by John Coon
“No visible blisters or burns,” she said. “We should have seen them crop up within a couple of minutes at that level of exposure.”
“That means he probably isn't genetically related to those other aliens,” Sam said.
Paige straightened up and brushed back a lock of her blonde hair. She gnawed on her lower lip and cast her eyes to the floor. Sam got a sense she felt more troubled than relieved over how their first test turned out.
“We better head out of the cell before they administer the second test,” Paige lifted her head again and pointed at the door. “This one carries a lot more risk.”
Sam obeyed her instruction and sealed the cell door shut behind her. He told both soldiers guarding the door to leave the corridor and ordered fire resistant doors lowered at both ends. They returned to the observation room to watch the next test unfold.
“Run the second test,” Paige said.
Cool air started blowing through the vents. The room temperature, measured in Celsius, dropped one degree every 24 seconds. Soon, Jbali began to frantically search the room. His mouth hung slightly open and his lips trembled. He pushed against his restraints again with vigor but failed in freeing himself from the chair.
His breath escaped in visible wisps, like a typical human or animal would experience while standing outdoors on a frigid winter night. Jbali shivered in his chair. Both cheeks and the tip of his nose acquired a reddish hue. Remnants of water splashed on him earlier crystallized into ice in his hair and on his skin.
“No signs of genetic anomalies manifesting under duress,” Sam said. “Time to test to the temperature in the other direction.”
Paige nodded and gave the order. Heated air blew through the vents this time. Jbali stopped shivering and gazed up at the camera watching him. Portions of his nose and cheeks had turned white and waxy.
The room temperature now climbed one degree every 24 seconds. Jbali swallowed hard and clenched his teeth. He shouted some words in his alien language at the camera. Then, Jbali rocked his chair back and forth until it finally toppled over.
“That's one tough alien,” Sam said. “He's doing whatever he can do to escape the room.”
Still bound to the chair, Jbali crawled on one hand and his knees across the cell floor. The other arm remained trapped in a sling. Sweat formed on his brow and rolled down his cheeks. He screamed as circulating blood returned to frostbitten skin. His sweat now dripped onto the floor.
Paige scratched her head and squinted at the monitor while the alien tried to cross the room.
“Still no signs of genetic alteration,” she said. “It doesn't make sense. He shows clear genetic differences from the dead alien. If Rubrum scum did not tamper with his DNA, then what is the cause behind it?”
“Perhaps, this one comes from another new alien species," Sam suggested. "It makes sense that a higher number of variations among aliens than what we have with humans exists in the universe."
With only a few feet left to cover before reaching the cell door, Jbali stopped and gasped. A second later, the alien collapsed onto the floor. Paige and Sam sprang for the door at the same time.
“Kill the heat.” A nervous lilt surfaced in her voice. “And raise the fire doors in the corridor.”
They dashed outside the observation room and made a beeline for the detention cells. The fire door had partially lifted off the ground when Sam and Paige reached it. She ducked underneath the thick metal door, while he waited until it rose above his head before resuming his sprint.
Jbali laid motionless on the floor when Sam entered the cell. His cheek pressed against the firm surface and his mouth hung open. Both eyes were glassed over. Paige reached the alien first. She knelt at the spot where he collapsed and pressed her fingers against his neck. When Paige glanced up at Sam and shook her head, it confirmed his first impression.
The alien had died.
Sam peered at Jbali's lifeless body. They pushed the alien to a breaking point with hybrid testing. His thick silver and black hair showed a much older age than the dead alien that the rangers brought back with him. Sam wondered if Jbali's heart failed under the stress of dealing with sudden extreme swings in room temperature. Only an autopsy could confirm that hypothesis.
Establishing an official cause of death was not their immediate concern. With two dead aliens in their custody instead of one, they were no closer to learning why these aliens journeyed to Earth than when they first detected their spaceship.
“What do we do now?” Sam asked.
Paige could only respond with a silent solemn stare. She owned no helpful answer to that question either.
25
Two aerial sweeps over their designated search area turned up nothing except an abandoned aerorover. Calandra kept her eyes glued to patches of trees bordering the small mountain lake. She fidgeted with the small black ring on her finger. Where did Jbali and Atch go? They disappeared without a trace. It felt even more alarming when Calandra recalled Atch's report of seeing an alien attack vessel during his last communication.
“Long-range sensors are detecting nothing from the air,” Xttra said. “Our best option, for now, is to land and recover the other aerorover.”
“Maybe we'll find some evidence down there pointing us in the right direction,” Lance said.
“And then what?” Doni asked.
“Then we'll split into two teams so we can cover additional ground.” Calandra sensed annoyance rising in Xttra's voice. “We'll find them out here, one way or another.”
Xttra took the aerorover down and landed on the opposite shoreline across from the abandoned one. Calandra switched on a thermal tracker as she stepped outside the vehicle. Her hopes of detecting either crew member around the tiny lake grew fainter with each step she took. The tracker showed no sign of Jbali or Atch around the lake or on the tree-lined slopes.
“This is so unsettling.” Calandra cast her eyes upon the abandoned aerorover across the lake. “It feels like they both vanished from this planet without a trace.”
