by Lori Beery
Marta and I kept watch. We stood on top of boulders with an arrow nocked to each of our bow strings. We didn’t know if whatever had taken an interest in the visible cat still lurked in the vicinity.
She was positioned to the north of the scientists while I was on the boulder furthest from the currently occurring autopsies. X-tee walked the perimeter around us.
Nothing alerted me to any danger. My ears didn’t pick up any sound of movement beyond the working scientists except X-tee as he circled us. All was calm and quiet. I kept my eyes moving to remain alert. It was surprisingly difficult.
Finally, the scientists finished collecting their samples. They packed up and were excited about returning to camp as quickly as possible. It was an amazing thing since there were still two hours before bug-out time. Per their request, we led them back to camp. When we arrived there, Ezra passed his samples to Lloyd, who followed the other scientists up to the lab ledge.
Ezra approached Marta and me. “Are we going to investigate the chasm?” he asked.
“Yes,” I told him. “I just don’t know when.”
“X-tee is checking in with the settlement,” Marta provided. “It might be better if we wait until morning.”
“True,” said Ezra. “Whenever you go, I want to be a participant.”
“I will make sure X-tee is aware,” I assured him.
I watched Ezra climb up to the lab ledge. He was immediately lost to view in all the activity. Out of the apparent chaos, Paul appeared. He waved me over, and I met him at the base of the cliff face.
“Do you mind if I keep the kitten for a bit longer?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“No,” I answered. “Is something wrong?”
“Not sure,” he told me. “The displays you told me about are not happening. I didn’t copy all the compounds present in the milk. I left out the ones that resembled the toxins in the visible cat. It appears those were responsible for the flicker phenomenon.”
“So, the kitten is invisible all the time?” I asked.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “It would make sense in a young, vulnerable creature.”
“True,” I agreed. “But it does make it harder to track.”
“There is that,” he told me. “I’ll do my best to take care of him.”
“Thanks, Paul,” I said.
I watched him pull himself up to the lab ledge. Like Ezra, he was quickly absorbed into the hubbub on the ledge. I turned and walked back to Marta. I filled her in on my conversation with Paul. We both were puzzled about the presence of the toxin in the invisocats’ biology. A tread behind me alerted me to X-tee approaching us. It was hard to read his expression.
“You two want to go investigate the chasm?” he asked in a soft voice.
“When do we go?” I inquired.
“First light,” he told us.
“Ezra wants to come with us,” I informed him.
“It would be good to have a scientist with us,” he said after a brief pause. “Marta, get word to him. Then, meet us on the kitchen ledge. We need to fix food for this group.”
I stifled a groan while Marta nodded and made her way to the lab ledge. X-tee and I climbed up to the kitchen ledge and found Ross trying to fix the chow on his own. X-tee made him sit and supervise us in the preparation of a cheesy pasta and vegetable dish to accompany some fried poultry. I got to make the pasta dish while X-tee cooked the meat. By the time Marta joined us, we were dishing up the food. It smelled very good and tasted better.
Sometime later, I retired to my ledge. X-tee was not present. Since I had the first watch, I sat on the air side of the ledge, listening to the night. I could hear the buzz of the scientists’ voices as they examined their new specimens and compared them to the ones they had collected yesterday. They sounded so excited. I doubted any of them would get much sleep again tonight.
I focused my hearing beyond the camp. Nothing but the silent night came to me on the wind. Suddenly, there was the sound of wind through grass coming from above. I smiled.
‘Good evening, Amerzan,’ I thought. ‘How was your expedition?’
‘Good evening, Ky,’ his voice whispered in my head. ‘The hunting was successful, and the exploring was – odd?’ His tone became puzzled. ‘Show me a picture of the valley as you saw it.’
I did my best to make a mental image of what I had seen in the valley and on the northeast rim. His befuddlement increased. ‘This is very strange. I didn’t see or scent any trees in there. It is a roundish hole in the ground about twenty meters deep at the deepest point. There is something strange on the far north edge. It is not broken up like the rock around it. I did not see it glitter as you did, though.’
‘The four of us plan to investigate at first light,’ I confided in him.
‘I would like to come too,’ he said. ‘If you are not too afraid of me.’
‘Amerzan, I am sorry for our fearful reaction,’ I told him. ‘Your size is very scary, but because you are my friend, I will not fear you.’
‘You did stand with me,’ he said happily. ‘May I come with you in the – morning?’
‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘I would be grateful for your company.’
About an hour after first light, the five of us stood on the lip of the chasm. The human contingent saw a tree floored valley lying one hundred meters down. The bird saw a rock hole that sloped down to twenty meters on the eastern side. Why was the scene different?
The sound of an image recorder in use drew my confused attention. Ezra stood videoing the valley floor. I waited to see which reality was correct. He sighed, frowning as he previewed the recording.
“So, what does it show down there?” I asked, no longer capable of waiting any longer.
“It seems neither of us is correct,” he said, turning the recorder for us to see.
