by Dane Bagley
“We look like a bunch of space aliens,” said Bob through his helmet.
“You sound like a space alien in that helmet, too,” said Danny. Danny was very glad that he was not getting into that suit and going out onto the planet. He was staying with Kenny and Tammy on the ship, while Captain Jenners took Mike, James, and Bob to collect their specimen.
Tammy was helping everyone get their suits on. She had been a rollercoaster of emotions over the past week since they had been in 3D orbit around the planet. Steve and Tammy had spent a lot of time together over that week. It made sense that the ship’s Captain and the lab specialist would be making arrangements for this specimen collection. However, it was starting to become apparent to the crew, that there was more to these meetings than just official business. At first Tammy was steamed about the fact that Central Command wanted to wait for the specimen collection. She’d been pressing Steve to get them to move things along. Steve didn’t seem to get the urgency, at least as far as was her perspective. So, at first she was irked with Steve. Tammy was a woman that knew how to get what she wanted, but she seemed to be much more personally offended than would be appropriate.
A couple of days later something happened behind closed doors, and she was floating like a butterfly and smiling from ear to ear. At times she was so excited, she was almost giddy. At other times she seemed stressed and overwhelmed, and she snapped at everyone who got in her way. The last two days she was being sweet to everyone, and at times she could be caught singing to herself. She was giving very sweet, personal attention to everyone as she helped them put on the space suits. When it was time for Captain Jenners to finish getting suited up, she was smiling so brightly with both her mouth and her eyes that sunglasses were almost necessary. Before she put his helmet on she reached up and kissed him. It was done instinctively and happened quickly, but was noticed by everyone. Fortunately, everyone’s attention was quickly distracted from it by the event just about to begin.
“Is everyone set?” Kenny’s voice could be heard over the speaker and in the four men’s helmets. “We’ll be landing on the surface in five minutes.”
While Kenny talked over the intercom, Tammy continued to help with the finishing touches. James paced around the room from the moment his helmet was secured. Mike sat by the side, and although his face was not visible through the helmet, he seemed to be in deep thought. Bob kept checking himself in the mirror, with his suit on. The suits were jet-black. The helmet was black on the back, and silver on the face of the helmet. “You guys look seriously scary,” said Danny.
“I’d say sexy,” Tammy countered.
“Sixty seconds and were on the planet,” Danny said.
“Get me a good one!” Tammy said as she left the room with Danny, for air lock purposes.
“Green lights on, we’re on the planet,” said Steve through his helmet’s microphone.
“Confirmed, we are on the planet,” said Kenny. “I’ll have the doors open in about a minute.”
“Gentlemen, let’s get this done. The sooner we have our specimen, the sooner we get back and in orbit,” Captain Jenners said with confidence and assurance.
The assurance was what sent a chill down Bob’s spine. He began to feel his heart beat and started to feel himself sweat in the suit. James and Mike had been ominously quiet since they started getting ready to go out. Bob, for the first time, noticed that he could hear them breathing deeply. Only Steve seemed to be at least somewhat calm. The doors started to open, and the four men in suits walked out into the darkness of the alien world’s night.
The ship was black but it was not shiny. The night’s cloak of darkness was selected to minimize the chance of the ship being seen. They were in black suits for the same reason. They had picked for their landing, a spot about three quarters of a mile from the outskirts of a small, alien occupied area. As it turned out, there were civilizations throughout the planet. However, it was only this one area that had any evidence of electrical technology. Other civilizations had the markings of more primitive dwellings. The area picked to land was just outside of the least populated area where there was evidence of technology.
The men walked out of their ship onto the surface of the planet. They had all been on the surface of a planet besides the earth before. In every case, these previous planets had no evidence or trace of life. Now, for the first time, they were on a planet—not the earth—that was clearly alive! There were trees, or at least they looked like trees. Their suits had microphones tuned in such that they could hear the minutest sounds. Danny was monitoring frequencies outside of the range of human hearing. What sounded like a coyote could be heard in the distance.
“Did you pick up anything with that Danny?” asked Steve.
