Beneath the Red Sand

33 || Chapter Thirty-Three

The next morning, Noah, Ian, Bill, and I stand in the command central of the alien habitat, staring at the readout. I can't decipher half of it, but judging by our team leader's wild grin, it must contain good news.

"Okay, what does this mean?" I ask. The two numbers I understand of the massive display glowing in red on the wall panel indicate atmospheric pressure and oxygen level. While the oxygen level is a healthy 98 percent, I don't even know what the atmospheric pressure should be.

"Better than good," the team leader's partner says. "Everything looks stable. We'll give it another day or two to be sure."

"Okay, you two," the team leader says. "Skedaddle. We've done everything we can here, and you two have a meeting to get to, right?"

"That we do," Noah says. We pass Mr. Gryffin on the way through the atrium, and he raises an expectant eyebrow at us. "Everything looks good," Noah reports and proceeds to recite every environmental statistic from memory.

"Great work," he says. "Good luck today."

"Thank you, sir," Noah says. "I think we're gonna need it."

Halfway along the newly discovered alien hallway, Noah pulls my arm to halt me. "What is it?" I ask, reading the worry on his face.

"Are you sure about this?" He whispers. Can we trust these people?"

"Noah," I say. "We have to give them a chance to win their leaders over. Otherwise, we lose our last shot to stay here. What we do here could create a whole new society. This is groundbreaking stuff" I say. "You can make it happen."

He nods, expression solemn, and answers, " I don't like taking this responsibility on my shoulders yet. I was trained for this, but I still don't like overstepping my bounds here."

"Well," I say. "We'll get a read on these people, take it slow and cautious, and see what they say, okay?"

Noah nods. "Okay."

We step into their atrium and discover a group of aliens already standing around in a circle in the center of the chamber.

"Come," one says, and I recognize his voice as belonging to the informal leader who spoke with us yesterday, even though he looks so much like everyone else I wouldn't have known who he was to see him. He clicks his claws together, and I take it to be an invitation to join them in the circle too, so Noah and I do.

"I'm afraid we have had no luck swaying the higher leaders to your cause," the alien says. He stands on Noah's left and turns to face us. "Unfortunately, they see you as a threat and do not want your kind remaining on our world. However, many of us would share with you, provided you know that any attempts to harm our efforts to revive the environment by using human methods will be punishable by exile. First, you must convince the Guardian you deserve to remain here, She has come to hear your case, but I warn you, she has little patience for your kind. Speak wisely."

I swallow hard. Exile would likely mean death, especially if we're tossed out into a hostile environment that hasn't been terraformed yet. The Guardian appears in a swirl of green mist, and I tremble as the fierce, almost human shape coalesces into something translucent, not quite solid. Taller than a human by several feet, pale green skin with red-black hair and glowing golden eyes, she looms over me and Noah. Her intent stare bores into us, taught muscles poised to strike a fatal attack if we make one wrong move. "You dare to speak for your people here? Then on your head be the consequences. Tell me why I should let you live, let alone remain on my world and risk you harming my children."

Noah nods calmly as if he's more than ready for this challenge. He has to be quaking in his Martian boots like I am, but he shows no outward signs of nervousness. "We don't want to disrupt what you're doing here, Guardian, especially if your people have technology capable of creating an environment compatible for all of us. We wish only to live in peace and prosper here, together. Now, some of our people plan to return to Earth, if you would permit us to live until a shuttle arrives for us in seven month's time."