by J. N. Chaney
Darkened metal showed streaks of where a fire had begun then burned itself out. Still, there was no sign of life, either alien or human.
“Eyes open,” Arun reminded everyone. “I think—”
“There.” Tong’s sharp eyes caught sight of something in the night. “By the underside.”
We all looked in the same direction. It was actually the outside of the ship, but since the ship was shaped like a large moon, this section that broke off looked like a dome.
“What?” Ricky asked, still edging forward. “I don’t see anything.”
Just outside of the crawler’s right headlights, I saw it too. Something small, too small to be a human, scurried deeper in the Orion’s husk.
Mutt lifted his nose and sniffed the air.
“Alien?” Stacy asked. “Tong, did you recognize it?”
“I did not,” Tong answered. “I do not think it is a species on Genesis.”
“Then where did it come from?” Ricky asked.
I looked down at Mutt.
“Hey, weren’t there multiple animals that were in the storage bay along with Mutt? Maybe a few others survived the crash?” I offered.
“Maybe,” Arun said. “For the time being, blasters out and let’s find some cover for the night. We’ll look for survivors and clues to whatever that thing was tomorrow.”
“How about over there to the left?” Stacy asked.
A large arch with access to the inside from either the right or left stuck out of the ground. Ricky maneuvered the crawler over to it, shining the bright lights into the underside of the structure.
“Son of a monkey’s uncle,” Ricky said under his breath.
We pulled just outside of the archway. Stories above us, open levels hung with everyday appliances like cords, ropes, wires, towels, and so forth. It looked like someone had ripped off the side of the Orion then turned it to rest on its side.
“We’ll make camp here and take turns on watch,” Arun said.
Ricky pulled the crawler to a stop.
I jumped down and scanned the area around us. I still had that uneasy feeling like we were being watched by someone or something.
It can’t be Maksim, I reminded myself. Even if he were crazy enough to follow us, we traveled by crawler. On foot, it would take days to make the same trip. But if it’s not Maksim’s eyes you feel, then who’s is it?
That was the million-dollar question I didn’t have an answer to.
Instead of dwelling on something I wouldn’t figure out, I busied myself by making camp. Like Arun suggested, we stayed close to the crawler just inside the dome the Orion provided.
Like our own encampment before we cleaned it up, debris littered the area. It reminded me of a tornado touching down in a residential neighborhood, leaving a path of wreckage and destruction in its wake.
We sifted through what we could and threw larger items to the side before settling down to eat. Dinner consisted of a prepackaged kit containing sandwiches and sliced fruit. We ate in silence, washing down our meal with the canteens of water.
“You know what I miss most?” Ricky said, finally breaking the silence.
“Not worrying about being killed at every turn?” Stacy asked.
“Well, that too,” Ricky added. “But I was going to say fast food. I miss greasy, fattening fast food. The kind you know isn’t good for you, but you’re going to sacrifice the waistband and eat it anyway.”
“I too would like to try this fast food you speak of,” Tong said, munching on his sandwich. “Although the food you provide has been very good as well. What is the expression? Thumbs up?”
Tong went on to extend his right hand. The middle finger of his three-fingered palm went up, flipping us all off. Tong smiled and maneuvered his middle finger to each of us to make sure we all saw.
“Thumbs up.” He grinned.
“Oh, Tong.” Arun cracked a smile. She showed him with her own hand. “Like this. This is thumbs up.”
“Oh, of course,” Tong said, closing his other two fingers into a fist and pointing his thumb up.
We sat in a circle with no fire, just our flashlights to provide the light we needed. The usual clear sky was muddied by the clouds overhead. We didn’t see the creature, but Mutt sure smelled it.
The hackles on his back rose beside me as we finished our meal. He went to all fours but stayed low to the ground. His ears were as straight as soldier in a salute. He was focused on the area deeper into the crash site.
Ricky went for his rifle. Stacy and Arun pulled out their sidearms. They pointed them into the darkness, but with no target to shoot at, we stood still.
I placed my hand on the back of Mutt’s neck. I was afraid he was going to rush into the night. If he did, we’d lose sight of him. If he came across something he couldn’t beat on his own, well, let’s just say I was growing a soft spot for the animal.
Something very much like a cat’s meow came from the darkness. With my free hand, I added my own flashlight power to that of the others. Our beams of light sliced through the eerie darkness like sharpened blades through bread.
Nothing, but the noise came again. I was sure it was a meow this time.
Mutt trembled on his feet. He was a coiled spring, ready to be let loose.
“Hold on, buddy,” I whispered in his ear. “Hold on, give us a minute. Stay.”
Over my time with the dog, I came to realize he was well-trained and obedient. He had been groomed to go on this trip with us and whoever had trained him had done a stellar job. Mutt’s eyes never left the darkness in front of us, but he did stay.
“Ricky,” Arun whispered as the sound came yet again. “The floodlights on the crawler; can you point them in this direction?”
“Yes,” Ricky said. Slowly, he rose to his feet and went over to the driver’s side of the crawler. He unlocked the door and pointed one of the side floodlights in the direction we were all looking.
