Black Box (12 page)

“Make three passes over Walker’s landing
sight.”

Dorian didn’t even acknowledge him, a habit
he had grown to accept. The ship lurched once as it went through
some changes in thermal currents. Ukpere reported on the
atmospheric readings that were crossing his screen and Beckett cut
him off. None of that was important just then. He was looking over
Dorian’s shoulder, checking out the photos.

They passed over some bright green water,
the waves crashing against each other as conflicting tides battled.
It was an odd sight, but beautiful just the same. Beckett had once
visited a world where undersea quakes were so frequent that almost
the entire planet was treacherous. And yet some pirates had
explored enough of the world to find a safe haven. As an Infantry
Officer, he had led a strike team into the pirates’ den. It had
been a successful campaign, all but one of the outlaws captured and
brought back for trial.

Using the data from Walker’s Black Box, they
had managed to pinpoint the coordinates for his landing. Digital
imaging sent back pictures of a stone patio that bled into soil on
the outskirts of an odd jungle. While there was more than enough
room for the
Einstein
, the
Valor
because of its
length, would never have been able to land there. Even if it had,
Applegate warned against spoiling the site. There was no sign of
the
Einstein
, nor was there any evidence of anything ever
having been there. Of course, after two centuries, the place could
have been wiped clean ten times over and they would never even know
it.

Satisfied with what he had seen, he ordered
Dorian to scout for a landing site. There were a few on the
opposite side of the cliff and some on top, but Beckett
automatically ruled them out. Landing on top would require a
treacherous scaling and he was not interested in sending anyone
into that type of danger. Though the closest sites were around the
other side, communications would be impossible because of the rocky
division. Dorian finally discovered a clearing on the opposite end
of the jungle. It would require a walk of just over a mile, but
Rollins was confident that their communication equipment would be
able to pierce the foliage. Worst case scenario, they would have to
hammer in a few relays in order to keep in touch. Beckett okayed
the site and Dorian touched them down with barely a jolt. He opened
up a communications channel.

“Lieutenant Tedesco?”

“Yes?”

Beckett fell silent, containing his rage.
Her insubordination would push him over the edge, he knew.

After a moment, Tedesco came through
impatiently again. “What is it?”

Beckett felt a low growl escape his throat.
“Who am I, Lieutenant?”

“What?”

“
Who am I?”

There was a hesitation. “You’re the
captain?”

“Yes,” he breathed. “That’s right. What does
that mean to you?”

More hesitation. “I’m not sure I follow
you.”

“Let’s put it this way.” By now he knew that
every officer on the network was listening in. They all knew he had
formally requested to have her removed. “It will be much more
satisfying to have you dismissed from duty for your incompetence
than it will be to bust you for insubordination.”

They could feel the steam coming from her
ears. “My apologies,
sir
.”

“That’s better. You’ll lead a small
reconnaissance team to Walker’s landing site. Don’t touch anything.
Just assess the danger.”

“Yes, sir,” she said rather brightly. He
supposed that she hadn’t expected this kind of responsibility. But
it was common for captains to send their lieutenants out on
planetary expeditions. Officers were needed on board ship except in
extreme cases.

“Sergeant Rodrigo?”

“Standing by, Ted.”

As if to thoroughly diminish Tedesco’s
significance, he ignored the familiarity with which she addressed
him. Besides which, she had earned the right to call him by his
first name in just about any setting. “Choose two people to go out
on the expedition. I’m relying on your experience to determine
whether or not there’s any danger, but Tedesco’s the officer of
rank and her word is law. Is that clear?”

“Clear as day,” she said with just no hint
of emotion. That wasn’t necessarily a good sign.

Alone in the computer control room,
affectionately known as Compcon, Lawrence Rollins watched his
sensors intently. He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for,
but he had a pretty good idea. This was going to be his best
opportunity to prove his theory and learn the truth. In researching
the events of the
Einstein,
he had taken many faces. None of
them had helped him into a position of authority, a position where
he’d had the autonomy to simply sit and study the events as they
unfolded. Now, as an officer on the
Valor
, he was poised to
learn everything he wanted to know.

