To The Stars (The Harry Irons Trilogy)

TO THE STARS

The Harry Irons Trilogy

Book One

by

Thomas C. Stone

Cooper’s Press

http://www.cooperspress.com

Chapter 1

Six hundred miles above planet surface, Executive Officer Collenz eyeballed the entire eastern seaboard through a viewing port. A mountain range ran north and south. Further west, a high desert plain stretched to the horizon, but it was the wooded coast that drew her attention.

Readouts indicated all systems functioned normally. As the spacecraft floated eastward, its antennae adjusted for optimal performance. Collenz returned to her console.

Telemetry revealed vast coniferous forests, lush green valleys, and an occasional river snaking its path to the sea. The general impression was blue and green and red and brown, and all the other Earth colors that made Collenz hope they'd hit a strike, a hospitable planet. The company would pay huge bonuses for finding a stable planet capable of being colonized.

Collenz unconsciously bit a nail as she searched for a flash of sunlight off metal that might reveal the shuttle's landing site. The ground team was ten minutes late for their check-in call.

The shuttle required an area large enough to accommodate its size, like a meadow, or maybe just a small area between the trees. Ah yes, she drew in her breath, there it was.

Simultaneously, she pressed a key at her console and a preset navigational program began to cycle. As a result, the spacecraft parked itself in stationary orbit above the landing site.

*

Hundreds of miles below, the pined forest spread over the land and up the jagged slopes of mountains. The massive trees were similar to those on Earth: old, primitive conifers that grew to be as thick as houses and taller than acceleration ramps. It was the first thing Fagen noted about the planet -- the towering trees.

Glad to be outside, he took a breath and surveyed his surroundings. The shuttle sat in a small meadow, nestled between giant pines. It was a sunny day, hot in the direct sunlight with a breeze blowing from the coast.

Fagen stood in the shade beneath the airfoil, craning his neck to see the towering treetops where clouds passed.

An electronic pop issued from his earpiece, quickly followed by Mission Specialist Carter's voice. "Uh, Commander?"

Fagen spoke into his headset mike. "Yes, Carter?"

"Can you see Povich?"

"Negative. She's not with you?"

"Well, she was."

"Where is she?" Fagen asked in rising excitement.

The radio cracked with Carter's voice. "That's what I'm trying to tell you. She walked into the forest and I lost sight of her. Two minutes passed, I swear to God, that's all, before I called to her again. There's no answer."

Fagen looked across the clearing. Carter faced Fagen across the space.

"Povich! If you hear me, give us a wave!" No answer. Fagen waved at Carter. "All right, hold it right there, we'll look for her together."

Glancing from side to side, Fagen crossed the sunlit field. Carter pointed in the direction of a thousand year old evergreen. "That's the last place I saw her." Fagen started away, motioning for Carter to follow.

"She couldn't have gotten far," Carter said.

Fagen didn't answer. He hated incompetence. No matter how pleasant the planet seemed to be, it was unexplored and light-years from Earth. They had to be careful, protocol had to be followed.

With no warning, a sensation passed through his core like a wave. He looked at Carter. "Did you feel something?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, something like..." Fagen checked the readings on his portable console "...like an electric charge in the air."

"Hey," a third voice said, startling the two men.

Carter and Fagen looked up and observed Povich sixty yards away. She waved them over.

Fagen started in. "You know the rules, Povich. What do you think you're doing? Why didn't you answer our calls?"

She held up her hands to stop his tirade. "All right, all right, hold on a minute. I snagged my antenna and it broke at the base, see?" She turned around to let Fagen inspect her small equipment pack. "I couldn't call."

"Why didn't you just come back?"

"Look at this." She stood aside and pointed at a circle of carefully aligned rocks on the forest floor. Ashes were contained within the circle. The ground all around was stamped down. "It's a campsite. Somebody, or something, built a fire here. I'd say this is pretty strong proof of intelligent life."

Fagen looked hard at Povich. "I don't see it proves anything."

"You must be joking."

"I don't joke, Povich. Wandering from the specified area is a serious breach of protocol."

"What are we here for?" Povich interrupted. "I'm doing the job I was hired to do!"

"Then conduct yourself as you were briefed."

"Right," she replied curtly. "May I continue to investigate the area?"

"You may."

Povich abruptly turned away and, now with Carter's help, continued searching the surrounding ground. In moments, Carter spotted something.

"What does that look like to you?" he asked, pointing to the ground.

Fagen studied the spot and said nothing.

"Looks like a footprint to me," declared Povich.

Reluctantly, Fagen replied, "Maybe."

The same sensation passed through Fagen again, but this time accompanied by a whining sound as if air under high pressure was being expelled through a nozzle.

"What is that?" Carter asked.

Fagen, still listening, shrugged and walked away, looking for the source of the sound. He followed the arc of the trunk and peered ahead. A flash of metal in distant shadows revealed something moving slowly and steadily toward their position. At random intervals, the high-pitched sound came out of it.

It moved like a machine, robotlike, but with smooth precision. Fagen slowly stepped back until he stood against the tree. He motioned to Povich and Carter.

Povich spread her hands. "What?"

"Something's coming," Fagen said, "Get back to the shuttle!"

Neither moved. Instead, they exchanged quizzical looks.

Fagen looked behind and saw another flash of movement. He remembered the landing party wasn't armed.

"Come on," he ordered, "Back to the shuttle! Now!"

Povich spread her hands. "This is ridiculous, why don't you tell us what's going on?"

"No time. Just come on."

"What about..." started Carter.

"Go now!" Fagen pushed Carter and the mission specialist finally broke into a run toward the shuttle.

