He'd dreamed of this, to view Splendor once again....
What Mike Christopher hadn't expected was a Unity shuttle to dump him on a barren plain before screaming back toward orbit. He raised his hand against the wash from the lifting craft.
Mike brushed ice and dirt off his personal belongings bag and looked west. Not thirty meters away was the Earth Unity's embassy to Splendor. Once it had been the diplomatic starcraft Nivara. In the months since its grounding on Splendor, the ship's crew had established an earthen windbreak on the craft's port side, and deployed support struts along the 60-meter-long craft's body.
Mike's boots crunched through a thin, icy layer of snow as he approached the Nivara. The planet's 1.3 grav pulled at him in a manner that felt familiar, almost welcoming.
Movement at the Nivara's side caught Mike's eye. A slender, brown-skinned woman strode down an embarkation tube and shook Mike's hand. "Ambassador Chandamukulu Kasmira. Call me Chanda."
"And I'm Mike. Mike Christopher. Lead contact officer, Asaph Hall."
"Welcome to Splendor. Again. We have a lot to talk about. Com'on inside where it's warmer."
Inside the ship/embassy's former captain's quarters, Chanda introduced Mike to Captain Trenton Bram, a burly, bearded man now commanding the Nivara 2, and one of Bram's officers, Lieutenant Liana Santos. Chanda made drinks. Mike took hot tea.
Once settled in around a small coffee table, it was Chanda who fired the first volley: "Mike, both Captain Bram and Lieutenant Santos can tell you I'm giving you what I call my greatest honor. I'm going to speak as plainly to you as I do to them, because we don't have a lot of time. When you came up with your plan to save Splendor, what were you thinking?"
Mike maintained an even tone to his voice. "I was thinking of a way to save two sentient species and their unique cultures."
Bram said, "It's three sentient species now."
Mike leaned forward. "It's confirmed? About the ... what do you call them?"
Chanda said, "'Sweepers' is the term we settled on."
Captain Bram explained, "They sweep across the ocean floor, very slowly, in their own territories."
Mike asked, "But they are sentient?"
Lieutenant Santos spoke up. "About as much as a dolphin, or a Saturn-floater."
Mike thought that response raised as many questions as it answered. Chanda said, "The point is, the evacuation effort's in serious trouble. You're the one who dropped this into our laps."
Mike's gaze met that of each of those around him in turn. "I made a proposal to the Unity and it accepted that proposal."
Chanda gave her colleagues a sideways look. "Right, land on a world, marvel at the wonders, make a quick survey, come to a couple of conclusions, then leave. On to the next set of wonders, out to your beloved stars. I know the type."
Mike sat forward in his chair. "Excuse me, the type?"
Captain Bram raised his hands to ask for calm. "You know all the problems we face." He activated a holo of Splendor that hung above their heads. Water or ice covered 80% of its surface. Most of its land area was concentrated in its eastern hemisphere, with the gigantic Great Sea dominating the western hemisphere. A touch on a control pad, and small patches of green spread across the land areas, mostly avoiding equatorial land. "Highlander encampments." Another touch, and red patches appeared, encroaching into equatorial areas. "Valley dweller villages. Now watch." A final touch, and a rich, deep blue spread over most of Splendor's oceans. "The sweepers. Hundreds of them."
Mike emitted a low whistle. "Their range is that extensive?"
Chanda said, "And they're hundreds of meters across, much wider than any stardrive field we can generate."
Mike folded his arms and put one hand to his chin. "So we can't evacuate them."
"I know you couldn't have anticipated their discovery. In fact, I blame the Unity expeditions over the years for focusing almost totally on the land and ignoring the oceans."
Mike said, "We have to find out more about that capability. Perhaps something the sweepers do naturally will let us save them without taking them off Splendor."
Chanda said, "That might be one of your chores, Mike. We'll go with your strengths as a contact specialist."
"First, something I have to ask about. My shuttle pilot was sure in a hurry to get back upstairs. Why?"
Bram folded his arms and emitted a deep sigh. "The reason is a former colleague, Lewis Tiernan. He was a good, competent officer. One I wouldn't want to fight against. But he resigned as a Unity marine and now he's aboard a Sobrenian ship at the edge of the system."
Mike was aghast. "Sobrenian?" They were a violent species, their primary art-form being weaponry.
Bram said, "Tiernan and the Sobrenians have found common ground. He's against Human involvement with other Galactic species. In fact, he wants us to retreat back to Earth and pull all spacers back to the homeworld.
Chanda said, "There's more. The commander of the Sobrenian ship is Woradon."
Mike knew that name from his briefing materials. Woradon had been the second-in-command on a Sobrenian ship that had crashed into Splendor's Great Sea, after a disastrous first contact with another Galactic species, the Buruden. Chanda had been part of the recovery mission, rescuing many Sobrenians and thousands of Buruden. The ship's commander, Domerlan, had died during that effort. Mike said, "So they're sending their only living commander with experience dealing with Humans. While Tiernan briefs them on our capabilities."
"The Sobrenians have had ships stationed outside the Splendor system for months. But this one's coming from out-system. I'd rather not take a belligerent attitude toward a single craft."
"Hmmph!" That from Bram. "We can draw a line and tell someone not to cross it."
Chanda said, "I decide where to draw the line, and when."
Santos said, "Then there's the Buruden. They've disappeared for awhile, but they seem to have adapted themselves to conditions here on the planet. We believe they're living off the land."
Chanda said, "Until the Buruden act or we can find out more about what they're up to, I don't think you can help us."
Mike asked, "So, how soon until Tiernan gets here?"
Chanda said, "A day or so. We intend to intercept him. And I want you there. I admit the irony of calling on an explorer to help me out."
"First thing, Chanda, you knock off the 'explorer' crap, and I won't start calling you a groundling."
Chanda looked right at Mike. "I bet I've been to as many worlds as you have. It's just that so many explorers remind me of the hyena that jumped into the moon's reflection."
"That's a new one to me."
"An old Zulu fable. A hyena's carrying a bone, but he drops it when he thinks he sees a better treat in a pond. But he just gets his snout wet. He was looking at the moon's reflection. The hyena doesn't learn, though, and keeps jumping at the moon's image and while he's doing that, another hyena steals the real bone."
"Mike said, "I can honestly say I've never been compared to a hyena before."
"The point is that you hope to find satisfaction over the horizon, or on the next world, when it's really where you already are. I guess ... it's my family situation that makes me feel the way I do. Sometime, I'll tell you about it. I hear your own family background is ... unusual."
Mike said, "I'm an artificial Human. That's the end of it."
"I didn't mean anything by it."
"I'd never think you did. It's just an old topic."
"Well," Chanda said. "Great moments in diplomacy. Let's try to get a fresh start when we intercept that Sobrenian ship."
"Agreed," Mike said.
)
