Day 00001 Mission Nilex
His monitor lit up to show Hangar 2 as he took another bite from the bar. Canaisis was correct—the people of the Nilex Corporation had been industrious. The locker room was filled with people lining up into the cryo room as they waited to enter. The line flowed as people stepped into the cryo beds to lie down, and couples took a moment to hug each other and say their goodbyes before they too lay down. The glass covers slid into place and the cold sleep process took over.
Outside in the hangar, many others worked quickly to arrange the cargo into groupings, placing strap nets over them and magnetic anchors to hold them tight against the floor. Gareth spotted Ahmid and a woman standing to one side. Ahmid appeared to be giving instructions to a group pushing a large piece of equipment levitating just off the floor with Canaisis' help.
A nuclear generator, Gareth realized. «Canaisis, is there fuel in that reactor?»
«No, Captain,» she responded with indignation in her voice, «the fuel is sealed pellets, which are secured in storage containers. It's quite safe.»
«Sorry, Canaisis. I had to ask.»
«It's quite alright, Captain. You're doing your job. It's also my job to remind you that you're overtired and need to rest.» Her voice sounded concerned.
«I know, I know. I'll go to sleep in a few hours. Throw the monitor image up to the wall and let's have a look at these seed pods again.»
A large picture of a past era's sailing ship cutting across the ocean waves with a storm behind it disappeared, and the hangar bay appeared. On his desk, the seed pod specs lit up his monitor. "Canaisis, let's have the recordings of the one that launched from the lunar surface."
"Aye, Captain."
The image appeared as it had when they were still a distance from Luna. It zoomed in to show the seed pod in a crater, sitting upon what was clearly a launch pad. Structures and buildings surrounded it.
"Fast forward, please."
One of the structures next to the seed pod was a crane, Gareth realized. It moved containers from the surface, up to the mid-section of the pod. Suddenly its movements zipped back and forth as the replay sped up. As he watched, the angle of his view changed as Canaisis came into orbit around the moon. His view returned to normal as the seed pod was lost to the edge of the crater. The dark side of the moon rotated past with dots of light sprinkled in clusters across the surface. More so than from his days before launch... much more so.
The day-side rotated into view as Canaisis orbited. When the crater containing the seed pod rose up over the horizon, Canaisis zoomed in to show the whole crater. The seed pod sat there, but there wasn't much to see, so he focused on the surrounding buildings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Land vehicles zipped out to the pod and back again in fast forward. He couldn't see anything that looked military or like weapons.
As the view rotated out of view again, Gareth sat back. Day-side and night-side took turns several times, but nothing changed. Then the pod launched upwards, its attitude jets overcoming Luna's one-sixth gravity. He could see the pod clearly, zoomed-in as he was. The hull appeared smooth, with nothing resembling a weapon port on its surface.
«Okay, Canaisis, that's enough,» he thought. «I assume the ones in place look similar in outward appearance?»
«Yes, Captain. They appear all to be identical,» she answered in his mind.
«Alright. Let's go over the design specs. Let's look at the areas where it would be most convenient to place an explosive large enough to do us harm. Then let's look over the seed pods in orbit using the X-ray spectrum. Is there enough background radiation for us to get a good look passively?»
«I cannot use galactic radiation due to our close proximity to the sun. However, if I move them until the sun is behind them, I could see quite clearly.»
«Will our orbit allow us such an opportunity without moving them?»
«We'll have one opportunity for such conditions, Captain, in five hours. I'll be able to get a good look at four of them at that time.»
«That will have to do. Look for discrepancies. I don't want any surprises.» The internal explosion that had almost taken his life many years ago remained a crisp memory, as if it had happened only yesterday.
«I remember, Captain. I'll have no such surprises on me again.» Her voice was cold.
Gareth looked at the wall monitor over his desk, at the view of all the containers in the hangar. He didn't ask the obvious question on his mind because Canaisis would have examined everything about them already, including a spectrum analysis of the paint on the outside surfaces. She was no doubt analyzing every molecule captured in the air filtration system, and probably going over some things he hadn't even thought of.
He could sense Canaisis observing him. She was waiting for him to speak, but she probably had a good idea of his thoughts already. He wasn't going to insult her by asking.
Returning to his desk monitor, he thought, «Alright, let's look at the blueprints, Canaisis.»
The monitor lit up, and he examined the diagrams, scrolling through page after page. After a while, he thought, «Have they handed over control of the ones in position yet?»
«Yes, Captain,» Canaisis said in cheerful voice. «I've been going over the systems and getting familiar with the programming. As far as I can see, nothing is amiss.»
«Start with the first one, then. Take control, dump the fuel as propellant to bring it in and get it between us and the sun slowly. Take as long as you need to get a good look at its insides. Then dock it with the hull sockets.»
