Chroniech!

by Doug Farren

  * * * * *

  It took the Komodo Dragon twelve days to make the trip from their first stop to the next target system. Norgoola was on the bridge as they made their approach. "In my time," he explained to the assembled team, "the planetoid orbited at a distance of roughly 330 million kilometers and had an orbit that was tilted about seventy degrees off the planetary plane. Your computer has the exact dimensions and characteristics of the planetoid so you should be able to locate it."

  "You heard him," Scarboro said. "I want all detectors scanning the most probable area of space for a planetoid matching the pattern of our target. Because we are talking about such a large volume of space, this could take several days."

  Stricklen turned to the helm and said, "Put the ship into an orbit which will allow us to scan the entire probable target area as quickly as possible. You have permission to alter course to the target as soon as it is located."

  Stricklen watched the progress of the scanning for a moment and then walked over to Norgoola. "It's been a long time since you've seen this sun," he remarked.

  "Actually no," Norgoola replied without turning from the viewport. "Subjectively, I was in this system only a few months ago, but that is only because I have been in stasis. It is different this time, because we do not know where the planetoid is located. When I was piloting the transfer ship, the exact location of the planetoid was known at all times and I would simply set the autonavigator to take me there."

  "Do you think we will find any clues as to where your people are?"

  Norgoola lowered his gaze from the stars briefly. Lifting his head back up and once again looking back out into space he said, "I can only hope. There is always the possibility that something may have been left behind.”

  "My people are the only ones to know of the existence of this planetoid. It is conceivable that a message or a clue may have been purposefully left behind so that any Kyrra who did not go with the main group could find their way to wherever my people have gone. There is also the possibility that some information may be retrieved from the planetoid's monitoring system."

  "If it is still operational," Ken added not wanting Norgoola to get his hopes set too high. "That reminds me," he continued. "The stasis chamber where we found you had been operating for over forty thousand years. I find it difficult to believe that anyone could build a device to run without maintenance for such a long time. How did you do it?"

  "The stasis chamber itself was designed with many redundant components. Your scans did not pick them up but embedded within the outer shell of the chamber are millions of nanobot repair units. They are under the control of the monitor computer which in turn also has such an automatic repair mechanism."

  Scarboro had been listening in. "Nanites! We've been trying to build such devices for decades. We've had partial success but nothing on the scale you just mentioned."

  "Such devices are exceedingly difficult to build requiring an infrastructure that took us many many years to develop," Norgoola replied.

  "I wonder why Falnath didn't detect them?" Stricklen wondered out loud.

  "Most likely because they would appear to be part of the circuitry of the stasis generator when inactive," Norgoola replied.

  "Your people continue to amaze me," Doug said shaking his head. He then wandered off to see how the search was progressing.

  Norgoola looked at Doug's receding back then dropped his head. In a low voice he said, "My people… where are they?"

  Stricklen then did something he had not done in the many weeks of being in close proximity to the Kyrra. He reached out and placed a reassuring hand on Norgoola's shoulder. The alien's fur felt soft and very fine under his touch. At first Ken feared he may have broken a racial taboo but Norgoola slowly turned around and returned the gesture. It was much harder for him, since he was considerably shorter than the captain.

  "Thank you Ken. My people and I cannot thank you enough for what you are doing for us."

  Stricklen thought he saw tears in the alien's eyes as Norgoola turned and walked away. Ken looked out at the vastness of space and discovered that he did not even know if the Kyrra could cry. "How little we know of them," he muttered under his breath.

  Stricklen turned and headed back to the command chair. On the way he though, "We have lived and worked with them for several months and we still know next to nothing about them. Will we understand their people when and if we finally meet?"

  It took two days to locate the planetoid. After a couple hours of maneuvering, the Komodo Dragon was alongside it. "It's an exact match with the one in the computer," Scarboro said. "But our readings indicate that it is nothing more than an ordinary chunk of rock. I can't detect any kind of an opening nor any tunnels; in fact — I can't find anything out of the ordinary at all about it. Are you sure it's the right one?"

  "Norgoola has looked at the topological scans and assures me that this is the storage planetoid," Stricklen answered.

  One of the Dragon's three shuttlecraft was prepared while a crew was assigned. In addition to the five Kyrra, the captain had chosen himself, the chief engineer, six marines, and (of course) Falnath (who had remained holed up in her quarters for most of the trip) to lead the initial exploration team. When he stepped into the shuttle, Stricklen was surprised to see Norgoola at the controls.

  "He was there when I arrived," the chief engineer, whom Stricklen had assumed would pilot the craft, explained as soon as he saw the captain. "He claims he can pilot the shuttle and won't budge from the controls."

  Norgoola cocked his head to one side and, while still running through the initial instrument setup, said, "I have read all of your piloting manuals and operation guides for this ship. I have also practiced with the ship in simulation mode. I was the pilot of the slaver ship in which you discovered us and I know the exact location of the entrance to the tunnel system, therefore, I should pilot the shuttle."

  Taking a seat next to one of the other Kyrra Stricklen said, "I can't argue with that — proceed with departure."

