Sanctuary

by Ken Lozito

  Both Merissa and Selena nodded.

  “Good. We hoped you would be able to help shed some light on why the landscape appears to have changed when compared with the Galileo survey data,” Lenora said.

  Merissa’s mouth opened in surprise. “I’m sure there’s someone else who might be able to give a better answer than what we could come up with, Dr. Bishop.”

  Lenora shook her head. “Nonsense. You’re here and I want your opinion. Dash speaks highly of you both. He would never have recruited you for his. . .” Lenora paused and gave Dash a sidelong glance, “. . . rogue field survey mission if he wasn’t confident in your abilities.”

  Merissa glanced at the screen and then walked toward it. She had her arms crossed in front of her while she studied the map for a few moments.

  “So, the question is what could cause the landscape to change to the degree we’re seeing here,” Connor said and gestured to a part of the map that was highlighted with potential NEIIS locations. “We know the symbols mean there could be something at these locations, but we can’t be sure where these places are in relation to the map.”

  “We think it’s in the area north of where we are now,” Dash said quickly.

  “Yeah, but we can’t know for sure. So let’s focus on what could have happened to change the landscape like this, then try to pinpoint the current location for it,” Connor said.

  Connor watched as Merissa studied the Galileo topographical map and compared it with what they’d found.

  “Typically, when you see widespread changes across the landscape like this, it’s the result of some type of external stimulus,” Merissa said.

  Dash nodded enthusiastically. “I keep thinking of something big, like a supervolcano or something like that.”

  Merissa shook her head, not convinced. “A supervolcano would cause more damage, possibly even an extinction-level event, but there’s no evidence to support it.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe we just haven’t explored enough of the continent to find the evidence you need. We’d need a geological survey to determine volcanic activity,” Dash said.

  “Yes, I’m sure,” Merissa said, sounding slightly irritated. “Supervolcanoes are massively destructive in force. What we see on the map is the result of subtle variations over time. We’ve seen this back on Earth during the last Ice Age. It requires further analysis, but I would put forth the theory that these changes are the results of glaciation.”

  “Are you saying glaciers caused all this change?” Connor asked.

  Merissa nodded. “That would be my hypothesis.”

  Connor had worked with enough scientists over the past year to know that was as close to a "yes" as he was going to get.

  “What would you need to do to know for sure?” Lenora asked.

  Merissa thought about it for a moment. “I’d have to collaborate with other experts. One of the things I’d want to look for is whether the migration pattern had changed for the local fauna.”

  “Why would the migration pattern matter at all?” Connor asked.

  Selena cleared her throat and Connor looked at her, nodding for her to speak.

  “If there was an Ice Age, it would mean that food had become scarce and forced the local wildlife to scavenge farther south where it’s warmer. The predators would follow and everything would just move south for a while. Then, after the Ice Age was over, they would eventually migrate back north,” Selena said.

  Dash nodded. “So we’d need to know the current migration patterns, but we wouldn’t need to study all wildlife. We could base it on a sampling and then look for evidence of migratory behavior so we could match it at some of these other locations,” he said, looking at Merissa and Selena. “Does that sound about right?”

  Merissa pursed her lips in thought, her eyes still studying the map on the screen. Then she nodded. “Beyond the migration patterns, we would need to look for evidence that lakes and rivers had changed. Remember the Great Lakes of North America? They were formed by glaciers. They represent a more extreme kind of evidence, but we could start off with the most obvious pieces and then work our way down to the smaller ones. Then we’d have a picture of just how far the glaciers had come south.”

  Lenora nodded enthusiastically, apparently pleased with the discussion. “Outstanding, ladies and gentlemen. Scientific research is based on collaboration among our peers. None of us can do this alone. I’m glad to see that each of you had the instinct to immediately bring in your peers to work the problem. The other thing we need to consider is the timeline.”

  Connor frowned. He had no idea where Lenora was going with this, and by the looks of the others, neither did they. In this, she was one step ahead of them, and for once, Connor was glad it wasn’t just him.

