Chapter 10: Pedal Offer

Time: January 19, 9570 6:59 AM UCT

"Plasma burn will complete in twenty seconds Commander, QEM bubble remains locked and stable." Basel took a second to touch the cool roof of the CAT, now turned opaque to shield them from the scheduled two minutes of blinding light outside. The ion temperature inside the CAT's airlock and outside their sub-micron-thin quantum electromagnetic shield was now higher than the solar surface.

"What are the residuals?"

"Checking the spectral amplitudes now... Very low. Usual trace amounts of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon nuclei... a little nitrogen... consistent with having a few bits of dirty snow on the CAT."

Eliana sighed in relief. "We're clean then."

Basel looked at her. "Clean from what Eli?"

Eliana shook her head. "Not yet Basel. Please still consider this a military operation."

"Yes Commander."

"I'll talk soon. As soon as the CAT is tucked down, I'm going to get each of us a pair of multi-scanners. Meet me in Observation."

They jumped and ran from the CAT as soon as it was locked down into its parking bay, and met again a moment later in the Level-4 dome. Eliana handed Basel a scanner and pointer to the CAT tracks leading to the southeast. "Look for anything unusual. If I'm guessing right, we might just get a very brief glimpse of the creature. I'm thinking it's way too smart to give us a good view of itself."

They stood and scanned for a while, the sun moving slowly along the horizon and just about to sink below it. Eliana whispered, "Basel, thank you so much for accepting my command. I want control for just a little longer, okay?"

"Yes Commander."

She sensed his puzzlement. "Just until we sight the creature Basel. I'm expecting we'll have a chance sometime around eight o'clock, later if we're fortunate."

"Hmm?" he said as he scanned.

Eliana also scanned as she spoke. "We were 52.1 straight-line kilometers from the station when the encounter occurred at 6:24 AM, 59.3 kilometers along our driving path. I want to time when we sight the creature again. It might give us a measurement of how fast it can travel."

They scanned for a while. "Commander," Basel whispered. "The encounter, what should I look for? What did the creature look like?"

"It was so fast, I just caught a glimpse in the corner of my eye," Eliana whispered back. "So fast!"

"What shape?"

Eliana sighed. "Indistinct."

"Huh?"

"I'm not sure it had clear edges. It was very hard to tell."

"No edges? How can that be?" Basel frowned. "Well, what about color?"

"Assume fantastic camouflage, chromatophors beyond anything ever imagined, even for an octopus. I think I saw it flow over a dark rock surrounded by snow, and it moved a dark image of the rock across its body as it came towards us. Unbelievably good camouflage Basel, the brain processing power needed for such a feat is staggering. It was orienting its camouflage to my line of perspective, a fantastic feat to do in real time!"

Basel sounded unconvinced. "And you say it flowed?"

"Yes."

"Could it have been a real liquid? Somehow a reservoir of melted snow bursting?"

"What?! No, of course not! Basel, this thing was alive, acting with intelligence. It darted from behind one tree to behind another!"

"But you say it's a liquid?"

"No, just that it flowed like one! Basel, it was flowing out of the gully on your left to attack us! It was flowing uphill!"

"Ah..."

The sun set as expected at 7:12 AM Universal Capital Time. They spent the next hour scanning in silence. They saw nothing in the deepening twilight, except for the occasional flicker of the Northern Lights.

"An hour after sunset Commander," Basel said quietly.

Eliana sighed as she continued her scan. "I'd like to keep this up for another hour before we turn the job over to the automatic scanners. I'm expecting to see something very soon. Focus where our tracks enter the clearing." She was referring to a point about 300 meters away.

Five minutes later...

"Mark! Twenty meters north of the tracks! Did you see it Basel?!"

"That flicker Commander? Yes. It wasn't much."

"Replay the sequence and focus on the UV spectrum."

Basel complied and said a moment later, "Yes, much brighter in the UV. Very fast."

Eliana. "Oh yeah. When it hit the clearing, it realized it was about to make a big mistake. Very quick response time. I'm estimating it covered 59 kilometers in 105 minutes."

"Thirty-two kilometers per hour," commented Basel, "on par with the world's fastest human."

Eliana gave a mirthless laugh. "Well, for a short sprint! This creature did it for almost sixty kilometers over rocks and deep snow. The point to remember is that we can't outrun it."

Basel gave a small nod of his head that was hard for Eliana to decipher. "Commander, is the immediate emergency over?"

Eliana paused to consider. "Yes, I think we're safe for the moment. We have a triple hull of di-burnium alloy between us and the creature, and the observation dome is almost as tough. I'm hoping all the technology is on our side of the battle. Basel, we have so much to consider!"

"I agree! Eli, can we talk?"

Five minutes later, down in their living quarters...

"You're not sure the creature exists?!"

"I'm not doubting your sincerity Eli, and I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm trying to keep an open mind..." Basel looked at a loss for words.

They were sitting on their two-person sofa. Eliana was silent for a moment and then surprised Basel immensely by pushing the sofa into a reclining position. She then started untying her boots.

"Basel, as my boyfriend, will you take off your shoes and socks with me?"

Basel at first thought her actions were bizarre, but as he lay by her side barefoot, Eliana lifted her leg and began to caress the top of his foot with the bottom of hers. Slow gentle strokes, very loving. The minutes passed silently, and Basel felt much of the tension between them disappear.

"This feels really nice," he whispered. "I thought it was weird for you to do this at first, but know I understand. You're sending me a message, aren't you?"

Eliana nodded. "Several messages. Message number one, I stayed up for over an hour last night, thinking about how much I enjoyed you petting me like this, and how sweet you were when I froze. Message number two, my defenses are still down. My bare feet are an expression of my vulnerability. Message number three, I accept that you doubt me. It changes nothing of my feelings for you. Message number four... I'm trying to say thank you."

Basel cocked his head. "You're thanking me for doubting you?"

"I'm thanking you for your honesty and telling me that you doubt me. I am convinced the creature is real. If I forced us into battle without knowing about your doubt, I could kill us both."