Virtual

by S A Pavli

  "Who's going to have the honour of being first?” asked Mark.

  "You’re the Captain, you chose," said Walters. They were all suited up in their pressure suits, tough white plasticised suits, sealed against the atmosphere, with silvered goldfish bowl helmets. The suits had a small pump that sucked in the atmosphere, which was then sterilised and filtered and stored it in a small pressurised bottle. In this way, they could stay out indefinitely.

  "I guess the leader of the expedition should be first," said Mark, waving Melanie forward. She inclined her head in thanks, dark eyes flashing at him, and stepped down the ramp. She stepped briskly and without ceremony off the ramp and walked forward into the strong sunshine.

  "We come in peace, take me to your leader," she said, looking around her.

  "Mmm nobody seems to be home,” remarked Walters, as he followed her.

  "No brass bands, flags, speeches?” asked Mark ironically

  "They're all indoors watching the great event on TV," said Leslie stepping off the ramp and joining them, with Mark following. Behind them, the survey robot stepped daintily down the ramp, followed finally by Jimmy Petrov who was carrying a compact camcorder. Alden had a selection of cameras and camcorders located in each individual's helmet, in the survey robot, and on the ship itself, but Jimmy had been assigned the job of camera man to record more intimate shots.

  "Alden, are all the cameras and instruments working?” asked Mark.

  "Yes Mark, all the instrumentation is working perfectly.”

  "Any sign of the aliens… the Virtuals?” asked Mark.

  "The survey robot will not detect them during the day," replied Alden.

  "Of course," said Mark. “I'd forgotten that.”

  "Are these suits also electrically insulated?” asked Leslie anxiously.

  "Yes, in the same way as the spacesuits. These suits are what we wear on the ship for extra radiation protection,” explained Mark. “A bit more comfortable than living in a spacesuit for days.”

  "Ah good," said Leslie, relief in her voice. “Although Id hardly say they were comfortable.”

  "I think it's a bit tight for you,” remarked Walters.

  "You don't say? You noticed?” asked Leslie with heavy sarcasm, which elicited a snort of amusement from Walters.

  Melanie had wondered off in the direction of the central arch and was examining it curiously, neck craning to look up at its high point.

  "Its perfectly circular,” she remarked.

  "Seems to be a theme with them," said Walters. “The buildings are circular, the layout of the city is in concentric circles.”

  "This seems to be a wheel," said Melanie. “See, there's a strut going to the centre.”

  "But only on one side," said Mark. Not a very stable wheel.

  "Hey, look at this guy,” shouted Leslie. She had walked over to one of the statues dotted around the Square. “He looks just like the one we found on the moon.” The figure was standing on four slender legs, one hand across its barrel chest and another pointing at the sky. It was wearing a short waistcoat with a high collar and what appeared to be a short skirt partly covering its thin sinewy legs.

  "What we found on the moon was a robot Leslie," said Mark. He walked over to the statue and stood next to her, examining it carefully. “You're thinking of the pictures that Anja's team took of the statue. But actually, you're right ; it does look like the robot.”

  "I guess we build robots that look humanoid, so it's natural that the aliens would build robots that look like them," said Leslie.

  "You can see the differences in the face," said Mark. The statue had a curved beak and large limpid eyes.

  "Looks like an octopus," said Leslie. “Look at the hands. Only three fingers and one long thumb.”

  "Webbed,” pointed out Mark.

  "God yes, how interesting," said Leslie.

  "What would that mean?” asked Mark.

  "Well, us humans left the sea long ago. That is, our ancestors left the sea so long ago, that all signs of our previous existence has disappeared. No gills, no fins or webbed hands or feet.”

  "So these guys may have had a much closer affinity with the ocean,” suggested Mark.

  "Much closer," said Leslie. “If you look on the side of the neck,” she pointed, and Mark craned his neck to look. “They look suspiciously like gills, or at least the remnants of.”

