22
Lucky Starr and the Ghosts of Uranus
by Richard A. Blake
Lucky Starr looked out the view screen of the Shooting Starr and to the green planet Uranus. Next to him stood John Bigman Jones, his closest friend and companion throughout his years working with the Council of Science. This mission had taken them completely by surprise (as most of them did), and like many others was taking them in an unexpected direction.
They were here because of the voices. Strange to think of, but the faint signals had come while most people were celebrating recent events. There had been no actual mission to Uranus or its moons for almost eighty year. In his mind that was a grave oversight after the recent near fiasco with the Sirian colony on Titan. Some feared there was another secret colony by them in the solar system. That was a possibility, but the leaders of the Terran Federation didn't want to assume the worst. The Council of Science had been asked to secretly investigate to see what the signals meant. The council chose Lucky and Bigman to do the job. Considering what was to be asked of them two others were chosen to accompany them.
On their trip to the green planet two other signals had been detected by the Shooting Starr. Each had lasted no more than five seconds, and each stranger than the last. They were recorded and regularly listened to for any clues. That was why the code breaker Tyler Shoney had been added to their crew. He was both a linguist and code breaker, so of great potential value on this mission. Grey Teir, their other companion, was there for added security backup and pilot when Lucky couldn't be at the controls.
"So what do we do now?" asked Bigman, his usual impatience coming out.
"We wait," Lucky said. Wait for anything that should tell them where to go. The signal could've come from any direction in Uranus' gravitational sphere of influence. There were many moons there. Another possibility was a ship in distress somewhere among the large rocks and flying debris that made up the planet's faint rings.
"Wait for what? Another signal? We don't know if there will even be another one."
"We might not," was the reply, "but I want to see what Shoney has for us when he's done analyzing the signals."
Lucky continued to look out the view screen. His short companion stood next to his seat, putting the two together roughly eye level. The scene was breath taking if one were observing the solar system for the first time, but what he was looking for had nothing to do with scenery. Something had to be out there.
The sound startled them, breaking Lucky out of his concentration. Another signal, this one lasted for seven seconds. The sound was a low toned buzz or deep humming. Along with it was short spirts of crackling. Then it was gone. It was gone, but this time he noticed something. During the crackling part there had been something like a voice. Not a human voice, but something a computer might generate. Regardless, the type of 'voice' wasn't what mattered. It was what he actually heard for just a moment. A single word. 'Miranda'.
Was he hearing things? Miranda was the name of one of Uranus' moons. Had he just been hoping for some clue and thought he heard it? Quickly he replayed the message. Listening carefully he heard the voice. Speaking unintelligibly until it said that word. 'Miranda'.
"What is it?" Bigman asked. "Did you hear something?"
"Did you hear a voice in that message?" Lucky asked.
Playing it again, Bigman leaned in and shook his head. "I think I hear a kind of voice, but I can't tell what it's saying."
Thinking for a moment Lucky turned his head back and called out, "Shoney, get in here!"
It took a few seconds, but the decoder came out holding his recorder. "Look, I'm still working on the recordings. I might have a clue on the last one."
"Worry about that later," said Lucky. "Listen to this."
When the new message began Shoney stared at the computer screen. "When did we get this message? I thought I had them all."
"Just listen. This message came through about three minutes ago. Tell me if you can pick anything out."
So saying Shoney leaned in as though he might hear it better. The message was played. The decoder asked him to play it again. A thoughtful expression came over him.
"I hear a voice talking. It's similar to the one I heard on this last recording." Shoney lifted up his recorder for emphasis. "The only word I could make out was 'Miranda'".
"Good, that's what I heard too," Lucky replied. "Now that we're in the system can you tell if it originated in or around Miranda?"
"I can," was the reply, "but I do need to tell you that one thing I made out from this last recording you gave me were two faint words. They were 'orbit' and 'Umbriel'".
Shoney then brought them in closer and played the recording. The decoder had managed to eliminate some of the buzzing, but not all. There had to be some kind of field in this system that caused difficulty with communications. That was something they'd have to consider before they moved closer to the planet. Finally after replaying it twice Lucky and Bigman looked at each other. He was right. The two words 'orbit' and 'Umbriel' could be heard, but they didn't immediately follow each other. Umbriel was another of Uranus' moons. Depending on whether they could trace the origin of this last signal they at least had some idea of places they could begin.
"Are you sure?" Lucky asked with surprise. "The signal came from Titania?"
"Yes, I'm sure of it," said Shoney. "It looks like we've got three possible places to look."
Titania was the largest of the planet's moons.
"But only one place we can trace a signal from," replied Lucky.
Bigman paced back and forth, glancing out the viewer again. Teil had joined the other two with their conversation trying to decide what it all meant. It took the others a while before they realized that one of their group wasn't among them. That changed when the shorter man spoke.
"Okay, so we have these places figured out, so what are we doing? This ship has hardly moved since we got the last signal. Are you going to choose one of these moons and move or are we going to have to wait for you to finish your endless arguing?"
The three looked at each other. Then the decoder and security agent shrugged, divesting the final decision to Lucky, the captain steering the ship and the designated leader.
"It's tempting to go to Titania. That is where the recent signal is originating, but we can't be sure that is where the other signals came from. I think it's best we head for Umbriel. The message that said Umbriel also used the word 'orbit'. I'd like to see if there is indeed something orbiting Umbriel."
Looking at their faces it was clear that Bigman didn't care where they went, so long as they went somewhere. Teil and Shoney glanced at each other. Shoney looked as though he might argue, but a nudge from the other kept him quiet. Likely they realized that all three locations would be investigated eventually. They were just determining which one to visit first. Being the person he was, Lucky could image them spending a long time looking for something on these larger moons to see what they could find. If they found nothing there for the first two days they could find themselves looking much longer to find something worthy of note. That wasn't their mission, though. The mission was to trace the origin of the voices. If nothing was found on Umbriel then they'd head for Miranda. He planned to hit Titania last.
The Shooting Starr turned its direction toward Umbriel. At that time it was on the far side of its orbit around Uranus from where their ship sat in space. The green from the planet Uranus radiated stronger as they headed for their destination. At this range it was an amazing sight. None in the ship had seen it this closely before and all hallo images of it they'd seen scarcely did it justice. The illumination blotted out the stars in the sky until after they passed the green planet to the far side where three of the moons became visible. Umbriel slowly came into view, first as a small dot, and then as a giant orb on the screen.
They all got to work as the ship came into range of Umbriel. The sight of this moon brought into focus a landscape covered with mountains and ice along its equator. Being this deep into space as the system was the ice was no surprise. Now they had to see what, if anything, was out here.
