T'aafhal Legacy 1: Ghosts of Orion

by Doug L. Hoffman

  “Shuttle One, this is Peggy Sue. I see you have restored telemetry from recon three.”

  “Roger, Peggy Sue. I think it must have been Drainpipe Two laying extra relays. They filled the gap created when the drone's relay was smashed.”

  “We concur, Shuttle One. How do you propose to proceed?”

  Bobby paused a moment for thought. Just speaking to the ship helped suppress the growing dread he had been feeling. There was still no indication that they had lost anyone, other than that first drone, and reestablishing control over drone three was a hopeful sign.

  “Peggy Sue, be advised I am going to bring recon drone three and Drainpipe Two back to the surface. Then we can send them down the same path as Drainpipe One. If they are having a telemetry problem for the same reason as the drone we should be able to reestablish contact without any problem.”

  “Roger that, Shuttle One. We will continue to monitor from here.”

  “Roger, Peggy Sue. Break, break. Drainpipe Leader, Shuttle One. We are going to order recon drone three to return to the surface. Have Drainpipe Two reverse course and come back to the shuttle.”

  “Roger, Shuttle One. Understood.”

  Elder's Chamber

  In a side chamber, several passageways away from the recon drones and their would be rescuers, an assemblage of sentient boulders were holding a conference. By acclamation, Qz@px was the leader of the older lava creatures. The collection of elders was as close as the creatures came to a government, being highly evolved they had little time for such tomfoolery. The topic of discussion was what, if anything, to do about the visitors currently making their way through the interior of the metal moon.

  “I find these new creatures very annoying,” said one of the eldest present. “It's bad enough they are constantly squawking, they leave small noisemakers behind them that constantly squawk back.”

  “I find that if you crush one of the little noisemakers the others fall silent,” said another.

  While many of the lava creatures were very old, tens of thousands of years old, most spent their time in solitary contemplation. Qz@px was a bit of an anomaly among them, for he paid attention to things happening throughout the star system they inhabited, not just the little moon on which they lived. Over the millennia he had seen other visitors come and go, usually seeking out the inner planets and seldom calling on the gas giant his home orbited. As a result, his level of knowledge regarding aliens was far superior to that of his peers.

  “I do not believe the things that entered the tunnels were creatures at all,” he said, causing several side conversations to cease.

  “What do you mean, they aren't creatures?” demanded the relay crusher.

  “Other visitors have brought devices with them, automata that can explore on their masters behest,” Qz@px explained. “Such devices often constantly babble to each other and their masters, who stay comfortably out of harm's way.”

  “Is that why they make so much noise?”

  “Probably. And since it would be hard for the three initial automata to hear one another or the small ship they arrived in once the were inside the tunnels, I suspect the little noise makers are simple repeaters. They pass messages among the explorers and their ship.”

  “So they are not really living creatures at all.”

  “And Zz#tx didn't kill an alien, he just ate one of the aliens' machines,” said Kq*zt. He and Gx!pk had come to the elders chamber to report what they had witnessed, shadowing the aliens.

  “That is correct,” replied Qz@px, “though I doubt that the real aliens will be pleased with providing Zz#tx a meal.”

  “He didn't like it much, if that's any consolation,” added Gx!pk. “But I think that smashing the repeaters might also upset the aliens, if it means they can no longer talk with their machines.”

  “Yes, Gx!pk, you are correct. We need to spread the word that none of the alien devices should be destroyed, no matter how annoying they are. Unless I miss my guess, there will be more visitors entering the tunnels to see what happened to the first ones.”

  “More of the little metal balls like the one that was eaten?”

  “Possibly, or some of the aliens themselves. And beware, the aliens may be dangerous in ways you have never seen. Creatures that build starships have a tendency to also build things called weapons, which can inflict pain, damage and even death on other beings.”

  The chamber was suddenly very quiet as Qz@px's words sank in. Creating devices was a strange enough concept for most of the creatures present. Creating devices that inflicted harm on other sentient beings was almost beyond belief.

