The Fifth Civilization: A Novel (27 page)

“And if there are any hostiles?” This question was from
Roan.

“We’ll fly to another continent or something.”
 
Then Kel chuckled. “I’m sorry, I’m
picturing what we’ll do to these local’s legends and cultures when we suddenly
appear. In a way it’s frightening, all the change we’ll make.”

“We don’t have to contact them,” David said. “We could land
at an isolated area and study them. Perhaps run tests on the surface to
determine if this planet was seeded by panspermia. That way, we avoid all
cultural contamination. I believe that’s what Aaron would have wanted. In fact,
as a scientist, it’s the only recommendation I can give.”

David’s argument was the moral one, Roan thought. But he
didn’t think that approach was going to solve the question of the theoretical
inhabitants being related to humans and the other three civilizations. To
answer that question, they had to at the very least meet with the natives. Damn
cultural contamination. The Nydens sure as hell weren’t thinking about that
when they made first contact with Earth on that post-nuclear night several
hundred years ago. One radio signal and humans knew they weren’t alone in the
universe.

“We’ll see,” was all Roan could leave David with. His
attention was focused on a long, thin, island on the planet below, and it
appeared to be dark and rocky and volcanic. What a sight it must be to any
sailor to suddenly come across a row of craggy mountains blocking their path.
How many unlucky ones crashed against those rocks during the dark of night?

Kel let go of Roan, which lulled him out of his thought.
“You know, I should really go send a message out. Let any ship nearby know what
we’ve found. The signal should reach Bauxa in a little over a week, provided it
doesn’t run into any disturbances along the way.”

“And if the Kotarans are following us?”
 
There it was, the dreaded K-word, uttered
in hushed terms over the past month lest it curse them and bite them in the ass
before they reached their destination. Now that they were at Planet X, the word
didn’t seem taboo.

“We left them on Bauxa, Nick. As far as we know we killed a
lot of them, maybe even their commander. And we know no one’s been following
us.”

Roan nodded. He hoped she was right.

“I’ll be back,” Kel continued. “You guys enjoy yourselves,
but remember we have a ship to run.”
 
She jabbed a thumb at the Bauxens. “I don’t know about these guys, but
you
should report back on duty in a half
hour. We have to start searching for a landing site.”
 
As Kel brushed past Duvurn, His
Excellency gestured to her and said something in his language, which made his
fellow beings shout and cheer.

This was the crew that was going to be remembered throughout
history, Roan thought, returning to watch the planet turn below him. Books and
holofilms were going to be written about them, and history was going to be
taught with their names forever attached to it. If he were any sort of writer,
he’d be recording everything he saw and heard on paper, for the inevitable
tell-all story. But Roan was confident David was already doing those things,
and would probably have a much better memory for what actually occurred on the
voyage. Perhaps the Nyden could help him ghostwrite.

Adjutant Annel jumped to her console at the first indication
a transmission was headed their way. Without question it had come from the
Earth ship, which the diagram on the
Hanyek’s
viewscreen indicated was just a few minutes in front of them. The ship had been
stationary for some time, much longer than it usually took to rest its FTL
drive. Annel quickly began the procedure for interception and jamming, which
would stop the signal from getting through.

“Commander!” Annel shouted. Grinek tensed in his seat.
“There’s a transmission from the Earth vessel heading our way.”

“Is it directed at us?”

“No, it’s a general one.”

“Intercept it! Don’t let anything they send out get
through.”

“Already done, Commander. I will play the message now.”

Annel did so. The message was short and to the point,
promising further details later, but it confirmed what Grinek suspected: the
Earth vessel had discovered a new planet. Undoubtedly, this was Vertulfo’s
hypothesized source of all life in the galaxy. The voice was of a female
Earthman, and Grinek noted excitement in her voice. There was no caution, and
no hint that they believed they were being followed. That would be their
undoing. How did the axiom go? Do not leave the battlefield until there is no
one left to twitch.

“Excellent.”
 
They were almost on top of the
Colobus
,
according to the diagram on the viewscreen. For weeks Grinek had observed the
Hanyek
’s weapons drills, and the gunners
were most adept at finding their mark. He felt an immense sense of pride as he
contemplated the destruction he would soon witness, as well as the triumph that
would come after. They were about to make history.

“Weapons! Charge the cannons as well as the missile banks. I
want us prepared to fire as soon as we can get a mark on that ship.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Helm! Prepare to end our lightcruise about seventeen klicks
from that ship. I don’t want to collide with them…but I do want them to have a
few seconds to realize who killed them.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Wait!”
 
Grinek
held up his finger to stop all movement on the bridge. Then he stood and walked
to the weapons console. “I’m going to do this myself.”
 
The crewman gladly stepped aside and let
the Commander sit in his chair.

History
, Grinek
thought. He surveyed the controls in front of him and noted which buttons fired
which cannon, which targeting sensor controlled which missile tube. This was
going to make up for all the missed chances, from Earth to Bauxa, which led to
this tiresome chase.

