Джек Макдевитт - A Voice in the Night

“Which is closer?”

“The gas giant, Ronda.”

The satellite with the oceans also had huge mountain ranges and vast deserts. But there were no cities, no lights on the night side, no sign of life.

The second world, the one on the edge of the habitable zone, also looked dark as we approached. “Waste of time,” said Aiko.

“We’ve come this far. I wouldn’t want to go back and tell Harlow we didn’t take a close look.”

“I think he’d understand.”

“I doubt it.”

“Ronda, he knows this is a futile run. He sent us out because he had no choice. He couldn’t ignore the signal, but he didn’t expect anything would come of it.”

“I didn’t realize you knew him that well.”

“Look, I don’t. But I know how these things work. We do stuff by the book.” She pressed her fingertips against her temples and tried to look as if she were taking me seriously. “The signal could have come from somewhere else farther on than this system. Maybe the signal just happened to be lined up so that it passed through here and eventually reached Marikim. Or maybe it was something bouncing around in the system back home. I don’t know. It’s happened before. But it’s pretty obvious it didn’t come from this place.”

“Let’s stay with it a bit.”

“I can give you another reason for continuing,” said Bryan. “There appears to be something in orbit.”

It was a ship.

The thing was considerably larger than the Brinkmann . A line of symbols was visible near the prow, presumably a designator, but I’d never seen anything that resembled them before. It had an inflated dark gray hull, with eight windows and a set of transmitters and receivers mounted near the forward section. “Look at the thrusters,” said Aiko. “That thing has to be FTL.”

“We’ve got it,” I said.

“I guess so, Ronda. But if it was the source of the transmission, it’s been here seven thousand years.”

“Bryan,” I said, “say hello to them. See if you get a response.” Please answer, I thought. If we get a reply, we’ve got aliens. Otherwise, we have an ancient wreck.

His lamps began blinking, indicating he was transmitting. Aiko looked my way. Her lips were pressed tight and her face had paled. It was the first time I’d seen her show any sign of nervousness. Then, Bryan’s voice: “They’re responding.” He put it on the speaker. A female voice that might have been human was talking, but I’d never heard the language before. After about a minute it stopped.

“Hello,” I leaned over the microphone. “Can you understand me?”

The voice answered, but I still could make nothing of it. “What do we do?” asked Aiko.

“Not sure. It’s a bit late to avoid letting them know we’re here.” I stared out at the ship. The hull was damaged in a few places, probably from collisions with rocks. The vehicle was now about two kilometers away. It had a hatch that looked about the right size to accommodate a human being. And I got the shock of my life when it opened.

But nobody appeared.

“Aiko, put us in a parallel orbit. Bryan, open a link to Harlow.”

“Link is up, Ronda.” I got pressed back in my chair as Aiko adjusted course.

“Harlow, we’ve found a ship. It’s in orbit around a world that appears to be lifeless. We’ll send an image.” I took a deep breath. “A couple of minutes ago they opened a hatch.” I glanced at Aiko. She nodded. “We’re going to go over and take a look. Will get back to you shortly.”

We eased in close. Then Aiko turned it over to Bryan, instructing him to maintain position. I went back to the microphone. “I wish we could speak with you.”

“It’s probably an AI,” said Bryan. “I’m working on it now.”

“Is it one of ours?”

Brian didn’t usually hesitate. But this time he did. “Yes. I believe it is.”

Aiko was wearing an I-told-you-so look.

“Apparently,” said Bryan, “this vehicle has been here at least seven thousand years. Considering the technology from that era, a voyage from any of those inhabited worlds would have taken decades. They had FTL, but it was crude. So who opened the hatch?”

I released my belt and started back to the storage locker for a pressure suit.

“Let me do this.” Aiko got up and started to follow.

“Why?”

“Suppose, after you get on board, it takes off?”

“I doubt it’s gone anywhere in a long time. I don’t think we need to worry.”

Aiko shook her head. “I’ve got this.”

“Let me check first. Make sure there’s no surprise. Then, if you want to come over—”

“Forget it, Ronda.” She pulled out one of the suits and began climbing into it.

“Aiko, I think you’re forgetting who’s in charge.”

Actually, she was. But after some more arguing she agreed I could accompany her. We got changed, pulled on jetpacks, and started for the airlock. “I’m not suggesting there’s any danger,” said Bryan, “but if you do not return, what do you wish me to do?”

“We’ll be in contact,” Aiko said. “And we’ll be back in a few hours. At most.”

“When your air supply runs out.”

“Good, Bryan. You can count.” She went into the airlock and I followed. “Keep the place warm.”

“Be careful,” he said.

We depressurized the airlock and opened the outer hatch. “You ready, Ronda?”

“Right behind you.”

The ship was about fifty meters away. She leaned out into the void, and stopped. “The inner hatch is also open.” In case there’d been any lingering doubt about something being alive in there. She pushed off the deck, drifted across to the other ship, and touched down on the hull. When I arrived a minute later she was already inside. We passed through into a cabin. Two tables were surrounded by about ten chairs. If there’d been any doubt the ship was designed for humans, it was shattered. Everything was of a size appropriate for Aiko and me. The chairs looked as if they had been comfortable, but when I touched one it was rock hard.

A passageway opened out of the rear of the cabin, and I couldn’t help watching it, as if someone might appear at any time. A silly notion, since we were in a vacuum, but I couldn’t help it. We went onto the bridge where we found two seats and a control panel with unfamiliar markings. Aiko took a long moment to inspect the pilot’s seat. “I wonder,” she said, “what would happen if we tried to start the engine?”

We returned to the main cabin and entered the passageway. It was lined with doors, four on each side and one at the rear. Aiko tried to open one, twisted the knob and pushed. She got nothing. I tried to help but we couldn’t move it. “Everything’s frozen,” she said. “Maybe locked as well.” She floated back out into the cabin. “We’ve got a cutter back in the ship. I’m going to get it. You want to come or wait here?”

“I’ll wait.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” She went out through the airlock.

I opened my channel to Bryan. “How are you doing with the AI? Am I going to be able to talk to her?”

“Yes. Give me a few more minutes.”

I drifted around the interior. This was obviously the source of the transmission. Had to be. But why use the radio? I couldn’t believe they didn’t have Hypercom communication even in those long gone days.