By the Rivers of Babylon

“Retro rockets fired. Green board on all three pods.”1

*2

“Drogue shutes deployed. Green board on all three pods.”3

*4

“Main paras deployed and inflating. Green board. I repeat, green board.”5

*6

“Guidance confirmed. Target sites confirmed.”7

*8

“All pods down and signalling. Paras deflating. Intergrity confirmed.”9

**10

The whole insertion process of the three unmanned cargo pods had taken less than fifteen minutes. On the next orbit the two crewed landers would drop through the atmosphere, and bring the first exploration mission to the surface of Kyrryl 6.11

****12

Ever since exiting the lander she had sensed that she and the rest of the mission were being watched, closely. By vocation Bardell was a Guardian. By inclination she was a philosopher and historian. As now, per usual, she was being both. As she stood at the entrance of the recently erected hut she allowed her eyes to take in both the terrain and the alien beauty of the valley below her. The plain of the river was one huge garden rolling inland from the shoreline far into the distant glacier crested cordilla. She was grateful to have been assigned to the first expedition, knowing that eventually, her people would despoil this planet also. Now it was still fresh, pristine.13

Almost pristine. Already the robotic geological probes were moving through the foothills, seeking the hidden mineral wealth that the explorers hoped lay on this planet, Kyrryl 6. The survival of the settlements on Kyrryl 7 depended on it.14

Her eyes played between the sweep of the valley and the drone’s monitors in front of her; her perception of the vista enhanced by the sophisticated feedback from the drone. Visual image, ground-penetrating radar, maping radar, environmental sensors, all recording data the technical people would interpret and utilise. Indeed, until the environmental scientists gave the all-clear, the entire mission would continue to wear their hazard suits and breathe through filters. It was contraining, just when Bardell wished to have freedom of movement. 15

In her mind Bardell sought an analogy for the valley of gardens she saw below her. From the 100 meter height of this hilltop she could see well up the long, wide river valley towards the towering central mountain range that ran the length of this planet’s single landmass. Glaciated along its entire length, its waters fed the several rivers that disected the continent. Previous probes had sent back pictures that confirmed that each river valley contained similar gardens. Only the foothills, with their dense forests seperating the valleys, and the massive equitorial swamplands, that broke the mountain cordilla into two halves, were free of the well regulated gardens. 16

Indeed, the explorers called them ‘gardens’ only for want of a better description. Kyrryl 6, the first life-sustaining planet in this twin-sun system, had initially been bypassed five generations ago by the colonists that had landed on Kyrryl 7. K-6 had only the one continental landmass, as opposed to K-7’s three larger ones. And, K-6’s two-season weather pattern was less suitable to the colonists’ desires for a home-like ‘homeworld’ environment. Yet for all its promise, K-7 had proved nearly devoid of exploitable mineral resources. Homeworld types of agriculture could flourish, but lack of resources kept technological development and material ease retarded. Indeed, this crewed mission to K-6 was a make-or-break one; virtually unrepeatable unless the main ship could bring back significant loads of refined metals and enriched uranium.17

Seen from space, K-6’s continental landmass lay like a half-submerged marine animal on the face of the planet’s ocean, a long, wide-bodied, multi-limbed beast, clearly marked by its white glacial cordilla and green-striped valleys. Yet for all the envidence of sentient stewardship of the valleys; the geometric fields, the roadways and bridges, there was no visual evidence of an indigenous population. No towns, no buildings, no traffic on the road system. It was all a mystery.18

And the mystery deepened after the mission landed. 19

After their feathered-drag insertion phase the two vehicles reconfigured as lifting bodies and used the indigenous avenues by the inland sea as landing strips. The environment that greeted them when they exited the landing craft was full of life. Indigneous ‘bird’ life filled thei air. Racous and brigntly coloured flying fauna moved through the plant life. Majestic soaring creatures lofted on thermals. Rodent-like fauna scampered between vegetation. Larger fauna were glimpsed on distant hillsides at the edge of the forests. Yet, no sign of a dominant, intelegent species.20

