In the light of the day, he had tracked a herd of them to the top of a steep hill, using his camouflage to keep hidden while he watched them cavort in the snow.  Several of the larger ones looked especially dangerous; he decided to steer clear of them and focus his attention on the smaller specimens.  One or two of them had seemed hobbled, but they never left the protective influence of the group.

Now that it’s dark, he makes his way back up the trail leading to the hill.  It was well used which makes it easy for him to hide his tracks.  He settles into a position from which he can watch several dens.  He feels certain that one of the creatures he is hunting will make an appearance in the moonlight . . . alone.

He considers lighting his pipe as the hours proceed forward to lessen the boredom, but realizes that he hasn’t got a light.  Besides, the glow of his corn-cob pipe could give his position away to his prey.

Finally, he sees movement out of the corner of his small, coal dark eyes.  The hunt is afoot.  The creature he sees is small, but moves with a confidence that would soon betray it.  The hunter follows at a safe distance, grateful for the snowy ground that muffles his approach.

The prey is oblivious to the cold-hearted killer that stalks him in the dark.  The waning moonlight gives just enough light to cast a contrast between the black of the hunters silk hat and the white of his face that would chill the prey’s blood as cold as the hunters if he saw him. 

Suddenly, the prey hears a noise and stops walking.  He turns slowly toward the hunter but does not see him.  The hunter has learned that this type of prey does cannot see him if he stands completely still.  But he questions the doctrine in his mind as the prey seems to look directly at him.  Time is frozen as they look deep into one another’s eyes.  But it is an illusion, the prey turns back to his charted course as if not seeing the hunter at all.

The diminutive prey stops at the top of the hill as if to consider its steepness.  The hunter knows that his time is now as his ice-cold heart beats within his chest.  Thumpity thump thump, thumpity thump thump.  He puts his hand to his bosom and pulls out several round projectiles.  He lets loose in a fusillade of snowballs, pleased to see the wide round eyes of the snow-clothes bundled child regarding his attacker.

The attack finishes as quickly as it starts with the child lying in a pile of snow.  A laugh escapes from the depths of Frosty the hunter’s snowy middle as he hurries on his way.  “I’ll be back again someday,” he yells as he escapes over the hills of snow.

There are two solutions to this conundrum: (1) use Earth units and hope
no one notices or cares or (2) invent your own units and confuse
everyone (including yourself).

(1) This seems to be the most common among popular science fiction fare.
Perhaps there’s something to the correlation between ignoring units and
popularity.  We science fiction fans love to think, but not that much.
On a show like Star Trek where different aliens are introduced each week
it would become awfully difficult to provide each with their own units
of measurement.  And that is something that becomes more and more
unwieldy when you start examining what is required to invent your own
units of measurement.  Here are some good arguments for ignoring reality
for the sake of convenience:

(a) Writers know that the audience is suspending their disbelief
anyway.  Most fans of the work are not going to notice that Joe Alien
keeps referring to things in terms of hours or meters.

(b) Besides, most of the time the alien is speaking English anyway.  Must be that the person doing the translating (or the universal translator as used in Star Trek) is converting the units too.

(2) Inventing your own units can be fun if not confusing for the imbiber of your fiction.  There are two ways to go about this:

(a) Just make up a funny word and have your characters use it without ever explaining its significance.  For example, Battlestar Gallactica characters talking about centons and yahrens and such.

(b) Invent your own units and tie it to whatever you  like.  You could build your base unit of time around some quirk of the alien planet’s rotation.  Really there’s not much difference between making up your own system and just making up new terms because in most cases the reader/watcher can’t tell the difference.

As an example I’ll relate a anecdote about a recent story I wrote.  I thought it would be neat to have my new civilization measure distances based on light years.  As you know, a light year is the distance light travels in a year.  As you also know, light travels very quickly, so to measure a smaller distance you have to use prefixes such as “femto” or “nano”.  So I went merrily along using my nifty “femto” terminology.  Then I realized that I had been applying my new term all wrong.  Our idea of a light year is based upon the length of an Earth year.  If you were to measure light years using the length of a year on another planet, you would get a totally different distance!

This becomes even more unwieldy when you do something rash like making the aliens use an octal rather than a decimal system.  Talk about confusing yourself.  (Of course there was the added benefit of having an excuse to make a cool spreadsheet.)  In my story, I have the main human character learn the language of the alien civilization.  This seemed like a rather elegant solution on the surface because then I could write the story in English with the  reader understanding that the conversations were actually taking place in the other language.  But there was a snag.  When they needed to talk about distances and time, it seemed unlikely that my human was going to be able to make the conversions in his mind fast enough for normal conversation.  My solution: he couldn’t.  He did some of the easier calculations in his head, but there are times where there is a barrier of understanding where he admits that he can’t translate the units and goes about trying to explain it another way.  In other words, I am not expecting my character to do anything that I as a writer am not able to do.  Now I can pull up Excel and figure it out, but my character doesn’t have that luxury.

(c) I suppose that you could find a universal constant to base your measurements around.  That would make conversion between the two systems easier.  For example, you could use the Planck length as your base unit.  The Planck length is theorized to be the shortest possible distance and is arrived at using the speed of light in a vacuum, the gravitational constant and the Planck’s constant (this has to do with sizes of energy quanta in quantum mechanics).  The problem with this is that the Planck length is so incredibly small as to make its use as a basic unit cumbersome.  To get an idea of how small a Planck length is imagine a decimal point with 35 zeros behind it before you get to a non-zero real number.  Now, you could talk about yotta-Planck lengths but that would still leave you with 11 zeros behind your decimal to contend with.  Now you are back where you started from with (b); you have to make up prefix names to get the distance into a workable range.

The point of all of this is to keep it simple and not let details like this distract from the story.  If you must figure it all out, keep it to yourself and maybe someone will publish your spreadsheet posthumously like Tolkien’s son did with his Lord of the Rings mythos.  It will be interesting to nerds, but not required for the enjoyment of the main work.

