Starborn Odyssey: Voyage of the Lost (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 3)

by Haines Sigurdsson

  “It’s most likely a capture rather than having formed this far out, with such metals and heavy metals near its surface,” said Kelsan as he was checking out the readouts. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it had been blown out of the system with the red giant as it expanded.”

  “That a pretty big conjecture,” Elton answered, with a quiet smile.

  “Actually it’s pretty sound reasoning,” Kelsan replied, sounding slightly put out. “It’s the nearest place the metals could have come from.”

  “But we know so little of these systems, or where we are; I don’t think we should assume that everything is exactly the way we would expect it.” Elton argued. “There could be forces at work here that we’ve never dreamed of.”

  “Perhaps, but I think we’re safe assuming that basic astrophysics and geology are universal, instead of the philosophical anarchy that you suggest,” Kelsan said.

  Elton rolled his eyes and threw up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay!”

  Shana intervened, “We won’t know unless we look. At some point I think we’ll have to come back and investigate those readings; perhaps those deposits aren’t a natural feature. Let’s face it, Prometheus has run into things every bit as strange in the journey since leaving Earth.”

  “I’ll concede that non-natural features are an alternate possibility,” Kelsan said with a chuckle. “If they are natural, they may be a viable source of materials for future use.”

  “Then why not investigate now?” Tanya asked.

  Pixie shook her head. “We want to find our home planet first. Then we can return and visit the neighborhood.” No one disagreed.

  Two of the planets they passed next were gas giants, though neither as big as Jupiter. The larger of the two boasted deep orange and red bands and streaks of blue-white here and there, giving the planet a turbulent, marbled effect. The smaller and farther out of the two was almost pure emerald green, smooth and glassy. It shimmered ever so slightly, but the atmosphere didn’t seem to move.

  The Wanderer passed fairly close to the green planet, about fifty thousand miles, giving a close up view for the crew to admire. “It’s beautiful!” exclaimed Pixie. “It’s like a giant jewel hanging in space.” She sighed.

  “Pixie’s getting poetic,” laughed Zak. “Although, I have to admit that the romantic impression has its merits.”

  “I agree with Pixie,” said Shana. “And that’s not a romantic assessment; it’s an accurate factual statement. It does look like a jewel.”

  Pixie laughed. “You may as well just call me a hopeless romantic and get it over with,” she grinned, “because I am, and proud of it.”

  Shana grinned back at her friend, glad she was on the journey with her.

  After three weeks they had finally passed the gas giants and were heading toward the third planet. It was about nine thousand miles in diameter and one hundred seventy million miles from the star. It was a sort of disheartening brown color, although Gemma warned them not to be too deterred by that until they were close enough for better scans. Besides, the second planet was a fairly healthy looking blue-green, and they all agreed it would likely be their best bet.

  As they neared the brown planet, Elton was monitoring the magnified scans. He suddenly cried out in surprise.

  “What’s wrong?” Shana asked, jumping up.

  “It’s nothing wrong— but look!” He hit a key and pulled the image of his scans up on the view screen. They all gasped. It was startlingly obvious that the planet was heavily populated. Cities dotted the surface. There was also considerable wreckage in some of the cities.

  “It’s as if there have been natural disasters in each of those cities!” Pixie exclaimed.

  “Or,” Kelsan said with a grim look, “as if the planet is in a constant state of war.”

  They gazed at the scans, trying to make out more details, although they were still too far away. “There’s only about 60% of the oxygen level humans need to survive,” Gemma said.

  “But the cities have the look of humanoid cities, and there are satellites in orbit,” Shana observed.

  “And quite a lot of wreckage and space debris, too,” Tanya pointed out, disapprovingly. “They’re not very tidy.”

  Something moved on the scan. “Look!” Shana said. “Are those rockets leaving the planet? This could be an advanced culture!”

  “They don’t look big enough to carry humanoids on board,” Elton said, confused.

  Pixie pulled up a structural scan of one of the projectiles. It was rudimentary at their distance, but enough for her to reach a conclusion. “They aren’t rockets,” she said, voice filled with dread. “They’re missiles.”

