The Long Way Home

by Darrell Bain

  He was glad right then to be of a low rank. It meant that he was one of the first to separate from the others, since his cabin was nearer to the new dayroom than those of the higher ranking explorers and the Chiefs. It also meant that he didn't have to listen to any more of their bullshit. His only consolation before closing the hatch was hearing E5 Franika Bzinski's remark. “You think you're such hot shit, Lann, but your dick's about the size of your little finger and your balls wouldn't make good marbles for a two year old."

  He didn't hear Lann's response, if he made one. Inside, he sat down until he stopped trembling from the surge of adrenalin. He wondered how he should handle it. Now that it was over, he could think of all kinds of cutting remarks he should have made. He imagined himself doing just that and knocking Lann head over heels when he talked back, but before long he told himself forcefully to shut off his daydreams and get busy. Lann and Russell were both his superiors, and it wouldn't do to get in a fight with either of them. Nevertheless, he still had trouble keeping his mind on business after he reported to the control room.

  "What's wrong with you, Jere?” Jana asked in a whisper when Chambers stepped away for a moment, allowing them to practice at scanning for planetary masses by themselves.

  "Nothing. Just some talk I heard."

  Jana chuckled. “Let it be. If you heard it, everyone else will have heard it, too."

  He felt his neck heating up again and hoped his tan coloring concealed it. But he knew it was true. What he'd heard would be repeated again and again and grow with the telling. Any gossip in the boat was news—something to talk about and relieve the stress of their dire circumstances for a while. He knew he would have to confront Lann or Russell if either of them persisted with their untidy remarks, even if it meant getting beat to a pulp. Lann acted as if he was a tough, but Jeremy knew Russell was. He'd seen him in action.

  "How are you coming?” Chambers asked.

  "Oh, just fine, ma'am,” he blurted in surprise. He'd been so intent on his thoughts he hadn't noticed her coming back.

  "It appears you're a little slow solving this particular problem, Jeremy. Do you need some help?"

  "Uh, I think I've got it figured out now, ma'am."

  "How about you, Jana?"

  "I'm just waiting to change places with him,” she said.

  It was true. It was he who had been lagging, for a change. He got busy.

  It was a long two hours, and after that they both spent more time in Lieutenant Commander Chambers’ cabin before being dismissed. She sent them away with enough homework to keep them busy for hours more. He would have offered to study with Jana, but they had been specifically ordered to work the assigned problems on their own. He took time to fetch a ration before returning to his cabin. The work went slower than usual, but he persisted, and at last he was finished. He called Juanita but found a message stating that she was on duty for the next several hours. Lacking anything better to do, he went to bed. It hadn't been one of his better days, and that night he dreamed of fighting Johnny Lann. He lost.

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  Chapter Ten

  Early the next morning before roll call, Jeremy went down to Mideck and on to the remaining acceleration chairs. There he took a few minutes to gaze longingly out of both the port and starboard view ports. Where they had landed appeared to be a rather desolate piece of real estate, bordering on desert. Its paramount feature was the expanse of water he could see from the starboard port. Judging by the look of the tides he saw rolling in, the planet must have a fairly large moon, and he was probably looking at an ocean. Long, thin-walled, flexible hoses draped over rocks and a few peculiar spiked shrubs, and then descended to the water fifty meters or so downhill from their landing spot. From the looks of the terrain out the other port, the landing jacks must have had a time leveling the boat. It was composed mostly of small to medium-sized boulders strewn randomly across a plain that grew blurry with distance. He didn't feel so badly about having to remain with the boat and study now. Still, it would have been nice to get out and breathe some air that hadn't been recycled innumerable times since being refreshed at the last habitable planet.

  He checked his thumbnail and saw that it was time for the morning roll call. Before the boat had become their whole world, such gatherings had been held only once or occasionally twice a week. Otherwise, so long as the explorers kept themselves busy with studies and assigned tasks, including workouts, they were allowed to report virtually by computer. Now the routine was stricter. He knew Chief Dugan would become upset should he be late.

