by Doug Goodman
Of course, this was all Plan A. Plan B toured fewer sites and returned the crew back into the Hab module by 1500 hours. Plan A was based on good adaptation to the planet after years in a spaceship, which is why every crewmember had to pass certain physical and psychological tests that morning before the crew committed to either plan. Plan B was shorter because it embraced the potential realities of returning onto a planet. Emily reminded the crew that Plan B was the more likely scenario, and she would make the call at lunch.
Outside, Anna saw C.C. packing a borer and several small sample collection boxes in his DSMU.
“Emily said no collection.”
“Emily is NASA. We are Titan Space. And besides, I always come prepared. You never know when an opportunity might arise.”
Anna included a few boxes for collecting samples, too. She told herself it was only for things that blew her mind away as so spectacular, she had to analyze it that night in the lab module.
Cole found Emily at the ISRU Station. Getting to 51 Golgotha was only half the problem. The other half was living on a hostile planet and then, years later, being able to leave the hostile planet. Both required energy, and since there wasn’t a gas station for a few trillion kilometers, the best thing to do was make their own fuel using the resources available to them. While Anna would’ve loved to try making her own bio-fuel, NASA had a tried-and-true technology called the In-Situ Resource Utilization Station, which was a fancy term for superheating the dirt until the atoms split into gas atoms like hydrogen and oxygen. The solids were replaced into the ground, and the gas components were stored in giant tanks and pumped into the Ascent Vehicle for fuel.
Cole came up behind Emily and kissed her on the nape of her neck. She shivered and turned on him. “Ooh, you know you shouldn’t do that,” she said, a smile playing on her lips.
“You ready to go?”
“Sure. I was just—”
“Checking the ISRU Station’s metrics, even though you reviewed them from the Anchor yesterday, and the week before yesterday.”
“I’m the commander. I need to verify that everything is working as it should.”
“You’re nervous.”
“Being thorough does not equate to nervousness.”
“Yeah, but for you, it does. I’ve seen you walk into a room full of senators and argue why the change of crewmember personnel wouldn’t affect the mission timeline.”
“Well, I really liked the new crewmember,” she said softly, kissing him.
Cole kissed her back, then said, “My point is, twenty minutes before the meeting, you weren’t reviewing politician cheat sheets to help you win the argument. You didn’t need to review them. You knew everything you needed to know. You only start checking things out at the last minute when something is under your skin. So what’s eating you up, buttercup?”
“One, you know I don’t like that word. Two, I’ve got a feeling.” She pushed away from him while speaking.
“Oh, no,” Cole said with all the weight of here it comes again.
“The last time I had a feeling, my trainer crashed. I had to parachute out.”
“I know. You scared me half to death.”
“And then the other time I had a bad feeling—”
“You don’t need to tell me about that one. I know it, you know it, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay, okay. We don’t have to go there. I was just trying to win the argument.”
“Which you always do.”
“Not every time. Every once in a while I throw you a bone to make you feel like you’re winning.”
Cole crossed his arms.
“I just have a feeling, Cole. I want you to do something for me. When we get to Ximortikrim, don’t try anything.”
“Who? Me?”
“You know what I mean. You are a Nervous Nancy until you get into something, and then you dig into it like a tick, and nobody can get you out.”
Cole chuckled. “A tick? Me? Don’t worry. I won’t be a tick.”
“Thank you.” But as they walked back to the Hab, Emily couldn’t shake her anxiety.
7
By 0730, the eager crew left the Hab module. The distance was too far for the OGRA bipedal robots to follow, so they stayed behind and waved at the monstrous DSMUs stomping off into the jungle mountains. This was the reason NASA chose DSMUs over rovers. Even the sturdiest Jeep rovers lacked the reliability of the DSMUs in crossing the steep mountainous terrain that was covered in thick, cordy vines.
The DSMUs jostled up the side of the gray-rocked mountain. The course had been plotted before the mission ever left Earth. Very little input was required from the astronauts while the DSMUs moved up and over the mountain.
The low gravity caused for some of the most dramatic mountain peaks they had ever seen. Long barbs, like the spires of giant churches, rose from the top of the mountain. They were a spine along the mountain’s backbone. Between the peaks, the crew stopped to survey the area: where they had come and their destination. Across the land, a heavy mist soaked into the jungles.
To the south lay the Hab module, nestled in jungle lowland trees. The tall Ascent Vehicle’s upper rocket and crew compartment towered over the jungle canopy. North of them lay the giant wall of Ximortikrim and its twelve pyramids and alien aqueduct system. Only the very tops of the pyramids, wall, and aqueduct appeared. The rest lay submerged in fog.
After taking a moment to take in the view, the astronauts descended out of the mountain pass and back into the jungle.
A few minutes later, Mathieu asked Anna, “Why aren’t there any animals? It seems like a jungle would be full of them. It’s like something doesn’t want them to live.”
“There’s no evidence that evolution requires animals. Earth’s own evolution shows hundreds of millions of years of vegetation without any animals,” Anna said.
As if on command, Emily pulled back a curtain of vines. Half-submerged in the rock and vines lay a giant skull, at least the size of a two-story house. The skull appeared almost dinosaurian.