  Mortality was seldom if ever a matter of daily contemplation for the sentient boulders. Nor was death a common occurrence among the lava creatures. They had no natural enemies and suffered from no fatal diseases. On rare occasion, one of the very old would simply tire of existence and expire. They would be found one day in a side tunnel or on the surface, cold and rock hard through and through.

  “So what would you suggest we do, Qz@px?” asked one of the other elders.

  “I would suggest we send some of the youngsters to keep an eye on the visitors, to see what they do next. The rest of us need to stay out of their way—and no more smashing or eating the aliens' devices, it might annoy them.”

  “Well they have annoyed me by just coming here,” one of the senior elders griped.

  “Be that as it may, we need to treat them with care. There is no telling what they might do if provoked. We will keep watch on them. Perhaps they will try to make contact with us, or maybe they will simply go back to where they came from if they find nothing of interest on our little moon.”

  There was a murmur of general agreement among the elders as the youngsters present headed out to spy on the aliens and their strange devices. Among the cadre of spies were Gx!pk and Kq*zt, both excited by the prospect of more adventures.

  “I think this is just super, we should have visiting aliens every day,” enthused Gx!pk.

  “Let's see how this encounter goes before we ask for more tourists,” his friend replied, as they disappeared into the maze of tunnels.

  Chapter 14

  Shuttle One

  “Recon drone three just emerged from the tunnel, Bobby,” Mizuki reported from her position at the copilot's controls. The starboard telemetry display showed a view of the shuttle itself from the drone's perspective. “It must have passed the Marines on the way back up the tunnel.”

  “Great. I think we should send it down the tunnel Drainpipe Leader went down. It can keep an eye on what's going on in their rear.”

  “OK.” Mizuki sent a string of commands to the bot, causing it to rotate and head swiftly for the central tunnel that the Gunny and her companions took.

  “Look. Here come Bosco and Kato.”

  Mizuki looked up and saw the dark forms of the armored Marines drift out of the tunnel mouth to float above the moon's uneven surface. After taking a few moments to orient themselves Kato's voice came over the comm.

  “Shuttle One, Drainpipe Two. We have you in sight.”

  “Roger that, Drainpipe Two. Proceed to the tunnel used by Drainpipe One and advance until you make contact with Hitch and Jacobs.”

  “Understood, Shuttle One. We are to go find Drainpipe One.”

  “Affirmative, Drainpipe Two. Be advised that we have lost communications with Drainpipe One. It may be the same situation as your drone, something destroying a relay or two.”

  “Roger that.”

  “Interrogative your relay supply?”

  “We both have about a dozen left apiece. Over.”

  “Good. Let us know as soon as you make contact.”

  “Roger, Shuttle One.”

  From the cockpit, one of the Marines could be seen waving at the shuttle before heading off in the direction of the specified tunnel entrance. Bobby raised a hand in reply, though it was doubtful that the gesture could be seen through the shuttle's windscreen. The two Marines drifted gracefully a
cross the spiky, dimpled metallic surface, like balloons in a holiday parade.

  “How long will it take for them to find the others?”

  “I don't know, Mizuki. The others have been gone for a couple of hours. I hope they can reestablish communications with Drainpipe One quicker than that by restoring the telemetry repeater chain.”

  “We don't know where the break is; it could take minutes or hours to reach.”

  “Yeah. You know, years ago I always wanted to be in command. I didn't realize then that command often means waiting and worrying while others go in harm's way. I learned that lesson later and had thankfully forgotten it until today.”

  “Think of Billy Ray and Beth back in the ship. They are twice removed from the action.”

  “Let's just hope that the only 'action' we encounter is smashed sensor relays. Combat of any kind inside those tunnels would be a nightmare.”

  Mizuki reached over and placed her left hand over Bobby's right hand and gave it a squeeze. Silently they exchange glances and then turned back to the telemetry readouts.

