Connection (42 page)

“What have you found out about Bellatrix and how?” Robert asked Karen.

“I’ve talked with all of the ES crew who have been to Bellatrix or even know anything about it. Captain Ummand contacted the ES headquarters on 47 Tau. He asked Commander Sleesques for any information they had on any Allung movement in the area. The crew of the Scar said that there was trade in weapons, knowledge, and they had nice landside accomodations. The main problems says that they tend to kidnap people and sell them as slaves – they all said to move in groups and go armed. We decided to live on the ship. We need to contact appraisers when we approach to tell the value of our goods and to get a good berth.”

“K. Teresa. Ummand said he’d go with us to the planet but it would be poor form for them to travel with us on the surface. We’ll be on our own on the surface. Trade goods from the alternate universe will be good. The ERF seemed to have some huge credibility with the public…they weren’t afraid of them…they just respected their competence for some reason. I get the idea that they thought Earthers shouldn’t be messed with and the stuff they made was really cool.”

“Why were they so respected?”

“We don’t know but they are rumored to have defeated the Allung on every occasions. We really don’t know a lot about Bellatrix except its supposed to be a lively trade center and dangerous.”

Robert paused and reflected. “Well okay then…let’s go with it.”

                                                                                  ****

The task force was ready. The Nemesis was the point ship. The five Explorer class light cruisers were there as a backup in case the Allung showed up. The ES Scar was happy to see the differences in this universe’s version of Bellatrix. The Allung ships were ready near Earth for the universe-transit and now they could coordinate any coming and going thru the communication buoys. They task force jumped to within ten light years of Bellarix to remain out of normal detection range. The Nemesis jumped into the system of Bellatrix-3 and sought landing instructions. The communications was tentative until they said they had trade goods. The comm became much more focused then as there were queries if they needed the appraisal team and decontamination teams with their ionizing equipment. The Nemesis indicated they wanted the best berth available and they wanted the best land based accomodations also.

The traffic control office asked about their method of payment and they indicated they had new technologies to evaluate. ES Captain Ummand said exactly how to word their conversation so everyone would think they had a new customer to fleece – he said it would mean they would try to cheat before they tried to steal and that was safer. Robert was leery but this wasn’t his bailiwick. Twlise was excited. The Nemesis used grav control for thrust in atmosphere and not the original, fuel consuming hypersonic engine. It landed in the humongeous airfield at a designated corner described by the traffic control. The contamination team met the ship first and zapped the landing gear and then all around the ramp as it was lowered. The ES-on-loan officer escorted the ionization team aboard and had them go over the cargo hold and its contents. They were actually pretty thorough and took several hours. Twlise gave them each a pamphlet as they left. They seemed pretty confused about that – thinking we were trying to use the pamphlet as payment – Twlise explained that we gave customers cheaper rates if they had a pamphlet.

The appraisal team came in following the contamination cleanup. The team was three individuals: an Hllumff in charge, a Tros, and some other diminutive biped about one hundred centimeters tall. The top of his bald head didn’t quite come up to Twlise’s shoulder. They tasted the wine – that got gas and the acrid smell…Apples? …gas and acrid smell…jalapenos? Acrid smell and trumpetings and running around drinking water. NuRiz pamplets…acrid smell big time. They couldn’t believe we were just giving them the pamphlets and brochures. We handed the small guy the 3D viewer and he turned it over and looked at it. Twlise told him to hold it with both hands and he went nuts…he loved it. He said he wanted one and how much did they want. At this point the big Hllumff appraiser started smelling really good, like cinnamon, and we knew that meant he was mad at the little guy. The power modules and the grav sled totally sold them.

We gave all three of them a free calculator and you would think we had bribed senators – they couldn’t do enough for us. The bank delegation came next. They had us move the ship to an area closer to the terminal and asked if we needed any fuel. We demonstrated the power modules needing no fuel – ever – and gave one to pay for any incidentals we wanted to buy. We asked to set up a large storefront in the local market – the bankers set us up with a large area. We moved a grav sled with an inflatable pavilion to the open area of the market and put out signs in different languages. We had robots, controlled by Cassandra overhead, giving out pamphlets of our best trade goods. The bankers gave us two elctronic tablets with established credit connections good anywhere in the city. Looked more like a laptop than a credit card but when in Rome…

Their initial landing party was comprised of a huge delegation…Robert, Twlise, Chief Latima, Kenny Stockell, Steven Weathers (a given with Karen), and an ES operative on loan from 47 Tau, and eight warrior robots with defensive shields for kinetics and electronic hardening. Two robots used the grav sleds to move the apples and wine to a temperature controlled, secure area. We used two of the other grav sleds to transport us to the ground vehicles awaiting to take us to our lodging. Cassandra stayed invisible overhead at all times a couple of miles overhead and avoiding any traffic. We made it without incident…had the robots move stock to our pavilion and had four robots tasked with guarding the pavilion. We soon had large lines as the word spread. We had set up a huge, flexible, high definition 3D screen on the display area that mirrored the small viewers.

