Part Three: Arrival

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Chapter 05

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Intense light.

Fogginess.

Silence.

These sensations were bothersome.

The silence was suddenly broken by an echo of a voice.

Stephen?

His name. His name was Stephen. At last, his memory was beginning to return slowly.

Can you hear me?

The voice was still cloudy, yet his ability to hear was sharpening. He tried to open his eyes, and shut them again when light seemed to burn through them, moaning at the discomfort.

“Hey, that’s good,” the voice said again…

Or was that another voice?

“His vital signs are increasing,” the same voice said.

“Stephen, I would like you to say your name if you can,” the first voice then spoke.

Stephen identified that voice as feminine, and his memory recalled the name.

Helen? Was that her name?

“Did you hear that? He recalled my name!” the voice said. Did Stephen manage to say that aloud? “Try to open your eyes, Stephen.”

Stephen was recalling more about where he was, and why he was here. He was aboard a spaceship, on its way to an unexplored star system, and he really must wake up and soon, because he was the primary pilot for this journey.

He tried once again to open his eyes, very slowly since the discomfort of his last attempt was still fresh in his mind. Finally, he was able to open them and look around, and then he saw who was floating by his side.

It was Helen!

Captain Greenfield was with her. “Good to see you awake, Stephen,” he said, smiling.

“My eyes hurt,” Stephen said, his voice sounding funny to himself.

“You haven’t used them in almost fifty years,” Helen told him. “How're you feeling now?”

His hearing was improving, and their voices sounded a lot less like they were shouting across the other side of a very large field. However, Stephen was not settled with his present state, especially since he had just discovered he could not move, even if he was strapped on to the bunk.

“I can’t move,” he said, slightly shaky.

“That’s okay, Stephen,” Helen replied immediately, touching his shoulder gently.

“I can’t feel!” Stephen became panicked.

“Easy Stephen,” Helen’s voice was soothing, and she sounded as if she knew what she was talking about. “Post-hibernation paralysis is normal in the first hour or so of being woken up. You’ll be fine in no time,” the last she added with a gentle smile.

“You think you’re ready?” the Captain asked.

Having now relaxed due to Helen’s assurances that he was fine, Stephen closed his eyes and lay back. “I can hardly control myself, much less a hundred-metre-long spacecraft!” the last he added with a slight amount of sarcasm.

“Well,” the Captain drawled. “Look who’s getting his memory back!”

“That was sure quick,” Helen added, sounding amazed.

“You should’ve seen what I saw when Helen here woke up. Took her nearly three hours to get herself together- Oww!”

“Be careful what you say... Captain!”

Stephen opened his eyes again to look. Both were smiling at one another, both in high spirits.

Stephen wondered how anyone could be so playful after a fifty-year sleep.

“We’ll leave you to adjust,” Helen told Stephen. “Just give a shout when you’re ready to get up.”

They then both left, hauling themselves at such a high rate, Stephen found it unfair that anyone could have so much energy.

He woke up again shortly afterwards, and his body felt cold. He opened his eyes and looked around, realising the source of his chill was due to the thin coverall he was wearing and the fact that he was still strapped into his hibernation cradle. The lid was open and warmer air was wafting into the cradle.

Stephen was unable to move either his arms or legs because he was strapped down, though his muscles responded instantly to his commands.

“Excuse me,” Stephen called out, reassured that his voice was so clear and firm. “Can someone untie me, please?”

Stephen waited for a few moments. His sense of logic and reasoning were perfectly working again now, and he knew that it took a few moments for anyone to travel from any point on the ship to the hibernation suite where he was, even from the medical centre on the level above.

The Captain appeared shortly afterwards, hauling himself down the access port. “You feel like trying to move now?”

“Not sure yet, but I don’t want to be tied down any more,” Stephen replied, then added with a grin. “I like my freedom!”

“Amen to that!”

“By the way, can I have a ship-suit please, sir?”

The Captain went right away to get one from a storage locker near the cradle. He quickly returned and hooked it to the side of Stephen’s cradle using the clips provided. “Here you go,” he told Stephen, then added “and please, don’t call me sir. You’re not military, and I don’t expect it.”

Immediately Stephen replied without thinking. “I’ll remember that, sir.”

“The name’s Marlon,” the Captain added as he unstrapped Stephen’s arm. “Should be easy for you to do the rest now.”

