Transport 2
The Flood
Phillip P. Peterson
Translated by
Jenny Piening
Edited by
Laura Radosh
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 1
Twenty years ago:
“Private Penwill, give me the lowdown. How much longer will our supplies last?”
The lanky soldier in charge of the warehouse glanced up from the papers on her desk and gave a brief salute. With her protruding cheekbones and skinny arms she looked like she suffered from an eating disorder, but Captain Marlene Wolfe knew that her subordinate was blessed with a healthy appetite. In fact, Marlene suspected that Ann Penwill sometimes siphoned off an extra ration from the supplies she managed.
Marlene followed her to the back of the tent, where boxes of food were piled up in big crates. Private Penwill pointed at one of the stacks. “That’s all we have left. We’ve used up about half our supplies. If we don’t cut back rations, I’d say we have three months, tops. We need to have found a solution by then.”
“And how long—maximum—could we survive if we do cut back?” asked Marlene.
Ann Penwill tilted her head to one side as she considered. “The current rations provide about three-thousand calories a day. Soldiers who are moving around a lot or doing manual labor need more. If we reduce the amount of work they have to do, and risk the consequences of further weight loss, we could manage for a while on a thousand calories a day. In my opinion, any less would be verging on starvation. But you’d be better off asking Doctor Lindwall.”
“I’m going to see him shortly. So, you’d say three months if we eat normally and nine months if we cut down to the minimum?”
Penwill nodded. “Yes. Although there’s another, bigger, problem than the food supplies.”
“What’s that?”
“Our store of drinking water will be depleted first. Four weeks at most.”
Wolfe smiled. “We’ve managed to solve that problem, at least. Dr. Dressel and Lee have created a condenser, which is able to draw enough water from the air. It’s lucky this planet has such high humidity. The first attempts were successful, and in two days at the latest we’ll have fresh water, once the engineers have connected the thing to the reactor.”
“Well in that case all our problems are solved,” Penwill retorted sarcastically.
“Stay positive,” said Marlene. She turned on her heel and headed toward the door.
“Sir?”
Wolfe turned around again.
“Will we make it back home?”
Marlene smiled encouragingly. “Of course we’ll make it back home. We’ll find a way.”
But from Penwill’s rigid expression she knew that her subordinate wasn’t convinced.
“Listen, Ann. It’s too early to give up hope. We don’t know exactly why the transporter won’t accept Earth as a destination anymore. But I can assure you that the best scientists are working on the problem back at home. And we also have our fair share of top physicists and engineers, some of whom I would even go so far as to describe as geniuses. Have a little patience and confidence in their abilities. We’ll find a solution.”
Ann was silent for a moment and then nodded. Wolfe smiled at her subordinate again before leaving the tent. As soon as she was outside, she let out a deep sigh.
The supply tent was on a hill a little way off from the main camp. The crew tents, which housed all thirty-five members of the expedition—soldiers and scientists—were around six hundred feet to the left of the supply tent. On another little hill behind the camp were the laboratory module and more tents, where the scientists and technicians worked. The hill was surmounted by a three-hundred-foot-high antenna and several narrow towers with meteorological and physical instruments.
Marlene took in the scenery. Although she had been here for three months already, the environment still seemed unreal. As far as the eye could see, there were only gentle, rolling hills covered in grass-like stuff, which clung on to the rocky substrate with its sucker-like roots. Above this landscape arched a deep-blue sky, interrupted here and there by fluffy, slow-moving clouds. The sun was at its zenith, so that Marlene’s body barely cast a shadow. At first glance, it looked like a landscape on Earth. Ireland perhaps, or northern France. But if you looked more closely, you noticed that the colors were strange. Too bright, the hues too saturated, as if you were looking at an image that had been visually enhanced to make it look like an alien world.
And that’s exactly what it was: an alien world. And to her right, in a hollow, stood the infernal thing that had brought them here and doggedly refused to take them back home. The alien transporter was like a foreign body in this bright, warm environment. The highly sophisticated piece of technology—forty feet in diameter, spherical, and so black it was like a dark spot floating in Marlene’s eye—had been stranded on this planet for millions of years.
Suddenly, an opening appeared in the curve of the black sphere and Dr. John Dressel, their head physicist, stepped out into the open. Their eyes met. The small, stocky scientist shook his head and Marlene Wolfe understood him immediately.
Nothing—again!
Twice a day, Dressel went into the sphere and tried to set the destination code for Earth. But the field for starting a transport never appeared on the black console.
