Planetfall For Marda

by Zenka Wistram

  There were laughs. I am glad I haven't forgotten how to tell a funny tale. After the stories tonight, Catrin clambered up onto my lap, ignoring my startled reaction to her sudden cuddliness, and told me Trevor and Liberty had finally made it to our village. She said they call this place the Bay with the Worms.

  I said “That sounds not so charming!” “It's not so bad,” she said. “They like to eat the worms. They might bring their family this way and build a village of their own up on that hill.” She pointed north and east, to a tall hill with a bare, rocky top like a bald head almost exactly halfway between the stone trail and the reed grove.

  “What do you think of Trevor and Liberty?” I asked her. She was thoughtful for a bit. “I think they're getting used to us, but they still don't know if we should live here. Liberty never really talks,” she added. “Sometimes she sings, but I can't understand her words. Mostly Trevor just talks. And eats.”

  “Sounds an awful lot like your brother,” I said, and she giggled.

  Then it was time for her to go to bed, and me to head back home to our dome-and-crate, to sit here beneath our canopy overlooking the ocean, and write to you. So, tomorrow, finishing up the Gethin's cover, if they don't have it already done when we get there in the morning, and then foaming it. The Blue Porpoise bunch will put the underflooring in for the Kimuras, which will probably bum the boys out; no more camping out until the floor's laid and dried.

  Goodnight, Marda. Sweet dreams.

  Night 29

  Dear Marda, I got a note back from Frannie, though I suppose you know that already. She says she writes to you sometimes too. She said she's doing well, that our house is well, that all our things are just as they should be.

  She said she's lonely, and she's thinking of getting a cat. Would that be all right with me?

  I've written back and told her the house is hers to do as she wishes now, that I'm glad she's there to give the house a life. That I'm grateful she's watching over those things we've left stored there, but that certainly I don't care if she gets a cat in her own damned house.

  I'm sure you'd tell her the same thing, though perhaps in a gentler way.

  It's good to hear she's well. She hasn't always liked me, and I've been suspicious of her in defense, but she's your sister, she loves you, you love her, and that's enough for me.

  So anyway. On to the big surprise this morning... Benjones was sitting out under our canopy when I stepped outside this morning. I can't go through the dome yet – all the wires wound around the floor are still bare – so I walked out the side-hatch of the crate, then around to the canopy to sit on the folding chair I was carrying in one arm and to drink the “coffee” (or what the package claims is coffee) while I did my best to turn into a human being this morning.

  And there was Benjones, sitting on the grass, tipped back with his head out of the canopy so he could cloud watch.

  I dropped the chair in startlement but managed to save the coffee.

  “Young Benjones,” I said sternly. “Does your mother know you're here?”

  He grinned up at me and wrapped his arms around his knees, clearly gleeful and barely able to contain it.

  “Not yet.” “How'd you get out of the fence this time?” I said, picking up my chair and unfolding it beneath the canopy. “Hell, how'd you get under my fence? I know I activated it last night.” I checked as I said that, and yep, the indicator lights were on.

  “My pooka,” he said smugly. “We were playing in the grass, but he said to stay away from the ocean because he can't swim.”

  “How...” I began, then gave up. “Hey, kid, you got a toy with you?”

  He shook his head vigorously.

  “You stay right there, kid. I'll be right back. I'll get you some juice or something.”

  I marched back into the crate, still holding my coffee, and called up the Almarics on my dash com. “Missing someone short?” I asked the sleepy Toondie who answered.

  “Goddammit...” she muttered. “How on EARTH?! I'll be right there.”

  “Our fence was still secure,” she said, worried, when she got to my place. I'd taken my own fence down in anticipation of her arrival already. “Is he going under the fence somehow?”

  “Maybe see if you can get him to show you how he's doing it tonight. And double check your hatches at night.”

  “I could swear the hatch was locked. Well, we'll be tying them shut now.” Ben, by this time, was fussing and sticking his arms up at his aunt. She picked him up and settled him on her hip without even seeming like she was paying him direct attention, and he laid his head on her shoulder and stuck his fingers in his mouth and looked about to doze off.

  “Kid's worn out,” I said, nodding at him. “Wonder how long he was out and about on his own.” Toondie paled even further.

  “Had my pooka,” the kid said sleepily. “Ok, you and your pooka,” I said, and he grinned, his eyes falling shut. Kids fall asleep so abruptly; I wonder if I ever had that ability. “I think we need to get your house built next,” I told his aunt. “Kid's outsmarting us, maybe we can outbuild him.”

  “Here's hoping,” Toondie said. “I'm going to talk to Phenni and Alferd about building his room off of theirs instead of off the main dome. That way he'll at least have to go through their room to get outside.”

  “That's a great idea,” I said, approvingly. She straightened up a bit at that.

  You know, it always surprises me when I see someone take my praise like that. So we got the Gethins' house foamed and went to work on the Almarics' home. Originally we'd planned to do the Watsons' next, but Rumor and Deja agreed wholeheartedly to get that Almaric kid caged up as soon as possible. No one wants to start our settlement out with having to go find a little body.

