Paws and Planets (12 page)

Stuart
MacIntosh nodded and looked at Robert Lutterell, who remained
unconvinced.

“Change course
at once and send the probe out,” Stuart ordered. “I have to agree
with young Rybak here. Time is running out. Let’s find out if this
planet is a goer.”

Turning to
James, he added, “Transfer the co-ordinates to the helm.”

“Yes sir, right
away sir,” James gasped with relief and moved back to the
navigation console, the technicians trotting at his heels.

“And James,”
said Stuart in a loud voice, “a big thank you from all of us.”

James grinned,
his eyes gleaming with satisfaction at a job well done. With a
great deal of aplomb, he executed a half-bow, reminiscent of a
medieval courtier had he but known it, and totally out with
regulations . He added ingenuously, “My pleasure sir.”

Stuart laughed.
He couldn’t help himself. “What is the planet called?” he
asked.

“Doesn’t have a
name sir. Just a long string of letters and numbers.”

His captain
grinned at him.

“Well, you
found it. I think planet Rybak has a nice ring to it. We’ll call it
after you.”

“Thank you
sir,” said James, smiling with delight and bowing again.

The technicians
laughed and began to slap James on his back in congratulation.

CPO Lutterell,
in charge of ship’s discipline, spluttered with indignation. He
said nothing but he was most definitely
not
amused. He
resolved to speak to the cocky young devil later concerning the
correct way to behave in front of an officer, especially one’s
Captain.

* * * * *

The colonists
in the undamaged sections had made room for the survivors of
section six. There had been some injuries in the undamaged
sections, broken bones and bumps and bruises but their inhabitants
had had enough time to get to their emergency cabinets.

Tara’s section
had been unlucky. A number of small projectiles had hit her section
of the ship ahead of the others. She herself was fortunate her
father had got her into the cabinet in time. Not that she felt
herself all that lucky in the first days after the incident. The
doctors kept her sedated most of the time so she was only half
aware of what was happening, but she
was
aware of the fact
that her family was dead and that she was now alone.

It was during
one of her more lucid periods when the medicines were starting to
wear off that she became aware of the person in the bed adjoining
hers.

The old lady
was lying staring at her. “I had a granddaughter just like
you.”

Tara turned
towards the voice. The lady was bandaged and it was difficult for
Tara to make out her features. She screwed up her eyes to help her
penetrate the gauzes covering the elderly face. She thought she
recognised the voice.

“Mrs Mackie?”
she asked hesitantly. “Is that you?”

Then sleep
overcame her once more.

* * * * *

“I can hardly
believe it,” Commander MacIntosh mused to PO Cranston over a cup of
caffee some days later. “The probability of actually finding a
viable planet was over a hundred to one.”

“I know that
sir,” Jim Cranston replied. “Young James Rybak was kind enough to
inform me often enough to make me extremely nervous. It wasn’t
pleasant hearing!”

Stuart
chuckled. He liked the dry humour of the mathematical young
rating.

“Has the sleep
mechanism been deactivated?”

The Petty
Officer nodded as he replied, “Aye sir, we did it yesterday.” There
would be no need to activate it now that the planet had been
located and evaluated as suitable for colonisation.

“Good.”

They were a
scant three days away from their destination and everyone was
working hard to prepare the ship for landing. It had never been
intended for the WCCS
Argyll
to enter the atmosphere of any
planet. She was a deep-space vessel, designed to spend her life in
that airless environment. It would be no easy task to land her on
the surface intact. There were no landing buffers, nothing to
protect the hull from the impact and a worried Stuart MacIntosh
knew there was no way of knowing if the hull would stand up to the
stresses. She might break up. Work was done to adapt the bridge
programs for a planetary landing instead of space station dockings.
The surviving engineers were working like fiends possessed,
adapting the thruster mechanisms for landing under atmospheric and
gravity conditions. Commander MacIntosh was optimistic. Having
spent many hours studying the ship’s specifications, he was sure
that the old girl would stay together long enough for him to get
her to the surface.

The reports
generated from the only probe they possessed were encouraging. The
short visual report received had been broadcast throughout the ship
and generated a great deal of excitement, an excitement tinged with
sadness that some fellow colonists and crew who had set out from
Earth would never see it.

On the planet,
there were three main continents. The one in the southern
hemisphere was the largest but, except for areas around its rivers,
at its coasts and in the area well south of the equatorial belt, it
appeared to be largely desert.

The two smaller
continents in the northern hemisphere were similar to each other,
having grasslands, plenty of rivers and lakes, forests and mountain
ranges, some of which reached many metres above sea level. There
were also hundreds of islands scattered throughout the oceans, some
of which were almost small continents in themselves.

The sea was of
a colour similar to Earth. To everyone’s amazement the grass-like
vegetation and other foliage on all three continents wasn’t
primarily green but a mixture of mauve and yellow ochre with tinges
of blue and green only.

The biologists
discussed endlessly how their limited amount of stored grains and
beans would grow in this alien environment, if at all. Personally,
Petty Officer Cranston was of the opinion that they should eat them
and learn to develop the native edibles. The probe reports had
indicated that many were suitable for human consumption. Some
biologists and farmers disagreed and plans were being made to begin
cultivation as soon as everyone had adequate shelter.

Commander
MacIntosh often wondered what his future would be on their new
world. The colonists were mostly from farming stock, carefully
selected. Some were not farmers, there were scientists and
teachers, doctors and musicians and other specialists, but over six
thousand of those who would land on the new-named Planet Rybak were
perfectly suited to carve out the land, supported by the rest. What
on earth would the spacers do? He had been looking forward to a
long and rewarding career in the space service and knew how to run
a spaceship, not how to till a field.

