The Circle and Star

by John Foster

  West stopped and looked at her quizzically.

  She smiled and looked up at him, “Otherwise they would have known to tie my hands and legs to keep me under control when their backs were turned.”

  West nodded, laughed, and they continued.

  At the tower, the body of Cerix rested on the ground floor, lying face up, covered with plaster and debris, with one leg pinned under a fallen piece of wall almost severing it. The weight of the wall against his leg had closed off any bleeding and it was in that condition that Cerix regained consciousness. His hand moved tentatively, eyes closed, and then one by one they opened. All he could see was darkness with small cracks of light filtering through the fallen debris. The memory of the fight in the tower returned and rage shook him as he recalled how he had been pushed from behind just as he was about to send the Terran to his death. He couldn’t understand how he had fallen then he remembered the groaning prisoner he had stepped on. The woman must have regained consciousness and pushed him from behind. He ground his teeth in frustration and then started to assess his body but couldn’t feel his legs. He flexed his shoulders and raised them up. Some of the loose materials fell away and he could see more of the area he was in. He pushed the tiles and brick like materials that were covering his torso and then sat up but he could see that his left leg was pinned under the debris. He looked back and could see it had been nearly severed by the fallen section of a wall that had collapsed on him after the fall. Seeing the injury brought on a wave of pain as he struggled to free himself. His leg had started to bleed again and he realized that he had only been saved by the wall closing off his arteries otherwise he would have bled to death without ever regaining consciousness. He searched frantically around him and saw the little packets with the red symbols on them and grabbed at them. He opened them and realized they were bandages and he wrapped them around his torn and twisted leg. He created a crude tourniquet and stopped the flow of blood. He sat up and took out his knife and started to slowly cut through the bone to free himself. The pain was a like a white-hot poker screaming for revenge. It would take many hours but he was strong and he was filled with rage.

  Madison, Dickens, Martin, and Samson followed the signs that eventually led to a door with an icon of a spoked circle and hub which they all recognized as the sign of the Cyclops. The door opened after repeated nudging and pushing against the frame. Madison realized that this area was restricted and would only open to someone who had a right to be there. She was the senior technology scientist and she thought that should be sufficient and the door opened. She paused at the entrance and wondered how it worked that the door could sense qualifications of the people who entered it. How could that work? Whatever was sensing them had to do it without reference to language, since none of the Terrans spoke, of or even knew, what the language of the Kaa was. She dismissed the problem for now. They had to find out what made the ship fly and what the weapon was. The room they entered was filled with large viewing screens which she realized were some kind of high tech chalkboard that could be accessed from one of the computer stations. Martin found the link between one of the room computers and the chalkboard and had been able to write his name across all the boards in the huge room using his finger. She looked at the large number of seats and how they were gathered around the large boards and realized they were in a classroom of some sort that had to do with the Cyclops. It was some type of learning center for the aliens to use for training. This was better than she had hoped and it would only be a matter of time before she knew exactly how the ship operated.

  West and Kal turned to the street where the ambush had occurred and walked to the building where Amal and the others had taken refuge. West called out and Amal’s head peeked out from some rubble piled against the door with a laser rifle balancing on her arm. Amal walked out and greeted Kal and then West. West grinned at her and she twisted her mouth a bit in what West guessed was her equivalent of a smile. Volkum called out from within the darkened room, “Hey, I need some attention!” West walked in, his eyes adapting to the gloom, and walked to where Volkum was sitting next to Cesar who was still unconscious. “How’s he doing?” asked West looking at Cesar.

  “He has stabilized but we have to get that sticker out of him,” said Volkum.

  Amal and Kal walked up to them and knelt down besides Cesar and said, “we need to get him some real medical help.”

  West nodded and looked around and said, “We need a stretcher to carry him.”

