by John Coon
Calandra frowned. Why did these Earthians make a special point of ridiculing their appearance? What was so strange about their clothing and gear? Calandra started feeling self-conscious with how she and Xttra stood out from the crowd in a negative way. These people did not act welcoming or peaceful like she hoped and expected.
“Can I have two tickets?” A distinct sharpness tinged Xttra's question. “And keep your comments to yourself.”
The satisfied grin plastered across the blond-haired Earthian's face vanished once he said those words. She glanced over at a thin monitor set in front of her.
“I have a couple of tickets in W8.” She tapped her index finger on the screen. “That will be $250.”
“Dollars?” Xttra repeated.
The Earthian woman looked at him and nodded.
“We take cash, credit card, or palm chips.”
Calandra realized they had a problem on their hands. They owned none of those items the Earthian demanded. She carried a few Ra'ahm coins in one of her pockets. Zero chance existed the coins would satisfy those demands. Xttra gave it a shot anyway. He pulled out four coins from his pocket. Each coin bore a distinctive copper color and resembled a circle fused inside a triangle. He slapped the coins down at the edge of the window.
“Will this work for you?”
The blond-haired Earthian glanced down at his Ra'ahm coins and then up at Xttra again. A deep scowl washed over her face.
“No. I want actual money. Cash. Greenbacks. Moolah. You read me?”
“This is the only thing we have.”
“Then get lost. You're holding up the line.”
She waved dismissively at him to drive the order home. Xttra gathered the four coins and returned them to his pocket. Calandra pulled him aside once they stepped out of the line.
“This isn't working. How will we ever find the probe builders at this rate?”
Xttra shrugged.
“We better find a different way to make contact.”
17
Doni frowned when he heard repeated beeps from his arca vox. An image of Lance appeared on his holoscreen. He narrowed his eyes and sighed.
"What is it?" He snapped.
"You missed your scheduled check-in with me," Lance responded in an equally cross tone. “I've been waiting for 20 minutes now.”
"What's there to say?" Doni set his arca vox on the aerorover seat and turned away from the holoscreen while he continued rummaging through the rear cargo space. "We saw some alien plants and animals while flying overhead. We're chronicling our findings now and will share them in depth on our return."
His glib response did not soften the sternness permeating Lance's expression.
“You still need to check in.”
“Did our master pilot and his little astronomer friend check in yet?”
“How is that relevant?”
Doni closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.
“Goodbye.”
His eyes opened again, and he pressed a crystal button to end the conversation. Lance vanished from the holoscreen. Within a few seconds, the arca vox started beeping again. Doni picked it up and smacked it hard against the seat.
The beeping stopped.
“I think you broke it. You shouldn't beat on those things like that.”
Doni glanced up at Atch. Annoyance flashed through his eyes. The navigator stood outside the opposite aerorover door, watching him root through the cargo space rather than do anything useful.
“It will be fine.”
He gave a loud grunt as he tugged on a case and finally popped it out from behind the seat. Doni dragged the case forward and set it on the ground near a fallen tree at the edge of the clearing where they parked. He stood up straight again, smoothed out his uniform, and wiped a trickle of sweat from his balding scalp.
“You don't need to act combative with everyone on this crew, you know.” Atch closed the other door and hurried to catch up to him at the fallen tree. “We're not asking to be best friends, but we can all try to get along.”
Doni shot him an irritated stare.
“I'll stop being combative when everyone else grows functioning brain cells.”
Atch's mouth dropped open a little. All he could do is shake his head. Doni turned away and let a wry smile crawl across his lips. He figured what he said ought to shut the little ictus bug up for a while.
“Do you work hard at being this arrogant?”
Or maybe not.
Doni refused to look at Atch again. He hunched over the case and unsealed it. Once he pried off the top, Doni extracted bio code scanner components. The scanner broke down into multiple pieces for transport and he needed to reassemble the individual pieces before it could be activated.
Atch scrunched up his face as soon as he laid eyes on the device.
“I'm not excited over the idea of encountering alien animals out here. I kind of wish I got to go into the alien city instead.”
That made two people who wished Atch was in some other place. The navigator complained more than Doni’s wife did whenever a musician performed music that she disliked at the annual harvest festival. Still, Mavia made it easy to overlook her annoying quirks because of the important social connections being married to a daughter of a former Serranta Islands governor gave him.
Atch was a different story. He already tested the limits of his patience. Doni held off on the urge to voice his thoughts for the moment. Still, he did shoot Atch a quizzical look.
“Don't tell me you're already afraid of the animals on this planet.”
Atch's eyes darted between the tree line on a ridge straight ahead and Doni. He instinctively touched a long scar running behind his right ear down to the underside of his jaw. A similar scar also covered the length of his right forearm.
“Have you ever encountered a treema?”
Doni gave him a sideways glance.
“No. Searching out exotic wildlife is not my hobby.”
“Small pockets of wild treemas are scattered throughout the Aurora Mountains.”
“Uh huh.”
“They're ferocious predators.”
“So I've heard.”
“I learned it firsthand.”
