by J. N. Chaney
“Boring,” I said as I checked my rifle. I patted the knife at the side of my right hip. It was the same knife Stacy gave me to fend off the infected earlier that morning.
A few hours of food and rest were all we got before we’d suited up in armor we’d found in the jungle. The same jungle that seemed to want to kill us at every turn.
It had taken a small miracle to keep Elon back at the Orion with Iris. He finally gave in, understanding his leg was only just back to normal, and Arun had sat the last one out.
If anything happened to us, it would be up to Elon to lead the colony now, and he would do a fine job of it, because that was the kind of man I knew him to be.
The suns’ orange and yellow glow set behind us. I had been given a rifle that I knew how to use, more or less. If things went south, I’d stand a chance at living. I’d do what I did best—what I had always done. I’d find a way to survive.
Was it really only that morning that we’d been running for our lives? And now, as the twin suns set behind us, Arun, Stacy, and I were making our way through a set of mysterious alien doors, the likes of which no human being had ever witnessed. I wondered for a brief moment if Neil Armstrong had ever felt this claustrophobic when he first stepped out of his ship and set his foot down on the moon’s surface. What about Yuri Gagarin, the first man to ever journey into space? We were a far cry away from all of that now, standing here on this alien world, staring at doors carved by otherworldly hands, but this sense of fear mixed with intrigue mixed with excitement—it must have been with them, too. I was hardly the first person to feel any of this, and I certainly wouldn’t be the last. The unknown would always be there, always ahead of humanity, and we were always stupid enough to run blindly into it, like a suicidal cow off the side of a cliff.
And yet, my foot edged closer to the darkness.
We stared at the open doors, looking through the dark interior for anything we could see at all. I was mentally preparing myself for every possible outcome to this insane situation. Whether Iris was correct or not in assuming the aliens had given her a welcome message was beside the point.
Whatever we found in this place—whatever secrets it held—nothing would change the simple fact that our lives were about to change.
They’ve already changed, I told myself, trying to find some kind of comfort in it.
But it was true. Every second of every day we’d spent on this world had brought its own challenges, its own revelations. If we could survive a trip across the galaxy, a planetary crash, a cult, and whatever the hell those things were in the jungle, then why couldn’t we handle this?
“I think—I’m not sure if it’s my imagination or not, but I think I see light farther into the chamber,” Arun said, taking the lead.
We were lucky that we had flashlights at the end of our rifles. I clicked mine on as we pointed our barrels into the tunnel.
“Stay in constant communication.” Elon sounded nervous over the other line. “If you see anything even remotely dangerous, you head back to the Orion as soon as possible. I’ll have the Civil Authority Officers ready.”
“We’ll be alright,” I said more for Elon than me actually believing that. “I mean, what are the odds whatever is in here opened its doors because it didn’t want to see us?”
“6673 to 1,” Iris answered.
“What?” I asked.
“The odds,” Iris explained.
“Oh,” I said, and then decided I needed to choose my words more carefully when in the presence of a Cognitive.
“Come on,” called Stacy. “The sooner we find out what’s going on in there, the sooner we can get back and start figuring out a course of action for the infected.”
“And for our Disciple friend who’s still skulking around the colony,” I reminded her.
“Maybe the infected will get to him first,” she replied.
We passed through the open stone doors, entering a long corridor that slanted down ever so slightly. In a few meters, we were able to see that Arun had been right. There was a faint yellow glow coming from somewhere farther down the hall and to the right.
“I’m going to take point,” Arun said. Her voice left no recourse for argument. “Dean, behind me. Stacy, you bring up the rear.”
“You sure you don’t want me to take the lead?” I felt compelled to ask. I knew Arun was better versed in these types of things. Still, I had to offer.
“No, just maintain trigger discipline and stay focused.” Arun jerked her chin to the finger on my trigger. “Finger only touches the trigger when you’re about to discharge your weapon.”
“Yeah, sure,” I said, edging my finger away.
We continued down the sloping walkway, one at a time. There was no sound. There was nothing but darkness, and in the darkness, the faintest glowing yellow light.
My heart continued to pound in my chest, maybe even faster than it had been while I was racing away from the mob of infected. The walls of my mouth were dry as we turned the corner and came face to face with the source of the yellow glow.
To our right, a chamber opened in a massive circular room. The walls were smooth—even more than crafted steel. I knew the entire chamber was fashioned from stone, but I couldn’t tell how. There were no imperfections, no lines or breaks in the rock. It was smooth and shiny, almost reminding me of marble.
As far as I could tell, we were alone. The lights on our rifles swung this way and that, examining every corner of the chamber.
In the middle of the room was a circular control station. On the control station, a yellow symbol pulsated with life.
“Can you still hear us? What are you seeing?” Elon asked over the comm unit.
“We’re in a large room with some kind of device in the center,” Arun answered. “No contact with anything or anyone yet. I—”
A wheezing sound from the far wall brought all our rifles up at once.