  He fell in beside Siegfrer as usual, with Whitey on his other side at the tail end of the back rank. Willy Whiteside was the only explorer in the squad more junior than he, and that was only because of his own higher standing in the same graduating class at the academy.

  The E5s were in the front rank with mostly E4s holding the middle. Chief Dugan hadn't arrived yet, and there was some talking going on, but thankfully none concerning him. But it's just a matter of time until it starts again, he thought.

  * * * *

  "I'd hate to have to discipline either of them for idle gossip,” EO Gary Cantrell said from behind the desk on the Mideck compartment, where the explorer officers conducted business. COB Shinzyki and Chief Dugan were sitting opposite him in the only other chairs.

  "But is it idle, sir?” Shinzyki said. “It's coming pretty close to affecting the efficient functioning of the boat. We know it's just malicious gossip, but if the others begin believing it, then we have problems. No one likes it when officers play favorites, although we all know there's nothing to it in this case."

  "It's the perception I'm worrying about,” Casey replied. “You know how it goes. Anything that's repeated often enough begins to be taken seriously. And this has been repeated long enough, I think."

  Cantrell rubbed his chin. “What would you like to do about it, Chief?"

  "I want to have it stopped in a way that won't involve their superiors directly."

  "You have an idea?"

  "Yes, sir, I believe I do."

  "COB?"

  "I know what she's thinking of, sir. It sounds good to me—if it comes out like she thinks it will."

  "Hmm. It wouldn't involve violence, would it?"

  "Only the kind that's authorized, sir,” Casey said. A hint of a smile played at the corners of her lips.

  Shinzyki gave a slow nod of approval. He and Casey had discussed the problem before ever talking to Cantrell.

  "All right, take care of it, but try to wait until we're in hyper again. Can you do that?"

  "I think so, sir. We'll be keeping them so busy until we lift that they'll be too tired for much else."

  "I'll leave it with you, then."

  After they departed Cantrell's office, Shinzyki stopped Casey with a tug on her arm. His powerful physique halted her dead in her tracks.

  "What?"

  "Can he really handle himself well enough?"

  "He's been working out with Martinez quite a while. Yes, I think so. And I know for certain she can, if he can't manage it."

  "Good enough."

  * * * *

  "Aren't the Coyotes going out again tomorrow?” Joyce asked Jeremy toward the end of his and Jana's shift in the control room with her.

  "Yes, ma'am, they are. It'll probably be our last time this stop. The guys are saying the organics tanks are about full."

  "And half the Tigers will be dirtside, too, won't they?"

  "Yes, ma'am,” Jana said.

  "Well, you two have been working hard. Why don't you take a day off from astrogation and see if your Chiefs will let you go with them tomorrow?"

  Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been on the verge of asking Dugan to intervene in allowing him to at least set foot on the planet once. In fact, it was in one of Commander Brackett's directives that ‘Nita had told him she'd heard—instructing the officers to see that every person had at least a minimal amount of time off the ship. The o
nly exception, she told him, was for reasons of discipline or the necessity of performing some duty that couldn't be delayed. He had begun to think the Commander had put astrogation in the last category, but apparently not. Chambers wouldn't have given them the time off, otherwise.

  He woke up early the next day and made certain all his gear was in perfect order. He certainly didn't want something like a downcheck on it to interfere with the day off from astrogation study. It almost certainly wouldn't be a real day off, though. Chief Dugan would have something for him to do—most likely guard duty or working with the teams harvesting the scarce organic material. Even after the disaster on the last water world, they had to use hastily manufactured nets to gather sea life for most of the organics needed. There simply wasn't that much of it on any land close to available water, and he knew Commander Brackett didn't like moving the boat more than necessary, now that it was their only refuge.

