Secrets in the Stars (Family Law)

by Mackey Chandler

  "Well there is your mechanism for making the ridge," Lee said. "It wets the edge over and over. Not often enough to melt it but often enough that each time it dries it builds it up a little."

  "And we don't have to chase our little critters because that stranded a few of them on the ridge," Ernie said. He was carefully picking them up and dropping them in the specimen bottle. After that he dipped a sample of the water with another bottle and poured some in with the little creatures. The third bottle he also got water, but with sediment off the bottom too.

  "It's so thick with salt it's syrupy," Ernie said.

  "And maybe whatever gives it that dark green color," Lee added. "Scoop some of the salt from the edge there and I think we're done."

  Ernie tried to just scoop it as she'd said with the edge of the bottle but it was too hard. He broke it up with his bar and put some chunks in his last bottle. The ground did a little dance again and they both had to skip a few steps to keep from going down, then the water in front of them suddenly swirled away and dropped. There was a drop off about another hundred meters away and they could see the water still pouring over that and the level beyond dropping rapidly. The surface was dancing with white caps like it was windy, but there was no wind to be heard.

  "We need to get back on the shuttle! Walk fast!" Ernie ordered. He tossed the heavy iron tool away as it slowed him down, and followed Lee in their trail across the salt. Every six or seven meters they had to sidestep or stagger forward as the ground moved under them regularly. When they got about half way back a shock threw them down again and there was a deep roar behind them. They sat up but Ernie held a hand out to keep Lee from standing. "Look across the lake," he said pointing back.

  The far escarpment was behind a cloud of dust except a few stretches that held firm. The rest was crumbling in massive landslides. The view was soon obscured as the water burst back over the near lip in a frothy wall.

  "Lift off Alex! Get out of here!" Ernie shouted, louder than necessary. "Flood coming!"

  It wasn't a full second before the engine's roar swept a minor sandstorm of salt over them and the water hit from the other direction.

  Lee just had time to see the hot jet of the shuttle lifting for open sky before the water swept her along on her back, spinning her around and covering her faceplate with a slurry of dirty water and bubbles. She spun until she was dizzy and bumped and scraped along, hitting something hard enough to really hurt a couple times. It seemed to go on a really long time before the fast motion became a grinding drag that was loud in her helmet, and the water dropped until it didn't have the power to carry her along. She was flat on her back hard aground, but the water was still flowing against her left side hard enough to splash over her.

  Ernie was on com so he was alive, but he was going on and on in angry tones. He ran through all the nasty words Lee had ever heard in less than a minute and didn't slow down for another two or three. Some of the short expletives were said with such vehemence Lee decided she wasn't going to ask anybody what they meant. Some of them she was pretty sure weren't even English.

  Finally he said, "Are you there, Lee?"

  "Yeah, flat on my back. I got smacked a few times and I think it's going to hurt later, but my suit seems to be sealed and working fine. I'm going to sit up."

  There was water as far as she could see when she sat up. The salt and rocks were just starting to show through it as the water spread out. There wasn't any slope to the land so it would take forever to drain away. Maybe most of it would just evaporate, Lee decided. After all that's how all the salt had gotten here. Her face plate shed drops quickly and she looked around. There was something dark quite a ways away. It was hard to gauge the distance. It might be two or three hundred meters.

  "I might see you," Lee said. "Can you sit up like me so I can tell?"

  "I'm not sure," Ernie said, surprising her. "My suit seems OK too, but I'm face down and my leg really hurts. I'm going to try to roll away from the leg that hurts so I don't put weight on it."

  The gasp over com was loud and Ernie said, "Oh, shit, shit, shit. I think I busted it... Sorry."

  "I've heard worse," Lee reminded him, "recently."

  "I'm going to brace myself up sort-of-sitting. I know I can't stand," Ernie said.

  The distant dark spot changed shape a little and there was a specular reflection from it.

  "I see you," Lee said. "I'll be right over in just a few minutes.