Stephen smiled at his own slip-up. Then he gestured to his ship-suit. “I need to change.”

“Of course! I’ll see you in the command module,” and then the Captain hauled himself out of the hibernation suite so quickly that Stephen was jealous of such energy.

Within moments of climbing out of his hibernation cradle, Stephen found that he was incredibly hungry. He saw the display mounted onto his hibernation cradle had been re-configured to display a message for him from Helen, telling him to eat first, and where to find the nutrient sprays he would need to provide the first initial energy boost he would need.

Once he found the nutrients and injected himself with each, he quickly hauled himself to the galley and ate the provided instant meal that was left for him.

Once he had finished his meal, he pulled himself to the Command Module so as he could discuss when he would be needed – he felt more than ready to face such a task now – and was surprised to find, once he got there, that the Captain and Helen were kissing each other.

He wasn’t the only one who went red-faced when they both realised he was there.

He grinned his embarrassment away. “I could always come back up again slowly sir,” he said facetiously.

“No, that’s okay-” the Captain began, then realised he was being wound up. “Good to know your sense of humour is working!”

“And don’t call him sir,” Helen quipped. “I’m his boss!”

“Well personally, I think you guys should get back to work,” Stephen replied, maintaining a poker-faced expression for a moment. “Well… Go on!” He couldn’t resist grinning then.

“Oh, yes Field Marshal Sir!” the Captain replied jovially. “Bet you’re still hungry, right?” As if on cue, Stephen’s stomach grumbled. “Thought so! Come on, I’ll show you where the good stuff is!”

Helen laughed at them both.

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The process of reviving the remainder of the crew began two hours afterwards, and took a total of six hours. Adam and John were revived first, with John being physically the most problematic revival of them all. He was suffering from hibernation sickness, a form of influenza that rarely occurred and had only been associated with cryogenic suspension experiments on humans. Helen was busy dealing with getting him comfortable enough to burn out his fever and getting him on the road to recovery. It was as well that the Space Agencies had decided to equip all exploration vessels with adequate medical facilities even if their only purpose was likely to be for rare occurrences of hibernation sickness.

Adam’s revival was the quickest; within half an hour of his suspension cradle being thawed out he was fully active. At first his temporary paralysis was alarming to him, but like Stephen, he accepted Helen’s explanation with no further complaint. He quickly made light of his condition, which Stephen respected him for, considering that reviving from Cryogenic Suspension was a new experience.

John was settled in the Med lab and resting when the next set of awakenings took place. Caitlin was one of the last to be awakened, and her revival was not swift. Adam substituted for Marlon, since it was already clear for some time that the two had formed an attachment back on Earth, and Caitlin would be more likely to accept Adam’s presence during convalescence whereas having the Captain might embarrass the poor girl. It took her another six hours before she was well enough to be useful to the crew. John was likely to take longer.

However, the most annoying and problematic member of the crew was Lieutenant Davidson. It wasn’t as if he was having problems with revival, in fact, he knew exactly what was going on all of the time and did not show any evidence of weakness, fear or uncertainty during this time. The problem was in his attitude toward everybody on the ship. During his awakening procedure, Helen remained in the cryogenic suite to supervise his recovery, a step that the Lieutenant immediately took exception to. He told her to get the hell out, how dare she see him in his condition?

Marlon sought to put him straight on a few points once he was ready to be released from the suite.

“Your revival demands precise and careful monitoring. She’s the best there is and she’s just doing her job,” the Captain told the Lieutenant in no uncertain terms.

“I can handle my own recovery, thank you sir,” the Lieutenant replied belligerently.

“No, Lieutenant. She’s the Medical Officer on this ship. In matters of medical practice, and this is just that, she outranks all of us on board. You do exactly as she says, understood?”

“Perfectly. Now where the hell’s my ship-suit, Captain?”

Marlon grabbed it and threw it at him. “Get dressed and get to Command.”

Everyone was seated in their respective seats ready for this next stage of the mission – the Tau Ceti had been steadily and gently decelerating for the past twenty-three days and was ready to execute a final burst to complete the manoeuvre. John had to be carried to the Command Module and strapped in, since the manoeuvre was expected to generate incredibly high and strenuous G-Forces, and the only safe place on board the ship was in the Command Module crew seating. Helen had already seen to it that he was sufficiently sedated so as not to feel the effects of the deceleration, and his seat had been rigged so that he was securely in place and could not be injured by the forces. His inability to assist in piloting the ship was not at present a concern, since Stephen would be able to handle a deceleration burn on his own.

