Ancient Birthright (34 page)

Beldon acknowledged DL Remoo, a luzzon male, and received a wave in return.

“Comm Tech Danzza is taking care of communications and Engineer Jantza has command of propulsion,” Command Prime Garuu indicated the remaining bridge crew.

Beldon nodded to the luzzon female comm tech and the female Casroo perched at the propulsion station. Casroo females differed from the males in coloration and size. The female was generally larger and had strips of brown running through the green mottling of their skin.

“Command Prime, we’re receiving a message on the NRAO frequency.” Comm Tech Danzza announced.

“Display it on the main VH screen.”

Beldon focused on the VH screen centered in front of the command couch and read the text that appeared. “
UE
, last msg from VLA. ICBM’s lunched on Pres ordrs. Bias in plce. No comm pssbl until ISP in rng. Norwell out of JCS. Ok for now, Hokr coming.” The color drained from Beldon’s face and he felt his heart pounding in his ears. “Command Prime could you ask Colonel Striker and Major Rishly to join us?”

Command Prime broadcast the request over the ship-wide commlink. In less than five minutes, Ops Prime Caraa Garuu escorted Striker and Rishly onto the bridge. Both men moved slowly and with some pain in the full gravity. Beldon was ready to find a seat himself. It had been less than a week since they’d arrived on the
Universe Explorer
. Their living quarters were now located in the half Earth normal gravity level of the ship. This excursion to the bridge was turning out to be more taxing to his stamina than he expected.

“Beldon, would you explain why you wanted Colonel Striker and Major Rishly to join us?” Command Prime asked.

“The latest message from Earth is on the main screen. I asked Command Prime to call you, so we could discuss the ramifications of what it says.”

“Holy crap,” Striker said. “He really did it. The President ordered the launch of the modified ICBMs. And it sounds like Duane expects Hooker and his henchmen to show up at any time.”

“What do you mean he ordered the launch of the ICBMs?” Rishly asked.

“The President ordered the Air Force to modify two long range ICBMs for use in an airless environment. They were fitted with additional boost engines and maneuvering jets. In other words, they’re long-range intercept missiles with nuclear warheads modified for use in space. The missiles have one purpose, which is to stop the
Universe Explorer
from reaching Earth if it was found to be a threat,” Striker explained.

“But the
Universe Explorer
isn’t a threat. These people have done nothing that could be even remotely considered threatening,” Rishly said.

“I don’t think it matters. This is an election year, and some of the things authorized by the President to cover up stupid mistakes by him and his supporters would cost him the election if word got out. He ignored the Constitution and ordered so many civil liberties broken that many would call him a dictator. Hooker, the DHS agent referred to in the message, is the leader of the President’s personal cleanup squad. They’re the ones who planted the explosives on the
Endeavour,
and ordered me to take over the mission and eliminate you. The only one with high enough military rank and the backbone to stand up to the President was General Norwell of the Joint Chiefs, and it sounds like he’s no longer in charge.”

“What is this threat to my ship and crew?” Command Prime Garuu demanded.

“Two intercept missiles have been launched from Earth. They are equipped with nuclear warheads, and their course is controlled in flight to keep them on target. If you alter the course of the
Universe Explorer
, it is detected by equipment on Earth, and the missiles are redirected to intercept your new course. They have several weaknesses that we could exploit to defeat them. They have limited maneuvering fuel. If we can get them to make several large course corrections or many small ones, eventually they will be unable to make corrections. The missiles have no on board intelligence, and controllers on Earth issue all commands. The transmission delay for the guidance commands will become significant during the final stage of the intercept. The real threat would have come from their warhead size and speed. But since we know they’re coming, we can use that against them,” Striker said.

Beldon looked at Striker and spoke up. “There is one part of the message you may not understand. The part where it says ‘Bias in place,’ that means my dad was able to insert a small program in the VLA tracking system that will introduce small errors in the tracking information. The bad data is transmitted to the missiles and causes them to make erroneous course corrections. If small corrections are required often enough, the missiles will eventually run out of maneuvering fuel.”

