“The LIGO detectors have encountered a lot of noise recently that they haven’t figured out how to get rid of.” Chao Me Chu had long ago passed beyond her fear of Dealing With Other People and now had broken into that most glorious realm known as Getting To Explain Things To Other People. She proceeded to scribble more and more and more equations and diagrams on the white board in front of her. “…so, by triangulating that noise I think it looks like our mystery thingy made it to here at the Earth-moon L5 point.”
“A most likely place to hide,” said Tsuna Hironaka. “As I understand, we don’t have much in the way of observation satellites in that place.”
General de Vries rose from his chair and walked forward to examine the white board. “Yep. It would be a good place to hide out.” He tilted his head. “But, now that they’re so close, is there a reason we can’t see them?”
Chao’s fear of the general had faded long ago. Now she was just trying to explain things to the man, although in his defense he didn’t need all that much explaining. “They must be screening visible light somehow, but there’s still infrared. That’s the way to go. We need to have some discreet imaging of the L5 point, and see if there’s something there that is maybe a bit warmer than the cosmic background. Or maybe colder, depending on how their stealth tech works.”
The general gave a hum of contemplation. “Radar is also an option.” He held out his hand. Chao knew what he wanted and slapped the dry-erase marker into his outstretched palm. De Vries turned to a small, unclaimed portion of the whiteboard. “Okay, let’s talk through our options for the latter. With one call I can put the entire North American continent on high alert, which will light our radars up like a gods-be-damned Christmas tree and might let our sneaky newcomers know that they’ve been made.”
He wrote out A) PING! HI THERE!
“Other options?” he asked with deceptive calm.
“Passive scanning,” said Blake. “They might actually try to come down here and get close-up…uh, whaddycall, reconnaissance. They might think that their EM shielding is good, but if we know what we’re looking for..?” He trailed off in a clear message of I’m just spitballing here, please don’t throw things at me.
But De Vries just nodded. “Right.” He then wrote out B) LET ‘EM IN, THEN NAB ‘EM. “Anything else?”
“We could do a combination of the two,” said Dr. Hironaka. “Perhaps make it appear as a training exercise? That would seem less suspicious than just, as you said, lighting us up like a damned Christmas tree for no good reason.”
She smiled at Chao’s shocked expression. It was the first time that Chao had ever heard the woman swear.
General De Vries nodded. “Yep. That’s another way.” He wrote out C) OH DEAR, IT APPEARS I AM IN THE MIDST OF AN EXERCISE. HOW UNFORTUNATE. “To be honest, I like that one the most.”
“Me too,” said Chao, even though she knew it looked like she was being a kiss-ass. “We’ll need to broadcast some discreet notifications of the, er, ‘exercise’ beforehand, just in case they’re listening in.” Even as she said it, it still dumbfounded her that they were talking about actual aliens right next to her home planet.
“We’ll take care of the necessaries,” replied De Vries. “In the meantime, y’all are off the clock for at least the next twelve hours. I want you all well fed, well rested, and full of beans…because after that, the next forty-eight hours or more are going to be very, very full of duties for y’all.”
__________
The scarab-shaped landing boat slipped itself out of its cradle on the Finger of Rithro, maneuvered around the ship’s front armor, and began its long freefall towards the blue-white globe below.
Captain Sadaf leaned over the pilot’s cradle as she peered at the forward holographic viewscreen. “Status?” Her question came out a little more harsh than she’d intended.
Kifa hunched herself in a little bit, the only sign of her stress. “It appears that the training exercise they mentioned is in effect. The radars around that continent are more active than usual, but nothing our stealth screening can’t handle.”
Sadaf patted one of Kifa’s right shoulders in an unspoken gesture of support. “Just keep it up. We need to get there.” She turned to the rear of the landing craft, a lozenge-shaped interior about fifteen meters long. The rest of the Rithro’s crew stared back at her with both fear and intense interest.
“Everybody needs to recheck and recertify their hardsuits,” she said without preamble. “The sapients on this planet are the main concern, but we also need to make sure there’s no spores, molds, bacteria, or viruses which could hurt us. Once we hit ground-side, we suit up and we stay suited up until we can test samples from this planet…” She pointed at the ever-growing planet in the forward viewscreen, “This is an entirely new biosphere. We cannot take any chances. Understood?”
She was met with a hearty collective cry of “YES, MA’AM!”
