The Celaran Probe (Parker Interstellar Travels Book 7), Page 3

  “I wonder what these colorful sections are,” she said. It occurred to her any surface feature could prove harmless, or deadly.

  “They look like long triangles with the corners cut off,” he said.

  “Hexagonal. Feels very Celaran, doesn’t it?”

  “Definitely Celaran. All these weird angles like those houses.”

  Siobhan slowed relative to the object, choosing a course over its surface from five meters away. She gently jetted over toward one of the bright sections. Caden slowed as well, though he took his own path, increasing the distance between them. Another of her attendants rotated out as the original one returned.

  “Let’s try some other spots first,” Caden said. “I see small hexagonal pieces up there that are about the size of the doors at the other facility.”

  Siobhan looked at the beauty of the bright section. She saw it had a regular pattern of small holes like a screen. Something about the color both intrigued her and warned her away.

  To Celarans the bright parts could be the safest. If this thing is even designed to have Terrans or Celarans jetting around it in space.

  “Okay, I suppose that’s logical,” she said, disappointment in her voice. She maneuvered her driver to thrust her in his direction. Suddenly, her attendant warned her of movement. She set the helmet’s view to observe the activity.

  Something approached her from overhead at five o’clock. It was a dart-shaped lavender object. She told her helmet feed to lock onto the dart.

  “What is that? Heads up, something right there!” Siobhan piped the interloper through to their shared tactical. She magnified the view. Its pointy front had shallow bulges or ridges. She decided its nose was actually formed from several jointed legs folded together with the sharp tips joining at the front. It looked like a machine, not a living thing.

  “Whatever it is, it’s coming our way! It may be headed out here to slice us eight ways from extinction,” Caden said.

  “Then let’s ride a tachyon out of here.”

  An attendant darted away from Siobhan. She assumed it would report this new development to the rest of the team.

  If we die, they’ll know what did it.

  “We could give it a faceful of laser,” Caden said.

  We’re out here in vacuum, without backup and hung out to dry at the slightest damage.

  “It’s their ship! We’re invaders here. We got a lot of data and it’s time to leave.”

  “Copy that,” Caden said. He oriented himself for departure. “There’s another one!”

  They activated their external propulsion units and started to accelerate away from the ship.

  Siobhan saw the one he had pointed out. It was uncomfortably close.

  “It’s coming toward you? Siobhan, I’m going to shoot it!”

  “No!” she said. Her attendants interposed themselves between her back and the alien machine.

  Siobhan felt a sudden rush. Additional acceleration. She pulled away from Caden.

  “Caden! I’m accelerating!”

  Her helmet feed showed the dartlike robot turning away from her. Another robot was behind Caden. She watched him move away from it as if by an invisible force. Caden’s new course was in the same direction as hers. Then the machine peeled away and headed back to the ship. Siobhan and Caden had simply been given an extra boost.

  “We just got kicked out of the neighborhood,” Caden said.

  “One more reason to believe it’s Celaran,” Telisa said. Siobhan looked back. Caden and the ship behind her had gone. She was outside the cloak curtain again. Caden appeared as he passed the curtain before she could start to worry.

  They tweaked their vectors slightly to ensure interception of the New Iridar. Siobhan smiled to herself.

  Too long since my last big adrenaline ride. That felt nice. And it didn’t get us killed.

  They met their ship without any trouble. Siobhan and Caden re-entered the ship and met Telisa at the lock. The others were on a shared channel, but did not show up in person to congest the bay.

  “I think it’s a colony ship,” Siobhan said. “Nothing more. The size makes sense. This ship lays down the infrastructure for a large colony.”

  “This thing, a ship I’ll call it, has many layers of passive defenses,” Telisa began. “I kind of get the feeling the makers had enemies, or at least did not want to be found by random aliens wandering by. If we’d been in a Terran ship, I don’t think we would have spotted it.”

