by J. J. Green
Thanks for your report. I’ve noted your concerns. Prepare to ship out to the coordinates given at our meeting. The Thylacine must be ready for action in eighty-four hours.
Chapter Six
When Jas boarded the shuttle that would take her planetside, she was a little worse for wear after a long evening spent with Toirien. She took a seat in the cabin and comm’d the pilot that she was ready to go.
She’d talked with Toirien about old times and old acquaintances, like long-departed, myth-addicted Captain Loba, self-serving First Mate Haggardy, and bigoted Dr. Sparks. Toirien had been entertained to hear of what had happened to Sparks after leaving the Galathea. Jas wondered if anyone had told the doctor yet that Earth was finally free of Shadows, or if he was still hiding out the war at chilly Ganymede Outpost.
Jas couldn’t quite remember how her evening with Toirien had ended, but she’d woken with an aching head and sore stomach. She’d self-medicated to relieve the symptoms of her hangover, but she still felt light-headed and out of sorts. She hoped a visit to see how Trimborn was getting on with his Shadow sweep would distract her from her malaise.
Her first officer only had three days to train the locals in how to uncover the remaining Shadows hiding among them, and he had to do it effectively or the Shadows would regain control and a pocket of resistance would spring up.
The shuttle was sweeping rapidly down through the planet’s atmosphere, buffeted by turbulence. Jas stretched her tender muscles and rubbed her eyes. She was tired, but it wasn’t only due to her over-indulgence the night before. She’d been tired day in and day out for months—a deep-down tiredness that the longest sleep never seemed to fix.
“Touchdown in five, ma’am,” came the pilot’s voice through her comm.
Jas rested her head on the back of her seat and closed her eyes as the shuttle made its final approach. By the time it landed, she’d drifted into a light sleep. The sound of the cabin door opening roused her, and the sunlight that streamed in made her squint and blink. It was a brilliant light, and the air that entered the cabin was hot and dry.
Unfastening her harness, Jas stood and straightened her jacket. After smoothing down her hair at the back, she disembarked. Trimborn and a couple of his subordinates were waiting in a neat row a short distance away, but Jas was so blinded by the glaring light , she perceived them only as dark, indistinct figures.
She lifted a hand in front of her eyes to block out the sun, but the gesture didn’t help much. The sun’s brightness was reflected and seemingly multiplied by the surrounding landscape. She made her way over to her officers, her eyes narrowed to slits. Already, her uniform was feeling tight and uncomfortably warm.
“Good morning, ma’am,” Trimborn said cheerfully as she approached.
“Morning...what are you wearing?” Jas asked.
Her first officer and the two other officers with him had cloths draped over their heads and down their backs. They were wearing their uniform hats, so that the edges lifted the cloths into mini tents.
“Only thing that keeps the sun off, ma’am,” Trimborn replied.
Jas noticed he also had on thick sunglasses.
The piercing light wasn’t making Jas’ hangover any better. “Is there somewhere we can go?”
“Yes, Commander. This way.” Trimborn led her toward a flat structure raised only a meter or so above the ground. Jas hadn’t noticed it because it was yellow-tinged white, the same color as the rocky surrounding ground.
“You could have told me what to expect, Trimborn,” Jas said as they walked together. “I would have come better prepared.”
“I...er...I did, ma’am. I left a message as soon as I received notification that you were coming down. But don’t worry, once we’re underground, it’ll be fine.”
Jas hadn’t checked her messages after she’d gotten up that morning.
They arrived at a circular entrance with an overhanging roof, set halfway into the ground. There was no door, only a dark hole leading to the interior. Uneasiness settled on Jas, and for a moment she wasn’t sure why. Then she realized.
“This is like a Shadow trap,” she blurted. She grabbed at her side, but in her hungover state, she hadn’t remembered to arm herself.
“Yes, it is, isn’t it, ma’am,” Trimborn said. “Gave us the willies at first too. But there’s no cause for concern. It’s perfectly safe.”
