Crucible of a Species (9 page)

“Lieutenant Braxton and Ensign Petrika you’re responsible for picking a defensible position from the sites selected by Dr. Shieve. I don’t care how good the site looks, safety comes first. Do your job properly and we all just might come out of this alive.”

Colonel Drake could see realization coming across Sandra’s face. This is more than an academic field exercise and, for the first time in her life, the lives of others depended upon her. Sandra started feeling a bit nervous and indecisive until Lieutenant Braxton broke the spell.

“Aw, Colonel.” Braxton greeted his superior officer. “Alex already read me the riot act and I promised to be gentle and kindly to our civi guest while she’s on board. I think Sandra’s goin’ to do just fine.”

“So it’s ‘Sandra’, is it Lieutenant?” Drake lifted an eyebrow, “You’re on a first name basis with the doctor?”

“Aye, sir. Turns out we went to different high schools together.” Braxton waited for a moment, closely watching his Colonel. He was determined to get him to crack a smile one of these days. “All kidding aside, sir, we’ll get along and I promise to bring her back to you without a mussed hair on her head.”

“Hurmph, well just maybe we need to sit down and have a talk one day, Lieutenant, but remember they are civilians, not ‘civi’s’ and be sure to extend your full courtesy to our other civilian, Mr. Bradley.” Drake turned again to Sandra, “Dr. Shieve, in spite of what you see here, Commander Johnson is both reliable and level-headed. I’d even go so far as to say that, if you can stand to listen to his constant banter, then you might find some words of wisdom hidden in there.

“Mr. Bradley, I see you have all your gear packed. I expect you to listen to the Lieutenant down there. I don’t want to be the one who has to explain your loss to management.” The Colonel growled, “Too much paperwork.”

Drake turned back toward the others, “If there are no questions, then it looks like you’re ready to go. Good hunting, Lieutenant.”

Colonel Drake watched and silently shook his head as he watched the journalist step back out of line and, with a little bow and a smile, give up his forward position to Midshipman Thornsen.

The Hunter looked like most other small transports on the inside. Temporary passenger seating filled the forward center of the small craft’s bay. The ship could have handled more than thirty people plus cargo in this configuration so there was a lot of free space. A raised platform in the bow housed two chairs for pilot and co-pilot. Ensign Petrika took the copilot’s seat and removed the embarkation checklist as Braxton mounted the platform and turned toward the group.

“I realize that for some of you this will be your first trip on a Hunter Recon Vessel so let me give you a few basic instructions.

“Please remain buckled in your seat until we are on our way and I give the all clear. Interlocks prohibit our drive from starting while the Hunter’s docked so we can’t simply fly out. They will lower the gravity in the bay and a piston will push the ship out into the airlock launch area. After removing the air, the piston will then launch us off-ship where we can fire our wave drive. At that point, gravity will return to normal. Remember, I’ll tell you when you can get up.

“A word of warning about travelling in a Hunter Recon. The forward walldisplays will become active after we fire the drive. This is generally not a problem while we are in space as long as you expect it. However, as we approach the surface, some of you may become uncomfortable; most people call it airsickness.

“With wave drive technology, the Hunter becomes a highly maneuverable animal. She is capable of turning full around on a dime and giving you five cents back in change. Through the whole maneuver, you won’t feel a thing. It’s just like watching an old vid but the sudden shifts in perspective during close flight upsets some people.

“If you experience nausea, there are barf bags in the side pockets of your chair but I would prefer that you do your business in the head located aft and to starboard. The door opposite the head houses a small galley stocked with sandwiches and drinks.

“We have no cargo so we’ll be runnin’ light and nimble. Once we are on our way, feel free to walk around and with that, we’ll get started. Please buckle in and secure any loose items.”

Braxton called into control and soon after they felt a slight queasiness that grew as the pull of gravity lessened. A sudden jolt and vibrations filled the cabin as the ship pushed forward into the airlock. Then, all was quiet.

The rapid ‘chung-chung-chung’ of the anti-sublimation cycle filled the cabin as it converted the docking chamber’s air into a reusable solid, “Okay everyone. One more bump and we are on our way.”

