Tycho Wept



  Tycho Wept

  By: William Petersen

  Copyright 2014 William Petersen

  Tycho Wept

  I felt the stirrings around me, vibrating the sensitive hairs along the length of my body. My antennae twitched as chemicals coming into contact with them sent signals to my brain. The chemicals told a story, but until they started coming in a more uniform manner, it was all just a jumble of fractured messages. I could sense more movement around me, and then the legs and antennae of others were scouring over me. The chemical messages they emitted were clear and concise, You are in need.

  I was gently nudged and pulled out of the hexagonal sleeping cell in which I had spent the cold times. Once out, my senses began to return, although at a laboriously slow rate. A large, swollen feeder, whose sole existence was to transport nutrients around the hive, positioned itself just under my mandible, leaning to one side. I opened my jaws and allowed the feeder to insert its tube-like appendage into my mouth. The feeder rhythmically flexed its abdomen, and with each flex, I was instilled with energy and purpose. I could clearly make out the primary signal in the chemical trails now, The Warming.

  The light was returning, and it was time for gathering and time to repair the hive; it was time to hatch the young and prepare for the dark times again. As the life force grew within me, more trails of chemicals wafted onto my antennae, Warm the egg cases.. feed The Queen... revive the soldiers... the messages streamed in, though none of these were for me.

  I was a soldier, larger and stronger than any other in the hive, save for The Queen. My jaws were the length of a worker's entire body, and I could easily clip one in half with little effort. Over the last few warmings though, I've been of little use. Before, I defended the workers as they gathered the rocks we needed to make food and protected the hive from others around us. But it had been several cycles now since I'd seen any others; the nearby hives we knew about were now empty, and it seemed as if there was nothing left against which to defend.

  I stood and stretched all of my legs, flexing each set of hooked claws in turn, as the others brushed against me with their antennae: Are you in need? the messages came in, while others checked my body for the chemical signatures of stress or injury.

  I am not in need, I secreted to them, and then they were on their individual ways, venturing off to follow the instructions laid down along the pathways of the hive. I began to move down the side of the tunnel designated for travel toward the surface, following the trails left by those who had come before me. There was something unfamiliar. A message in the chemicals I was not familiar with was hiding amongst the others. I continued on, reading the messages and reinforcing the trail whenever I came to a fading section, all the while waiting for my brain to decipher the new scents.

  The entrance was near, and I could feel the energy contained within the light long before my eyes registered any luminescence. I felt the warmth permeating down into the tunnel, increasing in intensity with each step. Emerging, I was struck motionless for a few moments, as my body and senses adjusted to the blast of unfiltered sunlight bathing the gray and white landscape. Guard the path, the compounds registering in my antennae were telling me.

  I took up my position along the path of busy workers already streaming in and out of the entrance along two distinct trails, guided by their own set of instructions contained within the line of chemical messages. The smaller, faster workers gathered chunks of rock and brought them into the hive for storage, while the feeders broke down the rocks and retained the sustenance inside their own bodies, then excreted a pumice-like waste product that was used for construction inside the hive. I feathered my antennae, trying to sense any potential danger, when I noticed the steady vibration coming up through the ground. It was very subtle, but it was there nonetheless. I waited for the chemical compositions that would tell me that others had detected it as well, but they never came.

  My alarm instincts had not been triggered, at this point it was just a new sensation; somewhat distracting, but not threatening. The light was getting unusually bright, and as I tilted my head up towards the open, black sky, a ball of light flew overhead and out of sight beyond the upwelling of rock behind the hive. The entire procession of workers, and all of the other soldiers, had frozen in place. A much stronger set of vibrations rumbled through the ground, knocking several workers over onto their backs.

  Into the hive! the messages began to swamp my receptors as panicking workers and soldiers alike desperately tried to pour into the entrance all at the same time.

  Protect The Queen! was permeating throughout the corridors, and I ran as fast I could, climbing over others and even onto the ceiling of the tunnel to get to her as quickly as possible.

  I was met at the entrance of The Queen's chamber by several soldiers who stopped me and poured over me with their antennae, ensuring I was not a threat to The Queen and that I belonged there. I could sense the same set of compounds from before, however, inside of The Queen's chamber it was much more prevalent. My senses were becoming preoccupied with it, and the unfamiliar sensations were confusing the other signals.

  The vibrations had grown in strength, and as we waited for The Queen's instructions, I felt tiny pieces of the ceiling dropping onto my head and body, shaken loose from the increasing power of the drumming noise. Protect the young!.. close the hive! was repeatedly sent out into The Queen's chamber. She continued emitting the same signals over and over, but the young were already secured, and the entrance couldn't be closed, else the hive starve during the cold times.

  The same strange, new compound began to overwhelm my receptors, and I suddenly understood what it was; it was the inability to decide. The Queen didn't know what to do. The rest of the soldiers were trying to respond, but like myself, they had no clear instructions and merely took several steps and then stopped. I felt myself emitting my own message before I realized what I was doing. Follow me, I projected onto two of the soldiers by gently touching them, and only them, with the tips of my antennae.

  Leaving The Queen's chamber, and the cycle of inaction within it, I repeated the process with two of the feeders and proceeded to the entrance. The vibrations had become so strong that we had to grip tightly to the walls as the tunnel veered upwards. I could feel the chemicals in my antennae combining to form a message of alarm, and I sensed it coming from those with me as wave after wave of synthetic fear. I replied by emitting blasts of instructions used in the past when confronting threats, overpowering the presence of the alarm signal.

