Alien Manifesto

by T. W. Embry

  The Irishman immediately answered “Team 1 reporting all clear.”

  “Have you had any power lossss on the cyclesss?” hissed Snarth.

  “No sir, not that I have noticed,” answered the Irishman. “I will run a diagnostic on both cycles immediately. I will get back to you once it is complete. Team 1 out.”

  “Team 2, report,” Snarth hissed once more into the com-link.

  “Team 2 here,” I answered. “All clear sir, we were just about to start our search of the tunnel.”

  “Run a diagnossstic on your cyclesss firssst,” hissed Snarth. “I need to know if there hasss been any unexplained power lossss. Report your findingsss immediately,” hissed Snarth.

  “Yes sir, team 2 out,” I answered.

  When the control board finally read all green, and when the main engine was at full power, Snarth lifted off, setting course for the entrance to the underground city and the rest of his team. He would be setting the ship down about the time the team finished the diagnostics on the cycles. SSlice was being tight lipped about his suspicions for the power loss, which worried Snarth.

  As the ship neared the entrance, both teams reported in, no power loss found. This eased Snarth’s concern just a little. As the repulser lifts spun down and the ship settled down on the landing struts in the tunnel entrance, Snarth made a decision. Not only would he arm the ship’s defensive systems, he would post a guard outside the ship for the night. This may not set well with the team, but I did not live this long by being reckless. Well, perhaps not for the last couple of hundred years anyway, thought Snarth wryly.

  As the team happily boarded the ship, glad for a good bath and fresh food, Snarth was waiting for them in the forward lounge.

  “My friendsss,” he began, “there hasss been an unexplained power lossss on the ssship while we were out sssearching for the entrance. We have more than enough power reservesss to get home,” he hissed. “However, we may have to cut our search short and head for the nearest repair facility if it continues. As a precaution I want a guard outside starting at the dark cycle. Irishman, you have the first watch,” Snarth ordered.

  Seeing the pained expression on his friend’s face, Rowl spoke up: “You go ahead, get cleaned up and get some rest, I will take the first watch.” The look of gratitude on his friend’s face was more than enough payment for Rowl. Not being one to let an opportunity to get one up on his friend pass, Rowl added. “You do owe me one however.”

  “Ok then, Rowl, I want you to carry a blassster rifle while on watch azsss well azsss your ssswordsss. The sssame goesss for all of you. I do not expect any trouble, but no one will come to our ressscue ssso I do not want to take any chancesss,” Snarth hissed. “ssShoot firssst, asssk quessstionsss later, remember where we are. Thisss isss the home planet of the mossst feared warrior race in the hissstory of the galaxy. Isss that understood?” hissed Snarth.

  “Yes sir!” echoed through the forward lounge as each team member acknowledged Snarth’s orders.

  “Good,” hissed Snarth. “Tom, you have sssecond watch followed by massster feline, and the Irissshman hasss last watch. ssSSlice will be monitoring the ssship’s functionsss and communicationsss from the bridge. Disssmissssed.”

  “Snarth,” purred the feline master, pausing as the others filed out of the lounge, “With your permission Tom and I would like to take the bikes into the tunnel and have a look around.”

  “Permissssion granted, however I would caution the both of you to be extra careful. I alssso want you both to carry blassster rifles on the bikesss and blassster sidearmsss azsss well azsss your personal weaponsss. Again, I warn you: take no chancesss, ssshoot firssst asssk quessstionsss later. Report back immediately if you run into trouble, or better yet, find sssomething.”

  As my new mate and I mounted our cycles, blaster rifles at the ready, I asked her: “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  “What’s the matter my love, are you scared?” she teased. I was not sure if she was serious or just teasing. Before I could answer, she put on her helmet with a giggle. Now I knew for sure, she was teasing.

  “Quaking in my boots: I am glad you are here to protect me,” I quipped in response to her teasing as I put on my helmet and started my bike.