"What should we be looking for?" Bigman asked. He was staring down out the planet's bland surface.
"Anything out of place," Lucky replied.
"How can I know what's out of place? What would we expect to see here?"
"I'd expect to see the rock and ice we see down below," Teil said. "Anything moving could be considered out of place out here."
"Or a signal," said Shoney. "I want to see where the next signal comes from. Whether they be from Titania or another moon."
No sooner had he said this than the familiar buzz was heard over the speakers. This signal came from somewhere over the horizon, most likely in space orbiting Umbriel, but the broadcast was more localized than the other messages had been. Nobody outside the orbital range of the moon would hear it.
"Miranda 247, this is Pegasus, acknowledge. Miranda 247 this is Pegasus, acknowledge." Then silence followed.
It was a mechanical voice. Something computer generated. It was similar to the voice in the messages coming from Titania, but different. The name Miranda 247 stood out. It showed that the mention of the name Miranda may not have referred to Uranus' satellite of that name.
"Where's that coming from?" asked Lucky, glancing over at Shoney.
"We'll be coming up on it in about a minute," was the reply.
Something was there, almost in a stationary setting above the planet surface. At first Lucky thought that it was a satellite of some kind. An artificial satellite someone had placed over Umbriel who knows how long ago. That idea changed when he trained the Shooting Starr's scopes onto it. It was a ship. An old ship that looked as though it had been on the losing side of a battle. It had so many gaping holes in it that the vacuum of space must have replaced all oxygen a long time ago.
Moving closer to the ship its details came more into focus. It had been a very large ship. Like some kind of transport vessel. In its current condition it was impossible to know if it were a cargo vessel or something else. Any images on the hull were long since gone. Something had attacked this ship, doing more than enough damage to put it out of commission. After a few more minutes analyzing what they could from a distance, he knew that they could learn nothing more without boarding the ship.
"Miranda 247, this is Pegasus, acknowledge. Miranda 247 this is Pegasus, acknowledge."
"There's about ten minutes between broadcasting times," Lucky said as he glanced at the clock. "It must be on a timer to keep sending out that message. It has to be simply broadcasting in all directions. When it started the ones working it must've only had a general idea where to send the message."
"But something thought it a good idea to attack them while they were on their search," Bigman said. "Then they left the ship behind not thinking about any messages they might be sending out."
"Yes, that is likely true," Lucky replied. "But we won't know for sure what happened until we have a look on the ship."
"You're boarding the ship?" Bigman asked.
"Of course."
"Then you're not going without me."
"I wouldn't think of it," Lucky said.
Teil and Shoney didn't like being left behind, but Lucky made it clear that he wanted them there to observe from a distance and warn them of anything coming in space. Though clearly not the source of the most recent message they'd received, it was sounding like a local broadcast in a similar vein to those they encountered so far. What made it noteworthy was that the messages had a specific toning that he'd never heard before. Either this ship had its communications altered in some way or this system distorted messages running through it.
The Shooting Starr moved in close enough so he and Bigman could board the ship. With the number of gaping holes there wasn't much for them to clamp to and they could enter just about anywhere. He decided that they would try the normal hatch entrance. The hatch was still there, even if the holes in the hull around it made it look like it might break off on its own. As they connected the clamps they reached out to open the hatch. It wasn't bolted. They entered into a room that had once been used as a welcoming station for visitors. Along with the vacuum of space were a table bolted down in the center of the room and a clock on the far wall. It appeared that everything not bolted down had been sucked out. There would be nothing to find there.
Lucky headed toward the closest door in the room. The metal of this door was warped. Pushing the dispatch panel the door opened an inch and came to a grinding halt. He pushed it again making the door opened another inch before stopping. In the vacuum of space he couldn't hear anything, so he couldn't tell if the gears were moving. Lucky wrapped his fingers around the door and tried to pull. In the mostly exposed room the amount of pressure he could apply from his hands were limited. This was like trying to apply one's hands under water to move something heavy. Looking back he signaled Bigman to join him. Together they applied all their possible strength, and finally they felt a budge. Encouraged, they pushed at the door. Lucky's arms were straining at their limit when the door moved again, this time opening it almost two feet. This was far enough for the two of them to squeeze through.
A corridor opened up before them about ten yards long. At the far end was another door. This one opened to bring them to an airlock. This was surprising. This had to be there in case the hull was breached in one section, then other sections could be sealed off to keep the air in. This made it possible for them to remove their helmets and have a good look around. Bigman quickly removed the entire suit. He never did like walking around in space. He was then the first to start looking around the room. After a moment Lucky decided to completely remove his suit. Now his movement would be unimpaired, at least until they found someone sneaking around a corner with a blaster.
Tossing his suit aside Lucky lead them around a corner where they encountered another door. This one was open. Inside was the ship's control room. Here they encountered their first human being. It was a corpse laying its body over the control panel before the captain's seat. It was clear that this was the captain of this broken vessel orbiting Umbriel. He was an old man in his late seventies, giving Lucky the impression that this man had been with this ship a long time. His uniform looked like those once worn by government migrant ship captains decades before.
"What ship is this and what is it doing here?" asked Bigman
"From what we've seen I'd say this ship is, or was, called the Pegasus," said Lucky. "Since hearing it broadcast that signal I've been trying to think of any ships by that name I'd heard about. There had been a few that date back over a century, so it couldn't possibly be one of those. I remember that there had been a mission to the outer planets sent from Earth about thirty years ago. Once it passed the orbit of Mars it disappeared. I'd have to check databases to remind me of what the mission was about, but if I'm not mistaken the lead ship was named 'Pegasus.'"
"You don't know what its mission was?"
"It wasn't a mission of the Council, Bigman. The Terran Federation does have quite a few things it does on its own. When we get back to the ship we can get those answers. This mission involved four ships. If this is the Pegasus then where are the other three ships and who attacked this one?"
"And will they be coming back?" Bigman added with his hand slipping toward his blaster. "This ship looks like it's been here a while. Who's Miranda 247? Is that another ship?"
"I don't think so. None of those three ships had numbers as part of their name. That much I remember. I believe that whoever this message is for is on Umbriel."
"What are the odds that anything down there the Pegasus is trying to reach is still alive if the signal has been broadcasting for a long time?"
"We really can only assume this ship has been sitting here a long time. What we know is that this ship was in one piece when it arrived in orbit and something attacked it while it was broadcasting the message we keep hearing. We need to see what we can on board here before we leave."
"How much time are we going to spend doing that? Don't we have enough to send back to Earth and have someone else investigate?"
