"Well we haven’t seen a live alien, so their written record might be all we have." She muttered.
"Fair point, Ms Peats, fair point."
"So are we going to shift into the city, Commander?" Martinkus asked.
"I’m going to speak with Harbinger now. If the captain has no objections we will to shift the camp into the city." Willis replied.
Harbinger was sitting in geostationary obit at the planets equator. The position had been carefully chosen to allow the ship to maintain direct contact with both the ground parties. It took a minute for the transmitter to find Harbinger in the night sky and there was another slight delay as the signal was rerouted to Flores cabin.
The Captain rubbed his fingers through his beard as he listened to Willis’s report.
"Good work finding that library, if in your judgement to shift base to there is safe then I am authorising you to do so. Major Tigran’s team has found nothing of worth so I’m going to direct him to relocate to your position." Captain Flores replied after a few moments thought. "This library of yours currently looks like the best source of information, so I want both sets of civilians working on it." Flores paused for a moment. "This is damn strange Commander, where the hell has everyone gone?"
"That’s certainly the big question, sir. With two teams we should be able check more buildings here, see what turns up."
"Okay Tigran should reach you by the middle of tomorrow. While the two of you are checking the town we’re going to perform a more detailed scan of the planet’s surface around your current position. This planet has been subject to a kind of apocalypse but there is nothing to suggest that it couldn’t support at least some survivors."
"Hopefully, sir, tomorrow we’ll start finding answers instead of more questions.” Willis replied with a greater note of optimism than she felt.
Alice Peats sat on the floor surround by piles of books, humming softly to herself as she made notes. The second team had turned up mid morning and they were now slowly sweeping through the city block by block. The scientists were busy examining the body of the alien over on the far side of the library hall. For an hour or so there had been the whine of a drill against bone, a sound that had set Alice’s teeth on edge. Fortunately they seemed to have finished that for the time being. She’d already had to move once after finding herself unable to concentrate while she could see the bones and dried flesh of the dead alien.
The scratch of her pencil on the pad slowed, and finally stopped as her thoughts started to drift. What thought had once passed through that now desiccated skull? Had it once been filled with dreams of the future, of family and friends? Or was its mind so strange, so alien, that she could never have understood it? Were there still members of this species hidden somewhere on this world, or did this library represent the last echoes of an extinct race?
"Any progress Ms Peats?"
Alice nearly jumped out of her skin, the speaker walked around the closest set of shelves into view. Commander Willis wasn’t particularly tall woman but she could move like a ghost and now loomed over Alice. Her expression was disapproving.
"Err, yes, well, I’m making some progress towards getting what looks like their alphabet."
"And?" Willis enquired.
"And what?"
"And how long before you can expect to read some of this?"
Alice stared at the commander for a moment.
"Commander if this is a dead language! we’ll be lucky if we can read any of it in under ten years!"
"I thought you were among the best Ms. Peats." The commander replied coldly.
"I am the best but this is not the same as a spoken word!" Alice hissed aware of the drop in volume on the other side of the library. "It took decades to find a way into ancient Egyptian, and they were human."
Willis let out an irritable sigh. Behind her Major Tigran and a squad of his marines plodded back into the library.
"Alright Peats, stay at it, but keep an eye open for anything that might offer some quick answers. I need practical results, not a long drawn out academic exercise." She turned on her heels and walked away.
Bloody soldiers, Alice thought to herself, they never understand anything they can’t either shout or shoot at.
Ignoring the fuming linguist Willis headed towards the corner of the library where the scientists had been examining the body. Professor Bhaile saw her coming and moved to intercept.
"Commander before you ask we are making some small progress."
"Good, what have you found?"
"Going by our testing so far our subject here has been dead for between fifteen and sixty years."
"That’s a pretty wide margin Professor."
"We should be able to narrow that down a bit once we get some of the samples under the equipment we have in the ship, and find out just how active the local micro-organisms are. It is interesting though, even with the bottom end figure, after fifteen years you would think there would be some signs of a population recovery."
Willis sighed heavily.
"I was really hoping that some answers would be turning up by now."
"We’ve also been pulling a part some of the computer equipment we found. If looks very similar to the silicon microprocessors we had at the end of the last century." Bhaile told her.
"Any thought on where everyone has gone?"
Bhaile shook his head.
"Sorry Commander on that one your guess is as good as mine."
"Commander, Major." Benson called out. "Call from the ship."
Captain Flores face was already on the small view screen when Willis reached where they had their communications equipment set up.
"Ah Commander, anything new to report?"
"Not really, sir, the science team have a few bits but nothing big."
"We’ve got something." Said Tigran
Willis stepped aside and waved the marine forward.
"We’ve just finished surveying the surrounding. We’ve established that we’re in some kind of government or administrative centre. We’ve noticed something disturbing, in every building there are signs of a bonfire, there were the remains of computers and files. It looks like someone has made a concerted effort to destroy all government records.
