“Did he speak at all?” she asked, her eyes hopeful.
Charles was sorry to disappoint her. “Nothing. Not a single word. But I do think he might eventually talk to me. I’d like to offer him clothing,” he suggested, concerned Wren would think he was insane.
She didn’t dismiss the idea. “Why do you think he wants clothing?”
“I think they are an advanced race of beings. Humans wear clothing and feel embarrassed or belittled when they are nude in captivity. I think he would be more apt to cooperate if he were clothed.” Charles didn’t give his opinion much credit here. It was her jurisdiction, and she might not want to impinge on Fairbanks, since at the end of the day, it was his ship to oversee.
“I agree. Let’s see if we can get a robe or something altered to fit him. Then we can offer it, maybe in exchange for a discussion. You think you’ll be able to learn the language if given the opportunity?” Wren asked him. She’d claimed to have heard the alien speak when they first shifted through the Rift, but the video system wasn’t functional yet at that point. At least he could have had a starting point.
They’d been through this discussion at least twice before, but Wren was under distress and obviously tired. She needed to recharge her system as much as he did.
“I am confident I will learn it if given the chance. I have researched many ways to learn and have the basis to study the Watcher’s language,” Charles said.
“Good. You should call it a night,” Wren said, getting up from her seat.
“I’ll be right behind you,” he said, comforting Wren. She gave him a tight-lipped smile and left him alone in the office.
The screen was still paused on the strange variance to the energy barrier. Charles stared at it for a few moments and hit play. He was going to find out what happened and prove it had been tampered with.
Charles settled in for a long night.
Flint
“What the hell? How did we lose them five minutes after landing? This is nuts.” Flint was shocked. He tugged at Bree’s shoulder, trying to slow her down. The eyes still lingered on them in the distance, but they hadn’t made a move toward Bree and him. Their trail was indistinguishable in the moonlit night.
“We’ll go after them. They wouldn’t have run without a reason. They had to be in danger,” Bree said.
“Fine. At least try to contact Fairbanks. I saw he was wearing the earpiece.” Flint and Bree kept walking, now at a jog. The old man and the kid couldn’t have made it too far. He thought he heard a shout echo through the dense forest, but it could have been his hectic imagination playing tricks on him.
“I’m not getting… wait.” Bree stopped. “They’re in danger. He said they went west, and babbled about insects.”
Insects? Wait. It made sense. “Cut the earpiece power. Now!”
She stared at him, mouth open, and ignored his command. “Sir, come in. Are you okay? Where are you?”
Flint grabbed the earpiece and threw it to the ground, stomping on it.
Bree shoved him and pulled her stunner. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“If you recall, it’s Lieutenant Lancaster, and I think I just saved us from being attacked by those little bastards,” he said.
“What bast… explain yourself.” She was furious. A vein throbbed in her forehead as she clutched his collar.
“The insects that took down our ship. They’re drawn to electricity or energy. Watch.” He hoped he was right or he was going to look like an idiot.
She let go of his collar, and he slowly reached into his pack and pulled a flashlight free. He turned it on, the bright beam shining toward the west. He flipped it around and threw it as hard as he could behind them. It hit the ground and rolled to a stop fifty meters away.
“What did you do that for? Go get it,” Bree said.
Flint was beginning to dislike the woman. “Wait for it,” he said, and muttered to himself, “Please work.”
A buzzing sound carried closer, and the two of them watched as a swarm of bugs raced through the sky above them, toward the flashlight. In mere seconds, the light was extinguished, and the insects hovered around as if searching for more. When they came up empty-handed, they lifted as one and carried on, continuing east.
Bree rolled her eyes and kept walking.
“Say it,” Flint said.
“Say what?”
“That I was right.”
“All I know is you just wasted five minutes the councilman might not have, and we’re down a flashlight. But it is useful to understand why those icky things attack. Come on… Lieutenant.” Bree picked up the pace, and Flint ran beside her, heading into the unknown.
Apparently, the old man could move because an hour had passed, and they still hadn’t seen the other two. “Did we miss them? There’s so much forest here.”
“I don’t know. It’s bright enough to see quite a ways. I’d use the night vision, but I’m scared I’ll be assaulted by a billion mites if I do.” Bree laughed, and Flint was happy to see her soften.
“Worst case, we meet up with them at the water’s edge.” Flint felt good enough to walk all night. He was full of caffeine and adrenaline.
Bree nodded and walked faster at his mention of their destination goal. “Race you there.”
6
Wren
The guards at the elevator to access the bridge stopped her as Wren approached.
“Doctor. Are they expecting you?” one of them asked. He was looking down his long nose at her. She sensed a hesitation on the guard’s part to let her past the elevator doors.
“They aren’t. Is that a problem?” Wren really didn’t know how much power she held and wasn’t in the mood for a pissing contest.
“I… hold here, please,” he said, turning away and speaking into his earpiece while the other guard, a burly fellow with a permanent scowl, watched her closely. “Go ahead, Dr. Sando.”
She considered throwing a jibe at them, but bit her tongue. “Thank you. Have a pleasant shift,” she said instead.
