by T. D. Wilson
“More important than the honeymoon?” Hood joked.
Jonathan’s blush turned bright red now. “Plenty of time for that. Besides, you know those two. Once they have their minds made up, there’s no stopping them.”
“When do you expect them back?”
Jonathan stood and walked over to the map. “It’s difficult to say. Our patrol reported fossils in several locations there, and studying them will give us tremendous insight into early life on this world.” He pointed to the location where Jillian and Gina’s expedition had journeyed and circled it with his finger. “The terrain is pretty rough there, even for our rovers.” He traced his finger along the length of the canyon. “The canyon runs deep in some areas and might have been formed by a large river, but initial surveys didn’t produce any trace of it outside the canyon itself. The whole region creates bad interference that messes with our communication and tracking gear. It just gobbles up signals, so our contact has been limited. We did receive a few brief messages from them and everything is fine.” Jonathan walked over to a table to his left, grabbed a small, jagged rock that was lying on top and handed it to Hood. “The geology team has been looking at the mineral samples the initial survey team brought back. There are traces of lead, cadmium and beryllium all over the place. Those are bound to cause problems with communication signals.”
“Have teams encountered any indigenous threats?” Maya interjected. “The plant life here is nothing like we’ve seen before. If there is animal life, there will be predators.”
“We’ve just begun our study of this world, and our rover teams have only covered about a twentieth of the surface,” Caris said, enthused with the discussion. “However, our biologists have already cataloged hundreds of new species of animal and plant life. You might have noticed the brownish color of all the plant life. Well, the plants on this world consist of red chlorophyll, not green as we have on Earth.”
“Red chlorophyll? What’s the difference?” Hood asked.
“We’re still not clear on that one, Captain. The difference could be due to the reduced amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or the higher level of gamma radiation the Cygni sun emanates. Either way, it’s a monumental discovery.” Caris stood, and his feet danced with excitement. “Let me get my data, and I can show you what we’ve found.” He returned a few moments later with an older-looking data pad, opened several files and handed it to Hood.
Hood examined the pictures of the different varieties of plant life. He scrolled through each one and tried to compare them to familiar plants back on Earth. “Can these sustain human life?”
“Yes!” Caris exclaimed. “They produce oxygen, but they rely more on nitrogen than carbon dioxide, it seems.” He pointed out specific plants on the screen. “We’ve found edible species that can be classed as a vegetable or fruit, but we need to find the best way to cultivate them. The Magellan brought several varieties of seeds to plant, but it’s too late in the season to grow anything, and I’m not sure they would thrive here.” He pointed to a bowl of red-skinned fruits on the nearby table. “Those are my favorite. Back home, I would put them on par with plums.”
“My apologies for Caris,” Jonathan said, leaning toward Hood. “He’s just excited to share something with someone who hasn’t been living it for the past several weeks. It’s a geek thing, I guess.”
A twinkle shone in Caris’s eye. “Commander, that is the most truthful and hurtful thing someone has ever said to me. But yes, it is good to finally to explain all this to someone new.” Walking over to the table, he grabbed the bowl of Cygni plums. Caris handed one of the fruits to Hood, but as he turned toward Maya his foot snagged on the leg of the table and he stumbled.
The four remaining fruits flew straight toward the red-haired security officer. Maya’s reaction seemed effortless as each hand snatched two of the fruits from the air. She examined the reddish-brown-skinned fruits, selected the largest for herself and handed the remaining three toward the now very embarrassed Caris.
“I’m so sorry, Lieutenant. That was clumsy of me.”
Maya produced a soft smile and placed the fruits back into the bowl. Caris pulled out one of the plums for himself and sat down next to Maya. He sank his teeth into it, and the two Armstrong officers followed suit. The skin was crisp on the outside, but the sweet pulp was soft and loaded with juice.
Maya finished her plum, wrapped the remains in a napkin and set it on the table. After handing a second napkin to Hood, who seemed to be having difficulty keeping the fruit’s juice from his uniform, she turned back to Caris. “What about animal life, Dr. Wilder?”
“Ah yes, we’ve uncovered several new species of insects and some mammals, but no definite sightings of birds or reptiles yet, although I have unconfirmed reports of smaller reptiles at our remote base at the lake. I really hoped to find some sort of amphibious creatures by the streams. But alas, that too has been a disappointment.” On his data pad, Caris accessed the information on the different animals the colonists had encountered for Maya to review. “We’re correlating these new species to our well-known Earth animal classifications. It’ll take months to classify new ones and begin to organize these beautiful creatures, but the sheer investigative science of it all is astounding.”
Caris pointed to one of the pictures on the data pad. The animal was a small four-legged creature with deep orange fur. It had long claws, presumably for digging, but the most striking feature was its two pairs of eyes. One pair faced front, while the second was positioned on the sides of its head. “Most of the animals we’ve seen, like this one, are small and primarily burrowing, but we have found a few predators. One team reported a species of bear up in the mountains just west of here. I would say bears are the closest relative to these wonderful creatures. This particular breed has several horns protruding from their heads and all the way down their spines,” he explained. “Other than that team’s encounter, nothing has been hostile to us—except the Night Cats.”
