Space Chronicles: The Last Human War (11 page)

Several computer alarms sounded simultaneously
as they passed slowly over the top of the hill with the large tree.

Jix yelled, “I got it. It’s on the vertical scan right below us.”

The scout glider circled the area to find a suitable landing spot.

“Scan for hicay
,” the doctor instructed. “I don’t want any surprises.”

His assistant
made a few quick instrument adjustments and announced the area safe. After landing, the two scientists climbed awkwardly out of the cluttered scout craft. They stood in a long clearing on a hill with a single large tree near the top. They had no difficulty following the directional locator through sparse vegetation to the coordinates of the DNA hit.

“I don’t understand
,” Jix said. “This is the exact point we marked from the air. I’m not getting any readings.” He stood near the base of the large tree and swept his scanner in a complete circle, aiming at the ground.

“Amazing!” Dr. Hadje ignored the young scientist’s comment. “Our human is alive and remarkably resourceful. So, that’s how he avoided hicays.”

Hadje directed Jix’s attention to the remnants of Simon’s tree nest. Wilting leaves and broken branches marked Simon’s resting place from a few days earlier.

When the younger scientist
aimed his handheld sensor at the tree sanctuary. It returned strong DNA readings. Oddly, signals were even stronger half way up the tree trunk than when aimed at the place where the human spent the night. On closer examination, the scientists were thrilled to discover tiny fragments of dried skin on the tree bark.

Until now,
the doctor had not considered the possibility Simon might leave the jungle for the barren rock environment of the foothills. He accepted that he was wrong.

The grav
-glider came to a stationary hover with its side scanner aimed up the nearby slope. DNA sensors quickly found Simon’s trail, and they followed it up the slope.

Jix alternated his attention between his instruments and a nearby window. He noticed a narrow path that seemed to mirror their course.
The scout craft followed the trail until they reached a fork with one branch leading down into the brush of a heavily wooded canyon while the other continued up the mountain.

To
their consternation, human-trace came from both trails.

“
Have you noticed the human keeps moving toward higher elevation? I think we should continue up the mountain. What do you think?”

“D
octor, if I was him, I would go into this canyon. There’s no water or food up above. He’s got to need nourishment by now.”

Jix’s reasoning made sense, so the scientists traced
the human trail into the nearby valley. They were amazed how thick the foliage was in this valley. It rivaled any jungle they had ever seen. Large trees supported heavy canopy vines while long strands of moss that draped from the highest branches and disappeared into thick vegetation below. It was as if a small piece of the Central Jungle had become wedged between towering canyon walls. They only flew a short distance into the jungle-valley when the DNA sensor stopped chirping. In the absence of genetic markers, the doctor decided to return to the fork in the trail.

“It will be dark soon,
” he said. “We need to set down for the night. We’ll continue our scan in the morning.”

It had already been a long day for
the old Tanarac, and he was exhausted. A small flat area appeared up ahead next to a sheer wall that towered far above. The human trail ran in that same direction, so he piloted the glider to the flat spot and landed on a narrow strip next to a sheer drop-off. The ship wobbled momentarily while the landing gear compensated for the uneven terrain.

Scans showed
the genetic trail ending abruptly at the vertical wall. Despite needing sleep, Dr. Hadje could not resist making one last hand-scan on foot, before darkness.

“I’m reading the human’s DNA. It’s all over this place
.” Jix pointed his handheld scanner at the bush where Simon and Tai entered the scout cave.

“Let’s get back to the glider.
It will be completely dark soon. I don’t want unfortunate meetings with local wildlife. We’ll explore this in the morning.”

Soon, both scientists fell asleep within the safety of their sealed craft.
Residual vestiges of light from Tanarac’s larger sun gave way to a pitch-black night, and the two scientists slept while computers recorded a steady stream of unchanging data.

Dr. Hadje awoke to an annoying buzz from one of the computers. He rubbed his eyes and leaned over to see the display screen.

“Jix, wake up!” he whispered forcefully. “We have him . . . Jix!”

The younger scientist
woke with a start, and the doctor pointed to the screen.

“The infrared alarm woke me. I thought it was a mountain sheep or some other large animal, but, just to be sure, I went back into the memory, and look what I found.”

The senior scientist hit the replay button and the unmistakable infrared image of a human passed briskly through their view. It was a lone person walking along the trail in the dark. They repeated the video several times.

Jix turned to a different computer screen. “How long ago was that image?”

“About ten minutes. Why?”

“Why didn’t the DNA scanner alert?”

“Good question.”

Dr. Hadje turned his attention to the DNA scanning computer while Jix synchronized the units.
The human came into the infrared view screen, but the genetic scanner showed nothing. The doctor pondered the possibilities aloud.

“Recalibrate the DNA matrix
,” he said. “Maybe our data was corrupted.”

They ran the image again, still with no genetic detection.

“Verify synchronization.”

Again, no genetic match.

“It is possible,” he said, “our DNA code for the human has been distorted by external interference from the mountain. Eliminate individual-specific markers and scan only for general human traits.”

Like all good scientists, Dr. Hadje began eliminating variables.

“By the grace of Vaal-al!” Jix was stunned as strong DNA trace danced across his screen. “Something’s wrong. This is impossible. There’s a human gene match with this infrared image, but it’s neither of our runners.”

The doctor
checked the time to see how long it would be until first morning light. There was nothing more they could do until then.

E
xcited, the scientists could not sleep. They discussed possibilities while searching the military scout craft for field rations. After consuming some tasteless military food and drinking from the ship’s water supply, the first sun’s faint early morning light allowed scientists to return to the place by the bush. Jix quickly discovered the hidden cave entrance and scanners confirmed both general human DNA and Simon’s specific matrix.

