Kali's Doom

by Craig Allen

  At the bottom of the hatch was Lieutenant Johnson. “Ensign Monroe, welcome aboard the Olympus Mons.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Sonja said. “I’ve been here before, sir, as you know.”

  “Yes, but you were lower in rank.” He snickered. “Congratulations on becoming an officer, by the way.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  Johnson faced Cody and offered his hand. “Been a while, Dr. Brenner.”

  “It has.” Cody shook it. “The fliers have been quiet.”

  “Is that good or bad?” Sonja asked.

  “Good, I hope.” Commander Gaston’s booming voice echoed throughout the hangar and probably throughout the entire small ship. “Doc, how are you?”

  “Good, sir.” Cody shook the Commander’s hand, enduring its crushing grip. “To be honest, Commander, I wish we were headed toward the Hive instead of the planet.”

  “You and me both. Oh, at ease, Ensign. And welcome aboard.” Commander Gaston clapped Sonja on the shoulder before she could salute. “Your new rank suits you.”

  “Thank you, sir.” She awkwardly dropped her salute while trying not to smack the commander’s forearms. “Looking forward to serving here, sir.”

  “Said no one ever,” Gaston said. The crew snickered. “I’m only kidding. You’ll love it here. The rest of us do. Don’t we?”

  A round of agreement followed, mixed with rolling eyes. Cody was sure no one was unhappy with their posting. The handful of people that made up the crew of the Olympus Mons were lax in terms of etiquette, at least compared to the Tokugawa, where discipline was strictly enforced. The ship often felt more like a college dormitory.

  “Well, we’re heading planet side soon,” Gaston said. “Assuming we get this medical field up and running.”

  “About two hours, sir,” someone called out. The door to engineering was open, and the crewman held up two fingers.

  “Good. Then we can get this shit over with.” He turned and headed back toward the bridge. “Ensign, Johnson will show you to your quarters. And it’s Friday.”

  “Friday, sir?” Sonja asked.

  “Yes, Ensign, Friday. The day after Thursday.” He stopped and faced her. “Hope you brought some good alcohol from Tau Ceti. Lord knows we need it on this boat.” He returned to the bridge.

  Cody leaned closer to Sonja. “Like old times?”

