Deep Space Dead

by Chilvers, Edward

  There were loud cheers when Jak returned. Both Council and colonist greeted him back as a hero. Hari Shorr was nowhere is sight. But there was a price to be paid for the momentary triumph. “There is not enough juice left for another shot,” said Jared Brynce with a shake of his head. “That sort of thrust would ordinarily only be used for taking off. Give us a couple of days and we might try again.”

  That evening more revenants appeared to fill the gaps. They tramped over the bodies of their fallen comrades, oblivious to the still scorching ground. Still, the actions had been a huge boost to morale and had helped tip the balance of power towards the Council.

  That same evening the Council compounded its triumph by announcing the discovery of the Suki II and the subsequent expedition. Sol travelled down to the arboretum to make the announcement in person, lapping up the cheers of the assembled colonists. Meanwhile Jak viewed the astonishment on Hari Shorr’s face with satisfaction. The opposition leader had been completely thrown off balance by the Council’s revelation. “I estimate we will be away for a few days,” Jak told him afterwards.

  “You never told us this,” said Hari Shorr resentfully. “What else have you been keeping from us?”

  “You would have wanted is to set out straight away,” said Jak. “It is a habit with you to moan from the safety of the arboretum whilst we risk our lives for the ship.”

  Hari Shorr continued to complain bitterly but the momentum was with Jak and the rest of the Council. Still, he was not beaten yet. “I will go too,” declared Hari Shorr. “You call me a coward well I tell you I am as brave as the rest of them, have been made brave by my recent experiences, with the loss of my family. Yes, you will have to make space for me.”

  Jak shrugged. “As you wish.”

  The news was warmly welcomed throughout the ship but the general feeling was sceptical all the same. After so many setbacks the colonists had learned to be pessimistic as regards the promises of their leaders.

  17

  The following day showed a bright and sunny morning from the clear glass of the arboretum. Arianna and the others destined for the mission had been issued with a climate suit designed for surviving short bursts in space. It was the best they could come up with and Arianna was not at all sure how it was going to bear up to the freezing winds of the far north. Joining Arianna on the mission would be Prima Blak, Dr Palk and Hari Shorr. Sol had wanted to come but there simply wasn’t the space in the rover what with all the equipment they needed to take with them. In the end he reluctantly agreed to remain behind on the starship once more.

  As the rover rose up into the air Sol fired the missiles down the garbage chutes as a means of distraction and the watching colonists were once more greeted with the display of revenants being exploded into the air, for all the good it did. “I really hope this pays off,” said Jak guardedly as he peered down at the devastation. “We’re running short of explosives.”

  For a while the revenants attempted to follow them but were soon left behind as the rovers picked up speed. Once the revenants were out of sight and they were flying over the clouds the atmosphere relaxed somewhat and the mood gave way to excited chatter and speculation. Hari Shorr brooded silently for the most part. It was clear to Arianna he was still angry at having been left out of the disclosure and was looking for an opportunity to re-establish his power base.

  After a time the green plains gave way to tundra and mountains. Below the wind kicked up a snowstorm so that the ground below could not be seen. The rover began to rock back and forth with the turbulence. Arianna looked over towards Hari Shorr and saw how the faction leader had gone green. She looked at the radar screen and instructed Jak to slow down. “Here we are,” she said at last, when the rover had stopped seemingly in the middle of a sea of whirling crowds. Directly below the remains of the Suki.”

  As they descended the clouds appeared to part spontaneously. Arianna looked down upon an icy landscape. A permanent mist was descended over the ground as far as the eye could see, a mist that seemed to swirl and rage. Arianna realised it was a blizzard. She had never witnessed one so large before, and especially not from overhead. The rover descended downwards and back into the white chaos, came down slowly for the winds were harsh and terrible. Arianna thought she saw an outline of grey but it was gone before she could blink. Such was the chaos below Arianna could not even tell when they had landed. They might as well have been thousands of feet back up in the clouds.

  “So here we are,” said Jak cheerfully. “According to this data the Suki II is but a couple of hundred yards away.”

  The occupants of the rover turned and craned their heads but they could see nothing. “Are we really to go outside in all that?” Asked Hari Shorr with disdain.

  “You are more than welcome to remain here in the rover,” said Dr Palk with more than a little hope. “We should be back in around six hours.”

  “No chance,” muttered Hari Shorr.

  They had never known a cold like it. Even in their protective suits the wind almost swept them off their feet. Arianna imagined the blood in her fingers was starting to freeze. The snow lashed their faces and they were was forced to bend low in the face of the wind. The wind was so loud and brutal that speech was impossible and the party were forced to communicate with hand gestures. They had been on the ground less than a minute and already this was the coldest she had ever been. At one point Arianna was almost blown off her feet and she was forced to bend herself almost horizontal to proceed. The walk took a long time and it seemed much longer thanks to the biting cold, something none of them had ever experienced before.

