Harvest End

by Max Dane

  “Very well, please synchronize your ship’s clock to ours,” he said with a grin, “and do try to keep up, Doctor.” He winked at Leila, and nodded. She severed the call and the display returned to their forward view.

  Finn turned his attention to the pilot and navigator seated at the console before him.

  “Mr. Keating, please lay in the course set by Lieutenant Eton, and take us out at one third.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  The Ajax left orbit and moved smoothly towards the edge of the planetary traffic, before shooting out towards the system jump point. The small destroyer looked like a sleek, silvery racing yacht next to the boxy science ship.

  “Commander, please prepare a series of drills to keep the crew sharp along the way.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  He grinned at her, “and make sure to include Dr. Layton’s crew in a few, as well.”

  “Yes, sir, right away.”

  “If he complains too much, remind our friend that this is a military mission under my command.”

  She nodded and added notes to her tablet as she stood next to his chair.

  “I will send an announcement to both ships,” she said, “after we pass the first jump.”

  “Very good, Micha, keep them on their toes.”

  Finn looked at the star chart again. It would take just over a day to reach the first point, and jump to Adare. From there another week to reach the jump to Canis Major.

  ‘Yes, it’s going to be a long trip.’

  Deneb System, Lester Colony

  The Juliet emerged from the Bunda jump in the Deneb system. The Lester Colony was on the moon orbiting the third planet.

  Nicho was on the bridge fidgeting and shifting his weight from foot to foot. He was anxiously waiting to get started. His father was a trader, as were his six brothers. He had been proud of his accomplishments, but this was very likely to be his best exchange yet.

  During his research, he learned that a new religious movement was ascending in the local government at Deneb. By itself it was an innocuous fact that didn’t mean much. Religions came and went like clothing trends among the colonies. Always something new and different on the horizon.

  ‘Except that this one is special.’

  The new group had exhibited a strong dislike for Llacca wood, the native resource of the Lester Colony. It made no sense, but it created a deep need for resources off-world. More importantly, he traced the roots of the movement all the way to the ‘Higher Mind’ cult of Canis IV. He was guessing that the people in the Lester Colony would have the same bias as the people on Canis. In particular, a keen reverence for the beautiful trees of the ‘holy’ forests on Corvus. Following his hunch, Nicho had convinced Captain Cervenko to buy wood and seeds, as much as was available at a traders’ station not long ago. Planning for this moment for nearly two months, now he could barely wait to land.

  Cervenko leaned over from his chair on the bridge, to squeeze Nicho’s shoulder.

  “You look excited my friend,” he said smiling.

  Nicho shrugged, he said, “It will be our finest trade, Captain. I may be able to buy my new title in the trader’s guild.”

  Sharing the man’s enthusiasm, Cervenko turned to Bowman and said, “Ah, well let’s not keep Nicho waiting. Bowman, please take us to the colony, and Sarah, would you be kind enough to let the locals know we have arrived for their credits?”

  Sarah smiled, “Yes, sir, shall I have them waiting for us below, or would you prefer they simply brought their money to us in orbit?”

  The captain laughed, “Ha! No need to make them do all the work. We shall go down I think, yes?”

  The Juliet slowed to a stop in orbit over the colony.

  Bowman turned around, “We’re here, Captain.”

  Sarah looked suddenly concerned; she was listening to a transmission in her earpiece.

  Bowman said, “What’s wrong?”

  She tapped her earpiece and said, “Hold on, you’ve got to hear this.”

  A moment later the transmission played over the bridge.

  “-ester Colony, we appreciate your interest. Unfortunately, we are experiencing an outbreak of the Nova Serena Pox. We have declared a colony-wide quarantine until the virus has been eradicated. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact the local port authority for advice.”

  After a short pause, it began again, “Welcome to the Lester Colony, we appreciate your interest. Unfortunately- ”

  Sarah shut it off, and turned around to see Nicho in clear distress. His mouth was drawn tight and his hands clenched in fists so hard his knuckles were white.

  Cervenko frowned, “Sarah, call Alex to the bridge.”

  Nicho looked at the captain, “There must be a way. What if I wore an environmental suit?”

  Bowman said, “Maybe we could drop the cargo and negotiate the deal from space?”

  The doors opened and Alex came walking up to them.

  “Sarah already sent me the transmission and I might have a solution. May I speak with the port authority?”

  Cervenko nodded at Sarah who turned and hailed the local jurisdiction. A stern voice snapped at them over the intercom.

  “This is the Lester Colony Port Authority; we are currently under quarantine and our assistance at this time is limited. What is it that you require?”

  Alex stepped closer to Sarah’s station, “Greetings, this is Dr. Alex Stiles from the crew of the trader ship, Juliet.”

  “Yes, and what do you need, Dr. Stiles?” said the voice, audibly annoyed.

  “We have come a long way with the intention of trading with your people.”

  “Unfortunately, the quarantine prevents anyone from coming to the surface until we get this virus under control.”

