Aurona, page 26
Reluctantly, they agreed. Everybody wanted to get into the act.
“Now! That large section of ductwork is where? Level B?”
“Yo!” a voice yelled from the perimeter. Dexor was standing on his toes, waving. “I’ll get it! I know exactly where it is!”
Adam gave him a thumbs-up. “Okay, perfect. You’re in charge, man!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Bring it out onto a cargo dock on one of our antigrav barges.”
“Yes, sir!” A snappy salute returned.
That’s what I like, enthusiasm!” Adam beamed. “Take note, guys!”
Like a bolt of lightning, his head and spinal cord began to throb once more with the effects of the mind-fruit. Masking his pain and forcing a smile, he nodded to Kron. “Okay, second in command, you’re in charge. Take it from here….”
“So,” Kron blended in seamlessly, “we’ve got the duct taken care of. Thanks, Dexor! Once we’ve arrived on the scene, we’ll slide a couple of antigrav pods into the tube, then insert it carefully through the dome. Then we’ll turn up our antigrav belts to neutral buoyancy and float in through the duct in single file. Follow me so far?”
It all sounded solid, far more than just speculation. They nodded excitedly.
“Once inside,” Kron continued, “we’ll dial our belts down to a slight negative buoyancy and drop down into the entrance hole … if there is one…,” his voice tailed off. “Hey, this might be just theory at this point, guys,” he shrugged. “But as Adam said, anything’s possible on this crazy planet!”
The crew rolled their eyes, throwing each other knowing looks.
He resumed. “This is important: the last guy in line needs to pull the duct into the shield behind him. Remember, the shield’s there for a purpose. It keeps stuff from falling in, but mostly it’s there to protect whoever’s living downstairs. That duct had better be waiting for us when we leave; we gotta use it to get back out!”
Adam listened in satisfaction, rubbing the back of his head. Kron was doing a superb job, leading with logic and authority. He had a thorough knowledge of the equipment and was demonstrating a multilayered, insightful grasp of the situation.
Kron’s eyes scanned the room. “Now! I need twelve volunteers!”
Two hundred hands shot up. Smiling, he chose the qualified few and thanked the rest. “Okay, the floor’s down! Dex, its duct time. Grab your three buddies to help you tie it onto the barge,” he said, smiling. “Make sure you lash it down real tight. We’re counting on that duct; it’s our vital link! Oh yeah, and don’t forget to send it through one of the bigger quarantine airlocks!”
He spun around. “Rescue team! Remember, we gotta zap everything, including ourselves, before we get into full explorer’s gear! E-helmets, too!”
Adam caught his eye, giving him an enthusiastic thumb’s up.
The early afternoon was balmy after a passing sun shower, but they knew that the night and the unknown would be closing in. They couldn’t waste a moment. Feeling awkward and encumbered in their fully rigged suits, utility belts, and e-helmets, the small party passed through the quarantine room and stepped outside onto a docking platform in the misty atmosphere. A few of the crew assisted them, freer and more relaxed in their shirtsleeves.
They pulled away, six SpeedSleds, two men on each. Following the group, a seventh bargelike utility sled carried the big section of ductwork. Adam set close radar distances, nose to tail, then programmed the lead sled’s autopilot to home in on the distant holocamera. On his signal, the shields and cloaking devices engaged, the flying string of men and machines vanished, and the phantom train flowed silently into the rainforest’s perpetual twilight.
As the twelve craned their necks, gawking and marveling at the fantastic diversity of species, they heard a distant, bell-like chime. They squinted through the shields, scanning the jungle. There was a flash of light, and then a strange cascade of glowing ribbons began to float toward them through the branches.
Tola turned to Adam.”What in the world?”
Calling noisily to each other, a pair of luminous flying creatures suddenly swept alongside them on brilliant pennant-wings of fluorescent color!
Adam drew in his breath. “Wow, there they are, men! The same birds that attacked our Spyders!”
The blurred pennant wings and impossibly long, flowing tails were leaving a glowing, phosphorescent wake behind them, creating an undulating ribbon of light in the dark jungle. As the birds bobbed closer, the crew gaped in wonder. Thousands of tiny, glittering pinpoints of light were glowing on the tips their feathers. The overall effect was spectacular against the somber gray-green of the jungle.
