Exiled to the Stars

by Zellmann, William

  But then had come the crash. The survivors from Deck 5 were thrust into the Deck 6 population. Suddenly, Caucasians, Africans, Amerinds, SoAms, Mediterraneans, and Asians were crammed together. The crowding trumped race theory, especially among the young, and racism began to seem faintly ridiculous; something that only mattered to the 'old ones'.

  The plague had greatly contributed to this trend. The few remaining colonists had little choice but to band together, regardless of race or color, and the close association of the Asian Cesar and AfroAm Vlad provided an excellent example for the young. Discrimination of any type was a luxury the struggling colony could not afford, and even the most dedicated racist was forced to suppress his feelings in the interest of survival.

  The establishment of the crèche and 'test tube' babies had almost finished the job. The crèche tried to match parents based on their genetic makeup, not their race. Though they would accommodate race as a criteria if the parents insisted, Susan Renko, its Director, had established an unwritten and unspoken rule that race should be ignored whenever possible.

  The computer, of course, had been programmed by EarthGov, and its educational programs reflected EarthGov's views on race. So, the educational programs were designed to ignore or minimize racial identity. Naturally, all of the colony's children were being educated by the computer, so racial tolerance became ingrained into the Planetborn. Racism persisted among a few of the older Earthborns, but by now it was considered an aberration, a weird eccentricity.

  So, there was no condemnation in Elaine's recognition of Ron's perceived preferences, but more a resigned acceptance. She forced a grin. "You could stand a little starvation," she said, looking pointedly at his waistline.

  "Hey!" he protested in a theatrically wounded tone, "I'll have you know that's all muscle!"

  Elaine snorted and threw a fish at him. Some of the tension faded as he grabbed desperately for it, barely catching it before it hit the ground.

  Some of the tension faded, but not all of it. That evening, night, and even the next morning, the air was thick with it. They were both nervous and tense. They ate breakfast quickly and loaded the canoe, anxious to escape the oppressive atmosphere. Both of them struggled to suppress relieved sighs as they pushed off, back into the current.

  Chapter 14

  Sixthmonth 28, Year 23 A.L.

  They had been travelling for three hours when Elaine began noticing with satisfaction that the underbrush seemed to be giving way to long grasses, and the thorn trees farther and farther apart. Perhaps they were approaching the river's mouth, and they would be able to begin returning to the village. It would also give her time to work through this thing with Ron. She certainly hadn't accomplished anything concrete this morning; her thoughts were still in a whirl, her emotions conflicted.

  Suddenly Ron, in the bow, began waving his arms wildly, and motioning toward the left bank of the river. Elaine jerked the tiller and the canoe swung and began cutting across the current before she even consciously reacted.

  She started to shout, to ask Ron what was wrong, when he turned and put a finger to his mouth, signaling for silence. Then, he pulled out his tablet. Elaine fumbled for her own.

  Ron's fingers flew, and "NO TALK! LAND NOW!" flashed from her tablet's screen. Frowning, Elaine guided the boat to the shore. By the time they reached it, Ron was standing in the bow, always a risky action, and he had the sprayer in his hand.

  His bent knees absorbed the shock as the canoe grounded, but even before that, Ron was spraying a semicircle of death. The grasses here were even higher than they were upriver. Some were over two meters tall. Elaine used the motor to hold the canoe against the shore as Ron prepared their landing area.

  When they had a secure area some two meters wide, Elaine was finally free to ask Ron the problem in a hoarse whisper.

  Ron was flushed with excitement. "Aliens!" He stage-whispered. "Or natives. Whatever they are, I think they might be people!"

  Elaine was stunned. After a moment, she frowned. People? Could it be? For almost their entire lives, people in the colony had speculated about the possibility of intelligent native life. It was one of the reasons the colonists had built that silly fortress they called the 'castle'. It was a frequent topic of conversation among those with more vivid imaginations. Some devoted hours of their off-duty time to studying contact procedures and old science fiction first-contact stories.

