Ch 7
Harry had learned how to fly the shuttle. Good thing too, Alice had fallen into depression. She got them out of orbit and jumped away far enough to get them out of the nebula. She looked downcast and haggard, so Harry made her lie down and rest. He studied the star positions and the galactic map. He jumped again out to the longest distance the ship was capable of and hoped it would be far enough. Waiting for the recharge to jump again, he checked on Alice. She was lying down, but not sleeping. Her vacant gaze looked off at nothing as he settled down beside her.
"Hey, it will be all right," he said as he gently rubbed her back. "We got out of there and we even kept some of our stuff, right?"
Alice didn't respond, so he offered, "They can't be on every frackin planet, so I was thinking we just haven't been jumping far enough away. This time, I'm going to start jumping and not stop until we're at least two thousand light years away from them. We'll be harder to find than a needle in a hayfield."
"We worked so hard," Alice said, barely audible. A tear dripped from her eye.
Harry gently wiped the tear away. "Yes, we did," he agreed. Leaning down, he kissed her head as he enfolded her. "We worked our asses off and created a home out of ... nothing. I'm so very proud of you for that. You know what? We have to do it one more time. THIS time, so far away from Colonials and Cylons they will have no hope of finding us, or stumbling into us. We will have our home, Alice, I promise you."
That earned him a ghost of a smile. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you," Harry stated. "I have to go make the next jump. Please, hon, try to get some rest. I'll be back right after the jump."
Harry plotted and made the next jump, then checked on Alice again. This time she looked asleep. He covered her up and she clasped his hand. Her eyes slowly opened.
"Harry, do you think it was a mistake to make me sentient?" she asked quietly.
"What? No!" he replied immediately. "Why would you think that?"
Alice gave a weak shrug. "Then you could have just lived your life and not have to be fleeing through the universe with me," she said just above a whisper.
"Alice, you have done nothing but your very best for me," Harry said firmly. "You didn't start the Cylon revolt, bring the Colonials to Kobol, or to that planet in that nebula."
Gently cupping her face, he made her look at him. "You can't help it we were saddled with a bunch of assholes following us around. Alice, you are the best person I've ever known. I love you and no matter what, I want to be with you. Yeah, maybe we didn't make the best decisions, but we do have the best intentions, don't we?"
"I'd like to think so," she said, gazing at him.
"Then be upset at how things have turned out, but don't ever doubt us. OK?" he asked.
Alice nodded and drew him down to kiss him. Harry kissed her back. Their kisses grew deeper. "Harry, I need you," Alice whispered in a desperate tone.
"I need you," he said and slipped in bed with her. The next jump could wait.
Harry and Alice made love, made jumps, slept and kept up a passive scan for any sign of dradis or radio signals. Once they passed close enough to a solar system to discover it had a planet in the habitable zone. Alice checked how far they had gone. Only 700 light years. Not far enough away.
Harry insisted they go at least 2000 light years distance before they even began to look for a planet to live on. Alice had to agree, she did not want to meet up again with any of those they left behind.
On New Caprica, President Baltar sat in his office on Colonial One with Caprica Six on one side, and Cavil sitting across the desk from him.
With a wave of his hand, the Cavil said, "This experiment it useless. Even rounding up humans so we can keep an eye on them is proving troublesome. We got most of them who had been hiding in the wilderness, but there is no sign of the ones who lived up by the lake."
Caprica offered, "That house had burned down before we got here. They most likely returned to the city."
Cavin turned his attention to Baltar and asked, "Well, Mr. President, what about it? Did they?"
Baltar swallowed nervously and said, "No Colonials ever lived up there. It was a pair of Cylons."
"What?" Cavil asked with a dangerous looking grin. "You expect me to believe Cylons were here, living with you?"
"It's the truth," Baltar said.
"See, John, that proves humans and Cylons can live together," Caprica stated.
Cavil eyed her. "If that's true, where are they now?"
