Planet DAN-X34

by Lamees Alhassar

  “I understand, Michael. Thank you for the effort. Do you have an idea of what the casualty rate is like? How many staff were injured, as well as the level and severity of their injuries?”

  “So far, we have been able to identify eighteen injured staff, sir. We are still trying to collate the number of injured tourists and visitors. Their injuries vary but they are not as severe as one would have expected. There are no casualties. They were lucky enough to get into hiding and under cover while the destruction lasted.”

  “Lucky?” Richard repeated. “Or maybe the giants did not want to deliberately harm them. And what were they? Where were they from?”

  One of the engineers stepped forward. “Sir, I and some of the other engineers have been able to make some repairs to our transmission and surveillance systems. From what we have been able to find out, they just appeared from inside the pyramids.”

  “From inside the pyramids? Are you saying that they were inside the pyramids all this while and we never knew of their presence before now?”

  The engineer shook his head. “No, Mr. Daniels. They came into the planet from within the pyramid.”

  “What do you mean by ‘from within the pyramid’?” Richard asked.

  “Sir, it was the feeds that we have been analyzing from some of the surveillance cameras stationed around and within the perimeter close to the pyramids,” Michael said.

  “What did the cameras show, Michael?” Andrews asked.

  “I think you’d better just have a look for yourselves,” Michael said.

  He then led Richard and Andrews to one of the buildings close by. There, some panels and monitors had been assembled. On closer observation, Richard could tell that they were roughly assembled because of the present situation.

  Michael turned on the monitor and it came alive. He then searched through some discs and inserted one of them into a player. As the screen came alive, the images began to flicker across it.

  “This feed here was what we could restore from the pyramid’s perimeter,” Michael said.

  Soon, Richard could see the pyramids and the surrounding environment. The surveillance cameras showed the trees and the hills around the pyramids.

  “Well, there is nothing but the pyramids here, Michael,” Andrews said.

  “Just hold on, Professor. You’ll see what I am—” Michael began to say.

  It was one of the engineers who gasped and pointed at the screen. There, on the monitor’s screen, they could all see the huge giants coming out of the pyramids’ gates, one after the other.

  “What? There were more than two of them?” Richard gasped as he watched the giants coming out.

  Michael nodded. “We think there were at least seven of them, Mr. Daniels,” Michael replied.

  “Seven giants? And they were in the pyramids all this while?” Richard asked.

  “No, Mr. Daniels. That is what I wanted to explain earlier, but I thought it would be better you saw things for yourself. Do you remember that source of light in the middle of the pyramid?” Michael asked.

  “What source of light?” Richard asked.

  “Are you referring to the strange source of light which was the source of the pyramid’s illumination?” Andrews asked.

  Michael nodded. “Yes, yes, yes, Professor. You remember the one. You know, nobody has been able to say for sure what it was and what role it played in the pyramid.”

  “That is, apart from illumination,” Andrews said.

  Michael nodded again. “Yes, Professor. That is, apart from lighting up the whole place. Well, I think we might have just found out what its use is.”

  “What do you mean?” Andrews asked.

  In response, Michael pressed some keys and the images in the screen changed. Instead of a view of the external parts of the pyramid, they were now watching a recorded feed of the interior of one of the pyramids.

  “This is inside one of the pyramids,” Richard said.

  “Exactly, Mr. Daniels. And can you see the light in the center?” Michael asked.

  Richard nodded. “Yes, I can now see the light. As usual it is just there, hanging and shining very brightly, thereby illuminating the entire interior of the pyramid.”

  “Yes, Mr. Daniels. But watch it closely,” Michael said.

  Richard turned to look at the screen. At that point, there was still nothing being shown on it except for the ball of mysterious light.

  Andrews turned to Michael. “Are you sure that your theory about the light and the giants is correct, Michael? Because all we can see for now is nothing happening. Perhaps—”

  But Andrews never got to complete his statement. It was Richard who patted his shoulder and pointed. Andrews looked up at the screen and gasped.

  At that moment, everyone in the room could see that the light in the pyramid appeared to separate into two equal halves. Out of its dark and black center emerged the first giant. It came out as if it had come through a doorway. The giant looked around the pyramid hall it had come into. It then went back to the core in the light and waved its hand, as if giving a signal.

  It was a signal because immediately after the giant had waved its hand, more giants began to emerge out of the core of the light.

  “They came out of the light,” Richard muttered.

  “Then it is not a light, Mr. Daniels. It never was. It must have been a kind of portal; perhaps a doorway between this planet and theirs,” Andrews said.

  “My goodness. Why did we not know about this?” Richard asked as they watched the giants leave the pyramid and head towards the facilities.

  “How could we have known, Mr. Daniels? Up until now, that source of light has always been a mystery. Even some of the greatest scientists who came here on expeditions could not unravel what the light stood for or how it was able to sustain itself. It has always been a mystery,” Andrews replied.

