Harvest End

by Max Dane

  The flight computer initiated the launch sequence, and the kites poured out of the Ajax, each darting off to points across the system.

  Julian pulled up a chair and sat down to watch the main display. It showed a top-down image of the solar system, with the planets, moons, and other features detailed. In the upper left, the jump point was marked next to an icon representing the Ajax, and now twelve red dots were spreading out, advancing through the system, and scanning for any signs of life.

  “You know your captain’s idea to use the ‘sweeps’ was brilliant. We’ll actually cover more ground in less time than if we’d used the Ajax.”

  She sat down next to him.

  “Yes, Finn really is a good captain. Just when I start to think he’s a stubborn son of a -”

  “Ahem.” Jumping up, she turned to find Finn standing at the door. “C-Captain, I was just saying that-”

  Smiling he said, “Yes, Commander, I believe you were just about finished. I just came by to see how the search was going. Using the secondary bridge to coordinate the search was a good idea. It won’t interfere with operations upstairs, and you get to test the back-up systems, very good choice, Commander.”

  “Thank you, Sir.”

  Finn stepped in and took a look at the search regions highlighted on the screen. “Dr. Yates, it looks like your search will be completed in about two days.”

  “Yes, Captain, actually just under that. Thank you for your help; I’ve already told Dr. Layton about your support, and he was very pleased.”

  Finn smiled, “Yes, well we’re always happy to help, isn’t that right, Commander?” He turned to leave and as he passed through the door said over his shoulder, “Please keep me posted.”

  Julian sat back down, followed by Micha.

  The red dots were inching their way across the Cetus system map.

  “Does he often surprise you like that?”

  Leaning back, she sighed, “Yes, yes he does.”

  Cetus Beta, Study of the Madras Colony

  “Dr. Barringer, how did your sample gathering on the surface go, well, I hope?” Dr. Layton said as he sat down and began to arrange his notes. It was the second official meeting of the investigation, and he was enthusiastic about the progress they were already making. He was smiling, so there were no hiccups at all. Even that boorish Captain had helped in the system search.

  Yes, things were going very well indeed.

  Just then, Drs. Yates and Nash arrived together and quietly sat down next to him.

  “My team gathered samples from the colony and took readings of the strata beneath it.”

  “It’s been two days since then; what have you determined so far?”

  Barringer nodded to Julian and Shea and took a cup of coffee from a tray on the table.

  “Using the seismic data, we were able to build a model of the area below the colony, extending down for nearly two kilometers. We can say conclusively that there are no open places artificial or otherwise in which the colonists could be hiding. The ground beneath is solid bedrock.”

  Shea quickly added, “Yes, actually I believe we can rule out the whole planet.”

  “You didn’t find any traces of them either, I take it?”

  “No, we didn’t, and our probes were thorough. Scans of the planet didn’t reveal any power sources, and our surface-imaging produced nothing suggesting a mass exodus from the city.”

  “That’s unfortunate, thank you, Dr. Nash.” Layton turned to Julian, “Dr. Yates, I am grateful you were able to convince Captain Holt to assist us in the system search.”

  “Yes, he was most helpful. While he was adamant about holding position by the jump point, he did allow us to use the Ajax’s support flyers. With the help of Commander Alwin, I was able to coordinate a very thorough search. We haven’t found anything so far, but there’s still one more day left before it’s complete.”

  “Unfortunately, the facts seem to be leading us to believe that the colonists did not leave prior to the event.”

  “I agree,” said Barringer solemnly. “I fear we shall find evidence of them in the remains of the colony.”

  Writing furiously in his data tablet, Layton added, “If they are not elsewhere on the planet, or in the system, then they are either dead and part of the remains below, or they were taken in some massive effort. I’m not sure which I would prefer.”

  He set the tablet down, “Dr. Barringer, have you learned anything from the samples of the substance covering the area?”

  “Our analysis of the sand is incomplete and has so far not yielded anything we can understand.”

  Julian raised his hand, “Carter, what do you mean ‘anything you can understand’.”

  Frowning, Barringer leaned back and sipped his coffee.

  A moment passed as he tried to find the right words to explain.

  “Excuse me, Julian, I find that I am perplexed and frustrated with how to explain what we are observing. The dunes covering the colony consist of a sandy, powdery substance that is not sand in any conventional sense. It looks like sand, but there are no real particles in the samples.”

  “I’m sorry, Carter, I don’t understand? Real particles? It looks like dunes down there, as if a desert formed where the colony once stood.”

  “Yes, I know, Julian, but this matter is more like an empty copy of real matter.” He set his cup down and leaned forward. “As you know, sand is made up of particles around a millimeter in size. Each particle is usually made up of a single crystal of whatever mineral was the source.”

