Proxima Trilogy: Part 1-3: Hard Science Fiction

by Brandon Q Morris

  Marchenko 2 examines three other objects. They are all so alien he can’t even guess their functions. They must have been parts of larger machinery. He could develop better assumptions if he only knew more about the former inhabitants of this planet. And where can he find out more? He has to enter the building above him. While he is not yet sure that it is indeed a building, everything points in that direction. He just lacks the final proof.

  He aims his measuring instruments upward. Whatever fell into the garbage dump must have come from the building. The exit, which hopefully will soon function as an entrance, must therefore be above him. Yet the only thing he can measure from here is the presence of a large amount of metal. He slowly floats upward. His camera eyes notice it even before the radar. The massive wall above him seems to have a gap in it. He cautiously approaches. Could there be defense mechanisms here? Not very likely, as the garbage dump has no exit, so no enemy could approach from this direction. On the other hand, it is better to be cautious than to end his life in a cave in the ice. He wouldn’t so much regret losing his own life, nor the ignominy of losing it in a garbage dump, but he would sincerely regret having to give up his intended revenge on the other Marchenko.

  He approaches the hole at an angle from the side, meter by meter, but nothing happens. The designers of this edifice obviously did not expect any danger from this direction. He finally reaches the underside of the building. It is electrically conductive, so it must be made of metal. Two meters ahead he sees the hole. He aims his searchlight into it. There is water on the inside as well. There is neither a filter nor a flap. He scoots a little bit closer. One thing is noticeable: The hole in the bottom of the building is jagged and uneven. If somebody built it this way it must have been some very sloppy work, or the opening was constructed like this for a reason he can’t readily guess. Perhaps it is intended to injure whoever falls down here. No, that is nonsense. It is much more likely that the hole was not made deliberately.

  Marchenko 2 runs a quick simulation in his head. A jagged pattern like this might have formed as the result of an explosion. The explosion must have occurred inside the building, close to the bottom. Perhaps there was no water in there at that point in time? No, because then the explosion would not have created such an effect. Water does not compress easily and it passes on such enormous forces very well. If the interior had been filled with air, the hole would have ended up much smaller.

  He might be totally wrong, though. What if the inhabitants like to use forceful methods to expand their buildings? There is only one way to find out. He has to find fragments of the outer wall at the bottom of the garbage dump, fragments which fit together perfectly. Marchenko 2 measures how thick the material he is looking for has to be. The remnants of the explosion have to be somewhere below him. He only has to photograph the bottom systematically and then run a pattern recognition program.

  Marchenko 2 starts working. He aims his searchlight on a spot at the bottom and photographs it before moving to the next one. After 24 minutes he has covered the entire bottom of the garbage dump. He does a color correction, increases the contrast, and applies his pattern algorithm to the result. Piece of cake. A few seconds later this part of his consciousness reports a success message. There are several fragments down there that were definitely once part of the outer shell of the building.

  But there is something else. At the bottom of the ice cave there is something his algorithms classified as a living being. That object only has a tiny bit of energy left. Marchenko 2 is excited. What has he just found? Is that one of the inhabitants of this planet? No, his algorithms tell him the being down there shows obvious similarities to himself.

  Brightnight 1, 3308

  “Uaaaaaah!”

  A scream issues from his throat. He takes in air again. I can breathe! This means he is alive! Does it mean that? What happened? Everything around him is dark. Is he at the bottom of the ocean?

  Gronolf tries in vain to open his eyes. He should be calm now, really calm. He listens to his body, sends signals to all regions, but receives no answer. It is almost as if he does not have a body anymore. Yet there is a tingling in his right hip, a tactile sensation. No, it is not a tingling, but a dull pressure, a pain. He has to relearn how to interpret the signals sent by his body. There can be only one reason for this: It must have been the draght. He has survived it! Life gave him a new body, that of an adult. Why did nobody ever tell him how painful the process would be? Because then you would not have swum to the shore, you idiot, he tells himself. Nobody dies voluntarily, even if there is the chance of a rebirth. After all, not all Grosnops succeed. Some are too immature for the draght, others are too mature. The metamorphosis only works if it is triggered on a certain day, the first day of the no man’s land twilight.

