Terraformer

by Scott McElhaney

  TERRAFORMER

  Scott McElhaney

  ONE

  My first morning on the Frontier was spent naked, shivering, and beyond all else, confused. I’d forgotten where I was, which at the time was understandable considering that I’d just slept a total of twenty-seven years inside a state-of-the-art Cryogenic Wet Chamber.

  I sat up quickly, my arms wrapped around myself as I tried to bring warmth to this cold, damp body. It was in that moment, as I glanced down at the circular drain near the foot of the CWC, that I finally remembered where I was. I felt an immediate need to be as far away from that human-shaped freezer as I could get. With little difficulty, I managed to climb out of that gray metal coffin while I suddenly became aware of a symphony of monotonous digital beeps emanating from all around me. I was far too cold to concern myself with those annoying sounds, so instead I made my way quickly to the trio of shower stalls to the right of my cryo-chamber.

  I watched as a pale shivering hand reached out before me to slide the shower door open. Then that alien hand proceeded to twist those shower knobs. I didn’t recognize that hand as my own due to the deathly bluish hue as well as the cool numbness in those fingers. A moment later, the water reached an acceptable temperature, so I stepped into the stall and soaked every inch of my body in that exceptionally warm deluge. It took a few minutes until I had completely chased the chill away, at which time I began washing away the remains of the waxy substance that had once served to protect my flesh during the deep freeze.

  After several minutes, I stepped out of the shower and toweled off while I finally paid heed to that incessant beeping which seemed to rise from all around me. I grabbed one of the complementary bathrobes from the towel closet and wrapped it around me, tying it at the waist. That was the moment when I realized the uncomfortable truth that my cryogenic chamber was the only one in the entire room that was open.

  This room had been dedicated to the cryogenic storage of half the entire crew of the Frontier. That meant that I shared this room with nine other CWCs or Cryogenic Wet Chambers. Elsewhere in this ship was another identical room with ten CWCs in it as well. In all, there were twenty of us who had won the bid to be the first in over a hundred years to migrate to Inglenook in the Tau Ceti system. Some of this frozen crew were scientists while others were simply the billionaires who fronted the money necessary for such a bold endeavor. I was one of the latter, having chosen to spend my substantial inheritance on a ride out of town – forever.

  My thoughts returned to that relentless beeping. It seemed to be coming from all of the CWCs in the room and I noticed that the audible tones coincided with the flashing of miniature red diodes embedded near the heads of those chambers. I approached the gray chamber nearest to me and thumped the thing with the base of my fist. The dull thud was all but inaudible.

  I then moved toward the head of the chamber where the beeping sound was the loudest. There, I located that little red diode that flashed once every two to three seconds. Next to that little flashing light was a digital readout that simply read “FATALITY – REVIVE UNSUCCESSFUL”

  I gasped, then stepped backward. Glancing then across the room, I discovered that every single CWC had that flashing little diode with the exception of my own chamber.

  “No!”

  TWO

  I ran from the room and into the dark corridor. The automated lighting systems tried to keep up with me as I ran down the hall toward the aft CWC room that mirrored the room I’d awoken in. When I located the room, I hit the switch on the wall that opened the door. The moment the door started to slide open, I heard that familiar beeping coming from the room.

  The lights flickered on automatically as I entered the room. I was glad when I immediately noticed three open chambers, although I’d actually been hoping for much more. I rushed over to the open chamber closest to me, discovering right away that its male occupant was clearly dead. His eyes were open as was his mouth, yet the glaze on those vacant eyes spoke of death. I touched him anyway just to be sure. His wet flesh was hard and cold as ice.

  I abandoned that corpse for the next open chamber where I discovered an older black gentleman that seemed to be gasping while his eyelids fluttered. I patted him on the damp cheek, getting no response from him. Then I thumped him on the chest while I hollered for him to get up. That was when I heard a gasping sound coming from the third open chamber.