  As he suspected, he was assigned to guard duty. He didn't know it was the favored duty until they were outside and Chief Dugan was busy talking to Mister Cantrell, giving Johnny Lann a chance to mouth off.

  "Shit, you must be sucking up to the Skipper and the astrogators both, Costa. How come you get guard duty, and I have to wade out in that slop and pull on nets all day and ruin my hands fooling with those fucking little wigglers?"

  "There're others with you,” Jeremy said reasonably.

  "But you aren't, are you, Cherry? Pretty damn good for someone on his first cruise. You gotta be bending over for someone."

  "Screw you, Lann. I've never asked for anything special."

  "Sure you haven't. Just give ‘Nita a good fuck and she'll ask for you."

  He came very near to losing his temper but managed to keep from lashing out at the big E5. Only the fact that he was pretty sure Russell put him up to mouthing off kept him from it. Instead, he turned his back without saying a word and walked away with the other guards when Dugan returned to place them.

  "Right here, Costa,” she told him after the others were in position. “Keep your eye on those rocks. You'll be looking for something like a big millipede that comes down from the boulders and feeds in the surf during daylight. That's the most likely, but don't let your guard down. We don't know much about this place."

  "I've heard about the millipedes,” he said. “Mean buggers and hard to kill."

  "Right you are, Costa. Use your hand laser if one comes your way. It works better than a rifle.” She leaned closer and added, “You did exactly right with Lann. Don't let anyone aggravate you. These things have a way of dying out, if you keep your cool."

  "Thanks, Chief,” he said but wondered how on Earth she had overheard. Or perhaps she was talking about the previous occasion? He didn't know, but he was glad now that he hadn't started anything.

  Before the day was out, he found himself wanting the dirtside duty to be over and to get back inside the boat. It was hot and humid and boring. He drank most of his water and had to take an electrolyte pill. Simpson passed those out to everyone on the first day out, right after an explorer fell out from heat exhaustion. The only excitement came late in the day, or shift, rather, since the “day” amounted to nearly fifty hours. One of the millipede things attacked the guard farthest from his own post. Even at that distance it looked big, but several pulses from the guard's laser made it roll onto its back. Its tiny stumps of legs twitched as it died. It went into the presser along with the heaps of small flopping and wriggling sea life that fed in the shallows and was its normal prey.

  So long as they were taking on water, everyone had been encouraged to take showers every day. It felt great to stand under the cool water, even though he'd had to wait half an hour in line and shower with two other men, one of them being Johnny Lann. He ignored Lann as best he could. They all washed socks and undergarments at the same time. This is going to become very old before it's over, he thought. The engineering officer was trying to rig something up to do laundry in batches, but so far he hadn't managed anything but a small working model that broke soon after he began testing it.

  His private com tingled his arm while he sluiced water from his body.

  "Costa,” he said after tapping his forearm.

  It was Juanita. “Hey, Jere. I'm free tonight. Grab your ration and come see me."

  Just the sound of her voice brightened his spirits. What with the landing, maintenance and taking on supplies she hadn't managed much time for him lately. The spacers were busier than the explorers.

  "I'll be there soon as I can,” he said.

  "Don't rush. She's probably giving someone else a blow job,” Lann said from behind him.

  He turned around and found Lann grinning slyly, as if he knew something.

  He stared at the tall, handsome explorer for a moment, wondering how such a numbnut could have been borne in that great body. He also wondered what ‘Nita had ever seen in him, but only for a moment. Any woman would be attracted to a hunk like him at first. He started to reply with a cutting remark, but at the last moment he remembered what Chief Dugan had told him. He turned his back and finished dressing while Lann laughed at him. It was hard to leave it at that. He managed, but couldn't keep from thinking that the slander didn't seem to be dying out as Dugan told him it would.

  * * * *

  "You look like you're mad at the world, Jere. What's wrong?” Juanita asked him after a long first kiss.

  "Just some guys mouthing off. It's nothing to worry about."

