Rev kicked at the fire, sending a column of sparks into FP-5887’s night sky. The flames flared for a moment, then died back down. Eighty-seven’s O2 level was low, which made keeping the fire going a little more work than usual.
“Any word today on when we’re leaving?” Tsao asked.
“Same old, same old,” Rev said. “But I don’t think it’ll be long now. I mean, what else do we need to know?”
“I think our civilian counterparts are losing their mojo, too,” Kelly said.
This was their fourth mission since leaving the Genesians on Synty. And even the fact that this was another Goldilocks planet failed to generate the enthusiasm that they’d had in the beginning.
With the war raging back home, the expedition was getting fewer and fewer comms from Titan, and not just because of the Q-comms drift. Everyone was beginning to wonder if anything would ever be done with their discoveries.
The three SNCOs stood in companionable silence as they stared at the fire. It was easy to get lost in the flames, just as countless humans from prehistory to the present had sat around campfires like this.
“What do you think the gennies are doing now?” Kelly asked.
“Something more exciting than we’re doing. They’re starting a new civilization.”
“Probably making new baby gennies,” Tsao said.
Rev grunted. He sometimes wondered who else had donated genetic material to the Genesians. He half suspected Tsao did, based mostly on her talk of kids. But she was eight weeks pregnant again, so that could be part of it.
“Enjoy being groundside while you can, Tum,” Rev said. “You’ll be restricted from missions soon enough.”
“If this is what our missions are going to look like, then good riddance.”
“And if getting preggie would get me off of these, I’d consider it, too,” Kelly said.
Tsao laughed. “You need a partner for that, Kel.”
To the best of Rev’s knowledge, Kelly had never had a romantic relationship. Yancey had pursued her for a time, but she’d cut him off flat.
“Anyone on the horizon on that?” he asked.
It wasn’t his business, but he was asking as a friend, not as her commander.
Kelly scoffed. “Like there’s anyone here that fits the bill.”
“Ah, come on, Kel. You don’t need a lifetime commitment. Just having a warm body’s fun,” Tsao said.
Kelly gave a pointed look at Tsao’s belly. “Looks like you’ve had a little too much fun, Tum.”
Tsao laughed and said, “Girl, if you had Strap, you’d be having as much fun as you could.”
Rev grimaced. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the details of Tsao and Strap’s sex life. Marines, as a whole, tended to the crude, but Rev was a little less open about that kind of thing.
“You don’t need to get hot and sweaty, Tum, to have fun.” She pointed a forefinger at the side of her head. “This is the most sensual organ.”
“I don’t know. There’s another—”
“And I think I’m outta here,” Rev said.
Tsao laughed and asked, “What, are you embarrassed? You’re a married man, Rev. I’m not saying anything you don’t know.”
Rev shook his head, then adjusted the cannula that was feeding supplemental O2 to his nostrils.
“I’d say that I’ve got work to do, but we know that’s a lie. So, I’m just gonna hit the rack. Put out the fire when you’re done,” he told them before he wandered back to the shelter.
* * *
“Good morning, Sergeant Major,” Dr. Njuguna said as Rev walked into the command shelter.
“Morning,” Rev grumbled.
Life must be just as boring on the ship if Njuguna was on the surface. The best he could tell, this was only the fifth planet that she’d set foot on.
“I’ve asked Captain Nyad to meet with us via the V.”
Rev perked his ears. Maybe she’d realized they were spinning their wheels here, and it was time to go.
He knew this mission really wasn’t as useless as he, Tsao, and Kelly had let on last night. This was a Goldilocks planet, and that information would be relayed via message torp back to Titan. And when the war was over, maybe the exploration would rise in importance.
He wandered to the table in the back and grabbed a cup of coffee while he waited for the meeting to start. Njuguna’s staff was busy arranging the pickups for the V. They directed Rev, Njuguna, and Cierce to sit and, once they were in place, made the connection.
A moment later, Nyad’s image appeared over the center projection pad.
“Thank you for meeting, Captain,” Njuguna said.
“That’s what we do, Yollie. What’s up? You said you’ve got something? Any surprises down there?”
“Here? No. It’s pretty much as we expected. But I might have something new that we’ve gleaned from the data that’s interesting. It might be in play for the next mission.”
Nyad frowned and looked off the pickup.
“Zybar, do you know about this?”
Rev couldn’t hear what the science officer said, but Nyad wasn’t looking too pleased when he came back to the meeting.
“You’re looking at the same data we are. What do you think you have?”
“Dr. Cierce picked up an anomaly while reviewing yesterday’s data. She spent most of the night cycle running it through the AIs, and I have to agree, the analyses are intriguing.”
Forget the buildup. Just tell us what you think Cierce found.
“EFP-14 is a G2V-type star about twenty-eight parsecs farther out in the arm from our present position but also well out of the orbital plane.”
