“Arthur?” Caran Doc said. “How was your meeting with the Assembly?”
“They have more important things to worry about at the moment,” Arthur replied.
“Of course, these are very difficult times,” Caran Doc said.
“If only there was something we could do,” Arthur said sarcastically. “Perhaps find a missing scientist who may hold the key to saving your planet?”
“I apologise for the ruse,” he said apologetically. “It wasn’t my intention to trick you. In her last communication, Silan Daltas assured me she was close to a solution, but that was over two weeks ago now. She’s never been out of communication for so long, and I can’t raise anyone else at the research base either.”
“Could it be a fault with the communication system?” Gwen asked.
“Perhaps, but I would have expected them to have repaired it by now if it was,” Caran Doc replied. “Please, I’m worried about her, and she may be the only chance we have of saving Teela.”
“Send the planet’s location to our system,” Arthur replied. “We’ll leave immediately.”
“Thank you,” Caran Doc said with relief. “I can make you no promises, but if you can find her, I will do everything in my power to support your request to the Assembly. If she really can save Teela as she hopes, well, I doubt any request you make would be refused.”
“We only want the same as you,” Arthur replied. “To keep our people safe.”
“Then today you have made a friend, and an ally, in your cause,” Caran Doc said.
“Father?” Triltan interrupted.
“Triltan?” Caran Doc said with surprise.
“Arthur has asked me to accompany him,” Triltan continued.
“She has already proven herself useful,” Arthur added. “And she knows Silan Daltas.”
“Please, father,” Triltan added. “I’ve read a great deal of Daltas’ research, and I know what she was trying to do. I can help find her.”
Caran Doc was silent as he thought over what his daughter had said. She was his only child, her mother long since passed, and he liked the fact that she worked with the Assembly, out of harm’s way. Now she was planning to fly off into the unknown with a group of strangers.
She was so like her mother though, stubborn and headstrong. Once she’d decided something, it was impossible to talk her out of it.
“You appear to have made up your mind?” Caran Doc remarked.
“I have,” Triltan replied. “I was unsure at first, but now that I’ve had a little time to think about it, it really is for the best.”
“Then be safe, my daughter,” Caran Doc said reluctantly. “I expect to hear from you soon.”
“We’ll take good care of her,” Arthur promised.
Chapter 5
Unanswered Questions
Earth Year 6239
Gwen guided the ship away from the planet Teela until they were far enough away to jump. The navigational system had calculated six jumps to their destination, making it a little over two days’ travel. Once the first jump was completed and the gravity engines recharging, Lance led Triltan to the spare cabin to show her where to rest.
“We’ve been using it as a training room,” Lance explained as he regarded the mess. The cot was propped up against one wall, while training swords and a large mat occupied the floor. The room smelt of stale sweat, though Triltan didn’t seem to notice.
“I don’t wish to be any trouble,” Triltan replied. “Please, I can remain in the cockpit.”
“No, it’s okay,” Lance continued, gathering up the practice swords. “Arthur and Gwen don’t really need to train anyway, they’ve had all their skills programmed into them. It’s only me who needs the practice.”
Triltan looked at him with confusion. “Long story,” Lance continued. “Though with two days travelling, I’m sure I’ll get chance to tell you.”
“Yes,” Triltan remarked. “Despite all of our advances, we’ve never been able to extend the reach of the gravity engines or the recharge time, regardless of what we do. Many of the foremost thinkers in the field believe it to be one of the constants of the universe.”
“I guess,” Lance agreed.
“I apologise,” Triltan said with a smile. “As scientific advisor to the Assembly, I read thousands of reports from scientists all across my world. I sometimes forget not everyone is as interested as I am.”
“No, I didn’t mean-” Lance protested
“Please,” Triltan continued. “Tell me about you?”
“Another time,” Lance replied. “Let’s get you settled in.”
As Lance helped Triltan prepare her quarters, Arthur caught up with Gwen who sat in the galley, staring at her bowl. He sat down beside her, but she didn’t notice until he placed a hand on her arm.
“Sorry,” Arthur said as she recoiled away from him. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“No, it’s okay,” Gwen replied, slowly relaxing. “I was, my mind was elsewhere.”
“How are you holding up?” Arthur asked. “We haven’t had much time to ourselves, not since, you know.”
“Since I embarrassed myself by crying all over you?” Gwen replied with a smile.
“You didn’t embarrass yourself,” Arthur replied, though he was unable to stop the corners of his mouth from turning upwards.
“I’m doing okay,” Gwen remarked. “After seeing Teela and what the people there are facing, it put things into perspective for me. We have a plan, we’re doing our best to make sure everyone back in Camelot is going to be safe, and that’s as much as we can do. The Teleri could be forced to evacuate their planet at any minute.
“The Mori-Gran-Ra will come for us, but not just yet, and we’re not going to go down quietly. We’ll fight with everything we have, and if this works out, we’ll be fighting back with weapons that have defeated the Mori before. Sometimes, it’s just hard to stop thinking like a slave.”
“And Veronica, Sam?” Arthur asked.
