“I bet Terry followed the river in when they came in to land, too,” Gaston said. “That’s what I would have done by the looks of the valley.”
Their spirits rose higher as they traversed the side of the mountain. The sun was out. The air was getting easier to breathe. Their goal was in sight. They were all but there already (if you ignored the actual distance).
True to form, they were off the mountain by the end of the next day. They could no longer see the shuttle but could faintly make out the tops of the hills on both sides of where they knew it stood. The next four days passed quickly with little incident.
Nicole gathered samples along the way. She was intrigued by the similarities in the species she was finding here and those back on Earth. They saw beavers along the stream at the base of the mountains where the tree growth was thick. They saw no pine but did see a variety of teak, oak, cashew, and many others. Several times, they caught sight of packs of dogs following their trail curiously for a time, before they wandered off in some other direction.
They ate well off the trout and bass in abundance along the stream. Once, Caleb shot a mule deer that was a little too curious. He shot a small one since he didn’t want to waste the meat and they didn’t want to have to stop for an extended time to dry the meat.
Birds were plentiful too. Nick discovered a nest of owls in some holes not too far from the stream. As the trees thinned out and the land flattened into a softly rolling Savannah, they saw more rail, hawks, and vultures. At one point, they had to detour around a herd of oxen that were enjoying the cool water in front of them.
On the 22nd day, not long after they set out, they topped a rise and saw the first sign of habitation. Rows of plowed earth, freshly budding with corn, stretched out as far as they could see. The stalks were only 30 centimeters high at first, but as they progressed, the stalks grew taller and taller. Around mid-day, they pushed through the now head-high stalks to discover a small stone hovel only a stone’s throw from the water’s edge. A large tractor was parked off to the side, silent and still.
“Hail the house,” Gaston shouted. “Is anybody home?”
A jolly, round face popped briefly into the small stone window and disappeared only to reappear out the door. The owner of the face was wearing a pair of new overalls streaked with dirt and grime. “Well, howdy!” he drawled. “Who do we have here? Are y’all from the Magellan? I think I recognize you. You’re the Cap’n, ain’t ya?”
“Captain Gaston at your service. What is your name?”
“I am Delray Mac at your service. John Tuff’s around here somewhere. He comes ‘n goes. He’ll be back in time to take us back to the Outpost before dark. Where’s y’all’s ve-hicle? You know it ain’t safe around here at night, don’t ya?”
“No. Why would you say that?” Nicole asked.
“We haven’t seen anything yet that would try to cause trouble for us,” said Nick.
“Y’all c’mon in and take a load off.” Delray opened the door for them to enter. The door was a typical metallic cabin door cannibalized from the shuttle. Inside, the hovel was barren but functional. There was only one room with a cot, a small table attached to the wall, and a gas burner still lit under a small pot of boiling water. The smell emanating from the pot was not the most appetizing aroma Nicole had smelled, but she was hungry, and her stomach didn’t seem to care as it growled for attention. “This here’s collard greens, native grown,” Delray said. “I’ll quick throw some more on for y’all. Main course is cat steaks. We keep ‘em salted and cool like in the olden days 'cause we don’t have electricity and ice boxes like we’re used to.”
“Did you say ‘cat steaks’?” Gaston asked. “I must have heard you wrong.”
“Why? Y’all haven’t had any run-ins with them yet?”
They exchanged glances. Caleb answered, “We don’t’ have a clue what you’re talking about. We have hardly seen a ferocious enough creature to have a run-in with it.”
“Count yourself lucky then cause we’ve lost four people to these beasts. They are like a cross between a leopard and a saber tooth tiger. Their fur coats are a mottled black and gray color that is very hard to see in the dark and blends in with the rock caves where they live. So far, they only come out at night to play. That’s why we moved camp and don’t stay out here as bait at night. Set yourselves down now and relax. We’ll have us a bite to eat when John gets back and then head back to Outpost. What can you tell me about how y’all have been at the Magellan?”
Gaston started giving him a general run-down of what the situation was at Magellan and was about half-way done when John showed up and he had to start all over.
“I can see we’re going to have to have a communal gathering soon or we’ll end up telling our story several hundred times,” Nicole groaned.
“That’s for sure,” Delray said. “We are all very curious about how y’all are doing.”
“Thanks for the food,” Nick said as they wiped their dishes down. “Cat never tasted so good!”
“We have plenty of questions of our own. That is sort of why we are here. We need to prepare for the future and now that we’ve been here a few months there is no better time.”
John anxiously guided them out to the All-Terrain Rover parked outside the hut. “It will be dark soon, so we need to get going. There will be plenty of time to talk when we get to Outpost.”
They all piled into the A.T.R. It was a tight fit, but they were happy to not have to walk the rest of the way. Delray chattered away as they watched the rows of corn and beans bounce by them. Their shadow stretched out in front of them and the ever-present planet in the northern sky brightened as the orange sun sank into the horizon behind them. The Magellan crew was shocked when they were admitted through the stone gates to where the underground town of Outpost awaited, bathed in a cheery glow of unknown origin.
