Alone in the Crowd (The Chronicles of Anna Foster Book 3)

by Patrick Stutzman

  “What the…” He tried to sit up, only to find his movement hampered by the rope tied around him, pinning his arms to his chest and his ankles together.

  “Jane!” He struggled against his bonds, but a harsh reminder from his broken arm stopped his movements. He heard the crunch of footsteps on loose rock behind him. He craned his neck to view the source of the sound and cursed under his breath.

  Jason stood a few strides behind Cooper and was staring at him. He held the rifle in his hands, relaxed and casual. The deadpan expression on his face told the sergeant nothing he wanted to know.

  “If you’re referring to Anna, she’s not here.”

  “Where is she, Fuller? And, untie me, you reckless asshole!”

  “Now, sergeant,” Jason chided. “Calling me names is not going to get you what you want. Ever heard the phrase ‘you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar’?”

  “Maybe we need to remind him who’s in charge now,” Cary suggested.

  “No.” Jason swung his rifle upward and rested it on his shoulder. “I think he’s smart enough to know that by seeing who’s holding the hardware.”

  Cooper squirmed against the rope with his good arm for a few seconds, until Cary stated, “I really don’t think you’re going to get out of that. I was a Boy Scout as a kid, and I’m really good with ropes and knots. You see, I secured the rope with a constrictor knot, so I don’t advise struggling too much. You might hurt yourself even more.”

  “You son-of-a-bitch! How are we going to get out of here, if you have me hog-tied like this?”

  Jason replied with almost no emotion behind his words. “We don’t.”

  “What?”

  “We wait for Anna to come back.”

  “How long has she been gone?”

  “A while,” Cary said. “It’s kind of hard to keep track of time down here without our watches working.”

  Cooper narrowed his eyes, hurling silent curses at them. “And, what if she doesn’t come back?”

  “She’ll come back.” Jason’s reply was prompt.

  “Are you sure?” Cooper’s voice became smooth. “What if she doesn’t?”

  “She will. I know she will.”

  Cary stood suddenly, and looked at something in the darkness behind the two other men. “Guys, what is that?” he asked as he pointed at something behind them.

  Jason and Cooper turned and peered into the inky black, quickly locating three yellow glowing orbs floating close together in a triangular formation. A few seconds later, they blinked.

  Jason’s next words were cautious. “I think we are about to have a close encounter with one of the natives.”

  “They really do exist?” Cary asked.

  Jason slowly braced his rifle against his shoulder and aimed it at the three eyes. “It appears so.”

  Cooper, watching Jason’s actions, leaned toward him. “Boy, what are you doing?”

  “Protecting us.”

  “You really should…”

  “No,” interrupted Jason. “I can handle this.”

  He aimed, reassuring himself under his breath that he could kill the beast. He took a deep breath, squeezed the trigger, and…

  Click!

  Jason’s expression changed to disbelief. He removed the rifle from his shoulder and looked at it dumbfounded. He returned it to firing position and pulled the trigger again. “What’s going on?”

  Feeling smug, Cooper answered, “Remember? Technology doesn’t work right now.”

  Jason glanced back at the distant eyes, horror settling over his features. “Oh, shit.”

  * * * * *

  The dark, rough-hewn corridor continued on. Anna wondered how long it would continue. Despite making wide sweeps with her flashlight, she saw nothing new. She hoped something would change to indicate that she was not on some “wild goose chase”.

  Anna found herself humming a tune she had picked up several months ago from Kate’s library on the ship. It had surprised her that the song was by a group she had disregarded before leaving Earth. “I guess Ryan had at least one redeeming quality,” she mused to herself.

  Mention of his name sent Anna’s thoughts back to the time she had spent with him on the mining station. She remembered the time she had first seen him when he had hailed the station on his arrival, with his dark, unkempt hair and five-o’clock shadow. He had been so sweet for most of his time on board, from her first face-to-face encounter with him to the picnic lunch on the command deck to the time she had been hurt while he had flown her to the different planets orbiting g Lupi. Even during that one time when they had sex, he had seemed more interested in her needs than his own. His touch had been so gentle, and he had not rushed through it like many other men.

  “Why did he have to go and ruin it?” Her question echoed within the tunnel. She had no idea how far-reaching the events of the following day would be. They impacted her even now, since they had left her marooned on the earthlike moon for a decade.

  Anna spotted something ahead down the tunnel. Though it was still some distance away, it looked like a metal wall closed off the path ahead. This was confirmed as she drew near to it. Remembering the hologram, she touched the wall with her hand and found it to be solid. She tucked the flashlight under her arm and toggled the communicator on her wristcomp as she had done previously. When the channel was opened, multiple seams, which spiraled out from the center of the wall, appeared in the metal. Half a second later, they expanded into a circular opening, accompanied by a noticeable hiss.

