Something about the darkness and the speed of the craft was beginning to affect him. While far from claustrophobic, Shawn was starting to get a sense of uneasiness in the pit of his stomach. Before he could put an exact cause to it, the vehicle entered a relatively well-lit space and slowed to a halt. All the gullwing doors opened simultaneously, and the two SS operatives exited quietly. Shawn and Melissa quickly followed suit.
They were in a cavernous room hollowed out of solid rock. High above them was a vaulted ceiling, with artificial light filtering through a grated support structure. To the right of the car was an enclosed, faceted conveyor of some type extending the length of the room. It was connected to an even larger machine at the far side of the cave, itself about three stories tall, with a series of wide tubes extending from its upper portion into the solid rock face above. From the level of dust present, and the fact that the machine made no noise whatsoever, Shawn guess that it hadn’t been functional in sometime.
“This way, Commander,” the driver said.
Shawn turned to see the man standing on a dilapidated gantry way, one barely wide enough for him to do so. Beneath him were wheeled buckets, probably once use to hold raw materials from the mines. One had overturned, and a pile of glittering dust had spilled from it. The air in the place was stale, and left a lingering metallic taste in Shawn’s mouth as he exhaled slowly. Hoping nothing in here was toxic, he motioned for Melissa to follow him up to the gantry. The second of the two SS officers took up the rear position and followed Melissa at a practical distance. His hands were hidden inside the folds of his coverings, but Melissa knew he was holding his weapon firmly.
After traveling down several long corridors, they came to a doorway carved into the rock. The lead Special Services man took out an identity card, waved it over a pad in the wall, and the door opened with a groan. Inside, the fifteen-foot-square room was empty, save for several disused crates packed against the far wall and a second doorway on the far side. There was a single light coming down from the overhead that looked to have recently been installed.
A moment of silence fell over the room before the far door opened with a groan, similar to the previous door. Another pair of SS personnel strode in, followed by a massive officer. So tall was he that the alien had to bend down slightly to clear the door’s lintel. When it stood before Shawn and Melissa, it stretched to its full height—some nine feet or more.
When the Tizarian people were first contacted some one hundred years ago, the first thought that ran though most people’s minds was how similar they looked to the mythological Minotaur. Their heads were roughly bovine shaped, and they had a pair of sharp horns protruding from their temples. Even their powerful legs were double jointed. Though the Tizarians were, in fact, descended from an aquatic species—and their appearance was considered on odd coincidence of nature—the term “Minotaur” still stuck in less professional conversations about the honorable race.
“Commander Kestrel,” the imposing Tizarian began as he stretched out a webbed, four-fingered hand. “I’m Major Sisleon, Unified Special Services Team Bravo.” The voice was low and soothing.
Shawn reached out and shook the powerful hand. “This is Special Agent Melissa Graves, Office of Special Intelligence,” he said with a wave of his hand.
“Miss Graves,” the major said, taking her hand just as firmly as he had with Shawn. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with the OSI on past occasions. I hope this one will be no less productive.”
Melissa nodded as she released the Major’s hand. In the past, her own experiences with SS teams could have been defined as less than stellar. They had their own way of doing things—ways that could often be defined as less than regulation. However, they’d never failed to come through when she’d called on them for support. “You’ve secured the area, then?” she asked.
Sisleon grunted an acknowledgement. “We have. My personnel are stationed throughout the complex.”
“How large is your team?”
“Twenty of my best people.”
Shawn scanned the inside of the small room one more. “You were here during the sandstorm yesterday?”
The alien’s large head bobbed. “We were, Commander Kestrel. These caverns afforded us all the protection we required. I sent out a patrol first thing this morning to ascertain any damage to structures outside. It appears that everything is still in order for your investigation … albeit a bit dustier.”
“Then you know why we’re here?” Melissa asked.
“I am aware of our orders, Special Agent,” Sisleon said smartly, “and that you’ll likely wish to question the person we’ve detained.”
Both she and Shawn shared a glance. “You’ve detained someone?”
“We have. An older Ionian gentleman.” There was another glance between Shawn and Melissa, and this time Sisleon inquired about it. “Was this … expected?”
“Let’s say it was a possibility we thought we might encounter,” Shawn answered.
“When did you find him, and where?” Melissa asked.
“One of my patrol squads found him two days ago, within the first hour of our arrival at this installation. He was down in the caverns beneath us along with a large number of scientific instruments.”
“There are more caves below us?” Shawn asked. “I thought we were already pretty far underground.”
Sisleon nodded. “There are, Commander—a veritable catacomb of tunnels and caverns. We’re currently only about fifty feet below the surface of the ore processing plant. The network below stretches for another mile or so.”
Shawn almost laughed at the irony of the situation. Here he was, talking to something that looked very similar to a Minotaur, in an environment that would be identical to where Terran mythology would place one. He kept the insight to himself as he kicked the dust beneath his feet, wondering how stable these abandoned caverns were.
“You mentioned scientific equipment, Major,” Melissa said. “What kind?”