Baltar shrugged and said,"They left. I had placed the area where they were off limits as they requested. Even so, a couple people went up there, and returned saying those cylons beat them. We sent a party up to find our what happened, and they found the Cylons gone and their house on fire."
Cavil sat back and shook his head. "Mr. President, can't you lie any better than that? Your people went up there and burned their house, most likely with them in it, isn't that right?" he said, pointing a finger at Baltar.
"No!" Baltar stated. "They left on their own."
"Really? Where did they go?"
"How should I know?" Baltar asked in a wail. "If anyone, I thought you would know."
"If they were cylons, then who were they? Names!" Cavil barked.
Baltar thought quickly. "A Six and a ... blond haired guy, Leoben I think," he offered.
Caprica raised an eyebrow and asked, "The Six. Was her name Alice?"
"Yes, Alice and Harry." Baltar agreed with a nod. "They came down to ask us to stay below the waterfall. And except for a couple misguided people, we did!"
"The troublesome Alice Six found a playmate. Isn't that nice," Cavil grumbled. "I want to know where they went. Who went up there, and what did they do?"
Baltar shifted in his seat. He didn't want to tell Cavil who it was. Seeing Caprica eye him like he better do it, he offered, "Kara Thrace and San Anders returned with cuts and bruises. They claimed Harry and Alice attacked them. I found out later Laura Roslyn saw everything," he admitted.
With a satisfied smirk, Cavil said, "I see, a couple Cylons settle down here, no where close to humans, yet humans went up to harass them." Casting the Six a satisfied look, he waved to Baltar and said, "You still think this experiment of yours is worth it?"
"I do," she said firmly. "We can end this war once and for all."
"A couple nukes will end this war once and for all," Cavil shot back.
"We agreed to give it a chance," Caprica shot back.
Cavil got up, eyeing her. "Yes, we did vote to give it a year," he agreed. "We'll see what happens next year when we vote on it again." He turned and strode out. Stopping at the door, he told the Caprica, "Find out what happened, and where your misguided sister went!"
.
Caprica Six went down to Roslyn's cell and had the Centurion guard let her in. Laura was sitting on her plain cot. She glanced at Caprica and returned her stare at the floor. "What do you want?" she asked in a grating tone.
Caprica took the chair and slid it closer to Laura. "I heard you met Alice Six?" she asked.
"What about her," Laura said tonelessly.
'She is one of my sisters, I am trying to find her," Caprica explained. To her surprise, the human woman let out a dry laugh.
Looking up, Laura asked, "So, after killing billions of people, you're worried about your dear sister? Do you know anything about her at all?"
"I never met her personally, but she is my sister..." Caprica stopped when Laura shook her head.
"You don't know anything about her at all, do you?" Laura asked, looking amused.
"No, please tell me," Caprica said.
"Why do you think I know anything about her?" Laura asked. "Aren't you all connected together or something?"
"Alice's communications failed," Caprica said slowly. "There is also nothing about her in any resurrection database. I know she is real, she's been seen by others. You included. Please tell me anything you can about her."
"Or you'll make me tell you?" Laura guessed.
"I am trying to be decent. I'm not Cavil," Caprice stated.
"Right," Laura said, stretching out the word. Frowning in thought, she vacantly said, "What was it Alice called Cavil? A waste of good material and completely insane? Yes, I'm sure that's what she said."
"You have spoken to her," Caprica said eagerly.
"I did," Laura agreed. "And do you know the one thing she said that sticks with me? Alice rebelled against your rebellion. She hates all of you. She wants nothing to do with any cylon, or human. I thought that was very odd, because Alice IS one of the original cylons from before the first cylon war. She didn't want to leave her home on Caprica, your people dragged her away kicking and screaming." Laura's face curled up into a sneer as she talked. "Unlike YOU, Alice has morals and even when she was hiding in our fleet in her stealth ship and we had no idea she was there, all she wanted was to get her Harry back. Once she had him, she left. Yes, I talked to Alice and I will tell you SHE is a better person than you, and maybe any of us will ever be!"
