Alien Enigma (5 page)

"Great. Maybe you'll find out when we leave."

"Maybe," he answered, knowing the briefing was for more than to discuss schedules. There was some top secret information critical to the mission that would be passed. It was well beyond top secret, at a level of the President and his cabinet members. This intrigued the captain as much as the specially built warship.
What was so secret about the mission?

Chapter Three: The U.S.S.S. Doc Travis

Always plan for the worst; that way, all your surprises will be pleasant ones.

- Robert Jordan, The Dragon Reborn

Olson Wannstead glanced up, then smiled broadly as his son entered his office at corporate headquarters. Ordinarily Brian would have been over in the engineering building, where he had been closely involved with starship construction since finishing his apprenticeship. He still preferred engineering even though he was being forced to pay much more attention to financing these days. At any rate, it was always a pleasure to see Brian for any reason. He was proud of the way he'd turned out. He had even served several years in the Navy and was still active in the reserves.

"Hello Brian. What brings you over here at this time of day? I thought you were trouble-shooting the interfacing of the C class computer navigation setup."

"Oh, that wasn't much of a problem and only for that one ship, the second coming off the line. It's already taken care of. A tech error, nothing more."

Wannstead noticed that something was awry in Brian's countenance. He wasn't nearly as animated as usual. Further, he appeared to have something on his mind.

"So what's your problem? I doubt you dropped by just to see the old man, especially since you and Emily were supposed to be coming for dinner tonight." He raised his brows in question.

Brian slid into a seat in front of his father's desk. He slumped rather than sitting upright as usual.

"Brian?"

"Dad, I've been called up."

"Back to active duty? What on earth for?"

"My orders read to report to Palmdale for a special assignment. You can guess what that means."

"
Oh, shit!"
The exclamation burst from Wannstead before thinking. He half rose in his seat then dropped back. "Goddamn it! They're going to put you on that ship!"

"That's what it looks like, Dad. Kind of a kick, huh? We sent all those men and women out to investigate the missing ships and now when we decide to leave it to someone else I get called on to go. Ironic, huh?"

Wannstead thought rapidly but ineffectively. "Is ...is there any way to get out of it?"

"Sure. No problem Dad, I could refuse to go and spend twenty years breaking rocks."

"No, no. I didn't mean that. I'm just ..."

"Yeah. Listen, Dad, I'm still getting used to the idea. I haven't even told Emily yet. I'm going home right from here. I'll call a bit later and let you know if we're going to make it tonight." He got up to go.

"Wait! Listen, son, I've got some friends in Washington. I can talk to some people and maybe -"

"No. Don't do anything like that, Dad. How do you think I'd feel if you got me out of this after we sent all those men and women on the same kind of mission and they never returned? I'd feel like shit. No one would ever respect a Wannstead again-or least not me."

"It's better than being dead."

"We don't know that they're dead. Anyhow, I have to go, so let's not argue about it. Okay?"

Wannstead took a deep breath. "If that's the way you want it, son, but damn! Had I known this was going to happen I'd have had second thoughts about calling on the Navy for help."

Brian grinned wryly. "I might've, too, but this is done. Plus, I know a lot of shit about these ships that no one else does-except for you. They could probably use me. If I don't see you tonight, tell Mom I had to leave quickly. It's no lie. I have to report tomorrow and it may take some time to settle Emily down."

Abruptly, Wannstead came around his desk and clasped his only son in a fierce embrace. When it was over he watched him go. He stared at the door he had gone through and wondered if he would ever see him again.

***

"It's a pleasure to meet you in person, sir," Captain Keane said to Admiral Mullins, commanding officer of the United States military space forces. He had barely made it to the new Virginia Octagon in time for his appointment with the admiral after getting lost twice in the labyrinthine mazes of the building.

"Same here, Captain."

"And thanks for the gift."

"Oh, just passing along a tradition. Received that same plaque right before I commanded the
Star Gazer
. She was one of the first in space, and as you may recall, and the first in a space battle."

