"Grant, do you think they had AI like Eliot, who recorded everything? If the captain kept a daily log of activities and his thoughts we might find something to tell us why they crashed or why there are three grave markers."
"Brilliant Sam, did you have bacon for breakfast again?"
"Funny, I have bacon every morning for breakfast. Keeps my mind sharp."
"Only you Sam!”
“Ship, can you show us the last entry in the data log?"
"I will be happy to, if you enter the correct pass-code." The ship’s voice was female and rather sultry.
"I'd like to meet the woman they patterned her voice after."
"Sam, you're a married man!"
"I know, but I'd still like to meet her. What a voice."
Trying to stop what could be a long, drawn out conversation, Grant said “Tayana." Immediately the video began to play. "Well, that was simple." He made the right choice, and it shut Sam up for a while. The video showed the captains, two women, and a small boy. One of the women looked much like Tayana and the boy could have been Tayana's brother.
The video played on and the ship was rocked by an explosion, and then another, and another. The captains were thrown about the cabin along with the women and boy. Through the view screen they saw the ship was headed for the mountains when they lost control. The ship careened towards the mountains at a crazy speed with the captains trying to keep their balance and fly the ship as straight as possible. Another explosion rocked the ship and it dropped wildly, heading to the top of the valley. It crashed into a large snow bank and bounced off the valley walls. It nearly came to rest when yet another explosion sent them careening farther down the mountain valley, skipping like a flat rock on a clear lake. They hit a large outcropping and it jolted the ship violently, throwing the boy against the wall, killing him instantly. The two women, beaten against the walls, bled profusely from head and torso injuries as they tended to the motionless boy.
Sam could see the pain in their eyes and on their faces. "Stop, Grant, stop, I've seen enough. I see no need to go any farther. I can assume what else happened and that the graves outside are theirs."
"It breaks my heart. Tayana has no idea what happened. She thinks an invading species came down to their planet's surface, waged war, and killed her family. I haven't seen any signs of war, with the exception of the missiles, most likely launched by Delack's ancestors."
"Do you think anyone in her village knows the truth or do you suppose they made up the story because her family never returned from their trip around the planet?"
"I'm going to watch some more videos. You can go do whatever you think you need to do, but I need more information. I cannot go back to Tayana with half a story and no proof of anything."
"I hear ya! I'm going back to Captain Coke's quarters and do some more investigating. I might tinker with some of his inventions while I'm at it."
"Be careful Sam, some of his stuff could be dangerous."
"Duly noted." Sam left the captain's quarters and headed across the hall to Captain Coke's, while Grant restarted the video where they left off. Sam sat at Captain Coke's desk and marveled at the copious notes he had taken regarding many different subjects and about the life on this planet. Sam knew he had hit the jackpot when he found a recipe detailing the best way to cook Chotuk. He gathered the papers and drawings, loading them into some boxes he found stashed in a back closet. He figured he could look at them while they traveled back to Earth. He turned on the captain's computer and had Eliot hack into it, bypassing the password. There were many video files related to his experiments and several of him, with who Sam believed was, his wife and their children. One of them had dark hair, deep silver black eyes, and naturally tanned skin, much like Kyera. The other, was a pretty little girl with deep brown hair and reddish highlights. Both were covered in short blonde body hair, not furry, but the only places without it were their faces, feet, and hands. "Cute kids, probably made beautiful women, wonder what happened to them." He continued to look through photos and videos and stumbled across an audio file. "Hmm, what do we have here?" When he opened the file, the voice of Captain Coke came through crisp and clear. It was a private copy of his daily logs, the kind you don't send back to your boss. He told the story of how they were marooned and their ship was still orbiting the planet and they had no way to get back to it. He told about meeting the locals and how they became friends and then family. There was a lot of technical stuff, too. Sam figured he could have Eliot secure all of the files so he could peruse them as they traveled back to Earth or their next destination. He was about to shut it down when he heard the captain say, “Kyera and Dyanta, if you are hearing this, I am no longer alive. Know I loved you deeply. Please forgive me. Go to the video titled, my favorite family. It has the answers to most, if not all of your questions.” Sam was stunned stupid. Captain Coke really was Kyera and Dyanta's father. Their mother lay in a grave some fifty yards from him. Why didn't the captains go back to the village and why did they abandon their children?
