“I just hope there’s something to give us a clue as to what did happen here and when,” said Tanya. “Just think; we could be the first to see what happened to them and to let others know; they won’t be forgotten.”
“Mankind on Earth came close to a nuclear war in their twentieth century, though the planet, being much bigger than this moon, might have survived had it come to that,” said Shana, who’d always been a history buff. “They finally banned large stockpiles of nukes but there were some countries that secretly built up their reserves. It came close to a real war in the mid twenty first century but several countries caught on and forestalled the countries that were in violation, but just barely in time. For all we know, Earth may still have done something foolish. Nobody had heard a word in years when we left Prometheus; I wish I knew why. We could be the survivors of an extinct society ourselves for all we know!”
“Fortunately we’ll probably never know if Earth destroyed itself,” said Elton. “But these people we will know about.”
“You are all getting very morbid,” N’ixie complained lightly. “This is supposed to be an exciting adventure; try to remember that.” Kelsan laughed loudly at this.
They went down two flights of steps which were getting less charred as they went. “There could possibly have been survivors down here, if it goes deep enough,” said Kelsan. “This was apparently sealed at the time of the initial disaster.”
There was a large steel door ahead, lying on the floor. It was obvious that it had been hot enough there to have softened the metal sufficiently to cause the hinges to let go.
“It must have really heated up here even this deep down,” said Elton sounding somewhat disappointed.
They walked on another fifty yards and came to a door that hadn’t melted off its hinges. “That’s more like it,” said Kelsan excitedly. “Maybe there’ll be something left to give us a clue here after all!”
They tried the door; it opened with just a little effort. The hinges were frozen but broke like brittle rotten wood, though they were in fact metal just like the first door. The sight before them was startling! They’d hoped for a body or two for testing, but there were hundreds of bodies huddled against the walls. Shana felt suddenly faint.
They’d apparently sat there knowing they couldn’t go out and probably starved to death or possibly died of asphyxiation. There was no flesh on the bones but there were piles of scales around skeletons with tails and skulls the same shape as the first they’d found, above. Tanya picked up one and it crumbled; the bones were as brittle as the door hinges had been.
“This place was apparently too warm for good preservation for a long time and if there’d been even a breeze here there would be nothing left at all,” said Tanya disappointedly.
“How horrific,” murmured Shana.
They headed for the next set of doors, going even further in and further down. At the end of a long hall the doors opened to the left and right. They tried the right first and it opened as easily as the first. It lead to a hallway with a door immediately to the right again.
They opened that door and stood there dumbfounded. It was a room full of weapons! This had been a secret bunker by the look of things, and the bodies, though skeletal, seemed to be better preserved than the others. There were weapons and metal buttons lying amongst the bones, evidence of military uniforms, perhaps.
“All this weaponry—it suggests that it was war that destroyed this world,” said Shana in a stunned voice. “I guess I should be relieved that it wasn’t a natural disaster that could threaten our own colony, but it’s still a shock to come to the realization for certain. These people, even reptilian as they appear to be, must have been terrified knowing that they had nowhere to go to escape the tragedy that their leaders had made for them.”
“Take some samples from these corpses.” suggested Elton.
“Yeah,” Zo’Rak said, “let’s get what we need and get out of here.” He sounded spooked.
Shana bent down as well as her suit allowed her and pulled a couple of teeth from one of the bodies, trying to think of it in strictly scientific terms. There was nothing she could do for these people now. “Hopefully these will have enough intact DNA to learn a little more about them. There might be enough organic material to date the site with. Now we should get out of here. I don’t think anything will be gained by disturbing any further.”
Kelsan was looking over the weapons without touching them. “They look familiar for the most part,” he said excitedly, finally picking one up. “Their technology was definitely very similar to Earth’s back in the twentieth and twenty first centuries. I’d like to bring a sample with us.”
“Don’t bring that with you,” said Tanya. “We don’t know if it’d loaded or if it might blow apart if you hit its trigger. I don’t think it’s worth dying to find the answer to that.”
“I want to at least take it up where there’s more light to check it out,” said Kelsan. “It looks simple enough that I think I can unload it safely. The metal seems solid and it’s a good example of their technology.”
“Well, be careful how you handle it; we don’t need any accidents,” said Shana hesitantly. The weapon looked bulky and clumsy in human hands. There hadn’t been intact enough skeletons for a true look at the way the aliens’ joints moved, or even the way their hands were set, as the bodies lacked any residual cartilage. It almost appeared, looking at the weapon, that their fingers had extra joints and that they may have had elbows that flexed in different ways also. The barrel was an inch in diameter which would undoubtedly have one hell of a kick when fired, indicating that these creatures had been considerably stronger than humans.
The gravity of the little planet/moon wasn’t much more than half of what they were used to and it would be nice to be back on the ship with its artificial gravity back in control. They made their way carefully back to the stairwell. There was a sudden shaking of the ground beneath their feet, feeling like the building was going to collapse.
Gemma contacted them immediately. “Is everyone okay down there?”