"We have been tasked with doing this, Bigman. Conway's going to want as much information here as we can get," said Lucky. "They want more than just 'there's something out here'. He and the rest of the council already know that. The leaders in International City on Earth know that. They want more."
Without another word the two of them began looking through the control room. The second control seat across from the captain's lay empty. There appeared to be old blood stains running down its back. A closer look of the captain showed a deep gouge out of his right side, possibly made by claws. If it was claws they were huge and left some kind of dark substance behind. Pulling the corpse back off the control panel Lucky saw that the message system was lit up with the message being sent out across space written on the screen. A quick glance at the panel indicated where he could turn off the broadcast and he did so.
The mummified body of the captain made it clear that the signal had to have been going on for at least several months, if not longer. The body had been there for some time, but it certainly hadn't been here for decades. And the blood wasn't older than a few months. This captain may be old and may have been in this system a long time, but he couldn't have died more than a year before. So why had this ship and its crew not made contact with Earth or any other inhabited planet once reaching the outer Solar System?
Swiftly Lucky gained access to the ship's computer. There was no security there to keep him from getting through most of the systems. Not surprising since the Pegasus was an old style transport ship. On the surface it all looked normal. Some of the data and travel logs there were over twenty years old. There were records of exploration through some of the outer planets before the ship should come to the Uranus system. The charts showed an erratic transit throughout the solar system. There was evidence of it heading in the direction of Saturn before veering off toward Uranus, where it then headed for Neptune and then moved off to Pluto.
Confused he scanned through what he already knew about the orbits of the planets. What this computer implied was ridiculous. Thirty years before Neptune was almost on the other side of the sun. Since then the two planet were closer, but what he saw here was that the ship hadn't made that diverse of a course.
"Lucky, I hear something coming!" came Bigman's voice, tearing him away from where his focus had been glued.
"Put that blaster away," was his whispered response. "Quick, follow me."
The two stepped out of the control room and hurried to another door. It opened with the touch of Lucky's hand. Quietly they stepped through and the door closed behind them.
The sound of footsteps was clear now. They weren't the sound of boots as one would expect. It was the clanging of metal on metal, like steel bottomed boots on the metal floor surface. It could mean only one thing.
"Robot," he whispered to Bigman's questioning expression.
There was no other explanation; and robots generally meant Sirians. But what were the Sirians doing here and how long have they been in this part of the solar system? They had been forced to abandon Titan after their humiliation at the galactic conference two years before. That didn't mean that some old remnants of their seeds didn't still remain. The Sirians could easily have been setting up outposts in many places across the solar system before Lucky and Conway had nailed the coffin to their plans.
The sound of the robot's marching feet stopped by the captain's control room. Then after a few seconds the steps headed in Lucky and Bigman's direction. The anxiety was intense as the sound got louder. The next thing anyone knew the door slid open, revealing a tall humanoid robot with something in its hand. The blaster in Bigman's had fired, striking the robot in its neck. The head flew off and struck the back wall with a loud clang.
"Bigman, that was a little reckless on your part. If there are any others on this ship they've surely heard it."
"Space, Lucky. That thing had something in its hand. It might even be communicating with others about us."
"The First Law of Robotics would prevent it from hurting any human. And now we can't get any information out of it."
"And you think you could've gotten something without it spreading an alarm?"
"Most robots don't have built in communication and it's far away from where the nearest consul was in the control room. But we can't do anything about that now. Right now we need to contact the Shooting Starr and get off this ship."
"Leave, now?"
"Yes, now."
Before the short man could do any more protests Lucky hurried down the corridor the way they came. Considering the size of the ship there couldn't be too many others there. That robot must've been left on the ship to continue the communication from the ship to whatever was on the surface of Umbriel. With the crew of the ship likely all dead, the robot was there to continue the communication in hopes of getting a response. It was unlikely any humans would be remaining with a corpse at the control panel.
The Shooting Starr had come twenty minutes after Lucky's communication. Nothing else had moved on that ship after the robot's destruction. The robot had been the only mobile thing still there. After what he'd found in the ship's computer there was really nothing else of value to be found there.
"Where to now?" asked Shoney. "Is there anything else to be learned at Umbriel."
"Nothing we need now," was Lucky's reply. "Now we need to head for Titania."
"Are you sure?" Shoney asked. "Some of that noise did originate somewhere else and the Pegasus did keep communicating to something called Miranda 247."
"Miranda 247 isn't referring to the satellite here called Miranda. That much I got from the computer before we had to react to the robot. I was able to determine that when the ships first arrived in the Uranus system that some base was set up in orbit around Titania. So that's where we're heading."
Titania. Where the base was set up upon Pegasus's arrival in the Uranus system. A base where no communication had come from to Earth. Nor had it reached Mars or any other colony within the solar system. Was there something about the Pegasus mission that Lucky didn't know about, that had not been put in the official files?
Titania came into view after the Shooting Starr swerved through the dust that lay between the two satellites. What they saw was the largest of Uranus's moons that had a similar green hue to its planet. As nice as the view was their focus was completely taken up by the familiar crackling sound. It arose from somewhere in the moon's direction.
"…Miranda…help…the ghosts of Uranus…"
Unlike the message from the crippled ship this one didn't clear up when Lucky moved them in closer. The group scanned the surface and looked for anything in orbit. It didn't take long for them to finally spot had to be some kind of station rotating around this moon. It wasn't huge, but certainly large enough for several ships to dock there.
"The signal is coming from there," Shoney confirmed.
The crackling sound came again. This time there was a long crackling noise with only one word understandable. "…ghosts…"
Coming in closer the crew could see that beside the base was a ship. This was a cargo ship of some kind. It was old. Possibly built fifty years before, as the Pegasus and its companions had been. Unlike the ship they'd encountered at Embriel this one was intact. Closer scrutiny showed that it was an Earth vessel.
"What ship is that?" Bigman asked. "Another Earth ship?"
"That's what it looks like," replied Lucky. "We won't know until we get closer."
"You want to get closer?" asked Shoney. "We don't know what's there. At least there is something there causing communication to malfunction."
"That's why we need to try and communicate," Lucky said. "We have to do something bold if we want any answers."
The other three onboard looked at each other, but it was clear that there was no changing Lucky's mind. Just before the attempt was made the familiar crackle came again. The sound was coming from the station, but there had also been some kind of power surge from the ship. "…field…ghosts…Uranus…"
The voice was louder and the words that came through were loud and clear. The interference was too strong.
