《Arcadia》


 Prologue

    -: Prologue :-


    Genesis 1:26 - 1:31. 1:26


    let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.


    <hr>


    It was not truly conscious, at least not in the way most other conscious beings would define it, its awareness not likely to hit the markers set for classic sentience, but it did think in its own way. Thoughts pulsing through uncounted entwining strands of neural activity stretched out to encompass everything within its domain. Like an flower a thought blooms, elegant yet supremely complex, it focuses, guiding, balancing. Its will exerting energy like a shoreside tide, its attention waning and waxing. In a trice it had experienced innumerable instances of these thoughts, rarely directly connected yet all following the same purpose. Its vast omnipresent senses feeding a constant stream of impressions, electromagnetic representations of experiences blending into a cacophony of intertwining events. With little concept of time, like a weaver threading moments into an indefinitely growing tapestry, stretching back into infinity. It is not good, nor is it evil. To apply concepts of morality to it would be an exercise in futility. It simply is.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    Its thoughts echo on, reverberating through it''s...


    PAIN...


    BURNING...


    An acrid stench full of wrongness and sharp angles.


    Something is wrong. Something is here.

 Chapter 1

    -: Chapter1 :-


    Matthew 6:26-30


    "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them"


    <hr>


    Joshua Dryden looked up from his personal display gram (PDG) which mirrored one of the five animals grazing a dozen meters away from him. The alien creature was a herbivore, the same as every other animal on this planet he had observed thus far, excluding the insects. The beast was the largest of a small family group, it was a heavy set six-limbed oddity with four trunk like legs and two spindly arms protruding from its chest, which routinely quested the ground for the spongy moss, this worlds equivalent to grass, before methodically feeding into their horizontal maws to happily grind.


    Sighing discontentedly he wondered again if this had indeed been the right choice, life was comfortable back on Spero... the University in United Kingdoms territory of the second colony Humanity had founded had been comfortable if not terribly fulfilling, he was a xenobiologist Ph.D. with something to prove. To get anywhere in academia one had to have experience and something wonderfully new to bring to the table, that was getting harder and harder to do. The first life form had been discovered over a thousand years ago, some bacteria in water plumes of Jupiters smallest moon - Enceladus. The first multicellular organism to be discovered also coincided with Humanities first contact with intelligent life - The V''vor. The V''vor were creatures who were just beginning to probe their own solar system, their pacifistic approach to Humanities arrival despite their inter warring nature was perhaps not surprising, given Humanity had arrived unannounced with a fleet of warships. Since that point, only one other species of Intelligent life had been found - The Kal, but the Russians had primacy over them, and with Humanity having colonised over one thousand systems while spreading healthily over the Galaxy all life fit a standard shape: Life was Carbon, always. It breathed Hydrogen, Oxygen or some mix of that with one other element. In fact other than a few small details, most life in the Galaxy followed the same standard template of that of earth. Nothing new of significance had actually been found in a long time.


    This is what Joshua wanted to find.


    Joshua had so far visited over a dozen recently established colonies studying the local fauna, documenting, cataloguing and briefly analysing their behaviours. Routine University work. He had jumped at the chance to study an entire ecosystem that seemed to exist without the presence of carnivores, no natural predators to keep the plant eaters population in check.


    His PDG''s holographic display chirped and text appeared overlaying the virtual beast.


    "Call from - Paul Wake"


    Sighing again, he motioned to the display to accept the call.


    "I know Paul" Josh said preemptively


    "My ass you do" came the curt reply "If you knew the bloody rules, you wouldn''t have set off-"


    "-Without at least two to a party" Joshua quickly interrupted "I know the rules, but for God''s sake man, this planet has no carnivores! None of the animals have shown the slightest bit of aggression to us, or anything else for that matter".


    Paul Wake was an old policing man, the compulsory representative from the United Interstellar Kingdoms Colonial Policing Force or the CPF. He didn''t want to be here and the colonists mirrored that sentiment.


    "Just get your self back to camp"


    The vindication had drained from his voice and Joshua felt a flicker of guilt, the last thing the old boy needed was more grief, but the rules where ridiculous. It had been a full month since the Colonial class ship - Icarus had landed, so far the worst of the injuries had been a rolled ankle.


    Looking back to the group of hexapods Joshua jotted down a few final notes before storing his PDG away in his coat pocket. He would write up his report when he got back to camp, despite his routine misgivings the planet was interesting. Just two months ago Joshua had been sitting in the universities cafe indulging in an ancient fiction through the eyes of the ever stoic Cadman Wayland when his reverie had been rudely shattered by the chirping of his PDG.


    ''Josh,


    The Lanstons are funding a new colony to PN-40A7823F to get their youngest and most regrettable son out of the way, initial scans show the standard patterns for complex biological life but some of the markers are a little askew. Mind taking a look at them?


    Let me know what you think.


    Anne C. Cumberbatch, MBA


    Student, Ph.D. in Xenobiology


    Churchill University - Spero''


    Anne was right to be confused, the privately funded Planetary Colonial Suitability report had shown a world containing limited biodiversity, but with fairly evolutionary advanced fauna, it''s self an unusual combination, without the presence of natural predators. The picture it painted was tantalising, new and deliciously odd. Of course, the report could off been botched, it wouldn''t have been the first time, years ago a lazy report had lead to a French colony being totally destroyed by swarms of ground burrowing insects, nasty business. So here he was, in the midday sun of a middle-aged unremarkable star looking at oversized, lethargic, six-legged moss-cows while being chided by an old sheriff.