Sisleon shook his large head. “I’m uncertain as to some of it. Not my area of expertise, you understand. There’s a great deal of it down there, and it looks to have been there for some time. I can tell you we found a spectral analyzer, and a communications terminal that was linked to a remote antenna attached to one of the structures above.”
She understood the concept of the transmitter, but not the analyzer. “Did he give you a name?”
“His name is Uudon, Doctor Uudon. He says he’s a representative of the Unified Historical Society, but his identity card is missing. We’ve been unable to verify that, both because he’s been very tight-lipped about his personal information, and the fact that our connection to the Unified Government’s mainframe is somewhat limited.” He then looked at Melissa, the lips at the end of his muzzle curling into a smile. “Perhaps your methods will extract more viable information from him?”
Melissa caught the inflection of his words. OSI methods, she knew from personal experience, were highly effective at mining information from inflexible sources. Though she objected to using them in general, there were extreme cases where doing so had been a matter of life or death—either for her or others she was protecting. That Major Sisleon knew something about them spoke volumes about how closely he’d worked with OSI operatives in the past, considering that those methods were a closely guarded secret. “I’ll have to question him right away,” was all she said.
“Of course, Agent Graves. I’ve kept him in isolation not far from here. He’s been given rations of food and water, but he’s eaten very little. He looked to be in rather poor health when we found him and he hasn’t gotten any better in the last few days.”
“Please take me to him straight away,” she said. “The sooner we question him, the sooner we can all move on to more important things.”
Sisleon turned back to the door he’d come through. One of his men opened it for him, and the major once again ducked as he crossed the threshold. “This way, please.”
The
passageway, little more than a tunnel drilled through solid rock, led deeper under the surface of the planet. Spaced evenly along the walls were small floodlights powered by an unseen source. Occasionally Shawn and Melissa came across a mining droid. Some were toppled over, while others were stuck in their final poses, their drill-tipped arms frozen and embedded into the surface of the shaft.
“Creepy,” Shawn muttered as they stepped around another robotic corpse.
“I trust you are aware of the mine’s former operator?” Sisleon asked over his shoulder as he continued to lead them into the semi-darkness.
“I am,” Melissa responded as she took a final look at the droid, the circuitry in its chest cavity exposed and dangling out like a plate of discarded spaghetti.
“When the OSI took control of this station some years ago, the special agent involved did a very thorough job of disabling these droids. We’ve tried to clear them from the passageways as much as possible, but some were impeding our investigation of the tunnels and were all but impossible to get around. We had to remove them using small charges, and that last one we passed was one of them.”
“I see,” Melissa said, eyeing Shawn suspiciously.
He nodded to her in understanding. Her eyes were telling him that, even thought they were in the presence of friendly forces, she had her reservations about what she wasn’t being told.
“Here we are,” Sisleon said as he came to a halt before a large steel door. He placed his ID card against the reader and it opened with a load moan. “My men and I will wait outside. You’ll understand, of course, if we close the door behind you.”
She did, but the feeling in her gut that something was amiss told her otherwise. “Of course, Major.” True to his word, as soon as she and Shawn were in the dimly lit space, the door closed securely behind them and locked.
“Not exactly what I was expecting,” Shawn said as he looked around the carved space. In the center of the chamber were chairs and a desk. In the corner was a cot with a lone figure sitting on it. Shawn looked to the older Ionian male, who looked back wordlessly but with curiosity in his eyes.
“I’m Special Agent Melissa Graves of the OSI,” she began as she stepped closer to him.
Shawn kept his distance, his hands relaxed at his side where he could quickly draw his pistol if necessary.
The older man stood to his full height, about four and half feet. He was hunched over slightly, as if the effects of his advanced age were taking their toll on his body. “Doctor K’artl Uudon, Unified Historical Society.”
“This is Commander Shawn Kestrel,” she said as she motioned to Shawn. “Unified Sector Command.”
Uudon looked to Shawn skeptically. “I understand your presence, Agent Graves, and indeed, I welcome it … but the Commander’s is somewhat … puzzling. Why is Sector Command here?”
The words were spoken with an air of disdain, and it didn’t take a genius to realize this was a man who had a dislike of the military. “I’m just along for the sights, Doctor,” Shawn said in jest.
Uudon either didn’t catch the inflection or didn’t think it was very funny. He simply grunted his disapproval and turned back to Melissa. “You have questions, no doubt, about my presence here.”
“I do,” she answered with a nod.
“Excellent. Then let us begin,” Uudon said. He took a seat in one of the empty chairs nearby. “I’m anxious to get back to my work, and the lot of you are—quite frankly—in the way.”
Melissa took a seat opposite the doctor. “I’m afraid it’s not as easy as that, Doctor.”
Uudon folded his arms across his chest. “I’m a very busy man, Miss Graves, made even busier by your intrusion into my work. If you’ll kindly begin your interrogation, please.”
Melissa sighed, then withdrew a video recorder from her backpack. Placing it on the floor between them, she switched it on. “First, Doctor Uudon, I’d like to know exactly what you’re doing here.”
