The Unscheduled Mission (10 page)

“Where the hell have you been?” Arn demanded of Park as he stepped out of the buggy.

“Deepest, darkest
Africa,” Park replied deadpan.

“Be serious,” Arn admonished him.

“I was,” Park replied. “Have you forgotten where and when we are and which direction I went?”

“Oh, yeah,” Arn shrugged. “I guess I did. Have a good safari?”

“Wait until you hear what out-evolved the lions,” Park laughed.

“What is that?” Arn asked pointing at Cousin in Marisea’s arms as the mermaid hop-stepped toward them.

“A relative,” Park replied. “She might represent the last natural primate species on Earth.”

“She looks like a cross between a monkey and a groundhog,” Arn remarked, taking a closer look.

“But she’s cute for all that and friendly,” Park admitted, “and she adopted us and stowed away to be with us. By the time we found her, it was too late to take her back home. We had to get here. What is going on, by the way? Terius coming for dinner?”

“As a matter of fact he is,” Arn replied, gesturing to Park that they should walk away from the others, “but that’s not why all this is going on. We heard from Jance and he is coming here. How did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Park admitted. “We ran into Tack somewhere in southern
Africa and he told us something was about to happen and that we should hightail it home.”

“And how did he know?” Arn asked suspiciously.

“The usual way,” Park replied. “He had a vision.”

“And you believe that rubbish?” Arn demanded.

“Not really,” Park replied, “but he does and his record is considerably better than that of Nostrodamus. His instructions are easier to follow as well.”

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter if he just guesses right or not,” Arn admitted, “We’re scrambling to get the base ready.”

“And our defenses?” Park asked.

“You think we should trust him, do you?” Arn countered.

“No, I don’t trust him as far as I could chuck a grazer,” Park admitted. “I was just wondering where you planned to erect the missile launchers.”

“You’re having me on, aren’t you?” Arn asked suspiciously.

“Not at all,” Park laughed. “Do we have time to mount missile launchers.”

“Not if we want to have them hidden as Jance arrives,” Arn replied seriously. “I think we’ll have to use hand-held launchers and hope for the best,”

“What about mounting a few on the HMMWVs we have in storage,” Park suggested, pronouncing the acronym “Humvees.”

“We don’t have much fuel for them,” Arn pointed out.

“Haven’t they been rigged for alcohol?” Park asked.

“No, damned bureaucrats,” Arn swore. “Some of the stuff they threw in storage for us
 
I swear just got there because they didn’t know where else to put it.”

“Humvees can be pretty useful,” Park pointed out.

“The ATVs have been better because they do run on alcohol,” Arn countered.

“But they’re small,” Park replied. “You can really load up a Humvee. Besides that gasoline isn’t in stasis anymore and it isn’t going to last forever. We may as well use it and there are only two Humvees anyway. I’ll put a team on it. We can drive them a few miles off the base for when Jance arrives and then sneak them back in just after he lands.”

“So you think he’s up to something too?” Arn asked.

“Probably not,” Park shrugged. “Actually, I think he’ll just be obnoxious all over again and give us the great run around. Did he say why he’s coming?”

“Only that he is now empowered to conclude our negotiations,” Arn replied.

“That might actually be good news,” Park decided, “but it still doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be on guard. Besides we saw a large herd of grazers to the southwest of here. It’s possible something could spook them and they could come stampeding into town, so we’d need security to turn them back too. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared. I’m just amazed the Galactics would deign to come to Earth.”

“It does seem to be a turn around, especially since Jance keeps calling us pirates.”
 
Arn pointed out.

“Actually that’s Pirates with a capital ‘P,’” Park remarked. “I picked this up during the last negotiations. Since they actually use the word ‘Human’ for all the species of man in the galaxy, they have started calling us Pirates. It annoys the heck out of me, but I don’t think most of them mean anything by it. They need something to call us and they aren’t willing to call us Originals.”

“Why the Hell not?” Arn asked. “We are.”

“Are we?” Park countered. “Well I think so, yes, but the term ‘Original’ has almost religious overtones to it and that sort of respect they are not willing to give any living species. I’m not sure I would in their case either when you get right down to it.”

