by John Foster
“What do you mean?” asked West.
“Remember, when we first touched the amber towers around the spaceport square?” asked Madison.
“Yes, but nothing happened like this.”
“I remember that when I touched the tower I didn’t feel anything initially, it was simply cool to the touch but now that I think about it, you touched the tower right after I did and I could feel or sense a presence at that moment, a sort of awareness of something awaking. Remember we pulled back after that. Somehow I think it can sense who you are and was responding.”
“There’s nothing special about me,” said West looking vaguely uncomfortable.
“I think it’s not you, but who you are,” said Madison looking as if an idea was forming in her head. “I think the ship can feel who is in command and who isn’t and responds accordingly. The lights came on when the first crew came in here after the tunnel rats entered the ship. I think it sensed the robotic presence and the exploratory team and allowed the doors and lights to be activated. Now, the captain comes on board and script turns on and doors appear in the hub. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
“You think it can read minds?” asked West turning around, looking up, and scanning the corridor walls.
“I don’t think minds, necessarily but maybe emotions and your command presence. I don’t really understand it, yet.”
“Theo, go over to that door frame and see if you can open it? We will test Madison’s theory,” said West pointing at a nearby door. Theo walked over to it and placed his hands on it but nothing happened. West then walked over to the door and it opened revealing a large room with control panels and monitors spaced throughout.
“Damn?” said West looking startled. Madison’s mouth fell open but she smiled as they all crowded about the doorway.
“Let’s see what else is around this hub?” said West.
They moved around the hub to the next door and it opened too as West approached it. When West backed away from the door, it closed. “Volkum, you try now,” said West.
“Me? I’m not the Captain,” protested Volkum.
“Yes, that’s true but I can’t be expected to walk around and be the doorman for each of you,” said West. “I think the ship’s only opening up to me but you should all be able to open the doors from now on. Otherwise something else is going on,” said West.
Sure enough, the door opened as Volkum approached it. “Wow, it works.”
“I think the ship has a certain telepathic sense that gives it the information it needs,” said Madison touching the walls. “It will be interesting to see what the amber script says that appeared after you walked in,” said Madison.
A while later, they entered another door and found a large complex of rooms with stairs and shafts going to different levels. Theo ran over to the controls that had a set of windows looking over a large chamber that had a slight glow to it.
“That’s the reactor and it’s nuclear,” said Theo pointing at the chamber and then bending over the panels looking excitedly at them. “This is engineering!” said Theo looking quite pleased and rubbing his hands.
West could see that it was too and stood still looking at the chamber. His memory was swept back to the chamber that his father died in that looked vaguely similar to this one. The same configuration of windows and chamber itself. He started to rock a little as the thoughts ran through his mind. Madison walked up to him and took his arm and said gently, “Let’s find the bridge, shall we?” and they turned and walked out of the room.
West and Madison continued their walk around the hub, when Volkum joined them with his little rat. It was on the opposite side of the hub that they encountered what they thought was the bridge. Again, there was a certain familiarity about it that West could see.
“It’s almost like I’ve seen this configuration before,” said West to Madison.
“What do you mean?” asked Madison.
“The layout is pretty similar to what we use now in our own ships. The outside is nothing like we use but the interior layout is familiar,” said West.
There was a slight tremor as the ship vibrated a moment, then stopped. West smiled and said, “Looks like Theo is making progress.”
West walked to the center of room and a ball rose out of the floor, and shaped itself into a chair with arms and floating balls near the top that seemed to hover just above where his head would be. He sat in it and a series of holograms appeared in front of him. The right arm of the chair glowed and as he passed his hand over it, a series of colored dots appeared which changed intensity as he moved his fingers. The ship shuddered suddenly and gave a jerk. “Whoa, Chief, let’s learn to fly this puppy before you pancake us all,” said Volkum in alarm.
West nodded his head but continued to gently move his hands about the controls. Several of the holograms appeared to be dark and nothing he did could make them light up. Others showed what appeared to be satellite views of the system.
“Wow, you can see just about everything from this bridge,” said West looking up to Madison, “I think we’ll call this vessel the ‘Cyclops,’ with its all-seeing hub and monitors.”
Madison said, “Well, it seems fitting and it’s possible that the big club we’re looking for is actually in this ship and that’s in keeping with the myth of the Cyclops.”
Flashes from the views in front of them caught their attention and they could make out two groups of ships approaching each other above Jo-Tene. As West continued to stare at what was about to be a confrontation, the hologram expanded and grew before his eyes. Both Madison and Volkum stood behind him and watched in astonishment as the two groups of ships started firing at each other, the Soshi ships were clearly identifiable and were much larger and surprisingly easily out maneuvered by the smaller Sovar ships. The Soshi ships were curving up and back through the atmosphere trying to break through the overlapping zones of fire that the Sovar ships had set in formation. There were eight of the smaller Sovar ships and they were formed in an egg formation with each ship protecting one quadrant. The Soshi were running in and trying to cripple the ships on the top and bottom trying to knock one out of commission which would break the formation allowing the Soshi to better pick them off.
