"We have," replied Zlotnik. "The stakes couldn't be any higher. My men and I have also defeated one of these creatures face to face. At least we know they are mortal."
"That was good work," said Zack.
"I thank you, but we took the creature by surprise and we had it greatly outnumbered. Facing one of them in a fair fight will almost certainly be a lot more difficult, not to mention a lot more dangerous."
The discussions continued in the same vein for at least another hour, Malus listening intently the entire time. When the conversations had pretty much played out, everyone retired to the sleeping rooms Cyrus maintained on the station for the frequent passengers heading down to Earth or coming back.
Chapter 48. Custodian 101.
SPS Lenin, Sol System, in orbit near Deimos, October 15, 2676.
Nuriyev and Betula, after examining the dead Custodian for most of the day before, had finally taken a break for some much needed rest just before midnight. Next morning, immediately after Nuriyev had finished her breakfast, they resumed their investigations.
Lenin's science lab was equipped to capture detailed external video and perform internal imaging. Nuriyev took a comprehensive series of videos and holographs of the creature, both inside and out. Not surprisingly, given the external appearance of the Custodian, the internal anatomy most closely resembled that of the terrestrial "arachnid" group, which included the spiders and scorpions of Old Earth. Members of this Class were now found on all of the Human-settled planets by virtue of having stowed away on one of the huge colony starships, proving even the most stringent quarantine protocols have gaps.
Kozloff stopped into the lab at midmorning to check on their progress. Nuriyev instinctively came to attention as soon as she spotted him.
"At ease, Ensign. Do you have a report for me?"
"We have made some progress, sir."
"Show me."
Nuriyev brought up images of the creature's internal and external anatomy on the monitor embedded in the aft bulkhead of the lab.
"Okay," said Kozloff, "what am I looking at?"
"Are you familiar with arachnids, sir? Spiders and scorpions?"
"Not particularly."
"I'll give you a quick briefing, then," said Nuriyev. She pointed to the image on the lab's viewscreen. "The external anatomy of our Custodian resembles that of an old-Earth spider, but only up to a point. Old Earth spiders have eight legs, our specimen has only six. A great deal of its internal anatomy is also fundamentally different."
"I guess that's to be expected."
"Indeed, sir. I performed a review of the references in our laboratory computer. As you know, we have information on animals from all of the Human-occupied planets. Outside of the arachnids, I could find nothing even remotely similar, and even they aren't a very good match."
"Show me what you've found," said Kozloff, "but please try not to make it too technical."
"Of course, sir." Nuriyev turned back to the creature on the lab table. "Some features of the external anatomy were easy to figure out. This crown-shaped structure that looks like its head is a sensory array. It is equipped to sense light and sound as well as smell." On either side of the head was a fist-sized patch of different-colored tissue. Nuriyev pointed them out. "These are photoreceptor membranes," she said. "They do the same thing as our eyes, but the mechanism is completely different. We believe these other patches detect sound and chemical signals."
"Very good, Ensign."
Just below the crown-shaped sensory array on the top of the creature there was an orifice with an opening guarded by a series of overlapping, arc-shaped plates operated by what appeared to be a sphincter-type muscle. Nuriyev pointed to it. "This is the mouth."
"That seems fairly obvious," said Kozloff."
"We had to start somewhere, sir."
She indicated two pairs of circular openings on the sides of the alien's body, one set just below the level of the mouth, between the two sets of arms and the others twenty centimeters lower. "These are breathing orifices." She moved to the end of the table. "Down here is where the...digestive system terminates."
"It all looks fairly familiar," said Kozloff.
"That's where the familiarity ends, sir." She turned back the monitor, switching it over to a view of the internal structure. "The mouth opens into this short, muscular esophagus leading into this elaborate, multi-lobed stomach. The contents of the stomach empty into an equally elaborate intestine consisting of these six bundles of parallel tubes. From there it is processed and eliminated."
She then pointed to a pair of football-shaped structures within either side of the body cavity that appeared to contain multiple stacks of membranes. The ovoid sacks were connected to the outside by tubes running from the four breathing orifices on either side of the creature's body. "These almost have to be what we would call 'book lungs,'" said Nuriyev, "but book lungs this large have never been reported from anywhere. And this..." she pointed to a lozenge-shaped organ some fifteen centimeters wide by twenty long, located above and behind the stomach, "...this is probably the heart."
"You've done well, Ensign."
"I've done okay, sir but..."
"Is there a problem?"
"Yes, Sir." Nuriyev pointed out several strange blobs on the image. "I have no idea what these internal structures do," she said. "Given the creature's obvious intelligence, one of them --or all of them -- might be a brain, but that would be hard to figure out without actually dissecting the creature."
"Understood," said Kozloff.
During Nuriyev's briefing, Betula had remained motionless, touching the custodian's body with two of his manipulator tentacles.
"There is more, Captain," said the Hordean, through his translation device.
"Go on..."
"As you know, these creatures are also completely different chemically from your species and mine."
"What else have you found out?" asked Nuriyev.
"They rely almost exclusively on silicon-based compounds for metabolism and for mechanical support."