Xttra rested his hand on her shoulder.
“Nobody vanishes without a trace in my experience. A clue to their fate is around here. We will find it. Then we'll find them.”
Calandra tried to convince herself things would turn out exactly as he said. She struggled to shake an unsettling feeling sprouting like an unwelcome weed inside her mind. Complete arca vox silence continued for almost a day now. Neither Jbali nor Atch had been negligent about communicating in the past. Many scenarios wormed their way into her mind. None were positive. She chose to lock those thoughts away. It did her no good to speculate on what-if scenarios.
“I'll check around the other aerorover,” Calandra said, glancing over her shoulder at Xttra. “Maybe I can see if we're missing something over there.”
“Solid idea,” Lance said. “I'll join you.”
He stared at his tracker and traced the shoreline at a deliberate pace. That soon changed when Calandra took off for the other aerorover at a brisk long-legged stride. She forced Lance into a half-jog to keep up. They reached the vehicle within a few minutes. He circled around the front of the vehicle, while she circled around the rear.
“Oh no. This isn't good at all.”
Calandra froze in her tracks between the aerorover and the lake. She jerked her head toward Lance. He knelt on the ground by the passenger door. A crease formed in his brow and he cast his eyes downward. Calandra glanced at the same spot.
A tremor rippled through her spine. She gasped.
Blood.
A darkened patch of soil marked the spot where blood pooled some time earlier. The dirt absorbed the blood at this point, but a distinct stain remained.
Lance waved to Xttra and Doni and signaled for them to join him and Calandra on this side of the lake. Xttra took off on a full sprint. Doni followed behind on a half-jog, his age not allowing a faster foot speed. After they both reached the aerorover, Doni dropped to his knees before the blood-infused soil. He drew a s
quare container that fit inside his palm from a small pouch on his belt.
“That's definitely blood.” Doni confirmed their worst fears. “I'll have to take a soil sample back to the scout ship to see who it matches.”
Calandra feared to ask what this meant for Atch and Jbali. Not knowing their fate opened a door for bleak scenarios to swarm her mind again. Did a wild animal attack them like Bo'un? Did they encounter a hostile Earthian? Their scant knowledge concerning this planet and these aliens put her at a loss on the correct path to take going forward.
Doni crouched down and dug the container edge underneath the darkened soil. He scooped a chunk of soil into the container and sealed the lid. A series of digital numbers appeared on the side, showing the exact date, time, weight, and contents – all based on the Lathos calendar and Confederation units of measurement.
“I have a suspicion the test on the blood sample will only reveal awful news.” Doni's grim tone matched his observation. “It should be painfully obvious now that landing on Earth was a terrible mistake.”
Xttra gazed at the soil sample in the medical officer's hand. He pinched his eyes shut and a deep frown appeared on his lips. Calandra saw the terrible toll their expedition exacted now written in his face. It made her ill to see Doni and Dharcha vindicated in their isolationist stances. Xttra showed courage in raising his voice as Calandra's only vocal supporter in the presence of their chief sovereign. She now feared Doni would use events on Earth to exact revenge against him on Lathos.
This is not a scenario Calandra ever envisioned unfolding when she pushed to travel to Earth. Not in a million years.
Xttra opened his eyes again after a moment of reflection and sidestepped Doni's efforts to provoke another argument.
“We still have plenty of ground to cover,” he said. “Our trackers should cut down on some guesswork.”
Xttra stared at the abandoned aerorover for a moment and then turned to Lance.
“Take the other aerorover and do one last survey over the front side of the range. There's a chance Atch and Jbali crossed over the peaks to evade capture and haven't been able to contact us yet.”
“What will you do?”
“Doni and I will stay with the abandoned aerorover and search for more clues on what happened here.”
Calandra hated the idea of splitting into two teams once she learned she had to go with Lance. She felt much safer staying with Xttra. He trusted his friend more than she did.
Lance started heading back to the other side of the lake. Calandra hung back. She pulled Xttra aside.
“Why can't I stay here with you?” She leaned closer and dropped her voice to a whisper. “I don't think it's such a wise idea to split up.”
Xttra cast a sideways glance at her.
“You'll be perfectly safe flying with Lance.” He matched her hushed tones. “We need to return both aerorovers. I don't trust Doni to take one alone.”
Her eyes drifted over to Lance. The assistant pilot stopped when he noticed no one following him and pivoted around to face Calandra and Xttra. Lance folded his arms and gave them a puzzled look.
Calandra refused to let the matter drop.
“Let's finish searching here and go to the next spot together as a group,” she suggested. “It will set my mind at ease.”
Xttra sighed and flashed a rare frown at her.
“You would do well to learn your way isn’t always the best way to do things.”
Calandra stiffened. She mashed her lips together and stomped over to Lance. How could Xttra be so callous in dismissing her fears? She heard feet pound the path behind her and felt a tug on her arm. Calandra brushed away his hand without bothering to look back.
“Please don't be mad at me.” Xttra shed the earlier sharpness from his voice. “I'm sorry. I know you're scared. I'm scared too.”
