by Ken Lozito
The NEIIS building had a dome-shaped roof which matched the rounded architecture they’d seen the NEIIS use for aboveground construction.
“It doesn’t look like their subterranean buildings at Sanctuary,” Jim said.
“No, they build them differently above the ground. Most archaeologists believe it’s because they were built in two different eras. The aboveground buildings appear to be older; then, something drove the NEIIS to build subterranean dwellings or in difficult-to-reach places,” Dash said.
Selena nodded. “We still don’t know what happened to them. We haven’t found any fossils, only what they’ve built and indications that they manipulated the genetics of some of the species found here.”
“So, I guess them all climbing aboard a spaceship and leaving is out of the question?” Jim asked.
Dash shrugged. “They haven’t found anything that indicates the NEIIS had the technology to do that—at least not yet. There are still huge portions of this continent that have never been visited, let alone studied. Who knows what we’ll find?”
They circled the old building, looking for a way in. Dash pulled at the vines, searching for a door, but they couldn’t find anything. The tracker in his internal heads-up display showed that the building was seventeen meters across and six meters tall.
“Okay, where’s the door?” Merissa asked.
She looked pointedly at Dash and he frowned. “It’s not like they built this thing and wouldn’t have a way to get inside,” he said.
“There are too many vines. We need to come back with something to cut through them,” Selena said.
Merissa agreed and Jim looked conflicted as he held up his hands from the side.
“We did find it,” Jim said.
Dash turned away from them and kept searching. There had to be a way to get inside. They couldn’t come all this way and not get in. He turned toward the others and smiled. “Well, if we can’t find the door, there might be a way to get inside from the roof,” Dash said.
Merissa frowned and Dash sent the latest drone image of the roof to them. There was a large opening that looked like it had surrendered to the crushing pressure of the weight of the vines. Dash shrugged off his backpack and pulled out a small grappling hook and rope he’d been carrying. He had more than enough to reach the rooftop of a structure three times the size of this one. He took a few steps back and unfurled the rope in elongated sections as far as his arms could stretch, then swung the end with the grappling hook around, using its weight to build up the momentum he needed. He then released the hook and hurled it well over the rooftop. The drone feed showed that it had landed in the hole on the roof.
“Two points!” Jim shouted.
Dash grinned and quickly pulled out the slack until the rope was taut. He gave the rope a few powerful pulls to test that it would hold and was secured in place.
Dash glanced at Merissa. “Ladies first?” he asked.
“And rob you of this moment? I wouldn’t dream of it,” Merissa replied.
“Okay, I’ll go first,” Dash said.
Holding the rope, he quickly climbed up the wall of vines. A few minutes later he was at the top, hardly having broken a sweat. He stood up and looked back down at the others.
“I’ll look for a door from inside,” Dash said.
He used the vines to climb down into the building and dropped the last few feet, then pulled out a headlamp and strapped it to his head. Perhaps he’d request upgrades to his implants so he could see better in the dim light next time he was at Sierra.
“Find the door yet?” Jim shouted.
Dash glanced around. The forest had done its utmost to reclaim this small bit from the NEIIS.
Jim shouted again.
“Give me a minute, will ya?” Dash shouted back.
The vines weren’t as thick inside, but they did litter the floor and he had to watch his step. He went over to the wall and looked for a control panel. The walls were covered with moss and dirt from prolonged exposure. Dash used his fingers to claw away the dirt to get at the actual wall, and after a few minutes of searching, he found a rounded control panel similar to what they had in Sanctuary. At least this had been built near the same time. He brushed away the dirt and saw that the panel had a faint red glow. Dash’s eyes lit up. This place still had power! He pressed the panel and heard a mechanical whirl as the gears inside the walls strained to open the door. The sound became louder and a curved door pulled inside the wall and then stopped. The opening was just shy of a full meter, which was enough for the others to easily squeeze through.
The air inside the NEIIS building was moist, carrying an odor of mold. Merissa kept running her hands through her thick brown hair as if she feared something was crawling in it. Selena did the same. Dash and Jim both had short, cropped haircuts so there wasn’t much to inspect.
“I’m surprised there’s still power in this place,” Jim said.
“In Sanctuary, the doors to the major structures ran on redundant power supplies, but I don’t think this one's going to work again,” Dash said. The control panel was dark now, but at least they were inside.
Now that the others were there, Dash took a good look around. There were a few NEIIS workstations that had been completely destroyed by exposure. As they walked away from the door, each of them put on their own headlamps, and shafts of light lit up the inside. Dash caught a glimpse of an intact workstation and hastened toward it. The NEIIS didn’t use wallscreens, but they did project their computer interfaces onto a tightly knitted mesh.
The console looked dead and Dash squatted down at the base. He pulled open the panel and scooped out some dirt and leaves that had somehow made their way inside, blowing to clear away the rest. The internal components all looked intact. He closed the console and stood up, then carefully guided his fingertips across the mesh surface of the console. After a few moments, the console began to glow. Dash looked at the others excitedly.
“Make sure you’re recording this,” Merissa said.
Dash brought out his PDA and set it to record.
“Give it here. I’ll hold it,” Jim offered.