  Merissa’s eyes widened first as she finally understood. “We would need to understand whether this Ice Age and the disappearance of the NEIIS are correlated and possibly contributed to their disappearance,” she said and looked at Lenora. “May I, Dr. Bishop?” Merissa asked, pointing at the wallscreen with the Galileo data on it.

  “Go ahead,” Lenora said.

  Merissa walked over to the wallscreen and brought up the holo-interface. Connor watched as she brought up a couple of data models in reference to what they knew about the Ice Age that had occurred on Earth.

  Once Merissa had what she was looking for, she took a step back. “I had to look it up just to be sure. Glaciers can form very slowly—less than a meter per day, for example—or quite quickly, forming upwards of thirty meters per day. In order for the glaciers to reach a few hundred kilometers north of here, they would’ve taken four hundred and sixty years just to get to that point and perhaps another four hundred and sixty years to retreat back to their normal area.” Merissa frowned for a moment. “Actually, it’s less than that. I was assuming the glaciers started at the North Pole, which isn’t right. So, if we assume this area here where the glaciers currently are is normal,” she said, using her hand to draw on the holo-interface, which showed a thick line on the screen, “it would still take over two hundred years for a glacier to reach this far south.”

  “You don’t sound very convinced,” Connor said.

  “I’m just not sure if it’s right because the theory is that the NEIIS disappeared less than a hundred years ago. What do you guys think?” Merissa asked.

  “I think you’re on the right track,” Lenora said. “But you’re right about the timeline. It doesn’t quite match up, which can mean a couple of things. One, we’re wrong about when the NEIIS actually disappeared. Two, the glaciers could have formed faster than what we’ve observed back on Earth. This is a new planet and it has different systems at work. And we're not sure what would’ve triggered such a rapid Ice Age. The most recent Ice Age on Earth lasted about ten thousand years before conditions changed and it ended.”

  “I think the two are related. Let’s assume for a second that the glaciers formed quicker than we thought. So if we just double the distance per day, that would mean that the glaciers reached here in less than a hundred years,” Connor said.

  “What could cause that?” Dash asked. “Was it something the NEIIS did, or was it something that occurred naturally?”

  “Let’s take a step back,” Lenora said. “What causes an Ice Age?”

  They all looked at Merissa, who seemed startled by the sudden attention.

  “Oh, you want me to answer that. Okay,” Merissa said and thought about it for a moment. “Causes for the planet to rapidly cool could be anything from the variation of sunlight, the distance of New Earth from the sun, ocean circulation changes, and composition of the atmosphere, just to name a few. The NEIIS had an industrialized society so that could have contributed to the rapid climate change.”

  Dash snorted, drawing their attention. “I just had a thought, but it’s probably too far-fetched.”

  “Well, let’s list everything we can and then we can start crossing stuff off the list,” Lenora said.

  Dash shrugged
as if to say: okay, you asked for it. “How about a celestial body that moved through the star system and temporarily pulled planets out of alignment? It doesn’t take much. It could be anything, like a gentle giant of a black hole whose mass is similar to our star so it wouldn’t cause wanton destruction but would just be enough to temporarily alter the orbiting planets it passed closest to. All it would take would be a few degrees away from its current orbit to have a massive effect on the temperatures of the planet. Then, when it was gone, the star would re-assert control and the orbits would settle back to their normal position.”

  Connor arched an eyebrow at Dash. “Just a thought, you say?”

  Dash smiled and then seemed surprised for a moment that he’d done so. “Well, we are brainstorming here and I thought, what the heck? It could happen.”

  Connor glanced at Lenora. “He’s got a point. I remember Dr. Zabat speaking about anomalies in space—rogue planetary bodies that were ejected from their own systems, going about their business on a trajectory that could pass through a star system and impact it.”

  “An astrophysicist’s point of view, but we can’t rule it out. I’m not sure how we can prove it, but we can certainly ask him to look into it for us,” Lenora said.

