Chapter 15

With it’s anti detection system turned off it was shifting thru multiple colors before settling on a bright white pyramid shape. The top of the pyramid had a long spar coming from it, tapering down into a needle point. The rear I could sense with my power had engines, but I couldn’t decipher how they operated, as my power was still blocked from the structure. They certainly weren’t rocket engines.

It was about 30 meters at the widest end, and about 90 meters long, plus the 40 meter needle tipped spar. We were slightly to one side, and only about 500 meters away from the front. I looked around, shrugged, and spoke, “This is Admiral Barkley, who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”

“I am Federation Scout 412. Why are you speaking human?”

“I’m hoping to open a dialog, and exchange information.”

“Why are you speaking human language?”

“Oh, well, I was raised on Earth,” I replied.

“Only one of your crew is human, you are not human though you have the shape. What species are you, and what are the shoes of your other companions?”

“Can we see you? You seem to be able to see and hear us just fine.”

“Send me a video signal, I will respond by the same method,” the voice said.

“Transmit the bridge cam in full 4K including audio,” I directed Mithra.

The screen at the side of the bridge came to life, showing a human looking man. “Again, I am Federation Scout 412, identify your species, and shoe of origin.”

“What’s the Federation? What is its area of influence? Is that what you really look like? Why are you in a system with no life? Where is the nearest trade center? Are there any supplies you need? Is a scout like a police officer, or more like an explorer? Where is your home planet?”

“Enough. I don’t know who you are, but it is imperative that I know how you detected my ship. You will answer my questions, or be taken captive and interrogated.”

“We caught a momentary burst of radio waves. When we turned our sensors in your direction we discovered that space was too empty.”

“Impossible, you don’t have the equipment to make that deduction. Even a Kempu would have to be lucky to spot my craft.”

“What’s a Kempu?”

“You don’t want to know. Now tell me about your planet of origin.”

“All of us originate from Earth, the home world of humans.”

“Filthy dirt dwellers. Where did you get your technology? I do not recognize it.”

“It’s home built, I’m responsible for most of it,” I told him.

“Show me your true form, creature of lies,” the man demanded.

“What you see is what you get,” I responded, confused by the accusation.

“How fast can you travel, and what is your range?”

“If we can gather supplies at our destination, we can go several hundred light years. Our top speed is currently limited to around 600 times light speed.”

“The method you used to stalk my ship, was that a time distortion?”

“Yes, we sped the passage of time. We were afraid that you would disappear before we could open communications,” I replied.

“I must report this to headquarters. Humans in space must be reported.”

“We would like to follow you, how fast and far do you go?”

“I have jump drive, I go immediately,” he said.

The ship disappeared, but only visually.

“Well I guess that means he’s gone,” I said out loud. In Exploration Command I had Val, Mike, and 3M in my office so we could discuss things without being overheard. We quickly decided to let him believe that we thought he had left.

“He’s still there, but his cloak is better now. It’s not visually blocking any stars,” Mike reported.

“I’m dropping a probe on the other side of him, I’m going to use its laser range finder, see if you can detect it,” I said

“No. It’s blocking the laser, but definitely not reflecting it.” Mike reported.

“We are going to let it wander off. That scout had an octopus like creature in it. Either that was the captain, or we were talking to an AI,” I said.

“I’m pretty sure it was using machine translation. What was the thing with the shoe?” 3M asked.

“It must be a literal translation of a colloquialism. That makes me believe we were talking to the octopus, but a computer was translating and providing a digital avatar on the screen.”

“Right, because there are two things octopuses are obsessed with, shoes and hats,” Mike said, chuckling.

“Master, if he doesn’t have ftl communication, then why don’t you capture and interrogate him?”

“Because the Federation may be just as real as the Poseidon Dominion. Better to let him lead us to information.”

“I never received a transmission, that TV started and displayed on its own,” 3M admitted. That made us all pause, and consider.

On the ship I said, “Let’s head back to DX Cancri b, I want to see if that planetoid has any platinum.”

“Yes sir, plotting course,” Mithra stated.

I spun the ship, and moved in towards the star, and the innermost planet.

“That was exciting, intelligent life!” 3M said.

“Don’t get too excited,” Pooh added, “He seemed frightened.”

“What was the thing he was most afraid of?” I asked.

“He seemed most afraid of you, followed by whatever Kenpu is,” Val reported, “That flashing color of his ship reminded me of a danger warning signal given by cephalopods on Earth.”

“Sooner we get this survey done, the sooner we can go home.”

We traveled for a few minutes before I reported that the vehicle was traveling out of the system. When it jumped to a speed faster than light, I relaxed.

“It just left the system, but it’s only moving at 200x.”

“Master I can’t confirm that SE5 hasn’t been compromised, so I think you should convert it to energy.” Val suggested.

“Just as soon as we land on the planetoid,” I agreed.

Once the ship was safely down, and converted to energy, I felt safe enough to continue the conversation in my office.

“He’s still moving at 200x, but he’s not using time distortion, it’s some sort of space warp.”

“Any idea how it works?”