But Jas stopped in her tracks, her legs trembling. The last time she’d been near a Shadow trap, she’d been forced to watch people die while she stood by, helpless. And the time before that she’d had to kill the Shadow of someone she’d been close to.
Jas swallowed, fighting the urge to vomit.
“Commander,” said Trimborn, taking off his sunglasses and peering at Jas, “are you feeling all right?”
She stared at her first officer. His ebony skin was glistening with sweat in the heat. Was he really who he seemed to be? Glancing at Trimborn’s two subordinates, she began to back away. She tried to remember how far away and in which direction the shuttle stood.
Could she fight all three officers by herself? She was out of shape. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done any training.
“Commander,” Trimborn said, “I think I understand your concerns, but we’ve followed all the protocols since landing. We are not Shadows.”
Jas continued to step slowly backward out of the shade at the entrance until she was in the now-welcome, brilliant glare of the planet’s sun. “I want proof. I want to scan you.”
“But—” Trimborn protested.
“That’s an order.”
Trimborn shrugged, sighed, and turned to one of his subordinates. “Pop inside and bring out a scanner, would you?”
Jas and the remaining two officers waited in uncomfortable silence for the woman to return. Jas screwed up her eyes and hunched her shoulders in response to the pounding heat and sunlight.
Time passed, dragging its heels.
“The Shadow presence on this planet is minimal, ma’am,” Trimborn said. “It’s due to the Shadows’ method of capturing their victims, I believe. The natives only rarely go above ground, you see, so it wasn’t easy for the Shadows to entice them into their traps. And though the Shadow traps look similar to the local entrances to the underground cities, they look different enough to cause suspicion. Few victims would have entered willingly, I don’t think.”
Jas didn’t respond. She would talk to Trimborn when she knew for sure he was Trimborn.
The returning footsteps of the officer who had gone to collect a Shadow scanner broke the stillness and the tension a little. The hand held scanner she’d brought was far smaller and easier to carry than the long, heavy, tube-shaped models the Council had manufactured in the beginning of the Shadow War. The officer handed the scanner to Jas and quickly returned to the shade.
Jas examined the device, running her fingers along its seams, checking for irregularities, such as if the instrument had been forced open. There should have been no way to open the scanners once they were sealed. They were designed to self-destruct if tampered with, so the chance that the scanner had been fixed to give a false reading was remote, but it didn’t hurt to check.
“Okay, one at a time, come over here so I can scan you,” Jas said. “Trimborn, you first.”
She ran the scanner down the back of her first officer. The mythranil inside it would react if Trimborn bore traces of that mysterious dimension where the Shadows existed. The display read Clear. Jas exhaled.
“Stand behind me,” she told Trimborn. “You next.”
It took just a few minutes to establish that neither of the remaining two officers were Shadows. Jas relaxed, but the headache that she’d forgotten about returned. She handed back the scanner. “Okay, let’s go in.”
The entrance led into a tunnel not unlike the ones at the Transgalactic Council offices, except the walls were heavily decorated. The brilliant reflectiveness of the native rock, which seemed to be some kind of quart
z, had been cut into complex, sophisticated patterns. As well as being entrancing to look at, the many angled surfaces seemed to have been cut to capture every last particle of light that entered from the surface, and transmit it deep underground.
As Jas’ eyes adjusted to the gradually dimming light, she became more and more enchanted by the decoration, until she was compelled to stop and look at it more closely.
“Don’t touch it, ma’am,” Trimborn said. “It’s devilishly sharp.” He raised a hand to display thin scabs on his fingertips. “Not that the locals think so. One of them told me they like to scratch themselves against the walls. Beautiful, isn’t it, though?”
“Scratch themselves?” Jas asked. “What are they like? I was thinking they must be a sort of arthropoid species, like the Council officers.”
“Errmm...not exactly,” Trimborn replied. He shared a meaningful glance with his fellow officers. “At least, not unless they have another stage to their life cycle. But you’ll meet them in a moment, Commander. We’re nearly there.”
