by Thadd Evans
“Good idea.”
We hiked, advancing left.
After passing a boulder, I looked to the right.
A few feet away, there was a steep, ice-covered trail, a route that went around the mountain. I reached out and banged my fist against the ice. It was impossible to poke a hole in it. But if I stuck a VADB, a vertical ascent drill bit, into it, the ice would crumble, and the device would come out.
“I can’t climb that unless I put on my VADB’s.” I pointed at the iced over path.
“I can’t climb it either.
“What is a VADB?”
I offered a brief explanation.
Yar frowned, but she didn’t say a word.
“There might be another trail.” I raised my tablet. Near the bottom of my screen, this side of the mountain magnified. There wasn’t any other way up.
Greg’s voice came out of my tablet. “Jason, how are you doing?”
“We’re okay. We just found Solo.”
Greg shouted, “Amazing!”
I told him about the robot. “Have you seen it?”
“No, I—” his voice was replaced by a crackling noise.
I yelled, “Greg, can you hear me?”
The crackling sound got louder.
I glanced at Yar. “I lost the connection. There’s some kind of interference.”
“My tablet won’t pick up Greg’s signal either.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Yar and I paused, close to the opposite side of the mountain. According to my screen, there weren’t any other paths to the top.
After returning to the spot that was several yards from the ice-covered trail, I spoke into my tablet. “Greg, can you hear me?”
Random popping sounds came out of it but he didn’t respond.
Yar spoke into her tablet. “Greg, where are you?”
“Any luck?” I waited.
“No. Just white noise.”
I sat down, removed VADB’s from my upper pant leg, rolled up my sleeve, and pressed one of the devices against my carbon nanotube wrist, next to the top of it. All of the VADB’s anchor bolts went inside my wrist, making click sounds. I pushed the remaining extension into my mechanical left leg, at the bottom of it. The device snapped into place. After getting to my feet, I walked toward the cliff, one arm over my head.
Above my fingers, at the top of the VADB, a bit with a handle on this end of it started boring into the cliff. After grabbing the handle, I pulled myself up. “Yar, wish me luck. This is going to be a tough climb.”
“Take care.”
I lifted my boot. Inches below it, at the bottom of the VADB leg extension, a drill bit penetrated the cliff, making a buzzing sound.
Within several hours, I sat on a tiny ledge, sweat rolling down my neck. Although I was terrified of falling, I had repressed my fear. Beneath me, late afternoon light peeked through fog. It was impossible to see Yar or anyone else through the mist.
Greg’s distorted voice came out of my tablet. “Any problems…so far?”
I removed the device from my chest pocket. “The wind and cold.”
“I can barely hear you. My tablet may need recharging.”
“Okay. Contact me later.” I aimed the tablet above my head. It made a whirring noise as it scanned the platform’s underside. I was about a third of the way up the cliff. Yet I was too tired to keep going.
Wanting to know if any adjacent ledges were wider than this, I glanced to my left.
All of them were narrow, not big enough to sit on. I stared in the opposite direction.
All the ledges were too far away. I removed the compressed sleeping bag, equipment with fasters all along its edges, from my belt. As the bag expanded, I shoved fasteners into the cliff, attaching the equipment to the hard surface.
I crawled inside the cramped sleeping quarters. Within minutes, it started rocking back and forth, pushed by the wind. My shoulder-mounted-flashlight switched on. I took wafers out of my pocket and started chewing. Soon I lay on my back and dozed off.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I blinked, trying to wake up, then sipped water out of the tube, ate, and crawled out.
Not far away, predawn lit fog went through a crevice.
After attaching the compressed bag onto my sleeve, I climbed. Close to the end of my shoulder pad, the flashlight rose, illuminating the cliff.
As I passed a burnt-sienna rock facet, a spasm of pain shot through my carbon nanotube wrist. I flexed it, took a deep breath, gathering my strength, and resumed my trek. The muscles in my upper left leg began aching. I paused, massaged them, and spoke into my tablet. “Greg or Yar, is anybody there?”