“Let’s get hand lights from the glider,” Dr. Hadje said. “We’re going into that cave.”

The scientists discussed the possibilities as they walked back to the grav glider.

“The second hit might be the female. Perhaps she escaped the hicays
, and her DNA may have undergone spontaneous changes.” Dr. Hadje suggested. “This could explain the second non-specific trace.”

“Yes, but we detected multiple sets of general markers. Wouldn’t that indicate more than two humans?” Jix dared to ask the question both of them considered most unlikely, yet evidence was mounting.

Deep in speculation, the scientists paid no attention to their surroundings. Just as they opened the glider doorway, the unmistakable scream of a hicay shattered the air. The Tanaracs dove headlong into the cabin, and its door began closing automatically behind them. Before it closed completely, a violent impact stopped its progress. An enraged hicay hung from the top of the door. Claws of its upper forelegs dug into the soft seals along the top of the doorframe while its middle legs thrust through the space on either side of the door and flailed wildly.

The scout glider rocked under the weight of the thrashing
beast. One of the craft’s five landing struts slipped off the edge of the landing spot and hooked under the lip of the rock ledge as it automatically sought solid footing.

Dr. Hadje jumped into the pilot’s seat. The craft shuddered but did not rise as
he increased antigravity thrust. It approached maximum thrust when the hicay fell from the door. The snagged landing strut suddenly broke free from under the rock ledge, and the scout vessel rocketed high into the morning sky. He brought the craft under control but was too late to avoid detection. The glider’s military radio activated automatically.

“Unidentified craft. Unidentified craft. You are violating the Central Jungle No-Fly Zone. Identify yourself. This is the Lower Atmospheric Defense System. Identify yourself. We are monitoring all channels. Identify yourself immediately.”

While the military radio crackled with repetitions of the command, the doctor ignored the radio and plunged the little craft down slope into the nearby canyon. He hoped high canyon walls would screen them from further detection. Leveling off just above the treetops near the middle of the canyon, they listened to military radio broadcasts.

“ARAD One. This is LADS. Report status.”

“ARAD One, leader. Received your radar coordinates. Vectoring two interceptors. Seven minutes to intercept.”

Dr. Hadje knew there was no hope of outrunning military fighter aircraft, so he headed further
into the jungle-canyon as fast as his craft would fly.

“Hang on, Jix. Maybe
if I can put some distance between us and those coordinates, detection might be avoided.”

“LADS, this is ARAD One leader. Two minutes to contact. Will begin search pattern 8-Easy. Negative on down-view scanners, so far.”

“Affirmative, ARAD One. LADS monitoring.”

Dr. Hadje slowed his glider to a stop and began reducing the antigravity thrust. The small craft dropped into the thick jungle canopy. Tree branches rubbed against the ship’s hull as it settled deeper and deeper into the foliage. In the cabin window,
his assistant noticed bright light of day giving way to the darkness of the jungle.

They continued to descend until their craft settled onto a soft, but firm, substance. He throttled back completely, allowing the full weight of the craft to rest on this surface. It held.

“Shut down all computers.”

Dr. Hadje was already shutting down the ship’s engines. Soon, the scientists sat in the dark, listening to radio commentary of the fighter pilots as they made sensor sweeps over the area.

“LADS, this is ARAD One. Negative on first pass. Widening search grid to level 2.”

“Roger, ARAD One. LADS monitoring.”

“ARAD Two, make a pass down that long valley. Full burners. Report if you get any scan hits.”

“Roger. ARAD Two, out.” The voice sounded familiar to Dr. Hadje.

Several seconds passed in silence. The scientists hoped they had successfully evaded the fighters. Without warning, the jungle silence exploded in a blast of noise as thundering engines of a fast flying interceptor roared directly over their location. In the instant, ear-piercing squeals of a high power sensor filled the scout cabin. Dr. Hadje knew they were detected. He expected orders over the radio any second, instructing him what to do next.

“ARAD Two. This is ARAD One. You get any sensor hits in that valley?”

“Negative, ARAD One. It’s clean. ARAD Two, out.”

“LADS,
we’re negative for Level Two search pattern. Do you want a Level Three, expanded search grid?”

“Negative, ARAD One. First radar contact must have been a bounce-back. We get those sometimes from mineral deposits in the mountain. Thanks for checking it out. You guys
are cleared to return to high elevation patrol. LADS, out.”

“Roger, LADS. ARAD Leader, out.”

Dr. Hadje could not believe their good fortune. For a few seconds, the radio was silent. Then, it activated again.

“Hey Kob, want to have some fun out here? We’ve got clear air space and nobody’s gonna care if we run these things through their paces.”

“I’d love to Major Bulak, but I’m getting a new scout glider back from antigrav calibration in a couple days. I’ve got to set up the cert schedule and brief a test crew before we deliver it to the Daks. Have to take a rain check, but thanks for the offer.”

“How’d you like buzzin
g that valley on burners? That fun, or what!?”

“That was a kick, Major. They’re gonna by picking Tobay monkey fur outta my intake ports for a month. Kob out.”

Dr. Hadje smiled. He made a mental note to thank his friend, yet again.

The close brush with the fighters cost the scientists valuable time. It was past noon by the time they reconnected computers, scanned for hicays, and returned to the cave entrance.
They studied the cave opening before the enthusiastic doctor led a reluctant Jix inside. Travel was difficult. Tanarac physiology did not lend itself well to crawling or walking in bent posture. Thankfully, the ceiling rose gradually above them, and soon, they could walk fully erect. The scientists carefully followed the only path before them, exercising great caution as they did.