Opie looked up as Jerry Abraham walked up from one of the vehicles at the back of the convoy. “Hey, Jerry, let me know when all the people, equipment, and supplies are unloaded. We are going to head back for the next load right away. I was just telling Fabian that we are going to leave as many of the trees intact as we can.”
Jerry tied a bandana around his head. His hair was thinning heavily at the front, but he grew it in thickly around the back. He topped off his sun protection with a new straw cowboy hat he had somehow acquired from earth before they left. “Yes, Fabian and I touched base with each other before we left the camp. We haven’t really had to adjust our plans too much other than the types of buildings that we could have built. We can no longer build them unless we can get the rest of the equipment out of the shuttle.”
“Fabian, after you finish the sanitation, let’s get a structure up in the middle of the settlement that can house everybody in case the tents cannot protect us from some predator or other.”
“You bet, Opie. The captain and I already discussed that while you were on your trip. I’m going to start with a basic fence and will go from there.”
“O.K. It sounds like you all have things taken care of, but since I’m responsible for security, I have to bring stuff like this up. I’ll let you and Jerry finish unloading while I scout the Northern wooded boundary. Jerry, just send Chuck along to let me know when we can head back.”
“Opie, if you just give us 30 ticks or so to clean all our stuff out of the vehicles, we’ll be ready.”
“I will plan on leaving in just over a half an hour. The drivers should still be with their vehicles. I’ll fill them in on what the plan is. See ya.”
Opie hurried back to his vehicle and Jerry set off to make sure the vehicles would be emptied out for Opie. Fabian headed off to round up the two guys that would be digging the outhouses. No reason not to start the fun up right away. The ladies and kids would be clamoring for some privacy soon anyways.
CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Outpost
“Thank you for coming, Brent,” Captain Gaston said. He was sitting in the shade of the canvas overhang on his tent. The mountains rose above the clutter of tents off to his right, and the noise of everyday normal activity filled the air. The second vehicle train had just left the camp heading back to the new settlement with the next load of settlers. At the rate they were going, it would take five more round trips and more than 20 days before the whole lot was transferred. They were losing a whole month of useful setup time, just because the shuttle was stranded in the middle of the muck.
“My pleasure, captain,” Brent replied looking down at the captain. “You’re looking better by the day. You almost have all your color back. It’s good to see you up and around. Well, half up and around.”
“This is as far as the doc will let me go. Anyways, what I called you here for is that I plan on going to the new settlement when they return next. However, the shuttle is not properly sealed and in a state of stasis. The radio is still splattering signals in all directions, and the power cells are not properly disconnected for long-term storage. I need you to go out there and wrap things up for me.”
“So, I’m supposed to wade or swim or burrow or something like that?” He tried to smile to add levity to his words but didn’t succeed.
“Hear me out,” the captain snapped. Then he resumed as if there had been no interruption. “I had Opie leave one of the vehicles. It’s on the west side of camp. You can pull right onto the shuttle and go through the side access where I got out. I will give you my access codes that will route you past the retinal scans to access what you need to.”
“I think I can do that,” Brent said. “Do you care who I take with me?”
“No, just whomever you think will work best for you, someone not too much out of shape. There is a fair amount of climbing to do.”
“If that’s all then, Captain, I’ll go ahead and get started. I will let you know when I’m done.”
“Thanks. Be careful or you’ll end up in pieces like me.” He exaggerated a wince as he readjusted himself in the chair. Brent chuckled as he walked off and Captain Gaston watched him with a twinge of jealousy. The chances of him ever getting back on the shuttle or back into space just got a whole lot less. He stretched again and settled in for the long wait.