  “Missiles?” Shana was shocked. “Are they shooting at us, Gemma?”

  Gemma’s hologram appeared, looking worried. “Pixie is right, they are missiles. They are not aimed at us. They seem to be on a trajectory to hit the blue planet.”

  They watched in horror as a bright flash appeared on the surface of the blue planet, followed by a similar flash on the brown planet. Based on the distance, the missile strikes were from attacks launched earlier; the missiles they had witnessed being launched would likely reach their target several days later.

  “I think these two worlds are at war,” Gemma said.

  “Should we leave or try to make peace with one side or both?” Pixie asked.

  “It’s clear in our laws that we shouldn’t interfere with other cultures, but I would like to see for the sake of science if either or both of these races are human,” said Kelsan, reflecting closely the thoughts of the others.

  “But can we do it safely? I mean, what if they do start lobbing things at us? I know we’re not shielded sufficiently to take a hit even from these primitive missiles,” Tanya said worriedly.

  “We have scanners to give us sufficient warning and nothing we’ve seen so far could come close to our speed and maneuverability,” said Elton. “There doesn’t appear to be any development in or even near the polar regions. Perhaps these creatures can’t take the cold?”

  “We can scoot into the atmosphere just low enough to get a look at these people and then do the same at the blue world,” suggested Kelsan. “Quick in and out.”

  “Is it worth risking our lives for?” asked Zak, poring over the images of the brown planet. “I see a lot of big rivers and some lakes but no real oceans here, so I don’t think the salt content is sufficient to support human life as we know it. I’ve been getting some of the chemical analysis, and the methane is also slightly higher than we could survive without increased cancer and other deficiencies setting in, so this isn’t to be our home no matter what.”

  Suddenly, Captain Duncan appeared beside Gemma, surprising everyone. He had not made a showing since they’d left Prometheus. “Gemma and I have been in consultation,” he said with a voice as kind and commanding as Shana remembered. “First, as to your concern that we avoid interfering with other cultures. We feel that our circumstances are considerably different those who wrote the original doctrines. We’re not in sufficient numbers to be an immediate threat to the normal development of these societies as a whole. Therefore, we would not object to visiting an inhabited world, if deemed safe.”

  Kelsan cut in, “I’m seeing a half dozen missiles incoming from the green planet and as I observe the wreckage of the cities, which is actually minimal considering the volume of projectiles. I see a lot more craters in the surrounding countryside.” He looked up.

  “Suggesting that their guidance systems are quite primitive,” finished Elton.

  “And that,” said Captain Duncan, “was my second point. I calculate the threat to our ship to be minimal.”

  Tanya said, “In that case, I for one would like a look at the creatures of each world, but think we should keep hands off.”

  “Agreed,” was the general consensus. In an hour, they had reached close enough to the brown planet to be in its orbit. They dropped through the atmosphere to about six miles above the pock-marked g
round just outside a city, to try and get a look at the inhabitants.

  Elton finally was able to single one out, and showed it magnified on the screen. Pixie screamed and Shana had to cover her mouth to keep from gasping aloud.

  “What in the world?” Kelsan asked with a grimace.

  The creature had the general appearance of a large, bulbous, pale gray spider, with long front arms terminating in hands that were almost human. It wore a stiff sort of wrap, blue, with a black insignia on it like a military demarcation. The alien’s face was partially obscured by what looked like a shell helmet, or perhaps a carapace, from under which two long antennae curved up, whipping the air. What looked like spittle, or grease, showered out from the antennae, sliming the ground around the thing. The antennae stilled, and the creature was joined on the screen by another who was wrapped in a stiff red band of fabric, covered with decorations of various strange shapes. Perhaps a superior officer? The officer was waving his antennae wildly, flinging spittle everywhere, and swinging its bulbous body ponderously from side to side. Mandibles or perhaps teeth appeared to gnash under the helmet-carapace, which on this being was also covered in thick, translucent bristles.