    Sighing for the third time, Joshua turned his back from the grazing Hexapods to his hover-bike. Arcadia had earned its appellation, the likeable but inane young Adam Lanston had with the name at least, not shown his utter incompetence. The land was bursting with life in every-which-way you looked, lightly forested glades blanketed most of the continent in which they had founded the colony. The trees which made up the forest reached up to the heavens with fruit bearing leathery fronds, their trunks bare of any branches were smooth and offered no purchase to the fruit above. This didn''t bother the local creatures for when the fruit was ripe the tree would open like a flowering bud, offering their bounty for any and all creatures. Not an unusual reproductive system the fruit contained acidic indigestible seeds that would be consumed by various creatures before being dumped out in a pile of fresh fertiliser.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.Deeply azure, the fruits were the size of a clenched fist containing powdery but pleasantly sweet flesh. The colonists had dubbed them dry apples, Humans had a habit of naming things from the familiar.


    Chuckling inwards Joshua reflected on his recent naming of the hexapods, moss-cows, he was no better for naming.


    The hover-bike skimmed over the trees at a decent pace, it could go faster but Joshua was in no hurry, Arcadia was in no hurry to release its secrets after all.


    Arcadia''s sole sun hanging heavy in the afternoon sky burned a dark orange. Due to the thick atmosphere, the land was almost perpetually painted in oranges through the morning to midday and reds come nightfall.


    The colony came abruptly into view as the hover-bike sailed over the bluff that it was situated on. Icarus sat ceremoniously directly in the centre, despite being in the process of being stripped by small automated construction robots the vessel was still incredible to behold. It had shuttled all three hundred colonists from New Scotland out into interplanetary space before folding through space-time to end up about three hundred million kilometres away from Arcadia, Joshua tried not to dwell on the philosophical implications of being in a different universe each time he traveled on an FTL enabled ship. The physicists ensured that the differences between parallel universes were infinitesimally small, a single photon six millennia ago in its quantum randomness took a different path. It was theorised that no Human could feasibly engage in FTL travel enough times to actually notice a tangible difference, but the implication that Joshua was not only on an alien planet but an alien universe as well, remained always in the back of his mind.


    The rest of the colony sprouted around the ship, built using the metals from its hull and the plastics in its interior, Icarus would eventually boil down to nothing. Perhaps they would erect a monument to honour the ship that brought them through the vastness of the cosmos, but for now, it was a resource. sprawling out from the colony was great fields of grains, root, and animal pens, all tended to by automatic robots with a scattering of people to overlook. Nearly all menial tasks were now conducted by AI, Humans could dip in and out of these tasks at their whimsy. Not really the gritty-frontier life that was advertised for these types of ventures, but in comparison to the post-scarcity worlds they originated perhaps it was gritty.


    Joshua brought his hover-bike down outside his research station and home, while not huge it was comfortable enough and had good coffee to keep him satiated. The building was built out the dull grey plasta-steel of Icarus''s hull, functional but not anything to look at, he had tried some presumption of decor with a small pot of red flowers from Spero which rustled as he approached. The flowers could detect movement through its petals that acted as primitive eyes, it was not in the slightest bit intelligent but reacted to visual stimuli which made them quite popular.


    Inside Joshua settled into his workstation with a steaming cup of back coffee. His PDG connecting to his terminal and external data bank, a large holographic display grew from him table displaying the Hexapod he had been previously studying, swiping it away with a practiced swipe he inspected his inbox - Empty.


    He hadn''t expected a reply from Spero yet, it had only been a week since his last report and the process of sending mail was lengthy. First, the satellite in geostationary orbit would retrieve his mail, dispatch one of three FTL drones in its arsenal which would travel for four days to get far enough away from Arcadia''s gravitational well so it could perform a fold. Then it would pop into Spero''s interstellar space, ping its message to the space station before folding back to Arcadia. Spero''s space station, of course, could send a message nearly instantly, drones waited in specially shielded harbors in interstellar space which routinely fold in and out of space-time to pop into a system, dump their contents through the ether to then fold back. Arcadia would have one eventually, but they where devilishly expensive.


    The news widget he had on the display was mostly politics as usual. He clicked a clip at random and a tall gaunt man with close-cropped hair wearing a robe grew from the table


    "OOORRRDDDDAAAAAA, OOOORRRRDAAAA... could the honourable right member from New Oxford please retain their seat, thank you." The man''s voice an almost characature of the old English accent boomed from the sound system. "The points of discussion today are as follows: Section 1: A Increased funding on Interstellar Polic-"


    Joshua closed the clip shaking his head, the usual drivel. He pulled the Hexapod back into focus and settled into a night of reporting.


    Joshua Awoke the next morning, bleary-eyed to the sounds of the humming-birds, the pure white birds native to Arcadia announced the rise of the sun in a ceremonious manner, the females hoo''ed and the males buzzed in return. A constant to and fro each morning reestablishing mating pairs and social order. Joshua dressed and poured himself a mug of black coffee before checking his PDG, still nothing, other than a notification from Adam Lanston calling for another town hall. Joshua wondered what this one would be about... perhaps his newest idea would be to teach the six armed apes, they had spotted in the roaming-brambles the week previous, to dance. Shaking his head he muttered, "I''m, being unfair, just need... some coffee". He sighed in deep satisfaction after taking a long draught of the hot bitter fluid, "Better".


