Authors: Karl Kofoed
Mary arrived home a half hour after Alex, soaked with perspiration. When she entered their com suite Alex was in conference with Matt Howarth, who had bad news.
Mary nodded to the grave looking face on the viewscreen and sat down next to Alex on the sofa. Though soaked from head to toe, Mary showed no signs of fatigue. It was clear to Alex from the change in Matt’s expression that he had noticed that Mary’s white outfit did little to hide her body.
“What’s the matter?” she asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence that followed her entrance.
Howarth’s eyes lowered grimly. “Bad news, I’m afraid, Mary. The clicks are dying. Most of them, at least. We don’t really know why. Maybe it’s environmental or some kind of contamination.”
“They’re all dying?” Mary asked.
“There are four of the younger ones left. They seem okay at the moment.”
Mary thought for a moment. “Perhaps their enclosure is polluted. Can you isolate them?”
Matt shook his head. “Not without risking physical damage to the specimens. They’re made of next to nothing, remember.”
“Will they take the buffeting of the scoop maneuver?” asked Mary.
“Good question,” answered Matt with a vague smile. Alex could tell he was still enjoying Mary’s charms, but accustomed to men staring at her he concentrated on the subject at hand. “I appreciate your sharing the news,” he said. “Have you told the Professor?”
“Certainly.”
“Was he concerned?”
“I suppose. But he’s got a lot to think about, right now. And so do I. I’d better go.”
“Thanks, Matt,” said Alex with a sigh, as the com screen went blank.
Alex raised an eyebrow as he looked at Mary. “You’re leaving a wet spot on the sofa. But Matt didn’t seem to mind.”
Mary smiled. “I can’t understand why men’s eyes are connected to their penises.” She got up. “But you’re right. I should change and I need a shower.” As she left the room Alex noticed a slight swelling of her abdomen. He thought to mention that she should wear looser fitting clothes, but thought better of it.
Apparently Mary heard his thoughts as she stopped in the doorway and looked back at him. “If we’re going to be here a while,” she said sadly, “we have to consider telling Johnny our secret.”
Alex went to Mary and took her in his arms. She was trembling. “We have time,” he said reassuringly.
6
One again, Alex and Mary, like the rest of the crew, were secure in their protective sphere for the first and most dangerous of
Goddard’s
braking maneuvers.
After two weeks the signal finally came for everyone aboard ship to enter their survival modules. As privileged members of the staff, Mary and Alex’s module was linked to the command center. Still, they were only observers. The communication was only one way.
“Think of it as being confined to our cabin during a dinger bash,” advised Alex, trying to cheer Mary up.
“That’s a pleasant thought,” she said, looking at Alex darkly. “At any second we’ll be sucked into space.”
Alex looked around at their white cocoon. “This thing will keep us safe.”
“Safe little bubbles of survival in orbit around a frozen gas giant. I feel better now, Alex. You can stop cheering me up.”
Alex sighed and leaned back against the soft headboard. Inky was sitting at the foot of the bed staring at him accusingly.
“Not you, too?”
Two pictures were projected on the inside of their sphere. One showed the control room, with the Captain and the Commander’s stations at its center. The other image, displayed on most viewscreens throughout the ship, was from a camera mounted on the hull behind the air scoops. All that could be seen of the scoops at the moment were hairline seams in the smooth skin of the ship. Looming beyond the needle point of the ship’s prow was the vast rim of Lalande c. Despite its awesome size, the dim sanguine light of the parent star barely illuminated the planet’s cloudy surface.
Alex studied the planet. “I wonder where that ring is, relative to the dive.” Then he saw it, a slender thread against the belted ghost of a planet.
Mary saw it too. “We’re coming in from above it,” she said. “I’m guessing we’ll pass a few hundred kilometers from it.”
“You can tell that from just looking at it?”
Mary laughed. “No, silly. I can hear Johnny talking to the astrolab.”
“Can we both listen?”
Mary nodded. “If we use our priority clearance. Ask the computer for astro audio one.”