West could see that the Soshi tactic seemed to be working when suddenly one of the Soshi ships took fire from behind. West looked to see where this sudden reinforcement came from but only saw a bit of a shimmer in the distance.
“Where did that came from?” said West and as he watched the targeted Soshi ship gave off a bright flare of light and then exploded in a fierce ball of flame that was instantly extinguished. The remaining Soshi broke off the fight and retreated to the far side of the planet in a burst of speed, although another one headed to the planet and seemed to be heading towards the spaceport trailing smoke and sparks. A Sovar ship left the protective formation and followed the Soshi ship down firing all its weapons as it did so.
“It’s coming this way,” said Madison pointing at the hologram.
“Come on make it!” said West, his hand curled in a fist as he watched.
The satellite view changed to another observation point as the Soshi ship continued its steep dive with the Sovar ship firing at it. There were several hits on the Soshi ship and it started to slowly tumble through the air, seemingly having lost all control, its tail area charred and a streak of fire flaring out from it. The three watched, mesmerized as it continued its descent and then right before it was to hit the ground, it straightened out from the dive and slid along the ground gouging out a deep groove of fire and blackened sand as it entered one of the bands of green forest that grew along the few rivers of the planet. The Sovar continued to fire on the ship and then there was a tremendous explosion that seemed to come from above the crippled ship that cut off all vision for a moment and the Sovar ship slowed, then hanging suspended for a moment before it sped off back into orbit.
The satellite view of the Soshi ship showed massive damage. “That must
have killed them all,” said Volkum.
There was a buzz from Madison’s’ HDA. She looked down at it and then with a look of disbelief.
“What is it?” said West looking up from his chair.
“It’s a distress signal, from the Soshi ship,” said Madison looking up to the satellite view and watching the Soshi ship burn.
AMAL
West, Madison, and Volkum turned to watch the blazing inferno that once was the Soshi ship now enveloped in a cloud of smoke and fire.
“How could there be any survivors?” asked Volkum.
Madison looked at her HDA and made some adjustments. “It’s not an automatic distress call, it’s being made by a Soshi, and someone called Amal.”
West continued to look at the satellite view and put his hand to his chin. “I’ll take a small team and see if we can help.”
“You think they’d take our help?” asked Madison.
West looked thoughtful and then said, “I think they would at least appreciate the offer and that would go a little way to repaying them for trying to save my father, when he was dying.”
“I thought your father died on the precursor to the Paradig?” asked Madison.
West turned to her and said, “He was in the final throes of the radiation sickness and we couldn’t get in the containment chamber to get him out. Our automatic distress signal attracted the attention of a Soshi ship. They volunteered to take him out of the chamber and give him a burial in space. Apparently, they’re not affected by radiation like we are. I was pretty much out of it when I learned of it but was too overcome by what happened to Dad to pay much attention. I watched him being placed in a closed capsule and then taken out of the ship by the Soshi and his vital signs stopped. He died and that was the last I saw of him. The Soshi helped us to fix the ship which was vital since there was so much contamination in the reactor and containment chamber. They were kind and that meant a lot.”
“Well, let’s get a team together and go see if we can return the favor,” said Volkum.
West nodded his head and got up from the command chair, “Right, let’s do it.”
The three of them walked out of the bridge and headed for the reactor room where Theo and some of the other crew were going over the various systems and equipment.
“Theo, there’s been a skirmish between the Soshi and a Sovar ship and the Soshi got the worst of it and crashed outside the city by a river. We’re going to see if there are any survivors. You’re in command until we get back. I’ll take Madison, Volkum, Curt, and Cesar,” said West.
“Okay, don’t take too long, I have my hands full getting this thing understood as it is,” said Theo looking worried.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can. See if you can rig a hospital facility in the ship somewhere. There has to be one somewhere,” said West.
Volkum ran to get Cesar and Curt and see to it that they were armed.
The air was cold as they exited the red building and jumped aboard a small shuttle hover cart that looked like an oversized golf cart with large thrusters and a fixed laser that had been improvised on the front of it. “Rock and roll,” said Volkum as he spied the vehicle. The five of them got in with West driving and Curt manning the laser weapon. Madison ran into the cargo bay of the Paradig and returned with a couple of stretcher lifts and attached them to the side of the quad. West nodded his head at the foresight and turned the engine on while the others got in.
“Question, Volkum?” asked Madison.
“What’s that?” asked Volkum looking over at her.
“What does rock and roll mean anyway?”
“No idea, just something my great grandfather would say when he lost his marbles,” said Volkum.
Madison looked perplexed and said, “What does ‘lost his marbles’ mean?”
Volkum turned to look at her and said, “We should concentrate on getting to the Soshi ship because this conversation could go on a long time.”
The shuttle bumped along, as it adjusted to the changes in the terrain below, as West maneuvered it out of the city. There were numerous obstacles including sand dunes, an occasional building top sticking up out of the sand, and remnants of long ago forgotten equipment scattered about. The familiar acrid smell that was characteristic of the Jo-Tene planet was more intense outside the city and in the desert. The Soshi ship crashed near a river a couple of miles away and they would soon reach it. West wasn’t sure what they would find, but hoped he could save the crew or at least some of them from the devastating fire and smoke that appeared to be enveloping the stricken ship.
