Tina felt a growing mix of excitement and anxiety as her ship was preparing to leave Earth orbit in order to fulfill what she considered to be the most important part of their voyage in the past.
‘’All stations ready for jump, Tina.’ announced Dana Durning from her own command chair to the right of Tina’s chair.
‘’Good! Frida, take us out of orbit and start heading in the direction of Gliese 667. Reena, calculate our incoming jump to Gliese 667C and be ready to confirm our position on arrival. Amin, switch to passive detectors only just before we jump. I want us to be silent and stealthy when we will enter the Gliese 667C System.
‘’Aye, Captain!’
‘’To all, this is your captain. We are about to effect a Space jump to the Gliese 667C system, as it was on September 18 of 1959, six days before the destruction of Shouria by a wandering brown dwarf. Soon after our arrival, we will start an emergency evacuation operation on Shouria in order to save as many of its inhabitants as possible.
To our present passengers, I will ask you to stay inside your quarters until further notice and to not circulate around the ship unless absolutely necessary, as we may soon have
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to move speedily tens of thousands of Koorivar refugees around the ship. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.’
Next, Tina switched her intercom to the ship’s security center, where Ahmed Jibril was posted for this operation.
‘’Ahmed, we are about to jump to the Gliese 667C System. Are your people ready?’
‘’They are, Tina. I have security androids, accompanied by a few of our resident Koorivar crewmembers, posted and waiting at each of the levels of our emergency quarters, plus have more security androids posted in our soccer stadium and our track and field stadium, where we erected tent cities for the expected crowd of Koorivar refugees. In all, we have a total of 140,700 bunks or camp cots ready for those refugees, Tina.’
‘’And what if we run out of places in those locations, Ahmed? Do we have other extra locations around the ship which could temporarily house more refugees?’
‘’Uh, yes! While there won’t be beds or cots available in those extra locations, they should be adequate enough to house refugees for a day or two without major problems. If we do use those extra locations, including our Medieval World level and our forest habitats, I calculate that we could then accommodate another 200,000 Koorivars at a minimum. The big question will then be: will we have enough time to gather and transport this many people from the surface of Shouria?’
‘’We will have to find that time, Ahmed. Send androids teams, with a sprinkle of our newly-built Koorivar androids, to those extra locations, so that they could prepare them quickly for occupation.’
‘’On it, Tina!’
Tina then switched links yet again.
‘’Professor Shirani, please come to the bridge on the double: we are about to jump to the Gliese 667C System.’
‘’On my way, Tina.’ answered the Koorivar planetologist. Shirani had been an original crewmember of the VEON SHOURIA, the Koorivar refugee ship which had been discovered entombed in the methane ice of the dwarf planet Eris by the KOSTROMA in 2317, some twenty years ago. Shirani had been still awake at the time of the departure of the VEON SHOURIA from the planet Shouria, thus his knowledge of the social and political conditions on the doomed planet in 1959 was going to prove crucial for the success of the rescue operation.
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Nine minutes later, Professor Shirani arrived on the command level of the bridge and was offered at once the V.I.P./Observer chair to the left of Tina’s command chair.
‘’If you may sit and strap yourself in, Professor, we will then jump to Gliese 667C.’
The mature Koorivar did so quickly, leaving Tina free to speak with SPIRIT.
‘’We are now ready to jump to the Gliese 667C System, SPIRIT. The ship is now yours for the jump.’
‘’Thank you, Tina. Jumping in three...two...one...jumping now!’
This time, the flash of light from their jump was the customary orange color, as it was a purely spatial jump with no temporal component to it.
10:11 (Universal Time) / 83.426 percentile of orbital period Monday, September 19, 1959 C.E.