“Night Cats?” Maya asked with a hint of concern.
“I would describe them as similar to mountain lions back on Earth, but a little bit larger,” Caris stated. “We first encountered them on the second night we spent outside the Magellan, I believe.” He looked over at Jonathan, who agreed. “Thus far, we’ve only seen them at night, but that first contact shook us up.”
“Three of them snuck into the encampment looking for food,” Jonathan explained. “Two of our people got nicked up pretty good, but we fought them off and managed to kill one.”
“Yes, remarkable creatures,” Caris stated as he sat back down next to Maya. “The pelts are a deep jet-black that makes them near invisible in the dark, and their eyes don’t reflect light like cats on Earth do, so they’re difficult to spot. Our analysis of the cats found their eyes have a filter, almost like an inner eyelid.”
“One of our sentries spotted a Night Cat outside the perimeter that was just lying on the side of a trail,” Jonathan added. “From a distance, he thought it was a rock until it ran off. It was just sitting there staring right at him.” He laughed. “His partner said he almost soiled himself.”
Caris spread out his hand and pointed to different areas on his palm. “You see, their paws have unique pocketed areas that act like mini shock absorbers and let them run over this terrain without making a sound. But their hearing is what’s truly amazing. They have very sophisticated auditory canals, which leads us to believe they hunt by sound more than sight. Even their communication seems to be based on high-pitched calls.”
Jonathan rolled his eyes, shook his head at Caris, then walked over to one of the desks in an office by the main entrance. He picked up something similar to a large flare gun with a metal tube in the stock and handed it to Maya. “It’s a sonic gun. We tested it the next time the cats came prowling about, and it sent them running fast. It’s loud but effective. Since then, we’ve set up peri
meter sensors and small towers to broadcast the same bursts if they get too close.”
Maya examined the weapon. “Impressive design. I’ve seen similar models with a more focused dispersion that make for an excellent concussive stunner. I can help you convert these to that type. Might be more effective against something like those bears you mentioned.”
“That’s most generous of you, Lieutenant,” Jonathan said. “I’ll get you in touch with our Armory master, and you can go over the details.”
Hood pointed back at the map. “We noticed you sent another group to that large lake to the northeast. What have they found?”
“Harvey, my team lead for that encampment, can give you more info on that than me,” Jonathan said. “It’s got some real promise, so we’ve been moving people there over the past few weeks. Harvey had them construct a boat for exploring and fishing, but initial analysis shows the soil there is the best around for agriculture. This region of the planet hasn’t seen much rain since we’ve been here, and the lake can offer good irrigation. I sent a message to him after your first team arrived, but he was out on a survey run and should be back later tonight. We can go over there at first light and meet up with him if you’re up for it.”
“What’s his name again?” Maya asked.
“Harvey Kingston,” Jonathan answered. “He’s one of our physical sciences specialists. He’s a chemist, but he’s a natural at organization. With the colony down two important team leads, I needed someone to step up. He generated a real rapport with his team, so I put him in charge and he hasn’t disappointed.”
As several of the colonists began to file in to the building for the evening meal, Hood noticed Maya pull out her data pad and pull up the name in the Epherium list.
“James, I want you and Maya to join me at my table for dinner,” Jonathan insisted. “It’ll be just like back home. After that, you can tell everyone what we’ve missed since we left.”
“I’d like that, Uncle Jon.” Hood’s mouth formed a broad smile. It did feel almost like home. That made what he had to tell them all the more difficult. Leaving home was hard, but the idea that one might have to leave a new home he or she had traveled over twenty-five years to get to could be too painful to swallow.
Maya walked up beside Hood as the group moved toward Jonathan’s table and pulled him aside. She handed him her data pad. “We need to talk after your speech to the colonists.”
Hood scanned the files on the data pad, and his eyes widened in alarm. He snapped his head back toward Maya. “You’re positive?”
She nodded.
The file displayed on the top of the data pad contained the information and picture of Dr. Harvey Kingston, molecular chemistry, Ph.D. The file below included the identical picture, but the name and information was that of Frank Descherra, infamous crime lord.
* * *
The evening meal consisted of rehydrated food from the Magellan’s stores, but dessert was a parfait topped with different fresh fruits from the local area. The dinner reminded Hood of many of his visits to the mess hall on board the Orion, the ship he commanded before he took over the Armstrong. While they were eating, Hood offered his uncle and the colonists several containers of fresh supplies the Armstrong had carried from Earth. Many of the other colonists overhead Hood’s comment, and the rumors of a taste of home ran over the crowds at the tables like a wave.
After the meal concluded, Hood interfaced his data pad with the building’s in-house projection system. Jonathan quieted down the anxious crowd and introduced his nephew. As Hood began his talk, his opening visage of the EDF Armstrong caused a brief murmur among the crowd. There had been no warships at the time of their departure. Hood knew it would be an attention-grabber.
