My Friend is an Alien - Edlund Niklas - Страница 24

"How do you mean?" asked Keith.

"They defeated the Soluan fleet and sent them packing, but the Soluans detonated a terrible device over the planet. An atmospheric incendiary bomb. It's banned by any reasonably civilized race in the galaxy." explained Jahv.

"What does it do?" asked Niklas. It certainly sounded unpleasant.

"It causes a chemical change within the atmosphere of any world. Literally ignites the atmosphere. Once started, there's no known way to stop it. It burns the world to the ground, turns it into ash. Only a handful of Dorrians managed to escape. A lot of those were offworld to begin with." said Jahv grimly. "Out of seven billion known Dorrians, it is estimated that only a few thousand remain, scattered across the stars."

Everyone was silent for a long moment. Finally Keith spoke, "Well, it looks like some of them ended up scattered here, and maybe survived. Like Davy said, that thing didn't set itself up."

"What were these Dorrians like?" asked Niklas.

"They were an elegant people." replied Jahv. "They were builders. Architects and designers, mostly, with a good level of technology. Everything they did had an element of ornate decoration to it. Everything. Look at the legs on the distress beacon."

The other boys looked more closely. Indeed, the three small legs of the distress beacon were elegantly curved and sculpted, and seemed to be made out of a mottled copper-like metal.

"They were a quiet and peaceful people." continued Jahv. "And they wore the most amazingly ornate robes. Dorrian fabric sold for high prices on other worlds. The Soluans made themselves pariahs of the galaxy by attacking and destroying them. Not that anyone was that fond of them to begin with."

"But obviously these Dorrians could fight." said Keith. "You said they defeated the Soluans before they dropped this bomb."

Jahv nodded. "They could fight very well, but it took a lot to anger them. An invasion would suffice, though."

Jahv scanned the wreckage. "According to decay readings, this shuttle has been here for approximately three to four years, possibly slightly longer. Difficult to tell through the nearby plant life, which of course has its own decay rate."

Niklas sighed. "Then whoever survived could be dead by now. Or far away."

"Could." said Jahv. "Whoever set this up had to be trained to do so. And standard procedure is to stay reasonably near the device at all times, regardless of how long it takes. Also, the readings I've been taking on the way in show that most of the fruit on the nearby bushes and trees is not only edible, but highly nutritious. I'm actually amazed that no sentient native life exists here, but stranger things have happened."

"You going to analyze this entire adventure through that gadget of yours, and keep throwing big words at us, or try looking around once in a while?" remarked Davy. "This is incredible! We're really exploring another world."

Jahv smiled. "I'm sorry. It's how I was raised. I keep forgetting how unusual this is for you."

"So what do we do?" asked Niklas.

"Whoever placed the beacon here, if they're not nearby, should be carrying a beacon tracker. If anything deliberate is done to the distress beacon, such as shutting it off — in other words, something that could not happen by accident, it will set off the tracker. Hopefully they'll come to investigate." Jahv knelt down near the machine and switched it off. "Meanwhile, we can explore this wreckage for clues as to survivors."

"If you guys would wait a second," said Keith, "I gotta pee."

"Watch out which tree you choose." offered Davy. "They seem to have more personality here than on Earth."

"So I'll whiz in the grass." muttered Keith, walking off a short distance and lowering his shorts. Seconds later, a sound vaguely resembling someone playing a harp — badly — emanated from where Keith was standing. "What the —!!!!" swore Keith, jumping back.

Jahv pointed his scanner at the grass, but recalling Davy's admonition, put the device in his backpack and instead plucked a single blade of grass and held it up towards the sun. "Remarkable. These blades have tiny perforations in them that react with liquid and produce a musical tone. In a rainstorm, this place would sound like a concert!"

Keith returned to the group moments later, swearing and without his shorts. "Decided to go along with the current dress code?" asked Davy.

"Ah, shaddup." muttered Keith. He wasn't about to admit that he'd been so startled by the musical grass that he'd pulled his shorts up without completing his intended business and had soaked them. He had then removed the shorts, finished what he had to do, trying to keep it quiet, wiped his front with a dry section of the underwear, and tossed the shorts against the nearest tree. The tree had subsequently absorbed the shorts into its bark. That had been more than enough to get Keith to return to the group.

"How long do you think it will take for someone to respond to you turning off the distress signal?" asked Davy.

"Hard to say," answered Jahv. "Let's have a look at this wreckage meanwhile."

The shuttle managed to retain some of its native elegance even though it was trashed, ripped open in several places, and covered with local flora. The boys could see elegant sculpting both in the hull and what remained of the furniture inside. It was also a lot larger than how it had appeared from a distance.

"I was going to say this thing might've been a family van," commented Davy, "but I'd say it's more like a mobile home."

"This vessel was definitely intended for long-range travel in style." added Jahv. "Multiple rooms, personal furnishings."

"Where's the cockpit?" asked Niklas.

Jahv looked around. The scanner wouldn't do a whole lot of good at this point even if he used it. This sort of inspection had to be done personally. He tried to imagine the shuttle in its original condition, and turned towards where the cockpit, at the very front of the craft, should be.

He found what he believed to be the cockpit door, hidden beneath a tangle of vines in a section of the shuttle that was nearly buried. This shuttle had come down hard and at a very nasty angle. Something told him to bring the scanner out again. He checked his readings and scowled. "Found the cockpit."

The others joined him. "Can we get that open?" asked Keith.

"Maybe, but I don't think we should." said Jahv.

"Huh? Why not?" asked Keith.

"Readings indicate decayed biomass." answered Jahv. Keith raised an eyebrow. "Bodies. Or what's left of them. Best guess — two adults."

The boys were all silent for a long moment, and backed away from the sealed cockpit.

"Somebody still had to set up that distress beacon." said Davy at length.

"Let's keep looking around." said Jahv. "I'd like to find some indication of how this happened, and who did survive, at least long enough."

"This wreckage isn't very clean, you know." commented Niklas. He and the others were already getting streaked with rust and grime.

"What are you worried about, getting your clothes dirty?" joked Jahv. For him, it had been too obvious to pass up.

Davy had crawled around to the far side of the shuttle from where they'd approached. "Jahv, this shuttle would have had two engines, right?"

"Yes." replied Jahv. One engine, relatively intact — or at least as much as the rest of the shuttle, could be seen protruding from the side of the shuttle from where they had approached.

"Then I think I know what happened, sort of." answered Davy. Jahv and the others came around. The second engine was at least half missing, and the portions that remained looked exploded.

"Yeah, that'd do it, I guess." remarked Keith.

"But what made it blow up?" asked Niklas.

Jahv was inspecting the machinery in the shuttle. "I'm not an expert on Dorrian ships, but engines tend to be engines to some degree, and this one looks like a power coupling failed."