* * * * *
“Distance of fourth planet to local star is 446 million kilometers, sir.” Lieutenant Dunovan said, reading the analysis relayed to his console. “Equatorial diameter is approximately 14,500 kilometers, average density 5.4 grams per cubic centimeter. Neutrino tomograph processing. Surface gamma radiation .17 % higher than on Earth. Escape velocity about 12.1 km/s, no moon detected, but there are hundreds of small spherical metallic satellites above and below us, creating a metallic sphere around the planet. Should I begin an analysis of them, sir?”
“Yes. Keep us informed,” Kansier said, nodding.
“Sir, my console indicates we are currently orbiting within the proton belt of the planet’s magnetosphere at a distance of 3,600 kilometers,” lieutenant Minehart finished the last of the reports.
“Good. Set a bioscan, and begin magnifications of the surface,” Kansier ordered.
“So, it appears that this rock is inhabitable,” Knightwood said to Kansier as the crew continued the analysis. “Except for the slightly greater atmospheric density and hyperbaric air pressure.” She shrugged. “But we have no idea what kind of microorganisms are down there, and if they’re dangerous. Still want to risk a recon team?” She asked.
“As you pointed out, there may be edible vegetation on the surface, not to mention an unlimited supply of free soil,” Kansier responded, still looking through the viewport. “We need those things. And the Discovery’s air locks sanitize everything that comes into the ship, that we do know. That and we could send a team through and know that we won’t contaminate the planet with our microorganisms, either, in case you’re worried about harming the native lifeforms,” he added.
“I just wanted to be sure that it was your final decision,” Knightwood added. “Zhdanov and I want to be a part of the recon team.”
Kansier turned around to regard her. He would have called her courage recklessness if he didn’t know her as well as he did; her many years of experience at the UESRC analyzing alien systems and biochemistry was truly invaluable to him, to the survival of all on board.
“All right.” Kansier nodded and smiled. “Pick a team and take one of the cargo shuttles with a fighter escort.” Kansier turned around as three tones sounded, and the automatic doors to either side of the Central Command Room swished open. The primary bridge crew entered and moved to relieve the fourth crew.
Knightwood turned to Zhdanov and the two began to confer over names and suggestions.
“Colonel, bioscan reports high level of activity.” Lieutenant Minehart had continued the operations already in progress. “Oh my god—sir, I’ve just received magnifications. I’ve got a positive identification of a large terrestrial city. Actually, I’ve picked up thousands of them, but the biggest seems to cover most of the island continent.”
“What?!” Kansier exclaimed, and Knightwood and Zhdanov rushed over with him to the lieutenant’s console.
“Bring up the image.” Kansier said after a slight pause.
A great reticular city appeared in the holomonitor, radiating from a domed central tower their estimates confirmed at just over two thousand meters high with a radius of seven hundred meters. Possible pedestrian lanes circled the tower in rings at intervals of thirty meters, intersected by lanes radiating from the tower every six degrees. The lanes were just above ground level but were covered by an impermeable half-cylinder metallic sheath. In between each of the lanes rose high, strangely shaped multi-colored buildings, every other building topped by a small dome fashioned at the greatest possible diameter within the polygons.
“Has our presence here been detected by the indigenous lifeforms?” Kansier directed at the communications console.
“I don’t believe so, sir. We’re not receiving any direct communications from the planet below, but I’m picking up thousands of different signals.” Lieutenant Sekuwan Fox, a short woman with intelligent grey eyes, removed her sound projection helmet to speak. “I was listening to several of the transmissions, but obviously they don’t make any kind of sense. I’m imprinting them into memory so that we can attempt a translation later.”
“Good God,” Zhdanov whistled. “More aliens!”
“Sir, the engine room unit is reporting unusual particle activity between the electromagnetic and magnetic fields,” one of the other communications specialists interrupted. “They’re guessing it’s some kind of radiation stabilizer, but it’s—well, it seems to be canceling out the gravitational disturbances of Discovery in this area.”
