The harvesters descended screaming from the sky. Three great shining metal leviathans dropping almost directly over the settlement, their descent gradually slowing even as the screaming sounds intensified.
The entire exploration party had come out to watch. Pre-dawn, we couldn't yet see the sun from where we stood, but the harvesters were high enough for the sun's rays to illuminate their scarred metal bellies, the rims of their enormous gaping maws.
The re-provisioning of the ship was about to commence. The ship's recycling systems---of air, water, waste----were incredibly efficient, but the ship was not a totally closed system. No matter how efficient, there was always some leakage, loss, dissipation-----That's why fresh organic matter was needed.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPBJOVyZMk
For the next several days, the harvesters would ravage this part of the continent. With blazing, churning mouths they would consume all organic matter in their paths---animal, plant, and whatever lies in-between. When their holds were full they would return to the main ship and unload, and all that organic material would then be broken down into basic constituents and detoxified, neutralized, then revitalized and cycled back into the ship's food and environmental systems.
This was long overdue. Too many years without this opportunity.
One of the harvesters broke away still howling, slowly banked around and headed east toward the shore, where it would start harvesting from the sea. The other tow continued their steady descent, drifting away now form the settlement. Copper and orange and magenta flowers of light floated around them, and it was impossible to know if that light came from the sun, the engines, or the burning furnaces within them.
The two finally dropped out of sight, but soon flames could be seen rising above the jungle in the distance, along with swirling towers of smoke. The sound changed, became a deeper, harsher roar tearing the dawn air. The harvesting had begun.
Father O'Heron and I, along with Donald Ray and Cree Valley---our two soldiers/escorts/pilots----boarded the flyer and took off, headed south and east. There were no windows in the flyer except for those in the pilots' cabin, and our only view of the terrain came form a set of small video monitors, only half of which functioned---watching them was like trying to put together a child's mosaic puzzle with some of the pieces missing. But I could make out thick forests below us, sectioned off by rivers carrying their way through the dense vegetation. This was followed by vast marshland, then more forest. The woods rapidly transitioned to dense jungle, and a torrential rain began, obscuring visibility.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4An93nZCx
When we finally reached our destination----a grouping of maybe thirty buildings in the middle of the jungle---we couldn't find a place to land. Trees and vegetation surrounded the buildings, enclosing them, sometimes overgrowing them so that their roofs were only partially visible, and there were no nearby clearings. We circled the area, but the nearest clearing we could find was twenty kilometers away.
We flew back to the buildings, and after hovering over them for several minutes, Cree picked out what happened to be the strongest flat roof (based on what, I had no idea), and made a slow and careful descent. As we touched down, the roof buckled, but held.
It was still raining hard. Cloaked in waterproof body coverings, the four of us left the flyer to start exploring. I was shocked by the heat. Because of the rain, I had expected the air to be cool, but it was hotter and more stifling than anything I could remember experiencing. We had trouble breathing. Donald and Cree returned to the flyer for the breathers, but when Father O'Heron declined to use one, I decided to do without myself.
We climbed down the roof using a tangle of trees and lianas; once on the ground, progress became more difficult. Presumably there had once been pathways between the buildings, but if so they had long ago become overgrown and the passage was impossible. Donald and Cree burned trails through the foliage with their stone burners, the same weapons that had been used to carve out the grave back at our original landing site. The air filled with smoke and the stench of burning, vaporizing plant matter and probably animal flesh as well, for we occasionally heard what sounded like screams.
By mutual consent, we examined the building we'd landed on first. We could not find a way in. It was rectangular, four meters high by twenty meters in length, fifteen in width, constructed of a black, plastic-like material; there were no doors or windows, no openings of any kind. There had been no openings on the roof, either. Donald wanted to us the stone burners to melt our way inside, but Father O'Heron and I argued successfully against it. With no way to know what was in those buildings, using the stone burners would be risky----a good way to get ourselves killed in an explosion of some kind, so we moved on.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ41r4zhgXSG
Each building was more of the same, or at least close enough. Burning our way from one structure to another was slow going, and then we found buildings with zero access, or buildings with doors that, when forced open, revealed empty, abandoned rooms.
Halfway through the afternoon, our exhaustion growing, Father O'Heron and I gave in and started using the breathers. Even with the aid of oxygen, the more we explored this place, the stranger we felt. None of it made sense. The empty buildings were completely empty except for thick, oozing mud, tangles of green and purple vines, clumps of rotting vegetation. The emptiness was unsettling. Although some of the buildings had doors, not a single one had any windows or outer openings for ventilation, despite what appeared to be ventilation screens inside some of the buildings.
I have no idea how many buildings we examined by the time the dim light began to fade even further. All of us were dazed, and we knew we had to quit soon.
Then we came across the strangest building of all. It was located in the center of the site, and its walls were all glass, or something like glass. The building was star-shaped, seven pointed. Although darkness was falling, with our hand torches we could see inside. In the points: machinery and cables and padded benches; hanging baskets that seemed to be chairs of some kind; oblong metal containers, shiny reflections of liquid inside them; floor-to-ceiling tubes fluorescing in the light of our torches. In the central area: a broken ring of instrument panels and consoles; amazingly, there were lights glowing in some of the panels---green, amber, and one blinking crimson in the dark.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCrGDwiUIqm
We found the doorway, then stood facing each other. "Tomorrow would be best," I suggested. We were exhausted, and this would probably take some time. The others agreed. But as they turned away and started back, I thought I saw a silver, ghostlike form drift through the central section. I stood there a long time, studying the interior, but didn't see anything more. I told myself it was exhaustion, but I didn't quite believe it.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgqkxH2arD
