Infinite Reef (25 page)

“I’m turning on the outside microphones and the speakers,” said Johnny, moving back to his seat. “Our first test at communicating should be sound, I think.” He sounded almost gleeful.

Mary caught Johnny’s eye as he passed her chair and smiled. “You’re loving this, aren’t you?”

The Professor paused and looked at her, still grinning. “It’s the chance of a lifetime. Hell, a thousand lifetimes.”

3
Tony glanced at the Professor. “You’re definitely the right man for the job,” he said. “I’ll give you that.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” said Johnny.

The Commander had been at his console only a few seconds when the sound came over the loudspeakers. Confusing at first, it seemed to come from many sources, none of which could be singled out easily. It was a low ‘whooshing’ sound, full of crackles of static with hollow vibrating thumps mixed in. Most of it was in the lower register that made the cabinetry in the cabin rattle disturbingly. “They speak in earthquake,” said Tony. “How unique. We need a geologist.”

“Makes sense, though,” said the Commander. “Low frequency travels farther.”

The creatures, which until now had been keeping their distance, began to move closer to the ship. Soon they were pressing close to the windows, as if peering inside.

“They don’t seem to be carrying tools,” observed Tony.

Alex noticed that Mary had been exceptionally quiet. She had her legs pulled up tight under her as she watched the windows. “Mary,” he whispered. “Anything?”

Mary nodded ominously, but she didn’t reply.

“Are you feeling okay?”

She nodded again. Then, as though she’d made a decision, she swiveled her chair to face Johnny. “I’m hearing something. It could be a language. It’s in the low band.”

“Can you let the rest of us hear it?” asked Johnny. “Put it on the speakers.”

“It is on the speakers.”

“That’s just static,” said Tony. “There’s no pattern to it.”

Mary didn’t reply. She just listened. Finally she said, “I’m going to tell you what I feel. You can make what you will out of it.”

Mary listened a while longer, her eyes focused intently forward, then she glanced back at Johnny. “Directly in front of us, Professor. The one in the distance. Do you see him?”

Johnny leaned forward for a better view. “Yes. The big one near the wall. What about him?”

“I don’t know. I think he’s communicating. But whether it’s to us or to the others, I can’t tell.”

“But what do you ... feel?” The Commander sounded like he was humoring Mary. “Isn’t that what you said?”

Mary looked at Alex, who nodded encouragingly. “Tell him.”

“I feel confusion. Lightness. No anger,” she said. “Curiosity, perhaps?”

Tony gave Mary a very skeptical stare. “No surprises there.”

The Professor frowned. “What is the source?”

“Them.” She pointed to the window. “I’m sure of that.”

“How can you be sure?”

“It’s a question of knowing,” said Mary defensively. “I can locate signals ... well, you know that. All Sensors can.”

“Didn’t you also feel things from the clicker men?”

“Yes.”

The spiders circling
Diver
were now too numerous to count, but the large one Mary had spotted didn’t move. It stayed at the edge of the enclosure near what looked like an exit, presumably observing.

“If these spiders are investigators, where are their instruments?” asked Tony. “This could just be a nest of dumb animals?”

“I don’t think we can assume that,” Mary cautioned. “We know nothing of their abilities or methods.”

Johnny agreed. “Indeed,” he said. “We can’t assume anything. Certainly we can’t measure them against ourselves.”

Tony shook his head. “It seems pointless, if you ask me. What can we hope to learn?”

“Something. Anything,” Johnny replied. “Can you tell us more, Mary. Can you give us anything?”

“Nothing at the moment,” said Mary. “But it’s obvious these are the same ones that launched the sphere that penetrated
Goddard
, and probably the same ones that made the egg on Bubba 1.”

“That’s what bothers me,” said Tony. “We invaded them, acted violently. Then why aren’t these avoiding us? And how can we trust them? For all we know they’ve already destroyed
Goddard
.”

Johnny smiled. “So that’s what’s eating at you, Tony,” he said. “Many of my staff had similar feelings. They didn’t want me to go.”

“Of course,” Tony retorted angrily. “You left them without a Commander.”

“I had to go. The Commander should be present in a first contact situation. Don’t you agree?”

