Stranded (A stand-alone SF thriller) (The Prometheus Project Book 3) (5 page)

Ryan remained silent, unsure of how to respond. The parked car had become stuffy so Mrs. Resnick gave the key a half-turn and powered the windows down a few inches. Cool autumn air entered the car along with the scent of fallen leaves.

“Wait a minute,” said Regan, changing the subject. “We saw Carl fairly soon after this happened. His leg seemed fine.”

“We got him back to Prometheus and to a surgeon fairly quickly,” said Mrs. Resnick. “And I hunted down a Med-Pen and used it on him within twenty minutes of our return.”

The Prometheus team had found three of these amazing alien medical devices a year before in one of the Prometheus buildings. Cigar-shaped and resembling bloated pens, they could provide complete pain relief and perform other medical miracles such as speeding wound healing and eradicating infections. Another remarkable feature of these alien devices was that their colors and patterns changed instantly whenever they were moved. Not to match their surroundings, but to do the opposite: to stand out in sharp contrast to whatever they were near. How this was accomplished was still unknown, but the designers of these life saving devices had clearly wanted to make them easy to locate at all times, even in
a clutter. The team had kept one Med-Pen to study and voted to give the other two to its two youngest members whenever they were in the city. The Resnick siblings had spent many an hour whisking the devices past different objects and watching in fascination as they changed instantly, trying to guess the counter-color and counter-pattern the devices would adopt.

“It didn’t heal him instantly, of course,” continued their mother, “although doctors agree that without it he would have
never
healed properly. But miraculously, because of the Med-Pen, Carl healed in only a few weeks. Completely and perfectly. Those devices are truly amazing. He wasn’t even scarred.” She considered this further and then shook her head. “At least not physically,” she added gravely.

C
HAPTER
4
Collision Course

M
rs. Resnick powered the windows back up and they exited the car, each lost in their own thoughts. Mrs. Resnick’s mood remained somber, but she began to snap out of it at the first security checkpoint—drawn out by the guards who, as usual, chatted pleasantly with her and the kids while they worked. The guards carefully inspected Ryan and Regan’s backpacks and let them pass.

Six weeks earlier, the Med-Pen the team was studying went missing for a day. While it had only been misplaced, security had been stepped up. Now, team members were scanned and backpacks checked on the way
out
of Prometheus as well as in, to make sure no one left with an alien object, purposely or accidentally. Security had also installed a number of sensors that were keyed to detect chemical, material, or energy signatures that were out of
the ordinary. This made it even more difficult to sneak anything of alien origin by the guards.

They next entered a structure called the decoy building. It was nothing but a shell that had been built around the reinforced concrete bunker that housed the Prometheus elevator. The decoy building looked normal from the outside. Its spacious lobby even had a reception desk and a receptionist, so anyone from Proact who entered the building by mistake would not be suspicious. But anyone who wasn’t part of the Prometheus Project would find it easier to break into Fort Knox than to get beyond the reception desk.

They passed though several additional checkpoints, provided additional passwords, and had their fingerprints and retinas scanned electronically. Finally, after ten minutes, they entered the massive Prometheus elevator, slightly larger than a three-car garage and several stories high. Their mother was upbeat by nature and her mood had now fully returned to normal.

“After what happened to Carl,”
broadcast Ryan as the elevator began its long descent,
“I can’t believe Mom and Dad are letting us go with them.”

“Me either. But whatever you do, don’t say anything about it and jinx us.”

“You two really owe me for this, by the way,” said their mother as if reading their minds. “Dad was originally against you coming with us.”

“Really?” said Regan, as if she couldn’t imagine anyone being so unreasonable.

“Really. I was finally able to convince him that Isis was safer than most of the planets we’ve let you visit, despite what happened to Carl. I reminded him that I’ve been on Isis eleven times before this tragic incident and I never got as much as a scratch, and not a single animal ever paid us the slightest attention—including the species that could disguise themselves as lava rocks. I pointed out that the few individuals from this species that finally did react to us only did so because Carl crushed one of them—and none of these survived to hold a grudge.”

