by S. H. Jucha
Using the imagery from the traveler’s controller, the SADEs and twins divided the warriors into targets based on their weapons’ relative firepower and spread capability. Then they waited for Alex’s orders.
Posnossa edged around Z and Étienne, and then stepped into the opening. She barked a greeting to the Dischnya, dramatically waving her tail high behind her to signal her status. The warriors were stunned for an instant, but only for a brief moment. When they hoisted their weapons to their shoulders, Posnossa leapt clear of danger and a barrage of heavy slugs smacked into the stone columns located only meters inside the opening. Stone chips stung some of the nearest individuals, and when several struck Sissya, she hissed defiantly.
“Go,” Alex shouted.
The twins slid out on their knees into the opening and fired continuously at the middle of the warriors, opening a corridor through them. The SADEs were instantly behind the twins, targeting the right and left flanks of warriors and knocking down the remaining warriors. The foursome launched themselves down the steps, dancing through the comatose bodies.
Alex led the queens down the steps, their wasats by their sides, and Julien followed at the rear. The young queens stumbled at the sight of so many Dischnya splayed out across the steps and sands, mouths slack and limbs twisted in odd positions. The wasats, hardened by years of fighting, hurried their principals forward.
Another eleven warriors appeared at the flanking fringe of the attackers, and the SADEs dropped them, while the twins focused on the wedge of space between the team and the traveler.
Svetlana tracked the twins’ progress and signaled the hatch to drop into a locked position, as they reached it. Étienne and Alain split to the side and knelt to cover the team’s boarding. Z and Miranda stopped short and spun around, scanning on all light frequencies for more attackers.
When Alex reached the hatch, he stepped aside, while the queens, wasats, and Julien leapt into the traveler, eschewing the steps. Alex clambered up behind them, followed by the twins and the SADEs. Z, the last aboard, signaled the hatch closed and Svetlana to lift.
“Anyone hit?” Alex asked loudly. The answers were all negatives. Alex turned to regard Étienne, Alain, Z, and Miranda. He briefly used his right hand to cross his body and touch his left shoulder, saying, “I stand corrected.” Then he dipped his head in apology.
When Alex turned around, the twins grinned at Z and Miranda, who smiled quietly in return. Each of them delved into the details of the fight against the warriors — weapon response times, targeting acquisition, beam spreads, and energy expended. The key questions were how much energy was left in the power cells and how could the efficiency of the weapons be improved.
“Apologies, Alex, I don’t know how we failed to spot the warriors until it was too late,” Deirdre said. She felt she had to apologize personally to Alex and had left the pilot’s cabin while Svetlana handled the ship. They were hovering 2 kilometers above the surface, waiting for Alex’s orders.
“Not necessary, Commander,” Alex said, and sent some images to Deirdre of the warriors before they were felled by the security team’s shoulder-mounted, stun guns.
“No wonder we didn’t see them until they were nearly on you,” Deirdre replied in awe. The Dischnya warriors were covered from crown to clawed feet in cloth and skins, painted to camouflage them. Even their eyes were covered with some sort of transparent material to protect them from wind and sand.
“Tough to spot them visually or on thermal, Commander,” Alex said, patting Deirdre on the shoulder.
Homsaff watched the pilot bare her teeth at Dassata’s touch. It was a gesture she now understood was an expression of pleasure. I’ve received one of those from Dassata, Homsaff thought with pride.
“Dassata, a thought for you,” Sissya said, which brought Alex close to the queen. “Can your technology determine the age of that edifice?”
“Julien, any idea?” Alex asked.
Julien opened his hand and revealed a shard of stone that he’d scooped up when a slug tore into a column behind them. He set an app in his kernel to monitor the pressure on his fingers and began to press firmly on the shard. The Dischnya watched, intrigued by any activities of Dassata’s metal soma. Eventually, the small shard shattered, shooting pieces in every direction. Some Dischnya were stung and hissed their displeasure, but, even then, all of them exchanged amazed glances at the demonstration of the metal soma’s power.
“Apologies,” Julien said to the queens and wasats. “Alex, the stone’s density indicates it has sufficient hardness to withstand the wearing of the winds and sands, as we’ve recorded them, for several hundred years, at the very least.”
“Do you understand, Sissya?” Alex said, when he repeated what Julien said in their language. For more complex statements, it was necessary to revert to the Dischnya language, but, after spending nearly thirty days together in close proximity aboard the Omnian ships, the Dischnya had demonstrated that they had a knack for language and were quickly learning the alien’s speech, as they called it.
