by Smith, T. L.
“We are.” I turned to look at the stars myself. “For hundreds of years we speculated about other solar systems, other planets. In the 21st century we started identifying possible worlds, getting better and better at finding near-Earths, but still couldn’t get to them. In the last hundred years we developed the technology to attain FTL, but struggled finding materials capable of handling the stress. Imagine how surprised we were to find it right under our feet, at Peary.”
I shifted back to Remy, feeling bad for him as an engineer, to be excluded from all this. I could see it in his eyes. Doubled by the fact that I knew, all this time.
The wife side of me stirred, but I needed to get this story told. “The discovery was before our time, but in one of the moon’s asteroid craters they found a new iron ore compound. It had the lightness and strength they’d been looking for, but quantities were so limited the discovery was kept secret.”
His resentment went down a notch.
“They’d found the missing element for building FTL ships. They still couldn’t tell anyone. Instead, an ultra-secret division of the Corps was created for exploration outside our solar system. They were missioned with finding habitable planets, but more importantly, finding more of this elusive ore. Once they could get to other worlds, they put together research teams to study them. That’s why I was recruited.”
Remy’s resentment notched up again. How many times had he mournfully postulated on the impossibility of ever achieving FTL, while the whole time I was planet hopping.
Lizzy sat in a chair, her hands tucked under her, for once afraid to touch anything. For her this was straight out of a Sci-Fi movie. She spun her chair around. “So, Sis, how’d you get roped into this and what’s your job here?”
“Well, I did start out an astro-biologist, but I was recruited to become a Xeno-biologist. Now I’m a Xenologist.”
“A Xenologist?” Remy shook his head at me. “What’s the difference?”
“She holds a Master in all disciplines of studying alien life forms.” Schaeffer stepped onto the bridge.
Lizzy’s eyes lit up as she spun her chair around, her mind as sharp as her tongue. “Wouldn’t that require alien lives to master over, Dick?”
Schaeffer’s eyes flashed, a real flare of anger. “It’s Col. Richard Schaeffer.”
Lizzy gave a rolling shrug of her shoulder. “Same difference.” She coyly coiled a strand of hair between her fingers. “So, how’s that work, a master of aliens. Wouldn’t you need aliens?”
Schaeffer didn’t answer her, leaving the air quiet. Everyone on the bridge remained quiet, and here it came, that smirk when he was hiding something he wanted me to fish out. Only he was aiming it at Lizzy.
Remy realized what wasn’t being said. Amused surrealism turned to shocked betrayal as my secrets only got bigger with every breath. Lizzy spun around to glare at me too.
I couldn’t look at them. “We’ve been researching a planet that gave off the geo-chemical signatures of the ore we’re seeking. My unit is tasked with determining the sentience of its life forms and the effect of human colonization on its xeno-ecologies.”
Schaeffer strolled slowly around the upper ring. “In other words, imagine an alien race visiting Earth during our tree-swinging days. What if they determined we had no potential for sentience and settled down there?” Still smirking. “Or maybe they did and experimented to see what a little tweak here or there might produce out of our ape ancestors.”
Geez… he loved that particular theory. Of course I couldn’t debunk it. “Yes, my job is to make sure we don’t upset the evolution of any indigenous intelligent creatures.”
“So, Dick…” Lizzy spun her chair around again. “… am I going to get to see aliens? You better tell me yes, after kidnapping me.”
“Depends on whether I throw you back in the brig.” Schaeffer made the circuit, tossing the threat over his shoulder as he turned back to the door. “I suggest playing nice, Dizzi Lizzi.”
“Sure thing, Captain Dick.” She shouted after him, but got no response… from him.
The woman sitting quietly at the bridge’s center console turned around. “Just so you know, Ms. Salazar. I am the only Captain here. This is my ship. Col. Schaeffer is mission commander. Col. Kazan is the commander of the Xenos.” She added a ‘don’t make that mistake again’ smile that would do Lizzy’s mom proud. “Now it is time for my crew to get back to work.” She tipped her head to me. “Ma’am.”
