Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance (24 page)

The new species was developing all kinds of techniques for growing and storing food to last through the cold seasons in the northern climes of the planet and through the seasons of drought in the southern regions. The cooperation required between individual members of a farming society was helping with the development of significant language skills. To enhance these skills, the Nu introduced the written word so that knowledge could be recorded for later generations.

It was also time for the Nu to make their presence known. The place chosen was back on the original continent where one of the most advanced civilizations on the planet was located, along the banks of what would become known as the Nile River in Egypt.

AlvaResh picked his second in command, AlbuTang, for this important assignment. The governor had been overseeing human development now for almost four billion Earth years, and it was time to allow his most likely successor some direct experience. It was best for AlbuTang to step into this role and allow him to carry forward in what should prove to be a rapid ascent in the powers and capabilities of this human species.

The site chosen would become known as Khmun. The method chosen was to descend in one of their monitoring ships and land on the site where a temple would be built in honor of Djeheuty, the god of wisdom, the patron of scribes, and the great mediator.

For AlvaResh, this was a means of jump-starting real civilization. Word had arrived recently that the Esss were progressing toward this stellar neighborhood, and the humans were nowhere near ready to join with the Nu in repelling this invasion. From now on, the Nu would be playing a much more active role in human development.

The scout leader had steered a wide path around the two local ships that were returning to the third planet and its moon. Its orders from the master chronicler were as clear as the sacred birth waters: avoid further confrontation. Based upon the locals’ willingness to engage the sampling mission on the planet’s surface, there was no need for further provocation.

It was a long, slow journey back to the base ship, and each of the scouts was taking its turn on watch while the others went into stasis mode in the acceleration tanks to preserve ship resources. Most of the volume of the scout ships was devoted to propellant. With this design, the ships could accelerate for the first half of the trip and decelerate for the second half, thus maintaining constant acceleration. The cost was in the exorbitant amount of fuel expended by the engines, which were working constantly. The savings was in the amount of time expended for the entire round trip. To the Esss, time was the most precious commodity. Fuel existed in abundance in the universe, as evidenced by the gas giant that the base ship was now mining for additional fuel.

The scout leader was wondering who would be chosen for the return mission to the current forward operating base. It hoped it was worthy after leading the successful scouting mission, but nothing was ever certain. The master chronicler did not share its thoughts or plans in advance with members of the lower classes. Only time would tell, and the scout leader certainly had plenty of that in which to speculate and hope.

“Captain Essex, we are sending controlled burn instructions to your navigation officer as we speak,” Captain Vasquez said. “We will be inserting ourselves into an orbit exactly five thousand kilometers behind that alien ship, and, as discussed previously, we do not want to provoke any reaction from them. You will be between the alien ship and the
Discovery
in case there’s any trouble. Please acknowledge receipt of the burn instructions for the
Nathan Hale
.”

The reply came thirty seconds later. “
Discovery
, this is Captain Essex. We have received the burn instructions.
Nathan Hale
confirms initial burn in ten minutes on my mark . . . Mark.”

“Thank you, Captain Essex,” Julian said. “We will start our deceleration twenty-three seconds after you and then follow you down into orbit.”

The master chronicler was monitoring the two local ships approaching their orbit around the gas giant. They were still way out of effective laser range, and now they were decelerating into orbit directly behind the interstellar scout platform. This would make the approach of the returning scouting team a little more complicated.

The master chronicler prepared new instructions for the scout leader to bring the scout team in at a steep angle in front of the platform, followed by a climb back into orbit just in front. This would shield the scouts from possible intervention by the locals. No chances could be taken with the samples already collected.

Meanwhile, the fuel tanks were nearly full, and it was time to retrieve the balloon pumping stations. The residual fuel in the pumping stations should be enough to top off the remaining tank. Everything would be back onboard well before the scouting party returned.

Richard Collins was still in business, but his readership had been slipping steadily since the alien ships had headed back toward Jupiter. He had been lucky not to be shut down after publishing the details of the Lake Victoria debacle. With over 4,000 readers camping out around his office during the weeks following his plea for help, he had been spared from being raided by the FBI.

However, with the lack of new information on the aliens for the past couple of months, his readership had dwindled to less than half of its peak circulation. The other bloggers with whom he had contracted were still supplying some great stories about what was going on around the NAU and what the NAU was hearing from other countries. Stories about potential responses to the aliens ranged from complete appeasement to declaring all-out war.

In between these extremes were proposals to build hidden enclaves of individuals to carry on the race. Many locations were proposed for such enclaves. Some governments wanted to begin building colonies under the sea. Others proposed building the enclaves deep under mountain ranges. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out which countries supported undersea vs. under-mountain enclaves. However, all of these ideas were still in the proposal stages, and no country had yet to disclose that any actual construction had begun.

Now, however, a feed from “The Insider” indicated that the scout ships were almost back to the mother ship and that the USpN convoy would be in orbit around Jupiter in time to monitor the return of the scouts. Richard was hoping the information provided would be enough to regain the interest of his New York City readers.