  And now? Shouldn’t his body functions become normal again? When can he finally open his eyes, when can he smell again, and when can he celebrate his victory on the beach? Gronolf uses the sonar to call his mother.

  “Mother? Mother, where are you?”

  He receives no answer. Yet he feels the echo of the reflected waves. His sense of speech is working, but his mother cannot hear him—or she does not want to answer. He concentrates on his body, which must have changed while he was dead. He carefully sends simple thoughts along nerve pathways and hopes they will arrive somewhere. If that was the draght, which is really the only explanation, his body must have been partially rewired.

  There. The smallest of the four toes on his right leg just twitched. Isn’t that a success? He can clearly visualize this part of his body. And now fingers number six and seven of his left hand react. He can also imagine exactly what they look like. There are the joints that can move in all directions, one at the base and the other near the end of the finger. This is followed by the hard shell on the outside and the fine skin on the inside, which he used to caress Sindor, when she... No, this can’t be. Gronolf is confused. What about this scene in his head, which feels like a memory?

  Where is he really, now? During the draght his gills shrank, while his lungs grew so they alone can provide his body with oxygen. His mother had explained that to him. He can breathe independently, so he is no longer lying at the bottom of the sea. Somebody must have moved him onto land. Gronolf visualizes a row of tents on the beach. But that is also impossible. He never saw how the young Grosnops were cared for after the draght. Did his mother send this image to him? Then why doesn’t she reply? He becomes impatient. When will his limbs start working again? There, an eyelid is moving. He feels the leathery skin sliding over the lens. Soon he should be able to see the roof of the tent and perhaps one of the volunteers nursing those who finished the draght. He imagines his mother watching him. How proud she must be because of his strong physique.

  But still there is nothing. Either it is dark, or his nerve pathways still can’t transmit what his eye sees. There—now light is creeping up the horizon. Is he not lying in a tent, but rather on the beach? Is he one of the outcasts, those who survive the draght but do not take on their fully-adult form? Now and then something like that happens. Shivers run over his skin. Gronolf is shocked. The shivers were not caused by fear, they came from something outside of his body. There is also a loud humming sound. What kind of machine is that? What is happening to him? The shivers are caused by a cold wind blowing across his skin.

  Now it is getting brighter and brighter. Gronolf opens a second eye in order to be sure this is not an illusion. There is no tent roof above him. The glow comes from a luminescent area. He moves his arms. Now, finally, he can feel them again. He lifts his hand in front of the uppermost eye. Seven fingers! He has passed the draght. But not just yesterday. The skin on his fingers is brown, no longer a youthful green. He is an old man. He is no longer on the beach.

  He has woken up in a sleeping capsule, and it is completely normal to be disoriented in that case.

  How long has he been asleep, and why? He can’t remember. Only his childhood in the ocean still seems to
live on, the time when he defeated the carriontooth. It must have been ages ago. What has happened in the meantime? Of course his mother cannot answer him. She died long ago. Suddenly he remembers how he and his six siblings sacrificed her to the ocean. This is where we are born and this is where we end up. Those had been the traditional words he, as the strongest of the plex, had been allowed to speak. Yes, seven of them came back, a lucky omen for his mother, but then something must have happened—he can’t remember what.

  But that’s no problem. Gronolf knows now who to ask. He uses his sonar to address the capsule.

  “What is today’s date?”

  “Welcome back, Gronolf Carriontooth. On the home world it is brightnight 35 in cycle 3876 after the Great Awakening.”

  “So I assume I am not on the home world.”

  “That is correct, Gronolf Carriontooth.”

  “Just Gronolf will suffice. How far is it to the world of two suns?”