  "Ground Party, this is the Sharp Claws overhead. The High Hopes is over your horizon, but your shuttle contacted us when it was high enough, and we can relay to the High Hopes. We've already dispatched our own shuttle and it is braking behind us right now and will be able to land and recover you. Please actuate your emergency beacon for him to home on."

  Lee was embarrassed. She hadn't thought to do that at all. She got a finger under the recessed tab and yanked it out.

  "We have your signal... And the shuttle says they have it too. They should be arriving within about ten minutes. We'll still be able to get confirmation before we drop below your radio horizon too.”

  "Ernie hurt his leg and can't stand. Can we get some help getting him aboard?" Lee asked.

  "Our shuttle has crew of two. They dropped off and burned before taking time to suit up. But when they are down one will suit up and help you. There's a hoist to lift him aboard and the medical kit has a over splint for suits to immobilize his leg."

  "That's going to be fun," Ernie said.

  "I think I see their burn coming in," Lee said. "Unless it's just a flaming meteor dropping on us. It's been that kind of day." She kept sloshing along toward Ernie.

  Ernie laughed despite himself.

  The hot spark grew brighter and looked like it was going to race past but then tilted down and came towards them. When it got really close a storm of salt slush and brine blew away from the exhaust and Lee turned away from it and bent over until it stopped.

  "You dropped so close the blast was hot on my back!" Ernie objected.

  "Well you said you can't walk," the pilot said. "It won't be any fun to be dragged to the hoist either."

  "You're only about fifty meters away from him," Lee said. She was about halfway there.

  "Yeah, I see you on camera," the pilot said. "My mate is suiting up. I'm going to leave him back there in the hold with you two and climb right back to orbit. I'll keep the boost low and you can just lie on the deck."

  By the time Lee got to Ernie the hold door was open and the copilot had a hoist extended and rode down it himself with a foot in the lift basket and one hand on the cable. He unclipped the cable and dragged the entire casualty basket over to Ernie.

  "I think what we'll try here is tuck the basket right up against you and then rolling you in." the man said. "I'm skipping the splint. It looks like it will just be awkward to fit in the basket. Can you roll on your side at all? That would help."

  "Yes. I'm going to turn my mic off though. I'll listen so you can tell me what to do," Ernie said.

  "I uh, OK," he agreed. He got one edge almost under Ernie and rolled him right in. He still yelled loud enough to be heard through the suit. When he grabbed the loop of line at the head of the basket and pulled it Lee took the other side and helped. It slid pretty easily on the wet stuff.

  The copilot rode up with the basket and then clipped a grab-bar on and lowered it to Lee. When she reached the hatch he already had two tie-downs across the whole basket, leaving Ernie in it. He offered a hand in to Lee and then swung the hoist back in and secured it.

  "Lie there if you would please. I'll put a cargo strap across you and do that same for myself.” Once she was secure Lee could hear him fumble around. Then he said, "Ready to lift Mr. Ho'omanawanui." The acceleration was very moderate, but Ernie didn't turn his mic back on.

  * * *

  "So... Pretty tame landing," Gordon quoted Lee when she had com to the High Hopes again.

  "Well, we dealt with it," Lee said. "We got good data. Some organisms
, which we didn't expect."

  Gordon sighed. "Yes, and the medic on the Retribution is anxious to see them. You are going to leave Ernie with them for now as they have better facilities on a military ship to treat his leg. He'll look at you too before you return."

  "They're on the secondary body right? Can this shuttle do a transfer that far?" Lee asked.

  "They could but they are changing orbits over to this body to cut time," Gordon said. "The doc wants to see Ernie quickly."

  "He's out of it now. The copilot, uh... "

  "Marty," Gordon supplied.

  "Marty injected him with something through the medical port," Lee said.

  "Yes, he's comfortable, but if the leg is really messed up he could still go shocky on us. Their medic is coming aboard when you get to the Retribution and get him out of the suit in zero G. That will probably be easier on him than cutting him out of the suit, and we get to save the suit too," Gordon said.

