Helium Fall

by Darren Robison

"We're building a right fine smart ass in this one, aren't we?"

  "Sure seems that way. Keep up the good work, Eliot!"

  “Uh, Grant, I was thinking, maybe we need to take Tayana with us. She could be a great asset while we're exploring."

  "Sorry, not this time. We need to get there and get back as fast as we can. Maybe next time we can all go. Tayana and I and you and the girls."

  “Sounds like a plan to me!"

  As they neared the spot where Sam saw the shiny object, Grant had Eliot circle the area for a closer look and to blow away some of the surrounding snow. "It is definitely a craft of some sort. Good eye, Sam! I'm not sure how you ever saw it from higher up."

  "It flashed so bright I couldn't help but to see it. I'd have to be facing backwards to have missed it."

  "Set us down on a fairly flat spot Eliot, as close to it as you can get. If there is something dangerous living in there I want to be able to get to safety quickly."

  “Sam, let's take firearms with us as a precaution."

  "Good idea, never know what might pop out of a frozen spacecraft."

  Grant noted the sarcasm, but maintained his focus on the craft and their landing, a level spot about twenty yards from the craft. Both men were getting excited. They had not had an adventure like this since, well, about a month ago, but this one was different. This was one lone craft on a snow covered mountain, on a planet previously declared uninhabited. This could lead to other explorations and discoveries.

  "Set her down gently Eliot, we don't want to bruise anything." The craft was nearly the size of the Varizone, but rounder and shorter. Grant noticed it originally hit farther up the valley, bounced a few times, then came to rest in its current position. It was tilted slightly, but the hatch was fully exposed. Unfortunately, it was locked tight. "Eliot, can you scan this thing and tell us more about it?"

  "It is an early Genesis PB Mod 2, most likely from the early 2120's. This one is the GEMO 2."

  "Do you mean to tell me this thing is one of ours?"

  "Yes, it is an Earth vessel launched by the sister group of the PSAD, the collective EOAM, and short for Earth on a Mission. This was their second generation craft designed to create habitable locations on distant planets. None of the ships were accounted for when the project ended abruptly. They were simply forgotten. This particular ship was under the authority of Captain Jameson Morgan and his co-captain Anders Coke. They were one of four manually piloted ships. The rest were auto piloted. Their programming was flawed and not one report or reply was ever received from them."

  "This is monumental. We need to get inside and see what we can find!"

  Sam was now more gung-ho than ever. The thrill of finding historical items was making his skin crawl with delight.

  "Now who's excited and can't sit down?"

  Grant was mocking Sam, and Sam did not care one bit. He was fixated on getting inside the ship. "Eliot, is there a secret code to unlock the outer hatch?"

  "No, there is a normal code to unlock the outer hatch." The door slide open.

  Grant drew his firearm and Sam followed suit. "Get behind me Sam, there could be traps or something else."

  "It's the something else that's scaring the crap out me right about now!"

  Grant chuckled to himself, sissy! Leading, he slowly entered the craft. He thought he felt heat coming from inside. He was right; the inside of the ship was heated to a nice temperature. It was a nice change from the bitter cold outside. "Come on in Sam, it's warm in here."

  "Warm isn't good, Grant. Warm means radiation or someone's home, or about to be."

  "Get in here so we can close the door. Nothing is going to get you Sam; Eliot said there were no life forms detected."

  "Right, not detected! It does not mean they're not here hiding under one of the cloaking things Tayana and the villagers have."

  "Good point! Let's split up and check this thing out thoroughly. Let's make sure we are alone."

  "Oh damn!" Sam was not thrilled as they went separate directions exploring the ship. After about fifteen minutes, Sam's communicator went off nearly causing him to discharge his weapon into a fluffy chair he had set spinning in one of the quarters. The movement at the time of the call unnerved him.

  "Got a couple bodies down here Sam, they're all bones at this point. You need to come down here. Looks like the only things we might find in here are their ghosts."

  "You could have gone all day without saying ghosts. Where are you? I'll be down in a minute, gotta restart my heart."

  "I'm in the lab, lower level near the rear of this thing."

  "On my way." Sam hurried down the steps and down the long hallway to the rear of the ship. When he came into the lab Grant was pulling something out from under one of the piles of bones. "Jesus, Grant, no respect for the dead? Now you've cursed us 'cause it was probably one of his favorite things."

  "It's only an ID badge. Sam, meet Captains Morgan and Coke."

  Sam was surprised they found them after all these years, not that they were looking for them, but they were from Earth and they found them. "I guess the power source you detected was their reactor. It has been running all these years. The smell of their decomposing flesh must have been horrible early on, but over the last 200 plus years it faded away."

  "This thing is air tight so it made a perfect tomb."

  Sam was losing his queasiness and came closer for a better view. "Wonder what they were able to accomplish in the time they were alive?"

  "Sam, check this out!" Grant held a cloaking device like Tayana's.

  "Holy crap, Grant! Tayana told me they found them on some of the miners they killed and replicated others for themselves. "Do you know what this might mean? These two might be the grandfathers of Tayana's tribe. They may have been what started life on this rock!"

  "Slow down Sam, who would they have mated with?"