Nyad looked down at his pad, then said, “Yes, I see it. And from what I read here, there’s nothing too remarkable about it. In fact, I’m not sure why it’s been cataloged.”
Rev didn’t bother asking for a representation he could see. It didn’t matter. Not yet, at least.
“That was the initial reaction, but there are several anomalies. I can point them out if you want.”
Nyad waved a dismissive hand. “If you say they are anomalies, then that’s good enough for me. What I want to know is what they mean.”
Rev thought Njuguna wanted to explain the science behind whatever she was going to say and that she was a little miffed that Nyad cut her off.
He was with Nyad on this one.
“Well, you do see that the system’s star is quite similar to Sol. And if you look at the fifth planet, it is very similar to Earth.”
“A Goldilocks. You’re on a Goldilocks now.”
“A Goldilocks without any advanced life forms. But seventy percent of the AI simulations, and Dr. Cierce agrees, indicate that there’s life on Planet Five.”
Nyad looked at his pad and seemed to be considering it.
“We’ve found life before.”
“Dr. Cierce thinks there’s intelligent life there. And I tend to agree.”
OK, this is big.
“Intelligent life? As in a civilization?” Nyad asked.
“It’s very possible.”
“I thought that all of the advanced races are closer in to the center. Not out here in the boonies.”
“And yet here we are,” Njuguna said. “I think that what we need to do is decide whether we want to go there to investigate.”
“I’m bringing in Commander Norton,” Nyad said.
A moment later, the screen was split, and Norton asked, “I’m looking at the data. And I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Is it the BGs?”
“No, it isn’t. Well, to be more accurate, what we’re receiving doesn’t have any of the same characteristics.”
“What kind of timeline are we looking at?”
“Twenty-eight parsecs, so just under ninety-two years.”
“Clicker? Ents?”
“Nothing matches any of the alien races we’ve encountered so far,” Njuguna said. “We think this is a new race.”
Rev hadn’t said anything so far. He was intrigued, though. He’d served with alien forces before, but the idea that there was a new race out there had his imagination bubbling.
“I still don’t see much here. What can you tell about the planet so far?” Nyad asked.
“If I had to pick a human era, it would be early industrial. There are clear signs of carbon emissions.”
“Couldn’t that be from volcanoes?” Rev asked, surprising himself.
It evidently surprised Njuguna, too.
“Theoretically, yes. But we’re fairly confident that these readings are consistent with an industrialized society.”
“So, Yollie. I take it that you want to make this our next mission?” Nyad asked.
“I do think it warrants consideration.”
“We’ve already run into one technically advanced race, Doctor, and that didn’t end up too great for us,” Rev cautioned.
He wasn’t naysaying the idea, but the risk had to be considered.
“We’re looking at a snapshot from ninety-two years ago. I don’t think this race could have evolved far enough to pose a threat to us.”
She was being optimistic, Rev knew. She couldn’t say that an unknown race was unable to achieve the technology to be a threat to the expedition in ninety-two years, especially as they didn’t even know the baseline. They were too far away for the Galaxy Explorer’s scanners to make out much.
That didn’t mean that Rev wasn’t interested. The routine had become pretty boring, and anything to inject a little excitement would be welcome. The problem was that Rev had to look at things through security-minded eyes. That was his job.
It was also Captain Nyad’s job. He needed to keep the ship out of harm’s way.
But maybe he was looking at things as a yes/no proposition. They’d already created the procedures into their SOP to diminish the risk of going into a new system.
Rev considered the options, while Njuguna stressed the importance of the science aspect of a new sapient race. She also reminded the other two of the stated mission to identify potential threats to humanity.
It was the last that swayed Rev, although he had to admit that he wanted to be swayed. He wanted to find out who was on that far-off planet.
“We’ve already implemented security procedures for entering a new system. Let Clyburn make her pass and get something a little more detailed. If there is no obvious threat, we can still add another layer of security. Since she’ll be in and out of real space there for ten or fifteen minutes, we can drop out of bubble space outside of the farthest planet’s orbit. Then we can use the Explorer’s scanners to find out more.
“It would be then and only then that we decide if we should make contact.”
Njuguna’s eyes lit up. “That is certainly reasonable.”
Rev stared at the screen, trying to read Nyad. Rev might have the final say on whether to actually make planetfall, but Nyad had the final say on where to take the ship. If he refused, then that was that.
But maybe his curiosity was piqued, too, because he said, “Clyburn first, then beyond the outermost orbit. But if there is any hint of a threat, we’re gone.”
Njuguna heaved a sigh of relief beside Rev.
“So, we’re still on our current mission. When do you envision wrapping up and heading out?” Nyad asked Njuguna.
“We’re ready now. Let’s pack up the children and the dog and get the hell out of here.”