The Blue People of Cloud Planet

by Brian Wolfenden

  Timing was absolutely critical and Scott glanced at his watch yet again checking the digits as they approached 10.

  ’09:59:00’

  He handed his watch to Seren so she could hold it for the duration. She inclined her head and the third drummer ceased drumming and handed the drumsticks to Scott. The SOS message stopped and the dwelling remained lit.

  ’09:59:30’

  Scott prepared himself; surely 10 minutes would not be as bad as yesterday’s hour of drumming?

  ’09:59:50’

  He positioned the drumsticks and looked at Seren. Her eyes dazzled with encouragement.

  ’09:59:57’

  He crashed down on the drums and 400 blue females took three paces forward.

  ’10:00:00’

  The dwelling switched off, the mist and rain came in and the temperature fell. Scott focused on his drumming which was easy to begin with but as the minutes went by the rain drenched his face and his arms started to become heavy.

  ’10:05:00’

  The beat of the drums was so loud that he wondered if he would even hear the exhaust of the rocket motor. Now he was really aching and wondered if he could go on. Seren’s eyes encouraged in the mist and rain.

  >> keep going > be strong > be strong >>

  ’10:08:00’

  And above the booming of the drums he could make out a new noise....

  ’10:09:00’

  ..... and, yes, thank God, it was the unmistakable sound of a powerful rocket engine in full reverse thrust.

  ’10:09:30’

  Now it was visible and he urged his painful arms to continue.

  ’10:09:45’

  The roar was deafening and the huge craft was now only metres from the ground. Surrounding its main central rocket engine were four fins carrying smaller boosters for manoeuvrability. These held the hydraulically controlled legs.....

  ’10:09:50’

  .......which concertinaed onto the hard clay.....the emergency shuttle was down.....

  ’10:10:00’

  Scott stopped beating; the blue females took three paces backwards. The dwelling lit up and the sun shone. The second and first drummers ceased and the multitude of very blue females made their way quickly to the nearest pools to recover. Like Scott they had 17 minutes to recover before it was time to switch the dwelling off again.

  ’10:11:00’

  As he walked down to the open space, Seren’s attendants came out of the pyramid carrying Olivia. The hatch of the shuttle opened and a ladder extended to the ground.

  Scott reached the craft, ascended the ladder and retrieved the supplies together with the new palmtop. He then placed his original palm top carrying the vital diagnosis together with video of key points in their journey, in the body of the craft.

  ’10:15:00’

  Seren kept showing the watch to him.

  Scott now carried Olivia up the shuttle steps while the blue attendants took the supplies into the pyramid.

  ’10:20:00’

  It was awkward but he managed to strap her in vertically ensuring that the head restraint was carefully positioned. He gently kissed her and squeezed her hand,

  ‘Hold on, not long now, remember I love you!’

  ’10:25:00’

  Seren inclined her head and the first drummer began. Four hundred blue females, who were not thoroughly warmed because of the time restraint, made their way back to the ledge. Then the second drummer started.

  ’10:27:00’

  Scott and Seren quickly made their way to the big drum.

  ’10:27:30’

  The ladder retracted and the hatch closed. Scott heard the roar of the main rocket engine.

  ’10:29:30’

  He picked up the drumsticks and .....

  ’10:29:57’

  ....crashed them down sending the blue females three paces forward.

  ’10:30:00’

  The light cone shot up into the clouds and the main engine increased thrust sending red clay flying. Slowly it lifted off the ground and started to accelerate into the mist and rain.

  ’10:35:00’

  Scott continued drumming, his arms now leaden. Seren kept the watch in front of him and inclined her head. This resulted in hundreds of young blue females running up the ramps to the ledge.....

  ’10:38:00’

  ...... where they helped their seniors some of whom were shaking at the arms and legs....

  ’10:39:30’

  ..... even with help, some collapsed pulling their wooden shafts with them and odd lasers ignited and shot into the clouds...

  ’10:40:00’

  ...... Scott stopped drumming as did the second and first drummer. The exhausted blue females fell or collapsed backwards and dropped their shafts on the ledge. The full light sheath instantly jumped into Clouds. The sun shone brilliantly again on hundreds and hundreds of Blue People who crawled or staggered towards the hot pools aided by their younger helpers. They had given their all to rescue Olivia.

  Scott was exhausted, soaked to the skin and very cold. He could not feel his arms but he was so relieved. He looked at Seren and mouthed a massive ‘thank you’. Her eyes dazzled and she beamed a huge smile but he was shocked at how blue she appeared. She could hardly stand and would have fallen had he not gathered her up into his arms and carried her. Even though she felt icy cold, her touch and proximity electrified him as she clung to his neck. They struggled into the pyramid and fell into the comfort of the hot pool.

