Exiled to the Stars (41 page)

Chun cursed. He had hoped to make it to the foothills before making camp for the night. But this was the third detour they'd had to make so far, and the mule-powered wagon slowed them to a snail's pace. He
really
didn't want to have to camp on the plain; there were too many of them, they'd make too much noise, and the high grasses would offer concealment to any predator. Besides, that damned mule was an invitation to a predator. Every wolf lizard within half a mile would be creeping up on them. Not to mention who-knew-what other nasties. For the millionth time he cursed the Council's lack of foresight. By now, they should know every kind of threat within a thousand kilometers. For that matter, they should have known about the natives, or whatever they were, twenty years ago.

Before old Jerson retired, he told Chun that his biggest problem wouldn't be protecting the colony from Wolf lizards or plains rats. "You can plan for known threats, you learn how to handle them," he'd said. "No, the big problem is the one you don't know about yet. Keep pushing the Council to let you explore."

So here they were, creeping across the plain, lasers at the ready, on edge, watching for 'boojums'. "Boojum" was the term Jerson had coined that meant 'unknown threat.' Every Scout had grown heartily sick of being constantly warned to 'watch out for the boojums'. But every Scout had known the old man was right.

Chun sighed. That was no help now. The land they were crossing was covered with Earth-descended grasses that had crowded out the native stuff. For all they knew, that plains rat colony was abandoned; after all, the plains rats couldn't eat the Earth-descended stuff.

Still, they couldn't take the chance. Not when every chance they took was life-or-death. At least the alien vegetation wouldn't appeal to the wolf-lizards, either. Apparently, it gave off a scent or something that the local wildlife didn't much like.

But Chun wasn't willing to bet his life on it. Or anyone else's. So, they crept along, watching for boojums. He eyed the ambling mule with disgust. If they had a tractor, they'd be there by now. He rolled his eyes as he recalled the Council's oft-repeated refrain. "We can't afford to wear out the equipment," the almost-scripted argument went. "Horses and carabao can make more horses and carabao, but tractors can't make more tractors." He sighed.

That hackneyed argument carried a lot of sense, but still…The ship's computer had the specs for every part of every machine they had, and the programs for machining them. And that wagon carried mostly food for the humans and the mule; there was really only one piece of equipment aboard it. The vein of ore, if that was what it was, was past the point covered by Earth-descended vegetation; the only food available would be what was on the wagon. Chun had argued for over an hour, but the Council wouldn't concede that they were past the break-even point, where a tractor would use less 'fuel' than a mule, and enable them to move faster and complete their mission sooner.

He cursed again. If they camped on the plain, they'd have to burn off a camp site. The spray would have no effect on the Earth-descended grasses. That meant stopping early. Live Earth-descended grasses didn't burn as easily as the dead native stuff.

"Chun," Ron asked. "Think we'll make the foothills?" His tone was nervous.

Chun shrugged, suppressing a nod of approval. The kid was learning. "Not if we have to keep making detours."

"Should we speed up our pace?" Ron persisted.

Chun thought. Maybe they could speed up a little. But Chun would have to be on guard to make certain they didn't try to go faster than they could scan ahead. He nodded, and then speeded up his own pace, hurrying to catch up with Denis Chu, walking point.

He caught up with Denis, and began setting a new, slightly faster pace. With both of them on point, Chun felt better about speeding their pace. He
really
didn't want to camp on the plain!

By the time they reached the hills, the sun was uncomfortably low in the sky. The Earth-descended grasses thinned and slowly disappeared, replaced by rocky slopes punctuated by straggling growths, both Earth- and Crashlanding-descended. They searched frantically for a flat spot for their campsite, and finally had to call in the airship, with its powerful floodlight.

While the airship hovered above them, they hurried to get their camp established. The light was certain to draw every predator within sight of it.

Finally, they had sprayed a nine-meter circle, and placed alarms every two meters around its edge. With a sigh of relief, Chun signaled the airship to shut off its light and resume its patrol. Once their eyes had again adjusted to the darkness, they used night vision goggles to prepare for the night. Ron and Elaine were disappointed when Chun didn't dig a firepit, but he was in command, and even refused to allow them to use flashlights. In the center of the circle, where Ron and Elaine had hoped for a firepit, the mule was staked out, close to the wagon.

