked around the sick bay, he viewed again the several sick members of crew that occupied the beds. He listened and considered Emeria’s information as she spoke again.

‘Captain the infections in the crew make no sense. Any one who had a respiratory illness when we first landed now seems fine. However even the youngest and healthiest of our crew have been very ill with complications to glimmer infections and to a disease the leaves random red spots on the skin and causes high temperatures. The only common factor is that the affected crew has seen a lot of exposure to the ocean water during their work.’

Emeria glanced at her notes again as the captain replied first with an observation then a question.

‘Well hopefully the rate of infection will drop within three to four days. It could be worse if you refer back to the four days we have only been on this planet. Now what seems to be the best treatment for these diseases Emeria?’

Emeria looked over as one of the sick crew members coughed loudly and a sick bay attendant paced over to tend to them.

‘Captain, if we can keep them rested and dry with analgesics to control pain they seem to stabilize. The risk is if they continue to work and not get treatment, which can be the way of it for some of our younger crew with a point to prove. I recommend that we dry out the ship thoroughly, and then use disinfectant and ultraviolet lamps in several areas of the ship. Also if the crew can dry out in the sunlight they seem to improve.’

The captain watched as the sick crew member settled down to rest again then commented.

‘Emeria, we are still short of crew from all the repair work. But I will detail some crew members to help you take several of the ill crew outside this morning. You also mentioned another area of concern in the health of the crew?’

Emeria fixed the captain with a resigned look and replied.

‘Captain, there are two points of concern actually. First I cannot guarantee that we won’t all get a fatal illness while we are on the planet. We could even transport the illness into space before it affects us all. The second concern is will the glimmer tattoos regenerate on the crew now recovering?’

Emeria paused as her last comment received the captain’s undivided attention, then she continued.

‘The glimmer seems still intact but then heals to a dull dark color. However the two key features of glimmer amongst the crew appear to be disabled according to all the blood test results on the recovering crew.’

Captain Narindestat was now really worried and his concerns about the crew before they landed on the island appeared to actually occurring. The crew was losing an important means to deal with their natural aggression, and the contraceptive aspects of the glimmer tattoos appeared to be failing. The captain was aware that this could be an explosive combination with the mixed crew of his ship.

                                                            ***

Steve looked over the deck of the Aurora Discovery as Garendestat continued to talk to Dan. Steve had just received a phone call from Commander Jane Walker and at times their conversation had become strained. Steve listened as Jane spoke again.

‘Steve, now look, I don’t like this any more than you do, but I have to obey my orders. You are to bring Garendestat to my ship as soon as possible.’

Steve suppressed yet another urge to get irritated. He had known Jane for many years, he considered her a friend, and she was only trying to do her job. He was sure that she could understand his view as he replied.

‘Well the actions of the Americans have really got under the skin of a lot of people. So how long before the pressure is applied? And we then march Garendestat off to a one way plane trip to the US? Also if we send him back to his ship we can start to build real dialog with the aliens.’

Steve then listened as Jane stated what he knew she had to say.

‘Steve, I am not going to answer your questions. I have my orders and you are to sail towards HMAS Sydney, and make the transfer before sunset. I don’t have time to indulge you as we are expecting the islands will be declared a quarantine zone shortly. We already have been turning back news teams attempting to access the Abrolhos Islands.’

Steve acknowledged Jane’s comment then finished the conversation. He refrained from mentioning that he did not feel compelled to do ask as she asked, as he was now hoping to buy time. Steve walked over to Dan and Garendestat, who were repeating words as they attempted to get to know and understand one another. At times the alien appeared dazed and had trouble following Dan’s efforts.

‘Dan, I want to show Garendestat around the ship starting with the runabouts at the forward end of the deck. Can you check on the bridge for messages and ship status for me please?’

Dan gave Steve a perplexed look, but then excused himself and walked off to the bridge. Samantha and Rebecca had already left the rear deck to return the medical equipment to safe storage. Steve now repeated to himself the few words of the strange language he had learnt earlier, as he strode a few paces towards the front of the deck and the runabouts. Steve motioned Garendestat to follow him and ensured that the crew present was going about their duties by giving them long looks if they loitered.

Garendestat slowly followed as Steve went to one of the runabouts and hopped into the boat as it rested in the cradle. Garendestat watched from the deck as Steve gave the descriptions of the parts of the boat. So Garendestat learned the human words for boat, motor, radio, flares and fuel tank. The young Trader was impressed with the ingenuity of the humans, as the craft looked very practical on the oceans of this world. He then looked over a large rigid card that illustrated the use of the flares, before replacing the card back inside the runabout.

Steve picked up the boat's radio and demonstrated to Garendestat how it worked by calling the bridge in an obvious communications test. Garendestat watched and learnt the microphone needed the side button held to transmit, and that the radio had a dial with a digital display to change frequencies. At that point Garendestat remembered another feature of his view finder back now in his left pocket. The view finder carried a short range RF data interface that was in the frequency ranges for all Trader radio communications.