“Dassata, the structure is too old. It would have been built and its surfaces carved before the sphere came here,” Sissya replied.
Alex nodded his agreement. He’d come to the same conclusion the moment Julien stated his estimate of the edifice’s minimum age.
Everyone else aboard was left to review the unusual circumstances of their first landing on Sawa — an inhospitable planet, environmentally and culturally.
* * *
Once aboard the Rêveur, Alex decided to order Svetlana and Deirdre to take the travelers planetside the next morning, as soon as there was sufficient light.
“I want close-up and detailed telemetry of every edifice on this planet,” Alex said.
“I take it that we’re trying to get an idea of the age of each structure,” Svetlana replied.
“It took the warriors nearly two hours to show up at the first location, Alex. We could pop into a structure, take images of the interiors, collect samples, and be out before any warriors arrived,” Deirdre volunteered.
“Do the Dischnya have communication on this planet?” Alex asked. When the commanders frowned in confusion, Alex added, “And could they have warned others of our landing? And could they be ready the next time to respond even quicker and with a greater force?”
“All excellent questions, Alex,” Deirdre admitted. “You’ve convinced me to keep my butt in my pilot’s seat.” She grinned in appreciation of Alex’s preference to keep her safe, rather than accept her offer to risk her life to gather more information.
* * *
Two days later, the team descended planetside again. This time they targeted an edifice that the SADEs deduced from Svetlana’s imagery was one of the lesser-worn structures. It crossed Alex’s mind that it might be too young, although it did show some wear on its stones’ faces.
From the little data that Julien had to work with, he estimated the edifice was somewhere between 250 and 125 years old, which meant it could still be pre-event.
Alex linked to the controller and studied the structure. It wasn’t as prominent as Edifice Alpha, although
it was built in the same tradition — a triple-stacked ziggurat with wide steps leading to the first level. There wasn’t much choice in landing sites. The Dischnya situated this learning center amidst a field of rocks, some of which could rightly be called boulders, reaching heights of several meters and more.
Scanning the terrain, Alex chose a location with the fewest number of boulders, allowing his people the greatest advantage for line of sight. Unfortunately, it was more than 2 kilometers from the edifice.
Svetlana set the traveler down softly, its three short landing gear extending from small hatches in the shell. Immediately, Deirdre sent a ping into the ground from one of the hull’s sensors, and Svetlana and she monitored the app’s response.
Z, Miranda, and the twins organized their exit and waited, and it wasn’t long before they received Svetlana’s warning.
Z and Miranda each took one side of the hatch, and the twins crowded behind them. Z signaled the hatch to drop and waited. When nothing happened, he stepped into the opening, allowed a brief tick for attackers to sight on him, and then leapt aside.
Slugs peppered the hull and a handful struck the traveler’s interior. Z signaled the hatch closed, and Alex ordered Svetlana to lift.
The warriors watched from concealment, as their prey disappeared into the sky, seemingly unharmed by their weapons. Nonetheless, they broke out in celebration, hoisting their weapons high and howling in victory at the sky. The alien enemy had been chased from their territory.
“Black space,” Deirdre muttered quietly.
Svetlana grinned, which, with their heads encased in helmets, Deirdre couldn’t see. It had been Deirdre’s idea to search the edifices’ interiors and capture imagery of the glyphs for Alex, which he’d refused. This landing proved that one or both of them would probably have been dead or captured, in short order.
“I’m confused, Alex,” Julien asked, frowning and holding a hand to his chin, as if he was contemplating a critical problem. “Would the next iteration of your superlative leadership be labeled plan C or, if we revisit this location, would it be B-2?”
“Some days, I dearly wish you were human,” Alex replied, scowling.
“Contemplating violence, are we?” Julien remarked and pursed his lips at Alex.
For the briefest moment, Alex stared at his friend in disbelief, then he smiled and barked a laugh that boomed off the traveler’s interior.
The Dischnya couldn’t resist joining, and they echoed Alex with barks and yips of their own, even though they had no idea of the occasion, but that started everyone laughing.
Alex cupped the neck of his friend, planted a big smack on his forehead, and walked down the aisle to examine the slugs that Z and Miranda were pulling from the interior bulkhead.
“What now, Alex?” Étienne asked.
