An Atmosphere Of Angels

by H C Turk

  Kathlynn inhaled a gasp upon gently settling beside Parno. Removing her hands from her face, she saw Parno, then turned to look upward. Hands of nothingness pressed toward them, clutching.

  “Oh, Parno, I hate that,” she said, her tone an angry whine.

  The flexing then stopped. Kathlynn exhaled a huge breath of relief, but Parno frowned.

  Kathlynn griped:

  “It stopped coming after us, and that disappoints you?”

  “If it’s there, we know its location,” he explained. “If it stopped, maybe the damn thing is finding another route to us.”

  “Thanks for making me feel better,” Kathlynn growled. “You do have the knack.”

  Parno and Kathlynn then looked to artwork. Far above, the ceiling showed thin white clouds against a blue-green sky. The Earthers saw no features between ceiling and a set of floor-level, vertical panels. Though the cylinder’s main surface was a smooth, lightly striated material difficult to focus on, contrasting geometric forms had been regularly set along the perimeter. Rectangles two paces wide and three high ending at the floor, each shape could only be clearly viewed when squarely faced by the Earthers. Parno and Kathlynn walked across a dark floor, not a covering, that absorbed their steps, having the consistency of plasrubber used for wheel-car tires.

  “Parno, I’m having difficulty walking in this suit. Can we take them off yet?”

  “That’s not a good idea. They’re not working, but they’re extremely tough and air-tight if we bubble up. …Are these doors, or paintings?”

  “Perhaps windows,” Kathlynn replied, then bent to look closely at the nearest panel, which depicted space, stars and gas nebulas.

  “Parno, the detail is incredible. I can see every star in this galaxy, and they all have texture, not like brushstrokes, but…I don’t know. It’s some sort of application, not a vid or flat photograph.”

  “I told you it’s a painting.”

  “I’m going to touch it,” she said, but Parno yelped as Kathlynn lifted her hand.

  “Wait a minute!” he said sharply, waving both arms. “It might be a door, like those above.”

  Kathlynn stood back, then frowned to Parno.

  “Do you really think that people sophisticated enough to have created this structure would allow their personnel to step off into deep space—while located on the ground?”

  Parno manually extended the bubble of his ground suit.

  “Go ahead,” he told her.

  She didn’t hear. Their suits, being dead, could not communicate.

  Accepting that haughty look first seen by Parno as they glided through the swamp, Kathlynn stepped toward an adjacent panel. Before she could situate herself at the proper angle for viewing, Kathlynn cringed from the shout behind.

  “Hey, anybody home!” Parno hollered, having dropped his bubble.

  Both Earthers then cringed from a sound that filled the cylinder, so dense that it seemed a substance, the expanding gases of a tone explosion. A complicated sound, chromatic in the high register, percussive in the midrange.

  Kathlynn did not hear the next blare. Neither could Parno hear his own words when he shouted, “Shut up!”

  The cylinder went quiet. Parno and Kathlynn looked to each other.

  “That was music,” she said.

  “I thought I heard voices,” Parno replied. “I think we heard a song.”

  “But what was the purpose?” Kathlynn wondered. “Entertainment, greeting, conveying information?”

  “Advertising,” Parno shrugged, then added: “Could this terrific place be a lousy space boat for mining? I can’t wait to look around.”

  Glimpsing upward toward that oval entry, Kathlynn saw no opening, no flexing, but remembered the fear.

  “If you want to explore, go ahead—on your own. I don’t know what that horrible dark thing was, but just seeing it—then having to fall, which I hate…. I am getting out of here, and I don’t care how I do it.”

  “Which came first, the chicken or the chicken shit?” Parno scoffed. “Kathlynn, don’t get childish on me now.”

  “Parno, you’ve almost killed me several times already. I don’t think that trying to avoid a terrible death is being childish.”

  “Since you’re through with your crybaby routine, here’s the deal I offer. When we come to a tight place, you have to pull me through, because I’m claustrophobic.”

  She looked closely to him now.

  “Truly, Parno?”

  “Yes, sadly, Kathlynn.”

  “I like tight places. When—”

  “Don’t talk sexy, Kathlynn. I can’t handle it right now.”

