CHAPITRE 15 – PEACE AT LAST
07:41 (Providence Time)
Tuesday, August 08, 2322
Bridge of the Drazt interstellar transport ship KAL DROGA
Arriving in high orbit over the planet of Providence (Alpha Centauri Bd)
Alpha Centauri B System (4.36 light-years from Earth)
‘’The spectral analysis of the star confirms that we are in the Alpha Centauri B System, Shipmaster.’’
Dozna Wiss, sitting in the shipmaster’s chair of her new ship, felt relief on hearing her navigator’s announcement. This was only the third interstellar jump that her recently built and commissioned transport ship KAL DROGA had made, the two previous ones having been used to certify the ship as good for service. The fact that her ship was now inside the system of an orange star, with a yellow star as a visible close companion, was enough by itself to prove to her that she was not anymore in her home system, in which the star was a solitary red dwarf.
‘’Sensors Master, what do you see inside this star system? How many planets are there?’’
‘’Our sensors register the presence of two planets and an asteroid belt, Shipmaster. The first planet from the star is very close to it, thus would be way too hot to be habitable. However, the second planet is well within the habitability zone of its star. It has two moons, one a fairly massive body turning in a regular orbit around its parent planet, the other an irregular-shaped body circling in a highly eccentric orbit. The irregular moon may be a large asteroid which was captured by the second planet a long time ago, judging from its elliptical orbit.’’
‘’What about the second planet?’’
‘’It is emitting plenty of artificial electronic noises, Shipmaster.’’
‘’Then, let’s get to it! Pilot, head for the second planet. Once there, we will insert ourselves in a high equatorial orbit and wait to be hailed. Signals Master, start broadcasting in a continuous loop our message of peace in English: let’s not scare the Humans in and around the second planet and make them think that we came to attack them.’’
‘’Yes, Shipmaster!’’
As her signals officer punched a button and started playing on the radio the message meant to identify the KAL DROGA as a diplomatic ship, Dozna couldn’t help admire the big orange ball of Alpha Centauri B. It was much larger and luminous than the red dwarf star that illuminated Kadosh, which the Humans called Ross 128. The other two stars in this triple system, a nearby yellow star and a much more distant red dwarf star, added to the novel aspect of this system for her and her crew. The second planet, which was supposed to be the one named ‘Providence’ by the Humans, was plainly visible on the bridge’s viewing screens and was a ball half covered with the blue color characteristic of oceans. Its sight made Dozna sigh with envy: Kadosh, being the only habitable planet in her home system, had been severely overpopulated for centuries already and the Drazt race badly needed a new planet to resettle the excess population living on Kadosh. Up to now, only one system with a habitable planet had been explored to date by the Drazt: LHS 288. The rate of exploration missions away from Ross 128 was unfortunately slow, being severely limited by the scarceness of the anti-matter pills needed to fuel the Drazt interstellar drive system. Unfortunately, the production of those anti-matter pills was already at its maximum capacity, despite swallowing a huge amount of energy from the entire planetary energy sector. Thus, every interstellar jump literally counted, but Dozna’s trip to Alpha Centauri still had rated as a high priority one. Arriving at a lasting peace with the Humans was essential for the Drazt race, if it wanted to avoid another armed confrontation with the Humans, a confrontation that it was next to assured to lose. Her present mission was thus a matter of sheer long-term survival for her race.
Some fifteen minutes later, the signals officer twisted his head to look at Dozna.
‘’Shipmaster, we are now receiving a video response from the second planet to our broadcasted message. It is on Channel Two.’’
‘’Thank you!’’ said Dozna while punching a button to connect her chair’s display screen to the said channel. She was then able to see the torso and head of a Human male sitting at some sort of work station. The translation program of her ship’s computer made a written translation in Drazt language appear at the bottom of the screen as the Human spoke in English.
