Arrival (19 page)

Day 2;

Jack is away now, just beyond the light of our fire. He hopes to calculate our position using the star maps on his data pad. Today we discovered many things, most important of which is that the water here is safe to drink. That, of course seemed of the utmost importance to Jack, since it will aid in his desire for us to return to the LRV and resume the mission. At times, it seems as though our situation is nothing more than a slight inconvenience to Jack. The fact that this place is literally overflowing with life is of little concern to him.

Speaking of life, I am constantly amazed at the quantity and variety residing here. Our hike today revealed more new species than I could count. For lack of more original monikers, we chose to title the creatures we see after the Earth equivalents that they most resemble. We have seen dozens of different birds and rodents, and several small and medium sized animals. They are all colorful and fascinating to watch as they go about their everyday tasks, usually giving us no more than a curious glance as we pass. I’m sure that Laura and Adia are enjoying themselves as they catalogue each and every one of these amazing new creatures.

I myself have managed to collect a few rock samples, despite Jack’s desire to save our resources for the testing of consumables. His comprehensive training aside, he seems oblivious to the scientific impact of every molecule we encounter here. He is a man of single-minded purpose, unwavering in his determination. I’m sure he has no doubt that we will soon rejoin the others.

I, on the other hand, am far less optimistic. Without knowing exactly where we are, I cannot see how we could possibly find our way back to the rest of our team. Of course, as you surely remember, I regularly became lost in the corridors of the very ship where we were raised.

* * *

That evening, the crew celebrated the day’s accomplishments laughing and joking over a very basic dinner of prepackaged, dehydrated entrees. Lynn could feel the warmth at the table. They had established the beginnings of a home on this new world, and now, they even had transportation. With it, they would retrieve the remaining cargo pods and would have everything they needed to survive, and maybe even conduct a respectable survey of their world. For the first time since they had landed, Lynn was feeling positive about their future, as well as their mission.

After dinner, Mac and Tony spent the rest of the evening on the resistance gym, while Sara teased them from the exer-cycle. Laura and Maria watched another movie, while Frank rested in his berth, fatigued from two long days of activity.

Lynn went into the EVA deck to check the outer hatch and ensure the exterior floodlights were on. She noticed Adia, standing at the bottom of the ramp. “Adia. What are you doing out here?” she asked as she descended the ramp.

Adia stood staring out into the night. “Nothing, just looking, I guess.”

“You know, it might be easier to take that first step in the daylight. It’s kind of creepy out here at night.”

“Yes, you’re right. I just thought it might not seem so vast at night.”

“Maybe.” Lynn stepped down off the ramp onto the ground, holding out her hand to Adia. “Come on, one step. You can do it.”

Adia took her hand, grasping it tightly. Lynn could feel Adia’s hand trembling in hers as she stepped down off the ramp, placing first her left foot, then her right, firmly on the ground.

“It feels different,” Adia told her.

“Different than what?”

“Different than the ground in the Daedalus’s garden deck,” she explained. “Not as smooth… Not as even.”

“Yes, it certainly isn’t even, that’s for sure.”

“It feels kind of nice, actually.”

“Yes, it does, now that you mention it.”

“I don’t know what it is, but it feels, well, like this is how it is
supposed
to be.” Adia looked at her, “does that make any sense?”

“Actually, it makes a lot of sense,” Lynn agreed. “It’s a big, beautiful world out there. Scary at times, I’ll admit. But beautiful nonetheless.”

Adia smiled at her. She was happy to have taken her first step. But her smile quickly faded at the sound of a faraway animal, howling in the night. “What was that?”

“I have no idea,” Lynn admitted, shaking her head.

“Maybe that’s enough for now,” Adia decided quickly as she stepped back up onto the ramp.

“Maybe you’re right,” Lynn agreed, not wanting to push her too far. “Let’s head back inside.”

They headed back up the ramp, Lynn pausing halfway up to secure the hatch for the night. “Maybe tomorrow you can try to venture out a little farther?”

“Maybe, yes.”

“We’ll probably unload the first two pods tomorrow. That would keep you very close to the ship. You can help, if you’d like.”

“I’ll try,” Adia agreed.

“That’s all I can ask,” Lynn responded as they headed back inside.

* * *

The next day was a flurry of activity. Frank and Sara set out in the ATUV immediately after the morning briefing to retrieve the remaining cargo pods. After assembling the towing rig around a capsule, they would tow it back to camp and park it near the LRV. It was a tedious process taking several hours per pod, thus it took most of the day just to retrieve three.

