Starborn Odyssey (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 1)

by Haines Sigurdsson

  I called the Captain and he informed me that the ship they had named Explorer was on its way to the larger moon, Romulus, to investigate the possibility that there may have been installations there as well. It seemed appropriate to me and I hoped that perhaps they would find something significant there. I also suggested that they do another more complete scan of the main planet, just in case some small pockets of survivors remained by some miracle. I’m happy to say that he didn’t think I was insane; but suggested that we do that scan ourselves when we finished gathering info from the Remus station. We had several other sites on this little moon to check yet before we could leave, but time was not a critical factor.

  The advantage that shortly came to light was that we had a copter that had enough fuel to check out most of the sites we had found, having all been on the same side of the planet. Though the term copter was from the old fashioned term for a rotor craft, that is not what the vehicle was. It was so named because of its ability to hover in heavy or light atmosphere and gravity.

  One of the sites turned out, sadly, to be another crashed rocket. The other two were just large iron deposits at the surface. There was one left to check, but it would have to be checked with the Homer, because it was almost half a planet away, too far for the copter.

  It was another full day before we had copied most of their data; though it would take considerably longer to decipher what we had. We returned the bodies to their proper tombs and set out for that area, after a short service for their dead as well as our own, who under Doc Lee’s direction had been lain out in a less tortured-looking state in the control room of the ship. It was good to leave that sad place behind, though one day we would return with real plaques to dedicate to the fallen.

  It took only ten minutes to reach our destination; it was the biggest surprise yet! There lay a craft unlike anything we had ever seen; a genuine flying saucer! We landed within a few yards of it.

  Though somewhat banged up, it didn’t appear to have any breaches in the hull. It was covered with a thin layer of dust, but the underside of it was clean white material of an unidentifiable nature— some sort of Teflon would be our nearest equivalent.

  After landing, we approached the saucer cautiously; there were faded footprints in the older dust, of indeterminate shape, but Prof. White said the amount of dust suggested that it had been there for five or six hundred years. Could this possibly be the descendants of the people who had died at the station? If so, where were they operating from now? We were looking for a hatch of some sort, but after one complete circuit of the ship, we hadn’t seen anything that looked like an access or entrance. This technology was as far beyond ours as ours was beyond a horse and carriage.

  “I would almost bet this thing is a faster than light ship,” I said to Olga and Prof. White, who were at my side.

  “I think you may well be right.” Answered the Professor. “I think the underside of the ship probably drops down like a stairway; can you see those faint lines in the fabric overhead?” He asked pointing to a specific area of the lower hull. “Many of the foot prints seem to concentrate right about where that would touch the ground.”

  I could see that he was right. “Can we scan it for anomalies that might help us find a way in, or do you think we can cut our way in with torches, or blades?”

  “If we can, it will come as a surprise to me; a pleasant surprise I might add,” he said. He called over to the ship and requested the tools he thought might do the job.

  “Perhaps we should knock?” Asked Olga, sounding a little concerned. “You never know.”

  “If there’s anyone here, they haven’t been out of their ship in many years,” said Prof. White. He gestured magnanimously, inviting: “But be my guest.”

  Olga tried a couple of raps on the hull, and wasn’t surprised at receiving no response. “I just didn’t want to cut a hole in someone’s home without checking,” she said, slightly embarrassed.

  “It was actually a good idea,” said the Professor. “Now let’s get the scanner set up; and while we’re at it, see if we can get some filings from this material to see what it’s made of. If worst comes to worst, we’ll have to cut our way into the ship.”

  The anomalous readings that had attracted us to this site were not from metal, as we had thought. After all the years the craft had been sitting on that moon, it still had a residual field radiating from it. I thought at the time it must have generated some sort of intense magnetic or anti-gravity field that was its drive system. Perhaps it would hold the key to faster than light travel, if we could get inside to examine the mechanisms.

  One edge of the ship had been curled badly in the impact; it left a gouge in the surface where it first made contact, but had apparently bounced back about fifty feet before coming to rest in an upright position.

  Mike had brought a drill to bore a hole to sample the atmosphere residuals inside, while getting samples of the material at the same time. He started drilling in the area that had been damaged, figuring that to be the easiest to penetrate. There was of course no sound made by the drilling in the vacuum of space; I put my hand on the ship to feel the vibration, but there was none. After about a minute of drilling he stopped and examined the spot; there wasn’t so much as a scratch in the surface.

  “I’ll be damned!” He exclaimed. “Whatever this is made of it’s a lot tougher than my drill bit; see, it’s melted smooth. I’m hesitant to cut with a torch, not knowing what type of gases might be inside. What do you think, Professor? Should we try it, or see if we can force that section you spotted to open first?”

  “That entryway is designed to hold up against pressure from the inside, so I doubt we’ll be able to pry it open. A laser torch is probably the only thing that might get us in, but I’m not sure we should try it here,” cautioned the Professor. “I think it might be better to tow it home where we can study it at our leisure. Perhaps set it down on Zeus to play it safe, since we don’t know what’s inside of it.”

