The Face of Earth (10 page)

After an hour of scrutinizing the alien technology, Tresar watched as Flavoi approached him, grinning from ear to ear. Tresar sat back with a sigh.

“I don’t know what you’re so happy about. I have bad news. Unless we take this entire room back intact, we won’t be able to open any of these pods. They’re all connected and designed to be opened from that console there.” Tresar pointed to a control console at the front of the room. “What did you find out?”

Flavoi continued grinning as he gave his report. “All of the pods are set vertically along the wall. All of them contain men with one disease or another; some we can cure, some we can’t.” He paused dramatically. “Except one.”

Tresar looked at him in astonishment. “What do you mean, except one?”

Flavoi felt like laughing. He helped Tresar to his feet and explained. “Except one that’s not connected to the wall. It’s horizontal and fully self-contained. Except one that does not contain a man with a disease. In fact, she’s perfectly healthy.”

“She?!?” Tresar was surprised, since Flavoi had said all of the units he inspected contained men.

Flavoi continued, ignoring Tresar’s outburst. “The unit is simpler than these ones. I think it might be a prototype. Though why they would test it on a healthy person is beyond me. And why they wouldn’t wake her up after the test was a success is a mystery, too.” Flavoi looked at Tresar and smiled. “So, my genius friend. Do you have any inventions that will help us get an extremely heavy pod up a cliff and back to the ship?”

“That sounds a lot like sarcasm,” Tresar replied as he headed for the door, “but as a matter of fact, I do have something along those lines.” He looked back at Flavoi. “Are you coming?”

Flavoi jogged to catch up. He clapped Tresar on the back, saying with mock seriousness, “I should’ve known not to underestimate you.”

They headed back to the ship, hovering up the ice cliff, and this time Flavoi was able to control his air packs reasonably well. Once inside, Tresar led the way to what Flavoi affectionately called the ‘toy room.’ Inside a large bay were hundreds of inventions and gadgets of all shapes and sizes scattered and piled in no particular order. It looked like the nursery room of some spoilt child. Flavoi glanced around the room. “Did you bring everything from your manor?”

“I had to,” Tresar snorted. “Do you think I’d leave anything for those little snoops to take back to their companies or sell to the military?” Tresar waded into the mess and pulled a long, flat cart out of a pile by its handles. It looked completely normal to Flavoi until he noticed it didn’t have wheels. It was suspended in the air about a foot off the ground.

Flavoi gave a low whistle. “How did you get it to gravitate? It looks like it weighs about two hundred kilos!”

Tresar shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “Magnets.” He held up his hand when Flavoi opened his mouth to ask the next obvious question. “That’s all I’m going to say. Don’t ask for specifics. I don’t have a patent on this yet. Give me a hand with it, will you?”

They took what Tresar called his gravitator to the air lock. Flavoi paused at the door. “How are we going to get it down the cliff?”

“Down the cliff isn’t the problem. We just drop it. It falls fairly slowly and always stops a foot above any tangible surface. Getting it up the cliff is the problem, since it can’t gravitate more than a foot off the ground. We’ll have to fly down, hover, and lift it out.” Tresar pushed the gravitator out the door. “Let’s get going. I want to be done before dark. It probably gets a lot colder out here.”

By the time they returned to the metal building, the distant sun was low on the horizon. Flavoi led the way down the hallway, holding the light sticks so that Tresar could maneuver the gravitator into the room. Then he led Tresar to the back of the room where an alcove with a bulky pod was located. Tresar fiddled with the keys on the gravitator’s handle and it slowly settled to the ground. The men looked at the pod, and then at each other. Flavoi looked back at the pod and started laughing.

Tresar grimaced at him. “Why are you laughing?” Flavoi leaned on the gravitator and kept laughing hysterically. “This isn’t funny, Flavoi. How are we going to get that thing on the gravitator?” Now Flavoi was doubled over with mirth and hiccupping. Tresar snorted. “Serves you right. We have a problem here, and daylight is fading fast. Now stop laughing and give me a hand with it.”

