PLANETBOUND

by D M Arnold

  Andra pulled back on the control and switched the navigational display to short- range. Nyk could see the platform -- a house-sized structure floating on the surface of the sea. The skimmer hovered over it and set down on the deck.

  Andra shifted into her native tongue. “I'll show you around. The platform has its own power plant and inertial sink. Even in rough seas, the platform's stable.” She opened a hatch and led Nyk and Suki inside. “Here's the galley, and here are the cabins. There's no one out here right now, so you'll have the place to yourselves.” Andra opened a hatch. “This is our lab.” On benches were tanks of seawater. “Watch this...” She passed her hand over a proximity pad and the lights extinguished. A purple glow came from the tanks.

  “Bioluminescence,” Nyk said.

  “From creatures living near the bottom.”

  “I've seen patches of them at night -- they come to the surface.”

  Andra led the way to another room appointed with upholstered benches. “This is the lounge. Over here is the escape capsule. It has its own power cell and inertial sink. Once activated, it heads for the Sudal coast.”

  Nyk followed Andra to the platform deck. He looked toward the east and saw a line of grey clouds hugging the horizon. “It looks like a storm's brewing. I thought the surf looked rougher than normal.”

  “You'll be safe here,” Andra replied. “We had researchers out here during that category-four storm earlier this year. It didn't even disrupt their research. No one will bother you. I'll be back for you after Senta returns to Floran City.” She hugged and kissed Nyk, embraced Suki and climbed into the skimmer. Nyk watched it speed toward the west until it disappeared against the horizon.

  4 -- How Far to Sudal?

  Nyk climbed down from the deck and secured the hatch. “You're about to experience another of this planet's phenomena -- the tropical storm. From the looks of it, it's only category one or two -- it should blow over in a day or so.”

  “I remember being in a hurricane once.”

  “We should be safe here -- if what Andra says is true. Some researchers rode out a category-four storm without even feeling it.” A flash of light came through the viewports, followed by a loud boom. “The storm's here now. In a couple hours it'll hit Sudal.” He stood by the viewport. “Come look.”

  Suki stood beside him. The level of the sea rose and fell, alternately putting the platform under water and leaving it high and dry. “This is giving me vertigo.”

  “But, we feel nothing. It's the inertial sink -- it's absorbing the movement, as if this platform were on solid rock.” More lightning flashed and thunder boomed. “The storm's really raging, now. Listen to that thunder.”

  “There's an old saying -- it's better to be on land wishing you were at sea than at sea wishing you were on land. I wish I were on land.”

  “I think there's something romantic about this. Outside's a primal force of nature. Here we are -- warm, dry and secure.” He sat and slipped his arm around her. “I think we should check out the bunks in the cabins.”

  “You can't be serious. You can't be thinking of lovemaking at a time like this!”

  “Why not? We're safe ... we're here for the duration ... and, there's not much else to do on this platform -- unless you know something about bioluminescence.” He coaxed her to stand. “Come, let's look in the cabins.”

  He led her toward the sleeping quarters and opened a cabin door. “This must be the captain's cabin. Very accommodating.” He sat on the bunk. “Definitely wide enough for two.” He stretched out and patted the mattress. Suki lay beside him and he stroked her face.

  “Being with you takes away the hurt and fear. I'm beginning to believe everything will work out.” Nyk leaned toward her and met her lips with his. He felt her fingers caressing the back of his head.

  An explosion rocked the platform. It listed, throwing Nyk onto the floor and Suki on top of him. She screamed. “What happened?”

  “I think we were struck by lightning. It must've knocked out the inertial sink.” The platform was tossed about by the storm. Nyk struggled to his feet and worked his way to the cabin door. “Hold on -- I'll try to get the inertial sink back on line.”

  Holding onto bulkheads and fixed furniture, he edged his way toward the control panel. He began pressing controls to restart the inertial sink. It failed to respond. The platform creaked as it was tossed by the storm. A bulkhead joint split open and seawater began gushing in. “Suki!” he yelled. “The platform's breaking up! Quick -- the escape capsule!”

