Starborn Odyssey (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 1)

by Haines Sigurdsson

  I think she had been unhappy about his having gotten the assignment initially but now, he had in his greed missed the big site. She excused herself and headed toward the ship to run her dating analysis. I was anxious to hear the results of her tests; it would confirm or deny my theories, at least to a reasonable degree.

  We still knew very little about the small oceans and water ways on Olympus, but that would be our next project; first things first. Only one third of the planet was covered in oceans, so it was a lot different than Earth in that regard.

  While I was contemplating the seas, Dr. Watts was collecting info on our artifacts. Finally she emerged from the ship with a look of triumph on her face.

  “The dating from both sites are about thirty two hundred years ago.” She announced with satisfaction. “I believe we have established once and for all that this planet was being engineered by a culture other than our own. The face on the pitcher was of a very similar species to ours in appearance, though it doesn’t mean necessarily they were warm blooded. The appearance could be skin deep; however, the cattle, and the current atmosphere, certainly suggest that they probably were like us.” She looked thoughtful as she headed back toward the site. “Let’s see what we’ve since come up with.”

  I followed, not wanting to miss out on any new info if I could help it. I did, however, check with my officers guarding the site to be sure we were still safe.

  As we were examining the newest finds I noticed that the light was starting to dim, and looking up I saw that we were about to have our first eclipse. We knew that the planet would have a full eclipse every thirty seven days and then several in a row, but I didn’t realize that time was upon us until then.

  “We’d best get to the ship.” I ordered. “We don’t want our cat friend to have the advantage of darkness, and get a free meal on us.”

  There were chuckles as we all headed toward the ship. I didn’t know then how many partial eclipses we would get per cycle, but later learned that we rarely had partial because our moon was so large that it was nearly impossible. This was a first eclipse for us and I guessed we’d get used to it in time.

  It took nearly four hours for light to return in full, and it was a strange eerie light for half that time; though it truly had its own beauty. We were only a little past mid day when it ended and everyone returned to the dig. Those guarding the site were on extra alert because they’d lost track of the cat during the eclipse, and wouldn’t be happy until they knew its whereabouts.

  Finally, Dr. Arnold announced that they had found bone fragments from the inhabitants of the settlement to analyze and would hopefully be able to tell how much like us they were. It would only take a half hour or so to run the tests.

  We had also accumulated a dozen more artifacts, some with writing on them, and perhaps we’d have some better info to base our findings on.

  While we were waiting, we received orders to return to the new colony to get settled in and prepare for a new mission. We had a whole planet to explore, as well as several other planets and moons: should be fun.

  As it turned out, the fragments of written language were too few to be able to be translated until a little more was accumulated. We would have to wait a bit longer for the mysteries of the planet engineering to be solved, if ever.

  We lifted off from our discovery site just before dusk, and made our way to the settlement. Once there, I found my family already settling into our temporary living quarters, which were at least twice the floor space as anyone had seen in my entire lifetime.

  Mom and Angie greeted me at the door when I knocked, which I did because I wasn’t sure I was at the right place. It had a huge, genuine picture window with a view of the rolling hills to the west, where the river was meandering by at the foot of the hill. If not for the mining machine off to the southwest, it would have been a perfect view of nature. Still, it was spectacular. We actually had a full kitchen separate from the living room, and a dining alcove next to the entrance to the kitchen. My bedroom had room for three people by our old standards—it was ten by fifteen. Such grandeur! I think it was the first time I realized how small our quarters had always been. All of my belongings were just stacked in cartons in the corner of the room, waiting to be unpacked. I didn’t have too much once it was distributed to its rightful places; I had a lot of room to gather more possessions. Even the bedrooms had windows with views, though my view was of a street with an identical building running away at an angle from where I was located.

  Off to the right from our front window was an area being plowed, fertilized and planted by the farmers in training. These skills had not been practiced on any really large scale in about a hundred and fifty years; it was amazing to watch the work in progress. I found myself wishing I had time to take part in those activities. It was so, “back to nature”; to quote the writers of several centuries earlier. This was what the colony was really all about.

  “How do you like our new home?” Mom asked with enthusiasm. “Did you ever imagine we’d really be doing this?”

  “It’s absolutely unbelievable,” I answered. “All this space; I keep thinking I’ll wake up and find myself back home.”

  “This is home,” Angie cut in. “You can actually see people you know walking along, going about their business, outside your windows. That’s something I’d never thought about with our artificial windows on the ship. It’s just so exciting. When do you think Ira will be able to come over to see the place?” She asked hopefully.

  “I’d guess he’s going through pretty much the same scene as I am, at the moment.” I told her. “But I’m sure he won’t be too long before he comes to see you.”

  “Tell us about those cat creatures and cattle you guys found. Do you really think we can make pets of them?” Angie had apparently heard a warped version of our experiences.

  “We didn’t dare get that close in our contact with them; they’re huge and very threatening, with three inch fangs and claws to match. They also have six legs and can climb trees as easily as they walk on level ground. I don’t expect we’ll be seeing them as pets any time soon; they’ve been wild a long, long time.” Angie looked disappointed, but also had a glint in her eye that made me suspect that she wasn’t done with the idea of a giant six-legged cat to sleep at the end of her bed.

