Kahnu (The Guardians of Tomorrow Book 1) Read online

  “Sounds good. I'm gonna go check on François. I'll call you again in-”

  François came bursting out of the tunnel.

  “Dedrick! You better come see this!”

  He sounded out of breath.

  “What is it?”

  François didn't reply.

  Dedrick knew his French friend too well. From his expression alone, he could tell it was something big. He hurried himself, following the Frenchman down the dark path.

  A couple of minutes later, the two were standing in front of an underground water pond several meters wide. The cave's ceiling was low, but a few leveled areas around the body of water allowed enough clearance for the two men to stand on the dry floor.

  Dedrick was looking around for a clue to what François wanted him to see.

  “Ok, what is it?” he finally asked.

  “Check this out!”

  Grabbing Dedrick's wrist, he turned off the four flash lights of his suit. As soon as the darkness took over the cave, a greenish light began to glow from deep within the water. The effect seemed almost magical. A few seconds later, the whole pond was shining and glowing from hundreds of small points down below. The light was reflecting everywhere throughout the cave.

  Dedrick gasped. “What is that?” he asked, completely baffled, leaning forward. Deep below, he could see small round sources of light. They seem to cover the entire bottom of the deep water-filled depression. He was about to say something when he noticed one of them move.

  “Wait, look!! Did you see that?! That one just moved! I just saw it slide. That thing is... alive!!”

  “Yep,” simply replied François.

  “Holy shit! That's incredible! What…what are they?” asked Dedrick completely confused.

  “No idea, buddy. But I have named them Blobus Viscus.”

  “Blobus Viscus? You're serious?”

  “Why not? I found them, I can name them whatever I want. It’s the privilege of the one who makes the discovery.” He grinned. “Check it out. I pulled this one out earlier, and let me tell you, those things are weird.”

  He was holding the odd thing in his gloved hand. Dedrick had to admit, it did look strange. Some form of gelatinous blob, about twenty centimeters in diameter and half that in thickness. In François’ hand, the whole thing wiggled like jelly. Slime was running down François' glove as the creature’s body was slowly flexing. The light green hue of its outer skin was contrasting with the dark-brown organ that could be seen in its entrails through the semi-clear body. Dedrick, trying to make sense of the creature he was looking at, realized one could have compared the “Blobus Viscus” to a compressed silicone breast implant with a small potato inside. He laughed at himself for thinking of such an odd comparison.

  “Ok, I think you should put it back in the water, now. It doesn’t look too happy.”

  The animal was slowly turning blue, and although they didn't know for sure, it was fair to assume that just as a fish on Earth, the dear Blobus Viscus could not “breathe” out of the water for long. The creature had been in François hand for several minutes now. Realizing the obvious, the Frenchman leaned down and dropped the “fish” in the pond. As expected, the animal slid back down the wall of the pool and disappeared far below the surface emitting its green light as it mingled with its kind.

  “Well. Congrats, François. You just found the first life form on another world! I guess you're not so useless after all. Ha ha...”

  “Thanks, old pal!” replied François with a smirk.

  “Ok, let's get a few containers from ARC 2. We're definitely taking some of these guys home. They are not going to believe this.”

  Under normal circumstances, a series of steps would have been taken before removing any foreign creature from its environment. At least until it could have been deemed safe for both the life form and the person doing so. But now that they were on their own, certain “protocols” had begun to fall back in the category of “suggestions”, rather than guidelines. François had not needed to be told twice. A few minutes later, both men were exiting the crevice, each carrying a small container of Martian water. Inside, several Blobus Viscus were being tossed around as they rejoined the rover. They were soon heading back to base enthusiastically.

  #

  Everyone was standing around a low table in greenhouse three. In the center of it, François' precious new discovery was slowly sliding against the transparent wall of a small aquarium.

