by Dan Worth
‘We were fortunate. Any further and he’d have slipped out of our grasp.’
‘We certainly did ma’am. Shall I order the ship to Quralish?’
‘At once, Commander. Recall all craft and personnel and proceed at best speed. Signal our intention to Command. I intend to find out what our Mr Isaacs has gotten himself into.’
Chen pondered the image of the Profit Margin, at once feeling elation at the lucky break they had been given, and puzzlement as to what Isaacs could be doing so far out. Was he simply following some money trail all the way out there? It was possible; he was a freelance trader after all. The problem remained of course that they would need to find out where he had gone next, but with the Churchill’s speed they shouldn’t be too far behind. This dock record was less than a day old. They could be there in three and half days. She waited impatiently for the ship to get underway.
Chapter 13
Despite the arrival of morning, the sky was dark when the crawler crested the ridge of low hills and started down the shallow incline to the black plain below. On the distant horizon, pillars of smoke and ash rose from a cluster of volcanoes, filling the sky with choking, leaden clouds that blotted out the harsh light of the suns. Occasional rays of feeble light stabbed down through the clouds like searchlights, contrasting with the dull ruddy glow from the fiery peaks. One such beam played across the broad grey dome of the dig site installation which cowered beneath the foothills. The plain itself was formed from a vast lake of lava that had twisted and cracked as it had cooled into weird fractured plates and rope-like whorls. Against the desolate expanse, the kilometre wide dome covering the dig site appeared a tiny, lonely outpost
Rekkid eyed the scene from the crawler’s cab with a disapproving eye.
‘Charming place,’ he commented. ‘I wonder why it doesn’t appear on any holiday brochures. Toxic atmosphere, rivers of fire, pillars of smoke… who could resist?’
‘Yeah well, I always take you to the nicest places,’ replied Katherine.
‘Hmm. How did you sleep last night?’ asked Rekkid. ‘Any more dreams?’
‘Thankfully not. It seems that whoever it was decided to leave me alone.’
‘It could just have been a bad dream, you know.’
‘I don’t know,’ she said, with a shrug of her shoulders. ‘Like I said, it didn’t feel like it.’
‘It could have been worse, you could have had Reynaud in there with you,’ said Rekkid, trying to lift the mood. Katherine snorted.
‘Why do you think I locked the door? Any idea where he is?’
‘Mentally preparing another dramatic speech about what they’ve found here no doubt. He’s a showman, I’ll give him that, though he’s not much of a serious archaeologist.’
‘He is fool, that one,’ said Farouk from the driver’s seat. ‘All night long he was up here, talking about himself. Is all bullshit. He drove my brother crazy!’
‘Farouk,’ said Katherine. ‘What have you heard about what’s been found here? You drive back and forth between the dig and the mining base all the time. You must have picked up something about what the Navy uncovered.’
Farouk was silent for a moment. He glowered at the hellish scenery for a moment before speaking.
‘I have heard a few things. None of them good. People tell me that the Navy have found a great, black ship. That it is cursed, evil. That dream you had last night; you are not the first to see such things. They say… they say that the ship drives men mad. It gets inside their heads somehow. So far it has left me alone, inshallah, but I do not like it. I do not like being here. If it speaks to you, I should leave if I were you.’
‘You think that the ship was trying to contact me?’
‘Yes, they say it speaks to people, shows them things. All over the moon, people have been going crazy.’
‘What does… what does it look like?’ asked Katherine.
‘I do not know exactly. I have seen it myself, but only briefly. But my friend Aziz got a good look at it when he went to deliver some equipment. He said that it looked like it had come straight from hell itself.’
‘Alien technology can often look strange to others,’ said Rekkid, glibly. ‘No disrespect to your brother’s friend, but perhaps he was getting carried away.’
‘No… no he said that there was something about the ship besides its appearance.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘He said it was as if it was watching him.’
