Shadows of Golstar (45 page)

“Were,”
Sharné
corrected.
“Forests were harvested, but have not been for some time. Over the years there
have been numerous scientific and mining contingents conducting various lines
of investigation and exploration. There could be someone currently visiting
Selane, I suppose, but it is such a large planet, I would think that the chance
of encountering anyone would be quite remote.”

Slowing, Owens considered her words as he looked back
into the forest. So far, what little he had seen of the planet had impressed
him. It was hard to believe such a human-friendly seeming planet would have no
settled communities, no permanent population; just one more random piece of a
puzzle with no clear pattern.

He stopped, “You mentioned there were animals on
Selane and that most were herbivores. Should we worry about the ones that
aren’t?”

“I do not believe so. I recall from my early
schooling, there are some reptiles and a few small fur-bearing mammals that are
meat eaters, the largest being about the size of a spotted kinder crab."”

Owens chuckled, “I guess that would be very
descriptive if I knew what a kinder crab was.”

She gave a laugh of her own, “I am sorry. You could
not know, now could you? The largest of the meat-eating animals are about the
mass of medium-sized canines… dogs? And I believe they are nocturnal. Oddly
enough their appearance is similar to that of toy teddy bears, but with fangs
and gray-green fur. Does Confederated Planets still have teddy bears?”

He smiled, “We do, and they never seem to go out of
style. I bought one for a friend’s baby daughter not that long ago.
Fortunately,
it
didn’t have fangs.”  

She laughed again. It was only the second time that
Owens could recall hearing her laugh. He decided he would like to hear it more
often. Damn, even in their current situation, he found her a pleasant
distraction. He looked at the ground, and his eyes caught a clump of a leafy,
purple-colored plant.

Sharné
watched Owens, as he knelt down and pulled a few
leaves. He looked at the leaves closely, as if he had just discovered a rare
and exotic herb. His avid curiosity and relaxed manner seemed at odds with his imposing
physical presence. Watching him, her vision seemed to go beyond corporeal
perception. She gazed at him and perceived tangible warmth, an honest basic
humanity she had seldom encountered in her life.

He looked up and saw her staring at him. He straightened,
his eyes never leaving hers and for a moment, there was something in his eyes
for which she had no ready reference. He smiled somewhat sheepishly and dropped
the leaves, dusting his hands. “Sorry, I almost forgot why we were here.”

Still remembering the look in his eyes, with some
difficulty Sharné refocused her own thoughts on their present circumstances and
the critical task at hand. “I too was momentarily distracted.” With an unspoken
agreement, they began to walk again and were soon traveling at a
distance-eating pace, going deeper into the forest. Unbidden, her thoughts
returned once more to the imposing and curiously fascinating man striding
purposely by her side.

High above, shielded from their view in the forest’s
thick upper foliage, a small metallic sphere floated. Keeping at a discrete
distance, it silently followed Owens and Sharné as they made their way through
the forest.

 Linden was furious. They had been forced to
split up. Well before reaching orbit around Selane, the ship’s sensors had
registered the outsider’s ship fleeing the planet’s atmosphere. The shortened
distance between the two ships indicated that the smaller ship likely had
sufficient time to land and take off again. The question was had the ship
actually landed and dropped off the outsider or had he remained onboard? It was
an obvious ploy but that made it no less effective. They could not take a
chance on either possibility.

So Linden had no alternative course of action; he had
been obligated to select four of the crew to accompany him down to the planet’s
surface. It would be up to those remaining on the
Light Avenger
to
continue to chase the fleeing ship. He had his doubts as to how effective they
would be. The mutineers were few in number to begin with. The original plan
hinged on total surprise. They should have ended the threat with one lightning
strike, a single sudden devastating blow. However, the
Light Saber
proved to be surprisingly resilient. Instead of a quick victory, the mutineers
were forced into sustained attack. The bombardment lasted much longer than
anyone had expected and to top it off, the dark-bringer had still managed to
escape. In their confidence, they had not been prepared for such a contingency.

Their crew size was sufficient to fire the big ships’
weapons and maintain station-keeping positions, but they were woefully
undermanned to effectively pilot and maintain the warships in combat status.
Once the
Light Saber
had been destroyed, they planned to scuttle the
battleships and return using their ships’ sub-light shuttles to avoid
detection.