"Can you tell where the interference is coming from?" asked Shoney. His going through the computer scanners clearly were frustrating him. Some kind of obstruction was coming between them and the station.
"No," responded Lucky. "Not yet. That can change the longer we're here."
The Shooting Starr sped up as it moved toward the station. Titania grew in their screen, as did everything else. It was indeed a cargo ship. Sitting there looking lifeless. No power could be detected from it. The markings were older Earth styles, but many of them had been burnt off somehow. They noted what they could see in order to possibly identify it later. Unlike the ship, the base was powered. It appeared to be fully powered up, but something about it also showed it to be docile, like it had no ability to connect with space outside. That would explain the chaotic communications. Lucky directed the ship to move in closer to the dock facing away from the planet.
No shield of any kind stopped them from entering. The dock had no lights in it either. Everything was still, but a smaller ship was sitting stationary on the launch pad. From the age of the ship and the apparent age of the station that ship could easily have been sitting there for decades. No sign of life or movement was seen. It was time to get out. If anyone was here they knew of the Shooting Starr's presence by now. Donning their space suits Lucky, Bigman, Teil, and Shoney exited the vessel.
A jolt and explosion suddenly hit the station from somewhere. Nothing could be heard in the vacuum of space, but the major jolt and explosion couldn't be missed. Luckily the dock they were in wasn't at the receiving end of the blast.
Bigman's blaster was in his hand before realizing the hit had come from the outside. The open space outside lit up brighter than the sun from Earth. All turned their heads for the moment as the flash passed.
"The base is under attack?" Bigman asked. "How did a ship get through the system without us seeing it?"
"That wasn't a ship attack," said Lucky. "Something came from the planet's direction."
"And now the ship's power is dead," said Shoney as he tried to use the ship computer. "Something about that blast killed the generators."
A crackling sound burst into their hearing pieces. It was hard to fight the urge to remove their helmets to protect their ears. As it subsided Lucky pointed toward the nearest hatch into the base.
The base had power, and yet many of the base consoles wouldn't work. They had tried several of them as they crossed through the empty corridors. The inner design of this base seemed different from any Lucky had encountered before. This base didn't look like it had been designed by someone who had a clue what he was doing.
Teil bent down and picked something up off the floor. It was a blaster.
"This is no old relic. It can't be more than three years old, and definitely not made on Earth."
"Sirian?' Lucky asked. After saying that he regretted it. They were assuming everything is Sirian lately. They would have to be careful thinking some kind of invaders were responsible, but it would be foolish to simply make their decision based on that assumption.
"It's hard to say," Teil replied. "They look similar to several kinds of blasters I've seen in the outer colonies in our solar system. I don't know all the weapons that the Sirians carry these days."
Lucky nodded, and then looked down the corridor they'd been traversing. After taking a step a blaster beam shot past just where his head had been. Lucky and Teir jumped off toward a side corridor while Bigman had jumped to the one on the opposite side. A second blaster shot nailed Shoney in the shoulder before he could get over to join Bigman. He collapsed in that hallway and didn't move.
Lucky locked eyes with Bigman, then pointed down the hallway. The shorter man looked down on Shoney and for a moment didn't move. The sound of running feet caused Lucky to more urgently point down the corridor. Finally Bigman grabbed the code breaker's arm and started to drag him down the hall.
When he saw Shoney move again and finally get on his feet Lucky felt a sense of relief. He was alive, at least for now. Pulling out his blaster he indicated to Teil to head down the corridor before those coming after them rounded the corner. From the sound of it there were at least eight people heading in their direction. He felt he had a fairly good idea of what the shape at least this side of the base was. Hurrying on they took several turns and chose a random door, which did not open. The next one twenty feet down the hall did. They entered and closed the door thirty seconds before several people ran by.
Lucky then realized they weren't standing on even ground. Looking down he saw that the floor was covered with shattered pieces of metal and glass. He turned around to look at the room they stood in. Shattered glass scattered the room across broken tables and smashed computers. This looked to be some kind of lab, or it at least it had been. The pieces of metal had been torn from the walls around them. Most of the walls had been subject to some kind of intense heat, perhaps from an explosion, yet that didn't seem quite right.
It took a nudge from Teil to snap him out of his broodings. A pointed finger had Lucky look to the other side of the room where a large pile of metal and glass lay, behind which was a partially hidden door.
"Lucky, do you plan to stand here or do you want to help me get us out of here?" Teil asked.
Instinctively Bigman fought as hard as he could to get out of the hold he was in. It was futile, but instinct was instinct. A frustrated grunt was followed by a hard shove pinning him to the floor. Definitely not what he'd been hoping for when he dragged Shoney down the hallway. The next thing he knew the wall next to them vanished and something grabbed him. Now here they were in some strange room inside of the wall they'd been passing.
"Calm down little man, or you and your friend won't survive the hour," a deep voice said. It was the sound of an older man clearly used to authority. A glance over at Shoney and the condition the code breaker was in told him his best action now would be to stop fighting.
"Alright," Bigman reluctantly said. If these people wanted them dead they could've killed them by now. The hold on him slowly eased up. He and Shoney were in some kind of storage room that had been turned into something else. It was large and standing around him were twenty or so men, women, and children dressed in a combination of old uniforms and working fatigues. They were of all ages.
"Who are you?" the old man who'd been hold him demanded. He was dressed in the old style uniform of Earth's home guard. "What are you doing here?
"My name is John Bigman Jones. I'm with David Starr who's with the Council of Science. We're here because on Mars they detected a signal coming from the Uranus system, and they wanted it investigated."
"The Council of Science?" the old man asked in surprise as he looked at his companions and then back to Bigman. "We've been trying to send out message for years and now you're just coming? We thought that nothing was getting past the planet's energy bursts."
"We just started receiving some strange static from this system a few months ago," said Shoney as he sat up. "Leaders on Earth decided to send us because they didn't want to make a big deal of it until they had more information."
"And who are you?" Bigman demanded. "You know my name, now it's your turn."
The stern look on the man's face changed from stern to comical. Lifting his hands up as to encompass all of his companions in the room he said, "We're the Ghosts of Uranus."
Door after door Lucky and Teil moved through the base. Most rooms had the same kind of destruction in them as the first destroyed lab. There were apparently a lot of labs here and none of them looked free of destruction. The further they went the damage gradually became less. Finally, they found themselves in a room that opened up to a corridor. The two stepped back to consider their options.
"What do we do now?" asked Teil, his hand instinctively reaching for his blaster.
"We find a computer," Lucky replied. "One that can get us a map and tell us the shape this base is in."
