Kostya

Yey for Science fiction I say. This is nice and prosaic, but it keeps me entertained I guess.


Everyone in the group was jovial as they made their way to the Terrapod, everyone that is except Saul, who trudged silently behind the small party of scientists with his AP resting against his sullen cheek. The analysts chattered away in technobabble, obviously excited about the possibilities of Xanadu. This was the first life planet that Dove3 had claimed, and one of only two on the charted vector. The science staff had been going crazy over the data since they had anchored in orbit a few weeks ago. Now, finally, after a few tests, a small select group was being sent to survey the surface of the planet. Saul had been sent ostensibly for the purposes of ‘military reconnaissance’, but in reality this was little more than babysitting a gaggle of boffins from the laboratories.

‘Ok people listen up!’ The group leader, Kendra hopped onto the ramp leading into the Terrapod to address the murmuring group. ‘We’ve got a lot to do, so remember your group protocols. I guess, this is pretty important for all of you, I know I’ve waited ever since Dove3 left the Hive to walk on a life planet. If the data we’ve gathered already is accurate, Xanadu has a pretty good chance of being a colonial class planet. Now, I know a lot of you were disappointed when the other named planet on this vector was classed mineral before we even got so much as a probe into the atmosphere, but I hope that we won’t see any of the Omega boys on Xanadu any time soon. Except Saul,’ she laughed. Saul smirked bitterly.

At the back of the crowd, Zach tried to make out what Kendra was saying over the low babbling of the geologist clique in front of him.

‘I’m telling you, they’re not natural, those structures can’t be!’ one of them, a spindly blonde woman hissed. Her opponent, an old withered man chuckled to himself softly.

‘Well, we’ll see, the composition will tell the tale,’ he whispered. Zach strained craned his neck, but could still only hear fragments of Kendra’s address. He caught the gaze of the Omega, whose eyes smouldered with resentment as he draped himself over the guard rail of the onramp, waiting for Kendra to finish speaking. Zach ducked back behind the argumentative geologists to evade his unnerving stare, deciding that Kandra’s speech was probably nothing he hadn’t heard during the countless sermons she delivered in lectures and during training.

In truth, Zach didn’t care about Kendra’s speech, or anything else except getting onto the surface of Xanadu. For seven years he’d been studying, and having been accredited at the top of the cohort in Fauna behaviour, he was eagerly awaiting a chance to see some of the complex life that probes had photographed on the surface.

In truth, everyone in the party, with the exception of Saul felt exactly the same way, and this was why they were making a surface run so early. Only Penelope, Zach’s elder sister, had opposed the fast tracking, expressing her concern about the strangely short lifespan of the initial probes. The entire community had condemned her objections, and shot down her attempts to relay her concerns to Hive control. Kendra especially, had been instrumental in getting the surface run underway so early. She had been bitter after the classification of Antioch, the last life planet as mineral by Hive control before even a preliminary probe shower and had done everything in her power as the liaison with Dove3’s upper echelons to keep them out of the decision making process. Penelope was now a pariah in the labs, and Kendra was a hero amongst the science staff for securing what for many of them was the opportunity of a lifetime. Zach had been caught between his mentor and his sister, and had tried to remain neutral, but when he was named as the Fauna behaviour specialist on the initial surface run he couldn’t turn down the opportunity.

