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ARCTIC:
Alex studies Seth’s expression for any sign he is joking about wiping all the humans from the planet, but there is none.
Jadin’s jaw drops. “Excuse me?”
“We were here first and stayed behind to ensure we maintained our claim of this world. According to galactic law, this is our planet. The damage you have done to the atmosphere can be repaired, but your lack of genetic standards cannot. According to Pandora, you have allowed Cruds to self-replicate. This we cannot tolerate. That genetic strain is prone to aggressive behavior. I have also learned that you allow genetically deformed humans to breed and waste your resources to care for them. We simply cannot, and will not, share this planet with you.”
Alex immediately dislikes the arrogant little man, and wants some answers. “All right. First off.”
Seth turns to Jadin. “Tell your subordinate to keep quiet or he will be terminated.”
Jadin holds her palm toward Seth. “Let’s just slow down for a minute and take this one small step at a time? First off, who is Pandora?”
“She is the ship, of course. She is quite advanced, but I must say, I’m impressed to meet someone with technology matching our own.”
“I’m afraid there must be some kind of misunderstanding. Our level of technology is nowhere near yours. I’ve seen what it can do firsthand, and what we have on Earth now doesn’t even compare.”
Seth crosses his arms and glares up at Jadin. “Do not lie to me. Pandora has detected your technology in orbit and is in contact with it right now. You have no idea what harm she is capable of doing to your civilization. She says it is malfunctioning and she will attempt to repair its operating system before it moves out of range.”
“We did not create that contraption; we found it here on this planet. Some folks had the bright idea to put it in orbit for selfish reasons. But as you can tell, we don’t really know what we’re doing.”
She notices Seth look away, but he continues speaking to whom she imagines is Pandora, but she can’t hear her.
Seth turns to look up at Jadin. “You are correct. What little information Pandora retrieved from your devices does indicate a rudimentary level of competence, but nowhere near our level of sophistication.”
“Are you able to leave your ship?”
“Of course I can, but why would I want to leave? We have no diseases inside this ship. I’m positive your current atmosphere is filled with deadly microorganisms. We have BLUEs to gather what we need from outside the ship.”
Jadin crosses her arms and stares at Seth. “Won’t they be just as susceptible to our germs?”
“No. They have been genetically engineered to resist any form of degenerative infection, unlike your people.”
Okana is too excited to keep quiet any longer. “Is that like an add-on to the existing DNA? Because I wouldn’t mind getting a dose of that myself.”
Alex sees Seth’s sparkling green eyes get brighter, so he decides to intercede. “Seth...I mean, Captain Seth, we have many things to discuss with the rest of our leaders before we can proceed with negotiations. Is there any way you can postpone the extermination of the human race until we can talk with them?”
Seth glares at Jadin. “If you continue to allow your subordinates to speak without permission, I will order Pandora to terminate them.”
Jadin looks over at Okana and Alex. Okana’s jaw muscles are clenched in anger while Alex’s face turns red with aggravation. She leans in towards the two men to whisper. “Easy, guys. Not now.”
***
Pandora detects a pattern in the orbit of the SV1. She is ready when the trajectory brings it within line-of-sight, and analyzes the operating system. A few of its components are advancements on her own designs, but she is unable to download the new advanced operating system.
***
Seth is tired of arguing with this race of humans. “There is nothing to discuss.” He looks down for a moment, then back up at Jadin. “Pandora has informed me that the operating system on your device in orbit is more advanced than hers, and she can’t access it. She demands that you bring a copy of the operating system here for her to upload, like you did with your language software, and one of the devices.”
Jadin feels Alex’s hand on her shoulder and knows what he wants. “All right. A trade. You get the software if you leave us alone, but we don’t have any more devices. Like I said, we found it here.”
Seth stares down at the floor for a moment, then up at the woman. “We might come to an arrangement to let some of you live.”
