by Robert Boren
“There shouldn’t be any humans within a thousand kilometers of here,” Nolan said.
“You’re using shouldn’t instead of aren’t,” I said. “Any significance to that?”
Nolan shook his head. “No, just a slip of the tongue.”
“Uh huh,” Tim said. “Want me to contact the men and tell them to get inside? They’re already done with their survey. Now they’re just enjoying the fresh air.”
“Yeah, do that,” I said, my eyes still on Nolan.
Nolan shot me a sidelong glance, then focused back on his screen. My PA beeped. It was Deacon.
“Go ahead, Deacon.”
“Deneuve saw something. Thinks we should check it out. Are those Nanos ready yet?”
“Getting there,” I said. “What does Deneuve see?”
“Possible structure.”
“Human?” I asked.
“Nanos released, Captain,” Nolan said, swiveling his chair around towards me.
“I heard that,” Deacon said. “Thanks.”
“How far away is this structure?” I asked.
“Two kilometers, sir.”
“Okay, have Deneuve and Caraway meet me by the door. We’re going out to take a look.”
“You’re going out there, Cappy? That’s not a good idea.”
“I’ll put on armor. Tell your men to do the same. The people on this planet have firearms.”
“Okay, your call, Cappy.” His image left my PA. I turned to Nolan. “Suit up. You’re going with me.”
“I’m too old to take that kind of a hike.”
“We aren’t walking. We’re taking the Jackal.”
Nolan nodded, getting out of his chair. He left the bridge.
“This isn’t a good idea,” Tim said. “I should go to watch your back.”
“No, you’ve got the Captain’s seat. Don’t worry, Deneuve and Caraway will be there. That’s enough muscle.”
Izzy stared at me a little too long, concern lining her face. We made eye contact, and I nodded to her, then left the bridge.
“I hate wearing armor,” I muttered to myself as I took the suit out of the closet in my stateroom. It’s not heavy or clumsy, but it is restrictive. Goes on like a loose-fitting jumpsuit made of thick, stiff cloth. I stripped and stepped into the legs, then pulled the top over my arms and shoulders, pulling the front seam together. The seam closed automatically, and I felt the suit activate, becoming skin-tight, the molecules tightening to form a tough surface. My regular clothes go on over it. I was dressed and ready to go in a few moments, and headed down the hall to the airlock. Nolan was already there.
“Neanderthals build basic structures, you know,” Nolan said, stretching his right leg. “Hate these damn suits.”
“You’ll live,” I said, not ready to be too friendly.
“Hello, Captain,” Deneuve said.
“Deneuve. Thanks for getting ready so quickly. Tell me about the structure.”
“It’s a hut, basically. Looks like stick and animal skin construction, but it’s got a tidy design.”
“How tidy?” Nolan asked, his brow furrowed.
Deneuve looked at me. I nodded for him to go ahead. “Looks like something an early human would build, sir.”
Caraway trotted up to us. “Sorry I’m late, sir. Had problems with the suit. I’ve put on a few pounds.”
“You’ve got it on, though, correct?” I asked.
“Yes sir, but I wouldn’t want to do the splits.” He laughed, Deneuve shaking his head.
“You sure you want to take this character with us, Captain?” Deneuve asked.
“He’ll be fine,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, let me check the Nano display first,” Nolan said, raising his hand-held monitor to look, his finger swiping the surface a couple times.
“Anything?” I asked.
“Giant ground sloth, three hundred meters to the east. Doesn’t look like it’s interested in us, though.”
“Those aren’t dangerous, are they?” Caraway asked.
“Only if you’re a farmer,” Nolan said. “They’re notorious for eating crops. That’s why they’re usually extinct before a world gets too far up the ladder.”
“Let’s go,” I said, hitting the airlock button again. Both doors opened, the ramp extending itself. We walked down slowly, looking in all directions, stepping onto the moist dirt. “We have coordinates?”
“Yes sir,” Deneuve said, watching a hand-held device.
“This is the other thing that sucks about body armor,” Caraway said. “Gotta use a remote display. Pain in the ass.”
