“Come on, guys, everything is going to be okay,” Theo said.
“You haven’t seen the latest with the rabbits,” Ravi added.
“What about them?”
“While you were sleeping,” Ravi said, “they went kind of went crazy.”
“Mutant, that is the under-statement of the century,“ Sam added.
On the Communication Device, Sam scrolled through some messages and then he brought up a video stream.
On the tiny screen there was a video of the two rabbits. They were brown and gray, cute and cuddly. They were in the same silver cage. The grayer of the rabbits was the female one. The other one had a browner coat of fur and he was not well. He foamed at the mouth. Each rabbit’s eyes were bloodshot. Twitches rippled through their small, soft bodies. While the brown one ran around in a tight circle trying to bite its white snowball of a tail, the gray one scratched at his own body as if he wanted his fur and his skin to come off his body. His claws were like weapons. With foam spewing out the brown rabbit’s mouth, he threw himself into the bars of the silver cage repeatedly pummeling his body six, seven, eight times before the little rabbit fell in an exhausted heap and a thin line, just a trickle of blood seeped out of a burst vein in one of the rabbit’s ears and then the image went black.
“This is not good,” Ravi stated. “Right? It’s really not good. We’re going to be like the rabbits, sick, deranged, violent, bloody running down our faces.”
“We’re not rabbits,” Theo said, “we’re able to overcome something like this.”
“Like this? Are you kidding?” Sam asked with a mixture of anger and fear. “We don’t know what’s really inside us!”
“It’s actually not at all surprising,” Ravi said. “Invisible microbes of the Earth can be just as much a threat to humankind’s well being as the largest and most ferocious of predators.”
“Don’t give us some doomsday scenario from wikipedia,” Theo said.
“Then I’ll give you facts,” Ravi said. “The human race has almost been decimated by the Great Influenza of 1918. The Black Death. Lepers. AIDS. Swine flu. Flesh eating SSR. Yellow Fever. Malaria. Should I go on?”
“No,” Theo said firmly.
“But in space, especially in places like the Ark and on Odyssey, such doomsday scenarios are of an even higher concern,” Ravi added. “Adaptation to a new virus or microbe can take decades. It’s called natural selection and sometimes the smallest of invaders can fell the largest of foes.”
“Come on, everyone, we are much stronger than these microbiotic invaders,” Theo said. “We have to be.”
“Are we? Really? Are you so sure?” Ravi asked.
“We don’t even know if they are a virus or something else,” Ellie added.
“Maybe, but even an average student of history knows that when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the New World after Columbus, it wasn’t their advanced weaponry or technological brilliance which destroyed the native people.”
“Oh really, then what was it?”
“It was the unseen pestilence and disease from the Old World. We don’t want the same to happen with Odyssey or the Ark or even us, do we?”
“Don’t try to freak us out,” Theo said. “It’s all under control. We’re already in a quarantine.”
Sam went to the viewing window, looked out and said, “We’re just fools for thinking we can tame the beast.”
Outside, in the infinite void, there was a blackness that went on forever. Sam looked at the closest asteroid belt, which was only about three hundred thousand light years away and had a green glow to it. It looked like a much longer, wider and brighter Orion’s belt and the chief astronomer back at the Ark, a pudgy and balding old man named Mr. Arthur nicknamed the belt “Shrek.”
There was another wrenching rumble beneath the floor of the Escape Pod and a shake and shimmer that sent them all off balance once again. They were now united in grief and anger and disbelief and then they all heard another rumble and then a very loud pop.
“What’s that sound?” Sam asked.
“We’re separating from the shuttle,” Ravi answered.
“But why?” Sam asked.
“That appears to be part of the plan,” Ravi said. “Is it? Is that the plan? Is that the protocol?”
Sam snapped back, “There’s no plan.”
“Yes, there is,” Ravi said with a look to Theo. “There has to be a plan, right?”
“We were all dragged in here, totally knocked out like we’re some pieces of meat. There isn’t a plan,” Sam said.
