“What is this, Doctor?” she asked it. It saw no reason to withhold the information from her.
“Carrie, this device is calibrating our exact distance from point of origin, by collating and referencing the current star chart data and comparing it to astral observations. Your father deemed it to be of upmost importance, as did Mr. Young.” She looked at the machine.
“I have never seen a design like this before, Doctor.” She looked into its eyes intently. It felt something foreign begin to enter its realm. It shut it out and responded quickly.
“I have to do the best I can with the equipment on board. Some of the imaging arrays were damaged in the crash,” it said to her.
“I see,” she replied, still looking steadily and strongly into its eyes.
“Have you learnt anything from the readings?” It had learnt a lot from the readings. Far too much to try and explain to these linear beings, but enough to pacify them.
“I would prefer to finish my readings and report on them once complete. I know you understand, Carrie.” It smiled. The Carrie’s expression did not change. She turned back towards to the ship.
“I’ll join you in five minutes. I would like to secure one more linkup,” it said.
“No problem, Doctor,” she said, not turning her head. It turned its attention back to the device and began downloading the data into its comm pad. It looked in the direction of the forest. It was running out of time. The beast was awake and would be coming for them soon. This most ancient of creatures, the Targlagdu, posed little threat to it but while in corporeal form it could prevent its return to the bliss. It could not allow that. The device began to chirp. The data collection was complete. It packed up its equipment and made its way across the open plain towards the ship. It looked out at the splitting colours of the Sayoko star as it filtered through the haze of artificial blue treetops. It was the Targlagdu’s way of attracting space-faring sentient life forms to its surface. They would soon understand why.
Bridge Conference Room
22:00 Martian Standard
“Where are we?” said Barrington, sitting at the head of the table. He addressed the question to Tyrell and Young, who were both sitting at the foot of the conference desk. There was fear in the room. Carrie sensed that. She was looking at Tyrell, trying to figure out what it was that was sitting across from her.
“It’s not organic,” said Young finally. Tosh and Emerson were side by side next to Carrie at the table.
“What?” said Tosh openly. Carrie noted how tired everyone looked, especially her father. He hadn’t slept in days.
“There isn’t a trace of organic molecules anywhere on the surface,” Young continued. “Whatever those things were that killed Llewellyn were mechanical in nature, not biological.”
Carrie looked at Doctor Meridian, who was looking distantly towards the centre of the table. She hadn’t spoken much since returning from the forest and Carrie was worried about her. She was withdrawn. Emerson was tapping thruster equations into an integrated computer in the table and not paying much attention to anything.
“Tyrone?” Barrington said, turning to Tyrell. He looked at the captain.
“Yes, John?” he said calmly.
“Well?” Barrington pressed, clearly looking for answers. There was a hint of anger in his tone and Carrie wondered if he was about to snap at him. The room looked in Tyrell’s direction. The doctor looked momentarily confused before responding. Carrie felt like he was trying to remember something.
“What was the device you constructed to locate our position?” Young interrupted.
“One thing at a time,” said Barrington to Young, frowning.
“Captain,” Tyrell began. Carrie noticed a slight change in the doctor’s voice. It was somehow deeper.
“The data collected by the device shows our position to be one thousand, three hundred and thirty-two light years from point of origin.”
“What?” said Meridian. Emerson’s eyes widened and looked at Tosh with his mouth wide. A heavy cloud descended on the meeting as everyone began speaking at once.
“That’s impossible,” said Young, looking at Tosh.
“You’re wrong, Doc. There’s just no way that can be the case,” Tosh said, leaning back in his chair.
“The FTL drive worked exactly as we had anticipated it to. Other than the explosion, we have had no fluctuation in power outputs or relative space time compression throughout the entire flight,” said Emerson. A small argument began to take shape between Young and Emerson as to how The Betty was being managed. Carrie looked at Tyrell, who remained perfectly still and impassive. Barrington hit the table with his hand, silencing the room.
“This is not the Aristaeus system?” he said with his thumb rubbing his cheek.
“No,” said Tyrell, “it is not.” His voice was expressionless. “The device I have constructed was specially calibrated to track the stellar transition from point of origin.”
“What the hell is he talking about?” said Meridian.
“Okay, everyone, just be calm please and let the doctor finish saying a complete sentence, so that we can all get to the bottom of this,” said Barrington.
He was not able to contain his frustration any longer. “There are several matters to address currently,” he continued.
“Firstly. This is not the origin of the signal makers’ home world. There is no evidence of a correlating signal from any planet in this system. Secondly, it is the location of Sol. The star the Earth was orbiting before it was destroyed. Before The Agathon’s systems were disrupted it conducted a full scan, as it is programmed to do, of the surrounding visible spectrum in order to calculate its position within the galaxy. What it discovered was that not only had the ship travelled almost twice the distance that it had intended to, but that the relative position of point of origin was not where it should be either. As we all know, planetary systems themselves are expanding outwards and orbiting the galactic centre. Our own is traveling at nearly eight hundred thousand kilometres an hour,” said Tyrell
Meridian put her hands up.