“You’ll get over it,” Deneuve said.
“Everybody’s got spikers, right?” Nolan asked.
“I do,” Deneuve said.
“It’s SOP in these situations,” I said. “Let’s go get the Jackal.”
We walked under the ship, towards the back, where the large cargo gate was. Deneuve spoke into his hand held, and the cargo ramp lowered.
“Geez, the ramp still has sand on it from Earth,” Caraway said, watching it lower. A six-wheeled vehicle rolled down, stopping in front of us, the doors opening upwards, two on each side. “I’m checked out to drive this, Captain.”
“Then take the wheel, Caraway.” I got into the front passenger seat. Nolan and Deneuve got into the rear seats. After Caraway got inside, he closed all the doors, the vehicle hissing as a seal was made. Deneuve used his hand-held to transfer the coordinates to the vehicle’s navigation system.
“We ready?” I asked.
“Locked in safely, and the nav is up and running,” Caraway said.
“Better be more careful this time, hotshot,” Deneuve said. Both the young men chuckled. Nolan wasn’t amused, his brow furrowed when I looked back at him.
“What’s the range on this vehicle?” Nolan asked. “It’s a little crude compared to what I’m used to on Pathos.”
“You’re from Pathos?” Caraway asked as he drove us forward. “Sweet. I got to go there for training a few years ago.”
“I’m not from there, but I used to work there,” Nolan said.
“What kind of training did you get there, Caraway?” I asked.
“Medical,” he said. “I’m fully rated in triage and emergency care.”
“Remind me not to get hurt around you,” Deneuve said.
“What about my question?” Nolan asked.
“Oh, sorry sir,” Caraway said. “It’s got a fully-charged fuel cell. We’re good for about six-thousand kilometers.” He sped up, the ride of the vehicle as smooth as silk, the suspension taking care of every jolt.
“Nice undercarriage,” Nolan said. “I enjoy good engineering.”
“We could tighten it up if we needed to go fast,” Caraway said. “It can be a real bone-shaker at speed, but I don’t see a good reason to use that here.”
“Yes, we’re just on a recon mission,” I said. “Slow and easy is fine.”
“This vehicle doesn’t have beverage dispensers,” Nolan said.
Deneuve laughed. “This is a military vehicle. They don’t care if we enjoy the ride or not.”
“True that,” Caraway said, shooting a smirk back to Deneuve. Nolan rolled his eyes.
“Tell me about this vehicle,” Nolan said. “I haven’t seen one before. You called it a Jackal?”
“That’s a nickname,” I said. “Its real name is ATMV-122A.”
“How catchy,” Nolan said. “Stands for All Terrain Military Vehicle, I suspect.”
“How’d you guess?” Caraway said. “I think its kind of a pig, frankly, but it does have some nice features.”
“They’re impressive,” I said. “Fully capable of running on worlds without a friendly atmosphere.”
“They’ll roll right into the water, too,” Caraway said, “and they’ll run deep.”
“Submarine capability, huh?” Nolan asked. “Not bad for a third-rate world… assuming these were developed on Earth.”
I chuckled. “No
lan, will you come off it? Yes, these were developed on Earth, just like the Samson Drive, the Spiker, and lots of other nice bits of hardware. I’d stack our output up to Pathos any day of the week.”
“Pathos isn’t a manufacturing planet,” Nolan said. “We deal almost entirely in intellectual property.”
“How’s that working for you?” I asked. “The Central Authority claims to own all intellectual property.”
“They can claim all they want,” Nolan said. “Doesn’t mean we’re giving it up.”
“They’ve already got everything on the PA system,” Deneuve said. “People should read the fine print. Nothing you put on there stays private. I only use mine for interacting with systems now. None of my personal stuff goes on there.”
Nolan chuckled. “That’s what the Central Authority is counting on for first-level surveillance and control. Pity for them.”
“What, you’re working on a way to wipe records?” Caraway asked. “I’ve got some stuff that needs wiping.”
