The Agathon: Book One

by Weldon, Colin

  “Okay, we’re good. Try them now,” Emerson said. Barrington nodded to Chavel who took a small breath and tried the commands again. The console gave a positive sounding little chirp.

  “Struts descending,” he said. There was a vibration as the four pylons on the underbelly of the ship emerged and locked into place. The ship descended slowly, as the features of the planet rose in the view screens. Mountaintops rose as the details of the oncoming landscape started to develop. The landing site had been chosen in the northern hemisphere of the largest continent, based on the planet’s angle of rotation, which gave the most light during the thirty-seven-hour rotation.

  “Seventy-five kilometres,” said Boyett.

  “Terrain is looking good. Approach in vector,” Chavel sounded off.

  “Okay, Charly, take her down.” Barrington gave her a confident affirmation that locked her focus in on the flight controls. She eased off the power of the dorsal thrusters and let the gravity of the planet grab the huge ship and invite her down. The descent was well controlled, because of the lack of any weather or atmosphere. Boyett thought she could have landed it either way, but was glad there could be no surprises. She hoped.

  “Five kilometres,” she finally said.

  “All hands, this is the captain. We are about to touch down. Brace yourselves.” He sat back in the centre seat and waited for the worst, already running through evacuation protocols and survival scenarios.

  “Five hundred meters,” said Boyett. She gave the dorsal thrusters a burn and countered the gravity. There was a slight shaking of the bridge as the ship made contact with the ground.

  “Contact,” she said. “Thrusters at twenty percent.” The vibration stopped as the image of the grey landscape in the central view screen stopped moving.

  “Cutting thrusters,” Boyett said. She secured her station and looked at the captain.

  “We’re down,” she said, smiling. Barrington smiled back. Chavel stretched his hand out.

  “Nice. Gimme some sugar,” he said as Boyett high-fived him.

  “Well done, Lieutenant,” said Young from his station. He had been quiet through the landing. Boyett nodded.

  “Barrington to engine room. Report.”

  “Looks good here, bridge. Strut integrity holding ground seems solid. Tell Charly that was a hell of a job.”

  “Understood. Get your team ready, Landon. Let’s not be here any longer than we have to.”

  “No problem, sir. I could use Boyett down here as soon as she has things locked up.”

  “She’s on her way. Barrington out.” He nodded to Boyett, who began running flight shutdown procedures.

  “Captain,” said Young suddenly. Barrington turned to him. “I would like to be the first out,” he said. Chavel looked at the Jycorp CEO.

  “I’m not happy letting passengers off the ship, Jerome. There could be variables.”

  “I understand that, but no human has walked on another world outside our solar system and I would like to be the first. I will stay within the parameter of the ship and you can keep a constant communications lock.” Barrington rubbed his face, then looked at Chavel.

  “Okay, but I want David to go with you.” Chavel nodded enthusiastically. Young was about to protest but held it. They both stood and walked to the lift.

  “One moment, Mr. Young. Barrington to Doctor Tyrell,” he said, tapping his comms.

  “Yes, John,” came the calm reply. “Doctor, Mr Young is going outside the ship. I would like you to go with him and help take some samples, if you are up to it.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” came the response.

  “Meet the team at the exterior ramp on deck twenty-seven.”

  “Understood, Captain.” The comms clicked off.

  “Two hours please, no more. Any problems, you abort and Chavel has complete command of the team. Agreed?”

  Young nodded. “Agreed.”

  They left the bridge, leaving Barrington with his support crew now running ship diagnostics. He looked out at the grey dead world and thought about the hole in the side of his ship.

