Stranded (A stand-alone SF thriller) (The Prometheus Project Book 3)

by Richards, Douglas E

  Regan was about to reply, but Ryan jumped in first. “As much as I would love to listen to this same old argument forever,” he said sarcastically to his mother beside him, “I’d kind of like to know why you took us out early.”

  His mother nodded, glad for a change of topic. “Because it’s Friday and we need to get a jump on things,” she replied, turning onto a road that cut through the heart of a woods, one that had only recently been paved. “I know you and your sister have been dying to see the Enigma Cube,” she continued. “Well, your father has finally decided that being in the same room with it is safe. As long as you don’t get so close that you might accidentally touch it. So this is your chance.”

  “Awesome,” said Ryan happily.

  The team had discovered the bizarre cube a few months earlier, but their father was terrified of it. He didn’t know what it was, but his instincts told him that it had the potential to be the most dangerous alien object they had yet discovered.

  “I’ll take you there once we’re inside Prometheus,” said Mrs. Resnick. “But there’s no time to waste. At 1:00 your father and I are leading a group off-planet, with plans to stay for the weekend.”

  Ryan and Regan had discovered a small building inside Prometheus that served as a galactic zoo. Small though it was, it contained numerous doors, or portals, that each led to a different primitive planet. The kids had learned that the Qwervy only allowed visitors on planets that didn’t contain intelligent life. Force-field barriers, similar to the shield that surrounded Prometheus but far smaller, completely surrounded the portal entrances on each planet. These served to protect visitors from dangerous animals, but a tram could be used to cross the force-fields to explore.

  “So is Grandma coming to stay with us this weekend?” said Ryan in disappointment. He loved his grandmother, but if she was taking care of them they couldn’t spend any time inside the city since she wasn’t in on the secret.

  “Nope,” said Mrs. Resnick cheerfully, having hoped they would jump to this conclusion so she could surprise them. “Actually”—she glanced at her unsuspecting kids and raised her eyebrows—“we’ve decided to let you come with us.”

  “Really?” said Regan excitedly, immediately forgetting all about the injustice of not having a cell phone. She and Ryan were always pushing to go on extended field-trips to other planets, but their parents had only ever let them go off-planet for four or five hours at a time, and only while heavily supervised.

  “I wouldn’t kid you about something like that.”

  “Fantastic!” said Ryan. “Thanks, Mom.” He scratched his head in confusion. “But I don’t get it. Why didn’t you tell us about this before we left for school?”

  “We had planned to leave tomorrow, and we were going to surprise you with the news tonight.”

  “So what changed?” asked Regan.

  “When we got here this morning and began to think about everything we wanted to accomplish on the trip, we realized we needed more time. By leaving just after lunch we’ll give ourselves an entire extra day.”

  “Great!” said Regan. “The longer we have the better. So what planet are we going to?”

  “Isis.”

  Regan tilted her head in thought. “Isis? Isn’t that the planet where Carl was almost killed by a native animal?” she asked. Colonel Carl Sharp was the head of Prometheus security and someone with whom the kids had become very close.

  Her mom hesitated and then blew out a long breath. “That’s the one,” she replied finally, and while she said it in a casual tone suggesting this didn’t trouble her, the haunted look in her eye communicated something very different.

  “So what did happen to Carl anyway?” asked Regan, now more intrigued than ever. “You never really told us. All you would ever say was that he had a close call.”

  Mrs. Resnick hesitated as she struggled to decide just how to answer this question. “Well, it’s not a pretty story,” she said finally. “But I suppose if you’re going to be on Isis you have a right to be told,” she added, clearly not happy about it.

  There was a long silence in the car.

  “Well?” prompted Ryan. “Are you going to tell us?”

  “Yes, Ryan. I was just trying to decide where to begin.” His mother sighed. “First, let me give you some background on the planet. We started studying it about six months ago. Isis has been shaped by numerous active volcanoes; with regions of lush rainforest right next to barren areas littered with lava rock. Very much like Hawaii.”