Office of the Planetary Governor, capital city of Shouriana Planet of Shouria (Gliese 667Cd), Gliese 667C System 23.6 light years from Earth
Governor Shuran went to the large patio doors of his office, situated on the top floor of the planetary government administration building, where he looked up at the brown dot visible in the sky. That dot represented the imminent destruction of the Koorivar race, its homeworld Shouria, and the death of 1.2 billion Koorivars. Of that total population, a mere 63,000 Koorivars may get to survive the incoming cataclysm by traveling away
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from Shouria while in cryogenic sleep aboard three refugee ships, the VEON SHOURIA, the SHANIZAR and the SHUNDAR. The VEON SHOURIA had lifted off with its living cargo 12.7 orbital percentiles ago, followed at intervals by the SHANIZAR and the SHUNDAR, the latter having left a mere 7.9 percentiles ago. With luck, they would then each arrive in a different star system where they would look for a habitable planet on which to resettle the survivors of the Koorivar race. However, by the time that those ships will arrive in their targeted systems, Shouria would then be long gone, pulverized by the wandering brown dwarf heading its way. Shuran thus was very conscious that he, his family and close to 1.2 billion other Koorivars had only 16.2 percentiles of orbital period left to live. Shuran, as the planetary governor, could have pushed for his spouse, Kindra, and his two teenage children, Kiran and Kovar, to be included among the refugees selected to board the three evacuation ships. However, he had refused to even contemplate that option, as it would have constituted blatant favoritism and could also have incited disturbances and even possibly riots. Now, his last hope was that his people would show dignity in its final moments. He himself was resolved to be on the patio of their private residence and looking straight up at the incoming brown dwarf, with his family snuggling him until the end came.
Shuran was still looking up at the brown dot in the sky when the intercom set on his work desk started buzzing. Walking quickly to his desk and grabbing the detachable handset of the intercom, he saw that one of his principal aides was on the line and activated the link.
‘’Yes, Krenin?’
‘’Mister Governor, we have a call for you...from Space!’ announced Krenin in an excited voice.
‘’A call from Space? Is it from one of our interplanetary cargo ships?’
‘’No, Mister Governor: it is from a Koorivar who says that he is calling from an alien starship.’
Shuran couldn’t help frown in frustration on hearing that: the last thing he needed now was for some delusional idiot to try spreading some wild falsehoods.
‘’Why are you bothering me with this nonsense, Krenin? You know how easily such rumors could create false hopes, which would then lead to possible panic and riots.’
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‘’I know, Mister Governor, but I believe that this call is genuine: some kind of alien creature was standing behind this Shirani as he called via the HoloNet. If you would go to your main HoloNet viewer, I could then transfer that call to you.’
The mention of an alien creature acted like a punch to the guts on Shuran, who hurried to sit behind his work desk and switch on his HoloNet desk unit.
‘’Transfer that call now, Krenin, then tell the rest of my staff to stand by for an emergency meeting.’
‘’Right away, Governor.’
The image of a mature Koorivar wearing a light blue coverall soon appeared on Shuran’s display screen. However, the eyes of the governor fixed at once on the creature visible some two paces behind the said Shirani. It was a good head taller than the Koorivar and was definitely from an alien race, with an oval, mostly flat face, two eyes, a small nose and a small mouth and a thick mane of long blond hair topping its head. From the prominent bumps under the blue and gold robe it wore, Shuran deducted that this alien was either a hermaphrodite, like all the Koorivars, or a female, like in a number of the animal species populating Shouria.
‘’This is Governor Shuran. Could you explain to me where you are and with whom you are right now?’
‘’First, my name is Shirani, and I was a crewmember of the evacuation ship VEON SHOURIA, Governor. Before you say that this would be an impossibility, know that the ship I am in traveled through time to get here, in our star system, in order to evacuate at least some of our people before the brown dwarf impacts our planet. The VEON SHOURIA actually reached the star system it was targeting after a very long trip, where it made contact with an intelligent species calling itself Humans. After finding a way to travel through time, those Humans decided to come here and now in order to save more Koorivars from death. Unfortunately, despite their ship being huge, they will have space for only about 400,000 of us. Eve Silisca, who is standing behind me, wants to discuss with you where to assemble the people to be evacuated. I will now let her speak with you.’
