Overture

by Mark Wandrey

  “No mammalian life?”

  “Not that we’ve found,” he said. “Is she the scientist coming over?” Wilson asked, directing the question to Osgood. Mindy felt a moment of excitement tinged with panic.

  “No,” Osgood chuckled, “Ms. Patoy will be staying Earth-side.” She wanted to go, but her presence in the dome was already a huge step, so she kept her mouth shut. She heard more people arriving in the dome, and Osgood glanced in their direction. “Ah, here he is.” She looked over, and her jaw dropped.

  “Steve Edwin?” she said in amazement.

  “None other, darling,” he said, striding confidently up the steps. Without asking, he grabbed her hand and bowed over it, brushing his lips across the back. “Pleasure to meet you miss…”

  “Patoy,” she said, feeling her cheeks grow hot, “Mindy Patoy.”

  “Charmed!” he said, and she believed him.

  “Glad you could make it,” Osgood said, shaking his hand. Mindy couldn’t believe she was standing next to the famous Australian biologist and thrill seeker, Steve Edwin. He’d had his own cable TV show for years until a great white shark ate one of his crew during the filming of a Christmas special. He was still quite famous, did regular tourism commercials, and reportedly had a movie deal pending.

  “Wouldn’t miss it for the world, mate!” Edwin looked through the portal where LTC Wilson nodded to him, obviously recognizing the celebrity. SGT Simpson looked as surprised as Mindy.

  “Why would you want to take a potentially one-way trip to another planet?” Mindy asked. Osgood looked a bit askance, but Edwin laughed and gestured dismissively.

  “I’ve been a fan of Star Trek since I was a tadpole!” he laughed. “Who in their right mind would pass up the opportunity to ‘boldly go where no man has gone before?’”

  “Ten seconds to portal shutdown,” someone said. Osgood hastily turned back to the portal.

  “Prepare for transition in 15 minutes.” Wilson nodded, and as Mindy had seen earlier, the portal swirled and disappeared.

  “Wow!” she whispered.

  “Well that was ripper!” Mindy looked at all the people who’d suddenly appeared in the dome; they were smiling at Edwin’s signature Australian slang.

  “Everyone off so we can get ready,” Osgood prompted, and the technician led them off the dais. Mindy found a corner where she wouldn’t be in the way. She spent the time observing the operation and Mr. Edwin. He was tall and fit, his skin so dark he almost looked black. He kept his hair long, pulled back in a tail tied with a beaded leather thong, topped by an Australian bush hat. He was striking.

  “One minute,” someone called. That nearly a quarter of an hour had passed surprised Mindy. She was a little chagrined at her girlish reaction to the handsome bushman. Next to the portal dais, four strong young men stood beside a stack of plastic crates. Her attention diverted away from the sexy Aussie.

  At the appointed time, Steve Edwin boldly climbed onto the bottom step of the portal dais, which came alive again. Mindy’s viewing angle wasn’t as favorable now, being more from the side than head on. However, she could see the object really was a portal, or doorway, that allowed her to catch glimpses of the other world. There were two soldiers there before, now there were five. She moved a bit and saw another man dressed in heavy khakis, boots, and a mesh hat.

  “Well I’ll be stuffed,” Edwin said when he saw the other man, “Daryl Abbot.”

  “We figured you’d heard of him,” Osgood said.

  “Of course,” Edwin said, “but he’s not a scientist.”

  “No, but we thought you two would make a good team.”

  Edwin considered for a second, then looked back at Osgood. Mindy knew men like Edwin didn’t usually share the limelight. Abbot wasn’t as flashy as Edwin, but they were similar. Abbot was an explorer while Edwin was a scientist—or at least a naturalist with a flair for the dramatic. Mindy thought the Brit and the Aussie would make an interesting team.

  “Fair dinkum,” Edwin chuckled then shrugged. “I figure you ain’t got a chance without me along, so let’s make a go of it.”

  “Does that mean yes?” Osgood asked. Edwin nodded and reached down to grab the massive backpack two men handed him. “Excellent, whenever you’re ready, Mr. Edwin.”