  I rushed over to that one where I discovered a pale short-haired woman in the same curious state as the black man. Her eyelids were fluttering as she seemed to gasp and choke. I reached beneath this wet naked woman and I took her into my arms, lifting her from the chamber and then carrying her over to the chamber where the black man struggled as well. I set her on the floor, then I quickly reached into his chamber and lifted him out. I set him on the floor next to her, then I patted both of them on their cheeks as I knelt between the two of them.

  “Wake up! Please?” I pleaded, “What do I do? Are you cold?”

  The black man stopped gasping just then as he arched his back, lifting all but his head and feet from the floor. Then with a squeal, he collapsed without making any further sounds or movements.

  “No!” I yelled as I immediately starting chest compressions, “No! I need help!”

  I continued those chest compressions as I pleaded with the man. I kept periodically glancing over at the woman, making sure she was still alive and breathing. As long as her eyelids kept fluttering and she kept gasping, I was content to know she was at least alive.

  “Come on! I know who you are!” I kept going, trying to jump start that heart, “We just met the other day! Well… nearly thirty years ago, I guess. You’re the freaking engineer of this thing! I need you, man! I don’t know a single thing about this ship!”

  I paused, then put my ear to his chest. He was cold and there was no sound whatsoever in that chest of his. I returned to doing those chest compressions, pushing harder this time in the hopes that something would get him breathing again.

  Suddenly the woman made a croaking sound as she seemed to struggle now to even breathe. I turned to her quickly and then started doing chest compressions on her. She seemed to be in the beginning stages of a heart attack, yet she was still somehow alive. Her eyes continued to flutter as I kept on with the chest compressions. I looked sadly over toward the man next to us, wishing he’d somehow surprise me with a dramatic sudden intake of breath. If this were a movie, something like that would certainly happen right about now.

  And it did – sort of. Except it wasn’t he who gasped and joined the world of the living. The woman beneath me opened her eyes wide and then cried out as she suddenly started to breathe like a normal person. I backed away, realizing that my hands had been clearly planted between her bare breasts.

  “C-c-c-o-ooold!” she started shivering uncontrollably which I took as a good sign.

  I laughed, happy just then to see that I somehow managed to keep someone else alive on this graveyard of a ship. I untied my robe, then quickly took it off and placed it over her. Her teeth were chattering as I then took her into my arms and carried her over toward the shower stalls.

  “I’m going to set you on your feet while I turn on the shower, okay?” I said.

  “Y-y-yeah,” she croaked, her teeth chattering so violently that I was certain they’d crack.

  I set her on her feet while she hugged my bathrobe to her. I then reached into the open shower stall and turned it on. A moment later, the water was warm enough not to scald her. I then stepped back and motioned for her to get into the shower. She handed me the robe, subliminally reminding me just then that I had been naked. Then she closed the shower door.

  I took that moment to put the robe back on and to tie it, then I returned to the black man who stil
l lie on the floor near his empty CWC. I located his Adam’s apple, then I pressed two fingers along the left side. I found no pulse and I also found him to be ice cold.

  “I’m really sorry. I tried,” I breathed, fighting off the tears that threatened to escape, “I just didn’t realize that I should have started the chest compressions while you were still clinging to life.”

  I looked down at him, then I stood up and glanced around the room. All the other machines were still beeping and as far as I could tell, they’d probably never stop. I was now stuck on a ship built for twenty with only one other person whom I believed to be part of the scientist group. I also remembered thinking quite confidently that she wasn’t the type that preferred the company of men. This was the opinion I’d formed during our social gathering at the Gypsy Bar on the night before the launch.

  THREE

  I’d taken two towels and draped them over the body of the dead engineer. I figured she didn’t need to see death the moment she got out of the shower. I’d waited near the shower stall with a towel and a bathrobe for nearly a half hour while she devoted that time to thawing and washing up. When she finally finished, she’d opened the door to find me facing away from her while offering her a towel.

