Last Flight For Craggy (30 page)

'Rocky. Let's
just say hanging around for weeks on end in a tin can has lost much
of its appeal. Are you sure we can't get any more speed out of this
bird?'

'Mars is
getting further from Earth and Moon, so we have a few more million
miles to travel. I'll call ahead and let Misty know to get beer on
ice for you.'

'That's another
reason I'm not flying any more.'

'Misty?'

'Well, yeah,
her too. Dillow sleeping?'

Rocky laughed.
'Not just yet. She always hugs the ship before she turns in.'

'And not a bad
thing, either. It was about at this point on her first ride in this
bird her load came loose. That's probably what's going through her
mind.'

'Maybe. I'd
better get back to driving the bus. Jeez. I'm getting to sound more
like you every day.'

Cragg sighed,
finding himself alone again. Then he heard a voice behind him.

'Hi,
Craggy.'

'Roswell.'

'I've just been
watching us flying along on the observation deck.'

Cragg grinned.
'See? That's progress. You couldn't do that a few weeks ago. We'll
make a space cowboy out of you yet.'

'I don't think
so. I've put in for a supervisors development course.'

'Good for you.
That's perfect for you. What does it mean?'

'Well, I do a
lot of team building exercises, try other disciplines like plant
maintenance, computer servicing, freighter loading, working with
other supervisors. It means I have a better understanding of how
many other departments operate...'

Cragg nodded.
'....so you see the big picture, gain confidence and people skills,
so you can supervise others. Brilliant.'

'I can't wait
to get stuck in. What was the training like back in your day?'

'It was a bit
different then. I had the CMTBC program.'

'Hey?'

'Cragg Make The
Bloody Coffee program. Mind you, that was when we could still get
actual coffee. Come to think about it, I never did find out if I
passed.'

Roswell giggled
and again, Cragg saw his granddaughter that never was. That hit him
harder when she kissed his cheek.

'Craggy. You're
priceless.'

He sighed as
she skipped away.

'You move him
at all?' Lance Dillow asked.

'Just his
face,' said Hellicoyle. 'I was curious to see if that strange hole
in the side of his neck was on both sides. If it were, it may have
been just some sort of physical feature. It isn't matched on the
other side, so that got me wondering how it got there.'

'Good point.
You keep calling him he. Have you checked?'

Hellicoyle was
shocked. 'Checked?'

'Yes. Under
that tunic thing. I'll do it.' Dillow lifted the hem of the tunic.
'Now, that's impressive for a little guy.'

'Makes my eyes
water just looking at it. Cover him up, will you? I'm getting an
inferiority complex.'

Dillow said,
'Hmm. What's this?'

With the tunic
pulled back, a pouch of the same material as the tunic was revealed
below the ribcage. They could see a strange shaped object hidden in
the pouch. Dillow put his hand inside and pulled out a small
ceramic cone, about the length of his little finger. He held it up
for a closer examination.

'There's a
series of tiny holes all along it. Any ideas?'

Hellicoyle
said, 'Not a clue.'

'Me neither.
Apart from a shit scared expression on his face, I got nothing.
I'll give the medical centre a call to have this guy looked
at.'

Once Dillow had
done that, telling them to meet up with Berry at the mine entrance,
he called Berry to advise him and to let him know they would send
the alien down the tunnel for him to be taken away to the medical
centre. They spent the time looking around the strange domed
room.

'Weird,' said
Dillow.

'What is?'

'Just one room.
No furniture like beds, chairs, a place to eat. He might not be
human, but I'm guessing he still had the basic functions. So where
did he crap?'

'Thanks. I now
have peculiar images in my head of little people sitting on little
toilets.'

'I worry about
you, sometimes. There's something else that bugs me. He's not
wearing a suit. I'm thinking he wasn't born here, because there's
no evidence of his kind being found. So, if he's an air breather,
how did he survive?'

Hellicoyle
looked at the mouth of the vertical tunnel. 'Until we accidentally
opened up their tunnels, this room was effectively sealed off from
the outside. They just need a way to replenish their air.'