Gwen looked away from him as she composed herself. “I did everything I could,” she said at last. “You were right. If I hadn’t done what I did, they’d all be dead now. Veronica, her child, I, I have to remember that.”
Arthur placed his arm across her shoulders, pulling her into him. “It’s not easy,” he said. “I still wake up sometimes, remembering those we lost. Back on the hive, when we released the workers in the factories, there was a single Dorgan girl, lying dead in a corridor. If only I’d got there sooner, she might have made it, she might still be alive.
“I see her in my dreams, blaming me, but then I remember all the lives we saved, everyone we freed. It’s not easy, but we’ve done the best we can. You did the best you could, and people are alive who wouldn’t have been, all because of you.”
“Thank you, Arthur,” Gwen said, gazing into his eyes before leaning in to kiss him.
*****
The final jump brought them into the solar system where Silan Daltas and her team were conducting their experiment. It was a binary star system, with a smaller red star orbiting a much larger yellow one. The single planet caught in its gravitational pull was quite a distance from the stars, the light and heat struggling to reach its surface.
“That makes it easier,” Merlin said, smiling to himself as the image of the solar system appeared on the display before them.
“However did she find this place?” Lance asked. The planet was tiny compared to the stars, and if they hadn’t had the details of its position on screen, they would have struggled to find it.
“It was thousands of years ago, when we were cataloguing the local systems,” Triltan said. “My people left probes to further analyse the stars and planets they found. Silan Daltas thought this planet held the key to repairing the damage done to Teela.”
Gwen brought the ship into a low orbit. Through the cockpit window, the planet looked a pale blue, with dark irregular lines running along its surface. “The surface of the planet looks like ice,” she said. “
Mostly frozen water, but some other elements too. I’ll begin a more detailed scan.”
“Daltas thought the planet used to be closer to the star, before they split in two,” Triltan explained. “She thinks the larger star had some sort of event and ejected a part of itself, forming the binary system. In the process, the planet was cast out into a more distant orbit, the water freezing and becoming ice.”
“What caused the star to split like it did?” Lance asked.
“I don’t know,” Triltan replied. “It was to be part of her studies here I think.”
“I’ve found their ship,” Gwen announced, bringing up the image on one of the screens. “They landed in one of the larger ice valleys by the looks of it.”
The ship was larger than the scout ship, and had the same silvery sheen as the other Teleri vessels. Beside the ship, a large domed structure had been constructed, and appeared to be undamaged. There were lights on its surface, shining out onto the ice beyond.
“That’s the mobile lab,” Triltan said. “It all looks okay from up here. Are you able to contact them?”
“No, there’s no response,” Gwen replied. “It’s strange. The scanners are picking up sporadic life and heat signatures, but they don’t seem to match Teleri life signs. I think it must be interference from the binary system, throwing off the readings.”
“That would make sense,” Merlin added.
“I hope so,” Triltan remarked, disturbed by the lack of life signs. “I hope they’re all okay down there.”
“Looks like we need to go and look for ourselves,” Arthur said. “Gwen, take us down.”
Gwen guided the ship through the weak atmosphere and down towards the Teleri vessel. The view from orbit did nothing to show the sheer grace and majesty of the planet. Enormous ice walls and mountains dwarfed deep valleys, all the time twinkling in the dim light from the binary stars. The world looked like it had been carved from crystal.
“This is wonderful,” Triltan said as she stared through the window. “Are all worlds as beautiful as this?”
“Earth is different but equally beautiful,” Lance replied. “And Ma’Han, well, perhaps I’ll show you the pictures when we have time.”
“I’d like that,” Triltan said with a smile.
The ship slowed as it approached the Teleri vessel, landing beside it on the ice. The thin atmosphere outside barely moved, and they could see clearly for as far as the sunlight allowed. There was no snow or clouds, only tall walls of ice to either side of the ship, glowing in the sunlight. Beyond that, the dome of the mobile laboratory rose up from the frozen surface.
“How cold is it?” Arthur asked as he peered through the cockpit window.
Gwen checked the displays. “Forty degrees below zero,” she said. “We’d die within minutes without the environmental suits. Besides, the atmosphere’s too thin to breathe anyway.”
“Oh, that’s disappointing,” Lance complained. “I really wanted to try out the new armour.” Arthur and Gwen chuckled, though secretly they agreed with him.
“Don’t worry, Lance,” Arthur replied. “If you want to walk around in it in your cabin, I won’t tell anyone.” Lance gave him a stern look, but was soon laughing along with him.
“Where do we investigate first?” Gwen asked. “The ship or the laboratory?”
“From what Triltan said,” Arthur replied, “It sounds as though Daltas is more likely to be in the lab.”
“I would think so,” Triltan added. “Her work is her life.”
“Maybe Merlin could check out the ship?” Lance suggested. “Merlin, can you access the computers over there?”
Merlin’s image flickered as he attempted to access the Teleri ship’s computer systems. “I can’t access it,” he said after a moment. “It’s like it was on the Ardent Dawn, a wall I can’t penetrate. The Teleri security seems impregnable.”
“Only the crew will have the codes to remotely access the computers over there,” Triltan said. “We’d need to access the computers manually to retrieve them.”