  “These guys are as crazy as I remember,” she whispered to Cody as she followed Johnson. “I think I’m going to like it here.”

  ~~~

  Cody sat next to Sonja at the table, which was made of a plastic that looked and felt like oak. The only thing that gave away the illusion was that the furniture weighed far less. The fact the Olympus Mons had a conference room amazed Cody. Then again, stacks of crates against the wall indicated the conference room also served as storage.

  Sonja winked at him. He winked back before returning to his viewer, which displayed the readings he’d collected from the logs of both the hopper and the Olympus Mons.

  Sonja looked over his shoulder. “Learn anything?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know.” Gaston entered the room, right on time, with Lieutenant Johnson and Lieutenant Commander Galloway, the XO, with him. Cody had only met Galloway once before, and he seemed friendly enough.

  Sonja stood at attention, but Gaston waved her off. “Sit down, Ensign. I’d rather you were at ease unless I say otherwise. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” Sonja sat, as did everyone else.

  “So, Dr. Brenner.” Gaston crossed his legs. “What was that blip on my gravimetrics?”

  “Well, Commander”—Cody held up his viewer—“I managed to partially decode the transponder information. All I can tell is that it’s a transport ship of some kind.”

  “I can send what Dr. Brenner found up the flagpole,” Johnson said. “I know some people back home who might be able to give me more details.”

  “Good. Do that,” Gaston said. “Anything else?”

  “I also determined its course.” Cody tapped the holoemitter on the viewer, and a three-dimensional image of the Kali system appeared over it. He set the viewer in the middle of the table. “Based on the angle of departure, the ship was headed toward the outer edge of the system. As for what star system he was headed for, I can’t say.”

  “Hold on a second.” Sonja traced her finger along the trajectory path as it appeared in the holoimage. “He’s leaving the system parallel to the planetary orbits. That’s a long way to go to leave a system.”

  “Yes, it is.” Gaston leaned over the table. “That course is remarkably close to the outermost planet, as a matter of fact. I wonder what’s out there.”

  “United Earth Armed Forces forbade Admiral Jericho from leaving Kali Prime,” Cody said. “Otherwise, we could send a probe.”

  Galloway grumbled. “An unknown transponder goes to a point in system where we can’t look. Sounds like someone is hiding something.”

  “But what?” Johnson asked. “And who?”

  “I sure as hell wish I knew.” Gaston shut off the holoimage and slid the viewer toward Johnson. “See if you can find out more about that transponder. In the meantime, let’s go over our orders.”

  Gaston pulled another viewer from his jacket and set it in the center of the table. The flat screen came on and created a three-dimensional image of the Olympus Mons. “The old man has given us a doozy of a mission. We are going planet side to investigate the crashed hopper that nearly made our dear doctor another piece of space debris.”

  Everyone groaned around the table, except for Sonja and Cody.

  “We can do it without getting eaten alive,” Cody said. “It’s actually rather ingenious.”

  “It is, Doc.” Gaston gestured toward Johnson. “LT, walk us through this.”

  “Some eggheads on the Tokugawa came up with the idea of using a medical sterilization field around the ship itself.” Johnson tapped the viewer, and a bluish light appeared, surrounding the image of the ship. “In theory, this should kill the bacteria in the atmosphere before it eats the hull.”

  “In theory?” Galloway leaned forward. “Skipper, the medical field was designed to attack Earth-based bacteria, not alien ones.”

  “Good point, sir,” Johnson said. “But we’ve learned that bacteria from other worlds is impacted by the field, given the proper instruction. The medical officer on the Tokugawa has had excellent results experimenting on bacteria picked up from Kali.”

  “What about bacteria from the atmosphere itself?” Cody asked. “The Reed Entity is capable of altering the biology of any creature down there, even on a genetic level.”

  “The chief medical officer of the Tokugawa has done a thorough examination of the bacteria from the atmosphere,” Johnson said, “mostly from samples left behind on the hulls of the last ships that escaped the planet eight months ago. He is convinced the field will be effective.”

  Cody rested his elbows on the table and clasped his hands. “With all due respect, the Reed Entity has a complete understanding of our technology. For example, it altered the engines of ships it copied from the original UEAF Kali that crashed on this planet ten years ago and created a stealth field through which our sensors could not penetrate. I’m sure it has accounted for this medical field.”

  Gaston drummed his fingers on the table. “That is a sobering thought, Doc. Suggestions?”

  “If we’re wrong,” Johnson said. “We’ll know as soon as we enter the lower atmosphere. We can leave long before any permanent harm is done.”

  Galloway crossed his arms. “Sounds risky either way, Skipper. Maybe we could just send a hopper down instead.”

  “With respect, Commander,” Sonja said. “A hopper’s hull isn’t nearly as thick as the Olympus Mons’s hull.”

  “True enough,” Gaston said. “Looks like we’re all going down there, but the first sign of decay, and we unass the planet. I’m not sacrificing an entire ship to investigate a wayward hopper.”

  “Sp
eaking of which…” Johnson adjusted the viewer, which displayed an image of the planet then zoomed in on a small portion of the southern hemisphere, right on the edge of the ocean.

  “Satellites found the hopper here.” Johnson pointed at the flashing dot on the holoimage. “The problem is the planet is rich in minerals that are getting kicked up into the atmosphere by those wicked storms. Thus, we can’t determine if the hopper is one of ours or one of the ones duplicated by the Reed Entity. There’s no transponder and no identifying marks. All we know is that the object on the surface is shaped like a hopper.”

  “Which is why we’re heading down,” Gaston said. “Ensign Monroe, you and Dr. Brenner will approach the crash site in a hopper once we are close enough and have determined the medical field is sufficient protection.”

  “Cody?” She cleared her throat. “I mean, why Dr. Brenner, sir? He’s a civilian.”

  “He’s an ambassador, and the creatures of this world listen to him,” Galloway chimed in. “If we encounter the reeds or any other creature, we’ll need him to talk to them.”

  “With respect, sir,” Johnson said. “I agree with Ensign Monroe. This is a very dangerous mission. He can communicate with the Reed Entity from orbit.”

  “There’s no more technology down there,” Cody said. “The viewers that were scattered about the planet were destroyed. There’s no way to communicate with the locals except personally.”

  “That’s assuming they really did eliminate all of their technology,” Galloway said.

  “True,” Cody continued. “But if they did have it, they certainly wouldn’t reveal it by answering a hail. Further, the Reed Entity knows me, and through the Reed Entity, every creature alive down there knows me and recognizes me as an ambassador. They’ll work with me.”

  Gaston smiled, but without mirth. “Funny how you have a great excuse to go on these dangerous missions. That settles it. You’re going down there, Doc.”

  Cody nodded in acknowledgement.

  “Any other questions?” When no one spoke, Gaston stood. “Good. We breach the atmospheric ceiling in thirty mikes. You two…” He pointed at Cody and Sonja. “I want you in the hopper when we descend. It has been fitted with the medical field, as have your enviro-suits. You’ll launch shortly before touch down.”

  “Our suits?” Cody asked. “We’re going outside?”

  “That you are, but don’t travel too far from the hopper. Understood?”

  “Yes, sir,” Sonja said.

  Cody echoed the acknowledgement.

  “Let’s be extra careful, folks.” Gaston turned to leave. “I don’t want to be a permanent resident on this dirt ball.”

