Second Chances (117 page)

Mitch watched nervously with the others as the launch moved smoothly from the second stage to the third and final stage. “We have orbital insertion,” Jim Conklin said ecstatically as the room broke into cheers. The cheers echoed down the corridor and throughout the complex.

------*------

The satellite launch was a success; they started receiving data transmissions right away. All the Terran communities were astonished when Jolie ecstatically announced it over a special news broadcast. Evan had been monitoring the launch; he reported over the radio net that they were already receiving radio transmissions from the satellite and doing their best to track its course.

“They did it! The freaking crazy son of a bitch did it! I love him!” Professor Hinkley said over the radio, coming so far out of character he shocked everyone. Mitch laughed and laughed when Jolie replayed it on a news broadcast, twisting the embarrassed professor's tail a bit.

The first satellite images of the beautiful blue marble were sent to all communities that had the radio and video equipment capable of receiving it. Others were sent in memory sticks or the images were printed out. To Mitch he equated it to when Earth had been seen for the first time from space, a moving and profound experience. Or at least he hoped it was.

The images were also baffling in a lot of ways. Those who looked at the world began to pick it apart, looking for additional details. The radar array proved to be a problem; it wasn't powerful enough to get a good ground image. Still, they got a lot of information from the various sensors, and by compositing things together, a clearer map of their world emerged. Mitch had thought like a lot of people that the satellite would lead to answering a lot of questions...and instead it generated more.

People who viewed the map were immediately struck by the image of a dozen island continents, each about the size of Australia. What was even odder was that each had started at some point as almost perfectly round circles. “Even I know continents aren't supposed to be like that,” Colonel Dunn said over the radio when he called a radio meeting of the community leaders to address the images. “Are you sure we're not getting some, I don't know, distortion or something?”

“I know what you're thinking polka dots. I am too,” Mitch replied. He'd been half afraid Dunn would have called it all a hoax. He was glad the colonel hadn't gone the conspiracy nut route to sow disorder. He had Jim, both Jims on hand as well as Brian, half the department heads and even Piotr in the room with him to refute that charge. “But we've checked it twice. We're comparing it to the video of the launch too. It fits.”

“It fits, but it just leaves us with a lot more questions,” Brian said. Mitch nodded.

“From what we've been able to determine, we're on one of the northern continents, obviously scattered in groups of a hundred,” Piotr said. His English had gotten much better over the years Mitch judged; the young man was finally assimilated enough to use contractions. “Once we have a few more orbits, we'll have a map,” he said and then nodded to Mitch.

“Could these be the other reserve continents? Is that what they meant?” John Duster asked.

“I've got one better for you to ponder. Did they terraform this world? Or did they make it?” Yuri asked.

“It's going to be fun finding out the answers,” Mitch sighed. Brian and Piotr nodded in amusement.

Chapter 52

The warm sun and longer days brought the much anticipated spring thaw. With the dripping of the icicles and snow came the inevitable mud, puddles, and raging rivers as the water flooded the waterways.

Once the ground was thawed enough, Ivan grabbed Vance and others and swung into action to do the planting. He took his daughter out with him, much to Vance's surprise and amusement. She either rode in his lap, pretending to steer or would be lulled by the truck's engines into a doze. She'd sleep in a car seat as her father worked. Hejira complained about the arrangement though.

“You aren't spending time with her! You're screwing up her sleep schedule! Now she wants to be up all night!” she growled.

Ivan grunted, shoulders hunched. They had a bit of a tiff over the situation until Ester intervened with a compromise. She took the little girl for the morning, fed her lunch, then passed her over to Ivan. Ivan would play with her while he worked, and when she got sleepy she'd bed down for her afternoon nap. “There, everyone's happy,” Ivan said. Hejira nodded, mollified.

------*------

The great migration of the spring was kicked off earlier than planned, almost as if the animals were making up for the lost opportunities from the prior year. The migration was slowly becoming a major event for many communities as word spread about how Capital Base had turned the bi-annual event into a public holiday.

“I don't see what the big deal is,” Yuri grumbled.

“It's a chance to party,” Jolie retorted over the radio. “Don't tell me you'd turn down a chance to party??”

“Nyet,” he said.

Jolie snorted. “I didn't think so.”

“Is Ivanovic and Piotr still with you?”

“They are still here,” Jolie said, smiling. She'd heard that Yuri had tried to lure the two young men back to his northern community. Both men had politely declined, having already established ties and roots in Capital Base. Yuri had slapped each on the shoulder and admitted he liked the base.

“Colonel Dunn, Prairie, the Africans, and other communities are taking the time to hunt as much as possible,” Jolie said.

“Good for them,” the Russian grumbled.

“Well, the good thing is, they are out now and not after what other people have planted,” Jolie said.

“Big deal. Maybe a little more fertilizer, but they'll be back,” Yuri retorted, all doom and gloom.

“Ah, stop being so melodramatic, Yuri, honestly. Don't be a downer,” the young woman said.

Yuri snorted over the radio, then barked a laugh. “I am Russian. How else would you know me?” That got the young woman chuckling.

------*------

The next day was a much more sobering event for Jolie. The first reports of the Leviathans near human communities in years were radioed in. Jackie, Angie and Jamal had spotted a few the previous year but only in the distance. Each time they noted a shrieker flock or saw the distinct towering monster on the horizon they'd steered a wide course away from it.

