Last Flight For Craggy (31 page)

'Scientists. So
useful.'

'But, I'll tell
you what I know. It's a shield volcano, built up of layers. Same as
the ones in Hawaii on Earth. Mons is about sixteen miles high,
depending where you measure from, and about three hundred and
seventy miles in diameter at the widest point. The lava is mostly
basalt. The volcanic activity has brought up interesting and useful
minerals and elements closer to the surface and it is those we
excavate from the surrounding volcano.'

'Felix. I
already know most of that. Those tunnels. How could they be
formed?'

'The surfaces
are so smooth and the shape is so precise I have no idea. It is
something that melts the rock so perfectly. Pity
we
don't
have something like that.'

Potts finished
his beer. 'So, sometime before we arrived, they made that tunnel
system and that so called black hole that isn't a black hole, and
managed to build a holiday home actually inside Mons. They've been
watching us all the time we've been here, I'm guessing.'

'A safe bet,
I'd say. They might be repeating this all over the universe for all
we know. Makes us look like something that still lives in
caves.'

'Scary stuff,'
said Potts getting out of the pool. 'Something to give me bad
dreams. Good night, Felix.'

'Goodnight.'

Stella Wayward
was a tenacious individual. After sleeping for a solid eight hours,
she awoke fired up and was eager to go. Making her own way to the
domed room, she started the computer and replayed what she and
Dillow had seen before. Several attempts of using the various
sensors had the previously seen images flashed back and forth. She
pressed the end of the cone Dillow had pressed into the control
panel. The screen went blank.

'It's all about
these little things,' she told herself as she stared at the cone.
'My guess is that there are more of these damn things around,
somewhere.' She thought about the way Dillow had described the dead
body, as if it had come to an unpleasant and untimely end. 'Okay,
Stud. You were trying to tell us something.'

Stella opened
all the small doors for access to the other rooms. The four
sleeping rooms were identical in layout including compartments
presumably for clothes and perhaps personal possessions. All proved
to be empty.

'Come on, Stud.
You want to tell me something, I want to hear it. Where's your
stash?'

All other rooms
had yielded no results. Until she went into the utility room.

'All this stuff
left behind. More evidence of a rush job. Anything in here?'

Stella checked
everything she could and still found nothing. She pulled out a
final container and opened it, finding it empty. She was about to
call it a Martian day, when she noticed something. It was silver,
oblong, and had been hidden behind the larger container. Compared
to the other utilitarian items, this was as odd as it could be. The
silver box was about the length of her hand and intricately
engraved. The box itself made her shudder with anticipation, and
she cautiously opened it. Inside were seven similar white cones
with tiny holes along their length.

At the
computer, she selected one cone and pressed it home. Immediately
the screen lit up and one alien she presumed to be Stud, was
speaking. In fluent English.

'Commander
Dillow? Are you there, Commander Dillow?'

'Stella?'

'You need to
see this.'

Dillow stared
at the screen, hardly believing the evidence of his own eyes. Even
after the third play, it was still incredible. Stud was speaking a
translated English, albeit with a very strange accent.

'My name is
Korlyn Num Serdinda. That is as close an approximation of my name I
can make. We are a scouting party for our people. Our people have
travelled across the galaxy for thousands of your years. I have
lived on this planet, the one you know as Mars, for one hundred and
ninety seven of your Earth years. I have walked amongst you on your
planet.'

'Disguised as
what? A hobgoblin?' said Dillow.

'That you are
watching this means you have finally arrived from Earth. I suspect
my kind are planning to kill me because I no longer agree with our
intentions. I have rebelled and spoken up against our leaders.
People of Earth have problems and your ways make no sense to any of
us. Our wishes to colonise this planet will one day, I feel, clash
with your desire to do the same. I see this planet as being your
only salvation, whereas, we have colonised many planets across this
galaxy. It is the consensus of our people that you deserve the fate
you have destined for yourselves. I have argued that we should move
on and leave this Mars for you.'

