by Mark Harritt
“Well, there’s no way we’ll ever get that open,” Tom mused.
Mickey put a gloved hand on it. It was pretty solid. It wasn’t as solid as the blast door at the old Earth DARPA facility, but there was no way they could budge it with man power alone.
“We aren’t getting out that way, not without some help.”
They continued their trip around the wall. Mickey was unhappy. It didn’t seem like there was any way out except the way that they’d arrived. Then they found a possible solution to their problem. It was an airlock, but this one had a latch on it, on their side of the door; a large lever that you could put two hands on if you needed to open it. Mickey thought it looked like one of the hatches on the submarines he used to do missions from. The door looked like it was dogged tight. On either side of the hatch there were some large, thick windows.
They saw it, and they moved quickly to it. The light overhead seemed to jump ahead as they approached the hatch. The last light turned on overhead and they got their first look outside the hanger.
“What the hell is that?” Tom asked.
“I don’t know,” Mickey answered.
A large, thick vine seemed to be attached to the window. Mickey looked into the room and saw that there was vegetation attached to the walls, the floor, and the roof. The other side of the glass was streaked where water had cut through the dust. Mickey moved to the other side of the hatch and looked in. He put his hand up to the window and put his helmet on the glass so that he could see in.
Something came flying out of the dark and slammed into the glass. Mickey cursed loudly and stumbled back. Immediately, rifles came up to engage the threat. The glass stayed intact, but everyone’s eyes were transfixed by what they saw.
A large tentacle clung to the glass where Mickey’s face had been. Large suckers kissed the glass, thick cutting beaks shooting out of the suckers trying to rend the window. The tentacle was dark, muscular, with light blue rings that pulsed in a frenzied rhythm. The tentacle writhed wetly back and forth in an obscenely, almost erotic caress of the window. A large shadow was behind the tentacle, a body covered with more of the pulsing blue lights. And then, just as quickly as they appeared, the tentacle and the body behind it disappeared. Mickey used the aid of his helmet to try and pierce the gloom, but he couldn’t see anything in the room. There was no way in hell that he was going any closer to the window.
“Tom, you remember, when all we had to deal with was terrorists, criminals, and dirty bombs?” Mickey asked.
Tom answered in his usual laconic manner, staring at the window where the tentacle had been, streaks of mucus from the tentacle across the window, “Yeah, I remember.”
Mickey stared as the mucus slowly oozed down the pane of glass, “I surely miss those days.”
Tom’s head bobbed like he was going to spit, but then he remembered he had his helmet on, “Yeah, me too.”
“My vote is that we never, ever open that door.”
Mickey looked over to see a look of horror on Sorinm’s face as he stared at the window. Mickey put a big hand on Sorinm’s shoulder, “Yeah, I agree. I don’t know what that was, but I hope we never have to meet it.”
Tom stared at the window, “I so don’t want to go out there. Ever.”
Mickey inclined his head toward the wall, “Let’s continue. If we leave, maybe it will too.”
They moved away from the windows. The Contai soldiers were nervous after the brief encounter with the tentacled creature, so they kept an eye on the area around the windows for a very long time until they were satisfied that nothing would or could follow them.
Mickey, Tom and the Contai continued their circuit around the room, but there wasn’t anything else interesting to see. They ended up where they’d started, on the wall closest to the shuttle. They completed their walk by turning back to the shuttle.
Caul raised a hand in greeting, “Did you find anything?”
Mickey nodded, “Yeah, we found a few things. A few doors, one of them pretty big, a console, and an area with windows. It looks like there may be plants growing on the other side of the door.”
Caul’s eyebrow went up, “There’s life here? I wasn’t sure there would be. This area doesn’t give the impression that anything is alive here. Did you go outside and look around?”
“Ah, that might not be a good idea,” Mickey explained the disturbing tentacle that had caressed the window.
Caul looked very somber when he spoke next, “I . . . hope we don’t need to go out there.”
