The Blue People of Cloud Planet

by Brian Wolfenden

  ‘What on Earth are those for!’ cried Scott.

  But Olivia’s eyes had been directed by the line of these objects, past the open space beyond them, to the centre of the dwelling wall directly in front of the arrays of black shafts.

  ‘What’s the dark structure in the wall? It must be 40 metres wide and over 2 metres high!’

  But Scott had turned and was staring at three black constructions which rose from the floor of the dwelling up the front wall where they stood. They were 1 metre square in cross section, topped in red, and rose to three different heights.

  ‘And what are those?’ Scott thought as they walked down the ramp to the dwelling floor. Around them, the younger blue females cleared the ground of leaves, stalks and pods.

  They arrived at the head of the right hand array of black shafts and Scott caught hold of the nearest one.

  ‘Phew! This is heavy...aah!’ Scott clutched his head and saw,

  >> warning > warning > do not touch the shafts >>

  He recognised the severity of the message and let go immediately. He turned and saw Seren staring at him,

  >> be patient > later you will see and understand >>

  The heat and humidity had now got to them and despite their intense curiosity they retired to the large pool to cool and watch the activities of over 200 blue people in this busy dwelling.

  It was about an hour before noon when Seren caught their attention and pointed to the raised platform by the screw lift. Three ‘older’ blue females, each carrying two short black shafts, had approached the three vertical structures which Scott had noted earlier. The female at the shortest structure placed the shafts on the red top, raised them and struck it, each hand in turn.

  A deep ‘boom’, ‘boom’ resonated in the air.

  ‘It’s a drum!’ Scott shouted, ‘It must be hollow inside, oh! And there’s a rectangular opening near the base.’

  The booming continued and they watched, fascinated, as dozens of adult and younger blue females formed an orderly queue. They walked down the clay ramp to the top of the channel and then turned towards the two arrays of black shafts. Some of the youngsters carried large leaves which bulged as if they had something inside them.

  As they entered between the shafts, they formed into three rows with the adults on either side of the youngsters. They all continued to walk forward until the leading adults stopped next to the shafts at the furthermost end of the rows. Each following adult then halted alongside their allotted shaft leaving the younger females to form a line between.

  During this time the single drum beat continued.

  ‘There must be, let me check, yes, forty adults on each side and what? Sixty younger ones between, what have they got in those leaves?’ Olivia puzzled.

  Suddenly Scott shouted and pointed. ‘That black shape in the wall is moving, it’s travelling down! – Oh my God! - it’s a huge door to the outside.’

  They turned their heads as the louder beat of the second drummer combined with the first to make a deeper sound.

  ‘Look, it must be a signal,’ cried Olivia. The two groups of adults picked up their black shafts and tilted them slightly upward with the clay block facing down.

  The noise of the drums vibrated off the walls. Now the astronauts could see the misty rain outside the dwelling through the gap above the partly-lowered door.

  The third ‘drummer’ then joined in causing a cacophony of sound. At the same time, the two rows of adults started walking forward carrying their shafts followed by the youngsters.

  Then the leading ten adult females from each row converged and formed a V-shape which pointed towards the huge gaping mouth in the wall. The next two groups of 10 formed an angle moving outwards whilst the young females formed V-shapes behind them.

  They moved forward in perfect harmony to the beat of the drum as the next two groups started to close back on themselves. All the younger females then became enclosed as the final groups of adults formed a reverse V-shape.

  ‘My God!’ cried Scott, ‘They’ve formed a perfect octagon shape around the younger ones – it must be 30 metres wide.’

  The huge black ‘door’ had now stopped flush with the ground giving an aperture 40 metres wide and over 2 metres high below the shimmering light sheath. The living group of blue people marched towards the opening.

  At Seren’s beckoning, Olivia and Scott had come down to the floor level and rushed up behind the departing group. As the front of the V-shape passed into the shadow of the huge doorway, so the leading blue females turned their shafts so the clay blocks were pointing upwards and the strange triangular ends were touching. When they then moved outside the wall of the dwelling, the diamonds embedded in the clay block of their shafts were immediately ignited by the sun and lasers of light shot upwards. As they moved forwards, the V-shape front became a moving wall of light and subsequent crystals burst into life until the whole of the moving group became a sheath of light encircling all of the blue females.

  Olivia and Scott moved to the edge of the door and stared out as the light procession slowly faded into the pouring rain and mist whilst the drums boomed their discordant beat.

  ‘No wonder she warned you about touching that black shaft!’ Olivia commented.

  ‘That’s amazing!’ Scott said looking out, ‘Zec-C said that small light shafts had been detected moving away from the bigger dwellings but what are they doing?’

  Reading his thoughts, Seren opened her hand and her eyes sparkled,

  >> they take these out > put them in the ground > then they bring back new leaves >>

  In her hand was a small round pod, similar to the ones they had seen being gathered by the young females.

