Blue Planet Rising (Pebbles in the Sky Book 2)

by Jeffery Bagley

  “Try to explain, Odysseus,” Brianna said.

  “The capture of this planet by another star besides the invader, and its subsequent marginal hospitable conditions was not anticipated by the creators. The purpose of the beacon was to attract an intelligent biological species and facilitate the transfer of regeneration matrixes and regeneration tank technology to that species for restoration of the Barbakath,” Odysseus explained.

  “I understand,” said Albert. “They had no idea that Elpis would be captured by another sun. They just wanted to get the attention of another intelligent species as the brown dwarf was passing by their star system. They figured Odysseus would have just enough time to get their attention. He would tell them what he was safeguarding, and give it to them before the brown dwarf went wandering off again. It was just a stroke of luck that Elpis was captured by our sun. He probably doesn’t have the capability to regenerate the life forms and establish an ecosystem on this world by himself. They may not even be adaptable to the conditions here.”

  “Albert’s assessment is approximate,” Odysseus stated.

  “Odysseus, you said there are two more habitable levels below this one. We want to see them,” said Kristy.

  They went back to the elevator and felt it drop to the next level. The door opened and they entered a room filled with pipes, tubing and a variety of oval tanks of a multitude of sizes. The tanks were of a soft but opaque like plastic material.

  “These must be the re-generation tanks. My parents have been trying to develop something like this for years. Odysseus, do you reproduce the biological data into living organisms in these tanks?” Brianna asked.

  “Biological life is reproduced in the regeneration tanks.”

  “I see the problem,” said Jason. “He can grow the things, but what then does he do with them? As a matter of fact, how does he get them out of the vats I wonder?”

  As if to answer his question, a recessed door opened, and a Barbakath came out of it. The five of them backed away in fear so fast that they tripped over each other. The strange looking apparition floated to a stop about a meter away. Brianna moved to the front of the group. “It’s a robot,” she said.

  “I am a physical manifestation of Odysseus,” it said. “Your human term is robot or…android?”

  They moved forward to look at the robot. It was remarkably similar in design to the VR robot that the first expedition had used. It had a compact oblong body of a bluish color and an upright torso area with two arms. The arms terminated in two three fingered hands. The head was similar to the images they had seen of the Barbakath, but the head didn’t have a mouth, eyes or ears. Instead, it had a multitude of short stubby sensors. Instead of feet or wheels, it seemed to float above the floor.

  Jason bent down and ran his hand under the robot between its base and the floor. He felt a very peculiar tingling sensation in his hand while it was under the machine.

  “Odysseus, are you…in the robot?” asked Brianna in wonder.

  “I’m not in anything, Brianna. I exist here, I can control the robot like you control your hand,” Odysseus explained.

  “Odysseus, what keeps the robot above the floor? How does it move?” asked Jason.

  “I do not have sufficient human engineering references to explain. A simplified explanation would be…gravity reflection…” Odysseus said.

  “Artificial gravity. That’s what we suspected from our examination of the alien spaceship. Can you imagine the possibilities if we can get this technology!” Jason exclaimed.

  “Odysseus, will you teach us this technology?” asked Kristy.

  “My instructions include sharing all Barbakath technology with the biological race that will assist with the regeneration of the Barbakath,” Odysseus said. “At this time, I don’t have sufficient human engineering references to facilitate this technology exchange.”

  “Kristy, we need to transmit every single book and reference we have to him. Think about it, the technology of artificial gravity alone…add to that the computer and construction technologies. Every engineer at NASA and Space Force will be up all night for years to come drooling over this stuff,” Jason said.

  “Odysseus, what would be required for you to…regenerate a Barbakath in one of these tanks?” Brianna asked.

  “The required genetic data would be transferred into a prepared cellular…mold. The resultant replicating cells would then be transferred to a regeneration…tank with the appropriate nutrient and supportive system,” Odysseus answered.

