Alpha Rising (25 page)

During the short ride the bright sky dimmed,
as if someone had altered the daystars, and a sinister darkness
swept in. Within minutes, rain exploded from the once-bright sky
and the hot breeze turned frigid and vaporous. Panicked people
raced around the distant harbor as a half-dozen waterspouts,
thousands of feet high, swirled from the cresting sea and rolled
toward the wharf.

Yang yelled to the others, “Five minutes
before waterspouts touch shore.”

As the faithful four neared the sanctuary in
the rickshaw, they witnessed a miraculous happening in progress.
Elephants had knocked down the gates and barriers, and animals both
large and small raced toward the Alpha herded together, the smaller
ones riding on the backs and heads of the larger ones, as
relentless cyclonic gusts pushed them onward.

Bach, Star, Yin, and Yang helped the wet,
cold beasts board the ship.

While Star hurriedly secured the new
arrivals in their quarters, Bach closed the ramp and watched the
monitor. A waterspout leveled what was once the animal sanctuary
and now swirled toward the landing pad.

*****

The big ship roared from Colosse, barely
escaping the waterspouts. When the flight path leveled off, Ivy and
Obbo came from the environmental module into the main cabin and
brought Yin and Yang with them.

Star motioned for Yin and Yang to look at
the viewscreen. Their city had been spared the waterspouts’ fury,
but the sanctuary and the landing pad where Alpha had been parked
were destroyed.

“
We’ve never experienced
waterspouts of such magnitude,” said Yang. “I sensed
evil.”

“
Yes, I did too,” Star
replied.

Yin changed the subject. “Ivy told us more
about your mission and that we can hear the journal reading for the
next planet.”

With the journal in hand, Star and the five
others gathered mid ship in the alcove wall hammocks. “Planet
Zarephath is next.” She opened the book and scanned the page.
“There’s a glassworks factory, and it says they’ve used their
planet’s minerals in ways thought impossible.”

“
No, no, not Zarephath. Not
the time to go to Zarephath,” Ivy warned.

Star sighed. “We can’t keep rerouting. We’re
two days behind.”

Ivy waved her small finger. “You better
check. Not the time to go.”

Star returned to the cockpit. “Okay, I’ll
check it out, but we’re almost there.”

Yin grasped Ivy’s little hand. “Why
shouldn’t we go?”

“
Specter angry. Fiery
furnaces, people die.” She stood and walked in a circle with her
hands clasped behind her back. “Furnaces spewing, spewing. Specter
angry.”

Yang looked into Ivy’s eyes. “How do you
know what’s going on elsewhere? Have you been there?”

“
Zarephath comes to me!”
she said.

Ivy’s vision stopped instantly when
something hit the ship that sounded like golfball-sized popcorn
exploding in a metal bag. Dark splats plastered the cockpit
windshield, coming harder and faster by the second, and the view
fogged to a sheet of silvery gray.

Star turned to alert the passengers to go
back to the E-module, but they were already gone.

Bach yelled above the noise. “Where did this
stuff come from? We detected nothing.” He checked a data feed.
“Something just triggered it and now we’re in a huge oil cloud
orbiting the planet like a moon. Gotta break free, or we’ll shut
down.”

What should have been a clear view of astral
space was now black as night. Bach increased engine power in an
attempt to escape, but the massive thrusters stalled with a
shudder, leaving the Kingship adrift in greasy smog.

Star’s fingers flew across a keyboard.
“There has to be a way to escape it.”

Bach grabbed a hand-held device. “There are
no emergency instructions for restarting engines in something like
this.” Using an earphone with recorded instructions, he rattled off
options to Star, but everything they tried failed. He looked at his
watch in disgust—Earth time—another two hours lost.

Star ran a sim for an atypical approach to
restart the engines. Within seconds, the ship lurched, lights
flickered, and the thrusters ignited. They emerged from the black
tomb and re-entered clear space.

