Gall Force Fan Fiction ❯ The Day After ❯ Contact ( Chapter 4 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Frederick_Herrio 
Anime/Manga: Gall Force Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance / Sci-fi | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.02.2004 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 847 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Gall Force Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance / Sci-fi | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.02.2004 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.8K | Visits: 847 | Status: Completed
Gall Force: The Day After
By Fred Herriot
gorgo@kwangju.net
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir
kush1@iaw.on.ca
**** **** ****
Based on the "Gall Force" series created by MOVIC.
**** **** ****
PART FOUR - CONTACT
Derek Slater slams the door to his room. "Shit!"
The Dalhousie history student sits on his bed, glumly staring at the opposite wall containing his large collection of books. He wished some philosopher had written a detailed text on how to meet and form a relationship with a woman. Perhaps then, a lot of the problems between the sexes would've been solved. He stares at the letter Sally slipped in his locker. Typical Dear John. Crumpling it, he tosses it in the wastepaper basket. No need to re-read it.
Laying back, he stares at the ceiling. What went wrong? He paid as much attention to Sally as possible, trying to show her he did care. However, there were times he needed to concentrate on his studies and hobbies. He wanted his degree as badly as he desired Sally. Obviously, she had different priorities. Oh, well. Now was the time not to worry about it. Relax and carry on.
The door opens and Philip Chatterly looks in. "I say, old boy, you seem a little piqued."
"Of course I'm piqued, Chet," Derek waves the Englishman in. Philip, who preferred his friends to address him as "Chet," was from Cambridgeshire. That never made sense. Chet had one of the best universities in the world right around the corner from his home, so why did he cross the pond? "Sally sent me a Dear John."
Chet winces in sympathetic understanding. "Oh, dear! Right across the bows. I warned you she wasn't your type."
"Next time, I'll listen," Derek laughs. Chet was a decent fellow, bred from old English aristocracy though the Canadian forgot how exactly Chet was related to whom. "Ah, it doesn't matter now. Let's go sink our depression with the telescope."
"I think Akira's already there," Chet muses.
The two step out of Derek's bedroom. They, along with seven other students, had chosen the apartment building some distance from Lunenburg because of its remoteness. Derek, a Halifax native, had felt the need to get out of the city when he started to attend Dalhousie. His parents understood. "You want to get out in the world, son," his father Alex had smiled at him. "Now's your chance." To date, Derek had no real complaints.
They walk onto the upper floor balcony. The apartment, owned by a widow whose husband had died on the high seas, reminded him of the run down apartments Japanese anime sometimes depicted. Akira Takada loved watching shows like "Macross" and "Space Cruiser Yamato" (Derek knew them as "Robotech" and "Star Blazers"). He had brought loads of tapes with him when he came from Hachiouji to get his master's in English. He was at work observing the stars with the telescope Chet built with Leonard Porter and Maurice Foch. "Konban wa, Akira-kun," Derek waves. "What's new in the galaxy?"
"Konban wa, Derek-kun, Chet-kun," Akira doesn't look up. "Not much. It seems to be quiet in our little corner of the cosmos."
The Japanese straightens himself to allow Derek a look. The telescope was an amazing work of engineering, thanks to Chet, Len, Maurice and Oskar Bernstein. They had decided one day to build the most light-sensitive, highest magnifying portable visual light telescope possible. Designing it was easy; it was a mere question of manipulating light waves and lenses. Building it was a problem until a philanthropic organization called the Chaos Foundation granted them money. With the design proven, the Foundation put the telescope on the mass market, earning the four engineers students a pleasant stipend in royalties.
It was nice that some high-brow organizations were willing to give down-to-earth people a hand, Derek muses as he looks in the general region of Jupiter. He worked as an English tutor for many of the foreign students who transferred to Dalhousie from Nova Scotia's other universities. Perhaps a BEd in TESL might be a good idea after his BA was complete. "Yeah, it's pretty quiet out there tonight. Not like when Shumacher-Levy Five came tearing through. Any news on 'Atlantis' and Mir?"
"They just hooked up, mon ami," Maurice announces as he arrives with Len and Oskar. "Nothing out there?"
"Nope," Derek yawns. "All quiet."
The other students nod. All were in their early twenties. Akira and Oskar were the oldest, the latter coming to Canada after spending his mandatory time in the Israeli Defence Force. They were a interesting group. Derek was descent from Nova Scotia fishermen's stock, at home at sea as well as the class. Chet had an aristocrat's demeanor, though he was capable of nasty pranks when the mood struck him. Len was pure New Yorker in speech and in looks. All Maurice needed was a moustache and he would exemplify the classic French stereotype. Akira, a brown-belt in shorinji kempo and kendo, exemplified the mix of traditional samurai with modern Japan. And Oskar, grandson of one of the Schindlerjuden (and who was actually named after the industrialist anointed as a Righteous Gentile for his saving over a thousand from Auschwitz), bore his ancestors' tragedy with an iron determination never to see it happen again. Different, but united in their combined interest in science fiction, fantasy, astronomy and worldwide culture. In the language of jocks, they were nerds...but then, what did most jocks know other than sports?
"Where's Steve, Dave and Jack?" Len looks around before taking a look in the telescope.
"Out with the 'Enterprise,'" Derek yawns. The group owned a forty-foot trawler they picked up cheap when the Newfoundland cod fisheries collapsed. They had been split on the name. The four Canadians and the American chose "Enterprise" after Captain Kirk's ship. Akira proposed "Yamato" after the space-battleship in the anime. Chet, Maurice and Oskar sided with Derek and his friends, but had, to preserve Akira's pride, proposed they get another boat. They had almost saved up enough money. "Probably going over to where the 'Saguenay' was scuttled," he adds, mentioning an old helicopter destroyer which had been scuttled off Lunenburg recently as a diving park.
"Hope they get back soon," Len straightens himself to allow Oskar a look. "I wouldn't mind a spell on the old Atlantic."
"Same here," Chet nods.
"Hey, what's that?!" Oskar exclaims.
"What's what?" Akira asks.
"There's something there," Oskar points. "See for yourself."
Akira glances into the telescope. "It seems to be a comet," he sees a bright point of light in the middle of the picture.
"Yeah, but it just appeared out of nowhere!" Oskar explains. "One minute nothing, the next, poof!!" he waves his hands in an explosive gesture.
"That is odd," the Japanese muses. "Perhaps this might be a new star forming."
"Maybe we should get on the 'Net and tell someone," Len muses.
"Probably," Derek hums. "And get on the radio and tell the others that we've found something."
"Right!" the New Yorker waves as he runs to his room.
"I say, there's the 'Enterprise' right now," Chet points to the bay below their apartment.
Derek looks. Sure enough, a pearly white trawler was coming to rest at the local dock. Trimmed in red and the six national flags of their owners, it had "NCC-1701" in the movies' print style stencilled on both sides along with the legendary asymmetrical arrowhead at the bow below the boat's name and civil registry. Len had proposed putting "U.S.S." in front of the name. The Canadians shot that down. "This is Canada, dope!" Dave Holland had screamed, the pride of his father being in the Canadian Navy swelling. "If you call a ship by a title, it's 'H.M.C.S.!!'"
"Hey, Len, the 'Enterprise' is in!!" Derek yells inside.
"Yeah, they just called," the American confirms.
By that time, Maurice is taking a look in the telescope. "It seems to be growing larger by the minute," he muses. "It could be a comet. I've never seen anything like this before."
"Perhaps we're about to get our own Shumacher-Levy Five," Chet dryly muses.
"Oh, shit, I hope not!" Derek shudders. "You've heard of all the theories about what happened to the dinosaurs!"
"Wait!" Maurice holds his hand up. "Something's wrong here. This isn't a natural object, I think!"
Everyone looks surprised. "How can you tell?" Oskar muses.
"Because it just grew two legs," the Frenchman warns.