  “I wonder if it would make any difference that I have been inoculated against the Venal Blood Flu. Unless I’m mistaken, it is the same inoculation typically used for the prevention of the Nova Serena Pox.”

  There was a pause, while they seemed to be thinking it over.

  “I can provide documentation,” he added.

  Moments passed.

  Finally the disembodied voice broke the silence.

  “What goods did you bring?”

  Alex turned and nodded to Nicho.

  Nicho leaned forward, sweating and licking his lips nervously.

  “Produce, meat, some useful electronics and,” he paused for just a second and crossed his fingers, “wood and seeds from Corvus.”

  “Please hold.”

  No one spoke, the bridge silent in nervous anticipation. Nicho quickly looked at the captain. Smiling broadly, Cervenko quietly nodded and winked.

  Another moment and the voice returned.

  “Very well, Dr. Stiles. Landing coordinates are being transmitted now. Only you and your cargo are granted permission to disembark. If even one other member of your crew steps outside, we will quarantine your vessel and all aboard. Do you understand?”

  Alex, smiling hugely said, “Yes, I understand. We will comply.”

  Sarah closed the signal, and the bridge exploded in cheers and laughing.

  “Well done, Alex,” said Cervenko laughing loudly, “I knew you could do it.”

  “Sarah,” said Nicho, “will you help me? I will need to arrange the deal from here.”

  “And then I will deliver the cargo?” said Alex.

  “Yes, Doctor, that would be imminently agreeable,” said Nicho smiling.

  “Mr. Bowman, will you please take us down,” said the captain.

  Bowman nodded and set the course to the coordinates provided.

  “We should be there in about fifteen minutes.”

  Alex, turned quickly and started for the door.

  “Doctor, where are you going?” asked Nicho.

  “Bowman said we had fifteen minutes, that should be just enough time for me to synthesize the vaccine, take it and then document it,” he said smiling at them, “assuming I have the right components.” Witho
ut hesitating, he turned and quickly left.

  Captain Cervenko was laughing and wiping his eyes.

  Bowman looked at Sarah and shook his head.

  Nicho pulled a chair over next to Sarah, and handed her a data drive.

  “Please send calls to the following contacts, I want to speak with all of them at once.”

  Rapidly she began transmitting across a series of points from his list.

  He smiled, ‘Father would be proud.’

  New Dublin, Sabik System

  Security Offices

  Darcy was looking at the report and shaking his head. Very recently his office had begun receiving calls regarding problems from every corner of the colony. He’d been the Security Chief in the New Dublin office for five years now, and before that he was an officer. Odd stories came with the job, but this was something more. Something different.

  It was the sheer number of calls that made him feel uneasy.

  Stories and incident reports documenting dozens of accidents. On the surface they appeared to be unrelated, but in each case, the problem began with something collapsing, or breaking apart. Everything from door steps, to water purification machinery. Even streetlights and flagpoles were found collapsed on the ground.

  At first, people blamed the accidents on faulty manufacturing, but the wide variety of products involved seemed to rule that out. Frustration in the colony was starting to show. Then he received the list he was holding now. It was a list of names of people that apparently were missing. That was when he decided to ask for help.

  “Claire,” he called into the next office.

  “Yes, Darcy?”

  “Has the local Science Council returned my call yet?”

  She came walking around the door, “No, not yet.”

  “How about the animal hospital?”

  “Yes, they sent the report you asked for. I already forwarded it to you.”

  He spun around to his computer terminal and logged in.

  There it was in his mail, “Thanks, Claire.”

  He pulled up the report and printed a hard copy. The computer displays were fine, but he still preferred to read from the hard copy when he could. He picked it up and sat down to read it. It was titled ‘Summary of missing animals over the last 60 days’. He read through the data they had provided but stopped cold when he got to a simple line graph at the bottom. It showed the typical numbers for missing pets and livestock until two weeks ago. The numbers of reported missing animals spiked to five times the norm.

  Some of these cases he had already received incident reports on, like Mr. Dover’s cattle, the Merriweather’s horse and several dogs and cats. But the numbers here were telling a story, something he couldn’t ignore.

  “Claire, I need some more help, what are you working on?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said as she came back into his office. “Well, each incident report requires a written response from our office, and there’s so many that I’m having a difficult time keeping up.”

  “Don’t worry about those right now, we need to alert the colony leadership that there may be a problem here.”

  “Please get me a line to the Science Council; I want to talk with them myself. Also please arrange a meeting for me with the Planet Steward as soon as possible.”

  “Yes, sir, it’ll just be a moment.”

  He sat back down at his desk, and started organizing his notes. He had the report of missing persons, the one for missing animals and a sample of the miscellaneous cases. Together he thought they made a case for something very wrong happening here in the colony.

  “Okay, Darcy, they’re waiting for you.”

  A moment later his screen displayed the icon for the Science Council, followed quickly by the face of Dr. Boyne.

  “Good afternoon, Chief, I understand that you requested to speak with me. They said it was an urgent matter?”

  “Yes, I am concerned about the high volume of incident reports my office has been receiving.”