‘All aboard!’ The group of twenty streamed onto the Terrapod in two filed, led by Saul and Kendra, and seated themselves in the passenger bay, eagerly waiting for the Carrier to open its huge bay doors.
‘Seal!’ the pilot crew bellowed. The group all fumbled awkwardly with their Exoshells like wounded crustaceans, except Saul who sedately locked his distinctly armoured shell with tired familiarity. The chatter rose a few octaves as the release pins popped open with a great hydraulic hiss. Saul slumped sullenly in the corner, clutching his jet black AP to his chest, eager to see Xanadu firsthand, but embittered by the knowledge that he was to accompany groups like this for the next six months before being cycled back to the Hive. Seeing a life planet wasn’t anything novel for Saul, and the exuberance of the greenhorn scientists irritated him. For Saul, entry wasn’t a time for jubilation, it was a time to prepare for combat, and as the great bay doors creaked open painstakingly, Saul felt his body tense instinctually as it had done so many times before to the same sound. His grip around the AP tightened, but even with it, he was aware of how vulnerable he was, Dove3’s surface run was severely under equipped in Saul’s opinion, a Carrier and a single Terrapod, neither of which had anything above the bare minimum of weaponry. The science community, through Kendra’s Machiavellian liaison tactics had a stranglehold on the Assembly, and had tried to ensure that the Omega Legion garrisoned on board had no involvement in the mission. At the last minute, a protest by the Military Congress had obtained a token involvement: Saul. A single, ranking officer was assigned to the expedition which was otherwise to be manned entirely by the science staff. Saul frowned to himself involuntarily, it was a sign of the times, the scientists had gained control of the Assembly and now a single Omega officer was apparently sufficient military involvement on initial surface contact. It seemed that the Assembly worried more about ‘scientific accuracy’ ‘uninhibited research’ than security on this vector.

As the doors wheezed open, Zach’s breath caught in his throat in anticipation as the alien vista was slowly unveiled. It was beautiful, to the right kind of eyes, and the intercom registered a symphony of gasps and gentle cooing as the entire group leaned forward to stare through the front screen of the Terrapod. With a jerk, the Terrapod started forward, slowly making its way down the Carrier ramp onto the surface itself. Various scientists began to crowd about the small portholes on the sides and rear of the Terrapod, gawking and crying out at each and every feature they saw.

The landing zone was an expansive field, bordering one edge was a series of strange rocky formations that looked from a distance like cathedrals. Opposite this were several pools of liquid, which probes had identified as water. Behind the Carrier, from which they had just emerged was the beginning of a steamy forest of bizarre plant life which encircled the entire area. The field itself was carpeted with thick shaggy grass like vegetation which seemed to have established a monoculture, except at the edge of the lake where several colourful flora formations hugged the shoreline.

Zach was glued to the viewing window, fascinated by the creatures he could see teeming in the plants around the lake. The Terrapod was lurching awkwardly, and he couldn’t really make out any details, and they were moving away from the lake to the centre of the field so they grew more and more distant. He was desperate to disembark and inspect the specimens, but the Terrapod continued to move away. He had already engaged his intercom filter to restrict his incoming signals to the Lake team.

‘That lake is a goldmine!’ Roth blurted ecstatically. Zach was about to agree, when Kendra’s voice cut in, her primary override eclipsing all other signals so she could be heard clearly.

‘OK we’re at the disembarkation point, keep to your teams, nobody goes anywhere alone. Lake team, Officer Saul is with you, take care of him OK?’

‘I don’t need taking care of Ma’am,’ the rough voice interceded, making use of the only other primary override signal, the tone saying much more than Saul actually did. Zach pursed his lips with irritation, the last thing he needed was some grunt hanging around his team, but before he could protest the Terrapod jolted to a halt.

‘Alright everyone, before we disembark, remember safety protocol. Stay within sight of the Pod at all times. I can’t stress this enough people, only use the emergency frequency in an actual emergency OK!’ She strode to the rear of the Terrapod, and began to sermonize to the occupants again. ‘Alright, everyone, you’ve been issued with a E-pulse, do not use it unless you are threatened directly by a life form, and people, if anyone fires a pulse, you are to return to the Pod immediately! Are we clear? Alright then, let’s hit the surface!’ Even Kendra’s usually cool demeanour broke into excitement as the rear door of the Terrapod dropped with a thud. As they group trampled out into the field, even with the intercom filter, Zach could hear the muffled whooping of delight issuing from this colleagues as they jostled past him. They assembled in the field in a tight knot, and Zach and his small team immediately activated their Critter droid, which detached itself from the Terrapod hull and trailed behind them as they raced over the blue grey grass. The Critter’s eight legs pumped silently as it caught up with them effortlessly, moving with programmed precision a few feet behind, laden with sample containers.

