Roland had done his job. Now all they could do was wait.
FORTY
Kendra
Kendra crept past the rows of people sleeping, and toward the corridor beyond the cargo hold. She stretched her back. She didn’t know how many more nights of this they could take. As many as it takes, she told herself, but the colonists were already a bit stir-crazy. So was she.
Kendra headed to the bathroom, thankful they weren’t overly foreign. The one thing the Brivuk didn’t have were showers, since their tanks had filtration systems built in. They made do with a hose and drain, but the process was a little demeaning. She washed her face in the sink, and saw Andrew enter the bathroom as she was about to exit.
“Hey, you.” He smelled like sleep.
“I really hope they find what we’re looking for soon,” she told him. This was becoming a daily routine.
“We will.”
“What are you doing up?” she asked.
“Probably the same reason you are. Because sleeping on that floor is killing my back.” She walked around him, rubbing his shoulders. He let out a groan, and she left Andrew there, telling him to meet her for a coffee when he was done.
She entered the mess hall, finding a couple of dozen human colonists already awake. There were even a few of the Brivuk, eating something that resembled giant water beetles. She cringed as the nearest cracked the thing’s exoskeleton and slurped loudly.
Roland was there, and he waved her over. “Belidar wants to see us.” He rose, and she looked to the pot of coffee. They’d only brought the essentials, and she laughed that someone had deemed coffee at the top of the list. She poured two cups of the black liquid and brought one to the door, handing it to Andrew when he arrived a minute later.
“Do you think this is it?” she asked Roland. He shrugged, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“One can dream.” He led them toward the bridge, and Kendra noticed there were more of the Brivuk out of their water tanks now. That was either a great sign, or a terrible one.
Andrew stayed silent as they entered the bridge, where Belidar stood front and center. He stared toward the viewscreen, smiling at the magnified image of a planet on the display.
Kendra picked up three translators from the edge of the space, and handed Andrew and Roland their own, placing hers firmly on her head. “Belidar, what’s the news?”
He turned, a smile coming to his thick lips. His gills fluttered, a gesture she’d learned to associate with excitement or agitation. “We’ve found her. Our new home.”
They stood beside him, Kendra staring at the world on the viewscreen. It was deep blue, with large chunks of land separated by gorgeous oceans. The sky was clear, only a few white clouds evident.
“This is it?” Roland asked quietly.
“This is it. We’ll need to confirm, but the air appears breathable for both our species, and the water should suit our needs. We are able to adapt quickly to variable salt levels and have ways to ensure our health regardless.” Belidar continued to smile.
“How far are we from this place?” Andrew asked.
“We’re already heading there as fast as we can. We’ll arrive in five days’ time,” Belidar replied.
“Five days.” Kendra continued to watch the planet, seeing what she hoped would be their new planet. They still needed to ensure there were no hostile locals living there, but Belidar assured them there were no signs of civilization so far.
“We’re going to tell our people,” Kendra said. “It’s time to prepare our plans for the first night, week, and month.” She started for the door, and Andrew trailed after her.
He grinned at her. “You do know that’s already prepared, right? Listen, you don’t have to worry about the minor details. We have the world’s best and brightest, and they have their chance to shine. All you have to think about is the layout of the cabin I’m going to build for us.”
They were alone in the corridor outside the bridge, and she stepped toward him. “What do you mean, for us?”
“We need somewhere to live. Do you really want to be stuck in one of those little apartments like Val had?” he asked.
Kendra thought about the room, unable to see it without Hound’s dead pink eyes staring at her from the floor. She shook her head. “A cabin would be nice.”
“Good. Then it’s settled. Come on, let’s give the kids the good news.” Andrew took off down the hall, and she hurried to catch up.
In five days they’d reach their forever home.
* * *
Andrew
Andrew stood on the bridge with Kendra, Val, and Roland as the massive ship dropped through a carpet of fluffy white clouds. The sky was so bright and blue, the sun a familiar yellow. It was hard not to feel nostalgic for Earth.
“How are we doing this?” Val wondered aloud. “This thing is huge. It’s floating like a feather.”
“We saw the same thing with Hound’s fighters,” Roland said. “They were smaller, sure, but still not exactly operating on the principles of lift. I guess the Froggers—I mean, the Brivuk—were more advanced than us when Hound built this vessel to save them.”
Andrew nodded absently at their rationalizations as the ship dropped through the clouds and thick white veils of moisture clouded the twenty-foot high viewscreen in front of them. The sun shone weakly into the domed screen above.
Kendra reached for his hand, lacing her fingers through his, and leaned her head against him. He smiled at her and felt thick knots of tension releasing in his shoulders and neck.
Belidar and the other bridge officers quietly went about their duties, their webbed, bluish hands flying over their controls. Their green jumpsuits were glossy with a perpetual sheen of moisture that their chairs helped to maintain.
Someone gasped. It was Val. Andrew drifted from the crew to study the viewscreen once more and saw why. The clouds had parted to reveal a rolling carpet of dark green trees. The lighter greens of open fields sprawled between them. Sparkling bodies of water were everywhere; one of them in the distance was vast and gleaming all the way out to the horizon. That was the ocean the Brivuk would occupy.
