by James Darcey
The ECM pod was working perfectly. There wasn't even a single call from any of the patrolling ships. We slipped up to the null point and kicked in the high drive. Now it was truly feeling like freedom was a reality. We had left no trace behind about where we were heading. Three months was going to seem so long.
TOC
HACHI
Keeping Panzo in bed so the burn could heal proved to be daunting. I had seen the scans from the bio bed, and knew the burn had punctured deep. Burns are especially difficult to recover from, I'd learned that through many trials. At least it had only singed the bone; bones are the worst to grow back. Thankfully he had the aid of the nanobots to speed his recovery. Still it seemed to take much longer than I remembered from my burns.
A week into the trip and Panzo was literally bouncing off the walls. A couple of times I caught him rubbing against a doorway or the counter edge. Finally he'd had enough and started peeling the pseudo-derm off, exposing the pink skin underneath. It looked a lot brighter than the surrounding skin, even accounting for fur. As the last of the pieces fell loose, he rubbed over the area with a very satisfied look to his face. I joined Lafiel in laughing at the sight.
Now that we were on the last leg of our trip, or I should call it my trip, it was time to plan our future. Sleeping four or five hours a day left me with tons of spare time, but Lafiel didn't sleep at all. She used the time to dig deep into the data banks for any clues concerning our destination. The star charts had simply a notation of location and the barest of stellar surveys. That seemed rather odd for someplace with a thriving population. There had been some damage to the nav data; we knew that from our trip into Rage, but she had refreshed much of it from Rage's traffic control computers.
Pretty much all we had to go on were the notes that Teyrn Elon had entered into the data concerning his trips there. I'd known that he'd been there when he kidnapped my mother; but according to the notes, that was only one of the seven trips. According to what I was reading, he'd even come back twice since my mother for more samples. At least his notes gave preferred orbital injection paths. Those notes centered around avoiding detection satellites. It looked like he tried to avoid contact with the governing body, which was good for us. They were more likely to hide me that way. My best guess was that he feared them.
The records showed the third planet as the only one with viable samples to collect. They listed several hundred entries into the xenobiology texts that I'd never studied, with markers on the topographical map indicating collection points. None of them near major population centers.
His notes seemed unusually sketchy concerning cultures and such, but I wasn't worried. I'd learned the language from my mother. At least enough that I felt I could understand what was said, and locate food.
The hard part was that he hadn't labeled the stops by name. There wasn't one that said 'Picked up Yoko Ryoken here'. At least I remembered the map from reading the notes about my mother. It was one of the two spots marked in a mountainous region. I chose the one for biped twenty-three versus the one for feline carnivore twelve.
The few months went by faster than I had imagined. I occupied myself in getting familiar with the hover cycle, and poking through the odd boxes in the cargo bay. It gave me time to think back over the records I'd seen of my mother. I knew she was dead, but there were likely other members of her family that remained alive. My talks with the two Kanari had told me just how important a family connection could be. I found I was unsure just how to tell them my story. Every day of our journey brought me closer to that inevitable meeting with her family. My family.
The other part of that thought was wondering how I would find that family. I had seen all the people milling about on Reliance Station, and roaming through Rage's moon outpost. There would probably be a million people on Terra, maybe even two million faces to look at. How would I find family I had never seen? It might take some time, but I would find them. I had her information as a clue. Despite his sketchy notes on some things, Teyrn Elon had detailed every scrap of her possessions. When I wasn't learning language from her, I was studying those cards she had carried.
We dropped out of high drive right on target, about an AU above the orbital plane. Lafiel sent out a comm burst listing us as a freighter out of Muuaca system. I guess we should get a little more creative for our cover story. Maybe give reference to Rage. There was no response. Perhaps this system was a bit more remote than I had first thought -- even Lafiel seemed concerned.
"Captain Ion, there's very little in the way of comm signals in the normal bands. The stuff that I can find all seems like it's automated telemetry that I'd get from a cub's toy."
Moving down to the orbital path toward the planet, we continued trying to get contact. Not only was there no response from any traffic control station, there weren't even any comm signals from other ships. Nothing was moving on scanners either. I had known from the nav charts that it wasn't a major trading port, but I had expected a little traffic. This was less traveled than I had guessed -- perhaps my million person estimate was high.
It was a beautiful blue-green ball hanging there with a dusting of clouds and a single moon. Traxel and Panzo tossed comments back and forth about how it compared to other planets they had seen. I thought it looked a great deal like Reliance. I hope it has the same beautiful trees. There was a scattering of artificial satellites around it, but no other sign of space travel. Could that really be possible? Now that we were closer, the scans revealed a vast amount of communication signals occurring in the lower frequencies, none of it directed at us. It was like they hadn't even noticed us yet.
There were two orbing stations large enough to hold a few Humans, but nothing like Reliance Station. The biggest was only about three times the mass of the corvette, and looked like a spindly arrangement of tubes. It would have likely crumpled if we docked too hard. Everyone agreed it was best to avoid it. Where were all the Humans? We needed information before blindly dropping in for a landing.
