Odyssey Rising (10 page)

“The absence of things is often noticed more than the presence of the routine. See, there are no birds. And no plants. Nothing. Just rock. Dust. Wind,” Ravi answered.

“At least there is breathable air,” Sam said.

“That’s one of the most attractive traits of this place,” Ravi said, “but where are the bugs? The insects? Where’s the muncha-muncha?”

“I’m cool with no bugs,” Sam said.

“I love bugs,” Ellie announced proudly. “They’re fascinating.”

“Like me?” Sam asked.

Ellie just rolled her eyes and turned to Theo. “Do you love bugs?”

“Sure,” Sam answered.

“You love them so much that you’ll eat the first one we see?”

“I don’t know,” Sam said, “are they big brain approved?”

“I guess Sam the Man is scared of aliens,” Ravi said.

“Me? No way, mutant.”

“Then promise you’ll eat the first one we see?”

“This is stupid. I’m not going to promise that.”

“Maybe this is a dead place,” Ellie said.

Returning to the Pod, they were a mess caused by the elements. Their faces were a light brown from the dust of the planet. Hair was a wind blown mess, exhausted, clothes filled with soil, chunks of this planet. Dust covered their goggles. Shoulders were hunched with exhaustion and there was no pep to their steps. Exhausted, sweating and still breathing hard, they each took off their goggles, spit out some dust and specks from their mouths.

The fading sun cast a spell on the Pod. The sky had a pink and orange glow as the sun lowered in the sky and reached vertical.

Nighttime was near. An evening chill surrounded Discovery Site. A brisk wind howled against the sleeping structures. There was a rattle of dust and rock that occasionally knocked against the structure, which the group kept within sight.

They kept the Pod door cracked open as well as the viewing window with the outside view. Still no link to the outside world, no messages received on their Communication Devices, no GPS location finder.

When the wind settled and there was a calm silence to the night, Theo knew it was time to go to sleep but he was filled with too much restless energy to do so. He realized he may never hear his father’s voice ever again. While they had sometimes butted heads about the boy he had become and the stupid things he did, Theo loved and respected his father with all his heart. He knew his father would do everything in his power to save their lives.

Inside the Pod, the group of Positives sat around the common table inside the sheltering warmth of the Pod. They each ate a blue nutrient tablet and sipped a half cup of water. Sam sucked his drink down in one gulp.

“
Ummmm
-good!”

“You’ve got to savor each sip,” Ravi said.

“Baloney, you little mutant. It’s all going the same place.”

There was a low chatter of back and forth within the group and they were still unsure if the wind would ever stop pelting the side of their new home, this Escape Pod. They all rose to their feet and went outside.

Ravi asked the others, “Shouldn’t someone stay up while the others try to get some rest?”

“Why?”

“To watch.”

“For what?”

“Life. Danger. Anything,” Ravi said.

Sam added, “You mean some one-eyed, midget aliens?”

“There’s no danger here. We’re in the Pod,” Theo said. “We’re going to be okay. We’re going to be fine. Nothing can get in here when we lock that door.”

“Maybe, but no one counted on the Yin-Yang Twins getting into our bodies either,” Sam said.

“Genesis is on their way,” Ravi said.

“Maybe, but they don’t know how to help us,” Sam responded, “and what if they really don’t come down here?”

“They don’t send an expensive piece of machinery like this Pod down here, if they didn’t plan to come with a landing shuttle and pick it up,” Ellie said.

“But what if there is no cure?”

“We’ll have help from above, from Odyssey. We’re not alone,” Ellie said.

“Oh Ellie, don’t be so gullible,” Sam said. “In the ground scheme of things we’re four kids, a dog and a crazy rock and soil eco-scientist and to the big brains back at the Ark all we are is …expendable.”

The viewing window was blacked out and there was a calm silence and they were close to sleep in the gray darkness of the Pod. Harry Wolf was calm with his face pressed flat into the floor.

The group was left to wonder what other discoveries lay over the next hill.

After several hours of aimless half-sleep, Theo left his bunk and went down to the common room table. He sat down.

