The Fifth Civilization: A Novel (29 page)

Below the
Hanyek
,
green pastures bled into the bronze plains of a savannah. The cruiser glided a
mile above the surface, as per Grinek’s orders, scouting the terrain of the
largest continent for any life signs. So far, all Grinek saw was a resemblance
to Kotara’s desolate Timmeding Outback. He leaned forward in his chair to study
the ground on the viewscreen, hoping to spot a sign of life.

“Sensors!” he barked. “Are you certain there was no hint of
habitation?”

“No, Commander. We did observe some pack animals several
miles behind us.”

“Well, those couldn’t be the natives, could they?” There
were clacks of approval from the crew. “So we have no sign of construction, not
even of settlements?”

“None, Commander.”

This proved nothing yet. While their sensors detected no
cities or masses of life forms from orbit, they had only done a close
inspection of a small fraction of the planet. It was possible any advanced
civilization would have a limited population and be confined to a tiny area.
And even if there were no life, that didn’t mean life did not originate here.
That would take much more scientific exploration.

 
On the
viewscreen, Grinek noticed a patch of trees that had almost a circular
clearing, like a landing pad; he was excited for it not because of its shape
but because he thought it would be a perfect grove to symbolically “land.”

“There! That clearing, in the midst of that brush!”
 
He pointed to the section and the screen
immediately zoomed in on it. “Land there! That’s where we’ll make our record.”

Grinek prided himself in bringing several of the highest
quality cameras with him, straight from the Kotaran Propaganda Institute. A few
of his men were trained to use them in a professional manner, and the machines
would probably be the key tool of their exploration. The Emperor, the Council,
and of course the populace on Kotara would all need to see with their eyes the
actions of the intrepid explorers as they walked the surface of the Original
Planet, or the Fifth Planet, or whatever it would be christened.

Out of all the images that would eventually be recorded, the
most important would be the first steps on this alien world. Naturally, Grinek
would be the one to take those steps.

Gently, with the precision of all its trained crewmen, the
Hanyek
set down in the grove of trees,
knocking some down in the process. Red dust spewed into the air and bits of
rocks could be heard impacting against the hull. It didn’t matter; they were
pebbles to the vessel’s armor. One minute later, the thrusters died, and so did
the dust, and through the viewscreen the bridge stared at the landscape of this
new world.

Grinek raised his chin in triumph. “We are farther from
Kotara than anyone before us. And yet we are also closer to our species than
any other Kotaran.”
 
He’d chosen his
first words on this planet carefully. A number of recording devices on the
bridge were already in place to capture the sentence.

“Prepare for departure to the surface!”

The outside air had already been determined to be oxygen
rich and suitable for habitation, so space suits were not needed. In fact, the
air was purer than Kotaran air, possibly because no industrialization had been
detected. Grinek hoped the smell would not be too revolting. He and his
entourage, made up of Specialist Roh and a few select crew, snaked their way to
the bowels of the ship, where a landing ramp was already extended to the
savannah below. A cameraman had special permission to tail Grinek, saving his
every move and utterance for history.

“Over here!” Grinek said, motioning to the door. Just
another corridor to go through and they would be to the ramp. From the right,
out of an intersecting corridor, a political aide bounded forth, hands clasped
in front of him. Grinek gritted his teeth, as this was normally a sign that a question
was about to be asked.

“Commander,” began the aide, “Observer Vorjos wishes to
witness the landing on the surface.”

“Vorjos!”
 
Grinek
turned to the camera, and made a horizontal chop in the air. The cameraman
happily obliged by shutting his machine off, and Grinek returned to the aide.
“What did the Observer say, exactly?”

“He said it was his duty to report to the Council on what
exactly happened when you reached the planet. He said they needed to know, for
posterity.”

“Posterity? We are a thousand light years from posterity.”
He motioned to the door, beyond which was the exit ramp. “If Vorjos wants to
know what happened when I step foot on this planet, he can review the recording
we are making as we speak! That is all those drooling idiots in the Council
will ever see anyway, so I don’t see why Vorjos should be any different. Tell
him he will stay in his quarters until told otherwise.”
 
Grinek had managed to avoid the man for many
weeks by keeping him confined to his room. If there was justice in life, Grinek
could kill him, but Vorjos wasn’t like Sisal. The fact he was a politician had
to be considered.