“You’re asking the wrong guy,” Sciarra said, looking out the window. As he spoke a spider traversed the window right in front his face. He recoiled, bumping into Alex’s chair.

Alex smiled. “Careful, Tony.”

The creature returned to the window as if it had seen Tony’s movement. It stayed there, giving
Diver’s
crew their first close-up view of the alien. Silhouetted by the surrounding glow, its body and legs were translucent, revealing details inside.

They weren’t veins or arteries, Alex decided, because they were stretched taut, like cables, between its leg joints.

Tony moved away from the window sheepishly, returning to his seat, and Alex had a clear view of the alien. It straddled the window with its legs radiating from behind an opaque pouch the size of a large melon.

“That looks like its body,” Alex commented, pointing to the pouch. He cautiously leaned forward for a better look. “I don’t see anything that looks like eyes.”

Johnny made his way slowly toward the window for a better look. “Remember, people,” he cautioned, “this thing probably has no idea what it’s looking at. For all it knows, we’re just part of the ship.”

“They could be part of their machinery, too,” quipped Tony as he fastened his seat belts.

“They’re alive,” said Mary. “You can bet on that.”

“Like our machinery is alive, you mean?” asked Tony.

“No,” asserted Mary. “Alive as you and me. Biological. Look at that thing’s pouch, it’s vibrating. They’re talking, I think.”

“Radios talk,” argued Tony. “Speakers vibrate. So do drums, but they’re not alive.”

Mary rolled her eyes. “I don’t feel they’re just passive machines. They are making the sounds in response to one another, like individuals. Just listen.”

Everyone listened for a moment to the cabin speakers until finally Tony shook his head. “I’m not convinced.”

Soon an alien appeared at every window. “Look at that,” remarked Commander Baltadonis. “I think Mary’s right. And it’s obvious they can see, or they wouldn’t be at the windows. The question now is how to communicate with them.”

Alex raised a hand. “Record their sounds and play them back on the outside speakers.”

“That just makes us parrots,” argued Sciarra.

“Any other ideas?” The Commander asked, looking doubtfully at Sciarra and then at Alex and Mary.

“Music, maybe?” replied Mary with a shrug. “Or do what Alex suggested.”

“Why not just talk to them?” proposed Tony. “See what happens.”

“You mean assume they understand English and just say howdy?” The Professor smiled.

“Tony may be right,” said Mary. “If they’ve been listening to Earth all these years ...”

“It’s as good a place to start as any,” observed Tony, looking at the creatures outside the windows.

A look of embarrassment overcame Johnny’s face. “You know, I’ve considered this moment for quite a while, but I really have no idea of what to say to them, even if I knew for sure they understood us. I guess I thought that the decision would be based on the circumstances.”

“Well,” said Tony with a wry smile. “Here are your circumstances.”

“Indeed,” said Johnny. “I guess I didn’t expect to just talk to them. The question is, what should I say? Suggestions?” He looked even more embarrassed.

Mary could understand Johnny’s dilemma. “Try it straight up, first. You know. Greetings from Earth, etcetera, etcetera?”

Johnny shook his head in disbelief. “I have to do better than that.” He lifted his chin as if summoning some special courage. “Okay, I see what you mean, Mary. Can you send a general wave? All frequencies, as well as on the outside speakers.”

Mary had to remind Johnny that his console had control of the outside speaker. “Okay,” he said, “I’ll do it from there.”

Professor Baltadonis was mumbling as he floated across the cabin. His movement seemed to spark interest among the spiders. Some of them changed position while others stood fast, swiveling their pouches like eyes, following Johnny’s body as it landed in his seat. Their sound on the loudspeakers filled the cabin with the thumping Mary supposed to be their language.

Noticing the creatures’ interest in Johnny, Tony smiled. “Well, it looks like you have their attention, Commander.

They’re watching you.”

“You might try gesticulating a bit, Johnny,” said Mary. “To let them know who’s talking.”

Johnny gave everyone a look of disdain. “Quiet, people. I’m switching on the mike.”

4
“Set the volume low,” advised Mary. “They hardly look it, but they may be delicate.”

“Good advice,” said Johnny, with a two fingered salute.

