Planet Of No Return

It was a large ship — and a busy one. They passed machine shops and storage bays, halted as robot-operated floater lifts drifted by carrying bulky loads. There was no one else in the observation lounge when they reached it. They stood on the transparent floor, looking down into space. The blue sphere of the planet lay below, half in shadow, illuminated by the fierce glow of the star, Selm, the sun to this solitary world. Brion stared at it with fierce concentration.

“From here it looks like any other planet. What brought about all the interest in it at this time?”

“It all began as a routine investigation — and that’s really what it was at first. A normal computer search through some pre-breakup records had discovered a list of shipments to various planets in the old Earth Empire. Most of these worlds were known, but of course there were a few that were new to us. Their coordinates were turned over to Plansurv for contact and identification. Since observation from space had revealed no cities or visible settlements, this planet was the last one to be surveyed. Nor was there any form of broadcasting activity in any of the communication bands.”

“So there are no human beings here, or any signs of civilization — other than a few abandoned battlefields?”

“Yes — and that’s what we found so intriguing. That military scrapheap that Marcill and Hartig landed near was the biggest one detected. But there are plenty more.”

“Warfare — but no warriors. Where are all the people? Underground?”

“Perhaps. That is what you will have to find out after you have made a safe landing. The planet appears physically attractive enough. Those white polar caps you see are ice and snow. And there is a obviously a lot of ocean. There are islands and island chains, plus a single large continent just there. Half night and half day now. It is roughly bowl-shaped, and ringed about with mountain ranges. There are grass plains and hillside forest in the interior. Plenty of lakes, including that big one near the centre where you can see the sunrise glinting on it, really an inland ocean. You’ll get records of all this.”

“What is the climate like?”

“Perfect. At least on the plains around the big lake. It gets a bit cooler in the mountains, but at the lower altitudes it is warm and comfortable.”

“All right. The first thing we are going to need is transportation. What is available?”

“The Project Commander will take care of that for you. I suggest that you use one of the lifeships. They are compact landing vessels with plenty of power to spare, yet are still big enough to carry whatever equipment you may need. And they are well armed too. The techs will see to it that they stock the latest weaponry and defences.”

Brion raised his eyebrows at that. “The guns didn’t seem to help Hartig very much.”

“Then we can profit from his experience.”

“Don’t use ‘we’ so freely,” Lea said. “Unless you’re planning to come along with us.”

“Sorry. You can have whatever arms and weapons you might need. Both to take with you or have installed on the lifeship. The choice of equipment is yours.”

“Let me have a list of what is available,” Brion said.

“I’ll take care of that,” a voice said. They turned to see the thin, grey haired man who had entered silently while they were talking. He tapped a command into the communicator on his belt. “I’m Klart, your Project Commander. It is my responsibility to not only advise you but see to it that you get exactly what you want — and what you need. If you will look at the screen on the communicator over there you will see an index of the items we have in store.”

The lists of available items were long and precise. Brion scrolled through them on the communicator, with Lea sitting beside him, touching the screen over the categories they were interested in. The printouts began to pile up in the hopper beside them. Brion weighed them in his hands when they were done, then glanced at the planet below.

“I’ve reached a decision,” he said. “And I hope Lea will agree. The lifeship will be armed and defended with all of the deadliest weapons that are available. We will also take every possible machine or device that might aid us on the planet. Then, when we are completely equipped, I am going down alone, without any machines or metallic devices of any kind. Bare handed if necessary. Lea, don’t you agree that this will be the wisest course under the circumstances?”

Her speechless look of horror was his only answer.

4: D-Day Minus One

“I’ll draw up a list of recommendations at once,” Klart said, entering a series of commands into his personal terminal. The calmness of his manner indicating that he could no longer be surprised by anything a field agent did or said. Lea did not share his attitude.

“Brion Brandd — anyone who says anything like that must be insane. Carver, see that he is locked up at once.”

Carver nodded. “Lea is right. You can’t just walk around unarmed in this sort of situation, on a deadly planet like this one. It would be suicide.”