"I still don't understand why they didn't just fly us up here and drop us off," Frank complained as he scanned the ground for rocks or Crashlanding plants. "We shouldn't have had to carry all this gear up here."

Chun grinned. "Because you four delicate flowers were only half the mission," he replied. "The other half was to give our six intrepid Explorers a little practical experience. Besides, you needed the exercise."

Frank was shipborn, one of the few children born during the voyage, and one of only nine to survive the crash and the plague. He was also very smart. Growing up, he'd seen the back-breaking work required of the adults to develop a food source independent of the ship's supplies.

At first, he'd worked hard at studying so he could avoid the hard physical labor in the fields, but eventually he'd developed a love of learning that was almost obsessive. Now, he had three computer-awarded 'PhD's', and was becoming recognized as the person most likely to succeed Susan Renko as the colony's foremost scientist.

That wasn't as impressive as it sounded, of course. A colony of even 5,000 could support few 'pure' scientists, if, indeed, there were such a thing. With such a shortage of skills, the lines between 'scientist', 'engineer', 'technician', and even 'craftsman' were becoming blurred.

Angel Koh, for instance, wanted to be an astronomer. He was irritated at having to stop trying to learn how to make and polish lenses to make a telescope, since those aboard the ship had been mounted on the hull, and had been destroyed by the crash. Wen Ho Jackson was equally irritated. He'd been helping Angel with his glass experiments. Wen hoped to create his own lasers to replace the aging tools from the ship, none of which were exactly what he needed to facilitate his study of light.

Michiko Montoya was more content, if rather nervous. The only other woman besides Elaine on the expedition, she'd helped Frank convert a mining laser into a 'core extractor'. They'd mounted the laser on a rotating disk at the bottom of the machine. When the machine was started, the laser's projector head rotated, allowing it to cut a fifteen-cem-diameter cylinder. At least they hoped it would. It had worked fairly well in their tests, but they'd had to rush the extractor to completion for this expedition. They still weren't sure how deep the laser would cut, or even how they would 'break off' their core sample. They'd only finished building it the night before the expedition left. They hadn't had time to test the assembled unit.

Unlike med techs, who could find work in their specialties as soon as the computer certified their 'doctorate', most science in the colony consisted of short periods of research crammed between a seemingly endless stream of computer classes on the design and construction of the equipment that research required, followed by long days in shops making the needed equipment.

Strangely enough, education was a somewhat controversial subject in the colony. The Council had ordered that every child be required to complete at least a secondary-school level education. At that point, the student was considered an adult regardless of his chronological age. With the help of the computer and a battery of aptitude tests, the new graduate decided whether to continue his formal education, or learn a trade, or become a farmer. Frank had been the youngest ever to become an 'adult', completing the curriculum at age 12.

The problem was that there was a period, a 'hole', in the normal breeding pattern. Due to the fact that every woman's shipboard allotment contained contraceptives, and uncertainty about the future, there were few children born during the voyage. For some two years after the crash and the plague, the drastically reduced population of women of reproductive age had further depressed the birth rate. It was only after the crèche was established that the birth rate regained, and slightly surpassed, the normal number for a population their size.

Since the vast majority of the survivors were 'drones', this meant that they had dominated colony policy for years beyond the time a new generation should have arisen. It was only Cesar Montero's strength, and his support on the Council, that had forced through the present policy.

Despite the fact that they had been forced by circumstance to learn modern, scientific farming methods, most of the experienced farmers had been peasant farmers on Earth. To them, education was an unimportant luxury for the wealthy. They wanted their children in the fields, learning to farm, not seated comfortably in a classroom. They clung desperately to the 'old ways', despite mounting evidence that the old ways did not fit the current circumstances.

The first of the Planetborns were beginning to make their influence felt, but still, many of the children completing their secondary school curriculum faced heavy pressure from their aging parents to forget this white man's nonsense of 'education', and join them on the farm.

