Inadvertent Adventures

by Jones, Loren K.

  “Every precaution, Ann. I know.” Sterling hugged Ann tightly and spoke softly in her ear. “If I have to be marooned in the back of nowhere, I’m glad it’s with you.” Then, before she could answer, he headed down to the shuttle bay to begin his preflight checks.

  Chapter 20

  AMANDA ARRIVED JUST MOMENTS AFTER STERLING had unsealed the shuttle and joined him in completing the preflight checklist. “Have you ever flown this model of shuttle before, Sterling?” she asked as she ran through the list.

  “Yes, that’s one reason we picked it. This was the same model shuttle we used when I was in the Academy on New Kashmir. We had to do everything for them, so I’m familiar with all of its systems. It’s twice as old as I am and just as cranky, but it’s reliable and easy to maintain.” There was the sound a snigger from her side of the cockpit, and Sterling smiled as well. “It’s also one of only four models that will mate with the Revenge’s shuttle bay docking clamps and umbilicals without modification.”

  “That’s good to know.” Amanda turned and looked him in the eye. “Do you think Olaf and the chiefs can pull off a miracle and fix the hyper drive?”

  “I certainly hope so, but we have to be realistic about it.” He put down his clipboard and shook his head. “We don’t have a spare for every part. If there is something we don’t have and can’t make, we’re screwed. If this planet isn’t as friendly as it appears, we’re screwed. About the only thing in our favor right now is the cargo. At least it’s edible.”

  “Then let’s hope we can survive on the planet,” Amanda said as she resumed her checks. “I’m not very excited about the prospect of staying in orbit, eating boiled wheat for the rest of my life.”

  The shuttle launched without any trouble and Sterling set course for the west coast of the largest continent, near the equator. The terminator had just passed that point on the surface, so they would have plenty of light for their survey. Reentry went smoothly, and soon Sterling engaged the air-breathing jets as their altitude decreased.

  Amanda was busy with the bioscan equipment, sampling the air as they passed and feeding it into the enclosed survey meters. Small samples of a culture medium were exposed, and continuously examined for signs of foreign biological growth.

  The survey was still going on when Sterling picked out a large clearing that was covered in dark-green flora that resembled ice-plant, and landed. He kept the vertical takeoff jets at hot standby and his hands on the controls as Amanda continued sampling their environment.

  After two hours Sterling finally shut down the ship completely and joined in the survey. He used the shuttle’s cargo loading arm to grab a sample of the groundcover and brought it aboard in a sealed container. So far, none of Amanda’s tests had shown any biological reaction to the air or anything in it.

  The ice-plant-like ground cover was much darker than it had at first appeared. Whatever it used in place of chlorophyll was a deep forest green. A quick scan proved that this plant, at least, was edible. In addition to a reasonably straightforward version of chlorophyll for photosynthesis, it had something that closely resembled ethyl alcohol in its system.

  “That’s weird,” Amanda commented as she continued her tests. “I guess if you evolve in a frozen environment, you need some sort of antifreeze in your system.”

  “Just don’t tell Balder about it, or he’ll be grazing all the time.” Sterling laughed at his own joke while Mandy just grinned.

  The science experiments took most of the day, and then Sterling radioed Ann. “The air is breathable, the water is drinkable, and the plants are only marginally poisonous. No animal life so far, but I don’t suppose that’s necessarily a bad thing. We’re still working on the microorganism tests, but so far nothing has shown up in any of the cultures. I’ve used an ROV to check the water in the local ocean. It is mildly salty, but with a predominance of potassium chloride rather than sodium chloride. Other trace minerals include zinc, chromium, and copper, as well as just about everything else in barely detectable amounts.”

  “Understood, Sterling,” Ann answered. “Get some rest, but keep sealed until we get a definitive answer on the microorganism checks. Revenge out.”

  It was dark outside when Sterling awoke six hours later, and he checked their experiments. There was still nothing growing in the culture mediums, but one of the live cultures showed signs of dying off. Sterling put it under the microscope and started checking it out. The answer was soon evident: The bacteria in the culture were being wiped out by trace amounts of alcohol in the atmosphere.

