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Chapter Seven

 

The Headless Men of Gliese

 

 

   

 

Ingrid Westfall had given her fellow crewmembers food for thought.  At the hour when it was her turn to be prepped for sleep, Nicole remembered the prayer she had told them.  Like a mantra she muttered it aloud to herself, until just before the needle pricked her arm when she began praying in earnest.  Both Gandy and Mbuto, as they waited for their turns, also recited the prayer silently to themselves, Gandy uncertain which god to pray to Vishnu or the Christian god.  Most of her other crewmates, however, were annoyed by what Ingrid had wrought.  The primal fear of death and the unknown, they realized, was nothing more than the question, “what comes next?”

As Captain Abe Drexel’s turn for prepping came, he tried to look at it all philosophically: he had lived a relatively long life and done what he had always wanted to do.  There was no point in worrying about death.  Life was hard enough to grasp.  There were too many religions in the world to know who was right or wrong.  Ingrid confession of faith, as ill-defined as it was, gave her comfort and lessened her fear for death and the unknown.  If the next planet claimed his life as it claimed Elroy, Hans, and Ling Soon, he would find out.

While the captain and crew remained in the dark sleep, a fourth attempt to find the humans a home in the galaxy absorbed Skip and Rusty.  While Sandra and Woody tirelessly and faithfully tended to their patients, a likely choice arrived finally, after centuries of window jumps interspersed with normal speed.  Though the distance to the new planet from their last destination was less than it had been from Ross 128b to Wolf 1061c, it took them nearly two thousand years this time, a fact the humans need not know.

The cycle of chemical induced wakefulness, temporary amnesia, and basic cognition, always traumatic, was followed by recall of what came before hibernation and memories of their lives on Earth.  After three unsuccessful attempts with disastrous results, the crew were becoming used to disappointment and a degree of fatalism had settled over the group.  It was now quite clear to them that they would go to sleep and wakeup then go to sleep and wake up until Skip had found them a home.  Two of them, Gandy and Mbuto, with a dash of dark humor, now likened themselves to vampires, rising up from death, to parade around as living creatures awhile before returning to the crypt.  Most of the risers, however, were in no mood for their effort at levity—not after once more suffering the dark sleep, and yet, as Captain Drexel saw it, Gandy’s and Mbuto’s attitudes were a positive sign.  He and Doctor Max Rodgers found themselves laughing light-headedly at the jest.  Another milestone had been reached with Ingrid taking Nicole under her wing.  Nicole claimed she was no longer afraid with Jesus in the chamber with her.  The group was growing stronger.  A few members, he noted—Doc Rodgers Carla Mendoza, and Ingrid (whose faith helped her cope) seemed naturally brave.  This wasn’t true for Nicole and Sheila, who should never have been selected for the crew.  Gandy and Mbuto, who managed to overcome their fear during crises, were, as the faint-hearted Nicole,  attracted to Ingrid’s spirituality, and, though he wouldn’t admit it, Said was too.  Though the deaths of their crewmates on Ross 128b and Wolf 1061c had been devastating, Ingrid didn’t believe there were still atheists among the crew.  No one, who faced the dark sleep, she was certain, was an atheist.  This was true for Hans, Elroy, Ling Soon, and even Carla Mendoza, the most self-proclaimed atheist of them all. 

As for himself, Abe would need both natural and spiritual strength for the adventure ahead.  He was gratified to see his crew apparently coping after another wakeup call, but this was, Max reminded him in private, a fragile mental state.  Only time, now measured in centuries and millenniums, would really tell.  On the other hand, the possible physical dangers facing them was imminent.  From space, as they hovered above the planet, even full magnification of the ship’s telescope couldn’t predict what waited for them below.  In a very real sense, as Ingrid might see it, each exploration of a new world required a leap of faith.

