Mission: A Venus Affair

by V. A. Jeffrey

  5

  It felt like a thousand pins piercing me as I plunged through the surface. I struggled mightily to get back to the surface, leaving behind the speeder bike. I looked down and glimpsed the shape of it as it disappeared with the raptor toward an endless bottom. As I rose I swam to the river shore and eventually rolled myself onto the ground. I looked back quickly for the raptor. It was nowhere in sight. Bubbles foamed up to the surface where we had both fallen in. I saw the tip of some torn vines rise up and then sink, and bubbles burping up around it. But the creature did not come up.

  I was surrounded by jungle on all sides now with a river at my back. I started and turned, upon hearing a strange noise. It was a wild, feral sounding call, like something between an elephant and a horse. I turned around and to my amazement, I saw three creatures out of fantastic prehistory wading down the river. They were, indeed, dinosaurs; three brachiosauruses. To say these creatures were huge was to ridicule their size. Just like I’d remembered from holo-vids and film books from my childhood. I just stood and stared dumbly. They were majestic!

  The small herd made their way lazily up the river, making surprisingly small ripples. There were ten more behind the first three. The creatures didn’t seem disturbed or bothered by my presence. Their long necks swayed gracefully as they bit off vegetation from nearby water trees. Leaves fluttered down to float on the river surface where the two young dinosaurs snapped them up.

  One was far bigger than the others. He had to be the alpha bull in the herd of females and smaller males. He was of a greenish brown color, his hide was tougher looking and the bone ridge on his head was bigger. The creature gazed at me curiously, his eyes were large dark pools and his long neck swayed over the river’s edge as he moved nearer the shore toward me, his nostrils widening as he sniffed the air around me. He bent down suddenly, close to me, smelling my hair and then face. His eyes were as big as apples, dark depths of brown and black. He had a long nasty scar across his mouth, an old one, and several on his neck, telling of battles he had in the past. I wondered how long ago these creatures had been engineered and put here. Secrets abounded on Venus like they did on Mars, merely taking a different shape.

  I stepped back in fear wondering what was next. What would this huge male do if he decided he didn’t like the looks or the scent of me?

  I had my answer. Finally losing interest in me, finding that I presented no threat to him or to his females, he continued on his way down the river, the others taking their time following in his wake. I wanted to laugh. Steve neglected to tell us there were dinosaurs here! He alluded to it slyly but now I was face to face with the reality.

  I saw something floating in the water. I carefully moved to the shore and reached for it. It was the bag from the speeder. I looked through it carefully and saw that the map and geo-locator were still inside. I turned it on. After a few hiccups, it restarted. The sensor scanner was gone, regrettably. I looked for the marked location of the hangar. It seemed that the creatures were moving in the general direction that I needed to travel in, for now. I decided to follow them as far as I could. I took my pistol out, thankful it had remained in its holster on my belt. Its energy levels indicated that it was still working but at reduced capacity because of the water. I would have to be careful in how I used it. I looked around for some other weapon I might use in case I came in contact with less docile animals. I came upon a long branch and I stripped off some of the leaves to use as a weapon and a walking stick. As I followed the herd along the shore a baby brachiosaur, eyeing my stick, bent its head toward me to grab at it, its lips puckering and pursing in anticipation of the morsel. It caught hold of it and tried to snatch it out of my hand to eat it. We ended up in a small tug-of-war. I was ready to smack the little fellow but decided against that course of action as one of the females turned her attention squarely on us. I wisely acquiesced and let him have it. I grabbed another one off the shore, this time moving a little further away from the river, stripping this second one of its leaves and smaller branches, entirely. This second one was sturdier anyway. I continued to watch the dinosaurs in fascination. Of all of my adventures that threw me into space, other planets and dealing with aliens, I’d never dreamed that I would be thrown into something that looked like the primeval past.