  Planet Surface

  Tyrell smiled at Young as he made the descent onto the surface. Behind him on the gangway was Emerson’s engineering crew and Boyett leading up the rear. Chavel was waiting at Tyrell’s side, while Young stepped onto the dusty ground. The planet looked like it had been pulverised with meteorites and everything had a silver glow about it. What light there was appeared dim and cast strange shadows on the surface from the various hill formations. Tyrell noticed that some of the shadows looked humanoid. It was an eerie feeling, even for him. He had been on edge since the strange dream he had about Carrie a few nights before. He had decided not to discuss it with her and set her to work on the astronomical phenomena, but the child was digging. Digging in his brain. He knew it.

  “To the new world,” said Young, raising both arms in the air. He was now standing on the soil, looking out into the vast wasteland.

  “Nice,” said Tosh over the comms. He was tied in with the team from the engine room. Young looked back at the team of people on the gangway.

  “Okay, let’s get to it,” said Chavel, slapping Tyrell on the arm, who frowned at the gesture. Tyrell made his way down the sloped gangway and stood by Young, who nodded to him. They wore the form-fitting suits needed for both the Phobos and Mars EVAs. He looked up at the hull of The Agathon, which sat majestically against the star-filled sky.

  “Alpha team on me,” said Boyett. Emerson was helping to carry a gravity lift with Llewellyn, who looked a little nervous. Tyrell watched the engineering team walk under the hull towards the edge of the ship. They had to gain access to the damaged section through the top of the ship, and to do that they needed to lift equipment and themselves using the gravity lift. He turned back to Chavel and Young.

  “Well then,” he said through the comm system in his faceplate. “Where are you thinking about having this picnic of yours, Mr. Young?” He was trying to add some joviality into his voice, which was something he was not very good at, having isolated himself in his lab for so many years on Mars.

  Young turned to Chavel who gestured control of the decision back to him. “It’s your show, Mr Young. I’m just here to keep everyone safe.”

  Young smiled. “Well, Lieutenant, any objection to taking a little stroll over to those hills. My topographic scans show it was once home to a large intersecting array of rivers.” Chavel looked back at the ship and then motioned the Beta team to start walking.

  “Lead the way,” he said.

  “Chavel to Captain. Comms check.”

  “Barrington here. Status,” came the captain’s voice.

  “Beta team are going to take a look at some water formations, a kilometre west of current position.”

  “Understood, Lieutenant. Observe radiation protocols.”

  “Yes, sir, Chavel out.” He closed the comms signal in his faceplate with a flick of his eye movement and began walking.

  “What’s in the case, Doc?” he asked Tyrell, looking at the large black case in his hand. Tyrell glanced at it.

  “Seismic actuators, soil analysis perpetuators and several astronomical observational scopes,” he said blandly.

  “Right,” Chavel answered. Tyrell looked at the ground when he walked. It was soft underfoot. It felt cold. The suits controlled temperature very efficiently, but there was a deathly feeling that crept through the soles of his feet.

  “So, Lieutenant, the captain tells me you won a Daedalus medal. Is that true?”

  “That was a long time ago,” Chavel said. Tyrell secretly rolled his eyes at Chavel’s humility.

  “Well, far be it for me to interrupt the beautiful sounds of my own breath in this faceplate with conversation, but I for one would love to hear about it. How about you, Tyrell?” said Young.

 
“Yes please, Lieutenant. Do enlighten us.” Tyrell knew the story only too well, but it diverted a need for him to make idle chitchat with the pair and so encouraged it. They continued across the grey wasteland with relative ease. After a moment’s hesitation, Chavel began the story.

  “Well, there’s not much to tell, to be honest. I think it was a lot of fuss over nothing.”

  “Didn’t you die?” Young asked. Chavel laughed.

  “That much is true, yes. Twenty-one minutes, thirteen seconds. I was toast,” he said.

  “What did you see, Lieutenant?” Tyrell asked with genuine interest.

  “See, Doctor?” said Chavel.

  “Yes, see. What did you see? Lights, tunnels that sort of thing,” said Tyrell.

  “No, nothing like that, I’m afraid. I do remember seeing my dead body on the transport ship. I remember the faces of the passengers as they huddled for warmth in the sealed compartment. I remember trying to talk to them. Trying to tell them everything would be all right and that help had arrived.” Young stopped and turned to Chavel.

