What those probes had revealed had been both fascinating and puzzling. Even at a glance the planet was supporting massive amounts of life. It was also clearly the point of origin of the wreck. Artificial satellites surrounded the planet, everything from burnt out rocket boosters to a primitive space station. The relatively weak optical scanners on the probes were also picking up signs of cities on the planet beyond. There were massive urban centres on every one of the planets continents. There was however one thing they weren’t picking up that was conspicuous by its very absence: radio traffic.
The passive sensors on Harbinger were among the best available to humanity. If there was even a single, radio, mobile phone or transmitter of any description being used on the planet Harbinger would be able to hear it. Instead all they were picking up on the radio bands was the background hiss of the local star. Not only was there no radio signals but there was no sign of life on the surface. When night fell there was no light on the surface that could not be attributed to natural sources. It was frankly a little eerie and a few members of the crew had been heard to refer to it as the ghost planet. Finally after recovering the probes Harbinger carefully slid out from behind the moon and approached the planet.
Another two days later and the mystery was still just that. They had deployed ground survey probes and done a complete topographical survey of the planet’s surface. Several of their probes had dropped low enough to burn contrails of fire across the alien sky. Not a single inquisitive radio signal was received. Their survey had mapped several hundred major cities all over the planet, and thousands of large towns, but not a single one showed any sign of life. Most disturbing of all however were the craters.
Going on the roads that could still be seen each one must have been a major population centre now it was as if a giant ice cream scoop had gouged twenty two, eighteen kilometre wide lumps out of the planet.
Finally Flores called together his senior officer and the heads of the civilian teams to decide what there next course of action would be. They were all packed into the officer’s mess. A large holo display had been temporarily installed and pictures of the surface were stuck across the bulkheads.
Flores was the last to arrive; the others were standing in groups speaking quietly as they examined pictures.
"Everyone can you take your seats and we’ll get started."
Once everyone was seated around the holo display he looked towards Bhaile.
"Professor, can you give us a quick run down of your findings so far."
"Certainly captain. all right the basics first. This planet is approximately fifteen percent larger than Earth. Gravity at sea level is roughly one point two G’s. The planet’s atmosphere is thicker than Earth’s, meaning air pressure at sea level is approximately ten percent as much again. The atmosphere is a breathable mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon-dioxide. At this point it looks like this planet could support humans indefinitely."
"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What about the original tenants?"
Bhaile spread his arms in a gesture of puzzlement.
"We have nothing. We have identified towns, cities, power stations, farmland, airports and ports. Not one of them has shown the slightest sign of activity. Harbingers look down cameras are powerful enough to see creatures down there but they aren’t the same species as the one we found on the wreck."
"Hmm… Okay referring to those craters, could we be looking at the aftermath of a nuclear exchange?" Flores asked. "Could these people have wiped themselves out?"
"On the first point definitely no. This planet has not suffered a nuclear war." Bhaile tone shifted as he became more certain of his subject.
"How so sure?"
"Firstly we aren’t detecting the right radioactive isotopes. Secondly we’ve seen craters like these all across our own solar system wherever an asteroid or comet has collided with a moon or planet. These were caused by physical impact, not an explosive blast. For a single asteroid to score a direct hit on a city is possible but pretty unlikely. For twenty two to manage it goes well beyond improbable.”
"Orbital bombardment." Willis murmured. "I wonder did someone redirect asteroids at them."
"No," Bhaile replied shaking his head, "All of the craters are of almost identical size and shape, indicating the impacters were all the same mass and travelling at the same velocity. If it were redirected asteroids, we’d be seeing a lot of variety in terms of size and shape of the craters. "
"Large calibre railguns maybe?" Willis asked.
"Possibly, or simply drop a lump of metal out of orbit. A side effect is that the planet is in the midst of at least a minor ice age. Probably caused by debris thrown up into the atmosphere by the impacts. If you look here and here, you can see cities that are being engulfed by the expanding ice sheet."
"Alright what about this being self inflicted?" Flores asked.
"Well… if we go by the wreck then such a style of attack might be within their capabilities. These craters are spread across the entire planet."
"An alien version of mutual assured destruction perhaps?" Major Tigran the commander of the marine contingent suggested.
"Those impacts destroyed twenty two cities, that alone would have killed tens of millions. Cooling of the planet would have had disastrous effects on agriculture, probably resulting in millions more starving. But this planet I believe supported billions. I’m not seeing anything that would account for every last one of them."
Flores sighed and put his hands behind his head lacing his fingers together.
"Any idea on timeframe?" He asked.
"There are heavy concentrations of dust particles in the upper atmosphere but we don’t have the modelling software to determine the length of time since the event. In all honesty Captain I think we’re reaching the limit of what we’re going to learn up here." He admitted.
"Landing parties?" Willis asked.
"We’re running out of alternatives."
"Captain we have received no invitation to land." The senior diplomat objected.
