Extinction (20 page)

Emily was back to pacing. “Okay,
so now you have an abandoned species on an alien planet and they aren’t doing
so well. There aren’t enough of them to ever create a civilization of their own;
the gene pool just wouldn’t be deep enough. There are probably less than a
hundred of them to start with in the first place. But they still try to survive
and breed; it’s instinct. And because there are so few of them to begin with,
once they do die out, it would be pretty hard for future explorers to find
evidence of their existence because they didn’t have time to really leave
anything behind.”

Emily looked at Hillstep, who
just encouraged her, “Finish it, keep going, don’t stop now.”

Emily took a deep breath. “They
aren’t from this planet but they’re close enough to a developing species, the
Unwutine, that they can sort of integrate and not be seen as god-like or
whatever, you know, if they had come down in spaceships and stuff in front of
everyone in some grand display of technology. So they were accepted.

“It’s kind of like when Trizites
visit Earth and swim in our oceans; the dolphins and other local life welcome
them and play with them, act like they belong. The Trizites are so close in
their physical make-up to our ocean life, they just kind of fit in. So that’s
what these castaways did, they just fit in. Maybe the Unwutine thought the
castaways were just a different tribe that were not exactly the same as
themselves.

“The castaways either brought the
Unwutine their first symbols or just added to what they had already started.
Either way, the castaways referred to themselves using this symbol we found on
the wall. They were laborers and that symbol started to be used by the Unwutine
to refer to anything having to do with laboring.”

“But then the breeding attempts
failed.” Doctor Hillstep shushed himself to let Emily finish on her own.

“Exactly!” Emily’s beat wasn’t
thrown off by the interruption. “The castaways could only breed so far within
their own group so they tried to mix with the Unwutine. Neither species would
be nearly advanced enough to understand the problems with trying to breed
between the two different sets of DNA.

“So the breeding attempts started
and of course failed. Maybe there were some successful attempts even though the
chances of that occurring, without advanced medical intervention, are
astronomically improbable, it could’ve happened. In the end, somehow, the castaways’
DNA did get added to the DNA of the Unwutine tribes and when it gets turned on,
it causes the horrible mutations we’ve seen. That’s the reason the mutated
babies are called
Hurlkaferncherta.
It’s both the laboring castaways and
what their breeding attempts create.”

“Wow.” Janine was almost at a
loss for words. “If I hadn’t seen you being born, I’d swear you were my
daughter and not your mother’s. I think I need to get a DNA comparison between
us.”

Emily just smiled broadly at her
aunt.

“There are a lot of holes in that
very long and complicated theory”, Doctor Hillstep threw out without any
preamble.

Emily’s face sagged and her eyes
actually begin to tear up just a bit.

“Hey, jerkface.” Janine was
addressing her colleague. “You and I are used to having our theories shredded
to hell by our contemporaries but she’s not. She’s only sixteen and she came up
with that theory without all of the combined decades of education that you and
I have put together.”

“It’s okay, Aunt Janine, he’s
right. There are a lot of holes in it. Like timeline issues, biology issues,
DNA stuff. I could probably make an easier argument for why I’m wrong rather
than why I’m right.” Emily took a seat on a nearby crate.

“Oh, honey.” Janine sat with
Emily while still giving the evil eye to Hillstep. “There are holes in your
theory but there are a lot of solid pieces, too. In fact, I need you to write
that theory up so we can include it in our notes and you can get credit for it.”

“Really?” Emily was embarrassed
that she had almost started crying over what Hillstep had said.

“Yes, really.” Hillstep tried to
redeem himself. “I apologize for attacking your theory like that. In my defense,
I have a valid point, but I should be encouraging my protégé and not attacking.
I was really just thinking out loud about what we need to do to validate as
much of your theory as we can. I really do like where you are going with it.

“In this field, it’s best to come
up with your theory, detail it out as much as possible, and then attack it with
every brain cell you have. Once you’ve broken down all of the weak points,
those are the areas that you give your attention to in order to prove them with
more research or disprove them in order to change your theory to a more correct
working model.”

“I understand. I shouldn’t have
been such a baby about it.” Emily had regained her composure. “One thing we
forgot to point out, using the working theory that the slave symbol we found
here was somehow tied to the Unwutine language, we checked the other symbols
against every character we know from their writings. There isn’t even a slight
match between the two languages. Another dead end. And we are no closer to
finding what they mean or how to open the chamber.”

“Well, you have only three weeks
left before you go home.” Janine was standing again and examining the door. “You
have two choices. You can work on shoring up your theory or stay with Hillstep
and work on the door some more.”

“I’ll work with Hillstep, if
that’s okay.” Emily took the pad from her aunt’s hand. “I can work on my theory
from home or any terminal with Net access. But while I’m here, I want to keep
learning from the other researchers and maybe rooting around the ruins will
give me more clues to add to my theory before I leave.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. But
you will go back up top and sit down at a proper terminal away from
distractions and write your theory up. I’ll take you up there and show you the
templates we use on these digs.” Hillstep wanted to redeem himself to both
Janine and Emily, if he hadn’t already. “We’ll come back down here later
tonight if there’s time; if not, then first thing tomorrow morning.”

As the three stepped back into
the decontamination chamber, Emily realized they hadn’t even needed the suits
they were wearing. “Well, this was kind of a waste. Getting into these suits is
a pain in the ass and it was for nothing. We didn’t do anything but talk at the
door. We didn’t even try to get in.”

