The Decade Worlds

by Patrick McClafferty

  There was no dramatic pulsing within the gate, nor was there even a single sound. A light on the operator’s console turned green. “The gateway is operational.” Ell murmured with a calm voice. “Bonne route.”

  “Merci.” Gareth muttered before he inhaled a deep breath and took a single step a thousand light years long. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he could feel Athena’s presence, looking through his eyes.

  Pressure squeezed every square inch of his body, and the dead blackness threatened to suffocate him. His hand began to release the deadman switch, when a voice stopped him.

  Stop! Athena commanded. You are under six meters of water at night. In your EVA suit you’re in no danger.

  Six meters? Are you sure? he asked, his thoughts panicky. Athena answered with silence. Silly question. He grumbled, mentally commanding a flotation ring on his EVA suit to inflate. In fifteen seconds, he popped to the surface like a cork. A small green display appeared in the corner of his vision informing him that the environment was suitable for human use. The distant horizon was just turning silver, and in the half-light, he could make out a mountainous landmass a thousand meters to his right. Commanding his ring to deflate, he watched a trifle regretfully as water closed over his head and the darkness once more swallowed him. Just as soon as he reached the ocean bottom, he released the deadman switch.

  Water dripped on the gate platform as Gareth thumbed the EVA suit off. He stood smirking at the others.

  “Water?” Chiu asked the obvious question.

  “I came out six meters underwater.” He explained calmly, and then to the air. “Ell, could you have Shyrrik please bring the shuttle around. I hope it can take a depth of six meters.”

  “The Mark XII combat shuttle can handle pressures up to a kilometer. Shyrrik is bringing it around.” There was a slight edge to Ell’s voice.

  “Jealousy doesn’t become you, Ell.” Gareth said matter-of-factly. “When we depart the solar system you will be flying the destroyer you told me about.”

  “I will?” Ell’s voice exclaimed out of the air with a note of excitement.

  “You’re the brightest of the AI’s, and I think I’d rather have you commanding our fleet than anyone else.”

  “Fleet?”

  He chuckled again. “Yeah, the mothballed fleet.”

  “Cool!” Ell whispered. “That Momar class destroyer has more than enough memory room for me, although I might add a few petabytes just to make sure.” Gareth just shook his head. She hadn’t even moved in yet, and already she was planning on painting the walls.

  There was a rumble, and out of the clear morning sky the shuttle banked in to land on the gateway platform, the rear loading ramp already cycling open. Gareth made his way into the shuttle, stopping once to point out the weapon racks to the two young marines. He quickly belted in, with Chiu at his side, and glanced down at the domed top of Shyrrik resting between them. “This is a little more exciting than running a lunar base, I should think.” He quipped.

  “You have no idea how bored I was.” Shyrrik confirmed. “I was originally designed to command a capital ship during the Earth Ecothiax wars. Rather than decommission me, the bean-counters pulled me out of a battlewagon after the war, and stuck me in an administrative position on the moon. They never considered asking what I thought about it.” She said acidly, and then her voice calmed. But now I’m flying again, and exploring new worlds.”

  “Can you handle a frigate?”

  “No problem. Why do you ask?”

  Gareth bit his lip. “Although I hate to give her up, this shuttle is a little small, and…’

  “Did you know that a frigate can hold two of these shuttles?”

  Gareth grinned. “That’s good to know. Why don’t we go find out what world this is?”

  The ramp raised smoothly, and the shuttle slid forward, a meter above the platform. “The gateway is active.” Ell said calmly from the overhead speaker. The shuttle slid into blackness, and low interior lights flickered on as it angled toward the surface. In the brilliant exterior lights Gareth saw a large silver school of Mackerel flash by to port, and an idea began to form in his mind. The shuttle edged into the clear morning air, rose to a height of one hundred meters and stopped.

  “Sensors indicate that the planet is capable of sustaining human life. People should flourish here, should already be flourishing here.” Shyrrik added in a businesslike tone.

  “Bring us up to forty thousand meters, and let’s do a couple of orbits of this world, before we set down on the island to my right.”

