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In The Captain's Footsteps
by Antonio Garza
THE red, rocky gravel crumbled beneath Meredith's military issued boots. Beads of perspiration covered her flushed face as she struggled under the extra weight of her copilot. She painfully trudged towards the system of caves they had seen on their topographic scanner before crashing on the fourth moon of Xenoria.
"Lieutenant, you have got to lay off those Somerian meat packs. Bet you...packed a few extra pounds since the academy."
"uhhh..." moaned the semi-conscious lieutenant.
"Yeah, I agree. It sucks for me."
The caves inched painfully closer. Meredith's legs trembled more noticeably now. The sudden adrenalin surge from their crash landing was beginning to dissipate.
"I sure hope...you were able to get that scan-" Meredith's footing gave way and she stumbled to the ground with her lieutenant falling on top of her. "Arghh!" Her grey one-piece, officer's uniform began revealing an enlarging blood stain over her right knee.
"Damn lieutenant. I heard you had the hots for me..." she said as she rolled the lieutenant's body off of her. "But, this sure isn't a way to get me to notice. Crap that hurt."
Massaging her bloodied knee she got herself up again. "Okay, we have to get to those caves before sun down lieutenant. Or else we'll freeze out here."
"Ohhh...my whole...body...aches." The jolt from being dropped aroused the lieutenant.
"Lieutenant! It's good to hear you're still with me."
"What happened...captain?"
"I was kind of hoping you could tell me."
"I think we were attacked," said the lieutenant as he rubbed his left temple. Crusts of dry blood transferred to his fingers.
"Let's get moving. We're exposed out here. It'll get dark soon and we have to reach the caves. Come on, get up." Meredith offered him a slightly trembling hand. "Can you walk?"
"I think I can." Grabbing his captain's hand he maneuvered himself up. Now standing, Meredith could see him flinch as he put weight over his left leg.
"Can you walk on it?"
"I guess so. It didn't hurt until now."
"Let's get moving." She turned and started walking towards the cave. "I gave you the only morphine shot we had in our emergency kit soon after dragging you out of our explorer."
"That would explain the floating feeling. At first I thought it was the lack oxygen." He took up position to her left side; a sign of respect for her captain. His footing slipped a bit over the rocky terrain.
"Lack of oxygen? You're lucky we have an atmosphere. Else these fancy, pilot uniforms would have acted like very expensive sieves for our entrails."
"Thanks captain."
Meredith looked at him and nodded.
"I guess setting up a beacon for an extraction team is out of the question?"
"Yep.... You knew the mission parameters. We were on our own. Scanning this quadrant was strictly a volunteer mission. We had lost so many ships already. They are not coming for us lieutenant."
"Why did I volunteer for this mission?" questioned the lieutenant looking at the two moons coming up over the horizon.
"Why did you volunteer for this mission? I noticed you signed up right after I did."
"Would you believe...glory, captain?"
"Nope."
"Why did you volunteer, captain?"
"I was stupid I guess. No, I take that back. My father was lost on a secret mission such as this. No matter how hard she tried, my mother was never able to find out the details."
"Trying to follow in his footsteps?"
"I have my reasons lieutenant."
"I had heard about your father. He was a great captain."
"I know."
The lieutenant, weak from the loss of blood, stumbled but was able to maintain upright.
"Let me help you lieutenant." Meredith reached for his arm and slung it over her shoulder. "Now don't get any ideas lieutenant."
"Wouldn't dream of it captain."
The temperature started dropping as they reached the mouth of the cave system.
"I don't think we are alone here," said Meredith looking at the metallic debris sprawled around the entrance. Clear, irrefutable foot prints of bipeds could also be seen on the now finely ground down terrain. "We should take refuge and see what made these."
"Too late captain." The lieutenant pointed to some metallic appearing faces peering at them from within the safety of the cave. Some of the onlookers had a higher metallic sheen than others. The lieutenant positioned himself in front of the captain. They both drew their laser pistols.
"Point at the ground. Let's not take too aggressive a posture," ordered the captain.
"Hope they can understand us."
"Wikko, wikko," said one of the metallic humanoids which ventured out of the cave towards them. "Wikko, wikko." The humanoid hand signaled them to drop their weapons.
"Sorry buddy. Me no speak wikko, wikko," responded the lieutenant, mirroring the humanoid's gestures.
"Come...come," the humanoid then said, turning around and walking back into the cave.
"Did you hear that? Did he say come?"
"That's what I thought he said captain." With one eyebrow raised above the other, the lieutenant looked at Meredith. "What do you think?"
The captain forcefully exhaled through pursed lips. I hope I'm not making a mistake here. "Seeing as we're stuck here, we might as well try to make a friendly encounter." Sidestepping the lieutenant she took the lead and followed the metallic humanoid into the cave. She holstered her weapon when she saw the myriad of eyes that were peering at her. There was an even mix of young and old, scantily dressed humanoids. Some of these guys look human. Except for you buddy. We don't do that three eye thing.
