“Well then,” Jeff stated. “We only have one other choice. We’ll have to land and hope for the best. We’ll have to probably still hijack another Tolarion ship for supplies at some point.” The two lingworts looked at each other in disgust and disbelief, and Dormiton put his hand over his face and shook his head.
“That may be difficult,” Zarcon said. “They seldom travel alone.”
“Why don’t you find a hole and bury yourself deeper?” shouted Dormiton. “Why can’t we just land and hide until they’re gone?”
“We’re not sure we’ll even be able to,” Jeff answered.
By the next morning, they were only an hour or two away from their destination. As the time passed, they faintly saw the bluish green world, slightly larger than Earth and orbiting a small yellow sun. Its
two moons shined brightly towards the star as the renegades’ ship passed by them. The two lingworts stared at the world in wonder, and Jeff knew in his mind their thoughts were on home. They didn’t want any part of the situation; they just wanted to be left alone in an environment they could live peacefully.
“We’re coming up on Zebula now,” Zarcon stated, as peered in his scanners.
“Reduce engines to orbital speed,” the leader told the computer. It followed the order and the ship's engines slowed down. “Any sign of enemy craft?”
“None,” Zarcon answered, a little bewildered why Riona hadn’t found them yet.
“Good,” Jeff said. “Prepare to enter the atmosphere. Shields on; fire reverse thrust.”
They approached the surface, and Jeff directed the ship towards the equatorial land-mass. There were many mountains and desert regions upon the land, but he didn’t see much in the way of vegetation, only in scattered areas. He figured they better land before any Republic vessels picked them up on their sensors. They entered a canyon, in which there was a river running through it. There was some foliage along its edges, in the form of brush and trees. He switched the velocity to sub orbital speed and landed along the dry embankment of the river. It was a little tricky to land in such a narrow space, but he was successful. Dust flew everywhere until the ship firmly set on the ground. He turned to Zarcon once they landed.
“Everyone will stay on board until I say it’s safe, understand?” They all nodded. “Are there still readings of reptilian life?”
“Yes,” Zarcon answered.
“Any signs of whether they’re primitive or advanced?”
“Not at this time.”
Jeff grabbed a laser pistol, some supplies, his backpack, and headed for the main door hatch. “Zarcon,” he said, turning towards him. “I want you to stay here with the other two. If there's hostile life out there, I don’t want us all to get killed. You can do your scientific observations after we know what we’re dealing with. Luckily we landed near a river. I’ll bring back some water with me. It is safe to drink?”
“Yes,” Zarcon answered.
“If I’m not back in three hours, you can look for me, but only you. I don’t want our ship to fall into enemy hands.” He nodded, as Jeff hit
the main door controls. He held his laser tight as it slid open, and revealed the earth-like gorge that surrounded him, and the bright blue sky and the shadows that silhouetted the rocks around him.
Jeff jumped out, and felt the sandy soil beneath his boots. He started to follow the river embankment that flowed about six miles to the south, according to his hand held locating device. Judging from the vegetation in the area, the world didn’t appear to support dinosaurs. He surmised the reptiles picked up by the sensors were probably snakes or lizards. That would explain why the probe didn’t pick them up clearly. The sensors were designed to detect life forms, but only on the surface and not underneath.
Jeff embraced the full beauty of this livable, likable world. The sound of the river was extremely tempting, and he couldn’t resist going for a swim. He set his laser gun down and hid it beneath his suit he took off. Completely naked, he jumped into the cool and refreshing water. He knew he needed to be careful, but the alluring appeal of the river was too hard to resist. The river’s current was just strong enough to make it difficult to stand. This didn’t bother Jeff because he was an excellent swimmer, swimming quite frequently in the artificial lakes on Mars and the ocean on Lingwort.
