Chapter One

A Landing in Eden

Most of the planet was dry desert. There were two large landlocked seas of salt water. The small poles with sparse ice and snow testified to a long period of global warming. As he looked it over via the operational screens of the research vessel "Arcadia", Doctor Philip Masson, head of mission, reasoned that most of the planet’s water would be in the atmosphere. Mean equatorial temperature was 60C, climbing to the mid 70s during summer - far too hot for human habitation.

"So that’s the beast," his wife Julia said, looking over their proposed landing zone. "Looks harmless enough from here."

"Could be full of ghosts," Philip said, grinning.

She placed her arms around him affectionately, and he basked in her emotional warmth.

---0---

They attended crew de-briefing in the mess hall. Julie looked along the table at the five men, two women, and her twelve year old son, Drex, who formed the expedition.

George Masters was airing off his thoughts to all and sundry. "A sad history, but why has it been closed off for so long? There must be something down there."

"Nothing," Gio Peters said. "The probes came up with nothing. Some simple plant life - non toxic, no bacteria, no amoebae, no virus contamination. The place is clean."

"Hold on," Betty Scrimshaw said, "The planet was inhabited for a hundred and fifty years. It was a penal colony - a concentration camp, if you like. There were half a million people living down there. They must have contaminated it. Don’t tell me they never had a shit."

"They all died out," Astro Beyers, the astronomer, said. "The prisoners were men and boys - no females. Give us the history, Akron."

Akron Akkers loaded a gelmem into his console. The vu-screen came to life. "New Sahara - a planet suitable for human life and exploration." He started. "The problem was, it needed some terraforming and infrastructure, so the Old Empire decided the ideal labor units would be penal slaves. They scoured the galaxy for orphan boys and waifs because they were cheap to feed, didn’t cost a lot to transport, were malleable to discipline - especially of the Imperial kind, and were not likely to abscond. They did well, after a hard start.

Now one of the prisoners was the infamous Doctor Duro - creator of the Duro Plague. At first, the penal administration set him to work collecting all camp manure - You were right about the shit, Betty - and turning it into fertilizer for the feed farms. Later, someone in the administration relented and let him get back to using a laboratory. They needed his skills, and thought they could control him. He developed some interesting vegetables that produced fully formed clothing, exotic fruits, vegetable steaks, milk trees, and even worked with the local slime-mould. He didn’t produce anything harmful as far as anyone could see. Due to his work, however, Sahara exported cloth and manufactured products. Many of the boys worked hard and became citizens.

When the civil war erupted, Sahara was taken over by the military. It became a prisoner-of-war camp. Again, for Men and Boys.

But that all changed when the military administration broke down. New Sahara became a hell hole of extreme discipline and punishment. The civilians were interned as slaves. The guards were able to do whatever they wanted with the prisoners, and most of what they did was extreme. Eventually, there was a terrible riot. Somehow, the prisoners won. They executed their heavily armed guards and took over the planet. Nobody knows how they did it. Perhaps weight of numbers.

"The Empire was just recovering from civil war. They had few resources left to put down a rebellion, so they interdicted the planet - no visitors or contact allowed, and they didn’t lift that interdiction for fifty years. "Finally, they sent in a punitive expedition of Space Marines to re-install control. That was a hundred years ago.

The Marines found a deserted planet with no sign of human life. The camp was buried under the desert sands, but excavation led to the recovery of extensive records. They think the inmates died out from illness or starvation? They couldn’t breed."

"No girls," Drex said. "How did they get on for sex?"

Akron looked at him pointedly, then ignored him diplomatically. Daniel Rex Masson was only twelve, but his questions could be irritating for Akron never knew whether the boy was being serious or teasing him. He decided he was being teased. "There were a few unexplained accidents to the Marines. For instance: One found a large flat plant that had a rubbery surface. He trampolined on it for a while, but the plant suddenly turned into liquid latex, and he was sucked right down into it. The latex hardened rock solid. They worked all day to try to retrieve his body, but it had vanished."

"Carnivorous plants?" Gio, the exo-biologist ventured.

"Probably. They aren’t that uncommon - nothing we can’t handle. Put a sign up, ‘Please don’t feed the daisies’, that sort of thing."

There was relaxed banter.

"So what happened to the Marines?" Drex asked.

