Carpathia IV: Episode 245 - The Road
Bridge, NCCS Shadowdancer-A
Hours of meetings concluded. A dozen conversations with Admiral Zhang and Ryuu. Tens of thousands of words spoken. Through it all, one sentence from Ryuu took up residence in Aire's brain and refused to leave. "Aionaptara could easily destroy this ship and there wouldn't be anything you could do about it." He did not share this with the rest of the crew. After all, what good would it do?
Aire's only consolation was that it was near certain that Aionaptara already knew they were coming. If he wanted to destroy them, he could have done it hours, if not days, ago. It's a dangerous place, space. Any day, he knew, could be his last, but this hit differently. The possibility of death was far more immediate than most times.
Despite telling Joust that they had to present a calm face to the crew earlier, Aire gave up, at least partially, on that, for he knew there would be no way to hide is own discomfort completely. So he sat, hunched over and stiff in his chair, hands with a sweaty grip on the ends of the armrests, knowing that everything could end at any moment and he would only have a few seconds to realize what was happening.
Nalma: Captain, we are approaching the planet.
Aire remained as he was, hunched and unmoving, delivering orders in a cold monotone.
Aire: Begin surface scans.
Phobos: Beginning scans, Captain.
Aire: Baal, map the planet.
Baal: Already applying latitude and longitude algorithms, Captain.
Aire: We're not going anywhere until we have more data. Everyone, as data from scans come in, study them and look for evidence of where Aionaptara might be or any other sort of intelligent life. If nothing else, it appears we haven't offended him yet.
Joust: Keep that up, I suppose. The not offending part. Not sure how we do that, exactly, but not shooting would be a good place to start.
Two hours later
Nothing. This was good, in a way, because it meant that they hadn't all been vaporized by an angry bat devil. This didn't do any good for anyone's nerves, but the work kept everyone focused. With several scanning passes over the planet complete, the picture became clearer, literally, as the resolution improved with each pass.
Phobos: Captain, I think I have found evidence of structures. Very localized.
Aire: Location?
Phobos: Southeast quadrant. I'll bring up the location for you. It's all scattered around an area of 7000 square kilometers. Outside of that, I haven't found anything artificial. No evidence of industry or agriculture. It's just random structures.
Aire: Alright. Better go down and have a look. Joust, get your team together and load the ATV into the shuttle. You might need it.
Joust gave a heavy sigh as he stood.
Joust: Kit, Phobos, Baal, Teek, Ryuu, you go on ahead. I'll pick up Tamati, Shep, and Ramei on the way down.
Three jumped from their chairs immediately, all but Ryuu who was back in dragon form and thus was not in a chair, and followed Joust into the lift.
Shuttle Nimbus
The Nimbus broke through the clouds revealing a lush, various landscape below. Verdant, green forests, vivid red deserts, and gently rolling plains. The entire Nimbus crew crowded around Teek to get a look outside the windscreen. No Aionaptara. Just a beautiful landscape below.
Ramei: This looks like it would be a good planet to settle, aside from the cosmic horror living there.
Shep: It beats the leech planet.
Joust: Alright everyone, concentrate. Keep a watch out for anything unusual. Teek, make a wide circle around the area.
Teek: Yes, Commander.
Teek turned the yoke and began a wide arc around the area. Though they couldn't see anything special aside from the landscape, the sensors saw all, and Baal was there to record all of it. It took an hour to complete the circle and still, no Aionaptara.
Baal: I have several structures, but two of particular interest. One is a massive bridge with what could be temples on either side. The other is... stranger. It's an island with several buildings and sculptures, all built on some kind of sand, I think. What's strange about it is that it is shrouded in twilight. No clouds or anything that would be blocking out the sun. It's dusk there for no reason.
All aboard had the same two ideas. One was a pretty strong guess which of the two was most likely to have Aionatpara. The other was that they'd like to have a look at the sunshiny bridge first. Fortunately for all, Joust felt the same.