A brilliant white light shot out, making our flashlights look like puny candles in comparison.
Ricky worked the light around, finally settling on two shining orbs I knew were eyes. The creature didn’t just sound like a cat; it was a cat, one of the largest I’d ever seen.
“Arun?” Stacy asked. “Is this one of the creatures taken aboard the Orion? Did it survive?”
“Cats were on the list as well as dogs to provide companionship for our new colony,” Arun said. “I can’t imagine more than a few animals of any kind survived the crash. It’s a miracle we found Mutt.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” Stacy used a soft voice as she hunched low and slowly made her way to the cat. “It’s okay.”
The cat gave her one look then bolted back into the darkness.
Again, I felt Mutt tense under my hand. Every natural instinct he had and some unnatural ones told him to give chase.
“Easy, buddy,” I told him. “We’ll let you go tomorrow when there’s more light. We can’t see you if you run off now. We don’t know what else is out there.”
Mutt whined but obeyed.
“We’ll take watch in shifts,” Arun said. “I’ll take the first one while you try and get whatever sleep you can. Tomorrow, we’ll search this site then head for Tong’s installation for supplies.”
We all agreed. Sleeping came easier than I thought. Even though I slept most of the afternoon away in the crawler, fatigue was still bearing down on me.
We slept close in a circle with blankets under us and backpacks for pillows.
I drifted off into another dream that I couldn’t remember when I awoke. It couldn’t have been more terrifying than what we might face in the morning.
14
The night was colder than most. If I was Lou, I might have found meaning in that. The thick blanket we slept on as well as the ones that covered us did their jobs. Stacy woke me for my shift in the early hours of the morning.
She handed me Ricky’s rifle to hold while I stood watch.
“See anything?” I asked as I rubbed sle
ep from my eyes.
“Nothing,” Stacy said. “The cat didn’t even come back.”
I nodded, stretching with the rifle in my right hand.
Stacy went back to sleep as I surveyed our camp. Dew sprinkled the ground. The sky overhead was just beginning to clear as the moon and stars gave way to the twin suns that ruled the day.
I found myself in awe not for the first time at how much this planet was very much like our own. Minus the killer intelligent virus and the aliens, this place might have been nice. I could see a seed ship coming here to touch down and begin a new life for thousands of colonists searching for a brighter tomorrow.
Of course, none of this had happened, thanks to our Disciple friends. Plus, as much as we wished otherwise, we did have a killer virus trying to wipe us out and feuding aliens to deal with.
I felt someone watching me again. This time, I looked over to the four sleeping bodies underneath the blankets. Tong was wide awake. The morning rays caught his yellow eyes and reflected them back to me.
He gave a toothy grin and flipped me off again.
I waved back.
He removed himself from the blankets and made his way over to my side. He kept his voice low as to not wake the others.
“Dean, I am glad you are awake, we must talk,” Tong said, nodding as if he were agreeing with himself.
“I’m about at my limit for prophecies, killer viruses, and such crazy talk,” I told him. “You have anything else in your vocabulary?”
“Well, yes and no,” Tong said, thinking for a moment.
“More yes or more no?” I asked.
“Perhaps that is for you to decide,” Tong told me. He worked his shoeless toes into the ground below us as if he were doing some kind of morning stretch. “I thought you should know that the prophecy of the Great Dawn tells of his partner—a fierce warrior and leader of her own tribe. Together, they are an unstoppable force.”
I looked over to Arun.
“Nothing against her, but Arun isn’t really my type,” I said. “Maybe you got this all wrong and Ricky is the Great Dawn. I think he’s into her.”
“No, not that leader.” Tong motioned with his head over to where Stacy slept. “I can smell the pheromones off her when she’s around you.”
“Too much information, buddy,” I said, shaking my head. “Stacy and I are just survivors thrown into this thing together and trying to make the most of not getting killed.”
“Sometimes it is these such events that draw us even closer.” Tong nodded with knowing eyes. “Trust me, I am well-versed in these things.”
I didn’t really want to feed into the crazy talk coming out of Tong’s mouth, or maybe I just didn’t want to consider the reality of what he said.
I did feel something for Stacy. I’d buried the feelings when they came up before. It felt wrong to want something for myself, like I was cheating on my wife. Given my recent dream, I sensed peace with that, like a new ideology had taken root deep in my heart.
These were feelings I didn’t really want to explore at the moment. We were about to head into the mist swamp searching for weapons to kill a symbiotic alien virus. This was neither the place or time to start doing soul searching.
Tong sensed that part of the conversation was over.
“I would like to volunteer as tribute to coordinate the morning meal for our expedition,” Tong said submitting his formal request. “Does that seem appropriate?”
“You mean you want to make breakfast?” I asked.
“Yes.” Tong nodded quickly. “Breakfast.”
“Knock yourself out,” I said.
Tong busied himself, walking quietly around the camp. He searched the food container, sniffing at a variety of options. My attention fell from him for the time being. The suns were coming up, and although partly obscured by the clouds, I began to see details of the section of the Orion around us.
