Shadows in the Rift Part VII
30 Apr 2017Jellicoe
The Anaconda does not handle well in atmosphere. It is a big ship with a lot of mass that takes careful handling close to any planet, throw in weather systems and turbulence and the Warspite was wallowing like a heavily pregnant Hippo, it also needs a lot of space to land and finding a place to set down within easy walking distance of a decent beach in the summer hemisphere of a primeval world untouched by either cultivation or technology had been a challenge but, after several sub-orbital passes I had identified a lightly forested site with what appeared to be numerous large clearings close to a wide, gently sloping beach. We were about ten kilometres out and hoping to stretch our legs in a genuinely unspoiled tropical paradise."Gravity 82% Earth normal." Claude ran through the initial checks. "Breathable atmosphere, slightly more oxygen rich than we're used to but not enough to give us any problems, radiation well within tolerable parameters, climate within two degrees of Earth normal. Oh!" He broke off suddenly and intently studied his scanners. "Skipper cut engines." I pulled back on the throttle and looked questioningly at my first officer.
"I've got a signal source from the planet surface." I looked at my own scanner and sure enough the pale blue shade of a detected signal source half covered the display.
"Any heat signatures?" I asked concerned.
"No nothing. Hold position I'll run a diagnostic on the scanners and check again .... yep scanners are fine, definitely something there."
"Alright I'll sweep the area, keep your eyes peeled for heat traces." I made two decreasing circles around the area at low altitude, studying the ground as intently as Claude contemplated his scanners.
"Nothing." Claude said. "If there is a ship down there it's completely powered down. Want to see if Mira can spot anything from the fighter?"
I thought for a moment. "No. There's a fair bit of foliage down there and if it's under that she won't do any better than we have. I'll put us down and come back in the buggy while we're running the atmos checks."
I found the perfect spot, two hundred metres or so from an idyllic white sandy beach. Strange birds wheeled and cried in a strange sky as an alien sun warmed an unknown landscape, the only nagging worry was whether we were alone?"
"Usual drill." I ordered. "Full checks for diseases and toxins, nobody outside without a suit till they're complete. Check the water's safe to bathe in and make sure there's nothing in the plants that'll kill us if we touch them. Fingers crossed we can have a day on the beach without Mr Remlock's help."
"Should take about an hour or so." Claude replied.
"While they're running I'll take a drive to see what that signal source is. I'll keep coms open and make sure my rubber ring's ready for me when I get back."
"You do know if it's some kind of listening post it'll have picked us up already, and if it's linked to those friends of ours in the Asps..." Claude left the thought hanging uncomfortably.
"So make sure someone keeps an eye on the scanners and be ready to go, but let's not get ahead of ourselves there's a lot of things it could be."
"Okay but be careful, there's something not right about this planet I can't put my finger on."
"You're getting paranoid old chum." I said with a smile.
"Maybe." He replied unconvinced.
"Put the skimmers out and set them to give us a square kilometre around the ship just in case there's any hungry wildlife about. I'll be back as soon as I can."
The drive took longer than I expected, the terrain was quite broken under the tree canopy and the foliage rather more dense than I'd hoped but before long I was picking up a strong metal trace and turned towards it. Presently I reached a large chunk of scrap metal obviously of human manufacture embedded in the earth, I got out of the buggy to examine it. It was clearly part of a ship but badly scorched and corroded and had clearly been there a while but whether years or decades was impossible to tell, clearly a ship had crashed on the planet, could the signal be survivors? Possibility from the Dynasty mission? I drove on, more wreckage, some of it salvageable was scattered through the Forrest but the strongest signal remained up ahead until, in a small cleaning the sensors picked up an escape pod. My heart leapt, a chance to get some answers as well as save another pilot from a fate we all dreaded, falling ever deeper into a cryo sleep they would never wake from, then a fear rose, how long had the pod been there? If it was from the Dynasty mission it may be too late, in theory a pod could keep someone alive for that long, in practice though? I drove closer with a mix of hope, fear and finally outright horror.
The pod lay half buried in the ground, huge dents and rents in it's casing where it had been repeatedly battered by some large rock, a likely candidate lay nearby, until the metal had split and the pilot dragged helpless through the rent to be devoured by some native predator, a theory seemingly confirmed by torn patches of Remlock suit and what looked like a gnawed human thigh bone a short distance away. The only mercy was that the stasis drugs would have rendered the unlucky spacer oblivious to their fate. Where though was the predator? In fact where was any animal life? I had seen neither sight nor sound during my drive and save a handful of birds nothing at all since our arrival.
I dug the best grave I could manage for the unknown pilot and got myself back to the ship to find Claude hunched over his console.
"Atmos and bio scans are fine, the Doc's just sorting out some inoculations and we can get rid of the suits." he announced.
"How's the water?" I asked.
"Bit nitrogen rich, no more than half an hours exposure at a time but we can at least go for a swim."
"Good. Will you be joining us?"
"I have work to do."
"We were told to relax." I said gently.
"This is how I relax." The net runner replied.
We spent two very enjoyable days on the beach, swimming, drinking and kicking a ball about. Doctor Firman administered the anti stress meds and I was beginning to consider waiting another day before proceeding with the mission when Claude came looking for me.
"I knew there was something not right about this planet." he said, his face aglow with self satisfaction. "It's been terraformed."