Pendulum: An Aes Sidhe Novel

by A. Omukai

  Maybe he should tell Deirdre to prepare to deal with it, even though their suits were equipped to handle way more extreme environments than this, as their last trip had proven, if they could trust the data.

  “Come back into the Wisp,” Deirdre said.

  “What is it?”

  “The transporter. It just appeared in the planet’s orbit, requesting a status report. I told them to wait until you are back.”

  “All right. Coming.”

  16

  Exploration

  Deirdre stood outside with Cailean sitting next to her. The night already wasn’t all that dark, but now, the transport ship, hovering over the ground, illuminated the whole plateau. It was even brighter than by day now. Adams turned around and waved her one last time. She waved back.

  The two men, the xenobiologist and the Fir Bolg doctor, walked over to the boat together.

  She had given them a written report from her perspective and asked Adams to add his own when talking to Brilann on board of the ship. He would be back soon enough, but she was hoping to be done with her mission by then. Her failures up to this point irked her.

  What had she expected when she signed up for this mission?

  For once, she hadn’t planned to do any planetary landings herself. The role of a druid on board of a starship was that of a jump drive.

  A walking, talking, jump drive.

  Brilann had certain other roles, but she wasn’t sure what he actually did. She knew that he was the mission leader, while Captain Thornhill was in charge of the ship. That was a very vague job description, though.

  She watched Moan and Adams ascend the ramp that led to the airlock of the small transport boat. The lock opened for them, and white light shone out into the night. But then they entered, and the door closed behind them.

  The transporter hadn’t lifted off yet, but already, she felt like the last human on this planet. She would be soon, but she was glad she wouldn’t be all alone.

  She patted Cailean’s head. Even though his body was just a manifestation, magical flesh, he felt very real. So real, that if he bit, he’d leave teeth marks. His head was warm, his fur soft. His sitting stature reached to her shoulders. Cailean was an enormous beast. She knew he would defend her against many attackers, but the sort of resistance she had encountered here so far, was not something he could win against. Or even fight.

  This had been a man against nature scenario until now, and if she could believe the words of the xenobiologist, there weren’t any animals here that could have posed a danger for her.

  Actually, there weren’t any at all.

  Not even bugs or fish.

  She turned around, looked at the silvery sphere that had carried her around on this planet since she had come. The Wisp doubled both as vehicle and home. Trailer people, that’s what they were right now. She and her Aes Sidhe companion, the Ghillie Dhu Sergeant Ailbhe.

  The Wisp’s surface showed a perfect reflection of the transport boat.

  While she studied the vehicle, the transporter started its engines and slowly gained altitude. She turned around again, to look at the craft, but there wasn’t much to see anymore now. Even though it moved slowly, by its own standards, for her, it rushed into the sky, already too small to see details. It kept accelerating and disappeared in a matter of seconds.

  Now, she really was the last human on this planet.

  This was a strange feeling. Majestic and epic on one hand, lonely and scary on the other. Cailean next to her yawned. She looked at him, smiled, and he showed her the wolfish equivalent of his smile, showing an impressive array of sharp teeth.

  “Alright boy, time to get some dinner.”

  She walked up to the airlock, but Cailean made no inclination of following her inside. She shrugged. He would have his reasons. Maybe he already found another scent to follow.

  The decontamination procedure took over two minutes. The little chamber was flooded with chemicals and UV light, hopefully killing anything that could harm her. After that, the air inside the airlock cycled, which took another two minutes. Only when the small lamp on the panel next to the door control switched from red to green, the door unlocked and opened with a hissing sound. She walked inside, stomping heavily. As soon as she crossed the door and got inside, though, her weight lightened, and the gravitational pull abated to one G. Deirdre would have loved to know how this worked. All really advanced technology humankind was using was based on magic. She had learnt no spells that manipulated gravity, so this must be the work of Brilann, and she had a very concrete idea where this effect came from. How much was there still to learn for her?

  Deirdre opened her system’s menu and called up a selection of meals the Wisp could produce from the raw materials it had loaded, and she slowly scrolled down the list. She could use a hot, black tea. She didn’t feel like eating anything heavy today, maybe only a sandwich. The druid made her selections, and a hidden engine inside the wall of the Wisp emanated a humming sound. This would take a few minutes, but she was not in a hurry. Then the complete system shut down again.

  “A crash again?” Ailbhe asked, and her silhouette became visible in the weak light of a display of her suit she had activated, so they could at least see a little.

  Deirdre shrugged. This wasn’t very reassuring, but what could they do about it?

  “I have no idea how to fix the system if it breaks completely.”

  The marine laughed.

  “That won’t happen, I hope. We’re alone here now, a druid and a soldier. Not the best team for problems like that.”

  “Don’t you have a basic understanding of this kind of system?”

  “I can operate anything with guns attached. The Wisp doesn’t belong in that category.”

