The Blue People of Cloud Planet

by Brian Wolfenden

  The next morning Scott felt refreshed and, having warmed, drunk and fed, he considered going back into the dark pyramid. He was sure that there must be clues in the crystal history that would tell him more about the nature of the black menace. After explaining this to Seren, she arranged for the door to be opened. On this occasion she did not accompany him as she had seen enough of the disasters that had befallen her people.

  He went back to the first crystals that had shown the strange black edge of the sea on both sides of the estuary. He remembered that this was after the tsunami and before the sea started misting – were these incidents related and in what manner? Zec-1 had discovered that all the coast lines had a wide black mass under the cloud. Was this the same black that he had seen in the dark pyramid?

  Did the black mass start the misting of the sea after the tsunami? He thought about this and his next conclusion shook him rigid,

  ‘Did the black mass cause the cloud collar around the equator of the planet!?’ He said aloud with disbelief! ‘But how and for what possible reason?’

  He was deep in thought as he mulled over these possibilities when suddenly the door of the dark pyramid started opening. He shut down the crystal and returned it to the wall. Seren stood in the doorway, her golden hair shone as she was silhouetted by the brilliance behind. Her eyes blazed,

  >> you must come quickly to the large pyramid > our leader has received terrible news >>

  They moved swiftly to the huge pyramid and up the ramp to the central triangular plinth. Hotenka, his elders and a large number of adult Serenites had already gathered.

  The leader stood, his head moved from side to side, and his eyes blazed,

  >> they have still not returned >>

  ‘Who have not returned?’ Scott asked Seren,

  >> our blue workers > who went out to farm > have not returned > there is no sight of them > only a blackness in the distance >>

  Scott’s stomach churned.

  ‘When, where did this occur?’

  >> now > at our farming dwellings >>

  Then Seren pointed in the direction of the dwellings which Scott knew had the black masses outside.

  ‘Can you stop further farming trips?’

  >> no > they are all out now > some have returned > others have not >>

  And then Hotenka held up one hand and inclined his head. An uneasy chill descended on those in the huge pyramid,

  >> it has just gone very dark outside our dwelling >>

  They rushed out into the brilliant sunshine and ran to the wide black door. Several Serenites were already standing under the doorway. They looked out and pointed in alarm.

  Outside was shrouded in rain and mist. But about 50 metres away it grew dark caused by a black ‘cloud’ above and across their width of visibility.

  Beneath the blackness they saw that the farming group was returning; its light sheath swayed with the movement of the blue females.

  Scott willed them to hurry. He had a terrible foreboding. How had the black mass come this far so quickly?

  Then the black ‘cloud’ descended and darkened. The moving light sheath cut into the blackness and black rain fell around the group.

  ‘Faster! Faster!’ Cried Scott, and Seren immediately felt his anxiety and her eyes blazed as she pleaded with the blue female workers to hurry.

  Scott moved out into the rain and mist but paled as the black suddenly dropped as a seething mass. The light shafts started to move erratically and then dimmed as the black cascaded down on the doomed blue workers.

  And then nothing – nothing but black at the edge of visibility – no sign of the farming group containing over 100 blue workers.

  Scott stood frozen in horror, soaked to the skin in the cold rain. The mass had now ascended and seethed and undulated above them – it was a terrifying sight.

  Then, out of the gloom there was movement and a few bodies ran or dragged themselves towards the doorway. Two young blue females clutched their leaves as they raced past Scott, Seren and Hotenka and their eyes bulged with fear as black poured from their hair and bodies. Three adult blue females had dug themselves out of the cloying black mass and stumbled forward. One collapsed 10 metres from the door and willing hands moved out to pull the body to safety.

  Another came staggering straight at Scott and collapsed to her knees in front of him. As she fell forward, black rain spewed from her mouth onto the sodden wet clay at his feet.

  As other blue females helped their companions, he knelt and tested the black mass using his palmtop which established that it was inert and relatively harmless in such small quantities. He donned protective gloves and gingerly scooped up a handful. It was so slippery it dribbled through his fingers and he had difficulty keeping some in his cupped hands. He moved back under the doorway to examine it in a better light. It was made up of dozens and dozens of small shapes. With difficulty he picked one up with tweezers and was puzzled as he viewed it more closely. It was grey black and just over half a centimetre long and about a quarter centimetre in diameter – it was cylindrical, no, more bullet shaped with one end rounded and quite remarkably......

  ....... it had something running through its length. Scott held it up to the light.

  ‘Yes, a tiny hole runs right through it from end to end! How strange.’

  By now the water had drained from the handful of ‘black rain’ and he stared in disbelief at the group of shapes; some slithered through his fingers.

