Her mind flashed back to when her mother bought her a velvety red dress for her eighth birthday. She’d wanted a microscope. Her mother didn’t understand. Rona was broken hearted. That same feeling was threatening to overcome her now.
Then she’d pouted and cried the whole day. Was she still the eight-year-old girl? She was supposed to be thirty years old. She didn’t feel like an adult. She felt like crying.
“You do know how old you are?” Mathieu asked with a smirk. “Your life is not over. If not this project, there will be others.”
She could feel her anger rising again. Rona was goal-oriented and whenever she found herself without a goal, she became disoriented. That’s how she felt now, disoriented. She hated that feeling. Hated that no one understood. She turned her back on him.
“You’re a type A personality,” he said.
She didn’t answer.
“Remember, Rona, it’s only been five days,” he continued. “That’s not enough time to be a failure, not when you have at least two years before the next transport, plenty enough time to get started. Something will happen.”
She didn’t want to listen anymore. She started to walk away.
But he was another one who would not give up. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“I need some air,” she said.
“The best air is outside,” he said, “but you’ll need to dress a bit warmer.”
She stopped and turned to glower at him. “My life is one big joke to you, isn’t it?”
“No but you’re acting like a teenager whose life is over because you took home an excellent instead of a perfect report.”
“Mathieu.” She shook her finger at him.
He stood and grabbed her finger. “I’m telling you, Rona, it won’t get any better, no matter how much you declare foul.” He took her fisted hand and kissed the top of it. “Relax. I’m not the bad guy. I’m not out to get you. I just want to help. You are out-of-sorts because you have nothing to do. It’s in all of our natures. That’s how we off-worlder scientists are built, and why we were picked for this mission. We’re driven to succeed.”
She tugged her hand out of his.
“It will only get worse,” he continued. “Find something to do before you become angry and your friends find you unpleasant.”
Rona sat heavily back on the rock, like a deflated balloon.
Mathieu was right. She needed a project. Something fun. Studying humans was fun. She watched the pond.
“Lu wants to study dogs,” she said in a docile voice.
“Why?” Mathieu re-sat next to her.
“She can’t find a male dog.”
“They have to be somewhere. Just wait until they start mating.” When he chucked, his whole body joined in. “You’ll be able to find them then.”
“Jess said the same thing.” Rona scrunched her face.
“So what’s the problem?” Mathieu asked.
“They don’t seem to be mating,” she said.
He put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed. She knew he was trying to help, but she didn’t respond. She didn’t want to give in. She didn’t want him to be right. His arm moved away.
She wanted to work on her intended project.
But Mathieu was right and she knew it. It was time to let go of what she couldn’t have and accept what was available to her.
Gino and Spago, with their respective teams, walked along the path toward the pond. They had plenty to do. They carried bags and cases full of equipment and were dressed for the cold. Just outside the habitat a small hovercraft land rover waited to carry them and their equipment to the mountains.
Rocks and mountains don’t reject their researchers, Rona thought bitterly.
Lu walked with Spago. She didn’t look happy either.
That’s my fault, Rona knew. I’ve not only deflated my balloon, but I pin pricked Lu’s as well.
“Why would I want to study dogs?” she asked.
“How many human discoveries have been made from studying animals?” Mathieu asked. “I’m just saying . . .” He shrugged when she looked at him. “Animals are very similar to humans. We’re all mammals. What you learn from dogs could be the beginning of something you might learn about the colonists.”
“Like what?” Rona shifted her body to face him.
He narrowed his eyes and in a serious tone said, “These dogs are not native to this planet any more than the colonists are. Both were imported from Earth. Both seem to have adapted to their new environment. How?”
Rona puckered her lips.
“Maybe there is a survival reason as to why there are more female dogs than males. Does that same survival reason transfer to humans?” Mathieu asked.
Her frown disappeared as she contemplated Mathieu’s question.
“You know, officially only one dog made the trip to this planet,” he said. “There are no records of another dog other than the captain’s Spitz. And yet, there are dogs everywhere. Where’d they all come from?” He paused. “There’s Lu now. I think it’s time you two made up.”
“How did you know?” Rona asked a little shocked.
“With such a small number of people, there are few secrets. Besides, like so many others, I was just having breakfast,” he said. “And this place is too small to successfully avoid each other.”
“You came looking for me, didn’t you?”
He smiled.“As your doctor, my prescription is to study dogs until you can make friends with the colonists. Show them you’re no threat and they’ll come around.”
“You make good arguments, Matt,” Rona said, as she stood. “Was debating part of your curriculum?”
“Actually, I began in drama and would still be there if I hadn’t taken biology as an elective.” Mathieu shrugged when Rona gave him a questioning look.
“I would have never guessed,” she said.
“We came that close to never meeting. Tell you all about it sometime. If you’d like,” he said.
“I’d like.” She meant it. What little she knew about him she liked. They hadn’t taken the time to get to know each other on the ship, but maybe it was time they did.
