Earth Star

36

‘I can’t believe you’re letting us do this, Jarra,’ said Krath.

‘I certainly can’t believe she’s letting you do this, Krath,’ said Playdon.

I laughed. ‘Who else would I choose? You’re my team and I know I can totally depend on all of you.’

We were alone here. Six people, four sleds, and at least a dozen hovering vid bees. I’d ordered everyone else to portal back to Eden Dig Site, or at least pull back to where the four freight portals circled the dome housing Earth Rolling News. My impression was no one had actually left, and they were all gathered by the freight portals watching Earth Rolling News on their lookups. Staying there was pointless, but I couldn’t blame them for refusing to portal out to tamely watch things from Eden Dig Site.

I gave a last look around. Dalmora’s sensor sled was well clear of the rest of us. Krath and Amalie’s heavy lift sleds were below the landslide and slightly to the right of it. Fian’s tag support sled was a little higher up at the side of the mass of fallen earth and rocks. Over on the access road, a small portal was locked open in case we had to evacuate fast.

‘I think that’s the best we can do,’ I said. ‘If I get in trouble, then Fian pulls me directly towards him. Krath and Amalie, you’ll be moving rocks down to below the landslide. You’re working much closer together than usual, so be very careful the beams don’t intersect. Dalmora and Lecturer Playdon are watching sensors as usual. I’ll need to be warned of any changes other than simple rock and earth movements, whether they seem dangerous or not.’

I switched my comms to speak on broadcast channel. ‘This is Major Tell Morrath. There’ll be a lot of experts watching the vid coverage of us working, so I’d like to point out I’ll be deliberately breaking all the usual rules. Normally, I’d be aiming to keep a dig site nice and level to avoid causing any landslides. Today, I want to make the rocks and earth blocking the tunnel entrance fall towards us so we can keep the heavy lift beams as far away as possible from any alien technology.’

‘This is Captain Eklund. I can see this is going to be a really interesting excavation for your long suffering tag support.’

‘This is Major Tell Morrath. Don’t worry, Fian. I’m going to deliberately cause rock slides, but I’ll do my best not to be hit by them.’

I set my comms back to speak on team circuit. ‘We’d better make a start.’

I moved forward and started tagging rocks, tensely listening for any warnings from Dalmora or Playdon. I was using a hover belt. I was firing a tag gun. We were using sensors. Although none of these seemed as likely as lift beams to interact dangerously with alien technology, it was still a minor risk.

I was also terribly aware I was wearing an impact suit. Strong magnetic fields could affect my suit. It was possible some unknown alien technology, beyond our sensors’ ability to detect, could affect it too. There was a horrible crawling sensation as my skin remembered what happened back on Eden Dig Site, and tried to find somewhere to hide from the impact suit fabric in case it suddenly turned into razors.

I tagged the first batch of rocks without any problem, and went across to Fian’s tag support sled. ‘Amalie, try moving the rock nearest to you. If anything odd happens, anything at all, cut power instantly and we all run like chaos for the portal.’

We all watched, holding our breath, as she locked her beam on to the rock and moved it. Nothing disastrous happened.

‘Try a couple more,’ I said, ‘and then Krath can start shifting rocks too.’

‘How can you be so calm, Jarra?’ asked Krath.

‘Calm?’ I gave a nardle giggle. ‘I’m not calm. I’m scared stiff.’

That wasn’t entirely true. I’d got whole waves of emotions churning around inside me, and there was plenty of fear in the mix, but there was tension, disbelief, and a mad sense of exhilaration as well. The overriding effect was more like being powered than anything else. Mason Leveque might be able to stay relaxed and calm even at a time like this, but I couldn’t. I had to compensate by deliberately double and triple checking every decision and move I made.

Amalie and Krath had shifted the tagged rocks now. I floated forward again, carefully tagging the next set, calculating how to create an unstable situation in the mass of debris littering the steep slope ahead of me. I wanted to create a landslip, but I mustn’t overdo it or I could bring down the whole hillside.

I gave a last look, and backed off to the tag support sled again. ‘Amalie, Krath, go ahead.’

