Seeder Saga (13 page)

Ancient Catastrophe

The alien explained to them that the indigenous people of his planet were bipedal and intelligent, but inherently flawed. They were a proud and fearful race.

None of them had ever figured out how their planet had been dragged away from its parent star. One theory was that a wandering black hole had nudged it or caught them in its wake. Or perhaps the
ir sun's gravity had fluctuated for some unknown reason, thereby shucking them off like a dog shakes water from its fur. Maybe one of the gas giants had come too close and given them an invisible push.

The reasons weren't as important as the situation though. Without sunlight, the plants immediately began to die, followed by the animals. Without the sun's gravity, the weather ceased altogether.

They mined the hot inner core for a while, just to use its heat, but it was futile. They tried sun-lamps to grow vegetation, but the rewards were meager. They tried to eat what little did grow in such a frigid and sunless environment, but the nutritional value was poor and the quantities were paltry. Despite all of their technological advances, they had no answers to the problem. Within less than a decade, everything on the planet had withered and died. Everything except Crusoe.

He alone had seen it all unfold.

The tale broke Jack's heart.

Jason asked, "So you can subsist on little to no food, no sunlight, and no liquid water? That's impossible."

"I can and I do. I need nothing in order to prosper. But I do so miss mental stimulation. I've been alone with my thoughts for too long now."

Sarah said, "How can we be sure that the isolation hasn't driven you insane? Solitude can do that."

"Even if I did begin to lose my mind, I would adapt to stave off the encroaching insanity."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you
?" she said disgustedly.

"I guess that too is part of my adaptability. But I don't have all the answers."

Jason said, "As acting captain, I say he stays. But I'll leave it up to a vote."

Jack raised his hand and said, "There's no way we put Crusoe off the ship. This is first contact
, guys. This is big."

Sarah knew her lone vote of dissent would now carry no weight
, so she pretended to agree, with a simple nod of the head. Of course she could wake Jane up and have her cast a vote, but she’d just side with the new captain anyway.

Crusoe said, "Thank you all so much. I will make myself as useful as possible."

Trust Issues

Jack gave Crusoe a tour of the ship even though it was probably useless. If it had read the files in the computer, it knew more about the ship than all of them put together. But the alien graciously allowed him to lead him from one room to the next.

Before they left the command station, Sarah noticed that Crusoe’s
gait was odd. It was too fluid and easy. It was as if the alien was mimicking them and doing what they did, but even better. She would bet money that the walk somehow conserved energy or something.

Sarah whispered to Jason, "If it can survive in space
, and it can survive entry through a planet’s atmosphere, why does it even need to be on board a ship? Couldn't it just launch itself at the seed planet and then wait in some kind of hibernation for thousands or even millions of years until it arrived?"

"I guess he could. But why would he? He doesn't need a hospitable planet to thrive. He was doing just fine down on that ice
ball below us. Plus, let's say he did just launch his body at the planet. If he got his calculations wrong, he would be screwed. Space is mostly empty, so it could be millions or billions of years before his path crossed that of another planet. He’s adaptable, but I bet he can’t just grow thrusters out of his feet to help him change direction in space if he goes off-course. Or worse yet, if he crossed paths with a star he would be trapped by its gravity and burn forever."

Sarah fell silent. She didn't know why she didn't trust Crusoe
, but she was starting to realize that maybe she was being unfair.

Jason added, "I don't think Crusoe gives a shit about the seed planet. I think he just wants someone to talk to."

She sighed. "I suppose that's understandable."

Jason said, “Molly, have you checked out
the planet for signs of life?”

“Yes
, Captain. I have detected no signs of life on the rogue planet.”

Sarah was surprised to hear that Jason still had his doubts; he was checking to see if Crusoe had lied. That gave her some hope that
he wasn’t some reckless cowboy who made decisions on a whim.

Jack was all smiles as he led Crusoe back into the command station.

Crusoe was wearing clothes now; his shirt had the nametag “Jack Mayberry” attached to it. The pants were too short, but otherwise the alien looked pretty pedestrian.

Jack said, “Crusoe here has been all alone for two million years. He’s older than some mountains back on
Earth.”

Crusoe nodded and smiled. The smile looked far more natural this time. He was learning quickly.

