Terranus: Renaissance: Book two of the 'Terranus: Origins' series.

by Joe Crouch

  The sounds of the wilderness distracted him as he worried about the alien creatures that he had no knowledge of, at any moment a four-headed tiger or a rampaging rhino’s large tusks could have charged him from the thick overgrowth which surrounded him.

  “Sean!” came a faint cry from the distance. His crew drew closer, he could have easily yelled back to get their attention, but the thin layer of mist which started to roll in from the bush refreshed him with its low temperatures. For a moment longer he ignored the worried cries of his name and laid down on the log, looking up at the network of branches above. Bright orange birds with six wings soared across the open space, weaving between the dense tree cover as they circled back and sat on a branch as it swayed in the gentle breeze. “Sean!” came the cry again, but this time he pushed himself up off the log with a huff and called back.

  “I’m over here,” he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth, “I’m fine, don’t rush on my account… I’d like some alone time,” he whispered the last few words. Within moments the four remaining members of the crew pushed through the shrubs, each with their own look of relief on their faces as they saw him, apart from Taris, who looked at him with the sharpest of daggers in her eyes.

  “You had me worried you idiot,” she said, pushing his shoulder but then hugging him around the waist, “Why did you run off like that?”

  “I saw someone watching us from the bushes,” he replied, drawing his repeater, “I gave chase, which would have looked great by the way, and followed him here with no incident what-so-ever, nope, nothing halted me in my tracks.”

  “Then what are those mud stains down the front of your suit?” Remulus asked to which the crew pointed and laughed at the vulnerable Human as if they were back in the school yard. Waving away the mockery, he turned and showed them the tight fissure within the cliff.

  “He, or she, I don’t know, escaped in there,” he begun, strolling over to its entrance and pushing away the thin cover of vines, “They haven’t come out since, but most interestingly,” he said, turning to Remulus, “They had red skin, just like yours.” Nodding, she acknowledged that the target had to have been Veterum as to Fez’s knowledge that pigment existed nowhere else in the known Galaxy. Not wanting to waste any more time, Sean put his weapon out in front of him, pushed aside the vines with the barrel of the weapon and went to proceed, only to be pulled back to the vicious tug of Taris.

  “We’re not actually going in there… are we?” she trembled, trying her hardest to hide her true feelings from everyone else, “Not that I’m scared or anything, but how do we know it’s even the right person?”

  “They had red skin…” Zarid sighed, pulling out a pistol, “Come on now, what’s the worst that can happen?” right on cue came the deafening, but distant roar of what sounded like a giant animal from deep within the cave. “I take that back,” he said pointedly, “I’m with her, let’s all head back to Emeio for some Lambda, ‘tis a silly place, anyway.” Shaking his head and with a tug at Taris’ arm, Sean snapped on his weapon’s light on and headed into the cave.

  Large stalactites dangled from the ceiling as stalagmites pierced out from the soggy ground, on occasion the two met to form a fragile pillar of dark rock. Off to the side of the large open space, a pool of water cascaded away through an opening the hydraulic action of the water had carved many millennia ago. As he walked further a bright blue light engulfed the cavern, shielding his eyes he looked around for the source only to notice a spherical object dug deep into the surface of the craggy wall. Putting his face right up against its surface, the wave of heat which emanated out from its exterior was scorching, especially to the touch.

  “What’s this?” he asked, thumbing over his shoulder towards the object. Remulus walked over and inspected it closer.

  “That’s an old Veterum atmospheric controller,” she said, digging away at the rock it was lodged in with a blunt instrument, “It can raise and lower temperatures of an area while providing some other basic functions such as illumination.” Nodding, he lowered his weapon and re-joined the crew as they circled the area looking for any hidden paths. The cave walls were covered with a thick layer of vines and outgrowths, pushing them aside Sean had found little more than rough stone, but as he exposed the hidden atmospheric controllers they flashed into life illuminating a seemingly linear path towards something. Following his predictions, he ran his hand along the exposed portions of wall searching for additional controllers. To his surprise, his gut instinct turned out to be correct as Fez recoiled away across the other side of the room as two strong beams of light shone out from dual spheres which were placed either side of a naturally occurring hole in the wall.