Bach launched two hand-sized drones to clean
the exterior windows and check for engine contamination. The shiny
metal devices, shaped like giant jacks from a childhood game,
collected samples from Alpha’s hull and relayed information to the
ship’s electro-brain. He looked at Star with concern. “Alpha’s a
mess. There’s oil covering the nozzles and sensors.”

She checked the readout. “It’ll burn off.
We’re okay.”

A terrain scan showed planet Zarephath
obscured by a dark haze. Bach commented, “It’s unapproachable. What
would fill the atmosphere with oil?”

Star shot a laser pen at the middle of what
looked like an empty picture frame. The panel lit up with a
liquid-like display. “Nothing detected in the rest of the zone. It
came from the planet itself.” She turned to Bach, “Remember Ivy’s
nervous pacing? And when we were on planet Gihon, a little
red-haired lady told me the Specter would create havoc.” She
checked the panel. “Let’s reroute to Maon. It’s not that far off
course.”

Bach changed course a full ninety degrees,
worrying to himself about fuel and time loss.

Star read from the journal, “‘Unique
atmospheric conditions enhance the soil’s fertility and make
possible rapid growth of crops and all living things. The Specter’s
scientific control over Maon’s environment disrupted the growing
cycles, resulting in abundance or famine.’”

“
What kinds of crops do
they grow?”

“
Fruits, vegetables, and
grains. They also grow flowering plants for their fragrances and
nectar. There are no animals left. Over time, rapid growth caused
them to die too quickly, before they could reproduce.” She read
more. “‘People of Maon are blessed with total recall memory.’ And
it says that ‘males outnumber females by five to one.’”

Bach sighed. “That’ll make it harder to find
our pair.”

*****

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

From above, planet Maon’s artfully arranged
crops appeared as a tapestry woven in shades of green, brown, red,
and gold. With no signs of cities or civilization in any direction,
the Alphamates set down on a small landing pad bordered on one side
by tilled land, and the other by hundreds of acres of abundant
fruit trees, vegetable plants, and berry bushes.

Star powered down the
flight systems while Bach stepped outside to examine the ship for
damage. Other than the expected oil coating, a quick walk around
the Alpha showed nothing serious. But, something high on the space
station’s hull grabbed his attention—the name ALtemus Rider’s
Kingship crudely painted, one word under the other in three
horizontal rows.
Strange. Instead of
Alpha, Altemus named it after himself. And why the capital
L?
He went to the foot of the ramp and
yelled through the cabin. “Hey, Star, come out here … something I
want you to see.”

She studied the writing with a shrug.
“Perhaps he tried to confuse the enemy.”

“
Maybe. But I’m going to
think about it while we search for the symbol.”

*****

The tilled land to their right stretched for
miles with no signs of habitation. To the left, a small walkway of
triangular yellow flagstones led from the landing site through lush
vegetation. They followed the stones and entered a massive expanse
of perfectly spaced plants.

“
Holy cow. Look how tall
these crops are!” Bach called out. He waved his arm over his head.
“They’re more than twice my height.”

Star nodded. “That’s why we didn’t see
buildings from the aerial view; they’re obscured by this giant
foliage.”

In fields ripe for harvest, giant flowers
were commingled with the crops, and the combined scents of berries,
vegetables, and flowers created a presence so calming, Star felt
the need to whisper as she ventured farther in. “This is
breathtaking. I’m amazed to see all these beautiful flowers growing
like this.”

Bach expanded his chest with a deep breath
and touched what looked like huge green beans growing on a tangled
cluster of vines six-feet high. “These are the largest vegetables
I’ve ever seen.”

The two continued along the yellow flagstone
pathway, but when it came to an end in the middle of the crops Bach
looked around, scratched his head, and said, “That’s odd. I wonder
why it led here … to nothing?” He moved a few yards deeper through
the crops and listened for signs of life. “Dead still,” he called
back to Star. “Don’t tell me we have to find our way through a maze
of crops to find civilization.”

She walked ahead, peering down row after
row. “It seems they go on forever. How will we find the right
direction?”

