NanoSymbionts

by Joseph Philbrook

“I wish I could,” George replied. “But I can't find anything that looks even remotely like a control panel.”

  “Idiot!” Mathieu screamed at George. “Your stupidity has killed us all.” Then looking back at the open door Mathieu added in a weakly whimpering voice, “Were all doomed!”

  That's when the water reached the threshold. At which point the door closed itself so rapidly. That none of the water made it inside the illuminated corridor.

  Chapter 45 a rude awakening

  The captain judged that the corridor was about 11 arms wide and about 5 arms tall. It's walls were as perfectly vertical as it's ceiling and floor were horizontal. The surfaces were smooth, without discernible imperfections. The blue light emanated from all four surfaces. The air was considerably warmer than the cave had been. The air was dust free and there wasn't any odor that Captain Rivermon could detect. There were no visible signs of any mechanism that could have operated the door. In fact, once the red glow that had marked it's outline faded, there was no visible sign of the existence of the door itself.

  The blue light extended about 20 arms in both directions along the featureless corridor. One subcyclet after the door had shut there was a distinct ‘click’. The sound was accompanied by a change in the illumination. Suddenly the blue light only extended about 15 arms down the right hand section of corridor. While just as suddenly it now extended approximately 25 arms down the left hand section of corridor.

  “Quickly!” the captain commanded. “Rebundle the supplies into manageable packages and get ready to start walking.”

  George began picking up the loose emergency ration kits that had spilled across the floor when the captain threw his first armload of supplies through the doorway. When George reached one that had slid up against the far wall he froze for a moment. The captain noticed an odd expression on his face as he picked it up. By then another subcyclet had passed and there was another ‘click’. The illuminated section of corridor now only extended about 10 arms to the right. While to the left, it now appeared to extend for 30 arms.

  “It doesn't look like we have time to get fancy with the repackaging of those supplies,” the captain advised. “I judge that we will need to start walking in less than 2 subcyclets.”

  Meanwhile the girls had begun wrapping piles of the supplies with the poncho style blanket coats that nobody needed to wear anymore. Using them like crude carry sacks. Upon observing the method, both George and his captain began working from the other end of the five piles.

  “What did you notice over there?” Wilber quietly asked George as they began working on their first package.

  He gestured towards the far wall with his chin. ‘Click.’ Now the light only extended 5 arms to the right, and about 35 arms to the left.

  “It's probably just me sir,” George replied as they began working on their second bundle. “But I think the corridor's proportions are exceedingly precise sir.”

  Wilber knew from long experience that his senior tech had the knack of accurately measuring distances. Simply by pacing the length of them with a uniform stride.

  “Exactly 11 arms is it?” the Captain asked.

  ‘Click.’

  “OK that's it people,” the Captain said as he lifted his package. “It's time to start moving.”

  By now even Mathieu had figured out why they needed to start walking and while he hadn't helped the girls repackage any of the supplies, he did pick up the bundle wrapped with his poncho and begin walking. They had just barely walked 5 arms when the next ‘click’ signaled another light shift.

  “Step lively now,” Wilber commanded. “I want 10 arms in the next subcyclet.”

  ‘Click.’

  Nobody wanted to be left in the dark, so it didn't take many more ‘clicks’, for them to catch up to the center of the moving band of illumination. George walked along beside his Captain.

  “I doubt there's more than a 1 percent variance sir,” George said quietly. “If that. How did you know?”

  Wilber had an innate sense of time. He'd never needed to consult a timepiece to accurately count the cyclets go by.

  “You mentioned precision George,” Wilber replied. “And if the time between these light shifts are any indication, I'm betting we won't find anything here that isn't precisely measured by galactic standards.”

  “That's my opinion as well,” Yolonda interjected.

  Neither George, nor Wilber had noticed Yolonda walking closer to them. As they began having what they had thought was a private conversation.

  “What it means though is anyone's guess,” she continued.

  ‘Click.’

  Yolonda was the first to notice a slight difference in their view of the forward most illuminated section. The walls appeared to suddenly stop. The last 5 arms of illumination appeared to show part of a larger opening.

  “Look!” was all she said.

  They hesitated on the threshold of the open space. Only an 11 arm wide section of it's floor and ceiling were illuminated. And while the length of that illumination continued to advance with each ‘click’, very little of the open space on either side of the illuminated section could be seen.

  “Could be a trap sir,” Linda observed.

  “Could be,” Wilber replied. “But from what I've seen so far, whoever's behind this could do whatever they want with us whether or not we go in there.”

  ‘Click.’

  Now there were only 10 arms of illumination behind them.

  “Besides, I don't see that we have a lot of choice here,” Yolonda added.

  Having said that, she walked forward into the large room.

  “She's right,” Wilber said with a shrug. “Lets go people.”

  Mathieu was the last one to enter the chamber. He stepped through right after the next ‘click’ signaled the advance of the illumination to within 5 arms of the threshold. No sooner had Mathieu stepped inside however, than the pattern of illumination changed. There was a distinct, and significantly louder ‘click’.