The elevator took her the three decks up to the bridge, and she could instantly sense something was wrong when she stepped foot out of the lift.
No eyes turned to see her, but she heard the captain’s voice, laced with anxiety, speaking to the crew. “Find them, damn it. How hard can it be? We saw them enter the atmosphere, and then what? They vanished?”
Kat glanced to the back of the bridge, her eyes red and puffy, and she locked gazes with Wren for a moment.
This was bad; worse than Wren initially thought. “What happened?” she asked, seeing Tsang off to the side of the bridge, fingers tapping on the console.
Captain Barkley didn’t look back at her when she answered. “The lander signal cut off. We can’t find them on any of our scans. The life form scanner has an issue with something in the atmosphere, and the results are coming back unverified: different every time it’s run. We’re trying to search the location between them and the lake they were heading towards, but so far, it’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”
Wren’s chest tightened. Flint and the others had to be okay. She was just getting to know them, and there weren’t many people left out here that she felt she could trust. Flint and Ace were two of them. “Why haven’t you sent another ship down?” she asked.
Finally, Heather Barkley looked her in the eyes. “We did. With the same result. The ship went offline soon after. The comm-line with the pilot cut out… Tsang, play the message.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tsang said, tapping the console. The corner of the bridge’s viewscreen showed a flat line, which danced as the voice spoke.
“Eureka, entry was perfect. I’m not sure what happened to the lander, but the coast is clear on my end so far. It’s quite the sight. I’m banking down and hope to pick up their… Wait. Something’s out there. A cloud. It’s coming toward me…” The lines stopped moving as static replaced the pilot’s voice.
“That’s it?” Wren asked.
Barkley nodded. “The video footage didn’t relay either. I don’t know what’s going on with this planet, but it’s not very welcoming.”
“What about probes? Drones?” Wren asked.
“We’ve tried those. Same issue with video, and they go offline shortly after arriving within the atmosphere,” Tsang answered. His eyes were dark, and he looked like he could use another coffee. Wren decided to have the galley send some up, and wondered if beverages were permitted on the bridge. So far, she hadn’t seen any food or drink consumed here.
“What’s your hypothesis?” Wren asked. Maybe an outside perspective could help them.
Captain Barkley started to count the theories off on her left hand, using fingers. “There’s something magnetic interfering with our readouts. Something sabotaged the probes as they entered the atmosphere. There are intense storm clouds not visible from orbit.”
Wren raised an eyebrow at this.
Barkley continued. “What? He spoke of a cloud. Or the ships are all right, and we just can’t communicate with them or read their transponders from their position. There could be a natural block or an artificially-created one to prevent us from learning what’s down there.”
“What are you going to do?” Wren asked. If it was the latter, they’d be safe to go down and explore. There was no way of knowing until it was too late, though.
“We’ll keep searching visually until we’ve exhausted our resources and then send a full crew down.” Barkley didn’t sound sure of herself, and Wren could now sense her inexperience. Maybe they should consult Benson. If anyone would know what Fairbanks would want, it was his right-hand man.
“Captain, we’re picking something up!” Tsang said.
The viewscreen zoomed in, showing a dense forest near a widespread lake, in the shape of a loaf of bread. There was a rocky outcropping at the southwest shore, and there sat a lander torn into a thousand pieces, smoke pouring from the wreckage.
Barkley said. “Is it them?”
“No, it’s the second one. The one Cheko took down. I don’t see any signs of the chute being deployed.” Tsang said the last quietly.
“What the hell’s going on down there?” Barkley asked.
An idea populated in Wren’s mind. “I know how we might be able to find out. Do we have another drone at our disposal?”
Jarden
Jarden stepped one foot after the other, fully aware that he couldn’t go on like this for long, not without a break. “How far do you judge we’ve traveled?” he asked the boy at his side.
“We’re probably halfway there, maybe a little more. I used to be able to walk six kilometers an hour back home, when I needed to get across town for something. But that was on the ground, and I wasn’t carrying a pack that weighed nearly as much as me.” Ace let out a deep sigh, and Jarden could tell the kid needed a break too.
“Here in this forest, in the dark, I’d guess we’re traveling at about half that speed. It’s been four hours, give or take. So twelve kilometers, add in the two we ran while being chased by the cloud of insects, and we might only be six kilos from our target.” Six kilometers: another two hours, maybe three, depending on his old knees. Right now, he wasn’t sure he could go on another twenty minutes.
“Do you mind if we take a break?” Ace asked, causing Jarden to grin to himself. He’d look stronger than the boy in the others’ eyes. Or was the boy doing this for his benefit? Jarden dismissed either from his thoughts. Who cared? He stopped, finding a felled tree broken at the trunk, and sat down on it, slinging his pack onto the forest bed.
Ace pulled out a canteen and drank heavily from it, and Jarden did the same, surprised at how the liquid rushing down his dry throat instantly rejuvenated him. He fumbled in the pack and found a handful of dense nutrient bars, and passed one over to Ace, who happily accepted it.
“Thanks. What were they like?” Ace asked.
