by John Walker
Renz sighed, “Clearly those are the raiders here to steal our artifacts.” He waved his hand. “The Prytins or whoever thought they could get away with this must’ve come here with a low profile vessel that makes it seem less powerful than it is. Can you detect a barrier of some kind? A defensive mechanism designed to throw your sensors off?”
“Begging your pardon, Lord,” Inda bowed to him as she spoke, “but there’s not enough energy emanating from that thing to power even the most basic of such a thing. If I hadn’t been specifically targeting the area it’s located in, I probably wouldn’t have found it at all. Most would have considered it a planetary anomaly.”
“Good for you that you had the peace of mind to realize otherwise.” Renz tapped the comm on his chair. “Kivda, we have some sort of ‘force’ on the planet’s surface. I need you to scramble your forces and prepare to descend on the planet. We want prisoners so do what you can to keep some alive.”
“Do you have life readings?” Porth asked. “Any at all, not just the ones we’re familiar with.”
“If there are any,” Inda said, “they must be close to the geothermal power source. That would mask their specific signatures.” She shrugged. “I will continue to look and try. Give me a moment.”
“Move to a high orbit,” Porth ordered. “Target the vessel Inda has detected. If we must, I want it destroyed quickly.” He looked back at Renz. “Is that accurate, sir?”
Renz nodded. “Yes, we may need to take it out. Let Kivda get into position. Once he’s ready, we’ll ensure our targets cannot escape the planet.”
He had a message stating his soldiers were already boarding the shuttle. They’d arrive on the surface soon. And do their own scans. Alright, intruders. Prepare yourselves to be our guests. We need to talk.
Chapter 9
Kyle sat on one of the stone benches, flipping the cube over in his hands as he examined it further. The thing genuinely seemed fine. It didn’t seem to change in the time since he’d taken it. The device itself remained heavy. He felt no temperature shift through his gloves, nothing moving around in it.
You’re the mystery that will change the way humanity looks at the universe.
“What’re you doing?” Lysa’s voice nearly made him drop the thing. “I thought we talked about this.”
Kyle blinked at her. “Uh… what?”
“No sitting on anything! Remember? It was like… a two hour conversation about how dangerous such a thing could be. Like… you could open a secret passage or set off a self-destruct of some kind! Come on! You usually started those talks!”
“Shit!” Kyle practically sprung from his seat. “I swear to God, I forgot. I was too busy admiring this thing.”
“Well quit it! We can take it back to the ship now, I think. There’s no way it’s going to blow up arbitrarily now.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t. I was being optimistic. Also, the scans are steady. It should be fine.” Lysa stopped talking abruptly. “Um… that’s not possible.”
“What’s up?” Kyle leaned to look over her shoulder. A scan showed an incoming vessel… a starship on fast approach. “Is that…”
“Not possible,” Lysa repeated. “There’s no way! Who would come here? How would they know to visit this place? Can we talk about timing? We’re two days away by warp from the nearest habitable colony!” She glared at him. “You didn’t say anything, did you? Send some message while I was busy?”
Kyle returned her stare. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“I just don’t know how this could’ve happened, Kyle!”
“Me neither! I’m… sure it’s some insanely bad bit of luck!” Kyle shrugged. “Maybe we should hail them. Send a message. We… we have to claim the site. Right away, make it clear we registered a permit to excavate this planet and that they have no right to come to this particular part of the planet.”
“If they’ve got more than two people,” Lysa said, “they won’t give a shit about our claim.” She sighed, reaching out to the ship. “This is Doctor Lysa Vanden. I am an archaeologist. My partner and I have put in a prior claim to this territory. Please ensure you stay clear of our dig site. Respond.”
Kyle tapped his foot in anticipation. When they didn’t reply, he checked their signal strength. They had plenty. “What’s going on? The geothermal thingie isn’t causing any trouble. Why aren’t they replying?”
“Because they probably aren’t legit,” Lysa replied. “At this point, my guess is pirates. Goddamn it!”
“And we just gave away our position…”
“That doesn’t matter.” Lysa drew his attention to the trajectory of the incoming ship. It was on a direct course for their location. “They’ll be here in minutes. We don’t even have time to run to the ship, let alone get her started up and out of here.” She paused a moment. “We can set up on either side of the wall leading out. Bottleneck their forces.”
“You only have a sidearm,” Kyle pointed out. “You should’ve brought your rifle.”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere, Boy Scout!” Lysa complained. “How should I have… don’t you dare say be prepared. That’s not helpful right now.”
“I know. I won’t. But fighting these guys isn’t the answer either. We have to find a way to the ship and get out of here.” Kyle patted the cube. “This is the most important part of the find anyway. We’ve got scans of the rest. As long as we get out of here with this intact, we’ve succeeded.”
“I appreciate your optimism,” Lysa said. “Does succeeding involve surviving? Because as far as I’m aware, we’re kind of stuck in here.”
“There has to be another way out,” Kyle replied, “probably through the power station. I mean, they were channeling it for the shields, right? We find that, we find some kind of access tunnel or a ventilation shaft. Something to lead to the surface. While those assholes are hunting for us, we slip out then get back to the ship.”