The recorder had captured a barren rock valley not as shallow as Amerzan saw it but not as deep as we saw it. The sides were long cliffs, which made it impossible to climb. Our ropes would never get us to the bottom safely. Besides, why make the effort? There didn’t seem anything of interest in it.
“So, now what?” I asked no one in particular.
“We should concentrate on the northeast lip,” replied X-tee. “We agree that there is something out of the ordinary over there.”
“What does the recorder show?” inquired Marta.
“Let’s see,” replied Ezra as he began videoing the northeast edge of the chasm. He showed us the resulting video.
An unnatural structure perched on the chasm’s lip and sheltered against the northern cliff. It was difficult to tell the dimensions, but it was bigger than the kitchen and the lab ledge combined. The stone appeared to have been cut with a laser stone cutter. Some sort of window was set into the exposed wall.
We stared at each other. If what the recorder had captured was real, then we were not alone on this world.
‘There could be more of your people?’ asked Amerzan, his voice cutting through the shock in my mind. Before I could answer, Ezra did.
“Probably not,” he spoke. “But possibly people from another planet.”
“Whoa, Doc,” said X-tee. “Let’s go get some facts before we jump to conclusions.”
Chapter 25
It proved very challenging to get to the structure. We made it, eventually, with guidance from Amerzan, who was aloft. Even so, there was an awful lot of climbing and scrambling.
By the time we arrived at the west side of the building, I was exhausted. I sank into a cross-legged position and panted. When I could breathe easier, I surveyed the area. Now, the scene matched the video recording.
“How do we get in?” I asked, not seeing anything resembling an entrance.
“Maybe there is a door on the east side,” suggested Marta.
‘There is no space on the east side,’ interjected Amerzan’s mental voice accompanied by a picture. The east side of the structure was part of an unbroken cliff.
“That must mean the door is here,” d
eclared Ezra. He stepped up to the wall and began running his hands over it. Nothing happened.
“Maybe the place is out of juice,” I suggested. “Perhaps it uses something like solar panels to provide power.”
Ezra dipped his head slightly. “It’s possible,” he allowed. “I would put the collectors on the roof.”
“Amerzan, is there anything odd on the top of this structure?” I asked verbally and in thought.
‘Odd as in the reflective things on the roof of my roost?’ he inquired.
“Exactly,” I told him. “Or anything that doesn’t look like it should be there.”
‘I will look,’ he volunteered before leaping off the cliff. He vanished over the side only to rise upward as he flapped his great wings. He spiraled up above the structure. He seemed to hover right before diving down and landing on the roof. ‘I see a lot of accumulated sand. I will try to blow it away with my wings. – Please close your eyes.’
I had just gotten my eyes closed when wind-driven sand began to pelt me. I hid my face in my arms and waited. Presently, the wind stopped.
‘There is something here,’ his voice sounded in my head. ‘I don’t know what it is. Here is an image of what I see.’ A picture of a circle cut into the roof entered my head. I didn’t see any way to open it.
“Guess we are doing a little more climbing,” murmured X-tee. He stepped up to the wall while drawing a rope out of his pack. “Amerzan!” he called. “I’m throwing the end of a rope up. Will you anchor it?”
‘Yes,’ he answered.
By the time the rope was ready, I had joined my companions at the wall.
“Ky, you go first,” he instructed.
I paused long enough to tug on my gloves. Then, I climbed up the rope. At the top, my eyes widened in shock as I realized Amerzan was standing on the rope to anchor it. It was effective – just surprising.
“I’m up!” I yelled over the side.
“Get your safety line and rig it to help Ezra up,” called X-tee.
I dug out my line and looked for a place to tie it off. To my dismay, there wasn’t anything on which to secure it – except Amerzan. “May I tie this rope to your ankle to help me pull up Ezra?” I asked. I was embarrassed to ask him to be another anchor.
‘How does this help Ezra?’ he asked, confused.
“The other end will be tied to Ezra’s climbing harness,” I explained. “I’ll pull on the rope to make him lighter so he can climb up easier.”
‘If you will make a loop, I will take it in my beak and help you,’ he told me.
“Thank you, my friend,” I said gratefully. “That would make it simpler.”
I tied a big loop at one end of the rope. I held out the loop, and Amerzan took it in his beak so that it went around his lower jaw. I held very still during this process; his beak is bigger than I am. Once he had the rope, he remained with his head relatively low to the ground.
I smiled nervously before stepping away with the rest of the line. At the roof’s edge, I dropped the free end down to X-tee.
Moments later, X-tee yelled, “He’s ready!”
Amerzan slowly lifted his head. When he did, the rope was pulled up over my head and out of my reach. Ezra’s head came up over the edge of the structure. I hurried to grab his arm and help him climb the rest of the way up. His facial expression was one of astonishment.
Once free of the safety line, he smiled. “That was the easiest assent I’ve ever made,” he announced. “Thanks for the ride, Amerzan.”
‘You’re welcome,’ the bird responded. ‘Who is next?’
In short order, Marta and X-tee stood on the roof with us. We stowed our gear and looked about ourselves. The rooftop was just as Amerzan had pictured it. The inlaid circle occupied the western part of the structure. The rest was unrelieved rock.