  “How long will the embryo take to develop until it is able to survive outside the tank?” Brianna inquired.

  “Approximately five human months,” Odysseus answered.

  “Odysseus, if we agree to help you…regenerate the Barbakath, will you exchange the technologies that we are interested in?” asked Kristy.

  “Yes, but I will need additional human reference materials to facilitate information exchange,” Odysseus replied.

  “It may be a little more complicated than just growing one of the Barbakath,” said Brianna. “We need to determine what they eat, what type of atmosphere they breathe, and any other needs they may have. We don’t even know how big they get or anything.”

  “This was anticipated by the creators,” Odysseus said. “There is a specimen preserved in the lower level of this facility.”

  “We need to see it!” exclaimed Beatrice. “Take us there.”

  They entered the elevator and the door closed as they went to the lower level. As the door opened they were greeted by a faint and musty odor of old decay. On one side of the room was a large square box. Along the other side was what could only be described as…beds, all but one was occupied by something.

  Brianna and Beatrice went over to the first bed. Lying on it was what could only be the desiccated and mummified remains of a Barbakath. Looking around the other sleeping cushions, they could see other bodies.

  “How did they die, Odysseus?” asked Jason.

  “They consumed the Taal,” Odysseus replied.

  “What is Taal?” asked Beatrice.

  “Taal is, was a preserved plant root that the Barbakath consumed when they wished to cease biological functions and take the journey of their ancestors,” Odysseus explained.

  “Ritual suicide?” asked Kristy.

  “It sounds like it,” said Beatrice. She bent down to examine one of the bodies. From the dried remains, it looked as if they had stood about the same height as a human. Their legs were very short and looked very powerful. The slightly elongated and mildly flattened body was about as high as a human waist. The torso on top of that was topped by a head that looked like the cross between a horse and a monkey. There were ears on top of the head, but the eyes were forward facing.

  “Look,” said Beatrice. “The body shows an interesting evolutionary history. Short strong legs that were made for support, but not running. Their world probably had very strong gravity. Their eyes faced forward, totally unlike the herd animals on Earth. That means they probably didn’t evolve as a prey animal. Their eyes, or what you can make of them, were similar to primates on Earth. They almost have a face except for that long snout. You can see some teeth here, but they are flat. They are obviously evolved to grind plant fiber.”

  They had gathered around the body and looked at what Beatrice was pointing out.

  “Odysseus, I thought you said there was a preserved Barbakath body here. Is this what you meant by preserved?” Brianna asked.

  “The dead specimens of Barbakath you are examining are not the preserved specimen,” Odysseus answered.

  Beatrice stood up. “Where is the preserved specimen?” she asked.

  They were all taken aback when lights came on in the large square box. They saw it was not a box at all, but a liquid filled tank. In that tank, a Barbakath was suspended in some type of fluid. In awe, they approached the tank and looked at the creature preserved in it. The creature was indeed about two meters tall. It was covered by a short blue/gr
ey fur. The ears were upright, and the open eyes were almost human like. The feet had hooves and there was a short tail that ended in a tuft of long hair. The specimen was probably male, as it had a long, almost prehensile looking penis like organ.

  Beatrice and Brianna were excitedly pointing out features and talking to each other.

  Jason leaned over to Kristy and Albert. “Ugly looking thing, isn’t it? It looks like a cross between a donkey, a dog, and a chimpanzee.”

  Brianna scowled at him. “They evolved on a totally different world. What do you expect them to look like? What’s so remarkable, is that they’re as familiar looking as they are.”

  “Odysseus, what was the Barbakath home world like? Can you tell me what the gravity and atmosphere was like?” Beatrice asked.

  “The creators called their world…Horast. Horast had a gravity level that was…approximately twenty percent stronger than your Earth. The atmospheric pressure was approximately ten percent greater than Earth’s, but the component gas composition was within five percent of the gases present in your home world atmosphere.”

  “So you are saying that a Barbakath could survive on Earth then?” asked Brianna.

