Nebulon

by Frank Carey

  "Damn, that thing's big," Jason remarked. "According to the computer, it is a perfectly regular tetrahedron, about three clicks on an edge. Nothing that resembles engines, thrusters, or view ports. The system suggests the structure on the face is an airlock," he said. He added. "Nat?"

  "Minimal energy output, no radio, nothing. We need to get closer to do a life scan survey," she replied.

  "Passive visual survey finds no surface features except the one airlock," Nebulon said. "There are no pictures, glyphs, warning signs, or any other external illustration. I've never heard of anything like this."

  "Yet here it is," Jason said.

  "I think we need to go take a closer look," Nebulon said. "Ascendant can dock, drop Jason and me off before returning to its hiding place with Nat and Carla."

  "I found it, so I should go," Carla said as she was about to start pouting.

  "We need you here to help Natalie if there's trouble," Nebulon explained. "Jason told me you were an ass-kicker. Plus, we need you to get back and tell Director Devlin what happened in case something goes sideways."

  "Devlin? Jason, you still hanging with Ciara? Damn, that woman is forgiving," Carla said before noticing Jason frantically trying to wave her onto another subject. "Oh, I mean, Dr. Devlin. Yes, I see your point."

  "Good, then it's settled," Nebulon said while giving Jason a long look.

  "The Doc and I will gear up while Nat takes us to the airlock. Carla, I need you to watch the scan feeds, and let Natalie know the second something appears in-system."

  "Aye, Captain," she said, snapping a salute.

  Jason led Nebulon to where the weapons and gear were stored. He opened lockers and handed her a harness, rifle, and a pistol. He also issued her an advanced scan pad and several stun grenades. "A girl can't be too careful," he said half-joking.

  "So, you and Carla both know Ciara?" she asked.

  "What? Oh, yeah, Ciara. We knew her before I joined OffSec."

  "So, what happened?"

  "Nothing much, really. Usual stuff. We met at college on Earth, became friends, got engaged, I left her at the altar. You know, the usual stuff."

  Crickets.

  Nebulon just stared at him.

  "Finish up," he said "I can feel Nat pulsing the jets. She's about to dock."

  The ship lurched once followed by the sound of the universal airlock mating with its counterpart on the Tetrahedron. Jason pressed a button next to the hatch and a large indicator light went from red to green.

  "We have a seal. Running atmospheric analysis, he said as he pressed another button next to the lock. A small view screen lit up with an analysis report. "Oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere with trace elements. Composition similar to Tralaska. No chemical threats. No biologicals. Just old, stale, but breathable, air. We're good to go," he said as he opened first the inner door followed by the outer door. They walked into the small lock to see the outer surface of the Tetrahedron's door. It was featureless save for a lock pad in the center.

  "It can't be that easy," Nebulon said. Jason shrugged, so with guns ready, she tapped the pad with the fingers of her left hand. The door silently slid open. They walked into what looked like a vestibule or waiting area. Jason reached back and hit the door control on the outside of the Ascendant, which cycled the ship's airlock closed. Meanwhile, Nebulon found the inner door control. When Jason was clear, she closed the Tetrahedron's door as well.

  "Nat, we're inside, and the ship's airlock is sealed. You and Carla go park behind something and keep an eye out for baddies.

  "Roger that, boss. You two be careful. Ascendant standing by."

  They heard a thunk, which signaled the departure of the Ascendant.

  "Interesting design choice having only one door. Not much of an airlock," Nebulon said.

  "Yeah, either we're missing a safety mechanism, or the builders are just arrogant. Doc, you okay? You look awfully tense."

  "I don't like it in here. I usually don't have problems with caves or old tombs, but this place is giving me the willies."

  "Willies? Is that some kind of scientific term?"

  "Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. It comes from the Earth-English term heebie-jeebies," she said, trying to laugh the feeling off, but she still looked shaky to Jason.

  "Well, Doc, any idea which way?"

  Nebulon pointed down the hall, directly away from the door. "We'll head to the center," she said as she activated her video camera.

  Jason pulled a tracker out of his pocket and hid it in a space near the door. "So we can find our way back," he said. Like Nebulon, he activated his video camera before proceeding.

