Authors: Eddie Hastings
They travelled towards the shore a few inches below the surface of the water to avoid detection and as they reached their goal, sensors on the underside of the pods bought them to a gentle halt. Once again they raised the pods a few inches above the surface of the water so as to observe the coastline. What they saw was a beautiful unspoiled beach flanked by searing cliffs. The waves were gently lapping against the base of the cliffs and a slight breeze was causing the palm trees to wave majestically almost as if in a gesture of welcome. Looking around they could see no one, it seemed to be a totally deserted part of the coastline, this, of course, suited their purpose perfectly. Once they were satisfied that their arrival had gone undetected they raised the pods fully out onto the surface and opened them to their full extent. The roofs of the pods were first to open, then the sides slid silently into the sea. Once in the sea the sides and the roof raised themselves to lie alongside the base forming a much more stable platform for its occupant to work from, it also allowed the craft to come much closer to the shoreline. Using the foot controls the pair bought their craft into shore, as they did so they were extra vigilant, eyes scanned all around for anyone who would see these strange figures gliding effortlessly on the surface of the water. When they got as close to the beach as they could possibly get, they deactivated the pods which then sank the six or so inches to the sea bed, and anchored themselves in place. As they stepped out of the foot holes and into the water they were aware of a continual series of high pitched beeps in their earcoms, this was the locating beacon that would enable them to return to the pods when this particular mission was over. The pair then walked the short distance to the beach, and for the first time since leaving home, they stood on solid ground.
As they emerged from the shallow water they could feel the warm fine sand cling to their wet feet, it felt good and as much as they would liked to have lingered for a while they knew they had to find cover. At this stage they could not afford to be discovered, at least not until they had seen some of the locals and confirmed that their clothing and appearance would fit in. along the beach they could see a small outcrop of rocks which the
y thought may afford them a more sheltered place to hide and to plan their reconnoitre. As they ran along the beach the beeping sound in their ears slowed in frequency until it completely stopped. They could feel their feet drying on the sand and by the time they were safely hidden amongst the outcrop they were completely dry.
The outcrop was a collection of huge jagged boulders that had, sometime in history, been part of a major landslide from the surrounding cliffs. This, however, was not a part of recent history and there was no danger of further subsidence from this rock formation. J.D. was fascinated by the structure of the rocks and spent a few minutes inspecting them. As he came around the back of one particularly huge outcrop he came across a small cave which stretched back into the cliff base some ten to fifteen feet or so, the cave roof was about seven feet tall and the cave was completely dry.
“Mary, come here”
He said to no one in particular. As he spoke Mary heard him perfectly in her ear and started around the outcrop to meet him. When she found him he was inside the cave with his arms outstretched displaying his find.
“Are you guys getting this” he asked,
“Yes indeed, it looks like an ideal place to use as a shore base” answered Travis, who was bringing the find to the attention of the captain. Daniels looked at the monitors and agreed. “Good find guys”
It was time for them to move on, and so, cautiously they made their way to the back of the beach scrambled over a small hill and began to make their way inland. They had travelled approximately five hundred meters when they were contacted from the shuttle.
“Ok guys its time for you to split up now so decide who is going which way and we will keep in touch individually, J.D., Anne is going to monitor you and Mary you have me” said Travis. With this Mary and J.D. shook hands and started to walk in different directions. Of course they would still be in contact via the earcoms but for the first time they suddenly felt very alone.
As he walked between the trees looking for some sort of path to follow J.D. was taking in all of his surroundings, the trees, the plants, the little creatures that were flying around when all of a sudden he disturbed a somewhat larger creature which ran though the undergrowth disturbing
the surrounding foliage and giving out a warning shriek. Almost simultaneously J.D. let out a shout of his own and it was obvious that it was a yell of fear. Instantly his head was filled with at least three other voices,
“JD……
what’s happening? Are you alright? Speak to me……JD”
Somewhat breathless he explained what had happened, told everyone to calm down and realised that although he was feeling somewhat foolish, they had all just had a minor wake up call to the fact that they were in a strange place and should be on their guard at all times. He bent down, grasped his knees and took two or three deep breaths, stood up shook his head and continued on his way.
The further inland he walked, the more he noticed that the lush greenery was becoming thinner and thinner until finally it almost disappeared completely and he found himself standing on the edge of a topographically different area. In front of him the scene was barren, a rock strewn desert landscape that stretched out in all directions as far as the eye could see. He stood motionless for a while; the sun was starting to get hot, what he wouldn’t do for a pair of decent sunglasses, shading his eyes he scanned the horizon trying to decide which direction he should go. He bent down and picked up a small handful of sand and threw it up into the air, some of the grains caught on the light gentle wind and flew of just to his right ‘well that’s as good a direction as any’ he thought and started to walk in the same direction that the breeze was blowing. As he walked the day grew hotter.
He had been travelling for about an hour when he came to the foot of the hill. It was not steep; it just seemed to go on forever, upwards. Thinking to himself that he should have chosen a different direction he started to climb. As he did so the sand under his feet gave way and each step was diminished as his stride sank backwards. The short journey was arduous and exhausting, it seemed never ending, one step forwards, one slide back. But as he reached the top he was rewarded. The summit of the hill gradually gave way to a view that thrilled him beyond. He got to the absolute apex and lay down on his front and observed.
“Can you hear me guys”
He felt a little stupid alone on this sandy hill, no one for miles around talking to himself.
“Loud and clear, go ahead”
“I’ve come across a big town or city or something can you see it”
The shuttle confirmed that they could and waited for J.D. to speak.
“Could you zoom in on the town and tell me if the clothes we have are going to fit in”
Control tried to get a good picture of the town from the camera located in the headwear that J.D. was wearing.