The procedure went without incident, and the vessel completed its deceleration burn that would bring it into the final trajectory for a steady orbit through to the inner planets.

“Deceleration burn complete, ship is auto-rotating for entry into the Tau Ceti system,” he announced from his position in the Command Centre.

“Good work, Stephen,” the Captain told him, then looked around at everyone else. “Anyone else feel up to standing?”

“That’s my cue, I take it,” Adam replied cheerfully. “Initiating Torque Generators and powering up crew quartering sections on the Habitat. Firing rotational jets… Point Eight Earth Gravity in T-Minus One Minute.” Huge rumbling sounds could be heard emanating from the rear of the vessel as the combination of rotational control jets and internal motors worked to bring the Habitat Ring up to its' required spin rate that would produce the necessary gravitational forces on board. “Point Eight Gravity achieved,” Adam finally announced.

“Can someone give Helen a hand with John, please? Good work by the way people,” the Captain told everyone. “I’m all for trying a shower now the gravity works in this place!” He started making his way to the rear of the cockpit.

“Hey! Wait for me!” Helen called after him, pushing herself out of her seat. “I still gotta get John back to Med-lab!”

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ISS Tau Ceti, in slingshot path around Tau Ceti 6.

13:37 Hours, Day 14 Mission Year 49.

Stephen had just finished showering and changing for his next task in the Command Module, and was strapped in for his task of making the slight adjustment so as to send the Tau Ceti on an insertion orbit toward Tau Ceti 3. Their final path would take them into a parking orbit around the planet.

John was still in Medlab, his fever finally broken.

“Afternoon, Stephen,” the Captain greeted him as he arrived.

“Sir,” Stephen replied courteously, pulling himself into position into his seat.

“Stephen, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me ‘sir’? It’s Marlon, okay?”

“Yes ssssss… Marlon!”

Helen chuckled.

“Better, now give me your status, please?” Marlon asked.

Stephen called up the navigation display and reported their orbital position from it. The technology was at such a level that the navigation display actually represented a fairly accurate likeness of any objects that were detected. “All green sir-” and Stephen slapped his forehead for blundering. Marlon smiled, Adam and Caitlin both did too, and Helen chuckled again. Lieutenant Davidson however, was another story.

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“Some fuckin’ never listen,” he sneered.

Marlon immediately swung around and glared at the Lieutenant. “You’re out of order.”

“Yes, sir,” Davidson grunted, looking at the main display, stone-faced.

Marlon simply turned back to the others. “Communications report?”

“All systems green,” Caitlin replied. “No detected transmissions,” her response was glum.

“It’s early days yet Caitlin, don’t let it get you down,” Marlon turned to Adam. “Status?”

“Diagnostics complete, no problems,” Adam replied.

Stephen glanced at his navigation display, passing quickly over the local sensor-sweep that was being run at that time. He reported the current mission timer to Marlon.

He had failed to notice a tiny blip that appeared on the sensor-sweep image, and the tiny speck that was visible on the simulated view of the local orbit. Adam was the first to point it out.

“Err… Sir?” He stammered, his voice quavering. “I think you should see this!”

“What?” Marlon turned around to Adam to ask, but then he noticed on the simulated view, that the stars were being blotted out by something.

Stephen noticed it too, and magnified the view at his console. What he saw was both fascinating and scary.

The vessel that was in the forward view was absolutely enormous. It had an oddly-familiar yet never-before-seen look to it, with a long prow and an almost delta-winged configuration that extended from the bottom of the vessel right around to the top of it, and lots of built-in and bolt-on extras seemed to be present across the hull which otherwise would have been completely smooth. Some of the “extras” looked suspiciously like projectile weapons of some description, and they were all pointing toward them.

“Alright,” Marlon said, exhaling heavily. “Caitlin, you know what to do,” he told Caitlin, pushing himself to the pilot seat next to Stephen, where John would normally sit. “Let’s see…”

“Sir, it’s sending us a NASA transmission carrier,” Caitlin replied.