  After at least four hours of walking, the herd veered west at a bend in the river, while I had to keep heading south, according to the device. I was at least a half a day away still. I decided to find a place of safety for sleep and I didn’t want to be on the ground considering the creatures skulking about the jungle. I could hear the querulous sounds of birds, insects and the distant, more ominous calls of hidden creatures.

  I felt the patter of light rain slipping in and the air grew cool. I wandered through looking for a safe place to lie down. An insect as fat around as my fist crawled up a blade of grass and then opened its wings wide and lifted off, its brilliant yellow and orange markings on the underside of its wings seemed almost neon colored in brilliance. It was beautiful. A good indication that it was deadly. Many jungle denizens were venomous or poisonous and I wondered why Earth companies liked to play about with authenticity as if it were a game without regard for consequences either to tourists they lured here or to the animals themselves.

  Yet, here I was, a silly and accidental tourist. I was just glad it didn’t decide to alight upon me.

  It was getting dark and I needed to find shelter soon.

  Finally finding a large tree that I thought I could climb with thick enough branches for good footing I scrambled up the branches high enough up the tree that I felt relatively safe from anything on the ground. I tried to make myself as comfortable as I could. The branches were sturdy enough for me. I hoped that I didn’t roll over and fall off in my sleep. I checked my messages on the comlink. Magnum had sent a message. I was suddenly transported out of this disaster, excited over what he’d found:

  I have arrived at your hotel with a small guard of security mechs sent from Ms. Vartan to protect your family. I will ensure that they will remain safe.

  As for the numbers you gave me, to trace them down took some doing. Two of them were traced to comlinks not of Earthly origin but from somewhere located near the Kuiper Belt, one in a location just before one would make the last leg of a journey to Mars to the outer planets. I presume that number is from a station. One number, in particular, was traced to a place located on Earth. After some digging, I’d found that there are several names associated with this number. One name is unlisted. The others are a Karen Happ, a Thomas Lang, and a Lisa Toynbee. The last two persons possessed this number many years ago and they are both dead. The third last person to possess this number, and still possess it from what I can tell is the unlisted, private name. I could not find the name but found that it had been ported once to Florence, Italy a few years ago and remains unlisted. It was last used a few days ago by the same unlisted account. Whether by the same person or a group of people, I do not know. It does not seem to have changed hands from this account. It was last used from an account located in California near the Mendocino Valley.

  A location in Italy for that account in the past. That was certainly interesting. And if the number was used recently and still had the name on the account as private or unlisted it may very well be owned by the same person that had it ported to Italy. Why they would bother to port a number in this day and age was a little strange but it was an interesting bit of a puzzle I as trying to solve in the back of my mind. I pondered on this for some time wondering who this could be and how this might be of help to me.

  How it would help my plight now I wasn’t sure but if I got out of here alive it might be of service later. Tidbits of information in a giant puzzle to come together to solve a mystery. I pondered it all night and in the back of those thoughts I also realized in my so-called safe place that jaguars were creatures of the jungles back on Earth. I seemed to also recall that raptors could jump. And through my exhaustion, I struggled to remember why this m
ight be relevant.

  I watched slowly as the evening deepened into night and the stars appeared. Venus had no moon. Or none of note. I missed seeing the lone, silvery moon in the sky on a clear Earth night. Or the two petite pale moons of Mars that chased each other in the violet-black Martian sky. But it was a beautiful night just the same, even if it was wholly engineered. Thank God for the Earth-day-and-night simulator that mimicked Earth’s twenty-four hour days on Venus, less we spoiled Earthlings be subjected to the true Venusian day that lasted two hundred forty-three days. I was also thankful for the jewel-like stars that shined in reality behind the thick noxious clouds of Venus, their light projected through the bio-dome. Science had done an excellent job of mimicking such a brilliant night sky over a jungle. As I listened to the sounds of nocturnal creatures that I couldn’t recognize I finally remembered something else from my primary school days. Something that I had thought was awesome back then that was troubling now.

  Jaguars could climb trees.