  Jak beckoned them all forwards and they proceeded slowly.

  Arianna squeezed her hand around the data stick and looked down, squinting her eyes for the blizzard made it almost impossible to see. According to the tracking device they were right on top of the thing. Arianna felt a surge of dread, remembering what Prima Blak had said about the vessel being buried beneath several hundred feet of ice. She put the device back in her belt and stretched out her hands which connected with something solid. Arianna stopped short. She felt a hand upon her shoulder. It was Jak. He was feeling it too. “This is it!” Cried Jak, placing his mouth really close to her ear and shouting as loudly as he could. “The Suki II!”

  “But what sort of state is it in?” Shouted back Arianna. “For all we know we might be feeling one of thousands of busted pieces of shrapnel.”

  Arianna looked up and all around her. All she could see was the grey metal of the immediate vicinity. The five of them bunched together so as not to lose one another in the blizzard and began to feel around the vessel for an entrance. Arianna bumped against something solid and when she looked up she could just about see well enough to discern steps. She alerted the others and they began to climb, stopping at a heavy steel door which blocked any further progress. Prima Blak stepped forwards closely followed by Jak who was already taking the laser cutter from his back. The door was made of a heavy thick steel and even with the powerful cutter would take hours to break through and yet no sooner had Prima Blak placed her hands upon the door than it mysteriously swung open as if activated from a switch within, causing the others to leap back in surprise. Arianna and the others shone their flashlight into the dark corridor within, seeing only a network of pipes stretching off into the blackness. “Be careful,” cautioned Dr Palk. “Remember we think the cause of the revenants to be the survivors of the original colonial mission. If this is true then that place marks the epicentre.”

  The starship was vast and desolate. It was an eerie feeling Being inside it. Cold steel walls and pipes led off into the distance. Arianna wasn’t sure what she had expected. She wondered whether this was how it had always been or whether the aesthetics had somehow been stripped away at an earlier point in time. Either way it was a veritable dinosaur of a craft, she thought to herself. Even though the ship offered their only hope of salvation her historian’s mind could not help but remark upon its value as an art
efact. The starship was vast, far larger than the Tula IV. “Still too cramped for fifty thousand people,” said Arianna knowledgeably, when they were inside the narrow corridor. “From what I’ve read about those things the journey was pretty hellish; a lot of people even opted to go into stasis for the duration of the voyage.”

  “And what about for us?” Asked Jak. “For the five thousand people we have?”

  “If it is still intact it’ll be a positive luxury,” said Arianna, unable to suppress a smile.

  Hari Shorr moved forwards arrogantly. He wanted to establish himself as a leader although his face and general demeanour gave away his uncertainty and apprehension. Arianna trailed behind, the flashlight lingering over the walls, trying to soak up every detail. It was strangely warm in the craft. Arianna wondered whether this was because it had been so bitterly cold outside, whether this was the way her body adjusted. She almost imagined she could feel the heat coming off the walls.

  “It is pristine!” Exclaimed Arianna.

  “Too pristine,” replied Prima Blak nervously. “Somebody has been looking after this place.”

  “These doors have been patched up, and recently,” said Jak.

  “Do you think it might be the revenants?” Asked Prima Blak nervously. “After all, we have barely considered they might be here. Our instruments didn’t detect them when we were coming into land, certainly, but this does not mean they won’t rise up through the bowels of the earth again like when you and Arianna went food hunting the other day.”

  “If they are on their way they will take a lot longer to get here from the starship than before,” said Jak, trying to sound reassuring. “The terrain is far rougher and there are no caves located around. I checked it out before we set off. This time we really should have a good few hours before they attack.”

  “You’re right,” said Prima Blak, and she sounded more cheerful now. “We should concentrate on exploring this vessel, see what we might find.”

  Still keeping close together the group came to a flight of steps leading upwards. Jak led the way, closely followed by the others. Upon stepping out on to the next level a series of lights suddenly flicked on to light up the corridor. Arianna and the others gave a start. “Keep calm,” said Jak when the initial shock had subsided. “It doesn’t mean anything. Most likely an automatic mechanism.”

  “Still working after so long though?” Asked Arianna in wonderment.

  “I suppose the thing is a virtual fossil,” put in Prima Blak. “Anything would be in such an isolated spot.”

  “Just look at this place,” breathed Dr Palk. He pointed. The corridor stretched off into the distance, its walls and ceilings an endless, almost unbearable white. Here and there were doors to the side. Arianna cautiously stepped forwards and pushed one of them open. The lights automatically flickered on. Inside was a small, neat and perfectly furnished bedroom complete with shower room and bath to the side. The sheets seemed new and fresh and there was not a patch of decay anywhere to be seen. “Absolutely pristine!” Exclaimed Dr Palk, coming to stand in the room beside Arianna. A quick inspection of the other doors soon revealed them to be similarly well furnished bedrooms. “Something is wrong,” said Arianna warily. “Why are all the rooms so clean? Why have they been stripped bare of any personal effects? Why if people had lived her, and left in a hurry would there not still be traces of them somewhere? Personal effects or something like that?”