'But there's
nothing in here to do that, or anything else.'

'So there must
be other rooms.'

Dillow raised
his hands to the heavens. 'Like where?'

'Just because
we haven't found them, doesn't mean they don't exist.'

Dillow nodded.
'True. And what's with that lot over there? Pretend computers?'

'That's what
Berry and I wondered. They sort of look like they put a mock-up
control centre, then ran out of money. They just made shapes to
look like them.'

Dillow wasn't
convinced. 'I don't buy that.'

He went over to
the odd shapes. He stood and stared at them, then he ran his gloved
fingers over the smooth surfaces. It was completely seamless and
faultless. Almost.

'Felix. Come
and look at this.'

'Found
something?'

'A hole.'

It was indeed a
hole. It was the only break in the whole surface in the domed room.
It was about the diameter of a man's little finger. Dillow looked
at the hole and then he looked at the cone he was holding. He
looked at Hellicoyle who just shrugged. Dillow carefully inserted
the tip of the cone into the hole. It didn't quite fit. It stood
proud by half of one inch. Nothing happened.

Hellicoyle
placed a finger gently onto the base of the cone protruding out of
the hole and pushed it home. Something, perhaps a relay, clicked.
The dome became brighter, seams opening in many places. Sensors lit
up; some flashing ominously. The computer shapes burst into life,
part of the wall above it reshaping itself and also lit up, but had
no images on it.

'Bloody
fantastic,' gasped Hellicoyle. The room continued to transform and
they stood in amazement, too scared to move or touch anything.
Until they heard a voice.

'Everything
okay up there?'

'Yes, Berry,'
said Dillow. 'It has just come to life.'

'What? That
dead alien?'

'No, idiot. The
room. Listen. We are just going to see if we can find something to
wrap him up in before we send him down. We won't be too long.'

'Okay.'

Hellicoyle was
checking the small door shapes around the base of the dome. Each
door had a white light sensor and the geologist touched one. The
door didn't open, it vanished. 'Interesting.' He touched the sensor
again and the door reappeared. He opened it and looked into the
room.

'You wondered
where the little guy crapped? This is it.'

'Nice to
know.'

They opened all
eight rooms. There were four that could have been bedrooms. Each
had a single “cot” in the centre. They were circular, had no
pillows or sheets. No regular sized adult human could ever get into
one comfortably. There were shapes and sensors around the base of
the room.

One room
appeared to be a utility room with well ordered tools, machines and
gadgets.

'I'm guessing
this thing pumps clean air around the place,' said Dillow, passing
a hand over a vent in a large machine covering one half of the
room. He touched it and could feel it humming slightly.

They found four
small pods in individual housings. They were egg shaped, one half a
metallic material was capped off with a matching clear cover.
Dillow touched a sensor on the housing and it opened up to free the
pod. Another sensor on the pod had the cover open up.

Dillow said,
'Does this look like something we could put Joe in?'

'Joe?'

'Why not? He
sure isn't a Josephine with a pecker like that.' Dillow closed the
cover and picked up the pod. 'Surprisingly light.'

Dillow carried
it to the door and pushed it into the domed room. He opened the pod
next to the body, respectfully gathering up the body and reverently
placing Joe in the pod, touching the sensor to close him in.

'Berry?'

'There you are.
I almost went home. Where's that damned alien?'

'We found a
thing for him. I'm about to drop it into the tunnel. Get ready for
it. Here he comes.' Dillow picked up the pod with the alien inside,
took it to the tunnel opening and held it over the top and he let
go. The Pod was a perfect fit in the tunnel. It didn't move one
iota. Dillow touched the protruding end of the pod and the alien
was on his final journey down the tunnel.

'Now what do we
do?' asked Hellicoyle.

'I want
somebody to work that computer,' said Dillow.

Hellicoyle
stared at the complex array off lights, some flashing, some not.
'Don't look in my direction.'

