The Circle and Star

by John Foster

  Tier sat with his back to the wall with cabinets on both sides of him, the room was dark but light was starting to filter in and the shadows were lengthening and turning gray. He could hear the tweak of small movements outside and his eagerness intensified with each tiny sound. It was like springing a trap, but a trap that he was sure the victim was aware of, which made it exciting. He caressed the weapon over and over again, rubbing it as if that would provide a bond that a weapon and a hunter could share. He heard a crunch and then a click and something started clicking and moving up the ramp. Tier raised his rifle and aimed it about where the attacker’s chest would likely be or better yet their head if they were crouched. The clicking grew faster and faster and he could hear little skittering noises as if something was sliding about on the broken masonry. He licked his lips, his finger tight on the trigger, and then around the corner came a flickering light and then a little box like creature with flame rotating above its head and coming right at him. Tier screamed and jumped up from the niche and as he did so West rolled around the corner on his stomach and fired up at Tier, catching him in the throat which knocked him back into the wall and down in a slump in the niche and right on top of the tunnel rat. West walked in to the room wary of any other surprises. West looked at the crushed rat beneath the lizard man and regretted its loss. West brought up his pistol in the event that the other creature came at him from the stairway but nothing moved. Volkum would be pleased that their little trick had worked. West had resorted to writing out his instructions on his HDA which Volkum could read in the dark and then it was simply a matter of tying a wire antenna to the rat and letting Volkum know when to turn and move the machine into the room. A couple of burning bandages tied to the machine’s antenna had completed the distraction and the lizard had fallen for it perfectly.

  With the tunnel rat broken West’s readymade distraction was gone. West couldn’t decide on which weapon to use but decided that the long laser rifle just didn’t make sense in close quarters. He would use the pistol but he knew its shock effect was reduced in comparison with the rifle and that the lizards were nothing if not damage resistant. He was also aware of how nimble they were and he would need to match their strength with his intelligence in order to kill the last creature.

  He reached the corner before the last level and this time the remaining creature fired his weapon as soon as West made a noise. There wasn’t much finesse this time, thought West as he ducked back behind the wall. He figured the weapon could fire on full for a hundred shots before it would need a charge and West didn’t think he would last that long. The air was already superheated from the first blast and it would only get warmer with each subsequent one. West threw a broken tile and it was immediately vaporized by another shot which West sensed was above his elevation and not level with it. That was an added complication that he hadn’t counted on. Another shot blasted the corner he was behind and the air rippled with the heat and the smell of burning masonry. West put an inch or two between the wall and his body. It wouldn’t take long before that monster had heated up the place forcing West to retreat and he was certain that would happen fast. West had an idea which he wasn’t overly fond of but that he thought might have a chance and would certainly surprise the creature. He took out his HDA and punched in some commands. He kissed the little device, waited for another blast and then when it came he turned the corner and threw it up and towards where he thought the creature was. Another blast shot out tracking the device but was wide of its mark and the monster saw it flying towards him and let out an earsplitting scream as the device flew towards him. Cerix reared up, his arms cartwheeling, and thinking it was a hand grenade dropped his rifle which fell through a hole in the floor to the bottom of the tower. West came out and fired twice both times missing Cerix who fell back striking Kal with his feet and causing her unconscious form to cry out. West ran up the ramp and at the last second saw the gap between the ramp and the floor that Cerix was sitting on. West’s forward momentum carried him partway across the gap but not enough to reach the far side and he dropped the pistol to catch the edge of the fractured floor that was just in front of him. He was flailing as he crossed the gap but managed to grab the edge of the floor and swung wildly with the momentum as he tried to secure his grip. He struggled to hold on and then saw Cerix’s feet and the monster was towering over him, his feet not more than a foot from West’s hands. Cerix smiled, showed his fangs, and lifted his foot to bring down on West’s hands. As Cerix started to stamp down his body suddenly jerked violently and then he was tumbling head over heels over the top of West and fell to the darkened room below in a loud crash. West looked up and saw Kal looking down at him. “Need some help?” she asked rubbing her head.

  WEAPON FOUND

  Kal helped West up onto the floor. He turned and looked down to where the creature had fallen and couldn’t see anything in the gloom below.

  “Are you okay?” asked West his helmet gone and his hair and face covered in dust and debris.

  “Yeah, my head is still ringing,” Kal said, holding her head in her hands. “I had no idea of where I was when I came too. I looked up to see that huge creature in the morning light with his back to me holding a plasma rifle and starting to aim it to take pot shots at someone. I realized that it was waiting in ambush and I looked around to see if I could use something to disable it. That’s when I saw the mutilated corpse next me. I almost lost it when I saw the body and it took all I could do to stop myself from screaming. My training took over and I concentrated on finding a weapon. That’s when I heard that horrible noise coming into the room and saw the creature drop the rifle and then the crash of something hitting the ground. I was astonished to see human hands holding the edge of the floor between the creature’s feet. I figured someone was trying to rescue me or attack the creature and then I saw the monster pick up his foot and that’s when I acted. It was already unbalanced and as unsteady as I was, I knew I had one chance and rushed to it and drop kicked it in the back and sent it tumbling down. The rest is history as they say.” And with a wink, Kal said, “I wound up rescuing you just as I had planned all along. I can’t wait to tell the others.”