In the rear of the vehicle, Cox lurked in his cabin. He sat hunched over a datapad, which he held in one hand, whilst in the other he gripped a cup of coffee which sloshed and threatened to spill with each bump and sway of the crawler as it descended to the plain over the hard, uneven terrain.
He frowned. The latest reports from the dig site were not encouraging. The excavation team was making agonizingly slow progress. The hard layers of lava and volcanic glass that encased the alien ship were proving a problem. That; and the fact that morale was rock bottom among his men. Many of them apparently now refused to work on the ship, though he had forbidden any of them to leave the dig site until the work was completed in the interests of security.
Bullshit, thought Cox. He had no time for such nonsense. The engineers and drivers that the Navy had brought in from local contractors were a superstitious lot, not to mention his suspicion that they were trying to drag the process out as long as possible in order to claim more money in wages. No doubt it was they who had started the rumours that the ship was haunted. He suspected that it was only a matter of time before his workforce began to demand hazard bonuses for working on the site. Quite frankly he was disgusted that some of the scientists and technicians seemed to have been spooked as well. Cox had no illusions about the prevalence of such beliefs amongst people living out here on the frontier. Too many weeks alone in space or on the surface of alien worlds and a life of constant danger tended to breed superstition as a way of coping with a life where death was commonplace, but he would have none of it, especially from persons who supposedly made their livings from being rational and level-headed. He made a mental note to exert some authority over his men when he got back to the dig. Things were getting far too lax around here, and he had his career to think of after all.
There was a polite rap of knuckles at the cabin door and Reynaud showed himself in before Cox could respond. He stood before Cox, a slight smile upon his well groomed features. Cox attempted to suppress his dislike of the man. Reynaud was useful to him, but that didn’t mean that he had to like him.
‘Admiral,’ said Reynaud. ‘We shall be at the dig site soon.’
‘Ah, good,’ Cox replied, barely looking up from his work. ‘Come in Henri, sit down.’ The tall archaeologist did so, perching himself with casually crossed legs on a small folding chair. ‘What do you make of these reports?’ said Cox and passed the datapad to Reynaud who appeared to scan-read it, before placing it on the small table at his side.
‘Ridiculous,’ Reynaud snorted. ‘They’re just ignorant fools, my dear Admiral. They are fearful of what they do not understand.’
‘Even the academics?’
‘But of course!’ Reynaud cried. ‘The academic community is staid and closeted. These are men who are scared of their own societies, who bury themselves in books and laboratories because they cannot face the outside world. No wonder they fear the unknown. They are scared. They have no imagination, no intellectual courage!’
‘You do not consider yourself to be one of them?’
‘Of course not. I am a breed of scientist such as those great men of the Enlightenment, Admiral. I can think for myself and I do not fear the unknown. Time and again my theories have been rubbished by those idiots, only for me to be vindicated. I am unafraid to challenge accepted views.’
Cox scratched a stubble cheek thoughtfully for a moment. ‘These reports of... dreams and whatnot. What about that? Superstition?’
‘Oh no, absolutely not Admiral. I myself have experienced them.’
‘You have?’ said Cox, with disbelief. ‘And what was the dream about Doctor?’
Reynaud ignored Cox’s sceptical tone. ‘The ship was calling me. It spoke to me in my sleep.’
‘I see… So, this nightmare…’
‘Oh it was no nightmare, Admiral,’ said Reynaud, cutting him off. ‘Quite the opposite. It showed me what lies inside the vessel, what wondrous secrets it contains.’
‘And what secrets does it contain?’
‘That ship is filled with Progenitor technology, advanced artefacts that could catapult our species into a glorious future. If we learn its secrets we could leapfrog tens of thousands of years of technological development at a stroke!’
‘Cor and O’Reilly said that it wasn’t a Progenitor ship.’
‘Cor and O’Reilly were incorrect in their assessment. Personally, I doubt their ability and their usefulness to this project. Admiral, the ship spoke to me - it showed me visions of their lost empire! Great glittering cities in the void, the very stars themselves tamed and nurtured!’