  The shuttle shot for the sky, the world quickly dropping away below them and Gareth heard a strange sound. It took him a moment to realize that Shyrrik was actually humming to herself.

  In the forward view screen, the island grew quickly. “Sensors indicate that this landmass, the only landmass on the world, is approximately the size of Australia, back on your Earth.” The shuttle banked to port and began to slow, heading for a wide meadow set beside a large dark blue mountain lake, only one of several large bodies of water on the small continent. White capped peaks rose all around them. “Welcome to Xolia, ladies and gentlemen.” Shyrrik announced grandly. The shuttle shuddered slightly as it landed, and the ramp slid open. The air that flowed into the open door was cold and sweet.

  “Send out a few drones to look for signs of people or structures. marines out and take up defensive positions. Remember Ojor Cay.” He said, reminding the young marines of four other marines who hadn’t heeded Gareth’s warnings, and had been eaten by a hostile environment. He saw the two shudder and grip their weapons more firmly. Three silver baseball sized sensor spheres streaked away from the shuttle. One dipped, skimming the top of the blue lake with silver ripples, before it gained altitude and disappeared into the dense woods beyond.

  “The water in the lake is potable, and sensors indicate a large number of trout, bass and sturgeon. The grasses and trees are Terran stock. Sensors on the other pods indicate thirty-seven different varieties of avian species, several different cats, bears, rodents, a number of herbivores and thousands of different species of insects. Again, all lifeforms seem to be Terran stock, but the landmass, although of modest size is alone on the planet. That is a drawback.” Gareth stood in the grass, letting the yellow sun beat on his face, his eyes closed. It was a good feeling. “There are signs of an old settlement on the northern end of the island.” Shyrrik said, interrupting his reverie.

  “Have your probes meet us there.” He replied to Shyrrik, then cupped his hands to his mouth. “Allright folks,” he shouted, “let’s head back. Marines form a defense as the others return. Remember, you’re first out and last in.”

  Two voices echoed “first out, last in, Aye, Aye!”

  The old encampment was simply the remains of ten plastic-walled buildings. An effort had been made to clear a hectare of land, where smaller trees and shrubs were slowly returning. Gareth guessed a herbicide had been used, and after this length of time was only now losing its potency. A stainless-steel pole rose in the center of the small compound, festooned with the remains of various pieces of equipment. There were no graveyards that he could see, but after this length of time even the graves would have gone back to nature.

  Chiu touched his arm. “This is a sad place.” She murmured with a small sniff. “They stayed here a while, and just gave up.”

  Gareth’s smile was bitter. “It wasn’t easy enough for them. Living here meant that you had to work for your food, and the clothes on your back, and the fire that kept you warm.” He gave her a hug. “I know some people who will be very happy here.”

  Lyndra, standing on his other side caught his thought, for she too was his familiar like Chiu. Her green eyes widened. “They will love it.” She whispered. “And they will cherish it.”

  Chui turned to him as the shuttle lifted off on the return trip to The Yeugate gateway. “What was that cat I saw at the edge of the woods? It didn’t seem afraid of us at all, only curious.”r />
  Gareth frowned. “I jaguar, I think. What’s your opinion, Shyrrik?”

  “The creature is a panthera onca, more commonly known as a jaguar.” The AI filled in. “Obviously a clone from an extinct Earth species, this big cat appears to be flourishing.”

  “My thoughts exactly.” Gareth said with a smile as the shuttle headed for the ocean, and the gateway beneath.

  “I certainly hope that the new custodians don’t hunt it into extinction.” Shyrrik sounded a little put-off.

  “Oh, I don’t think that will happen.” Gareth murmured as the shuttle slipped through the gateway.

  “How can you be so…” Shyrrik stopped in mid-sentence. “You plan on moving the elves onto Xolia. That’s why the three of you have that smug look on your faces.” A soft laugh came out of the speaker. “Good call.”

  Gareth crossed his arms and leaned back, as the shuttle settled on the gateway platform. “You solved half of the riddle, now solve the other half.” He winked at Chiu.