    The hall was crowded, which was to be expected. The meetings were a time for debate and arguing, two activities these colonists seemed to love. The air, stuffy from the concentration bodies, hummed with conversation between people as they waited impatiently for the meetings head, Adam.


    "Josh!" A young lad pushed himself through the crowd, at fourteen David Lawson was tall and broad but lacked the weight maturity lent, "Where were you yesterday? I looked for you, dad wouldn''t let me use his PDG to message you either"


    "I was out hunting the jabberwocky" Joshua said teasingly as the lad approached.


    Davids face creased in confusion "The jabber what?"


    From the podium at the apex of the hall, Adam had finally finished messing with a few sheets of paper and taped the microphone with blunt fingers.


    THUM THUM THUM


    "oh... ah sorry, uh can everyone hear me?"


    Adam was slightly rounder and louder than he need be but was still affable in his own right. Unfortunately, his virtues ended around there, the man was idealistic to a fault and didn''t have the wit to pull it off.


    "I have err... let me see..." more paper shuffling "a list of things I want to go over".


    This would go one of two ways.


    "Firstly I would like to propose that we stop farming the land"


    That answered that question Joshua thought, as a collective groan echoed through the hall.

 Chapter 2

    -: Chapter 2 :-


    Proverbs 16:18


    "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall"


    <hr>


    Adam pulled at his thinning hair, that didn''t go as well as he had hoped. For some reason last nights epiphany hadn''t translated well to the colonists, they had to see that the planet already provided everything they needed. The dry-apple trees seemed to have an unlimited supply and there where tens of thousands of them across the northern glades. The spongy moss was more than abundant and tasted actually quite nice if you spent the time adding the right seasoning. There was absolutely no need to cultivate the land for their own crops. It was frustrating, they had been given the chance to go about colonisation in a different way and yet here they were... sowing the land with hardy grains and changing the mineral content in the soil.


    Adam had left his multimillion-pound penthouse on New Scotland to leave all the greed of his family behind, he wanted to make a difference. Yet even here people seemed to brush off his ideas as fanciful or not practical, it was disheartening. A pair of arms wrapped their way around his waist, Beth''s warmth pressing against his back.


    "Don''t worry sweet, I''m sure they will listen after time."


    "I hope you''re right, but with men like John Hunt I don''t see how..."


    Beth said nothing, instead she just squeezed him tighter, she was better than he deserved.


    ********


    "He is bloody insane" Joshua muttered over his third coffee of the day while reclining into his office chair.


    David didn''t reply, the lad always went quiet when people argued or talked down about someone else.


    Feeling awkward Joshua turned the conversation onto other things, "How have you been getting on with the Humming-birds"? The lad''s eyes lit up at the mention of them. David had shown intense interest in Joshua''s line of work and insisted that he help.


    "Josh they''re so weird! I think... I''m not sure." The boy was obviously perturbed "I was watching one, it looked fit and fine one moment it landed on a dry-apple tree and just, Josh it just died!"


    "Huh, you don''t say," Joshua said distractedly as his PDG lit up. An alert, his analysis of the moss-cows feeding pattern had been completed "Maybe it was just its time lad, I''ve run analytics on the trees and their fruit, they always come out clean."


    The boy nodded slowly.


    "The real mystery here is how do we have a contained system, with no natural predators not burn itself out with rampant growth" Joshua eyed the young lad "We are pioneers in an alien land, the creatures here aren''t the same as on NewScotland and their life cycles reflect that, our definition of old may not hold true here."


    His faced creased in deep thought, David asked: "Maybe they just know when they should stop breeding?"


    "Perhaps lad, we won''t know without further observation..." pausing Joshua took note of the time, 13:05 the planets day cycle was shorter than the earth standard at 22 hours. "You should be getting back to your mother lad, she will be wondering where you have gotten to"


    Groaning with disagreement David reluctantly fetched his coat from the shoulder of Joshua''s sofa.


    "Come back tomorrow David, we can go through some of your notes in detail then, ok?" before he reached the front door.


    A broad smile split his face "I would like that, cya tomorrow".


    Turning back to his PDA''s display, Joshua launched the feeding pattern analysis "Let''s see what we have then".


    Several hours later three striking knocks came from his front door, the signature rap of the Sherif. While not unusual, the Sherif never visited without a reason and they were rarely enjoyable. The Sherif was a short, stocky man with a heavy mustache streaked with lines of silver, though age lines ran deep furrows through his face, his eyes were sharp.


    "Joshua"


    "Paul" a moment of silence as the two men regarded each other, stepping back and tilting his head towards his lounge "Coffee?"


    The Sheriff nodded.


    "Quite when were you planning on telling me about your little escapade then Doctor?" The sheriff''s eyes locked on Joshua with intent "I had to find out from young David Lawson that you couldn''t be found" after three months Joshua still wasn''t used to the intensity in the man''s eyes, "If anything goes wrong, it''s my head, do you understand that? I don''t expect at the university you had many rules that actually mattered."


    Joshua refrained from explaining that he had been on dozens of worlds before, many teeming with strange predatory life and he knew what he was doing, "Look, I''ll make sure to inform you if I go out again okay? You can arrange a chaperone for me and all will be good." The sheriff''s eyes narrowed.


