The Risks of Dead Reckoning Felicia Watson (books for 9th graders .TXT) đ
- Author: Felicia Watson
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Kennedy asked, âCould thisbe some kind of attack?â
It was Ricci who responded.âThatâs what Iâve been wondering.â
âMaybe someone got wind ofour payload and wants to help themselves to an easy windfall ofkiatilium,â Lindstrom suggested.
âWeapons systems havenâtbeen affected, so they may thinkitâs gonna be easy,â Decker growled, âbut I canguarantee it wonât.â
âHow would anyone havefound out about the kiatilium?â Ramsey asked. âItâs not like weâretrailing it behind us.â
âI bet we weredouble-crossed by the Carraiks,â Decker said. âThey probably set usup toââ
âThatâs exactly the kindof reckless speculation we donât need right now, Lieutenant,â Ricciwarned.
Naiche exhaled a quiet,âYes, sir.â
âHopefully, that secondneutrino beam will give Scientific and Engineering enough data sothat they can figure out exactly what weâre up against.â Thecaptain turned to Ramsey and Lateef for confirmation, which theyboth readily gave.
***
An hour later, the seniorstaff was gathering in the war room where they had been summoned byVICI. All were impatient for news on the energy beam which hadinterrupted their journey and disturbed their nightâs sleep. Naichetook her usual seat next to Con, asking, âAqila still in thelab?â
âYes, she and CommanderRamsey have been down there with Sasaki for the last twentyminutes.â
Eyebrows raised, Jacowayasked, âSasaki?â He looked over at Ricci. âCaptain, why is ourlinguist weighing in on this? Was there a message included in theenergy transmission?â
âNo, thetransmission was the message,â Carla Ramsey announced as she entered theroom.
After smiling at Lateef,who had followed the chief engineer into the room, Kennedy turnedto Ramsey. âCome again, Commander?â
âIâll let Aqila explain,âRamsey said. âHer staff were the ones who solved themystery.â
Lateef waited until Sasakitook his seat before launching into the explanation. âLieutenantBrodie has determined that the neutrino beam we detected was beingused as an advanced system of data delivery.â
âWhy didnât we immediatelyrecognize it as data?â Ricci asked.
Lindstrom took up thethread. âAnd how does a data transmission manage to disturb bothour Nav-sat and Com-sat?â
âBecause, like us, thatneutrino beam was traveling through a cosmic string. AtL-speed-100,â Lateef answered.
Over the murmur ofsurprise filling the room, Jacoway objected, âWait, datacanât travel faster thanthe speed of light. I mean, if we could do that, we wouldnât needrelay stations to communicate with Uniterrae.â
âYouâre right,â Aqilasaid, âwe canâtdo that. But apparently someone else can.â
Kennedy leaned forward, hisvoice gaining an urgent undertone. âThis transmission must havecome from a highly advanced species â beyond anything weâveencountered before.â
Ricci responded, âYes, wehave to assume thatâs the case.â He turned to Lateef, saying,âPlease continue, Commander.â
âOnce we recognized thenature of the neutrino beam, we were able to decode it. It turnsout itâs basicallyâŠa distress call.â
Decker relaxed slightly atthe news, and recognized the same reaction in Con. An extremelyadvanced species in trouble was slightly less threatening than anextremely advanced species on the attack.
The captainâs voicedisplayed no immediate easing of tension as he asked Sasaki, âHowconfident are you in your translation of the message?â
âI didnât translate it,âSasaki answered. âIt wasnât necessary.â
âWhy not?â Riccidemanded.
âAs it turned out, themessage was in Standish.â
The chief medical officer,Dr. Rita Clemente, exclaimed, âOh, so it was intended for us.Somebody needs our help.â
Lateef countered, âNo, itwasnât for us.â She held up her hand to belay the barrage ofquestions. âIf youâll listen to it, youâll understand.â Sheinstructed VICI to play the decoded message.
Speaking in stilted,somewhat archaic Standish, an entirely human voice resonatedthroughout the war room. âMighty Lignatians, this is CaptainAbigale Maddox. The Children of the Valiant are in grave danger. Webeseech your intervention. Our journey to New Earth has provedfruitless and perilous. During our return to Jileesa, we sufferedan attack on the alien world Tolu, and we are now stranded. Werequire your assistance. Only you can save us now.â The voice wenton to give the coordinates of the âalien world,â and to repeat thecall for aid several times.
âBefore anyone can ask,âLateef said, âwe have no record of any species by the name ofLignatians, nor any inhabited world called Jileesa â orTolu.â
âWhat about the human wejust heard speaking?â asked Lindstrom; without waiting for ananswer, he turned to Ricci. âI donât know of any âCaptain Maddoxâin the UDC. Do you?â
âNo, never heard of her.â Ricci posed the same question toVICI, who soon confirmed that there was no record of an AbigaleMaddox in the Uniterrae Defense Corps â not at present nor at anytime in the past. Ricci asked Lateef, âAre we certain that wasactually a human speaking and not a simulation?â
âOur data indicate thatit was a humanvoice, but with a species who are capable of sending a message likethis â who knows?â
Decker asked, âWhat wasall that about âNew Earthâ and âChildren of the Valiantâ?â
ââThe Valiantâ makes me think of thatgenerational ship we found back in â38,â Clemente said. âOn thePakarahova mission.â
âCould there somehow bedescendants of the people of the Valiant out there?â Sasaki asked.âSimilar to the Chelmanians, who descended from the crew ofthe Intrepid?â
âNo,â Aqila replied.âThere are no descendants of the crew of the Valiant. Everyone on that ship died. I know.I saw them.â
Jacoway mused, âWerenâtthere some crew members unaccounted for? After the ship was towedback to Uniterrae, I mean.â
âTechnically, yes,â Aqilaconceded with a toss of her head. âWhen all the bodies were finallyidentified, the names were compared against the shipâs lastmanifest and twelve people weremissing â but those twelve were the ones mostlikely to have been trying to contain the reactor leak. Thereasonable assumption is, that there were no remains left of thosepeople after so violent an explosion.â The group mulled that newsover while Lateef added, âEven if those dozen people somehowhad escaped, thatâshardly enough to have started a new race that managed to sustainitself for over two-hundred years. Let alone advance beyondus.â
âBut we canât beabsolutely sure of thatâ can we?â Clemente said. âThe very existence of this messageproves the limitation of our current understanding ofscience.â
âThis all sounds to me,âKennedy offered, âlike an elaborate trap someone is waiting tospring on us.â As Decker was nodding in agreement, he continued,âBut I think we do need to figure out what their game is. And thereâs only oneway to do that â go to those coordinates.â
Lindstrom said, âTo beclear on this, you think itâs a trap â but still think we shouldgo?â
âApproaching with
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