The Black Planet (6 page)

Chapter 10

Amanda was feeling the pressure when Colonel Howe arrived with the big sergeant.  ‘How’s it going Doc?’

She smiled grimly, ‘very slow colonel; what can I do for you?’

‘Sergeant Kelly here is looking for work; he is going snow blind on board ship.’

She sighed, ‘this isn’t pleasant work sergeant; do you think you are up to it?’

Kelly looked round at all of her helpers; most were pale and here and there some were puking into bags; ‘with respect ma’am, I am a lot more up to it than you or any of your people.  I came through the Second World War and Korea and have done my time with the graves registration.’

‘Wow!’  Was all Amanda could think of to say for a moment then she had an idea.  ‘In that case sergeant I am going to put you in charge of this operation.  I am up to my ears in work at the moment, nor have I slept in thirty hours or eaten much of anything.  I will tell the people you are in charge.  Come with me I will show you what we are doing.  I am sure some of it will be beyond your comprehension, basically instead of paper we use electronic devices to record on.  We have no idea of who these people are or were, so they will be given a number and tagged.  Once we get them to Earth it will be up to the authorities to try and identify them.’

‘I understand ma’am.’

‘Once as much details of the person as we have has been recorded, i.e. weight, height sex, approximate age etc. Has been recorded, a label will go onto the bag and then the ship will take care of the body, don’t worry about that.  Your job will be to organise the people and get this done as quickly as possible.’

The sergeant quickly took over and under his direction things began to speed up.  There was a lot of discussion about what the captain was going to do with the bodies.  No one liked the idea of carrying them to Earth and the sergeant had DNA explained to him.  A sample was taken from every body and filed with the appropriate number.  He was amazed the first time he saw a body bag disappear and the process was explained to him.  He didn’t understand the science behind it, but he could believe what his eyes told him.  They spoke a lot about their job and what they had found.  They also talked a lot about the crews of the ships and the captains.  Kelly absorbed it all like a sponge.

After about ten hours of packing bodies away they were told to stop.  Few were inclined to eat but the sergeant insisted that they did so.  After the crew disappeared to their bunks for a well-earned rest Kelly decided to do a little exploration of his own.  With no one to tell him differently he began to search the top tier of the alien structure.  He knew exactly what he was looking for and found it at the far end of the complex.  The room was just as he remembered it with lines of metal tables.  They were covered in a fine black dust now, but when he ran a finger over one the metal beneath shone bright.

Large screens cluttered the walls and below sat square tall metal units.  The sergeant opened one to find weird instruments, one of which he recognised.  Beside each metal table there was a bin and the sergeant quickly guessed what they were for.  He gave one a push and to his amazement it moved freely; not only that it never stopped until it hit the wall, then the damnedest thing happened.  The wall opened and the bin tipped into a hole.  It paused for a few seconds then popped upright again before returning to the table.  The sergeant went over to the wall and gave it a kick; the wall swung inwards and a strange smell reached his nostrils.

‘Bingo.’  He retrieved one of the long metal units and managed to balance it so that the wall stayed open.  It was then that Lewis found him.

‘Hey what you doing Sarge?  You supposed to be resting.’

‘Doing a little exploring Lewis; don’t happen to have a rope and a flashlight handy do you?’

‘Can git them ifin you want Sarge; what kind of rope?’

‘Good strong climbing rope.’

Lewis peered down the dark hole and sniffed, ‘dat stinks, what's down there?’

‘What I want to find out.’

Lewis shrugged, ‘why man?’

‘Some of the crew says the captains been thinking of reviving some of those folks but he is short of clothes and stuff.’

‘Yup, I suppose so.’

‘That there Lewis is the smell of dirty laundry.’

‘Oh yeah I git you Sarge.  I will go get some rope and a torch.’

He wasn’t gone long and they tied off the rope to a leg on one of the tables.  ‘Want me to come Sarge?’

‘Later Lewis, I need you to make sure that unit don’t shift and cut my rope.’