“John we can’t get a good picture unless you can keep your head still”
With that comment J.D. placed his fist in the sand and placed his other fist on top of the first and then placed his chin on top, “Is that better?”
The shuttle said that it was and that they would apply anti- judder to the images to see if they could get a better image to work from. They had been filming for about forty five seconds when J.D. asked if they had enough to determine whether the computer projection was accurate enough for them to pass undetected amongst the indigenous community. Control confirmed that they had and that the clothes which they now wore were good enough to pass. He then asked them to describe what they had seen in more detail.
“O.K. well the town that you have found is nothing remarkable, it seems to be little more than a collection of roughly build houses, no particular layout to the town, no discernable road structures and no visible signs of mechanised industry whatsoever. The houses are, in the main, one story simple dwellings that seem to be built around one larger building that seems to be the centre of the town; we think that this building could be the main authority, if any, of the community, but at this point this is only supposition. It’s….err…it seems a little early to see any people but you can relax the ones that we have seen appear to be exactly the same as us two arms, two legs etc..Oh, and only one head which is a pretty good sign. Stand by we are just trying to increase the definition of the images. Here we go, there are some people there that seem to be dressed exactly the same way that you are john, and well, I don’t believe it they have the same long hair and, hang on, they seem also to have facial growth like you. John you are going to have no problem fitting in here.”
With that J.D. stood up brushed the sand from the front of his robe and started down towards the town.
Mary had been walking in the opposite direction and had heard all of what had been transpiring between J.D. and base, and the more that she had walked and the more she had listened, the more she had become settled, mentally, about the way that they would fit in amongst the locals. By now she was just strolling along taking in all of the smells and views of her surroundings, and although it was quite barren it held a certain fascination for her, somehow it felt comfortable and for want of a better word it uncannily felt like home. This was a feeling that she could not explain to herself, she had certainly never been here before or even been in a place that remotely resembled her present surroundings, but nevertheless it felt strangely familiar, comfortable. She seemed to have been walking for ages, nothing changing, nothing different, the same landscape the same lack of vegetation the same desert. Almost ready to resign herself to the fact that she would find nothing, she stopped in her tracks. In the distance, somewhere, she though that she had heard something. It seemed to be almost musical, a ringing, clanging sound. She stood motionless, took one deep breath and held it, to prevent her breathing affecting her hearing. After a few seconds she closed her eyes and covered them with her hand and tried to focus all of her concentration on finding the direction of the sound. When she thought that she had located the direction she opened her eyes, briefly looked towards the area in which she thought that the sound was coming from and started off in that direction. As she walked the sound started to get louder and more distinct. She could now hear that the sound was that of muted bells, the sound that one would expect from bells that were not well formed, exactly like the ones that hung around the necks of animals back at home, and indeed the closer to the sound she came the more the sound fitted her image. Mary rounded a small outcrop of rock and almost found herself in the middle of a small group of goats. Some of the animals were startled by Mary’s sudden appearance and darted off in different directions one of them caught Mary on her side in his efforts to escape and sent Mary careering to the ground. Almost as soon as she had hit the floor a figure appeared towering above her, reaching out his outstretched arm to help her to her feet, his face was full of concern for her wellbeing. As he helped her up he was talking to Mary but his words meant nothing to her. His language was one that she nor any of the others had ever heard before, and as he spoke to her the voice recognition software aboard the shuttle was recording and analyzing every syllable trying to formulate some sort of phonetic structure and meaning, searching for anything that the computers could use to begin the basis of a translation for this strange tongue. In the cockpit the main screen had now been designated solely to the purpose in hand. This unexpected encounter had bought forward the need to translate, and as quickly as it had happened the crew had rearranged the monitors to accommodate this new situation. The views from the cameras that the shore based crew were carrying had been split screen on the big monitor, but now they were being displayed on the smaller screens situated either side of the main central screen. Mary’s saviour was still talking to her and still making no sense whatsoever. Travis was watching him on the left-hand side screen and as he was talking the centre screen was feverishly flashing through all known language structures and phonetics to try to construct some form of communication. The man looked somewhat dishevelled. He was unshaven and had long dark hair. The robe in which he was dressed was almost exactly the same as the one which J.D. was wearing but this one was a faded chalk blue and was somewhat more worn and shabby. Mary noticed that he had a certain unpleasant odour, it was, she decided, a cross between the animals which he tended and a whiff of poor hygiene, a pronounced smell of stale sweat. It was not an overpowering smell but Mary was aware of it. He continued to talk to her.
“Are you guys getting this” asked Mary “because I could sure do with some help here?”
As she spoke Travis could see the quizzical look on the strangers face it was obvious that he could understand Mary no more than she could him. Travis assured her that the computer was working on the problem but at this moment they needed more conversation to work with. In her ear she could hear J.D. asking if she was alright and if she felt that she was in any danger. She answered him and said that she didn’t think that this person was any threat to her. Because she was speaking out loud to J.D. the stranger thought that she was speaking to him, which bought forth more of the strange language, and the computer continued to work. The stranger had sat Mary down on a nearby rock and had started to tend her minor wounds, she had scratched herself on her wrist during the fall and the area had begun to go red, small droplets of blood began to seep though the skin and rest in small globules on the surface. The man held Mary’s hand gently and inspected the damage; he said some words and reached for a soft animal skin container that was slung over his head and hung around his side. Looking around he could find nothing to use to clean the wound and so he took the small hide top off the container and poured some of the water onto a corner of his robe and started to bathe the wound. He seemed unconcerned at the sight of Mary’s blood and so from this she had deducted that he was seeing nothing out of the ordinary,