The Secret of Mars

Quigbee opened a door which led from the hangar to the inside of the ship. As Soojay and he stepped into the new hallway, lights came to life and illuminated their way. The sound of air being pumped in was heard as a breathable atmosphere began to form. The two soldiers ventured inside the ship to make sure it was secure, while the others waited in the hangar studying the strange speeders and the insignia they bore. After ten minutes, Soojay poked his head out from the doorway.

“Your Majesties, this corridor extends for about a hundred feet, then branches off. Whatever Quigbee did with that light panel seems to have turned the lights and controls on throughout the ship, so our path is lit.”

“Could you tell where the corridor leads?” Jeanip asked.

“At the end of thirty yards the corridor branches to both the left and right. There is also a set of doors directly in front of where the passage ends. Quigbee believes it could be an elevator or lift system. He’s waiting for us there.”

“Did you see anything else?” Swaybuk asked.

“No, Sir, just the corridor,” Soojay replied. “There aren’t even any doors along it. At least none that we could see. It also appears the ship is made out of the same stuff those fliers are made of. Smooth as glass, yet your feet can get a good grip and don’t slip.”

“Are you hearing all of this, Earon?” Jeanip asked.

“Yes, we are still receiving you and your images loud and clear,” Earon replied. “Anew, are you sensing anything?”

“No, Your Majesty,” the Ancient replied. “I’ve stretched out my feelings. I cannot sense anything alive as we know it.”

“That’s not very comforting,” Amber commented, wondering if there could be something inside that was neither dead nor alive. “Can you feel my sister’s presence at all? Or any indication she had been there at one time?”

“No, Princess.”

“We’re not going to discover anything standing here,’ Jeanip stated. “Soojay, lead the way.”

The small group stepped inside, the door to the hangar hissing shut and sealing behind them. They followed the soldier down the short corridor, intently studying the side walls. As Soojay had said, they appeared to be made out of the same material the fliers were except the walls did not sparkle. Swaybuk ran his hand across the right wall hoping to encounter a hidden door, but if one existed, he could not find it. The floor looked as if it had a highly waxed surface, yet no one slipped. Everyone wished they could feel the textures. When they reached the end, Quigbee was nowhere to be seen.

“I thought Quigbee was waiting here for us,” Jeanip stated.

“He was,” Soojay replied. “Perhaps he decided to check down one of the coordinators. Quigbee, can you hear me?” Only silence greeted the call. Thinking maybe he had gone down the other way, Swaybuk walked to the left side and shouted Quigbee’s name. Again, only silence.

Finally, it was Jeanip’s turn to try. “Quigbee, I already have one missing princess, I do not need a missing soldier also. Make yourself known immediately or I’ll have you court-martialed.” Again, only silence.

“Jeanip, if Quigbee does not show in five minutes, I want all of you out of there,” Earon ordered. “Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sire,” Jeanip replied. “I was just thinking the same thing.”

“Should we split up and go down different directions and see if we can find him?” Swaybuk asked.

“No, I think it best if we all stay together,” Jeanip answered. “Let’s try the right corridor first.”

The Oonocks and Ancient had taken eight steps when suddenly the doors at the end of the first corridor opened without a sound, revealing a smiling Quigbee, his space helmet held tightly in his hand. His appearance was so unexpected and startling that Swaybuk fired his weapon, diverting his aim at the last second and sparing the soldier’s life. The blast hit the wall to Quigbee’s right and immediately disappeared.

“Jeez, Quigbee, announce yourself next time,” Swaybuk said, pocketing his weapon. “I almost killed you. And why is your helmet off?”

“The ship contains a breathable atmosphere,” Quigbee announced. “You can take yours off too.”

Jeanip checked his atmospheric gauge and saw Quigbee was right. Somehow air had been restored inside the starship. He reached up, unhooked his helmet and lifted it off his head. Still a little hesitant, he waited several seconds before allowing his lungs to breathe in the fresh air. Upon exhaling, he announced, “Make it so.” The other three removed their space helmets.

