Ames took over, “It would have gone that way if the inhabitants of Forest had been some kind of methane breathing swamp things, but they look like us and our better nature prevailed. We know that there is a risk in being the first to arrive, but think of the books the three of us will write.” Ames was grinning at that.
“I tell ya what, Docs; there is one thing my intense research into human history has told me about meetings like this.”
Twisst and Ames looked at each other, “What is that, Lieutenant?”
“If you see a mob headed our way carrying torches and pitchforks, it’s time to leave.”
##
Wills and CeCe entered the crew-deck 5 dining hall and went to the open table along the wall to their right; the general babble quieted as they stood behind it. The room was large but still only held less than half the people aboard; the rest watched screens in other dining halls or at their duty stations.
“Good day to you all on this second day of our mission. I am Admiral Wills Reynolds. I am the Governor-General of Archer and overall commander of this mission. This is Commander Cicely Copeland; under normal circumstances she is my aide. Here, she is the Captain of this ship as she was the first-officer on it when it arrived on Archer and, as such, was the one person on Archer with experience in handling a Rhino-class starship.”
CeCe and Wills nodded at each other after her introduction and she took her seat.
“Many of you are civilians and may not be aware of the history of the Weasel. Yes, it is an old ship, but it has undergone a massive refit over the last fifteen years and its systems are better than they were originally. Along with that, the engineering department now on this ship is made up of the people that have been doing the work.
“Our plan is to get the inhabitants of the planet we call Forest evacuated back to Archer. I doubt that we will be able to get all of them; the situation with their primary has degraded faster than we expected and we were caught with few resources in position. Hopefully, more ships are on the way and there will be enough time. Once we have them removed to Archer, another, suitable planet will be selected and they will be moved there.
“You, here, will be the first to meet an alien species. They may look human but I expect problems, and I ask that you be prepared to handle them with caution and patience. The coming days are ones that you will talk about for the rest of your lives. Your children, grand children, and so-on down the line will boast that they are your descendants.”
Wills swept an arm toward another table, “I would now like to introduce you all to Doctors Victoria Treelam and Roland Stoker. They are stellar physicists that have been watching Forest. They know a great deal about the Foresters and I have asked them to set up a schedule of classes to instruct you on what to expect. Remember, you only have nine days to learn this ship and what we know about the Foresters.”
Wills and CeCe left the hall and headed for main engineering as Stoker started addressing the ship’s company.
#
Wills stopped in front of the elevator and pressed the button, “How close does this one get us to the engineering station?”
CeCe looked both ways along the curved passage, “I don’t know; I just realized that the elevators aren’t numbered above the strut platform. I’ll have Helt put someone on it.”
They wound up a quarter of the way around the central column from the engineering station; Helt was there alone. CeCe gave him the bad news as she dropped into one of the other chairs.
“Captain, I just noticed that there are no numbers on the elevators above the strut platform; could you have someone fix that?”
The questioning look on his face lasted about two seconds before he tapped on the com panel; the face of a petty officer in the maintenance section on cargo-deck 10 appeared on one of the screens.
“Cline, I want you to print a series of signs for each elevator saying what number elevator it is and what deck it is. Then I want them stuck to the wall next to each elevator on each deck. Round up whoever’s available to get it done.”
Petty officer Cline looked surprised at the request, “By God, sir, we did forget that, didn’t we? No problem, Captain, I’ll run ’em off immediately.”
“Good; thanks.”
Helt’s shoulders slumped, “I hope to Hell that we only forgot the little, merely inconvenient things.”
Wills patted him on the back as he dropped into the remaining chair, “Oops, too late to worry about that. Have you come to any conclusions about the change in the subjective effects we experienced during the isolator jumps?”
Helt rotated his chair so that he faced more toward the other two chairs that were behind him and to either side. He looked from CeCe to Wills as he organized his thoughts, “Okay, I’ve been over every data recording we keep that has anything to do with drive function or power flow; the only solid conclusion I can come to is that everything worked.”
Wills got a frustrated look on his face and Helt had to hold a hand up to forestall the protest, “I know, I know, you wanted something new and solid, but all I can give you is conjecture.”
He hesitated as he picked his next words and held his hands to form an indefinite shape in the air in front of him,
