by Alix Labelle
“Mining surveys mainly, deep core drilling to assess what minerals are there and probably bringing in samples for you two to analyze.”
So he knows who we are. Why don’t I know anything about him? Well, I’ve got three days stuck in this can to try and figure it out, or at least come up with some nice conspiracy theories.
***
“Let our records show,” my voice rings out through the assembled Intrellians, “this crew and ship has now extended the boundary of Intrellian space and taken its rightful place at the forefront of exploration.” The rumble of my crew fills my thorax with tightness, and I feel lighter than usual as I make my way towards the command section.
“Report!” I bark as I enter.
“Course and speed remain constant, commander,” Talacrus, my younger brother, informs.
“Acrulla’s systems are all fully operational,” Engineer Jonober states with his usual disrespect. I will have to make an example of him soon, or more crew might believe they can speak to me in such a manner.
“All weapons systems are ready for deployment, Commander Talacanthus.” Shaktee lets me know. Her use of my name lets me know something else. She’s willing to offer herself to me.
I have no interest in her at all and turn away. Leaning on the outer wall of Acrulla’s skin, I can feel the life pulsing through his immense body, and a section of his skin changes to become transparent enough to see through. I look out at the surrounding stars, witnessing an area of the galaxy no Intrellian in history has been to. I feel a jolt through my contact with Acrulla as Shaktee calls out from behind me.
“Vessel detected on approach vector, commander.”
“Can you identify?” I ask, a tremble of anticipation running through me. I watch Shaktee’s proboscis link to Acrulla pulse as she accesses his ancient memories.
“No, commander,” she reports. “This is an entirely new species.”
“Scan and assess,” I order and she does so quickly.
“It is unlike anything we have previously encountered, commander. The craft itself appears to be constructed entirely of metal and other materials we cannot identify. It does not appear to be Sentient, commander. Acrulla reports all attempts to communicate ship to ship have failed.” Shaktee hesitates before adding, “We have identified several weapons platforms, all active at present time.”
“Alter course. Head directly for the vessel,” I tell my brother, who follows my order immediately. “Scan for signs of them altering course.”
“There are none, commander,” Shaktee lets me know.
“Ready all weapons. Target their weapons and propulsion systems. Fire only on my command. Helm, ready for evasive maneuvers.” It is gratifying to watch the pulses traveling up and down the various probosces connecting my crew to my ship, all carrying out my every order without question. “Continue reports as necessary.” I turn my chair to stare through the transparent skin to watch the other ship approaching.
“We are within missile range, commander,” Shaktee calls over.
“Hold!” I bark in reply. My eyes fix on the miniscule shape, which is growing by the second. Six flashes, as bright as solar flares, jump to life, birthing the missiles, which I cannot see heading for Acrulla.
“Evasive on my command! Launch countermeasures! Fire all forward missiles!” I pause, estimating how fast the missiles might be approaching as bright lights flash away from Acrulla, my own missiles streaking away. “Evasive, now,” I call, and the universe spins and tips as my brother flips the massive form of Acrulla from the path of the six bolts of death. Even so, the vast explosions set of by my countermeasures can be felt throughout Acrulla.
Jonober reports, “Skin breach, section three.”
“Resume attack course!” I order, following our own missiles. “Fire forward cannons when in range. Engineering, decide if we need to find an atmosphere or if the breech is small enough to patch in space.”
“Crew reports breech is massive, venting blood and oxygen into space.”
“Seal off section three!” Jonober looks at me.
“Thirty-six crew members are in there,” he states. “You cannot...”
I leap over and grip his face in my talons, squeezing hard enough to crack some of his bones. “NEVER tell me what I cannot do!” I bellow into his ear. “Seal that section before we all die!” He nods as blood pours down his face, and I go to watch the destruction Acrulla has wrought on the alien ship.
Vast explosions tear gaping holes across the bow of the enemy ship, ripping massive sections of their hull apart and sending debris spinning off in all directions.
