[fanfic] Please come home 4/6
Big thank you to teresa for beta reading and another big thank you to refur. Hope you know why. ;)
also I like to thank those people reading my story and the ones who wrote a short reply. thank you!
"There you are!" shouted Scott excitedly as Nathan and Lucas finally arrived the lower part of the stairs, "Look at this, Nathan! It’s enormous down here."
Nathan stamped at the ground with his foot, "What’s this material for? Looks like new…"
"It won’t be for long if keep trampling on it," Scott admonished him.
Professor LeConte slid his hand over the ground and Lucas was on his knees, "It looks like black car lacquer. Unfortunatly, I wasn’t able to find out what it is exactly until now. I haven’t got the right machines and instruments for it. It’s unbreakable. I tried before."
"How? You set off a bomb?" Scott joked.
"No. Firstly I took a little probe to investigate the molecular structure, but no chance. I wasn’t able to scratch a crumb. Even acid is useless. This stuff is really resistant."
"Not even a scratch," Tobias stood up again, "If we could mine and manufacture it, it would be the perfect material for a space ship."
"Probably," Lucas answered, "Once I manipulate the sensors from one of the vehicles to locate more of this material. But I haven’t been able to find any. The sensors recognize a dense substance but no more. It looks like this is the only place on the whole planet where you can find such a construction."
"Where did you get the acid?" Bridger admonished worriedly.
Lucas grinned at him but didn’t answer.
Where wall and ceiling met each other, there was a thin stripe. Nearly like a fluorescent light, but not quite. "I want to know where the light gets its power," said Tobias. His eyes were searching over the ledge of light.
"This," said Lucas excitedly, "is a rather refined mechanism. It is not energy. It’s pure sunlight."
"How does it work?" Commander Keller was looking at the young man in disbelief.
"I asked myself the same question but it’s actually rather simple. I had to hit myself after founding out how simple it was," He stood up, "You may not have noticed, I found it out really late, too, but on every building in this village there is a construction at one edge. Out of the ground is a black stripe. I tried to brake off a piece but instead I slashed my hand. It’s all the same - these stripes lay at the edges like rails and work probably as a conductor for the sunlight."
"According to that then, at night it is pitch-black here," noticed Bridger.
"That sounds logical but its wrong."
"Don’t tell me this wonderstuff is storing light."
"Not exactly, Captain. This planet doesn’t just have several suns, but it has several moons too. Please don’t ask me about each one. I tried to give them names, but after the first night on this planet every time you discover a new one, you give up. Everyone has its own rotation."
"Well then, the moonlight is also an energy source like the sun is during the day," noticed Tobias.
"The suns," Lucas corrected him, "But it isn’t as bright during the night as it is now."
"Aren’t you frightened here alone?" asked Scott. "It’s a bit spooky here."
"You can’t know how often I’ve been scared of something," Lucas answered, laughing.
He noticed Bridger’s worried look. "I’ll show you why," he explained, "The first thing that scared me a lot was this passage. The passage isn’t long and leads to another building which leads back to the surface. But you see how there’s a cross road right here. The other two passages, left and in front of us, lead deeper into this building. You are able to get back to the surface using them too, but it takes a long time."
"It shouldn’t be likely you’d get lost," said Bridger.
Lucas cleared his throat, "When I first got here I did. It was at night too. The lower lever this complex is much larger than what you see here."
"How did you get back to the surface?" asked Tobias. "It couldn’t be very easy. The passages look all the same. You’d become disorientated very fast."
"You’re right. Fortunatly, I got out with a piece of paper and a pen. I laid a track of little paper pieces."
While telling this, he grew a big grin on his face.
"Just forgot to draw a plan of this labyrinth?" asked Scott.
"No! A plan already exists I just don’t have it with me. But we don’t need a plan for what I’m going to show you. We shouldn’t get lost either."
"And if we do get lost, you are in good company this time," Bridger gave him a friendly pat on his shoulder.
"Right. This time it’ll more pleasant company."
Off Scott’s questioning look, Lucas continued, "You’ll see it soon."
"This guy is a conspirator," Commander Keller said as they all followed Lucas through the left passage. That one lead them downward, and became more and more steep the further they went, "No wonder the UEO wants to shoot him!"
"I thought it was terrorists?" Lucas stopped, "Why would the UEO want to shoot me?"
"Lucas," Bridger came to his side, "I didn’t want to surprise you with a thousand things at once, but even though it was the android that was an Ensign, because they haven’t been able to find the real person, they’ve classed you as a deserter."
"Fantastic. Don’t they know I’m not on earth?" Lucas looked worried.
"If I’m not wrong, then they believe you’re hiding somewhere and live from the money that your android earns," Scott told him.
"Have they completely gone off their nuts? I need to live from the low wage of an Ensign? If they have access to my documents, they should know that this is all rubbish!"