'Stud's pretty
cool,' said Stella.

'Sure is.'

'At the time of
this recording, you Earth people are engaging in an all out war.
Your aircraft are still primitive, but your determination to
destroy yourselves, overcomes your limited technology.'

'I wonder which
war he's talking about?' said Dillow.

'You are
developing nuclear warhead capability. Adolf Hitler was determined
to dominate your world.'

'Hitler?'
gasped Dillow. 'This dude has been around for some time.'

'I have let it
be known I have communicated with your leaders about our
intentions. This is untrue, but it has created doubt in their
minds. We have superior technology, but you would be well matched
with your warlike tendencies. We are aware of your brutal
capabilities and do not have the resolve to fight with you.'

'They're scared
of us,' said Stella.

'Good job too,'
said Dillow. 'One of these munchkins had a go at me, I'd step on
him.'

'My time is
short. I believe if the pathways will remain, you may find the
methods of their use. But you must destroy them. I repeat, destroy
the pathways. Also important, I have hidden a terraformer in a
place where my kind may not discover. I wish you well and...'

Forbes and
Potts listened grim faced to Stella and Dillow.

'Incredible. We
owe this Korlyn Num Serdinda one hell of a lot, by the sound of
it,' said Anton Forbes.

Potts held the
silver box in his hands. 'This is an antique from Earth. Korlyn
must have acquired it on a visit.'

Stella said,
'We have three more recordings to go through.'

Dillow said,
'We urgently need to learn about this pathway thing and also this
terraforming. I'll work with Stella on that.'

Potts said,
'There are so many questions going on in my head right now. I think
we...'

A call came
through from the medical centre. 'Potts.' He listened carefully,
then said, 'Right. Got that. Now listen. That little guy is a damn
hero as far as I'm concerned. Patch him up carefully and treat him
with all due respect. Okay.'

'Tagg?' Forbes
said.

Potts
explained, 'That hole in the side of his neck. It was from some
sort of injection. It was a mutated fungus. Once injected, it
spread throughout his body, destroying him internally. He would
have been killed slowly and painfully.'

'My God,' said
Forbes. 'He suffered and died to save our race. We, as usual, were
busy killing each other, and a little alien on Mars was thinking we
were worth a second chance. I don't know about you guys right now,
but I for one feel incredibly humble.'

Dillow let out
a long deep breath. The sombre mood was oppressive and depressing.
'Come on, Stella. We owe it to him to make the most of what he left
us.'

'Two more
days,' said Cragg.

Fawn Dillow
said, 'No more long hauls for either of us, I reckon.'

'Missed Joel
and Shyne, no doubt?'

'Oh, man. Like
you wouldn't believe. But in the unlikely event of any more long
trips coming up, we have a couple of good young pilots to take up
the reins.'

'Think you'll
ever marry Joel?'

Dillow
shrugged. 'It comes up in conversation, now and then. No rush.'

'More
kids?'

'Same. Plenty
of time. Are you going back to teaching?'

Cragg nodded.
'I was unsure for a while. Roswell changed my mind. I think I still
have things to offer.'

'Of course you
have. And I'll get back to freighter training. We'll always need
short haul pilots.'

Cragg asked,
'Do you still enjoy training pilots?'

Dillow nodded.
'I get a real buzz out of seeing some nervous rookie mature into a
self confident freighter captain. That's life changing.'

Cragg chuckled.
'Self confidence wasn't a problem with a certain rookie Fawn
Dillow.'

'Mostly bluff
and bravado. With a father like mine, I was never going to be a
shrinking violet. I wonder what he's up to?'

'Banging the
heads together of boozed up teenagers, I expect.'

'Yeah. He'd
enjoy that.'