  “I haven't found any of the major sensory organs you would normally expect on an animal on Earth. It has no eyes, no ears, no limbs of any kind as a matter of fact. Not even a mouth. I must conclude it’s a protist of some sort. It is much larger than any on Earth, though, and substantially more complex. The nucleus, right here, makes out both its nervous system and brain. And for the size of its body, the space the brain occupies is quite substantial too. It may not be what we would call a ‘highly intelligent' life form, but it possesses the ability to react to its environment. The fact that it uses bioluminescence is another fascinating wonder of this 'Blobus Viscus', as François so appropriately named it...” she looked at François with disapproving eyes, “…but I still don’t know what its source of nutrition is.”

  “We were wondering about that... We didn't see anything else there. I assume you’ve analyzed the water?” asked Dedrick.

  “Yes, I did. I can tell you it contains several minerals we've never seen on Earth. I need to run more tests to try to isolate their exact composition. But whatever they are, I can't even tell you how those life forms filter it. They have no digestive system, no processing mechanism of any kind that I can see. It’s fascinating… One thing for sure, they cannot survive long out of the water.” Walking over to a larger aquarium at the back of the room containing three of the creatures, Liu continued, “I've tried to determine if they use any form of communication between themselves. So far, nothing. I have been monitoring for sound waves.” She pointed at a screen nearby. “But nothing yet there either. I couldn’t find any patterns in their movements. Now, one thing of great interest to me is the light they emit in darkness, but there again, I need more time. They do react to movement from the outside, though. Look!”

  Grabbing a small towel on the desk nearby, she waved the piece of cloth vigorously in front of the aquarium. The three Blobs quickly moved to the back of their limited living space, stacking up on top of each other.

  “Awe, they're scared,” said Ladli fondly.

  “Wait, I thought you said they have no eyes. So how do they know you're doing this?” asked Tendai.

  “That's the thing. I have no idea... They may possess another sense, unknown to us,” replied Liu.

  “Some form of radar, maybe? Or maybe they can get a general sense of the amount of light surrounding them? They obviously have some way of sensing the change.” suggested Dedrick.

  “Obviously... Anyway, I want to run a few more tests but I think these life forms are going to be very helpful to us.”

  Liu gently tapped the outside of the see-through aquarium. The Blobus passing slowly along the same wall froze.

  #

  A few days later, the team had come to the conclusion that Blobus Viscus would be a wonderful addition to their diet. Although a few of them had at first been opposed to killing and eating a “Cute Bloby,” as Vera called it, it had only taken a few bites of the cooked creature, and one very convincing listing of its nutritional value, to get an anonymous vote of approval. After all, humans were carnivorous by nature. The team now had a new source of food. The Martian outpost living conditions seemed to be looking up. In a few weeks, four new members were going to join them, and Vera would give birth to the first human child ever born on another planet. Although all contact with Earth had ceased, and the small group was now completely on its own, the spirits were high, and soon they would have plenty of reasons to celebrate.

  “I know. She just fell asleep a few hours ago. It's gonna be close. Personally, I don't think you're
gonna get here in time. She could go into labor at any moment. I wish you guys could be here for it, though.”

  “I know, Dedrick, us too. We have another eight hours before we enter Mars’ atmosphere. Either way, it's bound to be an awesome day.”

  “I certainly hope so,” thought Dedrick.

  Daniel was looking out the small window of the main cabin in Mars First 3, or MF3 as they all called it. The orange world in the distance was already taking most of the view, leaving only a small corner of black space on the upper right of the porthole opening. In a few hours, he and his three flight mates would step out on the dusty ground of Mars. He knew the world back home wouldn't be watching as he had so often imagined, but the excitement was great, nonetheless.

  “Almost there,” he thought. A big smile appeared on his face.

  Ebba leaned forward next to him.

  “Wow! Look at that. There's our new home. And there, Valles Marineris. She's so beautiful. Are we filming, Jessie?”

  “Yes, both cams are recording. By the way, did you guys notice Phobos back there?”