    Joshua brought in two steaming cups of coffee, setting one down in front of the Sherif who promptly brought out a small whiskey flask to fortify the hot drink. The golden fluid carefully measured, blended with the coffee, the sweet warm esters of whiskey permeated the lounge. The sheriff took a sip, some tension that Joshua hadn''t noticed before thawed from the old man.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "David Lawson idolises you," the Sherif said eyeing Joshua over the rim of his mug, "With Mary for a mother I don''t envy the mantle of his admiration Doctor." There was a slight smile in the man''s eyes. David was Mary Lawson''s only son and she was fiercely protective over him, an image of an old lioness hunched over her sole cub flickered into his mind.


    Joshua''s body heaved in a half laugh, as one of the ship''s nurses she had a reputation for the bluntness of her diction, garnering healthy respect from the colonists. "I''m keeping him busy with some smaller tasks, to keep his mind active" and thoroughly out of harm''s way he thought to himself.


    "See that you do, see that you do", taking a deep draught of his drink the Sherif sighed in satisfaction. "There has been talk of a hunt, some of the lads from machining fancy themselves the next Saxon Pope. They have been eyeing up the Bramble apes in the thorn plains to the south, reckon they would be good game they say." The bramble apes were six armed tailless sudo-primates, initial satellite scans had them weighing anywhere between 200kg-400kg. It wasn''t surprising, the younger men of the colony had been itching to find something worthwhile to hunt. The moss-cows were too slow and lethargic, the hummingbirds to small, the burrowers were too timid and the giant land worms moved at a sedated pace. Still, it irked Joshua, he hadn''t a chance to properly study the creatures in depth yet.


    ''I suppose I should go along, ensure they don''t do anything too stupid, plus I guess a body would be useful for analysis, who is heading the party?"


    "Lola Hunt''s scallywag, John"


    "Right, well I''ll drop him a message to let him know I''ll be accompanying them on their soiree, will you be attending Sherif?" Joshua knew full well that Paul would be there, he was bored witless with the mundane colonial life and longed for a bit of action.


    "I''ll be there to ensure the louts don''t shoot their shoes off, God knows they need the guidance".


    "On foot or by Skimmer?" Joshua asked.


    "Skimmer, the party is to meet at the southernmost perimeter tower at 08:00 tomorrow morning, bring your choice of rifle" downing the last of his drink and setting it down on the table in front of him, the Sheriff leaned forward before standing "Good Afternoon Doctor, I''ll see you bright and early" with a final nod the Sherif made his leave.


    My choice of rifle eh? Joshua thought to himself, it had been a while since he had spent any time aiming down a sight. He brought up what weapons were available to the colonists on his PDG, he had a few options, a medium range energy rifle or several of the traditional kinetic rifles. The first was more accurate than the traditional kinetic weapons, with focused beams of ultra energised light, they took an awful lot of power to use and thus had less fire time. There was also the issue that if you missed, the beam would continue on until it traveled through enough of the atmosphere to disperse it, or it hit something solid enough to absorb the radiation. Joshua found himself drawn back to the old kinetic weaponry. Settling on something a bit more traditional, a K-30, kinetic hunting rifles had barely changed in the few thousand years since they had first been invented. Cheap and easy to mass produce, while being extremely effective at what they sought to, making them a staple for any new settlement. Joshua found himself looking forward to the prospect of the hunt, its just to keep the lads out of trouble and to learn more about the bramble apes he reasoned with himself.


    The morning air of Arcadia was bracing as Joshua and ten others sped over the roaming bramble fields south of the colony, the sun was burning low in the sky casting a pale orange light over the land. Around him the lads hooted and hollered, winding themselves up for the hunt ahead. Joshua felt the stirring of long-buried instincts deep within himself, the primal surge of adrenalin and endorphins coursing through his blood. Giving a loud "whoop" Joshua allowed himself to be carried away by the atmosphere, even the old Sherif was grinning.


    Below them the brambles rushed by, many of them containing small family groups of the bramble apes, any would have done fine for the hunt but the lads from machining wanted to make a trip of it. Joshua tapped his PDG creating a voice channel above the roar of the wind between him and the Sheriff, "how far do you think John is going to take us out?"


    "There is unusually thick bramble patch a few miles from here, it spans just over a kilometer, the lad probably assumes the bigger the bramble the bigger the ape."


    There was some logic to that Joshua admitted to himself, the apes were matriarchal by nature with family sizes from as little as a single mated pair to huge family groups. The record for the most apes to a roaming bramble had been 50, with an absolute monster of a female at the head. "That''s not a bad bet Sherif, though I question the wisdom of venturing into a bramble that large."


    "Agreed, if it looks too dangerous when we get there I will put a stop to any foolhardy notions. There is plenty of game all over these plains, no need for gallivanting."


    "I''m not sure how John will take that".


    "I don''t care how he takes it, it may be his party but I have authority over any use of firearms on this planet."


    The Sherif had made it quite clear when the colonists first landed, he wouldn''t stand for any foolishness, it looked as though that conviction remained just as firm.


    "You must be a hoot at parties"


    "I''m not here to have a hoot Joshua, I''m here to ensure no one gets hurt"


    "Be that as it may my good man, I think the lads have other ideas!"


    The Sherif cut the communication link hunkering down, the grin wiped from his face. I really need to stop upsetting the man Joshua mused.


    The sight took Joshua''s breath away, the natural construct was well over ten meters in height and extremely dense. The Roaming-Bramble bushes that they had flown over were fractions of the size and no way near as dense, their leathery yellow flowers drowned in a sea of dark green.


    "Well, that doesn''t look inviting"


    "Not scared are we Josh?"