The two of them had seen several computers in the labs they'd run through, but none of them looked to be in working order. Smashed screens and keyboards made it clear that they couldn't be accessed. The two finally decided to risk the corridor again to find another room.
None of the doors opened in the first corridor they crossed. There was some kind of security screen where one had to put a thumb print. Neither of them had an acceptable print. Something in there was important to someone. Finally they came across another consul, this on sticking out of the wall like the one they'd first encountered.
"Ready to have another go at it?" Teil asked.
Lucky looked down each side of the corridor. So far no sight or sound of people headed this way. They couldn't stay there too long. Whoever these people were knew that Lucky and his companions were on the base somewhere. Scanning through the part of the systems he could easily access he realized that all cameras and visual communications on the base were down. That was strange considering that they should want to see anyone who doesn't belong on the base. Gradually he sifted through more data, getting some inkling of the history of this base. There was a lot of records for roughly ten years after the base was set up, but then most things were restricted. They didn't have time to try and hack the systems. If Shoney were with them things would be different.
"The Sirians are here!" Lucky said with surprise. All this time they'd been backing away from that possibility, but the entries in the logs were clear. Could they be trusted? Did those on the base just assume that those causing problems were Sirians?
"You're sure?" asked Teil.
"At least they were twenty years ago. Continued references here indicate that they remained for several years afterward. Then any logs of theirs stopped; or perhaps got pushed behind secure systems."
"Well, can you tell for certain who's here now?"
"What I can tell is that the original scientists and colonists came here first. Then the Sirians. The next group isn't clear. They have no designation in the logs or the scientists' writings other than they came from the inner solar system, not from outside."
"One group outside and one group inside," Teil commented. "I wonder who won the battle. Judging by the shape of this place there has been a lot of fighting."
As he continued searching through the systems he noted that someone else was doing the same thing. Startled he stepped back. Someone on base was doing a deep search of the systems, accessing some of the ones Lucky had been unable to penetrate. He had been detected, and any moment the soldiers who they'd met earlier could be coming around the corner.
The two hurried down the corridor and took the first left. Right in front of them stood two old men in faded Sirian uniforms. Instinctively they reached for their blasters.
"Space!" Bigman called out when Shoney failed again to bypass the security system set up by the pirates who were apparently in control of most of the station. "What's wrong? Why can't you get through?"
"For one thing this computer here is older than you are, and I can't seem to work the programs I want," was the reply. "Second, these pirates have some kind of computer coding they created themselves. It's going to take some time. I just hope that what I'm doing isn't going to be picked up by the pirate hackers."
"Not for some time," replied the old man, named Tycor who seemed to be the one in charge of this group. "Every couple days we alter the frequencies we use and they are only known to us and our friends."
"Friends!" Bigman said. "You mean the Sirians!"
"Careful. There are three Sirians in this room who haven't exactly taken a liking to your language, little man. So be careful. The Sirians still alive on this station are fighting the pirates who still outnumber us substantially."
The ire on Bigman's face was palpable. Shoney give him a stern look that stopped him from saying anything else. These people didn't know Bigman or Shoney, and for all they knew these two visitors could be just a ploy orchestrated by the pirates to finish them off. Stating they were from the Council of Science had given this group pause. These people knew that if true then they messages had not been in vain.
"I don't think I can get through from here," Shoney finally said with a frustrated voice. "We need to reach a computer in the command center."
"We've tried getting in there a few times already," Tycor said. "We lost ten of our people in the process. We don't dare head out there with the pirates combing through these hallways right now. We'd have to get word to some of our scouts across the base."
"Scouts?" Bigman and Storey asked in unison.
"Of course. How do you think we continue to work against the pirates? We have them scattered throughout the base and they return here to report every couple days, or cycles if you want to get technical."
"Alright," Bigman waved his hand to stop the tutorial. "If we could get a message to Lucky I bet he could find a way in there."
"This 'Lucky', as you call him, better have quite a lot of luck if he's going to pull off any miracles like what you're thinking. If only we could get a clear message to Earth or one of its outlying colonies for help against these pirates."
"With the risk of sounding overconfident, I believe Bigman is right," Shoney said. "Getting a message to him without the pirates noticing…"
Shoney had trailed off clearly in deep thought. He returned to the console he was working on and started analyzing and working the systems again. This time he wired two of the computers together, Bigman could tell that something promising was getting underway. Now it was time to wait again. One of the Sirian women with them in their cubbyhole brought him something to drink. He was too antsy to wonder if she had put something in it until after he took a sip. When nothing obviously happened to him he downed it and asked if he could have another.
Could he sneak out there and look for Lucky? These "Ghosts of Uranus" had shown him a schematic of the base and where the pirates were largely held up and controlling things. He could slip through some areas without difficulty, but without word from these people's scouts he could find himself wandering around in search of his comrades and bumping into the enemy long before finding Lucky or Teil.
Wait. The thought irked him, but he decided to stay where he was for now.
They were lucky that they had run into these two, for the Sirians they bumped into just happened to be sent on the lookout for the four recent arrivals on the base said to be from Earth. The ship in the hanger was an Earth design and was far more advanced than anything currently in the Uranus system of planetoids. They were among the people calling themselves the "Ghosts of Uranus" trying to get a message to Earth for help against the pirates.
The Sirians were startled and had their weapons out first. Once they realized Lucky and Teil were from Earth they quickly led them down a few corridors before entering a storage room. It looked like it had once been used to store food to just by the broken crates with their logos. It was a little bit larger than one might expect from a small bedroom. The dust on the walls indicated that this room hadn't been used much recently.
"I can see that you're not out to kill us," said Lucky, "but I'd like to know what's going on here. Who are you trying to hide from?"
Quickly the Sirians explained what the alliances on the base were, if not giving all the details. As he listened Lucky couldn't help but wonder what all of this had to do with the diralect ship they'd encountered by Umbriel. If what these two were telling was true, then there was a strange history of events that had happened here around the Seventh Planet. A mixture of lives of scientists from Earth, pirates in the solar system, and Sirians who arrived to set up a kind of base similar to the one that had recently existed on Titan, and then the Sirian abandonment of the system and those of their people who'd been sent to Uranus.
"You've had quite the life here, it seems," Lucky said. "Please forgive me if I'm a little skeptical."
"Yes, I agree," said Teil.
"We could've just shot you if we'd meant you harm," one of them said. "Right now we need all the help we can get against the pirates."
Lucky and Teil looked and each other and then shrugged. Those people they'd encountered before had clearly been trying to kill them. It was odd that the ones who were possibly helping the ones from Earth were Sirians. When dealing with the pirates in the asteroids he had to admit that they were ruthless and were capable of almost anything. How many of the pirates could possibly have avoided Earth's net when the federation came down? It all depends on how things had been set up around Uranus.
