by Thomas Stone
It didn't take long to find the bodies. They lay where they died, some with their arms around one another and some in places where they had crawled off to die alone. Their emaciated frames told the story: the Bedorans had starved to death.
When he and Utme were outside again, Harry radioed the bad news and started toward the shuttle. As cold as it was, he lingered, not knowing what to say to Yoni. He approached the shuttle and, when he was near enough, he saw that the boy was still at the same window, watching and waiting.
Harry waved and the boy waved back, hope in his eyes. A great sadness passed through Harry and rested in his chest. He'd failed to save the tribe. As far as he knew, Yoni was the last member of the Bedoran race.
Without really trying, Harry allowed his mind to stretch out and roam over the expense of the planet. In the depths of the oceans, he finally detected life, essentially a few blind fish swimming among mollusks. Other than that, the planet was lifeless.
He snapped out of it and glanced up to the window again. Yoni was still there, waiting for Harry to come in and give him the news.
*
Once they were back aboard the Grunwald, Burke wouldn't let the I-told-you-so look drop from his face. Dr. Ferguson sighed and crossed her arms. Jareem looked bored. The others took the news indifferently and looked to Harry.
"Maybe I should go look in on the little guy," suggested Bobbie.
Harry shook his head. "Give him some time. After I told him, he didn't act like he wanted to talk to anybody."
"I don't blame him," said Bobbie. "I feel sorry for him."
"What about the bodies?" asked the doc.
"We left them where they were."
"What!? Do you think that's in the best interests of the Corporation? You're joking, is that it?"
"No Doctor, I'm not."
"Commander," she protested, "those bodies are more valuable to us as samples. I'm certain the Corporation would offer bonuses, even though the bodies may be somewhat decomposed."
Harry put up a hand. "It's too late, Doc. We're up here and they're down there. We can do the remainder of our survey from orbit."
Jareem spoke up. "Irons doesn't need another bonus. He's already rich. He's looking for bigger fish."
To Harry's surprise, Burke came to his aid. "That's going a little too far, mister."
Jareem straightened up and stared hard at Co-commander Burke. "Oh, is that right?" he said as he leaned toward Burke. Burke didn't move.
Harry was almost amused at the thought of two men trying to have a fist-fight in zero gravity. It had been a long while since he'd seen it. O'Neill didn't have a chance against Burke. Harry knew Burke could handle himself in low gravity. Although a natural athlete, Jareem was a neophyte at weightless martial arts. In any case, it didn't come down to it. Jareem started drifting backwards and couldn't do anything about it.
Harry reached out, took him by the collar, and set him back in his chair. "I'm all right," Jareem said, "I can do it myself."
Harry let him go. "Now listen up! If you're worried about bonuses, I'm sure you'll all have sizeable shares by the time we get back. For those of us who do get back." For effect, he looked at the faces around him. "The second planet is the most promising. We knew that before we started. There's plenty ahead of us, and I suggest we focus on what's coming up. As for my decision to leave without taking some of the Bedoran bodies, well, let's just say that was personal. It's my decision, my responsibility."
"That's easy for you to say," grumbled Jareem.
"Yes," replied Harry, "it is easy for me to say. And that's the way it is. Mr. Burke, we can begin preparations for pulling out of orbit. I want a quick-look heading for Bedor-2 with a time estimate. Get the sensors pulled back, leave a buoy, and adios. Now," Harry again looked around the room, "anybody got any problems with that?"
Nobody said anything.
"Good," Harry said, "then hop to it."
They didn't exactly rush to the door, but eventually, among the grumbling, the crew went about their duties. Burke stopped Harry on the way out.
"What is it, Burke?"
"I just wanted to say I liked the way you handled things back there."
"Well, thanks."
"Don't mention it. This is an undisciplined bunch of people we've got here and you need all the help you can get."
"I appreciate it, Burke, but I think you're making it sound worse than it is. I meant what I said. As far as this survey mission goes, things are just getting started. When the crew gets busy again, they'll forget all about how they feel right now."
