Koban (26 page)

Mirikami spent some time with Telour. Telling him, “We need to
find a way to use our numbers to offer a better fight for your warriors. We can
discuss that on this ship without Parkoda being aware of what you want us to do.
With no warrior or translator listening, the plan will remain your secret.” That
last comment was to prod Telour in the right direction.

He took the bait. “You may meet in private, where only I can
listen. You need no secrets from me, since you are following my orders. I will stay
here on the Bridge, but I want a visual and audio feed of the meeting on the screen
here.” He hadn’t quite taken all the bait, but it should be enough.

“Thank you. Our first steps will be to share what we have learned
of your race, your history, and how you have fought in the past, and of what problems
we will find on Koban. Knowing about the place where we will have to fight is important
for us to make plans, and to decide how we will defend ourselves.”

Telour told him more about Koban. “The animals and plants there
are too great a threat for you to meet and survive without our protection, so your
testing against warriors will be inside a compound that once belonged to a small
clan. We have protective walls around it that include a large open space of hills
and rocks, with trees and plants of Koban. Some of the native plants and most animals
are dangerous to humans. The air is better than what you breathe on your ship, with
more…,” he hunted for a word. “What is your language name for the most important
gas you need to breathe?”

“Oxygen,” answered Mirikami.

“Yes, oxygen is the word. Koban has more oxygen than on this
ship. It is almost one third of the air there. The human captives say they like
it because it helps breathing with the higher gravity to tire them.”

“How much higher is the gravity?” Mirikami wanted to know. “That
might make it harder for us to fight for long periods.”

“Humans there complain that it is one and a half times what your
original home world has. If your ship has been set for standard of the human home
world, then Koban is half again as strong. That is even more gravity than the Krall
lost home world had. We like this because it makes us stronger.

“The animals are in their home, so they are naturally strong,
and all of them are very fast. Their speed can make them deadly for even a Krall.
We will breed for that same speed on our Path, and return to this world when it
can truly be our own. That will happen when our nerves become like those of the
animals on Koban, when we will think and move as fast as they do. We find it strange
that humans describe Koban as a bad place they call Hell.”

Holy shit,
though Mirikami,
this world just keeps sounding
worse and worse.

The passengers would not be prepared for the gravity, but as
Telour said, the higher oxygen content would help muscles in need of energy.

“We need to gradually start increasing ship gravity, and raise
internal oxygen as well, to ease the transition after landing.”

“That could help,” Telour agreed. “We have seen newly arrived
humans struggle to stay active in the days after they first land. However, it will
take more days than you have left in Jump for these humans to become adapted. Most
humans become stronger in two of your months. But some also weaken and die, or kill
themselves.”

Mirikami stepped to his call station at his command console and
called the Drive Room. Chief Haveram answered. Mirikami described the gravity issue
they would soon face, and the increased oxygen level, and told him what he planned
to do.

“Captain, the gravity won’t be a problem, although we’ll have
to manually adjust the override to go fifty percent high. However, we can’t just
jump up the oxygen that much without working on the scrubbers and breaking down
the CO2 faster than normal. But we can get started on the oxygen as soon as you
give the word, Sir.”

“You have the word now Chief, start raising the oxygen to about
thirty percent over the next twenty four hours if you can do it that fast. Wait
on any gravity increase until I make an announcement.”

“Aye, Sir.”

Mirikami signed off. Then called up a video feed of the large
conference room they had used previously, and manually adjusted the audio so he
could hear the slight sounds of the air circulator.

He turned to Telour. “This main screen is the room where we will
hold our meeting, and I expect there will be multiple participants offering information
about what we have learned from your translators and from you. I expect long discussions
about what it all means.

“If you need to speak to us, or if we have questions to ask you
that you wish to answer, press and hold this key” he indicted which one, “we will
be able to hear you and speak together. Humans don’t make fast decisions like the
Krall do, so we will probably come and go to eat, and take a break or use the toilet,
therefore not everyone will be there all of the time.”

He was telling him this so his plan to carry out their more serious
discussion would be able to proceed with more privacy, and conducted partly outside
the conference room. Jake could furnish some data and com Links that Telour couldn’t
hear.

Because of that, he had to look up one of his Stewards, Rigson,
assigned the primary dispensary duties. They needed several small surgical procedures
performed as soon as possible.

Dillon rubbed the tender red spot behind his right ear. Both
Fisher and Anderfem had gone first, rank and privilege and so forth for the Ladies,
and they were already listening to Jake via their newly implanted transducers.

“Thank you Mister Rigson. That was easier than I expected, and
didn’t really feel like surgery. More like getting a shot.”

“You are quite welcome Sir, but don’t rub the little bump or
it can get irritated the first day or two. Jake will be testing the connection and
setting up your personal profile and then should explain the normal protocol for
communicating with him and others on the network.

“As you know,” Rigson reminded him, “Captain Mirikami has also
established a new protocol for more discreet contact with our ghostly friend, and
I’m sure that same friend will brief you about it in more detail.”

“Right you are. I was standing directly behind the Captain in
a crowd when he thought up that bit of genius. I sure hope we can keep this Link
active once we reach Koban.”

Dillon was startled when a voice right behind him chose that
moment to answer his implied question. He turned to discover no one was there, and
then performed the typical unconscious head tilt when he realized what had occurred.
That brought forth a knowing smile from Rigson, as Dillon listened to a voice he
recognized as belonging to Jake.

“Sir, a Krall Translator told one of the scientists the ship
will land adjacent to the dome where humans live. This proximity should keep the
ship within the seven or eight miles of operational range for two way transducer
based communication.”

“Uh, thanks Jake,” he uttered, feeling a bit foolish as Rigson,
frowning, shook his head no and wagged a finger at him.

