Firmament: In His Image

by J. Grace Pennington

  “Yes, Doctor.”

  “Come on up, I want to talk to you.”

  Switching my wristcom off and hurrying to get ready, I wondered what it could be that he wanted. Had I done anything wrong? I searched through my actions for anything that would have displeased him, but nothing came to mind.

  In less than ten minutes I arrived in the doorway to sickbay, dressed, combed and ready for the day. “Yes sir?”

  He was alone in the room, adjusting one of the monitors. “You sleep okay?”

  I just shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. “You?”

  “Alright.”

  I took a few steps towards him, and waited for whatever it was he had to say. “Trent told me that you’d asked if you and August could be part of the landing party.”

  My heart sank. The Doctor was very protective of me, and I thought I knew what he would say next. “You mean I can’t go, Dad? Do you—you think it’s too dangerous?”

  “No, no, that’s not it. I was just going to say that I don’t want you to go without me. But as long as Trent thinks they can get along with just a nurse while we’re down there, it should be okay.”

  I knew he didn’t really enjoy landings, and I smiled and hugged him. “Thanks, Dad.”

  “If you really want to thank me, you can try to stick close to me when we get down there. We don’t know what we’ll find.”

  “Yes sir, don’t worry, I will. I’d rather stick with you than anybody else anyway.”

  “Hmm. That’s a coincidence.”

  This short, wry statement meant more to me than an outside observer could have guessed. The Doctor almost never expressed his feelings directly, but I had learned to love his tongue-in-cheek way of showing affection.

  But he didn’t like for me to call attention to these things, so I only smiled and asked, “Can I go ask the Captain what we need to do to get ready for the landing party?”

  “Sure. I didn’t tell him that I was going, so you can let him know that, too.”

  “Should cause a sensation,” I smiled.

  “Go on,” was his only answer, and he waved me out. “And find out how close we are.”

  “Will do.”

  I trotted out and hurried up to the bridge, already getting excited about the landing. Aliens or no aliens, it would be fun to explore the planet, and I’d have almost all of my favorite people with me. The Doctor, Crash, August and the Captain—If only Mr. Guilders and Almira could come along. But I understood that Guilders needed to stay and oversee things, and there was really no reason for Almira to come. She didn’t like exploring and danger anyway.

  When I reached the bridge, I announced a bit too loudly, “Second medical officer on the bridge, sir!”

  The Captain swiveled around, his eyes twinkling. “Excited, Andi?”

  I flushed slightly. “Yes sir. I came to ask what the Doctor and I need to do to get ready for the landing party.” I had decided that the most fun way to tell that the Doctor was joining us was just to mention it offhand. I wondered how long it would take the Captain to realize the significance of what I’d said.

  It didn’t take him long. The minute I finished my sentence his eyebrows rose, and then his mouth turned up in a smile. “Trying to teach an old dog new tricks, are we?”

  Of course I knew he was just joking, but I didn’t like it. “No, I’m telling you that my dad is sweet enough to come along to look after me.”

  “Of course, of course.” The twinkle didn’t go away.

  I made a face, and changed the subject. “So what do we need to do to get ready?”

  “ETA, Mr. Howitz?” asked the Captain, turning to August.

  “Three hours now, Captain.”

  “I suppose Crash got the engines rebalanced?” I queried.

  “Yes. A temporary fix; he’s really only used to speeders. But to answer your question—we will probably be landing about three o’ clock. Every member of the landing team needs two medical check-ups, one before exercise program number—six, Mr. Ralston?”

  “Six,” he nodded.

  “Exercise program six, and another checkup after. Gerry knows what to look for. Then Almira needs to get packs of freeze-dried ready for each member. There will be…” he counted on his fingers silently. “…seven people. Everyone needs to eat a moderate meal, and go to E-Deck to have Mr. Beech outfit you with the proper clothes and equipment for a landing. I think that should be it… oh, we’ll need to make sure a communicator is issued to each member of the party; the wristcoms won’t transmit up to the Surveyor, and they may not work at all once we get onto the surface. It depends on the conditions down there.” He smiled at me. “Think you can handle all that?”

