Soft Planet

by Mitchell Christian

  The winds began to pick up again, but this time Caroline moved away from any of the nearby structures. Remaining still, she tensed the muscles of her legs and torso to withstand the onslaught. With eyes closed and head tilted down, her body stayed rigid for nearly another minute until her resistance was close to giving out against the growing force of the storm. Taking a deep breath, then another, she held the oxygen-rich air in her lungs as she removed the suit’s helmet. It would only serve as an impediment if her plan went as expected. After its release from her grasp the once precious headgear bounced once against the surface of the roof, disappearing into the tumult.

  Suddenly Caroline let her body relax. Sprinting with all her might, she rapidly narrowed the distance to the edge of the roof. A rectangular shape grew closer, but just before reaching it she pushed up as hard as she could against the roof with her right leg, catching the lip of the box with her left foot. Two more strides across the top of the box, then with a flying leap she was air-bound, soaring past the roof‘s edge as the howling wind carried her out. Her miniscule form was quickly swallowed by the dense, sunless mass.

  ***

  It felt like floating, but Caroline knew she was hurtling at high speed towards her goal. Sand and dust swirled around her, but in the low light she only knew of its presence by the rustle against her suit. Some of it brushed her face occasionally, but being propelled along at nearly the same velocity meant that there were only gentle caresses by what would normally have produced a fearsome assault against face and eyes.

  A strange calm came over her, an almost dream-like state in which supernatural powers carried her along effortlessly, so high above the planet's surface. A tingling began at the nape of her neck, spreading down her back and then out along her arms and legs. It was exhilarating. She could only guess that a mild electrical field was coursing through the charged air that engulfed her. The intensity of the effect grew until it brought tears of pleasure to her eyes, but all the while her breathing stayed slow and shallow. She felt unreasonably safe, yet kept in mind her height above solid ground. The arms of the storm had actually propelled her to a greater altitude, until at one point she estimated she was nearly a kilometer and a half from the Martian surface. Within a few minutes, she knew, her ride would release its grip and return her to the pull of gravity.

  Before that, though, she sensed the wind direction take a sudden shift to the north. Without some way of correcting the altered path, the target would be bypassed, removing any chance for survival. To increase the effect of drag on her body Caroline held her arms and legs straight out and spread apart, giving the wind as much of the suit to blow against as possible. With some slight changes in position she found that her flight could be gradually redirected, at least according to what her inner eye relayed about her relation to the Martian terrain. Eventually she managed to return the course back to the east, and wished for luck that the storm didn’t change its mind again.

  After another few minutes the oxygen in her lungs was nearly used up. She was close to blacking out. The air began to clear as the energy of the winds dissipated, with a blurry gray shape steadily enlarging ahead. With the intended goal in sight, Caroline played the next few moments over and over in her mind, a kind of practice to teach her body what to do even without a waking mind there to guide it. The now gray-green form rushed to fill her vision. At the last moment she tucked her chin down, pulled her legs tight to her chest, and hit the ground rolling.

  ***

  A green sky...no, wait. Green with pink patches. A pink sky? That doesn't seem right. It should be blue. Yes, definitely blue. Am I at the zoo? It smells like the zoo. All dirt and flowers. Daddy used to take me there when I was little. The monkeys were always my favorite. They made me giggle. And daddy always chuckled when I showed him how I could roar like a lion. Rooaarrr!

  Caroline started to laugh as her delirium faded, but the pain quickly made her stop. Everything hurt. She blinked to clear her vision, but it didn't help. Groaning, she tried to roll to the left, but a scream tore from her throat as searing agony shot through her arm and chest. She nearly lost consciousness again. She fell back, face upwards once more. After taking a few seconds to recover she rolled to the right. Managing to tuck her right arm underneath, she pushed up off the bed of foliage that had cushioned her fall. Sitting up, she cautiously inspected herself for injuries. A dislocated left shoulder, at least two cracked ribs on that side. One possibly broken. Her tongue found a loose tooth, the taste of blood along with it. After gingerly brushing her hand along cheek and jaw her fingers came away smeared with red. Several lacerations, apparently. Probably a mild concussion judging by the size of her headache. Still, it had been a good idea to leave the helmet behind since it hadn’t been designed for high impact resistance. Leaving it on could have resulted in even more severe injuries. She decided to try standing up in order to get a better view of the surroundings.

  More groaning, another scream or two, and she was on her feet, strongly favoring one leg. Unsteady at first, she started to fall over, but somehow managed to stay upright. Her vision was clearer now, but narrowed due to the puffiness of her cheek. The desert peeked through the brush along one edge. Small rocks littered that portion of the forest. Apparently her change in trajectory had put her dangerously near the outskirts of this area of growth.

