Rescue (an Ell Donsaii story #11)

by Laurence Dahners

  Carter smiled at Jenny, “Things are great! We keep building more and more onto the habitat. Lots of companies want to make stuff up there in microgravity so they keep us really busy.”

  “Aren’t you worried about what you’ll do when enough stuff has been built up there?”

  He grinned at her, “Not really. I think we’ll always want more stuff built up there in space.” Widening his eyes at her and lowering his voice as if telling a secret, “You know what we’re working on now?”

  Excitedly she asked, “What?”

  “We’re trying to build a place to live and farm on Mars!”

  “Really? Why not the moon?”

  “Well,” Carter shrugged, “Initially, we were going to do it on the Moon, but the gravity there is only about seventeen percent of Earth’s. Peoples’ bones get weak in low gravity. On Mars, the gravity is about thirty eight percent of ours, so the settlers’ bones would be healthier.” He tilted his head, “Though still not great. Venus would be much better for gravity, but it’s really hot and the atmosphere is awful.”

  “Won’t it take a long time to get to Mars?”

  “Yeah, even with the new port driven rockets and waiting until Mars and Earth are close to each other, it’ll take six or seven weeks, but that’s a lot less than it would have been without them.”

  Jenny stared at him, thinking, “Isn’t Mars dangerous?”

  “It is, but so is the Earth, just not as much. There’s a lot of radiation so we’d need to live underground.”

  “Underground? How can you farm without sunshine?”

  “We’ll collect sunlight with parabolic mirrors and send it into our Mars tunnels through ports.”

  After studying him another moment, Jenny said, “How are you going to dig the tunnels?”

  “We’ll use parabolics to heat the front of a big, bullet shaped machine and push it into the side of a big canyon there called the Valles Marineres. It will melt the soil and rock, pushing them out to the sides where the melted rock will form the walls of the tunnel.”

  This time Jenny frowned at him for a long time, then said, “Why not just build these ‘tunnel farms’ here on Earth? Then the gravity would be right, and when you were done farming you could go outside without a spacesuit.”

  Carter grinned at her for a moment, then said, “You ask the hardest questions! I’m not sure there’s a good reason to do it either, except to see if we can.”

  Jenny rolled her eyes.

  Carter didn’t say anything about spreading mankind to another planet to prevent extinction in case of some kind of disaster or nuclear war. The girl fretted enough without his giving her something else to worry about.

  ***

  Viveka arrived at the lake feeling very nervous. Apparently at Ell’s suggestion, Dr. Pace had decided to have an Allosci party to boost morale and provide a socializing opportunity for Viveka. Since it was July and hot, he had chosen to hold a picnic at Jordan Lake. Allosci had rented several pontoon boats as well as some jet skis and power boats.

  She had heard other Allosci employees talking excitedly about the party. What had her worried was the fact that she knew Americans liked to play in the water. She’d heard some of the women worrying about whether they would fit into their swimsuits. Evidently they expected to get in and out of the water from the houseboats, and to ride around on the jet skis or the powerboats. Viveka had been aware that American swim suits were scandalous, but when she went to a store to try to buy one, she was horrified by how skimpy even the most modest suit was.

  Viveka had purchased the most modest suit she could find, a thick white one piece. She had it on under her blouse and shorts, but doubted she would find the courage to remove her outer layers of clothing.

  Getting out of her car she heard someone call her name. Turning she saw Cindy, one of the purchasing agents who Viveka frequently worked with while trying to get new equipment.

  Viveka’s eyes widened. Cindy had on a bikini with a gauzy cover-up over it. The gauze really hid nothing, so Cindy’s figure was completely on display. Despite being a little pudgy, Cindy appeared to be completely comfortable in her scanty clothing. “Hey,” she called, “are we gonna have fun, or what?”

  Uncertain what to say, Viveka settled for, “Fun!” turning to walk with Cindy down towards the dock. Arriving at the dock they found one of the pontoon boats, loaded with people, about to pull out. Someone shouted, “Wait! There’s Cindy and Viveka!”

