CHAPTER 28
A SHOT TO THE HEAD
The migrant ship safely orbited Braevitchka Four and Supercomputer was silent. The source of the distress signal had been located and Sennai deemed a landing party be formed consisting of himself, Taroooc, the Second Officer Cadet, two security robots, and the ship's Medical Officer, Yelyah Soss. Each of them was now assembled ready to be dispatched to the planet below by the Teleport Stream #16.
They were accompanied, at the insistence of Tzkk, by a giant protector in the form of his robot Zero. Sennai suspected this recommendation was made in the hope that this colossal robot might present an awkward fit into the stream and be split into trillions of atoms spread wide across the cosmic void. As a result, a Damage to Personal Property insurance claim may be raised in Tzkk's benefit.
The Teleport warning light flashed. It said:
REMEMBER: CLOSE YOUR EYES.
_____
#16 Teleport Streams are frequently used forms of matter transportation, but not universally popular. Billed as the greatest advance in quantum molecular transference and body conveyance, the mechanism resembles an expansive, colourful hosepipe. Due to the immense challenges in splitting a living being into its component subatomic particles, beaming these across infinite space, and reassembling each into their exact original form, the risk of curious side effects remains ever present. Consequently, Teleport Stream variants have been re-marketed as the quickest way to achieve gender reassignment. 'If a change in life is what you want, take a Teleport Stream and Bob's your aunt' is one of their least subtle advertising campaigns._____
There was a hiss, and the landing party arrived in a pile on the planet's surface. Bless him, their gargantuan guest Zero appeared first from the stream, and thankfully was underneath.
Sennai arrived last to crown the heap. He quickly stood, brushed himself down and surveyed the immediate landscape.
The Proltoid Jockey Monks set aside their three innermost planets for solar brewing. Their fourth was much further from a weakened sun and preserved a thin atmosphere with a complete lack of warmth. It was cold. Very cold.
The air felt crisp and clean, but very, very cold. It nipped the pointed ears, shriveled the tendrils, stiffened the tunics, and made Sennai's orange eyes white, and his blue lips turn red. Not only did it feel cold, but it also tasted, smelled, and vibrated cold. Intense cold. There was no warmth at all to this planet. Small patches of packed snow lay unfreezing on grey ice or ashen rock. Each member of the landing party had equipped for the frozen environment, with Kolidium foil insulated jackets and trousers, hybrid carboplastene boots, and self-warming gloves. All except Zero – whose owner Tzkk had asserted to be a 26th generation robot conceived to withstand all extremes of temperature.
"Crap!" cursed Zero. "It's freezing!"
He shivered, shaking loose core components that internal nanobots scurried to reinstate.
Sennai was poised to remark this was the first sentence he had witnessed the silver megalith complete without a stutter yet was powerless to begin his statement as there was a nuclear detonation very close by.
***
Sennai hurtled backwards through the thin air, taking the full force of the blast like a giant bug flicked from a coat sleeve. His arms and legs trailed his trajectory.
Thud.
He slammed into a collected drift of snow, temporarily stunned. Five six seven seconds.
"What was that?" he finally yelled.
Taroooc had observed his Captain's unexpected flight path. He hollered back.
"Well, it looked and sounded somewhat similar to a narrow-cast, uni-directional nuclear explosion."
"A what?"
"I said..." shouted Taroooc, compensating for their new separation, "...it was possibly a narrow-cast, uni-directional nuclear explosion."
Sennai stood awkwardly and slowly arched his back to stretch. Staggering towards his Wellness Officer, he brushed snow from his insulated jacket.
"Explain."
"I've seen such devices utilised to create small scale, localized warmth in frozen environments. The residual kinetic energy from the tiny nuclear blast creates a medium-term heat. I am guessing you just got in its way."
"La-di-da Taroooc, all very technical. Then why am I not dead?"
"It's a theory. Perhaps a very small one, and you were lucky."
"Yelyah!"
The Medical Officer snapped her head. She took a few paces to Sennai and observed him impassively as if he were in a specimen jar.
"Check me for radiation exposure."
Yelyah Soss had been a Fleet Medic for more than thirty annums. Her braided white hair and weary demeanor suggested a keen instinct informed her when patients were truly ill, or merely seeking attention. Two sturdy carboplastene kitbags slung over each of her shoulders remained zipped tight as the Medical Officer placed two fingers to the left of Sennai's eye, just above his temple.
"Well?" asked Sennai.
"Your head's still there."
"And what about the radiation count?"
Yelyah relented and retrieved a slender torch-like device from her left kitbag. She angled it at forty-five degrees to Sennai and then she quietly hummed for a few seconds.
"And?"
"You're okay."
"Why the humming?" asked Sennai.
"My batteries are flat," replied the Medical Officer.
"So, what's the reading?"
"0.0"
"Does that mean I'm okay?"
