Utopia Gone by Zachariah Wahrer Page A

couldn't
complain too much. The name didn't really matter to him in the end.
All that mattered to Captain Maxwell Dent—Dentist when he and his
wife were alone—was the Cause, the Mission, and his Men.
    That's what was bothering Dent at the moment. He
had his Mission and his Men, but where was the Cause? Picking up a
science experiment off one of the ultra-elite pleasure moons didn't
seem worthy of such a glorious ship and crew. Weren't there ships
in distress that needed saving, starving colonies that needed food
dropped to them, or space pirates that needed captured? All of
these he had done before, but now he was stuck with this corporate
transport job. How did Nex-Delta get the UEN to dispatch us? he wondered, wishing he hadn't drawn this assignment. Dent had it
though, and he, along with his men, would do the job in record time
and to the best of their combined abilities.
    “This pleasure moon isn't very big. Why is it
taking so long to find the target?” he asked, a hint of frustration
entering his voice. They had circled around the small moon several
times, but had yet to see any sign of the subject. After a moment
of thought, an idea occurred to him. “According to the briefing,
there is no way this guy could have gotten off the rock, so he must
be underground somewhere. That's the only explanation for where he
went. Set the equipment to probe under the surface. We could
probably see through the whole damn rock, but that might return
false positives. Set the resolution for a depth of twenty meters
for the time being. See if that returns any results.”
    The ship's communications officer configured the
equipment with the appropriate settings and the ship began making
passes. After a brief time the officer hailed the captain and told
him a lone figure had been found in a cave five meters below the
surface. Dent was angry with himself for not performing the depth
scan earlier. The guy had seen or heard the ship, gotten spooked,
and run to the nearest cave to hide.
    “Keep the scan going and let me know if he
moves. Bring the ship in as quietly as possible so he won't get
more spooked than he already is. This guy has been up here by
himself for a long time, so it will be a bit of a shock when he
sees us. He is considered valuable data and is not to be damaged,
even if he resists. Is that understood?” All the crew nodded and
gave a hardy “Yes, sir,” in answer.

Part Three
    A mantra of fear ran through the man's head.
What was the large thing that had just floated across the sky, near
the horizon? Seeing it brought up a strange feeling of foreboding,
a remembrance of something his mind fled from. If it was a moon, it
was unlike any moon he had ever seen. It traveled in strange
directions and changed course in unexpected ways. Its very presence
raised many disturbing questions. The feeling he was being watched
did little to ease his troubled mind.
    Doing what came instinctively, he hid in a
nearby shallow cave. Crouching against the back wall, he tried not
to think about the moon that was not a moon. Perhaps it would go
away and he could resume his trip around the planet. His favorite
parts were just up ahead. As he thought about the rest of his day,
a strange, throbbing sizzle of energy filled the air. It crackled
and tingled. The hair on his body wave as if in a breeze, yet there
was no wind in the cave. His heart began to thud and fear slamming
back into his gut.
    The man hated the sensation of the airless wind.
Maybe could get away from it outside. Perhaps the moon that was not
a moon had left and he would be safe to continue his journey.
Cautiously, he stuck his head out of the cave's mouth.
    In the sky, directly over head, was the moon.
The man's knees began to shake so hard he almost fell back down the
cave entrance. It was massive and very close. Its bright surface
had magnificent, graceful curves unlike anything he had ever seen
before. He knew it had been looking for him, had seen him. Now it
was going