CHAPTER 8
Nanot ordered his crew to scan the alien planet for any anomalous readings. After several hours of searching, they discovered some faint life readings coming from the edge of a large frozen landmass north of the equator. He informed Lantor Mannon, the lead expedition scientist.
“Is there anywhere near there you can set down, Captain Niella?” Lantor asked.
“The ruins are full of debris. The best I can do is to set down on that ice plateau above them. We can take a skiff down from there.” Nanot looked forward to leaving the ship to explore. As captain of a large vessel, he rarely had the opportunity to enjoy speeding over the ground in an open skiff. He preferred the maneuverability and sensation of movement that a skiff provided over the stability and reliability of a starship.
“Very well, Captain. Take us down.” Lantor stood behind the pilot, hand on the back of her chair, waiting for the captain to repeat his order. It irked him that the crew never responded to his orders without Nanot’s say so.
“Take us down slowly, Mayla.” Nanot told the pilot.
“Yes, Captain.” Mayla steered the large ship down carefully.
As they approached the plateau, Nanot could see that it was an enormous glacier. He squinted his eyes at the disturbed snow on the section of the glacier where he had determined would be the best place to land. Its pattern of disturbance seemed vaguely familiar. He sucked in his breath as he suddenly realized why. “Lantor!”
Lantor had been viewing the steady stream of readings on the science console, but he looked up at the note of alarm in Nanot’s voice. “What is it?” he asked.
Nanot pointed at the disturbed snow on the glacier. “That pattern can only be formed by a starship landing there. Tresar was on the planet!”
Lantor narrowed his eyes at the viewscreen. “Set us down, Captain. We’ll see if Tresar has taken any artifacts from this site.”
They landed and headed to the cargo bay where they kept the skiffs. The two assistant scientists, Trenor Solvy and Halen Walor, were already there, suiting up to exit the ship. Nanot and Lantor joined them, and once everyone was ready, they boarded the skiff and entered the air lock. When they opened the outer door, a stiff, cold wind greeted them, blasting against the skiff’s windscreen.
Nanot guided the skiff out of the cargo bay and steered it down the glacier. He headed in the direction of the life readings, skimming over the debris-clogged streets. They soon arrived at a large metal building torn in numerous places. The jagged metal bled rust at the edges. Nanot surmised that at some point after the catastrophe that killed this planet, oxygen levels must have remained high enough to cause oxidation. He wondered how long the inhabitants had been able to survive. He lowered the skiff to the ground up against the building wall. It barely fit in the small clear space.
Lantor exited the skiff and climbed through a tear in the wall. The thick dust on the floor showed footprints clearly. He frowned with irritation, knowing that Tresar and Flavoi had been here first. He and the rest of the men followed the trail through a door and down a dark spiraling hallway. They entered a room filled with cryogenic pods. The disturbed dust in this room showed that Tresar and Flavoi had been to every one of the pods. Lantor removed a scanning device from his pocket and began checking each pod. Trenor looked over the control console and Halen inspected the hoses that radiated out from the console to the pods.
Lantor looked into the nearest pod. The dust had been wiped away already, by Tresar or Flavoi, and he could see the occupant of the pod clearly. He called Nanot over. “Look at this. He looks just like us.”
“I see that. What do you want to do with him?”
“I want to revive him and ask him what happened here,” Lantor replied.
Nanot looked around the room at the pods and their intertwined connections. He didn’t see a way to separate any of them from each other or this room. He looked back to Lantor. “Okay. How do you propose to do that?”
“Go back to the ship and get an isolation capsule from the med bay.” Lantor scanned the alien as he spoke. “Also, bring a cyrellian tonic with you. Waking him won’t do any good unless we cure him as well. The disease isn’t advanced, but we should cure it as soon as possible to avoid problems later.”
Nanot eyed Lantor’s back disrespectfully. Who did he think he was, ordering the captain around? He hated the job of chauffeuring the scientists everywhere, and now he was a lackey for them as well? “Wouldn’t that job be better suited for one of your assistants?” he asked.