Had they become extinct? Were they hiding? Invisible?21

The appropriate metaphor finally broke into her conscious mind; the ‘Hanging Gardens of Babylon’. An ancient wonder of Old Earth, vaguely remembered. She’d look it up on the memory banks when she got back to the mothership. Each area of ‘garden’ here consisted of a field of some vegetation laid out in rows, remeniscent of a crop. At the centre of each field was a two storey stone structure. The structure was terraced, with each terrace holding a flowering species of vegetation, and shrub-like small trees. Not over two meters, the trees had a willow-like appearance, but a thick trunk. A ramp curved up the side of the structure, and, as a recon squad had reported, led to a flat roof of woven reeds. The matting covered a pit filled with vegetable matter. It smelled, reported one science technician, like a fermenting compost heap. 22

The indigenous road system was a wonderment to them all. It followed the river for about 60 kilometers, was broad enough for four humans to walk abreast, had a smooth-packed soil surface, and was edged by a stone drainage system. Yet, the road surface showed no vehicular wear; nor did the tight-fitting, un-mortared stones show any sign of toolwork. Every kilometer or so there was a bridge spaning the river. The bridges were also built of stone, and had extensive carvings. The carvings reminded Bardell of leafy vines interwtined. Yet again, there were no signs of any other toolmarks on the stones. The arches used a key-stone system, and the spans were wide enough for two humans to walk abreast. 23

It was almost as if everything had been freshly built. Yet Bardell knew that planetary probes had recorded these roads and gardens for over a generation prior to this manned mission.24

On either side of the plain foothills rose. These were covered with a dense vegetation of what everyone called ‘trees’. Trees for their height and girth, though not for any similarity to trees that the explorers knew. And exploration of these forests was well down on the priority list for many months to come. Could the indigenous inhabitants be hiding, or even dwelling in the fathomless woods? 25

As her eyes swept the valley, Bardell sensed a frisson of movement. It seemed to sweep up the valley, and then back down again; like a breeze. She was distraced by a voice in her ear.26

“Hargraf to Bardell. Come in Bardell,” the Guardian commander called from the HQ base camp near the shoreline.27

“Bardell here, sir.”28

“On your contour map monitor, can you find the hill about two kilometers up the avenue from the shoreline?”29

“Yes, sir. Got it.”30

“I want you to take a squad and equipment for a week, and set up an O.P. there. This absence of visible sentient life forms has me cautious. I want real eyes and ears out there, as well as our drones.”31

“Aye aye, sir. We’ll set out in about one hour.”32

“That’s fine. Check in with Melvich when you have set up, and then every day at six-hour intervals. I’ll send a relief squad in seven days.”33

“Aye aye, sir; 6-hourly reports, and relief in seven days.”34

“And Bardell; keep a tight rein on your men. Remember the directive; don’t take, taste or drink anything until further notice.”35

“Yes, sir.”36

“Hargraf out.”37

Bardell unslung her fieldscope and focused on the hilltop in the middle distance. The avenue crested there, giving a 360 visual of the terrain. A good place for an observation post. But. But, in Bardell’s mind, a bit out on a limb, should anything happen.38

Below her she zoomed in on the activity around the three cargo pods. Each the size of a landing ship, the pods contained the equipment, supplied, modular housing and machinery needed for this mission. She called up the loadmaster on pod 2. “Dennix, this is Bardell. Hargraf wants me to take a squad out for a week. Can you have your men set the gear out for us. We’ll be there in an hour. OK?”39

“Rog that. It’ll be waiting.”40

Then she swung her scope across the broad lake formed by the river. The dark waters spoke of great depth. She estimated the circumference at more than 45 kilometers. At its southeastern end the lake drained into a chasm that led the waters to the ocean a few kilometers beyond. She wondered when the scientists would turn their attention to the lake and the great planetary ocean. Kyrryl 7 was without oceans. Only rivers, lakes and two minor seas.41