‘And you, on the other hand, are content to put your trust in some sort of dream or hallucination. Are you sure you haven’t been working too hard, Henri? This all sounds a bit… fanciful.’
Reynaud laughed. ‘But of course not! I’m telling you, Admiral. That ship is alive, and it spoke to me! You remember the reports from the Maranos incident, of Progenitor machines that contained the very souls of their creators? Perhaps this is another?’
‘The reports filed by the captain of the science vessel Darwin, or any of the naval commanders in the system at the time, failed to mention anything about dreams or visions or any other bullshit. However, our reason for excavating this ship is in the name of acquiring new technologies, as you say. We’d be fools to pass up a chance like this.’
‘Of course. Perhaps this is a new technology we haven’t seen before? A defence or communication system of some kind?’
‘Perhaps. But until I see some proof, you are to deny all knowledge of such incidents and nor are you to permit the men to spread such rumours.’ Cox answered sternly. He continued: ‘I’ll bet once one of them said he had a nightmare, all the others succeeded in scaring themselves silly. I’ve already issued an order that such rumours and stories are to be denied, but I’d appreciate it if you’d care to keep an eye on our civilian workforce for me. See if you can find out who’s spreading these stories. Even if it is true, as you say, I don’t want this project to run over schedule because my workforce is too scared of the thing to dig it out.’
The crawler jolted suddenly as it mounted the edge of an angled plate of lava. Cox braced himself for support, and then composed himself. Reynaud seemed untroubled by the vehicle’s lurching.
‘I quite understand. Not everyone is as… open to the unknown as I.’
‘Quite. Reynaud as soon as we reach the dig you are to give Professor Cor and Doctor O’Reilly a full tour of the site, as well as brief them fully about our progress. I know you don’t exactly get along, but I need their expertise. Command assured me that they are the best people in their respective fields, and I don’t want their talents wasted, is that clear? The mission is our top priority here, not our respective personal agendas.’
Reynaud seemed to sneer at that, Cox noticed. It probably hadn’t escaped the loathsome man’s notice that this situation had proved to be something of a windfall for him, career-wise. If this project was successful, he’d have the pick of the choicer postings within the Commonwealth, instead of stuck in a backwater like this.
‘Of course Admiral,’ said Reynaud smoothly. ‘If you’ll excuse me I’ll just go and review my notes, and whatever progress reports you have passed on to me.’
‘Very well,’ Cox turned back to his work, leaving the archaeologist to show himself out.
It was another hour until the crawler succeeded in bouncing and jolting its way across the lava plain and arrived finally at the gates of the security perimeter around the dig site. By now, the wind had increased. Sheets of dust and ash moved horizontally outside the cab windows as the storm howled around the vehicle. Katherine peered over Farouk’s shoulder at the armed guards patrolling the gate. They were clad in heavy environment suits, their hardened composite plates pitted by the relentless battering from the dust storms and acidic rains of the moon. They stood beside armoured auto turrets and what looked like a selection of security cameras and scanners.
As the crawler came to a halt outside the gates, two of the guards began walking towards it. Despite the powered joints of their suits they appeared to be having some difficulty against the buffeting of the winds and airborne dust. They came aboard via the crawler’s airlock and removed the helmets from their suits, from which yellow and grey dust cascaded onto the deck. A man and shaven headed woman. Their heads were cocooned in comms gear and breathing units which rose to form high collars from the suits’ neck joints.
Cox emerged from the rear of the crawler and exchanged salutes with them then they proceeded to conduct a search of the vehicle - no easy task given its confined spaces and the bulk of their armoured attire. They inspected every corner and each of the passengers, looking every one of them up and down as they checked their appearance and security passes against records on a handheld pad, then they saluted Cox once more and left the vehicle via the way they had entered. Katherine saw them trudge back to their positions by the gate as it began to slowly slide aside to allow the crawler to enter. Beyond, a set of doors began to part at the base of the dome. Farouk eased the crawler forwards.