  While they did not find a stretcher, they found something better in the form of a hatch that had been blown from the fighter. The hatch was slightly convex and while not long enough to accommodate Cesar’s full length, it could hold his torso and head just fine. The door also had hinge points on the bottom to which they attached spider wire and, with bandages and cloth from the wreckage, they fashioned handles that they could use to pull the improvised sled. After an hour, they were ready and started to look for a shaft to get to the lower levels and make contact with Theo and the others.

  In the Cyclops, Dragaan was listening to the commissar lecture him on tactics while the commando team officers looked on. “You have lost the initiative and the enemy is free to move about the city without restraint,” the commissar berated him. “They will now attack us here while our cruiser is fighting off the Soshi hordes that roam at will in orbit. It won’t be long before they come down in troop ships and either destroy us or take us prisoner. You have lost the confidence of your men and the high command and at the soonest opportunity I will have you replaced,” the commissar went on.

  Dragaan looked him up and down as if seeing him for the first time. “It is unfortunate that you seem to forget where you are,” said Dragaan. “It is also unfortunate that you will be listed as one of the casualties lost in the raid on the tower complex.” The commissar’s mouth opened and dropped, his eyes narrowed and his voice venomous, said, “You wouldn’t dare, the ship cameras here will record everything you do and are automatically relayed back to the high command. You will be executed,” hissed the commissar.

  Dragaan unmoved by this statement, simply took out his plasma pistol and pointed it at the commissar and said, “You forget we’re not on our ship now,” and fired the weapon killing the man filling the room with the smell of burning flesh. Looking around at his elite commandos he gestured to the body and said, “Dispose of it in one of the lower tunnels under the ship.” Without a word the body was dragged away and Dragaan nodded and considered how he was going to find this Madison woman who could and would help them even if she needed some persuasion. He turned to Captain Petrov and said, “Form a team of ten for reconnaissance and have them meet me here at the bridge.”

  A crisp salute and “Aye, Commander at once.”

  Madison returned to what they were now referring to as the ‘classroom’ with Theo. “Here it is,” said Madison gesturing with her hand and arm as they entered the room.

  “So, this is a classroom?” said Theo looking around.

  “Yes, as best as I can understand and so far, it looks like a center for teaching ship crews how to operate each component of the ship. This should make our job comparatively easy once we get some of the technical jargon translated. We’re running through the word scripts we’ve discovered, matching them with ship schematics and in a couple of days we should have a manual to run each part of the ship,” said Madison looking quite pleased. Dickens walked up behind her and smiled, “Yes, our little scientist has just about got it all figured out, don’t you?”

  Madison suddenly looked uncomfortable and moved away from Dickens and walked closer to Theo. “Yes, well, Dickens has been most helpful in translating the text and we couldn’t have done it without him,” said Madison looking down as she said it. Theo pondered the little scene that had just been enacted in front of him and said, “Dickens please give me and Madison a little privacy so that she and I can discuss some issues.” Theo made his voice sound like it wouldn’t brook an argument. Dickens looked
angry and started to argue but Theo cut him off and said, “Just do it please.” Dickens nodded his head and abruptly turned away and stormed out of the room. “Now maybe you can get some work done,” said Theo to Madison.

  “He means well, it’s just that he follows me everywhere and is always making various business and personal proposals to me. It was fun and flattering at first but now it’s just tedious.”

  Theo nodded his head, and said, “Okay now show me the rest of this classroom of yours.”

  West and his small team of crippled and injured made their way slowly along the streets of the deserted city. The winds had stopped for the first time in days and they could see the outline of the city and were able to appreciate it more than they had before. The main thoroughfares were wide, with large and spacious buildings on either side and small towers dotted the skyline. West wondered why there were so many towers in the city. It seemed like there were more than good taste would dictate and wondered if they were purely for aesthetics or were they functional too? He and Amal were pulling Cesar on the sled and Kal was helping Volkum limp along. They made their way to the shaft under the Alamo because they knew it was large enough to accommodate the sled and it would be easier to find where Theo had gone by following his trail directly. They were close to the outside of the tower when Kal looked down at the ground and gasped out loud, “Oh, my, look at this, this is horrible.”

