by Grey Lanter
“That thought had crossed my mind too.”
“I did a lot of hiking when I was younger. When you walk the hiking trails you see animals running around. Where I was, you’d always see an elk or two. Or a herd for that matter. Squirrels ran across the trail. You would see badgers and raccoons. In the air, an eagle or two would be overhead, along with many other birds. Geese would fly through the skies. You’d see animals you didn’t like either, such as snakes. But you got the sense the forest was alive, teeming with life. Owls would hoot at you as you walked by. Here, it is completely different. A different atmosphere, a different feeling. So help me, Logan, this is a planet of death.”
“Maybe you’re just overreacting. Maybe it’s a time of hibernation on this planet.”
“It’s not winter. Animals hibernate in winter.”
“Maybe it’s different on this planet, maybe they go to sleep in summer and run around in winter.”
“Ever been in Wyoming?”
“Only brief trips when I was young,” I said.
“Wyoming has some incredibly cold winters. Temperatures can go down to twenty, thirty below with snow five feet deep. You don’t run around in that. That’s why animals sleep through winter. It’s too cold to move and if you’re outside you freeze to death. Besides there’s no reason to hibernate here. It’s summer but the temperatures are not that hot. Some animals, such as dogs, can handle cold easier than high heat. But I’m guessing the temperature is about sixty-eight. Very pleasant. There’s no reason to hide from it.”
I nodded. The forests were remarkably quiet. We had noticed a few small animals scurrying around, keeping in the shadows. But we hadn’t seen any large animals. No elk, that was for sure.
Planets have their own personalities. At least to me they did. And Jardoval was definitely not the life of the solar system party.
“To be honest, I’ve wondered about that. It seems to be there should be more animals here, more of everything. Don't know what to make of it. Maybe there are more animals in the southern hemisphere.” I flicked the jet switch. “Let's go.”
We lifted and flew slowly south. Astrid's words bothered me. We were in the air but I spied no birds. Very strange. Although if there were no small animals, that meant the food supply of birds was depleted. They could have starved. Out West on Earth, eagles, hawks and other feathery predators can feast on prairie dogs. But if there were no prairie dogs or other prey, the eagles and hawks would soon cease to exist. But I saw no reason why the prey should have died. Pleasant climate and, I assumed, an ample food supply.
We circled a jagged, brown canyon but I saw nothing of interest. Astrid had sharper eyes.
“Down here,” she said, as she sped past me.
I followed her, breaking against a wind gust that tossed me against a sand hill when I landed. Astrid was six feet in front of me, kneeling behind a boulder. As she brushed away some sand, I saw what had caught her eye. A bone, bleached by the Jardoval sun, stuck out from the ground.
It was the only trace of the planet's original inhabitants we'd discovered. Astrid spoke quickly into her transmitter, calling for forensic transport. The gusty winds must have uncovered the body. The skeleton had very distinct markings.
“I'm not a forensic anthropologist but I'm guessing something took a bite out of him,” I said. “Those rib bones looked like they were crunched.”
“Yes, whatever did that has to be pretty large and strong,” said Astrid. “You know how much power it takes to bite through three ribs?”
“No, but I'm sure our scientists will tell us. Right now, let's just go with, 'a lot'.”
“Imprecise,” Astrid said, “but accurate.”
CHAPTER 3
I waved Altamonte into the office as Lt. Wendy Chen finished her report on the planet survey. All our squadrons had turned up nothing. Lt. Chen is one of our finest young recruits. Intelligent, dedicated, eager. Slender with dark hair, her face showed signs of her Asian ancestry. When the major walked in, he kept his glare toward her. Without missing a syllable, Lt. Chen shot out her arm and grabbed his chin.
“I also have the neuro-electro implants, Major,” she said. She yanked his head toward me. “So keep your eyes on the commander.”
I had to smile.
“So summing it up, we have three squadrons out at various points in this hemisphere. They have scientific equipment galore and the best technology we can provide them. And in the admittedly short time they’ve been surveying they have found nothing unusual and nothing out of the ordinary and nothing that would cause us any concern?” I said.
“Correct, sir. The only thing out of the ordinary was all squads reported a scarcity of animal life and what may be a complete lack of large animals in their regions. We haven’t covered the entire planet yet so we can’t say that is true on the other hemispheres.”
