Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 11:57:10 -0000
From: Ad . <trekster2@hotmail.com>
Subject: 'The Project' chapter 10

Chapter Ten:

Well, we've got to chapter ten now, a nice big round number.  I must
apologise again for the delay in this chapter, I only started writing it two
days ago - I've been busy a lot the past few months and not had much chance
to do any writing.

I'll keep it short -- thanks to everyone who emailed me, and those who
proofed the chapter.

Legal -- don't read if you're not supposed to, and this story is complete
fiction, implying nothing about reality.

	"Robert, head the ship back to Earth, I'll be staying here for the time
being.  Leave a quantum communication device on the planet, and bring them
back to here.  It finally looks like the war may be turning our way.
Hopefully our new friends will be able to get somewhere with their superior
scanning capabilities, along with our computer technology."
	"And you'll be staying on the planet sir?"
	"Yes, I think we need to help further our relationship, until I return the
co-director will be in full command."
	"Very well sir.  What equipment do you want taken down to the surface
before we leave?"
	"A quantum communication device of course, a laptop, a camera." He said
with a small smile.
	"We'll see what we can do sir."
	"I'll be in my quarters if I'm required before you're ready to depart.  I
have some business to take care of." Edwards turned round and left the
captain's office.  The past two days of talks with the Iisac has gone far
better than anyone had expected, with the basic grounds of an alliance being
set down.  Edwards had decided to remain to try and draw up exact terms and
conditions of an alliance.

Sector 139A -- two days later:

	The Nautilus-NX231 was travelling in quantum slipstream through sector
139A, heading towards the main front line station after its retrofit.
Suddenly the whole ship shook violently, before calming down to a steady
vibration which lasted for almost a minute.
"REPORT!" The captain shouted from his chair.
	"We've dropped out of slipstream sir, calculating location."
	"What happened?"
	"Unknown -- we have maintained full molecular cohesion.  Our location has
been reported as 139A:342:193."
	"Damage report?"
	"All major systems functional.  No major casualties reported.  Full systems
check in progress.  Sensors are showing two ships, 1 million kilometres on
baring 126 mark 121, heading towards us at .25ls."
	"Send an emergency message to command, report our position and status.  Set
condition red, all hands to battle stations."  The sirens restarted across
the medium sized ship, crew compliment 100 exactly.  Commissioned in 1990,
it had been in active service for 10 years.  "Can we identify the vessels?"
	"Negative sir, they are of unknown design."
	"Slipstream status?"
	"We're trying, we can't re-enter slipstream -- they're somehow blocking
slipstream in this region of space, that's what caused us to drop out."
	"Ready all weapons, divert all available power to shields."
	"Sir, they are within weapons range.  Incoming weapons fire!"
	"All hands brace for impact!" The captain shouted as the ship shook again,
consoles around him flashing red lights.  "Fire torpedoes one through five,
ready the quantum guns."
	"Torpedoes away, time till impact five, four, three, two, one.  Sensors
read no damage to their ship."
	"Fire at will weapons officer.  Report from the last volley?"
	"Minor hull breach deck four section 2.  Power failure in that section.  No
major systems damaged."
	"Second torpedo volley no affect, more incoming weapons fire.  Quantum
cannons firing now."  The ship was tossed to the side as a series of weapons
impact hit against the hull and shields.  Almost instantly the interior
lights started to flicker as main power went off line.
	"Main power down, backups holding.  Primary power grid is down is twelve
sections, hull breaches on decks two, three, four, five and six sections two
through five.  Primary computer core not functioning.  Main shielding grid
down, emergency shields holding.  Injury reports coming in from several
decks, four reported dead.  Energy weapons down, torpedo tubes seven through
to twelve are off line.  Quantum cannons still fuctional."
	"Rapid fire, target anything that seems to be a primary system."
	"Aye sir, all cannons firing."  The weapons screen traced the progress of
the volley as it rapidly hit the unknown ship.  "Sensors are reading no
change in the power output of the ship.  As far as I can tell their weapons
and shields are still on line.  We've got more incoming fire!"  This time
the ship was jolted enough to throw some of the bridge officers out their
seats, and sirens started going off on the bridge.
	"Structural failure!  Hull breaches reported on all decks, major casualty
reports, weapons and shields off line, systems running on emergency power
only.  There's hull fractures all over the hull, emergency containment
fields are not all functional -- air's leaking out from all areas, including
the bridge."
	"All hands, this is the captain, abandon ship, repeat, abandon ship!  This
is not a drill!  Computer, initiate emergency destruct sequence, ten minutes
countdown.  Authorisation pi 1 1 0 0 5 4 3 alpha 4 gamma."
	"Destruct sequence activated.  All hands, abandon ship.  Self destruct in
nine minutes fifty seconds."
	"Launch emergency message buoys and send out a general distress call on all
frequencies.  Attacked by unknown force, crew forced to abandon ship.
Enclose all sensor readings."
	"Aye sir."
	"Bridge officers, you are relieved." The captain said, as he turned towards
the door at the back of the bridge, walking of the ship.  They'd made it to
an escape pod just as another set of explosions hit the ship, everyone being
knocked off their feet as the whole ship reeled to the side in the impact,
the lights and artificial gravity going off line.  The senior staff were
just inside the escape pod as the final volley hit the ship.  It had just
cleared fifty meters when a large explosion started in the centre and spread
rapidly as ship blew.  The captain stared out the window as the ion and
rocket engines simultaneously engaged to move the ship away as rapidly as
possible.  It was not fast enough ,as the shockwave from the explosion
caught the small escape craft ripping it apart into thousands of small
pieces.
***************

