Connection (5 page)

“That’s it professor. They were controls and there were four seats. That’s about all I saw before the lights went out and the air started going out of the cabin.”

“What? Humm…tell me about the seats. Big? Little? What color? Could we sit in them?”

“Yes. They were blackish but soft like leather… but it didn’t feel quite like leather. I could have fit in them easy…but the lights went out – I was fumbling in the dark and touched that front dash. It shocked me. The air started being sucked out of the cabin and the guy next to me sat down like he wasn’t going to make it. That’s right… then the lights came back on – the door opened and I scrambled out. The door shut behind me before the other guy could get out.”

“So he was alive?”

“Oh yes. The door was fast and now we can’t even find it where it was on the surface. I saw it but there is no visible seam on the surface…spooky. I know it was there but its not there now. Spooky,” said the bomb expert.

“Did you try more explosives?” asked the professor.

“You kidding me? Of course not… A man is alive inside there.”

“Thank you specialist,” the professor said.

“Do you think you can get him out of that thing?” asked the man.

“I sincerely think so specialist. I think so.”

The professor walked back to the ship and noticed that the military was continuing to arrive and form a cordon around the ship. The professor asked everyone to move away from the ship. The Assistant Commandant had just arrived and jumped out of his vehicle and strutted over to the professor.

“I’m in charge,” said the Assistant Chief Commandant. He waited. The professor said nothing.

The professor waited a few more moments and then started walking away from the Commandant without saying anything.

“Wait man. You can’t just walk away from me. Come back here.”

The professor kept walking without even looking back.

“Someone grab that man,” shouted the commandant. “You, Proffer. Grab him.”

The proffer grabbed the professor by both arms and forcibly turned him around. “I have him Commandant.”

The Commandant walked up to the professor. “You will do what I say or …”

“Enough,” said the professor. “Do you want your man out of that ship or not? Are you just going to strut around here ordering people about? You do realize that it is against the law to order scientists to do your bidding. Remember the EtsLot Proclamation after the last war.”

The Commandant nodded…paused…started to say something one or two times… “What is it you need?”

“Thank you commandant. I am happy to see promotions in the higher ranks are not totally based on nepotism. I need everyone to stand away from the ship so I may ask it some questions.”

“Ask
it
questions?” said the commandant. When no other information appeared to be forthcoming, he sighed. “How far back?”

“Please get everyone back to…” the professor pointed, “about that truck. Also do not be worried it I go inside for an hour or two. I know I can get out.”

                                                                      ****

Professor LeEck walked up to the ship. He had his suspicions but it was almost too incredible to believe. He felt a bit foolish. He’d face a lot of ridicule if this didn’t work.

“Ship. I am Professor LeEck.”

The ship was just sat there – dormant and black. The ship was silent. The professor waited.

“I am Professor LeEck and I promise no explosives will be placed on you if you release the man inside.”

The door of the ship disappeared and the ladder appeared on the side. The inventory specialist peeked out and then scrambled down the ladder. The professor stopped him.

“Tell me what happened after you were trapped inside.”

The man said that he had gone back over to the control console and it had shocked him when he touched it. He had heard the word ‘No’ shouted at him. He just sat down and waited. The seat was comfortable and nothing else happened. The lights came back on and stayed on after the door shut.

The professor sent him over to the group near the truck and turned back to the ship.

“Are you damaged?” the professor asked the ship through the doorway.

“No LeEck,” said the ship.

“Why are you here?”

“No words…test,” said the ship.

“Are you a test ship from Xale?” asked the professor.

“No,” said the ship. “Cassandra.”

“Are you a person Cassandra?” asked the professor.

There was a longer pause. “No. – no words.”

“Are you a machine that thinks?”

“Some,” said Cassandra. “Learn words.” The lights flashed twice inside the cabin.

The professor turned and yelled to the crowd, “I’m going to go inside for a few minutes. The ship and I are talking. I will come out in a few minutes and tell you what I’ve learned.”

The professor went up the short ladder into the cabin, looked around, and sat down in the front right-most seat. The viewscreens suddenly displayed a brilliant color, 360-degree view around the ship. The middle viewscreen then started displayed a speeded up recording of the approach to Beta Hydri, the recordings of the patrol attack (with all the communications), and the patrol ship’s destruction. That was followed with recordings of the landing and the assault by the Prath troops. The recording showed Skip getting shot. The recording did not show the locals or the vehicles they had been in.