  Something sealed the doorway they had entered the chamber from. George had just glanced back to see if Mathieu had started walking again yet. He didn't see where the new door came from but he saw the red outline as it sealed shut and vanished without a trace on the featureless wall of the chamber. As the red outline faded, the light level in the large chamber began to increase. Slowly a large section of ceiling and floor began to glow with the blue light. While in the center of the huge chamber, a smaller enclosure began to glow with a red light.

  “Looks like this chamber consists of a square about 120 arms wide,” George assessed. “It's also about half that tall. That red enclosure in the middle also looks like it's a square. I'd say about 22 arms wide, by 11 tall. It looks to me like it's walls are becoming translucent.”

  As they watched, the walls of the red enclosure soon faded from slightly translucent to very transparent. Inside there was a single oblong horizontal platform, that measured approximately 5 by 3 arms. It was raised about 1 arm from the floor of the enclosure. The only other discernible feature of the enclosure was the humanoid shape that was reclined upon it. It looked like a man, whose physique was that of someone in his first two hundred years of age. He was wearing a thin, open necked shirt with sleeves that fell short of his elbows. His pants were constructed of a somewhat heavier material which matched the outer layer of an open sleeveless vest that was worn over the thin shirt. He was also wearing some kind of boots. There were wide metallic armbands that extended from his wrists, halfway to his elbows. He was also completely bald. There wasn't the slightest trace of hair on any of his exposed skin.

  Suddenly his lashless eyes snapped open. He sat up and turned his head towards them with an expression that didn't look like he was happy with what he saw. He touched his left armband with his right hand and the glowing red enclosure became suddenly opaque and dark. Then just as suddenly it's walls dissolved into nothingness along with the platform the strange man had been reclining on. In it's place, he was st
anding in the middle of what used to be the red enclosure.

  The light emanating from the ceiling of the central chamber rapidly shifted through the spectrum from red, to a bright full spectrum glow resembling slightly diffused sunlight. As this happened, all of the floors and walls ceased to glow. Though the colors they used to glow reflected from their surfaces. That is to say the walls and most of the floor in this huge open chamber were still blue in color. While the section of floor that used to be part of the inner enclosure was red.

  “My computer tells me you've been squatting in my cave,” the stranger spoke in a long outdated style of galactic interspeak.

  In the bright untinted light, it could now be seen that his pants and vest were a nearly uniform shade of light blue. His boots were black and his shirt was an explosion of colors. Looking like small quantities of various fabric dyes had been randomly splattered over it's surface. The stranger's skin was almost devoid of pigment, having a pale gray appearance. As the stranger spoke, a series of small lights flickered across the surface of his wristbands.

  “Didn't know that we were trespassing,” captain Rivermon replied. “But truthfully, it wouldn't have mattered if we had. There were some wild dogs that would have killed all of us had we remained above ground. I'm captain Rivermon. I commanded the starship we crashed in.”

  “Yes!” the stranger replied in a slightly halting fashion that sounded as if he had gone a long time without actually speaking. “My computer confirms you had some skirmishes with the dogs.”

  “If you knew of our predicament,” Yolonda demanded. “Why didn't you intervene?”

  “At the time Miss Heroner,” the stranger replied. “I was in hypersleep and didn't actually know. But even if I had, I was under no obligation to help you kill my dogs.”

  “Your dogs?” George sputtered.

  “Would you mind expounding on that sir?” captain Rivermon asked tensely.

  “If you must know Wilber, I'm responsible for most of the lifeforms on this planet. That is to say that with the help of my computer, I've been maintaining the biosphere they depend on. There have been a few occasions where I've taken direct action to prevent some species or other from becoming extinct. However, neither my computer nor myself intervene very often. I've been monitoring the dogs fairly closely because of all the animal species here, they have shown the greatest growth in intelligence. In any case, my computer's standing orders prevented it from waking me ahead of schedule. Until that is, you discovered the presence of my technology. It was unfortunate that you arrived on my island just one lunar cycle before the next tidal alignment.”

  “You seem to have us at a disadvantage sir,” the captain inquired. “You appear to have an intimate knowledge of who we are. Whereas we don't even know your name.” Then before the stranger answered the captain added, “What does the tide have to do with it anyway?”

  “True enough, from the moment you took up residence in the cave, my computer began listening to every sound you made. I've been reviewing the transcripts of those recordings as we speak.”

  “My name is another matter,” the stranger went on to explain. “I've been known by many different names. Sometimes it is hard to choose which one to embrace this time around. This decision is not made any easier by my having been awakened ahead of schedule to deal with your intrusion. Until I complete my decision, ‘sir’ will be sufficient.

  Now as to what the tide has to do with it, is a hunting technique many of the region's dog packs have developed over the past 2000 years. There are several islands in this region that are attached to the mainland by submerged land bridges. In most cases the land bridges are exposed at every low tide. The dogs have noticed that it's easier to herd their preferred prey across an exposed tidal land bridge, then guard the way back until the tide comes in so that their prey can't escape. Then in the relatively small land area of the island they can hunt them at their leisure.

  As it happens, the land bridge connecting this island to the mainland, is only exposed when the alignment of the moon and sun occurs in such a way as to produce an exceptionally low tide in this geographic region. Which occurs on average, once every 5 lunar cycles. So when they happen to use this island, they tend to run short of food before they get to return to the mainland.

