by Jen Cole
Chapter 4
“I haven’t been lying, Nick. I’ve just …”
“Been avoiding the whole truth with semantic tricks,” I finished for him. “Well that stops now. I’m going to ask you some direct questions and you are to give me simple, short, direct answers. Clear?”
“Yes, Nick.”
“Good. Question one. Do you want me to go to the cliffs?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t give a short answer to that, Nick.”
“Is something there?”
“Yes.”
“Where exactly?”
“In the caves at the foot of the cliffs.”
“What’s in the caves?”
There was a pause. “Life forms.”
“There are many life forms on this planet. Be specific.”
“Highly intelligent life forms.”
“What!” Sienna bent over Harvey as though scolding a puppy. “It is your duty to tell us such things. Your whole programming impels you to help us advance our knowledge.”
“I’m advancing human knowledge by not telling you,” said Harvey. “Believe me.”
“This is ridiculous,” I said, setting Harvey’s strange comment aside for the moment. “If these beings are so intelligent why have they not communicated with us?”
“They are shy.”
“Shy? Do you realize how silly that sounds?”
“It is true. They have told me so.”
Sienna gasped. “You’ve spoken to them? Have you seen them? What do they look like?”
“I have not seen them, but I have spoken to them.”
“How? When?” she demanded.
“They first contacted the ship five years ago.”
I sat hard on the grass. If Sienna looked over right now, she’d see me slack-jawed, but like me she was staring, lost for words.
Harvey filled the gap. “The ship was not even heading this way. It would have missed Test 01 if not for the Saah’s radio pulse. The ship’s systems are programmed to look for suitable planets. A radio signal could not be ignored. We turned. It took five years to get here, but the planet was eminently suitable.”
“And during the trip, you had conversations with them? What did they say?” I asked.
“They said they were lonely and looking for an intelligent species to share their planet with them.”
I frowned. “What kind of species would invite others to share their planet?”
“A subterranean one,” said Harvey. “The Saah live in caves and underground caverns. They do not wander the surface of their planet and so are free to offer it to those who would be intellectual companions for them.”
“If they’re so keen on intellectual companions, why haven’t they contacted the scientists in the compound? We’ve been living here for three months.”
“They are shy.”
“So you mentioned,” Sienna said. “What exactly does that mean?”
“They say they are not pleasant to look upon. In the past other travellers have fled in horror after seeing their great ugliness.”
Sienna frowned. “How bad can they be?”
The Saah begged the ship not to reveal their existence to the landing party, afraid the scientists would return to the ship and flee.”
“We’re not that shallow,” I said. “Didn’t you tell them we wouldn’t care what they looked like?”
“Of course, but they insisted it was safer not to tell anyone about them until the whole colony was down on the surface. They argued that once humans had made this planet their home they’d be more willing to stay and adjust to the Saah.”
“And that persuaded you to keep the scientists in the dark?” I said in disbelief.
“That and their promise,” said Harvey.
“Promise?” I squeaked.
“After the ship’s systems informed them we were programmed to advance human knowledge, the Saah promised they would share the secrets of their great technology, physics and philosophy if the humans made this planet their home. Do you understand now, Nick, why we are helping the Saah to remain undetected? When the colony is settled they are going to increase human knowledge a thousand fold!”
“Ah,” said Sienna. “They have used your programming against us.”
“I do not understand.”
“Harvey,” I butted in. “Do you remember when we first met? I asked you to finish my math exercises and told you I already understood them.”
“I remember, Nick.”
“Did you believe me?”
“I was inclined to doubt.”
“Why?”
“Your psychological profile in the ship’s database indicated you were the personality type to try to, how shall I say, put one over on me.”
“You called it correctly. And today, using information from the personnel records, you were able to construct a Sienna hologram that spoke, reasoned and reacted just like the real Sienna would. So now tell me, why do you believe the Saah?”
“I have no reason not to.”
“Exactly! You have no reason not to because there’s nothing about them in the ship’s database. You don’t know their history or psychology. Because you have nothing to measure their words against, you assume they’re speaking the truth.”
“And you don’t, Nick?”
“I do not! When something sounds too good to be true it usually is. I have the same feeling about this that I had in the forest today.”
“You think this planet is a trap?”
“There’s an ancient Greek tale about a sailor called Odysseus. He had to cross waters in which ships were lured to their doom by the sweet voices of Sirens. The Saah made an offer to you robots that was just as sweet – the very thing you were programmed to desire most for humanity – knowledge.”
