an unfinished scifi short story

“This is CTN patrol cruiser Ten Thousand Miles to unknown ship. Please identify yourself and transmit I.D.”

“This is ship Nimbus. Transmitting I.D. now.”

“What is your purpose in visiting this system?”

“Government business. Classified. Should I provide an e.x. code?”

“Yes.”

A pause.

“Code received. Please hold while we check the code.”

“Nimbus, you are cleared directly to the surface. There is no need for you to go through customs.”

Erick Reus inwardly smiled: I love my job; customs is two hours better spent doing something else.

Reus brought his ship carefully into high orbit of Axima and searched on one of his pulldown display panels for the frequency of the control tower in Foothold. After a moment, he found the channel he was looking for and selected it from the list. There were only five fairly small spaceports on the surface of Axima; Foothold was one of them; most ships, it seemed, docked, loaded, and unloaded at the numerous space elevator platforms above the planet.

“Foothold control, request permission to land.”

“Ship Nimbus, bay seventeen has been reserved for you in advance. Please switch to autopilot now.”

Reus complied, and then sat back to get a good look at Axima from the air. Few clouds obscured his view as he descended. Reus saw the clear, calm, blue-green ocean, which covered most of Axima stretch across his viewport; its surface was broken only by the small number of coral reefs which had grown above the waterline. Foothold was built on one of these shoals. This would be a good planet to take a vacation on if ever he had the opportunity and the money.

Reus felt his ship jolt as it entered the atmosphere. His heat shielding glowed red then white and he heard the rumble of the air around him mixed with the equally loud rumble of his chemical thrusters slowing his descent. Reus saw the ground approaching rapidly. He found this somewhat disconcerting despite the fact that his ship was gradually slowing down. The shoal and spaceport continued to get larger on his viewport. Eventually, he got close enough to see his own landing pad clearly. It was a simple thing, just a square metal scaffold with an ablative ceramic sheet on the top; the number seventeen painted in red. The spaceport itself was built on thick, cylindrical concrete columns that held it a fair distance above ground. This was presumably to protect against flooding and freakishly large waves. Nimbus coasted over the pad and stayed airborne for a few seconds before slowly descending. The automatic firefighting nozzles sprayed his ship and the pad. The hiss of boiling water was audible even through the hull of the ship, and his Reus’ viewport was obscured by the massive amounts of steam.

Reus unbuckled his crash webbing and stood up. Having an ‘up’ to stand every now and then was a welcome change to freefall. He then walked to the back of the ship and opened the airlock. Not bothering to extend the ramp, Reus used the emergency ladder and climbed to the ground instead. He landed with a thud.

Ow. I think I’ll use the ramp next time.

As he walked to the central area of the foothold spaceport to meet his TIS contact person, he reviewed what he knew so far about his assignment. Very little, as it were–surprisingly little, generally, his superiors informed him better before a mission. This time however, he was told only that he was exploring what was presumably an alien structure built inside one of the reefs and that his contact person would tell him the rest of the needed information. This suggested that he was involved in something fairly important. His contact was a female dolphin moreau, called Lis (no last name was given), who he would also be working with in his exploration of the structure. His briefing said that she would be waiting for him in the central area of the Foothold spaceport and that both of them were given a picture of the other. Reus doubted that it would be hard to recognize her, even on a planet with a population made up mostly of aquatic moreaus and other creatures of the CTN that were well adapted to an aquatic environment. Lis was unusual in appearance for a dolphin moreau in that she had mostly white skin with a few extremely light grey patches, and surprisingly human-looking teal eyes that seemed to match the ocean. Besides this, she was fairly similar to other (freshwater) dolphin moreaus. She stood six and a quarter feet tall and weighed about two hundred and ten pounds, this was about average for most dolphin moreaus with her derivative species. Lis was in her early to mid twenties; Reus didn’t remember exactly how old she was. Regardless of specifics, however, she was quite young given her rank in the TIS.

When he reached the main section of the spaceport, Reus took in his surroundings. The central area was fairly small with a few place to eat, and a handful of small shops selling utterly useless souvenirs. Reus tried to wander around to try and find Lis while pretending to browse at shops. Fortunately, the spaceport was busy enough to ensure he wasn’t the focus of any real attention but it still wasn’t crowded by any stretch of the imagination. It did not take Reus a long time or much effort to find Lis, who was sleeping sitting up on one of the benches with a book over her eyes. This looked quite comical with the better part of her jaw sticking out. Reus pretended to browse some more and then sat down next to Lis. He gently tapped her shoulder; her head turned slightly and she opened her eyes, and then blinked a few times.

