Starfire

by B. V. Larson

  More lovely than all of this was Jupiter itself. The massive planet was a brilliant disk composed of brown and white swirls and streaks. It reminded Yuki of hot chocolate streaked with cream. Patches of dirty red could be seen here and there, making think of an old barn with peeling paint. The largest of these, she knew, was the centuries-old storm known as the Red Spot.

  “Look,” she said to the rest suddenly, pointing aloft. “Jupiter is rising, and she’s more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen.”

  A few of the others looked, and they stood transfixed. Even the Russian seemed moved when he bothered to see what the fuss was about.

  “That’s unbelievable,” Edwin said, coming to stand next to Yuki. “It’s going to fill a quarter of the sky when it’s fully above the horizon.”

  “Jupiter really is a like a sun,” Dr. Linscott said.

  “At least it will be easier to spot the enemy,” Lieutenant Burkov added, turning back to the march.

  He led them around the ship, giving it a wide berth. When they got to the far side, he halted.

  Yuki had been talking to Edwin. She was excited about her drone and the prospects of sending it down a shaft into the planet’s interior. If it could actually breach the ice so easily, she’d be overjoyed. It would be the culmination of her life’s work, and she hungered for the knowledge she’d gain through this unique exploration.

  Lev approached her. Everyone else tensed, ready to attack him if he tried anything.

  “Dr. Tanaka? Is that your name?”

  “Yes. I’m the drone-specialist on the team.”

  “So I gathered. What do you intend to do with that worm-like metal thing you’re dragging behind you?”

  “The B-7? I’m going to deploy it. I’m going to send it right down the shaft you described and find out what’s down there.”

  “Doctor,” Lev said, “you’ve studied this world. What would you estimate the thickness of this ice sheet to be?”

  “No more than a mile,” she said. “Probably less here in this crater.”

  “A mile? That’s far more than a kilometer,” he said thoughtfully. “I’ve never seen ice so thick.”

  “Lieutenant,” Sandeep said gently. “We’re all consuming our oxygen at a prodigious rate. If you would be so kind—”

  Lev’s hand came up to silence Sandeep. “Indulge me, shipless captain.” He turned back to Yuki and frowned at her. “It can’t be so thick. We can see a shadow through the ice. And besides, I don’t see how their tunnel isn’t freezing closed if it leads so far down to water. It should be blocked.”

  “You’re right,” Yuki said warily. She was unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. “What you’re describing are the very mysteries I want—”

  Lev turned away dismissively. “This isn’t going to work,” he said. “I’m not leading you any further. Find the tunnel by yourselves.”

  Brandt reached for him as he turned to walk away, but Sandeep slapped Brandt’s gloved hands down and hurried after Lev.

  “Lieutenant? Sir? Please explain your change of heart to us. Perhaps we can come to an accommodation.”

  “We’re wasting time,” Brandt called after Sandeep. “Let him go freeze to death somewhere on the surface.”

  “Give me my knife, and you can go,” Lev told Sandeep. “You can take my ship if you like. I don’t care. I don’t intend to leave.”

  This statement caused a stir. “Why do you want a knife?” Sandeep asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Lev asked. “I intend to find more of these aliens and make them pay for their crimes. They manipulate you with hope of escape—but not me. I have accepted my fate, and I only want to eradicate as many of them as possible until I can no longer draw breath.”

  The group shuffled uncertainly. Yuki stepped forward. She didn’t quite understand this half-crazy Russian, but she did know he’d suffered a great loss and was only interested in revenge.

  “Lieutenant,” she said, “my drone can kill aliens if it finds them.”

  He looked at her suspiciously.

  “Let me show you,” she said. She led him to crouch by the B-7 and explained its armament, both defensive and offensive.

  “You brought a war machine all this way? Why?”

  “I lost my last drone—the B-6—and so I modified this one. It can defend itself. You wanted to go down that tunnel and fight these creatures, didn’t you? Face to face?”

  “That’s what I envisioned.”