Jack then walked over to Sarah’s stasis pod and opened it. She’d almost forgotten that the surviving colonist was still in there.

He came out of stasis slowly, probably because he was also coming back to consciousness.

Jack draped a warming blanket over his shoulders and helped him get dressed.

The colonist said weakly, “What did you guys do to that bastard who tried to put me off the ship?”

“He’s locked up in the oven in the kitchen.”

The colonist looked stricken. “It’s not safe with him here. He was smiling like an angel when he shut the inner doors of the airlock on us. He has no conscience. He’s demented.”

Jack said, “Don’t worry about him. He won’t be on this ship for much longer.”

The colonist said, “If he’s already in the oven, why not just turn the damn thing on?”

Crusoe gasped, but he quickly recovered. Jack laughed and said, “That might be a tad cruel. But trust me, I considered it.”

The colonist had to wait for three hours before he could safely go back into stasis. He was given Michael’s pod to replace his damaged one. Pretty soon Michael would have no use for it.

Sarah made sure to disconnect the oven before allowing the colonist to wander around freely. Michael didn’t deserve much, but he deserved to die quickly for his crimes.

Hidden Agenda?

Jason asked Sarah to walk him to his pod. He was done for now, so she was back in command of the ship and the mission.

Before she left the command station, she said, “Molly, take us out of orbit as soon as we can set course for the seed planet again.”

The ship
’s computer replied, “Yes, Captain. We will resume the mission in twenty-four minutes.”

As
Sarah and Jason walked, she asked, “Why did you want me to accompany you down here?”

“Because you deserve to know as much about this ship as possible and you’re clearly out of the loop.”

Before she could ask him what the hell he was talking about, he said, “Molly, open the hatch to Pod Bay Two.”

Sarah hadn’t heard of a second pod bay. She was about to ask about it when a part of the wall moved outwards and then slid to the side. It was seamless.

She’d never once suspected that it was right there this entire time. But it explained why she’d never even heard of Jason Rodriguez: he’d been hidden behind a secret wall for the duration of the trip.

The inside was dark
, but what she saw took her breath away. There must have been as many pods in that hidden chamber as there were in the official pod chamber she was standing in.

She said, “That’s impossible. Why would they keep that a secret from me? I’m the captain.”

“I don’t know. But I figured you deserved to know about it.”

“Who’s in there?”

“Military personnel and select civilians who bought their way on board.”

“That makes no sense. There’s no way they would send non-essential personnel.”

“You have to remember, the people who put this mission together were scumbags. You know that firsthand. Are you surprised that they broke the rules for a bigger profit?”

Now that she thought about it, it made sense. The program only feigned altruism for more government funds. But what was with the soldiers?

Jason must’ve read her mind. “The troops are mine. Don’t worry about them. I won’t wake them unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

As soon as she wrapped her mind around it, she said, “I guess it’s not so bad. We only had two thousand colonists as far as I knew. But it looks like that number has grown by double. For a colony to thrive you need numbers and now we have them.”

“I like your enthusiasm. It’s a good fifty-fifty mix of men and women too. But I must warn you, I don’t know anything substantial about any of these people. I’m a little worried they might have an ulterior agenda.”

“Meaning what?”

“I guess I’m just being paranoid. Don’t worry about it.”

“Well, now I am worried. Please explain why you think that.”

Jason said, “Come inside for a second. I’d like you to meet someone.”

Old Boss

She followed him through the hatchway and walked along the bank of frosty pods with increasing trepidation. He stopped at one and rubbed the frost away with his sleeve.

Sarah peered inside and gasped. Inside the pod was the President of the United States.

“He’s not supposed to be here. He made a big speech about how he would stay behind. He was a hero for saying that.”

“Well, apparently he’s a bit of a coward too.”

“That bastard authorized the experiments that were conducted on me and my crew. Many didn’t survive those tests. I ought to put him in the airlock and open the doors.”

“That’s your prerogative, Captain. He’s not President out here in space, so I have no allegiance to the man.”

Sarah looked around at the other pods, and said, “Yeah, but I bet if I wake him up, a thousand of these pods will automatically open.”

“I’m glad you came to that conclusion on your own. I suspect the same thing. I was told these soldiers are at my disposal, but I have my doubts. I think they’re here to protect him.”

