<\/p>\n
Jim nodded at me, and gestured to Uhura.\u00a0 \u201cPlay it back for Hani,\u201d he instructed.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll view it in my ready room.\u201d\u00a0 I followed him into the room next door, Spock on our heels.\u00a0 Bones, already there, greeted me with an uncharacteristically short nod.<\/p>\n I watched as a striking woman appeared on the screen; her features were humanoid, though with a distinct ridge rising from the center of her crown, parting her brown hair down the middle.\u00a0 Her dark eyes were larger and more pronounced than humans, and artfully enhanced with dramatic make-up.\u00a0 She addressed the Captain of the Enterprise<\/i> with crisp, though slightly halting, English, disdain in her voice, and it was clear this wasn\u2019t their first conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cCaptain Kirk, thank you for supplying the passenger list as we requested.\u00a0 Are we to assume it is accurate?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOf course,\u201d was Jim\u2019s reply.<\/p>\n \u201cThen can you explain why the Federation \u2013 and you personally \u2013 have attempted to represent yourself as the highest ranking person aboard your ship, when your own records show a female passenger who is more than 200 years old, and thus obviously the Elder Female present?\u00a0\u00a0 Why are you trying to usurp her authority?\u00a0 Did you expect that the Magdena Magna would meet with anyone of lesser rank?\u00a0 And a male, substituting for a female?\u201d<\/p>\n On the recording, Jim barely missed a beat.\u00a0 \u201cMy deepest apologies, madam.\u00a0 I assure you, we had no intention of offending you, or the people of Ardros.\u00a0 Our\u2026 Elder Female rarely\u2026 participates in these matters.\u00a0 She has delegated such responsibilities for\u2026 many years.\u201d<\/p>\n The woman looked distinctly dubious.\u00a0 \u201cWe are quite aware of the prevalence of males in your Starfleet, Captain.\u00a0 But that an Elder Female would consign such a level of trust to \u2026someone like you\u2026 I find highly unlikely.\u00a0 You will please tell your Elder Surat that we require confirmation of her participation before we can proceed.\u00a0\u00a0 I will await her<\/span> response.\u201d A pointed stress of the \u201cher\u201d.<\/p>\n The recording ended.<\/p>\n I stood there staring at the now-blank screen.\u00a0 My mouth may have been hanging open.\u00a0 Jim spoke.\u00a0 \u201cFirst impressions, Hani?\u201d<\/p>\n First impressions?\u00a0 Was he kidding?\u00a0 All that came to mind were questions.\u00a0 I asked them.\u00a0 \u201cWho is this woman?\u00a0 How does she know who I am?\u00a0 And\u2026 why are you trying to con her into thinking I\u2019m\u2026 someone else?\u201d<\/p>\n Bones lifted a hand in a gesture that seemed to say, \u201cI told you so.\u201d\u00a0 I wondered what that was all about.<\/p>\n Jim\u2019s answer was circuitous.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s been no contact with Ardros for 40 years.\u00a0 The Federation is bound and determined to open the door, and we\u2019ve been given the diplomatic mission.\u00a0\u00a0 Trouble is, the Ardrossians haven\u2019t exactly been rolling out the welcome mat.\u00a0 All we know from this exchange is that they think you\u2019re very old, based on your original birthdate, and they think women, and very old women specifically, are\u2026 special.\u00a0 Anything else that strikes you?\u201d<\/p>\n Hmmm. I hesitated, bit off my next thought, which was: geez, this is interplanetary diplomacy and Jim just made stuff up off the top of his head.<\/i>\u00a0 Then again, we were talking about Jim Kirk.<\/p>\n I asked to see it again, looking and listening more closely.<\/p>\n I told them what struck me.\u00a0 \u201cMatriarchy.\u00a0 Big time.\u00a0 What\u2019s up with the passenger list, though?\u00a0 I think\u2026 she looks kind of\u2026 shocked, actually.\u00a0 Like maybe they were just making demands to be bitchy, and stumbled onto something \u2013 or someone – they didn\u2019t expect?\u201d I paused, looked around at my audience.\u00a0 Was I adding anything of value, or just parroting what they already knew?\u00a0 Jim stood gripping a chair back, Bones slouched defiantly in his chair, Spock sat with tented fingertips, looking Spock-like.\u00a0 I decided to follow my instincts.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I had to guess, I get the feeling they\u2019ve been deliberately giving you a hard time, maybe didn\u2019t take you seriously?\u00a0 But then they found out you\u2019ve got this\u2026 Elder aboard, or someone they take to be an elder, and it\u2019s like some authority figure\u2019s here after all, when they thought they could get away with bad behavior.\u00a0 I think you\u2019re right, Jim.