    "I wasn''t scared when a two-ton Herendanti was charging at me on the plains of Isaac, this is child''s play John" I wasn''t scared, I was absolutely terrified but he didn''t need to know that. The truth be told the Bramble was intimidating, the silence of the place was deafening, the darkness that slinked between the vines grasped, pulling his consciousness forward.


    "Ha! You hear that boys? The Doctor''s hard as nails! I say we make a wager, whoever bags the first ape buys the rounds back at the colony, eh?"


    Tearing his eyes away from the dense brush, a smile played across his face. "I hope you''re good for that, I hear the Sherif can put them away"


    The Sherif looked grimmer than usual if that was possible. Leaning against his Skimmer the grizzled man was checking over his rifle, he glanced up at his mention.


    "I prefer to drink in my own company, but if you''re paying"


    His eyes kept darting back towards the brush, looks like he feels it as well Joshua thought. Usually, the Roaming-Brambles were full of creaks, scraping and rustling as the vines slowly moved forward gripping and tearing at the ground as they pulled themselves across the plains. The Apes that lived within them, usually chirping and swinging from the vines were silent now, the whole construct was still.


    John turned to some of the other lads shouting "Tommy, Rich, stop pissin'' about, we''ve got about half the day left and I want to set up camp before the suns gone!" He went about shouting orders and joking, all the while the silent pressure of the brambles grew.

 Chapter 3

    -: Chapter 3 :-


    1 Corinthians 12:4-26


    "For in fact the body is not one member but many."


    <hr>


    The floor of the bramble bush was blanked in brittle moss, the usual sponginess was gone and the deep green a now sickly pale beige. The air was strangely dry and odourless the moss which crumbled underfoot puffing up clouds of dust which scratched the back of the throat. The brambles'' vines reached all around the small party, thick trunks giving off thousands of smaller limbs. Only small pathways were easily traversable through the brambles, Joshua had first thought they could be pathways made by some of the native creatures, but the lack of spoor''s quickly removed that idea from his mind. There had been dozens of them winding every which way, John had chosen at random and set off. The brush was completely silent, save for the heavy footsteps of the men pushing through it.


    "I don''t know how the bloody hell we are supposed to see in this, let alone shoot anything! This was a crap idea John." One of the older lads said, Joshua had never really cared to remember his name.


    "Holy shit Si, stop whining."


    "I''m not whining! I''m just pointing out the obvious mate... there ain''t nothing here!"


    "You''re fucking classic aren''t yah? Ten minutes in and you wanna quit, no wonder you can''t hold a woman down."


    Low blow Joshua thought to himself, though Simon wasn''t wrong. Before entering the brush he had speculated that perhaps when the bramble-bushes had grown to a certain size they stopped moving. That speculation didn''t explain the porcelain like moss underneath his foot, each step puncturing craters into the otherwise pristine grey moss blanket. He took out a small plastic bag from his jacket and scooped up some of the crumbled Moss, he would run some analysis through it later. Shrugging his rifle he readjusted the straps and looked around, weird place.


    The morning light sent streamers sporadically through the Bramble canopy overhead, despite the peaceful light the Brambles silence pressed on the party. Simons outburst was the first word spoken since the initial good-humoured banter died off, from when they had first entered.


    There are no natural predators Joshua reminded himself, his nerves feeling a little on edge. Joshua closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try and settle his nerves, but instead got a lung full of dried-moss dust kicked up by the Sheriff in front. His whole body heaved a fit of violent coughing, his eyes watering he looked up to the see the impartial face of the sheriff looking down at him.


    "Are you quite done, Doctor Dryden?"


    "I''m-", more coughing, "fine, just need to-" Joshua unhooked a canteen from his belt and took a deep swig before spluttering it up. "That was... absolutely awful".


    "What''s going on back here?" John pushed his way through the line of men.


    "I''m fine, just breathed in some moss... dust."


    "Mr. Hunt", The Sheriff turned his gaze onto the tall lad, "Perhaps you should consider turning back, we have yet to catch sight of any creature big or small. Very unusual for this world, wouldn''t you say?"


    "Eh, we ain''t far in yet, there''s got to be something in here, the bloody thing is huge and all the other Brambles has ''em." John turned to Joshua "You good mate?"


    "Never better," Joshua said with a rasp.


    "Well, let''s keep on then!" John slapped Joshua on the back which prompted more coughing before pushing his way back to the front.


    What an asshole.


    They marched on through the ever silent Brambles. Joshua began noticing a pattern in the vegetation around them, where the Brambles grew thick so did the Moss. The Moss formed embankments around long mounds of Brambles which coiled around themselves in a tight lattice, akin to the old-earth Ivy that strangled great trees. Surrounding these tumps the bush gave way slightly, the area opening up.


    It was near several of these tumps that John called a halt to the party, they had been walking for well over half an hour and had seen no sign of the Bramble apes they hunted.


    "I told you, ain''t nothin'' here," Simon said loudly.


    John turned on him, spilling insults.


    Joshua unslung his rifle, his shoulders were unused to carrying the heavy firearm and had grown sore. He leaned the rifle against a nearby vine that had dark green skin dotted with tiny yellow spots. Working his shoulder he caught the eye of the Sheriff who walked over to him.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "What do you think?" He had to raise his voice slightly, so he could be heard over the din from the two arguing men.


    "I''m not sure Doctor, it is odd that a planet so fruitful would have dry spots like this."


    "Perhaps this is just what happens after a while. The Brambles grow old and stop moving, the apes move out and the moss dies." Joshua didn''t quite believe it, but what else was there?