As they drew nearer they could see that the trees and brush along the river were charred and blackened. The smell of the fire and ship’s contents was bitter and the smoke made their eyes water. The Soshi ship was ripped and torn from the impact and gaping holes in the hull revealed the ship’s interior with darkened corridors and crushed rooms. Other than some nearby trees and shrubs that were burning, the fire seemed to be restricted to the top of the ship and the smoke was thicker there. They got as close as they could and parked the shuttle under some nearby trees and got out.
“Stay close and keep your weapons ready. They may consider us hostile, as they’re probably thinking that the Sovar’ are coming for them. Put your weapons on the lowest settings,” said West.
They moved along the side of the ship, checking to look inside as opportunity permitted. It didn’t take long to start to find bodies lying outside the nose of the ship. They looked like they had been arranged in a neat row.
“Hey, somebody’s been pulling the dead out of the ship,” said Volkum.
The crack of a blaster shot echoed by Volkums’s head as he whirled and dropped to the ground firing in the direction he guessed the shot had come from. West and the others taken by surprise also dropped to the ground holding their weapons ready.
“I’ll cover you. Keep moving for cover and don’t stop until you’re safe,” ordered West to the team. The others started to crawl in different directions.
The blaster weapon cracked again and struck the ground near Madison causing her to fire back and the whine of the weapon sounded like a buzz saw at full speed. She got to her feet and started to run. West was about to yell at her when he saw an armored space suited figure behind some rocks rise up and aim at Madison with a large rifle. West fired and struck the arm of the creature who howled in pain and then dropped to the ground, the rifle tumbling into the brush. Volkum reached a boulder and joined Madison, who fired short bursts of beams at the outcrops around where the creature appeared. This continued for a minute when West called for a cease fire.
“They’ve stopped firing,” said West over his HDA.
West in a prone position got up slowly, his weapon ready to respond to any hint of attack. Nothing moved.
“I’ll move to the right flank and see if I can come up on him from there,” said Curt.
“Right,” said West.
Cesar moved to the left flank among some trees and held his weapon ready to give cross fire if needed. Cesar stopped, looked to West, and gave a thumbs up.
West moved forward, his beam weapon slightly raised, his heart pounding, he knew if he were hit by that rifle, he wouldn’t know anything again. The fire from the ship continued to give off a horrible smell of plastics and hundreds of other unidentifiable things. The wind blew hot across his face and sweat dripped down from his forehead. There were no sounds as he approached the rock outcrop that had hid the assailant. Bending down into a crouch, West moved around the boulder and lost sight of Volkum but continued to move forward. He could see a foot in a charred and torn space suit sticking around the side of the rock he was circling. He raised the pistol and as he turned the boulder he could see the figure sitting against a rock, the face dark within a space helmet, and a large pistol aimed right at him and then saw the finger around the trigger guard pulling back on the trigger.
There was a loud pop and snap of the blaster firing but West could tell from the sound that
it was out of charge and wouldn’t even reach him as he instinctively recoiled away from the seated figure. Volkum ran up to the other side of the outcrop and aimed his pistol down at the figure to fire.
“Stop! Don’t fire, he’s out of charge,” yelled West.
The Soshi’s head lolled to one side, looking down at the pistol and then put it up to its head and fired again, but the result was even less than before and a faint fizzle sound came out of the weapon. West leveled his weapon at the alien and then kneeled down before the space suited figure and looked at the creature.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” said West, dropping the barrel downward but still pointed in the direction of the alien. The Soshi was wounded with its armored arm darkened by West’s beam weapon where he had shot it, as well as numerous cuts and tears from the crash landing. West held up his palm forward to the Soshi who looked at him blankly. West couldn’t tell from the darkened helmet visor if the alien was even awake or conscious. Another space suited figure was lying sprawled in the overhang of another outcrop a few feet away. West could see that it was just barely breathing and had several bandages and wrappings around its legs and torso. The faceplate of the helmet had been torn away and a yellow tube had been inserted in the mouth with red symbols on it. West moved over to the second crash victim which prompted the first to turn and flop over on its side with arm extended, trying to crawl towards its companion, but lacked the strength and stopped. Cesar came around the boulder and held his weapon on the first Soshi and Volkum joined West and started to look over the other Soshi. Madison hurried into the gathering and joined West and Volkum. She took out her scanner and ran it over the prone and wounded alien. She grimaced and looked at West and shook her head. “I can’t get a reading through the suit but the electrical energy from this one is dropping precipitously. I think he’s dying,” said Madison. West got up and went over to the first Soshi and leaned over him and took the helmeted head and unfastened the upper part of the helmet which popped up like a clamshell. The top part came away in his hands and he saw the deep blue eyes that he remembered that the Soshi were so famous for. The eyes were sad and resigned, the color patches on the side of the head were dull and barely had any color. The skin was a musky grey color. The lips opened to say something but couldn’t seem to form the words.