The Other Earth (14 page)

Brandon reached over and put his hand on my leg, "When has an
ything in life ever gone smoothly?" he asked.

I laughed, "Well you have a damn good point there. Let's get this baby on the ground, we will have to get ready to enter their orbit soon so we better get down to the control room" I said, standing up.

Brandon stood up with me and before turning to walk back down he pulled me to him and gave me a slow kiss that made my toes tingle.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"I just wanted to, now let's go land a space ship."

Chapter Fourteen

"Brace yourself, we are about to touch down!" Brandon yelled from the chair next to me.

I held on to my safety harness as the ship came down hard on the ground. I heard Brandon grunt as he was thrown around as badly as I was. I had thought the landing would be much smoother than it was, but they seemed to have more gravity on this planet that we had previously thought they would.

I looked out of the window and nearly gasped at how beautiful the area we had landed in was. There were rolling hills of lush gre
en grass that were covered in small colorful flowers. We were directly next to a rather large hill that had a huge waterfall that was cascading down the side of it with crystal blue water. I had only seen water that clear in pictures as the water on Earth more of a green color now, with all of the pollution.

"Wow" I said, taking in the beauty.

"Yeah, it's really beautiful here. I am going to lower the wheels of the ship and move it to be under that waterfall. The color of the water will blend in with the silver of the ship and nobody will ever know that it is here." He said.

I smiled, "That is brilliant. But, there is one small problem with that." I said.

He looked over at me, his forehead crinkled with worry, "What?" he asked.

"I am not going to want to lea
ve it" I said.

Brandon threw a pen at me, "You scared me" he said.

I craned my neck to look around at the beautiful land while Brandon started to slowly guide the ship under the waterfall. Once we were completely underneath it and therefore well hidden I didn't know what to do.

"So what do we do now?" I asked Brandon.

He looked at me for a few seconds, "I have an idea I wanted to run past you" he said.

I clicked open my safety harnesses and stood up out of my chair, "What's your idea?" I asked.

Brandon stood up out of his chair, now safely out of his harnesses as well, "Well, I know for a fact that neither of us has gone swimming since we were kids, before they put the restriction of being outside for a long period of time and basically closed down all of the swimming pools." He said.

I nodded, "Yes, so what's your point?" I asked.

"Have you ever swam in a crystal clear lake with a waterfall?" he asked, raising his eyes brows.

"Do you think that would be a good idea? What if the water is bad or something" I a
sked.

Brandon sighed, "You have been studying this planet pretty heavily for a couple of months now. Have you seen anything yet to make you think that the atmosphere isn't exactly like ours?" He asked.

I shook my head, "No. But I think we need to test the air quality first. Run the calibrations and see if it is in fact oxygen. If it is then we can venture outside and check the water. If it's water, just like ours, then yes, we can jump right on in and get wet" I said, actually excited about the idea of standing under a cool waterfall.

Brandon rubbed his hands together, "Great. I'll run the calibrations now." He said.

We both sat there looking out of the window at the clear waterfall in front of us. I was thinking about how cool and refreshing that water looked and actually wanted to swim in its lake more than I would probably ever admit to Brandon.

After a few minutes the computers started beeping and Brandon pushed the button and read the screen. "Yep, it's oxygen. It's probably the purest oxygen I've ever seen, but oxygen none the less" he said.

I nodded, "Okay, let's venture outside and get some fresh air."

"It will probably be the first time we will breathe air this fresh" he said.

I sighed, "Well, after six months on this ship, I could use some fresh air, and maybe a dip" I said.

We both walked over to the door together and I pointed at the relea
se button, not wanting to be the one that opened the door and killed us with the toxins. Even though the readout showed that this planet had the oxygen that we needed, it was hard to trust that my head wouldn't explode as soon as the door lifted up.

Brando
n pushed the button and we waited as the ship decompressed and finally the door slowly lifted upwards. Once it was completely open and the ramp lowered we walked slowly out the door. I walked to the bottom of the ramp and looked around, taking a deep breath and nearly choked.

"Wow, it's weird huh? Breathing air this fresh?" Brandon asked.

I nodded, "Yes, it is. I can smell so many things. I can smell the sharpness of the water, the sweetness of the flowers, and even the grass. I haven't smelled things like this since I moved to the city" I said.

Brandon reached over and grabbed my hand, giving it a little squeeze, "This is going to be great" he said, pointing to the waterfall.

"Are you sure there nobody close enough to see us out here?" I asked.

He shook his
head, "No, why?" he asked.

I smiled and pulled my clothes off as quickly as I could. Once I finally got everything off and stood there naked I walked into the waterfall, being careful not to go far enough to fall into the lake. I gasped as the cold water
rushed over my body instantly giving me goose bumps. After a few seconds I turned and walked back out of the water to where Brandon was standing, now halfway naked.

"The water is so cold and refreshing" I said in wonder.

"You just wait until I get the rest of these clothes off, I am going jump right into this thing, and I might decide to never come out again" he said with a laugh.

I giggled and turned back to the water, and running through, jumped off of the small ledge and into the lake below.

I opened my eyes as I landed in the water and looked around and was happy to see how clear the lake was. I could see that the rocky bottom that didn't look very deep, but probably was deeper than you would expect. I floated under the water as I turned trying to see something that I had never even experienced on my own planet.