  I filled her in on the other wildlife we’d seen. “The cattle on the other hand, look just like the Yak on Earth that we’ve seen in vids. I think they’ll domesticate easily enough and enhance our natural food supply. There are herds of them all through the mountainous regions to the north. There were some other small creatures in the forests, but we never got a good look at them; possibly squirrels or rabbits, but it’s hard to know for sure.”

  There was a rap at the door which turned out to be Nettie and Ira, arriving at the same time. “Were you going to let me know you were back?” Nettie asked jokingly. “If not for Ira, I wouldn’t know even now.”

  I grabbed her close and planted one on her; I was happy to see her and bound that she should know it. “There really hasn’t been a moment to spare since we landed,” I informed her. “What do you think of the new residences?” I asked both Nettie and Ira. “Can you believe the space we have for living area?”

  “Dad says we’ll all have the options to build separate houses as we settle in,” said Nettie enthusiastically. “Can you imagine having a completely separate building all to yourself?”

  “Funny,” I said. “It sounds sort of selfish. You know, all our lives we’ve always been taught to share and our rules have been based on a non possessive attitude. Now suddenly the rules are changing; I’m not so sure that it’s good.” I bit my lip with genuine concern.

  “I know what you mean,” said everyone simultaneously.

  We all looked at each other and started to laugh. “I guess it’s on everybody’s minds; it really is a huge change taking place, and space isn’t in short supply here,” I said. “If there’s one thing humans can do, it’s adapt. Speaking of w
hich, what have you been doing while we were gone?” I asked Nettie.

  “I’ve been working with the Psych Dept. preparing to help people adjust to our new environment. It’s like you were just saying; folks are suffering an internal struggle over the changes in thinking that are becoming necessary now that we’re here,” said Nettie. “It’s already showing up in some pretty strange behavioral issues that we’ve seen at the center. There have been some fights between neighbors and even within families, over who has what rights or responsibilities, as if they have to be different immediately. I think it’s just the turmoil of change; it should settle away in a few days as people get acclimated.”

  “I hope you’re right,” I said. “I also hope they’re keeping a watch for cats while they’re working in the fields.”

  “They’ve set two balloons in the sky with cams to scan constantly; nothing can wander in undetected,” Nettie assured me. “Are those cats really eight feet tall like I’ve heard?”

  “No; only about half that, though they are up to about eight feet in length.” I told her. “That’s plenty big enough to do you in.”

  “Wow,” said Mom. “I’d hate to run into one of those without a gun.”

  “I saw one survive about ten shots at the site where we were checking out the crashed rocket,” I told her. “It took two shots right to the chest; Prof. White figures it has a really thick chest bone, or that it’s heart is located somewhere else. The ones we saw at the cave had a lot of bones from those cattle piled near the cave entrance, so we know what they generally eat.”

  “Speaking of eating,” Mom injected. “I was going to do steaks and baked potatoes for dinner, unless someone has a better idea; oh, and a salad.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I said; followed by a chorus of agreement. “If we had a grill, I’d cook them outside.”

  “For now we’ll have to settle for artificial grilling,” my mother stated. “But we could take the table outside and eat like on a picnic.” Once again we all agreed, so Ira and I took the table and chairs out. Several of our neighbors had the same idea, so it was almost like a party.

  “Stan’s on his way; you don’t mind, do you?” She asked in a slightly embarrassed way. I thought it was cute.

  “You really don’t need to ask,” I said to her. “We’re not blind and I think you and he make a very attractive couple.” Then she really blushed.

  “I was afraid to tell you about my relationship with Stan; I thought you might feel that it was wrong,” she stammered.

  “Dad’s been dead for a long time and I don’t think he would have wanted you to spend the rest of your life trying to achieve sainthood. Stan’s a great guy and he makes you happy, so it’s alright.” At last that was dealt with; and Mom seemed really relieved, as was I.

  It set Angie to giggling. “I thought you’d never say anything about it.” Angie said. “You’ve been trying to act so proper for so long and I didn’t want to bring it up first; but I approve, too.”

  “Well, I wanted to wait until you were both adults before I let anyone back into my life. It just seemed to be the right thing to do,” mom said, now cheerful. “I can’t wait to tell him that you both know and approve; I know he’ll be glad that we can relax together in public now.”

  “Sooner or later Nettie and I will probably be moving out together anyway,” I told her.

  Nettie looked at me. “Did you just ask me to marry you?” She asked, coyly.

  “I guess I should have asked you first,” I said in complete embarrassment. “Will you marry me?”

  “Of course,” She answered, as she came over and put her arms around me. “But you have to kiss me to seal the deal.” She giggled. And that’s how we became engaged.

  “This calls for a round of champagne,” said Mom. “Angie, break out the crystal.” Stan arrived at that moment. “Better make it six glasses.” She added as she walked over and gave him a welcome kiss. He looked stunned for a moment, then realized the cat was out of the bag.

