James Scotson - Planets Falling

With the risk of a nuclear-fueled collapse gone, the Collective troops descended on the colony. Two days of furious fighting ensued, mostly involving messy hand-to-hand incursions in tunnels. Both sides were steeped in blood, but the superior numbers and far greater firepower of the Collective prevailed. A thousand pirate soldiers, including a hundred children and a few prisoners, were discovered in the hidden city.

From the shuttles, it was impossible to see the remaining buildings of the pirate colony through the thick, opressive smoke. Bodies were already decaying — the smell of death clung to the survivors as if reminding them that they might not be so lucky next time. Fromer returned to the building where he and Mup sparred for the last time. He always was faster. Mup should have known better.

Fromer entered the room at dusk. Mup’s body was heaped in the corner where Fromer left it. Fromer leaned down and waved away the flies. It amazed him how certain animals followed sentients, no matter how desolate the conditions. He wagered that long after the pirate colony was cleared and all sentients left the planet, the nauron terraformers would be contending with the vermin. He picked up Mup’s limp body and placed it in his shuttle. He shook his head as the shuttle lifted and headed for the Fuerst.

Etch moored the Fuerst at a location equidistant between old earth and zenat. Fromer entered the cargo bay alone. Mup’s body was zipped in bag, lying on the floor of the room. Fromer suited up, opened the bay doors, and gently guided Mup to his resting place in the vacuum. Fromer was uncertain how he should feel. Confused and conflicted were the best descriptors, he supposed. Mup had grasped at free will, but it corrupted him. Would Fromer meet a similar fate if he turned his back on his responsibilities?

To the Institute, Mup no longer existed. All evidence of his exploits, adventures, and eventual self-exile was purged from the system. After all, it would be alarming if the galaxy learned that the protectors of human-zenat relations were going rogue. It might mean the end of collaboration and perhaps even war between the two species. This burden Fromer and his kind knew all too well.

“It’s another insect-man, hybrid thing. Fromer, your brother is out here.” Verat exclaimed as the glowing creature jumped above their heads and ran into a nearby gorge.

Fromer appeared at the gangway, exuding a combination of fear and curiosity. Mup was frozen in deep space. And Mup was here. Ghosts indeed walked this world. Fromer looked at Verat. “Where did he go?”

Verat whistled. “Well, I’m not disappointed so far.” He pointed at the gorge. “Are you going to follow him?”

“Of course not. You all did see him?”

The group nodded. Grey stepped forward. “This individual was your kind, right? Did you recognize him?”

Fromer calculated for a moment. “He appeared to be hybrid, but I did not recognize him.”

“But I thought you said a name?” Grey queried.

“For a moment, he looked like someone I knew nearly a century ago. He is long dead.”

Grey gathered the crew. “Well, our fears appear to be true. A clandenstine group is here on the planet. We don’t know how many people there are or their purpose. In anticipation, we’ve armed the security detail.” He glared at Fromer while saying this. “Fromer and his guard will accompany all expeditions. No one else is authorized to carry weapons. We don’t need a bunch of trigger happy scientists shooting at each other in the fog.”

Melat hopped back toward the shuttle, examining the hull. “I’ll prepare the vessel for a lift off in case we need to leave in a hurry. Don’t go missing me while I’m away.” She vanished through the portal. The crew exchanged anxious looks.

The scientists and soldiers spent the day erecting shelters and setting up a technology station. Cabling was strewn about. Open containers were used as makeshift furniture. Grey announced his plan. Gorian and Melat would remain at the shuttle site and coordinate communication, protected by two guards, Banna and Tyrrel. Iggy, Grey, Verat, Fromer, Fen and two soldiers — Minns and Rhodes — would head uphill, north to the location of the most electrical activity. All would take samples along the way.

Grey expected the first expedition from camp to take forty eight hours. They’d follow magnetic north on their compasses. Almost all terraformed planets had a magnetic field. Interestingly, the Institute’s home world of mars didn’t have one. It had to be generated by huge reactors on both poles. These magnetic polar waves formed a protective shield from the sun’s harmful rays and were necessary to allow life to thrive. Nine, like old earth, had an unusually strong natural magnetic field, making it very desirable for life but difficult for radio communications, especially at the poles.

Travel progressed smoothly. At each kilometer, they stopped to sample. Iggy dragged behind the others, diligently collecting samples of air and glancing at his data tablet.

“Can you hurry it up Ig? Have you devolved into a slug?” Verat asked.

“What’s the hurry Verat?” Grey was clearly annoyed. “We need to make sure these data are clean and precise. Iggy’s doing a great job.”

Iggy turned to Verat and grinned widely with his toothless mouth.

Verat growled and kneeled down to sample a puddle of water.

The vegetation thickened. Grey categorized species he’d never seen before. It was as if his father had designed an entirely novel set of cultivars for this world.

“Do you think there’s contamination from the illegals? The smugglers could’ve planted this stuff.” Grey asked.

Verat chuckled. “You really are naïve or deluded. Do you think that Fromer-like thing was really a pirate or a smuggler? I swear it was transparent. We’re seeing ghosts, Grey. Or we’re having a wicked mass hallucination. The creature is just like the ones we saw from space. I think we all may be tripping on some drug in the air.”

Fen stopped and sat down. He unbuckled a boot and began rubbing his foot. “This is exactly as he predicted.” He seemed to be muttering to himself.

“Uncle Fen, what are you saying?”

“Grey, I haven’t been completely forthright with you. With you all. Your father was obsessed with this planet. He said he had discovered some late writings by Pinchot Ferris, after the fall of earth. Everyone discounted her research when she became a recluse. But he felt that she was on to something. He talked incessantly about life being a doorway to another universe. Like a biological quantum drive, but far more powerful.”

“I have some notes that I’ve been trying to decipher for years. Uncle Fen, I think you should take a look.” Grey produced his data tablet from his pack.

Fen looked at the screen for a long time. “These are ancient runes from home. The sentients used them occasionally in burial chambers. I don’t know much about them.” He pointed to a string of symbols next to his father’s documentation on Nine’s geology. “See these? The sentients used each symbol to represent a simple concept, similar to some writing used by old earth cultures. These seem to represent water and lightning or electricity. This one that looks like a snake? I think it means close to the ground. And this one, I know for sure — it represents danger or death. It’s almost as if he was writing about hazards on the planet. Something related to the electrical field and perhaps the biology? Hard to say really.”

Verat laughed. “This gets better all the time. Now we have some symbology that warns us that we might get zapped or strangled by a snake? Was your dad playing some sick joke on us? I loved that man, but he did have some quirks.”