  That was close. Must have hit a rock or two some ways back, which would account for my injuries.

  It was fortunate that the lead planetary ecologist had decided to hold off planting hardwoods. Lucky too that the ground nearest the town had been cleared of rocks of any size in order to promote irrigation. In fact, this area was sopping wet. The undergrowth squished a little as she took a timid step. A sharp jolt shot down her left leg, most likely indicating a fracture in her hip. Standing very still, she closed her eyes and visualized a rush of pain-numbing opioids flooding her brain receptors. Soon the analgesic effect lessened her suffering. She cautiously moved ahead again, this time with less pain.

  Ok, girl. Two steps down, and about a thousand to go.

  Chapter 6

  “We must go back!” Jules shouted. “She can’t possibly survive much longer without our aid.”

  The team was in the medical support bay, gathering supplies for the return trip to locate their lost colleague.

  “The storm activity is still too strong,” countered Larkin. “We’d be putting even more lives at risk if we ventured out into it.”

  “Ridiculous! A rescue attempt must be made as soon as possible!” the ecologist argued.

  As the debate continued a figure approached from the far end of the hallway. In shadow at first, the unnoticed visitor moved slowly, and seemed to be dragging one leg while using the corridor wall for support.

  The noisy discourse sputtered to an end as the group of scientists all turned to stare at the surprise guest. After some moments of silence Roe spoke up. “Caroline? Oh, my…Caroline!” The young entomologist sprinted over to her friend and placed her shoulder under Caroline’s arm as the others rushed to help. As they carefully brought her into the room, Caroline kept repeating a word that was hard to make out due to the swelling of her face. Finally she pointed to the pouch on the right side of her suit.

  Roe reached over and pulled out its contents. “Your scanner. Is that what you were trying to say? What’s so urgent-”

  “The factory data!” exclaimed Jules. “You retrieved it! But how?”

  “One thing at a time, Jules,” Larkin said firmly. “First we need to get her rehydrated.”

  Once they had her lying in one of the beds they gave her water, applying aid to her wounds through the use of biodegradable nanites that used heat to kill invading bacteria. After several minutes Roe asked Caroline if she could talk. Caroline nodded. “How in the world did you get back here, Carol?”

  “I jumped.” She spoke softly, her furrowed brow seeming to question the memory of the event. She peered around the room into the eyes of her teammates, as if pleadi
ng for them to reassure her that what she remembered was real.

  They all glanced at each other. Roe asked tentatively, “You jumped? You mean, off the roof of the factory?”

  “Yes. Into the storm. It carried me back.”

  Blank looks passed around the room.

  “We’ll talk about this later,” Larkin stated. “Right now we need to get you fixed up. The physician will be in shortly to look you over. Until then you need to relax, and most of us need to leave you alone.” He glanced at Roe, who stayed by Caroline’s side as the others left the room.

  ***

  Her mother’s image appeared on a large video screen placed at the foot of Caroline’s bed. The feed was live in both directions, with the signal from Mars having reached Earth several minutes ago. Tanielle’s head twitched to the right uncontrollably. Her forearms jerked sporadically as she talked.

  “Hello, dear.” Her words were interjected with quick gasps of air. “Well, we do make quite a pair, don’t we?” Caroline allowed a trace of a smile to cross her lips, cautious since the soreness around her left jaw was not completely gone.

  “Your friends described what you went through last week. Caroline, you are such a special young lady! Your father was beside himself, of course, but we understand that you did what you felt was necessary at the time. To risk sacrificing yourself for your fellow, um, Martians is daring and noble. Just the sort of thing I’d expect, given the traits of your biological father. I never met John, of course, but Mark has told many stories of his friend’s heroism.”

  “As for my situation,” she continued, “I’ve managed to isolate the problem. It’s a genetic abnormality in the glia cells surrounding the cervical nerves of my upper spinal column. They’re accumulating calcium, causing an exaggerated excitation of the nearby nerves. I’ve developed a treatment that will remove the buildup and revitalize the damaged neurons. It will also, essentially, reprogram the glia cells to behave normally. Within a few days I hope to have cured myself.”

  With that Tanielle paused, and seemed to lack the energy to continue. She stepped to the side as Mark appeared, supporting her with one arm.

  “Hey, honey. How are you feeling? I wish I could be there with you, Caroline. Your story is making the rounds of all the news channels, you know. I won’t be surprised if you get offers for book deals and movie contracts. Choose carefully. Don’t take the first ones that come your way, sweetheart. Those people don’t always have your best interests in mind. But I know you’re smart, and can take care of yourself.”

