Creative Commons – The Plainsrunner – Chapter Forty-Seven

Continuing the serial release of The Plainsrunner under a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license – (CC-BY-SA).

Now the big thing wants them to bring their ship inside.

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Chapter Forty-Seven – Inside

Tallgrass reached out with his left hand and gripped the edge of the opening. He pulled himself over to where he could see further inside, but there was nothing to see. The room was cubical, about fifteen meters on a side, and it was bare. He stuck his head inside, eyes wide, all four of them, and had a quick look before snatching it back out again.

“Tallgrass,” said Steel, “are you all right? What did you see?”

“Nothing,” said Tallgrass, laughing shakily at himself. “It just felt weird sticking my head in there. The room is completely empty. Those arrows are the only thing going on.” He took a couple of breaths, then said, “I’m going in.” He pulled himself through the opening and floated into the center of the room.

Steel didn’t have time to protest, so he just said, “Be careful. What do you see?”

“Still nothing,” said Tallgrass. “The room is cubical, about fifteen meters across. The surfaces are plain and smooth. I don’t see any markings, or anything else, on the walls. On the right hand wall, though, I see an outline of what might be a door. It’s about five meters high by three wide.” He moved in that direction, going out of their sight. “I’m going to have a closer look.”

“Careful, Tallgrass,” said Steel. “We might lose contact if we lose line of sight.”

“Testing,” said Tallgrass. “Testing, one-two. Do you still read me?”

“Loud and clear,” said Steel. “We must be getting some reflections.”

“Maybe,” said Tallgrass. “It sounds normal to me. And this door, or whatever it is, doesn’t look as if you can open it from this side.” He pushed off from the wall and flew back to the middle of the room. He looked at their faces in the forward port and said, “I don’t think there’s anything else to learn this way. I think you should bring the Emissary in here.”

Steel was silent, and Tallgrass heard Wayfarer draw a surprised breath. Blunt, though, didn’t hesitate. “No way!” he said. Tallgrass could see him talking to Steel. “You can’t do that,” he said. “Tell me you’re not thinking of doing that.”

Steel looked at Blunt, who subsided. He looked at Wayfarer, who looked back calmly. Then he looked out the port. He looked at the glowing glider, which seemed to have turned out to be both a doorbell and a key. He looked at the arrows beckoning them in, and he nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Take us in there, Blunt.”

“No,” said Blunt. “No, sir. We can’t. It’s too dangerous. We don’t know anything about this. It could be a trap.”

“We know plenty about it,” said Steel. “We know they, or it, or whatever, was expecting us. We know they’re inviting us in. And we know that they could have destroyed us many times over without this elaborate trap, if that’s what it is.”

“What if they don’t want to kill us? What if they want to take us alive for, I don’t know, experiments or whatever?”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take. We didn’t come out here on a holiday cruise. We have a mission to explore and learn. If you don’t want to do it, I’ll have Wayfarer fly us in.”

Blunt slid narrow eyes at his fellow mission specialist, and muttered, “No, I’ll do it.”

With tiny puffs of thrusters and attitude rockets, he deftly brought the Emissary, a five meter padded sphere, to the middle of the room and down onto the lighted target there. As soon as it stopped, the ten meter door slid shut and sealed itself behind them.

Tallgrass flew over and put his hands on the big door. He couldn’t see any way of opening it, and he was about to fly back to the Emissary when he felt something. His hand was still on the door and he could feel a rhythmic thumping. For a crazy moment he wondered if the Sunward ship had arrived and they were knocking to get in. He chuckled at himself, shaking his head, and lowered one foot to the floor.

“What’s going on?” asked Steel. now at the aft port.

Tallgrass looked at him, feeling the thumping through his foot now. “I’m not sure,” he said, “but I think they’re pumping air in.”

“Air?” said Steel. “So, do you think we’re in a big airlock?”

“Could be,” said Tallgrass. “Yes. The air pressure is increasing. I can feel it in my suit. It’s shrinking.”

“Right,” said Steel, turning away from the port. “Suit up,” he said. “We’re going outside.”

Half an hour later the four of them were out of the ship, exploring. The thumping had carried on for much of that time, with them being able to hear it transmitted by the thickening air during the later stages. As it faded away, Steel said, “So, what now I wonder?”

“Well,” said Wayfarer, “if I was writing the story, this is when the bug-eyed monster would come out.”

Blunt said, “If I see a bug-eyed monster, I’m blasting it.” He had his hand on the pistol strapped to his front right thigh.

“On my orders only, Specialist Blunt,” said Steel.

“I don’t know why you guys brought the guns,” said Tallgrass. He was the only one without one, not having taken one when he took the glider out.

“It’s a reasonable precaution,” said Steel, “given the circumstances.”

“The circumstances don’t seem that dangerous to me,” said Tallgrass. “It feels more like we’ve been invited in for a visit.”

“That may be,” said Steel. “In fact, that’s what it feels like to me, too. Still, it’s my duty to protect my vessel and crew.”

Tallgrass nodded. “I know, sir,” he said. “It feels weird, though. Being here like this.” He raised his hands to indicate their surroundings, and more.

“I agree,” said Steel, “but when things get weird, it can be good to have procedures to fall back on.”

Tallgrass nodded again, and fell silent. They were all quiet then, thinking their own thoughts. Wayfarer was turning in slow circles, eyes wide, face open. Blunt was the opposite, with narrow, suspicious eyes. He kept his hand near his gun, and if anyone had looked closely they would have seen that it was trembling. It closed on the grip when they heard the noise at the door.

They all turned to face it, and saw it separate from the wall and slowly swing open. They hovered, four abreast, all dealing with their own thoughts as they waited for whatever would come through that big, five meter opening.

Tallgrass wondered what could need a door that big. Maybe it would be a big bug-eyed monster after all. What would it think of them? Would they just be little primitive animals to it? He had a fleeting regret that he didn’t have his gun, but then snorted softly, scoffing at himself. He wouldn’t know what to do with a gun, his training notwithstanding. He was pretty sure that in a situation like that, he would hesitate long enough to make a gun useless. So he waited, watching the opening, trying to prepare himself for whatever would come through it.

It seemed like a long wait, but couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, when something appeared in the doorway. They had to drop their chins and bring their eyes down, because the creature there couldn’t have stood more than a meter and a half tall. They all relaxed, except Blunt.

It walked through the doorway with an odd gait that seemed to stick and peel its feet on the floor. It looked bipedal, walking on two limbs, with another pair extending from up near the head, and ending in something resembling their own hands. The head was on a short neck above the upper limbs, and it had features on it resembling a face. There were two forward looking eyes, like their predator eyes. Below the eyes was a small fleshy nose, its two nostrils hooded and facing down. Below that was a mouth, and on the sides of the head, two barely visible ears.

The entire body, except the hands and feet and the area around the eyes, was covered in something brown and soft looking. Either clothing or some kind of natural body covering, something like their scales. On its back, with bits showing at the sides and above the shoulders, Tallgrass could see something that he guessed were wings.

They were shocked when it spoke in their own language. It said, “Greetings. Welcome to the Prime. Are those weapons?”