Exploration (14 page)

"Interesting... is that why the hyperjump portal shimmers?"

"Negative. That is a little harmonic we added to the jump generator to safely bleed off the bow wake energies. They still come through but we bleed them across space-time to minimize their deleterious effects."

"'Deleterious effects' seems a little understated, don't you think?"

"True... WhimpPy-101 pretty much incinerated a Modos slaver when he reached the beta-verse terminus."

"So these modifications make it possible to safely travel back and forth between the alpha and beta-verse?"

The image of Cat flickered into view on the main view screen. She smiled. Jason's heart almost stopped. He started to raise his hand to touch her face but realized how silly it must look. He allowed his hand to fall back to his side.

"The bandwidth optimization routines have finished their work. We can now send a 2D video stream and some intermittent high density data packets." Cat raised her hand to touch the screen in front of her. Her smile deepened when she saw him again move his hand to the screen.

"I miss you," he said.

"And I miss you," she echoed. "In answer to your question we can now travel more safely between the universes with these tweaks, but given the size difference between a starship and the communication probe it will still be wiser for the fleet to stand off the terminus by several light minutes and simply monitor with heavily shielded FTL probes."

Jason lowered his hand. "Understood, Admiral. What are your orders?"

"For the moment I want the fleet to form a blockade. Don't let any Modos ships come or go without first establishing they are not carrying any of our people."

"And if they are inclined to resist? Are we authorized to insist?"

"Absolutely. Taking slaves is an act of war. I'd prefer to avoid fighting but it may come to that. There is a faction we are working with here that may be able to help us in that regard."  

Chapter Fourteen: Sins of the Father

The medical report from Dr. Lacidem sat on the field table next to Captain Running Stream. To say he was in a profound funk was an understatement. The report was damning. His people, the Modos, had apparently committed a crime far more heinous than simply enslaving the Suhtii. If the Doctor's report was accurat
e—
and Running Stream had every reason to believe it wa
s—
then his people had tampered with the very essence of the Suhtii people. The Bearephants of present day were docile giants of only moderate intelligence, perhaps 60 on the human's IQ scale. Based on the size of the skull and DNA evidence the doctor had accumulated, it appeared He-Who-Speaks's ancestors enjoyed an IQ of 130 or more.

In enslaving the Suhtii, the Modos had denied them far more than their freedom. With superior minds, Running Stream couldn't help but wonder what great literature, artwork, and music had also been lost. What became of the Suhtii culture? The need to know and if possible preserve what little of the Suhtii was left drove Running Stream. It was no longer enough to emancipate the Bearephants. With careful work well-meaning Modos could reverse the genetic damage done to the Suhtii but they could not replace the cultural artifacts that had been lost to time.  That would take a concerted effort to locate and preserve locations such as this one.

A slight human cough brought his attention into the here-and-now. Admiral Kimbridge was back from her visit to the WhimPy platform. It had appeared in orbit a day ago. Running Stream had no idea Cat's people had access to such technology. He was glad that it was the GCP and not the Modos Syndicate that had been the recipients of the Heshe legacy.

"How is our big friend up there?"

"101 is curious. His scanners are showing buried structures in numerous locations. He also sees ample evidence of war damage. But you knew this already," Cat said, with a compassionate hand on his shoulder.

Running Stream gestured towards the PDA on the field table that held Dr. Lacidem's report. "The good doctor confirmed our suspicions a few hours ago. It seems we are monsters."

Cat shook her head. "There is a book my people revere called the Bible. We believe the ultimate Creator of all things inspired the writers to record immutable wisdom in this book. One of the wisest men in the book, a man named Ezekiel, once said '
The son will not bear the punishment for the fathe
r’
s iniquity...
'"

"Would it surprise you to know I am familiar with this book?" the Modos captain said. "We too have a concept of the uncreated Creator. When I read your Bible I was struck by a passage out of Exodus that said '
The Creator will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.
'"

Cat smiled compassionately at her newest friend. "The ramifications of our mistakes live with us and our children... that is true. But the fault belongs to the father, not the son. There is a world of difference."

Running Stream stood. "The difference is this son will fix the sins of his father. You said your big friend up there in orbit has the locations of several more buried structures? We need to catalog and preserve as much of the Suhtii as we can. We can't restore all that was lost but we owe it to He-Who-Speaks and his progeny to save all that we can. We may also find something that will help us win this fight with the Syndicate."

***

Several hours later Commander Ken Kirkland stood on the bridge of the moon-size Heshe weapons platform known as WhimPy-101. The bridge was a design concession made for the benefit of organic passengers. In point of fact the AI that was WhimPy-101 was the only sentient being within thousands of light-years sophisticated enough to control the massive world-ship. 

Ken had moved his pinnace from the mouth of the Suhtii base on the moon below into one of the WhimPy's numerous shuttle bays. He, Ben, and Cat had then each piloted supply shuttles down to the surface. Now that the solar storm was abating it was once again safe to move about the surface. The mixed Modos/GCP team was now much better provisioned. Ken had returned to the WhimPy platform with Captain Running Stream at the request of the Admiral. They had some research to do.

With Ken and Captain Running Stream were several members of the
Bluefin's
crew, including a cartographer and a husband-wife team from the science department. The crew from the
Bluefin
was busy trying to catalog each suspected Suhtii complex buried under the surface of the planet below. The Modos captain wanted to start a systematic exploration of these sites just as soon as the scientists had prioritized them.

