The Epherium Chronicles: Crucible

by T. D. Wilson

  The slope of the canyon mouth wasn’t steep until the last ten meters, but no one except Caris seemed to have a problem with footing on the damp canyon rock. His pack was jammed to the point of bursting with supplies, including specimen containers he insisted on bringing along. Caris stumbled twice before he reached the floor of the canyon, but with some help from two of the geology team members, he didn’t fall.

  Wells removed the jacket she’d worn earlier in the morning. The air in the canyon was musty and the temperature was warmer on the canyon floor compared to when they’d first entered. A thick layer of mist hung ten meters over their heads, which shielded their view of the top of the canyon some forty meters above them.

  The walls of the canyon were rich in colors, and Wells traced her hands along the smooth rocks. It reminded her of the landscapes near her family’s home in western Arizona. She wondered how long it had taken for this canyon to form and if there was a river here, where was it now? She remembered that underground rivers were said to permeate the area. She dropped to her knees, closed her eyes and placed her ear to the moist ground, intent on hearing the rushing of water beneath.

  Wells waited for the others in her group to walk around her and held her breath. Nothing. Disappointed, she sighed. As Wells opened her eyes, they drew down on the large dull yellow worm that was about to touch her nose. Startled, she pulled her head back and pulled her knees under her. She gazed at the little creature and it raised its head toward her.

  One of the nearby Marines stepped around her and almost onto the worm. He was stopped midstride by Caris. “Careful!” he yelled. “You’ll step on it.”

  The Marine shook his head and moved out of the way. Caris didn’t even seem to notice. Instead, he set down his burdensome pack next to Wells’s legs and then dropped to his knees next to her.

  Without taking his eyes off the worm, Caris removed one of his specimen containers and a small pair of tongs from a pouch on his pack. He inched closer and examined it. “Well, well.” He turned and smiled at Wells. “My dear, you have made a remarkable find.” Caris reached out and scooped up the three-centimeter-long bug with the tongs. “From the protrusions on its underbelly and small mouth, I’d say we have some sort of larva. Most likely a form of caterpillar.” His hands trembled as he placed the caterpillar in the specimen container and sealed it.

  Wells studied the bug inside the container. The worm stretched out in futility as it tried to climb the side, searching for escape. “Do you think this could morph into a moth or butterfly, Doctor?”

  “It’s possible. We’ll get it back for further study. Keep a close eye and you may spot another one. Ah!” He pointed to the wall behind her. Several more of the caterpillars were moving under a small outcrop. He handed the specimen container in his hand to Wells and started to root another from his pack. Meanwhile, Hood and his uncle walked up beside her to view the caterpillar for themselves.

  “If he keeps this up, we’re never going to get there,” Jonathan said, shaking his head while he watched Caris collect another caterpillar.

  “Let him go,” Hood said with a smile. “Good to see that this trip has some added benefit. We’ll get there soon enough.”

  The next kilometer of their trek through the canyon was more of the same as Caris continued to collect several different versions of the yellow caterpillars, some of which had reached ten centimeters in length. Along the walls of the canyon, low-level ferns were in abundance and it was easy to see that the caterpillars had been feeding on them.

  Caris instructed Wells to search for any remnants of cocoons, but even in the secluded corners of the canyon walls, she could find no traces of them. Perhaps these bugs don’t have a similar metamorphosis state as the ones on Earth.

  On the other hand, the geologists in the last group were racking up the finds. Their handheld scanning and mineral survey gear had unlocked multitudes of precious metals and mineral deposits in the last half kilometer alone.

