Chapter Ten
The Afternoon of January 20th
The Ruined City
The landing party finally reached the ruined city in the middle of the afternoon, this was later than Tyler had intended, for the tribe of savage natives had delayed them. As Tyler stood before the force field that surrounded the city, his short wave radio sprang into life.
"Tyler the energy weapon within the city is powering up, we might be its intended victim but it seems more likely that your team is its intended victim, as we are still cloaked." Colin Freeman said.
"Thank you Colin we will turn on our portable force fields while we look for that secret underground entrance that you found."
No sooner had they set up the force fields than a powerful bolt of energy angled down upon them to strike the force fields. The force fields both held, but their store of energy within the Dylithium crystals that powered the force fields was being rapidly depleted. Then from out of the sky a bright light screamed down from the heavens to strike at the city, the Defender had arrived back above the city to help the landing party, and once more remind the city about the enormous amount of energy that the Heliot Phasers could supply from the Heliot hyperspace engine. A dome of iridescence sprang out from the city, to bathe it in a strong light. Tyler took out the tracer that Brian Goddard had provided him with to find the equipment stolen by the Aldebran spies. Turning it on he read the power levels coming from the city, to begin with the readings were off the scale, but slowly they became readable, the city was short of power, especially when faced by the power of Heliot technology. The city had now stopped firing at the landing party and turned its weapon upon the Defender and their friends.
"Come on everyone, the large tree that Colin told us about must be that one over there, the mouth of the cave must be nearby, the Defender will have to move away soon, so we need to find cover within the cave and see if there is a tunnel inside of it."
With those words the landing party rushed across as fast as it was possible to do so, what with all of the equipment they had to carry, the tall tree resembled the Banyan tree of Earth and must have been very old, for it was now of an immense size. There before the tree lay the cave`s gaping mouth, the ground dropped vertically some twenty feet to a dirt-strewn floor. One of the local defence team moved forward, it was Peter Collinson.
"I have some rope here if you will help me tie it around the trunk of this tree I will climb down; I`m a bit of a mountaineer in my spare time so this will prove to be a bit of cake for me." Tyler helped Peter tie the strong coil of rope around the massive girth of the tree and then watched as Peter clambered down. Soon Peter was within the large cave entrance.
"It is enormous down here, the cave goes back quite a way, and as my team have brought torches with us we should be ok, if you want to come down."
Tyler`s short wave radio sprung into life, it was the Defender of course.
"Got to go now, we will be around though when you need us next time." Colin Freeman said.
The tremendous noise from the energy battle that had raged above their heads suddenly stopped, the Defender had moved out of orbit and so out of the range of the enormous power of the ruined city.
"Let`s go and explore this cave before we are found again by the city." Tyler ordered. "Let`s get the equipment down there first though."
Very quickly, they lowered the force fields and then the large Phaser cannon; these were followed by all the rest of their equipment. The landing party now climbed down until there was only Tyler and Caroline left standing before the large hole. A massive bolt of energy screamed down to blast a hole in the ground just feet away from them hurling them both into the cave. They hit the hard ground hard, and lay still while their frantic friends tried to revive them. Tyler finally awoke to find Tryon bathing his head with a wet cloth. Smiling up at his friend he looked across at Caroline who had not moved since hitting the ground, slowly and painfully he crawled towards her.
"Caroline, are you all right." Tyler called out, he feared the worse, for he had hit the ground hard, and although he thought that nothing was broken, it was very painful to move. Appolon had already reached his sister and taken her in his arms, resting her head against his chest while Charles Bragg was tending to her in the same way as Tryon was treating his friend.
"Caroline are you all right? Please speak to me." Appolon groaned. His voice was filled with the same fear that Tyler felt for Caroline.
A single blue eye opened and looked up at him. "What hit me?" Then she remembered. "Tyler, is he all right?" She cried, for she thought that it should have been him holding her.
"I`m all right Caroline, just a little sore I think." Tyler said to her as he finally reached her and took her hand in his. "How about you, are you all right darling?" He asked smiling across at her.
"Yes I think so, but let`s not do that again darling." Caroline said. A weak smile appeared on her face as she finally saw her husband`s face appear before her.
Tyler finally found the strength to take his wife from his friend and they held each other as the others sighed with relief and got back to the task in hand, for they had a cave system to explore, and so they looked into the deepest recesses of this enormous hole in the ground. Miraculously the ruined city had left them alone after the last bolt of energy that had almost killed Tyler and Caroline. They now hoped that they were out of its reach, at least for the present. Tyler looked at Caroline and then kissed her. Caroline smiled up at him.
"I wasn`t worried about you my darling, for you are the chosen one of the gods, but I would have chosen a less painful way to get down here."