Lantor didn’t even look up from his inspection of the pod as he answered. “I need them to finish examining the system so we’ll know how to revive the alien by the time you get back.”
“Right,” Nanot said, holding his irritation in check. He left the building to carry out Lantor’s orders.
Lantor continued scanning the pods. He made his way around the room, stopping when he came to an alcove in the back. There was an imprint of clean flooring where something large had sat. He scanned the area, but couldn’t determine what it might have been. The two other scientists joined him, having finished their analysis of the cryonic system, and Trenor knelt down and ran his finger along a newly formed groove in the metal floor.
“Something heavy was moved from here recently,” he said.
Lantor nodded. “Tresar took something.” He paused, thinking. “We’ll worry about that later. What do you have to report about the cryonic system in this room?”
“It’s still functional, and integrated completely into this room. The aliens can be revived, but only here. We can’t remove any of the pods without compromising the system.”
“Very well. Go outside and wait for Captain Niella to return with the isolation capsule, and help him bring it down here.”
Lantor went back to the first pod he had inspected. He examined it thoroughly to determine how to proceed with the defrostation sequence. He couldn’t read the alien language, but there was something oddly familiar about the design. He moved to the console and inspected that. The nagging sense of familiarity increased as he ran his hands over the controls. The captain and the two assistant scientists reentered the room, carrying the isolation capsule with them. The scientists went to set it up around the first pod. Nanot had thought to bring an extra suit for the alien, should his reanimation prove successful. He joined Lantor at the console.
“Figure it out yet?” he asked.
“You’re familiar with Bitowan technology, correct?” Lantor asked Nanot.
Nanot was puzzled by the question. “Yes. The military captured several Bitowan ships during the wars.”
“Ignore the alien writing and look at these controls from a Bitowan perspective.”
Nanot inspected the console. It looked almost exactly like the cryonic technology they had found on an abandoned Bitowan deep space ship. He looked back up at Lantor, shocked. “How could that be? The Bitowans don’t share their technology, and this species doesn’t appear to have ever left their system.”
Lantor shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s wake up one of the aliens. Maybe he can tell us. Can you figure out how to work these controls?”
“If it’s consistent with Bitowan cryonic technology, then yes, I can.” Nanot cracked his knuckles and got to work preparing for the defrostation sequence. He was secretly pleased that he knew more about the cryonic system than the scientists.
Lantor nodded and moved over to the now enclosed isolation capsule. Trenor was inside with the pod while Halen checked the seals on the outside. Satisfied that they were intact, he turned a dial on the capsule to release some oxygen into its atmosphere. He turned another dial to heat the air inside. Trenor removed his helmet and nodded to Lantor. Lantor turned to Nanot, who waited at the console.
“Begin,” he said.
Nanot worked the controls as if he were in the cryonic room on a Bitowan ship. The sequence began, and the pod lit up as it processed the commands from the console. Lantor and Halen crowded around the isolation c
apsule, peering in and trying to get a good look at the defrostation sequence.
The lid cracked opened with a pop, and Nanot heard it echo around the room. He left the console and moved to the other side of the isolation capsule to get a better view. The pod’s lid slowly opened to reveal a middle-aged man. He began to breathe. His color improved as the sequence continued.
Nanot jumped at the sound of a creak from behind him. The sound came from the lid of another pod opening. A third pod next to it opened as well. “Lantor!” he shouted, “Something’s wrong with the sequence! There are two other pods opening! Those men will die in this frigid atmosphere!”
Lantor looked up and saw the two men in the pods breathing in the nitrogen rich air. “Don’t worry, Captain. They won’t freeze to death. They’ll die of asphyxiation first.”
Nanot turned to Lantor. “Don’t you care?”
“Sure, but there’s nothing we can do now. We can’t stop the sequence, and so we can’t close the lids.” He pointed at the men, who were no longer breathing. “See? A few short breaths and it’s over. They probably never even noticed.” Lantor turned his attention back to the events occurring in the isolation capsule without a second thought for the two men who had just died.