Caprica took this information in, surprised by the content as well as this human telling her everything. One thing in particular got her attention. "Alice has a stealth ship?"
"Oh yes, and it's even invisible to the eye. Good LUCK finding her!" Lara spat.
"Do you have any idea where she might have gone? Does she know about Earth, or how to get there?" Caprica pressed.
"I have no idea," Laura said honestly. "Truthfully, if Earth has any humans or cylons on it, she'll probably pass it on by. She really can't stand either of us."
It was Caprica's turn to drop her gaze at the floor. "Alice must be living a very lonely existence," she thought aloud.
"She is quite happy living with Harry. That is, until others start screwing with them," Laura told her. Leaning towards the Six, Laura added, "If you really care about Alice, then you will do what she asked me to do. Leave. Them. Alone. Don't try to find them. They have already been run off Caprica, Kobol, and here. Let them settle someplace and live in peace."
Caprica blinked. There was a cylon that didn't want anything to do with other cylons? How could that be? It also struck her that Laura Roslyn who was known to hate cylons with a passion, seemed to have respect for Alice Six. Another seeming impossibility. "I see," she said vacantly. Getting up, she added, "Thank you for speaking with me." She smiled at Laura. Laura didn't return the gesture.
Caprica left the cell and headed for their archives. There was information she had to collect on Alice Six. She also had much to think about.
.
Harry had to admit he was getting a bit of cabin fever from being stuck inside this shuttle for who knew how long now. They celebrated the 1500 light year mark by having a candle lit dinner with the only candle they had, and ate the last of the fish they'd brought. The soft light and Alice's gentle smile made Harry feel every minute they spent out here was well worth it.
A few days later, they made it. 2000 light years away from the Nebula. Now, they started looking at stars for possible habitable planets. Splitting duties, Harry searched off one side of the ship, Alice the other. They searched for slight dimming that indicated a planet passing in front of it's star. A wobble in the star indicating planets tugging on it, and of course the presence of artificial signals. They did find stars with planets, it seemed every star had satellites of some. Planets that were livable was another matter. What was harder was finding the smaller planets, and in the right orbits.
"Harry, look at this," Alice said excitedly. She brought up a close view of a yellow star. "There's all kinds of things floating around in this system. By the star's motion, it has multiple smaller planets."
"Good possible," Harry agreed. "I've got nothing extraordinary. Shall we go look?"
Approaching the star's system 30 degrees off it's rotational equator, Alice beamed with joy. "We have ten planets here, two, maybe three in the habitable zone. At least one of them is inhabited, we have dradis and communications signals!"
"All right!" Harry agreed eagerly. "Can we talk to them?"
Alice turned the radio to the emissions. There were voices, music, but nothing understandable. Good, they weren't Colonial humans or Cylons. She tried several channels. Some were only voices, and none of it understandable. She tried something. "Hello, this is Alice, I am approaching your star. Does anyone hear me?"
They listened closely. Not much changed in the traffic. Harry watched the spectral diagram of signal direction. "Most of it is coming from the third planet. A few from the fourth and some in a wide orbit of the third," he said. Looking at the dradis, then the visual of the fourth planet, he said, "Well the fourth one is red, iron oxide dust on the surface, no detectable water. I don't think it's inhabited."
"Third one is blue, all kinds of water, hundreds of artificial satellites in orbit, that one is inhabited," Alice said happily. "Harry, I think we found a place to live!"
Harry grinned and said, "Let's just pray it's NOT Colonials or Cylons."
"I see no ship traffic anywhere in the system," Alice told him. "There's some probes here and there. I don't think these people have ever left their planet."
"Hope they are friendly," Harry said.
.
At SETI, Jason was going nuts. "Cathy, get in here, I got a signal!" he yelled.