‘’KAL DROGA, this is the Providence space traffic control center. Your identification message has been received. You may proceed to the Providence High orbital terminal station, flying in a low equatorial orbit around the second planet of this system. You can follow the station’s radio beacon signal on the frequency 881.5 megahertz. Once in sight of our orbital station, you will be free to approach it and dock at its Number Two Docking Station, which will have its indicator lights flashing green.’’
‘’This is the KAL DROGA: your message is understood. We will call back once on approach, out!’’
Once that call was concluded, Dozna switched her screen to the intercom system of the ship and called the V.I.P. suite on the Passengers Deck, getting an answer on the second buzz.
‘’Prime Minister’s suite!’’
‘’This is Shipmaster Wiss. Tell the Prime Minister that we have safely arrived in the Alpha Centauri B System and that we have been invited to go dock at an orbital space station around the second planet, Providence. We should be there in nine chu.’’
‘’I will inform the Prime Minister of this right away, Shipmaster.’’ replied the aide before cutting the link. Dozna then sat back in her command chair, mentally reflecting about the seismic changes that had happened within the Drazt society and government during the last few rotations. With the death of the Supreme Conductor and the mass purging from the government of his various loyalists, sycophants and coat-hangers, the way had been cleared for a profound reform of the political system on Kadosh. Instead of naming another quasi-dictator with wide powers, the general population, led by the progressive elements of the Navy’s High Command, had voted to adopt a fully democratic model of government, with a Prime Minister elected via universal suffrage and governing with the help of a ministerial cabinet and of regional governors, also elected democratically. In turn, the new Prime Minister had at once shifted the government’s priorities to a new space exploration and resettlement program geared towards finding habitable planets and building settlements on them. Despite the limited availability of the anti-matter pills vital for interstellar jumps, some habitat and support modules were already in place on LHS 288c, the first planet officially designated as a resettlement world, while the concept of resettlement on new planets had become a subject of enthusiastic conversations among the Drazts population.
After a couple of hours of flight, an orbital space station became visible in orbit around Providence. As her ship was approaching it, heading towards a docking station clearly marked by huge green flashing panels, Dozna was able to appreciate how big the station was. Vastly larger and longer than her own KAL DROGA, the station looked like a three-kilometer-long vertical rod topped by a 400-meter-wide disc-like section and with pairs of well-separated spokes jutting out by 700 meters and attached at intervals down its central spine structure. Each spoke ended in a docking station able to welcome ships much bigger than the KAL DROGA, while more spokes set at ninety degrees from the docking spokes served as support and storage arms for hundreds of cargo modules, liquid bulk tanks and container pods. Numerous robotic arms and local free-flying tugboats moved those modules, tanks and pods around, attaching or detaching them from cargo ships docked at the orbital terminal. However, what truly attracted the attention of Dozna and of her whole bridge crew was the sight of a gigantic cargo ship docked to the station and busy transferring dozens of cargo pods to the cargo storage terminal.
‘’The KOSTROMA, it is here!’’ said to herself Dozna in a low voice. There was no mistaking that ship, with its massive round bow shield, four thermonuclear engine rocket exhaust plasma tubes and nozzles and its system of external carry of cargo pods and modules. It certainly had not been designed to fly at speed inside a dense planetary atmosphere and could be described as somewhat ugly in appearance, but Dozna knew too well that the KOSTROMA was king in the void of space. As if saying its name had triggered some link with it, the signals officer spoke to her again.
‘’Shipmaster, the KOSTROMA is calling us.’’
‘’I will take the call.’’ replied Dozna. Two seconds later, the picture of Tina Forster appeared on her viewing screen. Tina smiled at once on seeing Dozna.
‘’Hello, Dozna! It is truly nice to see you again. I see that you are now commanding a new ship.’’
‘’That’s right, Tina. I am now the shipmaster of the KAL DROGA, a newly-built interstellar transport ship.’’
‘’A transport ship, hey? It specializes in carrying cargo or passengers?’’
‘’It is actually a mixed transport, Tina. It can’t approach the carrying capacity of your mighty KOSTROMA, but it will be very useful for us to establish settlements on the new worlds of our civilization.’’
