ALICE, page 35
With everyone filing out of the control room, Jake caught a glimpse of Bonnie sitting to one side of the room holding Julie in her arms. He wandered over to her with Becky close behind.
“Hello sweetheart,” Jake said, leaning down to kiss his daughter and then Bonnie.
“Well, that didn’t take long?” Bonnie said.
“What?” Jake asked, confused.
“One day and I’m already second fiddle,” she replied with a laugh.
Before Jake could reply, Becky knelt down to take Julie from Bonnie and declared, “Jake, I want one!”
Both he and Bonnie rolled their eyes and Bonnie replied, “Why don’t you help me out first. Your time will come soon enough.”
“Whatever,” was all she said, kissing the baby on the forehead as she took her from her sister’s arms.
“On that note, I will take my leave. I’ll see you three later as I have work to do,” Jake replied, giving each a kiss and turning on his heels to head out the control room door.
“ALICE, I may never forgive you,” Jake commented as he walked down the hallway.
“Why Jake, how can you say such a thing when you look at that little face?” she cooed.
“Do you mean Julie or Becky,” he replied sarcastically.
Jake continued down the hallway and into an elevator that took him back to the offices on the lower levels. Returning to the office he had used the day before, he and the ALICEs went over some of the incoming data and discussed their theory on why the NeHaw had died while entering earth’s atmosphere. Everyone confirmed it held merit, but agreed the only way to test it was on the Nehaw. They were tossing around a few ideas on weapons and Jake requested a few prototypes constructed when ALICE interrupted him in mid-sentence.
“You have an urgent incoming message from Sara,” she stated.
“Please put it through,” he replied.
“Hey, sweetheart, what's up?” Jake asked as Sara’s face appeared in the display he was just working in.
“The replacement staff has landed, so can I come home, please?” she asked eagerly.
“I believe ALICE has a fighter on the way for you,” Jake stated, hoping ALICE took the hint.
“It should be arriving shortly,” ALICE replied, covering Jake’s butt.
Jake figured ALICE must have the newly finished fighter at full speed to get it there so quickly from Alaska.
“Jake you have a second message, it’s from Linda,” ALICE said.
“Go ahead and patch her into this,” Jake replied.
Jake’s display went into a split image with both Linda and Sara, “Hey, Linda?”
“Jake, you need to get here now, Kathy just went into labor,” she replied.
“I’m on my way, Sara you want to meet me there?” Jake said.
“Yes,” was her only reply, and then the display went dark.
Jake jumped up from his chair and as he raced through the hallway and into the elevator, he said, “ALICE please let everyone know where I’m going and why.”
As he left the elevator and entered the hangar, Jake didn’t bother suiting up, he just went straight to his fighter. He had taken to leaving his flight helmet in the fighter and although it wouldn’t seal to his current attire, that really wasn’t necessary. He climbed into the cockpit and started strapping in, his normal preflight routine completely ignored.
ALICE took control at his request and started Jake on his way. They were clear of the hangar doors and on the way to Nevada by the time Jake donned his helmet and was prepared to take over.
“ALICE, why don’t you drive,” Jake said with a laugh, and realizing by the time he got set he would almost be there.
“It would be my pleasure,” she replied.
“Can you give me a status on Kathy? Oh, and how soon will Sara be airborne?” Jake asked.
“Heather indicates Kathy is still in the early stages of labor, we should arrive in plenty of time. Sara will be airborne in 10 minutes with a return flight time of less than one hour. I understand she is suited up and waiting in the hangar for her fighter to arrive,” ALICE replied.
“WOW Alaska to Hawaii in what 20 minutes?” Jake commented, “That’s a record. Thanks for covering for me. I completely forgot to stage that bird in Hawaii for her return.”
“As it only passed initial flight certification yesterday, I would expect Sara to understand,” ALICE responded.
“Well, thanks anyway,” Jake replied as he felt the familiar weightlessness of a decent and checked the altimeter to verify a drop in altitude.
“We are on approach. You should be on the ground in a few minutes,” ALICE said.
Jake looked up from the instruments and noted they were coming in hot! He checked the inertial dampener setting out of habit, as the braking forces would have splattered him all over the instrument panel, seat harness or not.
“Jake, Sara’s ship has arrived in Hawaii and she is preparing to depart as well,” ALICE provided.
“Thank you,” Jake replied as his fighter dropped through the open hangar door and slid sideways to settle near the facility's door.
Popping the canopy while the plane was still in motion, Jake unstrapped and climbed out as soon as the fighter settled to a stop.
Linda was there to meet him and they both headed straight to the medical wing and the labor delivery room.
With Jake leading the way, they entered the room to find Kathy and Heather chatting calmly.
“Hi! I am so glad you made it in time,” Kathy said as Jake slid up next to her and gave her a kiss.
As Jake was about to answer, Kathy had another contraction, causing her to cry out.
Heather moved around to check her progress and said, “Oh my, that was fast.”
For the next hour, both Jake and Linda tended to Kathy while Heather gave instructions. At one point Jake caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Sara slipping into the room and quietly standing to one side.
With the moment of delivery approaching, Heather started to explain to Kathy what to do next.