  Edwin shouldered the pack easily and waved at everyone in the dome, stopping to wink at Mindy. She grinned, and he blew her a kiss. Oh my, she thought. Without any more delay he stepped through. LTC Wilson was waiting, and the two shook hands after Edwin climbed down the steps on the other side. She caught a brief glimpse of Edwin and Abbot eyeing each other before two big men hefted a crate up the stairs and tossed it through the portal.

  Everything kicked into high gear as the men continued to feed crates through. The major action over, Mindy wandered over to the first man she’d talked to and saw he was typing notes on a laptop.

  “What’s with all this?” she asked.

  “Supplies and equipment,” he explained, and pointed to a spreadsheet program. Mindy recognized a hybrid SAP interface, not too different from what her former employer used for customs brokerage. She leaned over and saw an inventory of each crate, with weights listed in two columns. He explained. “The first number is the book weight, the second is the verified weight.”

  “Why is that so important?” she asked.

  “Because each person who passes through the portal can take 250 kilograms worth of stuff with them. That doesn’t include what they can carry.” He gestured to a circle of lights embedded in the pearly surface of the dais, right next to the outside edge. Nine of the lights weren’t glowing. “One hundred, forty-four trips are all we have. We need to make every pound count.”

  She looked up as the men tossed the last crate through. Someone threw a backpack across, then another man started tossing rolls of toilet paper through, one by one. Mindy laughed out loud.

  “We’re always off by a few ounces,” the man explained. The fourth roll went through, but the fifth rebounded off an invisible wall. “We don’t want to waste any pounds.”

  “Huh,” she said, and examined his list again. She could see someone had carefully built it. It included construction equipment, super light freeze-dried foods, vitamins, medical supplies, solar panels, and two UAVs, also known as drones. “Drones?”

  “They’re exploring the area,” he explained. “Those are PUMAs, the same ones Navy SEALs use, but with a few bonuses. The entire skin is a photocell, so they can fly for a day or more if the weather is right. The controller can also run the Wasp, the drone they have now. The Wasp doesn’t have the endurance of the PUMA, or the range, so the guys over there asked for better equipment.”

  Mindy nodded, using the man’s obvious interest in her to keep him talking. All the while, she studied the file information visible on the screen, memorizing the numbers she saw.

  Many of those who’d come to watch the transition were now leaving. Osgood was talking to Wilson. Mindy joined him just as the portal shut down.

  “That was amazing,” she said. He grinned and nodded.

  “Okay,” he said, “it’s all yours.” He gestured as someone pushed a cart holding night vision cameras and a computer up to the dais. “This computer is linked with your computer in the trailer. If we’re not using the portal, it’s all yours. Find that planet!”

  “Ten minutes at a time,” she said, shaking her head.

  “Yep. That’s how it works. You’ll get used to it.” She looked at the headset as he took it off and hung it on the hook mounted on the laser communicator. “Do you mind if I talk to them?”

  “No, not at all, if they’re around. Remember, it’s night there, so most will be going to sleep or on guard duty. Have to watch out for those dinosaurs, you know.”

  “Right,” she said and went to look at the equipment. “I’d better get to work.” He gave her a thumbs up and trundled down the dais stairs toward a pair of researchers who had been trying to get his attention. Mindy grabbed the laptop and sat on t
he dais, opening it up and verifying the connection to her computer in the village. She opened a new file and made some notes, a series of numbers broken by intermittent periods. No one would give them a second thought, unless they knew computers. That done, she got off the dais, grabbed a camera, and stepped back on. It came to life.

  Mindy walked up to the portal and looked through and up. There were the sky and stars she’d been looking at in images for days, only now, she could see it all. She moved around to get different views. She leaned closer, her face only inches from the edge. All I have to do is take a step, she thought.

  “If you’re thinking of walking through, I wouldn’t,” Osgood said behind her. She didn’t know he was there, so she jumped, almost falling through. He gently grabbed her belt and pulled her back. “We have instructed LTC Wilson to take you into custody, should you mysteriously appear.” Mindy looked at him and almost laughed, then thought better of it.

  “Would they put me in jail?”