On his communication device, Theo pulled up the medical program. It had all of their vital signs, including Harry Wolf. The most vital sign staring him in the face was the parts per million of the nasty little Yin-Yang Twins in each of their blood.

They had been taking samples of their blood once a day since the infection. Their heart rates and basal temperatures were monitored automatically via a telemetry strip stitched into their shirts.

Sam had the highest rate of infection. Next was Harry Wolf. Ravi and Theo were tied for the lowest parts per million. Theo realized Sam’s prognosis, unfortunately, had passed the danger zone. Aboard Odyssey antibiotics had not slowed the progress of the Yin-Yang Twins one bit and the same was true down on GidX7. He knew time was the greatest asset for the Positives and time was slipping through like sand through the cracks of this dustbowl hell.

Sam stood over Theo’s shoulder and asked, “So, are we dead yet?”

Theo looked away from Sam’s face. “Nah, we’re all fine,” Theo said.

“You’re not a good liar,” Sam said. “We’re all as good as dead.”

“Stop saying that,” Theo almost shouted.

“That’s what we’re all thinking, isn’t it? We’re all infected. And we’re all going to end up like me,” Sam said.

“Eventually, we’re all going to turn into dust but you don’t see me complaining about it,” Theo said.

“Such a cheerful thought, Starling. Always can count on you for a hum-dinger of optimism and joyful levity,” Sam said.

Theo sat down at the common table. It was white and shaped like a huge egg. On it, there were three blue nutrient tablets and a tiny Dixie cup like cup of water. Sam hovered over Theo’s shoulder. Ravi swallowed his tablet down and headed up into the upper berth, just a small climb up a six rung ladder.

“What a feast,” Sam said.

“You want a five course meal?”

“Yeah.”

“Too bad,” Theo said. “This is what we get.”

“Yum-yum,” Sam said.

“It’s better than nothing,” Ravi said.

“Whatever mutant. Maybe you should eat some sand,” Sam said.

“You don’t always have to be such a jerk,” Ravi said.

“Yes, I do. It’s my job. And hey, what about your body armor repellant stuff? How’s that working?”

“Great. Really great. Keeps your smell away from my nose!”

Sam spun around and slammed his forearm into Ravi’s neck. He had totally snapped. Aggressively, he pushed Ravi into the closest Pod wall.

“I’m sick of you, mutant. So sick! Of all the little people!”

Ravi was flailing but couldn’t break free.

Theo jumped up to help. “Hey! Sam! Hey! It’s okay! Hey!”

Sam still had his forearm pressed into Ravi’s neck. There was blood running down Sam’s nose.

Backing away from the fray, Ravi coughed and forced air into his lungs.

Against the opposite wall, Harry Wolf cowered under the long bench.

Ellie went to Ravi and sat down beside him. “Ravi, you okay?”

“Fine. I’m bloody fine,” Ravi answered.

“Just can’t stand the little mutant sometimes,” Sam said. “Especially down here. Okay? He’s just too much, okay? You’re all too much.”

Theo looked into Sam’s glazed and bloodshot eyes and did not like what he saw.

“Have a seat,” Theo said.

“Look, I’m as fine as a hair sticking out of a mole on my hairy butt. I’m in the freaking lead. I’m winning the race.
Whoohoo
,” Sam said the last word a little softly as he left the common room and quickly went up the ladder to one of the private sleeping bunks.

Sam slammed the door to his bunk.

Theo climbed up the ladder to the upper berth area where he was closest to the moon roof, where the heat shield shutter had already fallen off. His brother Ravi already sat down and was watching the oasis from this upper sleeping bunk. His door was open.

Through the two paned, thick vacuum-sealed, optically pure fused silica and borasiliacate glass, the stars shone down like angels ready to fall from heaven. With the heat shield damaged, there was now a permanent moon roof. They both had a clear view of the sky, as well as the liquid oasis. It was like they were camping under the stars.

“He didn’t mean to hurt you,” Theo said.

“Yes he bloody did,” Ravi said. “He’s like the rabbits and he’s only going to get worse.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Theo said.

“Don’t try to cheer me up,” Ravi said.

“I’m not.”

“Is it weird that I see beauty everywhere?” Ravi asked.