  “The Barbakath could survive the conditions on Earth. There is too little data to determine if the indigenous plant life could provide necessary nutrients,” Odysseus stated.

  “Could they survive here on Elpis?” Kristy asked.

  “The atmosphere here is marginal, but with an adaptation period they could survive,” Odysseus informed them.

  “Odysseus, would you allow Brianna and me to dissect the Barbakath that’s preserved here to better understand their physiology? We would like to examine its organs and do some microscopic examinations,” Beatrice said.

  “I have no instructions to prohibit or allow such an examination. This specimen was the leader of the tanth that built this complex. He chose to be preserved for examination by the biological race that discovered this complex so that you would better understand the Barbakath,” Odysseus said.

  “Did he have a name?” asked Kristy.

  “An approximate translation would be possible. His name would be Ranor Ungor Hanth in your human language,” Odysseus informed her.

  Kristy looked at the preserved creature in the tank. She asked herself if she could have preserved her own body for inspection like this creature did. He had been the leader of the doomed expedition that had built this last gasp at immortality for the Barbakath.

  Kristy made a decision. “I think we all need to go sit down and talk about what we’ve seen here. We need to get David down here and record all of this so we can show it to the experts on Earth. In the meantime, I’m authorizing the transfer of every bit of data and every reference we have to Odysseus. Let’s show him what humanity has, so he can show us what we don’t have.”

  Chapter 49

  May 27th, 2047

  Planet Elpis

  Jason and Frederick were straining to shove the mounting bracket for the antenna array up into position where David could bolt it down on top of the main dome. After consultation with Odysseus and Alpha Control, it had been determined that the communication array could be moved into the sensor super structure on the dome rather than leave it on top of the hill overlooking the site. Not only would it make communicating with Earth much easier, but it would be less exposed to the environment. There had been some pretty intense thunderstorms in the past week and Master Chief was very concerned that a direct lightning hit on the exposed hilltop could damage their equipment.

  Albert and Kristy were watching from the ground as the three men wrestled with the heavy array. Donald and Master Chief were up on the hill taking the remainder of the communication and computer equipment apart for re-locating to the ‘A’ dome. Beatrice, Brianna, and Sarah were down in the middle level of the main dome doing the dissection of the preserved Barbakath.

  “Higher,” said David. “It needs to be about a half inch higher or this clamp won’t reach.”

  Jason looked at Frederick. “Ok, let’s do this on three. I’m not sure I can hold this thing much longer.”

  Frederick grunted, “On your mark.”

  “One, Two, Three,” said Jason.

  They gave the mounting bracket a big shove. The top of the bracket slid through the clamp at the top of the super structure. As it slid through, it pinned David’s right finger in the clamp and slit it open. David cursed in pain and he lost his grip on the heavy wrench he was holding as blood ran down over his hand. The wrench fell and hit Frederick in the face just as he was looking up. Frederick instinctively reached up when the wrench hit him and he lost his grip on the bracket. The mounting bracket slid back down as Jason was unable to hold it alone. Frederick was forced to jump backwards to avoid the falling bracket and then lost his balance on the domes surface. He fell over backwards and tumbled off the dome, hitting his head on the edge of the airlock structure on the way down.

  Kristy and Albert saw Frederick loose his balance and fall. They went running around the airlock to where Frederick had fallen. Kristy stopped and stood in shock when she saw Frederick. He was lying on his side at the base of the dome and his neck was at an unnatural angle. She had no doubt whatsoever that it was broken. Albert rushed over to Frederick and felt his wrist.

  “He doesn’t have a pulse,” Albert yelled.

  Jason came sliding down the dome. “Don’t move him by yourself,” he yelled. As soon as he was on the ground, he applied traction to Frederick’s neck while Albert straightened Frederick’s body out. Albert started CPR while Jason continued to hold traction on Frederick’s neck.

  “Kristy, call for help!” Jason yelled.

