A habitat module consisted of a six by six cube that self-deployed into a twenty-four by twenty-four-foot self-contained habitat. They could be stacked, or added end to end to construct whatever dwelling was needed. The modules were multi-purpose, versatile shelters that would be their temporary quarters until better buildings were constructed.
Al left one security officer to patrol the grounds and took the other to help deploy the two watchers. They programmed them to stay one-hundred and eighty degrees apart, circling the perimeter of the construction site at an altitude of one-hundred feet. When an anomaly occurred, an alarm would be sent to all the officer’s security pads.
Special security devices were issued to each officer the day they started working for Al. Small enough to fit in a pocket, the multi-purpose devices were used as a radio/phone, a monitor with alarm, along with many other useful functions.
The watcher alarm would include live video, audio, and details such as distance, size, temperature, and speed. Al felt a lot better once they deployed them. Now they would know if anything tried to sneak up on them.
They tested the response of each watcher and then Al sent his officer back to help with the unloading. He decided to help Elizabeth install the satellite dish they would need to boost communicate with the ship in orbit. She was busy unpacking when he arrived.
Her being fluent in anything electronic made him ask, “Got any idea what you’re doing?”
“Well…I think this thing gets connected to that thing, and then you add this little spiral thingy to the side of that thing, um…add a few wires and bingo, you have instant communication with a spaceship in orbit,” she replied smiling.
“I don’t think that’s how it works.”
Liz admitted, “It may be a little more complicated than that. I forgot to mention all the computer jargon.”
Al chuckled and asked, “Need some help putting together the things? I can help with that.”
“Sure, grab that box and follow me, I have to find an out of the way clearing where we can do the install.”
The satellite needed a direct line of sight to the ship and an elevated position to protect it from animals and movement. They found a spot just inside the perimeter, far from the people working on the habitats.
They were contemplating where to set the pole for the dish when Al got the alarm. Something had triggered one of the surveillance drones; and whatever it was, it appeared to be close.
The intruders also heard the alarm and ducked for cover. Al took his pad from his pocket and opened it to see what the watcher saw. A hundred feet away were two ‘people’, hiding in the forest behind some bushes. The silent drone floated directly above them; invisible and unnoticed.
His radio came to life, and squawked, “Come in Chief Clark. We just got an alarm, sir, and you have company.” His man back in camp was seeing what Al saw.
Al whispered to the device, “I have the alarm. Maintain your positions. I’ll call if I need help.”
He did not need a lot of people rushing to their rescue.
Elizabeth whispered, “What do we do?”
“I’m not sure. What’s the protocol for first contact?”
“We are not ready for that.”
“I don’t think we can wait until it’s convenient,” replied Al.
“First contact has to be done very carefully, by trained people. In other words, anything you say can be taken wrong and sometimes with dangerous results—maybe we could sneak away?” suggested Elizabeth.
“I don’t believe that’s wise; I’m pretty sure they saw us…as well as heard us.”
“All right Al, but we can’t say anything more than we have too.”
Together they stood up, walked to within twenty feet of the bushes where the others were, and waited until the natives acknowledged them. Al could only take it for a minute or two before he finally said, “Hello…you can come out now.”
A short, subdued conversation in another language was heard coming from the bushes. Two heads slowly poked above the greenery. Hesitantly they stood up and came from behind the bushes; immediately falling to their knees. Some fruit dropped from the baskets they were carrying which they hurriedly replaced. They were very scared.
Al held up his hands in the hopefully universal gesture of it is okay, and they cowered even more. They were not just scared; they were terrified. Al knelt beside them and motioned for them to stand up. They each grabbed a basket and stood, holding the offerings out.
They were clearly humanoid. A little short by human standards, with the tallest one only standing about five-six, with the other being a little shorter than that. They had long dark hair, dark eyes, dressed in skins and furs, and carried pointed spears. The tall one had a belt over one shoulder made of alligator skin, or something similar.
If Al had to guess, he would have to say the taller one with the beard, was male, and the other female. Cleaned up, they could easily pass for humans.
Elizabeth and Al had a short discussion and decided it is only proper to trade a gift for a gift, so Al asked her if she happened to have something to trade in her pack.
“I do have some chocolate.”
“Does every woman carry spare chocolate with them?” Al asked with a grin.
“Umm…sometimes?”
“I’m just kidding. Chocolate is perfect for this situation. Let’s trade.”
They each accepted a basket and Liz, in turn, handed each of the natives a bar of chocolate and pantomimed eating them. Their faces lit up, and then they went back down on their knees. The two humans just shook their heads. This was not how they had imagined first contact would go.
Al thought it important that they find out where they came from so he knelt down and drew a rough plan of the valley in the dirt. The natives watched spellbound as he explained his makeshift map.
“This is the forest. Over here is the river. Up there is the mountain…where do you come from?” He asked the Avalonians.