Instead, they were paying for their failure to
terminate the dark-bringer earlier. With that failure, they had been forced to
remain on one of the battleships in order to complete their unfinished task. As
a result, they struggled to pursue the enemy ship with such an undermanned
crew. And now Linden was forced to deplete their numbers even further. He
smacked the armrest of his seat in frustration. They had been stymied at every
move.  

The ship’s shuttle took that moment to shake
violently. An alarm sounded, but it was quickly silenced. The pilot was taking
them in manually; the auto-comp was off-line. He looked at the other three men,
he had selected to accompany him down to the planet. They were white-faced with
expressions of dread apprehension. He snorted at their obvious cowardice and
wondered what value they would be in the hunt for the dark-bringer on the
planet’s surface. The shaking gradually subsided and the sweating pilot
muttered something under his breath.  

Linden smacked the armrest again. They would be lucky
to reach the planet’s surface in one piece. He swore to himself that the
dark-bringer would die by his own hand.

They walked deeper into the forest. The open areas between
the trees and undergrowth allowed them to keep up the rapid pace. Owens
reckoned it was late morning. A cool breeze continued to rustle the leaves in
the trees and the rich smell of growing things grew stronger. It was a welcome
change from the ship’s sterilized atmosphere. He looked down at his wrist-comp.
He had put it in compass mode when they started out. If the wrist-comp was
homed correctly to the planet’s magnetic north pole, they were heading in a
westerly direction.  

“Well,” he said. “It’s been over an hour. By now, our
friends should be heading down to Selane’s surface if they’re not already here.
With any luck, they’ll have no idea where we landed other than somewhere in
this hemisphere. If that’s the case, with a land mass this size, we shouldn’t
have any trouble remaining undetected.” Owens slowed his pace and asked Sharné,
“How are you holding up?”

“Very well, actually,” she answered. “Physical fitness
is a virtue that is promoted in Golstar. Sport and health centers are supported
by our government. Everyone is encouraged to be physically active. I am
particularly partial to walking when my schedule permits. If our circumstances
were not so dire, I might actually enjoy this.”

He looked at her, idly wondering if she would ever say
anything without first prefacing it with a reference to ‘how they do it in
Golstar.’

A small note of anxiety entered her voice. “Do you
truly think we might actually evade their search?”

He shrugged. “Well, as I said, this is a big planet with
a lot of land area; I think we have a real chance. If they can’t scan the
surface, they can’t know exactly where we came down. The energy from the
impeller field is long gone by now. It would be a problem if it turns out that
they’re equipped with heat sensors. I only hope the heat from the
Holmes’
hot landing will have dissipated, if and when they come close enough to scan
it.”

He suddenly smiled. “Besides, how would they know
where to look in the first place? You said yourself the battleship won’t be
able to land; they’ll be forced to land in a shuttle. That will take some extra
time and I doubt they’re equipped with much more than the basic equipment
needed for a soft landing. They’ll be guessing. So, unless they’re incredibly
lucky, I don’t see how they can find us before your rescue party.”

She nodded, “It does make sense. I hope you are
right.”

Owens noted that they had slowed their pace even more
during their discussion. “We need to step it up a little; I want to get a lot
deeper into the woods before nightfall.”

Sharné quickened her strides, and they resumed a brisk
pace. An hour later the sun slowly rose, approaching midday. Owens felt the
temperature gradually increase. He was thankful for the blanket of shade the
trees provided them. Sharné continued to match Owens step for step. He noted
that although the air was getting warmer, she seemed relaxed and cool. The
survival suits, although somewhat bulky allowed some air to circulate around
their bodies, keeping them relatively comfortable.

The exercise was welcome after the time spent aboard
the
Holmes
and Sharné was beginning to relax. Owens walked beside her,
looking ahead for any threat. She watched Owens from the corner of her eye. His
eyes were in constant movement. His gaze never rested on a rock or tree for
more than a moment, he was continually scanning for trouble. He did not
hesitate; his long strides were smooth and seemed effortless. Once again, she
gave thanks for his strength. She could imagine his muscles effortlessly
driving his incredible body beneath the survival suit. The vision of a sleek,
powerful animal, barely held in check again came to her mind. A flush of heat
colored her face, but it was not from exertion. Fortunately, he did not witness
her discomfiture; he was still looking ahead, scanning for movement.