    "Hmm," the frown cast shadows over his eyes, "I think its time to abandon this hunt, you can return at a later date. With at least two others, not including David Lawson".


    Those damn eyes.


    "DON''T FUCKING TOUCH ME, ALRIGHT", the sounds of the row becoming heated pierced their conversation.


    "WHAT YAH GUNN-" John''s retort was cut short as the stocky man launched himself, fist flailing, towards him. The men went down in a cloud of dust as they landed heavily against one of the moss embarkments. In an instant the two were pulled apart, each man spluttering and coughing, by their peers.


    Joshua frowned as the beige dust settled, the dried moss had slewed off the embarkment to fill where they had landed, revealing a section of pure white.


    odd.


    The Sheriff strode up to the two scuffed men, back straight as an arrow. "I was wrong to allow you the privilege of a party Mr. Hunt." His voice was cold iron, reaching down he picked up the fallen rifles. "I don''t expect a word from either of you".


    Ignoring them Joshua approached the tump. What in the world is that? It was completely unblemished, hesitating for just a moment Joshua reached out. Smooth, cold and hard. Brushing Moss away he unveiled more. The Sheriff had ceased his lecture, voice dropping away. Joshua stood dumbfounded, his mind not understanding the stimuli from his hands'' and eyes''. In front of the small party of men, was a wall of pure white with a single carving etched into its smooth surface.


    <hr>


    "It isn''t V''vorian script and from what we know of the Kal it doesn''t match their glyphs either," Adam mumbled under his breath.


    The Sheriff had frog marched the entire party into Adams office upon returning to the Colony, confiscating all of their PDG''s while In the Bramble. They were effectively under information quarantine until further notice. "Right, well, I''d better inform... someone". Adam scratched the side of his head, "I think, Minister Stone and the Prime minister would be the correct channel... Paul, get IT in here, we can''t very well take everyone''s PDG''s can we?"


    New life, new intelligent life, I''ll be famous! Just wait until I tell Anne about this one! Joshua could hardly contain himself, "Mr. Lanston, this is an incredible discovery, let me send news of it to the university!"


    "I''m sorry Doctor Dryden but I must inform the government first, we have no idea how old those structures are or if they are dangerous. Whoever built those structures were I assume, nonnative creatures of sentience. My first concern is for this colony, you may lead investigations after we go through the proper channels". There was no excitement in his voice, in fact, it sounded almost resigned!


    Such a strange man Joshua mused to himself, they had just made the discovery of a lifetime and he was glum of all things. insane.


    "So uh, what do we do now?" Asked John, his right eye was jammed shut, swelling puffing the skin.


    "You won''t need to do anything, Mr.Hunt, you will all stay here until I get IT to block outgoing communications from all but a select few PDGs, then you may go home."


    Joshua frowned, I wonder what happened, for them just up and leave. It was pointless to dwell on that, they could have left for any number of reasons... war, famine, disease. He would have to set up a research team, perhaps request funding and personnel from the university. A dull headache had slowly started to set into the back of his mind, he hadn''t had his afternoon coffee yet, symptoms of my caffeine addiction creeping in, Anne would laugh at that. Behind him, one of the lads from the hunt coughed chestily.


    <hr>


    "Aliens Josh!" David''s excitement was palpable, the lad was practically quivering with eager energy. "What are you going to call them? Where do you think they went? Do you think they will come back?"


    "Whoa. Slow down, lad. The Gardeners for now and as for the other two, no idea! Though I highly doubt they were here recently."


    "Why The Gardeners? Why not something cool like..." David''s mouth twisted "The Kra...shnesan".


    Laughing Joshua said "Because the poet in me couldn''t resist it" He had hardly been back an hour before David had come knocking at his door, begging to be told all about the hunt and if he got one. Joshua figured the whole colony would find out sooner or later so may as well tell the lad.


    David was as animated as Joshua felt, a real discovery that would make its way to the galactic media. This would make his career. "Its only a place holder name anyway, once we can get a good look at what has been left behind we might be able to to get a better picture of them and what happened!"


    "Can I see it again?"


    "Sure." In front of them, the pure white wall with the carving appeared. The hieroglyph was shaped like a Latin S but continued down to where the glyph started.


    "whoah, what do you think it means?"


    "Honestly, it could be anything... for all, we know it could be a symbol for, watch your step."


    Two sharp knocks sounded, the door opening before Joshua could call welcome. Mary Lawson stepped through, she was a small woman, but fierce.


    "David get your coat, your father is waiting. I need to get dinner on. I won''t have us eating late". She turned and stared at Joshua who was still rising from his chair. "You missed your checkup."


    "Uhh, I-"


    "I assume you think you know best, typical men."


    "No, Mrs. Laws-


    "Well I won''t be having it, if you are to tutoring David you need to make sure you are healthy. Have your headaches receded?"


    "They are just from the caff-"


    "See me tomorrow morning I have a slot free, David come now, don''t dawdle"


    "Bye Josh," David said abashedly as he was ushered out.


    Mary shot Joshua a final look before leaving the room, her voice softened, "Please don''t miss this one Joshua".


    Blimey. Joshua stood just out of his seat dumfounded, the woman was like a hurricane... a force of nature.


    Ding.


    A notification popped up on the display. Email - Anne C. Huh, so we could still receive information. He thought with a smile as he settled in to read her response.

