Stepping Up (19 page)

“What? But I...oh all right.  Sherri, Jonesy, gear up. 
We’re going walkabout. Do we have trip-flares or any other sort of advance
warning pyro?”

Jonesy answers. “PSAS, six units.” The Perimeter Securing
Alarm System is an electronic device that stakes into the ground, and once
activated, communicates with all perCom devices in its database, alerting the
good guys of approach by any unknowns. Quite a handy device, especially as it
is almost false alarm free. The late great Michael Sinnair designed it
centuries ago along with someone named Desiree Rian.  History paints her
rather…colorfully.  And clads her scantily.

“Gwen, I want you to stay here and do whatever Granny Aria
tells you, okay? I’ll be back soon.”

“Okay. Do you have any books? I am very bored.”

“Sorry, didn’t bring any.  Look around, see if you can find
something interesting, but mind Aria first and foremost.  Ask nicely and she
may teach you to play chess.”

Sherri and Jonesy both grab a survival pack and an
accelerator rifle and state they are ready to go. They obviously want me to
carry the Medkit.  Makes sense; they’re the killers, not me.  I shoulder it,
and we are off.

“Jones, plant a PSAS stake in the corridor.” 

“On it.” 

We move to the first alley clockwise from the entrance and
move down the tunnel. His former commander was right.  Aboard the ship, Jones
argues with just about everything, but get him on rock instead of deck plating
and he can’t do enough for you.

The ground of the cave is sandy, like a beach. The ceilings
vary from eleven to twenty-five meters.  But the bottom isn’t just sandy it’s
also flat.  That doesn’t happen in nature.  Someone went to a lot of trouble to
make this look like a natural cave.

“Team 2, Mother Hen, test coms every thirty minutes on sqCom
112. Acknowledge.”

“Acknowledged.”  We stop long enough to switch our perComs
to secured communications channel 112.

Jonesy runs the bioscanner mounted on his rifle. It shows no
life at all for a thousand meters: its maximum range. We are easily a kilometer
in and the cave is very, very dark. There are flashlights in the survival packs
and mini-lamps on the accelerator rifles. Our helmets also have either infrared
or ultraviolet night vision capability.  That’s what Sherri and Jonesy are
using.  I’m following behind them using plain old Mark I eyeballs and a
flashlight.  As we move into the depths of the cavern, I see a faint green glow
coming from one of the chambers off the main tunnel.  I plant one of the PSAS
stakes in the downstream direction of the cave and tell them I see it. They
don’t.  Apparently it’s not registering in either the UV or IR spectra. Both of
them switch off their night vision systems.  Jones goes to the left, Sherri to
the right.  It’s not bright enough to read in here, but there’s enough light to
get around.  The stone in this area has been left in its worked state.  The
chamber is basically a cube, about thirty feet on a side. In the corner
farthest from the entrance is a large circular object, about one meter across.
As an engineer, I can’t help marveling at the work that must have gone into
making this thing.  It is made of something that looks and feels like obsidian.
It has no scratches, no chips, and in the center is a green glowing sphere. The
orb is about the size of a golf ball, and pulses green at regular intervals, a
period of a little over three seconds.

I take some pictures and send my report to Aria.  “Cover
me,” I tell my team.  They level their rifles at the disk.

I set the medkit and my rifle on the floor and approach the
edge of the object slowly and in the most non-threatening manner I can. I brush
sand away from it, and I start digging to one side, looking for the bottom.  I
find it about an inch down.  Through my glove, I can feel the disk is warm to
the touch.  I’m just guessing, but it seems about human body temperature.   I
work my fingers under the edge and attempt to lift on the edge of the disk, but
it doesn’t budge. I report my findings to Aria.

“Interesting. Very interesting,” she says. “The Captain
would be most pleased with a trophy like that. Come up with a way to carry it
back to the cutter, or do you think we can maneuver in close and grapple it?”

“Carrying the disk is a no-go, it is way too heavy.  If we
want it, we’re going to have to move the cutter closer and winch it aboard
somehow.  Maybe we can use the robots to tow it.”

“No readings on the bioscanner,” says Jonesy.  “No organic
signature at all.”

“Roger.  We’ll finish the patrol and return to the cutter.” 
We move further down the tunnel, recovering the PSAS stake I planted when we
entered this room.