Soon they were listening to the action in the control room. At the moment it was Captain Wysor, not Professor
Baltadonis, who was commanding the
Goddard
. Alex noticed that everyone was seated and belted to their chairs. On the wall screen was the same image that filled the rest of Alex and Mary’s bubble. They were listening to a conversation between Stubbs’ former assistant Ned Binder and a staffer named Carol. “... long will the monitors last?” Binder was saying as the sound cut in.
“Until we ionize, sir,” Carol answered. “But we’re already seeing its shape. It’s a triangular structure, hard to see from some angles.”
Alex could see that the Captain was speaking; he looked angry. “What’s Wysor saying, computer? Can we listen?”
“
Control audio one
,” answered the computer.
“...and I want th’ angles right,” shouted the Captain. “It ‘as to be exact! I’m not losin’ this ship because you maggots can’ do yer math!”
“We’re well inside acceptable limits, sir,” said a quiet female voice.
“The course is now corrected,” added a deep throated male.
“Good ... keep ’t tight!” answered Wysor.
Suddenly the outside image brightened considerably, then cleared again. A few seconds later, in the upper right corner of the screen, Alex saw an angular black structure come into view. “It’s the ring, Mary.”
The curving black line faded off in the distance. As quickly as it had come into view, it moved out of frame as the
Goddard
continued its descent. Soon, the forward camera’s image began to vibrate and a pink glow began to form around the nose of the ship. “Ionization. We’re hitting the atmosphere,” Alex whispered as he put an arm around Mary.
The image began to deteriorate as the pink glow brightened. The ship’s scoop doors slid open and raised into place, hiding the nose of the ship. Moments later the
Goddard
passed into the shadow of the planet and all that could be seen was a pink glow that filled the screen. Then it went blank.
Alex’s attention shifted to the other image. The control room chatter had quieted considerably. Now there were only periodic altitude reports as everyone sat tensely watching the giant screen. He knew they were waiting for the ramjets to ignite. If they failed, the main rockets could carry them back into space, but it would use up the fuel they had scooped, making the whole maneuver pointless. No one was more mindful of this than Alex, who watched the proceedings grimly.
Mary leaned against him holding Inky as their protective bubble began to shake, accompanied by a low rumble that could be heard reverberating through the ship. It grew louder with each passing second. The cat looked around with wide eyes and twitching ears as it tried to locate the source of the sound.
“Switching off outside cameras,” said a voice from the control room. “Air scoops functioning well. Hydrogen accumulation, fifteen percent.”
The rumble grew louder still and Inky pressed his face into Mary’s armpit. Mary stroked him gently. “Poor guy,” said Alex, looking at the animal sympathetically. “He can probably feel it in his bones.”
“So can I,” said Mary.
“Ramjet mode in four minutes,” Captain Wysor shouted above the din.
“One hundred kilometers to cloud tops,” answered an unidentified voice. “Leveling ... zero degrees.”
“So far, so good,” Alex reassured Mary.
“I wish we could see how the cylinder’s doing,” Mary answered, looking around at the confines of their dome.
They both knew, of course, that even if the dome was open, looking out their picture window would reveal nothing.
Their house, like all the others, had been lowered safely into the superstructure of the cylinder before the dive into Bubba 2’s atmosphere.
Johnny’s face suddenly appeared in the corner of the dome. “Crew of the
Goddard
,” he said. “It is time to ask your God, or whatever forces you feel a close relation to, for help and guidance.” He paused a moment, then added, “May God help us.”
“What was that supposed to mean?” asked Mary. “Are we in trouble? He sounded so ... grave.”
“I don’t think it meant something’s gone wrong. He’s probably as scared as the rest of us.”
“Do you ever pray?”
“Not recently.”
“But you have, on occasion, haven’t you?”
“Oh, yes.” Alex pulled Mary closer. “We both vowed before God to take care of each other at the wedding. That was between us and God.”
Mary smiled. “That was just a ceremony. Besides, you didn’t do the praying.”
Alex frowned. “I said those vows. And I meant ’em. Whether God was listening or not.”
“Of course,” replied Mary, “but God has nothing to do with it.”
“How do you know?”
Mary didn’t answer him. The rumbling crescendo had now reached its peak, forcing both of them to shout to be heard.