«Aye, Captain.»
Gareth spent another hour scrolling through the blueprints before he leaned back into his chair, stretched his arms, and sighed. "We aren't getting anywhere, Canaisis," he said aloud and got up, stretching his back. He'd been sitting much too long.
Canaisis remained silent as he headed to the break room, but he knew she was observing. He ran what he'd learned about the seed pods through his mind while making more tea. This time, he reached for a zero-G container bulb, inserted it into the filling machine, and poured the tea into it. The zero-G bulb expanded into a large teardrop shape as it filled. He removed the bulb, took a sip from the tip, and nodded in satisfaction. Then he exited the room.
He strode to the transport shaft, entered, and floated in the zero-G. His clothes snugged up around him as he was centered in the shaft. Taking another sip of his tea, he thought, «Hangar 2 observation balcony, please.»
«Aye, Captain. I've completed the analysis of the biologicals and materials on the seed pod. I see nothing that could possibly pose a problem. Of course, if their listing is accurate.»
«Thank you, Canaisis, I didn't think we would, but I had to be sure.»
Doorways flowed past, as he moved through the shaft and took another sip of his tea, the bulb warm in his hand. He was tired, but suspicion had his thoughts running through one possibility after another.
Something Yonshue said had set off alarms in his head—he couldn't say what. Something about "The People". He couldn't see the angle the sense of danger was coming from. It wasn't directed at Canaisis per se. Was it just his misunderstanding of this Earth's cultural differences? Was he misreading the subconscious cues? There was something he didn't understand at work here.
His thoughts turned to Ahmid and the Nilex Corporation as the approach of the next opening slowed down. Two thousand-odd employees just decided to immigrate to a new star system? No, they didn't just decide. They'd planned this and waited for Canaisis to arrive, and they'd gone around their own government.
He stepped out of the shaft and walked down the hallway to the balcony. Drinking again from his shrinking Zero bulb, he stood before the hand rail and looked across the floor at all the crates and equipment, noting how much had been accomplished. He found Ahmid standing with that same woman before another group, talking as they secured a stack of prefab space-habitat panels. It looked like they might be done with time to spare. The hangar was huge, but a good portion of its floor was consumed by neat piles of equipment and supplies. Hangar 3 next door would hold almost a hundred-and-fifty shuttles by now.
The people were working swiftly and efficiently, Gareth noted. No one seemed to be slacking off—which was odd because, in his experience, there was always one in every group. This group was different, but then... he was from a different time. Maybe Earth of this time had changed for the better. He couldn't let his preconceptions cloud his judgement.
For a good while, he observed from his vantage point high over the hangar. Eventually, the woman pointed him out to Ahmid. Ahmid turned to face him and bowed low before turning back to the workers. Gareth sipped the last of his tea, his thoughts running in unproductive circles, then he put the shriveled Zero-G bulb in a pocket of his long coat. Straightening himself, he rested his hand on his sidearm.
«Time to go talk to Ahmid again,» he thought. «Canaisis, any word from Yonshue?»
«No communication so far.»
«Hmm... I didn't take him for the quiet type. What do you think, Canaisis?»
«You're better suited to make an assessment, Captain. I've run a voice stress analysis of your conversation. There is an indication of stress in several sentences.»
«Oh? Replay the conversation at that moment, please.»
The conversation played in his head, his own voice first. "The request for seed pod delivery was sent when we arrived. This is something Canaisis finds within her Mission parameters, and we will see it done. Is there something new you wish to bring to my attention?"
"No, nothing new. But your itinerary states that the seed pods will be delivered after the stop at New Jordan. We the People would like to request that you deliver the seed pods first."
"That would be extremely inefficient and an incredible addition to time. Ship-board and real time."
"I know, Captain. I understand. But in this case, it serves the People's interests. By seeding these planets early, you can make them habitable hundreds of years sooner. This serves Humanity and your Mission, am I not correct? It will also appease the People's ire at the Nilex Corporation. Since they will be in cold storage, you cannot say it will matter when they arrive at New Jordan. The People are willing to give Nilex Corporation an extension of time thirty-three percent greater than the amount of time delayed."
"Have you communicated this offer to the Nilex Corporation?"
The recording stopped playing.
He mulled the conversation over in his head. «At what point was the stress highest, Canaisis?»
«When he justified that we deliver the seed pods before our layover at New Jordan, Captain.»
«What about when we discussed delivery of the seed pods to orbit?»
«No stress indicated, Captain.»
Perhaps he'd been looking at this from the wrong angle. The seed pods might be exactly what they appeared to be. But if not the seed pods, then what? How could delivering the Nilex Corporation first be a problem? After some thought, he came to no conclusion. Sighing, he turned to leave the observation deck.
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