Turning her back on the vista, Bardell moved into the depth of the pre-fab lodgement and selected 6 men to form the patrol. An hour later she and the patrol had walked down the hill and stood before a small pile of equipment designed to support their O.P. for the next week. The men loaded the supplies on to a wheeled carrier frame, and began the hour’s walk out to the selected position. She assigned Wessern and Sipriti to point, while she helped the other four men pull the wagon.42

It was a strange experience, walking along this avenue, listening to the river, watching the avians flitting about, looking at the strangely beautiful flora arranged so geometrically, feeling the breeze soften the radiance of the double suns. The ellyptical orbits of Kyrryl 6 and Kyrryl 7 accounted for their similar habitability. Planets closer in were molten, or completely arid cinders. Those further out frigid and lifeless. How exceedingly rare to have two viable planets. The men were quiet, yet alert as they trudged up the slight incline of the avenue.43

‘The Avenue’ they had quickly dubbed it, this road that spoke of engineering ability, yet seemed unused. The unknown was bothering the men, Bardell could sense it. Who and what, and above all, where, were the planet’s inhabitants? The patrol kept their weapons at the ready, and searched every field, every platform, every pathway, the irrigation channels and the riverbanks with their eyes, for some sign of sentient life forms, fearful of ambush.44

Bardell heard a drone gaining height above them as it began another overflight of the valley. As it passed above them she called a halt for a quick breather. She set the brakes on the cart and called Wessern and Sipriti to her.45

“Sipriti, take charge of the men for 5 minutes. Wessern come with me.” Without waiting for acknowledgements she started up a lane towards the nearest platform; the ‘hanging gardens’ as she’d named them. She hadn’t had time before to investigate one up close. As with all the others in this valley, it was an octogon of two tiers, about five meters tall. Curving gently around it was a ramp from groundlevel to the top. Each tier held stone bins full of flora. And interspersed between all the bright flora were willow-like bushes. The bushes contrasted with the bright and varigated flora, having silver-green leaves, very long, whispy branches, and stout trunks. Some of these ‘willows’ were upwards of two meters tall, while others were of sapling size.46

“Stay here,” she ordered Wessern as she began to climb the ramp. It was a shallow gradient, but each step gave a different and not unpleasant vista of the surrounding fields. On reaching the top Bardell could see the symmetry of the layout, and the obvious care that the vegetation in the fields received. There was a beautiful fragrance wafting at this height, one she hadn’t noticed at ground level. Also, she could smell the fermenting of the compost in the pit in the centre of the platform. 47

Then, dramatically, all the scents were overpowered by an acrid, stinging scent. Jarred by it, she turned to go back down when she caught sight of Wessern pulling up a sapling willow. “Wessern! Stop!” she yelled as she sprinted down the ramp, jumping off when still a meter from the ground. Wessern was standing before a bin trying to shake loose the sapling he’d irrationally touched. “Wessern, you idiot! You’ve a thicker skull than a Zebrelan! Don’t you remember the directive? ‘don’t take, taste or drink anything until further notice!’”48

“I. ah… it grabbed me!” he pleaded.49

“Stop shaking it! Here, let me.” Bardell reached out her gloved hands to take the uprooted sapling from the perplexed soldier. The small plantlife almost seemed to reach for her when her fingers gently touched its slender trunk, and cupped the dangling roots. She had the strangest impression, as if she were standing there watching all this. She held the fragile plant in one hand while she enlarged the hole where Wessern had uprooted the willow. 50

Gently she placed the sapling into the hole, backfilled and tamped down the soil. Then, taking her canteen, she sprikled a little water on it. It was then that she realised that the acrid smell was gone.51

“I’m sorry, Chief, I just wanted to see it close up. It really did feel like it grabbed me when I touched it. I jerked my hand away, and up it came! I’m real sorry Chief,” Wessern babled sheepishly.52

When they returned to the carrier Bardell explained what had happened, and re-enforced the directive, again: ‘don’t take, taste or drink anything until further notice!’ The men got the messsage, for a while, perhaps. But, as a lesson, she put Wessern at her place on the pulling, and moved Lannan up to point with Sipriti.53