Joust: Baal, send coordinates of the bridge to helm. Teek, take us down to 2000 meters and head there.
Teek: Receiving coordinates.
Teek reduced speed and pushed on the yoke. The shuttle descended, nose down, affording an even better view of the land than before. At the ordered altitude, he levelled off and proceeded to the coordinates.
But the shuttle never got close.
A sudden jolt and the nose pitched up high, near vertical, and heeled over to the port side. Teek wrestled with the controls while the rest got tossed about in the cabin. In short order, he had control again and turned the shuttle opposite to where they were headed, slowing even further.
Tamati: Everyone okay?
One by one, the crew nodded or grumbled in the affirmative.
Phobos: What was that?
Teek: I don't know. I didn't see anything and there was nothing on sensors.
Ramei staggered to the front and studied the displays.
Ramei: Show me the exact spot where the shuttle heaved.
Teek tapped at a screen to his side and brought up the flight path up to now. The spot where they abruptly changed direction was clear and Ramei zoomed in on that spot.
Ramei: Take us back there and slow to 5 kph when we get close.
Teek: Coming about, Lieutenant.
Teek gently turned the ship and made his way back to the collision point. As they neared the position, he slowed the shuttle to the point that it was barely moving and watched it inch forward on the screen. Finally, a little boop, and the shuttle's nose rose, but this time, they could see something wibble just in front of them before the shuttle pitched out of view.
Phobos: There's some kind of shield here. It is probably outside of our usual scanning band. One moment while I widen the scope.
Phobos took the co-pilot's chair and started making the adjustments. After a few minutes, the main screen between the pilot and co-pilot showed a massive dome covering most of the area that they came to explore.
Ramei: And the twilight island is dead in the middle of it. I think we have our target, but how do we get there?
Baal: Not sure, but this might be something. There appears to be a dirt road that goes from the outside of the dome to the twilight island. Aionaptara might be telling us to start there.
Joust: Kit, contact Shadowdancer. Send the scanner adjustments and tell the Captain that we'll be landing where the road enters the shield.
Kit: Yes, Commander. Contacting Shadowdancer.
Joust: Teek, put us down.
Teek: Setting course for the road.
The Road at the end of the shield
The shuttle touched down near the edge of a forest where the scans told them the shield ended. The shuttle door opened and first out was Shep, scanner in hand.
Shep: All clear, Commander, but be careful. We don't know what hidden dangers might be here.
The rest of the crew emerged one by one, some looking around and some conducting their own scans.
Phobos: The shield looks like it's cutting right through the treetops, but they're still intact. It must be going around them.
Ramei: Any way we can use that knowledge to get the shuttle in?
Joust: Negative, Ramei. No tricks. Don't forget who we're dealing with. We're going in exactly as intended, assuming we can.
Phobos approached the shield boundary, still scanning.
Phobos: The shield is weak in this spot. About ten square meters. Too small for the shuttle, but the ATV can fit.
Tamati: There is a sign here, but I can't read it.
Ryuu's ears flicked up and he trotted to Tamati and the sign he found.
Ryuu: The same ancient aptaran language.
Thou mayest advance, yet prone thy gear submit,
Thine arms and soaring vessels leave behind.
Relinquish, sir, thy tools of force and flight,
And cross the threshold weaponless, I bid.
Kit: So we can't bring any weapons or flying machines.
Teek: At least we can keep our scanners.
Joust: Alright, open the shuttle and get out the ATV. Kit, tell Captain Valro that we're going in.
Kit: Yes, Commander. Permission to scan this sign. I want to start getting a record of this language.
Joust: Granted. Captain first, though.
Kit started his call to the Shadowdancer and Ryuu stayed with him while the rest worked on unloading the ATV.
Commissioned art in this episode from:
AvareonArt
Zelbunnii
Less_End
Thatwildmary
Colourbrand
Falke2009
