The Preacher's Daughter

Eliana shuddered. "No! Being stared at by this creature is unique. I get a sense of deep hatred."

"Uh huh..." He continued to work the controls. "How can you know such a thing just from secondary shadows?"

"I really don't know. But the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. It's a very unpleasant feeling. I'm fearful, and my brain wants to flood my body with adrenaline."

Basel nodded in sympathy as he worked the controls. "That must be exhausting after a while."

Eliana sighed. "I'll survive."

Ten minutes later, Basel drilled through the last of the ice and began direct observations of the meteor. "Look at this! This is so fascinating! No wonder the meteor didn't ablate during reentry. It's coated with some sort of heat shield."

"That's a heat shield? It looks like a rough, rocky surface."

"Yeah, but look at its physical properties! Some sort of disguise? I don't know. But it has to be artificial. Look at the spectrum. A silicate base, but so many strange additives. This isn't my field, but I'm guessing we're looking at some sort of ceramic stabilizer."

"What? What's a ceramic stabilizer?"

"I'm not sure, just a phrase I made up for what I'm observing. The laser diagnostic is showing an extremely low heat transfer coefficient, lower than I've ever seen for a solid. Yet the stress-strain probe is showing a high degree of flexibility. It's better than spring steel." Basel gulped when he realized what he had just said. "A ductile ceramic?! Eli, this is huge!"

"Can you get a sample?"

"Sure. The impact flaked off a few bits. I'll vacuum them up the conduit."

"Great..."

Basel collected his samples and then continued his exploration. "There's a large crack in the engine housing. I'll be able to go right into the core assembly. It'll be interesting to compare their technology with ours..." Basel continued to work the controls. "This is interesting."

"What?"

"I thought this crack was caused by the impact. But the fracture is showing signs of an outward blast."

"The light-burner exploded? That's odd."

"Yeah, it sure is. It's an alien technology of course. Who knows what mistakes they might have made? Still..." He continued his exploration and then a few minutes later asked, "Are we still being watched?"

Eliana took a moment to survey their surroundings. "I think so. Nothing on the scanner though. Perhaps the creature knows its range."

Basel blinked and turned to her with a puzzled look. "How could it know that?"

For some reason just beyond her grasp, Eliana found Basel's question deeply disturbing, as if it were pointing to a great vulnerability that they were both overlooking. But then Basel gave a shout that drove the thought from her mind.

"Eli! This is unbelievable! Look!"

Symbols were etched into the interior of the engine housing of the light burner drive. As Basel brought the image into focus, it became a recognizable serial number. The meaning hit Eliana and Basel immediately. The light burner drive had been manufactured on Earth.

Four hours later...

"There it is! Probe NCX-1175, launched May 4th, 8550," said Eliana. She and Basel were huddled over her laptop on the living area dining table. They had been searching through her old files on the space exploration programs ever since they had returned to the station.

Basel nodded. "Thoughtful of them to etch the probe-ID on the inside of the engine housing."

"Oh yeah. People were sharp in those days. They didn't miss a trick."

"So it's been gone close to 1020 years."

"Uh huh. Due back in 9573, three years from now..." Eliana was intently reading her file. "It's a Eureka-class probe. Those were the best that were ever made, a full 31% light velocity on the outbound side of the round trip, minus any requirements for the pivot jog. Target star was Tariq-H2458704, over 107 light years from here. The pivot star was Tariq-H2458689, about 5 light years closer." She continued to study the information. "Nice alignment on the two stars, the pivot was less than ten degrees."

Basel looked at her. "What's a pivot jog?"

"Ah, you don't know? People were masters at security back then. Some of their finest mathematical works are almost a lost art. Abdul Hadi didn't want to leave a traceable path back to Earth in case we happened to live in a hostile neighborhood. These weren't first-contact probes, far from it. Their missions were strictly for one-way information gathering."

Basel began to understand. "I think I see. So the probe would change direction at a pivot star before going to its final destination?"

"Exactly. The path from Earth would intentionally involve a mid-course correction to do a close flyby on the pivot star. The extremely shallow hyperbolic orbit there would do the final alignment to the probe's true destination."

"Ah. But a civilization at the pivot star itself could see where the probe came from."

