Chapter 10

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands,
The wrinkled sea beneath him craws;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
- Alfred, Lord Tennyson – The Eagle -

Angie stood in front of her crew, all of which were standing at attention and filled with anxiety. "We're going to star that is 33.1 light years away from here. We believe that it has a planet that had an ancient Drak population. They may not be there now because we think that the probe is at least 10,000 years old. Then again, this could be a Dragon trick. So, I want everyone to stay alert."

When Angie took her seat, the rest of the crew followed suit.

"Take us to jump speed, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

Marty turned to her. "If that probe is 10,000 years old, I doubt that we'll find the people who sent it. They're probably long gone."

"You're probably right, but it's the only thing we have to go on right now."

"Agreed." He waited a few seconds before he brought up a difficult subject. "I've been studying those photos that I had the young Lieutenant take at the Dragon farm and . . ."

"How can you look at them,' Angie said, frowning. "They're disgusting."

"Yeah, they are, but I thought that they could reveal something about the Dragons."

"What, that they're sadistic killers?"

Marty held his hand up. "Just hear me out."

"Okay, go on."

"When I was a child, my father took me to a meat packing house where I could watch them butchering cows, pigs and sheep. Me, being the wild-assed kid that I was, found the entire process horrifically fascinating. Looking at those photos of the Dragon butcher shop reminds me of that experience. One thing that I noticed is how they had stacked the various cuts of meat on those shelves. Some of the cuts were like steaks and others were like roasts. Even the ribs were neatly cut down. You can see clear containers with livers and kidneys as well as hearts and brains. They even had stacks of skin. If I wasn't aware of where these photos were taken, I would have thought that this was a small meat packing establishment on Earth."

"What the hell are you trying to say?"

"That these Dragons are not sadistic killers. They're actually using aliens as a source of food. The only reason that we consider it horrible and evil is that we're on the wrong end of their food chain. If cows could think, they would be similarly horrified."

"That's ridiculous."

"He has made a valid point," Ferris said. "This species was obviously a hunter gatherer that has never ceased hunting for food. It could explain one important observed fact: the humans and aliens that they herd on their farms are well taken care of. They're well fed and provided with medical care and exercise to keep them fit. We found traces of that benzodiazepine derivative, the one that you found in Brian's crew when you killed the Dragon on the X-3001, in the individuals that were still alive and hanging on hooks in the butcher shop. That compound is a very powerful motor neuron inhibitor. It stops any muscle motion in the large muscles, making it easier for them to skin the victim. If they were simply interring these individuals, they would not be taking all of these steps."

"So what you're saying is that their butchering of humans and aliens is justified?" Angie said.

"I did not say that," Ferris reacted with a deep frown. "But it does explain why they're going to all this trouble to harvest aliens as food. There is the possibility that it is their only food source, and that may provide us with an advantage. If we could disrupt their food supply, we may be able to push them into a corner."

"Or, push them into a confrontation that would reveal their home world," Marty said.

"Okay, I get the point. I just hope that we don't become their food before we can do all of that."

"Hey, we're the food that fights back."

Angie gave him a disgusted look.

"We are two minutes from jump, Angie."

"Execute on count, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The jump proceeded normally. When it ended, the X-4001 was two billion kilometers away from the star.

"This star is as advertised," Karl said. "It's a G5 main sequence dwarf with a 0.87 mass and a 0.83 luminosity."

"There are four gas giants," George said. "There's one at 11.5 AU that is 1.2 X the size of Jupiter. There has to be at least 60 or more moons, some of which are quite large."

"What about habitable planets?" Marty asked.

"I don't see any," George said. "There are three inner planets, but none of these have cool enough atmospheres."

"He is right," Lucia said. "One of these is at 0.5 AU and is reading 700 C. The other two have very thin atmospheres."

"Nobody's home," Marty said. "The star chart on that Drak probe is either wrong or the planet is gone."

"How about the large moons around the gas giant?" Angie said.

"I see at least two," George said. "The one at 1.2 million kilometers from the planet is 1.8 times the size of Mars and has a sizable atmosphere. The other at 0.8 million kilometers has a thin atmosphere of methane."

"I've detected oxygen and water peaks on the moon at 1.2 million kilometers," Anna said. "Exact figures will be forthcoming."

"Okay, we'll give it a try," Angie said. "Take us to the moon with the good atmosphere, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

While the engines fired, everyone strained to detect anything of value on that moon.

"There's a moon around that moon," George said. "It could be a satellite because its shape is not round."

"There are no enemy or other vessels near the gas giant," Ninja said. "The object that Dr. Taylor is referring to is not emitting any energy signals."