“Look at this,” Jeanip said, walking over and examining the location where the blast hit. “This is unbelievable. There’s no hole, no burn mark, not even an indentation from the explosion. It’s as if the wall absorbed the power.” Handing his helmet to Staybo, he removed his glove and felt the wall. “It’s not even warm.”

“That’s not possible,” Swaybuk said, now removing his glove. “I shot it with a full blast. It should be red hot.” He ran his hand over the area, amazed at the lack of heat.

Soojay ran his scanner over the area. “It’s registering the same temperature as the surrounding material. And just a trace of ions. You do realize, Your Majesties, this goes against the physical laws of nature. Energy cannot just be absorbed like that without a trace.”

“Just like the laws of physics inside FarCore,” Anew softly commented to herself.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you guys,” Quigbee stated. “I was able to get these doors open and couldn’t resist the opportunity to check out where they went. What until you’ve seen where I’ve been.”

“And where is that?”

“The bridge,” Quigbee grinned. “And it’s even stranger than the cockpit of those fliers. Once you’ve seen it, you’ll know for sure there is no way JeffRa or any Oonock designed this ship.”

“What do you think, Swaybuk?” Jeanip asked. “Go on and explore the bridge, or turn back?”

“So far so good,” Swaybuk answered. “Quigbee entered the bridge, which, above all other places, would have a security system. If the ship allowed him in there, chances are the ship will also allow us. Anew senses nothing unusual. And if there is any information about where Princess Mary is, it will probably be located somewhere on the bridge.”

“I agree,” Jeanip said. “Staybo, I’m going to activate my tracker for you to monitor. I don’t know if we will maintain communications or not once we enter the lift. If we don’t, you will be able to keep track of us by the tracker.”

“And what if we lose the signal from your tracker?” an apprehensive Amber asked.

“Hope for the best and DO NOT send anyone else in here to find us,” Jeanip said. ’How many hours left of daylight?”

“Six hours,” Staybo replied.

“That means we’ve got about five hours to explore and try to discover something to help us,” Jeanip stated. “Quigbee, if you would kindly lead the way once more.”

The three soldiers and Ancient followed Quigbee into the lift, each wondering what would transpire. Would they lose communication with the Settlement? What would the bridge be like? Quigbee said it was stranger than the fliers. Although silent, the five could feel the slightest movement in the floor as it moved to the bridge. But they were unable to tell if they were moving up, down or sideways. In less than a minute, the doors reopened to reveal an alien navigation bridge.

“Staybo, can you still read us?” Jeanip asked. He waited for a reply, but his communicator was silent. “Staybo, can you hear me?” Again silence. Swaybuk and Soojay tried their communicators and received the same results.

“What do we do now?” Soojay asked.

Swaybuk looked around the strange room. “It would be a shame not to have a look since we’re only inches away.”

“I agree,” Jeanip smiled, excited to enter the strange bridge.

The room was about half the size of the bridge on the Oonocks’ starship that had brought King Enok and his people to Earth, only about twenty-four feet by twenty feet. Three armchairs facing a large screen were the only furniture in the room. One chair, which was slightly larger, was assumed to be the Captain’s chair. It was six inches behind and situated in the middle of the other two. None contained a console or operating panel. Even the armrests were bare. Behind the chairs, on the wall, were several blank screens. Like the chairs, there were no consoles, keyboards or controls visible

“I’ll say one thing for whoever flew this ship; they believed in simplicity,” Swaybuk commented, running his hand across the arm of the chair to his right. Instantly, the front view screen flickered, then a panoramic view of the valley and distant Settlement could be seen.

“What did you do?” Jeanip asked.

“Nothing, I just barely touched the chair’s arm,” Swaybuk answered.

“Don’t anyone else touch anything,” Jeanip ordered. “Who knows what could happen.”

“I know we keep saying this, but this is unbelievable,” Anew commented, walking toward the observation window and looking out at the Settlement. “This side of the ship is still buried under dirt and rock, plus several tons of cement. There is no exposed area for us to see through, yet I can see everything.”