"Hold on, Sonny. I’m getting to that. They got back in their Cruiser, ‘Defiant’ and headed for home - but never made it. They transmitted all the data they had recovered, and a warning - ‘Interdict New Sahara permanently.’ Then they put their ship on auto-destruct. There were no survivors."

Drex’s eyes were as big as saucers. "Do you think they got eaten by Aliens?"

"Large ugly praying-mantis type aliens with long heads and double rows of sharp teeth? That’s the stuff of legends, Son." Philip assured him.

"The marines didn’t report anything nasty on Sahara. Only the rubber lilies." The enquiry found that all was operating well on ‘Defiant’, until the last two days of its journey. Onboard data for those days was never transmitted. We will never know what happened to the ship, but my guess is that it had nothing to do with this planet."

A robot entered from the galley with trays of steaming food.

"I think we should have a break," Philip said. "Gannon Corporation left it to us to decide on our operational plans when we made planet-fall."

"You’re still going down with your kid?" Astro asked.

"Yes." Philip replied. "The Corporation wants to make this a holiday resort. They have to be able to prove it’s safe. Safe for kids, safe for everyone."

Astro looked meaningfully at him. "Their research grant - your kid, I guess."

"Hey - kids are all over the galaxy. More than a million kids lived here, worked, grew old, and died -over a hundred year period. What makes you so uneasy?"

"Uncertainty. Duro could have cloned kids - he had the skills."

"Far too complex for a prison operation. Grow your own kids – turn them into male slaves? I don’t think so."

"Maybe they wouldn’t let him?"

"We’ll just have to be careful."

---0---

The shuttle landed on a large flat granite outcrop about five kilometers across. They had chosen the landing site because it was geologically stable, was close to the salty ocean, and was unlikely to have problems with blowing sand. From the command window, the thick green forest edging the sea could be clearly seen.

For two days, nobody left the vehicle until exhaustive biological checks had been made. Even then, they walked down the front ramp in space suits. Drex carried an Imperial Flag on a long picket, which he placed some distance from the shuttle. Everyone lined up as he said his piece to the video-link, transmitting everything that happened back to ‘Arcadia’ in high orbit above.

"I hereby re-take possession of New Sahara to the Glory of the Empire, and in memory of those poor souls who died here, especially the children."

The voice of the Emperor, Padiphat XI, came through their headsets. It was pre-recorded, but that didn’t really matter. It was the thought that counted: "The emperor thanks you, Drex Masson, Youngest member of the New Sahara expedition. May you all succeed with your discoveries, and may the Gods smile upon your work."

They saluted casually. The Emperor was no longer a powerful figurehead in the galaxy. He didn’t even live in a palace, but had an apartment in the suburbs of Old London. But he was a symbol of Galactic Unity, and therefore deserved respected.

Two days later, The explorer’s camp construction began.

Robots removed large pallets from the hold, and the camp emerged on the hard rocky plain. Most of the work was done by fabricator robots and machines. Great mechanical spiders strung webs of liquid plastic that hardened and provided support for walls. Gigantic dome shaped balloons inflated, only to be sprayed and hardened with catalytic fluids that hardened into domed shells. Drex made himself useful organizing the roadwork by programming the huge earthmoving bulldozer.

His first priority was to make a wide black highway to the sea. Step one was to build it to the edge of the forest. He was reminded that none of the plant life was to be disturbed until it had been properly surveyed.

The heavy earth-moving equipment took in sand, and combined it with carbon dioxide from the air to make a thick tarry substance that was pounded firmly back into the ground. Moving forward at two kilometers per hour, the road making machine was noisy, but efficient. Philip sat alongside his son as he drove the gigantic machine along a precise laser line.

"You could put it on automatic and let the robotics drive," he said.

"That’s not fun. I want to drive it myself. I need the practice."

Drex had a whole planet to play with. He was in his element - synthetic tar and all. Philip decided his son had a magnetic attraction to the stuff. After a busy morning, Drex was covered with a fine film of it. They stopped at the tree line. The forest was not really trees. Great pillars of green jelly, some hundreds of feet tall, reached for the sky.

"Let’s take a look," Drex insisted. His father checked the blaster at his belt and nodded. They walked into the forest.