"WHAT?!?!?!" everyone exclaims.
Chet looks. "We should've put in a couple more spyglasses," the Englishman hums, then blinks. "Good God! Maurice is right! It seems to look like a spacecraft of some sort."
"Perhaps a communications satellite," Akira proposes.
"Not one shaped like this, old boy," Chet shakes his head. "Why, I'd swear...!"
The Englishman falters as he tries to form words to what just came to him. "Swear what?!" Derek urges him.
Chet stares at his friends. "That this actually is an honest-to-goodness spaceship!"
The others blink. "A real UFO?!" Oskar scratches his head.
Everyone laughs. "That's a ridiculous idea!!" Akira howls.
"Look for yourself, baka!" the Englishman waves the Japanese to the telescope.
"Fine, gaijin," Akira sneers as he looks into the eyepiece, then blinks. "Sacred Buddha!!"
"See!" Chet nods.
"My apologies, Chet. It seems you are right!"
Derek and Oskar leap up to look. "Let me see!!" the Canadian urges, then whistles. "Shit, it IS a UFO!"
"But from where and why?!" the Israeli wonders.
"Too early to speculate," Derek shakes his head. "Shit, she's coming on strong now! I can see a main central hull and I think those side hulls are engine boosters!"
"Wish they'd turn to give us a profile view," Oskar hums.
Derek blinks. "Just got your wish, Oskar. She's turning!"
"I see her," Oskar nods. "Can't tell size from here. What do you think? About the 'Yamato's' size?"
"Maybe," Derek hums. Switching to fantasy was the only way to make sense of this. Earth hadn't encountered aliens before, despite the profusion of UFO sightings which filled tabloids for years. Science fiction stories like "Star Trek" seemed the only decent information source they could use as a reference marker. "Next telescope we build, guys, we get a range finder on her."
"Amen to that," Oskar sighs. "How far up is she?"
"If we're picking up some details, depending on her size, I'd say low orbit...maybe two hundred miles," the Canadian speculates. "Which reminds me, where's Mir?! Somebody get a globe!"
"Right here!" Dave Holland walks onto the balcony, a globe in hand. Behind him, Steve Calhoun has a labtop with modem. Jack Rice drags out a length of telephone cord.
Steve sets up the labtop and hooks up the modem. Typing in commands, he waits, the light of the computer screen flashing off his glasses. "By the looks of it, Mir's over the North Pacific right now," he reports. "By the time they're over the Atlantic, they'll be over the SOUTH Atlantic. They won't see the UFO."
"Let me see it," Jack walks up to the telescope, then peeks in as Oskar gives way. "Holy shit!"
"A real UFO...with real aliens!" Dave hums. "Why do you suppose they're here?!"
"You think we should tell someone?" Len muses as he steps onto the balcony, having caught the last of his housemate's comment.
"You've seen 'Independence Day' too often!" Derek snarls.
The American shrugs. "Nothing wrong with being safe!"
"It's only one ship," Chet muses. "If there were others, say a whole fleet, then NASA or the observatories would have spotted them by now. CNN would know about it almost immediately."
The others nod. "Hey, something's wrong here!!" Jack yelps.
"What?!" Derek looks over.
His face pales. "Oh, God! She's blowing up!!"
Everyone looks at each other...
* * *
It came on them without warning.
The "Starleaf" had just settled into low orbit. Eluza chose the smaller bihemispheric ocean because of Mir. Further, most of the communications networks Catty detected linked the triangular shaped continent to the west with the western end of the planet's largest land mass. No one had learned names yet; Catty was still working on segregating Terra's insane number of languages into groups so they could choose one by which to...what? Communicate? Would the Terrans listen, or panic? There was one possibility, the android told them. The communications network operated on a series of codes, letters and numbers very similar to the Solnoids' own alphabet. Eluza ordered Catty to locate a language using that.
Catty just began her search when OX-11 warned that the G-canceler, burned out because of the virus, was overheating. No matter how much Mal tried, the ship was doomed. With urgency born of experience, Rabby ordered everyone to the Blossom. OX-11 dumped its knowledge into the pod's mainframe as everyone boarded. As Lufy walks through the hatchway, she scans the pod's recreation room, quickly noticing someone missing. "Where's Catty?!"
Rabby bolts up. "She should be with us!!"
Lufy runs to the gangway, looking to the catapult machinery room. Catty was there. "You crazy idiot, get a move on!!" the Attacker yells. "We've got no time!"
"The catapult circuits are burnt out!" the android yells back. "Get in!! I'll get you going!"
Rabby joins Lufy at the gangway. "No, Catty!! Don't do this! We can't afford to lose you!!"
"It's my life, Commander...!" Catty replies.
Before she could say more, one of the four cyborg soldiers zaps Catty in the shoulder with a stun-baton. The lavender-haired woman gasps as her circuits are overwhelmed, collapsing into another's arms. "You are more important than we, Catty," Eni muses, carrying the unmoving android to the Blossom.
"Thank the Mother!" Rabby sighs as Eni comes up, then takes Catty in her arms. "How bad are the circuits?"
"They are not bad, Commander," the cyborg responds. "Secure yourselves. We will come shortly."
"Don't wait!!" Lufy warns as the three women proceed inside.
If Eni was still human, she would cry. "We shall not," she muses as her hand falls on the controls to seal Blossom.
Rabby sits Catty down in a chair, then straps her in...just as the door leading back to the carrier slams shut. "What the...?!!"
"Damn!!!" Lufy gasps. "They're still aboard!!"
* * *
"Come on!!!" Derek urges as the explosions consume the side pods, racing forward like the fires that consumed the "Hindenburg" on its last voyage. "Get out of there, you people!! Don't stick around! Get out, damn you!!"
The others anxiously watch the Canadian, appreciating too well what a death in space could be like...
* * *
In the "Starleaf's" catapult machinery room, Maini forms herself as a living circuit, allowing the controls to come back on line. "Launch the Blossom!" she urges.
Eni punches the control, sending thousands of volts surging through her fellow cyborg. Maini screams as the electricity overwhelms her, but it does the trick. "Farewell, Captain," Eni salutes as the Blossom breaks free of the "Starleaf."
The bow of the carrier pries open like a morning flower, allowing the Blossom to sail free. By then, most of the "Starleaf" is ablaze. One of the weapons pods explodes as a magazine goes up, then the G-canceler detonates. The battlecarrier falls away as the pod soars on, without power to keep it free of Terra's gravity.
"NO!!!!" Rabby screams.
* * *
"A lifepod!!!" Derek screams. "Son-of-a-bitch, that baby just put out a lifepod!!! They got out!!!"
Cheers of joy and relief echo as Derek wipes a tear from his eye. This was the craziest day of his life, but with the aliens, whatever and whoever they were, now safe, he could accept it...
* * *
Everyone runs to the windows to watch the "Starleaf's" final moments. The whole ship was ablaze from stem to stern, dropping in free-fall towards the ocean below. Fortunately, it wouldn't land on any inhabited area...IF it survived contact with Terra's atmosphere. Watching her third home destroyed before her eyes, Rabby shakes her head, then salutes. "Farewell, old friend. Thank you for seeing us this far."
The others salute the "Starleaf" as it finally explodes in a shower of twisted metal and exploding gasses...
* * *
Derek was seated, wiping his eyes, allowing them to rest. Akira watches the lifepod as it speeds safely away. "I was just wondering," Chet muses. "If that lifepod doesn't have any decent booster engines, it'll come landing somewhere on Earth."
The others jolt in shock at the Englishman's words. "Shit, that's right!!" Len gasps. "Where the hell would they put down?!"
Everyone muses, then Jack looks up. "Why not here?"
"WHAT?!?!?!" everyone else exclaims.
"Look, if other people spotted the UFO, we'd've heard about it by now," Jack points to Steve's labtop computer. "News of that sort would be screaming through the 'Net!!"
