by Dan Haronian
I’d suggested he leave gear at every site so that he would have the equipment he needed for a night’s stay but he refused this, saying that it would tie him down to always camping in specific sites.
The lights from City of Naan sparkled on the horizon and the sky was filled with stars. My father lay on his mattress and gazed up at them. "We'll go to the mountaintop at daybreak," he said and looked pensive. "The view from there amazes me every time I see it."
I wasn't expecting much sleep. I'm the kind of person that wakes up at the slightest noise or discomfort. I lay beside him and looked at the dark sky.
"This is my favorite place," he said.
"Yes, I know," I said, "I remember when you came here the first time."
"Really?"
"It was the same day I ran away from school and the whole police force was out looking for me."
"It’s interesting that you remember it so well."
"How could I forget? That evening was the first time we surfed to Shor."
He sighed, "You had a busy day. You ran away from school, the police were after you, and you learned Seragon’s biggest secret. I suppose such things would burn themselves into the memory of any kid."
"I don’t think it's related to age," I said. "I think you always remember things clearly after a traumatic event. I am not sure if the trauma was the police looking for me or the surfing to Shor."
He laughed. "You think surfing to Shor was a trauma?"
"I don't know but seeing that place gave me nightmares for years."
"Maybe it was too soon," he said and giggled and then the sky lit up. A ball of fire burst above us and wiped out all other thoughts. It sketched a bright streak across the sky and disappeared behind the other side of the mountain. I expected a sharp explosion, but instead we heard a long trembling sound like rolling thunder. The ground shook.
"What was that?" my father asked.
"I don't know," I said as I stood up.
He sat up and put his shoes on. "Where you going?"
"To the mountaintop. I want to see what’s going on."
We started to run up the mountain. A harsh yellow light illuminated the summit. I followed him closely, the abyss to our left. I hoped he wouldn’t slip and tumble to his death. When he did slip once I squeezed past him on the left, and then stopped in front of him. "Dad slow down, you could fall."
He looked at me and inhaled. "What do you think is happening?" he asked. He looked worried.
"It's probably a shuttle crash," I said. I couldn't think of anything else.
"It can't be," he said and took a deep breath, “shuttles don't crash."
"There's always a first time," I said.
"Even when the galaxy was only sending wrecks with wings to land here, none of them ever crashed."
"That's not true, but never mind that now. Are you okay?"
He nodded.
I glanced at the sky. "What else can it be?"
"Maybe a meteorite?"
"We would've known if something like that was approaching. Mampas would've raised an alarm if a meteorite was on its way."
He took a deep breath and looked at the sky. "If it's a shuttle I would expect to see emergency landing vehicles. With their bright, blinking lights it would look like a big party in the sky over there. I don’t see any lights at all.”
He walked past me and continued to climb the mountain. We reached the mountaintop several minutes later and gazed into the valley on the other side. A wide line of fire stretched in front of us, and the horizon was shining with yellow and red flames.
"Someone had better get here soon, otherwise this whole forest will be ashes," I said.
He pulled out his comlink and called Musan. I suddenly thought of my mother's threats to call the police chief and the irony of this reversal.
"We saw it," said Musan as soon as he came on the line.
"Send everything you have, otherwise the fire will wipe out the forest. I don't know how far it will spread."
"Sir, where are you?" asked Musan, sounding surprised.
"On a mountain overlooking the crashing site. This thing passed right above us."
"You are there?" called Musan.
"I'm here with Raban. Stop wasting time. Send everything you have and maybe you should ask for the City of Naan’s help as well."
"The teams are on the way. We'll see how bad things are first and decide if we need more help," said Musan. " I am sending a hovercraft to take you home."
"Don't worry about us, we’re fine," said my father and hung up.
He looked again at the burning trail. "It came in at a very shallow angle."
"If it was a shuttle they were probably trying to land," I said, "We were lucky that it didn’t come down in a settled place."
Not long after, hovercrafts appeared above the forest. The darkness and the fire obscured the scene from us. Two hovercrafts suddenly appeared directly above us. Ropes dropped from one of them and a few people descended.
"Musan," called my father as Musan approached.
"It looks like a very big hovercraft, sir."
"I assume your people are already there."
"They’re on their way, we identified the craft with our thermal cameras, its shape is quite clear."
"What's going to happen to the forest?"
"The teams are working on that sir. It’s the first big catastrophe since the founding of the Chosen. The crews have trained for this. It’s time for them to prove themselves."
My father looked beyond Musan’s shoulder. "What are these men doing here? You need every available person at the crash site."
"We still don't know what happened over there sir," said Musan.
"What do you mean?"
"Big hovercrafts like this are a bit like shuttles. They don't tend to crash sir."
"So?"
"So, you are here, and by some coincidence a big hovercraft crashes next to you, sir?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"I don't know sir, but I prefer that you return to the city."
"You think someone is trying to kill me?"
"I don't know."
