“I guess this is where we’ll spend the night, days, who knows how long we have to hide,” Josias said.
“I just hope they leave the villages alone,” said Isan.
“Don’t fear the worst, son. Have faith,” Pierre said while dousing the torch and setting it back in place near the entrance.
“It’s really quite beautiful in here. I wonder what kind of stone it is,” Haven mused, running her palm across the wall.
“Salt. The tunnels and caverns go very deep beneath the crust. I think this may have been a sea, hundreds of thousands of years ago.”
“Wow. You could make a fortune selling it. Salt has become a scarcity. The pollution on Earth tainted all salt flats and mines. They were closed down a long time ago. It’s much coveted by the ones who remember it,” Haven told them.
“Yes, we could make a fortune. At the same time, Dahkhar control would take over and before we know it, our planet would not be one of peace and quiet anymore. I hope you will never tell anyone about the mine. If you’re successful in overthrowing the powers that be and stopping the contamination and poisoning of people, ending the slag dumps, we’ll be happy to produce enough compound for all planets to spray their slag dumps. But we’ll never give away the secret of how we make the compound. It’s not just the salt, there are other ingredients involved as well, found only on this planet.”
“It’s not that cold in here,” Isan said.
“No, we’re quite deep inside the mountain. It will protect us from the night, though I suggest we all get our blankets and try and get some sleep. Who knows what tomorrow will bring,” Pierre said. He stood and walked to the glider to take out the packs. Josias joined him to help.
“How far is it to the mouth of the cave?” Haven asked. “Maybe we can see something from there, activity in the sky.”
“It’s a long walk. I don’t know the range of their scanners. They could detect your life forms if you go outside the cave.”
“How do we find out what’s going on?”
“Danielle will contact me as soon as she is able to. My com is turned off right now. We can’t risk them picking up the signal. Here is the food.” Pierre set the bag on the ground.
Josias tossed them each two blankets. Haven spread them beneath her on the ground. When she was ready, she would roll herself up in them to layer them. She was still wide awake, and so were the men.
I fear for them…
As do I, Isan said.
Yes, Josias agreed. The last thing we want is the blood of Pierre’s people on our hands.
I don’t think I could live with that, Haven said. I have a hard enough time bearing the guilt of shooting down ships and killing innocents.
You had no choice, love. It was them, or you, Josias said.
Sometimes I wish I would have revolted against it, flat refused. The guilt will haunt me ‘til the day I die.
Honey, if you hadn’t shot the ships down, many more could have been hurt. Nowadays, the Bible is an ancient Book, residing only in museums. Christianity has almost vanished. But, I found a long lost digital copy on an old-fashioned reader I picked up in an antique shop. The Book has much wisdom in it. One statement from an apostle called John was, it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not.
Thanks for that, Isan. But it still won’t erase my guilt. Someone will have been assigned to my post and the killing of innocents merely trying to overthrow upper management, will continue.
“You are all very quiet suddenly. Are you ready to sleep?” Pierre asked.
Startled, they realized they’d used telepathy. Damn, how rude of us, Haven said. Aloud, she replied, “I guess we’re all worried, Pierre.”
“I understand. Let me tell you some stories about my people and the planet.”
They talked for a long time until finally one after the other, they rolled themselves in their blankets and closed their eyes. Haven was the last one awake. She listened to the soft snoring of the men and wondered vaguely how long the sconces would burn. She tried to blank her mind, to not think about what could be going on outside the cave, but she couldn’t help it. Finally, her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off into an uneasy slumber.
Chapter Seven
An explosion tore her from sleep. Haven leaped to her feet, stumbling over the blankets wrapped tightly around her. The men were already up, both of them stretching. “What was that?”
“What was what, my love?” Josias asked. Sidling up to her he took her in his arms for a moment, then held her at arm’s length. “What’s wrong? You’re as white as chalk.”
“That explosion.”
