Solbidyum Wars Saga 4: Too Late for Earth (22 page)

“Rose, this is Captain Slater, Tibby and his crew would like your assistance in learning Chinese and need you to allow them to use the learning headband, like the ones that taught us the Federation Language, to download your language skills on the computer.  Can you do that for them?”

“Certainly!” Rose answered as she climbed out of the pool and walked toward the vid screen.  “Where and when do I need to go?”

“Rose,” I said stepping forward.  “You'll need to meet with Cantolla; she will see to recording your Mandarin skills.  It should only take about a half-hour of your time and will be pretty much like the process when you learned the Federation language.  If you can head to her lab now I will inform her you are coming.”

“Okay, it will take me a few minutes to shower and dress, but I’ll head right there.”

“Thanks.” I said, “I greatly appreciate it.”

“What was that she was wearing?”  Stonbersa asked with astonishment.

“Just a swimming suit.”  Slater answered.

“Swimming suit!”  I never heard of such a thing.  Tibby you never mentioned swimming suits to us.  Are they a local custom to areas on Earth or does everyone wear them?"

I could see looks of confusion on everyone’s faces on the bridge; my crew because they had never heard of swim suits, and the Mars colonists because the thought of swimming without them was alien to them, as was social nudity.  Kala was smirking, as she knew about Earth's taboos concerning nudity, because I had told her shortly after I met her, but I had never related it to anyone else and had simply adopted Federation's customs.

“Ahh, I’m afraid I neglected to tell you that taboos about nudity are rather rare throughout the Federation and only a few planets with certain religious cults have laws against it.  You’re likely to encounter some degree or nudity or even total nudity at any time or place throughout the Federation, including here on the ship.  Swimming suits are completely unheard of in the Federation and everyone swims nude, also some clothing items you may see can be quite revealing.”

“Oh!  Slater said with a shocked look.  “Things were like that for a brief period on Earth about 40 years ago, but then as the Jihadists began taking over more and more of the world, and with the resurgence of fundamental Christian groups, nudity and revealing clothing was not only frowned on but became illegal, with severe punishments in almost every country on the Earth.  I will need to tell the others about this.  I’m not sure how some of them are going to react to the news.”

“I guess those taboos finally put an end to pornography on Earth,” I said.

“Oh no, not at all, if anything it increased it ;and while it was illegal, no one ever enforced the laws against it.  It became so prevalent that it was shown on all the social media day and night.”

“Wasn’t that a bit contradictory?”  Kala asked.

“Well, yes,” Slater said.  “However, it’s the way things evolved.”

I shook my head in disbelief. As a means of clearing my thoughts, I called Cantolla on my wrist com.

“Cantolla, this is Tibby.  One of the Mars colonists named Rose… Rose…? What was her name again?” I asked Slater.

“Chen, Rose Chen.”

“Ahh --Rose Chen,” I said to Cantolla, “will be showing up at your lab shortly.  Could you please record the Mandarin language which she can speak so we can transfer it to crew members?  We are entering Earth’s lunar orbit as I am speaking and we want to try to communicate with the colonists on the Moon if we can.”

“Certainly, Tibby, you should be able to have the crew learning it via the headbands in about an hour.  Will that do?”

“That’s perfect Cantolla, thanks.”

While we had been talking, Kerabac had maneuvered the ship into orbit around the Moon.  As we passed over the side that always faced Earth, I could see an area that was not familiar looking .Suddenly I realized this had been the area where
THORS’ HAMMER
had destroyed the Chinese base from which the Chinese had bombarded the Earth with moon rocks.

“Wow,
THORS’ HAMMER
must have carried some heavy muscle to do damage like that!,” I exclaimed.

“I don’t know the details of the weaponry, Captain Slater responded, but it was rumored to be some sort of anti-matter device that it used.  The weapon was a prototype and the only one of its kind.”

“I wonder if A’Lappe has any idea how to build one.”  I muttered to myself.