"If you can see someone to ask please point them out." Willis replied sharply. "If you’re planning on waiting for an invitation we’re going to be sitting here for a long time. This is our best lead to date, we can’t simply turn around and leave without at least trying to find out what happened and whether it is relevant to us."
"I am merely saying that we should consider returning to Baden and seeking authorisation from the council."
"We already have authorisation to take what action is deemed necessary. The only reason to return to Baden would be to avoid having to take responsibility for a decision." Willis replied coldly.
"Commander." Flores’s voice held a note of warning.
Willis took the hint and sat back in her chair.
"We will make landing. It is our duty to see if we can come up with some answers."
"We should drop mobile probes into one of the craters and another on one of our landing zones to take some air readings." Proof Bhaile added.
Flores glanced towards Willis.
"It will take a couple of hours to prep the landing teams so launching probes wouldn’t delay us much." She replied with a shrug. "If there is something nasty down there, I’d rather find out with the probe than in person."
"Okay but where to land?"
"I would suggest here and here." Professor Bhaile said pointing to cities on opposite sides of the planet. “They seem to be the two biggest surviving cities."
"We only have two shuttles and one ship." Willis reminded him. "We’ll want put the landing parties close enough together to offer some mutual support. How about we keep one of your cities and also look at this town here, about ten clicks away?
Prof Bhaile studied the display. "Okay I’ll go with that." He agreed.
"Alright, Commander Willis will lead the team into the city. Major Tigran," Flores nodded to the Japanese officer, "will command the second group. Major, make sure your men keep their safety catches on. We do not need to make fir
st contact by riddling one of the locals full of holes."
The major nodded seriously.
"Alright everyone let’s get started."
Commander Willis ignored another sickening jerk as the shuttle rammed its way into the atmosphere. The fires of re-entry threw a flickering light across the cargo space and the civilians in the shuttle kept looking nervously at the portholes, clearly half expecting the flames to eat through the hull. The regular crew and marines with long experience ignored it. Technically the shuttle could have taken a slightly longer but much smoother re-entry curve, but radar didn’t work all that well during re-entry and if someone took exception to their presence they would have less of a chance to dodge any incoming fire.
"Coming out of re-entry, ETA seven minutes." The pilot called out over the intercom.
Willis looked over towards Benson, who was performing system checks on one of their two Collapsible Wheel Vehicles, usually refer to as CWVs.
"All set Cox?" Willis bellowed over the noise. The chief gave a quick thumbs up. Willis switched over to the intercom. "Pilot I want you ready to dust off as soon as we clear, then go into a holding pattern at five thousand meters until we give the all clear."
"Roger that commander, ETA six minutes."
Willis clicked her intercom back to receive and shouted back to everyone in the cargo hold.
"Everyone listen up. Touch down six minutes everyone mount up."
They all settled onto the two CWVs waiting for the forward ramp to drop. Willis looked back around. The marines all had their suit visors down, concealing their faces but all of them were still and patient. They could all feel the shuttle decelerating hard. The docking clamps attached to the wheels squeaked hard in protest. There was then a thump as the shuttle hit the ground, instantly the forward ramp dropped with a crash and the wheel clamps popped open. The marine driver in the front vehicle immediately floored the accelerator and roared down the ramp. As they cleared the underside of the shuttle one of the marines in the back stood up and locked the 12mm railgun into firing position. The second, slightly larger CVW with the science and diplomatic staff bounced out right behind. As the two vehicles got clear the shuttle opened its throttle and pushed itself up and away.
The foliage was hard to get used to Willis had decided. In many respects it was similar to terrestrial plants but then there were almost as many differences, the first they’d noticed was the colour. The foliage was a deep and varied range of purple. Up close the difference became more apparent, the leaves of individual plants were thicker and fleshier than those of Earth and when one of the Marines leaned against a trees and the whole thing bent over as if it were made of rubber. The air was cold and crisp, like a spring morning back home in Belfast. After nearly two months of recycled ship air it was a refreshing change.
Three quarters of an hour after landing they had settled themselves into a defendable position on the outskirts of the city and established contact with the ship and the second party. They had approached the city via a wide concrete road way. Once settled they watched the city for any signs of life. Nothing stirred and Willis felt safe enough to send the shuttle back up to Harbinger.
"Any thoughts?" Willis asked Benson and Marine Sergeant Martinkus as she examined the city through her binoculars.
"I’ve seen livelier graveyards." Martinkus replied sourly. "If there was any kind of a party here it’s well and truly over."
"Yes, looks like we’ve missed it all right." Benson agreed. "Private Brijnath, have you seen anything?"
There was a rustling from the branches of one of the more rigid trees.
"Zip, zilch, nada, Elvis has most definitely left the building." Brijnath called down
The city loomed in the distance, dark and foreboding. Even through her binoculars many of the buildings looked dilapidated. Her breath misted in the cold air, momentarily blotting out the city. She had expected answers to become obvious once they got down, but the mystery loomed as large as ever.