"No. It means my batteries are flat."
"Yelyah..."
"Yes."
"You're fired."
"As you wish."
Sennai surveyed his landing party and then his gaze drifted to the distance. A faint sun offered a winter's twilight to this world. Pallid hills dotted with snow and rocks stretched into the distance, until the horizon fused with a sky devoid of any real colour. He shivered and turned to Taroooc.
"Does this mean I was targeted directly, or that someone on this barren world is trying to keep themselves warm?"
"Possibly," answered Taroooc.
"So, which?"
"Either."
"Taroooc, you really are completely..."
Since arriving via the Teleport Stream the Second Officer Cadet had shivered and atrophied. A sudden movement developed on his thin lips to interrupt Sennai.
"C... C... Captain."
"Yes Booster?"
"It's bloody freezing."
"I know."
"A... and Captain."
"What!"
"I j... just saw... something move. Over there in the distance."
Sennai turned to the direction being indicated, giving a snapped intake of breath as he also detected movement. Focusing hard, he tried to make sense of what he could discern.
Like faraway processionary insects, a myriad of small hooded figures trekked as a bipedal collective, each of their heads stooped low. Even from this distance their gowns could be discerned as the deepest sapphire blue, with all their features and faces hidden. The large group swayed thymically side to side as they advanced forwards. The movement was purposeful and coordinated in its solid monotony. However, none yet seemed aware of the landing party.
"Did they issue the distress call?"
"Hard to say Captain, but they are the nearest living beings to the original source," replied Taroooc.
"Multimodal field-glasses please."
"I thought you brought them."
Sennai scoffed. "Please could you surprise me one day in a positive way. Okay... we need to get a good look at what we are dealing with here, so I am requisitioning an Advancement Party. I shall protect the rear. Zero, you lead."
"Thanks..." said Zero, "Correction... but no thanks."
Sennai assessed the remaining crew. He questioned his own sanity for requisitioning the Second Cadet and two security bowling pins. He turned to his Medical Officer.
"Yelyah Soss, you are reinstated as Medical Officer and Advancement Party Leader. Taroooc will accompany you."
"As you wish."
***
And so, on this very cold planet a very cautious Advancement Party was formed. Taroooc advised his preference to be in a Drinking Party beneath a table in Refreshment Bay Two, and he stepped cautiously at the front with Yelyah. All eyes were fixed on their hooded quarry. The two security robots droned behind. The Second Officer Cadet hid neatly behind Zero and Sennai brought up the rear, his eyes scanning the hills.
"Keep low," Sennai hissed. "We need to know if these guys want help, or conflict."
Zero slowed abruptly.
"I can't..." announced the robot.
Yelyah turned to understand Zero's concern.
Taroooc was caught off-guard and thumped into Yelyah's left shoulder. The two security robots clunked into Taroooc's back. This pile-up tumbled all four of them to the ground. Zero's metal toecap caught this lumbering group, and he careered forwards to hit the icy surface.
"I can't... keep low. I am... too tall," he finished.
"But then again," he corrected as his torso cracked into the ground, "it would appear... I am not anymore."
This slam-bang commotion earned the attention of the distant hooded creatures. They froze immediately in their tracks. Each raised a head so slightly, but not sufficient to reveal their faces. The movement was ominious.
Sennai ducked behind the bulk of Zero to join the Second Cadet.
"Well?" he squealed. "Anyone?"
"They could be hostile," Taroooc informed him.
"Another spectacular deduction."
"One of them is holding a Weaponify Nasty Thing," Yelyah called back.
This situation was tight, sudden, ridiculous, and self-induced. They lay in the middle of a barren wilderness, the only real cover provided by a giant silver robot visible for fifty kilotecs. Sennai's mind raced.
Had these beings issued the distress call? Was it a trap? Or a misunderstanding?
By now the whole party crouched behind Zero, with any clear view being obscured by the colossal recumbent robot.
"Zero," commanded Sennai, "What's your verdict? I need an assessment of the situation, risk scenario and likely outcome?"
Sennai anticipated a construction such as Zero, defined as a 26th generation refinement in robotics, would possess its own multi-modal vision and accompanying scenario analysis algorithms.
There was the faintest whirring. Zero's head raised slightly, and the dark slit in its head and magenta glow behind that passed for its eyes, slowly scoured the distance.
"It is actually O.K..." announced Zero.
"Good news..." said Sennai.
The robot turned to look at him in surprise.
"Just what I was expecting," finished Sennai. "Thank you."
Attempting a firm leadership stance, Sennai rose to wave a hand towards their new arrivals, offering the universal peace gesture to this group. A gun was fired and Sennai was shot through the head.
"...W - 349" completed Zero, finishing his analysis of the Weaponify Nasty Thing's serial number.
Thud.
Sennai's body hit the ground.