Chapter 9
Thotti
As the fall season advanced, the floating Patamic tree seed stalks grew longer, and their bulbs expanded. Keelic did his utmost to spend every endweek at the simulator. They began playing other scenarios—planetary assaults, anomaly investigations, and vessel reclamation after simulated boarding. They learned the four Command Protocols, and the Security Breach Codes. Keelic learned how to "fly" through the IntegralNet of the ship to investigate damage, and guide simulated tactical teams against boarding parties.
If he managed to complete his homework the night before, his parents began allowing him to sleep overnight in the caves, though it took some convincing, and more than a little of the alien’s persuasion, to get this. He wanted as much time in the simulator as he could get before the Patamic stalks released and the danger of being hit by a falling stalk ended his hiking.
Some weekdays he stayed the night at the Hallods’, and though these times were as much fun as the simulator, Keelic reserved his endweeks for being Admiral Travers.
After a good two days of long scenarios, Keelic tromped through the undergrowth thinking with his friend how they would be able to take the planet they were trying to assault.
Let’s make a surprise attack against the polar regions, Keelic thought.
The alien returned, Negative red-green image of the ships guarding the field enhancers in stationary polar orbit.
Yeah, but the poles are still the weakest part.
Negative reddish-tan image of Quat-lat Kay-ku Raze-class ships blocking all approach to the polar regions.
But we have to torpedo those field enha—
A hissing started somewhere. He discovered that it was his suit’s communicator.
"Mom? Dad?" There was no response. He tried again, "Anny? Anny!"
Keelic felt the alien reaching for his parents, and finding fear and urgency in them.
Worried, Keelic started running home. A few minutes later, his family’s hover shuttle appeared overhead. Waving up at it, he saw flashes high above the clouds. The shuttle nosed its way through the vegetation.
Wondering what was going on, and fearing for a moment that his secret had been found out, Keelic couldn’t figure out what the flashes in the sky could be from. As the shuttle came down, he saw more flashes above. His friend’s sight came to him and he was almost able to pick out something up there when his father called out, "Run, Keelic!"
He hesitated for one surprised second, then sprinted to the shuttle, the alien beating him there easily. His father sent the shuttle ripping upward through branches, then dodged seed stalks. The seat strapped Keelic in barely in time as Father turned the shuttle hard. The alien held on tightly, emitting yellow crimson fear.
His mother turned her seat around to face Keelic. "I want you to be quiet and do exactly what you are told. We have to go to the torpedo shelter."
She looked like she had on the transport the time they were attacked: taut and drawn out, almost twitchy. She turned around and Father kicked the shuttle to full power. Keelic was shoved into the seat and felt as though someone was trying to flatten him.
The shuttle quivered under the strain as the velocity indicator passed five thousand kilometers per hour. Patamic forest below flowed past in a blur. Heart in his throat, Keelic looked to his dad, who was leaning forward in his seat focused on the shuttle’s panels.
Keelic strained to look out the window at the sky. He couldn’t see much, but he knew now that the planet was under attack. Those flashes in the sky were a battle.
Only ten other shuttles had reached the shelter, all fancy models. Keelic ran with his friend and parents down a plastiment ramp into a bunker housing a huge elevator.
"Damn thing won’t go until it’s full," said a man in a shiny robe. Keelic gazed in interest at him and the three barely clothed women strapped into seats beside him, and knew this must be a spice trader, a Brigterian out of the Crab Nebula. They took three wives, it was said: one to fly the ship, one to do business, and one for fun.
More people came charging down the ramp, filling the elevator’s complement of one hundred. It dropped in a sickening rush and plummeted for twenty seconds, then started to decelerate, landing with a thump.
Before the straps retracted or the doors opened, an Announcer said in various languages, "Welcome to Surviva Corporation’s Deep Planetary Shelter. Each party please exit the elevator one group at a time. You will be logged, and instructions will be given to you. Follow them explicitly. Your survival depends on it. We hope your stay is short and comfortable."
When the alien tried to walk out the door, a tensile field caught him and the Shelter-Ann said, "We’re sorry, but pets are not allowed into the shelter."
"He’s not a pet. He’s my friend and smarter than you. Let him go. Let him go!"
His father silenced Keelic with a harsh word and explained at length to the Ann what the alien was. After some negotiations, they were allowed into the shelter.
Keelic’s family walked for half a kilometer down a wide corridor to a small complex of rooms. They were scanned for entry and the rooms logged for the Travers family.
His parents spent the rest of the day reading the instructions for life in the shelter. After a few attempts to get Keelic to pay attention, at which times he showed off his knowledge of planetary shelters, they allowed him to lounge around and watch vids with the alien, but not go outside the rooms.
Keelic found a console out of their line of sight, and proceeded to probe the shelter’s systems for whatever he could find about the flashes in the sky. There was no news about what was happening above, so he looked up the shelter. It was a typical modern shelter, shielded, self-sufficient, about three kilometers below the surface. Reached by sixty controlled freefall elevators, it could support six thousand inhabitants for two years with regulated population growth.
He already knew most of what he found, but did locate a reference to an armory to be used in the case of shield breach and invasion. Additionally, a running tally of logged individuals kept him busy searching for certain names. The Hallods had not shown up yet. The alien never left his side, and they tried to comfort each other, though Keelic’s frustration was quickly growing. He wanted to know what was going on.
He reset the console and walked to see what his parents were doing. They were looking tense and haggard as they finished poring over the instructions.
A hail sounded from the console. His father answered it. "Yes? Hello. You are well? Good. Your wife? Excellent. Why don’t you come by? We’re trying to see who of the Institute people have come down."
Not Mr. Hallod, Keelic realized. Must be some scientist that his father worked with.
Keelic lay on his small hard bed, and thought about the defense grids. Jumping up, he called up the shelter’s library while half listening to his parents chat in relieved tones with various people. Invitations were passed around, but he never heard anything about Mr. Hallod. He read all he could find about the catcher-net and defense satellites, but there was no real data on their abilities. He supposed that was for security reasons.
His mother called him into the living chamber to watch the Ermol planetary steward give an announcement on the big console screen. Keelic paid only peripheral attention to the overstuffed man in the bright-green suit. The steward said something about a victory in space, and Keelic turned to listen.
"Our DefenseNet performed its function in exemplary fashion, repelling the attack with smashing success. Not a single torpedo penetrated the atmosphere, though the attacking fleet fired extensively at our beloved city." The planetary steward raised his eyebrows for emphasis. Keelic thought he looked like a hovercraft dealer.
The eyebrows lowered in a look of concern. "I have the sad office of reporting the loss of the brave crew of the mine-tender Helix when they discovered the evil fleet creeping up behind our moon. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten. I have already set into motion a plan for a dedication to their courageous souls who
will be remembered for generations. I want to thank the Alliance Defense League for their swift action in this heartless attack."
The steward, eyebrows up again, was trying to look serious and happy at the same time. "I am pleased to announce that you may all return to your homes in safety. Thank you all for your patience, your strength in this time of—"
Keelic’s father turned off the console. "What a useless man."
"Yes, but a powerful one, here," replied Mother. All were silent, each thinking their own thoughts.
Keelic was wondering how a fleet could get near the moon. It was well known that moons were used as major sensor battery locations. It was even a joke on Pesfor 3 that the moon-based sensors could tell you what you ate for lunch, and how long it would be before you pooped it. The last bit was an addition by Keelic’s friend Tamarin, but they both believed it.