  “Perhaps these were overspill rooms that were never used?” Suggested Jak. “We should keep searching the rest of the ship before making any more snap judgements.”

  The group walked to the far end of the corridor and tried the door. It was shut tight. Arianna looked around at Jak. “What should we do now?” She asked him.

  “We could try and break through it but I’d be reluctant to do that right now,” replied the ranger. “Not with everything looking as good as it does. Best we turn around, try and find a way around.”

  “You mean we leave and try to find another entrance?” Asked Hari Shorr uncertainly. “Back into that blizzard outside?”

  “Indeed so,” replied Jak, clearly not relishing the prospect. “This door appears to be the only way through.”

  All of a sudden there came a loud crackling noise. It sounded like the static of the radio, was very loud and echoed off the otherwise silent walls of the corridor. The noise caused Arianna and the others to almost fall off their feet with shock. “What the heck was that?” Demanded Hari Shorr fearfully.

  “It sounded like a radio,” said Arianna. “Like static. Or it may have been the movement of the snow outside.”

  “I felt no movement,” said Dr Palk cautiously. He looked about him. “Up there!” He said at last, pointing to what appeared to be intercom speakers nestled high in the ceiling.

  “Most likely nothing,” said Jak, although he sounded less than convinced. “After all, the lights still work so why should the speakers not be going as well? Most likely still on somewhere.”

  “But after all this time?” Asked Arianna, for what seemed like the tenth time.

  The five of them made their way back the way they had come, to the main door of the starship which led back outside. None of them were relishing the biting cold of the polar winds but in the event this was the least of their worries for the doors to the starship were now closed shut. “What could have happened?” Demanded Jak as he pressed his full weight against the door. “I swear we left them open.”

  “Must have pushed shut in the wind,” said Dr Palk, coming up to examine the hinges.

  “You mean we’re trapped in here?” Demanded Hari Shorr in alarm.”

  “Not quite,” replied Jak. “It will take a while but we should be able to drill our way out of here although I’d rather not. We should try and find another way through.”

  They turned to leave but at that moment the intercom above crackled again and a low pitched, guttural voice wavered over the ancient equipment. “There is no other way out,” boomed the voice. “And only one true path left open to you strangers, and that is the path that is lit up. You are perfectly safe. No harm will come to you.”

  Arianna and the others spun around, looking this way and that, all too stunned to speak. Dr Palk was the first to regain his composure. “Who are you?” He demanded in a clear voice, talking up at the speakers on the ceilings. “What is the meaning of this?”

  There was no reply.

  “How can somebody still be alive down here?” Demanded Hari Shorr desperately.

  “Perhaps it is the computer system,” suggested Jak. “Perhaps it has somehow kept the ship in working order all these years.”

  “Impossible,” said Arianna. “The artificial intelligence was nowhere so advanced five thousand years ago.”

  “No use speculating,” said Jak. “If we’re not going to be able to get out of here I don’t see we’ve got much choice other than to do as we’re told.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Spluttered Hari Shorr haughtily.

  “Not much we can do except to follow the voice as he commands us,” replied Jak stoically.

  “And how do we know the voice isn’t just going to lead us straight into a den of revenants?”

  “We don’t,” replied Jak. “But the ship is completely closed off to us and by the looks of what we have seen so far whoever that voice belongs to is in complete control.”

  “So we’re basically at their mercy?” Asked Arianna.

  “So it would seem,” sighed Jak. “But on the plus side they haven’t killed us yet.”

  “Who are they?” Demanded Hari Shorr. “Why they can only be colonists, survivors of the attack on Griumium who somehow made their way here and sought sanctuary in the ship.”

  “Very doubtful,” remarked Arianna. “Most likely they are the survivors of the first expedition; descendants of the original occupants of this very starship.”

  “Whatever they are they have boxed us into a corner,” said Dr Palk warily. “And now we ar
e their prisoners. I suppose it is all we can do to follow the path they have lain out for us and see what exactly they have store.”

  As they walked doors opened before them. They climbed several staircases and came out into a larger, more spacious corridor not dissimilar to the main street on the Tula IV. For Arianna it was like stepping into an ancient crypt. The walls appeared so much more jagged and brutal but in other ways nothing had changed. They rounded the corner, stopped and gasped. Before them stood a jungle in the middle of the spaceship, a veritable tangle of over a hundred acres of foliage and plant life; gnarled bark and twisted trees left to grow wild and stretching all the way to the ceiling of the great glass dome before them. “The arboretum!” Exclaimed Arianna in wonderment.