  They were now driving under a thick canopy of autumn leaves that extended over the road: leaves that had changed into a beautiful assortment of colors but had not yet begun to fall.

  “The planet is teeming with animal life. Most of the species are either mammal-like or reptile-like, and while many of them are strikingly different from anything on Earth, they tend to share many general similarities with our animal life. Two or four legs. Same general body structures. A dozen different types of light-sensing organs, mostly in the form of simple or compound eyes. Numerous styles of mouths, claws, tentacles, ears, fur, scales, what have you. With one notable exception: we couldn’t find evidence of an olfactory sense.”

  Regan wrinkled her forehead in thought. She remembered olfactory meant smell. “You mean none of them have noses?”

  “Well, many of them don’t. Some have noses that serve as a second breathing passage. But we’re pretty sure they can’t smell anything with them. We went right up to some of the species—the ones with noses—and opened vials of everything from onion to concentrated skunk spray. Nothing. We didn’t try it with the ones that didn’t have noses. Perhaps some of these can smell with their tongues like snakes, or through some other mechanism. But it’s also very possible that the sense of smell just never evolved anywhere on the planet.”

  “How can that be?” asked Ryan. “Doesn’t that make it tougher for them to survive?”

  “You would think so, but apparently not. A dog can sense an odor at concentrations millions of times lower than a human can. So compared to a dog, we don’t have a sense of smell. And a dog’s hearing is far better than ours as well. Every species has their own set of senses that works for them. If an animal on Isis had a combination of senses that left them at too much of a disadvantage, they would have gone extinct. Evolution can be cruel.”

  Regan was fascinated by evolution and had recently made the decision to become a biologist like her mother. Evolution didn’t explain everything about Earth’s biosphere, but it was astonishingly simple and did explain a lot. If, because of a mutation, an animal was lucky enough to be born with a trait that would help it survive—like better eyesight or greater strength—it would live to pass this trait on to its offspring. If it was unlucky enough to be born with a trait that hampered its survival, it would not live long enough to pass it on. Cruel indeed, but also awesomely powerful in perfecting a hawk’s vision or a cheetah’s speed.

  “We have five senses,” continued Mrs. Resnick. “Taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch. I wouldn’t be—”

  “What about the sixth sense?” interrupted Ryan impishly. “Seeing dead people.”

  “Very funny, Ryan,” said his mom.

  “I don’t get it?” said Regan.

  “That’s because you’ve never seen the movie,” said Ryan. “I guess you have to be old enough to own a cell phone,” he teased.

  Regan leaned forward and punched her brother in the arm, which only made the grin on his face grow wider.

  “As I was about to say,” continued their mother, her tone serious once again, “I wouldn’t be surprised if the animals of Isis rely on other senses that we aren’t familiar with.”

  “Like what?” asked Regan.

  Mrs. Resnick shrugged. “It’s hard to know without further study. Bats use sound waves to locate objects and navigate. Sharks can sense electricity. Certain birds can sense the Earth’s magnetic field. We’ve discovered a number of animals on Pegasus Four that can sense radio waves. The
re are bound to be dozens of other senses we can’t even guess at. I suspect that during the early history of life on Isis, another sense that helped animals in their struggle to survive came along before smell, and this other sense was perfected at smell’s expense.”

  They arrived at the guardhouse just before the Proact parking lot and Mrs. Resnick stopped the car. A guard checked their badges and then waved them through.

  “I visited the planet several times with different groups of biologists,” continued their mother. “And a member or two of security as well, of course, as Carl insists whenever we go off-planet. The planet has more than its share of predators, so at first we took extreme precautions. We didn’t leave the tram, or if we did we took the portable force-field generator that your dad’s team developed.”

  Mrs. Resnick pulled into a reserved parking space and killed the engine. No one made any move to leave the car.

  “But the strangest thing happened,” she continued. “The wildlife ignored us. I mean completely. As if we didn’t exist. After a while we got comfortable walking among the most lethal predators without the slightest fear. We experimented and it soon became clear that they could see and hear us, they just didn’t care.”