"Captain, all of them have that metallic sheen all over their bodies."
"Yes. I noticed that too lieutenant. They kind of look like castaways. I wonder-"
"Castaways?"
"What, your parents never read you stories of naval vessels sinking near deserted islands?"
"No. The only stories I learned were about humanoids, intergalactic travel and Captain Cosmo."
"Castaways are shipwreck survivors, space-shipwreck survivors lieutenant."
"I hear you captain."
They were led down a tumultuous passageway. Every now and then, they could see a metallic statue, standing like a sentinel in front of an entrance to another passageway.
"I wonder if these are solid? These guys don't look like they have the capability to produce these kinds of statues here." The lieutenant approached a statue and gave it a few taps, quickly producing a loud murmuring response from the onlookers.
"Lieutenant, don't do that again. I don't think they appreciated your curiosity."
"He was solid, captain. Something's not right here. I overheard some of them speak a broken English back there."
They were led into a large gallery within the cave. Dwellings, carved out of the cavern walls, surrounded them now. An impressive pattern of mirrors and lasers lit up the gallery. A myriad of different sized stalactites could be easily seen now. "Come...come," their guide spoke again. Humanoids of all types busily worked at what appeared to be routine chores within their dwellings. Most of them didn't give them a second look.
"This is definitely a colony. There is a myriad of salvaged technology here."
"That worries me captain."
"I think I know what you mean lieutenant."
They were led into what appeared to be more like a great hall. There was an aura of importance about it. Intricately carved columns welcomed them into a smaller chamber where a large round stone table was the centerpiece. Humanoids, similar to the sentinel statues out in the passageway, quickly populated the encircling chairs. The non-matching chairs appeared to have been salvaged from spaceships, all with different inscriptions, some of them in English. Their guide addressed the seated ones. "Warani nubui gesitula englich." He bowed and withdrew himself from the great hall.
A very humanlike individual rose from his chair and addressed the captain and the lieutenant. "Welcome to Metorion," he spoke in a low, resonating tone. He then smiled and bowed. "You have been delivered unto us in the same way we once were. I am Elder Darius, and seated here before you are the leaders of Metorion."
"I am Captain Meredith Herwindle and this is Lieutenant Buck Snyder. We are from the research vessel Deep Explorer IV. We were sent on a mission to survey this quadrant, and find out why our deep space scanners couldn't penetrate the atmosphere of the uninhabited planet of Xenoria or any of its moons. Unexplainably, we crash landed on this moon. Do you happen to know what happened to us?"
"Herwindle?"
"Yes sir. Captain Meredith Herwindle."
Elder Darius looked at those seated, waited for them to nod and readdressed the captain. "What you will now hear is...practically unbelievable. You will go through a cycle of denial, anger, depression and eventually acceptance. No race, whether humanoid or not, has been immune to the very reasons you are here."
"What are you saying? We are stuck here until we die?" questioned the lieutenant.
Elder Darius looked at the lieutenant and without any hint of emotion responded, "Yes."
"I can't be-"
"Lieutenant. Let's hear what Elder Darius has to say."
"Yes captain."
"The planet Xenoria and all its moons have an extremely high metal content. On earth, all organisms are carbon based, and in the Piraya System they are all silicon based. This system is extremely unique. All life forms are palladium based. As you know, palladium is a very heavy metal, but it can be found in abundance in the ground, in the underground rivers and even in the ionosphere."
"Hence, the blocking of our scanners and...all outward transmissions?" asked Meredith.
"Yes. Our technology is not able to penetrate the atmosphere. The gravitational pull for this system of planets and moons is so extreme that our propulsion systems can't overcome it. We are literally stranded on this moon," continued Elder Darius.
"So, every single being here was originally foreign to this moon?" Lieutenant Snyder shifted nervously.
"No. Not every single being. Some lower life forms are indigenous to this moon. They are the only reason we are still alive. We found that our bodies were able to digest these life forms and withdraw enough nutrients from them to live in this almost lifeless moon. But, it comes at a great sacrifice."
"And what is that?" rashly asked the lieutenant, earning a heavy stare from Meredith.
Elder Darius smiled and responded, "Being palladium based, the palladium is, in a sense, poisoning us. Our bodies can't dispose or secrete the palladium we ingest. It in turn slowly exchanges and deposits itself in our organs and skin. This is why we have taken this metallic sheen. Eventually, we will be completely transformed into solid palladium over a time span of two to three decades. At any moment, any of the elder inhabitants can stop breathing and the transformation will have been complete."
"So, the statues in the passageway used to be living beings that underwent the full transformation?" questioned the captain, eyeing the lieutenant.
Lieutenant Snyder lowered his head.
"Yes. Dying, we become our own effigies."
"There are quite a few humanoids here. Do ships crash land often?" questioned Meredith.
