First Contacts (Alec, #1) E-Book

Ernest Polmateer

• Herausgeber: Ernest Polmateer
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Swell. What else was going to go wrong on this trip?

Alec came to this planet looking to make earth’s first alien encounter.
He had found an alien spacecraft and even made contact with what he thought were lost aliens.

Unfortunately, they did not let him in on their little secret about their own alien enemy.
Now he seemed to be in the middle of an interstellar war.
If they did not get him, the local wild life would.

On top of that, the jump gate did not work and his lander was lying on its side.
Now he was stuck somewhere at the edge of space and the only help he had was a computer with a personality problem.

This is not how he envisioned galactic exploration.

His new alien contacts were apparently unaware these other aliens were in the area.
Now his mission had become one of rescue for his new found friends.

There was just one big problem.

Who was going to rescue him?

Leseprobe

First Contacts

Alec, Volume 1

Ernest Polmateer

Published by Ernest Polmateer, 2015.

First Contacts

Ernest Polmateer

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Copyright © Ernest Polmateer (2014). All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction.  Characters, dialogue, and events are all constructs of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Back in the Saddle

Sigma IV

A New Plan of Action

A Game of Chase

Real Contact

Shaking Things Out

A New Slant on Things

One Final Sortie

Back in the Saddle

––––––––

It was going to be a beautiful morning over southern Florida he mused, as the plane banked for its final leg of the approach. "Seems like I never left."

"Pardon me sir?" asked the flight attendant, who was leaning part way over his seat.

"Oh nothing, just thinking out loud." Alec hadn't realized he'd said anything at first.

"I guess your thinking drowned out the captain as well," she admonished with a look at the 'Fasten Seat belt' sign. "We are about to land sir."

"I'm sorry miss," as he straightened his seat back upright and readjusted his seat belt. He always wore the belt, even hated having to take it off when he went to the restroom.

"Thank you sir," she said as she proceeded down the aisle reminding the other passengers to fasten their seat belts and bringing them out of their individual reveries in preparation for the landing. With the flight attendant safely on her way, Alec again lapsed back into his own train of thought.

It was pretty obvious from the comments the director of the Institute had made during the "early retirement" party, that he thought a contact biologist was about as useful as a politician up for reelection. In one sense Alec couldn't blame him, but the lack of foresight and sensitivity on the director's part was unforgivable. After all, no one really knew if there was indeed any intelligent life to be encountered. What they did know was that they mostly found planets with a lot of lower forms of animal life and several types of plants and fungi.

Only two planets had been found to have life that could be considered a higher form of life, but even so, one was talking about life no more intelligent than perhaps a cat or a dog. But, there were no planets containing any life that could be remotely considered sentient.

So far, the exploration of the nearer star systems was a big bust, as far as higher forms of carbon based life were concerned, even though the exploration of some of the planets they found had been pretty exciting. Some of those same planets even had new colonies established that seemed to be thriving so far. So now, mankind was more than a one planet species and Hawking would be proud to know he had been heard and heeded.

Of course there were four other types of organisms discovered that did not fit into any of the earth based classifications of life. Alec was sure they would find even more varied types that were heretofore unknown, based on what had been found so far during the early years of human exploration of the stars.

Somehow the higher ups had taken all the discoveries, or lack thereof, thus far, to mean there were no intelligent species of life in the galaxy other than humans. Funny how some took lack of evidence as proof that something did not exist. Their conclusion was that one: twenty-one earth type planets had been explored and cataloged and were in various stages of colonization and no intelligent life had been found. And two: the budget couldn't afford extraneous personnel, so there would be a restructuring, i.e. layoffs.

He wondered if the galaxy's make up of life, or the lack of intelligent life, would conform to the institute's budget. Alec looked up and saw people staring at him and realized he had been chuckling to himself aloud.

As the plane's tires began to scrub on the concrete, the text of the letter came back to him. 'Effective Immediately!! You are hereby ordered to report to the Director of the International Colonial Space Institute without delay!!' I wonder what put a bug up their ass? Alec wondered. Must have found something more intelligent than the Director, then he caught himself before he scared the other passengers again.

