Trouble with the Natives by Karlos Allen	Table of Contents Chapter 2 Chapter 3, part 2 appear in this issue.
Chapter 3 part 1 of 2

It was Aspen who saw the alien ship leave. He’d been staring out the port at it as they drew away as if he was incapable of believing his eyes. At first no one paid attention to him. It was about an hour before he was able to corner Singh. “Singh, you’ve got to see this. That ship took off at better than ten times our best acceleration. Whatever damage we did, it obviously didn’t hurt their engines.”

“Where did it go?”

“Back toward the moonlet it came from. Singh, that ship is still a threat and we need to do something about it.”

“Very well, Aspen. Tsao, Nate, Deb and I will be meeting in an hour to discuss our next move. If you can promise to act in a professional manner, you may join us. If you do, I will want a complete report on what you saw and what you think the implications are.”

Aspen drew himself up.

“Don’t even start, Aspen. If you want to be taken seriously, that’s what you will have to do. If all you are looking for is another excuse to show off your ego, then we are not interested in listening.”

If the members of the hastily convened strategy team were surprised to see Aspen join them, they hid it. Singh started off. “OK, we’re all here because we have just survived a potentially fatal attack and we need to figure out what to do next. I’ve specifically invited each of you because you have knowledge or expertise that I need to do my job as captain. Aspen has some observations he made about the alien ship and I would like to hear his report first.”

Aspen didn’t stand up, but he did assume a stiffer posture which in zero-g gave the same effect. “First, I wish to start by acknowledging my complete surprise when the alien vessel appeared. There was absolutely nothing in theory or observation that prepared me for that event.”

Tsao chuckled. “Aspen, are you admitting you’re wrong? I didn’t think that was possible.”

Aspen turned to stare him down. “Of course I’m admitting that. A scientist who doesn’t admit to being wrong isn’t a scientist anymore. He’s turned into a philosopher, or worse yet, a theologian.

“As I was saying, I was surprised at its appearance and spent a great deal of time observing it, trying to accept its existence. Because of this I was watching when it departed for its base. I was able to get the recording of that from the computer system and will replay it for you now.”

On the screen, they saw the vessel floating motionless, three gaping holes, one at each end and a larger one in the center contrasting sharply with the smooth white of the hull. Suddenly, without any warning, it disappeared. When their eyes caught up to it, it was already almost too small to see as it raced toward its base.

The lights came back on to a stunned silence. “According to the best calculations I could get from the computer, that ship accelerated away at about 15 gravities. This is easily ten times our best speed and probably means that whatever damage we did, while forcing a temporary retreat, was not serious enough for us to conclude that we have ‘won’.

“In fact it is very likely that they will be able to repair that ship and intercept us again before we will have time to leave the Jovian system. If not, they will certainly be able to intercept us at will during our two-year trip back to Earth. A trip that they would probably be able to make in a matter of days. Because of this, I maintain that they are an ongoing threat and that we must do something to neutralize that threat before — that’s right, before we try to leave this system.”

“Do you have any suggestions?”

“No, I have no experience in combat and have never studied the subject. I can offer advice and observations based on my extensive knowledge of physical laws, but that is all. I will have to bow to the superior training of others.”

Singh hastily stepped in, forestalling the comebacks that were springing to everyone’s lips. “Thank you Dr. Aspen. You observations are invaluable. Tsao, did you do anything with combat tactics when you were in Space Command?”

“Yes, I did. I also have a civilian version of one of the simulators we used. I used to run problems on it for fun. That was where Nate got the idea to spin the ship and to use the reflective powder to protect us.”

“What do you think of Aspen’s suggestions?”

“He’s right. They will be back, and if we try to leave they’ll chase us down and destroy us.”

“I see. All right then, let’s work the problem. What do we know about them that we can use?”

Deb spoke up. “There’s only one ship, or at least only one armed ship. When we disabled them, nobody came out to rescue them, and nobody came out to finish the attack.”

“You’re right,” Tsao said, “That also means that we will be home free if we can disable or destroy it.”

Aspen cut in, “No, that’s not true. We have no idea what that base is capable of as far as repairs. We’ve got to disable the base as well.”

“And just how do you say we should do that?”

“I don’t-”

“-know, I’m going to bow to the superior training of others,” Tsao chorused. “Then why don’t you do just that?”

“Because training obviously doesn’t help fools.”

“Hold it!” Singh had to yell while throwing himself in between them. “You are both out of line!” He paused, “Maybe you don’t realize it, but we are going to DIE if we don’t fix this! We don’t have the time and I don’t have the patience to deal with anymore of this bickering. One more crack and you will both be strapped into your sleeping tubes for a week. Got it?”

They settled back, eyeing each other.

“That’s better. Now, does anyone have any constructive observations?”

“They weren’t giving us their best shot.” Nate looked around. “I don’t know lasers like Tsao, but with the kind of on-board power they had to have to be able to take off like that, they should have been able to hit a lot harder. Also, they didn’t launch anything else. It almost seems as though they’re pulling their punches.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, maybe they’re hiding. That would explain the initial attack. It happened just before we would have detected their base. It wouldn’t be the first time an innocent bystander has stumbled into something they shouldn’t have and gotten whacked for it.”

Deb grinned suddenly, “Than maybe we should just blackmail them.”

“What?”

“Sure, we could probably rig a reasonably tight beam. I’m sure they know English, enough if it gets transmitted everyday. We just tell them that if we detect them trying to intercept us again we’ll broadcast their position to the universe. If they don’t, we’ll keep quiet and go home like good little natives.”

