by MJ Kobernus
* * *
Sunrise on Palsenz came slower than they were used to. On the Endurance, a day was split into divisions of fourteen hours of daylight and ten of night. Daylight was simulated by a plasma ball suspended in the middle of the sphere. As a result, the sun was always overhead no matter where you were. At night, however, it was shielded, creating the illusion of a regular day. It had long since been set to emulate the approximate timings that they would find on Palsenz itself, in order to acclimate the colonists.
Stephanie watched the orb of the sun rising over the horizon with her mouth hanging open. It was unlike anything she had imagined. Her whole life had been a preparation for the moment they arrived and claimed their new home, but now she realized that their existence on the Endurance had been a mere reflection of reality. And a poor one at that.
They were now less than a klick to the crater left by the Heimdal. Fragments of the shuttle littered the ground around them. Pieces impossible to identify, twisted and burned. She felt regret and loss. It had almost been their home, they had spent so much time in it. On the plus side, the debris would make it easier for a rescue team to find them.
Stephanie took a good look around, doing a 360 degree turn. Nothing. But from the corner of her eye, she thought that maybe she could see something. Snapping her head back, she focused on a nearby dune, only a hundred meters distant. She put the gun sight to her eye, but there was no movement there now, and no indication that there had been anything. She was jumpy, that was it. Just her nerves getting frayed.
As she was turning back she saw it again. This time there was no mistaking it. The small head, the thin limbs; mutant. One, then another and another. The three that had been tracking them. They raised themselves, standing as tall as they were able, clearly wanting to be seen. Stephanie swallowed dryly, wishing she had not already finished the last of her water ration.
Why did they just stand there?
“Pål. They’re here.”
She indicated the dune with the mutants. Knutsen looked up from his burden, seeing them. His eyes widened with shock, then closed in dismay.
“We’ll have to fight.” He stared about himself, obviously hoping for a defensible position. The shuttle explosion had left a crater and they were on its edge. Either they moved towards the mutants, or they moved further into the crater.
To Stephanie, the footing looked treacherous, with jagged shards of metal protruding from the sand. But mercifully, there seemed to be a narrow path free of any major obstacles, and it led directly to a large piece of the Heimdal’s hull.
“We go down,” she said.
That piece of the hull would give them cover, acting as a shield. Knutsen glanced to the crater, assessing, then nodded. As he made his painful way to the crater’s epicenter, Stephanie held back, her eyes never leaving the dune and its three very visible occupants.
But why were they just standing there? What were they doing? It was almost as if they wanted her to look at them. To distract her!
She whirled around but it was too late. Pål was already too far away. She saw the sand erupting before him, two mutants emerging from a hidden trapdoor. They grabbed at his legs, pulling him down. Before she could even call out they were gone.
She shrieked as despair and anger filled her. Turning back to the mutants on the dune, she raised the multigun, but they too were gone. With nothing to vent her rage on, she ran down to where she had seen Pål and Jensen disappear. Yet no matter how hard she searched, she could find no sign of the trapdoor. The sand seemed undisturbed. She fell to her knees, a strangled scream escaping her raw throat.
When she looked up again, the three mutants were almost on her. One of them had blue-grey eyes, almost like Pål’s. But the stunted faces and smaller heads with wide mouths sent a surge of adrenalin through her as well as a sense of certainty. With Pål gone there was nothing left. Raising her gun, she pointed it at her own head, then reached for the firing stud.
The closest mutant reacted. Its eyes opened wide and it raised a hand as if to order her to stop, to desist. Then she heard it. The distinctive roar of a class III shuttle making an atmospheric landing. The whining of the drive as the attitude jets kicked in was unmistakable.
She was rescued. They were here! Unable to believe her senses, Stephanie Chu looked up just as the shuttle began a near-vertical descent. The pilot was skilled, no doubt. One of her colleagues from Endurance, most likely Chang. She felt the briefest sense of justification. She had made it. Even if she died now, it did not matter. The rescue had come.
She looked to the mutants, but they did not appear concerned. One was covering his face from the onslaught of wind and sand, but the others kept their eyes locked on hers. None made any attempt to flee.
Incredulous she stared at them. Slowly she turned her gun around, once again assuming a combat stance. The shuttle landed behind her. She could hear the airlock opening. She smiled, grimly triumphant.