“I KNOW!” she shouted as another contraction enveloped her body.
At that point, the baby started to make its appearance. Jake stood by Kathy while she held onto his hands and dug her nails into him. Linda moved over to Heathers side, a towel in hand to help once the delivery occurred.
“What a beautiful baby boy!” Heather declared as she handed him to Linda and prepared to cut the cord.
“May I?” Jake asked her.
“Please,” Heather replied as she handed him the scissors.
Jake took the scissors from her and snipped the cord, better prepared for its toughness this time.
Linda brought the baby over to Kathy while Heather finished up.
Both women were crying as Linda handed Kathy her son. Sara moved up behind the two and sliding around, kissed Kathy on the cheek and said, “Oh my god Kathy, he’s so beautiful!” which got her crying as well.
Jake stepped up to the other side of the group, kissing Kathy and then checking out his new son. He took the edge of the towel and wiped a spot on his little face where the others missed.
“What are we going to call him?” he asked Kathy.
“I assume Jacob Jr. is out?” Kathy added with a smile.
“Definitely!” Jake replied.
“I’ve always liked Timothy?” Kathy asked.
“Timothy is perfect,” Jake replied, kissing her and the baby.
“Jake, I hate to disturb you at this time, but we have received and translated the first replies from our visitors. You asked to be notified as soon as they were available,” ALICE offered.
“You go ahead,” Kathy stated, “I’m going to need some time to rest anyway.”
“Are you sure?” Jake asked.
“She’s right, they both need some rest and we will be right here,” Heather replied for her.
Sara kissed Kathy and the baby and then took Jake by the arm, leading him out and into the hallway, with Linda close behind.
The three then headed straight into the control room, where Jake was flooded with congratulations. While he recognized Patti, most of the facility staff on hand were faces Jake had never seen or barely knew. Still in good spirits, he acknowledged their good wishes like old friends.
Once the celebration subsided, most filed out, leaving Jake and the others to get down to business with Jessie and others remoted in.
“OK ALICE, what do we have so far?” Jake asked.
“All five races have delivered their first round of the information we requested in NeHaw and their native tongues in exchange for our own content. Once translated, we submitted the second round of content for exchange, which included our offerings around mutual defense proposals. We are close to having direct translation capability for all five languages.”
“That was only supposed to go forward if the first round displayed solid compatibility between the races,” Jake stated.
“Early analysis of all five respondents indicates a passive, cooperative nature for each. There is speculation amongst the analysts that this very trait made them victims of NeHaw aggression in the first place. While far more technologically advanced than earth, none of the five races demonstrates the militaristic nature that humans do. They had the means to resist, but not the will. Our inclusion completes the equation for their freedom from the NeHaw,” ALICE stated.
“How does that saying go? With their brains and our brawn, we can go far,” Patti offered.
“Well, that makes total sense, then,” Jake replied, “the NeHaw apparently thought that if we ever got space travel and the ALICEs, we would be nothing but trouble for them.”
“There is one more item to review,” ALICE said.
“Oh?” Jake asked.
“You asked me to look into and analyze the tribute collected by the Nehaw. We pulled several containers from the holds of the NeHaw cruiser we captured. Some contained finished products, including weapons and other types of military equipment, nothing we haven’t seen before. The other containers held refined metals; silver, gold, platinum, aluminum and titanium and all in fairly small quantities. Strangely, there is no iron or steel and none of the captured ships used steel in their construction.”
“In gentle probing with the first data exchange, these materials are considered extremely scarce in this sector and are highly prized by the NeHaw. The quantities of the rare metals represented a significant portion of each contributors annual output,” ALICE finished.
“ALICE, how do those quantities compare with earths known quantities?” Linda asked.
“The containers held approximately 600 pounds of gold, representing all five races contributions for one year. Prior to the fall, the annual planetary gold production on earth was over 2000 tons. The ratios are similar for the other metals.”
“So I’m thinking that explains why we’ve not been vaporized?” Jake said.
“With an atmosphere and potential labor force, this planet is a treasure trove,” Linda stated.
“Then why didn’t they come back sooner?” Sara asked.
“Notes in the captured ship’s logs show the planet was specifically excluded from any activity that risked future habitability. It was also listed as a quarantined planet, forbidding any future exploration, or landings,” ALICE provided.
“I’m wondering if someone back home got the geology report from the dead exploration ship and galactically shit their pants,” Jake said.
“If our take on their culture is true, a greedy bureaucrat could have easily buried the report. Then by classifying the planet off limits, they would just wait until they found a way of gaining control?” Jessie offered.
“And with a dead survey crew, who’s going to tell?” Patti said.
“How long do NeHaw live anyway?” Jake asked.
“We haven’t precisely locked down their time measurement yet, but it looks like they live 350 to 400 years on average. Their reign in this sector seems to go back thousands of years,” ALICE replied.
“So yeah, an 80 year wait is reasonable, or the NeHaw who knows is dead, and the find is still unknown to the rest,” Linda stated.