“We’re all still standing,” answered Shana. “What was that? This place wouldn’t be this intact if that was a regular occurrence.”
“It felt like a large meteor hit somewhere nearby but it’s hard to be sure, no scans detected one,” Gemma answered. “I agree that it can’t be an actual quake or it would be a hell of a coincidence that it happened while we were here. It definitely can’t happen often or most of these tunnels would have most certainly collapsed.”
Kelsan had dropped the weapon he was carrying and it had shattered into a thousand pieces. “Shit,” he said. “I need to go back and get another; I want to see how their weapons technology worked.”
“After that quake, I just want everybody back above ground and lift off as soon as we can,” said Shana. “We’re not risking lives for antiquated weapons technology, we can check things out anytime we want in the next thousand years. We don’t need it badly enough to take any more chances today.” She looked straight into Kelsan’s eyes, face plate to face plate. “I mean it.”
Kelsan looked like he was about to object but decided to hold his tongue. “Alright, Shana,” he said gently. He did however stop long enough to pick up the pieces of the weapon he’d dropped, while the Striders moved to the top of their procession, so they could pull the others out if need be. They reached the opening and piled out on the surface, feeling relieved to be out of the tunnels. They headed for the ship.
With a sudden lurch, a deep fissure opened right under Shana’s feet, and she found herself floating above it, feet hanging over nothingness. The ground, breaking into pieces, floated away from her surreally and then she began to fall. It was more than fortunate that they hadn’t removed the rope harness they’d donned to go below.
Kelsan and Elton both grabbed at the rope around her waist, pulling her toward them; they all moved rapidly to the left to get her back over solid ground. She tumbled into them with a gasp
, eyes wide at the near disaster. They saw the Curiosity begin to tilt and it lifted off the ground. Thankfully, Gemma was still in control of it and it saved it from falling into an abyss and beyond their access.
“That quake must have weakened the ground over one of the tunnels,” said Shana recovering from her moment of panic.
“With the condition of things here, that can’t be a common occurrence,” reiterated Elton. “I would have to consider the idea that something about our presence was the cause, though I can’t see how or what. Everyone just stay still.”
They watched as Gemma set the ship down about thirty yards away. “Hurry aboard,” she urged into their helmets. “There’s something going on here that I don’t understand but I think we’d best get airborne; if you can call it that since there is no air.”
The humor didn’t actually make any impression on them at the time though they thought about it later. Gemma so rarely expressed humor and it had seemed to be an odd time to do so as they watched another section of the moon’s grim surface collapse not far away.
They ran to the airlock, almost tripping over the ropes that connected them. Gemma lifted off the ground before the lock even finished closing and they could see the area through the half closed hatch collapsing even as they rose.
As the pressure equalized they removed their helmets and began talking animatedly all at the same time. It took Gemma’s amplified voice to silence them. “Okay, you’re all still alive so how about we analyze some data and see if we can figure out what that was all about,” she boomed. “There are some things that aren’t making sense. I believe that we triggered some mechanism causing the collapse, and I want to know what.”
“Why, so we don’t do it again?” quipped Kelsan. “Just speaking for myself, I can guarantee I won’t go back there again, so there’s no danger of my triggering any other reactions.”
Gemma said coolly, “Yes, I know, but if this is related to the Saucerites, that might be worth understanding, don’t you think?”
“I suppose you’re right,” Kelsan agreed grudgingly, and then grinned. “That was the most fun we’ve had in a while, though, eh guys?”
Shana and N’ixie both groaned, but the others laughed. “I don’t know about fun,” Shana said. “But it was certainly exciting.”
“Close enough,” Kelsan grinned, as they took off their space suits. As soon as she had hers off, Shana made her way to the bio scanners and carefully inserted the sealed plastic bags with the teeth. By then, they were easily clear of most of the little moon’s gravitational influence, and Gemma’s hologram appeared beside Shana, to review the data.
“The DNA matches human to a large degree but it’s more similar to Earth’s reptiles, rather like monitor lizards or snakes,” Gemma reported. “The dating isn’t so clear, but I think that with a chunk of the weapon material combined with it I’ll be able to estimate how long ago these creatures met their demise.”
Kelsan inserted a tiny piece of the gun metal into the analyzer and they all waited with bated breath for the results
After what seemed an eternity, Gemma spoke with awe—if that was actually possible for her in her state of existence. “The metal and the bio readings are within a few thousand years of each other,” she said as they all shuffled impatiently. “They read an unbelievable half a billion years ago. By all rights there shouldn’t have been anything left if the world had active quakes like we just experienced.”
They’d all been expecting a million or so years and it left them speechless for a full half minute while they absorbed the information.
“They perished while life on Earth was still in its extreme infancy,” she continued. “I’m currently reviewing the records of everything you did since we arrived. There is almost no chance that that quake was from natural causes. From the reading I’m getting from the surface now it appears that the quakes were localized. It had to have been something we did that triggered it. Perhaps a doomsday device of some kind in case they lost and the enemy were to arrive on the scene. It’s the only scenario that fits all the facts as we know them. The DNA samples from inside the teeth show definite signs that the inhabitants—at least these two—died mostly of radiation poisoning.”
