by Louise Wise
Bodie fingered the tear.
“And where’s your transmitter?” Jenny said.
All three stared at the plant.
“I can see it,” said Matt, pointing. “It’s lying on the ground by the plant. Who’s going to go and get it?”
“Well, I’m not going to volunteer,” said Jenny.
“It doesn’t matter, there’re plenty transmitters on Taurus. There’s one here, in any case.” He patted the dash. “C’mon Matt, let’s take a further look around Eden,” he said impatiently, and Matt ignited the engine and the buggy hummed into action.
“The solar reflectors,” Matt said, stopping the buggy.
Bodie shook his head. “There’s plenty of daylight - we’ll fix them to the buggy later. “
“You’re eager,” laughed Jenny, as the buggy began to move off.
Bodie grinned around at her, his eyes brimming. And Jenny realized he was on the verge of crying. Jenny couldn’t blame him; this was a surreal situation even though they’d prepared and trained for it years before they launched Taurus into the sky.
After a while, feeling brave, Matt pressed a button and the roof of the buggy slid open, and open-topped they set off to explore the rest of the new wonderland.
The buggy’s control was simple: on, off, fast, slow. Its highest speed was forty-mph. It moved on tracks, with the front and back segmented for maneuverability.
They drove passed dense rows of undergrowth, which were a mass of spiny prickles that sparkled with frost, towards forest that blurred into a green/brown mass. The trees were huge, as if they were all stretching for warmth from the twin suns. Nearing the forest, they could hear a continual drip, drip of thaw. Even before they reached the cold jungle, they could smell the damp and the rot. Under the tracks of the buggy, the ground was suddenly soft, and it threw up debris to splatter its sides and themselves.
They bumped along, taking their time as they took in the strange and splendid views of Eden. The track become more slippery and uneven and without warning the buggy gave a violent jolt and was sent up on its side for a fraction of a second, before bouncing back down.
Jenny laughed, exhilarated. The tall trees loomed above, swaying with such force they seemed dangerous to be beneath. The foliage was sparse, and large nests were clearly visible in the branches.
Matt pressed his foot to the floor; the going was uphill. And Bodie stood, holding onto the top rail of the window screen.
“I can hear a waterfall or something,” said Jenny, peering around Bodie’s standing form. She pointed. “Head over there, Matt.”
The buggy climbed over rocks with ease but Matt stopped the vehicle so quickly Jenny was thrown forward and Bodie was almost sent sailing over the top; the land in front of them opened out into a wide crater.
“What the…?” exclaimed Matt. His face had turned a strange shade of red.
Looking where his eyes were transfixed, Jenny felt a jolt of fear.
Bodie sank down in his seat slowly. “Looks like a spaceship. Jenny,” he said without turning, “the “scope.”
Jenny handed him the telescope wordlessly, her own eyes glued to the manifestation. It was massive, but its bulk was hidden beneath a carpet of moss-type grass, which grew on the roof and up the exterior walls. It lay close to the forest in the crater, possibly made by its own impact. Naked bush climbed the ship’s burnt facade, as though trying to hide it from their eyes.
“Christ!” said Matt. “Wonder how long it has been there?”
“Forever by the looks of it,” she said.
“It’s overrun with mould and foliage; part of it is completely destroyed,” Bodie said, his eyes pressed hard against the telescope. “It looks as if it’s been in an explosion. It’s nothing but a shell.” He pulled the telescope away, and Jenny grabbed it and placed it to her eye.
Matt began to edge the buggy forwards, but Bodie stopped him.
“Let’s not rush this. For years we’ve had no indication of extraterrestrial life anywhere else in the universe, and now we’ve got evidence of animal and intelligent life all in one day!”
“You don’t think alien beings could still be in the ship?” asked Jenny incredulously. “It doesn’t look possible anybody could’ve survived the crash. “
Bodie looked around at her. “But we’re not talking any body, are we?”
