The Dreaming Oceans of San Miguel

by James Vincett

  The security officer nodded. Van Zant looked at Mitchell and then back at Talbot with no expression on his face. “Very good, Captain.”

  “After Lieutenant Commander Mitchell and his team search and secure the Lalande, the remaining science staff will review the work the Lalande’s crew had already accomplished. Dr. Vargus, I’d like you to coordinate.”

  “If it’s all the same to you, Captain, I’d like to join the survey of the islands, if Commander Kessler doesn’t mind.”

  Talbot shot a glance at Kessler, who shrugged. “Very good, Dr. Vargus,” Talbot said. “Dr. Orolo? Would you like to investigate the Lalande’s science?”

  “Yes, Captain. I’d be pleased to do so,” she said.

  “Very good, Dr. Orolo. Lieutenant Kuusik? Let’s enter the atmosphere. Plot a course to the submarine.”

  Chapter 3: Charge and Go

  Kessler stood at the edge of one of the smaller ventral airlocks as the doors slid open. The whining of the Solstice’s engines filled his ears. He immediately smelled the salty air and felt the humidity. Five meters below, the turquoise water glinted in the morning light.

  Absolutely beautiful.

  The Solstice hovered over the submersible, and Kessler saw the bow of the watercraft lodged in the outer reef of a small atoll.

  “Move the Solstice back out over the water, away from the reef,” Kessler called out.

  “Aye,” came Lieutenant Kuusik's reply over the ship's intercom.

  He stripped off his boots and coveralls, then pushed off the edge of the airlock and dove into the water below.

  The water was blue, slightly salty, and warm.

  Perfect.

  He surfaced and swam toward the watercraft, which listed slightly to port. Kessler crawled up onto the sub. He had used one before, during the survey of another world. Designed for fast surface travel as well as a submersible, the watercraft was fifteen meters long and three meters wide. It had a range of a thousand kilometers and could withstand 100 atmospheres of pressure.

  Sweet! He turned the wheel on the hatch and pulled it open. As he glanced inside, a technician, Tech Specialist Kara Wong, dropped down onto the sub using a line suspended from the airlock. Unlike Kessler, she kept her coveralls and boots on, and carried a toolkit.

  “What do you think, Specialist?”

  “The hull seems intact,” she said. “If it wasn't, it would have sunk long ago.”

  Smartass. Kessler entered the sub feet first and dropped down into the interior deck. He inspected the cabin as Specialist Wong crawled through the hatch and moved aft.

  The forward section had a seat, control stick, and harness for the operator. Screens and consoles surrounded the seat. A clear dome comprised the front of the watercraft. Just aft of the control station, computer and survey equipment covered the bulkhead above metal benches. Aft of the computer, set into the bulkhead of the sub, were three locks for hard pressure suits, two on the starboard side and one on the port side. Only one pressure suit, on the starboard side, remained. Duffels and bags lay around the metal benches and the suit locks. He opened one to see clothes and other personal effects. The whole cabin was seven meters long.

  Specialist Wong knelt at an aft control panel and plugged in a diagnostic computer. She pressed a few buttons on the device. “This craft’s systems are completely operational. The motor needs a charge, but that’s it. I would recommended a visual hull inspection, but everything seems fine here.” She turned and looked at Kessler and glanced at his chest. “I’ll get a power line down here and supervise a recharge.”

  “Very good, Specialist. Proceed.” Kessler looked around the cabin and found a dive mask and a gill-breather.

  He climbed onto the top of the sub. The Solstice hovered overhead, her engines whining. Kessler dove into the water again and swam along the hull of the sub performing a visual inspection. As he swam through the water he noticed several jellyfish, hand-size and mushroom-shaped, begin to cluster around the hull.

  “Cord! Where are you?”

  Mother?

  Kessler looked around. Besides the sub, only the reef was visible. He looked into the depths; the water changed to deeper shades of turquoise and navy, but he saw nothing else.

  Weird.

  He continued the hull inspection, carefully avoiding the reef, and found no obvious faults. He surfaced and climbed back onto the sub. Wong and another technician, Wuland, pulled a power line down from one of the Solstice’s ventral airlocks and into the sub.