"No. At those speeds the hyperbolic orbit is almost flat. Remember there's an intentional offset from Earth and then corrections midway in the first leg of the flight. Also at the pivot star, the probe comes in dark and hot, no active sensors and traveling close to a third of the speed of light. It does a close flyby with the star, but it would only be inside the equivalent of a Mars orbit for less than an hour. It takes a light-burner engine months to build up that kind of velocity. We get the added bonus of a quick close look at another solar system, and the probes are considered uncatchable at the pivot star location."

"They could be chased though."

"If the probe sensed that, they are programmed to fire-up and sail to infinity. On the outward journey, they have so much light-burner fuel remaining that nothing could ever catch them and return."

Basel nodded. "So you think our creature came from the probe's true destination?"

"Yes. It seems a certainty."

"And there the probe was captured?"

"Uh huh. They were programmed to spend a dozen years at their target locations, maybe even drop into a planetary orbit if something looked interesting." Eliana sighed. "I guess something was interesting and so different that it didn't spot the danger."

Basel frowned. "Are we really safe? The true course home must have stored somewhere in the probe's memory."

"Basel, people were paranoid about security back then. And thank The Holy they were too! I don't think our neighbors at Tariq-H2458704 know where we are. They were up against the finest encryption methods of the 8500's. These creatures did manage to insert a stowaway onboard, a remarkable achievement, I'll admit. But I don't think they know where their stowaway went. And least not yet."

"Not yet?"

Eliana shrugged. "Well, they know the probe came from somewhere. Eventually I suspect they'll start looking at other stars, and in this direction too. Remember the takeover happened almost 700 years ago."

Basel frowned. "It seems so fantastic, to think of an intelligent life-form in stasis for 700 years..."

"Yeah, it sure does." After a bit more reading, Eliana and Basel went back to Level-A to study their samples from the probe site.

Chapter 20. A New Dawn

Time: May 19, 9570 5:20 AM UCT

Basel and Eliana had arrived back at the station twenty minutes ago. They had not ventured outside the protection of the station or CAT for close to four months now, not since January 20'th when Eliana first sighted the creature. The strain of their self-imposed imprisonment was wearing on them both.

Earlier this morning they had made a field trip to a large fjord and had landed on an island 67 km north and 8 km west of home. Eliana thought the island beautiful, and one spot in particular stuck in her mind. It was a grassy knoll with a fine prospect of the water thirty meters below. It beckoned to her as a perfect site for a picnic, so much so she mentioned to Basel her great desire for them just to get out and walk around a bit. What were the odds the creature would be lying in wait for them here?

Certainly almost zero. Perhaps the creature was even dead now or had moved on. They had no indication of its presence since the day they found the probe, and even that was just a subjective feeling by Eliana. Their scanner had recorded nothing. Still, the risk to Earth was so monumental, they ate their lunch inside the CAT.

After collecting data on the island for Basel's ecological studies, they flew home and went to separate tasks. Basel went to Level-2 in the main complex to analyze his data while Eliana went down to Level-B in the garage complex and commanded the system there to retrieve one of the samples from the Level-C cold vaults.

She had devoted the last two months of her life trying to gain some understanding of the creature's biochemistry from the strange diamond black wafers, and it was a standing joke between her and Basel that with the utter lack of competition, she was now the world's leading expert on extra-terrestrial biology.

Eliana smiled to herself as she worked. It was time to open the gap with her nonexistent competition a little wider. As she waited for her sample to thaw, her mind drifted back to the beauty of the morning's excursion.

"A world of light! Even Bandar Arenas was never like this, and we're still 36 days from the solstice!" Leaving the chamber control system, she walked over to an adjacent console and began punching up some observation data from the station sensors.

"Sunset yesterday was at 4:20 PM, the sun's azimuth just 22 degrees west of north. Sunrise was three hours later, at 7:25 PM. Three hours of twilight, that's it. The sun was never more than two degrees below the horizon. And today solar noon will be, uh, let's see... In just a few minutes, at 5:52 AM. Sun's altitude will be forty degrees... And the world loves it! The countryside is bursting in the joy of springtime!"

Eliana wandered back to check on her specimen chamber. "In six more days, we'll have 24-hour sunlight. I'll be able to see the sun at due north, no sunsets for two months. So incredible..."

