The Long Day

by Robert Harrison

  Without any hesitation, manna-rah leaped into action and intercepted the beast just ten feet in front of Asha. He speared. The beast yelled out and turned toward him. It lunged forward, but manna-rah speared again. The beast fell on its side and breathed heavily. Manna-rah then speared the animal with a single, precise death- blow. It stopped moving. He had saved Asha and killed the beast.

  Everyone ran over to the spot where the animal lay. Manna-rah stood over the beast, spear in hand, looking quite pleased with himself. Beside him lay a large animal of several hundred pounds. It was covered with thick mats of yellow-brown hair. It had a long tail and a huge mouth filled with teeth, very large, sharp teeth.

  Everyone was looking at the beast when they heard more rustling in the forest. Several more animals of the same type emerged and stood just at the edge of the forest, watching them. They began to approach. They were not running, but they were walking straight at the crew. They were totally unafraid.

  “Get back in the ship,” said Devor. They quickly entered the ship and shut the door. They could see out the window the animals were eating the beast manna-rah had killed. There were four of them, heads down in a feeding frenzy. One of them raised its head and looked directly at the ship. Its face was covered with blood and its teeth were blood-stained red.

  “This is unsafe,” said Devor as he started the engines. “We need to go.”

  The ship rose above the forest and they continued their observations from several hundred feet in the air. They flew over several miles of thick forest, seeing no signs of any buildings, or ruins, or construction of any type. Then they saw a large object in the air flying directly at them. It was some type of flying animal. It had a wingspan of at least fifteen feet and was nearly the size of the shuttle. It came straight at them, claws forward. The shuttle suddenly lurched as the animal tried to grab it in its talons.

  That was it, Devor had had enough. He headed back towards the Maximus. “This place is inhospitable,” he said. “It does not appear to harbor any sentient life. We’ll finish our scans from the ship.”

  Asha thanked manna-rah for his bravery. She was certain he had saved her life. For a moment she pictured herself laying on the ground looking as up at those beasts with their blood red teeth lunging down on her, tearing away her flesh off in large hunks. The thought of it made her shudder.

  “Thank you again,” she said to manna-rah. “I am alive only because of you.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” he replied. He laughed and said, “And now I’ll have a new story to tell the Nanda. I’m sure they’re sick of hearing the some old stories over and over.”

  The shuttle docked with the ship and they continued scans of the planet from orbit. The radar showed no signs of any regular shapes or structures in the forest or beneath the ground. The infrared sensors showed no concentrations of heat, and the magnetic scans showed no signs of clustered metal. The moon did support life, but probably not the life they were looking for.

  The Maximus left orbit and headed toward the next planet. It was the first of the rocky inner planets. It was a medium size planet about the mass of Sapiea. They began their scans as they approached. Again the planet appeared to have no life. There were no signs of vegetation nor any indications of structures. The planet was sandy brown and littered with huge craters. There were no clouds and the atmosphere was toxic. It was a dead planet. They continued past.

  As they were passing, the captain received a person-to-person communication from the Nanda, Arrow. “This is it,” he said. “This is what we are looking for.’”

  “How do you know?” asked Sava. “We see no sign of any life down there.”

  “We sense a presence,” said the Nanda. “We feel the same intense loneliness we felt when we heard the call. This is it.”

  Then all the Nanda chimed out at once. “We all feel it,” they said. “This is definitely it.”

  “Ok,” said Sava. “Let’s see.” He ordered the ship to orbit.

  Chapter 6: The Mahatma

  The Maximus made deeper scans of the planet as it orbited. The infrared sensors showed no concentrations of heat nor any energy production. The visual sensors displaying the surface showed only what appeared to be rock and empty desert. The magnetic sensors did return some anomalies indicating the presence of metal, but they were sparse and scattered about and could have easily been natural ore deposits. The radar returned no evidence of structures on the surface, but then the ground penetrating radar began returning sporadic geometric shapes beneath the surface.

  An analysis of the returns from the penetrating radar indicated the shapes could be the remnants of ancient buildings, long gone and buried by the shifting sands. If there was once a civilization here, it appeared long dead.

  The Nanda intently watched the scans on the observation screen as they rounded the planet. They saw the same returns everyone else did, nothing. Then Arrow announced, “There. I feel it. It’s there.” He focused the visual scans on the side of a mountain range. The mountains were barren rock surrounded by empty desert.

  Arrow enlarged the view on his monitor and zoomed in closer and closer. Then a spot appeared. At first, just a smudge. He went to full zoom and focused on a hollow in the center of the range, then it came into view. One small area of only a few acres, covered with some sort of red and yellow vegetation.

  “That’s it,” he said. He shared his screen with the rest of the crew. There was something there.

  Sava replied, “There does seem to be something, but it’s nearing night there. That part of the planet is rotating into darkness. We’ll assemble a landing party and go at first light.”