“Good heavens, now we have lights?” Tola whispered into the intercom. “How’s it possible for birds to have lights?”
“I’m goin’ in closer, guys.” As Adam tapped out his scope vision, glowing dots danced across his face shield. Hmm,” he murmured, “maybe it’s…. Yes, it is! I-I believe it’s luciferase!”
“Lucifer what?” Tola recoiled. “How’d he get into this?”
“Luciferase. You know, the stuff that glows on the end of a firefly’s tail?”
“Hmm,” Tola mused. “But really, sir, in colors?”
“Ya got me there,” Adam chuckled mischievously. “Hey! Like they say, the devil’s in the details!”
Tola winced. “Come on, that’s not exactly what….”
Adam interrupted excitedly. “Quick, quick! Take pictures, everybody! Tap out scope vision and use your recorders! We gotta grab some videos and stop-action stills before these guys disappear!”
As their helmets bobbed madly, a voice rose excitedly from the rear.
“Hey, I see iridescence, too! See how the clear filaments on their feathers are diffracting the light? They’re biological prisms! The barbules are forming iridescent colors! These creatures go way beyond iridescence, guys, they have fluorescent, phosphorescent, and neon colors, too!”
Adam glanced at their holocamera. It had been bobbing and weaving over their heads, transmitting the entire mission back to the starship in real time. “Boy, that black ball sure looks busy! The crew up in the Holosphere must be getting an eyeful! It’s funny, but the only thing missing from their picture is us! We’re flying right underneath them, but they can’t see us with our cloaking devices on.”
A voice piped up from the back. “Hah! Neither can the birds! These SpeedSleds are ultimate hunting blinds; even our scent can’t be detected!”
Tola chuckled. “I’m glad we all took showers before we left.”
As the men guffawed, there was a loud squeal, followed by a frenzied thrashing in the forest ahead! Startled, they spun on their seats toward the sound.
About fifty feet away, two enormous, buzzing hornetlike insects had just ambushed something fat and furry. Vastly overpowered, their victim was thrashing in agony as powerful mandibles throttled its windpipe and rapierlike stingers skewered deeply into its flesh. Slowly, it stiffened out in rigor mortis.… Poison!
Adam recoiled in horror. “Yike!” he gasped. “That might’ve been Elena!”
He was right! They readied their Stiflers, watching in shocked silence.
Setting their foot hooks into the plump body, the insects rose heavily into the air, their black wings beating laboriously in a mighty, deep-throated basso profundo duet. They paused as they entered the shadows and touched their antennae together. Suddenly, unbelievably, a glow appeared on their foreheads! Flickering, it intensified quickly. Two brilliant searchlights suddenly cut through the darkness! The hornets swept their dazzling beams around, got a bearing, and disappeared.
It grew silent once again. Everyone’s gut was shaking.
“Holy Laser Beam!!” Adam gasped. “What in the world did we just see?”
“Ah….” Tola let out a breath. “Now I know we’re not in Kansas anymore!”
A voice erupted from the back. “Wow! Did you get a load of those incredible searchlights? I had my scope vision on when they lit up! I-I was nearly blinded!”
Tola leaned toward Adam, whispering. “Should I tell them? You know….”
Adam caught on immediately. “Oh yeah, what you saw this morning. Yes, yes definitely. Go ahead; I’m sure it’ll give us some valuable insight.”
Tola raised his voice. “Guys! Listen! Sahir and I saw one of those bad boys right up close this morning, out in broad daylight! There was this big, parabolic depression on his forehead with some kind of shiny, mirrored substance inside. Maybe some of that, ah, Lucifer light stuff could reflect down into it?”
Kron’s eyes widened. “Hey, that’s right! Think about it! If birds have feathers that light up, why can’t bugs have biological sealed beams?”
An anonymous voice stuttered from the back of the train. “N-now we have giant h-hornets with headlights? I’m not comin’ out here in the dark! No way!”
“That’s for sure,” Adam affirmed. “We’ll have to cloak and shield our SpeedSleds on all future trips into the jungle. And set our Stiflers to ‘Kill’!”