When the aliens figured out what Al was trying to ask, they pointed at a lower portion of the mountain while shaking their heads up and down. It looked like the gesture for yes was universal.
“That would explain how they knew we were in their valley, Liz. From where they live, regardless of our precautions, they could see us coming.”
What do you say to two strangers from another world that can’t understand a single word you say? You just stand around smiling and nodding your head a lot. Al knew there were experts on-board Excalibur that would know just what to say. People that were trained for this kind of thing and spent most of their lives dreaming about it. Al also knew that done incorrectly all sorts of accidental damage could be done.
Al pointed at the natives, then the spot where they said they came from and told them with a big smile, “Go home…you…go home.” Liz began following his example and eventually the two young natives started bowing and slowly walking backward. The humans smiled and nodded their heads until the natives were perhaps thirty feet away, at which point the first alien race ever seen by man, turned and ran.
Al and Liz watched them until they were out of site, shook their heads a few times and immediately returned to installing the satellite dish. They needed to call the ship as soon as possible. The captain needed to know about this little meeting.
****
Kira the girl, and Toji, the guy with the beard—ran. They were good at flight, having learned to run almost as soon as they could walk. It was already late in the day, and they had to be Home before dark, but there were daylight dangers in the woods, so they slowed down a little as soon as the star gods were far enough behind them.
From the time they were little, they were taught to move swiftly and silently through the forest, but their excitement overrode their training, and they couldn’t stop whispering.
Their first meeting with the Kuthras had gone well, and they were coming back with gifts. The elders would be pleased.
Kira and Toji were specially picked to delive
r the tribute because they were quiet in the woods, and were only expected to drop the baskets close by and then quietly slip away. Actually speaking to a Kuthra was beyond their wildest dreams. How did they know we were there? The star beings must have very strong magic!
The Sansi tribe had seen the humans arrive and depart the first time in their flying machines. When they returned in their floating boxes, the elders had been convinced The Prophecy was coming true; mighty gods from the star in the sky would come and help them defeat the ‘Riktors’, and now their saviors had returned.
Kira and Toji climbed the path that led to their tribe on light feet as the sun was setting, and so engrossed in their discussion that they almost ran into the crowd awaiting their return. They hurried them into the main cave entrance and blocked it off with large, heavy boulders. No longer did they have guards posted outside. Posting guards at night usually ended badly.
Naturally riddled with caves, this section of the mountain was the indigenous peoples homes and over time, they had systematically blocked off all but a few entrances. Many years ago they had made it a safe place to live. At one time, hundreds were living here, now they were down to a few dozen.
They called themselves Sansi, the tribe had no name other than Sansi, for they were all Sansi. Every person on Tiera (the native name for Avalon) were Sansi. Except for the Kuthra, of course, who were from the star in the sky.
There were no wars between Sansi for they were all too busy hiding from the Riktors; who would suddenly appear and take their children, or kill them, and then take their children. They were the creatures that came in the night and were almost always a part of the natives’ nightmares.
The Sansi had watched the star that brought the gods to them for many cycles. The elders had predicted its arrival but didn’t know when the gods would come down to help. They could not go outside to see it at night, but it could be seen moving across the stars through small holes in the upper part of their cave. It was a special star, and many prayers had been addressed to it.
Kira and Toji’s friends and relatives surrounded the two tribute deliverers, and when they were safe inside they brought out the chocolate that the Kuthra had given them. They put their hands to their mouths and said in their tongue, “You eat it. It is food.”
The senior before them accepted one of the chocolate bars and carefully opened the wrapper. He smelled it, broke off a tiny piece, and with a wince, he put it into his mouth.
His face transformed into one of delight, and he declared, “It is the food of the Gods!” Everybody cheered.
Chapter Twelve
Establishment of the human camp progressed well the first day. By nightfall, they had completed the construction of one habitat. There was no water in the shelter, and the solar cells had not had time to charge, but the simple building was ready for use.
The communication dish was operational, and Al and Liz were using it to inform the captain of their meeting with the two natives. He listened to their story and had a few direct questions.
“You gave them chocolate?”
Al admitted, “Umm…yes sir. I didn’t think it would hurt, and they brought gifts for us.”
The captain continued, “What else did you do?”
“There wasn’t a whole lot we could do. We sent them home.”
“Did they tell you where that is?”
“Yes sir, they pointed it out to us.”
“Good. In the morning, send one of your watchers to get a solid location and maybe we can get an idea as to how many there are.”
“Will do Captain.”
“You do realize you’ve probably ruined their diet and more than likely their teeth?”
“Sorry, sir.”
“I’m going to send a contact specialist down on the next trip. She should arrive by tomorrow afternoon. Hey, while you’re at it, send Liz back with the shuttle. We need her here to help wind the ship down.”
“By your command…sir,” Al said with a grin.
“What was that? The radio has some static.”