They continued for another few minutes, until they reached a slope in the ground that led to a hole roughly half as wide as the tunnel.
“This leads to some kind of governmental area attached to a mine,” Trimborn said. “Careful when you get to the bottom.” He sat down at the edge of the slope and pushed off. He slid down and disappeared through the hole. The other officers did the same, and Jas followed last of all.
Though she’d encountered a wide variety of aliens over her career as a security officer and then in deep space military service, she couldn’t suppress the revulsion she felt when she saw what awaited them at the bottom of the tunnel.
Chapter Seven
Jas emerged into a domed chamber. At first glance, the place seemed to be full of human-sized maggots. The sentient species of the mythrin-bearing planet were long and plump, and they seemed to be segmented, according to what was visible of their bodies. They wore patterned and plain one-piece skin-like coverings in a variety of styles and colors.
At one end of the creatures was a star-shaped opening that they flexibly moved, and surrounding the opening was a circle of black dots. The dots seemed to be eyes, because they turned toward Jas, Trimborn, and the others when they appeared. Folds of skin swept over the dots, covering and uncovering them, apparently randomly.
The creatures moved by edging forward on their lower halves, born along on waves of movement that originated at their heads and progressed down their bodies. It was this style of locomotion, plus the fat, segmented bodies, that turned Jas’ stomach. The natives’ resemblance to maggots was so strong, she found it hard to push the thought out of her mind during her entire visit.
Though she’d forgotten her weapon, Jas had, at least, remembered her comm. She switched on its translation function and fought the urge to step back as the aliens edged closer, uttering greetings and thanks for releasing them from the Shadows’ control of their planet.
Around the walls of the chamber, hammocks were slung for some reason, and they were filled with yet more of the creatures. At Jas’ and the other officers’ appearance, they had begun to wriggle out and drop to the floor with soft squelching sounds. These individuals also edged over eagerly, so closely that they were rubbing up against each other.
Trimborn introduced Jas to the creatures, then said, “Ma’am, this is Head of Nest of this nation.” He added under his breath, “The translators can’t seem to handle their names, but it doesn’t appear to matter.”
“The Unity Alliance accepts your thanks,” Jas said, “but it’s unneeded. As members of the Transgalactic Council, you are entitled to military aid in the case of invasion. We only regret that we couldn’t free your planet sooner. May I ask how the implementation of the Shadow Sweep protocols is progressing?”
“Well, well, very well,” the Head of Nest replied. “Your scanners are working very well. We’ve found many Shadows. They are very delicious. Thank you. Thank you.”
Jas’ already sensitive stomach turned over. She caught a glimpse of Trimborn’s smirk from the corner of her eye.
“You’re...welcome. I’m glad to hear that things are progressing quickly. I’m here to inform you that I must withdraw my team from your world soon. We can supply you with more scanners if you need them, but after the training period is over, you must cooperate with the other nations of your planet to detect any remaining Shadows. Are you confident that your citizens will be able to implement the protocols effectively?”
“Yes, yes. Your trainers teach very well. We understand what to do, and we will do it. Thank you. Thank you.”
Jas nodded. She would have to see Trimborn’s assessment report before taking the alien’s word for it.
“One more thing,” she went on. “The Shadow ship that we destroyed, was it from this planet?”
“Yes, yes. It was from here.”
“So it was one of your starships?”
“No, no. Not one of ours. The Shadows built it here. Imported materials. We don’t build starships from metal. We make them from...” Jas’ comm emitted a tone that meant it was unable to translate the word.
“I see,” she said. “Thank you for the information.”
She concentrated on the Head of Nest—the one non-moving alien in front of her. The creatures’ squirming around was increasing her nausea.
“Um,” she said, trying to think up a reason to cut the visit short. “I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me, but I have urgent business to take care of, so—”
“Yes, yes. You’re very busy. We understand. But we would like to show you a little of our home and what we do here, if you can spare the time. Thank you. Thank you.”
