Alien Caller (64 page)

Experimentally
he pushed one, and got told off. At least that was the only way he
could describe the sounds the machine made. He couldn’t understand
a single word, but was certain he had done something wrong from the
strident tones. Besides the machine hadn’t moved. Some sort of text
appeared on the screen as well; alien hieroglyphics that he didn't
understand, and he guessed that the spider was also programmed for
deaf people.

He tried
pushing the other knobs and got exactly the same reaction; no
movement but a thorough telling off. Moving combinations of all the
knobs didn’t help either. The machine would not budge, it just
continued to berate him.

After a while
it became frustrating and he started muttering angrily at it, while
still knowing it was his fault. The machine could move. It did move
by itself, but it wouldn’t operate for him which, since it accepted
him as a driver, it was surely meant to. Something was wrong.

It had, he
realized, to be something pretty basic. In fact it reminded him of
some of the Japanese cars he’d driven, which wouldn’t let you drive
unless you had your seatbelt on. It was a memory that eventually
gave him the correct answer. Carefully he put his feet into the
stirrups and was immediately rewarded with the sound of machine
parts whirring away enthusiastically beneath him.

A few seconds
later and he found himself moving forwards and then sideways, and
he realized none of the knobs were in neutral any longer. Quickly
he moved the sideways moving knob to its centre, and the machine
straightened up. Pushing the front knob forwards made it move
faster, and like any speed freak, he slowly pushed it all the way
forward until soon he was doing perhaps twenty miles an hour
towards the camp. However, the machine itself had its own ideas
about safe speeds, and kept slowing down, accompanied by more bad
language each time he pushed the throttle to the end, and then when
he didn’t pull back on the throttle it pushed his hand back as it
returned to half speed. Three quarter speed turned out to be much
more acceptable, and the knob stayed where he left it.

He took some
time to play with the controls, testing out the capabilities of the
spider, and found it to be more agile than anything he’d ever
driven. And clearly it had been designed with safety in mind.
Pushing the steering lever caused it to turn, but it did so very
slowly as it refused to allow him to slip. The same was true of the
throttle as it accelerated and braked unbelievably gently. Yet
despite its gentleness he had no doubt it had plenty of power. He
had seen it jump two yards straight up, and sprint at him faster
than any horse could. It just refused to do that with a rider on
board.

The ride was
also incredibly smooth, as the spider seemed to literally ripple
underneath him. Its legs were a blur of motion, but there was no
bumpiness at all. Just a pleasant rhythmic sway from one side to
the other. It had obviously been designed for safety as much as
efficiency. Though clearly it was also a highly efficient vehicle.
A car might travel faster, but not over hills and valleys, and he'd
seen no sign of a road in the surrounding lands. Perhaps that
wasn’t because of the effects of time but rather because they’d
never had the need to build them.

When he finally
hit the hill leading to their camp having travelled the long way
around as he played with the spider, he learned that was there
almost no chance of falling off. The machine automatically
compensated for the slope, so that even as it ascended he sat
absolutely level in his saddle. Another safety feature. If only car
makers were so thoughtful.

In less than
five minutes he found himself at the crest of the hill where the
energy barrier lay, and quickly slowed down to a crawl. It wasn’t
just the question that ran through his mind of whether the gate
would allow the machine through, it was Cyrea who stood there on
the other side, having waited patiently for him to return, and who
now wore a look of disbelief on her face. Disbelief, shock and
another expression he didn’t want to identify. Unsurprisingly, it
wasn’t a good look.

“I can explain
–.” But he knew he couldn’t. Somehow his faithful promise that he
would not enter the building until at least one other
technologically inclined member of the party had examined it, had
slipped completely from his mind. Until just then.

“I’m sure you
can.” By which she meant the exact opposite, and he groaned as he
knew he was going to spend another night in the doghouse. Which he
reminded himself, he no doubt deserved. Having discovered advanced
and potentially invaluable technology was not going to save him
from her righteous fury.

“You’re right,
I can’t. I’m sorry Love, the door just opened when I touched it and
I went in.” He thought it at least politic to try and apologize
early, though he was still skating around the truth. The door just
opened? She'd never believe that. He hurried on with his
excuse.

“Everything
inside seemed dead, except for the lights, and I thought I was
safe. But then this thing woke up and started chasing me out, and I
had a terrible time trying to figure out what it was. I thought it
was going to attack me, and I nearly had a heart attack as it kept
chasing me. And then once I did work out what it was, I couldn’t
work out how to send it back with the others.”

“There’s more?”
Finally something seemed to have taken her mind off his failings,
and he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Loads more. At
least another half dozen of these things hanging on the walls, and
a lot more strange gadgets too. But this one’s the only one that
woke up. And then there are racks of other equipment too, a lot of
them with legs as well, but I didn’t touch any of it. Not when this
thing came to life and I had to run like crazy.” It drew a small
smile as she imagined the sight of him running away from a
mechanical horse, exactly as he’d hoped for even as he babbled.

“Perhaps next
time you’ll listen to me then. Dare I even suggest it, you might
even accept that I know what I’m talking about.” He nodded quickly,
partly to try and buy himself some peace in the home, and partly
because she was right. It had perhaps been foolish to enter an
alien building without some technologically advanced help.

“You do indeed
and I’ve learned my lesson.” But his fingers were figuratively
crossed behind his back, and she no doubt knew it. He couldn’t fool
her that easily. But he could distract her. Maybe.