  The lights came back on, and the debug report scrolled over the large primary display, a long list of gibberish for both of them. With the system, the food printer returned to life.

  Deirdre had all the time in the world to pursue her plans and finish her mission. Not that she would be the one to decide the pace, though. In reality, the one in charge of the search for now was Cailean. They had been one heart and one soul since childhood. Speaking of the Cu Sidhe, when her senses reach out to him, she noticed his nervousness. Maybe nervousness was the wrong word. Restlessness fit better. He was walking up and down the plateau on which the Wisp was parked. When she deepened her connection, she could almost smell what he smelled, albeit an abstracted version of the imagery Cailean associated with the smells. Spring. The word lightened up in her brain, for no apparent reason. Warm again, no idea where that had come from. Was that what things smelled like for Cailean? She tried again, intensified her connection to her Cu Sidhe, but all she could feel now was him running off into the distance.

  A ping announced that her dinner was ready.

  Deirdre would follow him. She got up, walked over to the steering wheel and the Wisp’s control panel, even though there was no actual need for that. She could just have steered the vehicle from her bench, while eating, but it somehow felt wrong.

  Not for any logical reasons, of course.

  She focused on her friend, while watching a map of the surrounding areas. The Cu Sidhe was running in a western direction. She started the Wisp, turned to follow him, and sped up the vehicle. Then she switched to autopilot. The Wisp would lose some speed, but the autopilot was designed for safety. It would circumvent obstacles on the ground and all but guarantee that there would be no accident, for the price of being rather slow. Deirdre could have achieved a higher speed, had she chosen to take over control manually, but it just wasn’t worth it. She was not in a hurry; she reminded herself one more time.

  She stood up and reached for the tray. Before she could grab it, a violent cough shook her. The Ghillie Dhu looked up.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I think I’m a bit tired. No problem.”

  Tray in hand, she returned to her seat and sat down. Since they had first entered the Wisp, she had alwa
ys sat next to the outer wall. Now, she deliberately picked the spot where Adams had sat, for no apparent reason.

  Dinner time.

  How much time had passed by now? Time had become meaningless, with days being so long that they took over one week on Earth. She had been in constant connection with Cailean, who had moved mostly westward, but then drifted off slightly to the north. The area he moved toward was getting more mountainous by the minute.

  He now neared the foothills of a larger range, where numerous tall mushrooms made up vast forest areas, which made movement for the large vehicle more difficult. However, the autopilot did a good job. Where Deirdre would have gotten lost several times, the Wisp found an alternative path to follow. In more and more places, she could now see naked rock. The Wisp almost fell behind too far for her to maintain a connection with Cailean, but then, she sensed the Cu Sidhe stopping. Was he waiting for her to catch up, or had he reached his destination?

  Thankfully, she would find out in just a few minutes. Time to prepare.

  She slipped in her suit, following the same old routine she had developed over these last days, a series of always the same movements, and it took less than one minute from putting her first foot into the suit’s leg to closing the helmet. She had gotten really good at this. No match for the marine, though. When she was still busy with her boots, Ailbhe was already ready to go.

  She directed the Wisp to stop at a slight distance from the Cu Sidhe. This time, there would be only the Aes Sidhe to save her, in case anything went wrong. Maybe she should pay more attention to what Cailean had to tell her, if not with words, then with the way he behaved. Thinking back, he had not moved even one step closer in either of the two places they had visited earlier. Had she taken his behaviour as a hint, things might have been a lot smoother. But it didn’t matter anymore, anyway. She left the Wisp.

  The air outside had cooled down and it would get even colder. She looked around, saw Cailean sitting at a distance, in the direction the vehicle had moved before she had stopped.

  Every time she had thought she was now used to the gravity of this planet, she had been wrong. She just wouldn’t get used to it. Walking even this short distance took longer than she had expected.

  Now, alongside Ailbhe, she stopped next to Cailean and didn’t move on. It wasn’t necessary, anyway. They were standing on top of a rather high hill, looking down into a deep valley.

  “What did you want to tell me?”

  She looked at Cailean, not really expecting an answer.

  The Cu Sidhe sat down next to her, his eyes looking down on a vast lake in the valley ahead. This was the first large body of water Deirdre had encountered on this planet. It looked beautiful.

  From this elevated place, untouched by light pollution, water reflected the galaxy and, especially, planet F in all their glory. It was a gorgeous vista.

  “Is this a place of power, or did you just want to show me how pretty this planet could be?” A short, but violent cough drove tears in her eyes. She reached for the Cu Sidhe and stroked his head.

  Cailean looked at her and smiled—if she interpreted his facial expression correctly. She had been with Cailean for so long, she’d have liked to think of herself as a soulmate, perfectly capable of understanding whatever he tried to tell her. These last few days have proved her wrong. Maybe that was what angered her the most. Not the fact that Brilann had briefed her friend on this mission, but that someone else could communicate with him in a way she couldn’t emulate. She was jealous. How pathetic.