After Jeff bathed and drank a canteen full of it, he submerged some extra canteens underwater. He put his suit back on, picked up his laser gun, and started back to the ship to the others. He decided to investigate after he heard a startling sound up the river. It was as if something was watching him through the woods. He dropped the canteens in the sand, raised his laser gun, threw on his pack, and headed south following the river embankment.
The temperature felt around eighty degrees to him and was quite comfortable. He guessed they arrived in the spring months due the fact that the foliage was green. The forest nearby budded leaves, and the river was high but not overflowing the embankment. Jeff also heard the sound of the birds in the distance, but this was not the sound he heard a few minutes before.
It was a long time since he actually felt water that wasn’t salty or stagnant, other than the waterfall or springs on the island. Jeff also breathed the air here easier. He found many times the air on Lingwort wasn’t to his liking because it was thinner. He began to wonder why he ever wanted to get back to Mars in the first place. If his suspicions were true, there was really nothing left for him anyway.
Nonetheless, Mars was where his people were, and if he was
wrong, he had to protect them from these invaders from a parallel universe. The idea was so bizarre he had a hard time believing it, but it was really happening. If he told Mars Mission Control there was a race with a weapon that was capable of destroying entire worlds and able to travel through wormholes, they would think he was crazy.
A mile down the river, Jeff came to a lake surrounded by a small jungle. The ravine got rockier, and was part of a mountain ridge that overlooked the lake on its north side. Jeff climbed on some rocks overlooking the area where a waterfall flowed into it, and admired the view of the rain forest for a few moments. He guessed the lake was about two miles long and the forest went on as far as his eyes could see. There was some wreckage near the lake in a small clearing, but it was impossible to determine its identity from such a distance.
Jeff also saw an ocean to the west side, as well as more mountains. It was a breathtaking view a photographer would have died for. He eyed the waterfall below him, and anchored his footing, careful not to slip.
It took Jeff back to a time when his grandfather was still alive. He was twelve when he last saw him on the Martian base. Colonel Thomas J. Walker saw the destruction of Earth firsthand, the rebuilding of society, first underground and then on the space stations. He told Jeff the stories his father told him; stories that seemed like ancient fables now. Grandfather Walker used to have a cup of hot chocolate with Jeff and his uncle and talk about the way Earth used to be before the war. None of them saw it personally, but they’d describe it just the same.
Thomas Walker asked his grandchild if he wanted a marshmallow in his chocolate to start the conversation. “Yes please,” Jeff said, as he smiled. His uncle and his grandfather raised him since he was eight, when his parents were killed in an explosion.
“Did I ever tell you what you’re great grandfather used to tell me?” Thomas asked. “It was in 2045, I was almost your age. He talked about how beautiful the Earth was before the war, how there were great cities with millions of people. This was before we moved underground, before the air strikes.”
“How long did people live underground?” Jeff asked, as he sipped his hot chocolate.
“At least thirty years,” he said, mimicking his grandchild’s action.
“Before that everybody lived above ground,” his Uncle Clark added.
“What was that like?” the tween asked.
“Completely different from here,” Thomas exclaimed. “The forests weren’t in dome
s and there was an atmosphere to breath.”
“Were there rivers, lakes and beaches like in the domes?” Jeff asked.
“Yes,” his grandfather continued. “They were much vaster than here. The oceans were so large that it took weeks to get from port to port. The mountains were so large they touched the sky!”
“They touch the sky here,” Jeff remarked.
“But you can’t climb them here,” Clark reminded him.
“What about the forests?”
“There were all kinds of forests,” Tom explained. “Rainforests with pine trees, jungles with vines, and swamps.
They were like the forest we have here, only bigger.”
“What about animals,” Jeff asked.
“There was every kind of animal you can think of,” his grandfather told him.
“There were birds, lizards, raccoons, wolves, kangaroos, and giraffes.”
“What are kangaroos and giraffes?” the inquisitive child asked.
“Well,” Clark said. “A kangaroo looks a little like a rabbit, but is bigger, has bigger legs and a pouch in its front. They used to live in Australia.”
