“Do you know how long it will take?” Basta replied. “To find out where we are?”
“Not precisely.” Henry admitted. “Though I have an approximate distance and range.”
“Ballpark it.” Basta requested.
“I would guess about two days.” Henry replied. “Conservatively…it likely will be a little less.”
“Well that is damn good news.” Basta asked. “We are close to being able to jump home.”
“Well technically we could jump now.” Henry added. “But we’d have no way of getting back here reliably unless we found it on the new map first.”
“Then we wait for the map to finish to this point.” Basta replied. “Assuming all goes to plan, we head home in three days. In the mean time is there any reason we can’t go down and take a look at this planet?”
“No reason at all that I can think of.” Henry admitted. “In fact, I think that it is important that we do go down there. The preliminary data that we could collect would be invaluable to the scientists on Mars and the future of human colonization.”
“Then we go down in the morning.” Basta replied. “Nari, Henry, myself, and one of the marines.”
“Is that necessary?” Henry asked. “There are not soldiers here.”
“That doesn’t mean there’s no danger.” Basta added. “If something unforeseen comes after us I would prefer to have a weapon to combat it.”
“Well I do have a portable version of a wave emitter.” Henry admitted. “I could modify it to help us down there.”
-
Six
In the morning, the group set out, surprisingly even the marine…a man simply called French seemed exited on what they might see. There was a pair of landing vessels on the ship, smaller craft that used a simpler wave generator to traverse between ships or even to and from orbit. Nari guided the ship into the atmosphere of the massive planet. After breaking through the atmosphere, the ship moved through the air, open terrain of mountains appearing and leading to open areas beyond. Nari was an excellent pilot, trained on earth using cutting edge military vessels and was one of the first to fly magnetic wave propelled fighters. The weather seemed opportune for travel and there was little to do except watch the strange unfamiliar landscape open up around them.
“We are two minutes from the area scanners indicated a s good place for base camp.” Nari explained. “I will set us down and we can get to work.”
“I just can’t get over the beauty of this place.” Basta replied. “It is a paradise.”
“There is no end to the amount of colonist’s that will want to move to such a place.” Henry commented. “There are enough scientists on our ship alone that could establish a camp here. Once the drive works the ship can work to go back and forth with personal and supplies.”
“It’s no, Arizona.” French added. “I would take the open fields there over this any day.”
“If you love home so much why come to space?” Nari asked as she doublechecked her approach vector. “You are literally on a mission that will and has taken you to the farthest from earth a human being has ever been.”
“My family mostly.” French said with a laugh. “Love the land…not so much some of the people living on it.”
“I guess we all have our reasons.” Basta added. “I myself saw some of the darkest parts of man on earth. In space man can only survive by being the best of itself.”
“What about the raiders?” Henry asked.
“The worst parts hanging on to their power.” Basta replied. “That is something that will need to be dealt with as much as anything else.”
The craft came in for a landing, smoothly landing on the open area and coming to a stop as the magnetic thrusters powered down. The group got out. Henry and Nari going to work with devices to scan and taking samples. French walked the perimeter with Basta, getting a fee from the place.
“This place is completely untouched.” Basta said as he looked around. “We are the first humans to set foot here.”
“Perhaps one of us should say something?” Nari asked.
“Henry?” Basta said with a nod. “We are recording all of this…any inspiring words?”
“Humanity has potentially found a new home.” Henry replied. “May we recognize its value and fragility earlier than we did with our last one.”
“A message of hope and concern.” Basta said with a grin. “Words that will hopefully be remembered…as well as the message.”
“Let’s look around.” Henry replied. “We will need samples from a decent cross section if we are going to analyze the site.”
The group headed out, following a natural path through short grass down from the hill where their ship was parked. Ever few feet Nari and Henry stopped to gather some samples.
“I realize the lunacy of what I am about to say.” French began. “But I feel like we are being watched.”
“Watched by whom?” Basta asked. “We are the only humans on this planet, and the closest next ones are in orbit.”
“Still.” French replied. “I don’t usually ask my senses for why when they tell me to be careful.”
“Fair enough.” Basta replied. “Nari can you scan-“
Without warning, several figures charged at the party from different angles. They were fast twisted shapes of man-like proportions. They moved like animals but showed the cunning of something smarter. They had fur like a wolf but a beak shape like a bird. French acted in a flash, firing rifle in a wide arc, cutting down several of the beasts and dropping them before they could reach the group.
Basta drew his gunin a flash, cutting into one of the beasts with a wide shot and moving fast to hit another. He moved with frightening accuracy, moving in behind French to watch his back.
French took a step out for a little more room and switched his gun to semi-automatic, shooting in a semicircle arc. The slower rate of fire giving three dogs time to get into his kill box and get shot in quick succession. The shots sent them back flying, already dead and colliding with beasts that were coming from behind.
