Fear and Aggression (14 page)

James also felt relief. He had put himself
on the line, and it had paid off. His readings were correct, and he
was going to get credit for potentially saving his and the crew’s
life. He had been ultra-focused—going through an adrenaline rush—as
he was taking his measurements in trying to find the correct
planet. If they had found the planet, and then realized that he had
made an error, (no AC on the planet), it would have hurt Captain
Jenners. Captain Jenners had put his trust in James. If the Captain
had to explain that they had deviated off course on accident, and
then again on purpose, with nothing to show for it, both he and the
Captain would be thoroughly embarrassed.

Something else was eating
at James. It was a feeling that, so far, no rational thought had
been recruited to explain. James felt a little hole—a little
deflated, a little empty. His entire focus of his life had been
devoted to making a discovery such as this. It was his passion.
Now, instead of a life devoted to this passion, this mission, this
quest, he, as a very young man, had now completed his purpose.
Sure,
this
mission would still require much of his expertise. But, what
would happen after returning home from this mission? Go on other
missions, and continue to search for intelligent alien life. Sure,
he could do that. But the passion would be gone—he had already
discovered alien life. Finding still another world would be
exciting, but it could never compare to the discovery of this first
world. It would be a job that he was good at, but it could never be
his passion again.

Mike was focused on practicalities. There
really was no protocol for this situation. 3D orbit was really the
only way to stay in place, and observe, study, or do whatever they
would need to do. But 3D orbit made them vulnerable—potentially
visible. The level of these creatures’ intelligence and technology
was not yet known. He might have to leap into multi-dimensional
travel quickly and at any time, and he knew that they would have to
stay as invisible as possible. He also knew that this crew, Space
Command, and the rest of the earth would not be satisfied knowing
that there was life out here. This world would have to be spied on,
studied, and understood. The only practical way to do this would be
through 3D orbit. But, oh, it was very dangerous. Mike knew that he
and Steve would be discussing these problems shortly. He wanted
Steve to have thought through this before Space Command questioned
their tactics. He had a nagging feeling inside that something about
all of this was not good.

Kenny was deep in thought.
He had successfully maneuvered this planet discovery and entered
into 3D orbit. He was not wrapping his thoughts around the
practicalities of the scenario that they were all in. No, his
thoughts were deeper. For as long as intelligent life existed on
the earth, it was clear that intelligent life was possible; they
had
a priori
knowledge of themselves. The fact that it was possible meant
that it was possible that it existed elsewhere. Now there was
firsthand knowledge of intelligent life existing in two separate
places in the Universe. The chances of intelligent life existing in
these two spheres—and only in these two spheres—were improbable at
best. Intelligent life must be everywhere. The search had literally
just begun.
And we found
it
! At this rate, discoveries such as this
would be cropping up all of the time in the near future. Kenny’s
mind was filled with fascination and awe. He saw this moment as
pivotal, and yet, likely to be swallowed up in the rush of
discoveries that would soon follow.

Danny’s face was impossible to read. His was
a chiseled, stoic expression. Underneath it, though, he had some
nagging feelings that were starting to take shape into thoughts.
Danny was a Christian—a believer. He kept his faith, generally,
beneath the surface. He was struggling with his concept of God, the
creation, and the purpose of life. He did not know how this
miraculous discovery could fit with his faith. He believed that
human beings were the centerpiece of creation—that they were the
children of God. So how would these intelligent alien creatures fit
in with this doctrine? He was not at the point that he felt his
faith to be shaken, but he did feel confused and was somewhat
irritable.

Tammy was at a different
place than the rest of the crew. While Steve, Bob, Mike, Kenny, and
especially James were already feeling a sense of relief and
accomplishment, she felt that her moment to shine was just on the
precipice. Indeed, all that had been accomplished, so far, was to
put the mission in place for her work to begin. She
was
ready to
begin.

“
When are we getting our
planetary sample, Captain?” she asked.

The question came like a fiery dart
attacking them in the dark. The mission was about discovery, and it
felt to the rest of the crew that this mission had been
accomplished. Now, the concept that this mission was just
beginning, and had a completely different flavor, was upon them.
The rest of the crew’s concept was of studying an alien world from
a distance and not getting caught; that seemed to be appropriate.
But here was Tammy suggesting that they go down to the surface and
take a biological sample! Would it be dirt filled with
microbiology? Would it be a plant-like species? Some type of an
animal-like species? No. Here was the epiphany, the realization:
this ship, and Tammy’s lab, had always been designed for the
eventuality that they would be able to study an alien intelligence.
Now it was possible, and Tammy was ready to begin in earnest.

Steve was the only one who did not have a
change in facial expression at Tammy’s question. “As soon as we get
word, we will begin the biological study phase of our mission. In
the meantime, Kenny and James, I want you to devote all of your
effort towards a plan to extract a planetary sample. We will need
to do so without compromising our position. We are to take this
sample without the alien world knowing of our existence in the
universe.”

Mike sat back in his chair with a look of
frustration, concern, and irritation all rolled into one. “We may
have already given ourselves away, Captain.” Steve looked at Mike,
and narrowed his eyes. “We are in 3D orbit. We may be visible to
them by the naked eye. If they are looking for us, we could easily
be seen. We are getting readings on them; they could be getting
readings on us.” Mike expressed himself soberly, concern etching
his face.

Steve now looked a touch
shaken for the first time in the meeting. He had been feeling like
Columbus, the discoverer of a new world. Now he considered that his
success in discovery could be jeopardized by a failure to
keep
them
from
being discovered.

