The Circle and Star

by John Foster

West thought this over and nodded, “That’s how the Soshi were able to remove my father from our damaged ship when the meteors had damaged our engines.”

  “Your father?” asked Amal, “What is that?”

  She consulted her translator, “We don’t have a corresponding word like that, other than parent.”

  West looked at her, puzzled, “We have a mother and father that give birth to us and then raise us,” said West.

  “You have two birth givers?” asked Amal, her mouth gaping open in surprise, “How is that possible?”

  “The two of them had been so engrossed in their private conversation they hadn’t been paying attention to their surroundings and looked up to see the second party of troopers that they had mislead were now bearing down the path that he and Amal had made crawling here.

  “We’ve got to move out of here,” said West.

  Amal looked at him and said, “How much radiation can you take?”

  West stared at her and then followed her eyes to the glow within the ship. “No, you can’t mean that?”

  “You said yourself that you can tolerate some time near it and if we put you in a shielded area, you might escape any harm at all,” said Amal.

  The troopers were bearing down on them and it would only be moments before they came across the pair hiding among the ship’s debris.

  West nodded and Amal moved off to the exposed reactor trailed by West whose shoulders drooped as they neared the ship.

  They clamored over the split hull and moved to the engine room. West was sweating and his heart was racing. Amal tugged at his arm and lifted some metal plates and raised them up, “Hurry, I can’t hold this up long,” she hissed.

  West blinked and started to refuse as he saw the glowing chamber not 10 feet away, realizing he was being exposed as he stood there, then scrambled down and Amal lay the metal plate over him just as the soldiers came up to the ship. Amal ducked down and crawled on her belly to the center of the reactor core and covered herself slowly with debris to blend in with the surroundings.

  As Putin had searched for the earth people on the main trail he noticed a blood spot on his boot and touching it with his gloved hand realized that it was still liquid and must be fresh. He and his men backtracked along the trail and found the blood, now dried on some grass stalks along the trampled grass that he had noticed initially. They raced down the trail keen on the scent of blood, literally. Putin raised his arm and the soldiers spread out in a line. He looked warily around and saw the mashed grasses that they had been following suddenly ended with a gaping hole of the ship on one side and a scatter of boulders and brush on the other. He considered both as good alternatives for hiding and decided that the targets would most likely choose the ship to hide in. He ordered two men up into the ship and they moved ahead but they hadn’t gone more than a few feet when one of them radioed that they were detecting high amounts of radiation in front of them. Putin walked up to them and pushed them out of the way and peered up into the ship and could see the glow of the reactor core within the engine room of the Soshi ship. His own radiation alarm sounded and he cut it off with a flick of his finger.

  “Stand back, you cowards, I’ll check this out.” He pulled himself up, his shoulders heavily muscled, and walked towards the reactor core exposing himself to the radiation. Putin was determined to find his quarry and a little radiation wasn’t going to stop him. He walked up the chamber and stepped up on the plate that was covering West and glanced in the adjacent torn apart room. He could see a Soshi body buried under some debris and peered intently at it. Was it breathing or was it dead? He wasn’t sure, but he knew one way to make sure, he’d put a blast into the body, just to make sure. He raised his firearm and turned off the safety when the Troop Ship alarm sounded from the other side of the wreck. He keyed his headset to global and heard a warning that the transport was being attacked by Soshi fighters.

  “Back to the transport men, we’ve got to get out of here,” he bellowed. Forgetting the corpse, he jumped down from the ship and ran to the rear urging his men to follow and they were soon out of sight.

  West, gasping for breath, tried pushing off the metal plate that had so effectively hidden him but realized he couldn’t move it lying down like he was. He became frantic that he was being cooked in a radioactive oven and started to struggle wildly to get free. His eyes were blinded by sweat and his breathing became ragged as he pictured himself being poisoned just as his father was. He pushed harder against the plate and was able to get one foot against the plate and then pushed for all he was worth and it slowly moved. Suddenly he felt the plate being lifted and Amal was there pushing it away and then helping him stand up. She guided him away from the core. Once outside, West was able to calm down and regained his composure. Amal stood watching him in silence waiting for him to recover. “Now shall we find your missing crewman?”