  ‘Why, it’s like a handful of beads.’ he said to no one in particular then louder, ‘a handful of beads?’

  Now he turned to look at Seren who had come up beside him and his eyes shot to her strange triangular necklace. With all their problems on this planet he had never really looked at it in detail and his attention was usually directed elsewhere. Scott reached out and held it in his fingers, dread crawling through his body......

  ..... it was made of beads! Small grey black beads threaded on something through the holes – identical beads to those in his hand! Those that had spewed from the blue females’ mouth! Those that had exterminated the farming group! Were they the Black?

  Then his head exploded as Seren agonisingly understood.

  She fell to her knees, ripped the necklace away from her breast and screamed and screamed in Scott’s head.

  >> the beads > the beads have killed our people > rip off the beads > RIP OFF THE KILLER BEADS >>

  And all around the dwelling and its pyramids, blond female Serenites fell to their knees tearing their triangular necklaces away in frenzy. Scott could feel the mounting fear of hundreds and hundreds of distraught Blue People.

  Then the message flared from dwelling to dwelling across Cloud Planet. And thousands and thousands of female Serenites fell to their knees and in mortal anguish ripped their beads from their necks and dashed them to the red clay.

  Chapter 57

  Analyse the Beads

  Scott gently lifted Seren’s shaking body and looked into her tearful eyes,

  ‘Where did the necklaces come from? Where did the beads come from?’

  >> our blue workers made them for us > from beads that came in with the leaves harvested during farming >>

  ‘Oh my God!’ thought Scott, ‘How could they have known, the beads were their killers, the beads were the Black!’

  Seren continued to shake.

  >> we wore them for good fortune > we thought they would bring us more male births >>

  Scott could hardly speak he was so choked. How cruel could fate be! And then Seren blurted out.

  >> and > and i gave one to your female > because she was so unwell >>

  ‘What!’ shouted Scott and she replied more softly and almost apologetically.

  >> i gave one to your female >>

  Then Seren sagged to her knees again in terrible distress.

  ‘Of course you did! Of course you did!’ and Scott remembered Seren’s touching moment.

  ‘And it’s gone up to the starship with Olivia!’ he shout
ed with elation. ‘Up where it can be analysed by the most sophisticated equipment in the world!’

  He looked at Seren with renewed hope and she read his excitement. Gently he helped her up and looked into her eyes,

  ‘I have to get a message to LifeSeeker-1, to the starship!’ and he pointed upwards to the clouds.

  Then he groaned as he realised that the SOS dwelling was 13 or 14 dwellings away! – two weeks travel by their underground transport.

  Seren understood his alarm and led him, followed by the leader, back into the huge pyramid and up the ramp to the cool pool. There she pointed to his pack and to one of the pockets. Puzzled, he opened the flap and saw that it contained the piece of cardboard on which he had written the Morse code message to rescue Olivia.

  Seren then pointed to her leader and ran to the very centre of the triangle where the black box covered the golden plaque of Pioneer 10.

  And Scott understood. The leader could send a message. Hotenka had been sending the SOS signal for over 30 years! He would have to write a new Morse script for the leader to send. He could do it today because this very afternoon was when the leader would send the SOS.

  Then Scott remembered with huge relief that Zec-1 had downloaded Morse code onto his palm top – just in case.

  Scott smiled and looked at Seren who beamed one of her most beautiful smiles.

  LifeSeeker-1 was now in geostationary orbit around Cloud Planet and positioned adjacent to the collar of cloud and between the SOS and the huge dwelling where they assumed that Scott was now located.

  The view from the command dome of the starship was spectacular with the light shafts streaking away from the towering white clouds and converging on the yellow orb that was the star Seren. Below them, the deep blue sea formed a perfect arc as it kissed the base of the clouds.

  What a remarkable scene!

  Inside the command dome they hardly noticed it and the mood among the astronauts was sombre and deflated. They had given up trying to out-manoeuvre the black and they had watched with mounting concern as the masses formed alongside the dwellings leading to Scott’s presumed position. Now the masses were linked and as of last night they were only two dwellings away from the equator.

  The only good news was that Olivia had made a full recovery.

  AJ was leading a discussion on how to mount an offensive attack on the black but there was huge concern that they were dealing with an enemy that they could not identify or understand. A foe that had pre-empted their every move. To attack would be a very high risk strategy.

  It was nearing ‘noon’ on the planet revolving below them and as usual they focussed on the portion of the dome where the LCD display was dedicated to the SOS dwelling.

  ‘Attention! Attention! New Morse message! New Morse message from the planet.’

  Zec-C had their immediate attention.

  ‘Translate!’ commanded AJ and the crew all craned forward in rising expectation.