“I’m pretty sure it won’t be that easy,” Lysa pointed out. “But you’ve always been luckier than I am. We don’t have long to figure it out. Start scanning the walls… and put that damn cube in your backpack. You drop it and our chances of success go down significantly. Especially if we end up around lava.”
***
Kivda sat in the copilot’s seat of the shuttle as they headed toward the surface. The beacon continued to blare, a constant SOS in the most ancient form of their language. He had no idea why Renz’s father hadn’t let him know that part. Or if he did, the general hadn’t seen fit to give up that information.
We’re looking at a major find, he thought. Something many people would like to get their hands on.
When he’d attended the Academy, he had studied in the monasteries. He had learned the ancient scriptures by heart. His personal beliefs never felt challenged by those words not because they felt false so much as they didn’t seem relevant. Their people already proved to the galaxy they were destined to rule.
Constantly reminding the people of this fact seemed… desperate to him. Later, he understood the significance of repetition. As a leader of men specifically, the constant reinforcement of rule, ensured obedience. There could be no room for doubt because that led to questioning.
Someone here believes they can take an item that might challenge that. Kivda hoped they might capture the perpetrators but as they broke the cloud coverage, he recognized they would have to die. None of us can risk these individuals going back to tell others what they saw. It might start some sort of illegal pilgrimage.
Standard travel within the Kahl Empire tended to be restricted to all but the elite members of society. The military, high ranking officials, and the wealthy… those who contributed to the war effort the most and maintained the colonies. Many people still moved about but they did so through shady pilots. Ships without concern about the law.
Kivda helped run several such entrepreneurs down but after taking out more than a dozen, he put in a recommendation to ignore it. He ha
dn’t known about the Prophet then, and he felt grateful no one put it together that he offered up a concept of turning a blind eye to illicit travel.
If this site proved to be what he thought, then many of his people would happily risk the consequences if only to see it in person. Regardless of what they were about to find. That message, the ancient language crying for help, would sound like a clarion call for the Kahls and they would rush to defend it.
We have to keep this secret. That might mean destroying the site. The thought filled him with some guilt. Because that’s essentially blasphemy. I’m considering obliterating a piece of our history that I’ve only ever imagined. Kivda wondered if the priests would approve of his defending the faith or condemn him for his destruction of their culture.
“What do you see?” Renz’s voice came through the speakers in his helmet. “Are you near enough the site to know?”
“Almost,” Kivda replied. “Right now, I’ve only got the beacon message. I’ll have scans in a moment to relate to you.”
“Keep me informed immediately.”
What else do you think I’m going to do? Kivda gritted his teeth. At times, his friend could be a real idiot. He said things without thinking. Some of the times came from a need to show the rank-and-file troops he was certainly in charge of every aspect of his ship. They know it without treating me like an extension of his arm.
The frustration abated as he noticed the sunlight reflecting off something metal in the midst of a rock quarry. He turned to the sensors, zeroing in on the thing. It looked like some kind of spacecraft… though he didn’t recognize the silhouette. That surprised him given his experience with the various races throughout the galaxy.
Where did you come from?
“Renz,” Kivda said, “we’ve found a craft. It’s like nothing I’ve seen. We’re getting scans now.” He frowned. “This thing has practically no power. The reactor is beyond inefficient. I… I don’t know how anyone even flies it! I’m sending back the data for you to see.”
“What’s the nearest habitable planet?” Renz asked. “How far did they have to come from? By my reckoning of these numbers, it would’ve taken them almost a full ten cycles. Maybe more.”
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Kivda replied. “There are no lifeforms aboard right now. The passengers must be inside this cave I’m seeing. We’ll need to get lower to make it out but I believe we should destroy their means of escape. Inefficient as it is, they can still move in it, and then we’ll minimize our chances of catching them.”
“Do it. Obliterate that garbage. Land and take prisoners.”
“Yes, sir.” Kivda engaged the weapons himself. He took aim, opening fire with two separate turrets. They belched out a dozen blasts, loud enough to be heard in the sealed cockpit. The red beams hammered the ground all around the target, the last three striking it dead center.
The resulting explosion surprised him. Smoke and fire burst into the air, debris slamming into the rocky walls around it. Dust followed, kicked up by the sudden burst. The vehicle had been wiped off the surface of the planet with nothing left to salvage. Only a blackened spot would remain.
We should have captured it. Kivda lamented the decision. It was just as much his fault for not thinking about it. I had no idea it would react to our weapons so violently. It shouldn’t have. Whoever flew on that thing had real courage… or total stupidity. How did it stand the stress of space if it couldn’t take a few hits from a turret?
“Vehicle destroyed,” Kivda announced. “We’re moving in to land now. Standby for an update.” He turned to the Benth. “We’ll do a hot drop near the entrance. Circle around in case we miss something I want eyes on this target the entire time. Real time scans and your full attention.” He rose, heading to the back to join the rest of his team.