"Sir, we've not received a routine communication from NX231.  They were due
to report in at arrival to slipstream station 141." The communications
officer spoke to Mr. Paton, the officer in command.
	"We've not heard anything?"
	"Not so far sir."
	"Keep an eye on it, there could be a communications problem."
	"Very well sir.  Wait a minute, a listening post has picked up a distress
call from NX231, they report being attacked and abandoning ship."
	"Location?"
	"Sector 139 Section A, Grid location 1211:4317:3129."
	"Scan the area."
	"Doing so now sir.  It'll take a few minutes to receive scans."
	"Very well."
	"Three escape pods are present, scans of the attack area are inconclusive,
too long range."
	"Despatch three high level ships to the area immediately.  Bring them off
the front line if necessary."
	"Very good sir."

************************

	Owen was yet again sitting in his sparse hotel room, in the chair in front
of the small desk.  He'd not yet received any contact from Justin since they
went out the previous night to the club, but that didn't worry him really.
At least Justin seemed to be accepting him, and at least willing to give it
a go.  Owen couldn't begin to imagine what it must have been like for Justin
to forget everything of the past few weeks, and to be told that you fell in
love, but can't even remember it.  Things like that are only supposed to
happen in fiction, not real life -- then again Owen's life resembles fiction
so closely in many aspects, why not take even more of them up.
	Along side Justin of course there were the rest of the guys, all of which
seemed equally accepting towards him from last night, no negative comments
were received at least, unless they were said behind closed doors.  Such
guess work would serve no practical purpose however, and would only worry
Owen even more.
	The incident back at the ISC was none of his concern, in fact the ISC
wasn't even on his mind at all, he was on leave, why should it be?  He was
aware of the talks with the Iisac Alliance however, and was well aware that
all the guys may well be required if the negations proceed as planned, and
he was equally aware that it may well be decided to do further memory
erasial, perhaps removing Owen from the picture yet again.  Owen didn't
always like the business he was in, for despite all the advantages, the
disadvantages were equally large.
	It was at that moment the phone rang again, the time somewhere around 1950.
  Owen reached across the desk to pick up his mobile, nothing more than a
simple Ericsson T28.  "Hello?"
	"Hey Owen, it's Justin."
	"Hey Justin.  How are ya?"
	"I'm good thanks, you?"
	"Not too bad, a lot better now though."
	"Oh, how so?"
	"I always thought Americans were dumb…  Because you just rang dummy."
	"Hey, I'm not dumb!
	"Anyway, what can I do for you?"
	"Well, I was sort of wondering whether you'd like to go out tonight?"
	"I suppose it depends on whether you'd be coming with me or not."
	"Well, I was thinking you could go on a shopping spree with my mom
actually."
	"Sounds great, how about I meet her at the Florida mall in say, thirty
minutes?"
	"Very funny…  How about you meet me at 7pm.  Come to my house, and we'll go
out to a restaurant or something."
	"Sounds great Just.  I'll see ya then!"

