Alicia Jones 4: Enigma by D. L. Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

subspace layers without drilling a crude tunnel through
them first, and then try and figure out what was there.
    It occurred to me the normal five senses would most likely
be less than useless there, regardless, it wasn’t going to happen
quickly.  Our only hope was if the Drenil could dumb themselves down to
our limited level, that might work.
    To be fair, all I had were guesses and gut feelings, so I
kept my negative thoughts to myself.
    “This should be close enough,” I said when we were at the
edge of their solar system.  Kristi had been working with her A.I. to set
up our little show, using gravity, EM, wormhole radiation, shields, and just
plain old light to send the most primitive communication of all, we were trying
to knock on the door and get an answer of some kind.  Problem was, we had
no idea what the door looked like.
    The sequence started and I was actually interrupted by Al in
my head, “Is now a good time, I have some interesting news.”
    I subvocalized while I kept an eye on our scans which so far
were flat, “Summarize.”
    Al replied, “The FTL race out toward the rim are called the
Gelnott.  They have dispatched a small fleet of six ships straight to
Earth.  It’s likely they are coming to initiate first contact between us.”
    I almost snorted, still looking at the current scan
data.  Of course they are, but what kind of first contact. 
Negotiations, saying hello, or saying die alien scum.  There was no
knowing until they arrived or sent a message.
    Nalla said a little excitedly, “Radiation spike!”
    I looked at the scanners and the view, and one of those
ships just… wavered into existence, less than two kilometers away.  We
caught the same exotic radiation types, the one for wormholes and the other one
we had no frame of reference for.  We waited for a few minutes, even I was
hopeful this meant something, but then they just sat there. 
    An enigma and completely inscrutable.
    Talmor remarked, “Perhaps we should cycle it one more time,
one at a time, see if there is any reaction to one particular energy or force?”
    I said out loud, “Al, do that please.”
    I caught a glare from Nalla, apparently she would have
preferred to be consulted first.
    Oops.  Outside of Kristi I wasn’t really used to
working with other scientists, or their egos.
    Ellis looked fine with it though, and so did Kristi, so I
wasn’t going to worry about it overmuch.  It was absurd, but I felt sorry
for her for just a moment, she needed a Kristi in her life, the Tressian woman
was way too serious.
    Al ran through the series, one at a time, with a thirty
second delay between each.  Then we waited, and waited some more. 
Despite being almost sure it wouldn’t work, I was still disappointed.  Still,
at least we’d gotten them to come out and look.
    Ellis said, “Well that was a bust.”
    I frowned, “I agree, it might have attracted them, or not,
it could just be our presence here by their colony.  For all we know their
trying to warn us off right now in a way we can’t even detect.”
    Talmor nodded, “Possibly, or they just don’t know what to do
back, or understand what we want.  Maybe they don’t see a point in
establishing contact.”
    Ellis asked, “You think so?”
    Talmor grunted, “Yes.  I mean, what do we have to offer
each other really?  I doubt they want to import cigars and liquor. 
The only similarity between us is defending against the bugs, and let’s face it,
they don’t need our help for that at all.  Not when they take out an
armada at a million to one odds easier than breathing.”
    Nalla said almost wistfully, “Well, we could certainly use
their technology.”
    Talmor nodded, “Sure, but would we even understand it? 
They’re really ahead of us, by a lot.  What’s in it for them? 
Outside that, I think Alicia might be right.  I could be wrong, and they could
be talking to us.  We just don’t have the right ears to hear their sounds,
so to speak.