“I understand.”
“There is also, and this is not evidence, sir, but a lot of our colleagues say they sense an… essential creepiness about this place.” She looked to her left. “Much like being around Major Altamonte.”
The major smirked. His charm seemed to be wearing off.
I had to smile. “Thank you for your report, Lt. You’re dismissed.”
She saluted and walked out.
“Have you noticed younger officers are becoming much more insolent and insubordinate nowadays?” Altamonte said.
“Maybe it’s just you who brings out those traits, Ed. Anyway what do you have for me?”
Altamonte plopped a twenty-page folder on my desk. Two wisps of dust swirled into the air as he dropped the report. Astrid sat on the edge of my desk. He gave her a wary smile then pointed at the papers.
“They worshiped the planet,” he said.
Today, Altamonte had a military bearing. He didn’t look sluggish from the long trip. His eyes were alert, his back straight. His uniform was impeccable. Even the ugly bruise seemed to have healed.
“They worshiped the ground we walk on,” he said. “It's not unusual for primitive people to worship the planet. Even back in the 21st century we had people worshiping Gaia.”
“What was Gaia?”
“It was their name for Earth. There was a belief among a fringe group that it was a living organism.”
“I would ask why they simply didn't call it Earth but I don't think that's relevant to the issue at hand.”
“The worship here could be an indication of a somewhat advanced society. Many primitive peoples had primitive gods who were ruthless and bloodthirsty deities. The Aztecs, and the Moabites of the Bible to name two. Their gods demanded human sacrifices. Both races had a blood-drenched culture. There were no golden ages of the past. Just blood and death. But I assume worshiping the planet was a bit more pacific in nature.”
His hand came up and scratched his jaw. “The puzzling aspect of this planet is not just that the previous population has disappeared.”
“You can tell I know nothing about science. To me, that was the main question.”
“That's what I was thinking too,” Astrid said.
He smiled, almost laughing. “Well, you two are not scientists. You may be wonderful people and excellent officers but you’re not scientists. You overlooked something which my keen eyes did not.”
Astrid looked at me and smirked. “I see the major has recovered from his disappointment at being yanked off Jamaica Two and dropped here. He has regained his sarcasm and questionable humor.”
“Yes, I’m glad to see that.”
“Plus he said I am excellent officer and a wonderful person. I’m going to write that down,” Astrid said.
“So what have we missed, Ed?” I said.
“Well, it’s true all the natives have vanished, but so have their remains. That's an even bigger mystery.”
“Beg your pardon?”
“Dead people,” he said. “There are no dead people here. No cemeteries. No burial grounds. No remains. Very often primitive cultures have reverence for the body - even t
hough most believed in a spirit world after death - so they made elaborate rituals for funerals. Sometimes, as with the Egyptians, they took special care to preserve the body, if the dead guy happened to be royalty. But even such diverse races as the Mayans, the Aztecs, or the Vikings honored the dead. The primitive cultures on other planets follow that pattern. That's how we gain the best information about a dead civilization - from burial plots, bones, bodies and the surrounding artifacts. If you recalled when we arrived at the planet Herros we found a civilization that had died. But the race was kind enough to build huge mausoleums where bodies were preserved along with items the dead had owned or enjoyed when they were alive. We’re still investigating why they all died. Did you realize there are more civilizations that have died or disappeared in the galaxy than there are live ones?”
“No, but you’re getting a bit off the subject. You are saying there are no dead bodies here?”
“Nope. That's the mystery. No dead bodies. No living bodies either. No cemeteries. No place to honor dead relatives.”
“Could the inhabitants have been transported to another planet?” I asked.
“No. Even if all the living inhabitants were somehow whizzed away, it's doubtful they would dig up all their dead ancestors for the trip.”
He walked over to the bar and raised a bottle. “You mind?”
“Not at all.”
He poured a glass then returned to his seat. “The geological information I've seen indicates this planet is just coming out of a mini ice age. It wasn't long in geological time, just two, three hundred years maybe. We had a similar one back on Earth in the Middle Ages, which was followed by a warming trend around thirteen, fourteen hundred which lasted for a couple of hundred years too.”
“Does that help us know what happened to the inhabitants?” I said.
