Belle Terre Read online

  He hit the bottom of the ramp and set off through the knee-high grass toward the road and the city beyond. There was no wind at all. The sun felt warm against his face, but the crispness of the air was going to be enough to keep the heat down. If this placed turned out to be as good as it looked, the Belle Terre colonists were going to have a new home, cities already built and just waiting.

  But that was a big if. And right now this planet scared him more than he wanted to admit. Something had happened here not that long ago and he wasn’t that sure he really wanted to find out what.

  Yet to do his job right, he had to know.

  The road was some sort of hard, almost black surface that up close showed cracks of aging and weathering. The grass had grown up over the edges and through some of the cracks, but mostly the road was perfectly flat and still in good shape. Considering that no upkeep had been done on it for almost one hundred years, Sunn was impressed. The residents of this planet had known how to build to last.

  With Sunn walking up the middle, Roger along the right, and Dar on the left and behind, they headed for the tall spires that towered in the center of the city in front of them.

  Beautiful brown and tan and white buildings seemed almost to glow in the sun, welcoming them with their beauty and perfect lines.

  It was the last place Sunn wanted to go.

  Countdown: 5 Days, 18 Hours

  Governor Pardonnet stopped among the tall trees and stared at the hundreds of people moving ahead and around him, spread out through the dark forest no more than a few arm-lengths apart, searching. Each had a flashlight, the beam like a long, white sword cutting the blackness. Every so often a call would ring out in the darkness. “Reynold?”

  Or “Danny?”

  Or “Josiah?”

  Or any of the six children’s names. Otherwise only the sounds of twigs snapping and branches being pushed aside marred the night quiet.

  Where could six kids have disappeared to? He just couldn’t imagine. No one seemed to know. And there was barely five days left to get everyone back into the remaining ships, all the supplies loaded they could carry, and away from this planet. The thought of leaving made him sick, yet he had no choice at all. Five days to save sixty-two thousand lives, yet right now hundreds were looking for six lost children.

  And he was helping them look.

  When the problem of the children had been reported to him, he’d had his ship move to a position in orbit to do a scan of the area. Nothing was found, but his ship’s scanners were pretty basic and couldn’t even do much to penetrate effectively a forest like this. Plus it couldn’t tell who were children and who were adults out looking for the children.

  He watched the searchers move up the incline and through the dark forest. Walking with them, he was just one more searcher covering a few feet of forest floor. There had to be a better way for him to help find the children and get everyone back to packing and getting ready for the long trip back to Earth.

  He turned and moved back down the hill toward the main colony lights in the distance, trying to keep his mind on the path ahead and not on the coming destruction of this planet.

  When he finally reached the edge of the colony he opened his communicator and called to his ship. “Put me in touch with Captain Kirk. At once.”

  A moment later Kirk’s voice came back strong and sounding impatient. “Kirk here. What can I do for you, Governor?”

  “I’ve got a problem you might be able to help me with,” he said. “I’ve got six children who have run away and been missing now about nine hours. We could use a Starfleet-level scan of the area to see if they could be spotted that way.”

  “Not a problem, Governor,” Kirk said. “I’ll have the Impeller help you. Expect Captain Merkling to contact you in a moment.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” he said.

  “Keep me informed. Kirk out.”

  Pardonnet held the communicator in his hand, waiting. A few days ago this would have been a small problem, easily handled. The kids would have been found and everyone would have moved on with their lives. Now, with the failure to stop the explosion and the million details he faced trying to evacuate and get enough supplies for a trip back, this problem seemed immense, almost impossible.

  Yet this gave him something to focus on for the moment. The whereabouts of six children instead of the overall concerns of sixty-two thousand colonists.

  He knew he should be somewhere else, working to find solutions that might save all their lives in the coming months. Yet right now, here on the edge of this forest, he needed to solve one problem at a time.

  He needed to start somewhere, and finding six missing children was exactly the solution he needed.

  Countdown: 5 Days, 18 Hours

  Kirk finished asking Captain Merkling to help the governor find the missing children, then turned back to where Spock was working at his science station. Dr. McCoy leaned on the rail, waiting. Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura were at their stations, but all were turned facing Spock.

  The Vulcan had just said, “Captain, I think I might have a solution,” without looking away from his console.

  For the past five hours they had come up with, and then rejected, at least half a dozen ideas for stopping the moon from exploding. They had rejected them all simply because it became clear that none of the plans would work.

  Kirk was angry and frustrated, but not yet willing to give up. Not by a long ways. They still had over five days before the moon exploded, and if it took every hour of those five days to find an answer, he would keep searching.

  Now Spock had an idea.

  Spock looked away from his station at everyone staring at him. “Dr. McCoy’s original idea of plunging an object into the thin area of the moon crust may have more merit than I first thought. And a higher chance of success.”

  “That’s not my idea,” McCoy said.

  “I think you called it a giant pin,” Sulu said.

  McCoy scowled at Sulu, but said nothing.

  “Explain,” Kirk said to his science officer. At this point he was willing to listen to just about anything that might work to save this colony.