‘Yeah I git you Sarge.’  Lewis tossed in a few round cylinders; they floated in the air and spread out.  They revealed a long and broad hole that spread right along the wall.  Lewis had to show him how to use the modern equipment with the thin rope but he soon got the hang of it and disappeared into the darkness below.  It didn’t take him long to reach the pile and he stood upon it as the lights descended above him and revealed it all to him.  He found himself standing on a mountain of clothing and equipment and he began to rummage.  It only took a few minutes to discover what he was looking for.  He had never seen a gas filled lighter before but it didn’t take a genius to work out what it was for.  He carefully took a cigarette from a packet and lit one up.  The nicotine rush went straight to his head and he had to sit down.

‘Oh wow that is good.’

‘Did you say something Sarge?’

‘No Lewis I’m fine.’

‘Wot u found?’

‘A mountain of clothing Lewis and by the looks of it I would say there were more than two thousand people here at one time.’

‘Yeah u sure Sarge?’

‘Very sure Lewis,’ then he added quietly to himself, ’very sure.’

Once he was able to stand again he began to rummage through the piles.  He noticed there were distinct layers by the type of clothing in the mountain.  He picked up a floral shirt and held it up in disgust.  ‘Jezz, hope they still ain't wearing these.’

Lewis pondered Kelly's words for a few moments.  He knew Steven was up now and sent a message to him.  It wasn’t long before he and Buzz appeared.  ‘What have you found Lewis?’

‘Taint me suh, it was the Sarge.  He has found all those folks clothing and says there's much more than we think there is.’  Steven and Buzz took a sniff and both reeled back.

‘Please don’t tell me you want to go down there Stevie.’

‘I'm going.’

‘Do I have to?’

‘Nope.’

Buzz sighed, ‘do you have a descender for me Lewis?’

‘Yeah sure Buzz got half a dozen.’

The two men let themselves down.  They found Kelly sitting smoking with a strange look on his face; he contemplated the pair of them as they looked round in astonishment.  He also had a recognisable weapon in his hands and was wearing full combat gear. 

Steven suddenly grinned, ‘I see you found those smokes you were after Sarge; you enjoying that?’

‘You have no idea sir.’

‘Watch you don’t set this lot up.’

‘I'm being careful.  May I ask you a question sir?’

Steven shrugged, ‘fire away.’

‘Heard say you were thinking of leaving some of those bodies here, burying them somewhere and returning them home later.’

‘To hold all these bodies we are going to have to considerably increase the size of the ship.  So it’s certainly an option.’

‘You can’t do it sir, you can’t leave anyone here.’

‘I understand you may have friends here Sarge but really that’s a choice I may well have to make.’

‘Ain't because of my friend’s sir it’s because of the enemy.’

Steven frowned and crossed his arms, ‘OK Sarge, run me through your reasoning.’

‘Why do you think the enemy have left so many cadavers and body pieces sir?’

‘A couple of reasons come to mind Sarge, the first is to provide serum, but from what I can find out I think they need a full body.’

‘Maybe they haven’t a way of disposing of the bodies,’ Buzz suggested.

Kelly shook his head, ‘ain't that sir, they certainly have a way of disposing of the bodies.’

‘How the hell do you know that?’  Buzz snapped.  Kelly's eyes went cold and he simply took a long drag of his cigarette.  Even Steven was surprised.  Buzz immediately regretted his outburst; he ran a hand through his hair, ‘I'm sorry Sarge.  It has been a long day.’

Kelly nodded and reached behind him.  He tossed a small bundle at Buzz.  Buzz unwrapped a garment from the bundle.  ‘This is a kid’s jacket.’

‘And the rest of it, I heard tell you ain't found no kids at all.’

‘Oh shit!’  Buzz tossed the bundle away from himself.  The Sarge laughed.

‘What was it?’  Steven asked.

‘Shit!’

‘Uh!’

‘Shit, a kid’s diaper.’

‘Oh right,’ Steven laughed.

‘Here’s something else.’  Kelly tossed another larger bundle.

Steven caught it and unwrapped it and frowned, ‘don’t get it this time Sarge.’

‘Look in the jacket pocket sir, there is an Id.’

Steven fished it out and frowned.  ‘It’s an Id right enough; still don’t get what you are at Sarge.’

‘Doc told me every body they have found deceased or alive is in the prime of their life.  That Id belongs to an old guy.’  The two men were struggling to come to terms with what Kelly was saying.  ‘I've seen this kind of thing before.’