  West stood looking at her, his mouth agape, and his eyes totally wide eyed and said, “Oh my.”

  The journey to the museum complex was straightforward and uncomplicated with Dickens leading the group and exhibiting an uncharacteristic flair for leadership. Theo found this change surprising but was grateful and it gave him more time with Rae. They had bonded after the Sovar attack while helping to bandage and tend to the wounded. The closeness of the work coupled with the grimness of the tasks they were doing had led to bantering and joking that made the trip to the museum, if not pleasurable, at least more tolerable. During one of the rest breaks Theo had taken Rae aside and confided about his concerns over Madison and her obvious depression. Rae listened and talked about the trauma that Madison had gone through and spoke of the need for patience and listening by Theo and others that would help Madison through the recovery from her terrible experience. Theo and Rae decided to try to keep Madison busy in the search for more information about the Cyclops and the weapon. Keeping the scientist busy would help keep her balanced while she wrestled with the grief she felt.

  Madison walked quietly down the long corridors while the others around her talked and chatted about their destination. Most of the team hadn’t been to the museum and most were looking forward to the distraction of seeing the Pleistocene animals and the Neanderthal exhibits and most of the conversation centered on those expectations. What was nagging Madison was the purpose of the other rooms that she hadn’t had the opportunity to visit or investigate. She felt that the museum complex was actually something quite different than a zoo or museum. While there was no arguing that there were exhibits, plaques and such for tourists but there were too many offices, laboratory spaces, and other facilities whose purpose she could only guess at. It seemed like there was some greater purpose for these spaces. There had b
een something being pursued in these rooms and that interested Madison more than a few skeletons. When she first met West she had been a superb technologist who could reverse engineer just about anything presented to her, and ancient alien technology was like a candy store for her. It appealed to her sense of accomplishment, brought out her talents and skills as a linguist, which she had not even been aware of, and provided her with sure knowledge that her work was helping people. The challenges of work from an engineering and problem solving perspective appealed to her like nothing else had in her lifetime. She couldn’t sort out her feelings about the loss of Thomas and her subsequent confrontation with West but she decided that she would allow that to remain in the background. She also had an offer from Dickens to join him in his expeditions to the Sovar systems. She had turned angrily on him when he mentioned working with the Sovar but he had deflected it when he acknowledged her concerns but said that it would not always remain so as two groups of the same species would not stay hostile forever and then there would be opportunities for more work and more cultures to explore. Not quite mollified Madison had refused to consider working with the Sovar as long as they were at war with the Soshi.

  She could see a stir from the others in front of her as someone was approaching from the front of the line. It was Samson who reported that the museum was just in front of them. Theo walked up to Madison and addressed her, “I’ll find sleeping and work areas for the crew, you take a couple of people for security and start exploring the area. Dickens who had joined them nodded, and told them that he would accompany Madison to assist her too, if Theo had no other duties for him and Madison had no objections. Theo was surprised and by the look of Madison so was she, but they both nodded their agreement. Madison actually smiled and Theo welcomed this brief respite from the gloom that had been dogging Madison. While Madison and Dickens walked away she suddenly seemed animated and Dickens was listening attentively. They were joined by two other crew members and they walked to the mysterious rooms that Madison had found.

  As Theo watched them leave someone walked up to him and he turned to find it was Rae. He smiled. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips pursed as she watched Madison and Dickens walk away. “What’s the matter?” asked Theo.

  Rae turned to him and eyed him up and down. “Madison is vulnerable right now and Dickens is a predator.”

  “What? Dickens is just trying to help,” said Theo feeling a bit exasperated by the comment.

  “Yes, but help who?”

  The four of them entered the last room that Madison had briefly entered the last time they were down there. It was a large open area with dozens of tables and the oddly shaped chairs that were in front of the tables. There was nothing on the tables and they were relatively clean of dust and debris. She walked over to one and noticed that it had lines inscribed in the surface, dividing the table into squares of one size. She ran her hand over one of the squares and it lit up in a green color with some type of back light. She wondered what the function was. It clearly was a tool of some sort. She noticed that Samson and Martin also ran their hands over a couple of other tables and each of the table squares also lit up with the same color green. Dickens watched her and then looked curiously at the tables. Seeing cabinets along the walls, Dickens walked over to them and opened a couple of them finding many were empty but a couple had trays on which there were some type of similar stones. He pulled one of the loaded trays from the cabinet and took it over to a table and set it down. He picked up the rocks and started to examine them and was struck with how similar they all looked. Madison came over and touched his arm while he looked at the materials. “Those are stone tools, probably from Terra,” said Madison looking over his shoulder.

