Light from the distant binary flowed from the corners of the great satellite, painting the edges of the small moon. Emerging from the long night, Galilee drifted out from behind its giant cousins to begin another long season in the Centauri suns. All over the dusty globe, clouds gave way to open land, parched and desolate from over a year of perpetual darkness, waiting to team life again. The sand hermits dug themselves out of their holes, the rock crabs withdrew from their caves, and the water serpents poked their heads out from the depths to feel the warmth of the light again. Lichens began to form and spread again, reedy grasses began to root on pillars and anchor in soils. And in one corner of the planet, tall stalks of green and purple began to sprout, feeding energy and biomass to other life forms that lived beneath the soil.
As the many creatures moved about in the new dawn, a streak of light flashed across the heavens, and moments later, a loud thunderclap followed. When the sound faded, those creatures that were close to the source of the disturbance noticed something else about their environment that had changed. Sitting atop one of the sand dunes, a large metal beast had landed on its many retractable feet. Nowhere in the long history of their planet had they witnessed anything like this. Never before had their planet received visitors. But in time, the creatures moved on, having neither the intellectual nor the instinctual capacity to appreciate what they were seeing. Their world would carry on, much as it always had. And these new visitors, whoever they were, would either learn to move with its rhythms, or die off in the attempt. Only time would tell.
Even through the binoculars, Captain Greeley could barely see to the horizon. The thick, nitric vapours, coupled with the dense clouds of carbon dioxide, made everything hazy under the alien sky. Next to him, in the driver seat of the ATV, one of the crew‘s marine complement sat and waited for him to finish his survey. To his naked eyes, which stared through the visor of his pressure helmet, the view was even worse. While the scientists promised that the atmospheric conditions on this dust ball were ideal for terraforming, getting around appeared to be an absolute nightmare. And this didn‘t apply to the surface. The upper atmosphere was similarly hostile, an absolute torrent of violent winds and tiny particles that wreaked havoc with any ship that tried to pass through it. Days earlier, when the Deliverance had first attempted a landing, they very nearly bit the dust. The ships stabilizers and electrical systems nearly shorted out on two occasions before they had found a suitable place to land, although land was a bit of stretch, it was more like a controlled crash. Luckily, the stubborn ship held together long enough for them to smash down, struts first, into the cold, biting sand. In their haste to find a suitable planet, the scientists and stellar cartographers back home had clearly skipped over some of the finer details of the mission. Luckily, the Deliverance had lived up to its name, but just what it had delivered them into remained a mystery.
―It‘s a dune wasteland,‖ the Captain said through his intercom to the driver. ―I don‘t see any signs of useful life, or open water.‖
―At least there‘s nothing hostile out here sir,‖ he replied.
―Except the environment,‖ the Captain came back.
Switching channels on his comm unit, the Captain key the frequency for one of the other patrol teams. Not more than a hundred klicks away, on the other side of the massive sand patch that they had landed on, his XO and another driver were out patrolling.
―Echo one to Echo two. Mulligan, do you copy?‖
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―Read--- three b--- three, Captain!‖ came a staticy reply.
―Damn!‖ the Captain said, slapping the side of his helmet.
―Need some higher ground, sir?‖ the grunt said, pointing to a higher dune not more than fifty metres away. Placing the binocs to his visor again, the Captain checked it out for himself.
Sure enough, it looked like a good spot to send a transmission.
―Good eyes, marine! Bring us around and get us up there!‖
―Yes, sir!‖ he replied, and quickly brought the ATV around ninety degrees and hit the accelerator. The Captain was almost thrown back in his seat, and soon they were atop the sandy dune, with an only slightly better view. The Captain hit the comm button on his helmet and tried once more.
―Echo two, this Echo one, do you copy?‖
There was a hiss of static on the line, then the sound of Mulligan‘s voice.
―Still three by three, Captain -- can hear you with some inference.‖
―Just finished our check of the perimeter, what‘s your status?‖
―Just finished ours too, we haven‘t found anything. How about you?‖
―Nothing,‖ the Captain said flatly. ―There‘s nothing out here to see. I suggest we head back to the barn for now.‖
―Roger that, bringing it in!‖
―Okay marine,‖ the Captain said to his driver, ―take us home, but be careful when you bring us around this time. I almost lost my head last time.‖
―Yes sir,‖ the marine replied, and brought them around just as hard as before. Slamming on the accelerator, the ATV shot back in the direction of the ship. For one day at least, the patrol schedule was over. Maybe tomorrow would bring better weather, although they had no way of knowing for sure.