"Sam, time to go, we can come back tomorrow morning and gather what we need from here and get the fuel cell. It's getting late and the helium will begin to fall, we have to go now. We can talk on the way back to the village."
Sam snapped out of his thoughts and made his way to the bridge. "Buddy, we have to talk!"
"We sure do! Let's go." The trip back to the village wasn't long, but they had time to share their discoveries. Both were surprised at what the other found.
"They didn't return to the village because they were sick."
"Captain Coke had two daughters, Kyera and Dyanta."
"Captain Morgan was Tayana's father."
"There might be a video explaining all of this on Captain Coke's computer. I'll have Eliot transfer all the data from their ship to the Ebony Belle. We can pick up the boxes of papers when we return tomorrow."
"We need to get pictures of everything as well. We more than likely will not be coming back to this spot once we take the fuel cell."
"How are we going to tell the girls?"
"For now, we're not!"
"Sirs, I have detected several ships emerging from hyperspace about a million miles away. By my calculations they should be here in two days time."
Grant and Sam looked at each other for a brief moment, realizing this was real and things needed to happen at a much faster pace. "We have to prepare for the incoming ships."
"I sure hope our messages were heard and the PSAD is sending back up."
"Not likely, we cannot count on them to help us, we have to plan as if they will not be here in time."
"No pressure, got it, we are on our own against an enemy we know nothing about, Holy shit! Things are going to get sketchy pretty quick. We have to get the other ship fired up and running, and we have to get the villagers to a nearby planet for safety."
"The village is going to have to scramble. They need to get food and other things gathered; we have no idea how long they'll be gone."
"Almost there Sam. You gather the counsel and I'll get Tayana. We need to let them know what's happening and how fast we all need to move. Pray we can get the fuel cell to the other ship and get it installed quickly."
Chapter Twenty
Eliot came in hot and quickly landed the Varizone. The men ran to the village. "Sam, have the counsel go to the dining hall. I'll find Tayana; we will meet you there shortly."
"Done, see you in a few!"
They tore off in different directions looking for who they needed to find. Grant ran straight for Tayana's pod. She was there, looking radiant and beautiful beyond reason. His abrupt appearance startled her. She reached for her sword, startling Grant, who slid to halt. "Tayana, it's me, I'm sorry to barge in like this, but it's an emergency. Several ships have come out of hyperspace and will be here within two days. We need to get the villagers out of harm's way. We will move them to the back side of a nearby planet out of view. We have no idea what may happen when the ships arrive and the
y discover we destroyed their mining operation, killed one of their own, and have another in a medically induced coma in our med room because we blew off a limb and ventilated his body with multiple holes. We need to get the counsel together in the dining hall and let them know what's happening."
Tayana was shocked into silence. She had feared this day for many years and secretly hoped it would never come. "All right, Grant, go to the dining hall and wait for me, I will be there in a few minutes." Grabbed her bow, quiver of arrows, and sword, she left the pod. She moved with grace and nimbleness, swiftness, and strength. Grant was left standing in silence, entertaining his thoughts, when he heard a loud trumpet sound coming from a short distance away. He ran from the pod to find Tayana blowing into the base of a large flower producing the noise. Villagers scrambled here and there, yet they appeared to be well organized and moving like they had rehearsed for this moment.
"Grant, to the dining hall and stay out of the way. The villagers have things to do while we meet with the counsel."