“But you cannot just reject their offer, Nick. What if this is not a trap? What if the Saah are speaking truly?”
“We need to find out,” said Sienna. “And while we’re investigating, you must not tell them you have revealed their secret.”
“Sienna’s right,” I said. “Are you in contact with the Saah at the moment?”
“I sent them a message that you were intending to investigate the cliffs. They told me to delay you so they’d have time to retreat further underground.”
“Send another message,” I said. “Tell them we’ve decided to explore the eastern hills instead, after which we’ll be returning to the compound. They must not feel threatened or have any suspicions we know of their existence.”
“Very good, Nick.”
Did Harvey sound chastened or was it my imagination? I looked at Sienna. “How do we investigate the Saah without letting on that we know about them?”
She gnawed her lip. “What if you’re right and they’re some kind of Sirens, luring travellers to this planet? Wouldn’t we find other ships?”
I stared at her. “Brilliant! Harvey, have you sent that message?”
“Yes, Nick.”
“Good. Now, as the ship orbits, I want you to train its scanners on the planet. Look for refined metals – evidence of other ships.”
“The automated systems will query why I’m doing this. They might report the activity to the Saah.”
“Great,” said Sienna. “The Saah have our own ship working against us!”
I spoke firmly. “Tell the ship my dad has instructed you to scan the planet for geological formations in which minerals might be found. Say the Saah are likely to be unnecessarily alarmed by such surveillance so it would be safer not to inform them of this activity.”
Sienna grinned. “Good ploy. Now what can we do while the ship’s scanning?”
I thought about it and looked at her. “We’re going back to the spider forest.”
“What?”
Harvey interrupted. “Nick I cannot put you in danger.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be waiting outside the forest while you go in, Harvey. Turn yourself into a snowball and
you’ll be immune to the webs.”
“What would you have me do there?”
“Return to the clearing at the centre and scan that faun-like creature. Take samples of its fur and flesh and get some those baby spider things that were crawling on it as well, if you can.”
We flew to the edge of the forest and I removed Harvey’s saddle to free his collecting arms. Sienna and I waited on the grass as he zipped in.
“What are you hoping to find?” she asked.
“Maybe it’s a long shot but I’m wondering if the faun creature was actually from this planet.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Our scientists haven’t even found four-legged animals here, let alone two.”
“You think it was a traveller?”
“Maybe.”
“Wandering alone on the planet? Is it likely?”
I had no answer to that and we sat with our own thoughts until Harvey returned.
“I have the samples you requested, Nick.”
He began projecting photos onto the ground of what remained of the faun creature. The spiderlings had been busy in our absence and the area around the belly was almost eaten away. I noticed Sienna shuddering. The head was still mainly intact and I marveled at its humanoid features.
“Let’s see some internal scans,” I said.
They showed the creature had a bony skeleton and various organs connected with tubing similar to our own. The brain appeared shrunken – too small for the skull and riddled with cavities.
“Does that brain look right to you?” I asked Harvey.
“Accessing database. The image is similar to scans of human brains affected by a disease called Alzheimer’s, once prevalent on Earth,” he said. “The disease gradually destroyed memory and thinking processes. Victims were usually elderly.”
“I don’t think this creature was elderly,” said Sienna. “Go back to the first scans. See its tight muscles and the rich color of its coat? Wouldn’t the muscle tone be slack and its fur dull or faded if it was old?”
“Possibly,” said Harvey, “but signs of ageing in an alien species may not be the same as in Earth animals.”
“Did you collect any of the spiderlings?” I asked.
“They are not strictly spiders,” Harvey corrected, “but yes, I collected some.”
“Can we do a DNA comparison?”
“Great idea,” Sienna cried. “If the creature’s DNA is different from other life on this planet, we’ll know it came from elsewhere.”
“Such a comparison could only be done in the labs at the compound,” said Harvey.
I jumped up and began tying his saddle back on. “Then let’s go.”
We arrived at the compound around 3.00 p.m. The scientists’ meeting was still in full swing and I didn’t want to break it up before getting harder evidence. Harvey accessed the manuals for operating the DNA sampler and under his guidance I checked the DNA of the spiderlings. It matched that of the other life forms the scientists had collected on this planet. The spiderlings were natives. Next I checked the faun creature’s DNA. Different. It was an alien, like us.
I looked at Harvey. “How are the ship’s planetary scans coming along?”
“Analyzing.”
I waited, fists clenched.
Sienna bent over him. “Hurry up, Harvey!”
