I smiled back. “What, me worry?”
Zilder looked at both of us like we were crazy, and then said, “Ho’nig help us all.”
Still smiling at me, Kejahna said, “Ho’nig helps those who help themselves.”
I got distracted by other things until 1355 hours—five minutes to noon, local time, meaning it was almost time for the test—and then I went to the reactor. Zilder informed me that it was ready. With the suns at their apogee causing a cascade of colors in the trees, I ordered the test begun. The full results are attached to my officer’s log.
I looked over at Kejahna, who just gave me a knowing smile that seemed to say, We used our hands.
Some work needs to be done on the reactor, but at least I’m making progress—both with the accelerator and with the workers. I’ll whip these guys into shape yet.
Transcript of tricorder recording by Commander Sonya Gomez, camp hospital, planet Sarindar, Stardate 53277.5
GOMEZ: Okay, Rimlek, tell me exactly what happened.
RIMLEK: We were just—just sleeping. It—it all happened so—so fast. One minute, we’re sleeping, the next, this—this—this thing is tearing us to shreds! We were—we were just lying there—sleeping, you know. Suddenly, I hear this noise, like something’s tearing. Doesn’t sound like anything you usually hear, so I wake up—and just then, this big, I don’t know, claw thing was ripping through the tent. It was terrible, it—
GOMEZ: What did it look like?
RIMLEK: It was—it was—it was like a whole bunch of crystal triangles. The head, all four claws, body, tail—they were all pointed at the end and flat on top.
GOMEZ: A shii.
RIMLEK: No! I mean, yes, it was like a shii, but—Commander, this was twice the size of any shii I’ve seen. I’ve—I’ve been on this planet since the project s-started a year ago, and—and I’m telling you, this was no—no shii. I’ve never s-seen anything this—this vicious. It—it tore through Saolgud like he was nothing. Nothing! It was terrible! And—and then it went after Kani and smashed his skull like it was a piece of fruit and then it sliced Mokae’s head clean off and then it turned to me and I’ve never been so scared in my life and it came after me and those claws and those claws and those claws and please don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me!
DOLAHN: That’s enough, Commander! He’s going into shock—and Kani is already in a coma from blood loss.
GOMEZ: Report, Doctor.
DOLAHN: Well, Saolgud and Mokae are quite dead—assuming it is them, since they’re missing their heads. I’m going to go out on a limb and list the cause of death as decapitation.
GOMEZ: What can you tell me about the wounds?
DOLAHN: Aside from the fact that they were vicious?
GOMEZ: Do they match what Rimlek said? Could a shii have caused this?
DOLAHN: One with a massive glandular disorder, perhaps.
GOMEZ: Doctor . . .
DOLAHN: I’m simply telling you what I saw. Yes, these wounds could have been made by a shii, but only one that was several times larger than any one that has ever been reported. I know whereof I speak, Commander. The shii and the other silicon-based life on this planet are my specialty, and I can assure you that this is not a shii found in nature.
KEJAHNA: It’s a monster shii, then.
GOMEZ: Oh, come on.
KEJAHNA: That’s what the legends say, yes?
DOLAHN: I wouldn’t know. I don’t pay attention to children’s stories.
KEJAHNA: Obviously, Doctor, they are not stories. We need to kill this thing.
GOMEZ: Don’t be ridiculous. Tell me, Doctor, are there shii on any other world besides this one?
DOLAHN: No.
GOMEZ: And when was the last time that anyone did an anthropological survey of this world, prior to the start of this project?
DOLAHN: Well, it’s been about five hundred years—
GOMEZ: And how detailed was that survey?
DOLAHN: Well . . . Look, I’m telling you that—
GOMEZ: You’re telling me that your “ expertise” is at least five hundred years out of date. Which means it’s quite possible that this is a normal evolutionary step for the shii.
KEJAHNA: We still need to hunt it down.
GOMEZ: Why?
KEJAHNA: It attacked for no reason!
GOMEZ: We don’t know that. Rimlek was asleep when it attacked—and shii generally only attack when they’re provoked. For all we know, Saolgud or Mokae or Kani did something to provoke it.
KEJAHNA: They also attack for sustenance.
DOLAHN: That wouldn’t matter. They could no more consume carbon-based life for food than you or I could have a Spican flame gem for lunch.
KEJAHNA: So are you saying we do nothing?
GOMEZ: Of course not—but we don’t need to hunt it down. We’ll just improve our defenses. This encampment doesn’t have any kind of protection against local fauna attacking—mainly because nobody expected it to. Have the rest of Saolgud’s detail construct a fence around the perimeter.
KEJAHNA: That will put us behind schedule again.
GOMEZ: That detail’s already lost four people, they were going to be behind schedule anyhow. And I’d rather play it safe, in case the shii decides it wants to finish the job. Make sure the fence is electrified.
KEJAHNA: This is a mistake, Commander.
DOLAHN: If you two are finished posturing at each other, would you mind getting out of my hospital and letting my patients rest? Thank you.
