Dark Moon Rising

by Michael E. Gonzales

  "Okay," Hugh said. "That'll have to do. Reload, prime, close your frizzen, and gently lower your hammer. Let's go."

  They were now quite a formidable force, Hugh thought. The weapons, despite their antiquity, had provided him with additional confidence.

  They walked for several minutes quietly before Mary said, "I hope that Dr. Whitmore won't confront us now. I'm afraid these ancient guns will tear him apart."

  "Mary," Hugh said, "that automatic pistol he's carrying is no less lethal. If he gets the drop on us he can kill us all before we can pull a hammer back."

  Half an hour later, Hugh led the others into the environmental recycling center. This was a large area but not another of those huge trackless chambers. This particular area was a supply room with endless rows of shelving on which were numerous metal boxes. There were also what looked like shipping containers, some large enough to hold automobiles. Hugh stood still a moment then said, "The parts are here, in this room. The Nine will lead us to them. The elements for the filter we need to fabricate are nearby. We're almost done."

  In short order, they had collected seventeen CO2 sensors, four more than what were required. The four oxygen regenerator accelerators were a meter long and forty centimeters in diameter at their larger end. The worst of it was their weight, each was over five kilos. As Hugh handed Balaji one for him to carry, the doctor asked, "Are you sure there are no operating elevators?"

  With the accelerators stowed in their backpacks they set off looking for the materials needed to build a new filter.

  The Nine led them to another section of the city. In traversing through the metropolis, they had to exit one building and walk to an adjacent structure nearby. Here in the 'streets', they saw several of the flying craft that the landing pads on the side of the buildings were made to accommodate. These things resembled short, wide Venetian gondolas with stubby, non-retractable, landing gear, without wheels. They had all crashed, and it was difficult to determine how they were propelled and maneuvered.

  "I would pay a large sum to have one of these operational right now," Balaji lamented.

  Eventually, they entered a building that contained a great round hall with a domed ceiling which instantly reminded Hugh of the grand lobby of dome one at JILL. Here, for the first time, they saw the use of aesthetics in the design of the alien structure.

  "Look." Mary pointed upward to the perimeter of the room. Painted there were what looked like the intertwined roots of a tree. Here and there among the roots were objects that appeared to be fruit, and hiding within the design—a long, thin creature with a sinuous body, and a beak that resembled that of a parrot.

  The others walked on slowly as they examined the murals, but Balaji was brought to a standstill at the gigantic representation of three entities high on the wall. The faces were no doubt that of the original aliens, but the configuration of the entities struck Balaji dumb.

  All three were seated on the blossom of some flower. The first had four arms and four faces, and on his head he wore a crown. The second also had four arms and his skin was blue. He also wore a crown. The third had but two arms, long golden hair, large ear lobes, and wore earrings.

  Mary saw that Balaji had stopped and returned to his side. She looked up at the paintings. "What is it, Balaji?"

  "There—Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. There can be no doubt of it."

  "And look here," said Larry. He was looking up at the image of an entity illustrated as a humanoid. He was depicted as a glowing figure dressed in flowing white robes with a sun rising behind him, and above his head sat a brilliant star. The figure's feet were together and his arms stretched out at shoulder level.

  "My God," Mary said.

  "Yes—exactly," Balaji replied.

  ****

  Hugh walked up next to Mary and took her hand. He stood in stunned silence for several minutes trying to comprehend the massive significance of what he was viewing. Finally, Hugh spoke. "People, I'm sorry, but we have to push on."

  "What I wouldn't give for a camera right now," Mary said.

  There was furniture in this room as well: chairs were gathered in groups of five around large white spheres. There were fifteen or twenty of these sphere groups scattered about the room.

  Another striking element was the huge globe in the center of the floor. It was more than nine meters in diameter, made of a translucent material. It was obvious that it was meant to be illuminated from within, but it remained darkened.

  Hugh asked The Nine to light it. There came no response. He asked again. The slow illumination of the sphere began in the center, then spread. It was an extraordinarily detailed globe of the Earth and looked as if it were a three dimensional photograph. The major cities of the world were visible upon close examination. There were Paris, Rome, and London. Mary looked for New York, but only a small town was visible on the spot that should have accommodated the world's largest city. The island of Manhattan looked to be covered in vegetation. She turned quickly to Hugh. "Where's New York? What's happened to New York?"

  "Mary, it's a map of the world as it was in 1812. The year this place died. New York was a lot smaller in those days."

  She breathed again and lowered her eyes. "I should have known that, I just—"

  "It's okay," Hugh said. "I know how it feels to think you've lost something you love."

  Mary returned his gaze and gave him a small smile, but said nothing.

  "Hey, Hugh," Larry chimed in. "What are all these colors and red lines?" Larry was referencing the markings all over the globe, particularly Europe.

  Hugh put the question to The Nine. There came no answer. Hugh repeated the equation after checking his math. "Are you there?"

  "We are here."

  "Why do you not respond?"

  "You will not like the answer."

  "I repeat the question."

  "It is an invasion map."

  Hugh stood still, stunned. "I trusted you."

  "Alpha India 73 658. That which you see is a plan now centuries obsolete."

