The next sound it uttered was like a person speaking, except slowed down so much it was unintelligible. Kate studied it for any kind of pattern, something she could mimic, perhaps, but the words sounded completely random. She shook her head and smiled.
The creature tried again. This time, it had made an adjustment. The vocal frequency increased and the sound it produced now reminded her of an Australian didgeridoo. Whatever message the alien conveyed, it remained a mystery, but Kate’s belief that the alien meant her no harm solidified.
She groaned and said, “This is good. Will you tell me where . . . where my friend Mary is?”
The Rossian took another step closer. It stood within a breath of her legs. She dared not move.
“Okay . . . this is getting to me . . . for real now.” She pressed her back against the pedestal in an unsuccessful bid to melt into the background.
When the alien spoke again, the frequency of its sounds fell in the range of a normal human voice. She thought it must have adapted the way it communicates so she could hear, and that possibly this thing had been trying to speak with her all along. The noises also contained patterns, as if the creature formed proper words now, but they remained unrecognizable.
She mimicked the long, drawn out utterances of the alien, and said, “I . . . am . . . Kate . . .”
The alien clacked on the floor and blinked rapidly. It increased the speed of sounds it made, cycling through several frequency ranges. Then, in a soft voice identical to Kate’s pitch, the creature spoke these words: “I . . . am . . . Kate . . .”
Kate held her breath. She stared in disbelief, unsure whether to vomit or cry, her body incapable of managing, of categorizing the rising swarm of emotions. She tried swallowing, but her throat refused to function. Before she processed the words, the creature continued. “I . . . am . . . Kate . . . mm . . . is . . . broken . . .”
Her paralysis was complete, mouth agape, trying desperately to speak, to find a scream.
The creature sidled up next to her face, its warm breath on her cheek. Then it raised two of its knobby limbs and leaned in toward her chest.
THIRTY-SIX
Esther
“Take us within 50 meters of the target, John.”
“Aye, sir.”
Captain Powell circled over the coordinates of the alien ship. Given the lack of sunlight on the eastern limb, the Echo bathed the area with a combination of landing and search lights, giving birth to eerie, yawning shadows across the moonscape. Evidence of Kate and Mary’s work was everywhere. Several pieces of equipment had been scattered about, and they had excavated part of the Rossian vessel, as shown by a small patch of black contrasting with the surrounding brownish-grey. Esther stood in awe, fighting hard to keep her emotions quelled and to focus on the task at hand: find Kate and Mary, make first contact, and prevent Carter from starting a goddamn war.
“There, sir, by that outcrop, three o’clock!” Jenson spotted it—a LunaScoota nestled in the dust.
Atteberry pointed at the viewscreen. “Just the one? I thought there were two.” Silence. “Anyone see the other?” Esther put her hand on his arm and squeezed it.
“Setting her down over there, port-side, sir.” The Captain targeted a flat, open area. The viewer showed a yellow landing grid superimposed on the surface, and within moments, the Echo landed, kicking up dust from its thrusters.
Atteberry broke from Esther’s hand and raced toward the back of the ship.
“Jim?”
“Mr. Atteberry!” Carter stared after him, hands on hips. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Atteberry stopped near the flight seats and turned around. “I’m getting my suit on. I’m going out to find my daughter!”
“You’ll do no such thing unless I permit it. Get back here . . . now!”
He hesitated, looked at Esther, then aft where the airlock was.
“Don’t be foolish, Jim.”
His shoulders slumped, and he lowered his head, seething as he returned to the bridge.
Esther met him half-way. “Let the crew handle this. If Mary’s inside that thing, we can only assume she’s okay. Reason it through.” She studied his eyes. Fear covered his face and the corners of his mouth twitched as he struggled to keep from exploding, and how he stood there, vulnerable, helpless, overwhelmed her with a deep need to hold him and tell him everything’s going to be fine. Instead, she glanced down and patted the small of his back.