“You should run.”
The mutants did not react, merely observing her with calm equanimity. Stephanie waved the gun. “GET AWAY!”
Someone behind her spoke. The voice was accented, but understandable. It was not anyone from the Endurance. Could it be a shuttle from the Bitter Sea?
“I am the Speaker. We will not hurt you.”
Small, oddly jointed hands reached out. Stephanie turned and stared in wide-eyed horror. Mutants were emerging from the shuttle. One stood directly beside her. In an instant she was disarmed. One of the three unclipped the gun-strap, relieving her of her heavy multigun. Another took the one slung across her back.
A strangled noise emerged from her throat as she tried to speak. Unable to comprehend what was happening, she sank to her knees. Finally, she found her voice.
“Why? Why did you attack us? On the Argoss?”
The mutant named Speaker looked at her and for a moment Stephanie thought that she could see sadness within its eyes.
“We are not like those poor wretches on the arc. They are our great shame. We have abandoned them. The Argoss is their home and this planet is ours.”
Stephanie struggled to get to her feet, but found her legs too weak. Clawed hands reached out to help. Speaker looked up at her as she stood, taller than him by a full head. Up close she found the mutants not quite so repellant. But they had a strange smell, like dried leather. Speaker addressed her again.
“Your kind are our ancestors. Those on the Argoss are our close cousins. But they are not like us. We cannot live with them, so we gave them the Argoss. But this planet is ours. If your people are to live here, then an agreement must be reached.”
Stephanie looked over to the shuttle. It looked exactly the same as the Heimdal, and for a moment she believed it was her ship, that this was all a bad dream. But the strange creature before her belied that.
“We set out from Earth to colonize this planet,” she said. “This is our home.”
“No. It is ours. We got here first. But your kind will be allowed to settle. There will be an agreement about boundaries, possibly trade. We will keep your crew members as surety until we have concluded negotiations with your leaders. Your people are quite safe. The injured one is being treated by our physicians. He will recover.”
At this news, Stephanie felt her strength abandon her and she almost collapsed. Pål was alive! She took a deep breath, composing herself.
“What makes you think we can reach an agreement on sharing the planet?”
A curious coughing sound emerged from the mutant. It took a moment for Stephanie to realize that it was laughing.
“You have no choice. We have mastered the secrets of the Predecessors, the species whose planet this once was. We have had a long time to understand their heritage. Your kind will be allowed to settle on this planet but knowledge of the Predecessors will be denied. Come.”
Speaker led her to the shuttle. Once aboard, it quickly launched. Inside there were two crew members, plus Speaker and his retinue. Stephanie
watched with professional interest as the crew operated the vessel within the atmosphere. That was a skill more art than science. The pilots knew what they were doing.
“We will deliver you back to the Endurance.” He passed her a communicator. “With this we shall forge our agreement.”
Stephanie felt her head swimming. It was too much, too fast. But a thought occurred, nagging. They were so certain, so assured!
“What if we cannot come to terms?” Once again she thought she saw sadness in the creature’s eyes as Speaker looked up at her.
“Then you will have to leave this system.” He turned his back to her, watching on a vid screen as the great bulbous shape of the Endurance appeared. “Either that, or we will be forced to destroy you utterly. Palsenz is ours.”
Thank you for reading this story. If you enjoyed it, I urge you to leave a review. In this modern age, reviews are the lifeblood of the writer. Also, you might like to check out the next instalment of the series, Hunted.
About the author
MJ Kobernus lives in a small town in Norway with his wife and youngest daughter. He is the self-proclaimed inventor of Flash Philosophy as well as the founder of Nordland Publishing. An ardent motorcycle enthusiast, he has been likened to a bear on a tricycle, a comparison he has taken to heart. He has a keen interest in the metaphysical. Ask him about it. Go on, I dare you.
MJ Kobernus is the author of the Guardian series, which you can find on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and pretty much any of the many outlets where you use a mouse to navigate.
The Guardian - Blood in the Sand
The Guardian - Blood in the Snow
The Guardian - Blood in the Fire
You can visit MJ at:
https://www.amazon.com/author/mjkobernus
https://metaphysicalgeometry.blogspot.no
www.facebook.com/TheGuardianFantasySeries
nordlandpublishing.com
facebook.com/nordlandpublishing
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www.nordlandpublishing.com