“It could work. It’s certainly worth a try,” Nate put in. “It’s a lot cheaper and easier than some of the other things we’d have to do. I think we should give it a shot.”

Singh looked around; everyone seemed to agree. “OK, we’ll try that. However, we could be wrong. Tsao, I want you, Nate and whoever else you need to involve working on two things: How can we improve our defenses and how can we effectively neutralize the ship and the base if they don’t agree to this.”

Tsao and Nate nodded. Singh continued, “Deb, if we are going to make this work, we have to be convincing. I want you to draw up a short list of things we could add to the transmission to do that. Also I want you to work with Communications to see how we could send such a broadcast to the system in a way that they can’t jam it. I’d like to get reports from both groups in two hours. That’s an hour before we come in sight of the moonlet. Aspen, I’d like you to come with me.”

Singh deliberately passed up his office and continued on to the control room. There he carefully closed the door and then turned to face Aspen. “Doctor, I want you to explain why you have been such a jerk.”

Surprisingly Aspen grinned. “’Jerk’ is not the adjective you are reaching for, Singh.”

“You’re right. However, since I’m going to try to stay professional, that’s the one I’m going to use. You have been difficult for the entire last two years, but in academia we are used to dealing with difficult people. Since the attack though, you have been impossible. I want to know why.”

“Why I was ‘difficult’, or why I’ve become ‘impossible’?”

“Both.”

“OK, to start with, I was supposed to have your job. This,” he gestured to include the entire room, “was my baby, my idea.”

“This,” Singh imitated his gesture, “was a mandate from the U.N. Committee on Space Exploration.”

“Hah! Singh, you know as well as I do that the U.N. has never been anything more than a rubber stamp for whatever nation or group of nations happens to be the power in the world. It’s been like that since the 1940s. In this case, UNCSE was simply rubber-stamping the recommendations of the International Advisory Committee on Astronautics.

“IACA, in turn, got the plan from a study group called the Jovian Manned Probe Task Force. I chaired that task force. Further as one of the few actual scientists on that TF, I wrote most of the report. This is not my ego talking, you can look all this up for yourself anytime. My reward for all of this was to have been command of the first voyage. I designed the procedures with that in mind. This was to be the blueprint for all manned space exploration to follow. We were going to break the old Ship/Mission Control paradigm forever.”

“And who promised you this reward?”

“Persons who were in a position to make it stick. That’s all you need know.”

“So, what happened?”

“India happened. I don’t know the details, maybe somebody’s goat curry was cold, or somebody got slighted. I don’t know, but suddenly India threatened to bolt the project. The problem was, if India bolted, China would, too, because the only reason China was involved was to keep the Indians from getting too much power. And we needed both of you.”

He shrugged. “This is the Asian Century, after all. Oh, neither of you are super-powers in the old Twentieth Century meaning. Too many countries have nukes and you both are still struggling with large peasant populations, but you are where the power and the political will come from.

“So, those same persons, or rather their lackeys, explained that while my slot on the voyage was guaranteed, command would have to go to an Indian national. It was disappointing.”

“I did not know that. I knew only that I was in charge of the Indian component of the crew and was one day informed that I would be in command. I had nothing to do with it.”

“I believe that if only because you are hopelessly inept politically. You couldn’t maneuver your way into a paper sack let alone command.”

“Which brings me to the second part of the question. Why are you worse? Did you want to be in charge of a running space battle? Nobody can work with you. You can’t agree with someone without adding a personal assault. You can’t even show respect for the dead!”

“You mean because I refuse to refer to Mac by her birth name? Singh, I knew her birth name long before that blimp Sorensen blurted it out in front of everybody. Most of you don’t deserve to know that name. If I refuse to accept her death, that’s my business.”

Singh looked closer at Aspen’s face. The normal anger was there, but something else was too, something that almost looked like grief. “Aspen,” he said very carefully, “were you and Macaroon... lovers?”

“Why? Is that so difficult to imagine? You don’t have a problem with Sorenson and Lee, and she’s easily twice his size.”

“That’s just a physical incongruity; I can’t imagine Macaroon putting up with your attitude for more than two seconds.”

“Mac didn’t have to ‘put up with my attitude’. I respected her. But to be clear, no we were not ‘lovers’. Station-siders don’t operate that way.”

“Um... there were twenty-five astronauts stranded at the ISS and other bases when the Hiatus happened in 2030. Thirty years later there were sixty and now there are almost eighty. That kind of thing doesn’t just happen, Aspen.”

“Oh for... don’t be any denser than you have to be, Singh! Six astronauts also either suicided or were murdered during that time. Do you know why? The same reason a lot of people are murdered or commit suicide. Love triangles and jealousy! In order to survive they had to lay down a very strict code. Station-siders practice absolute celibacy until marriage and then practice absolute monogamy.”

“What? Isn’t that a little barbaric?”

“It’s also the only way to keep your sanity when your entire social world is confined to a few people you see every day in a tin can you can never leave. Of course once started, traditions die hard. So out of respect for her and that tradition I went along with it. We were going to get married when we returned home. And you can keep any humor about the effect of that on my temperament to yourself; I am not a hormone-sodden teenager.”

Singh looked at him. “Thank you for clarifying this. It won’t leave this room.”

“It had better not.”

Proceed to Chapter 3, part 2...

Copyright © 2007 by Karlos Allen