“An invisible shield that masks gravitational waves?” Zhdanov mused aloud. Kansier and Knightwood turned to him, their eyes alight with similar excitement.
“How does this ship know to protect us and mask our presence here?” Knightwood shook her head. She had wasted countless hours pondering this same fruitless question. And why did Discovery bring us here in the first place?
“Sir, with your permission, I’d like to join the recon team,” Erin Mathieson interrupted, now standing by her console.
“I’m afraid I can’t honor your request,” Kansier said evenly. “I’ve given recon team selection over to Knightwood and Zhdanov.”
Knightwood glanced up and over at where Erin had risen, her hands balled at her sides, her head slightly bowed. As usual, no expression appeared on her face, but her eyes betrayed her. Knightwood recognized the expression from nearly a year before, when the Blue Stripe Sky Hawk squadron had entered the Discovery for the first time. It was fear stifled by urgency. Yet, Knightwood thought, now was not the time for heroics—but was that what this request was about? She wondered in spite of herself. Knightwood suppressed a sigh and decided, not for the first time, to include the young lieutenant on this one.
“Request accepted, lieutenant Mathieson. I was going to include you, anyway. Sir, we’ve already decided to take a few of the primary bridge crew, including Mathieson, Dimitriev, Kusao, and Kim-Han. I’ll call up the others to meet us in the Great Cargo Bay in ten minutes.”
“Good luck, my friends,” Kansier extended a hand to Knightwood and Zhdanov. Scott watched them, feeling anxious. He was just rising from his chair, the radio frequency already set to summon his relief navigator on the second bridge crew. Then he looked to the door where Erin Mathieson waited, also watching the scientists, and anxiety gave way to curiosity.
* * * * *
“How long do you think before the aliens on the planet detect our presence?” Scott Dimitriev asked Zhdanov inside the shuttle a few minutes after the recon team had launched.
“We hope they won’t detect us at all. We’ve silenced all of our transmissions and Cheung has set us on an approach vector to take us to the most remote location possible. Since they aren’t expecting us, we don’t think they’ll send out any interceptive forces to examine our landing point until we’re long gone.”
“But that’s what the fighters are for—in case we run into trouble,” Lieutenant Koenig interrupted.
“Well—yes, but we should avoid contact if possible.” Zhdanov looked ahead to where Knightwood sat, engaged in conversation. “We don’t know how technologically advanced the aliens here are, but from the technology we’ve observed, I’d say they’re highly intelligent. Those metallic satellites we detected were probably made by them, and they may even be inhabited, just like our own Space Station Gabriel. And we don’t want to provoke a confrontation with an advanced species.”
Zhdanov paused, his features pensive. “If we allow ourselves to tamper with their civilization, we would culpable of interference, like the Charon aliens on the Earth. So we must go in and return swiftly and stealthily. We’ll find out soon enough if the vegetation and soil could sustain us. If so, the samples will not take much longer to collect. Meanwhile, you should all appreciate the view. After atmospheric entry, you’ll be too busy for sightseeing.”
“You know it.” Agreed Dmitriev. “I’d like to get home as soon as possible.” The craft achieved entry smoothly thanks to the high quality of heat shields,
stabilizers, and friction distributors of the much used cargo shuttle. A moment later, the thrusters ignited and wing flaps extended, bringing the craft to a soft landing on a field not far from an area of dense vegetation. By luck, a few of the Ural Base technicians had experience as cargo shuttle pilots and had volunteered to remain with the shuttle while the recon team departed.
The fighter squadrons touched down in between the vegetation and the cargo shuttle in order to safeguard both areas while the recon team headed towards the foliage.
“I can feel the slight increase in gravity,” Amina Johnson observed, lifting the extra weight of her feet; but the team was not daunted by it. Part of their training had been movement through extreme gravity variations, in case the gravitational device of their assigned starship was affected by enemy fire.
“My monitor shows a temperature of twenty-nine degrees Celsius here,” Zhdanov said over the Earth-built communicators installed in the soundproof alien uniforms they had adopted.