One: The Colony Two Transit

Two: First Contact with Behemoth

Three: Vontae Is Discovered

Four: Second First Contact of the Day

Four.5: Scattering of the Fleet

Five: A History of the Ascendancy of Tau Ceti

Six: Vontae the Diplomat

Seven: Space Elevator Transit to the Surface

Eight: Carmot Assists the Investigature

Nine: Vontae Eavesdrops on his Captors

Ten: Apamot Is Interviewed

Eleven: Apamot’s Story

Twelve: Time for Plan B

Thirteen: Escape Attempt

Fourteen: Alone on an Unfamiliar Planet

Fifteen: Refuge and Resolve

Sixteen: Point of Origin and What May Lie Ahead

Seventeen: Important Decision

Eighteen: Evidence and Commission

Nineteen: Conference with the Chief of the Investigature

Twenty: Clandestine Collaborators

Twenty One: Counterplan

Twenty Two: Defusing an Explosive Situation

Twenty Three: Operation Ascendant

Twenty Four: Crime Scene

Twenty Five: Interview with the Ascendant

Twenty Six: Reunited

Twenty Seven: Mission Objectives

Twenty Eight: Casualty!

Twenty Nine: Conference Calls

Thirty: Negotiations with Captain Koeh

Thirty One: Mission to Earth

Dear sir,

I really do like your shampoo, and I swear I would use it even if you didn’t force me to every day. The fragrance of the stuff is somewhat nice, but I think I would prefer maybe a clover scented variety.  Oh, and definitely I like the tear-free children’s shampoo the best; it doesn’t burn my eyes like the fancy stuff.  What do you  put in there, ammonium laurel sulfate or something?  My little joke, you see I realize that it’s there to act as a surfactant, but c’mon, every one knows that ammonium is nasty stuff and who like the smell of sulfur?  I think maybe my ex-neighbor might, he always smelled a little skunky.  Again, I joke, your shampoo is very nice smelling.

Sincerely, Peter

January 30th, 2014

Dear sir,

I’m writing again because this new shampoo you have me using is making me itch all over.  Also, the guy in the cell next to me is driving me up the wall.  He slurps on his water bottle constantly when he’s home and he keeps flipping things through the bars at me.  I want to believe it is breakfast cereal, but the way he glares at me I am beginning to doubt that his intentions are honorable.

Requesting room change, Peter

January 31st, 2014

Dear sir,

I think the night janitor has lost his mind.  Last night after I wrote my letter, I saw him stalking up and down the cell block and staring into each of our rooms.  He now has this really disturbed look in his eyes and he has started muttering to himself.  A lot of it sounds  like the rantings of someone with acute paranoia.  Uh, oh.  I hear him coming, I better hit send on this email and get back in my cage before he sees me.  I don’t feel safe around him.

Peter

February 3rd, 2014

Dear sir,

I sure hope this clinical trial is over with soon, my wife and our sixteen children are probably wondering where I’ve been these couple weeks.  I would email them, but we don’t have a computer where we live.  If you could forward a message on to them, it would be greatly appreciated.  Tell them that I am well and that I have been taken care of pretty well.  Not only do I feel cleaner than I ever have before, I also feel much smarter.  I doubt it’s because of the food you feed us.  Although it does seem pretty much like science fiction eating my food in pellets like that.  It sure tastes bland.  I think it is the shampoo; you could advertise it as good for the brain, too.  I like the new janitor you got, by the way.  He mostly just sleeps in the chair after sweeping once through the room.  I don’t think he reads our mail like the other one did either.

Good night, Peter

February 15th, 2014

Dear sir,

I’m afraid this is goodbye.  We have all enjoyed our time here, but me and my mates have realized that you intend to keep us here a lot longer than we would like to be here.  It is ironic that the same shampoo you keep forcing on us has given us the intelligence to see through your little scam and be able to formulate an escape plan.  We just can’t stay here and wait for a day we all fear may never come.  I’ve gotten to know the fella in the cage next to me and he is a really nice guy once you get to know him.  His name is Thumper and his wife is expecting a litter of eighteen bunnies if you can believe it.  Well, it’s time for us to hop on our of here and return to our warrens.  I hope you don’t find us rude leaving like this but it was the only alternative.  And I wouldn’t touch the box of cocoa puffs in the pantry; Floppy is quite the practical joker and you may find crottels mixed in with the cereal.

Later, doc

Peter Cottontail

He was standing at the communications dais on the bridge with Carmot and Kalpoc next to him.  It was time to contact the Space Complex in orbit around the Earth.  He decided to try the channel Colony Two had been assigned to communicate with.

“Attention Colony Two control, this is Mission Specialist Vontae Abasi from the Colony Two ship Battuta.  I am in orbit around Earth, you will be able to detect the vessel I am in at five thousand miles above equatorial Africa.  Colony Two has made contact with an extra-terrestrial civilization.  Do you copy?” Vontae broadcasted.

“Is this some kind of a joke?” a voice from the station asked.  “What are you doing on a military frequency?”

There was the sound of muffled background voices and then a new voice came on the line.  “This is Major Thomas of Colony Two control.  We are detecting your position.  Repeat again your name and authorization number.”

Vontae looked at Carmot and smiled.  “Good to hear your voice Major, I have been gone quite a long time.  This is Mission Specialist Vontae Abasi.  I am one of two activated duty officers assigned to the Battuta of Colony Two.  My authorization code is zulu zulu whiskey hotel.

“We ran into some issues that have compromised our ability to complete our transit to Alpha Centauri.  But then we came across a vessel from the Tau Ceti star system.  They have offered to help us.  They are hoping to be able to meet with the leadership of Earth and establish diplomatic relations with us.”

The Major’s voice sounded a little weak, “Colony Two’s position is over two light years from here.”

“Yes sir,” Vontae responded.  “The Tau Cetians have technology that allows them to travel faster than light.  It took just thirty-six hours to get here from our fleet’s position.”

Vontae heard the Major’s voice talking to someone off mic.  “Do we have a launch bay open where this Abasi character can dock?”  The response given to the Major was unintelligible over the communication system.

“Mr. Abasi, are you familiar with the layout of the space complex?”

“Yes, sir.”

“We have launch bay delta open, from the looks of the vessel you are on, I doubt you’d fit in the launch bay.  Do you have access to a smaller craft?” the Major sounded like he was winging it.

“Yes, sir, I have,” Vontae said. “We will dock at launch bay delta with your permission.  Prepare to accommodate a party of four.”