  Skip Bucannon looked as if he was about to say something but thought better of it. Instead he sat down heavily in the copilot's chair, crossed his arms on his chest, and closely watched every move which Norgoola made. After making several more adjustments Norgoola announced in a quiet voice, "Beginning departure."

  The shuttle gracefully lifted off the hanger-bay floor and slowly left the protection of the Komodo Dragon. Five minutes of flight brought them to within a few hundred meters of the planetoid's surface.

  Norgoola circled the 355 kilometer diameter bulk of the miniature planet until he spotted a landmark he had been searching for. Because the planetoid was so far out in deep space there was not enough light to illuminate the surface. Norgoola was relying on a computer enhanced topological surface scan which was displayed on his console's center screen.

  Bringing the shuttle to a halt Norgoola said, "The double impact crater below us is a landmark indicating the location of the tunnel entrance. The entrance is located in the exact center of the inner crater."

  As had been previously agreed, an open communications link had been established between the shuttle and the Dragon. Scarboro, who had heard Norgoola's comment, said, "We're still unable to detect any sort of entrance. Sensors show only undisturbed rock to a depth of 12 meters."

  "As it was intended to," Norgoola explained as he manipulated the shuttle's controls. Several powerful lights burst into action illuminating the bleak landscape below. Two impact craters, one inside the other, were now visible. The surface of the planetoid was very rough and jagged.

  "The doorway was created by removing a large piece of the surface with a force field. This separated the rock at the molecular level. Observe."

  A repulsor beam was activated and directed at the center of the inner crater. Nothing happened until Norgoola pulsed the beam sending a slight shudder throughout the shuttle. As they watched an enormous circle formed in the crater's smooth bottom. A slug of rock almost 20 meters in diamet
er slowly sank into the interior of the planetoid.

  "Oh my God!" the chief engineer explained. "Just how thick is that door?"

  "It is just over thirty meters thick which is sufficient to block any scans of the interior. It rides on a series of glide rails attached to the walls. The entrance was sized to allow one of our ships to enter," Norgoola explained keeping his eye on the repulsor's instrumentation.

  "Our scans should have picked up the glide rails," Skip questioned.

  Without taking his eyes off the controls Norgoola replied, "The components of the glide rail are made of a material that very closely resembles that of the surrounding rock when scanned. Every conceivable precaution to prevent detection has been taken."

  One of the indicators started to climb. Shutting off the beam Norgoola announced, "The entryway is clear. I'm starting into the planetoid."

  Slowly, the shuttle moved inside the enormous tunnel entrance. All available external lights had been switched on. The tunnel walls were as smooth as glass except for where the doorway's glide rails had been installed. The enormous plug of solid rock they had just pushed out of the way had settled into a space in the opposite wall.

  Inside, a large tunnel led off to the left. As Norgoola guided the shuttle into it he commented, "Normally, the door would be pushed back into position by a repulsor beam after a ship has passed through but I am detecting no power sources. It appears as if the repository has been abandoned."

  The tunnel opened into a gigantic cavern. There was a large landing area on the floor with numerous smaller tunnels leading into the interior. With barely a jar, Norgoola set the shuttle down on the smooth landing area. He then reached out and activated the tractor beam at a low power to hold the shuttle in place.

  The exploration party sealed their suits and exited the shuttle. Stricklen was overwhelmed at the enormity of the cavern. It seemed to extend forever. Norgoola took the lead and led the group toward one of the tunnels. Because the planetoid had almost no gravity they used the thrusters on their spacesuits to fly through the ancient tunnel.

  "These tunnels extend into the interior of the planetoid," Norgoola began a running commentary. "Side tunnels branch off from these main tunnels at regular intervals. The chambers which house the stasis machines are located off these side tunnels. Each chamber holds about twenty stasis machines."

  Just before they entered the first of the tunnels Norgoola turned into a small alcove. The group stared at the featureless walls for a moment. "This was where the monitoring system was housed," he said. "It appears as if none of the equipment has been left behind. We will have to search the storage chambers."

  During the next hour the group visited a dozen of the holding chambers. All they found was rock. Not one piece of physical evidence other than the tunnels themselves existed to show who had constructed the labyrinth. The Kyrra were silent as they made their way back to the shuttle.

  While they prepped the shuttle for departure, Stricklen told Scarboro to make up several crew assignments so round-the-clock surveys could be performed. He wanted the entire tunnel system scanned and examined for anything useful.

  It took them six days to survey the entire vast network of tunnels. The result of their intense labors was a detailed map of the planetoid's tunnel system but not a shred of anything belonging to the Kyrra. Not even a tiny piece of forgotten garbage had been found. The entire planetoid had been swept clean of all evidence.

  Reluctantly, the last shuttle closed the massive door and returned to the Komodo Dragon. As soon as the shuttle had been secured, Stricklen gave the order for them to proceed on to their next destination — the last known location of the Kyrra space habitats.