How was this possible? Stephen was dumbfounded. It was unlikely in the extreme that any vessel that was not commissioned by NASA to know their standard communication protocols or the transmission carrier types used by them. He also noticed that the ship was manoeuvring into a direct collision course.

“What kind of carrier?” Marlon asked.

“Sir… It’s duplicating our stream format,” was the reply.

How can an unknown vessel be using exactly the same standard as the Tau Ceti? Stephen was even more dumbfounded than before.

“What?!” Marlon exclaimed. “Put it through!”

The same instant, a communication channel was opened. There was no image, as the transmission was audio only. The voice on the other end of the channel, rather than sounding completely unfamiliar or unusual as the crew had assumed was a probability, sounded like a male bass voice, typically belonging to a large-build man. The speech patterns were unrecognisable of course, and it would be down to Marlon and Caitlin to attempt an understanding of their language.

“I can’t get any sense of what they’re trying to tell us,” he said, after the same pattern was repeated on an increasingly loud level, for the fourth time. “Sounds like they’re getting upset,” he added quietly.

“I second that,” Stephen replied, activating various switches on his console, and then taking the controls. “Firing reverse jets.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Marlon asked.

“Fuckin’ idiot,” Davidson added his two cents.

“QUIET!” Marlon barked at the Lieutenant. “I see what’s happening. Carry on, Stephen.”

The Tau Ceti was inadvertently moving toward the large vessel in their way. Although Stephen had begun firing the reverse jets to slow the vessel down, it wasn’t enough to avoid colliding with the larger ship, and they were getting awfully close to them now.

“Sir, there’s a power build-up coming from the ship,” Adam announced, fear evident in the high-pitched tone of his voice.

Stephen continued to watch the navigation readouts as well as keeping an eye on the outside of the ship. It was as well because now the massive ship was moving again, passing overhead.

“It’s moving,” Stephen told the others, noticing the vessel had moved past them.

“Sir, I think it’s about to fire weapons at us!” Adam alerted everyone.

Stephen suspected that the vessel had moved behind them and was turning around for a shot at their engines.

“There’s another one!” Adam yelled.

“Adam!” Marlon barked. “I need you to get a handle on it, alright?”

The “other” vessel appeared in a flash of light, drifting at high speed past the Tau Ceti. For several moments, nothing seemed to happen, but then after a moment, the first vessel appeared from behind, and in a flash of light, disappeared from the area. The sight shocked them even more than the close encounter they had a moment ago. The remaining vessel then appeared overhead and in the forward view, it made no attempt to face them or change orientation.

“Sir, we got another communication, with a visual signature attached,” Caitlin said in a muted tone.

“Patch it through,” Marlon replied, equally muted.

Several monitors on the Tau Ceti altered to display the incoming signal. What they saw shocked them all, not because of the unknown elements, but more because of the familiarity of what they saw.

“Hello,” said the female that occupied the displays. “Welcome to our home.”

Evidently, this was a star system occupied by an advanced race, with technologies obviously superior to Earth.

The scary bit was that the inhabitants of this system looked human.

The only detectable difference so far was that the individuals that came into view during their discussion looked stronger and healthier than the strongest of humans on Earth at the time the Tau Ceti left, and their skin pigmentation took an ever so slight shade of blue, barely noticeable. Or was it the lighting? This woman’s language skills were amazing to the crew of the Tau Ceti – she knew English almost as well as they did.

“Perhaps we should begin with introductions?” she began. “I am a member of the Klankharis Realm. My name is Miradima.”

Stephen noticed that her name and the name of her people were moderately accented, whereas the rest of her speech was less so.

Marlon nodded, smiling. “My name is Marlon Greenfield, my crew and I visit you from a star system called Sol, eleven light years away. Starting with crew members from the front of my ship, this is Stephen,” and Marlon indicated Stephen, who nodded. “Behind and to my left is Adam, he maintains our vessel.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Adam replied courteously.

“Beside him is Caitlin, she handles all of our communications.”

“Hi,” Caitlin added, waving her hand in a shy manner.

Stephen heard Davidson whisper that this wasn’t a date. When he looked at the monitor, Miradima was smiling. “Pleased to meet you,” she said.

If this conversation was anything to go by, Miradima's hospitality was plentiful.

