SL Huang - Up and Coming - Stories by the 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors

“Mister Tenzo says that those structures belong to his people. He recognizes the Chidean markings on the exteriors.”

“Do you?”

“Yes. And that ribbed hull design is unique to Chidea.”

“Guess we’ve found the Kasant mission.” Ocia grinned. “I say we check it out.”

Jase signaled the others to circle the shallow crater, where the tangle of structures revealed itself to be the remnants of several black sky exploration ships parked close together and joined in several places. “Touch down over by that escarpment.” He directed the ship to cozy up next to Naka’s cruiser. “What’s the weather like, Zio?”

“You want to go out there?” Ranael said, looking up from her data.

“Of course he does,” Ocia said. “Finally something to do on this jaunt.”

“Atmospheric conditions are acceptable,” Zio said. “Point five gravity. I recommend the haz shield suits until we’ve scanned the interior more thoroughly.”

“Hear that, Naka?” Jase said. “Suit up and let’s go take a look. Meet us by that round portal. Looks like it might be the way in.”

Aga Tenzo gestured wildly while Zio translated his demand to accompany them to the station.

“We can probably use him to make sense of the place,” Ocia said. “I’m not that up on their tech.”

“Three-hundred-year-old tech. I doubt he is, either.” Jase motioned their passenger to follow them into the narrow hallway outside the bridge and then down into the lower level of the ship. “Zio, anything off-planet?”

“Nothing outside the atmosphere,” Zio replied. “And nothing on the long-range scanners. No other ships or satellites.”

“Send a few drones to the surface, speed up your findings. Stay dark. I want to know why the Kasant group decided to land up here.”

“Probably hostiles on the planet,” Ocia decided.

“I’m guessing pathogens,” Jase said. “Or some other environmentals.” He nodded to Tenzo. “They seem a little chunky with all that blubber they’re carrying. Could be air pressure or gravity, too.” He winced when he heard Zio chatter in Tenzo’s rapid language. “You don’t have to translate everything I say, Zio.”

“Understood, Jase.”

The trio stepped into the airlock to slip into loose-fitting suits—simple layers of protection relying on an envelope of shielding generated by a series of patches front and back. “Is that necessary?” Jase said when Ocia added a projector to her exocortex assembly, giving her mental control of the weapons embedded in it and at various points of her suit.

“Zio’s been confused before, if you recall.”

“Not by a simple life-sign scan,” he countered, but he said nothing more. After all, their welfare was her job and she did it best fully armed. He had to admit she looked rather heroic with the two slim barrels at her temples.

The ship’s lock opened, and they stepped outside and onto the arid surface of the moon. Not sure if Aga Tenzo was quite familiar with gravity variations, Ocia kept her hand on a strap dangling from his belt.

Naka, his face obscured by the visor of his suit, awaited them near the metal door of the Kasant structure. “Not locked.” He turned to operate a switch by the gate. “Solar generation still working, except for a wing over at the far side. I’ve got Senda’s crew checking out the debris field. Probably just garbage.”

The door slid halfway aside and then stopped with a shudder. They slipped into the airlock beyond and waited for Tenzo to squeeze his bulk through the narrow opening.

Jase tapped a com panel where a corridor branched off from this space. It came to life, but he recognized little of what was displayed there. “Zio?” he said, making sure the camera at his collarbone recorded the interface. He touched a sensor to it and waited while Zio browsed through the system.

“The Kasant AI is not available,” Zio reported. This was expected. Without an authorized, living sentient mind to give meaning to its operation, their AI would have shut down, a mechanism designed into these systems after the first of them went rogue. “The database is heavily fragmented. You were correct—they built this installation by converting their transports into a habitat. There should be six ships here, but I can only account for five. I’ve indicated labs and control stations on your device.”

Jase glanced at the map now hovering in front of him. “This way,” he said to the others.

Ocia walked beside him, peering suspiciously into every dimly lit corner as they passed. Behind them came Tenzo, nearly filling the corridor, which must have been uncomfortably tight for the Chidean crew. How long had they lived up here, Jase wondered. Why had they left? Naka followed a few steps behind, his eyes on the scanner feeding information to Zio for analysis.

“So where is everybody?” Ocia said. “I was half-expecting to see dead bodies everywhere.”

“Me, too. They had no way back home. But if they’re on the surface, why leave the ships up here?” Jase stepped through what had once been a pressure door into another vessel. The seal no longer held, but the transition from one to the next was little more than a step up. The passage opened into what looked to be some sort of lab space. “See if you can fix that database, Zio. Maybe we can access their logs.”

“What’s all this?” Naka looked around the high-ceilinged space. “Looks medical.” He pressed a tab on a foam-metal box, but the lid didn’t budge. He jumped aside when Tenzo reached over his head to tug a panel from the wall above. All watched in silent amazement when Tenzo activated an input window and then breathed on a sensor, perhaps to identify himself to the system.

“He’s downloading something,” Jase said. “Zio, can you tell what is?”

“No, Jase. This is new to me.”

“Try to get at it anyway,” Ocia said. “Whatever it is, our guest seems to know exactly what to do with it.”

Naka had wandered around the central counter that dominated the room to inspect a row of cylinders along the wall. “Want to bet there are body parts in here?” he joked. “Or dinner, maybe.”

“Can you identify those, Zio?” Jase directed his camera toward the bins.

“Embryos in stasis. Zygotes.”

Naka cursed. “What were they doing with those?”

“Dinner, maybe,” Ocia said, ignoring his grimace. She peered at the equipment suspended above a long work table, no doubt already adding up salvage profits. Their share of whatever Tenzo hoped to find here was generous. “What do you think that is?”

“A gene gun,” Zio said after conferring with Mister Tenzo, who answered the question somewhat absentmindedly, still busy with his file transfer.

Jase tried to see into the eyepiece, but his visor got in the way. The device was inactive, anyway. He studied the cabinets lining the room and the equipment neatly tucked into shelves. “This mission was—mostly—scientific. They’d have engineers, physicists, biologists. Zio, identify the embryos in those tubs. Are they Chidean?”

Some lights blinked briefly on a strip of indicators above them. “Yes.”

“Are you still scanning the planet?”

“Yes, do you want a report? It is not complete.”

Jase grinned. A complete report of any planet with as rich a biosphere as this one could take a lifetime to scan, even with the help of their implants. “No, Zio. Scan for Chidean life signs down there.”

“You think they’ve gone to the surface, then?” Ranael, still aboard their ship, was heard through their earpieces. “The environment is not suitable. I’ve already accounted for a half dozen airborne particles that would harm them.”

“What about us?”

“We’re going down there?” she exclaimed.