"Yes, of course. Well, I should be off. Lots to do before departure." Burke stiffly saluted Harry. Harry felt ridiculous, but returned the salute anyway.
*
He found Yoni exactly as he'd left him; alone, staring out a porthole at the ice planet that had once been his home. The boy didn't bother to look as Harry entered the cabin.
"Yoni? Arai?"
The boy didn't look away from the porthole. "Yes?" he answered.
"How are you feeling?"
Yoni shrugged. His tail remained down and inanimate. "I'm okay."
"Are you hungry?"
"No."
"Well, wouldn't you like to get out of this cabin? Walk around the ship with me?"
Using the human gesture he'd picked up, the boy shook his head.
"I understand," said Harry. "I know how hard this must be for you. I wish I had some good news for you, but all I can tell you is that eventually, everything will be all right." Harry said the words, but wasn't sure if he believed it himself. Whatever would happen to the boy on return to Earth was up for speculation.
Yoni turned from the window and looked at Harry. "There was no ceremony."
"What? What do you mean?"
"There was no ceremony performed over the bodies of my people. They will not enter the next world. Their souls will wander over the ice of Bedor for eternity."
"I said the words before we left."
Yoni seemed to brighten a little. "You remember how?"
"I remembered enough to perform the ritual. I think they're safely on their way."
The boy was obviously relieved. A weight seemed to be lifted from his scrawny shoulders. "That's good to hear. Then someday, when I die, I will see them again."
Harry nodded. The Bedorans' spiritual beliefs were simple, but not so different from most Earth beliefs.
"I've been praying for them," added Yoni. "I only hope that from this distance, the prayers will find their way."
"I'm sure they will."
"What will happen to me now?"
"Don't worry about that. We'll take care of you."
"You and Kathleen?"
"Yes."
"I wish Kathleen was here now."
Harry rested beside the boy. "Me too."
The intercom buzzed and Burke's voice came through the speaker. "Commander, we're ready to burn out of orbit."
Harry pushed the call button. "We'll be right up."
He turned to the Bedoran boy. "Do you want to go to the bridge with me? We're preparing to leave."
"Yes," said Yoni, "I'd like that." The boy sounded better, but Harry noticed that his tail remained down.
Once on the bridge, to Burke's irritation, Harry situated Yoni where he could watch Bedor-3 as the ship pulled away. Mostly, the crew went about their duties and paid little mind to the boy. Harry was the only one who noticed the tears falling from the boy's eyes.
Chapter 18
Days later, Yoni still wasn't quite himself. Most of the time he maintained a respectful silence and kept out of the way. Bobbie gave him a considerable amount of attention and the boy seemed to enjoy it. Dr. Ferguson wanted to get him down to the lab and run more tests but Yoni would have nothing to do with him. Harry was amused as the doctor asked him to order the boy to report for the tests.
"He's not an employee of the Corporation," said Harry, "I can't make him do anything he doesn't want to do."
"I don't see why not. He may n
ot be an employee, but he is Corporation property."
Harry shook his head. "No, he's not either. At least, not as long as he's my responsibility."
"Commander, he's not human. He's an alien!"
"I am aware of that, madam. Yoni is also a thinking being with thoughts and feelings that are not so different from yours."
"Is that your final word on this matter?"
"Yes, I'm afraid it is."
"You know, of course, what the Corporation is going to say about this."
"Look, Doc, let's get something straight. Out here, I have the option of overruling whatever you think the Corporation might have to say. As long as I'm the leader of this survey mission, whatever I say is the rule. That's all you need to understand. Is that clear?"
The doctor stared at Harry with narrowed eyes.
"Is that clear?" Harry repeated.
"Crystal!" she snapped.
The others were more tolerant of the Bedoran but Bobbie was the most helpful. She spent her off time with the boy teaching him rudimentary English and basic human social rules. Yoni liked the attention and learned fast. Within a half dozen watch rotations, he started to anticipate where Bobbie would be.