Deep in thought, they traveled in silence for the remainder of the journey. Soon, someone caught a glimpse something shiny and metallic in the distance, looking like a beacon piercing the gloom. The team rose in their seats, straining to see.
Tola began to concentrate. “Ventlock, Electrodome, Goldenshield….”
“What’s that, my friend?” Adam leaned toward him. “Workin’ on another tag?”
“Wait, wait! I have it! It shines like the sun, doesn’t it?
“Um, yes, it does. Kind of….” He raised a brow expectantly.
“Well, how about Solumbra? It shields like an umbrella and….”
Adam winced. “Shines like the sun?” He thought a minute, then tried out the word. “Hmm…. Sol-um-bra!” It seemed to roll nicely off the tongue.
Grinning, the men repeated the new word in a chorus. “Sol-um-bra!”
The name was confirmed. They slipped quietly into the big clearing and formed a loose circle around the glittering shield. On Adam’s signal, they dropped their shields, drew their Stiflers, and slid off their sleds as a tight unit. As they approached the curved golden surface, it distorted their heavily-suited images way out of proportion like a fun house mirror. Stifling a contagion of chuckles, they glanced up at the holocamera. It hovered motionless over the center of the dome, clicking and whirring futilely. Yes, the signal was definitely blocked.
Adam bent down, looking at the ground. “I’m gonna try something here. This thing should have an electrical field, right? Wait a sec….” Picking up a pebble, he tossed it at the glassy surface. It just punched a clean hole and disappeared. The shield filled in behind it. “See?” he shrugged. “Nothing.”
“Wait, wait! Grinning mischievously, Peter tossed a twig at the Solumbra.
“Craaaccckkk!” There was a brilliant flash. They jumped back in shock as the branch was consumed in a great arc of electronic firepower! The shield swiftly closed in, but the air was smoking. They sniffed: there was a familiar odor of ozone.
“W-why’d it do that, sir?” Peter stuttered. “A-a leaf isn’t metallic, is it?”
“Not the leaves I know!” Adam picked up another branch and held it close to his face shield. “It seems to be normal,” he mumbled. “Here, Kron. We gotta speed things up, here. Try an elemental reading with all your gizmos and flashy thingys while I go over there and help those guys unload the duct.”
The blonde man swung out a small compartment on his sled. As he placed the branch on a tray and closed the lid, a summary began to flash by on its tiny screen. “Well, everything appears to be normal, except….” His eyes widened. “Wait, could that be…? No, no, it can’t. Lemme try a different filter.”
The analysis was unmistakable: there was gold inside. Huddling, Kron’s small group pulled out a surgical knife, dissected the branch, and peered at it closely under microvision. Just under the edge of the bark, thousands upon thousands of capillary wires were drawn out to an impossible degree of thinness, floating in the air. As Kron snipped off a minute section of fluff with a pair of tweezers, it mashed down readily to almost nothing. The branch was wired! They stared at each other, trying to grasp the scope of their discovery.
Adam dropped the last of the duct’s restraining straps and hurried back to the group. They filled him in. Speculating, he knelt and began to dig under the leaf mold. Exposing a shallow root, he cut it off, examined it, and rose to his feet. “Just as I thought! Wires! Some kind of liquefied gold must grow along with the plants and mature into solid wires. That means when the roots die, the ground must be left with….” He knelt again, this time digging with purpose.
Layers upon layers of dead roots had compacted tightly over the eons, rotting along with the fallen leaves, leaving behind the imperishable prize they once contained: tons of matted gold wiring now lay there, just waiting to be scooped up!
He grabbed a handful, wrenching it free. A delicate filigree hung from his fist, riffling in the breeze; decomposed vegetation was coating its surface a deep amber color. As the clump dried in the air, he gave it a quick tap on his knee. Fine brown powder blew away and bright, pure gold remained! He slowly turned to the men. “If you’re thinking what I’m thinking….”
His postulation went unanswered. There was a sudden wrenching and grunting behind them. Spooked, they spun on their heels, stiflers drawn, and stared into the woods. Twenty feet away, one of the crew was digging in the litter.
