Eden

Eden by Louise Wise

Published in 2008 by YouWriteOn.com

Copyright © Text Louise Wise

First Edition

The author asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

This book is sold subject to the condition that is shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher
’s
prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the

subsequent purchaser.

Published by YouWriteOn.com

Acknowledgements

A huge thank you to: my parents, Pat and Arthur for a lifetime of love and support, and for always being there when I needed you.

To my sisters Jennie and Kathleen, and my big brother, Martin for all just being my siblings.

To my wonderful husband, David for the encouragement and inspiration.

To my sons, Cory, Jamie,

Jordan and Todd (but not for destroying the furniture, putting pegs down the toilet and melting crayons in the fireplace.)

Enough fluff on with the story...

Part 1

ONE

“Brace yourself,” Bodie shouted.

The jolt wrenched him from the controls and threw him backwards into Jenny. She spun several somersaults before seizing an overhead handrail as Bodie sailed off into the zero gravity of the shuttle.

“What the hell was that?” she cried, moving her body towards her position on the flight deck. Using the lap belt she secured herself into her seat.

Bodie swore somewhere above.

“Stop doing your Peter Pan impression,” she said, “we need movement ASAP.”

Bodie grunted and pulled himself to sit in his commanding chair next to her. “Too frigging old for this,” he muttered, flicking buttons and switches in front and overhead.

Jenny grinned, but didn’t take her eyes off the on-orbit display unit. She activated the thrusts and, moving at speed, Taurus was rocketed back into deep space.

“So what happened, there?” she asked once the danger had
past.

“We’d entered an asteroid belt.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “An asteroid must’ve jolted Taurus; can’t think why we didn’t get more of a warning. “

“What does Kate say?”

Bodie tapped the screen - Kate. “She
’s
offline.” He reached overhead and pulled a switch. “What happened to Matt?”

“He went for a pee...” and she began to laugh, imagining him
struggling to free vital body parts from the hose after the collision.

Bodie, following her line of
humor
, gave a low chuckle.

“It
’s
where he keeps his brain, so don’t expect any productivity
from him for a while,”
she added.

They worked together while they chatted; their actions mechanical as they secured Taurus from being drawn back into the gravitational pull of Eden.

“Why do you hate Matt so much?” Bodie asked.

“I don’t! Is that what you think?” She looked horrified, then sighed and said, “Sorry. It may seem that way at times, but I don’t hate him. Well, maybe a little bit.”

“Very professional.”

“It
’s
hard not to rise to him at times,” she said in a poor attempt to excuse herself. “He
’s
an immature arsehole.”

Bodie checked their position against a small screen above his head. “Sure he
’s
not the only one?”

As Jenny scowled at him, Bodie grinned.

“We’ve been hit by an asteroid,” Matt announced from behind. They both noticed his forehead had a red swelling, which told of his surprise when the asteroid hit. He was glaring at Jenny and she
realized
shamelessly he had heard everything she had said about him.

“I think we could figure that out for ourselves,” she said as he pulled his body into the flight deck using the handrails. He ignored her.

“Where was the damned computer
’s
warning?”

“She gave it just as we were hit, but now she
’s
down. For some reason we
’re
having to do everything manually,” Bodie said, he flicked a switch and spoke into the microphone but the monitor
’s
usual
colored
screen was blank. “What the devil
’s
wrong? Kate, can you hear me?”

Matt turned and impatiently pulled himself through the small hatch. “You rely too bloody much on that computer. I
’ll
check for damage,” he called over his shoulder as he disappeared.

Jenny peered from the porthole. The blue globe of a newly discovered world was suspended in dark space next to their shuttle. And the asteroids, tiny particles of ice, nickel and other metals, were orbiting around Eden.

“How did they go undetected?” she asked. She
glanced at the screen of Taurus’
eye, or Kate, as they liked to call it.

“I’ve really no idea.
I’m
beginning to get worried now, she
’s
never let us down before.”

“We don’t need her. I hate to agree with anything Matt says, but he
’s
right, you rely on her too much.”