Like I had suspected, this piece was massive. It looked it like had been even larger when it crashed down and entire sections of it were crushed on impact. Burn marks showed where fire had lived and died.
I looked up into the variety of levels, trying to guess where the communication section would be located. I really had no idea.
The arch-like structure that rose above me extended out so far, I had to squint to see where it ended.
“What’s that smell?” Ricky sat up. “Is something burning?”
I looked over to what Tong was doing. The alien had begun toasting protein bars over a lighter. I didn’t bother to give him direction. He seemed happy with that goofy grin of his.
“Tong’s making breakfast,” I said with a shrug.
“Is it morning already?” Stacy said, sitting up from her spot on the blankets. “I feel like I just went down.”
I stood looking at her for a moment too long, with what Tong told me about the prophecy running through my mind.
“What?” Stacy looked at me with a sideways glance. “Do I have drool coming off my lip or something?”
“Naw, you’re good,” I said, shaking my head. “Just sporting some killer bed head. You could start a new trend.”
“Did you just tell a joke?” Arun asked, rising from her own blankets. “I’m either still dreaming or Dean just told a joke.”
This got a chuckle from Stacy and Ricky.
“Don’t get used to it,” I said, shrugging it off. “I slip up from time to time like everyone else.”
As our team prepared for the day’s journey, Tong served us breakfast.
I’m not really sure what kind of food the Remboshi were used to eating, but one thing was certain, it wasn’t anything good. Tong burned two protein bars and used them as a kind of sandwich bread. In the middle, he piled on jerky and used smashed apples like a paste to hold it together.
He munched on his, happily looking to all of us for approval.
“Is it good?” He looked at us with a smile and wide eyes like our praise meant the world to him.
We all looked at each other. Arun took the first bite. It was dainty and barely a nibble, but she managed to swallow the concoction with a grin. “Thank you, Tong, that was very thoughtful of you.”
“Mmmm…” Stacy said, taking a bite out of hers. It was clear she was holding it in her mouth instead of actually chewing. “So good.”
While Tong was busy looking at the others, I shoved one of the protein bars into my mouth and let the rest dangle by my lowered hand. Mutt came over and took care of it.
“I love it,” I lied when Tong looked to me.
“I don’t know why we didn’t think about this sooner,” Ricky said, actually taking another bite of the prepared meal and chewing noisily. “This is delicious.”
We all looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” Ricky looked back. “I like it.”
Tong looked on with his same wide grin and even clapped his hands a little.
“We should head out,” Arun said, bringing us all back to the task at hand. “Priority one is to find out what happened to Captain Harold and his team. Priority two is to search this section of the Orion for the communication level and salvage anything we can.”
I handed Ricky his rifle back. “This part of the Orion looks massive.” I pointed my eyes upward. “Do we take the crawler or walk?”
“Maybe both,” Arun said. “I don’t want to leave our only means of transportation unguarded, but I do see the value of walking slowly on foot so we don’t miss anything.”
“We can take turns driving the crawler slowly while everyone else walks,” Stacy offered.
“Let’s do that,” Arun agreed. “Whoever is in the crawler won’t need a weapon. The other three walking outside will use them.”
“Let’s make it happen,” I said.
Stacy took the first shift in the crawler, moving the vehicle so slow, it matched our own walking strides. We fanned out, creating a line with each of us a good ten meters apart from one another, and the crawler in the middle.
Arun took our left flank, followed by Tong, the crawler, Ricky, and me, and we slowly made our way under the arched part of the wreck.
“Tell us what the communication level looked like again?” Stacy asked over our comms. “What am I looking for?”
“Iris made me memorize the location of the communication level, but it looks so different upside down,” Arun admitted. “It should be on the lower left side of this arch if it wasn’t completely destroyed in the crash.”
“Hey, hey, I think I have something,” Ricky said.
I looked over to my left, where he intently stared at the ground. We all converged on his spot, minus Stacy, who stayed behind the wheel of the crawler. Ricky stared down at the ground, where a portion of the rocky mountain soil was clear of any debris. Sure enough, a pair of footprints were in the dirt.
They were large, looking like they could have belonged to a man or even Captain Harold himself.
“What do you think happened to them?” Ricky asked.
“I don’t know, but that footprint means they made it this far,” Arun said. She looked up at the Orion, then to either side, searching the area again.
Unlike the previous day, the sky had cleared and the suns gave us a clear line of sight with plenty of illumination.
“Captain Harold?” Arun shouted to the area around us. “Captain Harold, can you hear us?”
No one responded.
“Perhaps we should see if we can follow the prints,” Tong suggested. Iris had been right. His English was nearly perfect now. “With so much debris, it will be difficult, but perhaps we can pick them up again.”
“It’s the best lead we’ve got,” I agreed, following the trajectory the prints were headed.
We continued, finding a print here or there for the next fifty meters before I stumbled on a book in the debris. It wasn’t the book itself that caught my eye, but rather the dried blood on its cover.
I knelt down to examine it and confirm it wasn’t something else, but there was no denying the substance was blood. There was more of it splattered on the ground near the book. I was sure of it now. Being a gladiator, I’d gotten to see my fair share of the stuff.