  I led the group to the base of the ridge behind the entrance to the hive and began the ascent. It was slow moving because of the feeders, they were bloated and sluggish, but we needed them to refuel as we traveled. Each step required energy, and if we ventured too far without sustenance for the trip back, we could grow weak, lethargic and become stranded outside when the light faded. It was certain death, either by cold or by starvation.

  The vibrations were shaking us all and the ridge as well, the movement dislodged a large boulder which tumbled down frighteningly fast, much faster than the warning I signaled to my group could travel. The rock smashed into the soldier next to me, knocking it, and the feeder behind it, off of the wall of the ridge and back down to our starting point. Once sure that I was secure and no other stones were falling, I dared to look back towards the two that had fallen. The soldier was pinned under the rock, and while his head was not visible, all six legs were kicking wildly. The feeder was not far away, laying still with a huge section of its abdomen torn open, spilling the life-giving fluids it carried onto the cold ground, where it crystallized immediately.

  We had to keep going. They were gone, and there wasn't anything we could do about it. I moved the remaining group up the ridge. The vibrations were getting e
xtreme, making it hard to focus on anything visually and sending a flurry of signals from my body that nearly overloaded my brain. We crested the ridge, and while it was hard enough to take in what my eyes were registering, the interference of the massive vibrations made the scene even more surreal.

  The source of the disturbance was two huge monsters with shining, reflective skins, and while they had six legs, just like us, theirs were alien. The moved along on circular legs which looked to have their own claws, though these were much smaller than our own and remained stationary as the behemoths moved. They were consuming the surface, much as we did, but they were taking in large amounts, and instead of storing the nutrients internally, they excreted long, flat and flexible sheets in sprawling rows behind them. They must have been at it for some time, since there were scores of the excrement sheets covering the landscape.

  In the distance, a plume of dust rose and drifted out into the blackness. One of the monsters was moving towards us, while the other was heading away. I stared for some time, trying to understand what they were and how we would compete with them; worst of all.. they didn't emit any chemicals that I could perceive. The monster was getting closer, and I released the alarm signal. Breaking into a run, I launched myself over the edge of the ridge, knowing that my protective outer skeleton would protect me as I rolled down to the bottom. Flee! Flee! I released onto the ground as I ran along, though I knew that those messages needed to be inside the hive, if we were going to keep our colony alive.

  The vibrations were causing havoc with the others, hundreds of workers and soldiers were running around in circles just outside of the entrance. Confused and disoriented, they were emitting a swarm of signals that were only adding to the confusion. The ground began shaking violently, and rocks began to roll passed us. I turned around to see the mouth of the monster shearing off the top of the ridge, then pointing at the hive down as it descended the slope. The ground around us bulged as the monster moved overhead, the vibrations were so intense that I could no longer sense anything, then there was blackness.

  *****

  Captain Thomas and Lieutenant Wilkens floated in the vacuum of space, maneuvering themselves towards the surface of the moon using the thrusters in their exosuits to control their descent. Captain Thomas marveled at the low-altitude orbiter in his rear-view camera display, as the distance between it and the two space walkers increased deceptively slowly. The orbiter was no more than a three-man habitat with a docking station for the reentry vehicle and a staging area for space walks, but with its giant solar panels, it always reminded him of a huge mechanical dragonfly in space. Then he focused in on the view ahead and his mission. Craters, ridges and mountains slid by underneath them in two-tone gray, slowing steadily as they neared.

  Off in the distance, a small plume of dust rose up into space where they had previously landed the next set of two solar panel producing robots. Soon they would join the two already hard at work processing the regolith from the lunar surface into large, flexible solar panel sections. They were here to connect those panels together and to ensure that they would indeed work when the habitats arrived.

  Beep...”Moondust One and Two to orbiter.”

  Beep...”Moondust, this is Orbiter, we read you loud and clear. How's the ride so far?”

  Beep...”Moondust Two here, smooth sailing... ETA to surface, five minutes.”

  Beep...”Everything is a go from here, get 'em plugged up for us, guys.”

  Beep...”You got it boss. Contact when we hit the surface. Moondust out.”

  “I know we're here, but I still can't believe this is happening. The first step to a moon base, and I get to be a part of it,” Lieutenant Wilkens said, “I almost got scrubbed for this one.”

  Captain Thomas responded, “I hear you partner. This is historic, to say the least. A permanent lunar orbiter and space walks to the surface are epic by themselves. Unfortunately, the people that will get all the glory will be the ones that come after us, after we've got those solar panels connected and power flowing.”

  “Yeah, but if I did this for glory and fame, I'd be back on Earth right now,” Wilkens replied, “I've been counting down the days since they launched the first robots.”

  “It all starts with power. Once those that dropped today are up and running, they will produce enough new panels that the next supply ship up here will be bringing the first habitat modules. Someday we'll be sending people to other planets and to the stars from this place. They may even discover new forms of life, and it all starts right here,” the captain contemplated aloud.

  “So...” Wilkens began, “...do you think there was ever life here on the moon?”

  Captain Thomas replied: “No way... If there was ever anything alive up here, we would have found it by now.”

  The End

  *****

  “I write because I'm terribly unhappy if I don't...” - W.P.

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