Lovelacehad arrived at the small, verdant moon which theyassumed to be Tolu. When Jacoway dropped out of L-speed, Ricciordered him to establish a wide orbit and instructed Evans toattempt contact with the inhabitants using all frequencies. Afterten minutes of concerted effort, she announced, “No response,Captain.”
“Keep trying,” Ricci said.“What do you have for us, Lateef?”
On the bridge, all headsturned to the science station, awaiting Lateef’s report on sensorreadings.
“Definite life-signs – allover this world.” The tension was palpable in anticipation of hernext statement. “Many of them human…hundreds of themhuman.”
Decker felt a familiarmixture of curiosity and excitement, edged with apprehension,course though her veins. She flashed a grin at Con, recognizing thespark of a similar mix of emotions in his eyes.
“Why aren’t theyanswering?” Ricci asked, to no one in particular.
“Perhaps they cannot,”Lindstrom said. “Considering that they were pleading for help, thatis.”
“I don’t know why not. Acouple of days ago, they could send out an ultra-sophisticatedmessage; you’d think they could answer a direct hail.” The captainturned to Lateef. “Any signs of the technology which sent out thatFTL message?”
“Very few technologicalreadings from anywhere on this world— wait, this could be…yes!There’s a ship on the surface – a huge one.” Aqila frowned at herscreen for a moment, before saying, “It’s damaged, I think. I’mreading isomerization, metal oxides, elemental phosphorus…and thedata for the surrounding terrain are concordant with copiousamounts of ash….” She turned towards Ricci. “Captain, that shipalmost certainly crashed on this moon.”
“Well, that’s consistentwith the distress call – Maddox spoke of an attack.” He rubbed hishand across his forehead, asking, “Are the human life-signsconcentrated around the ship?”
“Mostly – but a few arescattered over a wider area.”
“Does the ship still havepower?”
Lateef had turned back toher screen and reported, “Yes, it’s actually still broadcastingthat message.”
“What brought itdown?”
“Hard to say – there’s nosigns of technology, let alone weaponry, consistent with an attackanywhere on this world. Thousands of alien life-signs, a few nearthe wreckage – but unless their technology is unlike anything we’veseen before – nothing that would explain the reports of anattack.”
Decker watched Ricci motionLindstrom over to his chair; while the Command Unit conferred inindistinct murmurs, Decker leaned over towards Con. “Think they’regonna let us go down? To take a look around, I mean.”
He whispered back, “I don’tknow. You read the captain better than me. What’re yougetting?”
After studying her fatherfor a moment, Naiche turned back to Con. “I think he’s wavering. Wejust need to come up with—”
Both tactical officersstarted slightly when Ricci suddenly said, “Kennedy – what’s yourtake on this? Still think it’s a trap?”
“Could be, sir,” Conanswered. “The best way to find out, is to send a small, focusedTactical team—”
“This is really weird,”Lateef broke in to announce in a puzzled voice. They all turned tofind her frowning deeply at her data screen.
“What?” Ricci barked.“What’s really weird?”
Lateef brought up aholographic data screen, and pointed at it, saying, “Look at thesensor data. There’s a large blank region here, about a kilometerfrom that ship.”
Lindstrom asked, “Blank –meaning no signs of life?”
“Blank as in nodata whatsoever.”She looked at the captain and first officer. “The most likelyexplanation is that this moon’s indigenous population has some kindof cloaking technology.”
Decker shared adisappointed look with Kennedy, both recognizing that their chancesof an immediate trip to Tolu had dropped precipitously.
Ricci was nodding whilestudying the data screen. “Well, that would certainly explain whywe can’t detect their weaponry, and why that ship ended up where itdid.” He asked Aqila, “Can you penetrate the cloak in some way? Weneed to find out what they’re hiding before sending anyonedown.”
Lateef laboredindustriously for five minutes before announcing, “Nothing at mycurrent disposal is working – not even the lepton-focused sensorarrays. But I’ll get a team on it right away. Unlike thedielectric-barrier around Saclaten-c, this is an artificialphenomenon so we should be able to crack it.” She looked at Ricciand Lindstrom. “That being said, it might take us some time. Couldbe several hours – or longer.”
“Better get started, then.And get whatever help you need from Engineering,” Ricci ordered. Helooked at the rest of the team. It being very late inLovelace’s day, headvised, “You might as well turn yourstations over to beta-shift. Get some chow and rest. I want usready for whatever Scientific finds down there.”
***
Later that night, Naichewas sleepless in her bunk, though Tal was comfortingly spoonedbehind her. She was contemplating, not the puzzle of Tolu, but themore personal conundrum of her future with Jacoway. In truth, thediscussion with her father had only served to harden her resolve tocontinue on the path she’d long envisioned. But it had alsoenhanced her insight into the depth of the loss she was facing.Since the Tactical leads could be called to duty at any time, sheknew sleep would be a better choice than these ruminations, but asusual her insomnia got the better of her.
Naiche hadn’t realized thatTal was also awake until he suddenly murmured in her ear, “Can’tsleep?”
She turned towards him,saying, “Nope. Why are youup?”
“I think it’s those wavesof anxiety that you’re buffeting me with. They woke me up.” Shechuckled softly and he asked, “Worried about thismission?”
It was a welcome feint, soDeck grabbed it. “Who wouldn’t be? I mean, we’ve faced a lot ofstrange situations but this is one for the record books. We havehumans apparently present and in trouble but not answering ourhails, a downed ship, and cloaking technology hiding…God knowswhat. And all that’s in addition to the real puzzle – how the hell did wehear a message from a long-dead human?” Jacoway simply nodded, soshe asked, “What do you think is going on?”
After a moment’shesitation, Tal said, “It’s a little far-fetched…but I’ve beenwondering if we’ve somehow made contact with a parallel universe.One where the Valiant wasn’t destroyed.”
“Wow – that would beamazing.” Struck by the implications, Naiche mused, “If theValiant wasn’tdestroyed, they would’ve been able to help the Intrepid…which could mean humansnever made contact with the Pakarahova. So, no Eternals and – nowar.” Her voice thickened as she added, “In that universe…my mothermight still be alive.”
They were both silent,considering the possibilities. Finally, Jacoway asked, “Do youthink