  Shana had never been particularly afraid of spiders, but was surprised to find a sentient race that shared so many characteristics with that Earth creature. She was fascinated. How did their communication work? Was the spittle part of it? And if so, could they replicate it to communicate? How was it that these spiders—for so she could not help seeing them—had developed clothing, as humanoids had, despite such different physiognomies?

  “What do you think the differences between the two are?” Elton asked.

  “Those bristles,” Tanya said. “Do they signify a different gender, or age, or ability?”

  Zak added, “And what about the clothes? Do they really have a military-type hierarchy like you would have had on Earth?”

  There were so many questions!

  “Gemma, do you think you could appear down there and communicate with them?” Shana asked. “Maybe create a spider hologram?”

  Gemma shook her head. “I was just analyzing that. We’re too high up for me to project from the ship, and they don’t appear to have any technology that I could link to for refraction of the image.” She looked disappointed.

  “Too bad,” Shana sighed. “The first sentient race we’ve met and no way to talk to them.”

  “I think I’ve seen enough,” said Pixie in a squeak of a voice. She looked queasy. Unlike Shana, Pixie was afraid of spiders.

  “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” said Elton. Shana raised her eyebrow at this truism, and seeing it, he glanced at Pixie and seemed to realize her genuine unease. He gave Pixie a conspiratorial grin, “Ok, I admit it; I don’t find them particularly appealing either. But look, we have to gather some information before we go. Pixie, do you think you could process the geothermal and tectonic scans?”

  “Yes,” Pixie said briskly. “Yes, of course.” She hurried to the station across the room, where she could look at something other than the spiders, evidently relieved to have something to do. Elton turned to Shana with a smile, as if for her approval. Shana gave him a nod of thanks for being so kind to Pixie.

  “Even if we could get a hologram down there, with a probe or something, communication might be difficult,” Tanya said, still focused on the screen. “We have no idea if they share any gestures or language patterns similar to us, even if we could figure out how to fling antennae spit in the right way.”

  “More than that, “ Kelsan added, “they seem like a pretty belligerent race. They are likely suspicious of strangers. I doubt we’d get a warm welcome or a patient audience as we tried to figure it out.”

  They took several additional minutes of video, for later review. Gemma and Cap, who were still in the control room with them, gave them coordinates to use to identify the planet on their charts, based on the current stellar configurations. The hope was that, eventually, with enough configurations collected, they would be able to compare and develop some sort of star map.

  “Alright, let’s take a broader look at the planet,” Kelsan said as he switched off the magnification.

  Zak piloted the saucer, as he’d gotten into the habit of taking that role.

  As they passed further away from the city they found themselves over what appeared to be low-lying orchards, with some sort of creatures grazing leisurely through them, loping unevenly on four limbs. Upon magnification these creatures looked almost like hairless apes, with mottled dark gray and bright yellow skin, and flat fins of skin flapping from the back of their skulls almost like hair. Their front limbs were longer than the back legs, but none of them exhibited any bipedal tendencies.

  “They look almost humanoid,” Zak said, leaning forward to look at them more carefully. The creatures ambled along, but gave no outward indication of communication between each other. “Are they mammalian?”

  There was no way to tell; there were no visible mammary glands or sex organs. “If they are like Earth mammals, they must have adapted to the low-oxygen atmosphere,” Tanya said. “In fact, look at the edges of the field!”

  They all looked and were surprised to see two animals resembling hyenas pacing the perimeter of the field, not too far from the ape creatures. They didn’t seem to be in attack mode; in fact, they almost acted as though they were guarding the apes, like shepherd dogs. The hyenas, unlike the spiders and apes, did have the outward appearance of mammals. They were very wide at the shoulders and skinny at the back end with short grey fur and a furless long tail that looked thick enough to be prehensile. The bulk of the animal seemed made up of an exaggerated rib cage and barrel chest. It looked clumsy, but the animals moved with apparent agility and ease.

  “Perhaps,” mused Shana, “they have over-sized lungs to get enough oxygen on this world.”

