by Terry Frost
Kenner tried not to but he laughed. He couldn’t remember the last time he saw Jak so disturbed and found it to be interesting and hilarious at the same time. So he prodding on.
“You are really a poor sport, Hammer.”
“I am not. Why would you say that?”
“You're jealous that Jeeves is out making new discoveries and you seem to be distraught about the possibility of him naming something. If you remember you were allowed to name a frigging planet. Remember Planet Ogre?”
“Of course I remember, you egghead.”
“Oh, now we are resorting to name-calling, eh?”
“As usual Captain Slain. You have it all wrong, buddy boy, and that is nothing new to me. How in the hell you ever became a fucking captain is beyond me.”
Kenner didn’t appreciate the jab but before he could retort, Jak continued.
“You sit there in your mighty captain’s chair thinking you might have a 0000.1% chance of knowing me but yet even with those numbers you can’t get a sniff of who I am. Commodore Jeeves is my absolute best friend. Human or not he is as close to a friend as I’ve ever had.
“He would be the last being in my world I would ever be jealous of. Envious at times maybe, but jealous, never. Jealousy has nothing to do with it. It’s the ying and the yang of missions. The unknown, the never-ending possibilities and challenges of the entire universe. I may tend to be disappointed when I’m not the first to discover the unknown first but I can live with it. I don’t like it, but I can live with it.”
“I’ll give you this, Colonel. If the requirement to become a captain of a USC Battlecruiser was only about figuring you out then hell, there damn sure wouldn’t be any captains flying Battlecruisers. The ying and the yang?
“Now if you don’t mind, the captain of the Striker wants to concentrate on our mission without any further insults. I was just ribbing you anyway, buttlicker.”
Jak actually laughed and laughed hard. Their discussion actually scored Kenner a few points with Jak, especially with the quick thinking buttlicker part.
****
Back on Commodore’s Moon, Commodore Jeeves was within five miles of the beginning of the massive forest. When his hornet was within a couple hundred feet of the forest, he turned west until he found an area of huge flat rocks. Each one of them with plenty of room to land the hornet safely. The closest rock to the forest lay only 90 feet from the forest edge.
The reason Jeeves decided to land on the huge flat rock was more than just about it being a good place to land the hornet. It was by a wide stream of bright blue water that poured itself out into the freshwater lake.
He slowly sat the hornet down, then shut off the engine. He sat in the cockpit for a few seconds and began analyzing some of his sensor data. Just as he brought himself out of his analytical state of mind he immediately noticed how huge the tree closest to the hornet was.
He opened the cockpit to a cool breeze coming off of the Greatest Lake. He took the two steps down from the hornet, to the surface of the landing rock. As the breeze continued, he turned to look at the lake at the surface level. He scanned out as far as his eyes would allow and did not see any life swimming near, or on the surface.
After looking at the lake for several minutes, he turned and looked at the forest before proceeding in that direction. As he began walking, he dialed in on one particular tree and took a quick measurement of the tree.
The tree was 300 feet tall with a trunk nearly sixty-foot-wide. With less than twenty feet from his target tree, he realized his analysis of the forest while flying over it was incorrect. It was a forest, but not like any stored in his memory banks.
What he was looking at was a forest which covered a large land mass and did so without a large number of trees. The trees held a darker than dark avocado colored bark. Its bark ran horizontally instead of vertically. The tree’s bark looked as if it wrapped the tree rather than cover its interior.
Jeeves stood next to the gigantic tree and as he reached to touch it a thought comes to him. He listened intently and notices the forest was quiet, very quiet. Not hearing anything would have been devastating to most but not to Science Officer Jeeves. While in his analytical state, he knew there was always a means to an end.
Before proceeding into the dark forest and for no reason he could postulate, he thought I’’m wondering why I am wishing Jak could be with me right now. By description, could it be his wide-eyed expressive face or his boundless enthusiasm while in the mix of battle or discovery? It does give me great joy. Won’t let him know that though. The commodore took his first step around the huge tree then took another, and another.
Chapter 9
The massive tree was 300 feet tall and its base was just short of sixty-feet wide. The forest had two canopies and the first began at about 120 feet from the base of the tree. Some of the branches were eight feet thick. Jeeves decided to climb up the tree, using the smaller diameter branches extending from the bigger ones.
His climbing skills were remarkable and he climbed with a quickness no human could ever accomplish. When at the 120-foot mark, Jeeves worked his way through the canopy another twenty feet then poked his head up through the canopy. He estimated the upper canopy began at a distance of 160 feet from the lower one.
How can trees grow to such great heights? Jeeves thought.
There was a smattering of smaller branches with huge leaves on them but the area between the two canopies offered the best view of the tree-lined forest from tree to tree. Each tree covered a large area and was spaced an average of 100 feet apart.
Just before starting back down and before he was going to tuck his head down and into the canopy, he saw movement further into the interior of the forest. Whatever it was, it gave him only a fleeting glance then was gone. As he began to climb down, he heard noises coming from the same direction he saw the movement.