“What about a giraffe?” Jeff asked.
“They have four legs like a horse, have spots, and are about fifteen feet tall,” Clark answered.
“Really?”
“Yes, really,” Thomas laughed.
He never forgot about those last days he sat with his elderly grandfather, and the days he spoke about working for NASA. They built an underground base prior to the attacks from the Iranians, Iraqis, and the Russians that were safe from nuclear fallout. Thomas Walker was born there, and lived most of his life there until they built the space stations and the Mars base. The governments that were left unified into one organization, the NASA Initiative for Interplanetary Exploration, and it was from this that the Martian Space Academy was born.
As he was lost in deep nostalgia, he felt the pain of something sharp piercing into his back, and then being pushed over the cliff into the raging water. He screamed in pain when he felt the sudden blow of
rocks on his back and thighs. It propelled him down the waterfall, his body twisted every inch of the way, and amazingly he survived. Falling into the lake, he desperately gasped for air. When finally reaching calmer waters, he maneuvered himself to shore, dragged his bruised body across the sand, his arm broke, and legs bleeding badly. Jeff, now exhausted lay on the shore, closed his eyes, and slipped into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER FIVE
Three hours passed since their comrade left the spaceship, and they began to worry. Zarcon relieved the other two by telling them Jeff went out to do some exploring and lost track of time. He knew when he read their minds that they didn’t believe him. It just wasn’t like Jeff to just wander off; he always had a good sense of direction, especially in the jungle, where it was difficult to navigate. He always found north by the direction of the sunset and followed the opposite way back, assuming there was a sunset on this planet.
Zarcon scanned the computer screen for more information on the reptiles of the planet. The sensors picked up stronger signals from a ridge one mile away, and indicated there was increased activity from that direction. They were no longer dormant like they had been earlier, and there was a colony of a least thirty of them.
"The reptiles are getting closer,” Zarcon remarked, with a curiosity in his mind. “I still wish I knew the size of them.”
“We’ll never know by staying in here,” the annoyed Milgic snorted. “Can’t we go out and get some fresh air?”
“Jeff told us to stay in here until he returned,” Zarcon answered.
“If he isn’t back by now something must have happened to him,” Dormiton stated.
“Not necessarily,” Zarcon said, as he tried to calm the amphibians. “He may be getting us some food, or supplies.”
“Jeff doesn’t make a habit of disappearing, Zarcon,” Milgic sniped.
“Calm down everybody,” he consoled them. “I told you he might be looking for food.”
“Or maybe something is making food out of him,” Milgic suggested.
“That is very doubtful,” Zarcon explained. “Jeff knows how to take care of himself. Besides, sensors indicate reptilian and animal life forms, but nothing that could eat him. Most of the animals are probably herbivores.”
“Herbi-what?” Milgic asked, confused by the term.
“Plant eaters like us,” Dormiton explained.
“Why do some animals eat meat?” Milgic asked. “Why do they kill?”
“You shouldn’t concern yourself with that right now,” Zarcon said. “We have to think about if he doesn’t return. Tomorrow morning we will have to look for him, but as for tonight we are staying put. We don’t know what type of wildlife is really out there, and if there is something big enough to eat us out there, it is better that only one of us gets killed, instead of all of us. Jeff knows that as well as I."
“Why does it have to be Jeff?” Dormiton asked, disturbed by his choice of words. “And how can you be so cold about it?”
“Because he is our leader,” Zarcon reminded them. “And I am not being cold, just realistic! We must respect his command, even if he’s not here. He would not want us to give our lives for him, would he? He does not seem to be that type of man."
“That’s because he’s not,” Dormiton defensively cried. “He is a sensitive, warm and caring man! He would die himself before he let any harm come to us!”
“My case in point," the scholarly insect stated. “It’s settled then. In the morning, I’ll search for him. You two stay inside the ship until I return. I’ll carry a gun, and I want each of you to have one close by as well.”
