Aeolus Investigations Episode 15

Available from Amazon.com.

Crane Samue and his teammates — Risha, Kacen, Padi, and Apollo — are out in deep space in pursuit of a very nasty species of alien. Whoever the aliens are, they burn planets to a cinder for fun. Because his team found the destroyed worlds, it’s now their job to find and to stop the marauders.

On the third burned world they come across, they find an unlikely survivor. Her name is Elista. A woman Lexi is eager to meet.

They also learn Elista’s world was named Waince — a planet Lexi has her teams on the lookout for.

Apollo – Chapter 2, Precious Cargo

Apollo’s voice came over the ship’s comm. “I’m detecting an energy signature. It’s very weak. The object emitting it is in an erratic orbit peeking over the horizon now.” He displayed what the exterior sensor arrays were picking up on the big screen, zooming in so the others could see the details.

The screen normally gave the illusion of being a large window at the front of the command bay, primarily because humans didn’t like the feeling of being enclosed in a metal can. Psychologically, appearing to have a window helped. It wasn’t a window. The hull was solid, made from the same greenish, Wraixain hull material as Glaurang, the Marshal’s flagship.

“Is that stone attached to it?” Padi asked, after studying it for a few minutes on his panel. The smooth, metallic-looking object was rotating slowly off-center. It did appear to have a jagged chunk of cement and stone attached on one side. “It could be,” he went on. “Sensor readings are showing it as mostly a dense, porous stone. There aren’t any indications of metal other than the rounded shell.”

While Crane eyed it, Apollo said, “I’ve calculated the orbit. It appears that it was launched far out into space from the surface about three-hundred-sixty years ago. It’s coming back home now, pulled in by the planet’s gravity. It’s in a decaying orbit. I give it ninety days or fewer before it impacts the surface. If it goes in base first, the stone should make a pretty effective heat shield. I doubt it will burn up in the atmosphere. There’s not much atmosphere left anyway.”

“Can you tell what it is, Apollo?” Risha asked.

“Absolutely. It’s a large metal disk with cement on one side. Otherwise, not a clue, hon.”

Crane shook his head. This kind of banter, even in tense situations, which this wasn’t, was what they all expected from Apollo. Of course, to a certain extent, the biological crew had themselves to blame — they kind of encouraged him. “Padi, you’re with me for a look-see. Apollo, match the object’s orbit and move us closer, please. Ladies, keep watch on the surface and near space for other anomalous objects.”

The entire team was already clad in skinsuits, elegant technology that gave the wearer full protection from the hostile environment of space. Most of the time they wore more causal clothing or nothing at all while on the ship. Standard operating procedure dictated suiting up when approaching a possibly dangerous situation such as a dead planet with potentially still active defenses. This particular dead world had none. At least none that had attacked them so far. Unless the pinkish-bronze metal object with a chunk of cement on one side was a booby-trap.

The two men left the ship, one at a time, through the small airlock. Crane, at six-seven and two-hundred-ninety pounds took up most of the small space, leaving very little room for his smaller, five-foot-two teammate. Once both were outside of the lock, each suit’s propulsion system gave them fine control over their approach to the satellite.

As they neared the object, Padi said, “Whatever it is, the entire surface is scorched. I see signs of some pretty violent impacts. This material the bottom is attached to is exactly what it looked like, a chunk of stone and cement aggregate. Most of a tile mosaic is intact on what is presumably the upper side. Absolutely no sign of a propulsion system. Is it really possible it was on the surface when the planet was killed?”

Kacen’s voice came over the comm, “Possible, but extremely unlikely. Whatever weapon these freaks are using would have had to have detonated practically under that thing to throw it up here. Whatever metal it’s composed of would have to be tougher than hull metal to survive a blast of that magnitude intact. Keep in mind, though, Apollo already reported that its orbit is consistent with it originating on the planet’s surface.”

Both Crane and Padi were now close enough to touch the object. Looking at his instrument pack, Crane said, “Whatever happened, it still has a small amount of electrical activity going on inside. Good catch, Apollo. I don’t see how this can be a ship unless the people who manned it are really tiny. It is the right size for an escape pod, although I would only barely fit. Considering the cement, I think it’s unlikely it was intended as an escape pod either.” The object was six and a half feet along the diameter and no more than three feet in cross-section. The exterior, as Padi had already noted, was not only scorched, but also bearing multiple indications of collisions with small asteroids.

“Crane, forget that and come around here,” Padi said. “I found a panel.”

By the time Crane navigated around the object, Padi had pulled back the loose edge of a panel which proved to be covering a window into the satellite. Other than impact divots and the one panel, the shell was smooth with no other exterior features. Padi suspected that this panel had popped slightly loose as the result of one of those impacts. The nasty divot that marred it lent support to his conclusion that something fast and hard had scraped across it. Taking a closer look, whatever hit it did so at an angle, popping up one side before scraping across the surface.

He was still looking in, his helmet light providing illumination into the dark interior, when Crane joined him. After one look, Crane reached in with both his telepathic and empathic senses. “We have a survivor. Female. Full-sized. Not tiny. She’s barely alive. Apollo, let’s tractor this thing into the cargo hold. I know what this object is now. She’s in a stasis chamber. Her mental activity is nil. Life signs are very weak. Not only do I want to get her out, I want to know what material this is made of that could survive the destruction of a planet. I don’t think this was intended as an escape pod.”

Apollo is available from Amazon.com.