What if I woke the wrong person?

Who the hell are you and why did you wake me? Oh, wait, you. You’re late

After a short pause; “Hello. You are exactly,” there was a pause as Lis looked at her watch, “seven hours, twenty-three minute and eighteen seconds late when I finish this sentence.” After a second, “It’s a pity that the TIS doesn’t pay me by the hour.”

“Sorry, I thought I was early for a change.”

You’re this late all the time?

Lis pulled at his arm and regarded his watch. “Actually, you were early. If the universe ran on zone twelve Terran time, that is.” With a sigh, she added, “when traveling, resetting your watch is probably a good idea. It is ten hundred fifty here, and remember to adjust for the twenty-two hour day.”

Reus decided that it might be wise to adjust his watch.

Argh. Why can’t I be early for a change?

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m always late like this.”

What were you supposed to say after being seven hours late anyway?

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Sorry again.”

Go to hell. Oh, wait, you’d be late going to hell too.

“Shut up and walk, you’re late enough without you standing around like an idiot.”

Lis stood up and stepped down with one motion and started walking towards the exit of the spaceport. Reus almost had to jog to keep up with her pace. Once outside, they found themselves in the landing area for aircraft, docks for personal watercraft, seaplanes and airport water-shuttles were visible in the distance. Lis stopped her walk in front of one of the many helicopters in the landing area. Hers stood out; it was an old one-pilot, fenstron-tail A/D ship from before the Mask war. He didn’t recognize its nationality and the symbol of the unit and nation it had at one point served were covered by paint. It still kept the jagged grey urban camouflage scheme that it had presumably been painted with when it was first built. It also kept all the features that would define it as a gunship, the turret and fully loaded missile racks being the foremost of those. Lis unlocked the gunship and slid open the canopy. Then she pulled herself up and into the helicopter with a sudden motion.

“You. Troop bay.” Lis said looking at him from her somewhat higher vantage point.

Thankfully he listens.

The doors to the troop bay slid open and Reus climbed in. The troop bay was small, as was to be expected from that of a hybrid attack helicopter/dropship; it also lacked windows, or even door guns. It was painted in what Reus thought was an ugly tan and lit by too-bright fluorescent light tubes. Its six plastic seats were small and uncomfortable.

Ooohh, fun. An hour sitting in these.

“We’re heading straight to the site; it’s a one hour flight. Get ready now,” came Lis’ voice from the cockpit.

Reus sat reluctantly and began to search through the duffel that contained all the things he would be using this assignment. He pulled out his matte black infiltrator’s armor, his ten millimeter MHI submachine, a fairly small silenced pistol and a fourteen-inch mono-edged long-knife. His preparations were interrupted by the helicopter’s engines roaring to life.

I know it’s unreasonable to expect that anyone could afford a helicopter with a fusion-electric power plant, but it’s so much nicer.

When he had gotten used to the noise, he resumed getting his things out of the duffel.

Lis single mindedly watched her instruments as she flew; there was no need to look for hazards–there weren’t any; not even a bird. Birds in fact, were an alien concept to her; she had never seen a bird in her life (though there were probably birds around the Terran biological research center where she was born, she had no way of remembering that). Besides she was in no mood to look at the “scenery” at the moment. She could see the exact same thing any other day she flew anywhere else on the planet, there was no reason to look now. She was so moody in fact; that she momentarily considered firing a few autocannon rounds at one of the shoals. Thinking better of herself, she checked the violent impulse and instead hit the helicopter’s armored canopy as hard as she possibly could. This accomplished absolutely nothing; except to hurt the heel of her hand. It didn’t even make much noise or rattle the canopy.

What could possibly have made me deserve to work with this moron? What kind of bad karma do you need to be left waiting for someone who is supposed to be professional on a cheap plastic bench for seven hours? Whose dog, errm, fish (She adapted this idiom so it made more sense to her.) did she kick? God’s?

The helicopter stopped somewhat abruptly over a small shoal and gradually began to descend. Landing gear, extended from the inside of the helicopter; instead of wheels; there were three small all terrain skids, better suited for landing on difficult surfaces like dead corral. Gradually, the noise of the engine died and the rotors slowed and came to a complete halt. The left troop bay door slid open. Taking this as a cue to get out, Reus, now fully prepared stood and stepped cautiously onto the uneven surface of the shoal. Lis, who had opened the gunship’s canopy, was looking through the cockpit trying to find something.

There’s hardly any leg room here, how can I possibly lose a backpack?