"What does that mean?" asked Kozloff.
"It means that they cannot consume the same foods as you can. It also means they are able to tolerate much higher temperatures than either of our species. Your pulse weapons may be less effective against them than you realize. Tatiana? Would you care to test my theory?"
"Of course."
"This test requires an open flame capable of high temperature," said Salix.
Nuriyev pointed to a small gas-fueled torch clamped to the workbench. "Will this do?"
"That should be more than adequate. I want you to activate it and attempt to cut through the creature's exoskeleton."
"Sir?" said Nuriyev.
"Go ahead, Ensign."
Nuriyev ignited the torch and, while Kozloff watched, played it back and forth across the "elbow" joint of one of the Custodian's already burned stumps.
Nothing happened. She then held the torch on a single spot for a full ten seconds. Even then there was no visible effect. Before the captain could stop her, she then held her bare hand above the area receiving the concentrated heat from the torch. After a moment, she tentatively touched the spot.
"Ensign, are you mad!"
"Sorry to startle you, sir, but the shell on this creature seems to be very good a dissipating heat. Go on and touch it if you like."
Kozloff approached cautiously and reached a tentative finger towards the creature. To his astonishment, the intensely heated area was only slightly warm. He backed away with a confused expression on his face. "So how did Zloknik and his men manage to burn off two of this creature's arms?" he asked.
"I do not have a definitive answer," said Betula, "but I believe it may have been a combination of close proximity and multiple, simultaneous strikes. It appears your men are not only very skillful with their weapons, but are fortunate as well. Effectively combatting these creatures will require weapons much more powerful than those you are now employing."
; "We do have more powerful weapons, but they aren't nearly as portable," said Kozloff. "Is there anything else we can do?"
"While they would appear to have a greater resistance to heat than either of our species, my examination indicates their silicone-based exoskeletons are probably somewhat brittle. As a consequence, they should be vulnerable to a sharp physical impact or a kinetic weapon. Ensign? Another demonstration, if you please. Strike the beast with that device." He pointed to a hammer on the lab bench.
Tatiana, a doubtful look on her face, grabbed the small hammer from the workbench, raised it up and delivered a sharp blow to the other elbow on the creature's damaged side. The exoskeleton cracked, and a small quantity of clear fluid leaked out.
"You mean we might be able to take one of them out with a grenade or something like that?" asked Kozloff.
"I do not know what a 'grenade' is, but if it can apply a reasonably powerful kinetic force, it should be effective."
"We also have some projectile weapons that are quite powerful but we don't use them very often because the ammunition is heavy and a man can only carry a limited number of projectiles."
"If you anticipate having to fight these creatures, it might be wise to ensure some of your men are carrying these projectile weapons. That leaves us with a dilemma, however."
"And that would be?"
"We need to test your weapons to confirm they are effective against these creatures or not. However, as things currently stand, we only have a single specimen. We cannot dissect it and we cannot perform such testing without severely damaging or destroying it. An intact specimen will be needed to convince your Human governments that the threat represented by the Custodians is real."
"We have five more of them in the cargo bay," said Kozloff.
"We do, Captain," said Nuriyev, "but we have no idea how to revive them, not that I want to. If we were to revive one of them, how do we know we could handle it?"
"Good question," said Kozloff. "We also know nothing about the chambers the others are sleeping in because I ordered the container locked down and haven't allowed anyone back inside."
"It would appear you had little choice, Captain," said Betula.
"It does look like I was wise to have the men set up the assault cannon. Anything less might have been useless if one of the creatures had gotten out."
"In a way we have some of the information we need," said Betula.
"How so?" asked Kozloff.
"We know two simultaneous strikes from your pulse weapons at a range of three meters is adequate to penetrate the exoskeleton, and the creatures are probably vulnerable to sufficiently powerful kinetic weapons. That represents a start."
"That it does," said Kozloff. "What about other vulnerabilities, like cold temperatures? What kind of atmosphere do they breathe? Are they vulnerable to anything toxic in the air?"
"As you can readily see, Captain," said Betula, "there is much we do not know and research will be needed to elicit the answers."
Kozloff stared intently at the wall while he thought long and hard. After nearly a minute he said, "It's tempting to take these sleeping creatures back to New Belgrade or somewhere and let others do the investigating, but I don't know who we'd take them to. I also don't want to take the risk of reviving any of the ones on this ship for risk of them getting loose. However, we may need to take that risk." He stopped and shook his head before continuing, "I don't like it, but we have to open the shipping container and take a closer look at those suspended animation chambers."
"I see your dilemma, Captain, and I understand your caution. But I must tell you, when it comes to Custodian technology, I'm afraid I will be of little use. Hordea are chemists and physiologists."
There was silence in the room for a couple of long moments.
"What about Petty Officer Bobrik, Sir?" asked Tatiana. "He's a whiz with technology."
"Bobrik?"
"He's the tech that came with Captain Popov."
"The one that got all the information back at New Belgrade?"
"Yes."
"Excellent idea, Ensign! I'll get him down here right away."
