Dead center inside the ring, jetting at least a hundred and fifty feet in the air and comparatively skinny with its cylindrical shape featuring a diameter of about ten feet, was a tower. At the top rested what looked like a satellite dish, but instead of round it opened up like petals on a flower—each of the eight petals fifteen feet long.
Liam captured the petals on video as he navigated the craft around the structure, leaving the city behind to begin his long journey back to The Hawking. He had much to think about.
“Is that everything?” Ann asked while gently setting down mobile lab equipment in the back of the Z48 shuttle craft.
“I do believe so,” Adam answered.
Together he, Ann, and his assistant, Blaire, had spent the morning loading the last of their equipment to take down to the surface of Proxima b. Their ship orbited just above the planet and the first Z48 launched seven hours earlier. Everyone, including Ann, cheered and celebrated when their own Captain Morris became the first human to step on another planet. He confirmed the air was breathable, but still recommended masks until they could determine any long term effects the atmosphere may have on their bodies.
The trio of botanists double checked their own masks were functioning before taking their seats in the back of the craft and buckling into the safety harnesses. Adam signaled to the pilot they were good for launch. As the Z48 lifted off the platform they each smiled and laughed, so excited to depart the ship and set off on such a grand mission.
“I can’t believe this is finally happening,” Blaire said. She was in her upper twenties with short cropped brown hair and a finely tuned muscular physique that she managed to keep up in the ship’s gym.
“It is,” Ann said. Her right leg bounced with nerves. Very soon the light outside the Z48 in the docking bay was replaced by the dark of space. She looked out at the vastness before her; the planet not yet in view. The Newton hovered in the distance, but still no sign of The Hawking. Where were they?
Rounding the front end of their STS ship, the planet Proxima b came into view. While Earth was blue and green, Proxima b sported purple and blue with a faint red hue. The red dwarf sun of Proxima Centauri beamed behind them as they raced to the planet. White clouds scattered throughout the atmosphere. On the sun-facing side the storms were rough with severe wind speeds, but at the terminator line on the hemispheres the weather was typically calm.
Atmospheric turbulence had them rocking in their seats as they entered the planet. The tough Z48 handled it well and it was over in no time, giving its passengers their first view at the landscape below. A purple jungle stretched for miles. Snow covered mountain peaks rose to meet them miles away to the northwest, the tallest mountain stretched taller than Everest. Small lakes scattered throughout the jungle with one river winding its way flowing from the mountains to who-knows-where on the dark side of the planet.
An oasis in the jungle provided a cursory view of the local wildlife. Their Z48 was travelling too fast to get a good look, but Adam pointed out one of those elephant-sized creatures with a ring of horns drinking from the water. The zoologists had yet to come up with names for the dozens of creatures the probes had taken pictures of.
Their landing zone lay just ahead. It was a small clearing in the jungle next to the largest lake in their sector. Smaller six-legged wildlife scattered from the noise of their approaching craft while a flying creature zoomed past Ann’s window. Closer to the darker side of the planet it was relatively dim and Ann wondered if they would need field lights.
The Z48 landed softly. The three passengers unbuckled their safety harnesses and put on their breathing masks. The pilot came back to join them and opened the door revealing a stunning view of the lake with the purple jungle bordering around them. The water was crystal clear providing a near perfect reflection on all sides. The multiple suns of the planetary system shone in the twilight sky.
A curious creature skeptically came back out of the jungle where it had previously fled. This one was reminiscent of a deer, but like a lot of Proximian wildlife it had two extra legs. Its ears perked up to a height of eight inches and its tail dragged the ground gliding left and right through the grass. It tilted its head then sniffed the air catching their scent causing it to retreat once again to the jungle.
“Well, who goes first?” Blaire asked.
She’s right, Ann thought. While they won’t be the first humans to have landed and stepped foot on the planet, it still seemed to her that it was somehow important to be the one in their group who took this monumental first step.
“If it matters, I’ve already been here twice today. So none of you are first,” their pilot said.
“Yes, that makes things simpler I suppose,” Adam said. “Ann, Blaire, after you.”
The two women stood together at the edge of the doorway. Behind them the pilot rolled her eyes. Blaire grabbed Ann’s arm. “Come on girl, same time.”
One foot then the other landed in the ankle high grass. They were there, after years of speculation and planning, they were standing on their new home. Ann lifted her hands to feel the slight breeze blow around them and through her fingers. She heard the sounds of the planet. The undiscovered wildlife communicated among themselves just out of sight. She knelt and touched her hand to the ground feeling the light purple grass. She plucked a blade from the dirt to examine it. The sheath was long and felt identical to most grasses on Earth. The spikelet on the tip fielded six florets. She let it go and watched it float away with the wind.
The water of the lake drew her to it. It was amazing how still the water was despite the light breeze. Standing at the edge, she peered down, her reflection was near mirror-like quality. She bent down to the water’s surface trying to see through it to the bottom.
“Can we touch it? The water?” Her query was met with shrugs.