“Hold position,” I tell Talacrus as I watch more holes appear. Whatever they breathe aboard that vessel is pouring into space, dragging cargo, detritus and aliens with it. I am satisfied they are no longer a threat and will make sure Acrulla is repaired before we come back to finish them off. “Log position. Set course for nearest compatible atmosphere and land.” My orders are carried out as I stride from the room.
***
Unloading and setting up the new equipment goes surprisingly well and after a couple of days, Neela and I’ve got a reasonable lab set up. I’m just sliding the test samples into the electron scanning microscope we put together, making sure nothing is damaged or out of calibration. Sitting at the display, I laugh as someone back at Envirocorp has managed to add a minute message to one of the samples, ‘Welcome to the edge of space.’
“Neela, come look at this!” I call out, and she laughs too.
“Who did that?” she asks, and I shake my head.
“Not entirely sure, but it’s the sort of thing Calhoun would arrange.” As soon as I think of him, I can see his face, old and craggy, with laughter lines and crow’s feet but an intelligence and wit to match. He looked quite sad when he told me we were coming all the way out here, strange.
Neela shakes her head and goes back over to the spectrometer positioned next to a pair of optical microscopes and the Varian. I look at the computer with a kind of loving awe. They’re supposed to be the next generation of machine, possessing an advanced AI and able to think. Varian, the company behind them, have a sales video, which shows one of the original models having an actual conversation with one of their tech guys. I wonder if this one can do that or if takes years of interaction before you get to that level of sophistication. We’ll know soon enough. The countdown timer reads another couple of hours until it’s acclimatized to the atmosphere here, and we can switch it on.
“How did coffee go with Trant?” I ask and watch the red flush creep up Neela’s neck.
“Good,” she says, shadily. “Nice.”
I grin. “Him or the coffee?” I hear her snort a laugh, but she doesn’t turn or answer. “I think you’re lucky if you can find someone you connect with on a barren rock like this,” I tell her. Neela turns to stare at me. “Even if you’re just good friends, it’s a rare thing out here.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?” she asks, and I nod. We’re interrupted by a crackle from the speaker in the middle of the ceiling,
“Vorhies, get to ops immediately!” The voice is strained, tense, and I wonder what would make Trant sound that on edge. I lock eyes with Neela before springing up and heading for ops.
It’s like madness has hit the operations center. People are shouting at each other, to each other and over each other, staring at readouts and displays.
“Hetty!” Greenham Trant calls me over, more animated than I’ve ever seen him before. “Look at this!” They’ve put some drones out to monitor conditions on the moon’s surface, and one’s picked up some kind of heat source. I sit down and look at the object through the drone’s camera.
“It’s huge!” I squeak.
“I know.” Trant’s voice is actually trembling, “What is it?”
I can feel the look of shock on my own face as I turn to stare at him. “How the hell should I know? I’ve never seen anything like this before, not on Earth or any other planet.” My mind
starts working. “Let’s move the drone in closer so I can...” Trant shuts me down.
“Can’t. It’s giving off some kind of interference. Take the drone in too close, and we lose all signals to and from the device.”
“Well, you’re going to have to give me and Neela a while to analyze whatever this is before I even tell you if it’s alive.”
“But it’s organic, right?” He’s looking at me like a child who’s just asked if they can have their own space-worthy craft. His enthusiasm is infectious, and I can feel the excitement threatening to well up in my own chest, but I can’t let it get the better of me. I have to make sure everything is carried out according to procedure or face disciplinary action and probably not be allowed to name it, whatever it turns out to be.
I turn back to the data and look at the screen for any sign this thing is a living organism. I can feel Trant nearly dancing next to me and smile again. I look up into his eager eyes and solemnly say, “I’m really sorry, Trant.” His face falls. “But it is organic.” He shakes his head, and Neela hides her grin.
“Not funny, Vorhies.” He points a finger at me. “Not funny at all. Get to work.”