  “I have found something,” the captain yelled, his voice echoed throughout the wide-open space destroying any element of surprise they had hoped to achieve. Gathering around, they each peered through the wide gap. Beyond was a thin, precarious path which circled around the outside of a deep crater that disappeared into nothingness as they looked over the unguarded edge of the trail. Waterfalls flowed from all heights, crashing onto the muddy, rocky track and running off down into the dark abyss.

  “Whelp,” Sean huffed, placing his back firmly against the wall, “I’ve got a new phobia.”

  “A phobia of dying?” Zarid asked, “’Cause that’s what’s ‘bout to happen here I reckon.” Shaking his head, he took another glance out at the spiralling pathway and felt his entire body clench up in fear, but he did notice that the Veterum spheres ran along the wall dimly illuminating the way they should go.

  “You first,” Taris smiled as she gently pushed him forward. Fumbling around he quickly grabbed onto a vine and held on for his life with his eyelids glued together as he whimpered like a lonely dog. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw the dry patch of land in front of him, with all his might he placed his foot out onto the spiral as his legs trembled and felt as if they were made of jelly. With a deep intake and exhale of breath, he stepped fully out onto the platform while still gripping tightly to the emergency rope of a vine. His mouth dried up as he took a quick peek over the edge, the light spheres circled down about a quarter of the way, so wiping away the sweat which beaded on his forehead he let go of the vine and held himself up. The rest of the team soon followed, each feeling the rush of vertigo as it soon hit them how far of a drop the crater was.

  They cautiously moved down the spiralling pathway as small rocks fell away from them, they listened out for the splash below to judge how far it was, but the sound never came. Sean squashed himself up against the rough, rock wall as he moved, his heart tried its hardest to punch out from his chest but his controlled breathing stopped him from passing out – For now. A loud crack came from overhead and in the blink of an eye a massive stalactite from the ceiling snapped and rushed passed them at incredible speeds. The large piece of rock splashed down below as a thin mist dispersed throughout the entire cave.

  “Well, I would say the drop is approximately five-hundred meters,” Remulus said, casually strolling beside Sean with little care in the world, “Although I would not recommend falling from this height, the surface tension of the…”

  “Alright,” Sean interjected, placing a hand on her shoulder for her to stop, “I get it.” With a confused look, the Veterum shrugged and continued.

  The crew carried on for a few minutes more before his guiding hand whiffed with nothing to grip onto, he tumbled forwards but the quick reactions of Remulus grabbed him, pulling him in close. The two shared a look for a moment as he wrapped his arms around her tightly before letting go, dusting himself down. Turning to see what had happened, he saw a narrow pathway leading off from their own, and at the end was a crudely constructed door which sat lopsided in a makeshift frame.

  “Well that’s interesting,” he said, waving everyone towards him, as Taris walked over she looked him knowingly in the eyes about what had just transpired with Remulus, he shrugged and ignored her for now.

  Gathered around the door, Fez took
point and drew his carbine, Zarid, with a pistol in hand, unhurriedly pushed the door open, it swung backwards with a loud squeak that would have woken the dead. Grimacing at the fact, Fez pointed his weapon through the door as he snaked around into the room followed quickly by the Fre. What greeted them was not what they expected. The room was lavished from floor to ceiling in alien technology, it hung from every rocky outcropping, sat on top of every large boulder, and even was laid neatly out on the long wooden table which sat centrally in the room. An unkempt bed was pushed into the corner with clothes scattered across the floor, spherical controllers lit the room from above but their light shone a bright white instead of the blue they had grown accustomed to. Remulus strolled over towards what appeared to be a trash pile of devices which had gathered in the corner and rifled through it until she pulled out gadget similar to what was still wrapped around Sean’s forearm.