Doni's ears perked up. He heard occasional stories of wild treema attacks. Never met an actual survivor of a treema encounter until now.
“Is that so?” A deep crease formed in his brow as he turned and glanced up at Atch again. “When did you encounter one?”
“A friend told me about a treema nest near Ventos Ridge. I hiked up to the ridge to check it out. A treema snarled and dropped on me from a short ledge. Swatted my head with its paw. Nearly tore my ear clean off before I wounded its leg with an eliminator and scrambled back down the mountain.”
“There's your biggest problem. You disturbed a treema nest.”
Doni could not imagine how frightening a treema attack must feel firsthand. He never wanted to find out. They looked cute with their furry snouts and deep eyes but were also big and strong enough to do major damage.
Atch shuddered.
“Lesson learned. I pressed a cloth bandage against the wound, but still left a huge blood trail. I was scared to death that treema would recover and catch me before I reached my aerorover.”
Doni focused his eyes on the bio code scanner again and snapped the final piece in place. He set it upright on the ground. Once fully assembled, the scanner resembled a cup portion of a chalice sitting upside down on a square platform with three evenly spaced rods jutting out from each side and the top. Each rod measured the length of a human forearm and a clear marble-sized ball topped the end. A small screen embedded near the middle of the scanner displayed bio codes when the device detected them. Buttons sat on each side of the scanner below the rods. The left button activated the device while the right one shut it down again.
“There we go.” Doni let a rare satisfied smile wash over his face. “Now we should get a clear reading on what alien species lurk in this forest.”
He activated the bio code scanner with the press of a button. It began emitting short low-powered electrical pulses in spaces between the three rods. Each pulse seemed to leap past the ends of the rods and vanish into the mountain air.
Bio structures and miniature infrared outlines for several unidentified animals started appearing on the screen. Pulses spread out in a complete circle from the scanner and mapped the entire surface area within a designated region.
Doni started by mapping the section of the forest where they landed. Atch took one look at the screen and let out a gasp. He backed up a step.
“That's a lot of alien animals.” A nervous tone gripped his voice. “Several large animals.”
Doni answered him with an unblinking stare.
“I'm just saying.”
Doni turned and pointed at a small trail south of their aerorover. It plunged through a small thicket of trees and eventually wound down the side of the mountain.
“The scanner isn't picking up any animals in that direction. Go collect your rock and soil samples and let's get on with this.”
Atch did not budge from his spot between the scanner and the aerorover door.
“Maybe I can hop on the arca vox and have Xttra gather some samples on his way back.”
Doni sighed and shook his head.
“Grow a spine. I doubt you'll find a single treema anywhere on this planet.”
Atch scowled. He marched back to the aerorover and fished a small sealed bin out from the cargo space. Then, without a single glimpse at Doni, he stomped past him down the trail. Doni let a relieved sigh escape his lips once the irksome navigator dropped out of his sight.
Near the bottom of the screen, Doni moved a bar to expand the scan's range to include all surrounding mountains. He kept his eyes glued to the monitor as a greater number of alien animals appeared on the screen. The scan also detected a few Earthians. These mountains abounded with life. None of the mapped animals had a specific bio code he sought to uncover. Their bio codes did not match any extracted from hybrids on record.
Doni counted it as a stroke of good fortune.
“The chief sovereign will be pleased if these results hold,” he mumbled.
Thinking about the word 'hybrid' made Doni shudder. His last conversation with Delcor flashed through his mind again. Those memories returned him to the briefing room on the day when the chief sovereign laid out the parameters for this expedition. Delcor tilted his head and motioned for Doni to join him at the front of the room after he dismissed the crew. He greeted the chief sovereign with a bow and Delcor responded with a hearty embrace.
“Your wisdom and experience will prove useful on this expedition, old friend.” Delcor gave him a smile of approval. “I would have never considered signing off on it without you on board.”
“I'm forever in your service, my sovereign.”
Delcor broke eye contact with Doni and his eyes drifted to the back of the room for a moment. His expression grew more solemn when he refocused his gaze on Doni a second time.
“I have a special mission for you should your scout ship reach the planet called Earth.”
“What is it?”
Delcor's eyes darted back and forth and he leaned forward, drawing closer to Doni's right ear.
“Run a bio code scan after you reach the planet's surface.” His voice took on a hushed tone. “Look for traces of hybrids. If you find evidence of their presence, scrub the mission and report to me without delay.”
“What if I encounter resistance?”
Doni instinctively turned and glanced at the back of the briefing room. Both Xttra and Calandra stared back at him. Xttra, in particular, carried a suspicious hostility on his face. It became clear to Doni from the moment he first met him earlier that same day.
“Do whatever you need to do to quell that resistance. We cannot let evidence of hybrids find a way back to the Confederation.”
