Creeping closer, the leader set his internal display to constant active scanning. He wanted to be aware of the surrounding area and had decided that the possible exposure was worth the risk. His mask and body wavered as the scan disrupted the cloaking suit’s field. The closer he got, the slower he moved. It took nearly a minute for him to get close enough to see the source of the heat.
It looked as if some of the dry brush and twigs from the few trees had been burned in a small camp fire. The fire had burned out hours ago by the residual heat but it was still enough of a difference from the surrounding area to draw their notice. The leader scanned the land around the campfire, looking for any sign of a trail or prints. There were no indications of anyone entering or leaving the area. He switched the flickering cloaking field off, trusting in his fellows to watch as he exposed himself to view.
Drifting in on the still air, a low whine began to grow. The leader tried to activate the field again but the device refused to shroud. He signaled his team to scatter, leaving him to find cover on the open mountainside. He raced back to the rock he had used before; hoping it would shelter him from scanners if he crawled under. The suit had built in heat dampeners that were unaffected by the cloak malfunction and should keep him safe from passive scans. If the approaching object used more active scanning techniques, he may be discovered.
A small craft appeared from below. It resembled an old Earth motorcycle, but the wheels had been replaced by skimmer pads. The craft was narrow and held a single rider. The Ch’Tauk rode the vehicle with a wide mask covering his four eyes. The naked armor was dull in the hazy night. The leader of the team pressed himself closer to the exposed rock and hoped the rider continued. The craft slowed to a halt near the location of the campfire.
The rider threw his thin leg over the seat and stepped off onto the ground. The alien stepped closer to the scorched ground, taking out a hand scanner to examine the evidence. He looked around the area as the team leader had done, apparently relying on a display inside the face mask. The leader held his breath. The Ch’Tauk centurion crouched and placed a four-fingered hand on the ground. He seemed to be trying to feel the heat left from the fire.
Standing, the alien turned in a slow circle around the area. He peered into the thick night and waited for some sign of the fire’s creator. He stepped away from the team leader for two steps. The leader started to relax but was surprised when the creature turned back to his location. The four eyes seemed to look straight through him. He dared not move in case the alien’s turn had been random. The Ch’Tauk stepped closer to the exposed rock. He reached across his back and pulled a short, vicious looking rifle from a sling on his back raised the device and pointed it straight at the leader’s location.
A blast of energy ripped across the night and impacted the Ch’Tauk under the shoulder. The alien screeched in agony as the projectile cracked the armored skin. Another shot hit the creature from the other side, spinning the alien around and causing it to lose its footing. The insectoid creature flailed as it slammed into the hard ground. The team leader pushed away from the stone and turned to face the injured alien.
The creature appeared to be leaking fluids from both impact sites. The leader stepped to the creature’s side and drew his own pistol from beneath the cloak suit. For a brief moment, the team leader believed that he could see fear reflected in each of the creature’s four eyes. The moment passed and the man raised the pistol and fired. The creature’s head split and it was silent.
Five more figures decloaked around the site, each holding a pistol and pointing it at the dead creature. They quickly picked up the shattered body and placed it back on the floating vehicle. One of the men used the dead Ch’Tauk’s hand to activate the control panel of the skimmer. The scout vehicle shot away into the night. After several seconds, the ship returned to the site but continued down the mountain. The team waited until they heard the sound of a muffled explosion. They immediately began working their way around the mountain. Expecting an investigation at any moment, they needed to get as far away from the camp site as possible.
The team ran for almost an hour, changing directions often to keep their trail random. After the hour, they split and moved away from each other. One hour later, they regrouped and continued together. They finally reached their destination. A series of deep caves provided overhead cover and slightly clearer air. A thin stream ran from the mouth of the largest cave. The team entered the mouth of the cave with their pistols drawn. They waited near the entrance for the sound of pursuit but all was silent.
A click of cocking rifle lever startled the team leader. He felt the barrel of the rifle press against his helmet. The team turned and pointed their own pistols in the direction of their leader. Even with the enhanced scanners of the helmets, they could not draw a bead on their leader’s assailant. Whoever held the rifle was shrouded against the cool side of a hanging stalactite.
“Drop your guns or this man dies.”
The voice was raspy and hard to understand, but spoke in clear English. The hand holding the rifle was steadier than the voice, though, and the team decided not to threaten. They were here to meet with any human survivors and it looked as if they had found one.
“Lower the guns or I blast this guy back to the home world.” The voice whispered a warning. The cave was amplifying the sound as it bounced off the stone walls. “I mean it. I don’t care what you people are or even if you can understand me but I have no problem scattering your alien brains all over this cave.”
The team leader slowly raised a hand. The team lowered the pistols. The leader dropped his own weapon to the ground. The sound echoed off the walls. The leader felt the rifle pull away from his helmet as the person beyond stepped further back.
“So you do understand English.” The voice said. “That’s one step closer to your living. Now, I think you’re wearing some kind of helmet. Take it off.”