Traxel parked us next to one of the larger satellites, and we listened in to some of the communication passing through it. The signals were originating in a few spots that aimed them directly at this satellite, and it sent them back down to other spots. There was simple one way bouncing of the signals, with no reply. It took Panzo and Lafiel working together for several hours to separate out a few of the hundreds of signals buried in the transmission. A little more work let them piece it together as a viewer image. The images didn't look too bad, but the exciting part was that we were looking at Humans!
Getting audio signals that matched the images was no problem, but understanding them was. This was not the language of my mother. We sorted through all of the signals in the satellite, and found four different languages; none of them matched the language my mother had spoken. Could this world really be that divided? Rage only had three factions, and it had been a mess.
We tapped into several other satellites around the globe discovering even more languages. There seemed to be about ten major government factions, at least based upon the languages we found. The images were even more confusing than the languages. The others assured me that many of the video signals were likely entertainment ones that bore no reality -- something like Traxel's holos. Even if ninety percent were mere fictitious videos, what about the others?
We held a spot in orbit as we tried to decide on a course of action. None of us wanted to drop in blind on something as dangerous as ten competing factions. Many of those videos had shown a plethora of weapons in use. What would happen if I got in on the wrong side of a conflict with my mother's people?
We voted on a destination and settled on going to the spot my mother had been. It seemed a bit odd as her language was not the one used in that area. There had been some usage of it in nearby locations, but nothing in any quantity. The spot was nestled into the mountains on one of the major continents. It had trees -- lots of trees!
Teyrn must have been really trying hard to avoid detection as ther
e wasn't a single landing facility within sight as we dropped down through actual clouds. The exact spot was isolated to the western shore of a lake. There was a small air transport facility about fifty kilometers from the landing spot, but none of those craft looked capable of even reaching orbit. I began to wonder if Teyrn had landed there, and picked up my mother using the ground transport.
All of his notes on this world indicated he avoided contact with the government factions, so that wouldn't have worked. Maybe he was just as hesitant about getting involved in the mess of so many governments. That could work to my advantage.
There were too many trees covering the exact spot listed in his notes, so we found a grassy spot only a few kilometers away, and set the corvette down between the tall trees. Just as a precaution, I agreed to Lafiel's suggestion to crank up the ECM pod high enough to scramble even the reflected light.
It didn't make us invisible, but created this indistinct fuzzy sphere where the ship was. The last thing we needed was some over-jealous faction fighter to come upon us before we could make contact with the correct one. Between her and Traxel they brought us down fast, braking at the last moment to give a softer landing.
Air samples were taken, though I didn't expect any problems; I mean people lived here! The bio unit spent a few minutes isolating various viruses, and gave Traxel and Panzo a dose of immune boost to protect them. My system seemed to already contain those things, which didn't surprise me. I knew from the xenobiology studies that immunities were often passed down in the genetics. I was probably just as immune to everything on Andore; maybe half a dozen other worlds as well, considering my background.
I went down the ramp filled with the excitement of finally being here on my native planet. The first thing I noticed was the smell, though smell gives the wrong impression. Aroma would be better. The aroma of living plants. The orbital lab had smelled of sweaty people with a background of chemicals, and Rage's moon was all dust and machines. Even Reliance station with all of its grass and trees was overpowered by the smell of people. I doubt that any chemical could give the feel that this aroma awoke within me.
I jumped the last few steps to the ground, and nearly stumbled. I had forgotten that there could be a gravity shift. This place wasn't nearly as light as Rage's moon, but it was still just under a standard gravity. A few jumps later I surmised it to be about point eight or nine, just enough to give a bounce to my step. Of course that made it about half of what I had grown up with. It wouldn't take long to be accustomed to the lightness. I called Lafiel on the comm to suggest that she lower the ships grav so that we all got used to the feel of it.
I had intended to use the hover cycle to do my search, but the ground cover was even thicker than what it had looked like from the air. I could either spend a lot of time getting the hover cycle unstuck from trees and such, or go on foot. Foot it is then. I was thrilled to walk in the open air through vegetation. I mean real live trees, and bushes, and shrubs, and grassy stuff, and whatever else all this stuff was called.
Panzo and Lafiel warned me that there might be untamed animals wandering this area. It reminded them of places on Reliance that were used to relax away from civilization. I turned down the suggestion of carrying the pulse rifle; I didn't want to scare anybody I met into thinking I was attacking them. They might try to shoot me before I could say anything.
I followed the only trail I could find that would along the side of the lake. She had been gathered near the lake, so this was my best choice. I did catch glimpses of some small animals scurrying through the trees, but these were no possible threat. Most of the ones I saw were less than a quarter meter tall. This planet had flying animals too! I paused for a moment to watch one drift high overhead, circling as it sought the breezes to carry it onward.
As I ran around a bend in the trail, some ten kilometers from the ship, I nearly smacked face first into a rather large animal. This one was furry and brown, and large enough to tackle a Selstlak with ease. I stumbled back a step in surprise, and it rose up on hind legs to tower over me. Now it was more than twice as tall as I was, and walking forward, growling menacingly.