The aide bowed in approval and went away. Grinek gestured to
the door and the cameraman turned his device back on. With a click of the
release lever, the hatch opened, and the first whiff of outside wind roared
through the corridor. Sand and dust blew inside, but when the wind died down
Grinek dared to think it was actually pleasant. The air was warm; indeed, too
warm for their uniforms and fur. But they didn’t have to stay long. This was
only a symbolic landing, after all.

“The breath of the truth, blowing onto the ship,” Grinek
said of the wind, which was clearly visible on camera. He moved to the side of
the doorway to allow the cameraman to film the outside scenery, somewhat
obscured by the hull of the ship overhead. “Many of you might be familiar with
the saying, ‘The future arrives walking, not running.’
 
You could say that I am about to step
into the future. Let it be known that what I am to do, I do for the glory of
Kotara and all that we symbolize.”
 

That should impress everyone back home.

Now to walk on the surface.

Everything was going to plan. Grinek kept his hands at his
sides and not on the railings, as that would make him appear weak. He calmly
descended the ramp to the surface below. To do this with no mistakes was too
good to be true.

“Commander! Commander!”
 
It was a sensor crewman, running down the corridor and to the ramp,
pushing the assembled entourage out of the way. Grinek pivoted and looked up to
face this interruption, with an absolute anger known well on the ship. This man
was surely about to be the first Kotaran murdered on this planet.

“This is urgent, Commander!” the officer shouted, before
Grinek could even inquire as to what the matter was. “There was a shuttle, sir!
A shuttle from the Earth ship!”

“
What
?”

“We reviewed the sensor logs of the time of the
Colobus
’ destruction, sir! It appears a
small shuttle escaped from the explosion. We thought it was debris, but later
analysis proved otherwise.”

Grinek slammed the sides of the ramp and it shook. “This is
outrageous! Why wasn’t this detected earlier?”
 
Someone would surely die for this
oversight.

“I’m sorry, sir, but it appeared that everything was
debris!”
 
The crewman soon cowered
and all eyes judged him for interrupting the event. Grinek slowly made his way
up the ramp, each step pounding and shaking the platform. Once he reached the
top to face the assembled entourage in the doorway, he realized the camera was
still on and recording his face. He snarled at it, and the cameraman hastily
turned it off.

“Where did the shuttle land?” Grinek said quietly, as if it
were a threat.

“We believe on the nightside, sir,” the technician
responded, barely audible.

All his ferocity being repressed inward, Grinek sighed.
“Then set course for their location immediately. We will do this recording
there.”

The cameraman sputtered. “Commander, if we record on the
nightside, the lighting will—”

“I. Do Not. Care. About lighting! We have to finish what we
started.”

All wiggled their ears. The sensor crewman was the first to
run away, under the auspices that he needed to tell the bridge quickly to
change their course. The rest of the entourage packed up their things,
including the cameraman, who stowed his device at his side. If he was needed,
he would be beckoned again. Roh stood at the ready before Grinek, and the
Commander shot him a prayerful glance. Please, the glance begged to Roh, finish
these Earthmen off quickly.

As it turned out, many had seen what Two Mountains reported.
Most had only witnessed the red flash and the falling to the ground of the
light, but that was enough to convince the Chiefs that a momentous event was
afoot. A planting of corn had been planned for later in the night, but this was
postponed for a few days to allow for an investigation of what had been seen.

A hunting party was called. After the prime meal, the party
gathered around the school area, where the log seats were normally full with
children. Being a new moon, however, school was off and all the seats were
filled with those over twenty years of age. Two Mountains found a stump and
waited as his fellow tribesmen appeared. Members of both sexes arrived, some
wearing the light fabrics of warriors, others wearing nothing but having their
fur decorated with red and black war colors. When all the warriors were
assembled, bows and arrows at their backs and spears thrust into the ground
with their tips in the air, Talks With the Wind addressed them.

“Brothers and sisters gathered before me—some of your
have witnessed visions that can only be described as baffling. Lights and
flashes in the sky, falling stars, all indicative of powers beyond which we can
understand. Something has fallen in those hills in the Sun Valley—whether
it’s benevolent or malevolent, I cannot say. None of us can say, despite what
we have deduced in the past about signs. If this is an omen, it is one we can
only interpret through the realities of our own eyes and ears.

