Open Writing

Rigel system
December, 2515

When Cal and his crew brought the Hermes II into orbit around the ninth planet from the giant sun, there were two other ships parked above the reddish-brown world also. Dennis opened their communications, and Cal hailed the other ships.

“Hello, the Clarke”, he said, listening and watching the Earth ship on the screens. The Arthur C. Clarke sat, relatively motionless, about a kilometer off the Hermes II. Like all Earth vessels, it was shaped like the Hermes, and its spherical hull glinted in the light from the giant star, many hundreds of millions of kilometers distant.

Similarly placed, about two klicks off the Hermes II, sat the William O’Rourke, named for the legendary explorer and dear friend of three of the crew. Cal also hailed this vessel, and exchanged pleasantries and information with both captains. Neither ship had anyone on the surface at present, nor had anyone gone down since they arrived a few hours previously, after returning to Earth from their original explorations to re-provision and fuel.

After arranging to send a team down, which the other ships’ captains greeted with what sounded like relief, Cal closed communications and turned to his crew. “Okay, folks, I guess this is where we earn our pay. The Clarke has given us the co-ordinates of a large underground complex that contains the device. There is also evidence of a lot of other machinery, and we’re going to investigate that first. We’ll go down in the shuttle and take a look. They haven’t found any life-forms yet, but that doesn’t mean much. Our scanning equipment isn’t much, and it’s a big planet. We’d best be on our toes.”

“It’s a big star, too,” Dennis said, looking at the viewscreen. “How big do you suppose it is, Cal?”

Cal smiled, turned and pretended to notice Jonathan for the first time.

“Why, look! We just happen to have an astrophysicist among us. Let’s ask him, maybe he’ll know.”

Jonathan smiled self-consciously, and cleared his throat. “Well… Rigel is, as you know, one of the stars in the constellation of Orion; as seen from Earth, it’s 900 light years away. It’s a blue-white giant, and quite large, about 35 times the diameter of our sun. As such, it’s correspondingly hotter, which is why we find ourselves orbiting the ninth planet in its system. Much closer, and we’d begin to have a few problems with the heat.”

Dennis whistled. “Nine hundred light years, wow. That’s quite a long way from home.”

They reflected on this piece of not-exactly-welcome information, then Cal resumed his briefing. “We’ll make an initial sortie to a point directly below our present position. The complex is several hundred klicks away to the east, but we’ll just have a look and get a feel for the place.”

“Karen, Julia, and Arnold, sorry, you’ve drawn the short straws again. Dennis, Jonathan, and Joe will go with me for a look-see, while you mind the store.”

The three began to protest, but Cal shook his head. He didn’t say so, but he suspected there might be undetermined danger on this planet, and he wasn’t about to put his wife in that kind of situation. Ditto for Arnold, and especially Julia, neither of whom were suited for daring exploration. He knew Joe’s abilities, and there was no one he’d rather have at his back than the big Navajo; Dennis was a walking arsenal, his experience with the SAS priceless, and Cal suspected Jonathan might, if it came to a fight, surprise them all.

Cal left the bridge to get ready for the excursion. He told Dennis to draw weapons for each of them. Something about this planet made him uneasy, and it was it better to be prepared than surprised, no matter how unlikely it might be.

* * * *

The crew braced as Dennis Crafter brought the shuttle in for a landing on Rigel and sat looking at the viewscreens as the engines whined to a stop. The planet looked like Hell; blasted, as though from a hundred nuclear wars.

Cal looked around at the others. “Right, let’s go.”

They put on pressure suits and oxygen bottles, although their instruments showed the air to be breatheable. Then Dennis raised the main door and, with Cal leading, the four men stepped out.

“Anything, Joe?”

Joe studied his sensor shaking his head, “Nothing. I’m getting a few readings, but nothing I recognize, and too vague to get a fix on.”
Cal looked around and took in their surroundings. Without quite knowing why, he said, “We’d better get away from this open terrain and find some cover.” He started walking, and the others followed, moving quickly from the flat and toward a clump of scraggly-looking trees at the edge of a marshy swamp. As they walked, Cal looked around more closely. The cloud-cover was a reddish-brown, reflecting the color of the planet and it felt like it was draining his life force.

Reaching the trees, they saw that it wasn’t a swamp, but a shallow lake, several kilometers across, with foul vapors rising from it, making air around it poisonous. The feeling of imminent peril seemed stronger, and he warned the others to be on guard. They stood at the edge of the water, unsure of their next move. Cal took out his portable communicator and tuned it to the ship’s frequency. “Come in, Hermes.”

Arnold’s voice came back strongly. “Hermes here, Cal.”

“We seem to have arrived at some kind of lake, Arnold. Do you have a positive fix on us?”

“Yes, Cal,” came the reply, this time from Karen. “We have you clearly.”
Cal nodded, his unease apparent to them all. “Acknowledged. Keep a close eye on us, people. This is definitely one place we do not want to get lost. Ground team out.” He turned off the communicator, and turned to Jonathan.

“Anything, Professor?”

“Yes, Cal. There’s a reading showing up, and it’s intensifying.”

“Draw your sidearms,” said Cal, “but don’t shoot unless forced to.” He drew his own weapon just as a creature from his deepest nightmares emerged from the swamp. It started towards them, letting out a blood-curdling roar, and Cal did not hesitate, but gave it two rounds from his 15mm Glock/Colt in the chest. The creature was knocked on to its back by the force of the bullets; then, to everyone’s astonishment, it rose and approached them again. Reluctantly, Cal raised his aim to the creature’s head and fired again. This time, the bullets passed through the creature, one through each eye, and exploded out the back of its head. It stood still for a moment, then fell on to its back in the shallow water at the edge of the swamp.

“Form a circle!” Cal said to the others. “Go for head shots! Their bodies seem to be armor plated.”

Quickly, they arranged themselves into a tight group, back to back, alert to any movement around them. Joe glanced at the sensor in his hand.

“There’s still plenty of them out there, Cal. Don’t ask me where.”

Crafter, his pistol held out before him, said, “What the fook was that, Cal?”

Cal shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

They had all seen the alien creature for a few seconds before Cal’s second attempt had killed it. The creature had been roughly humanoid, but there the resemblance ended. It had a short, stubby tail and thick arms and legs, but it was the head that had claimed their attention. Round, with snake-like strands streaming from the crown, it resembled nothing so much as the mythical medusa of ancient Greece.

In addition, it had large, tiger-like teeth and its body was covered in some kind of plating, thick as armor, as evinced by its resistance to the first two shots Cal had fired.

Despite his long experience meeting several alien species, Cal shuddered at the memory of the creature. He took out his communicator.

“Come in, Hermes.”

Arnold’s voice came back immediately. “Right here, Cal.”

“We’re on our way back, Arnold. Stand by.”

“OK, Cal.”

They reached the safety of the shuttle without seeing any more of the creatures, although their sensors showed plenty of life-signs all around them. It was with a great deal of relief that Dennis closed the hatch and lifted off the planet’s surface. He took the shuttle quickly out of the atmosphere into orbit, and soon docked with Hermes II.

After docking, Cal left the shuttle and walked towards the elevators. He knew that, despite the threat presented by the creature and its fellows, they had to return to the planet and investigate the ruins, then try to figure out what the device was. And the sooner they did that, and then got the hell out of here, the happier he’d be.