A chime sounded and Brittany’s head flew back in spite of the warning. Reflexively, she closed her eyes as the room lights flickered. Then gravity returned and in opening her eyes, Brittany was amazed. The entire forward section of the Hunter was open to the cosmos. Innumerable stars, like brilliant diamonds carelessly flung across endless space, streamed across what had been the front of the vessel. The pilot’s stage floated free in space enveloped in the encompassing sea of lights. Then the starfield slowly swung around until the opal planet below filled more than half of their view.

Sparkling waters covered the globe, broken by large landmasses that grew in size as they approached. Disoriented by the lack of polar ice caps, Sandra tried to make out the larger tectonic plates that would eventually shape the familiar continents of her world.

A filamentous, scattering of clouds hung over the ocean as the craft entered the atmosphere. The wave drive smoothed their passage, gone were the days of turbulence and fiery buffeting of the ship as it soared silently through the thickening air. The only indication of their descent into the atmosphere was a lightening of the skies around them that continued until the stars eventually faded in the scattered light of the Sun’s rays. The Hunter descended until they could resolve waves in the waters below with a distant, dark landmass covered with lush green vegetation ahead.

“There are isolated ice deposits on the tips of the mountain peaks over on the far right.” Dr. Shieve commented, “According to magnetic imaging, we should be near the northern pole and the temperature of the Arctic waters below us is … let’s see … a balmy sixty four degrees Fahrenheit.”

Luxuriant forests of pine covered the shores mixed with older gymnosperms. Distant animal herds ambled peacefully off in the distance.

“Argos reports that the planet’s axial measurements are finally available so we now have a reliable offset between magnetic and true north. Spin direction confirms we are above the Arctic Circle at seventy degrees north latitude.” Ensign Petrika commented.

“I think we’re ready, should I take her over to the first site, Lieutenant?”

“Go ahead, Paul, I’ll sit back and enjoy the trip south.”

“We might consider how much warmer it’s going to be as we move South.” Sandra commented as she pulled out her Tablet, “On the average, temperatures across the planet should be sixteen to twenty-two degrees warmer than in our timeframe.

“Okay, our first site is in an area in the western part of the United States. We all know the area as Wyoming and the deposits are near what will be Yellowstone Park. The area should have an excellent mix of high grade, raw metal ores like magnetite, magnesium and even some high conductivity gold and silver that we may need for circuitry or reflective surfaces.

“The magnetic core during this period of the planet’s ….”

“Sandra, I know you’re excited but you might want to look outside. I’ve slowed us down so you can see.” Petrika pointed to the port side.

“What?” Sandra said as she looked up only to have Tom Bradley direct her gaze a little more to the left.

A blood red slick on the water first caught their eyes. It deepened in color as they approached an area over which thousands of flying creatures congregated by jumping and diving into the ocean. As they neared the spot, Sandra noticed a group of a dozen larger, sleek bodies. Like submarines in size, shape and color, they travelled just below the surface moving in a wide circle. It reminded her of a wagon train, circling the wagons while under attack. Then her eyes picked out the movement of long, whip-like necks tipped with elongated, almost snake-like heads, rising from each of the submerged bodies, darting into and out of the waters within the circle in a strange and fascinating, almost mechanical ballet.

Sandra stared wide-eyed as the macabre dance, “I’ll bet they are plesiosaurs. Oh, I’m sorry Mr. Bradley.” She said barely able to rip her eyes from the scene. “I know you asked me to minimize my use of scientific taxonomy. Think of the Loch Ness monster but more than sixty-feet long.

The heads looped and darted into the water in the center of the circle and then back up into the air, most times lifting high with something wiggling in their mouth. The waters inside the ever-moving circle of bodies boiled and frothed in red turmoil. Finned creatures flew out of the turbulence and into the air only to be snatched by a head full of sharp teeth at the end of a long neck that struck with amazing, vicious speed. Blood and bits of flesh covered the sea and flowed out of the circle, drawn by some unseen current to attract the hungry attention of the many birds and other strange flying creatures. As the Hunter approached the feeding frenzy, Sandra noticed dorsal fins cutting through the ocean around the killing grounds, claiming their share of the hunt. Obvious ancestors of modern day sharks, they were little changed in appearance.

