Proxima Logfiles 1: Marchenko's Children: Hard Science Fiction

by Morris, Brandon Q.

  “Yes, that’s a possibility,” said Gronolf. “We’ve got to find him. And we already know where he could be.”

  Of course. The ground must have opened up beneath the shuttle just like it had beneath the freighter. If the passengers hadn’t left quickly enough, it was possible they were stuck in the mud.

  “Beneath us,” said Adam. “I’m on it.”

  “This time we’ll go together,” Gronolf said. “It’s pointless for us to wait for you up here. Maybe you’ll be able to use a couple of strong arms down there.”

  “But that’s...”

  He was on the verge of turning down the offer. But that would be sheer vanity. What if the shuttle’s airlock door were to get jammed, or he had to bring back Marchenko’s lifeless body? His human strength wouldn’t be powerful enough.

  “But that’s a very good idea, is what I was about to say.”

  * * *

  Here they come.

  He’d already seen them descend from the sky. At first he’d hoped they wouldn’t be able to cross the bog, but they’d figured out a way. Now they were looking for him where he had come down out of the sky.

  Three of them looked just like he did, and these were the ones who didn’t want him to live. Marchenko had explained it to him. They’d wanted to kill him shortly after he’d hatched from the egg. It was still difficult for him to believe. He’d escaped from them, but many of his siblings hadn’t. He could still hear the screams of the plex in his head. And this was supposed to be normal? How much did you have to forget—if you survived—to be able, later on, to leave most of the hatchlings to their deaths?

  When they’d been aboard the Majestic Draght, Marchenko had told him that he had to trust these beings, despite all of that, because there was no other way. But, most importantly, there were no guarantees.

  “What will you do if they condemn me to die?” he had asked him.

  “Then I cannot help you.”

  Marchenko had been honest. He’d give him credit for that. But at that moment, Ragnor also knew one thing for sure—he was alone in this universe. It had only taken a few moments for him to decide to steal one of the shuttles.

  Maybe it hadn’t been the wisest decision. The system here didn’t give a Grosnop much of a chance at survival. He’d already tasted the plants on the ground. They tasted disgusting and disagreed with him. And there was no other food, especially since the shuttle had sunk into the ground. He’d made it out of the shuttle at the last second after he’d passed out during the hard landing. Since then he’d been waiting here at the end of the landing trail. He hardly moved, so his body had taken on the temperature of the environment. Nobody could see him here, but he could see them. They appeared to be deliberating.

  Ragnor could hear every word they spoke over the radio, and he also understood the two-armed man. Marchenko had taught him the language he was speaking. It was too bad that it wasn’t Eve who’d come, but Adam. He could have trusted Eve. She’d gone out of her way to protect him from the others. She’d even have given her life for him. But that would have been pointless, because she was no match for 300 Grosnops.

  He scratched his stomach fold. He’d been hungry since the day before. Then the radio came through again.

  “Who’s going first?” a Grosnop asked.

  That had to be the one that the other had called ‘General.’

  “I will,” said the man.

  “It’s my turn now,” said Numbark.

  That was what the general had called him earlier. The name of the third Grosnop hadn’t come up yet.

  “Good,” said the general. “Numbark first, then Adam, followed by Loknor. I’ll be the last to go. And remember to attach yourself to the rope.”

  The name of the third Grosnop was Loknor. He envisioned this Loknor as being young and slim. The general was handsome and brawny. Would he recognize them when he saw them up close? From here, all he saw of them were their silhouettes. The group moved to the edge of the bog. What were they doing? Didn’t they know that the mud would swallow them up?

  “How are we going to find the shuttle?” Adam asked.

  “It’s got to be in there somewhere,” replied the general. “If we can’t find it easily, we’re going to have to split up.”

  They were searching for the shuttle. They probably thought he was in it. And then? What would they do to him? Marchenko had hoped for the best, but not even he could save his life. And now he wasn’t even here to protect him.