  After a while, they saw the giants return to the pyramid. And as they did, the ball of light once again opened into two separate halves, permitting them all to enter and disappear from view. After they had left, the ball of light’s core closed back and it continued to shine in bright radiance and illumination.

  “It must be some kind of a doorway to their world,” Richard said.

  “Or maybe to other worlds,” Andrews added.

  “To other worlds?” Richard repeated.

  Andrews nodded. “Yes, Mr. Daniels. I think it could be a doorway not just to the giants’ world, but to other worlds, galaxies, or dimensions. And with any doorway that is not secured, it is likely that we might be getting such visits again.”

  Richard’s eyes widened. “What? Are you joking or what, Professor? More visits? Have you looked around to appreciate the scale of destruction that has just taken place on this planet? How can you even begin to insinuate such a thing?”

  “I know, Mr. Daniels. I am sorry, but I have to tell you the bitter truth about my assessment of that ball of light. It really must be a doorway. I might be wrong about this. In fact, I hope I am wrong. But what if I am not wrong, Mr. Daniels? I don’t mean to get you worked up, but I think we should consider the possibilities of it being an unsecured doorway.”

  Richard wanted to reply immediately but he held himself. For a brief moment, he looked around at the devastation. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He called for a private meeting. Only he himself, Andrews, Michael, and Katrina sat together at a round table in one of the meeting rooms.

  Richard then turned to Michael. “What is the level of devastation of this planet, Michael? Do you have any idea?”

  “From our preliminary reports, we put the damage at about 35 percent of all our installed facilities and structures,” Michael replied.

  “Thirty-five percent destruction? Just from a group of giants? What would happen if they were to return with reinforcements?” Richard wondered aloud.

  “Mr. Daniels, please don’t even imagine any of that at all. I mean, don’t even go there,” Michael said.

  Richard shook his he
ad in worry. “This is just strange. And I was assured by the aliens that this planet was uninhabited and not the possession of any race whatsoever. What could have happened? Who could they have been?”

  “From what our cameras picked up, the giants did not inhabit the planet, sir. They came in through the light ball, didn’t they? So, that means they came from elsewhere, probably some distant world,” Michael replied.

  “And look at what just seven of them were able to do. Thirty-five percent destruction of our facilities! What if more were to come here? Then what would be our fate?” Richard asked.

  “Please, Mr. Daniels. I think we should not be worrying about that for now. Like Michael said, it is best not to think about additional possibilities,” Andrews replied.

  “I agree with the professor on that, Mr. Daniels. This situation is both serious and critical. When they attacked, we could not even deter or repel them with our arms and ammunitions. No matter how hard we tried, nothing seemed to hold them off. Nothing in our arsenal was strong enough,” Michael said.

  “I can imagine,” Richard said. “Our laser guns are simply not made for any full-scale warfare. They are simply for self-defense and for serving as deterrents to any alien life forms that GEI might discover on any of their expeditions. When we designed them, we never anticipated that we would encounter threats of such gigantic size.”

  “We seem to be missing out on the bigger picture here, Mr. Daniels,” Andrews said.

  “And what should that be, Professor?” Richard asked.

  “Wasn’t this planet supposed to be uninhabited? I mean, free from all form of invasion and encumbrances whatsoever? I thought you were given explicit assurance by the aliens that this planet was a virgin planet?” Andrews asked.

  “Yes, Professor. In fact, I am equally still confused about this. They assured me that it was empty, that it was a bargain deal for what we offered to them. I cannot understand why the giants would want to come here for anything.”

  “This is terrible. Did you see how easily they came after our facilities? From the scale of destruction that they caused, I am sure that we are never going to be any match against those giants,” the professor said.

  “I agree with you, Professor. But besides being a match for them, we have never and will never engage in any form of warfare with any race whatsoever. GEI is a research organization made up of engineers, scientists, and astronauts. We are a commercial entity, not some military base. We are explorers and scientists, not soldiers or a military or paramilitary outfit. We do not fight or engage in wars. This is not what we are about,” Richard said.

  “Then what are we going to do, Mr. Daniels? Those giants clearly did not seem to care about whether we are soldiers, scientists, or comedians,” the professor said.

  “I must get in touch with the aliens as soon as possible, Professor,” Richard said. “That is just the only way out of this mess. I must establish contact with our alien business contacts so that we can immediately get to the root of this matter. That has to be the way out, because it will be completely futile trying to get any help from anyone back at home on Earth.”

  “Help from Earth?” the professor repeated. “Who would even listen to us on Earth? They would simply snub us and tell us that it is our business. After all, we were the ones who decided to venture off into deep and outer space explorations.”

  “You are right about that, Professor. But besides the issue of territoriality and logistics, which nation on Earth can even confront the giants? I doubt if any nation has the required sophisticated arms to engage with such giants in any form. Just look at what they did to GEI’s facilities! And we are a very advanced organization using some of the most technologically advanced equipment,” Richard said.

