Chameleon by Otto Gramm (new reading .TXT) 📕

– I can’t. The ship must let him go.

– If he enters wrong coordinates, we’ll be incinerated or crushed flat! – Mitch protested.

– If it’s zingai, then that’s what will happen. – Diego snapped skeptically. – Merry exam!

– I’ve told you it’s not them. – Captain replied. – He’s being led by someone stronger... And I don’t see here any threat. We’ll have to trust to the end.

– What you say, Vivy? – Spaniard hugged the girl by the shoulders. – How do you love the prospect to fall on the gangway?

– I’m not cared. – She threw off his hands. – I concern about the ship.

Chameleon, meanwhile, slowly approached the portal. The massive structure was so close that it was impossible to see at all with one glance. Its arcs seemed colossal, but at the same time completely flat, like the blade of a straight razor. Four parts slid smoothly together, closing the ring; the light between them burned with endless lightning. The arcs approached so close they nearly touched each other and then stopped, the lights faded, everything stood motionless.

Everyone held his breath.

The arcs simultaneously docked, igniting a bright flash in the sky. Few seconds later, a cosmic darkness filled everything.

Alex’s hand slid off the helm, his chest exhaled a sigh of relief.

– Al! – He heard a quiet voice.

He opened his eyes and absently glanced at Kyle. The latter, leaned over the armrest, held out his hand and softly tapped his fingers on Alex’s shoulder.

– Feeling better?

– Uh-huh.

– Excellent. Now get out of the pilot seat! – Captain said in the same soft and quiet voice.

Alex stared at him in astonishment, then looked at the panel and immediately jumped up like a shot.

– What the hell?!!

– Try not to approach the folks. – Kyle took the pilot chair. – Some of them are half a mind to give you a good knock right here.

– What’s the matter? – He turned around and saw frozen faces.

– You’re bloody daredevil asshole! – MacNeil rumbled.

– What’s the matter?! – Vivy put her arms akimbo. – What’s the matter with you? You almost killed us right in the open space!

Alex shrugged his shoulders in confusion.

– I didn’t like that from the very beginning! – He turned to Kyle. – I warned you, Cap. That exam was a stupid idea.

– That’s a moot point. – Shad said calmly. – Kyle, where are we?

– One moment. Mitch, bring out the general map... Mitch!

– A-ha! – The boy unfroze and jerked to the panel.

The cabin plunged into darkness, as all the gadgets turned off. Dazzled by bright lights, Alex’s eyes could not immediately get accustomed to the darkness, but after a few seconds, he saw the uncountable number of burning points in the air. The captain stood up and walked around the room, studying the starry sky. His silhouette, as well as the silhouettes of his crew, gave a faint glow in the dark.

– The Fetv’khanna system, the binary galaxy Moe. That’s a far place you’ve brought us, Al!

– Gods! – The new fell into the navigator’s chair.

– I didn’t know they had a gate here. – Shad uttered in his steady voice, looking out of the window.

– Neither did I. – Kyle replied.

Suddenly, one of the luminous figures jumped into the pilot seat in one leap and grabbed the helm. The crew saw a massy chunk of the asteroid that flew next to the ship.

– Someone’s better look forward! – Vivy snarled.

– Sorry. – Captain replied guiltily. Then he went back to studying the map. – There were two planets here that had collided about eight Od cycles ago. They both were inhabited and highly developed, but some intervention had caused a cataclysm.

The vessel shook with a light jolt. Then was another. At once, everyone fell silent, listening to what was happening.

– Vivy, did we bump into something? – Diego asked.

– Doesn’t look like.

– What’s going on? – Skorvi exclaimed, after another push. – Check again!

– I did it twice!

– Les sots! – Nicole sniffed in French, as she pottered behind the sofa by the wall. Then she came to the navigator chair and put a soft blanket over trembling Alex. – Feeling better?

He nodded convulsively.

– I’m cold... can’t get why.

– Thank you, Nicky. – Kyle tiredly sat down at the mate seat. – Bring him something warm, if you please... And me too.

– Tea’s fine?

– Yes, thank you.

– And I take coffee. – Alex asked her.

– You’re not in a restaurant.

– Please.

– Fine. But no caffeine.

– Agree.

The light switched on again in the cabin, but a small piece of the three-dimensional map remained. Captain, studying it, collected from the general panel more additional data for verification. Holographic sheets were leafed like paper and then returned to their place.

– So... are we leaving? – Diego asked after some silence pause.

– We don’t have much data about this place. – Kyle muttered evenly, without interrupting his studying. – I’ve never been here.

– Do you want to look around? – Shad wondered.

– I think we should, since such a fateful accident brought us here. – Captain turned his gaze at the newcomer, who was sitting in a chair, cross-legged and wrapped in a blanket. His tremor hadn’t passed yet but the ship’s shaking stopped. – Vivy, find the biggest piece on the scanner.

– Yes. – Pilot replied.

The ship made a smooth maneuver that made the space around them twirl. A cloud of gray nebula flew past the window and a bright white light filled the cabin.

– And here is Fetv’khanna, the star of the system. – Captain spoke out, gesturing at the burning ball ahead. – Alex, you haven’t seen other stars so close. Would you like to look?

– I see it from here.

Kyle let out a chuckle.

– Tell me, what you know about the stars? – He asked, as he turned to the panel.