“Please don’t acknowledge him by name, and sometimes you don’t
even need to speak at all. A head shake may be enough if you are in camera range,”
he pointed to a small dome in the celling over the door to the dispensary.

“Or say something like, ‘Well I can ask about that later’ if
you want the feed to stop. You won’t hurt his feelings.” Rigson was grinning again
as Dillon blushed at having the obvious explained.

Maggi, who had just abruptly cut off Jake’s independent briefing
on her own com protocols, said, “Are you finished looking dumbfounded Dillon? I
know you had an ear bud phone you constantly used to woo admiring young Ladies at
University. It isn’t as if you were raised on a Rim world using drums to communicate.”

“I know, I know,” he answered defensively, flushing. “But I wasn’t
trying to hide those calls.” He smiled down at the feisty little tyrant.

“You should have,” she rebutted. “I overheard enough of that
seductive old fashioned tripe you fed them. You were supposed to let them take the
lead and proposition you first, as any well-bred respectable young woman is expected
to do.” She grinned back for a moment, and then grew serious.

“I think the Krall are going to force another reversal in culture
on us. Men are more naturally aggressive, and obviously stronger than are most women,
so they will have to do more of the fighting and dying. I don’t think a lot of our
pampered males will be all that grateful for their increased leadership roles, not
if it means putting a gun in their hand and facing the Krall."

“Let me test my connection and question asking,” Dillon offered,
like a big kid. “All of us in this room would like to know what the current oxygen
and gravity levels are on the ship at the moment, approximately only, and when they
will stabilize at their final settings.”

Everyone heard as Jake informed them “Oxygen content is at twenty
four percent, increasing two percent every four hours, and gravity is at 1.22 of
Earth standard, and increasing by a tenth of a g every four hours. Oxygen will stabilize
at thirty one percent in about twelve hours, gravity at 1.5 times Earth Standard
in about eleven hours, which corresponds to an estimate of conditions on Koban.”

“I knew I was feeling heavier, and not just from my big lunch,”
Dillon joked.

Maggi, never one to miss an opportunity said, “I’m sure it’s
just your swelled head now that you are on the Board. Nevertheless, in those tight
suits you like to wear you’d better watch out for a potbelly dear. I’d hate to see
you lose sight of that impressive package you’re so proud of.” Maggi patted him
on the aforementioned item, provoking laughs from the others, and another flushed
face from Dillon.

“Now his face matches the accent color,” Rigson added, referring
to the fashionable hand shaped deep pink passion patch, located at the crotch of
his light gray dressy body suit. More laughs.

Crap!
Dillon thought.
I need to switch to my plain
work suits, or find new friends.

Anderfem interrupted the fun at Dillon’s expense. “Gentle People,
Captain Mirikami is holding down the fort in the conference room, keeping our nosey
Krall leader occupied while we get equipped to be sneaky. Shouldn’t we go join in
the charade?”

“Aldry, Gracious Lady, please lead the way to the show,” Dillon
answered, with a flourish of his arm, determined to hide his embarrassment. “Let
us go publicly gather the Intel we are expected to get, while we secretly plan out
how we will use it.”

The four of them left the dispensary for the conference room,
a short distance away. When they stepped through the doorway, they saw that it was
nearly full, the chairs folded into the floor, and that tables now extruded from
the walls, holding snacks and refreshments. Both passengers and members of the crew
mingled, sharing stories they had gleaned from asking the Krall translators about
their history.

Dillon promptly heard Jake’s voice, warning him that Parkoda
was monitoring the meeting from the bridge, with audio and video. He could tell
from his companion’s brief pause as they entered that they had received the same
information.

Mirikami, expecting them, motioned them to stop where they were,
and came over to greet them at the doorway, accompanied by Noreen. “I’ve been collecting
a lot of the details our people have garnered from their questions over the last
day and a half. I assume you are
equipped
to process these and think on them
as we go?” The emphasis he place on “equipped” was obvious.

They all nodded, and Rigson said “Yes, Sir. I think we have the
best people present, and well equipped to consider whatever information everyone
has gathered.”

“Excellent, Mister Rigson.” He spoke overly loud, for
Telour’s benefit. “Noreen and I will brief these Board Members on a summary of what
I’ve heard so far, if you would be so good as to take charge and collect the people
that have yet to pass on their information on the
other
side of the room.
I’m sure you can arrange to pass along any vital new information if encountered.”
He was trying to create a bit of separation from the rest of the grouping.

“Yes Sir.” Rigson turned to face the rest of the room and in
a loud voice called for the people who still had information to share to meet with
him at a podium on the other side of the room.

As he proceeded to the opposite side, a couple of dozen people
headed the same way. The Captain added in a loud voice, “For those of you who have
already given me, Commander Renaldo, or any of the Board Members the information
you collected from your questions of the Krall, please discuss and share it among
yourselves while I brief our late arrivals. Think of ways to organize ourselves
to fight the Krall warriors.”

This reminder of the purpose of the gathering drew frightened
looks on the faces of some, and grim determination on others. There would be some
useful ideas from them, for sure, but the main purpose was to keep the room full
of noisy discussion while the primary decision makers were able to talk in semi
isolation, yet in plain sight.

Bulling her way through the throng, using her bulky body to force
her way, Ana Cahill was making beeline towards them, determined to be part of the
circle of power that she could clearly see forming near the room’s entrance. As
soon as she reached them, she tried to assert herself in her usual forceful manner.

“Captain, I have been gathering the information you need all
day, even before this meeting convened, which started over an hour ago I might add.”
She shot a withering glance at Fisher, the Board Chairfem. The implication was clear
that while some Board members were late arrivals,
she
was focused on the
task at hand, well ahead of the game.