Starship Walker

Trouble at L5

A few days after Gillian's Let down into Earth orbit, she and Abel were surprised to be summoned to an emergency meeting up in the Captain's conference room.

Captain Xing did not waste time with preliminaries.

 "I've been messaged that we are to be boarded by armed Navy marines, and they're not armed with anaesthetic bullets. They will be carrying real, death dealing weapons. They're arriving right now, and we're about to open the second wheel airlocks for them."

When the Captain finished speaking, the room was silent. Everyone was momentarily too shocked to speak. 

Captain Xing gazed around the table. Sitting with the Captain, Navigation Officer Dryen and astrophysicist Morris were clearly as shocked as Gillian and her companions, sitting opposite. Executive Officer Rubilio seemed to have been already aware of this astounding and terrifying development.

Opposite the Captain and his officers, Gillian sat between Mr McWhirter and Abel. The passenger representative was now Mr David Ho, who was Celia's father. None of them spoke.

The Captain continued. "Our ship is quarantined. Passengers and crew are forbidden to disembark for L5, the Moon, Earth or anywhere else, without satisfying an inspection. All external communications except with the Navy are blocked." The Captain turned his gaze to Gillian as he continued. "The United Nations has declared an emergency. They've retrieved old plans and protocols for an encounter with an alien civilisation and they're putting them into action. At the moment, we're all potentially aliens, as far as Earth is concerned."

Everyone sat completely still, frozen in distress. Since Gillian's Let down into the home system, they had learnt that the Xing Long Hao was famous as the "Lost Ship of Gliese". It had vanished without a trace, leaving no wreckage. Then it suddenly reappeared on course for L5, transmitting data about its activities while missing. They had, naively, expected a welcome, not a hostile reception.

McWhirter asked, "Do you have details of their plans?"

"All on board are to be tested for the 'symptoms' that Mr Berry here, and her parents, display."

"But if they board us, they'll risk the same exposure that obviously worries them."

Captain Xing replied, "No. The navy intends to take over the second wheel. Passengers and crew members will only exit this ship through it. The navy engineers will seal the route between the main and second wheels by installing a system of double airlocks and inspection chambers. To get to the second wheel, everyone will pass through the inspection chambers, where they'll be examined to determine if they are 'carriers'. The navy will also construct additional airlocks for external access to their ships."    

The Captain glanced at Gillian. "This means your parents will join you here in the main wheel, Mr Berry."

Gillian saw that her life was changing once more. But she was glad that her parents would be rejoining her.

 "What kind of examinations are they planning to perform on us?" Abel asked.

"They haven't said. I presume it's at least a brainwave scan, based on looking for patterns like those recorded in the brains of Mr Berry and her parents. There are also several questions based on material from the encounter protocols."

Gillian remarked, "I suppose I'm a prisoner again."

"Well, perhaps," the Captain said. "Personally, I don't think all this security is merely paranoia about alien 'infection'. The power blocks of Earth are squabbling over us. The knowledge you and your parents hold is seen as a potential a goldmine. It will keep researchers busy for years."