***

A few of the Bauxens had passed out. They were either
sleeping on tables, thus bowing them in the middle, or on the floor. Duvurn was
holding an empty wine bottle, singing a throaty ballad that not even the
original Bauxen could save. Moira was checking the pulse of one while another
Bauxen pointed and blabbered at the sloshed man, possibly fearful that he had a
little too much.

“Can you imagine what would happen if they tried to ban
alcohol on Bauxa?” Roan asked David, who was surveying the carnage along with
the ex-captain.

“They tried once, two hundred years ago—it caused a
planetary war.”

“Another one? How many has Bauxa had?”

“That was their last one, actually. The fighting ceased
after they opened trade with the other species of the galaxy.”

“I should really read up on the history of all four planets,
David.”

“You will likely have to read up on a fifth, Mr. Roan.”

That was true. He was bound to have a lot of free time now,
and a little reading wouldn’t hurt. Their conversation was interrupted by a
squawk from the mess hall intercom. It was Kel, and she was screaming for Roan.

***

What appeared on the
Haynek
’s
screen was brilliant, a green and blue world that stung the eyes of all those
who looked at it. For months, their Kotaran irises had been used to the ship’s
dim lighting and the white and black dots of the void. Now before them were
light and color.

And silhouetted by all that brightness was the
Colobus
.

Automatically, the weapons’ sensors locked onto the hunk of
metal and radiation they were programmed to scan for. The Earth freighter was
moving quickly, but the
Hanyek
’s
sensors were top-of-the-line. There was no escape.

“Just press here, Commander,” the weapons officer indicated,
and pointed to a yellow semi-circle on the counter, now blinking. Grinek put
two of his scaly fingers on it and pressed down with relish.

***

Roan didn’t reach the intercom before he saw the green burst
fly past the mess hall window. The ship rocked. Glasses and bottles shattered
on the floor. Tables and Bauxens overturned, and the mess hall was soon a
deafening cacophony of breaking. In the hail of noise, Roan struggled to make
out what Kel was saying, but he got the gist of it: they were being fired upon.
He fell to his knees amidst the quaking. Deliberately, he crawled the extra few
feet to reach the intercom, glass shards crinkling as he brushed them aside
with his sleeve.

“They found us!” Kel was screaming on the other end. Roan
pressed the talk button.

“Get us the hell away from the planet!”

“It’s not from the planet! It’s the Kotarans!”

Shit on a stick.

***

One of the two shots missed. The other hit the
Colobus
’ port engine, and Grinek looked
up from his console to the viewscreen and saw a small red flame on the side of
the vessel. He was like a giddy schoolboy now, one who’d just been chosen to
lead that year’s celebration of Emperor Yunyek’s theory of battle. Every laser
bolt gave him a joyous thrill.

“To calibrate, Commander, you must—”

“Shut your hole!” Grinek screamed at the weapons officer. A
crowd had grown behind the Commander to watch him as he fired. “I’m going to do
this myself! Who cares if a few shots miss, it will terrify the Earthmen more.”
 
Grinek knew he was inexperienced with a
ship’s weapons systems, but if he unleashed salvo after salvo one of them was
bound to hit the ship directly. Accuracy did not matter; this was not a
training exercise. He pressed the button again as the targeting scanner settled
directly over the
Colobus
. Burst
after burst of laser fire flew toward the freighter.

***

“Get everyone to the cargo bay! Take one of the Orion
shuttles down to the planet!”

Roan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was a direct
order to abandon ship. “Kel, what about you?”

“Just get the shuttle started! I’ll be down in a moment, I’m
going to try and lose them!”
 
Another green burst out the window, signaling more missed shots, but
another direct hit as well. For every four fired, one got through. The lights
flickered and everyone was thrown to the floor again, some head-over-heels. The
Bauxens who had been passed out were conscious now, panicking and flailing,
even more uncertain of the situation in their inebriated state.

Static filled the com. David had crawled over to where Roan
was, and seeing that his alien friend looked terrified, Roan felt a boost of
confidence. He pulled himself up the wall to the com again, and once more
radioed the cockpit.

“Use the FTL, Kel! At least get us out of here.”

“It’s gone, Roan! They hit it. Why aren’t you leaving?”
 
She had reverted to calling him “Roan,”
as she often did in times of stress. No time to reflect on that. He had orders
to follow. He shut off the com with a jab. David held out an arm and Roan took
it, lifting the bigger alien up and then pondering how he could get everyone
out. The ship rocked again, and from the size of the explosion it seemed the
laser had struck near the oxygen tanks. Outside, Aaron’s Planet flew by at a
furious speed. Incredibly, Kel was managing to keep the
Colobus
in orbit.

“Duvurn!”
 
Roan
shouted. “Get your green ass over here now! We’re getting off this ship!”

“What’s happening?” The Prince yelled, struggling to
maintain balance with his girth. His inebriated bodyguard, who was chortling,
helped stabilize His Excellency and waddled him toward Roan. But with just
about all the rest of the Bauxens rolling around on the floor, it was going to
be tough getting everyone out.

