Call Girl
Chapter 32
"How do we do this? FTL into position at one of the poles and hide as usual? So far we've only seen the one military ship even if I don't understand the design." He didn't see the need for all those gaps between the ring on the outside and the large egg in the middle.
"We need to hide so it seems the logical choice," Lucile agreed. "We can move quickly if needed."
"Okay, set a course and put us over one of the poles. Let's see if we can disappear." Rick was willing to give it a try.
o- [:] -o
This planet was a little warmer and a lot drier than Earth was; the people themselves could pass for humans unless Rick looked closer. The air was also a lot thinner. He had found that save for rivers and lakes which were mostly the only places with green vegetation, the rest of the planet was mostly desert like. It ranged from high desert to true desert complete with sand.
A lot of their food came from river deltas. "How are we doing, Lucile?" Rick was back after spending his day just outside the city he had selected to watch.
"This planet has a large amount of atmospheric transport, similar to Earth. However, their design ideas are very different. They have an Internet system much like Earth's as well, though their computer systems or programs are better. So far I have not yet tested their firewalls.
"What I have found is that I want you to go into the city if you can and see if you can gain access to one of these crafts. I have a theory about them but you will need to scan them personally." Lucile had a theory but that was all it was.
"I think I can do that. How are the identification papers coming? If I get stopped I might not get far," Rick cautioned her.
"Save for accurate numbers they are complete. They will pass a visual test but if anyone scans the numbers they will discover they are frauds," Lucile warned him.
"I'll be careful then." It meant watching the people in front of him. If they asked for ID what did they do with that ID? If they had a scanner he went somewhere else.
o- [:] -o
Rick was cheating since he was posing as a worker. He'd noticed that only civilians needed to display their IDs and have them scanned before boarding one of these planes. Their security, however, didn't seem to apply to workers. It was a lapse that he was taking advantage of.
Rick made his way past everyone and through doors marked for crew only and yet they weren't locked. He didn't understand why the civilians flying these things needed security and not the crew but it was working out for him.
"Here we go, the engineering section." There wasn't even anyone down there at the moment. That allowed him to reach into a pocket, pull out a scanner, and began taking pictures while also scanning and storing it all in a small crystal to be plugged into Lucile later.
"Who are you? What are you doing down here?" Blast it all! He'd been found! Rick quickly pocketed his scanner, pulled out his paperwork from the same pocket and handed them over.
Thankfully this fellow didn't have a scanner. "We're taking off soon. You can't be down here when that happens. You need to be closer to the center of the bubble," he advised Rick.
"Just doing a quick diagnostic. Don't want something to happen and lose a bubble." Rick had no idea what a bubble was but it sounded important to him.
"Not required. A diagnostic is done via computer every hour. Follow me, we will be leaving in moments." He started to leave and made sure Rick was right behind him.
Then suddenly they both heard it. It started with a localized, high-pitched whine and his Rick's new friend watched as Rick suddenly was encased or was turned into millions or maybe billions of sparkles. Quickly those same sparkles vanished, leaving nothing behind.
This transport system was different. Rick had spent months making sure it worked perfectly and should be reliable. "Lucile! I just vanished in front of someone!" It was something he knew shouldn't happen.
However, instead of getting an answer he listened to what Lucile had to say. "Setting a course, entering FTL, now."
Like all the other FTL drives he didn't feel anything with this one either. But he knew Lucile wouldn't just do these things. Since he had arrived on the bridge he sat down and waited for Lucile to show him something.
He had spent time on the transport system. Kate was the one that had learned how to manually fly this ship. Meaning Rick had no idea what to do so he waited.
Lucile materialized."We were spotted. One of their military ships was headed right for us. I was forced to bring you up to the ship and move us before we came within weapons range. And since I don't know what that range is I didn't take a chance."
Rick could accept that, though that also meant something else. "Great, now they know there's an alien ship in the area and that we just up and disappeared on them. Possibly demonstrating that we have FTL. Worse, that worker's going to put in a report about me vanishing in front of him.
"We're in trouble." He had another five months of research left to do on these people. How was he going to do that when they knew someone was here?
Lucile apologized. "I am sorry, Richard, but I did not see any other choice."
"It's okay, you made the right choice, Lucile. Now…what do we do? First I have something for you to review." Rick reached into his pocket, pulled out the crystal, and plugged it in. "Scan that and tell me what you think. Some of it I understood while other parts I didn't.
"Since I'm stuck here for now I'm going to eat." Rick got up. "Where are we by the way?"
"Just outside of their system. If we go back in we can decide where to go and use FTL to achieve that location," Lucile told him.