"And if we had a television up here, CNN would be announcing it," Maurice adds.
"Speaking of which, someone go down and turn on the tube," Derek hums. "Let's make sure."
"Right, I'll go!" Oskar runs downstairs.
"So if they could come, how do we persuade them?!" Dave hums.
"If we can see them, they could certainly see us," Akira stands. "Now, all we need is a searchlight!"
"Who says anything about a searchlight?" Derek laughs at the sheer absurdity of bringing the aliens to their front doorstep. "Don't you remember the 'Gilligan's Island' episode where they tried to send an 'SOS' to an orbiting Gemini capsule?!"
"I remember!" Len snaps his fingers. "Shit, let's go find some wood and some booze! That'll get their attention!! We can do it on the beach!"
The others nod as they run off the balcony...
* * *
"Why?!" Catty moans. "Why did they do it? I was prepared."
"We weren't prepared to lose you," Shildy smiles. "We need you, Catty."
"I...I understand," the lavender-haired woman nods.
Rabby and Eluza gaze at Terra's surface. "Where can we put down?" the first officer indicates the cities in the near distance. "We certainly couldn't put down anywhere near those places," she points at the largest mass of lights to the south-west.
"Agreed," the captain nods. "I'm not interested in producing a panic. By the way, Catty, did you get names for these places?"
The android has by then moved to the Blossom's main computer console. "OX-11 was running a program by which we could translate the Terrans' alphabet into our own. Remarkably enough, Captain, this alphabet has twenty-six characters, the same as ours. In fact, many of them are similar to ours."
"Really?!" Rabby looks relieved. "Then at least we could read their language! It goes a long way towards understanding it!"
"We seem to be running into our fair share of miracles on this trip, eh?!" Spea muses to Amy.
The younger woman laughs. "OX-11 also discovered what the Terrans address their subdivisions as," Catty continues. "They call themselves 'nations,' although I don't understand what that exactly means. The nations we are closest to address themselves as 'Canada' and 'the United States of America.'"
The others blink in confusion; Catty pronounced the name of Earth's reigning superpower in English, having yet been able to understand how it would translate. The android produces a map on the viewing screen near Patty, showing the surrounding area. Canadian territory is marked in red, American blue. A targeting marker shows the Blossom's position. Yellow lines denote state and provincial boundaries. "Canada and the United States of America are split into sub-divisions. I have their names in the computer."
Names appear. "We seem to be close to the subdivision of Canada called...Nova Scotia," Spea reads. "Weird name."
"They're all weird," Patty adds.
"They'll probably think we're weird," Rabby warns. "Catty, what's Nova Scotia's population?"
"Over a million sentients, Commander," the android looks back. "Mostly concentrated in three large cities."
Icons marked HALIFAX, DARTMOUTH and SYDNEY appear. "It is also my belief that Halifax," Catty stammers the harsh Scottish name, "...is Nova Scotia's administrative centre. All local communications lines seem centered around that city."
"A million people doesn't seem too crowded," Rabby muses. "If we put down along here," she points to the coast between Halifax and Yarmouth, "...we stand the chance of not being spotted."
"Maybe we should put down in the ocean itself," Eluza hums, then looks over. "Catty, alter the Blossom's flight path. Let's start looking for a safe landing place. Somewhere where we don't drown, but out in the ocean, away from major towns."
"Understood," the android manipulates the controls...
* * *
Finding wood was easy enough; the landlady's husband was planning to construct a boat shed when he died. She hadn't got around to disposing of the timbers. Alcohol, beer with some gin, brandy and sake, would be the fuel. The hard part was deciding what to say. Finally, they settled on COME HERE. Hopefully, it would be spotted by long-range cameras on the lifepod.
"Okay, light it!!" Derek orders.
With a burst of flame, the message turns from dark wood to neon. Drawing out a cellular telephone, the Canadian dials a number. "Oskar, where's the life pod?!"
"It's turning around!" the Israeli calls back. "It seems to be moving to land!"
Derek blinks. "Are you sure?!!"
"Yes!" Oskar calls back. "Hell, it's going through the atmosphere right now! You can probably see it from the beach!!"
Derek looks up. Sure enough, a bright light had just appeared in the evening sky. "We got it!! Now, if they'll only spot us!"
"Use torches," Oskar suggests.
"Right!!" Derek nods, then hangs up. "Everyone, grab torches and light them up! Let's try to get their attention!!"
The other men scurry off...
* * *
Blossom shudders as it punches through the upper atmosphere. Everyone remains seated, awaiting the time when the glowing fires would dissipate, then they'd prepare for landing. Landing the pod in the ocean seemed a decent option, though Mal was concerned about the emergency equipment stored in the lower bays. "We'll worry about that when we get into the clear!" Rabby told the engineer.
At the communications station, Catty was using the Blossom's cameras to discover if anyone had seen them. While the south-west coast of Nova Scotia was sparsely inhabited, there were several fair-sized towns, the closest one called Lunenburg. Also, scanners were at work. ECM reported several heavy-duty radar units near Halifax, but so far, no one seemed to have noticed the escape pod.
Or had they?
Catty blinks. Somewhere to the east of Lunenburg, a small bonfire had been lit on a beach. Also, there were sentients waving torches. At first, the android assumed that they were signalling an ocean craft or participating in some ritual. But the bonfire had been composed of actual Terran letters: COME HERE. What did that mean? And who were they signalling?
She makes use of the Blossom's most powerful camera to take a closer look. There were eight, all like Patty's offspring. They seemed to be looking straight at the android, which shocked her for a moment. Then she realizes that they were looking at the Blossom. They had been spotted! So what were they doing?
COME HERE. What did that mean? Out of curiosity, Catty switches the letters to Solnoid standard. She blinks. The Solnoid homonym of the first word was a verb, instructing a person to join the speaker. The second word meant the speaker's location. If the Terrans actually meant for the Blossom to "come here," they wanted the Solnoids to join them.
Catty muses. The Terrans seemed unarmed and were not dressed in any uniform. Obviously, they were what all Solnoids had long wished to be: civilians. And they did seem honestly concerned. Perhaps they had witnessed the "Starleaf's" destruction. If such was true, it contradicted the Terrans' lack of deep space travel. Unless Terran culture had in places outstripped its technological heights. Perhaps the Terrans, while incapable of faster-than-light travel, could conceive of it. If such was so, these Terrans must have come to some conclusions about them. They certainly didn't seem hostile.
"I believe I have located a place to land," she announces.
"Put us down, Catty," Eluza orders.
"Yes, Captain," the android nods, then manipulates controls...
* * *
Derek's telephone rings. "What's up?!"
"The lifepod!" Oskar's voice calls out. "It's altered course! It's heading straight for us!!"
The Canadian blinks. "Are you sure?!"
"Of course I'm sure!" the Israeli responds. "The damn thing is growing right before my eyes!"
Derek looks up. The point of light was now clearly visible to the naked eye, forming into the lifepod's shape. They had done it! The aliens were coming to them! Now what?! Derek looks to Chet, now standing beside him. "We might as well be gracious hosts," the Englishman proposes.
Derek smiles, then turns to the others. "Okay, put the bonfire out! Everyone to the 'Enterprise!' They might run into trouble if they land out there! Let's go!!"
* * *
Catty watches as the people proceed down the beach towards a boat dock. Awaiting them is a small craft the size of a Solnoid fighter. A ninth sentient, also like Patty's offspring, joined them from the small building which seemed the only habitation in the area. All board, then they let themselves go from the dock, turning it to the sea...in the general direction of where Blossom was landing. "How long?" Eluza calls out.
"Four hundred seconds, Captain," the android responds.
Eluza unstraps herself, then looks to everyone else. "Let's get down there to get some gear. We'll try to salvage the rest of it if we get the chance. Move!"
