Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance (14 page)

After Jessica left Sted to record his responses to Cam’s messages, she went back to her office, closed and locked her door, and settled into her chair, trying to let her emotions settle in her stomach. She had not been prepared for the impact of Sted’s gaze back in the hallway. In an instant, her stomach had done flip-flops, and her knees had turned to jelly.

Never in her life had she experienced that kind of shock to her system, and she didn’t know how to respond. She had actually come out to the belt to avoid entanglements, after her devastating breakup back on Luna. She had been working for Lockheed at the time and had thought that her relationship with Eddie from the office was headed in the right direction.

There were never any really hot sparks flying with Eddie, but she thought she loved him and that he loved her back in the same way. That ended abruptly the day she went home early from work with a fever and the chills, only to find Eddie in their bed with her best friend Darcy. Her fever held no heat in comparison to the anger that flared in that instant.

How could he treat her like that? Was she so unimportant to him that he could just toss her away for a roll in the sack with her best friend? And what was Darcy doing? Jessica had thought that she and Darcy could share anything, say anything, or do anything, and that nothing could come between them. Darcy’s betrayal was almost worse than Eddie’s!

She had run from their apartment, run from her job at Lockheed. She had even run away from the moon. The first job opening in the belt that she found was with AMC in their new corporate offices in the HG Rickover Shipyard, and she accepted it without even considering what her future might be like so far from Earth.

Now, here she was, eighteen months later, still a virgin in the belt with no close personal ties to anyone. And now what would she do? Should she slam the door on her still raw emotions or should she open it a crack and take a chance once again? If she did, would the pain return? Could she live through such pain a second time? What would happen when Sted shuttled back to the moon on
Endeavour
?

But those eyes were unbelievable. How could she say no to the attraction she felt to this man who had climbed out of such an awful hole created by that random act of the universe? She had studied his history closely to be prepared for welcoming him to the shipyard. The time spent learning about Sted and his career in the Navy and his time with AMC all pointed to a driven, dedicated man, a man who knew what he wanted and drove himself relentlessly to make it happen.

Was there any dishonesty or duplicity in any of that record? Not really. Everything in his history pointed to a straight shooter, a man trusted and loved by his crew when he was a ship’s captain. But sometimes the records overlooked negative traits.

Let’s see what happens,
she thought, as she rose from her chair, unlocked her office door, and went to face the world once more.

It was time to begin the seeding process. The oceans had an ideal balance of salt and other minerals from both of the icy asteroids that they had sent down into the gravity well of the planet and the constant evaporation, rain, and erosion process driven by the energy of the star that anchored this system. AlvaResh and his team had been tinkering with the planetary environment for millions of orbits around the sun, and it had reached the correct temporary state of equilibrium.

Single-celled organisms that could reproduce asexually were sprayed in critical areas of the oceans around the planet. Because these organisms could reproduce rapidly under the right conditions, there was no need for the Nu to blanket the entire planet. Through reproduction, the oceans would be filled with them in a short period of time. Their impact on the environment would be significant. The process of photosynthesis from the single-celled algae molecules could store energy from the sun in simple sugars by taking the carbon out of the CO
2
in the planet’s atmosphere. Reducing the CO
2
was a key ingredient of the Nu’s plan to stabilize the planet’s surface temperature by reducing the amount of heat from the sun trapped by the atmosphere.

Once the seeding was complete, the Nu made a comprehensive survey of the Oort Cloud, the Kuiper Belt, and the asteroid belt for any potential involuntary collisions with the third planet over the next turn of the galaxy. Several course corrections were made to prevent any such occurrences. The prokaryotic life they had seeded needed time to do its work without major interruption.

The week at Rickover was just starting for Sted. Jessica had agreed to accompany him to the Lockheed Aerospace post-flight party on his second night after arriving. When they made their appearance on the shuttle, they were greeted warmly by their Lockheed hosts and then introduced to the principal staff members on board. From all of the conversations, it was clear to Sted that they were still trying to recruit him away from AMC.