  Kristy shook herself to action and tapped her PA. “Odysseus, tell Beatrice and Sarah we have a medical emergency up here. We need them to come now!”

  “They have been notified Kristy. They are responding,” Odysseus answered.

  Kristy ran to the ‘A’ Dome to grab an emergency medical pack. By the time she arrived back to the scene of the accident, Beatrice and Sarah were rushing out of the airlock. Beatrice ran over to where Albert was still doing CPR. Sarah took the med-pack from Kristy tore it open. She started applying analyzer pads to Frederick’s chest and temples while Beatrice gently took Frederick’s head from Jason’s hands and started palpating his neck.

  “You can stop the CPR, Albert,” Beatrice said as she lay Frederick’s head down on the ground. “His neck is broke and his spinal cord is severed.”

  They stood there in silence as the analyzer that Sarah had hooked up kept saying “no pulse detected.”

  “There’s nothing I can do,” said Beatrice sadly.

  Brianna came running out of the airlock and stopped when she saw the others standing around.

  “Is he?” she gasped.

  “His neck is broken.” Beatrice looked up. “Did he fall?”

  “It’s my fault,” said Kristy. “I told them to mount the communications array bracket up there on the sensor super structure.”

  “No, it’s my fault,” said Jason. We should have put on safety ropes in case one of us slipped.”

  “Both of you are full of nonsense,” said Albert. “It’s called an accident. It was an unfortunate chain of events that could not be predicted.”

  “It’s my fault,” said Kristy. “I need to call Alpha Control. They’ll probably relieve me of command.”

  She turned to walk up the hill.

  David climbed down and joined the group. He had wrapped his bloody hand in his shirt and the shirt was soaked with blood. Sarah saw it and grimaced.

  “Let’s go get that cleaned up,” Sarah said. She tugged David’s arm and led him toward the ‘A’ dome.

  “We’re going to have to bury him,” said Albert. “Jason, Brianna, would you help me carry him under the alien ship. It’s dry and cool there. We’ll have to wrap him up in something and dig a grave.”

  Jason nodded. “I’ll dig the grave myself.”

  …

&n
bsp; Later that afternoon, they all stood around as Jason and Master Chief laid Frederick’s body into the grave that Jason had dug.

  Beatrice noted that Kristy was still acting as if she was in shock. Kristy had reported the accident back to Alpha Control. They had adamantly dismissed her offer to step down from command. Admiral Ellis had told her to buck up and get a hold of herself. Accidents happened, and people died. That was a fact of life and she was going to have to get used to that if she wished to remain in command.

  Since none of them were religious, Beatrice had offered to say a few words over Frederick’s grave.

  “We are gathered here to say goodbye to a friend and comrade. None of us knew Frederick before we were picked to be on this expedition. Since then, we have all come to be very close, and the loss of a friend is always painful. We came to this strange new world as explorers. We’re the first humans to ever step foot on another planet besides the one that gave birth to humanity. Frederick died doing what he wanted to do. He was an explorer just like the rest of us. We now bury his body in the virgin soil of this planet we call Elpis. As he rests here, his body will help give life to the sterile soil of this world. Elpis has received the first human to die here, but Frederick won’t be the last to die on this planet. Someday, this world will see the birth of new life as well as more death as humans learn to live upon it. We will remember Frederick and his contributions to our mission. May he rest in peace.”

  Donald and Master Chief filled in the grave as the rest of them stood and watched. After the grave was covered, they all walked back to the ‘A’ dome. As they were walking back Beatrice motioned for Brianna and Sarah to hold back. “I hate to say this, and I know we’re all saddened by the loss of Frederick, but we really need to finish the dissection of the Barbakath. The body will start to decompose quickly now that it’s been exposed to the atmosphere. Odysseus says that there shouldn’t be any microbes that would cause rapid decomposition, but the body had been in that preserving fluid so long that the tissues will start to oxidize and break down in just a few more hours. I’l meet you two back down in the lower level of the main dome.”