by J. N. Chaney
“I’m not sure if we’re going to have enough personnel for all of this.” Doctor Wong shook his head. “I mean, I don’t know how many more Civil Authority Officers we can spare to ensure the encampment is safe, not while there may be a Disciple in the shadows and an alien doorway only kilometers from us.”
“There has been absolutely zero activity from the doors,” Iris reminded us all. “My data points to a civilization that died out hundreds of years ago.”
“Be that as it may,” Captain Harold looked over at Arun and Elon, “I’d like to agree with the doctor on this one.”
“Really?” Doctor Wong looked surprised.
“The Civil Authority ranks are depleted. Getting new officers hasn’t exactly been easy,” Captain Harold said, looking over at Arun and me. “The ones we did get to join still need to be trained.”
“I’ll go, check on this escape ship, and while I’m out there, see for myself whether our Disciple friend died on the ship or is out here playing hide and seek,” I volunteered. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to sleep until Maksim was in the ground or in custody again, preferably in the ground.
“I’ll lead the second expedition to the communication section of the Orion,” Captain Harold said. “I’ll take volunteers and leave my Civil Authority Officers here to maintain order. Arun, they’ll answer to you.”
I wasn’t really sure if Mommy and Daddy were going to play nice after this morning, but it seemed like they buried the axe to some extent.
“I hate the idea of sending untrained civilians out there,” Arun said, shaking her head.
“We’ll only ask for volunteers that have some kind of wilderness or military experience,” Elon reassured her. “We’ll send them out in larger groups with at least a handful of trained survivors with them like Stacy and me.”
Arun eyed her brother. “I should have guessed you’d want to go. Even with that limp, huh?”
“It’s barely a limp at all anymore.” Elon grinned. “I’ve been cooped up in the Orion for too long. It’ll do me some good to get out.”
Arun slowly nodded. “Okay, we have our plan. One team led by Elon will go secure the escape ship on the west coast and check on the cell block section of the Orion. Captain Harold’s team will travel east to secure the communication equipment. We’ll need it to get the signal out here on this planet to any survivors as well as to the galaxy and anyone searching for us.”
Everyone in the room seemed to be in agreement. We were about to go our separate ways to prepare for our journeys when Iris called us back to the hologram.
“One other thing I wasn’t going to bring up because I’m not sure if it is an anomaly or something wrong with the system, but I feel like I should tell you just in case,” Iris said, enhancing the portion of the jungle area to the north of us. “There’s something large in the jungle, maybe more than one that keeps popping in and out of my scanners.”
“Wonderful,” I said. “I think we were running away from your mystery creature when we left the jungle. Whatever’s in there, it’s massive.”
“It would have to be to appear on my scanners at all,” Iris agreed. “Stay away from the jungle at all costs. Follow the coast when you go.”
“We will,” I said, looking at Elon. “Let’s go test out that new leg of yours.”
12
A call for volunteers was sent out amongst the survivors. To my surprise, more people were willing to come than I initially thought. I guess they were getting bored of tent life and working on the wall.
My group consisted of Elon, Stacy, Lou, Boss Creed, and three other survivors I didn’t yet know. Ricky was jonesing to join us, but as soon as Arun asked him to stay back because she needed a capable mechanic to help aboard the Orion, he couldn’t pull his name out of the running soon enough.
We were set to be off as soon as possible. I found myself waiting for the others in the cafeteria tent. We were supposed to meet there then depart after the noonday meal.
The food was simple but did the job of fueling our bodies. I was grateful to have any food at all. I didn’t know how the cooks or whoever it was getting the food was managing to work in a kitchen that was on its side in the Orion.
Part of me wanted to go back into the Orion and look to see how they had managed to right the equipment they needed. Instead, I focused on my chicken, vegetables, and roll.
I chose a seat close enough to the tent entrance to be able to see the others when they walked in. Lou was the first to arrive from our party. The bald man saw me and greeted me with a grin.
“Dean, it’s so good to see you,” he said, extending a hand.
I wasn’t sure why he was so happy to see me. We’d only spoken once and seen each other twice. Regardless, I gave the man a handshake.
“How’s it going, Lou?” I asked more out of politeness than really wondering how he was doing.
“Every day is a gift, my friend,” he said with a sigh as if he were actually thinking about all the things he had to be grateful for. “This place, this planet is full of energy and wonder.”
“It’s full of something all right,” I said around a mouthful of chicken.
“Oh, you must feel it,” Lou said, taking a seat next to me. “You must feel the magic that lives in this place. I don’t mean magic like witchcraft or sorcery, but you have to feel something. Wonder? Awe? A sense that we were always meant to be here? That something great is about to happen?”
“I feel like you should probably get some food in you,” I said, motioning with my head to the line of tables with the steaming midday meal. “We have a long hike to the first escape ship.”
“Oh, ye of little faith.” Lou still had that happy grin spread across his lips. His eyes twinkled with excitement. “I don’t know why we’re here yet, but there’s a purpose. You’ll see that in time. I know you will. This planet has great things in store for you.”