  They had calculated the length of day on the surface to be twenty eight hours, and with the mountain casting shadows over the hollow, it was estimated to be at least sixteen hours before that location would be fully illuminated. That night the ship was tense. Most of the crew could not sleep due to anticipation. There was much talk about what they may or may not find.

  As the hollow neared the day-night terminator and approached light they assembled a landing party. Sava again assigned Devor Bon as team leader. Devor requested Paumi and both Dolek warriors accompany him this time. He also suggested that because of the trauma Asha experienced on the previous expedition, almost being dinner to a vicious beast, that she take a break and sit this one out. Dobro Nor, the second ambassador, was asked to take her place.

  Dobro Nor was one of the older members of the crew. His patterned hair was once indigo black with a striking shock of white on each side, but now it was just mostly white. There were deep lines on his forehead and creases around his mouth that were even more exaggerated when he smiled. Dobro was a good man and a kind person, but he had always been just a bit short in his career, and it seemed he was always second choice.

  Dobro was alone in life. His family was small and he had only his parents, but they had passed long ago. His career was his life, so he was ecstatic when he was assigned a position in an off-world expedition. This was his first excursion, and from his age and the length of this assignment, he was sure this would be his last. Now, for the first time in his career he had a lead position, and he intended to make the most of it.

  Everyone assembled just outside the entrance of the port shuttle. Before they boarded, Devor spoke. “The planet below is not hospitable to life. The terrain appears rough and difficult to traverse. The atmosphere is toxic, and what we may find is unknown. After the last excursion we are going to be more cautious, and more prepared.

  “From now on all surface crews will carry burners, and no first-contact crew will go to the surface unless accompanied by at least one Dolek warrior. They have clearly shown their value, and their bravery.” The Dolek warriors nodded their approval.

  Devor continued, “On this expedition the air is toxic, so we must wear environment suits. Everyone gather your gear. Bring a burner, an environment suit, at least three day’s rations, and a survival kit. Because of the mountainous terrain, let�
�s also bring a full set of climbing gear.”

  The team complied and gathered the gear. They boarded the shuttle and departed to the planet surface. As they descended, they saw a surface covered with huge craters and vast expanses of dead, dry desert. The terrain was rock and sand. They approached the target area and saw a single large outcropping of vegetation.

  Before landing they circled the area to get a better look. There appeared two to three acres of surface area covered by this vegetation, and in the center of the patch was a large hole in the ground. It looked quite deep. It extended beneath the reach of the light into darkness. It also looked like the vegetation had grown out of the hole and spread over the surface from a single source.

  Devor said, “I think we have our destination. Looks like it‘s going going to be a climb.”

  They landed in a sandy area just outside the patch. The engines blew up a cloud of dust and sand from the dry ground. The dust settled as they readied. They put on their environment suits and stocked their backpacks with climbing gear and rations. They also each put on a belt with an attached holster to hold a burner.

  Neither Paumi nor Dobro had ever used a burner, so Devor showed them how to attach the holster and reviewed the operation of the device.

  He held a burner out in his hand and said, “This switch on the side is a safety. It needs to be in this potion to fire.” He clicked the safety off. “When in this position it cannot be fired.” He clicked the safety back to the safe position. He added, “When you place the burner in the holster, always,” and he stressed the word always, “always be sure the safety is on. That’s what keeps the burner from accidently firing and blasting a hole in your leg.”

  They acknowledged. Devor continued. “To fire the device, set the safety to off, hold it like this with your finger over the trigger, point it where you want to shoot, then squeeze the trigger. It’s that simple” he added. “And oh, never point your burner at another team member.”

  They exited the shuttle and headed toward the patch. The sand was thick and dry and shifted beneath their feet. It was difficult to walk through. They reached the edge of the patch and examined the vegetation. It was unlike anything they’d ever seen. The triangular shaped leaves were four to six inches wide. They were thick, yellow with red veins. They had more the texture of leather than that of a leaf. They grew out of large, heavy branches that spread across the ground like a vine.

  Devor bent down and touched a branch. It was dark red, tube-like and leathery. He squeezed the branch. It was spongy and easily pinched shut. It seemed to be filled with some sort of liquid. All branches led back to the hole.

  They walked through the patch toward the hole. The vegetation was heavy and covered most of the ground, leaving little room to place a foot. Devor said, “Try not to step on the braches if you can. We don’t want to do any damage here if we can help it.”

  When they finally reached the edge of the hole, they could see the branches running down the side walls, extending as far down as they could see. They drove several pitons into the rock near the mouth of the cavity, attached their ropes, and began a descent. It was slow and difficult with many stops along the way. Their environmental suits and the heavy backpacks made the climb even more strenuous.

  They descended deep into the darkness and could now only see using the artificial light they had brought along. It took several hours to reach the bottom, where they found a large opening which appeared to be an entrance to a cave. All the branches ran into the cave, climbing the cave walls along the way.