  At first, the tunnel ahead was arrow straight with a slight downward slope. The sides were perfectly straight, machined through solid granite, with a rough finish, the dimensions exact. That in itself was a remarkable feat of engineering, however in my excitement to find the treasure I hardly noticed. After almost a mile of tunnel, I did notice the change in the wall surface. It went from rough to worn smooth on all sides including the ceiling, as if millions of feet had worn them smooth from eons of use.

  That is when we found the passageways leading straight up and away from the main tunnel. The sensors on the bikes said they went up for at least a half mile, branching off in many different directions, creating a complex maze of passages lined with hundreds of uniformly sized rooms, for lack of a better term. There was still no sign of any technology, ruins, or bodies, just tunnels and empty rooms.

  After another mile of sloping down, the tunnel suddenly ended without warning, dropping into a huge cavern. What was on the cavern floor was certainly cause for alarm, ships, hundreds, maybe even thousands of what appeared to be single man fighters bristling with armament. That was just what we could see, as the vast cavern stretched far past what our bikes’ headlights’ limited range could illuminate.

  “That’s enough for tonight. My watch starts in an hour, time to go,” I called out to my mate the feline master.

  Nodding her head in agreement, she added, “Snarth will want to know about this right away.” I got on the com-link to tell Snarth what we had found. I got no answer, just dead silence.

  “It’s probably just the depth of the tunnel blocking the signal,” I reasoned to my mate.

  “We should not assume that is the case. We need to get back to the ship as fast as possible just in case.” In unison we hunched down on our bikes and rolled the throttles all the way on. At this speed, we would be back at the ship in mere minutes. However, there was absolutely no room for pilot error or we would end up splattered on the tunnel walls.

  “Snarth,” SSlice’s voice called over the ship’s intercom.

  “Report,” Snarth hissed in response, having been roused out of a light sleep.

  “I have lost contact with Human Tom and the feline master,” whispered SSlice.

  “What do you mean, lossst contact?” hissed Snarth, demanding an answer.

  “I cannot raise them on the com-link and I have lost their bikes’ tracking signal. It may just be that the tunnel goes too deep for our signal to reach. It is solid rock after all,” SSlice offered in response to Snarth’s ire.

  “Rowl, report,” Snarth barked into the com-link.

  “All quiet here sir, not even an insect moving anywhere near the ship,” came Rowl’s immediate response.

  “Damn thossse two. I warned them about being foolish. All right, everyone mount up. Let’sss go sssee what thossse two have gotten themssselvesss into. SSlice, arm the ship’s defense systems and join us,” hissed an outwardly angry Snarth, who was in fact worried about the pair’s safety much more than he let on; he had grown quite fond of the young Human Tom.

  “I think it best that I stay here in case they come back into range,” whispered SSlice in response to Snarth’s orders.

  “You might be right, the ressst of usss leave in two time unitsss, get a move on Irissshman!” hissed Snarth.

  “I am mounted up and waiting on you sir,” came the Irishman’s immediate and somewhat frosty reply from the cargo bay.

  Just as Snarth swung his leg over his cycle, SSlice’s whispery voice sounded on the com-link. “I just picked up Human Tom’s bike’s tracker signal and the feline master’s as well. They are headed this way and moving dangerously fast. I don’t see anything chasing them.”

  “Defensssive posssitionsss everyone, blass
sters at the ready jussst in cassse they are being chasssed. MOVE IT!” hissed Snarth loudly as he moved into a defensive position covering the ship’s rear quarter and the tunnel entrance.

  The Irishman and Rowl took up flanking positions opposite Snarth, also covering the ship and the tunnel entrance, waiting calmly for me and the feline master to emerge from the tunnel, ready to blast anything following us into oblivion.

  Snarth heard SSlice say “Base to team two, Tom can you hear me? Are you being chased?”

  Much to Snarth’s relief I answered, “Team two returning to base. Good to hear your voice, we are not being chased. I repeat we are not being chased.”

  Hearing that Snarth barked another order, “Stand down everyone. When team two returns I want everyone in the forward lounge for a debriefing.”