  “Thank you,” she said, taking the towel and then presumably drying herself off, “Was I dying? What happened that caused you to be doing CPR?”

  I saw the towel drop to the floor in my peripheral, then she grabbed the bathrobe I had been holding out.

  “Something’s seriously wrong here. I seemed to have awoken just fine. I got up, showered, then suddenly wondered why I was the only one,” I said, watching as she now moved into my field of view, “Those beeps you’re hearing are all the CWCs with dead people inside. I tried to do CPR on that person over there under the towels as well.”

  “No,” she breathed as she slowly spun around, examining the entire room, “No, maybe the beeps mean something different.”

  She rushed over to one of the CWCs and read the display next to that flashing diode. She punched the chamber and blurted an obscenity, then she rushed over to another chamber to examine the alert on that one as well.

  “No!” she turned to me, “How long ago did you wake? Did you receive any alerts or direction to open any of these chambers?”

  “You’re blaming me? I woke about a half hour before I found you! My whole room was beeping from the moment I woke up freezing to death!” I blurted, “At least you had some assistance when you woke! I was on my own!”

  She was shaking her head as she approached me with her hand waving though the air, “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just trying to gather what happened and when. And thank you for what you did. It’s looking like it might have been heart attacks all around.”

  I looked at her, seeing the apology in her worried eyes, “Yeah, I woke up alone and shivering. Everyone in my room was already dead, but I didn’t know that until after I thawed myself in the shower. After I discovered the frightening news, I ran over here to discover that three chambers were already open. One man was already dead, and two of you were probably in the process of dying. You’ll have to excuse me, but I’m not medically trained at all. I pulled you both from those CWCs and then tried to wake both of you. Then he had a heart attack and I started chest compressions. I tried and I tried. And then you… well, you started to probably have a heart attack as well. Listen, I tried to do something.”

  “No, you saved my life. Surely your assessment was correct, judging from all these other chambers. I was about to die as well, so I thank you,” she said, patting me on the shoulder as though to reassure me.

  “Doesn’t really matter though. A lot of good it did us,” I groaned, shaking my head, “I don’t know the first thing about flying or landing a spacecraft.”

  She held my gaze for a moment longer; expressionless. Then she turned and examined the digitally noisy room. I decided in that moment that I needed to leave the room. Granted, there was a dead man lying prone on the floor and several others still in their CWCs, but I didn’t really think those bodies were a priority at this time. For the first time in my life, I understood what it meant when Jesus had said “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Some things are far more important than even the basic common respect for those who’ve passed.

  “What’s your name?” she asked, still facing away from me.

  “Larkin,” I replied, “Cuttar Larkin.”

  “Pfftt,” she seemed to snicker, then she turned to me, “I owe my life to freakin’ Larkin Industries? Please say it isn’t so!”

  “It isn’t so!” I smirked, “Since when does Larkin Industries operate outside of the solar system? And between you and me, I’m broke and don’t even have a company anymore.”

  “Broke,” she repeated with a laugh, “You own this ship! Larkin paid for the CWCs, the Accelerator Drive engines, the navigation components, and even all the soft amenities in the suites! You own this ship, Larkin! Plain and simple.”

  “I own a coffin! Nice! Doesn’t everyone eventually own the coffin they’re buried in?” I blurted as I rushed past her toward the door, “You don’t owe me squat!”

  FOUR

  Her reminder that I’d paid for the soft amenities led me to my own suite. Since interstellar space travel hadn’t been attempted in almost a hundred years, our ship was going to be designed based on the specifications of the interstellars from a century ago. Those ships were very ‘military’, generic, and utilitarian. Once my money had paid for all the important stuff, I had asked that the remainder go to comfort. That’s where the luxurious suites came to be.