  "Maybe. You should see what a mess they are. We didn't get any punctures or leaks, but all the finish is abraded off the back of my helmet, and it's tough stuff," Lee said.

  "How do you feel?" Gordon finally asked.

  "I got bumped around pretty hard," Lee admitted. "I'm going to turn interesting colors a few places, but I'm sure I didn't break anything like Ernie or it would hurt a whole lot worse."

  "Let them look you over anyway," Gordon insisted.

  "No problem. It sets a good example if nothing else," Lee said.

  "The suits will get inspected and maybe refurbished," Gordon said. "The shuttle will bring you back to the High Hopes and the Sharp Claws will be near by that time for the shuttle to return. It'll be a couple days even with the bone knitting machines before we get Ernie back. At least now they get the bone fixed before the muscle starts to deteriorate, and then you need rehab too."

  "Would you tell them thank them for the pickup? They got to us really fast," Lee said. “And Alex did a marvelous job lifting. He didn't hesitate at all when Ernie yelled at him to lift."

  “Yes I will," Gordon promised. "I had to order him to continue to orbit or he'd have sat it back down to pick you guys up. That would have been way too complicated since he wouldn't have had sufficient mass to get back to orbit. He'd have had to hop to a safer area and wait for somebody to sit down beside him and transfer mass. Who can even guarantee another area would be safe?" Gordon asked. "He seemed to be having second thoughts for lifting and felt he abandoned you."

  "Not at all!" Lee said, surprised. "If that water had tipped the shuttle over, or undercut a landing leg pad, it would have been a real mess. We might have lost the shuttle and been trying to cut him out of it."

  "You can mention that if he brings it up," Gordon agreed. "That's pretty much what I told him, but I'm not sure he really feels that way."

  "So, I'm guessing you probably don't want samples from any of the other lakes?" Lee asked.

  "You're getting better at this guessing," Gordon told her.

  Chapter 11

  "Since we didn't get a wider sample like we planned, I'm going to orbit a claims satellite here and claim the whole system. I don't want to risk another landing. Let somebody with specialized equipment do it later," Gordon decided.

  "Let's plan on breaking orbit and start another leisurely exit from this star system our next shift. We can time it so we jump and have time to look around the area of our entry again. I'm comfortable with that," Gordon told Brownie. "Do you have any targets to suggest?"

  "There are two stars along our general course in range. Neither has any spectroscopic signs of being unique. Pretty much a toss-up which one to go to."

  "Do the one with the easiest jump then. Inform everyone when we will assemble away from these planets, and your planned course and timing," Gordon ordered. "Thor you have the conn, I'm taking a break early to do some other work before the alternate crew comes on."

  "Aye. I have the conn," Thor acknowledged.

  * * *

  "Thor, our caterpillars have returned and taken up station orbiting far out around both these planets," Brownie informed him. "Do you want to try using the video rig?"

  "Heavens no!" Thor waved a true hand at the new equipment attached to the command console. "That's Gordon's toy and I wouldn't want to spoil his fun to try it out. Besides, I don't really have anything to say to them. Seems silly to fire it up and just wave hello."

  Lee covered her mouth with her hand trying to hide her smile. It didn't work.

  * * *

  "Is everybody prepared to leave and informed of our numbers?" Gordon asked, when he next sat in the command chair.

  "We are in good formation thanks to the previous shift. The fleet reports no critical deficiencies and everybody has our course. The clocks agree. I've scheduled a seven tenths G burn again. We are on count for first joint movement twenty minutes from now and a jump a bit more than five hours into our next shift, if that meets with your approval," Brownie said.

  "Entirely," Gordon agreed. "I'm going to inform the Caterpillars if this rig works as planned. I'm still a little limited as I can't create objects in it like we could with our own animation and graphics software. I'm sure they can in glorious 3D. I'm simply going to keep my com pad handy and show them things on it. It will be a step forward knowing they can see it immediately without any analysis. We'll keep this private to our bridge. Mr. Burris you can monitor the command channel for us and pass anything critical along.