“You mean we’re looking through solid rock as if it weren’t even there?” Swaybuk asked, stepping closer to the window and Anew.

“What or who can see through rock?” Quigbee asked.

“Who, indeed,” Anew replied. She turned and walked along the right side. All were amazed to see the observation window expanding to follow her. They could now see the scenery on that side of the ship also.

“Swaybuk, walk on the opposite side of Anew and see if the same thing happens to you,” Jeanip requested. Swaybuk stepped away and walked to the side, staring out the newly extended window at the obelisk not far away.

“Incredible.”

“I wonder what happens if I walk away from the wall,” Swaybuk commented, as he stepped toward the middle of the room. For several seconds, the image outside remained on the screen, then disappeared. “Apparently, it only appears when someone is near.”

Jeanip turned and walked behind the Captain’s chair. “But the main screen remains on. I wonder if the back screens do the same?”

“I’ll check,” Quigbee replied, hurrying along the back wall. To his disappointment, the screens there remained dark. “Guess it’s only the front and side screens.”

“Which is logical,” Anew stated. “The bridge must be situated so that approximately two hundred degrees of it is outside the rest of the ship. The back wall does not display the outside scene because it faces the interior of the ship.”

“Perhaps this is a Carrian ship,” Swaybuk suggested. “They have their bridge sitting on top of the main ship, with a protection wall in the back and on top.”

“Does their bridge look like this?” Jeanip asked.

“I don’t know,” Swaybuk replied. “I’ve never been on one.”

“Has anyone here been on one?” Jeanip asked. They shook their head no.

“Carrians only achieved space flight ten years ago,” Soojay stated. “I doubt they could have designed something this sophisticated in that short time.”

“So what do we do now?” Anew asked. “There is nothing here except chairs and screens. Swaybuk stumbled across the screens’ activation by touching the chair arms. If we are going to hope to find some answers, we need to start touching other parts of the arms. Maybe a console or keyboard will appear.”

“While I think this is a very dangerous idea, I agree, Jeanip,” Swaybuk stated. “We aren’t going to find anything just standing and looking.”

“Hopefully we won’t come to regret this decision, but make it so,” Jeanip said. “Let’s start with the Captain’s chair. That would probably be the safest. Since I assume the two on the sides are the navigation chairs, we’ll save those for last. They are most apt to contain weapon consoles and other such things.”

Everyone huddled around the Captain’s chair, studying it for a clue. “Look, the same symbol as what was on the fliers,” Anew said, as the insignia suddenly appeared. She pointed to the black, long triangle and three circles. “Should I push one of them?”

“I guess that’s as good a place as any to start,” Jeanip replied. “Let’s try one of the circles first.”

Anew reached out and pressed the blue circle. Instantly, a map of the stars appeared in midair. “I don’t recognize any of these stars,” Soojay stated, walking toward the blue map with dots of various colors, galaxies, and nebulas. Embedded inside the map were symbols of unknown meaning and words in a strange language. Obviously absent were lines of any color or shape.

Swaybuk stepped through the map to the other side. “It’s three-dimensional. Our stars are on this side. See, here’s the Big Dipper. And, if I’m not mistaken, this one here is our sun.”

“That means no one in our galaxy has ever seen the stars I am looking at,” Quigbee stated, awed at the idea. “They are on the other side of the universe.”

“Very possibly.” Jeanip took a deep breath and said, “Well, since we didn’t get blown apart, let’s try another one. Anew, if you would please.” Anew reached out and this time touched the green circle. Most of the star map disappeared, except for several thousand glowing green dots now visible. Each one rotated in an orbit. “What do you think those are?”

Anew walked around to where Swaybuk stood, surveying the star map of their known universe. She pointed to one of the green dots next to Swaybuk. “I believe those are indicators of planets or moons that contain life. See this one next to Swaybuk? Judging by the position of Ursa Major, it must be Earth. The dot beside it would be Europa. The two in front of him should probably be Helix Six and Setus Three. To Swaybuk’s left are Centauri B, where Tong is from, and X-3B, where Glock is from.”

