Sargasso of Souls – Session 23

The following day, while Razor and the Operations Team made ready to embark on their mission to recover George Cochrane, I returned to the surface of Storm aboard the Salvation.

Somewhat unexpectedly I was sharing the shuttle with a five-seater All-Terrain Vehicle and its driver, Stig Launaston. Razor had procured the ATV in order to extend the range of our patrols, hoping that it would speed up the assessment of whether evacuating personnel to the surface was possible. He had acknowledged my reservations about considering the planet a safe haven but remained adamant that the growing threat from Weyland could soon force his hand. Unless Storm had been excluded it may well be his only option. Consequently Razor felt it was vital that we press ahead with expanding the facilities and accommodation on the surface. If we delayed, by the time we started construction it would be too late, even if my team’s evaluation ultimately proved favourable. I could see that Razor was backed into a corner on this and that the course of action he proposed might well be the lesser of available evils, so despite the risks I relented and agreed to do what I could to progress things while he was away.

Once I was back on the surface I sought out Locke and filled him in on what I’d learned; in particular briefing him on what needed to be done and why. We were to make preparations for expanding the base with a view to accommodating a much larger population, while simultaneously escalating our efforts to unlock the planet’s secrets. In the short term, the former meant getting a construction crew back down on the surface and the latter meant increasing both the frequency and range of our exploratory patrols in order to obtain additional data for the scientists.

Fortunately the two construction engineers who were currently down on the surface were already drawing up plans for extending the on-planet facilities by digging out the canyon wall adjacent to the existing base. Locke volunteered to go and talk with them, proposing that while he did so I paid a visit to the med lab. Apparently Veldin had regained consciousness while I’d been away.

I did as he suggested and spoke to our medic Mickie Hendrie, and to Heather McKay and Melanie Parker, the two geneticists from the Certified Bio team. I didn’t see Maya as she wasn’t on shift at the time.

According to Heather and Melanie the retrovirus had nearly run its course. Hopefully in a couple more days Veldin’s condition would be stable. They were still trying to work out exactly what it had done to him though.

To all appearances, other than the obvious physical changes and the fact that he remained in quarantine, Phipps seemed back to normal. Whether this was a good thing or not was hard to say. I had hoped the ‘close call’ would curb his reckless behaviour, but he seemed largely unphased.

I took the opportunity to express my relief at his recovery by reprimanding him for his stupidity. His black alien orbs gazed back at me impassively through the reinforced Perspex of the quarantine area as I berated him over the intercom. As usual Phipps appeared vaguely intoxicated by the miracles of science and hence oblivious to my lecture.

“Jesus Veldin! What the hell were you thinking?”

“I guess you’ve noticed the side-effect then?” he replied flippantly.

“It’s a little hard to miss”, I observed. “Do you realise that stunt nearly cost you your life?”

“Yes. And that’s what I find most puzzling” he mused. “I tested it beforehand but the results were quite different from what I’d expected. Very curious indeed”

“Tested it? How exactly did you manage that?” I challenged him.

“Well I ran simulations, I mean, in theory it should have worked”

I shook my head in disbelief. That about summed Phipps up! And yet, despite my frustration, I found it hard to dislike him, however much I tried.

For the remainder of the 12th Locke and I held a series of meetings with the department heads from archaeology, biology, weather, geo survey and cartography, in order to ensure all efforts were being coordinated to achieve Razor’s pressing objective. We also briefed the security and base operations teams, making sure everyone understood what was required of them and why.

It was late evening before I was finally able to conclude my duties and seek out Maya. I could tell she was still fatigued from her three-day vigil nursing Veldin but she welcomed me anyway. We lay in silence on her bunk; the warmth of each other’s bodies was comfort enough. We didn’t need to talk. That night I slept as peacefully as I had for some time.

Over the next few days Locke and I ensured that activities on the surface were gradually ramped up. By the 15th Launaston had the ATV ready for its first foray along the canyon. I chose Katalina Johansson, Gerhard Bauman, Karel Novic and one of the base technicians to accompany him. They returned a few hours later to report a successful trial. The only notable event being the attentions of a large spindly-legged predator that had tracked them and attempted to assault the vehicle at one point, but thanks to Launaston’s quick thinking and driving skill they had evaded it and returned unharmed.

The outcome of the test run was encouraging and we planned a second foray, this time out to the plain at the mouth of the canyon, but shortly afterwards we suffered a setback when a ferocious hailstorm rained down on the base from the dark clouds that had gathered over the canyon. Fortunately, being built into the canyon wall, the base modules themselves were protected from the pummelling but the destructive power of the storm was such that all the external shelters were flattened. We were thankful that nobody had been caught outside in it.

We set about rebuilding and strengthening what we could and Launaston began repairing the ATV, which had sustained some damage when the structure protecting it had collapsed. It was also necessary to reinforce the vehicle’s armour so it would withstand being caught in the open in a storm such as the one we’d just witnessed. Consequently we delayed the next run until this work was complete.

Of further concern was the fact that Lindsey Walsh and Joanne Harding informed me that developing weather patterns being studied by the team from Chandra weather station suggested winter was on the way. They predicted that in a couple of weeks up to ten metres of snow could fall and believed the worst of it would last around six weeks. Prior to that we could expect deteriorating conditions and in all probability more of these hailstorms. Unfortunately this came at exactly the wrong time given our desire to increase the activities on the surface.

I had seen very little of Santino since my return, as the professor was maintaining a punishing daily schedule of twelve hours in the complex, four hours writing up his notes, six hours sleep and two hours recap before going into the complex once again. However I was heartened to learn from him that his efforts to communicate with the Ancients were nearing fruition. He advised me that he was close to the point of having a limited conversation with them and believed that the aliens were now as committed to achieving this goal as he was. In his words, “they want as much from us as we do from them.” I couldn’t help wondering what they wanted from us though.

By the 17th Launaston had completed his modifications and the ATV was ready for a second mission. This time the reconnaissance would be our first out onto the plain at the mouth of the canyon.

The team that were chosen for this were Launaston, Peter Colt, Gerhard Bauman, Zofia Jankowska and one of the cartographers.

During the mission Launaston drove them the two kilometres from the base to the mouth of the canyon and then turned left out onto the plain. They went about another kilometre, weaving between lava trails and small mounds of rock, before spotting a second opening in the cliff face. It appeared to be another canyon, though it was narrower than the one we were in and had a stream flowing out of it. As they drew nearer they could see what appeared to be a lake inside but, hoping to cover as much ground as possible, they chose to continue along the edge of the plain rather than going in.

They went some distance further before they found they were approaching one of the strange conical rock formations that rose from the surface. It was over half a kilometre in radius and had lightning continually arcing down from the boiling skies above to strike at its summit. As they drew nearer they could see that the mound was like a spoil-heap; composed of smaller rocks spilling down the sides from the top. The team debated whether to risk going nearer, and even whether to attempt to climb it, but eventually decided to turn back and report their findings.

They returned safely without further incident.

Later that same day Veldin alerted me to the fact that his PDA had been used without his knowledge to access certain personnel files; namely his, mine, Santino’s, Vaughan’s, Maya’s, Katalina’s and Zofia’s. DNA residue showed that only Veldin and Vaughan had used it. Phipps theorised that it was the Ancients but I found other possibilities just as concerning. Anyone with a pair of gloves could have defeated the DNA test, so the real question was, what had whoever-it-was wanted with the information?