The lavish party was being held in the grand ballroom aboard the
Endeavour
. The operative word was “grand.” The room had to be over 100 meters long and fifty meters wide with a domed ceiling at least twenty meters over their heads. At one end of the room was a stage with a ten-piece dance band. In front of the dance band was a thirty-meter square parquet wood dance floor. Around the dance floor were several dozen tables for guests. Because the shuttle was docked to the shipyard and spinning around at the end of the shuttle docking arm, everyone felt normal in the artificial gravity, allowing them to dance like they were back on the moon.

“Jessica, I have not danced since I got these new legs, but I would love to try dancing with you anyway. I hope you will excuse me if I flub a few steps,” Sted said as he held out his hand and then guided her onto the dance floor.

“From everything I’ve seen in the last two days, I don’t think you’ll have too many problems,” Jessica replied. She gave Sted one of her brightest smiles as she followed him out to the center of the dance floor. Then she melted into his arms for a dance she would never forget. Their bodies seemed to fit together like hand and glove, and she didn’t want the dance to end.

Sted was a little out of breath at the end of the dance, and he knew it wasn’t from the exertion of dancing. It was from the almost chemical reaction his body was having to both the scent and feel of Jessica’s body so close to his.

After that first dance, the sexual tension between the two was obvious to most of those attending the party. They could not seem to look anywhere else but into each other’s eyes.

After the party, they went back to the AMC suite reserved for Sted, where they spent the rest of the night getting to know each other on a more intimate basis. Sted had been worried the whole evening that Jessica would be put off by his abbreviated natural body with attached prosthetics once they were alone together. As it turned out, he had nothing to fear. Encounters out in the belt tended to be short but torrid. You did not have time to play games that could stretch over months or years. If you felt an attraction, you had to grab on right away to see if it might actually be something that had the promise of a future. If you passed on that first opportunity, you might never see the person again.

For Sted, this was his first intimate encounter with a woman since the accident, and his body was more than ready to satisfy its need for procreative activity. That body had been sending strong messages since the moment he had popped out of the hatch and seen Jessica in the reception area.

Jessica was swept up not only by Sted’s physical presence but also by his entire history. When she first met him, she had to be very careful not to reveal how she was truly feeling. That is, until she blushed after seeing his enthralled smile back in the corridor outside of the AMC offices. Unbeknownst to her, that smile and her blush had sealed their fate.

There was no way to slow down their scouting party without alerting the natives of the system, but the Esss did not care. They could not conceive that life limited to one star system could be any threat to them. They were already within the outermost part of the star system when the master chronicler thrummed its orders to its shipmates to start the deceleration process. Every Esss aboard entered their acceleration chambers before the engine pods were reversed and thrust was applied. Their initial destination would be the largest of the gas giant planets.

Sted was in the process of collecting his few belongings from around the AMC suite when the video message alert came. It was Cam, and he did not look happy. From their orbital position and that of Earth and Luna, it took almost fifty minutes for light to travel the gap. This meant that any message was recorded and sent, and the sender could not expect a reply for at least a couple of hours.

Sted used his thumbprint to authorize the AMC video terminal and sat back to hear what Cam had to say. He recognized the background as Cam’s office on Luna. The man appeared more than a bit frazzled and also a bit tired. Whatever this was about, it was bound to be important.

“Hello, Sted. I’m sorry I have to disturb you while you’re getting ready to return back to Luna on the new shuttle, but I’m afraid you’re going to have to cancel that trip. Something important has come up.

“We have just sent out immediate orders to all of our facilities in the belt to go dark. As of, and including, this message, all communications are to be by point-to-point laser only. No radio frequency broadcasting will be allowed from any facilities in the belt. This is by direct order of the Admiralty.