Tyler smiled at his beautiful wife and thanked the gods for giving her to him, and for looking after her. Away from them and oblivious to their bruised bodies, Peter Collinson was urging his team forward.
"Come on lads we cannot be seen to leave everything to these men from Orion, this is our planet, our future so let`s find the tunnel, if it is here to be found."
One of his team, John Weston, seemed unsure about this though; he was the youngest of the team and was only nineteen years of age. "That energy ray up there is one powerful weapon, if we do find a way through we will be just getting nearer to being killed by it." Weston wailed.
"John we may die if we proceed, but anyone who stays behind will have to explain for the rest of his life just why he never went on with the others, never risked his life for his family, do you really want to be the one to have to do that for the rest of your life?" John Weston thought for a moment only, and then he moved forward towards the back of the cave.
"No, I would rather risk any danger rather than that, let`s get stuck into it lads." The other members of his team smiled at John Weston, and then they too began to get stuck into the task in hand.
Tyler and the others from the Defender allowed the locals to start the search for the hidden tunnel, they needed to work for their planet, they needed to find the tunnel entrance while the team from the Defender, well they could take a back seat for the moment. Tyler looked around at the cave entrance; straight away, he could see signs of civilisation, the tunnel had probably proceeded further along before the tree had grown and destroyed this section of the tunnel, bringing the roof down and creating the cave mouth and blocking off the rest of the tunnel.
Mark Falcon, of the local defence team was also an amateur potholer, he was a short thin man of thirty years of age, and it was Mark who found the first clue to where the tunnel was. A musty smell was wafting towards him; it was carried on the faintest of breezes that was emanating from the very rear of the cave.
"Peter I think the tunnel is over here, will you help me to shift some of these rocks."
In a moment, all of the local defence team were moving the rocks out of the way, and then Mark shouted out again.
"I see it, it is just ahead, just a couple more of these rocks and we will be through." Then Mark was scrambling through the hole followed by John Weston, his initial fears had dissipated, or at least he had them under co
ntrol.
Soon all of the sixteen members of the team were through into the tunnel, the torches of the local men showed that the tunnel had indeed been made by the ancient civilisation. Its sides now though were covered in a moss like substance and its floor was littered with small animal droppings and was a little slippery underfoot, but apart from the insects that were everywhere it made for easier going than they had met above ground.
"Let`s move out, but I would suggest silence unless you have something to say that cannot wait." Tyler warned. The team moved off along the dark tunnel lit only by their torches.
"How long will your torches last?" Tyler asked Peter Collinson in a voice that was barely even a whisper.
"Oh they will last for twenty four hours or longer so there is no problem as far as they are concerned." Peter Collinson answered likewise.
The relative quiet of the musty tunnel was broken by the sound of large explosions above ground causing the dust of ages to rain down from the ceiling, along with large pieces of wall tiles that narrowly missed Caroline.
"Our enemy seems to be firing blind in the hope of finding us Tyler." Charles Bragg shouted above the noise of the large explosions above their heads.
Just then, a complete section of the tunnel crashed to the floor behind them, effectively blocking their exit.
"Maybe he isn`t quite so blind Charles. Let`s move it everyone, he can`t fire at us once we get beneath the city, hopefully." Tyler called out while throwing a protective arm around Caroline and hurrying forward towards the darker part of the tunnel, and hopefully safety.
Tiles and dust continued to rain down upon their heads as they dashed forward to try to escape the wrath of their enemy. Thankfully, the firing stopped as quickly as it had begun and they were able to complete the rest of the walk in silence, but the walk was soon completed for they soon came to a door at the other end of the tunnel.
"Peter, is it locked?" Tyler enquired.
"Yes, and after thousands of years it is probably more than just the lock that is preventing us from opening the door. I can see through this broken section of the wall, there is light coming through from the other of side it, and I can see what looks to be the inside of a large building of some sort." Peter Collinson replied, and proceeded to tug at the door.
"Don`t worry all it needs now is a gentle kick, as Peter said there are fifty thousand years holding that door up." Charles Bragg said confidently. Charles went up to the door and first kicked it and then he helped Peter shove it and then they pulled it and then pushed and finally the metal door began to show signs of moving. It grated in protest as fifty thousand years of dirt and rust held on for a little more, but then it came away in their hands.
"There you are we shall all go to the ball." Charles Bragg declared.
"Charles has been around Tyler for far too long." Colin Ryan announced to everyone. Those who knew Tyler all agreed and then laughed. Tyler looked at them all with contempt plain upon his face and then smiled as well.
"It shows that unlike the rest of you cretins he has good taste." He said.
Charles Bragg ignoring all of this walked through the door and found himself at the foot of a flight of stone stairs that led him up to the giant reception area of a massive building. Its floors were covered in a mixture of dust and rubble, and through its broken windows; he could see more such buildings that were nothing more than empty skeletons now.