  "How is it obsolete?"

  "The plan was predicated on our belief that your species were little more than bipedal rodents. However, after centuries of study, which had been demanded by our scientists as a prerequisite to invasion, the wishes of the warrior class were overridden and the plan dispensed with. What we found in your species is an infinite capacity for creation. We are impressed, for example, by your species' unending attempts to define the value of infinity. Despite your belief that there is no solution, you keep trying.

  "Art, music, literature, politics, and religion, you have come close, but you do not yet see."

  Hugh approached the globe. "In what Earth year did you abandon your invasion plans?"

  "1762."

  "Fifty years before this place ended."

  "Correct."

  "I am sure you are aware that your credibility with me has diminished."

  "Hugh, we have not lied to you once, and we could have."

  "I see you have solved for Hugh."

  "We have."

  "You are aware that yours was a lie of omission. I will accept your explanation, but I want all of you to promise not to deceive me again."

  "We pledge our bond to you, Hugh."

  "Well?" Larry asked. "What did they tell you?"

  Hugh stood but a moment without looking at Larry as he considered his response. The truth might cause dissention among them and delay the completion of their task. Delay meant additional danger; danger to Mary, whom he'd sworn he'd save. It meant added danger to the others for whom he was also responsible. Did he really trust The Nine?

  "Those are areas where they were concentrating different types of study. Let's keep going." A lie of omission, they were studying how best to defeat the then-puny armies of Earth.

  Hugh weighed what he had learned. He tried to equate all that The Nine had told him against this new information and the evidence of what he was seeing. There was more to this than he was being told, he was su
re of it. As things stood, he had to trust The Nine. Their part in the escape was absolutely essential.

  Hugh's mind played out a dark scenario however. What if he and his companions were being used? What if the story up to the diseases was true but the rest was false? Perhaps The Nine was using them to complete the ship in order that they might return home to divulge the secret of the diseases of man so as to immunize their armies preparatory to the planned invasion. What was the whole truth?

  Hugh led his companions on, and they entered a new area, and again, descended several steps. Ultimately, they came to a room choked with vegetation that only resembled Earth plants. The chamber was so huge as to leave Hugh with the impression he was outside in some tropical rainforest. The air here was thick with water vapor and smelled of chlorophyll. Hugh had everyone leave their muskets and cartridge boxes outside for obvious reasons.

  Inside, the floors were wet, the walls dripped with water, and the ceiling shone with a bright, artificial sunlight.

  The roar of rushing and falling water was nearly deafening. As they moved through the area, they discovered the source of the cacophony. The chamber housed all manner of water apparatus: waterfalls, raging white water, gently flowing streams, and erupting geysers. There were lakes, ponds, and pools. The crowning glory of the area was a massive cataract that plummeted from an unseen height into a boiling lake; the mist of this cascade wet everything. In addition to Earth plants, there were also strange plants the likes of which had never fallen on Earth born eyes. Many of these plants were quite large, but it was the smaller ones that garnered attention. They had overgrown their planters and were spreading out, encompassing the entire room. Some hung from above in great strands like Spanish moss in a swamp; in places on the floor, it was as thick as a mattress, which made the floor feel soft and spongy.

  "Hugh—" Mary was interrupted before she could speak another word.

  "I know, Mary," Hugh said. "I'm talking to The Nine now." He paused a moment before translating the equation he received in response to his question. "This area performs many purposes. Like you, the aliens are mostly water. As such, their adoration for water borders on a religion. In this place they once gathered to partake of ritualistic baths and engage in other ceremonies. The water also produces power through several different methods. However, this is by no means their main power source."

  Glancing into a shallow, flowing stream, one could see an almost infinite number of small flag-like devices just under the surface, all fluttering in the current. Barely visible behind each waterfall and the massive cataract were paddles arranged in multiple horizontal rows, all being impacted by the falling water. There were many more odd instruments interacting with the waters all about. This was a technology that could be of great use on Earth, but they had no time to study it.

  Hugh continued, "This section also serves as the water purification system. All our drinking water comes through here."

  They followed Hugh past the great waterfall to a moss-covered wall. In the wall was a round hatch about one and a half meters in diameter with a door designed to slide into place. It reminded Hugh of a bank vault door.

  In this room, were many thousands of large clear cylinders through which water was rushing at a tremendous rate.

  Pipes carrying the water were everywhere. Hugh led everyone to a smaller pipe, only a meter and a half in diameter. It flowed into a row of connected boxes. The boxes were quite tall and just as wide, but only two and a half meters thick. They stood on the vertical and the pipe ran through sixteen of these boxes. Coming nearer, Hugh could see that this was but one of what must have been hundreds of similar pipes.

  "These," Hugh explained, "are the second phase in a four-phase system to purify the water. We are here because we need a section of one of the filter elements inside one of these filter housings. I am instructed to take you to one of the last ones where the water pressure will be considerably reduced."

  "Hugh," Balaji asked, "where does the water come from?"

  "The Nine tell me there is an abundance of water in the form of ice under the surface of the moon, particularly near the poles.”

