VISIGOTH
Prologue
A strange kind
of Muzak drifted through the ceiling speakers as I sat in the waiting room
at NASA headquarters. I couldn't wait too long; my lab was unlocked, and
on those million dollar machines were measurements that couldn't sit unattended
for very long.
I rapped impatiently
on the receptionist's window for the third time that hour. "Miss Carr,"
a voice called in an exasperated tone from behind the frosted glass, "I
have told you twice already that Mr. Laraché is in a meeting, and
can't be disturbed for another hour!" I heard a chair begin to roll away
from the window.
"I can't wait that long! Vivicus
can't wait that long! If I don't get in there soon, and back to my lab,
who knows what will happen."
" I ‘ll ask him, but if he says
no, you'll have to either wait or leave." I heard footsteps recede
into the back of the room, and a door on the left open and shut. The room
was silent.
I shoved the glass back and looked
around. The door on the left I had heard was labeled: EMPLOYEE'S LOUNGE.
I didn't think he would be in there.
Glancing at my
watch, I made the decision to invade the meeting, even though I was dressed
in jeans and a tee-shirt. I still had my SETI id. badge on, and was carrying
my briefcase to show what I was there for. I climbed over the desk and
into the room, noting as I jumped down the dark walnut door in the far
right corner. Straightening my shirt I walked towards the door, my
hands shaking from nervousness and excitement. I was going to meet a legend.
Thomas Laraché
wasn't always such a busy man. He had grown up in a small town, much like
mine, I suppose. There was a huge difference between us though. Although
both of our soils were red, mine was 78, 340,000 km away from his. Thomas
was a Martian. His family moved from a little town in France two years
before he was born. He had been raised under a Martian sun. I was
an Aussie. Born and bred in the Outback. Then I moved to the U.S. to go
to school, studying communications, astrophysics and other odd bits of
science that interested me. From there I got a job at SETI (The Search
for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). From there, I learned of an
expedition to a new planet. Scientific settlers were needed to study this
planet, and a small colony of volunteer families would be transplanted
to keep the population up. The planet was unnamed as of yet, and
over 60,000,000,000 light years away. We would be put in cryogenic freeze
for almost the entire journey. Then Earth developed superluminal travel.
Now it would only take about 6 years to get there. The settlers were still
going to be put in cryogenic freeze, just not as long. If they were frozen
for over 60,000 years, the machine had about an 86 % chance that the machine
would fail. Now, there was a .06% chance that the machine would fail. I
bet they felt much safer. I know I felt much safer when I was elected the
SETI representative. I was never going to see my family or friends again.
I would live out my days in space.
The world of science
had caught Thomas's eye early on, when he had heard of an expedition to
Saturn. When the moons were found to be devoid of life, he decided to explore
other worlds, and someday, find life. Or so his bio said. He had been the
developer of the advanced SETI probes, and also of superluminal flight.
That's why he was the leader of our planet.
We were caught in political
trouble, and Laraché was in the thick of it. He was considered a
dictator by some, and a savior by others. Up until now, I wasn't sure what
to believe. This was a time of reckoning. I opened the door without knocking,
and stared into the face I had been looking for: Thomas Laraché.
He was tall, taller
than I had thought. He looked just as I remembered him though, tannish,
with olive hazel eyes, and medium brown hair. The first time I had seen
him was when we boarded our superluminal craft, and only in passing. After
the flight, I helped construct my lab, and moved right in. That was where
I had spent the last six years of my life.
There was an air of
arrogance, and polite distaste at my appearance about him. He looked disapprovingly
down the bridge of his nose at me, as if I would soil the leather on the
chairs.
"Yes?" He asked me, "You must be my secretary's
tormentor, Miss Carr. I'm afraid she has my schedule backwards again, my
meeting begins in an hour. Do make this fast, I wanted to eat lunch before
I meet with these exobiologists about some tunnels they've found."
"Well, it is a rather long explanation.
I work for SETI," I showed him my badge, and his face softened, "and I've
found something." His face lit up like a plasma lamp when I said that.
"I thought you might like to be the first to know, since you pioneered
this mission and all."
Eyes wide, his proud
pose dissolved into unmitigated joy and excitement. He grabbed my hands
and pulled me into a chair, seating himself across from me, and leaning
forward expectantly. "Well? What is it? Radio signal? Light patterns? What?"