Delray grinned as he watched their wide eyes and open-mouthed expressions. “Not quite what you were expecting is it!”
“It’s amazing!” said Nicole.
The rest of them echoed her sentiment.
“What is the glow from?” Gaston asked.
“It doesn’t look like anything off the shuttles,” added Caleb.
We’ll show you in a bit,” John said as he maneuvered the vehicle into a recess in the tunnel wall. “This is as far as we drive. I sent security on ahead of us, so we had better not take too long looking around just yet. We’ll have a crowd waiting for us at the bridge.”
“The bridge?” Gaston asked.
“You’ll see. Come on follow me.”
They lifted their packs once again onto their backs and walked out into the tall, vaulted tunnel.
“What a work of art,” Nicole exclaimed as she ran her hand over the smooth surface of the wall. The light had a slightly blue hue and the rock was marbled and swirled with different shades. Upon closer inspection, Nicole noticed that the glow came from notches cut into the rock and facing upwards about two and a half meters off the floor. The floor of the tunnel was flat and textured so that it would not be slippery when wet.
Nick took a startled breath as he passed out of the tunnel into a large vaulted cavern. The bridge was offset to the left of the tunnel by several meters and appeared to be only half completed. Several fires and more glowing lights reflected off the placid lake surrounding the large island. A large crowd awaited along the far shore.
“Welcome to Outpost,” John said throwing his arms wide. “The bridge may not look like much yet, but it does span the lake. Stay to the left and you’ll be O.K.”
They stepped carefully on the rocks and planks forming the bridge and were greeted warmly by Captain McNally and with a loud cheer from the crowd.
Paul waved his hands at the crowd to quiet them down. “As Mayor of Outpost, I bid you welcome. It is so exciting for us to have our first guests. I hope we see much more of each other and can develop strong trade relations between our settlements. Please give a brief update to us all before
we get you settled in Gaston.”
Gaston made it as brief as he could because they were exhausted from their trip and the four of them wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep for two days. Gaston felt encouraged by the thirst for news that the crowd displayed while he spoke. He began to add more and more detail as they groaned with him about the shuttle sinking and the race to get everybody safely off. They cheered at his rescue after he was trapped and injured in the tilting corridor. A solemn hush fell over them while he spoke of the few cryptic messages he had received from the COMET. They whispered excitedly at the vivid pictures he painted in their minds of the new settlement of Magellan. He spoke of the size of the bog, the surrounding hills, the idyllic bay, and its oddly fresh water. They murmured with curiosity at the immense planet that hung so close on their northern horizon like an older sister watching out for her sibling.
Nicole took over as Gaston grew weary and told of their long journey over the mountain range on foot after they left their vehicle on the ridge up to the pass. She shared her love for the biology of the planet and the variety of plant and animal life she had discovered. They felt her pain as she described the long days at high altitude and laughed at the insufferable men she had to endure.
When they were done speaking, they were welcomed into the arms of the crowd, relieved of their packs, and brought to where tents had been pitched for them.
Gaston waved Paul inside his tent as the crowd dispersed. “Thank you for your hospitality, Paul. We are so grateful.”
“Actually, I want to thank you. This is the first time I’ve seen some of these folks smile in a month’s time. Your struggles you’ve gone through and the tales you all had to tell have given us the distraction we needed. It’s given us a sense of perspective and we don’t feel so isolated anymore.”
“Yes, I know what you mean. We would like to hear your story too. We need to hear all about these cats that have been plaguing you.”
“Why don’t we meet first thing in the morning and I’ll tell you all together. By the snore coming from someone’s tent, you are all in need of a rest before we dig into too much more.”
“O.K., tomorrow it is,” said Gaston. “We’ll see you then.”
Paul walked to the tent flap and turned as he exited. “If you need anything, just grab somebody and ask. We want you to enjoy your time here.”
Gaston thought it would take him a long time to get to sleep, but the next thing he knew, Caleb was shaking his tent saying, “Wake up Captain, they’ve got breakfast ready for us.
Gaston felt like he was in a dream when he exited his tent and saw a shaft of sunlight spilling through a gaping hole in the ceiling of the cave. The side of the cave where the light landed, had been resurfaced from its natural mossy rough appearance into a multi-faceted, convex column. The beam of light fragmented into hundreds of beams that reflected into the far corners of the cavern. Dust motes floated lazily in the air revealed by the many shafts of light. The result was a web of light ever changing and shifting that chased the dimness out of the cavern.
“It doesn’t last very long yet,” Paul said, clapping him on the back. “Right now, they have only finished about ten ticks at first light and mid-day. The rest of the time, we have to use the light wells in the further corners of the cavern.”
“It’s amazing,” Gaston said. “I noticed the glow from the…you called them light wells?...last night. What makes them glow?”
“The light is caused by a reaction between a specific rock we found here in the lower portion of the tunnels and a very minute organism that lives in the water. We haven’t found a way to synthesize it yet, but we can carefully farm them. As long as the rock is present, and the little organisms are given a watery bed to live in, they glow. It has been a very helpful discovery as you can imagine.”