  “Hey, it’s a shield,” he spoke up excitedly, “I can have one for both arms and go around like this,” he said with both arms out in front of him, pretending to deflect away incoming rounds from every direction.

  “This is not a personal protection device,” Remulus corrected, “This is a local scanner, although it appears to be slightly damaged, I’m sure I could fix it if given enough time.”

  “More interestingly,” Taris begun, wiping her finger along the top of the gleaming, golden chest of draws which sat flush against the bed, “This has to be where the pilot is staying, there’s no way any of this stuff is new.”

  “You are right,” Remulus said, “All of this technology is centuries old, it matches up perfectly with the time the ships were sent out from Caladrius.”

  “Well, they must be close by, then,” Zarid added, inspecting a small weapon he picked up off the floor closer, “Can I keep this?”

  “Sure, whatever,” Fez replied, flicking through the stack of books which was piled high atop the rickety circular table in the corner. Sean sat down in one of the cold, stone chairs and threw his feet up onto the table as he bit into a piece of fruit he found amongst others in a chilled fridge-like box. Loud clattering and banging came from behind him as Remulus threw the spent devices across the room, searching for anything she could bring back to the Mar’Ell to fix up and use. He watched as Zarid toyed with his new pistol-like device, it reminded him a lot of old Earth revolvers with the long barrel with a crescent shaped grip. The Fre aimed the weapon at the wall, pushing down on the button a flash of purple filled the room as a bolt of energy slammed into the rock face leaving a large scorch mark.

  “Oh I like this,” he beamed, smelling the end of the barrel, “That’s the good stuff.” Laughing to himself, he watched as Taris cleaned up the mess they had made, in the excitement he had forgotten they were ransacking someone else’s room so with a guilty conscience he got up and helped her out. The pair worked in silence for a moment before the female Ioution leant over to him.

  “Do you like her?” she asked. The question threw him off guard, there wasn’t any anger or malice in her voice, only a sad resignation that made him recoil and feel awful.

  “Don’t be so ridiculous,” he whispered, looking her in the eyes, “You know what you mean to me, I wouldn’t have spent the last six months by your side if I was to just up and go with the next cute alien I saw.”

  “So you think she’s cute?” she replied with a scornful look on her face. Sean hesitated for a moment as the cogs turned in his mind, he knew the next few words were crucial, this was far more frightening that the potential drop into the abyss.

  “Yeah, sure,” he said, gulping, “I think loads of people are cute, but I only love one, and that’s you.”

  “You’ve never told me that before,” she smiled timidly before falling into his arms and relaxing in his embrace. The two shared a genuine moment before Fez called out that he had found something. With a watchful eye, the team gathered around looking at a small box, its surface pulsed a faint purple as a thin layer of shielding encompassed it. Bending down, Sean grabbed the box but a violent jolt coursed through his body and sent him crashing to the ground. With a vehement expletive lashed out at the top of his voice, he jumped to his feet ready to kick the box half way back home, only the calming hand of Taris stopped him. With her vast knowledge, Remulus got to one knee and inspected the box closer, she pointed out a small divot on its exterior where an electronic key would fit.

  They took their time searching every nook and cranny, furniture was toppled over or gathered into an untidy pile in the centre of the room as they moved everything. It didn’t take long for the team to give up, and coming up empty handed they mulled around as they thought about their next move.

  “We cannot just pick it up and leave,” argued Remulus, standing firm that they shouldn’t leave a lone Veterum on a planet surrounded by Xuron to fend for themselves, “We must find the pilot and bring them with us, they may have vital information about the device.”

  “So you’re not worried about their safety?” Sean asked.

  “Not at all,” replied Remulus, “All Veterum are trained in some form of combat and evasion techniques, the proof is in how long they have survived already.” She gave off a cold aura as she so casually brushed off one of her own. Everything he had learnt about the Veterum painted them as a regimented race of isolationists that had suffered at the cruel hand of war. Maybe it was his own experience painting a different, biased picture in his head, but to him, you never left a soldier behind, especially one, for all intents and purposes, that had been left out to dry by their superiors.