  The scanner was set up by this time and the people began to probe the ship. The results were better than we had expected, showing the spaces divided into several small chambers and one large central chamber. Nothing that we recognized as controls or even control panels; there were massive amounts of wiring wrapped through the perimeter of the craft, suggesting that some fashion of electromagnetic field was involved. Whether that was just to create a magnetosphere, or actually had something to do with its motivation was anybody’s guess. If there were bodies inside, they weren’t showing up on the scans, which wasn’t really a surprise. They would only have shown up if they were made of a more solid material, like metal, stone or plastic. We could detect no form of engine that we could recognize as such.

  “Well that’s certainly created more questions than answers,” said Professor White. “With all that wiring there must be some form of generator, but so far nothing showing.”

  “We’ll have to let the Captain make the decision as to what we’re going to do with this craft,” I said. “I’m inclined to agree with your logic, though. Towing this thing to a place where we can work less encumbered is probably the only intelligent move we could make.”

  “The fact that this craft is here at all suggests that the ship landed here already in difficulty; the power system must have failed beyond repair, or they’d have taken off again.” Prof White rationalized. “We need this technology. Just think, if we could go back and forth between Earth and Olympus in less than five years or so, what a difference it would make in our society.”

  “I don’t know if I want to have Earth involved in how we run our world,” I said defensively, with a wave of sudden deep distrust of the origin world none of us had ever seen. “Just in studying history, we know that a mother country or world will always try to make a profit off of their siblings, or at least control them.” I had never lived on Earth and honestly felt no real loyalty to it; we really were Starborn, the children of the stars. It was the first time I had ever thought about it t
hat way, but it was right.

  It was while waiting to hear from the Captain that Ira went for a walk to see what was nearby. He saw some faded foot prints in the dust; these prints were about five inches wide and seven inches long, definitely not human and probably as old as those around the saucer ship. They must have done a little exploring themselves, and it would be interesting to find out if they had found anything worthwhile. As he rounded an outcropping of rock he saw the space-suited body. He called me on my headset to tell me what he’d found, and Prof. White and I headed off to see it for ourselves.

  When we arrived, Ira was just standing there looking at it. “It’s grotesque,” was all he said.

  I had to agree; it wasn’t human or even a mammal. If anything, it looked to be an insect. Through its helmet we could see multi faceted eyes like those of a fly. It was hard to imagine that these creatures had technology superior to ours, but the proof was there for all to see; time to adjust our thinking.

  I no longer had any desire to open their ship to see what was in there. The creature had four walking appendages and two arms with long skinny fingers; each hand had six fingers with two opposing thumbs. It was slightly smaller than a human though hard to compare because of its shape being so different from ours. It wore a flexible fabric suit fitted to a body consisting of three segments; head, thorax and abdomen. It must have preferred to go off and die on its own. For all their technology, they must think, dream, and imagine much like us, in spite of the physical differences. Insects!

  And yet, their technology would be a massive breakthrough if we could ever decipher it. It might take years just to figure out what things were, nonetheless how they worked. Our scientists had their work cut out for them.

  In the end it was decided to leave the insectoid ship where it was until we could send a ship specially equipped to move it to Zeus, where we could work on it safely.

  Have the other ships that have left Earth found such an abundance of life as they’ve traveled to different parts of the galaxy? Have any found races that would be a threat to mankind? These insect creatures; will more come, and do they think like us, or would they see us as a threat or as food? So many questions that I had never taken seriously before.

  We lifted off to go and scan the third planet again; if there were any survivors they would be nearest the Polar Regions, where quakes, etc., would be minimal. The science team members were all busy with the materials and documenting all that had been discovered on this trip so far. They’d be occupied with the data for generations, and there would be more gathered as the years went by.

  Almost every day seemed to hold a new surprise; such that you might think we’d stop being surprised. That apparently is not human nature. As a matter of fact, I think most of us love to be surprised, even if it’s something bad.

  By the current positions of the planets, it took only a day to reach the third planet and begin our scans. Much of the surface was just cooled rivers of lava; but oddly, nowhere near the cloud cover as on Venus. The atmospheric pressure was close to normal and the air mostly breathable. It would be a great place to live if not for the visits by its neighboring planet every forty seven years, tearing it apart. Maybe someday we could change that, too. Where there’s a will . . .

  My reveries were interrupted by a yell from Brad about something on the fast approaching horizon, near the southern polar region of the planet. It looked like a cluster of adobe structures at the edge of an area of ice. It was a small settlement, though there didn’t appear to be any activity there.

  When we landed it became apparent that there had been survivors there for quite a while, but they had died out at least five hundred years ago. Certainly they had managed to keep a somewhat primitive culture alive well past the destruction of their civilization. The cause of the failure of the settlement was most likely starvation since they don’t seem to have had any amount of agriculture and there can’t have been much in the way of wildlife. The adobe structures were cracked and falling down from the most resent quakes. We lifted off to see if there were any more little settlements, but it was to no avail; there were no survivors on the planet. Nowhere else on the planet was there even more than a few fragments of structures from so long ago.