"This might not be quite so easy fellows, which way do we go from here?" Charles Bragg asked.
Tyler walked through the door to join him in the large hall, and then he moved forward to look out of the large open doors while he tried to dust of his clothes.The building stood at the top of the long vertical leg of a T-junction. Another street ran across in front of them to make the top of the T, but soon ended at both ends at the edge of the broken city the only other way was forward down the vertical leg to a large ten-storey building at its end. There was no sign of any animals or plants on this side of the broken door, just of the vast ages that had gone by since anyone had walked along these streets. Anything of organic origin had disappeared, some broken glass was strewn across the road and there was dust and rubble everywhere but definitely no sign of life.
Tyler took out his tracer that Brian Goddard had supplied him to find the Crystillium device.
"Let`s see if this gizmo will point the way, oh and everyone had better take a moment to think before they do anything from now on, whoever has been shooting at us probably knows that we are now in the city, and could well be lining up one of his weapons on us right now."
Tyler turned his tracer on and slowly turned it in a half circle, the tracer went mad as soon as it pointed through the large open doorway and down along the wide boulevard that was the vertical leg.
"You may have been right Tyler, when you said our enemy was a computer, nothing has lived inside of this city for at least fifty thousand years or more." Peter Collinson said.
"What is that shimmering down at the far end of this street; it is in front of that tall impressive looking building with the large entrance doors?" Caroline asked.
"It is another force field; it appears to go right around the building, I think we have found what we have all been looking for." Colin Ryan said.
"And all we have to do is walk on down there." Tyler said. "I believe this is when we have to be very careful, because we will be very exposed once we leave the cover of this building."
"Yes my friend it is an obvious place for a trap, what are not so obvious are the ones he may expect us to walk into while we try to circumvent the most obvious one." Appolon said.
"The one good thing is that he probably cannot use his main weapon in here, unfortunately we don`t know what other weapons he possesses, if any." Colin Ryan said. All the while, no one had moved from the spot that they had been in when Caroline had first seen the shimmering.
"Well you are all forgetting about my tracer, it should be able to tell us about any other energy weapons. Any other conventional weapons will be useless after all of this time, unless it has some service robots trundling about, which, as I do not see their tracks in the dust must mean that there are not any, at this end of the street at least. This place does not seem to be a place for booby traps, and if there were ever any of them, then once again they would probably not be in working order now. No I suggest that Charles and Colin set up our large Phaser weapon and fire at the force field to see just what happens, while they do that I will use the tracer to check out any resulting energy levels."
Five minutes went by while the two ex-marines assembled the heavy weapon, during this time Tyler set up the two portable force fields once again, then they were ready.
"Ok let`s see if anyone is home." Tyler said. A powerful energy beam shot forward to strike the force field at the far end of the street, Tyler looked at his tracer but either the Phaser just wasn`t powerful enough to affect the city`s power supply, or they were wrong in thinking that the city was running out of power.
"Turn it off for the moment Charles, it isn`t doing any good. I think that we will have to reconnoitre along the boulevard instead. Tyler said.
"I thought that we agreed that it was an obvious trap Tyler?" Caroline asked, just a little worried that she was about to lose her husband.
"I have been thinking about it and I don`t believe that there was ever a defence system operating within the city. It wouldn`t make sense as the local population would get caught up in any battle, and even if one was installed, as the city began to fall into ruin it cannot be operational now, it would be long gone, dead just like this city is. No, I now believe that the only weapon that the city possesses is the powerful energy beam, and that probably cannot be used inside of the city as long as we stick to whatever cover is available, and keep out of the wide street. This is a city of the dead, a city that is full of nothing more than ghosts." Tyler said.
"If anyone is going to risk their lives walking along that street then it should be one of us." Peter Coll
inson said to the consternation of his fellows.
"I will tell what we will do, we will ask the Defender to try to get in contact with the city, see if our enemy is willing to call a truce and talk to us, how about that?" Tyler said. That idea brought universal agreement, that way they could put off the slow dangerous walk beneath the empty shells that lined the wide boulevard.
"Tyler, do you really think that a computer will want to talk terms to a bunch of humanoids?" Charles Bragg asked.
"It is a computer that may have been alive for longer than Earth has a written history, why shouldn`t it want to talk?" Tyler said.
"Well let`s just hope that it hasn`t gone senile in all of that time." Colin Ryan replied.
"Well we may be about to find out." Tyler said before putting in a call to the Defender.
"Defender, are you up there?" Tyler called on the short wave radio, the only sort of communication system that they carried these days when on such a job.
"We are still here Tyler, what`s up?" Colin Freeman said, answering Tyler`s call.