It had been three months now. Initially they had been due to stay here for three weeks.
What on earth had gone wrong?
Marlene no longer knew how often she had been asked this question over the last two months.
The memory of that day was still fresh in her mind: the day she and her Special Engineers unit had received the command to report to Nevada for a mission. There she had met with General Morrow—a gruff, old-school commander—in a high-security facility. She could hardly believe what he was telling her, but then she saw the mysterious black thing in an underground cave. A door to the stars! Found on the ocean floor off the coast of California, salvaged and brought to the high-security facility in Nevada.
Marlene had never been interested in space travel, and even less so in science fiction. And yet she and her unit were commanded to step into this teleportation device, constructed by an alien civilization, and to set up a base on a distant planet. The exp
eriment was supposed to last three weeks. Their job was to babysit a team of scientists—when their time was up, they would be relieved by another company. But the replacement had never arrived. Then they had tried to get back home on their own, only to discover that Earth could no longer be selected as a destination—as if the corresponding station on their home planet no longer existed.
Since then, Marlene had tried to keep up morale among her soldiers and the scientists. But as more and more days passed with no change, her confidence began to crumble. She did not reveal her feelings to the others, but slowly she began to fear that they would never get away from here. It was their good fortune that they had come with far more supplies than they thought they would need, as they had been given the job of setting up a depot for planned follow-up missions; otherwise, they probably would have all starved to death by now.
As green as the planet was, there was no food here. And all attempts to cultivate the seeds they had brought with them had failed, because there was no fertile topsoil.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dressel had reached the top of the hill. He was out of breath and the expression on his face was resigned. “Nothing.”
Marlene nodded. “I could tell. Your face says it all.”
The scientist breathed heavily. Back on Earth, Marlene had already complained that some of the scientists were far too unfit for the military. And this guy was probably only in his mid-thirties, for Christ’s sake!
Dressel adjusted his glasses and shook his head. “I just don’t get it! It never works! There are no problems with the other destinations; at least we can dial them. The code for Earth is the only one that the transporter won’t accept.”
“I know. We’ve had the same problem for over two months now.”
“We can’t wait around here forever. We have to start considering alternatives.”
“And what do you have in mind, Doctor? Do you have a concrete suggestion?”
Sheepishly, the physicist looked down at his feet. “No. I don’t. We don’t know enough about how the transporter works. That was the job of the team back on Earth.”
“What do you think could have happened?”
Slowly they walked back down the hill to the crew tents. Dr. Dressel ran a hand through his thick, black hair, which—no matter how often or how much he combed it—was almost impossible to tame. And although he shaved every morning, by lunchtime his chin and cheeks were covered in stubble, adding to his general look of dishevelment. A short, military haircut would have suited him better.
Dr. Dressel hesitated. “There are plenty of possible explanations. Maybe they carried out an experiment with the transporter back on Earth and it went wrong. It could have been accidentally destroyed or damaged. Or maybe the devices only have a limited power supply, which has now run out. Or something entirely unexpected happened. Ultimately, we can only speculate—until we get back to Earth and find out the truth.”
Marlene Wolfe thought uneasily about the nuclear warhead underneath the Nevada transporter. General Morrow had told her about it. Perhaps there had been a real threat and her superiors had decided to destroy the transporter. In that case, they were stranded here forever and could look forward to starving slowly to death. Whatever the problem was back on Earth, the scientists obviously weren’t getting to the bottom of it. Their chances of returning were diminishing by the day.
They had reached the camp. Wolfe turned to the physicist and folded her arms across her chest. “We won’t give up hope. We have plenty of supplies, enough to live off for a few more months. Until then, I’d like you to think about what other options we have to get back to Earth. If you want to carry out any experiments with the transporter, now’s the time to get started.”
Dressel laughed. “Experiments with the transporter? We don’t have the right people for that, or the necessary equipment.”
Wolfe shook her head. Her voice went up a notch. “For God’s sake, half of the men and women on this expedition are scientists. Many of them have doctorates and are among the best in their field. Think of something!”
The physicist nodded slowly. His shoulders hung down limply. “Alright. I’ll talk to my colleagues about possible options.”
“By tomorrow evening, I would like you to have produced a list of at least ten suggestions for us to discuss together.”
“Ten suggestions? I seriously doubt—”
“Ten!” Marlene narrowed her eyes to slits.
The scientist hesitated a few seconds, then lowered his head. “Okay.” He left without giving Marlene a second glance.