‘’A worthy purpose indeed. So, I understand that you called in as a diplomatic ship? Then you came here to sign a peace treaty with us, right?’’
‘’Correct! Are there representatives of your government present here who would be mandated to discuss and sign such a treaty?’’
‘’Uh, I am afraid not. The highest official present in the system right now is Governor Rosa Goldberg, who is the top administrator of this new colony. However, I could escort your ship to the Solar System, where your envoy would then be able to speak directly with Chairperson Robeson… What? You suddenly look embarrassed. Did I say something wrong?’’
‘’No, Tina, you didn’t say anything wrong. It pains me to say this, but you would eventually learn about it, so I will be frank with you. Our new interstellar drive necessitates anti-matter pills to work, with one pill needed per separate jump. However, the cost and energy demand to produce each such pill are astronomical and we can’t produce more than a handful of them at a time. Right now, my new ship has only two such pills aboard: one for our return trip and the other as a backup in case of a failed jump. Jumping to your Solar System would reduce my safety margin to zero.’’
Tina was left speechless for a second by Dozna’s confession.
‘’Uh, I see! In that case, let me send one of my star shuttles to the Solar System, so that it could inform my government of your arrival here. It would also be able then to bring here our top officials. Would your ambassador mind to conduct his negotiations aboard my KOSTROMA? I would be delighted to be able to host such a historical event.’’
‘’I will certainly pass your offer to him, Tina. To be frank, I have been dying for a while to be able to visit your ship.’’
‘’And I was dreaming for a long time to be able to greet you aboard the KOSTROMA, Dozna. Uh, that makes me think about a small but crucial detail: what do Drazt eat? Will our food be edible to you?’’
‘’We are what you call vegetarians. We eat vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts. We also consume dairy products from time to time, like milk, cream and eggs. As for the compatibility of your own agricultural produces with our digestive systems, you don’t need to worry: we have been studying for many of your decades your open electronic literature and documentaries concerning your various food sources and what you call ‘culinary art’. From the chemical and biological descriptions given in those intercepted documentaries, our biologists and doctors have concluded that your vegetables and fruits should be edible for us. The only thing that we don’t know about them is the taste and flavors of your various food items.’’
Those last words brought a wide grin on Tina’s face.
‘’Hey, that would be a great excuse for me to invite you and your people to a food sampling buffet on my ship. I would love to see that! Your people would of course be welcome as well to tour my KOSTROMA. Did I already tell you before how proud I am of my ship?’’
‘’Yes, you did, Tina!’’ replied Dozna, an amused smile appearing on her lips.
‘’Then, once you are docked at the Providence High terminal, you and your people will be most welcome to visit my ship at their leisure during their stay on the station.’’
‘’Uh, you really would let us Drazt come aboard your ship at leisure, without some armed escort?’’
‘’Yes, I would! Don’t forget that my ship is primarily a cargo ship and not a warship. Only a few specific sections of my ship would remain out of bounds for you, like our weapons systems and ammunition magazines. On the other hand, we have our forest habitats, giant aquariums, commercial promenade, restaurants and hydroponic gardens, all of which could prove interesting to your people. And I mean all of your people. They could even buy souvenirs in the shops of my commercial promenade if they wished to.’’
‘’Stop! You are making my head turn with so many possibilities. Very well, I will take your gracious offer, Tina. Our diplomatic party will go visit your KOSTROMA once we have docked.’’
‘’Then, bring as well a few of your biologists and some of your cooks, so that they could study and taste our vegetarian food items and also bring samples of them for analysis back to your ship. I will be present to greet you at your docking station. See you then, Dozna!’’
Once the link was cut, Dozna exchanged a look with her second in command.
‘’I must say that it is hard not to like a person like that, once you get to know her.’’
‘’She certainly appeared most sincere in her enthusiasm at the idea of hosting us, Shipmaster.’’