The doctor leveled his eyes at her as if he were studying her. He seemed to scan every pore on her face, every strand of hair that was within his range of vision. “I am, quite simply, on the verge of making a breakthrough in Unified Historical research. And, if I’m correct, it will have enormous repercussions across the entire Beta Quadrant and beyond.”
“Here?” Shawn asked sardonically. “In a hole in the desert?”
“Yes, Commander,” he replied acerbically. “Here, in this very hole, as you put it so inarticulately.”
“What is this discovery?” Melissa asked.
Uudon studied her once more, then smiled with self-satisfaction. He unfolded his arms, then leaned closer to her. “I have discovered the purpose for the Meltranian invasion.”
“There are two types of friends in this universe: those who are close to your allies, and those who are far away from them. To survive for any great length in difficult situations, one must know how to properly leverage each of their strengths at the right moment.”
-Rough translation of an ancient Tizarian proverb
Chapter 12
Shawn and Melissa’s eyes shifted to one another at Doctor Uudon’s revelation. What could the doctor have possibly discovered on Torval that could have given him any insights into Meltranians? When Melissa asked him as much, the doctor’s eyes lit up brightly. Uudon’s chest puffed out as he took a stance that Melissa recalled many a professor at the Academy held when they were about to give—what they alone felt—a very profound speech.
“Approximately sixteen months ago, the declassification of the original OSI operations here on Torval became public information. Not long after, I took on the assignment of studying this location for any historical significance it could provide in relation to the Great Galactic War. Most of the structures on the surface provided little to nothing of useful information.” He then looked to Melissa, the tone of his voice taking on a more serious note. “The OSI, it seems, is very thorough in cleaning up after themselves.” He let the words sink in until he saw Melissa shift uncomfortably, then continued in a more relaxed tone. “Nevertheless, it was what I found here in the catacombs that altered the very focal point of my research in general.”
“And what was it that you found, Professor?” Melissa asked.
Uudon looked at her with frustration. “If you’ll kindly wait, Miss Graves, I’m getting to that. Now, as I was saying, I found something of importance to the Unified government. In the caverns, about a mile beneath us, I came across what I initially believed was a meteorite fragment from beyond our region of the galaxy.”
When he was silent for a moment, Melissa felt it was her cue to ask a question. “The one that originally formed this crater?”
“Precisely. For several months, I’d been attempting to study its composition, but I was unable to determine some of the many compounds it’s formed from. That is, until the Meltranians began invading our region of space.” Uudon then scowled at Shawn. “I’m sure you, Commander, are aware of some of the altercations that have taken place between the respective cultures?”
“Aware?” Shawn balked. “More like I’ve been directly involved with them.”
Uudon looked at him with disapproval. “Indeed. Regardless, those encounters provided Unified scientists with fragments of Meltranian technology. Those fragments are still being analyzed, but some tantalizing facts have already been gleaned from them.”
While Melissa was also aware of those results, she had the distinct impression they were still highly classified. Either Uudon had somehow hacked into the system, or he’d been granted access to the materials. If that was the case, the good doctor was far more important that she had initially believed—or he was somehow in cohesion with the same entities that had claimed Jerry Santorum’s life. Pushing aside the question of access, she instead went for the findings. “Such as?”
Doctor Uudon casually clasped his hands behind his back as he continued his lecture. “The initial results of the metallurgical examination of Meltranian debris is remar
kably consistent with the composition of the object down in the tunnels beneath us.”
“The meteorite is … Meltranian?” Shawn asked.
Uudon sighed, then looked at Shawn in disapproval, as a parent would a small child. “It is not a meteorite, Commander.”
“The remains of a ship, then?” he asked.
The doctor closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. “No. It is not that either.”
“Then I’m afraid I don’t—” Shawn began with a scowl before Uudon interrupted him.
“No, young man. I don’t suspect you would.” He then started to pace the confines of the small cave as he pondered the next place to begin speaking. “You see, several days ago, a transmission was sent here from outside this planetary system.”
With his back to them, Uudon didn’t see Shawn and Melissa exchange a knowing glance.
“Did you know its source?” Melissa asked.
Uudon grunted softly in disapproval. “Unfortunately, no. I was, however, able to deduce the general vicinity from which it originated. But that’s relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things.”
Like hell it is, Shawn thought, but kept it to himself for the moment as Uudon continued.
“You see, up until the moment the transmission was received here, no one knew exactly what these objects were.”
Melissa cocked an eyebrow. “You’re saying other objects like this have been discovered?”
“Oh, yes. A number of them. Twelve to be precise, scattered across as many worlds.” He then looked at Shawn. “Being human, you are familiar with the planet Mars in the Sol system, I trust?”
Shawn nodded.
“Prior to this one, the last was discovered nearly twenty years ago at the bottom of the Zumba crater, widely suspected as being the youngest on the Martian surface. As far as any other objects like this, I suspect that there are a great deal more, very likely inside Kafaran space.”
Dark Space Page 17