  “That is weird,” said Ryan.

  “It still doesn’t make any sense to me. On every other planet we’ve visited the predators either hold their ground or try to attack us. And the prey animals run from us. It’s the most unusual thing I’ve ever experienced.” She shrugged. “Anyway, the last time we visited Isis was three months ago. Carl was providing security, and I took three other biologists, Bob Zubrin, Eric Morris, and Michelle Cooper.”

  Ryan’s eyes widened. The woman he knew as Michelle, who worked for his mom, was Michelle Cooper. Alyssa’s mother. Regan was right. He was an idiot.

  “Are you kidding me,” he complained to his sister. “Michelle is Alyssa’s mom! Why did it have to be her? She pretends to be nice but I get a strong feeling she hates my guts.”

  “She probably thinks kids shouldn’t be part of the team,” replied Regan. “She doesn’t like me, either. Then again,” she added with a laugh, “at least I don’t have a thing for her daughter.”

  Regan’s laugh interrupted her mother in mid sentence. “What’s so funny, Regan?” she said with an annoyed look on her face.

  “Uh … nothing. Sorry Mom. My mind wandered for a second. Can you repeat that?”

  “As I was saying,” continued Mrs. Resnick in a tone that made it clear she wasn’t happy about Regan failing to pay attention to a story she had asked to hear. “Once we arrived on Isis, we took a tram out about a mile from the portal. Eric and I began observing a powerful predator that looked like a combination between a bear and a T. Rex. Michelle took up a position lying on the ground to observe a two-legged creature, with a neck longer than a giraffe, rip fruit from a tall tree. She was surrounded by orange lava rocks and even had her feet resting on one of the larger ones. Carl was near Michelle, keeping an eye out for trouble.”

  Their mother had been relaxed while she spoke about the planet and its wildlife, but she was now visibly tense. She swallowed hard. “I walked over to ask Carl a question but he didn’t see me,” she said. “He was watching something in the distance and he decided to jump on a lava rock, about the size of a truck tire, to get a better view.”

  Mrs. Resnick blew out a breath. “Only it wasn’t a lava rock,” she said with a visible shudder. “It was a deadly predator! Perfectly disguised and lying on its back. Carl’s weight crushed its chest cavity. But it still managed to bite Carl’s calf with a set of long, razor sharp teeth and then pull like a crocodile. The force of the bite and the strength of its jaws were incredible. Carl screamed in surprise and agony—a scream I’ll never forget.”

  Mrs. Resnick stared straight ahead for several seconds and then continued, almost in a whisper. “The lower part of Carl’s leg was fractured and a good part of his calf muscle was torn from the bone.”

  Their mother spared them a description of the blood that must have gushed or maybe even sprayed from Carl’s wound, but this didn’t prevent these vivid images from appearing in Ryan and Regan’s minds anyway. Neither could keep their upper lips from curling up in disgust as they envisioned the attack.

  “How horrible for him,” said Regan earnestly.

  Mrs. Resnick nodded solemnly in agreement. “At that moment I thought for sure Carl was dead.”

  She paused in thought, as though she were considered the incident from several different angles. “It all happened so fast,” she said finally. “Almost in the blink of an eye. We had run across this same species many times before, but never in its camouflaged state. They were magnificent mimics. We had no idea they could make themselves into absolutely perfect replicas of lava rocks. When we had interacted with them, they had ignored us, like all life on Isis.” She shook her head miserably. “We got careless. I got careless.”

  “Mom, there was nothing you could have done,” insisted Ryan, realizing that as the leader of the expedition his mother still felt responsible for what had happened.

  She nodded grimly, as if she wanted to agree with him but wasn’t quite convinced.

  “But go on,” prompted Ryan eagerly. “How did Carl get away?”

  An amused look crossed Mrs. Resnick’s face as she realized just how poor of a place she had chosen to stop her narrative, but her expression quickly darkened as she prepared to resume. “How did Carl get away?” she repeated. “Well, the animal that was ripping his leg to shreds died almost immediately from having its chest crushed. But even in death its jaws refused to unlock. Still, Carl somehow managed to pry them open—which was remarkable considering that all the blood had made Carl’s hands slippery and he had lost a lot of strength.”