I was trying to figure out how to get out of the conversation when Stacy and the rest of our crew showed up. There had been a last-minute addition to our team. Doctor Allbright was going to be coming with us. If anyone in the escape ship we were headed to was injured, it would be helpful to have someone with us who knew what she was doing.
Boss Creed and the others brought backpacks full of supplies with them. He tossed one to me.
Soon we were all eating our meal together. The three other survivors I didn’t know introduced themselves as Mark and Hannah, a husband and wife team who wanted to do their part to help, and a middle-aged man named Tom with a ready smile and bulging belly.
They seemed kind enough and had their heads on right. Stacy selected them from the many volunteers who offered to join us. I trusted her judgment.
We sat in nine circled chairs, eating and getting to know one another. Stacy leaned forward with a data pad in her hands. Iris sent the information her long-range scanners picked up to us as well as the other team Captain Harold led. A short communication distance wouldn’t allow us to speak with the Orion, but we’d have the map pulled from the scanners.
“The trip to the escape ship should take two days if we push hard,” Stacy was explaining to the rest of the team. “We’ll need to cover fifteen kilometers a day, so if you don’t think you can do that, it’s better you bow out now.”
We all looked at one another. None of us moved.
“Good,” Stacy said, looking over to Tom. “Tom will be a great asset for us, as well as Mark and Hannah. Tom taught wilderness survival for over a decade. Mark and Hannah were both in the military before they retired to run their own business. We have a great group with us. We’ll move quickly, find the survivors, and be back in four days. Questions?”
I didn’t have any questions, but I did notice Stacy omitted the part where we were going to be traveling past the downed section of the Orion that held the prison cell block. As of this moment, only half of our group knew the real reason we were headed for this particular escape craft when there were four others we could have gone t
o.
“Do we know if the survivors on the escape ship are injured?” Hannah asked. “Have they been able to communicate with us at all?”
“Unfortunately, not,” Stacy answered. “The Orion’s communication ability is handicapped right now. It’s something we’re working on fixing.”
“So, the survivors could all be dead or even moved on from the ship trying to find us?” Mark asked.
“That’s a possibility,” Stacy answered. “We won’t know until we get there.”
“Weapons are on short supply, but I managed to procure a few rifles and a blaster for our trip,” Elon said, pulling a duffle bag forward from under his seat. He unzipped the bag, showing two dark grey pulse rifles and a heavy handheld blaster. “In addition to Stacy’s and my own blaster, we’ll be able to arm half our party.”
Elon passed a rifle to me.
I shook my head and motioned to our two military veterans. “I think we’ll be safer with our firepower in the hands of those trained to use them. I’m all thumbs these days.”
“I see your point,” Elon said, handing the weapons over to the husband and wife team. He gave the last blaster to Boss Creed.
“I don’t know.” Mark gave me an appreciative nod. “I saw the way you handled yourself in the cafeteria when they were beating on that woman. You look like you can handle yourself. What was that? Some kind of karate or Krav Maga?”
“A mixture of a few different fighting styles,” I said, moving the conversation along. “We should get started if we’re going to put in a few kilometers before dark.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Stacy agreed.
Plates, utensils, and cups were placed in a washbasin by the tent flaps as we exited into the heat of the noonday suns. Part of me wanted to ask Lou how the wondrously glorious heat felt radiating off his bald head, but I didn’t want to get into another long conversation with the man about how magical the planet was.
I shouldered my pack, which had to weigh a good forty pounds. The straps fit on my shoulder comfortably for the time being. We’d revisit that conversation once I’d been hiking all day.
“Food, water, knife, sleeping bag, and tent,” Boss Creed said, walking beside me. “I gave you the light one.”
“Always looking out for me,” I said, thinking about how far Boss Creed and I had come. He went from a foreman I never talked to, at a job I didn’t love, to someone I’d consider a friend and would look to when these harsh times became impossible.
These thoughts were taken from my mind at the sound of heavy hammering. The wall around the open side of the Orion was coming along quickly. A third of all the survivors were working on it now. Sheets of metal three stories tall acted as a barrier to secure our meager spot of land on the alien planet. Heavy beams on the inside of the wall were secured and acted to anchor the structure to the ground. A catwalk was taking shape higher up along the inside of the wall for lookouts to pace back and forth.
As far as I could tell, they were doing a heck of a job. Even my mechanic’s eyes couldn’t find any flaws in the way the wall was being built.
“By the time we come back, they may even finish this thing,” Tom said, joining us on the other side of Boss Creed. “They’re working like machines on that.”
“Fear can be one hell of a motivator,” Boss Creed said, eyeing the man who was sweating profusely already. “You said you were a wilderness survival expert?”
“Who me?” Tom asked. “Oh, right, yes. I worked in the civilian sector providing guided walks and trips for the rich and famous. You know, teaching them how to pitch a tent, start a fire, live off the land, and all of that.”
“Right,” Boss Creed said. “Well, I’m glad to have you with us on this trip. There’s no telling what we’re going to run into out here.”
“Be safe,” one of the workers on the wall called down to us.