“Pirates, huh?” Arn considered. “Well I still think we should discourage it.”

“Or adopt the Skull and Crossbones as our flag,” Park added. “Arrr! Look, I’ll see to the Humvees. Maybe we’ll put Ronnie Sheetz on the job. By the time she’s done they might be able to fly on good wishes and water, but then I need a night in my own bed. I just hope Cousin doesn’t decide she wants to sleep between Iris and me.”

“Did that happen in the field?” Arn asked.

“She slept with everyone once or twice, but mostly with Marisea,” Park replied. “Little Cousin might be part cat as well, she certainly does like her catnaps. And not having to hunt down all her food must be a luxury to her. I’ll have to have Marisea take Cousin to the biologists though. We’ve been feeding her scraps, but a more balanced diet might be in order.”

The next two days were long ones and everyone pitched in and got the base ready for Jance’s arrival. Veronica Sheetz was reluctant at first to step away from her other work on spaceship defenses, however. “Still haven’t figured out how to make stasis plating that doesn’t also put the contents of the ship in stasis as well,” she admitted to Park when he came to ask for her help on the HMMWVs.

“Hollow walls, maybe with each piece in stasis independently from the others?” Park suggested.

“Wouldn’t work,” Ronnie shook her head and ran her fingers through her short graying blond hair. “Well, in a sense it would, but each piece would have to be
 
isolated with a non-conducting material, and that means that while the plates would survive they would likely be blown all over the system.”

“Non-conducting,” Park noted. “Does that mean the glass portholes and, well is it still a windshield in space? Anyway, if the stasis field needs a conducting material why do our stasis tubes work with the glass windows where our faces are? And would the posts be weaknesses in our ships?”

“I could show you the formulae,” Ronnie replied, “but what they come down to is that if the field is sufficiently powered and only a small percent of the containing vessel’s skin is non-conducting, the field will sort of fill in over the non-conductive elements. Actually the glass on our personal stasis tubes is safety glass with the internal layer made of a mostly transparent, but conductive layer. That’s why it looks silvery from an angle. The glass in the spaceships is similar although in their case the glass was made that way so it could be polarized by a series of electronic signals. I planned to use that layer as part of a stasis defense although the field would probably cover
 
those areas anyway. Wouldn’t want to guess wrong though.”

“No. Well, thanks, I had wondered, but always had more important things get in the way of asking,” Park explained. “Now about those Humvees…”

“It will be a waste of time,” Ronnie predicted.

“I certainly hope you’re right,” Park replied. “Firing on a diplomatic mission isn’t exactly the way I was brought up either, you know, but even Dannet doesn’t think this precaution is unreasonable, so long as we don’t shoot without provocation.”

“The green kid said that, did he?” Ronnie laughed. “Maybe he’s not as wet behind the ears as I thought he was. You got to admit he was wrong about the Galactics respecting our claim to Luna and the rest of the system.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Park shrugged. “He was brought up to believe that’s the way it’s supposed to work, but evidently he hasn’t run into many sore losers until now. The kid’s a quick study, though and he’s all right.”

“Hmm, you know we have some pretty good rockets that can be launched from a Humvee,” Ronnie considered. “Armor-piercing, high explosive jobs. Should be perfect for bringing down a spaceship. Is that what you had in mind?”

“I didn’t really have much of anything in mind except the old Boy Scout motto,” Park admitted.

“Be prepared?” Ronnie grinned. “Well, I think I can prepare you pretty good. Yeah, I’ll put a team on it right away.”

“Three ships?” Park asked as he strolled into port control two days later.

“Yes, sir,” the young man at the flight controller’s desk replied.

“Now what the heck do they need three ships for on a diplomatic mission,” Park wondered out loud, suddenly not feeling quite as silly about the security arrangements he had been making. The Humvees might have been a few miles north of town and under a tent at the moment, but he did have men posted in concealed positions on the hill overlooking the spaceport.

“I don’t know, sir,” the controller replied, too deeply concentrating on his job to realize Park had been asking a rhetorical question. “But these are big ships; better than three times the size of ours.”