  “Let me help you then. Let me send in my baby.”

  She patted the segmented back of the thing, and Lev smiled at her.

  “All right. You have the eyes of a killer. Let’s go.”

  “We’re low on time,” Sandeep said. “I insist that you tell us the codes to enter Troika.”

  Lev laughed. “I lied. There are no codes, fools. Spin the wheel and enter. If you’re lucky, there will be more live aliens to greet you there by now.”

  Sandeep sighed. “All right. Edwin, you and Yuki go with him and try the drone.”

  “We should just abandon that whole part of the project and focus on our survival,” Edwin said, frowning. “What’s the point now if we're all gonna die anyway?”

  “Intel on this enemy,” Sandeep said. “We took all this trouble to come out here, but I would say that they’ve learned more about us than we have about them. We can still help our nation and our planet by transmitting back whatever we can.”

  “We have a dead alien. We can learn a lot from that.”

  “Yes, well, get me some readings on their base. Learn more about that tunnel and where they are and how they live.”

  Yuki was excited but worried at the same time. She was worried about Lev, but she was almost as worried that she wasn’t going to get to deploy her baby under the ice if they kept arguing about it.

  “Edwin, I need you,” she said. Then she turned toward Brandt and Perez. “Could one of you two come along too?”

  They both volunteered, and everyone there knew they were offering to help keep a leash on Lev. But Sandeep overruled them.

  “There may be, ah, surprises on the ship. Brandt, could you accompany my team?”

  “Yes. Good idea.”

  The two groups separated. Perez, Edwin, Yuki and Lieutenant Burkov went to find the tunnel while the rest trudged toward the ship.

  “This is it,” Lev said a few minutes later. He pointed to a dark circular hole in the side of a pressure ridge that resembled a cave mouth.

  “We were only a hundred yards away when you stopped us!” Edwin complained.

  Lev shrugged. “Do you want to send that mechanical beast down there or not?”

  “Help me, Edwin,” Yuki called.

  They knelt in the snow, attaching the guide cable and activating the unit. The drone stiffened and reared up. Yuki enjoyed the reaction of the Russian, who took a step back. Perez was cool as always and just stood still.

  She opened the control box and synched up. This process took a while, and the others complained and looked around warily in the meantime.

  The tunnel mouth was like a blue-black pit. The entire area seemed dangerous to her. One slip near the entrance…who knew how far she would tumble before she could get a grip on those slick walls?

  She activated the drone and it snaked forward. The men around the tunnel mouth skipped back. Like a fifteen-foot long eel, it wriggled into the hole and vanished quickly.

  Cable reeled out at an alarming rate.

  “One hundred meters down already,” she said. “I’ve got video.”

  Edwin came to look at her screen, but the other two men watched the tunnel mouth and the surrounding ridges of ice. Infrared cameras on the drone transmitted what the B-7 saw up the wire. They provided a flickering, green-black image as the drone descended.

  “The walls of the tunnel are too even to be natural,” Edwin said.

  “Agreed,” Yuki said. She was brimming with excitement. “See this ribbing? That’s white-hot on the infrared.
They must be warming artificial rings in the ice somehow. Two hundred meters—hold on, we’ve hit water.”

  “I told you it wasn’t a mile deep,” Lev said.

  Yuki ignored him. Her drone splashed into a sea that was barely warm enough not to freeze. “We’ve got confirmation. This is liquid water—and I think it’s natural. Europa could very well support life.”

  Lieutenant Burkov laughed. “I could have told you that!”

  Yuki glanced at him, frowning. “I mean naturally evolved life. These aliens—I doubt they’re from here originally.”

  “Really?” Lev asked. “Then where do they come from?”

  “Some other star system. We don’t know.”

  “Have you found one down there yet? I want to see your robot kill it.”

  Lev moved to loom behind Yuki, which made her nervous.

  “Not yet,” she said. “I’m sending the drone deeper. There’s a metallic contact. Something big is down there. I’m recording everything for later analysis.”