“There is a plan,” Theo finally answered.
“What?”
“Containment. Separation. Exploration,” Theo said.
“And then?”
“We’re going to find a cure,” Theo said.
“Where?”
“GidX7,” Theo answered.
Ravi said, “I can’t believe this is happening. They’re really doing this. We’ve separated.”
The four, even the dog, were all eager from a pure technical wonder of it all to see the separation occur. It was the first time the Escape Pod had ever separated from Odyssey. From this point of view, the group saw just how beautiful Odyssey really was, such an elegant intersection of modules and solar panels. Self sufficient and free, a silver and white and silver cross against a black backdrop of zero gravity.
Theo received a voice-to-voice message on his handheld computer device.
“Put me on speaker,” Doctor Starling requested. “Are you guys okay?”
“Sure, I love getting drugged and thrown into the Escape Pod against my will,” Theo answered.
“I realize this is all happening so quickly,” Doctor Starling said, “We’re not operating on our timetable.”
“Then whose?”
“What we call the Yin-Yang Twins,” Doctor Starling added.
“You mean the alien microbes?” Theo asked.
“Yes,” Doctor Starling answered.
“Are we going to end up like the rabbits?” Ravi asked.
“I don’t know,” Doctor Starling answered.
“But the forecast model,” Ravi said.
“Models are just a forecast prediction,” Doctor Starling said.
“So, it might be wrong?”
“Yes, there’s always a margin of error,” Doctor Starling said. “But everything in biology has a geometry and a reason. A cause. An effect. Everything can be understood. If we search and examine and ask the right questions, then we can find a rational explanation for everything. Observe. Ask. Answer.”
“You can’t just abandon us,” Ravi said with a plea to his voice.
“I’m not,” Doctor Starling said.
“You are,” Ravi shot back.
“No, Ravi, I’m on my way. I’ll be there in nine days or less.”
“You promise?” Ravi asked holding back a tear.
“Yes,” Doctor Starling quickly answered, “I promise. You are all prepared for this. Do you know that?”
“Prepared for what?”
“We’re giving you the best chance to find the cure, the best chance to survive. They had to think about saving the majority. You hear me? We’re giving you every chance to survive, so please don’t be angry.”
Theo was more than angry. He was alive, frenzied and ready to cause a riot but unfortunately he was trapped like an animal.
“And we’re just supposed to wait?”
“If you need to kill a microbe, even an alien one, then you go find a lot of them in their natural habitat. Where do they thrive? Where do they exist? They exist down on that planet, on bones of a formerly alive creature. Microbes, especially this nasty little bugger, is almost like getting cancer. It is near impossible to get rid of. But don’t worry. All living things – at least on Earth – have an enemy close by, lying in wait. Biology is a constant battle.”
“Like between yin and yang,” Theo said.
“Exactly. We just have to find this little buggers enemy,”
Doctor Starling said.
“Sounds easy,” Ravi said somewhat hopefully.
“Oh sure,” Sam said with a trace of bitterness in his voice. “I bet it’s like finding a grain of sand dropped into Death Valley.”
“Have faith in me. Do you hear? Have faith in yourselves,” Doctor Starling pleaded. “I am sorry that we must fight a war we do not want to fight. But we must. I’ll stay in constant contact.”
“And what do we do until then?”
“You’re going down to GidX7 where the first imperative is to explore the
Discovery Site.”
“And then what?”
“Life is a complex set of relationships with water. Listen to me,” Doctor Starling pleaded.
“You want us to find more bones and water?”
“Yes, I will send instructions once you get down there,” Doctor Starling said.
“And if we happen to find some living creature?”
“Even better,” Doctor Starling said matter of factly. “But now we don’t have much time. Flight protocols have been programmed. The main shuttle is heading back to the Ark for re-fueling. We’re not leaving you down there. I’ll be in constant contact and I will help you in any possible way. By the grace of God, you have the privilege to go down to GidX7, a place where no person has walked before. Use caution down there, but realize your journey to the surface is truly the chance of a lifetime. God speed. Now it’s time to take your seats and harness in. Your flight plan is ready to begin. God speed to you all, god speed and I will be in touch after you land. I love you boys so very much.”
