Chapter 14: I am Neon (SOTU)

=Chapter 14=

Dr. Hilburge r was pleasantly surprised as he checked his personal messages. Not only did H’Thichi the Klack med tech keep his word and contact OOCA but he managed to have all fifty people of the station support staff sign the complaint.

What was even more pleasing to him was the reply of the current duty science counselor to the Assembly :

Dear Dr. Hilburger,

let me assure you the matter raised by team members, regarding your current duty station and the your sudden loss of your second lead position has raised concerns and is under full investigation. I assure you personally that you will be kept informed.

with best regards,

Kakli Jenga, Master PhD 1st Class - ASCttA

(Active Science Councilor to the Assembly)

After he had poured himself a sniffer of real Terran brandy, he tilted the vari form recliner into an almost horizontal position and intended to relax a few hours. He was after all relieved from his duties as second lead and the Kilonian obviously did not want his planetology expertise or needed his continued participation. While the Stellaris would have loved to find out what really was out there, he too had personal pride and he felt that this unceremonious and off hand dismissal was more than just an insult. The Kilonian didn’t even have the courtesy to let him know about it in person and face to face. Heck he would have stepped aside if Chimeer really felt that it was necessary.

“System, dim lights to five percent. Open view port and play music selection fourteen. Begin with Handel’s Water music.”

Uplifted by the beautiful baroque music from Earth’s distant past, he took a sip of the golden liquid. He had opened his nose and savored the aroma of the quite expensive natural sourced and traditional produced liquor. If that holier than thou female scientist wanted to be second in command then she could have the job for all he cared. Since he was a Stellaris, he could not openly smile, but he still felt quite amused. George was certain that the woman had not thought her demand completely through. The second in command was not just a fancy position with a little more pay, it was also a working position with lots of administrative tasks that came with running an outpost assignment. He wondered if she even knew how to file the equipment requests, the maintenance reports and all the many other little things that came with the added credits to the pay.

He was just about drifting off when the system called him. “Dr. Hilburger please come to the Hangar deck. We need you to pilot the HERMES.”

Not that he would even need the HERMES out there, he was by design perfectly protected, he was cleared to use it.“I am sorry, Dr. Chimeer. I am off duty and I am intoxicated.”

He heard Dr. Bloch’s voice.“Then tell him to be detoxified and report up here right away.”

“According to our rules and regulations, I do not have to subject myself to any medical procedure and only the MD has the authority to order any medical treatment if I am on duty. Which I am not, as the second in Command you of course know that. You are in charge of the crew roster and scheduling after all.”

-Stormrider Hangar Bay-

“Have they all gone insane?” Chimeer wanted to know after Hilburger disconnected. “What was he talking about?”

Claudia shrugged.“I have no idea, but I still would need the samples. I have the feeling we are missing something and the answer is in a detailed bio chemical analysis of the gases and perhaps yet unknown molecule combinations. How does Neon generate these discharges at will and direct them so precisely, these discharges must follow some sort of filament. Is that not so?”

Chimeer clacked nervously. He was still utterly devoted to Claudia, but he had to admit that the attitude of two of his team members could not easily be dismissed. He did remember Claudia’s effect on him when he met her, but it could not be denied that only after she had arrived was there a breakthrough. to the Holdian he said.“Will it be a lot of work to modify the HERMES unit for me?”

“No, Dr. Chimeer it would be impossible. We do not have a battle dresser with armor forge function like the Union Marines. However, we have a HERMES already configured for Kilonian use. All we have to do is uncrate it, power it up and test its systems.”

“How long will that take?” “About an hour.”

Claudia accepted that solution. “I guess we can live with an hour delay. I am going back up to the lab and check on the satellite drone images.”

-Seneca Planet, Headquarters Science Central-

Larina Silir personally went from her office in the 566th floor of the Science Corps headquarters commonly known as the Ivory tower to the Personnel allocation center on the 231st floor. This was a busy department and occupied the entire floor of the huge building.

The Union had always placed paramount importance to science and the entire society could be described as technological and science focused. Thus in scope the scientific efforts undertaken by the Union were second only to defense. Under the auspice of the lofty science council there were two branches, the explorer corps and the science corps. Both departments had seperate tasks but worked closely together, often sharing resources and personnel. Each corps maintained its own fleet of space ships and had many million beings working for them on nearly countless science projects in all fields of science.

Larina walked by a Cermilian who was in the process of staffing a science cruiser for a mission to bio assess a newly surveyed planet in the Core ward sector of the M-0 galaxy. On another work desk, a small framed human with exceptionally big eyes was working on the personnel requests for a hidden anthropological observation post where scientists watched a primitive society that was on the verge of discovering nuclear weapons.

She went inside the office of the sector coordinator. The little green Ariolou already expected her. He was perfectly human proportioned but only about fifty centimeters tall, had a somewhat elongated conical shaped head and pointed ears. His eyes were bright red and his skin a bright poison green shade. There wasn’t a single hair on the Ariolou’s head.

He didn’t waste time on greetings, they both had exchanged them earlier while she had called him. He hopped onto the surface of his desk to be somewhat on the same level as she was and said.“Dr. Bloch was invited by Dr. Chimeer. He was one of her star pupils and had spend some time as her assistant. It appears, Chimeer had the notion that there is life, sentient life on that gas world but could not deliver anything tangible. He then called her, Dr. Bloch that is.”

I talked with the dean of New Cambridge university. Professor Delkins was utterly surprised hearing that she had traveled off planet and told me that this was completely out of character. So why did she heed his call? She declined an invitation to the Hive of Minds with the explanation that she didn’t want to travel to Pluribus even just once.”

The green Ariolou spread his small arms. “I did some digging too and it appears her scientific star was fading and the real reason she declined the invitation was that she feared closer academic scrutiny of her work. There are indications of plagiarism in her published papers. Maybe she wasn’t as brilliant as she wanted everyone to know. Finding a new life form on a planet that even a Hotzie expert deemed uninteresting and free of life.”

“Create a dossier on her. I am going to New Cambridge and speak to a few people who know her, I don’t want to condemn her on foregone conclusions.”