“What kind of trap could have survived and remained functional after that length of time? It seems almost impossible,” remarked Shana. “Even in an airless environment, I can’t imagine a weapon so destructive and tied into the structure of the moon itself could have survived. Even with the technology we have now, we couldn’t do it.”
“So their technology must have been farther along than we thought,” said Kelsan. “I’m interested in finding out what they had in their projectile weapon. I’d be willing to bet that it’s not what we used to use years ago in our weapons on Earth.”
“I’m sure you’re right about that, but I think we’ll have to wait to check that out,” said Gemma. “If they had the technology to create the quake we just experienced then it might be hazardous to even do a scan on it. Their materials may be far more volatile than anything we know of and it may be as durable as the trap we triggered.”
“I hate to wait but I suppose you’re right as usual,” Kelsan admitted, perhaps a little grudgingly, as was always his way.
“The initial sensor readings on the metal are confusing,” said Gemma. “Not completely alien in nature but rather an unfamiliar combination of elements. I suggest that we store it very, very carefully. There are readings that suggest that the projectile, in spite of its resemblance to a conventional bullet, contains an amount of crystal and its accompanying metal. That would mean that either there was a source of the crystal on this planet or that quite possibly the sun was warm enough a half billion years ago that this planet didn’t need to be shrouded in cloud to retain its heat after all, and the inhabitants had figured out how to travel to nearby worlds to mine crystal.”
“It is possible that the planet is a capture and may have been closer to the sun in its original orbit,” suggested Elton. “It’s definitely food for thought.”
“I still want to review the record of our time here to see if we can detect what caused that quake,” said Shana. “If their technology was more advanced that we thought, we may come across the same sort of booby trap elsewhere in the system.”
Tanya spoke up. “Don’t you think it likely that, had they left the planet, they’d have settled on the planet we’re on?”
“There’s no guaranty that our planet was as habitable that far back,” said Shana. “Perhaps they’d only gotten as far as the moons nearby.”
“Or, perhaps they’re the Saucerites,” suggested Kelsan.
“I hadn’t thought of that as an option but it is plausible,” said Gemma.
They began reviewing the recording of their trip into the tunnels. “I don’t see anything that could be the problem,” said Elton the first time through. “Perhaps it was something down by our feet? Can you replay everything down at foot level? There has to be something we’re missing and it’s probably the best chances of seeing something not obvious on full view.”
On the next time through Tanya saw something. “Go back about thirty seconds,” she said suddenly to Gemma and Gemma complied.
She exclaimed excitedly, “There; did you see that?”
They all watched as she had Gemma run it in slow motion. It was in the hall just outside of the weapons store, exactly where you might expect it to be.
“Check it, out” said Kelsan enthusiastically.
As they watched, Kelsan, who was in the lead at the time, stepped on a section of the floor that sank about half an inch when stepped on. It wasn’t enough motion to catch their attention at the time, especially through the bulky spacesuit, but that was within a few minutes of when the quakes began.
Looking at her sensors of that exact time, Gemma saw a mild disturbance in her readings from that exact moment. “I don’t know what it was or how they did it but it remained operational longer than any mechanical device I’
ve ever imagined,” she said. “Maybe they are, in fact, the Saucerites. They’ve had a great many years to perfect their technologies since then and they certainly know this system well enough; but why wouldn’t they have colonized where we did?”
No one had an answer for that.
They headed back home, and arrived to great fanfare by the children and adults alike.
Trials and Errors
Moving the crystal from the Curiosity through town was more of an event than they had anticipated. The children had, of course, come to see them arrive, and lined the streets. Gemma’s Strider carried the crystal, which they intended to place in their central hall. As soon as they stepped into the sunlight, prisms and shards of light shot out from all angles of the crystal, through the metal mesh. There were so many facets to catch and refract the light that the crystal positively glowed, and rainbows danced over the faces of the children and walls of the buildings in bright patterns.
Shana had to shade her eyes and turn her head away from the crystal, and saw the others were doing the same. “Good grief, let’s get that inside before it blinds someone,” she laughed, half serious. Lord only knew what could happen with direct sunlight hitting it that way.
As soon as they were settled, they built a bunker some ways outside of town that became their crystal experimentation room. They couldn’t test it with lasers, but they performed every other test and examination they could think of to try to understand it. The enigma of the crystal kept the crew and Striders busy for every moment that they could spare from the children. Gemma and Cap worked with the computer almost ceaselessly to try to determine how it worked, to find its key. It was slow, frustrating work, with little return.
Kelsan threw up his hands after a particularly long day at trying to calculate some equation to make sense of the crystal’s facets, and said, “Forget it; I’m going to go look at that old gun!”
Starborn Odyssey: Voyage of the Lost (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 3) Page 23