by Ben Winston
“Three-nine-four, this is Great Falls, What can we do for you, Addson?” a male voice replied.
“Great Falls, I'm approaching from the north, and request landing clearance.”
“You're still an hour away, Addson. Why are you calling in this soon? Did ya find something?”
“What I find or don't find is none of your business, Billy! I'm calling in this early because control wants all returning prospector flights to call in as soon as they can establish contact because of the pirate raids,” Addson replied.
“I bet you found something. You never come back this early unless you think you have something,” Billy replied.
“Look, can I land when I get there or not?” Addson asked, clearly getting irritated with the young man.
“Where else can you go? If I tell you can't land, you're just gonna have to sit out there and wait. Now, tell me what you found, and I'll think about letting you land,” Billy replied.
“Billy, there are four other Aeries on Usa (she pronounced it Oosa) Major that I can reach, I can also make it to StarDock down on Usa Minor. So, unless you want to explain all this to Howath, you better give me a landing pad!”
“Okay, okay, sheesh! I was only playin'! No need to get yer panties in a knot,” Billy replied, and assigned pad fourteen to Addson's skipper. “I put you on pad fourteen; don't forget to decon!”
“You're a real pal, Billy. One of these days, I'm going to bring you along, and drop you off out here somewhere. Then you can tell us what you found!”
“Good luck with that, the home office is suspending all prospecting permits. Once you land, that's it, you won't be going back out for a while,” Billy replied grinning. If she wanted to be a shit, fine, he could be a shit too.
“Why? There's still a lot of stuff out there to find!” Addson replied.
“I think they've finally came to the conclusion that there's nothing of value left. At least nothing worth risking credits on. I'd have to agree with them; those people didn't have much that is of value to the here and now. After ten thousand years, what they did have has crumbled away to dust.”
“I think we still have a lot to learn from them. For example, did you know that these people were actually our ancestors, and we originated here?” Addson replied.
“Oh that's just bullshit! Think about it, if they were our ancestors, then how did they breathe? What did they eat? Most of the plants here are poisonous to us. No, I'd believe the Hyclerians rescued us from slavery before I'd believe we started out here,” Billy replied.
“There was a great war that changed the planet, which is why we left. Too much time has passed, and both our race, and the planet have changed too much, but we did start out here. At least, that's what those archaeologists on the Aramic Plateau are saying,” Addson countered.
“They'll say anything in order to keep the credits flowing for their research. Either way, all prospecting has come to a halt. I think they're going to re-task you to anti-piracy duty. The damn pirates have been getting more aggressive lately. They intercepted our supply tram and stole all the cargo.”
Addson and Billy talked and discussed pirates and the new assignments until she landed.
Survivor Pod 0001a
3 Apr. 8255 CE
Location Unknown
Planet Earth, Sol System
“So, have you figured anything out, Marcy?” Ben asked. “I’ve got a meeting in a few minutes and people are going to want some answers.” He grinned. “Okay, mostly I do.”
Jon was with Ben and Jorga since they were going to attend the ‘meeting’ together, down in the main atrium and via the large monitors to the other pods. He nodded agreement with Ben.
Deirdre and Kaitlin had begun a community support group to reach out to the other pods to organize inventories and to plan trade systems between the different pods.
Marcy just sighed. “We are so lucky. First off, about six hundred years into our cryo-sleep the main computer crashed due to a hardware failure. Now, that had been planned for, so by itself, it was no big deal. However, the failure happened at the absolute worst possible moment; it happened during a data backup and synchronization cycle.
“What happened was that the backup computer system immediately took over from the main system, but the data that it had was corrupted. Most of it was obvious and the new system repaired what it could, but there was one thing it had no way of knowing was wrong: The system date.
“It loaded the system data from the main machine as its own and proceeded from there. We were in cryo for eight thousand, two hundred and forty-six years. The exact current date is April the third, eighty-two-fifty-five,” she finished.
“Well, that would certainly explain the deaths, their cryo-chambers failed. At least they died in their sleep,” Jon said, sadly.
“Good work, Marcy. I’m sure that will be the first question I’ll be called on to answer, followed by an explanation for the deaths," Ben said.
“Ben, did your father ever explain to you why he made sure you were the one in charge of this mess?” Marcy asked.
“No, but I did learn a great deal about negotiation and diplomacy, economics and management. I also have a complete list in my head of all the assets we should have available to us once we figure out what kind of condition the planet is in,"
“It’s not the same planet we knew,” Marcy added softly. “I got on the network with some of the other scientists. The main Seattle Pod, which is only a few hundred meters below the ocean floor now, set up a small sensor buoy and launched it so we could get a reading on a few things. I know we didn’t ask, but there was no way, unless someone was right on top of it, it could have been detected and we really needed those answers."
She blinked as she changed mental gears. “The northern pole is in what used to be Siberia. Most of greater Seattle is still covered by a receding glacier and the water is almost two kilometers deep.
“By adjusting for the shift in the poles, we were able to pinpoint our date by calculating the amount of galactic shift in the visible stars. We also sampled the air and the water. However, the part you’ll want to know about is, we're not alone here.”
