by Gary Weston
'Raz? Raz? Are you there?'
'Felix. I had a bit of a hard landing, but I'll be okay. I'm in a sort of big domed room. Massive. I'm going to try to send you what I'm looking at, but I'm not sure if it will work after that landing. Jeez. Sorry you can't be here with me.'
'I can if you send the damn platform back.'
'Sorry, I forgot. It doesn't seem too beat up. Make sure you keep out of the way when it gets there. On its way.' The device set off at a steady walking pace to get Hellicoyle. 'Felix. Prepare to have your mind completely blown away. This is incredible.'
'Stop sending it me second hand. I'm on my way.'
Even so, Hellicoyle was subjected to fifteen minutes of, WOW! JEEZ! YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!
Hellicoyle made a more graceful exit of the tunnel, laying the device carefully by the entrance. He too flipped his sun visor.
'My God. I thought you must be exaggerating, but clearly not. Is he...it the only one?'
'I've had a quick look around, but he's the only one I've seen so far.'
They stared at the dried husk of a small being. It was twisted up with thin, bony knees tucked up into a barrel chest. It was dressed in a smock like gown of a silver grey material. It wore no breathing apparatus.
Hellicoyle said, 'He isn't human, but either he's from this planet, or this dome was some sort of airtight room filled with whatever he breathed. He wasn't too happy by the look of his expression.'
Berry crossed the room to some odd shapes along one side. 'This is what I'm interested in. Remind you of anything?'
'Some sort of control room. But they look like dummy control panels. Sort of pretend stuff.'
'I see what you mean, but what would be the point?'
Berry asked, 'And why only one body? What's that about?'
Hellicoyle was down on one knee examining the body. 'Not sure if this is his natural colour, but it's not a very healthy yellow. I'll get the medical centre to take him to be properly examined later and to do an autopsy. Interesting.'
'What?'
'Come and look.'
Berry said, 'I'm not good with dead bodies.'
'I think there's been foul play, here.'
'Come again?'
Hellicoyle said, 'I think he was murdered.'
'Yeah? Well it sure wasn't me.'
'Come on. We need to tell the commanders.'
Berry said, 'I'll go first and you can keep taking a look. I'll send the thing back up to get you.'
Berry got on the platform and ignited the thruster which gently lowered him down the tunnel. Hellicoyle continued checking the room, but his eyes were homing in on the small dead body. The face was distorted in a twisted grimace of agony. Large, very round, lash-less eyes seemed to be following him around the domed room. And it was odd just to be one of them. His thoughts were interrupted by the platform returning and he hurried to put his weight on it to stop it come flying out of the tunnel. He knelt down on it, hooked his legs through the security loop and turned the control clockwise. He was on his way down.
Chapter 117
'Commander Potts,' said Berry. 'Geology has a certain amount of detective work, but not so much on people.'
'But murdered?' said Potts. 'He's an alien. Does that even count as murder for us humans?'
Forbes said, 'It would be good to have it looked at through the eyes of a detective, or at least police. Just for interest sake.'
Potts said, 'The nearest we have to a detective is Commander Lance Dillow. I'll put a call out for him.'
As Potts did that, Forbes, Hellicoyle and Berry discussed the new find. Seventeen minutes later, Commander of Space Security Lance “Armour” Dillow, arrived.
'A murder?' Dillow studied their faces. This only sounded like a wind up.
'It looked that way to me,' said Hellicoyle. 'I didn't touch the body, just in case somebody thought it should be investigated.'
'I'm not a detective.'
Forbes said, 'Lance. You're the nearest thing to a detective that we have. Look. That...alien could well have died hundreds or thousands of years ago. We are just trying to do the right thing here. If you don't come to any conclusion, it doesn't really matter. Will you check things out?'
Potts added, 'You might find it interesting. Go take a look around, then let the medical centre loose on him.'
'Fair enough. It will make a change from busting drunk teen heads. I always thought it was a bad mix, youngsters, booze and drugs.'
Forbes had been expecting that remark. 'Your concerns are duly noted. Again.'
'Yeah, right,' growled the giant. 'One of you going to show me how to get there?'
'Of course,' said Berry. 'Oh. That reminds me. I'd like to take a look on the postracker, to see where we actually went.'
'I've a postracker scanner here, somewhere,' said Forbes. 'Here. Give me your arm.'
Berry held out his arm and Forbes scanned the small disk. The three dimensional projector on one wall showed a schematic view of the surrounding area. Berry's present position showed as a pulsating light in Forbes' office.
'Computer,' Forbes commanded. 'Trace postracker Raz Barry. Five minute increments.' They followed the postracker log of Berry's movements. 'That's the mine.'
'That's me in the small tunnel. Making my way along, to come here. Coming to where the tunnel meets the black stuff. What the hell happened then?'
Hellicoyle said, 'We would be making our way to the tunnel at that time. Clearly, the postracker doesn't work in the black stuff.'
Dillow said, 'Where were you before that?'
'Coming from the tunnel that leads to the dead guy,' said Berry. 'And here's the signal. Oh, crap.'