“Thank you for indulging us, Captain.” I guided Remy and Lizzy out. Remy was dying to stay, but I was tired, even though I’d slept for three days. I managed to answer a few more questions before Remy’s arm slipped around me.
He shushed Lizzy’s endless chatter. She wasn’t clueless, exchanging a glance with Remy.
“It takes a lot out of me to integrate.” It was the best explanation I had.
We reached Lizzy’s new quarters, only a few doors down from mine… ours, I grabbed her arm. “Seriously, Lizzy, as much fun as it is, Schaeffer can be a real ass if you get on his bad side. Don’t get too carried away harassing him. That goes especially true for the crew.”
There went her ‘I know’ eye roll. “I’ll go easy on the boys, but Dick was daring me back there, and you know I can’t walk away from a dare.” I contemplated giving her the mom stare, but I was simply too wiped out to pull it off.
She snickered as Remy led me to bed.
CHAPTER EIGHT
For almost a whole cycle I barely woke long enough to eat. Half-asleep, I heard Remy and Lizzy whispering, her giggling, probably telling him more escapades. When I finally regained consciousness, I let my Kazan side launch into briefings from my team.
I’d been gone less than a month, but they’d been in total shutdown. I’d hoped that in my absence the LR would redirect to another Xenologist, but leaving had the opposite effect.
I studied all the reports, trying to figure out what went wrong. Procedures were followed. We didn’t trespass into the forest, but the LR were agitated and even claimed our meeting place, a rock about fifty yards from the forest edge.
I’d originally picked the rock for a place to sit. Day after day, month after month, nothing happened, except I got better at drawing landscapes. Then shortly after arriving on my last stint, I saw movement in the heavy brush between me and the forest edge. I felt their eyes and let them watch me draw. When I finished, I propped the picture on the rock and left.
The next morning I found a leaf full of berries in its place. I started a new picture and before I finished a rough outline, two LR appeared on the edge of my grass clearing, directly in the line of sight I’d selected. It was that day I knew they were sentient. They’d completed a trade and possessed enough self-awareness to want their picture drawn.
Each drawing, no matter how bad, drew them closer, and I talked. Not knowing what to say, I told Lizzy stories. I knew them well enough and drew pictures, naming everything in them, and my audience silently paid attention. I tried to encourage pictures from them, bringing out supplies of paper and charcoal. They took the supplies, but I never received a picture back, just lots more berries.
On the day I left, they gave no indication they understood I was leaving, even though I drew it out for them. But when I didn’t show up, neither did the LR. For the first week they circled the edges of the forest, ignoring the Xeno who took my place. Then they aggressively drove him off the rock, repeatedly.
Not understanding this shift to aggression, our people were ordered to keep to the camp and lakeside. The LR keening from the forest haunted the little valley. Thermals showed LR sitting, watching the encampment. Waiting.
Now, as we approached LR-442, we’d find out if they were really waiting for me. I brought Remy and Lizzy to the bridge and they stood on either side of me, wide-eyed, jaws agape as we fell into orbit over the planet.
“There she is. LR-442.” I held my hand out to the image filling our screens.
“Or Hippotigris, as some of us call
her.”
“LR-442!” I gave Schaeffer a glare.
He ignored me. “She’s very near Earth standards. The differences are minute, except showing high levels of the resources we’re looking for. So far we haven’t detected any elements dangerous to human DNA.”
“Except it’s already inhabited.” Remy leaned on the railing, his eyes fixed on the planet.
“And we get to live here for a while, get to meet the aliens?” Lizzy chirped at me, giving Schaeffer a sweet innocent smile that was anything but innocent. “When do we land this baby?”
“We don’t. The shuttle leaves in two hours. You have the allowed property list. Be packed and ready. No exceptions or delays.” Schaeffer turned to go, but stopped as he brushed against Lizzy’s shoulder. “It would be a shame to miss your company because you were too busy catting around with the crew.”
“Not a problem Cap…” She stopped herself. “…Commander Dick. You going to strip-search me for contraband, before I go down... with you?” She knew how to deliver her words, all sultry teasing.
I wanted to clamp my hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Remy did a throat-clearing to hide a laugh or groan.
