Original Encounter
By
Brent E. Meranda
Shashwords Edition
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Copyright © 2014 by Brent E. Meranda
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
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“Eagle Two, report. Over.”
“Phoenix One, this is Eagle Two. We’re approaching the site now.” Eagle Two hovered as Commander Theo Paxton examined the wreckage and reported. “We’ve located Eagle One. The top’s blown off. Over.”
“Roger, Eagle Two. Any sign of the crew? Over.”
“Negative, Phoenix One. Over.”
The silence taunted him. Quit wasting time, they seemed to be saying. If the fall didn’t get ‘em the storm did. We’ve got a war to finish. But Debi would’ve found a way to survive. She was the most resourceful officer in the fleet, and he wouldn’t abandon her.
“Confirm the obvious, Eagle Two. Then juice the thrusters. We’ve been tagged by a scout. Over.”
Damn. That meant two hours, tops, before Phoenix jumped back to friendly territory--with or without them. “Understood. Eagle Two out.”
He glanced at his own crew: six marines, and a navigator. All wore a solemn expression, their green faces pulsing in the glow of the cockpit light. Like ninety five percent of the colonists, they were women. Even though he was outnumbered by females, Theo still felt an archaic need to protect them. Then again, maybe it wasn’t so archaic.
He knew better than most that every woman was more important to the future of the colony any man. Once the revolution was over and they’d severed ties with earth, they’d have to repopulate. They wouldn’t need many men for that, whether they solved the genetic breakdown problem or not.
He turned his gaze back toward the crash site. Charred branches littered the ground and a deer scampered into the trees. At least something survived the storm.
#
Once they examined the wreckage, it became clear that the Eagle One crew had opened the hatch during flight. But why?
“Sir!”
Theo looked to see his navigator, Ellen, motioning toward some wreckage by the tree line. When he arrived, he saw her examining a body. Only it wasn’t a colonist’s body. No chlorophyll laden green skin. No short but sturdy stature or genetically cropped hair. This was a human—a real human; an earth human.
“Form a perimeter,” Theo commanded. The marines drew their weapons and spread out, circling the site.
Ellen pointed at the body with disgust. “What’s this bastard doing here?”
Theo shook his head and knelt. “Wish I knew.” It was a man, and he’d taken a nasty fall by the looks of it. His right leg was broken, and the side of his skull had been crushed. The man was definitely from earth, but something wasn’t right. For starters, he wasn’t wearing a uniform, and his clothes looked like old fashioned pajamas. He was also larger than any human Theo had ever seen.
Maybe he was some sort of scientist with an invasion fleet? But why had he been left here? Had Eagle One stumbled on a scouting party?
A scream pierced the air.
Theo pointed at one of the marines. “You’re with me.” Then he looked at Ellen and motioned toward the body. “Bag ‘em and stack ‘em. We’re taking him with us.”
“Roger.”
Theo and the marine followed a path through the woods. When the screaming stopped, so did Theo. He waited silently, listening until he heard a faint sound. It sounded like shoveling. He moved forward, marine in tow, until they came to a clearing. In front of them, someone was pulling dirt into a hole.
“Debi?”
She turned toward them, a torn uniform and a vacant look on her face.
“What’s going on? Where’s your crew?”
Her eyes were wild and dilated. A stream of blood trickled down her forehead.
Theo shoved the marine’s shoulder. “Get a med kit and a blanket.”
“Yes sir.”
“Deb, where is everyone? We’ve got to go.”
She frowned. “They left.”
“Left?”
“You won’t leave me, will you Theo?” A wicked smile crossed her face, and a chill ran up Theo’s spine. That’s when he noticed the dirt-covered shovel. Was that blood?
“What’s in the hole, Deb?”
She gripped the shovel and stared, expressionless. Footsteps pounded the ground behind him.
“Sir. Another storm’s brewing. Comm’s out.”
Theo didn’t budge.
“Sir, the storm.”
“How long ‘til it’s on us?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Recall the team. Take off in fifteen.”
“Yes sir.”
The marine handed him the med kit, and then took off. Theo draped it across his shoulder. He waited a moment and then stepped toward Debi. She raised the shovel. The air grew stale. He coughed. When he looked up, he saw a crewman’s body lying twisted in a shallow grave.
“God. What happened?”
“I couldn’t let them do it.”
A knot welled in his stomach. “Do what?”
“It’s genocide. Don’t you see? I had to stop them, they wouldn’t obey orders.”
“Sure. I see.”
She shook her head. “No, you don’t.”
“Why don’t you put the shovel down?”
“Don’t fuck with me!” She raised the shovel into the air.
Theo stepped back and began feeling inside the med kit for a tranquilizer. “Okay. Just tell me. What are you talking about?”
“The Originals. The fucking Originals!”
The hair stood up on Theo’s neck. The Originals were a fairy tale. Propaganda. Earth had invented them to justify their genetic and political meddling. They were the bogeymen used to get the colonists to eat their vegetables.
“You’re crazy,” he said.
Debi showed a toothy grin.
Was she serious? According to the propaganda, the Originals were half a million of earth’s rejects, chosen for relocation to a star system one light year away. Dia Nova’s original colonists. Only everything went to hell before they even got started. There’d been mass starvation, rioting, and even cannibalism. Everyone had died. Everyone. That’s why the second colonization was different. Earth genetically engineered a new race. A new species. This time they were prepared. Not only had they been designed to survive on a hostile world, they’d been programmed in their very DNA to get along and to obey their earth masters.
In his entire life, Theo hadn’t seen a single sign of previous colonists, and he’d never heard of anyone who had. Earth had claimed it was because they’d cleared out all remnants. But Theo was third generation himself. If the Originals had been real, they’d have found evidence on Dia Nova by now. He certainly hadn’t expected to find them on a moon.
Debi cocked her head and dropped the shovel. “Come with me.”
The wind swirled as he followed her past the grave. When he glanced inside, he saw three bodies. God, Debi. What’ve you done?
The trees swayed just as an ionic blast burst from the sky a few hundred yards away. They’d have to hurry. The ship couldn’t fly in that kind of storm, an
d if they got stuck, an earth patrol would be waiting for them when the ionic bursts ended.
Soon, they came to what at first looked like a cave entrance. Theo touched the grey rock, only to discover that it was metal.
“We were trying to dig a shelter,” Debi said. “That’s when we figured out what this was.”
“What’s that?”
“A ship.”
“From earth?”
She nodded. “Only earth hasn’t used this alloy in hundreds of years.”
Theo pulled out his flashlight, lit the opening, and gazed inside. Debi motioned for him to enter, and he hesitated. Her vacant smile sent a chill down his neck. Is this how she’d taken out her crew? Had she tricked them into turning their backs?
No. She wouldn’t kill without reason.
He stepped into the corridor, and was nearly overcome by a sickly, sweet odor that reminded him of the biology lab. His head spun for a moment before he caught his balance. “What’s that smell?”
Debbi stepped behind him. Ignoring his question, she motioned to the right, and turned on her own light. “This way.”
He followed her for about twenty yards, and then watched as she ascended a set of rungs attached to the side of the corridor. At the top, she popped a sealed door and a dull red light poured through the opening along with an even stronger stench. Whatever the odor, it was coming from inside that hatch.
She climbed through, and he followed her into a large room filled with stasis chambers, and he suddenly recognized the smell. One of the chambers had been recently smashed. The chemicals must’ve had leaked out. He glanced at Debi. The older chemicals used in stasis were known to induce psychotic behavior in