“I swear that looks like a dragon,” Anna said. “Look at those horns!”
The drones flying above slowed down to photograph the discovery.
While the others stood in awe, C.C. opened his DSMU and hopped out. “I’ve got to take a sample.” He grabbed his tools, turned on his green-lighting, and began ascending the skull.
“Wait. What are you doing with the sample containment boxes?” Emily asked. “This is supposed to be only a brief tour of the area and the artifacts.”
“Looks like it was a good thing I brought the box, Em.”
He ascended the skull and broke off a small piece with his borer. Using tweezers, he dropped the shard in the sample containment box and began carbon dating the supply using samples and techniques developed during the initial stages of the planet’s discovery.
Anna stepped out of her DSMU, and then the others followed her. Smiling with wonder, she placed her hands on the skull.
“The low gravity meant the creatures could grow to astounding proportions: heights and lengths that our largest animals could only dream of. This gargantuan is easily the largest extinct animal ever discovered. It positively dwarfs any sauropod found on Earth.”
“Jislaaik,” Mathieu said, staring up at the giant skull.
The others used little bumps and indentations in the skull to climb to the top of its dome where C.C. already stood staring off into the distance. His lights disappeared into the heavy fog.The wall stood before them, immense and foreboding, a measurement of the outsider.
C.C. looked at his wristband. “The results are in. This animal, which I will name ‘C.C.-asaurus Rex,’ is four thousand years old. Approximately the same age as the ruins.”
“So now we know what the wall was for,” Mathieu said.
“To keep the C.C.-asaurus out? I don’t think so,” Anna said.
“A, It’s ‘C.C.-asaurus Rex,’ and B, are you seeing the size of this thing?” C.C. said incredulously.
As resident cultural ambassador to the alien civilization, Cole said, “The assumption has always been warring civilizations. Granted, there is no hard evidence for warring factions. There are six civilization sites on 51 Golgotha, but they are all thousands of kilometers away from each other. I don’t think they were constantly engaging in war any more than the American colonies were warring with Polynesian tribes.”
“All good conversations,” Emily said, “but we have a schedule to keep, and I don’t want to get behind. Let’s move on.”
8
The black granite wall stood thirty meters tall and 6 meters thick at the base. Vines, moss, and lichens had taken up habitation in the walls. Mushrooms and toadstools grew out of several sections of rock.
C.C. put his DSMU in Follow Mode and climbed out of his compartment. He pressed his gloved hand on the wall. The rock was coarse.
“This wall is five times taller than the Great Wall of China,” C.C. said. “That makes it the largest wall in the history of civilization.”
“Our known history of civilization,” Cole corrected. He, too, had climbed out of his DSMU. The others followed suit.
“Right,” C.C. said perfunctorily. Then, “Can you imagine what it would have taken to shape, much less move, these rocks? They didn’t have bulldozers or carriers or anything, at least that we know. And somehow they built all this.”
Anna said, “The Great Wall of China was built for trade routes and foreign invaders, so it had turrets, cannons, and a way to move along the top of the wall. This wall has a few outposts, but nothing as grand as the Great Wall. Do you still think it was built to keep ancient monsters out?”
“Really big monsters, maybe,” Mathieu said.
“I’d hate to meet the giant ass creature this wall keeps out,” Cole said.
“Just one more mystery to solve. So many opportunities,” Anna said. “If I discover why this wall was built, I will put it in a paper, or better yet, my book, and for the rest of eternity, when people talk about this wall, they will talk about the research of Anna Altieri.”
“Anna Altieri, the vainglorious,” Cole said.
“It’s not about fame,” Anna said as she approached the gates. “It’s about immortality.”
“Well, trust me on this,” Mathieu said. “We’re all getting schools named after us. That goes with the job.”
Cole said, “A school? Screw that. I want a porn star to name his move after me. A special move he’d do called ‘The Musgrove.’”
“Hey,” Emily said. That was all she said, but it was enough. Even Cole understood it was time to shut up and soak in the atmosphere. There would be time for jokes later.
Mathieu finally broke the silence.
“I was wondering if we could take a moment,” he said. “This is the first time humans entered an alien civilization. I would like to say the Nicene Creed. You don’t have to join me, and if you want, I will join you in yours, but I would like to say it.”
Emily nodded. The others stopped and bowed their heads.
“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of the Heavens and the Earth, and all that is seen and unseen.”
As Anna joined Mathieu in reciting the Nicene Creed, Cole stared at the cypher over the broken gate. The language of the aliens was written like code, with few letters and many accents. The ancient cypher read, “If you need, you will be provided. If you take…” The last part of the cypher had been destroyed.
Cole looked at the civilization beyond the broken gates and into Ximortikrim. The pyramids were there, as were the answers to all their questions, he was sure of it. And humor aside, Mathieu was right. Whether or not they wanted it, this journey would bring them fame like they had never imagined.
Mathieu finished the rite, saying, “We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”
Emily looked at her clock. “We’re doing well on time. How is everyone feeling? Does anyone need a break? Does anybody feel weak in the legs or just an overall sense of fatigue? There’s no shame in it. That’s why the Plan B was developed.”
