Escape 1: Escape From Aliens (21 page)

Jane looked his way, a pale smile on her face. “I’m not the only one to know about offset signaling. This way, when the Mok track my broadcast to the orbiting drone, we will be long gone. And in a different direction than they might expect.”

He understood that. From the moment she’d chosen to leave a single drone in orbit he’d figured there was more to it than the convenience of watching their collector pod die a lonely death. Offset or relay signaling was something the regular Army sometimes did on Middle East battlefields. His SEAL team had relied on portable satcoms. The signal went straight up, with no chance of interception by a local artillery commander who would backtrack the signal and launch an XM982 Excaliber shell at the source. Getting hit by a 155 mm shell was no fun for ground pounders. Getting hit in airless space by a self-guided missile or a carbon dioxide laser was equally unfun. “Captain, understood. Makes it safer to warn the locals about the Collector ships.”

“Quite.” She looked away and composed herself. “Mok planetary authorities, I am—”

Bill kept his attention on the laser feed from the drone. Which showed both Mok spaceships were now heading for the back side of their moon. The drone sat just below the moon’s south pole, which was why the
Blue Sky
had a direct laser link to it. Soon the two ships would detect the drone. But that would be after it conveyed Jane’s Mok-translated warning about Collector ships, Buyers and Market worlds. He had had mixed feelings on giving a warning after Bright Sparkle spoke up. On the one hand, they owed a warning to every planet whose citizens had been kidnapped by Diligent Taskmaster. On the other hand, this was a war zone and, as Jane had often said, placing the
Blue Sky
in danger was not to be done. Leastwise, not until they offloaded their two Doman armadillo guests.

“Well, that’s that,” Jane said. “Navigator, take us toward the local sun.”

“Vector track change done,” Lofty Flyer said, raising her two arms so the skin flaps below them stretched out. “Once we arrive near the local star, which vector track does our captain prefer? Up, down or sideways?”

“Down,” Jane said softly. “Down until we hit the edge of the system’s magnetosphere and can go FTL. Which raises the issue of our next target system. Star Traveler, what is the home star of the Doman people? How far away is it? And how long will our voyage be?”

A low hum sounded through the Command Bridge. “The Doman occupy a rocky planet that orbits the star EPIC 201367065,” the AI said. “The star is a red dwarf of class M0.2V. Which is half the size and mass of your Sol. There are six known planets orbiting the star. The Doman home is planet three and orbits at 0.2076 AU, with an orbital year of 44.5631 days. The world is 1.5 times the size of Earth. The planet’s illumination is slightly more than Earth receives from Sol.”

“Distance?” Jane prodded.

“EPIC 201367065 lies 147 light years from your Sol. The distance to it from the Mok star of HD 27631 is 229.319 light years.” The ship mind paused. “Which translates to a transit time of 9.17276 days.”

“So exact,” murmured Jane, a grin showing. Her reaction pleased Bill. He cared for her and thought she had come to care for him. Her safety was his first priority. Meanwhile, he would continue watching for hidden enemy ships until they went into the Alcubierre space-time modulus.

He returned his attention to the holos around him. The system graphic, the ship weapons holo, the holo of Jane and—

Nothing showed in the drone holo. He tapped on his control pedestal, reorienting the infrared and UV sensors of the
Blue Sky
.
Damn!

“Captain, the drone is gone. Ship sensors document it was fired on by a Mok ship laser. Guess the Mok backtracked the radio signal to that spot and fired,” he said. Bill tapped on more energy sensors. “I’m scanning space out to a million miles from us for any kind of stealth or passive vehicle. Nothing shows. I’ll keep watching.”

“Thank you, Weapons Chief. I expected to lose the drone. Though it would have been nice to have the Mok say Thank You.”

He scowled. From his experience with the two Mok cougar people he had not expected anything from the planetary Mok beyond immediate, deadly violence. If they were willing to exterminate their own species members when a surrender plea was offered, he had no doubt they would be just as deadly to strangers. Well, they were heading south into deep space, out of the system’s plane of ecliptic occupied by its seven worlds. While a war-making species might place passive sensors on predictable vectors between planets, there was no way any species would waste resources on empty vacuum far from any planet. Still, the performance of their stealthed drones had been perfect. The drones had allowed them to monitor the space between the moon and the world without the
Blue Sky
having to be in that space. Relay locating of their space assets was something he needed to think about for the future. He had no doubt that when they arrived at the Market world home system of Kepler 443 there would be a formidable lineup of milspec defenses. Getting by them to a vulnerable spot, like the shipyard that built the Collector ships, would take some doing.

