Infinite Reef (26 page)

Johnny let the ship’s computer find the music and instructed it to play the recording on the outside speakers.

It took only seconds for the music to begin playing. The reaction of the creatures was immediate. Even the implacable spider Mary called the General took notice. It left the window and, like the other spiders, began moving toward the sound.

But their movement slowed as the recording played on, and its volume and complexity began to build. Soon the critters were frozen in place, vibrating as if shivering with cold.

Mary reacted with alarm. “I hope it’s not hurting them. Perhaps we should turn it off.”

Tony cautiously unbuckled from his seat and moved back to the window. “I don’t like this,” he said. “Honestly,” he looked at Johnny, “I think this is pointless. And really creepy.”

“What do you propose?”

“Powering up and getting …”

“Tony,” the Professor interrupted with a shout. “We’re on a mission here. We’ll leave when I’m good and ready!”

“But we’ll never talk to those things. They’re spiders. Alien spiders, in fact. It’s just crazy!”

The Commander drew a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. He forced a smile. “I appreciate your input, Mr.

Sciarra. It’s noted in the log. Now I’d like you to see if you can get us a readout on the surrounding structure.”

“On the radar?” Tony looked surprised.

Johnny nodded. “Indeed.”

“That means turning on the radar,” said Sciarra, casting a dubious eye on the Commander.

Johnny nodded once again. Tony smiled faintly and returned to his seat.

“Blasting out of here is a last resort, everyone,” said Johnny, looking at each of them. “But we should be ready for anything. I have no intention of endangering this crew, our mission, or the aliens. And I still want to play this out.” He glanced at Tony. “Use low power, Mr. Sciarra. And do a single sweep. But no more than that.”

“Eye, sir,” answered Tony, with a grin.

While the glorious sounds of Ludwig Von Beethoven’s composition played to the strangest house in history, the alien listeners responded with apparent enthusiasm. Johnny was able to aim the topside camera so that it showed the section of the hull that contained the loudspeaker. Having moved onto
Diver’s
hull, the General was poised there with its legs arched over the speaker, holding its bulbous body only inches from it. The melon-like pouch seemed to be quivering with excitement.

Observing this, Tony quipped, “I wonder how the General would react to a siren blast right now?”

Mary gave Tony a dirty look but didn’t comment. She had her finger to her temple, giving Alex the impression that she was receiving something on her internal radio.

“There’s a radio echo,” she whispered. “It sounds like the same music, but ...”

Overhearing Mary, the Commander asked, “Anything to report, Mary Seventeen?”

“An echo,” stated Mary obediently.

“I’m not hearing it.” The Professor cocked his head and listened.

Mary nodded. “It’s in the radio spectrum. A modulated frequency, around ninety megahertz. I’ll put it on the system if you’d like.”

“We wouldn’t hear it if you did. What’s the source?” asked the Commander.

“Not sure, Commander. I’m checking. It sounds like another recording of the same music,” Mary said, a finger still at her temple. “I can change the modulation so you can hear it.”

“Please do, Mary.” Johnny touched his console and adjusted the volume. Then they all heard it. Clearly it was the same music,
Ode to Joy
, but a different recording of it. It was weak and barely audible above the other music, and sounded like it was being filtered through a static field.

“My god,” said Johnny. “I think that’s a transmission from Earth.”

“But where’s it coming from? That’s the question,” Sciarra shifted uneasily in his seat, his eyes fixed on the viewscreen image of the General, crouched threateningly on
Diver’s
hull.

Mary finally smiled faintly and faced the Commander. “I can say for certain that it’s not coming from the
Goddard
. And it’s not coming from outer space.”

“Then from where?”

“Here. All around us.” Mary pointed toward the window. “The sphere itself, I think.”

The General left the speaker and returned to the window nearest Alex. It pressed its baglike abdomen against the glass as before. Behind the creature, Alex could see the other spiders moving in an orderly and deliberate fashion toward the tunnel openings in the glowing wall of the sphere.

“I think they’re all leaving,” Alex said. “All but this one, that is.”