Nanot stared in wonder at Lantor. It was strange to him not to be bothered when you were the cause of someone else’s death. He himself had killed many people. You had to, in war. But every death left another scar on his conscience. He began to wonder if scientists had consciences. The other scientists had given only a perfunctory glance at the two dead men before returning their attention back to the first pod. Nanot looked at the faces of the dead aliens. They didn’t look much different from when they were cryogenically frozen, but Nanot knew they were empty shells now. They may not have noticed their own deaths, but Nanot knew that this wasn’t what they had in mind for their future. It seemed a waste of effort to preserve your life for so many years only to have it end before you were even aware of your revival. He stared at the men a moment longer before turning back to the alien who would survive.
The man inside the pod was awake now. He sat up slowly and with great effort. He looked at the men surrounding him and began to speak gibberish. “What year is it?” He looked at the isolation capsule and the men in space suits outside it. “What happened here?” He looked around the room, noticing the collapsed ceiling. “Are we at war?” He regained the use of his body and began climbing out of the pod. Trenor helped him, and then held the cyrellian tonic up to his mouth for him to drink. The man drank it without question, and then let Trenor help him get into the suit they had brought for him. Trenor fastened their helmets and then helped Halen disassemble the isolation capsule. The alien continued spouting gibberish until he saw the other two opened pods. He let out a cry and ran over to them, checking the dead men for pulses.
“Can you understand a word he’s saying?” Nanot asked Lantor.
Lantor shook his head. “Not one.”
“Then how are we supposed to get information out of him?”
Lantor looked disappointed. “For now, we don’t. We’ll have to learn his language or teach him ours. It’ll be awhile before we discover what happened here.”
The alien closed the lid on each pod and made a strange sign across his chest as he did so. He walked around the room, checking the other pods. He paused at the last pod on the right, briefly touching the lid and smiling at the occupant. He walked back to his rescuers. “I don’t know if you worked the controls wrong or if there was a malfunction at the computer console.” He paused, staring at the faces of the dead men. “I mourn my friends,” he continued, “but I’m glad I survived. Thank you for waking me.” He looked at the Yalsans, awaiting a reply.
Lantor stepped forward with open arms, palms up, the universal sign for nonaggression. The alien looked at him oddly. Lantor spoke. “You and I don’t share the same language, friend. You’ll just have to trust that we won’t harm you.”
The alien looked surprised to hear words that he couldn’t understand, but it was obvious to him that these people meant him no harm. “Well,” he said, as he looked at the destruction around him, “I don’t see that I have any other choice but to go with you.” He gestured to the exit, making motions that he would go with them.
Lantor nodded and led the way. “Captain, bring up the rear, and keep an eye on our new friend.” The alien followed Lantor, jabbering unintelligibly the entire way. Trenor and Halen carried the isolation capsule up the hallway, and Nanot followed.
They walked through the lobby and exited the building. As the assistant scientists loaded up the skiff, the alien looked around at the general devastation of the city. “My god, what happened here?” He looked up at the sky, as if searching for answers. The only thing up there was the sun. He squinted at it. “And why the hell is the sun so small?” He began to shake with the amount of adrenaline his body was producing in reaction to the realization that a worldwide catastrophe had occurred. “Damn that Agnar! I didn’t want to live if there was no life left! What am I supposed to do now?”
Nanot grabbed the alien’s arm. “Did you say Agnar?” he demanded.
The alien beamed, pleased that at least one of his words had gotten a reaction. “Agnar?” he questioned.
“Yes, Agnar.” Nanot nodded encouragingly at him.
The alien crossed his arms on his chest with his open palms resting just below his shoulders. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, mimicking sleep. Then he opened them and pointed back toward the cryonic room. “Agnar,” he said earnestly.
“Lantor, do you hear that? Agnar must have given these people the cryonic technology, which he probably stole from the Bitowans. He’s had more than enough time to explore the universe, what with his extended life span. He must have been here! That would explain how we found Bitowan technology on an alien planet in an unexplored quadrant.”
