Exiled to the Stars (65 page)

"So," he concluded, "You won't be going. You'll be quite busy here. The Council has already approved the reorganization proposal," Ken said. "We'll announce it as soon as we have determined the individual ranks. Better we present a
fait accompli
than that we have to listen to arguments about relative standing."

Ron chuckled. "We'll still have those. Everybody's going to want to be a Major."

Ken shook his head. "That's not going to happen. The Council hasn't assigned names, but we've allocated positions, numbers, and pay scales. You'll have a total strength of 55. You'll have one Colonel, you, and one Lieutenant Colonel for a deputy, two Majors, and so on. You'll be getting a nice raise, by the way.

Ken straightened. "Now," he said, obviously changing subjects, "the new mission. The airship with the R65C aboard has been attempting to trace the tunnel on the far side of the cave-in. We've found one end of the tunnel, and it was a power station. But we
must
know where that power was going.

"That station has apparently been inactive for several thousand years. But that doesn't mean that there aren't dozens or hundreds of others, active, and providing power to a planet-wide civilization. A civilization that developed a power plant that is still producing power after millennia, even unattended. Even if Kerry is right, and they are extinct,
we need that power source
! And somewhere, there exists the knowledge of what it is and how to operate it, and most importantly, to duplicate it."

Ron frowned. "Why? I mean, nuclear power is forever, isn't it?"

Ken shook his head. "I thought so too. I've since learned that the answer is 'not necessarily."

"Anyway, the R65C has been trying to follow that tunnel by following those 'anomaly' signals that led us to the first one. It's been working fairly well, though the airship has had to retrace its steps a few times.

"But now the trail has led to a mountain range about 2000 klicks northwest of here, and they've lost the signal. Apparently, mountains are not a good environment for low-flying airships.

"So, since the R65C is too big and heavy for a heli, our only choice is to send a crew of Explorers up there. If we're lucky, they'll be able to locate one of those 'airlock' things, and enter the tunnel system. Then they'll follow it. It'll be a lot slower, of course, but we
must
know if there is a threat to the colony."

Ron frowned. "I was thinking about that on
our
tunnel mission," he said. "We can't keep spending three or four days to go forty klicks. We need some vehicles."

Ken shrugged. "Sounds like a project for the Commanding Officer of the Explorer Corps, to me. Let me know when you have a proposal ready for the Council"

Ron turned an irritated glance to Elaine. "And what about
you
?" he asked. "You have opinions on everything, and usually make sure everyone knows what they are. How come you're so quiet now?"

Elaine smiled archly. "Because Ken is right. The Explorers has been your little 'boys club' for too long. It's time they got organized properly."

"And if I make you 'Lieutenant Colonel'?"

She shook her head. "That'll be Tran, and you know it. I'll probably end up a Sergeant or something."

Chapter 26

Sixthmonth 14, Year 39 A.L.

"I don't think we have to worry about the neighbors, Colonel," said Major Denis Chu, Explorers Corps.

"Does that mean you've found something?" Asked Colonel Ronald Reding, Jr.

"Yep. Well, we've found a door, all right. A
Big
bastard. Looks to be only a little over two meters high, but the thing's about five meters wide. Like the others, it's set into a cliff, but this time it's at the very bottom of the cliff, level with the floor of the canyon it's in. It appears to be split, and looks like it slides, rather than swinging or rolling. We're having to dig it out.

"But the thing is, I sent a man up in the heli with metal detection gear, to see if there's another, smaller door that might be easier. There isn't, but he noticed something. He was getting readings from the valley floor. Well, that made him curious, and he had the heli run a circle around the valley. It's closed, like the other ones. No passes or exits.

"The readings show a pattern of refined metals. Whatever the stuff was, it's apparently rusted away, or something, but it left behind an interesting pattern. Do you remember Dr. Montoya saying that the spider people were carnivores?"

Ron nodded. "Yes, of course. And I've seen their teeth. Go on, Major."