Marlon added. “Behind and to my left is Helen, she’s our medical officer.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Helen spoke up, smiling gently.

“And I am pleased to meet you in return,” Miradima replied, and suddenly, her smile faded. “Did I say this correctly?”

“Close enough for me to understand,” Helen replied easily.

Miradima’s smile deepened. “You are a… Medical officer, did you say?”

“Yes. I tend to the sick and injured.”

Miradima nodded in comprehension. “A healer! Healing is a valuable skill, and I am pleased that your people possess such skills.”

Helen nodded. “Thank you,” she replied.

“Behind her is our Security Officer-” Marlon was about to name Davidson when he forestalled further information being given.

“Excuse me sir, I have to check cryptography,” and he was gone before Marlon could respond.

How on Earth did that closed-minded fool get selected for this mission? Stephen had wondered this, and not for the first time.

Sheepishly, Marlon returned his gaze to the display. “That’s our crew introduced.”

Miradima nodded, her expression became business-like. “Now to pressing matters. We know you were threatened just before my vessel arrived. No vessels should have acted aggressively toward you on your way here. You see, we have followed your progress to our home system since our long-range detection system found your vessel. I am here to welcome you to our system. Everyone was notified of your presence.”

Marlon was surprised, as were the others. “You were expecting us?”

“Yes. You were travelling to our world?”

“Well, we are explorers. We are here to learn and to find anyone we can make contact with…” Marlon spread his hands wide in a gesture of helplessness. “We’ve now made contact!”

Miradima laughed, and it was an almost human laugh! “And are very welcome, Marlon Greenfield.”

“Just Marlon, please.”

“Of course, Marlon. Now we should try to make amends for your recent unprovoked trauma, and perhaps the best way is to take your vessel to our home world so that we may consult with my world leaders and find a solution, if of course you are amenable to this?”

Marlon looked at all of the others for an affirmative. When he got one, he looked back to the visual. “Yes. We would like that.”

“Very well, brace yourselves, we will take you to our world in just a moment.”

“Thank you,” Marlon replied.

“Until we arrive, Marlon.”

The displays reverted back to their previous functions as the communication was closed. Stephen checked his straps to be sure that they were secure, as did the others having realised that they were about to be towed to their destination. How this would be conducted was a mystery, but with the advanced technologies that the residents possessed, this was likely not a problem.

“Lieutenant, get back up here, we’re about to get under way,” Marlon ordered through the com system.

Davidson only just made it to strapping in, just as a sudden jolt affected the crew and they were on their way. Oddly enough, apart from the forward display simulations going blank, there were no other acceleration effects as they literally sped through the system.

15:56 Hours.

The two ships arrived in orbit of Tau Ceti 3, and whereas there was a sudden jolt as the vessel was quickly accelerated around Tau Ceti 6, this time the deceleration was hardly noticeable.

As soon as the vessel arrived, the forward view returned to normal, and Caitlin alerted Marlon to another incoming signal.

“Patch it through,” Marlon asked.

Again, various monitor displays changed to display the “Bridge” of the other vessel. Miradima was present once again.

“We have reached our home world,” she began. “I will contact my people in a moment, to arrange for discussions for a solution to your problem.”

“Thank you,” Marlon began, and then stopped when he heard Lieutenant Davidson muttering. “Speak up Lieutenant.” Davidson remained silent. Marlon resumed his conversation with Miradima. “Once again, thank you.”

“You are welcome, Marlon. I will be in contact. Until next time,” and Miradima nodded once before the connection was broken and the displays reverted to their previous modes.

Stephen looked out toward the planet below them.

Tau Ceti 3 was a planet that was so obviously teeming with life. Much of the planet was untouched by technology and population, and it seemed that the continent that was visible was mainly covered by rainforest. The seas were blue-green, and at the distance they were orbiting, Stephen could make out the atmospheric layers of the planet, a deep blue.

What a beautiful world these people have, Stephen thought.

“Lieutenant, I want a word with you,” Marlon said, thumbing toward the rear access hatch.

Stephen expected the Lieutenant would have to deal with the repercussions of his behaviour, now.

“Anything you got to say, you can say here,” Davidson grumbled.

“OUT BACK,” Marlon shouted back, forced the strap release clips on Davidson’s seat and grabbed him, forcing him toward the rear lock. “RIGHT NOW!”