"It’s a sort of solidified slime mould. Very flexible, but very simple," Philip said, pushing one of the pillars backwards and forwards so that it rocked on its base. "Look at how they’re connected at the base. You know, this could be one gigantic organism."

"Mr. Gio says that, given time, this slime mould could differentiate into numerous species, even intelligent life," Drex said.

"Did he now. He teach you that word?"

"Differentiate. Sure. I learn a lot of stuff from Peter."

"It’s weird," Philip said. "No other life on the planet - just this stuff. There are variations of it, where the prisoners converted it to grow cotton, food, even fabric, but basically, it’s all the same plant." He snapped off a small protruding lump and placed it in his satchel. "One gigantic plant covering the fertile strips around the two seas. I May as well take a sample back to camp."

"One plant? Is it safe?" Drex asked. Phil looked into the satchel.

"Boo! Aargh! Gotcha!" He screamed.

"Quit clowning around."

"Scared you, did I?"

"For about half a millisecond."

They turned the bulldozer around and began the long, slow trip back to camp, widening the road all the way.

That night, they set out Robot Sentries and camped under the stars. With no moon, New Sahara had nights as black as pitch. From his swag, Drex looked up at the stars twinkling fiercely above.

"You know, Drex, you could name a whole new set of constellations," his mother said.

"I think it’s been done," Philip said. "The early settlers took care of that."

"What are they?" Drex asked sleepily.

"It will be on the data disk. I’ll give you a printout tomorrow."

"I like it when they twinkle - the stars. They look like jewels."

"They don’t twinkle in space because there’s no atmosphere to shine through," Julia said. There was no answer. Drex was asleep, and Philip was snoring gently.

---0---

George Masters and Astro Beyers were the duty crew on ‘Arcadia’. Astro was in charge of deploying the Sahara Satellites System which would make very detailed maps of the planet, and act as the Planetary Positioning System for exploration and surveying on the ground.

On Sahara, Philip and Julia were detailed to explore the strip of forest which would be cut down to provide road access to the sea. Drex and George Peters would work on the ground fleet to ensure all vehicles were ready for overland exploration. Betty and Akron would ready the clinic in case of illness or accidents, and work in the laboratory, analyzing all plant material.

With everyone assigned tasks, the real work of the expedition commenced. Results came in thick and fast, were categorised, collated into data, and transmitted to ‘Arcadia’ where results were proof read and re-transmitted via hyper gate to Ursalla, the regional capital on Vio. Every evening, they met in the camp canteen to hold a video link with George and Astro.

Drex spent his spare time creating his own special ‘cave’ within the dormitory complex. It was an unwritten rule, that only Drex was allowed within the plastic draped room that now looked for all the world like an underground cavern, complete with spider webs, bed disguised to look as if it was on a rock shelf, and various lights showing off his entertainment centre, computer, communications console, and junk pile. A mandatory strewn pile of clothes and smelly shoes took pride of place on the floor.

The explorers on the Planet had settled into their tasks so well, that life was becoming routine. The strip of forest that was to be cleared was checked for environmental problems, and declared ready for the road. The land fleet was ready for use. Specimens were being routinely assessed in the lab. All was going according to plan.

---0---

From where they sat on the small outcrop of flat rocks overlooking the camp, James and Kedro watched the comings and goings in the camp below. James was pre-occupied with his new overalls that he had picked from a supply tree earlier in the morning. He had to split them from the plant pod, pound them with a rock, remove the kapok and seed filler, wash them in the salt stream, and allow them to dry while wearing them. This enabled the plant fibres to take to his shape properly, especially where he required movement in the knees, shoulders, elbows and waist. So he had to move about a lot, and also, he had to knead the soft putty-like soles that formed the integrated shoes at the end of the strong, but soft fibre legs. Breaking in new overalls from the plants was never easy, but all the boys knew how to do it. He was lucky to get a navy-blue pair. Navy blue was rare. The supply plant usually grew brown and olive-green fruit.

"What are they doing now," James asked, pulling open the patch pockets at his chest and removing the tightly packed seed and kapok filling. "I guess I’ve finished fitting into these." He added, tossing the fibres to the wind where they blew away in a feathery white cloud.

"How do they feel?" Kedro asked.

"Nice and soft, now. It’s worth all the work to do it properly."

"I can’t see what they’re doing. I guess if we want to look, we’ll have to get up close."