Sted was starting to feel a bit confined after staying on Rickover for over ten months. Life with Jessica was challenging but always fun and exciting. It was just that staying in any one place for very long was not in Sted’s DNA. Jessica could sense that Sted was becoming a little unsettled and decided it was time to tackle the problem head on.

“So, Sted, I can sense that something is not quite right with you lately. Care to share?”

Sted felt like a deer caught in the headlights. Not knowing what to say because he was afraid of hurting Jessica’s feelings, he squeaked out a non-responsive “I love you.”

“That may be the case, Sted, but you’re avoiding the question! If something isn’t right between us, I need to know about it. If it’s something else altogether, I need to know about that, too. I know you love me, and I hope you know that I love you, but we have to communicate our feelings in order to maintain a healthy relationship. So, face the music, Mr. Richardson. Just spit it out, and we’ll deal with the consequences!”

“I guess I’m feeling a bit trapped. Not with our relationship, just trapped on this shipyard. I don’t feel I’m contributing to this problem with our ‘visitors’ in a meaningful way. There has got to be more I can do to help, but I just don’t know what it is!”

Jessica smiled. “Now, was that really so hard? I knew you were getting fidgety for the last several weeks, but you never really let me know how you’re feeling. Do you think you can hide things like this from me?”

“I guess I really didn’t know what the problem was myself until the last couple of days,” Sted replied. “I’m trained to handle long missions in space, and this is certainly not the longest post I’ve endured. The problem is that I have done all that I can working on the Deltas and making suggestions for the new Epsilon class fighters, and now I’m just sort of hanging out with no real purpose.”

“Okay,” Jessica said, “what do you say we ask Cam for some advice on how you can be more helpful? Perhaps he can request that the Navy reassign you to the AMC shipyard and get you dispatched back to Luna, with me tagging along, of course!”

“How can that happen with the restrictions the Navy has placed on activity in the belt?”

“Perhaps those restrictions are not as necessary as they were,” Jessica said. “The three alien vessels are almost back to Jupiter by now. I would think it’s about time to restart the asteroid mining missions and get the shuttles moving back and forth to Luna on a restricted basis. We’re running out of key materials here at Rickover anyway, and soon construction on
Voyager III
will grind to a halt. How are they going to deploy your new fighters if there’s no carrier ship?”

“Thank you, ‘Fleet Admiral Browning’,” Sted replied as he stuck his tongue out at her. “I’m glad they left someone reasonable in charge of this operation!”

Jessica looked at him in feigned surprise. “You mock me? Wait and see, Mr. Smarty-pants. I’m going back to AMC headquarters tomorrow to record a request for Cam. He has quite a bit of pull with the Admiralty, and if he says he needs you on Luna, they might just listen to some common sense.”

The intelligence summit was being held onboard the Navy’s orbital headquarters platform in high Earth orbit. Vice Admiral Bunting, in his capacity as the chief intelligence officer on Luna, had been ordered to attend by Admiral Holcroft, and he welcomed the opportunity.

As he exited the Navy’s lunar shuttle through the boarding tube, he was met by Lieutenant Manzelli, Admiral Brooks’ flag aide.

“Good morning, Lieutenant,” Bunting said as he snapped off a crisp salute. “Admiral Brooks must be in one big hurry to see me if he’s sending his aide to pick me up.”

“Yes sir,” Manzelli replied as he returned the salute. “The Admiral and Secretary Miller request your immediate attendance in the conference center. We are about to receive our first report from
Discovery
after the arrival of those three alien ships back in Jupiter orbit, and they would like your input. Please follow me, sir. Your travel gear will be delivered directly to your cabin.”

Bunting gestured with a sweep of his arm. “Lead the way.”

The trip up the spoke of the station was uneventful. The slow increase in gravity in the elevator as they reached the outer rim of the station was a welcome change. Bunting’s many tours from midshipman to captain had been a couple of decades in the past, and he was just as glad to get back to the pseudo lunar gravity of the spinning headquarters platform.

It was only a short walk from the elevator exit to the conference room. Manzelli scanned his badge to gain immediate access for the two of them.

“Vice Admiral Bunting!” Secretary Miller said as the door opened. “We are so glad to have you onboard. Brooks and I have been tearing our hair out for the past three weeks trying to plan for all of the possible contingencies from this alien incursion. We really need a fresh set of eyes.”

“I’ll do my best, ma’am,” Bunting replied as he shook her hand. Then he offered a crisp salute to Admiral Brooks and accepted another firm handshake.

“Secretary Miller is spot on,” Brooks said. “I’m afraid we’ve dug ourselves into a rut by spinning our wheels on the same few scenarios. Let’s put that aside for now, however, as we anticipate receiving Captain Vasquez’s report in the next few minutes with the situation out in Jupiter orbit. Can we get you anything while we are settling into this briefing?”

“Sir, I wouldn’t mind a small snack and a bottle of water while we listen to the report. It has been five or six hours since my last meal and my stomach has been growling at me for the last couple of hours.”

“Certainly.” Brooks turned to Manzelli. “Lieutenant, see what the steward can scare up from the mess.”