Alex gave up and lay back watching the image of the control room. Many heads there were bowed as the horrible shaking continued, but Captain Wysor was almost standing. He leaned forward, gripping his console with both hands, with his eyes fixed on the main viewscreen. His expression spoke of resolve and courage, not piety.
“Look at Wysor,” Alex said, pointing at the image of the control room. “He’s not afraid.”
“Yes he is,” said Mary.
“How do you know?”
“Because I know that he’s no fool,” Mary answered.
Chapter 8
1
Goddard
had become a comet in the skies of Bubba 2. In order to scoop up gas and lift back into space, they had to travel at ultrasonic speeds. When the ramjets fired to take them back into space, the crew was still flying blind, encased in a halo of white hot plasma.
Alex and Mary had almost gotten used to the rumbling when the ramjets ignited, increasing the sound level. With the air scoops and high speed compressors running at maximum, more violent seismic ripples began coursing through the frame of the ship and their protective bubble.
“How much longer can this last?” Mary shouted almost angrily.
“Can’t say,” answered Alex, watching the overhead dome with his right arm wrapped tightly around Mary. Inky was somewhere buried between them in a fetal position, pressed as deeply into the bed clothes as possible.
Alex had been through countless reentries, but this was like nothing he’d ever experienced. He knew the
Goddard
had a tough hide. The double polyceramic plating reflected 95% of the energy it received. He was haunted, though, by the impression that the ship was no more than a woven basket. “I’ll bet we’re lighting up the skies down there,” he said, making conversation to distract Mary’s fear.
“A thought to be treasured,” she mumbled. “You know, this is rough for us, but I’ll bet it’s worse for the dolphin crew.”
“And the clicker men,” Alex said. “Computer, can you patch me through to Matt Howarth in the Biolab?”
“
PIO status only, please
,” answered the computer, tersely.
“What’s that?” asked Mary lifting her face from the pillow.
“Priority Information Only,” Alex grumbled. “It wants to know the reason for my request of the computer’s time. We’re on Def Four status.”
Mary looked at him skeptically. “What is it you want to know?”
“How the clickers are doing,” he said, forcing a smile. “No harm in asking.”
“
Automatic status, priority Alpha,
” said the computer. “
Your access to Jovian data is unrestricted, Mr. Rose. Please
wait.
”
The report came in visual form. A small picture of the clicker men’s enclosure appeared directly above Alex’s head.
Surrounding it were long streams of printed data, charts, biological profiles and measurements. But none of it gave him his answer. “Computer, delete the side data. Just enlarge the picture of the enclosure.”
Alex steadied himself on the bed as a shockwave rumbled through the ship.
The image overhead enlarged until he could see the inside of the clicker men enclosure. It was no longer dark. This, he guessed, was due to a night vision filter on the camera. No clicker men were visible anywhere. At first he assumed them to be dead, but soon he noticed irregularly shaped poles inside the enclosure. “There were no poles there before,” he said. “Where did they come from? And where are the clicks?”
Alex didn’t expect an answer, but the computer apparently thought he did.
“The poles inside Biotank Alpha are the
occupants you call the clicks. Specimen name, Jovians.
”
He stared at the image above him. The clicks had somehow distorted their shape and anchored themselves to the floor of the enclosure. “Hard to believe. I guess that’s some kind of defensive move. Riding it out like the rest of us, I guess. Thanks, computer. By the way,” he added. “How is the ship holding up?”
“Mission status acceptable.”
Alex rolled his eyes and lay back. “Should have expected that. Back to the control room image and sound, please, computer.”
He saw little change in the disposition of the crew in the control room, except for the Captain. Wysor was now seated, staring wide-eyed at the viewscreen like everyone else. “Flight status?” Alex asked the computer. “The Captain looks upset.
Is there a problem?”
“Still acceptable,” said the computer’s androgynous voice.
“The Captain is concerned that our ship is being followed
by an unidentified group of objects.”
Mary lifted from the pillow. “Did I hear that right?”
“Dingers,” said Alex. “Can you detail the objects, computer?”
“Show me what the Captain is seeing, please, computer,” added Mary. The image over their head switched to an outside camera on
Goddard’s
nose. From this vantage point, seen through a bright glowing haze, was Bubba 2’s flat horizon, a straight pink line that separated the star field above them from the dark frozen world below, with the parent star Lalande just a fuzzy red dot above it.