"I told McGath that I can’t imagine someone like you with such an interest in exploring would tan on a beach and lay there lazily."
"The proof is here," Commander Keller walked passed the standing Lucas.
"Then it’s too dangerous for me to come with you," whispered the genius. Bridger thought he heard something that resembled disappointment in his voice. It seemed like he was looking foward to going back to earth with them.
"Don’t worry, Kiddo. We‘ll find a solution. Your friends will surely think of some tricks too."
Lucas looked into Nathans eyes, "OK, let’s think about how to rescue my life from the UEO later." He began to smile again, "To all I’m not worth to them. Was my work that bad?"
"From what I know, that’s not true. You were a rather asked after person, if you ask me. The last time Darwin complained you haven’t got enough time for him, he was really upset."
As he mentioned Darwin, Lucas looked at Bridger compassionately, "I’m sorry. I’d like to play with Darwin again. Is he OK?"
Nathan nodded, "Don’t worry about him. That dolphin knows how to look after himself. The last I heard Tony and Dagwood have been spending some time with him."
"Piccolo? I never thought that he would spend some time with Darwin. Dagwood I’m not suprised, but not this wannabe crook."
Just at that moment, Lucas noticed where Commander Keller and the Professer were, "Stop, don’t walk any further!" He closed his eyes and waited for the disaster, worried that his warning was too late.
"What hell is that for?" swore Commander Keller.
Professor LeConte couldn’t stop himself from laughing heartily, "It looks like an energy barrier and you walked right into it."
Lucas and Bridger hurried over to them, "There are a lot of barriers like that down here. They tend to be near where there is a room or something you can enter."
"You’re telling me now?" hissed Scott. His nose was bledding.
Bridger was laughing, "Didn’t your parents tell you to be careful around unfamiliar places?"
"Don’t laugh at me!" Scott’s voice sounded nasal.
Lucas got to his knees.
"Very kind of you, but you don’t have to get down in front of me," Scott told him.
"I’m not kneeling in front of you, Commander. There is a hole in the barrier down here. If I rub the ground through it with my fingers, then..." He stopped.
There was a short flash and the barrier was deactivated, "..we can pass without problems."
"How did you found out about the thing with the hole?" asked Professor LeConte.
"By chance," Lucas told them, "I walked into it, felt over it inch by inch, until I found no resistance and then the barrier was down."
Scott was holding his nose but the bleeding seemed to have stopped. Carefully, he put his foot on the ground, which would not have been achievable some minutes before, "What’s next? The passage leads further?"
"Several metres, yes, but see up there where it turns off? There’s a room which could be very interesting," Lucas walked out in front of them.
As they entered the room, it didn’t look much different from the passage way. The ground, walls and ceiling were still of the black laqouer and the light was the same, too.
"This is no room, my boy, it is a hall," Commander Keller moved into the middle of the hall and turned around.
"What does it matter? As far as I know, it could be a storage hall or a bunker. Maybe it is a temple," said Lucas, grinning.
"He’s right," Tobias said to Scott, "Do you remember when we were standing in a grotto and then we suddenly found out it was the throne of the ruler?"
"Don’t remind me, Tobias. If I want to meet monsters with tentacles again I let you know, but for today this is enough."
"Monsters with tentacles?" Lucas asked Bridger.
"Don’t ask me, I wasn’t with them."
"Yeah, this was the young man to know, right?" Scott told them, "I have my secrets, which I’m sure you’ll want to know."
"And to hear about it I have to open my chamber first?" Lucas guessed.
"Right! I am interessted in those strange chests at the wall there," Scott gestured to a wall in front of the entrance where there stood two grey stone chests.
"They look like coffins," Tobias went over to look at them, "They feel exactly like them."
"Try to open it," Lucas suggested, casually leaning against the wall at the entrance. Bridger never left his side. He seemed to be scared to loose him again.
"Is there something devilish in here?" asked Scott.
"No, there is nothing in it and I don’t want any more things broken here," Lucas said.
"It mustn’t be as unbreakable as the black thing is," Bridger chuckled. Shaking his head, he went to his two friends at the stone chests, "How did you break it? It is solid rock."
"If I tell you, I’ll never be allowed to spend any time at your house again, Captain."
"Exactly. I’m beginning to worry what rubbish you could teach my grandson."
"Your grandson? Captain! When did you get a grandson!?"
Bridger was about to answer but Scott interrupted him, "Sorry guys, but I think there is more than enough time for the small talk later. This spooky smart young man here was about to show us something that used to scare him."
"You can’t wait, can you?" Lucas sighed.
"Tell me now!"
"Go over to one of those walls. On the left wall of the entrance there is a little alcove. When I came here for the first time I accidently came across it," He slide his hand over the edge of the alcove. Just as he did, a holograph of a creature appeared in the middle of the hall.