“Who are you talking about?” Jarden could guess, but he wanted the boy to work for it.
“Your family.” Ace cringed, and Jarden felt like he was reading the boy’s mind: he was worried they were dead, along with all two thousand colonists, and he’d just asked someone far above his station about them. Jarden tried to ease Ace’s tension and smiled at him.
“They’re wonderful. Nik was sixteen. Strapping young man, like his father.” Jarden spoke between chews of the bar and leaned back when he was done eating it, his palm pressed into the thick bark of the sideways tree he was perched on. “He loved space even more than I did at his age. He was already being fast-tracked into the best engineering program in the system. I was so proud of him.”
“You have a daughter too?” Ace asked, and Jarden noted how he didn’t say ‘had a daughter.” He liked Ace for it.
“I do. Oliv. She was trouble from the moment she could walk. Always getting into everything she could, exploring like she needed to see where every road or hallway led. She was fifteen when they left. That would make her seventy-five now.” Jarden looked down, breaking his eye contact with Ace. Who was he kidding? Sixty years. What had Leona done, dragging the children away? Was it punishment for him, or had she seen it as the only way to escape the potential threat of the Watchers?
It couldn’t have been that. For all they knew, the Watchers were on this world. Domum might be home to much more than their colony.
Ace didn’t speak for a while, and Jarden continued. “Their mother and I had split up two years earlier. I was impulsive, even nearing fifty, and had ambitions. She wanted me around more and suggested I leave the Fleet to work in the private sector. I wanted it all, though: the wealth, the family, and the titles. She wouldn’t live with that and took the kids. I still saw them, infrequently, after that. When I found out they left… I became a man possessed.” Jarden was looking into the distance, feeling like he was telling Ace this more for his own benefit than the kid’s.
“I’m sorry. I hope we find what you’re looking for here.” Ace got up and stretched. “I say we keep moving. With any luck, it’ll be light by the time we reach the lake. Can you do it?”
Jarden stood up, tested his knees, and found them aching as he bent. But they were better, and he was glad for the break. His spirits were higher after the water and snack; much-needed energy filled his veins now, and he was ready to learn exactly what had happened to the colony.
“Thanks for sharing the story, Councilman.” Ace was beside him, holding Jarden’s pack up for the older man to grab.
“Call me Jarden. Anyone who walks through a dark forest on a new world with me can call me by my first name.” Jarden grimaced as he added the weight of the pack to his shoulders, and they started walking to the west.
The moons had changed position in the sky by the time they smelled the water. Jarden inhaled deeply and plodded each step in exhaustion. He guessed it had been three hours since their brief stop, and they’d taken another one two kilometers ago. He’d considered setting up camp for a short sleep, but it wasn’t worth it. There were still glowing eyes following them at a respectful distance the whole night, so he didn’t want to risk sleeping.
“I think we’ve made it!” Ace exclaimed, picking up his footspeed. Jarden followed suit, ignoring his protesting body.
The trees thinned as they neared the water, giving way to a view of the moons reflecting off the still water. As the trees ended, they found the shoreline to be covered by jagged rock.
“Be careful, you don’t want to trip on this,” Ace suggested, and Jarden advanced with caution.
The sensors had shown the beacon from the colony ship coming from this lake, but he saw no signs of civilization anywhere. All his hopes and dreams over the last six decades came crashing into him, crumbling at the sight of the large body of water.
Had the insects taken down the masterpiece the Earth Fleet had built? The colony ship was created to sustain the two thousand lives for decades, much like Eureka would do now. They couldn’t have known about the energy-eating bugs, or they wouldn’t
have come to the surface. Or maybe they did know, and the beacon was sent to the lake on purpose. Perhaps the colony ship had high-tailed it and left this world behind.
Jarden was juggling the theories in his mind when they saw the first crack of sunlight sprinkled over the horizon and hills beyond the far side of the lake.
“What’s that?” Ace pointed to the southwest, where a plume of smoke escaped the ground, heading for the heavens.
Jarden didn’t know, but he was about to find out. They might have just found a sign of the colony after all.
7
Charles
Charles watched the footage for the fifth time. He counted out the seconds internally, based on the subject’s footstep length and speed in the video he did have. The image flickered within ten seconds of when the man would have approached the laboratory door, and ten seconds after he would have left.
There were no cameras outside the lab, but Charles had found the security feeds buried in a file storage system on the ship’s server. He might not be able to prove it, but he was sure that Benson had entered the laboratory during those few minutes, and that he was behind the variance and the looping footage.
What had the man wanted with the Watcher? And why had he gone to such lengths to hide his visit? Charles didn’t know much about Benson, but this set off alarm bells. He needed to discuss this with Wren, but she’d gone to the bridge and hadn’t arrived back at the lab yet.
He decided it was important to contact her, so he found her earpiece source and tapped into it.
“Dr. Sando,” she said, answering the buzz.
“Wren, I need you to come see what I found,” Charles said.
“I’m a little busy right now. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said quickly.
“I don’t think you…” Charles was cut off as she ended the communication. “…should ignore this.” He ended the sentence.
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