“Excuse me,” Park responded and left the control room at a run. Finding an empty office, he made himself at home and started making calls, first to his security people, putting them on alert and ordering the Humvees to be prepared to move. Then he called Arn and woke him up. “Three big ships,” Park reported. “Sounds like they could hold anywhere from two hundred or more on them and there’s really no good reason they would need anything of that size for a treaty negotiation. It’s like bringing three carrier groups to the site of peace talks.”

“Your specials are on alert?” Arn asked. “Good. I’ll put the base on red alert at least until they land.” He hung up and a few minutes later alarms were going off even as Park grabbed an ATV to get himself up on the hill. He wanted to have a good seat from which to watch the landing and if anyone had to give the order to shoot, he figured it had better be him.

The three
Alliance ships came down fast, swooping out of the east with the dawning sun. “Keep them in your sights,” he told the men stationed on the hill, “but nobody pulls a trigger until I say so.” He got a chorus of “Yes, sir!” and “Aye aye, sir!”

The ships, however, did not attack, but instead quickly performed a series of vertical landings, thereby clogging up the spaceport’s runway. “Keeping our own ship blocked too, I see,” Park muttered to himself.

“Park!” Dannet’s voice came to him. Looking around, Park saw Dannet climbing the hill. “Be careful. There’s no reason Jance should have shown up with three troop carriers.”

“Yeah, I figured that out for myself,” Park retorted. He picked up a radio and ordered the Humvees out of hiding. “I want you to take up positions on the hill here,” he told the crews. “Get here as fast as you can, but come around the back way. I don’t want you seen from the port.”

“Yes, sir!” came the response.

“I never had much use for the military,” Park admitted to Dannet, “but having good men who accept orders without debating them comes in handy during a crisis.”

The high-speed movements proved to be unnecessary, and Jance soon exited one ship with only a small party of aides. Several scientists were disgorged from the one of the others and some men and women from various Alliance news services came out of the third. Park saw no good reason they could not have all traveled together and still have had room to spare, but once Jance came out of his ship Park rushed back down to the base with Dannet.

“I don’t expect trouble while Jance is out in the open,” he explained to Dannet, “and it’s sort of up to me to greet the scientists. I wonder who Arn put in charge of wrangling the newsies.”

On their arrival, they discovered that Taodore and Marisea Waisau were giving the news people a tour of the spaceport and answering a few questions. The Mer news people were mixing with their Galactic counterparts easily enough, but when Park was spotted, they all crowded around him. “Sorry, folks,” Park waved them off. “There will be a news conference a little later. We’ll let you know when.” Then he and Dannet continued on, ignoring the questions that got pelted at them until they had gone through a door into the control building, where Arn was waiting for them.

“Terius is with Jance in the conference room,” Arn informed them.

“I ought to greet the scientists, right?” Park asked.

“Good idea,” Arn admitted. “Introduce them around and promise a Q&A session later.”

“I just promised the same to the press corps,” Park admitted.

“Me too,” Arn nodded. “When you have the scientists comfy, please join us in the small conference room.”

“The small one?” Park asked. “Aren’t we going to be a bit crowded in there?”

“It was Terius’ idea,” Arn replied. “Jance likes to have a large staff with him, but he does all the talking, so we’re only supplying a room that fits a dozen comfortably. Everyone we want will fit but he’ll only have five helpers.”

“It sounds a bit petty to me,” Park remarked.

“We’ll have a camera in there so he can have as many people watching in as he likes,” Arn replied.

“I’m sorry,” Park apologized. “I still don’t see the point. He annoyed you so you’re going to annoy him right back? Childish much?”

“A little,” Arn admitted. “I long ago came to the conclusion that politics and diplomacy have more than a bit of kindergarten to them. The kids who grab get more than the kids who are willing to share, at least when the teacher isn’t looking. Jance is a grabber and the teacher is having a second cup of coffee and a cigarette in the faculty lounge.”

“Nice metaphor,” Park chuckled, “but I wonder if the best way to deal with a grabber is to be an even bigger grabber. Still, that’s your decision to make. So who’s in the conference room with you and Terius?”