“Sounds safe to me,” agreed Regan enthusiastically.

“Well, as safe as any primitive planet can ever be, I suppose. But even so, we’ll be taking precautions. We’re bringing a portable force-field generator, just in case. And the guards going with us will have guns—this time filled with tranquilizer darts,” she added pointedly, intent on ensuring that no further senseless killing of Isis wildlife would be possible, regardless of the provocation. “But
whatever
you do,” she instructed her children firmly, “
don’t
step on any lava rocks.”

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Thanks, Mom,” he said sarcastically. “If you hadn’t warned us just now that would have been the first thing I did.”

At last the elevator stopped and they stepped off into a massive, manmade cavern, the size of a baseball stadium, illuminated by powerful electric lights and filled with machinery and high-tech equipment. They said a warm hello to two heavily armed guards, both dressed
casually. Carl had not wanted Prometheus turned into a military base and insisted the members of his security team not wear uniforms or use military titles. In fact, everyone on the team used first names with each other, decorated colonels and Nobel Prize winning chemists alike. Dr. Harris was the only exception, despite his objections, because he was the head of the entire project.

They entered the city through a rainbow-colored section of the force-field wall their father had managed to hold open with a furious onslaught of precisely tuned energy.

“So is Dad just coming to keep us company?” asked Regan.

“Actually, it’s
his
expedition. I decided to go and bring along some of my staff to keep
him
company.” Amanda and Ben Resnick were among the first few members of the Prometheus Project and had recruited dozens of scientists who now worked for them.

“I don’t get it,” said Regan. “You’re the one who studies alien life. What does a physicist want with a primitive planet?”

“Isis is about 25,000 light years away. Less than 900 light years from a massive black hole in the center of our galaxy.”

A light year was the distance light could travel in a year. And since light was insanely fast, screaming along at 670 million miles per hour, 25,000 light years was some
serious
distance. Einstein had shown that nothing
in the universe could travel faster than light—but obviously the Qwervy had found ways to circumvent this rule with their portals.

“According to your father, when stars are sucked into black holes and annihilated, X-rays are emitted into space. He’s calculated that the X-rays from one of these events that happened many, many years ago will be close enough to Isis for him to measure sometime tomorrow or Sunday. He says this data has the potential to greatly enhance our understanding of black holes. He’ll set up the equipment tonight, and baby-sit it for the rest of the weekend to make sure nothing goes wrong.” Mrs. Resnick shook her head and an amused smile crossed her face. “He’s pretty excited about it.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” teased Regan, unable to keep a straight face.

Her mother’s smile broadened. “Since the animal life on Isis is so interesting,” she continued, “and since I haven’t had time to return since the incident, I thought we could make it a family outing. With a few others along for the ride. It’ll be fun.”

The familiar rows of fast, oversized electric-powered golf-carts were parked beside the entrance along with a half dozen electric trucks. The trucks were huge, with expansive cargo beds. They were called
Haulers
by the team since they were used to haul heavy scientific equipment around Prometheus. Despite their size their electric
engines were almost whisper quiet. The trio jumped into a large golf-cart at the end of the row. This time Regan took the front seat next to their mother while Ryan took the back.

They drove past buildings that shimmered and others that changed colors depending on the angle from which they were viewed. Buildings that appeared to be floating and others that sparkled brilliantly as though made of diamonds. The city was magnificent. No matter how often the kids visited they continued to find it awe-inspiring.

Several minutes later their mother stopped the cart in front of a four-story building in the shape of a complex three-dimensional snowflake. “I need to speak with Lou Holmgren,” she announced. “Wait here. This should only take a few minutes. Then we’ll go see the Enigma Cube.”

As they waited, one of the buildings off in the distance began changing shape, something that was always fun to watch. They exited the cart and walked toward one edge of the snowflake building to get a better view.

“Hold on,” said Regan when they were ten feet from the building’s edge. “I need to tie my shoe.” She knelt down to begin tying.

