Alien Caller (60 page)

They kept
falling for what seemed like hours, and he wondering constantly how
far from the ground they were. And all the while visions of the
small craft burning up like a satellite on re-entry kept running
through his mind. Surely, he kept telling himself, the Leinians had
thought of that. Their life-pods would have heat shields, just like
the space shuttle. But the longer they fell, the worse those
thoughts became, and the hotter the air inside seemed to get.

Then, when he
least expected it, the seat restraint suddenly tightened even
further, and he could only take very shallow breaths, something he
hadn’t expected. Instantly he realized that the reason was surely
that the ride was about to get rougher still. But how much rougher?
Naturally he panicked, and even as he tried to escape his bondage
he watched the edges of his vision go dark. He was running out of
air and panicking at the same time, which was using up more air
again. And he couldn’t even turn his head to see if Cyrea was okay,
or if this was normal.

All he knew as
the darkness claimed him was that this was not the first landing by
a human being on another world that he had dreamed of.

Chapter
Twenty Nine

Strange sounds
and sun light were what brought him back to the world. David
realized he’d passed out somewhere on the way down, though he
didn’t remember it. He didn’t really remember waking up either. But
what did make it through to his tired brain was that they were on
the ground. On an alien planet. They were marooned.

The pod had
opened up, the steel wall somehow vanishing, and he was staring up
at a strangely yellow sky. An alien sky. A few hundred yards away
he could see another life pod, and another not that far behind it,
all looking like steel eggs, half blackened from cooking. But each
of the eggs had opened up like theirs as if someone had taken the
top off with a knife, and inside he could see the occupants in each
of them, all of them looking every bit as shell shocked as he felt.
But at least they were alive.

One by one they
staggered out of the life boats; the craft having mysteriously
opened by themselves and the seats having returned to a more normal
shape and David did the same. What else was there to do?

It was
confusing at first, standing up on an alien world, the more so for
the disorientation that was making his head spin at first. But as
the dizziness passed, the sights and sounds of an alien world made
themselves known to David, and it was only his thoughts that were
in turmoil. But they were becoming ever worse. On the one hand they
were marooned, possibly forever, on an alien world, and on the
other he was on an alien world. He was in fact the first human
being ever to set foot on one. He spent the longest time simply
staring wildly, his mouth opening and closing without a sound
coming out, trying to take it all in.

They were in a
valley. A giant green valley fully five kilometres across that was
dotted with pods like silvery mushrooms. He counted twenty and knew
there should be more, but he didn’t worry. The extra half dozen or
so pods would surely not be too far away. Under his feet the grass
was deep and green, but further afield it was yellow and red, and
all under a slightly yellowish sky. Tree’s which looked like
climbing frames with leaves were mixed in among the pods, and small
flying animals circled them. They could have been birds, but they
weren’t. Birds have feathers and only two wings. These had fur and
four wings which flapped in two separate beats. First the front
wings and then the rear, until the bird seemed to be doing
butterfly in the air.

The aroma of
the world impacted itself upon him, and he suddenly breathed deep.
It was a heady fragrance, pungent and somehow spicy, but not
unpleasant. An odour he’d never smelled before. Nor had any other
human being.

A pair of hands
he knew well, suddenly held him around the waist, and steadied his
thoughts even as they steadied his legs.

“You okay?” He
immediately nodded to her, then suddenly realising that it wasn’t
enough, he picked her up and kissed her.

“I'm fine.
You?” They were alive after a fall that he still couldn’t quite
believe hadn’t killed them, and he was on an alien world! The first
human being ever to set foot on another planet! One day he thought,
he might even be famous, assuming they ever got out of this. The
next Neil Armstrong! Except that he suddenly realised he didn’t
have a clever line to say. Nothing for history to record. In fact
his first words had been 'I'm fine. You?'. The historians would
hang their heads in shame when they found out. If they found
out.

“I’m okay,
Love. Just a bit dizzy.” David knew that feeling.

“We should go
and greet the others.” Cyrea’s face appeared in front of him and he
instantly agreed with her. In fact he started walking towards them
before he even understood he was moving. But soon his thoughts
caught up with his legs.

“Are you all
right?” Cyrea seemed fine actually, but for some reason he had to
check, again. He was horrified that he hadn’t thought to check
immediately, especially when she was pregnant. But she reassured
him that she was, and soon they started on their way towards the
base of the valley. No doubt this wasn’t quite such an event for
her as it was for him. This was not her first alien world, only the
first she had been stranded upon.

Far ahead of
them they could see the others also making their way in pairs to
the centre of the valley; it was the logical place to meet. And
there was some sort of structure there. No-one he noticed, was
shouting or waving. If anything the silence of the valley was
intensifying as they drew closer. No-one wanted to say anything.
No-one knew what to say.

As they
approached one of the trees, David saw that his initial impression
of it had been accurate. It actually looked like a climbing frame
with easily two dozen trunks growing out of the ground and
branching and interweaving with each other in a complex maze of
colour and angles. Leaves shaped like miniature Christmas trees
hung on all sides. Just like the grass a profusion of green, yellow
and red flowed over the bare trunks, giving life to the dark brown.
In the higher branches he could see what he thought might be nests,
but no faces stared back at him. Either the furry four winged birds
of this place had fled, or else had hidden so well that they
couldn’t be seen.

He was tempted
to stand and wait for them to reappear, but Cyrea was in a hurry to
be with the others. No doubt she wanted to tell them what she and
David had discussed, and also find out if they had any idea of how
to get off this planet. She wasn’t alone.

They carried
on, heading down the valley towards company. But finally David’s
thoughts had returned to something like working order, as he
remembered what he’d done, and more importantly what he had in his
jacket.