  “Tools?” said Dickens in disbelief. While Dickens was an archaeologist, he had never studied prehistoric cultures and was unaware of their nuances and he fretted that Madison would think less of him for not knowing. Her reaction was quite the opposite and she began to show him not only how to determine what type of tool it was but how it had been used too. He watched her not paying attention to what she was saying and mused to himself that she had a bit of a teacher in her. She had many talents and he was hopeful that he would be able to persuade her to leave West and his team and join him in his work for the Sovar. Her knowledge of ancient alien cultures and reverse engineering would provide a vast wealth of information about new technology and Dickens might find some of that wealth for himself too.

  As Dickens watched her, she placed one of the artifacts on the table and it lit up as the others did when they were touched. She then took another stone and laid it down on the table and it also lit up green. She thought for a moment and then looked in the tray but not finding what she wanted she lay down her HDA on the table and the square light came on in a red color. She said something under her breath and then ran back to the cabinets and started looking for other trays. She found a couple of trays with stones in them, examined them, and pulled two of them and walked back to the table with them. Samson and Martin joined them and watched as Madison experimented. She took a rock out of the new trays and it clearly was some different type of tool and laid it down and it lit up as a brown color. She took another of the rocks from the same tray and it lit up as a brown color too. She then took another stone from the third tray and laid down one of them on the table and it turned another color. She looked up in triumph at Dickens, “It’s a sorter table,” she said happily. Dickens smiled and understood. Madison looked closely at the tables and said, “They are essentially scanners that compute the similarities, materials, and attributes and then finds matches. You could take hundreds, even thousands of artifacts and in a few moments, determine how many different types were present and in what quantities and what their statistical variation was. It is an amazing tool. Undoubtedly the tables probably also catalog and image each as well for visual comparison and accessioning for curation. It is a wonderful tool. This must be an archaeology laboratory,” said Madison looking in wonder at the room in a totally different light.

  “Good for you and West but not so good for learning to fly the Cyclops,” said Theo from the doorway. Madison looked up in surprise and said, “Yes, we’ll get right on it but mark this room for later examination.” With that said, she walked through the laboratory and out another door probing farther into the complex with Dickens and the other two following. The small group wandered the halls and corridors and Madison realized that she would need a directory to find their way in this maze of offices, laboratories, and who knew what kinds of facilities. They all quickly realized that the main part of the city was actually underground. So, the question remained how to find their way? She posed the question to the other three hoping that they would provide some clues. Martin thought about it and said when he was in a spaceport or hub that he would check the directory and use the international icon for whatever he was looking for. Dickens scoffed but Madison wasn’t so sure that Martin was wrong about that. With more than half the city underground they would need signs, directional signals, or something that would show where you needed to go and she was sure it wasn’t the alien equivalent of a traffic cop, but where were the signs? She then remembered that some of the Cyclops’s ship operations wouldn’t work without the proper person being present. Madison was sure that she could fit the profile of a lost person or alien for that matter and a sign should appear. She looked around for one but nothing showed itself. “Nothing,” she muttered.

  They all looked at her questionably and she explained that she willed a sign to appear. “Wouldn’t you need to be near a corner or intersection to find it?” asked Martin, who was reluctant to abandon the praise that Madison had given him. “That’s it!” she exclaimed and ran down the hall-way to an intersection and they followed. Nothing. “But don’t you need to tell it what you’re looking for? Like an icon? Think about what the ship looks like and see what happens,” said Martin. Madison looked doubtful but was in the moment and tried it and a similar icon appeared on the cor
ner with a solid arrow pointing down one of the hallways and then another appeared going in another direction and then another by the time they stopped appearing there were 10 of them pointing in various directions. All of them had additional symbols next to the central icon and she realized that they were modifiers and one of them meant database. She scanned the secondary symbols for what she thought the data icon might be and several of the directional symbols disappeared with only one remaining. She pointed at it and said, “Let’s try that one.”

  West and Kal had elected to return to the street where Amal, Volkum, and Cesar were rather than spend the night in the tower with the bodies of the troopers. They turned to look once more time at the tower which now held so much meaning and sadness. A few days ago, it had been a group of buildings. West reflected that this must have been the same way the Alamo looked so long ago on Terra. Kal was weak but was energized by the fight with Cerix. She had stopped to check on his body but his fall had loosened more building rubble and it had collapsed on his body and the remains couldn’t be seen without digging and she wasn’t up for that. She put her arm around West and they slowly walked to the ambush site and she said, “It’s a good thing the lizards don’t normally take prisoners.”