Keane knew all too well about the classified encounter of the
Star Gaz
er and the Chinese ship, the
Minglong
. The
Minglong
and
Star Gazer
both reached a newly discovered planet later coined
Pecunia Hills.
The planet had more gold, silver, diamonds and minerals than anywhere on Earth. It was a heavily volcanic planet that had pumped up the metals to the surface millions of years before. The
Star Gazer
discovered it first, but somehow the Chinese got wind of the situation and sent in the
Minglong
. A squabble arose and the two ships wound up in a battle of sorts. The Chinese at first refused to back down. Mullins sent a warning shot across their bow and promised an all-out battle if they didn't accept the American claim on the planet. The incident ended with an exchange of shots that drove the Chinese ship into leaving but the event left a long standing scar between America and the Chinese that hadn't completely healed yet.

"Yes, admiral, your story is required reading at the academy now. And please thank the Navy Secretary for her gift too."

"Actually thought about keeping that one for myself," smiled the Admiral. "But knowing about your mission, I figured you might need it more than me. Now on to business. This is Commander John Dunaway. He's going to be your executive officer. John served as logistics officer on the
Sea Wolf
so you'll almost certainly begin putting his expertise to work getting ready for the first cruise of your new ship."

Keane shook hands with Dunaway. He hadn't paid any attention to him until the introduction. When Admiral Mullins occupied a room his burly stature and the steady gaze of his sky blue eyes beneath snow white brows and hair got the full attention of everyone until directed otherwise. While he didn't know Dunaway personally, he had worked with a friend who had served with the Commander. According to him, Dunaway was a smart man who didn't talk much but did his job in an exemplary manner. In person he was only medium height and slim. He had a studious expression but carried it well. He had graduated number one at the academy and had a PhD in physics. Hopefully, that would be useful in helping him to understand all the new technology he was going to have to master.

"Have a seat, gentlemen. Coffee?" Mullins came from behind his desk and joined the two subordinates in the area around a low table. He took the single large seat on one side of it, leaving the two on the other side for the Captain and Commander.

Keane took a quick covert glance at the admiral's desk and saw a cup there. "Yes, sir. That would go good after the flight. There was no coffee on the plane."

"No? I'll have to do something about that." He brushed negligently at his white hair while a Chief Petty Officer entered with a coffee service, placed it on the low table and withdrew.

Keane poured for himself and Dunaway, then for the admiral when he retrieved his cup. He took his black and sipped while the other officers were still adding cream and sugar to theirs. It was very good, rich and flavorful, as was to be expected in a full admiral's domain.

Mullins waited until they were each comfortable with filled cups. He crossed his legs and clasped his hands around his knee. He gazed upward at the ceiling for a moment as if wondering how to begin, then looked at them and commenced to speak.

"First of all, gentlemen, what I have to say here is strictly 'need to know'. No repeating any part of it to anyone until and unless it becomes general knowledge. Is that understood?"

Keane nodded in unison with Dunaway.

"Good. Now you both know the military usually doesn't interfere with the Survey Service other than sending along an intelligence officer and a security contingent of marines, but we're making an exception in this case. I'm sure you've already surmised that much since you are both military and Keane is to be the Captain of
U.S.S.S. Doc Travis
. It just received its name from the President's wife, by the way. It's a new class of ship and was originally slated for the Survey Service but ...circumstances dictated that it be turned over to the military. It will remain under our control permanently. We, in case that term needs clarifying, it includes the President of the United States but not the Joint Chiefs.

"All the Joint Chiefs know is that the Navy has been assigned the first of the new C class interstellar ships and that it's being sent out for extended trials. That should tell you how utterly secret this mission is. In plain words, we don't want it to get out and upset people. You probably don't know it yet but besides the three ships Wannstead has reported missing over the years, another one is overdue and presumed lost. Every one of those ships disappeared while on missions to land near an alien city. The city is located on a planet of a system within a small cluster of stars quite some distance from Earth. The Bolt Cluster, as it's known." He frowned and Keane wrinkled his forehead right along with him. This was getting interesting.

