Insufficient Data

A short story by…

Marcus T. Anthony (PhD)

Email: mindfutures at gmail dot com

With a thunderous roar the sky’s lone cloud parted and a most unearthly craft
veered forth. Radiating an intense light in the daytime sky, it slowed almost as
impossibly quickly as it had appeared, and came to rest upon the parched ground.
Shortly thereafter the light emanating from the vehicle dimmed, revealing an oddly
plastic-looking assemblage in light hues of grey and white. Suddenly a wall split in two,
and from the brightness within, two hominid creatures sprang forth, gasping for breath.
Tall and slender, the pair was dressed almost completely in white, in complete contrast
to the midnight blackness of their faces and hands. Not quite male, and not quite
female, their almost feline slenderness would have struck observers as being completely
out of place in the dry, hostile heat; if any such observers had been there.
 After a short while, the two regained composure, and turned to each other.
“That was certain genius, Dem. We had seconds of oxygen left.”
The shorter and thinner of the two responded shyly. “Thanks Lor, but I confess it
was little more than pure self-preservation. Besides, the data processor informed me
that there are no other oxygen rich planets with suitable gravity profiles within light
years of here.”
Lor, whose stout demeanor indicated that he was clearly the senior authority,
breathed deeply. “Not bad air at all, Dem. Slightly putrid, but breathable.” A small ,
barely visible beam of light suddenly emerged from his forehead, illuminating a screen
in front of his face. He ran his hands across it, feeling the ghostly surface of it with his
porous fingers.
“A little high in carbon dioxide. Traces of carbon monoxide.” He tiny eyes
flittered a little as he sensed the data. “What do you know about carbon monoxide?”
“Never heard of it, sir. I’m no chemist, I’m sorry. But let me check.” A light beam
immediately shone from his head and illuminated a device identical to his colleague’s.
“Carbon monoxide. Well, it will kill us in sufficient concentrations, but at the levels
detected here that would take about fifty years. This freezing air will more likely be the
end of us.”
Lor retracted his data processor and stepped forward gingerly, feeling the rough
ground with the sensors contained at the soul of his shoes. Dem followed as they moved
over the small hill before them, and walked down.
“I can hardly see a thing, it’s so dark here,” lamented Lor. Sometimes I wish we
modern Truans had the eyes like a beasts of Yorda. Not that they would do us much
good back home. The sun would burn them white within seconds.” Suddenly he stopped.
“Did you hear that?”
Dem stood fully upright, his ears prickling in the too-cold air. “Yes. A definite
rumbling sound, sir. Something large is moving this way, and quickly!”
It was too late. Terrified the two Truans stood frozen with fear as the huge, dark
object closed in on them.