"They might see us."

"With a camp that size, they’re staying for some time. Sooner or later, they’ll see us."

---0---

Most of the construction work had been done, and they had some spare time. While Philip was exploring to the South, Julia and Drex packed a picnic lunch, packed it into the dozer, and set it on course for the beach. They walked along the path that had been cleared through the forest. The smooth stalks of the plant reached for the sky, making a tall avenue of green. They could hear the breakers crashing on the sandy shore. Behind them, at two kilometers per hour, the bulldozer crawled forward, laying its black carpet of synthetic road building conglomerate. This stuff was chemically stabilised and compacted to prevent plant life from penetrating through the road bed.

Beside them, fallen trees were neatly stacked like logs of green licorice, but metres in diameter. Those at the bottom of the pile were losing shape - sagging like deflated balloons.

Small shivers ran up and down Julia’s spine. "Do you ever get the feeling that you’re being followed?" She asked.

"It’s the silence," Drex said. "It gets to you. Next time, we’ll bring along some birds and insects - nice ones - to terraform this rock."

"They did - the old timers - when they built the prison. Mostly for the guards, I guess. Funny how nothing survived. Betty was overjoyed yesterday - her samples showed signs of bacterial contamination."

"From us?"

"Yep."

"That’s great. So we’re having an impact." They walked on in silence. Drex pushed his sunglasses forward, looking into the reflection within the dark lens. "By the way, don’t look around."

"So you’ve seen him, too, Drex. I was wondering for a moment if I was seeing things. I think there’s two of them," Julia said nervously.

---0---

"The trick is," Aster said, looking up from his console, "To put the little beans in orbit so they maintain the geometric shape."

"And now you’re going to tell me that you’ve achieved just that?" George asked. To tell the truth, George was getting a little tired of Aster’s company. The lad was so smart.

"Not really. But I’ve got them orbiting so they won’t ding into each other, and there’ll hardly ever be any black spots in communication."

"Jolly good," George said. "If it was me, I’d put the geometric centre of the triangular pyramid at the centre of the planet, and rotate the whole solid."

That should shut the boy up.

"Er, yes. That would be a neat solution."

"Make it so," George said, smiling to himself.

---0---

Julie spread the blanket on the sand, well above the breakers that blew salt spume up the beach. The Bulldozer had completed its first cut, laying a swath of black road through the forest. On its return journey, it would do the other half of the road. After making a wide parking bay, Drex had shut the machine down, but left the cabin door open. He locked the controls, and put the hand controller in the pocket of his trousers.

"I think we’re far enough away now," Drex observed, sitting on the blanket. Julie unpacked the lunch box, removing the Remington Laser Blaster first, and putting it within easy reach. "Just in case we need a bit of salt," she said. "We should have brought flak suits."

"Bows and arrows against the lightning," Drex said. "That’s a quote from the ancient classics."

"I know. You’re right about curiosity. The targets have entered the cabin."

Drex pushed a button on his controller and the door of the bulldozer slammed shut. As if on cue, Philip and Betty arrived on the flitter. Both were heavily armed and wore protective suits.

"They’re in the cabin!" Julie shouted. The cabin was surrounded. Philip threw a couple of protective flak suits across to Julie and Drex. They pulled them on and approached the gigantic machine.

"Kids," Drex said, looking in on the two frightened boys.

"Let us out! Let us out!" James shouted.

"All right. All right. First off, who are you? What are you doing here?"

The bigger boy spoke up. I’m James. This is Kedro. We live here."

"In the forest?" Julie asked.

"Everywhere," Kedro said.

"Where are your parents?"

Kedro and James looked at each other and shrugged.

"What are parents?" James asked. "Let us out, please."

"In a minute. Drex, will you get the truck here? There isn’t room on these flitters for passengers, and I want these boys taken back to base." Philip said. "We want to know more about you, first. Are there any others?"

Again, the two boys looked at each other. "Many others," James said, "but not here. They live in the camp over there," he said, pointing to the line of distant hills to the South.

"The prison camp?" Julie asked. "But how is that possible? It’s buried under tons of sand."

"Not buried," Kedron said, shaking his head.