  Viveka looked warily at the boat. There were a lot of people on board already and she wasn’t sure it would be safe to add two more. Even if it was safe, the crowding made it look like she would be groped for sure. However, Cindy squeezed on, high fiving several people as she did so, then turned and held her hand out to Viveka.

  Doubtfully, Viveka took her hand. Cindy pulled her on board, shouting, “Make room, make room.”

  To her astonishment, one of the men opened a beer and handed it to Viveka without even asking if she wanted it. Nonplused, she stood holding it and feeling uncomfortable. She wondered if perhaps she had been intended to pass it on to someone else. Meanwhile, the boat pulled out and began to head across the lake to raucous cheers from the people on board.

  To Viveka’s further surprise, despite the high spirits of the crowded people on board, the preponderance of men, and the fact that many of them appeared to have already had a beer or two, no one tried to fondle her. After crossing the lake they pulled slowly up near another pontoon boat in a cove along the edge of lake. Viveka could see Dr. Pace, wearing nothing but sunglasses and a pair of swim trunks, sitting in the captain’s chair in front of the steering wheel for the other pontoon boat. He was cheerfully talking to one of the chemists, though he turned and waved at the second boat when it arrived. Viveka’s heart skipped a little beat when at first she thought he was waving to her. Then she realized he was waving to everyone in her boat.

  Viveka decided that the water near the pontoon boats must be shallow because several people’s heads were visible in the water off the stern of the boats. Other people on jet skis zoomed around the lake out in front of the boats. Some people already in the water clambered out into the boat Viveka was in, speaking excitedly to their friends in the boat. The boat would have become extremely overcrowded, but several people from Viveka’s boat had jumped into the water which freed up some space.

  Wide eyed, Viveka tried to take it all in. In the heat almost all the men were shirtless and the women wore only their swimsuits. They frequently jumped in the water to cool off.

  Though Viveka was sweltering she didn’t want to get in the water in her shorts and shirt and certainly didn’t want to take them off. She kept glancing over at Dr. Pace, wondering if he might talk to her. On the one hand, she didn’t want him to, fearing that if he did it would only be because he wanted to sleep with her like her mother had said. On the other hand, despite the crowd she felt somewhat lonely and he was very pleasant to talk to. She didn’t want to admit, even to herself, that she’d like to do more than talk.

  Besides he was over on the other boat and Viveka had no way to get there.

  Viveka was knocked out of her reverie by the arrival of Cindy who’d obviously had a beer or two. “Viveka! You gotta get in the water! You’re sweatin’ like a hog.”

  Despite the fact she recognized that Cindy meant well, Viveka was mortified to have her perspiration pointed out. She mumbled, “I can’t.”

  “What? Didn’t you bring a swimsuit? Just jump in in your shirt and shorts then!”

  “No, I’ve got a suit on, but…”

  “Well hell! Take off your clothes then! You’ve got a lot better body than most of us girls here. Nothin’ to be embarrassed about!” Cindy actually reached up and started unbuttoning Viveka’s blouse.

  Though she felt completely mortified, Viveka offered no more than token resistance as Cindy pulled her blouse off her shoulders. When Cindy reached out to start undoing Viveka’s shorts, Viveka forestalled her by undoing them hers
elf. After she got them off, Viveka stood a moment, clutching her shorts and blouse to herself in a vain attempt to preserve some modesty. Then, with a panicked sensation, she realized that many people were staring at her. She turned and whispered to Cindy, “Is there something wrong with my suit?”

  Cindy had been staring at the Indian beauty, whose dark skin contrasted so sharply with the brilliant white one piece swimming suit. “Oh, hell no! You just look awesome! That’s why they’re all gob smacked. Gimme those clothes and let’s get you in the water before you melt.” She grabbed Viveka by the elbow and guided her over to a little door in the rail of the boat.