“Good.” Her horns rose in happiness, then sank back against her scalp as she realized what she had to tell them next. “Another thing. Whomever we send out to do this, er, ‘involuntary Interview’ will need to be completely disarmed. We absolutely cannot risk any sort of accident. If that means we get killed…well, that’s what we signed up for.”
To her horror (mixed with a bit of admiration) Dhuz stepped forward. “I volunteer. I’m the ship’s medic and biologist, it makes sense that I should gather samples as well as do our…interview.”
“But…” Sadaf paused and looked to the side. “You’re not trained for close-quarters combat.”
“However, I am,” said Takh with finality. The huge udyr lumbered forward, his muscles standing out in the overhead lighting as he placed a protective upper hand on Dhuz’s narrow shoulder. “Even with no weapons, I can keep her safe. In a non-threatening manner, of course.”
Sadaf looked back and met her lover’s eyes. Her species only had sapient females…auhn males were fun, but sadly not at all capable in terms of conversation. Thus, she and Dhuz had fallen into the normal relationship amongst her species. Now she realized just how much she’d be hollowed out if something happened to the ship’s doctor.
Dhuz, to her credit, did not flinch under her Captain’s worried regard. “It’s okay, my love. Everything will work out fine.”
__________
“I think we’ve found ‘em,” said Blake with a smug grin. Chao was glad to see the guy come out of his shell; he was a lot smarter than he realized, and it was time that he knew that.
“Explain,” said General De Vries, who was seated at the head of the conference room table with steepled hands; his voice was not unkind but it got across an unspoken message of you had better not be wasting my time.
“Chao gave me the idea.” The young man gestured at her, then tapped a few keys on his laptop. The screen behind him showed an animated map of the North American continent, overlaid with a patchwork of colored blobs which represented search radars. “We’re on higher alert thanks to our advertised ‘exercise’. But we haven’t seen anything yet. So, I figured we need to look for what’s not there, rather than what is. If they have some kind of EM shielding or stealth tech to prevent detection via radar, then perhaps it acts too efficiently.”
A small, darker dot appeared on the map, one that started down near Mexico and then ‘flew’ its way towards the middle of the US.
The General grinned, but it was not in humor; it was more the expression of a lion sighting a wounded wildebeest. “I see. You looked for an area of extremely low noise against the background, rather than high?”
Blake nodded.
“Very nice work, son.” De Vries leaned forward and set his forearms upon the table. “Did you find out their destination?
“Assuming they stay on their current course, it’s…um, here.” The map expanded, showing a rectangular state in the midst of the continent, then expanded further into the wilderness of the state’s center. “It’s in the middle of nowhere in Colorado. The closest town is a little blink-and-you’ll-miss-it place called Manitoba Springs.”
Dr. Newman tilted his head. “What? Why there?”
“It might be that they wanted a nice, out-of-the-way place to do some scanning of our broadcasts,” said Ryan.
“They’re an alien species,” added Dr. Hironaka. “It is unwise to assume human-style intentions for their actions.”
“Well. I for one surely do intend to ask them their intentions,” said General De Vries as he stood with an implacable air. Then he faltered and leaned forward, putting his fists on the table before turning to Chao. “Ms. Chao, you are a civilian. I have neither the authority nor the right to ask you to put yourself into harm’s way. But I am asking. I’m going to scramble an interception team to find this potential craft, and I want you embedded with them.”
Chao’s breath seized in her throat. The chance to be among one of the first to interact with aliens? It was a literal chance of a lifetime. But then again, that interaction might involve an exchange of gunfire. Or they might have magic technology that just turned her and those around her into ash. She felt as if she should at least give a token protest. “Sir, I am not trained in anything remotely resembling first contact protocols.”
“Show me someone who is,” replied the general with a wry smile. “You’re good with math, that’s for sure. We need to get a mutual language established ASAP, and that’s our best avenue to do so.”
She stood on now-shaky legs. “Still, I’m not at all qualified for any sort of military action. I wouldn’t know one end of a gun from the other.”
De Vries laughed. “Oh, I know. I’m not asking you to personally wield a weapon. The people I’m sending with you know all about that kind of thing. They might be a bit rough around the edges, but they’re solid. I’d send ‘em into hell itself to rescue me. And as to what this is, it’s a scouting action rather than a full-on attack. We need intel, badly.”
Chao felt the silence gather in the room as she pondered her decision. Finally she nodded. “Okay, sir.”
“Good!” The general pulled out his ever-present smartphone. “Agent Mudrak? I’ve got someone who needs a fast trip to Andrews.”
Now that she’d made her decision, Chao’s brain started again and immediately seized up. “Sir? I’ll need to pack before I leave or…or…what the hell do I bring?”