“Oh, this just keeps getting better and better. Not only are we now the number one enemy of an ancient empire with its oppressed peoples looking to us for salvation. We are also the planetary equivalent of the lost Dutchman’s mine!” Jake stated flatly.
He paused to look around the room and noted all the blank stares.
“Which part?” he asked calmly.
“The Lost Dutch mine?” Sara said in a small voice.
“The Lost Dutchman’s gold mine was a 19th century myth. The legends say it was a huge gold find discovered in the Arizona Mountains. It was lost when its finder, the Dutchman who was actually a German, was killed. Supposedly, when he died, they found his saddlebags full of gold. People fought and died looking for it for over 150 years, but it was never found.”
With that, there were several enlightened looks.
“Let’s face it. I need to stop using euphemisms!” Jake finished with a sigh.
----*----
Jake stopped for the day at that point and suggested they all retire to the dining hall for dinner. As he predicted, the only meal he’d had all day was breakfast, so he was starving.
He stayed behind in the control room a moment and placed a call to check on Kathy and Timothy. Heather informed him they were both doing great and sleeping soundly. He then checked with Bonnie and the two talked for another 20 minutes. She had linked up with Kathy earlier and had seen Julie’s new half-brother. She held Julie up for Jake, to say good night, and then he headed off to meet up with everyone else in the dining hall.
“There you are,” Linda declared as Jake walked into the room. She, Sara, Patti, and several others Jake didn’t know, were gathered at one of the larger tables.
“Sorry, I was performing my fatherly duties before eating,” Jake replied as he approached the group.
“Oh, so who were you knocking up now?” Patti asked, sarcastically.
“I said fatherly, not studly!” Jake shot back at her, playfully.
“Besides, I got to talk to my daughter,” he finished with a smile.
“How is Bonnie?” Sara asked.
As Jake sat, a bot slid up with a tray for him. It contained a grilled steak, mashed potatoes and a green salad as Jake’s preference for red meat was well known.
“We ordered for you,” Linda supplied.
“She and Julie are fine, they can’t wait to see you,” Jake said while taking a bite of the steak.
“Me either,” Sara replied.
“So what’s the plan, oh fearless leader?” Linda asked.
“Besides a shower and bed? I haven’t the foggiest,” Jake replied.
“Are we going to negotiate a deal with these aliens?” someone asked from down the table.
“I think that’s a foregone conclusion, it’s what comes out the other side that has yet to be determined. My expectation is they will give us anything we need to fight the NeHaw, but combat support. From what we’ve seen in the data so far, they are all lovers, not fighters, and we don’t have near enough fighters,” Jake finished.
“What they do have is a lot of information on the NeHaw, including ship counts and distributions. The NeHaw seem to have far fewer ships than we imagined. The other sectors near ours are patrolled mostly by Destroyers, this sector used Cruisers as they had larger cargo holds,” one of the others at the table stated. Jake assumed she was one of the new analysts.
“You know, I was thinking, part of the reason the NeHaw don’t appear to have a lot of ships might be lack of raw materials?” Patti offered.
“Patti may have a point Jake, according to some of the newly acquired data, the NeHaw expansion has declined dramatically in the last 2000 years. The rate of acquired races has all but stopped within the last 500,” ALICE supplied.
“If the volume of materials they are taking in as tribute is any indication, they are in a sustaining mode, not an expanding one. We need to be expanding,” Linda provided.
“Let’s hope our new friends have good automated refining equipment, then,” Jake said, finishing his dinner, “because we need refined materials, and scrounging is only gonna last so long.”
----*----
The following morning Jake and Sara got a call to go to the control room early. She spent the night with him, but they were both so exhausted they had gone straight to sleep. As they entered the control room, Jake could see Sandy, Patti and all the facility commanders, some in holographic communication connections.
“So what’s up?” Jake asked as he and Sara grabbed seats next to Linda.
Sandy started, “we’ve completed three rounds of data exchanges and the ALICEs approved moving forward with negotiations based on your original instructions. I contacted all five races to propose a meeting and they all prefer not to land,” she finished with a smile.
“The quarantine status as a death planet scares them,” Jake said with a laugh.
“They have offered to host us on any of their vessels, or can just meet virtually if we prefer,” Sandy added.
“No offense Sandy, but I want the ALICEs directly hooked into this too, so their ships are out except for social visits. Let’s offer a virtual meeting as we need translators anyway. Also, offer to return the raw materials we have from the cruiser holds, but ask if we can keep the manufactured goods. There were some items of interest on the list I got from ALICE,” Jake replied.
“I understand and will do Jake,” she replied.
“Is that it then?” Jake asked.
“Well, there is one more thing,” Sandy replied slowly.
After a pause, Jake asked, “Yes?”
“Three of the races are roughly humanoid, though one is apparently tri-pedal. I guess they have three legs instead of two. The other two races, well, I haven’t been able to get a good description of them beyond general attributes. One is covered in fur and looks like a six legged canine, the other is similar to a lobster with an exoskeleton,” Sandy provided.
“Ok?” Jake replied.
“The lobsters and the tri-pedal humanoids are apparently quite proud and have strong social casting traditions. As we are not a conquering force, they will only open negotiations with our king,” she finished.