“Pardon me; I didn’t hear what you said.”  Captain Slater said.

“I was just asking myself questions, Captain.  I do apologize, as I sometimes talk to myself.”

We continued to orbit around the Moon all the time trying to locate the other base where the Chinese might be holed up, while Cantolla recorded Rose’s language skills.

“I don’t see anything down there that looks like a base,” I said.

“Neither do I,” responded Slater, “but there is one down there some place.”

“I think I can help you out,” A’Lappe interjected.  “There are electronic signals coming from this area here,” he said as he illuminated a portion of the Moon surface on the vid screen.

“That’s the Plato Crater,” Doctor Yamaguchi said.  “It’s quite a way from their base that was located in the Ptolemais crater.”

“I would have thought they’d locate a second base on the other side of the Moon.”  I said, more or less talking to myself.

“It’s hard to understand the Chinese motives at times.  I’m sure their reasons had more to do with observation of their enemies on Earth than actual scientific research.”  Slater replied.

“Tibby, Cantolla is reporting that the learning band with the Chinese Language module has been installed on the main computer.”  Verona stated.

“Excellent Verona, I would like for you and A’Lappe to take turns learning the language while the other continues monitoring the communication console.  In the meantime, I’m going to recommend that the rest of us take a break and make use of the program.  Let’s meet back here in an hour, at which time we will try to contact the Chinese base again.”

When we returned an hour later Kerabac announced, “We’re being scanned from the Plato Crater, but there has been no attempt to try to communicate.”

“What kind of scanning are they using?”  I asked.

“Radar, mostly. They also are targeting us using an invisible laser beam that I suspect is part of a weapon's guidance system.  But I’m not getting any indications of any weapons being activated.”

“It sounds like they are playing possum to me,” Captain Slater said.  “Hoping we will not detect them and go away.”

“Playing possum?”  Commodore Stonbersa questioned.  “Is that some sort of Earth game?”

“Playing possum is a term from my part of Earth that refers to an animal called an Opossum that pretends to be dead if it is threatened?  However, if they perceive that their act isn’t working, they can be quite fierce. They have very strong jaws and teeth and can easily break a bone in a finger with a bite.”  I answered.

“So you’re saying that the people down there are trying to make us think they all are dead and hope we go away, but if we don’t, they will attack?”

“Possibly, we don’t know for sure, but we’re about to find out.”  I replied... “A’Lappe, open a communication link on all broadcast channels.”

“Channels open,” A’Lappe replied.

“Attention Chinese lunar base located in the Plato Crater on the Earth’s moon.”  I began in Mandarin   “I am Thibodaux James Renwalt, a citizen of the Galactic Federation here on a mission to lend aid and assistance to any survivors of the asteroid that impacted the Earth.  Please respond.”

I waited, but nothing seemed to be happening.  After about two minutes I repeated the message again.  “Attention Chinese lunar base located in the Plato Crater on the Earth’s moon, I am Thibodaux James Renwalt, a citizen of the Galactic Federation here on a mission to lend aid and assistance to any survivors of the asteroid that impacted the Earth.  Please respond.”

“Tibby, I am getting indications of weapons being activated in the crater.”  A’Lappe reported.

Just then a weak voice accompanied by static came through on the speakers.  “Please help us, don’t leave.  We are prisoners here. Ming is killing us.”

“Tibby they appear to be preparing to launch some sort of missiles,; there are panel doors in the crater opening and we are detecting rockets inside that appear to be about to launch.”

“Attention lunar base, if you fire upon us we will take your actions as an act of aggression and we will be forced to return fire.  We only wish to talk to you at this time.  Please respond.”

“Please do not leave us, help us,” the voice on the speakers replied.  “Ming is insane, he will attack you, but you must help us.”

I looked at Captain Slater and he said, “That would sound about right from the information we received earlier, before the communication stopped over a year ago.”

“Tibby, the missiles are firing from the surface, we will have an impact in about seven minutes.”  Kerabac reported.