  "You didn't get into it with them, did you?” she said as if she knew exactly who he meant.

  "I wanted to,” he said. “Hey, I had to bring my ration. D'you mind if I eat now?"

  "I waited on you.” She pulled him down to the couch and picked up her own meal, still wrapped in its edible covering.

  He peeled off the wrapper of the ration and used some of ‘Nita's seasoning on it before folding it and bringing it to his mouth. He took a bite and wrinkled his nose at the taste, which resembled seafood slightly past its prime.

  Having followed suit, she said, “Don't let those jerks bother you. It'll work out. Wait and see if it doesn't."

  She seemed to know exactly what was going on. Well, it would be weird if she didn't, the way Lann and Russell talked. Still...

  "It had better die down, ‘Nita. I'm not going to take much more of their shit. I could stand it if it were just me, but they're talking about you like...” he stopped, not wanting to repeat some of the things he'd heard.

  "Never mind. I know what Johnny and Buford Russell are saying. I can take care of myself, so keep your cool. Okay?"

  "If you say so."

  "I do. Finish your ration and let's go to bed. We'll be leaving early."

  * * * *

  Hurricane Jack left the planet shortly after roll call the next morning. This time, Jeremy found himself being held with tractors in a cargo bay, along with other lower-ranking explorers. It was uncomfortable, and he was glad finally to be released. He made his way back toward his cabin, intending to stop briefly and then head for the control room. Before he arrived, his com tickled, and he received an all-squad message. All Coyotes report to exercise room. Repeat, all Coyotes report to the exercise room. Roll call in ten minutes.

  Now what? he thought. He had been actually looking forward to getting back into astrogator's training after spending only one day dirtside. He had found nothing interesting there, for sure. He found himself walking with Siegfrer toward the gym.

  "What's happening, Jere. Do you know?"

  "I don't have a clue, Sieg. Guess we'll find out in a few minutes."

  "Anything but hauling on nets. You got off easy."

  "Huh! I'd just as soon not have. A couple of guys implied I was being singled out for easy duty."

  She glanced at him and continued walking. “I know who you're talking about. Big mouths, small dicks, if you ask me."

  He laughed, feeling a little better.

  It lasted only until he fell in with the others along one bulkhead of wha
t the chiefs and officers called the exercise room and explorers and spacers had named the gym.

  "All right, I see everyone is here,” Chief Dugan said. “Now let's get those machines moved out of the way and some mats on the deck. Most of you have been shirking on hand-to-hand, and that irks me. When I get to feeling like this, the only cure is watching some of you inept little boys and girls pair up and give each other some bruises."

  Jeremy knew something was awry. To begin with, the type of exercise was usually left up to the individual explorer so long as they worked the prescribed amount of time and stayed within the parameters designated. Next, hand-to-hand was usually done in a smaller room adjacent to the gym. So far as he knew, only a few explorers used it, thinking that type of exercise wasn't likely to be used much on new worlds with no human antagonists. And finally, he couldn't remember Dugan ever telling her explorers whom to pair off with on the rare occasions when they did select hand-to-hand exercise. A tingle of apprehension coursed through his body as she continued speaking.

  "Listen up for your partners.” She began calling off names by twos.

  "Sorenson and Luna"

  "Whiteside and N'Kuma"

  "Bzinski and Prosky"

  "Kaneha and Smith"

  "Lann and Costa"

  "Bruker and..."

  He felt his heart drop and his testicles lift as they tried to crowd into the safety of his body. Dugan must have deliberately set this up to where he and Lann could work out their differences on the mat. In front of an audience, no less. He wondered if Lann suspected. As Sorenson and Luna moved out to the center of the gym to start, he tried frantically to remember all that Juanita had taught him during their frequent sessions in the gym—and hoping that Johnny Lann hadn't been doing any H&H, or if he had, that someone as good as ‘Nita hadn't been teaching him!

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