Titan's New Species and 587

Titan's New Species and 587

by Jason Earls, author of Red Zen & Cocoon of Terror

Q9 punched two buttons and turned a dial on the console of his Mezlox vehicle, which read: 19.5601. "That is unacceptable," he muttered in a deep robotic voice.

The muddy surface of Titan, one of Saturn's seventeen satellites, was proving too difficult to traverse. Q9 was working hard to correct the problem, adjusting the instrumentation of his Mezlox.

Orange and green lights flashed over the display screen forming a dodecahedron pattern, two long beeps sounded. "Twenty three point five oh eight," read Q9. "That should be satisfactory. Now I will locate him."

Q9 beginning trudging through Titan's heavy atmosphere. The year was 2318 and he was searching for Colonel Hopkins. The Mezlox splashed through a shallow puddle of black fluid with crimson swirls, then climbed its way over an icy crater. Q9 noticed a silver figure flashing two kilometers away through the heavy organic smog. The robot accelerated and the vehicle's treads bounced over the odoriferous surface. Seconds later he halted and said: "Colonel Hopkins, I've been searching for you for hours. Has something gone wrong with your mission?"

The colonel wiped the window of his helmet. "Robot, identify yourself."

"Model Q9, salute. Number 587 above all."

The Colonel didn't need to know what model of robot had been sent for him. But he did need to hear that last sentence. The U.S. had adopted the slogan as a safety precaution against the danger of forged robots from other galaxies ever since the number 587 had become the object of close scrutiny - and some would say even worship - among astrophysicists.

587 had been turning up everywhere in deep space research, but two instances in particular stood out: First, numerous objects in space had been discovered emitting a black body radiation signal of 587 nanometers. Second, an astronaut had traveled to Io, one of Jupiter's moons to study its largest active volcano, and when she returned her face was almost paralyzed as if she'd stared into the essence of a cosmological abyss for a significant period of time. She could only chant, "Five hundred eighty seven, five hundred eighty seven, ..." repeatedly and she did so for 18 hours straight.

"Q9, there is life here," said Colonel Hopkins. He was pale and his voice warbled out of his white helmet. "I've been bitten by something. The creature looked part arachnid and part feline and it was gargantuan."

Q9 climbed down from his Mezlox. He bent and picked up an orange crystal of unknown composition and placed it in a small metal compartment of his left leg for future testing. "Bitten, sir? How did the creature manage to bite through your protective suit?"

"Their teeth are extraordinary, Q9. I could hardly believe I'd been bitten myself." The colonel glanced down and pointed to his chest where the protective sealant of his suit had filled the holes.

"Do you need medical attention, sir?"

"No. If I'm infected, nothing more can be done at this point."

"Where is your vehicle, sir?"

The colonel turned to his right, looking toward the location of the attack. "The creature destroyed my Mezlox. It must have drug it into a cave not far from here."

The robot nodded.

"I'll start at the beginning and describe the indigenous creatures to you."

Q9 pushed a button on his chest. "Proceed, sir. I'm recording."

"They crawl short distances using their spiderlike legs while their panther-like hindquarters hang curled above them as if they are walking on their hands. When they need to run they propel themselves backward onto their large hind legs and sprint at incredible speeds."

Q9 nodded again, then performed a quick safety scan of the landscape by rotating his head 180 degrees and back. "A quick aside, sir. Your description reminds me of Kerzef's third biological law of planetary exploration: 'Animal transmutation is inevitable.'

Fascinating, sir. Continue."

The colonel wiped the window of his space helmet again, his hand shaking. "There must be several families of the creatures living in the caves about two kilometers from here. They're obviously well suited to the extreme cold and bad aroma of Titan; and their teeth are hideous."

"Properly noted. Explain how you were bitten, sir."

The colonel inhaled, then released a fatigued sigh. "The creature tackled me and positioned its head over my chest. Three teeth then penetrated my suit just enough for tubes to descend from the center of its fangs. The tubes attached directly to the skin of my left pectoral muscle. But the creature did not suck my blood out, instead it extracted my plasma."

Q9 tilted his head. "How do you know it extracted your plasma, sir?"

"When it pulled its teeth from my flesh and raised up, a yellowish-white fluid dripped from the center of its fangs. I could not see any blood, so naturally I assumed it was my plasma."

A light rain of nitrogen and methane began to fall. Q9 watched the precipitation melt into the black and crimson surface. His computer/brain produced two readouts in the upper right corner of his field of vision. One was the data for the rate of absorption. The other the amount of time they had before the Mezlox would be unable to traverse the mucky surface.

Q9 turned and shifted his attention back to the colonel's report. "Is there anything else?"

The colonel glanced around the landscape. "One more thing. I'll tell you about the almost supernatural sounds the creature produced."

"Hurry, sir."