  They had, after all, only been able to study the planet for less than a month from orbit. The planetary survey program had not detected any of the signs of intelligence it was programmed for; clusters of shelters, controlled fires, lights at night.

  Still, it was no secret that those signs had been established by people who had never encountered another intelligent species, and never would. What if they lived underground? Perhaps they didn't use the same visible light spectrum as the humans. That last, it was agreed by most, was very unlikely, given the fact that Crashlanding's sun was very like Sol, Earth's own star. Of course, if they lived underground, they might use another sense entirely. Radar, like bats, perhaps.

  Instinctively, the two crouched, facing away from each other, warily eyeing the high grasses covering the squishy ground. They were painfully aware that the two-meter-high grasses and reeds were even more concealing and threatening than the underbrush.

  "Exactly what did you see?" she asked, her voice pitched just loud enough for him to hear.

  "Not much," he admitted. "But there was a cluster of bumps I think might be something like our domes. They looked tall. I didn't wait to see more."

  Elaine nodded. Ron had been right. They were exploring unknown territory. If there was even a remote chance that Ron's suspicion was correct, it was vital that they observe and report. If there was intelligent life on Crashlanding, the colony's survival depended on their knowing about it as soon as possible.

  "So, what do we do?" Elaine asked.

  For a couple of his teenage years, Ron had hung around with a group of the "believers," as they were called by their more stolid, or more realistic, neighbors. For awhile, he had attended their meetings, had read the old science fiction stories, and spent hours seriously discussing the possibility of intelligent Crashlanding life. After awhile, though, he discovered that the colonists' tolerant dismissal had led the believers to ever more radical positions, opinions, and flights of fancy. A few were quite militant about it. His interest had faded, and finally he'd moved on to other companions.

  Still, if there was one thing his association with the believers had taught him, it was caution. In the old stories, the current members' imaginative ideas, and even the EarthGov training programs, one theme had been recurrent: that foreknowledge was important. If there was intelligent native life here, it was vital that the colonists learn of it, before it learned of them!

  They would need time to plan, to study the new life form, and to work out procedures for establishing peaceful contact. From his 'believers' days, Ron knew that a bungled contact could have disastrous consequences; it was a common theme in the old first-contact stories.

  Elaine had been a tolerant observer during Ron's 'believer' days, but the actual possibility shook her badly. With the others, she had snickered at the believers, and had teased Ron unmercifully. Now, she was content to let Ron take the lead here. After all, he was the one that had read the old stories, and the official procedures, and had discussed the subject ad nauseum with that bunch of weirdoes. Well, okay, she admitted to herself. Maybe they weren't such weirdoes, after all.

  Still…"What makes you so sure?" she asked. "The plains rats build mounds two meters high. What makes these different?"

  Ron paused, thinking. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "But a whole colony of plains rats only builds one mound. This was a whole cluster of rounded, dome-like things. They looked enough like our domes to scare me, though."

  "How many?"

  He shrugged. "Maybe a dozen or so. From that distance, I couldn't tell whether they were laid out in any
kind of pattern." He paused a moment, thinking. After a moment, he sighed. "Well, I guess this is where we earn that 'Explorer' tag. We have to know more."

  Elaine nodded agreement. "Best I can guess," she said, "we're about 500 meters upriver from them. Any ideas about how we can get closer without being taken by a wolf lizard or noticed by them?"

  "Yes," he replied, "very slowly, and very carefully. I'll lead off with the sprayer, and you can back me up with the shoulder laser." He turned to face her. "Please don't shoot anything but wolf lizards. We have no idea what they look like, and if we kill one of them, it could start a war that might wipe out the colony!"

  She frowned in irritation. "You know me better than that. I never shoot unless I have a target."

  He nodded. "I know. But I'm just reminding you that we don't know what they look like. They might be something horrible-looking. They might even look like wolf lizards." He shrugged. "Just be careful, that's all."