  She was pointing at an object in the distance. The Martian moon was clearly visible against the black background of space. Named after the Greek God, son of Ares and Aphrodite, Phobos was also the personification of horror to the ancient Greeks. Ebba had a fleeting feeling of dread thinking about it but shook the thought off as quickly as it came.

  “Hey guys. We're at T-minus two hours, fifty minutes. I think I'd like to do one more check run on the landing module. Ebba, you want to join me in the capsule?” called the commander from the upper level of MF3.

  “I'll be right there, Antonio.”

  A few minutes later, commander Antonio Bardino and medical officer Ebba Andreasson were giving a whole new meaning to the term “Mile High Club.”

  Phobos passing

  “Breathe, Vera, breathe.”

  “Feww! Feww! Feww! Feww!” was loudly breathing Vera, inhaling and exhaling rapidly.

  “Breathe, Vera, breathe,” repeated Ladli.

  “I am, I AM!” she replied harshly, looking annoyed and obviously in pain.

  Vera was lying on her back in the infirmary pod with Ladli, Liu, and Dedrick at her side. She was about to give birth to the first Martian baby. They already knew it was a girl. Her name had already been picked, and to do so, Vera and Dedrick had asked their teammates to help them choose a name they all liked. After a few days of pondering and several close contenders, the expecting parents had finally picked “Chasma,” a name François had suggested; a name that came directly from the very valley they called home, Candor Chasma, in the Valles Marineris canyon.

  “I can’t believe she’s having the baby the exact same day the MF3 is landing. Of all times! Talk about coincidence. I hope it’s a good omen,” said Liu sounding concerned.

  “Feww! Feww! Oh, sorry for ruining your day. Feww, Feww, I’m having a baby, here. Do you mind?” replied Vera in pain.

  “I’m sorry, Vera, I don’t mean it’s a bad thing. I just mean it’s quite a coincidence, that’s all. I think it’s great, actually. I’m very happy for you.”

  The smile on Liu’s face was almost genuine, but it also betrayed her longing for Najib. They had talked about having a child, someday. Now, it seemed she would never get to experience that joy. Her eyes slowly drifted out the window towards Mount Shamsi, where Najib was buried. She could not see the spot from there, but tears came running down her cheeks anyway. Two tunnels down, Sabrina, Tendai, and François were looking at several screens displaying graphs full of numbers, and a video of what looked like a bright shooting star in the orange sky. The burning trail behind it attested to its high velocity. MF3 was starting to enter the Martian atmosphere. Sabrina, leaning over to see the sky through the small porthole window in the pod, announced with excitement, pointing at a spot in the sky, “I can see it! There!”

  Tendai got up to join her, and as both watched the ship trace a bright line across the sky on its approach, François, looking at the computer screen, commented on their approach, “Descent looks good. Trajectory angle is perfect. They’re right on target. Levels are-”

  But he never finished his sentence. A sudden flash brightened the whole screen in front of him, and Tendai and Sabrina, watched helpless, as the ship exploded and disintegrated in front of their eyes, with debris engulfed in flames flying in all directions. At the same instant, all the readings in front of François went blank, and a big red “Complete System Failure” appeared across his screen.

  “Oh, my GOD! Oh, my God!” screamed Sabrina, hands to her face.

  They could not believe it. Tendai was staring at the scene, silent, in complete shock. François, who had stayed in front of the computer the whole time, turned to them, looking for some explanation of what had just happened out there, when he suddenly realized the ship was gone. They were all dead.

  Back at the infirmary, an unfamiliar scream suddenly resounded in the habitat. All seven colonists recognized the sound of a baby crying. The first Human-Martian, Chasma, was born on November 22, 2034 at 16:25 Martian time.

  #

  The next few days were the most disheartening and strange the group had ever lived since their arrival on the red planet nine years earlier. They had just witnessed the crash of MF3 and the death of its four crew members and welcomed a newborn to the colony the very same day.

