Nikanatedanniell

Chapter 44 The scenery is serene but the natives are deadly

Edawe Island, as seen through the Banta's Observation Deck window was a dark mass. The daytime photographic map Nikki was staring at was bright green with blue dots. "There it is," Niel announced once they were in stationary orbit.  "Now we pick the most likely spot for a big black post and go  looking. Yes?" He waved his hand in front of Nikki's blank face. "Hello? Is anyone home?

"Huh? Yeah," Nikki said, only paying half attention.  "Does down there really look like this? This does not look real. I have been staring at it for the last, I do not know how long and it still does not look real. For example, the blue dots are the lakes, but they are all the same. Look at them. The same size, the same shape and they are equally spaced. What is more, all the edges are sharp. Remember when we flew around Earth just so Debby and I could see what it looked like? There were plenty of countries with lakes. None looked like that."

"The island is volcanic. It could be that there is lava rock around the lakes so that nothing grows there."

"Could be, but is a volcano eruption going to leave a perfectly round hole? It is perfectly fake. I think it is a projection, as on a teaching cube. I think it is part of the force field, a disguise to keep people away. I would love to know what the sensor readings are."

"I checked before I joined you here. Initial readings are consistent with what we are seeing. A more detailed sweep is being run to check for energy sources and fluctuations that might indicate a force field."

Nikki rubbed her locket and paced. After two laps around the deck, she stopped and pivoted on her heels to face Niel.  "What about a perfect projection? We are talking Eye of Angels here. Would the sensors be able to tell if they were being duped?"

"Probably not," Niel rubbed his locket. "However," he said after a moment, "we can run the same scans on some other islands and compare them. We could look for variation and distribution of plants and animals. If that is a projection, life forms might be as uniformly distributed as the lakes."

"Well, the Bridge is directly above us, let us do it."

When they reached the lift, the ship rocked violently  throwing them to the floor. As soon as they stood, an equally upsetting jolt bounced them into each other. This time the lights dimmed. They bolted to the staircase and safely reached the Bridge.

"Get us higher," Captain Senvalle was bellowing.

"What the crud happened?" Nikki demanded.

"Were we shot at?" Niel's question was less insistent.

"Yes," Senvalle snapped, "Carslen, status report."

The male consulted his screens as he answered. "Shields are down ten percent but holding. The energy pattern of the blast is consistent with short-range anti-aircraft weapons.   It came from the direction of Edawe, but," he held up his hands in frustration, "I do not know where. There are no signs of weapons or even people."

Nikki flashed a smug smile. Niel frowned, "the sensor information, as well as the appearance of the island is false.  Nikki surmised that a few minutes ago. There is, it seems, a projection of a perfect nature preserve integrated with the force field that surrounds the island."

"That is impossible," the Captain shook his head.

"Captain," Niel explained calmly, "one-hundred years ago a force field was placed around Edawe using the Eye of Angels.  Anything is possible."

His voice became firm. "Nikana and I need to be on that hunk of rock. Transport us two telomets above and a few telomets away from any point of the perimeter."