Gliese 876d, the most recent planet chosen by Skip and his pilot, had oceans, clouds, and, most importantly, patches of greenery on its surface—all features of Earth-like worlds.  But the humans had seen these features before on Proxima, Ross 128b, and Wolf 1061c.  In the case of the latter two worlds, the indications had, at first, seemed much more promising than Gliese 876d.  What was important to Skip was the lack of the forests, which had, so far, portended danger.  Gliese looked very much like the Great Plains of America.  So far the ship’s telescope had seen no creatures walking or flying about.  The desire had ceased with the exploration of Ross 128b to find advanced life forms for a food supply or to keep them company.  They could, everyone agreed, all be vegetarians if need be, and they didn’t need any furry pets.

In a tried and true routine, which they had completely memorized, the humans ate their first breakfast, spruced themselves up, dressed in permanent shipboard wear, and began a three day regimen of exercise, rest, and food—mundane actions they hadn’t performed in two thousand years.  No one knew it had been two millennia since the last cycle and, though they would be told much later, no one thought to ask.  On the morning when the exploration would begin, the nine remaining stellarnauts, after seeing the positive signs shown on Gliese 876d, should have been more pumped up but, as Captain Drexel and Doc Rodgers noted, they appeared more resigned than excited.  Abe felt the same way himself.  Heard from both Nicole and Sheila was the refrain, “Here we go again!”  Gandy and Mbuto followed Abe and Max’s example and tried being cheerful, but the engineer and communication technician were not nearly as excited as they had been the first three times.  As Phoenix One descended to the new world, the group were calm, silent, and unafraid, but they seemed prepared for more disappointment.

In her life support suit, as she made the required tests, Carla was protected from outside unpleasantness: temperature, humidity, and noxious smells.  What they discovered, as a group, upon emerging from the rover, was a temperate, actually pleasant climate and fields of a spidery, willowy grass everywhere with a sparse variety of strange-looking cactus-like bushes among the grass, prickly-trunked trees with leafless branches, and a most bizarre form of tree or bush, jutting up from the field like upside down pineapples with fat spike-like leaves.  Offsetting these unsettling peculiarities was an atmosphere that was relatively cool (72o F.) which lacked the high humidity in the previous two worlds.  Despite the coolness, there was a desert-like quality to the landscape—clean air with a sage-like odor a few of them now noted. 

After eagerly testing the water of the lake they had seen from the rover, they were disappointed to find only tiny lance-shaped fish and what looked like jelly fish down below.  Sampling the grass was less disappointing, since one of the remaining scientist, Ingrid, though a geologist, believed it could be ground like wheat and made into a form of bread.  It was also hoped that the giant pineapple, as they called it, might be edible.  Perhaps they might find some form of fruit on this bleak world and even some alien game.

It had all the appearances of a desert world, with probably no intelligent forms of life.  As before, the planet’s great red sun took up much of the sky, but this time a bank of clouds covered much of the star.  The immediate sky overhead was clear of fliers, and yet, in the distance, there were, in fact, flying creatures, reminiscent of vultures on Earth, circling over a carcass below.  Except for the plant life, which was significant, it reminded most of them of the Southwest in the United States. 

Recalling their lost world, Nicole was heard saying, “How sad… I remember a scene like this in the Mojave Desert, where my Dad and I hunted for fossils.”

“You looked for fossils?” Ingrid was surprised. “Once I thought I might be an archeologist.  During a visit to Stonehenge in Britain, I became inspired.”

“I was interested in paleontology,” Nicole said wistfully. “There’s no civilizations here.”

The other explorers listened idly, as the two women exchanged information.  Gandy told them about his fieldtrip to the Indus Valley Civilization monument on the border of Pakistan and India and, not to be outdone, Max bragged about the great civilizations of Mesoamerica and the cliff dwellings of the Southwest.

“Many of the worlds great civilizations are found in deserts,” Ingrid informed Nicole. “Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Anasazi people of Arizona, are just a few.” “And don’t forget the Israelites.” She raised a finger. “Nothing is more desolate than the Dead Sea, and yet not far away from it sprang up the greatest civilization of them all: Judah and Israel.”

“I don’t think this desert world produced anything like that.” Nicole politely dissented. “This strikes me as more and more as a prairie, like I’ve seen in the Midwest.  It’s too cool to be a desert.”

“Not really,” Abe frowned. “A desert doesn’t have to be hot.  Mongolia is a desert and so is Antarctica a desert.  What we’ve seen of this planet might be a little bit of both desert and prairie like Texas, Utah, and parts of North Africa.”