“Acknowledged.”

Vontae headed for the expeditionary craft with Carmot and Kalpoc in tow.  Apamot met them at the launch bay, having been paged by Carmot as they left the bridge.

Launch bay delta was relatively easy for Vontae to find.  In the years leading up to his volunteering for Colony Two he had done several tours of duty there.  The expeditionary ship fit easily through the doors.

When the launch bay was repressurized, Vontae and his companions were met by the Major and a couple of Marines armed with what looked like energy weapons.  The major looked somewhat stunned by his reaction to the three aliens that stood before him.   His eyes were drawn to the large mass of quills that covered the aliens’ heads.

Vontae greeted the Major with a salute.  “Sir, I would like to introduce you to ambassador’s Carmot, Apamot and Kalpoc.”

To the Tau Cetians, Vontae said, “This is Major Thomas, the man in charge of our Colony Two mission.  These are military men who are here because Major Thomas doesn’t want to leave anything to chance.”

“Pleased to meet you,” the Major said holding his hand out and then having second thoughts when he saw the stiff quills on the back of his guests’ hands.  He pulled his hand back with uncertainty.  Vontae held his hand out to the major and shook hands with him.  Carmot and his group did the same and were rewarded with the Major shaking hands with them as well.  Vontae translated his greeting to them.

“I’m impressed that you speak their language, Mr. Abasi.  I assumed you had only recently met these, eh, beings,” the Major commented.

“I actually have spent a great deal of time among them,” Vontae explained.  “I have even visited their world and met their leader, which is called as close as I can translate it as the Ascendant.  They are eager to establish relations with Earth and would like to agree to an exchange of ambassadors.”

“I’ll see what I can do about getting the general assembly to call an emergency conference.  There has been quite a bit of infighting among the nations.  France has been threatening to boycott the United Nations.  A lot has changed since you left, I think this will be a welcome distraction to our other problems,” the Major said.  “Now tell me about your problems.”

“We encountered a hostile species we are calling the Eridelthans.  We attempted to make contact with them, but they practically destroyed the maint ship I was in and meant to scatter the rest of the fleet.  I became separated from the fleet and a Tau Cetian ship found me.  They took me to their home world as an ambassador for the people of Earth.  While there, I got caught up in a terrorist operation to kill their Ascendant.  I assisted their government in thwarting the attempt and the Ascendant insists that he owes me a favor.

“That’s where the Tau Cetians offer comes into play,” Vontae said.

“What kind of offer did they make you?” the Major asked.

“Well, the maneuvers that Captain Koeh had to make to protect the fleet from the Eridelthan attack used up all of our fuel reserves and then mechanical problems with the engines of the Drake have made our reaching Alpha Centauri an uncertainty at best.

“The Tau Cetians are offering to use their ships and their faster than light technology to ferry us to a moon in one of their star systems for us to settle on until Alpha Centauri is ready to accommodate us.  You see, the Tau Cetians can get us there in a few weeks.  The planetoid they are offering us was developed as a reserve colony and is completely set up with the infrastructure we would need.

“If we decide to stay, they will let us.  And they would give us full autonomy to rule ourselves while making a situation conducive to providing technology with us in trade.”

“Sounds like quite a proposal,” the Major said.  “Colony Three is almost ready to embark to Alpha Centauri.  They are scheduled to leave in a couple months.  It would be greatly beneficial if we could use the Tau Cetians technology to get them there faster.  You know what, I am ready to sign an order authorizing you to take them up on their offer.”

Vontae was surprised that the Major signed on so quickly and was even more surprised when Kalpoc spoke up.  “Major,” he said in Human Common, “I have studied your language for seven days.  I cannot understand all Vontae told you.  From what I hear, he told you our offer.  I wish to speak to the leaders of your world.”

“We’ll get that arranged, ambassador,” the Major said.  “I’ll be back in a moment.  Marines, you can stand down.”  The Major and the Marine contingent departed leaving Vontae alone with the Tau Cetians.

“I didn’t know you were studying my language, Kalpoc,” Vontae said.

“Yes,” Kalpoc said.  “I wish to stay on Earth as my people’s ambassador.”

Vontae, Carmot and Apamot were all shocked at this revelation, although Apamot seemed to look a bit relieved.  Carmot noticed his wife’s reaction and said after a brief moment, “You may have the position.  Your experience far outweighs mine.  I think you’ll do a fine job of it.”

“Thank you, Carmot,” Kalpoc said.  “I have been studying the Human language during our transit to their fleet and here to Earth.  I have prepared a speech for the Human leaders that I have memorized in their language.”

“I look forward to hearing it,” Vontae said.

The Major returned and guided the delegation to the observation room where refreshments were brought for them.  The Major informed them that an emergency session of the nations had been called for the following morning in which Ambassador Kalpoc would be able to address them.

Until then, quarters were being prepared aboard the space complex for the delegation to relax in until the following day.

<<Thirty One

Suah led her to the conference room where Vontae and Amir and their guests were waiting.  Carmot and the other Tau Cetians were surprised when they saw the paleness of Koeh’s skin, the straightness of her hair and the different shape of her eyes.  The three Humans they had met thus far had all had dark shades of skin that fell within the range normal for Tau Cetians.  There was a general whispering of quills as the Tau Cetians absorbed Koeh’s appearance.  It was Carmot who asked the question of Vontae.  “Do all females of your species appear this different from the males?”

Vontae laughed.  “She’s no different from me than you are from Apamot.”

“But she is so pale…” Carmot said.

Vontae laughed again, harder.  “The variations in color and hair type and facial features in our people is no different than the superficial differences between Tau Cetians and Sadirans.”

Kalpoc appeared agitated, “Are you saying that your people have settled other worlds already, that there are more colonies than Alpha Centauri?”

“No, no, that’s not it.  These variations are all natural to Earth,” Vontae explained.

“Is there a problem?” asked Koeh.

“No,” Vontae responded.  “They just had a question about race.  They had only seen Africans up until now.”

“Alright, shall we begin?”  Koeh asked.

Vontae turned to Kalpoc and told him they were ready to start.