“
There has to be something
within walking distance. The co-op crews wouldn’t use a landing
site far from civilization.” He sprang like a kangaroo, hoping to
see over the rows. “Can’t see anything.” He looked around one more
time then pointed to the right. “Tell ya what. You make a quick
pass that way,” then he pointed left, “and I’ll check this way. As
soon as one of us finds something, give a yell and the other can
catch up.”

“
I think we should stay
together.”

“
It’ll take twice as long
if we reach dead ends together.”

“
What if we get lost?” Star
asked. “I hated it when I couldn’t find you on Gihon.”

“
Okay, we’ll mark our
path.” He glanced around. “There’s an old children’s story where
the kids marked their path to keep from getting lost.” A taller
plant nearby, with no leaves and a single, yellow, mop-headed
flower at the top, caught his eye. Six brown, lemon-sized pods hung
from the middle of the plant’s thick stalk. “Here’s the perfect
marker,” he said, stepping over to the nearest one. “See this huge
plant with one big yellow flower, no leaves, and strange brown pods
growing in a cluster? There are more of them than any other. Look,
they’re so tall you can easily see them all the way down the rows.
Let’s remove the pods off of each stalk as we pass by.” He pulled
off a pod cluster to show what he was talking about. “Then we can
follow the plants with the bare stems to find our way back.” The
pods crumbled into a dry mulch in his hand.

Star squinted in thought. “I’m not sure
that’s a good idea.”

“
Trust me, it’ll work. And
it’s easy. They disintegrate at the touch.”

“
I don’t know,
Bach….”

“
We’re bound to find
something eventually.”

The two set out in opposite directions,
removing the pod clusters from the yellow-flowering plants as they
went.

Bach had pulled the pods from hundreds of
stalks, and covered several acres of fields that seemed without end
when he came to a clearing. Just ahead, on a flagstone trail, a man
and woman struggled to load a harvest of cut flowers and vegetables
into their cart. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The two were as
small as children, but had the withered faces and bodies of old
people. He approached slowly. Involved in their work, the man and
woman didn’t notice him. “Hello,” he called out lightly so as not
to scare them. “Will you tell me where this trail leads?”

The fragile, golden-haired woman looked up.
“To the Commons.” She had the voice of a child. “We’re going there
to work and to celebrate our harvest with a special feast. This is
the first crop we’ve had since the 18th period. Would you like to
join us?” She stepped to her mate’s side and patted him on the
back. “This is my partner, Clay, and my name’s Calla.”

Clay adjusted his miniature straw hat. “Did
you bring something to exchange?”

“
Not today,” Bach replied,
“we’re here on a brief mission. Can I help with your
cart?”

Clay cocked his head to one
side. “You said, ‘
we’re
here,’ but there’s no one but you.”

Bach didn’t answer for a moment. “Uh, well,
my partner, Star, she’s over there.” He thumbed to the right. “I’m
Bach, from Jenesis.” He looked over his shoulder and yelled, “Hey
Star, I found somebody.” His voice seemed to bounce off the dense
foliage, so he tried again, “Yoo hoo, Star, over here! The left
direction was the right way.” Again, the crops stifled his
call.

Clay asked, “How far away is she?”

“
I don’t know. We searched
in opposite directions. But she’ll find her way back. We marked our
trail, removed the dry, brown pod clusters from the yellow-flowered
plants.”

Calla’s eyes widened. She tugged on Bach’s
sleeve. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”

“
Tell me what?”

“
On Maon we have a
phenomenon of rapid growth—”

“
Yeah, I know about
that.”

She shook her head. “Those seed pods you
removed—they’ve grown back by now.”

Bach’s voice raised an octave. “What?” He
darted back to the last yellow-flowered plant and shouted, “Oh,
no!” at seeing a new cluster of six brown pods growing in the
middle of the stalk. He rushed a few yards out and whistled and
yelled for Star, but the impenetrable vegetation devoured his
words. Pacing, he looked at Clay and pointed to the right. “What’s
in that direction?”

“
Nothing but
crops.”

Hands windmilling through his hair, Bach
wailed, “This can’t be! How will I find her?”