Gibraltar Earth by Michael McCollum

Author:Michael McCollum [McCollum, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 1929381255
Publisher: Sci Fi - Arizona
Published: 2009-05-07T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty Three

Anton Bartok stood at the podium and watched people stream into the main ballroom of the Al-Hoceima resort. As each person entered, he or she would halt, sweep the room with their gaze, and then stride directly for whichever empty seat was closest to the dais. Long years spent arranging public hearings had taught Bartok that people usually fill churches and auditoriums from the rear – the “back pew effect.” The fact that they were not doing so today indicated their interest in this special plenipotentiary session. He, too, was looking forward to Captain Landon’s presentation. It would be his first opportunity to learn the details of the latest expedition to the New Eden system.

Bartok watched as the last few stragglers made their way through the guarded door. Virtually every one of the conference’s sixty-five scientists had asked to attend this session. The guard officer flashed the count to the director using two quick hand signals, then snapped to attention and saluted. A moment later, he was gone through the double doors, which closed behind him.

Bartok glanced down in time to see a row of icons change shape and color on the screen inset into the sloping surface of the podium. The readouts indicated that several security systems had just come online. When all indicators showed good, he reached out and tapped the small tympanic surface built into the podium. From unseen speakers in the ceiling came the amplified sound of a gavel pounding wood.

“All right, let’s get this session going,” he announced as he waited for them to come to order. The conversations halted with gratifying swiftness. When the scientists were silent, Bartok cleared his throat and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, without further delay, I give you Captain Daniel Landon, commanding officer of Survey Ship Magellan.”

Dan Landon rose from his seat and moved to stand behind the podium. He noted sixty or so faces wearing various expressions of impatience.

“Screen, please.”

A holoscreen descended from the ceiling to his left. Occasional sparkles of light in the interior showed that the screen was energized, but not yet displaying any picture. A moment later, the overhead lights dimmed and the screen lighted to show the Ruptured Whale silhouetted against a black backdrop with a sprinkling of stars surrounding it.

“This is the alien derelict as we left it—” he said. He went on to describe their cautious approach to the ship, the reboarding operation, and their subsequent explorations. As he spoke, he worked through a series of holographs taken inside the damaged craft, including several showing the additional alien corpses they had discovered. Finally, he displayed the cutaway diagram of the derelict compiled from information garnered during a thousand person-hours of explorations. The cutaway showed not only the basic construction of the Whale, but also the modifications that had brought it to a state of minimal space worthiness. The damage sustained during the running fight with the Broan warship was marked in red.

“As you can see, the Whale is a squat cylinder designed to haul cargo.

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