“Listen up!” Roan commanded, straining to be heard over the
violent convulsions of the ship. “I’m powering up one of the Orion shuttles in
the cargo bay! If you want to get off the ship—” A violent explosion
interrupted him, so great Roan thought the hull would tear apart. Roan braced
himself against a mess table. “If you want to get off the ship, meet me there!
Do you all understand?”
 
There were
a few shouts in Bauxen and some of the drunken crew began to get on their feet.

“What’s going on?” Duvurn cried again, and Roan believed
there was little difference between the Prince and a helpless child.

“What the hell do you think? It’s the Kotarans!”

“B-But we left them behind on Bauxa!”

“Don’t ask me to explain! Just get to the cargo bay if you
want to live!”
 
Roan turned to the
door, which was already open from Doctor Moira, Sundar, and Joseph sprinting
through it. David caught Roan’s sleeve.

“Shouldn’t we help them?” David said, gesturing toward the
slow Bauxens. In ideal circumstances they might, but the Bauxens were just too
fat to be helped along.

“David, we have to go. They’ll make it if they can.” David
threw a concerned look at the Bauxens, but Roan grabbed his forearm and pulled
him toward the door. “For the love of God, we don’t have time to help
them!”
 
David, against all the
principles he believed in, followed Roan out, leaving Duvurn and his bodyguards
limping behind.

***

Even though laughing was anathema to Kotarans, Grinek could
not help himself as he fired away at the
Colobus
.
The ship was pulling some deft maneuvers to get out of the way of his shots,
but with only one engine and the superior speed of the
Hanyek
, it could not possibly hope to avoid all fire. Again and
again, Grinek pressed the buttons, missing many times but scoring about a fifth
of his hits. One laser bolt struck the midsection of the ship, causing a
brilliant fireball that may have been the killing blow.

***

This time, the lights went out for good and the red emergency
bulbs kicked on. Roan and David fell to the floor, hard. Roan’s cheek impacted
with a metal grate and he was sure he drew blood. David was the first up and
extended an appendage to Roan. The human latched on and the two continued their
mad rush down the hall. Klaxons blazed. The methodic rhythm of the Hull Breach
alert reverberated in their ears. This
Colobus
was going to disintegrate any second.

***

Now the freighter was sinking ever closer to the atmosphere,
skimming it and trailing a wake of flame. Why the ship wasn’t leaving the
gravity-well of the planet—which caused it to act more sluggishly than if
it was further out into space—was beyond Grinek, but he didn’t mind. It
only helped his aim.

“Sir, the Earth ship is running on auxiliary power!” It was
a crewman behind him.

“Good!” Grinek shouted. “We can finish him off soon enough.”

“Sir!” It was another voice, from the weapons crewman. “I
would recommend you use the missiles. We can finish him apart with one shot.”

Grinek was too invested in the controls to berate the man, so
he simply shouted his command back at him. “I’m going to chew him up with these
cannons, is that understood? I’ll have no more questioning of my tactics!”

“Yes, sir.”
 
And
that ended all banter. Grinek was focused on the controls, trying to get a
moving target in his crosshairs. A simple missile strike would be easier, yes,
but it would lose the fun of the chase. He was reliving those hunts of his
youth in the jungles of Degmorra. So many scrapes, so many close calls, so many
ankles tangled in the vines. So many times he was almost the victim of a
sabermouth’s claws—but in the end, he always bagged his game, brining
home the night’s dinner to his father.

This time was going to be no different.

***

They ran into the bay. Moira, who had taken some brief
lessons in piloting, had the Orion shuttle all fired up. Sundar Kher leapt
inside. It was a small craft, sleek, with a pointed nose and a flattened
cockpit. Meant to ferry around high officials, the shuttle could seat about ten
comfortably, which meant it was going to be a tight fit if all the Bauxens were
on board. Roan and David jumped through the gull-wing doors of the craft,
taking seats and pressing their noses to the windows to watch the bay doors.

Come on, Kel. Get down
here.
Roan pictured her frantically making her way through the
Colobus
. Was she really doing this to
him?

There was movement in the doors at the end of the cargo bay,
and the bulbous shapes of Duvurn and his bodyguard came through the doorway,
running as fast as their little legs could carry them. Sundar was motioning for
them to come on, faster, and they were huffing and running, but judging by the
sweat dripping down it was far too much exertion for the aliens. Once again the
ship groaned and Roan knew the end was upon them. He closed his eyes and begged
for it to be over quick. No prayers. Those would just be a waste of energy.

Duvurn and the bodyguard jumped on board. Moira, at the
controls and somewhat experienced at their operation, pressed her fingers on
the keypad and the bottom thrusters began to churn. They were going to lift up
soon enough. At the other end of the cargo bay, coming down the steps, were the
rest of the Bauxens, though many of them were too drunk and too far away. Joseph
was behind them, carrying a knapsack he must’ve collected from his quarters.