“I will not take a chance of damage to my ship. I will have two of my pilots begin planning a mission to remove the threat.” Command Prime Garuu’s face coloration faded to a beep blue-black.

Rishly held up a hand. “I would like to volunteer my services as one of the intercept pilots. Dantee explained the controls of your PTO ships, and I believe I could learn them fairly quickly with a little coaching from your instructor pilots.”

“Very well. Report to Instructor Pilot Jannz and begin training immediately.”

“Thank you, Command Prime,” Rishly said with a wide grin on his face.

“I’ll show you the way to the pilot training bay.” Caraa ushered him off the bridge.

Striker stepped closer to Command Prime. “You just made one human very happy. Major Rishly has been looking for a way to to pilot one of your ships since we arrived.”

“Would you explain the entire message to me and enlighten me on the meaning of the coded words?” Command Prime Garuu asked.

Beldon pointed to the text. “Let me explain each sentence…”

#

Cindy flicked a glance at the hatch to the cabin when it retracted. She’d been about to answer Renna’s question about human babies and giving birth when Dantee and Tuuan scampered through the open hatch and slid to a stop. They turned and took up positions pressed against the walls on either side of the open hatch.

“You two can’t run fast enough or far enough to get away from me. I’m going to hunt you down and fill your hides with lead,” Reedn called as he charged the cabin.

Dantee and Tuuan were quivering with pent up laughter and excitement. Trying as hard as they could to be quiet, they occasionally let a small giggle slip while they waited for Reedn to come through the hatch. As soon as he ran through the hatch, each girl flipped out her tail to block his rushing legs and tripped him. They let out squeals of laughter and dashed back out of the cabin.

Reedn did a summersault in midair and landed in the middle of the circle of pillows Cindy, Renna and Karonna were sitting on.

Cindy held out her hand and stopped Reedn’s tumble, “Are you okay, masked stranger?”

“I’m fine. It’d take more than those two sidewinders to stop me. Did anyone see which way the varmints went?”

“They’re heading for the hills, so you’re going to have to move fast to catch ‘em. They took the right-hand fork in the trail to Ambush Point. You know what that means. They’ll be lying in wait for you as you approach the pass,” Cindy told him.

“Thankee kindly ma’am. I’ll be careful.” Reedn headed for the hatch as fast as his little legs could move him.

“Come on Silver, I know a shortcut. We’ll get to the pass before them and set our own ambush. They can’t outsmart the Lone Ranger.” Cindy heard Reedn say as he made horse-galloping sounds and raced down the passageway.

“I feel like I need to apologize for corrupting your children. Those old westerns they’ve been watching have taken over their lives,” Cindy said.

“Don’t worry about it, Cindy,” Renna said. “They’ve had more fun playing chase games in the last week than I’ve ever seen a baby luzzon have before. Their muscle tone is almost back to normal and their stamina is better than ever.”

“Okay, you were telling us about fetal development and the problems with giving birth.” Karonna reminded Cindy.

Becca and the three Russian girls entered the cabin and joined them before Cindy could continue her explanation of human babies.

“Oh good, you guys can help me explain human fetal development and child birth,” Cindy said.

The four new comers looked at each other and shook their heads. “Don’t look to us for help, none of us have ever had a baby,” Becca said as she massaged her abdomen. “Maybe Nadya has some insight from her medical classes.” Becca waved a hand in Nadya’s direction.

“Not much. We didn’t have much call for delivering babies on space ships...until now.”

Becca lowered her swollen body onto a pillow with Nadya’s help. “I had a rotation in OBGYN during my residency, but that was years ago. I’ll get with Dr. Feuua, and see if I can resurrect what I know,” Becca explained. “Don’t worry, Cindy. By the time you’re due to deliver, we’ll be experts and close enough to Earth to be able to call for help if we need it.”