Everyone save Catty race to the lower decks. There, along with some ground vehicles and hovercycles, were emergency tents, sleeping bags, rations and weapons. Grabbing as much as they can, they proceed back to the escape pod's upper levels as Catty's voice echoes through the PA system. "One hundred...ninety-nine..."
By the time Catty reaches forty, everyone is upstairs. "All lower hatches secured," Mal reports from the engineering station.
"Fasten yourselves in! You too, Catty!" Rabby orders.
The android secures the computer, then proceeds to her chair.
* * *
"Thar she blows!" Len yells from the "Enterprise's" bow as the Blossom passes the lowermost level of clouds.
"About ten kilometres up, I'd say!" Chet looks at the escape pod through a pair of binoculars.
"Turn on the radio and see if Lunenburg or Halifax Harbour Control have picked that ship up!" Dave yells to Derek.
Derek nods, turning on FM channel 10. The usual traffic from Halifax comes over the line. Nothing seemed wrong. "Not a sound. That ship must have some sort of stealth-like coating."
"Not really," Akira shakes his head. "Radars these days are more like radio transmitter finders. They're don't look for the planes but their location beacons. Not even Shearwater would pick this thing up."
The only station which could have, Derek nods agreeingly, was the closed Canadian Forces station at Barrington, south-south-east of Yarmouth. "It looks like we're the ones who get to meet them first!" he laughs.
"I wonder if they're capable of living on Earth," Chet muses. "Do you think they've had time to take some sort of precautions?!"
"I hope," Derek sighs. "No matter what, let's make them feel welcome!"
"Right-o!" the Englishman returns to his binoculars.
"I just thought of something," Steve taps Derek on the shoulder. "What's the ground like underwater here?!"
"Dave?!" Derek looks to his fellow Canadian.
"It's pretty soft sand under here," the Lunenburg native looks back. "If they're smart, they'll let water into their lower compartments as she hits! That'll let them sink on an even keel. Hopefully, they won't hit a rock."
"Or a shipwreck," Chet adds. "The bloody Germans made hash out of local convoys during World War Two. Most of the sea routes ran right by here!"
"Amen to that!" Derek looks up.
* * *
"Atmospheric friction increasing," Catty reports. "Thrusters firing. Captain, recommend we vent the lower decks to the sea as we land."
"If we do that, we'll lose all our vehicles," Patty warns.
"No time," Eluza snaps. "Do it!"
"Yes, ma'am," Catty keys the controls.
The Blossom's sides open up as the landing legs plunge into the Atlantic. A gentle wave rolls away as it sinks to its final resting place. The depth of the water wasn't so deep that the whole of the Blossom would be submerged, but Fate steps in at that time with an underwater rock, which remains stubbornly still as one of the landing legs strikes! In a second, what was supposed to be a safe landing turns dangerous...
* * *
"Oh, God, they hit something!!" Len cries from the bow, watching as the lifepod begins to tilt over.
"Underwater rock!!" Dave spits out. "Shit, they'll capsize!"
* * *
Mal transfers all control to one thruster rocket to keep the escape pod on an even keel. "What happened?!" Eluza demands.
"We hit a submerged rock!" Catty reports from her station.
"I've got one thruster working," Mal adds. "It'll keep us on an even keel for a while, but not indefinitely."
"Captain, there is a small craft approaching us," Catty reports. "I believe they are natives who became aware of our presence shortly before or during the 'Starleaf's' destruction."
"WHAT?!?!" Eluza exclaims.
"I do believe they mean us no harm," the android adds.
Lufy runs to the window to see the "Enterprise" approach. "I see them!" the Attacker barks. "That's no bigger than a gunship!"
"It'll have to do!" Rabby sighs, then blinks. "Look!! There're people aboard!"
Eluza sighs. Mixed luck was better than no luck. "Blow the windows!!" she barks.
Miti draws her pistol, then fires a full magazine. The windows shatter, the glass flying into the sea now several feet below the lower edge. Seeing this, Derek points. "Head there!!"
Dave guides the fishing trawler as close as possible to the Solnoid escape pod. Looking inside, Chet emits a cry of shock. "I don't believe it!" he points. "They're human!!"
"Son-of-a-bitch!!" Len whistles. "And they're all women!!!"
Realizing that these aliens, if they really were aliens, needed help, Akira grabs a line-throwing gun, loads a projectile, cocks a blank round into the firing bed, aims and shoots. The ball, a thin line tied to it, flies into the Blossom. Seeing it, Shildy grabs the line. "What's that?!" Amy gasps.
"Lifeline, I hope!" Shildy replies.
"Pass over one of the docking lines," Derek barks. "We can use that to allow them to get off that thing!"
Oskar ties the heavy hemp rope to the carrying line, then passes it out towards the Blossom. On the escape pod, Shildy, Lufy and Miti drag the line in, then pass it to Rabby so she can tie it around one of the chairs. "TOIL, AIL, get across!" the first officer barks. "Take whatever you safely can! We'll need it! When you're on that boat, keep the line secure!!"
"Yes, Commander," both servobots race off to seize two emergency tents, then load themselves onto the lifeline.
On the "Enterprise," everyone blinks in shock as two small robots, one white, the other blue, load themselves and their cargo on the lifeline, then perform a balancing act the great Blondin would admire. "They've got servodroids, too?!" Maurice blinks.
"If they're sentient in any way, they'll need 'em!" Len notes.
Akira and Oskar help TOIL and AIL aboard, then shove the tents aside. "Get off there!!" Derek yells over. "Your thrusters can't hold you up for long!!!"
Seeing the two servobots had made it, Eluza turns to her crew. "Everyone, grab something! Abandon ship!!"
"Come on, come on!!!" Dave yells.
Wrapping as many weapons as she can carry, Miti leaps onto the lifeline, then overhand crawls her way across to the "Enterprise." Next to go is Spea with some rations, a scared Amy hanging on to her. Shildy comes next with another tent. Patty heads over with some sleeping bags. Mal carries another tent. Eluza takes the rest of the rations. Lufy takes the rest of the weapons. Rabby moves to hop on the line, then notices Catty remaining in place. "Damn you!" the first officer yells. "Get on that line! What did your mother program into you, anyway?!"
"But if I fall...?" Catty stammers.
"Go!!!" Rabby yells.
Catty leaps on the line, then imitates Miti's crossing. The line bends, but doesn't break...however, Rabby's knot begins to unwind. Reaching the fishing boat's deck, Catty yells back, "With haste, Commander!!!"
"Coming!!" Rabby leaps on the line...
...just as the surviving thruster fails!
Blossom lurches as its insides are vented to the Atlantic, keeling over. The jerk undoes the knot, which sends Rabby falling into the ocean. "Bloody hell!!!" Chet yells as he mounts the guard rail, then leaps in after her.
"Rabby!!!" Lufy screams.
The escape pod plunges to its final resting place. The water swamps Rabby and Chet as the "Enterprise" is shoved away. Dave mutters a curse, then charges the trawler's engines to stay close. A second later, the heads of the Solnoid officer and the English university student burst from the water. Taking her hand, Chet yells, "I say, old sports! Would you pass a line over?!"
Lufy grabs the lifeline, then tosses it. Rabby grabs it, then both are pulled in to climb aboard. "Ladies first," Chet ushers Rabby onto the deck before stepping aboard himself.
Derek turns to Dave. "Take us back in!! If we don't get there soon, they'll both get a nice bout of pneumonia!"
"Right!!" he guns the motors, then turns "Enterprise's" bow towards their home.
Derek turns to look at the twelve strangers who just popped into their lives. All look at him quizzically, even the two small R2D2-like robots. "Well, welcome to Earth!" he chuckles.
One of the women, a sixteen year old girl with lavender hair, stares at him quizzically. Derek had never seen gold eyes before. "Canada?" she points towards land. "Nova...Scotia?"
The Canadian blinks. "Yes," he nods, then makes a circular motion with both hands to indicate a planet. "Earth!"