There were grav sleds and zero-point modules on sale and we had no intention of taking any merchandise back home. The residents of Bellatrix got that impression and tried to buy even our suits and robots. We sold out of everything in two days. Short trips back to the ship let us speed sleep. We closed the empty pavilion the next day – sold that to locals and went shopping. We used a modified urban, bounding overwatch where we walked down both sides of the street. Robots scanned continually with multiple cameras and on ‘lethal mode’. We stopped at many window displays – having no idea what items were in some display cases. At the end of a line of stores was a little curio shop – guess that was the best way to describe it. We found boxes of training cylinders in culture and rare languages and two more teaching machines that the proprietor said were brand new and worked. He said he had no idea where they came from…

He would not tell him where he got them until we gave him a pamphlet AND the formula for NURIZ. He actually printed books himself and was astounded at the color photographs in the literature. We asked him about
lamlee
and he startled like we had mentioned illegal drugs. He took us in the back and explained that a small ship full of humanoids like us had come to his store when his father was a young man and traded all these for credit. They had spoken in clear Trade but didn’t say where they came from. Did we want books like they had? He showed us repair manuals and books on weapons and histories…we negotiated and left the store with two crates of books, two teaching machines, a load of teaching cylinders and a precious box of
lamlees
– which the proprietor said didn’t work. We noticed he always wore gloves when working with any of his stock and probably didn’t know
lamlee
required to be phyisically touched to function at all.

                                                                                  ****

We were almost back to the ship when one of the robots on each side of us spun and shot multiple times at the rooftops. We started moving faster with weapons ready for the upcoming wide side streets and sure enough, we got the rest of the would–be ambush. A vehicle on either side started to pull out and block our way before they were burned to smoking hulks from the overhead beams of Cassandra who had been secretly covering us. The large groups of attackers on either side hardly got off a shot before we dissolved them to their essentials and left many of their feet as the only evidence there had been anyone there. One shot hit Steven and a robot picked him up and ran the remaining distance to the ship. We went up the ramp and into the ship on the run – taking Steven to sick bay. We had an automated doc that scanned him and peeled his suit off him. He had taken a hit – with something that penetrated his suit right below the belt.

We took off and had pursuit from three frigate sized craft. We didn’t ask who they were – we didn’t try to outrun them – we simply burned them out of the sky. We then flew back to the market area and concentrated all our lasers (and Cassandras) on one deserted spot near the center of the market. We burned  a spot two meters in diameter that went down two hundred feet. We didn’t want anyone to think we were run off so we hovered there and brought down four of the Explorer class light cruisers and hovered over the city for several hours. We wanted beings to know we were not to be tested again or we would flatten the entire city. We suspected it was the bankers after we got a call from traffic control asking us what we wanted to do. They obliquely indicated some bankers had gone missing – after the attack. We informed the local traffic control that the Sol Force usually traded attacks with asteroids and what size did they want?

Steven was in pretty bad shape and had lost a lot of blood. The autodoc had removed some device that had penetrated his field and his suit. Nakamura had taken it to study. Steven still seemed to be bleeding internally so we used agents to clot blood but used the Kastrup method of gas-generating calcium carbonate micro-particles, which can bind with tranexamic acid, a clotting agent, and deliver it to Steven’s internal bleeding sources. Seemed to work as he responded well. He was anxious to get out of bed after a week in the ship enclosure – a few hours of normal time. We sent a robot down to the bank with our credit tablets to set up a permanent account for Sol Force and fund for stranded humanoids if that would later be a thing. We opened the account with a competitor’s bank and our robot – controlled by Cassandra – emphasized large asteroids if we were attacked again on the surface. News had it that thirty-five had been killed and two managers at a local bank had been ‘caught in the cross-fire’. Even alien planets had ‘spin’ but the message got across. Don’t mess with Earth folks – unhealthy. We were just glad we were warned from the other universe’s similar experience.

The Scar stayed in the Bellatrix system as the one Allung craft was partner-jumped to Bellatrix. All our Explorer class cruisers jumped back near Mars. We had one of our refitted Earth ships extend their fields and jump to Bellatrix bringing an Allung ship with them. The Nemesis jumped to Earth where two Allung ships stood ready to jump toward Bellatrixin later tests. They were set up a good distance apart. The plan was to take a modified Earth ship with jump capability – simulating the ES Scar. The five Explorer class cruisers would jump into the Bellatrix system approximating the occurrence in the other incident with the ERF jumping into the Alung battle. The test ship would microjump just as an Allung ship would use its partial jump weapon. The timing was unknown but it was thought the frequent jumps to and from Earth would create a weakening of the ‘barrier’ through dimensions.