Not yet willing to take the chance, she kept her hands poised on her bent knees. A creature broke her reflection poking its head out of the water. It was scaly, but its face was much different than a fish seen on Earth. Its eyes long and narrow with a protruding nose. It had a ribbed fin on the top of its head, but on the sides it sprouted short arms with webbed three-finger hands. It peered curiously at Ann then flipped around and splashed her with its tail while swimming away.
“Well, I guess we’ll find out if it's safe to touch now.”
“What did you say?” Adam asked as he began to unload their equipment.
“A...fish splashed me. Got a little wet on my arms,” Ann replied, standing up and wiping the water away.
“Really? Hm. Keep us up to date if you get any rashes.”
“Way to be sympathetic,” Blaire said, grabbing a box from the Z48.
“This planet is filled with things that may try and kill us. If water is one of them we’re wasting our time,” Adam said.
“I’ll be fine,” Ann said as she also grabbed a box to unload from the craft’s cargo bay.
It took them considerably less time to unload the Z48 than it had to load it. An hour later they stood surrounded by dozens of boxes and lab equipment and watched the Z48 fly into the upper atmosphere leaving them behind on the planet’s surface. While unloading they spotted other Z48s landing and taking off in the near vicinity so by now at least they weren’t alone—the closest group a half-mile to the east.
First thing they accomplished on the list was to install an electric fence around the perimeter of their base camp. Once that was done and heavily charged, it was time to set up their mobile tent that would house their lab equipment. Ann had no idea how Adam and Blaire could have accomplished this feat without her. It took them two hours—complete with sweat and a lot of cursing to erect the thing. When finished it took up nearly half of the clearing at thirty feet long by fifteen wide.
The rest of their day was, to Ann’s dissatisfaction, spent mindlessly unpacking boxes and setting up the lab equipment with two meal breaks in between of their favorite space mush packed in MREs. Ann ate her dinner alone in a fold out ch
air as close to the perimeter as the electric fence would allow. If she couldn’t yet explore the neighboring jungle she could at least observe it.
She noted on her tablet every plant species she could identify with the naked eye from the smallest bush to the largest tree. She took still images and recorded video of how each plant interacted with the wind. She wrote down ideas for experiments she wanted to conduct once the lab was functional. Needless to say, she was enthusiastic to return to work, and not just for the mental escape of worrying about Liam and The Hawking, but because everything was so strangely new and exciting.
Not long after eating, she became tired and had yet to set up her personal sleeping tent. She gathered her things and placed them in her pack and decided to do a perimeter walk before finding a place to install her tent. The majority of their perimeter bordered the jungle with only a fourth or so coming up to the lake. Although she couldn’t see them, she heard the wildlife scatter away as she approached their hiding spots on her walk. Once she thought she caught a glimpse of a horned tail swishing deep in the jungle. She was almost afraid to know what it belonged to.
Back at the lake she hoped to see another fish or other aquatic creature, but nothing surfaced. The water remained as tranquil as it had been since they arrived. The never-quite-setting suns reflected their light off the surface.
An hour later she, Adam, and Blaire had constructed their personal tents next to each other between the lab tent and the electric fence. She showed them the images and video she’d taken earlier and they talked passionately about the days ahead.
They had enough food to last a week before their rotation would end and they would be returned to The Christensen. On the schedule for the next day Adam designated Ann and Blaire to explore the immediate vicinity and bring back samples while he finished putting together the lab.
If Ann had already known what she would discover, she never would’ve fallen peacefully asleep under the twilight sky.
Chapter 18
THE HAWKING’S BRIDGE was aglow with dark blue from the light reflecting off the gas giant Neptune. In Jameson’s quarters adjacent to the bridge, the captain himself sat behind his desk with Liam leaning against the nearby wall gauging the man’s reaction.
“This...” Jameson trailed off. He shook his head and replayed the video.
Liam viewed the footage countless times on his journey back from Triton and still couldn’t wrap his mind around it. A city. Billions of miles from Earth. The ramifications of such a thing—the possibilities. It could be millions of years old or fifty. Under the harsh Triton conditions it was futile to venture a guess.
“I have no words,” Jameson said. The captain leaned back in his creaky leather chair, arms crossed. He looked over at Liam, studying him.
“What were you even doing there?” Jameson asked with an aggressive tone.
“I went for a joyride. Sue me. We have bigger things to deal with,” Liam said. He couldn’t believe after that footage Jameson still went after him. “Thoughts?”
Jameson returned his gaze to the monitor and pulled up the still images. Brow furrowed, he clicked one after the next in stern concentration. “It’s unbelievable. This settlement was the only one you saw?”
“Yes, but it’s a big moon and I didn’t have much time. If I didn’t leave when I did I wouldn’t have had enough fuel to make it back on board.”
Jameson considered his next move. This was a history-shattering discovery to be sure, but what to do about it?
“I want to place us in orbit around the moon. I don’t want to risk any lives over this, so we’ll send down a probe to fly into the holes you gracefully blasted into the buildings for us. We’ll take a good look around, maybe learn a thing or two, and then continue on. A day or two max.”