Electronic beeps came out of it, most loud, the rest barely audible. Nobody had answered.
Damn!
I continued on, going by eroded maroon surfaces. As the wind blew dirt off a ledge, I glanced over my shoulder, hoping that I could spot Yar.
Far below me, undulating clumps of mist spread out, covering every foot of the Bae Dy. She was nowhere in sight.
Far above me, a faint droning sound, a plasma fusion engine, grew louder. I looked up.
A sixty-foot long spheroid starship, a bisque colored Dseo vessel with glowing lights near its tail, flew over the edge of the platform, about to touch down.
I listened.
White noise came out of my tablet. The Dseo pilot hadn’t contacted me.
My left elbow started aching. It wasn’t serious, but it might be a sign that polymer muscles inside my arm were too cold. I shoved a bit, one with a handle on this end, into the cliff, and gripped the handle.
My right boot slipped off a narrow ledge. I fell several inches, then stopped, dangling, holding on with my mechanical left hand, my adrenaline pumping. Within moments, I shoved my right hand into a crevice and kept going.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Several hours later, I glanced up.
Not far above me, rays of late morning light illuminated the flat bottom of a concrete-like barrier, part of Solo’s foundation. Climbing across the ten-foot wide foundation, a structure without any handholds, then crawling up the fifteen-foot high wall would be difficult.
I went to the right, and moved slowly across a six-inch wide ledge. Soon it became narrower. I raised my arm extension—it bore into the cliff. I swung to the right.
Above me, as before, the barrier was smooth, no entrances anywhere. Beneath my boot, all along the cliff, ice cracked. Suddenly, a chunk of it, a piece close to my toe, broke off and went straight down! I drilled another hole and hiked on, never placing my foot on any tiny ledges, ice covered surfaces.
At dusk, I sat on a ledge, staring straight ahead. Not far away, an ochre bird, an alien species illuminated by late afternoon light, flew toward a fog shrouded mountain peak. I spoke into my tablet. “Greg or Yar, is anyone there?”
A hissing sound came out it. Sssss. Much to my surprise, the noise was replaced by a faint distorted voice, “Wha…” Without warning, the voice trailed off, as faint whirring noises grew louder.
Was it Greg? Yar? I couldn’t tell.
“Damn,” I muttered while shoving the tablet into a chest pocket. I took my sleeping bag off my sleeve. The anchors rotated faster. I pushed them into the cliff. The bag expanded. I crawled inside.
I opened my eyes.
A loud droning sound, a nearby plasma engine, became louder.
After sticking my head outside the bag, I peered into the Bae Dy. Not far above me, a sixty-foot long, fifty-foot wide trapezoid starship, an Aito vessel with a purple hull, kept rising slowly. All along the bottom of the vessel I noticed several tiny protrusions, housings designed to protect altimeters.
As a distorted hiss came out of my earplugs, an indication that the Aito aboard hadn’t received any of my messages. The spacecraft rose sixty feet. Suddenly it accelerated and flew into the clouds.
After pressing the folded bag onto my sleeve, I swung to the right, and noticed the bottom of a granite column, a rock formation tha
t was forty feet from me, the rest of it hidden behind the barrier. I stuck my glove into a crevice, advancing toward my goal.
Within half an hour, a foot long scorpion, an unfamiliar species with magenta claws, crawled out of a hole. When it was inches from my helmet, I raised my hand, trying to protect myself—the creature sprayed me. I pushed the arachnid off the cliff and glanced down as it came to rest on my boot. I shook my leg and the creature fell off.
I reached the column and stared straight up, amazed that it went over the foundation, and a twenty–foot high wall, a tan surface that curved to the right and left. I stepped on a tiny protruding rock, one that was sticking out of the column, and climbed.
Not far above me, on top of the wall there was a silver railing. I reached out, gripped the railing, pulled myself over it, and stepped onto a patio. As sweat dripped off my chin, I sat down, my back against the wall, taking a break.