“There’s been no explosion. You had a nightmare,” Isan said. “Pierre ventured close to the cave mouth before daybreak and didn’t hear or see anything unusual. It would reverberate through the mountains if there was anything going on.”
It didn’t seem like a dream to her. It was too real. Was it a premonition of things to come?
“I don’t think they will search this deep into the mountains. The authorities don’t know that we still have flying capability. Since we’ve received no new equipment for years and years, the general census would be that we couldn’t travel the mountains on foot. The only way they could spot us is if their scanners picked up our life signs. So we had best stay hidden deep inside,” Pierre said. “We should eat something.”
It was going to be a long boring day. According to Pierre, all the passages and caverns were much the same as the one they were in, so exploration wasn’t an option. Haven went into one of the dark passages to relieve herself, changed into her freshly washed suit and put on her boots, then hurried back. Her stomach growled and Danielle’s bread looked appetizing. She wondered if they had enough food to last them.
“I think I’ll change, too,” Isan said and took his bundle of clothing to the tunnel, followed by Josias.
The men returned, their snug fitting pants and tunics looked decidedly more comfortable and sexier than the peasant clothing they’d borrowed. Especially mine, Haven thought. Skirts were never my forte.
After they satisfied their hunger, they sat cross-legged in a circle and listened to more of Pierre’s stories, about the aliens, reptilian like creatures that walked on two feet and had intelligence, but were still a very primitive race. He described the wildlife that roamed the dark forests in the mountains, a creature that resembled a dinosaur, according to Pierre, and more large creatures, most of them very dangerous carnivores living mainly on each other’s flesh.
“They mostly hunt at night,” Pierre said. “We get our wood from the forests but make sure we go at midday.”
“Have they killed many of your people?” Haven asked.
“Some. Many years ago. We are a lot more careful now.”
“Where do the aliens live?” Haven wondered.
“On the far side of the planet, a separate continent. We don’t see much of them. They prefer to keep to themselves and the ocean is wide.”
After listening for a while, she needed to stretch her legs. Her stomach also told her it was somewhere around lunchtime.
They ate some of their rations, the bread getting a little stale, but it still tasted good. The soup was cold, but it filled the empty spots. She was sipping her juice and listening to another of Pierre’s stories, when suddenly she picked up strange beeps. Her enhancements were setting off an alarm and it was coming from within the caves, not from outside.
“What’s wrong, Haven? You froze into a statue suddenly,” Josias said, looking at her curiously.
“Something set off my internal alarm. One of my enhancements picks up any signal from the same kind of technology. It’s coming from within the caves.”
“How is that possible?” Pierre asked. “We have been coming here for many years and there is nothing here.”
“How deep have you explored?” Isan asked.
“Quite far, but we stopped since we didn’t find anything else but what we s
ee now. The caves descend deep into the planet, like I told you.”
“There is something there and it’s turning my brain into mush,” Haven told them. “We need to find out where it’s coming from.” She turned heading toward the far tunnel. “Any of you care to tag along?” she called over her shoulder.
Josias and Isan quickly joined her but Pierre hesitated, an unsure expression on his face. “Come on, Pierre. I don’t like the thought of leaving you alone here. We’ll need those weapons, too, just in case,” she said, looking at Isan and watched him run back to their stash of supplies to fetch them.
Pierre made up his mind and joined them when Isan hurried back with the guns, but first he fetched the torches and lit them. Isan handed each of them a gun. Haven started down the tunnel, grateful that Pierre had thought to light the torches for them. Though she could see in the dark with her sight enhancement, all images came through as neon green and were eerie looking. The torches would help light their way for as long as they’d last. The signal indicated that wherever it was coming from was deep in the tunnels and caves.
Haven led the way. She walked fast, though not so fast that Pierre couldn’t keep up. Every so often, the tunnel split. Each shaft went in different directions, and she’d stop to listen at each one, gauging where the signal was the loudest. She noticed Pierre marked their way by etching a symbol in the walls so they wouldn’t get lost. Good thinking, Pierre.