  --T – E – S – T --- T – H – E --- B – E – A – D – S ----

  ‘What’s that mean? What beads?’ said Alison.

  --T – E – S – T --- T – H – E --- N – E – C – K – L – A– C – E ----

  ‘Necklace! What necklace? What’s this nonsense!’ added Pete.

  The next sentence on the dome LCD chilled the atmosphere in the starship.

  -- T – H – E --- B – E – A – D – S --- A – R – E --- K – I – L – L – E – R – S --

  ‘What does this mean!?’ AJ said in alarm.

  Suddenly, Olivia’s hand shot to her neck as she remembered Seren’s kind gesture as she lay unwell.

  ‘She gave me her necklace! Seren gave me the strange triangular necklace!’ Olivia shouted with rising understanding. ‘Where is it!? Where is it Martha? Did I have it on when you put me in intensive care?’

  ‘Why – yes, but I had to get you on a drip urgently so I removed it and put it in a drawer in the medical centre – I forgot all about it in my haste.’

  -- T – H – E --- B – E – A – D – S --- A – R – E --- T – H – E --

  - B – L – A – C – K --

  ‘Go get it!’ commanded AJ, and the final chilling sentence appeared in front of the stunned astronauts.

  -- D – E – S – T – R – O – Y ---- T – H – E --- B – L – A – C – K ---

  ‘That’s the full message; it’s being repeated and repeated.’

  Zec-C concluded.

  Martha returned with the black triangular necklace and placed it in front of AJ. They all gathered round for a closer inspection.

  ‘It’s made up of beads, small greyish black beads!’ Olivia pointed, ‘And they seem to be strung on leaf fibre. I never really noticed with all the other tattoos and things. But all the Serenite females wore one of these.’

  ‘Let’s get some of these beads where Zec-C can analyse them.’ AJ instructed and Olivia cut the thread and, with extreme difficulty, placed three beads in a special receptacle near a wall of sophisticated instruments. She pressed the touch screen nearby and the beads retracted into the machine and were now the responsibility of Zec-C to extract from them as much information as possible.

  After a minute, enlarged images of the unusual beads started to appear on the inside of the dome accompanied by Zec-C’s analytical commentary.

  ‘Each object is 0.8 centimetres long by 0.35 centimetres in diameter. One end is slightly concave whilst the other is a tapered convex shape similar to a bullet.’

  Images of the bead rotated on the LCD screen showing its morphology from several perspectives.

  ‘Running perfectly through the centre and from end to end is a cylindrical tube of diameter 0.5 millimetres at the bullet end narrowing uniformly to 0.4 millimetres at the concave end.’

  ‘What do you make of this shape Zec-C?’ AJ asked.

  ‘It is hydro-dynamically perfect and its outer surface is nearly frictionless.’

  ‘But that’s impossible!’ Steve said, but they had all repeatedly dropped the beads when they tried to pick them up.

  ‘The objects are designed to move through a low viscosity fluid, for example water, with perfect efficiency and I would predict that they would be equally efficient in water vapour, mist and clouds.’

  ‘What are they made of?’ Alison queried.

  ‘The bulk of the body of the object is similar to silicon but the outer surface, which has the lowest coefficient of friction of any substance I know, is a material which does not appear in my database.’

  ‘That’s impossible Zec-C; your database has the fingerprint of every material in the Milky Way Galaxy!’ AJ cried in disbelief!

  ‘Yes, and every other known galaxy.’

  The implications of this simple answer hung heavily in the dome. It was generally accepted that the universe was based on the same building blocks throughout. But it was not known how all of those blocks were constructed in the exploding stars and supernovae of the other galaxies.

  ‘Further, the inner surface of the cylindrical hole is also made of material that I cannot identify but is similar to semi–conductors, for example silicon, and metallic compounds, again, some of which I cannot identify. But it is how these materials are distributed in the cylinder surface that is both familiar and unique. Look!’

  Part of the dome LCD screen filled with hundreds of lines and channels which were perfectly regular and which crisscrossed one another. There were junctions between lines of what appeared to be metal and channels of grey. The distance between the lines was equal. They were perfectly parallel.

  ‘We’re looking at a circuit! It’s just like the design of a microchip!’ said an astonished Pete, the starship’s computer genius. ‘Zec-C! What are the dimensions! What’s the distance between the lines?’

  ‘In microchip technology, the smaller the distance between the ‘wires’ or lines, the more circuits that are packed onto a single chip. At the start of the 21st century 0.1 micron capability was achieved and 100 years later
with newer semi–conductors and processes this capability is now reduced to below 0.01 micron. This is approaching the limit of semi-conductor capability and the ultimate goal of molecular circuits is still at development stage. My circuits are at 0.008 micron which is pretty powerful stuff.’