Carter surveyed the area, ordering Jenson to zoom in here and there. Nothing suggested any activity, but they pieced together what must have happened. Esther realized one, or both had searched for an entrance into the ship. Multiple sets of footprints covered the site, but it was impossible to tell when they were made. She also recognized the same crustal ruptures here as she’d seen at the destroyed lab site.
“Mr. Jenson, could you do a 360 scan?” Esther followed the upheavals.
Carter, stroking his chin, turned from the main viewscreen. “What is it, Doctor?”
To hide it from him or the crew any longer made no sense. “See those breaches, Clayton? They head west from here.”
“What about them? They look like meteorite impacts.”
“I saw the same ruptures at the lab site.”
Jenson panned the camera around the area, applying night filters to the images so the structures were more visible.
Esther continued. “I doubt they’re natural. Luna’s basically inert, and if meteorites did cause these, where are the craters? They’d have to be massive to create this kind of upheaval.”
Carter turned to face her and narrowed his eyes. “What are you saying? Come, out with it.”
“Well, it’s only a theory at this stage, and I don’t want to jump to conclusions—”
“Dammit, Esther, tell me!”
The hairs on her neck bristled. She hesitated a moment, then said matter-of-factly, “I believe this ship caused those ruptures by emitting a . . . a kind of shock wave that targeted the lab intentionally, propagating over the surface. That’s what destroyed it.”
“A sonic weapon?”
Esther remained silent.
“Son of a bitch.”
Carter paced around the bridge. She glanced over at Atteberry, but he was lost in his own thoughts.
“Very well. Ishani . . . Dub, suit up. Take the excavator and clean the rest of the crap off that ship. Jenson?”
“Sir?”
“Target all forward weapons on that thing and plot an escape course in case we have to bail.”
“Aye, sir.”
Captain Powell stood up. “Clayton, we’re awfully close to a firefight with a vessel we know nothing about. Perhaps we should run diagnostic scans of that ship first . . . learn as much as we can about it.”
Atteberry interrupted him. “Don’t forget there may be lives in there, too. We have to rescue them, not blow them up!”
“Stand down, Mr. Atteberry.”
“The hell I’ll stand down!” He followed Ishani and Dub off the bridge.
“Atteberry!”
Esther raised her hand. She spoke in a low voice so only he could hear. “Let me talk to him, Clayton, but please, listen to the captain. If this ship’s capable of destroying a lab 600 kilometers away with a seriously tight shock wave, we may be in over our heads. Let’s gather some basic data first before doing anything.”
Carter fumed at her, but he was no idiot. He thought a moment, then relaxed. “All right. You rein in the professor and we’ll scan that thing. But to be clear, I won’t hesitate to do everything I can to protect the Echo.”
“I understand. Thank you.”
Esther marched down the ship’s fuselage, rolling her eyes. She found Atteberry struggling with clasps on the envirosuit.
He threw her a hopeless look, and slumped on the prep bench next to Ishani, who had already suited up and was running the safety checklist with Dub. “I feel so useless.”
She sat beside him and stared at the bulkhead ac
ross the aisle. “We’re almost there, Jim. Understand, everyone’s nervous, on edge. Not just because of this unknown ship out there or finding Kate and Mary, but also because of the situation above us.”
He looked at her, confused.
“We haven’t seen this many ships converge on the Earth-Moon system for decades. The trip home, no matter what happens here, could get messy.”
He shook his head. “I just want to hold my daughter again and see Kate. I don’t care about anything else, and I sure as hell don’t give a rat’s ass about that bossy prick you seem to like.”
Esther sighed and remembered what she found so frustrating about this man . . . how single-minded and selfish he could be. She toughened her tone. “Okay, then stay out of the way and let the crew handle this. You’re not helping when you go off half-cocked like an immature teenager.”
When he turned to face her, a cold fire burned in his eyes. He said nothing; only glared at her.
