The Stars That Beckon

by Kevin J Simington

  “That’s outrageous!” said Zac. “That farming equipment is for the use of the whole colony, not just the few poor souls who throw their lot in with you!”

  “Plus,” added Kit, “we will need medical supplies and food; food that won’t perish. You will have access to the food dispensers on Genesis for as long as you like, whereas we won’t have that luxury. We are going to need boxes of biscuits and energy bars, plus a whole lot of yeast steaks that we can use to supplement our diet with protein.”

  “You’re starting to see your predicament, aren’t you?” said Wisecroft, with barely concealed smugness. “I think once people realise how pitifully equipped you are, there will be a veritable flood of refugees leaving your ill-advised rebellion. Are you sure you don’t want to join us at Settlement City?”

  “You bastard!” exclaimed Kit.

  “Hold on,” said Zac. “Are you saying you won’t even supply us with basic medical supplies and food?”

  “Not at all! I am, if nothing else, a generous man. You may take two boxes of energy bars and some first-aid kits. If, at any point in the future, people require more significant medical treatment than you can provide for them, they will have the option of permanently relocating to Settlement City, where they can receive state-of-the-art medical intervention on board Genesis.”

  “Wisecroft, you can’t do this!” said Zac. “You are condemning this colony to almost certain failure, simply out of spite!”

  “Your predicament is of your own making, Dr Perryman. There’s an old saying: ‘You make your bed; you lie in it.’ I think your fellow-rebels will soon realise that they have made the wrong choice.”

  “You bastard!” exclaimed Kit again.

  “Ms Tyler, you really must try to expand your vocabulary. I suggest a thesaurus. I will send down two shuttles with your transferees and the basic food and medical supplies that I have described. When they return with the transferees who wish to join me, I will begin sending down the zip-huts. That is all.”

  The comm went dead, leaving Zac and Kit sitting in shocked silence for a moment.

  “I can’t believe he’s doing this to us,” said Zac.

  “I can,” replied Kit.

  “We’re doomed!” said Zac. “We can’t possibly make a go of it without a fair share of supplies and equipment. I can’t see any way out of this, other than to concede defeat and join Wisecroft.”

  “Not so fast,” said Kit. “I don’t think Wisecroft has thought this through properly. I think we may have a strong bargaining chip that he hasn’t counted on.”

  “What?”

  “If I’m right, I’ll tell you in about an hour.”

  44

  Less than an hour later, two shuttles had landed with the additional colonists from Genesis and a few meagre supplies. Kit and Zac were back in the cockpit of their own shuttle, and they opened up a channel to Wisecroft.

  “Wisecroft, you’ve got a problem,” said Kit, without any preliminaries. “All of the pilots and co-pilots down here want nothing to do with you. They’ve all chosen to stay and are refusing to fly your colonists back to Genesis. Plus, we now have eight shuttles on the ground here, leaving you with two up there. Have you worked out how many trained pilots you have on Genesis?”

  “Um ... I am going to need to get back to you.” Wisecroft clicked off.

  “Ha!” said Kit. “He didn’t think that one through, did he?”

  A few minutes later, Wisecroft came back on the air. “We’ve, um, got one partially trained co-pilot.”

  Kit said, “If your partially trained co-pilot is Simpkins, and I think it is, don’t let him anywhere near a shuttle cockpit. Ever! That means you have no pilots. Period. Not a great situation for you, is it?”

  Wisecroft remained silent.

  “Your command and your mission are no longer feasible, Wisecroft,” Kit said.

  “Not at all,” he replied. “Genni can land Genesis with us on board. Landing people via the shuttles is a safety precaution that we can easily bypass.”