  "Brownie, give me a wide shot of the sky where we are going with the target star circled by hand with a yellow line," he requested. The image soon showed up on his pad. He followed the instructions he'd been given and used both true hands to activate the display. It showed his own face and a little behind him. He opened up the angle to show more of the bridge behind him.

  "Are we transmitting?" Gordon asked.

  "Yes sir, we show power being drawn," Jon Burris told him. "We show modulation. If it makes any sense to them we should get some sort of reply."

  "Will it switch over to their signal? Or do we have to cut the feed from this, uh... I guess I call it a camera," Gordon decided.

  "I have no idea what their unit will do internally," Burris said. "If we see transmissions coming in and nothing shows we can isolate the unit and play our recording."

  "Never mind," Gordon said. "The display just split."

  The unit gave a hoot. He hadn't known it had audio for sure. Beside him at the right was a Caterpillar. Gordon did the gesture to open up the display wider.

  Gordon held his display up with their intended jump target for the alien. The Caterpillar turned to something off camera and let loose a lot of high volume noise. He seemed agitated. The alien stopped communicating off camera and started making motions. He held up a tentacle and swept it to the side. When Gordon didn't respond he made a low hoot and repeated it slower.

  "I think he wants you to swipe the display and see something that's off screen right now," Jon Burris said. "They did that with me on the separator machine."

  "OK, I remember that," Gordon held a straight finger by the left side of the image and swiped it smoothly to the right. The display changed screens smoothly. The new image was the same star field, although rendered in better definition with more of the fainter stars. The 3D effect couldn't do much with the distances involved. Gordon checked it carefully against the one on his tablet. The circle around their intended star was gone and the alternative target was bracketed by four lines like crosshairs, but they didn't meet in the middle.

  "Is this a suggestion?" Gordon asked. "First time we have what resembles a conversation and they start bossing us around. I don't really care for that."

  "Well, it's the only other reasonable target star in that direction without going a good twenty degrees off our nominal track," Brownie explained. "At least they aren't pressing us to take a radical detour."

  "I hear you, but why does this bother me so much?" Gordon asked.

  "You're pretty much used to having your own wa
y," Lee pointed out. Brownie was relieved, because that had been his thought too, but he didn't have the nerve to say it to Gordon's face. Gordon looked disgruntled, but made no quick reply.

  "And I'm inclined to think the Caterpillars are warning us of something rather than just bossing us around. They haven't been aggressive at all. The target star might be one of those full of debris, hard to navigate or something," Lee suggested.

  "Thor, advise me," Gordon ordered him.

  "I can see both sides," Thor admitted. "I can't see the Caterpillars having an interest for themselves. Unless we don't understand at all, their home territory is off the other side of the Badgers, so they aren't saying – 'Ours. Stay away'. So, yeah, I'm given to agreeing with Lee it's probably for our own good. But I'm like you. I rarely appreciate people managing me for my own good. I'd like to know why, but since we can't ask them yet it will take some time and resources if you want to find out why."

  "If there's danger I can't justify taking unarmed civilian ships into the system," Gordon reasoned.

  "So send one, or ask for a volunteer," Lee suggested. "With this crazy bunch if you suggest it's dangerous they'll fall all over each other to be first in line. Just phrase it to the Fargoers as a bet."

  "Send the Roadrunner if you want something fast, or ask one of the cruisers if you want a well armed presence," Thor said.

  "Why did you think of armed right away?" Gordon asked him.

  "Well, we didn't bring all these missiles and stuff because the universe is a safe pleasant place to roam around unarmed," Thor said.

  "Yeah, point taken," Gordon agreed. "I tell you what. We'll compromise. Brownie, figure a new heading and notify everybody for the alternative star, but we'll ask if anybody will volunteer to go check out the other system. I'm disposed to send the Roadrunner or the Sharp Claws if they express interest. Are the two target stars close enough for a high probability jump between them?"

  "Yes, they are closer together than either of them are from here," Brownie said.