"Okay," said Lucky, "let's say you're telling the truth. Can you get us to our missing friends? Do you know where they are?"
"They're hiding with one of our clans," the same man said. "We're not sure what's happened after that. We haven't made contact since we got that message."
"Clan?" Lucky asked.
"It's a long story best not gone into just now. We need to remain on the move. The way back to the place your friends are is cut off, so we need to go somewhere else to make contact."
"And what's the plan once we make contact?" Lucky asked.
"We're hoping you can get a message through to Earth. If they can send reinforcements and can drive these pirates out. Unless you already have reinforcements coming."
"Actually, they're waiting for a report from us," Lucky replied. "That'll be hard to do with that pulse distorting signals."
"You guys are the scientists. Surely you could come up with something."
"I hate to break it to you, but not all scientists are experts with computers and communication engineering."
But Shoney was. Could he come up with some way of getting a message through? A message clearer than what the "Ghosts of Uranus" had so far managed?
"One of my colleagues with your clan might be able to make something happen, but we have to get him to where the system can be worked on."
After a moment's thought, the Sirians led him and Teil down a corridor that had several twists and turns. There had once been a lot of writing and symbols on the walls and doors to just by the faded indiscernible smudges he saw. He didn't recognize these corridors. He'd kept track of his every movement and it looked as though the Sirians were leading them deeper into the base.
The sound of footsteps froze everyone in their tracks. When two more people, a man and a woman, dressed in faded Sirian uniforms came into view and immediately spoke with Lucky's guides. They all then hurried down the hall. Before long the group came by another wall console where they stopped. The woman typed on the screen and read what it said. Then continued doing so for a minute or so. The next moment saw her punch the screen in frustration.
"Something's wrong," she finally said. "I can't get through to Clan Alpha. Something's blocking me."
The one who led Lucky's group went forward and began punching buttons, and then stood back. "Clan Alpha has been cut completely off. I think the pirates may have discovered where they're hiding."
"Have they been attacked?" the woman asked with horror on her face. "My daughter's there, please tell me they're still alive."
"Jyl, I'm sorry, I can't tell. All I'm sure of is that the computers are still operational, but no communication is happening. All I see are some random numbers that make no sense."
"Numbers?" Lucky asked with interest. "What numbers."
The others stood back as Lucky came up to look at the screen. Seeing the numbers he recognized what they were. They were a message from Shoney. Quickly he typed in several digits of his own and then shut it down.
"I think we're all in trouble, including everyone in your group," Lucky said. "Where's the command center?"
Shoney stopped his typing when he heard the noise coming from the hall. These rooms that the Ghosts used for hiding were almost sound proof, so to hear anything meant that it had to be something really loud. He kept typing away on the screen, hoping that Lucky or Teil would get it soon."
"Where's that sound coming from?" he asked Tycor, who had started to move the other members of the group to the far side of the room. Five of them were carrying blasters, and one had some other strange device in her hand. There were a couple doors back there, likely leading to storage rooms. Bigman had gotten to his feet and drawn his blaster as well.
"From the hall where we snatched the two of you from," was the reply. "Something that loud has to mean something big is coming, and dangerous. It could be the same weapon they used to destroy and kill everyone in Clan Theta."
"How many clans are there?"
"Originally ten, now it's eight," Tycor said. "Many of our people have been killed off when the pirates found our lairs. They show no mercy; therefore neither do we when we come upon them. There must be a lot of them if they think they can fight a clan base. It might be best if you flee with us."
"I'm not going until I know I've made contact with Lucky," Shoney said. "Bigman, you go with them. I'll try to catch up once I'm done."
"To space with that," was Bigman's reply. "I'm not leaving until you do." He then turned to Tycor and said, "Get your people out, we'll see you later."
The leader of the clan gave the two council members a look like they were crazy, then he led his group through one of the doors as quickly as possible. There was about a one minute lull before they heard the sound of something smashing against the wall. A minute later and a huge hole appeared and the sound of weapons clicking could be heard. Bigman pointed his blaster at the hole and fired.
"He got the message!" Shoney said, excited.
Blaster fire came back at them as several pirates ran through the gap.
"Have any messages we can give these pirates to not kill us?" Bigman asked as he continued firing back. Shoney was on his feet and running with Bigman to the back of the room for one of the doors. The one the clan hadn't passed through.
Lucky, Teil, and the band of four "Ghosts" raced through the corridors getting deeper into the base. Many times they had to side step some areas because they were controlled by pirates. Lucky had to wonder just how many pirates there were on this base. From what he'd learned so far there were about twenty Sirians on this base who were fighting the pirates. All of them looked like they knew how to use a weapon. That meant there had to be a lot of pirates here if they were getting that much trouble.
It had taken quite a bit of persuasion to finally get them to lead him and Teil to the command center. Apparently a lot of fighting had taken place there in the past with the pirates getting the better of it. From what Shoney had said, that was the only place where a message could be sent to get to Earth. Once they were there the Ghosts said that they could override the dampening system that kept messages from being sent out, but the pulses from Uranus they had no answer for. He'd have to figure out what he could do about that. There had been a lot of strange stuff happening here since the first colonizers arrived.
A quick fire fight resulted in two pirates getting killed who were caught off guard as their group ran around a corner. After seeing that no other pirates were in sight their group continued. A few minutes later and the Sirians brought them to a halt outside a door.
"Behind that door is a hallway that takes you straight to the entrance of the command center," Jyl said. "This map shows you the layout. It's shaped like and octagon with four exits here on these corners. Here in the center is the computer you'll need to access. Here is the code you use to get into the system." After which she typed a group of numbers into a pad before handing it to him. "Then this code you use to get past our dampening field." She typed in another long code. "As for the interference from the energy surges from the planet; that we can't help you with. After you go through that door you're on your own."
"You're not coming in?" he asked.
"No."
"You have no desire to take back this base from them?" Lucky asked. "You want to just wander around this place playing cat and mouse with these pirates forever?"
"I see no reason to pointlessly die going through there," she replied. The other Sirians nodded their agreement.
This was frustrating. He knew that if these Sirians didn't come with him there was little chance of success. He and Teil couldn't just walk in there and ask to use the computer.
"What about Clan Alpha?" Lucky asked. "What about your daughter? The only way we can be sure your people can be safe from the pirates is to contact Earth."