– Um... not so much. I’m not an astronomer. – Captain was silent, waiting. – I know that there are red, yellow and white. Reds seem to be the coldest and long-lived and whites on the contrary – their life span is shorter and sometimes they explode.

– Not bad, as for a recluse.

– A forced recluse. – He corrected the captain. – My jailer liked to lecture me on various sciences.

Kyle walked over and handed him the tablet.

– You can supplement your knowledge here. It will be useful and distracting for you. – Then he went back to the main panel data.

– I’ve found it. – Vivy announced.

– Follow there. What is the situation with the atmosphere?

– No atmosphere. No traces of life either. High radioactivity.

– Can you plot a safe trajectory?

– Already doing. I only have to adjust the synchronization with rotation... Got it. Now the launch.

The vessel switched to a cruising speed, smoothly performing barely noticeable maneuvers. The space outside the window has not changed much; gray lines of dust wriggled and dragged along like endless rails, shimmering in the light of the star. Larger pieces of rock occasionally slipped by.

– I was ready to see a whole sea of them. – Mitch uttered.

– They are a sea; they’re just far away. – Scot explained. – Those tiny white spots you see there are asteroids.

Soon one of these spots stood out among the others and began to approach gradually. In a few seconds, it was a huge shapeless piece of rock, slowly rotating in the black sky.

Vivy nimbly typed something on the main computer; the charts were flashed one after another. The asteroid hologram with its indicators popped out over the panel. Alex laid the transparent tablet aside and glued his eyes to the pilot’s actions and the main screen. Girl’s tiny hand once again took the helm and he noticed, surprised the familiar plates around her wrist... The same moment the vessel came close to the celestial body. Layers of rock interlaced into a wavy pattern, once snow-capped mountains towered over dry riverbeds. All grey and lifeless.

Chameleon reduced height. A high ridge appeared on the horizon, heading directly to the ship like a gigantic wave. The white crown of a distant star loomed from behind sharp spears of peaks. The gigantic wall approached, slowing down, and soon it stopped. Chameleon was totally synchronized with the asteroid.

– Do you want to make a swift sortie? – Will asked the captain.

– No. I just want to look around.

The ship smoothly moved along lifeless hills and plains. Black scorched lands were absolutely empty, without a trace of vegetation. Gray stripes of ash, wriggling, flowed from the mountains into the valley. Only shadows, shrinking and growing, revived this strange vale. The stars gently floated across the sky and the distant white sun bestowed the land with short days and nights.

– A bit of green plus blue sky with a normal sun – and this little world would not differ from our Earth. – Mitch commented, as he intently peered out the window.

– Maiteri and Rohinai used to dwell here. – Kyle uttered. – Two races, very similar to each other and at the same time very different. One surpassed the other in science, while the second was better in the war. Nevertheless, there was no enmity between them. At one time, they were allies of the Alliance, but something ruined them.

– You said their planets had collided. – Shed said, still standing at the window.

– They revolved in one line around this star and for a long time kept the distance from each other. Obviously, with time the speed of one planet changed.

– Aren’t you aware of that?

– It happened too long time ago. During the Golden Age of the Alliance.

– Probably, it was cooler here in that time. – Scot noticed. – Now, it’s a real hell.

– Kyle, I can see a city there. – Vivy said evenly.

Another shadow from the star revealed a new terrain on the plateau. Chameleon hovered over the helical structures, more resembling skeletons of shells. Curved lines, partly tumbledown, connected them together.

– Solid architecture! – Diego raised his brows, surprised. – As I understand, the adherents of science used to dwell here.

– Yes. – Captain replied quietly. – Maiteri.

– Perhaps, we are the first living beings here after the catastrophe. – Linda noticed philosophically, as she looked over the panorama from the bridge.

– I doubt. – Kyle pointed toward one building, almost dilapidated.

There, among deadly gray remains the crew noticed several green spots.

– Ancients? – MacNeil asked. Captain nodded. – Now, it’s clear.

– They were here after the disaster. – Shad said. – I would say even very recently.

– If they were here recently, it means they were before. That’s the reason they are called the Ancients.

– What are they? – Alex wondered.

– Our enemies. – Empath replied briefly. – One of the them. Very strong.

– Kyle, I have a strange signal! – Pilot announced.

– Are they here? – Mitch asked.

– No, but... you’d better take a look.

Captain immediately came close and leaned over a mysterious indicator.

– Where does it come from?

– Um... three hours plus 42 degrees... distance...

– Take us there. – Captain quietly commanded, his head raised in that direction.

Chameleon soared into space, leaving the oblivious city rotating infinitely on the wreck of the planet. Again, the bright light of Fetv’khanna dazzled the eyes of the crew and immediately dampened – Vivy turned the toning on. The cabin fell silent, as suddenly someone gave a quiet chortle and everyone stared at Alex.

– Anything wrong? – Captain asked.

– No. I’m just reading your manual.

– And?

– Well... it says here that Fetv’khanna belongs to the category of blue stars, very powerful. I didn’t even know of those. However, for some reason its light is no white, no blue, but yellow. Maybe I’m color-blind?

– No, you’re right. – Shad rubbed his chin thoughtfully. – Something is wrong. Vivy, can you scan it?

– Already doing.

They entered a dense cloud of dust that refracted the light into pale rainbows. The spectacle was mesmerizing, but no one except the