  Sterling checked his chrono, but it was just four thirty in the morning, ship’s time. He decided not to report until he was sure Ann was up and had killed her first cup of coffee. Turning back to the instruments, he found the outside temperature to be only thirteen degrees Celsius.

  “Did I miss something?” Amanda asked as she rolled out of her bunk.

  “No, I just woke myself up and decided to do some checks. We seem to be in good shape as far as biohazards go. Nothing new is growing and the alcohol in the air is killing the bacteria we brought.”

  Amanda came over to his side and looked over his shoulder. “That looks like a good sign to me. Any chance of leaving the shuttle and taking a look at the larger vegetation off to the north?”

  “When the sun comes up,” Sterling answered, “which should be in about seven hours. This planet has a thirty-one point six hour rotation.”

  “Then I’m having breakfast. Let’s see, I think I’ll have a protein bar, with a carb bar on the side, and a fruit bar. And to drink I’ll have orange-flavored—or at least orange-colored—vitamin drink.”

  Sterling laughed as she spoke. The choices of food products in their suits was limited, and the only thing she could have had different was coffee rather than vitamin drink. “I’ll have the same,” he managed to say between chortles.

  They both keyed the sequence into their suit controls, and sat back to enjoy a leisurely breakfast as the requested items were extruded close to their mouths. “You know, we may have gotten lucky with that malfunction,” Amanda said around a mouthful of fruit bar. “If this planet is habitable, we have a claim on it.”

  “We have claim on it even if it isn’t habitable—but we have to get home to tell anyone about it. Otherwise, we’re the only people who have any idea that we’re here. Some explorer may one day discover the hulk of the Revenge floating in orbit and the remains of our attempt at settling this planet down here, but that’s hardly a realistic hope. Ann and Denise can’t find any navigation points, so even if Olaf and the engineers fix the ship, we don’t know where we are or where the Confederacy is.”

  Amanda just looked at him in silence for a moment, then said, “A girl’s gotta have a dream, Mister Buzz-Kill.”

  Sunrise arrived without any further revelations concerning the planet’s biology. Once the area was well lit, Sterling allowed Amanda to leave the ship via the personnel hatch in the cargo area.

  “I’m leaving the ship now,” she reported, then she walked down the ramp to step onto the soil. “The surface is firm. It looks like the landing struts sank about five centimeters into the ground.” She walked to where Sterling could see her and waved. “I’m going to the bushes. I’ll try to remain in sight at all times.”

  “Very well,” Sterling said as he watched her. “I’ll follow you with the ROV. Do not disappear on me, Mandy. I don’t want to have to come looking for you.”

  “Understood,” Amanda said as she walked away. “First report: there is life here. I can see several insect analogs, both grounded and airborne. The airborne creatures are very small, about the size of a gnat.” She stopped speaking as she reached the bushes. “The insects don’t seem to be reacting to me. They are feeding on the plants. It looks like they are making incisions and sucking up the fluid.” She paused and stepped back to take some pictures. “If all of these plants have the same alcohol-base for their circulatory systems, we may be on a planet full of drunks.”


  Sterling laughed. “Just our luck. Okay, collect your samples and return to the ship. I’m satisfied with what we’ve done. The equipment on the Revenge can make a more detailed analysis, but so far—Mandy, run!” Sterling shouted as something came out of the bushes right behind Amanda. Like all former military personnel, Amanda reacted to the shouted command instinctively and sprinted toward the ship without looking to see what the danger was.

  The creature was the size of a ten-man tent, and ambled along on several dozen stubby legs. It changed direction to follow Amanda, so Sterling swerved the ROV into its path. Whatever else could be said about the creature, it wasn’t agile. It hit the ROV and both of them tumbled, kicking up a cloud of dust and flying creatures. The creature just laid there for a few moments after the collision, then it struggled to its feet and let loose a long, low bellow and shook its head.

  Amanda was in the shuttle personnel hatch with the door closed behind her before she turned to look at what she had been running from. “What the hell is that?” she asked as she caught her breath.