She lowered her head and bit down on her lower lip. Calandra tried to recall a passage from the Book of Ahm to give her comfort and eradicate her fear. Her memory refused to cooperate.
“We'll find a way to safely make it through this ordeal,” he promised. “You just need to trust me.”
Calandra drew in a sharp breath and slowly released it again. She stopped, turned, and let Xttra touch her this time. His arms circled her back and they shared a conciliatory kiss.
“I trust you,” she said.
***
Xttra found nothing noteworthy on his thermal tracker while following the same trail Atch walked earlier. At least, Xttra hoped it was the same one. Doni claimed to remember seeing Atch leave in this direction. Xttra hesitated to trust anything Doni said or did, but he had no other choice than to follow his lead and hope Jbali or Atch turned up.
Finding blood outside the aerorover diminished Xttra's hopes for finding his missing crew members alive and unharmed. Chances were slim the blood sample belonged to someone other than Jbali or Atch. He feared a test would confirm the inevitable.
Xttra decided to play it safe before setting out to search for them again. He concealed the aerorover behind a cluster of trees outside the bowl. If any hostile Earthians still lurked in the area, Xttra hoped this would buy him and Doni time to escape if anything turned bad.
They attacked the trail Atch traveled at a brisk, yet deliberate pace. Xttra wanted to go slow enough to catch any clue his tracker might miss. He also wanted to cover as much ground as possible while daylight remained. This search and rescue mission had the potential to take much longer than anyone wanted to admit. Scouring such a vast mountain range was as impossible as trying to separate individual grains of sand on a beach.
The trail meandered between a pair of hills. Green foliage blanketed each hill. White trees with black spots flanked both sides of the trail. Xttra peered up through their leafy shadows. A bank of ashen clouds crept toward the sun from the north. Not a good sign. If an approaching storm forced them to return and seek cover inside the scout ship, it would only complicate further search efforts.
“I found something up here.”
Xttra's eyes settled on the trail again. Doni hunched over a sample bin and some extraction tools a few steps ahead.
“Whoever attacked Atch came upon him fast,” he said. “He didn't even have enough time to gather up the sampling equipment.”
Xttra crouched down and grabbed an extraction tool. He turned the stout pronged cylinder over in his hand and then peered over at the bin. Neither object showed damage. No signs of an attack anywhere on the trail. The answers they sought were not available here.
Xttra rose to his feet and scratched his head
“Atch had enough time to reach us on his arca vox,” he said. “He obviously didn't make it to the aerorover. So, the question now is: where did they track him down?”
Doni straightened up and smoothed out his uniform.
“If a body were here, we would have found it by now.”
“Have you ever scoured a mountain for a missing or dead person?” Xttra adopted an incredulous tone. “You can comb through countless rocks and trees for many days and never find a thing.”
Doni glanced at him and pursed his lips.
“What I'm saying is if Atch or Jbali were captured or killed by aliens, we may never find them again.”
“We can't adopt a negative attitude.”
“So, tell me: where do we go? Which aliens do we track? This is an unfamiliar planet. You're asking us to find a pebble hidden inside a sand dune.”
Doni offered sound logic, but Xttra had no desire to openly admit it. He did not want to give the old man the satisfaction of earning a rhetorical victory over him. Xttra frowned and cast extraction tools into the bin. Once every tool was inside, Doni sealed it again and Xttra hoisted it up into his arms.
“Let's head back to the aerorover,” he said. “We can fan out and scour the immediate area around the lake for more clues.”
Doni answered with a quick nod. They started on the trail again in the opposite direction. Doni turned on his thermal tracker and chec
ked surrounding trees for heat patterns while Xttra carried the sample bin. When they reached the edge of the depression again, Xttra stopped dead in his tracks. He dropped the sample bin on the ground near his feet.
“What are you doing?” Doni said. “We need to get this equipment back to the aerorover.”
Xttra lifted his chin and gazed skyward. A mechanical hum greeted his ears. His mouth dropped open when the source of the noise emerged. Xttra lowered his head and raised a finger to his lips. Doni cast his eyes up at the sky. He gasped and instinctively backpedaled a few steps closer to the trees.
An alien attack vessel flew toward the lake.
“We better find cover,” Xttra said. “Fast.”
He scrambled off the trail and ducked down among a grove of tall trees with green needle-shaped leaves. Doni concealed himself behind another stout tree on the other side of the trail.
The alien attack vessel drew closer. Spinning blades atop the vessel propelled it forward. Upon reaching the small lake, it halted and hovered directly over the shoreline. Xttra's eyes grew as big as saucers and he dared not look away.
Long thick ropes dropped from an open side of the attack vessel. Four Earthians, wearing green helmets and toting long-barreled weapons, slid down the ropes and touched down on the water's edge.
Xttra pulled his arca vox from his chest pouch.
“We need to warn Calandra and Lance,” he whispered to Doni across the trail. “They need to get back to the scout ship at once.
Doni cast an annoyed glance back at him.
“So do we.”
Xttra slid down behind the trunk of one of the larger trees and brought up a holoscreen. Calandra's image materialized on the other end.