Povich grabbed Fagen by the arm. "What did you see? What is it?"

"I don't know... machines maybe."

"And you’re running away? I'm going to take some pictures."

"Come on! Back to the shuttle! Now!"

"You can't tell me what to do -- my father has more invested in this trip than any other shareholder, including you. So, I'll do what I want." The whining of pressured air came again, much closer.

"Don't be a fool." Fagen was backing away.

"Me? You're pretty foolish yourself, running away from an opportunity like this." The young woman wedged herself between two over-sized, exposed roots and checked her video camera.

"Go on," she waved Fagen away. "I'll lay the groundwork."

"Don't be stupid," said Fagen as he looked in the direction of the growing noise. "I don't have time for this."

Povich hunkered down in her little niche.

"Stubborn," murmured Fagen as he turned away.

*

Fagen disappeared from view. Povich settled into her hiding spot and listened. The high-pitched sound stopped. In the confines of the forest she heard Fagen's footsteps fade just as she heard Carter's insistent voice, although she couldn't make out what he said.

Minutes passed. The forest was quiet. A chill passed as she finally considered the possibility that something might harm her. She was alone. She shifted her feet and looked around. Nothing but enormous trees.

A shadow passed. Povich looked up but saw nothing beyond a solid ceiling of branches and pine needles. Something glided through the air overhead, a small creature, birdlike in its grace.

In relief, Povich smiled. Fagen had been frightened by a bird. She switched on her video recorder and sighted at the creature as it skitted between the branches. It wasn't a bird, but something rather like a flying rat.

She followed it with her camera, recording its movements and automatically relaying the data back to the shuttle recorders. The rat flew from right to left, perched momentarily on a branch, then jumped off and flew directly over Povich's head, stopping on the tree trunk behind Povich and gripping the bark with marvelously delicate little fingers.

The animal wasn't afraid and peered back. It was only two feet away, but it showed no hostility, appearing to be as curious as Povich. Its wings were long, loose folds of skin attached to short lower legs and long upper arms. Povich got a good picture just before the thing jumped onto her shoulder.

It surprised her but she maintained her composure as the animal clung to the heavy fabric. It sniffed her neck and tickled her with its nuzzling nose. She allowed it to climb down to a large, unzipped pocket. It crawled inside, poked its head back out, and looked directly at the amazed woman. Then it looked past her, over her shoulder.

Povich felt a presence behind, then a soft whoosh. The air moved and Povich turned to see what was behind. The ratlike creature jumped from her pocket to the ground and squatted some feet away, watching.

Povich's fleeting impression was of something large, something metallic, floating on air, but before she could assimilate the image, the air hissed and from the corner of her vision, Povich caught sight of something coming at her from the side. An unearthly, triumphant scream issued forth, reverberating through the forest.

The blow hit the side of the neck, slicing through skin, muscles and tendons, as well as the cervical column just above the third vertebrae. Her severed head dropped to the cushioned floor of pine needles.

*

Carter was waiting outside the shuttle when Fagen trotted up.

"Come on," urged Fagen as he gripped a rung on the ladder leading to the open hatch.

"Wait a minute. What are we running from?"

Fagen shook his head. "I wish I knew. It was metallic, maybe robotic, big, and it moved... fast. There were appendages and things, tools, or weapons, hanging from it. There were two of them, moving pretty far apart."

"Why didn't we make contact?"

"You didn't see them, I did. Believe me, these things looked like a hunting party."

Carter looked toward the trees. "What about Povich? What are we going to do?"

"Stay here and watch. I'm going to the weapons locker."

Without another word, Fagen climbed through the hatch into the shuttle. Once inside, he made his way to the weapons locker and opened it up. To his disbelief, it was empty.

The commander glanced out the nearest port and something slid out of his field of vision. He stepped across the width of the shuttle and peered through the opposite port. Below, Carter watched the forest for Povich. Fagen crossed back to the first port and looked to the trees. The thing, whatever it was, stood motionless on spindly legs at the edge of the meadow. It had circled the meadow and was unexpectedly coming from the opposite direction. Fagen had his first, good look.

It was tall, seven feet or so. Its smooth, semi-circular, metallic torso was held aloft by a trio of knuckled legs, one fore and two aft, like a thumb opposed by two fingers. When it moved, it stepped gingerly, but quickly, as a spider might. A silvery hump sat atop the body looking like a head with a darkened plate in front where eyes should have been. Two metallic arms hung from either shoulder and ended in a three-fingered hand. Accoutrements hung from an apparatus of straps slung around its body.

As Fagen watched, it began to walk toward the shuttle. Moving deceptively fast, it was across the meadow before Fagen reacted.

"Carter? Get up here right now!" Fagen once again crossed to the opposite port. Carter still watched the forest, unaware of what was creeping up from behind. Fagen pounded against the hull and shouted a warning, "Get out of there!" but Carter didn't hear.

Fagen rifled through the other lockers, but someone had removed the weapons. He shot a glance out the window again. The creature was less than three meters behind Carter. It removed an item from its harness and loaded it into what appeared to be a hollow tube. Fagen started back to the open hatch.

There was a pop! followed by the sickening sound of pierced flesh. A thin, silver wire stretched taut as the creature began to reel in its length. When the end came into sight, Fagen saw that the projectile had first passed through, and then somehow wrapped itself around Carter's limp and broken neck. With a sudden, cold aloofness, Fagen hit the Access Closed switch and the hatch swung shut.

*

After lift-off, the shuttle made the transit quickly. Collenz waited for him at the top of the passageway that led to the bridge. "What kind of trouble?" she asked.