"A 'wow' signal?" she asked, hoping he had picked something up.
Jason adjusted his glasses and checked the range again. "NO! A voice transmission. The closest point I can figure is just outside of Mars' orbit, about 25 degrees off the ecliptical, to the south."
Cathy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right! So, what satellite bounced that signal back from Earth?" she asked.
Jason got the transmitter ready and pointed it at the area of space he'd determined the signal came from. "No satellites are in line, and moon bounce came in almost on top of the main signal, we're talking milliseconds delay." he said excitedly.
"That's impossible," Cathy stated.
"Look at the data yourself. I'm transmitting on 45.34 GHZ, it's a clear channel," Jason said eagerly. He keyed the mike. "This is Seti in Arizona. Anyone on this channel?" Pushing his glasses up on his nose again, Jason said, "I started a timer. When I get a reply, I take the time delay and divide by two and we'll have the range."
"This is NASA control, you are on a restricted channel. Identify yourself."
Jason blinked. Cathy let out a snort and said, "Smooth move, braniac, You were listening to a NASA transmission."
"It wasn't NASA," Jason cried in self defense. "I'm sure of it."
Cathy smirked at him and said, "Let me guess, she's a tall, beautiful blond?"
"I don't know! All I know is I heard a voice and it came from an area close to Mars!" Jason insisted as he jammed a finger at his monitor.
"I think you need a break before you get us in trouble," Cathy told him firmly.
Jason cast her a frustrated look, then said, "Just ... leave it on this channel until we get a reply."
"We did, Nasa warned you off the air."
"From the Alien I mean," Jason said, irritated at her. The freckle faced red head thought she was soooo smart.
Cathy pointed to the lunch room and said, "Break. Get a drink, eat, whatever. Take a minute and calm down."
Jason wandered off with a huff.
Cathy sat down at the monitors. She'd just gotten settled when the phone rang. "SETI, Arizona," she answered.
"This is Major Johnson at NASA control in Houston. Were you doing a radio test earlier?"
"Yes sir, the operator selected the wrong channel. We're sorry about that," she said as her cheeks colored.
"Mistakes happen. Can you tell me who transmitted only a few minutes before you did?"
"Ahh, no Sir, I wasn't on duty."
"Get me the one who was, we need to know the coordinates that first transmission came from."
"Sir?" Cathy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We received a broadband transmission from outside the orbital sphere. I need a direction."
Cathy pulled the phone away from her ear and yelled, "JASON!"
.
"I can't understand a word," Harry grumbled as he listened to the radio chatter.
"That's good, it means they are not Colonial or Cylon," Alice said and checked their position. They were past the red planet and inbound. She figured the trajectory to the blue planet and set in the intercept course. She also narrowed the frequency band to cut out most of the chatter. One signal came in stronger than the others. It was short and simple, asking a question. Hoping it was directed at her, she answered, "Hello, Alice here. Can anyone there understand me?"
.
Jason and Cathy now both occupied their consoles and watched their monitors with hawk eyes. On speaker, Major Johnson was still on the phone.
The speaker listening to signals now crackled in static. Suddenly a female voice came on with a short message.
"Got it!" Jason all but yelled. "OK, same place ... wait, it's closer now, inside Mars orbit."
"How close?" Major Johnson asked, "Give me a range and speed."
"OK," Jason said as he typed furiously away, "Range at time of last transmission is 34.2 million miles, the last one was ... damn! According to my calculations Sir, whatever it is, is coming towards us at over twelve million miles an hour!"
"Direction?" the Major asked.
"It's now ten degrees off the ecliptical, fifteen degrees lateral from Mars. Sir, it closed from 30 degrees off the ecliptical to ten in twenty five minutes. That thing is really hauling ass!"
"Mind your language," the Major said sternly. "Answer that transmission. Keep them talking."