“Just bring yourself,” replied De Vries. “I’ll make sure you’ve got the appropriate kit waiting for you when you get there.”
__________
Chao clung with white-knuckled hands at the harness strapped tight around her. The aircraft she was now ensconced within bounced around in an apparent attempt to shake itself apart. It was her first time flying military, of course, and the lack of creature comforts was stark. The utilitarian interior of the…she thought Agent Mudrak had called it a C-130, but maybe she’d mis-heard…the interior of the whatever it was utterly reeked of old oil and hydraulic fluid and who knew what else. The air within was also filled with an unholy drone. She was very glad that, upon meeting the group of soldiers paired with her, their first act had been to hand her some ear protection.
In spite of the turbulence, the soldiers walked around as if nothing was happening. They checked their gear, guns, and armor with the air of it all being no big deal. She’d been shoved on board so fast that she’d never had a chance to get their names. One of them, a big muscular guy with bright green eyes and red hair, looked over at her and smiled. He wore a bushy red beard as well, which surprised her. Weren’t soldiers supposed to be clean-shaven? She gave the big man a wan smile back, hoping that she wasn’t about to lose her lunch all over herself.
The big redhead rose and strolled over to her seat. He sat next to her and stuck out a hand. “I’m Sergeant Shaw, ma’am. Y’all can call me Mack.” The sergeant had to all but scream to be heard over the unholy noise of the aircraft around them. It made Chao appreciate the soundproofing that went into commercial jetliners.
She shook the proffered hand. “Chao Me Chu,” she yelled back. “You can call me Chao.” She gestured to the rocking environment around them. “Is this normal?”
“Sure is!” replied Mack with aplomb. “But don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, ma’am, these Hercs are built double-tough.” He reached under his seat and retrieved a few folded paper bags which had an obvious purpose. He handed them to Chao with a wink. “Here, just in case. I’ve used these plenty of times myself.”
Chao received the barf bags with a grateful nod. In the meantime, Mack pulled out a map of Colorado. He pointed at a point almost in the center of the rectangular state. “Current plan is we land here, at Pederson. They’ll have your kit waiting for you there. Helmet, armor, comms. We’ll get y’all geared up, then transfer to a Blackhawk to take us to this mystery location.” He moved his finger to the point which Blake had triangulated earlier. “After that…well ma’am, I guess that’s your call.” His green eyes fixed upon her. “Don’t suppose you’d care to tell me what this is all about?”
She felt a twist of surprise in her guts, a welcome relief from the impending nausea. “They didn’t tell you?”
“No, ma’am. All I know is I got me a general on the Joint Chiefs of Staff who told me ‘n my peeps to get a subject matter expert…that’s you…to this here point on the map.” He stabbed again at the area near Manitoba Springs. “He also told me that if you get so much as a scratch on ya he’s gonna make me wear my ass for a hat.” Mack winked at her again. “I kinda like my ass where it is, Chao. So any additional information you have will be very helpful.”
She paused, uncertain as to how to proceed.
“That particular general is in the US Space Force,” continued Mack. “Dunno why he’d have us doing a ground mission. Is it some sort of crashed satellite?”
“No.”
“Huh.” Mack’s cheerful face relaxed in contemplation. “Yanno, I’m not one of those doofuses who believes in Roswell and all that. But knowing what we’re up against would be nice.”
“I don’t know if we’re ‘up against’ anything,” said Chao. “We…there might be something there, might not be. We might wind up just wandering around in the woods like idiots.”
Mack leaned back, his face thoughtful. “When you say something, do you mean some stupid bullshit like that Chinese balloon from a while ago? I mean, I get needing to get ahold of that before the civvies do but this feels like there’s a lot more urgency.”
She decided to go for it. After all, these people would soon be watching her back. They needed the full debrief. “Not something. Someone.”
“Eh?” Mack’s puzzled expression suddenly went slack as the penny dropped. “Holy shit. Really?”
“Maybe. Like I said, it’s inconclusive.” She sighed, a sound totally missed in the din of the aircraft’s interior. “Okay. Gather everyone around, I’ll fill you all in on what’s been going on.”
__________
Kifa wriggled in her species’ version of a relieved sigh as she stepped off of her control saddle. “We are now landed, Captain. As near as I can tell we weren’t detected, in spite of the increased EM emissions from this country’s advertised exercise.”
Captain Sadaf nodded her horns. “Excellent work.” She turned to the rest of the crew. “Are we all ready? Once we crack the entrance, we won’t be able to get out of our suits until we get the all-clear.”
