String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [39]
“So you are trapped here with us, then?” Shalla Kiiy asked, her voice evincing what Seven took for genuine concern.
“No,” Janeway said, and Seven was surprised that she was being so honest. If anyone had asked her, she would have advised the captain to keep some information private. Though they appeared peaceful, the Monorhans might turn violent at any moment. Though few in comparison to one hundred years ago, there were forty thousand Monorhans for every member of the crew of Voyager, which were not good odds. “We could get out of the system and then engage the engines in a short time. We’re not trapped. In fact, I do not wish to stay long if we can avoid it. The radiation from the dead star, what you call the Blue Eye, is the problem. Or part of it, anyway. We do not understand every aspect of the problem yet, but continue to investigate.”
“Sem,” Kiiy continued, “Ziv’s rih-hara-tan, told me that the ships launched before his may have been destroyed, too. Can you confirm this?”
“No,” the captain said. “Again, the radiation from the Blue Eye makes this difficult; however, what we have learned about the unique physical properties of your system makes it unlikely anyone else survived.” Captain Janeway hesitated for a moment, a sign that Seven recognized and that meant she was about to shift to a difficult topic. “You’ll forgive me for bringing up a delicate topic, Shalla, but I must ask…”
“Why we launched more than one ship without knowing the fate of the first?”
“Yes,” the captain said. “And without telling Captain Ziv.”
Seven noted that the buzz in Shalla Kiiy’s voice had almost entirely disappeared, a sign that the translator had mastered her accent. “What else would you have us do, Captain?” Kiiy asked. “We have no other options at this time. If it had been up to me, everyone would know everything, but it is not. I am only one of thirteen on the council—one for each city.”
“We can see them now that we’re in orbit,” Janeway said. Seven glanced at her scanner and saw the Monorhan world map stretched out flat, each of the cities a tiny jewel nestled along one of the coastlines of Monorha’s four minute continents. Though sixty million was a tiny number compared with the billions on Earth, the planet could not have supported much more. Much of the world was covered in shallow seas, another factor that accounted for how the biosphere could absorb so much radiation. If the landmass-to-water ratio had been higher, Monorha would have died long ago.
“So now that you are here,” Kiiy asked, “what will you do? Ziv has indicated that you might be able to help us in some other manner. If not by giving us the transluminal drive, then how?”
“First,” the captain said, “by examining the Blue Eye. Perhaps we can learn something about the link between its properties and the other peculiarities we’re finding here in this system.”
“You do not think it is a causal relationship?” Kiiy asked, a question Seven found to be insightful. Obviously, the shalla was not a simple, self-centered politician.
“It seems likely,” Captain Janeway replied, “but we’ve learned not to make assumptions about such things. A closer examination is required.”
“Very well,” Kiiy replied. “But are there any other, more practical recommendations you can make?”
“On a more practical level,” the captain continued, “we would like to send some engineers down to your planet so they can study the energy shields you’ve erected around your cities. We may be able to offer some suggestions that would make them more effective.”
“Ah,” Shalla Kiiy said. “Then I take it that Ziv has already told you about our shields.”
“He has not,” Captain Janeway said. “But as soon as we were in orbit we detected them with our sensors.” Though she did not need to refamiliarize herself, Seven pulled up the scans in case the captain wished to review them. The shield generators were, in a word, ineffective. Given the general level of technology the Monorhans exhibited, the design was clever, perhaps even inspired, but against the radiation levels the