  All of the members of the group disappeared into the mud. Ragnor jumped in giant bounds. The three Grosnops were dangerous. But the shuttle was more critical. If he were able to find it again, he’d be able to survive on this planet. He had one advantage—they thought he was ahead of them in the shuttle, but he was actually behind them. Let them find the shuttle for him. It would be empty, no doubt about it. Once they were gone, he could go inside it and rest.

  * * *

  Something was trampling over his head.

  “Did you hear that?” Adam asked via radio.

  “What?” asked Numbark.

  “No, I’m sorry,” Gronolf said. “What did you hear?”

  “A kind of splatting, as if someone were slapping water with the palm of their hand.”

  “There’s nobody up there,” Gronolf said.

  “Maybe the sound came from somewhere else,” suggested Numbark. “Sometimes, sound behaves strangely in liquids. It could have been reflected off the surface.”

  That hadn’t been a reflection. But Gronolf was right. There was nobody up there. Adam had looked around one more time with the infrared visor, paddling forward with his arms. This time he moved faster, because Loknor was pushing him from behind.

  * * *

  “Keep a lookout. We should be there in a minute,” Gronolf said.

  “I... wow,” Numbark said.

  Adam bumped into the Grosnop’s back, and Loknor pushed him from behind.

  “Numbark, better move aside,” Adam called.

  And then he was in the open air. They’d reached a cave! Adam saw a tree trunk and tipped forward as Loknor’s stomach knocked against him. One hand pulled him from the back until he was standing again. It was Numbark. Finally, Gronolf also emerged from the wall of mud behind them.

  “Impressive,” said Gronolf.

  The light from Adam’s helmet illuminated a cave that reached about twice a Grosnop’s height. The shuttle was suspended above their heads. Just like the freighter, it was held up by the root system of a tree.

  “Amazing,” said Numbark. “I have to confess I hadn’t believed every detail, Adam.”

  “It’s like the freighter,” said Adam. “There must be trees like this everywhere stretching their roots through the surface into the atmosphere.”

  The tree made his head spin because it was upside-down. It was growing against gravity. It wasn’t enough just to focus on it, like in space. His sense of equilibrium couldn’t be tricked here. What direction was it growing in?

  Numbark advanced slowly, and the rope pulled Adam along.

  “Shall we split up?” Numbark asked.

  “Why?” Gronolf asked.

  “I...”

  Suddenly a strong force tugged on the rope. Adam couldn’t resist it. Where was Numbark? The force pulled him forward, then stopped. That had to be Loknor trying to stop him, but then they started sliding again, with Numbark’s weight dragging him down. The headlamp lit up an oval hole, and he fell through. Loknor followed him, and Gronolf still had to be hanging on to the end of the rope. All four of them tumbled down together. They were going to die. The planet was burying them deep below its surface.

  But he wasn’t dead yet. He had to watch out. If Loknor and Gronolf crashed into him, they’d crush him. Adam rolled to his side right before he hit the hard ground. His hip hurt, but he still was able to move out of the way as fast as possible. Boom. Ba-boom. That was Loknor and Gronolf. Adam rolled a few times, and then they appeared to have reached the lowest point. />
  Silence.

  * * *

  Adam wiped off his helmet’s dirty visor. There were still streaks on it, but at least now he could see his surroundings. The cave they’d fallen into was a marvel. He turned onto his back. Several trees were stretching their crowns out toward him from the ceiling. It was as if someone had reversed the polarity of the planet’s gravitational field. Adam sat up cautiously, since he had a real fear of falling upward. The treetops were thick with branches. They didn’t extend evenly on all sides as with earthly trees, but looked more like a mixture of a bird’s nest and a ring of braided hair.

  Many small leaves were hanging from the ends of the thin branches. Something was wrong with them. Then Adam realized that the leaves, tiny as they were, didn’t move. Either they were firmly attached to the branches, or there was no wind down here. In the latter case, this would mean that the cave had no exit apart from the hole they’d fallen down. But at the moment, Adam didn’t care. He felt very light. Maybe it was because of the apparent switch between above and below, or perhaps it was the billions of fireflies that illuminated the cave. They seemed to sit on the leaves and emit colored light. Adam saw green, blue, and yellow tones, but no red.