  Viveka stood in the small opening and suddenly wondered how deep the water was. She had been thinking that the water was wading depth. Because Indian women seldom swam, Viveka had never learned how.

  Behind her she heard Cindy say, “In you go.” A palm shoved into the middle of her back and Viveka found herself flailing as she fell into the water.

  To her horror she discovered that the water was deep. Deep enough that her feet didn’t touch the bottom even as she plunged downward.

  Was she about to drown?

  Viveka flailed her arms about, wondering how she was supposed to get herself back to the surface. She’d never thought about it before, and now wondered desperately how people kept one motion of their arms and legs from canceling out the other. When she pulled her arms downward it lifted her up, but then when she raised her arms back up it seemed like that pushed her back down. She felt too frightened to think rationally about how she might turn her hands one direction on the up stroke and a different direction on the down stroke. She did feel like she was floating slowly upwards, but the surface appeared to be far above her. She didn’t think she could hold her breath that long.

  ___

  When the second pontoon boat had arrived Gary felt thrilled to see that Viveka had come on it. He had been looking into Indian culture a little, and though he knew it was a large country with many subcultures it seemed that swimming was an uncommon endeavor for Indian women. The clothing she wore at work was always fairly modest and he had wondered if she would be comfortable in a swimsuit.

  Unfortunately, she was on the other boat. He decided that after a polite interval, he should go for a swim. Then he would be able to climb out on the other boat, acting as a genial host, and eventually be able to spend some time with Viveka. Even as he carried on conversations with other people on his boat he wondered whether it was appropriate for him to be attracted to and possibly spend more time with a woman a decade or so younger than himself. Especially since she was his employee?

  However, he found himself more and more attracted to the pretty young woman. Though her physical appearance certainly had something to do with it, he felt even more attracted to her brilliant mind. The fact that she was so modest about just how smart she was, or perhaps didn’t even realize how much more intelligent she was then everyone else at the company, made her even more appealing.

  Joe, a chemist the company had recently hired for his expertise in vapor state molecular interactions was actively supporting Gary’s train of thought. A little bit of a blowhard, Joe never missed an opportunity to point out his own brilliance. Even though Allosci had hired him because he had expertise no one in the company possessed, he had been pointing out all the errors he had discovered so far in other people’s work.

  Gary found himself wanting to point out to Joe that they had hired him specifically because they knew they weren’t doing some of those things correctly. He didn’t think Joe should be particularly proud of the fact that he could do the things he had been hired for better then the people who had been doing the best they could until he arrived. Then, Joe’s eyes suddenly focused on the other boat.

  Gary turned to see what had drawn Joe’s attention. It looked like Cindy, the purchasing agent with the oversized personality, had talked Viveka into removing her shirt and shorts. Standing there in a brilliant white one piece swimsuit she had drawn the eyes of many people on both boats.

  Gary felt stunned. Though the sharp contrast between her dark skin and the white suit certainly drew the eye, the young woman also had an absolutely beautiful body. Mentally, he laughed a little bit at himself as he realized that he would now have another source of internal conflict—wondering if he was only attracted to her phenomenal figure.

  Gary tried to pretend he was still focused on the conversation with Joe, but most of his attention, out of the corner of his eye, remained on Viveka. Cindy guided her to the edge of the boat where Viveka paused in the little gate in the rail of the boat. Gary turned his full attention on her for a moment, wondering if she was going to get in the water. It didn’t look like it, she appeared somewhat apprehensive. But then Cindy gave her a shove and Viveka fell, flailing, into the water.

  Now all of Gary’s attention focused on her. His mild apprehension that she might not swim well shot through anxiety to panic in just a few seconds as he saw her wildly kicking and moving her arms without rising toward the surface.

  Gary stood suddenly, stepped up onto the rail of the boat, and dove into the water without any more thought.

  ___

  Just as she was beginning to feel truly desperate, a large splash signaled the entrance of a body into the water between Viveka and the first boat. That person curved gracefully under the water, coming up under Viveka, grabbing her waist, and driving her to the surface.