Zach’s team was small, it was only him and two others. Roth was an excitable and overzealous botanist, who babbled incoherently about the grassy carpet underfoot as they rushed to the lakeside. The other member of the team was Duke, who specialized in Ecodynamics, a quiet and reserved man in normal circumstances, even he was exploding with excitement as they reached the lakeside. Moving silently alongside them was the Omega soldier Saul, whose presence both unnerved and irritated Zach, but he was pleased that the Omega seemed happy to remain uninvolved.

Saul was happy to remain uninvolved. Already he was dreading a six month stint of this insanity, the scientists bawled to each other over the intercom in staccato technobabble that irked him greatly. He watched with disdain as Roth fondled the pathetically weak E-pulse in his hands and told everyone to be careful.

Zach and Duke crouched near the edge of the lake, already enthralled by the acrobatic feeding of the first specimen they had found. Clinging upside down to a long, single stalk was a well camouflaged arthropod. It was the size of a child’s hand and had six spindly legs, four of which were latched to the plant stalk, two of which were poised motionless in front of its head. Dangling, only a few inches away at the end of the stalk was a colourful bulb which was swarming with hundreds of tiny insect like life forms. The predator, or as Zach had begun to call it the ‘Spindle’, took no notice of the creatures on the bulb itself, which seemed to be engaged in mining a gelatinous secretion from its tip, which they were transporting down the stalk into the undergrowth somewhere, it simply remained motionless on the stalk, mimicking the strange protuberances the sprung out from it lower down. Suddenly, with lightening speed, the Spindle’s rear legs pumped into motion and sent it hurtling past the bulb, where, in mid air its forelimbs caught hold plump, red winged creature the size of a thumb, which swooped in from the lake to prey on the Harvesters, which was the name Zach had already given to the small insects on the bulb. The Spindle dropped into the lake with a plop, and underwater, Zach watched as it stuffed the entire creature into its gaping maw with its forelimbs as it swam away. The red winged ‘Predafly’, as Duke called it, seemed to be very common, hovering above the lake, buzzing around the many bulbs dangling at the edge to snatch Harvesters for food.

Roth meanwhile was analyzing the grayish-blue grass underfoot. ‘Duke, take a look at this,’ he muttered as knelt beside them. In Roth’s hand was a stalk of what he called ‘Calcigrass’, he tore open one of the dozens of small grain-like growths which clustered around the tip, inside was a shiny white rock the size of a grain of rice.

‘I think it’s a seed Duke, seems like this whole field is one big deposit of calcium rich compounds, I think that’s why this guy has taken over.’ Roth was breathless with excitement over the find. Roth took a small vial of water from the Critter droid and dropped the ‘seed’ into it, it began to bubble slowly. Roth seemed delighted. ‘Look Duke! It’s water soluble, don’t you see, the calcium protects it when it’s released, and then when it rains it can germinate!’ Duke nodded in agreement.

‘This species is probably the edifice of the entire micro-system Roth, the only places it hasn’t taken hold are this lake and those strange hills over there, he pointed to the cathedral rocks. In the distance, Zach could see the geologists in heated discussion at the foot of the nearest rock formation, no doubt still in disagreement as to the origin of the formations. ‘Hey Roth, take a look at this vegetation around the lake, what do you make of this stuff.’ Duke pointed with his gloved pinky at a globule of the amber secretion which oozed from the bulb. ‘I’m pretty sure these Harvesters are nesting in the base here,’ Duke knelt beside the stalk and gestured towards a huge network of tubers which actually connected many of the stalks nearby. Duke pointed closer to a small opening at the base of each stalk where the Harvester’s seemed to emerge. ‘I’ll wager that these little guys keep away any troublesome predators somehow.’ Duke grabbed a few small instruments from the Critter, and returned to what Roth had named in the interval a Bulba plant. Zach was hoping to see another Spindle or even higher order predator in the lake system, but before he could search around the perimeter, Duke called him over.

