The Ouroboros Wave (31 page)

“What makes you say that, Dr. Teranishi?” Atwood was trying to contain the damage, but he was only displaying his ignorance of military theory. The gap in competence between Atwood and
Teranishi was obvious.

“Dr. Atwood, do I have to spell it out for you? The beam follows a consistent modulation format.”

“Are you saying this civilization has one language? That an advanced civilization—a victorious civilization—will ultimately use one language?”

“Defeated civilizations adopt the language of their conquerors. Based on human history, that’s not a daring interpretation. We also know something else that applies to humanity and will also apply to alien civilization—the coexistence of two civilizations means that one dominates the other.”

Shocho was starting to think she had underestimated this Terran. Teranishi was every bit as formidable as her background suggested, something Shocho had at first been reluctant to accept. She was about to contact Atwood on her web to brainstorm a way to limit further damage when she received an alert signal from Chaa. “Where have you guys been?” she replied.

“In the south module. You need to get over here right now. We’ve discovered something serious—guns.”

5

“IS THIS WHY
you missed the meeting, to search the module?”

“I’d say it was worth it, seeing what we’ve found,” said Chaa as he sent one of the weapons floating toward Shocho. Its ponderous inertial push as she caught it seemed to signal the defeat of everything she’d been working to achieve.

The south module held a full range of equipment needed to repair and modify the ship’s observation devices and other infrastructure. Apparently the Terrans had found an innovative use for the equipment.

There were three weapons, all identical, constructed from cooling pipe and designed to function as mini mass drivers, using electricity to fire metal slugs. The weapons’ stocks were sturdily built, suggesting heavy recoil.

“What do you intend to do?” asked Shocho. Her question implied that she was ready to hand leadership of the team to Chaa, but he
refused to take the bait.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to ask yourself that, Commander.”

“All right. I want all the numerical control data from the lathes backed up as evidence. Then delete the data from the machines. We’ll need to secure these weapons. The question is how we should
deal with the Terrans.”

“I’ll assume responsibility for that.”

It was Dr. Whitley. He had appeared out of nowhere; he must have noticed Shocho leave the meeting. Perhaps he had been anticipating
this development, though he was in no position to admit it.

“Responsibility? In this situation? We guarantee your safety and security, and you thank us by secretly fabricating weapons? What
exactly were you planning to do with them?”

“I regret this, Dr. Kanda. I didn’t realize Colonel Teranishi was
so lacking in judgment. I’m afraid I’ve miscounted my cards.”

Shocho felt a wave of anger at the way the Terrans had repaid her. They could hardly expect to get off with a slap on the wrist now. But losing her temper would only make the thin-skinned Terrans
harder to deal with. That was something she could do without.

“All right then. As AADD’s representative aboard
Shantak II,
I hereby notify you, as the senior Terran representative, of my decision. One: those responsible for fabricating weapons on board this ship are to be penalized by you, in accordance with Terran law. Two: until I am satisfied that it’s no longer necessary, you and your team are strictly prohibited from setting foot in this module. Do
you understand?”

Dr. Whitley seemed surprised. Perhaps he was expecting something much more aggressive. “Then no apology will be required?”

“What would I do with an apology? It won’t improve the situation.” Shocho spoke without considering that her words would amount to a slap in the face for a Terran. Dr. Whitley was shaking with anger. Under the circumstances, there was little he could say.

ATWOOD’S PRESENTATION
—and the discovery of the guns—had made things worse, not better. Teranishi insisted that the guns were merely a ploy by AADD to illegally search their module. And naturally the AADD crew was now more suspicious of the Terrans than ever.

Observations continued on a very limited basis, done only by Atwood and a few other AADD crew. The Terrans created another barricade, sealing off the corridor leading to their module. Ironically, the rest of the crew welcomed this—it kept the Terrans in as well as keeping the AADD crew out.

The day after Chaa’s discovery, leadership of the Guardians passed to him. Shocho’s attempt to control the situation had ended in complete failure. Chaa knew this wasn’t entirely her responsibility, but both of them agreed a change of leadership was necessary.

The trigger was the Terrans’ reaction. They dismissed Whitley as their senior representative and replaced him with Maria Teranishi, who promptly refused to penalize any of her crew for the production of the guns. Chaa posted a Guardian in the south module, armed with a nonlethal weapon. This kept the Terrans from producing any more ranged weapons.

Under the circumstances,
Shantak II
no longer functioned as a joint observation platform. Shocho considered the entire effort a failure, but that was only because she was certain the situation couldn’t possibly get worse. She was wrong.