  Kessler looked up into the Solstice’s hold through the airlock and saw the wide and barrel-chested figure of Dr. Vargus looking down at him. Kessler grabbed onto the power-line guide and climbed up into the airlock.

  “She’s all good,” Kessler said as he pulled on his coveralls. “Is your assistant ready? Who is it?”

  “Mission Specialist Tav Drucker,” Vargus replied. “Here is he is now.”

  Kessler saw a young man step into the port airlock carrying a shoulder bag and a hard equipment case. “Very good. Get on the sub and access the computer; see what you can find. I’ll get some supplies.”

  Kessler stepped to the prep area; he grabbed a duffel bag and stuffed some clothes into it, then opened the weapons locker and retrieved a blaster pistol. He picked up a general sensor unit, a first aid kit, and his pocket computer, and stuffed these into the same duffel. He opened another duffel and stuffed it with several days’ worth of rations. He shouldered both bags and returned to the port airlock.

  Lashing the two duffels to a cargo line, he used the controls to lower himself onto the sub. He unfastened the duffels and lowered them through the hatch. He entered the hatch and squeezed by the power line hanging from the Solstice. “What did you find on the computer?”

  “I pulled up the vessel’s course from the CommSense satellite network.” Vargus tapped a few keys on the sub’s computer. “It looks like they dropped off two divers about a hundred kilometers away, near this large island in this chain of islands.” He pointed at the computer screen. The chain of islands was about a hundred kilometers from the continent, two-thirds of the way between the sub's location and the Lalandes’s landing spot. “It seems they lost the divers and couldn't retrieve them.” He tapped a few keys. “Yes. I've managed to find some video and voice logs. The divers were Dr. Kanas and his student Joanna Chakrabati. Dr. Borloff and David Petrik, a mission specialist, crewed the sub.

  Three images appeared on the computer's screen. One image was of inside the sub; a young man sat at the controls while another, older man sat at the computer keyboard. The two other images seemed to be the feeds from pressure suit helmet cameras; beams of light illuminated a wall of coral.

  “Dive 1, this is Carp,” Dr. Borloff said. “Acknowledge.”

  “Dive 1, Carp,” Dr. Kanas responded.

  “We’ve picked up a tremor, Dive 1, six point five kilometers north-north-west of your position, fifteen hundred meters depth. What is your status?”

  “Haven’t felt anything, Carp.”

  “Advise you surface, Dive 1. We'll meet you up top.”

  In the pressure suit video feeds, it looked like the wall suddenly seemed to accelerate as it moved upward. Kessler heard a scream, a woman's scream. Kanas' feed turned to focus on Chakrabti's pressure suit. Kessler saw the face of a young woman behind the faceplate. She screamed again, her eyes wide. Chakrabati's suit feed showed the face of Dr. Kanas in his pressure suit.

  “Use your suit impeller!” Kanas cried. But the young woman was lost in an avalanche of coral. Suddenly, Joanna's feed went dark. Then Kessler heard it, a rumbling sound that grew louder by the second. Over the next few moments, a soft light appeared and grew brighter in Kanas' video feed. In the growing light a fissure in the wall appeared, and scores of the polyp creatures seemed to swarm into it. Kanas reached out and grasped a rocky ledge.

  Suddenly, the coral fall seemed to stop. Kanas hugged the ledge, grasping for breath. Streams of smoke or dust suddenly ejected out from the w
all into the water; the steams were mostly dark in color, but some looked blue or green or even white. The polyps swarmed around the jets, swimming through the clouds.

  “What did you say?” Kanas said. His breathing was labored. “No, dad, that's not the way I want to do it.” More ragged breathing. “I'm sorry for the death of your son. Truly I am.” A few gulps, then “I'll have the lasagna.” Kessler heard some gurgling and choking sounds, and then the feed went dark.

  Jesus.

  “Nothing much happens in the log until they surface the sub,” Vargas said. He tapped a key to fast forward the video log.

  “They surfaced?” Kessler asked. “Why didn't they try and rescue Kanas and his student?”