  West took a deep breath and nodded.

  Soshi fighters were now swooping through skies and attempting to shoot down Dragaan’s troop carrier that had taken off. Other Sovar fighters had arrived and were holding off the attackers. Now that Dragaan had fled the scene West and Amal could search the area and look for Volkum. West called Madison on his HDA and asked her to rendezvous at the Soshi wreck. Searching in the area of the wreck West and Amal started slowly moving out into the area opposite where Dragaan had staged his raid, figuring that if Volkum had been in that area, the Sovar would have found him. As they were searching West noticed that the area around Amal’s nose was shimmering in pulses and her turning seemed to be in response to something she was sensing.

  Turning to Amal, he asked, “Can you smell Volkum?”

  Amal looked quizzical and then as if verifying what he said, she replied, “In a way, yes. My race can make, manufacture, or whatever you would call it, a spray of super small bubbles that we exhale and then draw back in. The bubbles capture the scents in the area and because we are ultra-sensitive, we are able to detect the smallest amounts of a particular odor. I was hoping I could find Volkum, but your scent is too heavy and I can’t differentiate between the two of you. In time, I should be able to distinguish between all of you in your party. Right now, I’m picking up a scent of one of my crew which is very faint but seems to be off in that direction.” Amal pointed to the area of rocks that West and Amal had rejected when the Sovar patrol had been searching for them.

  They moved through the tall grasses and then entered jungle like foliage, and West saw the plants were similar to those of earth but was less surprised when he thought of the mammoth and Neanderthal remains in the zoo as they now called it. He wondered how many specimens these Kaa people had brought back from earth and what was their purpose. They had found no ‘Neanderthal exhibit’ as they had with the mammoths and other Pleistocene animals but they hadn’t completely searched the area either. He was repelled by the thought that the Kaa had used them for a living zoo but he didn’t really think they had. Still Debbie had told him that the Neanderthal skull was real although she hadn’t been able to determine what time period it belonged to. That would have to wait for the extracurricular activities to slow down.

  Amal waved to West to see something she was now bending down to look at in the grasses. She was looking at trampled broad-leafed plants leading off in a line towards the rocks ahead of them. “I sense my crew person, Zemal, somewhere ahead of us. I also sense one of your crew. It looks like one of them was dragging the other.” She crouched down farther and rubbed a spot of what looked like blood on her fingers, sniffed it, and then looked up to West. “Zemal is wounded and the blood has dried, so it has been a while since they have passed this way,” said Amal looking forward to likely areas that they may have reached.

  West dialed his HDA and called for Volkum again but got no answer. Amal looked at him and he shook his head. They moved towards the closest area where two people could hide, while Amal periodically smelled the area. West could see the blood trail was now wider and more pronounced. He breathed deeply, in
haling the humid air, as if trying to draw energy from it.

  Amal stepped on the short little plateau of rock that they had initially seen from the wreck and West noticed how porous the rock was, with jagged edges, and closer to the water a smoother appearance. He realized that the plateau was volcanic and that the river must have run through this area for ages to have smoothed those rocks out. The lack of wear on the stones from where West and Amal were suggested that the river hadn’t changed course for millennia. As the two of them traversed the rocky ground, they could see pits and holes where differential cooling had occurred resulting in a pitted landscape. There were a few plants and some soil that accumulated and some plants had succeeded in gaining a foothold in the otherwise barren ground they now traversed. Amal moved quicker, her body moving deftly around the holes to where a pile of broken rocks had been stacked. West hurried to join her sensing that they were close to the end of their search. He hoped that Volkum was okay but was worried that he had not responded to West’s call.