  ‘They must sow those seeds in the wet clay,’ said Olivia understanding, ‘so that’s what the youngsters were carrying in the leaves and presumably they harvest a crop of new leaves from mature plants – we’ve seen the Blue People farming.’

  The incessant drumbeat continued for about an hour after which the moving light shaft reappeared out of the mist and entered the huge doorway. The process was then reversed and finally the black shafts with their diamonds facing downwards were lowered onto their original supports. The drumbeat dramatically ceased and the three rows of people relaxed and dispersed. The youngsters’ arms were full of deep green leaves which they divided between the fourth pool for cooking and the upper platform for distribution.

  Meanwhile the huge black door slowly and silently rose from the ground to seal the dwelling from the hostile elements outside.

  ‘Look at their feet and lower legs! – They’re deep blue – but I suppose that’s hardly surprising considering it’s at best 5 degrees out there, no wonder they’ve scurried back into the pools to warm up.’ said Scott.

  ‘But why the incessant beat of those drums?’ Olivia wondered and saw,

  >> they have to find their way back >>

  Olivia looked at Seren, astonished - she had read her mind!

  Chapter 37

  First Temptation

  As they travelled through the next two dwellings they discovered they were dedicated to farming and equally populated. Right on time the drum boomed, the blue females assembled and the wonderful, precision parade unfolded before their eyes. At the latter dwelling ten males appeared, two of whom had red triangles on their chest and later attracted the largest groups of females. Again each group including the male were uniquely identifiable by the octagon design tattooed on their chests. They watched the births with joy and shared the exhilaration as rare males were held aloft. Sadly they witnessed many deaths each day. Only once had the number of births exceeded the deaths – if this was happening all over Cloud Planet it didn’t bode well for the future of the Blue People.

  Both Olivia and Scott were coping better with the night journeys and in his frequent contacts with Zec-1, Scott learned that the black mass was still following them overnight – a major concern.

  Their days in the sweltering heat and humidity were d
ivided between watching the activities of the Blue People, bathing in the pools and frequent visits underground to cool off. Scott was getting concerned that their supply of fresh water was dwindling so he reserved it all for Olivia.

  It was an adventure exploring new features of each dwelling. They examined the drums and found that they were covered with a huge leaf that appeared to have been bonded over the edges - it was very taught and painted red.

  ‘Do you think they shrink the leaf onto this top using hot water?’ Scott wondered and saw in his mind,

  >> yes > and liquid from the leaves is used at the edges >>

  Scott was startled and turned to see Seren looking at him. Wow! He thought, does she look stunning. And then he worried that she had read this too but nothing reappeared in his mind.

  When they were at the next ‘farming’ dwelling the drumming started and they then followed three blue females underground. They traversed along clay ramps to the very front of the structure below the huge door. They observed that the door was on 3 metre square supports set in huge clay pits overflowing with water near the top. The females descended into the gloomy lower depths where in unison they knocked out the black plugs allowing water to gush out. The door slowly lowered.

  ‘It’s an amazing feat of engineering,’ Scott marvelled, ‘that door must weigh tonnes and everywhere I look there are straight lines, triangles, squares, octagons – not a design curve in sight – remarkable.’

  As they moved back towards the screw lift, Olivia said she would remain under one of the ceiling light shafts as the noon sun was too hot for her.

  Scott ascended the lift into the bright sunshine and sat watching the farming octagon as it formed to the boom of the drummers. He did not notice Seren exit the large pool and she sat only a couple of metres to his right. He sensed her presence and looked at her – inside he was in turmoil – she was so beautiful. Her hair shone in the sunlight, her blue eyes stared ahead and then she turned towards him. As he took in her lovely face, she seductively lowered her eyelids. His eyes followed the line of the triangular ‘necklace’ which directed his gaze down to her perfect breasts. He drew in his breath and continued down to her navel, her flat stomach and the tantalising triangular flap pointing between her thighs. Her eyelids fluttered and he saw,

  >> do you like me >>

  And he wanted to shout ‘yes!’, ‘yes!’.

  Then, Seren stood up and cast him a most lascivious smile which rocked him to the core. She turned and he watched, mesmerised, as she moved away and dove into the large pool.

  He looked around guiltily, fearing that Olivia would return, and then rushed to the nearest pool to hide his ardour.

  But Seren had noticed and gave him a knowing smile and flash of her eyes. Where the fate of her people was concerned, she would employ all her powers and attributes and stop at nothing to achieve her ends.

  Later that afternoon, Olivia disappeared underground again leaving Scott to watch the rituals of the dozens of groups of Blue People. Seren spent most of the time bathing, sitting and inclining her head. She sat a few metres from Scott on the sun drenched ledge overlooking the large open space below.

