"Captain," Arp called. "I've got something I think you should see."

Telnik noted that his Scanner Rank Two did not sound happy. "What is it?"

"I'm doing that planetary scan you ordered, and I found an instability in the planet's crust. They're going to have a ground quake soon."

"The planet is still tectonically active, isn't it? They get quakes all the time."

"This is a big one."

"Where?"

"Trailing edge of their largest ocean. Off the coast of the Japan province."

That's one of the high population density areas, Telnik recalled.

"How big?" Telnik looked at the data for himself, and hissed. "Yeah, on a low-tech world? That could be a problem. I'd better check in with the Boss. How soon does that cut loose?"

"Anywhere from twenty to...thirty-two days from now. I'll be able to refine that when the time gets closer."

Telnik chewed air for a moment and wiped his whiskers. "All right, keep me informed." He thought at a control. "Ship, connect me to Tomsun aboard the New Hope."

"Connecting to Nick Tomsun."

There was no response for a bit, which wasn't surprising. The boss was a busy guy, and he wasn't used to high-tech comms. Eventually Telnik got a text message, and shortly thereafter the call went through.

The human was blinking more than usual and his fur was askew. "Captain Telnik, what's...up?" He opened his mouth wide for a moment in the middle of speaking.

"Boss, are you all right?"

"Hm? Yeah, sorry. I just woke up."

Oh, that was his race's version of a yawn. "Did I interrupt your rest cycle, Boss?"

"Yeah, you did. It's okay."

"Sorry, Boss. I assumed your comm would refuse calls while you slept."

"Yeah, that would make sense. Anyway, what's up?"

"The planetary scan detected a large earthquake coming up soon. I was wondering what the human response is going to be. I'm not picking up any news about it."

"An earthquake?" Boss blinked again, seemingly more alert now. "How soon?"

"Twenty to thirty-two days."

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Tomsun slumped in relief, then said nothing for a moment. "How big and where?"

"Roughly 470 Bardi—sorry, I don't know Earth units for this. Offshore from Japan province."

Tomsun squeezed his eyes shut. "Look under Richter Scale."

Telnik did so, then ran the conversion. "About a 9.3 to 9.6."

Tomsun's eyes flew open. "Expletive."

"Yeah, that's why I commed."

"Contact the Japanese government, tell them about the quake."

"Will they take preventative action?"

Tomsun blinked again. "Do you mean 'mitigating'? ...I think that's the word..."

"I mean stop it from happening," Telnik told the human carefully, keeping it simple. There were still a few translation glitches with the human language.

Tomsun's mouth fell open and he said nothing. Telnik was about to prompt him when he spoke again.

"This is too important and I'm too tired. It's not happening tonight, right?" Tenlik nodded, and the human continued. "For now, warn Japan, answer their questions and we'll talk about it in more detail tomorrow."

"Will do, Boss. Get your rest."

Tomsun cut the connection.

* *

The humans had set up a dedicated comm station for communications with the visiting ships. They could still call others directly, of course, but it was easier letting the humans route the comms than building a fresh interface between technologies every time. The Japanese government was eager to take his comm, and Telnik didn't have to wait for more than a few moments.

"Hello, Captain Telnik. I am Kadeko Seiji, one of the Ministers of the government. The Prime Minister will be very happy to take your call, but is unavailable for another eleven minutes due to a prior engagement. He apologizes for the delay. How may I assist you in the meantime?"

Telnik decided to come right to the point. "My ship scanned your planet, and we found a large earthquake building. I commed to warn your government and you can prepare."

"May I have details of this threat?"

"Using your latitude and longitude, and depth in kilometers, the center point is located at..." Telnik recited the numbers. "We estimate twenty to thirty-two days, and will be able to improve the prediction as the time approaches. The magnitude, on your Richter scale, will be 9.3 to 9.6."

The Minister froze for just a moment. "Captain, did you say 9.3 to 9.6?"

"Yes."

"Is there any possibility of translation error?"

"I rechecked before calling you."

"How certain are you?"

"The position of the center could shift along the fault line running the length of your islands, up to 40 kilometers. Even for us, the collision of tectonic plates is extremely complex."

"I mean, how certain are you that this will happen?"

Telnik thought that question over. "Ah, I see. I believe you would say 100%. It will happen, without intervention."

"Intervention?"

Boss said to answer their questions. "Yes. It is possible to release some of the energy in a controlled manner, and reduce the magnitude."

"We do not have the means to do this. Captain Telnik, are you saying that you can stop this earthquake from happening?"

"Unfortunately, not for certain. Intervention carries risk. We might end up triggering the quake early. I do not intend to intervene without your permission."

"What is the probability of successful intervention?"

"Roughly seventy to ninety percent. My scanning officer can give you more exact figures. Minister, the purpose of this first call is to warn you about the quake, in case you did not know it was coming."

"We did not. We have models and some predictions of our own, but none of them match your estimates. Thank you for this warning, Captain. Could you please send the relevant information to us?"

"Of course. We'll include maps of the plates' compositions and structural strength, though it might take a while to convert to your data format."

"Would it be possible for you to send us a display that uses your own technology?"

"I'll see what I can do," Telnik replied diplomatically. "If you'll excuse me, I need to return to my other duties. Mr. Tomsun instructed me to contact you and give you the warning, and I will talk with him about it further tomorrow. My apologies to your Prime Minister. I'm sure we will be speaking again soon."

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