  “Unknown,” Vargas replied. He pressed a key.

  “-the hell are we going to do now?” asked Petrik.

  “We need to call this into the Lalande,” Borloff replied. The man looked out of the forward viewport of the sub. “What the hell is that?”

  “I didn't see anything,” Petrik replied.

  “Let's turn on the exterior camera to see if we can get a shot of this.”

  Another image appeared on the computer screen, this of the open water of the surface. Something splashed, and Kessler thought he saw a fin or a limb, but only briefly.

  Borloff climbed out of the sub and disappeared from the feed. Petrik leaned forward to get a better look out the forward viewport. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed suddenly, and then climbed out of the sub and disappeared from the feed.

  “That's all there is,” Vargas said. “The log continues, but nothing else of note is recorded except their position. The sub seems to have lost power three days later.”

  “What were they investigating?”

  “The largest island in the chain. Dr. Kanas' survey proposal is in the computer.”

  “Transmit everything up to the Solstice. Let’s go back to that island to see what we can find.”

  “The charge is finished,” Tech Specialist Wong said. She unplugged the power line and squeezed by the others to the front of the sub. “You should be good for a thousand klicks.”

  “Very good, Specialist.” Kessler pulled the hatch closed after Wong exited the sub. He pushed a few buttons and the control systems lit up. “Oh, man, I forgot how fun these things are.” He sat down and strapped himself in. Vargus and Drucker had already strapped themselves to a metal bench.

  Kessler put on a headset and tapped a few keys on the control console. “Solstice, this is Survey 1.”

  “Acknowledged,” Lieutenant Calhoon replied.

  “Our uplink to the CommSense satellite network is active. We’re transmitting our proposed course.”

  “Received, Survey 1. Good luck!”

  “Thank you, Solstice.”

  Kessler looked back at Vargus and Drucker. “Hang on, boys!”

  He turned forward and looked out of the clear dome at the front of the craft. Grabbing the stick and throttle lever, he increased power and the craft lifted up onto the surface as it accelerated.

  Chapter 4: You Can't Be Too Careful

  Reckless. Van Zant just knew they would be rescuing Kessler from some sticky situation, if the man wasn't killed first. He stood just inside the door to the command deck, observing the other crew go about their duties. The Solstice flew three thousand meters above the ocean, heading toward the Lalande's landing spot.

  “Large signal,” Lieutenant Calhoon said, “zero-nine-two mark zero four, twenty-six kilometers.”

  “Is it headed toward us?” Talbot asked.

  “No. It's flying a parallel course.”

  “Focus the telescope. What is it?”

  The image of a cloud of objects appeared. The image zoomed to show a large flock of massive flying creatures. Data on the display revealed the creatures were from three to five meters long, with twelve to fifteen meter wingspans. Each had a long tail and a sail cresting the top of the head. Long dark beaks or mouths glinted in the sunlight.

  “Plot an intercept course to meet them ten klicks out from the Lalande,” Talbot said. She sat straight in the command chair, leaning forward slightly, her eyes fixed on the multidisplay. “Scan them with the active sensors.” Reams of data began to appear on the multidisplay.

  More recklessness.

  As they approached the continent, they got closer to the flock of flying creatures. “Take it easy,” Talbot said, and the Solstice slowed as it approached the creatures. “Fantastic,” she exclaimed as the flock of great winged beasts parted and allowed the Solstice among their number. As they approached the continent, the flock turned north.

  “Drop to a thousand meters, Lieutenant Kuusic,” Talbot said. “Follow a broad flight path over the continent, one hundred kilometer range, and then circle back to the Lalande.”

  The multidisplay revealed light and dense forest, grassy plains, rough and rocky ridges, and odd hills. Each hill looked like a dome or the top of an egg, and they all seemed to cluster around bodies of water, some of the lakes several kilometers in width. The hills themselves ranged from a few tens of meters to half-a-kilometer in height.

  “Curious. Those hills are the exact same shape as the ocean islands,” Dr. Dabisha said.