  Mrs. Resnick shook her head. “Not that that was the end of it,” she added. “Just before Carl freed himself, four other animals we had thought were lava rocks suddenly sprang to life. Including one that Michelle was touching! She had had her feet resting on it for twenty minutes. That’s how harmless they were. But not anymore. Reacting to Carl’s perceived attack on their companion, they attacked back. Michelle jerked her legs away from the animal just as its jaws snapped down on where they had been resting. If she had been just one second slower in reacting she would have lost them both. She jumped to her feet and scrambled away as fast as she could. Carl followed, although how he managed to get away after losing so much blood and having one of his legs turned into hamburger I’ll never know.”

  “Did the animals go after them?” asked Ryan.

  “Oh yes. All four of the remaining creatures did. Like enraged lions. And they didn’t just go after Carl and Michelle but after all of us.” Mrs. Resnick paused. “As you might imagine, we raced for the tram. Luckily, it was only thirty yards away. We were about to reach safety when Carl turned and shot all of the animals behind us, one after the other.” Strangely, instead of sounding grateful for this act of courage on Carl’s part her tone was one of disgust. “He killed them all,” she finished accusingly.

  Ryan and Regan exchanged a confused glance. “Isn’t that a good thing?” asked Regan for them both.

  Mrs. Resnick shook her head. “No. Because it wasn’t necessary. Carl said if he hadn’t shot them they would have killed us. But he’s wrong. The first two, maybe. But the last two had backed off after the shots. There is no way they could have reached us in time. He killed those out of pure revenge,” she added, severe disapproval in her voice.

  Ryan’s eyes narrowed. He and Regan were extremely fond of the head of security. “Maybe you’re right about Carl,” said Ryan. “Maybe he didn’t need to shoot them. But what if Carl was right? In that case, he saved your lives.”

  She shook her head. “No, he was out of line. I’m sure of it.”

  “Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on him, Mom?” said Ryan.

  His mother didn’t answer for several long seconds. “Maybe,” she admitted. “It’s complicated. It was
n’t the creatures’ fault they attacked us. We started it, after all. Yes, I know they were only unintelligent animals. As a biologist I have a great appreciation for life, but you know I’m not a vegetarian, and I’ve done research that has resulted in the deaths of scores of rodents over the years. But the deaths of those two animals on Isis were senseless. They were backing off and we were almost in the clear. Carl didn’t kill them in the name of research, or food, or clothing. He just killed them out of hatred. Out of revenge.” She paused. “I just thought Carl was better than that.”

  Ryan remained silent, unsure of how to respond. The parked car had become stuffy so Mrs. Resnick gave the key a half-turn and powered the windows down a few inches. Cool autumn air entered the car along with the scent of fallen leaves.

  “Wait a minute,” said Regan, changing the subject. “We saw Carl fairly soon after this happened. His leg seemed fine.”

  “We got him back to Prometheus and to a surgeon fairly quickly,” said Mrs. Resnick. “And I hunted down a Med-Pen and used it on him within twenty minutes of our return.”

  The Prometheus team had found three of these amazing alien medical devices a year before in one of the Prometheus buildings. Cigar-shaped and resembling bloated pens, they could provide complete pain relief and perform other medical miracles such as speeding wound healing and eradicating infections. Another remarkable feature of these alien devices was that their colors and patterns changed instantly whenever they were moved. Not to match their surroundings, but to do the opposite: to stand out in sharp contrast to whatever they were near. How this was accomplished was still unknown, but the designers of these life saving devices had clearly wanted to make them easy to locate at all times, even in a clutter. The team had kept one Med-Pen to study and voted to give the other two to its two youngest members whenever they were in the city. The Resnick siblings had spent many an hour whisking the devices past different objects and watching in fascination as they changed instantly, trying to guess the counter-color and counter-pattern the devices would adopt.