“Is this more like grass below our feet, or moss, or lichens do you think?” Lieutenant Beisert, a short, lanky, dark-eyed blond, asked no one in particular.
“Hmmm.” Knightwood knelt down to obtain a sample and examined the short root structure of the piece.
“Well, I can’t say for sure, but I’d say—neither. I have no idea.” She finally admitted with an amused laugh.
“Let’s see what the bioscan tells us,” Zhdanov said and stopped a moment to activate the device and squeezed a drop of vascular juice out of the plant-like sample and onto the analysis sensor. Then, snapping off what appeared to be a complete module, he opened the scanning tray and placed the piece inside for further analysis. Ten seconds passed while the machine went through its memory files.
“Interesting. It doesn’t exactly meet the profile of a flowering plant, but the bioscan has determined some kind of reproductive cycle not unlike the angiosperms of Earth.” He said. “There is a definite seed in one of the protective buds, but the endosperm contains four sets of chromosomes, not three. However, it’s definitely not edible, at least by human standards.”
“Oh, I was hoping it would be,” said Knightwood. “Well, that’s one answer already.”
After an extensive search of the area, the team swept further out into the foliage, dividing into groups of three to search for food, pools of water, and other resources. None of the vegetation grew above three meters in height, and the stems of most of the plants twisted and branched only a meter or so above the ground, like denser and thicker versions of vine plants of Earth.
Further into the foliage, the team came across taller, more vertical specimens that Knightwood saw as this planet’s alternative to trees, though without the woody stems found on Earth. No easy building materials, she thought. How had the inhabitants survived and developed without wood for fuel, for construction? She wondered. Then she reminded herself that according to calculations of the system’s planetary orbits, this planet’s climate remained more or less temperate throughout the year.
No branches extended from the bright green stalks, but v-shaped nodules dotted the waxy-looking skin at even intervals. At the very top and apical meristem of this tree, they could only see under the wide, inverted umbrella-shaped growth.
“Here, open the analyzer, would you?” Knightwood said to Erin. “I have my hands full.” Erin complied. Then while Knightwood and Erin fed samples to the analyzer, Kusao glanced up and down the ten meter plant. Quietly he stepped forward, lifting his foot to the first knee level nodule and testing it. Five seconds passed as it held his weight, and Kusao reached his hand to the next nodule, grasping it on the tips of his fingers as he looked for another foothold.
Knightwood didn’t notice his actions until Kusao had climbed three-quarters of the way up the tree.
“Lieutenant, be careful,” she called, watching nervously as the young officer reached the “flower” and jumped, catching the edge on his fingertips and pulling himself to a standing position.
“Wow!” he shouted to the group below.
“What does it look like up there?” Knightwood called, full of curiosity.
“It’s a great view,” Kusao laughed, looking out at the canopy of trees.
“Anything else?” Knightwood asked, shaking her head at him.
“Yeah.” Kusao called down to them. “But it doesn’t exactly look like a flower to me. More like a giant cauliflower. Make that a giant nut-colored cauliflower. I like it.”
“Kusao!” Knightwood called.
“If I can just—” he paused, drawing out a knife from the holster of his uniform and cutting into the center. “That’s it,” he called. “Catch.”
Knightwood reached out both arms to catch the orange-sized specimen that fell to the ground.
“How much of that is up there?” Erin asked as Knightwood put the sample through the analyzer.
“A lot,” Kusao answered from above, gazing over the basin and tallying the area mentally. “That’s about 5% of the total area. I just pulled out a bit from the center. It doesn’t take much to get it out.”
“Ha!” Knightwood suddenly exclaimed. “Completely digestible by human beings, but the damned thing can’t figure out what it tastes like,” Knightwood laughed. “Erin, call the others and tell them what to look for. On second thought, tell them to rendezvous at our position. Meanwhile, we’ll need to figure out a better way of getting to the top. We don’t want to leave any evidence that we were here. Lieutenant Kusao, exactly how do you plan on getting down from there?”
“I was hoping that would come to me later,” he laughed.