THREE
All thought of Eden and their mission had disappeared. The massive spacecraft that lay before them overwhelmed everything. They rested on the crest of the hill in silence, and looked at the sunken UFO. It was huge. Larger than their first impression, and it made Taurus XI look like a child’s toy in comparison. Part of it was buried in the wall of the valley, as if the ship had crashed there and the environment had developed around it.
The surrounding area was littered with debris for kilometers around and covered with the remains of burnt trees and shrubbery. But new growth was mingling with the dead. The ground was still scorched in places, and the craft itself was charred beneath the newly growing moss.
“OK,” Bodie nodded his consent, and they cautiously stepped out of the buggy. “A quick look, and then back to Taurus to get armed up.”
“Should’ve brought them with us,” Matt said, but began to walk and slither down the decline.
The others followed. It wasn’t a steep hill, but steady. Bodie and Matt approached the craft together, while Jenny moved around it alone, totally awe-struck.
Parts of the ship that had been free from fire were smooth, and the walls appeared to have no visible means of entrance. She couldn’t circle the ship completely, debris and abrasive branches preventing her but her eyes were for the strange vessel alone, as she walked around oblivious to anything else. Kneeling, she inspected the lower walls and to her surprise saw a metre-long gap at the base of the ship. She lay on her stomach and peered inside.
It showed nothing but blackness. Looking closer, she realized the gap was a natural parting, and after further inspection, she could see she was kneeling in front of a door. She pushed her fingers into the gap, and grasping the edge, she pushed first inwards, and when nothing happened, pulled outwards. But the door remained unmoved.
“What’ve you found?”
She jumped and swung round. “Ah, Bodie,” she said, breathless. “You startled me.”
“Who’d you reckon I was? ET?”
“You’re nowhere near as attractive.”
Bodie grunted, and settled beside her on his knees. “The remake never did live up to the original,” he said, as his hands travelled over the exterior. “This is a door,” he said.
“Well done, Commander,” she said with sarcasm.
Bodie grinned and rose to his feet, calling for Matt.
A moment later, the three of them had hold of the bottom, and pushed and pulled in all directions until they realized they could shove it upwards. The door moved with short, sudden spasms from the bottom, and stopped leaving a gap of 30 to 40 centimeters.
Jenny peered beneath: to her right was a dark colored stain on the floor. Moving forward on her elbows, she could see it was blood. She drew back quickly, her heart hammering.
“What?” asked Bodie.
Jenny stood up. “I’m not sure, I’ll get the torch.”
She returned from the buggy shortly with a heavy-duty torch, and approached the broken UFO with an ironic smile. Two butts, waving in the air, greeted her.
“What a sight,” she said.
Matt turned sharply, banging his head on the door.
Jenny chuckled, and handed over the torch, then impatiently waited while the men inspected the interior. When Bodie sat back, she was beside Matt, on her stomach in an instant, head and shoulders inside the dark spacecraft.
“You’d just about get under there,” said Matt.
Bodie’s hand circled her calf as she began to slide and disappear inside. “Hang on,” he said.
Jenny stilled. “C’mon, Commander,” her voice was muffled. The ship’s been her
e ages. There’s grass growing on the roof, for heaven’s sake. No life could be onboard.”
“And the blood?”
Matt swung the torch across to the patch of red. Under the beam, it appeared almost orange. “My guess is animals use it as some sort of shelter - the blood looks dry in any case.”
Bodie clearly wasn’t happy, but Jenny didn’t care about his happiness, and wriggled impatiently beneath his hand. Excitement coupled with the unknown only intensified her longing to explore.
“Take a look -” he began, and she immediately kicked free and disappeared inside. Bodie lay on his front and shouted under the door: “Make it quick, and come straight back out. And that’s an order!”
Matt rolled the torch into the ship.
Jenny moved towards the strong beam, which picked out an empty room. The ship smelled heavily of damp and rot. The floor was cracked, and sharp blades of grass pushed through.
She swung the torch from one corner of the room to the other.
“What d’you see?”
