Chapter No.18. Objectivity.

We dropped out of hyperspace and did a short correction burn to put us in an orbital rendezvous with the planet, a trip that would require a few days.

The closer we got to the planet the better Sharon was able to get reliable data on it. We gathered at the command station to hear what she had found so far.

"I'm detecting oxygen in the planet's atmosphere. That's a sign it has life."

"How do you determine that at this distance?" I asked.

"There's a couple of ways. One way is to compare the spectral scan of the star with a scan near the planet during a transit. If the oxygen line is stronger, it means the atmosphere contains it. The other method is to determine if the planet has a chlorophyll peak. If it does, it means there's plant life, and that would produce oxygen."

"That's assuming that alien plant life is like that on Earth," I said.

"That's true, but the laws of chemistry and physics apply everywhere in the universe, or so they say."

"Okay, let's say it does have oxygen in its atmosphere, what are the chances there could be intelligent life?"

"That's a more complicated problem," Bridget said. "It would depend upon how long the planet has been in existence and how stable its orbit around the star is. In order for intelligent life to evolve, it needs time, stability and a warm fuzzy home."

I smiled. "Yeah, that make sense."

"I'm not picking up any radio signals from it," Sharon said. "But that hasn't been a very reliable sign of intelligent life."

I sighed. "Oh well, maybe it's better that there's no intelligent life."

No one refuted my opinion. It wasn't until two days later that we were in a high orbit around the planet.

"This planet has a lot of land, much more than the last planet," Sharon said. "The atmosphere appears to be stable. I'm not detecting a lot of volcanic activity."

"There's a large group of structures on the larger continent near to the ocean shore," Janet said. She displayed it on the main screen.

"How large is that group?" I asked.

"I would estimate it at a couple of hundred kilometers give or take a few."

"Wow! If that's an alien city, it's a metropolis."

"I'm not detecting any motion or activity in that metropolis," Janet said. "There's no signs of smoke, or carbon emissions."

"I hope this isn't another extinct species," I said.

"It could be, but we won't know until we go down there."

"When are we doing that?" Natale asked.

"We'll wait until we get more observations. No use being in a hurry."

Further observations didn't reveal anything new, so we went to the hanger deck the next morning. As before, I carried a laser pistol. The women carried various portable scanning instruments.

The trip down wasn't too bad. We got buffeted a bit, but the winds subsided below ten thousand meters. I flew over the metropolis complex to search for a safe landing spot. The buildings were definitely advanced with skyscrapers with architectural sophistication. Their metallic and glass facades glistened in the sunlight of an alien star.

"This metropolis is unbelievable," I said. "The buildings are amazing. The species that built this was well advanced in construction skills."

"The buildings look to be in good condition," Janet said. "This is definitely not the same situation as in the last case."

Her statement turned out to be prophetic.

I decided to land the shuttle in a large plaza surrounded by many buildings with lots of glass walls, or at least what appeared to be glass. There was no sign of life in any of them. We got into our bio suits and then exited the shuttle. No aliens approached us. In fact, it appeared that no one was home, at least not at first.

As we approached a large opening that appeared to be like an entrance to stairs, we saw figures standing in groups.

"Are those people?" Natale asked. "They aren't moving."

"If they are, their flesh looks like it's rotted," Sharon said, her voice cracking.

Suddenly, we noticed other groups of ugly gray skinned creatures appearing. Their faces were hominid, but with recessed dark eyes and no hair.

"I don't like this," I said. "They're just staring at us, but not moving."

Janet pointed. "There's one lying on the ground."

We walked over to the body. I bent over and moved the head. "Look at this," I said. "This looks like a stinger of some sort sticking out of the back of its neck."

"This is getting creepy," Bridget said in a half whisper.

"What the hell is that?" Sharon said, pointing up at an object moving above us.

"That must be a bird or a bat," I said. "It's mostly wings."

More of the flying creatures appeared, flying around in circles as if stalking prey.

"Ah, this is not right," I said, pulling out my laser pistol. "Let's get back to the shuttle."

I didn't have to urge them further. They took off running. The bat creatures began swooping down on us, prompting me to fire the laser weapon at them. As one fell, more appeared, making me fire several laser shots.

By the time we got back to the shuttle, I had killed enough of the flying creatures to reduce the laser pistol's battery power to the failure stage. I had to replace the battery quickly and commence firing again as the creatures swarmed in much larger groups.

I was last to get in the shuttle and close the door before my second battery failed. At that instant, I recalled the time I found a battery pack on the other planet and it made me realize that the situation that had happened in that case was probably similar to my present situation.

We had to wait on the purification process involving spraying with disinfectants and rinses, followed by intense UV light, to complete before we were able to enter the shuttle proper.

"What the hell were those things?" Natale asked, sounding stressed.

"I don't know, but it appears that these aliens have a serious ecological disaster on their hands. It looks as if these bat creatures can infect by inserting a stinger in their spinal column that turns them into zombies."

"That sounds like a horror movie plot," Sharon said.

"True, but it's the way I see it."

"We can definitely scratch this planet off of our list," Janet said with a satirical smirk.

We all agreed on that.

"So far, the planets we've found have been disasters," Sharon said. "Are we just unlucky or is the universe a death trap?"

"Maybe Earth isn't as bad as we thought," I said. "It demonstrates that life is precious, especially intelligent life. But the universe is dangerous, and nothing can be taken for granted."

No one refuted my opinion.

When we did finally get into the shuttle proper. What we saw made us cringe.