  “That might be a tall order, given how much our war with the Vemus has impacted the star system. But you’re right, we can ask,” Connor said.

  The comlink chimed on the wallscreen nearby and the header information indicated that it was for Connor. He walked over to the wallscreen and acknowledged the incoming call.

  Captain Ramsey’s tanned, weather-worn face appeared on the screen. “Connor. Good, you’re available,” he said with a smile.

  “I might be, but it depends on what you’re going to ask me,” Connor quipped.

  Captain Ramsey chuckled. “You have a visitor at Field Ops who’s been waiting for a couple of hours to meet with you. Are you able to swing by?”

  Connor glanced at Lenora. He did have a meeting at Field Ops, but it wasn’t for another hour. “Who is it?”

  “His name is Bernard Duncan. He’s from the Housing and Urban Development Committee at Sierra. He says he needs to talk to you specifically. So if you can make your way down here, I would certainly appreciate it,” Captain Ramsey said.

  Connor recognized the undertone of Captain Ramsey’s statement, which was “please come here and get this guy out of my hair.” Connor smiled. “Understood. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Lenora walked over to his side. “What’s going on?” she asked.

  Connor shrugged. “I’m not sure, but I’ll go see what this Bernard Duncan wants and let you know. Then I’ll meet up with you guys later. Can you stand to be without me for that long?”

  Lenora gave him a playful swat on his arm. “Go on, then. We’ve got it covered here. Unless you’d rather stay and continue discussing how an impromptu Ice Age changed the landscape, which I know you wouldn’t want to miss,” Lenora said, her tone sounding almost accusatory.

  Connor grinned and leaned in so only Lenora could hear. “I didn’t arrange for this. I was actually enjoying the discussion for a change. Much better than arguing.”

  This seemed to mollify Lenora.

  “Alright, students I think we're on the right track here so let’s keep it going,” Lenora said as Connor left the room.

  Ian Malone followed him out. “Call me if you need backup,” he said with a grin.

  Connor turned around. “You can come if you want,” he offered.

  Ian shook his head. “I think I’d rather help mold young minds here. I’ll see you later,” he said and walked back into the laboratory.

  Chapter Nine

  Connor left the Colonial Research Institute building and walked over to Field Ops Headquarters, which was essentially one permanent building and a nearby landing field. Officially, it was called Field Ops Headquarters, but Connor had to admit it was a small operation. Field Ops and Security employed around forty people who were tasked with protecting the thousand-odd residents of Sanctuary, the same number of people in their employ when Sanctuary had just a few hundred residents.

  Connor walked toward the single-story prefabricated building that served as Field Ops Headquarters. Multiple thick antennas jutted above the roof which kept them connected to the main colony at Sierra. As Connor walked through the double doors, he saw that Jim Tucker was sitting behind the reception desk. Jim was focused on the holoscreen in front of him but glanced up as Connor approached. His eyes widened when he saw who was walking toward him.

  “Hi, Jim. How are you feeling?” Connor asked.

  Jim rubbed his arm where he’d been wounded by the ryklars. The kid was lucky. Ryklars didn’t usually deliver so shallow a cut, and thanks to the medipaste Ian had applied, there would be hardly any scarring.

  “I’m fine, sir. Thank you for asking,” Jim said, his cheeks going slightly pink.

  “Good, I’m glad to hear it. I’m here to see Captain Ramsey. Can you tell him I’m here?” Connor said.

  Connor was sure Ramsey wouldn’t mind if he just headed on back, but Connor preferred to adhere to established protocol, and he was a civilian, after all.

  “Right away, sir,” Jim said.

  Connor walked over to the sidewall to peruse a bulletin board hanging there while Jim contacted Captain Ramsey. Despite being retired from the Colonial Defense Force for nearly a year, people still referred to him as “sir.” At first, he would kindly remind them that he was no longer in the military, but that didn’t dissuade anyone, especially the younger generation. He supposed there could be worse things than a show of respect.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Gates,” Jim said, and Connor turned toward him. “Captain Ramsey is ready for you. He said you could just go on back.”