Buzz was beginning to get fed up, ‘seen what before man?’

‘This,’ he gestured, ‘this mountain of clothing and personal items from people.’

Buzz still didn’t get it, ’where?’

‘Auschwitz.’

The two men stood frozen in horror, Buzz looked at Steven then back to Kelly, ‘you were there?’

‘Yup, and I seen this kind of thing before.  Separate the men from the women, the young and the old.  You dispose of the young and the old.  Of course they could take a few tips from the Nazis, their piles were far better ordered.  On the subject of Nazis, you had better see this as well.’  He tossed a tunic at Steven, ‘check out the collar dog’s sir.’

‘Oh shit!’  He showed them to Buzz.

‘Is that what I think it is?’

They both looked at Kelly, ‘Waffen SS, they were the fighting branch of the SS.  I also found some Japanese uniforms as well.’

Steven suddenly saw it all, ‘they have been disposing of those they don’t need, so you are saying every one of those bodies they can use to make serum.’

‘Yup, that’s the way I see it captain.  You can’t make a gift of even one corpse to those things.’

‘You’re right Sarge, we can’t make a gift of a single body.  Somehow we will get them to Earth with us.  We could also use some of these clothes.  Babe’s has very little material to make clothes from.  If we need to waken up some of those people then they will need something to wear.’

‘What I want to know is where the hell did you get a Thompson sub machinegun from Sarge?  Buzz inquired.

Kelly grinned, ‘This here is Mary Beth, the first and second love of my life.  Both have a fearsome bark and can bring any man to his knees.’

‘You be bloody careful with that thing,’ Buzz warned.

‘You have an armoury sir, I will put her in there along with my other weapons.’

Buzz nodded, ‘that’s good, besides I doubt if your ammunition would work anyway.’

‘It is a bit old,’ Kelly agreed, but it’s still dangerous.  If you do get someone down here to grab some of this clothing then you had better be careful.’  He pulled a grenade from his pocket and held it up.  ‘There are bound to be lots of this stuff in here somewhere; you will need military men to handle it.’

Steven scratched his head, ‘we really don’t have anybody free at the moment.  You are right though, it will be dangerous.  This stuff is full of identifications and personal items.’

‘You have resuscitated those like me haven’t you sir, the ones in that transport pod thing?’  Kelly asked.

‘Yes we have, they are in deep shock.’ 

Kelly stood, and he looked every bit a soldier, ‘give them to me sir.  The Doc’s crew have the hang of bagging and tagging those poor souls out there now.  I recon we could sort through this stuff.  I don’t fancy trying it down here though.’

Steven thought it over.  ‘There is lots of room up there plenty tables.  Babes could transport it up, and you can sort it out.’

‘I know what I am doing sir; trust me.’

‘I have been told you did a great job today Sarge, thank you for that.  Tomorrow you can begin on this.  First go get something to eat and then get some sleep.’  He turned to Buzz, ‘that includes you.  Now let’s get the hell out of here.’

Chapter 11

Komoru stood with Lewis and some of her men on a platform outside the freighter.  Ico had to hover beside it, the thing was so big.  ‘No sign of life captain,’ one of her scientists reported.  ‘No air either if these readings are right. From what information I can glean from our ships these freighters often carry perishable goods.  If some catastrophe overtakes the crew the ship will automatically come to a standstill or head to a predetermined destination.  To preserve perishables they are kept in an air tight oxygen free environment.’

‘You mean a vacuum,’ Komoru suggested.

‘Not quite my heart.’ Ico interrupted. ‘It ultimately depends on the cargo.  A freighter can produce any environment the cargo requires.  It may just cost you a little more.  Once the crew died the ship probably pumped out all the air in the crews quarters to preserve the bodies then powered down.  They aren’t meant for atmospheric entry or take off.  They are simply cargo haulers.  Every planet has a spaceport off world and goods are shipped on world by local haulers.’

‘Will it take off from the planet then, it has no atmosphere Ico but it does have gravity?’

‘I don’t know my heart.  The ship itself should be able to, it depends on the container and the weight within.’