“Just fascinating, don’t you think, Gaston,” Nicole said. “I’m going to meet with Michael Rooney and Peter Buster, later today to compare notes with them about this and other similar things. When are we meeting with you, Paul?”
“Just as soon as Gaston is done with his breakfast.”
“Give me a quarter hour, and I’ll be ready,” said Gaston. “Where should they meet us, Paul?”
“Meet us over at the base of the column where the first of days light strikes, and you can follow me from there.”
Twenty ticks later, the four from Windfall crossed the bridge and sauntered over to the column stretching up to the ceiling of the cavern on the western cave wall. Paul McNally and Brian Wood were waiting.
“I would like to show you around before we get deeper in discussion if you don’t mind,” said Paul in greeting.
“That’s great,” they responded almost in unison. Nicole continued, “We really want to see all you’ve done with the place. Seeing it is so much better than you just telling us about it.”
It took most of the morning to see everything. The only thing they didn’t go to see was the lower pool where the light well material was mined and harvested. Paul and Brian took turns telling stories about their exploits. “I think this waterfall is probably my favorite thing so far,” Nicole said, squinting against the bright sun glaring off the pool that was nestled in the rocks at the entrance to the cave. “I don’t know that I could stay inside the cave for very long without a place like this to come out to.”
“Yes, we are all frequent visitors,” said Brian. “Most of my security officers try to finagle extra time on duty out here. They also like to guard the upper entrance where the sun shines in. We’ll take you there later. That’s where we are going to have our meetings.
“I would like to explore the tunnels more,” said Nick. “How are you going to map them all out?”
“You’ll want to talk to Shorty about that,” said Brian. “I’ve been requesting something like that from him for some time and he assures me he’s working on it. He said something about marking the tunnel branches by engraving the destination into the walls, but some have so many branches, I don’t know how he’ll do that.”
“I’ve got some ideas for that. I’ll definitely track him down and talk to him about that. Maybe he’ll give me a tour of the lower levels while he’s at it.”
Only Gaston caught the quick glance that Paul and Brian exchanged at that comment, but he didn’t say anything.
“I think I need to talk with Delray and Shorty and probably a whole lot of other people around here,” Caleb said as they walked back to the base of the column after lunch. “We need to start shipping and trading with you real soon so that we all can have more variety in our foods and stay healthy. I don’t mean any offense now, Paul. I enjoyed lunch. I really did. Our environments are just so different, we will have much to exchange.”
They stepped onto a lift fastened securely to the wall and they took turns pulling on the large ropes that served as cables to lift them up the wall. Every time they pulled, the emergency stops clanged into position automatically. “It’s actually easier going up than down,” Paul noted as an aside to no one in particular. “We plan to have this automated in the future. The lifts will ride up this side of the cavern and down the far side and then the process will reverse. With the force of the waterfalls outside turning wheels and such, and with the use of gears, it shouldn’t be too hard to do.
They stopped halfway up to enjoy the view and to rest. “I just can’t believe it’s so big,” Caleb commented. “You could fit whole skyscrapers in here. You’d almost think it was made for you.”
“We feel very fortunate to have it too,” agreed Brian. “It’s the only place we can feel safe at night.”
“It’s beautiful,” said Nicole. “I especially liked when the light struck the wall and sparkled everywhere. Whose idea was it to do that?”
“I think it was Shorty’s idea. At least, he’s the one that oversaw it,” said Paul. “Come on now, the show’s over. Let’s move on up to the top.”
They took turns again pulling themselves up the side of the chamber wall. “
Remind me why we are doing the meeting up here,” Gaston said after taking a turn at the ropes. They were all sweating now though the temperature inside the cavern was cooler than the harsher outside temperature.
“Here we are. This is as far as it goes,” said Paul. “Follow me up this ladder and I will explain everything once we are settled in. Sorry it’s still so rough.”
They stepped off the platform one at a time and followed Paul through a small crack in the wall. It widened slightly above them, and they took turns scrambling up the ladder. At the top was a cave. Its entrance looked out over the ravine where the waterfall entrance lay. In the opposite direction, a tunnel jogged down into the mountain and disappeared from view. Some simple fabric chairs had been arranged in a semi-circle facing the cave entrance.
“We have sort of adopted this as a conference room of sorts,” Paul said smiling. “Have a seat and make yourself comfortable.” He took his own invitation seriously and promptly settled into a chair. “This is one of the few places that we can go where we will not be interrupted by everybody about all the petty things they have going on in their lives. There is a time for that mind you,” he said forestalling the comment he could see forming on Gaston’s lips. “But sometimes, we need some uninterrupted time. I like it here because of the view as well. Even in broad daylight, we have an excellent view of our neighbor planet off to the north there.”
Indeed, it was visible in stark detail above the mountain ridge that paralleled the ridge where Outpost lay.
Before the meeting began in earnest, Paul walked through the events that had unfolded over the past four months. A lot had happened in a short period of time. Their landing and initial set up had gone like clockwork, but then the cave cats had struck, and their plans had to be altered dramatically. The hills were rich in minerals and metals and when Shorty had found the cavern it had been the perfect solution for their short-term security and housing.
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