Rollins had been on duty now for almost
thirteen hours. After the briefing, he had taken some time to eat,
shower, and shuffle his department’s schedule, but that time had
been short. Beckett had wanted all of his officers on duty and
Rollins had wanted to be there. He could have easily dropped his
shift once they were on the ground. Since the captain would want
him on duty once Tedesco took her party out, he should have gone
for food. Still, he couldn’t. He knew that whatever was going to
happen, was going to happen in that intervening time. The moment
that was about to come was the moment he had been waiting for ever
since his research had begun.

“I’ll relieve you now, Rollins,” came the
voice of Humphrey Applegate behind him.

Reluctantly, Rollins turned away from his
sensors to lock eyes with the giant man. At first, a panic set in.
Applegate outranked him, so Rollins was duty bound to follow his
orders. If he allowed himself to be relieved now, though, he would
miss it. If he spent too much time arguing, he might miss it as
well. Worse still, Applegate might see it.

That’s when he began to calm.

Why would
Applegate
relieve him? If
Rollins needed relief, he had a staff that was trained to operate
Compcon. As records officer, Applegate was competent in a pinch,
but certainly not someone called upon to regularly man the station.
That was when Rollins realized that Applegate knew what was about
to happen.

“Thank you, but that’s not necessary, Mr.
Applegate.”

Applegate hesitated, then gathered himself
up. “You’re relieved. That’s an order.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Mr. Rollins, this insubordination will
not
be tolerated.”

“Mr. Applegate, you are free to report me to
the captain.”

Applegate’s cheeks burned red.

Instead of waiting for Applegate to respond,
Rollins continued. “You have no justification for relieving me.
Since the captain is already suspicious of both you and Mr. Ukpere,
I don’t imagine you’ll be able to provide him with a satisfactory
explanation.”

It was clear that Applegate hadn’t expected
to run into any interference. He was as much panicked as Rollins
had been initially. Unfortunately for him, though, he had nothing
to fall back on. Short of physical violence, he wasn’t going to be
able to get Rollins out of Compcon.

“If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Applegate, I have
a lot of work to do.”

The large man seemed just about ready to
give up the fight when his expression altered. The redness faded
from his cheeks and the tense wrinkles around his eyes smoothed
out. He even smiled as he took the empty seat.

“What are you doing?” Rollins asked him, an
edge creeping into his voice.

“I have nowhere to be,” Applegate answered.
“Perhaps I’ll just stay here, unless you’d like to report
me
to the captain.”

“You need to go,” Rollins said, a little too
abruptly.

“Why?”

Now Applegate had the upper hand. Rollins
couldn’t force
him
out of the room either. Even if he could,
there was no time.

“Suit yourself,” he said, unconvincingly,
and turned back to his instruments. He tried to ignore Applegate as
he watched the sensors for what he knew must appear. Every once in
a while, he touched something, turned something, or pushed
something just to make it appear that he was working and not
watching. Soon enough, the maneuvers would be more than just
camouflage. If he could disguise what he was doing, Applegate might
walk out none the wiser.

Applegate was not to be fooled.

“There it is!” he shouted, pointing at the
instrument panel.

Rollins had seen it. Even before Applegate’s
exclamation, his hands had been flying over the keyboard, typing
out instructions. The sensors had picked up a signal entering the
atmosphere. Rollins captured the signal quickly, ran it through
some heavy analysis, and rerouted its existence into a
subroutine.

Applegate leaned forward, his mouth agape.
“You hid it.”

Rollins nodded.

“Aren’t you going to tell the captain about
it?”

Rollins looked right at him. “No. Are
you?”

Today I took a walk on an alien world.
Jesus, it was hot, but it was so much like the Earth that I kept
having to remind myself that I wasn’t simply in some secluded spot
in my own backyard. Alice picked just the greatest place to put the
ship down. I mean, a cliff wall at our backs and a jungle in our
faces. The sky above me was bright blue and the ground below was
runway smooth.