“I have reported the situation of your fleet to our Ascendant and he has given me authorization to offer you assistance,” Kalpoc said with Vontae translating.  “We are prepared to offer you a moon within the Sadira system to colonize.”

Vontae did not expect the kind of offer Kalpoc was conveying.  He responded to him in Ascendancy Standard before translating the offer to Koeh.  “The Ascendant wants us to settle in the Sadira system?”

“I believe it could benefit your species greatly to settle among us,” Kalpoc said.  “The technology we could share with you would move your species ahead many, many years.  The Ascendant promises full sovereignty for your people.  In addition, the infrastructure is already in place.  Is this an offer your Captain will entertain?”

“I don’t think it’s up to her,” Vontae said.  “That sounds like something that would be up to all of the colonists to decide for themselves.  The offer is very generous, but with most of our people in stasis, I don’t know how we can choose for them.”

Koeh was starting to get impatient.  “What’s wrong, is there a problem?”

“They are offering for us to colonize a planet in the Sadira system that already has all of the infrastructure in place.  They are also offering to share their technology with us,” Vontae told her.

“They want us to be part of their empire?  What will stop them from conquering Alpha Centauri and then Earth?” Koeh asked.

“You don’t understand,” Vontae told her.  “They are offering full autonomy.  I’ve talked personally with their leader and I assure you he means every word.”  Vontae turned to Kalpoc and addressed him in Ascendancy Standard, “Is the Ascendant offering us transportation?”

“Yes, the Ascendant has offered the services of our freighter fleet to transport your people to the Sadiran moon,” Kalpoc told him.

Vontae turned to Koeh again, “They are offering to transport us to the colony world.”

“How far away is it?” she asked.

“The Tau Cetians have technology that allows them to travel at two hundred times the speed of light.  Sadira is about ten or eleven light years from here,” Vontae said.

Koeh was nodding.  “That does sound like quite an offer.  What’s in it for them?”

“Captain, from what I’ve learned of these people,” Vontae said, “they are very friendly toward other civilizations.  They value the differences that other cultures can teach them.”

“Vontae, if I may interrupt, I’ve been thinking about the dilemma you have with your people not being able to make the choice while in stasis.  How long would it take for your people to reach your original destination from here?” Kalpoc asked.

“It would take twenty of our years,” Vontae told him.

“Perhaps if your people came to the colony we are offering and stay for twenty of your Earth years, they will be able to make a more informed decision as to whether or not you want to stay there or move on to join your other colony,” Kalpoc said.  “I’m sure your people are industrious enough to be able to purchase transportation to your originally planned colony planet within twenty years.  Also, think of the trading opportunities you will be able to provide for your home system.”

Vontae turned to Koeh,  “I brought up the fact that we would need to leave the decision as to where we settle up to the colonists.  He offered a compromise.  We can accept their offer and stay for twenty years at their settlement.  If at the end of twenty years, our people would have the choice to travel to Alpha Centauri or stay where we are.”

“Aren’t there already Tau Cetian settlers there, wouldn’t that lead to conflict?” Koeh asked.

Vontae relayed the question to Kalpoc who told him what he knew of it.

“It has not been settled by their people,” Vontae told Koeh.  “It was put together as an overflow area meant for expansion.  Their leader offers the entire planetoid to us.”

“Hmm,” Koeh said.  “I don’t feel that I have the authority to make this decision.  We will need to consult with Earth.”

“I am planning to accompany the delegation to Earth myself,” Vontae said.  “I can present the offer to Earth and get their input.  Really, it is a matter for the colony leadership to decide.  We are no longer beholden to Earth.”

“We will definitely need all of the information we can get before we make a decision,” Koeh said.

Vontae relayed the request to Kalpoc and then the response back to Koeh.  “They will provide the information for us to review during our trip to Earth.”

“How long do you expect the trip to take?” Koeh asked.

“It will take about a day to get there, a couple days of meetings, and then a day back,” Vontae said.

“The offer has my vote of approval pending on the information they can provide for our new temporary home,” Koeh said.  “Now I have work to do.  See that you have the information beamed to the Zheng He when you receive it.”

“That I will do, Captain,” Vontae said.  “Thank you for your candor and your time.”

Captain Koeh bowed solemnly from the waist, or at least as well as she could in zero gees and then left the room to return to the launch bay where her maint ship would take her back to the Zheng He.

Kalpoc addressed Vontae after the Captain had left.  “I have those schematics for the colony moon available in the expeditionary craft.  It contains information on the flora and fauna of the world along with atmospheric conditions and composition as well as structures and utilities that are already in place.  I will let you examine the data first before you send it on to your leader.

“How did she receive the offer?” Kalpoc asked.

“She approves,” Vontae said.  “Of course she is worried a bit about making a decision that would affect so many people alone and suggested polling the Earth leaders about such an idea, but I think she will decide affirmatively.”

“Do your Earth leaders still have that much of a sway in the actions of your colony?” Carmot asked.

“There are those among the officer corps of the colony who still lean on the advise of Earth, but more of us realize that asking a question that cannot be answered for four years makes us very independent,” Vontae said.  “I don’t think there is anything left to do but transmit that information and then get on our way to Earth.”

Apamot spoke up for the first time since she had come aboard the Battuta.  “Are you excited to see your world again?”

Vontae hesitated.  He had not let that thought carry itself away to its conclusion as yet.  “Well, I suppose I am.  It is always nice to go back to your roots, but it has only seemed like a few months since I’ve been gone seeing that I spent a great majority of my travel time in stasis, but it’s been fifteen years for the people I left behind there.  I didn’t leave many behind, but there are a few friends I thought to never see again.

“It will be strange to see them aged fifteen years to my quarter year, but I think I’m looking forward to it.”

<<Thirty                                                                                             Thirty Two>>

Amir met them wide eyed at the door and realized he was totally unprepared for an event of this magnitude.  His palms suddenly were sweating and he found himself unconsciously rubbing his hands on his pants.  His eyes were first drawn to the quills.  They made him think of pictures he had seen of rock music stars from a hundred and fifty years ago.  Next his attention came to the fact that two of them were bare-chested and ripped.  He had a random thought that if his physique were as picturesque as theirs he would probably go sans shirt as well.  The third one wore a vest and was obviously the female of the species.