	7pm, almost two hours away, seemed to take forever to actually arrive.
Owen showered twice, read a good part of a book, `Rendezvous with Rama', a
book he'd read many a time.  It showed a very interest view on first
contact.  Owen wished things were that simple.  He headed out at about 6:15
straight for Justin's house, knowing full well he'd end up being early.  He
pulled up at Justin's house about 12 minutes early, and waited on the road
for 7 or so minutes before finally pulling into the driveway.  He was
unnerved to see an unknown car in the drive, presumably his mom's, but
Justin did tell him to be here none the less.  Hesitantly he walked towards
the front door, only to have Justin pull the door open on him just as he was
about to knock -- talk about scaring someone half to death!
	"Hey Owen." Justin said as he looked at him, his voice not sounding too
over enthusiastic.
	"Mom, I'm heading out now!  I'll be back later tonight!" Justin shouted out
the door, walking out and closing it before his mom had chance to reply.
"Let's take your car."
	"You weren't expecting your mom to be home?"
	"No, she turned up about half an hour ago, I told her I was going out with
an old friend for the evening, and she seemed happy enough about it."
	"Good good.  Since I'm driving, where abouts are we going?"
	"I've booked a table at MacDonald's." Justin replied smiling.  This caused
Owen to chuckle a little as he pulled out onto the road, turning right.
	"Who said turn right?"
	"No one."
	"Ok then."
	"Good good.  So, where are we going?"
	"I've booked a nice hotel room under the name of Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones,
we're business partners from Europe on a business trip."
	"Oh, how original…" Owen said, not quite sure whether to believe Justin or
not.
	"Got the penthouse suite, everything included."
	"Sounds nice.  Which hotel dare I ask?"
	"The Hyatt Grand Cypress."

*********************

	"The USS Keris will be at the scene in three days sir, we're trying to set
up a temporary jump station in the area."
	"Very well.  Have we received full details from the sensor buoy?"
	"Yes sir.  The sensor records of the ship don't match anything on record.
It appears to have a very large power output, and very strong defensive and
offensive capabilities.  The Nautilus was just upgraded to the latest weapon
and shield systems, it was a high level ship, commissioned in 1990, standard
medium cruiser class, 700 metres long, 50x50 cross section…"
	"I'm fully away of the specs of the Nautilus Mr. Larson.  See if we can
raise the Director on the comm.  He should be informed of this.  Get me the
co-director as well, he should know."
	"Yes sir."

	"Yes Mr. Director, we're not certain of the origin of the unidentified
ship, and we can't find the unidentified ship in any of our scanned space."
	"Very well.  Have you contacted Mr. Edwards?"
	"Not yet sir -- we've sent a message to him, but have been unable to
establish two way communication."
	"Very well.  Keep up the good work Mr. Paton."

********************

	Justin had directed Owen to the car park of the Hyatt Grand Cypress Hotel.
They quickly walked out avoiding any prying eyes, Owen walking over to the
reception while Justin walked straight over to the elevator.
	"Good evening.  I have a reservation under Mr. Jones and Smith."
	"Ah yes sir, the Presidential Suite for tonight.  Travelling on business?"
	"Yes.  We're working for a company in London and are making a one night
stop over before we continue on to Seattle." Owen replied, making sure his
English accent shone through.
	"I see sir.  Can I have a credit card please sir?"
	"Yes of course.  Mr. Smith had already walked upstairs, he's quite
exhausted after the flight." Owen said, handing over a card, readily
prepared with Mr. Jones on by one of those handy security folks that always
seemed to be standing around at a safe distance.  They could be useful
sometimes.  The receptionist handed the card back to Owen after swiping it
through the machine, and clicked his fingers a couple of times before a bell
boy walked over.
	"If you could take Mr. Jones up to the Presidential Suite Ronson."  The
bell boy took the travel bag from Owen and walked towards the elevator.
They headed towards the top floor, and bell boy then opening the room and
handing over the key.
	"Room service is available by picking up the phone receiver and dialling 0
sir.  There is a menu in the dining room.  If you require anything else just
ring the reception desk."
	"Thank you Ronson." Owen replied, handing over a $50 to the bell boy, who
rapidly accepted before disappearing off down the corridor.  Justin appeared
from round the corner at that point and walked in.  "Hey cutie, I wondered
where you disappeared to."
	"I just thought I'd lay low for a second, don't want to be recognised by
anyone really."
	"No you don't." Owen said, closing the door to the room and sliding across
the deadlock.  He walked through into the dining room and picked up the menu
off the table, giving it a quick flick through.
	"Do you want something to eat?"
	"Yeah -- I'm starved!"  Owen handed Justin another copy of the menu as they
sat down next to each other on the sofa reading through.