  Amal came to the rock pile and looked down. Her right hand went to her face and covered her eyes and then slowly moved down her face, her eyes blinking, as she saw the two below her. West joined her and saw that Volkum was lying across the face up body of the Soshi with his body. His back was scorched and torn, dried blood congealed across his back. His right hand was across the Soshi’s holding a medic-bandage to stem what had been a deep cut across the Soshi’s throat.

  “Your crew. His name is Volkum is it not? He tried to save the life of Zemal,” said Amal her face troubled and sad.

  West didn’t say anything and bent over Volkum, and turned him over gently. He took his pulse and his eyes sparkled a bit then, smiled and said, “He’s alive, but he’s been badly beat up.” West quickly took out the piece of brown stuff he had with him and applied it over Volkums’s heart. He listened intently and could feel the slight pulse jump a bit as the stuff slowly took effect.

  He raised his HDA and spoke to into it, “Madison are you close yet?”

  He was answered immediately, “Yes, we’re here where the troop ship landed, where are you?” her voice echoing concern.

  “Opposite side of the wreck about 100 meters in a small plateau of dark rocks,” replied West. “Please hurry, we need more of the brown stuff to revive Volkum.”

  “Right, we’re on our way.”

  West continued to hold the brown stuff on Volkum’s burns and Amal placed her hand over West’s and pressed down on top of his looking directly into West’s eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you at first, but there is more to you and your people than I thought.”

  Madison and the others hurried up to them. Madison hugged West, then dropped to the ground next to Volkum and took out the brown stuff and applied it to Volkums’s head and face, while holding his hand and feeling for his pulse. She started to nod her head.

  “He’s improving,” said Madison.

  West was standing next to Amal while they watched Madison and Cesar clean up the more serious wounds and remove some of the dirt, dried blood, and grime from him.

  “Why are you here on Jo-Tene?” asked Amal.

  West sighed, took a deep breath as he related their journey from Terra to this distant planet. After a long while, Amal nodded her head and said, “I will help you and your people in this quest for the Ancient One’s weapon. It must not fall into the hands of the Sovar.”

  Curt came to stand next to them, “That might be a bit difficult because here they come again,” said Curt.

  A large space cruiser was slowly looming closer with numerous small fighters streaking out of the ship’s hull and ominously several troop carriers were also headed their way.

  The team and the now groggy Volkum watched in fascination the approach of the Sovar armada toward their location. “Let’s go, head for the river,” said West. “We need a hiding place.”

  Madison looking at the others said tentatively, “We found a cave but it may not be safe.”

  West smiled at her and said, “It’s gotta be safer than what’s coming after us,” said West.

  “I hope you’re right,” said Madison.

  THE VAPOR CREATURES

  The roar of the approaching fighters grew as West and his team moved to the river bank. Curt took the lead while Cesar and Madison helped Volkum limp along. West and Amal stayed in the rear keeping an eye on the approaching craft.

  “It looks like the Sovar are here to stay, there must be three troop carriers in that bunch,” said West to Amal. In the distance, they could see a huge Sovar cruiser hovering over the landscape, an immense cloud of metal menace.

  “That cruiser cannot stay long because the gravity is too strong. It will have to return to orbit or land here and I doubt that it could take off again if it sets down,” said Amal looking up at the distant cruiser.

  West turned to watch it for a moment and then saw it slowly rise upward, its jets firing furiously to achieve escape velocity.

  “Well, at least it’s going to leave the Sovar marines on their own,” said West but then they saw that the fighters were doing patrol and then some of them started to land next to a troop carrier which they saw was actually a fuel transport ship. “Okay, that means it’s going to be difficult for your friends to help us with the cruiser upstairs and those fighters in close support.”