  . . .

  When I awoke I saw the light of the early morning sun just beginning to peek through the jungle. I’d promised my family that I’d be home soon and I hated the feeling that I was failing them again. I dashed off a text message to Pam that things were taking a little longer than I’d expected – and hoped that she didn’t think I was full of baloney. I had to find that hangar now. I wasn’t as worried for them, now that Magnum was with them but I’m sure they were worried about me.

  I was nearly lost. If things got worse, I resolved to tell her so. I had a bad habit of trying to hide terrible things from my wife and she’d let me have it months ago about it, informing me that she wasn’t a child to be protected from what was going on. Couldn’t really argue with that. It had gotten me into trouble before.

  I yawned and then listened carefully to the jungle sounds all around me. Here we go again, I thought. I took out my pistol and fired it off. It seemed to be working alright again. Not seeing anything that might be cause for alarm I carefully climbed down from my perch, landing carefully on soft soil. After a fitful night of sleep, waking up nearly every hour, I was surprised that I’d remained alert. My body still ached, though. I would pay for this at some point.

  I took out the geo-locator and studied where I was in relation to the hangar. I was only a few hours away now. Four, to be exact. Not as bad as I’d feared but it was still a hike. I looked for something like a footpath to make the trek easier. Not finding one I picked up my walking stick and carried on, more slowly than I’d hoped, through the brush. I heard the familiar odd roaring drone of mining work ships going to and from from the planet’s bio-dome to the deadly hellish world outside.

  And here I was thinking that I was in such great danger in this lush fantasy world. I supposed it’s all a matter of perspective. Venus is a dangerous beauty no matter which side you saw of her.

  I struggled at times through the bush, wondering what poisonous insects or creatures I might be unsettling from their habitats and hiding places and mostly. But I mostly worried if I might come upon another raptor.

  From time to time I would stop to listen out for any sound of a predator or if I saw anything. My sensor was lost in the river and I wished mightily for it. It would be nice if my alien sense helped me out when it came to wild animals. My efforts on that front were less than useless and just plain silly. A decent predator worth his fangs and claws I would never hear until it was too late.

  I went on as quickly as I could, inching ever closer to my destination. At last, three hours later, I’d reached a clearing. A small stream gurgled nearby. Shaking a few insects from my clothes, I went to the stream, looking around carefully to make sure I was not going to be unpleasantly surprised by something stalking me, and then cupped my hands together and took several deep drinks of water.

  It was cold, clear and fresh and went down like an icy waterfall, quenching my parched throat. I quickly glanced around again. It was then that I noticed across the stream behind a stand of trees right in front of me, the hangar! It was a small white corrugated tin building. Inwardly, I shouted for joy and hoped it wasn’t locked up, for I didn’t have a key. Above me, I thought I heard ships or security mechs approaching. I went back to hide in the bush at the edge of the clearing. I saw several black dots in the sky. I waited until these drones disappeared.

  I noticed that the jungle had grown more still and silent. I did not hear the constant call of the lizards and birds. Or they were much farther out as if something had driven them away. I was on alert now. I jogged toward the building, then broke off into a run. I glanced back only to find yet another terrible lizard creature, a raptor, tearing out of the brush after me in shocking speed! It was at some distance from me but I would never be able to outrun it. At fifty feet from me it leaped into the air ready to fall upon me, it’s talons curved and cruel like sharpened knives. I zigzagged my path causing the creature to miss me by only a few feet. I turned, swinging my stick mightily. My bionic arm gave me a strength I’d forgotten I’d had. I hit the beast so hard that it was stunned for a few moments.