“I had no idea they hunted in pods.” Sandra watched in fascination, “We’ve seen similar behavior from dolphins and killer whales but these are Saropsida; ‘reptiles’ for your readers. They’ve trapped a school of something smaller and have it surrounded. There must be others below the surface keeping their prey up near the top of the ocean, perhaps even another species like those sharks. It’s a feeding frenzy complete with all the birds and these other things that I believe are pterosaurs.”

“Dr. Shieve,” Lieutenant Braxton broke in. “I’m sure there’ll be time for sightseeing later. Right now, the Colonel’s waiting on us and when that happens he gets grumpy. We’re gonna have to crank it back up so that we can put this junket back on schedule.”

Obvious disappointment ran across the physicist’s face. She was like a kid who had spent the afternoon drinking soda and eating chocolate, fidgeting in her seat for the rest of the flight. In spite of the height and speed of their travel, every mile contained tantalizing glimpses of a world whose land, sea and air saturated with exotic life forms.

Ahead, the young Sierra and Rocky Mountains towered much as they did in the more familiar timeframe of the visitors. Volcanic activity was more noticeable with majestic, rugged shoreline cliffs passing below much as they would for the next hundred million years.

The violence of the waves breaking against steep cliffs and long sandy beaches was astounding. For the first time, Lieutenant Braxton demonstrated an interest.

“The size of those waves, there’re humongous! It’s like high surf at Wiamea Bay.”

“This is the Pacific coastline.” Sandra commented, “I expect these waves are much larger than in Hawaii. The entire western shore faces the vast, open stretches of a warm Pacific that is considerably wider than in our timeframe so the waves have more deep open water over which they can build up size and strength.”

Heading inland, the Hunter cruised high over patches of land darkened by flocks of flying creatures, their numbers blocking the sunlight in their passage. Majestic land animals known today as dinosaurs moved in herds and, like the bison of ages to come, they blanketed the landscape raising vast clouds of dust.

Mountains gave way to high plains and the ship passed over another smaller range of young peaks and off in the distance were flatlands bordering a shallow sea.

“Dr. Shieve, somethin’ must be wrong. Navigational systems tell me our target area’s just ahead. I’ve been to Yellowstone and it has mountains, these are wet flatlands.”

“Your instruments are correct.” Sandra replied. “Most of the mountainous uplift in this area doesn’t occur until after the Cretaceous. It will be another thirty-five million years or so before these flat plains begin rising to form the eastern Rockies.

“Sensors are registering some of the ores we’re looking for but the mineral mix isn’t as good as I had hoped. I guess the heavy manganese deposits are buried deep, waiting for the volcanic uplift.”

“Where are the volcanoes and geysers?” Lieutenant Johnson asked.

“The Yellowstone of our time is situated over a fixed magma plume. All that volcanic activity right now is far to the southwest, essentially over northern Nevada, waiting for the Earth’s crust to push this section over it. There’s nothing but mudflats here for now. Let’s head south along the shore.”

The Hunter glided south along the edge of the clear, shallow seabed. Mudflats gave way to white, sandy beaches. Clear water brilliantly reflected the blue skies above and below them dark patches of sea grass mixed with occasional uplifts of immense coral reefs.

Animals waded along the shores, feeding among the waves and Ensign Petrika slowed to skim over the calm surface of the water. They flew low enough to see details in the seabed and watch the life on the beaches. They were following some small unidentifiable creatures running next to the waves when Lieutenant Braxton lunged for the controls.

The Hunter whipped up and to the left into a barrel-roll. Petrika ducked in reaction as a dark grey and white body rose next to ship, majestically passing into the air above them. Intently watching outside, Sandra yelped and stumbled backwards in shock from the near passage of a creature that looked like a fifty-foot eel with dolphin fins and an alligator’s head.