The men were still in shock at what Marcy said, but Jorga wasn’t. “What did you say? How do you know?”
“Right after the buoy surfaced, a strange aircraft was seen flying away to the south at high speed. We’re sure it didn’t see our sensor because it didn't turn around to investigate...” Marcy said rushing to explain.
“Stop!” Ben said, holding up a hand to Marcy. “Why didn’t you tell me that part first?”
“I didn’t want you to get mad. I know we took an awful risk, but we also knew you’d need information to make decisions. The computers told us about the earthquakes, so we figured Seattle would be the safest since it should have been a few miles out to sea,” Marcy tried to explain. "Uh, it isn't as far out as we thought."
Again, Ben had to stop her. “Relax Marcy, you’re not in trouble, but please don’t risk our lives again without asking first, okay?"
A relieved looking Marcy nodded agreement. “Uh, Jorga? Your Mom asked me to pass along a request for you to call her as soon as you have the time.”
Jorga nodded. “I will, Thanks. What did you find with the atmosphere and water?”
Marcy got excited now. “That’s the most interesting! The atmosphere is almost ideal for human life! CO2 is a little high, but that can be explained by the presence of the glacier. Other than that it’s a perfect mix of Oxygen, Nitrogen and all the other trace gasses we need to thrive! There is no trace of pollution at all! Even that craft left only a faint hydrogen trace!
“The first things we checked for were the stuff reported to us in the logs of the people that stayed to fight. Seattle was one of the major cities that got nuked, but there was no trace of radiation or any residue of the chemical weapons that were used. The planet’s been healed!"
“After the better part of ten thousand years, you’d think it should be healed
!” Jon commented.
“Well, considering the damage we humans did even before the war, most thought it would take the planet hundreds of thousands of years to do this,” Marcy replied excitedly.
“Well, this is a discussion for another time. We need to get to that meeting. Thank you Marcy and good work,” Ben stood and took Jorga’s hand, pulling her to her feet. “So, should we go see how the rest of the folks are doing?” He pulled Marcy to her feet as well and kissed her on the cheek. Jorga winked at the girl.
When they got to the atrium, there was already a large gathering in deep discussion. Deirdre seemed to be moderating it, and after a few minutes of watching and listening, it was clear that the meeting was very large.
Ben just stepped to the side to get out of the way of more people that were arriving. As they arrived everyone would greet them as neighbors.
“Thank you, Rashiem. I see our time is up for today. Please send me a copy of your supply inventories and requests as soon as you can get them finished. I’ll have Kaitlin send you all an email with our next meeting date, as soon as we can get it all worked out.
“I would like to thank all of you for attending today, you folks are all great! We made some good progress today. Yes we need to get more finalized and discussed, so the next meeting will be as soon as we can swing it. Remember, none of us are alone. If you need help, ask for it. If someone asks, give it. I’ll see you all later, Good Day,” Deirdre finished as everyone stood and clapped. The atmosphere was one of happy industry and cooperation. Nationalities were gone now, everyone was finally united and working together.
As Ben worked his way to the middle of the room, he greeted the people that were staying for the next meeting. When he got to the middle, he gave Deirdre and Kait hugs and said thank you to both of them before they sat down yielding the floor to him.
The big monitors and the global connection were still active and Ben could see much the same scene on all the monitors.
Ben smiled at the red light that marked the camera. “Hello everyone, I am, as most of you know, Benjamin Bedouin. It has been given to me to serve as your coordinator as we move forward and begin our new lives. It is a duty that I promise to fulfill to the best of my ability. With your help, I know that we can succeed.
“Now, before we begin today, I have a couple of items to tell you about. I’m sure a good share of you would like to know why we lost people during cryo-sleep.” He then told everyone what Marcy had told him, like her, he withheld the sighting until the last.
“Now, don’t panic, but when the survey buoy broke the surface, it did so as it was being overflown by some sort of aircraft.” Ben had to wait for the hubbub from that comment as the rest of the people all speculated on who it could be. From the sound of it, it had to be the invaders that made them all hide down here to begin with.
“People! Order please!” Ben shouted and was surprised when people did calm down and listen again. “If you think about this logically, the odds do not favor a Sal'andori occupation. From the records left for us, we already know that they left even before the last of the surface population did.
“Therefore, we cannot make any assumption about the current surface occupants. We cannot even assume that they’re hostile; at least they breathe our air! Honestly, it could be the remnants of the human race that abandoned the surface thousands of years ago. So much time has passed, any assumptions without further investigation would be fruitless, and only serve to breed fear and uncertainty. We have no shortage of either of those currently,” Ben paused for one of the ladies to grab something for him to drink.
Before any of them could get up, he was handed a cup of coffee. “Ahh, thank you! I forgot to bring something to drink.” He sipped the hot beverage, and felt the fluid flow through his body like a restorative.
“Now, before we get too far into this, I would propose we appoint a temporary Recorder in each of our pods to ensure that accurate records are being kept of all official meetings. After we adjourn for the day, each Pod can hold elections for a local government. The job descriptions for each position are listed in the information section of the voting program on every computer.