The women exchange looks, then nod understandingly. Well, that's the first step, Derek muses to himself, realizing that his life, all their lives, would never be the same again...
* * *
To be continued...
By Fred Herriot
gorgo@kwangju.net
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir
kush1@iaw.on.ca
**** **** ****
Based on the "Gall Force" series created by MOVIC.
**** **** ****
PART FOUR - CONTACT
Derek Slater slams the door to his room. "Shit!"
The Dalhousie history student sits on his bed, glumly staring at the opposite wall containing his large collection of books. He wished some philosopher had written a detailed text on how to meet and form a relationship with a woman. Perhaps then, a lot of the problems between the sexes would've been solved. He stares at the letter Sally slipped in his locker. Typical Dear John. Crumpling it, he tosses it in the wastepaper basket. No need to re-read it.
Laying back, he stares at the ceiling. What went wrong? He paid as much attention to Sally as possible, trying to show her he did care. However, there were times he needed to concentrate on his studies and hobbies. He wanted his degree as badly as he desired Sally. Obviously, she had different priorities. Oh, well. Now was the time not to worry about it. Relax and carry on.
The door opens and Philip Chatterly looks in. "I say, old boy, you seem a little piqued."
"Of course I'm piqued, Chet," Derek waves the Englishman in. Philip, who preferred his friends to address him as "Chet," was from Cambridgeshire. That never made sense. Chet had one of the best universities in the world right around the corner from his home, so why did he cross the pond? "Sally sent me a Dear John."
Chet winces in sympathetic understanding. "Oh, dear! Right across the bows. I warned you she wasn't your type."
"Next time, I'll listen," Derek laughs. Chet was a decent fellow, bred from old English aristocracy though the Canadian forgot how exactly Chet was related to whom. "Ah, it doesn't matter now. Let's go sink our depression with the telescope."
"I think Akira's already there," Chet muses.
The two step out of Derek's bedroom. They, along with seven other students, had chosen the apartment building some distance from Lunenburg because of its remoteness. Derek, a Halifax native, had felt the need to get out of the city when he started to attend Dalhousie. His parents understood. "You want to get out in the world, son," his father Alex had smiled at him. "Now's your chance." To date, Derek had no real complaints.
They walk onto the upper floor balcony. The apartment, owned by a widow whose husband had died on the high seas, reminded him of the run down apartments Japanese anime sometimes depicted. Akira Takada loved watching shows like "Macross" and "Space Cruiser Yamato" (Derek knew them as "Robotech" and "Star Blazers"). He had brought loads of tapes with him when he came from Hachiouji to get his master's in English. He was at work observing the stars with the telescope Chet built with Leonard Porter and Maurice Foch. "Konban wa, Akira-kun," Derek waves. "What's new in the galaxy?"
"Konban wa, Derek-kun, Chet-kun," Akira doesn't look up. "Not much. It seems to be quiet in our little corner of the cosmos."
The Japanese straightens himself to allow Derek a look. The telescope was an amazing work of engineering, thanks to Chet, Len, Maurice and Oskar Bernstein. They had decided one day to build the most light-sensitive, highest magnifying portable visual light telescope possible. Designing it was easy; it was a mere question of manipulating light waves and lenses. Building it was a problem until a philanthropic organization called the Chaos Foundation granted them money. With the design proven, the Foundation put the telescope on the mass market, earning the four engineers students a pleasant stipend in royalties.
It was nice that some high-brow organizations were willing to give down-to-earth people a hand, Derek muses as he looks in the general region of Jupiter. He worked as an English tutor for many of the foreign students who transferred to Dalhousie from Nova Scotia's other universities. Perhaps a BEd in TESL might be a good idea after his BA was complete. "Yeah, it's pretty quiet out there tonight. Not like when Shumacher-Levy Five came tearing through. Any news on 'Atlantis' and Mir?"
"They just hooked up, mon ami," Maurice announces as he arrives with Len and Oskar. "Nothing out there?"
"Nope," Derek yawns. "All quiet."
The other students nod. All were in their early twenties. Akira and Oskar were the oldest, the latter coming to Canada after spending his mandatory time in the Israeli Defence Force. They were a interesting group. Derek was descent from Nova Scotia fishermen's stock, at home at sea as well as the class. Chet had an aristocrat's demeanor, though he was capable of nasty pranks when the mood struck him. Len was pure New Yorker in speech and in looks. All Maurice needed was a moustache and he would exemplify the classic French stereotype. Akira, a brown-belt in shorinji kempo and kendo, exemplified the mix of traditional samurai with modern Japan. And Oskar, grandson of one of the Schindlerjuden (and who was actually named after the industrialist anointed as a Righteous Gentile for his saving over a thousand from Auschwitz), bore his ancestors' tragedy with an iron determination never to see it happen again. Different, but united in their combined interest in science fiction, fantasy, astronomy and worldwide culture. In the language of jocks, they were nerds...but then, what did most jocks know other than sports?
"Where's Steve, Dave and Jack?" Len looks around before taking a look in the telescope.
"Out with the 'Enterprise,'" Derek yawns. The group owned a forty-foot trawler they picked up cheap when the Newfoundland cod fisheries collapsed. They had been split on the name. The four Canadians and the American chose "Enterprise" after Captain Kirk's ship. Akira proposed "Yamato" after the space-battleship in the anime. Chet, Maurice and Oskar sided with Derek and his friends, but had, to preserve Akira's pride, proposed they get another boat. They had almost saved up enough money. "Probably going over to where the 'Saguenay' was scuttled," he adds, mentioning an old helicopter destroyer which had been scuttled off Lunenburg recently as a diving park.
"Hope they get back soon," Len straightens himself to allow Oskar a look. "I wouldn't mind a spell on the old Atlantic."
"Same here," Chet nods.
"Hey, what's that?!" Oskar exclaims.
"What's what?" Akira asks.
"There's something there," Oskar points. "See for yourself."
Akira glances into the telescope. "It seems to be a comet," he sees a bright point of light in the middle of the picture.
"Yeah, but it just appeared out of nowhere!" Oskar explains. "One minute nothing, the next, poof!!" he waves his hands in an explosive gesture.
"That is odd," the Japanese muses. "Perhaps this might be a new star forming."
"Maybe we should get on the 'Net and tell someone," Len muses.
"Probably," Derek hums. "And get on the radio and tell the others that we've found something."
"Right!" the New Yorker waves as he runs to his room.
"I say, there's the 'Enterprise' right now," Chet points to the bay below their apartment.
Derek looks. Sure enough, a pearly white trawler was coming to rest at the local dock. Trimmed in red and the six national flags of their owners, it had "NCC-1701" in the movies' print style stencilled on both sides along with the legendary asymmetrical arrowhead at the bow below the boat's name and civil registry. Len had proposed putting "U.S.S." in front of the name. The Canadians shot that down. "This is Canada, dope!" Dave Holland had screamed, the pride of his father being in the Canadian Navy swelling. "If you call a ship by a title, it's 'H.M.C.S.!!'"
"Hey, Len, the 'Enterprise' is in!!" Derek yells inside.
"Yeah, they just called," the American confirms.
By that time, Maurice is taking a look in the telescope. "It seems to be growing larger by the minute," he muses. "It could be a comet. I've never seen anything like this before."
"Perhaps we're about to get our own Shumacher-Levy Five," Chet dryly muses.
"Oh, shit, I hope not!" Derek shudders. "You've heard of all the theories about what happened to the dinosaurs!"
"Wait!" Maurice holds his hand up. "Something's wrong here. This isn't a natural object, I think!"
Everyone looks surprised. "How can you tell?" Oskar muses.
"Because it just grew two legs," the Frenchman warns.
"WHAT?!?!?!" everyone exclaims.
Chet looks. "We should've put in a couple more spyglasses," the Englishman hums, then blinks. "Good God! Maurice is right! It seems to look like a spacecraft of some sort."