―What‘s the manifest say about meteorologists?‖ the Captain asked as one of the crewmen studied the official register. Scrolling down through the long list of names and occupations, he noted a few who would be of immediate use and began to highlight them.
―There are at least three weather experts, plus a host of botanists, biologists, and geologists. We‘re going to need all of them up and running if we want to start growing our own food.‖
―And drilling for water,‖ another added.
―Right, and speaking of which, how‘s do the mining trucks look?‖
―They were undamaged by the crash, as was most of the hydroponic gear,‖ Mulligan reported. ―They can be fuelled up and made ready any time now.‖
The Captain nodded, and looking over to the ensign he‘d put in charge of supplies, he asked: ―How are our supplies holding up?‖
―We‘ve got enough stored food to last us and the marine crew for a good eighteen months. The water reclamators and recyclers are working at near perfect efficiency, so we don‘t need to worry about that anytime soon. But, as you said, if we‘re going to start growing operations, we need additional water supplies. And, of course, once we wake the necessary people from their cryo-stasis, our supply situation changes. Assuming we wake all the botanists and biologists, plus the geology and mining crews, we‘ve got an additional two-dozen mouths to feed. That will cut the supplies down to half, nine months worth at the outside limit.‖
―Well then, lets just stick to brining the miners out for now. Once we have a sure-fire source of water we can use, we can start thinking about getting the hydroponics going.‖
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The crew nodded. The Captain looked next to one of the pilots. Lieutenant Krishna, who had been entrusted with figuring out the local cartography. ―Just what have we come up with in terms of the local geography here?‖ he asked.
The Lieutenant produced the composite image he had generated with the help of the ship‘s computer, and slid it across the table. A patch of grid work, with the small icon of the ship at the centre, denoted their immediate surroundings. On one side, there was a long, bumpy formation that indicated the ridge Mulligan and her patrol had discovered days ago.
―The desert stretches at least two hundred kilometres in every direction around the ship,‖
the Lieutenant said. ―We‘ve run our patrols to the absolute limit of wireless range, but we‘ve been unable to find the edge of it. Even with the marines doing relay for each other, they just can‘t find the end of it. They even went as far as to say that there isn‘t one, that it stretches right across the whole planet.‖
―We‘ve mapped out barely a fraction of this planet,‖ the Captain replied. ―I think that‘s a premature estimate. I also take it that the weather is still playing havoc with our transmissions?‖
―Yes sir,‖ Mulligan replied. ―Our wireless gear just wasn‘t designed for these kinds of conditions.‖
―God, what I wouldn‘t do for a comm satellite right now,‖ the Captain said bitterly.
―Hell, if we had some satellites, we could have mapped this whole dust ball out by now.‖
―We could always file a complaint,‖ one of the pilots said. ―Assuming we could get a descent transmission in the air, it would only take about six years before they could get back to us.‖
―That‘s a long time to wait just to be told to go get stuffed,‖ another answered.
―You think we‘re going anywhere?‖ Mulligan asked them both. They promptly shut up.
Nodding his thanks to her, the Captain got back to the matter at hand.
―Alright, so basically all we know right now is that this ridge is the only place where we‘ve been able to find solid rock. So for the time being, it‘s the best place to start drilling?‖
There were several nods from around the table. Everyone appeared to be in agreement.
―Alright then, it‘s settled. We wake up the mining crews and start bringing out their equipment first. Before we do that though, I‘d like to get a geologist and a meteorologist on hand, help us find the best place to start drilling and see if we can make some sense out of this weather. In the meantime, let‘s schedule a few more patrols to the ridge and see if we can‘t find out anything more about it.‖
―Like what?‖ Krishna asked.
―Like if there‘s anything down there that might get in the way of our operations. I don‘t want any nasty surprises, and the eggheads back home did say that we should be on the lookout for any indigenous species. Who knows what kind of nasty things might be out there?‖
PFC Santiago and Private Jenkins gradually made their way down the steps of the rocky face. Their superior, a gunnery sergeant by the name of Wilson, performed the easy job of waiting back at the ATV and keeping in wireless contact with the ship. According to the Captain, mining duty was to begin in just a few days, which meant that the entire region needed to be inspected and cleared of what the Captain called ―any possible hazards‖.
―Just what are we looking for?‖ Jenkins called to Santiago over the comm line, voicing the obvious.
―Anything out of the ordinary,‖ Santiago replied.
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―What the hell does that mean? Everything on this bloody planet is out of the ordinary!