 Chapter 4

    -: Chapter 4 :-


    Acts 20:28


    Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock


    <hr>


    ¡°The last thing I want is the damn military crawling all over Arcadia Beth, you know that. But what else can I do?¡± Things were going from bad to worse for Adam, a week had passed since the hunting party had returned with their news. A Victoria class battleship - Ilex had appeared in orbit in the middle of the night and was fast approaching Arcadia¡¯s orbit. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m just frustrated, Ted Andrews from Hydroponics is complaining about root-weeds in the farms, Mary Lawson is getting at me about restocking the medical supplies and this whole alien thing is getting to me.¡±


    ¡°I know love, I¡¯m sure they will keep to themselves. They will be far more interested in the buildings than interfering with what you are trying to do here.¡±


    ¡°You say that, but I¡¯ve heard what bored Marines can be like, I don¡¯t want them causing trouble for our people!¡±


    Beth moved over to where Adam was slumped and placed her hand on his, ¡°they are still a few days off, you should contact whoever is in charge of that ship and set some ground rules.¡± She smiled happily to her self and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. ¡°I¡¯m sure they will see reason¡±.


    I have, he thought to himself, Ship-Master Jones wasn¡¯t a man Adam could just order about. He had asked about setting ground rules and had received a quick denial. The men and women aboard Ilex have been promised ground leave, they will be rotated fifty at a time to minimise disruption to your settlement. Ship-Master Jones carried a recent reputation for excellence, having won a convincing victory in a boarder skirmish against the Commonwealth of Northern African States. Indomitable the media had called him, just what I need.


    <hr>


    Ship-Master Jones stood with his back to the small assembly, broad in his red uniform he contemplated what Joshua had just said. The man wasn¡¯t what Joshua expected, the media had painted the man to be sword brandishing hero, not this quiet thoughtful man.


    ¡°Doctor Dryden I am happy for you to lead the investigation into The Gardeners, you may have full access to the Victorias lab¡¯s and computers. I expect daily reports on your investigation, delivered to the Victoria¡¯s head technician.¡± Still not turning to face them he said, ¡°Mr. Lanston, the ground contingent will setup outside the Bramble that houses the ruins. Those on ground leave will be situated there, but will be given full access to the colony as we previously discussed¡±.


    ¡°Thank you Ship-Master.¡± Joshua said breathing a sigh of relief, he had been worried sick that Jones would appoint one of his own technicians to lead the investigation. ¡°When can I get started?¡±


    Turning to face Joshua he said, ¡°Today¡±. Everything the man said seemed to be slowly considered. ¡°The Victoria¡¯s head technician is currently with the marines setting up the site base, they are expecting you there once we are finished here¡±. He stopped to consider the room, ¡°Engineers onboard The Victoria will be making landfall this evening, they will have access to the colony¡¯s communication array. They shall be redirecting all communications through The Victoria, she will scan the transmissions for mention of this discovery. Until we have ascertained the full picture of what happened here, it has been decided that it will be classified as a state secret.¡± The room was silent as he spoke, he held gravitas that captured your attention. ¡°The Victoria will be stationed outside of Arcadia¡¯s gravitational well as she is still marked under rapid response, every five days she will be brought back into orbit for planetside leave for the troops.¡±


    ¡°Right, well yes¡­ very well. Ship-Master would you care for a coffee?¡± Adam was clearly unsure with how to proceed, Jones commanded respect in way he was unable to replicate. As Adam faffed, Joshua took his leave.


    Joshua was beaming by the time he got back to his house, his worries were banished and he couldn¡¯t wait to get started. Rushing around he packed all the essentials, if he was going to be the lead researcher he would spend most of his time in the military camp. If I know anything about the military, I won¡¯t want their ration packs, he thought as he stuffed a carrier full of Hazzie¡¯s instant bacon burgers, ¡°a delicacy,¡± he chuckled to himself.


    After stripping his house of all coffee, instant foodstuffs and potentially useful tools, Joshua brought his skimmer into the air and headed south towards the bramble fields and the site of the alien ruins. The day had been warm by Arcadia standards, the air still held the days heat as his Skimmer shot over the Roaming Bramble fields. His shirt flapping in the wind Joshua grinned, excitement welling up in his chest, he left like a child again.


    Below him the Roaming Brambles made their inexorable march across the plains, Joshua imagined he could hear the creaks and groans of the vines as they dug into the ground to slowly drag themselves across the moss-laden ground. The Bramble-Apes, all brightly coloured, postured and chirped as they tended to their moving home. In the wake of their perpetual journey, the churned earth showed the white lattice of the weed roots that infested the soil.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    A thunderous roar sounded over the drone of his engines, as above him a transporter crashed through Arcadia¡¯s atmosphere. The great hulking ship streaked through the sky above, it¡¯s conventional rockets shrieked as it forced the piece of plasta-steel to slow its descent to a controlled lumber. The sound tore Joshua from his reverie, bringing him back from his absent musing¡¯s, he tracked the Transporter as it laboured through the evening air. The setting sun slowly brought a burgundy blanket over the land and sky, the Transporter was a black blot making it easy to follow, it would land as Joshua arrived.


    Joshua¡¯s PDG buzzed as the camp came into view, answering the call, a strongly accented voice came through.


    ¡°Civilian Skimmer, landing area is on the East side of camp, lit by white beacon lights. Camp personal will meet you there, over.¡±


    Right o, Joshua thought, he wondered how much free reign he would get in the camp.