  “You turned on active sensors?” Edwin asked.

  She looked at him. “We haven’t got much time. I can’t just nose around under the ice for hours. This is it, Edwin, my one and only shot.”

  “You’re the drone pilot,” he said, shrugging.

  “You’re pinging down there?” Lev asked. “You must want to see blood as much as I do.”

  Thirty seconds passed during which little happened—then her screen suddenly went blank.

  “What—?” Edwin demanded.

  “The cable,” Yuki said. “It must have snapped.”

  “Or it was cut,” Lev added.

  They all looked toward the tunnel mouth. Yuki had never liked the look of it, but she found herself fearing it for the very first time. Something must have cut the cable, the Russian was right. The drone hadn’t crossed any metal surfaces that could have abraded the cable on the way down. More upsetting was the lack of any warning from her systems. Something had snapped the cable very quickly—perhaps even deliberately.

  “What will your drone do now?” Lev asked. “Assuming it hasn’t been swallowed.”

  “It’s programmed to return to us,” she said.

  “What do you suggest we do in the meantime?”

  She shrugged. “Wait. It will be back in ten minutes, hopefully.”

  Lev looked at Perez. “Give me back my knife.”

  Perez eyed him. “You’re a security risk.”

  “Only to aliens.”

  Perez hesitated, then produced a bright length of steel. He flicked it, and it landed point-first between the Russian’s boots. When the man stooped to grasp it, Perez produced his own knife and held it low and ready.

  Yuki didn’t ask why the men were arming themselves. They all knew why.

  The four of them watched the tunnel mouth fixedly.

  Chapter 64

  Europa Ice Cap

  Starlight

  The winch slowly reeled in the broken cable. The process took a long time. Yuki suddenly wanted to be far away from this spot.

  “Maybe we should head for the ship,” she said, looking at the three grim-faced men.

  “You’re probably right,” Edwin said.

  “You cowards can go,” Lev said. “I will make my stand here.”

  The others shifted uncomfortably.

  “I admire your courage,” Perez said. “I’ll stay too. Edwin, I suggest you take Dr. Tanaka back to safety.”

  “Thanks guys,” Edwin said, putting a hand on Yuki’s elbow to help her to her feet.

  She shook his hand off and began gathering up her control box. She packed equipment on the sled. “I can at least get this intel back to Earth. Who knows what they’ll be able to glean from the data?”

  Edwin helped her, and she sensed an urgency in his movements that matched her own. Just when they’d managed to secure the B-7’s control box on the sled and took their first steps toward the ship—the tunnel mouth belched.

  Steam roiled up out of it, quickly dissipating into an icy fog. Their faceplates were obscured with frost.

  They backed away, rubbing rapidly at their helmets with their gauntlets to clear them.

  “Let’s go, Yuki!” Edwin said, half-dragging her over the snow.

  She tripped but held onto the tether of her sled. Edwin dragged her and the sled, his boots breaking through the crusty snow with every step. Even with the low gravity, he was pulling a lot of mass along behind him.

  She got to her feet and turned back. The other two men had arranged themselves on either side of the tunnel mouth. Could this really be happening? Was a living thing about to emerge from that hole like a lion charging out of its den? She hadn’t seen the original alien before it was dead. She wanted to see one of them now, despite the thrilling sense of danger in her chest.

  When the first one appeared, she gasped in fear. The creature wasn’t pleasant to behold in any way. It was terrifying.

  In the broad light of Jupiter’s disk overhead, it didn’t resemble an ape or a starfish—not in her eyes. It was something else. Something bizarre and unnatural.

  There were limbs, six of them. Every limb terminated in a small claw. To Yuki, it looked like a spreading fan of furry cat tails, each with a clacking pincer at the end of it.

  What shocked her most was the way the thing moved. It had intellect—anyone could see that. It had something in its claws, too. A thread of silver light with a frayed end.

  The guide-wire. That had to be it. The thing had cut the cable and followed it to the surface, searching for whomever had dared send the drone down into its private retreat.