  “I agree with you, Mr. Daniels,” Andrews said.

  “But first we need to try to get some things back in working order. Apart from securing the lives of our staffs, tourists, and visitors, we have to fix up some forms of transportation so that we can evacuate everyone out of here as quickly as possible,” Richard said.

  “Some of the engineers are already on it, sir,” Katrina said. “We are salvaging as much as we can to get the transmission, power, and transportation systems back online.”

  “We have also formed a perimeter around these existing structures and gotten all of our personnel into them as well,” Michael stated. “Right now, no one is allowed to wander out of this vicinity unaccompanied and without clear authorization to do so.”

  Richard nodded. “That is good. We will continue to maintain this situation as it is until we can get everybody off the planet. Also, ensure that you get in touch with GEI Operations back on Earth. Ask them to send in some bulk passenger carriers as soon as possible. I think that will be a quicker option, rather than trying to fix any of the damaged shuttles here. In fact, tell our engineers to concentrate their efforts on restoring our communications so that we can link back to GEI on Earth. It will be futile trying to get our vehicles fixed here considering the scale of damage and destruction that we have suffered. We cannot risk staying longer than necessary here. We must evacuate the planet immediately.”

  “Okay, sir, we will go back and get all the engineers to work on the transmission and communication gadgets,” Katrina said, and left with Michael.

  Richard looked around their facilities and structures again.

  “Unbelievable, isn’t it?” Andrews asked.

  Richard shook his head. “This is like a nightmare, Professor. First it was the Senate committee getting on my neck because of our ambitious expansion plans. And now this has happened to Dan-X34?”

  “Well, maybe drama is what we should always expect from life, Mr. Daniels. Especially when we are involved in dealing with life outside of the confines of Mother Earth.”

  Richard shook his head again and continued to look outside, lost in several thoughts.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  As Richard walked into his office, Melissa stood up and came after him.

  “Sir, I am sorry about what happened,” she said.

  “Thank you very much, Melissa,” Richard replied.

  “Sir, it was a very horrible and terrible experience,” she said. “When we learnt about the attack, we were all apprehensive and confused about what to do. And to make matters worse, no one was able to understand what had happened. We just could not get through. All that we had here were the initial distress signals which were triggered off when the attacks began. We were just lost in the dark about what was going on until the transmission and communication links were reestablished.”

  “Honestly, I can just imagine what must have been going on back here at Operations. But I am happy that everything still went well, Melissa,” Richard continued. “I was glad when we were able to restore our communication with you back on Earth, after which the carriers and shuttles were sent immediately to evacuate everybody from Dan-X34.”

  “So, everybody has been evacuated from DanX34?” Melissa asked.

  “Yes, everyone has been evacuated. No one was left behind,” Richard said. “The good thing is that we had minor casualties and no loss of life. But 35 percent of GEI’s facilities and structures are a complete write-off right now. Even if we could restore everything, we are not going to go back until I can find out exactly why we were attacked.”

  “Okay, sir. What will you want on your agenda for today?

  “Right now, I need some time alone. I do not want to be disturbed by anyone at all. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Mr. Daniels. I will make sure that nobody disturbs you at all,” Melissa said.

  After she had stepped out and closed the door behind her, Richard walked to the door and locked it from inside. He then walked to the side of his wall where there were a series of paintings.

  Richard paused to admire the works of art. There were several of them hanging on that side of the wall. He used his hand to trace through some of them until he stopped at a particular one in the middle.

  Car
efully, Richard lifted this particular painting and placed it on the marble floor. He then looked up. There on the wall, at the exact position from where he had removed the painting, was a safe. The painting had been hiding its position.

  Richard pressed the electronic keypad by its side and began to dial the access code. Eventually, the door of the safe opened.

  Richard reached into it and brought out a small box. He walked back to the table and sat down, placing the box on the table.

  For a moment, Richard did nothing but stare at the box.

  A lot of thoughts were running through his mind.

  It is the first time that he would use the content of this box, Richard was thinking. All this while he had never had any reason to have to use it to contact those who had given it to him.

  The three alien businessmen.

  But he knew that there was no other way he could resolve the mess of a situation in which he had now found himself and his company.

  “There is no other way,” Richard muttered to himself as he opened the small box.

  Inside, there was a gray ball. He took it out with both hands and held it before him.

  He took a deep breath and began to rub the ball. As he did so, he could feel the ball begin to heat up. As it did, its color changed from gray to white. As the white color covered the ball, it began to emit light rays which flooded every part of Richard’s office. His office had now been transformed and flooded with the white light that was being emitted from the ball.

  At this point, Richard placed the ball back on his desk and waited.

  And then it began to happen. First came the vibrations. The entire office was vibrating violently. As it happened, Richard was glad that his office was actually soundproof and shockproof, which meant that no one in the entire GEI Headquarters Complex was able to experience the vibrations that were currently happening in his office.