Bodie grunted and continued to stab at the keys impatiently. They sat in silence, Jenny looking wistfully at the blue globe hovering alongside them. It’d be awful if the mission was
jeopardized
because of Kate
’s
malfunction.

“No damage to the outside.” Matt came back and fastened himself in his seat. “Everything
’s
working fine. Kate blocked the asteroid successfully, but her override is completely knocked out of sync.”

“Thought so,” Bodie said. “Kate
’s
not responding at all. Her main responsibilities are keeping us safe, and she needs her override to take over if anything happens to her. “

“We can override
her,”
Matt said, “and try again on our own.” “No way.” Bodie
’s
face had a film of sweat. “I think
I’m
too old for this. “

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Where
’s
that inner child you
’re
always telling us about?”

Matt was looking annoyed. “We don’t need Kate,” he said. “We can do this on our own. We’ve been trained for these eventualities, for Christ
’s
sake.”
He looked over at Bodie. “Where’
re
your balls, Bo? Left them back home, eh?”

“When you have your own space mission you can do it your way, until then we
’ll
do it mine,” Bodie said. “If you don’t like it then go back to middeck and stay there.”

Jenny smirked and Matt turned his glare onto her. They exchanged childish faces until Bodie looked up and caught them. His angry stare lingered on Jenny, and she turned her face away flushing with embarrassment.

She felt especially ashamed because Bodie, only moments ago, had been open with his praise for rising above Matt
’s
childish
demeanor
towards her. His
behavior
had something to do with the ending of their short-lived fling a few years ago and whatever the reason for their split, which Jenny could never recall, Matt had obviously never forgiven her.

“Hello James,” Kate
’s
distinctive, soft voice said. The voice reminded Jenny of how women often spoke in commercials advertising something that is supposed to be sexy. She often wondered if Bodie had modified the computer
’s
voice to sound like someone who had been special in his life.

Bodie beamed, and affectionately touched the screen. Matt sniggered, and Jenny had to bite down on her bottom lip.

“Hello, Kate. What happened to you?” said Bodie.

“I had a technical problem with my override, but everything is OK now,” she answered. “You have been in a collision with a cluster of asteroids that swings between moons and the planet every 29.5 days. There is no damage. You may continue towards Eden, everything is hunky dory.”

“Thank you, Kate,” Bodie said, but his voice was lost as Matt and Jenny burst into laughter.

“Hunky dory?
Who taught her that?” asked Jenny.

“You may laugh,” Bodie said without any embarrassment. “But
she has more brain cells than the entire population of the earth.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jenny said, still smiling.

“Base Control require a reading, James,” Kate said. “If you like I can read aloud as I send it.”

“Yes please, Kate.”

“Area 509 600 000 sq km. Land surface 48 000 000...”

Jenny
’s
mind wandered as Kate rattled off Eden
’s
statistics. Her gaze drifted towards the porthole again and she tried to imagine the alien terrain of the planet
’s
surface.

“.One landmass covering the northern pole. The equator is frozen ocean. Land temperature, excluding the poles, is not more than -20
^o
c, and temperature falls even further at nightfall. I’ve brought you into the warmest area. Here it
’s
-15
^o
c. You
’ll
need to wrap up w -”

“Er yes, thanks, Kate,” Bodie hurriedly said, as the other two began to laugh again.

“He modelled her on his mum,” Matt laughed.

Jenny snorted.

“There
’s
more.”

The three looked at one another; laughter dissolving.

“Go on, Kate.”

“There
’s
not only vegetation. There
’s
animal life, too,” she
said.

The three gasped.

“What sort of animal life?” asked Bodie, his hands shaking with excitement as he lifted the earpiece over his head and pressed the locating buttons in front of him.

“
I’m
detecting low intelligent mammals,” she replied.

Jenny could imagine Logan, the head of their control team back on earth, cheering at the news. But they wouldn’t receive it for another four weeks.

Jenny felt like she had on her first space voyage, when she’d floated in space beside her capsule between earth and the moon,
marveling
at their beauty. She was pleased Eden had animal life forms, but for an entirely different reason. It had already been written in agreements across the nations and signed by all governments that if the planet contained intelligent life it would remain untouched. It meant that no country would have sole rights to the planet.