‘Now when I tell you,’ he said, arranging a variety of readers around the bulb, ‘I want you to physically distress the bulb with this.’ Duke handed him a plastic wand.

‘OK.’ Zach felt a little silly poised with the wand over the swarms of Harvesters, and he heard a quiet snicker over the intercom which could only have come from the Omega officer, who was watching them bemusedly.

‘Now Zach,’ Duke instructed as he thrust his reading devices closer to the bulb. Zach gave the bulb a sharp poke with the wand, and its soft flesh bobbed on the end of the stalk violently. Several Harvesters were taken unawares and plummeted from the Bulba plant into the shallow water below where they were picked off by Predaflies and small amphibians. On the bulb itself, a bizarre show began. As the distressed Harvesters scurried about, their small, ebony abdomens began to turn an ugly shade of red. Each red Harvester scurried about madly, spreading the distress down the stalk in a matter of seconds, and suddenly the entire stalk was packed with red Harvesters which milled about menacingly.

‘They’re secreting some kind of aromatic chemical compound, looks like an irritant,’ Duke exclaimed, holding the instruments to his face. Zach watched with amazement as the Harvesters slowly faded back to familiar black, and swarmed over the small tear his wand had inflicted on the bulb, spiriting away the oozing goop which emerged. Roth took the wand from him and scraped the secretion into a sample tube for later analysis.

‘OK, let’s see what happens when…’ Duke went silent. He was staring over Zach’s shoulder. Zach whipped around to see what had silenced him.

‘Oh God…’ Roth’s voice sounded like it was underwater over the intercom. The distinctive tones of the emergency signal burst to life.

Saul’s hardened voice boomed over the intercom with violent authority, ‘Everyone back on the Carrier!’ Across the other side of the field, Zach watched in horror as innumerable waves of bizarre creatures emerged from the honeycomb openings in the stony ridge. The geologists were running clumsily towards the Terrapod, and Zach could hear their terrified gasps over the emergency signal. Zach was rooted to the spot, unable to move, until Saul’s armoured gauntlet took a firm grasp onto the collar rim of his Exoshell and violently jerked him in the direction of the Carrier ship.

‘Move!’ He bellowed. The intercom exploded with terrified screaming as the various teams suddenly noticed the oncoming horde. They turned and fled, leaving behind everything except their Critter droids which continued to trail behind them as they’d been programmed to do. ‘Get direct to the Carrier kid!’ Saul pointed for effect as he ran perpendicular to them, towards the swarm. Zach began to shuffle towards the Carrier, infuriated by the burden of the Exoshell. Duke fell back immediately, too old to keep pace, but Roth had streaked well ahead of both of them, ignoring Saul’s order and following protocol he headed for the Terrapod. Above the panic of the group, Zach heard the horrible sounds of the geologists as the horde overtook them, though he didn’t dare look up to see, the primal terror of their strangled shrieking was too much to bear.

Saul requisitioned the lake team’s Critter droid with his Combat Interface, or CI for short, as he headed towards the Terrapod. He primed the firing mechanism on his AP when he heard the tell-tale death cries of the geologist team, a sound which had punctuated his career. The entire group was being overwhelmed rapidly, he noticed the Preds were already circling behind the other two science teams as they struggled back towards the Terrapod. He engaged his combat interface, CI for short, and overrode the remaining Critters’ programming. The droids scampered back towards the horde on four legs, the other four bristling aggressively around their carapaces ready to skewer any hostiles. It was a stall tactic, Saul could already see a Leviathan form crashing over the stony ridge, the Terrapod was lost.

