“That’s about the same as mine. I think we should fill up with the priest’s supply. I don’t know how long we’ll be trekking for, and we don’t want to regret not getting the water when we had the chance.”
“I agree.”
The two stood and quietly and carefully stepped into a small unremarkable room where the priest had stored food and water supplies. They were in dull gray containers that looked as though they were made from a kind of graphite composite.
Using the supplied hoses and filling ports, they got their water levels up to full capacity. “It’s like filling a car with petrol,” Layla said with a smile as she took the hose from Denver’s refill port: a small hole just above the small of his back.
They shared a smile and a nervous laugh as they finished up.
“I don’t know about you,” Denver said, “but even with everything that’s gone on, I’m not feeling very tired.”
“Me neither. It’s the fear and anxiety. I still feel like I’m buzzing on adrenalin.”
A click came over the intercom and then Charlie’s voice. “Hey, you two, where are you? I just woke up and you’ve gone!”
“Easy, Dad,” Denver said. “We’re just getting water. We’ll be right there. I can still see you through the door. What are you doing awake?”
“Taking my watch so you can get some sleep.”
Layla and Denver joined Charlie in the main area of the temple.
“We’re not tired,” Denver said.
“So? Sit down and rest.”
Layla really wasn’t in the mood to sit around and do nothing, not when there was an alien planet right outside the door.
With the sun up, this might be one of their last chances to get a good look at the planet and really see what it was like.
She looked at Denver, then to Charlie. “I’m going to go out for a quick walk, and before you say anything, I won’t be going far, just a few laps around the temple to burn off some of this anxiety and get a look at the place without Vingo pressing the pace.”
“I’ll join you,” Denver said. “We’re on the intercom so you know we won’t be getting in trouble.”
“What’s the range of our comms, Vingo?” Charlie said.
Vingo looked at Charlie but didn’t respond.
“I’ll keep checking in,” Denver said. “We’ll be okay.”
“Fine, take your rifles,” Charlie said. “If you see anything, get your asses back here right away. I doubt it’s just the scion we have to worry about.”
The thought of that machine made Layla’s skin crawl and for a moment she considered staying inside, but her curiosity won and she headed out. Even if it was just for a minute, she knew it’d help her relax, and besides, it would get her away from the still form of that damned machine for a while.
A FEW LAPS around the temple did indeed help quash her nervousness. With Denver by her side, rifle at the ready, she could really take in the building’s architecture, wonder about their construction methods, and make a mental note of the landscape in which the temple stood like a dark beacon. The circular structure was made out of carved light brown blocks. Small squares of thinner layered rock, like slate but in thicker plates, covered the domed roof.
“It’s actually quite a beautiful planet, in its own way,” Layla said, turning to lean against the stone of the temple and looking out to the forest and mountains that stretched into the sky beyond. The sun shone through gaps in the canopy, brightening an array of pink, purple and yellow plants on the ground between the floret-shaped lime green trees.
“If the trees and plants weren’t as huge and oddly shaped,” Denver added, “it wouldn’t be too different to Earth. Sure, the grass is more yellow and there’s a distinct lack of birds and instincts, but the soil and the rocks and the hills, even that stream cutting between those stone ledges, don’t really look… alien.”
“That’s because they’re not,” Layla said. “Not really.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is an exoplanet.” When Denver looked at her blankly she carried on. “A planet most like Earth. Before the croatoans invaded and took over, NASA had a program that searched the sky for other planets like Earth: those that were in the so-called Goldilocks zone.”
“The what?”
“A distance from a sun that was neither too hot nor too cold to prevent life. Like Earth, this planet orbits the sun at a distance that means we’re not getting cooked by heat and radiation or being frozen to death, like the croatoan-induced ice age. You know how difficult that was for most people to get through.”
“I see,” Denver said. “So what’s the chance of there being more of these exoplanets?”
“The percentage is small, but given the billions and billions of star systems, mathematically there are innumerable planets within a Goldilocks zone that could be perfect for life to form and thrive.
“Some people think it’s a good thing that there’s other life out there, but I’m not so sure. Seems to me, these aliens are worse than us. Would probably be better if we were the only ones.
“Anthropologically speaking, I agree, but there is something compelling about studying life forms other than ours. It might bring us some answers to our existence and the reasons why.” Layla ended her train of thought with a sigh.
She reminded herself this wasn’t a field experiment, but survival.
“Look, a scion ship,” Denver said. He pointed the tip of his rifle to their right and up into the sky. Behind a gathering of wispy purple clouds, the undeniable dark diamond shape split the sky silently as though it were an apparition.
They both froze and stepped back into the shadow of the temple.
Layla moved the rifle from around her back and crooked the butt into her shoulder. The suit had a special dimpled section that allowed the rifle to fit snugly and with a great deal of support. A single pivot point allowed free movement while aiming. It seemed these tredeyans had thought of everything with these suits, which made her wonder just how long they had been kidnapping and using humans for.
She held her breath as the black diamond in the sky drew closer.
Denver mentioned it to his father and all became still as it approached.
The scion ship passed high overhead, its course unchanging.
Layla let out a breath. “It’s gone,” she said. “Probably heading for the main command control given its direction.”
Somewhere in the distance, she heard the whump of plasma cannons and then the high-pitched zap of lasers. It appeared that the fight had started again. It made sense given that the tredeyans were a nocturnal race.
But there were still the croatoans… She didn’t know how many in number they were on this planet. It seemed like the scions weren’t taking any chances, regardless.
Before she could suggest they return to the others, something glinted through a formation of standings stones fifty meters to the north of their location. She waited before telling Denver and spied through the rifle’s scope.
“What is it?” Denver said, an edge to his voice. He had already sensed something with her movement. Nothing seemed to get by him when he was on alert like this. It made her feel safe with him.
Layla scanned through the cracks in the white standing stones as they crisscrossed each other at a variety of angles. The formation didn’t look like a tredeyan-made area. Rather, it looked like the results of a miniature plate movement, the rock splintering up like twenty-foot-high baby mountains, all craggy and sharp and wild.
A bright light flickered through one of the gaps again.
“There’s a light or something over there in that formation of rocks,” she said.