“It sounded just like a coyote,” said Danny.
“It’s eerie how earthlike it seems out here,” were the first words from James. A humming sound could be heard surrounding them. They all listened closely. As they walked towards the aliens dwelling, the sound waxed and waned. It was like the sound of night insects in the trees. About fifty yards in front of them, something moved—just a foot or so, and then stopped. Steve spotted it first, pointed, and then ducked down. The men followed; watching with the keenest attention. They couldn’t see anything, so they began to walk again. Whatever it was, it scurried away quickly into the trees of a nearby forest.
“We don’t have any idea what the shape or size of the intelligent creatures is,” Mike stated. “How do we know, that whatever just took off, wasn’t one of them?”
“What did you see?” asked Tammy.
“We’re not sure. It looked like a small animal, maybe the size of a rabbit, and it took off into the forest,” answered Steve.
“The readings that we have on the creatures’ dwellings indicate that they would be larger. But it’s really an estimate at best,” informed Tammy.
“Larger than what?” asked Mike.
“Size is only going to get us so far. What characteristics should we look for, in assuring we are getting the right creature?” asked James.
“We really don’t know,” she responded.
The men approached the forest with some internal trepidation. They would have to go through a small wooded area before they would approach the known dwelling place of the creatures that they were after. The helmets provided some night vision, but it was going to be difficult to see in the forest. Clearly there were creatures all around them and they were hunting for something that they had never heard nor seen before. The men carried weapons of various capacities: bullet guns, laser guns, and tranquilizers. The hope was that a tranquilizer would work, and that it would cause no permanent harm to the creature they would be bringing in as a sample. But they had no idea what they were up against, and wanted to be ready for anything. Even a dead creature would provide for Tammy much to research. Steve told Bob to have his tranquilizer ready. Steve carried the bullet gun. James held his laser gun. Mike was the only one weaponless; he carried the netting for capturing and carrying the sample.
As they entered the forest, it became eerily silent. The hum dropped off completely. Bob stepped on a branch and it broke loudly. The other three men turned quickly, and Steve and James had their weapons pointed momentarily at Bob. “Sorry,” he muttered. The four men turned again and kept moving slowly through the trees.
Up ahead, some rustling could be heard, but at first nothing could be seen. They each stood motionless and gazed up ahead, and then again they heard some rustling. Mike put down his netting, and grabbed a weapon. The men stopped and listened. Again some rustling, and then a whitish creature could be seen. Before anyone had a chance to think, Bob fired the tranquilizer. The creature was hit. It continued for a short distance, and then fell in a heap. The men stood silently.
“A tranq. went off! What’s going on?” asked Tammy.
“Bob shot a large white creature. It is four legged, and it went down wit
h the tranquilizer. It’s about seventy-five yards in front of us,” explained Steve. “We’re going in. Mike, bring the netting.”
The men approached cautiously, and as they neared the creature, they were taken aback by its beauty. It looked like a deer, with almost perfect whiteness. It was somewhat larger than an earthly deer, and there were no antlers. Its face was beautiful and peaceful as it slept. “Tammy, it looks like a white deer. It’s rather large, but I think that the four of us can handle it. I don’t know that this is the intelligent creature. It looks just like an animal from home,” explained Steve.
Bob walked up closer and said, “Nice shot, eh?” while he reached down to collect his dart.
“No don’t!” shouted Steve. But it was too late. Bob touched the creature, and its legs kicked. Bob jumped backwards and fell on his backside. All of the men were startled, and Steve aimed the bullet gun at the creatures head. The creature did not come to, and seemed to be asleep once again.
“Keep the dart in until we get it back to the ship,” commanded Steve. “Let’s get this thing netted.”
The men began to net up the creature, and were preparing to hoist it when James noticed a light in the distance. “Look at that.”
“It’s a light,” uttered Mike.
“Bob, stay here with the sample.” Steve motioned for the others to walk towards the light. Bob felt completely spooked: both by the creature in front of him, and the fact that he was now alone. Actually, the men were only fifty yards in front of him.