  Perez and the Russian Lieutenant fell on the creature from either side. She could hear their accelerated breath and their straining over the radio chat-channel.

  Snapping claws reached for their air hoses—the alien had learned of human weakness. But both men were too well-trained in combat, too fast. They slashed away the limbs that tried to asphyxiate them and then moved on to the grim work of butchering the creature. They stabbed it a dozen times each before it relaxed and deflated at their feet like a punctured balloon.

  “That was very satisfying,” Lieutenant Burkov said.

  “Look out,” Perez yelled. “They aren’t done!”

  Another puff of steam came out of the tunnel mouth and froze into crystals as before. The men cleared their faceplates and readied themselves.

  Yuki noticed that Edwin was no longer dragging her. She looked at him askance.

  “It’s too far,” he said. “It’s too late. I have to help contain the creatures here. If these things win, they’ll run us down on the ice—unless you’re willing to let go of that damned sled.”

  She thought about it for a second, then shook her head.

  Edwin looked pained. She’d put him in a terrible spot. She put her small hand on his elbow. “You go back to the ship. Tell them we need help out here.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” he said.

  She didn’t argue any further. She could have left the sled and run with Edwin—it was the sane thing to do. But she wanted to get her recorded data back to the ship.

  In her heart of hearts, there was another reason she’d opted to stay. She didn’t want to see what was going on inside the Russian ship. She was worried about what they might find when they got there. For now, she could hold on to a little scrim of hope. No one had contacted them for quite some time from that direction. It could have been the radiation from Jupiter’s shining face, or it could have been that they were extremely busy or worse—she didn’t want to learn the truth, not yet.

  The next thing to come out of the tunnel was a surprise.

  “Get away from it!” Yuki shrieked. “Get away, or it will defend itself!”

  The two men hopped back just in time. The B-7 emerged, wriggling and crawling. It extended its lower appendages and climbed the ice with surprising alacrity. Yuki frowned. It was more than surprising. She knew what her drone was capable of, and it could not have climbed
that slick, curved surface so quickly. There had to be some kind of a transportation system at work. It should have taken several more minutes for the drone to laboriously climb its way out. Could those hot rings that kept the ice tunnel open also be somehow propelling things upward? A hot breath of steam had preceded the first alien and now the drone. The tunnel itself was intriguing.

  The B-7 had two blades like ripsaws on either side of it. These were kept internally until needed—but apparently the drone had decided to deploy them. The drone also had a row of explosive-tipped spines. The spines were essentially shotgun shells attached to stalks. These were often used by scuba divers to kill attacking sharks underwater. Yuki had attached them as an afterthought, but she could only imagine what a single touch would do to a man in a space suit.

  The drone inched forward like a beached manta ray. It halted when it reached the exact spot where it had been activated. Its programming had come to an end.

  Yuki breathed a sigh of relief. Edwin laughed. “That looked bad for a second,” he said. “We’ll be off now—”

  Before he could finish his thought, the tunnel puffed again. This time, however, it fired a much larger plume of steam. An ice dragon’s breath swamped them all.

  “That can only be—” Edwin began. “Run!”

  Yuki reopened her control box instead. She knelt and began mashing buttons.

  Edwin grabbed her, but she fought to get away from him.

  “I’m reactivating the drone and putting it into defense mode!” she radioed the group. “Get away from it!”

  Perez and Burkov had already stepped back from the tunnel mouth to prevent the releasing vapors from obscuring their vision. After hearing her words they stepped back farther still. Edwin stopped tugging at her, and she was able to upload a new script.

  She whirled just in time to see the B-7 begin the rebooting process.

  Three aliens stepped out of the tunnel mouth and stalked forward, passing right over the limp, blinking drone. Three more arrived a second later. It was as if they’d been transported up from the depths aboard an elevator—or perhaps it was more like one of those old-fashioned air-driven message systems that carried papers inside capsules around offices using a system of pipes and suction.