  As the team gathered in the forward lounge waiting for me and the feline master, anxiety was very high. The unasked and unanswered questions about what team two had found and the mysterious power loss were thick in the air. Snarth paced back and forth across the exquisitely wrought mosaic of polished stone deck in the forward lounge, growing more agitated with each time unit of delay.

  Finally, I and the feline master joined the team in the forward lounge.

  Sensing the tension in the air, I broke the silence. “Well, we found treasure, sort of.”

  All eyes were trained intently on me, making me feel a bit foolish about my statement.

  “What exactly did you find?” hissed a decidedly grumpy Snarth.

  “We found ships, and lots of them,” I answered. “Mostly one man fighters as far as we could tell. This entrance ends in a huge cavern about two miles down the main tunnel. When I say huge, I mean a mile or more across. It easily holds thousands of ships. All of the ships we saw are fully armed and ready to go, just waiting for their pilots,” I finished.

  “I uploaded the sensor scans from their bikes to the ship’s main computer. We can study them anytime you like, Snarth,” interrupted SSlice.

  “Put them on the viewer,” hissed a now intrigued and much less grumpy Snarth.

  Whistles of amazement came from the team members as the scale of the tunnels and chambers unfolded in front of them. “Wait until you see the chamber the ships are in,” I said, still not believing the sheer size of the tunnel complex. More sounds of astonishment came from every team member as the scan of the cavern scrolled across the screen.

  “I do not think thisss isss the entrance to the main city,” hissed Snarth thinking out loud.

  “It appears to be the entrance to the planetary defense complex,” interjected SSlice matter of factly, his whispery voice breaking the silence, each team member having been completely lost in thought.

  “ssSo where isss the city?” hissed Snarth.

  “I have been running some probability calculations and IF the Ones stay true to form in their love of symmetry it will be exactly opposite this complex,” answered SSlice. “I have located a large extinct volcano here,” he whispered, highlighting a section on the map-reader. “I have good reason to believe that this may indeed be the temple of the sun.”

  “But we already searched that quadrant,” interjected the Irishman, “No indications of an underground entrance showed up on the scans.”

  “Nor would it if the Ones were using the natural lava tubes of the volcano as an entrance to the city: we were searching for the wrong kind of reading,” whispered SSlice. “As you can see from the scans, this area here seems to have been of particular interest in the bombardment that ended the war.”

  “Wouldn’t the bombardment have destroyed the city entrance, burying it under tons of rubble?” I asked.

  “If it were anyone but the Ones I would say yes,” whispered SSlice. “However, I think that this area may have been a decoy to protect the real entrance all along. Remember the temple of the sun was their most sacred site. And,” SSlice added, “the home of the Queen.”

  “Before we go sssearching half way acrossss the planet again, we mussst consssider the problem of the power lossss and consider resssupplying the ssship,” hissed Snarth, reminding us all that we must be cautious even if discovery seemed easily within our grasp.

  “ssSSlice, you sssaid you had an idea about what causssed the power loss. Now would be a good time to elaborate,” he hissed.

  “It is just a wild theory, purely conjecture with no proof,” whispered SSlice evasively.

  “Out with it, old friend,” hissed Snarth. “There are no ssstupid theoriesss or questionsss here.”

  “Mind you, I have no proof, and the answer I have seems impossible considering that we have found no evidence of any kind of life other than plants since we arrived here,” SSlice whispered. “When I found the reference to this planet in the databanks of that long abandoned space station, I found something else. It was just a fragment of a distress call from the brother of the explorer who discovered this world shortly before the war,” he continued. “It too concerned a warning about an unexplained power loss.

  “It seems he was trying to rescue his brother who had crash-landed on this planet when it was populated by the Queen and her subjects. That is all I have been able to find out about this planet before the war,” whispered SSlice.

  “What does that have to do with us?” I asked, puzzled.

  “There have been a lot of theories about just what the Ones did with their prisoners. No one really knows for sure. At least, that is the official scientific version spread by the galactic government,” SSlice whispered. “I however know the truth. My great grandfather was one of the spinner elders who was captured and brought before the Queen during the war.