  Tanielle broke in. “Have you thought about when you might return home for a visit?”

  It’s only been a year, mother. Besides, we talked about this before I left.

  Mark gave his wife a reassuring hug before speaking again. “Jarrod is here, and Harbon, too. They’d both like to say something. We’ll be back after that, as long as the signal holds out.”

  Caroline was grateful that for once the transmission from Earth showed no signs of breaking up. Mark waved a brief goodbye. He and Tanielle moved to the side as Jarrod came into view.

  “Oh, my girl, you are having quite the adventures! My goodness, but that was a remarkable thing you accomplished. How did you think of it? Well, I suppose we can read your full report once it’s available. You know, the world you’re helping to create will be unlike any land discovered in history. In some ways it will bring about a change in humanity beyond that from the past dozens of millennia. The conditions will lead to a transformation of the species, both culturally and physiologically. Mars itself can be thought of as a kind of golem, in a way. It’s as if we are creating a living thing from malleable clay.”

  Seems more like a robotic planet to me, with all the mechanical parts we’ve had to add to bring it to life.

  Jarrod continued. “Oh, about the material of the factory walls I’ve been told you described. They called it ‘plastic’ during the Hartmann Era of the 20th century. It’s a substance with an almost complete resistance to natural forms of decay. We, of course, use it sparingly for just this reason, while during the irresponsible past they created it in mass quantities and used it indiscriminately.”

  He glanced to the side, and seemed to be listening to someone else for a few moments.

  “I’m being told that a history lecture is not what you need right now. I suppose Harbon’s right. You need your rest so that you may recover as quickly as possible. Those around you need you in your best form, no doubt. So I will say goodbye for now, Caroline. Do please respond as soon as you are able. Your last communication was much too short, for either myself or your parents.” With that Jarrod’s image was replaced by the much larger form of Harbon Regalik.

  “My sweet niece,” he began. “Finally we get a chance to talk, although referring to this as chatting is stretching the term a little. At least we can have some semblance of a conversation. First of all, I’m going to chastise you severely for putting yourself in such danger. You must promise me that you will never attempt such a foolhardy stunt again. Secondly, you are without a doubt the most remarkable young lady it’s ever been my pleasure to have known.”

  Caroline couldn’t help a grin from forming, ignoring the mild stab of pain.

  “Now, I hear that you were to be taking part in a sporting tournament in the near future, but I assume that because of your current condition those plans have changed? Yet, knowing you, I somehow think you will achieve the unexpected once again. But don’t think you need to prove anything to me. I can hold you in no higher degree of respect than you are already, Caroline.”

  He became distracted briefly, then returned his attention to the call. “It seems we’re running out of time, as always, and your father needs to speak to you again. We will converse at greater length before long, and I will make every attempt to arrange my schedule to do so. Farewell, for now. Do keep yourself out of harm’s way.”

  The picture switched again, this time back to Mark, who stood alone. “Your mother needed to lie down to rest herself. She’s fine, it’s just that she’s not used to the activity. Caroline, I want you to know that Tanielle was a little upset for a while after your ship took off from the spaceport last year. She’s a woman of deep emotion, but doesn’t let most people see that side of her.”

  Letting the tears well up, Caroline paused the live connection.

  I simply can’t afford to take an extended vacation. Not for some time yet. In a few years, when colonization is stable and our permanence here has a high probability of success, then I can think about traveling to Earth.

  Later she would watch the rest of the transmission from a recording.

  ***

  The sky was clear, except for a few cirrus clouds that drifted slowly beyond the transparent dome that covered the playing field. Caroline glanced around at the stadium, full of colonists who had gathered in greater numbers than ever before to view the athletic event. She spotted Armondo in the crowd. The boy was chomping on a sweetened confection, bits of it stuck to his fingertips as waved enthusiastically. She waved back, searching for her parents in the large video screen displayed over one end of the field, which fed the live match back to an audience on Earth. When she found them her mother looked calm, with no sign of the ravages of her disease.

  The young ecologist now geared her thoughts into a state of enhanced alertness, and readied herself for the lightning-quick decisions that the sport required. A professional game of Splunk consisted of three teams of five players each, with each team controlling up to three balls at one time. With so much activity on the court a high level of concentration and observational skill was required from both the players and the fans.

  Grateful that the hardened hydrogel replacement for her left hip had healed nicely, she briskly approached her teammates standing ready to enter the field. Caroline felt confident in one thing as she waited for the tournament to begin.

  Today is a good day to be on Mars.

  END

 
  Mitchell Christian, Soft Planet