“OK, Jen, let
’s
try for take two,” Bodie said. He grinned at her, his excitement beginning to show on his face.

Her own smile in return was out of control; she pulled back on the lever and guided Taurus towards Eden with complete ease. They ducked beneath the spinning rocks, and up again towards the tilted Eden. The blue aura of the atmosphere that enveloped the planet grew as they closed in. The jolt, when it came, was welcomed, telling them they had hit the stratosphere. Turbulence knocked the ship, and white mist obscured their vision, but the landing was smooth and effortless.

“Yes!” Jenny cried, laughing with undisguised emotion.

Bodie punched the air, and offered his hand across to Matt and Jenny. “We’ve done it!” He looked as if he could barely believe it. He unclipped his seat belt, and pulled off the earpiece. “Well,” his mouth stretched from one ear to the other in a wide, infectious grin. “Shall we take that “one giant leap for mankind”?”

TWO

Stepping tentatively outside of Taurus onto frozen ground, they stood looking around at the alien surroundings in complete silence. The air was equally cold; it had chilled everything in its reach. The absolute stillness of the landscape belied the ample evidence of some sort of animal life: everywhere they looked, dung and spoor littered the ground. There were large clumps of waist-high grass growing in various places on the plains, the blades looking thick and sharp. Ten metres away, on such a clump the hairy blades rustled spasmodically, indicating a presence amongst the foliage.

“Hibernation,” murmured Jenny. The air had already been deemed safe, but still Jenny was tentative as she pulled off her helmet. The whoosh of cold air instantly struck her face, and the frigid breeze caused painful shock waves to travel through her nose and throat. As there was no need for a life-support subsystem, they wore a lighter, almost ordinary, two-piece “space suit”, and the helmet had only been for protection for the head on entry.

“I think you may be right, Jen,” Bodie said, turning a full circle to look around him. “Would
you believe it - hibernation!”

“It
’s
cold enough,” Matt agreed, and shivered for effect.

The planet circled a binary star system, and had the company of eight moons. The furthest sun was a mere star that could be seen during the daylight hours. The other was high in the sky, yet its light was nowhere near as powerful as their own sun. The solar system also boasted two gas giants, along with a smaller remote planet, which revolved around the suns like a globular icicle.

The strangely linked suns were extra-terrestrial enough, but Jenny was looking forward to when the planet turned, in order to view the moons. She could see one, full and craterless, and couldn’t help
but stare.

She looked around in wonder at the strange horizon. Mountain ranges, white tipped, were dressed in yellows and oranges. They stood like gaudy ornamental
jeweler
in the far distance. To the North the ground running towards them was flat and frost-encrusted; large red flowers grew everywhere, as if somebody had beheaded millions of blooms and scattered them like confetti at a church wedding.

Jenny moved forward and bent towards one. Her step was sluggish after the weightlessness she had felt on the twenty-two month trip here.
She
felt heavy, and it was almost too much effort to put one foot in front of the other. As her shadow fell across the flower, its petals immediately folded into a tight bud.

A sharp crack filled the freezing air, causing them to start fearfully. An inhuman scream followed, which changed pitch and direction several times. Jenny swung around, trying to locate the noise as the thrill of fear iced her veins.

“Jesus Christ...” began Matt, clutching at Bodie
’s
arm in fear.

“Over there,” Bodie pointed, pulling away from Matt
’s
pinching grip.

In the distance, a tree swung violently from side to side as though it had just been released from being pinned down. As the tree slowed, the scream lost its shrill call until it was silent once again, then they watched as the branches pulled away from the slick looking trunk until it resembled a tall fir tree.

“There
’re
loads of them.” Matt pointed to a group of tightly curled trees. As they stared, another tree was violently released with a slurping sound, as if something wet and heavy had fallen onto concrete from a great distance. It swayed noisily and dangerously until it
stabilized
, and like the other, the green branches unstuck from the trunk to stand upright.

“Wow,” said Jenny.