  "Yeah? Well, you be careful, too. We don't want to have you merrily burning a path through the grass, and suddenly find ourselves in the middle of their village!"

  Ron grinned and nodded his surrender, though his eyes never ceased patrolling the surrounding grasses. "All right, Grandma. I'll be careful."

  "Then, we're ready?"

  Ron shook his head. "Not yet. Something we have to do, first." He tapped her shoulder, to let her know he was moving, and stood to return to the canoe.

  After ten minutes of nervous watchfulness, that Elaine was certain was half an hour, he returned, carrying a small cloth bag. He held it out to her. "Trading materials. In case we're discovered. I'll watch while you check your baggage. We want small items, easy to carry. I'd say concentrate on shiny things, and things that might impress a primitive. Those domes didn't look very advanced to me."

  Elaine nodded silently. Taking the bag, she returned to the boat and began sorting through her possessions. It didn't take long. All she had was a single pack. Ron had taken longer because he had also examined their common baggage.

  Finally, she returned, and handed the bag to Ron. He hooked it onto his weapons belt, and picked up the sprayer.

  Spraying a path to follow was much riskier than clearing a campsite. Ron had dialed the sprayer's nozzle to clear a path slightly wider than his shoulders. Grasses set to waving by careless passage could be as much a red flag for their possible natives as their sudden appearance.

  But that meant that they were only cems from the impenetrable mass of the two-meter high grasses. Wolf lizards, or any other predator, would be able to creep easily to within attack distance.

  Elaine had decided to leave the shoulder laser, and instead carry her hand laser in her hand. The shoulder laser was too unwieldy for such close quarters; she needed to be able turn and fire quickly.

  At last they were ready. Ron found it most effective to spray the grasses at ground level. That way they curled in on themselves as they turned to black ash, making no visible disturbance in the neighboring grass. It also had the advantage of killing any small burrowing creatures that could threaten them.

  For Elaine, it was interminable. Spray, wait for the grasses to turn to ash, step, stop, spray, wait, step…it was almost maddening, especially given the tension of worry about what they might find at the end.

  Finally, though, Ron stopped. Shedding the sprayer's pressure tank, he crouched, examining the marshy ground and the grasses themselves with great care.

  Eventually, satisfied, he slowly parted the grasses and peered through them, using the sprayer's nozzle to part those grasses beyond his hand's reach.

  He'd already known they were in some sort of marsh. The ground was very wet and muddy. In some places, water stood on the surface. The sticky mud had made the last hundred meters hard going, and Ron had winced at the occasional sucking sound as they pulled their feet free.

  Now, he found that they had also reached the sea. Open water confronted him, a small inlet some fifty meters wide. The other side of the inlet seemed a bit higher; the ground looked firmer, and the group of structures occupied it.

  They weren't domes. They were shaped like flat ovals, and each was mounted about two meters off the ground on what seemed to be a high pole. They looked almost like large, bulbous seedpods on stems. Other poles stretched from the ground to the bottom of each 'pod', seeming to lean against the 'stem' at an angle.

  There were figures moving about, but they were indistinct at this distance. Ron eventually decided that the creatures, like wolf-lizards, traveled low to the ground, making it hard to get an idea of their appearance.

  Elaine nudged him, and he started guiltily. He quickly fished out his tablet, and set it to simultaneously record and transmit its images to Elaine's tablet.

  They watched for over an hour. There was little activity in the village, but Ron made certain he captured what activity there was. One of the figures appeared to scurry up the angled pole, and disappeared into a hole near the bottom of one of the 'pods.'

  Suddenly Ron heard a quiet buzz, and the grasses reflected the flare of a laser blast. He whirled, and Elaine indicated something that appeared to be a meter-long centipede. The creature had appeared from the grasses, and Elaine had shot it. Since it was close enough to Ron for him to have felt the heat of the blast, he did not regret her action. Still…He turned back and once again parted the grasses.