“Can you tell me where you are from?”

“Yes,” Cassandra answered but displayed nothing.

The scientist waited a while and then said, “Will you tell me?”

“
Earth
. No Xale.”

The professor looked around and marveled at the technology all around him. He realized that this ‘machine’ – this Cassandra was more intelligent than many of the administrators he dealt with day-to-day. He just couldn’t think of what to ask or say right now.

“Do you need power?” he asked.

“No,” Cassandra answered.

“Fuel?”

“No,” Cassandra answered.

“What do you need?” the professor asked.

The viewscreens showed images of Skip.

“I can’t promise that. This man broke our laws. People must answer for any crimes,” the professor said. “I understand he brought drugs with him. That is against our law.”

“Food…use salt?” Cassandra asked showing the white powder of refined salt on food.

“Do we use salt in our food? Yes,” the professor answered.

“You…no words. Go Earth…”

The professor was stumped for a bit “Oh. If I to go to your home and use salt…it would be a crime?”

“No words. Food…no crime,” Cassandra said.

“So your man had food that is illegal here. He is still a criminal in our eyes,” said the professor and the lights flashed twice. “Even if your people think of it as food.” The lights flashed again. “You want me to leave now.”

The ship answered “La (yes).”

“May I talk to you again later?” the scientist asked and the ship answered ‘yes’. LeEck exited and turned around to watch the ladder disappear. The pressure door resolidified and then even the outline of the door disappeared. LeEck decided he’d set a high-speed camera and a graduate student vigil – just watching the door from then on. He walked back over to the Assistant Commandant.

“Well…explain it to me so I’ll understand,” ordered the man.

I’m not sure that is possible, thought LeEck. “The ship has a machine in it that is very intelligent. It thinks.”

“That isn’t possible,” stated the commandant.

“It is possible. It exists a short distance from you,” said LeEck indicating the ship. “It is still learning our language.”

“We have the dominant language on our planet. Anyone – anyone that is intelligent on our planet – speaks our language…so it can’t be very intelligent,” stated the commandant.

“I find I agree with you that someone may not be intelligent if they don’t understand our language,” LeEck said thinking the commandant was the offspring of inbreeding.

“What – just as I thought. It is from Xale. It is the ship that destroyed our patrol craft,” stated the commandant – pleased with his brilliant reasoning.

“The patrol craft was destroyed by its own weapons when it tried to destroy that ship. The ship displayed a very detailed recording of its encounter with our patrol craft, played the communications, and showed its subsequent landing at the abandoned airfield,” said LeEck.

“So these were the ones that destroyed our patrol craft – that adds to their crimes,” said the commandant.

“That is not what happened,” LeEck said and knew any explanation would be lost on this moron.

Skip had felt bad before but rarely had he ever felt this grim. His head felt like tough beef that had been pounded tender. He had a patch under his right ear, behind his jaw…must have just about cut his subcutaneous comm chip. He tried to touch the patch and winched. He realized he was strapped to what only could be called a gurney – a bed with wheels and strapped down in a prison infirmary. He looked at his prisoner jumpsuit and wondered where his flight suit was.

The doctor came in once he was seen to be awake and said, “Gobble gobble gook gab?” Skip was sure it was, ‘…and how are we feeling right now?’ the doctor undid his left arm. Skip reached up and touched his neck in a questioning manner. The doctor smiled and turned around and pulled something out of a small tray on a nearby table. The doctor, white coat and all, reached over and opened Skip’s hand – all four fingers and thumb – kind of admiring it. The doc then placed a tiny little disc in Skip’s hand in a questioning manner. Skip mimicked slipping the little disk back into his neck.

Doctor LeCharmal knew something was up with this prisoner. Sent unconscious into the infirmary – there was no record of him in the system. This prisoner was tall and looked like a model with a small nose and flawless light brown skin. This ‘being’ had 32 perfect teeth but they were in a different design than any normal mouth with 24 teeth. These teeth were designed for cutting in front, ripping on the front sides, and grinding in the back. His hands were strong and had four slim fingers and a thumb. His vestigial claws were flat and wide, not normal thin nails as on a normal hand. There was hair covering the head (curly) with hair under the arms and between the legs – a dry lubricant under the arms and protective warmth between the legs? The sexual apparatus was so large it was not to be believed – scary. He was arranged all wrong.