Then again, Bill had spent his evening free time reading up on the exploits of Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson before and during the Battle of Trafalgar off the Spanish coast. While the
Blue Sky
was no HMS
Victory
, it had some unique assets. Invisibility was one. Being run by a multi-species crew was another. Being led by an Air Force captain who spent her nights watching the stars and her days tracking orbital objects meant they were being led by someone who understood the field of battle. Which was dark space, vacuum and the delayed reaction times of bioform crews. She was their third and principle asset. Their fourth was something Bill had discovered during their FTL travel out from the Market world system. The two transport ships in the Transport Exit Chamber were armed with a bow laser and a belly missile launcher. He liked the idea of three ships in formation going after interstellar slave traders!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

They arrived in the Doman star system just beyond the orbit of its sixth planet. Which orbited at seven AU out from the red dwarf sun. Thanks to the Nokten crystal and its memory of normal space-time coordinates, the
Blue Sky
had arrived within sight of the outermost planet. Like Uranus and Neptune, it was an ‘ice giant’ gas world of mostly hydrogen and helium, though the methane level was notable in its upper air. Like Neptune it had a Great Dark Spot in the southern half of the globe. It also had multiple rings of ice fragments similar to the rings orbiting Uranus. Bill learned all the details thanks to multi-spectral sensors and the ship’s electro-optical scope, which fed a true space image into the holo ahead of him, next to the ship’s weapons holo that located all rooms, hallways and weapon sites in a cutaway view. To his left the system graphic holo showed the orbital tracks of the star’s six worlds. To his right floated the holo of Jane at her command pedestal seat. Beyond Jane’s holo sat or stood the five other crew posts occupied by their Alien volunteers.

“Weapons Chief,” Jane said, her tone command firm. “I see no sensor tracks for any kind of spaceships in this system. Do your sensors confirm the absence of spaceships?”

Bill looked at the bottom of the ship weapons holo where readouts from ten sensors showed. “My sensors confirm the absence of neutrino-emitting spaceships. Or any ship with a fission or fusion reactor on it. Chemical thrust ships are also absent, according to the electro-optical scope. And nothing shows on the system schematic.” He paused, tracked on the kilohertz and megahertz radio sensor, and figured out what he was seeing. “Natural radio emissions are coming from planets four, five and six, all of which are ‘ice giant’ gas worlds similar to Uranus and Neptune. Uh, I am picking up some very weak radio signals from the Doman home world. My sensor compares those signals to the early radio transmissions from the old-style spark gap transmitters. Like what Marconi put out. Or so my memory of ancient history tells me.”

Jane looked his way, her expression thoughtful. “That sounds like someone on the Doman world knows something about electricity and electromagnetic waves. Maybe we’re hearing a broadcast from their Heinrich Hertz. Which tells me the Doman culture is far beyond a Neolithic level. Wonder why Old Woman and Fast Runner acted so aboriginal?”

He scanned his crewmates but no one seemed interested in speculating. “Captain, my guess is that Diligent Taskmaster raided a remote part of the Doman world where aboriginal types live. On Earth we have Australian abos and South African Bushmen still living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.”

“True.” Jane caused the holos surrounding her elevated captain’s seat to drop down to her waist level. She looked out at Bill and the other crew folks. “Navigator, set a vector track for planet three. The system graphic says it is on our side of the red star, but lagging behind our orbital position. Make the route as direct as possible.”

“Vector track laid in,” chittered Lofty Flyer. “No planets, asteroids or comets are present along the track. Transmitted to the Engineer.”

“Good,” Jane said calmly. “Engineer Time Marker, bring our Magfield drive engines to full power. Move us out on that vector.”

“Understood,” the black-skinned snake hissed as it stood on four stubby legs. “Engines moving to full power. One-tenth lightspeed velocity will be achieved within twenty seconds.”

“Long Walker, activate power to two collector pods,” Jane said.

The eight-legged worm looked back, his two black eyes fixing on her. “Captain, two pods are powering up,” it moaned deeply. “Normal ship air is being delivered to the Collector Pods Chamber.”