******************

	"Computer, start log entry." Edwards spoke, in a large and spacious room
given to him by the Iisac council during his stay.  "In my short stay on the
planet I have learnt a lot about the culture and technology here.  Unlike
previous races who we have encountered, the Iisac are far far closer to our
own level of evolution and technology.  The Iisac on the whole are no more
than ten years ahead of our levels of technology on Earth, excluding the
more advanced areas in the ISC.  The main technological difference is in
their more advanced medical technology and their large strides in precise
low interference sub atomic imaging, an area not extensively researched by
the ISC, as it never seemed to hold much use.  That area, along with the
enhanced medical technology is what is of most interest to the ISC.  They
also have tried their first near light speed journey, something that isn't
expected by standard Earth technology for another fifty or sixty years based
on standard calculations.  They have had help in this area, it turns out
that a crashed Kulmari sublight scout was found, extremely old, but
preserved in ice.  They managed to back engineer some of the preserved
technology and use it to develop their own near light speed drive.  The
Iisac estimated the ship was about four hundred years old, but based on our
knowledge of the Kulmari, that seems a fair estimate.  The ship crashed
almost one hundred years ago, and the closest colony of the Kulmari is about
three hundred light years away. "
	"In terms of the culture, it appears that they are in a very similar
situation to Earth.  They have crime problems as to be expected, and a
similar all round cultural life. Their arts bare a lot of similarities to
ours, and their scientific and mathematics are similar in most areas,
although they have made some leaps in physics especially that our main
stream science is still working on.  The most fundamental of these is a very
good string theory model that is about ten years ahead of our current
research areas."
	"I have also managed to study some of their theology.  I must say that some
of the similarities noticed here are astounding.  The planet has four
dominant religions, Krastin, Jufabas, Sehiy and Befgi.  Krastin bears in
many respects a large similarity to Christianity, speaking of the son of God
coming down to the planet two and a half thousand years ago.  The religious
creation story is also very similar, based off a seven rotations of the
planet, with rest of the seventh.  This astounding similarity must not be
ignored, and must surely point to a shared point in our two planets
histories.  The area of theology is one which we have not been able to look
into before when dealing with alien cultures.  The other three religions are
mainly spin offs of the Krastin faith as far as I can tell, and all share
similarities - less variation than on Earth in that respect.  Our
relationship with the Iisac is a unique situation for us so far and one
which we must explore as much as possible."
	"On more pressing matters however, I have managed to negotiate an immediate
deal to use their advanced scanning technology.  In return we will give the
Iisac access to our full historical database.  In the long run we expect to
be able to establish a steady trade of technology and goods between the two
cultures.  I want the five gentlemen on *NSYNC to be brought here as soon as
possible, along with a quantum computing core to process the data we can
gather."
	"I have received the message regarding the destruction of the Nautilus, and
I wish a full enquiry to be launched immediately into the destruction.  I
will be making another report shortly on further aspects of the Iisac."
	"End of communication, please reply as soon as possible on when you expect
to be able to transport the subjects here."

**********************

	Owen patted his stomach after finishing his desert after an excellent meal.
  "I must say that was excellent, I'll have to send my congratulations to
the head chief."
	"It was good." Justin replied.  "So what do you want to do now?"
	"I'm not sure." Owen replied.  Suddenly he was interrupted by the ringing
of his cell phone.  "Bloody hell!  I knew I should have turned it off!"  He
glanced at the number, preparing to turn off the phone, but thought again
when he saw the number.  "I think I better answer this." Owen said looking
at Justin for an approval.
	"Sure, go ahead." Justin replied.  Owen listened to the phone, making only
the odd reply.
	"Owen, it's Paton.  Your friend and his colleagues are to be taken to the
Iisac homeworld as soon as possible.  We don't have a ship to spare for
about two days, and we've also got to arrange the preparation of a mobile
quantum processing unit than can be taken down to the planet.  Three days
I'd say."
	"I see."
	"Now we know that Justin can remember some stuff, and if you want, and I'm
sure you would anyway, you can tell him this.  Keep it from the others
though."
	"Uhhuh.  Thank you for informing me Mr. Paton.  Have a good evening." Owen
said, hanging up the phone.  Here it goes again.


End of C10
Thanks for reading, drop me an email as always at trekster2@hotmail.com.
Chapter 11 will be out in a month or so I expect, I've already started work
on it, so hopefully it shouldn't take as long as this chapter did.  Also, I
apologise for it being shorter than usual, but it seemed a very good place
to end.  The next chapter will concentrate more on the relationship and
romantic aspects - I know this chapter was mainly scifi.
Also, I've been working on a website for the story.  It's by no means
complete, and I may well decided to modify the whole format in the future -
time permitting.  If you get the chance feel free to take a glance though -
http://www.iscdb.co.uk.  It works best on a high bandwidth connection
however, as it has some animations that take a minute or two to load on a
dial up connection.

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