His face brightened.
For some reason that warmed Rona’s heart. “Thanks for the advice, Doc. Maybe I’ll soar yet.”
She went to meet Lu. As soon as she saw Rona coming toward her, Lu left Spago’s side.
“I’m sorry,” they said at the same time.
“No, Lu, it’s my fault.”
“I’m to blame, Rona. I shouldn’t expect you to be interested in something just because I am.”
“We’re teammates, Lu. I should be more willing to listen. So let’s start over.”
Relieved, Lu smiled. “Teammates.”
“Teammates,” Rona confirmed.
“Want to walk?” Rona asked.
Lu stole a quick glance at Spago.
He nodded. “I’ll see you later for dinner.”
With a wave good-by to Mathieu, Rona and Lu walked back over the bridge toward their work area.
“I haven’t been my chirpy self lately, have I?” Rona asked.
Lu shook her head. “I know what it’s like. It drives me crazy when I have nothing to do. That’s why I thought I’d study the dogs. It’s not what I really want to do, but it’s better than sitting around.”
“Mathieu mentioned how studying animals has helped in breakthrough cures for humans,” Rona said.
“You think studying dogs might cure the children?” Lu asked in surprise.
Rona shrugged. “Who knows? Found a male dog yet?”
“Not yet.”
“How many dogs have you checked?”
“Sixty-five,” Lu said.
“And what have you learned about the puppies?”
Lu shifted her shoulders in frustration. “That they don’t like being handled. They’re too squirmy for me to get a good look.”
The dogs still didn’t tickle Rona’s interest, but working with Lu was better
than being self-absorbed and moody.
“Want a squirm holder?” Rona asked.
Lu’s wide-eyed excitement clinched Rona’s resolve.
“We’ll take blood samples and photos, and catalogue each animal we check. We’ll turn this into a real project,” Rona said. “Who knows, we might get that Nobel Prize yet.” What did a little white lie hurt if it made Lu happy? And who knew, they just might anyway.
Lu did a little bounce of an excited dance. “Definitely,” she said, in between wind-chime giggles.
Chapter 27
Earth Politics
HOW COULD I explain Earth politics, national pride or the importance of religious morality?
By the end of the 22nd Century, we had obtained world peace, which gave way to the Golden Space Age.
Instead of each country working on its own space projects, reinventing the wheel, the United Nations created the World Space Coalition where nations pooled their resources, including personnel, scientific data, and scientists, to accomplish the impossible.
WSC was built on the moon so no country could lay claim to the space program. Scientists and civilians ran it and decided that English would be the common language. The only military was the multi-national WSC Space Force, whose work was building and maintaining all aircraft and training astronauts.
The International Space Station became WSC Docking Space Station. The DSS was expanded to the size of a small city, with over 5,000 permanent residents who lived and worked on the station. The station had gravity and was a real city with apartments, schools, playgrounds, stores, restaurants, hospitals, and a university.
Earth colonized Mars, and Jupiter’s moon, Europa. The next worldwide venture was a galactic colony in the Pegasus Constellation. The entire world was behind the project.
The planet was named, Okeah, Russian for ocean, but like so many things it was mispronounced and the planet became Akiane.
Like Earth, Akiane appeared to be mostly ocean. It was similar in size and gravity and had oxygen to support life. The project was called the Akiane Colony.
In 2132, three ships were built to travel by folded space, and take 2,038 people twelve years to travel twenty-seven light-years to the new planet. Each ship launched one week apart.
The first to launch was Eagle, with eighty crewmembers. The ship’s cargo was fabricated building supplies to build homes and an enclosed habitat to protect the colonists from their six long years of winter. The ship also carried DNA for breeding stock and seeds for farming during the five years of spring and summer.
Eagle was to orbit Akiane, send probes to take photos and gather data of the planet and its star. All information collected was to be sent back to WSC. It would not land until the colonists arrived and picked a suitable place to live and build their new home.
Hawk carried the colony’s power source along with 111 crew and 789 colonists.
The last ship, Falcon, carried 1,053 people.
But Earth politics fell apart.
It didn’t matter what year it was or how far the human race had evolved, human nature never seemed to change.
The same elements of human nature continued to prevail like greed, power, religion and ego, but the two that brought the dream of the Akiane Colony come crashing down were national pride and religion.
As crew members and colonists were chosen, Brazil and Bolivia complained there were too few from South America.
WSC feared that people used to hot weather might have difficulty dealing with the extreme cold. To ease the tension, WSC added more South Americans to Eagle and Hawk’s crew.
China took offense. They declared that they had provided the majority of financing and had supplied the most scientists. But there was not one Chinese captain even though there had been Chinese at every phase of the project and many were members of the colony. WSC had appeased South America, but had done nothing to accommodate the Chinese.