After taking a short nap, I stared straight ahead. Several feet across the patio, at the top of a thirty-foot high sienna colored wall, a surface that curved to the right and left, someone had attached a small telescope to an overhang. Unfortunately, there weren’t any ladders—there was no way to get to the roof.
I glanced to the right and noticed a twelve-foot high, eleven-foot wide wall, a sand colored structure that was sticking out of the other one. There was no entrance in sight. I stood and headed toward the sand colored wall.
I grabbed my tablet. The screen appeared. According to it, no one had sent any messages since I had started up the cliff. “Yar, can you hear me?”
“Y…w…” broken up words, an unknown female voice, came out of it. The voice was replaced by an electronic hum, a noise that kept pulsating.
I clenched my fist, irritated.
After several steps, my left leg began aching even more. I paused, close to the sand colored wall. Near the bottom, a humanoid in a mauve jumpsuit, a stranger with a hood-covered face, was lying face up on the patio. I reached down and took the hood off a skull, a body part with a huge jaw. I aimed the tablet at the corpse.
According to the screen, there were trace amounts of phage, an unknown species, near the tops of several ribs. On the planet, Ra Iyd, in the southern part of the Dirk Jungle, the Sna River was filled with the Deab Phage, streptococcus that had been taken over by an alien virus. Because the Sna was filled with this phage, the only species that could survive were amoebas and the Twia frog. Had Deab killed this Turon? I wasn’t sure.
I veered left, searching for an entrance.
At the bottom of the sienna wall, a door without any seams slid open.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I entered a curved hall. My tablet hummed, scanning the surrounding walls. According to the device, there were eight phage species, unknown life forms, on the floor.
It was more important to find the replacement disk and purchase food. I continued on as my face mask opened and passed closed stores, places with their lights off. Why were they closed?
I entered a store, purchased bags of wafers, the only food available, from a Turon male. “Where can I buy a COV10 disk?” I waited.
“SHS.”
My earplugs deciphered his speech, offering directions. Down the hall.
I left and headed for the other store.
After taking several steps, I paused and massaged my sore left leg. As the pain subsided, I started down the hall.
I glanced to my right.
Close by, an Aito woman with a narrow face, a female in an emerald green jump suit sat on the floor, her back against the wall. She kept staring in the opposite direction.
I walked toward her as my sign appeared. At the top of it, passenger ticket prices, the cost of riding ST7 to Icir, all in Aito, enlarged.
I paused next to her.
She didn’t pay attention to my sign or say anything. After raising her chin, a pained expression on her face, she removed her left leg from her hip socket, and began inspecting it. “Seip.haaps.” She flinched.
My earplugs translated. I’m performing routine maintenance.
She put the leg inside her hip, a satisfied expression on her countenance, and stood. “Greetings.”
“Hello.” I smiled.
She began studying her arm.
“Are you an HBE?” This comment referred to a hybrid biological entity, a being with some biological body parts, the rest mechanical.
“Yes. I’m a PR Twenty-One.”
“What part of your body is biological?” In many cases, surgeons replaced Polymer Rescued Humanoid’s legs, arms or internal organs because the original body parts had been destroyed in an accident or by cancer.
“My head, neck, and heart.”
I told her about my ticket, including the price.
“I can afford it.”
“Do you have any SP documentation?”
“Yes.” According to her portrait ID, this potential passenger’s name was Nianda Qi. She was a robotics specialist from Emto, a city in Litor’s northern hemisphere.
Although I wanted to know why she was in this hall, it was more important to get the COV10 disk.
“My ship is docked at these coordinates.” A trail map, the one I had created during our hike, glided across my screen. After telling her how I reached Solo, a short explanation, I said, “Hopefully, you can board a starship and they’ll take you to ST Seven.”
“I’m fighting a computer virus called UIU, a synthetic organism that forces my muscles to create vast amounts of lactic acid. If I don’t destroy the UIU soon, I’ll die from extreme pain.” Nianda, a sullen expression on her face, flinched. “In a few minutes, I’ll have to go to sleep.
“When are you going to leave Solo?”