Lynn and Laura took on the task of checking the sensor stakes. The motion sensors had not alerted them to the approach of their late-night visitor, and Lynn wanted to know why. More importantly, she wanted to ensure it would not happen again. But after hiking the perimeter and inspecting every stake, she couldn’t find any malfunctions. Finally, after much deliberation at the lunch table, they decided that the sensor stakes would have to be reset to operate in multiple detection modes, switching between motion, infrared, bio, and radar modes at ten second intervals in the hopes that one of the modes would detect the creature.

Mac spent the day with the relatively simple task of making ready the two all-terrain cycles that had been packed in the cargo pod with the ATUV, while Tony and Maria began unloading the cargo pod that sat next to the LRV’s nose since touchdown. Occasionally, Adia would come out to assist with the unloading, but never for more than a few minutes at a time, before she felt compelled to return to the ship to calm her frazzled nerves.

* * *

Day 3;

Jack spent most of today resting. He stayed up half the night taking star readings with his data pad. With the difference in the Cetian day and night cycles, as well as being weak from four months in microgravity, I’m surprised that he was able to do anything.

While he slept, I took the opportunity to explore the immediate area on my own. Without Jack pushing me on, I was able to linger over interesting geological formations. I even spent an hour watching two little organisms scurry about, gathering materials to build their nest in a crook between the roots of a large tree. I gathered samples, took readings, and analyzed findings, as I tried to determine what era of development this world is in.

I returned to camp only an hour before sundown to find Jack making preparations for the evening meal. He already had the fire up and roaring, and was carefully stirring a pot of rehydrated stew over the fire’s heat.

After dinner, Jack again disappeared with his data pad to take more star sightings, leaving me alone with my journal. With you.

Although I enjoyed my time wandering about with Jack, I don’t think I could do the same in the darkness of night. The moons of this world are not visible from wherever we are on Tau Ceti Five, and once you wander beyond the range of the fire’s dancing light, it becomes very, very dark, indeed. It is not like the dark on the Daedalus, where you can still hear the sounds of ventilation systems, comms, and the distant voices of others. Here, the night is filled with a cacophony of alien sounds, as the creatures of the night, great and small, communicate with one another. I have no idea which creatures make what noises, or why they make them. This makes it all the more frightening.

I did wander out a few meters beyond the fire’s light to look at the stars, to see what Jack was looking at. While the view is breathtaking, it is not the same as when viewing those same stars from space. The atmosphere here plays tricks with the light, causing the stars to twinkle. It is quite magical.

Although I know the science behind how Jack will calculate our position, it seems a daunting task, even with the help of the data pad. Jack promises it will only take him a few nights, but I honestly do not mind if he takes weeks. We have food, water, and shelter. So for now, we are safe. And with Jack sleeping through most of the day, I am free to explore this wonderful new world. I only wish you were here to explore it with me. Soon. Soon.

* * *

Sara watched the data pad tracking display as the all-terrain utility vehicle bounced over the uneven landscape. Traveling through the forest was much rougher than over the rolling meadows of the open valley. Frank’s constant weaving as he snaked a course through the majestic trees left Sara feeling a bit queasy.

“Can you slow down a little?” Sara complained as she tried to keep her eyes fixed on the data pad in her hands.

“Hell no!” Frank exclaimed. “This is great!” he cheered as he swung the steering wheel from side-to-side. Driving the ATUV was great fun,
especially
through the forest.

“Have you ever driven these things before?” Sara wondered.

“You’re kidding, right?” Frank laughed. “Only in the simulator!”

“Then maybe you should slow down a bit, just until you get the hang of it!”

“Don’t worry! We’ll be out of the forest in a minute!”

Sara held on tight with her free hand, trying to see through the thick woods to the rapidly approaching far side. A minute later, the vehicle cleared the edge of the forest, coming to a stop at the edge of a long stretch of beach. The solid land they had been driving upon suddenly gave way to sand, interspersed by large thickets of shrub-like grass. The sand was bright tan in color, coarse and sparkling in the afternoon sunlight. It stretched out below them for at least one hundred meters, gradually sloping down and away from their position at the seaward side of Sherwood Forest until it disappeared under the water’s edge.