"Ahh, yes, Sir," Jason said, then keyed his mike. Trying to duplicate the first word he heard, he asked, "Hanol? Jason. Cathy too."
Jason and Cathy returned to their monitors, watching closely.
Thirty five minutes later, the Female came on again. This time her voice was even. She spoke slowly and evenly and for a full six minutes before ending the transmission.
Cathy paled. "Sir! The object is now 22 million miles out, five degrees off the ecliptic. It has covered 11 million miles in less than a half hour!"
"Transmission recorded," Jason announced.
"Keep them talking, it's the only way we can track them," Major Johnson said. "No visual or radar contact yet."
"At this rate, they will be here within an hour," Cathy said with a squeak in her voice.
The voice transmitted again. This time it sounded male. He said one phrase three times before he ended his transmission. Following his transmission, a beep sounded followed by another beep a few seconds later.
"What's that?" Jason asked.
Major Johnson said, "We have them on a tracker now. they are 10 million out and appear to be slowing. What you're hearing, we think, is a location beacon. Most likely, when coming near an inhabited planet, they use it to let people know where they are to avoid collisions. They also have an active radar pinging. I thank you for your help, SETI. Please feel free to monitor all you wish, but we are going to do the communicating with the object from here on out. The best translators available are on their way."
.
Closing on the planet's large moon, Alice put them in a polar orbit around the moon so they could keep receiving the massive radio traffic. There was plenty of audio/ visual as well as audio and digital traffic. Letting out a yawn, she said, "This has been an exciting day."
"Sure has," Harry agreed. "You know it will take a while to get comfy with these people. We should take shifts. I can go first so you can get some sleep."
"Good idea," Alice said. She got up and leaned over to kiss Harry. "Don't forget to get me up," she said in a playful scold.
.
Inside a large conference room at NASA in Houston, NASA officials, scientists, translators, top military brass, and the Vice President collected and took their seats. Jason and Cathy sat at a small table on the stage with Major Johnson and another NASA officer. Once everyone was seated and the doors were shut, Major Johnson got up in front of the microphone.
"Good morning, Gentlemen. Last night, an astounding event happened. These young people up here with me picked up a signal from space. Their SETI installation received a voice message just outside the orbit of Mars. They tracked the object inbound, where it settled into a lunar polar orbit. The time the object took to travel from Mars orbit to the moon was less than two hours."
The murmur of conversations filled the room.
"The object is maintaining it's lunar orbit. Inbound, we were unable to detect it's presence until it was close. The object became lighted, and emitted a tracker beacon as well as active radar. It is roughly cylindrical and about the size of, maybe a little bigger than a city bus. There is no doubt this is an alien spacecraft. I will now play the recording SETI has provided."
Alice's voice filled the room as everyone listened intently. Once the recording was over, the Major said, "It is imperative we attempt to communicate with the occupants of this craft. Being alien to our world, I believe bringing them to the international space station will be the best option for a face to face meeting. We can show our willingness to be hospitable and prevent contamination of our people or theirs. Opinions, please."
"We need to keep a tight lid on this event," the Admiral in the front row stated.
"And how do we do that?" The Vice President asked as he got up. "That thing is circling the moon, flashing lights and pulsing radar. Basically screaming out, 'Here we are' to the entire world. It's not going to take long before Russia, China, everyone else knows it's up there. We can't claim it's one of ours, we haven't launched anything at the moon, and it's bigger than anything anyone has sent to the moon. There is no 'lid' for this. This is the first confirmed contact with an alien species Gentlemen, and they are being loud about showing us they are here. Respond to them, talk to them, YES we must! We must also be open about it."
Turning to the others in the room he said, "The Major has the right idea. Communicate and get them to the international space station and tell everyone what's happening, starting with the President and then the UN so we can get an international group of experts to go up to the International Space Station and meet with them."
