by S. H. Jucha
Ginny had her own way of dealing with Teague’s angst. She would let him work through the entire list once, which usually took Teague about two hours. When he started on a second walk-through, she would gently ease into his space. At first, it would be a touch of his hand, as she handed off a piece of equipment. Then it might be a gentle bump of a shoulder or a hip.
At some point, Teague would suddenly find Ginny in his path. Her eyes would soften, as she stared at him. The need to recheck the preparations would fade, as Teague focused on Ginny’s face. Usually, Teague would grin or laugh. It was a game they played, and he had no problem with it. Ginny was a much better distraction from the worry about the coming event than checking the landing preparations five or six times.
Later, in the early morning hours, the two lay side by side, exhausted. They chatted for a while and then drifted off to sleep. Their implant chronometers woke them after only five hours of sleep, but it was better than what Teague would have achieved without Ginny’s guile.
After a shared refresher and a quick donning of uniforms, Teague and Ginny were on their way to morning meal. Both of them queried the controller for the ship’s position. The Sojourn held station above the planet, and the Guardian, the Trident warship, was two hundred and fifty kilometers outward from them.
The couple joined Asu, Willem, and Rosette at the head table. Asu and Willem were discussing priorities.
“I agree that determining the sentience of the creatures at the rims of these islands is important,” Willem said, “but we must recognize that they might not be the ones to have built these structures.”
“You’re still convinced that these islands are artificial?” Asu queried.
“Based on their geometric shapes and repeated design, Captain, they could be nothing else,” Rosette replied.
“Could natives have built these islands as giant rafts to escape the flooding of their lands and then died off?” Ginny asked, as she accepted a plate from a server.
“There are many possibilities,” Willem allowed.
“However, that idea doesn’t seem to fit,” Teague said. He was careful to respectfully disagree with Ginny. “It’s the absence of other significant land masses. That indicates to me that any native sentients weren’t land dwellers.”
“I must admit that was my first idea too,” Asu interjected. “However, the number of these structures seems to be an important clue. They’ve been around long enough to accumulate vegetation, which requires the collection of airborne dust. I’d think that if they were rafts, then they should have sunk during that length of time, either by storms or natural erosion.”
“Suppose we find no sentients and the waters are tolerable?” Rosette asked.
“Then we should proceed to investigate the planet for long-term considerations, weather patterns, ocean depths, natural resources, and other parameters,” Asu replied.
“We could establish floating domes or ones grounded on the ocean floor,” Teague suggested.
“Floating landing pads could handle the travelers,” Ginny added.
The conversation died, as humans consumed their meals, and the SADEs left them to dine in peace.
The thought crossed Teague’s mind that while the Swei Swee might enjoy the waters on this planet, they’d found no place for them to construct their houses. The Swei Swee built their exquisitely colored houses on the cliffsides.
-2-
Planetfall
The landing party’s traveler was a specialized cargo model. It was crammed full of exploration gear, racks of instrumentation, and bins full of sampling and testing devices. There were just enough seats in the forward portion of the main cabin to accommodate the crew.
Orly Saadner was the pilot. He’d been a pilot during the exploration of Celus-5. Several promotions had been offered to him over the years, and he refused all of them to remain on the team. In Orly’s words, “You haven’t lived until you’ve set foot on a strange new world.”
When everyone was aboard, Willem signaled the rear hatch closed.
The action cued Orly that he was cleared to launch. He ensured the bay was empty and depressurized before he triggered the exit doors open. Then he eased the traveler out of the bay and dropped quickly toward the planet. He was guided to the target island by Willem’s coordinates.
When Orly reached the planet’s surface, he followed Willem’s instructions to hover a few meters above the island.
Willem had chosen an average structure after comparing it to the others. It measured about one hundred sixty meters across, and it possessed the characteristic geometric shape.
The scientists collected air samples and confirmed the drones’ data. The atmosphere was satisfactory. Nonetheless, Willem specified environment suits at all times.
The team spent an hour observing the island and its surrounding waters. Curiosity was high, but more than anything, they searched for danger. It had found them on more than one planet.
When Willem was satisfied that conditions appeared benign, he linked to the pilot, sending,
Willem and Orly monitored the ship’s sensors, as the traveler touched the scrubgrasses and vines. Finally, the shell settled onto a firm surface, and its descent was halted.
A half hour later, Willem signaled Orly and the team that he gave his approval to begin exploration.
