City Without Suns (18 page)

Chapter 39

Nikolaj summoned the group to meet inside the lander.  There were only twenty-three present in the bridge, the easiest place for that many people to gather.  The others were sick in their quarters wrestling with frenzied coughing.  Something was in the air.  Some of those who had been unaffected before were now becoming ill. 

Quiet and observant, Eva scanned the room.  The others neither knew nor cared she was watching them.  The meeting, if that is indeed what it was supposed to be, was not called to order.  There was more than one conversation underway, but not from Enric.  He stood with his arms folded, offering no ideas or suggestions to the ongoing problems and unresolved issues.  His body was like a sculpture, perfectly chiseled in exact proportion.  He would have seemed like a God had he shown any sign of benevolence in his expression.  Eva realized the idea of a God had entered her thoughts as she was admiring his physique.  The recipient of her recent prayers might look something like that, she thought, but then he turned to walk away revealing the deformities in his back.  The opposite thought entered her mind, the concept of an anti-God with malevolent intent, who would ignore prayers and formulate plans to dissuade all wishes and requests.  How odd that a single man can trigger the extremes of hope and fear.  Eva shifted her focus to look at something else, away from the mental pendulum of emotions invoked by Enric.

Eva’s heart rate increased as she tuned out their words.  She felt on the verge of a panic attack. Nikolaj was looking at her, and his face had an immediate calming effect.  He appeared to be listening in similar observant fashion, as a bystander, to all of the conversations around the room.  Webster and Ensign, the pilot, were standing close to him on the other side. Nikolaj gave a brief smile to Eva and winked.  Then he let out a shrill, loud whistle that punctuated the murmurs of unrest with an abrupt call to attention.

Ensign was the one who landed Taurus.  He drove it from its dock within Gambler out into space and into the exosphere before the larger ship plummeted down to its crash site.  He advocated taking off again.

“Nikolaj, something is killing us.  We don’t have any physicians, and even if we did, we don’t have the tools to treat whatever disease is among us.  Maybe there is a way out.  Taurus is still capable of flying.  Very capable.  It is completely undamaged.  Let’s at least scan the planet.  We could do that easily and quickly.”

“I just don’t see how we can find a better location.  We have ample water.  I’m concerned if we take off, we would either fly out of the atmosphere with gravity shields activated or risk a crash if not.  If we destroy Taurus with a select few on board, then we doom the others without permanent shelter and destroy our best energy source.  If we destroy it with everyone on board, then all is lost.  We have to figure out what is causing the illness.  It’s our best hope,” Nikolaj replied.

“By the time we figure it out, our numbers will be so far diminished that we’ll never recover!” Ensign refuted.  “If we are truly concerned about a crash, then let’s just relaunch.  Taurus can be stocked with enough supplies for five or six generations if we fill the tanks, and the next target planet is within this system well within range, close to the secondary star.”

“You can’t be serious.  No way,” Nikolaj unilaterally dismissed the idea of putting the group back into space. 

“Dead here or out there with another chance. Come on!” Ensign replied.

“There may be a third option,” Webster suggested.  Nikolaj, Ensign, and the others all silenced.  Webster paused as if he wanted them to guess the answer to his puzzle.  He did not elaborate at first, perhaps fearing the suggestion he wanted to make would get him banished from the meeting.

“Well, what? Spit it out brother!” Nikolaj implored.

“Relay, the creature I have been studying, is able to communicate…”

“Let’s take a vote on whether to kill and eat it!” Enric shouted his first words of the night.

“Shut up!” Nikolaj quickly squelched the antagonizing tone, although he also had a look of disdain at the mention of the alien.  He nodded to Webster to continue.

“…His intelligence is…undeniable.  He told me that they had a home under the water, like Taurus.  I inferred there is a structure of some kind.  He went on to…” Webster paused.

“Went on to what? Finish what you have to say,” Nikolaj directed.

“…He said he wanted us to see. I don’t know how he expects that to happen, but I really think he was inviting us to see his home.  It’s like he was trying to reciprocate for my bringing him inside Taurus.”

Silence overtook the bridge.

“How is that another option?” Ensign asked, directing the question to anyone that would answer.

Webster expounded, “These creatures are not water-breathing animals.  Their metabolism is driven by energy harnessed by their skin from the radiation that shines on them, light or whatever other kind.  Almost like a plant.  It’s also how they communicate.  It’s amazing, really.  I’m thinking there might be shelter under the water.  It’s worth a look.  I almost wonder if that’s what it is offering – a shelter from what it knows is a harsh environment for us.”

Nikolaj did not hesitate, “Okay, we will have a look, if we can figure out how.  In the meantime, we don’t have a choice.  Ensign, you and I will scan the planet with Taurus.”

The abrupt decision severed the thread of conversation.  Nikolaj had apparently reversed his point of view on the usage of the lander.  Perhaps he saw no other option, or the idea he previously thought risky seemed conservative in light of the suggestion from Webster. 