“Is there any chance of damage to us?”  I asked A’Lappe.

“None at all, the RMFF will handle it easily.”

“RMFF?  What is the RMFF?  Captain Slater asked.

“Watch and see, Captain.”  I replied.

As we watched we could see five missiles rising from the Moon and heading straight at us.  Slowly they grew in size until we could see more than just the flame and smoke trail of their rockets.  As they drew closer, they appeared to speed up, and I could see Captain Slater and his fellow Martians cringing.  For a moment, I thought the Captain was about to duck just before the missiles hit the RMFF shields. Suddenly they seemed to explode in a blaze of fire, and electrical energy, like lightning, flashed across the surface of the RMFF shield.  Inside the ship all was calm; there was no sensation or sound of impact or explosion.

“WOW,” I heard Lt. Stevens, exclaim.  “I thought we were goners there!”

“That was amazing,” Captain Slater said.  “How does it work?”

“I’m afraid for now that will have to remain a secret, Captain.  Perhaps in time we’ll tell you more.  Now, let’s see if the Chinese are willing to talk.”

“Lunar base,” I began again.  “I hope you are now aware of the futility of your efforts, I am disappointed that you chose to attack us when we come here as friends with desire to help you.”

“Please help us, Ming doesn’t want you here, he wants to keep us slaves.  He will kill us all now that we have talked to you.  You must…” And then there was the sound of gunfire and a few screams and the speakers went silent again.”

I looked at Stonbersa and Kerabac and said.  “I guess that does it, we will have to go in the hard way.”  I turned to Marranalis.  “Get three 30 men squads assembled; they will need to be suited up for vacuum combat.  I’ll meet you all in the briefing area next to the hangar bay in about 30 minutes.  Commodore, activate the cloaking and move us about 22 degrees and 50 kilometers from here.  I want 10 cloaked Mirage Fighters launched in about an hour; I’ll be going down with Marranalis and the squads at the same time as the fighters leave.”

“A’Lappe, what can you tell me about the base?”

“Our sensors are only able to penetrate about 100 meters below the surface, but there seems to be a rather large facility beneath the exterior.  Multilayered, but I can’t tell you how deep.  I think it is reasonable to assume that each level will be laid out similar to the one above; I can give you a schematic of the first layer.  I’m not detecting anymore missiles, but you can expect the occupants of the base to be armed, most likely with projectile type weapons.  I would recommend that you take some drones along to send ahead of you so you don’t walk into a trap.”

“Drones?  We have drones?”  I stammered.

Kala was beside me shaking her head and holding her right hand against it.  “Tibby, you really MUST learn more about your ship and what’s on it.”

“Captain Slater,” I began as I turned facing him with some embarrassment.  “I do apologize.  I know this looks most strange that I don’t know what the capabilities and equipment are on my own ship, but I fear it’s still all quite new to me, it’s just so damn large!”

“No need to explain Tibby, I’m simply amazed that you know what you do.  May I accompany you on this mission?”

“I’m sorry Captain, but at this time I don’t think it would be a good idea. I would appreciate if you and those of your team interested in what goes on down there follow the action from one of the conference rooms that we have set up as command centers on the ship.  Things here on the bridge may be rather active, and I would prefer that no one is on the bridge that might detract or get in the way.”

“Understandable, Tibby; will we be able to communicate with you while you are down there?”

“I’ll arrange it so we can communicate, but the others will have to pass anything through you they might wish to communicate.  I ask that you keep communication to a minimum and only use it if you have important information to add that might help us.”

“Understood.”  Slater replied.

“Marranalis, I want us to use stun weapons if we are attacked, I only want deadly force used if there is a serious threat to the life’s of any of our men.  I think we will go in as a visible unit sending drones ahead of us.  If we are fired upon at any time, I want everyone to cloak and start knocking out anyone they see.  We don’t stop until we have this Ming individual in our custody.  We may end up knocking out a few friendlies in the process, but I rather have that than having someone on either side getting killed.”