“But we detest guns,” Milgic roared, and began to irritate Zarcon.
“Nevertheless,” Zarcon remarked, taking a commanding tone. “You will carry them and use them if needed starting now, is that understood? It’s about time you started defending yourselves, instead of relying on others to help you. Where would you be if Jeff never landed on your world?”
“Probably still living in caves,” Dormiton said.”
“Exactly. The Tolarions don’t believe in keeping prisoners, unless they are of use to them, and in a society such as yours, conquest would
be inevitable. Jeff has proven to them that humans can be clever adversaries, and worthy of their challenge.”
“But if they catch him, won’t they kill him,” Milgic asked.
“Not necessarily. It’s not too often that they come across humans intelligent as he is. They may want to use him.”
“For what?” the angered Dormiton asked.
“Who knows? Only the Tolarion government can answer that.”
“What do we do about your people?” Milgic asked.
“There is nothing we can do but run. They are more advanced than the Tolarions, and will not give up as easily. They can detect our ship as well, which makes it hard to flee from them.”
If the Republic captured Jeff, there was nothing Zarcon could even do for him. His political power exhausted and his own people turned against him, his only hope would be to convince the council of his innocence, but first he had to be able to talk to them.
The night was long and lonely for Milgic, who monitored outside with the helm’s scanners. He heard several species of animals through the ship’s sensory devices. Nothing sounded or seemed unusual, other than their comrade not returning yet. From what he saw on the viewing screens, the world was much drier than Lingwort. The animal sounds he heard consisted of wolves, birds, and insects. Although it was dark, he did notice something close to the river. The figure was sleek and tall, much like a humanoid, and stood as a biped. He knew it couldn’t have been Jeff, due to its size, which was close to eight foot tall.
As it turned towards the ship, Milgic noticed a button on the helm marked ‘landing lights.’ He pressed it, and the outside lights of the craft turned on, revealing the beast. Milgic gazed at the behemoth in fear, which was
a reptilian creature of some kind.
“Zarcon!” he screamed, as the creature wailed in pain and scurried into the woods.
Zarcon woke up, and grabbed his laser gun which lay beside him. “What is it,” he asked frantically, as he turned off the landing lights. “Why are these on? We don’t want anyone to know we’re here!”
“I’m sorry!” the frightened amphibian remarked. “Some kind of creature is outside the ship!”
“Life forms only indicate reptilian and animal life,” Zarcon stated.
“It was a creature!” he sneered as Dormiton awoke. “It was three times taller than me and green!”
Zarcon checked his scanners, revealing the reptilian life was very close to them. He consulted the computer for some answers. “Indicate
structure of reptilian life forms,” he ordered.
“Reptilian life form indicated as Vardicon, found on planets Volarius, Remot, Zebula and Zardick in this galaxy. Atomic structure similar to reptiles and humans. Internal temperatures sixty four degrees Fahrenheit. Non intelligent, nocturnal life form. Physical characteristics indicate evolutionary process is under way.”
“What evolutionary process?”
“Unable to determine at this time.”
“What is their chemical composition?”
“Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Carbon, Iron, Oxygen, Magnesium, and various other elements.”
“What is their size?”
“Sensors indicate they are eight feet in height.”
“I told you I saw it,” Milgic said, pointing his left index finger at the insect.
“What do they consume,” the Belorion asked the machine.
“Sensors indicated that they survive on meat, mainly smaller animals.”
“Well that’s just great!” Milgic snapped. “They’ve probably already killed Jeff!”
“Let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Zarcon stated. “We can’t go out there tonight, so we’ll start first thing in the morning. They cannot travel in the day, so that will work in our favor. They can’t get us in here, but just in case they do, take my laser gun.” Milgic reluctantly grabbed the weapon from his hand, as his friends returned to slumber.
Dimension Lapse (Dimension Lapse Series Book 1) Page 7