  “You want me to oversee it all?” I asked, surprised. I had only intended to take care of myself and the Doctor, but if he thought that I could handle it and wanted to give me the responsibility, I’d be happy to try it.

  “Well, if you feel like you can, I would appreciate it. That way I can focus on things up here.”

  “Yes sir! Checkups, exercise, moderate meal, food packs, communicators outfitting. That it?”

  “That’s it. Thank you, Andi.”

  Nodding, I turned to August. “You want to come with me now to have your checkups?”

  “Okay.” He glanced at the Captain as he stood up.

  “Try not to be gone too long,” the Captain instructed, and August followed me out.

  IV

  As August and I walked together, I asked, “Have you landed on a planet before?”

  “A couple of times, to make repairs. But I haven’t really explored or anything. Dad…wasn’t ever interested.”

  A momentary silence hung between us as I recalled his—our—father. Then I shook off the remembrance. “Well, you’ll like it.”

  “Aren’t most planets not very—well, friendly?”

  “Most aren’t.” I smiled at his way of putting it.

  “Do you expect that we’ll find anything there?”

  Of course I knew that by “anything,” he meant any life. I licked my lips. He was asking the same question I’d been asking myself the past couple of days. Did I expect that we’d find anything there?

  “I’m not sure,” I said slowly. “My dad doesn’t. Crash doesn’t.” Again the conversation paused as we stepped into the elevator and I said clearly, “B-Deck.” Then I asked, “Do you?”

  “Well,” he explained, “I wouldn’t say I believe we will. But I think we might. I believe there is intelligent life out there, but I’m not saying it’s necessarily on this planet.”

  “Why do you believe there’s intelligent life out there?”

  “Because—well Andi, just look around. Just look out the window and you’ll see space stretching on forever in all directions.”

  “But it doesn’t stretch on forever,” I corrected quickly. “It’s finite. God extends far beyond both space and time.”

  “Oh of course. I didn’t really mean forever, you know.” He shuffled his feet a little, looking at his boots. “So—does your Christianity have anything to do with your anti-alien views?”

  “First of all,” I said as we stepped out of the elevator and into the hall, “’my’ Christianity, as you call it, has something to do with everything. And secondly, I do not necessarily have ‘anti-alien views.’ I just don’t know.”

  He didn’t speak for the rest of the walk to sickbay, and I felt uncomfortable. He hadn’t meant anything by calling it “my” Christianity, and he had only asked a question. But by the time I had made up my mind to say something about it, we were walking into sickbay, where the Doctor was getting out a CMR scanner.

  “Hello,” was all he said, and as if he’d been expecting us, he plugged the scanner into one of the monitors and gestured to the bed. “Go ahead, Andi, I’ll be right with you,” he said, and then went off to take care of another patient. August lay down and kept quiet as I scanned him. “Everything looks fine,” I said at last, turning the scanner off and examining his
monitor. “Exercise next. Program six, you can do it. Come back when you’re done, okay?”

  “Alright.” Without further conversation, he got up and walked out of the room. Again I felt slightly guilty, and resolved to apologize later. I’d had no right to snap at him, when he was just asking a simple question.“Doctor,” I called, as I changed the sheets, “Mr. Ralston, Mr. Whales, Crash, and the Captain will be coming in. And we need to have a checkup and exercise…”

  “I did it already,” was his short response. I looked at him quizzically.

  “What, do you think I would have offered to go along without making sure I could?”

  I thought I understood what he didn’t say—his recent temporary brain damage, caused by my father, might have had long-lasting effects that he didn’t realize. That was why he’d had doubts about whether or not he could go. Most likely his self-examination had been two-fold in purpose. He needed to not only make sure he was good to go on the exploration, but see if his mind was going to be okay.