  “I don’t know,” Sterling said as he swung the shuttle’s observation camera toward it. “It looks herbivorous. The lips are prehensile, and it’s built like an extra-large bovine wooly caterpillar.”

  Amanda triggered the steam-purge in the airlock twice before cracking the inner hatch. “Did you tell me to run because it was chasing me, or did it chase me because I was running?” she asked as she came to Sterling’s side.

  “It came out of the bushes and headed straight toward you. When you ran, it turned to follow you.”

  “What happened to it?”

  “I tripped it with the ROV.”

  Amanda looked, using the observation camera to get a closer look. “The ROV is trashed. That thing must weigh a few thousand kilos. It’s leaving.”

  Sterling and Amanda watched the behemoth glide away on its short legs, and didn’t stop the recordings until it vanished into the underbrush.

  Sterling went to the pilot seat and sat down. “Strap in, Mandy. Let’s get airborne before something happens to keep us here.” Amanda took the seat next to him and the shuttle blasted its way into the morning sky. Amanda was looking down and pointed.

  “There are a lot of those creatures, or something similar, in the next clearing over. They seem to be a herd animal.”

  Sterling just grunted as he guided the shuttle toward space and the Admiral Ann’s Revenge. The acceleration was just barely three G’s and he was enjoying the feel of the craft in flight. They reached orbit and opened the cargo deck and crew compartment to vacuum as they made their way back to the ship.

  After docking, the sample containers were carried to the isolation lab for further analysis. The first thing Sterling and Amanda noticed was Katrina’s bright red face.

  “How you feeling, Kat?” Amanda asked as soon as she saw her.

  “Stupid. How do I look?” Katrina asked back, with just a trace of a smile.

  “Actually, you look like you fell asleep in the sun,” Amanda said as she checked Katrina’s face from several angles.

  “I feel worse than that. The cream doesn’t completely numb the burn, but it makes the pain manageable. What did you find on the planet?”

  Amanda and Sterling explained what they had found as they deposited the containers in isolation. “Now we get to use your education a little, Kat,” Ann said as she walked into the room. “I want you to join Sterling and Mandy in analyzing these samples. Be very careful and thorough. We may be staying on this planet, and we can’t afford any mistakes.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” all three of them answered.

  “Any luck on finding where we are?” Sterling asked.

  “We have identified a second pulsar,” Ann said as she turned away. “I’ll brief you and the rest of the crew at supper. Denise is cooking for a while. I’d prefer that Katrina use her other talents to help determine if we can live on this planet.”

  Supper was three hours later, and Ann waited until they were finished eating before she gave them an update. “First, let me say how pleased I am with the performance of everyone in this crisis. We have finally located our third pulsar, and have triangulated our position.” She triggered a remote and a map of their portion of the galaxy appeared over the table. “The pulsars are here, here, and here,” she continued as she made halos appear around the indicated points. “We are here,” she said as a bright blue point of light appeared. “The problem is that the nearest Confederate planet is here.” Another point of light appeared half way across the map. “We somehow got tossed one hundred and thirty-seven light years off course.”

  “Oh crap,” Thom muttered as everyone reacted to the announcement.

  Ann nodded her agreement. “Crap indeed. If we can repair the hyper drive, we might make it home in three or four months ship time. If we can’t repair the ship, we are going to have to stay here.”

  “Is there any other option for us, Ma’am?” Balder asked.

  “No, Chief, I’m afraid not. We will, as a last resort, use the ship’s com system and send the strongest signal we can generate toward Confederate space, but there is no chance of it being heard in our lifetimes. Now, I’d like Sterling to brief everyone on what he found down on the planet.”

  Sterling stood and touched Ann’s hand before turning to face the rest of the crew. “So far, this planet is giving us every indication that it is habitable by humans. We have detected no organisms that can affect us, and the local plants have some nutritional value that our bodies can use. It’s a chilly place, and orbital data indicates that this is the middle of its summer. That means we should be able to survive, but we’ll need something better than rudimentary shelters.”

