e-Ghosts of Rogue Planet

Chapter 9

We decided to wear soft space suits, what NASA calls bio-suits. These suits are constructed out of a particularly strong polymeric material with flex-metal reinforcement and heating and cooling super-conductor cables. We still had to carry air tanks on our backs, but the suit itself would not be all that burdensome, and that was a good thing because the gravity was slightly higher than Earth’s.

We had to get to the Lander craft that was tucked into a chamber in front of our crew compartment, and that meant climbing up a ladder to the axis tunnel, entering a hatch and floating in zero-G along the tunnel to the Lander bay. Once inside, we entered the Lander by means of a hatch and took our places. James and I occupied the front seats and Marie and Alisha were seated directly behind us. We didn’t have that much elbowroom, but it was adequate.

“Well, this is it,” I said. “We’re going down into the unknown.”

That was a redundant statement. Each of was excited at the prospects of stepping foot on an alien planet.

“Let’s get it done,” James said.

“COMA, decompress the bay and open the hanger door.”

“Yes, Ryan.”

“Shouldn’t we be taking weapons down with us?” Alisha asked.

“We’re not a military unit,” I replied. “We wouldn’t even know what kind of weapons to take. In order to defeat an enemy, one must know the enemy.”

“That sounds like something Sun Tzu would have said,” Marie said.

“If he did, he was right.”

James chuckled.

With the Shuttle bay completely decompressed, the hanger door swung open and the Lander was propelled out of it by means of small thrusters. We slowly drifted away from the main ship, but the planet below captured our attention. A swirling cloud deck obscured its pale blue surface, giving it a marbled appearance. This strange new scene reminded us that we were about to descend to a truly alien world, which commenced abruptly when the breaking rocket fired, causing our bodies to swing forward against our restraining belts. The G-forces escalated as we fell like a rock. When the Lander shuttle hit the atmosphere, the outer hull began to heat up and glow. Soon, crosswinds shoved the craft sideways, adding a new G-force component to the already harsh breaking force.

We began to react vocally to the violent buffering of the strong stratospheric winds. It felt like we were riding an extreme roller coaster. Eventually, after the buffeting lessened and the G-forces subsided, I was able to grab the joystick and obtain some control. At this point I was flying a lifting body.

“Damn!” James exclaimed in an excited but controlled voice. “That was wild.”

“We went from over seventeen thousand miles per hour to eight hundred in five minutes,” I said. “That’s always going to be wild.”

“Where are we going to land?” Marie said.

“I’m going to attempt to put us down close to the large metropolis.”

“Are we sure that’s safe?” Alisha asked.

“We’re not sure of anything,” I said. “No one has ever done this.”

I had to put the Lander into a tight turn to change our heading. We were traveling at around four hundred miles per hour and I had to trim our course using thrusters in order to get the shuttle lined up for an approach.

“There’s a flat area over there,” Marie said, pointing.

“Yeah, I see it.” I hit the thrusters again to slow the shuttle and take it down for a landing. The higher gravity threw my timing off a bit, but I was able to put the craft down in the clearing. The landing struts hit the ground with a dull thud, and I began the sequenced shutdown.

“Well people, it’s time to put on our breathing gear and go exploring.”

That entailed attaching a full visor helmet to our collar ring and attaching the air hose. The computer would handle the rest.

Before we could set foot on the rogue planet, the shuttle had to have its pressure adjusted to the outside pressure, which was at two atmospheres, equivalent to being thirty-three feet underwater. After that was accomplished, the hatch could be opened.

I was elected to be first. I stepped out onto a truly alien landscape. The cloudy sky gave the nearly white soil a shimmering effect. There was a slight breeze but what hit me first was the temperature. It was hot, over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, my suit had a cooling system, but it still was oppressive because of the extremely low humidity.

The others got out and began walking around.

“This soil feels like sand,” Marie said.

“That’s because it is,” James said. “It’s pure white Silicon dioxide in the form of quartz.”

“This is essentially a desert,” I said.

“Yes, but I’m not sure that designation means much on this planet.”

Marie walked over to what appeared to be a plant, but it was unlike any plant on Earth. “These rectangle leaves look like circuit boards.”

We went over to where she was standing.

“They’re active,” Marie said after scanning them with a handheld unit. “I wonder how they get their power.”

“I’m detecting super conductor activity in the stems,” James said after consulting his scanner. “Maybe they generate power by waving around in the strong magnetic field of this planet.”

“That’s a clever way to make electrical power,” I said.

James looked out over a seemingly endless field of the electronic plants. “Maybe this is a power generating plant system.”

“Are we to consider this plant to be alive?” I asked.

“That would get us into an argument about what constitutes life,” James replied.

“Why does it have to be alive?” Alisha asked. “Why couldn’t it just be a power source for the alien city?”

“Why make it look like a plant?” James retorted. “We know that this planet is sterile, at least at far as carbon based life is concerned. The only kind of life that could have called this place home had to be silicon based, in other words, artificial.”

“We can’t be sure of any of that until we explore the city,” Alisha said.

“I agree,” I said. “Let’s see if we can find the answers in there.” I pointed at a large entrance to the city.

We began walking to the entrance and just as we were entering it, we saw something that made us stop dead in our tracks.

Author’s reminder:

This is the sequel to Europa Mon Amour.

All rights reserved - Copyright © 2015- The people, locations and incidents in this story are fictional, despite the fact that some of them are factual. No disparity or offense is intended to anyone or anything.