* * * * *
An hour later, the team had collected half a ton of the edible “plant” that Kusao had discovered. Zhdanov and Dimitriev had located a spring of fresh water near the lower vegetation and had sent a signal to the cargo shuttle to locate their position. They had nearly finished filling one of the liquid canisters when Erin hailed them with Knightwood’s message.
The cargo shuttle arrived at the rendezvous point ten minutes later than the others, who had already retrieved the cable guns from their fighter planes. One by one, the officers climbed the nearby stalks and loosened the edible matter until the cargo shuttle arrived with its elevation platform.
“So much for keeping a lid on our presence,” Knightwood sighed, watching as the cargo shuttle backed up to another stalk, flattening a group of vines in the process.
“But we need the food supply,” Han-Kim observed without glancing up, still cleaning his knife.
“Has the base sent another cargo shuttle yet?” Zhdanov suddenly appeared from behind the group.
“It should arrive in a few minutes,” Knightwood offered him a tired smile.
“Good. This one’s almost ready to go. That’s the last one. We’ll have to fly back in our fighter planes and give the second shuttle some air cover on the way back.” As Zhdanov spoke, the last load descended on the elevation platform and disappeared into the cargo shuttle. The loading ramp retracted, and the doors pulled together.
“Good job, lieutenant,” Zhdanov extended his hand to Kusao as the shuttle lifted into the air.
“Just a hunch, sir,” Kusao shrugged. “I figured we’d need the hardest thing to reach,” he laughed.
“Knightwood,” Erin called nervously, her ears alert, her body suddenly tense.
“Hmmm?” Knightwood turned to her questioningly, but a moment too late.
A group of strange-looking aliens had surrounded the party.
* * * * *
The Orian officers shuddered to interrupt The Great Leader’s reverie with the news.
The Great Leader’s face gazed forward at the operators of the Orian Command Center, but his attention was drawn inward. The radar operator had repeated his announcement three times already and stood apprehensively waiting for a sign of approval.
Suddenly the Great Leader’s eyes focused on him.
“Give me the projected image of the planet that Selesta orbits,” he
spoke softly.
Nevertheless, the operator cringed. “I’m sorry, Great Leader, but we haven’t even drawn near enough for a visual schematic.”
“Engineer Remeng, fire our main engines at full speed to rendezvous with their future vector path. Then I want you to cut the engines just before light speed. We’ll shoot around and ahead of them and then slow down.”
“You wish to make the ship invisible to detection?” Remeng’s even response sounded more rhetorical than inquiring.
The Orian spaceship Enlil would of course continue at maximum speed without its engines operating, since it encountered no air resistance to slow it down. Then if they allowed the reverse thrusters to slowly stop the ship, they could wait, invisible to all but visuals. It was the only way to hide without attempting the often unreliable gravitational cloak—a direct approach towards Selesta would send detectable gravitational waves. The cloak theoretically masked these waves, but it was a delicate device involving anti-matter and difficult to set up and sustain.
“Merekor, change our course heading to the third planet.” As Sargon spoke, Remeng smiled; as usual, the Great Leader had already thought of a solution to any problem that Remeng could raise.
“Orbit around the far side of the third planet and wait to bring the ship about for a full attack.” Sargon continued, untroubled by Remeng’s thoughts. “And dispatch a squadron to the surface of the fourth planet. I want to know what it is that intrigues Selesta and its passengers.” Sensing that he had finished speaking to them, the officers turned, hurrying to set his words into action.
I’ll get her before she even knows I’m coming.
* * * * *
Exposed without protection and caught unaware, the recon team had no choice but to follow the aliens’ instructions as best they could. They hadn’t time to draw their weapons, and any sudden move might provoke the strange creatures that outnumbered them.
So, the inhabitants of this planet are humanoid, Zhdanov thought in amazement, gazing with unconcealed disbelief at the aliens’ apparent leader. He had stepped forward and called out a few words to the other aliens in an unintelligible language of deep rumbling tones that droned and oscillated between pitches and time intervals.