Before Theo or Ravi had a chance to respond, there was a cold and mechanical voice that interrupted their father. It was the flight command protocol barking, “Buckle in to a seat. Please. The countdown will begin starting now…”
“We don’t have anymore time. I’m sorry,” Doctor Starling said.
“But Dad,” Ravi pleaded, “are we going to be okay?”
“Yes, I know you are. I love you guys. You hear? I love you so much,” Doctor Starling said as his voice cracked in anguish. He was so close to crying. “Now god speed, god speed boys.”
“…ten…nine…”
The countdown had begun and it was already too late to stop the wheels of fate that spun with each passing number.
CHAPTER 11
WELCOME TO PARADISE
As Theo tried to stop the Escape Pod from jackknifing into a three-sixty death roll, the other Positives had little to do in the Escape Pod except scream bloody murder.
Sam had the loudest scream of all and used it frequently, “Oh my FREAKING CRAP! We’re going to DIE! We’re going to knife right into the FREAKING SOIL, stick a fork in us and call us DEADDDDD!”
Sam’s outburst was not without its merit.
On the computer screen, the huge MALFUNCTION kept flashing.
Theo grabbed hold of the Escape Pod’s control wheel.
Knifing through GidX7’s thin and volatile atmosphere, the Escape Pod had only about one hundred seconds to decelerate from Mach 6 to under Mach 1. This meant the Escape Pod had to make a quick, efficient and potentially deadly transition from space flying machine into a landing craft capable of withstanding the hard and immoveable impact of the surface. They were spinning and spinning, in free-fall in quick rotations.
Sam let out a quick bursts of: “Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, do you know what you’re doing.”
Interrupting Sam’s nervous spasm of oh craps, they heard a loud POP on the outer shell of the Escape Pod.
“What was that?”
“Parachute,” Theo said.
“Oh my god,” Sam screamed as the Escape Pod jerked to the left and the right.
“Whoa!” Theo was enjoying the ride.
Ravi was completely quiet, almost calm.
Sam was shaking his head, “Holy crap. Holy freaking crap! And I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid! Well not anymore!”
“Man up, Sam. Man up!” Theo yelled.
“Easy for you to say. Harder for me to do!” Sam yelled back.
“This is a walk in the bloody park!” Ravi added.
“I’m an artist and a lover not a crazy lunatic!! Oh my God! Is this normal? Is it? Aren’t we going too freaking fast?” Sam questioned as he rocked back and forth.
“It’s normal!” Theo yelled.
“Normal? This is crazy!!! Ahhh!!!” Sam yelled.
“Didn’t you go to Landing Training?” Theo asked.
“No! I was sick!”
Ellie was the calmest and quietest of all. Perhaps it was her natural disposition to not over-react to physical or mental stress and perhaps it was because she kept her eyes closed the whole ride down.
As they plummeted to the surface, still going a crazy fast Mach 2, the main parachute and two side one’s finally opened. The Escape Pod rotated internally like a gymnast doing a slow, methodical tumble.
Airbags, on Earth, saved thousands of lives every day in automobiles and airbags were the best solution for landing robotic probes. For those daring enough to jump out of airplanes a simple parachute saved the day as well. In light of a better solution, they placed blind trust on three things: a vinyl parachute that deployed one gigamile above the surface of the planet, a series of round airbags that popped out from six crevices in the Escape Pod and the grace of any god who would listen.
Landing heavy objects on small planets was harder than most people knew. It was GidX7’s thin atmosphere that was the trouble. Though it was breathable, it was not amenable to landings.
“Take your pick of runways,” Ravi yelled.
“And try to make it smooth,” Sam yelled.
