The seconds passed slowly as Jack longed to gaze upon this new world. He searched his senses and finally felt what he was anticipating: his weight was starting to drop. They were still cruising at Mach four, but had shed most of their excess orbital energy. The surrounding plasma dissipated and the windows turned transparent again, revealing a deep, azure sky. A glance out the side window showed that they were just passing over the eastern coast of the continent. Their altitude was down to five kilometers and their speed to Mach three. It was time to begin their approach to the city. Jack banked the shuttle right and Don immediately drew a deep breath, drawing Jack’s attention. Outside Don’s window was a string of tropical islands set in a shallow sea – their white sandy beaches contrasting against the turquoise waters. Even at a few kilometers up, he could easily make out submerged shoals and reefs.
Jack completed the one-hundred-eighty degree turn to head back toward the peninsula. As they went subsonic he angled the shuttle’s nose down to complete their descent. The pristine coastline filled their view now and was all consuming. There wasn’t enough time to take it all in, though, before they suddenly sped over a line of surf crashing on a beach. In an instant the landscape changed to a lush tropical forest. The vegetation, blurred by their speed, was a continuous, textured green carpet below. Moments later, rolling verdant hills rose up from the coastal plain. Occasional breaks in the forest canopy revealed small inland lakes and rivers. Somewhere deep inside him, came an urge to ignore their mission and simply set the craft down beside one of the lakes. He just wanted to step outside and feel the fresh air and sun on his skin; to hear the natural trickle of a near-by stream.
Reluctantly, Jack suppressed the desire and said, “Computer, superimpose target map.” The view directly in front was instantly spoiled by iridescent yellow lines of longitude, latitude and other terrain markings. A small red arrow hovered in the distance, indicating the position of their target. He adjusted course slightly, moving the arrow so that it lay directly in front of them, and read the distance to the city aloud for Don’s and Alex’s benefit: “Our target is approximately fifty kilometers further up the peninsula. ETA is five minutes.”
Time passed quickly as he relaxed again and watched the fertile landscape pass beneath them. An ancient mountain chain peeked out of the haze in the distance; its smooth, weathered slopes reminding him of the Appalachians back home. A moment later, the large silver dome of the city came into view, rising above the surrounding forest. Even at ten kilometers away it was an imposing structure, towering above all that surrounded it. As they closed on it, the thick vegetation below ended abruptly, replaced by the blackened ruins seen from orbit. Row after row of nearly identical, hundred-meter-long, concrete buildings passed beneath them. Their roofs were long gone – their walls ending in jagged, singed edges. The dome now loomed before them. Jack slowed to a stop and engaged the vertical thrusters so that they could hover and look for an appropriate landing site. The orbital view showed a promising area near one of the tracks that stretched away from the city into the forest. He banked left, and guided the shuttle slowly along the dome’s perimeter. Piles of rubble filled most of the buildings and the streets between them. Plant life had thoroughly invaded the city, growing freely in and around many of the structures. Scanning the area, Jack spotted the clearing and announced, “We’ll set down here.”
The thrusters kicked up some dust and debris as he called out, “Ten meters. Five meters ... three ...” Leaves and dirt swirled around them as they touched down with a gentle bump. “IPV, this is shuttle one,” Jack said into the comm.
Kurt’s voice came in over the speaker, “We read you.”
“We’ve set down in a clearing near the south-eastern edge of the dome.”
“We’ve got you on satellite view.”
“Good. We’ll commence external reconnaissance shortly.”
“Understood.”
Jack did a quick post-flight check of the instruments. Everything looked good, and he powered down the engines. He picked up his hood and a small tool bag, and said, “Gentlemen, let’s seal our suits and test the comm. links.” The hood slipped on easily enough, but it took a moment to run his thumb and fore-finger along the neck ring and get a good seal. “Don, can you hear me OK on this.”
“Yeah, you’re coming through fine.”