A panel in the far wall lifted from the ground in a hiss of steam. A panel extended from the stone, as though from nothing, and in a place where there had been no indication of such a thing.
The fight or flight instinct swept through us all, so much that I could feel it emanate from every single one of my friends. Adrenaline pumped through my veins like I was about to be in the fight of my life. I lifted the rifle to my shoulder, ready for anything.
But I could never have prepared myself for what appeared next.
It had two legs and two arms, but that was where the similarity between humans and whatever this was had ended. Thick, hide-like skin covered its body and a reptilian face blinked back at us.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. Maybe I should have expected it. I mean, so far, I’d heard of monsters snatching people out of the mist and seen infected colonists and rhino-like creatures in the jungle. But despite all of that, this was altogether different.
It was truly alien.
The creature stepped out of the chamber with his arms held wide. I guessed that was its way of trying to seem non-threatening, but who could even say? I knew absolutely nothing of its culture or communication. There was no way to know what it wanted or how it would react to us.
There were three fingers and three toes on each of its appendages. A thick tail followed behind. It wore a tight-fitting suit that left an opening for its hands and feet. It looked like the suit was made of one piece of material.
Yellow eyes blinked at us. A thin tongue snaked out of a wide mouth with short, stubby teeth.
We stood there staring at each other for far too long.
“Holy sh—”
“What is it?” Elon asked. “Have you made contact with anything yet?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” I answered.
I ripped my eyes from the face of the reptilian creature that stood about four meters tall. It didn’t seem to be carrying any kind of weapon.
“Can you understand us?” Arun asked. “Can you communicate?”
The alien cocked his head to the si
de. It looked us up and down as if he were as shocked and awestruck to see us as we were to see it.
“Tch tch te shay,” it said, making a slithering sound in the back of his throat. “Shen tsya sith.”
“Nope,” I said. “Definitely don’t understand alien.”
“May I try?” Iris asked over our comms. “If I can speak with the alien, perhaps I can work out some common language patterns. At least enough to begin a dialogue.”
“Be my guest,” Arun said, removing the earpiece. She extended the small device toward the alien.
It took about an hour, but it felt like minutes.
Back and forth the alien clicked its teeth and made the sounds from the back of his throat. Iris began to mimic the sound, repeating them back and at times coming up with words of her own. The Cognitive was not only learning a language from scratch, but it seemed as if she was doing so in record time.
After the first few hours, the little alien began motioning furiously and talking with Iris. What looked like a grin passed over the creature’s thin lips and spread across his face. I had to remind myself that every action could mean something else. A smile wasn’t necessarily a smile. A nod wasn’t necessarily a nod. They could both mean the opposite to this creature or they could mean nothing at all.
“How we doing, Iris?” Stacy asked after a while, still aiming her weapon at the alien.
“Very good,” Iris said. “The dialect he’s using is fairly simple once you work out the verb conjunctions. Their noun placement is also unlike most modern languages, but—”
“English, Iris. Can you translate whatever it’s saying into something we can understand yet?” I reminded the Cognitive.
“Oh yes.” Iris paused for the briefest moment. “I think in time I will be able to not only teach the alien our tongue, but as of this moment, I believe I can relay a simple question to him.”
“You called it a him,” said Stacy.
“Correct,” replied Iris. “This one is a male. At least, I am 93% certain of it. I’m still perfecting certain translations.”
“Great, good work, Iris,” Arun said with a nod toward our alien friend. “Can you ask him if he’s alone?”
Iris and the alien went back and forth for several minutes, giving no indication of progress. I also couldn’t tell from the variety of facial gestures whether or not this person was actually happy or pissed. The way I saw it, he seemed to be both at the same time, often giving something between a snarl and a smile.
Iris was doing her best, but I began to wonder if asking the most advanced sentient artificial intelligence in the history of mankind to learn an alien language in the matter of a few hours was actually too big of an ask.
“He says he’s alone,” Iris said, pulling me out of my thoughts. “His name is Tong, and he’s part of a race called the Remboshi.”
At the mention of his name, the alien placed a three-fingered hand on his chest and snapped its jaw furiously.
The rest of my team stared at him, saying nothing.
I cleared my throat. “Can you ask Tong what he’s doing here and why he’s alone?”
Iris spoke with Tong again, this time getting the answer much faster than before.
Whatever Iris and Tong were talking about had evoked a new expression from the reptilian alien—rigid eyes and an agape mouth, only slightly showing his fangs. He motioned to the three of us in the room. He looked and pointed directly at me.
Come on, I thought to myself. What is it now?
“Tong says his people were killed in this section of the planet. He says he was put to sleep until—” She paused. “I’m not certain of the translation, but my best assumption is—visitors. Yes, until the visitors awoke him.”
“What else?” I asked, sensing more to this unraveling thread. “What’s the rest of it?”
She paused. “He says he believes we were sent to save him. No, I’m sorry. I mistranslated. Not him. All of them.”