  “Why so well hidden? Why so mysterious?” Cilreth asked.

  “To hide the colonists from enemies,” suggested Siobhan.

  “Enemies like these Destroyers you mentioned?” Imanol asked.

  “Yes, maybe. Probably,” Telisa said. “I think of a colony ship as carrying colonists. Seems like this thing comes ahead of colonists, more like a probe ship. My theory is this probe was sent out to explore and seed new bases in far away star systems. The Celarans probably thought it best to stay hidden from aliens, at least at first. And maybe to protect their secrets,” Telisa said.

  “What about those robots that pushed us away? We need to get past them,” Siobhan said.

  “At least they didn’t shoot you,” Jason said.

  “But if we forced our way past those machines, maybe the defense would escalate. They might shoot us next,” Caden said.

  “Those machines could be anything,” Jason said. “They might just be repair machines or bots that transfer cargo around. They may not have weapons.”

  “The robots must have come out of the ship. One of my attendants is still back there, and it doesn’t see them,” Siobhan said. “At least it hadn’t as of the last time it came out to give a report.”

  “Those robots are gone?” Telisa asked.

  “Yes. The robots are either cowering on the other side of the ship no matter where the attendant flies, or they’ve re-entered the vessel. I’m betting on the latter.”

  “So what now?” Imanol asked.

  “Just keep learning,” Telisa said. “I’ll study the probe ship’s design and components. Siobhan and Caden will learn how to interface with it. Cilreth, Jason, and Imanol will figure out how we’re going to bring it back to Earth with us.”

  “Are we both talking about the same probe? It’s bigger than the New Iridar!” Imanol said.

  “Figure it out. Don’t forget this is a Vovokan ship, not a Terran one.”

  “A Vovokan shuttle. But I’ll look into it,” Cilreth said.

  Siobhan traded looks with Caden and they left to start their work.

  Chapter 5

  After the relative excitement of the space walk out to the alien ship, the next day was an endless slog for Caden. He loved challenges, and always rose to the occasion, but instead of trying to sneak around an alien ship or fight off robotic drones, his task was to analyze software that they could not even detect running.

  “We don’t even know how to get into it... if it has an inside worth getting into at all,” Caden said to Siobhan at the end of a day’s study. She looked over at him from her seat in his quarters.

  “The probe ship is hollow,” she said. “I’m guessing from the energy output of the gravity spinner.”

  “Then it has to have a door or doors,” Caden said.

  Now here’s something I can get my brain behind.

  “I have a different angle to work on here,” Caden said. “Continue this without me.”

  “Caden... Telisa said—”

  “To interface with the ship. Yes. I’m still in the ballpark, trust me.”

  “Okay.”

  Caden re-examined everything they had seen of the surface of the probe ship. The attendants had gathered huge amounts of data. They had readings not only from the visual spectrum, but from a wide range of frequencies, as well as more static EM field and gravitic readings. He spent the next two hours poring over details and forming theories. He abandoned several, then came across one that seemed to hold up to all they had observed. Caden sat up, re-energ
ized.

  Could it be? I have to try it out.

  He and opened a connection to Telisa.

  “Telisa? I’d like permission to conduct some experiments on the alien ship,” he announced. “I’d like to use a robot to do it.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “I want to try and get inside,” he said. “I have some ideas how the doors work.”

  “What doors?” Telisa asked.

  Caden brought up a diagram of the alien ship on their shared channel. He highlighted tiny grooves in the hull revealed by the attendants’ many scans. The lines formed almost-complete hexagons at eight known locations across the surface of the Celaran ship.

  “These thin segments of conductive material extend around the highlighted panels. Note they are not continuous, that is, they extend most of the way around, barring only one small part of each panel. That part reminds me of a hinge.”

  “How is the special metal parted to let the hatches open?” Telisa asked excitedly.