  “The particles in these samples are essentially an empty shell. They hold the size and shape of a grain of sand, but collapse under duress into even smaller fragments. It seems the atoms making up this matter are organized in the usual lattice patterns we find everywhere. They define the shape and characteristics of the sample. But in this matter, most of the atoms are missing, leaving just enough to hold the lattice together, but that is all. They are fragile and fall apart easily.”

  Layton frowned, “Missing atoms?”

  “Yes, and I would not be surprised to find that the process which caused this effect, is uniform across all matter in the colony.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning that the buildings, the equipment, and possibly even the colonists are there, uniformly reduced to this empty state.”

  “But the colonists and animals are biological entities, and as such are organized differently.”

  “Not really, Julian. At the atomic level, atoms are still combined in specific ways to form the molecules that make up our cells. And on inspection, our bodies contain traces of many elements; phosphorous, iron, copper, chromium, and many more, even titanium and radioactives can be present. From this perspective, we are not so different from the matter around us.”

  Layton said, “So the colonists may never have left, instead they were transformed.”

  Barringer nodded.

  “Carter, do you know which atoms are missing?” said Julian.

  “Well, we are still taking inventory, so to speak. The task is enormous; there are billions of empty places in the lattices we are studying. And to some extent it may be impossible to determine the matter in its original state from the relatively empty lattice left behind.”

  “In other words, the samples may not yield enough clues to determine what it was before the event.” Layton added, “For example any sample of the sandy substance might include matter from buildings or animals with very little or nothing left to differentiate them.”

  “Yes, exactly.”

  “And what about the remaining atoms,” said Julian, “What are you finding?”

  “Common elements, hydrogen, helium, and silicon. Nothing of value.”

  Julian sat back, perplexed, tapping his pen on the table. He looked at Shea and said, “How can one solve a crime when all of the evidence was stolen.”

  “Exactly, that’s how my team expressed their study to me,” said Barringer obviously frustrated. “I
have hope that we will find some clue to shed light on what we’ve found, as we proceed to examine the remaining samples.”

  Layton, looking through his notes, said, “I see here that a piece of fabric was found and brought back.”

  “Yes, Dr. Layton, a piece of clothing from a child’s shirt. It has been studied, but unfortunately had no DNA or similar genetic material for an analysis.”

  “That is unfortunate.”

  Layton put his notes down and leaned back, looking around the table. “It seems the mystery of the Madras colony is going to be harder to unravel than I expected. Julian, when your search of the system is complete, I would like to assign you and Dr. Nash to the task of proving what the effect down there, could not be.”

  “Could not be?” said Shea looking from Julian to Layton.

  “Yes, while Dr. Barringer’s team tries to define what happened, I would like for the two of you to look at the problem in reverse. Try to eliminate everything you can, but start with known weapons. Maybe by reducing the possibilities, you can help Carter with his analysis as well.”

  Julian nodded, “Yes of course, I’ll wrap up the search tonight and we’ll get started tomorrow morning.”

  “Very well then, good luck, everyone. Let’s meet back here again in a few days.”

  Julian rose and left with Shea next to him.

  “They aren’t saying it, Shea, but something horrible happened to those people,” he said under his breath.

  “Yes, I hope it was fast. Just think about it, Julian, something stole their atoms.”

  Later that morning, Julian returned to the Ajax. After his shuttle docked, he made his way back to the ‘headquarters’ Commander Alwin had arranged for them.

  “You came back,” Micha said smiling as he entered and sat down. “I thought you might have found the Ajax too boring, and I was going to have to finish the search by myself.”

  Without a word, he activated his console and studied the locations of the ‘sweeps’. They were still pushing through the solar system, and by the looks of it nearly finished already.

  “Julian?”

  “I’m sorry, I’ve been in a review of the investigation all morning.”

  She sat up and spun around in the command chair. “What was it, what did this?”

  “They don’t know. Right now it looks like the whole colony was picked apart, atom by atom. Taking some and leaving others.”

  Thinking about it briefly, she said, “That’s not possible.”

  He smiled, “Oh really? And what makes you so sure, Commander?”

  “It’s simple really; we don’t have any weapon that could pick certain atoms to destroy while leaving others. Our technology is the best in the league of worlds. If anyone had such a thing, it would be us, and we don’t. Therefore, it’s impossible.”

  He laughed. Her sense of absolutes was a nice change.

  “Also, why would anyone want to destroy a colony that way? It seems like a very complicated way to go about it.”

  “Yes, I agree with you. It does, doesn’t it?”

  She stood up and walked to the console next to him, sitting down to look through the flight logs of the ‘sweeps’. “So far, Julian, no one has reported any signs of the colonists. Several satellites orbit the planet, but they all seem to be inoperable. Our scans indicate no power in any of them.”

  “That’s odd isn’t it, no working satellites?”