  I had barely hit the mattress before my door opened and the lady in the bathrobe walked in. While it might sound intriguing to be stuck on a ship all alone with another woman, I think it might be a good time to describe said woman. First of all, yes, she was very pretty and she might have been between the ages of twenty-five to thirty-five. She had black hair that was buzzed close to the skull all the way around the sides and back. On the top, she kept it long, but not long enough to be effeminate or to look even the slightest bit ladylike. The hair on the top of her head may have been about three to four inches in length, which didn’t serve to hide those buzzed sides. She had a muscular build that ultimately caused her to be fairly flat-chested. Needless to say, my initial assessment back on Earth was probably the most accurate. I had no issues or reservations regarding such people, and as a matter of fact, I had a few good friends back on Earth who identified in such a way. But I wanted it to be clear that this wasn’t the potentially ideal situation for a young heterosexual male of twenty-three years.

  “Death? Is that what you’ve resigned to already?” she growled as she so casually strolled over to my bedside, “This is a coffin?”

  I looked over at her as I lie on the bed with my hands tucked behind my head, “What is it that you do? Wait, I don’t even know your name!”

  “Sydney Harper and I’m probably the most important crew member on this entire ship, Larkin! I’m a geostructural ecological engineer or as our predecessors liked to call it, I’m a terraformer. Now I ask again, is this a coffin to you?”

  I sat up, startled to discover that she was a terraformer. I didn’t know anything about terraformers today, but back in the day when space travel was huge, you had to be really smart and educated in multiple fields to be classified as a terraformer. Judging by the way she was looking at me, she realized exactly what I was thinking at the moment.

  “Can a terraformer land this ship on a planet we hadn’t even seen in several generations?” I asked.

  “That all depends. Is this terraformer going to be attempting this feat all by herself?” she asked, “You saved my life, Larkin. Tell me it wasn’t for nothing.”

  I scooted to the end of the bed, then finally nodded, “The name ‘Larkin’ vomits out of your mouth with such negativity. It almost seems to be a bad word in your vocabulary, so if it’s all the same, I’d prefer that you
call me Cuttar.”

  She crossed her arms and then nodded, “Will you help me to figure this all out, Cuttar? Live or die?”

  I looked at her as she stood there boldly facing me in that bathrobe. She carried herself like someone who should be wearing a uniform instead. My thoughts then drifted to those summertime images of Inglenook, which brought a smile to my face.

  “The last I heard, Inglenook was a tropical paradise. Sounds like a nice place to retire. Live or die, I’m ready to find a way to land this thing.”

  FIVE

  In 2048, NASA sent nearly a thousand Sprites to the Tau Ceti system. Sprites were tiny interstellar probes no larger than an inch across that were created in the early twenty-first century. Initially these were sent to the Alpha Centauri system, propelled merely by solar sails with an initial boost from some powerful ground-based lasers in South America. When those probes turned up nothing of interest in that system, we then focused the next batch of Sprites on Tau Ceti system.

  Tau Ceti, the nearest sun-like star, offered three planets that were presumably ideal for us to eventually populate. If only these planets had a substantial amount of liquid water and an acceptable atmosphere. As luck would have it, there were two comets in that system that regularly came fairly close to the planet we now called Inglenook. Scientists on Earth postulated that if these large icy comets collided with Inglenook, the planet would gain enough water to create sufficient oceans and at the same time, the thicker atmosphere necessary to keep those oceans warm enough to remain liquid.

  That was the moment that terraforming came into existence. In 2089, Project Ocean was launched which resulted in us sending four robotic ships that had been preprogrammed to guide those two comets to the planet’s surface. The ships arrived in the Tau Ceti system in 2128 and by 2132, the first comet slammed into Inglenook precisely as planned. Then, six years later, the next comet crashed into the very same ocean that the first comet had created. From that day forward, the Sprites just orbited the planet and watched as the oceans formed and the moist clouds began decorating the skies. By the year 2200, the planet looked just like a brown and blue version of the Earth. It merely needed an artist to splash it with some beautiful greens.