‘I see, the ship is little more than a cradle with an engine and quarters for the crew.’

‘Yes my heart the ship can take on one single massive container or dozens of smaller ones.  This one is a single unit, normally used to haul foodstuffs.’

Komoru placed a small black box against the access panel and a few seconds later the airlock opened.  She repeated the process inside and they all walked in.  ‘Let’s go forward to the bridge,’ she suggested and her soldiers streaked off in front of her.

‘Captain I have a body.’  One of her men reported.  They came across it a few seconds later.  It was of a species they had not seen yet.  The ugly desiccated corpse sat with its head back howling in agony as it died.  Komoru shuddered and dropped a black box beside it.  The nanobots went to work immediately.  The soldiers reached the bridge and gained access.  It was full of corpses of many different species.  Komoru arrived and tried to take to all in.

‘What was happening here?’  A large bale of what looked like hay lay spilled about along with some strangely shaped bottles.

Lewis took a look around, ‘I think they had a party miss Komoru.’

She saw it then, ‘I think you are right Lewis.’ 

She went over to the opened bale and picked up a label.  Ico read it through her eyes, ‘that is a very rare and expensive type of grass my heart.  Those bottles also contain alcohol made from various grasses.  I believe Lewis is right.’

She was both fascinated and repulsed.  ‘Leave the nanobots to do their job and let’s explore the rest of the ship.’

Both Andy Myers and Matt McGuire made a bolt for the engine room; Ico had finally got over his revulsion of Andy and now allowed him free passage through his interior.  They checked the fuel levels and the state of the engine.  ‘The engines powered down as expected captain and vented the atmosphere to preserve the cargo and the crew.’  Matt told Komoru when she arrived.

Komoru’s attention was captured by something else.  Three aliens sat round a large bale.  Holes had been torn in the bale; on top sat some kind of game board and empty bottles.  One still sat with his chin in his hand.  It reminded Komoru of an old masterpiece she couldn’t remember the name of.

While the two engineers got the engine ready for start-up Komoru found herself facing a delegation of scientists.  She was furious when they requested permission to dissect some of the bodies.  She refused their request and made them lift the black cubes on to Ico.  They were buried half a mile away and the spot recorded in case they ever crossed the barrier.

It took a couple of hours for the engineers to restart the ship and to flood the cavernous cargo bay with enough oxygen so they could breath.  Matt reported to Komoru who was now on the bridge.  ‘I have completed a diagnostic Captain and the ship is ready to fly.  Hull integrity is good but she is too heavy to take off.  We need to lose about a hundred tons of cargo if we are to achieve orbit.  I am supplying power to the bridge now.’

‘Thank you Matt,’ she turned to the consoles as they came to life.  ‘Let’s find out how they came to be here.  These vessels are protected by a large treaty and are rarely attacked.’

It didn’t take her long to find the reason in the captains log, she read her findings aloud, ‘they were cruising along the great barrier having picked up an expensive cargo that only grows on the rim when they were hit by a meteor shower.  They lost all power to the bridge.  The external damage was easy to fix but the interior damage took a fortnight.  When the work was completed and they got navigation back they discovered that the meteor shower had thrown them off course and they had already crossed the barrier.  They managed to send a communications pod through the barrier to let their family’s know what had happened.  The cargo and ship was officially written off by the insurers and ownership transferred to the captain and crew to do with as they pleased.’  She looked up, ‘that is all there is really.  Their long range sensors found this planet and they just partied on down until they died.’

‘Looked like dey all died de same time Miss Komoru.’

Komoru spoke to Ico and he quickly found a plausible reason.  ‘You might be right Lewis, according to Ico the time of their deaths coincides with a large solar flare.’

Lewis mulled it over for a few moments, ‘hard to believe dat our sun can be so lethal to these people.’

One of her soldiers turned to Lewis, ‘Just as well Lewis.  I think our sun is the only thing that has protected us from annihilation.’

‘Yeah you're right Akio.  Still I don’t think every race out there is bad.’

‘No race is ever bad to you if you are strong Lewis.  These other races have been fighting over territory in their universe in much the same way we have been fighting over resources on Earth for many generations.  Our planet is a jewel and our universe untouched.  As far as they are concerned we are little more than bugs to be crushed under their heel.  If more than one race knew about us then their whole universe would be fighting to claim it for their own, in much the same way as the white man once cut up Africa and claimed it for their own use.’