  The emergency shuttle with its precious cargo docked with LifeSeeker-1 approximately 1 hour later and the astronauts anxiously waited for the re-pressurisation of the lander dock. When they saw Olivia they were shocked at her comatose condition and pale face. She was quickly loaded onto the maglev and transported to the sick bay.

  Martha, grim faced, sat by her and powered up the palm top,

  ‘My God! She needs a full blood transfusion – what on ‘earth’ is wrong with her?’

  ‘My plans included that all potential astronauts gave blood at regular intervals before and during their training for any mission. The transfusions were ultra centrifuged to separate the solids from the plasma. The liquid was frozen and its relevant red and white corpuscles are dried and stored with desiccant at 5 degrees Celsius. This technique has proved successful for storage periods of over 30 years. Each of our astronauts has more than five times their blood volume on the starship – Olivia is going to need half of hers!’

  One hour later AJ entered the medical centre and stood alongside Martha outside the isolation unit. Like every other aspect of the starship, this facility was ‘state of art’ for the middle 22nd century. But most impressive was the computer controlled and fully robotic surgery function; but that would not be needed this time.

  His heart momentarily lurched as he saw Olivia’s pale face and observed the multitude of tubes and diagnostics which controlled and monitored her condition.

  ‘What do you think, Martha? Will she survive?’

  ‘It’s touch and go, AJ, the next 24 hours are critical. I’m transfusing as fast as possible to get the salt out.’

  ‘Zec-C!’ AJ commanded, ‘Give me your estimate of Olivia’s survival chances.’

  ‘50/50’

  AJ and Martha shuddered at this dreadful reply.

  Chapter 45

  The Journey Continues

  Scott travelled with Seren and her attendants to the next dwelling, which was of similar size with four Serenite pyramids. He had no way of knowing if Olivia was safely on the starship and, if she was, whether she would recover and he felt guilty that he hadn’t recognised the signs that she was dehydrated. The irony now was that he had plenty of fresh water and supplies.

  This dwelling was fully populated with Serenites and their blue workers. He watched them warm, drink, feed and generally frolic around the hot and cool pools. He found it amazing that this life form existed without all the things that he took for granted on Earth – electricity, the wheel, sophisticate
d transport, the computer, money. Yet they were creative in their own way – the dwellings, pyramids, tunnels and hydro systems – and their use of the amazing diamond crystals which brought light and heat to their domains during the day. He asked himself - where did these crystals come from? Who built all these structures and when? And why did they need his help and why were they signalling for the last 35 years? Also why did they seem to be dying faster than giving birth? There were so many unanswered questions. If what he had witnessed in the 14 dwellings so far visited was repeated in the whole 20,000 on the planet – then the future of their species was in dire jeopardy!

  It was afternoon and Scott was deep in thought seated half in half out of the cool pool, when Seren approached and sat by him. He caught his breath as she looked at him eyes dazzling and he saw,

  >> is your female going to be alright >>

  He shrugged a don’t know and in his mind he asked,

  ‘Where are we going?’

  >> we are going to our principle dwelling > there you will meet our leader >>

  ‘Why?’

  >> our leader will tell you about our people > he will tell you our troubles > you will help us to survive >>

  How could he help? Their lander was stranded over 1000 kilometres away, Olivia was desperately ill and he could not communicate properly with the starship – he felt helpless.

  Whilst these thoughts were going through his mind, the Serenites were forming their usual groups with the dozen or so males in this pyramid.

  Now he felt Seren’s intense gaze and he was shocked and electrified as she put her arms to his shoulders and gently started to push him down onto his back. He drew away and his brain told him that he must not succumb and he saw,

  >> be calm and relax > this is what we do > this is what we do >>

  Scott was unable to resist as Seren kissed him and then brushed her sensuous body against him. He became powerless as her telepathic force drove him into submission. As she made love to him, all thoughts of Olivia were banished from his mind. He felt wonderful, intoxicated and light-headed. Finally he drifted into a peaceful, satisfying sleep along with the other inhabitants in that strange pyramid with the shifting beams of afternoon light.

  Scott awoke, momentarily unaware of his bearings. He looked to his left at Seren, who was sitting watching him with a smile of satisfaction. His stomach knotted as he realised the possible consequences of what he had just done. He guiltily thought of Olivia, gravely ill, and couldn’t forgive himself.

  Then his eyes drifted to Seren’s strange necklace and he followed the point of the triangle to her cleavage and....

  ...... he couldn’t believe it! He was looking at an octagonal tattoo painted with alternating colours of red and black. Then he looked at his own chest and he was horrified to see an identical design.

  ‘How could I have done this!’ he cried aloud. Then Seren used her telepathy again and suddenly he forgot all about Olivia.

  Scott hadn’t stood a chance!