  “No, of course not.” He pointed through the portal. “That’s another planet. The constitution isn’t in effect there. Having lifetime indentured servants might be a benefit.” Her mouth dropped open, and he nodded. “Just so we understand each other. Better get to work, time’s slipping away.”

  * * *

  SGT Simpson watched the handsome Australian biologist sniff the air and look at the dim tree line, his eyes keen and excited. He bent over and scooped up some soil with his hands, taking a moment to look at the way the comings and goings of the human interlopers had worn down the native loam. He lifted the dirt to his nose and sniffed, then to her surprise, tasted it. His eyes narrowed as he chewed and then spit out the dirt.

  “Could be Madagascar or even Borneo,” he said, “except for those calls. Reptiles?” he asked her, as she was the closest.

  “Yes,” she said, “at least a dozen different species. There are lots of insects, but most don’t make noise. Very few things fly.” He looked thoughtful until the night echoed with a distant roar.

  “Holy dooley, what the bloody hell is that?”

  “It’s a Komodo sloth,” Abbot said, scanning the tree line. From one of the newly-made log cabins, a pair of soldiers trotted out. One carried a huge rifle, another an ammo can. “We’re hoping you can help us lick those dodgy critters. It takes a lot of ammunition to put them down.”

  “And we have limited weight,” Edwin said. “Yes, I see the necessity.” He moved over a bit and started digging through his pack. Then he opened one of the cases he brought through with him. “I’ll get right on it.”

  “They see pretty well in the dark,” Simpson warned. Edwin looked up at Romulus and observed how much light it gave off. Everything had an ethereal glow, as though an old-fashioned computer monitor lit the forest.

  “I see well in low light,” he said, “and…” he looked up again. “Crikey, is that a green moon?” Simpson laughed out loud.

  “Yes, it is,” she said. “We named it Romulus.” He gave her a lopsided grin as he went back to digging through his gear. “There’s a second moon, black and smaller, we call Remus. It’s almost invisible, and it orbits a lot faster. It probably has a lower orbit.” She looked over at the red-headed astronomer sitting on the dais back on Earth, looking up at the sky and taking pictures with an expensive digital camera. “Maybe she can figure it out.”

  “I plan to track down that great bloody lizard and see where it came from,” Edwin said, then looked at Abbot. “How far out have you been?”

  “About twenty kilometers,” Abbot replied, “that’s the limit of the drone.” Edwin gave him a cold look. “You must realize just how dangerous those beasties are. I’m a bloody geologist, not a lion tamer!”

  The case opened, Edwin extracted a carefully-wrapped bundle and rolled it out. With practiced ease, he began assembling a weapon. LTC Wilson, who’d emerged at the Komodo sloth’s roar, went over to look.

  “Is that a Bergara?” he asked the Australian, who nodded. “Those 6.5 mm rounds are only going to annoy a Komodo sloth.”

  “Probably,” Edwin agreed, and removed ammo, “I had this one custom built to fire .303 rounds though. I have some rather new armor-piercing and explosive-tipped rounds that might do more than annoy.”

  “We’re a long way from the local ammo manufacturer,” Wilson pointed out.

  “Then I best not waste cartridges,” Edwin said. Another roar cut the night, closer. Edwin stood and slung his much-lighter pack over his back. He belted on an old revolver.

  “Webley?” Wilson asked.

  “Quite right, belonged to my father.” Wilson nodded appreciatively. He put the extra gear from his pack into his case and closed it. “If you will store my gear, I’ll be off to get that great beastie.”

  “Want me to go along?” Abbot asked, somewhat unconvincingly.

  “That’s probably not a good idea,” Edwin said, slipping his Bergara’s sling over one shoulder. “Wouldn’t want to get those bush clothes dirty, right?” Abbot bristled. “What channel are you using?” he asked, taking out a radio. Simpson told him. Edwin gave Wilson a nod and Simpson a wink, and strode off into the trees without another word.

  “Cheeky bastard,” Abbot said. The Komodo sloth’s roar echoed through the forest.

  * * *

  Mindy worked by the portal for three hours, 10 minutes at a time, taking pictures and using the tablet they gave her to make notes and draw alien constellations. Then the weather began to change, and in only a few minutes, clouds obscured the sky. She shut down the laptop, returned the camera to the cart, and stretched her cramped back. A minute later, she climbed the steps to the trailer and sat down at her desk.