“Okay, seriously, where the fuck are we?” she said.
“Chase!” shouted Barrington. Meridian folded her arms and sat back in her chair, closing her eyes and taking several deep breaths. Tyrell looked at Meridian blankly.
“The position of Sol from our perspective has remained almost stationary. Which is impossible, given the distance that its light has had to travel to reach this planet. A simple calculation, using our distance from origin, leaves us with the conclusion that it is currently nearly seven trillion kilometres from its position when we first activated the FTL drive.”
“Meaning?” Emerson said, wide-eyed.
“A time dilation seems to have occurred.” Carrie looked at the group. Young placed his hand on his mouth. Meridian looked at Barrington.
“What do you mean, a time dilation?” Barrington pressed.
“Time appears to have slowed for those on board The Agathon.” There was silence at the table.
“By how much?” Meridian asked, wide-eyed.
“I would say close to a thousand years,” Tyrell said. There was a collective intake of breath at the table. Meridian’s face seemed to lose all its colour suddenly.
“Doctor, are you telling me that the people we have left behind in the stations have been traveling alone in interstellar space for a thousand years?” Meridian said, shocked. Carrie felt her father reel. She herself could not believe the reality of what Tyrell was saying. She wasn’t entirely sure that she trusted what she was hearing. Although she sensed that the man sitting in front of her was not what everyone else thought he was, she sensed no deception in what he was saying.
“Yes, Captain. Of that there can be no doubt,” concluded Tyrell. His demeanour was calm and he delivered the news without emotion, as if presenting a scientific pa
per to a peer group.
“Jesus, they’re all dead,” said Tosh, with his head in his hands. Carrie felt her father struggle to process the information.
“How can this have happened?” said Young finally.
“Everyone stay calm,” said Barrington quietly. “What do we know about this planet?” he asked. Carrie knew he was trying to ground everyone in the room and try to focus their attention on the present. It was the first rule of crisis management.
“Now that The Agathon’s systems are operational, we are starting a full sweep of the area and beginning core readings,” said Young. “I really don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”
“Chase?” asked Barrington. She had turned white and was wearing a rather grim expression. She shook her head.
“Evolution outside the normal realms of organic biochemistry has been hypothesised, but until now believed to be unlikely. Whatever it was that attacked us was clearly artificial and the construction of the surrounding area would suggest that this entire area was made from a composite alloy,” She said. Barrington shook his head. He looked at Emerson, who didn’t need to be asked the question.
“Bow and stern ventral thrusters are operational, sir. The Betty is undamaged and functional.” He looked at Tyrell.
“Should you ever choose to use it again.”
“I should note one final thing, Captain,” Tyrell said. Meridian looked as if she was physically holding herself for more bad news. “The signal makers’ signal,” he said.
“What about it?” asked Barrington.
“It’s still active. I have also triangulated its position.” Barrington was about to ask a question when he was interrupted by a chirp from the comms.
“Bridge to Captain,” came Boyett’s voice.
“Go ahead,” he said.
“Sir, we have movement. There’s someone walking towards the ship from the treeline,” she said.
“Jesus, it’s them,” said Meridian.
“Do you have a visual?” Barrington said.
“Yes, sir, patching it through,” Boyett answered. They turned to a wall screen that flickered on. It showed the outside of the ship. The sun was beginning to set and the figure was silhouetted. It was definitely human, with short cropped hair. It moved slowly in the direction of the ship. Meridian jumped up from the desk.
“Jesus, it’s Amanda!”
22
The Planet
22:51 Martian Standard
Carrie looked at the silhouetted figure as it stood about fifty meters away, watching the ship. She stepped off the airlock ramp with Brubaker and her father, who was carrying a pulse rifle, and began to walk towards her. The dark female figure did not move.
“Amanda?” shouted Brubaker, who was quickening her pace. Llewellyn didn’t move. Carrie sensed nothing from the young woman. It was like there was nothing there.
“Michelle, hang on,” she said to the doctor, reaching for her arm.
“What are you doing?” Brubaker replied, shrugging off Carrie’s hand. Her father looked at Carrie and backed her up instantly, seeing the doubt in her eyes.
“Doctor, just a moment,” Barrington said.
“Llewellyn, are you all right?” said the captain.
“Sir, all due respect, if she has been injured we need to get over there,” said Brubaker, sounding angry. Carrie’s father didn’t answer. Llewellyn began to walk smoothly towards them. Carrie thought that there was something unnatural about Llewellyn’s rhythm, but dismissed it as paranoia. She still sensed nothing from her. Carrie thought that she could have been tired. It had been nearly two days since they had slept. There was definitely something about the way Llewellyn walked. Carrie felt threatened by it. They stood waiting for Llewellyn, whose face began to lighten. She looked uninjured. There was no blood on her jumpsuit or bruises on her face. Her expression was calm. Carrie took a step back without realising it, as the crewman approached the group and stopped. Brubaker took a step towards her and put her arm on hers.
“Amanda?” she said. “Are you all right?”
Llewellyn turned her head smoothly and looked at the doctor with calm serenity in her eyes.
