The foundation was very worn and partly buried; it had several rooms by the look of it.
“I’d like to bring out the ground scanner to see what’s under the ground,” said Prof. White. “If there is anything under the ground, it might answer some of our questions.”
“Get your men and start in; we’ll watch the perimeter,” I told him. “Just try to hustle a bit; I’m not at all comfortable here.” He nodded and headed toward the ship with his two helpers. They were back out within three minutes with a machine floating above the ground by a few inches.
Toward the back edge of the concrete divider they picked up a shape below the surface. “Dig here.” He told his helpers. They set to work with shovels, scraping away one layer at a time in a circle about four feet across, working toward what ever had been detected. At last something started to show in the center of the dig. It looked like a glass water pitcher with designs on the outside, though the designs were hard to see through the crust of dirt adhered to it. One of them wrapped it in a cloth and carried it to the ship while the others went back to scanning.
“There’s a cavity under this section,” said the Professor. “I can’t tell if it contains anything worthwhile for the immediate, but we’ll need a team and a lot more time to excavate the area. We’d best just map it and return with a full crew when time permits,” he said, looking longingly at the ground at his feet. I could readily understand his reluctance to leave. “Well, it’s not likely to go anywhere,” he added with a smile, and headed for the ship.
We all began in that direction, but I had the feeling we were being watched. I turned around once, looking around us, but saw nothing. We were soon all aboard ship and left the area to continue our scan. The Professor was cleaning the pitcher to see what was on it for designs when he let out a hoot of joy.
“There’s a human face in the patterns; definitely human!” He exclaimed. I looked over his shoulder at the unmistakable image of a feminine face; a beautiful face; molded into the glass and surrounded by what looked like laden grape vines. There was something not quite right about the angle of the cheek bones, but it was otherwise very close to an Earth face—human, feminine, but with a bald or almost bald head. It was as close as you could get without actually being from Earth.
“The analysis of the material scraped from the surface says the pitcher has been buried a little more than three thousand years; of course our calibrations are based on Earth aging scales, but it should be fairly close.” Prof. White muttered quietly. “Where did these people go?” He asked, more to himself than a real question to us.
“It’s like Dr Hebron said.” I told him. “These people started a project here, but never finished; it’s why there’s no balance to nature here.”
“She always was a bright one.” Prof White chuckled. “I wish she had been here for this discovery; she’d have appreciated the significance of the find.”
As we were approaching the ocean coastline, Zeus was just rising above the horizon. What a spectacular sight. Zeus was about four times the size of Earth’s moon in the sky, and it was unlike anything man had ever witnessed from a planet surface. Alien was the only term that fit. Then it dawned on me: we were the aliens
“Take me to your leader,” I muttered, and then grinned as Brad shot me a very confused look over his shoulder. He shook his head bewilderedly, and turned back to his controls without comment.
We were cruising low along the coast when we saw the crashed rocket in the sand. It still had some shine to its metal surface. Brad set us down on the beach as close as he could get, only fifty feet away. It was definitely a rocket of a design much like we had used in our early days of exploring our own solar system.
We exited our ship cautiously, not forgetting that there were some dangerous predators and stars knew what else, possibly lurking nearby. Josh, who’d been silent for the most part of the trip so far, pointed out the cat tracks around the ship.
“These tracks look fresh.” He observed, drawing his pistol. “I think we’d better keep a really sharp look out.” I fully agreed with his logic, and ordered several of the men to break out the rifles; I wanted some real fire power available.
“This has been covered, and only recently un-covered by the tides,” said Prof. White. “I think that is why it’s in such good condition; been scrubbed clean by the sand. There are markings on the piece of wing back here; some sort of letters or numbers, I expect.”
As I looked at what he was pointing out, it was clear that at one time these markings had been painted; now all that remained was what had been etched in to guide the painter. There was also a design, a comet by the look of it. Seeing the shinning metal surface, I began to wonder if the people might yet be around somewhere.
The professor had his scanner going over the ground to get a view of what was buried under the sand. Other than the twenty feet of fuselage above, there was at least another thirty feet buried, and would be where the occupants would have been.
“It’s pretty badly crushed.” Prof. stated. “I’d like to dig it up.” He walked around it appraisingly. “Hm. Have to get some real digging equipment in here to clear around it some; it’d take forever with just hand tools. I want to see if there’s anything left of their instrumentation to get a better idea of their technology as compared to ours; this is a real find.”
“I think we’ve got company,” warned Josh looking toward the trees at the edge of the beach. “There’s something moving just beyond those bushes.” He pointed with one hand, pistol at the ready in the other.
“We’d better start edging back toward the ship,” I ordered. Nobody objected to that notion. We began backing slowly toward the ship, when the cat showed itself. It was almost as big as the one at the cave. It approached slowly, and stopped to sniff our tracks in the sand; it seemed to be trying to decide if we were worth the effort of attacking, or maybe it wasn’t really hungry.
“Don’t shoot it unless it gets too close.” I ordered.