Jeeves had been so focused on the trees he had lost track of time, then noticed the forest began to turn darker than it had been during his inspection of the tree he had initially climbed. What few rays of light there was coming through both canopies was beginning to fade, which indicated the sun was slowly receding and the night was close at hand.
Unlike human eyesight, Jeeve’s opticals allowed him to see nearly as good in darkness as he could in the light of the day. His eyes could see as well as night vision goggles used by the USC Marines.
He was back on the ground within a few minutes and proceeded in the direction of the noise he was still hearing. To him, it was the unmistakable sounds of language, and they were speaking at low volumes. A human’s ear wouldn’t have heard the voices from the same distance Jeeves’s had heard them. His hearing was as good or better than that of many predators that do their hunting at night.
The commodore began walking at a silent but brisk pace when he heard voices coming from high up in the trees. There were many voices, too many for him to make out what they were saying so he concentrated on the two aliens closest to him. He quickly surmised they were aliens and not some type of animal, as his universal language translator was working in overdrive but was translating recognizable voice patterns he could understand.
Jeeves began climbing again and as he positioned himself on a huge branch only a mere three feet below the canopy and the two closest aliens, he ever so gently pulled a part of a plate-sized leaf down and peered through the slight opening. If Commodore Jeeves could be astonished, he was. Above him was a perfectly hidden and wondrous world within a world.
Not only was he looking at a new alien race he was seeing a massive haven that enabled life to exist on his moon. Though an AI (officially) isn't supposed to feel, Jeeves had times where he disagreed with that analysis. And this was one of those times because he had a feeling of pride every time he referred the fantastic new world as, Commodore’s Moon.
****
The USC Striker and its two-man crew had just finished their first complete orbit of the supersized bright green and orange planet. C
olonel Hammer suggested calling it a sweep because he wasn’t impressed with the scan. The planet had three enormous orange rings that moved at incredible speeds. Inside the lines were thousands of hurricanes. Every minute or so, two of the hurricanes would meet and a sizeable portion of the orange winds would blow out into the white cloud cover, which covered most of the planet and somehow held the orange winds in their formations.
“I say we document this one as a done deal. No life, no way, no how,” Hammer said.
“We’ve only made one orbit, Colonel. Protocol…”
“We are just wasting resources, Captian. You know it as well as I. Let’s wrap it up and give our old buddy Jeeves a ring. Actually surprised we haven’t heard from him yet.”
“Let’s wait and see what the atmospheric readings are when they pop-up. If it’s not for us, then we will call it,” Kenner said. He didn’t say it, but he thought the commodore would have at least checked in by now. The scan they just completed took several hours.
Both were watching for the atmospheric readings to complete. They remained motionless for at least a full minute, then the readings displayed.
“Told you. Now let's get the hell away from this cosmic waste of time.”
“Alright, plot a course to the moon,” Kenner politely ordered the colonel.
****
Admiral Allen and the Colossus were in the process of orbiting the beautiful blue-green and white planet. As with any new heavenly body, the first step was to perform an atmospheric check to see if it was suitable for colonization. One of the orders given to Admiral Allen by the USC was to also document any suitable secondary planets. Those, being planets with unbreathable air, but still, has the potential for a domed existence such as the colonization of Mars.
With the testing complete, the planet did have a perfect atmosphere for Human life. Captain Sokolov had arrived and docked the Perseus in Colossus’s hangar bay. He had been ordered to bring Major Hoser with him to the bridge.
“Let’s step lively, Major. I have the feeling the admiral has found something. I can’t recall him ever being so motivated. Other than during the announcement he had been awarded, with full confidence of the USC, the commission of Fleet Admiral,” Sokolov said.
When they entered the two-story Command Central, everyone was in a heightened state and working hard at their stations. The place was a buzz of activity but only the voices of the executive branch were speaking.
Admiral Allen and Vice Admiral Petrov were talking to two or three different station heads almost simultaneously. Allen turned and saw Captain Sokolov standing just behind him and without looking at him, he waved him to come to his side.
“As you can tell, we are motivated about this one, Captain,” Allen said.
“Yes, Commander, It is good to be motivated.”
“We have scanned over a third of it and have found no significant deterrents.”
Allen held out his arm and in a slow sweeping motion said, “Look how beautiful it is, Mikal.”
Right before answering, he thought Admiral you forgot protocol and called me Mikal. That’s a first. “Beauty is nice, sir, but I will be satisfied if the beautiful planet is void of any giant Ogres, scorpions, etc.”
“I agree, but if those are the only deterrents we will deal with them. You and Major Hoser have been out for a while. I’m ordering both of you to take a few hours downtime. Go get you something to eat in the mess. We should have completed our analysis of the first orbit by the time I call for you. Your ship is first up for a sensor run down in the atmosphere.”
“Aye, aye, Commander,” Mikal said, turned and he and Brik left the command area.
Russians can be quirky and stubborn. I don’t how many times I’ve asked him to call me admiral but he insists on calling me commander, though it is the title given to me by the USC. Stubborn, yes, but I’d be hard-pressed to find his replacement. Don’t think I could.