Arun looked around the room. “Who else is there?”
“The rest of his people,” explained Iris. “Thousands of them, and they’re sleeping all across this world, buried deep beneath the ground.”
Tong slammed his hand on his chest and made another strange gesture with his fingers. “Tse gu kal!”
Iris translated immediately. “The Great Dawn has come!”
Continue reading for ORION AWAKENED.
For Jonathan,
And the many adventures to come.
-J.N. Chaney
To everyone who’s gotten knocked down following their dreams.
You get back up. You don’t give up. That’s not who we are.
-Jonathan Yanez
1
They never came back. The exploration team led by Captain Ezra Harold disappeared with zero radio communication. It had been a full week since we returned to find a three-fingered alien waiting for us. In that time, Iris communicated with the alien named Tong, learning his dialect and teaching him our own.
Lucky for the survivors of the Orion, Tong was highly intelligent and a quick learner. This was one of the reasons he was selected by his own race of people to be the one woken if help should arrive.
At the moment, I found myself, along with Stacy, inside the alien’s home base in the gut of a mountain just outside the landing area of the Orion. It was decided that introducing the alien to the rest of the survivors would be too much for the time being. Until a way to integrate Tong into our lives was found, he would remain a secret.
The rest of the Orion crew and I took turns staying with him. They brought him food while Iris shared information and they learned about their new home planet.
“No way,” I said, looking over at Stacy. “He looks more like a big gecko, not an alligator.”
“You’re blind,” Stacy said, rolling her eyes. “Totally an alligator man.”
We were staying with Tong in the large circular room where we first found him. He showed us a control panel along the side of the wall that allowed bright lights to shine overhead as well as change color. Right now, the lights were bright white.
Tong looked at us with a wide grin, showing all of his stubby teeth. In the week Iris worked on teaching him English, the two had made incredible bounds, but there was still a steep learning curve.
“What is gecko?” Tong asked, still smiling. When he talked, his words sounded guttural and harsh. “Tong am Remboshi.”
“Right, right,” I said, nodding to the smiling alien. “You’re a Remboshi—that’s your race—but on Earth, you look like a creature we have called a gecko.”
“No gecko.” Tong waved a hand dismissing the idea. “Tong am Remboshi.”
“So, Tong, tell us,” Stacy said, leaning against the wide circular wall of the room. “What lies to the east in the mountains?”
Tong cocked his head to the side as if he didn’t comprehend the words. This was the main problem we were having with him. He could understand some dialogue, but he kept getting caught up on physical locations and in depth questions. Still, it had been two days since I had seen him last and he could talk a lot more now than he could then.
“Mountains? East?” Tong blinked his large yellow eyes at us, clearly confused.
“Mountains,” I said as Stacy searched for an alternate way to ask her question. I made the design of large upside down V’s on the ground to try and simulate a mountain range. “You know, big mounds of earth.”
Tong came closer to look at what I was doing. I tensed involuntarily as he approached, despite knowing he was a friend. He had never made any kind of aggressive act toward us at all. Still, with an alien only a few feet away, my fight or flight mode kicked in.
Easy, Dean, easy, I coached myself. If he tries anything, you’re the one with the blaster. Plus, his anatomy is close enough to a human’s that you could beat him in a fight. Probably.
Tong didn’t seem to notice me tense up. He stared down at the ground as I traced the mountain range, trying to make sense of it. Finally
giving up, the alien shrugged his tiny shoulders, looked at me with an almost sorry expression, and shook his head.
“Here, this might work,” Stacy said, rummaging through the pack at her feet. She came out with a large smart pad, then scrolled through the device before offering it to me. “You can draw on it with your finger.”
“We’ll give it another shot. He understands more now than when we tried two days ago, so who knows, maybe it’ll work,” I said, accepting the pad.
Drawing things for Tong to grasp was something we’d tried twice before with limited success, but he was learning quickly.
I created a square with my finger in the center of the white screen. Tong peered down at my seated position, edging down for a better look. Uneasy again at his close proximity, I rethought my position and rose to my feet. Tong didn’t seem to notice or care. His eyes were on the smart pad.
“This is us, here,” I said, pointing to the square again. I pointed to myself, then Stacy, and then to him. “Dean, Stacy, and Tong, here.”
“Shtacy, Great Dawn, Tong,” Tong said, nodding along and using his names for us.
Stacy laughed then lifted a hand to her mouth to stifle the giggle. “Sorry, but come on, the way he calls you Great Dawn is a little funny.”
I ignored Stacy, going over to the left side of the pad and creating a mountain range with large upside down V’s. It was to the east of the square in the middle of the map, just like they would be in real life.
“And these are mountains,” I said, pointing to the mountain range I’d drawn. I wasn’t proud of them, but I’d never be a world class artist. In truth, a little kid could have done a better job.
“Ahhhhhh,” Tong said in a long exhale of breath. “Mountains.”
“Yes,” I said, seeing a glimmer of recollection in those large yellow eyes.
