Last Stand Read online

  “Acknowledged, captain,” M’kntyr answered.

  Hover Car Two came in slowly for its landing. Just before touchdown, the left-front lift drive lost power for a split second and that corner of the hover car dipped down and to the left, threatening to roll the car! The occupants were glad that they were strapped securely to their seats. The security officer piloting the car quickly compensated and brought the vehicle in for a safe landing.

  After Caulder and his team clambored from the car, the pilot went to the front left corner of the vehicle and opened a panel to look at the lift drive diagnostics display. After a moment, he closed the panel, turned to Caulder, and shrugged. “It’s not showing any problems, commander,” he said. “I’ll have Engineering check it out when we get back to the Phoenix.”

  “You okay?” Captain Mac Bradley asked as he walked up. Caulder briefed him on the power fluctuation and that the diagnostics didn’t register a problem.

  “I’ll ask Ian to have his team check it out when we get back to the ship.” Jarrod said. “For now, let’s find the door into this place.” Bradley nodded his agreement.

  Commander Jarrod Caulder looked first towards one corner then turned to look at the other. Having gotten his bearings, he stepped over to a point along the wall that was roughly equidistant from both corners. The pyramid appeared to be constructed entirely of some silvery metal. Caulder moved closer to the wall to examine it more closely, pointing his comm unit’s image scanner towards the wall so that his examination would be video recorded.

  As Caulder got within a few inches from the wall, he saw a faint series of Proge symbols appear as if projected from within the metal before him. He ran his comm unit over the faint images, then checked the 3D projection from his comm unit to see it if had recorded the symbols. It had!

  “Phoenix, did you receive the recording from my comm unit?” Caulder asked over his comm unit.

  “We did indeed, Jarrod!” replied Commander Ian Huntington-Smythe. “The technical wizards are running it through the translation matrix as I speak. Standby!”

  “Will do!” Caulder answered back.

  Bradley and the two scientists stepped closer to Caulder to look at the images visible within the metal of the wall. Jarrod studied the symbols carefully.

  A moment later, the voice of Ian Huntington-Smythe came over Jarrod Caulder’s comm unit. “Jarrod, old boy, we think we have an answer for you. Transmitting the translation now…”

  Before Ian could finish his sentence, Jarrod reached out with his right hand toward the Proge symbols. His hand touched one symbol, then another, and then another. Only then did Jarrod start to look at the translation broadcast to his comm unit. Before he could read it, dark lines began to form on the pyramid wall. The lines became spaces between two panels and the wall, then the panels slid silently into the wall itself leaving an opening easily 15 feet high by 20 feet wide.

  Lights came on within the passageway beyond the opening. Jarrod checked the comm unit’s projection to verify the images from the translation. They were exactly the sequence of symbols he had chosen. Bradley looked at him quizzically.

  Jarrod shrugged his shoulders and answered Bradley’s unasked question. “It’s as if I knew which symbols to touch. After years of being exposed to the Proge and their written language through my father’s research and these past weeks of intense study of their written language maybe I’m starting to figure it all out!”

  “Well,” Bradley began, “we’ve reached another decision point. We’ve gained access…do we go on?” He looked over to Jarrod Caulder and raised his eyebrows.

  Jarrod grinned back. “Mac, we didn’t come all this way just to turn back now, did we? Let’s see what’s inside!”

  Bradley nodded. “Just what I was thinking. Okay then…Ramos and Cussler, you remain here with the hover cars. Be prepared to relay comms traffic, if we need it. M’kntyr, Burns, Ratcliff, and Lazier…you’ll take point as we enter the pyramid. Gantt and Tremberth, you bring up the rear and monitor our six! Caulder, Gerard, Newton, and I will be in the center.” Everyone acknowledged their assignments and checked their weapons and equipment one more time.

  “Jarrod, do you have a fix on where’s that signal’s coming from?” Bradley asked. In answer, Caulder pointed straight into the opening towards the center of the pyramid. “I thought that’s what you’d say. Okay, everyone ready? Good! Let’s move out.” The expedition entered the portal into the pyramid and began to spread out along the wide corridor.