“It’s beautiful,” Kendra breathed.
The ship turned toward the ocean, and a towering range of mountains swept into view. The peaks were snow-capped, and the valley below was wooded, with a mixture of lakes, rivers, and fields to break the dark canopy. The Brivuk seemed to be aiming for one of those fields. It quickly grew larger, and their forward momentum ceased before the vessel began lowering toward a grassy green field with a lake, surrounded by tall, straight trees with familiar green leaves. Just like home, Andrew thought.
“Aren’t you going to the ocean?” Andrew asked, his gaze finding Belidar.
The alien turned and offered a gummy approximation of a smile. “We must let you off first. Unless you would prefer to join us...?”
Andrew smiled back. “I like snorkeling as much as the next guy, but I don’t know about sleeping with the fishes. We’ll visit.”
Belidar made a trilling sound that might have been a laugh, but Andrew wondered how much he’d really understood. The translators struggled with idioms and humor. Belidar went on, “I suggest you return to your people and prepare them for disembarking. We’ll be touching down in just a few moments.”
“We’ll do that,” Kendra said for them. “Thank you.”
“And you,” Belidar replied as he turned away.
They walked over to the storage area, and Andrew clapped his hands for attention when they arrived. “Listen up, everyone.”
All eyes turned to them, and Andrew nodded to Kendra, letting her take it from there. A jolt came through the deck, and the vague sensation of movement stopped.
Kendra grinned. “Gather your things! We’ve arrived!”
Shouts of elation rose from the group, along with the sounds of rustling fabric as people grabbed their survival packs and stuffed their personal effects inside.
A loud thunk came through the dec
k, and the far wall began opening up like the mouth of a giant mechanical beast. Sunlight poured in, illuminating the space.
“Tony!” Val called, and waved to him from where they stood, then ran to join him in packing their things.
“Come on,” Kendra said, tugging Andrew’s arm to pull him toward their section of the deck. He allowed her to guide him through the bustling crowds, but his gaze was fixed unblinkingly on the light at the end of this metal tunnel.
They’d arrived.
* * *
Andrew walked onto a massive cargo ramp with the others, ten abreast, with a scattering of armed Brivuk accompanying them—just in case the local fauna wasn’t friendly.
Andrew was glad they were thinking about that angle so that he didn’t have to. Also, the Brivuk had yet to return any of their weapons, so it wasn’t like they could really defend themselves.
The air smelled fresher than anything he’d ever experienced: cool and citrusy, like a pine forest but far better. If someone could have bottled that fragrance back home...
He stopped himself there as he reached the bottom of the ramp. This was home.
Val ran ahead with Tony, hand-in-hand, shouting with pure delight. The long green grass reached Andrew’s thighs, soft and silken to the touch, and the individual blades were strong. Maybe durable enough to make textiles.
They peeled off from the main group, wandering slowly through the field. Not far from their landing site, a wall of red-trunked trees soared to at least a hundred meters, maybe two. They were tall and straight, and covered in large, dark green bulbs. Strange, but not nearly so alien as the forests from their valley on Eden, with their feathery blue and purple leaves.
“This is amazing,” Kendra whispered, a hand shading her forehead as she stared up at the clear blue sky and the bright yellow eye of the sun beaming down.
“Amazing,” Andrew repeated absently, lacking any words of his own to describe this place.
A pair of alien birds whooshed overhead in a colorful blur of green and yellow plumage.
The Brivuk eased up when they didn’t see any immediate threats, and a few of them went dashing through the field, chirping excitedly to each other as they ran for the lake they’d landed beside. It wasn’t the ocean they were planning to live in, but Andrew supposed it would do for a quick swim.
He watched them reach the water’s edge and then dive in with an audible splash. Checking their surroundings, Andrew spied a range of snow-capped mountains that ran like a hedge along the ocean where the Brivuk would be headed next.
Some of those peaks could make for good skiing. Andrew smirked at the thought.
“What do you think?” Kendra asked, beaming brightly at him.
“That we should put the cabin over there.” He pointed to a shadowy cove along the lake, hedged with tall trees. “I’ll build a boat and catch fresh fish for us, and we can clear a space for a little farm out back.”
Kendra sighed and held tightly to his arm, her eyes glazed and staring into the distance as if she were already picturing that future. “It sounds perfect.”
“Well, almost,” Andrew said.
Kendra’s brow lifted.
“Well, I’ve got Val, but you...” He trailed off awkwardly. “I mean, it probably goes without saying, but I’ve been thinking that maybe we could start a family of our own.”
Kendra gaped at him, saying nothing for several uncomfortable seconds.
“No pressure,” he added quickly. “I know we haven’t even been together like that, but I just thought—”
Kendra’s expression broke into a smile and she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing his lips. “We’ll talk about it.” A dam broke and tears slid down her cheeks, but she was grinning brightly.
He cleared his throat. “And maybe one of these days, I’ll find some way to take you on a real date.”
Kendra looked amused. “A date?”