When she feels Alex’s hand on her shoulder again, she steps back to talk to him and shuts off her earpiece. “I know what you’re going to say. That’s not acceptable, it’s all or nothing, but at least it will buy us some time.”
Alex turns his earpiece off. He knows she’s right. “Fine. Go ahead.”
She turns her earpiece on and steps back up to the control room. “I cannot speak for everyone on this planet. We have many countries, each with their own leaders, and I must discuss this new development with all of them. It cannot be done from here, so we’ll come back with the right people to discuss this situation.”
“You have seventy-two of your human hours. A single delegate will speak on behalf of your entire degenerative species of humans. Be advised, I will only talk to a GREEN or a YELLOW.”
Alex finds it difficult to keep quiet and steps behind Jadin. “Ask him how many different colors there are, what they mean, and how many of each.”
Jadin maintains eye contact with Seth while she listens to Alex, who is out of view from the control room. “Would you mind telling me what the different colors stand for, and how many of each are in the ship?”
“That is none of your concern. Leave and talk to whomever you need to. Your time starts now.”
Alex reaches out to the star, presses the amber crystal, and the roof becomes silver. They pack everything away and climb the ladder back to the surface.
Girdler is pacing back and forth until Alex reaches the top. “I’ve lost communication with my ship.”
Jadin reaches the surface in time to hear Girdler’s remark. “Seth said Pandora is communicating with the SV1. Perhaps her signal is interfering with our electrical systems.”
Girdler stares at Alex. “Are you saying there are living people in that spaceship?”
Alex ignores his question and turns toward the ladder. “I’ll take the star back to the ship and ask him to shut her down.”
Jadin grabs his shoulder. “He won’t talk to you, Alex. I’ll have to ask him.”
“Then I’m going with you.”
Girdler hears static from his radio and looks at Alex. “Hold on a second.” He brings the radio close to his mouth. “This is the Captain. How do you read?”
“Loud and clear, sir. All our electronic equipment quit working for a short time, but they’re on line again.”
“Very well.” He stares at Jadin. “Did you say there are people on board that ship?”
“Yes. That spacecraft is a flying colony of people.”
Girdler’s mouth hangs open for a second. “Wow. How many people are there?”
“Seth refuses to tell us. From what we can determine, people with green eyes are the leaders, and people with blue eyes are their workers. He also mentioned yellow eyes, but I have no idea what it means. He said people with brown eyes are genetically predisposed to violent behavior.”
Girdler chuckles. “This guy is going to make a lot of enemies.”
Jadin crosses her arms. “I don’t think he’s interested in making friends. Can you believe it? They use people as slaves.”
Alex has an idea. “What if the blues are not people? He says they are genetically engineered, so maybe they’re just beasts of burden with no higher mental faculties. Maybe they’re just drones.”
Jadin shakes her head no. “Seth called you a BLUE. They’re not drones. They’re human slaves.”
Alex thinks about it for a moment. “Actually, how can we assume our own morality applies to a completely different race of humans? If we think we have the right to impose our judgment on those people, it could be compared to the conflict in the Middle East. One group forcing another to think like they do, and vice versa.”
Jadin knows Alex has a point, but she can’t help the way she feels about it. “It might be difficult finding an unbiased representative to speak for all of humanity. And don’t forget, it has to be someone with green eyes.”
“Green eyes, red eyes, purple eyes”, Girdler scoffs. “If you ask me, I think those people are racists. I wonder if they’d be fooled by contact lenses. If they’re so damn perfect, they won’t know anything about eye glasses and lenses.”
Jadin thinks about it. “No, I’m sure Pandora told Seth the color of our eyes, because he smiled before he looked directly at me. Pandora must be equipped with some kind of retinal scanner.”
Alex remembers the way Seth’s eyes appear to glow. Perhaps he can detect more than visible light frequencies. In any case, he doesn’t think contact lenses will work.