He cleared his throat and loosened his jumpsuit collar a bit. Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. Then he took a deep breath and touched his console.

“Greetings from Earth. We come in peace for all mankind.”

Outside, the creatures stirred. All, that is, except the large one. It remained motionless. Alex noticed it was the one that Mary was watching most closely.

Johnny repeated his message verbatim, twice more, and then waited. His words could be heard over the cabin speakers, so Alex knew that the aliens were hearing him, if indeed they could hear at all. But there was no change in the other sounds coming from the sphere.

“Time to try a second message.” The Commander touched his console again. “We have come to meet you,” he said, being careful with his diction. “We have come to converse with you, on behalf of the people of Earth.” His voice echoed again on the cabin speakers. “Can you understand me?”

The spiders were still at the windows, peering in at
Diver’s
crew. Alex watched the one nearest him when Johnny made his announcement, looking for a response. Other than a slight twitch and a minute shift of the body, he could see no reaction that suggested the aliens understood. He shook his head and looked at Johnny doubtfully.

The Commander read Alex’s expression and frowned. “I don’t think we’re getting anywhere,” he said sadly.

“Do you have any recordings of the creature’s noises?” asked Mary. “Try playing back some of their own sounds. Our dolphin crew told me that it worked when humans first started communicating with them.”

“That might just confuse them,” suggested Tony.

Mary nodded. “Actually when humans and dolphins first started there was a lot of confusion, but it was a start. It told the dolphins we wanted to communicate. Of course, it was the dolphins who taught us how to speak their language.”

“That sounds like dolphin propaganda,” Tony retorted. “Besides, what has that to do with these things?” He pointed at the spider outside the window.

“It would help, perhaps, if we had some idea of how the clicker men communicate,” said Johnny. “Well, we know how,” he corrected himself. “We just haven’t deciphered their clicks.”

“Pity we don’t have one aboard,” said Sciarra, grinning slightly. “We could send one out as a spokesperson.”

“It’d probably be just another alien to them,” said Alex.

Johnny put a finger to his chin. “I never thought to have one aboard.”

Alex groaned. “We’ve nearly killed all of them already, dragging them around with us.”

“I know they’re your pets, Alex,” said the Commander sarcastically. “But let’s not get sidetracked. We are trying to communicate here. I’m going to play a recording I made a while ago, as Mary suggested. Any objections?”

When no one spoke up, Johnny went to work retrieving the sound byte. It took only a short time and soon he was ready to play it to the aliens. “Are we ready?” he said rhetorically. “Here goes.”

From the moment the recording began, the aliens started moving in circles again, around the ship. “That got a reaction, at least,” remarked Tony.

Mary kept watching the large spider near the glowing wall directly in front of the ship. Her eyes widened. “The General’s moving,” she exclaimed, pointing at it. “He’s coming this way.”

“The General?” said Johnny.

Mary pointed at the window. “That big one, over there. He seems to be the one in charge.”

The large spider reached the window in a few strides of its many legs. As it moved Alex noticed that its pouch was larger in scale compared to the others.

The Commander was watching it too. “The General,” he said. “I like that.”

The creature extended several arms and touched the window nearest Alex. It deftly traced the surface with its stubby triple fingers and moved them back and forth. Then it raised its pouch to the level of the window and pressed it against the glass.

“Boy, the General sure is pretty,” Sciarra remarked, making a sour face.

Backlit, the body of the alien was only partially translucent. Other than a greenish hue, Alex saw no evidence of any inner workings. He did notice that when the skin of the alien touched the glass, it didn’t deform as would a soft bodied animal. It collapsed more like a paper lantern. Everything about the animal, from its blue iridescent skin to the pleated notches in its leg joints, reminded him of the crystalline structure that made up the world around them.

Johnny repeated the recording when it ended. “I’m not sure there’s a point in replaying this,” he said. “Any other suggestions?”

“
Ode to Joy
,” suggested Mary, “from the music library. Play them something nice.”

“That should be interesting, at least,” replied the Commander. “What made you ...?” He thought for a moment and smiled. “You’re referring to the music we picked up when we left the reef?”

“Well, it’s as good a choice as any,” said Mary. “Music hath charms, they say.”