Keeper of the Sleeping Minds

Arriving in orbit

Arriving in orbit

We never found out what happened to Gianna. Maybe she died of natural causes. Maybe it was too much for her to live with the guilt of what we were going to do. This was Tina's favourite version, and maybe she was right. I'm aware Gianna could have sent our mission astray hundreds of times if she had been so inclined. Anyway, Tina found her in her room, already cold, shortly after Lynn's announcement of our arrival. There was no mind left to save. But there was no replacement either. We didn't need an astrophysicist anymore, orbiting the target planet already.

We spent the equivalent of two earth months in orbit, preparing final approach. Dany and I were sure we would start waking the sleepers any moment, but it didn't happen. I asked Tina, counting on inside information from the bridge, but she seemed as perplexed as me. Instead of a replacement for Gianna, Steve made Dany wake up someone specialised in the Gliese aliens. His name was Faro and he knew the footage of Giotto 3 by heart. Somehow, I doubted this made him an expert of what awaited us on the planet, but nobody asked for my opinion.

Faro kept everyone busy monitoring the planet. Dany, Tina and I ended up keeping watch at sensors, trying to track individuals of the alien species during their daily routine. Reluctant at first but with fast building fascination I dived into this new job. The Giotto scientists had been right, the aliens showed social behaviour, living in clustered settlements, following activity patterns reminiscent of rural villagers back on medieval earth. Not that I was an expert, but all the reading done while waiting for the next jump came in handy now. Dany caught something of my excitement. Soon, the two of us spent long hours in Faro's observation room.

It was obvious Steve was getting impatient with the proceedings. He accused Faro of slowing the mission with unnecessary studies. Faro insisted on a collection of basic data before deciding on a landing site. Lynn supported him while Pierre stood back. We finally got another week of observation. During this time, Steve decided on strategy. We would land near one of the smaller villages a bit outside of the populated areas and start to take over the bodies of the residents. From there it should be easy to build a human stronghold and find carriers for all the minds, one by one.

I felt bad for the aliens. They seemed to be a peaceful race, living rural lives dominated by the planets cycle. There was no evidence for warfare nor industry. We were about to bring great change to their unsuspecting world, something they would have no possibility to resist. I also worried about Steve's personal ambitions. Would he be ready to give up absolute leadership as soon as we started to transplant? We shipped a lot of important minds after all, former political leaders, members of the government and wealthy backers of the endeavour.

Then, the week was over. We'd spent most of it in stationary orbit above our target village, collecting data, checking out landing sites and, finally, waking up the advance team. It was smaller than expected, only three guards to guarantee the safety of the reconnaissance mission. We loaded up the shuttle with twenty sleepers in their pods. Dany and I were brought along to revive them on the surface. Lynn was charged with bringing this first detachment down to planet. Steve stayed aboard with Tina. He made her responsible for watching the minds and sleepers singlehanded. She didn't mind.