I no sooner said that when it sprang toward us; at least ten shots hit it at once and it crashed to the ground dead.
“Don’t drop your guard; it might not be alone,” I warned.
“I’d like to take this specimen back with us, if we can find a way to load it in the storage compartment. It really needs to be studied,” said Prof. Starkey.
“That thing’s got to weigh at least three or four hundred pounds,” I said. “Probably closer to five hundred, but if you can get it loaded, do it.” Then I noticed it breathe. “It’s not dead!” I warned. “Either you make sure it’s dead or it stays here.”
“Let’s leave it be; I hated the thought of killing it to start with,” said Prof Starkey.
We all agreed with him, though most of us knew it wasn’t likely to live, anyway. We got into the ship and prepared to continue our search, when Brad made the announcement that the beast was up. Sure enough, it was headed toward the woods as if only disappointed that its meal had gotten away.
“What the hell does it take to kill one of those things?” asked Josh incredulously. “That thing has more than the standard nine lives.” This brought a chorus of varied assents and laughs.
“At least two shots were clean through the chest.” Observed Prof Starkey. “They must have a thick chest plate or perhaps their heart is located elsewhere. Someday I’m sure we’ll find out; till then, just remember to warn the colony how hard they are to kill. Aim at their heads, if necessary.”
Slowly we lifted off the beach and traveled up the coast a little way, before setting a new heading toward the south side of the colony, as we had yet to even think in that direction. As we flew south, we passed the new colony a few miles to our west; the progress they’d made in just a day and a half was incredible. The meeting hall was finished on the outside and at least three more buildings were nearing completion.
“Life’s going to change fast; just look at them go,” I said aloud. “By the time we sweep the south side we’ll probably have a place t
o live waiting for us.”
“The terrain here is a lot different than where we’ve been,” commented Brad. “Look at the swampy area ahead— looks really spooky, like out of some old horror tale by Poe.”
“More like Mary Shelley,” said Josh, who was a big fan of old literature. “When they made movies of those stories, they always used misty, swampy settings like this.” He laughed while making an imitation of the old sound effects they used in the vids. “Whoooooooooooo.”
“I want a good close look at this area; I don’t want to leave anything to chance. This place looks as threatening as anything I’ve ever seen,” I said, and meant every word.
“There’s a sort of island there to the right; do you want to land there and check it out some?” Brad asked, already altering course in anticipation of my answer.
I said nothing for a few moments, just to see what he would do; don’t ask me why. “Lieutenant?” He probed, as if I might not have heard him.
“Yes.” I finally answered; we were already over his chosen landing sight. “It’s clear that you think we should,” I said with a hint of sarcasm.
“I’m sorry, Eric,” he apologized. “I just thought you’d want to get a closer look; I meant no offence.”
“Nor did I,” I said quickly. “I wasn’t being serious; though I was curious as to what you would do if I didn’t answer.” I added laughingly.
As we touched down, we could feel that we were sinking at the rear of the ship. “We’d best find a better spot.” I told Brad. “Now, before we sink any deeper!”
The suction tried to hold us for a moment, then we shot up with the extra thrust when it let go, knocking half of us off our feet; at least those of us foolish enough to be standing at the time, me included. Only two miles further we found a slightly larger and higher rise in the heart of the swamp.
“What do you think?” Brad asked before landing.
“Looks like a go to me.” I answered. “I’ll trust your judgment.”
We set down firmly on that little plot of land. “Let’s have all weapons at the ready.” I ordered. “We have no idea what we’ll find in the water here; it’s been a hundred fifty years since anybody from our world has been in this sort of place. I’ve seen vids of some pretty nasty things, snakes and such; they don’t have to be big to kill you.” I was wishing we had machetes instead of guns in this type of place. Anything in the water or trees was likely to be too close to shoot at. “We have a few long knives in the storage locker; I’d like to break out whatever we have like that, for anyone in the first group to go out. I think it may be better than shooting around at close range; don’t want to hit each other.” I warned. “Officers can use their dress sabers if they have them here,” I said as I remembered packing my own.
I received a few quizzical looks from the men in our group.
Prof. White spoke up, “Lt. Duncan’s right; there are likely to be snakes, maybe even alligators in a place like this. With pistols, you’re likely to shoot your own feet off if one sneaks up on you. We’re better being prepared for anything.”
Ten of us went out to look around. The ground was dry enough by the ship, but you didn’t need to go far to get wet feet. It turned out to be like the area we first landed, with nothing larger than a finger tip.
“So all of the larger life forms on this part of the planet seem to be in the mountains, by all appearances,” I said to the team around me. “It’s sort of a relief to me; I would hate to find a swamp creature equal to those six-legged cats.” We collected water samples and some soil for analysis before lifting off to investigate a little further south.
After several hours of passing over territories of rolling hills we circled back around to the west, then north again.
“It seems the only place where there are any of the more advanced life forms is the mountains.” Brad said. “I think we’re missing something— something obvious, if we look at things right.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I told him. “I really think we need to investigate the north a little more thoroughly; swing back through the mountain passes. There has got to be something more. I think I know what we’re looking for now; the only thing that would make sense.”