  According to the Hess, the Kyrra's last known location was in the star system which they had used to obtain all the raw material for the construction of their space habitats. This system would be very difficult to find since it did not have a normal star as its central sun. The system's star had never quite become large enough to sustain a constant fusion reaction. It was a brown dwarf but of such a small size that it could barely be classified as a star. It did not shine and thus would be very difficult to locate.

  Using the Hess star-charts, the Komodo Dragon traveled to the approximate location of this dark system. After eighteen hours of flight, the heavy-cruiser was once again drifting free in space with all sensors wide open. The ship's astrogator was hoping they were now close enough to pick up the invisible star's x-ray radiation or even its infrared signature. Even though the Hess knew where the star system was once located, forty thousand years of stellar drift had caused its position to shift.

  The star was eventually located via its radio emissions. Its location was fixed and the Dragon made a short three hour trip to get there. Stricklen ordered a detailed scan of the entire system and went to his stateroom.

  He barely heard the door close behind him as he stood in the middle of his small stateroom his hands jammed deep in his pockets. He stood almost perfectly still staring at a spot about eight centimeters in front of his shoes deep in thought.

  Ken finally heard the door chime as it rang for the third time. "Enter," he reluctantly said. As the door slid open his attitude changed. Ken recognized the Kyrra who stood at the doorway as Trel'mara. "May I enter?" he asked.

  Indicating a seat Ken said, "Certainly, what can I do for you?"

  "I do not believe that we will find any evidence of my people in this system," Trel'mara said without preamble. "I have come to the conclusion that my people do not wish to be found and therefore we will not find them."

  Ken had been thinking along those same lines himself and he said so. "What has led you to this conclusion?" he asked.

  "From the condition of the stasis repository planetoid," Trel'mara replied as he carefully sat down. "My people went to a great deal of trouble to remove all indications of their existence. Even the internal lighting systems and other expendable equipment had been removed.”

  "Since the location of the planetoid was a secret and the main entrance was undisturbed I can find no reason for their doing this other than the desire to eliminate any possible chance of their existence being discovered. I have been monitoring the progress of the current search. We should have found evidence of massive mining operations by now, yet, no evidence of any activities in this system have been detected. It seems as if all traces of our existence have been erased."

  "If you're asking me to abandon the search, my answer is no."

  "That is not why I have come here. I wish to discuss our future in your society. We have avoided this issue because we have always felt that my people would be found. Now, because of what we have seen so far, we believe our quest will fail and we will be forced to return to the Alliance with you. Have you given any consideration to this alternative?"

  Stricklen looked at the alien with a sense of deep respect. Here was an individual who had suddenly found himself among primitives. While the possibility of returning to his own people had existed he had a future to look forward to. Now that future had been drastically altered and he was looking at the possibility of spending the rest of his long life among a far less advanced, aggressively inclined species.

  "I can't say I've thought much about it," he answered as truthfully as he could. "No matter where you go you will not find complete peace."

  "We would like you to give this matter some consideration. We ourselves have begun looking at possibilities. There is one more request which we would like to make at this time."

  "And that is?"

  "If our search here proves fruitless, we would like to visit our home system. We realize that this was not part of the original plan but if we are going to spend the rest of our lives among a people other than our own we would like to look upon our home sun one last time."

  Stricklen stood up, walked over to where Trel'mara was sitting, and sat down on the couch across from him. "When I was seventeen years old, my parents allowed me to go on a field trip with some family friends �
�� Paula and her husband Steve. They were a couple that lived in town and were members of a geological survey team that explored newly discovered worlds.”

  "Every time I heard that they had returned from a trip I went into town and listened to their stories. For years I bothered my parents about being allowed to go with them. They finally relented.”

  "They took me to a discovered world named Valknor. The highest intelligent life on the planet was a species of social creatures that lived in very crude shelters. They were friendly, but the Alliance has strict rules against disturbing the indigenous life and we therefore avoided them when possible.”

  "We had just boarded the flitter after spending several hours taking survey data and were stowing the gear when a magnificent animal appeared at the edge of the woods. I grabbed my video recorder and told Steve that I would be right back. As I stepped out of the flitter, the animal moved behind a hill and I went after it, determined to capture it on video.”

  "I was following a shallow dip between two hills in order to get to the clearing I knew existed in the distance and where I felt the animal had gone to graze. I did not see what happened but I heard the flitter make a strange noise and then a few seconds later it exploded as it impacted the ground. Both Steve and Paula were killed instantly.”

  "After two days had gone by I began to think I would have to spend the rest of my life with the primitive Valknorians. I knew they would except me, but I also knew they would not treat me as one of their own. I was rescued four days later.”

  "I remember, very vividly, thinking to myself that I would never again feel the light of my home star upon my skin. To this day, the sight of my own star shining in space brings back the memories of that lonely, helpless feeling I had when I thought I would be trapped on an alien world. Your request is not unusual and, although it will take us out of our way, it will be granted."

  Trel'mara stood up and placed one of his hands on Ken's shoulder. "I understand," he said. "And now I know that you understand what we are feeling. Thank you Ken Stricklen for telling me your story. We shall talk later." Ken was still crouching down as the door slid shut behind the Kyrra.