  “You’re wrong,” said Kit. “Landing an interstellar ship the size of Genesis on a planet with atmosphere and significant mass is an extremely risky procedure, even with an AI at the helm. I’m a trained pilot, used to taking risks, and there’s no way in blue thunder I would want to be on board that vessel while it is attempting to land. In the history of human space flight, we have never attempted to land a vessel the size of Genesis on an atmosphere-dense planet. As you are probably aware, the only time we ever attempted to land a large vessel on Earth, it didn’t go well. The transport ship, Pegasus II, was only a quarter of the size of Genesis, and it crashed in the Mojave Desert, killing its entire crew. You are risking the lives of everyone on board, including yourself.”

  “Yes,” interjected Zac. “I’m sure you place a fairly high value on your own life.”

  There was silence from Wisecroft.

  “By the way,” added Kit, “are you certain Genni will even recognise your authority?”

  “She already has,” responded Wisecroft. “Whatever other arguments you may make, the fact is that I am now the most senior officer on Genesis. Genni is programmed to obey seniority.”

  “Damn it!” whispered Kit under her breath.

  “That may be,” replied Zac, “but you still have a major problem on your hands, with no pilots and no way of transferring your colonists to the surface safely.”

  Wisecroft remained silent, the gears of his mind spinning.

  Kit broke the silence. “I think we can help each other out here. You’re going to need five shuttle trips to get your people to Settlement City. I think I can convince our pilots to help, provided we get the supplies we need from Genesis. We estimate it’s going to take at least 10 shuttle loads to transfer all our supplies from Genesis to here. So, here’s what I suggest. We’ll gut two of our shuttles, removing all the seats, and send them up to start loading our gear onto them. Every time they both come back fully laden, we’ll fly a load of colonists to your Settlement City site, starting with the 43 transferees from Seahaven, followed by people coming off Genesis. That’s as fair a deal as we can give you.”

  Wisecroft wasn’t happy, but he had no choice. The deal was done, and the hard work began.

  Kit and one of Genesis’ original shuttle pilots, Harvey Walden, flew the two now-gutted freight shuttles, and Leander Gallstrom, another original Genesis pilot, flew the passenger shuttle. They also decided to take two fully armed security personnel, because of the very real risk that Wisecroft would attempt to abduct a pilot or two. Zac co-piloted with Kit, and they took Martinez and Boyd as armed security, as well as several workers to help with the transfer of supplies. The Seahaven colony had five additional security personnel who had chosen not to go with Wisecroft, mainly because of their respect for Martinez over George Leonidis. Four of them were assigned to the other two shuttles.

  An hour after the deal with Wisecroft had been brokered, the three shuttles approached Genesis. Kit and Zac’s shuttle was the first to land in a loading bay. As the external doors sealed behind them, Kit told Martinez, Boyd and the others to take cover in the passenger compartment and position themselves with lines of crossfire to the shuttle door. It was just as well they did. As soon as the loading bay was pressurised and the shuttle doors opened, Wisecroft showed his hand. Two of Wisecroft’s security guards stormed the shuttle, fully armed. They entered the shuttle using classic commando infiltration tactics, covering each other and scanning the interior with weapons raised, while screaming out, “Everyone down on the ground! Everyone down on the ground now!”

  Martinez and Boyd, however, were well prepared. The cabin lights had been turned off and the armed guards were beautifully silhouetted in the shuttle doorway. Using neuro-disruptor stun guns, both potential hijackers were rendered unconscious in a matter of seconds, and their weapons seized.

  “You guys OK back there?” asked Kit, a few moments later.

  “Easy as shooting ducks on a pond,” an
swered Martinez. “Plus, we just scored some more weapons.”

  “Yeh, but check this out,” said Boyd, examining one of the captured rifles. “These are laser rifles, and they were set to maximum power! That’s a lethal charge!” He looked at the two unconscious men and shook his head. He hadn’t been close friends with them, but they had been work colleagues until now. “What sort of hold does Wisecroft have over them that they would be willing to use lethal force?”

  “You better warn the others, Kit,” said Martinez. “I expect they’ll be in for the same treatment.”

  She was right. Exactly the same scenario unfolded in the other two shuttles, with a total of four more armed guards rendered unconscious and their weapons seized.