We oughta‘ be looking for something that looks familiar, now that would be out of the ordinary!‖
―Just keep your eyes open for anything that looks threatening. Loose rocks, caves, or anything that moves.‖
―There‘s not enough life on this dust ball to fill a Petrie dish! This is a total waste of time!‖
―Will you shut up so we can get this done?!‖
―Fine! Fine! Just saying, is all.‖
After that, Jenkins finally left Santiago alone and continued to follow behind him. For the next hour, they weaved through the craggy surface, rifles pointed at the ground. There patrol took them around in a three hundred-sixty degree circle around the spot the mining crew were expected to start their drilling. When they finally came to the last point on their route, Santiago called for a break.
―Take five and rehydrate,‖ he ordered. Placing his weapon against a large rock face, Jenkins happily obliged and sat himself down. Santiago found a spot for himself too, a large stand-alone rock that sat at the edge of their patrol zone. There, against the rough, sandy looking stone, he sat and began to suck from the tip of the water dispenser that was located in his helmet.
After a few hard tugs from his lips, the cool, brackish tasting electrolyte fluid began to pour down his throat. After a few mouthfuls, he was sure he had enough to sustain his muscles for the trip back. It was another few seconds before Jenkins decided to get on the comm and start bugging him again.
―Why have we stopped here anyway? We can‘t see a damned thing, what with those clouds hanging low here.‖
―It‘s a depression Private, there‘s bound to be clouds here.‖
―A whaa?‖ Jenkins asked.
―A depression,‖ Santiago repeated, ―a natural lowland formation. Clouds of gas like these hug the ground, so they go where it goes.‖
―I thought gases were supposed to rise!‖
―Not when they‘re denser than the air, stupid! And if you were listening during the briefings, you‘d know that the air here is a mix of many different things. You got see-oh-two, nitrogen and oxygen gas all mingled together. The clouds are the heavier ones, and that‘s what makes them clouds in the first place!‖
―Whatever, who cares, all I‘m saying is it‘s a waste!‖
Santiago waved his hand at the private, dismissing his idiocy and ignorance. But, he guessed, that was why he was a Private First Class while Jenkins was still a lowly Private. And in any case, he noticed that Jenkins was wrong when up ahead, he noticed some of the clouds clearing.
―Private!‖ he yelled, pointing to the spot up ahead where the bare rocks of the ravine were suddenly becoming clear. Jenkins began to run over to meet him to get a better view. A few seconds later, more of the clouds cleared and things other than rocks began to come into view.
―What the hell is that?‖ Jenkins asked, bringing his weapon a little higher.
―I don‘t know. It looks like… plants, or something.‖
That really was the best description for it. Scanning the area back and forth with their eyes, the two eyed what appeared to be a vast field of moss and tiny trees. The mosses were 48
patchy, weaving their way in and around the rocky ground. Here and there, the plant-like things stood prominently, tall stocks of green and violet. Although they could hear nothing through their sealed helmets, Santiago and Jenkins suddenly felt as though the wind that was coming through the ravine had stopped. For a moment they stood there, motionless against rocks, mouths hung open.
―You got your camera?‖ Jenkins said to Santiago.
―What?‖
―The Captain‘s gonna‘ want some pictures of this,‖ he explained. ―We should let them know exactly what we saw out here.‖
―Yeah,‖ Santiago said, taking a deep breath. ―Yeah, good thinking.‖
Pulling the apparatus from his carry-all, Santiago set the large camera up against a the rock he had been leaning on and aimed it at the centre of the field. Selecting a panoramic view to embrace the full length of it, he snapped off a shot. Zooming in closer, he snapped off a second. For the third shot, he zeroed tightly on one of the plants and took a detailed picture of it.
He noticed on closer inspection with the camera that the plants actually appeared to be changing colour in the light. At one moment, they were green and violet, but as the light danced across them, they appeared to be crimson, orange and blue as well. It was a curious display for the eyes, and at the ends of each plant, there appeared to be buds as well. Santiago took a few more, just to be thorough, and the two then took off in the direction of their vehicle as fast as they possibly could.
―So what your saying is I need to wake up the biologists before we even have the hydroponics up and running, because your men uncovered these… things?‖
The Marine Lieutenant, Martin Francisco, replied: ―Well sir, I can‘t think of anybody else who could make sense of these things. We were told to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, after all.‖
―I know,‖ the Captain replied. ―I guess I‘m just upset that they actually found something.‖
Captain Greeley set the photos down on the table, began to pace around the tight confines of the bridge‘s briefing room. Lieutenant Commander Mulligan and Krishna were also there, listening to what the marine commander had to say and hoping to offer their opinion.
―Does this put our plans in jeopardy?‖ Krishna asked.