  Scott looked at Seren and was afraid that he would lose control of his emotions, but her face looked concerned and she said,

  >> what is the matter with your female >>

  And Scott was very disturbed as he looked up and saw Olivia’s white face as she stepped from the screw lift.

  Chapter 38

  The ‘Home’ of Seren

  Olivia had first felt griping pains at the second ‘farming’ dwelling, but had kept it to herself and taken some medicine to settle her stomach. Then, that previous afternoon, she had thrown up underground and returned white as a sheet to be met by a concerned Scott. She assured him that it was no more than an upset stomach but he had insisted that she take extra rations of their dwindling fresh water supply.

  The astronauts had already travelled 350 kilometres since leaving the lander in the dwelling at the edge of the forest. They had passed through four small and three larger ‘farming’ dwellings and they were now about half way to the next one in the utter blackness of the tunnel.

  Scott woke up suddenly and wondered what had disturbed him. In the absolute blackness something was wrong because the boat was rocking!

  ‘Where’s Olivia!’ He panicked and frantically scrambled in front of him.

  But only leaves rustled.

  Then he heard – a retch! – In the darkness from the back of the boat. Had that woken him? He fumbled for the flashlight when he heard a scream so piercing it shot into the depths of the tunnel and then reverberated back over his head echoing wildly. The screaming went on and on as the boat rocked and icy cold water splashed in. Scott managed to snap on the light.

  The scene was surreal. The red walls of the tunnel passed overhead whilst Seren slept between two of her attendants. And at the stern of the boat.....

  Olivia! - screaming! - shaking! - retching! - pitching forward!

  ‘Olivia!’ Scott yelled and he leapt over the prone Blue People, slipping on the leaves, and grabbed her legs which caused the boat to pitch dangerously. Olivia toppled over the stern of the boat but he held on frantically and managed to drag her shuddering body to the middle of the craft.

  ‘It’s alright, it’s alright!’ he reassured her and clung on as she shook uncontrollably against his chest, ‘I’m here, I’ve got you, and you’re safe.’

  Scott paused, his heart hammering in his chest, and thought that if he had been a few seconds later Olivia would have pitched into the icy waters. But if he had not woken up!

  ‘Oh my God! Oh my God! I nearly lost you!’ he realised with horror. Then he kept the flashlight on until she finally fell asleep, but Scott couldn’t dare sleep because he was afraid he might let go of her again.

  And all through this, Seren and her entourage slept soundly as the drama had unfolded in the black tunnel under the red clay of Cloud Planet.

  The long hours in the utter incessant darkness passed in slow motion with only the occasional scrape of the boat on the sides of the tunnel to disturb the eerie silence. Finally the bottom of the boat ground on the dock and it stopped suddenly. Now all that Scott could hear was the roar of flowing water.

  He consulted his palmtop and Zec-1 informed him that, during the previous nights, the black mass had divided into three. One was stationary between ROL-1 and LifeSeeker-1, another was following the astronauts through the tunnels with unerring accuracy and the third was moving randomly.

  ‘What do you make of that, Zec-1?’ Scott texted.

  ‘One inference, which I consider logical, is that AJ has sent out ROL-2 to try to outflank the black mass – but without success.’

  ‘Have you any further success with analysis of this menace?’

  ‘No, and I can only deduce that it is preventing us from determining its composition. I can see it but nothing more.’

  Scott’s concerns were now mounting. Later, when the window of light fell on the boat, Olivia woke up. She seemed oblivious of the nights’ drama and said that she felt better. Scott decided to let matters lie for the moment and they followed Seren and her attendants up the gloomy ramp.

  Scott and Olivia reached the screw lift with its usual queue of Blue People and were surprised when they were directed beyond it to a second lift. However, this was only the start of a day of surprises.

  ‘Scott!’ Olivia grasped his arm and pointed, all thoughts of her bad stomach immediately forgotten, ‘The queue! The queue! – they’re all blond-haired like Seren!’

  The shuffling leaf clad file of Seren lookalikes parted to allow Seren, her attendants and the two astronauts to ascend the screw lift. They were so absorbed by this new revelation that, when they stepped off the lift, they were oblivious to the fact that the sun was not shining!

  ‘What the!!’ was all Scott and Olivia could muster as they stopped on a raised plinth and shivered with the cold. Meanwhile the Seren clon
es shuffled forward, cast off their leaves and entered their first pool.

  ‘Where are we?’ Olivia cried, confused, ‘What are all those beams of light?’

  There was no sun but the space was illuminated by dozens of rays of light which poured towards them from the far end. Scott was bemused and could not take in his surroundings. He stared upwards and around him and the penny dropped.

  ‘Olivia,’ he whispered in astonishment, ‘we’ve come up inside a huge solid structure, why, it’s got eight sides and must be 100 metres across. It’s the same size as the first dwellings we visited – only this is closed in. Look, the far two walls facing the sun are studded with diamonds – that’s what’s causing these wonderful light beams.’