Both men grunted as they lifted the end of the heavy pod up to the gravitator’s edge. It took several minutes of straining to get the end of the pod onto the edge of the gravitator, and another ten minutes of pushing to get the rest of it on. By the time they got the pod situated, they were breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Tresar tapped a few keys and the gravitator rose. He turned to Flavoi. “Let’s get back to the ship. I want to take a shower.” They headed up the corridor, pushing the laden gravitator in front of them. They exited the building just as the sun set. As daylight faded, Flavoi went to get the ship while Tresar maneuvered the gravitator into position for pick-up.

The sky was dark by the time Flavoi showed up, hovering above the debris-filled street. The loading ramp lowered with a groan of disuse and hit the ground with a thud. Tresar shoved the gravitator up the ramp and into the cargo bay. Once he was inside, he called Flavoi on the comm to close the ramp and take them into orbit around the planet. Flavoi’s voice filled his ears with a petulant whine.

“Why can’t we park on the ground? This planet is dead, there’s no danger here.”

Tresar sighed. “I’d rather not stay on a planet I know next to nothing about. At least I know the dangers in space. Take us up, Flavoi.”

Flavoi was silent as he raised the ship and took off into the sky. Tresar made his way to the shower room. His stomach growled loudly as he walked down the corridor. Not surprising, since he hadn’t eaten all day. He took a quick, warm shower and then toweled briskly dry before throwing on a loose, comfortable shirt-and-pants ensemble. That was the nice thing about having your own ship. You could wear whatever you wanted. As he was leaving the shower room, he bumped into Flavoi, who looked as if he had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Tresar eyed him suspiciously.

“Flavoi, have we achieved orbit yet?”

Flavoi snorted. “Of course. I just wanted to take a shower before I eat, and I’m not in the mood for a sonic shower. I want to feel some water on my skin.” He looked pointedly at Tresar’s damp hair.

Tresar smiled. Saving water was important, but in light of the fact that they could take advantage of the opportunity to get more from the planet below, it was only fair to give Flavoi the same consideration. He nodded at Flavoi and headed to the refectory for a good meal. If Flavoi wasn’t feeling guilty about wanting to stay on the planet, then what was bothering him? Tresar decided to worry about it after he had eaten.

Flavoi went into the shower room. As he stood under the hot water, he felt his muscles relax. It had been a long journey, but now that it had paid off, he didn’t dread the trip home as much as before. Especially now that they had an alien for entertainment. He toweled himself off and put on the clean outfit he had brought with him. Then he exited the shower room, looking carefully down the hall toward the refectory to ensure that Tresar wouldn’t see him go into the cargo bay.

Once inside, he went over to the cryogenic pod and looked inside. The woman’s skin showed some color. He checked the dials. Everything looked fine.

He stared at the alien, still amazed at how Yalsan she looked. She was quite attractive as well. He found her short, brown hair odd, since Yalsan women wore theirs long, but it did look good framing her oval face. Her chest rose and fell as she began to breathe. He wondered what color her eyes would be when she finally opened them. They fluttered, opening for a moment and staring up at him. He sucked in his breath. They were the color of the alien sea on the planet below. Then they closed, and she appeared to be sleeping.

Flavoi took one last look at the alien before leaving the cargo bay. The defrostation sequence was close to completion, and he wanted to get some food in his stomach before the alien awoke. He also had to tell Tresar what he’d done. He grimaced, knowing Tresar wouldn’t be happy. But if he had waited for Tresar to wake her, he’d be waiting for weeks. Tresar would’ve examined and reexamined the pod, researched cryonics, and run numerous tests before even considering beginning defrostation. And Flavoi didn’t have the patience to wait that long. As he raced down the corridor, he felt his excitement grow. He couldn’t wait to meet the alien.

When Flavoi arrived at the refectory, still looking somewhat guilty but less anxious, Tresar had finished his meal and was working his way through seconds. Flavoi sat across from him, devouring a large helping of meat before even looking at his vegetables. Once he slowed down, he looked at Tresar, and between mouthfuls, told him what he’d done.

“I took the liberty of starting the sequence to defrost our little friend while you were in the shower. I figured by the time we finished eating, she’d be fully thawed.”

Tresar looked at him in disbelief. “Do you mean to tell me that you left the pod unattended while it defrosted? What if something goes wrong? That thing is ancient!” He pushed back his chair and stood up. “If anything’s happened to her because of your negligence . . .” he left the threat unfinished.