  “I suspect it has to do with EM fields. I don’t know exactly. I need to do some experiments. Expose these doors to field variances, induce currents, these kind of things. I’d also like to monitor them and see if any of the protective robots emerge through them. If that happens, we should record the EM fields in the area as a door opens.”

  “Okay, build a machine to go out there and conduct the experiments. Ask Siobhan to help if you need it, she’s an automation specialist.”

  “Will do.”

  ***

  Five hours later, Caden’s test robot was ready. It was a flattened oval with two cylindrical thrusters attached to each side. Siobhan sat next to him in a bay, surrounded by fabrication machines. The robot would have been a failure without Siobhan’s help. As a frontier automation specialist, she had mad skills when it came to building robots from scratch. That had allowed Caden to focus on the equipment the robot would need to conduct his experiments.

  “Let’s send it out,” Caden said.

  “It’s a bit buggy,” Siobhan said. “But, yes, let’s fix the problems up as they become apparent. If nothing else, we can whip up a model II here and send it out after.”

  “Telisa, we’re ready to send out a robot,” Caden said. “I think we should send a squad of attendants. I want to observe all these suspected hatches to see if the drones emerge from there.”

  “Sure,” Telisa said. “Though the drones don’t necessarily come out of the same spots the Celarans would use.”

  “Ah, but our Celaran friends love multipurpose things, don’t they?” Caden said. He imagined Telisa’s smile.

  “Fair enough. Let’s try it out.”

  Telisa came to their workspace and looked the robot over with curiosity. Then they carried the robot out into the lock, since it could only move in space. A squad of ten attendants crowded into the airlock with it. Telisa cycled them through with her link.

  “And we’re off,” Telisa said. She stayed near the lock with Caden and Siobhan.

  Everyone went off-retina. They watched attentively as the machines accelerated toward the alien object. Caden waited for Siobhan to complain about the lack of excitement.

  “Not as fun as when you go yourself, is it?” she said.

  He smiled.

  “So true. But I’m excited to see if this works.”

  The team of machines disappeared behind the stealth curtain. Caden had told the attendants to break off at any sign of violence from the drones. Otherwise, they were programmed to try to evade the Celaran guardian machines while other attendants circled back to take their readings. Caden fought with impatience as he waited.

  Siobhan’s predictable, but correct. Maybe we should have gone over there again, just to watch the machines in action.

  The first attendant emerged from the curtain and gave them a snapshot of what had happened. Caden checked it off in his PV: the attendants were in place, the robot had approached and scanned one of the doors. None of the drones were visible. It awaited further instructions.

  “So, let us know your plan, Caden,” Telisa prompted.

  Please let this work.

  “The attendants recorded some EM anomalies near these constructs I believe are hatches,” Caden said. He was aware his voice had suddenly become more formal, so he tried to relax. “I see the same situation now: they all have the same pattern of fields around them.”

  “Could they be sensor pods?” asked Cilreth. Caden realized that the rest of the crew probably had little to do other than watch them. He felt a bit more pressure to succeed.

  “The fields are localized. Not powerful, either. I think they control the hatches. At the very least, this is the field pattern of a closed hatch. The robot is designed to alter the fields.”

  “What now?”

  “I’m telling the robot to cancel out the fields by the spots I think come apart.”

  “We’re not in contact with it, right?” asked Cilreth.

  “I route the messages through via the attendants that rotate out,” Caden explained. “We’ll try now.”

  The attendant went back behind the curtain. Caden waited yet again.

  This is so damn slow. Siobhan must be going nuts.

  He suppressed an urge to peek at her and stayed off-retina, awaiting the next attendant.

  Finally it emerged. The next report came back.

  “Nothing happened with the first experiment,” Caden said. He became more tense.

  “There! We saw one coming out,” Siobhan exclaimed.

  Caden checked her pointer. An attendant had caught sight of one of the drones emerging from the objects he had thought was a door. The drone was one of several which now played cat and mouse with the attendants. The attendants were backing off, avoiding confrontations, then moving slowly back in.