“The whole system should be kept as simple as possible. Volunteers accepted unless there are more than one volunteer for a position. So let’s take a few moments for each pod to make the appointment for a recorder. Please ‘set green’ when you are ready.”
Ben smiled and looked at those before him. “Any volunteers?”
Deirdre spoke. “Ben, Kait was fulfilling that function for me in the earlier meeting.”
He raised an eyebrow at his little sister. “Would you be willing to do that for us too, at least until we can elect someone?”
“Sure Ben. But I think I’m going to have my hands full working with Deirdre, so I don’t want to do it permanently,” Kaitlin answered.
“Fair enough,” Ben nodded as Kaitlin reopened her laptop.
Movement at the back of the large atrium caught his attention. He’d seen them leave, but Jon’s girls were now pushing carts into the room. One had three big, yellow and red coolers of the type you would have seen at a construction site, with cups on the lower shelf. The other had two large, insulated urns, and two trays of coffee cups on the lower shelf.
“Everyone, it looks like there are refreshments at the rear of the area near the stairs. Thank you, Ladies!” Ben said, nodding to the two now blushing girls. As they made their way back to their parents, several people quietly thanked them as well.
The two carts were a big hit as people got coffee and juice before returning to their seats.
“Ben, everyone’s green,” Kaitlin reported.
“Thanks, sis.” He looked back into the camera and began the first meeting of the Grand Council of Terra.
Planet Terral III
Cassian March
Duchy of Cassias
Hyclarion Imperial Consortium
As Billy predicted, Addson had been re-tasked to piracy control almost as soon as she landed. She’d been ordered to gather her belongings and report to Aerie Argassi, several hundred ticks to the southwest. Unlike the Great Falls Aerie, Argassi was in full production mode.
The Aeries had been designed to extract an element called ‘ohto’ from the atmosphere of the planet. During extraction, compartmentalized ‘doxin', which had been filtered out of all the various atmosphere processors in the Empire, was released since the flora of this planet naturally converted doxin back into ohto.
The Aeries were systematically getting rebuilt and updated since they had been in almost continuous operation for ten centuries. In fact, the last time they had been shut down was when a new power plant had been designed, five hundred cycles ago. Addson had heard a rumor that the newly upgraded Aeries would be able to extract ohto from the oceans as well. She wondered if that meant the processing storm would be worse.
When Aeries were in production, the release of the other elements mixing back in to the atmosphere created a localized low-pressure cell, which meant the Aerie created and maintained a storm around itself. The massive electrical discharges from these storms, while helping to supplement their power requirements, usually served to protect the weaponless Aeries from the well-armed pirates.
Weaponless did not mean defenseless by any means. Aeries did have shields and the massive extractor vents. Rumor held that the pirates could actually breathe this atmosphere, so getting stuck in the jet wash from a vent would be all but lethal, provided the eight-hundred twenty knot exhaust wind didn’t get them first. No, the Aeries might not be armed, but they weren't defenseless either.
“Aerie Argassi, this is Prospector three-nine-four, over.” Addson looked out of her canopy at the lush rain forest passing beneath her hull. It was beautiful in its own deadly way. Away to the north, she could just make out the elevated track of the monorail. No one liked to travel on that remotely controlled bullet. They were the pirates’ prime targets. The pirates had yet to kill anyone directly, but they
were responsible for the deaths of thirty-two people that had been forced to ground level while the pirates raided the tram. They had emergency respirators, but the forest was just like the oceans. People had no place there.
“Prospector three-niner-four, this is Argassi Anti-Piracy Command. Your designation has been changed to scout three-nine-four, please make note of this in your log. You are instructed to alter coarse and get a complete scan of sector thirty-four eight ninety-two, quads alpha and delta. Be advised that heavy pirate activity has been monitored in the area, so be careful.”
“Understood Argassi Command. Be advised that I'm rigged for underwater work,” Addson replied a little worried. The pirates had never attacked a prospector’s skipper, at least not yet; there was always a first time.
“Understood three-nine-four. That sector is in the middle of the Great Inland Sea. Also, during unsecured communications, retain your prospector call sign. That way, if they are listening, they shouldn’t be interested in you. We’ll retool and activate your weapons when you get back. Good luck, and good hunting, three-nine-four.”
As she altered coarse, she thought that things must have certainly changed at Argassi. She had been born there. When she was barely ten cycles old, her parents had moved them to Great Falls Aerie for a change of scenery. At the time she wondered why they needed a change; Argassi sat on a beautiful sandy beach in the tropical zone of the planet. Aside from the perpetual processing storm, Argassi was as close to paradise as the young Addson could imagine.
That lasted until her first look at the peaks of The Wall Mountains. That massive northern range with a huge glacial sea on one side and lush hardwood rain forests on the other. That wondrous vista made her decide to become a prospector. Even though the atmosphere had far too much ohto and not nearly enough 'hellum' for her to breath without a respirator, she knew she simply had to get out of the Aerie and roam the planet to see what other wonders it held. As soon as she was old enough, she signed up as a prospector and dove into her studies with abandon.
