SIDEWAYS THROUGH TIME.
Feast of Santo Monica La Baixar, 7336 Anno Lucis.
The shuttle floated down light as gossamer as its final anti-gravity units kicked in. Only traces of dust blew away in its downdraught. A moment after it settled, its ramp opened revealing the brightly lit interior. Three figures walked down the slope before standing on the gravelled terrain. They waited for the ramp to close before moving off.
Towering over the lead two figures stood the metal figure of a robot. Its kyanite eyes glowed an even brighter blue than the O category blue-giant sun that dominated this cloudless alien sky while its burnished nu-steel skin reflected the sun's blue glare. The robot was slender – shaped like an old-fashioned pencil – with several multi-use appendages while an antenna spiking from its head assembly emphasised both the automaton's height and thinness.
The two hi-mans in front were more conventional in appearance. The team's leader, Quarto-Capitao Teofila Marilia, wore an enhanced stasis-field-suit although she didn't really need that level of protection. Their mother-ship, the Reliquias da Santo Duarte IX's, sensors had not picked up any dangerous micro-organisms or chemical signatures. All the same, the young woman did not want to take any chances, not now she was on course for promotion to Demi-Capitao.
Teofila Marilia had set the suit's surface to maximum reflection and her suit rippled as she took in her surroundings. In this blueish terrain, her body reminded the second hi-man of the waves of her far distant water-world. For a moment, the other woman dreamed of Batavia VII. That was a paradise world of endless reefs and islets sprinkled like sparkling glucose crystals over the oceans. When her next long R'n'R came around, she was going back to hunt fast moving spike-harpon the old-fashioned way.
Still thinking of spike-harpon, the second hi-man team member looked over at her nominal leader. The Quarto-Capitao could give all necessary orders; however Francoa da Xiora knew the young team leader had only limited experience in exploring newly rediscovered worlds. She also knew that the Quarto-Capitao would couch any orders as requests, except in emergencies; as she, Da Xiora, was the representative of the Archprelate back on Diamantina, the nearest major world. Especially as the Quarto-Capitao wouldn't want to do anything that could get her cited for heresy later.
Da Xiora herself wore only a standard lightweight environmental suit. If that wasn't good enough then her spirit would fly back through the galaxy to merge with Sol Invicta, the all-conquering Sun – not this blue giant but the yellow orb of Earth's own sun – that star she had never seen but revered above all the other hundred billion stars in the galaxy. Around Da Xiora's neck was a dura-gold disc; her symbol of authority which had been blessed by the Archprelate of Diamantina herself. It showed the sacred twenty rays.
The hi-man's lenses adjusted to the blue glare. "Unusual for a blue giant to have evolved a world with a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere," Da Xiora commented. "These stars usually burn out before they reach that stage."
She breathed in deeply, savouring the breeze. Her enhanced nasal filters detected a sweetish smell that seemed out of place in the stony landscape. Mentally, she adjusted her lenses and the distant mountains zoomed into view. A millisecond later, they focussed in crystal clear clarity without any distortion. Those bodily enhancements were well worth the cost. Now Da Xiora saw upland meadows with soft blue-grey grass and feathery shrubs but she spotted no animals.
Satisfied, Da Xiora zoomed out until her view returned to normal. Looking around, the shuttle behind them was the only artificial creation in the landscape. It poised, dart-like, a thing of beauty and grace, its nose angled towards the cerulean sky.
The small team paused in a shallow valley surrounded by low hills and bluffs. Everything had a bluish tinge as the giant star cast its burning rays onto this world. "Which way now?" Da Xiora asked her leader.
Quarto-Capitao Teofila Marilia pointed up the valley. "The Reliquias's sensors located the anomaly seven point five kilometres further up this valley."
That was what they had landed to investigate. On its sweep through this sector of the galaxy, just where the Orion arm merged with the inner Sagittarius spiral arm, the Reliquias da Santo Duarte IX had picked up one small area of incredible off-the-scale power on an otherwise empty planet orbiting this blue-giant star. Both the planet and energy source were sufficiently unusual to be worth checking out.
Da Xiora nodded and stroked her chin through her forcefield causing the magnetic field to buzz against her skin. "We're walking straight there?" As she spoke, the Reliquias's orbit brought the star ship over the edge of the horizon. Both hi-mans looked up, reassured by the sight. Against the bright blue, the Reliquias looked like a hard-edged cloud laced with white. Although in reality vast, at this distance the star ship looked small and fragile.
Once again, enhancing her lenses to their maximum setting, Da Xiora looked up as the Reliquias crossed the blue heavens. She could make out the huge cylindrical hydro-fuel tanks on either side of the hull, the hydroponics and even the bridge's bulge in the centre. Beneath, a multi-faceted tube housed the Ottumwa-4 torpedoes. They were the most destructive weapons carried by the ship, far worse than the Plazma-Cannons.
"We do not have all day," Teofila Marilia said, a touch of asperity in her voice.
A melodious tone spoke up from behind them. The voice was neither male nor female nor any shade in between. Yet it was beautiful, clear and reassuring. "The days on this world are 58.766 recurring Earth hours. We have plenty of time to reach this anomaly, investigate and return to the shuttle within one local day."
"Unless something goes wrong," Teofila Marilia said to nobody in particular.
Da Xiora said nothing. Sol Invicta would protect them all unless the Great Sun withdrew its protection.
"Do you have any idea what this anomaly could be?" the Quarto-Capitao asked.
The robot's eyes flashed again momentarily. "My data banks have communed with ship's data banks. The ship has never come across anything like this before."
Da Xiora wasn't surprised that they had been sent. Experienced yet expendable. However, she was very glad she had backed up her mental memory banks and that her clone subscription was paid up to date so death would be a temporary inconvenience. She wasn't going to merge with Sol Invicta's eternal fiery embrace just yet.
Leading off, Quarto-Capitao Teofila Marilia walked along the valley. Behind them the robot's heavy tread crunched over the stony ground. It was standard practice to land several kilometres away from anything that needed investigating and then walk there. It gave the party time to evaluate the issue while giving them the element of surprise. All the same, Da Xiora felt vulnerable walking on foot. Once again, she was grateful that her cloning and memory chips were paid up to date.
The trio walked along the valley. In more sheltered areas, they passed stands of soft looking grasses or rushes of a delicate aquamarine colour, their tufts paler, almost white. The delicate fragrance seemed to come from these plants.
"What do you make of them, #89044-B?" Teofilia Marilia said to the robot.
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