  "Could be ears,” suggested Mark.

  "No," said Leslie. “Notice the two indentations on either side of the head? Just above the eyes? I think they’re the ears.”

  "What sharp eyes you have Doctor,” said Mark.

  "Fascinating,” muttered Leslie, engrossed in her study of the statue. “If only I could find the body of one.” Jimmy was carefully filming the statue and Leslie's commentary.

  "Why four legs though?” asked Mark. “Aren’t they a disadvantage?”

  "If you live in a forest, yes. But their ancestors probably remained in the sea as amphibians. Agility wasn't so necessary for them," replied Leslie. They continued their study of the statue for a few minutes, with Leslie pointing out interesting anatomical features while Jimmy filmed them. They were interrupted by a sudden shout from Melanie, and Mark jerked up in alarm.

  "Over here,” she shouted. “Leslie, come have a look at this.” She was fifty metres away and they jogged over to her. She was looking at the floor, and looking down they gasped in surprise,

  "Bones!” shouted Leslie. “My God, it's a whole skeleton.” She squatted down with Melanie and they both peered at the bones on the floor, talking excitedly. Jimmy continued filming, moving around to get a good view. Mark could see clearly that it was a complete skeleton of one of the aliens. The four slender legs with articulated bones could be clearly seen, with the barrel like trunk and the large bulbous head. The gaping eye sockets stared at them forlornly. The bones were white, bleached and shrivelled by the sun. Against the white stone floor they had been almost invisible, but now, as Mark looked around him, he saw dozens of the shrivelled remains scattered around the square.

  "There's hundreds of them," he said, pointing around them. There were exclamations and remarks from the others as they took in the gruesome sight.

  Leslie and Melanie took some time examining the bones, and Jimmy filmed them close up. They wondered around the square, examining the other bones and statues until Mark called them all together.

  "I think we should go over and do a preliminary examination of some of the buildings around the square," he said. “Look for entrances, but under no circumstances should anyone enter a building. Try to see which building is easiest to get into and explore, and in the best condition. Stay close, I don't want anyone wandering out of sight.”

  They had barely started their tour of the buildings around the alien town square before they made their next astounding discovery. As Walters turned a corner, he stopped in his tracks.

  "Er, everybody over here," he said quietly.

  "What is it James?” asked Mark, who was only a few metres away. Walters pointed in front of him, speechless. Mark walked over, and as he turned the corner, he also stopped. Ahead of him, just a few metres, was one of the alien robots, identical to the one they had discovered on the moon. Behind it, another one lay on its side on the floor, and in the distance they could see another half standing, half collapsed against the side of the building. Behind the building they caught their first sight of one of the roads and what was obviously a wheeled vehicle stopped half on and half off the road. Further away, they could see a number of other vehicles stopped on and off the road.

  "Whatever happened here, must have happened very quickly,” muttered Mark.

  "Invasion of the Virtuals?” asked Walters.

  "It fits doesn't it?" said Mark. “There was no one left to tidy up. The dead bodies just rotted where they fell.”

  "But where the hell did they come from?” asked Walters. “How could a whole planet be infected so quickly that they had no time to fight them? We know there is a
defence against them, but it looks like they never discovered it.”

  "The robots may be the key," said Mark. “If we can get one working, they may have the answer.”

  Chapter 23

  The recovery of the alien robot from the largest alien building went without hitch. Andy Baross piloted the Chameleon's shuttle, colourfully named Dragonfly, with the Major and LeBlanc on board. Andy had prevailed on Jo to stay behind for this first trip, much to her annoyance.

  "We need three men to lug the robot,” he had argued.

  "I think I'm stronger than Ray," said Jo, unimpressed.

  "Wrestle you,” offered LeBlanc quickly. “Two falls, two submissions…” He was interrupted by Andy's warning growl. “Perhaps not!” he finished hastily.

