"Good morning."
"Hi. I'm going to put us at a quarter G for a while, so I can get a shower, and we can get things put away and under control. We can always go back to zero G when we're sleeping if you like."
"Sounds good." He pointed his feet towards the floor in anticipation. Nancy started the engines, and the accelerometer gradually rose to 0.25, as Dan settled onto the floor behind her. He stood up slowly, getting his bearings under the weak gravity. "I'm going to grab a real breakfast, anything that doesn't look like a nutrabar, then I'll start storing and cataloging the Arcot items."
"Great. I'll be in the shower."
Nancy washed her hair twice, then scrubbed her body thoroughly. She spent almost 40 minutes in the shower, and when she came out, she was surprised to see Dan, still sitting at the breakfast table. He was eating beef stroganoff, and savoring every bite.
"Nancy, this is the best food I've ever tasted."
"You didn't like it much on the way out." she laughed.
"I know. Nothing like a week of nutrabars to refine your palate. This is practically ambrosia."
Nancy selected a steak and potato dinner and put it in the microwave, as Dan took the last bite of noodles. "You go ahead; you don't have to wait for me."
"Ok - I want to get that stuff put away. I hate having a messy house." Dan left, and Nancy ate her breakfast slowly. It was delicious, just as he said. She put the plastic container in the disposal unit, recycled the dishes, and went into the lounge, where Dan was sending a message to NASA.
"I forgot to mention this when I talked about the other civilizations that were destroyed. This is important. The Arcots always send a reconnaissance probe 100 years, more or less, after the destroyer. It's just a small camera with a radio link. It flies by the planet to make sure it has been reduced to a white hot cinder. You'll want to intercept it, and destroy it, before it enters our solar system. No point in letting them know we're still alive."
Dan turned to Nancy, then back towards the big screen, which held a frozen image of the control room at NASA. This gave the illusion of talking directly to people back on Earth. "Nancy's coming in right now. Any words of wisdom for the people back home?"
Nancy turned towards the screen. "I never thought a shower, and a reconstituted NASA meal, would be so wonderful." She sat down on the couch next to Dan. "Nothing else really. We're on our way home, and the rest is up to Explorer 43 and her crew. We wish them the best of luck."
Dan turned off the mike. "I just thought of that recon camera, and I wanted them to know about it. I've got a lot more work to do, so I'll be in the supply rooms down below."
"Thank you. I think I can give you a hand. If we work together we'll be done in a couple hours."
They put all the supplies away, sent an inventory to NASA, then watched a movie. After another meal that was almost as sumptuous as breakfast, a message came in from Mission Control. Nancy played it on the big screen in the lounge. People were running around the control room, pouring champagne over each other. Julie spoke for the cast.
"As you can see, we're having a party down here." Somebody started pouring wine over her red hair, and it trickled down her face. She turned and grabbed the bottle. "Don't waste it!" After taking several swallows she resumed her play by play. "As I was saying, we're having a bit of a party. We saw you reduce the most advanced ship in the galaxy to nothing more than a powerless rock, and we're confident we can divert that rock before it hits Earth. The entire planet would be celebrating with us tonight, but they are still in the dark about all this. The president plans to tell the whole story tomorrow night on prime time tv. But hey, we have the inside scoop! Veni vidi vici. We came, we saw, we conquered. Actually I should convert that to second person plural, since you did all the work, but I don't know how to conjugate Latin verbs." She laughed, and her green eyes sparkled; then she became uncharacteristically somber. "Please don't think we are insensitive to the death of your friend. We offer our deepest condolences. NASA has already notified his family. It's just that, well, we lost one person, and saved the Earth. From that perspective, we can't help but celebrate. I hope you understand." Julie drank the rest of her bottle and went looking for more. "Andrew, you take over."
Andrew stepped forward, champagne dripping from his short black hair and spotting his wire rim glasses. "Nancy, we've prepared a short video that we want to broadcast to the stars. So far we have been listening - reluctant to transmit - on the theory that the other civilization will be more advanced than us, with better technology and more transmitting capabilities - but obviously things are different now. We need to warn any up-and-coming civilizations. We can't use words or symbols, so we have put together a 3 minute animation. We'd like to play it for you and get your thoughts." The screen was replaced with a picture of an Arcot standing on an undersized planet out in space. He had a large rock in his hand. Andrew provided some commentary to go with the images. "The first thing the arrogant Arcots do is send pictures of themselves. So another civilization will recognize this guy as an Arcot. I think they will be able to put it all together." The Arcot threw the rock, and for the next two minutes it flew threw space against a moving background of stars. "We're trying to convey a sense of distance here. They can send their destruction all the way across the galaxy." Finally the rock slammed into a planet and blew it up. "I think that speaks for itself, wouldn't you say?" The video ended, and Andrew was back. "We'd like to send that, over and over, to any areas of the galaxy that might spawn life. Let us know what you think."
Julie came back with a fresh bottle in her hand. "Come home as soon as you can. We're going to have a ticker tape parade for you - if you don't mind. Nicely done Explorer 29. Nicely done. This is Houston, signing off."
"That's a nice video." commented Dan. "Very effective."
"Yes indeed. A picture is worth a thousand words. Especially if you don't speak the language." Nancy stood up and motioned to her room. "I'd like to be alone again, just for an hour or two. I promise, I'm not going to sulk all the way back to Earth; I just have to come to terms with Garvin's death. It seems so pointless."
"You know the mission would not have been possible without him. He literally saved the world."
"I know. That doesn't change the fact that I'll miss him terribly. I'm going to play some Mozart, and probably cry through the whole thing, and then I'll come out, and we'll have dinner, and play some cribbage."
"You know I'm here for you." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, and noticed the tears welling up in her eyes. "I'll be here."
Later that evening Nancy sent a reply back to Houston. "We certainly don't blame you for having a party. We're having one too, though of course it is tempered by the loss of our friend. But our planet survives, with all its history, and all its potential. We're taking a half G path home, and we should arrive in 98 days."
She turned off the com system, went into her bedroom, and got undressed. "It's going to be a long 98 days," she thought, "but at least I have a planet to go home to. Thank you Garvin." She pulled the sheets up around her neck. "From this day forward, we have to be very careful. When the Arcots find out they were not successful, they'll try again, with better technology." She rolled over onto her side. "Very careful. Lord protect our little blue planet from little green men."