I blinked as I saw Brandon splash through the water next to me. I watched as he had the same idea as me and took a second to look around the water. I smiled at him as he caught sight of me and pu
shed my way to the surface of the water. As I came up I looked around again and was happy to see that while they had the perfect view of the rolling hills, we did still seem to be alone.

I felt a tug at my leg and giggled as Brandon came up out of the wate
r next to me. He looked at me for a few seconds before pulling me to him so we could float in the water together.

"Well this is new. The water is so clear that I can see your naked body right through it" he said, looking down at me.

I looked down and laughed, "Yes I can see yours too silly" I said, pushing him away from me playfully.

"Oh, you think you can push me away, I will get you!" Brandon yelled as I giggled and started to swim away back toward the waterfall.

There was a small amount of the waterfall actually landing in the water and as I swam closer noticed that this area was more shallow than the middle where I had landed. I was able to reach the bottom with the tips of my toes and figured the Brandon would have no problem standing in the water here.

"I can touch the bottom here, it's a little
more shallow" I yelled to him, turning to see where he was at. As I turned, I saw his body under the water swimming right toward me.

I laughed as he reached me and pulled me under the water with him. I came back
up spitting the water out of my mouth, which actually tasted very sweet.

My laughter stopped as Brandon came out of the water and pulled me to him as he stood in the water, wrapping my legs around his waist.

"I know that we might not get to be together while we are here, as the mission comes first. But, looking at the position of the sun, and gaging how hot it is, I would say that the day is just about over. So for the time being, until the morning, I say that the mission hasn't started yet and we take advantage of having this great spot all to ourselves" he said, holding on to me as he slowly walked closer to the water fall.

"I think you have a good point" I said.

"Oh I'm about to show you just how good my point is" he said, turning my body so that it was against a grassy spot against the side of the water fall. We were in a small area just between the grass and water, completely secluded.

I pulled Brandon to me, ki
ssing him hungrily, enjoying the sensation of tasting the cold sweet water on his mouth.

I moaned into the kiss as Brandon ran his fingers through my wet hair, kissing me as though he was never going to kiss me again. I wrapped my arms around his lower ch
est, trying hard not to disturb my position. I could feel him hard against me, so close yet still too far away.

I leaned my hips toward him and feeling my eagerness, came closer and slowly slid inside of me. I gasped at the sensation of the cold water lapp
ing around my body as he started to slowly move, still kissing me with more affection than previous kisses.

***

The next morning I woke up with Brandon shaking me. I opened my eyes and looked around for a few minutes and saw that he had all of our bags re
ady to go.

"Good Morning.
Time to hit the trail and try to figure out how to get in and fit in." He said.

I yawned and nodded, "Okay. Why did you let me sleep so late? I would have helped you get ready" I said.

"I know. Breakfast is ready so as soon as we eat we can lockup the ship and put it into low power mode" he said, walking over to the small dresser and grabbing the gray clothes I had set out for that day.

As I pulled the covers off and took my clothes from him, he smiled at me. I rolled my eyes at hi
m and started to quickly get dressed as he stood there watching.

"What time is it?" I asked, pulling my shirt over my head.

"It's just after dawn" he said.

Once I was done dressing I grabbed a brush and quickly pulled it through my hair, "I wonder if the w
omen here wear makeup" I said, trying to decide if I should put some on quickly.

Brandon shrugged, "I don't know. I say don't wear it until we find out if it is a normal thing here. You would look less conspicuous without it when women do wear it, than wea
ring it when they don't even have it here" he said.

I nodded, "Okay. I'll go to the bathroom and meet you in the kitchen" I said, standing up and walking past him.

Once I was done with my morning duties in the restroom I walked into the kitchen where he had an easy breakfast ready. I sat down at the table and quickly ate without speaking. Once we were done eating, we walked out of the ship and using the portable device that controlled it, locked it up and set it to sleep mode.

Sleep mode was a new feature
that they hadn't had before on any of our previous space ships or rockets. It would use very little energy, but still run enough power to keep the freezer working and the water tanks pumping so that they don't stagnate.

I looked over at Brandon and watched
as he sighed, "Are you ready?" he asked.

I shrugged, "Not really, but we have a mission." I said, scared of what would happen once we left this safe spot behind the waterfall.

"It will be okay. You will see" he said, taking my hand and pulling me toward a gap in the waterfall that would take us back out to the grassy hills around the lake.

We started walking, heading in the direction that we had seen the closest colony of people. Brandon had estimated that the walk should only take us a few hours and so w
e walked most of the way in silence. It wasn't until Brandon noticed something up on the other side of one of the hills that he finally spoke.

"Do you see that?" he asked, pointing to the hill closest to us.

I squinted my eyes in the direction he pointed and saw a person standing there waving us over. "What do you think he wants?" I asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to wave back so that we don't look suspicious. We will just figure it out from there" he said, waving his hand above his head.

The man started to walk toward us so that we would meet with him faster, and I kept looking over at Brandon to see if he was nervous about the first contact with the people that lived here. He was smiling at the man and didn't seem to be fazed by it, or he was just keeping his cool, something I probably needed more work on.

We finally reached him, "Hello friends! Are you with one of the underground city coalitions?" he asked, holding out his hand as though for a handshake.

Brandon reached out and shook his hand, "Yes, we were told you would be here waiting for us" he said.