Contact by Laura Pickering

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At approximately 8.00pm (Station Time) Alonzo and Julia found the Advance Ship, or rather the remains of it. The mangled remnants of the main hull was imbedded into the sandy ground, with other bits scattered around the surrounding area.

"Wow!" Alonzo gasped, "what a mess."

Julia slowly picked her way through the fractured ship. Convincing herself with every step, that there were no humans among the wreckage, dead or otherwise.

."..must have broken up as it entered the planet's atmosphere"

The pilot's words went straight over her head, as she resolutely continued her search. Miraculously, part of the ship was still intact, including the Cold Sleep Chamber. The doctor was somewhat relieved that no bodies were in there either. It was in this area though that she found the communications device.

"'Lonz, come take a look at this" Julia shouted, interrupting his awestruck monologue. As Alonzo made his way over to her, Julia carefully picked up the box shaped object, turning it over in her hands.

"What?" he asked and then caught a glimpse of the object she was tentatively holding. "Where'd ya find that?"

"It was over there." The doctor pointed to a corner of the vast chamber.

"Strange. This should be in the cockpit, attached to the main control panel." He took the box from her and ran his fingers over the edges, they were rough, covered in tiny scratches. *Looks like its been ripped out of the panel* the pilot thought.

"What is it?" Julia peered over his shoulder, as he examined the device close up.

"It's a kind of black box" he explained. "It sits in the cockpit and records every detail that happens aboard the ship, every maneuver. This is most likely what was sending the distress signal we received." To confirm his theory, Alonzo punched a command into the device's keypad. Sure enough, the message they had listened to days ago began a repeat performance.

"So what's it doing in the Cold Sleep Chamber?"

Not wishing to hear the message again, Alonzo punched in another command and it suddenly ceased. "I have no idea." Either its strange location, or its message was making him feel very uneasy.

"Maybe a Grendler dropped it during a shopping spree" the doctor surmised with a smile.

Alonzo shook his head. "No, it looks like it was deliberately placed there." For no apparent reason his heart began to beat wildly, adding to his nervousness.

Julia gave him a strange look. "Alonzo there is no-one here to place 'anything'. The ship's deserted" she swept here arms in a wide arc to demonstrate. "Even if there were any survivors, which unfortunately I sincerely doubt, after seeing the extent of the damage - they are long gone."

He could feel beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead, an overwhelming claustrophobia blanketing him.

Julia stared with wide eyes as the pilot suddenly paled, his face covered in a sheen of perspiration. "'Lonz, what wrong?."

"I don't know. I... I have to get out of here" he gasped and stumbled out of the wreckage. He collapsed onto the ground about ten feet away from the ship.

Julia blindly followed. Upon reaching him, she knelt down and placed a hand to his sweatsoaked forehead. "What? What's the matter?" she asked, her brows raised in concern as well as confusion.

Alonzo sighed, realizing how stupid he must have looked. *Like a spooked rabbit* he thought disgustedly. He smiled sheepishly, "I just had this really weird feeling in there. I don't know, like someone was watching us."

"Who?"

He sighed again, *your digging yourself deeper man, sounding like somekind of paranoid idiot*. "Look lets just drop it, okay?" he asked and gently removed her hand from his forehead. "Anyway, I feel better now."

The doctor studied his features, rationalizing that perhaps he found being in the ship that he couldn't prevent from crashing a bit disconcerting. "Well alright, if you're sure?" When he nodded the affirmative she smiled and stood up. "Ok. I'm going to go back and search around a little more."

Alonzo returned the smile and reassuringly squeezed the hand he still held. "If its alright with you, I think I'll stay out here. We really should contact Base Camp."

"Yeah, you do that. I'll be back in a while."

The Pilot watched as Julia made her way back to ship, after she'd disappeared from view, he removed his Gear from his pocket and attempted to contact the camp. The operative word being 'attempted'. No matter how much he fiddled with the Gear he couldn't seem to make contact. No audio link, no visual - nothing. Just white, fuzzy, static. He gave up after five minutes, resigned to the fact that the advance ship must be interfering with the connection in some way.

For the next ten minutes he entertained himself, by drawing lazy patterns in the sand with his finger. He had to admit that after twenty minutes of waiting for Julia's return though, he was well and truly bored. So when he heard the doctor excitedly calling for him, he wasn't as hesitant to return to the ship.