“Relax, Jim. Between me and Captain Powell, we’ll make sure Carter fully understands the significance of his actions. I’ve been dealing with him a lot longer than you, remember.”
“Okay.” He said the word, but she doubted he agreed.
“Good.” She stood up. “Let’s return to the bridge and learn more about this ship.”
They strode off toward the bow, Esther leading the way. She turned around to throw him a reassuring smile and noticed out of the corner of her eye Ishani and Dub in the background, suited up, ready to enter the airlock, arming themselves with laser rifles.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Kate
She could not move.
All she managed to do was squeeze her eyes shut and wait for this creature to strike. She heard it clacking around, its rapid breathing, and caught the odd, faint smell it gave off. When it touched her torso, she turned her head away, recoiling, and every muscle in her body tightened in anticipation of more pain. Instead, warmth pulsated through her from two pressure points, one on the side of her chest, and the other near the bottom of her rib cage.
Kate slowly opened her eyes, first one, then the other. Soft blue light glowed from the tips of the alien’s limbs touching her, illuminating its body, reflecting off its smooth face—the same hue she’d seen in the sky that brought her and Mary here. After several seconds, it released her and gently pulled away, grunted, and scrabbled off into the shadows. The blue disappeared.
She trembled with a strange assortment of terror and comfort. The warmth from the creature’s touch continued to work through her, swirling around her chest and arms, but also covering her entire body. Kate gasped and struggled to push herself up on the pedestal.
The stabbing in her wrist subsided first and within a few minutes, had dissipated completely. Her ribs took a moment longer, but the dull pain that had racked her side melted away, leaving her speechless and, for the first time since the accident, capable of drawing a full breath.
The creature continued staring at her from the black shadows across the void, its amber eyes glowing steadily, blinking sporadically. Kate watched it now with renewed curiosity. She tested her pain-free wrist, turning it slowly from side to side, astonished how the swelling drained from the area so quickly. Then she brushed rib cage, applying pressure to the bones and muscles, and never winced.
“What did you do?”
The alien voice floated out from the dark shadows. “I am Kate is broken . . . little one Keechik helps . . .”
Kate wiped cold sweat from her brow and ran her fingers over her chest. Warmth continued to radiate from her in a soothing way. “Is . . . is that your name? Keechik?”
“The little one Keechik.”
“You understand me now.”
She heard the creature shifting in the dark, grunting. “The little one Keechik watch . . . mm . . . study all the I am Kate beings . . . many of you . . . learn units . . . sounds . . . mm. . .”
Kate felt her ribs and chest again where the creature’s limbs touched her, then stroked her healed wrist and forearm.
This is a miracle.
“Keechik, do you know where my friend is? She is taller than me, with longer hair.” Kate brushed her hand over her head. “Mary was with me outside, on the surface.” The eyes blinked.
“The friend Mary is here, I am Kate. Safe.”
Thank God.
“Where is she? I have to see her.”
The creature did not answer. Instead, it scuttled around in the shadows, making various guttural noises. Finally, Keechik’s voice ruptured out of the dark. “Friend Mary . . . must remain . . . alone now.”
Kate leaned forward from her sitting position on the pedestal, elbows on her legs, her head hanging down. If the creature spoke the truth that Mary was safe why couldn’t she see her? She sighed with frustration, then sat up straight and tried a different line of questioning.
“How many of you are in this ship?
“The one Keechik is . . . confused, I am Kate.”
She considered another way to ask. “Keechik is alone here? Or are there others?”
Clacking sounds and grunts floated out from the shadows on the other side of the void, followed by an eerie, woeful cry like that of the mourning doves she remembered from the Spacer Training Center.
“Keechik?”
The howl-song continued for several minutes, evoking in her deep fear and sadness. Not the dread associated with danger though. Something deeper, ancient, and timeless.
When the moaning finally ceased, Kate remained silent, listening to the low-level thrum of the vessel, and watching the wide golden eyes.