  "Maybe it was inhabited and they did what I did? It would explain the near human appearance of the villagers."

  "Yes it might, and it would explain how a culture lacking in technology has cloaking devices. But how did these two have the cloaking devices to give them?"

  "Captain Coke was an electrical engineer, specializing in holographic projection or, better yet, holographic non-projection. Similar to the magicians tricks in the twentieth century, but his was far more advanced."

  Grant and Sam both got up off the floor. Grant said, "Eliot, for the love of God can you please beep or something before you start talking. We're standing here looking at skeletons and you start talking in our ears, nearly startled the life out of us. I think Sam peed a little."

  "Nope, but I may have had some movement in my pants."

  "TMI, Sam!"

  "Kidding, but it really does unnerve us sometimes."

  "I will do my best to pre-address you in some manner."

  "Thanks Eliot! I guess these were the creation of Captain Coke and he made enough to share? What power source are they using?"

  "Bing...they use a small amount of radium as their power source. They can be powered for thousands of years with one small piece."

  "Thanks for the bing, Eliot! I wasn't caught off guard at all." They laughed at Eliot's attempt to be less invasive.

  "It is simply amazing! How do people think up stuff like this? This guy must have been a true genius. I'd shake his hand if it wasn't in so many pieces." said Grant.

  "Ha, ha, Sam! This does start to bring some sense to this whole thing. The villagers, the cloaking devices, the near human looks, and the intelligence. They weren't dumb, but they weren't scientists either. There must have been some indigenous beings here and these two copulated with the locals creating a new species."

  "From the looks of things they lived here for quite a while and made this their home away from home. The path leading up to the hatch was pretty worn and the floor is smoother at the hatchway than everywhere else. They must have done the deed and then came here not wanting to interfere with the process of things."

  "T
hey may have lived in the village for a while, but something doesn't seem right about all of this. I can't put my finger on it, but something tells me this isn't the whole story. The villagers wouldn't have so many human features in such a short time span of evolution. I'm going to have to do some research on this stuff."

  Grant was perplexed by their new discovery. He now had more questions than answers. "I'm going back to the part of the ship I missed when you called me down here. I was about to go into their quarters and have a look around. Wanna join me?"

  "Sure, we might find more answers there."

  They made their way to the captain's quarters where they found every wall covered with drawings of the village, the planet, plants, trees, the animals, and the mountains.

  "They must have been here a lot longer than we think. That's a lot of drawing and a whole lot of information."

  "Sam, come check this out. If you look closer there are measurements on everything and what appear to be growth charts. I think they created this entire planet!"

  "How could they have created a whole planet, Grant?"

  "Well, not the planet itself, but everything on it. They were a Genesis craft and everything they needed to populate a planet was in their payload."

  "So, what you're telling me is, these two were carting around a barrel full of super-hot women seeds and dropped them off on the planet to populate a world they were supposed to create? Sounds like a fairy tale to me buddy!" Sam wasn't buying into Grant's theory even in the slightest. He wasn't so sure it wasn't true either, he needed more proof.

  "You keep looking here; I'm going to the other captain's quarters to see what I can find."

  "Go for it Sam, I'm camping here for a while. These drawings are amazing and I'm certain there are tons of notes on his desk and he has a Link Pad!"

  "Ha, the pre-pre-precursor to our Com Pads from the looks of it. I'll holler if I find anything." Sam ventured across the corridor to the other captain's quarters, and again, was amazed by the amount of things on the walls. "This must have been Captain Coke's quarters; he has a makeshift workbench full of his experimental gadgets. What a nerd!" Sam sat at his desk and began looking through his papers, assorted drawings, and schematics. He was pretty well versed with electrical engineering and the basic concepts, but this guy was way above his level. Among the papers he found a curious map with three crosses on it. He said aloud to himself, "I wonder what your marking, treasure or graves?"

  He set the paper aside and continued looking around the desktop. "Aren't you a curious little thing?" He picked up a trinket, on the back was inscribed, “Tayana.” He about dropped it when he read the name. "How can this be here? The doors were sealed shut, the captains have been dead for many years, and here is a link to someone who shouldn't be known to these two." His thoughts raced as he tried to rationalize his discovery and all it implied. Continuing his search, he found a stack of photos in one of the drawers. He could not stop staring at a photo of Tayana as a young girl, being held by a man, her father? His pulse raced. He believed the man was one of the captains. The woman in the photo held an infant and wore an odd smile. "Looks like she didn't care much for the scent of the baby." He searched more, but found little else.

  "Grant, are you still in there?" There was no answer from the other quarters. "Grant, uh you're starting to freak me out. Answer me buddy, I really don't want to find you dead or about to die. He quickly stepped into the room and found Grant sitting on the bed facing the wall, staring at a series of drawings and photos. "You okay, Grant? You're kind of freaking your partner out a bit. Talk to me, please."

  "Sam, There is a photo of two young girls here who remind me of Kyera and Dyanta. How can there be photos of them in here?"

  "Grant, I have a couple photos you're going to want to see." Sam handed him the photos and sat at the other end of the bed. Grant hung his head, "Sam, are you thinking this is, Tayana? I do not believe it is. It must have been a local he thought was cute."