  “I can’t wait to almost kill you,” she seethed. “I may do a better job.”

  She took one hard step to her left, and was able to discern the panel before her. A bright, cyan sky with thin clouds illuminated dark slopes of lahar beside cream and brown foliage.

  “Parno, it’s an external view. Could this be a door leading outside?”

  “Let’s hope so, but perhaps it is just a window.”

  “Or, just a painting,” she suggested.

  “What if it’s a greenhouse with man-eating plants?”

  “I’m not a man.”

  “All right, what if it’s a greenhouse with pussy-eating plants?”

  She instantly whirled and stomped to Parno, eyes locked on his face. She stepped so near, her face so close to his, he thought she might bite him. He could only stare at that angry expression, seeing the tiny veins in her sclera as her eyes swept a hard view across his face. He wanted to kiss her.

  “If the plants are bastard-eating,” she snarled, “you had better start hiding now.”

  She whirled again, stomping toward the foliage door. The loose ground suit and rubbery floor affected her stride so that semi-balanced Kathlynn toddled, nearly childish.

  To Parno, her derriere suggested nothing but adulthood.

  “You’re gorgeous when you’re about to die,” Parno said to her back, and followed the supervisor.

  Kathlynn smacked both palms against the alien painting, which proved itself a door by disappearing. After soundlessly dilating the panel, the greater structure’s system swept Kathlynn inside.

  Parno ran near, seeing Kathlynn with both arms extended being pulled through an upward-curving tunnel on a ribbon with a satin sheen, colorless and pale. He stepped through at once, and was pulled behind her. Reflexively Parno held out both arms, though he felt no acceleration. Despite moving swiftly, he did not have to lean ahead to keep from falling over backward. He had to smile.

  “This is how aliens yank the rug from under your feet,” he called out to Kathlynn. “It’s wonderful!”

  “I am not looking for a good time,” Kathlynn replied with a girlish, unamused voice.

  They traveled upward and downward in the broad corridor or tunnel, the ribbon curving to the right, the riders remaining secure. Though Parno wanted to gain Kathlynn’s position, walking ahead was a struggle. After one step, he placed his feet together and allowed the ribbon to glide him along. Two Earth-norm minutes later, he had to share his doubts with Kathlynn.

  “Hello, superfem, we’ve traveled too far.”

  “I know, I know—we should have been out of the structure by now.”

  “Either it’s bigger than it looks, or we’re going in circles.”

  Their journey soon ended. Approaching a wall, Kathlynn held out both hands, but the wall opened, bright sky and healthy foliage seen beyond. Their passage on the ribbon conveyor ended gently at that wall, Parno stopping beside Kathlynn, who peered ahead.

  After a brief view, Parno stepped past her, walking on lahar. Kathlynn reluctantly followed. The volcano filled their vision to the left. To the right, the marsh stretched to the forest’s edge. As Kathlynn stepped beside him, Parno turned, looking at that door behind.

  “Poopy fart,” he growled.

  Kathlynn understood. Parno looked at a flat wall.

  “This is a damned greenhouse,
” Parno said, stepping across the lahar. “It looks real, but I don’t sense any of the island’s natural smell. No salt from the ocean, no scents from the forest and marsh. The sky looks too low.”

  “Maybe this is for studying the local environment,” Kathlynn added, turning. “Oh, Parno, look at the door now that it’s closed. Another beautiful appliqué. This one makes obvious sense.”

  “Yes, it’s an alien Xmas present. A cylinder with radial, wavy ribbons. That’s the lobby, where we entered.”

  “I like to think of it as a parlor. That’s more friendly.”

  “Let’s look for a back door.”

  “Parno, perhaps this is truly the alien structure seen from outside. Am I seeing sky over the wall’s top, or is that more illusion?”

  “Let’s walk along the wall and see.”

  Ascending a rise on the slope, Parno was disappointed not to hear animal cries from the forest or the violent fall of waves. He saw no insects flitting, no birds in the pseudo-sky. Proceeding up the rise, Parno did not find the Terran mining equipment, but a demon.