  Mom told him of our engagement and all and he joined us in a toast. “Here’s to the happy couple and to friends and lovers everywhere.” She toasted. Then she set to work on making our dinner happen. We had quite a party which in the end included most of our neighbors, since they were outside doing pretty much the same type of celebrating as we were on our new world.

  It was fun, but we all knew there was an awful lot to do in getting this world functioning. I also knew that I had a mission coming up in just a few days, and didn’t want to waste a moment.

  I awoke to a brand new experience: a warm, fresh-smelling breeze was blowing in my face. I had opened the window next to my bed the night before and as the sun was rising, it was stirring the air. The next thing I realized was that I wasn’t alone. Nettie was in bed with me; slowly my memory returned. I remembered getting fairly drunk and Nettie wasn’t much better. It was the first time we’d had together without duty riding herd over us, and we over did it by quite a bit. All the same; I had very little desire to get out of bed with her snuggled so warm and close. She slowly opened her eyes and gave me a most enticing smile, and my memories all returned.

  As we were reveling in the glow of our emotions, there came a most unwelcomed knock on my bedroom door. “Who is it?” I inquired.

  “It’s me,” said my Mother. “Capt. Pierce wants you to call him immediately; there’s some sort of emergency.”

  I got up hurriedly and made my way to the comm set in the living room. The Captain took my call himself.

  “We lost contact with the Crusader as it was landing on the smaller moon of Sne-az.” He informed me. “We’ve got to get under way as soon as we can. Hopefully their comm system just went down, but we don’t know anything for sure. How quickly can you join your crew at the base for briefing?”

  “Will half an hour be ok?” I asked.

  “Fine; also, can you locate Sergeant Jordan? I left a message for her to call in, but her family didn’t know where she was, and she’s on you team.”

  “She’s here.” I told him. “We became engaged last night, and the celebrating ran a little late.”

  “Is your friend Ira Braun there as well?” He asked with a grin. “He’s the only other member I’ve been unable to contact.”

  “He’s here, or at least he was last night, so, probably; I’ll get everyone moving as quickly as possible, Sir.”

  We signed off and I got busy getting my crew together. Mom got coffee for us to gulp before we headed out the door. Angie came out of her bedroom.

  “What’s going on?” She asked. “Where’s everybody going?”

  “Called in for an emergency,” Ira answered. “We’ve got to rescue some folks from one of the moons of Snaz.”

  “Did you tell them?” Angie asked, looking at Ira.

  “Haven’t had a chance yet,” he said. “I asked her to marry me next year when she’s out of school.” He announced, as simple as that. Angie was grinning ear to ear.

  “See, big brother, you’re not the only one who can surprise people,” she said with pride. “Now you’d better make sure you keep him safe for me.”

  “We’ll all do our best to stay alive.” I told her. “And congrats to you both.” I gave her a hug, then punched Ira on the arm in a friendly way.

  Then it was time to go. “We’ll be back before you know it,” Ira told Angie, who was trying not to let tears flow, without much success. I felt lucky that at least no matter what happened, Nettie and I would be together.

  It only took ten minutes to reach the landing field where the Captain was waiting to brief us on the mission.

  “Thank you for coming so quickly; I know that some of you have barely arrived back from other missions. The Crusader was landing on the small moon nearest to Sne-az to investigate a structure that was picked up in one of our scans of the surface and it seems like a significantly sized structure there. We were in contact right up to touch down, and then we lost all communication. There was no mention of anything out of
the ordinary during the approach to the surface, so we’re completely in the dark at this point. It’s an airless world, so you’ll need to wear space suits when you land. You’ll have to see what conditions appear to be before landing; we’ve been so lucky so far, but I fear our luck may have run out this time. You’ll have to travel at peak speed on this run because time may be of the essence. I’ve had the Homer gone over fortunately and it’s been restocked with supplies; also it now has a cannon installed at the nose and there a mobile cannon in the hold, in case there’s something hostile there. We won’t make the mistake of going unprepared for a fight ever again. You’re my best—or should I say, most experienced—crew and, Lt. Eric Duncan will once again share joint command with Lt. Olga Koenigsburg. Joseph Bradford will be your senior pilot with co pilot Dan Morley, who has piloted the Crusader in the past, which is the main reason he has volunteered for this trip. Are there any questions?” Capt. Pierce paused briefly, then: “Thank you all, and good luck on this mission; we’re counting on you.” He saluted us and we turned and boarded our ship.

  Ten minutes later we launched for the little moon; it would only take two days at peak velocity to reach our destination. The urgency we felt on that trip made it seem like a week. What could possibly have gone wrong? I think we were all hoping the comm system had just died; but we all knew that they would have used the emergency backup unless it had been damaged too. After what seemed forever we were approaching our destination and beginning our scans to locate the Crusader. It didn’t take too long to narrow our search down to three locations with ample magnetic output to be the ship. We lucked out on the first try. The Crusader was upside down and pretty badly banged up; we began to fear the worst.

  Just a stone’s throw away from the ship was a building set into the side of a cliff wall and it appeared that the Crusader had landed on the edge of that cliff and toppled off, dropping about one hundred fifty feet into the valley. We saw no signs of life around the ship, and the lights were not lit.