  “Why didn’t you wait and let me help you?”

  “I wanted to make sure before I told you.”

  Again, he was talking about the landing party, but he meant his concern about the brain damage. He hadn’t wanted to burden me with worries about it. Smiling, I touched his hand. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  “Me too.”

  That was the extent of the conversation, because Mr. Ralston and Mr. Whales entered at that moment, ready for their check-ups.

  There was little time for reflection in the next few hours. After the two men left to exercise, the Doctor told me to go take care of the food packs. I gave him the Captain’s instructions about meals, and he said he’d tell each person to go eat after their second checkup, then come down himself when the last man was finished.

  Looking at my wristcom, I noted that it was about two o’ clock, which only gave us an hour to finish preparing. I hurried down to the galley to tell Almira to fix the meals and food packs.

  When I entered the mess hall, I saw her at the far end, wiping off the snack bar counter. When she saw me, her dark face lit up in a motherly smile, and she held out her arms to me. I ran to hug her, and then she took my shoulders and held me at arm’s length.

  “So good to see you again, honey,” she smiled. “You doing okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Taking hold of her plump hands, I slid them off my shoulders and held them warmly in both of mine. “Feeling much better than I was a few weeks ago, thank you. I missed you.”

  “I missed you too! Oh, and the Captain said you’d be coming down to see about food for the landing…” letting my hands go, she trotted into the galley, and I followed her. “I’ve got the packs made up. Seven, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.” I counted the neat, well-filled bags that lined the gleaming countertop. “We’d better put them on the snack bar, so the party can pick them up on their way to outfitting. And everyone’s going to need a moderate meal before leaving…”

  “Chicken is in the oven,” she nodded. “It’ll be just a few minutes.”

  I helped her tote the bags out to the snack bar, where we set them in a row. “So,” she chatted as we worked, “are you getting to go this time? I didn’t think your daddy would want you out of his sight after everything that happened.”

  “He doesn’t. He’s going with me.” The surprise on her face made me smile.

  “You mean he’s going down there?”

  “Yes.”

  “That is very kind of him.” She counted the bags again as we set the last one down. “I know I wouldn’t want to risk going down to one of those other planets.” By “other planets,” I knew she referred to any planet other than Earth.

  “Who else is going?”

  “The Captain, of course; Mr. Ralston and Mr. Whales, Crash, and August.”

  “So you’ll be the only girl, honey?”

  “Yes. But I’ll be fine, don’t you worry.”

  “Oh, I’m not worried, honey, I know they’ll all look out for you. But I’ll be glad when you’re all back safely.”

  I only had time to press her hand before August walked in, ready for his meal. As soon as Almira set out his tray and he began eating, Ralston and Whales walked in, ready for theirs. I kept busy, helping to fix the trays, and then sat down for a hurried meal with Crash and the Doctor. At two thirty I grabbed my food pack to go down and get outfitted by Mr. Beech.

  The one thing I hated about landings was the suits we had to wear. Even with the improvements over the last few hundred years, they were bulky, uncomfortable, and, needless to say, not very flattering. The attached life support tanks were heavy, and the helmets made conversation difficult. We had mouthpieces inside that connected to our wristcoms, but we could never be sure if they would work or not. If the planet was too cold, the frost could stop up the transmitters, and if there was too much gas and dust, it could clog the mouthpieces or get into the circuits and cut off the power. And even if they did work, they were still inconvenient. But safety had to be considered first, of course. Thankfully, we wouldn’t have to put the helmets on until we landed, unless something went wrong.

  It took twenty minutes to finish being outfitted, and then I had to make sure that we had a communicator for each member—for transmitting to the orbiting Surveyor.

  The Captain was the last one to come down, and when he was finished, it was nearly three o’ clock. The only thing left to do was say goodbyes, and then we would be on our way.

  “Is everyone ready?” The Captain called, after we had all gathered in airlock one, outside the landing shuttle.