***
While repairs are being carried out, packing Acrulla’s skin breach with a temporary structure and diverting blood flow to the area so he can begin to grow the damaged sections back, I have decided to make a brief tour of this barren moon. The featureless landscape stretches as far as my eye can see, gray and black-jagged rock, which has been repeatedly pulverized by meteorites. Looking up, I can see the primary planet this moon belongs to, briefly wondering if this is the home planet of the species that attacked us.
It does not matter. The ship and all aboard will soon be a memory, and we will return to Intrellia Prime to report our new found territories and the enemies which might be here.
I had hoped to be able to hunt, but the need for a suitable atmosphere to repair Acrulla outweighs my wish to kill. I contemplate challenging Jonober but immediately dismiss the idea. He is weakened by the injuries I gave him earlier, and the crew would think it poor if I challenged an injured Intrellian.
There is a clear view of the stars from this vantage point, even though the atmosphere makes it a little difficult to see. Yet, something is wrong. One of the stars is much larger than the rest, and as I strain to make out the thing, I notice it actually looks as if it is growing. I turn and bolt for Acrulla, cutting and scraping my hands and legs in the mad dash across this moon’s surface. I have to get back and get us all off this rock before the alien ship, which is on a direct collision course with this moon, hits and destroys the whole place.
***
“Jesus, Hetty. You’re not thinking of going out there, are you?” Neela quizzes worriedly as I finish pulling the zipper closed over my ample chest. Having big boobs makes wearing these coveralls difficult, but they’re the best suits money can buy to deal with inhospitable environments.
“I’ve got to,” I tell her. “None of the readings give any indication of anything dangerous. It’s not leaking radiation or poisonous gas, but we can’t even be sure what it is or if it’s alive. As lead exobiologist here, it’s my duty.” I glance at her skeptical look, “I want,” I add, “to go and see what it is.” I pack a few more things into a bag as I’m telling her all this.
“But what if it’s a hostile alien creature?”
I laugh. “Now you’re getting into the realms of science fiction.” I hold my finger up. “Look, I know it’s big, but honestly, what can it be? It’s not a creature because there’s nothing here for it to eat, so it must be some kind of fungus or lichen or moss-like organism.” Neela's face still looks concerned. “Think logically, Neela,” I tell her. “There’s no danger from this thing, and you know it. You’ve studied fungi, right?” She nods grudgingly. “So you know most of a fungus is hidden. We generally only see the reproductive parts.” She nods again. “That’s all this is going to be, or something like it.”
“So why are Deakins and Sierx Nerravin being sent with you?”
I look at her, exasperated with all her questions and worries. “Protocol, Neela. We’re always governed by protocol.” I watch as her mind works the problem over and feel a little sorry, as I know she’ll never become chief of her own expedition. She’s a genius biologist, analyst and scientist but hasn’t got the first clue about anything else.
“So...” I cut her off.
“Look, you’re the lucky one,” I tell her, pointing to the Varian. “Look at the timer. You’ve only got five minutes to wait till you can fire that thing up and see what it can actually do.” I smile. “I expect it to be running the place by the time I get back.” Neela gives me a wan smile, and I hoist my backpack. “See ya.”
Trant, in ops, is a little more optimistic about us going to have a look. Deakins, our doctor and linguistics expert is there too, with a massive backpack full of God only knows what.
“What have you got in there?” I ask as I slump in a chair next to them.
“Mainly first aid stuff, a few translation programs...” He stops as I shake my head. “What?”
“Just you,” I say. “You and Envirocorp always thinking you’re going to meet some alien species and figure a way to communicate with them. More than sixty worlds and moons across forty star systems have been visited since humans began to colonize other worlds, and the most advanced thing we’ve ever found is plant life.” I look at them both. “This is going to be the same kind of thing, so you might as well leave all your sophisticated computers and translation thingies here because I’ll bet, no, I will guarantee it’s going to be a big mushroom, or something like it,” I add. Their faces fall a bit, obviously overtaken by the excitement of finding life, and I’m excited too, but I know this thing is not going to be a sentient life form. “Look guys, it’s just a case of thinking.” I look at Deakins. “You’re a doctor. If this was a creature, what would it eat?” I ask him. I watch as the realization hits him, followed by the depression.