“OK. Do me a favor, check my neck seal, I’ll check yours afterwards.”
“Hey, what about me?” Alex chimed in.
“Well, I guess that means your comm. unit’s working,” Don answered with mock disinterest.
“No, I mean my seal.”
“I know what you meant,” Don said with a hint of annoyance, “just a moment. Jack, yours looks good. Now turn around Alex.”
Jack checked Don’s seal before opening a small compartment near the airlock. He withdrew a pistol and holster for each of them. Before he could speak, though, Alex said, “Guns? Really?”
Jack calmly replied, “Its only for use in case we encounter any aggressive animal life. If you look closely at the top of the handle, you’ll see it has settings for lethal and nonlethal ammunition. If we need to scare something off, use nonlethal and it will fire a rubberized projectile. If someone’s life is in imminent danger, you can use the other setting to fire a hardened metal round.”
“Understood,” Don replied.
“Any questions?” Jack asked as he tried to squeeze by to get to the airlock. Alex though was in his way and already reaching for the door, prompting Jack to ask, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“What do you mean? I was just going to get off this ship and make room for you.”
“Yeah right. Like I’m going to let you be the first person in human history set foot on an extra-solar planet.”
“Well,” Alex said as he stepped aside, “you can’t blame me for trying.”
The radio came to life with Kurt’s voice, “Hey guys, you might want to be a bit more serious in there. This is all going on direct feed back to Earth. It’s sort of a historic moment you know.”
“That’s right, spoil the fun,” Jack answered as he stepped into the air lock. “You’re just pissed because you’re up there and we’re down here. Anyway, it’ll be over a decade before they hear any of this.” Jack sealed the inner hatch behind him. “And, by the way, what do you mean, ‘sort of’ a historic moment?’”
“Well, you know...”
“OK, I’m in the lock and getting ready to exit the vehicle.”
Kurt’s voice took on a more serious tone as he said, “We’re getting a clear feed of all your signals.”
Jack took a deep breath and opened the outer door. Sunlight shined in on him – the first he’d felt in years. Its warmth was comforting and he was tempted to just close his eyes and soak it in. Instead, he stepped onto the threshold of the door, and took another deep breath. It was bright, and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust. They had landed in a clearing that was maybe thirty meters across, and surrounded by the crumbling gray cement walls of long abandoned buildings. Small trees and brush grew from the myriad of crevices and openings in the ancient construction. “I’m not going to challenge history here,” Jack said solemnly. “I think that it’s better to pay tribute to those who went before me and echo their words. This is one more small step for a man, and another giant leap for mankind.” He climbed down the short ladder that led from the airlock door, and stepped onto the debris covered soil. The ground crackled with the sound of dried leaves and twigs. Looking around he said, “It is truly a beautiful day here. The light from Epsilon Eri is a bit oranger than the sun; it makes it feel like it’s early evening despite being close to midday. The sky is a deep almost violet-blue. I feel like I could be back on Earth, as if it was late afternoon somewhere in the tropics. The temperature is warm – a comfortable twenty-seven degrees Celsius.”
He took a few steps away from the shuttle, and continued, “I seem to be standing in the middle of a wide, but debris-covered street. There
are buildings all around, but they’re all damaged and long since abandoned. Their walls are cracked and show scoring – maybe from a fire. It looks old though, like this happened a long time ago. There’s also a lot of plant growth around – weeds, small trees.” He walked over to a small group of bushes that stood at eye-level. Each had a cluster of fern-like leaves growing from the top of its meter-high trunk, and reminded him of palm trees.
As Don and Alex caught up with him, Alex took a leaf gently in his palm and said, “It’s much more like Earth vegetation that I would ever have imagined.” He touched the trunk and said, “Whoa,” as he pulled his hand back. “That was weird.” He poked it again and said, “Damn, it’s definitely not wood. Feel it.”
