Quiet Invasion(5)

“I…I’m getting some pictures in from one of the drones near Beta Regio that you need to see, Dr. Failia.”

Helen’s fingers twitched as she tried not to clench her hands into fists. “This is not a good time, Derek. Shoot me up a file and I’ll go over it—”

“No, Dr. Failia.” Strain tightened Derek’s voice. “You really need to see this right now.”

Curiosity and concern surfaced together in Helen’s mind. She glanced back at Ben and Michael, who both returned blank stares. A glance at Grace produced a shrug and a pair of spread hands.

“All right, Derek,” said Helen. “Show me.”

Without another word, Derek pushed his chair back so they had a clear view of his wall screen. Helen heard him give soft orders to his desk to display the current uplink.

The screen’s view changed. The gigantic plateau wall receded into the distance. In its place stood a smaller, rounded canyon wall, the kind that typically bordered the ancient lava channels. On the canyon’s cracked floor, Helen saw something sticking up out of the ground. Derek gave another order. The view zoomed in.

The new, tighter view showed a perfectly circular shaft protruding from the Venusian ground.

“Oh my God,” whispered Michael. Helen just got out of her chair and walked slowly forward until her nose almost touched the intercom screen.

It was not anything that should have been there, but there it was. It was circular. It had a cap on it. Its gray sides glinted dully in Venus’s ashen light, and it sank straight into the bedrock.

“This is live,” said Derek from his post off-screen. “I’m getting this in right now from SD-25.”

“You’ve done a diagnostic?” cut in Ben. He supervised Derek’s “department.” “The drone is functioning on spec?”

“On spec and in the green,” said Derek “I…I didn’t believe what I was seeing, so I sent SD-24 down after it. This is what I’m getting from SD-24.” He gave another order and the view shifted again. Now they looked down from above, as if the camera drone perched on the canyon wall, which it probably did.

The capped shaft sat there, smooth and circular and utterly impossible. Even Venus, which had produced stone formations seen nowhere else in the solar system, had not created those smooth lines, that flattened lid.

“Well,” said Ben. “I don’t remember putting that there.”

“Derek,” said Helen quietly, “I want you to keep both drones on-site. I want that thing recorded from every possible angle. I want it measured and I want its dimensions and position to the millimeter. We’ll get a scarab down there to look at it.”

“Yes, Dr. Failia.” Derek sounded relieved that someone else was making the decisions.

“Well done, young man,” she added.

“Thank you, Dr. Failia.”

The intercom cut out and Helen turned slowly around. “Do I have to say it?” she asked dryly.

“You mean that if that’s what it looks like—” began Ben.

“We have evidence of life on Venus?” Grace folded her arms. Her green eyes gleamed brightly. “Oh, please, Helen. I’d love to hear you say it, just once.”

A muscle in Helen’s temple spasmed. “Now is not the time to be petty, Grace.”

Grace smiled. “Oh no, not petty, Helen. But you’ll have to allow me a little smugness. I’ve been shouting in the wilderness for years now. If this bears out—”

“If this bears out.” Ben emphasized the first word heavily. “Venus has thrown up some landscapes that make the old face on Mars look passé.’ He pushed himself to his feet. “Kevin is on shift. I’ll have him outfit us a scarab ay-sap.” Kevin Cusmanos was Derek’s older brother. He was also chief engineer and pilot for the surface-to-air explorer units known as scarabs, which transported people to and from the Venusian surface. “I assume you’re coming down to see what’s what?” Ben looked pointedly at Helen.

“Of course,” she answered. “And Michael’s coming with us.” She looked to him for approval and he nodded. His face held a kind of stunned wonder as the implications filtered through him. Helen knew exactly how he felt. If this was played out, it meant so many things. It meant human beings were not alone in the universe. It meant there was not only intelligent life out there somewhere but it had also left its traces on Venus.

It meant money for Venera.

Grace opened her mouth, but Helen held up her hand. “Not this run, Grace. Next one, if it turns out to be more than rocks and heat distortion.” Keep up the patter, Helen. You do not know what’s really down there. You only know what it looks like.