“What’s that?” He stopped suddenly, raising an arm to
block her from going any farther.

She stopped and moved closer to him. “What do you
see?” Her heart began to beat rapidly. Could they have been found already?

“Over there,” he pointed. “Do you see it?”

She looked in the direction he had indicated and saw
something shining, in the distance. It was about a hundred and fifty meters
from their position, in an area sparsely populated by trees. It was partially
concealed by a tall patch of thick bushes, but she could still make out the
hint of a curved surface.

“To me, that looks like a reflection off of glass or
metal,” he said.

“They found us?” she started to crouch down.

“It’s possible but I don’t think so,” he replied.
“Don’t bother trying to duck. Whatever that is, it’s had a clear view of us
before I spotted it. I couldn’t see it until the angle changed, and I noticed
the reflection. It hasn’t moved.”

She moved closer to Owens. “How can you be sure it is
not the mutineers?”

“I can’t, it’s just an educated guess.
 
From here, it’s hard to judge its size, but
I’d say it’s three meters tall, maybe as wide. I doubt if the mutineers would
lug around something that size.” He paused, “Unless that’s part of a ground
vehicle.”

Straightening, she said, “No, I do not think that it
is. Some of the shuttles do carry small ground vehicles. However, they are
built low to the ground, painted in muted colors.”

He asked, “Well then, could it possibly be some sort
of self-propelled, heavy weapon?”

“I think that is unlikely also,” she shook her head.
“As I said before, the ships we sent were all space-to-space class battleships.
I cannot believe their equipment would include ground-class weaponry.
Furthermore, as we discussed, the ships were decommissioned before being
pressed into service for this one special mission, and as such were long ago
stripped of portable equipment.”

He stood there gazing at the mysterious object. What
was it? He strained his eyes but could detect no motion. “Well if that’s true,
then I guess we had better find out exactly what it is. If it is a weapon, it’s
already locked on our position. Running would do us little good. If it isn’t…”

She felt a stab of fear. “What can we do?”

He looked at her and smiled. “Why, we’re going to
introduce ourselves. Come on, let’s say hello.” Before she could respond, he
started walking purposely forward, in a straight line towards the object. She
hesitated only a moment, then hurried to catch up.

As they approached, the thing slowly resolved into a
large metal sphere, closer to four meters in diameter. They came nearer and saw
that it had no external markings or protuberances. It rested on a squat
cylinder with two rings positioned along its axis that appeared to be made of
the same material as the sphere. The metal appeared polished, without a trace
of corrosion or discoloration.

Owens looked down at the base and saw a shallow trench
on one side and a large mound of fresh earth on the other side. It must have
been moving parallel to the ground when it fell. “Well I don’t see any tracks
leading in any direction from it, so it must use some sort of impeller field to
move. Judging by the depth that the base is driven into the ground, it looks
like it abruptly lost power. It must be pretty heavy too,” he kicked at the
pile of earth. He turned to Sharné. “Any idea what it is?”

She slowly tore her eyes away from the object. “Now
that we are closer, yes, I believe I do, although I have never seen one in
person. It is what we call a Sentinel. I had believed that they were phased out
long ago. It must be an older model, one that has not been used by Golstar for
at least a hundred years.”

He frowned, “Sentinel? Sounds like a guard.”

She nodded and looked back at the shining sphere, “In a
way yes. It was a form of a robot used to protect government installations and
supplement our military ground forces. When active, it could be a formidable
adversary. I never thought I would actually see one.” She hesitated, then
reached out and touched its surface.

He watched Sharné and asked, “It carried
weapons?” 

“Yes, a number of energy-based weapons reside within
the Sentinel’s body. I recall from my teachings that when required, the
Sentinel could open ports on its surface and extend its weaponry. One Sentinel
was more than equal to a platoon of human infantry carrying a complement of
medium and long-range weapons.”