Jyl stared at him and back to her three companions. Some kind of silent communication was going on with them. He had no idea what this strangely organized group's rules were given circumstances, but he hoped that they had a sense of duty that trumped everything else. She was clearly not at the very top of the pyramid, but she was the one in charge here and it looked like there was no communicating with any higher ups from where they were.
Uncertainty on her face, she turned back to the door and typed in a code. Her blaster was in her hand when the door opened. The three other Sirians joined her as she hurried down the hall. Lucky and Teil followed. There had been nobody at the door, which is something he was thankful for; but that changed as they got to the end of the corridor.
The first shots were straight ahead and there was nowhere to hide. All they could do was fire back.
Bigman and Shoney ran through the door and slammed it shut. There was no bolt or way to seal it, so they chose a corridor and ran through it.
"I hope these people appreciate what we're doing for them," Bigman said. "It looks like the pirates decided to chase after us after all."
"Some of them have," said Shoney. "I doubt that every single one of them came this way. They were after the clan, after all, so they'll split up to cover all their bases."
"If they split up that is good, then."
"Perhaps. Let's just hope that we can outdistance these pursuers without bumping into more of their friends. As for the Ghosts, only six of them had weapons. Will that be enough?"
"I don't suppose we know how many pirates there are."
"Not a clue. So keep your eyes open."
They made it through a couple corridors before they found a door that would open to them. This door led to another room which led to another corridor. Bigman hoped that Shoney knew where they were going because he was completely lost. The only difference between one corridor from another that he could tell were some smudges or slightly different writing on the doors and walls. Once they found themselves in a fire fight that resulted in two dead pirates before they raced on looking for another door to enter. Finally they came across one that required some kind of key access code. The two stared at it a moment. Then Shoney attempted one code and then another. Bigman was about to drag the tech to go another direction when one of the codes typed into the pad opened the door. The two stepped through.
Just as the firing started near the entrance of the control room something had flown from Teil's hand and landed on the floor. This was followed by an explosions that tossed about five pirates in all directions, killing them.
"You brought a grenade with you?" Lucky asked, surprised. The Sirians had been surprised as well, but recovered quickly and decided to take advantage of this unexpected assistance.
"I thought that we should have a few extra weapons in case we had to get ourselves around some obstacles," he replied as he and Lucky followed the Sirians into the command center.
The Sirians showed a fury Lucky had to admire from a group that had been talking about not getting involved. Perhaps seeing these ones taken down by a grenade made them think that perhaps capturing this area wasn't hopeless. Or maybe they had known it was a suicide mission, for there were about twenty others raising their weapons to confront these infiltrators. Lucky could only fire his weapon while looking for the computer he needed.
Two of the pirates went down before the enemy began returning fire. One of the Sirians went down along with another of the pirates. Lucky and Teil continued their shooting as well, directing some of the fire away from the Ghosts. That was risky since there was no way of getting a message to Earth if he went down.
The pirates had decided to rush the intruders when shots were heard coming from the opposite direction. Four of the pirates went down, making them turn back to face the new threat. Teil and the remaining three companions doubled down on their attack.
Lucky rushed over to the main computer, which was located inside what he could only describe as a large booth. Quickly he connected with the communications link and added the code to bypass the dampening field. Then the sequence Shoney had passed to him through the wall console. Hopefully this message would make it to a Federation monitor, whether it be Earth or somewhere else. He couldn't be certain that he understood everything Shoney had communicated to him through the computer system. No matter what happened in the battle they would have to get out soon before more pirates appeared.
The sound of blaster fire for some reason actually drew Bigman to keep moving forward rather than going the other way. The shots weren't at him and Shoney, but against antagonists in the room ahead of them. Before reaching the room ahead they heard the sound of the door behind them opening and closing again. They spun around with their weapons drawn to see two of the Ghosts from Clan Alpha come standing in the doorway.
"It looks like you two just decided to run straight into the lion's den," one of them said. "Of course, I didn't expect us to be coming upon an already existing fight."
"Nothing surprises me anymore when Lucky's involved," said Bigman.
The four of them came to the end of the corridor to see roughly twenty pirates firing their weapons at a small group of Sirians. Without another word the two Ghosts beside them charged into the room firing on the pirates. Bigman and Shoney hurried after."
Caught off guard several of the pirates went down. Seeing the fighting on two sides the others slowly backed up before rushing out. They clearly hadn't known how many opponents were coming at them from this side. Shoney and the Sirians ran up to where their comrades were. Bigman spotted Lucky and ran over to him.
"Lucky, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing," was the reply. The whole time Lucky kept typing away at the console. "I've almost gotten through the dampening field. It's taking longer to do than I was led to believe. I have our message ready once the field is down."
For a few seconds everything was quiet. The Ghosts were picking up their wounded. Luckily no one was badly hurt, but one was having trouble walking on a foot with two toes blasted off. Lucky had hit the key to send the communications. The message was processing when the console was hit by a blaster beam, smashing a hole through the machine. He dove for cover just before the next blaster shot came. Apparently there was one person remaining in the room that they hadn't noticed. He was taken out by Bigman who had been standing three feet away. But the console had a hole through its center and no longer worked.
"Are there any other consoles that I can send a message out with?" Lucky asked.
"I don't know," said Jyl. "That's the one that I have used in the past. We'd have to try another computer and test them."
The sound of boots running through one of the corridors could be heard, causing everyone to hurry down the opposite corridor as fast as possible.
"Did you get the message off?" Jyl asked.
"The signal only lasted a second. I couldn't point it directly to Earth. Is there no other place where we can get a message out?"
"If you deactivated the dampening field there might be something else that can get a long distance message out."
"Right now I don't know if we have time to wander around aimlessly looking for one," Lucky said. "We need to find a place to hunker down for a couple days and decide what our next move would be."
The two guards from Clan Alpha who'd followed Bigman and Shoney to the command center led them to where the clan had moved itself after being attacked. Jyl was reunited with her daughter. This bit of positivity relieved some stress on Lucky, but there were still many problems to solve.
Three federation ships landed on the base of Titania three days later. Swiftly the soldiers on the ships sought out Lucky and the other council members before spreading out to eliminate the pirate problem. They had brought over a hundred men with them heavily armed. It took some explaining to convince them that the ones in Sirian uniforms were actually on their side. Heavy fighting took place with those from the federation and the pirates. The weapons the newcomers had were heavier and made short work of those trying to resist. Quite a few holes were punched through the walls in their endeavors, but the station was quite rundown and nobody contemplated what would happen there when they were done.