"Going back is a given. We want to get paid so we have to complete this assignment." Rick finally left the bridge and made his way to the kitchen. This was the space where he had to cook for himself again. He was beginning to regret letting Kate do all the cooking. He was seriously out of practice. And he was also missing her cooking skills. She was clearly better than he was.
o- [:] -o
"I have an analysis of the scan you did ready for you, Richard." Lucile appeared in his bedroom where he was changing into something comfortable. Yes, he could be naked but to placate Kate he'd taken to wearing clothes and now he was in the habit.
"What have you got, Lucile?" Rick sat on the edge of the bed.
"If I am correct they are using an anti-gravity system for everything."
"That's nothing new. We have anti-gravity for certain items now." Rick didn't see any big deal in that.
"True, however, they have found a way to reduce the amount of power you need," Lucile told him. "If I am right those two military ships are also using anti-gravity drives."
"Two? Just two?" His client could handle those two easily if they chose to attack.
"So far, they are each sitting in the area of the planet's two poles," Lucile informed him.
"Waiting to see if I come back. So they really did spot us. Damn. I guess that leaves out hiding there. So where do we go now?" Rick needed to think about that.
"You do not understand." Lucile apprised him further, "They are using an anti-grav system for everything, Richard. If I am right that means their weapons also use this system."
That had Rick trying to think. "If they use missiles they could fire them from where they're sitting now and attack a ship located at the other pole. Or a ship sitting just outside the outer corona of the sun. That same missile would not be drawn into the sun. It could hit its target. Now that sounds a little scary," Rick said as he thought about that some more.
"Worse, I am afraid. Now I watched these two move to each pole, however, it might be possible for their ships to literally jump from the pole to the sun and back again. Or out to one of the two mining colonies around one of the gas giants.
"A viable variation of what we would call a Fold Drive. The question is have they truly solved the power requirements? But I am afraid it could get worse." Lucile had one more thing that might be possible.
Rick was still listening. "Worse? I'm not sure it could get worse but go ahead."
"If they generate a powerful enough anti-grav field around their ship that field could, in theory, force any missiles fired at them to bend away. Effectively being unable to be hit. Targeted yes, but not hit using missiles. Without doing a number of simulations that might include rays," Lucile advised him.
Rick's mouth fell open as he thought about that. "Our client could send a small fleet and possibly lose if they can't actually hit anything! Provided that two ships have enough weapons to defeat them. They're not going to like this." He mostly took these jobs to save races from being killed off. The Zorgons were already gone, he'd learned.
Thankfully they hadn't yet reached a decision on Earth. Now what were they going to think about these people? That had Rick up and pacing the bedroom as Lucile watched but didn't say anything.
"We need to finish no matter what the client thinks. So we need to go back." Rick kept pacing then suddenly stopped. "What if instead of the main planet we do our research at one of the mines? Let's look at both mining colonies," Rick said hopefully.
o- [:] -o
Rick looked over what Lucile was showing him. "It's a variation of basically the same design. They build a pressure dome, construct buildings on the surface, and dig. They only have the one dome per moon. Each moon rotates in orbit of the same gas giant. Meaning for a short time each dome can literally see the other if they tried.
"I don't care which dome but we need a place to hide. Run scans of each moon for me and let's find a place to hide the ship. But I'm wondering what they're mining? How did they find it and how old are these domes?
"Additionally, how do they transport what they mine to the planet? If they even do. Did they also build the factories that use what they mine under these domes." Rick was full of questions. "Do something else for me, please, Lucile. They built those two military ships. If they're shipping what they mine to the planet that means more ships. So how and maybe more importantly, where do they build these ships? I'm betting somewhere on the planet instead of in orbit."
"I will start scanning each moon now." They both knew the longer this took the longer they were going to stay here.
"Perhaps if we FTL jump from gas giant to gas giant to get closer. It will improve your ability to scan the domes. They're looking for us to come back to one of the poles, not out here at the gas giants. Cost cutting means their ability to scan the area around the domes and gas giants will be less. They'll be mostly scanning to figure out where to dig," Rick speculated.
Lucile quietly admitted that he had an idea and began scanning and plotting a course from gas giant to gas giant so she could get closer.
o- [:] -o
It had taken them two entire days to get this close. Lucile and Rick had watched as ships came from the planet, landed right next to the dome, after which a walkway extended out and connected with the ship. Each ship stayed for two full days before leaving.
"Cargo ships," Rick was guessing.
"They live in a dome, Richard. It is a cargo ship bringing supplies and taking back what they mine. The question is how often does a ship arrive? And since I am betting you plan to go into that dome, the question is how much of a security system do they have?" Lucile was trying to protect him.