“A picnic,” he amended.
She laughed and kissed him again. “I can’t wait.”
FORTY-ONE
Roland
The sun radiated on his face, but it was still cool out. The mountain peaks a few miles away were snow-capped after the recent rainfall. It was a far cry from their last camp, where it was hot all the time. He wondered if they would have experienced much in the way of seasons on that other planet. They hadn’t really been there long enough to find out.
He preferred this; plus, it was a rare occasion when Roland had ever seen snow. As a kid he’d been enthralled with the idea, but now, with their crops just beginning to sprout, no one wanted to be blanketed by a harsh winter.
One of their colonists had spent time as a meteorologist for a local news station some years ago, and he was working with the Brivuk on mapping the weather patterns. According to their data, the region was midway through something akin to spring on Earth. Flowers of all kinds grew in the sunny areas of the lakeside, near the tall thin trees.
This entire place was idyllic, these redwood-like giants making their lives far easier when it came to construction. With so much of their supplies left behind, the camp was coming together by utilizing the local forest.
They were cautious to not clear entire areas, not wanting to overly upset the local ecosystem. Their being here was an ample footprint, but there was no avoiding that. They needed somewhere to live.
Roland inhaled deeply as he stepped onto the pebble-covered shore of the crisp mountain lake. The water was even cleaner than the last world’s, making his job of setting up the treatment plant a simple one.
“Are you sure I need to be this far out?” Tony asked, wading a good fifty yards from the beach.
Roland had forgotten the kid was scraping the weeds from the lakebed. “Uhm… I’d say that’s good.”
Tony tossed his rake, swimming toward Roland, and he emerged from the chill water, teeth chattering. “Can’t you make a robot to do this?”
“And ruin your fun? If you want to take over the treatment plant from me, you have to go through the paces,” Roland told the teen.
Tony leaned over, shaking his long hair like a wet dog, getting Roland’s uniform wet. They still wore the blue and white jumpsuits, but an assortment of other clothing was in the process of being manufactured. “What a dream. Changing filters for the rest of my life.”
“Could be worse,” Roland said.
“Oh yeah, how?”
“You could be in school,” he laughed.
“Don’t remind anyone of that.”
There were only a couple of them young enough to be in classrooms, and at this moment, only Diane was being forced to study basic topics like math, reading, and writing. Val was super smart as it was, and she was collaborating with a lot of different teams, absorbing more information than most would be able to.
“Come on, let’s go home,” Roland said, eyeing the makeshift treatment plant. It was a little rough, but functional. Their rover held two giant tanks, each filled with premium filtered water. He hopped into the driver’s seat, Tony slipping into dry clothes before entering.
“This is bizarre, isn’t it?” Tony asked, pointing out the window.
“How so?”
“This. I grew up in Eureka, and these trees… the weather, even. Reminds me of home.” Tony stared out his passenger window.
“You miss your family.”
Tony nodded. “It was so easy to forget while we were in the middle of chaos, but now, being here where it’s calm and safe… I remember they’re all gone.”
Roland had lost anyone important to him years ago, but the ache was ever-present. He fired up the engines and threw the rover into drive. “You’re right, bud. But they’d be damned proud of you.”
“You think?” Tony glanced over at him.
“I’m proud of you. That’s how I know.” Roland cruised from the lake, away from the mountains and toward their camp. The ocean was close, only a couple of miles out, allowing them to visit with their new allies. It was the perfect arrangement. Wi
th the help of the Brivuk, everything had been expedited.
They chatted about the future as they drove, but Roland was more apt to be in his present these days. He wasn’t taking any of it for granted. He’d been gifted an entire new life, and he wasn’t going to squander it. As he neared camp, he tried to picture the pale, patchy-bearded, pudgy version of himself that rarely opened the living room blinds, even though he had a water view. It felt like a lifetime ago, not five months.
Everything was so different here than on Hound’s planet. Without the Eden stations to live inside, they’d quickly manufactured storage facilities for all the supplies. They’d spent the first two weeks sleeping in them, as the few construction drones they’d assembled had helped to erect new residences. Everyone pitched in on those, and now the building crews were focused on building cabins on the outskirts of town.
“Mind dropping me at the fields? Val’s working there today.” Tony smiled, as if already picturing her reaction to the surprise visit. Oh, to be young and in love, Roland thought, though he supposed he could be considered young, even if he no longer felt like he was.
“No prob, kid.” Roland drove to the crops, seeing twenty or so people working the land. He was amazed at the significant growth in such a short time period. Their supplies were running low, but Hound had been prepared for anything. They had enough rice and oats to keep them going for another year, if necessary.
“See you later.” Tony jumped out, jogging over to Val, who was walking around with a tablet. She waved at Roland, and he returned the gesture. A knock on the glass grabbed his attention. It was Eve.
Her hair was a little longer, but her cocky grin remained. He rolled the window down. “Eve. What’s up? Come to torment me again?”
“Grow up, Rollie. Mind if I hop in?” she asked, rounding the rover. She didn’t wait for an answer as she climbed inside.
Final Days: Escape Page 27