  “We thought you’d been canned,” Samantha, the girl who sat next to her, said.

  “I guess I lost five bucks!” Alexis groaned.

  “What happened?” Samantha asked.

  “I got assigned to the dome,” Mindy said. She had everyone’s attention now, and she had to spend the next two hours, including her lunch time, explaining what it was like.

  After lunch, she managed to get them to leave her alone so she could check the files she’d uploaded. They were right where she’d left them. She took the flash drive from the drawer and slid it into the computer. Per typical cyber-security, it wasn’t possible for her to write to the flash drive, but there was nothing stopping her from reading it. She copied the picture archive onto the computer in the same folder as the data on her computer. Once there, she used the included extraction program.

  A password prompt came up, and she carefully entered it. She could only try the password once. Failure resulted in the destruction of the files in a microsecond. The program accepted the password and extracted her toolkit into the folder.

  Mindy hadn’t spent all her time in school learning astronomy. Because her specialty was radio astronomy, she had to take some classes in computer skills. As much as star gazing hit a button with her, so did computers. She particularly liked hacking. She’d learned quite a bit from a series of boyfriends, and she possessed more than a few skills she didn’t talk about or list on her resume. In this case, those skills proved quite useful.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Seventeen

  May 7

  Mindy worked on analyzing her images the next day, as the clouds she’d seen on the 5th produced rain that lasted through the 6th. When she came in the morning of the 7th, it was still light on the other side. She’d installed the Celestia software yesterday and started reviewing some of the familiar stars. It was a useful database and stellar view program. She’d started luminosity comparisons between some of the stars. So far, nothing matched.

  “Maybe if I was there I could find a pulsar or something,” she typed to Osgood in a report, to which she got no response. Pulsars were rare, and acted like lighthouses. If you found one, and got the pulse rate, you could locate nearby stellar phenomena, and thus figure out where you were. The problem was, these pulsars weren’t visible to the naked eye. She instal
led the program on her work laptop, and headed for the dome.

  As Mindy climbed the steps, the portal popped to life and she saw SGT Simpson standing on the other side, looking up at the sky and talking on a portable radio. Mindy took the folding lawn chair she’d added to her equipment and set it up in front of the portal. It was still light outside. Simpson finished what she was doing, saw Mindy, and gave her a wave. Since it was still light, Mindy pointed at the laser communicator. Simpson grinned and grabbed the headset.

  “Evening, Sergeant,” Mindy said.

  “Evening, ma’am,” Simpson replied. “You can call me Lisa.”

  “Only if you call me Mindy.”

  “Deal!” The two women smiled across infinite space.

  “How’s it going over there?”

  “Pretty good, the Kloth don’t like the rain, it seems.”

  “Kloth?” Mindy asked.

  “We got tired of calling them Komodo sloths, so I shortened it to Kloth.” Makes sense, Mindy thought. It also seemed Lisa had a propensity for naming stuff. After all, she had named the two moons, Romulus and Remus. A “Trek” fan, maybe?

  “Who were you talking to?”

  “Oh, Edwin. He’s on the way back from his sweep, and the drone was flying over. He found out we’re on a plateau!”

  “I thought that British guy had walked for a dozen kilometers.”

  “Not quite.” Lisa grinned. “Sir Abbot doesn’t appreciate the wildlife. Anyway, Edwin says the plateau is at least a kilometer high and looks a little like Devil’s Tower. There are massive, wide grasslands around us all the way to the horizon. He said something about this planet being very old and not having an iron core. Does that make sense?” Mindy nodded absently, and turned to the flirty researcher.

  “Can I see the geological data Abbot sent?” He brought her a flash drive and Mindy popped it into her laptop. The geologist’s observations showed the other planet was bigger than Earth, but had lighter gravity. The magnetic field was also weaker. The findings suggested the core was either not iron, like Earth’s, or smaller. The portal popped off and Mindy mechanically hopped off the dais and back on to reset it. The headset was wireless, so she didn’t need to remove it.