Jas hesitated. Right then, she wanted nothing more than to return to the baking overground, the shuttle, and then the Thylacine.
“I think I know what it means,” Trimborn said. “It’s very interesting, ma’am. Won’t take long, I don’t think.”
Jas studied her first officer. A trace of the man’s earlier smirk remained. Was he setting her up for something? But she was feeling too under the weather to think up a suitably polite refusal to tell the Head of Nest. Political diplomacy was just about her worst skill as a Unity commander. She swallowed.
“I would love to see more of your home,” she said to the alien.
Along with its group, the creature turned and squirmed away. Jas assumed she was supposed to follow, and set off after them, checking that Trimborn and the others were coming along too.
“What’s this about?” she asked Trimborn quietly as he drew level with her.
“If it’s the same thing they showed us before,” he replied, “they’re taking us to see their mythrin mine. I thought it was fascinating. Well worth an hour or so, if you can spare it, ma’am.”
Jas took a deep breath and exhaled, which made her feel a little better. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
The Head of Nest had brought them to a door that was a spiral, like an old-style camera lens. It opened automatically as they neared it, and the eyes of the aliens glowed to light up the dark tunnel beyond. This tunnel was smooth white rock, lacking the decoration of the entrance tunnel. The surface lightly reflected the beams from the creatures’ eyes, creating a shimmering effect.
In other circumstances, Jas thought to herself, she would have enjoyed exploring this planet—its unsightly sentient species aside.
She and her officers followed the undulating Head of Nest as the tunnel sloped sharply down, until Jas was leaning backward in an effort not to slip. The creatures didn’t seem to have a problem with the angle. In fact, some of them began wriggling along the walls in defiance of gravity.
When the floor finally evened out, they stopped. They’d arrived at the end of the tunnel, though in the walls opposite each other were two smaller holes, linked by a strip of highly polished, flat ground.
The Head of Nest said, “Waiting, waiting. Thank you. Thank you.”
A sound of rushing wind was coming fr
om one of the holes in the wall, and within a few moments the source of the sound appeared. It was a torpedo-shaped cart made of a hard, stony material, and it hovered a centimeter or two above the ground.
Following the Head of Nest’s lead, Jas got in the cart along with her officers. The seating was made to fit the locals’ body shape, so they had to recline on it rather than sit. As soon as everyone was in, the cart whooshed off.
Jas looked around, trying to understand how the vehicle was moving.
“I couldn’t figure it out either, ma’am,” Trimborn said.
They were borne along at an increasingly fast speed until the ceiling and sides of the tunnel whizzed past them. Jas was careful to keep her head well down and her arms and legs tucked in. The long, low body shape of the natives made their danger of being hurt much lower. Whenever the vehicle tilted upward or downward at a sharp angle, the creatures’ bodies or clothing also prevented them from slipping out, while Jas had to grip on to the edge of her seat. She was reminded of rare visits to amusement parks when she was in the institute for cared-for children on Earth. The experience did, at least, take her mind off her nausea.
The ride slowed as quickly as it had begun when they arrived at a landing place. Jas climbed out of the cart, her legs wobbly. They were in a similar place to the one they’d just left, but the rock surface was more roughly hewn.
“This is one of our oldest seams,” the Head of Nest told her, “yet it remains productive. Yes. Yes.”
The creature led them down yet another tunnel. This one bore markings along the ceiling, which seemed to be notices or signs. Jas wondered how much farther they had to go. Her neck ached from stooping in the low tunnel. Trimborn had said the trip would take an hour or so, and they’d already been traveling for around twenty-five minutes.
As she was about to ask if their destination was much farther, the Head of Nest stopped.
“Here it is. Here it is,” the alien announced.
Jas and her officers were at the back of the group. She looked around, wondering what she was supposed to be seeing. Trimborn nudged her. The aliens in front of them were shuffling sideways, creating a gap for them to pass through. Jas went forward.