Doni turned back to Delcor and nodded. The probe’s point of origin matched the same system where the chief sovereign's agents hid whatever evidence remained of hybrids. The Confederation long suspected Ra'ahm military leadership of partnering with Rubrum scientists to create mass numbers of genetic hybrids during the Separatist War. Delcor repeatedly denied tampering with bio codes of soldiers within his ranks – even after a legion of hybrids massacred enough Confederation soldiers to force their emperor to sue for peace. The chief sovereign grew determined after assuming power that his official narrative on Rubrum hybrids would stand at all costs.
“I have one additional assignment.” Delcor narrowed his eyes as he spoke. “Keep a close eye on Xttra Oogan. Make a note of suspicious behavior.”
“The master pilot?”
Doni cast his eyes toward the back of the room a second time. The rest of the crew – including Xttra – had filed out of the room.
“Oogan is a common clan name in some parts of the land.” Surprise rose in his voice as he returned his attention to the chief sovereign. “Can we be certain he is connected to the same clan?”
Delcor looked down at the floor for a moment. When his eyes focused on Doni again, they showed a cold determination.
“I never take chances.”
Beeps from his arca vox pulled Doni's thoughts back to the present. He sauntered back to the open aerorover door and plucked it off the seat. Doni sighed as Lance's image appeared before him again.
“We're not done out here. How many times do I have to repeat myself before you get the message?”
“I don't have time to argue. We need your help.”
Panic filled the assistant pilot's eyes. Heavy breaths escaped his lips. Lance kept staring over his shoulder at something off screen. Doni gave him a curious look.
“What happened?”
“Bo'un is injured. A large alien animal attacked him. He's in rough shape.”
“How bad is it?”
“He's lost a lot of blood. Jbali is doing what he can to stabilize him, but we need a medical officer here. Every minute counts.”
Doni bit down on his lower lip. Why in Ahm's name did their master pilot trust this idiot so implicitly? How many people must get injured or killed under his watch before Lance paid for his dereliction of duty?
“I'm on my way.”
He pressed a button and the holoscreen vanished. Doni cast his eyes at the bio code scanner. It still had detected nothing matching a hybrid bio code signature. He needed more time to cover the ground he needed to cover. If only he did not need to clean up other people's messes.
Doni pressed another button on the arca vox and tried to connect with Atch.
“Return to the aerorover. We need to leave this place at once.”
Nothing popped up on the holoscreen. No voice responded through the speaker.
“Atch are you there? Answer me.”
Silence greeted him again.
Doni cast his eyes down the trail where Atch departed earlier. He brushed his hand through his thin white hair and scowled. No feet crunching through leaves. No voice in the distance. Not a single identifiable sound.
“You worthless ictus bug! Where did you go? We need to leave now.”
Doni's voice echoed a bit across the mountain ridge. He cocked his head toward the trail. Still no response. It did not matter now.
He could wait no longer.
Doni gathered up the bio code scanner and dashed to the aerorover. Atch would need to stay here for now while he tended to Bo'un.
18
Lance thought it sounded like a terrible idea from the start. Attempting to capture a wild alien animal carried all sorts of possible negative ramifications. It could secrete toxic venom or introduce a virulent pathogen and they would have no defense against these things. Bo'un needed a better method for channeling his boredom.
“This is a scientific expedition, isn't it?” Bo'un drummed his fingers on the helm console while he stood next to Lance. “We'll learn more about native species on this planet if we capture some for
study rather than observe them from a distance.”
“Sounds like a reckless idea. What if that animal turns out to be a predator?”
Bo'un drew an eliminator from his holster. He kept the barrel pointed at the ceiling of the bridge.
“I can take care of myself. Trust me.”
Those words soon turned into a hollow boast. Lance first heard his awful screams while running a routine life support diagnostic check. He sprinted into the cargo bay and down the ramp. Jbali met him at the bottom with widened eyes.
“Did you hear that?”
Lance's eyes darted back and forth.
“Where's Bo'un?”
Jbali charged up the ramp and reemerged a few seconds later with a thermal tracker. The small square device fit inside his hand. A crystal screen occupied most of the space on the face of the device. Two buttons and a tiny central rolling ball covered the bottom third. Jbali pressed the left button to activate his tracker. Heat patterns from him and Lance popped up on the screen. He touched the rolling ball to expand the tracker's range beyond the immediate area surrounding the scout ship.
Bo'un's heat pattern soon appeared along with patterns from two unidentified animals. One animal appeared much larger than their weapons officer.
“He's to the southwest of the meadow.” Jbali thrust his hand out in the same direction. “I think he's in trouble. We better hurry.”
Both men took off on a dead run toward Bo'un's position. They reached a trail where a rotting tree had fallen across the path. Leaves and branches were stripped away until only a trunk remained. Jbali and Lance each hurdled the dead tree. Flood water had washed out a part of the path ahead, exposing various jagged rocks. Both men danced between rocks and picked up the pace again.
Lance saw a small brook babbling only a short distance ahead. An enormous animal with black shaggy fur stood on all fours in front of a tall green tree on the opposite bank. It had an imposing appearance. The beast owned broad shoulders, a stocky body, a long narrow muzzle, rounded ears set near the back of the head, and small dark eyes. A smaller animal from the same species cowered in a branch high above the larger one's head.