 

******

After awhile their exploration seemed redundant, even boring, with a touch of melancholy.  Portions of the land reminded them of parts of the Southwest and Africa: the grass, the sky, and the rock formations dotting the landscape, while the alien plant life, though strange, became common place.  Then suddenly, as they continued to explore the surrounding countryside, they saw something through the captain’s binoculars that looked like another rock formation from but had peculiarities which invited closer inspection.  As they moved down a hillock, inching ever closer to the anomaly protruding from the field, they realized they were looking at a structure similar in form to a Pueblo house built by Native Americans in New Mexico and Arizona.  Intrigued by this discovery, the captain halted his crew a safe distance away and reported this information to Skip, ordering him to scan the planet for more of these structures.  Skip reported back that there were, in fact several in the vicinity.  He also reported something that caused the explorers to freeze in their tracks: there were, upon closer inspection, aliens moving about.

“Where?” Abe looked again through his binoculars. “I don’t see anyone.  Where do you such movement, Skip.  Are they far away?”

“The stone hut is close,” Skip explained calmly, “…. A kilometer from the one near you.”

         “Thanks for the heads up!” Abe replied shakily. “What’re they doing this moment?” he asked, glancing back at his crew. “Are they coming our way?  Do you think they know we’re here?”

         “…. It’s difficult to tell,” Skip hesitated. “I’ll bring up the magnification.”

Shielding their eyes from the great red sun, which peeked through the clouds, the crewmembers stared anxiously at their captain.  Abe adjusted the communicator on his wrist so they could hear better.  Despite the potential danger they faced, Skip remained calm… Too calm! thought the captain.  He knew more than what he was saying.  Once long ago, he recalled, a satellite carried a friendly message to potential aliens that, in essence, welcomed them to Earth.  Now that they were the aliens on a new world the message seemed to carry an ominous ring.  The age old question about whether intelligent beings such as themselves existed in the universe had been answered.  They were not alone.  The humans wished this moment that this wasn’t true.

“Do you think they’re friendly?” Max blared into the communicator.

         “How many are there?” Gandy thought to ask.

         “I have more detail now,” Skip paused, apparently startled by what he saw.

Abe tried not to panic, but he sensed something terribly wrong in Skip’s silence.

“Any time now, Skip,” prodded Abe.  “Are they four-footed, multi-legged, flying about—what?”

 “None of those, captain,” Skip said dryly. “They’re of the two-legged kind!”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Nicole looked at Ingrid.

Not wanting to frighten the younger woman, Ingrid smiled bravely and took her trembling hand.

“Anything else?” Abe was almost afraid to ask. “Lots of creatures have two legs.  What do they look like.”

“Well…” Skip displayed actual reticence—rare for an android. “Despite maximum magnification, its still hard to tell.”

“Try harder!” demanded Abe.

“Very well,” Skip proceeded. “They’re rather ugly.”

“Oh, that’s just great!” exclaimed Nicole.

Gandy, Mbuto, and Said gasped.  Even Doc Rodgers was taken back.

“Sir,” Sheila muttered, her hand flying to her throat. what does that mean… Are we dealing with monsters again?”

 “Hold it together, Sheila,” Abe said through clinched teeth. “Be more precise, Skip.  Give it to us straight!”

Skip gave them as much information as he had.  “I don’t see any heads, only arms and legs.  They’re holding long pikes or spears.  They dart around quickly like spiders.  Wait—a new development!  I see some exiting the dwelling near you.  They’re looking in the direction of your hill.”

“Oh-my-gosh!” Gandy slapped his forehead. “Intelligent life.  What does this mean?”

“It means we should go back to the rover!” Sheila clutched Abe’s sleeve.

“Calm down!” He removed her hand. “We have no choice.  We need to make contact. Considering how they live, they’re a primitive people.  We have our weapons.  Let’s try to make friends.”

“But they’re not people,” Nicole murmured to Ingrid. “People have heads and don’t act like spiders.”

