“Yeah, well she took your accident hard, Rosey. Enjoy her shift in attitude while you can. By the way, I think I have two other new recruits for you.”
“Oh? Not some of those lava creatures.”
“No, a couple of farm boys from the Fortune. I think they were followers of that Brother Abraham guy.”
“That is just what I need.”
“According to Hank Zackly, when he informed them that you survived your unexpected stay on the surface they started babbling all sorts of stuff about you being 'the chosen of God' and having 'defeated the angel of death'.”
“Great, now I'm Joan of Arc. I always wanted my own cult.” Rosey shook her head. “If I recall, things didn't work out so well for Saint Joan.”
“Well they're big and beefy and not overly bright. I'd think they're perfect for the Marines.” Betty smiled a wicked smile to show Rosey she was just giving her a hard time. At one time Betty had been a Navy Medical Corpsman attached to the Marines.
“Well, we'll see. If I can't turn 'em into Marines by the time we make home port we can always leave 'em on the shore. Besides, it will give me something challenging to do.”
“If you are looking forward to conducting basic training I'd say you are ready to get out of that bed. I'll bring you a new jump suit and booties.”
“Outstanding, thanks Doc.”
Officer's Quarters, Peggy Sue
Will Krenshaw was having a crisis of conscience. He had been less than fully candid when he signed on for the voyage, claiming that he had been affiliated with a university back on Earth that had been destroyed during the alien bombardment and was left unemployed. He was a qualified microbiologist, and he had worked at a university, but he neglected to mention that he was in the pay of Fleet intelligence.
His mission was to watch the officers and crew of the Peggy Sue, and report any questionable activities or unlawful acts they might commit during the voyage. The Intel section was convinced that Captain Vincent and his merry band were no better than buccaneers and pirates, out to plunder any planet they happened upon.
At first he suspected that the Fleet officers were right, the crew certainly seemed filled with questionable characters. The Captain all but blasted his way out of the solar system, ignoring orders from Navy vessels to stop. But then, after arriving in this system, Will began to have doubts.
The merchants were cautious to the point of paranoia about contaminating the targeted planet, or risking the lives of the Marines and scientists sent to the surface. The officers all acted professionally and Dr. Ogawa insisted on maintaining the highest professional standards. They left Paradise intact for the arriving colonists and headed farther out into the system. That's when Will really began to suspect he was on the wrong side.
The explorers went to great lengths, at no small personal risk, to make contact with the lava creatures. They actually made friends with the sentient boulders and exchanged items with them—possibly mankind's first act of friendly interstellar trade. Will suspected that the Fleet would have either ignored the fascinating silicon life form or simply blasted their little moon to bits and been done with it.
Then came that horrible business with Joe Rogers. Granted Joe was a bit of a loose cannon, but what a ghastly way to die! More importantly, the Captain didn't just cut and run. He raced back to Paradise to warn the colonists. The crew of the Peggy Sue risked their own lives trying to rescue those poor settlers while the Colonization Board people stood by and watched. The Captain and crew of the Peggy Sue were looking more and more like the good guys here, and not the avaricious plunderers the Navy had described.
In the end, he wrote a fairly neutral report, which was hidden inside a seemingly innocuous letter to a colleague back at Farside. That letter was included in the electronic mail to be sent back on the survey drone. True, several hundred people died and the Peggy Sue did destroy the transport ship, but he'd be damned if he didn't think they'd done the right thing. Oh well. Perhaps the merchants would commit an unspeakable atrocity or two at their next port of call.
Cargo Hold, Peggy Sue
The Captain and Sailing Master were examining a large cylindrical container, which lay on its side near the starboard cargo door. It had been built by Engineer Baldursson's artificers to fit into a bay on the planetary survey drone. The bay used to contain disposable survey probes that had been expended during its mission to Paradise. The drone itself floated in space just outside the cargo door.
“So we can fit a half a ton of jewels and a sample of the alien tech from Paradise into this thing?” asked Billy Ray.
“Aye, Captain,” replied Arin. “Plus a beacon tuned to company frequencies and all the encrypted video.”
“Both the alien recordings and our own records of what happened here?”
“Ja, that and the survey drone's data.”
“Good. Let's get this installed in the probe and send it on its way. If there was a way to send some of the survivors I would send them as well.”
“You should have thought of that before you vaporized the transport ship,” said Bobby, teasing his friend.
“Did you want to round up that black stuff that was in her hold, pardner?” Billy Ray shot back. “Besides, the controls had been locked, sending Fortune back to Earth.”
“Yeah, there wouldn't have been anyone left on arrival. Nothing but ghosts.”
“Yer right, and there's already an awful lot of ghosts in the Orion Arm.”
The engineers finished closing up the capsule and two of them wearing space suits pushed the cylinder through the cargo door. Following the cylinder, the men disappeared through the door into the vacuum outside.
“You think the authorities will shit doughnuts back at Farside when they find out almost all the settlers are dead and we blew up the Colonization Board ship?”
“I don't know, Bobby. We included statements from the surviving settlers and crewmembers. The new pilot, Frank, and his buddy Leon were quite explicit about Captain Chakrabarti freaking out after the settlers were all slaughtered. I hope they understand why we had to do what we did. Hell, we almost lost one of our own rescuing those two girls after Chakrabarti refused to try and rescue anyone from the surface.”
“Yeah, but you know politicians and bureaucrats, they only see things from their own selfish point of view. If it doesn't benefit them personally they don't much care. Hopefully the beacon will attract a company ship first.”