“I SEEM
to have underestimated them,” said Shocho with a sigh.

“No,” said Chaa, “this one is my fault.”

“I don’t think there’s much point in arguing about it.”

Chaa’s confidence in his competence as leader was starting to waver. Shocho wanted to help him find a solution, not dissect his competence. “No one could have guessed they’d be able to assemble
their own telescope.”

Ignoring the possibility that the Terrans would discover
Hastur
on their own had been a miscalculation. If the approaching ship couldn’t be located with
Shantak II
’s equipment, there should have been no way for the Terrans to learn of its existence. But the communications blackout had caused the Terrans intense anxiety, and so they had assembled a homemade optical telescope to allow them to monitor events in the solar system without the knowledge of the rest of the crew—another indication of the deep mistrust they
harbored toward their offworld cousins.

The scope’s construction was another of Teranishi’s initiatives. Numerical data from one of the workshop machines indicated that they had carefully polished a section of sheet metal into a mirror to make a small reflecting telescope, apparently without Dr. Whitley’s knowledge. Teranishi had also kept the observational data a secret from Whitley. Using the scope, they had sighted a large spacecraft approaching
Shantak II.
No Terran vessel matched its size. Though the scope’s resolution was limited, they were able to calculate that the ship was heading directly toward them. This only served to
harden their attitude further.

Confronted with the data, Chaa confirmed that the ship was
Hastur.
This infuriated the Terrans even more, since AADD had clearly been concealing facts. If Chaa knew the vessel’s name, there must be other information he wasn’t revealing. In fact, the Terrans weren’t the only ones who found Chaa’s explanation suspicious. The other crewmembers—those who hadn’t been let in on the secret—also found it hard to believe he was being candid with them. Chaa
found himself losing the trust of his own people.

Odder still was the fact that
Hastur
was again visible on
Shantak II
’s backup telescope. The ship was definitely inbound. Though it
was still somewhat distant, it was clearly
Hastur.

In a bid to regain the crew’s confidence, Chaa attempted to contact the approaching ship while they watched.
Hastur
’s cylindrical form, visible on the monitor in the AADD mess area, was at a distance from which a reply should have returned within a few minutes.

But
Hastur
maintained radio silence. The minutes passed with no response, not even in Morse code.

With a spacecraft rapidly approaching
Shantak II
yet refusing to respond to hailing signals, the Terrans reacted with disbelief. Disbelief became deep anxiety and anxiety gradually turned to anger—anger mixed with fear. It was this fear that finally prompted them to act.

“WE’D BETTER REINFORCE
the south module before this pot boils over,” said Shocho. The entire team, including Chaa, responded via web with signals of agreement. Two more Guardians armed with nonlethal weapons immediately took up positions in the south module. Shocho and Chaa remained in the central lounge to monitor the situation. From here they could see anyone emerging from the Terran area of the ship.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have tried to contact
Hastur
again,” ventured Chaa.

“I can’t say it made things better. But I would’ve done the same thing. How could anyone anticipate that the ship would disappear and then reappear? More to the point, what’s your plan?”

“
Hastur
will be here soon. All we can do is hold on and wait. I don’t know who she’s carrying, but in any case we’ll know a lot more about what’s going on after they get here. What we do then depends on what we find out.”

“I think you’re right.”

Suddenly the hatch to the Terrans’ barrier popped open. Several crew rushed out, headed for the south module. As they went they yelled, “Out! AADD off our territory!”

Shocho did not hesitate. She told the Guardians in the south module, “Permission to fire.” Scattered popping was quickly audible from the south module. The Guardian’s weapons, powered by compressed air, fired projectiles that opened into nets of viscous acrylic fibers. Anything in the way would instantly be entangled
and immobilized.

One of the Guardians fired her weapon, immobilizing the first two Terrans through the door. But it had been a feint. The third Terran was armed. His rail gun fired its metal slug with a flash of purple light and a metallic clang. This weapon was cruder than the
ones Shocho had confiscated, probably a prototype.

The shot went wild, tearing into a ceiling beam, which erupted in a flurry of acrylic flakes. The Guardians tried to suppress the fire, but the shooter was behind cover. Their acrylic nets were no match for lethal metal slugs, so the Guardians turned their weapons on the equipment. At least the coating of sticky netting would prevent the Terrans from making immediate use of the machines. But the Terran’s rate of fire increased. The air was pungent with ozone generated by the weapon’s discharge. Seconds later the Guardians made a desperate run for it. The south module was now in Terran
hands. Miraculously, no one had been hurt.