All were looking at the creature which appeared in front of them. The creature was ten feet high, and two thirds of its height was just legs, of which it had three. The upper part of the body was plump and short. While the neck seemed normal for a human, its head was oval and long with a high forehead. The arms had two ellbows and there were more than five fingers on each of its hands. The dark brown skin looked like the leather skin of an elephant.
"Is this one of the species who built this complex?", asked Tobias.
"Probably. I wasn’t able to understand his language. Some parts I can make out but not enough, unfortunatly."
"His language? This thing is talking?" asked Nathan as he moved back toward Lucas’ side.
"He could once I found out how to use this console." He showed him a little console at the wall where he was standing.
Again, Lucas overwhelmed Scott, "This creature is very strange. Many scientists were sure that if there were really other intelligent life in outer space they would more look like insects, but all the species we’ve met until now are humanlike."
"Except the tentacled beasts," Tobias noted, grinning.
"They don’t count. But this.. it is wonderful and grotesque at the same time." Amazed, he walked around the creature and observed him from all directions, letting his fingers slide through it.
"He is able to do more than just stand there," Lucas whispered to Bridger.
"Scare him!" Bridger conspired cheekily.
Lucas was still standing in front of the console and he turned toward it to push the right button.
Scott was observing the face of the creature as he began to blink. At the same moment, it began to speak to him. Its speech was similar to the sounds of whales and dolphins.
"Did you do this?" Scott asked in amazment. Just as he did, the creature took his arm and tugged him out of the hall.
Now Bridger’s mouth dropped open, "What kind of hologram is this?"
"Let’s follow him," said Lucas. "It did this to me too when I first activated him."
"The hologram became solid," Professor LeConte moved closer to Lucas as they hurridly followed Commander Keller and his leader.
"The advantage of this mechanism which brought him to life is that it deactivates all barriers which are in our way. The mechanism used to make this creature's hologram more life like is very similiar to what the other aliens use to become solid."
"You mean your friends?" asked Bridger.
"Yes. But unfortunatly I haven't found anything about this other species, not even what they call themselves. But that's not important at the moment. The importing thing is; Shu Thalia said no, it isn't the same mechanism that they use. I brought him here and did some tests but they all came up negative. How he became solid is a big riddle for me and the other."
"One of many," said Tobias.
"It’s nice that you don’t know how it all works but could somebody please help me with this thing?" shouted Scott in front of them.
"No, no, you were able to do it by yourself," Bridger laughed. It was funny to see him next to a nearly ten foothigh creature.
This creature ran through the corridors like a cockroach after switching the light on in a kitchen. Commander Keller was still in his grasp. They others had to hurry so not to lose them.
"Hopfully we’ll find the exit later," Bridger said, worriedly.
"Of course," Lucas told him, "As soon as he showed us what he want us to see, he’ll bring us back to the hall."
"Why you are worried?" Tobias asked Bridger, "We are with an expert. Lucas wouldn’t fool us."
"But I am worried!" Scott cried out, annoyed, "This guy has a hard grip. It’s cutting off my whole blood circulation."
"Stop acting like a baby!" shouted Bridger.
"Nathan is right," said Tobias, "It was your wish to have an extraordinary experience. Why aren’t you enjoying being with your new friend?"
"I wanted to have the meeting according to my expectations!"
"We’ve arrived," said Lucas, slowing his pace. Again they were in a huge hall where the floor sloped down in the middle. The creature let Scott free and went to the middle.
Rubbing his arm, Commander Keller went over to the others who were standing there Lucas showed them. "Why am I not surprised that you’re all just standing here?"
"If you are afraid that more of them could appear and grab you and drag you along through the complex, I can assure you," Lucas explained, "Here is the best place to stand."
In front of them, several symbols began to appear in the air, "Another holograph?" asked Scott.
Lucas nodded, "These are letters. What I was able to encode looks like a description of their culture."
"But you haven’t encoded enough to say so for sure, have you?" asked Bridger.
"Unfortunatly, this is only one part of a bigger one, which I could read. I mean, you see it for yourself. Their writing is put together of several letters. There are all possible forms of wedge writings and hieroglyphs."
"Even for a computer expert it’s not easy stuff," said Scott.
"My mother is an archaeologist. I know a bit about it and I haven’t had too many problems, if that’s what you’re trying to say."
"Is anyone in your family something other than a scientist?"
"We should return to the surface," Lucas suggested.
"Won’t our new friend come with us?" Tobias looked down at the creature.
"He’ll find the way back by himself as soon his programme ends."
"Is he going to show us more?" Commander Keller wanted to know.
"Don’t worry, I can show you all my records. We won’t miss anything here."
"We can come back if it’s necessary, but I am hungry now and I want to eat," Bridger laid one arm over Lucas’s shoulder, "Let’s go."
to be continued...