She received a chorus of various types of assent from her crew. “Okay, then. Let’s get started. Don your hardsuits, and I’m going to personally check each of you before we open the door.”
__________
Sadaf had done this many times before, but there was still a little thrill along her spine as the landing boat’s door hissed open. It lowered, forming a ramp to the ground beneath. She wished she could smell the air of this new planet, but right now she was breathing filtered, recycled air from her hardsuit. Various implements inserted in various uncomfortable places meant that she could wear the armored carapace sort-of-comfortably for many days; its outer surface was nanoengineered to shed any pollen or spores she might come in contact with, making the suit easier to decontaminate.
The Captain wasn’t planning to stay outside, but she was the one in charge and she’d at least be the one to lead her team out onto a new planet. If some giant predator appeared out of the brush and ganked her, well at least it was her and not her crew.
She walked down the ramp, scanning for any hostile fauna. Her suit’s imagers extended her vision well into the infrared and ultraviolet, not to mention it had a subtle ‘sonar’ function to detect movement. Thus, for the moment, Sadaf felt safe in exposing herself.
Huge growths reached into the night sky around the small clearing holding their boat; they branched out in interesting fractal ways with small green needles at the very ends of those branches. The big growths were interspersed with smaller plantlife. A thick coating of frozen crystalline whiteness overlaid the ground; she figured it was most likely water-snow. Nothing moved out to the limits of her scanners; it didn’t appear that this planet’s biosphere was intent on ending her life for now. She bounced on her digitigrade feet, judging the new planet’s gravity. It was a little higher than the Coalition norm, but it should be acceptable for any of her crew. Sadaf brought up her wrist-mounted computer and consulted its holographic display. Their quarry’s house showed up as a beacon on the topographic map; it looked to be something like an hour’s hike from this point.
First things first, however. They needed to get some biological, soil, and air samples to check for any possible deadly diseases or allergens. Even if the ‘interview’ turned into a complete disaster they’d have something to show for it. She turned to the open door. “Dhuz, time to go to work.”
__________
In the gloom of the half-moon above, Matt munched on an energy bar and thought about the life choices which had led him to this moment. He lay prone, clad once more in his camouflaged snowsuit with an accompanying mask and a pair of night-vision goggles strapped to his head. For the moment the latter were pushed up onto his forehead; he didn’t like relying entirely on such things, plus they tended to ‘flatten’ one’s perception and make it more difficult to gauge distance or spacing. He’d start using them when it became necessary.
He heard a distant growl of an engine, a car making its way to the parking spot he’d picked out as the most likely for his supposed ambushers to choose. He saw a flash of headlights through the trees, lights that became suddenly extinguished along with the engine noise.
He tucked away his half-eaten bar while he finished chewing and swallowing his current mouthful. The biggest question was what, exactly, to do with these assholes. His current position was behind a stump on a little rise overlooking the approach from the parking lot to his house. If he made a positive ID on them, he could drill them all within seconds…but that would be straight-up murder. In spite of his earlier threat to them, it was far too likely that their bodies would be found. Ernie wasn’t an idiot; he’d know it was Matt who’d put them down.
So his current plan was to track them. If they approached his house, then they were indeed the jackasses he was waiting for. He’d let ‘em blunder around inside his dwelling for a bit, then when they came back out he’d at least try to get the idiots to drop their weapons. If they did, he’d zip-tie them and give Ernie a call. If they didn’t? Well, they were the ones in his house pointing guns at him. That would be that, then, wouldn’t it?
He saw a bit of movement through the trees and slipped his goggles down to get a better look.
__________
Dhuz hummed in pleasure as she scooped a soil sample into another self-sealing container. She jotted down on her wrist computer the container’s ID as well as where she’d collected it from. She had a growing stack of other containers set near the boat’s entrance; when this was all over (hopefully soon) she’d have a lot of data to churn through. But that was a wonderful notion to her; she was at her happiest when working.
She mused on what to take next. She’d gotten samples of all the plant growths, a few air samples, and this was her third soil sample. Dhuz wished there was at least a small creature of some sort to capture; the Coalition’s general experience was that fauna were the most likely carriers of dangerous agents. Part of the planned ‘involuntary interview’ was that they’d get skin swabs and, if the human was agreeable, a few skin scrapings as well. She’d have to come up with other possible samples on the jump. Blood was an obvious one, but it might be difficult to get the human’s permission. Waste matter, perhaps?…
Dhuz’s internal monologue cut short as her suit emitted a soft ping in her ear, alerting her to movement not too distant. She closed her map in surprise and looked up. Four figures outlined in red moved through the far-off underbrush. They were much closer than expected, perhaps a few minutes hike from their current position.