Flavoi didn’t even slow his eating. “Relax, Tresar. I just checked on the pod and the sequence is going fine. She’s still a little blue around the gills, but her stats are good.”

“Flavoi, starting the sequence was reckless,” Tresar said. “We should have examined the pod thoroughly before even thinking about defrosting it. You don’t use unknown technology without determining the dangers. What were you thinking?” He stared at Flavoi in exasperation, unable to comprehend why Flavoi never thought before he acted.

“All the examination in the world isn’t going to change the fact that if the pod wasn’t fully functional, we wouldn’t be able to defrost her anyway. It wouldn’t matter when the sequence was initiated; if it’s going to work, it’ll work; if it’s not, it won’t.” Flavoi felt comfortable with his logic in this situation. After all, his decision-making skills had kept him alive through several wars and two peace negotiations. He wasn’t about to start second-guessing himself now just because Tresar approached situations differently.

Tresar counted to ten and breathed out slowly. “Nevertheless, I’m going to go monitor the rest of the thawing process, as the whole process should have been monitored in the first place.” He stormed out of the refectory and headed to the cargo bay to check on the pod.

Flavoi gulped down the rest of his meal and followed Tresar as quickly as he could. By the time he entered the cargo room, Tresar was standing over the open pod with a strange look on his face. Flavoi walked over to the pod and stood next to Tresar. Flavoi’s jaw dropped at the sight of the empty pod, and he stupidly stated the obvious. “She’s gone!”

Tresar was counting slowly again. “Flavoi, I’m not going to get mad. Just find her. Find her before she gets into trouble.”

Flavoi felt guilty for not waiting to thaw the alien and scared that Tresar was really mad at him. He started his search in the nooks and crannies of the corridor, trying to think of where he would hide if he were an alien on a strange ship.

Tresar thought about how Flavoi clashed with military life, and he could see why. He had never met such an insubordinate and reckless person in his entire life. And that was saying a lot, considering how most pilots were. He was thinking of taking away Flavoi’s access to the cargo room and a few other rooms when he heard a shuffling noise behind a pile of food cartons.

CHAPTER 7

Karina felt as if she were drowning in a freezing lake. She could see a bright light above her and struggled toward it. Her limbs wouldn’t respond to her attempts to reach the surface. They felt cold and leaden. Her memory came crashing back as a man leaned over her and checked some dials on the thin ledge that jutted out from the cryogenic pod. She felt overcome by a familiar sense of depression and powerlessness.

Karina didn’t know how long she had been held prisoner by the Lazarus League, but both times they woke her, their medical staff poked and prodded her to determine if their cryonic experiment was working properly. They wanted to perfect cryonics in order to freeze their dying members until a cure could be found for their diseases. She was their test subject, enduring long periods of inactivity while frozen and short periods of intensive medical examination when awake. The worst of it was, she hated the cold.

As she became completely conscious, Karina was confused. By this time they usually had her drugged into submission. The man who had checked on her was gone, so she pushed open the polycarbonate lid and painfully sat up, every muscle protesting movement. She looked around. She was in a different room, and there was no one in sight. She couldn’t believe her luck. She climbed out of her ice prison as quickly as she could, which was in fact rather slowly, considering her state. With how long it was taking her, she prayed no one would walk into the room. Once out, she moved over to a tall pile of crates and hid behind them. She rubbed her tingling legs, hoping to massage some life back into them. She wondered where the man who had checked on her went, and why he had left her alone.

As Karina sat behind the crates, trying to figure out how to get out of the building unseen, she heard a whoosh from the other end of the room. She peered out between the crates and saw an angry man stride into the room. He went over to the pod and looked inside. The look on his face changed from mad to upset and back to mad. Karina didn’t recognize him, which meant they had left her in the cryogenic pod a lot longer this time, since the Lazarus League rarely invited new members.

Karina watched as another man entered the room and went up to the first man. Words were exchanged, and the second man looked scared. He rushed out of the room and into the corridor, looking back and forth several times before taking off to the left. The door closed automatically behind him.

Karina realized she was holding her breath and exhaled as quietly as she could. The first man continued to stand by the pod for a few seconds more, then leaned on it and rubbed his temples.