For the most part, the ride to the Institute was rather uneventful. It was a bit unusual to be met by two Marine guards, who collected him and his baggage, and took him outside where there was another Marine waiting in an unmarked car. He did go through baggage check fast and he sure got a lot of stares.

The two stony faced guards were not predisposed to conversation, so Alec gave up trying to find out what the scoop was. They probably didn't know more than they were to come and get him anyway. Besides, Alec didn't think he wanted to get in trouble with these guys because of his big mouth. They looked a bit too professional to play games with. It had already caused him enough trouble when he had worked at the Institute before.

When Alec walked into the lobby he noticed a new receptionist at the desk. The desk was the first thing noticeable to a visitor upon entering. It towered above one's head and sat directly in line with the elevators behind it. Bulletproof and connected to the guard's den visible off to the right of the entrance, it had stopped more than one irate turn-down for off planet colonization.

Off to his left he also noticed four visitors, all in civilian clothes, sitting in various locations, all of which kept the entryway and desk in full view. All were Asian and by the looks of their haircuts he had no doubt this was part of the Chinese security contingent stationed here. They were noted for being ruthlessly efficient and their presence was one of the bones they had received at going along with Florida as the location of the Institute's headquarters.

The U.S. had to agree to a whole raft of conditions to make this possible, and the Chinese were only one of many international teams living in the immediate area around the Institute. He noticed three of the men were quite young and one probably in his thirties. He was more than likely in charge. They were there to make sure that daily activities went on peacefully and visitors noted and reported to someone back home in Beijing, as well as to the head of Institute security.

This almost unobtrusive security contingent was not, however, the only security in the room. The receptionist was also armed with the latest in high tech weaponry and fully trained in how to use it. Well, at least the last receptionist was, and he had no reason to doubt this one was any different.

"I'm Dr. Richards," he stated as he strode up the desk and craned his neck to get a better look at the woman sitting behind it.

"The Dr. Richards? The contact biologist?" she asked primly.

"The only doctor you'll ever need sweetheart. By the way did you know that you could be pretty if you smiled?" He saw the muscles in her face tighten a bit in response before answering.

"I can certainly see why they did not miss you. Behind me, elevator on the left, sir." as she handed him back his identification card along with a badge for him to wear while he was in the building with his name printed on it. The 'sir' was bitten off a bit short.

Alec cut back a retort as he passed her. After all, his being "retired" was not her fault. As the elevator made its way up to the thirty-fourth floor, Alec felt his stomach tighten more and more with each passing floor indicator. Maybe the Director had a change of heart, he thought to himself with little conviction. To his surprise the Director himself was waiting for him when the elevator doors whooshed open, no doubt given a heads up by the receptionist.

Alec could see by his expression that the man hadn't changed a bit.

"Well, well Alec, good to see you again."

"Cut the crap Ray."

The Director seemed to hesitate a bit before continuing. "Let's discuss why you're here."

"I'm here because you reactivated me, or have you gone senile?" Alec couldn't resist getting in his digs. The director's face was hot enough it should have set off the fire alarms.

"Goddammit Alec! We can do this the easy way or I can make your life miserable. Take your pick."

"Go ahead and be a tough guy Ray. No use starting any new trends on my account. Besides, if you need me badly enough to reactivate me, after all the things I told you when I left, I don't think you're going to give me as hard a time as you put on. It kind of looks like you folks need me. What you need to get through your thick skull is that I......don't need you."

He thought the old boy was going to have a seizure, but with a major effort, he retained control, although for the life of him Alec didn't know how. If Ray died from a heart attack, none of the Institute security people would ever believe Alec didn't poison him somehow, Alec smiled to himself.

The Director changed the subject and started a briefing as though Alec were still a member of his staff, which from the Director's viewpoint, he was. "We've got some unusual readings on one of our new contacts. Sigma IV."