  Despite the new wildlife, Hood seemed more curious about what the geologists had discovered. Wells watched him meander back to the group of geologists and then followed him. “Any traces of pidium or neutronium?” he asked. She remembered Hood had instructed the Armstrong’s sensor teams to calibrate the geologists’ scanning gear for the two important elements. Pidium, discovered during the first encounter with the Cilik’ti, was a key component of many of the EDF’s power generators, enhanced weapons and their space-fold drives. Its unique properties had been used to amplify many existing designs to levels close to tenfold the original. On the other hand, the metallic mineral, neutronium, could be refined and crafted into super-strong alloys. The metal had been employed in different weapons systems over the years, but its primary application had been armor plating for ships and vehicles, while lighter weight versions were manufactured for Marine body armor.

  Both minerals shared a strange commonality. In more than ten thousand recorded finds, neither mineral had been discovered by itself; they were always together. Small deposits of the minerals were identified on Pluto and several of the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, but the biggest deposits had been unearthed on Mars. To many scientists’ surprise, only trace amounts had been detected on Earth, Venus or even in the mineral-rich asteroid belt.

  One of the geologists who had been studying her scanner adjusted the setting a few times and then turned it off. “Sorry, Captain. Our equipment hasn’t detected any traces. These elements are quite new to us. Perhaps there are specific conditions we need to configure the scanners for to locate potential deposits.” The geologist reactivated her scanner and showed it to Hood. “The good news is that about thirty meters into this wall is a titanium deposit that would make any self-respecting mineral executive jump for joy. It’s the biggest I’ve seen so far on this planet.”

  Hood appeared disappointed and Wells couldn’t understand why. The mission was to determine if this planet was suitable for colonization. Even though those two elements were important to the EDF, they weren’t required for a colony to thrive. She wanted to ask him about it while they walked back to rejoin their group, but Caris came running over and thrust a new specimen he had collected into her face. Seeing the innocent smile on his face that asked if she wanted to help collect more, Wells accepted the jar and joined Caris in his search.

  * * *

  Hood rejoined the first group and noticed the point scout running toward them. “Sir, I’ve located their camp. I count about twenty colonists and no sign of any trouble. Their rover is right around the bend here next to a female colonist.” He pointed to Jonathan. “Sir, I think it’s your wife. I recognized her from the pictures at the Magellan campsite.”

  The good news seemed to give McGregor’s men pause, and the groups moved closer together. As they rounded the bend, Hood found the rover the Marine scout had mentioned just ten meters away. Looking past the rover, Hood caught sight of a raven-haired woman in a tan jumpsuit sitting on a large rock. Hood recognized Gina Atkins’s short hair and lean frame, but she wasn’t Gina Atkins anymore. It was Gina Hood, his aunt, and like his uncle, she appeared the same as the day they’d left Earth twenty-five years ago.

  As the group reached the rover, Gina turned her head and caught sight of them. Her face beamed when she saw Jonathan, but she didn’t speak. Instead Gina pressed her finger to her lips and then gestured for the rest of the group to say where they were. Jonathan made sure everyone understood and stopped to watch Gina.

  Gina grabbed a large leather pouch from her side and opened it. Almost bursting from the inside of the pouch were several of the yellow caterpillars Caris had been collecting in the canyon. Gina stepped off the rock and walked to another brown-and-yellow striped rock about five meters in front of her. Gina poured the caterpillars in a wide pile on the ground next to the rock and then moved back to where she’d been sitting.

  Jonathan appeared confused and he glanced to both
Hood and Caris for some idea what was happening, but both just shrugged. Jonathan crept around the rover to get a better look when the brown-and-yellow rock shifted. Then, it moved. The rock moved!

  Hood could hear several of the Marines readying their weapons, but he and McGregor signaled them to stand down. Everyone watched as the rock began to sink beneath the ground and then surged upward. Even in the dim light, Hood could see an opening he assumed was a mouth glide over the caterpillars and then close when the last one entered. As the rock creature moved forward, its mouth sank beneath the shifting ground, and more of the creature rolled upward like a wave.

  Gina stood back up from her seat and crept over to the side of the creature as it moved. Kneeling beside it, she let her hand pass along its back. The creature stopped and shimmied back and forth, almost if her light touch tickled it, like it would a dog or cat. “Good boy, Max. Good. Enjoy your snack,” Gina told it. “I’ll see you later.”

