James Scotson - Planets Falling

Gorian glanced at the screen. The things were almost upon Rhodes. He tried to climb the rock but kept falling back. As she watched the grainy images unfold, her stomach tightened. The tubes, snakes, vines, whatever they were had reached Rhodes. He appeared to be firing his gun. The creatures descended on him. The next image showed a scene that Gorian would never forget. Rhode’s figure was transformed into clumps — a torso, perhaps a head, and arms. Or were those legs? The monsters had vanished.

Gorian comm: RHODES DEAD I THINK. OVER.

Verat comm: R U SURE? THINGS HAVE DISAPPEARED. MOVING TOWARD HIM. OVER.

Gorian comm: WATCH YOUR BACK. BRINGING DRONE OVER U. OUT.

Gorian felt like vomiting and then screaming. But, she had lives to protect. She closed her eyes and focused on the drone, hovering it over the shapes of Fromer and Verat as they approached what was left of Rhodes. There was no sign of the creatures. Gorian swore to herself that they dissolved into the ground.

Verat comm: REACHED RHODES. UGLY. OVER.

Gorian comm: SEEMS SAFE. RETURN TO OTHERS. WILL FOLLOW WITH DRONE. OVER.

Verat comm: OK. OUT.

The drone followed Fromer and Verat until they reached the others; all were plainly visible from above. She was readying her comm to send a message to Verat when she heard the heightened voices of Banna and Tyrrel behind her.

“Melat, dammit, open the shuttle door.” Banna looked over at Gorian and Tyrrel, looking confused, terrified, and bemused. “I think we have a problem here. Melat’s in the shuttle and not responding.”

Gorian spoke while gazing at her screen. “I’m sure she has some reason. She isn’t initiating a take off, right?”

Tyrrel answered. “No, but she’s spending a lot of time at the helm. I can see her up there punching a bunch of commands into the console. What’s going on with her? She’s just gone completely off since the drop.”

Gorian spoke as calmly as she could into her comm. “Melat, what are you doing in there? We’re getting concerned about you.”

“I’m going to cleanse the planet. This place has been defiled by those who have no business being here. They know better.”

Gorian looked over at the two soldiers, her eyes wide. She spoke slowly, deliberately. “Mel, what do mean by that?”

The comm crackled. “I can’t allow this abomination to continue. The doorway’s open, breached. There’s no other way for us to stop this.”

Gorian switched the comm to Grey.

Gorian comm: GREY, ARE U LISTENING? OVER.

Grey comm: YES. STATUS? OVER.

Gorian comm: MELAT IN SHUTTLE. SHE IS LOCKED IN. WILL NOT COME OUT. ADVICE? OVER.

Grey comm: WE WILL SEND HELP. KEEP MEL CALM. OUT.

Banna walked up to Gorian. “She’s no longer at the helm. Must be messsing with something in cargo. Is there an emergency hatch? We’ve got to extract her.”

Gorian nodded. “No way. When a pilot secures the hatch from the interior, it’s impossible to force entry without damaging the vessel. In other words, making it impossible for the shuttle to get us off this rock. However, if I transmit the right codes to the HM interface, I may be able to override her lock. But that’ll take time and I’m trying to keep other people from being killed. For right now, I’ll have to let Mel do whatever she is doing. If you notice anything more unusual, you know like the drives powering up, please tell me.”

Gorian returned to the drone’s imagery. She saw that two of the crew were leaving the rest of the group.

Grey comm: SENDING VERAT, IGGY TO ASSIST. OVER.

Gorian comm: GOOD. WILL NEED THEM TO HANDLE DRONES WHILE I OVERRIDE MEL’S LOCK. OUT.

The drone hovered over the remainder of the crew. Depending on how well Ig and Verat were moving, they may make it to her by dusk, as long as they weren’t torn apart.

Verat and Iggy submitted themselves willingly to the brown funk. They borrowed more weapons from Minns and Fromer and were headed back to camp. Verat carried a rifle. Iggy looked like an amphibious gunslinger with an ammo belt hanging loosely around his thin waist. Fen, Minns, Fromer, and Grey prepared to forge ahead, trudging away from the security of the Raven’s shuttle and their small camp.

“Are you sure we’re making the right decision? We should consider all our options and consequences.” Fen was rubbing the back of his neck and sipping water.

Grey responded. “Uncle Fen, this is a huge opportunity. If the planet has spontaneously generated multicellular life, we’ve discovered something ground breaking. Spontaneous generation of life has been disputed since Darwin. Perhaps Lamarck was right.”

Fen was exasperated. “You don’t have to impress me out here Grey. I’m sure you are as scared as I am. Think logically about this. Never once in the galaxy has spontaneous generation of life occurred. Animals don’t suddenly spring to life. These things were put here, perhaps by your dad as a defense. The question is, what was he defending? More unsettling is that someone contaminated this world on purpose, long after we set things in motion.”

Fromer put his hand on Grey’s shoulder. “You are the leader my friend. We have sufficient fire power to defend ourselves against those things. I just hope your father or whoever is responsible did not dream up other creatures. I am more worried about Mel and her plans for the shuttle. If she strands us, we will be in dire trouble.” Fromer did not tell them about the potential dangers of Mup’s ghost.

Grey was ready. “I neglected to mention that the Institute will send a rescue ship if they don’t hear an update from us in seventy two hours. Even if Mel leaves, we’ll be rescued. No worries there. What do you think is wrong with her? She’s slipped hasn’t she?”

Fromer felt compelled to protect his friend. “Mel is clearly sick. This is an after effect of the accident with the Raven. She seemed fine — perhaps too much so. Once Verat and Iggy return to camp, Gorian will be able to extract her and give her a sedative. If need be, I can command the shuttle into orbit.”

Grey noticed new activity on his data tablet. “Gorian says the drone gives us a clear path for another kilometer. No sign of the creatures. At the end of the road she says that there’s a sheer cliff wall — about 120 feet. We’ll have to deploy our climbing gear to get up there. We should be able to scale the wall and camp tonight above the cliff. Gorian says it is flat up there with less moss and shrubs. With no appreciable wind, the air should be less dense and the moisture less oppressive at the higher elevation.”

They walked into the haze, following the frequent guidance of Gorian’s guardian angel hovering high above them. The organic fog would ebb and thicken like waves lapping on an ocean beach. One moment, the entire crew was visible to each other; the next, a wrong step led to complete isolation. Pools of green slime occasionally belched gases, causing them to jump. The ground was ridged with thick, fibrous vines waiting to break their ankles.

Gorian and her drone told them that they were within 50 feet of the cliff wall. And then there the shelf was, barely perceptible in the fog. It loomed, stretching forever into the endless soup suspended above them. Grey noticed a blinking cursor on his tablet — another message from Gorian. He cocked his head and then sprang. “We have a problem,” he hissed. Two of the creatures are directly behind us. Gorian says they appeared from nowhere, as if they materialized from the fog.”

Fromer grabbed a repeating rifle from his shoulder and pointed it into the haze. The scratching and slithering grew louder. “Start up the wall. I will cover you.”

Minns pulled a canister from her pack, used a sight to aim it upward into the fog, and pulled the trigger. A thread of high tensile climbing rope blew out with a low whomp and extended upward into the invisible realm, finding purchase on a rock. Minns tugged on it to ensure it was snug and attached a climbing ring. The ring was made of a special polymer that adhered to the climbing rope, providing a secure hold as each climber advanced. Minns quickly disappeared. When she reached the top, she sent the ring back down and Fen started climbing easily — quite a feat for a man of advanced years.