"Perhaps a communications satellite," Akira proposes.
"Not one shaped like this, old boy," Chet shakes his head. "Why, I'd swear...!"
The Englishman falters as he tries to form words to what just came to him. "Swear what?!" Derek urges him.
Chet stares at his friends. "That this actually is an honest-to-goodness spaceship!"
The others blink. "A real UFO?!" Oskar scratches his head.
Everyone laughs. "That's a ridiculous idea!!" Akira howls.
"Look for yourself, baka!" the Englishman waves the Japanese to the telescope.
"Fine, gaijin," Akira sneers as he looks into the eyepiece, then blinks. "Sacred Buddha!!"
"See!" Chet nods.
"My apologies, Chet. It seems you are right!"
Derek and Oskar leap up to look. "Let me see!!" the Canadian urges, then whistles. "Shit, it IS a UFO!"
"But from where and why?!" the Israeli wonders.
"Too early to speculate," Derek shakes his head. "Shit, she's coming on strong now! I can see a main central hull and I think those side hulls are engine boosters!"
"Wish they'd turn to give us a profile view," Oskar hums.
Derek blinks. "Just got your wish, Oskar. She's turning!"
"I see her," Oskar nods. "Can't tell size from here. What do you think? About the 'Yamato's' size?"
"Maybe," Derek hums. Switching to fantasy was the only way to make sense of this. Earth hadn't encountered aliens before, despite the profusion of UFO sightings which filled tabloids for years. Science fiction stories like "Star Trek" seemed the only decent information source they could use as a reference marker. "Next telescope we build, guys, we get a range finder on her."
"Amen to that," Oskar sighs. "How far up is she?"
"If we're picking up some details, depending on her size, I'd say low orbit...maybe two hundred miles," the Canadian speculates. "Which reminds me, where's Mir?! Somebody get a globe!"
"Right here!" Dave Holland walks onto the balcony, a globe in hand. Behind him, Steve Calhoun has a labtop with modem. Jack Rice drags out a length of telephone cord.
Steve sets up the labtop and hooks up the modem. Typing in commands, he waits, the light of the computer screen flashing off his glasses. "By the looks of it, Mir's over the North Pacific right now," he reports. "By the time they're over the Atlantic, they'll be over the SOUTH Atlantic. They won't see the UFO."
"Let me see it," Jack walks up to the telescope, then peeks in as Oskar gives way. "Holy shit!"
"A real UFO...with real aliens!" Dave hums. "Why do you suppose they're here?!"
"You think we should tell someone?" Len muses as he steps onto the balcony, having caught the last of his housemate's comment.
"You've seen 'Independence Day' too often!" Derek snarls.
The American shrugs. "Nothing wrong with being safe!"
"It's only one ship," Chet muses. "If there were others, say a whole fleet, then NASA or the observatories would have spotted them by now. CNN would know about it almost immediately."
The others nod. "Hey, something's wrong here!!" Jack yelps.
"What?!" Derek looks over.
His face pales. "Oh, God! She's blowing up!!"
Everyone looks at each other...
* * *
It came on them without warning.
The "Starleaf" had just settled into low orbit. Eluza chose the smaller bihemispheric ocean because of Mir. Further, most of the communications networks Catty detected linked the triangular shaped continent to the west with the western end of the planet's largest land mass. No one had learned names yet; Catty was still working on segregating Terra's insane number of languages into groups so they could choose one by which to...what? Communicate? Would the Terrans listen, or panic? There was one possibility, the android told them. The communications network operated on a series of codes, letters and numbers very similar to the Solnoids' own alphabet. Eluza ordered Catty to locate a language using that.
Catty just began her search when OX-11 warned that the G-canceler, burned out because of the virus, was overheating. No matter how much Mal tried, the ship was doomed. With urgency born of experience, Rabby ordered everyone to the Blossom. OX-11 dumped its knowledge into the pod's mainframe as everyone boarded. As Lufy walks through the hatchway, she scans the pod's recreation room, quickly noticing someone missing. "Where's Catty?!"
Rabby bolts up. "She should be with us!!"
Lufy runs to the gangway, looking to the catapult machinery room. Catty was there. "You crazy idiot, get a move on!!" the Attacker yells. "We've got no time!"
"The catapult circuits are burnt out!" the android yells back. "Get in!! I'll get you going!"
Rabby joins Lufy at the gangway. "No, Catty!! Don't do this! We can't afford to lose you!!"
"It's my life, Commander...!" Catty replies.
Before she could say more, one of the four cyborg soldiers zaps Catty in the shoulder with a stun-baton. The lavender-haired woman gasps as her circuits are overwhelmed, collapsing into another's arms. "You are more important than we, Catty," Eni muses, carrying the unmoving android to the Blossom.
"Thank the Mother!" Rabby sighs as Eni comes up, then takes Catty in her arms. "How bad are the circuits?"
"They are not bad, Commander," the cyborg responds. "Secure yourselves. We will come shortly."
"Don't wait!!" Lufy warns as the three women proceed inside.
If Eni was still human, she would cry. "We shall not," she muses as her hand falls on the controls to seal Blossom.
Rabby sits Catty down in a chair, then straps her in...just as the door leading back to the carrier slams shut. "What the...?!!"
"Damn!!!" Lufy gasps. "They're still aboard!!"
* * *
"Come on!!!" Derek urges as the explosions consume the side pods, racing forward like the fires that consumed the "Hindenburg" on its last voyage. "Get out of there, you people!! Don't stick around! Get out, damn you!!"
The others anxiously watch the Canadian, appreciating too well what a death in space could be like...
* * *
In the "Starleaf's" catapult machinery room, Maini forms herself as a living circuit, allowing the controls to come back on line. "Launch the Blossom!" she urges.
Eni punches the control, sending thousands of volts surging through her fellow cyborg. Maini screams as the electricity overwhelms her, but it does the trick. "Farewell, Captain," Eni salutes as the Blossom breaks free of the "Starleaf."
The bow of the carrier pries open like a morning flower, allowing the Blossom to sail free. By then, most of the "Starleaf" is ablaze. One of the weapons pods explodes as a magazine goes up, then the G-canceler detonates. The battlecarrier falls away as the pod soars on, without power to keep it free of Terra's gravity.
"NO!!!!" Rabby screams.
* * *
"A lifepod!!!" Derek screams. "Son-of-a-bitch, that baby just put out a lifepod!!! They got out!!!"
Cheers of joy and relief echo as Derek wipes a tear from his eye. This was the craziest day of his life, but with the aliens, whatever and whoever they were, now safe, he could accept it...
* * *
Everyone runs to the windows to watch the "Starleaf's" final moments. The whole ship was ablaze from stem to stern, dropping in free-fall towards the ocean below. Fortunately, it wouldn't land on any inhabited area...IF it survived contact with Terra's atmosphere. Watching her third home destroyed before her eyes, Rabby shakes her head, then salutes. "Farewell, old friend. Thank you for seeing us this far."
The others salute the "Starleaf" as it finally explodes in a shower of twisted metal and exploding gasses...
* * *
Derek was seated, wiping his eyes, allowing them to rest. Akira watches the lifepod as it speeds safely away. "I was just wondering," Chet muses. "If that lifepod doesn't have any decent booster engines, it'll come landing somewhere on Earth."
The others jolt in shock at the Englishman's words. "Shit, that's right!!" Len gasps. "Where the hell would they put down?!"
Everyone muses, then Jack looks up. "Why not here?"
"WHAT?!?!?!" everyone else exclaims.
"Look, if other people spotted the UFO, we'd've heard about it by now," Jack points to Steve's labtop computer. "News of that sort would be screaming through the 'Net!!"
"And if we had a television up here, CNN would be announcing it," Maurice adds.
"Speaking of which, someone go down and turn on the tube," Derek hums. "Let's make sure."