He would be surprised if Brent made it back before the end of the day. His thoughts wandered again. He’d been doing a lot of that since he was laid up. There was so much that had happened that was never part of the original plan. If something had happened to the COMET, they very well may never get back into space again. If they couldn’t get any more large equipment out of the shuttle, within six months they would be thrown back to life as it was in mid-evil days. Even if they did get the equipment out of the shuttle or if they were able to use Outpost’s equipment, it would still be less than two years before they were essentially back in the Middle Ages. On top of that, they had an advanced alien sentient species for neighbors. For all Gaston knew, it could be that the aliens had attacked the COMET.
Sure enough, it wasn’t until mid-morning of the next day that Brent returned and sat heavily in one of the lawn chairs scattered in a loose semicircle by the entrance to the captain’s tent. His balding head shone with sweat that trailed down the side of his face.
“You look exhausted,” the captain said. “Are you O.K.? Here, have some water.” He pulled a short water cooler out from under his chair. “You’ll have to lift it yourself, my ribs protest when I try to lift anything over…well, anything. I don’t have any other cups out here, but there might be some in the tent.”
“That’s O.K.,” Brent said, walking tiredly over to the captain. “I’ll do it the old fashion way.” He held the cooler over his head stooping to stay low enough to not hit the overhang and spilled the water into his mouth and down the front of his shirt.
“Did you have any problems?” the captain asked.
“No, not really, but there were some things captured in the radio logs you’ll want to know.”
“Go ahead, Brent, I’m all ears.”
“Well, first of all, there were a couple of messages from the survey team, old ones, no longer of any import. Secondly, the signal from the other planet has been broadcasting intermittently. It was fairly consistent as far as time of day, but not constant or on a regular schedule. Third, we received a short broadcast from the Outpost. It was very weak, but I cleaned it up and this is what it said.”
He handed a scrap of paper over to the commander and set back down to watch his reaction. The captain worked his way through several facial reactions. First, he raised his eyebrows, then his eyes narrowed, then he ran his hand through his hair; and as he finished and looked up—nothing.
When he spoke, it was with a quiet and thoughtful voice. “I’m glad they landed safely, that’s more than we can say for ourselves. We haven’t encountered anything like these cave cats of his, but we’d better keep an eye out for them.” He thought again of the silhouetted creature he had seen that first night from the bridge but still didn’t mention it. Instead, he amended what he had said. “Or anything like them. I had hoped that they had heard from the COMET, but I guess I really didn’t expect it. Is that all there was?”
“Yes. Some of it repeated at first then later it repeated the second part like they had added to it.”
“Do you understand what was being said about moving and caves? Surely they wouldn’t live in caves!”
“I don’t know, Captain, it was very hard to hear anything in that part. I did the best I could to clean it up.”
“Thanks, you did well. Everything else on the shuttle is locked down and turned off right?” The captain shifted and grimaced as he spoke.
“Yes, Captain, it’s sealed up. It has settled some more.”
“How much?”
“I’d say about one to one and a half more meters. We need to mark its position somehow; otherwise, I think it will be lost to us forever.”
> “What do you mean? It’s got a long way to go before it’s totally covered up. You actually think that it will sink all the way in?”
“I don’t know what will happen, but it’s already really deep, and it hasn’t stopped yet. Surely it couldn’t hurt to mark its position relative to a fixed landmark on shore or something.”
“Yes, I see what you mean. I’ll have somebody do that when I get a chance unless you want to do that for me.”
Brent chuckled as he answered, “I’ll do it. There’s not much else going on at the moment. If you suggest something, you’d better be willing to do it, right?”
“That’s right. Keep the good ideas coming, you’ll be rewarded,” the captain smiled. It was hard not to laugh, but it hurt badly when he did. “Do a write-up on everything and I’ll file it when you are done. Then if anything happens, we’ll have something to fall back on.”
Again, the captain watched as Brent headed off. This time his mission was probably just a time filler, but with the way things had been going, maybe not.
Three months from touch down had been the target date for reuniting with Outpost and COMET. It was already going on one month, and they were not even to the point they should have been a week after landing. They should have already been settled and partially done with housing. They should have already had a road started towards Outpost. They should have had gardens planted. They should have already had the small fishing boats in use.