  “My initial calculations showed there was a ninety-nine percent chance of the planet being completely destroyed from the rupture caused by an object crashing into the moon at the location of the plug we tried to remove. That was the question you asked me. Correct?”

  “It was,” Kirk said.

  “Would you get to the point?” McCoy asked, clearly more annoyed than Kirk was feeling.

  At the moment, Kirk was beyond annoyance and into the edges of anger. He was going to have to keep that under control. Right now he needed to make clear decisions, not decisions based on desperation.

  Spock went on. “In those calculations I did not take into account the shielding effect of the crust of the moon itself.”

  “I’m not following you, Spock,” Kirk said. “Why didn’t you calculate that effect?”

  “Yeah,” McCoy said. “And what in the world would it change, anyway?”

  “Quite a bit, actually, Doctor,” Spock said. “And I did not calculate it because it did not apply in the question you asked me, Captain.”

  “Explain,” Kirk said.

  Kirk watched as Spock’s long fingers keyed in commands on his science station. Then the Vulcan indicated the main screen. The image switched from a live image of the moon to a graphic one showing both the moon and Belle Terre. Everyone on the bridge turned to look.

  “The plug is here,” Spock said.

  A blue mark appeared on the moon showing the location of the plug they had tried to remove.

  Spock went on. “An object crashing into that area would cause a rip in the moon that would release the pressure inside, but would also send an explosion of rock and olivium outward in this fashion.”

  Kirk watched as the illustration on the main screen showed the moon rupturing outward. Even though the plug was more on the back side of the moon, and the moon remained
intact, part of the spreading debris trail hit Belle Terre. It was clear that Spock had been right. The planet would not have survived such an event.

  “However,” Spock said. “The very slight rotation of the Quake Moon causes a second thin area of the crust to be almost directly on the back side of the moon one hour before the explosion is set to occur.”

  “A second area?” Sulu asked. “Like the plug?”

  “Similar, but not as thin,” Spock said.

  “Directly on the back side?” Kirk asked, glancing at his first officer. “Away from Belle Terre?”

  “Only two point three degrees off center, Captain,” Spock said.

  “Close enough?” McCoy asked.

  “Yes, Doctor,” Spock said. “Close enough.”

  The image on the main screen showed the moon rupturing again, only this time the debris from the moon missed Belle Terre. So the planet didn’t get destroyed right in the first bang, but Kirk had a dozen problems with this idea.

  “If we wait until one hour before the explosion,” he said, “won’t a collision with another object just set it off?”

  “There is a twenty-four percent chance of that occurring,” Spock said.

  Kirk nodded. That meant it was a seventy-six percent chance it wouldn’t happen. And since the explosion was going to occur an hour or so later anyway, it made little difference that he could see, unless they were still too close.

  “Wouldn’t a collision like you’re talking about knock the moon out of orbit?” Sulu asked.

  “It will alter the orbit of the moon,” Spock said, “and cause massive tidal disturbances on the planet’s surface for a number of years. But it will not be a severe enough orbital shift to cause undue destruction on the planet’s surface.”

  “So Belle Terre will survive?” Kirk said.

  “Yes,” Spock said. “But the exposed side of the planet will be exposed to an extreme dose of radiation lasting sixteen point three seconds.”

  “How extreme?” McCoy asked.

  “Enough to kill humans, Doctor,” Spock said. “And most plant life.”

  “But only on one side?” Kirk asked. “The other side will be safe?”

  “Yes,” Spock said. “Shielded by the bulk of the planet itself. However, at the time of the explosion, the planet’s main continent will be exposed. Only the small island chains will be on the safe side.”

  “So the operation could be a success, but we lose the patient anyway?” McCoy asked. “How much sense does that make?”

  Spock only looked at him.

  “Actually it makes a great deal of sense,” Kirk said. “It gives the colonists a place to live, at least until they get the supplies and equipment to get back to Federation space safely. And it gives us some choices in how to protect the olivium.”

  The bridge around him was silent.

  He stared at the graphic on the screen. For the first time in hours it felt as if they had found something that just might work. It had its downsides, clearly. But at least it was better than sending over sixty thousand colonists unguarded into hostile space. He wasn’t going to let that happen, yet he also couldn’t leave the olivium unguarded.

  So the best solution was to save the planet.

  “There is one other problem with this idea,” Spock said.

  “No pin,” Sulu said.

  Kirk glanced at Sulu, then back at Spock.

  “Mr. Sulu is essentially correct,” Spock said. “There is no object in the orbit of Belle Terre of a size sufficient to cause such a rupture in the Quake Moon.”

  Kirk stared at Spock, then back at the screen that was again showing the real Quake Moon. Then he took a deep breath. This was the best chance they had. He had to run with it.

  He turned and faced Spock. “I want you going through every calculation as many times as is needed to make sure this will work. Understand?”

  Spock nodded.

  “Mr. Sulu, you and Mr. Chekov get scanning for any moon or asteroid the size Spock tells you to search for. There’s got to be one out there somewhere in this system.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sulu said.