  The laser blast did not seem to have been noticed. At least, there was no visible excitement in the 'village.' He released the grasses and turned back to Elaine, nodding slightly. She returned the nod, and he indicated that they should start back.

  Elaine nodded again, and laser in hand, began struggling back through the marshy mud. He kept the sprayer; the path already existed. He eyed the centipede creature longingly. It most resembled one of the sand worms, but there were obvious differences, and he was sure Elaine's mother would love to examine it. But they were a good week from the colony, and there was no way to get the carcass there. He settled for a dozen shots from his tablet's camera before hurrying to catch up with the struggling Elaine.

  Back at the canoe, they discussed their plans while cleaning the clinging black mud from their legs and moccasins. Ron wanted to stay several more days, and try to get closer to the creatures.

  But Elaine disagreed. "It's too risky, Ron," she said. "We already have over an hour of footage for the computer to analyze, and every time we go back increases the risk that we'll be discovered. In fact, our trail could be discovered any minute, and any intelligent creature would investigate such an obvious path through the grass." She shrugged, and the bobble of her breasts distracted Ron for a moment. "Anyway," she continued, "Those things may fish the river, and if so, one of them might come up the riverbank and see the canoe."

  Ron argued, but even he was aware that their primary responsibility was to get knowledge of the natives back to the colony, and to do so without being discovered themselves.

  Finally, he admitted defeat, and they reboarded the canoe, turning upriver. Their original plan had been for them to spend several days exploring the river's mouth and the seashore, but the native village had changed that. Now, they were impatient to get back to the colony with their news.

  Moving upriver, they were fighting the current, instead of drifting with it. Travel was much slower, and required much more effort from the small water-jet motor. On one particularly dull, rainy day, they actually exhausted the solar-charged batteries, and had to set up camp early, and then waste an additional day waiting for the batteries to recharge.

  They made an abortive attempt to talk about Ron's newfound romantic interest in Elaine, but it made them both so uncomfortable that they decided to table the subject until they got back to the colony, and they were no longer thrown together in isolation. Elaine was convinced that Ron's attraction was based on her close availability and the lack of other female companionship. Ron didn't agree, and rather resented the idea that she thought him so shallow, but the last thing he wanted to do was argue with
her. The week-long trip back to the colony was uncomfortable for both of them.

  Their return, though, was suitably triumphant. They barely had time to don their shipsuits before a crowd, headed by Elaine's parents and Ron's mother, descended on them. It was nearly half an hour before Vlad Renko was able to get the jubilant colonists to allow Ron and Elaine to lead a procession back to the colony. A beaming Cesar Montero welcomed them with a speech that was mercifully brief.

  It was several hours before Ron could get Cesar and Vlad aside and tell them about the natives. The older men's eyes widened as he described what they had seen.

  Cesar was lost in thought for a long minute. Finally, "Tomorrow morning, you two will present your discoveries to the Council. Meanwhile, send your footage on to the comp, so it can begin analyzing it."

  Ron tried to apologize for not obtaining more and better footage, but Cesar waved it aside. "You did the right thing. You might have been able to get more without being discovered, but it wasn't worth the risk." He shrugged. "We'll talk more tomorrow, after the Council meeting."

  The Council meeting was chaotic. The Council was unimpressed by the limited information their explorers could provide, but when the computer sent the images and footage to the Councilors' tablets, reactions were immediate.

  Doug Ryles complained that the images were poor and lacked detail, but another Councilor reminded him that they were shot from a distance of more than fifty meters with tablet cameras, and even with computer enhancement, they became rather grainy with enlargement.

  One of the Councilors, a 'believer', became very excited and gushed about their dream coming true, until he was stopped by Susan Renko.

  "We don't know whether or not they're intelligent," she said. "There are a number of animals on Earth that construct elaborate homes. In fact, we don't know what they are. From the images, they seem to resemble wolf lizards more than anything else. But that means nothing, either. Before we can begin patting ourselves on the back, or even attempt contact, we need a lot more information."