  “Well, what do we do then, captain?” Zarid asked, looking out from the doorway.

  “I think we find the pilot and…” Fez was interrupted by a high-pitched screaming that came from deep within the network of caves followed by a deafening roar. In a flash, everyone grabbed their things, armed their weapons, and shot out from the cave in pursuit. As they stood atop the precipice, the sound seemed as if it came from below. They picked up their speed as they circled around the long, winding path towards the inevitable danger. Flashes of green pushed back the darkness below as plasma blasts rang out, with a quick glance Sean noticed a large, shadowy figure, an animal of some kind, advancing on the plasma’s source as it circled around what appeared to be a large pool.

  “We have to hurry,” barked Sean as he kept one hand on the wall to his left. Running along the rocky road he came to a sudden stop as a crack in the path halted their advance. Bending down and looking over the rugged edge he saw that they had covered a substantial distance, but the only way across the break was to jump, a prospect he was not entirely pleased with. “Guys…” he said with a plum-sized object in his throat, “I think we have to jump across this gap.” Without another word Zarid rushed forwards and leapt off from one foot, he soared across the wide gap landing with a roll. The Fre turned and smiled towards the group.

  “I don’t get enough opportunities to show off,” he admitted, brushing down his suit, “I couldn’t pass it up.” Sean stood on the edge, looking down into the void below as another plasma bolt sparked off, he looked across to Zarid who encouraged him to hurdle over, reminding him that he was there to catch him in case anything went awry. With a deep breath and shaky legs, he stepped back a few meters, clenched his muscles, and set off at a full sprint. As he reached the edge he quickly stopped and grabbed onto a rock that extruded out from the wall.

  “I can’t do it,” cried Sean, “It’s too far to jump, what if I hit the side and fall all the way down into that damn monster below us, what a waste of perfectly good talent.”

  “You massive baby,” Taris sighed as she took a running jump over the gap, her long legs allowing her to seemingly step across it with ease. The rest of the team followed suit and jumped across the break with little to no problems, but Sean’s tight grip on the rock remained, he only caught short glimpses of the potential drop, but that was enough to put him off. “Right, that’s it,” she moaned, “We’re just going to leave ‘ya if you’re going
to be stupid.”

  “No, no, no!” he yelled. Stepping back, he took one last breath as he leapt, but as he did the ledge under his foot gave way and he slipped into an uncontrolled dive. Time seemed to slow as he tumbled through the air, holding out his arms he flailed in a desperate attempt to latch onto anything. He gritted as he felt the sudden foreboding of death wash over him, hitting the water from his height would have meant death, but at the last moment, the outstretched hand of Fez wrapped around his wrist. The Ioution struggled for a moment before the others held on tight to the captain and pulled him back, in turn pulling up the distressed Sean. He laid on his back panting heavily, Remulus came over and held out a hand which he slapped away, he was wide-eyed as the adrenaline rushed through his veins. “That could have been it,” he muttered, “It could have been all over.”

  “So melodramatic,” sighed Taris, giving him a gentle boot in the side, “Come on, get up,” she ordered as he writhed around in pain. With all the strength he could muster, he pushed himself up from the floor, readied his weapon and burst into a rapid jog surprising everyone.

  The screams grew louder the further they progressed until there was only silence. Worried, they picked up the pace until they found themselves jumping off a small ledge onto a thin strip of land below. Waterfalls crashed all around them, spraying water as a dense mist hung in the air. The large pool glistened like a crystal as the team looked around with their flashlights. The creature seemed to have disappeared and all signs of the pilot were gone.

  “Where is he?” Zarid yelled over the thunderous sound of the water crashing into the deep pool beside them, “Is it a he?” Aiming his light out into the rippling body of water Sean scanned for any signs of life until he caught the faintest glimpse of something gleaming in the lake. Without hesitation, he jumped in. Swimming against the power of the falling water was an exhausting task, but he was rewarded as a Veterum lay face up floating off to the side.