  "They're still very traditional in Middle Earth." Jo said, giving her husband an amused look, but not protesting too much. She knew how protective Andy was, and although it irritated her, she also knew that he could get very stubborn. Plenty of time for exploring later she had assured herself, looking forward to getting her hands on the alien robot.

  And here it was; Jo had been waiting in the shuttle bay for them, and once the Dragonfly was fully docked and the airlock doors open, she had dived through to help them carry the robot to the Chameleon's workshop. It stood now in the middle of the workshop, surrounded by instruments and equipment. The whole crew was present as Jo and Andy busily moved from one instrument to another calibrating and checking.

  "It's fantastic down there," said the Major conversationally to Anja as they watched the two engineers at work. “It must have taken a huge effort to fly all that material up from the planet. Those buildings are huge.”

  "Yeah,” agreed Anja. “Although you have to wonder why do it. What use would they have for such a huge moon base?”

  "Is it possible that they have, sorry, had, the Warp drive?” asked the Major. “That would explain how they managed to transport all the building material.”

  "We'll send you down later to have a look at those machines parked in the square. One of them may be a shuttle," said Anja. The Major looked thoughtful for a few moments.

  "Do you think we have the resolution to examine them from orbit?” he as ked.

  "Let's ask," said Anja. “Xara, can you focus our most powerful telescope on the central square of the alien city.”

  "Yes Captain. Is there anything particular that you wish to look at?” The voice of the Chameleon's ship's AI was musical, mellow and soothing in tone.

  "I could listen to her all day," said the Major.

  "I spent a lot of time getting that voice right," said Anja. “I have to listen to her all day. Xara, we are looking for flying vehicles, in particular anything that looks like a warp ship," said Anja.

  “Results on view screen five.” said Xara after a few moments. The screen lit up to display the moon city. It panned to the area they had named the square where they had seen a number of vehicles, and zoomed in.

  "Stop there Xara," said Anja. The picture froze. “Co -ordinates on screen," said Anja. Parallel vertical and horizontal lines appeared on the screen. Anja and the Major examined the screen closely.

  "Xara, zoom in on co -ordinate beta seven," said Anja, “And freeze now.”

  "Seems to be just ground vehicles," said Anja eventually.

  "Not hover cars, or spaceships,” agreed the Major.

  "I have now carried out a hi -res scan of the area," said Xara. “I agree, they are all ground vehicles.”

  "Thank you Xara, terminate your scan for now," said Anja. She turned to the Major with a smile. “Shall we leave these techies to get on? Fancy a long cold one?”

  "Yeah, that was sweaty work," replied the Major with an answering smile.

  "I didn't want to say anything," said Anja.

  "Um, perhaps I should take a shower,” began the Major. Looking discomforted.

  "Only joking," said Anja. “You smell as fresh as the proverbial daisy,”

  "Now I know you're joking," said the Major. They were ignored by LeBlanc and the two engineers as they left the workshop.

  "Your team are very good," said Anja as they made their way to the ship's lounge and mess area. The Chameleon was of a similar vintage and design to the Bounty Hunter, but smaller, and although the Major had not had an opportunity to explore the vessel, he had a good idea where everything was. But he allowed Anja to lead, admiring her slender lithe figure as she ran quickly up the circular stair leading to the next level.

  "Not my team," he said. “Melanie and her father's team.”

  "Now we are alone, there's something I want to talk to you about," she said, leading the way into the lounge and making her way to the fridge compartment. She returned clutching two bottles of beer as Peter Follet seated himself. He accepted the bottle from her and favoured her with a curious stare.

  "Not this alien infestation thing?”

  "No, not that. Although it is unfinished business,” she replied. Her eyes met his briefly in a flash of recognition over their shared intimacy. He tried to look impassive, although unfamiliar emotions suddenly churned in his guts. “It concerns the expedition,” she finished. He took a draught of his beer and waited cautiously.