"I want you to try and contact the ruined city, see if anybody is home apart from us. We are in the city now, we came in via the tunnel that you found, but the city is dead and it has been for some considerable time. Will you see if whatever is shooting at you will consider a truce, ask it if it will allow us to talk with it, we only have our short wave radio so it is up to you to try to contact it, be careful though." Tyler asked.
"We will be careful Tyler; we will contact you later to let you know if we make contact." Colin Freeman said. "Oh by the way, can you see a tall hill behind the building which has a force field around it. I have been able to narrow it down and that is where the energy weapon is, right on top to give it a grandstand view of the countryside around the city, and of that long street that runs down towards it." Speak to you later. Colin Freeman now looked across at the rest of the crew of the Defender.
"I think that it might be advisable to keep our eyes and ears open for a while." Colin said and then laughed when Paul Johnson wailed out a reply.
"Colin, when have we ever got the chance to do otherwise? I suppose I ought to let the guys in engineering know just what we are proposing to do, and ask them to be ready to give us all the power we will need if we are attacked again." After ensuring that all aboard the Defender knew exactly what was about to happen he nodded to Colin.
"Here goes then, we might as well de-cloak the ship to show good faith, but only once we begin broadcasting, for they will know where we are then anyway." Colin Freeman said.
Richard Smith went over to the console where the cloaking mechanism was operated. "You begin broadcasting Colin and then I will switch the cloak off." He said and prepared for the worst.
"Ruined city, this is the starship in orbit above you, we wish to talk with you, please don`t fire upon us, we have deactivated our cloaking device to show good faith, please do likewise by not initiating another attack on us." Colin looked across at Paul and Richard. "Well at least we haven`t been fired upon, I may as well put the message on automatic and continue sending it until we get an answer?"
Moments later a voice came over the radio.
"Who is it that wants to speak to me?" A deep voice asked them.
"This is the space cruiser Orion Defender, our captain is inside your city and it is he who wants to arrange a truce with you. He wants to talk about the war you are waging on the colonists who have made your planet their home." Colin really did not expect whoever or whatever he was talking to, to agree, but he had to ask anyway.
"They are trespassers on my world, they should depart and then the war would be over." Colin wished that Tyler were up there with them, he would know exactly what to say to this machine.
"My captain, Tyler Burrows, has valid reasons to put to you, please contact him, he is in your city now, I am sure that he will be able to persuade you of the validity of his arguments so that you can come to an amicable agreement." Colin reasoned.
"I know that your captain and others that are with him are now inside the city, they somehow circumvented my primary defence shield, I don`t suppose it will take him too long to get by my secondary defence shield, he has already attempted to blast his way in. Yes I will contact him to arrange a truce, just as you ask." The deep voice agreed.
"Colin you are one really good diplomat." Paul said in admiration. "Tyler could not have improved one bit on that."
Inside the ruined city, Tyler and the other members of the team were waiting to hear from the Defender when a deep voice boomed out.
"Tyler Burrows you wish to talk with me. Come to the building that your Phaser weapon fired upon minutes ago, the defence screen will be lifted while you are inside of this building; a truce will operate from now and through to the time that you have returned to the safety of the building that you are now sheltering in with your friends."
"I guess Colin got through to the Computer then." Tyler said. "Appolon if you don`t mind joining me on my visit I really would appreciate it." Tyler knew that Appolon would have insisted on joining him anyway but he had decided to ask the question anyway.
"Of course Appolon and I will accompany you, do you think that after all our adventures together we would abandon you on this alien planet." Caroline stated as she walked to the large open doors. "Well what are you two waiting for?"
Tyler looked across at Appolon who merely shrugged.
"She is your woman now Tyler, I gave up my responsibility as soon as you went and kissed her after that time you went and rescued her from the Troglodytes." Appolon said in answer to Tyler`s silent question.
"Yes but you might have warned me." Tyler said before turning to Charles Bragg.
"Charles should we not return maybe you could come and rescue me, these two the computer can keep." Tyler then turned towards the open doors.
"Take care my friend; we will be waiting for you when you have sorted things out." Charles said.
"Tyler, I think that I should also be present at these talks, as a representative of my people." Peter Collinson said and moved forward to join him.
"Ok Peter, then you had better join us as well. And maybe we should leave our Phasers behind as a gesture of good will." Tyler said giving his weapon to Charles Bragg, and then walking through the doors, he joined Caroline and with Appolon and Peter Collinson, who had given his weapon to one of his friends, they walked down the wide boulevard and towards the tall building at the far end of it.
Up on the Defender, Colin Freeman suddenly looked at the computer banks set along one side of the bridge. "Our computers are being scanned, someone is reading them, and at a very fast rate."