The farther they progressed, the steeper the declines became. If the surface had been smoother, they could have almost used some of the tunnels as a slide. The further they went, the louder the signal became, almost driving her insane. Damn, I wish they’d put a volume control in there as well.
“We have to be very deep inside the planet now,” Pierre called from behind. “The torches have almost burnt out. How will we find our way back in the dark?”
“Not to worry, Pierre. We have enhanced vision,” Haven called over her shoulder as they entered another large cavern that had a series of tunnels going into different directions. The one that stopped her was almost vertical. They’d have no choice but to sit and edge down carefully.
“I am not going down there,” Pierre said. “How will we get back up? There are no footholds.”
“Pierre, trust us. Our enhancements will help us and we can help you,” Isan said, trying to reassure the worried man. “And you have your sharp knife. We can always make footholds.”
Slowly they inched down the steep tunnel. It was a very long tube. Finally, Haven’s feet dangled in emptiness. She jumped and landed firmly on her feet in a large cavern. Her torch almost out, her enhanced vision aided her and she gasped. Facing her was an alien ship. Resembling a huge silver bird, it occupied almost the entire cavern. “My God, look at that,” she shouted. “It’s a ship. How the hell did that get here?”
Gazing up, she saw a glimmering patch high above, a shiny dome of rock looked like it had melted and turned into metal.
“Magnifique,” Pierre muttered.
“Wow is all I can say,” Isan said while Josias silently walked around the ship, inspected it.
Haven climbed up to the hatch. Beside it was a panel. She pushed a button and the hatch slowly opened. Lights blinked on inside the ship revealing the remains of two alien skeletons.
The ship had to have originated from the planet Platumius. She was sure of that because the technology for their enhancements were first discovered there and that was why she’d suddenly picked up the signal. Now that they were here, the signal had stopped. She gingerly touched one of the skeletons.
After briefly inspecting the cockpit, she climbed out and called down to the men, “Guess what, we have a Platumiun fighter! Now to get this puppy out of here. I wonder if we can blast our way through that dome up above.”
“Platumiun technology is far advanced from any we know of,” Josias said. “I know for a fact their weapons can destroy almost anything. I’ve heard of one fighter defeating an army of their enemy’s ships.”
“I know. It’s like this was waiting for us.”
“Maybe the gods arranged it,” Isan joked.
“That was my dream about the explosion. It was a sign. Thanks to yet another enhancement chip in my brain, I can read their language. There are instructions how to fly this thing,” Haven said. “Come up here and look around.”
“How many does it seat?” Isan asked as he joined her and followed her into the cockpit.
“Four in the cockpit. There’s room for more in the body.”
“And what do we do if we can blast out of here? Where do we go? Do you have a plan?”
“Not yet, but we can sure as hell defeat what they sent against us,” Haven said, for the first time really believing they had a chance at survival. Maybe even winning this war. “Come on, guys. Think about the possibilities.”
Once they were back in the cockpit and she was reading the foreign symbols, her fingers flew over the digital panel. The ship’s lights came on revealing the vast cavern chamber that had housed it for God knew how long. “How about you guys dump these skeletons?”
“That sounds almost sacrilegious,” Isan said. “But yeah, I guess we’d better. Some of the remains were held together by the spacesuits, but hands and skulls fell off. Gingerly, the men picked up the fallen remains and threw them to the floor of the cave.
“Where’s Pierre?”
“Right now picking up the remains and placing them neatly somewhere in the cavern. I think he’s a little unsure about all this,” Josias said.
“Understandable. Have either of you ever flown a fighter, a ship?” she said, looking at Josias and Isan.
Josias held his hand up.
“Good. I take it neither of you have the translator enhancement?”
They shook their heads.