Ken looked at the massive forward viewscreen and pointed to a large cone-shaped structure built into the caldera of a long dead volcano. "That looks promising," he said to the Bearephant.

Running Stream extended his trunk to point at the base of the same structure. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that caldera looks like its sitting on top of a mountain, not a volcano."

"I agree," Ken said while stepping closer. "WhimPy, what's your assessment of this structure?"

"I've been curious about that one myself," 101 answered. "I launched three reconnaissance probes about an hour ago. They should be reaching the site in the next fifteen minutes. I agree with Captain Running Stream though. If I had to guess, I would say the structure was disguised to look like something it is not."

"Which begs the question..." Ken started.

"…
what are they working so hard to hide?" Running Stream finished.

***

     Captain Moondew of the Modos Slaver
Dark Water
was on his bridge as the ship approached the trans-universe terminus at the system the humans called SgA.  He had a hull full of prime slaves. The selling price would insure his family's fortunes for many seasons. Such was the nature of this new hunting ground. The indigenous populations were barely aware they were being harvested by the Modos Syndicate.   

He leaned back in his comfortable Slag-leather command chair. The six stations that fanned out in front of his seat were filled with members of his family. None were truly related to him but he viewed his crew AS family. He cared for them deeply. That care was a big part of his desire to see this cargo sell well in the next few weeks.

The bridge of the
Dark Water
was well lit. Each surface was pristine. The silvered glass consoles that stood in front of each station were free of smudges. His crew was meticulous about keeping his bridge spotless because they knew that was the way he liked it. He had been a fleet captain in the Modos space corps before retiring. The spit and polish was a hard habit to break.

Hushed conversations occurred between the various stations as his crew saw to the smooth running of the ship. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sound of his bridge.  His daydreaming, however, was interrupted by a sudden shout.   

"Captain! There seems to be some type of armada protecting the terminus." a young ensign said in alarm.

Moondew swore. Five minutes and he would have been free and clear with his cargo and crew.

"Tactical overlay on screen!" he yelled. "Let's see what we are facing."

His communication officer tapped his earpiece and signaled for his attention. "Sir, we have an incoming message."

"Helm, launch a message buoy into the terminu
s—
maximum acceleration. Include a complete set of logs and a standard military request for indigenous suppression."  Turning towards his communication officer, "Let's hear what they have to say."

The translated voice of Jason Ruck filled the Modos Bridge. "Attention Modos vessel. This is Captain Jason Ruck of the Galactic Coalition of Planets aboard the
GCP Yorktown
. We have reason to suspect your vessel is engaged in illegal activities. In accordance with our laws we demand that you heave to and prepare to be boarded!"

Captain Moondew leaned forward. "Captain Jason Ruck of the Galactic Coalition of Planets aboard the
GCP Yorktown
, I do not recognize your authority to interdict. We will not heave to."

He waved to the comm officer to cut the channel. "Helm, make ready to transit. Weapons officer, bring up shields. Let's see if these dogs have any bite."

***

Jason Ruck saw the message buoy enter a hyperfield conduit near SgA. He knew immediately that it would be trouble. Undoubtedly the Modos were reporting the blockade that his ships had established. What this would mean wouldn't really be known for another 22 plus hours, assuming the Modos didn't use a technique similar to Admiral Kimbridge's temporal shift. If they did then all bets were off.

Jason toggled fleet-wide comms. "
Defiance
, take up a position to guard against any additional message buoys. Blast them to pieces before they can transit."

"Roger that
Yorktown
. Going weapons hot." The
Defiance
was one of several heavily shielded pinnaces that were designed to take a beating and keep flying. It was perfectly suited to intercept small probes and the like.

"Sir, they are moving towards the event horizon."

"Mr. Martinescu, please let them know in no uncertain terms that this is unacceptable."

"Aye Captain," Lt. Commander Andrew Martinescu said. "Firing primary lasers at 5 percent at their bow."

"Effect?"

"Marginal, Sir. Sensors show a minor fluctuation in their shield harmonics. They are, however, accelerating towards SgA."

"Fine! They want to play rough...we can play rough," Jason said with determination. "Lasers to full strength. Target the asteroid they are using as an ablative shield. Continuous fire. Destroy it."

"Firing now!" the weapons officer yelled. The targeted asteroid quickly crumbled under the onslaught of the Yorktown's massive energy beams. "That's doing it! They are diverting course and shutting down their hyperjump nodes."

"Let's see if they are a little more willing to talk now," Jason said out loud to no one in particular.

As if in answer the bridge rocked violently. "I guess that is a 'no,'" Jason said dryly.

A coherent anti-proton beam challenged the
Yorktown's
active shielding. The lights dimmed briefly as the ship's AI diverted energy to the shields.  

Jason nodded to his helm officer. "Rotate us on our primary axis. Let's not overload any one shield."

The
Yorktown
was hit by two more energetic beams. Because of the rotation, the energy was distributed across multiple areas of the ship. The shields were barely fazed.

"Commander Martinescu, if you would be so good as to respond in kind. Do keep in mind that we suspect there are innocents onboard. Disable, but do not destroy."

Before he finished speaking the Modos slaver launched several dozen smart depleted uranium kinetic missiles. Their drive systems quickly accelerated them to 15 percent the speed of light. If they hit they would quickly overwhelm the
Yorktown's
shields. The
Yorktown's
AI, Cal, automatically engaged the missiles with its point defense systems.