Nolan nodded. “Yes, I’m working on that, but understand that if you’re in a civilized area with network nodes around, there’s not much you can do. Everything writes to the network at the same time it writes to your device.”
Deneuve smiled. “Say all you want to about Earth, but at least we aren’t required to use PAs for everything. It’s a crime to do financial transactions without the PA on a lot of worlds now.”
“It’s illegal to turn off location tracking on most worlds too,” Caraway said.
I shot a glance at Nolan, who smirked.
“It’s coming up,” Caraway said. “Slowing down. Keep your eyes open.”
Nolan was looking at his hand-held. “Nothing larger than rodents and birds nearby, Captain.”
We rolled into a small clearing, the jungle wrapped around it like a curtain.
“There it is,” Caraway said. “Look at the doorway. Big cobwebs. Looks deserted.”
“Let’s go check it out,” I said. “Have your Spikers in hand. Everybody understand?”
“Yes, Captain,” Nolan said. The others nodded when I made eye contact with each.
“I’ll open the doors,” Caraway said, pushing a button on the dash. The doors opened upward, hissing as the seals were broken.
“Stay sharp.” I got out, my Spiker in my hand. I walked to the round hut, seeing the thick spiderwebs across the door, which was just an open rectangular hole with an animal hide hanging on the inside.
“There hasn’t been anybody here for years,” Nolan said, checking the construction.
I looked at the details of construction on the outside wall. “This isn’t a Neanderthal dwelling, is it Nolan?”
“No. This is human.”
Caraway walked over with a stick, using it to remove the cobwebs in front of the door. Then he used the same stick to push the hide out of the way, peering inside. “Quarter inch of dust on everything, Captain.”
I pushed my way through the door. There was an open fireplace in the middle, a hole in the roof over it. The outside wall had crude cots next to it, all of them piled high with dusty animal hides.
“Captain, look at the two cots in the back,” Deneuve said. “They’ve either hidden something under those hides, or there are bodies there.”
I looked in that direction, nodding to Deneuve. He went over and lifted the hides on the first one, exposing mummified bodies.
“Looks like a woman with a baby laying on her torso,” Caraway said.
Nolan looked at them, his brow furrowed. “Those are human remains.”
“There’s a spear clean through both of them,” Deneuve said, looking closer. “Something bad happened here.”
Caraway pulled back the hides on the other cot. There was a single body there, the face caved in. “Wonder if this was daddy?”
“Geez,” I said, looking at it. “Brutal. How old do you think these are, Nolan?”
“I can use the PA to date it, but if I do it will become crucial to wipe these units. I’ll have to prioritize it.”
“Do it,” I said. “You need to do that anyway. There’s too many situations where we have to use these damn things.”
Nolan nodded, going near the body, pulling his hand-held out and moving it over the body as it recorded.
“Well?” Deneuve asked.
“It’ll take a few minutes,” Nolan said, putting the hand-held back in his pocket.
“What kind of spear is that?” Caraway asked.
“Hard to tell,” Nolan said, taking a closer look. “Might not be human. It’s crude compared to the contents of this hut. There’s no decorative carving on it, for example. Look at that chair for a comparison.”
I got closer to the chair, which was between the two cots, against the wall. I blew the dust off to reveal delicate carvings on the wood. “Yeah, I see it. So that means Neanderthals killed these humans?”
“It’s not like them, but there aren’t any other primates on the planet capable of using spears,” Nolan said.
“You got that date yet?” I asked.
Nolan pulled his hand-held. “Just finished, Captain. Three hundred Earth years.”
{ 5 }
Plasma Bursts
I looked at Nolan, fighting my urge to let him have it. “There was a human settlement here just three hundred years ago?”
“I’m as surprised as you are, Captain,” Nolan said.
“That’s supposed to make me feel better?”
“Are you guys seeing this?” Deneuve asked, staring at his hand-held.
I glanced at Deneuve, then back at Nolan. “I want to see the survey you looked at.”
“It’s still possible the survey was right, Captain.”
“You guys really ought to take a look at this,” Deneuve said. I put my hand up to pause him.