Alec had heard through the scientific grapevine that the Institute had made some new discovery, but Alec didn't know what it was exactly. Certainly he never thought he would be part of it. What he found really annoying was the Director's assumption that Alec would be interested in the newly discovered planetary system. Alec was, in fact, interested that is. He couldn't help it. He felt himself being sucked into something and he couldn't resist it.

"What kind of readings Ray? You didn't bring me all the way back here just to look at some kind of magnetic anomalies."

"No, indeed I did not," the Director replied. "Our surveys indicate a high concentration of titanium, aluminum, and some other alloys we cannot identify on the fourth planet in the system. The readings indicate an almost pure form of titanium and aluminum in fact. We do not believe that this concentration is at all naturally occurring."

"Anybody lost a probe or something?"

"No. It's not one of ours and we've checked with all the other parties and consortiums capable of putting a probe anywhere near this system and no dice."

"What's bugging you Ray? You've had weird readings before and they all turned out to be natural phenomenon."

"As you're well aware, when we first go into a system we monitor all likely planets for at least a year before we send people in to explore. Not to get you upset at me again, but this is due to budgetary constraints as well as the safety issue of the landing party."

"Good Ray, now tell me something I don't know." If he was called down to hold Ray's hand while he made decisions, then the Director surely had gone senile.

"If you'd shut up a minute I'm getting to that," the Director fumed, once again struggling to keep himself under control. "The concentrations we're talking about weren't there three months ago."

"What do you mean they were not there three months ago? You've got some turkey working for you that doesn't know how to calibrate his instruments," Alec laughed out loud.

The Director scratched his nose and continued, "After the initial survey of Sigma's solar system we sent probes to each of the planets and inserted them into orbits around said planets. Also, some were sent to other locations showing high concentrations of asteroids and so forth, just like we do with every system.

The probe around the fourth planet had made two complete surveys of the planet, mapping topographical features and tracking weather and atmosphere and all the usual stuff. About half way through the third survey, we found this abnormality that wasn't there during the previous two surveys. We checked and double checked and it could not have been missed before. It just appeared."

"Besides that Alec, aluminum comes from bauxite and bauxite has to be refined into pure aluminum by means of passing a high amperage electrical current through it to turn it into the aluminum with which most of us are familiar. So whether it has just appeared or not, someone or something made that particular concentration of aluminum. What do you think the chances of naturally occurring aluminum appearing in conjunction with almost pure titanium, eh? Well my people tell me zero percent chance."

Alec could feel the blood draining from his face. His stomach felt like it had rocks in it. This is incredible. He was having trouble taking it all in. Maybe there is someone out there after all.

"Alec, I can see by your face that you are interested in taking the job. I know I can order you but it would be much easier on all of us if you would consider volunteering instead."

"Volunteer?" Alec faced the Director squarely. "That's what I signed on to do in the first place until you clowns in your political shortsightedness eliminated my job!"

"I know. I'm not surprised you're bitter about it, but with all the budget cuts we've had from this incompetent administration, it's a wonder we have anyone left, let alone specialists we didn't know we'd even need." He finished his last sentence looking at the floor. Alec was stunned. He'd never heard the Director talk about his boss that way before.

"I'll volunteer Ray. It's all I've ever wanted to do anyway. Yeah, I'll jump at the chance to be the first to go, but I will still probably be kind of bitter about the whole deal for awhile," but maybe I'll be bitter at someone else, Alec concluded to himself.

Alec's first stop after leaving Ray's office, was the lab. The little man behind the desk was a stereotypical scientist if ever Alec had seen one. He had long wild white hair flying in every direction. He looked for all the world like a dandelion waiting for the breeze to carry his hair aloft.

"Look here Dr. Richards," the little man said while pushing his gold wire frame glasses up on the top of his head, " this may look like a conventional spear but you'll notice I have added a few refinements."