Lieutenant Bethany Latimer and Sergeant Smitty Lange, the security team, checked to ensure every member was sealed in an environment suit before Bethany dropped the wide, rear hatch. Then they preceded the explorers out of the traveler. Immediately, they circled the ship, looking through the vegetation for anything that could harm the crew.
A few team members accompanied Willem, Teague, and Ginny to the edge of the island. They could hear the splashing of creatures that leapt into the water for safety.
A critical exploration step was to determine the composition of the ocean waters. A tech knelt at the edge, but Willem stayed his hand until he had time to examine the movement beneath the surface. He could see the small marine life that stayed close to the surface and the structure. The largest of these were four-finned, shelled creatures ranging from a half meter across to several meters. Detecting no danger, Willem allowed the tech to proceed with his tests.
“A little greater salinity than the oceans of Libre, Haraken, or Omnia,” the tech reported, examining the output of his device.
“It could be due to the evaporation of the ocean’s waters over the millennia, increasing the salinity,” Teague suggested.
“Good news. The salts and minerals aren’t harmful to humans,” a scientist interjected.
As soon as the water tests were performed, the scientists and techs hurried to join the investigation taking place at the ship.
“Get that look off your face,” Ginny demanded sternly of Teague.
“What?” Teague asked innocently, shifting his gaze from Ginny to Willem.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Teague Racine,” Ginny retorted hotly. “When you heard the waters were safe, you thought about jumping in. I see that wistful expression on your face.”
Teague worked to school his countenance, and he briefly glanced toward Willem.
Teague gave Ginny a weak grin and held up his hands in surrender.
“That’s better,” Ginny allowed, giving Teague a playful punch on the shoulder.
Willem was partway to the ship when the sensors in his feet registered a short burst of microtremors. They were too brief to determine their direction, much less the source of the vibrations. After a moment’s hesitation, he resumed his return to the traveler.
At the ship, the scientists and techs were well into their exploration of the island. Benches were set up to hold their devices and the collected samples. They were testing bits of vegetation, the rudimentary soil, and some captured insects.
Using imagery from the probe, Willem worked with Ian to program the drones’ investigation of other sections of the planet. It would be necessary for Orly to deliver the drones via the traveler to the next region. For now, he set about packing the drones into their prepared shelves aboard the ship.
Stepping off the ramp and heading to join Teague and Ginny, Willem felt a second set of microtremors. They were stronger than the first, but he still couldn’t ascertain their source. He located Bethany’s implant. She was near the traveler’s bow, and he sought her out.
“Problems?” asked Bethany, when she saw Willem’s determined approach.
“I’m not sure,” Willem replied. “Twice I’ve felt tremors, but I don’t know the cause.”
“Could this structure be breaking up?” Bethany asked.
“Unknown,” Willem replied, “but I want Smitty and you to ensure that the team doesn’t stray too far.”
“Understood,” Bethany said, nodding. “We might need to make a fast exit.” She ran a sweep for implants. Only two weren’t in the immediate vicinity — Teague and Ginny.
* * *
At the structure’s edge, Teague unpacked an aqua-drone. Ian had built a set of them years ago, but this was Teague’s first opportunity to put one into action.
The aqua-drone was designed to be deployed in close proximity to the operator. It could be controlled by comm or implant, whichever was within range. An electrified wire cage surrounded the twenty-five-centimeter-diameter device. Multiple propellers allowed it to be highly maneuverable, and it could stream images from its vid pickup.
Ginny couldn’t help but laugh. Teague’s exuberance at the anticipation of his toy’s launch was evident.
Teague eased the aqua-drone into the water, and the couple linked their implants to receive the transmissions. The water was crystal clear, unspoiled by technological development.
Marine fauna gathered around the drone. A few nuzzled it with mouths or beaks and were quickly discouraged by the mild shocks they received from the cage. Unfortunately, the number of touches worked to drain the small device’s power crystal.
“Teague, look at the shapes of the four-finned creatures,” Ginny said.
Teague guided the aqua-drone around two of the shelled, marine animals that exhibited the paired flippers.
“Odd, isn’t it?” Teague commented. “Their hexagonal and pentagonal shapes echo the structure’s geometric outline. I wonder if the natives revered them. Maybe this fauna was their primary resource … the meat for food and the shells to make bowls, utensils, decorative items, and anything else they could dream up.”
Ginny withheld her comment. Something nagged at her mind, but she couldn’t pin it down.
Teague signaled the aqua-drone to dive. He was interested in discovering whether the island was an outcrop of the ocean’s bottom. To the couple’s surprise, the drone wasn’t much more than five meters deep, when the vid stream displayed the structure’s bottom. Teague swiveled the drone for a better view of the lower layer, when something ghosted past the vid pickup.