Suddenly a flash of lightning from the seething clouds below revealed what the Captain and crew were seeing.
Surrounding the ship were several disks flying as if locked to
Goddard’s
trajectory, perhaps a hundred meters from the ship.
They seemed to be made of black glass, reflecting the lightning on their curved surfaces, visible for only an instant. Alex wondered if he had seen an illusion, but the next flash of lightning from below showed them still there. “Those must be alien ships,” Mary said.
“Nearly invisible,” said Alex. “No wonder we didn’t spot them before.”
“What do you suppose they’re doing?” asked Mary.
“Flying escort, is my guess.”
2
It seemed to take forever, but the
Goddard
dipped in and out of the atmosphere in a run that lasted only a few minutes. When it was over, the ramjets had done their job and the ship had entered orbit safely with its spare tanks full of hydrogen.
Out in the darkness, nearly invisible but for the distortion they made in the surrounding stars, the alien saucers held their positions.
On Alex and Mary’s dome a picture of the control room remained in its central position, surrounded by several other images of the saucers from various viewpoints. Still trapped in their bubble and eager to have access to the rest of the house, they listened, a captive audience, while the Commander made an announcement.
“I have to underscore how little we know of the things outside.” Professor Baltadonis looked around at his staff, shrugged, then continued. “Those saucers, the ring system, and all the rest will be big news at home.” The Commander scratched his thinning gray hair. “I am pleased to tell you that the maneuver was successful and the gas scoops worked as we had hoped. Now that we are safely in a circular orbit, I have to mention that our engineers are concerned about damage to the neutronium train used to return home. They report that the sonic waves during the air scoop maneuver may have had a negative impact. They are evaluating the situation. But the test of our gee-pulse system went fine and we anticipate no problems. On other more mundane matters: now that we are again setting up shop ...”
Feeling cramped and confined, Alex and Mary listened as Johnny read off a litany of tasks and team leaders assigned to them, required to get the cylinder up and running again.
Johnny had said that
Goddard
was settling into a circular orbit. Alex didn’t see how that was possible. The plan had called for two braking maneuvers, not one. He knew that even after two passes by the huge planet the ship would take quite a while to establish a circular orbit. “How can we be in a circular orbit?”
Mary shrugged. “The aliens must have slowed us down.”
“A ship the size of
Goddard
? How’s that possible?”
“With those guys, anything’s possible,” replied Mary. “Do you suppose Johnny’s unaware?”
Alex laughed. “You must be kidding.”
In another half hour the all clear was sounded and the crew were allowed out of their protective cocoons. Inky bounded from room to room, reveling in his freedom. Alex and Mary were less exuberant but happy to be free of their enclosure. They took turns in the shower, then dressed in blue coveralls and went to the com room, which conveniently contained the remaining rations of food and their staple away from home, Ganny geebrew.
“Three liters left,” said Alex, looking at the meter on the panel next to the drink dispenser. He handed a glass to Mary and took a sip from his own. “Treasure it, my love. It’s sure to be gone before we see Gannytown again.”
Mary drained half of hers, then made a face and burped. “To tell the truth, maybe you should drink this. You like it more than I do.” She handed him the glass.
“You can take the geebrew meds in tea,” Alex offered, pouring the remaining contents of her glass into his.
“Tea tastes terrible with meds in it.”
“Well, you have to get your meds or you can’t fly missions,” said Alex with a shrug. “Name your poison.” He looked at the blank wall screen. “Computer ... mission status ... images please. Rose priority Alpha.”
The screen blinked on, displaying a composite view of all the saucers in formation around the ship.
“We are in a circular
orbit three hundred kilometers off Lalande c’s equator. Our ship is accompanied by a formation of eighteen black saucers,
each five hundred and eighteen meters wide, fifty seven and a half meters thick, composition unknown.”
“Did they assist
Goddard
in achieving orbit?” asked Alex.
“It appears so.”
“What has been learned about the objects?”
“They have properties similar to the black sphere encountered earlier.”
“Other than their size and shape, how are they different from the sphere?”
“Unknown.”
“Are they occupied?” asked Mary. “Are there creatures inside?”