I watched as the next rocks were lifted away, one by one, and nodded. This was working. I’d carefully left one large boulder untagged, and it was now the one thing holding up a whole bank of earth and rocks. When that was removed …

‘I hope you aren’t going in close to tag that, Jarra,’ said Fian.

‘I’m planning to distance shoot it,’ I said, ‘but you may still have to yank me out of trouble if that lot moves before we’re ready.’

I raised my tag gun, took careful aim, held my breath and fired. Tag guns aren’t the most accurate things in the world, and I didn’t want to have to take a dozen shots and look an idiot in front of the vid bees that hovered around the sleds. Fortunately, the boulder was so large it was hard to miss.

I retreated to safety again. ‘Amalie, shift the boulder.’

Her lift beam moved out, locked on to the tag, changed from white to red as the power increased, and the boulder soared upwards into the air. Below it, earth and rocks cascaded downwards, and I was startled to hear applause on the broadcast channel.

‘This is Site Leader Pereth. Beautifully judged avalanche there, Major.’

I felt the heat of embarrassed pleasure at such praise from a true expert, and swapped temporarily to broadcast channel to reply. ‘This is Major Tell Morrath. Thank you. I think we’ll need at least two more like that, so let’s hope they go just as well.’

I let the heavy lifts do a cautious drag net next, to remove the worst of the loose earth and pebbles, then tagged the bigger stones for removal. That went smoothly, and so did the second avalanche. It was on the third and final one, that I misjudged the stability of a key boulder. It gave way early under the strain, and Fian pulled me out just in time to save me from the torrent of debris. As I dangled in midair, being smoothly swung back towards the tag support sled, I had a perfect view of the hillside. I felt a stab of excitement as I saw a dark opening.

I spoke on broadcast channel. ‘That’s cleared part of the tunnel entrance. There’s still a mess of loose rocks below it, but I’d rather not risk using lift beams closer to the tunnel. We can climb over the rubble and get inside.’

I glanced around for a moment. ‘It’s getting dark, but that won’t make any difference when we’re inside the tunnel. Turn the floodlights on now, please, Dalmora. Captain Eklund and I will get our equipment set up, and then the rest of my team had better pull back to join the crowd by the Earth Rolling News dome.’

‘Can’t we stay?’ asked Krath, on team circuit.

‘Sorry, but no,’ I replied. ‘There’s no point in risking more than the two of us. If we do something wrong, or even if we do something right, we’ve no idea what may happen.’

He gave a heavy sigh, but shut up. Playdon came over and helped Fian and I with the extra equipment. We’d decided to take the minor risk of wearing impact suits and hover belts as we entered the tunnel, though we’d keep the hover belts turned off unless we needed them. Logic said the protection of the impact suits outweighed the danger of them being affected by alien technology. My skin wasn’t entirely convinced by logic, and was busily screaming away, but I promised it I’d be out of my suit in record time if there was the slightest sign of a problem.

As well as impact suits and hover belts, we needed lights of course. We attached those to our suits, together with special small sensors, and relays for the vid bees. I’d grudgingly agreed to take two of the nosy little vid bees with us, not for the benefit of the Earth Rolling News audience, but so the Military could see exactly what was happening and advise us. Dalmora and her father, Ventrak Rostha, would be controlling the vid bees remotely via the relays.

Finally, Fian and I picked up two flexiplas cases. Inside were some special gadgets, which were designed to induce electrical currents. If I’d been right about an alien device being temporarily powered up by the solar super storm, this equipment should reproduce the effect. I was having last-minute doubts about that part of my idea, but in a sense it didn’t matter. We’d found something here. It might not be exactly what I’d predicted, but there was something, and that was a merciful relief.

We were ready. Dalmora, Amalie, Krath, and a very reluctant Playdon, left through the portal. Fian and I were left alone in a dark landscape, looking at a hillside where a jumble of rocks and earth were harshly lit by the glaring floodlights. I opened a private circuit to Fian.

‘Last chance to change your mind about coming.’

He laughed and shook his head, so I started climbing up the hill towards the tunnel. The slope was steep enough to make me use both hands and feet, but I made it, stopped at the entrance to look around, and found Fian already beside me. I opened Military command channel.