  ~~~

  Cody pulled up a view of the Olympus Mons’s main holoviewer while he was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat. The image hovered between him and Sonja, showing the reddish atmosphere getting closer and closer.

  “Breaching in five.” It was Johnson’s voice. “Here we go.”

  The atmosphere buffeted around the Olympus Mons as she descended. The artificial gravity in both the hopper and the ship muffled much of the effect. If Cody didn’t know any better, he might have thought he was watching a holoshow, although this show could be deadly.

  They dropped lower into the reddish atmosphere, like sinking into a giant pot of blood. The air swarmed around them, and the hopper shook.

  “Whoa.” Sonja looked over at Cody. “You strapped in?”

  Cody patted his seat buckle.

  “We’re getting some chop,” Johnson said. “No hurricanes in this area, but the shears are pretty bad.”

  “Think we can survive a hurricane?” Lieutenant Commander Galloway asked.

  “Let’s not find out,” Gaston said. “Time until waypoint?”

  “Three mikes, sir,” Johnson said.

  Cody took a deep breath as he stared at the HUD. In the distance, dark clouds swirled like mud in water. From one of those clouds emerged a shadow. The creature billowed in the wind as its tentacles flitted. Cody remembered seeing those creatures before. Most called them jellyfish, but these jellyfish floated in the air, not in the water. Kali Prime’s gravity was high, which meant higher atmospheric pressure, which meant flying was easier.

  Which meant giant flying monsters.

  “What’s that damn thing doing?” Gaston asked.

  The jellyfish was different from what Cody remembered. Its skin was dark and dirty, unlike the yellowish color it’d had prior to the change. The creature lowered itself, approaching the planet at the same rate as the Olympus Mons. A moment later, its form narrowed, and it gained altitude rapidly until it vanished into a cloud.

  “Goddamn thing better not follow us,” Galloway muttered.

  “It’s the smaller locals I’m worried about,” Gaston said. “How is our hull holding up?”

  After a pause, Johnson answered. “No contamination. No degradation. Looks like the medical field is keeping the bacteria at bay.”

  “That’s good news,” Gaston said. “Altitude?”

  “Five hundred klicks over the surface and dropping,” Johnson said. “Monroe, you’re up in one mike.”

  “Understood.” Sonja activated the hopper’s engines, and the grav plates hummed to life. “You know, every time we come here, something bad happens.”

  Cody snorted. Before she had left for OCS, they had been stuck inside a hopper for days after the Reed Entity’s fleet of ships, copied from the old UEAF Kali, destroyed the Washington. They were lucky to be alive.