A tick appeared in Schaeffer’s eyelid. “Two hours!” His voice came out lower and huskier.
He stomped out and the captain turned her chair around. “Ms. Salazar! If your antics get you sent back up here, I’ll confine you to quarters. Is that understood, Ms. Salazar, Col. Kazan?”
The captain’s ‘mom look’ made Lizzy drop her head, though she still grinned. “Yes, ma’am. My apologies.”
“And mine, Captain.” I grabbed Lizzy by the back of her collar, dragging her with me. I continued the ‘what have you been up to’ stare we always got from her mom just before the shit hit the fan. “Is there anything I need to know?”
“Nope!”
Remy gave her the look too. He didn’t believe her any more than I did.
“I promise. You can back off the Kazan.” She wriggled out of my grip. “I’ll watch my tongue when we get to the ground.”
“Yeah, I’m sure half the crew would volunteer to watch it too.” Remy couldn’t help himself. “Can you at least try to keep it inside your own lips for a few hours?”
Lizzy opened her mouth again, mimicking what she could still do with his suggestion. I covered my eyes. “LIZZY, ENOUGH!”
All I got was her deep snickering. She loved it when I finally reached my Kazan limit, probably trying to urge Batista back. How I, or my other self, put up with this for so long baffled me, but we were as close as any two sisters could ever be. Surviving all our childhood escapades.
Now we were on a new escapade together. Dizzi Lizzi, Darin’ Sharan and … Remy. I cringed to think what she named him. I gave her a shove inside her cabin, with strict orders to be on time, better yet, fifteen minutes early.
In our room, I did another full sweep and rechecked my list. Normally I was too well organized to give it a second thought. Normally I only packed for me. Normally I didn’t have another personality in my head. “Well, we’re ready with an hour to kill.”
“Really?” Remy came up behind me, his arms pinned mine down. “In that case, I know exactly how to use it up.”
“Remy, come on…” I struggled against his intentions, until his lips went straight to a weak point in the curve of my neck. There went the coin, along with my knees. There went his hands, and there went what was left of my will as the Batista he knew surfaced.
He had his own evil snicker, when he knew he got his way, even more evil when he knew he’d drawn out the wife side of me. In this lighter gravity, he easily carried me to the bunk barely wide enough for two, and made good use of the tight space and our spare time.
He left me scurrying to regain my Kazan side and get dressed again. LR didn’t like uniforms, so I opted for jeans and a little white undershirt. Only my ball cap had name and rank on it. I pulled it on as the door buzzed. Remy already had our duffle bags over his shoulders.
Lizzy stood outside. “What took you so long?”
I tried to ignore the heat in my cheeks as I glanced at my watch. Fifteen minutes. “Ready to meet your first aliens? Where’s your bag? Need help with it?”
“Nooo…” She waved me off. “A sweet young thing came and got it.” She grinned at Remy standing behind me. “Hope you got enough of her. Last time I went camping, it wasn’t very private. Everybody hears everything.”
I pushed her out the door. “We’re not sleeping in lean-tos.” I pointed her aft. “Before we leave, I need to know you understand the rules.”
Lizzy looked up at me with her ‘I’m smarter than you give me credit for’ glance. “I know this is important. Once we hit dirt, Loosey Lizzy will be temporarily retired.”
An unexpected wave of relief rushed over me, Batista telling me she meant every word. When had I stopped trusting her to do the right thing? Was it just living split in two for so long? I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “I’m sure this adventure will be worth the sacrifice.”
We reached the shuttle with almost ten minutes to spare. Lizzy popped up behind members of the team waiting on the ramp. A few of the men flinched. Several of the women grinned, including the one checking off our duffel bags.
Remy noticed. “What is it you women think is so funny? I’d think you’d be throwing a fit with her inappropriate conduct.”
“Major. Do you realize how many years, centuries, we’ve put up with the reverse?” She resisted a total eye roll. “To us, she’s cute, funny and makes them feel totally… adolescent. To them, she’s the fox and they’re the chickens. Best of all, she’s a civilian and under the circumstances no one can charge her with sexual harassment.”