“Then we check that out too,” Arthur said. “Suit up!”
There were four environmental suits in the lockers opposite the armoury, along the wall beside the gangway. They were made for the Mori, but they were large enough to allow even Arthur and Lance to wear them. Like most of the Mori equipment, they were black, with a reflective sheen to the fabric of the suit. The boots were thick and heavy, and the helmet hissed as it sealed, enveloping them in silence.
“How are we supposed to walk in these?” Arthur asked, though the others didn’t respond. As he turned slowly to look at them, he could see them moving their lips.
“Can’t you hear me?” Triltan asked, her voice sounding as though she were right beside them. They turned as one to look at her, their confusion evident.
Arthur spoke, but it was clear that the others were still unable to hear him. After a moment’s hesitation, he pulled his helmet off and encouraged the others to do the same. “How did you speak to us?” Arthur asked. “Did you find controls for a communicator?”
“I just used the capsule,” Triltan said. When the others continued to stare at her, she explained, “The capsule, behind your ear? It’s not just a translation device, I thought my father explained?”
“Your father only forced it inside my head,” Lance said bitterly. “He said it allowed us to speak, that’s all.”
“Exactly,” Triltan remarked. “It’s a communication device.”
“How do we use it?” Arthur asked.
“Just think about who you want to speak to,” Triltan said. “The capsule will learn to translate those thoughts into actions. It’s so much more though. I can connect directly to Teleri computer systems, analyse reports and images, all instantly. I don’t know how you manage without them.”
“I still want it out, when we get back,” Lance said. “The Mori messed around inside our heads, programming us and telling us what to think. No one gets to do that to me again.”
Triltan paled as Lance spoke. “I’m sorry,” she said. “My father, he wouldn’t have known. He never meant to harm you, I promise.”
“Let’s not worry about the capsules until we get back to Teela,” Gwen suggested. “We’ll use them for now, they’ll come in useful. Put your helmets on and we’ll practice.”
They spent the next few minutes practising, thinking about talking to each other and then speaking. It was difficult initially, with the capsule connecting them to the wrong person or to no one at all, but after a while they were able to connect to whoever they wanted to.
“Okay, follow me,” Arthur said as he lowered the gangway. “We’ll check out the ship first, it’s closer, and then the laboratory if we don’t find anyone.”
“Maybe we should split up?” Lance suggested.
“No, I’d rather stick together,” Arthur replied. “I don’t want them to get the wrong idea if they find humans and Dorgans poking around their ship.”
“Arthur’s right,” Gwen added. “Even though we’re leaving the weapons here, they might still mistake us for thieves. We’re better off sticking with Triltan.”
“I hadn’t thought of it like that,” Lance replied. “Guess that’s why you’re the king!”
Arthur groaned as Lance’s laughter echoed about the inside of his helmet.
*****
As they stepped from the gangway onto the sheer ice of the planet, their suits shielded them from the sudden drop in temperature while the spikes in their boots allowed them to walk without slipping. There was no snow, and apart from the tiny holes left behind, there was nothing to show the route they took to the Teleri ship.
Walking in the environmental suits was difficult. The boots were incredibly heavy, designed for planets with lower gravity, and every deep breath steamed up the visor of their helmet, limiting their visibility. The four hundred metres to the airlock of the Teleri ship seemed to take forever.
The Teleri ship looked like a smaller version of the Ardent Daw
n, silvery-grey and elongated with a semicircular gravity engine at the rear and a rectangular bridge at the fore. The airlock was approximately halfway along the length of the craft, raised from the sheer surface.
“Is this the only way in or out?” Arthur asked as Triltan began tapping icons on the small screen.
“No,” Triltan replied. “There’s an entrance to the cargo hold at the front of the ship, beneath the bridge.”
Triltan had no difficulty opening the airlock, the side of the ship melting away before them. Inside the opening was a square white room, similar to the room they had sat in on the Ardent dawn. There were no obvious controls, but as Arthur peered in he saw more of the strange lines and symbols moving along the walls.
Triltan went first and the others followed cautiously, turning just in time to see the outer wall flow back into place like liquid metal. Once sealed inside, a faint green light danced across them, moving up and down over their suits. “It’s a decontamination screen,” Triltan said with surprise. “Why would they need to decontaminate?”
“Why wouldn’t they?” Gwen asked.
“Daltas believed there was no life on this planet, at least not anymore,” Triltan explained. “It’s too cold, and the atmosphere is too thin.”
“Could there have been something else?” Lance asked. “Something chemical maybe?”
“Possibly,” Triltan replied. “Let’s get to the bridge.”
She ran her hands along the wall, seeming to pull various icons into a line until a door formed in front of her. Triltan stepped through and turned to the right, walking confidently towards the front of the ship, directly towards the bridge. Just like the white room, the corridor was almost exactly the same as those on the Ardent dawn. White walls and a silvery-grey floor, and absolutely no signs of anyone else on board.
“Where is everyone?” Lance asked nervously. “Would they all be in the laboratory?”
X-Calibur: The Descent Page 7