  The security personnel at the front of the group moved forward slowly. Their weapons were equipped with mini-cams that captured video of the corridor ahead and sent that video to those who followed and to the Phoenix. At various points along the corridor, symbols would appear within the metal of the wall, identifying the location of other doorways. Two security members would remain next to the doorway controls while Caulder, Bradley, and the two scientists came up to examine the symbols.

  Caulder would try the doorway controls, touching the symbols he thought would open the door. Some doors opened, revealing large empty rooms; other doors refused to open. Once the accessible rooms were examined, the team would leave a marker then move forward, deeper into the pyramid. After two hours, the team paused to rest and discuss what they had found thus far.

  After a 10 minute break, the team resumed their exploration of the pyramid’s interior. After another hour and six more empty side rooms, the corridor opened into a vast chamber that extended for hundreds of feet to the left, ahead, and to the right. In the center of the chamber, a thick cylinder rose from the floor and extended up to the ceiling more than 100 feet above. The surface of the cylinder glowed with a silver light that was broken by a multitude of twinkling, multi-colored lights.

  Lieutenant Colleen Newton examined the portable scanner in her hand then nodded towards the cylinder. “There’s the energy source and the beacon, captain.” Bradley consulted with Caulder and the two senior officers agreed to continue forward. The team set off and soon had covered the remaining distance to the cylinder. The base of the cylinder was covered with Proge symbols to a height of about ten feet. The humans examined the symbols closest to them then slowly walked around the massive cylinder examining and recording the symbols as they went. As before, the video was transmitted back to the Phoenix for analysis.

  Eventually, the team had circumnavigated the cylinder and returned to the spot where they had first approached it. Lieutenant Gerard, one of the scientists, stepped forward and ran his portable scanner over a section of the cylinder about five feet above the floor. As he reached towards the cylinder, a blue diamond shape appeared within the metal. He paused and glanced over to Bradley, Caulder, and Newton. Caulder and Newton shrugged, as if to say, Why not? Bradley merely nodded his assent for Gerard to go ahead.

  The young scientist reached forward and pressed the blue diamond with his fingertips. The diamond grew brighter then two thin, black lines appeared, encircling the cylinder. The lowest line appeared about four feet above the floor, the second about six inches above that. A few seconds later, vertical lines began to appear equidistantly around the cylinder, connecting the two parallel lines. Gerard backed away from the cylinder quickly.

  As with the doorways, the black lines became points at which curved panels slid outward from the cylinder forming shelf-like consoles. Visible on the upper surface of each console were row upon row of Proge symbols.

  Bradley, Caulder, and their team stepped closer to the consoles. Being more familiar with the Proge’s symbology than the others, Caulder, Gerard, and Newton carefully examined the series of symbols on each console and discovered they were laid out in recurring patterns much like the computer keyboards so commonly used by humans.

  “Captain…commander, over here,” said Gerard who was standing three consoles away from the others. His scanner was pointed at the console in front of him. “There’s a Terran-tech micro-layer LCD screen bonded to the upper surface of this console. It’s giving
off the beacon signal that we picked up!”

  Caulder stepped closer to examine the LCD screen carefully. He leaned over it and exhaled on one part of the screen. It fogged up and in several places within the fogged area human fingerprints could be seen. Caulder used his comm unit to video the prints before the fogging faded. Satisfied that he had recorded the prints, he called Ian Huntington-Smythe back on the Phoenix.

  “Ian, I’m sending you a video of some fingerprints. Have our scientists get a screen capture from the video and do a fingerprint search in the database, focus the search on my father and those personnel who accompanied him on his latest expedition,” Jarrod told his friend.

  “Will do, lad!” Huntington-Smythe promptly replied. A few minutes later, he responded, “Jarrod, we matched the prints to two personnel from your father’s expedition. One set of prints is from Doctor Sheila Misubi, an expert in exoplanetary sciences. The other set, well, they are your father’s!”

