by Unknown
“We thought you enemies and you are our brothers. I have summoned the people of my village to this place. Together we will fight the enemies of our freedom,” he said then turning to Mike. “And we will help you, my brother, win back your son’s freedom.”
“It will not be easy,” Mike said to the Chief.
The Chief smiled at him. “The first twenty years were not easy,” he said. “Maybe we can make it easier for all of us.”
With that, the chief gave some orders and a fire was built and game brought in for a breakfast. The planning lasted most of the day.
Dickson called the meeting to order. Seated at the table were Thompson, Pike, Dr. Noland, Commander Tosh, and Ashley and Mary Wilkes. He had waited until the expedition was on its way before starting on this new course of action. The additional delay was because of the Professor’s discoveries. All materials had been analyzed and the results had been startling.
“I called this meeting to do two things, one to check the status of the Wilkes expedition to Brana’s base and discuss our actions once operations commence. The second is to discuss the latest findings of our search of the underground community found just a few days ago and decide on a course of action. We will begin with the Wilkes Expedition. Commander, I take it you and your side of the operation are ready?” Dickson asked.
Wilkes looked up from his work pad. “The aircraft have been manufactured and the simulator emitters installed. Each aircraft has been equipped with additional sensors and communications equipment so that the simulator computers can operate the planes. The operation will be based out of simulator three and I will be there to monitor the flight. The simulator has been programmed to mirror the operation so that I can watch it first-hand,” he said. “Once the damping emitters have been destroyed, I will stream the aircraft to the tarmac. Both planes will have a full load of fuel and ammunition plus two wing racks loaded with one 1,000 lb. general purpose bomb each.”
“What will the bombs be used for?” Dr. Noland asked.
Mary Wilkes answered. “We estimated that there are between 50 and 100 of these shuttles being stored in the large hangar facility on the base. As the planes take off, they will drop their bombs on that facility to limit the number of shuttles that can engage the planes or chase down Mike in the Catalina. If we can catch these shuttles before they take off, we all stand a far better chance of getting away, assuming that Mike and his team are successful,” she said in explanation. Noland nodded in agreement.
“I will be monitoring the activity of the Catalina and either before or after she takes off, depending on Mike’s progress, I will activate the emitters and Yeager and Anderson will start their aircraft and take off. First they will bomb the hangar facility and then provide cover for the withdrawal,” Wilkes said. “Once everyone is away, the fighters will continue to hover over the base in case one or two of the shuttles manages to get airborne. Once well clear and there is no further danger to the expedition, we can beam the aircraft back to the Lexington and reclaim the materials,” he said.
“I talked to Mike just before this meeting,” Thompson added. “They have made contact with a local native tribe which is not very fond of Brana’s activities either. They are already making plans for a joint effort to keep Brana and his men off balance. Right now, the two Marines are scouting the road leading to and from the base while Mike and Commander Ramey are scouting out the base perimeter,” he said.
Dickson gave him a quizzical look. “What about Lieutenant Commander Hadaie?”
Thompson grinned. “It seems Lieutenant Commander Hadaie must remain in camp under a guard.”
“Under guard?” Tosh wondered out loud.
“I understand Hadaie had to exert himself a bit when the natives appeared. Because of that, the natives feel that their new deity must remain in camp and be protected,” Thompson said. The smiles all around the table masked the feelings of the group, most of which felt like falling on the deck laughing.
“Then everything seems to be going better than planned?” Dickson asked.
“Yes sir. They may actually stand a pretty good chance now with the help of the natives,” Thompson said.
“Very good,” Dickson said. “Now let’s think about the worst case scenario. I know Mike’s wishes on this matter, however if things do go wrong, what are our options?”
“I’ve been able to analyze the masking system they’re using,” Pike said. “It is very similar to an earlier Alliance design of about 200 years ago when we were first exploring space. It’s based on a particular electromagnetic - ion combination that modulated all frequencies forming a barrier between both sides. Nothing went out and nothing could come in. It was very effective if used on something stationary. Unfortunately it hinders their communications as much as ours. During our surveillance, we found a small transmitter and receiver station ten miles inside the jungle from the base. It is fortified with another electric fence and has been visually camouflaged. On closer look, it appears to have all of General Brana’s communications equipment, antennas and the like. It has to be outside the dampened field. It looks like a small squad operates from there.”
“So without this facility he’s cut off?” Dickson questioned.
“Well, we also found similar equipment within the dampened field but I would guess it gives him the capability to drop his fields and still communicate,” Pike said.
“What about the masking system itself. Can we defeat it?”
“Well, our particle beams would punch right through it. As a matter of fact, even those planes won’t feel anything when they fly through. It only masks emissions. Unfortunately, our targeting sensors won’t be able to lock onto any targets,” he said.
“We can fire visually if we need to. But whatever we hit will be vaporized in a few seconds,” Thompson said.
“It won’t leave any error for Mike and his son if they are nearby. Can we target the towers ourselves if need be?”