  They had also never heard again from Lars or anyone from Earth after that last transmission, months earlier. They did not know it, but most of Earth was now lifeless. People had died so fast that entire cities had become ghost towns within hours, all public transportation and air travel had come to a complete stop everywhere in the world within days, and pretty much every continent was by now in a state of desolation. Most life forms, from vegetal to bacterial to large mammals, had already lost the battle, man included. Unless nature’s instinct for survival pulled a last second trick out of its sleeve and managed to stop the carnage, the blue planet would soon be a dead world. Once again, a new challenge had entered humanity’s already troubled story, but nothing had ever compared or even come close to the magnitude of the global disaster Earth was now dealing with.

  François was leaning against the wall of the pod, silent.

  Still envisioning the crash they had just witnessed, he suddenly felt a wave of anger.

  “Fuck! I don’t know what to think anymore,” his eyes locked on the small porthole window, scrutinizing the distant landscape as if answers could be found there. “I can’t believe they’re gone. I mean, the ship made it all the way here. Six months in space without a glitch! What the hell happened? Why did it blow up? Why…?”

  As he turned his attention back to Ladli and Tendai behind him, the hatch swung right open.

  “It was sabotage!” interjected Dedrick as he entered the room. He was holding a small computer pad in his hand, facing it towards them so they could see the document on it. He had just found a communication from Lars, locked by a program in the main computer and set to be released today.

  “Apparently, headquarters had sent this weeks ago, but they had a timer on it, so we wouldn’t see it until now. It says that the same group of religious lunatics who had tried to infiltrate the Mars First headquarters back in 25, had sabotaged MF3 before takeoff. Apparently, a magnetic device was hidden on the landing stage of the ship. It was detected too late, weeks after the launch. MF Headquarters was aware of it before the landing, but they chose to say nothing to the crew. They knew they couldn’t do anything about it, so they kept quiet. I think that’s what Lars tried to tell us in his last message.”

  “What? I don’t understand. You’re saying Lars and the corporate guys let the ship take off knowing it would burn?” objected Sabrina.

  “No, they didn’t learn about it until several weeks after take-off, when they were able to communicate with the affected onboard sensors. They just chose to tell no one, knowing it would have served no other purpose than to terrify the crew… The MF3 team never
knew what was coming. Maybe it was better that way...”

  “Fuck! I can’t believe this… Fanatics and their stupid ideologies! And now they’re all dead anyway. What a fucking waste!” Ladli wasn’t one to curse usually, but she was still in shock and justifiably upset.

  “Well, as Dedrick said, maybe it’s better they didn’t know. What good would that have done, knowing for certain they were all gonna die, and there was nothing they could do about it…? I don’t think I’d want to know that months in advance, especially cramped in a small time bomb like that. You’d go crazy!” said Tendai.

  “Yeah, maybe… regardless, those idiots and their pathetic righteousness crap… I hate humans!”

  “They’re not all bad, François,” offered Tendai.

  “I know, but the ones who are piss me off!”

  “Well, I don’t think they can any longer, buddy,” added Dedrick.

  “Yeah… I guess not…”

  “I don’t know. I just don’t know anymore. I mean, what’s the point? Why even bother?” suddenly burst Ladli.

  “Well, come on, you can’t just give up. Look, we’re still here. We’ve got to take care of each other. Even more so now.” replied Dedrick trying to make her feel better.

  “But why? What for? I never really thought about it before, but what we were doing made sense because we were part of something bigger. We had people on Earth and friends on that ship. Now that it’s just us, I feel empty.”

  “Just us? Just us? Honey, if everyone on Earth is really gone, we’re now the most important people in the history of mankind. If we are really the last survivors of humanity, we have an obligation to do everything we can to survive, and someday grow again into a healthy population,” said Tendai.

  “Nicely said, but you seriously think we even have the slimmest chances of making it another few years without supplies from Earth? You know as well as I do that the outpost has a shelf life. Some said sixty years with proper maintenance, others ten. But the key words here are ‘proper maintenance.’ That means as long as we get a proper supply of replacement parts and tools every two years. Now, the first problem we encounter, we’re fucked!”