  Yes! I’ve escaped being called an idiot. Now, to bring it home for genius status.

  He checked the EM pattern on the door as the drone emerged and sent it to his robot.

  “The signature changed when the door opened,” Caden said. “We snapshotted it. My robot is going to try and manipulate the field into that shape on one of the other doors.”

  “Okay,” Telisa said. She sounded hopeful.

  The attendant slipped back inside the sensor curtain to deliver the instructions.

  “What about the drones?” Siobhan asked on the team channel.

  “I think we can come in and try the next step quickly, then run away,” Caden said.

  The wait seemed long, but Caden saw only two minutes had passed when the report came through from the latest attendant to rotate out.

  “It worked!” he said.

  “The door opened?”

  “Not yet. Here’s where we’re at. We know where the hatches are. They’re electrical. Not as in solenoids or electric motors, but at the molecular level. The material is sensitive to currents, or electrical fields at particular angles. By placing an induction device around the door, I can cause the sealant to give up its bonds with the door. The robot saw that happen before it was shooed away by a drone.”

  “So now what?” Cilreth asked.

  “Now, we apply the open signal and a simple mechanical connection should allow us to pop the hatch.”

  “Does your machine have that capability?” Telisa asked.

  “Yes, the robot has a magnetic and a glue-based opener. For a last ditch effort, it has a crowbar.”

  “Crowbar? Now we’re talking high tech,” Imanol said.

  “So now we decide if we should send the robot in, or go there ourselves,” Telisa said, ignoring Imanol’s comment.

  “I propose we open a hatch and send a single attendant in. Then retreat,” Caden said.

  “How will it get out?” Siobhan asked.

  “If it can’t get out in ten minutes on its own, we can repeat the procedure to let it out once the robots go back to their stations,” Caden said.

  “What if we depressurize part of their ship?” Cilreth asked.

 
“It’s not pressurized, actually,” Caden said. “In the test, I relaxed the material sealing the door, but there was no loss of gases from the inside.”

  “Then the lock was depressurized. There could be another door just beyond the first,” Imanol said.

  “Maybe. However, our other analyses showed the outside of the ship is very cold. It could be very well shielded or insulated, or it could be an unmanned vessel that operates much colder than ours could.”

  “The guard robots are still in our way,” Telisa said.

  “I can get an attendant in there, I know it. We don’t have to risk our lives,” Caden said. He hoped that would sell it to Telisa.

  “Okay. Do it,” Telisa said. “Tell the attendant to run from any guardians. Have it emerge on its own quickly, if it can. Otherwise, we’ll open the door from the outside again in five minutes.”

  Caden could hear excitement in Telisa’s voice. She was as eager as he was to get a glimpse of the interior.

  After the attendant goes in, maybe we can go take a look ourselves. If there’s no deadly robots in there. Or aliens.

  “We could go over and get live updates,” Siobhan suggested. “Maybe check it out ourselves.”

  “Minimal risks. That’s what these machines are for,” Telisa said.

  “It’s ready,” Caden reported.

  The attendant slipped back inside the curtain. Caden suppressed a sigh. The delayed communication was so frustrating!

  An attendant rotated out and sent them a report. Caden’s machine was ready to open the door.

  “Cilreth? You still awake?” Telisa asked.

  “Yes.”

  “We can get out of here on short notice, yes?”

  “Yes, ready,” Cilreth said.

  “Here we go,” Telisa said. “Let it in.”

  The next report showed a video capture of the surface of the ship. The hatch had opened in the field created by Caden’s machine, and the attendant slipped inside.

  I hope they’re not angry! That’s a big ship.

  Caden waited again. He expected the next report to contain video of the robot being shooed away by the drones that patrolled the surface. He opened his eyes and took a peek. Telisa showed no outward signs of anxiety, maintaining a look of endless patience. Caden suspected to be a facade, but truly he could not see any clues until she started to pace.