‘What are you seeing? Tell me!’ The Russian scientist could not withhold his curiosity.
‘Does anyone see anything in there?’ the Russian asked them inquisitively and the others fixed their gazes on the watery mist.
‘Amazing! Do you see the same thing I do?’ Liu asked, staring into the abyss through the built-in night visor of his helmet. He did not take his eyes off of the darkening vastness which was merging with the mass of cumulous clouds brought by yet another evening storm drifting in their direction.
‘I think so. It’s huge, right, why does it look so familiar?’ Scott stared at the water with a quizzical look.
‘The same gigantic rock formations we saw when we landed here. They look like columns propping the sky, but the one over there looks much bigger than the ones we saw. It must be winding up for at least a few thousand miles,’ Hiroshi assumed.
‘Mila, do you read me?’
‘I read you, Professor.’
‘I want you to find out how many such colossal constructions there are here in the vicinity and on the entire planet in general. I want to know everything for each one of these formations. Use the data from the satellite that orbits the space above.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ the blond woman replied.
‘Let’s move on, we shouldn’t stay long here,’ Alan spoke up nervously again.
They roved the beach-like landscape, but to their ill fortune the way up proved to be blocked by dangerous, difficult-to-climb rocks and the track was not particularly comfortable for an “uphill” passage like the first one was.
‘Everyone, stay back. We’re going back to where we came down,’ Alan cried, seized by an even greater fright, it was as if he was caught in a trap. That feeling did not possess just him, but the entire team.
At a quick step the team together with the Professor scurried back across the beach and in ten minutes they reached the already familiar starting point. But apart from the stones, they saw something else between the crags. Something almost unfamiliar. A grayish white demon that only Tom had seen before blocked their way in all of its height and horribleness. And at that moment it was doing what it knew best–killing and eating. That was the worst possible moment for such an encounter. The five explorers interrupted its lunch while it was feeding in a rather striking manner. His prey which was lying squeezed between it’s thick legs was torn into pieces and instead of devouring its flesh or it spilled blood the monster was eating its bones. Undisturbed, the gigantic half-intelligent predator was мunching the bones and the bone marrow rather loudly. Right when it managed to rip the head of the animal off and started chewing the brain along with the cranium, it saw them! Their eyes met, the humans were completely taken aback. The four pointed their weapons at the critter and locked on the target.
‘Nobody moves!’ the Russian scientist called out and sneaked away behind the backs of the four brave men.
The animal rose up, throwing its food to the side and began sizing them up. It uttered a powerful roar which startled and scared our heroes, but they did not know whether that was a cry for help or if it was meant to subjugate them into awe, yet it did not force them away. The grayish white beast seemed to have assessed the complex situation it was in and took a slow step back, jumping over a stone that came to stand between it and the earthlings. Right before the explorers were to continue on their way a similar stone launched from the critter’s hiding place whooshed over their heads. The rocky chunk hit Liu and sent him a few dozen feet away, then the fiendish creature ambushed Alan. It bit into the American’s clavicle and flung him forcefully into the opposite direction. Hiroshi and Scott opened fire on the demon and the Professor moved back, trying to find some shelter for himself. A powerful blow hurled the Japanese far away into the air and, to his misfortune, sent him right on top of the Professor.
‘Die, rotten pest!’ Scott cried, opening burst-fire on the critter and making a few paces backwards. Seconds before the colossus had reached him, too, a bullet lodged itself straight into the left hip joint of the invincible animal and paralyzed its leg. Liu and Alan recovered quickly and made a dash for the hobbling freak of nature, grabbing it by the two chunky fore legs. It was hard for them to subdue it at first, but a few seconds later they managed to crucify it, pulling its limbs in different direction. They did not want to go into battle with it nor did they wish to kill it, but it was too strong to be handled. Scott decided to shoot once he saw his fellow crewmen who barely managed to deal with the situation, already bitten a few times by the enraged beast. But almost none of the bullets hit the calcified body. The American focused his fire on the joints of the upper limbs and by some miracle they were so much riven to shreds that Liu and Alan succeeded in ripping them off entirely. Despite the absent pieces of his body, the monster did not stop, but proceeded attacking with its jaws. Scott ceased the fire, released the blade of his right hand, gained speed with a leap and slit the throat of the fierce water demon which collapsed at his cousin’s feet. The impact sounded like metal hitting rock and the few sparks that flew up as a result were enough to show just how much power it took to hurt that animal. That put an end to the turmoil.