'That has to be a misreading,' said Hellicoyle. 'It puts us in the middle of Olympus Mons. It was a bit of a slog in that tunnel, but we never went a hundred and fifty miles.'
'That's half the diameter of Mons. Let me scan your postracker, Felix,' said Forbes.
Forbes repeated the procedure on Hellicoyle's postracker disk. It followed Berry's journey almost exactly. it also had him in the middle of the huge mountain.
Dillow asked, 'How high up did the vertical tunnel take you?'
'Not that far. It seemed like two or three miles.'
Forbes said, 'Try about twelve miles. You were pretty high up Mons, roughly central.'
Hellicoyle shared a confused look with Berry as the three dimensional projection showed both their positions miles higher than they would ever have imagined possible. 'I have no explanation for what just happened.'
'Downright weird,' said Berry.
Dillow said, 'Maybe we can figure that out later. Show me that damn body.'
'I'll take you,' said Hellicoyle. 'Want to go now?'
'Lets go,' said Dillow.
Chapter 118
'Five more days,' said Cragg with a sigh.
'Getting stir crazy, Craggy?'
'Rocky. Let's just say hanging around for weeks on end in a tin can has lost much of its appeal. Are you sure we can't get any more speed out of this bird?'
'Mars is getting further from Earth and Moon, so we have a few more million miles to travel. I'll call ahead and let Misty know to get beer on ice for you.'
'That's another reason I'm not flying any more.'
'Misty?'
'Well, yeah, her too. Dillow sleeping?'
Rocky laughed. 'Not just yet. She always hugs the ship before she turns in.'
'And not a bad thing, either. It was about at this point on her first ride in this bird her load came loose. That's probably what's going through her mind.'
'Maybe. I'd better get back to driving the bus. Jeez. I'm getting to sound more like you every day.'
Cragg sighed, finding himself alone again. Then he heard a voice behind him.
'Hi, Craggy.'
'Roswell.'
'I've just been watching us flying along on the observation deck.'
Cragg grinned. 'See? That's progress. You couldn't do that a few weeks ago. We'll make a space cowboy out
of you yet.'
'I don't think so. I've put in for a supervisors development course.'
'Good for you. That's perfect for you. What does it mean?'
'Well, I do a lot of team building exercises, try other disciplines like plant maintenance, computer servicing, freighter loading, working with other supervisors. It means I have a better understanding of how many other departments operate...'
Cragg nodded. '....so you see the big picture, gain confidence and people skills, so you can supervise others. Brilliant.'
'I can't wait to get stuck in. What was the training like back in your day?'
'It was a bit different then. I had the CMTBC program.'
'Hey?'
'Cragg Make The Bloody Coffee program. Mind you, that was when we could still get actual coffee. Come to think about it, I never did find out if I passed.'
Roswell giggled and again, Cragg saw his granddaughter that never was. That hit him harder when she kissed his cheek.
'Craggy. You're priceless.'
He sighed as she skipped away.
Chapter 119
'You move him at all?' Lance Dillow asked.
'Just his face,' said Hellicoyle. 'I was curious to see if that strange hole in the side of his neck was on both sides. If it were, it may have been just some sort of physical feature. It isn't matched on the other side, so that got me wondering how it got there.'
'Good point. You keep calling him he. Have you checked?'
Hellicoyle was shocked. 'Checked?'
'Yes. Under that tunic thing. I'll do it.' Dillow lifted the hem of the tunic. 'Now, that's impressive for a little guy.'
'Makes my eyes water just looking at it. Cover him up, will you? I'm getting an inferiority complex.'
Dillow said, 'Hmm. What's this?'
With the tunic pulled back, a pouch of the same material as the tunic was revealed below the ribcage. They could see a strange shaped object hidden in the pouch. Dillow put his hand inside and pulled out a small ceramic cone, about the length of his little finger. He held it up for a closer examination.
'There's a series of tiny holes all along it. Any ideas?'
Hellicoyle said, 'Not a clue.'
'Me neither. Apart from a shit scared expression on his face, I got nothing. I'll give the medical centre a call to have this guy looked at.'
Once Dillow had done that, telling them to meet up with Berry at the mine entrance, he called Berry to advise him and to let him know they would send the alien down the tunnel for him to be taken away to the medical centre. They spent the time looking around the strange domed room.
'Weird,' said Dillow.
'What is?'
'Just one room. No furniture like beds, chairs, a place to eat. He might not be human, but I'm guessing he still had the basic functions. So where did he crap?'
'Thanks. I now have peculiar images in my head of little people sitting on little toilets.'
'I worry about you, sometimes. There's something else that bugs me. He's not wearing a suit. I'm thinking he wasn't born here, because there's no evidence of his kind being found. So, if he's an air breather, how did he survive?'
Hellicoyle looked at the mouth of the vertical tunnel. 'Until we accidentally opened up their tunnels, this room was effectively sealed off from the outside. They just need a way to replenish their air.'
'But there's nothing in here to do that, or anything else.'
'So there must be other rooms.'
Dillow raised his hands to the heavens. 'Like where?'
'Just because we haven't found them, doesn't mean they don't exist.'
Dillow nodded. 'True. And what's with that lot over there? Pretend computers?'