  She struggled to make her way from the cabin. Nyk held open the capsule hatch and looked in. “Take a seat and belt yourself in.”

  The platform lurched and Suki fell across the cabin. The bulkhead separated further and more water poured in. Suki climbed to the capsule and held on. Nyk lifted her, pushed her in and climbed in himself. He slammed down the hatch, secured it and belted himself into a seat.

  He reached for the trigger and snapped off the safety cover. With his palm he pressed the initiator.

  “Nothing happened!” Suki screamed.

  Nyk pounded it again. “Maybe I'm doing something wrong.” He unhitched his safety harness and reached for a circuit panel.

  With a roar the capsule ejected. Nyk was thrown backward, his head hitting the aft bulkhead. Then, they were still. He sat up and rubbed the lump on the back of his head. “The capsule's inertial sink must've kicked in.”

  “Now what?”

  “Andra said the capsule will head on its own toward Sudal. At what speed, I don't know. The platform's about one hundred kilometres offshore. It could take half a day to reach land.”

  “What if lightning hits us now?”

  “This capsule's a much smaller target. Even my luck isn't that bad.” He looked out the capsule's porthole. “Pitch black.” Nyk hoisted himself into a seat and coaxed Suki beside him. He slipped his arm around her.

  “Still feeling romantic?”

  * * *

  Blue-grey light began to penetrate the viewports. “How are you doing?” Nyk asked.

  “All right under the circumstances. I'm hungry, and my bladder is so full.”

  “We might be able to do something about your bladder...” He began opening compartments in the capsule and found a polymer urinal. “Here,” he said handing it to her. “I'll turn my back.”

  “Okay, I'm done,” she said and handed it to him.

  “Maybe I'll use it too.”

  He secured its cover and stowed it in its compartment. “I don't see any rations.”

  “This capsule seats eight. Eight people stuffed in here would be cozy.”

  “Even by Floran standards,” Nyk replied. He looked out the porthole. “Daylight ... and a clear sky. The storm's passed over us.”

  “Can you see land?”

  “No. We could be half a kilometre away, or fifty.” A scraping noise came from the floor of the capsule. “Or, closer.”

  Nyk activated the hatch release and swung it open. He eased himself from the capsule and helped Suki climb out onto a narrow black sand beach on the edge of a thick forest of palm- like plants. “Where are we?” she asked.

  “I'm not quite sure. Maybe I can climb one of those trees and reconnoiter.”

  “Be careful.”

  Nyk picked a palm growing at an angle. He eased himself into the crown and looked around. “I'd say we're southwest of Sudal. I can see the powerplant.” He climbed down. “We must head that way,” he said and pointed. “We'll follow the beach as far as we can, but when we reach that outcropping, we'll have no choice but to go through the forest.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Back to the Residence. With any luck, Senta will have gone home -- or, at the least she'll be at the labs.”

  “I'm so hungry,” she said and patted her stomach. “He's hungry, too.”

  “So am I, but there's nothing edible along the way.”

  “How far?”

  “I'd guess about twenty-five kilometres.
” Nyk took Suki's hand and walked along the beach.

  “I'm happy I'm not any more pregnant.”

  Nyk walked until the beach turned to rocks. He pointed up. “This is where we must start pushing our way through the forest. Let's rest a bit, first.”

  “I'm thirsty,” she said and looked at the sea. “Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink...”

  “Oh, you can drink this seawater. It tastes terrible, but you can drink it.” Nyk scooped a palmful and poured it into his mouth. “Ugh!”

  Suki knelt on a rock and scooped water. “I see what you mean. It lingers in the back of my throat.”

  “It's nothing that'll harm you -- just traces of sulphur-containing metabolites from the native sea life.”

  Suki sat on the rock and looked toward the forest. “The plant life seems both familiar and alien at the same time. Is all the vegetation purple?”