"Well, this pattern is a lot of large, interlinked boxes. Whatever it was was laid out kind of like a honeycomb, but with eight-sided cells. We think it was corrals for livestock. A large population of carnivores is going to need an awful lot of meat. I don't think this door and that big one back at Site One are involved with the tube car system at all. I think they're ways to bring in food."

Ron frowned in thought. "Well, the one at Site One wasn't connected to the tube car system; in fact, it was on the other side of the installation. And it opened on a box canyon, with a wide ramp leading to it. I think you're onto something here, Denis."

Major Chu nodded. "It's a theory. But it gives us two interesting things to consider. For one, a corral system this size means that we must be near a major living center. But more importantly, the whole corral system has been untended long enough to rust, or degrade, back into the soil. And the door is buried about a meter deep. I don't care how advanced they are, they have to eat. I don't think the neighbors live here anymore."

Ron frowned. "Don't jump to conclusions, and above all, don't let your guard down. They may have developed synthetics."

Denis grinned. "Yar? Ask an Earthborn how he'd like to go back on ship's rations after he's eaten real meat."

Ron answered Denis' grin with one of his own. "You have a point. But theirs may taste better. At any rate, don't let this theory distract you, especially if you really
are
near a population center."

Denis snorted. "Of course not. If I was that dumb, I'd have let them make me a Colonel, and stick me behind a desk."

Ron struggled to maintain a threatening scowl while suppressing a grin. "I wonder if we have court-martials. I may have to look into that,
Major
."

Denis shook his head. "I'm not worried. You'd have to take your feet down off your desk to do that." He sobered. "We'll be careful, Colonel."

Ron nodded. "I know you will, Denis. I'll pass your theory along to the eggheads studying Site One. Who knows? They may even tell me that you're not a
complete
idiot after all."

It was the next day before Denis called back. "Well, Colonel, we're in. We had to force the door, and we've only got an opening wide enough to let Jazzy through. I've sent the heli back, with samples of dirt from the edges of one of the cells. We hope it will have metals you can use to confirm our theory.

"But Colonel," he continued, "I can already report that we can see light in there. It's dim, and it's red, but it's definitely artificial light. And there's more than a cem of dust on the floor."

Ron frowned. "I wonder if they have some kind of power source that they can't shut off," he said musingly."

Denis shrugged. "We'll be going in in a few minutes," he said. "I'll leave a repeater in the doorway, just in case it can keep us connected."

Ron nodded. "Thanks. It probably won't help for long; we'll lose you at the first bend in the tunnel. But I'll take what I can get. Well, take care, and good luck."

There were a dozen in the exploring party, besides Jazzy, of course.

"Keep it quiet in there," Denis told them. "Use these sexy new throat mikes and mastoid implants they gave us. You don't even have to talk aloud. Just whisper or speak under your breath. Jazzy is already programmed to use the same method. If there
is
anything in here, we don't want to let them know we're coming. The first idiot to talk normally will be on guard duty for a week. Use your night vision glasses, and keep an eye on the dust on the floor. If it looks disturbed, warn us immediately. Watch out for spider people, and watch out for boojums!"

They entered the tunnel, and went about ten meters inside before putting on their night vision glasses. Suddenly, the dimly red-lit tunnel was bright as day, and several team members relaxed visibly.

The tunnel they were in mirrored the door. While only a bit more than two meters high, it was almost five wide, a subterranean highway whose openness kept the team on edge. They spread out, but stayed close to one wall, and Jazzy led them at a slow walk.

After about ten meters, the tunnel curved, and they lost communication with the colony. After about three hundred meters, Denis noticed that the brightness seemed to be increasing slightly. They rounded a bend in the tunnel, and suddenly they were in a vast, low cavern, and the red light was almost blinding in their light-enhancing glasses.

They retreated a few meters back down the tunnel, leaving Jazzy to watch for signs that they had been detected. "No life signs within detection range," Jazzy announced. "No movement within detection range." Denis nodded and the team cautiously approached the opening.