“We can. If we target each tower, it will allow us to scan for the life signs and try and pick them out. But that takes time, Captain,” Pike said. “If we are too late, I doubt Brana will give Mike or his son much consideration.”
“I understand, but it may be what we must do anyway. I want everyone on alert in case we see any changes in their operations. When this thing does go off, I want to be able to get them out and level that base on a moment’s notice,” Dickson said.
“Aye sir,” Thompson said.
“Good. Now let’s discuss our second problem. Before he left, Commander Hadaie analyzed the information of the computer and from the samples collected. I believe you have a report, Commander?” he asked Pike.
“Yes, sir,” he said. “After going through all we could find, including what appears to be a type of automobile they had inside the cavern, it appears that there was a flourishing civilization on this planet roughly five thousand years ago. It equates in Earth terms to our mid-22nd Century. This civilization had spread across the planet’s surface and consisted of over five billion people. The materials being used were extreme density polymers and nuclicides. They have been computer shaped by molecular transfiguration. Energy sources are provided via plasma type conduits to substations and then distributed in a variety of forms to each residence. We haven’t been able to locate an actual power source yet, but using the information we gathered from the computer, we have been able to pinpoint where the major population centers were. Power sources and other support systems can be located from there. Here is a map of the population centers,” Pike said as he entered some instructions on a keyboard at his seat. From the center of the table came a three dimensional globe with major cities and other centers overlaid.
Dickson looked at the familiar outlines of the continents and where the centers were. “These do not coincide with any of the major cities on the planet today,” he said.
“That’s correct, Captain,” Pike continued. “If you notice there are several differences in the planet since that time,” he s
aid pointing to water levels and a particularly empty gulf that now was covered by water, but then had a densely populated landmass.
“This is where I came in, Captain,” Mary said as she stood and pointed to the gulf. “My section sent a probe over this area and took detailed readings. This gulf is several hundred miles wide in any direction, and there are some islands along this area to seaward. The whole gulf is oblong in shape.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Dickson asked.
“Yes sir,” Mary said. “This gulf was formed by a collision between this world and a large object approximately ten to fifteen miles in diameter. When it struck, this is what occurred,” she said entering her own commands. The planet before them exploded in a gigantic sheet of flame and debris, some of it being flung out into space and the rest slowly lifting into what was left of the atmosphere and spreading out around it. In a seething black cauldron of ash, dirt and dust it covered the entire northern hemisphere in a relative few hours and the whole planet within 48 hours, according to the elapsed time clock displayed. “We estimate the collision sent enough debris into the atmosphere to completely obliterate the sun. It shifted the planet’s orbit by two degrees and it tore away over 30 percent of the atmosphere. But the worst was yet to come. The collision probably caused all of the tectonic plates to rupture causing huge amounts of volcanic activity, adding to the dust clouds. These would last another 10 years at a minimum. We estimate it would take 50 years before enough of the dust would dissipate enough to allow adequate sunlight for plants to grow again. In that time the northern hemisphere would be under what we estimate would be up to two kilometers of new earth,” she said before sitting back in her seat.
The room remained silent for several minutes while the occupants took stock of what Mary Wilkes had said. An entire civilization had been wiped out in one devastating blow. It had taken 5,000 years for the few survivors to rebuild from nothing.
Tosh spoke first. “That would explain a great many things,” she said. “The people of this planet speak nearly a uniform language and have very similar cultures. They have a sense of justice and reason that is very mature and they do not ruffle easily. Compared to Earth, for example, at this same time period there was great paranoia between superpowers, wars were being fought on a variety of scales and there were large dividing lines between haves and have nots. That is not the case on this planet except in the southern hemisphere, where the populations are more spread out and distant. Even looking at the population centers from 5,000 years ago, the southern hemisphere was much less populated,” she said.
“That would account for the disparity in the northern and southern hemispheres. The southern half had a far less chance of making it than the northern, even with fewer years under the dust cloud,” Pike said.
“There are a few subtle differences in their genetic coding as well,” Dr. Noland added. “The southern hemisphere has people not quite as genetically advanced. While the northern hemisphere is the closest to the bodies recovered from the cavern. In other words, the people in the north were heartier,” she said.
“The man on the computer mentioned that most of their centers had their own gardens and the ability to grow their own food, even during the darkness of that dust cloud,” Dickson said. “And since their power sources are still operational, one can only assume that some of the inhabitants actually survived this catastrophe. They then must have burrowed out from their habitats and started fresh.”
“That’s the way my section sees it, Captain. Like a kind of survival of the fittest,” Mary said.
“Let’s assume that some of them did survive. Where would we find the evidence?” Dickson asked.
“The only place to start would be where we think the population centers were,” Pike said. “I was going to use the ship’s active sensors to probe the planet’s surface, but with the current operation and the threat of retaliation if a starship gets involved, I held off just in case the probes were seen as an aggression.”