Captain Gaston leaned forward with his head in his hands. Whenever he thought about everything that had gone wrong and wasn’t right, he felt like his brain was mush. It was like he could no longer think. It was very frustrating.
“I sure hope Captain McNally is doing better.” He thought to himself. “If God has any compassion at all he will be doing better.”
Captain McNally was doing better, but because he didn’t know how Captain Gaston was doing, he considered himself well behind schedule. As a matter of fact, he was behind schedule, but not nearly as much as the folks at Windfall.
They had now lost four individuals to the cave cats. The cats definitely didn’t care for bright lights and stayed hidden during the day. The last death had come as quite a shock.
Shorty had done a magnificent job boring out the entrance to the cave. He had made the tunnel cylindrical but had gone back over it later and had squared up the floor. He essentially finished up with a corridor that was vaulted the length of it. He had worked miracles by somehow filling in the crevice that had extended upwards from the tunnel.
Ken and Jose had worked their magic on the front gate that now served as an ample barrier against anything, but modern weaponry. The doors were over a hands-breadth thick and were banded with steel and set deep into the rocks. The upper gates had yet to be set but were not deemed as critical.
It had been after the gates were in place that the attack had occurred. They had all felt safe and secure from the terror of the cats that had killed and mutilated three of Brian’s security detail. When Jimenez failed to show up after his night shift, they had spread out and searched for him. The gates were still closed when they found his cold torch and some scraps of clothing amidst a pool of blood and gore.
Raul had again been the first officer to stumble on the den of the guilty cave cats. Only one had been in the den and only because of his extremely fast reactions and a bit of luck had they been able to kill it. Had both cave cats been there, it would have been a different story.
Rather than carrying the body out, they left it where it was and set a trap in case another one showed up. They only had to wait an hour before the other one came. It was distracted by feeding on the first and had no chance to put up a fight when Raul and his crew descended on it with their laser pistols flaring.
They would be enjoying cat burgers for some time to come. Unfortunately, more restrictions would have to be placed on the settlers until the tunnels were cleared of any threat from any other possible cave cats or other as yet unknown predators. That was why Captain McNally now stood on the highest part of the rise on the island in the cave surrounded by every single person that had been aboard the Outpost. They stood on the hill below him in a large semi-circle that radiated out into the tent city. The few children they had brought on the journey were with their parents and were quiet and reserved. All four of the security guards that had been killed had been well known. The group was still small enough you couldn’t not be known. Even quiet Sharon Wallace who had no job or special skills was known among the circle of mothers and now was known all the more because her husband Jedidiah was the first to die on the new planet, Magellan.
Captain McNally held his hands up again, trying to quiet them down so he wouldn’t have to yell. This time, he got their attention and soon there was an almost unnatural quiet.
“Thank you all for your attention,” he began, pulling up his pants out of nervous habit. “I wanted to let you all know the progress that we’ve made in securing the cave system and our plans for the future. Thank you for electing me Mayor of Outpost. You will not regret it. Our hearts go out to the friends and families of those we’ve lost during the past few weeks - most recently, Jimenez Blanca. Maria, our hearts go out to you. We are here for you.”
“We have taken care of the problem of the two cats that attacked him. As a matter of fact, you’ll be having them for lunch today.” A smattering of giggles and groans echoed out across the crowd before they quieted back down. “We’ve decided on the following precautions that should help to prevent any more accidents. First, there is a curfew of sundown for anyone outside the cavern. The cats come out at night and until we are sure we are safe out there, no one is to be outside at night.” He held up his hands to quell the rising protests. “Your safety is paramount to us. Keep that in mind as we fight for survival on this untamed planet.” Let them think of it as a war. “Second, as we clear out the tunnels that branch out from here, no one may go past any security checkpoint. It is still safer in the cavern than outside, and we are going to ensure that nothing harmful has a chance to attack us in the safety of our new home. That’s right, I said our new home. You need to get used to it. We will not be allowing anyone to live outside the caverns for quite some time.”
