The Gentle Giants of Ganymede

'Aye aye, sir.'

'Excuse me,' Hayter muttered. He moved over to the empty seat in front of one of the consoles, sat down and flipped its main screen into life. Hunt and Danchekker took a few paces to bring them a short distance behind him. Over his shoulder they could see the features of the ship #146;s radar officer materialize.

'Something unusual going on, Captain,' he said. 'Unidentified object closing on Ganymede. Range eighty-two thousand miles; speed fifty miles per second but reducing; bearing two-seven-eight by oh-one-six solar. On a direct-approach course. ETA computed at just over thirty minutes. Strong echoes at quality seven. Reading checked and confirmed.'

Hayter stared back at him for a second. 'Do we have any ships scheduled in that sector?'

'Negative, sir.'

'Any deviations from scheduled flight plans?'

'Negative. All ships checked and accounted for.'

'Trajectory profile?'

'Inadequate data. Being monitored.'

Hayter thought for a moment. 'Stay live and continue reporting.' Then he turned to the watch officer: 'Call the duty bridge crew to stations. Locate the mission director and alert him to stand by for a call to the bridge.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Radar.' Hayter directed his gaze back at the screen on the panel in front of him. 'Slave optical scanners to LRS. Track on UFO bearing and copy onto screen three, J5. ' Hayter paused for a second, then addressed the watch officer again. 'Alert traffic control. All launches deferred until further notice. Arrivals scheduled at J5 within the next sixty minutes are to stand off and await instructions.'

'Do you want us to leave?' Hunt asked quietly. Hayter glanced around at him.

'No, that #146;s okay,' he said. 'Stick around. Maybe you #146;ll see some action.'

'What is it?' Danchekker asked.

'I don #146;t know.' Hayter #146;s face was serious. 'We #146;ve never had anything like this before.'

Tension rose as the minutes ticked by. The duty crew appeared quickly in ones and twos and took up their positions at the consoles and panels on the bridge. The atmosphere was quiet but charged with suspense as the well-oiled machine readied itself. . . and waited.

The telescopic image resolved by the optical scanners was distinct, but impossible to interpret: circular overall, it appeared to possess four thin protuberances in cruciform, with one pair somewhat long and slightly thicker than the other. It could have been a disk, or a spheroid, or perhaps it was something else seen end-on. There was no way of telling.

Then the first view came in via the laser link to Jupiter Four , orbiting Callisto. Because of the relative positions of Ganymede and Callisto, and of the rapidly diminishing range of the intruder, the telescopes on the Jupiter Four obtained an oblique view from a position some distance from its projected course, to Ganymede.

The observers aboard J5 gasped as the picture being transmitted from J4 appeared on the screen. Vegas, the only ships intended for fight through planetary atmospheres, were the only UNSA vessels in the vicinity that were constructed to a streamlined design; this ship was clearly not a Vega. Those sweeping lines and delicately curved, gracefully balanced fins had not been conceived by any designer of Earth.

Some of the color drained from Hayter #146;s face as he stared incredulously at the screen and the full implications of the sight dawned on him. He swallowed hard, then surveyed the astounded faces surrounding him.

'Man all stations on the command floor,' he ordered in a voice approaching a whisper. 'Summon the mission director to the bridge immediately.'

Chapter Four

Framed in the large wall display screen on the bridge of Jupiter Five , the alien craft hung in a void against a background of stars turning almost imperceptibly. It was almost an hour since the new arrival had slowed down to rest relative to the command ship and had gone into a parallel orbit over Ganymede. The two ships were standing just over five miles apart and every detail of the craft was now easily discernible. There was little to interrupt the sleek contours of its hull and fin surfaces and no identification markings or insignia of any kind. There were, however, several patches of discoloration that might have been the remnants of markings which had been abraded, or perhaps, scorched. In fact the whole appearance of the craft somehow gave the impression of wear and deterioration suffered in the course of a long, hard voyage. Its outer skin was rough and pitted and was from end to end disfigured by indistinct streaks and blotches, as if the whole ship had at some time been exposed to severe heat.

Jupiter Five had been the scene of frenzied activity ever since the first meaningful pictures came in. There had been no indication so far of whether or not the craft carried a crew or, if it did, what the intentions of that crew might be. Jupiter Five carried no weapons or defensive equipment of any kind; this was one eventuality the mission planners had not considered seriously.

Every position on the command floor was now manned and throughout the ship every crew member was at his assigned emergency station. All bulkheads had been closed and the main drives brought to a state of standby readiness. Communications with the bases on the surface of Ganymede and from other UNSA ships in the vicinity had ceased, in order to avoid revealing their existence and their locations. Those daughter ships of J5 capable of being made flight-ready within the time available had dispersed into the surrounding volume of space; a few were under remote control from J5 , to be used as ramships if necessary. Signals beamed at the alien craft evoked a response, but J5 #146;s computers were unable to decode it into anything intelligible. Now there was nothing else to do but wait.

Throughout all the excitement, Hunt and Danchekker had stood virtually dumbstruck. They were the only people present on the bridge who were privileged to enjoy a grandstand view of everything that happened, without the distraction of defined duties to perform. They were, perhaps, the only ones able to reflect deeply on the significance of the events that were unfolding.

After the discoveries of first the Lunarians and then the Ganymeans, the notion that other races besides Man had evolved to an advanced technological level was firmly accepted. But this was something different. Just five miles away from them was not some leftover relic from another age or the hulk of an ancient mishap. There was a functional, working machine that had come from another world. Right at that moment, it was under the control and guidance of some form of intelligence; it had been maneuvered surely and unhesitatingly to its present orbit and it had responded promptly to J5 #146;s signals. Whether it contained occupants or not, these events added up to the first-ever interaction between modern Man and an intelligence that was not of his planet. The moment was unique; however long history might continue to unfold, it could never be repeated.

Shannon stood in the center of the bridge gazing up at the main screen. Hayter was standing beside him, running his eye over the data reports and other images being presented on the row of auxiliary screens below it. One of them showed a view of Gordon Storrel, the deputy mission director, standing by in the emergency command center with his own staff of officers. The outgoing signal to Earth was still operating, carrying complete details of everything that happened.

'Analyzers have just detected a new component,' the communications officer called out from his station on one side of the bridge. Then he announced a change in the pattern of signals being picked up from the alien craft. 'Tight-beam transmission resembling K-Band radar. PRF twenty-two point three four gigahertz. Unmodulated.'

Another minute or so dragged endlessly by. Then, another voice: 'New radar contact. Small object has separated from alien ship. Closing on J5. Ship maintaining position.'

A wave of alarm, felt rather than sensed directly, swept over the observers on the bridge. If the object was a missile there was little that they could do; the nearest ramship was fifty miles away and would require half a