As they both exited through the rear access, Helen looked back briefly, and then returned to her display, a frown of irritation on her face.

“Asshole,” Caitlin said under her breath.

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Three hours had passed. For the most part, events were lacking. Davidson received a dressing down from Marlon that was loud enough to be heard by the entire crew. John was now well enough to move freely through the ship and had drawn up “evening watch” duty at Navigation. Marlon was briefly explaining the events so far, to John’s astonishment, when an incoming communication came in. Since Marlon and John were the only ones present in the Command Centre, Marlon activated the communications terminal and opened the channel that was incoming.

Miradima appeared on the display, and she was not in the same place as her last two communications. “Good evening,” she said.

John’s jaw dropped as he heard a completely foreign, non-human entity speaking to them in almost perfect English. Already his eyes bugged out as he saw a frighteningly uncanny resemblance to human beings. “Hi,” he said.

Marlon grinned at John, and turned back to the display. “John is my second pilot,” Marlon said by way of introduction.

“Pleased to meet you, John.”

John was gob-smacked. “Err… Good err… Evening!” he said with a sheepish grin.

Miradima nodded with a slight smile. “My apologies in not contacting you sooner,” she said to Marlon. “I believe a discussion with our people should produce some results, Marlon Greenfield.”

“Please,” Marlon stopped Miradima before she could go on. “Just call me Marlon. It’s not necessary to use my whole name all the time.”

Miradima nodded. “It is a bit cumbersome to do so,” she replied. “Anyway, there is one other important aspect, your Security Officer.”

John’s grimace was not missed by either of the other two. “He hasn’t offended you, has he?”

“Not me,” Miradima replied. “But he is causing your crew discomfort. I can see it in their expressions.”

Marlon nodded. “I hope it doesn’t become a problem.”

“It may not become an issue. It seems to me that much of his… Unwillingness to co-operate may be due to xenophobia,” Miradima replied. “Maybe we can set his mind at ease.”

“He’s not an easy individual to convince.”

Miradima nodded. “Maybe you could assist us in this?”

“I’ll do all I can,” Marlon replied.

“I do have an idea that might possibly work.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I believe a face-to-face contact could force the issue.”

Knowing the Lieutenant, this was more than likely the case. “But the only access point on our vessel is attached to our spinning section, and to use it we would have to stop it spinning. We only have enough reserve fuel in those jets to do that once so we couldn’t get it spinning again.”

“And since that area of your ship provides you with Artificial Gravity, such a manoeuvre is out of the question,” Miradima finished for him. “Have you heard of the concept of molecular transport?”

“Yes, it was in the concept stages on Earth before we left, but we don’t have-” Marlon froze, and both he and John glanced at each other.

“You have this capability?” both asked in unison.

“Yes, we do,” Miradima replied. “We can transport you across.”

“Excellent,” Marlon replied. “I have an idea.”

Three hours had passed. For the most part, events were lacking. Davidson received a dressing down from Marlon that was loud enough to be heard by the entire crew. John was now well enough to move freely through the ship and had drawn up “evening watch” duty at Navigation. Marlon was briefly explaining the events so far, to John’s astonishment, when an incoming communication came in. Since Marlon and John were the only ones present in the Command Centre, Marlon activated the communications terminal and opened the channel that was incoming.

Miradima appeared on the display, and she was not in the same place as her last two communications. “Good evening,” she said.

John’s jaw dropped as he heard a completely foreign, non-human entity speaking to them in almost perfect English. Already his eyes bugged out as he saw a frighteningly uncanny resemblance to human beings. “Hi,” he said.

Marlon grinned at John, and turned back to the display. “John is my second pilot,” Marlon said by way of introduction.

“Pleased to meet you, John.”

John was gob-smacked. “Err… Good err… Evening!” he said with a sheepish grin.

Miradima nodded with a slight smile. “My apologies in not contacting you sooner,” she said to Marlon. “I believe a discussion with our people should produce some results, Marlon Greenfield.”

“Please,” Marlon stopped Miradima before she could go on. “Just call me Marlon. It’s not necessary to use my whole name all the time.”

Miradima nodded. “It is a bit cumbersome to do so,” she replied. “Anyway, there is one other important aspect, your Security Officer.”

John’s grimace was not missed by either of the other two. “He hasn’t offended you, has he?”