“
What is the nature of the
planetary sample you want, Tammy?” asked Danny.

Tammy looked at Danny without answering for
a moment. This part of the mission was not to be discussed with the
crew, unless the need arose. It looked like now was the time, but
she wasn’t sure if it was her place to explain. She looked at
Steve, and he nodded at her reassuringly. “If we can do so without
compromising ourselves, we are to collect a single sample of the
intelligent alien species. If it is not deemed possible, we are to
collect what we can. We don’t know what type of life forms exist on
this planet. I’ll take what we can get, but I’m hoping for more
than just alien bacteria or some leaves.”

“
I’ve heard of alien
abductions my whole life, but I never thought I would be a part of
one!” expressed Bob. A slight smile crept across Tammy’s face, and
Kenny chuckled. Bob was glad that he could help lighten the mood,
just a bit.

“
The way to get a sample
is to plot a multi-dimensional course to the planet’s surface, for
a landing,” James explained, his mind focused like a laser. “We
would also need to have a multi-dimensional course ready to
re-enter 3D orbit. Once plotted, we should be able to get to the
planet’s surface almost instantly, and then return to orbit
instantly when we have the sample. If something saw us below, it
would look like our ship appeared out of nowhere and then
disappeared into thin air. We would need to land, collect the
sample, get the sample and ourselves stabilized on the ship, and
then zip back into orbit. Plotting the courses will be easy, once
we decide the best place to land. We will need to find a place that
is hidden so that we are not likely to be discovered, but have a
reasonable likelihood of obtaining an appropriate sample in a
fairly short period of time.”

“
I’ll work with James and
Kenny to find the best location to land,” Tammy said, looking at
Steve.

“
We are going to just go
down and get one of the aliens? What about disease? Didn’t you
read
War of the Worlds
? We don’t have any atmospheric data yet. Are we trying to
keep this intelligent creature alive, or are we just going to kill
it, and study it? If we are keeping it alive, how do we feed it? I
think that we will have to go down on multiple occasions and study
the situation for months before we can successfully pull this off.”
Mikes concern was clearly increasing. “The longer we are here, and
the more studying we do, the higher the likelihood is of us getting
found out
by them
!”

“
We don’t have months,”
Tammy replied, “and you’re right, we need to do this quickly so
that we minimize the possibility of compromising ourselves. So we
will need to collect the sample as soon as possible. We intend to
keep the creature alive, if possible, with our atmosphere and
nourishment. We have the capability of isolating the creature
atmospherically such that we will not be exposed to each other’s
diseases. The lab was made for this exact situation. This is the
reason that I’m here. This is why the ship was designed how it was.
The fact that non-earth life exists is in and of itself an amazing
discovery. The fact that it is intelligent is even more so. But we
need to understand and know this alien race, well before they know
us. It is an essential risk that we take, now that we know of this
species’ existence.”

“
Do we know that there is
just one intelligent alien species?” Kenny piped in. “Just because
on earth only humans have reached the high-level state of
intelligence, doesn’t mean there couldn’t be more than one
intelligent species on this planet.”

“
We are equipped for one
sample. If additional samples and studies are needed, then they
will be accomplished by further missions,” Tammy
explained.

“
Captain, Central Command
is contacting us,” said Danny.

“
Kenny and James, come
with me,” said Steve. Tammy looked a little bit miffed. Steve
noticed, but did not respond. If they wanted Tammy, she would be
called in shortly. Bob could have been called in at this point, but
he wasn’t miffed at his exclusion at all. He was relieved at not
being brought into this initial discussion with Central
Command.

“
Let’s go make some grub,”
said Bob as he turned to Danny. Danny didn’t keep his stoic
expression, but with a look of irritation got up and left the room
with Bob.

Tammy and Mike both sat there, across from
each other. Some tension could be sensed between them. It wasn’t
personal, but they had very different ideas as to how things should
proceed. Tammy was in the know, and Mike was just getting brought
up to speed. But Mike had been around a long time, and he knew the
commanders at Central Command. He was an asset on the mission, and
he would be brought into the inner circle with Steve as the mission
proceeded. Tammy sensed this, and didn’t want to engage in any
further discussions with Mike at this point. Mike turned to her and
saw this by her expression.

“
Well, Tammy, do you mind
showing me the lab and minimizing some of my concerns?” he said in
a serious, but kind, tone.

“
Sure, you’ll be
impressed,” she said with some of her charm returning.

“
I’m just hoping to not
be
depressed
,” he
said with a smile.

“
We look like a bunch of
space aliens,” said Bob through his helmet.

“
You sound like a space
alien in that helmet, too,” said Danny. Danny was very glad that he
was not getting into that suit and going out onto the planet. He
was staying with Kenny and Tammy on the ship, while Captain Jenners
took Mike, James, and Bob to collect their specimen.

Tammy was helping everyone get their suits
on. She had been a rollercoaster of emotions over the past week
since they had been in 3D orbit around the planet. Steve and Tammy
had spent a lot of time together over that week. It made sense that
the ship’s Captain and the lab specialist would be making
arrangements for this specimen collection. However, it was starting
to become apparent to the crew, that there was more to these
meetings than just official business. At first Tammy was steamed
about the fact that Central Command wanted to wait for the specimen
collection. She’d been pressing Steve to get them to move things
along. Steve didn’t seem to get the urgency, at least as far as was
her perspective. So, at first she was irked with Steve. Tammy was a
woman that knew how to get what she wanted, but she seemed to be
much more personally offended than would be appropriate.