  A body, a human-like form, lay sprawled on the lahar. Both Earthers went still without gasping. They saw a slick material in the form of a human, opaque and finely faceted, vaguely reminiscent of a ground suit. An occupied ground suit.

  “Parno,” Kathlynn said with a weak, uneven tone. “Is, is that…mechanical?”

  “That’s a protective suit,” Parno said sharply. “I’m sure it’s an opaque protective suit of some nature. If someone is inside, I bet he’s not alive.”

  Parno slowly stepped nearer. Only then did he see the end to this chamber. Not a depiction of surf or sky, but a depthless, hideous black. Come to me and fall forever.

  “Praise my family, Parno, never in my life have my knees wobbled like this. I, I don’t think I can walk.”

  Parno held out his hand for Kathlynn to see. His fingers trembled. He continued walking.

  “This is what we saw in the entry, or airlock,” he said, his voice more quiet now. “I’m going to try to peek inside,”

  “Parno, Parno, I’m thinking, I’m thinking of that…dark creature that moved.”

  “So am I, Kathlynn, but they’re different. That dark form was like smoke, cloudy. And it floated just above the ground. This is definitely some concrete material, even if hollow. It has substance.”

  Kneeling, Parno looked closely to the headpiece. The front, at least, seemed transparent, but he could not see through. The material was not tinted, but suggested the night sky: transparent, but made opaque by depth.

  “I’m going to try to open it,” Parno said, but did not move.

  “Why?” Kathlynn whined. Then her voice grew hard. “Parno, don’t you dare touch that.”

  “Don’t supervise me when I’m trying to save your life.”

  “If you get near, you know it will leap up in your face.”

  “Kathlynn, whether a mechanical item or a deceased person with a suit, it has control and communication devices. Think of all the wonderful things we can do with our suits.”

  “Yes, all the wonderful things: drown, suffocate, die. We’ve already done the first two, so only the last is left.”

  “You’re right, Kathlynn,” he said, now looking over his shoulder. “Even though the key to our leaving this house of demons is right in front of me, I’ll keep away. You come here and get us out.”

  She looked to him as though he had molested her mother.

  He reached out with one hand toward that headpiece, or that head, his fingers still trembling. Then he pulled his hand back.

  “What am I doing here?” he said without turning. “I’m not a space marine—I’m a financial officer. My job is to cheat ENU and the natives, not get myself killed.”

  “Yes, you’re right,” Kathlynn said, her voice not lacking strength. “Step away and start cheating me again, but please don’t touch that…thing.”

  “We’ll learn something from this, I promise you, Kathlynn.”

  She saw a man bending over a corpse. This was Kathlynn’s greatest hope. Corpses cannot cause harm. Except for fear, that debilitating emotion now affecting her breath, her thoughts, her body. Yes, yes, Parno bent over a corpse wearing a ground suit. He was not bending over a static version of that smoke ghost in the corridor, that horrid form suggesting doom with its shape and movement and smell….

  “Kathlynn, I think I found a face plate.”

  Parno then reached to manually extend his ground suit’s bubble. Enough air remained inside for a few moments of minor activity. In a flash of common sense, Kathlynn extended her own bubble.

  She saw him touch the form. Yes, he touched a suit, not a demon.

  “I think I’m sliding it open, Kathlynn. Holy cow, I think I see—”

  Kathlynn saw flame, a blindingly intense flame that leapt from the form’s head against Parno, instantly engulfing him.

  That indigene on the slopes had survived his conflagration for seconds, Kathlynn thought in a timeless moment as Parno tumbled backward down the lahar. Before Kathlynn could leap away, she caught fire.

  The hideous brilliance of ultimate light took her vision. The heat caused such instant agony that her emotions shattered, taking her fear. As though spirits connected by mutual death, Parno and Kathlynn shared their experience. With their emotions and thoughts destroyed by conflagration, they neither sensed nor felt, only experiencing an alien end.

  Chapter 7

  A Body’s Heart

  Lying on the lahar, hands shielding his eyes from late-morning Kapnos, Parno dozed, ignoring the hard surface beneath his shoulder blades. Though half-asleep, he had to smile, for he smelled his favorite fragrance: the blossom of the bosom plant growing nearby. Surf of a strange color murmured along the shore. Then the local scent changed, perverted by the atmosphere. Breathing more deeply, in sleep’s mechanical rhythm, Parno choked on air, coughing mildly. Then he heard foliage crackling. His favorite blossom dissolved from heat, for the entire forest had caught fire.