“All those green dots represent life?” an amazed Quigbee stated, seeing all the green dots scattered across the vast universe. “There must be thousands of them.”

“Hundreds of thousands, I’d say,” Swaybuk said. “I wonder how many are now gone.”

“I don’t believe any are, Swaybuk,” Anew announced. “I believe this is a correct representation of today. This map represents an accurate display of this date.”

“This ship’s been here a long time,” Swaybuk said. “At least six millennia. The map has to be outdated.”

“The ship may have been here for many millennia, but the map is accurate,” Anew announced again. “See, there is no green dot immediately next to Earth. Mars life was irradiated, so its green light was turned off.”

“The ship is here on Mars. It is possible, the map was able to correct itself as changes occurred,” Jeanip suggested.

“I believe so.” Anew walked over to the green dot she thought was X-3B. “Since we were confined to the Settlement of late, I have spent most of my free time learning about the other planets and their species, especially the two planets Tong and Glock are from. X-3B had two sister planets, X-4C and X-5C. Both were quite small but did contain some primitive lifeforms. Last year, X-4C’s unstable core exploded, tearing the world apart. A large chunk hit X-5C and also destroyed that planet. Neither exists anymore, as the lack of green dots shows. Soojay, would you push the blue button again.” Soojay did as asked, bringing the original star map back into focus. “And if you look here, both planets are absent from the main star map, yet Glock’s planet shines brightly. This star map is accurate.”

Jeanip threw his hands up in the air. “I’m not even going to say that’s impossible because there is nothing possible about this entire ship.”

“I wonder what this long, skinny black triangle does?” Soojay said, as he reached down and touched it.

“No, don’t,” Anew yelled, reaching inside the star map. But it was too late. A beam shot out of the obelisk and instantly, the starship was gone. Several boulders rolled down into the place where the ship had been just seconds before.

“Jeanip, Swaybuk, can you hear me?” Staybo asked. “Quigbee, Soojay, how about you guys? Anew?” Can anyone hear me?” He looked up at Earon, purposely avoiding Princess Amber’s eyes. “I’m not getting any response.”

“Now we knew this might happen,” Earon said, seeing the fear on his niece’s face. “We knew there was a possibility that once inside the ship it could contain a dampening field or metal that would prevent communications. That’s why Jeanip has the tracker. Staybo, please tell me you’re still receiving that signal.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Staybo sighed, seeing the blinking light. “Receiving it just as clear as can be.”

“Then apparently, the starship must be shielded as we feared,” Earon explained. “As long as that keeps working we know they are safe. We just have to wait for them to leave the area and communications will be restored.”

“That only tells us his body is still inside that ship,” Amber replied, fighting back her fears. “It does not say if he, or the others, are dead or alive.”

“Why don’t we go sit down over there,” Gart suggested, motioning toward several chairs, a couch, and a table. “Maybe the kitchen would bring us some coffee. It could be several hours before they come back out of the ship. You could finish teaching me how to play that card game. What was it called? Erie or something.”

“Euchre,” Amber replied. “It’s called Euchre. And we need four players.”

“I could use a distraction,” Earon immediately announced. “Like Gart said, they will probably be inside the ship for a while. And PiePie, I know you play.”

“Great, then we have four players,” Gart announced. “Who has the cards?”

“I will get them. They are in our room,” Amber said, standing up.

“That’s okay, Your Highness,” Tong said. “We’ll go get them. Glock needs to stretch his legs, and I need to replace my batteries. It should only take us a few minutes.” The large, furry creature left with the glowing capsule on his shoulder.

“I half expected Tong to say she and Glock could play Euchre,” Earon laughed.

“They both can,” Amber chuckled. “In fact, they’re a hard team to beat.”

One of the helpers from the kitchen arrived with a small container of coffee, rations of water and some small sandwiches. Since water was a precious commodity on Mars, coffee was limited to one cup twice a day. Knowing how much Amber loved her coffee like her grandmother did, especially in stressful times, Earon gave his night’s coffee allotment to his niece.