“It might. Many could have been killed by the spreading glaciers. Plus, I just wanted to convey some information to you. I didn't want you to think I was over in my office doing nothing.”
“I would never think that, Ed.”
“I would,” Astrid said.
He took a sip of his drink. “The skeleton that the sharp-eyed Lt. Paxton spotted is another puzzle. It shows evidence of massive trauma. Teeth, very large, and very powerful, bit off a large chunk of the dead man. I’m guessing there was some type of disruption during lunch. Whatever was munching on him fled because of all the commotion.”
“From the bite marks, can you tell how large the creature was?”
“Really, really big.”
“You’re just trying to impress us with all your scientific knowledge, Ed. Really big? I never would have guessed.”
Altamonte chuckled. “I don’t think we need precise measurement in this case. I’m still doing tests but I'm guessing whatever was doing the biting was the size of a small dinosaur. Those were big teeth.”
“We haven't seen anything close to that size on this planet.”
“Right.”
“Another mystery?”
“Yes.”
“Have you been able to determine how long ago the lunch took place?”
“Not definitely. I’m getting some equipment sent from the Sherman so I can do some tests. Right now my best guess is the bones are only a couple of decades old. Between twenty to thirty years. Relatively recent as geologic times goes.”
“So a creature the size of a small dinosaur was roaming this planet and having lunches just thirty years ago. But there’s no sign of it now.”
“That’s correct.”
“But if there’s one such dinosaur-type creature, shouldn’t there have been others? He couldn’t have been the only dinosaur on the planet.”
“That could be a valid assumption, unless he was the last of the race.”
“But there’s been no severe cataclysm on this planet for centuries, at least that’s what our science tells us. So how does a small dinosaur go missing? Even if it dies, the huge bones would still be showing. They would certainly be picked up by our tracers.”
“You would think so. But the dinosaur, if it was a dinosaur, disappeared along with all the humans.”
I frowned. The job wasn’t getting any easier.
“Shucks. It’s difficult to solve a mystery when there aren’t any clues.”
“Well, there’s one or two slender ones.” He reached over and tapped the report with his finger. “However the skeleton may tie in to page nine.”
I picked up the booklet and skimmed to page nine.
“You're looking at a reproduction of one of the few samples we have of Jardoval primitive art.”
Astrid walked around behind me so she could view it too. Page nine showed a man - barely more than a stick figure - being swallowed by a gigantic maw of teeth.
“When you say primitive you really mean primitive,” I said.
“That’s true,” Astrid said. “A kindergarten student could do better.”
“Yes, he really wasn’t much of an artist,” I said.
“No, but I'm guessing the artist is sketching, to the best of his ability, a real event, not a fictional one. He was probably shaking with fear when he drew that.”
“I'd be afraid of something that big too,” Astrid said.
“No, you wouldn't. You have those implants. You could give that creature such a toothache.”
Astrid narrowed her gaze and smiled as she looked toward me. “The major speaks from personal, low-wattage experience.”
“Hate to see what high would do.”
“You say you think this is a real event. Have any evidence or is it just a hunch?”
“Admittedly, it’s only a hunch, sir. Most of our very, very primitive art on Earth was reflecting real events, such as a hunt. You’d get pictures on cave walls of shaggy hunters spearing prehistory beasts. Prehistoric artists rarely did water colors or scenic seascapes even if they lived near the ocean. I’m guessing this was a real event too. The artists saw something and wanted to scribble it down.”
I nodded. “I guess that’s a reasonable assumption. There’s certainly no way to disprove it.”
“Anyway…” he tapped the page, “If the picture is accurate, there is something odd about those teeth.”
I took a second glance at the omnivorous maw. “They don't look odd to me. They just look huge.”
“Those teeth are not incisors. They're not designed for the ripping or tearing from a predator that has to chase down its prey. They're made for munching and chewing, much as a cow chews its cud.”
I took another look at the page. The man depicted was only a stick figure. The teeth, surprisingly, were drawn with a little more detail. Even so…
“You're reading a lot into a bad drawing.”
“I have too, commander. I have to gleam every bit of information from the artifacts we have because there aren't that many.”
“And you're doing a good job. Although even if you’re right, I don’t know what tells us. Anything else?”