Shortly she threw a yellow waterproof backpack over her shoulder and swung over the right side of the gunship. As she hung over the edge of the cockpit, she looked down and shifted herself a foot towards the front of the helicopter.

No, that’s sharp, reeeeeal sharp.

She let go and dropped to the ground. After a few minutes, she stepped back out from behind the helicopter in two-tone grey infiltrator’s armor, similar to Reus’. Her khaki cargo pants and white blouse were slung over her shoulder; these she threw into the cockpit. She closed the helicopter’s canopy and sat down next to Reus, who was still standing; though she didn’t make eye contact.

“We,” She said this with an ironic tone of voice, “will have to swim to the site. It’s not far.” A pause, “you brought a breather, right?”

“Umm…” Reus started to look through his armor’s storage pouches. “Dammit. I don’t have it.”

I must’ve left it on the ship. I think I’m having a bad day.

I don’t know whether to laugh at you or cry for you, stupid human.

Lis held her head in her hands and groaned. “It’s fortunate that I’m well prepared for idiots like you,” she said as she pulled out a spare chemical breather from one of her mesh pockets. “Are you always this incompetent?” she asked dryly. “My heads up is on channel E three and my comms are on channel E six. But I’d really prefer not to talk to you.”

As Lis gracefully dove into the water, Reus noticed that she had an Alliance Electric
EW-2a plasma carbine with a mono-edge bayonet strapped to her back. Generally the TIS only issued such expensive equipment to people who could use it properly. This probably meant that Lis was a considerably better shot than him. He was in way over his head. Reus sighed. He didn’t know whose report carried more weight, his or Lis’, but as it was, he had done nothing but make a complete fool out of himself since he had landed. His superiors wouldn’t be too thrilled about his incompetence and the way it reflected on their department either. Reus dove in after Lis, who was already considerably ahead of him and far faster.

I don’t think I want to go back to get debriefed; I’ll be lucky to keep my rank.

As they descended, they passed between two brightly colored coral cliffs. Reus tried to look at the fish and coral without slowing down. Without warning a bright green eel-like fish darted in front of his face and tried to take a bite out of his nose. Rues tried to bat the thing away; but it evaded far more quickly than his open hand could possibly move underwater. Rethinking his tactics, Reus tried to strike it with the side of his hand. This time, he hit the eel and it darted back into the corral. When Reus looked up, he saw Lis calmly treading water forty feet ahead of him.

“That was totally unnecessary; that fish was harmless.”

“How was I to know that a ten foot long eel-thing biting at my face was harmless?”

“Oh, its lack of teeth would probably have clued me in. It’s a filter feeder; it was only trying to scare off something it thought was a predator.”

When Reus had resumed swimming, Lis also began again. After ten more minutes, Lis stopped in front of what appeared to be an armored door; and stood on the sea bottom, waiting for him to catch up. After a few minutes, he reached the door.

“Is there anything I need to know about this structure?” asked Reus.

“Such as?”

“Anything.”

“There isn’t anything to tell. It’s a door.”

“Brilliant. How do we open the door?”

Ha. Ha. You’re funny, dumbass.

Lis answered this question nonverbally and unhooked a demolition charge from her back.

“How about we try to get in quietly first.”

Lis swum a few feet backwards from the door; it seemed she was getting out of the way. Reus swam closer to the door and looked it over. It seemed that the door was just two unmarked metal plates made out of a grayish metal with dark blue flecks in it. Reus tentatively poked the door. Nothing happened. He traced his finger around the edge of the doorframe; still, nothing happened. After taking a moment to prepare himself for how much it ought to hurt, Reus kicked the door as hard as he could; which was not hard at all in the water. Through this, Lis was still standing to the side of the door, impassively watching.

Hmmm. I’d help you if I didn’t have to risk making myself look as dumb as you do now.
Reus started to drag his fingers across the surface of the door looking for catches. Lis began making a combination clicking and whistling sounds to make her impatience to get the door open clearer to Reus who was (thankfully) ignoring her. Hearing that the sound seemed to bounce differently off some parts of the door, she moved slightly more in front of it and continued whistling. Now she was sure that she was right. The more reflective areas of the door were arranged in spiral pattern that was clearly intentional. Grinning slightly to herself, she interrupted Reus’ “study” of the door.

“I think I’ve figured something out.”

“You’re welcome to try if you like,” Reus said sarcastically as he swam away from the door.

I’ll be glad to laugh at you for a change.

Lis unhooked the demolition charge again.

“Nope, just kidding,” she said with a half-smile. “I actually have figured something out.”