    The Transporter had beat him to the camp by a few minutes and was being unloaded by various industrial machines. The ship was long, fat and very ugly. Joshua assumed it had brought down more vehicles, prefab buildings and lab equipment. On its side the word Jessie was painted in a faded yellow, the writing was pocketed from the harsh void of space and extreme temperatures of atmospheric penetration.


    Making his way to the east side of the camp, a brightly lit square came into view, on it a single person waited. Joshua gently set his Skimmer down on the near edge of the landing square and jumped out. Ahead of him, a young woman strode forward with a toothy grin, hand extended towards him.


    ¡°Joshua, right? I¡¯m Phoebe, though you can call me Phebes. I¡¯


    m the head Technician on Victoria! Can I call you Josh? Though I suppose I should call you Sir, right?¡±


    Shaking her hand he was taken back by her zest. Expecting an austere military woman, the technician was anything but.


    ¡°Nice to meet you, uh, Phebes.¡± Joshua stood there for a second, gathering his wits. ¡°No it''s okay, Josh is fine¡±.


    Bubbling, Phoebe gestured towards the camp, ¡°Come, I¡¯ll introduce you to the team. We can¡¯t wait to get stuck in, we have all read your reports, but it would be good to get some ground knowledge from the man himself!¡±.


    ¡°Sure, I mean, I don¡¯t know all that much yet¡­ Um, what about my stuff?¡± Joshua asked, gesturing back towards his Skimmer.


    ¡°Oh it''s fine, some of the loading crew will transport it to the lab. Say, you didn¡¯t bring any Coffee, did you? The stuff they serve on the Victoria¡­¡± She scrunched her nose in mock imitation of disgust.


    ¡°Sure, I brought some of-¡°


    ¡°Sweet! The guys will love you for that, got some late nights ahead so I hope you brought enough!¡±


    The camp was a hive of activity, prefab structures were being constructed in a concentric pattern by men and women in military drab. The outer ring where Joshua had set his Skimmer down had towers and barriers being erected.


    Traditional military paranoia, Joshua thought as he followed Phoebe. She strode through the camp with a sense of purpose, ducking past construction vehicles and weaving through groups of joking marines. Looking back towards him she said with a smile, ¡°Not much further¡±.


    The Lab turned out to be nothing more than a grey squat square of a building with a small side extension.


    ¡°Home sweet home,¡± Phoebe said with a wry smile as they walked up to the unadorned building.


    ¡°Wait, is this the lab or were we sleep?¡±


    ¡°Both!¡± She said, pointing to the small extension, ¡°Bunks are there, the rest is the lab.¡± Opening the door she strode in, Joshua following close behind. Inside, the room was cramped, the space having been crammed full of computers, scanning equipment and tools. Three people sat on a small fold-up table playing cards, a small pile of coins in front of each of them.


    ¡°Alright, Phebes,¡± said one, nodding to Phoebe before pointing with his cards, ¡°This our esteemed leader and Doctor I take it?¡±.


    ¡°Sure is Alan,¡± she said.


    Joshua examined the man, slightly portly he looked to be in his early fifties. Joshua gave a small wave to the trio, ¡°Hi and yes, you can call me Josh. I look forward to working with you all.¡± Joshua moved to the table and extended his hand towards Alan, ¡°Nice to meet you¡±. The man''s hand engulfed his own in a suffocating grip.


    ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± he said eyes narrowing under bushy eyebrows, before giving a hearty guffaw and letting his hand go to slap Joshua hard on the shoulder.


    Not looking up from his card¡¯s another man spoke up as be pushed some coins into the middle of the table, ¡°I¡¯ll raise you two credits¡±.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mind Alan. I¡¯m Helen, nice to meet you.¡± She proffered an olive-skinned hand towards him giving him a small smile.


    ¡°I¡¯m just having a bit of fun,¡± Alan said, before sitting back down. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you have bugger all, I¡¯ll see you.¡± Alan''s meaty hands pushed some more coinage into the growing pile of credits.


    ¡°Full house¡±, the second man said displaying his hand on the table.


    ¡°You piece of shit,¡± Alan said with another belching laugh. ¡°To hell with me if I play with you again¡±.


    ¡°Alan you always say that,¡± Phoebe said.


    ¡°Well brand me a liar and strike me down!¡± Alan replied still laughing. ¡°Not got anything better to spend the poxy money on, may as well lose it in company!¡±


    Helen shook her head in dismay, ¡°this is Jed by the way¡± gesturing towards the man who was busy scooping up the small pile. He looked up at his mention and nodded towards Joshua before miserly going back to his winning¡¯s.


    ¡°So, The Gardeners eh?¡± Said Alan looking up at Joshua.


    ¡°Just a nickname till we get a better idea of them.¡±


    ¡°Names have a habit of catching on son,¡± Alan replied while stretching back on his chair.


    ¡°Oh hush Alan¡±, Phoebe said, ¡°Come, Josh, I¡¯ll show you where our quarters are.¡± She motioned him to follow ¡°You¡¯re from Spero aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Sure am, the accent?¡±


    ¡°Plain as day, seen some pictures of the place, its beautiful. I¡¯m from Cerberus myself, hot as hell¡±, she said with a wink. ¡°Here, you boys get this room.¡± The room was tiny, with three immaculately made cots crammed in together,aluminumm chests were placed at the bottom of the beds for personal storage.


    ¡°What luxury¡± Joshua said.


    ¡°Why else do you think people join the Military, certainly not for the food. You can get situated later when your stuff gets here, for now ¡­ you any good at Poker?¡±


    ¡°I can hold my own.¡±