Read Online Saucer: Savage Planet by Stephen Coonts - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Stephen Coonts
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animals.”
“Roswell, New Mexico, 1947. Were those your colleagues?”
“Yes. Here to look for us, probably. At least I have their ship. Unfortunately someone shot it up with an antimatter weapon and destroyed the communications equipment.”
“That would be me,” Charley Pine said modestly.
Solo smiled at her, then said, “I need your help. I must use the comm gear in the saucer you have sitting outside on the stone.”
“It’s a bit small.”
“That is a problem. I need it brought back to its full size so that I can get inside and talk to the computers. And talk to my controllers, ask them to send a rescue ship.”
“You people haven’t been doing so well on this planet,” Egg observed. “What makes you think they’ll send a rescue mission?”
Solo shrugged. “Who knows if they even can? At least I can report in. The galaxy is a large, hostile place. We are a few tiny blobs of protoplasm, wandering back and forth between the stars. Death could happen at any moment.”
“Or you could live for a thousand years.”
“Either way, one will eventually be dead forever, which is indeed a long, long time.” Solo smiled. “All that matters is the adventure along the way.”
“Do you really believe that?” Uncle Egg asked sharply.
Solo took in a bushel of air and exhaled through his nose. “Well, I used to.”
“Let me see if I understand you,” Charley Pine said with a toss of her head. “You people have introduced DNA samples into living creatures here on this planet? Is that correct?”
Solo shrugged. “That’s essentially correct, but—”
“You are using living creatures here on earth as hosts for alien DNA samples?”
“When you state it that way it sounds bad—”
“Don’t you damned aliens have any ethics at all?”
For the first time, Solo’s voice hardened. “A few strands of DNA introduced into a host may well be the only way to preserve the information it contains. If the DNA doesn’t interfere with the host’s life or ability to reproduce, what better way to preserve the information? Everything made by man decays, erodes, eventually returns to dust. Planets come and go, stars burn out, asteroids journey erratically through the solar systems … only living creatures have the ability to resist the ravages of time. The bottom line—if your species becomes extinct you’ve lost your race.”
* * *
Egg prepared dinner. A lifelong bachelor who appreciated good food, he was an excellent cook. Tonight his heart wasn’t in it. He kept glancing out the window into the evening darkness.
“They’ll be back,” Rip said, reading his uncle’s mood. “That’s what you are worried about, isn’t it?”
Egg whacked a spoon on the counter and glared fiercely. “At times the world is a miserable place. That maniac Douglas shot out my windows. He cares nothing of the consequences if he gets what he wants.”
Rip tried to think of something to say and couldn’t. John Sutter discovered gold at his mill in California in 1849 and died a pauper. Greedy people took every acre, everything he had. He had faced a human tsunami, and inevitably he lost.
“Sometimes the law breaks down,” Rip observed. “Civilization isn’t so civilized.” He glanced at Charley, who had poured a glass of wine for Solo and one for herself. They were sipping it and chatting.
He glanced at Uncle Egg, who was standing in front of the stove examining his spoon. It was bent double. Apparently Egg had bent it without realizing what he was doing.
They ate dinner in Egg’s living room with their plates on their laps as a wood fire in the fireplace threw off heat and cast a cheery glow.
As they ate, the Cantrells and Charley Pine gently questioned Adam Solo. “Tell us about your home, the planet and society in which you grew up,” Egg suggested. He had been mining the memories of the Sahara saucer’s crew and knew not only where they were from but their life histories and families as they
“Roswell, New Mexico, 1947. Were those your colleagues?”
“Yes. Here to look for us, probably. At least I have their ship. Unfortunately someone shot it up with an antimatter weapon and destroyed the communications equipment.”
“That would be me,” Charley Pine said modestly.
Solo smiled at her, then said, “I need your help. I must use the comm gear in the saucer you have sitting outside on the stone.”
“It’s a bit small.”
“That is a problem. I need it brought back to its full size so that I can get inside and talk to the computers. And talk to my controllers, ask them to send a rescue ship.”
“You people haven’t been doing so well on this planet,” Egg observed. “What makes you think they’ll send a rescue mission?”
Solo shrugged. “Who knows if they even can? At least I can report in. The galaxy is a large, hostile place. We are a few tiny blobs of protoplasm, wandering back and forth between the stars. Death could happen at any moment.”
“Or you could live for a thousand years.”
“Either way, one will eventually be dead forever, which is indeed a long, long time.” Solo smiled. “All that matters is the adventure along the way.”
“Do you really believe that?” Uncle Egg asked sharply.
Solo took in a bushel of air and exhaled through his nose. “Well, I used to.”
“Let me see if I understand you,” Charley Pine said with a toss of her head. “You people have introduced DNA samples into living creatures here on this planet? Is that correct?”
Solo shrugged. “That’s essentially correct, but—”
“You are using living creatures here on earth as hosts for alien DNA samples?”
“When you state it that way it sounds bad—”
“Don’t you damned aliens have any ethics at all?”
For the first time, Solo’s voice hardened. “A few strands of DNA introduced into a host may well be the only way to preserve the information it contains. If the DNA doesn’t interfere with the host’s life or ability to reproduce, what better way to preserve the information? Everything made by man decays, erodes, eventually returns to dust. Planets come and go, stars burn out, asteroids journey erratically through the solar systems … only living creatures have the ability to resist the ravages of time. The bottom line—if your species becomes extinct you’ve lost your race.”
* * *
Egg prepared dinner. A lifelong bachelor who appreciated good food, he was an excellent cook. Tonight his heart wasn’t in it. He kept glancing out the window into the evening darkness.
“They’ll be back,” Rip said, reading his uncle’s mood. “That’s what you are worried about, isn’t it?”
Egg whacked a spoon on the counter and glared fiercely. “At times the world is a miserable place. That maniac Douglas shot out my windows. He cares nothing of the consequences if he gets what he wants.”
Rip tried to think of something to say and couldn’t. John Sutter discovered gold at his mill in California in 1849 and died a pauper. Greedy people took every acre, everything he had. He had faced a human tsunami, and inevitably he lost.
“Sometimes the law breaks down,” Rip observed. “Civilization isn’t so civilized.” He glanced at Charley, who had poured a glass of wine for Solo and one for herself. They were sipping it and chatting.
He glanced at Uncle Egg, who was standing in front of the stove examining his spoon. It was bent double. Apparently Egg had bent it without realizing what he was doing.
They ate dinner in Egg’s living room with their plates on their laps as a wood fire in the fireplace threw off heat and cast a cheery glow.
As they ate, the Cantrells and Charley Pine gently questioned Adam Solo. “Tell us about your home, the planet and society in which you grew up,” Egg suggested. He had been mining the memories of the Sahara saucer’s crew and knew not only where they were from but their life histories and families as they
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