by Bob Cooper
“You mean scale the mountain from behind, come over the top, and then down into the caves?” his team leader asked.
“That mountain is about three miles straight up,” another member commented.
“Well, that’s not exactly what I meant. I brought jetpacks with us so we can jettison up the back of the mountain and then down to the front entrance. It’s the only way to get there without being seen,” he replied.
“That might work. How much gas will we need, and how will we carry it?” the team leader asked.
“I had gas grenades loaded on board. I was told they are very potent and will seek their way into any structure. All we have to do is seal the entrance after we shoot the grenades in there.”
“How are you going to seal the entrance? And how long do we have to wait before the gas takes effect?” another team member asked.
“Well, we have some inflatable docking collars on board—you know, the kind used to soften a shuttle’s maneuvers during an in-flight docking process. I was thinking after we shoot the grenades, we position the collars and activate them. I was told to wait about fifteen minutes for the gas to work before entering. If we each take a collar, we should have more than enough to seal the entrance.”
It was a risky plan, and he knew his team was skeptical about its success. To inspire more confidence in them, he told them he would lead the mission. He could tell his team was antsy, but they were a good group and followed his orders. The only problem was Captain Ryan had never flown a jetpack before.
11
The armament and other equipment weighed Captain Ryan down considerably. Strapping on the jetpack, he studied the controls and watched as the others did the same.
“We will need to use maximum thrust to get us up initially, even though the gravity here is about three-quarters of that on Earth,” he said, attempting to reassure his team.
Having only experienced the jetpack ride on simulations, he wasn’t sure if they could carry the heavy load. But no one questioned it or had any better suggestions, so this was his opportunity to show his peers back on Earth he has what it takes to be a leader.
“Let’s move out,” he said, leading them down the gangway.
It was pitch black except for the stars overhead. He activated his display and the night vision viewer clicked on, showing a treacherous terrain filled with large boulders and depressions. The nav systems kicked in showing the trajectory they needed to get over the mountain.
“Everybody functioning?” he asked.
They all gave him thumbs-up.
“Okay, let’s get this done,” he said, moving the thrust handle and steering in the direction on his visor. His stomach lurched, and he gripped the handle hard to hold on, but that caused him to shoot up even faster. Once airborne, he managed to control his flight in a somewhat steady manner. Looking over his shoulder, the rest of his team was right behind him. He steadied himself as he approached the top of the mountain.
Now for the hard part—landing without breaking any bones, he thought. This is where he had the most trouble. The sims had an auto-landing function, but they did not always work in rough terrain. He had opted to learn manual descent and failed more times than he cared to remember. Gaining control of his stabilizers, he positioned himself correctly. Beside him, he saw the others already in position, waiting for him to start his descent.
At best, I’ll make an ass out of myself; at worst I’ll…. he thought when the emergency light blinked on his visor. He was descending too fast. Compensating quickly, he cranked the thrusters, which shot him upwards. Then letting go, he plummeted back down. With all the emergency lights blinking now, he cringed as he attempted to control his descent and closed his eyes. He was about to hit the ground. His team landed safely and watched in awe as the Captain came in at a high rate of speed. After slamming into the hard surface, he lay there, trying to decide if anything was broken. A woman on the team walked over and helped him up.
“Nice landing,” she said jokingly as she and the others applauded.
“Thank you. It took years to perfect my landing technique,” he said laughing, once the embarrassment wore off.
“Now, let’s go to work.”
***
Myra sat alone, eyes glued to the monitors as she watched Acey and the group. As a young girl, her parents made sure that she would carry on their traditions and beliefs in the “Righteous Way.” It was hard for her growing up. Her rigorous training schedule and indoctrination classes left her little time to socialize with friends. Her parents saw greatness in her and did everything they could to ensure she realized her potential.
In her sixteenth year, the leader of the sect visited her. Saying goodbye to her parents, he whisked her away to a place only a few knew about, and there they prepared her for eventual leadership. Her mentors were the only humans she was allowed to see. She learned how the “Righteous Way” planned to keep the culture pure and free of contamination from alien influences. She learned how to preach the gospel of a contamination-free Earth and how to promote the principles of the sect.
On her eighteenth birthday, the most high religious council brought her before them where they praised her for her quick learning and diligence. Assigned to one last mentor, she was taught the evils of Theosophy, which is the synthesis of religion, philosophy, and science. The sect’s tenets must remain pure and unadulterated as defined by the “Righteous Way”. The existence of the artifacts and their potential danger to these beliefs were known for a long time. She was taught how all knowledge and experiences from civilizations across the universe became part of the genetic makeup of the “special humans” and how it was passed on to future generations. It was also stored in the artifacts. This contamination of the human gene pool had to be stopped at all costs. Her life from then on would be to protect and promote the beliefs of the “Righteous Way”. The genetic information stored in the artifacts and their evil implications needed to be kept secret and eventually destroyed.