Karina’s newly awakened legs shook with the strain of holding her in the half-kneeling position she had adopted to peer between the crates. She hoped the man would leave soon. She didn’t know how long she could hold that pose. She peeked out and saw the man still standing there. Karina’s legs wouldn’t support her anymore. They slid out from under her unbidden and left her in a heap on the floor. She froze, listening hard to see if the man had heard.

Karina’s heart beat rapidly as footsteps approached. The man came around the corner of the crates and stopped, looking at her strangely. She slid away from him and crouched against the wall, ready to fight for her freedom.

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The woman cowered by the wall, glaring at Tresar as he approached her. She wore loose clothing with short sleeves and short legs. She had short brown hair and blue eyes. She looked both frightened and angry.

“Don’t worry, girl, I won’t hurt you.” Tresar tried to make his voice as soothing as possible.

Karina’s eyes widened. She couldn’t understand a word of what the man was saying. What’s more, it was no language she had ever heard before, and she was fairly well-educated.

Tresar spread his hands palms up and tried again. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m a friend. Friend?” He spoke slowly, carefully enunciating each word. The woman’s expression changed from fear to amusement. Tresar wondered if he was what she was finding so funny.

Karina had suddenly realized by the way the man was speaking to her that he was trying to communicate with her. She found this amusing because he could talk for hours and she still wouldn’t understand him. She relaxed a little and sat against the wall. She scrutinized him, taking in his lean frame and soulful brown eyes. His dark hair contrasted well against his light skin. All in all, he was a fairly good-looking man. And he didn’t seem to have any evil intentions toward her. Karina decided to follow along and see where this led.

As Tresar looked at the woman, she examined his face intently, seeming to judge him. Apparently coming to a decision, she gestured to herself and spoke one word. “Karina.” Then she gestured to him, a questioning look in her eyes.

Tresar realized that she wanted his name. He pointed to his chest and said, “Tresar.”

The woman smiled and held out her hand to him. He took it, and she immediately pulled herself up. He nearly lost his balance, surprised by the sudden weight when all he expected was a handclasp. Then she was standing next to him, looking at him expectantly. He was still holding her hand. Embarrassed, he let go quickly. Karina smiled again as he looked away nervously.

“Well, I’ll be. A bashful one.” She laughed. Tresar looked around again, at everything but her eyes. He didn’t know what she had said, but it sounded teasing. He was never really good with the ladies. What mad scientist would be? Just then Karina’s stomach made a loud rumbling noise, and it was Tresar’s turn to chuckle.

He made eating gestures at Karina, hoping she would understand him. “Food,” he said.

She looked back at him. “Food?” she questioned.

“Food,” he reiterated, making chewing and swallowing motions. Her physiology was identical to Yalsan physiology, so he could only conclude that they ate the same way.

Karina’s expression changed from confusion to understanding. She nodded eagerly. “Food!” she demanded, and her stomach growled loudly in agreement.

Tresar laughed and motioned for her to follow him. He led her out of the cargo bay and into the corridor. On their way to the refectory, the woman’s stomach grumbled incessantly. As they rounded a corner, they ran into Flavoi. He looked pretty upset because he couldn’t find the alien. His surprise at seeing her with Tresar was obvious. Tresar turned Flavoi around and led him along with them to the refectory. Karina followed behind like a puppy who’s been promised a treat.

Tresar eyed Flavoi disapprovingly. “Luckily for you, she didn’t get far. I found her behind some crates. Also luckily for you, she survived the defrostation sequence.”

Flavoi was unrepentant. “Well, I’ve always been lucky,” he said, “and awakening her now was a feasible risk, considering the risk would be the same no matter when we awoke her.”

Tresar grunted in disagreement, but couldn’t argue, since the risk of defrosting the alien had turned out to be negligible. They arrived at the refectory and the door whooshed open to admit them. Tresar sat Karina down at a table and gestured to Flavoi. “Flavoi,” he said, enunciating each syllable.

“Flah-voy,” Karina repeated with an odd accent, pointing to Flavoi. Then she pointed to herself. “Karina.” Then she looked back at Tresar. “Food!” she demanded.

Tresar laughed. “Well, she picked up that word quickly.” He left the table to go fill her request.

Karina and Flavoi sat and stared at each other, Karina warily and Flavoi with open admiration. She was pretty, although he hadn’t seen a woman in months, and a Kahrazoid might look good to him now. It was remarkable how much she looked like a regular Yalsan. It was as if she wasn’t alien at all.