  “This is a closely guarded family secret and I ask each of you to keep it that way,” SSlice whispered desperately, growing agitated, “The Ones ate their prisoners. Dissolving them at a cellular level, feeding on the cellular energy,” SSlice said, emotion turning his whispery voice husky and ragged. “My great grandfather watched as the Queen ate the spinner elders one by one until those who remained surrendered, agreeing to slavery rather than annihilation. That is a shame we spinners will have to bear as long as the legends of the Ones live,” he finished.

  Stunned by SSlice’s revelation, the team sat in silence, each trying to grasp what SSlice was trying to tell them.

  Finally, it was Rowl who broke the respectful silence. “Are you telling us that the Ones caused the power loss?”

  “I do not know for sure,” answered SSlice, his emotions under his usual icy control. “The sensor logs show nothing. The scans for biological life forms show nothing, not even insects.”

  “It could be some sort of left over ancient machinery,” volunteered the feline master, breaking her long silence.

  “Perhapsss,” hissed Snarth: “Whatever it isss we will have to be extra cautiousss. I have no desire to get into a firefight with any One warriorsss. Even if they are 500 yearsss old

  “All right, my friendsss,” hissed Snarth: “Teamsss of two on the outside on ssship’s watch at all timesss. Tom, you and the feline massster have the firssst watch. Rowl and the Irissshman will relieve you in sssix hours. ssSSlice and I will monitor the ssship from the control room. Remember where we are and ssstay sssharp. Report anything out of the ordinary at once. I want each team member cloaked and armed with blassster riflesss azsss well azsss persssonal weaponsss and ssside arm blastersss. Disssmissssed” hissed Snarth.

  It was several hours later that I heard the scraping sound of many tiny feet coming toward my position and the ship. Using my wristband, I alerted my mate and Snarth at the same time, maintaining both my position and my cover. Two messages scrawled across my wrist pad almost instantly. One from my mate: it said simply What took you so long? Typical feline reply I thought. The second was from Snarth. Hold position while I try to get a sensor fix, it said. So I held and waited, practicing my patience.

  Several minutes passed and I was getting nervous, as the sound of the feet was getting closer. I still did not have a visual ev
en with my enhanced night vision. Could it be that what or whoever was coming was cloaked? I moved the blaster rifle into a ready position, quietly, smoothly in a much-practiced movement. Snarth said take no chances, shoot first ask questions later.

  Good advice if you asked me, but it was too early to give away my position without a definite target. All I had to go on so far was the faint sound my new hearing told me was coming this way, slowly, steadily. I sighted the blaster rifle on where my ears told me my target would appear and I waited, trigger finger itching yet held in check by many years of practice in just this kind of situation.

  Whatever they were, they were about 100 yards away just around the corner of the tunnel entrance when the message from Snarth scrawled across my wristband. They appear to be cloaked. Acquire targets, prepare to lay down covering fire as we exit the ship. On my mark.

  With a faint hum then a slightly louder whine, the cargo ramp of the ship opened. At the same time the ship’s defensive array of blasters swiveled to life, coming to bear on the tunnel entrance. The sound of the feet suddenly stopped.

  Several tense minutes passed. Snarth, the Irishman and Rowl were cloaked. Quickly they made their way down the cargo ramp, taking up flanking positions to the ship’s blasters. There was still no movement. Calmly, expectantly we waited. With all the firepower aimed at the tunnel entrance, I would not want to be the first man in a wave attack if that is what they were planning, I thought.

  In a flash of brilliant blaster fire the weapons array on the opposite side of the ship exploded, firing at some unseen enemy movement. They were coming up the cliff face toward the tunnel entrance.

  We were being probed, and now caught in a two pronged pincer attack. We were very much out of position. Yet if we gave away our positions, we may draw fire and get pinned down, sealing our fate. Move to a port side flanking position came the message from Snarth across my wristband communicator. I signaled my acknowledgment and eased out from behind the boulder where I had been taking cover, moving toward the opposite side of the ship.