Defending Hippotigris, Smith, T.L. [best ebook reader under 100 .txt] 📗

define ‘watch’ later. Right now I need to get you up to speed with what’s going on. We’ll start on the bridge.”

I led the way, speaking almost non-stop, even when we reached the bridge. They stared in total shock at the star field, reduced to a blur by FTL. We had real FTL, though 99.99 percent of Earth had no idea.

I started with the abridged version of history. “As you know, after NASA there was the PSTI. The Private Space Travel Industry led the next charge into space exploration. However, thanks to the 1967 U.N. Outer Space Treaty, ownership of the moon and planets in our solar system couldn’t go private.”

“Yeah. Space wasn’t going to be a repeat of the wild-west days with land grabs and range wars running rampant.” Remy chimed in. “The Earth’s governments created the U.N. Space Alliance.”

“And with PSTI technologies, Peary Moon Base was founded. Resources mined from the moon funded new space stations and research into colonization of Mars, Venus, and various moons. However, it was always dreamed of going further.”

Remy finally took his eyes off the stars to look around the bridge. “And we have? How? Why don’t I… why doesn’t anyone know about this?” He turned back to me, looking me up and down, at the different uniform. “Are you still Alliance?”

“We are.” I turned to look at the stars myself. “For hundreds of years we speculated about other solar systems, other planets. In the 21st century we started identifying possible worlds, getting better and better at finding near-Earths, but still couldn’t get to them. In the last hundred years we developed the technology to attain FTL, but struggled finding materials capable of handling the stress. Imagine how surprised we were to find it right under our feet, at Peary.”

I shifted back to Remy, feeling bad for him as an engineer, to be excluded from all this. I could see it in his eyes. Doubled by the fact that I knew, all this time.

The wife side of me stirred, but I needed to get this story told. “The discovery was before our time, but in one of the moon’s asteroid craters they found a new iron ore compound. It had the lightness and strength they’d been looking for, but quantities were so limited the discovery was kept secret.”

His resentment went down a notch.

“They’d found the missing element for building FTL ships. They still couldn’t tell anyone. Instead, an ultra-secret division of the Corps was created for exploration outside our solar system. They were missioned with finding habitable planets, but more importantly, finding more of this elusive ore. Once they could get to other worlds, they put together research teams to study them. That’s why I was recruited.”

Remy’s resentment notched up again. How many times had he mournfully postulated on the impossibility of ever achieving FTL, while the whole time I was planet hopping.

Lizzy sat in a chair, her hands tucked under her, for once afraid to touch anything. For her this was straight out of a Sci-Fi movie. She spun her chair around. “So, Sis, how’d you get roped into this and what’s your job here?”

“Well, I did start out an astro-biologist, but I was recruited to become a Xeno-biologist. Now I’m a Xenologist.”

“A Xenologist?” Remy shook his head at me. “What’s the difference?”

“She holds a Master in all disciplines of studying alien life forms.” Schaeffer stepped onto the bridge.

Lizzy’s eyes lit up as she spun her chair around, her mind as sharp as her tongue. “Wouldn’t that require alien lives to master over, Dick?”

Schaeffer’s eyes flashed, a real flare of anger. “It’s Col. Richard Schaeffer.”

Lizzy gave a rolling shrug of her shoulder. “Same difference.” She coyly coiled a strand of hair between her fingers. “So, how’s that work, a master of aliens. Wouldn’t you need aliens?”

Schaeffer didn’t answer her, leaving the air quiet. Everyone on the bridge remained quiet, and here it came, that smirk when he was hiding something he wanted me to fish out. Only he was aiming it at Lizzy.

Remy realized what wasn’t being said. Amused surrealism turned to shocked betrayal as my secrets only got bigger with every breath. Lizzy spun around to glare at me too.

I couldn’t look at them. “We’ve been researching a planet that gave off the geo-chemical signatures of the ore we’re seeking. My unit is tasked with determining the sentience of its life forms and the effect of human colonization on its xeno-ecologies.”

Schaeffer strolled slowly around the upper ring. “In other words, imagine an alien race visiting Earth during our tree-swinging days. What if they determined we had no potential for sentience and settled down there?” Still smirking. “Or maybe they did and experimented to see what a little tweak here or there might produce out of our ape ancestors.”

Geez… he loved that particular theory. Of course I couldn’t debunk it. “Yes, my job is to make sure we don’t upset the evolution of any indigenous intelligent creatures.”

“So, Dick…”  Lizzy spun her chair around again. “… am I going to get to see aliens? You better tell me yes, after kidnapping me.”

“Depends on whether I throw you back in the brig.” Schaeffer made the circuit, tossing the threat over his shoulder as he turned back to the door. “I suggest playing nice, Dizzi Lizzi.”

“Sure thing, Captain Dick.” She shouted after him, but got no response… from him.

The woman sitting quietly at the bridge’s center console turned around. “Just so you know, Ms. Salazar. I am the only Captain here. This is my ship. Col. Schaeffer is mission commander. Col. Kazan is the commander of the Xenos.” She added a ‘don’t make that mistake again’ smile that would do Lizzy’s mom proud. “Now it is time for my crew to get back to work.” She tipped her head to me. “Ma’am.”

“Thank you for indulging us, Captain.” I guided Remy and Lizzy out. Remy was dying to stay, but I was tired, even though I’d slept for three days. I managed to answer a few