“Yes, I am fine,” she answered. Carrie still sensed nothing from her, which worried her. There was a presence she could not understand with Tyrell, but with Llewellyn there was nothing. It was like she wasn’t there.
“Amanda, are you hurt?” said the captain. Llewellyn looked at him blankly in the eyes.
“I am not hurt,” she replied. Carrie thought her eyes seemed vacant.
“She’s in shock, John. I need to get her inside,” said Brubaker.
“We thought you were dead,” Barrington said to her. Her nonchalance remained.
“I am fine,” she replied.
“Come inside, Amanda. I need to check you out,” said Brubaker. She placed her hand lightly on Llewellyn’s back and guided her towards the ship. Carrie and her father remained behind, looking into the direction of the forest.
“What do think, Dice?” her father said to her, still looking into the unmoving forest.
“I don’t feel anything from her,” Carrie replied. “It’s like she’s not there.” He turned his head and met her eyes. She could see and feel his mind trying to process a thousand decisions.
“I think we should get off this planet, Father,” she said.
“I think you may be right,” he replied, giving her a wink.
“Go see if that boyfriend of yours is up and about yet, will you?” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. His expression changed to one of confusion as he began to look down at his feet. Something that looked like a tentacle had wrapped itself around his right leg.
“What the...” he began to say before he was pulled crashing onto the ground. Carrie grasped at his hand, which was now firmly holding hers. She looked back at the endless black snake that had taken hold of her father and was beginning to pull him away from her. It must have been hundreds of meters long and was now tightening its grip around his leg.
“Father!” she screamed as he began to struggle and lose ground. He tried to claw at the ground but had nothing to hold onto. Carrie fell to her knees and grabbed his arm with both hands.
“Help!” she cried out to anyone who could hear her. She looked back at her father, who was beginning to show strain against the force of the creature. She suddenly realised that her father was trying to free himself from her grasp. There was a violent tug and he was yanked firmly out of Carrie’s hands. She was thrown onto her back and sent skidding.
“Run,” he said to her, screaming as he was dragged across the ground at speed towards the forest.
“Father!” she screamed, getting to her feet and running after him.
“No!” his voice suddenly said, appearing in her mind. She ignored it and began sprinting towards the edge of the forest. Panic filled her lungs as her heart raced out of control. She began to feel a familiar surge in the tips of her fingers. He was like a rag doll being dragged by a rope. She caught a glimpse of her father disappearing into the darkness of the treeline just as a hand grabbed a tight grip on her arm. She turned to see Chase Meridian out of breath and looking wide-eyed.
“Let go of me,” she screamed. Meridian looked scared. Carrie suddenly realised that she could feel the familiar heat of her eyes and wondered if they had changed colour again. She looked away towards the quiet forest.
“Hold on, Carrie, please. I saw what took him. We can’t fight this, whatever this is, we need help,” she said between breaths. Carrie tried to run again, but Meridian held her arm firmly.
“He’ll die!” she screamed. She could feel small pulses of electrical energy beginning to run up her spine.
“Don’t be stupid, Carrie, we don’t know what it is. It didn’t kill Llewellyn. Just think! The ship will be able to track it and will have sensor da
ta, whatever it is. He wouldn’t want you going in there by yourself and you know it!” Meridian was beginning to match Carrie’s anger now. Carrie began to feel her anger subside and be replaced with fear. She looked at Meridian and nodded.
“We’ll get him back,” Meridian said. “I promise you.” Carrie believed her and turned back to the ship to see others running in their direction. Emerson and Young were running towards them.
“What the hell happened?” shouted Young.
“The captain’s been taken,” said Meridian, looking at Carrie. She felt like the world had just crumbled from underfoot and felt weak. She could still feel her father and knew that he was alive. “We need to talk to Amanda,” said Meridian.
“Right now. We need to know where the hell she’s been!” They all turned and began running back to the ship.
Bridge
23:00 Martian Standard
Charly Boyett sat in the flight chair and ran the last set of start-up protocols. Sam Reynolds was under her console, bypassing one of the damaged thruster control units and there was a light flurry of activity to the rear of the bridge with several crewmen running various system checks.
“Don’t get too comfortable down there, Sam. I don’t like your vantage point,” she said to the engineer with a slight raise of her eyebrow. Reynolds chuckled lightly.
“Yes, sir,” he replied, closing a panel under the main flight controls. He stood up and leaned over the console, pushing in a command on the computer panel.
“Okay try it now, Lieutenant,” he said politely. Boyett tapped her entry code and the panel came to life. She gave Reynolds an appreciative nod and was about to task him with reconnecting one of the bridge monitors when the comms chirped.
“Young to Bridge. Emergency,” came Young’s voice, sounding out of breath. Boyett sat up straight and answered.
“Boyett here, Mr Young. Report,” she said.
“Something attacked the captain. He’s been taken into the forest. Looks like one of those things. Lock the ship down.” Reynolds looked at Boyett. She hesitated momentarily, not fully realising what Young was saying.
The Agathon: Book One Page 27