“You have all been selected because you are the settlement’s
warriors, and the task of discovering what has fallen comes to you. Do not take
this task lightly. As I have made clear, we do not know what forces we are
dealing with. God? The Devil? Something else? You must be prepared for any
eventuality. I feel this is the beginning of a new way of things for the Hedda
Nation.”

Talks With the Wind sniffed and remained standing on the
teacher’s stump. She had the unfortunate habit of not indicating precisely when
she finished a speech, and it was forbidden interrupt an Elder Mother while
speaking. When the rest of Chiefs gave a clap above their heads in approval,
all the warriors followed suit—lifting their spears in the air as they
did so—and it was clear those were Talks With the Wind’s official
instructions. Not much, Two Mountains thought, but it was a start.

It was time for questions. Such things were always treated
with respect.

 
One young
warrior raised her hand. “Chief, if the star landed in the Sun Valley, does it
belong to the Gohorma Nation?”

Violet Sky, at ready by his colleague’s side, fielded the
question. “The Gohorma Nation has moved on from the Valley, as far as we know.
You can thank the overflowing rivers for that. As we saw last year, they will
not return until after this winter’s snow has melted, so we have several months
before we have to deal with them again.”

There were murmurs of excitement. The Gohorma Nation was
considered Hedda’s fiercest rival.

Another warrior spoke:
 
“What should we do if the force is malevolent? Should we fight it? What
I mean is, is it wise for all our warriors to go at once?”
 
What remained unspoken was the warrior’s
fear that they all might die in a confrontation, and the settlement might be
left defenseless.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Talks With the Wind
said. “If the force is evil, I would want all of my best warriors fighting it,
wouldn’t I?” More murmurs of approval.

“And what if it was good?” This time Two Mountains was
asking the question. He looked squarely at Talks With the Wind, sensing a
connection with her, something that lasted beyond their chat by the fireside.
Neither knew each other much before the encounter, but Two Mountains had a
feeling these events would bring them closer than ever before. Perhaps it was a
connection blessed by God. There was so much Two Mountains had yet to
understand.

“If the force is benevolent, and thus good, you should see
where it came from, and what it wants. That is, assuming it is even a force, a
soldier of God. Perhaps it is simply a light that fell out of the sky.”
 
Talks With the Wind made a motion as she
said this, imitating a lantern that had fallen out of its hook in its tent. She
got a laugh from that one. “Be sure to be fair emissaries of this settlement
if, in fact, you are to meet messengers from God. Remember that such an honor
would be remembered and passed to your children and their children, into
infinity.”

Two Mountains nodded, and there being no more questions,
Talks With the Wind appeared about to dismiss them. But then she lifted up his
hand and held it out to Two Mountains, gesturing toward the young hunter.
“Because Two Mountains brought the incident to my attention, and because I
believe he can prove himself an able hunter, I am making him the smallchief of
this party. You will all find him most able, I imagine.”

Two Mountains thought his ears must have been deceiving him,
but his body parts were not in revolt today. He bared his palms in thanks at
being bestowed with such a great honor, for being a smallchief made him the
leader of the hunting party. Talks With the Wind had spoken; there wouldn’t be
any dissent to her face. The other warriors gave a half-bow in honor of their
commander, then stood at the ready.

 
They were about
to embark on a great mission, a journey that perhaps would eclipse all others
in Heddan history. Two Mountains didn’t even know whether to consider himself
on a hunting party or a divine party—and he realized that now he would
have to consider himself a leader. He ordered the men and women to prepare to
march into battle. They formed divisions, some chosen arbitrarily and some
based on familial or friendly relations.

A half hour later, they all departed the camp in a line,
moving out the bamboo-thatched fence that constituted the main gate of their
settlement. There were about thirty of them, and they marched toward the twin
hills that gave Two Mountains his name.

Their journey was to take one awakened period, and they
would have to be sure to rest along the way. Tents were carried on the backs of
some of the warriors, mostly the female ones, who were along because they had
not yet attracted mates. Perhaps this quest would indeed garner them husbands.
Provisions such as water and
qiba
were distributed to each man so that the burden of their essentials could be
distributed amongst the group. Two Mountains himself lugged twin sacks of water
on his back, making sure the ropes were tight along his shoulders. No one was
going to accuse him of taking light his responsibility on this mission.