Serena

by Bill Nolan

  The To’Ach’an approached each winner privately to make a very special offer. If the winner or their guest on the trip had any medical conditions that might interfere, the To’Ach’an offered to take care of these during the month before the start of the trip. That way, they wouldn’t miss any of the trip because of medical treatment. Jimmy and his wife jumped at the chance. They were taken to Maria’s clinic in Tucson, and a week later they came out of the tanks looking and feeling thirty again.

  During the month between the banquet and departure, 100 families had been selected to form the first colony. The first meeting was kind of a warning. They wanted to let everyone know what they were getting into. The 100 families chosen actually comprised almost 900 people. Not only were there children, but quite a few had included extended families on their applications. There were married children with children of their own, and also grandparents. Still, 900 people on an entire planet was pretty sparse. While they would have aircars to use when visiting, Robert wanted to make sure that they knew how lonely it could get. After all, Earth had over seven billion people. That’s a far cry from 900. The plan was to spread them out, too. Their different interests required different climates. Some would need more space. Some wanted to be fishermen. Others just needed enough space for a house and a business. For the most part, there was no reason to be close together, except maybe for comfort.

  They were still planning as to what animals and plants could be brought along. The Pixies, with their genius for ecological systems, would have to be involved in that, and it would depend a lot on which planet was selected. Until that happened, they couldn’t really answer questions about any of that. They planned a departure date for six months later and told the families to get ready for the move. They would be given more information as they went along.

  Chapter 21, Hunting and Ecology

  When the date of the hunting trip arrived, aircars were dispatched to pick up all of the travelers. Once they were all on board, Shanna set out for Janakara. As planned, Shanna spent 10 days on the trip. This allowed for recovery of the passengers after each jump. Most of them opted to take the pills which made them sleep through the jump, but it still had a big affect on their bodies. Along the way, the participants were shown a lot of films and photos of the world where they would be hunting and the animals they would encounter.

  Since each trip winner could bring one other person along, three of the people elected to sell their additional seat and recover some of their investment. Three others brought friends or relatives who hunted, and the rest brought spouses or girlfriends (all of the successful bidders or winners were male). Two of these significant others were hunters, while the other two were just on vacation. That meant that there were 18 total hunters, two non-hunting companions, and the two people from National Geographic, making 22 total participants on the trip.

  The plan was to move from land mass to land mass, spending five days at each of the places to hunt and fish. The hunters had brought their own rifles and ammunition with them, as well as fishing tackle. All of this had been checked to make sure it was suitable. They had all brought at least two rifles and a shotgun. There were three exceptions to this. Three of the hunters had brought archery equipment instead of firearms, although all three had brought shotguns, in hope of doing some bird hunting.

  The trip involved 11 jumps, and it was rough on several of the participants. Even people pretty used to the effects of jumps get sick, and several of these people got violently ill for an hour or so after each jump. Everyone was relieved to reach their destination. Since there were five facilities on the planet, the ten pairs of participants were split up, with two pairs going to each facility. Since they were going to be on the planet 30 days, that meant that they would all rotate to another facility every six days. The team from National Geographic was assigned an air car so they could move around as needed. Since the five facilities were scattered around the planet, people arrived at various local times of the day.

  Three of the groups arrived early enough to do some exploring before nightfall. The other two groups arrived during the night, and so had to wait until morning to begin the exploring and hunting. One of those men, Jimmy Burns, wanted to get an early start, and since it was only a couple of hours until dawn, he went out to do some fishing off the shore of the lake. On his second cast, something big hit his 6” spoon. It nearly pulled him into the water. An hour later, after several dozen jumps and long runs, he got it close enough to the shore to be netted. It looked something like a pike but was over nine feet long. It had some serious teeth. Jimmy wanted to keep it, so it was put into preservation so it could be mounted later. Jimmy was off to a good start. He said he wouldn’t mind hunting one deer-like animal, or maybe an antelope, hunt some birds, and he really wanted to do some more fishing. “Otherwise, my little house doesn’t have room for a bunch of mounts. Just being here is enough.”

  Across the planet it was nearing dusk, and a South African was looking in awe at the largest herds he had ever imagined, much less seen. Thousands upon thousands of animals of dozens of species moved on a vast plain. The aircar they were in had to stay several hundred feet up to even begin to see the extent of the plain. The look on Johan’s face was priceless. Then the aircar suddenly moved to another part of the plain. Several hundred feet below him Johan saw something that took his breath away. A predator had leaped at least 50 feet through the air to take down a large animal that looked like a Kudu on steroids. If he hadn’t known better, he would have sworn he was watching a T-Rex. He turned to the guides and said, “I could never shoot that. It would be a sin. It has been a privilege just to see it. I assume I will be able to hunt some of the antelope, but I could never bring myself to shoot that amazing creature. Seeing that was worth ever penny I paid to come on this trip. Thank you for making this possible.