It’ll be a great place for a resort.

Alice, Gil, and Marcia (Thomas) joined me a
few minutes after I’d gone out. They gave me that time alone. As
the leader of the expedition, it was my duty to step out into this
alien environment first. But it was also my privilege. I so
desperately wanted to say something poetic, but the words just
never came. I guess I’m no Neil Armstrong. While I stood there,
looking up at the sky and daydreaming, my crew was back on the ship
doing their jobs. They were mapping coordinates and taking air
samples. They were testing the planet for its habitability. But I
already knew that all of that was unnecessary.

This world is perfect.

There’s barely a couple of hours of sunlight
left now and I don't want to waste it. It’s time to venture away
from the ship, get a real feel for the environment. I’ve arranged a
party of myself, Gil, Jude (Leaventhall), and Danielle (Smith). I
want Jude and Danielle to collect some plant and insect samples,
maybe try and categorize some of the animal life. Gil just wants to
come along. I must admire his explorer's spirit because he has no
business being off ship right away. How can I hold him back,
though? How can I expect any of us to show any form of restraint?
It’s Christmas morning and Santa has brought us a brand new
planet!

God I love this stuff!

Colonel Nicholas Walker

March 27
^th
,
2056

Four people stepped out of the
Valor
’s main hatch into the near tropical heat of an alien
jungle. It had taken almost two hours to complete the preparations
for an on-foot expedition.

As expected, Rodrigo had selected Jason
Cummings and Ken Bonamo to accompany them on the expedition.
Cummings was a career soldier like Rodrigo. He had some more
experience with the computers on board ship and could man a post if
need be, but he was mostly a classic gunfighter. The man could fire
a pistol from his hip with enough accuracy to knock a caterpillar
from a leaf at a hundred yards. During war games, Cummings always
chose lightweight pistols over the heavier rifles. He was fond of
saying that the size of the shell was meaningless if you never got
to fire it. A tiny bullet in the brain had the same effect as
blowing someone to bits. It was the kind of logic with which you
couldn’t argue and the kind of argument you couldn’t win. Beckett
suspected that Cummings had trained himself so well with handguns
to make up for the fact that he really couldn’t handle a rifle. He
was a small guy, just over five feet with practically no weight on
him at all. He was a jokester and a friendly guy in his personal
life, but he was meaner than all hell when it came to a fight, an
attitude he’d developed as a defense mechanism while growing
up.

Bonamo was an up and comer. He’d been active
for six months and with Rodrigo on the
Valor
that entire
time. For some reason, she’d taken a shine to him. Beckett had seen
her do that from time to time and found that anyone she respected
did very well in the UESF. He had more than a foot on Cummings, but
was soft spoken. Though he was an adequate shooter, his strength
was his ability to keep his head in any situation. He was
thoughtful and decisive. He was intelligent and, in combat
situations, acted with practiced precision. He was officer material
for sure, could even make captain eventually.

The fly-by photos didn’t do the terrain
justice. The jungle that spread out before them was a combination
of wide fern-like plants with big purple leaves and large
branchless trees that sprouted green tufts of moss where the
sunlight could reach their trunks. The soil beneath their feet was
fine and soft, but not as dry as they would have expected in such
heat. There was very little moisture in the air, which made them
wonder if they had just missed a rainy season. The plants looked
well nourished and thrived in the soil. Perhaps they needed less
water. If it was one thing a person learned in the UESF, it was
that the accepted laws of nature learned on Earth did not apply
everywhere one went. It was a lesson well heeded.

Wandering forward to the edge of the foliage
line, Cummings took inspection of one of the great wide leaves. He
noticed it was dotted with small uneven holes and there were tiny
bugs crawling all over it. Toward the edge of a leaf, a larger
creature with three legs on one side and three wings on the other
sat motionless. It had a sticklike quality to it, making its
supposed texture enticing. He reached a finger out to touch it.