First Contact (Galactic Axia Adventure) (20 page)

“Failure?” Leatha said in surprise. “That’s a laugh! He pushed himself without mercy at survey school and graduated with top marks. Of the four of us that qualified as captain, he was clearly the top. He broke more records and set new standards that will go unchallenged for years to come.” Agnes smiled at the report.

“He never told us how his studies were going,” remarked Agnes. “I think he was afraid he might fail again.”

“Well, I assure you that he didn’t,” Leatha said. She scooped the eggs into a serving bowl

Agnes took the second load of pancakes off the griddle and added them to the stack already in the warmer. “Why don’t you go get the men? I’ll tend to the bacon.”

Leatha removed her apron and hung it back up. “Where should they be?”

“Probably still in the barn,” Agnes said with a practiced glance toward the clock. “Tell them to hurry up before the food gets cold.”

Leatha went out the back door and headed toward the barn. She found Robert and Delmar where they’d just finished putting the feed out for the animals.

“Hey guys!” she called. “Agnes says come and get it before it gets cold.”

“That means we still have another minute,” Robert said with a wink at Delmar. Delmar didn’t say anything but did enjoy seeing the consternation on Leatha’s face.

The men kept stacking the bales of hay until it looked like Leatha couldn’t stand it any longer. When she looked like she was just about to say something, Robert finally spoke. “Well, that should do it,” he said with a sigh to Delmar. “Let’s go in the house. Hopefully, breakfast will be ready.” Leatha appeared about to respond and then bit her lip. Without a word she turned and headed back toward the house.

“I didn’t think she’d hold back so well,” Robert said with a grin.

“She was always pretty good at it in school.”

“Well, we better get going before we get into trouble,” Robert said. “I don’t want to land on the wrong side of Agnes.”

Breakfast turned out to be a bountiful and enjoyable affair. Besides the pancakes, eggs and bacon, Agnes had prepared two kinds of toast, biscuits, fruit, juice, and the ever-present coffee. Although he was hungry, Delmar found himself having trouble finishing the servings Agnes kept shoving at him.

But Robert and Leatha were also being hard-pressed. When Robert pushed back from the table it was all he could do to keep from belching. “I’ve had enough,” he announced and patted his stomach.

“You mean you’re not hungry?” Agnes said with a woe-begotten expression. Delmar and Leatha managed to stifle their laughs.

“I mean if I eat another bite I’ll never get up from this table!” Robert declared.

“In that case, I guess this food will just have to go to waste.” Contrary to her statement, there was little left of the meal.

“What’s on today’s chore list?” Delmar asked, also pushing his chair back.

“I was hoping we could start rebuilding the pump house,” Robert answered. His chair scraped noisily on the kitchen tile and he stood heavily to his feet. “That is if I can squeeze through the door!”

“Please let me clean up,” Leatha said to Agnes. “We can let the men go play.”

“Thank you,” answered Agnes. “At least someone around here appreciates me,” she added with a frown toward the men. Robert and Delmar wisely ducked out the door and headed back to the shop.

It didn’t take long for the two women to clean things up and put away the few leftovers. Agnes tried to let the girl do the work but she wasn’t used to having another woman in her kitchen. Leatha was just finishing the dishes when the comm line rang. Agnes wiped her hands and went into the front room to answer it. Leatha finished drying the dishes and hung up the towel. She was just starting to wipe down the counters when she heard Agnes gasp from the other room. In another moment, the older woman appeared in the doorway looking extremely agitated.

“Go get the men,” she whispered. “Tell them there’s been a terrible accident. Sherry’s been in a car wreck and Jake needs us to come to Mica!”

Without a word, Leatha bounded out the door while Agnes turned back to the comm line for more details.

∞∞∞

By the time the call from Mica was finished, plans for the afternoon had changed drastically. Leatha offered to take the Hassels directly to Mica and they started packing immediately. In the meantime, Delmar got on the comm line and arranged for several of the neighbors to take care of the farm. When he finished, Robert and Agnes were already packed and taking their luggage to the
Aurora
. Delmar helped them load, and then disbelievingly, watched the ship lift. Then he entered his own ship and began his assignment from Jake. Sherry had started calling out for Stan. It was left up to Delmar to find him and get him to Mica as quickly as possible.