There was a large mechanical sound in the garage above her, totally unexpected. Eliana's mind was just starting to pay attention to it when she heard Basel's worried voice on the intercom.

"Eli, you're breaking station integrity! What are you trying to do?"

She opened the comm line. "What do you mean? I'm down on Level-B thawing my specimen."

"What?! The CAT's airlock just cycled! You didn't do it?!"

Eliana felt her body tensing from the danger as Basel's words struck home. She grimaced as she thought of her devil-dog. She had left it in the back of the CAT. "No! Basel! Are you in the control room?"

"Yes!"

As if to confirm the danger, the station siren began a warning wail. The presence of the creature had been detected outside four minutes ago.

"Basel, lock us... No, wait! Too late! I see the creature! It's coming down the ladder-well from Level-A! I'm trapped!" She desperately wondered what sort of weapon her chair would make.

Basel shouted at her. "Climb into an empty specimen chamber! I'll seal you in from here!"

Eliana spun around and leaped to the back of the room, her mind filled with gratitude for Basel's quick thinking. "I'm in chamber three!" she cried out. "Seal! Seal!"

As the clear carbon nano-tube door began to slide into position, Eliana got her first good look at the creature, or rather, her first good look at its camouflage. It was just a shimmer, a slight distortion of her view of the floor, and it was coming straight for her. The door continued to close, and the creature got to her chamber about two seconds after the lock clicked home. Eliana thought she had never heard a more pleasing sound. And then she gasped in astonishment as the creature slid over to a nearby console and turned off the comm system, cutting her link with Basel.

The two life-forms stared at each other for a moment. At least Eliana knew she was staring, and she suspected the creature was doing the same. Her mind was thinking furiously about how to communicate with her husband, and then she thought of something. "Basel, can you hear me?" she called out. "If you can, wiggle the manipulator arm in my chamber."

The arm remained still. "Apparently not," she thought. "Come on Basel, it's not obvious but there is a way..."

"Eliana, can you hear me?" a weak, tinny voice said.

"Yes! Can you hear me?"

"Thank The Holy! You made it! Yes, I hear you fine through the vibration sensors in the remotes."

Eliana nodded. "But how am I hearing you?"

"I set up a reverse transpondence. I'm vibrating the arm with my voice."

"You are quiet but I can hear you. Excellent idea Basel!" She took a breath. "The creature! It turned off the comm system!"

"Yes, I know. It also tried to transfer primary station control to the garage console. I barely managed to lock it out in time."

"It knows our systems!"

"Yes!"

"How?!"

"I think I might know how. But for now, what's it doing?"

"It's pretending to be an invisible rug about one meter from my chamber."

"Uh huh. Eli, I'm slowly transferring all garage control to here. Should I seal the creature in with you on Level-B, or leave the well open?"

"Seal it in here with me as soon as you can. I want to keep an eye on it."

The creature started to drift away from her and back towards the well. Eliana waved her hands briskly and caught its attention. Eliana then watched in utter fascination as the creature headed for the well as soon as it started to seal. It did not make it, and then returned to its position by Eliana's chamber.

"Basel, this is interesting! I estimate the creature's speed to be at most one meter per second."

"Eli, what's our plan? I know you've been giving this creature every benefit of doubt, but I want to suggest that we kill it."

Eliana paused for a long moment and sighed. "Agreed. Any ideas?"

"A number of them. This might not be too hard. It's in our station now. We control its environment. I think your idea months ago with the lasers is a good one. Let's test if the creature can withstand high heat."

"How soon can you effect the change?"

"Just a few minutes. Let me set up a cool-air feed for your chamber first. It's probably getting a bit stuffy in there anyway."

"Uh, I hadn't noticed but yeah, some fresh air would be nice. Basel!" she cried.

"What?!"

"The creature! It just jumped up against my chamber! I'm seeing its underside!"

"What's it like?"

"No chromataphors at all! I see the spirals of hooks! So incredible, like a sunflower! And it's trying to break into my chamber!"

"How can you see?! Do you have light?"

"Yes! Bioluminescence! My gosh Basel! Such a wondrous ability! I believe I'm seeing thousands of light emitters and light receptors covering the creature's underside." Eliana heard a hiss of cool fresh air entering her chamber and she took a deep breath. "Thanks for the air! The underside Basel, that's how it does its camouflage." Another deep breath. |"It's bio-light and eyes must transmit directly through the creature to control the chromataphors on the other side. What a wondrous design!" Another deep breath, and then a shiver. "A bit chilly in here."