\u00a0 For what it\u2019s worth, if they have such a distrust of men \u2013 for whatever reason \u2013 you\u2019re not going to get very far by yourself.\u00a0 But can\u2019t you take some women crew members with you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what I said,\u201d Bones muttered.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Ardrossians have dictated the terms,\u201d Jim ignored his friend.\u00a0 \u201cThey stated very clearly they would allow the three highest-ranking officers on board to visit.\u00a0 And now, you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMe.\u00a0 Because they think I\u2019m old.\u00a0 Come on, I don\u2019t look that old,\u201d I joked lamely, unable to resist fishing for a compliment.<\/p>\n Spock, for whom gratuitous compliments were illogical, responded.\u00a0 \u201cA case of faulty assumptions.\u00a0 They note your birthdate, and accept the validity of the records.\u00a0 Since their request could not have been anticipated, we would have no reason or opportunity to manipulate such data.\u00a0\u00a0 And further, they infer both authority and wisdom from age, not an unreasonable inference.\u00a0 We have no way of knowing their own lifespan, but judging from the humanoid appearance of this one representative, I would predict the normal age range might be somewhere between that of humans and Vulcans.\u00a0 In any case, a 200 year old person would certainly indicate some elder status.\u00a0 Thus your relatively young and\u2026attractive appearance would be, we can infer, additionally impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n Son of a gun.\u00a0 He slid the compliment in there after all.\u00a0 I stifled a pleased smile.<\/p>\n I asked the obvious, pressing question: \u201cWhat\u2019s the story with this place, anyway?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 Bones, finally speaking.\u00a0 \u201cWe don\u2019t know a damn thing, except they don\u2019t trust men and they\u2019ve latched onto you because they think you\u2019re a 200 year old wise woman.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim cut in.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s why we think you can help us, Hani.\u00a0 For whatever reason, they think you\u2019re someone important.\u00a0 They want you to be part of the delegation.\u00a0 I think we should\u2026oblige them.\u00a0 It could give us an edge.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m telling you, it\u2019s a bad idea, Jim,\u201d Bones snapped.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m aware of your opinion, Doctor.\u201d Jim, equally cold, and with the force of command, shut him down with brusque finality.\u00a0 Jim turned back to me and launched into the Cliff Notes version of what had already gone on, pacing the room, bouncing a fist off chair backs and tabletop as he circled.<\/p>\n A Starfleet supply ship \u2013 the Cassandra<\/i> – had crashed onto the surface of Ardros, a planet long closed to the Federation.\u00a0 Starfleet, which always looked after its own, was demanding an investigation.<\/p>\n The Federation, muddying the waters, pointed out that Ardros had ceased communications 35 years before, after that first contact, and insisted that any contact must be primarily diplomatic.<\/p>\n Through some mysterious back-channel efforts, Ardros had agreed to discuss the possibility of a landing party, but so far it wasn\u2019t going well at all.<\/p>\n They\u2019d already been negotiating with the Ardrossian representative for hours, trying to arrange a meeting with the head of the government, the Magdena Magna.\u00a0 The rep kept coming back with an endless series of seemingly pointless demands.\u00a0 The latest had been to see the list of the ship\u2019s passengers.\u00a0 Jim complied, under heavy pressure from the Federation to make nice.<\/p>\n And the entire effort was apparently complicated by an unusually sparse set of historical records.<\/p>\n \u201cHaven\u2019t you been able to find out anything else, Spock?\u00a0 Anything at all?\u201d\u00a0 Jim asked.<\/p>\n Spock shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI have sent two separate requests for additional information.\u00a0 Almost all files relating to Ardros, and to that first contact by Starfleet, are sealed.\u00a0 The only records they are giving us access to are so heavily redacted, they\u2019re virtually useless.\u201d<\/p>\n He paused, then recapped what they knew, for my benefit.\u00a0 \u201cThirty five years ago, the U.S.S. Nimitz<\/i> encountered engineering problems.\u00a0 The nearest planet was Ardros, which, according to their scans, appeared to have a source of dilithium, which was needed for their repairs.<\/p>\n \u201cTheir request to Ardros to send a team to the planet\u2019s surface was granted \u2013 reluctantly, it appears.\u00a0 There they found a highly advanced, highly matriarchal society.