Dash handed the PDA to Jim and then waited for the console to finish running through its automated checks. The others pressed in close so they could see what was showing on the screen, but the NEIIS computer interface was heavily damaged and kept showing interference.
“Are you able to clean this up?” Merissa asked.
“It’s old and has been exposed to the elements. I’m afraid anything I’d try would just make it worse or break it all together,” Dash said.
The image cleared for a moment before becoming fuzzy again. Dash frowned as he tried to focus on the image behind the interference. There were NEIIS symbols that ran across the top from right to left. Then a map came to prominence on the screen. There were more symbols on the map, except the layout of the land didn’t match up with any area Dash had ever seen.
“Do you guys recognize this at all?” Dash asked.
The others shook their heads.
“Make sure you get a good shot of this,” Dash said to Jim.
One of the symbols on the map began to pulse, and Dash reached out and gently pressed his fingers down on it. Just after he did, there was a loud screech from outside the building. Dash jumped and his fingers plunged through the fragile mesh of the NEIIS interface. It went dark and Dash cursed, but then there was another screech. This one sounded much closer to them.
“What the heck is that?” Selena asked, her voice rising.
None of them moved as they waited for whatever had made the noise to do it again. Dash leaned forward and strained his ears while he tried not to think about the NEIIS console he’d just broken. He heard the echo of another screech and then subsequent answering calls.
His stomach tightened. He’d only ever heard recorded sounds of those cries. He glanced at Jim and his friend’s mouth hung open in shock.
“What is it?” Merissa asked.
Dash brought his fing
er to his lips, gesturing for silence, and then waved them closer.
“Ryklars!” Dash whispered.
Chapter Four
The ATV’s amber-colored heads-up display had a miniaturized map in the upper right corner that had a glowing marker for vehicle ID AC-217. The designation AC stood for the team or research department that owned the vehicle. In this case, it was the archaeological research group. The number was a callback to the FORB designation for the site. FORB 217 was more commonly known as Sanctuary. Connor remembered first coming all the way out here at Frank Mallory’s request because of Lenora’s major find—an NEIIS city. The NEIIS had used geothermal energy to power the city, which was something they hadn’t encountered before in any of the other alien ruins on New Earth. At the time, Connor was too preoccupied with the Vemus threat to give it more than a passing thought, but since coming to live at Sanctuary, he'd realized that the alien power station was unique. The geothermal taps had been destroyed while powering the colossus cannon and they’d switched over to a smaller, more efficient fusion-power core that would suit the needs of the growing community for years to come.
“So what is it about this kid that gets you so wound up?” Ian asked.
“He’s reckless and always in a rush,” Connor replied.
Ian snorted. “Sounds like every other kid I know.”
“He’s eighteen, so he should smarten up sometime in the next twenty to thirty years,” Connor said dryly.
Ian arched an eyebrow. “Lenora likes him.”
Connor nodded. “She says he’s got all the skills and energy to excel in any field he chooses. I’ve worked with him. He’s enthusiastic and has good instincts when it comes to figuring things out, especially about the NEIIS, but he’s untempered and lacks almost all caution or careful planning,” Connor said.
Ian grinned and shook his head. “God, Connor, do you hear yourself?”
Connor frowned and glanced at Ian. “What?”
“Dash is young and eager to prove himself. Most people who were selected to be part of the colony were picked because they had a proclivity for taking chances. They didn’t want people who were lazy. They wanted smart and active people. Only people who embrace the pioneering spirit come to a place like New Earth,” Ian said.
“'Pioneers' is one way to put it. Do you have any idea how many of them died because they were completely unprepared for what they had to contend with?” Connor asked.
Ian tilted his head to the side, considering. “No, do you?”
Connor frowned. “No idea, but I bet it’s a lot.”
“So, are you really going to sit there and tell me that you've never broken the rules, rushing off and getting into trouble? I don’t believe that for a second,” Ian replied.
Connor shrugged. “Of course I did, but it wasn’t like this. He’s over a hundred kilometers out in uncharted territory. There are rules in place for a reason,” Connor said.
“Which I’m sure someone tried to explain to you when you were his age,” Ian replied.
Connor didn’t reply. Ian was right; Connor had gotten into more than a little bit of trouble growing up, which had landed him in the military. He was a military brat, born and raised—moving around a lot, never calling one place home for very long. His father had been killed in action when Connor was fifteen years old. Admiral Mitch Wilkinson had been his father’s friend and had tried to provide Connor with some much-needed guidance while growing up. He wondered if the old admiral would have found Connor’s current attitude amusing, with a certain amount of irony.
Dash must have disabled the vehicle’s transponder for the trip, they couldn’t be sure of the exact path he’d taken. All they had was the distress beacon’s signal to go by. The path they were on smoothed out so the ride wasn’t as rough as it had initially been, much to Ian’s profound relief. They’d left the thick forests behind and Connor brought up a topographical map of the area ahead.