―Don‘t know, I can‘t tell for sure. That‘s the problem with something extra-terrestrial like this, you just don‘t know. But, if I were to hazard a guess, I‘d say these things shouldn‘t be messed with.‖
―Then it would probably be best to let the bio people you‘ve got on board handle it,‖ the Lieutenant concluded. Greeley looked just a little offended by the suggestion.
―Lieutenant, do you really think those guys are going to be able to tell me anything that will help us here? None of them have ever seen an extra-terrestrial life form either; no one has, so they‘ve got no more expertise than any of us.‖
―They would probably want to get up close to the things, inspect them for themselves,‖
Krishna guessed.
―That‘s the other problem. They‘ll probably want to bring samples of the things on board, which means we‘ll have to open the ships labs for use, and start diverting power from the main generator. We‘re tapped as it is because the solar panels can barely get a joule from these 49
damned cloudy skies. And in any case, I‘ll be damned if I allow them to start bringing outside organics inside this ship. I don‘t want run the risk of contamination this soon into the mission.‖
―It might be enough to let them do some field research,‖ Mulligan said. ―If we were to let them get a close-up look, confine all of their work to the area itself, and just let them bring back some sealed samples, we could keep what they brought back in the freezer and not have to worry about contamination.‖
―We have the facilities, Captain. I see no need to worry about letting the eggheads poke around a little,‖ Krishna added.
―Besides,‖ Francisco added, ―my men have scoped out at least three other possible mining sites. Give us a chance to look them over a last time and I‘m sure we can start drilling in any one of them by the end of the week.‖
Thinking it over, the Captain finally nodded. ―Alright, it‘s agreed. Krishna, you get to work on thawing our biologists, Mulligan, you get our research facility up and running. In the meantime, I‘m gonna go have a talk with our meteorologists, see if I can get some kind of prediction as to when these bloody clouds will start shifting away from us.‖
―Here, this looks like a three person job.‖
The Captain jumped forward and put his hands around the end of the girder while the other two men struggled to hoist it up on their end. Looking to them both, the engineering chief nodded his head, counted to three, and the three lifted the metal into place above them. Taking one hand away from it for just a second, the chief grabbed the two self-sealing bolts from his belt and slid them into place. The girder was screwed into place on one end, and the three of them then moved to secure the other. Slowly, and with some help from the crew, the engineers were building what would someday be the first hydroponics dome to ever be deployed on the planet.
―Okay, now we need another buttress against this wall, and then another covering plate for the top there,‖ the chief said, pointing to different spots in the half-finished structure, then nodding to the Captain. ―Thanks sir, but we can handle it from here I think.‖
―Holler if you need me,‖ he replied.
Captain Greeley took a few steps away from the dome site and began to walk back towards the ship. The clouds still hung heavily over them, blowing endlessly across the dune landscape. For a moment, he wondered if any of them would ever be privilege enough to see a clear patch of sky before the inevitable happened and they were forced to die on this god-forsaken rock. Not far in the distance, he saw another temporary structure being set up by one of the other engineering crews. Mulligan was over there, seeing to it that their temporary weather station went up without incident. With all the other demands they were forced to accommodate, the resident meteorologist had requested that a research site be set up for him as well. This was to be a place where he could measure the wind speed, air temperature, density, etc. and compare them with the results from the ships on-board sensors. That too was a headache, retooling the ships sensors to detect weather patterns instead of stellar phenomena. But given the local conditions, and the demands the Captain was placing on him to find a break in this storm, he stressed that it was absolutely necessary. One could not walk blindly into an alien atmosphere, he claimed, and hope to simply be accommodated.
The Captain looked down at the coarse sand under his feet and kicked a big clump of it up in the air. With nothing better to do, he took out his anger over their bad luck on the one piece of the planet he could get at. How was it that they had managed to land on the worst part of this rock? Or worse, what if the rest of the planet were equally inhospitable? What did that say about their luck? With everything that happened back home, all the people who were dead 50
or dying, and all that was still to come, was it too much to ask that the few hundred survivors could catch a break? For all they knew, everyone in the solar system could be dead by now.
Could God not find it in his infinite mercy to save a few hundred specimens, or was it true what they said: One man sins, God punishes all? Greeley had never been much of a spiritual man, but now, stuck on this world with the fate of humanity in his and a few others hands, he suddenly felt strangely religious. Perhaps that saying was true as well: In a crisis, everyone converts.