“But could you
at least tell me what it is? I mean I know it’s a riding machine,
but there’s no way in hell a Mentan could ride it. It’s too tall
and he’d be falling off all over the place. It’s no better for one
of your people or mine. In fact it’s damned uncomfortable.”

She approached
him and the machine slowly, studying it. As she started circling
it, the machine obediently squatted down again, expecting another
rider, and David took the opportunity to get off and try and
restore some circulation to his aching legs. Even as he began
hobbling around and trying not to moan too loudly as he played for
her sympathy vote, he got slapped across the cheek by Cyrea, who
knew what he was doing and why. She knew him too well.

“Don’t think
you’re getting off that easily Love. Or that I believe a single
word of your sorry excuse for an explanation.” But her eyes quickly
returned to the machine and he knew he was safe from her fury for a
little while. Long enough perhaps to gather some flowers, perhaps
give her another quick foot rub and apologise a few hundred more
times.

“It's Floyd in
design I think, though very old. But they have been trading with
the Mentans for tens of thousands of years, and theirs is the only
body I could see sitting on this with any degree of comfort. And
that means that this is an ancient Floyd planet. Perhaps a colony,
or more likely a trading post long since abandoned.” She ran her
hands over the body of the spider, and let her eyes linger on its
screen.

“That in turn
means the building you’ve discovered is an abandoned depot of some
sort. Filled with the stuff they no longer needed when they left
the world. The Floyd’s obsession with neatness means they would
never leave anything just lying around. So they probably left the
riders in storage when they no longer needed them, no doubt when
they’d perfected their flying belts. But that was long after they
had space flight, since this is most definitely not the Floyd home
world.”

“And the other
things?”

“No doubt in
the same category. After all, anything useful they would have taken
with them. But they still would have had some fairly advanced tools
and maybe even a communicator or two left behind, and perhaps even
some stock they couldn’t trade. Things we can most definitely use.”
He could practically see the wheels turning in her eyes as she came
to her decision.

“Tomorrow
morning you, me and one of the technicians are going back there to
identify and recover anything and everything we can.” She saw the
look in his eyes, and quickly headed him off.

“Don’t even
think about it Love. I may be pregnant, but I am a security officer
which means I know a lot more than anyone else about the things we
need to find and those we need to look out for. More than you. And
with the spider, I can get down there relatively quickly and
easily, and make a short run to safety as well if we need to,
pregnant or not. Meanwhile you, as our resident adrenaline junkie
and explorer, can warn us of the dangers we’ll face out there,
while a technician can identify the rest of the stuff and maybe
even get more of it to work.”

“Besides, if
nothing else it’ll give you some idea of the worry you keep putting
me through day after day.”

Chapter
Thirty Two

Work done for
the day, David went to join Cyrea and the technicians at the
building site just outside the barrier. They'd decided on it as the
place where they could build their transmitter simply because it
was far enough away from the depot and sheltered by the lee of the
hill, so that there was no way that the Mentan could be watching
them. But it was also a good hike up the hill and he was a tiny bit
winded as he reached the top and wrapped his arms around her.
Perhaps he wasn't quite as fit as he thought.

“So how are we
going?” It was frustrating for David being unable to help. But he
was no technician, not even when it came to Earth technology. He
could change the oil in the truck and that was about all. But this
thing had no oil and it wasn't a truck. He wasn't even sure that it
was an interstellar transmitter. It looked like a pile of alien
electronics that had been rescued from the junk yard and connected
up with wires and bits of sticky tape. Half a dozen piles
actually.

“Good I think.”
Cyrea gave him a peck on the cheek. She was smiling, and that he
guessed meant that she had some hope. And at least she was useful.
She might not be a trained technician either but she was a security
officer and she knew codes and frequencies. She knew how to make
contact with another world or ship without tipping off their
kidnapper. And they both knew that there was another ship from
Earth on its way, essentially taking the same path they had through
space and likely about to run into a Mentan pirate.

He'd told them
it was a month behind. And by David's best reckoning they had been
on this world for nearly a month, which meant that they were
pushing the limits. Every day that passed from now on, every hour,
the chances grew that the ship following them was already under
attack.

“Any idea?”

“Soon.” She was
getting good at reading his thoughts. But then everyone else, and
there were presently quite a few others joining them around the
pile of equipment the technicians claimed was a transmitter, would
have understood. They all had the same thought on their mind.

Without saying
any more as it would have been pointless, David settled for
standing quietly beside Cyrea, his arm around her growing
waistline, and watching the others work. The silence was peaceful,
and with the sun beating down on them it was enough. In time they
gave up on standing, and sat down on the grass. It might be alien
grass, it might be a funny colour and smell a little off, but it
was still comfortable enough to sit on.

Time passed,
the sun moved across the sky, and the technicians continued their
strange dance around the piles of machinery and wires under the
makeshift tent. And then finally, two maybe three hours later, one
of them looked up at them, his face a picture of nervousness.

“Ayn?” It was
ready. David knew that. They all knew that. And most of all Cyrea
knew that. David stood and quickly helped her to her feet. With her
pregnancy advancing she was finding it harder and harder to do many
of the things she'd once taken for granted, and he knew she hated
it. Which was why he had to be there for her as much as he
could.

Then of course
he had to let her go as she wandered over to the makeshift tent and
the technicians. The one thing no one wanted was a ham fisted idiot
getting caught up in their advanced electronics project. Assuming
it was electronic, that was. He still wasn't completely clear on
that.