by S A Pavli
Once there we could see that there was no easy way down. The doors were about twenty five metres down and the ravine was mostly smooth soft soil above them.
“We would have to use ropes to get down,” I said.
“Are you a climber?”
“No, but Lieutenant Carol Lansett thinks one of the Atlantis crew is an experienced climber. We are getting him down to help.”
“Good,” she said. “I think we have seen enough now. Shall we get back Paul? I am dying for a shower, a drink and some food.”
“I’m with you there luv.”
Chapter 27
When we returned, Jana went out of her way to be even more obnoxious and bad tempered with everyone. I understood now that it was all a big act to persuade us that she was ruthless enough to carry out her blackmail threats.
Manera was having a tête-à-tête with the Sarayan scientist Arane and I left her alone. I went to talk with Cora and Lieutenant Carol, who were organising our equipment. They had been joined by two tough looking characters in military fatigues. I was introduced to Captain Norton, and his sidekick a Sergeant Narayan, whose ancestors apparently came from Nepal and for whom climbing mountains was second nature.
“I don’t think this is going to be much of a challenge for you guys,” I said. We sojourned to the Peacekeeper fighter where I showed them the video of the ravine we had taken.
“We can abseil down to there no problem,” said the Captain. “But how do you propose we open the door?”
“I was thinking, with some shaped explosives. I had a selection brought down from the Settang. Any of you an explosives expert?”
“We both have some experience Captain,” said Norton.
“Good,” I said. “We will examine the doors carefully, perhaps try to determine what they are made of, and then decide what kind of explosive charge we should use. Let’s all freshen up, have some lunch and get on our way.”
I returned to our sleep area and visited the bathroom for a shower and a change of clothing. I hand washed my soiled clothing and hung it out to dry. Padding about in the bathroom in my underwear I was interrupted by Manera.
“There you are darling.” I took her in my arms and she giggled and ran her hands over my naked body.
“I think I need a shower,” she whispered.
“You will, by the time I finish with you,” I promised. I was, I have to confess, impressed with my stamina. I tried hard not to think of Jana/Lanatra’s lush body and to banish my guilt as we made love. Afterwards Manera took her shower and changed her clothing and we sat sharing some food in the common area.
“So the lovely Jana did not try to have her way with you while you were alone?” she suddenly asked, looking at me under her eyelashes.
My heart lurched.
“Why would you think that?” I asked.
“I am a woman. I have instincts.” She had a smile on her face but I still felt wretchedly guilty, and it must have showed. “Darling it’s all right. Sex is not so important to us in a relationship.”
“No darling, you must understand. I had no desire to have sex with her. And it is against my principles. I love you. But she used some kind of technical gadget on me. I couldn’t control myself.”
She gazed at me wide eyed.
“That is unbelievable,” she gasped. “How can a civilized being do such a thing?”
I sighed and shook my head in agreement.
“I know. I was very angry with her. But then she explained something to me…” I went on to explain to Manera what Jana had told me about what she and her Cypraean colleagues were and what would happen to them, and why they wanted to make contact with the main civilization.
“So in a few months she will be dead?”
“They all will. The original owners of the bodies will reassert themselves.”
“That’s terrible.” She sat back with a bemused expression. “To know you only have a few months of life left.”
“So that‘s what this is all about. They want to return the habitat to the home galaxy. But surely they must have agreed to stay behind?”
“They did not actually say that.” I pointed out.
“Perhaps you should use your irresistible male charm to find out?”
“No thanks. Once was enough, and I’ve got the bruises and scratches to prove it.”
“I noticed the bruises and scratches.”
“I thought it was your female intuition?”
“That’s just a convenient fiction to keep you men on your toes. We just notice things more than you.”
“I am an explorer. Nothing escapes my steely gaze.” I shaded my eyes and gazed into the distance.
“Ah huh. What colour was my underwear?”
“Er… pink.”
“No, blue.”
“I was too busy removing them to notice the colour.” I laughed.
“I’m glad someone can find something to laugh about.” Our amused repartee was interrupted by Lieutenant Carol Lansett. “Got, this climate is awful. As soon as you drink, it just pours out of your sweat glands. I don’t think I’ve had a wee for two days.” She sat down heavily on the armchair opposite us and started rummaging in the food bin. “We have to get some more supplies down here. There’s nothing but hard biscuits and even harder cheese.”
“There’s some sealed self heating containers in the other box,” said Manera.
“Oh cordon blue! Let me at it.”
“Manera, I saw you talking to that Saraya scientist… Arane. Anything interesting?” I asked.
“I was trying to find out if they had discovered anything interesting here, but she was very reticent. I think she had been warned not to talk.”
“That is a bad sign,” I said.
“Yes. If they have discovered the technical details of AG then we have to give the same to the Dansai,” said Manera.
“And raise the conflict to a new level of destructiveness,” I said.
“Someone has to intercede between them to stop this insane violence,” she replied. “The Cypraeans are responsible.”
“More reason to help Jana and her lot to make contact,” I said. “And take responsibility for this mess.”