When the truck arrived, Drex opened the cabin door. "Come out," he said. The two boys stepped down. They were transferred to the cabin of the wheeled truck. They did not resist, but were subdued as they sat between Philip and Julie. Drex and Betty loaded the flitters on the back tray, and Drex sent the bulldozer on its way back to base, completing the other half of the road.

---0---

Drex looked around Betty’s clinic as she took blood samples from the boys. They sat quietly and cooperated while she pricked their fingers and drew blood into a pipette. They had been scanned, photographed, weighed, and measured in every possible way. Finally, she turned to Philip.

"Well, it’s official. They are not ghosts. They are one hundred percent human beings. Young, but they are real. Pinch yourself, and if you don’t wake up, what you’ve got is what you’ve got.

Philip looked at the latest satellite photographs of the valley on the other side of the hills. "And the camp’s been excavated while we’ve been setting up base here. Was it wind action? Where did the wind come from. Why didn’t we get any wind?"

"Don’t ask me. I’m only a simple galaxian medic. You’re the commander. It’s your mystery. Enjoy it."

"Yep. Well, boys, I want to thank you for cooperating with us. You’ve answered all our questions, so you can go. Can we take you home? Back to camp?"

The boys looked at each other.

"We … left," Kedron said.

They looked confused.

"Would you like a meal? Something to eat?" Betty asked.

"We eat, then we go," James said, brightening up.

---0---

The boys ate their standard issue meal and left into the gathering darkness. Drex watched them go, and realized he was feeling something he hadn’t felt for a long time. There was a slight pain in his stomach.

"What’s up, honey," Julie asked him.

"I don’t know. I guess I miss them already." He sighed, staring out into the darkness. "All my friends, I mean. I’m the only kid in this outfit. It’s as if I want to go with them. I know it’s silly."

"Hey, Drexie. It’s not silly. Of course you want company your own age. Hell, most kids your age are into hanging out with others. Gannon wanted more kids to come along, but it got political. Let’s face it, exploring an unknown planet - even a known one with a history - is dangerous. I guess you’re the skinny-pig."

"Guinea pig. An earth animal used for experimental purposes."

She kissed him on the forehead. "I know."

There was a sudden disturbance on the perimeter. Boundary lights went on, and the ATROS went to amber. Searchlights illuminated Kedron and James standing dazzled by the lights and alarms.

"ATROS - STAND DOWN!" Julie shouted. The amber lights on the Automatic Targeting Robot Sentry went green. She walked to the boundary. "Is there a problem?" she asked.

"It’s too dark," Kedron said. "We … frightened."

"Oh, of course," Julie said. "No moon. Do you want to stay here? You can bunk in with Drex. You won’t mind, will you?"

"No. Hey, that’s great," he said, grinning broadly. "Supernova great."

"They’re a bit sandy, but they don’t have any parasites," Betty said, locking the clinic door. She must have overheard what was happening, although everyone on the base had been aroused by the alarm. "Philip wants a security level one while our guests are here."

That meant everyone would lock access to all equipment and take turns patrolling the base.

"Bags first watch," Julie said.

"Second’" Betty followed.

The boys were taken to Drex’s room, where they stood marveling at his equipment. He took his time strutting about demonstrating the benefits of technology and all the wonders of galactic civilization that he possessed.

---0---

Akron sipped his coffee thoughtfully. "There must be a logical explanation for all this. It seems that, somehow, the prison camp has survived all these centuries, and has escaped detection. It’s as if a culture has been fossilized - a prison culture, but it’s not unknown for small isolated groups to maintain the structures that they know. Prison culture has discipline, order - many of the elements needed for survival."

"Discipline and order. That explains the uniforms - the overalls." Pete said, "I find it very difficult to believe that they grow on trees. I know it’s in the records, but coming face to face with it …"

"Overall trees? Why not." Betty said. "DNA is capable of creating the most complex things - take the human eye, or brain. Overalls in a kapok pod are a snap. It’s just a matter of arranging the fibres and pattern within the pod. I must admit, it has to be a highly stable plant - there’s usually more variation, but it’s very easy to make the process stable. The front closes with a microscopic hook and staple system. You couldn’t make them better in a factory."

"But not T shirts or track suits or waistcoats?" Philip put in. "More coffee?" He refilled their cups and took another biscuit.

"Why bother - the prisoners wore overalls, so design an overall tree. I wonder what else the evil Doctor designed?" surmised Julie.