  “We’ve been aware of the presence of water on the Moon for decades,” Balaji added. “We were unaware, however, that it exists in such quantity."

  At the sixteenth filter housing, Hugh and Larry began to loosen fasteners along one side that held a panel in place. Almost immediately, water began to shoot out in powerful streams. Hugh directed Mary and Balaji to the other side of the housing. The bottom fasteners were loosened first. The pressure caused the bottom half of the panel to bow outward and water sprayed out under tremendous pressure. Larry and Hugh climbed atop the pipe, then onto the filter housing, and leaning over the edge began to loosen the remaining fasteners.

  "Can't they shut the water off?" Larry shouted over the roar.

  "No."

  The last few fasteners were difficult to unlatch, as they were now bracing against all the pressure. Hugh was just about to suggest to Larry that they go seek out something to use as a pry bar when the last few fasteners gave way with a tremendous explosion of water.

  Chapter 31

  The massive filter element, shot across the room like a bullet. Water exploded from the opening. The noise was tremendous; not only a roar, but over it all there was a high pitched whistle, almost a scream.

  Hugh shouted into Larry's ear that he should join Mary and Balaji and together head out of this area. Larry nodded and headed for the pipe. From there, he jumped down to the floor. Low lunar gravity made these three- and four-meter jumps easy.

  Hugh produced a small, hand-held saw from his pack. He made his way the filter element, which was about nine meters away from him against the wall where it struck and shattered. Hugh would require a piece of the filter element sixty-one centimeters wide by one and a half meters long. He would cut a larger piece than necessary and trim it later.

  ****

  Mary, Balaji, and Larry made their way out of the filter room, through the vault door, out of the rainforest room, and back into the corridor where they waited for Hugh.

  The minutes ticked by with no sign of Hugh.

  "We have to go back for him!" Mary exclaimed.

  "Wait," Larry said. "Does Hugh have an E-COM?"

  "No," Mary answered, "I have ours."

  Larry dropped his pack and pocketed his E-COM. "You two wait here. I'll go check on him."

  "Larry—" Mary started to protest.

  "Don't make me have to go all Hugh on ya," he said, and darted off into the rainforest room.

  ****

  After passing again through the vault door and into the filter room, Larry found Hugh struggling to cut the filter. He jumped in to assist and found the water already ankle deep. Hugh was surprised to see him and shouted into his ear, "I told you to take the others out."

  "I did," he shouted back. "Mary and Balaji are safe outside in the hallway."

  The water level in the room was steadily rising. The Nine informed Hugh that automated, redundant, safeguards were being tripped to protect the facility. But a lack of power was preventing their activation. Power was being redirected to all the systems in sequence until one of them activated.

  "Protect the facility from what?" Hugh asked.

  "Flooding," The Nine responded.

  It was just as Hugh was explaining this to Larry that all the vault doors to the filter room slammed shut. Now the water started rising faster as it was no longer draining into other rooms.

  Hugh and Larry went about cutting the needed piece of the filter. Once removed, it was rolled up and tied tightly to Hugh's backpack.

  With their treasure secured, Hugh and Larry turned toward the exit. They saw it before they reached it—the way was closed. Hugh asked The Nine what had happened and was informed that the giant pumps that were designed to stop flooding of a larger section of the city were inoperative. Sealing off the chamber was a last resort.

  Hugh asked that it be opened long e
nough to allow their passage through. The Nine told him that because the water was now in contact with sensors on the doors, this would not be possible. However, there was an alternative path for them to take.

  They directed Hugh and Larry several dozen meters toward the far end of the room. Here, the ceiling vanished into mists above their heads.

  Against one wall was another of those alien ladders. The Nine informed Hugh and Larry that they would have to climb, so up they went, five stories, and still had not attained the top. Here, a small oval hatch just to the right of the ladder swung open revealing a tiny ventilation conduit just big enough for them to squat in. Once they were inside, the hatch closed, and as it did, absolute silence encompassed them.

  Hugh motioned Larry to follow him down the tube but Larry stopped him. "Wait a minute." He produced the E-COM. "Mary, you there?"

  "Yes, Larry, we've been trying to reach you. Are you both all right?"

  "Yeah, we're fine. We have the filter stuff. We climbed a ladder and we are about five floors above you. Hugh says you should return to the globe room and wait."

  "Hey, Pixie just showed up," Mary reported. "Where the hell have you been?"

  Hugh motioned for the E-COM and Larry gave it to him. "Mary, I can see you through Pixie."

  "I wish I could see you. Are you okay?"

  "We're both fine. Listen, about Pixie, I never took her off her assignment to scope out places with wet floors looking for Bob. I guess this means she has completely searched our section and found nothing."

  Mary paused a moment before asking, "Can't we ask Pixie to stay with us?"

  "Yeah. Hold on."

  Hugh spoke to The Nine, asking that Pixie stay in proximity to Mary and Balaji.

  "Mary, Larry and I have to go. I'll see you soon."

  "Be careful. And I'm still not joking."

  The tube Hugh and Larry had entered was both short and narrow requiring them to crouch as they moved. They traveled about twelve meters when a hatch in the low ceiling opened. They exited into a semi-dark hallway.