  He lay back down to be able to observe them better. There was a rustling beneath him, and only now did he notice that he was lying on a thick layer of dry leaves. He picked one up and looked at it. It was oval and about four centimeters long, with the edge bending downward. Right in the middle was a kind of wart made of a solid material. Adam pressed on it and it flashed green. So these were the fireflies.

  “Gronolf?” he called.

  It felt wrong to disturb the calm in this underground cathedral. Nobody had said anything until now.

  “I’m over here.”

  Adam looked around. The shadow of a Grosnop was waving to him. But unfortunately it was too dark to see more than silhouettes.

  “Is there any chance we’ll be able to get back up?” Adam asked.

  “It’s beautiful here, don’t you think?” Gronolf asked.

  It was also an answer. And his friend was right. There really were worse places to die.

  “It’s too high to jump,” Loknor said. “But I could try to reach one of the treetops and then keep climbing.”

  “It doesn’t look like they can bear our weight,” said Gronolf. “But give it a try.”

  Loknor got up. He flexed his knees a few times, then took off with his knee joints making a crackling sound. It was about eight meters to the closest treetop. The Grosnops were incredible—Loknor had made it. He clung to the different branches with all four of his arms. Many leaves came fluttering down. Loknor just hung there briefly before the branches gave way to gravity. The Grosnop was still trying to keep his grip on other branches, but none of them were strong enough.

  Loknor fell. He righted himself skillfully in the air and landed on his spring-legs.

  “We’re too heavy,” said Numbark. “Do you want to try, Adam?”

  “It’s useless. From a standing position, I can only get to one-tenth of Loknor’s jumping height.”

  “You could hold onto to my back,” Numbark suggested. “I’ll jump up and you can grab onto the tree.”

  And if he were to fall onto the hard ground from a height of eight meters, he’d break all his bones. Earlier, the safety rope had helped to soften his fall.

  “What about you? I can’t leave you behind,” said Adam.

  “There’s certainly a rope in the shuttle,” Numbark said. “You’ll find it, attach it somewhere, and lower it down to us.”

  Hmm. Should he try to clamber up one of the branches? No, it wouldn’t work. He was also too heavy.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, “but I’m not much lighter than you. You distribute your weight across four branches, which makes about seventy-five kilograms per branch. This was, as we saw, too much. But I’ll be hanging from a single branch, which is almost a hundred kilograms if you include the suit.”

  “You have two arms,” ​​said Gronolf. “Two arms—two branches. That makes fifty kilograms.”

  “Unfortunately, I’m not that athletic. I don’t even know if I’d be able to pull myself up that far with both arms. But with just one arm, not a chance.”

  “Then there’s no way out,” Gronolf said.

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “You can’t help it that you humans are built the way you are.”

  “Couldn’t we throw the safety line up?”

  “It won’t attach on its own,” Gronolf said, sitting on his legs.

  He’d never seen the general so dejected. Landing right in what looked like a fairy tale was worthless if it turned out to be a prison.

  * * *

  Finally, he’d gotten rid of his pursuers! Ragnor anchored his spring-legs deep in the mud and bent his upper body carefully over the hole the others had fallen through. They’d survived that long fall. He listened to their conversation via radio. He should have been happy that they couldn’t find a way out, but it left him somewhat puzzled. Everything had gone perfectly! They’d led him to the shuttle, and now all he had to do was get in. Maybe he’d even be able to get the engines started. Then he could search for Marchenko, who’d gone missing when he landed. But even if the shuttle couldn’t fly anymore, he could live his life there—something impossible aboard the Majestic Draght.

  He shouldn’t stare into the black hole for too long. Come on, Ragnor, he said to himself, the shuttle’s airlock must be over there somewhere. There, you’ll find everything you need for a long and peaceful life.