  “What do you think, can we get closer? Is there anything dangerous over there?”

  Cailean stood up, stretched his body, looked at her, then wandered slowly towards the Wisp.

  “Alright, gotcha.”

  Ailbhe next to her could see Cailean easily, being an Aes Sidhe herself. No need to explain anything.

  Maybe it would be better to follow his lead, and not to ignore him this time. With a sigh, she turned towards the vehicle.

  Just a few steps in, she stepped on something slippery. It had gotten so cold, some stony surfaces had turned into dangerous traps. She landed on her butt before she could even react. The fall was hard. The increased gravity of this planet made it even worse. She had landed directly on her tailbone. The pain ran up her spine like liquid, glowing iron. It drove the air out of her lungs. For a few moments, she could not think of anything at all. The pain was so overwhelming; it paralysed her. But even this amount of pain wouldn’t shut her down forever. The fall filled her eyes with tears again for the second time, after the cough, and effectively blindfolded her. Gravity was her friend. It made them run over her cheeks faster than they’d have on Earth.

  Eventually, she scrambled back on her feet, with Ailbhe supporting her. She felt like an old woman, unable to straighten her back and walk upright. Hunched over, she slowly stumbled to the Wisp. This wasn’t her first time, she had fallen on her tailbone in the past and knew she’d walk like a granny for the next days.

  Well, shit. It couldn’t be helped now.

  Only a few steps ahead, the Wisp invited her in to safety. She entered the airlock, shut the door behind her, and started the decontamination process. Only now she noticed the system message. She didn’t know what her AI wanted to tell her, but another coughing fit shook her, and the violent jerking was a literal pain in the ass.

  The lamp switched from red to green, and the airlock opened before her.

  17

  Expulsion

  Adams wasn’t unhappy. While the laboratories on board the Tuatha De Danann were still in terrible condition, at least the outer walls had been patched, and he could breathe without the help of his suit. Most of his xenobiologist’s equipment had been stored in sturdy lockers on the inner side of the labs, so he could recover some precious equipment he would need badly when he’d get back to the surface of the planet. What would Deirdre be doing right now?

  The doctor had developed a painful cough during their ride up to the mother ship, and in the end, his body temperature had risen. He sat in quarantine now, in an isolated corner of the med deck. Adams had to endure lengthy, thorough examinations before he got cleared. Whatever it was the doc suffered from, he hadn’t infected him with it. Hopefully, the Fir Bolg would recover soon. Adams liked the grumpy-looking Aes Sidhe. He was straight in the face, direct, no-nonsense and didn’t meander. He also was the one person who could actually understand most of what Adams had to say about alien biology, fungi, all the fun stuff.

  Maybe it was just a cold.

  Did Aes Sidhe catch a cold?

  He tightened his grip on the large bag filled with equipment he had been carrying and continued his way to the bridge. When he entered, most of the chaos following the collision had been cleaned up neatly. The captain sat in his seat, but the old druid wasn’t in attendance. He really wanted to speak with Fionnlagh. The Faerie was exactly where he expected him to be, at the scanner consoles.

  When he passed the captain, he gave a salute, then continued his way over to the Faerie officer. The lieutenant seemed to be busy. He didn’t turn around when Adams appeared behind his back. He fixated his eyes on the screen, showing data Adams couldn’t interpret.

  “Lieutenant Fionnlagh, I have a favour to ask of you.”

  The Faerie turned around on a dime, looked up to him, then took off from the console. He floated in the air, just a step away from Adam’s face. Now they would see eye to eye, very literally, and the Faerie smiled an unsettling smile.

  “What can I do for you, Mr…?”

  “Adams. I’m the xenobiologist.”

  “Ah right, I forgot, sorry. You’re back already?”

  “Yes, but only for a short time. I am here to report to the druid, and to stock up on equipment I need for further investigations on the planet surface. I also wanted to speak with you.”

  The lieutenant seemed intrigued. He fluttered closer and leaned over towards Adams.

  “Tell me what you need.”

  “Fi
rst, I’d like to express my condolences. The death of Corporal Hill came as–”

  Fionnlagh made a dismissive gesture.

  “Yes, yes. What else?”

  What was the meaning of this? Had the lieutenant known about the corporal’s xenophobia? It was possible that everyone had known, except for Adams, whose primary conversation partner was himself. Once more he thought of the doctor, but suppressed his worries for the moment.

  He cleared his throat and bobbed his head slightly. The officer nodded in return.

  “Can we do anything about the scanners on board the Wisp?”

  “I’m not sure I’m the right person to ask. Talk with the engineering crew. But isn’t it late for that now, considering the car is already on the planet?”

  He had a point. Adams didn’t know what he had expected him to do about the Wisp’s scanners, anyway.

  “Yes, you might be right. There is something else I would like to show you.”