Chapter 10
Jeeves pulled the large leaf back a couple more inches and saw an active living world. The area above the canopy went for several miles and was filled with little strange aliens. He could tell they were just waking up as many were yawning, with the exception of the two aliens next to him.
He couldn’t see any taller than a little over three feet and took an educated guess that the tallest ones had to be the males of the species. The females were a third as tall and their young were much smaller with the youngest small enough to carry around in his uniform pocket.
They all had a patch of black hair on their heads that made them look like they were wearing a small hat. Their bodies were slim but muscular and were covered with a thin layer of hair that was black with white spots. They didn’t have tails and they walked upright.
Their legs and arms were proportionate to their bodies, but he did notice something odd. He took a good look at the two aliens next to him and saw they had what looked like suction cups on the tips of their toes and fingers.
The aliens had small heads and big eyes which suggested to Jeeves they were mostly nocturnal creatures and were a mix between Tarsiers (big-eyed nocturnal mammals) and the smaller Sugar Gliders that live in jungle canopies back on Earth.
There were a couple huge differences, and that was they spoke a language that could be translated into broken English, and they carried weapons. The two males carried spears, long blow dart guns, a pouch hanging from one hip that attached to a loincloth, the only covering the males wore and a woven tube slung on their backs which held the spear and blow gun.
Suddenly he heard a soft high-pitched squeal, and one of the two aliens nearest to him jumped with exceptional speed and accuracy from branch to branch until he reached a female holding a tiny baby at the entrance of a large cutout in the tree. Every time the male touched a branch he stuck to it like glue, then jumped to the next one until he made it to his destination.
A second later Jeeves felt a sharp pointed object sticking him near his temple. He turned his head only slightly and saw the alien staring at him. Unbeknownst to him, the alien saw his platinum hair, and it gave him away.
“What are you? Come out so Tinko can see thee or die,” the alien said. Before Jeeves could get up and stand on the same branch the male alien was on, the male let out a loud howling noise which brought several more males from many directions.
Jeeves came up through the canopy and he could see the alien was quite nervous at his size. But he became brave when the other males joined them. They were lightly poking at Jeeves with their spears.
“I mean you no harm and would appreciate it if you would tell your friends to stop sticking me with their spears.” As Tinko began to speak, Jeeves noticed he spoke using only one side of his mouth.
“You not answer Tinko. What are you?”
“I am a species known as Human. I am Jeeves.
“Humon. What is a Humon?”
“It is not pronounced Hu-mon. It is Human.” Jeeves could see by the quizzical look on the alien’s face he didn’t understand the difference.
“I come from a place called Earth. It is many, many, stars from here.”
“Tinko not know stars. What be stars? Why do you not stay Earth? Why you come to be with Putu?”
The Little guy sure asks a lot of questions. Suppose I would too if I had a giant standing in front of me. I am appreciative of the fact they aren’t trying to injure me Jeeves thought.
“Stars are the white dots in the night sky. Humans could not stay on Earth. Our home was eaten by too much water. I did not know Putu was here. I did not come to be with Putu. I have been seeking my people and hoped some would be here.” Jeeves knew he might need to improvise some of his answers. Telling the alien he was looking for a new home for Humans would not go over too well with them as they might think he wants their home.
“Putu. Is that what you are?”
The Putu must have thought his question was funny as they all made a sound similar to laughing. Jeeves was slightly stirred when he saw their teeth for the f
irst time. They had a mouthful of sharp pointed teeth. No canines, as they were all the same length.
“What would Putu be if not Putu?”
“Our kind have many names.”
Once again they laughed. Jeeves didn’t see the humor in the whole discussion but he didn’t spend much time analyzing it.
Tinko said, “There be those that are not Putu, but Putu strong clan. Putu has most warriors. Most more than Bapi.”
Jeeves thought he said if not Putu, then who else could they be. It is obvious to me that you could have been Bapi.
One of the other Putu males leaned in close to Tinko and whispered. Tinko shook his head as to say he agreed with what it was the other one had said.
“Jeeves need follow Tinko. Tinko will take Humon Jeeves to meet Father Panna. Father Panna rules all Putu.”
Jeeves had a million questions but thought it may be more productive to talk to Father Panna.
“Father many dens from Tinko den. Jeeves jump from den to den?”
“No, Jeeves can’t jump. Jeeves can climb.”
“Climb too much slow. Tinko takes Jeeves to glider.”
Tinko and his entourage started walking on a long branch, with him in the middle of them as they walked. While walking, Jeeves was scanning the Putu’s Haven and noticed it was covered with zip lines. Each line headed off in different directions and he saw long woven baskets with small branches, leaves, and Putu riding in them as they zipped along on zip lines. It seemed that the Putu were able carpenters as well as obvious hunters. Every tree within his view had square cutouts in them that was about ten foot by ten foot. Jeeves knew those had to be what Tinko referred to as a den.
They reached a den with a zip-line attached to it that wasn’t being used and Tinko told Jeeves to get into the basket. Jeeves was concerned that the tiny basket might not hold him but once he sat in it he found it to be quite sturdy. Even though only his legs and a few inches of his waist rested below the top of the basket.