After making sure that things were in order Lucky and Bigman boarded the Shooting Starr, whose power had been restored thanks to the resources from Titan, and headed out to the edge of the Uranus system to get out of range of the strange pulses the planet emitted. Lucky then sent a message to Conway to explain the situation at Uranus. They were then instructed to head back to Earth once things had been settled there.
"How did Conway and the council know to send the soldiers here? And how did they get here so fast? You said that you weren't able to get your message to Earth."
"I didn't direct the message to Earth," Luck replied. "I knew that it would take them too long to respond. It could take two weeks or so to get the help we needed. It was also uncertain how much time we'd have in that command center. It turned out to be even less time than I feared we'd have. I directed it toward Titan. Saturn's orbit has it much closer right now."
"To Saturn's moon Titan?"
"The same," was the reply. "Remember that the Sirians had set up a base there several years ago. It wasn't evacuated by them until after the other systems came down on them two years ago and forced them to. After we took over the federation sent soldiers there to occupy it while Earth decided what to do with it. When they knew the situation they immediately responded."
Bigman thought that through and then another idea came to him. "Where did all these people come from that we met here around Uranus? I still can't grasp how these Terrenes, Sirians and pirates wound up fighting it out around this planet."
"Yes, it is complicated. This all started thirty years ago when the Pegasus, Triton, Hero, and Miranda set off from Earth to investigate the outer solar system and search for possible places for colonization. When authorities on Earth sent the ships out there was also another mission it was given. That was to create a base for scientific research. Life had been discovered on the inner planets. They now wanted to see what kind of life might exist in the outer system. Those explorers chose the Uranus system once the strange anomalies from the planet were discovered. They were most strongly felt around Titania.
"Unfortunately for them, this was roughly the same time the pirates had also decided to look for a place to create a base. It looks like the Earth travelers got started first and the pirates came to seize control. They had already gotten a stronghold in the asteroids, but they determined that a single area of operations would be too vulnerable. Something further back in the solar system in an unlikely place would work to their advantage.
"Then a third group showed up; the Sirians, wishing to get a secret foothold here like the one that showed up on Titan."
"And they didn't get along," said Bigman.
"They did at first," was the reply. "I'm not sure what started it, but for some reason the two groups had a falling out and the pirates turned on the Sirians."
"And the other Sirians in the solar system stayed away?"
"If large pitched battles between ships were to take place the Sirians' presence would've been exposed. They decided to let their people fend for themselves. I don't know if everyone on the Titan base agreed with them. I suspect a few of them had left Titan for Titania as a result. Sirian politics is always contentious.
"Anyway, when they were double crossed the Sirians turned to the only potential allies they could, the original colonists, who were a combination of soldiers, engineers, and scientists. They fought back and looked to be getting the upper hand until more pirates showed up there after the asteroid belt had been cleared out eight years ago."
"So the families that were scattered across the base were both Terrans and Sirians?"
"Yes. Two groups come together like that due to necessity. Then nature takes its course as they are forced to continue together. They bonded closer together, especially with the Sirians realizing they'd been abandoned by their home government. To help cement it they came up with a common term for themselves; the "Ghost of Uranus". Don't ask me how they came up with that name, but their numbers grew as more families arose. That is what decided them on creating the "Clans" to spread out through the base. The smaller the units the more easily they could move them about and hide them if necessary. The one you met named Tycor had to be one of their main leaders. He must've been among the original Terran colonists."
"But why did they cut off the communications in the base with their dampening field? They couldn't ask for help from Earth with that up."
"The pirates had seized control of that part of the base, remember. They arranged to cut them off from communicating with the other pirates. They then attempted to use what they had to send a signal to Earth. Those Sirians had completely abandoned any notion of solidarity with their home world at that time. Unfortunately the computers they still had access to couldn't get through the dampening field and the chaotic pulses emitted by the planet. They lost several lives trying to retake that area with no avail."
Bigman looked out the screen to space and realized something. "We're not returning to the base?"
"Not yet," Lucky said. "We're headed to Umbriel to pick something up and make sure that the pirate ship is still there."
"Pirate ship? You mean the Pegasus."
"No, that wasn't the Pegasus. That ship was masquerading as the Pegasus. I'm guessing the Pegasus was destroyed by the pirates and then that ship was attacked by one of the other Earth vessels. That's the only possible explanation for what I found on that computer I accessed on the ship. That robot you destroyed had to be something the Sirians had given to the pirates while they were still friendly."
"Where are the other ships, then?"
"All destroyed except for the two we saw at the base, which had been disabled by Uranus' pulses."
"And why was that ship there at Umbriel?"
"They were trying to trick someone into their net."
"Who?"
"Miranda 247."
The Shooting Starr came to orbit around Umbriel where Lucky activated the scanners in search of any life below. As before there was no sign of any human activity below. No indications of networks or energy pulses that would indicate where someone could live in that freezing atmosphere. Bigman thought this was all a waste of time.
Lucky activated the communications on the ship and sent a signal down to the surface.
"Miranda 247, this is David Starr from the Council of Science. We have received your message. Respond."
This was followed by silence. As the ship continued its orbit around the satellite the message was repeated. After thirty minutes there was a response.
"David Starr, this is Miranda 247," a woman' voice said. "What's your authorization?"
"Authorization Alpha 2-3 Delta. Acknowledge."
Another pause lasted about two minutes. "Acknowledged David Starr. We are at the following coordinates."
Several numbers appeared and Lucky turned the ship to land where the coordinates indicated.
"Who is Miranda 247?" Bigman asked.
"One of the science units that were on board the ship Miranda. Judging by what I've learned in the pirate ship's computer and the system on the base I was able to access they were working on some way to counteract the effects of the pulses from the planet. I guess we'll find out if they were successful."
"It's too bad we didn't have that before we went through the crap on the Titania station."
Smiling, Lucky said, "Well, we can't have everything we want."
"Everything? I'd settle for just one or two things. We don't even get that most of the time."
"But then we'd be bored to tears on so many missions."
"Well, boredom is starting to sound more and more appealing these last few years."
"Very well. Next time we are going to get an assignment I'll make sure that we can get the most boring sounding one we can find."
"Deal," Bigman said and they shook hands.
Four scientists were picked up off the surface of Umbriel and taken to the base at Titania where they were briefed by the leaders from the base on Titan. Their work had apparently been finished and they had been waiting for a legitimate authority to come and retrieve them. It had taken longer than any of them had expected, and they wondered if such would be coming. Lucky had decided that he would be taking a break for a month or so while recuperating from this "unofficial" assignment when a new message came to him from Conway. He would be visiting the base and speaking with him about a new problem that had arisen just outside the orbit of Jupiter.