"It can only be that computer down on the planet, quickly Paul get us out of here and put the cloaking device back on." Richard Smith said. Paul Johnson quickly pulled the Defender out of its orbit and made a dash for the planets horizon, but as soon as the cloaking device was switched on, he turned the ship about and re-established their orbit above the old city, but in a different position.
"Shouldn`t we call Tyler and let him know about this?" Colin asked.
"Yes I think we had better do that."
Minutes earlier the force field at the far end of the boulevard had been shut down. The four of them were able to enter through the glassless open doors of the ancient building without any trouble. As in the other building, this one was no more than a shell; its internal doors were just dust upon the floor, as were the windows that lay in countless thousands of small pieces with them. Tyler and the others were forced to crunch their way across this sad end to this one great building.
"I think that we will have to use the stairs, because I for one don`t think that the elevators are there, never mind the likelihood of them actually working." Tyler said and started walking up them when the deep voice boomed out again.
"No Tyler Burrows, I am downstairs in the basement of this building, only more empty rooms await you on the upper floors of the building."
"Thank god for that, lord kn
ows just how many flights of stairs we would have been forced to walk up otherwise?" Tyler said.
"Ten." the deep voice boomed out in answer to Tyler`s question.
Downstairs was a long corridor with countless rooms all open to inspection for their doors were no more, all were empty now of whatever they had contained. Only one room looked to be in a reasonable condition, and when they entered the room they saw that it led into a far larger area with a huge computer against one wall of the room and a large view screen upon one of the other walls, the screen showed the ruined city. Along the two side walls there were a collection of machines that were obviously there to keep the computer running and the room clean.
"Your ship is an interesting mixture of technologies, some very advanced and some of a lesser technological age, why is this?" The deep voice asked them.
Tyler was always suspicious of strangers, and you could not get anything stranger than an alien computer that exhibited a large amount of intelligence. Especially one that allowed it to ask such questions, but he wanted something from this one so he went along with it, for now.
"Because we obtained some of the technology from an ancient civilisation that we now believe to be extinct." Tyler replied.
"I have scanned your computer banks and they tell me that you caused this extinction Tyler Burrows." Just then, the short wave radio that was hanging across Tyler`s shoulder called to him.
"Tyler our chum down there has agreed to talk with you, but you should know that the Defender was just scanned and that includes our computer`s memory, you had better be careful, it might be about to pull a fast one on you." Colin Freeman warned.
"That is ok Colin, we are here talking to the computer right now, and he just told us about it, but thanks for letting us know though." Tyler said.
"An interesting communications device Tyler Burrows, I could not detect it, why?" The computer asked.
"That is one secret too many for the moment, but I will answer your previous question. The Heliot`s were an extremely warlike people, not unlike the natives on this planet, only they were far more technologically advanced. They wanted to enslave the universe, and we had to stop them, and we did it in the only way possible against such a powerful race as they were, and with the limited force that we had available to oppose them." Tyler thought it surreal to be defending his actions against a computer.
"Yes, I saw that from what I found within your primitive computer, but now I know that I can trust you to tell me the complete truth, and in turn I promise to do likewise." The computer said, this time in a quieter more human type of voice.
"A computer promises, surely a computer works by logic alone?" Tyler argued.
"I am much more than a computer, in the fifty thousand years that I have been alive I have read all of my world`s literature, and with so much time to ponder on the many points that were raised by some of the better works, I finally evolved into what I can only call a new life form." The computer explained rather haughtily this time.
"A new life form that kills the people of Genesis whenever they try to mine the Dylithium. Something they need to give them the energy to live a modern life, and not degenerate down to the form that the natives of this planet have descended to." Tyler said attacking the computer to see what the result would be as much as to find out an answer to his actual question.
"Although I am a new life form I am still tied to my old self, for I am still a computer and my programming compels me to protect what is left of the people of this planet against all who trespass upon her. That is the number one command that my makers put into my software." The computer said in rather a sad voice.
"One of my people on Orion could change that command, she could enable you to bring these newcomers to your planet under your protection, rather than attacking them, let me bring her here. The newcomers that you say trespass upon your planet, they don`t only trespass, they also bring a rebirth of civilisation to it, they could take care of the native population and bring them back up to the level from which they fell. Two of these people beside me are my woman and my friend; they are both of the native population of our planet Orion. They can tell you how the coming of the people from Earth has changed many things in their lives for the better. Many parts of their old lives they kept because they think that not everything that Earth offers is for them, but overall their people are better off. Ask them as many questions as you like, they will only confirm what I have already said. The newcomers from Earth are good tidings for this planet, and for its native population."
Never had Tyler spoken about as important a subject as this was, both for the natives of the planet, but also for the colonists. Peter Collinson felt that if Tyler had not now won the day then nothing short of a nuclear explosion could do so.