Manzelli left the conference room as the three of them sat down around the conference table. Brooks slid a small document across the table to Bunting. “Here’s a brief summary of contingencies that our intelligence team has come up with so far with regard to these aliens. Hold onto it and review it when you get a chance. We’ll be going over these scenarios later today, so this should get you up to speed before those discussions. Now, let’s see if that report has arrived.” He pressed his hand onto the surface of the table monitor. After a brief acceptance chirp, a list of recent communications to Admiral Holcroft came up on the monitor, including an entry just received from
Discovery
. “Here it is. Let’s see what they have for us.”

Brooks touched the icon for the
Discovery
report, and Captain Vasquez appeared. He began his report, which he had dictated and sent more than thirty minutes earlier.

“This is Captain Julian Vasquez, commanding officer on the shuttle
Discovery
currently in orbit around the planet Jupiter. This is our second report of alien activity since establishing our orbit approximately five thousand kilometers behind the alien vessel. Our first report was brief. It basically noted that we arrived on station with no interference. We have now been on station for two days and have been monitoring all alien activity, including the return of the three smaller alien ships from in-system.

“First of all, the three ships arrived back in orbit by diving in front of the alien base ship and then coming back up into orbit on the opposite side from us, blocking our view of the rendezvous. I have attached a video of the actual arrival and an analysis of the three ships’ paths.

“Prior to this arrival, we observed unusual activity with several smaller vessels being disgorged from the large alien ship and dropping down into a low Jupiter orbit. The small vessels returned almost immediately, towing a large apparatus back to the main ship. I have attached a video of the entire operation for your analysis. Our initial thoughts are that the aliens are wrapping up some kind of refueling operation, but that is only a preliminary conclusion. We would appreciate any insights your intelligence staff might have.

“We also have a better estimate of the size of the main alien vessel by comparing the known length of the three smaller vessels as they passed through the orbit of the main one. Our best estimate is that the main vessel is over seven kilometers long and one kilometer in diameter. Very soon, we should have many more details about the main vessel, as you will see from the next item in this report.

“With regard to your previous orders to attempt to determine the frequency of the alien lasers, we are assembling two rockets for a closer flyby of the large alien vessel. The first will fly by at a range of one hundred kilometers. It will contain a camera for close inspection of the vessel. The second will stay at least five thousand kilometers from the alien vessel and will keep the first rocket between the alien ship and itself. This rocket will contain a laser beam profiler to measure the wavelength of the alien laser if it fires on the first rocket.

“Finally, I had our supply officer take a complete inventory of ship provisions, and we have determined we have enough provisions to remain in orbit around Jupiter for no longer than thirty days without some kind of resupply during the return trip. I have included the inventory and calculations from the supply officer along with his recommendation for a resupply capsule that we can pick up on the way home.

“I will await further orders. My next report will be after the alien ship flyby, regardless of the results. You can anticipate this report in twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Vasquez out.”

During the report, Manzelli had returned to the conference room with a hot snack for Vice Admiral Bunting along with a fresh urn of coffee and a few pastries.

While the lieutenant was arranging the refreshments, Brooks passed him a note that he should acknowledge receipt of Captain Vasquez’s report and pass the report, along with the attached files, to the naval intelligence division offices right away and ask for a preliminary analysis within two hours. Then he turned to Bunting.

“Okay, I know you’ve been in flight to us for almost thirty hours. That being said, do you think you can finish your meal, get back to your cabin for a short nap, and be ready for the main conference this afternoon at 1400? “

Bunting looked at his watch, which synced automatically to local ship time, and saw that he had four and a half hours until their next meeting. “I think I can handle that, sir. While I’m snacking, and before I go through the report you handed me, can we have a quick discussion of this report?”

“Certainly. Where would you like to start?”

“Let’s start with the implications of the size of the main alien ship in Jupiter orbit. Seven plus kilometers long and a kilometer in diameter, if it were a perfect cylinder, would contain a volume of almost six cubic kilometers. I think it’s fair to say that these aliens work on a grand scale. Even if their ship contains four cubic kilometers of interior space and they use seventy-five percent of that volume for fuel storage, it still leaves an entire cubic kilometer of storage space to house whatever else they brought along with them.

“Now, we know they brought along at least three smaller ships, and each ship is about one hundred and fifty meters long and fifty meters in diameter. Let’s assume a docking bay that can hold at least six of these vehicles. That would hardly make a dent in the available space. I think before this afternoon’s conference, you might ask your intelligence analysts what we might bring on an interstellar trip if we were trying to establish a beachhead colony, because that is exactly what I think they are doing.”

As Bunting dug into his meal, he observed Brooks and Miller looking at each other in way that told him he had touched a sensitive nerve. He decided to keep his mouth busy with his food for a few minutes to see what developed.

“Vice Admiral Bunting,” Miller said finally, “I think you are already up to speed without even glancing at that report we gave you to read. We think humanity is in really big trouble right now, and your observations only confirm our worst-case scenario. By God, I hope we’re wrong!”