“Do you think
the Mentan could be watching us now?” The paranoid agent he had
been for so many years finally returned as he realised he still had
to show her what he’d managed to steal. But he couldn’t afford that
information to get back to their captor. Who knew what the Mentan
would do if he found out. And Cyrea’s mad rush to the meeting place
to discuss plans was exactly the action he would expect of everyone
else. It wouldn’t have taken much forethought on the Mentan’s part
to place a bug near where they’d meet.

“I doubt it. He
may have put a bug on the central depot he’s left for us, but it’s
not important. We can’t leave and we can’t call for help, so why
would he care what we do?” Her voice was flat as she admitted the
futility of their situation, and he knew she had been hit harder by
that then she showed. Immediately he held her tight to him, making
sure she knew he loved her and that at least they had each other.
But he was also making sure she knew what he was carrying.
Especially since he didn’t.

“Good. I think
I have something to tell you.” He pulled her to him, even more
tightly, forcing the objects into her flesh. She felt the bumps,
surprised but initially not that curious. After all, what could
they matter? But he kept placing her hands on them, making her feel
their hard metallic shapes, and slowly she started to pay more
attention.

Then he
unzipped the front of his army jacket, allowing her to feel the
solid lumps of what he’d stolen, and then as she reacted, guided
her hands to each and every one of them. One by one he brought them
out and held them close between them, directly under her nose for
her to see, but refused to let her say anything. Every time she
tried he just kissed her, until she got the idea. He still wasn’t
sure that they weren’t under observation, but he had to be certain.
And besides it was a pleasant way to pass the time.

Each object he
showed her she held closely, inspecting it, and several he saw made
her eyes widen. He just hoped it was a good sort of surprise.

“How did you
get these?” She whispered it at him, suddenly caught up in his
paranoia. But then she too had been victimized by listening
devices.

“You don’t want
to know!” Which was only the truth. When she found out he knew she
was likely to be upset. Of course she wasn’t happy with his answer
either and he wilted a little under her cool gaze.

“Let’s just say
your friend and mine had a bit of a spill and I took advantage of
his distraction.” He smiled at her and she stared calmly back,
still trying to assess just what had happened. He knew she would
ask again, until she found out and then she’d probably be mad. She
didn’t appreciate any heroics by him. Not since he had so nearly
died facing down Dimock. Especially not since she'd found out she
was pregnant. But it wasn’t important. Not compared with getting
off this world.

“You look cold
my love.” And before she could react and deny his words, after all
it was a warm day and she had her own clothes, he had taken off his
jacket and was dressing her in it. After her initial denial she
readily accepted the jacket, understanding that he was really
giving her the items he’d stolen.

“Is there
hope?” He whispered perhaps the most important question of the day
into her ear, as he kissed her cheek. She kissed him back very
hard.

“Just maybe. I
don’t know what all of them are, but one of them is a
communicator.” She would have told him more, but he didn’t need to
know. He couldn’t help anyway, and besides it was more fun to kiss
her and dream of getting out of here.

In time they
resumed their trek down to the others, who were starting to arrive
and mill around the depot like a gaggle of geese.

“Folks!” He
shouted it, knowing he had to take the initiative. The others were
just as lost and confused as he was, but not nearly as paranoid as
they needed to be.

“I expect that
our friendly pirate has left us a few presents, those he promised
us, and a few he never mentioned. One of them I’m certain will be a
bug. If any of you have any ideas as to how to get off this mud
ball, for God’s sake don’t mention it anywhere near the supply
depot, and don’t let him see anything either.” They stared at him,
some wondering if he’d gone mad, others clearly wondering if he
could be right. They’d never considered the possibility. He saw a
few guilty stares and knew several had been discussing exactly
that. Others, those who spoke English, translated his words for the
rest and one by one he saw more worried looks appearing.

Before they had
any chance to tell him he was a paranoid imbecile, Cyrea and he
marched off, heading for a flattish area five hundred meters away,
complete with some bush cover between them and the supply depot. At
that range surely they couldn’t be seen or heard easily. Not
without specialist telephoto equipment, and hopefully the Mentan
wouldn’t have thought of it. As Cyrea had said, the Mentan wouldn’t
really see how they could get off this world, so there was no need
to watch them.

It was a gentle
walk up a slight rise, and the sun was shining. Apart from the
colours and the trees, it could almost be a pleasant stroll through
a garden on Earth, and for a while he tried to imagine it was. In
the end though, it was just a shame that it wasn’t. They held hands
anyway.

Ten minutes
later they reached the shelter of the single tree that stood
nearby, and sat down waiting for the others to arrive. Sure enough
they were following, a trail of single individuals followed by a
clump as the rest decided to follow. The first to arrive were the
ones who accepted or who had at least listened to his arguments;
the rest were the followers. He noticed that most of the ship’s
crew were in the first group, their passengers in the trailing
clump.

As each person
arrived, Cyrea and he suggested that they sit down nearby, while
they waited for the rest to come. They both had to do it because
only he and Cyrea had translators with them and he knew that the
others would have limited English at best. Meanwhile his Leinian
was pitiful. With the device in his ear he could understand them,
but they wouldn't understand him. The first few sat down quietly
enough, but the latecomers moaned about the inconvenience of it
all. That was pretty much as he had expected.

Cyrea however,
had had about enough trouble for one day, and when the grumbling
grew too loud she decided to take control. She stood up, and pretty
much ordered them to sit down, to which most responded pretty well.
It wasn’t that they knew her from a bar of soap, or because they
respected her rank as an officer. It was because she seemed to have
some idea of what to do, something the rest of them lacked. In very
short order, the fifty two crew and passengers were seated in a
very large ring, all looking at her with something akin to hope in
their eyes.