“Either way, its gonna tight beam the recorded material to company HQ after emergence. That should give TK and the board enough ammunition to fend off the jackals.”
“Still, it would just be a shame for some ass-hat from the Fleet to get all that alien poo.” Bobby looked at his friend and grinned.
“We got several more tons of the stuff right over there.” Billy Ray motioned at several sealed containers farther aft in the hold. “But you're right, they don't deserve a thing. Come on, let's go to the bridge and watch the probe head back home.”
“Right there with ya, Billy Ray.”
Bridge, Peggy Sue
“The Captain is on the bridge,” announced Nigel Lawson, acting OOD.
“I have the deck and the conn, Mr. Lewis,” Billy Ray answered. With increasing tension and threat levels more Navy formality had crept into the crew's interactions. Certainly the entire crew was deadly serious when the Fortune was destroyed and its survivors rescued.
Bobby took his seat next to Nigel at the helm, while Beth and Mizuki occupied their usual positions behind the Captain. With the bridge fully manned the ship was ready to sail.
“Put the survey drone on the forward screen, Dr. Ogawa.”
“Hai, Captain.” Mizuki focused the ship's largest telescope on the survey drone as it approached the alter-space transit point back to Earth. A holographic projection replaced the normal view forward through the Peggy Sue's transparent bow.
“Less than two minutes to transit, Captain,” reported Nigel.
The bridge fell silent as all hands watched the drone. Just large enough to house the necessary shields and gravitonic drives, the drone was as small an alter-space capable object as Earthly technology could build. The seconds to transit ticked down.
The slender drone shimmered and vanished.
“Very well,” Billy Ray said, “that particular die is cast.”
“I wonder what the reaction will be back home,” Beth mused.
“An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told.”
“Shakespeare, Richard the Third, Sir,” called out Nigel from the helm, causing the Captain to smile. Identifying his quotations had become a popular game among the bridge crew.
“Whatever the reaction is, we won't find out for another year or so, plenty of time for any ruckus to die down. What they decide to do with the next colonization effort remains to be seen.”
“I hope they do a more thorough survey next time, it might save innocent lives.”
“Not our call, Number One.” Billy Ray remained pensively silent for half a minute before issuing new orders to the crew.
“Alright people, we have new stars to see and new aliens to meet! Helm, align us for transit to Gliese 667's primary stars. From there we're headin' out into unknown territory.”
The crew's spirits rose as the ship left the ill-fated planet named Paradise and the ghosts of Orion in her wake. The prospects of greater, and more profitable, adventures lay before them as the Peggy Sue headed for unexplored space.
Epilogue
Board Room, Orion Arm Trading Company
TK Parker sat at the head of the boardroom table, an ostentatious slab of polished hardwood worth a fortune on the Moon. There were seven board members present, including the former Texas Oilman, all wealthy and successful before they were forced to flee Earth. They came from many countries and were of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. What they had in common was wealth and the overwhelming desire to acquire more.
“Let's come to order, people. We got a lot of things to discuss today, including more fallout from the Peggy Sue's actions at the Paradise colony.”
“So have we heard back from the follow-up science expedition sent to GJ667Cc?” asked Indu Nadar, a former Indian manufacturing magnate and the board's only female member. “It has been almost eight months.”
“We have, Indu. I have a short recorded message from Dr. von Langsdorf, the expedition leader. If no one objects I'd like to play it.”
No objections were raised and TK called up the holovid recording on the table's center projector. The image of an erect older man appeared. He seemed to be facing each of the attendees, regardless of their position at the table. The man's image began to speak.
“This is to inform the board that we have made great progress in analyzing and controlling the contagion that infects planet Paradise.” The man paused as though he anticipated the murmurs that circulated around the table. The lead scientist continued.
“We have come to the conclusion that the organism itself is an artificial life form, or ALF, an engineered creation smaller than a nanite with its own metabolic pathways, genome, and life cycle. It's genetic material is simple and unlike any found in known warm life.”
The man's figure was replaced by a scene from the planet which showed a field of growing plants, presumably Earth life, being overcome by the black pestilence.
“It is simple, rugged, and effectively immortal. Without intervention it will keep its host planet clean of life as we know it forever.”
TK paused the playback.
“Now here's where it gets interesting, people.”
The recording resumed with a different field of grass as the scientist's voice-over continued.
“We have made a number of advances with respect to controlling or eradicating the contagion. The presence of organic molecules stimulate the ALF, causing it to emerge from hibernation and enter its active state. Using robotic devices and teleoperated laboratory equipment we have identified a number of exogenous antagonists that prevent the ALF from reproducing and from absorbing other living organisms, which provide energy for its growth.”
Again the black strands began to ravage the growing plants, dissolving all they came in contact with. But then the spread of the contagion stopped. It rebounded from a strip of plants that formed a boarder around the field. This effectively contained the outbreak, which soon withered and vanished back into the sandy soil.
“As you can see, the contagion is unable to infest fields of specially modified Earth plants. The plants are genetically modified to host symbiotic micro organisms which secrete the antagonists that halt the contagion. While this gives some protection against the contagion, it is not a cure for the planet's infestation.
“We are now working on a constellation of micro organisms that, when applied to an infested planet, will actively deny the spread of the contagion and eventually destroy it in its dormant spoor state. Once this is done we will be able to disinfect Paradise, making it safe for colonization by Earth life.”
The hologram faded from view, leaving the board members sitting in contemplative silence. Henri Bouchard, a former Swiss banker, was first to break the silence.