‘’Personally, I believe that Captain Forster doesn’t have a single fiber of meanness or xenophobia in her. Dak, I would like you to select a group of no more than twenty of our crewmembers who would then accompany the Prime Minister and his diplomatic delegation during their visit aboard the KOSTROMA. I would like to see a couple of our biologists, our chief of hydroponics, our chief cook, our chief healer and a few of our engineers in that group. Then, inform the crew that each duty shift will be allowed to go visit the KOSTROMA once off duty. And please tell them all not to bring any weapons with them! The last thing that we need now is for some misunderstanding to end up in a shootout aboard the KOSTROMA.’’
‘’What if our people would like to buy things about this KOSTROMA, Shipmaster? What kind of money do these Humans use in space?’’
‘’I am not sure, but I am certain that both gold and silver coins would be accepted there. Human history is full of stories about their insatiable thirst for such precious metals. Tell our paymaster to issue silver and gold coins to our crewmembers wishing to visit the KOSTROMA, debiting their electronic credit balance in exchange.’’
‘’It will be done, Shipmaster!’’
11:10 (Universal Time)
Access lounge of Docking Station Number Two
Providence High orbital space terminal
Low equatorial orbit of Providence (Alpha Centauri Bd)
When Prime Minister Sho Dar, Dozna Wiss and sixteen other Drazt walked out of the protective airlock of Docking Station Number Two, they were greeted by Tina Forster, Eve Silisca and a tall man in his fifties wearing a short beard. The bearded man was actually the first to step forward to shake hands with the new visitors.
‘’Welcome to the Providence High Orbital Terminal, ladies and gentlemen. I am Sergei Ivanov, Chief Administrator of Providence High.’’
Waiting a couple of seconds to let time for his portable translation unit to translate Ivanov’s English words, the head of the Drazt delegation spoke while shaking the administrator’s hand.
‘’And I am Prime Minister Sho Dar. To my right is Shipmaster Dozna Wiss, in command of the KAL DROGA. The people behind us have been selected to visit the KOSTROMA, following the generous invitation from Fleet Captain Forster.’’
‘’And they will be welcomed to visit as well my station afterwards, Mister Prime Minister. My staff and the personnel of this station have been told to treat all visiting Drazt as having diplomatic status during this visit of yours. Your people can thus go around it without any worries for their safety.’’
‘’That is very kind of you, Chief Administrator Ivanov. I must say that your orbital terminal is a very impressive installation.’’
Ivanov smiled with pride at that compliment and pointed Tina, standing next to him.
‘’I owe a lot to Fleet Captain Forster in that respect, Mister Prime Minister. Her ship carried the prefabricated elements of this station to this system, then helped assemble it in orbit.’’
‘’Really? And how many trips did it take to bring all the pieces of your station to Alpha Centauri B?’’
‘’Two trips by the KOSTROMA were sufficient, Mister Prime Minister.’’ replied Ivanov, making Sho Dar look at Tina Forster with incredulity.
‘’Two trips only? May I ask what is the cargo capacity of your ship, Fleet Captain Forster?’’
‘’You certainly may, Mister Prime Minister. My KOSTROMA has a maximum cargo load capacity of a bit over twenty million metric tons. But we could discuss this further once you will be inside my ship, when you will be able to see it firsthand. Know that a courier shuttle left for the Solar System some twenty minutes ago, to bring the news of your arrival here. I expect Chairperson Robeson, of the Spacers League High Council, to travel back here aboard that shuttle. She should thus arrive at this orbital station in a few hours at the most.’’
‘’That is good news indeed: I am anxious to discuss peace with her, so that we can put all the past unpleasantness behind us.’’
‘’I couldn’t agree more with you on that, Mister Prime Minister. Behind me are a number of passenger platforms which will carry you and your people to the docking station at which my KOSTROMA is docked. If you will sit in the first platform with me, Mister Prime Minister.’’
‘’With pleasure, Fleet Captain Forster.’’