  There was a general, “Yes sir,” and then he turned to Guilders, who had come down to see us off.

  “I’m leaving the ship in your command, Mr. Guilders. I assume you can handle that?” He laid a friendly, thick-gloved hand on Guilders’ shoulder.

  “I’m fairly certain that I can.” A slight smile appeared on Guilders’ face. “What time do you expect that you will be back?”

  “Well of course, that all depends. Possibly just as long as it takes Mr. Whales to gather the information to tell us that there are no signs of life down there. But if there is life—” He shrugged, with a smile that seemed to say, “who knows.”

  The unknown factor in our journey was what made it exciting. I exchanged a glance of glad apprehension with August, who smiled back. Crash looked easygoing and cocky, not remotely nervous in any way. Looking up into the Doctor’s face—which wasn’t much varied from its normal expression—I reached for his gloved hand and clumsily grasped it in mine. He squeezed back.

  “You will be in communication with us, Captain?” Mr. Guilders confirmed.

  “Yes, of course.” The Captain then called an instruction to the airlock technician, and the peripheral access opened, where the shuttle Apogee was moored.

  The Captain led the way into the shuttle, and we all followed. Just inside the door, the Doctor and I stopped, and looked back into the Surveyor. I looked to say a last goodbye of sorts to Guilders; the Doctor looked, no doubt, wondering if he would ever see it again. Despite having lived in space nearly ten years, he was skeptical about the unknown.

  Guilders gave me a last nod as the doors closed, and then the shuttle was released, and started toward the planet below.

  Carrying our helmets, we moved silently into the area behind the cockpit. Crash was piloting, with the Captain in the co-pilot’s seat. Ralston and Whales occupied the two seats immediately behind. August sat behind them, and the Doctor and I settled in the back, behind August.

  Crash and the Captain debated and discussed as though they were sitting at the dinner table instead of racing towards an unknown world with uncertain but very potential dangers. The rest of us were silent, watching the approaching planet with interest.

  Even the Doctor would have to admit that it bore a greater resemblance to Earth than any others that we’d come across. The atmosphere showed clouds of some kind, though not very many. There were patches of blue
which appeared to be water, though again, not as much as our native planet. And the non-blue sections appeared duller, for the most part. It didn’t speak of lush grasses or fields, but more likely deserts.

  Mr. Whales was doing something with one of his instruments, a good-sized, somewhat rectangular device with a large dial on one end. After fiddling with it, he announced, “Water for sure.”

  “Where there’s water there’s life,” the Captain smiled triumphantly at Crash.

  “No,” the Doctor interjected, “where there’s life there’s water.”

  “With all due respect,” Ralston agreed, “you can’t reason on the converse, Captain.”

  The Captain shrugged. “Well, reasoning at this point is irrelevant. We’ll land in—” he glanced at the chronometer in front of him, “—thirty minutes, and then we’ll find out.”

  “Do you want me to try to locate potential concentrations of heat for—” Whales began, but the Captain interrupted.

  “No need to do that now, Mr. Whales. We’ll land soon enough, and when we do there will be time enough to seek out life forms.”

  The science exec obediently put down his crate of equipment and turned his eyes to the planet.

  There was little more conversation during the rest of the trip. We watched as the planet seemed to approach more rapidly, and held our breaths as the shuttle began to penetrate the atmosphere. Crash was too busy now to talk. He had to work quickly to compensate for the heat created by the atmospheric friction, and then prepare to land.

  August leaned forward and peered out the front window.

  “Do you see anything?” I murmured as we neared the surface.

  He shook his head. “Of course that doesn’t mean anything.”

  The Doctor was watching, too, and he appeared interested in spite of himself. But we were coming in so fast now that it was difficult to see much of anything.

  “Captain, the attitude control is going haywire,” Crash called, quickly adjusting a slider in front of him. As soon as he spoke, the craft began tipping over, and I fell against the Doctor.