The computer took up Tyler`s proposal and questioned Caroline and Appolon for an hour before letting them sink exhausted to floor. They had supported Tyler`s view on most things and the computer was impressed by the way they respected Tyler`s thoughts, even when it went against their own feelings, as had happened that morning with the native population of Genesis. He was even more impressed when they both said that while Tyler had been correct in his initial assessment of the natives, he had amended his way of dealing with them after Caroline and Appolon had added their own thoughts on the matter. For as their friend Charles Bragg had stated it was important not to damage relations between the colonists and the natives.
"Tyler Burrows, I will allow the colonists to mine the Dylithium on two conditions only. The first condition is that you Tyler Burrows personally oversee the development of my people. The second condition is that the colonists pay the native population for the Dylithium in food, equipment and education. With you to arrange this, they will be able to prosper and not die during the present cold spell, which will make the finding of food difficult for everyone. If you agree to these two conditions, you may bring your computer expert to Genesis so that she can check over my software and correct any of it where necessary. I will put my trust in you; my life will be yours for the taking, if that is your will Tyler Burrows." Tyler was just a little stunned by the conditions imposed on him and Caroline.
"My help computer, but I am just passing through, I live on Orion." Tyler exclaimed.
"For a minimum period of at least five years, you and your woman must spend one week of each of your Earth months here on Genesis to help my people, and you will continue to do so until you feel your job is done. Do you agree Tyler Burrows?"
A thought flashed through Tyler`s mind. Had the computer had had this in mind from the first moment that the Defender had arrived over the planet Genesis, it was only the attack on the Orion Defender and its landing party that made such a thought hard to believe, but was he being done up like a kipper? The computer probably knew that the time limit it had set meant nothing, as Tyler and Caroline would not stop helping the native people until the job was done.
The computer did not just have an energy weapon to use, it also had a powerful radio that it could use to listen into whatever was said in deep space, and it had learned about Tyler Burrows three years ago. It had become an avid fan; much like a human would listen into a terrestrial radio show about a hero in a story. There was a difference in that it did not listen in for the entertainment value, it knew that Tyler had beaten the space pirates on New Earth, knew about the Constellation, it knew that it could retransmit the weak signal sent by the colonists on the planet Genesis to bring Tyler Burrows to help them. Even more importantly to the computer, it needed his help to leave this dead city, and find something more taxing to keep its massive brain from stupefying. The attacks on the Orion Defender, and even on its landing party, had been but a final test to see just what sort of a man Tyler Burrows was, were the myths just that, mere stories, or was there something real to be found amongst them.
"Yes computer, Caroline and I both agree to your terms." Tyler said, finally agreeing to the terms presented to them by the computer.
"Do you agr
ee Caroline of the red plains?" The computer asked Caroline, for it wanted her promise to come from her own lips rather than from Tyler.
"Yes computer, I agree to your terms also, in fact I am looking forward to starting the rebirth of the local native population. Computer I have a question regarding the native people of this planet." Caroline asked warily, for she had never asked such a computer a question before.
"What is it that you want to know Caroline of the red plains?" The computer asked.
"The natives of this planet never recolonized the area of land where the colonists from Earth landed, why is that?" Caroline asked.
"The memories of the terrible war against the people of that part of our planet were passed down through the generations, and it became a land of the dead where the spirits of their ancestors lived, it was not a land for the living." The computer answered, in a much deeper voice this time.
"Yes that makes sense, after such a war my people would also have come to believe this also." Caroline replied, satisfied with the answer given to her by the city computer.
"As you have both agreed to the terms set before you, in repayment for the time and hard work that you will have to undergo over the next five years, I promise to give you a gift of immense value, what it is I will tell you later. First, you must bring your computer expert from Orion, and you Tyler Burrows must begin to help my people rise again from the dust where they lie now, so that they can once again stand beside the newcomers from Earth on an equal footing." The computer said in what was now Tyler supposed, his happy voice for it certainly seemed that way to Tyler.
"Computer, will your programming allow us entrance into the city when we return with our friends?" Tyler asked, not wanting to keep having to ask for permission to enter into the ruined city.
"Yes I will extend the truce indefinitely to not only allow your starship and yourselves to come and go as you like, but also to allow the colonists to begin to mine the Dylithium."
The short wave radio around Tyler`s shoulder once more sprang into life.
"Tyler, is everything all right there?" Charles Bragg asked in a concerned voice for they had not been in contact for at least two hours.
"Yes it is all ok here, in fact we are just about to wrap it all up, and by the way we now have a peace treaty to beat all peace treaties." Tyler answered delightedly.