Katherine saw it first, as Farouk urged the crawler inside the base - the black spiny tip of the ship’s tail, slanting upwards beyond the lip of a large pit. As the crawler continued inwards, more of the ship was revealed. It lay at an angle at the bottom of a vast, stepped quarry-like pit that the excavation teams had dug around it. The nose of the vessel was still buried at the bottom of the pit, but the hull sloped upwards at an angle of twenty degrees for almost a kilometre until the tip of its tail almost brushed the spider’s web of girders holding the roof of the dome above it. The visible part of the ship was almost twice the size of a Commonwealth destroyer class vessel and was composed of shiny black shards of a crystalline appearance that matched the fragments that they had been shown back on Barstow. The ship bulged near the point where it met the earth, then tapered steadily back, interlocking layers of shards forming a spiny, concentric structure.
‘Impressive, isn’t she?’ said Reynaud, watching them from the cab doorway, where he leaned nonchalantly against the bulkhead. ‘Have you ever seen such a ship?’
‘Not bad, not bad at all,’ Rekkid replied, without taking his eyes off the scene. ‘Of course, we once found a few bigger ones than that. But I’m quite impressed, Reynaud. I thought you were talking up your own discoveries for a moment.’
‘Come now, Professor,’ Reynaud replied, as if hurt. ‘Even a cynic such as yourself can’t help but be awed by such a thing, something of such great age and majesty.’
‘Oh we’re impressed Henri,’ said Katherine. ‘Just a little apprehensive that’s all.’
Farouk turned the crawler away from the lip of the pit and headed for a collection of temporary buildings that crowded the space between the pit and the angled base of the dome. He finally brought them to a halt inside a pressurised module that served as a garage. Rekkid and Katherine gathered their things and climbed out of the hulking vehicle, then waited in the chill, echoing space of the garage for Cox and Reynaud to join them.
Reynaud arrived moments later, carrying his jacket casually under his right arm and a light briefcase in his left hand. Cox exited the vehicle shortly afterwards, looking a little irritable, having managed to smear his dark blue uniform with yellow dust from the vehicle’s exterior. He brushed at the bright patches on his trouser legs and cursed.
‘Alright, people listen up,’ he began. ‘You’ve seen the ship, I take it?’ There were nods from Rekkid and Katherine. ‘Well I’m sur
e you’re both eager to take a closer look at her. Dr Reynaud, if you’d care to show our new arrivals to their assigned quarters, then we’ll regroup in the equipment bays at 13:00 standard once you two have had time to freshen up and settle in a little.’
‘If you’d care to follow me?’ said Reynaud, and beckoned towards the exit.
Reynaud led them to a suite of small rooms in one of the complex’s accommodation modules. Two spartan bedrooms and a bathroom led off from a shared lounge and kitchen area. It was with some effort and a degree of protestation that Katherine finally managed to get him to leave her alone, insisting that yes, she was fine and had everything she needed, and yes she would knock on his door if there was anything she wanted.
Having closed the door behind the persistent Dr Reynaud she heard Rekkid’s sniggering coming from his room as he unpacked his scarce belongings.
‘Maybe he and I should swap rooms,’ Rekkid called. ‘I’d hate to stand in the way of true love, you know.’
‘If you want to stand in the way of true love, then steal Reynaud’s mirror,’ Katherine quipped back, and heard Rekkid’s corresponding laugh. She stuck her head around the door to Rekkid’s room and added: ‘Or that ship. It really is his baby isn’t it?’
‘Yes, indeed. I don’t know about you though, but I find it unsettling. Did it look anything like anything you’ve seen in your dreams?’
‘No, not exactly. But there was something familiar about it though.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t know… the style of its construction perhaps… I felt like I’d seen it before.’ She changed the subject. ‘How’s the research coming anyway? You know, the stuff you illicitly copied without Mentith knowing about it?’