  As her head broke the surface, Viveka gasped a desperate breath, feeling immensely grateful to whoever had rescued her. Her rescuer held onto her arm, supporting her while she gulped in several more lungs full of air. She could hear Cindy shouting, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t think you would even get on a boat if you couldn’t swim!”

  From just behind her shoulder she heard Dr. Pace’s voice, “I’m sorry Viveka. I should have thought more about the fact that you might not be able to swim. I believe that swimming is not a common thing in your culture, is it?”

  Viveka turned her head to see that it was Dr. Pace who had rescued her and was currently supporting her with a hand under her arm. “I’m sorry too,” she gasped, “I assumed, I’d be able, to stay, on a boat. I didn’t know, it would be, so hot.”

  “Grab a rung,” Dr. Pace said.

  Viveka realized that he had swum her over to his pontoon boat and the ladder was right beside her. She reached out and grabbed on, the ladder’s solidity very comforting to her. “Thank you!” Viveka gasped in relief.

  “Catch your breath, try to relax. There’s no rush to climb into the boat.”

  Viveka looked up and saw a row of concerned faces looking down at her.

  From close in the water behind her she heard Cindy’s wretchedly say, “Viveka, I didn’t mean to drown you! I’m so sorry.”

  When Viveka turned to respond to Cindy she saw the rail of the other boat was also lined with worried looking people. It gave her a warm feeling to realize that many of these people did care for her. Starting to feel self-conscious again with all the people staring at her she dropped her eyes back down to the swimming Cindy. Viveka said, “It’s not your fault. There’s no way you could have known I can’t swim.” She grinned at her, “Although it is pretty rude to go around shoving people into the water!”

  Cindy tilted her head and arched an eyebrow, “You’re not going to make me sorry I didn’t finish drowning you, are you?”

  Viveka coughed up a laugh, then waved a hand in surrender, “No, no! No more criticism from me!”

  Dr. Pace said, “Are you feeling up to climbing the ladder yet?”

  When she’d climbed out, Viveka felt people’s eyes on her again. For a moment she worried that the white swimsuit had turned transparent when it became wet. However, a quick glance proved that not to be the case. Are they just staring because I’m nearly naked? A lot of them have even less clothing on than I do! She realized with some desperation that her blouse and shorts were still in the other boat.

  Cindy had climbed out b
ehind her. She whispered fiercely to Viveka, “They’re only staring because you look so freaking great! Don’t be embarrassed and huddle up like that, stand up straight and be proud!”

  Just when Viveka was about to say that she couldn’t avoid being embarrassed, Dr. Pace stepped up to the other side of her and held out some orange padding. “Here, here’s a life vest.” He winked at her, “I’ll bet you’ll feel more comfortable wearing it, huh?”

  Cindy helped Viveka put it on. In a low voice she said, “You might feel better wearing it, but all the rest of these gawkers are going to be disappointed.”

  Viveka found herself spending most of the afternoon talking to Dr. Pace, who again kept insisting she call him “Gary.” She discovered that she felt safe in the water while wearing a life vest, once Gary had talked her into climbing slowly back in. After a bit she began regularly climbing in and out of the water to stay cool. Several of her coworkers offered to teach her to swim and, though she didn’t take them up on it she enjoyed talking to them.

  As her car drove her home, she reflected with some satisfaction on the enjoyable time that she had had. Their customs were certainly different here, but if she wanted to fit in here in America, she would need to adjust to their customs rather than hoping that they would adjust to hers.

  As she climbed the stairs to her apartment, her AI said, “You have a call from Dr. Pace.” A little thrill shot through her. She said, “Put him on… Hello D-d… Gary. How can I help you?”

  “I just wanted to say that I had a great time today out at the lake. I especially enjoyed the time that I got to spend talking to you.”

  Impressed that Dr. Pace was taking the time to call all of his employees and thank them for coming to his party, Viveka said, “Thank you very much for inviting me, I really had a nice time myself.”