From the Darkness by Thomas Gilmor

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From the Darkness
Chapter 6

The Stealth ship had been found in Cargo Pod 7. It wasn't on the official inventory and the group did not understand the purpose of having a stealth vehicle on a trip to a supposedly uninhabited planet. It must have been Devon, maybe she was more prepared for the unknown on G889 than others had thought.

The Stealth ship had the ability to deflect incoming sensor wavelengths from other ships. It emulated common natural wavelengths which gave the appearance that it was part of the landscape. But to do so it had to remain within 200 meters of the planet's surface. Even for Alonzo this type of flying was a challenge.

The cockpit was enlarged and there was no distinction between this area and the transport room, probably to ensure instantaneous communication between the pilot and the passengers. To the group it was like coming home after two years. The sound of walking on metal, the vibration of the deck plates as the ship moved. The stale air pumped into the room through the vents from the recyclers. The group did not think about it much then but they did not welcome the experience as they might have had a few months after crashing on this planet. It was familiar and it did feel like a home, but it wasn't where they were meant to be. They discovered that they, as humans had finally returned to their roots, the earth on G889.

Alonzo brought the group up to speed on the latest events. Danziger attempted to return the favour by explaining what had happened on his end but the Terrains had done a pretty good job of doing that already. They approached the mountainous area cautiously from the north and carefully slid down the south slope and entered a hover mode. To the groups surprise there was a complete circle of Terrains awaiting, staffs in hand.

Alonzo proceeded to lower the ship and land it. Smooth as ever. Alonzo was definitely worth the money Devon had paid him. John started to get up but Alonzo turned,

"Actually John were not done yet."

"But I thought...." babbled John.

"You'll see."

After about a minute the Terrains lifted their staffs. Morgan battled his instinct to jump up and say "They are going to attack." But Morgan knew his friend well. They were in good hands.

The staffs pulsed with energy and a blinding light was released. They all turned from the windows as the light pierced their eyes. They were all occupied with the sudden blindness that none took notice of the rumbling noise that accompanied the light. When the lights effect wore off Bess jumped up and exclaimed,

"We're underground!"

Morgan was clearly dumbfounded "How did they do that?"

John turned, smiled and said "We don't know much about anything they do."

The group got up and left through the primary airlock to where Baines was standing waiting for them. He looked surprisingly calm considering his numerous phobias of the various life forms on this planet. Baines just nodded and moved his head to the left to indicate that he wanted the others to follow the tunnel to the left.

The group fell in line and moved through the narrow tunnel one at a time. Julia was in the front and when she reached the end of the tunnel she exclaimed in joy.

"You got all of this?"

There was no reply. The group looked around the giant chamber, roughly the height of a twenty story building and it stretched for about a thousand meters in each direction. It was filled with equipment from the various cargo pods. Although they did not have all of their equipment, they knew they could definitely start their colony with this stuff.

A Terrain appeared from the floor in front. A few seconds later the entire group of Terrains that were on the mountain side were present. John turned to Alonzo.

"So old man, are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Let's sit first," and Alonzo motioned for everyone to sit on the ground around them. The Terrains crouched into their squatting position.

"The Council wants control of this planet and they know that the planet will reject them eventually. We were told this from Elizabeth. It comes down to DNA. We have very little in common with this planet and Julia can attest for that. The differences in DNA make it impossible for us to be integrated into this biosphere."

"So are you saying we give up?" asked Heller.

"No, of course not because that all changed when the Terrains healed Uly. What makes Uly the bridge between humans and this planet is his DNA. If the Council can duplicate what the Terrains did to Uly to themselves, they would have control of this planet."

"But that would be very hard to do. When I tried injecting Uly's DNA into my genetic makeup it backfired," attested Heller.

"That is why the Council is so desperate."

"What are you saying?" blurted Morgan "Are you saying we are all just going to die but Uly?"

"In theory that would be the case. That is why most humans have died since being on the planet," Alonzo replied.

"What about Mary and Sheppard's group. They survived and what about Gaal?" asked Bess.

"Gaal probably survived by exploiting the Gredlers in some manner. Perhaps he was not here long enough. We can survive for ten to twenty years until our biosystems no longer tolerate the environment. But Mary's and Sheppard's cases are different. The Terrains, as we know, have unique abilities on this planet and they can alter the genetic code of the food we eat. Thus making it possible for us to survive. They can do this for as long as they want and this is what they have done with Mary and Sheppard's group."

"That's great and all, but how is this going to help Uly?" added John clearly wanted to get on with the business at hand.

"Uly is a part of the planet now since he is part Terrain. The Terrains are all interconnected through the planet and Uly's place in their link is growing weaker. If Uly is killed off world, not only will part of the planet die as well, but it would remain permanently incomplete," continued Alonzo.

"The Terrains are collecting on Devon's deal with them. The Terrains know now what the Council represents to them, an end of their way of life. What we must do is get Uly and neutralize the Council. In return the Terrains will ensure our food supply and that of our direct descendants to a form that is suitable for us."

Alonzo finished and looked around the group indicating that he was done. Walman seized the opportunity, "That means we will always be at the will of the Terrains! We do something they don't like, they cut off our food supply!"

Julia cut in before anyone could say anything, "I think it's more of a mutualistic relationship. We scratch their back and they scratch ours so to speak."

Walman was ready to offer a counter argument but John stepped in, "We can debate the theoretical aspects of this later. This won't help Uly. Let's get going."

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