The tall creature with blond mane then stepped forward and addressed Shuran. To his relief, she proved to be able to speak an excellent Koorivarese, something that was going to make things much faster and simpler than if obliged to use a translator unit.
‘’Governor Shuran, my name is Eve Silisca and I am presently aboard the heavy cargo starship NOSTROMO, which is now approaching Shouria. I realize that time will
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be at a premium during this rescue operation, so please listen carefully to me and wait for me to end my explanations before asking any questions. First, as Shirani told you, we can take in some 400,000 Koorivars aboard our ship, maybe more if we really squeeze them a bit. Second, we will provide the necessary shuttle craft to pick up and carry to orbit the refugees, so don’t worry about finding some ships of yours for the evacuation. Third, since we will be able to evacuate only a tiny portion of the remaining population of your planet, I will ask you to designate for us the embarkation points where our shuttle craft will land to pick up their passengers. Know that we plan to make as many return trips as it will be safe to do before the final approach of that brown dwarf, so you may assemble a few tens of thousands of people waiting at each of those embarkation points. We will leave to you the task of selecting who will go. From our past experience, I would counsel you to group together for evacuation complete communities from various villages, towns and cities. That way, it will greatly simplify the evacuation process and will also nullify any possible accusations of favoritism about the choice of who will be evacuated. Fourth, once our ship will be as full as possible, it will travel through time and Space to what you call in your astronomical charts ‘Kanz 1003’, where the 67,000 Koorivars which left your system a couple of days ago eventually relocated and founded a new home they named ‘New Shouria’. Your people will thus be with brethren for the start of their new lives. I will keep this channel open while waiting for your list of embarkation points, Governor Shuran. Oh, one last point: if you have reserves of planting seeds of your main vegetal staples, have them prepared for pickup and give us locations for those pickup points. However, do not have people assemble there with the hope of being let in, as only empty cargo containers will land at those points. Know that all the reserves of seed grains originally carried in your three evacuation ships became spoiled from their long trip and your brethren’s presently living in the Kanz 1003 System have not eaten any foodstuff from Shouria in the last few years. So, being able to pick up reserves of seed grains from you is no frivolous request, especially in view of the new group of Koorivars we will evacuate in the next few days. Also, if you have reserves of precious metals in your central government bank vaults, you may want to have them picked up as well: those precious metals will then be able to finance the building of new facilities for your people on New Shouria. The owner of our ship is rich but not that rich and I believe that your people would not want ending up as a bunch of impoverished and dispossessed refugees living in some tent camp.
Now, do you have any questions at this time, Governor Shuran?’
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‘’Uh, I have one, Eve: is your civilization well established in Space or do you occupy only that one-star system?’
‘’We are part of what we call the Spacers League, which counts right now a total of 25 occupied star systems, plus our original home: the Solar System, which the VEON
SHOURIA reached. Once reestablished on New Shouria, your people will be part of a large community of of over fourteen billion people living in this region of the galaxy.
Does this reassure you, Governor?’
‘’Very much so, Eve Silisca. I will now go have an emergency meeting with my government cabinet and will compose a list of evacuation and cargo pickup points as fast as I can.’
‘’Please tell your staff to work quickly, Governor: every hour lost may mean some 10,000 less Koorivars which could be safely evacuated. As my captain would say, this is no time for committee decisions.’
‘’I understand, Eve. Please thank on my behalf your captain for this providential help for my people.’
‘’I will, Governor Shuran.’
On that, Shuran put that line on hold and ran out of his office in order to go speak with his cabinet.