“After I find a replacement disk.” I told her more about it.
“I’ll meet you at ST Seven, then pay you. If I don’t show up, that means I couldn’t overcome UIU.”
“Understood. By the way, I’m Jason.”
“Pleased to meet you.” She groaned. “Sorry, my body hurts.”
I nodded. “If you board our ship, we’ll help you. We have anti-virus software.”
“They would be nice. But the biopolymer tubes in my lungs might freeze before I reach the Xah Gorge. If that happens, I’ll die.”
“Sorry to hear it.”
“I must rest now.” She crawled inside her sleeping bag.
“Take care.” I walked away, worried about her.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I went by closed stores, wondering why everyone had left. Inside my mechanical left hand, a throbbing sensation intensified. I removed my glove. Near the end of my pinky finger, another tiny piece of cracked biopolymer skin fell off. I put the glove back on because I didn’t have enough money to buy any biopolymer epidermis and kept going.
The SHS entrance opened. Behind a counter, a silver robot clerk with glowing eyes peered at me.
I handed the COV10 box to him.
He inspected it and took a package off a shelf.
“How much is it?” I rubbed my neck, worried.
Fifty-one M’s.
Chills went up my spine. The disk was expensive. But I didn’t have any place else to go.
I shoved one hand over my screen. My tablet exported the payment into a cash register. The android gave me the package.
I stuck it in my chest pocket. “By the way, is Solo always this empty?”
No. According to a Turon, everyone has left because a fleet of LN will arrive in a week.
“Why haven’t you left Solo?”
If I were to board any starship, my outdated photonic cables would disintegrate when the craft reached D24’s outer orbit, and my brain would shut off.
“Can’t you get any replacement cables?”
He shook his head. Nobody makes them anymore.
“Is the fleet coming from Brynin?”
I don’t know.
I hurried away. Although he was just a robot, an entity without any family, I felt sad because he would eventually
end up in a scrap heap.
“Request.answer,” I blurted, speaking into my tablet.
Crackling noise came out of it but nobody replied. All the merchants and customers had left Solo. The robot was correct.
Another thought came to mind. A spacecraft might be on Solo’s landing pad. If that was the case, I would ask them to take me to ST7. If they were willing to help, I wouldn’t have to rappel down the cliff.
Chapter Thirty
I stepped inside an elevator and announced, “Transmit.msg.” My tablet sent out a message, requesting that if anyone aboard a nearby spacecraft had any seats available, I would like a ride to ST7.
The door opened. I went outside. Near the opposite side of the pad, several humanoids stepped over snowdrifts, hurrying toward three space vessels.
An engine started—a sixty foot long bronze intergalactic vessel, a ship consisting of two oval wings, horizontal structures that were connected to a cylinder shaped fuselage, took off.
I sprinted and paused next to a forty-five foot diameter Series Six vessel, one with convex windows.
Beneath the ship’s hatch, several Mlaan men with copper skin pivoted and peered at me, worried expressions on their countenances.
“Do you have any room? I’d like a ride.” I paused.
“No,” a man in a magenta jumpsuit replied. All of them climbed aboard.
I walked toward a sixty-foot diameter space vessel, a craft with two fins on its top. Not far from the nose, two Dseo women in pearl colored jackets, females with piercing amber eyes, glanced at each other. Then they scampered up a ramp, entering the craft. Near the ramp, a couple of Dseo men in speckled yellow jumpsuits glanced at me.
I repeated my request.
“Oio,” one of them responded.
My tablet translated. There’s not enough room.
Both of them ran inside the craft.
As the engine started, a loud droning sound, I walked away toward the elevator. I glanced over my shoulder. Not far above the platform, the interstellar craft veered port and went into the clouds.
If I had boarded their ship, they might have told me about 3 D star maps, interactive charts with information about Litor on them. Years ago, Greg had told me that although he had never seen those maps, a member of the Embas race, a pilot, told him the Dseo knew far more about the butterfly effect, and strange attractor movement in Litor’s outer atmosphere than anyone else.