The team leader raised his arms to the sides of the facemask. A pressurized hiss sounded as the mask disconnected the rebreather inside. The leader pulled the helmet away, revealing a plain face and dark hair. The human man heard a sharp intake of breath from the human with the rifle. He saw the barrel of the gun lower in the reflected light from his helmet display.
“You’re human?” The voice said. It had become obvious that the voice was male, but whoever it belonged to was very old or sick. “How did you…Where did you come from?”
“We’re an advance scout team from the Alliance.” The team leader said. “We’re here because we received a signal embedded in a Ch’Tauk transmission. We’re looking for any free survivors..”
“You’ve found them.” The voice from the darkness said. “You say an alliance? Who are you allied with?”
“I think I’d like to see who I’m speaking with first. I don’t like talking to a stalactite.” The team leader replied, keeping his hands up to show his peaceful intentions. “You’re not a bug, but I would still like to look you in the eyes.”
A bright flash of light erupted from the darkness. The team leader squinted away as the light was flashed directly into his face. He blinked his eyes to adjust, but the light stayed pointing straight at him. He raised his hand to cover his face.
“You are human,” the voice said. “I’m sorry for this. I had to be sure. There have been mistakes.”
“Yeah, I’m human and now I’m blind!” exclaimed the human leader. “Please point that thing somewhere else.”
The light moved up. The reflected light off the white ceiling revealed the figure beyond the stone. The man was old with long white hair. He had deep lines in his face that showed care, but he seemed to be in great pain as he held the torch up and the rifle in the other hand.
“My name is Moore,” said the team leader. “I’m Henry Moore. I gotta say, I’m glad to meet you.”
“Likewise,” the old man said. “I haven’t seen a new face in years. We took up in these caves about three years back. The rest of us are down below where we
can defend ourselves.”
Henry held out his hand to the man. The old man took it and they shook. Henry felt the bones of the other man’s hands through the gloves of the cloak suit. He was so thin that his bones stuck through the skin. The fingers on the hand were like dried twigs and he had to relax to keep from breaking them. Henry quickly released the hand and stood back. He signaled the team to remove their helmets. Each man popped the seal and pulled away the face masks.
“Can I ask who I’m talking with?” Henry asked. “I just want to know what kind of man could survive down here for all these years.’
“Only the dead live underground, Mister Moore.” The man said. “Only the dead. My name is Everett Pearce. Welcome back to Earth.”
APreview of the new novel:
Resolute Victory
Prologue
The Convocation
Filaments of energy coalesced in the dimension between thought and deed. The energy tendrils took shape in the flickering existence of the Convocation. Bipedal shapes formed around a central point. Images projected from the minds of beings that existed beyond form appeared on the vast empty plain of thoughts.
There were no leaders in the Convocation. Every one of the beings was equal in this place. Black on black eyes stared across the circle of life forms. A tone, not heard so much as imagined, radiated across the assembly. As the sound rose, more of the creatures appeared, each identical to the others.
They were small compared to most other creatures in the galaxy. The forms taken by the creatures in our dimension were overlooked and often ignored because of their diminutive size. The spirits that inhabited those bodies, however, were enormous and nearly immortal. They witnessed the birth of our universe and would likely see its end before they disappeared and knew secrets forgotten by more races that existed in our time.
A single thought raced around the Convocation. There was no beginning to the concept, it was simple and then moved between minds. The tone thought grew louder in this place without end. Each moment of sound transmitting more data than any human computer would ever use. The thought existed as a multi-dimensional image understood before fully received. In all its existence, the Convocation never understood one subject. War.
A moment ago, or thousands of years, the beings came to a small planet with flowing plains of red grasses and a vast sea. The primitive beings did not understand who the beings were, only that they brought gifts of fire and vitality. Science that bordered on myth was used by the beings, aided the evolution of the primitives, twisting the amino acids and proteins to create a new form of life. The beings believed they were helping these hard-shelled bipeds to understand the world around them. A moment later they left and travelled.
It took the merest blink of the black eye to return to the primitive planet to see what they created. It was a sad moment in time, though, as the primitives had proven destructive with the knowledge embedded in their bodies. Once again, the beings affected change in the basic structure of the natives and departed to explore other realms. Returning again in only a moment, the beings witnessed their handiwork. A subtle change was meant to remind the primitives of the help they received. The native’s skin grew over the shell and turned as black as their benefactor’s eyes.
In this moment, the beings saw the primitives create a rudimentary society. The beings understood so much of the universe that was hidden to the lesser natives. In this moment, the Convocation decided to intervene in the primitive society as part of the whole. They took the form of a smaller creature with pure white skin. Advanced senses needed new appendages to perceive the galaxy as the primitives and so grew new feelers from their bulbous heads. Disguised as small, harmless primitives, the beings began work on transforming the primitives into an evolved culture.