Tom and Mickey took their helmets off. Mickey agreed with Caul, “Yeah, you won’t get an argument from us. We didn’t find anything inside here that might be dangerous, but with that thing out there, I don’t want anybody going out in groups of less than five people. It may be outside the hanger, but now that the air pressure is equal, there may be a way for the damn thing to get in. And, since it saw us, it has a reason to try and get in. Just make sure that whoever is on guard duty is alert.”
Caul pointed at the Contai, “I don’t think that will be a problem. Word’s getting around.”
Mickey looked around to see Sorinm doing his best impression of the tentacle sliding up and down against the window. He was being particularly descriptive as he depicted their encounter.
Mickey nodded, “Yep, that will do it, alright.”
Caul turned to make sure the message was received by all the Contai soldiers. Mickey ran his hand over his head as he followed Tom up the ramp. All eyes in the shuttle turned to them, expectant.
“Find anything?” Bob asked.
“Not much,” Mickey explained. “We found a hatch that was dogged, a door next to a console, and a large blast door big enough for this shuttle to slip through. There were some windows on the last door that we found, and we could see in there. Looks like vegetation may have taken over the areas on the other side.”
“Did you open the door?”
Mickey shook his head, aware that everyone else was listening as he talked to Bob, “nope, for two reasons. First,” he pointed toward Daijj,” We couldn’t test the quality of the air. Second, a large tentacle tried to rip my head off.”
Everybody in the shuttle started talking at once. Mickey held his hands up toward the interior of the shuttle to quiet everybody down.
Tom shook his head, sighing, knowing that Mickey was playing to the crowd, “You did that on purpose.”
Mickey shrugged, not denying it.
John yelled out, “What the hell happened? Why are you so calm about it?”
A grin played across Mickey’s face. He started to tell the tale by using verbiage that every soldier knows, “So, no shit, there I was . . .”
Everybody groaned, knowing that somehow, they’d been had.
Mickey held his hands up, “What, you guys don’t want to hear the story?”
Will stared at Mickey balefully, “Depends. Is it true, or did you just make it up?”
Mickey grinned. Tom shook his head and started speaking, “Yeah, it’s true. He put his face up to the window to get a better look, and the tentacle whipped out of nowhere. If the glass hadn’t been constructed for a vacuum, the tentacle would have ripped his head off.”
Mickey frowned, “Hey, I was going to tell it.”
Tom nodded, “Yeah, I know,” he pointed at the group inside the shuttle, “but they didn’t want to wait for thirty minutes for you to tell them what I just told them.” Tom patted Mickey on the shoulder, “Love you man, but your stories are a little long winded sometimes.”
Mickey looked away from Tom back into the shuttle. More than one person was nodding in agreement with Tom.
“So, are we in danger?” Randall asked.
Mickey shook his head, “Naw, I don’t think so. Not unless it can get in here.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder, “Caul’s talking to the Contai to ensure they stay alert. Still, if we don’t have anything going on outside, I think it would be better if we all stay in here with the ramp up.”
&nb
sp; Mickey didn’t get any argument out of the group. Now that the area was clear and there were no threats, those that could got up and walked outside. Since Will, couldn’t walk down the ramp without trouble, he moved to the seat closest to the ramp. People were starting to get hungry, so they pulled out food and water. One of the Contai was talking about making a fire, but Mickey nixed that idea quickly. Mickey explained to the Contai about fire suppression systems, and how they could possibly be lethal depending on the type. There was no more talk of a fire after that.
Mickey pulled John, Bob, and Mike to the side and told them about the console.
“You want us to take a look at it?” Bob asked.
Mickey nodded, “Yeah, I would. You might be able to understand what it does. I had no clue what it might be.”
Bob looked at the other two, “We can try to figure it out.”
Mickey talked to Caul, and Caul picked five guys to go out. Tom volunteered to stay back so that Caul could get a look around. Sorinm was chosen to be the team leader again. Once the three engineers were ready, they started walking. John brought his electronic tools and Mike had a set of tools with him as well.