‘Get direct to the Carrier!’ he ordered again over the intercom, but the scientists didn’t even respond, the cacophony of terror simply rose up a notch. The Critter droids crashed into the oncoming tide, their slender limbs striking out in staccato stabbing motions, dropping the leading creatures. The sheer body mass of the horde overwhelmed them in a matter of seconds, and their signals died away on Saul’s CI as they were enveloped by a melee of Predforms. The Terrapod rumbled to life, and began to speed away from the fleeing scientists, towards the Carrier as the crew panicked.

‘You sons of bitches!’ Saul screamed over the intercom, ‘Halt goddamn you, stop that vehicle!’ If the Terrapod crew heard him, they made no response, and continued to tear across the plain towards him. Saul checked his ammunition readings, a full clip of heavy rounds and a single incendiary charge was all he was carrying. Saul reevaluated the situation, the Predforms were about to overtake the scientist teams, and the Leviathan was bearing down on the Terrapod. Time for a tactical retreat. Saul’s CI had already primed his Exoshell’s propulsion jets, and he jammed his thumb on the accelerator control on his AP and sped across the field towards where Zach and Duke were struggling in their outdated Exoshells towards the Carrier bay.

‘Carrier do you read?’ Saul barked as he sailed a few feet above the ground across the gap, easing off the propulsion as he approached Duke.

‘Centurion Saul? What’s going on down there?’

‘We’ve got overwhelming hostile lifeforms down here, prepare to take off now!’

Roth was crying with thanks as the Terrapod approached him, thinking they heading over to rescue him, but his celebration was cut short as the hulking Leviathan form smashed the Terrapod with a well aimed stamping motion, Saul had already mentally ruled rescuing Roth out as a possibility. He reached down with a steady, powerful arm as he bore down on Duke, and prepared to catch hold of his Exoshell. Duke however, had other ideas, and as Saul reached down, he dropped to the ground with an impotent squeal, thinking the Predforms were upon him. Saul swore as his inertia carried him well past Duke, there was no going back, and Duke remained curled on the ground, whimpering in panic, he was beyond help anyhow. Squeezing his accelerator again, Saul issued a firm warning to Zach as he approached.

‘Hold still kid!’

Zach peered over his shoulder, his terrified eyes flashing through his faceplate. Saul descended upon him like a militant seraph and scooped him up effortlessly, the Exoshell’s hydraulics taking over the right arm to firmly clamp down on the passenger. Having secured his cargo, Saul hit the accelerator again and jammed his finger down on the trigger violently. Droplets of fiery metal issued forth from his AP with a deafening thunder, tearing holes in the carpet of Predforms converging on the Carrier. The screeching creatures scattered before his barrage, leaving behind a gaps littered with mutilated carcasses. The Leviathan rounded on Saul and Zach, and steadied itself to take a swipe at the tiny gadfly buzzing towards it. Saul veered left, dodging the blow easily, and then whipped back around and launched his incendiary charge at its torso. The charge was exploded onto the Leviathan’s frame, sending a billowing shockwave past Saul and Zach as they zoomed into the Carrier dorrs.

‘Seal the bay! Seal the bay!’ Saul’s voice took command of the ship in an instant.

‘Yes Sir!’ The obsequious reply crackled over the intercom from the pilot crew. The doors began to slide shut rapidly, and Saul sprayed the Predforms through the closing gap, noting with relief that the Leviathan had panicked and fled back towards the ridge. The crowding Predforms were cut down by the streaming fire from Saul’s AP, until finally the last few rounds clanged into the doors as they clamped shut with a resounding metallic clank. As the Carrier’s emergency takeoff engines burst to life, incinerating everything in a hundred metre radius around it, the silence of the bay was broken by a final crash as Saul let Zach drop six feet to the bay floor with a sigh of relief.

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I like it, for your title I'd suggest "Field of Broken Dreams"