“I’m working on plan B-2, or C-1, as my inimitable friend would term them,” Alex said to the twins, Z, and Miranda. He studied a slug that Miranda handed him. It was heavier than those used against his people on Omnia. “Slug throwers, but more powerful,” Alex said quietly, and his people dipped their heads in agreement.
“Is not the primary purpose of your plan, Alex, to collect imagery of the edifice’s interior?” Z asked.
“I’d agree.”
“Then I believe I have the answer aboard the Rêveur.”
* * *
Plan C-1 was enacted early the next morning. As far as Alex was concerned, the Dischnya had arrived too quickly and in too great a number at the site of Edifice Beta. During her reconnaissance, Deirdre had recorded a structure similar to Beta. It was about the same size and showed about the same amount of wear, and Alex decided to try the team’s fortune at this alternate site.
It might have been better to attempt Z’s plan, after the storms began to ravage the face of Sawa Messa, but Alex was concerned about exposing his people to the scouring winds and the possible damage the traveler’s shell might receive.
Alex intended to leave the Dischnya on the traveler, especially after he learned of Z’s idea, but Homsaff would have nothing to do with it. She insisted on accompanying him, and the other queens decided that if Homsaff was going, they were going.
Humans and SADEs loaded onto the traveler first, and then the Dischnya were escorted aboard by Miriam and Glenn. The queens and wasats eyed the strange block of rectangular metal that sat aft of the hatch. It was so large that seats had been removed to accommodate it.
The brief flight time soon had Svetlana setting the traveler down at Edifice Delta’s location. Miranda, Miriam, and Julien levered the block of metal up and over until it was poised in front of the hatch. Miranda looked at Alex, who nodded, and she signaled the hatch open. As soon as the lowered hatch locked into place, Miranda placed a massive boot against the block and heaved, launching it out of the ship and onto the ground.
The hatch was left open, and everyone was careful to keep clear of the opening.
A nest lookout had warned of a strange object that had suddenly appeared in the distance, and warriors scrambled to defend the nest. A sub-commander was ordered by his wasat to lead the warriors, and they poured from the tunnels. Using the plain’s boulders as cover, they worked their way toward the huge object.
Waffala, the sub-commander, ordered his warriors to remain undercover, watch from concealment, and hold their fire. They saw a door in the structure open and a block of stone fall out. The sub-commander’s brow wrinkled in confusion. He’d never witnessed this sort of attack on the nest.
When the block began to move, the warriors growled in anticipation, and Waffala hissed at them to remain quiet. The expectation was that warriors would leap from what must be a box, painted to resemble stone, but, to their great surprise, they witnessed it slowly and steadily unfold to reveal a small head and six powerful legs, which extended from a squat body. When the creature moved, Waffala ordered his warriors to open fire.
Ensconced in his mining avatar, Z started forward and shots pinged off his shell. Z chose this avatar for his foray into the edifice, because it was built to withstand the enormous pressures of cave-ins, while he searched for high-value mineral deposits in underground domes and rivers.
By the time the creature reached the edifice’s steps, Waffala decided to ignore the colorful structure, which might house other creatures, and he ordered his warriors to chase the creature, which was about to invade their ancient seat of learning. T
he warriors fired shot after shot, only to hear their slugs ricochet off the stone skin.
Alain snapped a quick look through the hatch opening and signaled to Miranda and his crèche-mate that the warriors were attacking Z in numbers. He was about to coordinate a rear attack when Miranda jumped through the hatch and started dropping the warriors. Without hesitation, the twins dove through the hatch and focused on covering Miranda. Intelligently, Miranda was stunning the rearmost warriors.
Those warriors nearest the creature belatedly realized that their weapons fire was lessening. Turning around, they came face to face with three more creatures, and, frozen by the sight, they were stunned and fell onto the steps before a single warrior could fire a shot.
Alain sent to Miranda.
Miranda sent in reply.
The threesome scanned for more warriors while Miranda signaled Z. She saw the legs hesitate, and then the avatar reversed its way back down the steps.
Miranda walked beside Z, and the Dischnya, except for Homsaff, stared in horror at the thing that moved slowly past them.
“Metal soma, Dassata?” Homsaff asked curiously.
“We call them SADEs, Homsaff,” Alex replied. “That’s Z in another body.”
Alex’s comment caused Homsaff to halt, while the team moved on. She hurried to the front of the creature and knelt down in the sand. “Z, are you in there?” she asked.