  Hood stood speechless while the remainder of the twenty-meter-long creature disappeared under the ground without making a sound. The two Marines standing beside him approached the rock with caution and inspected the ground where the creature had disappeared.

  “Gina, what in the world? What...what...what was that thing?” Jonathan stammered.

  Gina ran over to her husband and hugged him tight. “Honey, so glad you made it!” She looked up at his still-stunned face and tapped him on the cheek to get his attention. “Jon, are you okay?”

  He didn’t answer.

  Gina scanned the rest of the Marines and then waved at the team of geologists who, like Jonathan, couldn’t believe what they’d just seen. “Caris, who are all these other people?”

  Caris dropped his backpack to the ground. “That, my dear, is as interesting a question as what your husband just asked you.”

  Hood saw the scowl on Gina’s face grow from the lack of answers, but it faded when she noticed him in his uniform. She took a few steps closer to get a better look. Gina’s eyes grew wide when she read his name insignia and shot to his face. “Jimmy?”

  Hood smiled at her. “Hello, Gina. Good to see you again.”

  “Oh my God!” she screamed and almost tackled him, but Hood’s last-second back step braced him and kept them both from falling over. Her thin arms tightened around Hood’s midsection in a gracious hug.

  Hood looked over at his uncle as Gina buried her head in his chest. Hood started to return the hug but Gina pulled back from her nephew and gazed up at his face with eyes filled with tears of joy. “When did you get here? Hell with that. How did you get here?”

  “Big new ship, Gina,” Jonathan explained. “James has told us all about it, but we haven’t been up there to see it yet.”

  “Earth picked up the colony’s beacon, and we came out to check on you. We arrived a few days ago,” Hood said. He motioned toward the spot where the rock creature had vanished. “What’s going on out here?”

  Gina wiped the tears from her eyes, ambled over to her husband’s side and punched him hard in his shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me James was here?”

  Jonathan grimaced and rubbed his shoulder. “Honey, we’ve been trying to reach you for days. We just got a new signal from you this morning.”

  Gina appeared confused. “That’s odd. Jillian and I have made regular daily reports back to base. We informed the comms officer of our progress, about Max, everything.” She walked over to the rover, removed the portable comm unit and handed it to Jonathan.

  Hood took the comm unit and then motioned toward McGregor, who pulled his communications specialist aside. “We’ll investigate the comms problem. In the meantime, I’d like to hear what you’ve found. The signal we received this morning said you had something we had to see.” He walked over to where the rock creature had been and scooped up some of the loose dirt in his hands. “What was that thing?”

  Gina grabbed Jonathan’s hand and led him over to where Hood was kneeling. “That thing was Max.”

  Caris joined the group with specimen containers in hand. “From what I saw, Gina, your discovery could be reptilian in nature, but it moved through the ground so easily.” He collected some of the dirt where the creature had passed. “Were you able to get any scans? I have to see the data.”

  “I’ve made several in-depth scans of Max since I found him four days ago, but all my data is back in my bunk. Come on, I’ll take you.”

  Caris and the rest of the group gathered their equipment as Hood and Wells followed Gina and Jonathan toward a narrow section of the canyon that led to the campsite. “If Max could move so freely underground, how did you find him?” Hood asked.

  “Well, I was collecting soil samples just around the bend back there. I’d been digging all morning and sat down on a rock to take a breather.” Gina leaned into Jonathan and chuckled. “Only it wasn’t a rock.”

  “Always knew we’d find alien life of some sort out here,” Jonathan told his nephew. “I just haven’t adjusted to how alien it really is.”

  “I know,” Gina agreed. “After I found him, I was surprised how much Max wasn’t afraid of me. I noticed him a few more times that same day just cresting the surface of the ground watching me. Once, I saw him eating some of those yellow caterpillars, so I gathered some of them as a little gift and he came right up to me. Those bugs are all over this canyon, so this must be a hunting ground for him.”