‘Are you all right, Professor?’ the Japanese stood up at that moment after almost crushing the Russian alumnus.
‘I don’t know, you’re rather heavy. I think you broke my arm.’ The Professor started writhing in pain.
‘Lift him up, you’ll have to carry him on your back, we can’t stay here any longer!’ Alan cried and at that moment they witnessed the same thing Thomas had seen earlier on, but in a more shocking way that aggravated their situation. The quick decomposition of the dismembered carcass stunned them. The first thing they saw was the water trickling down into the sand and the thick grayish white substance that filled the body turned into ash. Ashes to ashes. But that was not the most terrifying aspect of the situation. The buzz, the vibration-like sound, suddenly grew louder and reached a critical, nearly earsplitting level.
‘Boys, you need to get out of there right now! The detectors are reading some very strange activity in the sea water,’ Mila announced over the radios.
‘Quick, quick, quick!’ Alan yelled and everyone ran up the rocks. Hiroshi was carrying the Professor up towards the forest area, covered by the other men. Almost halfway through they heard a suspicious silence falling over the region. The birds and the animals went quiet as though for good, but suddenly they heard a loud splash coming from the sea behind. It sounded like a school of big fish, hunting and rampaging around. But that had nothing to do with reality. Numerous grayish white creatures began springing out of the water like demons coming from another realm. Powerful roars could be heard for miles away, floating as far away as the shuttle, and the thousands of legs were quickly advancing through the water mass . . .
‘Run to the shuttle, fast! Run as fast as you can,’ Zanev screamed, slung over Hiroshi’s shoulder. Seeing what happened behind everybody’s backs, he was the first to lay eyes on the sea invasion.
A minute later they stepped into the forest land they had come from. They bolted up the woods as if they were running a marathon. The explorers were galloping at speed unknown to a human being and the forest behind was quaking, the trees were wavering powerfully some two thousand feet back in the place they had just escaped. All sorts of bird-like critters overtook them by air, probably out of fear of the outcome of a potential skirmish with that sinister organism.
‘Mila, do you read me? Prepare for instant take-off!’ Alan cried as he was running, throwing backward glances every now and then.
‘I’m switching on the engines, hurry up!’ the woman said. ‘Thomas, where are you, Thomas?’ she started calling out her compatriot, scared.
‘I’m almost there,’ the Colonel suddenly said out of nowhere.
The five men equipped with “Fighting Suit 1“ were on the end of their human and technological ropes–the expensive technology was becoming hard to maneuver. The roar, the noise, the vibrations echoin
g off the ground and the plentiful heavy monsters running together were becoming especially palpable as they were coming closer and closer. In the last fifteenth minutes of the marathon the outlines of the shuttle flickered in the distance. Thomas got in through the open hatch and received an instant hug from Mila.
‘I thought you wouldn’t make it! Come here right now!’ the Russian lady said, pulling him by the hand and the two ran towards the cockpit. ‘Help me fly the craft off or we’re all going to die.’ The two sat down and turned on the take-off mode.
‘Come on, just a little bit more!’ Hiroshi yelled, last in line as he was carrying the Professor. They could already see the first roaring avengers behind them, overturning trees and squashing bushes on their way. Seconds before they were caught and eaten by the numerous critters, one by one the explorers squeezed in through the hatch that led to the cargo compartment.