Grant obeyed. He did not want to be in the way of the villagers or on the receiving end of her wrath if he did not comply. She moved with such purpose and authority. She was a force to be reckoned with and he was not going to interfere. This was the Tayana he first met, she was fierce.
Grant made his way to the dining hall and found Sam already there with more than half of the counsel. The trumpet flower was pretty effective.
Tayana arrived shortly after Grant and addressed the counsel."We are now in the time we have feared. The evil has come back to take the rest of us, just as they did my family. Will we flee from our homes or will we stand and fight them?"
There was no immediate reply and Tayana's voice was now demanding, "Will we flee or fight? Answer me. Members of this counsel, show your hands to stay and fight!" About a third raised their hands and Tayana looked crushed. "Hands for those who wish to flee." There was a seething tone in her voice, as if the words burned her tongue and she was trying hard not to scream. There were more hands raised to flee than to fight. "Those who wish to flee, go, gather your things, and flee. Those who wish to fight, follow me." She left the dining hall followed by less than half of the counsel.
Grant addressed the remaining members. "We need to take only what is needed to survive, food, clothing, and water. We will transport you and your belongings to the Ebony Belle tomorrow as soon as we take care of a few things. Go tell your families and everyone else who wishes to go with us they need to prepare, now."
The rest of the counsel left the dining hall with murmurs and sideways glances. Grant and Sam didn’t have time to worry about them. They had to get the fuel cell into the other ship as fast as possible. Neither knew if they were making the right decision, but they pressed forward, and helped the villagers gather their things.
Sam stopped Grant a while later, "Grant, we need a plan, something other than getting the villagers to safety."
"I know Sam. I've been giving it some thought. Depending on when the ships arrive and how many they send to the surface, I've thought of several options. If they bring a large number, depending on the time of day, early morning or late evening, we can detonate an incendiary device to set the gasses on fire. They will fry in their tracks. Then we fire on their ships with the blasting missiles we have for excavation."
"Sounds pretty sketchy, Grant. What about Tayana and the villagers? What will happen to them?
“They will burn too. Shit, didn't think about Plan B. We tell Tayana about how the mining defense missiles took out her family and hope she doesn't wage war when they get here?"
"Holy crap Grant, we are in deep shit here! I thought you were the strategist, the one who could make this work. I'm buggin' out with the villagers."
"Wait Sam, I do have an idea. If we can get Tayana to hold off, we can use their cloaking devices, or a larger one, to cloak the village. The Anotokian’s will not be able to detect them and if we need to, we can launch a surprise attack. The shuttle has armaments. We can use another SHTF if there are too many of them for us to handle."
"Now you're talkin'. If we land the shuttle behind the boulders and camo it, they won't know we're there either. The mining compound will hold a bunch of the bastards and we have the upper hand. Wait, what the heck are we saying?"
"What do you mean Sam?"
"We cannot be here, Grant. We have to be on the Ebony Belle and the...what is the name of their ship?”
“Eliot, what is the name of Captain Morgan's ship?"
"The ship’s name is the Terra Aurai. It means goddess of Earth and nymphs of the breeze."
"What a fitting name. They populate a planet with plants, animals and all kinds of stuff, sort of like Earth, and then drop in beautiful women just to make it interesting. Uh yeah, I'll take a sack of those beautiful women seeds, please. 2120 must have been a really good year!"
"Indeed it must have been, but we're here now and have a war to stop, or avoid, if possible. Holy crap, Sam, we forgot about Delack. We need to get him out of the med room and pick his brain. He may be our only hope in this situation. Maybe he can offer some suggestions."
"Maybe he can tell them not to kill all of us; we were just protecting ourselves from their missiles. We don't really give a rat’s ass about their mining operation."
"Even though we did completely destroy their entire mining operation and kill one of their kind?"
"Doesn't look good, does it? I remember Delack saying they are scientists and warriors. We are scientists and villagers with arrows and swords. We are so screwed!"
"Sam, we need to get back to the Belle, now!"