“Not really what we came here for,” said Carol through a mouthful of food. “Look, Captain, what I said earlier.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “We have a plan to take out all four of their robots at the same time. We think that is the only way they can set off the bombs inside their shuttles.”
“Um… look, do we really need to do that now? Since our aims seem to be not very different from theirs? Why not just go along with things for now?” I didn’t want to sound feeble, but it seemed an unnecessary and dangerous strategy.
“The Admiral doesn’t trust them. He doesn’t want to be held to ransom. If we are to help them, we want to do it because we want to.” Carol looked enquiringly at us both and I had to confess that she was right.
“You are right of course Carol. But what about us down here? How are we to take out this one?”
Carol leaned even closer and spoke in a whisper.
“We have a high velocity gun which fires explosive bullets. Smuggled down in our climbing gear. It will blow the robot to bits. When you go to the ravine with Jana, me and my men will do the job. Co-ordinated with the ships. Take all four out at the same time.”
“Very good work Lieutenant.” Like it or not, I was going to have to go along with the plan. The Admiral was not going to let me change his mind I was sure. “But remember, Jana has three other Cypraean converts down here, as well as the others on the ships. They are our people, human. We can’t kill them. How are you getting them out of the way?”
“Once we get the robots, they will have no way of setting off the explosives.”
“You had better be right. The consequences of getting it wrong are disastrous.”
“To be honest Captain, we think they are bluffing,” said Carol, a determined expression on her face.
“You coul
d be right,” I said. Carol nodded and swallowing the last of her food she stood.
“Grab a shower and change and we’ll be ready to go.”
“Right,” We watched her bustle off. “What do you think?” I turned to Manera.
“You know the lovely Jana better than me. What do you think?”
I gave her a hurt look, but answered.
“Carol may be right. They may well be bluffing. Jana puts on a big act because she is desperate. Santol is an unknown quantity though. He may be ruthless enough to do it.”
“It is a risk then.”
“We have to make sure it works.”
We made our way to the square where we found Captain Norton and Sergeant Narayan waiting for us, with Jana in attendance.
“We are ready to go Paul?” asked Jana. I nodded my agreement and we all boarded the Peacekeeper aircraft.
“It’s Paul now is it?” asked Manera in a whisper, her lips tickling my ear. I gave her a resigned shrug, but still received a reproving glare. I was not, it appeared, going to get off that easily! I noticed Cora’s absence but kept my silence and hoped Jana would not notice.
The aircraft lifted off the ground and accelerated rapidly towards our destination. The half an hour passed quickly and the ship banked steeply to descend, then hovered over the rocky clearing before descending to make a gentle landing.
“Nice flying mate.”
“Stop talking to the machinery,” said Manera.
“It’s a fellow pilot,” I said. She responded with a grunt of disdain.
We unloaded our equipment and our two climbers examined the ravine, before setting up their winches and ropes for the abseil.
“We’ll take a look first before deciding on the explosives,” said Captain Norton.
The two climbers launched themselves over the edge. The winches whirred and in a few seconds they had bounced down to the metal doors. The sergeant took some equipment out of his backpack and handed it to Captain Norton. He clamped it to the doors and activated it, The machine made a high speed whine, a bright light coming from its casing. The Captain examined the readings carefully, fiddled with the machine and tried again. This went on for a few minutes before they packed up and climbed back up, the winch motor assisting them.
The Captain removed his helmet and shook out his wavy fair hair then scowled at us before speaking.
“The metal seems to be some kind of steel titanium alloy, but there’s something else in it that the machine doesn’t recognise. It’s not very hard, the diamond drill scratched it easily. But then, get this, the scratch disappeared. It’s a self repairing metal. Fucking amazing.”
We all looked at Jana questioningly.
“Don’t look at me, I have no idea what that is. Do you think your explosives can open it up?”
The Captain shrugged.
“We’ll give it maximum charge and see what happens.” He nodded to Narayan who opened a large box that we had carried from the aircraft and removed a heavy metal box. He fiddled with the control unit.
“Right, set to max. This will blow a tank in half.” The men re-attached themselves to their harnesses and lowered themselves over the side, carrying the big box on cables between them. They took some time to set the explosive box up, attaching it to the cliff with sharp metal pegs and positioning it over the crack between the doors. At last they were satisfied and they clambered back up.
“Right, we need to put a little distance between us and this baby,” said the Captain. “The blast wave front is massive. It will blow half this cliff away.”
“To be on the safe side, perhaps we should get back in the plane and lift her up a thousand feet,” I suggested. “Just in case the cliff collapses and we lose the plane.”
“Not a bad idea Captain,” said Norton.
We trekked back to the aircraft and lifted off. Norton had his remote and counted down.
“3...2...1...” The explosion was immense, even at one thousand feet the aircraft bucked with the pressure wave. Half the cliff collapsed but fortunately the rocky out croft remained unaffected. We had somewhere to land. We dropped the aircraft closer and examined the metal doors. They were nicely buckled and a substantial hole had been blown into them.