Ode to Joy was nearing its grand finish. “I don’t know what else to do,” said Johnny, sounding worried. “I’ll just continue the music until it’s done.” He gave Mary a severe stare. “Are you sure that sound is coming from here ... from outside ... and not some bizarre type of echo?”

Mary laughed. “Sure? Of course not. I can’t pinpoint it. I averaged the signal strength. It’s stronger all around us and below. Weaker above.” She thought a moment, her forehead forming a stylish pattern of wrinkles. Then she shrugged. “That’s all I can tell you, Professor. But you can tell it’s different, can’t you?”

When
Ode to Joy
ended, another familiar refrain came on the cabin speakers, although the sound was weak and distorted.

A broad smile crossed Tony’s face. “Lousy recording, Johnny, but it’s a good choice. I had no idea you were such a music lover.”

Johnny looked around nervously. “That’s not our recording.”

Everyone sat stunned for a moment, listening to the ethereal sound. “What is it? I don’t recognize it,” asked Alex.

“
Simple Gifts
,” Johnny murmured.

The music sounded mushy, occasionally lost in a field of static, yet it was undeniably the classic Shaker air. For a moment Alex wondered if someone aboard the
Goddard
was sending the recording. But he immediately dismissed the idea.

Even if they could, why would they?

One melody after another came pouring into the stuffy cabin. Following
Simple Gifts
was
Greensleeves
. When that finished, the next piece was
Danny Boy.

“Computer,” Commander Baltadonis raised his voice. “Identify any common characteristics of the last three melodies that Mary Seventeen is receiving.”

The computer took only a moment to respond. “
The melodies are similar in structure. They have been characterized
repeatedly by music analysts as perfect melodies. That characterization is not entirely subjective, as they closely match in
chord progressions and meter. They have been popular for hundreds of years. In 2046, Danielle DelaHoy described them as
complementary to the human brain’s alpha wave.”

“They know who we are, it would seem,” Johnny shook his head.

The music continued for some time, becoming a strange concert of sorts.
Pachelbel’s Canon
came next, followed by
Claire De Lune
. Then came
La Golondrina
, which Tony had known since childhood.
Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring
followed, and finally a faded string quartet played
Silent Night
.

The sphere fell silent.

5
Through it all the General stayed at the window as if watching the crew inside for a reaction. “If that thing had eyes, I’d swear it was staring at me,” complained Alex.

“We have to assume it can see.” The Commander’s words sounded empty and drained of emotion. “The question is what all this means.” He looked at Mary, and smiled. “I have a feeling you know.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Mary. “You know as much as I do.” She kept a steady eye on the General, still crouched unmoving at the window nearest Alex. For all Alex could tell it had gone to sleep.

“Maybe the general is waiting for a reply,” offered Mary.

“This is patently bizarre,” griped Sciarra. “What possible significance can a bunch of tunes have?”

“The question is what significance they have to the aliens.” Johnny now sounded less emotional and more detached. “But I keep remembering that we heard
Ode to Joy
as we were leaving Jupiter.”

“And you suspect there’s a connection?” Tony chuckled. “That’s a reach, considering the two planets are eight and half light years apart.”

Professor Baltadonis took a deep breath. “I propose a short concert back at the general.” He raised his head and spoke to the computer, ordering it to locate recordings of the music and replay them in the exact order that they had been received.

Then he put a finger to his lips. “No, computer,” he cried, “Play them in reverse order ... on the outside speaker.”

Many seconds passed while the computer accessed the archival crystals in the ship’s auxiliary storage banks. Finally the computer spoke. “
I have located the recordings or approximations of those recordings. I am playing them on the external
loudspeakers. Commencing immediately.
”

“Play only thirty seconds of each recording, computer,” ordered Johnny.

Outside, its bulbous papery body still pressed to the glass, the General appeared oblivious to the music. Inside the cabin,
Diver’s
crew sat quietly and listened to the sounds echoing in the sphere that surrounded the ship.

Suddenly, during the third selection, the general moved, stepping away from the hull and moving to one of the large sail-like struts nearby. It gracefully swiveled its body around, turned upside down, stepped gingerly toward one of the exits, and left the sphere.