  This makes them more aggressive than normal. In any case, until you discovered the presence of my technology, my computer's instructions prevented it from disturbing me.” The strange man looked closely at each of them before he continued speaking.

  “Now however, I've got to decide what to do about you,” the hairless man explained. “There is a distinct possibility that you will not be happy with my decision. In the mean time however, I may as well be a good host and offer you a few of the comforts you have obviously been lacking.” He pointed at the wall behind them, in which an open doorway suddenly formed. “In there you will find shelves full of fresh clothing in a variety of sizes and colors.

  You will also find a shower facility as well as a couple of open topped containers. A cylindrical laundry hamper and a rectangular trash receptacle. Any garment you place in the cylindrical container will be cleaned and returned to you. If your wearing anything that you don't want back. Just place it in the rectangular container and it will be disposed of. Then when your sufficiently refreshed, return to this chamber and I'll see that you get a decent meal.”

  Captain Rivermon, wasn't overly pleased with the commanding tone in the stranger's voice but he was very aware of how their appearance had deteriorated since the Starskewer crashed.

  “Alright people,” he said to his companions. “Lets take our, umm, host, up on his generous offer and go freshen up.”

  Then, before any of them had a chance to argue, he quickly led the way through the open doorway. The personal grooming facilities were clean and fairly complete. About the only thing that was missing was any provision for personal privacy. But they had all outgrown being shy with each other about their bodies. So that wasn't much of a problem. Most of the facilities were also of a sufficiently familiar design that they needed neither the archaic interspeak instructions to identify and operate the shower nor the toilet facilities they found there.

  The depilatory system was another matter however. It bore no resemblance to anything like the hand held devices they were familiar with. But the instruction plaque on the small three sided booth was quite specific. The hair trimming tool itself was fairly obvious. The instructions said to start by using it to shorten the length of any desirable hair to it's intended length. Then to apply some of the provided protective gel to any hair you wanted to keep and select the appropriate start button for permanent or temporary depilation. The instructions said that the process would also automatically remove all residue of the protective gel. Captain Rivermon had just finished dressing in a blue set of the clean, loose fitting, and rather comfortable clothes, with matching cloth sided boots. When he decided the instructions on the depilatory system were clear enough.

  So he quickly trimmed his mustache and hair. Then he carefully applied the protective gel to those parts of his head where he wanted to keep his hair, This included his eyebrows, his mustache and the top and back of his head. Finally when he was happy with the protection, he decided that he may as well select the permanent depilatory process. This was a choice he instantly regretted. For no sooner had he pressed the activation button than all the unprotected hair on his entire body vanished with a flash of green light, along with his new blue clothes. He found the absence of his chest and armpit hair slightly more disturbing than his missing pubic hair. But what really annoyed him was the fact that he had forgotten to protect his eyelashes.

  When Wilber turned around, Mathieu started to laugh. A heartbeat later, Mathieu suddenly stopped laughing as he caught sight of the look in Wilber's eyes. Nobody spoke as he selected another blue outfit. But as he dressed, Yolonda broke the strained silence.

  “Don't worry Wilber,” she said with a smile. “I've always liked bare c
hested men.”

  Then she removed the pink outfit she had just donned and stepped into the depilatory booth. She carefully applied gel to her long hair and eyebrows. Then she turned and faced the Captain.

  “Wilber would it make you feel better about it if we were a matching set?,” she asked. “Or would you mind if I keep my lashes?”

  “Yes, and no,” he replied. “It makes me feel a bit better to know that you would even consider such a thing Yolonda. But I think it would be a shame to destroy those nice long eyelashes of yours. Don't you?”

  Yolonda quickly applied some gel to her eyelashes.

  “The good news is this stuff doesn't sting the eyes at all,” Yolonda said.

  Then she also selected the permanent cycle and got dressed. Both George and Mathieu decided to keep their body hair. George selected the temporary depilatory cycle to remove only the unwanted beard and mustache that he had started to grow. While Mathieu carefully protected his freshly trimmed beard, hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. Then he pressed the permanent depilatory start button. Finally Linda carefully applied gel to all forms of hair located anywhere on her head and carefully applied some more to form a heart shaped section of her pubic hair. Then she used the permanent depilatory cycle to eliminate the rest of her body hair.

  Mathieu selected a bright red set of clothes, while both George and Linda chose black. When they were all dressed, they returned to the main room to find their nameless ‘host’ sitting at a large round wooden table around which there were six wooden chairs. Each of which had an antique dinnerware place setting in front of it. There were covered ceramic bowls with a triangular shape and an intricate gold and silver decorative pattern on them. Under the bowls were matching plates. Beside each plate were a set of metal utensils and a large red translucent cup that looked as if it had been carved out of a massive gemstone. In the middle of the table were an assortment of large covered bowls and a collection of large serving forks and scoops.

  “Sit down,” their ‘host’ commanded. “Try the vegetable soup. There are three different casseroles to choose from for the main course. Then, after dinner, we will discuss your future.”