  Kit was seething with anger at Wisecroft’s attempted duplicity, and once the threats had been neutralised, she called him up on the comms.

  “What were you thinking, you moron?!” she yelled at him. “Were you planning to kill us or just maim us? Or did you think that by pointing a gun at our heads we would happily join your band of merry men?”

  “I do apologise, my dear,” said Wisecroft soothingly, once it became clear that the attempted takeover of the shuttles had failed. “They must have misunderstood my orders. I simply asked them to stand guard and ensure that no unauthorised equipment was taken by your enthusiastic team.”

  “That’s total crap!” said Kit. “You overplayed your hand this time. You’ve just lost seven of your goons. They’re trussed up like turkeys and will remain that way until all the transfers are complete.”

  “On the positive side,” contributed Zac, somewhat laconically, “we certainly appreciate the unexpected addition of weapons to our arsenal. Very generous of you.”

  On the first trip up, Grizzle had insisted on going with his team of loaders, to supervise the loading of equipment and make sure they got a fair deal. As he said, “I don’t trust that bastard as far as I can throw him!” He and his team immediately set to work, checking inventories and moving equipment to the shuttle bays.

  It took nearly three hours for the two cargo shuttles to make the first round trip and be unloaded back at Seahaven. As they finished the unloading and prepared to return to Genesis, Zac told Kit, “We’re only going to fit one more trip in before dark today.”

  “I agree,” said Kit.

  Zac said, “I’ll tell Grizzle to make this next load primarily zip-huts, camping gear and food. We will have to resume again at first light tomorrow.”

  It was another two hours before the cargo shuttles returned and all the camping gear was unloaded. By then the light was fading, and there was a scramble to set up the zip-huts and get the cookers working to heat up food for the evening meal. As the new arrivals warmed their food, the sun sank below the horizon and the howlers (which is what they had been dubbed), started their dreadful, but thankfully brief, wailing chorus. After ten minutes of their dreadful screeching, their cries died away and the exotic sounds of the night took over. Weird animal and insect noises filled the air, as Nova’s nocturnal life awakened. The colonists lit their campfires and attended to their evening tasks as the sounds of this strange new world filled the air.

  Zac, Kit and everyone who had been involved in the transfer of equipment were all exhausted. The day had certainly not turned out the way they had envisaged when they first woke that morning. As the close group of friends gathered around the campfire, drinking tea and debriefing, Zac said, “What have we done? Have we done the right thing? Maybe we should have all stuck with Wisecroft.”

  “That’s just tiredness talking, not logic,” said Kit. “This is a much better location. Sure, it will be tough at first, but in the end we will flourish here.”

  “Besides, that man is evil,” added Keo. “We are much better off without him, even if we don’t have Genesis.”

  They all retired to their zip-huts soon after, most of them falling asleep immediately. But Zac lay awake worrying. He hoped they would be able to get all the supplies they needed safely down from Genesis without mishap.

  They didn’t.

  45

  Nova Day 5

  It took two more days to finish the equipment transfers. The final day was spent transferring the larger equipment: two solar generators, two tractors, four quad bikes, an assortment of workshop and engineering machinery and a caterpillar—an eight-wheeled ground vehicle capable of carrying 20 passengers. The tractors and caterpillar were too large to fit inside a shuttle, so these were driven into drop boxes on board Genesis—heat-shielded metal containers that had basic auto-thruster systems for orbit decay and auto-deployed chutes for a reasonably soft landing. The drop boxes were pushed out into space by robo-loaders once a loading bay had been vented. The difficulty lay in calculating precisely when to activate the orbit decay thrusters to ensure that the boxes landed in the target zone. The drop boxes were temporarily left in orbit and the last shuttle-loads of equipment were brought back to Seahaven and unloaded. It was late afternoon by the time the unloading was finished, so it was decided to wait until the next morning to bring the drop boxes down. That way they would have all day to track them down and retrieve them after landing.