“If I may do the honors,” Gart said, as he poured Amber a cup and handed it to her. As she took the cup, the room suddenly filled with a blinding light, forcing everyone to close their eyes. It only lasted for several seconds, but when it was gone so was the starship.

Dropping her cup of coffee, Amber ran to the Observation Window, oblivious to the sound of smashing china on the floor. She stared in disbelief at the giant hole now occupying the space where the starship had been.

“Prince EJ, I am feeling quite well,” Windar stated, following the prince over to the Window of Universes. “Ask Ragjaw. Gardawyn gave me a clean bill of health.”

“That he did, Your Majesty,” Ragjaw confirmed.

EJ turned toward the female Oonock. “Tell you what, Windar. If you still feel this good tomorrow, then I will let you go in and finish the window repair. Is that agreeable?”

“Okay,” a reluctant Windar stated. “You’re my witness, Hygone. Tomorrow’s it’s you and me.”

Hygone and Windar suddenly collapsed to the floor; their breath momentarily knocked out of them.

“Windar, what’s wrong,” a worried Ragjaw shouted. “I feared she had more recuperating to do.”

“Hygone, are you okay?” EJ asked as he and Ospree rushed to her side.

“Give me a moment,” Hygone replied, raising one of her tentacles to her forehead, hoping it would help make the room stop spinning. “I just need to catch my breath.”

“I’m okay, Ragjaw,” Windar stated. “I just couldn’t breathe for a moment.”

“That’s strange that both females were struck with the same affliction of not being able to breathe,” Ospree said. “Yet we three males suffered nothing.”

“And why Hygone?” EJ asked. “Nothing phases her.”

“What was that?” came Barook’s voice as he poked his upper half of his body through the windowpane and fell out onto the floor. “I thought I was going to suffocate.”

“Apparently, something has happened that has affected us Ancients,” Hygone answered.

“But Windar’s not an Ancient,” Ragjaw stated.

“No, but her body now possesses two drops of Ancient’s blood, so she was also affected,” Hygone replied. She saw a disapproving look overshadow her brother’s face as he continued to lie on the floor. “Not one word out of your mouth, Barook.” She knew he would object to Hygone saving the Oonock female’s life.

“What do you think happened?” EJ asked.

“It was almost like the feeling when an Ancient dies and crosses to the other side,” Hygone said, now able to rise back up into the water. “But stronger, much stronger. Almost as if the power of the Orbs was sucked out of us for a moment.”

“Is such a thing possible?” Ragjaw asked, glad to see Windar too was coming around.

“I have never heard of such a happening,” Hygone said. “Have you, Barook?”

“Not in my twenty million years of life,” Barook answered. “I need to go see the Council immediately and see if they too were affected. I’ll be back.” Then he was gone, slipping back through the Window of Universes.

“Your Highness, it appears some glow worms left a huge nursery of little ones in that crevice above the water pool,” Weenow announced, holding out his hand. He slowly opened it, revealing twenty young glow worms, just three inches long, about the width of a pencil. “I though perhaps you could add them to your food supply. If we allow some of them to mature and reproduce, I believe you will have a non-ending supply of new protein.”

“Thank you, Weenow,” Mary replied, grabbing a small stone bowl and handing it to Weenow to put the worms in. He gave her the bowl back. Curious if they would taste as bad as the large adults, she popped two in her mouth. “Mm, these taste much better than the larger ones. Also more tender. I do not think that I have ever asked you, but what do they eat? Little moss or other lichens is growing in here to provide them with food.”

“I do not know,” Weenow replied. “Until you came, these things did not exist inside this FarCore. Apparently, whatever they need to live FarCore is providing it for them.” Weenow reached out and grabbed the nearby table and slowly sank to the floor.

“Weenow, what is wrong?” a concerned Mary asked. “Are you sick or injured?”

“Ancients do not get sick,” Weenow stated, keeping his head lowered.

“Then what?”