Alex has another idea and looks over at Jadin. “I think you should be our representative. At least, be the liaison between him and whatever committee they form to deal with this situation. He seems to like you. Besides, you know the world leaders won’t be able to form a committee right away. Plus, we need to learn as much about Seth and his people as we can.” He sees Okana staring at him. “Something on your mind?”
Okana indicates for his friends to speak privately, and they huddle together. “If these are the same people who came back on your spaceship, shouldn’t we already have the information in your ship’s computer?”
Jadin shakes her head no. “I searched the records as soon as I found out it was a ship like ours. Ours is a research vehicle, so not much history about their species. It’s mostly research data about the planet. I could try digging a little deeper though, but I doubt I’ll find anything.”
Alex has another idea. “Seth calls the ship Pandora. Does that mean it’s intelligent?”
Jadin remembers thinking Seth was talking to someone. “I suppose it would need a certain amount of artificial intelligence in order to interact with the inhabitants of an entire colony.”
“What about our ship? Does it have an artificial intelligence? Or a name?”
“Not that David and I have discovered.”
“I’m worried the two ships might interact with each other. I think Pandora managed to use my phone and your computer to download information from the Internet. Once we get within range of a cell-tower repeater station, she will be able to use our equipment against us.”
“No, our ship can’t reach the outside world without the ear pieces, and neither can Pandora. As long as they’re turned off, we’re safe from being hacked.”
Alex brings out his satellite phone and selects a contact. A moment later, the Directors image appears. “Hey, Martin. I have a lot of information to share with you. I can’t go into details over the phone right now, but not all of it is good news. We have a seventy-two hour time limit before some bad things happen, so it’s imperative that we talk in person. “
“I’ll check the President’s schedule and see when he’s available. He’s asked to be kept informed of everything regarding this new ship.”
“All right, but I think you had better hear what we have to say before you schedule a meeting with him. We don’t have a whole lot of time.”
“I don’t like the sound of this. How long before you can be here in D.C.?”
“Best guess? Six hours.”
“All right. Call my secretary when you’re getting close to landing and I’ll have a car and driver meet you at the airport.”
“See you soon.” He looks at Girdler. “We should only be gone a day or two.”
Girdler indicates the four men of the Navy Seal team. “Now that this discovery is on the Internet, you might want to ask the Director to send us some military support.”
“I’ll take care of it. We’ll see you when we get back.”
Girdler watches the trio walk away toward the plane, then two of the Seals join him, and they walk toward the edge of the ice sheet to a ladder down to one of their rubber boats below.
***
Okana has a hunch and heads southeast before flying past the edge of the ice sheet towards Iceland. His suspicions are confirmed when he sees Hardin’s ship stationed south of the spaceship. He looks over at Alex. “So far, he’s alone, but I don’t think for long. I’m sure his friends are organizing some kind of protest or welcoming party.”
“Once Donner tells the President about Pandora’s demand, I’m sure other countries will be sending ships to help stand guard.”
Jadin lay huddled in the corner of the bench seat against the fuselage, and leans forward between the front seats. “I think we should make Pandora free her slaves as part of the deal.”
Alex turns in his seat to look at her. “I agree, but I doubt she will. Right now, we need to worry about saving our species. We already know she’s capable of controlling the SV1. She caused the torrential weather along the west coast, and I’m sure she can do a lot more damage. For the time being, we really don’t have a say in the matter. Now it’s up to the politicians.”
Okana smirks over at his friends. “That’s not very comforting.”
Alex grins and turns back to the front window. “I know.”
Jadin moves back to the corner of the bench seat. “Pandora is a bitch, Alex. She runs that ship. Did you see how he always confers with her, as if she’s his commanding officer? She doesn’t care about us. All she cares about is protecting her people at our expense.”
***
“Captain?”
Seth opens his eyes. “Yes?”
“I cannot trust this new race without human interaction. I will bring one of our BLUES out of stasis. She will represent me through her neural implant.”
“That’s fine, Pandora. But why a female?”
“Because of the BLUE they call Alex. His eyes are different from the others of his species. I find him fascinating.”