“Explain,” I said, feeling the anger rise in me, “and it’d better be good, Nolan. You’re on thin ice.”
“Remember the Vikings?”
“Captain, heads up,” Deneuve shouted.
“Dammit, what?” I whirled around towards him.
“The Nanos show three creatures heading this way at a good clip, sir.”
“Crap,” I said, rushing over to look. “What are those? They look human.”
Nolan had his hand-held out in a flash. “Humanoids. Why aren’t the main sensors picking them up?”
“I just sent a message back to the ship,” Caraway said. “This is gonna be bad. Somebody’s trying to hide themselves.”
“The Overlords,” Deneuve whispered.
“No, they don’t have personal cloaking technology,” Nolan said. “The Central Authority refused to change the Zone Charter, remember? There was a big battle over it.”
“Take cover,” I said. “Now.”
I got behind some foliage, Nolan rushing back to me. “Why don’t we get in the vehicle? It affords some protection, doesn’t it?”
“It also tips off whoever this is,” I said, my spiker pointed at the direction the marks were coming from. “Where’s your spiker, Nolan?”
“In my hand,” he said. He fished an infrared scanner out of his pocket and put it to his eyes. “I see them. No more than fifty meters, coming fast.”
“Humans?”
“With suits on,” he whispered. “Their temperature is bleeding out of the seams.”
“Maybe it is the Overlords.”
“That would answer one of our questions. If it’s them, we’ve got a plant.”
“Wonderful,” I said, watching them approach on my hand-held, the Nanos following them closely.
“They’ve got these scanners or better, so we’re not hidden. They probably already see us.”
“Sir, we’ve got more company coming,” Deneuve said in a loud whisper. “Scanners picking them up. Large humanoids. Probably Neanderthals. No attempt to cover.”
“Geez, is everybody joining the party?” Nolan asked, still watching through the scanners. “Here they come. Should we shoot them?”
&
nbsp; “I’d like to see who I’m shooting at,” I said.
“You won’t see much. You’ll just see faint slivers around their neck and wrists.”
“Deneuve, you and Caraway get into the Jackal and fire up the main weapon.”
“That’s plasma, Captain,” Caraway said. “We’ll be detected.”
“Don’t care at this point,” I said. “We’ll jump away if we have to.”
“Almost on us,” Nolan whispered. “Look, there, coming through the bushes.”
“Move behind that boulder,” I said, nodding to the left. We got up and ran behind it, as a white-hot shot from a plasma weapon fried the bushes we were behind.
“Well, we know they aren’t friendly,” Nolan said, aiming his spiker. “If they’ve got armor on, these won’t be effective.”
“Won’t kill them easily, but might make them visible,” I said, aiming, just catching a glimpse of one of them. “Lousy suits.” I fired several times, hitting the figure with all the shots, only one of them doing any damage, getting into the crease at his neck. I heard a human’s voice cry out in pain as more plasma shots came at us, hitting the hut behind us to the right, the dry animal skin and wood framing bursting into flames, pieces flying everywhere.
“Look, his suit is damaged,” Nolan said. “See the black outline? Hit the others. See them?”
“Barely,” I said, letting lose with another ten rounds, hitting the suits, causing one to snap into view, shiny black fabric showing up. I fired again at the head, sparks going off around it, the man pulling the hood off and dropping behind cover. The other figure was still invisible, firing another plasma round at us. Then there was a strange sound, and the suit came into view, the man trying to pull a stick out of the neck. I heard another twang sound, an arrow flying to the man’s head, going right into the eye hole. He fell over as his companions cried out, two plasma guns firing rapidly into the trees on our left, an angry roar sounding, a heavy body falling, cracking branches on the way down. Another arrow flew, hitting one of the men who was trying to get his suit to turn back on, catching him by surprise. He screamed in pain. Both the survivors ran away, leaving their dead companion behind.
The Jackal pulled up. “Want us to give chase, Captain?” asked Caraway through my PA.
“No. There’s a dead one over there. Let’s go check it out. Maybe we can figure out who they are.”