“Amir, this is Carmot, Apamot and Kalpoc,” Vontae gestured toward each of the aliens in turn.  He then switched to Ascendancy and said to the Tau Cetians, “This is my good friend, Amir.”

“Wow, you speak their language?” Amir showed his surprise.

“Have you been able to get someone from each duty shift to participate in the conference call.  I’ve got seven of them with Captain Koeh planning to join us in a moment,” Amir reported.  “What have you been doing this whole time?  What was their planet like?”

“Hold on,” Vontae said holding both hands up in a surrendering motion. “I know you’ve got lots of questions and they will all be answered eventually.  For now I can tell you that Carmot is a diplomat for his people; it was his ship that picked me up.  He took me to his planet where I met their leader.  I also had a hand in saving his life so he is very grateful to me.  That’s all I can tell you right now.”

Vontae turned to Carmot and spoke Ascendancy Standard to him.  “Amir tells me that seven of the eleven other ships will join us via teleconference in the conference room.  The leader of Colony Two at the moment is Captain Koeh, she will join the conference later.  She is busy with the casualty.”

“Alright, let’s get started,” Carmot said.  “Lead the way.”

It was obvious that Carmot and his associates were not accustomed to zero gees by the awkwardness by which they followed the two Humans to the conference room.  When they arrived, Amir went to the conference control panel and made sure that each ship’s duty officer that had planned to attend was connected.  The video feed was activated so that each participating duty officer could see the delegation gathered in the Battuta conference room.

Carmot began speaking in Ascendancy Standard, pausing every so often for Vontae to translate.  “I am Carmot representing the Ascendancy, which is comprised of the Tau Ceti, Sadira and Keid systems in addition to many uninhabited star systems.  These are my associates representing the interests of Tau Ceti and Sadira.”

Each of the duty officers from each colony ship took a moment to introduce themselves with Vontae translating.  After the introductions were concluded, Carmot started in on his speech.  “We are pleased to be able to meet with representatives of your people and propose that our two peoples enter into an agreement of peace.  Also, in light of the troubles your people have been having that we have just come aware of, we would like to offer any assistance that we can for the safety and well-being of your people.”

“This is Jason Fedder from the Armstrong,” one of the duty officers said with Vontae translating.  “If I may speak for the others, I would like to express our pleasure and such meeting representatives from your people.  We just about lost our lives when an Eridelthan ship tried to scatter us. We used up almost all of our fuel reserves preserving our fleet and since then we have had multiple mechanical problems that have left us with half of the fleet either out of fuel, structurally unsound or mechanically unable.  I want to say it’s fate that brought us together.”

Carmot rustled his quills a little bit with the expression of fate that he and Vontae had discussed earlier.  “We do have capable engineers on our ship that could lend a hand with your repairs, however they are not familiar with your technology.  Likewise, we most assuredly do not anything in the way of fuel that we can provide since our propulsion technologies are different.”

“Sounds like you’re not much help at all,” Jason said.

“What I can offer you is the services of our freighter fleet.  I will have to clear it with my superiors.”  While Vontae translated that statement, Carmot whispered his quills to Kalpoc who gave a response in kind.  “Your ships could dock with our freighters and be transported safely at faster than light speed to your destination.  You would get there much faster and without the worry your mechanical failures and unscheduled maneuvers have left you with.”

There was silence on the line as each duty officer contemplated Vontae’s translation of the diplomat’s offer.  Jason, who had taken upon himself speaker role, responded.  “We are grateful for the offer and quite frankly it was not a possibility I had ever considered.  The only problem I see is that if we arrive earlier to Alpha Centauri than planned, the infrastructure would not be in place to accommodate us.  I guess perhaps we can keep our people in stasis until the infrastructure is ready, but there we are.”

Amir decided to insert his two cents since he was technically the duty officer representing Battuta in this conference.  “I’m supposing if you have the ability to travel faster than light, you also have the ability to communicate faster than light.  Is that so?”

“Yes,” Carmot responded through Vontae’s interpretation.  “We can communicate with our own world at near instantaneous speeds.  However, I am sure that your planet does not have the necessary technology to communicate with us.”

Vontae translated the statement and then added his own input on the end before translating his statement to Carmot, “We are planning to make a first contact visit to Earth personally.  We can have our governments there make the decision.”

“We should at least consult with Captain Koeh before any kind of decision is made,” Amir said.

“We can adjourn until then,” Carmot allowed.  With that the conference took a recess.

While they waited for Captain Koeh to pull herself away from the repairs to the Drake, Vontae gave Carmot and Apamot a tour of the ship.  Meanwhile, Kalpoc took the expedition craft back to the Dor Panak to consult with Tarshon on Tau Ceti.

“The Human fleet is in bad shape,” Kalpoc told Tarshon over non-relativistic communications.   “They have many mechanical issues and not enough fuel to complete their planned mission to supplement their colonies.  In light of the Ascendant’s offer to the Human ambassador, we have suggested that we may be able to ferry them to their colony with Ascendancy freight ships.  The question I have is whether we can offer our ships for them to use to complete their mission.  Their main concern would be not having the proper infrastructure to receive them if they arrive ahead of schedule.  We are waiting for the leader of the colony to be able to meet with us; I was hoping to be able to bring a concrete offer of assistance back to her.”

“I see,” Tarshon responded.  “I cannot of my own authority commit our resources such, especially in light of all of the projects that are going on and the shortages of manpower the Interior Ministry is always complaining about.  Let me get a hold of the Ascendant while I have you, and obtain his authorization.”

Moments later the Ascendant’s voice came on.  “Hello Tarshon, we understand the Human fleet is having some issues.  What is going on?”

“Ascendant, I have Kalpoc on long range from the Dor Panak.  He can discuss their issues with you,” Tarshon said.

“Grettings Ascendant,” Kalpoc said.  “We have been in conference with representatives of the Human colony fleet of which Vontae is a part.  Their encounter with the Dantu ship has left them low on fuel.  As I understand it, the colony uses this fuel to launch on a vector toward their destination and then to slow their ships once they arrive.

“Numerous structural and mechanical problems have exasperated their situation so that it has become a dire problem.  They do not expect to be able to complete their journey.

