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The Lost Planet

Chapter 1:
Accident with
an Asteroid

Chapter 2:
Stranded
in Space

Chapter 3:
Survival in
Solitude

Chapter 4:
The Ancient Temple

Chapter 5:
A Virtual Reality Experience

 Chapter 6:
The Crystal Records

Chapter 7:
The Knowledge
of Tranqua

 Chapter 8:
The Meta- Hydrovector

Chapter 9:
The Long,
Hard Work

Chapter 10:
The Project Complete

Chapter 11:
The Crystal Fantasy

Chapter 12:
The Key
of Vitreos
The Lost Planet

Chapter 21: The Tranquan Transverser

It had long ago been realized that the simple secret to the security of life in outer space was multiple back-ups and reserve systems. Dormant systems, under tight security, were designed to automatically take over the job of any system that was damaged or disabled.

  The Valkon had only 2 back-ups.  Both were damaged in the crash.
  Most space colonies had 3 reserve systems.  One was always being used while 2 were ready to take over in case of damage or simply routine maintenance. What this meant, in practical terms, was if life-support systems were somehow damaged, one of 2 dormant systems would take over for it.  While the second system went to work, repairs on the first were made.  If at that time the second was also damaged, the third could kick in.

  It was generally expected that one system would always be ready to replace another, even if it meant working reparations around the clock.  Such was the security placed upon life in outer space.  So far, it had not failed to keep a colony from destruction.

  I realized that a dormant system, at least one, would be a wise step towards securing the temple-station from the harsh elements of deep space. More so, as it was suspected that there may be a war over mining rites in the asteroid belt in the very near future.

October 5, 2088:
  In my  search for  valuable stones,  I had explored most of Amplexa,  but there was an area in the southern region which  still had yet to be  ventured into. Every time I went out, it had always been the darkest, as if the sun never shined on it, and it was always in the shade.  Due to the irregular pattern of rotation, such an area was next to impossible, unless it was concave.

  At a point below the equator, an imaginary line located somewhere midpoint on Amplexa, there was a rigid, near-ninety degree angle.  Every time I visited this point, the area beyond the ridge was always in the dark. Now, in the early October, I decided it was time to venture into it.

  I steered myself around the 'corner', about 10 meters from the stone,  pointed my head in,  and flew in about 10 meters. There I steered to the stone, found it, and readjusted my footing to make a sensory probe.

  Sensors amplified the weak reflections of starlight and visualized a dark, grey landscape of irregular hills on a great wide plain.  Somewhere in the middle of it, about 10 km away, a great jut of stone towered above it,  like the great trunk of a giant tree, a singular mountain on a desert plain.

  I studied it all with interest, and made an enhanced sensory and video record.  Comparing it to a tree trunk was an over-generalization, and I needed to see more. The mountain was about 8 km wide at the base and about 3 to 4 km high.

  Due to the weakness of light in the area, a simple visual search for stones was next to impossible. The only way I could expect to detect anything valuable was with the computer linked portable com-unit.  I swept it all about ahead of my position, and detected something in the hills to the right. I flew almost a kilometer and found the stone under the lip of a crater.

  Later, I found more of something else, and so on, until I was almost at the very foot of the mountain, just around 1 km away.  I took some more pictures, and decided to check it out.

  I flew across a flat plain for a kilometer and reached a shallow valley, then more hills, and followed the land as it began to curve upward. I flew up along the smooth edge of what seemed like a massive root.

  I reached a sharp angle on the root, and a brief plateau.  I stopped and stood on the plateau, looked down, then up. The general comparison of it to a tree trunk was still accurate, as it appeared I was standing on a massive,  thick tubular formation of stone, on both sides of which were deep, dark canyons, where the sensors could detect absolutely nothing.

  As asteroids go, this was a most unusual rock formation.  There was an angular and rigid quality about it that was rare amongst the asteroid belt, as if it were shaped by forces unknown to outer space. There were patches of dark and light sparsely scattered about the roots, suggesting the possibility of veins with valuable elements. Further along the root, at the base of the trunk, I detected something.

  I took a sample of the stone, decided I had enough stones for one day, and looked up and out to the towering face of stone.  I was curious and knew it would be an excellent angle from which  to survey the whole of  the dark plain,  so I flew along  the great cold, stone face, to the peak, over 3 kilometers away.

  It was all plain, flat grey until the peak. There I found a rough, stone plateau, with some cracks, veins, and stone juts.  It was all just a shaded silhouette against the starlit space, until I walked into it carefully, and enhanced it with the sensors.

  The plateau was about 200 meters wide. With the lamp on as high as it would go, I moved cautiously inward. The light struck a brief jut, a streak of light, grey stone, against the dominant darker grays, and then suddenly, empty space where more stone should have been.

  I slowed my pace and stopped. Had I reached the other side already? No, if that were the case, I should be able to see the land below. What I saw was a deep, dark chasm, even deeper than the canyons between the roots. I examined the edge of the stone I was standing on and it appeared that it was the edge of a dead volcano. Before I could accept this however, it occurred to me that the geo-physical position did not concur with the structure of the Tranquan planet.

  This 'volcano' would have been underground. Perhaps then it was an underground tube that had once had hot lava flowing through it. Or maybe even water. A great subsurface tube, broken by the final cataclysm that destroyed the planet, at the very spot I stood. I shone the light out into its depths, but saw nothing but a vague reflection of the opposite edge, about 100 meters away.

  Did I dare venture into it?  I checked the time and decided it would have to wait until another time.  I was hungry and Trawani would be wondering where I was. So I took some pictures of the volcanic mountain, and blasted away from it with the jets, headed home.  

[Back]    [Next]

Chapter 14:
The Asteroid Miners

Chapter 15: T’rwani
and Tranqua

Chapter 16:
The Europan Pirates

Chapter 17:
A Clone for a Companion

Chapter 18:
A Skirmish in Space

Chapter 19:
 The Story of Tranqua

Chapter 20:
Dealing with the AMV

Chapter 21:
The Tranquan Transverser

Chapter 22:
The Trouble with Martians

Chapter 23:
The Martian Consulate, Zykura

Chapter 24:
Hexnot, Mars

Chapter 25:
The Final Cataclysm

Table of Contents and Chapters with Links