“I’m going to take us up a bit to see if we can see any patterns from higher elevations,” said Brad.
“You catch on really fast.” I observed with a smile. “It is the only thing that makes any sense to me, too.”
We went up to about ten thousand feet, and swept back and forth in a much larger pattern. I saw where the wrecked rocket was on the beach.
“How far was that rocket from where we first saw the cat creatures?” I asked Brad.
“Not more than maybe a hundred miles to the north,” he answered. “Should I head in that direction?”
“I think that would be a good starting point,” I agreed.
We spotted the cave where we first saw the big cats and started a spiral out from there. About one hundred and fifty miles north of the cave we saw what we were hunting for. On a ledge and extending down into the valley, was a pattern of ancient foundations; at least twenty dwellings must have existed there at some time in the past.
We set down as near to the ruins as we could; not wanting to risk having to walk far with the threat of the cats in the vicinity. It would not have been noticeable if they hadn’t built part of the settlement on ledge, where no trees would grow. We set guards and began to explore the remains, though there wasn’t much more than wall bases and foundations.
“Now I think I understand why there is such a small variety of larger life forms here,” I said. “These cattle and cats must have been domesticated, and left here when the colony was abandoned or died out. At least that’s the theory as I see it.”
“I wonder if the cats were as big, back when the colony was here.” Queried Prof. White. “If this dates back three thousand or more years like the relics we’ve encountered so far, they may have changed a great deal.”
He and his assistants were already at work with shovels and two men were running the scanner. We called in the info on our discovery, and the decision was made to send an archeological team to the site immediately. I recommended that they send an animal behaviorist as well, to investigate the cats; to see if they could be re-domesticated.
One of the people digging in the entrance made a tremendous discovery: first, that each of the small buildings had an air lock at the entrance; and that they had left behind for our discovery the remains of a breathing mask, not unlike the ones we had for places with insufficient oxygen for humans.
“This settlement in all likelihood was from before their atmosphere project was complete,” Observed Prof. Starkey. “I’d bet my soul that was how the animals got stranded here. It’s not that unusual for some creatures to be capable of surviving on less oxygen than we require.” That theory seemed to make sense to most of our crew, though it was only a guess at best.
“There’s one of the cats just beyond the trees,” Ira warned. “I saw it only a moment ago. Though I can’t see it at all now, it’s there.”
“Unless he actually springs at us, try to scare it off with a warning shot,” I ordered. “There will be an animal expert here in a little while, to study them. Meanwhile, don’t hesitate to shoot if it’s really threatening.”
We all kept track of the creature as it stalked around the edge of the clearing, only just beyond the trees. After the disaster with the dragons on Hades, I was not about to underestimate the potential hazard these creatures represented. The one in the woods was only about six feet long, brown fur, sleek like a cat; a beautiful creature to watch. It moved with even more grace than an Earth feline; perhaps because of the extra legs. I saw the advantage of those legs when it climbed effortlessly into the branches of a tree to get a better view of us; its climb was as smooth as if on flat ground. I admit that I was absolutely fascinated by it and hoped we wouldn’t have to kill it.
The cat just sat in the tree for about three
hours, until the ship with the archeologists arrived. They were in one of the smaller ships, which oddly were noisier than the newer ships, and the cat made a hasty retreat back into the deeper woods.
The archeology team was headed by Prof. Nancy Arnold, whom had been my history teacher in my last two years of school a few years back. I’d considered her absolutely brilliant, and was pleased that she remembered my name.
“This is quite a find,” she said, as she disembarked from the shuttle. “At least it confirms some of our original theories about the planet.” Her team included many of my old classmate,; most of whom I hadn’t seen since that time. They set straight to work on the site; they had all kinds of equipment whose use I couldn’t even rough a guess.
Prof Arnold busied herself with the artifacts we’d already uncovered. I gave her my analysis of the data available so far.
“It’s too bad you didn’t decide to go into arch-eology; you have the right mind set for it. I think you’re right on target with your theory,” she complemented, making me blush a little. She’d been one of the teachers I’d always considered as, far above average, so the compliment was more gratifying than from most people.
“We’re the lucky generation,” I said. “No matter what you studied, it will all be put to the test during the next few years.”
I showed her where the breathing mask had been found. “It was probably hanging in the airlock.” She observed by its location. “It must have been buried, insulated from the elements completely when the buildings collapsed. It’s a Teflon type coating, in surprisingly good condition; has anyone done an analysis of its actual age yet?”
“Not that I know of,” I answered. “The only dating that’s been done was at the first site a hundred fifty miles south of here. There was just a single building, and we had to make more of a survey before spending more time there, regrettably.”
“Yes; Dr Watts has a team there now, as I understand.” Prof. Arnold said, sounding somewhat resentful. “I’m glad he jumped on that, now,” she said with a grin. “This is a much bigger site and likely to answer a lot more questions than the other.”
Starborn Odyssey (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 1) Page 14