“Yeah,” he admits. “Yes, of course you’re right. I let the infectious energy of these guys get to me.” Deakins looks at me sadly through the glasses he wears, for some strange reason, and adds, “I won’t let that happen again.” He gets up and hauls his pack towards the exit as sadness hits me.
“I didn’t mean to upset him,” I say to Trant.
“It’s not you, Hetty. He’s had some bad news from home, and he’s due to leave on the next shuttle, which is bringing his replacement.”
I nod in understanding and get up. “I’d better get going.” He nods, and I walk across ops heading for the air lock.
Deakins and Nerravin are both there. Nerravin only has a small pack with her but the gun she’s got looks almost as big as she does. I grab a breathing mask and put it on. There is oxygen on Erenius three, but it’s quite thin, so we use these masks to filter out the other gasses in the air giving us almost pure oxygen to breathe. Nerravin nods to me and hits a button to seal us outside of the complex. A minute later, I’m standing on the dusty surface of an alien moon.
***
I reach Acrulla, panting from the run and the lack of breathable gas in the air. My thorax aches, and I have to pause, wasting valuable time before I can dash up the ramp into my ship. Reaching the first communications port, I connect directly to the thought center of Acrulla and order him to prepare for an emergency launch, showing him my memory of the alien ship approaching.
From there, I storm up through his inner chambers, making for the command section, where I have to pause again, as my crew stares at me in shock.
“Acrulla is powering engines, commander,” my brother states.
“Give him all assistance,” I pant. “Get all work crews back inside and seal the exit ramp, we have to leave. NOW!” My bellow is not lost on any of them, and the pulses I can see light up the room with their intensity.
***
“Well, it’s certainly not a fungus,” Deakins tells me after hiking what feels like miles
across this barren rock. He’s right, but whatever this thing is, it can’t be what I’m beginning to think it is. There is no way in this universe this is a creature that can live in space. My mind refuses to believe it.
“What you thinking, man?” Nerravin growls at me with her accented English.
I just shrug. “That I’ve got to get closer to make any kind of examination or judgment as to what it could possibly be.” I reply, and she looks at me with thinly disguised mistrust.
“Whatever, man. You’re in the lead ’till the shit hits the fan.”
I raise my eyebrows at her. “What exactly do you think’s going to happen?” I wonder as Deakins huffs a lung full of air and stands once more.
“She hasn’t got a clue, Hetty, nor do you or I, so why don’t we just go on up there and have a look?”
“All right, Deakins,” I tell him. “Calm yourself down a bit.” Even if he has got some bad news from home, there’s no reason to take it out on me or Nerravin.
I look over to where the...thing is, nestled behind a tall cliff formed when one half of a hillside has been sheared off by some force, jagged teeth of rock jutting from the edge and peppering the surface of the vertical face. If it wasn’t so inhospitable, it might be pretty, this moon, with the glimmering dust of hundreds of different minerals reflecting the dim light from the white dwarf star at the middle of the system. A rainbow of colors jumps out to catch my eye everywhere I turn, but there’s no time to look at the scenery. I want to solve the riddle of this biological anomaly.
I begin the short trek from where we paused for a few seconds, dragging myself up the slope, and even though it’s fairly steep, the gravity here is about a third of Earth, so it’s not all that difficult. At about thirty meters from the anomaly, I pause and have to check myself. It looked as if a section of the outer skin of it just closed, almost as if…
“Did you see that?” I ask.
“What, man?” Nerravin barks back at me. I glance over and see her eyes are darting around everywhere, not really fixing on one point but scanning the entire area for threats.