My father gazed at the red horizon. "There are much simpler ways if that is the goal. I'm staying here until the morning. I want to see the forest."
"Sir, it's pointless."
"Stop wasting time and start working," my father yelled at him.
"Dad!" I called.
I gave Musan a look of apology and he nodded at me. My father walked to the edge of the cliff, as if he wanted to be left alone. Musan told his people to spread out, then hooked his foot into a loop in the end of the rope and was pulled back into the hovercraft.
The City of the Chosen was surrounded by forests. It hadn't been, twenty years ago when the city was very small, but even then I remember my father talking about the forests and his fear of fires. I knew of his personal experience, and I knew how I got my name. I thought it explained his behavior now.
No one could've wished for a better test for the fire unit. The unit was founded in the first years of the Chosen. It had been one of the early signs that it would become an organized city. The fire unit had grown and improved over the time but until now it had faced only small-scale incidents.
The fire was its first real test and they passed it with flying colors, as if they were repeating a well-known drill. The fire was extinguished by morning and the whole area was covered in a blanket of white smoke. As the day broke a heavy smell of soot was in the air, and a freezing quiet filled us as we looked out over the forest.
"This is terrible," said my father shaking his head.
"They put out the flames quite fast. I think the forest will recover," I said in a calming tone.
He sighed.
Through gaps in the smoke we could see sections of the slash the falling hovercraft had carved into the burning forest.
"I guess it is comforting it didn't crash in the city," said my father.
"Yes, it probably navigated
itself here."
My father nodded, then lifted his comlink and called Musan. "Any survivors? He asked.
"No sir," replied Musan with a tired voice.
"Nothing?" Insisted my father.
"We didn't find any remains in the shuttle. We are searching farther out. Maybe they ejected."
"Shuttle?"
"Yes sir, it's a shuttle."
"You said it was a big hovercraft."
"It looked like that when we first saw the remains, but it turned out that only the upper parts of the shuttle remain. The rest simply disintegrated."
"Is there any point in me coming down there?"
Musan sighed. "I don't recommend it right now sir, let the smoke clear first."
"Okay," said my father and paused for second. “Good work Musan."
"Thank you sir."
"And I'm sorry about my behavior last night."
"That's okay, we were all worried."
"Let me know if there's anything new."
"Of course sir."
My father took a long look at the smoke rising from the forest. He widened his nostrils and inhaled.
"It's sad to see the forest like this, but it will recover," I said.
He looked at me and tried to smile. "Come, we have a long walk home and you have a busy day."
We went back to the campsite, packed everything on the back of the horse, and went down the mountain. Three hours later we crossed the creek and went up the hill to our home.
My mother was standing outside. Her hand rose to her mouth when she saw us. We weren't at our best. We hadn't slept most of the night and our faces were painted black with soot and sweat.
"I understand everything now is under control now," she said.
My father nodded and brushed past her without a word. She looked at me. "He's tired," I said and we followed him into the house. My father sat in a chair at the dining room table and let out a heavy sigh.
"We saw the fireball," he said.
"Terrible," said my mother, "do they know what happened?"
"No, it's too early for that. They haven't found any survivors, but with a fire there-" he broke off lost in thought. "It’s like thirty years ago. There were no traces of survivors back than as well."
My mother sat down on the other side of the table.
"We might find ejection pods," I said.
"Maybe,” he said. "They would have to have ejected long before the impact because when we saw it, it was already a fireball."
"In that case they could be anywhere on Naan," said my mother.
My father nodded. "If they have transponder we'll eventually find them."
"Okay, leave the search to the people in charge," said my mother. "You both look exhausted, filthy, and stinky."
"I'll go up to shower," I said and walked to the stairs. My father's telephone rang.
"Yes Musan," said my father and put the conversation on the speaker.
"I understand you’re back at home already."
"Yes, is there any news?"
"Nothing drastic, I just wanted to let you know that this shuttle is very odd."
"What is it?"
"It's very old, sir. Hundreds of years old"
My father rubbed his face from exhaustion. "And what's so strange about that?"
"The control deck," said Musan, "It's like they pulled it out of a museum."
"Maybe it's just damaged from the fire," said my father.
"The fire didn't touch it, but everything inside is ruined. I don't understand how it’s possible. Maybe it’s because all that remained was the upper deck. It was so high above the ground that the flames hadn’t reached it before the fire team arrived. I don't know, sir, it's odd."
"I want to see it," said my father.
"I’ll have someone take you over."
"There's no need. I’ll come with Su-thor," he said and hung up. He looked at my mother.
She gave him a hesitant look. "Why is it so urgent?" she asked.
"If Musan called then it's probably very strange. I must see it."
She shook her head. "Give me a minute to get ready," she said and headed up the stairs.
I stepped down to my father. "What you think?" I asked.
"I don't know what to think. How can the shuttle be hundreds of years old? Where did it come from?"
