Welcome to Galactic Axia

  

    The night was dark and overcast.  An icy wind cut through the light windbreaker the visitor wore as if it were tissue paper.  He peered carefully around the low bush he was using for cover and looked over the housing development below.  With an experienced eye, the night visitor evaluated every possible source of cover between himself and the look-alike ranch house that was his goal.  Behind him was the lonely and uninhabited high prairie.  Crossing the long distance between his carefully hidden ship and here had been difficult enough without ground cover.  It wasn't that there were any people out there to spot him, but experience had taught the visitor that sometimes there were inhuman eyes on this wild and barely civilized planet.
    Suddenly the lights of an approaching ground conveyance lit the road below and the visitor hunkered lower.  This was no time to be spotted, however remote the possibility.  Monitored broadcasts of the local news sources showed a heightened awareness of possible visitors from space.  
    The thought of these primitive governmental agencies looking was scary enough.  That could be handled.  It was the thought of some loon down there with a shotgun who might react in unpredictable ways that gave the visitor pause.
    After a few moments the car had passed on, leaving the neighborhood below as it was before.  A dog barked off in the distance and the visitor watched for a local reaction as the wind rose again and cut through his clothing.  That he was not only a trained Trooper but had been especially prepared for working on this closed planet did little to ease the tension the visitor felt.  Plain and simple; he did not like dogs.
    It had already been an interesting trip even before he had landed.  Because of political tension between the various nationalities on this barbaric planet, the natives had become even more vigilant.  Electronic and even infrared scanning of the sky had intensified in recent years making it even harder to avoid detection.  Soon the time would come when missions such as his would be nearly impossible except in special circumstances.  
    The old tricks of sensor-confusing fog and white noise generation were not as effective as most field operatives preferred.  Since the natives were also experimenting in using various forms of radiation for detection, there was also the possibility that some new form of detection beam by the natives might disrupt the field effect of a ship with disastrous results.  It had not happened yet but it was felt within the Watcher Service that it was only a matter of time.
    It had taken the Trooper two days to get to the surface of this mysterious blue planet.  Taking advantage of a weakness in the antique radar of a small nation on the far side of the globe, he had managed to slip below the screen of overlapping detection fields from both ground and space-based radar.  
    It had been a stroke of inspiration to slip directly underneath the belly of a passing airliner so the images would merge on the screens of the air traffic controllers.  And it had been a simple matter to put down in a remote area and wait for another passing airliner heading in the direction he wanted to go.  By reusing this technique, he managed to fly across several continents and oceans to reach his destination.
    Then it had become difficult.  The area he was to visit did not have any low level airways overhead.  Putting down after the last masking airliner had passed on, he waited another night looking for any opportunity to get closer to his mission area.  Finally, he had hit on the idea of following a passing freight train.  Since through trains no longer had a caboose, it was easy to just slip in behind the last car of a night freight.  All he had to watch for was that he keep as low and close as possible so his black ship would appear to be just another long freight car.  There had been a few narrow escapes with overpasses and one tunnel (which was short so he hopped over the hill) but his counter detection equipment had recorded that nothing had detected his presence.
    Sadly, he had to bid the last of several through freight trains good-bye as he approached the mission area.  Using his bio-detection equipment to its fullest, he threaded a ground-hugging path around and between any humans his equipment could detect.  It had taken some careful piloting but he finally got as close to his mission area as he could.
    Choosing a convenient and abandoned mine, the visitor secreted his ship inside.  After a good day of rest (no one went outside in the daytime heat), he donned local clothing and ventured out into the night.  Since his mission had been carefully timed, there was no moon, and happily, overcast had appeared, further masking his movement from the native satellites above.  Using a game trail, he made his way to the edge of this prairie town again without detection.  That he would not be able to use the same technique to return with his charges would be a problem to be solved later.