“Sir?”
Captain Wolfe turned around. She had to tilt her head back to look Private Lawrence in the eyes. “What is it, Ernie?”
“Lieutenant Hawke has been looking everywhere for you. He wants to talk to you.” The deep bass of his voice seemed to emanate from a subwoofer somewhere deep inside his body. With cropped blond hair and a belligerent expression, Lawrence liked to play the tough guy. Now he came right up to Captain Wolfe, practically butting into her with his impudently folded arms. But Marlene had known him long enough to know that beneath all his swagger, he still respected her. In this company of inexperienced pioneers, she was in fact glad to have one fighter she could rely on. And she knew that she could trust Ernie, even if she suspected that he saw himself as Lieutenant Hawke’s subordinate rather than hers.
“Where is Hawke?”
“He’s waiting for you at the command post.”
He’s waiting for me? Has he forgotten that I’m the Commander in Chief here?
“Go and tell him that I’ll be there as soon as I’ve completed my inspection.”
Which was actually his job.
“He said it was urgent, Sir.”
Marlene could hardly suppress a smile. Lawrence saluted quickly and stomped off without a word.
Wolfe shook her head and walked quickly to the medical tent. The entrance was closed. She pushed the tarpaulin aside and stepped inside. The interior was dominated by a white operating table. To its right were camp beds, to the left were various shelves and cupboards. Dr. Lindwall was sitting at a desk at the far end of the room. Slim and of average height, the doctor was leaning over a bowl, out of which smoke was rising. He hadn’t noticed her, probably because of the loud rock music that was blaring from the little stereo system in the corner. A smell reminiscent of incense hung in the air, like in a church during Easter Mass.
“What are you doing?” asked Marlene with a frown, and stepped closer.
Dr. Lindwall gave a start and looked up. Marlene saw that the bowl was filled with smoldering bushels of the grass-like plants that covered the planet.
“I . . . um . . . just a little experiment,” stammered the doctor. Although he was barely in his mid-forties, his thick hair was almost completely grey. He fumbled for the volume button on the stereo system and turned down the music.
“I doubt you’ll be able to find out anything our biologists don’t already know. Jenny, in particular, has done hardly anything all week except analyze this stuff.”
Lindwall picked up the bowl and placed it on a table behind him. “Yes, you’re probably right.” He cleared his throat. “What can I do for you?”
“Your daily report will do for starters.”
The doctor rummaged around for a clipboard that was buried under a pile of paper. “Nothing much. Travis Richards scalded his hand on a piece of lab equipment. But it’s not bad and a salve should do the job. Sammy Yang came in complaining about his back again. I suggested he swap his camp bed or try out a different sleeping position. Another member of the expedition had a genital infection. Despite the lack of privacy, there’s been an increase in sexual activity lately. There have also been more people asking for contraceptives.”
Marlene shrugged. “That’s hardly surprising, with an equal number of men and women living in close quarters for such a long time.”
Lindwall fiddled with his ballpoint pen. He kept clicking the nib in and out. Wolfe was irritated
by the noise. The doctor seemed to be very jittery today. He was sweating, although it wasn’t really warm. Surely Lindwall wasn’t ill? A flu epidemic in the camp was all they needed now. “Is everything okay, Doctor?”
“Everything’s great. I’m fine. Listen, although the soldiers and scientists are in excellent health, I’m slowly starting to worry about the psychological effects of the situation we’re in.”
“You’re not a psychologist, Doctor,” said Marlene curtly.
“It doesn’t take a psychologist to notice that the mood here is going rapidly downhill. At first, people were just a little worried, but over the last few days they’ve started to really freak out. Many of them think we’re never going to get back to Earth.”
“What exactly are they saying?”
“They often talk to me during their weekly routine checkups, because they know I’m bound by a duty of confidentiality. Many of them believe the connection to Earth has been cut off completely, because somebody made a mistake. And some of them, particularly the soldiers, are complaining that nothing is being done anymore at our end and that all we’re doing is waiting.”
This gave Marlene food for thought. If the soldiers and scientists started to lose trust in their leaders, there was danger of a mutiny—particularly if they didn’t believe they would be making it home anymore. She regretted she hadn’t made more time to listen to people’s concerns. She resolved to talk to them at the earliest opportunity, but first she needed to be clear about what should happen next. She could no longer afford to simply wait. But what was the alternative? It was vital that she showed strong leadership.
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