“All of this is related to the breaking news of what appears to be an inbound spacecraft from the outer part of the galaxy. Astronomers have reported a new light source in the constellation Orion with a measurable motion with respect to the background stars. The signature of the light indicates hydrogen/methane combustion, and the object, while moving very fast, appears to be decelerating.

“As a matter of security, the Navy wants to mask the existence of any facilities in the belt for their own protection. That means we need to get all of our assay and mining craft into secure locations near the closest asteroid. The assay ships are being ordered to dock with the closest mining platform to minimize the need for resupply. We are also sending multiple resupply capsules to each mining platform to allow for six to twelve months without any further shipments.

“As for the Rickover shipyard, the Navy is going to tow it close to 16 Psyche, where they will attempt to interpose the asteroid between the shipyard and the light source. We obviously have a great deal of our human spacefaring talent at the shipyard right now, and that talent cannot be put into jeopardy.

“Your orders are a bit more complicated. The Navy is postponing the return trip of the
Endeavour,
and Vice Admiral Bunting just messaged me that your services may soon be required at Rickover. What that means, exactly, I’m not sure. Just don’t be surprised if you hear directly from Admiral Bain that your services are needed and that you are, therefore, reinstated.

“We are shelving plans for the new Epsilon class assay ships. Our small shipbuilding facility on Luna may be co-opted by the Navy for building small specialty ships based upon our new drive technology. Vice Admiral Bunting has also shown some interest in the double hull design on the small frame.

“I want you to start thinking again about adding offensive weapons capability to the smaller frame ships as well as upgrading the offensive and defensive control panels to current Navy standards. It appears we may become the experts on small ship development, leaving the larger ships to Lockheed and UTC.

A chime sounded and Cam looked across his office, momentarily distracted from his video recording to Sted. 

As he turned back he said “That’s all from this end for now. I’m not expecting a response from you. The point laser communication channels are going to become very busy going forward. If you have any ideas or thoughts on refitting our Deltas with more offensive capabilities, let Admiral Bain know. He obviously has the talent and materials at the shipyard to accomplish any upgrades. Just keep me informed so I can direct any of the Deltas to Rickover. I’m going to offer half of the Deltas to the Navy on an as-needed basis. We will reserve the remainder to cover any sudden increase in the need for specialty metals.”

Sted saved the message on his personal com and then sat for a while thinking about what the Navy might require of him. Obviously, nothing yet was known of the intentions of these “visitors” to the solar system, but the Navy was preparing for the worst. He wondered how much time they had until contact might be made and who would be tasked with making that contact. He ruled himself out immediately. Perhaps he might be tasked with transporting the appropriate person to a meeting with these visitors. He could only guess. He knew he would not be put back in charge of one of the Navy destroyer class vessels. That would mean displacing a healthier captain for one with artificial legs. Because he was not at the helm of a ship, no immediate decisions were necessary to guard the safety of his crew or his ship. So what should he be doing next?

Just then, the door chime rang and announced that Jessica was outside awaiting admittance. Sted voiced the “admit” command, and the door slid open. Jessica stepped into the room and crossed the short space to where Sted was rising from his chair.

“You must have heard the news,” Jessica said, looking up into his eyes.

“Yes.” Sted held her by the shoulders at arm’s length and looking directly back into her beautiful hazel eyes. “I just got a brief message from Cam on Luna. My trip back is cancelled, and I may hear from the Navy shortly about some kind of reinstatement. I was just trying to process all of this when you magically appeared at my door. Your timing couldn’t have been better.”

Jessica threw her arms around him, laid her head on his shoulder, and hugged him tightly. When she spoke, her voice was muffled. “I was just coming to terms with your heading back in system and not seeing you for some time. Now I don’t know what to think or what to expect! Just hold me for a little so I can calm down these crazy emotions.”

Sted held Jessica and stared off into space over the top of her head. He might not want to admit it, but he was just as much in need of her comforting as she was of his.