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The two men stood on the bluff and watched as a vehicle made its way to the derelict ship.

"Can you see who it is yet?"

"No, can't see any faces at all its too dark. All I know is what the Thermal is telling me - that there are two people. One's alot smaller than the other, could be a woman."

They continued to watch as the newcomers climbed out and entered the craft. Minutes passed in silence, as the men scanned the lower ground, searching for a clue of some kind.

"What do you think they're doing in there?"

"If I knew that Thompson, I wouldn't be straining my eyes trying to find out, would I" Mitchell snapped, not taking his eyes away from the ship. The jumpers in his hands were set at maximum magnification, but he still couldn't see a damn thing.

"Well then, we'll just have to go down there" Thompson turned around, and addressed the small group standing behind them. "Hudson, Drake, Weirzbowski, Crowe. Kit up, were going down to the ship."

As the four men trotted off, complying with Thompson's instruction, Mitchell turned on him. "Excuse me, but who put you in charge?" he demanded, clenching his fists angrily.

"Don't be an idiot David. We aren't getting anything accomplished by sitting up here on our tails. Our best bet is to go to the ship - to them" the older man calmly replied, ignoring Mitchell's murderous gaze.

Five minutes later, the group silently made their way down to the remains of the Eden Advance ship.

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Alonzo stared at the large white container that Julia had found, with a strange feeling of deja vu. *I've seen this somewhere before* he absently ran his hand across the motif etched into the lid. *In my dream, I saw it in my dream - but why? Were the terrians trying to tell me something, and if so what?*.

"It's not Eden Project" the pilot stated. "I don't recognize that logo, do you?"

The doctor slowly shook her head, as she rooted through the contents. Most of the items in the container were clothing, she pulled one out and held it up. It was a khaki shirt, very basic in design. There was a patch on the left breast pocket, the motif the same as on the crate.

"54th Reconnaissance" Julia told him, reading out the writing at the bottom of the patch. Wide-eyed, and with shaking hands, she grabbed his arm, and urgently pulled him to his feet. "Oh god Alonzo, we have to get out of here. NOW!"

He stared at her confusion, but allowed himself to be pulled up all the same. "Why, what's wrong?"

"That's what's wrong" she pointed to the crate. "It belongs to the Council. The '54th are Council operatives, and by the looks of it they're very closeby."

"Shank!" Alonzo swore as he roughly shoved the shirt back into the container. He turned to face Julia and took a deep breath. "Right. OK, they don't necessarily know that we're here." Agitated, he pushed a hand through his tousled hair.

"Of course they do" she replied, trying to keep her cool. "Obviously it was a setup, and we fell for it."

"Very perceptive Dr. Heller, and fortunate for us that you did."

The six members of the 54th Recon. had made a very silent approach. Neither Alonzo or Julia had heard them coming up behind. Only with Mitchell's comment and the ominous whirring of activating mag-pros, did they become aware of their presence.

The pilot instinctively stepped infront of the doctor shielding her. Julia pushed him to one side and scanned the group infront, halting when she saw a familiar but very unwelcome face. "Mitchell" she stated flatly.

"Hello Julia" he acknowledged. "Long time no see!"

Alonzo shot Julia a quick glance only to surprise a look of pure contempt on the young doctor's face.

Thompson turned to Mitchell. "Do you two know each other?"

"Oh yeah. We go way back, don't we Doc?" Julia positively itched to wipe the knowing leer off Mitchell's face.

Julia doubted that she would ever forget him. He hadn't changed much, the dull brown hair slightly longer than the military crop. His well defined muscles pushing against the sweat dampened shirt. Mitchell would have been described as a handsome man, if not for the large disfiguring scare that ran down the left side of his cheek. The doctor held his steely gaze defiantly.

"We've not got time for this" Thompson intervened. "We've only got a couple of hours to clear out. Hudson, Crowe, cuff them. Oh and by the way" he added turning his attention back to the couple. "I'm afraid your gear is out of action for the time being. We've been jamming the signal since you reached the ship."

Hudson and Crowe stepped forward, searching them for weapons before they cuffed them both. Julia and Alonzo were then shoved towards the entrance and out into the night.

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As always comments welcome (I'm an e'mail junky!) Laura

BTW. What's my favourite film of all time?

In this chapter there is a clue (actually four clues) to its identity, first one to guess correctly will have the next chapter dedicated to them.

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