  And a rope. Of course there was a rope on board. He even knew where it was because he’d come across it while looking for food. But what was he supposed to do with a rope? Why had it even crossed his mind? He pushed the thought to the side, but he couldn’t help but think of a loop it was attached to. Maybe the two-armed man was to blame: Adam, who was the brother of the one who’d saved him, the one he owed his life to—Eve. Adam had accompanied his pursuers, and it seemed to be clear that he was on their side. But if Adam were to die down there because he hadn’t helped him, Eve would never forgive him, even if he didn’t tell her because he’d hardly have the opportunity to do so. It was... tricky. Even though Eve wasn’t there, she was sitting on his shoulder, admonishing him and arguing with him.

  What about Marchenko, Eve? Wouldn’t he be able to keep better watch over Adam? He was probably somewhere nearby and could get his son out of this hole.

  And if not, Ragnor?

  Yes, what am I supposed to do about it?

  Marchenko might be dead, and at the very least, he’s far away. But Adam—you could get him out of there. Think of the rope, Ragnor. You know where it is. Attach it here somewhere and then disappear. Nobody will notice you were here.

  But they’ll see the rope.

  It’s a miracle. They’ll consider it to be a miracle.

  I think you’re lying to me, Eve.

  Yes, I’m lying because I want you to save my brother. Please.

  * * *

  Now and then a glowing leaf would come loose from the treetops, climb up into the air, and finally land beside him in the sky. It was a beautiful vision, and because the trees grew so strangely here, it was easy to believe. He even felt as if he were walking upside-down on the ceiling, and if he stretched his head up for too long, he believed he was falling.

  Once he got that far, Adam caught some fireflies. He searched for the floating, colorful patches that were leaves gliding slowly to the ground. He liked to catch them before they made their way down to the ground, which was covered in a thin layer of mud, because if they landed they weren’t very clean anymore. However, their glow never lasted long. The fireflies died in his hand, and there was nothing he could do to stop it from happening.

  Like now. He pressed the wart in the middle again. One final, blue glow, and then he dropped the leaf. It sank to the ground. The mud would envelop it and then slowly dissolve it until itself turned back into mud. The
y hadn’t figured out the planet’s nutrient cycle yet. When each leaf landed in the abyss, it became nutrients for its tree. Where did the fresh supplies come from? Did the plants depend on meteorites? Or were there places where mud was pushed up from the depths, much like springs of water on Earth?

  Someone else would have to explain all this. But there wouldn’t be anyone else. What annoyed Adam most of all was that they wouldn’t be able to share their discovery with anyone. From the beginning, he’d already planned on not making it back to the Majestic Draght, which is why he’d left Eve there. All the same, it was hard to accept.

  He roamed through the cave with his head lowered, and then something touched his shoulder. Was that a branch? Adam stopped. No, there was nothing, but he turned around anyway. The headlamp light fell on a twisted formation, thinner than a finger, that seemed to be hanging down from above. No, it wasn’t a branch.

  It was a rope. A rope? He reached for it cautiously. Was he imagining it? He closed his hand around it, and he could tell that the material was coarse. He jerked down quickly, but the rope resisted. Then he used his second hand. First he pulled lightly, then he tried hanging on it with all his weight.

  “It holds!” he shouted.

  “What’s going on?” Gronolf asked.

  “There’s a rope here.”

  “Haha. This is no time for jokes.”

  “No, Gronolf, I’m serious. There’s a rope hanging down here. We must have overlooked it before. I just happened to bump into it with my shoulder.”

  “That’s ridiculous, Adam. You mean to say that somebody hung a rope just in case anyone happened to fall into the cave?”

  “See for yourself, Gronolf. I don’t know how it got here either. Maybe it doesn’t go all the way to the top.”

  Of course he couldn’t be sure, but he firmly believed that the rope led to the top. What other purpose could it serve? And then it occurred to him where it may have come from.