"Going on the orbital scans this place looks big enough to support a couple of million people easily, so where is everyone?" Willis muttered to herself. "Sergeant, you, myself and four your men are going to scout into the city. The rest of the party will remain here until we give the all clear."
"Are you sure that’s good idea, Commander?" Martinkus asked in the tone of NCOs to officers when they’re thinking ‘this isn’t a good idea’. "You’re not trained for ground operations, Ma’am."
"Yes but I’m going anyway." Willis replied in a tone that made clear disagreement wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
Instead he saluted before turning and started to bawl at his troops.
It took two hours for them to work their way towards the centre of the city. The marine sat in the CWV facing outward, their weapons ready. Although they had images taken from orbit that gave them a crude map, many of the streets were choked with abandoned vehicles. In a few places buildings had collapsed into the street, forcing them to back track and find another route. The buildings themselves were squat, blocky and, to human eyes at least, ugly. Almost all of them had the weather beaten and crumbling look that buildings get when they have been abandoned for a few years. As they headed further into the city buildings started to become more high-rise but still there wasn’t a sign of life.
Finally they drove into a square and Willis signalled to stop. The fuel cell motor that drove the CWV wasn’t particularly loud but the silence when it was shut down was intense. It wasn’t the silence of something waiting to happen, but the more disturb silence of there being nothing left to make any noise. The building in the square looked slightly grander than those they had seen before.
"We’re not going to learn very much riding round the street, we’re going to have to start poking around buildings." Willis said.
"We’ve a whole city to look at Commander." Martinkus grunted. "Just ’cause it’s big doesn’t mean there’s anything important in it."
"It’s got to have local government offices somewhere." Willis gestured around the square. "This looks like somewhere to start." She took a step forward and Martinkus’s armoured gauntlet closed round her arm.
"With respect Commander, my boys will take a look around first. Make sure there are no surprises. Lee, Cannon, Brijnath check it out."
"I don’t think there are any aliens ready to jump out at us." She commented impatiently as the three marines quickly disappeared into the building.
"Yeah but I’d get some serious earache from the Major if you fell through rotten floorboards, Ma’am." Martinkus replied patiently.
Reluctantly Willis had to admit, at least to herself, that as much as she wanted to find answers she had to acknowledge that dirtside wasn’t her area of expertise. Once the marines had given the all clear the rest moved in. The first few buildings they checked had nothing in them aside from mouldering furniture, rusting machinery and peeling paint. Five buildings in; they struck gold. The building appeared to be some kind of library, certainly there were shelves upon shelves of books. The first one Willis picked up fell apart in her hands, clearly it had been used as nesting material by some creature. Most of the books however seemed to be intact. Slowly they swept through the room.
"Sarge!" Called out one of the marines. "I’ve got a body over here."
It was in a small room towards the back of the library. The body was slumped across a desk. Aside from a few leathery looking tendons the body was little more than the skeleton. Its general shape seemed to be about the same as the bodies found on the space ship. Something had dropped out of the alien’s outstretched hand.
"I was starting to wonder whether that damn spaceship’s crew were just their equivalent to the chimps we sent up in the first rockets." Willis muttered.
Martinkus picked the object out of the body’s hand, he then turned the skull round there was a hole in the side.
"Suicide?"
"Looks that way." Martinkus replied fiddling with the object. After a few seconds the ser
geant managed to open it up. "Looks like a gun powder based weapon, some kind of semi automatic."
Willis looked at the body. "Have you seen many corpses here Sergeant?" She asked.
"Aside from this one, no."
"I wonder where everyone else is then?"
"Rotted away I guess."
"Why is this one still here then? This building isn’t air tight or anything." Willis challenged. "No I don’t expect you to be able to answer that sergeant."
"Sarge." One of the marines called out. "It’s starting to get dark."
Willis glanced at her watch with surprise. "What, already?"
"Only a twenty hour day on this rock, and this hemisphere is in its autumn, plus the nuclear winter effect." Martinkus explained calmly.
Willis cursed herself for forgetting that and making such a bloody stupid comment.
"We’d better head back to the camp. It seems to be safe so tomorrow we’ll bring in the whole team."
Martinkus looked around the library nodding slowly in agreement.
"This is reasonably defendable. Not that there seems to be anything to defend against."
It took longer to find their way back out of the city than expected. The unlit buildings loomed threateningly over them. The sergeant was unwilling to reveal their position by turning on the CWV’s headlights, instead the driver relied on his helmet’s night vision goggles. Lacking goggles of her own Willis sat in the darkness. The darkened building loomed over her threateningly and Willis found herself shivering, and not just because of the cold.
The camp was blacked out when they got back. Martinkus grunted with satisfaction as a sentry challenged them. Those who had spent the day at the camp quickly gathered around. While the scientists had spent the day happily examining the local plant life, the diplomats had been left twiddling their thumbs. Willis found herself giving a brief run down of what they had found.
"A library, that’s great!" Burst out one of the linguists, a young woman call Alice Peats, when Willis described their main find. She then blushed when everyone turned towards her.
The Nameless War Page 8