"It’s all supposition," Philip said. "In the morning, we’ll take the boys back to the camp and have a look for ourselves."

---0---

Drex climbed down into the gully behind James and Kedron. They had left early, slipping out past the ATROS which was easily disabled for a few minutes. They had grinned as they sneaked behind Akron, standing guard self-importantly and looking outward when he should have been looking in.

"Here’s the tree," Kedron said, pointing to the green column which, unlike the other forest trees on New Sahara was growing in a sprawling cluster. Large pods were growing all over it, and some lay on the ground in various stages of decay.

"How do you know what size it is?" Drex asked.

"The smaller ones are at the youngest," James said. "This one here - I’ve got a good one. Dark blue."

"How can you tell?"

"They’re the same color as the pod. This is a good one - soft. It should fit you."

They tossed the pod down, and James attacked it with a piece of rock, tearing it open. The pod was full of kapok and seeds, which they pulled out, throwing it around like a miniature snow-storm. Drex pulled the overalls clear and unfolded them carefully.

"Oh, perfect," Kedron said. Now turn them inside out and scrape out the kapok and seeds."

That done, they took the overalls down to the stream and soaked them, then removed the last of the kapok from the pockets.

"You have to strip," Kedron said. "Otherwise they won’t fit."

Lucky it’s hot," Drex said, complying. The wet garment felt slippery and heavy as he slid into it. Where the integrated shoes were, it felt heavy and soft, like plasticine underfoot.

Kedron and James massaged and teased the hardening jelly-like substance around Drex’s feet until the shoes set firm and hard. He stood up and stamped up and down to set the soles. Where the front zipper would have been were two surfaces that clung together on contact. He moved about as the garment, now thoroughly sodden, began to contract to his size. James folded down his collar and spread the neck wide. Kedron helped him fasten the sleeves at the wrist. A natural swelling in the fabric formed a button at the cuff.

There was a certain satisfaction in being ‘one of the crowd’ that Drex had missed, but now he had companionship, he felt satisfied. Life on Sahara had taken a definite upswing.

Further exploration of the gully produced a porridge tree. Kedron and James ate eagerly, but Drex found the meal flat and boring.

"So this is what you eat?" he asked.

"It’s good, yes?"

"Boring," Drex affirmed.

From a leg pocket, James pulled out some remnants of the meal he had the night before. "Watch" he said, approaching a young tree. He picked up a rock and cut into the green leathery bark, then pushed pieces of food into the slits."

"I don’t think that’s going to work," Drex said. "Genetic engineering isn’t as simple as that."

"Not now," Kedron said, "But Yanada will understand."

"Yanada?"

"Yes," James said. "Yanada - All the trees as one."

---0---

Philip tore strips off Drex when they returned.

"Of all the stupid stunts. Your mother was … "

"Mad?’

"That doesn’t begin to … This is a strange planet, not an amusement park. Anything could happen out there."

"Everyone knows it’s safe. I mean - what could happen? I was with James and Kedron. They know every inch of this area. It’s not Jurassic. It’s boring. The only exciting thing that’s happened is James and Kedron. They wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. They’re my friends."

"You don’t know that. I presume you brought your clothes back. Are you going to wear those all day?"

"Until they dry - then they fit properly."

"Well, as you want to dress like a jail-bird, you might as well have the full experience. You are confined to your room until further notice. Power’s cut, so you won’t be able to do anything but think about your responsibilities. And just in case you have bright ideas, I’m locking the door."

"You’re full of shit!" Drex shouted, and stormed off to his room.

Philip locked the door of Drex’s room, cut the power, and went to the clinic, where Julie was sitting nervously with Betty.

"You’re all right, Love?" he asked.

Julie trembled as she put her cup of coffee down.

"He’s still a little boy. He thinks he knows so much, but he isn’t …"

"He just wanted to see the overall tree," Betty said. "Boys his age are naturally full of curiosity."

"Well he’s seen that. In fact, he’s wearing one. ‘Prisoner of the Empire’ Must be the fashion rage this trip."

"I’m taking the two boys back to that camp. Someone must be responsible for them." Philip said firmly.

But when they looked for the boys, they had gone. They had slipped away during the ruckus, while everyone’s attention was on Drex.

---(*)---

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