“I agree, Commander. But there may be some things we can do from the surface that will get good results,” Dickson said. “Pick out one of the population centers that is away from current cities and we will beam down a team with some portable sensing equipment. I will contact the government and get approval,” Dickson ordered.
“Aye, sir,” Pike said. “But before we go, you need to see something,” he said entering the commands and rotating the planet’s axis 90 degrees. There was a large red dot near the coastline of a landmass of the southern hemisphere. “Recognize this place?” he asked.
Thompson sat up straight. “That’s almost directly under Brana’s base of operations, isn’t it?”
“Within a few kilometers. I don’t have any indication that Brana has tapped into a power source or is using anything that advanced, but we need to let those guys know, just in case,” Pike said.
“When do they check in next?” Dickson asked.
“Since they are operating so close to Brana’s base of operations, we are holding communications to a bare minimum. The next check in isn’t for a few hours yet,” Thompson said.
“Very well, fill them in on the next communication,” Dickson said. “With this operation, they need to know as much as we do, as soon as we do.”
No one would have agreed more than Colonel Leftin. He was carefully watching the daily convoy of military trucks stream up the road in a single file line. He, Major Desti and twenty of the local tribe had made their way nearly 10 miles through the jungle and were hidden in the underbrush about 50 yards from the road just inside the trees. The Colonel’s legs ached. He had not known that the locals ran almost everywhere they went and had stamina that would allow them to do so for 8 to 10 hours at a stretch. When they had arrived, both he and Desti had been all but exhausted, and it galled him that the natives weren’t even out of breath. After a one-hour rest period, they had found this place and sat to wait for their prey to appear.
In a way, the colonel was surprised. They had been able to spot the convoy many miles off simply because the road was as straight as an arrow almost all the way from the base to the distant town. The dust cloud thrown up by the trucks as they sped their way got thicker with each passing truck. The last one passed almost unseen because of it. Some of the natives started to cough.
The colonel was scribbling notes and glancing at his watch as each truck passed. As the last truck lurched past their vantage point, the Colonel noticed the driver was almost gasping through a cloth covering that he had across his face and mouth. Thick goggles covered his eyes. The cover on the back was open and the truck was empty. There wasn’t even a radio aerial for communications.
Sloppy, he thought. Obviously these people were getting very used to the boring trip each day to pick up supplies. They had become complacent. So much the better.
It took a few minutes before the dust settled. Using his binoculars, the Colonel watched till the dusty streak along the road grew smaller in the distance. He finally lowered his binoculars and stared at Major Desti. “Fifteen trucks today,” he said.
“Did you notice how the dust makes them spread out?” Desti asked.
“Nearly 30 seconds between them by the end. And that dust is so thick they can’t really see each other after the first four vehicles,” Leftin said rubbing his face with a cloth. “Unfortunately they are going pretty fast. There wouldn’t be enough time to get to one of them unless we slowed them down.”
“And I’d bet they have orders not to slow for anything,” the Major added. This was going to be a tougher mission than they had thought.
“They come along this road two times a day,” one of the tribesmen said. “We got one to stop once, but the others kept going,” he said.
The Major looked at the man. “How did you stop him?” he asked.
The tribesmen all grinned proudly. “We lined our men along the road and on a signal from the Chief, we stood and blew our darts at him. One hit, and he swerved off the road and int
o the trees. Would you like to see where it happened? It is not far,” he said.
The Colonel gave an approving look. “Let’s go see,” he said getting up and brushing his uniform off.
The tribesmen began to trot into the thicket of woods and the Colonel and Major panting after them. Not ten minutes later they slowed and came upon a military truck sitting inside the tree line. There appeared to be no damage to the truck itself, except for a small set of scratches and dents where it had plowed through the underbrush and glanced off some small trees. The back was still covered, although the cloth was heavily soiled. On further inspection, the back was still full of boxes, mostly filled with food, some spare parts and a couple boxes of uniforms. The driver was nowhere to be seen and the natives said they had taken them to the gates of the underworld. The Major could only imagine what he meant.
The Colonel swung into the cab and looked at the instrumentation. Then he turned on the ignition and depressed the starter. There were some clicks, but the battery was well near being dead and couldn’t turn over the engine. Looking over the gages, the gasoline tank was more than half full.
“It’s a pity it won’t start,” he said.
The Major popped the hood open and glanced inside. “Nothing missing as far as I can tell, but that battery is huge. We’d never carry it back and forth,” he said. They continued their inspection and found nothing else had been touched.
“I wonder why they didn’t come back and get it?” the Major asked.
One of the natives spoke up. “They are afraid of coming into our forest,” he said with a grin.
The Colonel glanced back the way the truck had come. “As thick as this places is, they may not have been able to see where it left the road,” he said. “The way they are spread apart, all that dust and the plants covering everything back up the way they do, they might not even know where it happened. We might be able to use this,” he said. A plan was already forming in his mind. After a little more discussion, they spread out and waited for the trucks to pass again on their way back four hours later.