“All of this for a single man? What a piece of shit.”

“My sentiments exactly. There are about five hundred civilians in here, but the rest of them are soldiers.”

“
Shit.”

“Yep.”

Sarah had all but forgotten about Crusoe, the odd alien who was wandering around her ship, but that was because this was a bigger deal. The word
mutiny
popped into her thoughts. If the President woke up with his accompanying soldiers, and he decided to take control, there was nothing she, or anyone else, could do about it.

Jason said, “Over there is the French
Premier. The Prime Minister of Great Britain is in that one.”

“What good are politicians going to be to the colony? It’s the one skill that’s pointless.”

“Maybe they can act as intermediaries for disputes? I don’t know.”

“More likely they’ll be the ones causing the disputes.”

“Anyway, Captain, try to keep this to yourself. There’s no point worrying the rest of your crew.”

Jason was stripping off and crawling into his pod when he said, “I hope the rest of the trip is uneventful.”

“I doubt that. We have an alien on board and we still need to figure out what to do with Michael Stevens.”

“Shit, I forgot about that guy. I’m sure you’ll make the right decision about him. Also, I’ve programmed the computer to wake me if Crusoe does anything odd. I hope you don’t mind
, but I asked Molly to wake you up too.”

“No. That’s good. Thank you.”

“Goodnight, Captain.”

The Truth

As soon as she left
Pod Bay Two, the secret hatch sealed shut behind her.

Her head felt like it might spin right off.

She had things to do, so she put the President and his soldiers from her thoughts for the time being. She had to, if only to maintain her sanity.

The first thing that troubled her was this:
the computer had told her that the rogue planet had come from the direction of the solar system. Now, that didn’t necessarily mean it came from the Sol System itself, but she was curious anyway, so she found Crusoe in the command station, talking to Jack, and asked him about it.

To her surprise, he said, “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t figure that out.”

She tensed immediately. What did that mean?

He raised his hands and said, “No, no. I didn’t hide it from you for nefarious reasons. I hid it to protect you from the truth.

She relaxed a bit and said, “Well, let’s hear it.”

“My planet used to be situated between the orbit of what you call Mars and Jupiter. Whatever slung it out of the solar system two million years ago also destroyed the southern hemisphere. Your asteroid belt is the remnants of the gravitational tug on my planet.

“When it became clear that my planet was doomed, my people launched a mission to inhabit Earth. Earth already had semi-intelligent life, and the atmosphere was close enough to desirable, although much warmer than we were used to. We’d visited the planet for hundreds of thousands of years, but quite frankly, the place scared the shit out of us. Every creature on that planet ate every other creature. We’d never witnessed parasites until we found them on Earth. You have bacteria and fungi that are horrifying and deadly. Everything on that planet was born to kill. But we had no choice this time, so a ship was sent with a contingent of colonists and it’s now apparent that the colony thrived. Your existence is testament to that. You humans are cousins to the people of my planet. I share DNA with you too.”

Jack said, “It’s long been speculated that life came to the
Earth from space in some form or another. There’s no evidence of intelligent life ever visiting, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Your story is fascinating, but it’s not something we can’t handle. Why did you decide to keep it to yourself?”

“Because, if you think about it hard enough, you might start to realize how futile your mission is.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“Your race is the result of a colony. That colony failed its planet and now it has been forced to colonize a different planet. You failed once, so doesn’t it stand to reason that you’ll fail again?”

Jack shrugged. “That’s no reason to not at least try.”

“I like your positive outlook.”

Sarah chimed in: “If you thought we’d be so easily dissuaded, then maybe we’re not as alike as you presume.”

Crusoe nodded. Then he said, “Well it’s good to be
reunited with the descendants of my people.”

Jack smiled and clapped him on the back. “It’s good to have you, buddy.”

“Where should I stay while you guys go into stasis?”

Sarah quickly said, “You will stay in here with me.” Then she said, “Molly, Crusoe is not to leave my quarters and he is not to touch any controls. If he does, you are to wake me immediately.” Then she said to Crusoe, “Can you handle those limitations?”

“Gladly, Captain.”

“Good
, because they are non-negotiable. You will be put off my ship the second I think you’re jeopardizing this mission.”

“I understand.”