  "If this was a normal dig, I would have a grad student walking ahead of us throwing lightbots down the hallway," Nebulon said.

  "What's a lightbot?"

  "Hand-sized spider robot with a light globe on its back. They're programmed to find high spots and dig in with their backs exposed. Once set, they light off the globes. Fantastic for dig sites, especially in caves or underground rooms."

  "You scientists have all the cool toys."

  Nebulon stopped in front of a large holographic glyph 'floating' just in front of the wall.

  "Doc, can you read this?" he asked as he looked at the three-dimensional image.

  "Yes, I can," she said. "It's ancient Erdexi. In Standard, it translates to 'First Aid Station' or something to that effect," she said, scanning the glyph. "The one down the hall is 'Eye Wash Station.' The material on the wall is over a hundred thousand years old, and it's undisturbed.”

  "You're telling me we're looking at a holographic projector that predates human civilization and its safety signage?"

  "Pretty much," she said. She looked at her palms and saw they were sweating.

  They continued down the corridor. Around them were broken pieces of equipment, smashed objects, and other signs of abandonment. Most of the debris was covered in a thick layer of dust. Nebulon stopped and shone her hand torch onto the floor. "No footprints. Something is keeping the floor clean, yet it's ignoring everything off the path."

  As if in answer, a cleaner bot, obviously damaged, limped past them, brushing the corridor floor as it proceeded.

  "How old is this place?"

  "Scanner indicates the same as the holographic projector, about a thousand standard centuries," she said as she pulled out a sample jar and put some dust in it. "I'll take this back to the lab for analysis. Is it hot in here?"

  "Twenty degrees Celsius. Humidity about fifteen percent," he said as he switched his scanner to medical and scanned her.

  "Don't do that. I'm fine," she snapped.

  He looked at the readings. "Doc, you're not fine. Your temp is up as is your metabolism."

  "I'm fine, I'm telling you. I've been under a lot of stress lately. I'm sorry for snapping at you. Look, we're here."

  They came to a stop in front of a featureless door with a control pad next to it.

  "At least they're consistent," Nebulon said. She raised her pistol as he switched to his rifle. When they were ready, she tapped the pad and the door slid open. As it retracted, lights on the ceiling activated, filling the room with illumination. They found themselves standing on a wide balcony surrounding a large hemispherical pit. Suspended at floor level at the center of the pit was a sphere identical to the one that destroyed Tennosh.

  "What the hell is this place?" Nebulon asked as her commlink beeped.

  "Nebulon, you and the boss have friends in a ship heading toward the airlock. They dock in less than five minutes.”

  "Honey, set out the bone china. We have company," she said to Jason.

  "Hide," he said as he closed the door. Luckily, the lights were on a delay, so they had time to hide behind a pile of debris before the room went totally dark.

  Jason reached over and touched her. She pulled away violently while emitting a low hiss. Even though the contact was brief, he could tell her body temperature was elevated.

  He was interrupted by the door opening and the lights
coming on. Two people, a man and a woman walked in pulling a pair of hover-lifts behind them. They stopped just before reaching the edge of the pit and waited while one of them knelt and put his hand on the floor. A pedestal rose from the floor and stopped when it was about a meter high. The man tapped the top which caused the sphere to emit a low hum. In moments, electrical discharges were dancing on the sphere's exterior. As they watched, an orb of orange flame formed, filling the pit, but unlike the one in the barn, this one did not disappear immediately. It sat there, its surface covered in cold orange flames. Jason showed Nebulon his external temperature readout. It read twenty degrees Celsius. Whatever they were seeing, it wasn't emitting heat. He quietly set his scan pad to wide field record before setting it on a crate and aiming it at the two people and the lifts they brought.

  The two figures pulled the lifts around so that they were between them and the sphere. Soon, a pallet with two crates emerged from the burning sphere and settled on one of the lifts while another pallet filled with randomly shaped, modern shipping containers emerged and settled on the other lift. The man pulled the lifts out of the way while the woman stood and waited. A man walked out of the sphere. He was wearing a dark jacket and balaclava which made identification impossible. When he spoke, his voice sounded garbled which meant he was using a voice disguiser. Whoever he was, he did not want to be identified.