“Bring them back home,” someone else said.
I found myself thinking over their well wishes somewhat surprised. Strangers didn’t really wish each other well anymore, at least not while we were back on Earth. Usually, when you passed by people you didn’t know, you either didn’t make eye contact at all or, if they turned in your direction, you just looked away.
It was obvious the crash of the Orion brought these people together in a way only going through a traumatic experience with someone else could. In that way maybe this colony did stand a chance.
Stacy and Elon led the way, using a smart pad to plot out our course. The husband and wife team of Mark and Hannah brought up the rear.
I got the lucky position of being stuck in the middle with Tom, Lou, Boss Creed, and Doctor Albright. The first two talked on and on, and the latter two seemed content to let them carry on the conversation.
Mutt decided to join us on this one, falling in line with us as we departed the supposed safety of the Orion. He stayed close to the group, sometimes going off to sniff a bush or piss on a tree but always within sight. It was as if he too understood we were going into uncharted territory and was wary of straying too far.
We walked until the hot suns disappeared over the horizon. Flashlights were distributed among the group as we prepared to make our camp in a wide clearing. The plan was to skirt the edge of the jungle and to make it to the ocean without pissing anything off that wanted to kill us. Once there, we would follow the beach up to the section of the Orion holding the prison cell block. From there, the escape ship would be just a couple of kilometers up the beach.
The stars across the night sky were breathtaking. We never got to see this many stars on Earth, and even when we escaped the lights of the city, they were never like this.
Mark and Hannah took the first watch, while the rest of us set up a meager camp and readied our dinner. I helped Elon erect the tents while the others worked on starting a fire and preparing the food.
“Your limp is almost completely gone,” I said to the Eternal. “How’s the pain level?”
“Manageable,” Elon said with an approving nod. He had shaved and straightened himself out since I had seen him in his semi-drunken state. He looked a lot better.
“We’re making good time. Although we’re out of range of communication with the Orion, I believe Captain Harold and his expedition team will be doing the same,” Elon said, back to his optimistic outlook on life. “We’ll figure this out, Dean. We’ll figure this out together.”
I was about to respond when the first scream cut through the cool night air.
13
We all looked at one another to make sure we weren’t imagining it. But how could we? The shriek was so loud, there was no way any of us had missed it. Like a fact we didn’t want to acknowledge, we came together, looking to Elon and Stacy for a plan of action.
The howl of unnatural agony came again. It was coming from the right of our encampment in the thick folds of the jungle foliage. The light of the stars and giant moon in the night sky made seeing anything in the dense jungle brush impossible.
My imagination was running away with me as I swore I saw a silhouette of trees transformed into nighttime monsters. Shadows from bushes turned into coiled alien snakes, and swaying leaves into slender alien monkeys that wanted to suck the eyes from our sockets.
“What is it?” Tom asked, aghast.
“Aliens or human?” Boss Creed asked.
“I don’t know, and I don’t intend on any of us finding out unless it comes out here,” Elon said, shaking his head. “I read the report of what happened last time an expeditionary force entered the jungle. We don’t need a repeat of that. We’ve skirted the jungle so far for a reason.”
“I agree,” Stacy said, keeping her eyes peeled on the jungle tree line where the intermittent screams were coming from. “There’s no way we need to go in after whatever that is.”
“It—it sounds like a tormented soul, nearly human or perhaps it used to be human,” Lou added.
“Comforting thoughts,” I said, scratching at the back of my neck. “So, what are
we supposed to do? Pretend we don’t hear Casanova over there serenading us through the night?”
“Exactly,” Elon said, looking over at Mark and Hannah, who stood ready to aim their weapons at anything exiting the jungle interior. “We stand guard through the night in rotating shifts, two at a time.”
Mutt came and sat down next to me. He put his left forepaw on my right boot as if he were silently claiming me, telling me that I was his and I was under his protection.
I scratched the dog’s neck, feeling his soft gray and white fur against my calloused palm.
The rest of the night, including our shared meal, was miserable to say the least. Whenever a long pause would have us thinking it was the end of the macabre noise, another shriek would assault our ears. It never grew closer or farther, just stayed the same. Somewhere just out of sight.
“Still think this is a magical place, Padre?” I asked before I turned in for the night.
“Magic? Who said this place was magic?” Doctor Allbright asked from her seat around the fire.
“Maybe not magic, but special,” Lou said. He stared into the orange flames of the fire, his face painted in an eerie glow of yellow. “Something about this place is different, and I don’t mean it’s an alien planet. No one feels anything?”
Lou finally broke his gaze and looked up at us around the fire. I almost wanted to agree with him, he looked so desperate for an answer.
“I’ll bite,” Mark said, sitting at the edge of the fire with his wife. Boss Creed and Stacy were on watch. “During my time in the military, my unit entered a city. From the beginning, we knew something was off. I don’t mean dangerous off, although that was certainly a possibility—just different, somehow, special. There were birds that had no right to make that kind of climate their home, people were living to incredibly old ages, and the water, the water was so sweet.”