Letter from Kejahna on Sarindar to Revodro on Nalor, fifth day of Sendrak, twenty-third year of Togh
My son:
One of your mothers told me in her last letter that you are walking and talking now. This is good.
I am writing this letter to you so you know what it is that your father is doing away from you in this formative time of your life.
My work has taken me to the cursed planet of Sarindar. Perhaps your mothers have told you stories of Sarindar. Well, they are all true. This is an evil place. Or, at least, it was.
Our government did not think it was ever a cursed land, but that those were simply stories to frighten children such as yourself. They told us that we were to come to this home of evil and construct machines that will mine the planet. There is an element here that is called chimerium. Supposedly, harvesting this element will make our government rich. I suppose that is so, but I doubt that I will see any of those riches. Our wages are above standard, but nothing compared to what the government will reap from our labors. That is, it seems, the way of things—and it is worth it, perhaps, to make sure that you and all your brothers and sisters have a better life.
It has been worth it for other reasons, too. I have seen things that I thought I would never live to see.
When I was your age, my father and mothers told me many stories to both frighten and excite me—no doubt your mothers are doing likewise. Perhaps they have told you of the monster shii, or of the sañuul that can lift curses and bring the light.
I have seen both these things.
In order to explain how I have seen these things, I must first tell you about Commander Gomez. She was sent by the Federation. I’m sure you’ve heard stories about them, too. The evil empire who fought us three ages ago and demolished our fleet. To be honest, my son, when I heard that they were sending someone from that foul nation, I almost quit. I only did not because I knew that I would be blacklisted from this kind of work—not only would the government never hire me, but neither would anyone else. I have my family to think of. So I stayed.
Our last supervisor was a good man by the name of Nalag. At least, he was a good man when we first came here. He had every intention of making this project work. He was a sensible man, who had a good plan for the machine we are building. He was also a calm, well-adjusted man, who always kept his beard short and neatly braided.
By the time he quit, he was a wreck. He screamed constantly. His beard had become a long, tangled mess that he didn’t even bother to braid. He
talked to himself.
Sarindar had destroyed him.
I feared that it would destroy all of us. And then, then the government informed us that Nalag would be replaced by someone from the Federation.
Worse, a woman from the Federation. For a woman to supervise a man’s work is absurd. But I remembered you, my son, and the rest of the family, and I persevered.
When Commander Gomez arrived, she immediately set about destroying Nalag’s work. This offended me even more than her presence. She spit on the work of a good man. It was not Nalag’s fault that this place is cursed, and his methods were good and fair.
Then she did something truly astounding.
She fixed the load-lifters.
You see, my son, the load-lifters were the true embodiment of the curse of Sarindar. They would not work. We tried everything we could to fix them, but still they would not work.
The woman had not been here an entire day before she solved the problem of the load-lifters. Since she worked her magic, they have consistently worked. My assistant, J’Roh, called her “Sañuul” after that, and I was half-tempted to go along with it.
But I could not. She was still a woman, still from the Federation, and still spitting on the memory of the noble Nalag. This was made worse when she tried to use her Federation trickery on the workers, who staged a simple protest.
All that, however, changed today.
I know what you are thinking right now. “When is he going to tell me about the monster shii?” Patience, my son.
Two days ago, four men were attacked in their sleep by a creature that one of them described as a monster shii.
Yes, that’s right. It is real.
I can see your mothers now. They are all probably reading this and making disapproving sounds about how Kejahna is filling his son’s head with insane stories.
And perhaps the two men who survived were telling absurd tales about the creature that wounded them and killed their comrades.
Yes, my son. The creature killed them.
I know this is harsh, but there is nothing to be gained by hiding behind euphemisms. Two of my men were dead, two others badly injured. And the injured ones claimed it was a monster shii.
In any case, I soon learned the truth.
Either way, though—whether it was truly a monster shii or simply some other vicious animal—I knew we had to hunt this creature down. Commander Gomez said no to that, said to simply construct an electrified fence—which we did. But I knew that it would not be enough. I assumed that Commander Gomez, being only a woman, did not understand these things.
Today, Commander Gomez and I were discussing some aspect of the work when we heard a loud noise. We ran to the source of the noise, which was on the perimeter near the electric fence we had built.
The first thing we saw was that the fence itself had been damaged—broken by something that had ripped through it. There were pieces of the fence’s structure inside the encampment—meaning that whatever broke the fence, did so by coming in from the outside. Since no one was allowed outside the camp without permission (and they could not break this rule without electrocuting themselves, since only Commander Gomez and I held the keys to the fence) and since no one had asked for that permission, we knew that it was no member of the workforce who had done this—not that any of us could and live.
I told Commander Gomez that the monster had returned. She scoffed. At the time, I believed it was because she was only a woman and did not know better.
Then we saw it.