  A wide smile played across Jarrod Caulder’s face. He turned to face his friend, Mac Bradley, and said, “I knew it! He was here! My father was here! We’re on the right track…” An idea came to mind and he turned back to the console. With his right thumb, he pressed down on the lower right corner of the LCD screen. It came to life displaying letters, numbers, and symbols familiar to the Terrans gathered before the console.

  Jarrod looked over to Bradley once again. “LCD screens like this are often used as interfaces with other devices and equipment. They’re basically mini-computers designed to provide a manual input linkage. They usually have an activation button, print scanner, or other security device in the lower left corner. This one appears to be keyed to a thumbprint…my thumbprint to be exact; most likely set up by my father!”

  He pointed to the console. “The Terran letters and numbers displayed correlate to the Proge symbols above each one. My father was able to decipher the Proge symbols and created a means to try to communicate with this…computer system.” Jarrod looked at Newton and Gerard. The two scientists examined the improvised keypad interface attached to the Proge console then looked at the Proge symbols within the metal of the cylinder itself. They nodded their agreement.

  “It has to be a computer of some type,” said Newton in a half-whisper. “The master computer for this entire city; perhaps for the entire planet! And it appears that Dr. Caulder has accessed it to some degree. But how?” Newton and Gerard began to talk quietly with each other, ignoring the others as they continued their examinations of the console.

  Jarrod returned his gaze to the console and LCD screen to examine it in greater detail. A moment later he reached out his right hand and pressed the question mark button on the LCD interface with one finger. A series of display screens suddenly appeared within the cylinder metal above each console. A sequence of several symbols appeared on the screens, each symbol glowing deep red. Jarrod memorized the sequence of symbols then looked at the LCD interface to decipher what he saw on the screen. Strangely, he felt as if he already knew the answer. For a moment, it felt like he had double vision, with the English translation super-imposed over the Proge symbols on the screen.

  He smiled and chuckled, “It reads 'Online’. It was waiting for someone to log-in.” The four Terran officers paused for a moment staring at the screens. Jarrod, experiencing a moment of inspiration, typed ‘SYSTEM?’ on the keypad.

  The symbols within the cylinder’s metal blinked and flashed in differing colors and then the symbols on the screens changed. Jarrod looked at the screen before him and, in a moment of intuition, relaxed his eye muscles to allow his vision to defocus momentarily. It seemed to help his weird double vision.

  “If I’m translating this correcting,” Jarrod began, “it says ‘Olymara Central Processor… Online’. It might be the name of the computer system…or it could mean this city or this world?” Jarrod stroked his chin and thought about what inquiry to make next. He smiled then typed ‘ORIGIN?’. “I wonder what the origin of this facility is?” he asked aloud.

  The lights of the cylinder blinked and fluttered and sound came from speakers hidden somewhere within the cylinder. The sound…a voice…spoke in a soft, pleasant manner but the words meant nothing to the Terrans. It was the first time they had heard the spoken language of the Proge! On the screen, a crystal clear video began to play, showing several alien spacecraft landing upon a barren field. Hatches on each opened and a number of smaller, flying vehicles exited from the larger spacecraft and descended to the surface.

  Upon landing, tall humanoid forms stepped from the smaller vehicles. They’re humanoids. The Proge are humanoids! Jarrod thought. As he watched, the Proge converged on one of their number. Their leader perhaps, Jarrod thought. All of the Proge wore loose fitting silvery uniforms and belts with pouches and tools attached to them.

  Whoever had been operating the recording device zoomed in on the leader which allowed Jarrod to carefully examine the individual. Without a frame of reference, Jarrod was unable to determine how tall this particular Proge was. Its exposed skin had a grayish tint to it. Its head was slightly taller and more slender in proportion to its body than human norm and entirely hairless. The being’s eyes were a little larger than human norm with large dark pupils which covered much of the visible surface of the eyes. Its hands had long, thin fingers that appeared to be double jointed. Jarrod couldn’t find any overt evidence of the Proge’s sex…if the race even had sexes at all!