“This room’s empty. I can see another…” she moved towards it.
“Daykin, get your arse back over here.”
“Commander!” her voice was full of frustration, and it moved away from them.
“Jenny!” he roared. “The vessel is not only unsafe, it could be harboring dangerous creatures.”
Jenny stopped and swung the beam at his face. He looked both furious and frightened. Matt, next to him, looked smug, and she quickly realized if she disobeyed, Logan would come to hear of it and she’d never go out on a space mission again. On the other hand, it might compensate…
“Now I’m here I might as well take a proper look,” she said stepping through the broken doorway, stopping at the sight that greeted her eyes.
“Jenny, I gave you an order!” Bodie’s voice wafted faintly behind her, which she ignored.
An old smell of burnt rubber and smoke became trapped in her lungs and she coughed. She stepped over debris, before stopping sharply. Behind two giant pillars was what looked like the main pilot’s navigation station. Cracked or smashed screens, driving belts, dials and buttons all itched to be pressed or pulled by her inquisitive fingers, were among the mass of protruding wires and other alien electronic gadgetry. Chairs had been ripped from their positions during the impact of the crash, or explosion, which ever had come first.
There were large cracks in the walls, which filtered in the outside light through a tangle of abrasive twigs, and after the darkness of the foyer, the ship here didn’t seem so dark. Her footsteps were loud as she crossed towards a wide corridor that branched off into narrower paths.
Taking the largest road, she almost tripped over her first body.
She gagged, her hands flying to her mouth. The corpse was badly burnt, and there was no possible way of distinguishing between male and female. But whatever the sex of the creature, it was very large and looked incredibly human.
Stepping away, her horrified eyes fell on another. That too was burnt beyond recognition. At this stage, she knew she should report back but she carried on, her footsteps echoing and her breath labored with the thrill of fear.
There were doors along a narrower corridor, many were opened and allowed her to see small, destroyed, rooms beyond. Some rooms, which Jenny thought were cabins, seemed undamaged. She approached a door and eyed, what looked like to her, a sort of coded panel alongside the entrance. She punched the symbols on the raised surface several times, as if expecting the door to slide open. When nothing happened she crouched and gripped the slight gap at the bottom and heaved upwards. The door barely moved, but it moved enough for Jenny to lay on her belly and peer inside.
The floor was cracked and looked unstable. A healthy tangle of foliage was growing through the fractures, spreading green, tentacle arms across the rotting floor. Moss grew up the walls and hung off the ceiling.
Something stirred beneath the greenery, and Jenny bit back a shout of alarm as a shelled, segmented creature, the size of a cat, was disturbed by her bright torch, and lumbered across the floor on many short legs to hide under the broken cabin bed.
Unnerved, she scrambled up and stumbling blindly, tripped in the debris-littered floor. Her hands were outstretched to save herself and hit a neighboring door with all her weight. Without warning, the door fell inwards, and she fell to ground with a grunt. She couldn’t have been sure, but at that moment she thought she heard a sharp intake of breath.
She scrambled up and directed the beam around the room. This too was a cabin, and it appeared undamaged. It had a bed alongside one wall. Jenny stepped inside, swinging the torch around.
She noticed a shelf edging along one side of the wall. It had openings beneath that held secret objects, and Jenny moved forward with all previous fear evaporating under the weight of her inquisitiveness.
She stopped. A cold feeling swept her backbone, and she shivered. She swung the torch towards the bed that she had disregarded as unimportant before. The cabin smelled different - no - there was more to it than that. She couldn’t look away from the rumpled bed - this cabin was lived in.
A sixth sense caused her to swivel round. A large, dark clothed figure stood between her and the door.
A scream filled her lungs and throat. It echoed around the walls, but Bodie and Matt were too far away to hear.
The creature made no movement, and stood in silence. A helmet that covered its face was smooth with, seemingly, no opening for breathing or vision. Its clothing was ragged, the top half hidden by a thick coat of animal hide.