  Kirk turned to Uhura. “Patch me through to the other ships. I want them searching, too.”

  “Even the Impeller?” she asked. “It’s helping search for the children.”

  “Yes,” he said. “I want them helping on this as soon as they find the children.”

  Kirk moved over and sat back down in his chair as his crew went silently and efficiently to work around him. The Quake Moon filled the screen, almost taunting him. But at the moment it didn’t have the power it had just a short time ago. They had come up with a way to tame it.

  If they could just come up with another moon to tame it with.

  Or, as McCoy had said, a pin.

  Chapter Ten

  Countdown: 5 Days, 17 Hours

  REYNOLD COATES pulled his jacket tighter around himself and then hugged his knees to his chest. The dark shadows of the big cave seemed to wave back and forth in the light from Danny’s small fire. They had built the fire between rocks just as Reynold’s dad had taught him to do, but the rocks kept him from getting close enough to the fire to get warm. He hadn’t been warm since they had come into the cave.

  The other kids were sleeping around him, in sleeping bags, as if nothing were going on. But Reynold couldn’t get to sleep. Not only was he scared, but he was starting to regret leaving his bed.

  Then he remembered that his mother and the governor were going to make them all leave the planet tomorrow. He was going to make them all get back into the ships and go back to Earth.

  Reynold and the rest of the kids liked it here too much. And none of them believed that a moon was going to explode. They all knew it was because the parents didn’t want to stay, so they made up the moon story to tell them.

  On the way here from Earth some kids’ parents and ships had wanted to turn back. They all wanted to go back to Earth. But Reynold didn’t want to go back. He wanted to stay right here, on this planet. And if he had to stay in this cave for a while to prove to his mother he wanted to stay, then he would.

  He tossed another few sticks on the fire and watched the sparks flare up toward the high ceiling of the cave. It was lucky for them that Diane and Gary had found these caves, tucked into the side of the hill above the colony. Even though there were no big animals in the forest, he didn’t want to stay outside all night. This was better.

  The mouth of the cave was like a small black dot in the far wall. Every so often he imagined something coming through the opening, but the hole was so small, he’d had trouble getting through. Nothing really big could come in. That thought made him feel safe.

  He shivered once, then forced himself to lie down and curl up in his sleeping bag. It was warmer. His dad said it was made out of a special material. He had liked sleeping in it when he and his dad had gone camping before getting in the ships. Maybe after they stayed here, he could talk his mother into going camping with him like Dad used to do. That would be fun.

  His mother was going to be mad at him, but at least she would know he wanted to stay. He didn’t want to ever leave Belle Terre. He liked the trees and the beach and all the great sand. This was much better than he remembered Earth ever being.

  Maybe tomorrow he’d go tell his mom that.

  He watched the fire for a few more minutes before the tiredness finally forced him to close his eyes.

  Countdown: 5 Days, 17 Hours

  Sunn couldn’t remember being this tired or hot before. Around them the alien city’s buildings towered into the sky, giving some shade from the heat, but not much. For three hours they had walked, first through the fields outside the city, then through the lower buildings, then into the taller structures.

  Three long hours of finding nothing.

  Three hours closer to having to report back to Captain Kirk. They had to solve the questions of this planet and either consider it a find for the colonists or move on and look for something else.
Time was running short.

  He signaled that they should stop as he leaned against a wall in the shade. The street between the buildings was cluttered with small debris, a number of transport machines, and nothing else. At least the walking had been smooth so far. Just long and hot.

  The buildings like the one he leaned against were made up of a fine-textured, rocklike material, obviously manufactured. From a distance all the buildings looked to be of the same design, smooth, with no windows. But up closer there were clear differences. Every building had windows, but they were mounted flush to the surface and tinted to match the structure.

  And every building had types of doors leading out into the street. The doors were where the real differences could be seen. Some were tall, narrow, and plain. Others were huge and decorated in ornate patterns. As they went by, almost every door to every building was closed up tight. At first Sunn hadn’t thought that odd, but now he did.

  The ground vehicles they had passed seemed to have worked on some sort of air cushion or magnetic cushion to keep them off the surface when moving. There wasn’t a wheel on anything in sight. And no dead passengers, either. Just parked vehicles.

  “Nothing, Captain,” Roger said, studying his scanner and sounding disgusted. “This city is just completely dead. No energy signs, nothing moving. Dead.”

  Sunn nodded. It was just as their scanners had shown from the ship. Nothing in here except the empty shell of a past civilization. They hadn’t even found any clear signs of remains of the inhabitants. Of course, they hadn’t gone in any buildings yet, and after one hundred years, the weather would have scoured anything left outside, at least along the path where they had walked.

  He stared up at the tall buildings above him. He really wasn’t looking forward to going inside. But it seemed they now had no choice. They weren’t finding any more answers out here on the street.

  He pushed himself away from the wall, wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his arm, and looked for the closest door. Directly across the street the building looked sealed, the tall, wide door seemingly still shut tight.

  “Let’s give that building a try,” he said.