  “The current distance is about 7,500 times the distance to Mother Sun.”

  May 9, 19, Adam

  “Marchenko?”

  Adam receives no answer.

  “Marchenko?”

  Even after the fifth attempt, the radio remains silent. That bastard has left him behind! What is he up to? Adam rubs his temples. He should never have trusted this second Marchenko. He wiggles around on his seat. Then he turns on the control panel screen. He knows the software quite well. After all, he had enough time to familiarize himself with it. First he has to try to locate Marchenko 2. The cameras show only darkness. He switches through various other frequencies without finding a trace of Marchenko 2. The radar is not very efficient down here. How about sonar? It uses the reflection of sound waves to pinpoint obstacles.

  Yet it doesn’t find anything either. Marchenko 2 must have left the range of the sensors. Adam checks once again where the strange building is located. It is directly above him. This must be the direction in which Marchenko 2 disappeared. He must have found a way through the thick ice layer. It wouldn’t have been a problem with Valkyrie, yet he chose a different method. It seems it was important to Marchenko 2 that he excluded Adam. This can only mean he has heard something from the others!

  Are Eve and the real Marchenko up there? Adam’s cheeks feel hot. Marchenko 2 better not do anything to Eve! Yet Adam cannot allow himself to get too emotional. Marchenko 2 probably won’t lay a finger on his sister. He will try to take her with him, though, and their Marchenko cannot let that happen. In the worst case the attacker would have the advantage of surprise. And only one person can prevent that—Adam himself. He has to warn the others.

  “Attention, is anyone listening?” he asks via radio.

  “Transmission not possible,” Valkyrie replies.

  Damn. Marchenko 2 must have blocked the software. If the radio is deactivated, what about the steering function? Adam orders the engines to move the vessel forward, but nothing happens.

  “Function not available,” the computer voice says.

  “This is an emergency!” Adam yells, and the panic in his voice sounds genuine. Perhaps Marchenko 2 did not think of the emergency mode.

  “Function not available.”

  Damn, damn, damn! It looks like he is sentenced to inactivity. Adam looks around. He cannot warn Eve and Marchenko via radio, and he cannot use the submarine. Yet Marchenko 2 cannot prevent him from setting out on his own. His pressure suit lies in the corner. Just a moment, Adam. He must not fall back into old patterns and expose himself to unnecessary dangers. He has to form a plan first. How can he enter the building? Marchenko 2 is no longer here, so he must have succeeded. And where the robot found a way, there should be enough space for him.

  The only trail Marchenko 2 would have left behind is the heat energy he constantly gives off. Adam turns on the infrared scanner and aims it upward. And indeed, there is a fat red dot that is warmer than the environment. This is where Marchenko 2 must have disappeared. He probably used heat to clear his path. Adam checks the water temperature. It is four degrees Celsius. So there is almost no risk of such a tunnel freezing again. He will put on his suit, leave the submarine, and follow Marchenko 2.

  Adam plans his next step while putting on his pressure suit. The submarine still does not have an airlock. It was just supposed to take them to the edge of the ice sheet, after all. Nobody had planned to get out of it in the middle of the ocean. There is a simple hatch in the aft section. Once he opens it, water will flow into the vessel.

  “Valkyrie, how deep is the ocean here?”

  “The ocean floor is 1,500 meters below us.”

  “Thanks.”

  If the sub fills up with water, it will sink one and a half kilometers into utter darkness. How is he supposed to find Valkyrie if he needs it for the return trip? And as Marchenko 2 seems to have blocked all radio channels, it cannot send him a signal to indicate its location. And what about the bilge pumps? If he orders Valkyrie to pump out the water after he is outside, it should regain buoyancy.

  “Valkyrie, how long will it take you to empty the vessel using the bilge pumps and return to this location?”

  “Complete pump cycle and surfacing will take about three hours.”