“What do we tell the crew and the passengers?” Liam asked.
“I will tell them we are making a pit stop for them to enjoy the view of Neptune and her moon in the observation deck. They don’t need to know anything else.”
Now it was Liam’s turn to study the older man. Something in his eyes and the inflection in his voice gave Liam pause. “Why are you afraid to tell them?”
“Wouldn’t you be? They’ve been through so much already and now this?” Jameson gestured to the image of the petal dish tower on his monitor. “For all we know this might have been one of their settlements. Before they attacked us. Abandoned for a better, warmer planet.”
During his flight back from the moon, Liam considered that scenario and designated it most likely. If he and Jameson both came to the same conclusion so swiftly, everyone else would too, and that would only exacerbate the morale on the ship. They would surely vote to return to hibernation and travel another thousand years to Proxima. Simply, they needed more information than they presently had.
“You’re right, Captain. I think we should include Rednour and Crouch in this as well. They’ve proven quite useful over the past few weeks and their insight could be helpful.”
“Yes, I’ll meet with them. I’d like you to talk to Alvarez for the same reasons. Our security chief should be kept abreast of any potential situations that may arise if the news of this somehow leaked out.”
“I will. When do you want to launch the probe?”
“As soon as possible. I‘ll message you all when it’s time and we’ll meet back here on the bridge.”
Liam disconnected the stream from his cell to Jameson’s monitor and dismissed himself from the room. In the elevator he sent Percy a message to meet him in half an hour in his quarters. As much as he was hesitant to admit, Percy had proven himself a valuable team member. Liam still harbored a significant amount of ill will for his actions working with the WWLO, but on the other hand it was hard to ignore the strides he was making in attempting to be a better man. He’d been going above and beyond his duties as security chief helping any department who needed an extra hand in repairing the ship. One morning Percy was even helping serve breakfast in one of the passenger cafeterias.
But still he was complicit in the bombing in Orlando that killed over a hundred.
Yes, he turned in the end and helped stop the terrorist group and saved who knows how many lives, but does that wash his hands of his past sins? Liam still saw the blood on them even when he tried not to. He still had trouble understanding how Blake and Foster convinced him to allow Percy to remain on The Hawking. The STS commission, who like all world leaders, were not allowed on the STS ships themselves so they could make decisions without bias, overruled his concerns at the time, and now he’d been promoted to security chief.
Perhaps as an old friend it was Liam’s duty to keep Percy on the right course and atone for his mistakes. But it was difficult when every time he saw him he remembered being nearly killed in his office as the flames crept closer. The heat from the fire burned and his lungs called out for air as he desperately broke a window and collapsed to the ground below.
Like it or not, he was stuck with him. The captain was bringing him into the inner circle and they were, of course, stranded together on a ship in the expanse of space. He was hard to get away from. Case in point, he stood outside his doorway as he turned down the hallway to his quarters.
“Hey, Donovan. Wanted to see me?”
“You’re early. How’s it going Percy?” He attempted to match Percy’s casual friendly tone. May as well try and make an effort. Percy answered with a slight shrug, but said nothing.
“We can talk inside.” Liam entered his room code in the panel and the door slid to the left granting them access. Once they entered, the door closed automatically behind them. “Want anything to drink?” he offered.
“No, I’m good. What’s up?”
“Have a seat. I need to show you something.”
Next to each other at the small table, Liam propped up his cell and loaded up the first video from Triton. “Remember when we first heard about the alien fleet and how unbelievable that was?”
“Yeah, hard to forget.”
“Sure. What’s your point, Liam?”
“It’s possible we weren’t even alone in our own solar system.”
Liam pressed play.
“Fuck me. What are those? Where did this come from?”
“I borrowed a Z56 in the middle of the night and went exploring. This is Triton, one of Neptune’s moons. Those icy structures are buildings in what I can only describe as a small city.”
“Holy shit. And by the way, taking a Z56 without proper clearance is a security offense, but under the circumstances I’ll let you slide.” Percy leaned in closer for a better look. “What do you think this pipe is that goes behind all the structures?”
“I was calling it the ring. It doesn’t make a perfect circle, but close enough. You’ll see from a bird’s-eye-view picture I took later. My best guess is that it provided some sort of protective barrier against the elements. Maybe a glass dome of some sort or even an energy field that surrounded the city. At some point it lost power or collapsed and everything froze over. In the ring’s center is a tower that opens up at the top. It could’ve been a part of it.”
“Makes sense. I don’t see how anything could survive in that cold without protection. How long has this been here do you think?”
“I wouldn’t even venture a guess.”
“This has to belong to those gray-skinned bastards. I’m thinking it was a base?”
“Jameson and I reached the same conclusion. Logically, it makes the most sense. This is why we’re keeping it a secret. The captain wanted you to know so you could prepare to keep the peace if word leaked out somehow. But outside of you and Jameson nobody else knows.”
“What comes next?”
“A probe is being prepped to go down there and get some better visuals from inside the buildings. Meanwhile, we orbit the moon. The captain will call us up when it’s time.”
Proxima Page 18