  “What do you think we can do?”

  “I have reports indicating an unusual level of equipment failures, missing persons and missing animals.”

  “I’m sorry but I’m not sure I understand why you’re calling us?”

  “Dr. Boyne, these are cases for which I have no answers.”

  “And you think we do?”

  Darcy was getting more annoyed by the minute. This pompous bastard clearly didn’t want to get involved.

  “I think there may be something linking all of these cases together.”

  “Hmm interesting, what do you think it is?”

  “Well, Dr. Boyne, if I knew then I wouldn’t need- ”

  Suddenly there was a stifled cry from the next room. Darcy jumped up and ran out the door. The waiting room was absolutely quiet, and there was no sign of Claire.

  He walked over to her desk, “Claire? Claire, are you here?”

  Still no answer.

  In the background he could hear Dr. Boyne calling him on the display in his office. Darcy slowly walked around her desk and froze. At the base of Claire’s chair, he saw a pile of her clothes. Her shirt, pants and shoes were there. He nudged them slightly with his foot; dirty white sand spilled out.

  Backing away, he stumbled over the filing cabinet and fell hard to the ground. Holding his elbow and seeing stars, he made his way back to his desk.

  “There you are, Chief,” said the angry face on the screen, “I have a very busy schedule and I really don’t appreciate your leaving me here while- ”

  As the haughty scientist blustered on the comm, Darcy leaned forward, “Now you listen to me, Dr. Boyne. The Science Council has put you here to help when we- ” But as he put his right hand on the desk for balance, it plunged right through. He caught himself from falling and stood up shakily, staring at the sandy residue covering his fingers.

  “D-Dr. Boyne, we have a problem. I need you to come over here and see for yourself. Right now, Doctor.” Boyne, having seen what just happened, looked confused. “Very well, Chief. I’ll send help around shortly.” The screen went black when the doctor hung up.

  A few seconds later, his whole terminal abruptly deactivated and powered off. Tentatively, he carefully reached for the keyboard and pressed the power button. The button crumbled beneath his finger leaving a powdery, sandy residue. Confused, he ran his hand down the keys watching as they turned to dust, one after the next. Alarmed now, he dropped his reports and ran from his office. In the front entry room, he tried to open the door to the foyer. He stared in disbelief as the handle crumbled in his hand.

  Near to panic he pushed the door open and fell forward as his arms passed all the way through the door with barely any resistance. Suddenly, the whole office suite began to shudder. Darcy ran through the foyer and to the exit. This time he didn’t stop to try the door, he simply ducked his head and prepared to shoulder his way out. The exit doors seemed to explode in a burst of sand and dust as he barreled through. Running awkwardly, he lost his balance and fell to the ground outside. Behind him the building shook and collapsed, room by room. He rolled over in time to see the foyer drop to the ground.

  Lying on his back, he tried to make sense of what he was seeing. The entire building looked like huge piles of sand. ‘What’s going on?’ he wondered. ‘And what happened to Claire?’

  Across New Dublin, Dr. Boyne shut off his display and walked out to the laboratory conference room. His friend and colleague, Dr. James Caffey, was reading another manuscript.

  Boyne walked over and sat down at the table next to him.

  “Jim, I just received the oddest call from the colony security chief.”

  “Darcy?”

  “Yes, he seemed quite distressed.”

  “Why would he call us?”

  “He was very upset. He kept telling me that something was wrong.”

  “Okay, I’ll bite, what’s wrong with our friend today?”

  “Yes, well that’s what I was trying to figure out when the strangest th
ing happened.”

  “What was it, what did he say? If he’s trying to sequester funding from our office- ” Caffey was already standing up.

  “No, Jim, it wasn’t like that. As we were speaking, suddenly he seemed to stumble right through his desk.”

  “You mean he fell on his desk?”

  “No, it was as if it was made of sand. It fell apart when he put his weight on it.”

  “You saw this?”

  “Yes, I think so,” he said pausing and lowering his voice, “Jim, I think he screamed.”

  Just then they heard a crash outside.

  Boyne jumped up and ran to the window where he saw the rear half of a transport laying on the ground. It was perfect in condition, except that it was cleanly severed in half at the midsection, the front half missing in a big pile of sand. He thought it looked like some sort of art display. Trying very hard to understand what he was seeing he reached over to open his window, but as he tried to turn the latch, he was surprised to feel it come off in his hand. In his palm lay a tiny pile of very fine sand. He rubbed it between his fingers noticing how powdery it was.

  Caffey ran to the door and stumbled through it as he tried to turn the knob. Off balance he stumbled out into the street. Dr. Boyne followed him outside, taking care not to touch the edges of the hole in the door that Caffey left behind. Together, they stared in disbelief at the mounting chaos that was unfolding all around them. Buildings and vehicles everywhere showed signs of the same sandy decay. More disturbing, piles of clothes dotted the landscape. Suddenly a scream, abruptly cut short, erupted in the distance. Streetlights, one by one began falling to the ground like dominos reaching across the colony.