Fractured Earth Saga 1: Apocalypse Orphan (9 page)

“Commander, I’m sensing no technology at all. The planet appears to be in an Iron Age state. There are no automobiles and no firearms,” Syn reported.

“Let’s head to the nearest military satellite that is still operative,” Wolf said. “I want to see if I can get any data out of it. Also, let’s keep talking in this language. It seems to be planet-wide, and I want to master it before I make contact with the locals. Is the high-speed camera satellite operational?”

“No, Commander. It is no longer in orbit.”

Synthea guided the shuttle into a geosynchronous orbit with the damaged satellite. It was orbiting the original earth, which Wolf had dubbed Earth One; he referred to Ganymede as Earth Two. He used the arm to retrieve the satellite, and he maneuvered it into the shuttle. It pulsed with weak power. He was amazed it worked at all. Its solar batteries should have died centuries ago, but they held a miniscule amount of power. He installed a new motherboard, replaced the batteries, adjusted the solar panels, and redeployed the satellite.

Later that day, Wolf weighed his options. He couldn’t remain in space indefinitely. After studying both planets, he was leaning towards landing on Earth One. Several cities held interest for him. Yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was strange about the inhabitants. At a glance, they seemed healthy. Men, women, and children appeared in the visual feeds, apparently happy, and many lived in family units within walled cities. Wolf couldn’t put his finger on what was amiss.

The animal life on the planet had changed. Enormous beasts stalked the land. One species had the appearance of a grizzly bear crossed with a lion. Wolf zoomed in on one of the creatures and saw it was large and muscular. It had pig-like ears and an outer layer of thick quills similar to a porcupine. It walked on all fours, yet it could stand on its hind legs. Its front paws resembled those of a sloth from Old Earth, ending in five long, black claws. Its back feet were padded, four-toed paws. The creatures appeared to be omnivorous, eating plants when there was nothing else, but Wolf had seen one kill and eat its own kind.
Man, I’d hate to run into that thing in the dark
, he mused as he watched a beast stalk and kill a large animal.

Wolf decided to bring the shuttle down in an area that was once the town of Odessa, Texas, according to Syn’s reworked global positioning data. Her ground-penetrating scans clearly revealed the outline of North America, although the coasts of many cities were forever lost beneath the waters of the new earth. Wolf’s choice of this landing site was based on the fact that region had a mean temperature of seventy-five degrees and a diminutive night and day. He wasn’t ready for perpetual daylight just yet. He pinpointed a long, flat strip he could use to land if the thrust vectoring from his IFLEX malfunctioned.

The landing site was in a small, dry creek where Wolf could conceal his ship. It was a few miles from a village and remote enough no one would spot the craft. He was concerned that the locals might hear the supersonic pop as his ship broke orbit, so he decided to land early in the morning during a thunderstorm that had settled over the area.

“Syn, rotate the shuttle for landing and initiate landing sequence.”

“Yes, Commander.”

The shuttle moved like a spatial glider as it turned upside down. Rotating tail first, its engines fired as it started its deorbital burn and descended, decelerating to 160 miles per hour. The shuttle then turned nose forward, in an upright position, and began its descent into the upper layers of the earth’s atmosphere. Ten minutes into the descent, Wolf raised the nose to forty degrees to correctly orient the thermal shield protecting the ship.

“Syn, initiate the landing sequence and align us with the creek bed. We will use the shore as our runway.” Moving the nose up to nineteen degrees, Wolf declared, “We’re going too fast, Syn. Fire the thrusters at fifty percent and deploy flaps.” The shuttle slowed as its flaps and thrusters engaged. Its speed dropped to sixty miles per hour and then twenty. Wolf maneuvered the shuttle down in the creek bed, sending wildlife scurrying in all directions. He touched down, turned off all lights, and placed the shuttle into its cool-down phase.

“Good job, Syn. Are we intact? Any damage?”

“Nothing worth reporting, Commander. A few tiles are loose, but we did not lose them. We’ll need to repair them before we can take off and re-enter orbit again.”