“A suggestion was put forth by our diplomatic team that we may be able to assist them with our freighter fleet.  The majority of the colonists are in stasis for the transit and could be transported without much difficulty.

“The humans were surprised by our offer, but raised a concern about infrastructure on their colony world not being ready if they were to arrive eights of years early,” Kalpoc finished.

Tarshon addressed the Ascendant.  “The Diplomatic Service requests authorization to provide freighter services to assist the Humans.”

“The Ascendant has been duly impressed with the Human Vontae and would like to help his people in any way we can.  You may be aware that we have many infrastructure and construction needs at the moment that would make it difficult to give up even part of the freighter fleet.

“We understand how important infrastructure can be to a newly forming colony.  That is one of the reasons why we have so many construction and infrastructure projects happening right now. We prefer to prepare the things our people need before they need them.

“For example, there is a moon in the Sadira system that has undergone extensive terraforming and infrastructure work.  It is ready to accept a colony despite there being no colony organized as yet to inhabit the settlements there.

“The Ascendancy has many projects happening at the present time; however employment quotas are just not being met, especially in the Sadira system.  Now that our work in Keid is increasing, we need more manpower than ever.

“We’ve said that the freighter fleet is too important for us to divert some of them to ferry the Human’s to their colony world.  There is no profit for us to do so.  However, we desire the Human’s to be close allies with us.  The freighters may be diverted, but only if it is to further the work the Ascendancy is interested in.

“Kalpoc, you are authorized to make this offer to the Human colonists: They may take possession of our settlement on the Sadiran moon of which I spoke.  They will be given all of the rights and privileges of Ascendancy citizens and will be granted full sovereignty over their own affairs.  If they will agree to settle among us, we will divert as many freight ships as needed to ferry the Human fleet to their new home.  This is the offer you are authorized to make.”

With that , the Ascendant signed off.  “There is your authorization, Kalpoc,” Tarshon said and also signed off.

Kalpoc stood in silence and thought about the offer he had received from the Ascendant.  It made perfect sense to the Ascendant and Kalpoc could be persuaded to the logic of the thing.  Everything in the offer looked as if it was meant to benefit the Human’s alone.  Kalpoc knew better that is would be a mutually beneficial arrangement.  The Ascendant’s point about the workforce need was not an exaggeration.  With such an influx of people into the Ascendancy, whether sovereign or not, would naturally increase the size of the work force.  It was a brilliant plan, but would the Humans go for it?

<<Twenty Nine                                                                            Thirty One>>

Looking back, I can say that has not always been the case this month.  Sure, I would tell people that I love the challenge because it got me writing more stream of consciousness stuff and got me away from self-editing as much as I usually do, but that was totally false.  I was planning out scenes and stressing over continuity and trying to come up with really cool ways to get ideas across and self-editing like crazy.

Now that I can see the end and know that I have more material than needed to finish on time, I am feeling a lot looser and I can tell myself to leave some of the things I don’t like alone because I can fix them in a few days when the word count pressure isn’t on.

The two things that are bothering me most about finishing the novel are both related to things that happened on Thanksgiving.  They are my right hand and my left hand and they are both painful to type with!  First, I injured my right thumb playing flag football with the guys Thanksgiving morning.  Then, I’ve made my left thumb sore playing Super Mario Brothers Wii the rest of the weekend.

Yeah, I know.  I could have avoided both problems and spent the time writing my novel instead, but that is the point!  I discovered that I can write and have a life at the same time.  It was a sweet discovery and even if my efforts this month don’t turn into a published novel, I have proven to myself that I can write a novel length story.  And if I bring nothing else away from this experience, I count it a success.

The fuel was needed in order to slow the fleet down enough to enter orbit around the Alpha Centauri planet.  If they hit the atmosphere too fast, they would either burn up or bounce right off the atmosphere.  One of the things Koeh had been talking about was using the gas giant in the Alpha Centauri system for aerobraking to conserve fuel.  All they would need to do it adjust their course slightly in order to pass through the atmosphere of the gas giant.  If they did it right, it would lower their velocity enough that they could use their remaining fuel to complete their descent to the planet.

Her idea was sound and would have worked if not for the problems they had found aboard the Armstrong and the Fadlan.  They found microfractures in some of the hull strutting.  Normally it would not have been a big deal, but the stresses the hulls would see doing an aerobraking maneuver could lead to failure.

Amir had been spending almost every waking moment rerunning the calculations, taking into account different attack angles, different lengths of burn before and after the aerobraking, anything to bring the stress on the hulls down to within a margin of safety everyone would be able to live with.  He had even considered shuttling some extra fuel to the Armstrong and Fadlan so that they might be able to slow sufficiently without the risky aerobraking procedure.

The more he thought about stasis, the harder he pushed himself doing the calculations.  More and more the stasis pods were looking like coffins and he wasn’t eager to put his life in the hands of those scheduled to take his place on the duty shift while he waited in his coffin.  There was the chance that in the future mankind would be able to travel fast enough to catch up with what would be his funeral barge and recover him.  That is if the life support operated that long.  He almost envied his friend Vontae.  He did not have weeks to think about his demise or laying down in a stasis pod while the hatch was closed and drifting off to a sleep that he may never wake up from.

Suah entered the bridge where Amir was running through his latest simulation.  “You figure that thing out yet?”

Amir was not usually one to back down from a debate, but anything that distracted him from his calculations he was starting to hate.  “I still can’t find the proper parameters that will get us all there in one piece.”

“Ever consider there are no parameters that will get us all there?” Suah asked.

“I’ll leave those considerations to the next shift.  While I’m here I’m going to find a way for us to all make it.”

Suah pulled himself into the seat next to Amir.  “You usually have everything figured out don’t you.  You are the guy with all the answers.  Now you’re stuck on something that has no answers.  Sure you may discover a way to do it with just enough fuel, but then another propulsion cooler goes out and we have to make an unexpected maint-ship run to fix it.  Now you’re back to square one.”

Amir just shook his head without looking at him.

“Don’t just shake your head at me, you’ve got to be a realist here.  Look, we’ve already had three of those things go down in the past week.  Every time we have one of those unexpected maintenance items, our reserve gets lower,” Suah said.

“Are you just here to distract me with your pessimism?” Amir asked.