  “Half??” Shyrrik asked, as the rear ramp lowered. There was a long pause. “The gateway is underwater. You are going to evacuate the dolphins and the whales to Xolia, probably through the Jafelon gate if you can get it working.” Shyrrik sounded surprised.

  “That is my intention, Shyrrik.”

  “You’re quite inventive… for a human. You might be able to pull it off.” The AI admitted finally. “How long do we have?”

  Gareth noticed the use of the word ‘we’, and grinned to himself. Can you answer them Athena? He asked in his mind.

  Not as long as I originally thought. Athena’s thought carried a grim tone. It appears that the data I was basing my forecast on was provided by the same source that said blowing up the moon would save the Earth. My own sensors say that the leading edge of the radiation will arrive in five years, if not a bit sooner.

  Gareth shut his eyes so that neither Chiu nor Shirrik would see the pain he knew was there for all to see, if they only looked. What do I do, Athena? How do I get all— How many are there? —off the Earth and to safety?

  A million, more or less. She answered gently. And you do the best you can. You’ve already done much more than I ever hoped, or even dreamed.

  Can you break things down a little better for me; tell me how many of each race I’m looking at evacuating?

  Ummmm. She hesitated. I’ll see what I can do.

  Try hard, Athena. I really need those numbers.

  I’ll try. She whispered.

  Gareth opened his eyes, and Chiu needed only one glance to tell her something was wrong. He gave her a crooked smile. “We have five years to evacuate a million intelligent beings.” He said to Shyrrik.

  “We are so screwed.” Chiu, sitting at his side muttered darkly.

  Gareth almost laughed. “You said that once before, just after I arrived on Eldenworld.”

  “Well, we were screwed then too.” She replied doggedly.

  “We managed to pull it out of the fire that time. We’ll do our best to do it again this time.”

  Chui gave him a sad little smile. “We can save the elves, the dolphins and the whales at least.”

  “Five years is a long time.” He said firmly. “We can do better than that. I hope to have the Qual on their way home in two months. We’ll keep the transports moving the true aliens back to their homeworlds as long as we can. If we run out of time we stuff them through a gateway and sort things out later, if we can.”

  Chiu had her eyes closed. “I need a drink. This is all so confusing.”

  Gareth unbuckled himself from his seat and stood. Beside himself and Chiu, the shuttle was now empty. “We should go.”

  Chiu stood. “What about the true humans, the ones who can’t wield magic or shapeshift?”

  Gareth stepped off the ramp and wrapped his arm about Chiu’s shoulders. “I have no idea… yet.”

  Dinner that night was a quiet affair, with Gareth, Chiu and Lyndra splitting a liter of wine to go with their steak. The two young marines and their small guide split another. Lyndra now shared their wine at meals, but limited her intake to one small glass.

  Kuan stared longingly at the empty wine bottle after dinner was over, but didn’t bother ordering more.

  The next morning was overcast and gray, with heavy clouds threatening rain at any moment. A cold wind moaned out of the north despite the fact that is was supposed to be mid-summer. Gareth looked over his shoulder to where the rest of the intrepid explorers were huddled under the open ramp of the shuttle. A cold drop of rain hit his forehead, and he calmly turned on the EVA suit. Another drop stopped a half-inch from his nose, and skittered off. He picked up and buckled on the Colt, and then picked up the deadman switch. The rain was falling harder as he stepped through the gateway… and into bright yellow sunlight. He waited for a moment as the suit analyzed the environment and then… The small display in his line of sight indicated safe for humans. He let out a deep breath he didn’t know that he had been holding and released the deadman switch.

  A look of surprise crossed the five waiting faces as he turned off his EVA suit. “Pack it up boys and girls, we’re going for a road trip.” He winked at Chiu. “It looks to be a nice world, warm yellow sun, glorious rings.”

  “That would make it Vurean.” Shyrrik murmured as he sat down and buckled himself in.

  “What else does the tourist brochure say about the place.” Chiu asked as she squirmed into her seat.

