Prologue
Serla was 98 cycles old and happy with his life. He had managed to achieve the status of a mid-level manager. He had 54 individuals working for him directly, and another 75 indirectly. He had never had any aptitude for the sciences, the idea of long range travel left him feeling very uncomfortable, and he could best be described as an average athlete.
When he was being tested for his interests and ambitions, he realized that he did not have any motivation to go and achieve great things. He was happy to have a comfortable life, he was not interested in excitement. When it was suggested that he consider applying for a government logistical position, it sounded good to him. The more they told him about what the job would entail, and what he could hope to achieve for a career, the more he realized, that it was for him.
In his free time, he volunteered in the egg chamber for maintenance and socializing with the eggs. He was always careful not to spend too much time with any given egg. When it was time for the hatching, if it was possible, he would make sure that he was available. He enjoyed welcoming the younglings into the world, helping to clean them, assist the medical staff in registering them, and the last minute checks that all were healthy.
Serla loved the feeling of the air at night. He had discovered at a young age that running just satisfied some primal need within himself. Whenever he was stressed about something at work or if he had been arguing with friends, he could get himself out to one of the parks, and just run.
Something in the exertions, the physical act of running, just put things into perspective for him. At the very least, it seemed to allow him to focus on whatever issue was bothering him and he could better understand whatever was causing the conflict. He had discovered accidentally that running at night enhanced this feeling of calm, and order within himself.
He had come to understand he could evaluate how much frustration he was feeling, from the rhythm of the cadence. As he would run, he could hear the cadence change from a strident rushed pace, and slowly evolve to the even relaxed thump...thump...thump that meant he was in his zone. Normally by the time he had heard that pace, he found that he had come to an understanding with whatever had been on his mind. It did not mean he had resolved whatever the issue was, but that he had at least come to some kind of decision on a course of action that he needed to take.
Serla’s favourite location to run had to be the canyon park to the north of the city. The paths through the twisting canyons were clearly marked and easily read even in the middle of the night. The canyons added to the sense of peace from the solitary sounds reflected back to him from his feet pounding on the ground, rhythmically marking his place in time it seemed to him.
The maintenance systems for the park were configured to keep the grounds in as natural a state as possible. This meant the canyons would have small, natural drifts of fine dust in the corners. The walls of the canyons would have the thin growth of creeping vines that grew everywhere here. The was a buzz in the air from the small insects that lived under the vines. The smell of the blossoms accentuated the aromas in the air.
There were no problems with running in the park outside of town in the middle of the night. There were emergency response pads every hundred meters in the canyons. While the lighting was low, this far outside of the city meant there was normally more than sufficient natural lighting from the stars for his natural eyesight to be able to make out the route. All of the intersections in the canyons were well lit, but they only used sporadic lighting, making pools of light along the corridors.
He had noticed that two of the lights along the canyon were broken and figured that youths had come through earlier and just been destructive. He knew that if he put in a notice to the park department when he got back home, that someone would be out tomorrow to replace the lights. So he did not give it too much thought other than to mentally mark where the lights were, so he could pass on that information in the message.
He made a mental note that, another light that had been knocked out, as he approached the corner. Serla barely noticed the other being in the corridor, just as he came around the darkened corner. He was just turning his head when he felt the impact across his chest.
His momentum was too much to be completely stopped, but the impact did result in him bouncing off the opposite wall and falling heavily to the ground, his chest struggling to get some air. All he could do was lie there, stunned, trying to get his breath back. He was shocked wondering what could possibly have happened when he noticed the other being standing there. They let something drop from their hands, and moved toward him.
Serla opened his mouth to ask for help but could not make any sounds yet. He watched as the other being knelt down beside him, put one hand on his chest firmly but gently, leaning over him. Serla thought it odd that the strangers face was blank, completely without expression. He was about to ask for help again when he saw the stranger move his right arm. Something stabbed into his abdomen, the pain was overwhelming but he could not get a breath to move. Then the stranger thrust and again...and again...and again. Serla felt the burning, tearing of something stabbing into him, could see blood...his blood, flying up. The stranger’s hand stayed pressed firmly against his chest.
By the time that the stranger stopped stabbing, Serla had been dead for several minutes. Serla’s abdomen and chest was thoroughly pierced with many stab wounds. The stranger did not say anything, did not take anything. He wiped the blade on Serla’s clothes, got up from the body and walked deeper into the canyons. Serla would be found six hours later by park maintenance staff.
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The ship had been in orbit for many day/night cycles, the beings below would have described it as almost 2 weeks now. The ship had been under orders to be more vigilant than usual, there were to be NO mistakes. The locals would certainly have been alarmed if they could have spotted the ship hanging just outside of the atmosphere.
The Sel exploration ship was designed to be hard to notice, even to other Sel. So the technology available on the planet would have no chance of detecting any of the sleek curves or projecting sensor arrays. The ship used a combination of electronic masking, energy field distortion and an optical manipulation coating on the skin of the ship itself. Taken together, the ship did not even make a hole in space.
The ship normally had a crew of 77, the mission had necessitated the removal of the security module to attach the secondary data storage units, so it was running with a crew of 41.
The usual sampling of all electronic communication and written texts were almost finished. The existence of the ’Internet’, had been a pleasant surprise. Getting connected into a worldwide, spanning network had made the collection of much material very simple.
Once they had gathered all the physical and electronic data they could, the ship would complete the last task, getting a live sample. The Cilik had been briefed very intensely on the complexity of this mission and was under no misconceptions that his performance would be closely monitored.
The Cilik, whose given name was Wynloo, had done dozens of sampling missions and well over a hundred exploration missions. The amount of time spent on briefing him on this one had been surprisingly long and thorough. No one had said why everyone was being so detailed in their instructions, as well as reiterating over and over, that he be careful.
He had been more surprised when he had been told that for this mission, he would be bringing a backup to the usual restraint capsule, a chemical suppressant. When he had given the medical expert the look that said ’What am I supposed to do with that?’, they had reassured him it was only a precaution. That was not a reassuring statement.
Having spent the last few planetary cycles in orbit, and having spent some of the time viewing the data, the Cilik had to admit, this race was a little more inclined to violence than most he had encountered.
The Cilik had noted that the rearing of the young was left almost exclusively to the female of the species, so he had decided he would target a male. He wanted to take one from a more developed state, and he had noted in his report the disparity in education levels from one side of the planet to the other.
That being the case, it looked like the half of the planet with the largest concentration of land mass, had entered what looked to be a warming cycle, and this was provoking a lot more travel by individuals into more isolated areas, at least for some of the states.
The Cilik had identified the parameters to the AI for an ideal candidate and the AI had presented a number of suggestions. The Cilik had gone with the first one, it was as good a sample as any would be. It was a lone male, no habitation or any structures for many li in all directions.
The subject is armed with 2 projectile weapons and one melee weapon. They would be secured. They were simple chemical based propellant, easy enough to neutralize. The Cilik had always been interested in bladed melee weapons, he was looking forward to seeing what this race considered a practical blade.
He noted the size of the subject, at least 50% taller than any Sel on the ship, the scans had shown enough to see the subject was likely to be quite strong, and judging by the area and temperatures he was voluntarily operating in, likely quite tough as well.
The subject had set up some form of temporary structure on the lower slope of a dormant volcano. The Cilik had already verified that the volcano would not be going active any time soon. The space around the volcano was a ’reserve’ or ’park’, according to the AI, and ’not open to the public yet’. Wynloo was not too sure what that meant but had guessed enough from the phrases themselves to accept the recommendation.
The Cilik was notified that all data collection had been finished. He signaled his pilot to initiate the capture.