"Right, I'll go!" Oskar runs downstairs.
"So if they could come, how do we persuade them?!" Dave hums.
"If we can see them, they could certainly see us," Akira stands. "Now, all we need is a searchlight!"
"Who says anything about a searchlight?" Derek laughs at the sheer absurdity of bringing the aliens to their front doorstep. "Don't you remember the 'Gilligan's Island' episode where they tried to send an 'SOS' to an orbiting Gemini capsule?!"
"I remember!" Len snaps his fingers. "Shit, let's go find some wood and some booze! That'll get their attention!! We can do it on the beach!"
The others nod as they run off the balcony...
* * *
"Why?!" Catty moans. "Why did they do it? I was prepared."
"We weren't prepared to lose you," Shildy smiles. "We need you, Catty."
"I...I understand," the lavender-haired woman nods.
Rabby and Eluza gaze at Terra's surface. "Where can we put down?" the first officer indicates the cities in the near distance. "We certainly couldn't put down anywhere near those places," she points at the largest mass of lights to the south-west.
"Agreed," the captain nods. "I'm not interested in producing a panic. By the way, Catty, did you get names for these places?"
The android has by then moved to the Blossom's main computer console. "OX-11 was running a program by which we could translate the Terrans' alphabet into our own. Remarkably enough, Captain, this alphabet has twenty-six characters, the same as ours. In fact, many of them are similar to ours."
"Really?!" Rabby looks relieved. "Then at least we could read their language! It goes a long way towards understanding it!"
"We seem to be running into our fair share of miracles on this trip, eh?!" Spea muses to Amy.
The younger woman laughs. "OX-11 also discovered what the Terrans address their subdivisions as," Catty continues. "They call themselves 'nations,' although I don't understand what that exactly means. The nations we are closest to address themselves as 'Canada' and 'the United States of America.'"
The others blink in confusion; Catty pronounced the name of Earth's reigning superpower in English, having yet been able to understand how it would translate. The android produces a map on the viewing screen near Patty, showing the surrounding area. Canadian territory is marked in red, American blue. A targeting marker shows the Blossom's position. Yellow lines denote state and provincial boundaries. "Canada and the United States of America are split into sub-divisions. I have their names in the computer."
Names appear. "We seem to be close to the subdivision of Canada called...Nova Scotia," Spea reads. "Weird name."
"They're all weird," Patty adds.
"They'll probably think we're weird," Rabby warns. "Catty, what's Nova Scotia's population?"
"Over a million sentients, Commander," the android looks back. "Mostly concentrated in three large cities."
Icons marked HALIFAX, DARTMOUTH and SYDNEY appear. "It is also my belief that Halifax," Catty stammers the harsh Scottish name, "...is Nova Scotia's administrative centre. All local communications lines seem centered around that city."
"A million people doesn't seem too crowded," Rabby muses. "If we put down along here," she points to the coast between Halifax and Yarmouth, "...we stand the chance of not being spotted."
"Maybe we should put down in the ocean itself," Eluza hums, then looks over. "Catty, alter the Blossom's flight path. Let's start looking for a safe landing place. Somewhere where we don't drown, but out in the ocean, away from major towns."
"Understood," the android manipulates the controls...
* * *
Finding wood was easy enough; the landlady's husband was planning to construct a boat shed when he died. She hadn't got around to disposing of the timbers. Alcohol, beer with some gin, brandy and sake, would be the fuel. The hard part was deciding what to say. Finally, they settled on COME HERE. Hopefully, it would be spotted by long-range cameras on the lifepod.
"Okay, light it!!" Derek orders.
With a burst of flame, the message turns from dark wood to neon. Drawing out a cellular telephone, the Canadian dials a number. "Oskar, where's the life pod?!"
"It's turning around!" the Israeli calls back. "It seems to be moving to land!"
Derek blinks. "Are you sure?!!"
"Yes!" Oskar calls back. "Hell, it's going through the atmosphere right now! You can probably see it from the beach!!"
Derek looks up. Sure enough, a bright light had just appeared in the evening sky. "We got it!! Now, if they'll only spot us!"
"Use torches," Oskar suggests.
"Right!!" Derek nods, then hangs up. "Everyone, grab torches and light them up! Let's try to get their attention!!"
The other men scurry off...
* * *
Blossom shudders as it punches through the upper atmosphere. Everyone remains seated, awaiting the time when the glowing fires would dissipate, then they'd prepare for landing. Landing the pod in the ocean seemed a decent option, though Mal was concerned about the emergency equipment stored in the lower bays. "We'll worry about that when we get into the clear!" Rabby told the engineer.
At the communications station, Catty was using the Blossom's cameras to discover if anyone had seen them. While the south-west coast of Nova Scotia was sparsely inhabited, there were several fair-sized towns, the closest one called Lunenburg. Also, scanners were at work. ECM reported several heavy-duty radar units near Halifax, but so far, no one seemed to have noticed the escape pod.
Or had they?
Catty blinks. Somewhere to the east of Lunenburg, a small bonfire had been lit on a beach. Also, there were sentients waving torches. At first, the android assumed that they were signalling an ocean craft or participating in some ritual. But the bonfire had been composed of actual Terran letters: COME HERE. What did that mean? And who were they signalling?
She makes use of the Blossom's most powerful camera to take a closer look. There were eight, all like Patty's offspring. They seemed to be looking straight at the android, which shocked her for a moment. Then she realizes that they were looking at the Blossom. They had been spotted! So what were they doing?
COME HERE. What did that mean? Out of curiosity, Catty switches the letters to Solnoid standard. She blinks. The Solnoid homonym of the first word was a verb, instructing a person to join the speaker. The second word meant the speaker's location. If the Terrans actually meant for the Blossom to "come here," they wanted the Solnoids to join them.
Catty muses. The Terrans seemed unarmed and were not dressed in any uniform. Obviously, they were what all Solnoids had long wished to be: civilians. And they did seem honestly concerned. Perhaps they had witnessed the "Starleaf's" destruction. If such was true, it contradicted the Terrans' lack of deep space travel. Unless Terran culture had in places outstripped its technological heights. Perhaps the Terrans, while incapable of faster-than-light travel, could conceive of it. If such was so, these Terrans must have come to some conclusions about them. They certainly didn't seem hostile.
"I believe I have located a place to land," she announces.
"Put us down, Catty," Eluza orders.
"Yes, Captain," the android nods, then manipulates controls...
* * *
Derek's telephone rings. "What's up?!"
"The lifepod!" Oskar's voice calls out. "It's altered course! It's heading straight for us!!"
The Canadian blinks. "Are you sure?!"
"Of course I'm sure!" the Israeli responds. "The damn thing is growing right before my eyes!"
Derek looks up. The point of light was now clearly visible to the naked eye, forming into the lifepod's shape. They had done it! The aliens were coming to them! Now what?! Derek looks to Chet, now standing beside him. "We might as well be gracious hosts," the Englishman proposes.
Derek smiles, then turns to the others. "Okay, put the bonfire out! Everyone to the 'Enterprise!' They might run into trouble if they land out there! Let's go!!"
* * *
Catty watches as the people proceed down the beach towards a boat dock. Awaiting them is a small craft the size of a Solnoid fighter. A ninth sentient, also like Patty's offspring, joined them from the small building which seemed the only habitation in the area. All board, then they let themselves go from the dock, turning it to the sea...in the general direction of where Blossom was landing. "How long?" Eluza calls out.
"Four hundred seconds, Captain," the android responds.
Eluza unstraps herself, then looks to everyone else. "Let's get down there to get some gear. We'll try to salvage the rest of it if we get the chance. Move!"
Everyone save Catty race to the lower decks. There, along with some ground vehicles and hovercycles, were emergency tents, sleeping bags, rations and weapons. Grabbing as much as they can, they proceed back to the escape pod's upper levels as Catty's voice echoes through the PA system. "One hundred...ninety-nine..."