  West dropped his pulling harness and hurried over and looked down at what Kal was pointing at, it was a line of fresh blood leading off to the other side of the street and West could see dunes just beyond that. He pulled out his pistol and hurried to the other side of the street, hunched over looking at the ground. Kal followed him, pulling a pistol she had taken from the ambush site. The others looked quizzically at them but took their weapons out and held them ready. West and Kal scrambled through the ruins and up into the dune top where they looked over the landscape. They spent 10 minutes scanning the flat plane in front of them but eventually dropped their hands and walked back to the group.

  “That was the big lizard that almost killed us in the tower. He must have survived the fall in the tower and is making his way back to the caves. I really wish we had gotten him out of the way once and for all,” said West. Kal nodded her head in agreement as she looked back towards the dune.

  Miles away Cerix crawled across the desert on the beginning of his journey of revenge.

  Madison spent several hours with Theo showing him the progress they had made in understanding how the Cyclops was run. Most of the crew were now busy at the learning stations in the classroom preparing to run the ship once they had control of it again. Martin watched Madison and Theo discuss the ship’s engines and then, with a nod, Theo left the classroom and walked back to his quarters. Martin watched Theo leave the area and Madison noticed, “You’re being awfully quiet Martin,” said Madison.

  Martin looked a bit embarrassed and his cheeks flushed at the comment, and said, “Do you think we’ll take the ship back? I mean the Sovar are trained soldiers and we’re a bunch of archaeologists and security people, we’re no match for them.”

  Madison looked at him and said, “We don’t have really much choice. We have to win.”

  “But, how can we? They’re trained to fight.”

  Madison smiled, took his arm leading him to one of the work stations, and said, “Yes, and we’re trained to think and that my friend is a big advantage over them. Now why don’t you get busy with that advantage I’m so proud of?”

  Martin looked up at her and said, “Do you think I could be your new assistant?”

  Madison’s mouth opened and her eyes widened and after a moment she said, “We’ll talk about that later.” She patted him on the back.

  Martin found himself in the classroom chair and started to scroll the menus to find his crew position. Madison watched him for a minute giving him additional instruction until she was sure he understood what he was looking at.

  A voice behind Madison brought her back to attention, “You know I think you’re sweet on him,” said Dickens.

  Madison turned to look at him and said, “Yes, he has the wonderful knack of doing what I tell him to do, unlike some people I could think of.”

  Dickens smiled and feigned a punch to the shoulder and said, “Ouch, you got me there. As much as I want to discuss your love life, I found some data on the weapons systems for the ship and I don’t understand it. Do you think you could help me?”

  Madison looked surprised and said, “Of course, what have you found?”

  Dickens smiled and said, “Absolutely nothing is what I’ve found. Now, how do you explain that? They have one of the most destructive weapons we’ve ever seen evidence of and there’s not a word about it. Now why, I ask you, is that?”

  Looking disappointed at his answer but at the same time relieved that he hadn’t found something she hadn’t. While she was a good scientist, which had been proven time and again, it would be a blow to her ego if she had missed something. She also had some misgivings about talking about the weapon with Dickens. He had ties to the Sovar and while she didn’t doubt his loyalty to Terra, she wouldn’t put it past Dickens to rationalize his behavior if it suited him. She brushed aside these thoughts and realized that she had wanted to discuss this issue with West but her feelings about him were in turmoil and confused. She wanted to keep West as far from her as possible until she had sorted out what had happened with Thomas and now she was faced with Martin wanting to take Thomas’s place. Dickens would be a good distraction as she decided on what to do about West and Martin.

  “Okay, let’s find some privacy to talk,” said Madison.

  Dickens seemed surprised and became serious as he followed her to the opposite side of the room where there were no crew members. She reached a table and sat down facing him while he stood, his arms folded over his chest, and his face serious.

  “I’ve found the same as you, which means absolutely nothing about any weapon. Theo has had the same results in his searching. No power requirements, no energy requirements in the event of firing, nothing.”