Lis began making a rapid series of clicks while drawing her finger around the reflective spiral. When finished, she stood to the side of the door and drew an underwater pistol from a shoulder holster. The spiral glowed blue and the two halves of the door slid into the wall. Beyond these doors, there was a second set ten feet further back; suggesting that this was an airlock. Reus grimaced.

Lis stepped into the airlock and indicted that Reus should do the same. Standing in front of the second door, Lis began to whistle and traced the pattern on the door. The outside door closed and made a click as it locked into place. The water in the airlock drained out; when this had finished, the second door hissed open. Lis pointed her pistol down the corridor and whistled again; hearing nothing the relaxed slightly and flicked the safety of her pistol back on.

Lis took a moment to observe her surroundings. She was in a corridor made of the same material as the door, and lit in a watery blue cast by tiny glowing dots arranged in a wave motif on the walls. The ceiling looked to be about ten feet tall and the walls were tapered, giving the impression that the ceiling was even higher. The passage made a hard right turn thirty feet ahead, and she could see no further. Lis bent over and pulled a chemical analyzer from a mesh pocket at her ankle. A display of the chemical composition of the air around her scrolled by on her heads-up display contacts; every now and then, she stopped to look up a chemical that she wasn’t familiar with. Once she was satisfied that the air was safe, the returned the chemical analyzer to it’s home and pulled her chemical breather off her blowhole and cautiously took a shallow breath. Reus hesitated for a moment and pulled his mask off as well. He offered it to Lis.

“It is of no use to me, it was made for a human face. Keep it; you might still need to use it.”

Reus shrugged and put his mask in the zipper pocket at his thigh. Lis holstered her pistol and unclipped her plasma carbine from her back and threw the sling over her shoulder, this let her to bring her weapon to bear more quickly. Reus pulled out a stcky-nav and attached it to the wall.

Reus switched his contacts to display expanded spectrum light; looking for laser tripwires. He saw nothing in infra-red; in fact, it seemed that there wasn’t any. UV, light however, was being produced in abundance by the light-dots. Reus guessed that the dots were miniaturized fluorescent light tubes. Reus stepped carefully in front of Lis and held his pistol around the corner of the corridor. His guncam showed another corridor around the corner; the rangefinder said that it was thirty feet long. Again, it made a hard right and no more was visible.

Reus stepped out from behind the corner with his gun raised. Lis followed. There was a dead-end around the next corner; in the floor there was a cylindrical opening in the floor. Rues’ rangefinder showed it to be fifty feet to the floor below. There was no visible way to get to the lower level safely. Both Reus and Lis paused for a moment. Reus pulled an electromagnetic grapple from a pocket on his back and turned it on to see if the walls would hold a magnet. The grapple held and Reus set his launcher to unwind slowly. He lowered himself through the hole and held his weapon ready. When he reached the floor, Reus looked around; he had his back to a dead end and the corridor stretching out in front of him had several doors on each side. Once again, the corridor ended with a hard right turn. The same method of illumination was used on this level, though the wave patterns were slightly different. Lis, who had begun descending after Reus had reached the ground landed a few seconds after him. Reus attached another sticky-nav to the wall.

“I guess we should take the first door we reach,” Said Reus with a shrug.

Why am I talking to her?

Or, we could spin around in circles and then run around with our eyes closed until we hit a door. Actually, it really mightn’t be such a bad idea if he did that.

Lis nodded her head in a nonverbal affirmative.

The first door was built like all the others that Lis had seen so far; this one was just smaller. Lis whistled. She saw/heard several reflective spirals on this door. She traced her finger across each spiral left-to-right, top-to-bottom. There was a pause, and all the spirals glowed a harsh yellow-orange. The door didn’t open. Lis opened her mouth slightly, showing her teeth; to a human this would be interpreted as a simile, but to other dolphin moreaus or creatures with a long jaw, it was usually a gesture of mild frustration or anger.

Dammit.

So you aren’t infallible after all, are you?


Lis stood thinking for a moment, thinking. It only took a moment for her to pick up on the pattern she had noticed.

Damn. That should have registered a long time ago. The only turns in this place have been to the right. I could try them in order of rightmostness. (Did I make a word?) Maybe those stupid puzzle/adventure games that came with my computer are actually good for something after all.

Lis tried her new theory; it worked and the spirals glowed blue.

Lucky is good too, I didn’t expect that to work.

How do you do that?