Lantor looked the alien straight in the eye. He held his hand at about the eighteen decimeter level, indicating height. “Agnar?” he questioned.
The alien nodded. “Agnar,” he replied decisively.
“Captain Niella, do you know what this means?”
“It means Agnar is now a criminal in every quadrant of the universe,” Nanot answered.
“Well, yes,” Lantor conceded, “but it also means he speaks their language.”
“Yes! Yes, it does!” Nanot exclaimed. “We should return to the Vontyr Galaxy as soon as possible and find him. He’s a mercenary; he’ll translate if we make it worth his while.”
Lantor nodded. “I agree.”
They climbed into the skiff and drove back to the ship, hovering up the ice cliff at a steep angle. The alien seemed very impressed by this. As the skiff lifted up over the edge of the glacier and the huge starship came into view, the alien’s jaw dropped. He stared in awe as Nanot steered the skiff into the massive ship. Once inside the air lock, the outer door closed and the men waited for the pressure to equalize. Then they drove into the cargo bay. Nanot parked the skiff and the men disembarked and removed their suits. Trenor led the alien away. Lantor turned to Nanot.
“Captain Niella, I’d like you to go back to the cryonic room and get the dead aliens. I didn’t want to bring them with the live one so as not to alarm him, but I need those bodies for further study of his species.”
Lantor’s request didn’t surprise Nanot. He hadn’t expected the scientist to leave them behind. “I’ll get them.” He proceeded to climb back into his suit.
“Be discreet when you bring them aboard. Take them directly to my lab.”
“Of course.” Nanot closed up his suit and fastened his helmet. Lantor left the bay, closing the doors on his way out. Nanot climbed back into the skiff and entered the air lock. He exited the ship and drove back to the metal building. The trip didn’t take long, and within the hour he had collected the two dead aliens and was on his way back to the ship. He steered the skiff into the cargo bay and closed the air lock. He piled the bodies on a
cart and covered them with a sheet before rolling it out and down the corridor to Lantor’s laboratory. He left the cart in the room, not bothering to unload it. Then he headed to the bridge, where Lantor waited for him. Lantor raised his eyebrows at Nanot inquiringly. Nanot gave a quick, short nod in reply.
“Captain Niella, is there any way we can catch up to Tresar? I’d like to find out what he took from that room,” Lantor asked aloud.
Nanot shook his head. “He’s had a day’s head start and his small ship is faster than this massive tub. We’ll be lucky if we make it back within a week after he does.”
Lantor sighed in disappointment. “As soon as we reach the Vontyr Galaxy, send a message to Yalsa for his arrest. Tresar wouldn’t bother with an artifact unless it had some intrinsic value. He’s not interested in wealth; he already has more than enough. Whatever he took, it’s probably something we’ll want to see.”
Nanot nodded his head in agreement. “And Flavoi would just love to have taken something he thought I wanted right out from under my nose. He’s always been insubordinate with me. We can’t let them get away with it.” Nanot sat in the captain’s chair and ordered his crew to prepare for takeoff.
Lantor exited the bridge and made his way through the corridors of the ship to the med bay. He entered to find the alien sitting up on one of the beds while Trenor examined him. “How’s he doing?” Lantor asked.
“He’s cured. There’s no sign of the anti-immunity virus in his system.”
“Good.”
The alien began making eating gestures at Lantor, and his belly grumbled loudly. “Feed him,” Lantor ordered.
“Kevin,” the alien insisted, pointing to his own chest.
“Feed Kevin,” Lantor reiterated. Kevin grinned at him.
“I’ll take care of him,” Trenor assured Lantor.
Lantor left the med bay and went to his laboratory, anxious to begin dissecting the aliens before their bodies stiffened any further. He hated to leave the unexplored planet so soon after arriving, and he hated that he couldn’t take all of the aliens with them, but at least they had one living and two dead examples of the new species. And he could return later to get the rest. He set each body on a table and began examining the first.
The Face of Earth Page 11