“Can we still fly in this atmosphere?”

“Yes, we have unlimited fuel with the IFLEX engines, and the thrusters can get us in the air.”

“Keep the ship ready to lift off at all times, and I want a password put on the controls for anyone other than myself. Keep the force field up in a three-meter radius around the exterior of the ship.”

“Yes, Commander, deploying the force field now.” After a few seconds, Syn confirmed, “Force field deployed. The ship is prepped and ready for takeoff. What will be the password?”

Wolf answered, “Santa Claus.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up, banging his head so hard on the roof of the shuttle that he saw stars. “Syn, what’s going on?” he demanded. “Is the artificial gravity malfunctioning?”

“No, Commander. The planet’s mass was reduced by Nomad’s impact to the South Pole and some other anomaly I cannot identify. The gravitation pull has been weakened by about fifty percent. Your muscles are attuned to Earth’s original mass. You will be two hundred percent stronger than you were before, and the higher nitric oxide content in the air will further augment your body’s muscle mass.

“Really? I thought nitric oxide was laughing gas. I guess I’ll have a healthy sense of humor here,” Wolf joked. “I do remember you saying Earth had lost mass, but I didn’t realize I would gain strength from it. Will I acclimate to this planet’s gravity?”

“No. Your cellular code is fixed from your old earth. Many generations of humans on this world have had tens of thousands of years to evolve. It is still unclear how you will age here—I am not sure you will. You may not be able to adjust to these new surroundings, Commander. It seems most life on the planet has changed to accommodate the diminished mass of Earth One. And your sense of humor will not be affected by the nitric oxide—it is not concentrated enough.”

“Syn, can you give me that in simple language?”

“You will be bigger, faster, and stronger than any man alive on this planet, Commander.”

Wolf laughed. “Syn, I didn’t know a computer could lie, but you do it pretty well. I am no superman…I’m just an ordinary man in need of human companionship. Divert water to the shower and make it ninety-nine degrees. I want to wash up and shave. Also, charge my M21 laser pistol and get the M1A1 MINIMACK operational.”

The M21 laser gun resembled a small starter pistol. It had a five-inch muzzle and fired a pencil-thin laser blast that could cut steel or burn a hole through living tissue. It had a standard charge of four hours. Once depleted, the battery required replacement. The M1A1 MINIMACK was a full-powered machine gun that fired pulse laser bursts. It was capable of stopping a tank. It held two thousand shots, and its power setting was adjustable. It was a precision rifle but also could fire a rocket-like laser projectile capable of obliterating a brick wall. Its charge could last months on standby, and it was equipped with a solar charger to maintain a static charge when it was not in its charging holster.

Wolf went to the weapons locker and said, “Syn, place my biomimetic print on all energy weapons. I don’t want these things to start another war.” The M1A1 could identify an operator’s voice, DNA, handprint, or behavior. The technology was developed during the final months of Earth’s demise. So many people had tried to hack their way into the safety zones that the authorities had to take steps to ensure that the right people were saved and only authorized personnel had access to advanced weapons. Wolf snapped a minicomputer linked to Syn on his wrist; it was about the size of a wristwatch. Then he put on camouflage Air Force blues, grabbed an Air Force ball cap, and strapped a ten-inch, serrated Bowie knife to his leg. Exiting the ship, he said into his wrist computer, “Shut down the force field for five minutes, Syn, and then bring it back up to full power. I’m going for a walk.”

“Yes, Commander. Force field shut down for five minutes.”

Wolf walked out of the field’s range, locked the coordinates into his watch, and started down the road. His first steps launched him into the air and he fell, sprawling in the creek bed. After falling several times, he discovered taking small steps would keep him balanced, and a forceful step would send him flying eight to ten feet into the air. He remembered reading a tale long ago of a man who had gone to Mars and become a notable hero, using his immense strength for good, and he won the love of a princess. For a fleeting moment, Wolf amused himself with the notion that the same enviable fate might await him. He looked around at the colorful flora, thinking to himself that some of the trees looked quite small. Remembering what Syn had said about his tremendous strength, he spotted a large boulder about the size of an automobile and went to it, placing his hands underneath it. Incredibly, he lifted it over his head and casually tossed it into the woods.