  That doesn’t sound so dramatic. If he exits via the hatch, the sub will be waiting for him here three hours later. Until then, he will be on his own. On the other hand, he is not completely alone. Marchenko 2 must be somewhere out there.

  “Marchenko?” It won’t hurt to try it once more. If he only knew exactly what Marchenko 2 was up to! No answer comes from the loudspeaker. Oh well, he will go to the exit now.

  Adam takes one more swig of water, then he closes his helmet and walks towards the aft section of the sub. When he starts opening the hatch by turning the locking wheel, a shrill alarm echoes through Valkyrie. Yes, I know, he thinks, you only mean well. But why was this programmed without the ability to turn it off?

  Soon water starts dripping from the ceiling. It is bitter cold, as Adam can feel through the suit. The heating function of his thermal underwear is automatically activated. He looks at the display on his forearm. He should manage for about six hours, then he has to be back inside the sub. He hopes the bilge pumps will do their job. He imagines returning here with his last bit of oxygen, only to find the sub is not here because one of the bilge pumps was defective. Adam places a hand on his chest. He must not panic now. Things are going to be okay. He is already lucky since the hatch can be opened mechanically, through sheer physical force. Otherwise Marchenko 2 definitely would have locked it.

  Now he is standing hip-deep in water. He hears a distant squeaking sound. It appears to be coming directly from the steel of Valkyrie, complaining about the additional weight. Water weighs a lot. His knees briefly buckle when the vessel starts to move downward. Unfortunately it does not sink vertically but moves at an angle, as if sliding down a slope. He has to hurry. The farther Valkyrie moves from its initial position, the harder it will be for him to follow Marchenko 2. Luckily, he copied the infrared image into the memory of his suit a moment ago. Once he is close enough to the ice, the 3D structure of the frozen surface will show him where Marchenko 2 tunneled in.

  Adam is annoyed he did not anticipate the movement of Valkyrie. He should have placed himself closer to the opening in order to climb up and get outside sooner. This way he has to wait until the water level has risen sufficiently. He tries to warm himself by moving his arms and legs. The heating unit can’t quite keep up. That should definitely change once he is fully immersed in water.

  It is only half a meter to the ceiling now. See you later, Valkyrie, Adam thinks, swims to the opening, and pushes himself up. The inrushing water makes this difficult, but he manages and swims outside in a big bubble of breathable air. With one swim stroke he moves away from Valkyrie, looks down, and suddenly realizes his fine plan has a huge flaw. How can he be so stupid? His anger makes him feel so hot he has to turn down the heating. The hatch! He has to close the hatch. No automatic system will do th
at for him, as he has to use his own muscles. Good that he remembered just in time.

  He swims back to the sub and holds onto it, while it keeps sinking. He will only be able to close the hatch once Valkyrie is completely filled with water. It shouldn’t be long now. Adam bends over the hatch and pulls the lid up until it reaches the hull. It is hard work, but his strength is sufficient. Now he has to close two clamps and then turn the large wheel on the outside all the way.

  Finished. He has to take a short rest. He looks up but sees only darkness. How far away from his original position is he by now? Any estimate would be useless. He will have to approach the ice layer until it is in range of his searchlights. At least he can be sure of one thing: If he moves straight up, he will definitely reach the ice. How great that gravity shows me the way! In his mind Adam says a final goodbye to Valkyrie and kicks off from its metal hull with his legs. He is immediately surrounded by darkness. He turns on his helmet’s searchlight, but its beam cannot really illuminate the darkness and seems to make it even more palpable. When he turns his head and moves the beam, the darkness resembles a menacing creature always just outside the light and waiting for its victim to show a sign of weakness.

  He won’t be weak. He swims single-mindedly toward the ice wall. His arm display calculates his current depth based on the water pressure. He sees it can’t be far now. After five minutes of swimming he has the feeling he is going to collide with the ice layer at any moment. Therefore he aims his head and the searchlight upward at an angle.