“Dexor!” Adam exclaimed.
“Huh?” The man stood up, holding a mass of roots. Thinking quickly, he nodded his head in excitement. “Yes! Ah … wow! The same wires are over here, too, sir!” He sprinted to another spot. In moments, dirt flying, the same answer came ringing back. “Gold, sir! There’s gold everywhere!”
Tola’s cheeks puffed as he let out a long, unsteady breath. “Well, it looks like the real motherlode is just lying on the ground, sir!”
Adam dropped the glittering web to his feet. “Okay. No more distractions. This stuff is all flat-out amazing, but we’ve gotta focus on our mission!” He waved Dexor back.
“Anybody can come out here at any time to dig, but right now, Elena’s infinitely more valuable than this stuff!”
The section of duct slipped easily through the shell, revealing a strong source of light inside. They floated through eagerly, boot to helmet, an unbroken string descending into the depths. First in line, Adam programmed their holocamera to begin to scan for Elena’s PIL transmission. Disappointingly, the orb clicked a few times, then fell dark and silent.
The shaft was incredibly smooth and seamless. Slowly the light grew brighter around them, and then the shaft abruptly widened into a trumped-shaped opening. One by one they floated out into a great void. Straining their eyes mightily, they still couldn’t see a thing under their feet; the space was immense and a roof of earth and stone stretched out into the distance, lost in a strange mist.
The moment was almost upon them and again, Adam’s mind started racing ahead. He’d been feeling strange, jumpy and wired ever since he’d tasted the bitter fruit. He knew the watchers below must be keenly aware of their presence: after all, they’d thrown the shields up around the planet when the starship was still millions of miles away. Somehow, he had to communicate with them and let them know….
“Yes! That’s it!!” He yanked a small sketchpad out of his pocket.
“Huh?” Kron glanced down between his feet. Adam was drawing something.
He looked up, distracted. “Ah, wait a sec, Kron….” Making a few simple, cryptic markings, he passed the pad over his head.
“Ah, what’s this, sir?” Kron asked. “I mean, does this say something?”
“Yes. But for now just pass it to the guys over your head and bear with me.” He opened up his e-helmet’s intercom. “Can you all hear me? I know these marks may look weird, but I want you to study the shapes closely. They’re, um … a message.”
“Huh?” they chorused. They obviously didn’t have a clue what he meant.
“Sorry, let me rephrase that: it may sound crazy, but I’d like us to try to form our bodies into these shapes on the paper. Don’t laugh, just answer yes or no. Do you think it’s possible for us to, ah, ‘spell out’ this word? I know five people can form the central part and the rest should be able to link yourselves together and form the outer sections….”
“Of what, sir?” a voice interrupted. “What are these chicken scratches?”
“Runes,” Adam answered. “It’s their language. These shapes are some of their oldest forms, so they’re quite simple. With any luck they’ll be able to read our message—I mean, read us as we descend. They’re smart. I’m sure they’ll catch on.”
Tola asked the obvious question. “Just what is it we’ll be spelling out, sir?”
He shrugged. “It’s one word,” he whispered. “Peace.”
It became brilliantly clear. As the hushed group dropped through the air, they lined up their bodies the best they could to form the runic symbols. Tola’s excited whispering filtered into their headsets. “Man, I couldn’t think of a better way to bring greetings than this great flash of inspiration, sir,” he gushed. “You have a formidable sense of capturing the moment then forming it into an indelible impression. This simplest of gestures should ease their anxiety, making them feel right about us, and….”
“Stuff it, man! Thanks for the compliment. Let’s just wait and see.”
The runic word “PEACE” now floated down from the sky. Completing the illusion, Adam set their holographic camera off to the lower right like a period. As he turned on his scope vision, he drew in his breath. There was a glimmer of odd needle shapes in the distance!
“Guys, guys!” he hissed. “Get a load of what’s under us!”
There was a muffled collection of clicks, then gasps of awe. Beneath them, a vast metropolis filled the view, fading off toward the horizons. Overwhelmed at the sheer grandeur they floated silently downward, their bodies locked together in their simple, silhouetted message of hope.