“Also good.” In the holo to his right, Jane looked his way. “Weapons Chief Bill MacCarthy, put your station on automatic and follow me to the Containment Unit Chamber? We need to knock out our two Doman, then load them into two collector pods. Which, this time, we should get back in one piece!”

Bill tapped on the control pillar in front of him. “Captain, my station is on automatic. Anything that approaches this ship will be reported over my ear buds.” He stood up, saw the color bands on Bright Sparkle’s skin move into a pattern he knew signaled passion, and met her gaze. Her look was an open invitation. He’d always had a weakness for green eyes. While the captain was his long-term hope, he was not about to turn down another frolic time in the Water Pool! With a nod to her, he turned and headed to the Command Bridge exit door. Where Jane already stood, her dark brown eyes glancing from him to Bright Sparkle and back to him. One thin black eyebrow lifted. Whether in comment on the failings of the male gender, or impatience with his brief delay to acknowledge Bright Sparkle’s invitation, he knew not. Coming up to her he gave her a three-finger Boy Scout salute. “Captain? Weapons Chief MacCarthy reports for duty.”

Jane turned, pointed her red cube at the oval door and led the way out into the access hallway. “Good. Hauling two armored armadillo folks by myself is not my preference. And I already knew you were a Boy Scout. Follow.”

He followed.

♦   ♦   ♦

Five minutes after they finished loading the Doman into the collector pods, Bill and Jane were back on the Command Bridge. The woman had chatted easily with him while they transported the two taser-zapped Doman, her manner relaxed and friendly. She’d even put her hand on his shoulder as he backed away from loading a Doman into the second collector pod. The warmth of her hand had jerked him out of duty mode and into romance mode. He’d turned, smiled at her, then leaned forward to kiss her. She’d looked surprised, but had not pulled back. In fact the passion of her deep kiss had made him hope they could share more. But then she pulled away with a sigh. Her eyes had scanned him warmly, then she’d tapped her shoulder as if to remind him of her invisible captain’s bars. He’d followed her back up to the front of the ship. Now, they both sat at their function stations, keeping busy as best they could

“New information!” called Star Traveler. “A Collector ship has arrived in this system! It appeared north of the ecliptic. Its vector course is aimed at the Doman home world. It will be aware of us as quickly as we detected it.”

Shit!
Bill scanned the system graphic. A purple dot did indeed occupy a spot far north of their own track along the system’s plane of ecliptic. The ship’s distance was seven AU out from the star. Which meant it had farther to travel than they did. Barely. “Captain, Collector ship is confirmed. Presently we are 6.94 AU out from the star. Which is almost the distance to the Doman world. That planet orbits close to the star at 0.2076 AU.”

In the holo to his right Jane’s expression was one of frustration. “Fuck! We’re already committed to returning the two Doman. But the other ship will arrive just minutes after we do. Which forces us to share—”

“Neutrino signal incoming,” Star Traveler said.

“Accept it,” Jane said, her tone command intense.

“Collector ship
Hard Shell
and Captain Diligent Taskmaster, this is Collector ship
Warm Nest
,” spoke a voice that sounded harshly mechanical. “It appears you arrived here first. Do you wish to collect your captives before we launch our pods?”

Jane blinked, then the muscles in her face went tense. “Collector ship
Warm Nest
, I am Captain Jane Yamaguchi of the species Human. Captain Diligent Taskmaster transferred command of his ship to me upon payment of many Nokten crystals. I renamed this ship as
Blue Sky
.”

A click came over the neutrino comlink. “Welcome to captive collecting, Captain Jane Yamaguchi,” said the mech voice. “I am Captain Dok Torsen of the Melun species. I regret the error. Your ship’s neutrino emitter still carries the old ship name and captain. Which of us will be first to collect captives?”

“My ship of course,” Jane said firmly. “But there are millions of these ground-hiding Doman on the planet. There are plenty for us both.”

“True,” the mech voice said. “When we arrive we will occupy an orbit on the opposite side of the world from your position. That way our collector pods will not interfere with your pods.”

Jane’s face looked wet, as if she were sweating. “That is sensible. May your hunt go well.”

New clicking sounded. “The same to you, ship
Blue Sky
.”

Jane frowned. “Cut that neutrino comlink.”

“Link closed,” Star Traveler said. “Captain Jane Yamaguchi, I will not participate in the taking of captive people.”