On reaching the crest of the hill they looked back down the avenue. There was line-of-sight to both the C.P. by the shoreline, and the other O.P. on the knowl where she had stood earlier in the day. In the opposite direction she could see well into the valley. No wonder the commander had chosen this spot for an O.P. Bardell split the squad into three two-man teams, each to take an 8-hour quard duty once they had set up camp.54

Rather than clear vegetation in a field, which she was loath to do until the gardens were better understood, Bardell had the men assemble the pop-up domes on the nearest laneway. That gave them flat, cleared ground, drainage, and unhindered access to the avenue; besides not damaging anything. One dome held the sensor monitors and comm-link, as well as her cot. The other two would hold the six men and their supplies. As soon as the sensors were in place and operating she contacted H.Q.; and received the stand-down from enviro-hazard gear. Then they settled into a routine; while two men were on lookout, the remainder slept, tended equipment, cooked, or speculated on the nature of the unseen inhabitants.55

The mind-numbing routine prevailed for two days. On the third night the rain arrived. It was a torrential downpour, so heavy that it reduced visibility to mere feet. The rains had started just before the 2400 hour check-in was due. Bardell, rugged up in wet-weather gear, had just checked on the two quards, and the sensor monitor. Inside her dome the downpour was thunderous. As she stood looking over the shoulder of the duty technician the sceen went blank. The tech typed in a set of instructions, but the screen remained blank.56

“Sorry, Chief, but the sensors have shorted out in the rain.” He shouted above the din.57

“Can you re-boot them?” she shouted back.58

“Already tried,” he responded. “The fault must be in the sensors themselves. Probably drowned, shorted out.”59

“I thought they were hermetically sealed?”60

“This much rain, the moisture has to find some way in; even if its one molecule at a time.”61

“Understood.” She keyed the comm link. “Bardell to base, over.”62

A crackling, static filled reply came through her headphone, “Base here.”63

“2400 hours check. The rain has knocked out our remote sensors, and the visibility is so bad I can’t even see the guard detail from my dome.”64

“Similar problems here,” came back the static-filled reply.65

“You are fading out, base. Do you copy?” There was no reply. She tried twice more, then gave up. “Shut down the sensor monitor, and get a tarp over the equipment. We don’t want the moisture to ruin it also. Then go get some rest. If this rain keeps up, we’ll all have some uncomfortable hours ahead.”66

“Aye, aye, Chief,” the tech answered compliantly.67

Bardell checked her gear and went back out into the downpour. It was one mercy that there was virtually no wind. If a wind as fierce as the rain had come, she wasn’t sure the domes could withstand the dual onslought. As she slogged the few meters towards the guards’ positions she felt rather than saw a wall of movement surround the camp. Then someone, or something, grabbed her. Immediately her mind filled with a vision of the platform she’d visited on the way to this O.P. Then, something soft and fragrant covered her mouth and nose. She felt a weakness she couldn’t resist, and then blackness overcame her.68

Slowly, the blackness was replaced by a vision, no more than an impression in her semi-conscious mind. A flood of waters filled the river, the irrigation system, the laneways and avenues, cascading towards the shoreline and the lake. The avenue along the shoreline, the site of most of the mission’s housing and equipment, disappeared under the growing waters. People drowned and were swepted into the lake. Or, somehow managed to reach the false safety of the two landers. One was swept into the lake, and along with all the other floating debris, carried over the waterfall that drained the lake. Crushed and broken on the rocks, the mauled junk eventually reached the ocean, where the current dragged the debris into the depths.69

The other lander, parked on a higher section of the avenue, attempted to take off. Straining against waters’ flow, and rains’ deluge, it staggered into the air and valiantly tried to gain altitude. It banked over the lake, and headed over the forested hills, to be lost from the panorama of the vision. 70

Both Bardell’s O.P., and the one near the lake were washed away with the rest of the mission. 71

The vision ended. 72

*73

Bardell awoke slowly, disoriented. Everything around her was grey-green. Underneath her was warm and supportive, and smelled earthy. She tried to rise but found herself completely hindered. First by the tangle of vegetation and woven matting that formed a vault immediately above her. Secondly by the ropes that bound her hands and feet. The more she struggled against them the tighter they semed to grow.74