“Unknown.”
“What is the best speculation on the ships’ purpose?” Alex smiled at Mary, thinking he’d asked the right question.
“There is no such speculation on record.”
“Dingers.” Alex almost spilled his beer snapping his fingers angrily.
“We’ll probably know soon enough,” said Mary as she rose and walked to the window. She touched a button at the side of the window to make it transparent, but all that was revealed was a flat wall of preformed metal. Mary sighed wistfully and pressed the button again.
Alex smiled. “You know, those windows are capable of projecting scenes. We’ve never used it.”
Mary frowned. “Because we’d rather be out there in the cylinder, not looking at some hologram.”
“Computer, is the Window Scenes program available?” Alex asked, smiling at Mary hopefully.
“Yes, Captain Rose. What scene would you like?”
He scratched his chin. “What’s available?”
“Hawaiian holiday is very popular. Atlantian Shelf Farm is also very popular. Sydney Harbor ... Tokyo nights ...
Manhattan cruise... Niagara Falls ... and from the Mars library...”
“That’s the one,” exclaimed Mary. “Niagara Falls. We never saw that when we visited Earth, did we, Alex?”
The picture window suddenly changed to a view overlooking a great waterfall. In the distance loomed a rock outcropping with a small grove of trees. Behind that was yet another even bigger waterfall. The image was accompanied by a thundering sound and the glass shook, wet with spray. The effect was utterly convincing, so much so that Inky, having just calmed down, was sent fleeing from the room.
Alex looked at the scene for a moment. “Let’s try some others.” An hour later they had visited the Grand Canyon, seen a foggy pink sunrise on Titan, and Alex even revisited a mining colony on Io, Jupiter’s untamable sulphur moon, where Alex had begun his quest to discover Jupiter’s Reef.
He stood at the window for a long time watching a distant fountaining plume of blue gas spread out to encompass the entire sky, already alight with rainbow colored aurora. He finally turned to Mary, shaking his head in disbelief. “Why would anyone go to a place like that?”
She looked at him wistfully. “We both did. And if we hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here and our child wouldn’t be on the way.”
Alex sat down next to his wife and put an arm around her. “And we wouldn’t be orbiting another star playing tag with aliens.”
3
Professor Baltadonis had his hands full. Not only was he point man for every nuance of the
Goddard’s
mission, but he was also the man in charge of dealing with the aliens. As far as the operation of the ship was concerned there had been little change in the style or quality of leadership since Johnny had taken over the former Commander’s role. The only noticeable 110 difference was that he had many more briefings to the entire crew. Alex and Mary appreciated that, since they were still confined to quarters and had no idea of what was going on. But soon all that changed.
They were in their com room, still waiting for their house to be raised to ground level, when Ned Binder’s youthful face appeared on their viewscreen. “Good to see you both up and around,” he said. “I bet you have a lot of questions.”
Mary had been standing nearest the unit when the call came in. Ned’s eyes seemed to be on her, so she answered.
“Johnny has been doing a good job with the bulletins,” she replied politely.
“Is there something you wanted?” asked Alex.
“The Professor would like you both to join us for a meeting in the Com.”
“Immediately?”
Ned nodded. “If you can. You’ll have to take the tubeway, I’m sorry to say, until the cylinder is opened for use.”
After Mary left some food and water for the cat, they went to the tubeway entrance. It was a quick trip since the building was only a short distance from their house, but it required an inordinate amount of stair climbing that had Alex complaining by the time they arrived. Mary, of course, was scarcely out of breath.
Johnny beckoned them to his command post. “Nice to see you two,” the Professor said. “Nice to have someone visit me without some problem to solve.”
“How are you making out?” Alex looked around the control room.
“As well as can be expected,” answered Johnny, “considering I wasn’t at all prepared to become Commander. But
Captain Wysor, Ned Binder, and all the rest have been very helpful.”
Alex’s eyes rested on the wall screen which held an image of an alien saucer. “Well, if it’s any compensation, Mary and I admire the job you’re doing, especially the extra effort you’ve been making to inform the crew.”
“That was something Stubbs wanted also,” answered Johnny. “But he rarely took the time to do it. And now I see why.