  As the crew of the Wanderer watched, several clothed spider-aliens arrived driving two big carts on wheels, straddling the top of the cabs. The spiders jumped down and began waving their antennae about, spittle flying. The apes looked up at the spiders, and then began trotting toward them, the hyenas obediently circling behind the apes and herding them toward the spiders, which ushered them onto the carts. The apes seemed docile and unbothered by it. It dawned on the crew simultaneously that the apes were cattle—although whether for meat or some other purpose was not clear. They could guess, though.

  Pixie’s face paled further. “We definitely cannot be friends with these creatures,” she said with a shudder. “Keeping primitive humanoids like property, and who knows what else!”

  “These humanoids don’t exhibit any sentient behavior,” Kelsan pointed out. “Although I suppose it’s hard to say from up here.”

  “I suggest we leave this system,” said the Captain and Gemma in perfect unison.

  Gemma continued on her own. “I do, however, think that we should investigate who they are at war with, first.”

  “Two missiles are heading this way at four thousand mile an hour,” announced Elton. “Gemma, can you get us out of here?”

  “Done,” said Gemma, pushing everyone into their seats with sudden acceleration. They were outside the atmosphere in less than ten seconds. “I’m setting a course for the next planet.”

  “Let’s go see the enemy,” Tanya said ominously.

  It took less than a day to cross the twenty million miles between the two worlds. Estimating their orbit, it appeared that these worlds would be as close as twelve million miles at their closest point. “They’re closer than any objects in our own two solar systems,” Zak reported.

  “This close proximity is probably the reason for the war; had Earth had neighbors that close in our systems, they may have had war there too,” Shana suggested.

  “I hope there’s a big difference between them,” said Pixie. “I could happily go the rest of my life without seeing another spider-person.”

  Shana laughed.

  “Let’s get a look at that blue
planet,” Kelsan suggested.

  “It looks mostly like ocean and swamp,” said Shana staring into the screens. “What is it with these swampy planets?”

  “This one seems to have real ice caps; I even see a good place to land near the North polar region,” Elton said. “But first I’d like to see what the inhabitants look like. It would be nice if they were human.”

  Kelsan grunted in acknowledgement, “But then it would perhaps be hard to stay out of their war. With only six of us I really think that we’re better to stay out of the fighting if we can.”

  “Yes, that’s self-evident,” Shana agreed.

  Gemma and the Captain interrupted, speaking at the same moment. “Well, they’re not human.”

  Cap continued on this own: “As a matter of fact, they’re something akin to reptiles.” He pulled up an image on the view screen. It was not as close as the images they had seen of the spiders, but it was clear enough to see that the creatures appeared to be bipedal lizards, with brilliant green and red markings. Their skin was thick and scaly, like an Earth alligator, with faces pinched and ancient looking, like tortoises. They had long front arms that they held at an awkward forward angle when they ran, apparently for balance. They spotted a few individual aliens, at unidentifiable tasks, and then zoomed in on a group. About twenty of them stood in a swamp, swaying and looking up, disconcertingly as if they were looking at the ship, although that was clearly impossible. Each one wore an identical long cloak, and a bag around their necks—like a purse or backpack.

  “What are they doing?” Zak asked, but no one, not even Gemma, had an answer.

  As they skimmed over the planet they saw once again the same humanoid, hairless creatures being herded in fields and tended by lizard men.

  “There’s a rogue moon between the two planets that seems to have a high reading for heavy metals,” said Captain Duncan. “I don’t get readings of any large deposits of metals of that caliber on either of the actual planets. It wouldn’t surprise me if that was what the fighting is all about. Pity. Imagine what art or music or literature these cultures might be able to share with us, if they weren’t so clearly bent on mutual self-destruction.” Shana looked at the Captain with interest. Over the years since Gemma had joined him as an electronic persona, he had allowed Gemma to do more and more of the interactions with humans. Shana knew some of her friends on Prometheus thought that Cap was more machine than man; but his desire to understand the culture of these strange aliens proved that his true personality still existed, there in the depths of the computer. Gemma still spoke of him often, too, so it seemed the two remained separate entities. Shana wondered how they truly interacted now that they had direct access to each other’s neural nets, and if she would ever want to share her thoughts that closely with anyone. She found herself wanting, inexplicably and absurdly, to glance at Elton at the thought.