Mickey didn’t put the helmet back on. After the initial scout, he wasn’t worried about combat. But, just in case, he decided to take it with him. He had his earbud in so he could talk with Daijj and Tom. Mickey led, and they took a more direct route this time. They walked faster since they weren’t as worried about being attacked by something. In ten minutes, they were at the console next to the door.
The three started by examining the console. In truth, there wasn’t that much to look at.
Bob shook his head, “I have no idea what the hell this thing is or what it does. I’m afraid to touch it. If I had a spacesuit on, I might chance it. I’d hate to suck the oxygen out of the air, or open up an airlock somewhere that might let one of those tentacle things into the area.”
John looked over at Bob and Mickey, “I agree. I can’t make heads or tails out of the markings. Without knowing what it does, I don’t want to touch anything.”
Mike wasn’t looking at the console, he was exploring the door. He looked back at Mickey, “Did you try to open it?”
Mickey shook his head, “No, we were afraid we might trigger something.”
Mike looked at it. Mickey jumped when Mike knocked on it with one knuckle.
“Ah, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Mike asked.
Mike turned to look at Mickey with a grin on his face, “No.”
Mike stepped back, and they stared at it. Nothing happened.
Mike stepped forward again, and reached out to put his hand on it. He spread his fingers and put the palm of his hand on the door. Once again, nothing happened.
Mickey frowned, “Looks like you aren’t going to get it open.”
Bob stepped back, staring at the console, and spoke, sarcasm heavy in his voice, “Well, so glad we could help.”
Mike stepped back, shaking his head, “Yeah, until we know more about this place, I’m not sure I want to try anything anymore heavy handed than that.”
Bob smiled at Mike, “What, you don’t want to use the crowbar?”
Mike grinned, “Probably not a good idea.” He pointed up at the tracks in the ceiling coming out of the door, “I’ve seen tracks like that before. Back on the old world, those tracks would indicate some kind of device that lifts heavy objects and transports them to other areas in the shop.”
Mickey looked up, and nodded, “Yeah, I can see that.” He pointed at the door, “You think mechanics worked back there?”
Mike shrugged, “Possibly. I’d have to see it to say yes.”
John looked out into the wide expanse of the hanger, “Man, this place gives me the creeps.”
Mickey nodded, “Yeah, me too. There should be noise here. In a space this big, you’d think you’d hear something. This place is quiet as a church.”
John shook his head, “No, quieter than that.”
They all looked out into the darkness. Then all four of them jumped as Caul clapped his hands together loudly, “That’s enough of that.”
Mickey laughed weakly, “You’re right Caul, probably better if we leave that line of thought alone.”
“You want to show us the blast door and the hatch with the windows?” Bob asked.
Mickey thought about it, and then slowly shook his head, “No, I don’t want to attract unwarranted attention. The big blast door is exactly what I told you it is. And I’m afraid if we spend too much time around those windows, we might attract more of the creatures. There might come a time when we need to go through that door, and the fewer of those tentacles we have to deal with, the better.”
“Ready to head back then?” Caul asked.
Mickey nodded, “Well, we can’t do anything else here for now, so yeah, let’s head on back.”
The walk back to the shuttle was uneventful. Mickey did a fist bump with Tom when he walked up the ramp. Behind him, Caul spread his men out into a fire team. Caul wasn’t going to be taken unaware by anything.
When they got back to the shuttle, Tom asked, “Did they figure out what it was?”
Mickey stepped aside so that the engineers could get past him and get back into the shuttle, “No, we weren’t able to figure anything out about the console. Mike thinks that the area behind the door next to the console might be a mechanics’ area. Anything happening here?”
Tom turned to look out into the darkness, and shook his head, “Nope, things were uneventful, just the way I like it.
Mickey looked into the shuttle just in time to see Bobby waving at him. Mickey frowned and pointed, “What’s up with him?”