Surprisingly, Myra convinced the most high religious council that the aging population of the “Righteous Way” needed new, younger blood to carry out their mission. She proposed they seek out these “special humans” and reprogram them and use them to spread the gospel of the “Righteous Way” to the human population. It took some convincing, but ultimately they agreed with her ideas. She now needed the genetic information from the artifacts to use in the reprogramming the “special humans”.
***
The team readied the docking collars to be lowered from the rim of the mountain to the cave entrance below. Captain Ryan ordered Private Joshua Eloy to repel down, fire the gas canisters and activate the collars to inflate and seal the opening while the gas did its work.
No guards stood at the entrance because a large carbon-steel gate blocked anyone from entering. Sensors located on the top of the cave opening detected movement and would alert those inside to intruders. The sensors’ beams emanated in all directions for several hundred yards. However, they were angled enough to allow for an approximate five-foot gap between the entrance and the scanning beams. That was a tight space for Private Eloy to work, and repelling down was the only way to squeeze behind the scanner beams. He had to descend precisely into the five-foot space underneath the angle of the sensors. Captain Ryan chose Private Eloy because he was the smallest and most agile person on the team.
“Are you ready?” Captain Ryan asked.
“Yes, Sir.”
“Remember, the gas canisters are timed to go off two minutes after they make contact with the ground. You have to deploy the collars within that timeframe to ensure no gas escapes the cave.”
“Yes, Sir, I understand.
“Good, then let’s get moving,” he said. He and the other team members held the rope as Private Eloy started to repel.
***
Acey studied the hologram of the main console she found in the caves on Dysnomia and on Eris. She convinced herself if she could understand how it worked, she coul
d issue the commands to open the hex containers. The rest of the group stood close and watched as she displayed the glyphs and tried to make sense of them. She instructed the AI to analyze them, arrange them in logical combinations, and display the results. The AI presented a long series of patterns and put them into logical sequences that might be used to open the containers.
“Just what are we looking for?” Hillary finally asked.
“I’m not sure. Which series should I try? There are too many to try them all.”
Hillary studied the designs. She asked the AI to display all combinations and permutations. This produced a lot more patterns. She feverishly moved the glyphs around on the holo until an image of a hex container came into view.
“How did you do that?” Acey asked.
“I’m not exactly sure, but you were looking at these from a human logical perspective. I doubt their logic is the same as ours. Since I have an eye for the abstract, I was able to find the sequences to produce this image.”
“You never cease to amaze me!” Acey said, recording the sequences.
“Yep, that’s me, totally amazing,” Hillary replied with a laugh.
“We don’t know what will happen when we enter this sequence on the console, but it’s a start,” Acey said.
Unexpectedly, the door opened, and Tim walked in with two armed guards.
“I see we have made some progress,” he said, walking over to the display.
“We need to see if this will open the containers,” Acey said.
“That will be tomorrow’s task. Would you gentlemen please come with me?”
The guards pushed Dirk, Aidan, and Billy towards the door. Dirk stopped and turned to Tim.
“Where are we going?”
“None of your business! Keep moving!” he said with his hand firmly on Dirk’s shoulder.
Aidan rushed the guard closest to him and knocked him to the floor. Dirk rushed Tim, but the butt of a weapon to the right side of his head sent him crumpling to his knees. Acey screamed and rushed Tim, who dodged her and shoved her against the wall. The second guard incapacitated Aidan with a stun weapon, and Aidan writhed in pain.
“Now let’s try this again,” Tim said, aiming his blaster directly at Billy’s head.
The three reluctantly exited the door as it slammed behind them, leaving Acey, Raina, and Hillary in a state of shock.
Tim took Dirk, Billy, and Aidan to a small room at the end of the cave that contained an airlock where he planned to drain the oxygen and send them to their deaths. Aidan frantically looked for some way out, but they were locked in. He sank down next to Dirk and Billy on the floor and waited for his life to end.
***
Private Eloy steadied himself as he dangled above the cave entrance. He took some time to go over the plan in his mind one more time before he took out the four gas canisters. They were shaped like beer bottles, and he tossed them through the gate. In two minutes, they would spew gas that would permeate every crack and crevice of the cave structure. That was the easy part. Now he had to seal the entrance with the docking collars to keep the gas in.
The collars were folded in the shape of a two-foot square. He had two of them. He calculated one should seal the entrance, leaving the other as a spare in case of a malfunction. He held himself steady on the edge of the cave entrance and pulled the inflation cord while moving it into position. The collar exploded with a burst of air that caused it to inflate too rapidly. It sent him flying like a tethered ball at the end of a rope. He broke the plane of the sensors, alarms sounded, and lights flashed. The canisters exploded, and gas wafted outside the entrance.
“What happened?” Captain Ryan asked.
“The inflation pressure is much more than I expected, and it sent me into the sensors.”
“Is the collar secure?”
“Negative.” I’m going to deploy the spare.”
Private Eloy was about to try again when a blaster shot sent him looking for cover. Captain Ryan heard the shot and activated his jetpack.