"That doesn't mean that it couldn't become active when we approach it," Angie said. She turned to Marty. "Getting back to your theory about the Dragons: if they're just butchering aliens for food, why do they slowly skin them while they're still alive?"

Marty opened his mouth, but Ferris answered. "There is a possibility that they prefer their meat as fresh as possible. Skinning a humanoid-type alien would not be as easy as removing the hide of a cow. If the process requires a protracted time to complete, keeping the alien alive would preserve the freshness of its muscles beneath the dermis layer."

"You're making me ill," Uma protested.

Marty turned to Uma. "Sorry about that."

"Unfortunately, you are probably correct," Uma said. "But I know one thing: I would not like being skinned."

Nobody disagreed with that ugly thought.

###

"We are now in a stable orbit around the moon, Angie."

"Maintain stealth, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

All eyes were on the large object orbiting the moon. The image on the main screen showed a top-shaped dark gray object that was slowly spinning as it orbited the moon at 300 kilometers.

"That object is nearly eighty times ten to the sixth metric tons," George said. "Its surface temperature varies from minus 285 C to minus 295 C. Since it is not emitting any energy, internal temperature is unknown."

"There's an opening at the top of the object coming around into view," Marty said. "It looks like the entrance to a hangar. I make it to be thirty meters wide."

"That's large enough to get a Lander in," Angie said.

"It's going to take a good pilot for that," Marty said, giving her a grin. "The object is rotating at 0.3 radians per second."

"You can do it, hot shot," she replied, grinning back.

"Whom shall I take on this hot shot mission, ma'am?"

"Smart ass! Take Lia and Ninja for sure. Maybe you should take Jean-Michel too."

"I hope this isn't a Dragon trap," Lia said. "I agree with Uma. I don't want to be skinned."

"It's a chance that we must take," Angie said. "I'm no good at translating alien languages, or I would go."

Lia lowered her eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

Marty got up. "Well, people, we have a mystery to investigate."

When they arrived at the equipment deck, Marty issued his orders. "We'll go with the armored space suits. Ninja will take a rifle and ammo. Lia will take the translator and Jean-Michel will take scanning equipment. I'll take tools and a hand weapon. We'll also take optical signal transmitters. We may not be able to send a signal out of that thing."

"Are we expecting the enemy?" Jean-Michel asked.

"I don't think so. This thing looks like it has been here for a long time. It could be that the Dragons don't even know it's here."

That seemed to calm Lia and Jean-Michel. Ninja secretly wished that enemy were there.

On the command deck, Angie was anxious to know more about the moon. "Launch an atmospheric probe, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

After the probe launched and entered the atmosphere, images and data streamed back. The sky was murky and filled with heavy clouds that were ripe with both water and frozen carbon dioxide.

"The temperature is at minus 50 C at 3000 meters," Anna said. "I'm showing mostly carbon dioxide with about 2% oxygen and 7% nitrogen with a trace of methane."

"That's not your typical moon-around-a-gas-giant type atmosphere," George said. "This moon is definitely atypical."

"I'm detecting a surface temperature of 10 C at the mid latitudes," Anna said. "There are pools of liquid water, but they're frozen."

"Are we in agreement that this moon is lifeless?" Angie said.

"We can't rule out primitive life," Ferris said. "Where there's water, there is always the possibility of life."

"Just as I've always said," Uma said.

"Yes, Uma," Angie said, smiling at her.

Nobody was smiling on the Lander. Marty was in the process of attempting an approach to the alien space station. He began to spin the Lander in sync with the station's spin as he lined up with the hangar opening. He slowly nudged the Lander closer. As the image of the opening grew, details inside that were still illuminated by the glow of the gas giant slowly became clearer.

"There are several hatches around the inside," Marty said. "I have no idea which one is the way inside."

"I see one that is open," Ninja said, pointing.

"Man, you have good eyesight, Ninja," Marty said.

"My people were once hunter gatherers as you call the Dragons. We also eat meat as you and they do. We require good eyesight to spot our prey at a distance. They are very good at hiding from us."

"What is your prey?" Marty asked.

"They are a species similar to us. We consider them inferior because they don't have scales. We breed them as you breed your own farm animals. Perhaps these Dragons consider us as inferior."

"You're probably right," Marty said.

Marty guided the Lander into the opening and edged it to a landing on the side of the hangar that contained the open hatch.

"Time to get into our suits," Marty said.

On the command deck, Angie was directing a study of the moon.

"Are there any life forms under the ice?"

"Yes," Ferris said. "There are both single cell animals and multi celled plants. These life forms subsist on methane, not oxygen."

"Spectral analysis of the surface indicates a preponderance of silicates," Uma said. "There are also large deposits of magnetite and hematite."

"These large deposits of iron oxides indicates that this moon had a higher oxygen content at one time," Anna said. "It is very similar to Mars."