Apparently there was one more item of business in the thoughts of one deranged and lost soul.  Something seemed to fester in Enric’s head as he walked briskly toward Nikolaj.  His march was neither expected nor noticed by anyone except Eva.  When Enric was within arm’s reach, Nikolaj instinctively took a half step away from him. 

“I don’t know which I hate worse – being left here without shelter, or living in a group where you think you can make all decisions by yourself,” Enric said as he stepped forward and shoved Nikolaj with a violent push from both arms.

The fight escalated in an instant.  Nikolaj acted swiftly to the illogical outburst by running forward with his head low.  He wrapped his arms around Enric’s legs and took him to the ground.  There was a pop.  Enric yelled with his eyes tightly shut.  He tried to roll, revealing one of his fins torn through his shirt and folded sideways.  Nikolaj pinned Enric’s shoulder back to the ground.  Webster and three others pulled on Nikolaj by his waist and shoulders.  Before he could be removed, Enric drew a gun.

He lifted and fired it in one motion, decisively burning a hole straight through the middle of Nikolaj’s chest.  Nikolaj fell with a look of surprise, the last expression he would ever show, lifting his hands to the wound.  His heart was charred, his blood stopped flowing immediately, and he lived a few moments in fading awareness.

As Enric looked around, he saw nothing but terror on the faces of the survivors.  There was nobody daring to contest what he had done, the most extreme reaction possible to the attack he provoked.  He opened his mouth as if he wanted to explain.  Then he closed it again while his eyebrows angled down to his eyes in a horrifying stare.

Webster and Ensign ran to the aid of Nikolaj.  Some shrank in fear away from the murderer, thinking that he might go on a rampage and strike again.  Eva had the presence of mind to run away.  She was going to hide somewhere, but she wasn’t going to stop to figure that out as she was putting distance between herself and the danger she had just seen.  She ran through the halls and all the way out of the ship into the chilly dusk.

Chapter 40

By the time Eva emerged from the cover of the lander, her chest was hurting and the back of her throat felt like she had swallowed a knife.  She continued anyway, striving for the cover of the forest.  That would be her hiding place.  The killer would not pursue her there.

She ran swiftly across the rocks.  Her footsteps were light as if carrying no weight at all.  Eva entered through the trees making no other noise than the sound of her breathing.  She quickly arrived at the clearing where Webster had taken her those months ago.  She ran through it deeper into the woods than she had ever been.  Southward, away from Taurus, she ran to distance between herself and the others.  Thriving in the fluctuating climate, the alien plant life became thicker and thicker as Eva weaved in between the tree trunks.  The ground had not developed a coating from the snow.  It was left mostly untouched under the thick cover of the foliage overhead.  Her run slowed to a walk.  The cover became thicker, the time grew later, and the surroundings grew darker with the setting sun. 

Eva stopped and looked directly to her left trying to keep her orientation to the ship in mind.  There was no discernable path that led her to that point, but she turned anyway, thinking that the straight line that led her there could be traced.  In search of a resting place, she considered climbing but decided against it in case she had to mobilize once more.  She crawled under a set of low hanging branches through a densely overgrown area to a small clearing.  She found the largest tree in the vicinity and sat against it.  She rested until she was breathing normally once more.

It was cold even in the latter part of the winter day.  The surroundings were still and eerily quiet.  Eva could hear nothing but her own breathing as she leaned her head back against the tree bark.  She faced the direction from where she came, so she could react if she saw anyone following, but the only thing moving was the vapor she could see with every exhalation.  After two hours passed, she assumed nobody had pursued and closed her eyes.

She drifted asleep, and when she awoke a few minutes later, her vision began to shift from the visible spectrum into a mixture of infrared images.  The colors faded.  After Eva opened her eyes, she forgot where she was momentarily before remembering what Enric had done and how she reacted.  She realized the solitude and seclusion she had created for herself.  Drawing her knees in tight to her chest, Eva became more frightened than she was before. Eva new she had to return, even though she didn’t want to. As she moved to stand, a hotspot appeared on the ground before her.

It was some kind of new creature that she had not previously seen.  It was about the twice the size of her torso, and it had a beak like a bird.  If it had a head or eyes, they were not evident under a layer of fur. It moved across the surface of the ground as if it had no legs, but it must have had some kind of short limbs under its round body because its movement seemed effortless. The creature stopped and turned to point its beak at Eva.

It paused for a few seconds while Eva froze mesmerized by yet another undiscovered species of alien.  Its beak turned back away and poked on the ground a few times before it continued on its way, apathetic to the presence of a person.  Eva paused to speculate that it searched the leaf-like insects, the same that injured her only a few days before. This seemed to be a natural part of the hierarchical food chain on Beta.  It occurred to Eva that the leaf-like shape must be the result of evolution that would not have occurred unless there was a predator.  How ironic that the bottom entity in the food chain was more harmful and dangerous to them than the one that outranked it.  Once the creature was out of sight, her unrest returned.  She ran back in the direction from where she came.