China withdrew its scientists, its civilians, and its money from World Space Coalition.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia became suddenly silent. They questioned the morality of single women being allowed to live in the new colony. WSC said not all women in any city were married. The colony would be like a small city.
In truth, the real issue was Captain Faris Assetti, the unmarried female captain of the Falcon. It didn’t matter that she was a Muslim and represented the African continent.
Islamic extremists quietly incited other extremists throughout the Muslim world. Then with one loud voice, they made their objections known. They would not support Akiane Colony unless all women were married.
The window of opportunity was closing. There wasn’t time to argue. WSC launched, thinking to resolve the issues later.
Extremists loudly objected that their concerns were being ignored. They pulled their money out. Not all of the Islamic nations agreed, but the most influential did.
WSC no longer had the funds to continue. Still they hoped to pull the project together once the colonists landed and sent images back of their accomplishments.
Those images never came.
Two years later, even though nothing had been resolved, it was time to the launch the next three ships. WSC did not have the money to hire a crew to operate the ships. At the same time, they didn’t want to forsake the colonists. The next three ships were programmed as robotic ships and launched two, four, and twelve years later.
WSC knew the colonists had not yet arrived, but they didn’t want the colonists to think they’d been abandoned. So the ships were sent in good faith with the hopes that as soon as Akiane colonists sent back word of their success, the project would again have worldwide support.
Each ship was filled with survival supplies. The computers were programmed to return to Earth with any colonists who wanted to return. The ships were never heard from again.
After thirty years, not one word had come from the colonists or the three support ships.
It was thought all had died. The Akiane Project became a tragic reminder that Earth should not colonize outside its own solar system.
The project was abandoned.
gh
In the year 2429, a young technician, David Kress, was testing the newest communication update at WSC. He sent a message to Earth. Arrival time: 30 sec.
He sent a message to Mars. Arrival time: 1 min. 15 sec.
He sent a message to Europa. Arrival time: 3 min.
The report file stated: Success. New communications online.
It was the fastest time for a message to be received by another planet or moon.
As the technician continued to check the systems, he noticed one more colony receiver, Akiane. For the fun of it, he sent a test message.
Twenty minutes later, his communications panel lit up from Akiane: MESSAGE RECEIVED.
He filed the report, but was told the colony didn’t exist. He’d received an echo.
gh
WSC’s communication was the newest most improved equipment. It took only twenty minutes for a message from WSC Moon Base to reach Akiane.
Akiane’s communication equipment was over 300 years old. A message from them would take twelve years to reach WSC.
gh
In the year 2441, a message was received from Akiane: WE ARE HERE. WHERE ARE YOU?
Chapter 28
Jess Hewitt
Community Meeting Continued
HOW WAS I to explain earth politics? I didn’t have a clue. I couldn’t, so I didn’t. But I did have to say something to make things right.
“WSC planned that as soon as they heard from you and had proof of your success, they would send a ship with people and you would be relieved and brought home,” I said.
“What else happened?” Nu Venia asked.
“Nothing else. They never heard from you. Of the six ships sent here, not one sent a message of success. It was assumed the mission had totally, completely failed. WSC thought everyone had died. They couldn’t risk more lives. That’s why they didn’t send any
more people.”
I guess maybe the colonists had been abandoned. If WSC had sent living people instead of robots, they would have known what had happened. Still, what was WSC supposed to do when they never received confirmation of success? Send another crew with the possibility of dying?
The colonists had managed to survive without help. If WSC was honorable, Akiane would become as a sister world instead of a colony. But when was the last time bureaucracy was honorable?
Unfortunately, it was my job to convince these people that Akiane belonged to WSC. If they refused, they would be taken by force. Like any other empire builder, WSC was not about to give up her colony. The best I could do was help make the transition as painless as possible. And the sooner I accomplished my task, the sooner I could go home.
This was day five. Britanniawould be leaving in two days. Not much time left. But how to start? What would Dad have done? He’d gain their trust.
“What will it take for you to trust World Space Coalition? They won’t take your home from you. They only want the right to explore and study Akiane. In exchange, you’ll receive whatever provisions you need.” I remembered Rona saying something about sick children. “Including medical help.”
Many heads turned to Adumie. He stared at nothing. I wasn’t even sure he was listening.
Cameron spoke. “You must gain our trust first by proving yourself worthy.” The words seemed to burst out of him as if he could no longer contain them. “Once that trust is obtained, then you will speak for World Space Coalition and we will listen.”
My trust? I wanted them to trust WSC, why did they want to trust me?
I wanted this over. If they needed to trust me, fine. I’d establish that trust. It’s what Dad would have done.
“What must I do to gain your trust?” I naïvely asked.
Nu Venia hesitated and dropped her head.
Cameron placed a hand on her shoulder.
She lifted her head.
Nu Venia had spoken with such authority when she spoke of the history of her people, but now she seemed to have lost her confidence. In a small voice, she said, “You must make Woden.”
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