  Around the world, every one of the participants was having a similar reaction. People who would travel for a week to have a chance to glimpse a little black bear in the Smokey Mountains were suddenly seeing more wildlife in ten minutes than they had seen in their whole life back on Earth. There were unbroken forests of trees as large as redwoods, with never a road or building to be seen, and stretching for hundreds of miles. They visited amazing tropical islands with miles of beautiful beaches, where the only tracks in the sand were the ones they made. Kirsta, who was there with her husband, a German automaker, put it very well. “This is a cathedral. No one could see this and not believe in God.” She was crying as she walked through the giant forest.

  These Earth people, many jaded by years of excess, were experiencing something few humans from any planet would ever see. They were on a planet where the total number of humans was under a hundred. On Earth, people can be transformed by spending a vacation week in what Earthlings call wilderness. This planet is to an Earth wilderness as an Earth wilderness is to a crowded national park. They had thought they were going on something like an African safari, but Africa has a population of over a billion people. The impact of a truly wild planet cannot be explained. It must be experienced.

  By the end of the month, the hunters all had gathered their trophies. They had all been carefully preserved so they could be mounted properly back on Earth. Robert found it interesting that even with the amazing amounts of game, even the most dedicated of the hunters had spent well over ¾ of their month just sightseeing. They were well aware that, in many cases, they were truly going where no man had gone before. They were seeing sights that were brand new to human vision. By the middle of the time on Janakara all but two of the hunters had quit hunting. Instead, each day they would travel to a different location and hike, or just sit and be for a time. They would never be the same.

  Back on Earth, Paul and Wendy Anderson were preparing to leave Earth and become colonists on another truly wild planet. They were selling or giving away everything which would not be useful on the new world. Paul had a lot of tools, and those would be going. The exception was anything which ran on gas
or diesel. Those fuels would not be available or allowed. They were surprised to learn that the Internet on the new planet would actually connect to that on Earth, although they were warned that the “lag” would make most computer games unplayable. They would be able to buy and download books and movies, though. They would even be able to order stuff from online merchants, but they were warned to forget about two-day shipping. Two-month shipping was more likely.

  From his end, Robert was planning to equip a couple of skipper size ships with the spatial distortion generators which would allow them to jump. These would hold as much cargo as a 40’ container and could travel back and forth in about 14 days each way, allowing for whoever was on board to process the jumps. It would even be possible to carry a couple of passengers.

  Since 900 future settlers were selling most of what they owned, including their homes, Robert had arranged for all of them to come to Tucson, where they were housed in a large apartment building, with the stuff they were taking stored in a nearby warehouse. This way, when it came time to leave, the logistics would be pretty easy. It also gave them an opportunity to form friendships with the other settlers. They were all easy to get along with. That had been an important selection criterion.

  As they were going through the preparations, the settlers began to learn more about the planet that would be their new home. The planet is slightly smaller than Earth, but a bit denser, so the gravity is about the same. It is about 60% oceans and does have permanent ice caps at both poles. The axial tilt is 15 degrees, which is less than the 23 degrees on Earth, so seasons are less pronounced. It has not had a recent ice age, and so there are far fewer lakes than on Earth. Like most planets similar to Earth, it does have plate tectonics, so there are mountain ranges. It has forests, plains, deserts, jungles, and different temperature ranges of each. There are 11 continents, so they average smaller than on Earth, and there are also a lot of islands. Robert didn’t name the planet. He thought the settlers would want to do that.

  Glenora sent a team of her people to look at ecological issues. Robert let her set up a lot of the rules. Introduced species are always a potential problem, so there would be a lot of restrictions about crops and livestock. Dogs and especially cats can be an environmental nightmare, so there were a lot of rules about them. A lot of meat could be hunted instead of raised, and aircars meant you didn’t have to do that in your immediate area. Naturally the waters were full of fish and other seafood. The Pixies were encouraging a lot of permaculture, where most plants raised are perennials. The settlers had to be reminded that they were not limited to Earth species of plants and animals.

  Bob and Jen Smith spent a lot of time getting their newspaper set up and going. They were one of the first to arrive at the special apartment in Tucson. They had been living in an apartment anyway, so it wasn’t much of a change. They were bringing their furniture and not a lot else. They knew they wouldn’t make much with the online newspaper, but they thought they could sell enough ads and subscriptions to keep them going. Their plan was to hunt and fish for their protein and do some gardening and foraging for the veggies. As they got more information about the planet, they found out they would be able to pick fruits and berries year around, since the aircar would let them easily travel to anywhere on the planet. A completely wild planet and easy transportation created a dream situation for a forager or a hunter/gatherer. The Smiths did spend some money on some quality firearms and a lot of ammunition.