Without warning, Sherri barks:  “Target!”  There’s the body
of a biped on the cave floor.  Jones walks up and prods it with his rifle, then
kicks it gently.  Then not so gently.  But still there is no response.  Jones
draws his pistol and fires one round into the body’s head.  It twitches from
the impact but makes no other movement.  As we continue down the tunnel, we
begin seeing bodies of the same description. Sherri notices the resemblance
first. “Are these the same things that attacked the ship?”

They are all dead. I stop counting at thirty.  They all seem
as if they had been burned with an intense heat.  Something similar to a
flamethrower.  The range of wounds runs the gamut from blister to charred
flesh.  I report our finding to Aria.

We hear explosions coming from the direction of the cutter. 
Aria reports that we are all protected. Apparently the bombardment is in the
canyon outside the cave.  It makes sense, there’s nothing to absorb the sound
aside from the sand.  And it won’t do much.

“Mother Hen, Team 2.  It looks like there may be a back
door.  Shawna is good, but the tunnel is narrower than the cutter at many
points.  So we won’t get out that way.  We found a bunch of dead aliens.  They
look like the same buggers that attacked us on
Night Searcher
.  I’m
setting up perimeter alarms behind us.  So, right now, it looks like there are
at least two avenues of approach to the cutter:  one, the way we came in, and
the other from here.”

“Roger, Team 2. Get back here and rest up. Then we will get
that disk moved. We hope to be able to head out of here in stealth mode in
about three hours.  Keep PSAS stakes in place.”

“Roger.” 
The cutter has a stealth mode? Sweet
. “We
may need a radiation decon.  We haven’t noticed any symptoms, but I’d rather
err on the side of caution.  Did you guys order out for pizza or is it PB&J
again?”

“You wish.  Field Rations. And I am saving the ham loaf with
lima beans just for you.  We will all get full decon when we get back to
Night
Searcher
.” 
She said ‘when’ not ‘if.’  Good.

We walk back to the cutter and once inside get out of our
APE suits.  Shawna hands each of us a bag meal and a bottle of water.  I help
Gwen open hers. You need a field knife to slice the plastic.  All she has are
her fingernails and teeth, and neither is suitable. She is hungry from long
hibernation so isn’t as picky as I had feared. She eats everything edible in
the bag except the candy.  She gives it to me, and I save it for Gorb.  I’d
offer her another meal, but I don’t want to stuff her with her belly against
her backbone.  And these are not the most appetizing of meals.  Furthermore,
Aria hasn’t mentioned anything she’s done to merit such punishment, aside from
beating her at three games of chess. I make sure she gets plenty of water to
keep the FieldRat from setting up in her gut. We all sit around in relative
comfort.  Jonesy, Sherri, and I catnap until Aria tells us it’s time to get the
disk.

We take the anti-gravity sled and some digging tools back to
the disk.  Aria and Ralston come with us to provide support and cover.  It
takes a few hours to get the grapples and jacks under and around the disk. With
Aria’s help, we can lift the side about six inches.  Once we get it up high
enough, we can edge the anti-gravity sled under it.   Fortunately, there’s a
cargo ramp on the cutter, so we can just float it in.  Sherri and Jonesy secure
it for the trip back to
Night Searcher
.

Back in the cutter, we hear from
Night Searcher
that the remainder of the sixteen ships mentioned yesterday
(has it really
been that long?)
are breaking orbit. 
Night Searcher
will loiter for
another six hours then head for orbit.  Aria acknowledges.  We all crank our
seats back for some sleep.  After what seems like thirty seconds, I’m awakened
by Aria moving through the cabin, telling us all to sit up and strap in. I look
over at Gwen. She smiles back and gives me a thumbs-up.  Shawna is doing her
preflight inspections.

“Okay, Shawna,” Aria says. “As soon as I give the signal,
punch it for orbit. I have a sqCom from
Night Searcher
that says they
are in place and expect to be ready to receive us when we get there.”

“Hold on to your hats, boys and girls.”  The cutter hovers
and gently rotates 180 degrees laterally.  Then the engine spools up, and the
launch shoots out of the cave to make a sharp, steep 3G climb to reach
Night
Searcher
. We soon learn she is currently fighting off a pair of 400-ton
corsairs. 
They just couldn’t wait, could they?