"Maybe this explains the crash," I said.
"Maybe," said my father. “Still I would expect someone to be looking for it. It's been a while since the crash.”
He smiled and rubbed his face.
"What's so funny?"
"I just remembered the Desertians in Mampas."
"What about them?"
"When they spotted me they simply hijacked the shuttle I was trying to escape on. I always wondered how they did it without the shuttle sending distress signals or someone at the control center in Mampas noticing."
"Maybe they are better scramblers than you think."
"They are good, there is no doubt about that."
"You think this shuttle has anything to do with them?"
"I have no idea."
"They are well known for their renovating skills. If this shuttle is that old maybe it's theirs."
My mother came down the stairs, dressed in her flight suit and stopped next to me. "Go take a shower and put on some clothes from your father's closet," she said. "You better get some rest before you go back to work."
"This is exactly what I'm going to do," I said and kissed her forehead gently, not to leave a black stain.
A few moments later Sosi and Su-Thor in sat in Su-Thor’s light hovercraft preparing to leave. The hovercraft began to whistle and Su-Thor notified the control center of her flight plan. As soon as the hovercraft lifted off they could see the smoke rising from the forest. Moments later they hovered over the blackened trees paralleling the path of the crash. Up close it looked like a deep furrow gouged out in preparation for building a wide road. Skeletons of burnt trees lined its sides. The remaining portion of the shuttle appeared after an additional minute of flight. It had come to rest in a big glade. A few large vehicles were parked at the edge of the glade and several hovercrafts were parked haphazardly around.
"Look at this glade," said Sosi when Su-Thor maneuvered for landing.
"It's only a forest. Trees," she said. "You worry more for the trees than you for the people in the shuttle."
Sosi thought about her comment and chewed his lower lip. She was right. He wondered how reasonable his priorities were.
"I can't land here," said Su-Thor as she descended towards the glade. "The surface here is so uneven it's really impossible."
Someone with a red flashlight standing close to the perimeter of the glade waved them over. The surface there was a bit smoother and Su-Thor hovered to him and carefully set the hovercraft down.
The soot hit them as soon as they opened the door.
"This way sir," Sosi heard Musan calling him. The chief of police was pointing at two wide logs leading out of the glade.
"Musan, I thought you went home to get some rest," said Sosi walking along the logs.
"I was going to, but this situation is so odd I can’t stop thinking about it."
He led them along the perimeter of the glade to the front entrance of the shuttle’s upper deck. It was lying on the ground with a few logs serving as a bridge to the entrance.
"All but a few of the lower decks were completely vaporized during the crash," said Musan. "What you see here should have been at least five stories above."
“Amazing," said Sosi when they walked in.
They went directly to the control deck of the shuttle. A few lamps were hanging from a long cable that Musan’s men had brought in. Even with the all of the damage the shuttle felt like something from a different generation. Thick communication lines were dangling from the ceiling. From the way they were laid out one could imagine how they were used to communicate between the different control systems that were arranged in a half circle around the bi
g screens in the front.
"Have you discovered where it came from?" asked Sosi.
"Not yet," said Musan. "Who would even risk flying such an antique anyhow?"
"Does it have any ID?" asked Su-Thor.
"Nothing we can find."
"What about the cargo, maybe that could tell us where it comes from," she said.
"Well, the lower part is completely gone and we haven't found any remains of the cargo or the crew anywhere along the path of the crash," said Musan.
"It is Desertian?" asked Sosi. He looked at Su-Thor. "I seem to remember that they sometimes hijack shuttles and strip them of any identification."
"It's not Desertian," said Su-Thor decisively.
"How do you know?" asked Musan.
She looked at him. "They are not sentimental about archaeological displays."
"I remember a girl arriving here a long time ago in a wreck with wings," Sosi teased and Su-Thor smiled.
"I'm happy to see you are feeling better, but that hovercraft only looked like a wreck. As I recall it had outstanding performance."
A noise came from the edge of the hall and a firefighter came down the stairs along the wall. He walked towards them.
"Sir, we found something, you must see it."
They followed him back up the narrow stairs. Another thick cable hung on the wall, going down the stairs. Several lamps hung from it, illuminating an open door on the edge of the stairs.
The firefighter placed his hand on the door. "We weren't sure where these stairs leading to because this heavy door was closed. Look at the thickness of the frame and the door. It probably weights a lot."
Musan laid his hand on the door and entered. Sosi and Su-Thor had to duck their heads a bit as they passed through the entrance.
"What is such a heavy door is doing here?" wondered Su-Thor aloud.
"And why the entrance is so low?" Continued Sosi.
Their questions faded as they walked in. The room revealed behind the entrance was completely unharmed. Three old terminals, fixed on a stand, were in front of the wall facing the door that was covered with odd graphics. In front of them chairs were bolted to the floor. Sosi walked towards one of the terminals and noticed a small light blinking in the upper part of the screen.