With everybody jumping aboard the anti-gravity platforms, each of which had benches for up to twelve passengers, the convoy of vehicles was soon driving down a large tunnel running inside the docking station’s support arm. They then entered a big cargo elevator which started going down towards the level where the KOSTROMA was docked. The whole trip from docking station to docking station actually took a good twenty minutes, an impressive testament to the size of the orbital terminal. As the platforms started driving into the covered telescopic gangway linking the station to the KOSTROMA, Dozna was struck by the twin row of trees lining the sides of the large hallway they were following.
‘’You have trees even here? Division Master Ren told me about your fantastic forest habitats, but I did not expect these in a simple access tunnel.’’
‘’Aaah, but you will find green plants, trees and other kinds of vegetation all over my ship, Dozna.’’ replied Tina, smiling. ‘’This ship is much more than just an armed cargo ship for me and my crew: it also is our home in space. I thus did my best to turn it into a flying village in space, a village in which we can live, shop, raise our children and educate them and, in the case of some of us, conduct business and trade. Actually, over half of the occupants of the KOSTROMA are not crewmembers per say. Instead, they are either spouses or children of crewmembers, or work in the various commercial concessions you will find aboard. In fact, the first thing you will see inside my ship proper will be the Main Promenade, on Level Nine. There, you will see a variety of shops, restaurants, bars, clubs and entertainment facilities, including a children’s playground.’’
Those last words made Dozna give a skeptical look at Tina.
‘’Don’t tell me that you had children aboard your ship when you came in to attack Kadosh.’’
‘’On that occasion, no! Before going to your system with four of our warships, I had dropped off the families of my crewmembers on New Haven, where we have our fixed homes and go periodically on vacation, in order to experience open air nature again. However, when I first went to Kadosh on a diplomatic mission, our families were aboard, as I was not expecting to be attacked then.’’
Dozna couldn’t help lower her head in shame then.
‘’And I was not proud of our acts then, Tina.’’
‘’Please forget about that, Dozna.’’ said Tina softly while patting her shoulder. ‘’Those responsible for that are now dead. Let’s concentrate now on ensuring peace between our two people.’’
‘’You do have a way with words, Fleet Captain Forster.’’ said Prime Minister Sho Dar while glancing at her. ‘’Your leaders chose the right person to come visit us at first. A more belligerent or xenophobic ship captain than you would have triggered a large-scale war at once.’’
‘’Oh, we have no shortages of such ship captains or politicians, especially on Earth itself, Mister Prime Minister. But let’s change the subject for a more agreeable one: we are now entering my ship’s Main Promenade. If you don’t mind, we will now disembark and continue on foot, in order for you to better enjoy your visit. I will escort you, Shipmaster Wiss and your two personal aides around, while Miss Silisca, my own personal aide, will guide your followers from the KAL DROGA around at a more leisurely pace.’’
With the convoy of anti-gravity platforms stopping and parking along one side of the ten-meter-wide circular boulevard forming the Main Promenade, their occupants stepped out on the pavement and split in two groups, one small one led by Tina and the larger one led by Eve. The first commerce they passed by attracted more than one incredulous look from the visiting Drazt.
‘’You have a sex club aboard your ship?’’ asked a bemused Dozna, attracting a grin from Tina.
‘’Of course! When your cruiser returne to Drakan City after a space patrol, I can bet that your unmarried crewmembers probably go first to visit the prostitutes in the city, if of course you have prostitutes on Kadosh.’’
‘’Of course we have prostitutes on Kadosh, and they are not all female. Did you think that we Drazt can’t have fun from time to time?’’
‘’I thought so! Maybe your people will want to go have a peep inside that club later on. But let’s get to more mundane things, like shops and restaurants. As you will see, there is a wide variety of restaurants along the Main Promenade, representing nearly all the various culinary traditions found on Earth. Some of them serve mostly or exclusively vegetarian menus, so your people will be able to sample a few of our food items during their tour. Later on, you will all be invited to go sample a variety of our vegetarian dishes at a special buffet which will be set for lunch