Nari moved in a fluid motion, drawing her pistol to cover Henry. It was easy for Henry to forget the woman was a trained soldier. She moved in an almost blur shooting a pair of creatures as they came into range
“Get us more space!” Henry shouted to the others, crouching down with his portable device. If I can get this going I can knock them all out.
Nari nodded, spinning around, shots striking home and keeping the creatures from reaching her charge.
“Do you have a plan here?” Basta shouted to Henry. “If you have a strategy now is the time.”
“Basically, it will shoot a concussive blast of energy.” Henry explained as he worked, taking out a handheld device and strapping it to his hand. immediately commanded. “I attuned it to pass through humans with no damage…anything else…is screwed. I just need time to power it up.”
The others nodded and took on defensive positions. The creatures had no real defense against their weapons. However effective bullets were proving to be…the creatures were proving to be non-fearing of these new arrivals and had massive numbers.
“They aren’t afraid of us much.” Basta confirmed. “No matter how many we cut down they just keep coming.”
“They haven’t seen man before.” French added. “They have no way to fear…they are likely the top of the food chain here.”
“Well hopefully we can make them afraid.” Nari added. “Before our bullets run out!”
Henry worked away at the device. He had rigged it up the night before and though he was convinced the blast would not hurt him or his friends, he had no way of knowing the effectiveness when used against the creatures. He knew it would take a moment to recharge the device after firing, so he did not want to waste even one shot. He knew the bullets would not hold out forever and had to figure out what he was going to do…and figure it out fast.
French was a wildcard, he was trained for this and he was more in tuned with his combat
training than even Basta. Whereas the others were pilots, commanders, adventurers, French was just a warrior. This was his job and likely the first time he had been called to do it and it served him fine. He ejected a clip and put in a new one, the others covering him as he did. As he began to fire, they reloaded their guns. They were starting to fire slower, the bullets beginning to dwindle and the idea that every shot needed to count was impressed. Even French was now taking slower and more controlled shots.
Henry was no stranger to danger and treated it as a challenge like any other. He knew that though they were faster than a man and stronger they were more animals than man. Though they were on another world, evolution worked the same way and they acted like the animals of earth. Henry thought, his mind moving at a mile a second about everything he knew about dangerous predatory animals. Animals were not as smart as man but this was also where one underestimated them. Whereas one or two may seem dumb and almost run headlong into dangerous combat, in packs they were smarter. His group acted in reflex, automatically back to back and seemingly fortified. Though this seemed infallible this was how most fell against predatory attacks he wagered, not in the initial barrage but when the defenders began to feel safe. This was the tactic of the pack hunters, they would probe attack and watch and when a weakness appeared they would take it. They had no way of knowing about man, so they were literally throwing the young and weaker at them and waiting for a mistake or weakness to present itself. If these were the expendable creatures…where were the leaders?
Henry took a look around, scanning around and trying to find the advantageous way of attack. It was impossible for him to think like the beast so instead he focused on what he would do. This was an area of rocky terrain under loose dirt and there were certainly paths and tunnels beneath their feet. If an opponent had an impassible position on the surface, attacking from underneath would be the way to go. With the creature’s claws and speed, it would likely be no problem to attack from below.
“They are going to strike from below the ground.” Henry shouted.
“What should we do?” Basta said, taking only a moment of pause between shots to ask for Henry’s judgement.
“French…get us a path forward.” Henry shouted. “When we move, I will sue the device!”
“I can do that!” French nodded with a smile.
French changed his shooting, instead of an all-area spread he focused a path back towards the way they had come, cutting a path through the oncoming creatures. Basta and Nari moved forward as one, shooting together, cutting into attackers and holding the escape path. Henry followed, setting the device to shoot out all around in five seconds. He unstrapped it from his hand and tossed it like a grenade, precisely where they stood. The power erupted out from the device, crushing the earth and making it ripple out like a mini earthquake. The ground around the blast began to collapse as the group scrambled to get out of the crush zone. Cries of dozens of creatures could be heard from the tunnels below as the ground collapsed on them and buried them beneath.
The remaining creatures on the surface seemed discouraged seeing their plans fall though. They began to flee, returning into the hills from which they came.
Basta kept the others vigilant, making sure every creature left behind was indeed slain.
“Will they return?” Nari asked. “To attack us again?”
“They likely feel that we are more trouble than we are worth.” French replied. “They did not know us before, now they know to fear us.”
“They did not like the wave pulse.” Basta added, calming down but not yet ready to put away his gun.
“You were amazing.” Nari commented to Henry. “You are capable for anything.”
“Couldn’t have done it without you.” Henry replied in a modest tone. “Though it was teamwork that really prevailed today.”
“Well either way our skills prevailed for us today.” Nari replied. “And for that I am grateful.”