By the time Catty reaches forty, everyone is upstairs. "All lower hatches secured," Mal reports from the engineering station.
"Fasten yourselves in! You too, Catty!" Rabby orders.
The android secures the computer, then proceeds to her chair.
* * *
"Thar she blows!" Len yells from the "Enterprise's" bow as the Blossom passes the lowermost level of clouds.
"About ten kilometres up, I'd say!" Chet looks at the escape pod through a pair of binoculars.
"Turn on the radio and see if Lunenburg or Halifax Harbour Control have picked that ship up!" Dave yells to Derek.
Derek nods, turning on FM channel 10. The usual traffic from Halifax comes over the line. Nothing seemed wrong. "Not a sound. That ship must have some sort of stealth-like coating."
"Not really," Akira shakes his head. "Radars these days are more like radio transmitter finders. They're don't look for the planes but their location beacons. Not even Shearwater would pick this thing up."
The only station which could have, Derek nods agreeingly, was the closed Canadian Forces station at Barrington, south-south-east of Yarmouth. "It looks like we're the ones who get to meet them first!" he laughs.
"I wonder if they're capable of living on Earth," Chet muses. "Do you think they've had time to take some sort of precautions?!"
"I hope," Derek sighs. "No matter what, let's make them feel welcome!"
"Right-o!" the Englishman returns to his binoculars.
"I just thought of something," Steve taps Derek on the shoulder. "What's the ground like underwater here?!"
"Dave?!" Derek looks to his fellow Canadian.
"It's pretty soft sand under here," the Lunenburg native looks back. "If they're smart, they'll let water into their lower compartments as she hits! That'll let them sink on an even keel. Hopefully, they won't hit a rock."
"Or a shipwreck," Chet adds. "The bloody Germans made hash out of local convoys during World War Two. Most of the sea routes ran right by here!"
"Amen to that!" Derek looks up.
* * *
"Atmospheric friction increasing," Catty reports. "Thrusters firing. Captain, recommend we vent the lower decks to the sea as we land."
"If we do that, we'll lose all our vehicles," Patty warns.
"No time," Eluza snaps. "Do it!"
"Yes, ma'am," Catty keys the controls.
The Blossom's sides open up as the landing legs plunge into the Atlantic. A gentle wave rolls away as it sinks to its final resting place. The depth of the water wasn't so deep that the whole of the Blossom would be submerged, but Fate steps in at that time with an underwater rock, which remains stubbornly still as one of the landing legs strikes! In a second, what was supposed to be a safe landing turns dangerous...
* * *
"Oh, God, they hit something!!" Len cries from the bow, watching as the lifepod begins to tilt over.
"Underwater rock!!" Dave spits out. "Shit, they'll capsize!"
* * *
Mal transfers all control to one thruster rocket to keep the escape pod on an even keel. "What happened?!" Eluza demands.
"We hit a submerged rock!" Catty reports from her station.
"I've got one thruster working," Mal adds. "It'll keep us on an even keel for a while, but not indefinitely."
"Captain, there is a small craft approaching us," Catty reports. "I believe they are natives who became aware of our presence shortly before or during the 'Starleaf's' destruction."
"WHAT?!?!" Eluza exclaims.
"I do believe they mean us no harm," the android adds.
Lufy runs to the window to see the "Enterprise" approach. "I see them!" the Attacker barks. "That's no bigger than a gunship!"
"It'll have to do!" Rabby sighs, then blinks. "Look!! There're people aboard!"
Eluza sighs. Mixed luck was better than no luck. "Blow the windows!!" she barks.
Miti draws her pistol, then fires a full magazine. The windows shatter, the glass flying into the sea now several feet below the lower edge. Seeing this, Derek points. "Head there!!"
Dave guides the fishing trawler as close as possible to the Solnoid escape pod. Looking inside, Chet emits a cry of shock. "I don't believe it!" he points. "They're human!!"
"Son-of-a-bitch!!" Len whistles. "And they're all women!!!"
Realizing that these aliens, if they really were aliens, needed help, Akira grabs a line-throwing gun, loads a projectile, cocks a blank round into the firing bed, aims and shoots. The ball, a thin line tied to it, flies into the Blossom. Seeing it, Shildy grabs the line. "What's that?!" Amy gasps.
"Lifeline, I hope!" Shildy replies.
"Pass over one of the docking lines," Derek barks. "We can use that to allow them to get off that thing!"
Oskar ties the heavy hemp rope to the carrying line, then passes it out towards the Blossom. On the escape pod, Shildy, Lufy and Miti drag the line in, then pass it to Rabby so she can tie it around one of the chairs. "TOIL, AIL, get across!" the first officer barks. "Take whatever you safely can! We'll need it! When you're on that boat, keep the line secure!!"
"Yes, Commander," both servobots race off to seize two emergency tents, then load themselves onto the lifeline.
On the "Enterprise," everyone blinks in shock as two small robots, one white, the other blue, load themselves and their cargo on the lifeline, then perform a balancing act the great Blondin would admire. "They've got servodroids, too?!" Maurice blinks.
"If they're sentient in any way, they'll need 'em!" Len notes.
Akira and Oskar help TOIL and AIL aboard, then shove the tents aside. "Get off there!!" Derek yells over. "Your thrusters can't hold you up for long!!!"
Seeing the two servobots had made it, Eluza turns to her crew. "Everyone, grab something! Abandon ship!!"
"Come on, come on!!!" Dave yells.
Wrapping as many weapons as she can carry, Miti leaps onto the lifeline, then overhand crawls her way across to the "Enterprise." Next to go is Spea with some rations, a scared Amy hanging on to her. Shildy comes next with another tent. Patty heads over with some sleeping bags. Mal carries another tent. Eluza takes the rest of the rations. Lufy takes the rest of the weapons. Rabby moves to hop on the line, then notices Catty remaining in place. "Damn you!" the first officer yells. "Get on that line! What did your mother program into you, anyway?!"
"But if I fall...?" Catty stammers.
"Go!!!" Rabby yells.
Catty leaps on the line, then imitates Miti's crossing. The line bends, but doesn't break...however, Rabby's knot begins to unwind. Reaching the fishing boat's deck, Catty yells back, "With haste, Commander!!!"
"Coming!!" Rabby leaps on the line...
...just as the surviving thruster fails!
Blossom lurches as its insides are vented to the Atlantic, keeling over. The jerk undoes the knot, which sends Rabby falling into the ocean. "Bloody hell!!!" Chet yells as he mounts the guard rail, then leaps in after her.
"Rabby!!!" Lufy screams.
The escape pod plunges to its final resting place. The water swamps Rabby and Chet as the "Enterprise" is shoved away. Dave mutters a curse, then charges the trawler's engines to stay close. A second later, the heads of the Solnoid officer and the English university student burst from the water. Taking her hand, Chet yells, "I say, old sports! Would you pass a line over?!"
Lufy grabs the lifeline, then tosses it. Rabby grabs it, then both are pulled in to climb aboard. "Ladies first," Chet ushers Rabby onto the deck before stepping aboard himself.
Derek turns to Dave. "Take us back in!! If we don't get there soon, they'll both get a nice bout of pneumonia!"
"Right!!" he guns the motors, then turns "Enterprise's" bow towards their home.
Derek turns to look at the twelve strangers who just popped into their lives. All look at him quizzically, even the two small R2D2-like robots. "Well, welcome to Earth!" he chuckles.
One of the women, a sixteen year old girl with lavender hair, stares at him quizzically. Derek had never seen gold eyes before. "Canada?" she points towards land. "Nova...Scotia?"
The Canadian blinks. "Yes," he nods, then makes a circular motion with both hands to indicate a planet. "Earth!"
The women exchange looks, then nod understandingly. Well, that's the first step, Derek muses to himself, realizing that his life, all their lives, would never be the same again...
* * *
To be continued...