  They travelled to the next dwelling city, which was identical to the last one except there were no Serenite males in this pyramid. The day passed quietly with no further advances from Seren. Then late in the afternoon, the drums started inside the pyramid and Scott was treated to yet another intriguing display of music and dance by the frenetic blue females and the serene young Serenite females.

  Later that night, as he travelled in the pitch blackness of the tunnel, he contacted Zec-1 but to his dismay there was no news from the starship as communications were still blocked by the black mass. Zec-1 informed him that he was approaching one of the biggest of the structures gauged by the size of its light cone.

  Scott, Seren and her attendants came up into a new pyramid. This dwelling was similar to previous ones and it seemed to him that the Serenite homes were all based on a 100 metre wide model with the same internal structures. The subtle differences were in the sculptures and painted art which, although following a basic scheme of red and black triangular splashes of colour, were different in intensity. In some pyramids it seemed predominantly red and bright, whilst in others it was darker because black was the overriding colour.

  He also noticed that, since their love-making, Seren kept much closer to him with frequent eye contact. It troubled him but there was little he could do about it.

  Having warmed and nourished himself, he walked out of the pyramid into the morning sunshine.

  He stopped, looking up at the impossibly vast light sheath stretching away from him into the distance. Then he realised that he had come out into a space between dwellings and as he turned, the sunshine glinted from the crystals in the bright red brick walls of - how many pyramids? He counted four, five, six, more..... eight, nine – he moved further out, 10, .......11!

  Eleven pyramid dwellings nested in a structure that was 500 metres wide! Scott looked into each in turn – all were apparently fully populated with Serenites and their blue workers. He moved in the direction of the rising sun and came to an open area in front of the wide black door. To his right he saw the now familiar but larger set of four outdoor pools which thronged with blue females, some male adults and young females collecting leaves. There were hundreds of blue workers out here and about 200 people in each pyramid, mainly Serenite. Gosh! There must be about 2500 inhabitants in this ‘super city’, he said aloud.

  ‘Based on Zec-C’s original analysis of all the light cones, I am going to make an initial estimate of the population of Cloud Planet. Straddling the equator are two circumferential bands of structures with dwellings every 50 kilometres. Each is 300 metres wide, with every 10th at 500 metres. Therefore, there are 1800 small cities and 200 ‘super–cities’ at the equator plus a further 18,000 smaller dwellings stretching out to the forests. If these are occupied to similar levels as witnessed during our astronaut’s journey so far, then I estimate that there are at least 3 million inhabitants. This total is evenly split between Serenites and their blue workers on the red plain of Cloud Planet. Also the Serenite population is comprised of only about five per cent males.

  ‘Finally I include the design of the super–city. Look at the efficient optimisation of space and how the pyramid dwellings nest together. As I am sure you will agree, the Serenites are a most resourceful race but something has gone very wrong.’

  Large Serenite city

  As he explored and walked along the channel that took the water out of the dwelling, he noted the gushing flows from the 11 pyramids. He tried to discover how water entered the pyramids but his attempts were thwarted by the proximity of the light sheath and the fact that the water travelled in closed elevated channels. He still could not figure out why the chlorine levels were much lower inside the dwellings.

  However, as he was about to re-enter one of the pyramids, he noticed a group of adult blue females who had clambered up on top of the closed channel near where it entered the rear of one of the dwellings. Scott crossed to their position and with difficulty hauled himself up onto the same channel and was surprised when the workers dragged and moved aside large blocks of clay revealing the open channel below. He could hear the flow of water and feel the heat through his thin shoes as he stood only 2 metres from the activity.

  He peered in and could not understand why the water looked black and then realisation dawned as the workers pulled out thin rectangular blocks of grey-black foam which streamed with draining water and which had fitted perfectly across the channel. Meanwhile, further workers had arrived carrying identical dry blocks which they passed to their colleagues on the channel whilst the wet ones were lowered to the ground and stood on edge.

  Scott moved nearer and saw that there were slots in the two walls of the channels which accepted the new blocks perfectly as they were slid into place. In total, 20 were removed and replaced by new ones.

  “Well I never!”, Scott said aloud, “They’ve changed the filter in the water supply. How remarkable!”

  He continued to watch as the blue females replaced the brick cov
ers and dispersed. He jumped down to the ground and went forward to examine the draining blocks. His palmtop told him they were carbon based and inert so he touched one and found it was surprisingly light.

  “It’s not foam,” he thought, “but sintered carbon, rather like charcoal in texture.” Scott was now used to voicing his thoughts aloud. Even with Seren, who it seemed read his every intention, he spoke aloud. “But where did it come from?”

  But one thing was obvious, these filters were very efficient chlorine removers judging from the readings on his computer when he put the probe above the drying blocks: the hot sun was boiling off the gas extremely quickly.