This was unbelievable. Some numbskull had come up with the asinine idea, in one of those brainstorming sessions Alec called epileptic fits, to try and make contact as unobtrusively as possible by having the people making contact go as natives. What Alec wanted to know, was how in the devil did anyone know what the natives were supposed to look like since they had never found natives, either past or present.

In fact they had never found any life forms anywhere in any danger of becoming intelligent in less than another 100 million years or so. It apparently did not matter though. The bureaucrats had come up with their own idea of what 'natives' should look like and that was that.

It was not so surprising that some idiot had come up with such a wild idea in their tarzanical imagination, but what was surprising is that anyone would have taken such an idea seriously. I guess these lab types need to get out more often, he smiled and nodded at the silly looking man.

"Wow," Alec said to no one in particular. "This is incredible."

"I thought you would like it," the wild haired scientist said.

Alec, for some reason, could not remember what the man said his name was and was not about to ask him again either. He would ask one of the lab people if he figured he needed to know.

Later the lab technician kept reassuring him, "Don't worry Doc. The equipment looks primitive but you're almost as well protected as if you were wearing a full blown survival suit."

"Somehow it just doesn't feel that way Bwana," Alec replied as he skeptically fingered his survival gear.

"Who?" the tech asked as he looked up from his newest toy.

"Never mind, it would take too long to explain."

So here I go, about to possibly make contact with the first known beings from another world and dressed like Tarzan in a spaceship. Alec rolled his eyes. He had asked about the new nano technology in the works and was told it was not available yet. It needed further testing. The last test subject, a monkey, had died from it. Apparently the little nano machines were susceptible to magnetic interference of some kind and it would cause alterations to their programming.

In the case of the poor monkey, his nano machines thought he was the invader and began almost immediately to reject him cell by cell over the course of a few hours. What was left did not look much like a monkey any more.

Assuming I survive this trip and get back to the Institute, I'm going to make a few, small changes in our procedural methods.

Alec spent the next few days preparing for the trip. He went over all the data gathered and the new data that came in while he was waiting. None of the new data really added to any of the information he already had at his disposal.

The question as to what this anomaly really was intrigued him more and more until he was almost beside himself with anticipation. The equipment for the ship and his survival gear were already being attended to by their respective departments at the Institute, so there was really not much for him to do other than the prerequisite medical exams, of which there were many.

He also had to re-familiarize himself with the systems in the ship and mission protocols. Many of those he would read on the way to Sigma IV. He felt he would have plenty of time for reading during the trip. He was coauthor on many of them concerning a possible encounter with an alien civilization. He doubted they had changed much in the last years he was gone, so he did not bother reading them all in detail. He satisfied himself by skimming through the preambles and table of contents of most of them.

When the day of the launch finally arrived, it was almost anticlimactic. That is, it was until the ship that was to take him to another solar system, came into view on the ride to the pad. It was much larger than Alec had remembered and in truth, this one was actually somewhat larger than the older models he had been familiar with.

All of this flying through space from one planet to another was not so difficult, other than the extreme amount of time involved traveling such long distances between stars. Once that was solved, with the advent of jump gate technology, the only really difficult problem left to overcome was getting out of a gravity well.

The spaceship engineers could now quite easily design a ship that could launch a very sizable payload into space, but landing on some other planet and taking off again was something else entirely.

If it took some giant rocket or some monster sized rail gun to get you into space, what would you do to get off another planet? Building something similar on another planet with limited resources was not a viable option.

What they finally came up with was something called a SABRE rocket. It was not strictly a rocket in the old sense of the word. It was actually a hybrid and reusable, which was very handy from the point of view of the humans traveling inside of it.

It was operated using a turbo compressor which compressed and heated the air coming in through the front inlets. This heated, compressed air was mixed with liquid hydrogen before ignition. It gave sufficient boost to allow the ship to lift off and make a steep climb to several kilometers of altitude. Once the ship was high enough and the air became too thin for efficient combustion, the air inlets were closed and liquid oxygen was then mixed with the liquid hydrogen until orbit was achieved. After that it ran on the cruise engines until the final destination was reached.