12:29 (Universal Time) / 0.8345 percentile of orbital period Passenger terminal of the University of Korvarna’s craft landing pad Kendrek, a professor of structural engineering at the prestigious University of Korvarna, had to hold firmly hands with his spouse Darkad and of their young child, Kendra, in order not to get separated in the nearly panicked crowd of students, faculty staffers and family members now filling the passenger terminal building. Thousands more Koorivars, equally anxious and scared, were trying to come in, threatening to cause a deadly pileup. Koorivars were normally non-violent, disciplined people but fear often made the worst come out in people and the few public order officers present were simply getting swamped, if not squarely trampled on. Then, someone near the bay windows of the terminal shouted out loud while pointing at something in the sky.
‘’A NUMBER OF CRAFT ARE APPROACHING!’
Cheers and exclamations of relief rose at that shout and the crowd, sensing that they now had a good chance at being saved soon, calmed down somewhat. Two of the
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nearest craft approaching the landing pad soon stopped at a hover a few meters above the concrete surface of the pad and some ninety silhouettes in dark gray uniforms and helmets then jumped out through rear access ramps, then floated down to the ground, obviously using some kind of anti-gravity devices. The cheers then stopped cold: while some of the jumpers appeared to be Koorivars, the majority of them were clearly alien beings. However, an amplified voice coming from one of the craft and speaking Koorivarese then resonated over the landing pad area.
‘’People of Shouria, do not be afraid: we came to save as many of you as it will be possible to do. We come from an alien starship now in orbit over Shouria and the security officers now landing on this landing pad came only to organize the evacuation and keep order during the embarkation. A heavy shuttle will now land on this pad and will start loading people as soon as its access ramps will be opened. We will ask you to stay calm, follow the instructions of our security officers and avoid pushing those ahead of you. Time is precious and any delays will prevent the rescue of more people, so stay calm and orderly.’
As the voice stopped talking a huge, lenticular ship with a diameter of 200 meters and a height of eighty meters flew down silently and smoothly landed on the landing pad. The alien security officers dropped by the two first craft then went to the four access ramps which lowered open, posting themselves around them in order to control the access to them. At the same time, the ten Koorivar officers in gray uniforms ran to the terminal building and posted themselves at the two doors giving on the landing pad, with one of them speaking in an amplified voice.
‘’PLEASE LISTEN CAREFULLY, PEOPLE OF SHOURIA. YOU WILL NOW GO
OUT ONE BY ONE ON THE LANDING PAD, WITH FAMILIES STAYING TOGETHER, THEN WILL WALK TO OUR HEAVY SHUTTLE AND GET ABOARD IT, WHERE YOU
WILL BE DIRECTED TO SEATS. PLEASE DON’T TRY TO PUSH YOUR WAY
THROUGH OR RUN TO OUR SHUTTLE, OR YOU WILL FORCE US TO USE OUR
STUN GUNS. YOU MAY NOW START TO COME OUT OF THE TERMINAL.’
As the people in the terminal started moving, Kendrek fervently hoped that this thing would stay orderly and that no one would panic or trying to jump the queue. His heart beating furiously, he kept a solid hold on the hands of his spouse and child while stepping forward slowly as Koorivars started coming out of the terminal and walked towards the big alien ship. Like the other would-be refugees, Kendrek had followed the instructions given via an emergency announcement from the Governor’s office, thus he
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and Darkad carried only one suitcase each, while young Kendra carried a backpack containing some spare clothes, a few cereal bars and a bottle of water, plus his electronic school notepad. To their relief, they were able to pass through the door of the terminal after a couple of minutes, then started walking towards the big alien ship, guided by a couple of the alien security officers who were posted at intervals between the terminal and the ship. To Kendrek’s surprise, those aliens proved to be able to speak excellent Koorivarese as they gave their directives, making him exchange a look with Darkad.
‘’How could alien beings we never saw before speak Koorivarese like this, without using portable translation units?’
‘’I frankly don’t know, Kendrek. However, the important thing is that we and Kendra will be able to escape death.’
‘’Yes, but what kind of future is awaiting us? The Governor’s message was rather terse and short on details.’
‘’I am sure that we will get more information once aboard that alien ship, my love.’ replied his spouse while continuing to walk towards one of the access ramps of the alien ship. They soon arrived at that ramp and were pointed by an alien officer to one of the mechanical escalators built along the ledges of the ramp.