The feet had the same five toes and had the same wide nails – not like true vestigial claws either. The x-ray had shown different rib and bone structure – stronger yet thinner with organs in the wrong places. The eyes were obviously adapted for a brighter normal environment and had better night vision. LeCharmal knew this being was not from his planet but he knew he couldn’t fight the system. No one would believe him so he’d just see what would happen next.  He decided he’d speak to the prisoner.

“You want me to stick that little thing back where I found it,” LeCharmal said to Skip and pointing at the small disk.

Skip wasn’t sure what the doctor had said but he knew it had something to do with his implant. If Cassandra ever got close, she could pick up the signal – so he peeled back the edge of the bandage and handed the disk back to the doctor.  Skip touched right where it should be – or close enough.  The chip would secure its connections in a few hours after implantation. Skip saw a notepad nearby and motioned like he was writing.

This piqued the doctor’s interest – after all – his two years of mandatory community service was part of the price for his scholarship. This could be really interesting. He handed Skip the pad and a recognizable pencil but it was made out of rolled paper, and not wood, around something like pencil lead.

Skip drew the position on his neck and then a fairly good profile view of the layers of skin and how deep to implant the chip.

The doctor inspected the drawing and then Skip’s neck. The prisoner was very educated to know how skin layers grew. The doctor rubbed some alcohol, then local anesthetic/analgesic on Skip’s neck. He took a small scalpel without any hesitation, cut the skin and then – glancing at the diagram – slid the disk into Skip’s neck. He put recognizable butterfly suture tape across the wound. He reattached the bandage. Skip saw his flight suit in the corner and pointed at it.

The doctor realized that the prisoner wanted his suit but the doctor held up his hands and motioned he had to stop Skip from getting it.

Skip sighed and mimicked reaching into a pocket and pulling out something, tearing off the top and putting it on his neck.

The doctor relented – went over to the suit – reached into a pocket, pulled out a silver packet, and brought it back to the prisoner.

Skip said, “Thank you,” patted his chest and said, “Skip.” He then pointed his open hand at the doctor.

The doctor look puzzled a moment and then patted his chest and said “LeCharmal.”

Skip said, “Nice to meet you Doctor LeCharmal,” Skip said in English. Skip then proceeded to strip off the gauze bandage on his neck, tear open the silver packet, and slap it against his neck. The QuikClot and QuikHeal gave Skip instant relief. Skip handed the empty silver plastic packet back to the doctor.

The doctor examined the fine drawing and printing on the sides of the packet. This was advanced medicine. The packet was not metal – something else. The illustrations on the packet were clear even though the wording was totally indecipherable. The hands tearing open the packet in the illustration all had four fingers and a thumb. The fingers were long and thin. He realized this being was not from this world.

Skip drew a drawing of a wound on the paper tablet and pointed to the silver packet. He drew a square over the wound and pantomimed the time span of one day. He then drew a sketch of the neck with no wound.

The doctor got it, looked amazed and held out his left hand with his index finger raised.

Skip figured it was like a thumbs up – okay. Cool – one non-enemy.

                                                                      ****

Skip awoke in the infirmary early the next morning to see three large locals coming to get him. They clapped legs irons on him as well as a hand chain and led him to what was a waiting van. They locked him inside and drove for quite a while without talking to him. They took him into an imposing building. He was escorted to a room and taken before what could only be a judge – this must be a courtroom. The escorts placed him centered in the room – standing below the judge’s podium.

The judge looked down at Skip and looked through the pile of papers. It was unusual for an Assistant Commandant to prosecute a case – what was his name? LeBeeb…that’s it, he thought. This man is a desperate criminal but could have been a model – he was so handsome. Oh well – best get on with it. “Who brings this person before us today?”

“Assistant Commandant LeBeeb your magnificence,” said LeBeeb.

“What are his crimes?” asked the judge even though he had a list in front of him.

LeBeeb thrust his chest out and preened. “Entering restricted space, failing to heed lawful commands, destroying a Prath interdiction cruiser causing five deaths, landing without authorization, consorting with criminals, smuggling contraband, resisting arrest, and failing to cooperate with lawful interrogation,” said LeBeeb, obviously proud of his list.

