home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Floppyshop 2
/
Floppyshop - 2.zip
/
Floppyshop - 2.iso
/
diskmags
/
4671-5.790
/
dmg-5316
/
sci-fi.fld
/
dormat.doc
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-07-07
|
7KB
|
121 lines
Dormant
By Ian Clarke
It is the year 3425, the galaxy is filled with the remnants of the
previous millennium, its wars, its shocking scientific experiments
shrouded in secrecy, and its deserted space-stations, once teeming
with human life. Humanity has rebuilt itself and has began to explore
the stars once again...
A craft drops out of space-warp and enters into orbit around a dull
grey earth-sized moon permanently eclipsed by its huge gas-giant
mother-planet. "Sir, there is something very strange here, we are
getting no energy readings from this moon, no geothermal readings, it
has an atmosphere but it is completely stagnant, not even the
slightest breeze, and I can't get any reading on what is on the
surface.", "OK. Mr. James, activate the atmospheric shields and let's
take a look.". A faint glow appeared around the ship as it fell out
of orbit, within minutes the ship touched down upon the moon. "Check
the lights on the helmets, it's pitch dark out here, I can't see
anything out of the window". Three figures jumped onto the surface,
powerful beams eminated from their helmets, "This is no natural soil,
it's scrap metal, that's all there is for kilometres", "Let's go
farther, follow me". Blue flame shot out of the captains boots and
lifted him high into the air, the others followed. A faint red glow
on the metal quickly faded as the heat from the flames was absorbed.
The metal began to move.
The three figures alighted several kilometres from the ship. "Quark,
what kind of metal is this and how deep does it go?", the android did
not need to refer to any instrument, it's internal sensors would
suffice. "It has a complex molecular structure, its more like a
plastic than a metal, its about 200 meters deep". Suddenly the ground
under them began to move, the android automatically activated the
thrusters in all three of their boots and they rapidly lifted off the
ground. "Seismic activity?", "No Captain, the movement was only 1
meter deep, and only within a 4 meter radius of where we were
standing, this indicates that the movement was caused directly or
indirectly by out presence", the androids answer was slightly more
verbose than a humans would have been, but this would only be expected
from an android of that type. "Sir, I am receiving an emergency signal
from the ships computer, there has been a hull breach, they are
reporting power drain, they need immediate assistance", "Quark, plot a
high speed course back to the ship, arm weapons, did the report give
any information on what attacked the ship?", "No Sir, it did not",
answered the android.
The creatures had evolved to survive many such famines, they would
store a small amount of power, until when they sensed energy near by,
then they would strike. Their efficiency had no man-made parallel,
they tore the craft apart, and drained every joule of energy from
every circuit, and limb...
The beams of light from the three exo-suits fell upon the ship, "Oh my
god..", "Sir, I am getting no energy readings from the craft, no heat,
no radiation of any form, the crew are dead", "What the hell happened
to it?". The ship was torn open, components from inside the ship were
strewn over the surrounding ground. Then the light fell upon an
exo-suit, the back-pack was damaged. The captain began to descend
towards the exo-suit, "Sir, if you land you may be attacked by
whatever did this", "OK, Mr. Quark, you go". The android expected
this, it knew that it was expendable, it landed upon the ground. "Sir,
its Mr. Gibbs, his exo-suit is intact, but there is no energy in the
power-cell of his suit, he has been dead for several minutes. "Get
back up here Quark", the androids boots lit up once more, and it began
to ascend. Suddenly a small object leapt up from the ground and
grabbed onto the androids boot, blue sparks flew everywhere as it
ripped through the shielding into the thruster. The android quickly
detached the boot and it fell to the ground, it quickly sunk into the
ground, and was gone. The android joined the group 300 meters above
the ground. "We must send a distress signal immediately. Mr. Ulam,
your exo-suit is equipped with a shield, you must return to the ship
and retrieve the distress beacon, it will be drained of energy, but we
can re-fuel it". A faint glow appeared around Mr. Ulam's exo-suit and
he descended towards the ship.
There was complete darkness, the beam of light swept across the pilot
cabin, falling upon several dead bodies, some in several pieces. Ulum
swallowed hard and tried to keep his mind off the sickening scenes.
He located the orange box, it was undamaged, but somehow the energy
had been drained from it. He left the ship and returned to the small
group in the air. They used some power from Ulam's exo-suit to
activate the beacon, it began to flash on and off indicating that it
was operative. "Sir, I also found this", Ulam was holding an old
style storage device, "Mr. Quark, can you do anything with this?",
"Yes sir, one moment..", Mr. Quark began to remote access the device,
and they heard a different voice over the radio.
"Welcome to the CyberNet Artificial Life research facility.
This entire moon has been set aside for CAL 3, probably one of the
most important experiments ever undertaken by CyberNet research. In
the year 2264, 8 'seed' organisms were planted here, each with the
ability to self reproduce. In 2265 the first major evolutionary
changes were recorded. In 2268 real competition for space commenced
when the entire surface of the planet was covered. CAL 3 represents
the first Artificial Ecosystem. The organisms will continue to
evolve to produce fitter and fitter descendants, competing for the
energy provided by a solar deflection array orbiting CAL 3. We hope
you enjoy your tour of the CAL 3 moon, and warn you, at all times
not to carry any form of power consuming devise. CyberNet Research
Inc. does not accept responsibility for the safety of any visitors to
CAL 3".
"That solar deflection array must have been destroyed in the war of
2375, the creatures would have survived for several years, stuck on
the surface of the moon, then they would have ground to a halt, and
laid dormant until we arrived. That stuff on the surface isn't scrap,
its those creatures, billions of them!". The captains observation was
correct with two exceptions. Firstly, they were not the first
visitors, several hapless craft had landed on the moon in the past,
many forced down during the war. The creatures feasted for several
months on those ships energy, they became quite efficient at attacking
ships and even discovered how to drain energy from biological matter,
humans. Secondly, the creatures were not stuck on the surface of the
moon, some could fly....
A rescue craft descended through the atmosphere, scans revealed a
disembowelled ship, with dead bodies both inside and out. It located
the beacon, it was surrounded by three exo-suits, one was an android,
the other two were human, all were dead and completely drained of
energy. The craft left the moon, it was dormant once more.