"I'm trying to build up a cool reserve for you. I'm about bake your level with some serious heat." Basel heard Eliana give a small groan. "Eli, what?"

"I just saw its beak! You were right Basel, a flat scissoring action, a wickedly powerful tool! My gosh! It just put a scratch in the specimen door!"

"It's scratching nano-tube composite?!"

"Yes! A big scratch!"

"Stand by, I'm heating the room now."

Eliana waited in silence. She was eye to eye with the creature, with only the centimeter thickness of the carbon door separating them. The creature reset and then scissored its beak again, deepening the groove it was creating in the chamber door. Eliana stared into its eyes, and the creature stared back. She felt almost paralyzed, not with fear but from the hatred, intense waves of black and feral hatred were pouring from her attacker.

And then the creature backed off and returned to the floor. It moved towards the sealed ladder-well, and then stopped halfway there. As Eliana watched, the perfect camouflage disappeared and was replaced by a glowing purplish skin. The skin started to tremble.

"It's working Basel! You were right! It does glow in the UV when it's exhausted! It's exhausted now, and it's not even moving!"

"What's it doing now?"

"Shaking! Violently! I think it's dying. Oh, this is so sad."

"I have the air temperature at 42C right now and rising."

Eliana cried for the creature's misery. "Its internal alcohols are vaporizing, rupturing its body. Its body is all surface area. It has no defense against the heat. Basel! The creature is in agony!"

"I'm trying to kill it as quickly as I can!"

"Hurry!"

"You still okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she cried, tears falling down her cheeks. "I'm still cool in here." A moment later she said quietly, "I think it's over. The creature is unmoving and turning black. The body is curling and crisping. My gosh, it's so thin..." And then she gave a small shriek. "Basel!"

"What?!"

It's in the shape of a diamond!"

"Huh?"

The revelation struck Eliana with full force certainty. "The hippos! The pools of blood we found! They were feeding pools, but not for the creature! They were nurseries for its young!"

Ten hours later...

Time: May 19, 9570 4 PM UCT

A short while ago, Eliana felt in desperate need of a break, and she came up to the Observation dome to try to relax. She was standing silently at the northern point, watching the sun make its approach to the northern horizon from the west. It would not quite make it, not today, but soon...

She heard a noise in the ladder well. They had not eaten for more than twelve hours, not since their picnic lunch on the island early this morning. It seemed like so long ago. Basel was carrying up a basket with a light late-night dinner. They quietly set the table as the last of the day's shadows washed the room.

"Ah, this good," smiled Eliana, as she bit into her toasted bun. "What's in here?"

"Oh, simple fare, chicken from yesterday's dinner, shredded carrots, various herbs..." He took a bite and smiled. "Ah, you're probably noticing my creamy mustard sauce. It's a specialty of mine. Here, try some chips with it." As the pleasant meal progressed, the tension of the day finally began to leave them.

"I got a confirmation from the PATH scanner," Basel commented. "The creature was traveling 0.96 meters per second in its dash to the airlock. Our first sweep recorded its position at 131 meters from the front door."

"It could see everything, couldn't it?"

"I think so. Its skin surface was incredibly receptive to all forms of light, right down to the control codes we were using to command the airlock. And its skin could emit those same frequencies."

Eliana sighed. "We were so careless. We knew it could sense the PATH scanner."

Basel nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that was a tip-off. We both just missed it. What can I say?"

"It would have been so easy to activate the Heisenberg shields."

"Well, they're on now. We've got this station running on full military mode. I'm almost certain we were always dealing with one creature. Still..."

Eliana nodded. "Oh yes, we're making the right decision. Another 47 days of being cooped up." She reached over and touched his hand and wiggled her body playfully. "I'll do my best to keep you distracted."

He raised his eyebrows and grinned back. "I can't wait to see you succeed." He sighed. "I'm surprised the creature waited so long to attack us."

"I'm not. Its chances would have been infinitely greater if it could have found us outside away from the CAT. But we never gave it the opportunity."

"It could have come into the station while we were out."