But the beach was nothing compared to the vast bay that lay beyond its edge. Green and blue, it stretched beyond the horizon to the west. The water was full of motion, rising and falling, rolling toward the shore. White foam capped the tops of the waves as the ocean breeze blew across them. Strange plants could be seen floating, interspersed across the surface of the water. Birds of varying sizes, shapes, and colorations danced between the waves, bobbing and weaving as they sought their prey amongst the splashing water. The ocean was truly alive.

“Wow,” was all that Sara could utter as she stood up in her seat to get a better view. Frank stepped out of the vehicle, walking up to the edge of the sandy slope. He peered out across the water, scanning from left to right. The land wrapped around to both sides, forming a sloppy half circle into which the water flowed.

“It’s a bay!” Frank realized proudly.

“A what?” Sara asked, unfamiliar with the term.

“A bay!” Frank repeated. “That’s what they called them on Earth. When the coastline formed sort of a bowl, or a cradle around a body of water. I remember reading about it when I was younger. Fascinating stuff. Bays have their own little marine ecosystems, nearly separate from the ocean itself.” Frank continued to scan the area. “But I don’t see the cargo pod anywhere. Are you sure the signal was coming from this direction?”

Sara looked at the data pad again to check her readings. “It should be right in front of us, only fifty meters,” she insisted.

Frank circled around to her side of the ATUV to see for himself. “You’re reading the scale wrong! It’s not fifty meters, it’s three hundred meters!”

“Well that can’t be right!” she defended. “That would put it out…”

“In the water,” Frank finished, lifting his view-scope and scanning the surface of the waves. He searched back and forth in the direction of the signal several times without seeing anything familiar. Then he saw a tiny flash of light. He fixed his gaze in the direction of the reflection. Again it flashed sunlight at him as its reflective surface bobbed and turned in the churning sea. Frank adjusted the magnification, zooming in on the object. It was less than half a meter in diameter, and had a small metallic box in the center of the object with a tiny antenna protruding from its center. “It’s a marker buoy,” Frank reported. “It comes out when the pod is submerged. It’s attached to the pod by a tether, and is equipped with a transponder.”

“Why didn’t we pick it up before now?”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s damaged,” Frank theorized. “Maybe it didn’t release at first, or maybe something was holding it down. All I know is that a marker buoy is out there, and somewhere below it is our last cargo pod.”

“Any ideas on how we’re going to retrieve it?” Sara asked.

“Not a one,” Frank admitted.

* * *

“So how are we supposed to get to it?” Lynn asked back in the LRV’s wardroom.

“I don’t know how to swim,” Mac stated as he chewed the last bite of his dinner.

“None of us do,” Maria added.

“Actually,” Tony interrupted. “I know how to swim… A little.”

Everyone’s attention turned to Tony, surprised by his confession. There were no swimming pools on the Daedalus.

Tony could feel their disbelief. “My grandfather took care of the fish breeding tanks down on ‘D’ level. Once a month, he would have to clean the tanks by going inside and scrubbing them down while they were still full of water. But it’s been a few years.”

“The water in those breeding tanks wasn’t moving,” Sara reminded Tony. “Trust me.
That
water was moving.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Frank added. “Swimming is not the issue. The pod is at least ten meters down, so the work is
underwater
.”

“How are we supposed to work underwater?” Sara asked.

“Actually, I have an idea,” Frank announced. “It’s a take on the deep-sea diving apparatus they used back on Earth. We could modify two of the pressure suits, make them submersible. If they can hold air in, they should be able to keep water out.”

“How long will the modifications take?” Lynn wondered.

“Not long. All I have to do is reverse some of the seals, and maybe reinforce a few fittings with some sealant. If I get started tonight, we should be ready for a dive by midday tomorrow.”

Lynn pondered the plan for a moment, not wanting to commit to it too quickly. “You said earlier that the tide came in, increasing the depth of the water where the pod is sitting. Couldn’t we just wait for the tide to go back out? Then at least we’d be working in more shallow water.”

“Yes, we could wait for the tide to go out…assuming it ever does. This isn’t Earth, and we have no idea what the tide cycles are here. We
think
they have tides here, but both of this planet’s moons take considerably longer to complete a revolution around this world. So it could be days, or even weeks before the tide goes back out again. And what effect
two
moons have on the tides is still unconfirmed.”

“But we have computer models, right?” Lynn said.

“Yes, we do. But those models show a longer tide cycle…much longer. And we have no idea when the tides started. We just got here.”

“Surely we can make an estimate based on the models…”