‘’You can use this escalator, good people. Once inside, you will be directed to sets of seats. Take three of them, put your suitcases in the receptacles in front of your seats and buckle your safety belts.’
As the small family went up on the escalator, Darkad nodded her head in approval.
‘’They may be alien beings but they are quite polite. They also look quite efficient.’
‘’That they are. Did you notice that they are of two genders: male and female, like some of the animals we have on Shouria?’
‘’I did! They may be alien but I find them rather good-looking physically.’
When they arrived at the top of the ramp, more aliens, these ones wearing light blue coveralls, directed them to a large compartment which apparently followed the curve of the lenticular hull of the ship. Little Kendra stiffened with surprise and fear at the sight of another kind of alien who was directing each Koorivar towards seats, while Kendrek and Darkad opened wide eyes and stared for a moment at the big, muscular
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creature with four arms and a pair of thick, short legs. It also had a pair of breasts under her coverall.
‘’What...what is that?’
The alien in question, who apparently had a fine hearing, looked down at the child and smiled while speaking in Koorivarese.
‘’I am a Drazts and my name is Riza, child. If you would please take seats on row 12B.’
‘’How come you can speak Koorivarese?’ couldn’t help ask Darkad as she passed by the big alien, who grinned in answer.
‘’One of my best friends is a Koorivar. Many Humans also can speak Koorivarese aboard the NOSTROMO. But you should get to your seats now: we have a lot of people to save and time is counted.’
‘’This ship is named the NOSTROMO?’ asked Kendrek, making Riza laugh.
‘’This, the NOSTROMO? This is actually a simple heavy shuttle, of which five are carried by the NOSTROMO. Wait until you see our ship: it is a majestic sight and a truly magnificent starship.’
Not insisting further, Kendrek continued advancing along the row of seats, which was separated from the row ahead and below it by a narrow aisle, until they arrived at the seats which were already occupied. Seeing large luggage receptacles in front of their seats, Kendrek had his family put their bags inside them, then sat down and buckled his safety belt. Once that was done, he was able to look around him and examine the compartment he was in. By its curve, it obviously was located just inside the hull and followed its curve, with its end out of his direct line of sight. Large holographic display screens covered the outer wall of the compartment, allowing Kendrek to see outside the heavy shuttle. Apparently, the evacuation process was going smoothly, at least here, with a steady line of Koorivars continuously boarding the ship. Using his experience as a structural engineer, Kendrek evaluated quickly the passenger capacity of the compartment he was in, which had twelve rows of seats forming rings, each ring being a bit higher than the row in front, like in a theater. If he was correct, this ‘heavy shuttle’
could probably carry a minimum of 6,000 persons, an impressive number indeed.
However, as it closed its ramps once all the seats were filled, there were still thousands of Koorivars still waiting in the terminal. Then, Kendrek noticed that the alien security officers who had gone down were still on the tarmac, that at the same time as young Kendra pointed at an object in the sky visible on the screens.
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‘’Look, father! Another big ship is approaching.’
Kendrek nodded at that sight, now reassured about the fate of the people still waiting on the ground to be rescued.
‘’Those aliens impress me with their efficiency and organization. With that incoming ship, all the people of Korvarna should be able to be evacuated in time, if they make multiple round trips.’
‘’Yes, but what kind of life will await us in that new world, Kendrek? We are about to lose everything we had, to go live in a world we know nothing about and where we may end up as dispossessed refugees.’
His spouse’s arguments had the effect of abruptly cooling down Kendrek’s enthusiasm: Darkad was right about the uncertainty of their future. He then remembered a famous quote from a past philosopher.
‘’Yes, the times to come will be hard ones for us, my love, but at least we will be alive and our little Kendra will be able to grow up. While there is life, there is hope.’
23:18 (Universal Time)
Bridge of the A.M.S. NOSTROMO