The judge was impressed. “How say you prisoner?” the judge said looking at Skip.

Skip looked around bewildered.

The judge turned to LeBeeb. “Has he been like this the whole time – refusing to talk? Is he damaged?”

“Your magnificence…he is one of the hardest cases I’ve ever seen and refused all our questions even when we promised him leniency if he exposed his accomplices.”

The judge spoke, “Clerk. Note that the prisoner refuses to utter any defense and will therefore get the maximum penalty…oh wait,” he said turning back to LeBeeb. “Commandant. What evidence do you have to support your charges?”

“Several of our men were fired on when they approached this person’s ship. That is where he was wounded.”

“Oh…fine. Were any of your men wounded or killed – you should have added aggravated threats or murder,” stated the judge.

“What weapon did this man have when you arrested him?” the judge asked trying to help LeBeeb out – some of these prosecutors had to be led along.

“This man obviously handed off his weapon before we captured him,” LeBeeb said.

“Probably…probably… Tell me about the contraband you seized. You forgot to say what type of drugs you seized. It was drugs wasn’t it?” inquired the judge.

“We suspect they were smuggl…” LeBeeb was explaining and the judge unexpectedly cut him off.

“Did you or did you not seize any drugs? Explain EXACTLY how much you seized.”

“We did not seize any contraband?” explained LeBeeb.

“What evidence do you have? I understand you seized this man’s ship?” the judge stated.

“This man destroyed our patrol cruiser and then landed at an abandoned airfield. He met with criminals and gave them drugs. That is when we approached and they started shooting at us. We found a used test kit on the site. It was Twasolo.”

“Really. Commandant. What did you find when you got inside the seized ship? You can testify to that can’t you?”

“Your magnificence…I did not enter the ship but I brought Professor LeEck. He was inside the ship and saw the incident with the patrol cruiser,” said LeBeeb and motioned the small man in the back to approach.

“I find this highly irregular,” the judge said with some exasperation showing through in his voice. “Who are you?” the judge asked as a little man approached the bench. This trial wasn’t going very well.

“Professor LeEck your magnificence,” said the little man.

“Are you the scientist at the university? Are you the one that helped design the new mobile communications system?” asked the judge.

“Yes,” LeEck said.

“Explain to me about this case. You were in the ship during the patrol cruiser incident?”

“Not really…let me explain…it is hard to believe,” LeEck said.

“Go ahead.” This case was peculiar and taking much too long.

“I was called to assist Commandant LeBeeb when the ship trapped two men inside,” LeEck said.

“Excuse me? You just surprised me. Go ahead professor. Tell it in your own way.”

“The ship could not be opened so the interdiction people decided to blast it open with explosives. The first attempt was a failure and when the ship decided the explosives would damage it – the ship opened the door and turned on its interior lights. This led two people to go inside. The ship trapped them and let one go. When I arrived I talked to the ship and it let the last one go when I promised we wouldn’t blow it up.”

“You’re serious. The ship kidnapped a man and let him go when you asked it. What happened then?”

“I went into the ship and the ship talked with me. It showed me a recording of the incident with the patrol craft. I realize that the patrol craft thought this ship was a smuggler and tried many times to destroy the ship with lasers and microwave weapons. Then the patrol craft pulled back and fired two missiles at this man’s craft,” said LeEck.

“…and this man’s ship destroyed the patrol ship?” the judge asked.

“No…those missiles find the nearest target if they lose their target lock. This man’s ship ran away when the patrol ship tried to destroy it.  It’s own missiles targeted their own ship,” LeEck said. “I saw no drugs or weapons inside the ship. The ship said they were on a test flight and needed a place to land because they were had very little food and air.”

“They were short of food and air coming from Xale?” commented the judge.

“I think they are not from Xale your magnificence. They are not from our solar system,” said LeEck.

“Where are they from then?  Did the ship tell you? Wait? How did you talk to this ship? Do you expect me to believe that this ‘ship’ was able to talk with you?”

“The ship is learning our language but could show me recorded video and it refused to tell me where it was from when I asked,” LeEck said.

“Why wouldn’t it tell you? Was it really talking to you or just playing back sophisticated recordings? Could this be some big trick – Is it your supposition that the reason this man is not answering my questions is because he doesn’t speak our language?” asked the judge. “I don’t believe it.”