Jack ran his gloved hand along the side Alex just touched. The khaki surface was leathery to the touch, and gave way easily as he pressed his fingers against it. Pushing a little harder made the entire plant bend. “It feels almost like skin and flesh,” Jack said.
“Yeah, and look at this,” Alex said coaxing Jack closer. “Its surface is covered all over with this stuff.”
Jack looked closely. Hundreds of thin, rubbery needles grew out of the trunk, extending about a centimeter from the surface. There weren’t enough to fully cover it – just enough to be noticeable.
“Oh man this is wild!” Alex called out.
Jack watched what the scientist was doing and followed suit, running his fingers up and down the plant’s ‘skin.’ After each stroke, the needles rose toward his hand and then after a second, lay back down.
“I take my comment back about being similar to Earth.”
“Is it animal or plant?” Don asked.
“Maybe something in between,” Alex answered. “It’s sure as hell unlike anything I’ve seen before.”
Jack walked toward a doorway in the nearest of the ruined buildings. At three meters wide and three meters high, it suggested its former inhabitants might have been somewhat larger than humans. The interior floor was covered in rubble. Weaving its way through the rocky fragments were a dozens of rust-covered vines, each sprouting olive green ferns every few centimeters. The rubble had the appearance of broken concrete, but when kicked, the fragments moved much too easily. He reached down and picked up a chunk about the size of his chest: it weighed barely five kilos – a similar sized piece of concrete should have been at least ten times heavier.
“What is it?” Don said, coming up behind him.
“It’s some sort of light weight structural material. Definitely not cement-based.”
“I can see that,” Don said as he picked up two smaller fragments. While rubbing them against each other he said, “They don’t seem to crumble. I wonder how strong this stuff is?”
Jack pulled a small hammer from his tool pack, placed his piece on the ground and struck it near the edge. His hammer bounced back without marring the material. He struck it harder, but again had no effect on it. “Well, its definitely got some strength to it.” He looked around, found a palm-sized chunk and placed it in a sample bag.
Jack turned to leave but saw Alex staring at Don’s boot.
“Don, don’t move,” Alex said.
Don reflexively tried to turn toward Alex, but nearly fell over: his foot was tangled in several finger-thick vines. “What the…” Don started.
Alex cut him off, saying, “Stay still for a moment.”
Don obeyed as the three of them watched the vines slowly move along his boot and leg. They crawled at a snail’s pace, barely moving a couple centimeters in their few seconds of observation.
“Can you get it off me please?” Don asked with a hint of urgency.
Alex crouched down, took a small metal probe from his pack and poked the nearest vine. It withdrew at a slightly quicker rate. He carefully pulled and tugged at the others on Don’s foot causing them to follow suit and retreat toward a small opening in the rubble.
As the last one let go, Don took a quick step back toward the door and said, “OK, that was a little gross.”
“It’s definitely predatory,” Alex said. “It means there must be other, more mobile, animal-like life here.”
“That makes sense,” Jack said while looking more suspiciously at the various alcoves in the rubble.
Alex retrieved a small set of scissors from his pack and said, “I’m definitely going to want a sample of this thing.” He leaned over the end of a thin vine, and carefully snipped off a six-centimeter segment. Instantly, the remaining vines around them shot back into the rubble.
Don jumped back as he asked, “OK, what the hell was that?”
“I don’t know,” Alex replied. “But, their uniform reaction says that they’re all part of a single, larger organism.” He stood up, looked around once more and said, “I’m definitely going to have a hell of a lot of fun here.”
“Biologists!” Don said with mock disgust.
“Hey, at least I’m not running away from every little thing that moves,” Alex shot back.
Jack rolled his eyes as he led the way out of the ruined building and calmly said, “Keep your eyes open. This is untamed wilderness – we don’t have anything like this left on Earth.” Looking up at the dome wall that loomed nearby, Jack continued, “Let’s move on. Kurt, are you reading us clearly?”
“Yes. We’ve got a good clear audio and visual signal.”