#

Saigg walked over to Beldon and Striker. He put a hand on Beldon’s shoulder, “Come on, you two. I’ll get you back to your quarters before you pass out from exhaustion. You still have several weeks of rehab before your muscles will be back to normal.” Saigg led Beldon and Striker from the bridge, and headed for their quarters in the half gravity section. The first stop was Beldon’s cabin where they found all the human females and Renna and Karonna. After the first few hours of embarrassment at walking around nude, everyone had seen all there was to see and it became the norm to go naked or wear a pair of shorts. The pregnant women opted for support bras and shorts.

Saigg grabbed a pillow and settled beside Renna. “So what are you females talking about, as if I couldn’t guess?”

Renna half shoved him off his pillow before answering, “Babies, of course. Cindy was just filling us in on how humans give live birth rather than clutching eggs.”

“Speaking of clutched eggs, where are our previously clutched offspring?” Saigg asked.

“Last I saw them, the outlaws were heading for Ambush Point to set up a trap for the Lone Ranger, and he was taking the shortcut to get there before them to turn the tables on them.”

Saigg looked at Renna with a wide-eyed questioning expression.

She giggled before explaining. “They’ve been watching old human cowboy movies on DVD, and have gotten interested in a series call
The Lone Ranger
. Reedn has taken on the role of the Lone Ranger to right wrongs and fight bad souls. Dantee and Tuuan have paired up to give him someone to chase and bring to justice. They are having the best time and getting more exercise than I thought they would. Cindy is afraid the humans are corrupting our young by letting them watch these old shows.”

The hatch slid open and Reedn marched in with a hand around each girls arm, “A few years in the big house will teach you to scoff at the law.” He dropped his hold on the girls and turned to his mom. “Is it lunch time yet? I’m hungry. Catching bad guys is hard work.”

A round of laughs and smirks greeted his announcement. “That was his favorite phrase while on the
Endeavour
and
Nauka 7
,” Anika explained.

“Go ahead and get a snack,” Cindy said, “you look like you’re going to waste away, and then we‘ll have to plant you on Boot Hill.”

The three little ones emitted squeals of delight and took off for the eating area.

Saigg smiled as he watched the three head for a snack. “Since everyone is here except Major Rishly, there is another problem I want to tell you about and ask for your help. Shortly after we completed the transjump, our doctors noticed that the fertility rate of the egg laying species on the
Universe Explorer
was decreasing. Historically it’s been in the eighty to ninety percent range for hundreds of generations. Marra told me the last census showed it was at twenty-eight percent. Unless we can find a cure for this problem in a very short time, all of the egg laying species on the
UE
will die out within the next three to four generations. The fertility decline seems to be related to the ship going to total recycling after we off-loaded our Earth grown supplies.”

“The solution seems fairly simple. Get new supplies from Earth and the problem should correct itself,” Beldon said.

“That may solve the problem in the short run. However, we need to know what’s causing it. We’ll be leaving to return to Danuaa 3 as soon as we can with the relief supplies. If we go back without knowing the cause of the infertility we may find a dying colony and not have a treatment to help them,” Saigg explained.

“We had a snack,” shouted Dantee as the three dashed through the cabin, “we’re going to the flight training area see if we can talk the instructors into letting us fly the simulator.”

“Don’t get in the way. If they’re busy, come back here and we’ll go see Baany and the other Pteros,” Renna called as the hatch closed.

Beldon asked, “Who’s Baany?”

“He’s a Ptero friend of ours,” Saigg said. “We hatched out six Pterodactyl embryos to assist with the decent to Earth. They are currently about three quarters grown and should reach maturity by the time we make orbit. The six get tired of studying and training all the time so we visit them on occasion to talk and keep them informed on what’s happening on the ship. They’re a little large so they have to stay in their growthbay. When the kids come back we’ll take you to meet them.”