Mapping New Earth in its entirety had been a low priority when compared with their survival. They had data from the seed ship Galileo, which had arrived at New Earth years before the Ark, but that data was becoming a bit dated. Connor knew colonial efforts would eventually return to studying their home at a much higher priority than it had been in the past few years, but he hadn’t anticipated that the lack of work in those necessary fields would be hindering their daily lives now. He supposed it made sense, though. There was only so much they could accomplish at any given time, and this was just one of those times when they’d have to stumble a bit to catch up. At least now they had the time.
“Looks like he took the ATV into the canyon,” Ian said.
Connor studied the map and guessed that whatever Dash had been after was either inside the canyon or just beyond it. He didn’t think even Dash was bold enough to go on a multi-day field survey excursion, and they were nearing the limits of how far they could travel and return to Sanctuary in a day.
Connor brought up the recon drone interface and deployed three drones to scout ahead. They couldn’t tell from the map why Dash’s ATV was at its current location. If this had been a CDF operation, he’d have had one of their satellites focus in on the area so they’d at least have an idea of what they were going to find, but he wasn’t part of the CDF anymore so that option wasn’t available. He supposed that if he were to request assistance, he’d get it rather quickly, but the CDF had their own things to worry about and didn’t need to be involved with this.
“Looks like this way is the path they most likely took,” Connor said.
He tried to open a comlink to the ATV, but there was no response. He strengthened the signal in an attempt to capture personal comlink channels, but he couldn’t reach anyone that way either. Connor pressed on the accelerator and took them into the canyon.
Thirty minutes later they were closing in on the location of the ATV’s distress beacon. The two recon drones he’d sent ahead hovered in the air above the vehicle and the live video feed showed on the heads-up display. The ATV was nestled before a narrow pathway with rocky canyon walls towering all around it. The only heat signal on IR was from the main battery. The rest of the ATV’s outline appeared in cool blues. The bright headlights from Connor’s ATV flashed on the video feed. There was still plenty of daylight but the area they were at happened to be pretty dark in comparison.
“Doesn’t look like they stuck around,” Ian said.
Connor stopped the ATV and peered ahead. The rear of the Polaris ATV Dash had used was parked in front of them, dark and abandoned.
Ian made as if to open the door. “I guess we should go see if it’s operational.”
Connor continued to stare ahead, using his military-grade implants to see the Polaris in stunning detail.
“Wait a second,” Connor said.
Ian stopped. “What is it?”
Connor took control of the recon drones and flew them over the vehicle. Their ATVs didn’t come in that many different colors. The ones Lenora had managed to acquire for her use had been in service to Field Operations, so they were a traditional forest-green in color. And there were jagged tears along the roof of this one. Connor had the drone circle the ATV and saw similar scratches along the side.
One thing could be said for New Earth’s native inhabitants: most had sharp teeth and exceptionally powerful claws, but there were only a select few that could penetrate the armored walls of a Polaris ATV.
“I don’t see any berwolf tracks, so this narrows it down a bit,” Connor said.
Ian’s mouth became a grim line. “Oh, crap. Ryklars,” he said.
Connor used the recon drone's control interface and switched on the sonic wave detector. The recon drone slowly panned across the area in front of the ATV, but there were no ryklars in the area. Connor hadn’t seen New Earth’s famous spotted predator in years. They’d migrated away, and knowing how sensitive they were to sound and ultrahigh-frequency waves, they could be deterred from going into the more fortified encampments and certainly any citie
s. But out along the frontier was another matter entirely.
“This just became a rescue mission,” Connor said.
Ian nodded. “Shouldn’t we call this in to Field Ops?”
Connor knew Ian was right. They had to get help, but if they took the time to backtrack, the ryklars would be getting closer to Dash and the others. He raised the signal strength of the ATV’s comms systems to maximum and tried to reach the Field Ops Command Center, but no joy. They couldn’t even reach the comms satellites orbiting the planet, most of which were tasked with communications near the central populated areas.
“How’d they even get the distress beacon then?” Ian asked.
“The report shows it was intermittent and provided just enough data to give us a location. Probably was picked up by one of the comms satellites that’s long gone by now,” Connor said and rubbed his chin. “I know what we can do. We’ll send one of the drones into the upper atmosphere toward Ramsey’s team. Perhaps they’ll pick up the signal and relay it to Fields Ops back at Sanctuary.”
“Sounds like a good idea. I’ll go check the other vehicle. We’ll need it if we’re going to get those kids out alive,” Ian said.
Connor quickly coded a message into one of the drones and sent it off. He then had his remaining two drones scout ahead, running in whisper mode. It would be slow going, but he didn’t want to startle the ryklars if he could avoid it. Ryklars always traveled in packs of anywhere from a few dozen to a large alpha pride of over a hundred. It wasn’t until the NEIIS ultrahigh-frequency sound waves were added to the mix that ryklars gathered in much higher numbers.
Connor opened the door and stepped out of the ATV. His boots crunched on the pebbled ground of the dried-out river bed as he went around to the rear door and opened it. He reached into the storage compartment and pulled out an SD-15 Sonic Hand Blaster—not that effective against a ryklar, but it had other uses. Connor walked over to the other ATV where Ian was checking the vehicle’s systems.
"There's still plenty of juice in the battery, but I'm not sure how we're going to make it through that," Ian said and gestured in front of them.