  Connor thanked him, but as he walked by, Jim looked as if he wanted to speak. Connor stopped and waited. “Is there something else?” he asked.

  Jim sucked in a nervous breath and gathered his courage. “I just wanted to thank you for your help the other day. I didn’t get the chance at the time and they’ve been keeping me busy here.”

  Connor regarded the young man for a moment. At least he still looked a little bit shaken by the whole ordeal. “You’re welcome. I hope it doesn’t happen again,” Connor replied.

  Jim met his gaze, then nodded.

  Connor walked toward the back where Captain Ramsey’s office was. The office door was open and Ramsey waved him inside. He had his hand on his ear and was speaking to someone via comlink. Connor found it amusing that people still pretended to use an earpiece even though a comlink channel was handled through standard implants. He understood the unconscious gesture was so others would know they weren’t talking to themselves, but it was also one of the quirks people used to convey information when they couldn’t speak. He’d used that behavior himself in some of the covert operations he’d led for the NA Alliance military back in his Ghost days.

  “What were they concentrating their search on?” Captain Ramsey asked. After a few moments, he continued. “That’s still pretty far from any encampment or settlement or even any FORBs. No, I can’t send a team to go look. We’re already short-staffed as it is. If you’d like to send me more people, I could do a more thorough sweep of the area . . . No, I know we’re all short-staffed . . . Fine, how about a shipment of recon drones that are capable of the range of patrol you’re asking me to do . . . Well, you’re not leaving me with a lot of options. Are we in danger or not?” Captain Ramsey asked crisply. “No, the ryklar attack the other day was ruled coincidental. The alpha pack was following the landrunners’ migration patterns when they came across one of our remote field survey teams . . . I didn’t say it wasn’t a priority. Well, an additional Hellcat or even a couple of C-cats would make my job a little bit easier and give you the data you need.” Captain Ramsey glanced at Connor and shook his head. “Great, you’ll work on it. I appreciate it. Let me know what you can do and call me back.”

  Captain Ramsey
finished his conversation and sighed heavily. He glanced at Connor and shook his head again. “You know you could have my job if you want it. Seriously, say the word and the job is yours.”

  Connor chuckled and shook his head. “No thanks. Sounds like they were giving you a bit of a runaround.”

  “I sympathize with what they’re trying to do at the main Field Ops Headquarters in Sierra. Everyone is resource-constrained because of the rebuilding efforts. I think it’s only a matter of time before we feel the pinch somewhere we don’t want to feel it,” Captain Ramsey said.

  “What do they want you to do?” Connor asked.

  “They’ve reopened some of the forward operating research bases and the Field Ops recon teams have been reporting increased ryklar activity moving through the area. I think it’s catching them a bit off guard because they hadn’t been in the area for so long,” Captain Ramsey said.

  “Have there been other attacks?” Connor asked.

  Captain Ramsey shook his head. “No, not yet, at least. Well, there shouldn’t be as long as they follow standard protocols and recon the area like they’re supposed to. And set up the sonic wave emitters as a deterrent. That should deter mishaps like what we had the other day. Speaking of which, what are you going to do about Mr. DeWitt?”

  Connor drew in a breath and raised his eyebrows. “Lenora and I have talked about it. We’ve spoken to Dash . . .”

  Captain Ramsey snorted. “Let me guess. He’s a promising young student and she’s reluctant to let him go. That sound about right?”

  Connor liked Captain Ramsey. They’d gotten along ever since Connor first arrived at Sanctuary. He was a good fit for the job he had to do, but the stress of being short-staffed was starting to take its toll.

  “Something along those lines. The kid is smart and I think deep down he knows what he did was wrong, but his reasoning for going in the first place hasn’t changed. He thinks they should just go whenever they want and be able to accept the risk.”

  “He’s not the only one. That attitude appears to be a growing trend among the scientists and researchers who work here. Hell, even some of the residents feel the same way. And honestly, I’m not sure we can keep up with the demand,” Captain Ramsey said and sighed.