                                                                                    ****

The first test was coordinated by Cassandra. She was in the Mars system but coordinated the flights through the communication buoys. We had determined the latency between sending and receiving and adjusted for activation responses as well as we could. The Nemesis stayed with the Cassandra to observe. The ES Scar was anxiously watching the tests from Bellatrix – Gralon 3 in their vernacular.

                                                                                    ****

The countdown went smoothly and the five Explorer class ships jumped from Earth to the faux-battle simulation at Bellatrix. The remote-Earth retrofit microjumped and the Allung craft sprang forward. The observers near Earth saw a blast of debris appear. The Earth test ship was totally disintegrated but the Allung ship appeared undamaged. They knew that the directional idea was plausible because the debris came out where it should be. The next test was supposed to be in the other direction. Cassandra calculated that the Allung ship was a bit too early in the first test.

                                                                                    ****

The five Explorer class cruisers jumped in near Mars orbit and the remote controlled Earth ship did a microjump just as the 2
nd
Allung craft jumped – three microseconds later.

Communications from Bellatrix indicated that nothing had come through on their end. It seemed to have worked since Cassandra traced the telemetry from the buoys until the ships disappeared. Cassandra noted that the signals faded away this time and were not cut off abruptly like the first test. Robert indicated that the ES Scar should return to Mars for the return attempt.

                                                                                    ****

The Scar returned to Mars rendezvous point and there were twenty ships there. The Nemesis and Cassandra were there as well as an additional ten Explorer class ships. There was one enormous ship even larger than an explorer class and two ES Cruisers.

Captain Ummand queried the Nemesis. “What is this congregation of ships? Are we going to be attacked?”

Nemesis replied via Ummand’s new sub-cutaneous transmitter. [This is our new battleship and crusisers. Remember we have been gone months in the Enclosure which can now differentiate time at a 60-to-1 rate instead of 30-to-1. We matched the ERF standard with the last of your
lamlee
. Admiral Kobe transferred hundreds to us and new training cylinders after your trip to Gralon (Bellatrix). Kobe wanted the large ship finished to give you a going away party.]

The party was held on the Behemoth – the ship’s name (and class) of battleship. The landing bay was big enough to handle a Destroyer the size of the Nemesis and two shuttles. The Scar fit nicely inside and was loaded with trade goods for whichever universe it arrived. They would have extra grav sleds and zero-point modules along with the smaller trade items. Earth had even sent a delegation of subdued diplomats and military. The 47 Tau’s Commander, Sleesques, and 30 Tau ES Commandant was there to present medals to the crew of the Scar. They stood proudly as they were all awarded medals of valor for the battle to defend 47 Tau. Captain Ummand was ordered forward after all the other medals were awarded. He was unsure what this was about and gave off a smell of sour milk (nervous but not scared).

Commander Sleesques raised a tentacle and pinned the Order of Ballick medal on his uniform sash. The Order of Ballick was the highest award of the Exploration Service. “The Exploration Service hereby honors the Order of Ballick by promoting to First Admiral – Ummand of %&@#& (name did not translate well into Trade) for going into battle without hesitation and saving the base at…47 Tau,” she said for the Sol Force personnel present. “Without his passage to our dimension – we would have been overrun by Allung and probably defeated in detail along all our bases. His aggressive pursuit of the enemy has probably saved this entire galaxy. We wish him every chance on his brave return – here are detailed sworn statements from officers on my ships that would have been killed without your brave actions.”

The troops started whistling, snorting, stamping, and gassing the landing bay. Robert wished they had all been in pressure suits but most had gotten ‘the word’ and changed into their dress uniforms before assembling. Whew. Lots of methane without suits.

Commander Sleesques was not finished. “Admiral Robert Kobe. May all honor and attend my words,” She flowed over in front of Kobe. “For valor beyond the call of duty as a member of an allied force – you are awarded the Nova award for you surely were a nova in these last months.” She pressed the award onto his pressure suit. The landing bay broke out into cheers, clapping, and whistles – among all the stomping, trumpeting, and gassing.

The party afterward used a tremendous amount of food and drink. The normally dour Earth ambassadors finally got into it and began to have fun. Many pairs slipped off into quarters – it went on into the wee hours. The morning met crew who were less than functional and commanders ordered crew to enclosure quarters to get back to speed with food and refereshment. An hour later everyone was pretty well recovered except the Scar’s crew who had no enclosure quarters on their ship. It was supposed that they would go back to their universe with a hangover if it worked. The assembly of Earth ships, including the Behemoth, jumped to Bellatrix. The Scar lined up for the attempt. The last Allung vehicle was slaved to be remotely controlled by Cassandra as was the Scar. The task force at Bellatrix (Gralon 3) was readied and jumped on command. There were eighteen ships that jumped in from Bellatrix as the Nemesis, Cassandra, and Sleesques’ ES cruiser watched the Scar disappear with the Allung ship.

The watchers at Bellatrix reported that no ships had appeared there. The Scar and Allung ship had disappeared as had the Nemesis, Cassandra, and ES cruiser.