  Two days’ hard work had transformed the settlement, for that was what they were calling it now. All attempts to gain access to the existing houses had failed, and the colonists had resigned themselves to living in temporary accommodation for the short term. Orderly rows of zip-huts had been established in the park, with “streets” between them. Each of the two-person zip-huts could be joined with others, forming larger family-sized zip-huts with living and sleeping sections. They had taken almost the entire supply of zip-huts from Genesis, so there were plenty of them for people to create elaborate ‘homes’. Each zip-hut was a perfect cube, two metres per side, made of a waterproof material that contained microlayers of bioconducting, photoelectric insulation. Each hut could be set to the inhabitant’s desired temperature, with the bioconducting material venting heat either inwards or outwards. The bio conductors also produced a small amount of power—enough to power a low-voltage cooker, a small food cooler and run some lights, via a power outlet mounted in the roof.

  Keo had been busy organising fishing expeditions, using almost all the fishing gear that Genesis had contained. So far, the fishing had been extremely successful, with everyone having at least a taste of fish for dinner each night. Regina had organised harvesting expeditions, and several more species of edible fruits, nuts and berries had been located. More importantly, a whole field of large potato-like vegetables had been discovered, comprising approximately 30 acres. The local potatoes had obviously been a staple crop of the original inhabitants, and they had continued to grow wild—in fact, prolifically so. This was arguably the most significant find so far, as it effectively ensured a steady supply of carbohydrates that could sustain the colony, even if all other food sources failed.

  The stream flowing through the park provided a steady supply of fresh water. However, some hygiene rules needed to be put in place quickly regarding its use. The toilet zip-huts had been set up between the eastern footbridge and the stream’s exit from the park. Washing, cleaning and bathing took place upstream from the toilet huts, between the eastern footbridge and the central bridge, and drinking water was collected still further upstream, beyond the central bridge.

  There was still plenty to do. Equipment was piled up everywhere, and larger prefab structures had yet to be erected. But they had made a good start.

  Late in the afternoon, Zac, Keo, Jaz, and Melody took some time off to have a swim at the beach. Colonists had been venturing further and further out into the water, and no aquatic predators had yet been encountered. The shortage of clothing meant that people simply swam in their underwear, and everyone pretended that these were swimming costumes. While Jaz and Melody played in the shallows, Zac and Keo ventured out to where the waves were breaking and did some bodysurfing. Sometime later, the men were sitting on the warm sand, drying off, watching Melody and Jaz build
a sandcastle at the water’s edge.

  “What do you think about marriage?” asked Zac.

  “It’s very nice of you to ask, but I’m not really attracted to you,” answered Keo.

  “Ha. Ha. Very funny. I’m serious. What do you think of it?”

  “I think it’s one of God’s better ideas.”

  “But is it really all that relevant here, in this setting? And anyway, there is no official means of recognising it.”

  “I think marriage is going to be essential in this setting, bro. We have lost so many structures and normal social constraints, and that could pose a problem if we aren’t careful. If we don’t clearly recognise and protect the existence of monogamous sexual partnership, all hell could break loose, my friend. Jealousy, competition, even violence could break out. Everyone is acutely aware that if we are to survive beyond one generation, we need to partner up and have children. People are already looking and competing for partners, and that’s creating tension. Marriage is a way to legitimise and protect the partnerships that have already formed. It is a way of saying, ‘These people are no longer available—go and look somewhere else.’”

  “You make it sound so mechanical and practical.”

  “It is. But it also brings an added dimension to the partnership itself. It brings security and trust, so that love can grow and flourish.”

  “OK. I get all that. But how do we actually do it? I don’t see any marriage registry offices nearby—or churches, for that matter.”

  “This whole planet is a cathedral Zac. You don’t need priests or pulpits or government departments in order to get married. You just need to make a public promise of faithfulness to each other, out in the open, so that everyone will know that you are now a family.”

  Zac thought about it for a while, and finally said, “I love Jaz.”