Delmar sat at the comm unit for several minutes trying to remember where Stan was last stationed. He remembered Agnes saying something about Stan being on a temporary assignment, which would make it that much harder to find him. After racking his brain for a way to proceed, the answer seemingly popped into Delmar’s mind.

Keying his ship computer into the comm unit, Delmar typed in the codes to connect him with Mica. As soon as the screen showed the connection the comm system on the other planet, Delmar entered the code for the Computer Training Institute.

When the connection was confirmed, Delmar entered in one short sentence—ERT, THIS IS DELMAR.

The screen went blank for a moment and then the answer came. HELLO, DELMAR. LONG TIME, NO INPUT.

I NEED TO FIND STAN, Delmar typed. THERE HAS BEEN AN EMERGENCY AND I NEED TO GET HIM TO MICA. CAN YOU HELP ME?

SURE, came the immediate reply. I KNOW WHERE HE IS. Delmar breathed an inward sigh of relief as he and the ancient Horicon computer exchanged information.

∞∞∞

“At present the only people who know about you down here are those who were in Maranar Control to witness the live feed from the moon mission and the heads of all departments within the Space Agency,” the voice of Dr. Garret said over the comm link. “The chairman authorized continued dialogue after I explained to him how we communicated with you and what we had discussed earlier.”

Commander Tess smiled at the news. So far, things were working out well. There was still a chance they could keep knowledge of the Axia to a minimum. If it were decided to keep Maranar closed, it would be critical to prevent common knowledge of the Axia from skewing the proper developmental curve of the Maranar society.

“What about the general public or your government knowing about this?” the commander asked. Thanks to a quick course in the dominant language of Maranar, she and those directly involved were able to communicate directly with the natives below. It also had the psychological advantage of setting the natives at ease.

“At present, neither knows about you,” Garret answered. “Our press team has been employing a ruse by leaking enough information to the fringe elements of the press, unreliable tabloids mostly. The general population knows the information in them are fictitious and fabricated. They won’t lend any credit to it.”

“And your government?”

“Agencies within our government don’t talk to each other. The Space Agency reports to the Vice-President and he’s campaigning for re-election. I wouldn’t worry about any governmental interference as long as you’re not detected by any of our orbital military satellites.”

“We know about those. No problem there.”

“Are you still planning to send an envoy down, Commander?”

“Yes we are,” Commander Tess answered. “We intend to send a team down to help evaluate your planet for opening into Galactic Axia. It would also be nice to have an opportunity to talk with your chairman and even bring an envoy up to visit us. Less formal than an exchange of ambassadors and far more flexible. Personally, I view the formal niceties to be a hindrance to getting things done.”

“That sounds promising,” Garret said. “I’ll see what I can arrange down here. We’ve devised a list of remote sites where you can land,” he continued. “Unfortunately, I was not able to gain access to the sweep pattern of our electronic detection systems.”

“We’ve already evaluated those patterns and will have no problem getting through,” Commander Tess offered. “I’m going to turn you over to one of our navigators to coordinate those landing sites. After that’s determined, we’ll arrange both the timing for the exchange and our personnel on this end.”

“We can work with that,” answered Garret. “I’m looking forward to speaking with you again.”

The commander switched the comm connection over to one of the navigators who started plotting the locations given him on the holographic display of Maranar. As she headed back to her office, Commander Tess mentally reviewed possible selections for the Galactic Axia envoy team.

∞∞∞

Delmar found himself pacing the floor while he waited for one of the neighbors to show up to watch the Hassel farm. As for the problem of finding Stan, Ert had already started narrowing down the search. His last contact had been when Stan was working with Red-tail computers out on some remote outpost or planet somewhere, but since then Stan had moved on. That left Delmar with nothing he could do at the moment. As much as he hated it, he had to be content to just wait.

The sound of a ground car pulling into the driveway alerted Delmar that someone had finally arrived. Sticking his head out through the hatch of his ship, he was pleased to see the Sabeti’s pull in. Delmar exited his ship and walked over to their vehicle as the family got out.