However, something curious happened. The giant animals seemed to avoid the human villages though. “Apparently Dunn's hot foot got spread around. They must not think we're worth the effort and pain involved,” Adam Sevant said in amusement when he reported the beast that had been on track for his community earlier in the day had changed course. “Good work, Colonel.”

“Don't count them out yet,” the colonel said. “I'm not lowering my guard when one of those things is within stomping distance of my base. You shouldn't either.”

“Wilco. Roger that,” Adam replied.

“Fortunately they are all headed north, following the herds. So they won't be our problem for much longer,” the colonel said nastily.

------*------

Many people on their off time checked out the satellite images. Mitch had Arby set up a server for the web traffic, and a series of computer programs to analyze the images for not only mapping, but weather.

Unfortunately, the resolution from the satellite wasn't the best, but it was all they could work with at the time. The computers worked to composite the images together and with various overlays details that had been missed popped up refining their understanding of their world. Images from the drone flights were added in to the database, further complicating the mapping project.

Many of the amateurs who had loved monitoring satellite images from Google and other companies started up a competition on who could find a unique landmark or name various places first. It was a fun project that roped in a lot of people who had a computer and net access. Just about everyone wanted to be immortalized or immortalize someone they knew back on Earth.

Further analysis of the satellite images pointed to artificial structures on three of the other continents. Excitement and astonishment sparked like wildfire when two announcements were made, one from East Village, the other from Copper Town, that they were indeed not alone on the planet. A third report from the Jewish Mountain settlement threw everyone into a chatter as the ideas was confirmed...then when they compared notes they found that all three communities hadn't found one but
three
distinct alien civilizations.

One was confirmed when they found mud huts and crude villages and cities, each arranged in fortresses made out of wood and stone. A second was found to be a series of nests and a network of platforms in the trees. A third was found on the third continent, round capped cylinders of metal and stone looking like silos.

------*------

Intrigued, they set up an expedition with balloons Jim Evall and Angie had been designing and building on off and on throughout the winter. Jim Evall had built a balloon drone that would follow the jet stream to the nearest continent, which happened to be the one with the mud huts. The drone was much like the bombs the Japanese used during WW2 to bomb the United States with, but updated and refined. The on-board microcomputer kept track of the balloons altitude and either released a weight to gain altitude, or bled off some helium to lose altitude.

It took weeks to get to the nearest continent, and for Evall it was a nerve wracking adventure. He kept track of the balloon's course the best he could through the satellite feed. When it flew over the coastline the first time he cheered and told Jolie...only to find out to his chagrin that it was merely a large island. A few hours later was the real landfall.

They at first thought they'd hit the jackpot when they spotted creatures that resembled red and green giant pangolin Ducky judged were over six feet tall at the shoulder. But it turned out to be a false alarm when they realized the creatures were solitary and slept out in the open, ignoring the herds of giant blue and yellow lizards in the area.

Two days later the balloon passed over the outer edge of the first mud hut village. The computer recognized the image of the structures from its database and dropped a probe on a parachute. The softball sized probe landed in the blue green grass nearby.

Before the balloon and its link to the satellite flew out of range they got a series of images of knuckle walking gorilla like creatures leave the safety of their fortress to investigate the probe. It was obvious that they were tool users from the spears and weapons they carried, and the sashes and objects they wore. A few had horns on their noses. From the broad mouth one used to try to taste the probe Ducky deduced that they were omnivores.

“Primitive though, barely all there if it goes and tastes a metal object with its mouth,” Ducky said. “But fascinating, truly, I never expected to see this,” he said, indicating the image of the aliens.

“I don't think any of us did. Even if we've already seen the Meme aliens,” Maggie said. Ducky nodded.

------*------

Planting began in each of the communities and swung into high gear for those who had the foresight the previous year to purchase planting equipment or to retrofit their existing vehicles for planting. Animals that had been kept as draft animals were put to work in the traces ploughing the fields. Unfortunately, a few communities had lost their draft animals or had been forced to sacrifice them for food during the long winter. They either put in orders for new animals or did without.

Copper Town, Iron Village, all three of the Mountain Villages, East Village, the Yukon, Dunn's fortress, and Capital village got a head start on planting when they emptied their nurseries of plants that they had planted for a head start, then planted additional seeds to start the cycle over again.

------*------

The balloon drone continued its path around the planet, snaking across the second continent and then onward, back over ocean water. Its mapping ability was limited, but Jim made certain Pete and Jolie kept a buffer up for the little computer to send back what information it gathered to them.

There was some joking in the communities about going around the world in eighty days. Some expected the balloons to fail. But eventually, 3 weeks after it had left the last continent the well-traveled balloon arrived on the second continent. There, inland by about a thousand kilometers they found the makers of the tree forts.

The second alien group were made up of greenish bipeds with long limbs. They had a brightly colored crest much like the crest on the classic Hollywood movie alien and a bony mouth. That mouth gave them a terrifying smile. They lacked tails and had odd double jointed legs. They climbed about in the trees on their platforms, pointing to the strange thing in their sky. A few even shot bows and arrows at the balloons. All of the arrows fell well short however.

Jim Evall dropped a probe even though they were kilometers off course from the village. It fell far short, and to his dismay became entangled in the branches of the forest before its radio signal stopped abruptly. He speculated that when its chute became entangled the probe must have swung into the trunk or a branch hard enough to destroy the probe.