The cavern was so immense that huge pillars, apparently of some bright metal, supported it. Asked to estimate the cavern's size, Jazzy reported it as "indeterminate at this time." But Denis could see several dozen of the pillars, and the cavern certainly stretched farther than the eye could see, even with light enhancement.

"Something tells me we've found out where the power was going," quipped Captain Vito Carelli. "Anyone see a doorbell?"

Denis shook his head. "We wouldn't want to wake anyone."

The space in front of their 'highway' was largely open, occupied by hundreds of octagonal enclosures, each just over a meter high and three meters across.
Holding pens for the ready meat supply
, Denis told himself. The pens, if that was what they were, were empty. The city itself, if that was what it was, started about four hundred meters away.

Denis was uncomfortable crossing so much open space, despite the fact that Jazzy was still reporting no life signs. Her range was only about a hundred meters, and Denis had no idea how good the spider peoples' distance vision was, or had been. Or, more to the point, how good the automated defenses' sensors were. He peered carefully around the corner of the cavern to examine its edge.

The walls of the cavern were smooth, almost polished. A large cleared ribbon ran along them.
A perimeter road
, he thought.
Probably for trucks to haul livestock or food.

He frowned. The open space of the perimeter road was scarcely less comforting than the 'stockyards'. Still, the light
did
seem appreciably dimmer along the wall, and with the wall to their backs, they couldn't be encircled.

He was half tempted to go straight across the 'stockyards'; the dust was more than a cem deep, and undisturbed. No one, and nothing, had been her for a
long
time. But he remembered Ron's caution at Site One. His team's lives depended on him, and he had no right to risk them unnecessarily. He was a Major because Ron trusted him to make solid decisions, not just convenient ones. He sighed.

"All right," He began. "Single-file along the wall. Jazzy leads. Everyone else, keep your lasers ready, but
no shooting
! I will personally shoot anyone who fires without orders. We're here to explore, not to start a war with the neighbors!"

They started along the wall, strung out with about two meters between them, Jazzy leading, of course. Denis found her almost constant refrain of "No life signs detected, no movement detected" almost comforting. Still, after awhile it became monotonous even to him, and he ordered her to report only if life signs or movement were detected.

As they approached, he realized that, as far as he could tell, the buildings were identical to those at Site One: octagonal, and four stories high. They seemed about the same diameter, as well.

There was no single source for the pervasive red light. It seemed to come from the huge pillars supporting the cavern's roof, as well as the walls of the buildings.

Even as they approached the first of the buildings, Denis could not see the other end of the cavern, and Jazzy still reported its size as "indeterminate."

Still, the dust was deep and undisturbed. Denis' theory was looking better all the time. Or maybe it was Kerry's theory. She'd been harping on her theory that the spider people were extinct for weeks, now. Anyway, Denis was almost convinced she was right. His main concern had become automated defense systems.

Obviously, the city, or installation, or whatever it was, still had power. That would mean automated lasers, or even robot warriors would still be dangerous, even though the people they protected were long gone.

As at Site One, the city's 'blocks' were octagonal in shape, linked by spacious streets. There were, Denis noted, no vehicles to be seen. He chuckled as he wondered what a bicycle built for a spider would look like.

They had explored several square 'blocks' before Denis called a halt, and led the team to the nearest wall.

"I'm going back to report," he said. "You set up a perimeter here and relax. I may be gone a few hours. Captain Carelli is in charge until I get back. Sergeant Ives, you're with me."

Vito nodded. "Yes, sir." He turned back to the troops as Denis and Ives walked away. "All right," Denis heard, "Ho, Teras, guard. The rest of you, grab lunch while you can. Headquarters is sure to have some absolutely
wonderful
ideas for us to follow up on."

Denis grinned. Vito was turning into as big a clown as Tran had been before he became "Lieutenant Colonel Vanh,
sir!
" Good men, though, both of them.

******

"Look, Colonel, I could wander around that ghost town until I have a long gray beard, and we still couldn't be sure there's not a surprise somewhere," Denis said. "It's just too
big
. If nothing else, I need some vehicles. Or some animals."

Ron's eyebrows rose. "Vehicles?"