                               ___________________

    While the troopers rushed their preparations on the mothership, another set of eyes was looking through the bolder-strewn slope for something he'd caught a glint of hours ago in the early morning light.  For a couple of hours after the rockslide, Lonesome had just stayed hidden in the old tin mine and watched.  Time alone in the mountains had taught him the value of patience.  He’d finally seen what looked like someone come out and walk around, looking for something near the shore.  It was then that he'd seen a glint of light off some shiny surface.  Whoever it was had picked up something and carted it away.
    At this distance Lonesome wasn't sure who the person was.  Unfortunately, his pair of binoculars were ruined a few months earlier when his mule had kicked off a load and sent everything tumbling down a ravine.  Since then he'd been building his credit back up at the store so he could replace them.  Right now their loss grated particularly as he squinted at the distant figure.  
    Lonesome was sure it wasn't another scrounger like himself.  The person didn't move with the slow sure motions of one used to living at high altitude.  Could be a deer hunter, Lonesome thought. He’s wearin’ a red jumpsuit.  There was a certain agitation about this stranger and it raised the hackles on the back of Lonesome's neck.
    Finally, after not seeing any more sign of the stranger for a couple of hours, Lonesome tied his mule securely in the mine and made his way down toward the lake.  By now, both the dust from the slide and the waves from all the rubble going into the lake were long gone.  All was quiet which also made Lonesome more apprehensive.
    There was little to see along the shore of the lake.  Boulders and rocks of various sizes had finished their tumble from above, piled up against each other out a bit from the shore.  Lonesome decided against venturing onto the piles.  Experience taught him that they were usually unstable and he didn't feel like an ice-water bath today.  Craning his neck, he caught sight of something odd-shaped deep in the clear, cold water of the lake, but he couldn't tell exactly what it was.
    Backtracking, Lonesome headed toward the area where he had seen the stranger.  At first, nothing was apparent.  But using a stick, Lonesome poked around a bit where he'd seen the stranger also digging.  Suddenly his stick hit something that definitely wasn't rock.  Lonesome got down on his hands and knees and cleared away some of the rubble.  He found a piece of burnt metal that looked like it had been some sort of iridescent orange at one time.  Digging around it, he found that it was about a foot wide and two feet long with some sort of structural reinforcement on the backside.  Lonesome had never seen anything like it in all his years in the mountains.  
    Just then, Lonesome was startled from his study by a horrendous screech from off in the brush.  He dropped the metal piece and grabbed his gun.  Lonesome was terrified to see a humanoid creature, all red and leathery come out of the brush shrieking and hissing at him.  The creature’s cloven hooves clattered on the rocky ground.  Its forked tail lashed from side to side, whipping around the creature.
    "Git back!"  Lonesome hollered at the strange apparition.  As it came closer, he noticed not only was the thing without clothing but also sported vestigial horns. Its forked tongue was long and black and shot out of its mouth with every horrendous growl.
    The creature, for it was obviously not human, paused and continued to snarl at the old prospector.  Lonesome decided that he would be wise to get out of there before things got worse.
    Carefully keeping his gun aimed at the creature, he reached down to retrieve the piece of metal.  Immediately the creature roared and came charging at the old man.  To Lonesome, it looked as if hades itself were behind those fiery eyes.      Instinctively, Lonesome straightened up and pulled the trigger of his rifle. 

    The deafening roar of the Winchester 30-06 mingled with the horrible snarl of the creature as it leapt to one side and backed away from the prospector.  Even though his shot had missed the target, the effect of a near miss was nearly as good.  Lonesome saw the creature cower behind a large boulder, never taking its eyes off either the human or the piece of metal.
    "Stay away you devil you!"  Lonesome screamed at the creature.  It snarled savagely but did not come out in the open.  The prospector made sure he chambered another round and then again reached for the piece of metal.  Whatever it was, the beast sure was particular about it, Lonesome thought.
    Lonesome got his free hand on the metal and lifted it up which was greeted by another roar from the creature.  One handed, Lonesome squeezed off another round, taking a piece of rock out of the boulder beside the things head.  The two watched each other warily for a minute as everything grew quiet around them.  Finally, Lonesome decided to try to get out of there and safely back to where he'd left his mule.  He sure didn't want that thing following him.
    One careful step at a time, Lonesome backed away from the creature and the lake.  It snarled with each step but made no move to follow.  It took almost half an hour for the old prospector to back upslope.  He didn't dare turn his back to the creature until he had some good distance between them.  
    Using a large boulder for cover, Lonesome turned and started up a trail he knew would take him away from his mule for a ways.  No need to advertise where he was headed.  He peeked around the edge of the boulder and saw the creature come out of its hiding spot.  Just to be sure, he took aim and squeezed off a round down range.  The creature reacted with amazing swiftness and disappeared back behind its rocky sanctuary.
    Lonesome took advantage of the move to dive through some brush that obscured the trail and started upward at a hastened pace.  For several minutes, the prospector raced up the trail.  He paused occasionally and listened to see if he was being followed.  He noted that the creature had cloven hooves that tended to cause the rocks to rattle when it tried to get good footing.  But even with that advantage, Lonesome also noted that it could move incredibly fast.  
    Lonesome stopped at an outcropping of rock and looked down slope toward the lake.  He could see the area where the two had confronted each other but there was no sign of the creature.  Lonesome watched for several minutes, paying special attention to possible paths between himself and where he'd last seen it.  Nothing.  
    Finally, he caught some motion further off toward the cliffs and rock facings along the lakeshore.  Squinting in the afternoon light, Lonesome made out that it was the creature heading southward from where they'd met.  That was good.   He was headed north.
    Now that he was safe, Lonesome breathed a sigh of relief.  The confrontation with whatever it was had rattled him but he thought he'd handled it well in spite of the scare.  After slinging his rifle, he secured the piece of metal across his back with an extra strap.  Lonesome took one last look toward the lake to make sure he was not being followed.  He stayed behind some brush and aspen and started the long trek back to the mine where he'd tied his mule.  All the while, he replayed the entire episode in his mind.

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