“Hey, what’s that?” asked Marta. She stood on the south side, looking west and pointing at the circle. Following her finger with my eyes, I saw nothing different than before. “There’s a faint orange-ish, no, peachy glow,” she said excitedly.
Frowning, I pulled my shades out and put them on. “She’s right!” I cried. “The glowing ring trace the inside of the inlaid circle and is about twenty-five centimeters wide. There’s an inner ring about half a meter from the center.” I looked up and over to X-tee, who stood along the north wall, the cliff face. “There’s a glowing rectangle at your shoulder’s height on the wall beside you,” I said, pointing at it.
‘I see it,’ said Amerzan. ‘What is it?’
I shrugged my shoulders. “The doorway and entry keypad?” I guessed.
“Could be,” agreed Ezra as he walked toward the glowing rectangle on the wall. I noted that he and X-tee had both put on their sunglasses. Before he reached the wall, he turned and asked, “Marta, will you video events when I press the button?”
“Of course,” she replied. She hurried over to the scientist to retrieve the image recorder. With the device in hand, she returned to the south wall.
Ezra reached to press the rectangle but hesitated with his hand above the button. He looked back over his shoulder then up to Amerzan. “How much dust would you say was up here before you blew it away?” he asked the bird. “Did it cover your feet?”
Amerzan cocked his head at Ezra. ‘It was not so deep,’ he said. ‘But it did cover the tips of my talons.’
Everyone looked at the bird’s feet. The tips of his talons were a good twenty centimeters tall.
“Hmm – That would indicate the power has been off for a while,” he murmured. He looked at each of us before continuing, “Let us err on the side of caution. If the power has been off for some time, the air within the structure may be very low on oxygen. It may be contaminated if anything died down there. If this does open the door, I would like all of you to be on the far eastern end of the structure until the air is exchanged. I am guessing there is some mechanism that will ventilate the structure. Assuming, of course, the inhabitants breathed oxygen.”
“And what will you do?” I asked him.
He pulled out a surgical mask. “I’ll use this,” he replied with a shrug. “Hopefully it will be sufficient.” He put on the mask as we obliged by walking to the east end of the structure.
When I turned back to face him, I noticed the peachy color had lost its red cast. The yellow light seemed to be growing brighter. I slipped my shades down my nose and peered over them. I could see the glow in the bright sunlight. Before I could comment, a mechanical hum began. Something had started.
“Something just turned on,” reported X-tee. “I don’t see any changes, though.”
“I’m guessing that’s the solar-powered ventilation system,” Ezra commented. Let’s give it ten minutes to do its job.” His voice sounded patient, but he started pacing along the north wall. He further belied his voice by frequently checking his chronometer. Yet, unlike I would have, he waited the full ten minutes. On the ten-minute mark, he smashed his hand onto the brightly glowing yellow pad.
At first, nothing visible happened. We heard sounds like gears turning. Then, all of a sudden, the center of the circle opened, and the outer part spun while sinking into the structure. After a few moments, the noise stopped.
All of us advanced to the opening. Looking into the hole, I saw a staircase descending in a spiral into the darkness. Ezra timidly stepped onto the top step. Lights came on, dispelling the darkness. “It appears the beings who built this structure are - were bipedal.” He made to continue down the steps.
“Stop right there, Doc,” demanded X-tee. “Amerzan, what do you sense?”
‘Nothing,’ he said after taking a few deep sniffs. ‘It smells old and abandoned.’
X-tee nodded. Then, he announced, “I go first. Ky, you bring up the rear.” At my acknowledging nod, he stepped in front of Ezra and continued down the steps.
Ezra followed on X-tee’s heels. Marta, who continued recording, descended the steps after the scientist. As ordered, I brought up the rear; an arrow no
cked on my bowstring. Before I started down, I looked up at Amerzan.
“Keep watch, my friend,” I told him. “I’ll keep you updated.”
‘I will watch,’ he assured me.
I reached the bottom of the stairs and stood in a small room. There was a door set in the wall across from the last step. The stone of all the walls and the ceiling was inlaid with glowing yellow veins that swirled in continuous patterns. In contrast, the floor and the door were dark, lacking all such adornment.
X-tee paused so that Marta could video the room. When she turned back to the door, X-tee stepped forward. Just when he got a meter from the door, a holographic being appeared. Startled, we all stopped and stared.
The being was bipedal and stood taller than X-tee. It wore – armor of some kind. The helm contained a non-transparent face shield. Its arms hung down to what would be the knees of a human. Its hands had three long fingers and an opposable digit. It held one hand out to us in a stop gesture. Then, it spoke. The words were harsh and deep, and not in any language any of us could understand. The sound sent shivers down my spine.
After repeating its message two more times, the gear sound began again. The stairway behind us began to recede. Operating purely on instinct, the group of us turned at once and fled up the moving steps. X-tee, the last one in the party, made it onto the roof just before the door was again a glowing, flat circle. We stood gulping air and staring down at the disk.
What had we just witnessed?
*** This ends book one of the Colony series ***
Watch for Book #2
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