"Government buildings?" Flores looked puzzled. "Can you be sure?"
"Not one hundred percent, sir, they were offices but their government status is an estimate." Tigran admitted. "The burns have however been done carefully, the fires haven’t been allowed to get out of control. Apart from those buildings it’s like people simply opened their doors and walked away."
Flores pondered this for moment then shrugged. "Well we’ve found something else that’s strange as well. It appears to be a collection of temporary structures about fifty kilometres north of your position, but its massive, at least twice the size of the city you’re now in."
"You think we might find something there?" Willis asked.
"It’s being suggested up here that maybe these aliens were wiped out by some sort of epidemic but that’s only a theory. These temporary buildings might be where refugees were sent if the cities were abandoned. If you and the Major judge it safe I’d like you to take a look."
Willis glanced towards Major Tigran.
"I see nothing to prevent us from going." The marine replied after a moment’s thought.
"Alright we’ll move out at first light with two of the CWV half the marines and a couple of the civilian team, the rest can stay here and continue with what we have."
"Alright we’ll speak again in…" Flores glanced toward the ship clock. "Eighteen hours."
Willis didn’t sleep well that night. Several times she woke to hear the comforting tread of the sentries. Ghosts were a subject that hadn’t crossed her mind in a long time, but if ever a place could be haunted this entire planet felt like it. Dawn when it came was something of a relief. First light found Willis, Tigran and half the marines cruising down a reasonably intact road. Vegetation had broken through the concrete in
a few places and there was the occasional abandoned or burnt out vehicle but they made good speed. They had spotted a herd of some kind of creature, like the city builders they had six limbs but they were clearly some kind of native animals to the world.
Willis pulled on her helmet and engaged the command radio frequency. She closed the helmet visor for some privacy.
"Major. What do you think we’ll find here?" Willis asked.
The marine officer was riding in the leading CWV. So far he had not offered any kind of opinion.
"I don’t believe we’re going to find anything." The major replied quietly. "Whatever has happened, someone has wanted to cover their tracks and not leave any indication who they were. That has… sinister implications."
"You don’t have much faith in the disease theory." Willis asked.
"Can you imagine a disease that requires government files to be burned?" The Major challenged.
"No I can’t. But if something like ethnic cleansing has happened, where are the cleansers?"
"As I said I don’t think answers are going to be found."
Willis didn’t have any answer to that. The atmosphere on the planet was oppressive and effecting almost the whole landing party. People talked as quietly and respectfully as they would in a graveyard. Something unknown had come to this place and destroyed it. When they left the library the six marines and seven ship ratings being left behind had started to fortify the building. Neither Willis or the Major had ordered such work but everyone felt the desire to defend him or herself.
Eventually they turned off the main road onto a dirt track.
The track led straight to their destination. When they got to within a kilometre of the buildings they slowed down to walking pace, half the marines de-bussed and deployed into a skirmish line ahead of the vehicles. Slowly they made their way into the mass of crumbling buildings. They all seemed to have been built out something that resembled wood and were laid out with military precision. Willis stepped into one of the huts, they were all the same, a smell of rot and a few disintegrating bunks.
Several times they crossed through the remains of wire fences that sub-divided the camp. There had also been the remains of a very strong perimeter fence all round the camp. By now everyone was on foot except for the two drivers.
"This is starting to look less and less like a refugee camp and more like a prison camp." Willis commented to Major Tigran as the two officers examined the top down view Harbinger had supplied.
"Yes it is." The major agreed. "I suggest we head for this cluster of buildings. They appear to be more permanent structures, if there’s anything worth finding here it’s there."
Alice’s back let out a sharp click as she straightened up. Sitting on the floor was playing hell with her spine but the alien chairs were just too weird a shape to be comfortable. She needed at least a quick break to clear her head, six hours of staring at alien text would fry anyone’s brain. Happily the fleet preferred its coffee thick enough to coat roads and strong enough to raise the dead. With mug in hand she wandered back to her notes. She paused at the desk the dead alien had been slumped across. There was something like a newspaper spread across the desk. The alien had bled heavily across the paper, obscuring most of the text. There was however also a picture which she hadn’t seen many of in their work. The old blood covering it made it impossible to see what the picture was of. She carefully prised up the stiff paper and glanced towards her scanning equipment. If she could look past the blood perhaps she could get enough of a quick answer to get the Commander off her back.
It was over two hours after entering camp that they finally reached the centre. The building complex was huge and made of some sort of concrete-like material, its appearance was strictly utilitarian. It had a number of industrial sized chimneys that sent a chill down Willis’s spine. The building material was the same as they’d seen in the city, but the style subtly different. It took time to find their way into the complex. There were several entrances but each one was fused shut by rust. Willis was just about to order Tigran to blast an entrance when they came to a door hanging off its hinges. Inside was unlit and like everything else showed signs of long abandonment. The floors and walls were bare concrete, they looked roughly and hastily finished. Slowly they started to move through the giant building.