A thought briefly flashed through my mind as I stumbled back a few more steps, that this could very well be a sentry animal for the local faction. I dashed that idea aside with the reasoning that such an animal would wear a harness or other marking.
As big as he was, I felt the same thrill as when I'd wanted to tear that lizard apart on Rage's moon. Those impulses battled with rational thinking that he was just an animal; one that lived in this forest I was enjoying so much. I didn't want to hurt some poor animal that was probably as startled as I was, so I simply let a charge build up all over my body. That should scare him off without injury.
I gasped in surprise when my back-stepping brought me up against a tree. I had nowhere to run away from something that could probably outrun me anyhow. Part of my brain was telling me to go ahead and fight this thing. The thrill of that prospect tugged at my nerves.
It happened so fast I didn't have time to duck. It lunged at me tearing with both paws and biting at my arm. One of the claws dug deep into my side while the other caught my head. I could feel the bite tearing at my shoulder too. The charge I'd built up shocked it enough to let go of my arm, and run off through the trees. Its growl had taken on a pained tone, but it lived. Blackness with sparkle lights swirled before my eyes for a moment.
The pain was bad, I knew that, but I had long ago learned how to shove those sensations down out of my consciousness. My arm wasn't working very well. That animal had torn deep into my shoulder, causing my arm to hang by my side. Those claws had opened up my side with deep gashes, and the other one had probable ripped half my face off. I needed help.
It was hard to hold the comm device with the blood dripping everywhere. Next time I think I need the clippy kind for my ear. Considering how my head was throbbing, I wondered if I still had an ear to clip it to. I called the ship, and told them I would find a spot they could land for me. There was no way for the ship to fit between these trees, so I had to keep going until I was in the open. I was hurt bad. I knew that, even if I had shoved the pain away.
It was several kilometers back to the last opening I had passed. My best option was to press forward to the next opening. It had to be closer. Some hunter I am, leaving the trail of red behind me. I could barely even see the trail I was trying to follow through the haze of pain and my damaged eye. That animal had been pretty messy when it tore into me; at least Teyrn had usually cut instead of tear.
I knew that I was still losing blood, and it was making my thoughts feel like they were drowning in syrup. Sticky syrup like the Tlockeli cakes had on them. Maybe I'd have some when... When...
I chided myself for the wandering thoughts, "Get your head on straight! You're veering off the trail again."
Less than a kilometer later I happened upon a couple of humans in a small clearing. They had what appeared to be collapsible cloth shelters near a small fire. My thoughts drifted to the gear sitting in the hold of the ship. It was much better than what these two had. The soft sides probably wouldn't keep the big furry animals from eating the greenish-brown wafers, or sitting on the people.
That detached voice in my mind warned me that such random thoughts as that meant that I was really hurt bad. I needed to focus on the immediate situation. They were heating a meal over the flames. Why didn't they just put the meal in the infuser? I called out to them as I came out of the trees, startling them somewhat. Maybe it was like the cantina on Rage where they scorched the meat and blew the smell into the crowd, inciting hunger. I was already hungry without even smelling it.
They saw me coming, and stood to wait. The closer I got the more they backed up. I thought they looked a bit frightened, but they shouldn't be scared of a Human. I guess that I looked a bit scary covered in blood. I could call the ship to come get me. As luck would have it, I was too focused on them to see the rock. I tripped on it falling face first into the gras
s.
As I lay there trying to decide on the least painful way to get back up, I felt them grab me and turn me over. I tried telling them who I was, and asking for aid. One of them pulled out a comm device and began speaking to someone. He was using one of the unknown languages. I had found the wrong faction. I couldn't get killed this close to finding my mother's faction. If I got away from the fire, then Lafiel wouldn't burn her toes landing in the clearing.
I tried to sit up again, but the man pushed me back down. The other one had run off somewhere I couldn't see. Focusing was getting hard to do. I hoped the ship would land soon so that that stupid bio bed could patch me up. The other man returned with an ugly looking shirt. I don't need a shirt, and certainly not an ugly one! He bent down to wrap it around my shoulder that was so badly torn. Every time he moved it in trying to tie the shirt in place, a wave of pain shot through me. I know he wasn't trying to hurt me. It just took effort to shove the pain away again. It took even more effort to hold the charge down so that I didn't fry the guy trying to help me.
One of them brought out a blanket to lay over me. He tucked it in close to my sides that were still bleeding. I was ruining his blanket; how would he cover himself? I tried talking to them, but it became obvious they didn't understand my language any better than I understood theirs. This was going to be more difficult to find my mother's family than I thought. I kept trying to talk to them as they stood around looking at me. They were making comments about my boots, and one of them was pointing to my shoulder. I couldn't believe how much it hurt when they poured water over the injuries. At least my thoughts were starting to clear up a bit.
Just as much as I kept trying to talk to them, they kept saying things to me as well. I tried getting up a few times, only to be gently coaxed back down. They were nervous and spent the time wandering around without doing anything. A few times they pointed to my pouch, and argued among themselves about it. There were only a couple rolls of coins left in it; they could have those if it got me to the right faction.