  “My employer informed me that he had an agent planted in the Bounty Hunter." She said the word agent cautiously, as if unsure of its correctness. “I really didn't want to know. I took this charter as a commercial transaction. I didn't want to get involved in any skulduggery. But I haven’t been in touch with him since the accident.” She took a shot of her beer and sat down opposite him, her eyes fixed on his face. He nodded his understanding.

  "We guessed that for someone to beat us to the star, they must have got a good head start," he said cautiously.

  "Peter,” she looked tentatively at him, as if afraid to say what she had to say.

  "What is it?" he asked.

  "I’ve got to know everyone on the Bounty Hunter well in the last few days," she said. “It obviously wasn't Melanie, or Captain Alexander or his crew. And I do not believe it could be Walters or LeBlanc. They are very much Carstairs men. That leaves you or Jimmy.”

  "Doctor Leslie?" he asked. She shook her head.

  "Ditto, She works for Carstairs. Or at least is employed by his company.”

  "Doesn’t mean she’d pass up the opportunity for a fast credit or few thousand," he said. “Or LeBlanc or Walters. Every man and woman has their price.”

  "What was your price Peter?" she asked quietly. He felt his face flushing as he was gripped by an unfamiliar emotion. He suddenly and desperately wanted this woman to like him and to understand why he had done it. He banged his beer bottle down with a crack which startled her, but his eyes remained fixed on the table, not meeting her questioning blue ones, his face fixed.

  "Yes it was me," he said between gritted teeth. “You have to understand Anja, I don't know any of these guys. They are all multi -millionaires. I was approached by someone who offered me a great deal of money to tell them why I had been talking to Carstairs and what he was up to.”

  "They didn't get exploration rights from the authorities did they?" she asked.

  "Nobody had exploration rights at that point, but they assured me that they would get them in time. They were not doing anything illegal.”

  "Did they get the rights?" she asked. “Because I haven t heard from Hippopotamus since before the accident.”

  "No, they didn't. I got a Hyperspace message before we arrived here,” he replied.

  "So our landing on the moon was illegal," said Anja. “They told me that rights had been confirmed.”

  "They lied to you?" he said frowning in disbelief. She nodded. “Why?" he asked. “Did they know something?”

  "Maybe they knew that there was an alien civilisation here," she said.

  "No," he said shaking his head emphatically. “This whole system is going to be off limits to private explorers now. There is no profit in discovering this system.”

  "No tangible material profit,"
she said. “But imagine the publicity. The media furore. The kudos of having your expedition discover an alien civilisation. Of being the first to bring that news to mankind.”

  "That means that canny bastard Carstairs must also have known something," he said.

  "They sent my crew and the exploration team to their deaths," she said grimly. There was silence between them for some moments. It was Peter who spoke first , slowly and with some doubt.

  "They couldn't have known the danger I suppose.” He looked up at Anja, meeting her eyes for the first time. “Your crew went in with their eyes open.” She sighed and looked miserable.

  "I guess you're right. We couldn't wait to go down and explore the moon city.”

  "Exactly what we are doing now," he said. “We're taking the risk because we want to.” She nodded and there was a further silence between them.

  "So what should we do?" she asked. “About our employer I mean?” He shrugged in response.

  "I don't consider him my employer any more," he said. “They’ve failed to get exploration rights so I am working for Carstairs.”

  "As far as I know, I'm still working for Hippopotamus. “And I need to send him a report," said Anja.

  "Are you?" he asked. “With your crew and the exploration team dead, are you going to get paid?”

  "I don't care about that . I'm staying here because I want to," she said. “My report will tender my resignation. I want nothing to do with underhand tactics.”

  "If you send your report to “H” telling him about what happened here, he's going to plead with you to stay with him. He’ll be desperate to get more. Pictures, video, anything you can send him. You’ll be able to name your price.” Peter looked at her knowingly. “Believe me, that's what these vultures wanted all along.”

  "You’re not very complementary about the rich," she said, a small reproving smile on her lips. He grunted and took another swig of his beer.