Presently, strapped to a seat on the bridge, he waited for Bobbie to begin her turn at watch. Yoni watched Burke as the co-commander ran through figures at the navigation console.
The boy didn't understand how things worked, but he quickly grasped the why of things. When Burke lost his handheld computer, Yoni found it floating near the floor and retrieved it. He handed the device to Burke. Embarrassed, Burke took it without a word.
Harry covered his smile with his hand. "Got the preliminary data yet?"
"It's coming through now."
Harry hit a series of keystrokes at his console and on the monitor before him a new window opened revealing the most current information available about Bedor-2. From the figures, Harry discerned the planet was most likely teaming with life. The low amount of hydrocarbons in the atmosphere indicated that any intelligent life was probably in a pre-industrial stage. Like Earth, the planet had two icy poles, temperate zones, and a tropical band at the equator. There was plenty of water and oxygen was abundant. Its mass was considerably less than the Earth's. As a result, the lower gravity meant Harry and his crew would be more comfortable. Any type of movement could be accomplished with ease.
What the data didn't tell him was whether or not Fagen was there. The subspace frequencies were silent. If Fagen was around, he certainly wasn't announcing his presence. Bedor-2 was still too far away to do a proper search of its surrounding space, but so far there was nothing in orbit besides the three medium-sized moons. Of course, detecting a spacecraft from this distance would be practically impossible if the ship's beacon were shut off. And Fagen, no doubt, would have the beacon turned off. Dismantled even. If the alien ship even had a beacon at all.
Behind Harry and to the right, Jareem stared at his monitor. He perked up as he read the incoming data on his display. "Looks like we may have an ion trail here."
Everyone on the bridge looked at Jareem.
"Where?" Harry asked.
"Third quad from our present position, passing from three o'clock to seven. Looks like a straight shot to Bedor-2. Hot damn!" Jareem slapped his hands together. "Looks like we found Fagen's trail!"
Harry brought up the data on his screen and stared at the incoming numbers. "Maybe," he muttered. "Could be another survey ship."
"There are no other current survey missions in this sector..." started Serge.
"It's Fagen. It's got to be!" said Jareem. "Man oh man, we hit the jackpot!"
"Hold on a minute," said Harry, "even if it is, we've got a long way to go. Edward Fagen was a very smart man. He won't be easy to capture, and that includes his ship. At this time, all we can do is to keep a close watch. I don't want anybody to think we're changing our approach to this mission. We'll continue to collect data and, if we find that planetary conditions are suitable, we'll send down a landing party."
"It's suitable, all right," said Serge, "I've never seen a planet more suitable."
Burke remained quiet, but nodded his agreement.
The other crew members quickly learned of the ion trail and excitement coursed through the ship. It raised their spirits after the Bedoran tragedy and served to remind them that the promise of huge bonuses might be just around the corner.
O'Neill had been right when he said Harry didn't care about the bonus. Harry already had more credits in the bank than he could spend in ten lifetimes. He didn't care about the money anymore. But the opportunity to find Fagen and the marvelous alien starship, that was something altogether different. Harry felt he had a score to settle with the older man and, for the first time on the trip, he was almost glad Kathleen wasn't aboard. Unlike Harry, she harbored no resentment toward Fagen, except maybe for taking Blane with him when he stole the ship. Still, it wasn't Fagen's fault entirely. After all, Blane had conspired with Fagen.
Twelve hours later, during the orbital approach, Utme reported that surface scans had found an energy source of undetermined origin.
"It's the only place on the entire planet that's showing a radiating source, and it's strong, almost as if it's focused."
"What could it be?"
"I really have no idea. I've never seen anything like it. Look, we're showing strong low-frequency waves as well as a considerable amount of residual radiation. With this much radiation, I would expect a lot of microwave activity. Well, it's there, all right, but only in this tiny area." Utme pointed to the map displayed on her monitor. "If it's a nuclear source, I'd expect a ton of electromagnetic activity, but there's just that bit in an isolated area."