Ryan turned toward her to ask her a question.

And then a low hum hit his ears. The hum from a Hauler!

Ryan’s heart jumped to his throat! He turned back
around just in time to see a massive runaway Hauler shoot around the corner of the building. It was headed right for them!

The driver—a scientist who had been working around the clock for days—had fallen asleep at the wheel. Ryan absorbed the entire situation in an instant, but it was too late.

Before he could begin to warn his sister or launch himself out of the way, the twelve-ton vehicle was on them.

Ryan didn’t even have time to close his eyes as the Hauler slammed into his chest.

C
HAPTER
5
The Enigma Cube

T
he exact instant the Hauler made contact with Ryan’s sweatshirt, he felt a powerful force acting on his body that he couldn’t possibly describe, threatening to pull him apart. And then the driver’s face was less than a foot in front of him.

Impossible! The front of the Hauler should have crushed his chest and thrown him under the tires already.

Even more impossible, he could see inside the driver’s
face
!

Ryan could clearly see his brain, a three-pound mass of wrinkly material. He could see the backs of his eyeballs; huge orbs set into his skull, riddled with a complex network of blood vessels. And he could see inside of the blood vessels as well. And inside of the individual cells that made up the blood. And he could see through the truck to the driver’s chest, and through this to his heart,
and through this to his cells. He could see all of this in a single instant, and knew that his mind couldn’t hold it all in and would soon become overloaded.

And then the truck was past him! Instantly his vision returned to normal.

With a start, the driver of the Hauler awakened and jerked the wheel to straighten the vehicle. Realizing he had dozed off for several seconds, he shook himself awake and drove on, completely unaware he had just hit two kids.

Only he hadn’t. He had passed right through them.

Ryan felt faint and dropped to a sitting position on the ground next to Regan as the Hauler receded in the distance. Both were now white as ghosts—which is apparently what they and the truck had become.

“How can we be alive?” said Regan, her heart pounding thunderously in her ears. “I looked up and the Hauler was on us. We didn’t have a chance.”

Ryan nodded. “Just as it hit us, it became transparent somehow.” He paused. “No, that’s not the word for it. It became, I don’t know—not solid. Like a cloud or something. I think we did too.”

Regan nodded her agreement. “It was
so
freaky. I could see inside the tires. And inside the front hood—I could see the engine. And
inside
the engine. Somehow we and the truck passed right through each other.”

Both kids looked down and pressed on their arms
and stomachs, half expecting their hands to pass through their bodies.

“Well, we’re solid enough now,” said Ryan. “And the truck became solid again once it passed us.” He shuddered as the memory of the massive steel Hauler bearing down on him replayed itself in his mind. Never before had he felt so totally helpless and so certain that he had taken his last breath.

“That was like some kind of miracle,” said Regan, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Yeah,” said Ryan, nodding thoughtfully. “It was.” The slightest of smiles played over his face as he reached an inescapable conclusion. “So who do we know that can pull off miracles?”

The answer came to Regan immediately. “The Teacher,” she whispered, her eyes widening. Of course! The city’s central computer—so advanced it made a human supercomputer seem like a primitive adding machine. There could be no doubt it had saved them from certain death.

“Thanks,”
broadcast Regan to the Teacher with as much power as she could.

There was no reply, which didn’t really surprise them.

The existence of the Qwervy’s observation post was
supposed
to remain a secret, off limits to humans and aliens alike. When the Qwervy discovered that humans had managed to find and enter their city, they considered
expelling them and erasing their memories. While the Qwervy thought humanity was very promising, they knew the species had a dark and dangerous side it needed to master. They finally decided to let the team remain, but would not allow the Teacher to have any further contact with Ryan or Regan or help the team in any way. The human race would be on its own. The Qwervy wanted to see if humans could learn from the city’s technology rather than destroy themselves with it. Humanity had thrown itself into deep water, and now it was time to see if the species would sink or swim. Only Ryan and Regan knew the exact nature of the Qwervy’s decision and that they were keeping tabs on the team.