Kozloff put in a call to the bridge and within minutes, Petty Officer Bobrik had been located. He was in the former quarters of the deceased Custodian where he was analyzing the bizarre and exotic devices left behind by the former occupant.
"Now what?" thought Bobrik, setting down the device he'd been examining, one of the smaller ones, to answer the summons. Almost as an afterthought, he picked the object back up and slipped it into a pocket before heading down to the science lab.
Chapter 49. Earthward Bound.
Sol System, Keeling's Orbital Station, October 15, 2676.
After an excellent breakfast, including fresh eggs, real ham and orange juice, which all the team members thoroughly enjoyed, it was time for them to board the shuttle bound for Earth. A short row of lightly padded acceleration seats ran down either side of the cramped passenger area of Keeling's battered old shuttle. Just in front of the seats, and elevated slightly above them, was the bridge area with stations for pilot and copilot. The expedition members each selected a seat and strapped themselves in, preparing for the descent. Malus entangled his tube foot and his manipulator tentacles into a cargo net securely fastened to the aft bulkhead of the passenger area and wrapped the net tightly around himself.
Cyrus ambled through the passenger area, checking to see if everyone was properly secured. He stopped next to Ariane, who had taken the front seat on the starboard side, and asked, "You ever flown a shuttle, Ensign MacPherson?"
"Not one this...," She was about to say "old" but didn't want to give offense. Thinking quickly, she said instead, "...not this model."
"Care to join me at the co-pilot's station?" I can give you a few pointers on flying one of these old buses."
"I'd love to," she said. "Thanks, Cyrus." She unbuckled the straps on her acceleration seat, headed forward about a meter and took a step up and into to the "bridge" of the ship. She strapped into the copilot's chair on the starboard side and immediately began checking out the controls and instruments.
Cyrus performed a few more last minute inspections before joining her in the cockpit about a half minute later. After a quick check of the shuttle's systems, which Ariane noted weren't all that different from the more modern ships she'd flown, he used thrusters to carefully maneuver the ship out of the docking bay. Once clear of the station, Keeling swung the bow around and began to boost towards the surface of the Earth. "Boost" being a relative term since he actually had to decelerate to get down to the planet.
"Whatever's down there, you folks must want it pretty bad," said Cyrus, over his shoulder. "Out in the wastelands, which is most of the planet, the natives can get pretty savage."
The passenger/bridge compartment of the old shuttle was cozy enough that conversation was possible, for the time being. When they entered Earth's atmosphere and Keeling fired the retro engines to scrub more velocity, it would become a lot more difficult.
"What exactly should we be ready for?" asked Zack from the other of the two front passenger seats.
"They're organized into bands or tribes of up to fifty people, sometimes more," replied Keeling. "Mostly they squabble among themselves, but sometimes they band together if there's a common enemy or a rich target. Then they kill each other over who gets the spoils afterwards."
"How come you're not one of these rich targets," asked Zack.
"All of our compounds are well fortified. My main base is on an island called 'Key West' just off the west coast of what used to be called 'Florida'. Your destination, if you're reading that device right, is almost two thousand kilometers north and a little east of there, near another one of my fortified compounds. After we set this old girl down, we'll use an atmospheric shuttle to take you there."
"We keep hearing about this 'Washington DC,' place," said Ariane. "What was it?"
"Your destination is in the ruins of an area that used to be called 'Wash
ington, District of Colombia.' It was part of the old United States of America, the capital, in fact. The Potomac River runs right through the ruins, and our base is on an island in the middle of the river."
"Another island?" said Ariane from the copilot station.
"They're easier to defend," explained Cyrus. "This one used to be called 'Theodore Roosevelt Island,' after one of the presidents of the old United States. It was a memorial park or something like that. His statue is still standing, though it's not in the best of shape these days."
"How were you able to get your hands on that island?" asked Zack.
"It was all but abandoned when we surveyed the area a few years ago. There was a small tribe on the island, but they were barely holding on to it. We convinced them it was in their best interests to partner up with us. Because of our arrangement, they're now the biggest dog in the neighborhood. It's secure; we've got guard posts set up around the perimeter of the island and a shield generator at the point where a bridge connects us to the mainland."
"Just the one bridge, then?" asked Zack.
"Yep. The bridge used to go clear across the island and connect to the other bank of the river but half of it didn't make it through the Great Conflagration."
"So you get along pretty well with these natives then?" said Ariane.
"We try to partner up with one or two of the strongest tribes near all of our bases. Through them we have a loose sort of trade agreement with most of the other local tribes. We bring medicines and other goods, and they bring us meat and vegetables and other stuff. Always have to make sure that you check their goods for radiation though."
"So this is how Holger Tvedt gets all his exotic food?" said Ariane.
"Yeah," said Cyrus. "He's one of our best customers."
"We've never been disappointed at anything but the price," said Erik, from his seat right behind Zack's.
"And you Vikings always manage to haggle me down to where I hardly make any profit at all! I swear, you guys are going to put me out of business! It's not like I don't have expenses, you know."
The Archeon Codex: Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel Book 2 Page 25