‘Go, go, go! Now!’ the Japanese called out, throwing the Professor inside. Suddenly he felt the heavy, horrific, deathly breath of a demon that grabbed him by the leg just when he had pulled himself up in the air. A few of the beasts from the countless army even took hold of the body of the shuttle, causing disturbances in the aerodynamic processes of the craft. ‘Get away, freak!’ he yelled then and cut off the limb that was holding him captive.
They reached supersonic speed for a few seconds and managed to fly out of the planet’s atmosphere, freeing themselves from the intruders. Everyone was in shock, they felt they had been so close to death that they did not even dare move. Save for having preserved their lives, their greatest achievement was the successful safeguarding of the samples that would tell them what exactly was going on in that dratted place.
‘Mila, Thomas, well done, you saved us!’ their compatriot expressed his gratefulness
‘Everyone, listen! That thing that attacked us down there was much different and far more dangerous than what we’ve seen until now. Those creatures were strong and numerous. We have to go back and examine them as soon as possible, otherwise we’re doomed to failure,’ the Colonel explained when he gathered the team. ‘We have a lot of work ahead of us. While we’re up here, in the still cosmic waters, I want us to make a full check-up of the systems and the engines. We have to be spotless. Liu and Hiroshi, take care of that. Scott and Alan, I’m leaving the electronics’ diagnostics to you. I’ll be in the helm and I’ll be in touch with you; let’s see if we’ll find any malfunctions.’
‘What do I do?’ the blond lady asked.
‘You’re coming with me in the lab, again!’ the Professor spoke up unexpectedly, sitting at the side. ‘We’ll spend the night in Menoetius’s orbit. Turn off the engines and leave the craft float freely. I have to go check my condition now. I need someone to come help me with the bandage. The rest of you, get some rest, we have a lot to do,’ the Professor advised. With his indomitable spirit he was their tower of strength. ’
‘Of course. I’ll do what I can,’ Mila replied.
‘You can do much more than that! Your knowledge will be of use to us.’ the Professor spoke again and stood up, motioning the woman towards the laboratory. She, however, looked Thomas straight in the eyes as if she wanted to tell him something, but she never ventured to speak. Nikolaevna headed down the corridor without looking back.
‘Mila, let’s start with the samples we obtained from the sand and the hard particles. We’ll finish with the samples Thomas provided and the sea water ones I took,’ Roman divided the tasks upon entering the room.
The crew finally managed to peacefully slip out of the suits–the batteries were nearly dead after the two days of adventures. They left them to recharge for two hours so they could reach their full capacity and went to fortify themselves. The Russian scientist X-rayed his arm and his leg. They were badly bruised, but, luckily, not broken. Hiroshi’s suit had calculated the least harmful angle of falling for both men–that was a great advantage having in mind what repercussions could such kind of trauma cause for the development of the mission. Soon they start floating in orbit around that harsh and ferocious planet and the observations they made during their two-day stay were not only extreme, but they contradicted their intentions. How could such a place become home to the human race and did we have any chance at all to go there and settle in? That was a question that still could not be answered clearly, but probably the solution could be tenacity along with courage and other qualities which a good part of the people lacked. . .
The time they spent together on the mission had begun to draw them closer imperceptibly. On her initiative they started getting to know each other better and better outside their work duties. In moments as hard as those the friendship between fellow colleagues was especially necessary. The only woman on board was open to the world and wanted to know more about the person she was working with at that moment and who was the very reason she was on that shuttle at all. She was polite, good and agreeable and that made getting along with one of the greatest men who lived in our lifetime even easier. The beautiful woman started asking questions–not just out of curiosity, but also in an attempt to break the ice in that tense situation. As she was fixing the samples under the microscope she decided she wanted to know some details about her work-absorbed benefactor.
‘Professor, how come you decided to join us on the mission?’