  “What do you think it means?” asked Dickens finally sitting down opposite her.

  “There are two possibilities that I have finally reduced myself to consider, 1. That there is no weapon, and 2. That information is so secret that it’s heavily restricted and we can’t access it.”

  “No weapon?”

  “Yes, we may not have found anything about a weapon because they didn’t consider it one.”

  “How can you blow up a planet and not think of it as a weapon?” Dickens insisted.

  “Precisely what I think and so No. 1 is out the window. As to No. 2, we can assume that the information is here but the question is where?”

  “You don’t think it’s in this classroom?”

  “No, this room is set up for a large number of people and I suspect they wouldn’t want that many people in on the operational secrets of so powerful a weapon. No, this information is somewhere where it can be guarded and controlled. We just have to find a place that fits those parameters.”

  Dickens thought it over and said, “Do you think West would be authorized to find it?”

  Madison frowned and looked down at her hands folded on the table in front of her, and said, “He might be, and certainly of this crew he might be the only one that could.”

  Dickens paused and thought about what she said. The operational words were ‘this crew.’ What if there was another Captain or better yet, a commander that could authorize the information release. Yes, Dragaan could be useful again but he would have to be careful not to give Dragaan too much without a worthwhile return and a guarantee for his personal safety.

  After his meeting with Madison, Dickens was disappointed that they were no closer to finding the secret of the weapon than before. He had hoped that Madison would reveal the weapon’s location or at least how it operated but it was clear she didn’t know either. That the planet buster user’s manual wa
s probably hidden away in a secret location did him no good at all. Dragaan would not be impressed with that bit of knowledge. Dickens wandered the halls of the information complex and found himself near the red building shaft. The Sovar were not more than 100 feet above him in the Cyclops. Two of the Paradig crew were on guard near the intersection to act as an early warning in the event that troopers started to patrol in the lower levels. The only excitement they had had was the body of a Sovar had been dropped down the shaft and lay sprawled in the center. The crew had investigated it and found that the man had been shot at close range with a plasma pistol. Whoever it was, wasn’t wearing military dress but some type of fancy suit. Some functionary who had his job terminated, was the prevailing opinion. Dickens watched the crew for a minute then retreated until he was out of sight and took out his HDA and sent a high-speed burst to Dragaan. In the message, Dickens reiterated that Madison was the key to finding the weapon and was close to finding the location of information about it. Dickens was fairly sure that Dragaan wasn’t going to be satisfied with such a message but he had to keep in contact and at least keep hope alive that his presence was worthwhile, although finding that body in the shaft reminded him of the price of failure.

  West and his team entered a large shaft in another building and floated down to the lower levels. Cesar had recovered sufficiently that he was awake but he was weak and couldn’t speak. It wouldn’t be long before they would be in the vicinity of the Cyclops and medical help. Soon Volkums’s HDA was picking up voice traffic from Theo’s team and he eagerly broadcast their imminent arrival. In a short time, Rae and several other crew were racing towards them with a stretcher and the ever-present brown stuff. Theo arrived huffing and puffing but found the energy to hug West. Rae took Cesar under her wing and placing him on a stretcher had him taken to their temporary medical facility in one of the smaller classrooms.

  Madison was sitting at the same station that she had used to talk to Dickens when she heard the commotion about West and the other team’s arrival. She felt a momentary elation and then turmoil at seeing West again. She got up and followed the others out into the hallway to see them arrive. Rae and three others were running down the hallway and passed the people standing in the corridor carrying Cesar, who had been heavily bandaged around the face and neck, on a stretcher. Then came Theo with his arm wrapped around West, followed by Amal and Volkum who was being helped along by Kal. At least they had all come back Madison thought. As West approached with Theo, Madison ducked back into the large classroom and went into one of the small rooms off the main teaching area. West noticed her departure and sighed to himself but smiled as he greeted the well-wishers who crowded around him and the rest of the team.