"At least this moon has surface water," George said. "But, you have to wonder why a moon orbiting a gas giant could even have had an oxygen rich atmosphere in the first place."

"I think that we've found enough to warrant a landing party," Angie said. "I select Uma, George, Anna and Ferris."

"Who is in charge," Ferris asked.

"You are. I want you to collect samples and search for any evidence of alien visits."

"Yes, ma'am," Ferris said.

"Isn't it risky having two landing parties out at the same time?" George asked.

"We're not out here to be safe. We're out here to get answers to questions."

"Yes, ma'am."

On the alien space station, nobody was questioning why he or she was on a landing party. They were too busy for that. Encased in their armored space suits, they were slowly advancing to an opening into the unknown, and not one of them had any idea what to expect.

"We'll have to use our MMU packs to go down into the opening," Marty said, shining a flashlight down into the abyss. "The spin of this station is causing an artificial gravity that's that is close to 0.7G, just enough to require breaking rockets when we jump down. The good news is that once we get down, we'll be able to walk around. I'll go first, then you Ninja. You two stay put until we report. Oh, and place an optical transmitter up here."

Neither Lia nor Jean-Michel objected.
Marty jumped in, using his MMU rockets to descend into the opening. As he dropped, he watched rectangular windows pass by. All of them were darkened. Obviously, these windows were meant to provide observation of whatever operations took place here. When he reached the bottom, Marty watched Ninja drop down and land right next to him. They used flashlights to illuminate corridors that went off in opposite directions from the bottom of the opening.

"Okay, you guys," Marty said. "The bottom is approximately a hundred meters down. We'll be waiting."

Marty and Ninja watched the other two astronauts drop down, and when they arrived, Marty wasted no time in laying out the problems they faced.

"We have two directions to choose from. We have no idea which direction is correct, and we don't have a lot of time to explore. I suggest that we break up into two groups. I'll take Lia. Ninja, you go with Jean-Michel. We'll set up optical transmitters here to help us stay in communication."

The second landing party was having similar problems. As George guided the Lander down through the moon's atmosphere, he had no idea where he should land. Should he try near one of the frozen lakes, or should he try for a position near something that looked like a forest?

He chose the forest. The landing was not as perfect as he had hoped, but nothing was broken. After suiting up, he and the rest of the crew emerged on a truly alien landscape. The forest consisted of large black-leafed plants that rose twenty meters into a murky yellow sky. The gas giant dominated the view, appearing as a huge ball of yellow, with blue and brown-layered clouds, delineating girding bands around the monster planet. A steady wind blew from the west, stirring up dust and carbon dioxide fog.

"Nice place," George quipped.

"We're not here to vacation," Ferris said. "We should get our samples and look around as quickly as we can so that we can get the hell off this hell hole."

"I second that emotion," Anna said.

On the alien station, Marty and Lia were working their way down a long dark corridor. There were doors every ten meters or so, but where they led was a mystery.

"Too bad we can't get some power up in this thing," Lia said. "I hate the dark."

"Amen to that," Marty added. "The problem is that we have no idea where the power sources are located."

His mic light flashed. "We've found a large chamber that has lights," Jean-Michel reported. Ninja is reading some residual radiation that indicates a nuclear power source."

"That's interesting," Marty said. "If we knew what isotope they're using, we may be able to date this station."

"We're working on it."

"Keep me informed," Marty said.

"Will do."

"I found an open door," Lia reported from down the hall.

"Wait," Marty said. "I'm getting a report from Jean-Michel."

"Ninja said that source is Palladium 107. If I recall that has a half life of 6.5 million years, and it has a DE of 0.033 MeV."

"Holy hell! Surely this station hasn't been around for a million years."

"I doubt it, but you never know."

"Okay," Marty said. "Keep me informed."

"Will do."

He caught up to Lia who was shining her flashlight into an open room.

"What do you see in there?"

"Just a bunch of instrument panels," she said.

"These are unlike any instruments I've ever seen," Marty said. "I don't understand any of the symbols."

"That's my job. I think these are instruments that monitor the station's status."

"See if you can decipher any of them. I'll see if I can activate any lighting in this place."

Marty went to a panel that contained flush mounted switches. He pressed several but nothing happened. The last switch activated lights that were imbedded in the ceiling. "Let there be light!"

His communications light activated. "The lights just came on," Jean-Michel said.

"I think that was me," Marty said. "We have lights here also."

"The room we're in is obviously the power control for this station. We'll see if we can get power to the computers."

"You found the computers?"

"No, but we know that computers run this station. There are all sorts of readout units."

"He's right," Lia said. "I think I can tie into this stations data bank and extract some information about the owners. I'm going to have to establish a link to Delphi to do it."