  Anna smiled as she grasped her flashlight again and stepped through the doorway into another stretch of corridor that extended beyond the range of her light. This time, however, the walls, floor, and ceiling were fashioned from a bluish-gray metal she did not recognize. And much like the door behind her, which sealed shut shortly after she had passed through it, all of the surfaces were featureless.

  “I somehow doubt this place will have any obvious doors.” Her voice rebounded off the walls. She kneeled, brushed her fingertips across the floor, and brought them up to eye level to examine them. “No dust. Interesting.”

  Anna stood and walked several meters from the door. She stopped and activated her communicator, expecting a door to open nearby. Nothing happened. She sighed and continued down the hall, stopping to open and close a channel every dozen steps.

  A few minutes passed with no results, until Anna heard a loud hiss to her left after pressing the button on her wristcomp. She snapped her gaze toward the sound and watched as seams expanded to form another circular doorway that led into darkness. She swept her light through the opening to reveal a room in which several backless stools were positioned along the far wall. She stepped inside, compelled by curiosity more than anything else.

  The door closed a few seconds after she passed through it. She stepped up to one of the stools and, seeing nothing out of the ordinary about it, sat down. As soon as she shifted her body weight to the seat, a hologram appeared, originating from the wall an arm’s length away. A message in a blue script she did not recognize was displayed above a green circle, which displayed an image of a hand with three fingers and two thumbs on opposite sides of the hand from each other.

  “Palitsa,” a deep voice uttered from the behind the hologram.

  Anna flinched, startled. Her curiosity, however, meant that she studied the holographic projection for a few seconds. She found several similarities to the interface on her ship.

  “Palitsa.” The voice repeated the unknown word.

  “I wonder if it wants me to login.”

  Anna held her hand in front of the display and positioned her hand as best she could to match the image in front of her. She concluded after a few attempts that emulating the image perfectly would involve breaking her pinky. She gave up trying, shrugged, and passed her hand into the image.

  As she did, the green circle turned blue. “Palitas tik fa Anna Foster. Livo thran fenta.”

  The hologram disappeared for a bri
ef second, and a larger image replaced the first one. All of the text was in the same lettering as before, and the voice added, “Sintas vasa abil malas.”

  Anna was still trying to figure out how this alien system knew her name, let alone that it had just, seemingly, granted her access. Her gaze darted to various points on the hologram. She could not read the language or understand what was being said. How was she supposed to do anything with it?

  She sighed with frustration. “I wish you spoke English.”

  “Language selection accepted.”

  Anna recoiled. “What the hell? How did you do that?”

  “Your statement was interpreted as a request to change the language settings at this terminal. Do you wish to return to the previous language setting?”

  “No!” She blurted out her answer while shaking her head. “This one’s fine.”

  “Please make your selection.”

  “Change the text language to English.”

  “Unable to comply.”

  “Why?”

  “No written component is on file for the selected language.”

  “How did you learn English?”

  “Language database was obtained through the subject named Anna Foster.”

  Anna balked. Thoughts flooded her mind, mostly questioning when and how she had provided them with the information.

  “Uh,” she hesitated as her mind raced through many questions. What should she ask first? “What information do you have on Anna Foster?”

  “That information is classified.”

  “Classified?” She creased her brow as her mouth pressed into a thin line. “I can’t even read about myself?”

  “No. Please make your selection.”

  She waved away the response. “Fine, whatever. What information do you have on the beings that created you?”

  The display produced a picture of one of the tripedal beings she had encountered at various times over the last decade, along with lines of unreadable text beside it.

  “Could you please read the descriptive text next to the image?”

  “Race: Altiki. Trinomial Name: valdo sandanas trelini. Data subcategories available are biological, cultural, historical, and psychological.”

  Anna was tempted to delve further into the information about the beings…the Altiki. She wanted to find out more about them. In particular, why did they visit the moon from time to time? But, her current mission to find a way out of the caverns nagged at her, and she did not want to ignore Jason and the rest of the group, as there were wounded.

  “What can you tell me about this facility?” She wondered if that phrasing might get answers to both of her questions at once.

  The hologram produced a map, complete with labels and a red dot Anna assumed was her current location. A cursory glance told her she was near its center.

  “This facility was constructed after the area was rediscovered over 7E.B3 local orbital cycles ago by an Altiki survey team. Its primary purpose is archaeological research. Its secondary purpose is xenobiological research.”

  “Archaeological?” Anna repeated. “What sites are being investigated?”

  “That information is classified.”

  “What xenobiological projects are being pursued?”

  “That information is classified.”

  “Okay, never mind,” Anna said, refocusing her thoughts. “Does this facility have an exit to the moon’s surface?”

  A red path was drawn on the map, originating from the red dot to another place on the map at the far end.

  “Thank you. One last question. Where are the Altiki that run this facility?”

  “The members of the research teams have returned home. They visit the facility every four makrenal for a period of fifteen damal.”

  ”Makrenal? Damal? What do those mean?”

  “They are time increments used by the Altiki.”

  “How long are they? Minutes? Hours?”

  “Please define minutes. Please define hours.”