  “Not this time,” Cody said. “We’ll check it out and be gone before you know it.”

  “Hope so.” Sonja looked at her console. “This is Banshee One Eight. Our medical field is online and functional. We are ready at your discretion.”

  “Understood,” Gaston said. “Stand by.”

  Sonja flexed her fingers and winked at Cody. “It better not be like last time.”

  “You’re on, Banshee One Eight,” Johnson said. “Launch.”

  “Launching.” Sonja pushed the stick forward.

  The launch tube enveloped the hopper for a few seconds then spat them out into the red atmosphere. The hopper accelerated away, spiraling down toward the surface.

  “Reading no hull degradation,” Cody said.

  The HUD on the canopy showed the surrounding terrain, including the plant life. A forest of dish trees sat several kilometers away. They were known for a giant bowl like a satellite on top, which collected both rain and sunshine via their reddish leaves. But, like everything else, they had changed after the Reed Entity poisoned the planet. They had a much squarer-shaped leaf instead of the bowl-shaped one from before. The limbs along their trunks spread outward as the trees sped away from the landing hopper, their branch-like legs moving in a rapid circular fashion. They’d be a kilometer away in maybe half an hour.

  “They’re really moving,” Sonja said.

  Cody nodded. “Yeah, much faster than before they were changed.”

  “Landing in five,” Sonja said.

  The hopper leveled out and dropped in altitude just above the surface. Cody couldn’t see the ground outside the canopy and had to keep track of it on lidar, radar, and even sonar. Soon, the hopper vibrated gently, and the grav plates reduced in power but didn’t shut off completely.

  “We’re here.” She unbuckled herself. “Let’s get our suits on.”

  Cody jumped out of his seat and followed her into the hopper bay, where Sonja was already pulling out the enviro-suits.

  “Think the locals will bother us?” Sonja asked.

  “Not with the grav plates on,” Cody said.

  The inhabitants of the planet sensed electromagnetic waves the way humans felt wind on their skin, only to a far more sensitive level. The inhabitants could even manipulate the magnetic waves in the immediate area, to a degree. Mostly, they did so for communication purposes, sending entire ideas to one another through magnetism, using a language no one had successfully translated.

  As efficient a
s that communication system was, it had its drawbacks. The gravity engines of human vessels were “loud,” as the fliers often put it. Cody equated it to having a coil pistol fired next to one’s ear. Even if it didn’t do any hearing damage, it would be too loud to bear.

  “That’s assuming everything here still hears magnetism like before,” Sonja said. “Remember those toad pilots we found?”

  Cody recalled the pilots they had seen in the caves where the Reed Entity was constructing space vessels. Each toad had been stripped of the ability to sense electromagnetism so that they could pilot hoppers without feeling constant pain. As slaves of the Reed Entity, the toads didn’t have much choice, but the pitiable creatures hated being alive. The toad the Tokugawa’s crew captured and placed in the brig eight months before had asked to be killed. It eventually did die by mysterious means after the battle with the Kali fleet, along with every other toad in system.

  Sonja pulled her enviro-suit on, as did Cody. Then she passed him a coil pistol in a holster. “Just in case.”

  Cody attached the weapon to his belt. Back when humans had made regular trips to Kali, all personnel were required to be armed. That meant Cody had to become proficient with one, which he had, both in practice and in actual combat. He hoped he would never have to use one again.

  Sonja touched a button at the base of the neck of her enviro-suit, and her helmet unfolded and sealed itself. Cody did the same. He ran through the checklist, and everything came up green, including the suit’s med-field.

  “How much time do we have if this med-field fails?” Sonja asked.

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t ask,” Cody said. “From what I could tell from the examination reports regarding the bacteria samples retrieved from the upper atmosphere, maybe five minutes.”

  “Enough time to get back.” Sonja walked toward the hopper’s rear exit and pulled a tether from the wall. “Grab the other one and attach it to your suit. The winds have been known to reach a few hundred klicks per hour.”

  Cody nodded. “How’d you learn all this? You just arrived.”