“Not me,” Miradima replied. “But he is causing your crew discomfort. I can see it in their expressions.”

Marlon nodded. “I hope it doesn’t become a problem.”

“It may not become an issue. It seems to me that much of his… Unwillingness to co-operate may be due to xenophobia,” Miradima replied. “Maybe we can set his mind at ease.”

“He’s not an easy individual to convince.”

Miradima nodded. “Maybe you could assist us in this?”

“I’ll do all I can,” Marlon replied.

“I do have an idea that might possibly work.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“I believe a face-to-face contact could force the issue.”

Knowing the Lieutenant, this was more than likely the case. “But the only access point on our vessel is attached to our spinning section, and to use it we would have to stop it spinning. We only have enough reserve fuel in those jets to do that once so we couldn’t get it spinning again.”

“And since that area of your ship provides you with Artificial Gravity, such a manoeuvre is out of the question,” Miradima finished for him. “Have you heard of the concept of molecular transport?”

“Yes, it was in the concept stages on Earth before we left, but we don’t have-” Marlon froze, and both he and John glanced at each other.

“You have this capability?” both asked in unison.

“Yes, we do,” Miradima replied. “We can transport you across.”

“Excellent,” Marlon replied. “I have an idea.”

Stephen received a call from Marlon shortly after that time. He was in his quarters at that time, about to shower. Whatever it was must be important for him to be called now, at this hour.

He left his quarters, travelled up to the habitat central tunnel, and where there was no gravity, he hauled himself through to the Command Module.

Marlon was waiting for him, as was John.

“Close the access hatch and seal it,” Marlon said in what sounded like an order. When Stephen did so, Marlon called him across. For a brief moment, Stephen felt as if he had done something wrong. “’You seen one of these before?” Marlon asked, holding up a small object that looked suspiciously like a pistol.

“That’s a weapon,” Stephen replied.

“Sort of,” Marlon corrected him. “It’s a prototype, primarily for exploration missions such as this one. Only the Commanding Officer of each ship has one. I want you to take this and have a quick look at the settings.”

Stephen did so, and noticed that besides being incredibly lightweight, it had several settings, ranging from a light stun setting, right up to a powerful explosive charge.

“Sir?”

“Stephen, quit calling me sir,” Marlon said exasperatedly.

“Yeah, quit calling him Sir,” John added, then turned to Marlon. “Isn’t that right, sir?” he added with a snicker.

“We can tell you’re better!” Marlon quipped. “I’ll explain what’s happening right now. You’ve got that now because I’m going to trust you with it. I need someone to keep an eye on Davidson while we all have our talks on board the Kl’Deesius.”

“Kl’Deesius?” Stephen asked.

“The name of Miradima’s ship. Anyway, you’ll keep a hold of that, just in case Davidson gets aggressive. I don’t want anything to upset our discussions with our new friends,” Marlon said flatly.

“Neither do I,” Stephen replied determinedly. He looked at the weapon again. “Lowest stun setting?”

“Bit of a pacifist, aren’t we, Stephen?” Marlon retorted with a grin. “Exactly what I need, and aim at, say an arm or leg. Aiming at major organs or the head could cause permanent damage.”

Stephen nodded. “I got it.”

“Alright. John’s gonna stay behind to watch over the others. We can’t say anything before we leave in case Davidson gets wind of this, so he’s gonna wait here to tell the others when we vanish.”

“What do you mean, vanish?”

“Molecular Transport, Stephen,” Marlon replied. “The Tau Cetians can ‘beam’ us across to their ship.”

Stephen took some time to assimilate such a revolutionary concept, and it was quite clearly unheard of. Yet the other two seemed to be unaffected by the prospect of it. “Beam across? Like in those Science Fiction Movies in the late twentieth century?”

“Catches on quick,” John replied.

“Anyway, we’ll wrap this one up now, just make sure you’ve got the pistol with you when we leave, and for goodness sake, don’t let Davidson see you with it!”

“I won’t, sir.”

“Stephen?”

“Oops! Sorry sir-” Stephen stopped himself. “I’ll get it, one day!”

“Anyway, off you go, see you on the Bridge in three hours.”

Stephen left, wondering what on Earth Marlon would say to convince Davidson that nothing would be going on.

Then he wondered if it made any difference.