‘Sensors still clear?’

‘We’re not detecting any active technology, just an abnormally high metal content in the rocks,’ replied Commander Leveque, who was co-ordinating advice and instructions.

I slowly entered the tunnel. The lights on my suit illuminated rock walls on both sides, and I paused to examine a white strip running at head height. ‘What’s that?’

‘It appears to be some sort of crystal,’ said Leveque.

I reached out a finger to touch it, and instantly snatched my hand back. ‘It feels cold! How can something feel cold through an impact suit?’

‘It must be a highly effective conductor of heat,’ said Leveque, ‘though it seems unlikely that’s its primary purpose.’

I made a mental note not to casually prod anything else, and moved on a few steps to where something utterly black blocked my way. ‘That’s not a stasis field is it? It’s black enough, but it doesn’t have the fuzzy effect.’

‘It seems to be a door,’ said Leveque. ‘Sensors indicate it’s a form of glass, with highly unusual properties.’

‘It doesn’t look like glass. What sort of properties?’

‘Unclear. The sensor reports of its physical characteristics are impossible. That may be a failing of either our sensors or our current knowledge. In any case, our optimal course of action is to open the door, rather than break it down or bypass it. There’s a separate area to the right which is probably a control panel.’

‘That’s completely black as well,’ said Fian. ‘Shall I try one of our gadgets?’

Leveque didn’t say anything. If he knew any reason why we shouldn’t, then he’d tell us. I was Field Commander, so the decision was mine.

‘Try it,’ I said.

Fian opened his case, and took out a weird, pyramid-shaped object. He put it on the floor next to the black door. ‘Better back off.’

I wanted to stay, but dutifully did as I was told. If he got in trouble then it was better if I didn’t and was in a position to help. I watched nervously as he twiddled the top of his little pyramid. An area of the black door suddenly glowed in a complex pattern of scrolling symbols and colours, Fian scampered to join me, and we stood there, tensely watching. After two minutes had passed, with no apparent threat, I allowed one of the vid bees in to take a closer look. It was a further minute before Leveque spoke on the Military command channel.

‘Threat team predicted several possible scenarios on entering the tunnel, and this appears to match our highest probability case. Extremely gratifying, since it indicates our improved understanding of the alien methodology. Our society’s level of development is being tested before we’re allowed entry. The displayed pattern is repeating in three phases. The red phase seems to be teaching us their numeric symbols.’

I studied the red phase and could see what he meant. Each symbol had a set of dots next to it, and they made sense up until …

‘They’re working in base eight then,’ said Fian.

That explained what had been worrying me. I was no mathematician, but I vaguely understood the idea of working in base eight. ‘That could mean they had eight fingers instead of ten, or just that they chose not to include thumbs when counting.’

‘Agreed,’ said Leveque. ‘The green phase is showing us a sequence of the first eight prime numbers. Our theory is we’re supposed to continue the sequence in the blue phase, presumably by touching the correct combinations of symbols.’

I was an obsessive historian who’d quit studying maths and science as soon as she could. Fian might be a disappointment to his high achieving family, but he still understood this much better than I did.

‘Captain Eklund had better enter our answers,’ I said.

I stood watching while Fian conferred with Leveque and then stepped up to the panel. He waited for the blue phase to appear and tapped some symbols. The pattern stopped scrolling upwards, and flashed for a moment.

‘First answer accepted,’ said Leveque’s voice.

The flashing stopped and Fian entered the next set of symbols, which was again accepted. After the fifth answer, I started to wonder how long this would take. Fian entered another three answers before the panel suddenly went dark and the door swung open. The aliens worked in base eight, and wanted eight correct answers. Well, that made sense.

I stepped up to the door, and my light showed the tunnel continuing ahead with the same curious horizontal white crystal line. ‘I see another door ahead.’

I walked on down the tunnel, with Fian beside me. We’d taken six or seven steps, when I heard a sound overhead and instinctively looked up. I saw the darkness of the ceiling move, a shaft of light where there shouldn’t be one, and then rocks crashed down on me. My impact suit triggered hard in response, freezing me like a fly trapped in amber, and sending me into the darkness of impact suit blackout.