“Okay, I’m going to translate this for you, Josias. Listen carefully.” Haven translated while Josias studied the controls. When she finished, she looked at him expectantly.
“Can you run that through one more time?”
She sighed. “Memory chip activated? I’m sure you have that enhancement.”
“Yes. I forgot to activate it the first time. Sorry. I’m a tad overwhelmed.”
“I found some kind of food,” Isan called from the rear of the ship. “But it looks kinda old.”
Haven chuckled at that between her translations. “Got it now?”
Josias nodded. He touched some of the colored keys on the panel and a soft humming started. Excitement bubbled in Haven’s belly. She leaned out the hatch and called down to Pierre. “Come on up, Pierre. We’re going to try and blast our way out of here.”
Pierre climbed in, his expression still very unsure. “I don’t know. There are three fighters out there and—”
“And this ship can defeat them easily. You worry too much.”
Pierre nodded. “That comes from living for many years in safety.”
“Really a false sense of security. Though your planet is a peaceful haven, your people need updated technology. What if some obscure alien race or faction of humanity decided it was time to claim this one for their own? What would you do?” Haven said.
“That thought has occurred to me many times.”
“Are you ready, Josias? Strap yourselves in.”
The hatch closed. The metal shield that had protected the view window slid away silently, the window now giving them a clear view. Josias pressed various buttons and thrusters burst into action. Slowly, the ship lifted. At first, it veered, wobbling like a drunken sailor, but then steadied. Josias turned it and at its slowest speed angled the nose upward toward the dome above. The ships lights reflected back to them.
“Weapons on,” he said, and placed his finger on a red square. A bright bluish light shot from the nose directly at the dome. A heartbeat of thunderous roaring assailed their ears before the blast, shattered it. A patch of blue sky appeared far above. The shattered metal rock rained like hailstones onto the ship, pelting it, but not causing any
apparent damage.
“Look at that, I see a tiny bit of sky,” Haven said in a squeaky voice. She’d been that worried and only then realized it. “Go, Josias!” she added, much louder.
Her body was pressed back against her seat as the ship surged upward, its speed increasing by the second.
It burst through the hole and continued to climb, until Josias straightened it and slowed its speed. “Look, we’re there already,” he said, pointing down at the villages.
Haven saw the three fighters just outside Pierre’s village. Tiny figures ran toward it but Josias sent them a warning burst.
“I don’t really want to kill them,” he said.
“You have no choice, Josias. Not if we’re going to get off this planet alive. Look, there are the drones. They didn’t bring as many as I thought they might.”
Haven had spotted the large metal drones scattered around the village. There was also a contingent on the way to the mountains. The figures on the ground were still attempting to reach their fighters. Josias fired directly at them.
“They’re gone. Now the drones. He picked each drone off the ground as if they were feathers. In just minutes, the drones were nothing but molten heaps of metal. As for the group heading to the forest, he took them out in one burst of fire.
“I think we’ve defeated the enemy,” he said, a certain amount of pride evident in his voice. “We can land when I figure out how to do that. Let me activate my memory chip. Ah, okay. That’s easy enough.”
Haven was awed by how fast he’d learned to maneuver the ship as he set it down quietly beside the three fighters on the ground. The hatch opened and they climbed out, Pierre visibly shaken.
People slowly appeared from their hiding places, hesitant at first, until recognition set in. They were astonished to see Pierre and their three visitors. Daniella flew into Pierre’s arms and babbled in French.
Pierre, regaining his calm composure, patted her on the back and through his wife’s tears of joy and babbling, managed to say, “Apparently everyone was questioned repeatedly and handled quite roughly. When they threatened to start killing people, one by one, if they didn’t tell them where you were, Danielle told them you’d escaped to the mountains, to the dark forest, in the hope the creatures there would annihilate the drones at least. But they only sent some of the drones to the forest, as we saw from the ship, leaving some behind to intimidate everyone. They’ve all been terrified.”
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