She froze, making sure that the distant figures continued their creeping and didn’t show any sign of having spotted her. Dhuz carefully walked backwards up the ramp, into the boat’s interior. The crew’s postures showed that they’d picked up her sudden tension. She made sure to also nudge her precious cargo of samples inside.
“There are four humans, about two hundred yards distant in that direction.” She pointed as she spoke, not bothering to whisper. All of their suit’s comms were interlinked, and there was no chance of her voice being heard by anyone outside. “They’re single file. What the frinx are they doing out here?”
“They must be out for a night hike!” said Tofa with enthusiasm. “This is even better, we can interview four of them!”
Dhuz knew that Sadaf had a long, nasty-looking scar on her right thigh, one which she’d received many years ago when making contact with a seedworld. In spite of that world being filled with members of her own kind, it turned out they’d resorted to religious fascism and tried to kill her and her team. In spite of readily available regeneration, the Captain had elected to keep the scar as a reminder to never, ever let her guard down.
“Sometimes it’s better to be cautious,” was all Sadaf said in reply.
“Are they carrying weapons?” asked Takh.
“Not that I could tell,” said Dhuz. “But they’re far enough away to make it hard to be sure.”
Tofa waved a dismissive pedipalp. “From what we’ve seen, the natives only have slug-throwers. Our hardsuit armor can easily withstand that.”
“Are you willing to bet your life on that?” asked the Captain.
Takh took a long look out the open door as he also scanned the four newcomers. “I agree with Dhuz. They do not appear to be carrying anti-materiel weaponry; those would definitely show up in their outline, being bulkier and longer.”
Sadaf took in and let out a deep breath. “All right. We still only send two. I profusely apologize, Dhuz, but I’m taking your place.” She held up a hand to forestall Dhuz’s protest. “I have more combat training than you. I was willing to risk it when it was two on one, now it’s two on four.”
Dhuz slumped a bit. Sacred Mothers, Sadaf was right. “Just be careful.”
Sadaf gave a throaty chuckle and tapped her right thigh.
“Don’t worry, Dhuz,” said Takh. He gave a dismissive click of his mandibles. “I’ll be able to handle them, even if they do turn violent.”
__________
Declan realized now that he hadn’t brought the right boots. He’d opted for some lower-cut hiking boots that felt good on his feet; unfortunately, they were not really made for trudging through significant amounts of snow. Bits of the frozen crap kept working its way down around his feet. On the other hand, he’d done as Harvey had instructed and worn some nice thick wool socks. It kept the worst of the cold and wet out, but it still wasn’t fun. At least the rest of him was warm; the four of them all wore black balaclavas and decent winter clothing.
One thing was for sure; he was glad that Harvey had drilled them a bit on wearing the damned goggles and carrying around their various weapons. Even so, his neck was killing him from the heavy piece of tech now pushed up on his forehead. His rifle’s sling cut into his shoulder in an annoying fashion, and for the millionth time he shrugged to reset it.
Declan figured that, once this thing was done, he was out. He’d find someplace warm…maybe New Mexico? Somewhere that didn’t contain revenge-driven drug lords. A place where he could just settle down and do crime like a normal person.
Vincente stalked along about five yards in front of him. The tweeker was even more jittery than usual, although at least he was keeping his damn pistol pointed in front of him instead of waving it all over the place. Declan suspected that Harvey had pulled him aside and threatened grievous bodily injury if he flagged anyone on the team.
Javier crunched along through the snow behind Declan, toting the shotgun that was now his favorite thing ever. Bringing up the rear was the hulking form of Harvey, who sported a vicious-looking rifle with a familiar banana-shaped magazine. Declan was no gun expert, but he was pretty sure it was an AK-47.
Vincente’s head suddenly snapped around to their right. Declan gave a silent sigh. Dammit, what now?
The tweeker pointed his pistol in that same direction. “I just heard something. Over there.”
Declan opened his mouth, fully intending to tell Vincente to stop being a damned idiot. But then he heard a crunching of snow and rustling of bushes from the right. He could feel the sudden tension in the air as the two men behind him heard it as well.
“Goggles down,” said Harvey.
Declan dutifully pulled down the uncomfortable thing in front of his eyes and pressed the ‘on’ switch.