  “Max?” Jonathan asked with a frown.

  Gina rolled her eyes. “Max was my cat back on Earth before we left. I entrusted him to my parents the day before our launch. But now, after spending a few days out here with my new friend, I gave him the name. It’s a good fit, I think.”

  “Never liked that cat,” Jonathan grumbled.

  “No,” Gina corrected him, “he didn’t like you. The name stays.”

  “Fine.”

  Hood cleared his throat to hide his laughter at his aunt and uncle. “Well, it does seem friendly. How does it move like that?” he asked. “Is it similar to a worm?”

  “Max’s biology is incredible. I don’t understand everything yet, but he’s not a mammal or a reptile. Knowing the people back at the main camp, the final determination will come after serious debate, but for now I’ve classified him as a land whale.”

  “A land whale?” Hood skepticism had returned.

  “Yes. I believe that’s a fair classification,” Gina explained. “One of Caris’s friends is a marine biologist who taught some of my postdoctoral classes. A great deal of Max’s characteristics can be mapped to those of whales back on Earth. For instance, he uses sound waves to detect food and communicate, much like whale song.” Gina turned around to check on Caris, who was now jogging with his pack to catch up to them. He had to stop to catch his breath, but he waved them on. “I know I’m not one of the research team leads, but I think Caris will be rather impressed with what data I’ve collected regarding Max.”

  The camp was just coming into view when Hood noticed Gina twist around him and wave at Lieutenant Wells. “Hello,” she introduced herself. “Gina Hood. Nice to meet you.”

  Hood stopped and let the two women come together.

  “Likewise,” Wells said. “Lieutenant Juanita Wells. I’m the Armstrong’s communications officer.”

  Gina perused the mission team. “What’s a comm officer doing with this group?”

  Hood was about to answer, but Wells beat him to it. “I would love to say they’re all escorting me, but Captain Hood requested I come along,” she began. “I’m a linguistics and dead language expert. Your husband told us the site has a potential archaeological find, so they asked me to come along and see if I could help.” She moved closer to Gina. “I’m actually kind of bummed your big discovery is an animal. I was looking forward to finding some lost civilization or sentient life sign.”

  Hood noticed the confused look
on Gina’s face after Wells’s explanation. She moved in front of Hood and his uncle and held her hands up in front of their chests to stop them from walking any farther. “Max is remarkable. But he wasn’t what we signaled you about. What Jillian discovered in the caves up here is far more important.” Gina’s face flushed. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I’ll let Jillian show you. You won’t believe your eyes.”

  Gina called to some of the camp members ahead. Several came rushing out toward the group and provided everyone with a warm greeting. Gina introduced the members from the Armstrong to her team, and everyone moved into the campsite that was shaded by a large outcropping of the canyon wall overhead.

  Two of the camp research team helped Caris with his pack, which he almost dropped, along with all of his collected specimens. “Gina, where’s Commander Howard? I’m surprised she didn’t come out to meet us.”

  One of the camp’s team members, a rather portly man with a scraggly beard, spoke up. “Oh, she’s still in the caves. I’ll let her know you’re here.” The man jogged out of the camp and pulled back a large fern, revealing a portion of a wide cave mouth in the canyon wall. He moved around the fern and disappeared inside.

  A few moments later, the man returned, followed by Jillian. As she appeared, Hood felt his heart start to race. Jillian’s long strawberry blonde hair was tied back in a flowing ponytail and she wore the same tan jumpsuit as Gina’s, except that wasn’t how he saw her. To Hood, she had on the loose flight jacket, T-shirt and jeans she wore back on Earth. His hands started to shake. He was nervous and he was sweating. He could feel it start to form on his forehead and inside his uniform. The woman he’d crushed on as a boy, the model he compared all the other love interests in his life, was coming toward him. She was the same as he remembered. It was as if she’d never left.