  “Purple is to Floran what green is to Earth. Yes, many of the plants have Earth analogues. Life here is primitive. I'd estimate Floran is about equivalent to Earth during the late Devonian era.” He stood. “Let's be on our way.”

  Nyk began pushing his way through the dense forest understory. Leaves and stems of the vegetation brushed against his tunic leaving purple stains. “It's slow going.”

  “Is it like this all the way?”

  “I'm afraid so. Those rocks are part of the same outcropping that forms the bluff holding the Residence. We might be able to go across the powerplant grounds -- once we get there. From there, we can follow the access roads.”

  “It's so hot.”

  “The forest blocks the sea breeze.” He wiped his brow. “Let's rest for a moment.” He gestured toward a fallen tree trunk and sat.

  “More of that smell -- it's oppressive.”

  “It's the decaying vegetation.”

  “There's not a sound.”

  “The land is devoid of animal life. Only plants and some microbes have colonized the continent. Are you ready to push on?”

  She nodded. “Now I'm beyond hungry.”

  Nyk stood and led the way. “There may be some vending machines at the powerplant.” He held a branch and she ducked under it.

  “Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?”

  “Oh, yes. I'm using the sun as a compass.”

  * * *

  Nyk pressed his way through the forest. “This is much tougher going than I imagined. We'll never make it there in daylight, and I don't want to trudge through the forest at night.” Suki sighed. “We'll find a spot where we can bed down. It looks like a clearing up ahead.”

  “Bed down and have dreams of food.”

  “Come on, just a bit further.” Nyk pushed aside some brush. “Oh, my goodness!”

  “What is it?”

  “Come look.” Suki stood beside him. “It's an agridome! No doubt, one of my father's prototypes.”

  The structure covered ten acres. It had walls about three metres high. There was no roof -- instead; a transparent film undulated in the breeze.

  “Such a big structure!”

  “No -- this one's tiny. The production agridomes are ten by ten kilometres. This must've been my dad's proof-of-concept dome. It's a Kyhana unidome. My father invented a revolutionary way to construct agridomes. He oversaw their construction -- it was a major element of a program to increase food production. His reward was having the Residence built.”

  “What's revolutionary?”

  “My dad's idea was to construct a dome pan from polymer concrete. Inside the profile is a shallow dish. Once the pan is in place, a polymer is sprayed on from skimmers. Control channels are laid in place and another layer is applied -- three layers in all. Once the polymer is cured, the dome is pressurized and the film lifts off the pan. It's kept up by air pressure.”

  “Air pressure?”

  “The polymer is light but tough. Dad postulated a dome of any size could be built with the technique. This dome's been abandoned -- there's no air pressure to keep the dome up, so it's flapping in the breeze. I wonder what test crops were grown inside.”

  “Crops?”

  “Yes, the point is to simulate an Earth environment for the growing of food -- and to isolate the crops from the native biosphere. Remember, most of our food is from plants of Earth origin.”

  Nyk approached the door and leaned against it. “It's jammed.” He looked around the edge of the forest and located a branch. Using it as a lever he pushed open the door. “Come in. This is the airlock -- to prevent losing air pressure.” He pushed on the inner door and it opened.

  The clear dome film rose and fell with the sea breeze. Nyk looked at hydroponic planting beds, dry and empty. He found a head of wheat and crushed it between his palms to yield a handful of kernels. “Here -- you need this more than I do.”

  Suki poured the kernels into her mouth and began chewing. “It's stale.”

  “This dome's been abandoned for decades. I'll see if I can find any more.”

  Nyk pushed the film aside and walked toward the center of the dome, past dry and empty agribeds. In a few spots some native vegetation had begun to grow in remnants of the nutrient matrix.

  He walked past more vacant beds. Some native vines spread in a tangle along the polymer concrete floor. The floor was cracked in places and shoulder-high scrub grew from the fissures. Nyk pushed through the purple vegetation and stopped short.

  He encountered growth with green leaves. “Suki,” he yelled. “Suki -- come here.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Toward the center of the dome. Over here!” She came to him. “Look -- fruit trees, and they're still alive!”