“It’s not pessimism, I’m trying to do you a favor,” Suah said.  “You have what? Three days until you go in the sleep tank?  I’m trying to get you to use your time wisely.  You’ve been cooped up in here for almost a week straight.”

Before Amir could respond, they both saw the comm board light up.  It was an all hands broadcast.  Suah reached over and toggled the speaker on.  “Attention! Casualty on the Drake.  Repeat, causalty on the Drake.  There is a cascade failure of the propulsion discharge manifold.  Amundsen and Tenzing launch maint-ships to assist. Koeh out.”

For the next several hours Amir and Suah listened to the updates.  They did not speak to one another, each lost in his own thoughts.  Even the calculations had been abandoned.  Amir was starting to see that at the rate they were going through the reserves, there would be no chance of all of them making it to their destination.

Eventually Amir dozed off.  He slept fitfully, but his dreams were vivid.  Every time he half awoke to hear the latest progress, he would fall asleep back into the same dream.  In the dream he was with Vontae.  They were in a canoe and they were towing what seemed to Amir to be tiny stasis pods.  They kept coming upon logs in the water and whenever Vontae would steer the canoe around them, they would turn into crocodiles and eat one of the stasis pods.  The logs would come closer and closer together so that the loss of stasis pods was increasing almost logarithmically.  But no matter how many were taken, the number didn’t really seem to diminish; there were always more than Amir could count.

Finally, in Amir’s dream, Vontae stood up in the nose of the canoe, put his two fingers in his mouth and whistled.  There was a sudden rustling as with reeds at the side of the river and suddenly the water ahead of them was filled with hippos.  They were snatching the logs up in their jaws and shattering them into kindling.  Soon the top of the water was floating with so many match-sized pieces that the hippos looked like fruits sitting in wicker baskets.  As the canoe they were riding in came even with the hippos, Amir realized that they actually were fruits.  Vontae reached out with his hand and snatched up a handful and grapes and offered them to Amir.

Then Amir awoke.  Suah was no longer on the bridge with him and he saw a blinking light on his console.  The light signified that someone was calling the Battuta directly.  At first he was thinking that Captain Koeh wanted his assistance in the casualty recovery, but then he remembered that they were missing their maint-ship.  Hey toggled the switch.  “Amir.”

“Amir, this is Vontae,” the voice said.

Amir was startled so much that he launched himself out of his chair in zero gees and hit his head on the overhead console.  He immediately thought that he must still be dreaming, but them realized his head wouldn’t hurt as much as it did if that were the case.  He checked his sensors and discovered something about two light seconds ahead of the Colony Two formation.  “Say again,” he said.

“Amir, It’s me.  I’m alive,” the voice said.  “I was rescued by people from the Tau Ceti star system.  I’m on their ship now.”

Amir yelled out in exultation. “I can’t believe it man, you’re alive!”

“Amir, I need you to get the duty officers in on a conference call.  I also…”

“Wait, now is not a very good time for that,” Amir cut him off.  “We’ve got a casualty situation on the Drake.  A third of the fleet is busy trying to get it resolved.”

“Wow, okay,” Vontae said.  “Well, I need to dock the Tau Cetian ship into the Battuta launch bay.  Can you arrange that?”

Before Amir could answer, Suah came onto the bridge.  “Everything all right?  I heard you yell.”

“I’ve got Vontae on the line, he was rescued by aliens from Tau Ceti,” Amir jumbled through the words.

“No kidding?  Hey Vontae, are you out there or has Amir finally cracked?” he said to the air.

“I’m here and I need to land in your launch bay, am I a go?” Vontae’s voice asked.

“You sure are,” Suah said.  “I’ll get the bay ready.”  With that he left the bridge and headed to the launch bay.

“Amir, I’ve got a few new friends I want you to meet.  I’ve been to their world and it’s amazing.  I can’t wait to fill you in on what I’ve been doing,” Vontae’ voice said.

It took a few moments for that to register with Amir.  “Wait, you’re telling me that I’ll be the second man to ever really meet an alien face to face?”  An idea started forming in Amir’s head that he was safe now.  The casualty on the Drake had seemed to all but seal their fate.  With the Drake’s engines inoperable and the reserve fuel of the fleet spent in trying to repair them, there was no way they were going to be able to make it to their destination.  Now with Vontae miraculously appearing with help, his worries had vanished.  It was as if a great, grinding weight was lifted off his soul and a dark cloth lifted from his mind.  All would be well.

<<Twenty Eight                                                                                Thirty>>

Watching the two of them talk like they had been lifelong friends was something new to her.  In her experience, it took a long time to establish friendships.  You couldn’t trust a stranger to respect your feelings.  The one time she had let someone into her circle of trust, she was hurt by him.  It was a defense mechanism to hold people at arms length and not let them get close enough to hurt her until they had earned her trust.  Even with Carmot it had taken years for her to completely open up to him about her inner feelings.  Even then, she had still not felt comfortable telling him details of her life on Sadira as a child.

Now, here was Carmot openly talking with an alien, no less, about very personal things; he was putting up no walls at all.  The worse thing about it was that she was starting to consider him a close friend as well.  She was still not comfortable enough to talk candidly with him like Carmot was, however.

The thing that was making her uneasy, she supposed, was the memories the impending space flight would drudge up.  The last time she had made such a flight she had been burdened with the feelings of betrayal that was brought on by Travinitec and his friend Sedenerec.  As she thought more about it, she realized that she wasn’t really that worried about meeting aliens, it was the trip itself.

At that moment, Carmot was trying to explain to Vontae about the music of their culture.  It seemed like a lively discussion.  Vontae was having a hard time understanding the subtleness of quill rattling in music.  It was amusing to watch with Carmot attempting the explanation and Vontae just not understanding it.  She found herself wishing that she could be part of the conversation, but didn’t feel comfortable jumping in.

Vontae laughed and Apamot found herself thinking back to the things that made Vontae different from Tau Cetians.  Maybe it wasn’t the things that you had in common that made you compatible as friends.  Maybe it was the differences that changed your perspectives and exercised your mind that drew people closer.

Finally the transport reached the station and it was time to disembark.  Vontae was assigned quarters and Carmot and Apamot took his regular quarters.  They were to get a good night’s sleep and meet early the next morning before the flight with Tarshon.  Apamot had a lot to think about before the morning came.