“Never mind sir. Liz will be on the shuttle in the morning. Al looked at her, and she raised both palms, her sign of submission.
“I’ll talk to you again tomorrow. Good night sir.” Al signed off thinking. That could probably have gone better. When he told Elizabeth what he was thinking, she laughed and agreed.
Later that evening they joined the rest of the colonists at a long table set up for dinner. The scientists, the habitat specialists, security, and pilots were all colonists now. One large family sitting down to dinner after dark. Lantern light helped set a relaxed mood and kindled conversation.
They were discussing the abundance of lizards. Avalon appeared to have a large population of all kinds of reptiles. There were some seen on the first trip, but now they seemed to be all over the woods. Mostly small four-legged reptiles, one person said they saw one almost a foot long. Al had been listening and was starting to get concerned.
“Have you found any in camp?” Al inquired of the group.
“They seem to prefer the woods. I haven’t seen any in the open,” someone volunteered. Several others agreed.
“Has anyone been bitten?”
Everyone looked around, but none spoke.
Al had a warning for them, “Well, you might want to avoid that. It is possible that some of them may be poisonous. Everyone should be very careful until we can learn more about them.”
On-board the Excalibur were powered sonic security fences that could close off an area from mouse-sized animals to man-sized animals. To be on the safe side, Al decided that those fences would also be on the shuttle when it returned to camp tomorrow afternoon. Al told himself, better safe than sorry.
It was just about then that the alarm went off. The security chief almost dropped his pad getting it out of his pocket. On the pad he saw something big, moving fast in their direction. Coming out of the west, with the watcher right behind it, Al could see the creatures back moving side to side as it sped through the woods, rushing right towards them. At least eight feet tall, and fast, it was clocked at thirty-seven miles per hour, and the beast wasn’t slowing down.
Al was unsnapping his weapon and preparing to yell orders when the second alarm pierced the night air. They had another one coming from the opposite direction, about the same size, and moving at a similar ground eating speed.
He had two places he could send people to safety; the closest shuttle parked sixty feet away or the habitat sitting closer to fifty feet away. He told his two officers to head towards the last alarm and everybody else to head for the habitat. Ten feet could make the difference.
They didn’t have time to get to the rifles. Locked up in the farthest shuttle, they were too far away to help. It was a mistake he would regret.
Al ran from the canopy and headed west towards the habitat cubes stored there. The cubes were placed out by the perimeter to keep them out of the way of the construction machines, so Al had to cover a lot of ground in a hurry. He wouldn’t have guessed he could run that fast, but Al did, and he made it to the farthest cube quicker than he would have thought possible.
The monitor said it was close. He took a breath and looked around the side of the cube. Bursting from the trees, in full predator mode, was a ten-foot tall beast running straight at him.
It was a dinosaur. Plain and simple; with an enormous mouth, big teeth, and strong hind legs with claws that were tearing up the ground he left behind. Poking from its head was a twelve-inch horn that was pointed directly at him and closing fast.
He pointed his weapon at it and started firing. The MLP could recharge itself forty or fifty times before full recharge was needed, but it was a small laser, not designed for distance, and it only made small holes. It wasn’t helping.
The monster hit the cube head-on, impaling it on its horn, and driving it backward with Al sliding behind it. Then it picked up the six-by-six, one thousand pound habitat and threw it to the side, leaving Al standing there look
ing very surprised. It reared up and roared, and Al ran for his life.
He made it to the shuttle with the rifles, thinking he might be able to get to the more powerful lasers, but there was no time. He turned and started firing at the creatures head. It was his only chance. If he didn’t kill it, it was going to kill him, and he wasn’t done living yet. After the fifth or sixth shot, it realized its mistake and tried to turn away, but it was too late for the already dying animal. It staggered, fell, and slid sideways, bouncing off the shuttle, landing in a dusty heap next to Al.
Across the camp, someone was screaming. His monitor showed one of his men standing frozen in front of the other creature, and he realized they were in serious trouble. Al raced to the opposite side of camp, past the other shuttle, past the canopy, and to the completed habitat; to try and help.
The other monster made it to the where the humans were hiding and attacked the enclosure with its horn and long talons making considerable dents in it. He could hear people screaming inside. One of his men was shooting at it from a nearby construction machine, behind the creature, and the other man was lying by the beast in two bloody pieces. He needed to end this quickly.
Al joined the man firing and told him, “Get ready, and aim for the head.”
Al knew that the creature had to be facing them and close-by for the pistols to be effective, so he started jumping up and down and yelling, “Here we are. Come and get us.” The creature turned, roared, and tried to comply.
The beast died before it realized it was dying and with a final scream, fell hard at their feet. For now, it was over. They had killed two dinosaurs but lost one of their own.
A hefty price indeed.
AL CLARK (A Sci-Fi Adventure)(Book One) Page 8
