“What about mining?” Jerry asked. “Do you see anything?”
“Not really. No spaceport here, either. Many rocket silos, though, all aboveground, at least the ones we can see. No idea who creates rockets to blow up other planets in their system but doesn’t try to make a spaceship, but we’re about to land and try to meet them. And before anyone says something, of course we’re going to be careful. However, this is the planet that has communications and the weapons, so my assumption is that we’re going to land and be taken to their leader sooner as opposed to later.”
“Red Team, Blue Team has not been approached and sees no sign of life,” Jerry said. “They’re splitting up to search the area.”
“Roger that. I’ll stop our sightseeing commentary.” Noted that my music was still on the Cosmic Thing playlist. Still had no idea what I was supposed to figure out. I’d been close the first time I’d seen the list of songs, but now I had nothing.
We found a spot that seemed safe to land—no volcanic activity, no buildings, no people, no animals, just a lot of red dirt and what could be charitably called scrub plants. This area made the desolate parts of Beta Eight look like amazing places to live. We set down, Wruck verified that we could all breathe here, and we got out.
Happily, the song changed, finally, to something new. “The Worst Day Ever” by Simple Plan. Couldn’t argue that being on this planet was probably going to qualify as the worst day and hoped the song didn’t indicate our failure. Felt fairly confident it didn’t, since I figured Algar knew what I was planning and agreed with it—it was a simple plan, after all.
“No one around,” Buchanan said. “That seems suspicious.”
“Maybe our cloaking worked,” Mahin suggested.
“Never assume things are going our way, Mahin. Trust me on that one. And Malcolm, on Nazez we had rabbits. So I’m expecting anything here.”
“I agree,” Kevin said. “Oh, and Kitty, I want to know what your plan is. The real plan, not whatever you told Jeff and James you were planning on doing.”
“I can’t believe I demanded you be on my team.”
“Uh huh. Spill it.”
“Fine. I expect to be captured, hopefully as soon as possible. This is a big planet and we’re going to need to get to the Head Megalomaniac fast because we don’t have time to sway the hearts and minds of the citizens. Per Lilith, we’re on as fast a timeline here as we were at every other stop.”
“Figures,” Buchanan muttered.
“Why so serious, Malcolm?”
“No reason. Do you want all of us captured?”
“So glad you asked. No, I do not. I want Richard and myself captured.”
“Who else?” Kevin asked.
“No one. Who will come rescue us from wherever we get imprisoned if I let all of you guys get captured?”
“I hate this plan,” Buchanan said, almost cheerfully. “But it’s totally you, so I know you’re not lying. How soon do you want to split up?”
“What do we all think?”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere,” Abigail said. “And I don’t feel anyone other than us.” She cocked her head. “But I feel angry.” She bent down and picked up some of the earth. “Interesting. The dirt makes me angry. I think this planet may be poisoned in some way.”
“Perhaps due to all the volcanic activity?” White suggested.
“Maybe.” Abigail didn’t sound convinced. “I’ll monitor along the way.”
“So we go together for at least a little ways,” Wruck said as he closed the shuttle doors and we headed off.
“Everyone remember where we parked.” Missed Tim, but Chuckie laughed at this, so all remained okay in my world.
“Let’s hope we can get back to it, all of us,” Siler said.
“And those who aren’t playing the roles of sheep to slaughter should plan to remain close enough to grab each other and run,” White added.
We’d landed on a hill with a flat top that was surrounded by much larger hills with no signs of anyone on them, so we had to walk down toward what seemed like a lot of nothing on a slight incline. Saw no real roads, certainly no paving, no buildings, no fences. It was weird—the world was advanced enough if they were firing missiles, but they showed no real signs of advanced civilization otherwise.
We walked for a good fifteen minutes—during which time Algar went back to the Cosmic Thing playlist, possibly because he now hated me—and saw pretty much nothing other than rolling red hills of dirt.
Finally, my music changed again, which was again a welcome relief. Not the song choice, though, since it was “Danger” by Third Eye Blind. “Everyone get ready, just in case,” I said softly as I looked around to see what had sparked this song.
White was looking in the opposite direction than I was. “I believe that I see what look like farm animals in the distance.”
We all turned to check it out. Sure enough, if sheep could be orange, there were orange sheep. “Wow, Mister White, that sheep to slaughter reference was spot on. Should we investigate?”
“Sure, we can be the aliens that approach a farmer on his isolated farm,” Chuckie said.
“So, you’re saying that those theories are sound?”
“We parked where there was space to land and leave our shuttle in part because no one was around. I think if you’re doing an exploratory mission, you don’t land in New York City.”
“You know we’ve been on Earth longer than you’ve been alive, Charles,” White said.
“I do. I also know that others came by, and I’m not even talking about John’s people or the Z’porrah.”
“Let’s cut the chatter,” Kevin said. “Just in case.”
“I don’t see anything other than sheep,” Len said. “Why are you worried?”
Couldn’t say the real reason I’d mentioned danger. But I had a reason that worked. “Because it’s weird that no one’s come to meet us.”
“We didn’t hail,” Kyle said.
“Plus, we were camouflaged,” Abigail added.
“And Lilith said they were playing possum. Speaking of which, are those giant opossums in the field with the sheep? Giant reddish opossums?” Which could be a great name for a band. Though Giant Orange Opossums had a better ring.
“Sure looks like it,” Kevin said. “Though this is still chatter, in case you all weren’t sure.”
“Hilarious.” The animals weren’t doing much, just standing or lying there. All their backs were to us, so we couldn’t see any faces. “Think they’re dead? Maybe something killed off the inhabitants and the rockets are launching automatically?”
“I give up,” Kevin said with a sigh. “Please, talk away.”
“You know this is how she rolls,” Len said.
“All the time,” Kyle added.
“Why do we need to be stealth right now?” I asked.
Right on cue, we found out why.
CHAPTER 98
THE SHEEP AND OPOSSUMS all stood up on their hind legs and turned around. To a one they were holding weapons that looked like some kind of gun, only a gun made for those without opposable thumbs.