Eva ran in what she thought was the right direction, but she was running for too long.  If the direction had been correct, she would have emerged from the thicket.  She did not.  The foliage and the tree cover were thicker than it had been at any point in her excursion.  Eva turned to look in a full circle, noticing nothing but forest in all directions.  She wanted to look for the sky to confirm her course, but it could not be seen.  Besides, the evening star had not come out of its seasonal hiding under the horizon.  The surroundings looked like nothing she had passed before. 

Eva was lost.

It was impossible to be lost, she thought.  She intentionally ran deep into the woods but did not think it had been long enough to get completely lost.  Two of the directions she could run would lead her either to the lake or back to the open plains, but after she had turned in circles, she lost her bearing completely.  Any direction Eva would have gone then was just a guess.  A wrong guess would lead deeper.

At that point she could see more of the furry creatures.  They were in all directions and converging.  The temperature was dropping fast with the setting of the sun.  The contrast provided by the thermal gradient made the creatures appear like bright lights in the early night air.  Her previous panic turned to dread.

To her left, voices carried through the early night air.  The direction of the people in the distance was not completely obvious as the sound traversed through the trees.  The faint remnants of the shouts were unintelligible.

She ran again, following the sound.  She hurdled one of the animals in her way and even though it hissed, she continued without looking back. The force of her heart beating was painful as if the impact of its throbbing were blows delivered to her breastplate. 

A thundering roar drowned the voices, and the ground shook as the volume increased steadily to a deafening howl. 
Taurus.
  Eva ran harder toward the commotion.   Undeterred by the small shrubs in the way and avoiding the tree trunks, she eventually emerged from the woods, where her ears were saturated with the continuous blast coming from the ignited engines on the lander. 

Outside, there was a wanderer with a flashlight.  Through the darkness Eva recognized Webster. He must have been one previously shouting, but nothing could be heard over the engines’ roar.

Eva waved her hands over her head to signal her presence.  Webster recognized her quickly and ran to embrace her, but not for long.  He held her out with his hands on her shoulders and shouted at the top of his lungs at close range, “Quasar, where is Quasar?”

Eva, although able to make out the words, did not understand the question.  Why would he be looking for Quasar? 

She shook her head with tears in her eyes, unable to think of anything meaningful to reply and unwilling to muster the energy to shout loud enough to be heard.  Webster turned, took her hand, and headed back to the lander.  In his other hand he held the light to illuminate the path.

As they approached through the darkness, a bright light shined from inside Taurus through an open door in the distance.  They seemed to walk for minutes as if in slow motion without getting any closer.  When they drew close enough to turn off the flashlights, Webster stopped and gripped Eva’s hand tighter.  He lunged to begin running, but it was too late.  The closing door slowly began to eclipse the light. 

Webster ran to get on board, realizing what was happening.  The hum of powered gravity shields and the closing door pointed to one conclusion: the lander was preparing to take off.  The door rose until shut.  The light from the doorway was extinguished as they stood in the night.

Taurus began to hover.  The giant structure rose inches from the ground, then a few meters, and then without any warning, it shot like a rocket already in flight over the waterfall, over the horizon, and completely out of sight.  It was gone in moments.  Webster stood hand-in-hand with Eva.

There was no noise. A dead calm surrounded them.

Their astonishment did nothing to break the silence.  Webster stood there in the dark, unable to see anything except the scattered stars in the night sky. 

Eva recalled what Webster was saying and repeated the question in a whimpering voice, “Webster, where is Quasar?”

Webster crouched from his standing position and stared to the west where he had seen the glowing engines disappear.

“I don’t know,” he said. 

Eva began to cry.  The lander was gone and the temperature was dropping.  They were alone, with meager supplies scattered on the ground from the campsite.

…

Webster made a fire on the beach.  They dug a hole in the soft sand next to the fire and warmed each other with body heat.  Webster and Eva lay next to one another, trying unsuccessfully to sleep, while staring up at the darkness.

“What happened?” asked Eva.

Webster replied, “Quasar and I couldn’t find you. Ensign started to do something with the controls on the bridge.  We went looking for you thinking you had gone outside.  We didn’t want them to take off without you. I followed her out the door.”

“Wait, Quasar was with you?  So she’s out here somewhere?”

“Couldn’t find her.  She just disappeared.”

“And they just took off?  Why did they do that?”

Webster answered, “What we just saw looked like an antigravity launch, where the ship separated from the planet and catapulted into space.  That was one of the reasons Nikolaj was reluctant.  Ensign should have been able to handle it.  I don’t know what just happened.  Could have been an accident.”

Eva paused and whimpered, “Are we going to die?”

Webster replied harshly, “We were always going to die young friend, it’s just a question of when.  If I have anything to say about it, it will not be soon.”

He got up from the hole and approached the water with a flashlight.  He pounded the surface with his fist and broke a chunk of ice, which he carried toward the fire.  He held it in his mouth while it melted, and he sucked the moisture from it for a drink.  They took turns capturing the water as it dripped off.

Waiting the long hours was particularly hard on that night, and frigid air was only part of the reason.  Eva thought about Quasar a lot.  She was the one that helped her pass the time during the stretches devoid of any entertainment, chores, or freedom to wander outside on winter days.  Now she might never see her again.