"While I was under attack, I glared up into the four huge, bloodshot eyes of the beast, totally helpless as it preyed upon me. Then the high-pitched melodies began. The notes were incredibly fast and loud, the melodies unlike anything I'd ever heard -- motorized 128th notes that produced a disturbing feeling in me... The most uncanny sounds... I hated the feeling... I can't fully explain it... I don't understand what's happening here on..."

Colonel Hopkins fell back and Q9 lunged and caught him.

The colonel shook his head and stood up. "I'm all right, let me finish."

Q9 checked that the colonel's feet were planted solidly before releasing him and stepping back.

"After it sucked my plasma, it must have injected me with a small amount of venom because thirty seconds after it crawled off I became violently ill. I vomited many times. The bottom of my space suit is filled to my shins. I doubt if I'll survive."

Q9 watched as the Colonel peered over his shoulder with his eyes widening. "One of the creatures just ran from one cave to another. They're coming for us Q9. Prepare for another attack. We've stayed here too long!"

The robot stepped forward and placed an arm around the colonel's waist. "Sir, I will help you onto the Mezlox, then set the Pext gun to kill mode."

"Yes. That's wise. But I don't need help. Let's go."

They climbed onto the Mezlox and Colonel Hopkins sat down. Q9 moved swiftly, faster than any human could, preparing the Pext gun and adjusting the controls. The robot turned the vehicle around and they traveled approximately 100 feet when one of the creatures crawled out of a cave to their right. It was more than ten feet wide and crept along with its gargantuan panther-like legs suspended above it. The creature spun around, observed them, then squatted on its powerful legs and lunged. It caught Q9 with the majority of its spider-like body while one of its smaller legs hit the Colonel. They flew off the Mezlox and rolled over the foul surface of Titan. The creature bit into Q9 before he could protect himself, while Colonel Hopkins lay on his stomach, uninjured, watching as the creature held its teeth deep in the robot's back until its sucker-tubes descended. The colonel was curious about what would happen next since Q9 had no plasma to extract.

The creature emitted an evil sound when it realized there was no nourishment inside the robot. The melody was trilled 64th notes and sounded as if the creature were speaking English: "Five hundred eighty seven, Five hundred eighty seven, ..." The Colonel watched the creature's body spasm as it injected a massive amount of venom into Q9, obviously frustrated at not obtaining any sustenance.

Colonel Hopkins struggled to his feet and ran to the Mezlox cruiser and climbed on, reaching for the Pext gun. The creature turned around and looked at him, its eyelids rising and falling. Then it crawled back into its cave, probably assuming the colonel's body contained no plasma as well. The colonel tried to fire, but didn't have time enough to aim. He saw the number 587 emblazoned in yellow across the creature's back.

He jabbed at the buttons on the console. He looked over at Q9 still lying motionless. "Q9! Q9! What is your condition?"

The robot lay in a shallow pool of black and crimson muck and didn't respond.

"Q9! I'm coming!"

But Colonel Hopkins saw a pair of panther legs sprout from Q9's back and start growing at a prodigious rate.

The colonel clenched his jaw and shook sweat from his eyes.

He watched thick hair form on Q9's arms and head, then smaller legs shoot out from his chest and stomach. The venom was turning the robot into an amalgamation of arachnid, panther, and machine.

Colonel Hopkins choked and gasped, his brain scrambling to understand the situation. My God, he thought. Now there will be a new creature here on Titan. A monster with the extraordinary computer/brain and swift reflexes of the US's most advanced robots, along with the deadly qualities of these indigenous creatures. Could this planet be the source of the mysterious 587 phenomenon? What the hell does it all mean? These creatures must have something to do with that number.

The colonel accelerated the Mezlox, splashing through a puddle of liquid methane. Drops of black goop splattered his helmet and he tried to fling the sludge away. He looked over his shoulder, and saw the newly formed monstrosity that used to be Q9 crawling into a cave. The number 587 was clearly visible on the back of both its now enormous suspended hind legs.

"I've got to get back to Earth for proper reinforcements," said the colonel, "then we will come back and destroy them all."

-end-

Jason Earls is author of the books Cocoon of Terror (Afterbirth Books), Red Zen, Heartless Bast*rd In Ecstasy, How to Become a Guitar Player from Hell, If(Sid_Vicious == TRUE && Alan_Turing == TRUE) {ERROR_Cyberpunk(); } and 0.136101521283655... all available at Amazon.com and other online book stores. His fiction and mathematical work have been published in Red Scream, Yankee Pot Roast, Scientia Magna, three of Clifford Pickover's books, Wretched & Violent, Mathworld, Chiaroscuro, Switchblade, Dogmatika, Neometropolis, Prime Curios, the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, OG's Speculative Fiction, AlienSkin, Escaping Elsewhere, Werewolf, Recreational and Educational Computing, Thirteen, Theatre of Decay, Nocturnal Ooze, Prime Curios, Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens, The Swallow's Tail, and other publications. He currently resides in Texas with his wife, Christine.