Trespasser (2021)

Author's Note: This short story was published in the fan anthology Scorpio Tales. It is set during the middle section of Series D. 

A restful peace hung over the hidden complex on Xenon. Deeply concealed from the twinkling night sky, three present inhabitants were asleep, gathering strength for adventures to come. Unfortunately, that list included Vila, who was snoring famously in the Base's control room. His grimy boots - initially perched reasonably enough against the life support panel - engaged in a very slow race across the dim monitor screen, leaving behind black mudstreaks in their wake.

Vila's nap came to an end as the automated monitor system began to react to one of the many variables programmed into it by Avon: trespassers. One, two, three beeps and the thief finally opened his eyes with no small degree of irritability.

"What are you on about?" He muttered and wiped away the muck from the screen before switching on external cameras. Experience had taught him not to alert his companions before confirming a problem, lest he become the audience for another long round of witticisms. Vila half-suspected that his friends prepared them ahead of time.

Every camera produced the same result.

"There's nothing there! Have you gotten into my wine?" He asked the monitor screen suspiciously. "No, of course you haven't. If you had, you'd tell me something jolly. 'A treasure chest with a vibrolock, detected at grid something-something-something. Requires urgent attention!' And then it'd be empty, but at least I wouldn't mind waking up to that."

The monitor continued beeping urgently.
"Oh, shut up!" Vila turned down the audio and stood to consider his options. A simple malfunction was the easiest and most unlikely answer. It would mean being able to carry on sleeping like any reasonable person until somebody unreasonable woke him up. But if it wasn't a malfunction... that didn't bear thinking about. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't simply ignore the alarm.

Groaning dramatically, Vila unlaced his boots to stuff his feet inside fluffy slippers which concealed the noise of him sneaking into Avon's room. The man slept exactly like one would expect him to, stiff as a corpse. His black jacket hung on a chair next to the bed, seemingly thrown there without care. As Vila walked across the room, he saw the silver glint of a handgun hanging strategically out of a pocket, within Avon's reach. The reason for Vila being there in the first place was thankfully not difficult to find: a small compartment behind the cupboard. No sweat off a thief's back. Within seconds, Orac's activator key was in the palm of his hand and Vila was ready to leave.

"I assume there's a reason for this midnight social call, Vila." The man froze. Avon's eyes bored into his, the usual jaded look that could easily swing towards manic exuberance or melancholy defeat. And those were the nice occasions.

Vila held up the key. There was no point in hiding it. "I was just borrowing Orac for a moment. Didn't want to disturb you."

"Is there a problem?" Avon asked with mock concern.

"No! No problem. Just, well, you know how it is! Long hours behind the desk, one gets bored. I nearly fell asleep! So I thought I'd get Orac to keep me up. For all our sakes!"

"Well now, when Tarrant gets back, I'll be sure to let him know you're interested in more exciting assignments. In the meantime, keep your fidelity out of my room."

Vila nodded compliantly. "Right. Goodnight, Avon."

"If it was, I wouldn't know it."

***

Vila returned to the control room via the lounge, picking up Orac's plastic container on the way. Once back behind the main console, he rechecked the computer read-out. No luck. The trespass signal - albeit muted - still droned on. All entrances were sealed, so there was little chance of the Base itself being breached, but the idea of mysterious strangers snooping about and finding the crew's location did not bode well. Not well at all. Vila finally set Orac down and planted the key into its slot. It buzzed to life.

"Yes? What do you want?" The irascible box asked.

"I need you to identify the cause of the trespass signal."

Orac's lights flashed in anger. "Am I to understand that your own brain is not capable of processing this information?"

"You are to understand that I simply want a simple answer! How much simpler can I make it?!"

There was a slight pause. If Orac were a real person, Vila would've expected to be slapped. "... If the trespass signal has been activated, that means that something, or someone, is disturbing the tripwire! Most probably... a trespasser!"

"No chance of instrument failure, is there?" Vila asked.

"Unlike you, the instruments are working perfectly."

"But there's no one out there! Nothing at all!... Unless they're invisible. Could they be invisible?"

"Possibly. Now, if there are no other juvenile questions..."

Vila interrupted him. "Look, can't you just tell me who they are?"

"How should I know?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I am a computer." Orac intoned slowly. "My purpose is the acquisition and translation of data by way of sensor analysis. No adequate sensors are trained on the surface therefore I do not know what is on the surface."

The thief petulantly crossed his arms. "You mean to tell me you can predict the future, but you can't tell who's wandering about above your head?"