Before either of them could react, the object had sped by them, and moved off
into the distance.
Lor felt his heart race. “Data! Give me data, Dem! What was that thing?”
Dem’s data screen spread before him. “Give me a moment, sir.” He nervously
maneuvered his hands across the etheric screen.
“Quickly, quickly! Lor demanded, towering over Dem. “At this rate, we’ll be dead
meat in this shithole of a world. Is it some kind of monstrous life form?”
“N… n… no, sir. Appears to be inorganic. Metalic. But it generates heat, though,
which suggests it might be a life form of some kind. Perhaps an artificial construct.”
Lor drew himself up to his full height, standing a full head above his subordinate.
“Young Truan, given that no other intelligent life forms have been discovered yet outside
of Trua in over one thousand years of interstellar travel. The data is insufficient, and
that is not a tenable hypothesis.”
“Yes, of course, sir. I’m sorry. The data does not support such pointless querying.
I must be more rational in my thought structuring.” He stopped for a moment. “Still,
there is one thing which troubles me, sir. These things, they move upon four revolving
circular structures. I have read that in primitive Truan societies vehicles used similar
structures to mobilise mechanical transportation devices. They were called wheels.
Perhaps some intelligence is causing the objects to move upon these wheels.”
Lor put a hand upon Dem’s slender shoulder. “Truans are the only intelligent
bioforms in the known universe. I understand your enthusiasm, but it’s impossible.”
Dem’s face fell
“Do not despair my young friend. This matter will not go on your report. The
emotive regions of your brain are assuming dominance due to your heightened fear. We
almost lost our lives back there. We are on a cold, dark planet. It would be enough to
test the nerves of even the bravest and most lucid minded of Truans.”
Dem let out a deep sigh, and a smile appeared upon his thin, small lips. “Yes, yes.
At least we have all the oxygen we need here. We can repair and refill the tanks in short
time, send out a distress call and get out of…”
He stopped. The young Truan saw the composure drain instantly from Lor’s face,
the fear rising. There it was again! The rumbling. Both beings froze in terror, for this
time the object was even larger and the sound quite deafening. The ground shook, and a
great wind threw them to the ground. Helpless, they felt the huge, dark mass within an
arm’s reach of their bodies. Then it was gone, the object fading off into the distance.
Picking themselves up, the two scrambled back to the security of their craft. Safe
inside, and with the intensity of light more attuned to their eyes, they were able to relax
somewhat.
Dem required no further command. He pressed his finger against a wall, and a
broad data processor emerged. “The rescue signal is already out sir. There is a team on a
star system within half a day of here. They will pick it up easily.” He smiled. “Perhaps we
should try to get some sleep now, sir.”
Lor’s face stiffened. “Yes, but there’s one procedure we have to deal with. We are
required to report all incidents which might pertain to the existence of intelligent life on
unmapped planets like these. We’ll have to set up an observation post for at least half a
day. That should be enough time to collect the data.”
Dem looked at his leader, his own face betraying his confusion. Had not Lor just
disciplined him for suggesting that the objects outside their craft might indicate the
presence of intelligent life? He blinked, then straightened his body. “That will be no
problem, sir. I will now set it up the internal monitors.”
His superior looked into Dem’s eyes, which were even smaller than Lor’s. They
had the slightly puffy look of a Truan who rarely used the sense of sight.
Instrumentation had taken over much of that function, almost rendered superfluous by
vision receptors and data processors.
“Sorry, Dem, but this will require more close-range data. Can you prepare the
external data processors?” It was not so much a question as command. Dem swallowed
hard, his throat dry with fear. He knew that as the junior member of the crew, he would
have to assume responsibility for a task that was potentially life threatening. Truan Law
stated that the senior officer on a ship could not endanger their own existence, where a
lower ranking Truan was available for the task.
Dem stepped out into the frigid evening air, the planet even darker and colder
than it had been earlier in the day. He shivered as he moved forward to the place where
the rumbling objects had been detected. Now it had been determined that they were
traveling in a straight line and along a predetermined path, he could set up the data
processors knowing they would not be in the pathway of the oncoming entities. Still,
when the next object roared past, he felt the surge of terror again. Yet as he went about
his work, and more objects passed safely, he began to relax a little. All the data
confirmed that the objects were not going to pass over the location he was standing. He
hurried back to the craft.
That night Dem dreamt of the great monsters of the great Lorean folklore. With
their giant teeth, eyes huge and hungry, they lusted to drag him back into the darkness
of caves underground, where the monsters sheltered from the blistering Truan sun. As
one bore down on him, it stuck a greasy limb on his bare shoulder. He bolted awake, a
thin, dry scream about to break from his tiny throat.
“Relax, Dem, it’s just me.” It was his commander standing over him, his hand
upon Dem’s frail shoulder, shaking him from his slumber.
“Sorry, sir. Bad dream.”
“The data is in Dem. Looks like there is nothing to worry about. These hideous
things appear to be nothing more than naturally occurring phenomena; soulless life
forms which are part of the planets’ evolving ecostructures. But I’d like you to check the
data again more thoroughly if you could.”
“No need to ask sir,” his younger companion affirmed as he approached the
internal data projector.
He flicked through images generated by the machine. He blinked, strained his
eyes.
Lor looked closer, a puzzled expression on his eyes. “What in the universe are
these things?
“I honestly don’t know sir. Irregular shapes, iron and plastic materials. There is
some kind of flat, plate-like metallic protrusion emerging from the ground beside the
pathway used by the objects. There appears to be some markings on the plate. Could be
artificial.
“Nonsense!” boomed Lor, his face tight with agitation. “We are scientists. Stick to
the observation data, please. I want facts, not wild guesses!”
Dem felt a slight surge of anger rising within him. He had been humiliated before
his commander. There was no greater damage to a Truan’s professional reputation than
to come to invalid conclusions as a result of miscalculating data. Thousands of years of
emotion-laden chaos had led to the conviction that truth lay in fact, not emotion.
Dem brought up the image of the plate onto the datascreen. They were staring at
a white, flat protrusion with dark black markings upon it.

Las Vegas
155 miles

“Well, what do you make of it, young Truan?”

For a moment Dem felt a surge of intense feeling within his mind, a distant voice
calling from the evolutionary past of the Truan species. There was something both
beautiful and terrifying about it, like riding down the rapids of a mountain river.
“It could be…” Dem’s shaky hands felt though the screen. The feeling almost
overwhelmed him. There was a moment of terror as it seemed that he would lose control
and insanity would take hold. Then it was gone. His certainty returned, strong.
 “Sir, there’s no mechanism for determining if the plate’s markings represent
some form of information. Yet the data we have tells the story. The large objects are
indeed propelled by the dark circular units at their base – the wheels, if you like.”
“Meaning?”
“The objects move because the wheels go round.”
“Impressive work, Dem. There may well be a promotion in this for you, after I
submit my report.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“No need to thank me, Dem. Thank the system. We reward straight thinking and
intelligence. Now let’s get off this cold, forsaken planet and back to the real world.”
Later, as the rescue ship sped the two Truans safely away from the planet, a
proud smile lit up Dem’s face. His job was done, and all was normal.

* * *

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