  “What about animal life?” Carrie-Marie asked. “I heard about the thing that chased Mandy.”

  Sterling nodded as he looked at Amanda. “That was the only large animal we encountered. It moved toward Amanda, but why and what it would have done if it caught her is open to conjecture.”

  Ann stood and Sterling nodded as he returned the floor to her. “We are going to continue our efforts to repair the ship, but since we’re here, we’re also going to continue surveying this planet and system. Given its location, I feel confident that no one else has claimed it, so I am claiming the system and all of its planets on behalf of the crew of the Admiral Ann’s Revenge.” She paused as everyone reacted to that announcement. “We’ll each submit a name for the star and planet, and then either vote or draw lots if we can’t reach a consensus.”

  Olaf and his engineers, along with Bart and Sterling, headed aft while Mandy, CM, and Kat headed for the isolation lab. Ann looked at Denise and shrugged. “Shall we?” she asked, motioning toward Control, and Denise laughed as she led the way.

  Ann took the helm and altered their orbit from equatorial to trans-polar, and began a ball-of-twine survey of the surface. She increased their velocity to reach a higher orbit as well, so they had a slower apparent ground speed.

  The planet was typical of life-supporting planets. It was slightly smaller than Earth, with a surface gravity of point eight-nine G. The atmosphere was active with storms, and Ann spent a moment admiring a typhoon swirling toward the east-coast of the continent Sterling had landed on.

  Radar-mapping showed that the surface was fifty-one percent oceans, but much of it was locked under what appeared to be permanent ice caps over both poles. Either this planet was in an ice age, or it was a cold place. Ann did some calculations and threw in a few outright guesses and came up with a sixty-seven percent water cover for the planet if the ice melted.

  The land varied greatly in altitude and appearance, indicating that the planet had experienced active tectonic periods. Mountain ranges reared their mighty heads high into the atmosphere, but were often locked beneath ice sheets and glaciers that hid their majesty. One anomaly was an active volcano that had burned its way up through the ice and created a lake around itself by coating the ice with dark, heat-trapping ash. Th
ree other active volcanoes were found, but they were all in the ice-free regions of the planet.

  In the isolation lab, the science team made several discoveries. The plants that had been collected all carried between seven and nine percent alcohol in their tissues. It seemed to be a common adaptation in all the flora, and indicated that the planet may have been much colder in the past.

  None of the sample media had shown any sign of growing exotic bacteria, or anything else. All of the samples of common bacteria and other biologicals had been wiped out by the alcohol vapors in the planet’s air. Unfortunately, since they lacked test animals, that was as far as they could go toward determining if the planet was inhabitable.

  It took six days of intensive effort, but Olaf finally called Ann on the intercom. “Captain,” he announced in an exhausted voice, “I believe that the hyper drive is fixed.”

  “That is excellent news, Olaf. Well done to you and all of your people. We’ll give you twelve hours to rest and get your strength back, then we’ll set course for Beloofte, in the Nuwe Vaderland System. That’s the closest Confederate System to this place.”

  “Understood,” was all Olaf could say as he and his men went to rest.

  Chapter 21

  THE ADMIRAL ANN’S REVENGE SET COURSE for Beloofte and everyone held their breath as the order to enter hyperspace was given. Ann had ordered everyone into their suits and on independent supplies for the jump, but nothing unfortunate happened. Once they were cruising toward home, Ann called an all-crew meeting.

  “People, we’ve managed what few non-survey ships have ever done: We’ve located a planet that seems to be habitable, and it looks like we’ll make it home to tell about it. Now, through the process of elimination, and not a few outright bribes,” she paused to glare at a widely-grinning Thom Oslund, “we have narrowed the choice of names down to either Frisland or Hy-Brazil for the planet, and Farflung or Fortune’s Cross for the star. I now call for a show of hands for Frisland.” She paused and counted, then shook her head. “I’m not going to bother with Hy-Brazil. Seven votes for Frisland. Now, votes for Fortune’s Cross?” she again counted. “You people worry me. Planet Frisland, fourth planet of the Farflung star system it is.”