Andromeda: The Encounter: Hard Science Fiction by Brandon Q. Morris

Author:Brandon Q. Morris [Morris, Brandon Q.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hard-SF.com
Published: 2022-03-28T16:00:00+00:00

From a distance, Hannibal could see that the shaft was not empty. At first it seemed as if there were a blue light that kept lighting up at the end of the passage. When they were still about twenty meters away, Douglas refused to go any further.

“We’ve got to turn back anyway,” he said. “I don't want to get too close to those things.”

“Hey, old man. If they control you remotely, you might have as much energy as the kid,” Hannibal said.

“That’s not funny,” Douglas said.

“Come on.”

“I'll wait here. You two go ahead and take a look at these things.”

“Suit yourself.”

Hannibal followed Seventeen, who was already standing right outside the shaft. The tube, which led straight up and down, was a lot narrower than the passage they were in. So they could simply walk around the hole in the ground and keep following the passage. But Hannibal had no intention of doing this. They'd been looking for a way to the surface for so long, and he wasn’t going to let a few light blips stop him.

Especially since they showed zero interest in the boy who was watching them curiously from the edge of the shaft. Seventeen really was something. One of these things had been chasing him in the body of an old robot, but he didn’t show any fear. Yet he was only six or seven years old. Did he just lack the imagination to think of what these things could possibly do to him? Douglas, on the other hand, seemed to have too much of an imagination.

Hannibal stood next to the boy and held on to the ladder for a moment, but then noticed that this wasn’t necessary provided he didn't lean too far forward. The shaft descended far below into the depths. It went so far that even with the light coming from the apparitions, there was no bottom to be seen.

“Wouldn't you rather hold on?” asked Hannibal.

“I don't need to. As long as my center of gravity is above my floor space, I can't tip over,” said Seventeen.

That was the kind of answer Hannibal might have given. But he was still worried about the boy. If he were to get scared, he might accidentally lean over farther than was good for him.

“I'd still rather you hold on,” he said, himself reaching for the ladder.

Maybe acting as an example would help.

“As you like,” said Seventeen.

They stood next to each other at the edge of the shaft. It could have been an idyllic scene – father and son watching a rare natural wonder. Someday he wanted to have a son with Marina, or even a daughter, and he wouldn’t mind if their child was like Seventeen. But the blue tops were not a wonder of nature. At least not one that his mind could understand. Natural wonders didn’t crawl into old robots and use them to chase people.

Or did they? There was ball lightning that responded to gravity. Had their planet encountered a similar phenomenon? Those whirling things certainly didn’t seem intent on making contact.

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