  Nebulon sniffed the air for a moment before tensing her body. Jason grabbed her and held her in place, realizing she was about to leap and attack the trio. It was all he could do to hold her there.

  The two visitors from the spaceship turned and walked out of the chamber dragging the loaded lifts behind them. Just as they were about to exit, Jason was able to throw small locater tags onto the pallets, the tiny devices indistinguishable from grains of dirt. He did the same as the figure entered the orb. Moments later, the orb disappeared leaving the two of them in the dark.

  Jason and Nebulon stared at the now-empty pit. Jason could hear Nebulon's heavy breathing and feel her elevated body heat as he continued to hold her. He was about to see if she was okay when Nat's voice came over the commlink. "They've disconnected from the station and dropped into FTL. We're coming back," she said. Jason was too busy holding Nebulon to answer.

  "Doc, calm down. They're gone," he said as he let her go and ran to open the door. When the lights came on, he found Nebulon pacing the area where the three had stood.

  "Nebulon!" He yelled trying to snap her out of whatever was affecting her.

  She turned and looked at him with pure rage in her eyes. As she continued to stare at him, Nat and Carla ran in, worried when they hadn't gotten a response.

  He turned and looked at Nat. "Air samples, as many as you can get," he yelled. He heard a noise and turned back to see Nebulon coming at him. Before he could react, a stun beam caught her mid chest. She stopped and looked at him. "What's happening to me?" she said as she dropped to the floor unconscious.

  "I thought she was going to kill you," Carla said as she lowered her gun. Nat had hers halfway out of its holster, but Carla had beaten her to it. Nat gently took her pistol and looked at the setting "Heavy stun," she said as she put it back into Carla's holster.

  "That's impossible," Jason said as he took Nebulon's pulse. It was strong. "Heavy stun should have felled her instantly. It barely put her to sleep."

  "Where am I? Why am I on the floor?" Nebulon said as she sat up.

  "You're having a bad reaction to something in the air. It seems to have subsided, but I don't want to take any chances."

  "What happened to my shirt?" she asked as she saw a large circular area devoid of dye.

  "Carla had to stun you," Jason said matter-of-factly.

  "Why?" she asked, not really believing what he had said.

  "You didn't seem to recognize me, so you attacked. Carla reacted by hitting you with a stun charge," he replied as he got her on her feet. "Can you walk?"

  "I'm fine. Out of curiosity, what was your pistol set to, Carla?"

  She told her.

  "We should get out of here," Nebulon said.

  Without further discussion, the four returned to Ascendant. While in the airlock, Jason ordered a full decontamination shower, just in case of something biological.

  Once inside, Natalie put Nebulon in the medical bed while Jason uncoupled the Ascendant from the Tetrahedron and set course for the Cube. Once in FTL, he set the autopilot and joined the others in the main cabin.

  "How is she?" he asked.

  "Fine," Natalie said as Carla handed him a scan pad. "All parameters within normal range. Whatever affected her is out of her system."

  The medical bed finished its scans and opened, releasing Nebulon. "How are you feeling?" he asked, concerned.

  "Fine, I'm not tired or hurt or anything."

  "What's the last thing you remember?"

  She thought for a moment. "Someone walking out of the orb. I smelled something, then I was on the floor."

  "Can I look at something?" Nat asked while giving Jason the 'turn around' look.

  "Sure," she said.

  Natalie pulled on Nebulon's blouse and looked at the skin on her chest. "Odd."

  "What?" Nebulon asked as she sat back.

  "Tralaskan women have a layer of very fine hair on their chest. Yours is intact."

  "Why is that odd?"

  "You took a stun blast to your chest that was powerful enough to bleach the dye out of your top, yet the fine hairs on your chest are untouched."

  "What does that mean?" Jason asked.

  "Don't know. But, you feel fine, right?"

  "Fit as a fiddle."

  "What about the air samples?" Carla asked. "Are any of us in trouble?"