"It's almost sundown, and we won't be able to return tonight and assist the villagers."
"I'll let Tayana know this is urgent and we need to be out of here in ten minutes, or less."
"Get moving, I’ll get the shuttle fired up and be ready to go. You have ten minutes or we will not be able to take off without lighting the place on fire."
"See you in about seven minutes." With a wink, Grant took off to find Tayana, and Sam took off towards the shuttle.
Sam called Eliot on his compad. "Eliot, fire up the shuttle and prepare to go to the Belle. We need to be off this planet in less than ten minutes, do you understand?"
"Yes Sir, I have been monitoring your conversations and have already started initial flight checks. The Varizone will be ready for takeoff when you arrive."
"We need to wait for Grant. Hopefully he can locate Tayana and let her know we are not abandoning her or the village. We need Delack awake and as coherent as possible. Once we are in the air, can you initiate the sequence to bring him out of stasis?"
"Yes, I can. But it is not advisable. If he becomes conscious before we arrive, he has the opportunity to disable the ship and block our entry."
"It's a chance we're going to have to take. He may be the only thing saving our asses from a cruel and painful death."
"There are other options. I can..."
"Eliot, stop. Right now we need to focus on getting off this planet and waking Delack up so we can talk with him. Once we are onboard the Belle have the galley prepare some food to his liking. I need you to do an analysis on his body composition and what his nutrition needs are so we can get him back to normal quickly."
"The systems check is complete and we are ready for takeoff." "Thank you Eliot, Grant should be here in four minutes."
"Grant will not be here in the allotted time. He is having difficulty finding Tayana. She is not in the village. She is near the entrance to the caves. Grant must return to the shuttle now or he will not make it.”
"Grant abort, I say again, abort. Tayana is not in the village, she is at the cave entrance. You have to come back to the shuttle immediately."
"Sam, meet me at the cave entrance." Grant hopped a ride on one of the remaining C-Rexes and headed towards the cave entrance as fast as it would move.
"Eliot, make for the cave entrance, now!"
The shuttle lifted off immediately. The
cave entrance was two minutes away by air and Grant would be there in three on the C-Rex.
"You're cutting it really close, Grant. Pray she doesn't go inside before we get there." Sam watched Grant race through the forest at breakneck speed and emerge onto the plains. "Man those things are fast!"
Grant held on for dear life as the C-Rex increased its speed on the plains. With nothing in its way it had free run and was really putting on a show.
"Grant, you better tighten your grip, it's about to take flight."
With a quick tap on his compad Grant replied, "No shit!" Within minutes they were at the cave entrance, much to the surprise of Tayana and her crew of warriors. Grant skidded to a halt and jumped off the C-Rex, nearly tripping and flipping head over heels in front of everyone.
"Tayana, Sam and I are going to the Belle, we need to get Delack out of stasis and speak with him. He may be our only hope and we need to leave, now. I did not want you thinking we abandoned you when you returned to the village and we were not there. We are leaving just ahead of the helium fall and will return tomorrow morning, as fast as we can."
"We will be here, ready for the villagers to board the shuttle. We are ready for whatever battle they bring to us."
"Get some rest. We will be back in the morning."
Tayana replied, "See that you are, Earthman." Her comment and wry smile caught Grant off guard.
"Gotta go Grant, flirt with her tomorrow."
Sam's statement caught Tayana by surprise. They all smiled and nervously laughed."
"Eliot, take us to the Belle!"
"Yes, Sir."
The Shuttle took off for the Belle as Tayana and her crew disappeared into the cave.
"What do you think they're after, Grant?"
"I have no idea and I didn't have time to ask. I'm sure she has a good reason to go into the caves. Weird timing though, maybe she’s exploring her options as a backup plan, in case we don't come back."
"But she didn't know we were leaving until a minute and a half ago."
"Too late to worry about it now.”
Helium Fall Page 18