  “These look like Earth dwarf varieties.”

  “No doubt brought here by an Agency exobotanist. This is our mission on Earth -- to supply plant material for just this purpose.” Nyk plucked an apple and bit into it. “It's not quite ripe.” He handed it to her.

  “This tastes like ambrosia.”

  “Over here -- pears and plums. The trees don't look too healthy, but they're alive and bearing fruit.” He pointed down at cracks in the polymer concrete floor. “Their roots must've broken through the agridome pan and found a water supply beneath. The pan material is thinnest here at the center.”

  Nyk lifted the hem of his tunic to form a pouch and filled it with apples, pears, peaches and plums. Suki sat on one of the hydroponic beds. He sat beside her and they began eating.

  She placed her hand on her stomach. “This feels so good, Nykkyo. I've never want to be so hungry again.”

  “Let's see what we can do for sleeping.” He stood and made his way to the side of the dome. “There's some straw here. It's probably left over from processing the crops.” He picked up armsful of straw and dumped it into a hydroponic bed.

  Nyk lay in the straw and held Suki beside him as the Floran dusk gave way to night. “That beautiful sky again,” she said.

  * * *

  “Breakfast,” Nyk said and handed some fruit to Suki.

  She bit into a plum. “Juicy -- as tasty as any I've had on Earth.”

  “I went out and looked around. We're close to the powerplant, and from there we can follow access roads. I'd guess we still have ten kilometres to walk, but it'll be easy -- once we get to the powerplant. I'd bring some fruit if I could come up with a way to carry it. Fresh fruit is scarce on this world. What we grow gets turned into mixed fruit purees and the like. Are you ready to hit the road?”

  “Ready, I guess.”

  Nyk led her from the dome and into the forest. He held branches and pushed down underbrush as they traveled. “Look -- ahead, the forest edge.” He held aside a branch and stepped into orange sunlight. “See, just like I said -- the powerplant.”

  Three domes sat in the clearing. Beside them was a three-story pile of sparkling crystals. Nyk pointed. “That's the ash pile -- those are diamond crystals. Before an Agent heads to Earth, he picks up a kilogram or so of them.”

  She held up her ring. “So, t
hat's where this came from. What do you use them for here?”

  “They're crushed into gravel and used as a construction material. We truly pave the streets with them.” He took her hand and followed the access roadway. “There's a fork in the road about three kilometres from here. The right-hand fork leads to the Residence.”

  “Listen,” she said.

  “A groundcar's coming.” He led her into the brush along the roadway. A groundcar whizzed by. “Let's go.” He led her down the road.

  “How much further?” she asked. “My feet are killing me, and my ankles are puffed up like melons.”

  “Maybe three kilometres -- a couple of miles. If you'd like I can try carrying you.”

  “No. If it's only a couple of miles I can make it.” He led her up a small rise. “Can we rest a moment?” she panted.

  Nyk stopped and wiped his forehead. “Let's move on. We're approaching the bluff.” He stopped and lifted his chin. “Feel that? It's the sea breeze.”

  “It feels good.”

  “We can't be far, now.” He pointed to the right at a fork in the roadway. “That way.” He trudged a bit further. “Here we are. Around the bend is the Residence. I'll scout ahead and see if it looks like Senta's here.” Nyk pushed through some vegetation and regarded the structure. “Suki,” he whispered.

  Suki pushed through the growth and stood beside him. “The shutters are up,” she said.

  “Someone's home. Let's see how many groundcars.”

  Nyk dashed from the brush and through some metre-high purple horsetails to the house. Hugging the wall he worked his way toward the front door. He saw a single groundcar. With a wave he gestured Suki to join him.

  “It's the Sudal University car Andra uses,” he said and pointed toward the emblem on its side. “Senta would use either a Food Service car or one of the livery vehicles from town. I think we're safe.”

  Nyk approached the front door and pressed his wrist to the scanpad. The door slid open.

  “Oh, all I want is a shower and to lie down,” Suki exclaimed.