Generation-12
1440 Words
JAS WAITED, SQUATTING on her heels. When the shuttle had landed, she’d heard the ramp descend and two sets of footsteps walk down it, then silence. She racked her brains as to what was going on, but none of it made any sense. Two people weren’t enough for an RA team, and the teams weren’t due out until morning anyway. An RA team also wouldn’t go on a trip without equipment. She wondered if Lingiari had taken the shuttle on a whim and flown down with a friend. But he would never have gotten clearance from the bridge, and even Lingiari wasn’t stupid enough to fly without clearance. He’d be sacked and blacklisted in the industry forever.
Who had the authority to order an unscheduled visit to the planet? Only Loba. But why on Earth would he do it? His was the archetypal hands-off, don’t-bother-me approach.
The circle of light from Jas’s headlamp wobbled on the bare, metallic equipment hold floor as her head shook slightly in perplexity. AX10 remained motionless behind her. With no room to stand up, she crawled toward the door. She swept her headlamp’s rays across the door’s seams. As she expected, there was no way to open it from the inside.
She sat back. She’d come here for a reason. Could she continue as planned, despite the odd circumstances?
“AX10, can you connect to the shuttle’s computer system?”
“Affirmative, C.S.O. Harrington.”
“Tell it to open the hold. You can do that, right?” She didn’t know if the two who had descended the ramp were still around. They’d had enough time to leave the area. If they were still near the shuttle, they might interpret the hold door opening to be a glitch. It was a chance she was prepared to take.
“I can,” said the unit. “Do you want me to do that?”
“Ye—wait.” Jas had worked with defense units long enough to get to know their ways. They were intelligent, but they lacked empathy and theory of mind. It might be necessary for them to kill intelligent, sentient species, and the ability to imagine how another creature was feeling and thinking would make them inefficient. But the units’ mental foibles also meant they struggled to imagine how information available to them might be useful to someone else. Jas had learned that, as a result, they had a kind of fail-safe. They would check an order if they knew something that they suspected might jeopardize the maneuver. “What might I need to know, AX10?”
“We are not traveling in the passenger cabin; therefore, I believe we are hiding. I do not know if the pilot should be aware of our location. If I tell the shuttle’s computer to open the door, it will communicate the action to him.”
“You mean it’ll announce, AX10 is opening the hold door?”
“Affirmative, C.S.O. Harrington.”
Krat. Assuming it was Lingiari who’d flown the shuttle—she didn’t think the main pilot, Grantwise, would agree to such an unorthodox trip—he might still be aboard. She didn’t want to get Lingiari in trouble, but on the other hand, if she couldn’t get out and look around, the safety of the entire crew might be at stake. Also, once Lingiari knew he had a defense unit on board, he might guess she was accompanying it and not come into the hold with weapons blazing.
“Okay, AX10, go for it. Tell the shuttle to open the hold door.”
A moment later, with a clunk and a judder, the door swung up. Gray light filled the hold. An ocean moved outside, waves sweeping the shore. Jas opened her visor to make it easier for Lingiari to recognize her. A tangy odor accompanied the chill breeze from the water. Pale stars winked in the pre-dawn light.
Slow, heavy footsteps came down the ramp. He was taking his time. Jas rolled her eyes. If Lingiari’s hold were filled with murderous aliens, they would have killed him three minutes ago. She would have to upgrade the crew’s combat training. A man’s lanky figure came into view, silhouetted against the sky, his hand gripping a small weapon.
“Lingiari,” Jas whispered, just loud enough to be heard above the ocean, “it’s me.”
“Harrington?” The pilot’s broad, honest features became visible and brightened as he stepped closer. “What the hell?”
She climbed out and jumped down from the hold. “Shhh...is anyone else around?”
“No. Loba and the geo-phys woman left ten minutes ago.”
“So it is Loba. And he’s with Margret?”
“No, Pasha, or Sasha. I can’t remember her name.”
“There’s only one woman with geo-phys, and her name’s Margret Stratton.”
“Oh, in that case, yeah, Margret. They’re tagging up over there somewhere.” He waved toward the dunes, a disappointed look on his face.
“Loba and Margret? BF.”
“Yeah, they are. Why else would Loba make me fly them down?”
“Lingiari, were you born on Balgamon? Loba probably hasn’t raised the flag in years. That’s the first thing to go when you’re running the blood.”
The pilot’s eyes widened. “Glad I never tried it.” He looked at her intently. “No myth’s affected my ability. Everything’s working fine down there.”
Jas frowned. Why was he telling her that? He had a weird look on his face.
Lingiari continued, “So Loba let you out your cabin?”
“Not exactly. I snuck out and stowed away so I could check out the planet some more. There’s something not right here. I have to find out what it is.”
Lingiari rubbed his head. “You mean you’re still confined to quarters?”
“Yeah. You won’t say anything, will you?”
The pilot hesitated, then said, “No, ’course not. I won’t dob on you. I’ve always liked you, Harrington.”
There was that weird look again.
“Err...thanks, Lingiari. You said they went over there?”
“Yeah. They didn’t say when they’d be back, but I hope it’s soon. I need to get back to the ship and pick up the RA team. It’ll be daylight in a couple of hours.”
“I’m going to see what I can find. Don’t take off without me, okay? Can you scan the hold for life forms?” The copilot nodded. “Good. Check we’re on board before you take off. I’ll try to get back before Loba and Margret.”
Telling AX10 to follow, Jas set off at a lope toward the dunes. Following the direction Lingiari had indicated, Jas scrambled upward, slipping on the stones and sand. As her head crowned the rise she was greeted by the sight she’d feared. About a kilometer away was one of the hexagonal structures. It was no surprise. They were dotted across all the planet’s landmasses. The ship’s scanners had even detected a few on the ocean floor. She was sure it was in the structures that the danger lay, whatever it was.
Loba and Margret were nowhere to be seen, which meant they must have gone inside. She couldn’t follow them into the building. If Loba saw her, it would all be over.
She debated returning to the shuttle and waiting for Loba and Margret to return, but there was no rush. She would have plenty of time to get back as soon as she spotted them. She decided to observe the landscape while she was here. After pulling down her visor, she activated its zoom and checked her surroundings in detail.
Lingiari was walking up and down the shoreline, his hands in his pockets, kicking the sand. Beyond him, a group of small creatures briefly lifted out of the ocean waves. Nearby, slime molds inched along among the rough dune plants. AX10 was squatting, still and silent, awaiting his next order.
After more than an hour’s observation, Jas concluded there seemed nothing threatening outside the artificial structure. Her bored gaze returned to it. Why had Margret taken Loba there? Had she discovered the threat and wanted to show him personally?
The approaching sun gilded the horizon. Movement at an opening in the building made her freeze. The swiftly rising sun’s beams illuminated two figures emerging. Loba and Margret. They’d done whatever they’d come to do and were returning to the shuttle.
Jas watched them approach. Lingiari’s theory that the two were tagging up was ridiculous. And they certainly didn’t behave like a couple in love, or lust. They were walking a short distance apart and not even looking at each other. They also didn’t appear to be talking.
Something was weird about their gait. It was familiar, but it didn’t look right. For a moment, Jas couldn’t figure out what it was, then it came to her. They were walking like defense units. Their steps were almost mechanical, and they were facing consistently forward with no interest in what was around them. She watched them as they covered nearly the whole distance to the dunes, but their behavior didn’t change.
Frowning, Jas took one last look before slipping back to the shuttle.
Chapter Ten
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- Writer