No sooner had his backside had touched the sand did Greeley notice a silhouette running in his direction, waving his arm. The pale outline of a figure came closer, moving at a pretty quick pace, until he could vaguely see features. Judging by his size and the way he moved, he guessed that it was none other than their resident meteorologist, his right arm still waving in the air. In the other, he held a metal binder with papers billowing out of it. As he closed in, he realized who it had to be.
―Doctor Nara, I presume?‖ he said over the comlink. Coming to within a few steps from him, the Doctor keeled over to take a few quick breaths, then keyed his own comlink to reply.
―Captain! I‘ve been looking for you!‖ he said between huffs.
―Yeah, well, I was busy supervising the construction of your research centre. What can I do for you?‖
―I have some data which I‘ve compiled. I have to show it to you!‖
―Slow down!‖ the Captain ordered. ―Catch your breath, then tell me what you‘ve got.‖
Nara took a few more deep breaths, but went right on huffing between utterances.
―I‘ve discovered (hoo!) a break (ha!) in the storm!‖
―What!‖ the Captain replied.
―Yes, sir. I‘ve detected a break in this weather pattern a few hundred kilometres to the northeast, and it appears to be moving in our direction!‖
The Captain moved in and grabbed the doctor with both arms. Pulling him close so that they visors were almost touching, he peered into his eyes and demanded explanations.
―I thought you said you wouldn‘t be able to make any accurate predictions until all your equipment was set up. How have you made this determination? What‘s changed?‖
―Respectfully, sir. My earlier request was based on the assumption that this weather pattern was something more widespread. But thanks to the ships scanners, I have been able to determine that this storm covers a wide area, but it appears to be subject to shifts. I can only conclude that it is this way over much of the surface area of the planet, and that—‖
―Save it for the next briefing, doctor. All I need to know is it‘s clearing up right now!‖
the Captain said, pulling Nara close and giving him a big bear hug. Tossing him aside, he keyed his comlink again to contact Mulligan.
―Lieutenant! This is the Captain. Order the crews to cease work on the domes!‖
―Say again, sir!‖ Mulligan came back over the line.
―I said cease work on the domes, our good meteorologist has just told me we have a break in the storm! Order all hands to return to the ship immediately!‖
―But Captain,‖ the chief engineer‘s voice buzzed in over the same line, ―what about the hydroponics, sir? We need to get those set up if we‘re going to establish a settlement.‖
―Chief, if what the doctor tells me is correct, we‘ll be able to start scoping out new sites for settlement shortly. No sense building our homes on sand if we don‘t have to. Take down the structures immediately and start bringing them in! We resume patrols as soon as the weather clears!‖
―That‘s affirmative, sir,‖ Mulligan cut in again, ―Bringing it in.‖
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Turning around again to face Nara, Greeley slapped his suit on the back and gave him a friendly shake. ―Doctor,‖ he said, pulling him close again, ―as soon as we find a real place to put down, I‘m pinning a medal to your chest.‖
―Why, thank you, sir,‖ Nara said, betraying his obvious discomfort at being manhandled so much. ―Just doing my job.‖
―Yeah, well, so are we all, but your news is the first good news I‘ve heard since we landed. Let‘s just hope our lucks stays this good for the time being.‖
―As I was saying to the Captain,‖ Nara said, addressing the crowded briefing room, ―it appears that the cloud formations that have been covering this area for the past few weeks are part of a planet wide weather pattern. The dense clouds of nitrous oxide form into large masses that apparently move to and fro, covering several regions of the planet at any given time. They move periodically, and then settle into other regions. I can only surmise that the planets rotation and shifting wind patterns determine when these shifts take place. This is just an inference at this time, based on some basic principles and the limited range of our scanners, but I think —‖
―Doctor,‖ one of the pilots interrupted, ―get to the part where the weather gets better for us!‖
―Yes, yes, I was getting to that. Uh, I think we can expect that the clouds will begin to dissipate in our region in three days time. The clear skies pattern appears to be moving in from the northeast, and should clear all the way to the ridge within a week. Then we can expect the clouds to shift further south, away from the desert region altogether—‖
―Which means,‖ Greeley interrupted, ―that our patrols will finally be able to scout beyond the limits of the desert. Is that right, doctor?‖
―Well, yes, sir,‖ the doctor replied. ―If in fact the dense clouds is what was effecting our transmitters, which is perfectly logical, then we should be able to extend our patrols further, and visibility would be vastly improved.‖
―Thank you, doctor. Good news people, I think we should thank doctor Nara for his efforts in bringing it to our attention.‖
The crew began to clap their hands; just a few at first, but soon everyone was applauding the doctor. Humbly, the thin, dark man smiled and thanked them for their needless appreciation, still committed to the notion that he was simply doing his job. G