“I do not know,” the Ancient answered. “It was as if a door opened and a mighty force sucked out all my energy, then closed just as rapidly as it opened. You felt nothing?”

“No, not really,” Mary said, trying to remember back to several minutes before Weenow collapsed. “Maybe the feeling of a strong wind that was not really there.”

“I fear something major has happened.”

“Can you tell what?”

“No, Your Highness. But I wish I could.”

“Where are they?” Amber asked, looking across to the barren mountain.

“Staybo, replay the video,” Earon ordered. Staybo quickly fed the video recording into his screen and replayed it. The brightness of the clip made him and the others close their eyes again.

“It will take me a moment to filter out that light,” Staybo said, frantically trying to decrease the illumination. Finally, he was able to get the clip to a point where it could be watched. Slowing it down to sixteen fpm, the small group watched what had transpired. They could see a ray of energy emerge from the obelisk and envelope the starship. Within seconds, the beam and the starship glowed and were gone, the obelisk silent once more.

“Was it disintegrated?” Tong asked, fearing the worse.

“I don’t think so. Let me slow it down a little further,” Staybo said. He replayed the clip at a slower rate, eight fpm. This time, those watching saw the starship pulled into the obelisk. To where no one knew.

“Get them back,” Amber begged. “Get them back, NOW.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, I don’t know how,” Staybo replied, a look of shock on his face.

“Maybe they will come back,” Earon stated, intently watching the screen, hoping and praying they would return.

“No, they are gone, just like Mary,” Amber said, a blank look of disbelief on her face. “Uncle Jeanip, Uncle Swaybuk, Anew, Soojay and Quigbee, we will never see any of them again.”

“Gart, perhaps you would be kind enough to escort my niece back to her room,” Earon suggested. He saw no reason for her to stay and stare at an empty pile of rock.

“No,” Amber quickly stated. “As a future queen, my place is here, attempting to discover what happened and how the situation can be rectified. I need to be here, in case.” But she did not finish her statement. In case what? They came back? They appeared somewhere else on the planet? Or on Earth? Or that there would be some confirmation that all were dead?”

“Very well,” Earon stated. “Does anyone have any ideas?”

Fearing the answer to the question she was about to ask, Amber said, “Our missing people were equipped with trackers in case something like this happened. Staybo, are you receiving anyone’s tracker?”

Quickly, Staybo searched the board for the blinking blue lights of the trackers. Although his heart was pounding, he was a soldier trained to work under extreme stress. “Yes, we’re still receiving a signal. But these readings are very strange.” He turned several knobs trying to get a clarification on his readings. He turned to look at his monarchs. “But I can’t tell you from where the signal is coming.”

“What do you mean you cannot say?” Earon asked.

“The lights are right here on the panel, blinking off and on,” Staybo answered. “But the signals have no origin, no place of reference.”

“That is a physical impossibility,” Tong stated, now floating forward to see the instrument panel for herself. “Your panel must be malfunctioning.”

“No, I checked it three times,” Staybo replied. “My board is operating perfectly.” He pointed to a lilac blinking light beside the others. “See, this one is Princess Amber’s. And this one is Monarch Earon’s. My readout says both are located here inside the Settlement. But there is no location for the others.”

“How can a signal originate from nowhere?” Earon asked.

“I do not know, Your Majesty,” Staybo answered, dumbfounded.

Glock gave two soft grunts. “He asked if perhaps they went where Princess Mary is to rescue her.” Tong translated.

“I hope so, “Earon said, at last taking a seat, running his hand through his hair.

“I see only seven lights,” Gart stated, looking down at the panel. “Is one of those Princess Mary’s?”

“No,” Earon answered. “Amber did not receive a second tracker until Mary went missing. King Kiijon insisted everyone here on Mars receive a second tracker.”

“Do you want me to notify King Kiijon and Queen Europa of what has happened?” Staybo asked.

Earon looked at Amber. “What do you think? It is your call.”

Amber looked out the window at the place where the ship had been. “Let us give them twenty-four hours. If they are not back by then, then we will notify Earth.”