Eventually she stopped struggling. To her surprise the ropes adjusted to her de-stressing, and slackened to the point of near comfort; yet still effectively binding. She lifted her hands to her face in the greenish light, and saw that she was restrained by vines, not cordage. She inspected the vines, but could find no knot to attack with her teeth. Finding none, she bit directly into the vine itself, only to vomit, and spit out the bitter sap her teeth released. Clearly, any attempt to gnaw her way out would be frought with increasing nausea. Exhausted and drained she fell into a troubled sleep.75

The next time she awoke she found that her bonds had been removed. She sat upright, only to find a woven basket containing what she hoped were indigenous fruit, tubers and nuts sitting at her feet. Ravenous but disciplined, she hestitantly tasted each offering, waiting some time between nibbles to see if there were any ill effects. Settling on those that seemed best to her taste buds, she eventually slaked her hunger, and felt strengthened.76

Encouraged, she pushed at the woven door, only to find that it gave way immediately. She crawled outside into the bright sunlight. Once her eyes adjusted to the light she looked in awe at the scene around her. Her small bower was on a ridge just above the fields. She seemed to be further up the valley from her O.P., of which she could see nothing. But it was the activity that shocked her.77

Everywhere she looked there were trees, like men, walking. The larger willow trees were working to repair the damage caused by the torrential rains; replanting fields, replacing walls, cleaning out fountains. She made to walk away from the bower when she was restrained by, by what? 78

A leafy tendril latched on to her left shoulder, and she turned to face one of the willow-like trees. It stood a full two meters tall, its slender branches draping down to the ground, giving it that weeping-willow look. The trunk was thick and gnarled. Two main branches gave the imnpression of arms. The willow stood upon what seemed to be taproots, giving the impression of short legs and goat-like feet. She could disceern no distinct cranium, mouth, ears or eyes. Instead, where the two banches bifurcated, there were many filaments, the thickness of fibre-optics, and all pointing towards her face. She was too entranced to be afraid. 79

The revelation stunned her! The planet’s sentient inhabitants had been abundantly visible all the time! Plant or animal didn’t matter to her. They were clearly intellegent, creative, capable of united action, were a society, and had some sense of an aesthetic.80

A tendril, but one without leaves or blossoms, reached out from a branch, and curled gently around Bardells’ forehead. A series of pictures bagan to form in her mind. It was like looking out a dozen windows simultaneously, but through gauze. She saw herself replanting the uprooted sapling. Then being carried through the flooding from the O.P.; of the damage casued by the flooding, and the beginnings of the repairs. Finally, a repeat of the scenes with the sapling and her being rescued from the flooding.81

Slowly, awkwardly a picture turned into a vague concept, then into a concrete word; “Mercy.” Then a phrase; ‘mercy for mercy’. And she understood. Her simple act of compassion for what she thought was only an uprotted alien plant had instead been an act life-saving for an infant member of the planet’s sentient species. 82

Then new scenes entered her mind. She saw, vaguely, a large bower being built near the river. And a small platform being constructed. And a small field plot being established. And lastly, herself planting shrubs on the platform and entering the bower.83

With great effort she tried to form mental pictures of understanding, gratitude, acceptance, and above all, wonderment. 84

The effort tired her, and the willow guided her back into the little bower. The soporific fragrance met her as she crawled into the floral nest, and she slept. A drone launched from the command ship in orbit overflew the valley at height, and seeing no signs of the landed mission reported disaster. The command ship carrying no other landers left orbit and began the journey back to Kyrryl 7, defeated. 85

In her troubled private dreams she experienced grief and turmoil. Nighmares wracked her mind, and emotional pain swept through her dreams.When she awoke, it was to the full realisation that she was the only human left on the planet, an exile by the river in this Babylon. Sitting at the entrance of the bower, she wept.86

In the valley below her all the tree-creatures stopped their labours, and a silent sound filled Bardell’s mind, the weeping of many souls together.87