"Yes. One to two spaceships yearly. As you can tell, we salvage everything we can. We hope one of these days we run into some new technology that can deliver us from this place."
"I can't believe that with all this technology you can't leave this puny little moon," interjected the lieutenant. "Besides, our ship didn't fall here because of gravitational pull. We were...hit or attacked by something. It was all so sudden."
"Did you see something?" asked Elder Darius.
"Well...no. But, I am positive something attacked us."
Elder Darius looked at the others seated and again they nodded. "We can't prove it, but we think there is some life form in space that attacks ships and forces them to crash land. Every now and then we find some...metallic feathers on the hulls of ships."
"You must take us for fools. Like we are going to believe there is some big bird out in space knocking down extremely technologically advanced ships. Now that's a load of bird crap!"
"Lieutenant, that's enough!"
"But Meredith-"
"That's captain, lieutenant."
"Yes captain."
"I know it is very difficult to fathom, Captain Herwindle. But...we have no other explanation. I think-" Elder Darius abruptly stopped as the same humanoid that escorted the captain and the lieutenant to the great hall appeared and approached Elder Darius and whispered something to him.
"My friend, Fetumbi, has gone and inspected your wreckage. They have brought back everything they think is useful for our colony. It seems that they found a metallic feather impaled on your hull also." Elder Darius handed the feather to Meredith.
"You cannibalized our ship?" asked Lieutenant Snyder.
"We need to. We can't let anything go to waste. We must inspect your technology to see if you have something our engineers can use to get us out of here."
"But the ship wasn't yours to cannibalize," responded the lieutenant.
"Lieutenant, our explorer was too damaged to be space worthy again. I don't see a problem for them to try to salvage whatever they can."
"Thank you captain. Believe me, we'll make very good use of everything we removed." Meredith nodded at Elder Darius. "Captain, I would like for you to follow me. I have something to show you. Fetumbi, will you be so kind so as to show Lieutenant Snyder around our colony."
Fetumbi nodded.
"Captain Herwindle and I will go for a walk."
The lieutenant looked at Meredith and saw that she nodded in agreement. He then turned and followed Fetumbi and was led out of the great hall.
Elder Darius led Meredith outside of the cave. It was cold now but visibility was very good. Xenoria's three other moons were now clearly visible in the sky and they lit up the terrain quite effectively.
"Captain Herwindle, there once lived a great elder. He was both fair and wise. He designed our system of ruling here in Metorion. If it weren't for his excellent leadership and guidance our colony wouldn't be where it is today."
"I see. I assume he passed away through this metallic transformation also?"
"Yes."
"And there is a connection to him and where you are taking me?"
Elder Darius nodded. "He very much enjoyed the view from this hill top where we are going now. I have a distinct impression you will like this view also. His effigy is still up there, sitting in his favorite place. He told me once he found peace and tranquility there and he often thought about those loved ones he left behind."
"What makes you think I will like this view also?"
"You will see."
The climb was not a difficult one. Surprisingly, the higher they climbed, the more Meredith found herself enjoying the view.
"You know, I think your right. I do like thi-" Feeling a sudden explosion of emotions at the sight of the effigy, and not believing what she was seeing, she carefully approached it. With tears rolling down her cheeks, she raised both hands and caressed his face. "Dad-" she forced herself to swallow. "Could it be?"
"Elder Herwindle, also Captain Herwindle, crash landed here many years ago. He also had a very similar mission as yours."
"We were never told what happened," she responded, maintaining her gaze on her father.
"I will leave you now. Come back to the cave when you feel up to it," said Elder Darius, gently caressing Meredith's shoulder before leaving her alone with her father.
She knelt down in front of him and rested her head on his lap. "I missed you so much. I didn't know what to do. You were always there for me to cheer me up and console me."
Hours passed and Lieutenant Snyder made his way up the hill. He found Meredith seated next to him holding his hand and viewing in the same direction as the effigy. "Captain? Are you okay?"
Taking a moment, she responded, "Yes. He was my father...Captain Herwindle."
"I was told in the cave when I started worrying about you." He sat on the rock next to her. "I don't know what to say."
"My father was great. He always had time for me. When he didn't come back from his mission I felt a great void. Now at least I know what happened to him. I feel sorry for my mother. She is going to have to go through this twice...in one lifetime," her voice cracked ever so slightly.
"We'll get out of here captain. You'll see."
"He died with a metallic feather in his hand. He never gave up. He was thinking of a solution till the end."
"Very admirable, your father."
"Yes. Yes he was. I have to do the same. I can't let him or my mother down."
The years slowly passed. With time, their skin began showing the palladium transformation suffered by all inhabitants of Metorion. Elder Herwindle visited her father daily and in his company decided on how to lead the colony in a positive and caring manner. She died seated by his side, never giving up. The inhabitants of Metorion often visit that hill top for inspiration and guidance.
The End
Copyright 2008 Antonio Garza
You can email the author at antonio@zalien.com
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