"No. It's none of that. In fact it's not
even a signal for us, I don't think. It's a Doppler shift. A severe blue
shift for that matter. It's been getting steadily brighter each day. Whatever
it is, it'll be here in a few years at that rate. If it's an asteroid,
it'll either miss us, or we'll destroy it. But if it's a craft. . ." I
stopped.
"We'll make contact . . . ." he finished
in a far off voice.
He got up quickly and walked out of the
room.
I let myself out.
I stared blankly at
sheets of paper. It was 3:00 a.m. I had been up all day, and almost all
of the night before, checking and rechecking these documents. It wasn't
possible, but it had happened. The object was gone. There was no sign that
it had even existed in its previous position. The sky was blank.
I sighed and looked up from the evidence
that had stumped me for so long. There was no denying it. Now that I was
totally sure, I could go to bed. And I did.
The next morning I
woke up late, and groggily struggled to get dressed. Then I gulped down
some Soya eggs and proto-sausage. Rubbing my eyes I gathered my necessary
research material and ran to catch the bus.
This was starting out like a normal day
on Vivicus. Our new home looked somewhat like Earth, only more substantial
and untarnished. Probably because there had never been billions of people
marching all over its soil. This was our Utopia, our Xanadu. This was home.
We scientists had only colonized a small
portion of Vivicus' main continent, and the volunteer families had taken
the task upon themselves to do the rest. We felt like the pilgrims when
they first came to America. Only here, there weren't any Indians to help
us.
My lab was small, and the little available
space that there was, was jammed with expensive equipment, all for monitoring
the skies to see if we really weren't alone.
Now that I had found a possible glimpse
of our neighbors, it was gone.
How would I explain that to Mr. Laraché?
I pondered that question
often enough as I tossed and turned in bed that night. His hopes were up,
his guard was down. If I told him that it had disappeared he would either
become depressed, explode, or both. I couldn't be sure what to expect.
Either way, our community would be in serious trouble if our leader became
a mental case.
Staring up at the ceiling in the light
of two of our four small moons, I wondered what had happened. My machines
didn't lie. There really had been something out there, and it really was
gone.
I woke to the sound
of the newspaper boy's speeder finishing my block. I put on my bathrobe
and went out to get the latest download on my electronic paper. The headlines
were something I had only dreamed would happen: BURIED CITY DISCOVERED!
The sub header was even more astonishing: Commonly Found Tunnels Lead to
Network of Caves! My suspicion had been confirmed. I knew that those tunnels
were just too round and perfect to be natural. But they had been deemed
off limits by the authorities until they had been thoroughly investigated
by the scientists. Ruins! Of a lost and ancient civilization of extra-terrestrial
life! But there was no life, only death and decay. We had gotten here too
late. Or were we just a bit too early? That was the sixty-four dollar question
at the moment.
After I had eaten a
rather substantial lunch (I had slept until noon) consisting of a veggie
burger and a tofu shake, I walked to the nicest tunnel I could find away
from our little town. I climbed down into it, with my plasma lamp in one
hand, a water bottle in another, and my pockets full of energy bars and
plasma fuel sticks.
It wasn't a large tunnel. Who or whatever
had dug it was quite small. I felt wood beneath my feet, and stamped, causing
the door to fall off on rotten hinges. As I struggled to stay wedged in
the tunnel, a blast of warm air hit me. It smelled faintly of chemicals,
but other than that, it was fresh and clean.
Stone steps glowed
eerily in the blue light of my lantern. I gingerly lowered myself onto
the top step and climbed down into the darkness. It was slightly
chilly, not unlike some of the caverns on Earth. I liked the dark usually,
but there was something sinister and unnatural about this. I didn't like
it at all.
From what I had read, this cavern was
on the other end of the complex that scientists were excavating. This end
was scheduled to be excavated in two weeks. Two long weeks. I hoped to
be there when the excavation was finished.
I followed the steps
downward. Soon, I came upon a door, fastened into the wall. It gleamed
metallicly in the light of my dimly burning lamp, which I promptly turned
up. I ran my fingers over the smooth, cool surface. It vibrated gently,
and I pulled my hand back, startled. Discovering some etching with my fingertips,
I held my lamp up to a line of hieroglyphs. They were delicately beveled
into the top of the door. I gently ran my fingers over them. The humming
noise increased. The glyphs began glowing with a bright blue white light.
I stepped back in surprise as the door began to glide open, sliding slowly
to the right. An intense white light shone out at me from the cavity within.
Hesitantly I walked in, squinting at the brightness. The door shut behind
me with a whoosh.
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