  Sam handed him the trinket and Grant snapped his head looking him square in the eyes. "If this is a trick, it is a very bad one and in exceptionally poor taste. This is low even for you, Sam!"

  "I found them on Captain Coke's desk, Grant."

  "This leads me to believe I have another part of Tayana's family story and how they were killed in a battle."

  "Sam, there was no battle. They came here to live for whatever reason and left Tayana behind to run the village."

  "What the hell is going on here? Are these two the father's of Tayana, Kyera and Dyanta? Wow! My mind just popped." Sam was lost in thought. Grant still looked at the items Sam gave him.

  "How could this all have happened in such a short period of time? Is this really the truth? Wait, how could Tayana and the girls still be here? These two died many years ago"

  "Sam, we need to go check out the location of the crosses, we might find more answers there."

  "We might find a whole lot more confusion, too."

  They exited the craft and made their way down the valley to a rocky overhang, underneath were three crosses. Each had its own placard with the name of the interred on it.

  "What were Tayana's parents names? Can you remember?"

  "I don't think she ever mentioned their names, just that they were killed in a war along with her brother."

  "Sam, there are one small and two large crosses. Do you think these might be the graves of her father, mother, and brother?"

  "If it is the case, your story about one of the captains being her father would be inaccurate, since they are both lying in the craft up there and not down here in the ground with the others."

  "Good point Sam. Then who does the third grave belong to?"

  They thought about it for a few minutes. Sam offered, "I think one of the graves Kyera and Dyanta's mother. It makes sense if you stop and think about it. There is a small cross with a larger cross and then there is another large cross a couple feet removed from the other two. It's as if they do not belong together, but do belong together. The other two are Tayana's mom and her brother."

  "Sam, you are a genius sometimes! It fits the story perfectly. But, how do we tell Tayana her whole life has been a lie and her parents abandoned her to run the village? Write down the names and we will talk with Tayana when we get back. We will ask her to tell us the story she knows. We may have to bring her here so she can see for herself. If nothing else, it might bring her closure."

  "Great idea, but if she gets pissed and becomes dangerous, neither one of us have enough bullets to stop her. She is very much a badass as it is. Giving her this information may send her over the top and we are the bearers of the bad news. They always kill the messenger, Grant, always!"

  "We are going to have to trust that she will accept what we present to her. When she sees it for herself, we are off the hook.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Grant still could not believe his eyes. He stared at the bracelet. Could this really be? He felt his blood pressure rising and began to perspire. His mind was a tangle of thoughts colliding together in pretty much the same place—Tayana. "What the hell Sam? Do you know what this means? Can you imagine the impact this will have on both worlds? If this is the truth, we have stumbled onto one of the biggest discoveries of our world. Not to mention these two yahoos might have started their own race and no one ever knew. If you hadn't found their ship we would never have known."

  "I just had another brilliant thought! This is their shuttle, not their ship. Where is their ship?"

  "Sam, you are on a roll!”

  “Eliot, are there any other objects orbiting this planet?"

  "My scanners tell me there is another ship on the other side of the planet. It has no power and there are no indications of life."

  "Thanks Eliot! Sam, do you think we could take the power source from this shuttle and install it in their ship? It could recharge their fuel cells. We could evacuate the villagers to a safe distance away from here, for now."

  "It would take days, mayb
e even weeks to get the power source out of here and to the ship."

  "Let's go have a look and see what we're up against. We need to get a better idea anyway."

  "These older ships didn't have the micro technology we have now Grant. Their power source is most likely gargantuan."

  "On the contrary sirs, some of their technology was far superior to the technology we use today. Their fuel source shouldn't be much larger than a fifty-five gallon drum. On the other hand their converter will be nearly as large as a city bus."

  "Thanks, Eliot! What happened to the bing?"

  "I decided I am not a binger, Sir. I would rather pop in when I feel the need."

  "Good for you, Eliot, you are evolving.”

  “Sam, take notes, we need to get him reprogrammed as soon as we get back."

  Sam laughed and agreed. They made it to the engine room and discovered Eliot was right. The converter was the size of a bus and the fuel cell was actually slightly smaller than a fifty-five gallon drum.

  "Sam, we could haul this thing out of here tomorrow and get it to their ship. Most of the fittings should be the same."

  "I agree, we can get here first thing in the morning, and should have it contained for transport before noon. Sam, how are we going to tell Tayana?" Grant could not get it off of his mind.

  "Grant, this is a seriously touchy situation and I have no point of reference from which to draw counsel. We're going to have to wing it, I guess."

  "You know how well that works out for us, right?"

  "Well, how would you go about it? Wait, don't answer that."

  "What? Like, I'd say, Tayana, your dad was a lying Earthman who dumped you, then died, the end!"

  "No, Sam, it is not what I am thinking. Ok, maybe a little, but this will take some finesse and nearly perfect timing."

  "Why don't we show her the craft and let he make her own conclusions?"

  "Let's see what other information we can dig up. Maybe it will give us more insight regarding what happened."

  They thoroughly searched both captains' quarters and found nothing giving them any additional information.