  “You telling me you had an out of body experience?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. It could have been. It could have been a crazy dream, but when I woke up there were details I knew about the readings on the flight panel and the stuff the rescue team were talking about to each other that I couldn’t have known.” He continued walking and looked at the stars.

  “It was peaceful,” he continued. “I remember that there was no fear. I find that comforting,” he said.

  “That we float around outside our dead bodies like ghosts?” Tyrell said, waving his arms in the air.

  “No, Doctor, that there is no fear. I know that all those people on Earth are at peace wherever they are now. And I find great peace with that.”

  Young was silent as they continued their journey. Ludicrous, thought Tyrell.

  The Lake

  They stopped on the edge of a sheer drop which cut away from the ground. The vista was spectacular. In the distance the glow of the home star cast a cutting morning light over everything. Something in the soil ahead made it sparkle, making it look like it was reflecting the stars that could be seen so clearly overhead. An advantage to not having an atmosphere, Young had noted on the way over. The trio fell silent and even Tyrell seemed to be taken in by the view.

  “There is something protruding from the riverbed down there,” said Chavel, looking through a pair of hand-held magniscopes. Young was looking at the stars at the time and moved his head down to see what Chavel was talking about.

  “Here.” Chavel handed Young the image magnifying device.

  “Probably a rock. That’s all there seems to be on this planet,” Tyrell said.

  “Probably,” said Young, “odd shape though. Let’s take a look.”

  “Hang on there, Mr Young, this is a pretty steep decline,” said Chavel.

  “The suits have grapplers, no?” said Young. Chavel nodded in concession. He activated his comms with a flick of his eye.

  “Chavel to Agathon.”

  “Agathon here, go ahead, Lieutenant,” Barrington said. “We’re heading to the bed of what looks like a river, to check out a rock formation.”

  “Okay, you have one hour. We’re almost ready to lock up over here and lift off,” Barrington said.

  “Understood,” Chavel said, clicking off his comms.

  “I really think we should be heading back to the ship, gentlemen. It’s just a rock,” said Tyrell. Young and Chavel looked at him.

  “Come on, Doc,” said Chavel. “You haven’t even opened your case. It would be a shame to come all this way and not do some experiments, no?” he said.

  “Hmm,” said Tyrell. Young began to untether his grappler, which was attached to a small box that sat snugly on the belt of all the suits. He lined up the metallic anchor and pressed the self-guiding actuator at its tip. He lined it up with what looked like solid ground and let it fly. The anchor flew into the ground with precision. The other two members of Beta team followed suit. Tyrell attached his case to his belt with a hook and swung his legs around to begin the repel down.

  Young was first to hit the riverbed. He took the descent like a practiced spelunker. Tyrell had some difficulty with his footing and lost his balance a number of times. Chavel coached him down eventually and the three men detached their harnesses from their cable, leaving them dangling against the rock. The riverbed was flat. The only thing protruding was the oddly-shaped rock formation at its centre.

  “Okay, let’s take a look,” Young said and started walking.

  Chavel turned to Tyrell. “You okay there, Doctor?” he asked, wondering why he was hesitating.

  “Fine, Lieutenant. Lead the way,” he said with a hint of frustration in his voice. They made their way across the grey landscape. From above they would have looked like three black ants walking across a pavement. Young was the first to speak when they approached the formation.

  “Its edges are smooth,” he said. They stood in front of it. Young reaching towards its leading wall. It had a fashioned and angular appearance.

  “Twenty-two meters from base to tip,” said Chavel, who had a hand scanner directed at its pointed tip. Young was running his fingers over the surface and brushing off dust.