  Anna frowned, trying to figure how to best define the terms to the computer. After a few seconds, she sighed, knowing that teaching the computer precise time increments would be difficult at best. “We’ll deal with that later. How soon are they expected back?”

  “Expected time of arrival is three damal, fourteen glasal from now.”

  Chapter 17

  Anna's mind raced with renewed urgency after hearing the amount of time remaining until the Altiki's arrival. If the Altikis’ attitude was much like she had seen before, their discovery of the colony would be disastrous.

  The question of how long a damal was still lingered in her mind. It might help to know exactly how long she would have to wait until their arrival. How could she figure it out, though, when their systems didn’t know the concept of minutes or hours of Earth time? If she had something to use as a basis for comparison, converting the time increments would make it a lot easier.

  As the computer prompted her to make another selection, an idea finally struck her.

  “How many damal does it take for this moon to revolve around its’ parent planet?”

  “This moon completes one orbital rotation in approximately one three point five six damal.”

  “Thank you.” Anna smiled as she activated her wristcomp’s screen. Her fingers flew across the holographic interface, performing the steps to complete the calculation.

  “If the moon takes almost fourteen damal to orbit the gas giant, which is also twenty-nine point seven nine days,” she mumbled while she typed. “Then, one damal should equal…”

  Pressing the final button, she grinned as she read the results aloud, “Two point two days. And, they’re arriving in three damal? That’s almost…” Her voice trailed off as she completed the calculations in her head and came to a startling conclusion. “Oh, shit!”

  “Thank you, computer,” she announced as she switched her wristcomp screen off. “I need to leave now.”

  Anna bolted from the stool, causing the hologram to shut down. She stopped in her tracks when the beam from her flashlight highlighted something hovering in the air near the top of the door. Anna swept the beam of light back toward the object and stopped when it came into view. It was a metallic object floating about two meters off the floor and directly between her and the exit. It did not make any noise or have any apparent function. She did not recall seeing anything above the entrance when she came in, but then she had no need to look upwards when she had entered the room.

  She moved her hand toward her pistol, but stopped mere millimeters from the grip. If this mysterious orb intended to kill her, it would have done so by now. She lowered her hand away from the weapon with an obvious gesture, keeping her eyes locked on the sphere. Was it a light fixture of some sort, or a component to an automated system? Perhaps a passive security system? With so many questions zipping through her mind, her arm remained tense, ready to grab her pistol if something went awry. Regardless of its intentions, she knew she had to return to the group and lead them back to the surface.

  Previous encounters with Altiki technology meant she knew something of their capabilities. The best thing to do was avoid direct confrontation, if at all possible.

  After watching it for the better part of a minute and observing no action, Anna swallowed her initial fear and walked toward and under the sphere, turning to keep her attention on it.

  When Anna’s back touched the wall, she moved her free hand to her wristcomp and activated the communicator. The door opened, and Anna stepped backward into the corridor. A few seconds later after the door closed, she breathed a heavy sigh of relief, glanced down both directions of the hallway, and set off at a jog back the way she had come.

  Anna made it only a few meters down the hall, when the sound of metal sliding on metal reached her ears. She swung about to see the sphere float through the door from which she emerged and pivot toward her.

  Anna’s heart leaped into her throat. She bolted for the way back into the caves, not da
ring to look behind her despite the temptation to do so. The fact that the sphere moved silently did nothing to reassure her.

  A short while later, Anna approached the end of the corridor and touched the communicator switch on her wristcomp. As the door opened, she jumped through and continued running toward the cavern. Unable to resist the temptation any longer, she stole a glance over her shoulder. The tunnel behind her was completely dark. Deciding not to take a chance, she pushed herself further down the tunnel.

  Anna stumbled a few times along the way but managed to keep her balance and maintain her pace. She saw the rock wall that signaled the end of the straight tunnel. She activated the communicator on her wristcomp and part of the rock wall disappeared. She charged through it and into the tunnel beyond.

  Anna halted and pivoted on the ball of her foot to gaze back through the entrance a split second after her gear powered down and plunged her into near darkness. Only the faint blue glow from her shoulder and the cool green hue from the light stick resting on the rocky ground in front of her illuminated the darkness.

  The hologram began to return but dropped again. Barely visible, the sphere shot through the mouth of the corridor toward her. An instant later, it dropped to the ground and rolled between her feet, coming to rest against a short stalagmite a couple of meters behind her. In the silence that followed, the holographic wall shimmered back into place.

  Anna blinked a few times as she stared at the unpowered orb. She stepped over to the foreign device and picked it up with care. Smooth and cool to the touch, the metal ball – roughly the size of her head – appeared to be inert, apparently affected by the EM field.

  “Interesting.” She retrieved the light stick from the ground and, with the sphere tucked under her arm, retraced her steps back to the main cavern.

  * * * * *

  A low growl penetrated the air. It originated from the glowing orbs on the far side of the cavern. They blinked again. Despite Jason’s expectations, the creature did not charge.