Janine just laughed. “That’s the
way it is sometimes with these digs. You plan your day one way and end up
following a lead or a hunch in a completely different direction. You did good.”
Looking over towards Lance, who was still working near the chamber, she added, “Besides,
it’s better to have protection and not need it than to need protection and not
have it.”

“Aunt Janine!” Hillstep and Emily
said in unison.

“What?” Janine said with a failed
attempt at coyness.

~

Emily wrote up her theory and
added it to the official record of the research team. Over the next few weeks,
she scoured the ruins for new clues to help her theory and also advance the
project’s understanding of the other writings that were left behind. They never
did find a way into any of the sealed rooms they found at the site.

Eventually Janine turned the team
over to Doctor Hillstep and she went back to her university to continue
teaching. Not too long after returning to the university, she was joined by
Emily, who was granted early admission based on the research she had helped
with at the dig. Ultimately, Emily used her original theory as her doctoral
thesis and was able to prove a lot of what she had originally put forward,
though the chambers were still never opened.

Dig Site One – Open Sesame

“Fang will take point
with Bloom in second, followed by Davies, Hood, Martinez, Patz, Snyder, and me.”
Wilks began his briefing. “Team two will have Scan on point, followed by Doc,
el-tee, Jockey, Trip, Cannon, and Snake.”

Not a bad layout, Daria thought. Wilks
put Fang out front because he would be able to detect an enemy better and farther
away than a human. Then he put Scan on point for team two. This allowed team
two to react as quickly as team one because Scan could detect Fang’s emotions,
so he could act almost simultaneously with him, giving team two the advantage
of advance warning. Very smart.

“Now, el-tee,” he continued, “with all
due respect. Are you going to be able to handle yourself in there?”

Daria was going to interject on Emily’s
behalf but knew that would only confirm Wilks’ idea of Emily being weak. “If
you’d like to find out while Bloom is trying to unlock that door, I’d be happy
to show you”, she said, emphasizing her resolve by setting her weapon down
against the wall.

She’s come a long way, Daria thought.
But Wilks was a killer and would have no problem taking her out. Luckily, the
show of force and confidence was enough for Wilks and he just smiled broadly. “Just
don’t trip and accidentally shoot me, all right? I’d hate to have to see
firsthand how good Doc is at her job.”

“There wouldn’t be anything left for her
to patch up.”

OK, that’s enough, Daria said to Emily
with a glare. Don’t push your luck, lady.

Everyone laughed aloud, except Fang. He
couldn’t understand it. A challenge was a challenge, whether it came from a
woman, a superior officer, or whoever. The lieutenant and Wilks should be
fighting by now. Agh! These humans, he thought.

“Who’s buying me the beer?” Bloom said
from his makeshift perch. Everyone stopped laughing and looked at him. “I think
I might understand it. Thing is, if I’m wrong, who knows what will happen.
Considering what happened yesterday, I’m not sure if I want to try.”

Bloom was fluent in twenty-seven
languages and only six of those were human. He had a talent for picking out
patterns in speech, and symbols used in writing. The corps had tried to
encourage, even force, Bloom into intelligence because of his talents. He said
he’d resign first, even spend time in prison if he had to. No, he wasn’t going
to sit at a terminal somewhere in space with a headset on for the rest of his
life listening in on other people’s conversations. He just wouldn’t do it. So
the corps kept him in Recon; he was good at it and once they knew his
determination, they conceded to better judgment. And better judgment wasn’t a
common thing for the military.

“C’mon, wuss. You want me to hold your
hand?” Wilks approached Bloom. “You know we all trust you. If you think you got
it, do it.” He gave Bloom a nod and a wink.

“All right.” He sighed. “Form up, guys,
we’re going in.”

“Just a minute”, Daria said as she
focused on the nothing that was in front of her. She was getting a transmission
from base medical. “Doctor, please put this on general transmission for my team
to hear.”

Everyone focused on the same nothing
that Daria was looking at as they listened to the conversation. “First of all,”
the doctor began, “you did an excellent job with your patient. I’ve never seen
its like. He came around about a half-hour ago and began screaming. We did
retrieve some audio from his visor, but most of it is incoherent; I’m transmitting
what we did get. Here goes.”

The muffled sounds of recorded speech
entered the team’s heads. “What do you mean you hit something? There’s nothing
on that grid except dirt.” A pause as though he was hearing the other side of a
conversation with a colleague who was no longer able to hold up his end of the
conversation. He continued, “Yes, I’m almost two kilometers from the site,
trying to complete the survey.” Another pause. “No, I won’t come back right
now. I’m too far out. It can wait. Let me finish this and I’ll be back in a
couple hours.”         

In the background began sounds of sheets
rustling and bed rails being pulled with enough force to make the bed he was laying
on move. You could hear nurses and doctors trying to calm him down with voices
of reassurance. And then a scream from the recording rose above all the other
noise. “What the hell is that! My eyes, my eyes! Ahhhhhh!”

Daria hadn’t noticed burn marks on him
while she was treating his wounds. The many meters he was pushed on the ground
from the shockwave must have worn off the seared flesh on his face from the
intense heat of that massive explosion.

“Sorry it isn’t more encouraging and
that we don’t have any more information at this point.” The doctor’s voice
returned. “We had to sedate him and I don’t think he’ll come around for another
day or so. I’ll keep you posted.”

The transmission ended. Daria had halted
the insertion, so all eyes were now on her to give it the go again. She looked
at Bloom. “By all means.” She made a sweeping gesture with her arm towards the
door. “After you.”

“Everyone exchange ammo for close
quarters battle. Lock and load!” This was from Wilks.