  “Sometimes, things get a little primitive around the colonies out on the fringe. Missing parts and components can be hard to come by. They may have been on a long list of ‘needed repairs’.”

  He nodded, “I understand, but could you have one of them brought in? What if it failed during the event, it might hold some clues.”

  She shrugged. It probably wouldn’t help, but it wouldn’t be too much trouble to do it.

  “Sure, let’s pick someone who’s already done and on their way back.” She moved from each red dot on the map to the next, until she found the one she was looking for, “Ah, this one will do nicely.”

  Calling them, she waited for just a moment until they answered.

  “Hello, Commander, this is Collins of sweep number eight, on our way home. How can we help you?”

  “Greetings, Mr. Collins, we’ve got a slight detour for you. When you reach Madras, please have a look at the satellites over the colony and bring back one or two of them. And try to pick good ones; we’re interested in powering them up and seeing what they do. Maybe we can scrape some data off the internal memory.”

  “No problem, Commander, we should be there in about two hours.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Collins, Commander Alwin out.”

  “Well, Julian, we’ll have the satellites by later this afternoon.”

  She deactivated the console and returned to the command chair watching the map on the big screen. “This is almost over. If you like I can wrap it up and call you when the satellites are here?”

  “Thanks, Micha, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help. I really would like to return to my work on the investigation.”

  “Very well then, I look forward to an opportunity for us to work together again, Dr. Yates.”

  “As do I, Commander Alwin, it has been an unexpected pleasure.”

  She walked with him back to his shuttle. “I have to admit that this was fun, Julian. I’ll be sad to see you go.”

  “You know, Micha, you were right.”

  “Of course I was,” she said and paused. “About what exactly?”

  “About us not having a weapon that can distinguish between atoms. We don’t, and neither does anyone else; not Fleet not the dissidents, none of us have such a thing.”

  Arriving at the airlock, she held out her hand but instead he stepped forward and hugged her. Surprised and stiff, she finally relaxed and hugged him back.

  “That’s the same reaction my father used to have,” he said smiling as he stepped back.

  “Thank you, Micha, I look forward to seeing you again.”

  Speechless, she watched through an observation window as his ship pulled away.

  Aboard the shuttle, the thought she placed in his head still played there.

  ‘Why would anyone want to destroy a colony that way?’

  “What in the hell is that?”

  Commander Alwin was standing on the flight deck, arms crossed looking down at a big pile of sand with the chassis of some kind of satellite poking out. Maybe two. The parts were so degraded and intermixed it was hard to tell.

  “I told you, Commander, those are the satellites you requested.”

  “I don’t understand, Mr. Collins. What is all that sand doing here?”

  “On your orders, we set course to the Madras colony and searched for satellites overhead. In high orbit, above Dr. Layton’s ship, we found three that seemed to be in better condition than the rest. So we grabbed all three and brought them here.”

  Her annoyance with the mess on the deck was growing, “That part I understand, but why would you bother to bring this debris here? I wanted something we could try to power up, not this pile of space garbage.”

  The man took his cap off and brushed his hair back; tired and frustrated he didn’t seem to understand what they were looking at any more than she did. He and his copilot had just spent three days searching the solar system, and now he was forced to explain this. She tried to slow down, and in a low voice said, “Mr. Collins, thank you for your help in the search, and for capturing the satellites over Madras. Do you know what this is?”

  “No, Commander. When we opened the exterior cargo compartment, all of this mess fell out. What went in, were three small satellites, intact.” He rubbed his head, “Maybe the sand was in them?”

  She nudged a piece of the chassis with her toe. It crumbled into the powdery sand pile.

  “Go get cleaned up, Mr. Collins. I’ll take it from here.”

  “Thanks, Commander.”

  She called over to the watchman on deck, “Please ha
ve this whole thing packaged up and sent over to Dr. Layton’s ship. The actual recipient is Dr. Julian Yates. I’ll let him know that it’s coming.”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  She headed back to the bridge, to check in with the captain.

  When she arrived, she stepped through the door and realized she was still tracking the gritty sand.

  With two quick stomps, she proceeded forward onto the bridge.

  Rigel System, Mechanical Freighter ID: 21650984A89

  The small droid had a can of water and held it steady while Alex sat up to drink it.

  “Thank you, A2.” Bent over, he reached out and took the can in shaky hands. Everything hurt. His back and neck spasmed from not being able to stand or straighten out. His head was sore from the countless times he bumped it. And overarching everything was the hunger; his every thought consumed by it. He raised the can and dribbling on his chin, he managed to get most of it down. It tasted bitter and oily, and while it was probably less than dangerous, it still didn’t taste safe. Even so, it was keeping him alive.

  “How long has it been now?”

  “Eight days, Alex.”

  “How do I look?”

  “I’m sorry, but I am not programmed with language adequate to describe the human condition.”