Hood began with a simple and brief overview that underscored the EDF’s desire to reach the worlds the Epherium ships had journeyed to—once their signal was recognized—but he brought them all back to the time when the three great colony ships blasted away toward the stars. Hood skimmed over the next few years after their departure, but knowing it might prove difficult to believe, he was up-front about the initial contact with the Cilik’ti and the resulting invasion. Hood’s description of Earth’s desperate struggle against the invaders left everyone captivated, but the pictures he displayed of several stations in ruin and the valiant battles EDF forces conducted against the Cilik’ti stirred many emotions among the crowd. In truth, the presentation set the stage well for what Hood had to tell them.
The Cilik’ti presented a clear and present danger, and the threat that the new colonies faced would be dire if the Cilik’ti discovered them. While Hood explained the rest of the details of the Armstrong’s mission, he noticed many in the crowd grew nervous. To curtail their fears, he exhibited an air of confidence and strength at each new point. The members of the Armstrong’s command crew sitting at the head table echoed his sentiments as he tried to paint a picture of a brighter future on this world. He concluded his talk and asked the colonists for questions. Several raised their hands, and Hood selected a young lady from a table to his left.
“The Cilik’ti, as you call them—do you know where they come from?” she asked.
Hood shook his head. “No. Their home world is unknown to us.” He started pacing. “Our contact with them to this point has only been in our own system. During the war, our base at Proxima was defended as a listening post, but there were no Cilik’ti movements against us there.” During the decade-long conflict, Hood had hoped for some intelligence that could point Earth in that direction, but there was nothing.
A man in the back stood and voiced another question over the crowd. “What do we know about them? Have we tried to communicate?”
Hood had prepared in advance for this sort of question. He selected a new group of images from his data pad and they came into view on the overhead screen. “Our communication with the Cilik’ti has been limited. All attempts to make contact at the beginning and during the war were returned with dead air. It was during the final days that they sent us a message. After years of studying the Cilik’ti we’re not sure if they possess a written language as we know it, but there are different symbols we’ve seen on vehicles and ships. If they’re names or numbers, we just don’t know. The experts back home believe the Cilik’ti use some form of telepathic communication, but that’s still just a theory.”
Hood changed the image again to show a mature adult Cilik’ti worker. “The Cilik’ti—like us—require oxygen and water to survive, but they can sustain themselves in much thinner atmospheres and their external carapace allows them to operate in space or extreme environments for short periods of time.” He gestured up toward the image on the screen. “Their race consists of at least two different forms. The image above is that of Cilik’ti worker. The other form you’ve already seen is a warrior class. The warriors are the larger of the two and have two longer appendages from their upper torso. The workers have two sets of arms there, but are much smaller and are suited for more menial tasks. Since the Cilik’ti are an advanced race of insect-like creatures, we assumed they might be hive-minded, but their actions are independent and that has since been ruled out.”
The man thanked Hood for the answer and took his seat. Hood scanned the crowd again and pointed to an older gentleman in the second row of center tables.
“Why just you? Why not send a fleet of ships to defend us?” the man asked.
Hood nodded. “Excellent question. Command is still uncertain of the Cilik’ti motives, and a large fleet might have been seen as a provocation. The new Dreadnaughts like the Armstrong are the best ships capable of defending themselves against Cilik’ti aggression.” He called up an image of the Armstrong again. “The Armstrong is the third Dreadnaught to be put into service and there are plans for at least five more. The Shepherd is still under construction and not scheduled to be ready for several months. As a defensive precaution, ED
F Command has held our other resources back in strategic locations near our bases until we have completed our mission here.”
Caris spoke up from behind him and posed a quick question. “What about our families and friends back home? How soon can we contact them?”
Hood knew where that question was going and headed it off fast. “Due to the sensitive nature of the beacons, all communication traffic has been restricted until it can be determined there’s no perceived threat from the Cilik’ti.” He took a deep breath. “I know many of you are desperate to contact someone back home, but my crew is under the same restriction. Once we’ve verified that the system is secure, we can establish a lifeline of ships and communications back home.”
The room filled with whispering as the colonists huddled together in several conversations. Hood was about to take a seat when one of the colony’s medical staff, a young blonde nurse, posed another question. “Captain, I noticed the wounds on some of our soldiers in your pictures. They look like something took a bite out of them. Do the Cilik’ti consider us food?”
“No. Absolutely not,” Hood answered with a firm tone. Being threatened with annihilation was one thing, but if they got the impression they might be devoured as well, it was sure to cause mass panic.
The nurse pointed toward Major McGregor. “You’re a Marine. Have you seen the Cilik’ti try to eat humans?”
McGregor’s face was like stone and he pretended not to notice the question, but Hood nodded and encouraged him to answer. “Aye. I’ve seen those things,” McGregor said through gritted teeth. “On Mars especially.”
The murmuring in the crowd began to intensify, and Hood could see the looks on everyone’s faces. If panic started, they’d have already lost. Hood raised his arms to quell the crowd, but whatever control he had gained was gone.