As the Convocation had no leader, the beings worked to understand the hierarchal nature of the native society, looking for a way to give structure similar to their own. To facilitate the structure, the beings tested the primitives for a pure genetic strain. The alterations made millennia ago became diluted over time, but one family retained the most essential evidence of the alteration. The language of the primitives was guttural and reflected the rigid structure of their mandibles. The family line was called Ch’Tauk in their native tongue. The beings were named ‘Engineers’ in the simplistic language.
The engineers attempted to impart a more complicated language form, but the primitives were unable to convey the subtlety of the language of the immortal beings. What remained was a simple dialect that granted names only to those who earned them through work or knowledge. The ruling family became the title for the people themselves.
Time passed and the engineers adapted to the limitations of their new form and the species that they created. They became complacent in their work, believing that the novel sensation of time passing was purpose. Eventually, the engineers began to forget their old existence between the dimensions. They began to rely on the regular passing of the planetary sun to monitor time. Their own freedom became eclipsed in the work of guiding the Ch’Tauk into true awareness.
It was a blinding flash of energy and light that woke the engineers from their slumbering existence. The Ch’Tauk culture moved from beast to machine according to the long forgotten plan the engineers put in motion. Linear time clouded the precise senses of the benefactors until they no longer wished to meddle. The primitives and the advanced moved through time together, both oblivious to the mistakes that the other were making.
As advanced as engineer technology was, nature created ways of introducing chaos into the processes of life. Genetic drift began to interfere with the chemical manipulations instituted long ago. The pure line of Ch’Tauk began to mutate and without guidance, the mutations spread throughout the society. It took centuries, generations for the short lived species, for the mutations to manifest themselves. The peaceful primitives began to covet property and territory. The engineers, still attempting to better the culture, introduced power systems based on the basic energy of the galaxy. The unstable genes resulted in the corruption of the plasma technology into crude weapons.
When the first ships began to leave the planet, the engineers began to remember their previous existence. They dreamed of the stars again and felt the longing to travel. Linear time, though, dulled their senses to the point where they could no longer travel by will of mind. They created a trap for themselves with passivity. Small steps would be needed to return to the vast universe. The engineers began to orchestrate the colonization of other worlds, leap-frogging from world to world in their quest to regain immortality. Among the stars, they met the ones named Caretaker by the Ch’Tauk.
The amphibious creatures were different from the armored primitives in almost every way. They were born to peace and the natural world. They guided the life of their own world as the engineers guided the Ch’Tauk. From the caretakers, the beings learned about natural evolution and the wonders of life again. The Ch’Tauk utilized the caretakers as nannies to the much smaller engineers. The engineers, in turn, tried to guide the Ch’Tauk to peace.
On a world far away from Ch’Tauk, the ruling family became jealous of another species. The culture refused to share the bounty of their world with the expanding empire. Priests implored the ruling emperor to leave the world alone but the actions only enraged the family. The emperor, tired of objections from the priests and the artists, separated the culture and sent the dissenters away. The engineers wept for the loss of the peaceful voices, but remained passive to the new aggression.
A minor noble, one of the cousins of the Emperor Ch’Tauk, attempted a coup over the expansion of the territory with disastrous consequences. The cousin gathered his forces on the distant world and rallied the people there to take a stand against the Empire. The response was swift and brutal. The Emperor Ch’Tauk exiled the remainder of his own family to the alien world under pretense of defense. Once entrenched on the peaceful world. The Emperor unleashed the full power of the primitive weapons
against them. The engineers were appalled at the devastation.
In the hopes of finding their ancient place, the engineers designed a fleet and equipped the ships with defensive capabilities. What they witnessed as the ships approached the peaceful world shook them like no other event in history. Once the plasma was released, it ignited the atmosphere of the beautiful world. Green and blue plants were turned to grey ash in an instant. The exiled Ch’Tauk sent one final cry to their ancient gods for mercy even as their armored bodies burst under the heat. The engineers wept for the loss of an entire world. They looked back on the millennia of interference and regretted the manipulation of the primitive species.
The engineers witnessed death of other species, but never on the scale that their own handiwork created. The responsibility they felt for the Ch’Tauk turned into the responsibility for death on a massive scale. The ships they meant to use to travel to new worlds were now being used to create terror across the galaxy. A new Convocation was called.
The gathering of beings had not been attempted in centuries and many of the beings vanished in the attempt. The remaining brethren conferred for an eternal moment. The decision to leave the Ch’Tauk was made. Looking back at the history of the primitives, the engineers realized that without them, the Ch’Tauk would not be able to innovate. Their society would stagnate and eventually retreat back to the home world. The plan was placed into action and the engineers left Ch’Tauk forever.
The caretakers took in the little creatures, not fully realizing what they were. Ch’Tauk expansion turned to contraction and the engineers disappeared into the green world of Karisia. The Ch’Tauk, confused without guidance, did not know where their former helpers had gone and believed the caretakers when they left the Empire. Since the engineers were gone, the Ch’Tauk Emperor felt no need for the swamp dwelling creatures to remain and let them go. The engineers, remembering their eternal forms again, sank into the bog of Karisia to hide and reflect upon their mistakes.
Resolute Uprising (The War for Terra) Page 23