Karina contemplated the man sitting in front of her. He was quite attractive, with blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. His name was as strange as Tresar’s, but what could you expect from foreigners? It was odd that these two should be connected with the Lazarus League. They didn’t fit the profile of most of the League’s members, and they were being way too nice to her. Maybe she had been rescued! Karina’s hopes skyrocketed. Ah, to never have to go back into that ice coffin again! She should probably come up with a game plan. First, learn their language. Second, find out what year it was. Third, figure out what to do with her life now that she had a future.

Karina leaned across the table and looked Flavoi right in the eye. “Why don’t we play a little game? I’ll point to something, and you tell me what it is.” Flavoi looked at her blankly. Karina sighed and sat back as her stomach growled insistently. She patted Flavoi’s hand. “Maybe later, after I eat.”

Tresar rejoined them, carrying a tray with enough food to feed three people. Flavoi laughed as he staggered under the load. Karina’s eyes lit up as he set the tray down in front of her. She began devouring the food, completely ignoring the two men as they talked over her.

“So, do you have any fancy gadgets to help us understand her?” Flavoi asked hopefully.

Tresar sighed. “Unfortunately the only translators I have require knowledge of both languages in order to translate between them. They’re useless in this case.”

“Well, I guess we’ll just have to wing it.” Flavoi looked down at the tray and noticed that half the food was already gone. “How much is she going to eat?”

“It depends on how long she was in stasis. Her body needs to make up for lost nutrients. She seems to be slowing down, though.”

Karina felt their eyes on her as she finished eating. She reached for a glass of dark red liquid and gulped it down. It tasted tangy, but she couldn’t figure out what it might be. She didn’t even recognize any of the food. The meat was good, but she didn’t know what kind it was. She hoped it wasn’t dog. She had heard that people ate dog in some parts of the world. She yawned as she pushed the tray away. She felt sated and tired.

Tresar gestured for her to follow him, telling Flavoi to go ahead and retire for the night. He took Karina to what used to be the VIP quarters with its own shower room and stocked closet. He left Karina fingering the clothes and investigating the shower. He headed back to his own quarters and a much-needed night’s rest. He slept fitfully despite his exhaustion, excited about his discovery of a new species, and anxious about how his government would react to his unauthorized exploration of the planet.

After a seemingly interminable night, morning finally arrived. Tresar headed to Karina’s room to see how she was doing. He knocked politely and waited a few minutes. There was no response. He knocked again, louder this time. Still nothing. He opened the door and peered inside. The closet door was open and the clothes had been rummaged through. The bed was unmade and the clothes Karina had been wearing were on the floor next to it. There was no sign of her, though. Tresar sighed. He hoped this disappearing act wasn’t going to become a habit.

Tresar went to the bridge, figuring she would turn up eventually. After all, the ship wasn’t that big. The doors to the bridge opened as he stepped in front of them. He walked in and found Karina sitting in the captain’s chair staring at the viewscreen with an incredulous look on her face. The view was of the planet below, mostly white due to the ice, with darker patches where the ground and oceans showed through. Karina looked at him, then back to the planet, and started laughing hysterically. Within a few moments her face was in her hands and she was sobbing as if her heart would break. Tresar was confused by her behavior. Before he could puzzle it out, Flavoi walked onto the bridge. He looked at Karina and then at Tresar.

“What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything! I found her this way.” Tresar’s voice bristled defensively at Flavoi’s accusing tone.

Flavoi went over to Karina and took her in his arms, letting her cry on his shoulder. Tresar envied Flavoi’s easy manner with women. He sighed and sat down in the pilot’s chair. Just then the proximity alarm went off, causing all three of them to jump. Tresar changed the view on the screen to show a large Yalsan science ship bearing down on them. The comm chirped, indicating an incoming message. Tresar put it on the viewscreen.

Flavoi glared at the man on the screen. “Captain Nanot Niella,” he sneered. “I see you managed to get on the latest expedition. Although I’m sure they could have found someone better qualified.”

Flavoi’s old captain glared back at him. “I’m here legally, carrying scientists to explore this system. You’re not authorized to be here and must leave. This will be your only warning.”