No response. Clearly, he'd pushed Orac's patience too far. Vila removed the key and tossed it on a nearby table for what little satisfaction he could get.

"No adequate sensors..." he muttered to himself as he trundled back towards the armory. "Why don't I throw you out and see if you notice anything then?"

Something didn't add up, Vila thought to himself. The entrance wasn't difficult to find if you knew where to look, yet the signal had come from an entirely different area: the cliff above where Scorpio is supposed to fly into the Base. By happenstance it wasn't there now, as Avon had dispatched Tarrant and Dayna on a routine three-day reconnaissance mission. Theoretically, as far as Vila's knowledge was concerned, someone could still get into the silo with the proper climbing equipment. He could see none on the camera feed, however.
Probably just a mouse running along the tripwire, Vila reasoned. Computers lacked human perspective and would still count it as a trespasser. It wouldn't show up on video and most importantly of all, it wasn't a threat. All Vila had to do was make sure. And if he managed to get rid of the pest, maybe embellish the tale a little...

***

Armed with four handguns and six pockets full of Dayna's 'specialties', Vila finally unlocked the Base door and peeked out. He backed inside almost immediately, quaking from a gust of icy wind.

"Bah! Oh, I forgot about the winter cycle. Better make this quick."

Gritting his teeth, Vila stomped outside. Fortunately, it wasn't very dark. The disc-shaped moon shone brightly, illuminating the frozen tundra he had to cross to get to the cliff. Having neglected his physical shape ever since being gifted with one, Vila was soon out of breath. He leaned against a tough old tree and gazed up, mesmerised by the vista of the Milky Way, the nebulae and stars sprawling across the inky vastness of the cosmos. Dots of life hanging onto cold space much like himself. When was the last time he'd taken a gander at the stars? He was always cooped up somewhere, whether it be the Base or a ship or a prison cell. Was the last time really on Earth? Surely not. Unsettled by the thought, Vila rushed on. Unbeknownst to him, two bright green eyes were following his every move. As the thief hurried away, the eyes in the dark pursued him, without a sound to be heard.
The immensely sharp drop soon drew close, and Vila switched on the torch function on one of his guns. Staying a safe distance away from the edge, he began to examine the ground for any sign of Avon's tripwire. It only just occurred to him that he'd never seen the thing before. For all he knew, it could be disguised as leaves or nuts or something. Vila glared up at where he vaguely remembered the camera to be situated.

"I bet you're having a really good laugh now, Avon." He grumbled. "Where...?"

Vila's breath wafted out in great plumes, and he rubbed his hands incessantly to keep the blood running. Unable to hold onto the freezing grip of the handgun, he stuffed it back into its holster and blew on his poor palms.

"Oh, this is useless. Useless!"

In frustration, Vila kicked at some pebbles and turned around, fully prepared to take on Avon's worst if it meant getting back to...

Green eyes.

Adrenaline rushed through Vila and although he wasn't able to appreciate it at the time, he felt warm again. The eyes - floating above the ground on the level of Vila's chest - flicked around, as if trying to ascertain what it was seeing... or maybe the best way to tear him to shreds. Panic built up at the back of Vila's throat. His conscious mind surrendered, and he observed detachedly as his hand drew a pistol, aimed and fired several shots into the mysterious creature at a speed that would have made the girls proud.
A horrible shriek shattered the peace of Xenon. The green eyes burned with agony, and then disappeared. The sound of strong paws thumping came closer and closer. Regaining his usual clumsiness, the thief staggered backwards and tripped across the cliff before the feline could get its claws on him. Vila's scream as he fell backwards became the second disturbance of the night.
By all rights, he should've splattered onto the ground, yet somehow he managed to grab onto a hanging vine, and bounced against the wall. His own weight pulled the vine out of the earth, and a small pile of dirt spilled onto his head and into his collar. The handgun he'd held vanished into the darkness along with the shatttered pieces of his teleport bracelet..

"Help!" Vila shouted, knowing full well that nobody could possibly hear him. "Help, someone! Help!"

Vila shivered as a powerful wind blew across the canyon, swinging him around. He couldn't last for very long like this. Gripping on for dear life, Vila realised that the thing he was holding onto, what he'd assumed to be a scandent plant, was actually plastic. It was also torn in places, revealing metallic strands. 

"Well, at least I found your tripwire." Vila mumbled miserably. "For all the good it'll do me."

In a desperate move, Vila tried to lose weight by getting rid of all his remaining weapons and bombs. They fell, becoming little more than silver snowflakes before vanishing from sight. The bombs detonated on impact, briefly illuminating the rocky terrain below.