  Jarrod stared at the image for a minute then wondered out loud, “Where have we seen beings like these before?”

  “They’re one of the many versions of the ‘Greys’,” answered Bradley. When the others turned to look at him quizzically, Bradley continued. “Back on Earth during the 20th Century, there were frequent reports of unidentified flying objects and stories of human abductions by aliens. Based on the common elements of descriptions made by the witnesses, the most common type of alien visited looked pretty much as these beings do. Thin, grayish coloration, large dark eyes, bald heads, occasionally covered with silver clothing, sometimes naked. The archetype became common place in many documentaries and…science fiction programs of the era. James…Commodore Rivers…and I have watched plenty of old movies and television programs that include the Greys as alien visitors or invaders.”

  Jarrod suddenly tore his eyes away from the screen! Turning to the Newton and Gerard, he asked, “You have been recording this, right?”

  Newton smiled and nodded, “Yessir, ever since we first approached the cylinder! And routing the video and audio to the Phoenix for analysis!” Jarrod breathed a sigh of relief and gave Newton a thumbs-up. Of course, she could have tried to rewind the video and start over, but now she could just let it continue to play.

  Jarrod returned his gaze to the screen and watched as the Proge leader signaled the others to step closer to it. The Proge raised his arms above its head and began to speak in the Proge language. At certain intervals, the other Proge all responded with the same words.

  “My God!” Gerard exclaimed. “It’s offering a prayer or benediction…perhaps blessing the new world!?!” The others nodded in agreement.

  A moment later, the Proge leader stopped speaking and many of the other Proge walked away except for five who remained by their leader’s side. The leader withdrew a device from a pouch on its belt, stepped forward, and knelt down. It set the device on the ground and rose gracefully back to its full height before taking a step backwards. The device projected a 3-dimensional image around the leader and the other five. The device recording the event picked up the 3D image clearly and showed a cityscape laid out with thin, bright blue lines and gentle curves. The leader looked at the other five then waved an arm toward the projection of the city.

  On the cylinder’s screens, the video of the Proge settlement of this world began to move and change faster. The Proge, using their advanced technologies and equipment, began to construct the city seen in the projection. The construction continued day and night! Jarrod and the scientists in
terpreted the changing symbols in one corner of the image as a chronometer of some type, perhaps giving the number of minutes, hours, days, and even years that elapsed as measured by the Proge.

  Jarrod said out loud, “It lead them to this new world and, together, they built this giant city! It took years, decades, perhaps even centuries in our terms to reach completion, but these were the first Proge settlers upon this world. And this structure and its computer were the core of that settlement.” Gerard and Newton nodded their agreement.

  The team spent two more hours communicating with the city’s computer core. Jarrod often spoke aloud his queries as he typed them into the interface keyboard, as if he was speaking to the computer. After those two hours, Bradley suggested they return to their vessel to discuss what they’d learned, eat, and rest; then resume the next morning.

  The flight back to the Phoenix went smoothly until just before landing when Hover Car Two experienced another temporary power loss in the left front primary lift unit. The pilot compensated immediately and no one was injured and no damage to the craft occurred. Jarrod Caulder cursed under his breath. To get this close to Dad and maybe get killed by this damned hover car. Am I ever going to have words with Ian and his mechanics!

  The two hover cars landed next to the Phoenix and the occupants quickly dismounted and returned to the ship. Caulder did indeed speak with Commander Huntington-Smythe and the two engineers/mechanics who were responsible for the hover cars. Only after that did Jarrod shed his field equipment and report to the Phoenix’s small med-bay to report to Ellie Rai and have her check him out.

  Half an hour later, Ellie finished her examination by giving Jarrod two injections. She then reported that Jarrod was in good shape. “Then what were the injections for?” he asked.

  Ellie responded, “The first was a booster shot of the drugs that are keeping your radiation poisoning at bay. The second was a series of vitamins because I can guess that you’re going to be extremely occupied for the foreseeable future and won’t be sleeping and eating as well as you should!”