"That is marvellous; the people of Genesis will be extremely relieved." Charles Bragg sounded very relieved that his friends were all right, and had once more done the impossible.
"Charles, how would you feel about accepting a new job here on Genesis?" Tyler enquired.
"A new job, just what do you have in mind?" Charles answered, just a little puzzled by the question.
"I will tell you soon, for we will be re-joining you in just a few minutes." Tyler said turning off the radio. They then took leave of the city computer and made their way back to their waiting friends, on the way Tyler asked a question of Peter Collinson.
"Peter I was thinking of asking Charles Bragg to accept the job of overseeing the payments which the computer insists your people must make to the local people, and of assisting Caroline and me in our allotted task, how do you feel about that?" Tyler asked his new friend.
"The computer made its terms quite clear Tyler. As I see it the peace treaty first depends on you and Caroline running the relations between the colonists and the natives, and secondly that you and Caroline oversee the development of the natives, so who you chose to help you in this work is entirely up to you. I think that if Charles accepts the post then he will make a great success of it." Although Peter had known Charles Bragg for only a short time, he was already impressed by what he had seen.
"Good, his wages and any other expenses will of course be paid for by the people of Genesis, but that will be chicken feed compared to the amount of credits your planet will receive from the export of the Dylithium, we are agreed?" Tyler asked.
"We are agreed Tyler, and I will say as much to the council, don`t worry they will never go up against the man who not only saved the colony but also made it wealthy." Peter could not remember feeling quite so relieved, or as happy, as he felt right now.
"Good then, we are agreed." Tyler said.
The computer felt quite lonely when they had all gone, but it knew that its loneliness would be ending soon.
The Defender picked up all of the landing party and took them back to the township, where upon being told of the peace treaty that had been agreed to on their behalf, the entire population erupted in celebration. This time everyone was allowed to join the celebrations without exceptions. Caroline watched as everyone crowded around her Tyler to shake his hand and thank him, but as per usual, Tyler pointed Caroline and Appolon out and stressed that without them, it would have been impossible, and without the entire crew of the Defender, it might never have happened. He even pointed out the members of the local defence force and thanked them all for their help in bringing peace to the beautiful world. Tyler felt like a film star accepting an Oscar, for they always thanked a multitude of people, the only difference was that he meant it. Tyler then told them that the people of the planet Orion would loan them some Dylithium so that they would be able to energise their planet`s generator. It could be repaid when the mine on Genesis was in full production.
Charles Bragg, on being offered the chance to help the native population to get back on its feet again jumped at the chance. It would have its dangerous moments, but on Genesis he might be able to meet someone and start a new chapter of his life, for his time on the Constellation had made him feel just a little lonely, he needed a woman in his life.
The next morning the Defender lifted off without Tyler, Caroline and Charles to return first to Persephone to see if Paul Divine wanted collecting, he did, but only so that he could return to Genesis and see Tyler about a job. Paul Divine had to wait though, for first the Defender had to travel to Orion to pick up Brian and Tracy Goddard and of course, the quantity of Dylithium that Orion was loaning to the people of Genesis. It then returned to Genesis with Paul Divine and the two scientists, both who were astounded by the new job ahead of them. They had thought about leaving their children with members of the Church while they were away, but thought that the opportunity to meet new people, a new world and to speak with the ancient city computer was far too good to be missed by them.
"Tyler what have you gone and done now?" Brian said when they finally saw him.
"I heard that you had a sick computer that requires a little tender loving care." Tracy put in.
"Yes a fifty thousand year old computer Tracy, and I want you to take this job very seriously because we have a very intelligent computer here that thinks of itself as a new life form, and it may be right, maybe you can tell us for sure."
That sobered the conversation up a bit, but only for a moment. They had brought a small tracked vehicle from Orion to take the five of them back out to the ruined city, but there were six of them now, for Paul Divine was also with them for the ride, that and to approach Tyler for a job. Brian and Tracy`s children were left with the crew of the Defender to wait for their parents return; for they would only be allowed to visit the computer after their mother had ensured that it was safe for them to do so.
The Defender still only approached Genesis and the old city with its cloak on, just in case the city computer`s programming took over and caused it to fire on them. They would continue to operate in this way until Tracy Goddard had assured them that it was safe to operate without the cloak.
The Defender landed fully cloaked in a clearing some two miles from the ruined city, that being the only flat ground available, as to land inside the ruined city might have brought it down around their heads as well as chancing the computer firing at them if it thought that they meant to destroy it. The way into the ruined city was easy enough though, for the force fields dropped as they approached and then rose again to keep out the wild life, then they were before the tall dead building that was home to the comp
uter, the computer seemed able to stop its programming from initiating an attack on them. Obviously, the truce had been extended to allow them access to it.