He knew that he would get a reaction when he said that, but the four deaths leading up to this decision had tempered their desire to live outdoors. Besides that, they were somewhat accustomed to living in an enclosed space since they had been confined in the space shuttle for a long time until they landed almost a month past. It was a bit of a surprise to him then when there was a ripple of murmurs, but no loud or extended outcry. So prepared was he for the outcry, he almost didn’t know what to say when there wasn’t one.
“Moving on,” he continued raising his hands, “moving on, we have a lot of work to do and we need you to apply yourselves as much as you can. We don’t know how much time we have before really cold weather hits. For that matter, we don’t know how cold it will be out there or how long it will last when it gets here. We have some new factors on our side that will help us to endure. For one, we live in a cavern that will keep us at a comfortable living temperature regardless of how hot or cold it is outside. We are protected from wild predators. We have a source of fresh water.” He waved to his side where a stream of water bubbled out of the hill where he stood and trickled down through the camp to the water’s edge. “The only difficulty at this time is that we don’t have a ready food source if inclement weather were to hit us. That then is what our next primary focus will be. I have Ken Wesson working with Shorty on some innovative ways to hang some hydroponic gardens here in the cavern. Delray and Michael Rooney will be advising him with that.”
He stopped to get a drink and looked around at the attentive eyes before continuing. “All in all, I am very proud of you for your hard work, your perseverance, and your excellent attitudes in less than ideal conditions. We are somewhat behind schedule, but that is O.K. We have two months before we need to contact the COMET or Windfall,
and by then, I imagine we will be way ahead of them because of our discovery of this cavern and all the ways we will benefit from it. I’m not going to open up for questions, but you may come and talk to me at any time. If you have questions about security issues, talk with Brian, and talk to Delray for any farming issues.
“Welcome to Magellan, Outpostans. Job well done!”
CHAPTER TWELVE:
Loss
Yakobe sat with his feet dangling from the entrance to the strange contraption that had fallen from the stars. He licked his fingers and threw the corncob into the fire in the center of the clearing sending sparks dancing merrily into the air. To the right of the fire was a mound of alien artifacts stacked a meter high and extending back into the trees. They had found a lot more in the contraption than they had anticipated.
Some items were shaped similarly to how locals made them. Those items like cups and platters and knives, they stacked in a separate pile. It was the pile of the identifiable items and was much smaller than the other pile.
The other pile held boxes of hollow metallic needles, other multi-pronged metallic objects no longer than their feet. Some of the larger objects were coated on one side with glass and had a gaggle of metal, wire, and some other unknown substance on the other. Many items had the same covering of glass that presumably was a window of sorts to see what was behind it, but there was nothing visible behind them. Perhaps there needed to be some type of energy applied to them. Only time would tell. They did not react to sunlight. It was going to be very enjoyable experimenting with all they were finding.
Yakobe picked up the metal cylindrical object next to his leg. Out of everything they’d found so far, this was the most interesting yet. It too had a clear glass window on one end, but the rest was just a smooth metallic substance from one end to the other. He had rubbed it, and squeezed it, and thumped it, with nothing happening. It wasn’t until he had thrown it into the unknown pile with disgust that it had emitted a bright beam of light. He fingered the button ingeniously hidden at the opposite end of the cylinder from where the light appeared and played its beam of light into the interior of the house or vehicle or whatever the contraption was. The light revealed a smoke-stained interior of various materials. Many of the surfaces were metallic, but a few were made of another strange material that was fairly strong, but pliable and which had melted away in some spots from the heat. He hadn’t seen any wood, or plant life, or any food source, but surely, they had to have stuff like that. Yakobe couldn’t imagine what life would be like stuck in a metal box with no life surrounding him. He switched the light off and slid it into the deep pockets in his pants.
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