But if anyone felt any kind of fatigue, they weren’t admitting it.
9
Inside the walls, it was like the ground was salted or poisoned. Nothing grew. Corpses of Jedik-ikik lay fallen on the ground, strewn about as if stricken down by a sonic cannon.
“Resurrection City,” Anna said.
“The reason Titan Space was so eager to participate,” C.C. said as he dropped down and collected another sample. This time, Emily did not say anything. C.C. held up the containment box for Anna to see. “The potential answer to life after death.”
Emily led the group to their first stop of the grand tour of Ximortikrim: the Small Pyramid.
Like the wall and the other, smaller buildings, the Ximortikrim pyramids were composed of the same black granite. Unlike ancient Egyptian pyramids on Earth, the pyramids of homo-insectus were slim and conical, with one entrance at the bottom and two exits at the top. Early study of the pyramids determined these openings to be wind tunnels to reduce heat and humidity, and not entrances for flying homo-insectus. So far, there was no evidence that homo-insectus could fly or even had wings.
Four statues atop pillars guarded the pyramid. Each one was a little different, which had led many historians to believe that the statues were monuments to specific people. One carried a small half-cane in his hand. Another was stooped and staring at the ground pensively. He was known popularly as the “Squatter.” Much conjecture had been given to the spot on the ground where the alien stared because from that point spiraled out the stonework for the rest of the city. The giant spiral rotated outward until its stone path broke like a wave against the city’s outer wall. The artistry in each wave was amazing. The waves were perfectly lined up. Even if a line was interrupted by a building, on the far side of the building, the spiral would continue as if the building had been built around it. At the center of the spiral the group took a photo, as the alien statue watched them, half his face broken off due to the wearing of time.
The third statue was the most damaged. Only its feet remained on its pillar. The rest of the stone monument had toppled over. Its wide-spread arms were cracked and segmented. Its head was decapitated by some unseen sword. Luckily, the statue had fallen away from the pyramid.
The fourth statue drew as much interest as the Squatter. The “Pointer,” it was christened. A giant granite alien stood out front, one hand raised to the sky, pointing. Much speculation had been made of the statue’s purpose. Where was it pointing? Was it pointing at something specific? Dozens of simulations and recreations had failed to answer the question of where it was pointing and why, though people liked to believe hope and a promise of the future had something to do with it.
This pyramid was one of the reasons NASA agreed to the journey. Putting human beings on the ground and looking at the sky from the statue’s perspective, many argued, may solve the Puzzle of the Pointer, as it had come to be known.
Standing behind the statue, though, Cole could not see why this statue was so important. Perhaps the Pointer was more interesting to them as outsiders than it had been to the Jedik-ikik? He would have to think on this during the expeditions.
The DSMUs, too tall to enter the pyramid, remained outside in standby mode while the astronauts explored inside.
“And remember,” Emily warned them, “We’ve got one hour in the pyramid, so don’t stray, and don’t collect.” She scowled at Anna and C.C., who tossed up his hands at her.
The first room was an antechamber, large enough for a crowd to gather. Old, rotted paintings adorned the walls. A string of alien hieroglyphs rounded the ceiling.
Mathieu reached out to one of the paintings.
“Don’
t touch them,” Cole said. “These artifacts are so fragile, they’ll probably fall apart if you touch them.”
The drones, however, filmed as much footage as they wanted.
A stone door lay open on the far side of the room, beckoning. Explorers all, they couldn’t resist the invitation.
The second room was long and narrow and dark. On either side stood rows of cabinets holding ancient paper scrolls and stone books. Cole read the small stone insert above the door: the Far-Seeing Room.
Cole saw another inscription. It was written in the wall. He went and gently wiped off the dust and dirt.
“What are you doing?” Emily chastised him.
Cole stood back and pointed. “It is the same phrase as was inscribed on the main gate. ‘If you need, you will be provided. If you take—’ The rest of the glyph is destroyed.”
“What do you make of it?” Anna asked.
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions,” Cole said. “But guys, I’m starting to think there was a revolution here. All the dead bodies, the toppled statues and the broken glyphs. It’s like somebody is trying to wipe out the history of this place.”
C.C. squatted down next to the cabinets. He brushed the dust off a wooden cube with stone inlays. The dust motes fluttered in the beams of his headlamps.
“Check this out,” he said. He brushed his hand over an insignia of a Jedik-ikik’s head. Below the head was a Jedik-ikik skull. He pushed against the head, and the insignia swiveled in a circle and came to a stop. “Does anybody know what to make of it?”
Cole brushed some more dust aside. Shallow hieroglyphs appeared in a circle around the insignia. “These are numbers. I think this is a combination lock. The Jedik-ikik culture is strongly connected to the dichotomies. So a way to say the opposite of something is to say the first thing, then say it backwards. This is like that. Say the first thing, life,” and he pointed to the head, “and then the opposite, death.”
“Anybody know any alien code breakers?” C.C. said, looking to Mathieu.
“I could take a look.”
“Later,” Emily said. “I feel like everybody’s mom. How many times do I have to say that this is just observation? There will be plenty of time to play with the toys, C.C.”