* * *

Lance Dillow
was back with Stella Wayward at the alien computer, watching the
brilliant young woman do what seemed to come naturally to her. He
couldn't help but think of his own wonderful daughter. Some called
her a chip of the old block. Rubbish. She was her own block. He was
working with Stella while his daughter was somewhere in deep space;
a precious cargo of mostly young people, and priceless steel,
bringing them home safely. The number of people left were a few
thousand, still kicking a mostly dead planet. But with the high
calibre of those remaining, there was a hope worth clinging on
to.

Stella brought
his mind back to the dome. 'Lance. This is the final cone. All or
nothing hinges on this one.'

'Get it on,
Stella.'

Stella pushed
the cone home. What they saw was beyond anything they could
imagine.

Korlyn looked
so crestfallen. He could barely look up as he made the final
recording. He started to speak, but it was his own harsh sounding
language. He suddenly realised, reached over and touched something,
and it was back to English.

'I am so sorry.
I have let you down. I hear my own people, whispering behind my
back. They are waiting for orders.'

There was
sadness in his strange eyes. Stella could feel the little guy's
pain, and even though he knew what his fate was to be, he was more
concerned about a bunch of big, blood thirsty idiots. Stella
grabbed Dillow's arm for support.

'If only he
knew.'

Korlyn
continued. 'I intended to leave clues to the whereabouts of the
terraforma, but I fear my demise is imminent. I was afraid of the
others learning of my plans.'

'Where is that
terraforma?' urged Dillow.

As if the dead
alien had heard the question, he said, 'It is close to your mine by
this mountain. If by some miracle you find it, this is what it
looks like.'

'That?' gasped
Dillow.

Korlyn held up
the egg shaped glowing vessel, decorated in gold filigree. 'Great
care must be taken when activating it. It must be opened near a
substantial water supply, even Martian water will do. You may have
already seen the theoretical assimilation as to what this planet
should become. To activate it, simply hold the top and the bottom
and twist. It should turn completely green. Once done, all people
must be far away or may be in great danger. Must be more than one
thousand of your miles away. Do not approach it for three of your
days.'

The screen
showed the lush vegetation they had seen previously.

Dillow said,
'His little pals must have suspected what he was up to and had
orders to stop him.'

'Miserable
bastards.'

'Wait. Korlyn
has more to say.'

'We were
expanding our pathways. You must destroy it. Prevent my kind coming
back that way.'

'Pathways?'
said Stella. 'Oh. He means the tunnels.'

Dillow shook
his head. 'The tunnels are just tunnels. I think it's the black
stuff.'

'The black
stuff? But that's like nothing. How do we destroy nothing?'

'It isn't
nothing. That stuff creates a bridge to Phobos. It made a ten mile
tunnel into this dome seem like just a couple of miles. That
blackness must bend space, maybe even time. That's what he's
talking about.'

'And we have to
destroy that? How?'

Dillow said,
'That's my job. You have been brilliant, but now I have to do the
next part. While I figure it out, let's tell the others about the
terraforma.'

'This?' said
Hellicoyle.

'That?' said
Berry.

Dillow said,
'That has the power to turn this glorified sandcastle into the
Garden of Eden.'

'Ooh, can I be
Adam?' said Berry.

'If you are
Adam, I'm not being Eve, and I tell you that for free,' said
Stella.

'So how does it
work?' asked Forbes.

Dillow
explained, 'It just sort of twists to activate it. But it has to be
by lots of water and we have to be a thousand miles away before it
goes off.'

'Or what?'
asked Potts.

'Korlyn didn't
elaborate,' said Stella. 'But we saw the results of how it works
and I want me a piece of that.'

Forbes said,
'Felix. You're making me nervous. Stop your hands shaking that
thing and put it back carefully in the safe. Easy, Easy; don't you
slam that damn door. Good. Now I can start breathing again.'

Dillow said,
'The Terraforming thing is a great invention but I could see the
fear in Korlyn's face. Fear for us, not himself. Those tunnels
could lead all over the place. I have to find a way to break it,
stop his little buddies coming here and injecting us with shit that
eats our insides all up.'