“We can track them now.” Henry replied. “We can set the scanners to tell us if one of these things are within twenty miles.”
“WE should bring down some wave field equipment.” Basta explained. “Set a perimeter they cannot cross without damaging themselves.”
“Can we still colonize?” Nari asked. “With these creatures here?”
“We are able to fight them.” Basta replied. “We were just caught unprepared and had to teach them where on the food chain we belong. With preparation and vigilance, we should establish our place here and they will focus on less dangerous prey.”
“We should go back to the basecamp for now and radio the others.” Henry replied. “We have a lot of work to do to make the area safe enough to stay here.”
“Those creatures won’t get the drop on us again.” French added. “Though you should use that scanning thing to see what else might be in store for us.”
“It has been working.” Henry commented. “I suppose we should have given it more time…now anything larger than a mouse comes calling we will know.”
“Works for me.” Basta replied. “Compared to some of the other dangers we have faced of late they seem less terrifying.”
“Nothing scarier than the unknown.” Henry admitted. “And lately we know so much more than the day before.”
“It is like anywhere new.” French replied with a slight smile. “The American Midwest was a scary and inhospitable place before it was won.”
“This world will need to be tames.” Basta said with a smile. “For those who volunteer to stay and those who come after them…it will be a hard life filled with countless challenges and dangers. However, there are some that would jump at the chance.”
“This place got my heart racing again.” French admitted. “I haven’t felt like that in years. I want to be one of the ones who tames this place. If you are looking for volunteers, look no further than me for the first one.”
Basta laughed. “What about the perfect open spaces of Arizona?”
“Might go back to them someday.” French admitted. “Though the adventure here is hard to pass up.”
“So be it.” Basta replied with a proud nod.
The group set up a magnetic field around the base area…anything non-human that tried to cross it would be shocked and sent running. Nari flew a run back up to the ship as the other lander brought down more personal and supplies. Within hours there were temporary structures, fortifications and places to sleep.
There were no more signs of the creatures that night. According to the sensors they were far away and moving farther. They seemed, as anticipated to be after their more usual prey, deciding that humans were too dangerous to be worth the risk. French came to calling them Beak-wolves and the name seemed to be sticking. Henry took a moment to realize how far he had come. He could not help but think of times when he was in the city of his birth, surrounded by crumbling towers of steel and glass, thinking that it would all fall down. That felt like the end, it felt like a world that had a timer left. However, on this new world, all he could see was the future. Though he felt the draw to stay, to see what could be built here he knew that he would not be happy in the long run. He liked moving forward, finding new things and new discoveries. The ship was calculating the known universe and soon it would theoretically be open to him. There were countless mysteries left in the universe and he would explore them, answering what could be answered and striving ever forward to the next. He did not want to stop moving. However, as Nari came into his tent, he thought of just one thing that he wanted to stay constant. She joined him and together they spent the first night on a brand-new world together.
Over the next two days all Manner of equipment was brought down for the new planet. As anticipated, there were many volunteers that wanted to stay and start studying the planet. This was something that was not without risk, as if anything happened to the ship, there might not be anyone coming back for them. However, those involved happily took the risk and began to set up. The plan was for the ship to jump back to M
ars, update mission control and prepare to send others. There were many other ships in the fleet and it would not take long for them to be retrofitted with the jump engines, now that Henry knew how to make them work. More ships would arrive with equipment and personal or Basta himself would come back to pick them up. The group that stayed behind, led by French were determined, that when the others came, they would already have a great foothold on the planet, one that those coming with greater supplies would be proud of.
The map had indeed finished calculating the planet back to earth, displaying the new planet was quite far from earth indeed. The amount of time it would have taken to go from earths solar system to its solar system with normal propulsion was nearly incalculable. Henry left the map to keep compiling beyond the two points, and set the computer to jump and joined the others on the bridge.
“I must say I am excited and somewhat jealous for those we are leaving behind.” Basta admitted. “They have an amazing adventure ahead of them and are going to the first people to actually live on this planet.”
“Leaves some interesting things to keep track of.” Nari added. “They have detailed records of the first human born in space, the first on Mars. This will be the first human born in another galaxy.”
“Such a distinction does not exist on earth.” Henry replied. “Unless you count Adam and Eve.”
“We are in a generation that has shown more change for humanity than any that have come before.” Basta explained. “The industrial revolution, the computer revolution, the internet age, all pale in comparison to what we are doing now.”
“I cannot imagine that it stops here.” Henry replied. “I for one feel that the stars are the limit with this and there is still so much to do.”
“I agree.” Basta said with a smile to Henry. “I admit that we set our goals high when I brought you into my project. I could not have imagined the heights we would achieve together. What we have gotten has exceeded my expectations nearly infinitely.”
Waves: The Collapsing Universe Page 5