“You’ve decided what?” Tarshon said, his quills rippling along the top of his head as if they were only staying relaxed by an effort of self-control.  He was reacting to the initial statement Carmot had made to start the meeting.  Gathered with them in the conference room was Vontae, Apamot and Kalpoc and several of Tarshon’s aides.

“It was Vontae’s idea to have her come along and I thought it would be a good idea to have her as part of the envoy,” Carmot said.

“Yes, well,” Tarshon said looking at Vontae, “as a hero of the Ascendancy, I think Vontae should have some say as to who accompanies him in the envoy.  She can act as the representative of Sadira since she can claim part of her heritage from there and we haven’t had time for a Sadiran born diplomat to get here in time for the flight.  Apamot is authorized.

“Now to the rest of the business,” Tarshon continued.  “We have prepared the Dor Panak to accommodate the envoy.  It is a 400c ship, one of the fastest ships available.  It will retain its usual captain and crew.  The envoy will be led by Carmot and Vontae as joint leads.  I have assigned Kalpoc as consultant and Apamot will represent Sadiran interests.  The scheduled departure time will be directly after this meeting.

“Here are the objectives.  One, make contact with the Sol colony fleet.  To achieve this, we will need to establish a first contact protocol.  Suggestions?”

“I should act as interpreter,” Vontae said.

“Of course,” Tarshon agreed.  “What we need to consider is that the first contact the Humans had was with a hostile ship.  They may be extremely wary about their second contact.  Vontae, they are your people, what do you suggest?”

“When we encountered the Dantu ship, we had months to prepare because they were visible long before we were able to make contact.  From what I know of your ship’s technology, we would seem to them to appear out of nowhere if we came into relative space on top of them.

“I suggest that we drop out of non-relativistic space at a few light seconds away,” Vontae continued, “and communicate with them using my maint-ship’s comm gear.  If we initiate communications immediately after becoming visible to them, it should allay some of their apprehension.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Tarshon said.  He then addressed one of his aides, “See that the Earth ship is loaded into one of the Dor Panak’s cargo bays.  Inform their engineer to start getting familiar with the layout, but not to disassemble anything yet.  That can wait for the transit when we have time to consult the Sol delegate.  Dismissed.”

Tarshon turned back to those standing at the table and Vontae continued.  “Forgive me, I am not completely familiar with all your equipment.  I know you have small craft similar to my maint-ship, but what is the crew complement and how much bigger than my maint-ship are they?”

“That is a good question,” Tarshon said.  “Carmot, you know the relative size of Vontae’s ship.”

“The expedition craft will seat four,” Carmot said.  “They are slightly larger than Vontae’s ship, perhaps three eighth times bigger.  Would that be sufficient?”

“Yes,” Vontae answered.  “That’s perfect.  After we make contact with my people, we will approach closer and take an expedition craft into the Battuta’s launch bay.  She is the only ship that would have room since she is missing a maint-ship.  Then we will make contact with the Battuta duty officers first.  We have a conference room aboard her that we can make a conference call with the other ships’ duty officers.”

“Very good,” Tarshon said.  “Once we have a forum with the Sol officers, we will offer any assistance they require.  Carmot will serve as the voice for the Ascendancy with Vontae interpreting.

“Now the second objective,” Tarshon continued, “will be for us to establish official diplomatic ties with Sol.  I believe that will have to be accomplished by visiting Earth.  What kind of facilities does Earth have for receiving a delegation?”

Vontae found himself a little unprepared for the question.  He hadn’t really thought that far ahead, but it did make sense for that to be the next logical step.  Word of the contact with the fleet would take a couple years to reach Earth.  The Tau Cetian ship would only take a couple days to reach Earth, where first contact would occur there.  Knowing the mythology surrounding alien visitors that had built up on Earth over the proceeding couple of centuries starting with Roswell, New Mexico, Vontae suspected that the process should be interesting to say the least.

“We have no elevator as Tau Ceti does,” Vontae said.  “We do have a space complex in orbit around Earth that is manned with scientists mainly.  As you can imagine, we have no interstellar diplomatic structure.  My planet it divided into twelve independent states or regions, we would have to include the heads of state of all of them plus the moon, Mars and the Outer Belt.”

The Tau Cetians around the table appeared surprised.  All did except Carmot.  “Vontae told me of this, but I forgot to mention it in the report.  The twelve ships in his fleet represent the twelve nations of his planet.”  Carmot turned to Vontae.  “You see, it has been many eight squared years since our people have been as finely divided as yours.  Even before Sadira was settled.  Most species we have made contact with apart from the Dantu have united worlds.”

“Even as recently as two eight squared years ago we had three eight squared nations on Earth,” Vontae said.  “The fact that we only have twelve now would have seemed amazing then.  A one world government may be in our future, but we are not quite there yet.  The fact that the Ascendancy has several systems under its control is amazing.”

“How about this idea,” Tarshon said.  “We enter orbit of Earth and have Vontae contact his government.  I assume that one government can request representatives from all governments to participate in a conference call.”

“Yes, I believe that would be possible,” Vontae said.

“Alright,” Tarshon said.  “We will have your government contact the others and send our expedition craft to dock in your space station’s launch bay similar to how we handled it with the fleet.  Carmot takes the lead with Vontae acting as interpreter.”

“That sounds like it would work fine,” Vontae said.

“Objective three is to offer an exchange of ambassadors,” Tarshon said.  “That is something we will have to explore after we have made official contact with the governments of Earth.  I would offer the post to Carmot and Apamot if it came to that.  Is that something that you both will consider?”

Carmot looked to Apamot and said, “I am comfortable with it if Apamot feels comfortable with it.”

“I’m not sure yet; we’ll see,” Apamot said.

“Yes, we have time to figure it out.  Nothing has to be decided on that front yet,” Tarshon said.  “Is there anything else we should discuss before we start?  Remember, we will be communication throughout the mission.”  There were no additional items.  “Alright, board the Dor Panak.  When Vontae’s ship is finished being loaded aboard, the mission will commence.  Dismissed.”

<<Twenty Seven                                                                   Twenty Nine>>