“I’ll do my best,” Theo yelled. “Hang on!”
The horizon of the planet came into view and Theo pulled upon on the control. He tried to right the flight equilibrium level. He was praying for a comfortable and safe landing.
The golden brown terrain was a series of hills and jagged canyons.
GidX7 was smaller than Earth with only three land continents separated by the driest of canyons that dwarfed the Grand Canyon by a factor of two. There were no liquid oceans spotted in any of the photos taken by Odyssey’s satellite imaging advance probe. The GidX7 probes had found the suggestion of water, similar to the dried canals of Mars. The planet also had three continents but no oceans. Rather there were tectonic gaps two and three times wider than the Grand Canyon and four miles deep. It was a rather small brown marble compared to Earth and its atmosphere was just thin enough to make landing a five metric ton Escape Pod a very daunting, nearly impossible though exciting challenge.
When the Escape Pod struck down on soil, the group of Positives held on to anything they could grab onto.
The landing was jarring and ripped a riot through they and sent them all hurtling forward in their canvas restraining straps. They were alive and trying to right themselves from the arrival. Odyssey was gone and they had not yet acquainted themselves with their surroundings, nor their new home, their hexagonal Escape Pod that was situated firmly on the surface of the planet known as GidX7. Their hair fell into their eyes. Blood rushed to their heads. Their fingers were numb from the pressurized, frantic ride and when they had calmed and settled their breath Theo looked over to Sam. He did not look well with sweat beading down his forehead, sweat in his palms.
Theo asked, “You okay there?”
Sam sort of nodded.
“Not like the flight simulator,” Ravi said, “this was so much more awesome!”
Sam looked ready to puke
Theo asked him, “You okay Sam?”
Before Sam answered, he coughed and puked into his hand. It was a slimy mess.
“Welcome to GidX7,” Ravi said.
“Hey Ellie,” Theo yelled.
“Yes?” she answered.
“You can open your eyes. We’re here.”
Ellie finally opened her eyes. She saw Theo leaning back and breathing a sigh of relief while looking at her. He gave her a big th
umbs up and she did the same. They had arrived where no human being had ever set foot.
CHAPTER 12
FIRST STEPS
At the Escape Pod’s exit door, Harry Wolf was barking and barking. His gray snout was pressed firmly against the metal.
Theo yanked him away. “Stop boy. Stop. It’s okay. We’re safe now.”
“Are we?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, we’ve safely landed,” Ellie said. “That can be confirmed without a doubt.”
Theo’s mind reeled with the plan: go to GidX7. Go down to the surface. Find the host. Find the cure. Find a virus. Save their lives. It was such a simple plan, he thought, only complicated by the uncertainty and dust that swirled on the unforgiving surface of the planet and the inability to communicate with Odyssey, the Ark or Doctor Starling who was en route to the planet. All communication was offline.
What if scenarios danced in his thoughts. What if we don’t find what we’re looking for? What if this is a cruel, deathly game? What if life is short and unusual? What if life – especially here on a new planet – was absolute chaos imposed by a superficial order? And what if reason and justice and fairness were as arbitrary as this planet’s wind.
The positives looked out the viewing window and saw the hilly golden terrain.
“We’re here. We’re really here,” Ravi said.
“Now what?” Sam asked.
“Get the computer online. Check all protocols,” Theo said.
“And establish a link,” Ellie said.
“That’s if we can,” Ravi said.
Theo was already sitting down at the computer screen.
No Signal, No Signal pulsed on the Communication Devices and the main Pod computer console. The delay in communication was indefinite. As long as the atmospheric disturbances engulfed the planet, these five new world explorers were totally on their own. The communication devices would re-dial and re-dial until they made contact with Doctor Starling or the Ark mainframe, if they ever did.
Theo typed the protocols he had learned from his father. On screen there was a string of four digit numbers rolling down. The computer was searching for a connection with Odyssey’s mainframe. His classmates hovered over his shoulder.
Odyssey Rising Page 7