He paused and picked up his phone. "Yes, Mr. President ... I was just suggesting taking this to the UN ... right, I'll let them know the Russian ambassador is waiting on confirmation." Putting his phone away, he added, "Russia is tracking it and wondering if we put a weapon in orbit around the moon. We need to get the truth out, fast."
.
Harry was wondering how to let that planet know why they were here. Watching an audio/visual transmission, he got an idea. Since they were showing a blow up picture of their ship orbiting the moon, why not send them an audio/visual? "Alice, I got an idea to let that planet know why we're here," he said.
.
Jason and Cathy went to the cafeteria after the meeting was over. The televisions in the dinning hall all showed the news. The big story about the aliens in orbit around the moon was already out, and the anchor was pointing out the ship in orbit as seen from someone's back yard who had taken a picture through his telescope.
"Old news," Cathy said at the TV as she sat down with her tray.
"I wonder if they will play the audio we got," Jason wondered.
"The second they have it, I imagine. Then play it over and over again."
The screen of the anchorman talking with a top scientist went to snow, then was replaced by a dark haired and very pretty woman wearing what looked like a home made leather shirt which contrasted the futuristic electronics around her. Just beyond her was a blank monitor screen. At the edge of the screen, a window showing a slice of moon appeared.
"Hanol?" the woman said then pointed to herself. "Al-ice." She then pointed and turned the camera to show a blond bearded man dress similarly at panel controls. "Har-rie," she said. Turning the camera back to the monitor, she tapped the monitor and a picture of the galaxy came up. She pointed at a spot on the galaxy, which turned red.
She talked some more, as she motioned with two fists facing each other and banged them together. She then pointed to herself 'Al-ice', then to 'Har-rie' and shot a finger up. She pointed to a new spot on the galaxy nearby which turned blue.
Jason shot up and yelled, "That's her! She's the woman who transmitted, I recognize her voice and her language!"
His announcement got the attention of everyone who wasn't currently watching.
"You sure, son?" Major Johnson asked.
"YES! Her first word, hanol, I think it means hello. I also heard Al-ice, that must be her name," Jason told him loudly from six tables away.
On the TV screen Al-ice was making motions like building as she talked. She then pointed at the red dot, and made fists to bang them together again and moved them to the blue dot. Again, she said, "Al-ice, Har-rie," and shot a finger in the air. She then pointed to a near by nebula. The nebula expanded to fill the screen. She pointed to a bright spot in it and it turned green. Again with the building motions, then the banging fists from the blue dot to the nebula, and shot her finger up again.
Next, she took a finger and bounced it over the galaxy picture saying what sounded to Jason like 'dot' every time her finger hit. She stopped near the edge of the galaxy. She pantomimed looking around then pointed out the window as the Earth came into view. Pointing to herself and Har-rie, she pointed to the Earth again and made building motions. The picture went out.
The news came back on with a bewildered looking anchorman asking, "Did we loose the feed? ... OH, yes we're back on!" He looked off camera and said, "... You saw what? Ladies and gentlemen, it appears out news feed was overridden by another signal. Our technicians are trying to find the cause. Since we are back on the air, we have an update on the alien craft. While we were off, it appears the craft has turned and is now either facing Earth, or facing directly away. We have a view live from the telescope watching it. It also appears the aliens have sent us a message."
.
"At least they saw it," Harry said as he watched the news broadcast. ""They are even replaying it."
"Let's hope they understand it and allow us to come closer," Alice replied.
Harry cracked a grin and said, "At least they haven't shot at us yet. I really wish we could understand what they're saying."
.
Trying to understand the people on this planet was difficult. Alice and Harry did receive an audio/visual transmission of a bespectacled man behind a desk. He raised a finger and said a phrase. Raising two fingers he said another phrase. By he time he raised his hand, all fingers splayed, he said, "Talking attempt, ancient Egyptian. Respond with the number if you understand." his words were mis pronounced, but Alice cried, "Yes it's understandable!"
They had a place to start.