'I know just
the one for this job. Come on. We need a break.'

After taking
care of natures callings back in Base Three, they had a snack and
were joined by Stella Wayward, the computer maestro herself.

'I'll check my
employment contract one of these days. I already pulled a fourteen
hour day.'

'Want a beer,
Stella?' Hellicoyle asked.

'And anything
edible.'

Dillow said,
'Felix. Make yourself useful, while I chat with Stella.'

Hellicoyle
wasn't about to argue with Armour Dillow.

Stella said, 'I
heard something about a little dead alien?'

'All true. He
was found dead, in a weird place inside Mons.'

'Shit! How did
that happen?'

'Pass.'

'Where is he
now?'

'Medical
centre. Stella. The whole place in Mons is controlled by computers,
but...'

'You want me to
work them.'

'This needs the
best.'

Stella let
Hellicoyle put the beer and plate of food in front of her.
'Flattery will get you anywhere, Lance. Thanks, Felix.'

Dillow said,
'I'll take you when you've eaten. Felix, you can turn in, if you
like.'

'Music to my
ears. I'll catch up with you tomorrow. Goodnight, you two.'

Stella ate and
sipped her beer, as Dillow told what they had discovered.

'It sounds like
you and Felix discovered a lot already,' Stella said. 'That's
pretty user friendly, considering it was made by alien hands. He
does have hands, doesn't he?'

'He also has
something else.' He leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

'No shit.
Sounds like quite a catch.'

'He's not my
type. Stella. If you're tired, we can go tomorrow.'

'I'm all fired
up. Come on. Show me the stud's penthouse pad.'

'Sexy.'

'It is?' said
Dillow.

Stella said,
'This computer is crying out for my loving touch.'

'Anyone ever
tell you you are a strange woman?'

'Nobody worth
listening to.' Stella was almost drooling over the computer. 'How
many fingers did he have on one hand?'

'Four. Three
one way, one opposing the other three.'

Stella tucked
her little fingers in and spread the other four over one bank of
coloured sensors.

'In that case,
I would do...and here we go.'

The strange
curved screen flickered into life and they had a perfect image of
one of the aliens, recording something in a scratchy, surprisingly
deep voice, his small hands gesticulating dramatically. Behind him
were two more of his kind, having an animated discussion.

'We heard one
of their voices briefly before.'

'It all looks a
little intense,' said Stella.

'It's changed
into something else,' said Dillow. 'Is that his home planet, you
think?'

The image
showed a a lush planet with domed dwellings, “people” doing things,
going about their business, small personal craft gliding along. A
shift to a panoramic vista showed a world in balance, with an
ecology that was a priority.

'Makes Mars
look a little sad,' said Stella. As the image panned even higher
and wider, something struck them hard. It was a shot of Olympus
Mons. 'Shit. It is Mars.'

All around Mons
was a tropical paradise. The aliens were living in a world they
cared for transforming it into a balance of “people” and planet in
total harmony. An image of several space ships beyond Mons were
being attended to and unloaded of assorted containers. Everyone
seemed to be working for the greater good.

The image
changed again. It was the alien explaining something, pointing to
different things around him, some out of sight. Suddenly the
panoramic view of Mars, particularly Mons, seemed to have the
lushness stripped away, piece by piece. Gradually, the true planet,
barren and dead, was exposed.

Dillow said,
'Jeez. That could be interpreted in so many ways.'

'I don't think
we should jump to any conclusions. I want to have some quality
alone time in here. I think in time, I can find out all sorts of
things.'

Dillow agreed.
'You got it. But you need a solid break and to tackle this fresh.
Come on, young lady. Follow me out of here; come back once
rested.'

Tagg Potts
wanted to learn all about Olympus Mons and to that aim was having a
beer with Felix Hellicoyle in the wallowing pool.

Hellicoyle
said, 'Truth is, ask ten different scientists, you'll probably get
ten different answers. Best guestimate is anywhere between two and
twenty million years since it last erupted.'