LORD of the FLIES, the movie

SCIFI

LINKS

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The Christa Affair

Chapter Two

Ultazari-Seven's period of planetary rotation was just over twenty-seven Federation-Standard hours long. She had rotated almost eighteen and a half times since the \Klondike\ had touched down in the early morning light, five miles from the deserted base-camp of the mining team they'd been sent to rescue. Four days earlier, Toko and Suu had been at the conn when the emergency hyperphone signal came thru from Federation Sector Headquarters.

They were six light-years from the Ultazari system, under hyperdrive for the agricultural world of Delfina-Two; their cargo holds bulged with farm equipment consigned to the giant food-growing combines that supplied half the organic consumables to the rim worlds of galactic sector six. Toko had immediately summoned Jashi to the bridge, and five minutes later all eight crew-members were gathered in the control room; staring at them from the screen was the strained and tired face of Admiral Joahn Rieley, commander of Federation Sector Headquarters on Summit, innermost planet of the Danata stellar system.

Joahn was a long-time family friend and a close associate of Fanoro, Jashi's father. "Greetings, Freetrader \Klondike\," she said as Jashi sat down in the command chair. "We have an emergency."

"Greetings, Joahn. My family?" Jashi's heartbeat quickened. A civilian, Fanoro was Chief Weapons Engineer at the Federation base; he, his bondmate Ruti, and Jashi's sister Joei made their home on Summit.

"No, Jashi, your family is fine, and they send you greetings," responded the Admiral. "Sorry if I alarmed you. This thing is so serious I just wasn't thinking."

"No problem, Joahn," Jashi replied. "Our love to them when you see them. And to Zona and Rogi. What's the emergency?"

Although the \Klondike\ was more than three hundred light-years from Summit, there was no perceptible time-lag in the transmissions; the disturbances in the space-time continuum generated by the hyperphone were relayed thru the Federation network of communication transponders, and crossed the vast distance thru hyperspace at a speed that was virtually instantaneous. "Scramble, Jashi," said the Admiral. "Code Z-276; forward rotation, S-22; interval, six-per-second; crawl rate, plus three."

"Damn!" muttered Jashi under his breath. A tiny shiver ran up his spine as he reached for the controls of the scrambler. "What a code! This must be big."

After scrambling, they immediately changed codes again -- and then again to still a third -- before the Admiral was satisfied that the link was secure, and would begin her story. For the next fifteen minutes, the crew of the \Klondike\ sat spellbound as she told them the unbelievable story of the disappearance of Christa -- seventh moon of the planet Uranus, star system Sol -- the galactic source of Immunofactor-26.

*********

Three and a half months earlier, the disappearance of the small satellite had been witnessed by the captain and crew of a medical transport from Zornada-Five. Inbound to the tiny moon to pick up a supply of I-26, the sleek transport had just left hyperdrive and was braking for a parking orbit around Christa -- still more than five thousand miles out -- when the moon disappeared from her screens. The captain of the vessel reported to the Federation base on Terra, and was instructed to change course for Luna. And to tell no one.

Apparently the lid of secrecy clamped on by the Federation had been fairly tight. The disappearance had come at a time when no other shipments were due to go out for several months, and rumors had been resolutely squashed by Federation officials. Ships passing thru the area were not likely to notice -- after all, there were twenty-eight chunks of rock in various sizes orbiting Uranus.

The two most sophisticated search vessels possessed by the Federation were recalled from their missions, and dispatched to Uranus under tight security. The equipment aboard these ships was so sensitive it could detect the years-old trail of a half-mile diameter asteroid thru normal space by the space-time disturbances and "garbage" left in its wake. Only hyperspace travel couldn't be traced, and a ship left behind an unmistakable "footprint" at the place where it went hyper. They tracked the orbit of Christa to her location at the time of disappearance -- then nothing. No debris. No radiation. Nothing. Christa had simply ceased to exist.