 

******

With their blasters and cutters drawn, the humans looked anything but friendly.  Ordering them to keep their weapons at their sides and at least smile, Captain Drexel led his crew down the hill toward the dwelling.  Darting back into their abode, the aliens gave them the impression they were timid.  Abe reassured his people that this was a good sign.  They mustn’t antagonize their neighbors on the planet.  Like the Plains Indians of the United States, suggested Max, sign language or gestures might come in handy now.  There were, he recounted, several, such as the hand raised in greeting, a polite bow at the waste and, above all, a friendly face.  His optimism was soon tested when, as they approached the structure, a biped reappeared from the dark interior, startling them all half to death.  It was, even at a distance, quite frightening by human standards, resembling people of Earth only in the most basic form.  He was a biped; that was it.  His two arms and legs—long willowing limbs—were attached to a squat body.  He had no apparent head, but they could see a large orb, likely an eye, staring at them from his chest.  That moment a screech that sounded even worse than some of the denizens on Ross 128b filled the air, causing the humans to take flight.  Though the captain attempted to halt their flight, they were half way to the rover before a group of the aliens could be seen circling their vessel.  Because of their timeliness, they had obviously come from a different dwelling. 

“Let’s try to make friends!” the captain said lamely.

The Gliesians, as they were later dubbed, were, as Skip pointed out correctly, carrying sharp sticks or spears, which made the humans hoist their weapons and point them directly their way.  For a moment, the creatures just stood their, their spidery limbs vibrating restlessly as they sized up the humans.  Attempting to stop his panicked crew, the captain stood in front of them begging them to give the aliens a chance, but at that point, in a skillful moment of treachery, one of the aliens, hoisted his spear, hurled it forward, barely missed the back of the captain’s head.  Apparently ignorant of the dangers of the humans’ weapons, the aliens then charged the humans.  One of their lances now found the ship’s engineer, who was caught squarely in the chest.  Now that their numbers had dwindled to eight, the remaining humans—the captain included—fired their weapons with fury and desperation and didn’t stop until they killed most of the headless creatures but then discovered to their horror that the blasters were running out of fuel.  Red indicator lights now flashed on the emptied weapons.  For a few moments only one of the blasters and three of the cutters had enough juice left to kill the remaining aliens, who, gathering their wits, turned tail and ran.  At this point, from the nearby dwelling, the more timid aliens had arrived brandishing their spears.

Once again, out of the clear blue sky, Skip appeared, bringing Phoenix Two right over the scene as their foes charged up the hill, buzzing the headless aliens and scattering them over the field.  This time wisely enough, the aliens gave way to primal fear and fled the scene.  But it was too late for Gandy, the hapless engineer.

Mbuto, his friend and crewmate, wept openly, as did all of the women in the group, but there was no time for sentiment.  “Captain!  Captain!” Skip called from his rover. “From the Phoenix I saw more of the dwellings near and far emptying of occupants.  A general alarm appears to have gone up.  I’m sorry, but this isn’t a friendly world!”

 

******

As in the case of the first three crewmembers, their dead crewmate was brought hastily into the rover, and, after they returned to the Phoenix, laid reverently onto the captain’s table inside the ship.  Gandy’s courageous wit and constant support of his crewmates would be sorely missed by all.  This time, recalling the expeditious send-off given, Elroy, Ling, and Hans, Ingrid gave a long eulogy aloud for him, a long rambling account of Gandy’s character, how much he meant to the crew, and how much he will be missed, followed by a prayer consigning his body to the stars—a stellarnaut to the last.  Abe and Max then added a few words, and Mbuto gave his own tearful summary of Gandy’s life and what his friendship meant to him.  After being ejected into space, everyone stood on the bridge looking into the ejector scope, watching Gandy in his makeshift shroud float further and further away.

There was not even a discussion about their hasty exit from Gliese 876d.  There was no way they could communicate with this alien race, before they were attacked again. To live safely on this world, Mbuto said with great bitterness, they would have to wipe them all out!  No one argued that point.  Unlike previous interludes when they relished the three days preceding ‘lights out,’ as Gandy once called it, the remaining humans were actually eager to get back into their chambers and, as Abe put it succinctly, “Get it over with!”

 

 

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