From the moment she saw it Willis had an unpleasant feeling she knew what the building was. She kept her feelings to herself but several of the marines looked like they were thinking the same thing. They found several chambers that looked like showers, complete with nozzles in the ceiling. But no drain in the floor. Finally they reached the basement level, and finally they found where the population had gone. There were dozens of large ovens set into the walls, the last oven was stuffed with the partly cremated remains of several aliens.
"My God. This isn’t a refugee camp, it’s an extermination camp." Willis said quietly.
Alice’s computer let out a little ping as it finished applying the software filter. She finished her now cold coffee before looking at the screen, when she did her mouth immediately went dry. The picture was of a wedge shaped starship.
That looked just like the one that attacked the Mississippi.
Chapter Four
The Old Lady
1st May 2066
The great hatches at either end of the Gemini Construction Platform’s Number One Dock were open, ready for the launch. But with most the lights inside the dock switched off the great ship lurked within the darkness. The launch was scheduled for 1.32pm Greenwich Mean Time, carefully chosen as the moment when the dock would come out from behind Earth’s shadow. The Sun would illuminate the great ship as she left the dock for the very first time. With all the money spent on the ship, people tended to feel the fleet should at the very least put on a good show.
In the main observation lounge the armoured shutters, that normally protected the large window, had been retracted, offering an unrivalled view of the launch. Occasionally the sounds of laughter could be heard from the access way. Above in the station centrifuge, the yard managers were entertaining the various officers, diplomats and assorted other dignitaries that always seemed to turned up for these events. Going by past launches, about a third of the guests wouldn’t actually make it as far as the observation lounge, unwilling to subject themselves to the discomfort of freefall. Even those who did, would wait until the last minute; a fact that suited the current occupants just fine.
Admiral Lewis waited, staring out into the darkness of the dock. Apart from Staff Captain Sheehan, Lewis was alone. The only movement inside the dock drew the Admiral’s eye. A single space-suited worker was making some last minute adjustments, not to the ship, but the bottle launcher. Lewis smiled slightly, you couldn’t argue with tradition, no matter how daft. The launching of a ship, particularly a future flagship, demanded the breaking of a bottle of Champagne, which in hard vacuum wasn’t all that easy. Considerable effort had been expended to make sure that bottles wouldn’t either explode or freeze solid. Plus after one early cruiser spent its career sporting a dent caused by a part frozen bottle, they were careful to fire the bottles after that at the ships heaviest armour.
Lewis’s revere was broken by the sound of Sheehan clearing his throat in a very deliberate manner. He turned in time to see Admiral Wingate pulling himself through the hatch followed by Secretary Callahan and Admiral Charlotte Naismith, Third Admiral of the Fleet and the officer responsible for ship design.
"Afternoon, sir."
"Paul, sorry to keep you waiting it took us a while to shake off the Indian Ambassador." Wingate replied as he pushed himself over the view port. Lewis, Callahan and Naismith joined him looking out into the dock, behind them their respective staff officers spread out like a destroyer screen to keep any casual wanderers at a distance.
"I’m sure you’re looking forward to getting aboard her." Wingate said after a few moments.
"Yes, sir, I must admit I am. The designer promised a lot, I’m interest
ed to see how she’ll shape up in the trials."
Wingate turned away from the view port.
"Alright to business, you’ve read the report from Harbinger." Lewis and Naismith nodded. "Unfortunately with the US election and various other diary clashes, it’s going to be at least six weeks before the Council can meet to discuss the matter. For once Secretary Callahan and myself are in agreement, that we can’t sit on our hands while we wait for Council. But we also agree that it wouldn’t be appropriate for this to show up on any set of meeting minutes, particularly since they want this kept under wraps if possible."
"They’re going to be disappointed." Lewis commented. "This is too big to keep quiet; evidence of an alien race systematically wiped out, the Press are going to lap it up."
"I agree, and when it does hit the new stands the Council are going to want answers," replied Callahan, "and they’re going to want them quickly."
"They’re going to be disappointed there as well." Wingate said seriously.
"Why’s that?"
"Harbinger brought back a vast amount of data, but much of it raises more questions than it answers, something that even Captain Flores admits." Wingate said. "We know this race of - call them the Centaurs - were a nuclear capable civilisation. They were exterminated between thirty and fifty years ago, before that extermination the Centaurs came into at least limited contact with the Nameless. That is the full extent of what we definitely know. After that you’re talking theory and guesswork."
"Well we do also know that the Nameless must have been involved."
"No Mister Secretary, we don’t." Lewis replied sharply.
"There is no evidence to directly tie the Nameless to the extermination. Only that the Centaur civilisation came to an end shortly after a Nameless ship was sighted. That’s circumstantial evidence at best." added Wingate.
The Nameless War Page 9