“Good. We’re going to scout out the region around the edge of the dome.”
In contrast to the surrounding ruins, the dome seemed intact. The surface of the gargantuan structure was windowless, and made up of countless, dull-gray, square panels that were each several meters across. There was no sign of ornamentation, just endless rows of panels. The wall rose vertically at least a hundred meters before curving out of sight. Jack tapped the nearest square and it felt solid – maybe metal or some type of stone. Its smooth face should have shined in the sunlight, but countless years of weathering left it dull and stained. The gaps between adjacent panels were filled with grime and some type of moss-like substance. There were no cracks, though, or any other signs of physical damage.
A rustling sound in the nearby trees made Jack spin around. He kept his hand on his holster as he scanned the area, but nothing revealed itself. “Let’s stay together,” he said quietly. A look to his side told him the statement was completely unnecessary: Don and Alex had already moved to within a couple meters of him.
They continued along the perimeter of the dome at a slow pace; the only sound was the crackling of dried leaves underfoot. The dome wall seemed completely uniform: just a continued progression of dull-gray panels. Clusters of trees and brush grew between the ruined buildings to their left, but stayed an even twenty meters from the structure’s edge, giving them a clear path along which to walk. Jack reasoned that just beneath the debris on which he was walking must be a hard surface that was impenetrable to their roots. Looking back to the tree-line, he noticed that nothing grew taller than about five or six meters.
A louder rustling sound emanated from within the brush. Jack stopped in his tracks, this time unbuckling his holster flap. Something caught his eye as Don called out, “Jack. Did you see that?” There was definite movement about twenty meters to his left – right along the base of the tree line. Alex ventured forward with his hand nowhere near his weapon, causing Don to say, “Alex? Really?”
Jack took the statement as his queue to step forward and say, “Alex, stay back for a second.”
“Fine,” Alex replied with a shrug.
The rustling grew louder; the dried leaves at the edge of the brush began shifting as if something was moving just beneath their surface. Jack slowly withdrew his pistol but held it at his side. Whatever was burrowing underneath was making its way toward them in random fits and starts. Though they remained hidden, the moving leaves suggested that there were three or four small creatures. Jack relaxed his grip on the gun as he realized that they couldn’t be any bigger than a squirrel. He crouched down, picked up a small rock and lightly tossed it
in front of the nearest one. All movement suddenly stopped. He tossed another toward the same spot. Before it hit the ground, four shiny black creatures shot out from the leaves with blinding speed and disappeared into the tops of the trees.
“Damn they were fast!” Alex exclaimed.
“Did they fly?” Don asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
“No, it was definitely a jumping motion,” Alex answered. “Though it was a pretty powerful one at that.” Alex walked toward the spot where the rocks had landed and continued, “I’ll review our video recordings later of course, but it looked like they had exoskeletons – maybe not too different from insects back home.” He poked around the leaves with a stick and said, “I’m definitely going to have to collect some samples of them.”
Jack watched the tree tops for a moment longer before saying, “OK, let’s keep going.” The landscape was remarkably uniform as they made their way along the dome’s perimeter: more rows of grey panels to his right, and a mix of crumbling structures and vegetation to his left. As they reached the one-kilometer mark from their shuttle, Alex said, “It’s surprisingly quiet. There’re no signs of anything analogous to bird calls or insect noises. It suggests the animal life here hasn’t evolved very far.”
“We did suspect that the biosphere here would be more primitive than Earth’s,” Don said.
“True, but this plant life looks very complex,” Alex replied. “Especially the moving samples we saw back near the shuttle.”
“If the place was terraformed, they might have engineered the environment to suppress more aggressive species,” Don offered. “Animals do tend to be much more aggressive than plants.”
“It depends,” Alex said with a smile. “The vines you found back in those ruins got you running. So I guess they weren’t all that passive.”
“Shut up,” Don said, with a hint of embarrassment. “I didn’t run.”
Prelude to Extinction Page 12