‘Interesting question,’ Roman said and continued. ‘Such decisions are not taken lightly by someone my age,’ the Russian replied and grinned. ‘I wanted to help you and I think it is not in vain that I’m here.’
‘Yes, indeed!’ she remarked.
‘Frankly speaking, I needed something like this, despite the risk involved. I needed something different than spending every day on the computer or buried in paperwork. There’s plenty of reasons as you can see,’ he said sincere as never before.
‘Don’t you have anyone waiting for you down there on the blue spot?’ the lady asked yet another question.
‘Yes, I have a wife, children and grandchildren. But they’re not just waiting for me, they also count on me, and it’s not just them. Maybe that’s what compelled me to come here, it’s just that the fire within me is still smoldering,’ the Professor admitted. ‘How about you? Do you have someone? Family or a loved one whose woeful look is cast up in the stars?
‘Yes, I have. I miss my family a lot, I miss my fiancé–I haven’t seen him for more than a day for about a year now. I don’t know how he still loves me.’
‘It’s hard, all that you’re putting him through. For the sake of both of you, you’d better be patient, otherwise you’d better go your separate ways because broken promises hurt more than separation,’ he advised her quietly while changing the lenses of his microscope.
‘I think so, too, that’s what hurts me the most. And the more time that passes, the more I realize that despite the years spent together we might not be right for each other. We live in harsh times, both of us. He’s a doctor and I’m a military officer. Ugly as it may sound, I think circumstances will pull us apart. Maybe that would be better for both of us,’ Mila shared with sorrow.’
‘You shouldn’t feel any doubts or fears, time will tell,’ her compatriot said, trying to lend her his support. ‘Don’t despair, love might pop up from places you least expect it to. Besides, your work right now is even more important than your personal wellbeing. All of us who are here have sacrificed something we cherish.
‘And you? How did you take up the searching and exploring of planets? Your work was classified as science fiction when I were still a child,’ the lady’s inquisitiveness took the upper hand one more time.
‘It’s a long story, but I’ll cut it short, I don’t want to bore you,’ the scientists said, smiling.
‘I’m all years,’ Mila said, sincerely desiring to know more about that titan of contemporary science.
‘I grew up in Saint Petersburg, an enormous city full of opportunities. I received a good education, but nevertheless I did not take the path that my family or my school point
ed me towards. When I graduated from university I could work for the Russian army as an engineer in our largest spaceport. I would have been part of the maintenance crew of the engines of different rockets that launched satellites into orbit. But I decided to specialize in science and to invest in myself. That’s how it all started. From a master’s degree to an academic title, then I became a Professor in Astrophysics and Planetology and from one project to another I winded up making a great discovery. The decision I made when I was young changed my life and definitely made it interesting,’ he remembered the old days with a smile.
‘You seem to have worked hard for everything. Was that your dream when you were a child?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Roman stated decidedly. ‘My father and my mother, let her rest in peace, did a good job raising me. Maybe it was my father who inspired me to go in that direction–he was an engineer and he was particularly good at what he did, hence my inclination for science. When I was a child he would tell me that I was his little astronaut. I still remember that. Then, when I grew up, he told me to aim for something more real, more achievable.’ Mila listened with undivided attention. ‘I understood what he meant, but I never did what he told me to. He didn’t realize he gave me something far more precious – male qualities, freedom and the right to choose; at the same time he was completely engulfed by reality and did everything according to a plan. I wasn’t like him, I dreamt, I daydreamt a lot and worked hard to get what I have. To this day I think that it was my imagination and my decisiveness that made me who I am now. I never once stopped dreaming and gazing at the stars, wishing that I would reach them someday,’ he recounted, visibly saddened by the last words he uttered. Maybe it was out of joy or it might as well have been something rather personal and deeply cherished. ‘What I just told you has only been heard by my wife and now by you. My wonderful wife who always supported me in everything. She’s perhaps the only person who believes in me more than I do . . .
Dawn of Hope- Exodus Page 32