  “Tyrell, what do you make of this?” he said, uncovering grooves in the stonework. Tyrell stood and looked at what Young was pointing at. There were definitely patterned grooves on the surface of the rock. Tyrell’s eyes widened as they shifted to one of complete focus on the markings. He placed the case he was carrying on the soil and opened it. He withdrew a cube-shaped instrument and pressed a glowing light on one of its sides. Three meter-long struts shot out from its base and he positioned it in front of the rock.

  “What’s that?” asked Chavel.

  “It’s a high intensity atomic mapping imaging array,” said Tyrell. “It will date and render an analysis on the stone and the markings.”

  “There’s a pattern here,” said Young. His face was pressed up against the stone as he pushed away more debris from its surface.

  “Jerome, please step back for a moment, would you?” Young and Chavel took a step back as Tyrell pressed the activation sequence on the cube. It seemed to turn transparent as an array of blue lasers shot out from its centre and scanned every inch of the rock, rendering a three-dimensional floating image on top of it. It only took a few seconds, but when it was done a perfect glass-like facsimile of the object floated on the scanner.

  “Tyrell to Agathon,” he said into his face plate.

  “Barrington here,” said the captain.

  “John, patch me through to Carrie, please. She’s in my lab,” Tyrell said. He looked over at Chavel and gave him a little smile.

  “Of course, Doctor,” came his swift reply.

  “Carrie here, Doctor,” came her calm voice.

  “Carrie, I’m sending you data of a rock formation we’ve found out here. Can you link to the imager designated scan alpha and upload the data to the network in the lab, please? Then begin a subatomic resonance report on it.”

  “Of course, Doctor. Linking up now,” she said. They waited for a moment.

  “Link secure, Doctor. Beginning transfer,” Carrie said.

  “Thank you, Carrie. Tyrell out,” he said, severing the communications link. Young had gone back over to the rock.

  “So, what are we looking at here, Mr Young?” said Chavel.

  “I don’t know yet, David. Just a hunch. Doctor Tyrell, can that device scan below the surface?” he asked, turning to Tyrell. Tyrell seemed to be anticipating his next question, as his repositioned the cube at a ninety degree angle to the ground.

  “Yes, it can,” he said when he had finished.

  “You thinking there’s more to see?” asked Chavel. Young hunched up his shoulders. Tyrell hit the activat
or and the trio stared at the dusty grey soil, as the lasers scanned the surrounding area around the rock. Chavel looked off into the distance, as the cube completed its scans and sent the information back to The Agathon.

  “Barrington to Doctor Tyrell,” came the female voice in all their head sets.

  “Yes, Carrie, go ahead,” said Tyrell.

  “Doctor, the last set of images you sent are showing a large cavernous structure one hundred meters under the surface. Definitely not natural. There are polymer and metallic alloyed foundations. I think we’re looking at something constructed.” Beta team looked at each other.

  “Carrie, can you get a detailed rendering of the markings we are seeing on the exposed surface?” said Young, unable to contain his excitement.

  “I think you should do another scan to be sure, but the computer is running pattern recognition permutations on them now. Could be the remnants of an ancient civilisation by the looks of it,” she said.

  “Jesus,” said Chavel.

  “We have to get down there,” announced Young, his eyes wide.

  “Hang on, Jerome, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” interrupted the captain’s voice.

  Young looked surprised. He had forgotten that the bridge was monitoring all communications.

  “Captain, we can’t possibly walk away from this. We’ve just discovered evidence of an advanced alien civilisation. We have to at least try to find out what we can about them. They may have had direct contact with the signal makers at one stage,” he finished.

  “Tyrell?” said the captain.

  “It’s not beyond the bounds of reason, John. We are, after all, on a direct course with what we postulate is their home world,” he answered.

  “What timeframe are we looking at to excavate the site and gain access to the structure?” asked the captain.

  “There appears to be an opening ninety-seven meters directly under the position of the protruding rock face,” said Carrie

  “Judging by the depth and the drilling equipment we have on board The Agathon, no more than twenty-two hours,” answered Young. There was silence over the comm.