'That's what Berry and I wondered. They sort of look like they put a mock-up control centre, then ran out of money. They just made shapes to look like them.'
Dillow wasn't convinced. 'I don't buy that.'
He went over to the odd shapes. He stood and stared at them, then he ran his gloved fingers over the smooth surfaces. It was completely seamless and faultless. Almost.
'Felix. Come and look at this.'
'Found something?'
'A hole.'
It was indeed a hole. It was the only break in the whole surface in the domed room. It was about the diameter of a man's little finger. Dillow looked at the hole and then he looked at the cone he was holding. He looked at Hellicoyle who just shrugged. Dillow carefully inserted the tip of the cone into the hole. It didn't quite fit. It stood proud by half of one inch. Nothing happened.
Hellicoyle placed a finger gently onto the base of the cone protruding out of the hole and pushed it home. Something, perhaps a relay, clicked. The dome became brighter, seams opening in many places. Sensors lit up; some flashing ominously. The computer shapes burst into life, part of the wall above it reshaping itself and also lit up, but had no images on it.
'Bloody fantastic,' gasped Hellicoyle. The room continued to transform and they stood in amazement, too scared to move or touch anything. Until they heard a voice.
Chapter 120
'Everything okay up there?'
'Yes, Berry,' said Dillow. 'It has just come to life.'
'What? That dead alien?'
'No, idiot. The room. Listen. We are just going to see if we can find something to wrap him up in before we send him down. We won't be too long.'
'Okay.'
Hellicoyle was checking the small door shapes around the base of the dome. Each door had a white light sensor and the geologist touched one. The door didn't open, it vanished. 'Interesting.' He touched the sensor again and the door reappeared. He opened it and looked into the room.
'You wondered where the little guy crapped? This is it.'
'Nice to know.'
They opened all eight rooms. There were four that could have been bedrooms. Each had a single “cot” in the centre. They were circular, had no pillows or sheets. No regular sized adult human could ever get into one comfortably. There were shapes and sensors around the base of the room.
One room appeared to be a utility room with well ordered tools, machines and gadgets.
'I'm guessing this thing pumps clean air around the place,' said Dillow, passing a hand over a vent in a large machine covering one half of the room. He touched it and could feel it humming slightly.
They found four small pods in individual housings. They were egg shaped, one half a metallic material was capped off with a matching clear cover. Dillow touched a sensor on the housing and it opened up to free the pod. Another sensor on the pod had the cover open up.
Dillow said, 'Does this look like something we could put Joe in?'
'Joe?'
'Why not? He sure isn't a Josephine with a pecker like that.' Dillow closed the cover and picked up the pod. 'Surprisingly light.'
Dillow carried it to the door and pushed it into the domed room. He opened the pod next to the body, respectfully gathering up the body and reverently placing Joe in the pod, touching the sensor to close him in.
'Berry?'
'There you are. I almost went home. Where's that damned alien?'
'We found a thing for him. I'm about to drop it into the tunnel. Get ready for it. Here he comes.' Dillow picked up the pod with the alien inside, took it to the tunnel opening and held it over the top and he let go. The Pod was a perfect fit in the tunnel. It didn't move one iota. Dillow touched the protruding end of the pod and the alien was on his final journey down the tunnel.
'Now what do we do?' asked Hellicoyle.
'I want somebody to work that computer,' said Dillow.
Hellicoyle stared at the complex array off lights, some flashing, some not. 'Don't look in my direction.'
'I know just the one for this job. Come on. We need a break.'
Chapter 121
After taking care of natures callings back in Base Three, they had a snack and were joined by Stella Wayward, the computer maestro herself.
'I'll check my employment contract one of these days. I alr
eady pulled a fourteen hour day.'
'Want a beer, Stella?' Hellicoyle asked.
'And anything edible.'
Dillow said, 'Felix. Make yourself useful, while I chat with Stella.'
Hellicoyle wasn't about to argue with Armour Dillow.
Stella said, 'I heard something about a little dead alien?'
'All true. He was found dead, in a weird place inside Mons.'
'Shit! How did that happen?'
'Pass.'
'Where is he now?'
'Medical centre. Stella. The whole place in Mons is controlled by computers, but...'
'You want me to work them.'
'This needs the best.'
Stella let Hellicoyle put the beer and plate of food in front of her. 'Flattery will get you anywhere, Lance. Thanks, Felix.'
Dillow said, 'I'll take you when you've eaten. Felix, you can turn in, if you like.'
'Music to my ears. I'll catch up with you tomorrow. Goodnight, you two.'
Stella ate and sipped her beer, as Dillow told what they had discovered.
'It sounds like you and Felix discovered a lot already,' Stella said. 'That's pretty user friendly, considering it was made by alien hands. He does have hands, doesn't he?'
'He also has something else.' He leaned forward to whisper in her ear.
'No shit. Sounds like quite a catch.'
'He's not my type. Stella. If you're tired, we can go tomorrow.'
'I'm all fired up. Come on. Show me the stud's penthouse pad.'
Chapter 122
'Sexy.'
'It is?' said Dillow.
Stella said, 'This computer is crying out for my loving touch.'