  Drainpipe Leader

  Rosey, Umky, and Vinny drifted along the tunnel leading to the chamber where recon drone two disappeared under possibly violent circumstances. Over suit-to-suit they chatted amongst themselves.

  “Gunny, did I mention that I'm claustrophobic?” said Vinny.

  “You're not approved for claustrophobia, DeSilva. So suck it up, Marine.”

  Umky chuckled—a low resonating rumble that sounded nothing like amusement. “How do you think I feel? I'm six times your size, primate.”

  “Yuck it up, furball,” Vinny quipped. “You're not finding this a bit confining?”

  “I'm finding it rather peaceful, drifting through dark passages encased in my own suit. Temperature set to something reasonable, no monkey smell and no Ahnah.”

  “Don't tell me you are having romantic problems with the only other polar bear on the mission?” asked Rosey.

  “Not at the moment,” Umky said, evading the question.

  “Hey, what monkey smell?” asked Vinny.

  “You humans have practically no sense of smell compared to us bears. I can smell a single human kilometers away. Imagine what it's like being stuck in a metal tube with dozens of you for months at a time.”

  “And you can pick Ahnah out of that background odor?” asked Rosey, still looking for the inside story on the relationship between the expedition's two polar bears.

  “Hell, every time she's fertile her scent permeates the whole ship. And even when she's not I still know she's there. This mating instinct crap is a pain in the rump.”

  Yeah, tell me about it, Rosy thought, If I hadn't gotten frisky with my squadmates I wouldn't be drifting down a solid metal sewer pipe, headed for where a clown bot got snuffed by parties unknown. Out loud she simply said, “That must be a distraction.”

  “That ain't the half of it. We both live in the same habitat on the ship so I can't just avoid her. I'm afraid that one night I'll have a couple of brandies and things will get amorous—I do not want a couple of little white furballs running around calling me 'daddy'.”

  “I though you bears only mated at one time of year?”

  “We smart bears are a bit different than your garden variety polar bear. Our females are fertile in the spring and cycle in and out of heat every few weeks until they get pregnant. If we ever find the T'aafhal I have a bone to pick with them about that.”

  “So you're saying that Ahnah is going to be fertile until she gets pregnant?”

  “In the wild it passes with the onset of winter. On board ship I've got no idea how long it will last. Worst thing about it is it makes her kind of flirty.”

  Yeah, me too, Rosey thought, biology is a real bitch.

  Rosey's little recon drone chirped an alarm as it halted at the end of the tunnel, where it beamed back an infrared view of the large cavern beyond.

  “OK, Marines, we have arrived at our destination. Time to look sharp. Break. Shuttle One, Drainpipe Leader, do you copy?”

  “Go, Drainpipe Leader.”

  “We are about to enter the chamber where contact was lost with the recon drone.”

  “Roger that. Exercise extreme caution, Drainpipe Leader.”

  Without further conversation the three Marines entered the large chamber and spread out around the tunnel opening. Rosey's mini-bot moved into the open space and illuminated the cavern. Along the walls were boulders of many sizes, ranging from one to two meters in diameter.

  “Gunny, did the missing clown bot report boulders?”

  “No, DeSilva, it didn't. I think we are about to meet what crushed the recon drone.”

  Across the chamber a particularly large boulder began moving toward the Earthlings.

  Drainpipe One

  Hitch and Jacobs hung inverted above the floor of the shaft. Above them their mini-bots hovered, illuminating the bottom of the pit. The floor itself was hidden by a carpet of loose crystals of unknown depth. The crystals came in many shapes and sizes, ranging from the size of grapes to the size of eggplants.

  Many of the crystals were rounded octahedra, but others displayed multiple facets that could have belonged to a cube, hexahedron or dodecahedron. Sometimes they were grown together forming double crystals, while still others were long octagonal rods or spiky clumps. They came in colors including yellow, brown, blue, and colorless. Less prevalent were green, pink, violet, orange, purple and red. The colorless ones split white light into spectral colors, sending festive rainbows shimmering up the shaft walls.