  The beast stumbled and landed on the on its side on the ground instead of on me but now it was much closer. I did not entertain the thought that I could actually go toe to toe with this creature at all, that with my gift of extra strength I’d be able to do that again and come out alive. The stick was now broken, each piece with a sharp pointed end. I took the piece in my left hand and hurled it like a javelin at the beast’s head, hitting it in the eye. It roared, the frightening sound like an enraged alligator. But I’d injured it. Blood spurted from its eye. But it turned back to make another attack. I took out my pistol and fired three times. The third shot dropped it. I stumbled back and fell. The beast squirmed, its long tail thumping and whipping the dirt beneath it like a winding snake. I turned and ran as fast as I could. I reached the hangar in about fifteen minutes. I came to the doors and glanced around. I ran my hands upon the doors placed them between them and pressed them apart, forcing them apart.

  Inside I saw the ship. How I was going to get the ship out there right above Venus’s orbit without any mishap I wasn’t sure but I would figure it out. When it came to stumbling and bumbling through a problem I had plenty of experience.

  I hurried to get inside the ship, opening the ship doors through the external panel in the back. Getting ready to climb inside I heard a ferocious din growling. It was the raptor. Apparently, I didn’t give the beast a killing shot. Or it was particularly hardy. Limping and bleeding, it was still after me. It smashed its head through the doors of the hangar and on spotting me dove toward me and then I saw something that stunned me. With a sudden ferocity, another creature that had been stalking both of us came right behind the raptor, a blur of yellow and black fur. It leaped on top of the raptor’s back. The raptor tried to turn around to rip this new intruder apart but it was too late. The raptor was already badly injured, the second beast fell upon its neck with its own long and terrible fangs. It was a jaguar.

  They wrestled in the dirt, sweeping up mighty clouds of dust, the injured raptor kicking furiously and helplessly. The jaguar then went for its jugular and held it for a few moments and then tore it out, killing it instantly. The carcass twitched for a few seconds and then went still. The big cat then snarled at me. I quickly closed the doors to the ship. And felt more secure as I heard them seal together.

  The jaguar turned to feasting on its fresh kill. I said a prayer, thanking Providence for this felicitous turn of events and then I went to the cockpit. Looking for and finding a film book of lift off protocols I piloted the ship with help from the onboard navigator out of the hangar and lifted off towards the sky. I watched as Venus’s engineered, paradise-like greenery grew smaller and smaller until the city took on the appearance of an irregular quilt.

  As I left the bio-dome the ship shook and shuddered, the air pressure grew heavier. There was a note that came up on the screen before me to regulate the air pressure in the ship and a specific set of p
rotocols to follow to help with the online navigator’s efforts to maintain the air pressure at safe levels. The ship was bulky and bigger than the Phoenix, about twice as big. It looked like a flattened pressure airship made of metal. An old model, at least seventy years old, now that I was calm enough to pay attention. And outfitted with more advanced technology than it should have been. A sign that whoever I was dealing with was probably operating far outside of the law.

  Great. Just great.

  The ship’s labor mech, bolted in its holding station, was a rather basic, crude looking thing. It looked old but tough enough for hard work and rough conditions. It also looked as if it had been rescued from a garbage scow one hundred years ago. It looked older than the ship.

  “Ten minutes before safe limits within Venus orbit is reached,” said the Virtual Voice. I felt the air pressure normalize after thirty minutes of bare-knuckled lift off and climbing.

  “Venus orbit has been reached. Air pressure is returning to normal. There is no need to make manual adjustments at this time.” Good! I wasn’t a true pilot anyway. Thank goodness for automatic lift-off protocols for dummies. They were extremely expensive to get and it occurred to me that whomever I was going to meet had some knowledge about the fact that I wasn’t a pilot.

  Who on Earth was this person?

  Leaving the atmosphere and climbing into the black depths of space, once again I was on a mission. I saw the little station that orbited Venus appear on the view screen. There were a few scattered moonlets and other small asteroids within orbit as well. It was such a jarring contrast to the paradise that humans had made beneath the planet’s bio-dome surface. I gazed in contemplation at the planet’s soft, pearly beauty, shining in the dark, robed in graceful swirls of mists, holding its secrets like a mysterious woman.