  Fire can be cleansing. Nature utilizes fire to remove waste from the environment. Fire is a neutral spirit, unless experienced in the form of horrid torture, hideous death. Fire is then seen to be a demon. Parno found himself smothered by a demon. This demon was not smoke, but bad respiration. While opening his eyes, he reached to retract his bubble.

  Parno sat, breathing deeply. Good air entered his lungs. Excellent air, except for that taint of smoke. Blinking, he saw a body. Then he recalled. That dark alien figure. After touching the headpiece, Parno had become engulfed by flames. Now he reached to his face, but found not a hair singed, though his beard smelled of smoke, and his ground suit’s exterior was coated with soot. Turning quickly while fanning his face, Parno saw that dark form beside him. No, no, this figure had the wrong shape, the wrong fabric. Parno saw Kathlynn lying on her side. Her suit was so densely coated with black that he could not see her face.

  Instantly he reached to retract her bubble. She breathed blatantly, wheezing through her open mouth. Parno saw a grey cast to the interior of her suit; not a coating, but a mist, a dry mist.

  Reaching to touch this more familiar figure, Parno received an alien response. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Kathlynn leapt to her feet like a marionette, her strings jerked by a spastic master. Momentarily staring nowhere, eyes wide, Kathlynn tried to focus. Coughing, she saw wisps of smoke rising from her ground suit. With a look of anger more than fear, she began tearing at the untearable plasfab.

  “Get me out of this!” she shrieked, never having looked to Parno.

  He stood too rapidly, feeling some dizziness. He became steadier upon grasping Kathlynn’s hands and pulling them from her face.

  “Extend your arms straight up,” he instructed. “It’s easier that way.”

  That grey mist before her face suggested the pallor of death.

  Stepping behind Kathlynn, who emitted one loud cough, Parno reached into her suit’s back pad, pulling on the aux release cords. Virtual seams
formed in the plasfab, the material falling from Kathlynn’s coveralls.

  As the suit collapsed around her feet, Kathlynn stepped away as though leaping from a hideous reptile, an alien alligator.

  Parno had reached behind to release his own suit. He did not cough, but had to move very slowly to avoid retching. That smell made him sick. It implied the odor of his own burnt flesh.

  Kathlynn looked down to the suit as though it had attacked her, trying to smother her as she slept.

  “I don’t quite remember that,” she seethed, staring downward while pressing the hair against her ears, “but I’m beginning to.”

  Parno tried to recall. He knew their location. He remembered the slick, alien figure. Yes, after he tried to open the headpiece, fire leapt out. But something there, some bit of knowledge, was missing. The lost datum, however, did not impress him as being pleasant.

  Kathlynn dropped her hands and looked sharply to Parno. Her face told of new desperation.

  “Parno, I have to pee. I was nearly burned alive, but all I feel is the need to pee.”

  He did not want to speak. He did not want to move. Even breathing deeply seemed a bad idea. Too much effort and that sickness would not settle, but come rushing out.

  “Go in the bushes,” he stated mildly.

  “These aren’t real bushes.”

  “That’s good, because no real insects can bite you.”

  With each breath, he felt better, scarcely noticing the smoke scent of his coveralls.

  “Parno, I just want to urinate normally, splash some water on my face, brush my hair—”

  “And take a nap.”

  “Parno, you don’t have to make light of me. I don’t think it’s odd that I would like to recuperate from—”

  “Kathlynn,” he interrupted, “I would like to take a good pee and splash water on my face and comb my hair, then take a nap. I agree with you completely. The way things are going, it doesn’t seem we will accomplish anything immediately. Geez, I’m hungry. Dying must increase the appetite.”

  “Parno, we did not die. I never had the impression of dying. Did you?”

  “Uh, no, I don’t think so. It happened so quickly. But, geez, Kathlynn, I was terrified. The fear was so intense and immediate. When the fire leapt up in my face, I recalled that indigene. I thought—”