She sat back in her captain’s seat, her frustration obvious. “Star Traveler, neither I nor anyone on this ship will seek to collect captives on the Doman world. Or anywhere else. What you heard me say to the other Collector ship was a lie. A non-truth. Understand?”

A low hum filled the Command Bridge. “Understood. Relief is expressed. Shall I change the neutrino emitter carrier wave to reflect this ship’s new name and you as the captain?”

“Yes!” Jane said harshly. “I thought you had already done that. And do not contact the other ship’s artificial mind. Not yet. I hope we can arrive at the Doman world, deliver our two captives to safety, then leave this system before the other Collector ship discovers we are not what they think.”

More humming came. “This telling of a non-truth was done to allow the safe return of the two Doman captives?”

“Yes, Star Traveler,” Jane said patiently. “If we are lucky, we will arrive before the other ship and then depart without that ship attacking us.”

“Why would the Collector ship
Warm Nest
attack us?” asked the ship mind.

Jane grimaced. “It might attack us because once we return the two Doman I plan to make a radio broadcast to the Doman people warning them of the danger from Collector ships! I suspect the other captain will not be pleased at our interference with his efforts to collect captives.”

A low hum sounded. “You bioforms move in strange ways. Your thought patterns are most challenging. However, I support your untruth telling since it allows the return of captives and may prevent more captive-taking.”

Jane wiped sweat from her forehead. Then she tossed her black mane of hair. “Thank you, Star Traveler.” She looked forward. “Engineer Time Marker, try to increase our Magfield drive speed to something beyond one-tenth lightspeed.”

The electric field around the Slinkeroo’s black skin expanded outward. “This ship’s two Magfield engines require careful modulation,” the walking snake hissed. “It may be possible to increase our speed by one or two percent. Pushing the coils further will result in the loss of magfield integrity. One or both engines could die.”

Jane licked her lips. Multiple emotions flashed over her pale face. “Thank you for that guidance, Engineer Time Marker. Do with the Magfield engines only what is safe to do.”

To Bill’s right the Megun woman Bright Sparkle looked his way, her expression worried. He didn’t blame her. The odds of another space battle had just gone up to near certainty. While he hoped they could arrive, offload the two Doman and leave before the arrival of the other Collector ship, he was not going to count on it. Which meant he should activate two drones so they could monitor the other ship from either side of the planet’s equator. Keeping your opponent ignorant of what you are doing while knowing what he is doing was a basic element of military tactics. Whether on the land, under the sea, in the air or in space, advance knowledge was often the key to success. And to survival.

♦   ♦   ♦

They arrived at the Doman home world while the other Collector ship was still incoming. But its one-tenth lightspeed velocity meant it would arrive within fifteen minutes. Bill tapped his control pillar and launched two drones toward the east and west sides of the planet. His feet felt the vibration of the electromagnetic launchers in the room below them. He gave a wave to Jane, who had approved his drone watchdog plan. Then he scanned the true space holo in front of him.

The Doman planet was the size of Earth, had oceans at its north and south poles, and three large continents filling its middle. Continental drift had built up massive mountain chains in each continent, from which flowed large rivers. Cities occupied the junctions of rivers with other rivers, and where they exited onto a coastline. A few cities sat on high plateaus like Salt Lake City and Denver. But the cities did not resemble New York, Tokyo or London. Instead, they were spread out groupings of domes, blocks and glass-like tubeways. The species aversion to open sky had carried over to its buildings and transport, which avoided any exposure of armadillo folks to the open sky. Based on the metal ships at the ports and the rudimentary roads that connected cities with farms, forests and lakes, Bill guessed the Doman culture was in a late industrial age, equal to Earth’s late 1800s. While there were no satellites in orbit, he assumed there would be telescopes and watchtowers galore.

“Long Walker, open the pod chamber and send off the two collector pods,” he said. “Program them to deliver our guests to a night side forest. That way, when they awaken, they won’t have to worry about Sky Birds snatching them up.”

The giant worm lifted up its front arm-leg pair and tapped on the control pillar before it. “Collector Pods Chamber opening to space. Pods ejected. Powered up. Heading for the night side of this world,” it moaned in a low bass. “Strange how this culture still fears the Sky Birds. Surely it has some kind of long distance weapons capable of taking down such creatures?”