“Was that a creature or an anomaly created by layers of the water’s salinity?” Ginny asked.
“The view is clear now,” Teague said, “but that was strange. If that was a marine animal, it was nearly transparent, and it was big.” It chilled him to think that he’d considered taking a dip in unexplored waters, and he thanked his good fortune for having a level-headed partner.
Teague sent the drone under the structure. When its signal started to fade, he turned it around and guided it toward him.
Willem was considering the new observations, when he felt the tremors again. This time it was while he was on the far side of the traveler from the first two incidents. It enabled him to pinpoint the source. It was immediately under the traveler.
In the ticks of time it took Willem to analyze the team’s implant locations, he realized they were in the worst possible locations. If everyone was outside the traveler, he would have warned them away from the ship. Instead, most of the scientists and techs were aboard, running their tests, while Teague, Ginny, Orly, and security were outside.
Feeling the structure cracking under his feet, Willem’s choices were narrowed to one.
It was a race. The structure slowly disintegrated under the traveler’s weight, and the nearby team hurried to board.
Smitty Lange, the security sergeant, knocked the samples from a tech’s hands and shoved him toward the shuttle. The young man foolishly attempted to secure the material before boarding. Another tech, Yoyo, tripped and sprawled into the grass, and Smitty hauled her up and ran with her toward the ramp.
Willem detected the traveler’s motion, as he sprinted along its length toward the aft end. He located Bethany and Orly running along the other side.
Unfortunately, the traveler’s accelerated positional shift, which was downward, indicated there were only seconds to spare. Willem was forced to signal the ramp’s closure. It was a dangerous call, but he felt it necessary to protect the scientists and techs who were already aboard.
Willem rounded the ship’s aft end at the same time as Orly. The shuttle was falling through the surface, and the ramp was only halfway closed. Orly hesitated, when he saw the ramp in an up position, and Willem grabbed him and neatly tossed him through the opening, as the ship fell past him.
When the surface under and around the ship gave way, Willem and Bethany fell through the gaping hole. Willem followed the traveler, which crashed through the bottom of the structure. He registered surprise that the raft was hollow. Better said, it was a honeycomb, and the ship had rested on a single giant cell.
The traveler sank into the ocean, taking on seawater, while the ramp finished closing. The ship was slightly buoyant, which slowed its descent.
With the shuttle’s smooth shell, there wasn’t an opportunity for Willem to latch on to it. His heavy, negatively buoyant avatar struck the side of the traveler, and Willem descended to the sea bottom.
Teague parked the aqua-drone when he heard Willem’s warning. Ginny hesitated, and Teague wrapped an arm around her waist and hugged her to him, as he pumped his long legs to gain the ship. The couple arrived in time to see the traveler sink out of sight, and Willem and Bethany disappear after it.
Near the crater, Teague slowed, set Ginny down, and urged her to stay back. He located Bethany’s implant, which was a few meters from him. Edging close to the opening, he saw a pair of powerful New Terran hands struggling to hold on to the edge of the upper surface.
Teague, of course, did the only thing that his conscience would allow him to do. He ignored her. Cra
wling on his belly, he reached over the edge and grasped one of Bethany’s wrists with both hands. Teague had inherited his father’s stature, but he lacked his father’s massive musculature, and Bethany wasn’t an insignificant heavy worlder.
Bethany’s grip began to tire, despite Teague’s efforts to pull her up. Suddenly, Ginny hands were clamped around Bethany’s other wrist.
Among the three of them, they managed to secure one of Bethany’s elbows on the surface. Teague and Ginny kept grabbing deeper on Bethany’s arms until they could grasp her security harness and pull her to safety.
“Get back from the edge,” Bethany urged, pushing Teague and Ginny away.
Teague retreated, pulling Ginny with him, and Bethany crawled after them.
“You two don’t follow orders any better than certain of your seniors,” Bethany commented, breathing hard.
Ginny grinned at Bethany, and said, “I don’t know about Teague, but I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Bethany grudgingly returned the grin. She clamped her hands on the couple’s shoulders, and said, “Thank you. I don’t swim too well. In fact, I’m better at sinking.”
Immediately, Bethany linked with Teague and Ginny and then connected with the traveler’s controller for a head count. While Bethany did that, Teague reached out for Willem.
-3-
Sunk
Aboard the sunken shuttle, the team picked themselves off the deck and out of the water. The hatch hadn’t been fully closed when the ship submerged, and the deck flooded to little more than a meter deep in seawater.