  We reported our findings to the Captain and were informed that a tow platform had been launched in our direction to tow the saucer ship home, and we were to wait those couple of days for it to arrive, and then bring it back to save a trip. The entire ship was only about fifty feet in diameter with the center section not more than thirty feet; so it was obviously not a craft like ours that would take generations to travel great distances. It could of course be from somewhere in the same solar system that we don’t see as habitable but my bet is that it’s an interstellar ship. Time will tell.

  We were also instructed to put the corpse of the insectoid into the cargo hold in the transport platform so that it could be studied, without risk of contaminating our new home’s environment. While we had to wait several days for the transport to arrive it was suggested that we return to Sne-az to retrieve one of the dragons from the northern region of the continent we had nicknamed Hades. We were to avoid any areas that had any large concentration of the creatures; that way we could avoid a battle like the last time we landed there.

  Olga made the suggestion that we try to find one creature by itself. We all heartily agreed, and so began our second trip to Hades. It took just a couple of days to return to Sne-az and begin flying patterns searching for a lone creature to capture. We finally spotted our target near the northern polar region. We landed as close to the creature as we could and went out to stun it before it could react to us.

  It was carrying the same type of stone hatchet as the ones we encountered on our last trip; also a stone sword through a belt at its waist. It watched us with interest, but no sign of fear; I have to admit that I almost admired its calm demeanor. It walked slowly toward us, but not in a threatening fashion. As a matter of fact, it didn’t even seem surprised to see us there.

  I was all set to tranquilize it when it began to speak. “Zorpeg?” It said in an askance tone. Then it just waited for a response.

  I pointed to it and repeated its word, Zorpeg; to see if that was what they called themselves. Its response was to point at itself and say, “Vortlepeg.” It pointed back to me, then to several others near me, and repeated; “Zorpeg.” Not in the same questioning tone.

  What surprised me was that they had a name for humans, unless it thought we were gods; but it didn’t seem to be intimidated so I assumed that not to be the case. Several of the members of the scientific team continued the interview with the Vortlepeg, in an attempt to find out as much about them as possible. One thing to come out of this was the fact that the violent creatures to the south were not the majority, but a problem for all who lived in the north. The dragon’s name was Blurg; at least that’s as close as the human tongue could make it.

  The big surprise was that there was a colony of Zorpeg—humans!— just a short distance from where we stood. Prof. White invited Blurg to ride with us and show us where they were. It was hesitant to climb into the ship, but followed after seeing that we didn’t seem to be harmed by it; at least that was my impression. It is difficult to relate info about single gender creatures as the ones we’ve met on Sne-az; most people say he, regardless of their gender; I guess that’s better than the impersonal “it.”

  Blurg tried to hide the shaking in his legs as we lifted off the ground, though we only rose fifty feet or so off the ground so he could point us in the right direction. It took only minutes to get there, and as we set the ship down on the edge of the small town, a large crowd gathered. From a distance it could have been human. The settlement looked much the same as the pioneer settlements on Earth must have looked. It was a chilly climate and smoke was coming from chimneys of the cabin style buildings. There was considerable land cleared of forest and planted with crops of some sort other than the standard red or purple topped trees, thou
gh green undergrowth was fairly common all over the planet. The one thing that was different here, however, was the presence of real flowers in a wide array of colors and shapes. I’m sure these were not native to Sne-az.

  The people, we saw as we approached, were the same high cheek boned faces we saw in their art work; the majority of them were slender and of heights from children to adults, five to six feet tall on an average, and the community was probably four or five thousand all total.

  Our Linguists had been studying their language, but there had been nowhere near enough time to decipher even the basics; so it was back to signs again. This was the first alien race we’d met that had obvious male and female genders. Looking them over as they were doing to us, I noticed the same thumb and two broad flat fingers and lack of hair but a short fuzzy pinkish fluff on their heads as we saw on the corpses on the little moon’s base. Doug was already sending comms to the Captain about this remarkable find; we actually had another race of humans to share knowledge with.

  I wondered if these people had ever had any contact with the insect creatures; it would be a while before we could communicate that well. Much of what they wore was of fabrics woven from the red and purple plants in the forest; others were leather from the cow like creatures. So their array was colorful, to say the least, even if not stylishly coordinated by our standards. I guess there are just so many options in a cool climate for ways to make clothes to be practical, and keep you warm. Women seemed to wear short tunics, more like dresses with long pants, either woven fabric or leather; while men wore almost strictly the leatherwear. The thing that stood out in my mind was that unlike the pioneer clothing of early Earth, there was no fur on the coats that some were wearing, because the creatures of this world didn’t have any fur.

  I was interested, too, in the short fuzz on their heads; almost a pink color so close to their skin tone that I had almost failed to notice it before. It actually made them look slightly more attractive, in my personal opinion. We had landed about a hundred yards from the town, and were a little fearful that the reception might not be as friendly as we hoped; having had some pretty bad experiences so far on our journey. We sent just a small group out with Blurg, the two Linguists, Ira, Olga and I. We didn’t go far from the ship, and tried to keep up a peaceful appearance, though there were several of our men prepared to fire if anything bad started.