Tom looked back over his shoulder, “Don’t know. You want to go find out?”
Mickey nodded, “Let’s.”
Micky walked to the trio of programmers with Tom following. “What’s up?” MIckey asked.
Bobby had an excited look on his face. Jessica looked bored, and Weitz looked like he was about to get sick. Bobby spoke for the trio, “I think we’ve found something.”
Mickey smiled at Bobby’s enthusiasm, “Yeah, what you got?”
“Well, I wondered how the alien coding was getting into the computer. I mean, I’ve got the thing on airplane mode. It can’t receive blue tooth or wifi right now.”
Bobby looked up from the computer. Mickey’s face was blank, so he hurried as he spoked, “So I turned on the wifi to see if I could pick anything up.” He leaned down to pick up the bag the sphere was in, “Turns out, this thing is putting out a signal. It was communicating to the null generator directly. And through the null generator, it was accessing the computer.”
Mickey waited, but there wasn’t anything else forthcoming. Bobby was staring at him like Mickey understood what he was telling him. “And,” Mickey prodded him.
Comprehension dawned in Bobby’s face, “Oh, well, that means that I could ride the carrier wave that the sphere is putting out. We were able to use our quantum computer to translate the code, and now I think I’ve hacked into their system. I’m not sure, but I think the data indicates we’re on the moon.”
Mickey closed his eyes, and then opened them again. “Our moon?” he asked.
Bobby nodded, grinning like an idiot, “Yeah, our moon.”
Mickey looked at Tom. Tom shook his head, “Dammit all.”
Mickey looked up at the top of the shuttle. He closed his eyes again, “Tom.”
“Yeah?”
“What’duh’ya wanna bet we have to go through that damned hatch.”
----------------------------------------------------
Chapter Five
Matki stood among the trees listening to the wind in the branches, contemplating his impending death and the death of his family in the darkness of the early morning. He’d heard rumors from his ‘birds,’ news that was confirmed by Mitchem late yesterday. Joacar was attempting a takeover, and had enough support in the Althus camp to do it. Matki had gotten news that
Joacar and his people intended that he have an ‘accident,’ along with his wife and children.
Joacar was still upset about being sidelined, and now, Joacar’s men were going to come for them sometime in the next few days, in the middle of the night. Matki’s association with the Emurecuns was the main issue they were upset about. Joacar, and his advisor, Walleg, wanted to kill all the Emurecuns and take over leadership of the two tribes. Matki could understand that. That was politics in its most fundamental form. He was livid, however, when he found out they were also going after his family. Now, he was trying to figure out how to evade Joacar’s assassins.
Joacar was narcissistic and self-absorbed. He was no longer in charge anymore, and that was the problem, at least to Joacar. When he’d been the leader of Matki’s people, he’d been a pain in the ass, but manageable. Matki had to admit that when Joacar was in charge, often, his personality lent itself toward the village getting the better deals through trade. There had always been the rumors, though, about how Joacar and his council treated people. Matki, however, had never lent credence to the rumors, not when he came home and everything was sedate and quiet.
Maybe it was because he spent so much time away from home, and never truly got to know the man. He knew that Joacar was vainglorious, but it was something that Matki never had to worry about due to his status as the one who tracked the demon queen. Others, with lesser status in the village, though, had run ins with Joacar, often to their detriment.
Here it was now, Joacar and his cronies, Walleg and Gegit, were spreading lies and rumors, creating dissent within the community. Never satisfied with his position after they left the village, and upset that he was pushed aside as the leader of the warriors, Joacar was spreading hate among the Contai. Spreading rumors and lies, he was directing the Contai’s hatred at the Emurecuns. He was bending ears with lies about the Emurecuns bringing the grey men with them. The most pernicious rumor was that the Emurecuns had given the locations of the Contai settlements to the grey men, and that the Emurecuns had taken them to the canyons so that they would all be in one place for the green soldiers to attack.