Through the door Lis saw a perfectly cubic room, one-hundred feet on all sides. In the center of the room there was a twenty-five by twenty-five foot square hole. She was on the top floor, below her; she could see that there were nine others. Sticking up through this hole was a massive square slab of polished black crystal, measuring five feet on each side; it glowed slightly with an internal light. Holographic displays and graphs floated around the border of the center hole. The crystal passed through the roof of this room, and Lis guessed that it also passed through the floor.

Okay, it’s a thing. Yay. AND it’s big too. It’s a big thing.

Lis steeped through the door. Now she could see that there were circular holes in the floor, again, there seemed to be no safe way to descend without using the magnetic grapples. Reus stepped in after Lis and stopped to look around as well. Reus seemed to be just as clueless as Lis as to the function of this thing.

“We should go down to the lower level.”

Duh, unless you want lo leave. I do.

I think I might be talking too much.

“You’re going first.”

Yeah, send me, the little, weak noncombatant. Not smart.

Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him to go first. Dead people make a bad report.

“Fine”

Reus attached his magnetic grapple to the wall and lowered himself down to the floor below. At first he thought that the room was empty except for the crystal pillar. Shortly, though, a robot stepped out from behind the pillar. At this point, Lis was next to Reus as well. The robot turned towards the two people. It stood almost as tall as the ten-foot ceiling. It had four legs, and two arms. These appendages and the “torso/neck” were tentacle-like and appeared to be made of black memory composite. Its arms ended in metal bulges that didn’t seem as though they were manipulators. Its triangular head turned towards Lis and Reus. The robot said something in what was probably an alien language. After a few seconds pause, it repeated the message.

“What the hell did that thing just say?”

How would I know?

“I don’t know; they pay you to do this kind of thing.”

“Do you think it’ll understand me?”

Did you need to ask?

“No. Amuse yourself if you like.”

And please don’t make it angry.

Reus stepped toward the robot with his hand held up.

“I. Cannot. Understand. You.” Reus said this slowly, trying to pantomime as well.

The robot repeated its message a third time. It did not respond to Reus.

Why did I even think this would work?

Lis flicked the safety of her plasma rifle off.

I can’t help but be pessimistic about this. I wonder why?

The robot’s message changed to a different one. Reus stepped back slowly. The robot repeated the new message again. Reus shrugged.

“Hey, it was worth a tray wasn’t it?”

The robot turned its head towards Lis, then towards Reus. Its two “hands” snapped up, both pointed at Reus; their tips both started glowing blue.

Not good.

Okay. Now it’s angry, great job. Actually, I wonder if it can be angry.

Before Reus could draw a weapon, two blue-white bolts of energy flew towards him. He dropped to the floor. The two bolts dipped down to follow him, but passed over his head. Two puddles of molten metal appeared where the shots had hit.

Plasma, I think. Guided plasma. If that thing starts shooting at me, I couldn’t possibly dodge. Fighting hand to hand–umm, hand to thing can’t possibly be any worse than getting shot to pieces at long range.

Way too close.

Reus flipped up to a standing position, drawing his submachinegun in the process. He flicked off the safety and fired a quick experimental burst into the torso section of the robot–to little effect.

Lis leveled her EW-2 at the torso section of the robot and charged at the robot. She held the trigger of her weapon. The barrel of her weapon flashed orange, and bursts of plasma filled the air. Her shots were clumsy because of the charge, but most hit anyway. The shots that hit the armored section of the robot dissipated without leaving a mark. Those that hit the memory polymer hissed, polymer melted together, causing small damage. One of the robot’s arms turned towards Lis. The robot’s “hands” flashed blue. Two considerably smaller and dimmer bolts fired, one towards Lis, the other towards Reus. Reus dove to the side and jumped up into a kneeling position. He hired another burst at the robot. Lis lowered her head pulled the trigger of her EW-2 tighter. She mentally braced herself for the impact. The bolt of plasma hit her in the chest and splashed out. Her light armor melted and caught fire. Her skin blistered and charred. She roared in rage and pain, but held her weapon steady and continued to charge.

Keep going. Felt worse before.

The two heat vents on Lis’ carbine popped open to cool the weapon, hot gas hissed out. She ignored the cloud of superheated gas and ran through it. Lis closed to ten feet of the robot, still running. Too late, she realized the tactical error she had made. The robot’s tentacle-like arm hit her in the chest and knocked her several feet backwards and onto her back. The robot turned its attention towards Reus again, its hands glowed blue for a moment before it fired to more powerful shots at him. This time, however it aimed at Reus’ legs, expecting him to drop. Instead, he sidestepped the shots and fired a longer burst at the robot’s neck.

Smart. This is bad.