The cutter heads for orbit.  Once we are in artificial
gravity, I slip out of my seat to examine the disk. The color of the ball in
the middle has changed from green to red.  I hope that’s not bad. We all buckle
in when the tactical officer COMs us. “Cutter 2, mask yourself with the moon.
We will pick you up as soon as we get rid of these pests. It’s taking a bit
longer than expected.”  Shawna acknowledges and adjusts course accordingly.

I tell Aria about the change in the disk.  Sherri has joined
me. “Get something non-conductive, like a broomstick.” I tell her. “ I want to
touch this thing and see how it reacts.  If it starts to hurt me, or I start to
do something bad, use the broom and push me away from it.”

She nods. 

I brush the disk with my hand—no change.  Jones hands me the
portable hull scanner from the cutter’s mech kit.  When I scan it with the
portable unit, the light on the disc turns blue.  My perCom bleeps, as does
everyone else’s.  Aria speaks first: “Binary code, millions of bits of it so
far.  I will try to decipher it as soon as it stops sending, but we may need
the main computer on the ship to figure this out. Hmm.  Shawna, just in case,
disable the auto-transmit.  Everyone shut down the auto-synchronize functions
on your perComs.  If that thing is uploading a virus or some other malware, we
do not want it in
Night Searcher’s
system.”

I have an idea. “Gwen, I understand your telepathy, your
thought reading, is passive.  But please let one of us know if, and when, you
know something we don’t.”  There’s no point in us being surprised.

“Of course. I will tell you whatever you wish.”

On approach, we can see several carbon streaks and more than
a few impact craters on
Night Searcher
.  In her wake, we can see the
floating debris of the ships, not wise enough to leave her alone.  The cutter
berths without incident.  Shawna announces engines are secure.  She reaches for
the door control but Aria stops her.  “Not until the decon team is in place. 
Sonia, you will explain to Gwendolyn what is going to happen, please?”

I turn to her to begin my explanation, but she is already
looking at me and speaking. “We will take off all our clothes. We will put them
in bins to be processed or destroyed. We, in teams of two, will bathe each
other with special cleansers.  Afterwards, we will don new clothes provided for
us.  Is there more?”  While she explains, everyone is coming out of his or her clothes. 
There’s some locker-room rancor, but not enough to get excited about.  For
once, I’m happy to have a child in the room.  Apparently, there are some levels
to which even Jones won’t sink.

“Not really.  I don’t think I could have explained it better
myself.”  I pick up my perCom and ask that a petite-small flight suit be
brought to the flight deck for her.  Sherri takes my perCom and gives slightly
different instructions—a tee shirt and overalls.

“There are other children aboard,” she explains. “There’s no
reason to make her suffer in something that doesn’t fit when other options are
available.”  I can’t help wondering why I’ve only seen adults then.  I must not
be getting to the right places.

“Sonia, leave the disk on the launch for now,” Aria says to
me. “Get Gwen bunked, and then get down to Engineering and verify we are ready
to Transit.” She sees my panicked look. “I should have said ‘verify we are
able
to Transit.’ I will go to the Bridge to isolate a library computer.”

“Roger.  Not to be argumentative, but I have a
counter-proposal:  I’ll drop Gwen by Medical for a check-up and a round of any
necessary inoculations.  We
did
find her in a TMOD with no idea how long
she’s been there and on an unfamiliar planet.  While Doc is checking her, I’ll
hit Engineering and get us spun up there.  I also recommend this cutter be
declared ‘off limits’ until we know more about that disk and/or the code it
broadcast.  Once we’re in Transit, I’ll talk to the Purser about permanent
quarters for Gwen. And just out of curiosity, does being Chief Engineer rate me
a larger stateroom?”

“That sounds like an excellent plan. I accept your
counter-proposal.  As to housing, being Chief Engineer does, but it does not
rate priority placement. However, having a child to care for does get you to
the top of the list.  Talk to the Purser, let me know if you need some command
influence.”  She claps her hands to get everyone’s attention. “Listen up.  I
will buddy up with Sonia and Gwendolyn, Troopers Jones and Watson are a buddy
pair, Miss Landers you will buddy up with Trooper Ralston.” We receive a signal
and open the door.  The deck hands have erected a sprayer system from the
launch to the hastily erected showerheads.  They all have their own protective
gear on, but I’m sure I see Ricky leering at me.  All of the deck crew are in
APE suits to avoid any contamination we may have brought aboard.