  They entered the cave and walked several hundred yards in, following the trail of branches. Devor shined his flashlight on the branches and noted that they had changed along the way. They appeared less vegetable and more meaty now. They were increasing in diameter as they continued, and now they seemed to be pulsating. They had become more transparent and you could clearly see a red liquid surging forward with each beat.

  They reached the end of the tunnel. It opened up into a massive chamber. They shined their lights around and could see all sorts of machinery and equipment laying about, embedded in, and overgrown by this odd vegetation. Then suddenly, the chamber lit up.

  Scattered all around the chamber were a variety of machines and control panels in various states of disrepair. The vegetation covered most everything. The branches lead back to a large organic mass of some sort, concentrated at the far side of the chamber. They could not make sense of what they were seeing. What lay before them was a confusing mixture of machine, vegetable, and what appeared to be animal flesh. It was like they were inside a living entity, but an entity unlike anything ever known or ever imagined.

  Then they noticed something embedded in the fleshy mass near the back of the chamber. There were more than a dozen cylinders containing the bodies of some type of humanoids. The cylinders appeared to be old cryogenic chambers that may have once provided life support for these beings, but now the containers were shattered and disheveled. The fleshy mass covered the entire floor and the cylinders, and bodies were embedded in it up to their torsos. Only the upper part of their bodies, their arms and heads were free of the encroaching flesh. They appeared almost absorbed by it.

  They tried to comprehend what they were seeing when they heard a loud hissing sound. There was a rush of air and the chamber filled a new atmosphere. Their sensors indicated the air was non-toxic and rich in oxygen. It was breathable.

  They removed their head gear and took a breath. The air was fresh, clean, and pure. Then, unexpectedly, one of the humanoids embedded in the fleshy mass inhaled a deep gasp, like the first breath someone who was drowning would take as they breached the surface of the water. It began to move and stretched out its arms.

  Everyone was in shock. They all took a step back, unsure if this was interesting or horrifying. The other embedded humanoids also began moving, following the same routine of first breath, then stretching, as if waking up from a long sleep. The Doleks readied their spears, unsure of what move to make next. Even the brave Dolek warriors looked terrified. There was no precedent for what was happening.

  Then the humanoid nearest them then leaned forward and began speaking. It was an odd language, unlike anything Paumi or anyone else had ever heard. This language was like a strange mix of both song and spoken word. Everyone began to relax a bit as they realized they were not in danger. This did not seem like an attack; it was more like a welcoming.

  Paumi opened his backpack and withdrew the translation device he had carried along. It recorded the sounds, but seemed unable to decipher anything from the sing-songy patterns of this speech. All the humanoids then began speaking. Sometimes they all spoke at the same time, sometimes one spoke, and sometimes the speech went from one, to another, to another. It was as if they were completing one another’s sentences – almost as if they were all of one mind.

  This went on for several hours, but little progress was being made. The humanoids spoke, the Sapiens spoke back, the Doleks attempted to speak to them in the Dolek language, and no one understood. The translating device was not only failing to make progress, it seemed unable to recognize the speech patterns as a language at all.

  Devon finally interrupted, “Listen everyone,” he said. “It’s been a long day. We made a difficult descent into this hole and have been through a lot today. I think we should set up camp, eat, and get some rest.”

  The team was still a bit uncomfortable with the look and nature of the entity, so they moved back towards to cavern opening and set up camp there. Even though there appeared to be no threat, the Doleks set up a defensive perimeter around the camp.

  The crew prepared dinner, and talked about the day’s events.

  Paumi interjected his concerns, “My translation device seems to be unable to make any sense of this speech. It’s not only unable to analyze the data, it’s not even recognizing this as speech. It’s recorded no data to analyze. I’m concerned we may be at a stand-still. I have no idea how to proceed.”

  E
veryone acknowledged his concerns, then they laid out their sleeping gear and turned in for the night. The entity seemed to be aware of what was happening and the lighting dimmed to a warm, soft red; sufficient to see, but dark enough to allow undisturbed sleep. Everyone quickly fell into a deep sleep.

  As they slept, the entity focused its attention on the visitors camped nearby and the ship orbiting above. Above, it sensed the presence of beings with intuitive minds that, like it, could perceive things beyond the normal senses. It shared a thought with them and suggested, “Remember when.” In the nearby camp it sensed a mind in conflict, a mind not satisfied with its place in life. It was Dobro Nor.

  Dobro began dreaming. An odd sort of odd dream, almost like a conversation, but there was no one speaking. He was perceiving thoughts from the entity, in much the same way that one hears their own inner voice. In his dream he envisioned two futures: one in which he returned to Sapiea and faded into the background after his retirement; another in which he would be forever trapped, but for that, gain vast insight and knowledge and a sense of purpose.