Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance (15 page)

The people of New York City were blissfully unaware of the approaching alien ship. News suppression from the mainstream media outlets was complete. The North American Union was afraid the masses would react hysterically with a mixture of fear, euphoria, mass suicides, hoarding of food, economic collapse, runs on banks, or any number of other negative reactions.

“The Insider” had prepared Richard and the
New York Rag
specifically for this moment. Since the electronic media could not be trusted to get this extremely important story out to the people, he would make sure the real story was published on paper that could be handed from person to person with the government completely out of the picture.

The story was short, because there were not many facts to be reported:

Lunar astronomers have discovered evidence of an alien spacecraft inbound to the solar system. The light from the decelerating craft appeared suddenly in the constellation Orion. Analysis of the spectrum of light indicates that the spacecraft uses a combination of hydrogen and methane for fuel and that the deceleration far exceeds what could be tolerated by a human body.

Preliminary calculations give a rough estimate of two months before the craft arrives in the inner part of the solar system near the planet Jupiter.

There have been no detectable transmissions from the inbound craft from which we might gather additional information. The intentions of the visitors are unknown at this time, and speculation would be just that, speculation.

When this news article arrived on the iBlog server, Richard was skeptical. How could the media suppress such a big story, and how could he verify the few facts being presented?

Richard decided to request specific coordinates from “The Insider.” When they were received, he passed them to his boyhood friend Ken, who was an amateur astronomer with his own half-meter telescope. Because of the weather, the viewing up in the Catskill Mountains wasn’t always the best, but it was definitely clear enough over the next few days that Ken would be able to locate this new light source.

Ken contacted Richard in the early hours of the next morning, and the excitement in his voice was unmistakable. “There is definitely a new and bright light source at those coordinates! Did you say your source identifies this as an inbound alien ship?”

“Definitely,” Richard replied. “Can you verify that the source comes from methane and hydrogen combustion?”

“Sorry, Richard, I don’t have that kind of spectrographic equipment. Given a few days, I could tell you if the light source is moving with respect to the background stars, but I have no reason to doubt the story you received. Light sources like this do not appear overnight.”

“Thanks, Ken. I really appreciate your input. I’m going to go with the story today in a special addition of the
Rag
, and I would like to mention your confirmation, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem. I hate when the government suppresses stories like this, and they won’t be able to deny the story when anyone like me can just point their telescope in the right direction and see the damn thing. What are they going to do to me? You’re the one who has to worry. They’ll be coming at you looking for your source.”

There was no way Richard was going back to sleep after that video chat, so he got dressed and headed upstairs to the office to begin the work on this very special edition of the
Rag
. 

Two days later, most of the people of New York City were too busy to notice or react to the announcement running around the news ticker at One Times Square that said, “THE ALIENS ARE COMING!” Their lives were too hectic, or too important, or too overwhelming. But that was the majority. Several pockets of activity were related directly to this momentous news. Already, several groups had gotten permits to set up forums throughout the city to espouse their beliefs on what was coming.

At the corner of Broadway and 42
nd
street, just below the ticker, a group of saffron-robed monks was handing out pamphlets announcing the arrival of God Incarnate and warning people to get their lives in order for the final hour of judgment.

In Central Park, an evangelical church group had set up a stage where gospel singers were raising their voices in praise to the Lord. Just to the left of the stage was a large tent where a long line of people was working its way into a temporary sanctuary to be baptized in an above ground pool that had been set up for that purpose.

The few newsstands around the city were doing a brisk business for a change. Most had been driven out of business in the past few decades as the majority of people got their news and entertainment from a multitude of online venues. The few that had survived tended to sell only tabloids that appealed to the lowest members of society with stories that seemed too fantastic to be true but always had a thread of verifiable truth to make you wonder. Now, the tabloids could not print enough copies to keep up with demand. Today’s edition of
The Flash
declared, “Aliens to Harvest Humans” with the accompanying speculative story by Hannibal Burns that “The Overseers of the Universe” had recognized that the ever-growing population of Earth was ruining the planet, and something had to be done to save Earth from the “human infestation.”

Of course, the government-run television news channels gave the news only a few brief minutes of coverage with warnings to ignore all of the crazy stories going around. The government had everything well in hand and would give out regular reports on developments as they happened. This would suffice for the moment, because nobody knew anything at this point. All that was really known was that a spacecraft of unknown origin with unknown intentions was entering the solar system.

Meanwhile, Richard and the
New York Rag
were strangely silent on the subject of the aliens. The big splash caused by their special edition had started the ball rolling, and Richard wanted more information to enhance his increased circulation numbers.

When he questioned “The Insider,” he received a short note back telling him to hang on until the Navy had more facts. It was much too early to speculate on the nature or intentions of the aliens and their ship heading in from the outer part of the galaxy, but he promised a story about the Navy shutting down facilities in the belt to hide them from detection by the visitors.

As they decelerated toward the inner system, the master chronicler tried to make sense of the cacophony of electromagnetic noise washing over them. The origin appeared to be coming from the third planet out from the star and from its moon. The logical conclusion from this observation was that the native population must have at least some sort of spacefaring capability. But the variety of frequencies and the density of the content of all of the signals being generated indicated a lack of the discipline and order, which came so naturally to the Esss. These inhabitants must be very strange. How could they possibly be crossing from the planet to the moon and back without basic societal controls? It was a mystery that needed to be solved and recorded.

The master chronicler thrummed an order for the scout team to join it in the bridge meeting tank. There, the most sensitive assignments were issued in detail that could not be duplicated outside the sacred waters. The three Esss scout pilots had been raised for their duties and were all well trained, but the master chronicler needed to taste their essences in the tank to know which individual to assign as leader.