The men hid behind the trees and peered towards the light. “I see a dwelling,” said Steve. “It’s almost like a cottage, and there is a light shining through a window.”
“I think that the light just came on,” said James.
The men stared towards the cottage and the light. Bob, slunk behind a tree, where he could see the creature, and the light, but he thought he might be able to hide from whatever was in that dwelling.
“I see something,” whispered James. All the men looked, and sure enough something was moving in the dwelling. “The creature looks to be a biped. I don’t think we netted the right creature.”
“There is another one in there, too,” said Mike. The two creatures appeared to be communicating briefly, and then disappeared from sight. The men watched, hardly able to blink or breathe.
“I don’t think that we can go in. We know that there are at least two creatures in that dwelling,” Steve explained. After a few more moments the door to the dwelling opened and one of the creatures stepped out of the dwelling and into the night air. The creature carried a light, almost like a lantern. “There is one creature out of the dwelling. The creature is carrying a lantern of sorts, and is walking in our direction. Bob, get another tranq ready—Mike, you too.”
The creature was a biped, and appeared almost humanoid from a distance, in size, shape, and gait. As the creature continued to approach them, they could begin to make out more details. “It’s wearing some clothing,” said James.
“Do you want me to tranq. it?” asked Mike as the creature came within range.
“No, I don’t want to do anything in sight of the dwelling. It looks like the creature will be in the forest soon.”
Sure enough the creature moved into the forest. Mike did not have a clear shot, but they could see the light from the lantern. “Don’t lose it!” The men kept their eyes peered but did not move, in fear of making a sound. The creature was still moving, and did not show any sign of having detected them.
The creature came into view for Bob. He got his finger on the tranquillizer and prepared to fire. He hesitated, as the creature came closer into view. Something about the creature mesmerized him. The creature continued closer and then stopped abruptly and looked in Bob’s direction. He’d been spotted. He froze, afraid to move a finger, or take a breath.
“It’s stopped,” said Steve. “Can you see it, Bob?”
Bob didn’t speak, even though no audible sound could have been heard through his helmet. The creature began towards Bob directly. As it got closer, Bob could see that the creature was actually heading towards the deer-like creature that he had just shot. The creature continued towards the deer, and seemed to hurry up. “She’s found the deer,” whispered Bob.
Steve and Mike began instinctively towards Bob. They came into view of the deer, just as the creature approached it. The creature stooped, and then turned towards the dwelling that it had come out of. The creature made a loud audible sound, almost like a shout. Mike fired his tranquilizer, and it hit the creature in its leg just as the shout terminated. The creature dropped, but seemed to be conscious for a few moments in a sitting position, then fell backwards with its head resting on the body of the deer.
“I see something coming out of the dwelling,” James exclaimed. “I think it heard the shout. It doesn’t have a light.” The men could hear this second creature shout in the distance.
Steve ran towards the creatures. He picked up the creature with the lamp, and cradled it in his arms. “Let’s go,” he shouted, and started to run towards his ship. Mike hurriedly grabbed the net off of the deer and removed the tranquilizer dart, as James came up to him. James took the lamp off the ground and threw it in the opposite direction from what they were heading. Bob’s paralyzed body finally returned to functionality and he, too, began to run. The other men caught up quickly to Steve, as Steve was weighed down with the creature. They could hear the other creature shouting in the distance. It was not possible to tell if they were being pursued. Fear caused adrenaline to pulse through their veins. Steve was strong and fit, but he was running with a strength even he had never known before.
He kept his head up, and watched what was in front of him; afraid to look down at the creature in his arms. The creature was dead weight, but seemed gentle to him. Sooner than they imagined the ship was in view. Tammy and Danny were scurrying to prepare for the men and their catch. Kenny was ready to enter 3D orbit the instant that the men and sample were secured.
The door opened and the men ran with what strength they had left. They entered the empty air lock and placed the creature in its own isolated chamber. The doors closed, and the ship zipped back into 3D orbit around the planet.
Chapter 18