Since the symbiont seemed to be extending the normal lifespan, these attitudes threatened to persist for some time. Meanwhile, the Council, desperate for the development of artisans, technicians and various experts, pulled the new graduates in the opposite direction, urging them to continue their education, to pursue advanced degrees or apprenticehips. As the population and the average educational level grew, the Council was slowly, but perceptibly, winning the battle.

Still, the four scientists on the expedition comprised a large majority of the colony's scientific talent, a fact which contributed greatly to Chun's nervousness. So, his reaction was immediate when he heard the shout, followed by a scream of agony.

Chapter 16

Tenthmonth 3, Year 23 A.L.

As he spun, he was momentarily gratified to see the four sentries throw only a quick glance toward the sound before returning their attention to their assigned sector. Continuing his turn, he saw the others hurrying toward a figure writhing on the ground, screaming in agony. It was Wen Ho Jackson, and he was cradling his swollen and discolored right arm.

"Hold him down," Chun shouted as he ran across the open area. "Don't let him hurt himself even more." Frank Wong jumped on Wen's legs, as Ron Creding pinned down his shoulders.

"Elaine," Chun continued, "get the airship back here, fast. We need an ambulance. Michiko, I want a running record of his vital signs. No," he continued as she reached to her side, "Use Wen's tablet."

Michiko's eyebrows rose. "Why?"

Chun shrugged. "His tablet will be going with him on the airship. Yours will stay here. Which will be more useful to the med techs?"

Michiko shrugged apologetically. "Sorry, Chun." She slipped Wen's tablet from beneath his body. Chun barely heard her apology. He was scanning the immediate area with his night vision glasses and praying that none of them had stepped on the evidence.

He noticed a tiny movement alongside a fist-sized rock, and toed the rock away.

The creature looked more like a ten-cem blob of jelly than anything else, though a blob with a cluster of long, thin spines on its top. He couldn't tell what color, if any, the creature was, because an evil-looking purple color was visibly working its way through the thing's body. When he first saw it, the spines were waving madly, but they were slowing as the purple progressed, apparently weakening and killing the creature. Finally, they stopped.

Chun glanced at Wen's hands. Yes, he had been wearing his protective gloves. He sighed. Back to the drawing board.

He turned to Elaine. "Airship?"

"On the way. Carlos said three minutes." Elaine replied crisply. "I've notified Med Center, and they'll be waiting. Dr. Renko is standing by."

Chun nodded. "Angel, get a sample case, and chivvy that thing into it.
Don't
touch the spines. In fact, don't touch it at all without tools. Dr. Renko and the med techs will need to see it. You'll ride back to the colony with Wen. Be sure you take his tablet and that
thing
."

Angel frowned. "Why me?"

Chun shrugged. "Because Frank and Michiko are most needed to spot and gather the samples we need. Besides, they built the sampler, and it'll probably take both of them to get it running."

"But…" Michiko said in a shocked tone, "I thought…"

Chun waved a dismissal. "There's nothing we can do for Wen. That's up to Doctor Renko and the med techs. But we've still got a job to do, and you and Frank are the best qualified to do it. You can keep track of Wen's progress through your tablet. Angel, you can come back once Wen's set."

He threw a surveying look around the group, including the sentries, and raised his voice so the sentries could hear him clearly. "Wen was wearing his protective gloves. That thing stung him right through it. Do
not
turn over or pick up any rocks with your hands. And be on your toes. If our gloves won't protect us, what about our boots?
No
chances. And watch out for boojums."

By the time the airship arrived, Wen was muttering weakly, and unable to walk. They almost
threw
him aboard the airship. Angel had to jump aboard the already-lifting vessel. The airship swung toward the colony even before it began gaining altitude.

Ron, Elaine, Frank and Michiko continued to cautiously scan the ground with their night-vision goggles, brushing away rocks and pulling up native plants with knives and improvised tools, while the other four explorers and Chun stood guard with shoulder lasers. The work was slow; no one wanted to join Wen in the Med Center. Two more of the creatures Frank was calling 'jelly monsters' were found, and Chun confirmed his suspicion that they were nearly transparent. Alive, they were very hard to see, and Chun hoped they didn't have any big brothers.