“Made it here as quick as we could,” Daren called, clasping Delmar’s hand. Rosemary, with little Del-Robert in tow, came around and joined her husband. Delmar was amazed at how large Rosemary’s belly had become in the last stages of this pregnancy. He hadn’t really gotten that good a look at her during the homecoming party.

“Don’t worry about the farm,” Rosemary reassured Delmar. “We’ll take care of everything for Robert and Agnes.”

“Gwamma Agesss?” little Del-Robert asked, looking up at his mother. Rosemary patted him on the head and Daren reached down to pick up his son. Delmar smiled at the toddler’s attempt at saying grandma.

“Well, I better be going,” Delmar said. “I’ll let you know how it goes on Mica.”

“Give our love to Jake and Sherry,” Rosemary said as Delmar turned to enter his ship.

“If you need to get a hold of me, just contact the Liaison Officer and have him send it in care of my ship.”

“Understood,” Daren replied. “Have a good trip.”

 Delmar waved and then shut the hatch. Moments later, the ship lifted skyward and Delmar watched his home planet dwindle in size as he rose through the atmosphere.

As soon as he was in space, Delmar used the comm verbal interface to contact Ert. “Ert, where am I heading?”

“I’m sending you the latest coordinates of the mothership Stan was stationed on,” Ert replied. He computer’s voice still sounded tinny but Delmar thought that it had improved quite a bit since he’d last heard it a year ago.

“I’ve got it,” Delmar said as the information appeared on his screen. He entered it into his navigation system. “Keep looking for Stan and see if he is free to leave. I’m sure that even on Horicon you had your own layers of bureaucracy.”

“I’m already working on it,” Ert said. “I also put in the necessary request for emergency leave for him.”

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I’ve been practicing, as the professor puts it, since you left.”

Delmar felt a chill run up his spine as he considered what Ert had just implied. “And not to worry, Delmar,” Ert continued. “Thanks again to the professor, I’ve mastered the fine art of dealing with both human institutions and egos. I’ll find Stan soon enough without upsetting the proverbial apple cart.

“Thanks, Ert,” Delmar said, advancing the throttle. “Keep me posted and let him know I’m coming.”

∞∞∞

When it really came down to it, Commander Tess already had an idea of who she wanted on the envoy team. It only took a few minutes to notify the necessary people and arrange for a meeting in one of the briefing rooms. After gathering the few notes she would need, Tess headed down the passageway and through the door.

Already seated at the table were her main comm officer, a trooper from Linguistics, and a Lady of the Fleet from the Archives Department. The commander nodded at the three and took her place at the head of the table. Moments later, two trooper-thirds, one man and one woman, arrived and sat down in two of the remaining empty seats. When the navigator arrived, Commander Tess called the meeting to order.

“As most of you already know, we’re sending a small envoy team down to the surface of Maranar to gather information directly about their society,” she began without preamble. “Since this is still a closed planet, we naturally want to keep our intrusion into their affairs to a minimum. Consequently, the team will consist of only two people besides myself.” She paused and looked directly at Tim and Diane. The couple’s faces registered their shock as it dawned on them that they were the commander’s choice for the team.

“I see you’ve figured out who I’ve chosen,” Commander Tess said with a smile. “You’re here now to begin your preparation for this investigation. Each of the others here will brief you with all the background information you should need. I would recommend you pay particular attention to learning the basics of their language. Although it’s not that difficult, there are some peculiar inflections that need to be mastered. We plan to go down via fast scout in about forty-eight hours.”

The commander rose. “I’ll leave you now in the hands of your tutors. If I’m needed, I’ll be on the bridge.”

With that, the commander walked past the astonished couple and out the conference room door.

∞∞∞

Stan had just settled back to enjoy one of the books he’d brought along when his intercom beeped. Annoyed to be interrupted during his off shift, he got up and crossed his small cabin to activate the irritating device.

“Trooper Shane here.”

“This is the comm center,” the voice squawked from the unit. “I have an incoming computer message for you.”