When the general finally disappeared into the tunnel, Johnny cursed. “Damn it,” he spat. “We’ve lost our damned audience. Fat lot of good that idea was.”

Mary had been sitting wordlessly during the computer’s replay of the melodies. With the strange concert over, she still wasn’t moving. Alex wondered if she was having some kind of spell. Her beautiful eyes stared straight ahead and her hand was at her temple.

Hearing the Commander’s words, Tony laughed. “Nice concert, though.”

They all felt the ship quiver. Alex looked around. Something dark caught his eye above the ship. Leaning forward he saw that the flaps at the top of the great sphere had reopened. “The doors to the sphere, Johnny,” he said. “They’re opening.”

Johnny didn’t look surprised. “Engage the engines, then, Alex. We’ve been dismissed.”

“Are you sure?” Alex asked.

“The doors are open. We should take advantage of it.”

“Thank you, God,” whispered Sciarra.

Alex still felt that Mary was hearing something, but if she was, she wasn’t alerting the Commander. He shrugged off his concerns and grabbed the drive stick. “Computer,” he said loudly, “engage the engines.”

6
Alex had no trouble turning the ship to exit the glowing sphere.
Diver
rotated cleanly and soon they faced upward. He and Johnny agreed that they should engage the null-gee system, so they could use the minimal amount of thrust to move the ship.

The object, of course, was to do as little damage as possible to the seemingly delicate interior of the sphere.

This proved the right course of action. On the rear view cameras, Alex could see that even the slight thrust buffeted the internal structure. Alex bit his lip and eased the stick forward and
Diver
moved upward through the opening.

Alex expected black saucers to be waiting to escort them back to the surface, but none were visible as they moved outside. The pylon loomed before them, climbing upward into the mist like a great cylindrical tower, its sharp-edged details lit from below.

“No saucers,” Alex announced.

“Get well clear of the orb, Alex,” said Johnny, sounding relieved. “Find a nice place to hover for a bit, so we can take in the view.”

Alex scanned the surrounding sky and saw nothing but cloud as he moved the ship away from the structure. Shafts of light knifed outward from the great orb in a radial pattern. Behind
Diver
, visible now on the viewscreen, was a spider’s web of white. Fanning out in all directions, channels of light disappeared into the gloom.

Alex pulled the nose of the ship around so they could all see the structure through the cabin windows.

“Hold this position,” ordered Johnny.

Everyone except Mary leaned forward to see the panorama of light. She still seemed to be listening. Her eyes met Alex’s and she smiled. “I think I know,” she said.

“Know what?” asked Alex.

“What they’re telling us.”

Tony overheard. “I hope you’re referring to
Goddard.
”

Mary looked at him compassionately. “No.”

Tony stiffened. “You’re getting weird on us, Mary.”

Mary smiled. “Just a Sensor, doing her job, Tony.” She looked at the scene before them.

“What are you talking about?” The Commander had been fiddling with his instruments and missed the conversation. “Do you have something for us, Mary? Did I hear you say
Goddard
?”

“The
Goddard
is still off line, Commander,” said Mary. “No, I don’t have anything ... substantial to report.”

Johnny shook his head, disappointed. “I expected more. I’m not sure that was a first contact.”

“What more do you need?” Mary pointed to the windows. “We met them. They know who we are.”

Johnny looked at her skeptically, and Mary explained. “They played us transmissions from Earth, Commander. Music we’ve been transmitting for hundreds of years, but only a short time for the Lalandians, I suppose.”

“Good point, Mary,” admitted Johnny. “They might think that all the transmissions from Earth were directed at them.

They listened to us and made what sense they could out of it. It may be that the only patterns that made sense to them were our music.” Johnny leaned back in his seat and watched the vast parasol of light that fanned out into the mist. “But this is all speculation. We need to get our data back to
Goddard
and have the others make sense of it.” The Commander buckled his seatbelt. “You may as well take the high road, Alex, and make sure to steer clear of the pylon.”

Alex nodded and turned the ship away from the vista. He set
Diver’s
systems at full power and pushed the stick forward.