<\/p>\n \u201cThe details are not available, but some sort of incident occurred.\u00a0 Of the three member landing party \u2013 the captain, chief engineer, and an ensign, only the ensign managed to return.\u00a0 He reported a deadly and unprovoked attack by the women of the planet, though he managed to bring back just enough dilithium to complete the repairs.\u00a0 Based on the hostile nature of the civilization, the Federation declared Ardros off limits, which may have been a moot point, since Ardros itself completely cut off all interplanetary communications afterward.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim took up the report.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019ve managed to construct a very effective communications shield since then, that blocks all probes, all scans, and all unsolicited contact.\u00a0\u00a0 I can only assume there\u2019ve been some under the table feelers the last few years, since they agreed to even talk to us.\u00a0 We\u2019re caught in the middle here, between Starfleet demanding to know what happened to the Cassandra\u2019s crew, and the Federation having some strategic agenda they\u2019re not sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n He turned back to Spock. \u201cAny progress on getting around or penetrating that shield?\u00a0 I don\u2019t like the idea that they control ship to ground communications.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve asked Lt. Uhura to run an analysis of communication patterns.\u00a0 She should have something to report by now.\u201d\u00a0 With that, Spock headed for the door to the Bridge.\u00a0 Jim and Bones followed without comment, and with no one instructing me otherwise, I did, too.<\/p>\n Uhura did have information.<\/p>\n \u201cIt appears that our transmissions are being bounced from point to point,\u201d she observed as she studied her screen.\u00a0 \u201cBut the pathway seems to vary each time.\u00a0 There doesn\u2019t seem to be any use tracking the routing, either; the patterns appear to be completely random.\u201d<\/p>\n Spock bent to look over her shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u00a0 Well done, Lieutenant.\u00a0 I would infer, then, that there is a series of stationary positions, perhaps communications towers, creating a web across the planet.\u00a0 Very curious.\u00a0 In order to have the effect we\u2019re seeing, it would suggest a line-of-sight system of beacon towers creating a low-atmospheric net of omni-directional frequency pulses.\u00a0 That, in turn, would suggest a massive infrastructure investment.\u00a0 Which in turn raises questions about the resources, both labor and mineral, available on Ardros, Captain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe more pressing question, Spock,\u201d Jim said, \u201cCan we penetrate it?\u00a0 Can we communicate with the ship while we\u2019re on the planet\u2019s surface?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe randomly-generated frequency paths, changing as they do with every transmission, would be almost impossible to predict,\u201d Spock said thoughtfully.\u00a0 \u201cWe could possibly break the code, given enough data, but with the low volume of messages being exchanged, it could take days to isolate the algorithms they\u2019re using.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019re dead in the water,\u201d Jim scowled.<\/p>\n I was trying to follow this.\u00a0 \u201cSo\u2026\u201d I broke off, not knowing how to share the outdated analogy that came to mind.\u00a0 The way I was understanding things, in essence Ardros had designed the ultimate diva system.\u00a0 It never answered the phone when it rang, rarely checked its messages and only returned calls when – or if – it felt like it.<\/p>\n In practical terms, that meant that whoever beamed down to the planet\u2019s surface would have no direct communications with the ship, and thus would be entirely dependent on the kindness of strangers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n < previous\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 next ><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" < previous\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 next > \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHani, we need you on the bridge.\u00a0 Now.\u201d\u00a0 Talk about words I never expected to hear.\u00a0 I came, of course, as quickly as I could. \u00a0Jim was there, conferring with … Continue reading ![\"300px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17\"](\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/300px-The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHani, we need you on the bridge.\u00a0 Now.\u201d\u00a0 Talk about words I never expected to hear.\u00a0 I came, of course, as quickly as I could. \u00a0Jim was there, conferring with Uhura and Spock.<\/p>\n