  “The only note says the world is metals poor.” Shyrrik replied.

  “Let’s go see.” Gareth grinned. The shuttle lifted slowly from the platform and coasted toward the gate. On the other side they floated out of the gateway and down a long rounded hill toward a wide verdant valley. Over another small rise the land sloped sharply down to a boundless blue ocean. Despite the time that had passed since man last trod this world, Gareth could still see the scars in the valley left by the ancient strip mining. A number of long stone buildings edged the mining site.

  “Sensors corroborate the brochure. There is virtually no metal on this world. From the tailings of the mine it looks as though the original settlers were digging for metals of any sort. They found nothing. Sensors also indicate nothing in the uranium family of heavy metals. That means no nuclear power plants, no wires for power lines, no metal hulls for boats.” Shyrrik sounded somewhat disappointed.

  “It also means no metal for swords and no gold to squabble over.” Gareth grinned. “How about game for food?”

  “The wildlife is plentiful and the soil is rich. Like the last world, there are indications that this world has been seeded with Terran stock.”

  Gareth nodded, and leaned back in his seat. “That’s very good. Take us up as high as you can and still get accurate sensor readings, and do a ball of twine search.”

  “As you wish.” The shuttle shot for the heavens. “Sensors pick up three operational communication satellites in orbit, but there are no transmissions of any sort from the planet. No transmissions and no power sources.”

  “Geography?” Gareth asked.

  “This world is perhaps fifty times the size of Terra. Ninety percent water, the land masses seem to be simple groups of islands, scattered randomly about the oceans. There are indications of an ancient civilization here, but that was millions of years ago. I’ve counted twenty five separate groups of islands, each group containing landmass equivalent to that of Earth. I did find one indication of metal, and that was in a large impact crater.”

  “Geology?”

  “Stable. The fires that caused the continents to shift died millions of years ago. Before you ask, the sun is fairly young. This system will be viable for billions of years to come.”

  Gareth smiled. “I think that I might just have found a home for the traditional non-magical humans. Depending on their numbers, I might scatter a few other races about the planet also. This world is certainly big enough.” He rubbed his chin. “In a worst case scenario, we could evacuate the entire population of Eldenworld
to these islands. The civilizations that arose might be limited, but they would be alive.” He looked down at a particularly dense rain forest. “I’m sure that there are foods and pharmaceuticals the locals could use to trade for higher tech products.”

  Chiu pressed her nose to the view screen and pointed. “What’s that down there?” The shuttle banked as it began to spiral lower.

  Gareth looked and blinked. “Well now. That’s something you don’t see every day.” The shuttle swooped low over a herd of animals that looked strikingly like triceratops, but in eye watering magenta. Some distance away they were being stalked by a bright orange tyrannosaurus. Terran seeding again?” He asked the AI in a dry voice.

  “Except for the color, yes.”

  “Someone had a sense of humor. Let’s go see some of the other island groups.”

  “As you wish.” The shuttle banked sharply and accelerated, breaking the sound barrier with a loud boom that sent the triceratops running in one direction while the tyrannosaurus headed off in the other.

  Dinner that night was much more jovial, and Gareth introduced the small company to pizza and beer. He decided to wait for a later date to crank up the rock and roll. The six members of the exploratory team had been arguing, good naturedly, over what to name the four abandoned outposts they’d found on Vurean. Gareth opted for New York, London, Paris and Moscow. His suggestions met with little enthusiasm… hence the arguments. They finally agreed that one would be named New York. The second and third had names he couldn’t pronounce without dislocating his jaw, and the name of the fourth sounded like a sneeze. At least one was named New York. By the time he got back to the suite Chiu and Lyndra were already asleep, sprawled across the bed. Gareth sighed, and headed for the sofa, which morphed into a surprisingly comfortable bed. In thirty-eight thousand years something had changed for the better.

  It had been decided at dinner the previous night that Gareth would be accompanied by at least one marine from the start of each of his explorations. Today it was Corporal Yong’s turn, and the young woman looked alternately excited and scared about the adventure.