‘Yeah,’ mused Lewis, ‘and America.’

Akio nodded, ‘yes my big friend.  They respect strength and technology.  We are primitives compared to these races.’

Komoru had been listening to the conversation, ‘it’s time to go check out the cargo hold.’

The hold was filled with air so they didn’t need their suits.  They entered through a hatch high up on the level of the bridge.  As the lights came on they simply stood and stared.  It was filled to capacity with large bales of hay.

‘How the hell do we get rid of all this?’  Komoru whispered.

‘Good thing is Miss Komoru; der must be more than a hundred tons of de stuff.’

‘Good point Lewis, but how do we dump it?’

Lewis pointed to a back wall, ‘looks like some sort of ram Miss Komoru.  Push de right switch and away it goes.’

‘I think you are right Lewis, but where is the switch.  We need to open the cargo doors first; there must be a station on board that deals with this.  Ico can you go through the ships schematics and find that station please.’

‘Yes my heart.’

‘Let’s go explore everyone.’

They found a lift and soon figured it out.  They were lowered into the hull of the freighter.  Seventy percent of the cargo hold was filled with bales of grass.  Thirty percent was made up of more domestic products.  One locked cage seemed to hold mail.

‘This is fascinating,’ Komoru decided and cut into a strangely marked box.  She took out a highly decorated piece of cloth.  Lewis helped her and they stretched it out.  It was a puzzling garment.  ‘It looks like some kind of dress Lewis.’

‘Yeah fo de cow Miss Komoru.’

Komoru suddenly saw it and burst out laughing, ‘oh I think you are right Lewis.’ 

Lewis took out his pistol and changed the settings on it.  A green light lanced out and cut through the lock on the cage.  Komoru dived in and grabbed a smaller package, ‘in their universe this mail is protected by a universal law Lewis, do you think I should open it?’

‘We ain't in der universe Miss Komoru.’

She smiled, ‘that’s true.’  She opened the package to find a couple of strange twisted decorative objects.  She took them out and sat them on top of a box.  She was mesmerised by the colour and texture.  ‘Aren’t they beautiful Lewis?’

Lewis screwed his face up, ‘like dat modern art Miss Komoru, I ain't got no time for dat stuff.’

She laughed, ‘you are a wit Lewis.  I wonder what they are.’

It was Ico who supplied the answer, ‘they are from a race that lives on a very stormy planet near the barrier, they represent what they call the divine wind.’

‘Oh!  That sounds very Japanese, it’s no wonder I like them.  I bet my mother would love them.’

Lewis couldn’t help but laugh, ‘we going to open them all Miss Komoru?’

‘No Lewis let’s take these but leave everything else until later.  Ico has found out where to activate the cargo bay doors from.  Back to the bridge everybody.’

Komoru sat at a large console and activated it.  Large screens came to life above her head and she took her instructions from Ico as he translated what appeared on the screens straight into her mind.  Large doors opened on the side of the freighter.

‘Atmosphere is being maintained in the cargo hold captain, there must be some sort of force field keeping the air in,’ Andy told her.

‘Thank you,’ she answered almost absentmindedly as she manually chose the bays to empty.  ‘I need thirty percent power from the engines to operate the rams Andy.’

It took him a few seconds and they felt the ship shudder a little, ‘ready to go captain.’

‘Thank you.’ 

She began to tap the screen and they felt the vibrations as the massive ramps began to work.  Lewis took a stroll back to the cargo bay to watch the operation and stood there with a huge grin on his face as the large machinery dumped all of the grass out onto the surface of the planet.

‘Sweet,’ was the only thing he could find to say before he returned to the bridge.  With her pilot at the helm they began the journey back to the alien base.  It was a tense if un-dramatic flight.  The dumping of the cargo had left them with weight to spare.  Yet all felt a great sigh of relief as it finally touched down.

Komoru swiped away a long strand of glossy black hair from her face, ‘let’s go get something to eat people.’  She put her helmet back on and made for the airlock where Ico was already waiting to lift them off.