“Keep that line tight and get ready to pull him up,” he instructed his team as he jettisoned himself up and over the ledge. With his blaster in hand, he hovered at the cave entrance and returned fire. Private Eloy pulled the cord after positioning the second collar, and this time it sealed the opening. The gas quickly overcame the guards, and they fell to the ground.
“Pull him up,” Captain Ryan commanded. He hovered a while not caring about breaking the beams to make sure Eloy got up okay.
“Captain, the kidnapper’s ship is taking off,” a team member said. Captain Ryan watched as the ship circled overhead, then shot straight up and disappeared into the blackness of space. Maneuvering his thrusters, he set down by the cave entrance but wasn’t sure who was on the ship, or what awaited them inside. “Come on down here and blow these gates open so we can get inside,” he commanded.
The gas found its way into every room. Acey felt light-headed and collapsed. Hillary and Raina were slumped over in the corner of the room. When Captain Ryan and his team broke into the room, they found Acey, Hillary and Raina dazed, but after some oxygen, they were revived.
In the airlock, Billy became conscious and woke the others.
“What happened?” Aidan asked, totally confused.
“I don’t know, but we’re alive,” Billy responded.
“Something is going on,” Dirk said, walking over to the airlock door.
It opened as he tried the latch, causing him to jump back. Captain Ryan walked in, followed by his team. Acey, Hillary, and Raina were with them.
“Are we glad to see you,” Dirk said.
Captain Ryan told them about the rescue plan and that Tim and Myra had escaped. His team captured the other guards and were in the process of interrogating them. They walked to the main room where they drank water to hydrate while the last of the gas left their bodies.
“Any news on the hostages from the lab?” Dirk asked.
“No word yet. As far as I know, there hasn’t been any ransom demand. Things are at a dangerous standstill.”
Captain Ryan questioned Acey and Hillary while Dirk listened. Raina walked out the door and down the hall into the communications room. She studied the complex maze of equipment as Aidan caught up with her.
“Obviously someone built this facility to study the artifact,” she said to him.
Aidan didn’t answer right away. He looked at the antiquated equipment.
“This stuff is at least fifty years old,” he finally replied.
“Then, these people must have had knowledge of the artifacts back then.”
“Let’s get out of this place and off this rock. This place freaks me out,” Raina said.
Acey explained everything to Captain Ryan except for the voices of the Guardians that Hillary heard and their interest in Hillary’s pregnancy. She also left out the fact that they were getting closer to opening up a container. But Captain Ryan was satisfied and needed to get back to Earth. He watched as Dirk lifted his cruiser safely off the small moon and into open space. Dirk signaled his good-bye and was on his way to Earth.
“We can’t go back to Earth—not yet,” Acey said. “Now that Hillary came up with the sequences that will open the containers, we need to study them further.”
“They also took an extreme interest in my pregnancy,” Hillary interjected.
“But why?” Aidan asked.
“Don’t know,” Acey said,” but I do know that Tim and Myra won’t leave us alone until they get what they want. I want to go back to Eris and see if we can’t get into one of those containers.”
“Why don’t we stay here and open the containers?” Raina asked.
“We’re not doing either. It’s much too dangerous,” Dirk said.
“Look, our only hope is to find out exactly why the “Righteous Way” wants these artifacts kept a secret. This will give us some leverage with them, especially if they know we would make this information available to everyone,” Acey said, tr
ying to reason with Dirk.
“Or it will intensify their efforts to kill us,” Dirk shot back.
Hillary interrupted their conversation when she called out before slumping to the ground. Billy ran to hold her.
“They’re back. I hear them. I see them,” Hillary said, closing her eyes.
12
Captain Ryan finished his briefing with the Citizen Guard Command and headed for his room on the ship for some much-needed R&R. Nothing had changed on Earth since his departure—the hostage situation had not been resolved, and no demands had been made. He was several hours from Earth and wanted to sleep.
“Captain Ryan, you are needed on the bridge,” the AI said.
“Damn! Now what?” he thought as he headed to the bridge. When he arrived, his entire crew was there.
“What’s this?” he asked.
Private Eloy stepped forward.
“Uh, well, we all want to show our appreciation for your courage during this last mission. Your bravery not only saved my life but the captives as well,” he said, extending his hand.
He looked around at all of them. Never had anyone said those words to him in his entire career with the Guard. Blushing, he shook Private Eloy’s hand. This mission gave him the confidence he had lacked and proved he was worthy of his command, a Captain in the Citizen Guard.
“Thank you very much. You are the finest team I have had the pleasure of working with.”
“Just one more thing, Captain,” Private Eloy said.
“What’s that?”
“Well, we thought you might want to brush up on jetpack landings, so we have something you might want to use.”
The Private handed him an old pair of anti-gravity boots with four metal springs attached.
Everyone laughed and clapped as the Captain inspected them.
“Thank you. I’ll make sure to take these next time I’m on a mission,” he said with a grin on his face. “Call me when we reach Earth,” he said, saluting them as he left the bridge.
