New Tahiti

Pulsar Sky

Chase was walking through the township alone. He’d sent Dryden ahead with Wokoma to search for Grace, who had run off while they were searching the graveyard. He needed to find her before they investigated whatever had happened to the captain’s cadaver. While she wasn’t under his command, she was still his responsibility.

“Dryden to Chase,” his ear piece buzzed.

“Go ahead,” Chase replied, tapping the device on his sleeve.

“We found an old bar, but no sign of her. We’re heading back to check the houses,” reported Dryden.

“All right,” replied Chase. “Keep me informed,” and he hit the button to terminate communications. He walked through the empty graveyard, checking that Grace hadn’t doubled back on them.

Holding his flashlight up to guide him through the night, he heard an otherworldly growl. Spinning around, he shone his light directly at a small creature about a quarter of a meter long with small dark eyes and an elongated snout. It looked to Chase like something akin to a fox but with light blue fur. The animal squinted its eyes and turned its head away from Chase’s flashlight beam, directed upward to avoid getting it straight in the creature’s face.

“Sorry,” he said. The not-a-fox seemed calm around him, but if humans hadn’t lived here for a few centuries, that made complete sense. It had experienced little in the way of predators. The creature continued on its way.

Chase continued back up the path towards the graveyard. They’d have to put the coffin they found back in the ground. It seemed wrong, even if it was empty, to just leave it out of it’s grave. Besides, one day, Captain Wellesley’s descendants might choose to visit. Once navigational links could be established, it wouldn’t actually be that long to get back to the cluster. With modern technology, it would still take two or three months to complete the crossing to Earth. He wondered if Wellesley had realised that the Trafalgar would have been able to make the trip. It was likely they simply didn’t have the star charts or coordinates to position themselves well enough to navigate. Did they even try to use the jump drive again?

Looking up at the night sky, the stars were some of the clearest Chase had ever seen. While many worlds of the cluster have the technology to counter light pollution, this was the first time Chase had seen the stars this clearly with his own eyes. He spent a moment trying to set up where he would find the constellations before remembering where he was. He smiled at the naïve thinking as he continued to look up. A particularly bright star moved across the sky from south to east at speed. Dazzlingly bright it crossed the horizon in about ten or fifteen seconds. Chase realised he must be looking at the battleship Trafalgar with the naked eye.

Usually, it would be too small to make out the ship, even of that size, without a telescope, but it was still catching the light of the local star, even though it was already dark on the surface. He smiled and continued to walk back towards the gravesite, where he lifted the coffin gently back into the hole in the ground and used the shovel to push the last dirt back on top of it.

Chase was not religious, but he felt compelled to say a few words. Sure, it was an empty box, but it was also a memorial. But still, it was also an empty box. He mumbled something about honour, then pushed the dirt down upon it and tapped it with the shovel.

Chase heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Dryden and Wokoma approaching. They were not escorting Grace Dakota. He was disappointed to see no sign of her.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Okay,” said Chase. “We are going to need to move on. I think we have done as detailed a search of this place as we can.”

“Are you sure?” asked Wokoma. “With only taking a glance at some homes, there could be a lot more.”

Chase held up a hand to stop her from talking. “You’re not wrong,” he said, “and this is a unique archaeological find. One that is no doubt best served by a more dedicated team than one in the middle of an assignment.”

Wokoma did not look pleased at this, nor did she put up any more of an argument.

“Let’s head back towards the ship,” said Chase. The fox-like thing was not spotted again, and the township was as silent as the graves they’d just left.

As they took a stroll through the row of houses, Wokoma ran up to one and closed the front door. When she saw the query on Chase’s face, she shrugged. “Leave it how you find it,” she replied. Chase couldn’t fault the logic. She fell back into step with him and Dryden.

The shuttle was still parked in the open field, its running lights keeping it illuminated.

Suddenly, there was a ping on each of their slates. Chase pulled his out. “Life sign reading,” said Dryden. “Over there.” He pointed back the way they’d come. Chase turned around to see a lifeform running towards them. Grace Dakota.

“Where have you been?” Chase said firmly.

“Down the pub,” she replied.

“What pub?” asked Chase.

Wokoma pointed out there’d been a pub, then turned to Grace.

“But we searched that,” she said.

“Yeah, but you didn’t find the hidden basement door,” Grace replied.

Wokoma’s face lit up. “What was down there?” she asked.

Before Grace could reply, Chase told her, “There is something blocking any readings. We didn’t know what had happened to you.”

“I assumed you were dead,” said Dryden.

“We were just leaving,” said Chase, ending that conversation before it could start.

“I have one of these,” said Grace. She reached around back and pulled out a large piece of printed paper. It looked like it had been manufactured aboard the Trafalgar. It was too intricate to have been made with the resources of this planet by their descendants, and it was too specific to have come from Earth. She handed it over to Chase.

It was a star map showing several planets with orbits and something else.

He looked at Grace.

“Is that this system?” he asked. She grinned an infectious smile.

“Sure looks that way,” she replied.

“This seems to be where we are now,” she said, pointing at the smaller world in orbit of the larger desert planet.

“Then what’s this?” asked Chase. He turned to Wokoma. “Did we see that on the way in?”

“I’m not sure,” she replied genuinely.

“You’d think you’d note the number of planetary bodies in the system,” said Chase.

“That’s where we need to go next,” said Grace.

“We?” Chase said.

“Yeah,” Grace replied. “I’m an archaeologist, remember?”

“I’m an archaeologist,” said Wokoma. “You’re an enthusiastic hobbyist at best.”

“So?” said Grace. “I’m Grace Dakota. I discovered the wreck of the Nomadic. I discovered the wreck of the Trafalgar too!”

“I discovered the Trafalgar,” said Chase. “Make no mistake on that.” He wasn't giving that one up without a fight.

“No, I was there first,” said Grace.

“We arrested you,” said Dryden, getting angry now.

Chase had to shut this down before it became an actual fight.

“Let’s get airbourne,” Chase said. “I want to see where this star map leads us…”