Luckily, someone in high command had remembered the years-old report filed by the Elvirani, and the research vessel \Luthor Too\ was dispatched to Ultazari-Seven. Aboard her were twenty-eight of the top mineral-extraction specialists in the Federation. Their mission -- find Immunofactor-26.

The search had begun with long-range scanning from high planetary orbit, to find the general area where the deposits were located. The report had been understandably non-specific; three years ago there had been no reason to be even slightly interested in traces of I-26. Christa had supplied the needs of the Federation for almost five hundred years, and there was as much available now as when mining began -- the stuff grew back as fast as it was excavated. The finding probably wouldn't have been reported at all, were it not for the well-known passion for details of the inhabitants of Elvira-Three.

Three days of scanning, and the \Luthor Too\ reported paydirt. Three hours later they made planetfall and began deep sub-surface probing. Their scanners could see more than five miles into the planet's crust, but their daily reports told of finding minute traces only.

*********

Admiral Rieley paused to light her pipe, then continued her story. "Yesterday morning, planet time, they reported locating a small pocket, sufficiently concentrated to make extraction possible, and said they were setting up equipment to sink a shaft. That was the last report from them, except for one short data-burst transmission about three hours later. It was an automated S.O.S. beacon, and it transmitted only once. At first we thought it was an accidental transmission when it failed to follow up with the confirm-and-ident sequence, but our hyperphone and data-burst inquiries have gone unanswered. It's bad news, Jashi, and I need your help. You're the only ship in the area with any security clearance at all."

"No military in this region?" Jashi registered visible surprise.

"No. All the regional patrol ships are on Estara-Six," replied the Admiral. "You've heard the rumors that the daughter of the Exalted High Lord of the Uzos System is being held hostage by the Estarani? Well, they're true."

"What next?" wondered Jashi. He had once visited the Uzos system; it was a unique four-planet system unlike any other in all of charted space. The four worlds of the system were all equidistant from Uzos, and were more or less equally spaced about the orbital plane. All four were inhabited by humanoids of the same species, and were jointly ruled by the Royal Family of Uzos-Prime; the Exalted High Lord was the ruling monarch. "Damn those grasshoppers anyway!" Jashi said aloud. "Why can't they keep their petty little wars to themselves?" ********* \Grasshopper\ was a vulgar and derogatory term, officially frowned upon, but nevertheless often used to describe the vicious creatures whose world was always in a constant state of civil war. Being too busy killing off their fellow citizens, the Estarani had never developed space travel, but possessed surface weapons of awesome destructive capability. Estara-Six was off-limits to civilian ships of Federation registry, and the planet was watched closely.

Jashi had seen one once -- a prisoner at Federation HQ on Summit. It had escaped aboard a relief ship carrying food to its world during the famine of eighty-one. At a distance of several yards from the creature, "grasshopper" seemed an appropriate description -- if one could imagine the Terran insect measuring seven feet, and standing upright.

How in hell did they get their hands on the Princess? Jashi didn't voice the thought; other things were far more important. "How can we help?" he asked.

"Tag your cargo with a marker beacon and jettison it," replied the Admiral, "I'll send a ship to pick it up and make your delivery. I need you to go to Ultazari-Seven and find out what happened. Don't worry about missed-delivery going on your record; I'll square things with the import commission on Delfina-Two. I have several contacts there, and I can take care of it without compromising security. Of course, you'll be generously compensated." The Admiral paused, looking sad. "Jashi, I need you! I can't order you to go, though gods know I might try if it were anyone else... The situation is that desperate."

There was a long pause; the Admiral looked distressed. Suddenly she became very formal -- social protocol, not military. "Jashi, friend and son of my oldest friend, I beg your forgiveness and the forgiveness of your shipmates, but I must ask this for the sake of Humanity and all the peoples of the Federation... Answer, ten minutes, same scrambler sequence. Off!"

The Admiral's image faded from the screen without waiting for Jashi's acknowledgement.

CHAPTER THREE

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