***

Avon and Soolin rushed into the control room, where they found nothing but a lonely Orac sitting on the console. Avon picked up the activator key and examined it with a weary look of realization, before slamming the key into its slot. 

"Orac! What happened?"

"I am registering minor seismic activity near the silo entrance."

"We noticed." Soolin said wryly. "Cause?"

"Several explosive devices went off in an irregular pattern. Logic would suggest that they are of Dayna's latest design."

The man circled Orac. Soolin knew that he had a background in computer technology. It seemed to give him some kind of predilection towards their fact-based intelligence, no matter how indulgently they were designed. Or perhaps, because of.
"What logic might that be?" Avon asked in a sweet tone.

"The trespass signal was activated near that position."

"And?"

"And, as he was on watch, Vila went to investigate. Obviously, he took precautions that came in handy."

"And..." Avon pressed on. "... you didn't alert me?"

"That responsibility lies with him, not me. The Base is perfectly secure from any outside danger."

"Vila is not." Soolin reminded them.

"I don't care!" Orac said bluntly. "I wish to be allowed to resume my studies."

Avon smirked. "Wishful thinking is not the province of computers." He pulled the key before Orac could respond. "Come on, let's save our troublesome fool."

***

Seeing no other option, Vila began to reach for a protrusion in the rock. There was one, right below him, just a few meters to the left. He started to swing again, building up momentum, only for the wire to snap. For a moment, Vila dropped through the air, but he managed to latch onto the hump, even if it felt like his arms were being torn out of their sockets. The broken cable fluttered away irreverently.
Vila then began a slow process of climbing down, hampered by agonising acrophobia and a personal lack of talent in rock climbing. There were several near-drops. But Vila was too accustomed to panic to be totally paralyzed by it, and his slow progress eventually bore fruit after what felt like an eternity.

"Sweet Mother Earth!" Vila moaned as his boots kissed solid ground. "Or Auntie Xenon. Good enough for-" His words were cut short by a hacking cough from his throat. The temperature of his sweat-drenched body was falling fast now that he was relaxed, and Vila decided to hurry into the tunnel entrance. It was a massive natural hallway. He'd seen it from the flight deck of the Scorpio many times. Usually it brought him comfort, as a sign that they had survived another roll of the dice, and were safely hidden away from the Federation once again. But now, in near-darkness with no sounds other than his own echoing footsteps, the cave seemed like a forbidden cathedral. An alien place, where his idea of warm and cheerful (and brightly lit) civilisation was not allowed. It made him resentful.

"You're not so scary!" He shouted spitefully at the distant ceiling, and immediately backed down as his voice echoed through the tunnel. Suddenly, noises. A scratch here, a sniffle there. The falling of a stone. The place began to teem with invisible, uncontrollable life, brought out by his own blundering. Rodents, insects, snakes! All mere background facts in a manmade base or a ship or a prison cell, but so very real here, in this place built by centuries of untamed wind, oceans, sedimentation. Vila had never felt more like an unwanted guest on a planet he called home!

"I'm sorry!"

He didn't know who he was apologising to. He just hoped that whatever force it was would oblige to leave him alone now, and let him get back to the others. Words crept up from his subconscious from a friendly, lecturing voice he'd not heard in a long time.

"'Movement is life. To stop is to lose yourself and be absorbed.' Zil's paranoia was of course part of her biology, but there's an application for us humans, in a way. Particularly the ones prone to overdependence, Vila."

In another life, perhaps Blake would've been an educator.

Now, however, it was time to apply the lesson. Taking deep breaths, Vila moved through the long passage, his right hand in constant contact with the wall and his feet testing every step ahead, as it was too dark to see the pit at the end of the silo. As he kept moving, he thought he heard a soft shuffling noise behind him. It was so nearly imperceptible that he found himself wondering whether it was his imagination. But eventually, he was compelled to turn around. Nothing.

"I'm overthinking it." Vila mumbled to himself, looking at the soft starlight in the distant tunnel entrance. "I'm just going deeper and deeper into a creepy dark cave full of alien pests, that's all. There's no call for assuming that something's following me to deliver the killing blow, no. No, it's not like there's-"

Green eyes.