What nobody
mentioned was the worry that the planet would prove untenable for
human life. The single probe might well have missed something
vital. They clung on to the hope they would have a future
there.

Another major
problem facing the colonists was that the WCCS
Argyll
had
not been carrying all that was needed to form a new colony. Theirs
was the third convoy sent out to Riga. On that world, the earlier
arrivals would have erected shelter for the people arriving on the
Argyll
. Cultivation was already well established. Because of
this, the main sphere had carried only people and their personal
possessions, together with any small mammals kept as pets. There
were dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs on board but not much
else.

Nothing larger
than the dogs had been held in the main passenger sections. The
attached livestock pod, which carried some horses, cows, pigs and
sheep had disappeared during the storm. The deck below the
livestock holding plantings, food and the vast water reserves had
also gone. They had no heavy machinery with which to till the soil.
It would have to be done the good old-fashioned way.

That was the
down side. On the up side, herds of various large animals had been
spotted by the probe before it ceased transmitting. They looked to
be ruminants, and it was hoped, a source of edible protein for the
colonists. The probe had not found anything that had indicated that
there were any hunters of these herds, but that was not to say that
they did not exist. The vast forests would provide plenty of cover
for any predators who wished to remain unseen. There were signs of
colourful large bird-like creatures nesting in some trees. Some
were of the opinion that these were of a raptor type and were the
land’s main predator, but opinion was divided. They would find out
when they got there.

Frequent
meetings were held between the heads of departments. These nine
department heads and five of the crew made up what was being called
‘the Council’. From these fourteen would come the governance for
the set up of the colony during the first half year of occupation.
The colonists were ready to go.

It was now up
to Commander MacIntosh to get them there alive. Even if he did not
have the farming skills needed on their new planet, he and his crew
did
have the skills to get them there. Once they landed they
would learn and adapt.

He continued to
muse over his caffee. The Petty Officer looked at him, considering
whether to interrupt or not. He shook his head and stood up. He
would find out the answers to his own problems himself, it looked
as if the CO had enough on his plate without him adding to his
workload. So he picked up his half empty mug and left his senior to
it. It was doubtful if Stuart MacIntosh even saw him go.

* * * * *

Tara’s dreams
were haunted, the picture of the scared face of her mother picking
up the terrified Mark, the picture of her father’s determined face
as he shoved her into the cabinet and the sound of her father
hitting the activation button, calling her mother to get a move on,
Mark screaming.

She would never
see them again.

She was an
orphan.

The medics kept
her sedated much of the time and she welcomed the spray-shots that
brought blessed oblivion but as the days passed, she began to come
to terms with her loss and as she did so, the medication was
reduced.

The Counsellor
came, a gentle old lady with hair like snow and a soothing
voice.

She talked.
Tara listened and began to understand what had happened to her and
what would happen to her in the future.

When she was
released from sickbay she was sent to the brightly decorated
children’s section of the ship which was filled with all manner of
amusements designed to keep youngsters happy and occupied.

Animals were
known to provide comfort for people, not only children, suffering
from trauma. Handling the pets that inhabited the area, she
realised she had a way with animals, dogs especially.

She became the
only one amongst the newly orphaned that the vet in charge would
allow amongst the nursing bitches. The mother dogs did not mind her
presence in the slightest, their tails wagged as she talked to
them, as she helped clean out their cages.

Tara began to
take an interest in life again.

* * * * *

The WCCS
Argyll
drew inexorably closer and closer to planet Rybak.
The bridge crew watched as the image began to fill the entire
bridge screen; there was a burst of activity as the helmsman
performed the intricate manoeuvres to set the ship on the required
course to position her for orbital status. Commander MacIntosh’s
eyes flickered between helmsman, screen and his own console.

“Attained
planetary orbit sir.” Petty Officer Jim Cranston uttered the
traditional words with a great deal of relief. He was working hard
to ensure that the ship’s velocity matched that of the planet, a
primary pre-requisite for a successful landing.

“Is visual
recording?” Stuart asked the young engineering sub-lieutenant.

“Yes it is
sir.”

“Pipe it around
the ship. It will be their only chance to view the planet from
above. Once we’re there, we’re there.”

The man’s
keypad started to click in response to his instructions. Commander
MacIntosh glanced at his small secondary screen in the corner of
his command chair and was delighted with the vista that opened
up.

In the
passenger section, the last minute tasks before landing the ship
were being completed. Tara, strapped in with the other youngsters
from her section, gasped as the monitor in front of her came alive
with only a few power flickers. She stared at the scene that was
revealed.
I can see land and water, why, there are clouds in the
sky! Is this really where we are going?

For the first
time since the storm Tara became interested in something other than
the animals. She wriggled. She couldn’t wait. How long would it
take? Looking around at the other strapped in figures, her own age
or a little older, she saw rapt attention on all their faces as
they watched the screen.

On the bridge,
the consoles began to flicker with scrolling data.

“Time to start
the entry manoeuvre,” Jim Cranston declared dispassionately, as if
he performed this task every day of the week. In fact, he had not
performed helmsman duties since he was a young man, but Commander
MacIntosh had decreed that he was the person for the job, being the
unflappable type of non commissioned officer so beloved of the
commissioned.

The computer in
front of Commander MacIntosh was mirroring the information showing
on his helmsman’s. He took a deep breath. The window of opportunity
for atmospheric entry was very small. The calculations had been
checked again and again. Now was the time.