Serge rubbed his eyes. "Since there's nothing to lead us to believe the natives have reached the industrial stage, just what are we looking at?"
Utme shrugged. "Beats me."
Harry had never seen anything like it either, although he'd seen a good many things throughout the galaxy that defied explanation. "What else we got?" he asked. "Spotted anything that looks like a town? Geographical anomalies?"
Utme looked back to her screen. "Here's something."
Harry got up and floated over behind the woman. "Where?"
She pointed at her monitor.
"Looks like, what? Smoke from fires? I'd definitely say that's a compound of some sort. Can you give me more zoom?"
"Sorry, we're maxed out right now."
"Okay. Let me know if you find anymore." Harry turned to Burke. "I'll bet that's a small community."
"Of what?"
"Well, if the Bedoran legends are true, then we're looking at the Malaaz."
Burke didn't change expression. Harry could tell something was going on in the man's head.
"Perhaps I should check the shuttle. Save us a little time?"
Harry heard buzzing in his head like the sound of locusts. "Sounds good to me."
"You've got the conn, Commander." Burke unbuckled himself from his position at the main control console and floated off the bridge.
The buzzing in Harry's head wavered and then changed altogether into a blur of sensory impressions. Harry sat before his instruments and realized he could read them all at a glance. His head seemed to expand and he shivered. He forced himself to relax and the more he relaxed the better he could feel the presence of the others. As before, their thoughts and memories came to him, as if down a funnel straight through his skull, until the feelings of one blended into the thoughts of another.
Harry tuned them all out and directed his attention toward Bedor-2.
In what seemed an instant later, a voice asked, "Commander, are you all right?"
Harry opened his eyes and looked at Bobbie. How long had she been on the bridge? "Yes, I'm fine. What is it?"
"It's time to retrograde. We're ready to enter orbit."
"Yes. Have you laid in the coordinates?"
"On your command."
"Sound the alarm." He glanced behind
at Yoni, strapped into a chair at one of the spare consoles.
A tone ensued, followed by a pleasing computer voice: "Prepare for deceleration, prepare for deceleration..."
Harry checked the readings on his monitor a last time. Serge stared at him. "Ready?" asked Harry.
"When you are."
"Computer," Harry said, "initiate braking sequence."
From the rear of the ship, a rumble started up as the engines began to fire. For thirty-six seconds, the Grunwald roared and shook as it parked itself into an equatorial orbit.
*
Bedor-2 was beautiful from twelve hundred kilometers. There were great expanses of blue made by the seas; green and purple and blue land mixed with every shade of soil, from yellow to black. Like great, billowy balls of cotton, clouds obscured areas of considerable size.
Telemetry showed a varied terrain with huge jungles dominating the tropical zones where the mysterious energy source continued to steadily emanate streams of charged ions.
Nothing was visible to the unaided eye, but sensor readings went wild when the Grunwald passed over the spot. Thermal scanners placed the precise location. After looking at the new data, Harry still didn't know what it was. Neither did anybody else.
There was no sign of Fagen's ship.
The place they thought might be a community turned out to be just that. With the telescopes aboard the Grunwald, Harry was able to count heads moving around within a walled compound.
When the hot spot came around again, much discussion ensued about its origin. Burke came up with an interesting idea. He suggested it was the remains of Fagen's star-drive, still smoldering from a shattering collision with the planet.
"Or, perhaps in a less romantic vein," said the doctor, "a meteorite of unknown material."
Harry took another look through the eyepiece. "It looks like there's a regular pattern around it, like some sort of structure, or maybe what's left of a building. Sure looks overgrown by the jungle."
Harry zoomed in a bit more. Heat waves wavered the image, like lines on a bad video screen. His first impression was correct. The ruins of a long-forgotten city stood covered in vegetation. Harry saw a pyramid and, as the Grunwald passed over its northeastern corner, something moved. It happened so quickly, it was impossible to tell what it was.