"It's a dome mining colony. Some security like police or something. Anything more costs money. How does any company make money if all they do is spend the profits? We just need a place to hide the ship. How about in a crater, maybe? Something deep enough so the ship can't be seen," Rick proposed.
o- [:] -o
The trick it had turned out, was finding a place that neither dome had a chance of spotting a ship coming in for a landing. Even then they decided to wait until another ship landed. Rick was hoping that the landing would cause a disruption large enough for him to get lost in. To be just one more person in the crowd.
So for the first few hours Rick did his best to work out just where everything was. Housing was here, supplies like food was there. Power supply was over there. Water production was here and the hospital was there.
Then he was finally stopped by someone. "I'm lost. Everything is all the same color. I need the security office," Rick told him. The directions he got as an answer actually did get him to the office but he chose not to go in.
Finding a quiet spot to transport back to the ship was easy. "That place is gloomy. It's dark, depressing, and dirty. Little bits of trash are everywhere." This assignment was going to be a test of his skills.
o- [:] -o
One of the things Rick had managed to do in his first couple of days was go to the cafeteria where the miners ate their meals. What he found interesting was that only the miners ate here. No one else, just them.
"I have some samples for you, Lucile. See if you can analyze them." It was a tiny amount and he had to inject them using a syringe, then stood back and waited.
Lucile had found something. "Interesting. The sample provided has trace amounts of Poly-Dichloric-Euthynol. There are naturally other chemicals as well. A trace amount of steroids for example, however, this drug is concerning."
"Explain." He already had no intention to eat anything while in the dome. He had planned to only eat on the ship even if he had to eat one meal per day.
"Poly-Dichloric-Euthynol is a drug that will cause a person to stay awake longer and is a derivative of adrenaline. Adrenaline would help cause a person to do things faster, keep a person excited, as well as prepare muscles for exertion," Lucile began to explain.
"This is the food they're serving the miners and only the miners. Muscle exertion. As in to cause them to work harder for longer periods?" Rick questioned her.
"Correct, though there is a serious side affect that they may not know anything about. This drug causes deterioration of brain tissue, ultimately leading to death. Initial signs would be an inability to perform advanced tasks, slurred speech, an inability to walk straight as if they were drunk.
"Then ultimately a brain hemorrhage and death. If it is in their food it would have to be placed there on purpose, Richard. Likely to hide the taste. Can you gain access to the medical section that treats the miners?" Lucile asked him.
"I can try." Rick sighed. "Only the miners cafeteria which means they're adding the drug on purpose to increase production. So is this new or have they been doing this for years?" Rick wondered mostly to himself.
"Increase production and yet lose miners in the long run. It is not a very productive way to do business," Lucile noted.
"Only if they don't care what happens to the miners. They die, just hire new ones and ship them out to the mine. So the question is, is this both mines or just the one? And the same company or competing companies?" Rick questioned.
"We came here for research, Richard, not to save the miners," Lucile reminded him.
"This is research, Lucile. If the mining company doesn't care about the people they hire to work the mine, what does that tell my client about these people? That they sacrifice their own kind just to earn money. If they can sacrifice their own people who else are they willing to sacrifice?
"First, however, is what exactly is it that they're mining? What makes this ore or whatever it is so special? Worth killing your own people for?" Rick thought that was more important.
"Another question. Do they add this drug while making the food? Or does what they use to make meals come this way? If they ship this drug up here and it's used here, it has to be stored somewhere. Does it arrive with each and every shipment of supplies?" Rick was thinking that while finding out just what they were mining he could look for the storage of this drug.
"Richard?" Lucile knew him and thought she knew what he would want to do. "I detest weapons but it might be time for you to start carrying one. Discretely, of course." He always went naked unless it was too cold to do so. So he could simply adjust what he looked like to cover the evidence that he was carrying a weapon.
"They do have a police unit but it's rather small." Even he wasn't sure just what weapons they had available. Rick relented since killing people just wasn't something he liked doing. "I'll add one if that will make you happy.
"But there's one drawback to spending our entire time in one of the domes." Rick saw a problem.
"Access to the main planet." Lucile saw it as well. "I can try scanning the main planet from here as best I can. Keep in mind they know there was an alien ship close to their planet. If they could find us there they may be able to detect my scans."
"And possibly trap us in the bottom of an asteroid strike. This ship has a little more armor than the old one and still no weapons. Which leaves us a sitting duck." Rick needed to think about that.
"Lucile, I've made up my mind. Save scanning for now. Give me some time here first," Rick said. "We can decide what to do later."
"Acceptable." Lucile was willing to wait. They just needed enough information to make their client happy.