Marty keyed his long-range mic. "Hey, Angie, we found a way to tap into the computers on this station, but Lia says that we need to tie into Delphi to extract the data."

"Delphi has been monitoring your work. She says that it can be done if you use an optical translator."

Marty looked at Lia. "Delphi says that you need to use an optical translator."

"I just happen to have one. I'll set it up. We should be able to start in about five minutes."

"Lia says she'll be ready to start the transfer in five minutes."

"Good. Delphi will be ready."

"Jean-Michel here. We've found some bones."

"Bones?"

"Yes. They look human to me. We found them in a room off the corridor near where the power controls are. There must be hundreds of skeletons in there. Wait! Ninja has found another room with hundreds of containers with preserved bodies. He says that they also look like us."

"Did you hear that, Angie?"

"Yes. We need Ferris, but she's on the moon with George and Uma. Keep exploring and I'll get her over there as soon as possible."

"Copy that."

The level of excitement was just as high on the moon. Uma had stumbled on a structure that someone had attempted to hide.

"People, I found something that is not natural."

"What is it, Uma?" Ferris asked.

"It's a building hidden under dirt. The entrance is secured by a door, but I think it will open."

"Hang tight, Uma, we'll be right there."

George and Ferris arrived and stood staring at the door with Uma. George pushed the door and it swung in. He immediately illuminated the interior with his lamp.

"This looks like some sort of tomb. I see what looks like crypts in the walls."

"I wonder who is buried here?" Uma said.

"We need Lia to determine that," Ferris said, after illuminating some of the inscriptions on the crypts.  "These writings are unfamiliar."

George tugged at the handles on one of the crypts and after some effort he managed to pull it open. A perfectly preserved body lay inside.
"This looks like a human!"

"That conclusion will need to be confirmed," Ferris said. "But, I believe that you may be correct."

"It doesn't make any sense," George said. "Why would a human be buried on some insignificant moon around a gas giant orbiting a main sequence star on the other side of the galaxy?"

"Good question," Ferris said. "We'll have to get this body into a stasis chamber if we wish to answer your question."

Ferris' long-range communication lamp lit. "I need a status report," Angie said. "The other landing team is requesting you. They've found what looks like humans preserved in some liquid on the station."

"We have found preserved humans in a crypt on this moon," Ferris said.

"Can you get it into a stasis chamber and transport it back to the ship?"

"Yes, but it will require some time to complete the operation."

"Okay. When you're done, get back to the ship."

"Yes, ma'am."

###

Marty noted the glow of a video screen on the command deck when he exited the elevator. It was the late shift and Lia was doing home work.

"How's it going?"

She turned around to look at him before turning back to her screen. "I've gone through some of it, but there's much more than I can handle. So far, I've found that the creators of that space station migrated to this galaxy from Andromeda at least 6 million years ago."

"Wow!"

"The real wow part is that I believe that these people were prototype humans and that they're responsible for the human presence on Earth and the pseudo human species that we've run into."

"No kidding. That's going to be a real shock to religious beliefs as well as evolution theories."

"The real kicker is that the reason they came over to this galaxy is to get away from the Dragons. It seems that these Dragon aliens have been eating human-type aliens for millions of years, and it has become their main food source. Despite what we may think about them, the Dragon aliens have become very sophisticated and cultured. They honor family values and are not militaristic. Their females are treated with respect and are valued for their reproductive capabilities. Most Dragon families are large with many dozens of children. The creators of the space station believe that the reason why the Dragon aliens eat other aliens is that they require the type of protein inherent in their muscles, a dietary need that cannot be met by other animals endemic to the Andromeda galaxy. In other words, the Dragon aliens have become dependent upon the consumption of other aliens."

"That means that Ferris was correct. It is their only source of food."

"Yes. The only way that we can alleviate this situation is to literally destroy the entire Dragon race, and to do that we will have to go to Andromeda."

"Put this all down in your report. Space Command will need this information."

"I will. What has Ferris found about those preserved bodies?"

"They are quite human-like. There is a 99.9% match with human DNA. They may represent our ancestors."

"Space Command is going to be overloaded with all of this."

"Amen to that."

"What are you people doing up so late?" Angie said from behind them.

"I can't sleep, ma'am. I just had to decipher this data."

"Did you hear what she has found?" Marty asked her.

"Yes. It appears that we can not resolve this problem with the Dragons by ourselves."

"Are we going home?" Marty asked.

"No. We must first determine how extensive that the Dragon aliens have infiltrated this galaxy and try to deter them as best we can."

"That may take a while."

"I can't help that. We have to be thorough or we may be putting Earth and the ULGP in serious trouble."

Neither Lia nor Marty could dispute that conclusion.