"It sure has seen better days." Paul Divine stated.
"It must be just about ready to collapse." Brian Goddard added.
"Maybe our computer has also come to that conclusion; maybe it will also want us to move it out of here." Tracy offered, having a premonition.
Then they were walking down the dusty rubble filled staircase and into the only room with a light on.
"Good morning Computer. Tyler said. "These two people here are our scientific wonders, and Tracy here hopes to be able to sort out your software programming problem." He then added silently, 'so as to stop you from wanting to kill people.'
"Good morning everyone, hello Tracy, I hope that my software language is not too alien for you." The computer said, greeting them all.
"With your help computer, I cannot see that there should be any problem." Tracy assured the computer whilst thinking to herself; this cannot be possible, I am having a conversation with a computer, even making small talk with it.
Tyler led the other three non-scientists out of the building and into the fresh air.
"Well while our two resident geniuses are busy with our aging computer, maybe we can talk about the future Paul." Tyler said.
Paul Divine keeping his voice down voiced a thought that had occurred to him while they had been inside of the ancient building. "Why don`t you just put a lot of M17 explosive inside of the building, and blow the lot to kingdom come?"
Tyler laughed. "Two reasons Paul; firstly that computer may well be a new life form, so to kill it would be murder. Secondly that building may look dead but the area is crammed full of sensors, and should we have been foolish enough to bring any sort of explosive anywhere near the building, we would have been blown to kingdom come and the peace treaty would have gone up with it." Tyler whispered back. Tyler was still not sure that they had not been overheard by one of the many scientific instruments that his tracer had noticed during his many visits to this building.
"Regarding the peace treaty Paul, it calls for Caroline and me to visit Genesis in the Defender at least once a month. To allow our other crewmembers some time off there will be a space for you on it full time. Caroline and I can both fly the Defender, but there are the weapons and sensors to operate if need be; now we only have two engineers but we hope to find some more help from amongst the local group of planets. It will be a lot easier when the promised crewmembers arrive from Earth. Operating just one small starship with a part time crew is proving to be very difficult." Tyler said.
"We will try to train others so that our crew only have to serve four times a year, but it is slow work finding space men amongst our people. Even amongst the colonists, some who would be of use to us don`t want to return to space, even on a part time basis." Caroline said, joining in the conversation "Their pay is no problem, not while Orion and Genesis have Dylithium to finance the Defender, and we have told the other local planets that to keep the sector free of pirates it is necessary to have the Defender operational at all times. However, it is very difficult amongst mainly farming communities, they really cannot spare the time for space travel."
Paul Divine was very happy with these answers, for it would allow him to stay near to Alice Tarraway, and give them the time to get to know one another.
"Well I am willing to come aboard if you can use me." Paul Divine declared.
"There should be no problem in teaching you how to operate the many consoles that are on the bridge of the Defender, you will need to be able to move around the ship, as with the lack of crewmen we each need to be able to do many different jobs. Caroline was in engineering on our last trip out, but as Caroline and I are going to have to spend more of our time on Genesis with Charles, until we can get everything running smoothly, we could do with some more help." Tyler said. "We may even need you to help out here on Genesis with our other long term job."
"I guess that I can learn how to be a fulltime crewman aboard the Defender, if you think that you can cram it all inside of this head of mine, and I would be very happy to help out here doing whatever you need done." Paul Divine replied happily.
"How is Alice Tarraway?" Caroline asked changing the subject, for she was wondering how things now stood between them.
"She is still unsure just what she wants to do, but if I am to be based on Orion with the Defender, then we will both have more time to decide on our future. The Defender will be visiting Persephone regularly, along with the other local planets, giving Alice the time she needs to decide what her heart wants her to do, to come and join me on Orion, or to stay on Persephone." Paul Divine said.
"I really hope that things go well for the two of you Paul." Tyler said.
"Well that`s enough about my love life Tyler; please tell me about your plans for Genesis." Paul Divine said changing the subject away from the uncertainties of his love life.
"Well Paul, here on Genesis, Caroline and I will have our work cut out for us. First, we have to make a map of the entire land mass. I will ask George Masters if he will be come here from Orion to help in this, as he now has his aircraft operational again. Every one of the native villages that we find will have to be plotted on the map and then we will be driving out to each one in the tracked vehicle that we drove to the ruined city. It will be a little dicey to start with, but we will be taking food and gifts along with us so that will make things a little easier, hopefully. It will take quite a few years to civilise the native population, but with Charles based here all year round it will happen." Tyler stopped talking for a moment while he mulled over a thought that had just occurred to him.
"Maybe Peter Collinson would like to take over some of the work of contacting the various tribes, with two people on the ground it would make it easier on us and the colony will be able to afford it when they begin to mine the Dylithium."
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