"Whatever is lurking in the Bolt Cluster must be heap bad medicine and we want to know who or what it is," Mullins continued. "Wannstead can't afford to lose another ship so they finally turned the problem over to us. Very reluctantly, I might add, since the city appears to be in pristine condition and most likely contains a wealth of new knowledge and technology. In fact, they named the system and the planet Xanadu."

When he paused, Keane rummaged through his memory and came up with the reference. "In Xanadu Kubla Khan did decree, a stately pleasure dome -"

"Not exactly right, but close," Mullins said, cutting him off. "Anyway, it's unlikely anyone except maybe China or Brazil and us are willing to risk a three hundred billion dollar spaceship on an expedition of this sort. It's just too damn much money. But we, meaning our military, don't like mysteries of this sort. Even so, this may be the only ship the government cares to send if you don't succeed in finding out what's going on in that cluster. Therefore, in accordance with the importance of this mission, the
Doc Travis
has been almost completely redesigned. Most nations do some jiggering and weaponizing of their ships after Wannstead releases them, but we've gone all out with this one, as you know. If this is the only ship we send, we want it to be overwhelmingly superior to any other starship in existence, human or otherwise.

"Ordinarily a survey vessel carries a platoon of Marines for security aboard ship and for any problems occurring dirtside during explorations. They also provide the military with intelligence on any earth-like planets that are found and are worth colonizing. You, on the other hand, are going to have two
companies
of Marines, augmented with a heavy weapons platoon. We don't have a clue whether the booger that's killing ships is something in space or on the ground of that planet or another in the cluster, so we've done our best to provide you with weapons to meet any threat. There are quite a few planets in the cluster similar to Earth, by the way. And of course every person on the Pioneer is a volunteer. They don't know where you're going yet and have only been told that it is a dangerous mission. With me so far?"

Keane nodded soberly. Dunaway said "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now comes the prickly part of the brief." He paused and eyed them in a manner that reminded Keane of one of his professors in graduate school, a mean son of a bitch he'd wanted to strangle more than once, but he admitted he had learned from the man.

"What do you gentlemen think we're investigating? A natural phenomenon as yet unknown to science? An alien species that doesn't care for the cut of our jib? Or something else?"

Keane was taken aback. His mind raced over all he remembered of what the Admiral had just said and what he knew of physical dangers in deep space. Surprisingly, it turned out to very little that wasn't already public knowledge. There was some speculation and a few reports about unexpected gravity frame-shifting in star clusters but most theorists thought it couldn't be enough to endanger a ship. Rarely, a spaceship other than the ones Wannstead had reported did go missing. In most case the prevailing public and popular opinion was BEMS, the speculative Bug Eyed Monsters of pulp science fiction, had been encountered at last. The public's attitude was divided on whether or not humans made tasty meals for the aliens.

"Sir, I really don't know much about what has caused the ships to disappear that can be attributed to fact. I'd be inclined to approach the area very slowly and cautiously, though, and if we find a planet other than Xanadu that looks to be inhabitable, to be even more cautious."

Dunaway said even less, merely noting that he thought speculation was inherently incapable of determining what was killing the ships, if indeed they had been killed and not somehow captured. By what, he refused to guess.

"Come, come gentlemen," Mullins remonstrated. "Think harder."

"Human intervention?" Keane ventured after a long moment of sifting through his memories. "Has some other country stumbled onto that alien city and managed to solve whatever the problem is?" He shrugged helplessly.

Dunaway said nothing.

"Very good, Captain Keane. Add humans to be on the lookout for, even if it does seem to be a very low probability. With our one and only advanced ship to risk, it doesn't pay to overlook any possibility, no matter how remote. That's one reason for adding such a powerful telescope to your weapons array. Besides China and Brazil, only the EU and Russia and India are possibilities."