The old pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The alien bonanza, except that it was going to slip beyond our grasp in a few years.
“This is a combat mission. While the D.S.S. has attempted to keep this mission dark, the refitting of the Magellan could not be totally concealed, and there is a good probability that we will encounter some difficulties. We will be accompanied by the Alwyn, the newest of the Comity battle cruisers, and she will be joining us shortly after we leave Deep Find Station. We will also have two fast couriers, the Bannister and the Owens.”
Frigging right there’d be difficulties, as Morgan put it. Even a hint of that kind of technology, and every one of the major powers would be scrambling to get a piece, or stop the Comity from getting it.
“Can you tell us anything about what we might expect to find?” asked Major Singh.
“No. You all know the conditions on Danann. The simulator runs were programmed to duplicate those, as well as we could. I don’t pretend to know enough to explain what the first ships found. They didn’t, either. That’s why we have a large contingent of civilian experts on board. While they’re heavy on the science side, we’ve also included other disciplines as well.”
“Are you saying that the first ships couldn’t enter anything on Danann?”
“They didn’t have the equipment to explore for any length of time or to penetrate the structures.”
“What about defenses?”
“There are no obvious defenses.” Morgan cleared his throat. “There is a briefing package on each of your personal systems. Before you ask any more questions, I suggest you study it carefully, and in depth.” After another pause, he added, “The duty rosters are also posted. This is the ready room and primary duty station for the needle-boat and shuttle pilots.”
No one asked any questions. Not after Morgan had told us to read first and question later. Didn’t like the way he’d answered the question about defenses, either.
I didn’t have duty until twenty hundred. Went back to my stateroom on deck forty. Ship with fifty-one decks, hard to believe.
Called up the briefing package, then looked at the image of Danann. There was only one. Shot from low orbit, it looked like. Had to be light-enhanced. No internal heat to speak of, and no sun for reflected light. Showed just one hemisphere, and what had to be the biggest complex or city ever built anywhere, anytime. A perfect oval, visible from space, and under ice and frozen atmosphere. Must have been three hundred kays across at the narrowest—and sat on a high plateau, looked to be on dark rock. Studied the description. Silvery structures, with gray-black ice some twenty meters thick over it. Bastard mission, all the way.
21
Fitzhugh
At ten hundred—ten o’clock for those unused to D.S.S. terminology—I gathered with all the other nonmilitary civilian members of Project Deep Find in the mess. By my rapid enumeration, there were thirty-one of us seated at the mess tables, awaiting the arrival of whatever D.S.S. functionary had been deputed to brief us. I sat between Melani and Alyendra, a not-too-unpleasant situation. It might have been more pleasant had I not been slightly sore from an excessive session in the Magellan’s high-gee workout room.
“… an alien artifact, perhaps even a ship,” suggested Melani.
“It would have to have crashed in a location where they couldn’t remove it,” pointed out Tomas from across the table. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t need an expedition…”
I still thought an alien artifact or civilization was improbable, but saw no point in spouting forth on that in the midst of so many who hoped for an alien encounter. If the aliens were or had been less advanced, that would only enhance the already-excessive human arrogance, and a superior culture—even the remnants of one—would spark jingoism and paranoia. I doubted that aspect of military culture had changed over the years since I had beheld it more intimately.
Three individuals entered the mess—the dark-haired Captain Spier, a gray-haired D.S.S. commander, and some sort of functionary in a blue shipsuit with angular silver braid on the shoulders. The three perambulated to the captain’s table.
There, Captain Spier stepped forward. “You are all knowledgeable experts within your field, and among the most esteemed in your disciplines within the Comity. By that fact alone, you must have surmised that Project Deep Find is of vital import to the entire Comity. It is so vital that overall control has been delegated directly from the Comity Minister of External Affairs to Special Deputy Minister Allerde.” She gestured to the gray-haired man in the blue shipsuit.
Allerde moved forward and in front of the captain’s table. “Project Deep Find is the most ambitious undertaking attempted by any human government in millennia. It is of such importance that not even the Comity Assembly knows the nature of the project. Every person involved in the project has been specially selected, and, for that, you should all be pleased to know how highly regarded each of you is within your discipline. For all of that expertise, with the exception of Captain Spier and Commander Morgan, no one, either in the ship’s company or among you, has been told even the most general details. Now that we are clear of Deep Find Station, I’ve been cleared to enlighten you on the overall nature of the expedition. Then Commander Morgan will follow with some specifics.” Allerde coughed several times. “Project Deep Find is a technological, historical, and archeological investigation of an abandoned city of an alien civilization. The ruins are incredibly ancient, but remarkably well preserved. The aliens most probably possessed a technology well in advance of our own. So I trust this will explain why such secrecy has been necessary and why this mission is considered so vital to the Comity—and indeed to all human civilizations.” Allerde smiled professionally. “Commander Morgan will fill in some details.”
Allerde and the captain stepped back, then eased away toward the captain’s entrance, where they stood.
The gray-haired commander stepped up before the vacant captain’s table. “Good morning. I’m Commander Morgan, and I’m the operations officer of the Magellan. That makes me the officer in charge of the daily operations of Deep Find Project. Special Deputy Minister Allerde has overall control of the expedition, and Captain Spier, of course, remains totally in command of the Magellan and can override any of my decisions—or those of Deputy Minister Allerde—in the interests of the safety of the ship and its personnel.”
That was understood. No military organization would risk vessels for “mere” science.
“The Magellan has delocked from Deep Find Station. Once the final cross-checks are completed, we will be leaving Hamilton system. We will be accompanied by the battle cruiser Ahvyn and two couriers. Because each of you will receive a complete briefing package on your work-space systems shortly, I won’t go into specific in-depth details. Our objective is what D.S.S. believes is an alien world crossing the void between galaxies. It has neither a sun nor satellites but is rotating slowly on its axis. We’re calling it Danann. We have incontrovertible indications that it once hosted a very high-technology alien civilization, but that was more than several billion years ago. There is strong evidence that many of the structures remain intact, despite the passage of time, and undisturbed. That level of technology certainly appears to surpass anything we have accomplished to date.” Morgan paused.
I could see heads nodding around the mess tables, and while I could not help but be intrigued and excited by the possibility of beholding the ruins of an alien civilization, I had to wonder why I’d been included among all the scientific experts. I had my doubts whether the lessons of human civilization and history applied to long-departed aliens. I also couldn’t help but be annoyed by the choice of the name, because properly it was a possessive form of the name of an ancient goddess. If they were going to name the place after ancient deities, it should have been Danu, but no one had consulted me.