  "Nada. No biologicals. No chemicals. Nothing our equipment can detect. I'll hand them over to the Cube medics for analysis, but I don't think you will have any problems."

  "Look, I'm fine, so we should get back to work, which means I need to prepare a report for Ciara," Nebulon said as she headed to a terminal.

  "She takes a stun blast and walks away. That is one tough team leader you've got there," Carla said as she watched Nebulon's retreating back.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  "How's Dr. Blyst doing?" Ciara asked as she walked into Sickbay.

  "Fine," Dr. Kaean said "She's getting dressed and should be out in a moment. Her team's outside." Dr. Kaean was the Cube’s Chief Medical Officer and one of the Leagues finest surgeons. She was Alturan, about a meter-and-a-half tall with three large eyes and twelve tentacles that ranged in size from large ones used for locomotion to pencil-thin ones used for fine manipulation. Kaean was known for a razor wit equaled only by Ciara's.

  "I talked to them already. They're worried, of course."

  "Other than a minor viral infection, she is in the peak of health."

  "You mean she has a cold?"

  "That's what I said. Her body is dealing with it."

  "What about attacking Jason?"

  "Ah, that's where things get interesting. Tralaskan women are the dominant gender, and they take that role very seriously. When in a weakened state, they react badly to unwanted stimuli. We ran a mass spec on the air sample and found trace amounts of tricyline, a chemical used to make a high-end perfume for Tralaskan men. A very small number of Tralaskan women are allergic to the substance. Someone in that room was wearing said perfume, and Nebulon reacted to it the way any full-blooded Tralaskan woman would under those circumstances. She lashed out at the first male she could find."

  "I take it that Tralaskan women don't get sick much?"

  "It is very rare, especially a viral infection. Those are once-in-a-lifetime events."

  "Can you do anything for her?"

  "Don't have to. Her body will fight it off. She just needs to avoid perfumed fop males."

  "Fop?"

  "Pejorative term from seventeenth century England on Earth for a male overly concerned about his appearance."

  "I'll try to remember that. An
y lasting effects from the stun charge?"

  "None. In fact, I can't find any evidence she was stunned, ever."

  "Isn't that odd?"

  "Yes, as is sitting up and shaking off a charge as powerful as the one she was hit with. We tested Ms. Dael Rey's gun, and it is working perfectly. Its logger shows that she did fire a single charge set at heavy stun. Nebulon's blouse shows the effect of being hit by said heavy stun charge. It’s Nebulon that shows no evidence of being hit by anything.”

  "Doctor, do you need anything else?" Nebulon asked as she exited the examination room.

  "Nope, that's all. You're fine. Your virus should pass in a few days. Just drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest."

  "Thanks, Doctor," Nebulon said as she and Ciara left the room and joined Nebulon's team in the outer waiting room.

  "Boss, what did Dr. Kaean say?"

  "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about. I'm sorry for scaring you all like that."

  "Not to worry. That place made me feel a little twitchy myself," Jason said. "What about the air samples?"

  "I've got a slight cold, and I'm allergic to a perfume one of the men was wearing."

  "But you're fine otherwise?"

  "Fit as a fiddle."

  They walked down the hallway and went into Ciara's office.

  "Good. Well, we caught a break today. The missing ship is now offloading at Orinoco as if nothing was wrong, which we will allow its crew to keep believing. We've taken the passengers quietly aside and interviewed each one of them. The report is now sitting in the Ascendant's computer system. This is the interesting part, though, she said as she handed out a trifold brochure to each of them.

  "A trip to an Expanse dig site courtesy of E. R. Dexi Company?" Nebulon said. "Is this for real?"

  "Yep," Ciara said. "This company, which is probably a shell corporation, sponsors a working vacation for select professors and students. The professors get to gather data for papers, the students gain valuable experience, and the company keeps whatever is found. This group was the first one to go out."

  "We need to get on the next trip."

  "My thoughts exactly. No one seems to know where this dig is. The company calls the planet Rhanna, which doesn't appear in any planetary catalog. The Profs said they were in FTL for about eighteen hours. The only oddity was a power surge that occurred halfway through the trip and lasted only a second or so."