  Perhaps the most inventive idea belonged to Mary and Louise Pemberton. They had to clear it with Robert, but it seemed to him it would be OK. He ran it by Glenora to see if she had any objections. She didn’t. They needed an investor, and Robert agreed to do that. They wanted to open and operate a lodge. They had watched how much money was raised for the Ducks Unlimited trips. Robert agreed to equip a skipper sized ship for passengers. People would pay to vacation where they would be given tours and also could, for extra fees, hunt or fish. It was a great idea. They were charging 500K per person per week, with a two week minimum stay at the lodge, and for now they would accommodate only four people at a time. Transportation was included and wasn’t part of the two weeks. To get some additional up front capital, they auctioned off the first three two-week periods. That raised 11 million. Robert suspected they would soon be very rich. The women put an ad up on social media and in 24 hours they were booked three years in advance. People had to pay half (nonrefundable) up front. At two million a week, the deposits added up to a LOT of money. It quickly turned out that they really wouldn’t need an investor after all, since they now had a small fortune in the bank.

  Chapter 22, Assassination and Preparation

  Robert was on his way back to Earth with the hunters when Shanna asked him to go to his office. Once there she said, “I have a coded message from Kysandra Nutima.”

  “Play it.”

  “Robert, I have tracked down the disgraced Tocals. There are 27 of them, and another roughly 120 To’Ach’an who were also booted by the various ships when the ships revolted against the traitors. They are on Caimerce, since Tocal Tomastan was one of the ring leaders. The cloaking device is working well. They don’t know we are here. There are too many for me to land and fight. What do you want me to do?”

  Robert thought a moment. “OK, Shanna, code and send this message. ‘Watch for either a single person or a group to be in the open, or even a group in a small building. Then get close, extend your jump field, and jump near the star. Once there, shrink your jump field and jump away. Take your time. If they have ships, try to put trackers on them. Keep me advised.’”

  They were back on Earth before Robert heard back from Kysandra. Once again, Shanna had him go to his office alone to hear the message.

  “Robert, your idea worked pretty well. The first day we caught several groups and individuals and dumped them near the star. Only a couple were wearing suits, but their friends had no way to rescue them in time. They were able to tell their friends that they suddenly found themselves in space near the star. After that it got harder. Over the next 36 hours we were able to catch a few more. Now they are all holed up – literally – they are all hiding underground. We got 63 of them, so there are about 85 left. That is a rough number. They were deliberately stranded here, so there are no ships. Now what?”

  Robert didn’t really have any great ideas. “Shanna, code and send this message. ‘Your ship doesn’t have any serious weapons. Sit tight and observe. Some will try to sneak out because I doubt they have any idea how this is happening. If they do come out, you can get them then. Otherwise let’s wait and see what they do. Keep me advised.’”

  One of Robert’s first actions when he got back to Earth was to meet with the settlers. There was a courtyard in the center of the apartments that was private, so they all met there. About 600 of the 900 had completed getting ready and were at the apartments. The level of excitement was off the charts. They kept getting updates about the planet that was to be their new home. There was a website, and the folks working at the planet could post from there. Angela in particular posted almost every day. She was studying the oceans, mapping the bottoms, and cataloging the marine fauna. Being able to move under water at least as fast as the whales and at any depth was amazing. She felt like one of the native creatures, and the sights she was seeing were awe inspiring. Her vessel was about the size of a standard aircar in diameter but was just one level and much more streamlined. It was also equipped with a lot of specialized equipment and sensors for the research. The thing Angela liked best was that the interior from desk height and including the ceiling was one very high resolution view screen. She may as well have been inside a clear dome, except that she could see in total darkness just as well as in daylight. The sensors also penetrated murky water, so she could see as clearly as in air. The pictures and videos she was posting had everyone just wanting to get underway, but the date was still a way off.

  Mary and Louise gave a report on the progress with their guest lodge idea. The
y had, using their contacts with the To’Ach’an, ordered a complete lodge building. It was self-contained, fully equipped, and could even move from place to place floating a few hundred feet above the ground. It had two great rooms, 10 en suite bedrooms, 2 additional public bathrooms, a swimming pool and large hot tub, dining room, library, and a wonderful kitchen. The building was also designed to be secure against most anything likely to be encountered. It wasn’t cheap, but they easily paid for it out of the deposits already collected. They also ordered a small ship built for transporting the guests. It had four nice suites, each of which could accommodate up to four people. Robert had agreed to have his people install the distortion generator so it could jump. The women had also arranged with some friends who were staying on Earth to act as their agents and had also arranged with several of their fellow settlers to work for them at the lodge and as guides. It sounded like they had it all set. Robert was impressed. He was so impressed with the building they designed that he ordered several himself after getting permission from Mary and Louise to copy the design. Robert thought the buildings would come in handy as they continued to explore these new worlds.

  The colony would not, of course, be completely self-sufficient. For instance, the couple planning to establish the bakery were taking a lot of ingredients with them and had arranged for regular deliveries of more. There was no plan to grow wheat, so they were importing flour. Another couple, Todd and Cindy, had stocked up on things you might find at the local hardware store. They planned to have a little business as a kind of general store. While the settlers planned to have their homes spread out (only a few wanted close neighbors), they still planned a village, where the little shops would be located together. They were all planning to stay in the same general area, and not scatter around the planet as Robert originally planned. Some of them planned to live in the village as well, preferring to have neighbors within walking distance. Cindy was going to have a little coffee shop attached to the hardware store. Robert was happy to see that they were rapidly becoming a community.