Owens looked closely at the Sentinel’s metal skin, but
couldn’t find any seams or marking that would indicate a weapon port. He rapped
his knuckles on the sphere’s surface. It barely gave off a sound; it felt like
solid metal. If Sharné was being truthful about the Sentinel’s capabilities,
then here was the first hard example of Golstar’s superior technology. The
technology used just to create the Sentinel’s seamless outer housing was still
beyond that employed by Confederated Planets, let alone the portable firepower
Sharné purported it to possess. He stared at silent machine, lost in thought.

Sharné slowly drew away from the Sentinel and said, “I
am thankful it is inactive. If it were hostile to our presence, we would have
no defense against it.” Owens was still staring at the Sentinel. She wondered
if he had heard her. “Owens, this is totally unexpected. I had no idea that any
active Sentinels were stationed on Selane. I thought that they were only a
footnote in our historical records. Who would believe that we would encounter a
piece of Golstar’s past? And a most dangerous one at that,” she added.

He looked over his shoulder, back at Sharné. “Then you
wouldn’t know if there are any more of these things?”

 He
had
been listening. She shook her head, “I am sorry, no, but where there is one,
there may be...”

“…others,” he finished. He turned back to the silent
machine and took one more look at it. He wondered if it had stopped because of
some sort of malfunction. However, that didn’t feel right. There was no visible
physical damage, no burn marks or scorching from malfunctioning machinery or
circuitry. It looked like it had just dropped from the air, as if suddenly its
power had switched off. But who could be responsible, and for that matter, why?
Someone else was on the planet, someone who had control of these machines. It
couldn’t be anyone associated with their attackers. If they had control of the
Sentinels, turning them off would make no sense.

Sharné asked, “What should we do?”

“I don’t see what we can do. If there are other active
Sentinels, and we encounter one, I don’t think our weapons would even make a
scratch on its surface. He aimed a futile kick at the Sentinel’s solid metal
hide, and then turned to Sharné. “Unfortunately, this is one more mystery that
will have to remain unsolved, at least, for the time being. We’d better go now.
As interesting as this thing is, we still have people trying to find us and
kill us.” Their gaze lingered a moment longer on the inert Sentinel, then they
turned and resumed their trek.

They walked on for another hour, not speaking, each
settling into their private thoughts. It wasn’t long before Owens spotted
another Sentinel. They stopped to inspect it. It appeared inactive like the
first one they had encountered. They continued on and occasionally saw other
Sentinels, in the distance. As the grounded Sentinels had thus far posed no
threat, they purposely ignored them and instead concentrated on putting
distance between them and the landing site.  

They encountered one more unexpected hazard. They came
upon a large swarm of flying insects. The thick cloud of tiny pests suddenly
turned and attacked their exposed skin. Owens hoped that their bites wouldn’t
prove toxic. Mosquito-like, their bites only itched. He was thankful that after
just a few minutes they vanished as quickly as they had appeared. Selanes’s
insects seemed as mild as its climate. If he ignored the downed Sentinels, he
could easily imagine that they were on a wilderness hike instead of fleeing for
their lives.

The terrain changed. The distance between the gigantic
trees gradually began to shorten and the layer of leaves on the forest’s floor
became thicker. The density of the ground vegetation increased. Their pace
gradually slowed as they were forced to walk around thick clumps of smaller
trees and shrubs.  

Scratching his neck where he had received most of the
insect bites, Owens broke the silence. “Let’s stop for a breather.” He guided
Sharné over to base of a particularly large but normal-seeming tree, shed his
pack and rifle and sat down with his back against the rough bark. He patted the
ground next to him, motioning for her to join him. Sharné removed her pack and
sat down beside him. He paused for a moment and took in the sounds and smells
of the surrounding forest. Too bad they were running for their lives, he
thought this would be a great place to reconnect with nature. A rumbling from his
stomach reminded him that he was hungry. He asked, “Are you ready to eat?” She
nodded and he opened his pack and removed some of their rations. They ate and
the silence between them returned.

After they were finished, Owens carefully buried the
empty containers and scattered leaves to conceal their presence from anyone who
might follow. He stretched and then said, “If you need to answer the call of
nature before we start out again, I suggest you use that cover over there.” He
pointed to a particularly dense cluster of trees and shrubs. “I’ll finish up
here.”