Holy shit! That’s impossible! That rock must weigh a ton!
Wolf thought, stunned by his amazing strength. He looked at several trees the boulder had taken down when he threw it and apologized to the Great Spirit for the destruction he caused. Then, he began walking towards a homestead that he had spotted in the computer scan. Twenty minutes later, the small farm came into view.

Wolf remained concealed at the forest’s edge, still troubled by a feeling that something was not right about these inhabitants. He was studying the humans and animals when the answer occurred to him. They were small—not dwarfish, but he stood over a foot taller, and his body was much broader. The largest inhabitant he had seen might have weighed around 130 pounds. Wolf weighed 240, and he was broader than two of these natives combined. The biblical story of David and Goliath came to mind, but he was Goliath in this strange, uncharted world. He knew that if he stepped out into the open, he would terrify the locals, so he retraced his steps back to the shuttle. He hungered for human contact and felt terribly alone, even though hundreds of humans were within hailing distance.

Wolf sat down to think. He had to find a way to rejoin the human race. He stood six foot five, and he was considered tall by most people in his own time. With the average height on this planet being about five foot two, he would be considered a giant. After a ten-minute rest, he stood and began walking, head down and dejected, when he unexpectedly came face to face with one of the bear-like creatures he had seen in the satellite feed. The animal was not as intimidating as he thought it would be. He was a bit taller than the animal and guessed that he weighed about the same.

“Go on Smokey, walk away from me. Let’s not get ugly about a chance encounter,” Wolf said aloud.

The creature rose to its full height with a menacing growl, swiping its claws and tearing off chunks of bark from a nearby tree. Then it charged. Instinctively, Wolf swung a left hook that struck the bear on the side of its head, decapitating it and splattering him with blood and brains. He looked at his fist and then back at the bear.

“Holy shit! I didn’t mean to kill it!” Wolf whispered in amazement.

A startled cry from behind him made him spin around and draw his pistol. A young boy stood a short distance away. He had seen the fight and now looked back and forth from the bear to Wolf, asking, “What are you?”

Wolf gazed at the child and said, “I am a man, nothing more.”

“You talk strange. Are you a god from heaven come to save us? No man can kill a dintar with his hands. They are the fiercest creatures in the world. All are food to them. If you had not been here, it would have killed me. You saved my life. Come, I will take you to my father.”

“I do not think it would be wise for me to go to your home without an invitation. My size might frighten your father. It seems I am much larger than everyone here,” Wolf said.

“Are you what my mother calls special? She says they can barely speak and need help to survive. Old man Tarver got kicked in the head by a cow and he sounds like you do. Mother says he’s special,” said the boy.

“No, I am not special, and I was not kicked in the head,” Wolf replied with a grin. “I am from far away and we talk differently. Listen, son, I have seen no man my size here. I should not see your father…I think I would scare your people.”

“My father is very brave. He has hunted many times alone in this forest. You will not scare him. Please, sir, I beg you, come with me.”

Wolf shook his head and told the boy, “Bring your father here. I will talk to him from a distance. If he invites me, then I will come to your house.”

“Yes, sir, I will bring him. But tell me your name. My name is Reon.”

“That is a good name, Reon. My name is Wolf. Go get your father. I will wait here.”

The child scampered off into the woods, disappearing into the dense foliage. Wolf looked at the bear he had killed and walked to a large boulder a few feet away. He sat down and pressed a button on his watch.

“Wolf to Syn. Do you read me?”

“Go ahead, Commander, I read.”

“Have you run a scan of the people here? I seem to be taller and much broader than they are. How can this be?”

“I have run a preliminary model of what has taken place. Life on this planet has evolved smaller over the millennia to compensate for the diminished planetary mass. All life, plant and animal, has shrunk to maintain a ratio with the planet’s decreased density…about a forty percent reduction in size. Earth Two would exhibit similar diminution of plant and animal life.”