  Amal nodded. They turned and moved off to catch up with the rest of the party that had paused near a cliff overhang. West could see a dark hole which he presumed was the cave the others had mentioned. Curt and Madison were standing within the cave entrance looking up at the ceiling. West joined them and looked up at the ceiling. West could see a hand grenade attached to a crevice in the cave ceiling and recognized it as a Terran standard issue. “Something for a surprise party?” said West looking at Curt.

  Madison spoke up and said, “We were hoping that the patrol following us would take the bait and enter the cave but they only sent in one trooper and I didn’t think it was worthwhile to get only one.”

  West nodded his head but was surprised at how bloodthirsty that made Madison sound, but said, “Good idea, but why are we here?”

  “One of the troopers went into the cave and was gone for several minutes and then ran out in something like a panic and covered in some of that moss hanging down from the entrance. His being gone so long suggests the cave is big.” said Madison eying the darkness of the cave.

  West cocked his eyebrow at Madison and looked back at the entrance in thought. “Have any of you been in there?” asked West.

  “No, and after seeing the way that trooper looked we weren’t too eager to find out what he saw.”

  “But he wasn’t harmed, was he?” asked Amal who had walked up to them.

  Madison looked to the both of them and shook her head, “No he was agitated but didn’t seem injured.”

  “This would be perfect for us, assuming it is deep enough to escape a casual inspection,” said Amal. West looked at her questioningly.

  “The Sovar’ have already given it a brief inspection and it clearly alarmed the one soldier and he would have at least said it was not occupied by your crew. I think they will check it out again but if we cover our tracks and can go deep enough into it, they may assume we’ve moved off to somewhere else,” said Amal.

  West was nodding his head and they could hear the scream of the Sovar fighters overhead and the more menacing distant thrusters of the trooper carriers landing.

  “Okay, we’ll go in and see how far we can go. If it looks like a dead end we’re probably cooked but if we can hide out in there then we’ll face whatever we may find. I mean we’ve only encountered the sand creatures and the clawed lizard things, what could be worse than them?” said West.

  Cesar, who had joined the group, turned to West, looked him in the eye, and said, “You really shouldn’t have said that.” shaking his head.

  “We’re going to use the cave, Cesar you go first, check out how it looks, then clean up the footprints after the team pas
ses through, then come after,” said West.

  Cesar nodded and he passed through the open area of the cave, and came back a few minutes later. “It looks okay, it was pretty messed up by the trooper who ran out of here. It’s not likely they’re gonna notice anything, but we should try to follow each other’s footprints.”

  West nodded his head at the wisdom of the remark. Curt went first, followed by Volkum, West, Madison, Amal, and followed up by Cesar who played rear guard. The cave area was 15 feet wide and 10 feet tall with a type of mossy plant growing down from the ceiling. Water dripped from the rock, indicating it was porous, and the soil was damp about 10 feet inside the cave. The crew had hand lights attached to their utility belts and which gave off a soft yellow light and caused flickering shadows on the walls and ceilings. West elected to leave the hand grenade in place in the event a distraction was needed. He attached a booster to the arming mechanism so that they could set it off from a greater distance. The smell reminded him of old wet socks, long dead, and in urgent need of burial. The walls and ceiling of the cave were undulating with deep shadows and the stone was a gray with flecks of gold which gleamed when the lights reflected off of them. The floor of the cave was littered with the bones of small dead animals scattered about. The sound of their walking was dull and without echo indicating that the moss like material was damping the noises they made but conversely made it difficult to hear anything moving ahead of them. As they moved along, West cursed that he didn’t think to bring some tunnel rats with them. They could go just about anywhere and alert them of any threats ahead. West had to remind himself that this was a space ship rescue not a pyramid search.

  Curt raised his hand signaling for everyone to stop. West moved to the front to stand by Curt, “What’s up?”

  “Hearing strange noises ahead, sort of a low moaning.”

  West cocked his head and listened. Just when he thought there wasn’t anything, he did pick up something very faint that was reminiscent of an animal in pain. Curt and West looked at each other and then turned to face the noise which had grown louder.