  “What is this stuff?” asked Hitch.

  “It looks like a big pile of gemstones,” replied Jacobs, reaching down to pickup one of the larger crystals. “I'm going to do a spectroscopic analysis on one of them.”

  The suits of heavy armor worn by the two sailors were the same as those worn by the Marines. Their gauntleted hands were definitely not meant for delicate or precision work. Instead of designing an array of custom tools for use by the clumsy mitts of those suited up for combat, a number of devices were built into the the suit gloves themselves. One of those tools was a laser torch that could vaporize small material samples and feed them into a miniaturized mass spectrometer. Holding the large crystal in his right hand, Matt extended the index finger on his left glove and touched it to the stone.

  A beep sounded in his helmet to indicate that the sample had been gathered and analysis was underway. A quarter of a minute later the computer in Matt's suit indicated the analysis was complete.

  “So what does it say?” asked Hitch.

  “It says it's almost pure carbon with some trace elements.”

  “And what does that mean?”

  “It means that this is a diamond,” said Jacobs, “a very big diamond.”

  “What!” Hitch was gobsmacked. “What about all these others, test more of them!”

  “Hey, you have a tester too. Lend a hand.”

  Hitch picked up a blue gem and gave it the mass spectrometer finger. “Hey, what is α-Al2O3?”

  “Am I a chemist? Ask your computer.”

  “Oh, yeah. It says it's an aluminum oxide called corundum.”

  “That makes what you're holding a sapphire. Depending on the presence of other elements they can come in all sorts of colors. For instance, chromium turns them red. You know, red as in rubies?”

  “Are they worth anything?”

  “Big ones can be worth more than diamonds, depending on color and purity.”

  “Damn, this is like stumbling across Ali Baba's treasure cave!”

  Together, the two friends began feverishly testing crystal of all sizes, shapes and colors. With each new sample their excitement grew until they were consumed by wealth induced giddiness. Hitch scooped up a handful of stones and flung them at Jacobs.

  Jacobs returned the favor and soon they were both laughing and throwing gemstones at each other like boys on a dirt pile. Standing on the mound of glittering crystals, behaving like madmen, Jac
obs and Hitch were oblivious to things happening around them.

  Platform Above The Gem Pit

  Kq*zt and Gx!pk had found their way to another platform on the shaft wall above the gem pit. Peering over the edge, the two friends spotted strange dark shapes at the bottom of the shaft.

  “What in the world are they?” asked Gx!pk. “They aren't at all like the small spherical thing that Zz#tx ate.”

  “They are either a different type of automata, or maybe they are the aliens themselves,” replied Kq*zt. Both were operating with a severe deficit of experience—neither had ever seen any type of space alien before. “Why would they be at the bottom of a privy?”

  “Look!” Gx!pk hissed. “Look at what they're doing!”

  The two dark figures below were hopping about, throwing handfuls of crystals at each other. They were yelling as well, though their utterances were unintelligible.

  “I cannot believe it,” said the astonished Kq*zt.

  “They are throwing poo at each other!” Gx!pk's voice was laden with disgust. “They are standing in a latrine playing with poo!”

  “They do seem rather odd. Maybe they are a race of coprophilic monsters?”

  “You mean they are all like that?” Gx!pk paused. “Oh no.”

  “Now what?”

  “All this running around, and now watching the aliens in the toilet, I have a sudden need to take a dump.”

  “You are kidding, right?”

  “No, I'm not. I haven't gone in quite a while, and all this excitement has started things... moving.”

  Drainpipe Two

  Drainpipe Two arrived at the platform previously occupied by Drainpipe One. Cautiously looking over the edge into the pit, the Marines spied the two sailors hopping about. Over their suit radios they could hear the two men yelling back and forth, though their words made no sense.

  “What are they doing?” asked Bosco. “And why are they throwing rocks at each other?”

  “I don't know, man. Sailors are all a bit crazy if you ask me.”

  “Da, and those two are crazier than most.”