Somehow, someway, the creature had followed Vila down the mountain by another path. Prey stared predator down, slitted pupils against desperate round ones. Slowly, very slowly, Vila reached down and grabbed a rock. He didn't know if it was sharp or not. It didn't seem to matter all that much now. There was no chance, not without the guns. Not even if it was light and he had a spear instead.
Unexpectedly, the feline produced a disgusting gurgling noise rather than the more appropriate roar, and toppled onto the ground, motionless. What's that then? A trick? Some sort of mad ritual? Vila had no clue what to make of it, or what action to take. So he waited for a long while, still holding up the slick rock in his hand.
Eventually, a bright beam of light shone from the end of the silo, heralding the Scorpio platform. Avon was using it as an elevator. With the cave now lit, Vila could see burn marks all over the creature's furred body, a gnarly one even on its head. The thing was more reptilian than Vila had thought. Its toes were webbed, breathing gills were visible on the neck and scales covered its rear end. The head and chest resembled that of a young cheetah.
Knowing that it couldn't possibly harm him now, Vila stepped closer and crouched down. The cat (for that's how Vila thought of it) seemed more sympathetic with the darkness banished. Blood trickled out of its mouth, filling the small thief with shame. Yes, it'd been a threat. But only because he'd made it into one. Xenon was the cat's home by birth, not a temporary bolthole. It had wandered through what had to be its ordinary feeding grounds and come across Avon's stupid tripwire. On a whim, it had chewed on this new and unexpected find like a newborn with a toy and then vanished. Until Vila had strolled on the scene, firing twenty handguns like some maniac action hero. 

"Vila, you stupid idiot." He muttered.

"Well, I'm glad you're starting to save me time." Avon's cold, droning voice boomed behind him. "Now, if you're done playing Neanderthal, maybe you'd like to come back in and explain."

"Help me carry it." Vila responded, and stood up. There was a ferocity in his eyes that Avon hadn't noticed before. "And don't argue with me."

Avon shrugged, and together the two men lifted the cat up and hauled it to the platform, which brought them all down to the Base. There, Soolin watched with bewilderment as Vila rushed into the medbay and rolled out a stretcher. "Is someone going to explain?"

"Vila appears to have become sentimental towards a wild animal." Avon drawled, hoisting the cat onto the stretcher. After that, he watched apathetically as Vila disappeared into the corridor with it.

Soolin's eyes narrowed disbelievingly. "Vila? Defender of dangerous predators? What brought that on? And what about the trespasser?"

"Why don't you go and ask him? You'd better hurry - you might have to gun that beast down all over again."

***

In the medbay, Soolin came across a very strange sight. The cat was awkwardly draped on one of the beds in a crude approximation of what a resting human would look like. Vila had become a frenetic ball of energy, hooking Orac up to a bunch of electrodes, which he then stuck to the cat. With a loud snap, Vila switched the computer on, and the room was filled with the sound of the latter's characteristic whine.

"Orac." Vila said, drawing deep breaths. "Tell me what kind of animal this is and how I can save it."

"A most unusual specimen!" Orac declared, actually sounding somewhat enthusiastic. "It is the result of a complex metamorphosis induced by chemical warfare. A by-product of the Hommik conflict that once devastated Xenon. Note the aquatic features, which have allowed it to survive safely in the oceans."

Vila looked horrified. "Chemical warfare? You mean it's not, not, I mean... not natural to the planet?"

"The definition of nature is infinitely flexible. If by natural, you refer to the cause and effect of evolution unhampered by sapient intervention, then yes. It is an aberrant lifeform. And to answer your second question, I cannot resuscitate it effectively. Brain activity has ceased. The creature is dead."

"Vila?" Soolin asked cautiously. "What was all that about?"

"Nothing." Vila answered, his momentary passion gone again as if it had never been there. "Just had a funny idea, that's all."

Soolin raised an eyebrow. "Well, why don't you share it? You did cause all this ruckus in the middle of the night, the least you can do is entertain me before we go back to bed. Assuming, of course, that the trespasser problem is now dealt with."

Vila nodded absent-mindedly. "I thought maybe I'd found one planet in the universe where things aren't just trying to cling to life. Someplace... homely, I suppose. And then I thought I'd gone and made it less so. But it's not like that at all. That stupid catfish was as much of a miserable survivor as we are. Tried to get me until the sticky end, didn't it? Just like everything else outside this Base. We're all trespassers somewhere."
He wandered over to a medical cabinet and pulled out a conveniently stashed bottle, from which he took a big, satisfying gulp. "And thank heavens for that."

"Would that have bothered you? If you had been right?" Soolin asked, her curiosity piqued. Vila plopped down onto the bed next to the dead cat's, toasting it silently.

"No." He grumbled, the exhaustion finally catching up. "What would have bothered me was that it would've meant there's a million other planets like this out there. But there isn't. It's all hellholes. So all I've got to care about is myself. Makes life a hell of a lot easier, wouldn't you say?"