We landed the aircraft and made our way back to the site. The soil above the doors had collapsed which actually made access harder. We had to climb down the rubble of the explosion to get to the doors. More of the metal structure had been revealed. It appeared to go deep into the cliff and down almost to the ravine floor.
“Okay, we will set up the winches here,” said Captain Norton. “Me and the sergeant will go down first and clear a way then you guys can join us. Let’s go.”
Over the next hour we all did our bit to clear the rubble and help to set up the winches safely. The Captain went down first and banged in some pitons to make a rope railing for us amateurs to hang on to. We then went down one at a time, escorted by Sergeant Narayan. The hole into the alien control centre was large enough for us to slide in comfortably, taking care with some of the jagged edges of metal.
Inside it was pitch black and we turned on our helmet lights. A large empty room met our eyes. Opposite us was another door which, sadly remained stubbornly closed.
“Any ideas Jana?” I asked. She shook her head. I examined the door carefully and detected a small square which was a slightly different colour from the rest. I placed my hand on it and felt a tingling sensation. Alarmed I removed my hand immediately.
“What is it?” asked Jana.
“It’s live. I felt a tingling sensation.”
“Oh yes, I remember now. DNA recognition. The door checks to see if you are the right species.”
“That lets me out,” I remarked. She smiled, pushed me to one side and placed her palm on the square. After a few seconds there was a deep rumbling and the door started to open.
“Wait, you’re not the right species either,” I protested.
“It would have worked for you as well,” she said. “It‘s looking for what you would call humanoid DNA. Which we all have in common.”
“And very nice DNA it is for sure,” said Captain Norton admiringly.
“Thank you,” dimpled Jana returning his admiring glance. Hello I thought. You’ve been given the heave ho Constantine. Good luck Captain Norton.
Our attention turned to what was inside the new door, which disappointingly was just a long corridor.
“Sergeant, you stay here while the rest of us have a look inside. If you hear any screams get the fuck out and tell the others,” said Norton.
“Yes sir. Are you sure sir?”
“No heroics. Someone has to survive to tell the tale.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I said. “Captain shall I lead?”
“No Captain, you have already achieved fame and fortune. Leave this to me.”
I chuckled. I had to admire the Captains aplomb.
“Lead the way, we are right behind you.”
He unsheathed his machine pistol from its holster and set off down the corridor, followed by Jana, myself then Manera. I was carrying a light carbine, but I kept the safety on. It was far too tight a space to be spraying bullets around.
It was a long corridor but it eventually led to a vast open space full of machinery and consoles. Our lights vanished into the distance. Neither the ceiling nor the walls were visible.
“I guess this is your control centre Jana,” I said. Her face was a pale oval in the gloom. “Any idea how to switch it on?”
“Don’t be funny Paul. Everything is automatic controlled by an AI of course.”
“I am using the expression ‘switch it on’ , in the most general sense,” I explained.
“It should know we are here,” she complained.
“I would have thought after that explosion, everyone knows we are here,” I muttered to myself.
“This place is too big, we could easily get lost,” said Norton.
“One of us should stay here
with the light on. The others can wonder around, but stay within sight of the light,” I suggested.
“I don’t like us splitting up,” said Norton. “Paul, you and Manera stay here with your lights on. Me and Jana will have a look see nearby.”
They moved away cautiously while Manera and I kept out lights focused on the wall behind us.
“It was always an outside chance that this place would still be operational,” I muttered into Manera’s ear.
“Mmm. After so may thousands of years it would be a miracle.”
We watched their lights as they wended their way between the consoles, pausing occasionally to examine one. Their lights gradually dimmed as they went deeper into the huge space. I hefted my carbine nervously. I had a strong feeling of being watched. Manera jumped and gasped next to me.
“Something touched me!”
“Wha..!” I turned around, shining my light around us but there was nothing. Then I too felt something, a gentle almost immaterial force touch my body, as if exploring it. “Damn, there is something here.”
“Paul, I’m afraid,” said Manera.
“Yeah, there’s something in here which is beyond our imagination,” I said. I touched my communicator.
“Jana, Captain Norton, there is something here. How are you?”
Jana’s voice came back.
“Paul, we felt it too. I think the centre’s AI is checking us out.”
“Let’s hope it likes what it finds.” No sooner had said that than we heard a number of muted thuds coming from above us.
“Oh-ow.” I looked around desperately and for a few moments saw nothing. Then I caught sight of a dark shape, no, a number of dark shapes, swooping through the air towards us and also in the direction of our two colleagues.
“Not looking good guys,” I shouted into the comm, and dived to the floor, pulling Manera with me. There was a crackle of lightning and an intense beam shot from one of the swooping shapes frying the floor where I had just been standing. “Fuck! laser guns. Take cover.” I rolled and propped the carbine up and let loose at one of the dark shapes at it swooped by. It dipped and accelerated out of sight. I heard gunfire from Nortons gun. We hunched down behind a cabinet. The wall was close behind us so I felt we had good cover but how was the Captain and Jana going to get back?”