Now to see what type of people came in on that thing… and discover if they’re more of a threat than their vehicle.
***
Muffled, staccato screams echoed into the chamber. Kyle turned toward the entrance a moment before the ground shook and a deafening roar echoed off the ceiling. He cried out, slapping his hands against his ears. The temperature rose several degrees, biting through his clothes.
“What the hell was that?” Kyle shouted. “Lysa, are you okay?”
“That was the ship,” Lysa called back. “They destroyed it completely!”
“What? How? Impossible!”
“Obviously not.” Lysa waved at him from the left corner opposite the entrance to the place. “I found a passage.”
“Thank God!” Kyle hustled over. “What kind of pirates blow up potential cargo? Why would they throw away a prize? That doesn’t make a damn bit of sense!”
“I sincerely doubt they’re pirates.” A section of the wall had moved inward. The two stepped into the darkness before she shoved it closed. “Without the ship, we’re in a lot more trouble than I thought.” She tapped at her tablet. “Try to jam this thing somehow. With anything you’ve got. Hurry!”
Kyle searched around the enclosed space. Nothing happened to be around. He admired the door, checking from the top to the bottom. At the midpoint, he found a bolt. He threw it, plunging the metal deep into the stone. “That’s the best we’re going to get. What’re you doing?”
“Thank God we didn’t pack up the camp,” Lysa said. “I’m bursting a distress call. It won’t last long before they find it and jam it, but at least it’ll be something.” She shrugged. “Come on! We need to move our asses!” She bolted off without another word, sprinting into the darkness. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”
“I’ll say. What’re you hoping to find down here besides a way out?”
“Maybe we can engage the shields again,” Lysa replied. “By the time we find them, I’m pretty sure those people will be inside with us. However, we might take them out if they don’t have reinforcements. Right?”
I don’t even know who or what we’re up against. The latter part made him stiffen. “Hey… what if these are… well…”
“I didn’t want to say it out loud either.”
“Aliens?” Kyle swallowed hard.
“Yep! Pretty much.” Lysa held up her hand for him to slow down as they reached a hard turn. They hustled along the corridor then down some stairs. “This looks like maintenance more than a hallway for people to get around. I wish we knew what the building had been for before.”
“Maybe a temple.” Kyle tapped her shoulder to get her to slow down. “Take your time on the next part here. The closer we get to any sort of reactor, the riskier this gets. Besides, the guys pursuing us have to know there’s nowhere we can go. What did your distress call say anyway?”
“Generic please help. Explorers in danger. Basic stuff for what we had at the camp. It’s not like the gear back there was all that sophisticated.”
Kyle didn’t know specifically what she had up there but he sure as hell knew everything they lost with their vessel. Everything they owned, clothes, equipment, tools they saved for, even old heirlooms from his family… all gone. With an unknown enemy pursuing them, they may well have been looking at the last few hours of their lives.
He approved of Lysa’s attitude. Kyle never felt like giving in to a difficult situation. This felt different. Her perseverance helped bolster his determination. She must think we can get out of this. Her cynicism went far deeper than his. Of the two of them, she fell into deeper depressions far more often.
“Power readings are increasing,” Lysa announced. “I’m thinking the reactor has to be just up ahead.”
“How far away does the reactor have to be from the geothermal vents?” Kyle asked. “In other words, how hot is this going to be?”
“The power is collected then transferred to the reactor which is just a fancy ass generator. That’s how the energy is regulated before sending out to the systems that require it. Like the lights and those crazy shields.” Lysa paused as they reached a T intersection. “What I don’t understand is why we’r
e seeing this.”
“What do you mean?”
“If the area we just left is basically a temple, then why isn’t the path leading directly to the reactor? What other systems could there be? For example, if we go left and it doesn’t lead to our destination, what would we find? Lights maybe? Or shield controls?” Lysa nodded. “That has to be it.”
“So the reactor room is one thing,” Kyle said, “then we’ve got the control room.” He snapped his fingers. “Because the people who work here don’t want to be fried by the runoff from their reactor, right? Would there be radiation?”
“Technically, all power has some form of radiation. The question is how harmful it is. Now, our understanding of geothermal power comes down to the idea that it would be natural radioactivity and easily contained with proper procedures. There are three problems here that we have to worry about.
“One, we don’t know anything about the people who built it. They may have had some sort of natural resistance to radioactivity that would kill us. Two, we don’t know what type of technology they had when they built this so we can’t know they had a way to contain it if they wanted to. And finally, the power itself may not produce dangerous emissions.”
“So we should not go to the reactor,” Kyle said, “until we get to the place with the control room. Right?”
“Sure.” Lysa gestured to the left. “There’s less energy that way. So I say that’s our direction.” She stared down the way. “I wish I had a life reading on our guests. I can’t pick them up on my scanner. And that’s weird.”
“What’s it tell you?”
“They’re not jamming us. I can pick up the energy here, I’ve got information about the radiation from the destruction of our ship. I’ve even got our camp still. The distress beacon’s still blaring by the way. But not the people after us. You don’t think those ships were drones, do you? They might even be AI controlled.”