“Only little one . . . Keechik . . . remains. No more.”
Kate relaxed her shoulders and her entire body softened. She whispered, “What about your home? Any others there?”
“No, I am Kate . . . only little one Keechik remains.”
Could this shy creature be the last of its kind?
“The little one Keechik is . . . mm . . . too alone.”
A new flood of warmth washed over her. This Rossian had not come to invade the Earth; it came because it was lonely. That H2O code wasn’t just about finding water. Keechik searched for other sentient life forms, capable of contact and communication. Perhaps most important, someone to keep this creature company.
“How long have you been here, on Luna?”
“Mm . . . over four of your Earth’s solar rotations, little one arrives. Followed your signal here. Stopped on . . . on this Luna.”
“Why did you bury your ship in moon dust? My home, the Earth, has lots of people who would love to meet you. Why not—”
The creature scuttled about wildly in the dark, its eyes widening and blinking rapidly. “No, no, no, I am Kate, no, no . . . too much . . . too much.”
She brought her hand to her chest and rubbed it. Something had changed there, too. Slipping her fingers under her shirt, she manually inspected herself. The cuts and scars had gone. The darkness prevented her from seeing anything other than dim shapes, but her fingertips didn’t lie.
“You . . . you healed my cuts too?”
“I am Kate was broken . . . little one Keechik helps.”
“Keechik,” she said, “can you make it lighter in here? I’m blind here in the dark.”
The creature moved about and, in a moment, the light in the void increased . . . nothing close to daylight, but Kate now saw the surrounding room, the low, smooth ceiling, various consoles—like the computer stations she knew from the lab—across from her where Keechik huddled, and a control station with small holes throughout.
Perhaps that’s how this thing runs the ship, by placing its limbs in these slots.
The creature also appeared in its complete form for the first time. Six spindly legs used for motion and, presumably, running the vessel. A thin, small torso, and a horizontally elongated head. The amber eyes dominated its face, but it had a small mouth. There were no discernible ears or a nose . . . no hair of any kind, no uniform.
Keechik shifted.
“Others, like I am Kate, come now . . . many arriving.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Come . . . and see . . .”
Keechik turned toward a console and inserted a pair of its limbs into different holes. Images flickered on the ship’s wall showing the Echo on Luna’s surface and two figures rolling an excavator off the supply portal.
Kate stood, testing her balance. Her head almost touched the ceiling. She now had a way home and smiled with disbelief. Then, something odd occurred in her . . . a different warmth pulsing inside her. She had to sit down.
No!
She brought her hand to chest again and gasped.
No, no, no . . .
She stared at Keechik as confusion and horror enveloped her. “What did you do to me?” She brushed her hand over the two growing lumps of flesh protruding from her chest.
“I am Kate was broken.”
Mary
Her first thought when she regained consciousness was of being strapped into the flight seat of the shuttle that transported her to Luna when she began her internship with Titanius. Then, as the veil of confusion lifted, Mary realized she was somewhere else, immobilized, and lying supine in almost pitch darkness. Her head was under pressure, restrained, warm. Her eyes slowly adjusted to her surroundings, and the only logical explanation was that she’d been rescued and brought into the alien ship.
Where’s Kate? Where am I? Why am I pinned down on this . . . platform?
Her fingers moved, but her arms were buckled down beside her, as were her legs. A restraint also held her chest and she couldn’t move her head. The envirosuit had disappeared, but she didn’t need it in this oxygen-rich, pressurized atmosphere.
“Hello?”
Her own voice sounded foreign to her, and deadened immediately in the black. Mary looked around but saw nothing. Her dad used to tell her, when she struggled with chemistry and the concept of atomic particles, that just because we can’t see something, doesn’t make it any less real. Perhaps her helmet had been removed to prevent her from scanning this area in different EM ranges and discovering . . . what? That she’s imprisoned on an alien ship?
Echoes In The Grey Page 31