It was huge. Its chest wall was in proportion to its height, and solid arms hung by its sides. The uncovered hands, large and riddled with angry scar tissue, were splayed as if ready to reach out and seize.
The alien spoke. Its voice was so deep it was almost a vibration and Jenny could only guess the meaning of its words.
The alien approached her.
Jenny stepped back quickly, until her shoulder blades made contact with the shelf. The alien leaned forward. Towards her.
Jenny cringed, pulling up her shoulders and sinking her chin deep into her chest, but it reached over her head towards the shelf behind for a small grey oblong object, which it aimed at her. She closed her eyes, expecting instant death. The object made a slight humming noise as the alien swiped the air around her. Opening them, she saw the alien studying the object it had aimed at her.
“Earth.”
Jenny’s mouth rounded in surprise.
“Human.”
“Yes.” Encouraged she stepped forward, with an eager smile of appeasement.
But her smile was wiped from her face as a handful of her hair was grasped in his fist, and she was projected forward with such speed her feet left the floor. She hit the wall sideways, but before she was aware of the impact, or of the white-hot pain on her scalp from his tearing fingers, she was propelled out of the cabin and down the corridor.
She was pushed passed the bodies, and forced through the main navigation room. On approaching the exit, she knew she should warn the men, but didn’t dare antagonize the alien any further.
“Jim?” she said tentatively.
Using Bodie’s first name had the desired effect. She saw the men’s shadow move abruptly from the doorway, and felt the alien behind her tense.
For a brief second Jenny noticed a large callused and clawed hand, before being grasped by the forehead. Her head was jerked backwards painfully, and her face was twisted around towards a solid chest.
She struggled wildly believing the alien meant to tear her head completely off her shoulders. But she was held powerfully, and no amount of struggling would reward her with her freedom. She couldn’t remember a time when she had been more scared. Bright stars exploded in her head, and nerve tissue beneath screamed for release. A trickle of warm blood from her left nostril dampened the alien’s rough handmade clothes.
Together, Jenny forcibly, they approached the door. Her throat filled with the strong odor of the a
lien’s sweat, wood smoke and her own blood. She struggled, gasping for clean air, feeling she was about to suffocate, although she knew her struggles were futile against the strength of the alien, but she was determined to warn Bodie and Matt further of its presence.
She couldn’t see very well, her face partially buried against the hard wall of the alien’s chest, but her hands were free. And without any thought to herself, only wanting to protect her co-travelers, she brought the torch down hard on the extended hand as it reached down towards the edge of the door.
The hand immediately curled into a fist and retracted, and a hiss of breath was expelled from a hidden mouth. She was thrust away, but held around the throat by a clawed hand. It squeezed until any sound she may have made was cut off. Dizziness swamped her, and then sunlight fell on her face in a burst of fresh, cold air as the door opened. She opened her eyes, tried to speak but found her voice was nothing but a gurgle, and watched helpless, as Bodie and Matt stared open-mouthed.
They staggered backwards, shouting and swearing at the top of their voices, before spinning around and sprinting up the decline, slipping and sliding their way towards the buggy.
Jenny was hurled to the floor, she glimpsed Bodie turning to look at her and calling for her to run, before her head struck a lump of metal protruding from the floor of the ship. It took a moment to register that she was free, and alone. She crawled, like a baby, out of the ship. Her mind was telling her things she didn’t want to know; like the fading sound of the buggy’s engine.
She looked to the top of the hill through blurred vision but the buggy, the men, and the alien had disappeared. She stood upright, swaying slightly, then began to climb to the top of the incline.
At the top, there were no sign of the men or the buggy. Horrified, she stumbled forward, almost blind in her terror after the vanished buggy and men.
She crashed through the bladed grass, uncaring when it flayed at her bare hands and face, yelling and shouting hoarsely for Bodie. She stopped, breathing heavily and tried to listen for any answering shout - there was nothing.
A low rumble barely registered. She lifted her face upward. In the distance, Taurus XI was rising.