“We just don’t know how this will play out.”

“Even the dust is beautiful. The virt-sim doesn’t do justice to Maine. Now, if I see a bald eagle that would be amazing. But why here? Why on GidX7? How is this place different?”

“All great questions. I’ve got no answers,” Theo said, “except that we’re safe inside this Pod.”

“Yeah. The Pod is one strong hunk of metal.”

The brothers sat side by side and kept watch for as long as their eyes remained open. There was no change.

The wind was steady and strong. Above the, it was a familiar dark sky without any of the familiar earthly constellations. The sky was so bright, just black with pins of white light, typical but still foreign. They watched the landscape for any change, any alien disturbance. All they saw were the rolling hills, like golden pillows. The Pod traveled slowly over each one of them. Nearly three hours passed. Harry Wolf comfortably slept in a prone position with his gray face pressed into the white floor.

Theo just lingered by the door with his brother. They admired the sky. Stars everywhere, stars clear, stars bright. The sky was luminous, bright, beautiful beyond compare and Ravi joined him for the view.

“Is this like Earth?” Ravi asked.

“No, it’s too windy,” answered Theo.

“I mean the stars. Is this what it looks like from Earth?”

“Not exactly. On Earth, city lights drown out the brightness of the stars,” commented Theo.

“And the temperature?”

“It’s hotter down here,” Theo answered.

“What about that mountain? Is it large for Earth?”

“No, it’d be pretty small.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” Theo said. “Now try to go to sleep. We’re going to need it.”

“What if I can’t?”

“Try. In the morning, when the sun returns, we’ll explore the rest of the area. Something has to be out there,” Theo said, “and when the light returns, we’ll start looking again,” Theo said.

“Something is out there. It’s got to be out there,” Ravi said.

The stars were plentiful. GidX7 had two moons. They were satellites of irregular shape and the crew had called them Lewis and Clark. They were just pieces of rock that once were a part of GidX7.

“They’re beautiful,” Ravi said while looking up to the stars.

“My mother taught me to watch the sunset and the stars and the moon. Once a month, we always got up at dusk just to watch the sun rise. Not with Dad. Just me and her. It was great. You know? It’s pretty corny, isn’t it?”

“No. It’s cool.”

“And now, we’re watching two moons rising. That’s the crazy part,” Theo said.

“I’m sorry about your mother,” Ravi said.

“You don’t have to be.”

“And I know I don’t understand but maybe you could bloody help me to understand.”

“We’ve got to stay in the moment. Okay? The here and now,” Theo said. “You can’t change the past. Not even the Big Brains have figured that out how to change that.”

Ravi nodded and tried to smile but Theo didn’t look like he wanted to be cheered up. He kept his goggles on so that he could see long distances clearly. Who needed a telescope when it was built into his goggles.

Next to Ravi, Theo closed his eyes and started to doze.

For a few moments, Ravi lowered his eyes from the stars. Miles from his present position, Ravi noticed something moving in the rolling hills.

At the rise in one of the dune like hills, he saw movement out in the soil. There was something moving, something large and dark brown blob. It had supple S-like curves, several of them and the thing rose in and out of the hills. It was hard to tell it’s actual shape or even its actual size. It looked from afar like it was bigger than the average hill in the area.

Ravi started to yell as he bolted up to his feet.

“Hey! Hey! Look! Hurry!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I saw something!”

“Where?”

“Out there. The third collection of hills,” Ravi yelled.

“What?”

“Something large. Something dark. Something is out there!”

“I don’t see a thing,” Theo said.

“It was out there! On that hill!”

Whatever Ravi had seen was no longer visible to either him or Theo.

Ravi and Theo scrambled down the ladder from the upper berth. They hopped into the common area. Ellie joined them from their respective sleeping areas.

“What’s the excitement?” she asked.

“A thing! Out there! A slithering, huge THING! We’ve got to follow it!”

Theo had already rushed to the console and hit the protocol code for the door to open. Before it was fully open, the entire group rushed outside.

On the backside of the Pod, Theo and Ravi went to the storage area and got the three-wheel ATV ready to roll. This was a race to find the thing in the sand whatever monstrous or unusual form it took.