And The Rockets’ Red Glare
by Gary Clifton
“Commander Brill, my scope shows two aircraft in pursuit, both armed with Supremacy missiles and attempting to get a radar lock-on.” Systems Chief Mateev’s voice carried a touch of urgency.
Brill shot a glance at Mateev and sighed, “Seems they’d stop trying. Their aircraft are so inadequate, they won’t get close. Toss up the decoy screen, just in case. I’ll put us in Comset Seven Mode and they’ll lose contact... again.”
Mateev asked, “Have they made any response to our requests for peaceful contact, sir?”
“Yeah, by taking potshots at us. They seem to lack the capability to respond to our radio requests for civilized conversation. Sort of makes one wonder how beings intelligent enough to build an aircraft with all those deadly weapons haven’t the sense to communicate.”
Mateev said, “Perhaps they’re afraid of us?”
Brill studied his controls. “That’s as good a guess as any, but that sort of planetwide, shoot-first belligerence seems more deeply ingrained. These are far and away the most aggressive I’ve seen in seven star systems. But they mostly kill each other.”
The Combined Intergalactic Space Command had come a long way in Brill’s lifetime. Now capable of traveling several years through space in the mothership at warp speed while the crews were sealed in suspended animation, they were able to cover distances unimaginable in earlier space exploration times.
Brill tweaked several dials on his console. “Comset Seven engaged.”
Space Command had evolved an element whereby metallic atoms in the ship could be temporarily disguised as a titanium/composite signature, causing the ship literally to disappear from the crude radar of the pursuing aircraft. His module was still there, filling the same space, but invisible on approaching radar.
The Systems Chief said, “Hide and Seek deployed, Commander.” The trillions of metallic flecks spreading behind the module would cause any missile shot to miss, no matter the accuracy.
Brill looked up at his screen. “Hostiles have already vectored in the wrong direction.”
In the module Transient VII, they had circled in the humid atmosphere of the planet four revolutions and encountered only hostility. They’d filmed many hours of the constant turmoil among the inhabitants.
Brill studied his screen. “Hard to tell who’s mad at whom.”
Mateev’s face showed genuine concern. “For God’s sake. Don’t land and find out.”
They had managed to draw one of the savages up to their module. Dr. Fauz had spent several hours examining the strange specimen strapped to a table in the cramped module.
Brill spoke into his mouthpiece. “Dr. Fauz, the natives are shooting at us again. Time to send that thing on your table back to this violence-infested quagmire and us to get back to the mothership. Can you come up here, please?”
Dr. Fauz stuck her head around the bulkhead. “Your wish is my command, sir.” She smiled. “We’ve got the alien bound into the beam and ready to return it.”
“A quick summary, please, Doctor.”
“This specimen is at least temporarily frightened, but I don’t think it will last. It’s warlike, aggressive, with limited intellect. And it’s frighteningly ugly. Speaks a sort of gibberish that our equipment can only partly make out. Its structure is carbon cycle. Our equipment shows most of this place is of the same basic makeup. It refuses any food we’ve offered it.”
“Do we know anything about their passion for weapons or the drive to kill each other?”
“Only that they’re gonna kill us, too, sir. Our equipment deciphers some of its words as a great fear of visitors from outer space destroying their world... you know, by bombs or fire or whatever. This specimen is big, strong, and muscular. I do know if we turn it loose, it will try to destroy us all in this module.”
Brill met her gaze. “They must only be some aberration. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’ve not seen the entire universe, of course, but this place is alone in my travels for its propensity toward violence.”
Mateev said softly, “Sort of makes one wonder what God was doing, creating these things.”
Dr. Fauz replied, “Place like this is bound to self-destruct sooner or later. I do hope you’re sincere about getting the hell out of here.”
Brill turned to his controls and began flipping switches. “Eject the specimen safely, and we’ll make for the mothership immediately.”
Dr. Fauz asked, “Is all our film good? Nobody’s going to believe these wild creatures and their primitive ways without proof.”
Brill nodded agreement as the airlock made a whooshing noise and released the alien monster back to the planet.
Dr. Fauz smiled. “Monster away, and good riddance. Did I tell you sir, that thing had two eyes?”
“I saw the photo. What was that about?”
Dr. Fauz said, “Apparently their brains lack the capacity to calculate depth. A crude, two-eye system must have evolved instead.”
Brill pulled back on the stick, gaining altitude. “You know, troops, I’m going to signal the Council to return here with one of the new armed units and reduce this hellhole to a cinder. They’re just too dangerous.”
Mateev spoke up. “I’m sealing the file on this place under the code name Sirion 257. Did that thing you examined give you a clue as to what they natives call this place, Doctor?”
Dr. Fauz said thoughtfully, “Now that you raise the question, I believe that’s what it was trying to say. I couldn’t understand at the time. They call it Erth. Sounds like something associated with an upset stomach.”
Brill said quietly, “Not for much longer, it won’t.”
Copyright © 2021 by Gary Clifton