The monster shii is truly as the legends have said: it looks just like a shii, only bigger. It actually looks much like a man—smooth head and pointed chin, though its chin is natural rather than the result of a beard—only the top of the head is flatter. And, of course, it is made of crystal and walks on four legs. And those legs are remarkably similar in shape to the heads. The legs—and the chin—are razor-sharp.
The one we saw was also stained blue with the blood of a man.
We saw the man, too—or, at least, his body, which lay on the ground under the monster. After a moment, I saw his head—tucked in between the monster’s hind leg and rear shoulder. It was Kelrek. He was only three scars old, a mere youth.
As foreman, I had been issued a sonic pistol. I did not hesitate to use it, but even as I unholstered the weapon, the monster turned to run away. I fired, but missed—the sonic beam ripped through one of the tents, instead.
However, as the creature turned, I saw that it was bleeding—a silvery substance dripped from a gash in its side. I tried to fire again, but it seemed to move at warp speed.
Commander Gomez ran after it, as if that would do some good. Where I had unholstered my weapon, she had taken out her scanning device. She ran, continuing to look down at her scanner.
We reached the fence, at which point she stopped. The monster had gone through the same way it came, apparently unbothered by the electricity. We were not so fortunate—the charge from the fence was arcing all over, and we had to keep our distance.
Commander Gomez deactivated the fence, then turned to look at me.
She then said three words I never expected to hear her say to me: “You were right.”
“About what?”
“Forming a search party. There’s no way anyone could’ve provoked that thing in such a way that it would break through the fence and make a beeline for Kelrek like that. We’ve got to track it down.” She put her scanner away. “I was hoping to get some readings on the thing, but the tricorder’s useless with all this chimerium around.”
“We have a trail to follow,” I said, pointing at the creature’s blood trail.
She looked down at the silvery blood in surprise, then smiled. “Good catch. Okay, put a detail together—but one thing, Kejahna. I’m in charge of this party. We’ll issue weapons to everyone, but nobody fires without my direct order, understood?”
“Commander—”
“Understood?”
In fact, I did not understand, but I gave in and nodded my assent—if not my approval.
My opinion of her tactics did not improve when she spoke to the hastily assembled hunting party several minutes later.
“I want to make something very clear here—this is not a hunting party. It’s a search party. We know very little about this thing. Federation history is replete with encounters with life-forms that we thought were utterly hostile and became good friends—ranging from the Klingons, whom we knew to be sentient, to the Horta, whom we had thought of as simple animals. Now it’s possible that this, too, is just a nasty animal—it’s also possible that we provoked it in some way. We will defend ourselves if we have to, but we are not going to hunt this creature down. For now, my main concern is to find the creature, retrieve the heads of the people it’s killed, and learn more about it.”
One of the party—an Osina named D’Ren—muttered under his breath, “And how is she supposed to do that?”
People from the Federation apparently have very good hearing, because she replied to that, even though she was not meant to hear. “We won’t know until we make the attempt.”
“Right,” D’Ren said, louder this time, “I forgot. You’re Starfleet. You can do anything.”
Commander Gomez looked up and down the line of men she was leading. “No one is to fire their weapons without my authorization. Anyone who does will be confined in the Culloden until the next window and shipped out of here. Is that understood?”
That surprised me. The threat was a very serious one—to lose this work would mean sacrificing great wages, and also virtually guaranteeing that the person in question would never work for the government again. And only the government pays this well.
After her speech, we marched out of the camp, following the trail of silver blood. There were nine of us, for luck.
This is an ugly, unpleasant world. There is no shading here—it is all glare and blinding light. The plants all have sharp edges and the ground is difficult to walk on. Aside from the occ
asional burst if the suns reflect the right way, there is no color here. It is bland and lifeless—no less than one would expect from a place so evil.
The blood trail became harder to follow after a certain amount of time, but the animal seemed to be going in a straight line, which we followed.
Before long, the suns started to set. Commander Gomez led the way—her weapon had a lamp attached to it, which became our beacon. Our own lights were much poorer, and since I brought up the rear of our “search party,” I got the least benefit from that light. Only Commander Gomez had her weapon unholstered, at her order—and no one was willing to contravene an order that came with such potentially disastrous consequences.
We saw many creatures on the way. Some of them were even normal shii. Once D’Ren started at the sight of one, thinking it was the monster, and reached for his weapon. Before he could, though, the shii itself ran off. I assured him that that was not it—it was far too small.
This did not stop D’Ren from panicking once again when we happened upon a pride of shii, but they ignored us. All of them were fairly diminutive—nothing at all like the monster I saw in the camp.
Then we came to the cave.
Commander Gomez shone her light into the cave—and then gasped. Thinking that we would never get a coherent answer out of her, I ran to the front to see what she saw.
What I saw were skulls.
The skulls of animals. The skulls of men.
Hundreds of skulls.
As repellent as the sight was, the smell was worse.
In the camp every day are the mixed smells of food, the chemicals from the cooking units and the lamps, and the various materials used for the machines we construct. The smells of life.
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