After a brief exchange of essence between the four Esss, the master made the obvious selection and dismissed the two remaining pilots. They would receive their orders from the newly assigned leader during the scouting mission into the core of the system.

The master watched the rapid change in the demeanor of the new scout leader as the trance-inducing chemicals released into the tank took effect. The new scout leader relaxed into a state where it was receptive to the detailed briefing to come. With a combination of sound waves and chemical effusions, the master was able to transmit specific orders and guidelines to the scout leader and to bind those orders chemically into its brain. In this way, the scout leader became an extension of the master chronicler while the scouting party was out of direct contact.

At that moment, the leader of the scout team knew just how important this very promising planet-moon combination was to the Esss. It grasped that the master chronicler intended to make it the next forward base of operations.

The orders also included instructions for the scout team to ignore the locals unless threatened. Understanding the local inhabitants was a critical part of the mission, and the local reaction to the Esss arrival was often more instructive if the locals were not provoked. This approach had been the way of the Esss from the beginning of the time of chronicles.

The specific instructions for intelligence gathering followed. Detailed recordings were needed of the planet’s surface features. Also, samples of the atmosphere and all large bodies of water were needed for analysis. The results of this analysis would tell the master engineer how to program the planetary re-engineering modules. The recordings of the surface would also allow the master chronicler to calculate where each of the modules needed to be placed to be most effective.

After the long session with the new scout leader, the master dismissed it so that it could begin preparing the team members for their assignments. By the time the Esss established their orbit around the gas giant, the scout ships would be ready.

This would be their furthest incursion into this galaxy. Each day, the master chronicler added new and encouraging information to its report to be sent back to their forward operating base. The nursery there was developing systematically when this scouting mission had been dispatched. There would be more than enough time to get a new nursery established in this system before their current base ran low on resources.

It was time for the next step. The ocean seeding had stabilized with the simple non-nucleic single-celled life. There were enough proteins in this primordial soup to introduce single and multi-celled nucleic life forms. The Nu had brought the RNA code with them to allow for the appropriate reproduction and differentiation necessary to develop higher life forms. They introduced small amounts of RNA into specific environments, where it had the greatest chance of taking hold. They also seeded the same areas with enough of the simple ribose sugars for the RNA to have a sufficient quantity for easier reproduction.

Tending this soup and testing regularly was one on the most critical jobs the Nu performed. Once the appropriate reproduction cycles were established, the Nu would step back to see what developed. Their job was not to plant specific seeds from already existing life but to set the stage to see what types of life would develop from the basic building blocks they were introducing. The long-term goal was to foster development of an environment where competitive pressure would allow natural selection to push these simple forms of life into more complex forms that could compete for available resources.

Less than two hours from the time he received the message from Cam, the call from the admiral’s flag aide arrived. The message was clear. “Please report at your earliest convenience to the office of Admiral Bain at Naval Headquarters.” In the Navy, earliest convenience meant you better drop what you were doing, and since Sted was no longer getting ready to board the shuttle back to Luna, there wasn’t much to drop.

Sted was admitted to Admiral Avery Bain’s office immediately upon arrival. Bain’s dark complexion only accentuated the scowl on his face as he completed a conversation with one of his subordinates.

“I don’t care what it takes, Admiral! We have strict orders to move the entire shipyard close to 16 Psyche. You are to disengage
Endeavour
from the dock and then use every tug we have to make this happen! Have I made myself perfectly clear?”

Sted could not hear the reply, but he was absolutely sure there was no further argument about the assignment. With a slight nod, Admiral Bain cut the connection and looked up at Sted with a laser focus that indicated Sted should tread carefully.

“Sted Richardson reporting as requested, sir,” was all that Sted could manage under that gaze.

“Well, Mr. Richardson, I’m sure you heard the end of that last conversation, and for that I owe you an apology. I don’t tolerate subordinates questioning my direct orders even if they sound a bit fantastic. It is no small task to move this entire shipyard as requested by the Admiralty, but move it we will.”

“How can I help you, sir?”

“I understand that you are an expert on AMC’s new Delta class assay ships and that you arrived on the
AMC Mantis
about a week ago. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. The Space Navy is officially reinstating your enlistment. You will maintain your rank as captain, and you will assist Rear Admiral Deborah Cunningham with the task of turning AMC’s Delta class assay ship into a first class small fighting machine. Your former boss, Cam Dunston, has ordered the
AMC Mantis
back to the shipyard for a naval refit, and it is my understanding that it should be back here in three to four days. I need you to get your affairs in order in the next two days and then report to Rear Admiral Cunningham in the R&D wing. Are these orders clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Please get a message to Mr. Dunston for me. We need to know how many of the Delta class ships will be available for refit. It is my understanding that AMC currently has ten Deltas in the belt or in transit. We will need as many as AMC can spare. I will notify my staff to prioritize your message to AMC. Now, do you have any questions for me, Captain Richardson?”

“Where will I billet, sir? I am currently at the guest facilities at AMC headquarters, but I am already packed up and ready to move out.”

“Those details will be handled by Cunningham after you report to her. I have notified her office to expect you two days from now. During that time, I am sure her staff will have everything arranged for your reinstatement. I am also sure AMC will allow you to stay in their guest suite until you report to us.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“If that is all, then welcome aboard, Captain. I expect great things from you over the next several months. Don’t disappoint me!”

“I won’t, sir,” Sted replied. He saluted before turning and leaving the admiral’s office.