  What the hell are those? Van Zant couldn't believe what he was seeing. A herd of large creatures marched across a grassy plain toward a large lake; each was a huge four-footed beast with armored scales, a long neck, and a long tail. The head was covered with swept back spikes. Data streaming onto the multidisplay revealed the largest stood eight to ten meters at the shoulder, with the head eighteen to twenty meters above the surrounding plain, though most were smaller. The creatures slipped into the water and swam toward a range of the egg-shaped hills.

  “Incredible!” Talbot exclaimed.

  Yeah. Incredibly dangerous.

  The Solstice flew a gentle curve back toward the coast. “Let's get a flyby of the Lalande, Lieutenant Kuusik. One hundred meters, nice and slow. Start a sensor sweep, Lieutenant Calhoon.”

  The Lalande appeared on the multidisplay; she had a boxy forward section, a cylindrical middle section, and a rectangular aft section, the whole about a hundred and thirty meters long. She rested on a wide and flat sandy area about thirty meters from the shoreline.

  “The Lalande's gavitic landing gear must have failed,” Kuusik said. “She's resting on the ground.”

  Thirty meters on the other side of the Lalande from the shore sat a collection of tents and a large inflatable structure. Some of the tents were collapsed, and tools and equipment were scattered on the ground.

  “No signs of human life, Captain,” Calhoon said.

  “Put the Solstice down on that grassy area away from the camp and the Lalande.”

  Kuusik brought the ship down without a bump. “Gravitic landing gear engaged. We're down.”

  Van Zant always hated what happened next. The crew clapped and cheered, shaking hands and hugging. Exploration Service crew always performed this ritual with the first landing on a new world. What was there to celebrate? There are threats to uncover, work to be done. He shook his head.

  Talbot looked at him, a wide smile on her face. “Mr. Van Zant? Get with Lieutenant Commander Mitchell and survey the camp and the Lalande. Tread carefully. I expect a report soon after you return.”

  Political Officer Emerans Van Zant followed Lieutenant Commander Mitchell down the Solstice’s cargo ramp. Behind him walked Dr. Webb, two mission specialists and one technician. Everyone except Webb wore a belt and holster with a blaster pistol. Webb, the mission specialists, and the technician each carried a general sensor unit. Van Zant also carried a blaster rifle.

  They just don’t understand. If they had seen what I have seen and done the things I have done, they wouldn’t call me paranoid.

  He knew that’s what people thought of him. He knew they laughed at him behind his back. He knew they thought he was reactionary. However, he was used to it; he’d been living with it for years. Working as an agent of the General Intelli
gence Directorate was a thankless task. He couldn’t tell them of the alien horrors that threatened to wipe the Human race from existence; he had to be content with the knowledge he was doing his small part to keep the Human race alive and breeding in a hostile galaxy. Had they listened to him on Hope, they wouldn’t have lost so many crew. He knew the old United Earth outpost had not been attacked by the Snirr, but by something else. He noticed things that other people didn’t; it was the only thing that kept him alive as a GID agent.

  The Solstice had touched down on a green and flat coastal plan thirty meters from the Lalande. The planet was beautiful: tall trees with long green leaves moved in the breeze; a white sand beach extended along the arc of the bay for kilometers; the light from the stellar primary glinted on the turquoise blue water of the bay.

  Paradise.

  Van Zant had never seen anything quite like it before. Supposedly, Earth had places like this, but the closest he’d ever been to Earth was the Moon. He gazed at the half-oval shapes on the horizon, the islands partially obscured by haze. Flocks of flying creatures filled the distant sky.

  Talbot had been sloppy. She was moving too quickly, not starting with a systematic evaluation of the environment. Many people may pay for that mistake. But at least she ordered the remainder of the crew to say on the Solstice.

  “Let’s investigate the camp first,” Mitchell said.

  Very good. Van Zant knew it wise to look at the camp and surrounding area first. Such a search could possibly reveal clues about any danger within the Lalande itself. It’s what he would have suggested, but he didn’t say anything. Captain Talbot had put Mitchell in charge of this little excursion, and he would follow along. Talbot was smart, but much too concerned about people’s feelings. The only reason she put Mitchell in charge was to make him feel good.