“Well, I hope you don’t have a guy in the crew, unless you’re comfortable letting her screw with… his head.” Remy tossed our scanned and tagged bags in the cargo container.
“He wishes. Lizzy stays away from the ones spoken for.” Being the last of the away party, she closed the container and gave the handler permission to load. “All aboard!” She shooed us up the ramp.
We made our way to the front of the shuttle. Lizzy had already seized a seat directly across from Schaeffer. We took the other two lead seats. I looked back at the contingent. “It’s too soon for rotations. Why we upping our presence?”
Schaeffer spun his chair towards me. “Your leaving caused a change in their behavior. Hopefully your return will bring a calming response. We need to be prepared, either way. You just worry about getting the LR cooperating again.”
“What about me, Dick?” Lizzy chirped. “What do you expect me to do?”
Schaeffer shifted his eyes her direction. “Behave and keep the colonel happy.”
Tick, tick, tick. I inhaled as the machine in Lizzy’s head went into free-spin. Remy rubbed between his eyes as her mouth opened. “Shara don’t swing that way, unless you’re talking about yourself. In that case you can blow…”
“Lizzy!”
“What?” Her fists clenched in frustration. “We’re not on the ground yet.”
“Shut up or I’ll lock you up myself.” I tipped my head back to the crew, hoping Schaeffer had engaged white noise. Lizzy spun her chair around to face the window.
Schaeffer frowned. Maybe he was reconsidering bringing Lizzy along. He looked over at Remy. “If you’ll excuse us...” It wasn’t a request.
Schaeffer tapped controls on his armrest and closed the curtain of white noise to surround just the two of us. “I appreciate you taming her, but not at your expense. She’s family and until you’re fully integrated, I need you focused.” He glanced at Lizzy pouting. “She’s here, use her. If she’s busy she’ll stay out of trouble.”
“I don’t know, Schaef. She’s still got a serious score to settle. I’d watch your back, among other body parts.”
His eye twitched again. “You let me worry about my body parts.”
Somehow that was reassuring to both sides of my head. Despite how I razzed Sc
haeffer, he was a partner I trusted and could predict. If he wasn’t worried about her, I shouldn’t be either. I did my best to relax for the ride down.
CHAPTER NINE
In my head Kazan played out the plan. We’d settle into camp, then I’d approach the meeting rock alone. If accepted back, I’d start working at bringing in other people.
Schaeffer agreed. He’d studied enough psychology to understand pack theory. Social beings were pack animals. A pack approach, with my real pack, might be what we needed.
I theorized in my head, until the lights on our arm consoles lit up. We were about to land. I turned to look out the window I shared with Remy.
As I looked down at the canopy of treetops, I remembered an art class in high school, and being criticized over my choices in greens and blues. The teacher was adamant my hues never existed in nature. She’d eat her words if she saw this. The vibrancy below was dazzling.
I looked over at Lizzy. Her nose was pressed against the portal in excitement. Schaeffer reached over and patted her knee, getting a quick but genuine smile from her, before another ‘ahhh’ sight opened up before her. Maybe there was hope after all.
I went back to my own amazements. Feathery green trees wisped in the air turbulence we created. Foliage covered the foothills of towering mountains, thinning out at higher elevations to reveal purple-hued rock formations, resource abundant mountains. There.
I pointed it out to Remy, a waterfall calculated to be at least 3000 ft. He ‘ahhh’d as the forest suddenly revealed grassy meadows and a massive lake.
Remy and Lizzy never took their eyes off the views as the shuttle circled over the lakeshore. We landed smoothly on a wide rock shelf about 100 yards from camp.
I stood up, full Kazan now. “Okay team. For you newbies, it’s the equivalent of a Northern California summer out there, which means comfortable in the daytime, cold at night, possible fogbanks in the mornings. Stay near camp and out of the forests. If you see any of our native friends, sit down. By sitting you display passive posturing. Recent info is they’re agitated. If they appear so, calmly walk back towards the camp. Do not stare at them or be confrontational. This is their home, not ours. Understood?”