  Damn, I wish I hadn't put that into words. That image is going to haunt me tonight, I know it. I'm going to talk to Huw about seeing if we have an extra lock for that kid's bedroom door. The Almarics have one dome with two smaller domes coming off of it – the main room, the master bedroom, and the boys' room. As of right now, the boys' room is attached to the master bedroom instead of the main room, just as Toondie suggested. Toondie herself will live separately but on the same plot of land, in the crate.

  “First time I ever had a home of my own,” she said wryly. “Glad it's going to be close enough to help with the boys. Maybe Bennie won't wander out of the fence if he can just wander over to my place.”

  “I hope so,” I said. “It might seem more adventurous to come visit you when you don't live with them anymore. If I can say anything with a sure heart, that kid's an adventurer.” “Save us from the adventurous imaginative kids,” Toondie muttered, looking up at the sky, and just in case she was right about some sort of protective entity, I looked up too and reiterated her statement with all my mind.

  Someone's gotta look out for that kid. Well, besides his trouble-making pooka. No story time tonight, I was worn out. I just wanted to get as much of the Almaric's house done as I could, and once everyone knew about Benjones' little morning romp, everyone working on the houses with us felt the same way. Huw and I went and found Harry (the engineer) and had him help us check the fences and the hatch. Everything was in working order, but Harry installed an alarm on both hatches on the Almaric's crate, so if it opens again without an adult doing it, it will alert the family to their wandering young'un. He'll install a similar alarm on Ben's bedroom door.

  “Fence is in great condition,” Harry said. “I wonder if young Master Benjones is just some unknown type who doesn't have a negative reaction to the aversion fence. If so, he could walk through them all day and not be at all bothered.”

  “Never heard of such a thing,” I said, shaking my head. Not at his suggestion, just at the awareness of how much trouble the kid could be if he can't be safely fenced.

  “Me either,” Harry admitted. “But there's no tech error. Must be a human irregularity.”

  “Kids,” I said, full-on grumpy old man.

  “You're no
t kidding, brother!” Harry said. “My sister's got four of them, and they're all mad.”

  “I thought I was a wise enough man,” Huw said, just a bit ruefully. “And then I had kids.”

  Wound down the day back under our canopy. Rumor Watson brought some real coffee, and I shared some of my real whiskey, and we had Irish coffee and were old. I never really thought about how much you have to worry over those little monsters. They were always someone else's problem. Well, Benjones Almaric is one of ours, a miniature, larval member of our community, and all of us bear some responsibility for him. It's not a settling thought for me.

  But Irish coffee... that helps. And a good friend who can sit here next to me without a damned word, just drinking her coffee, stretching out her legs, and watching the darkness where the ocean is beneath the deep, night sky.

  I miss you something fierce, but I'm glad Rumor's around to keep company now and then. Goodnight, lovely Marda. I wish I could kiss you goodnight tonight. I'll look like a damned fool kissing this pad if anyone sees me, but I've seen worse.

  Night 30

  Dear Marda,

  No little escaped Benjones this morning. It's no wonder Phenni's graying at forty. The Almarics' dome is up and foamed and we're ready to foam the Watsons' place tomorrow. They have one large dome with stubby, limb-like projections coming off of it, not full smaller domes. Each one of these alcoves is a bedroom; there's one each adult woman, one for each of Deja's children, and one for Jelly and Tundra as they're so close in age and both girls. I told Rumor if only she'd added two more of the alcoves she'd have a real octopus for a house.

  Jelly and Tundra both think this is a splendid idea. They immediately began lobbying for it attempting to tempt Rumor with an office (the other limb would no doubt go to one of the two girls). Rumor told them perhaps in a year or two.

  “Can we paint a smiley face over the door?” Jelly asked.

  “A girl smiley face!” Tundra added quickly.

  Rumor gave them a thoughtful look. “Now, that's something to sleep on for a bit,” she said.

  “We can paint smiley faces in your room if you like,” Misty said softly. “And clouds.”

  “Oh, yes!” Jelly said happily. “Clouds that are smiling!”

  “And rainbows!” Tundra said, with a little jump.

  “And unicorns!” Jelly shouted, waving her arms in the air.

  “Settle, girls,” Rumor said sternly, but her eyes were twinkling. “Let's get the clouds up, then I know someone who can paint unicorns.”

  For some reason the little girls looked at me, but I hastily disabused them of that notion. “I can't even color in the lines on a color page!”

  “I used to paint,” Misty said softly, looking at her mother for confirmation, and Rumor reached over and squeezed Misty's hand. “Your mother is a wonderful painter,” Rumor said gently. “I bet once we have the happy clouds up, she could paint you some lovely unicorns.”

  “Really, Mom?” they said in unison, and pressed against her, wrapping their arms enthusiastically around her.

  “Yeah,” she said, looking bemused, looking shy, but pleased. I can see that Rumor's done most of the raising of those girls, they know their quiet, absent mother so little. Maybe all of this – being isolated with her family, in a good community – will be good for her. Maybe it will help her to have so little noise from the outside world.

  By this time, with all this direct attention, Misty was looking overwhelmed and trapped, so I gruffly offered to take the kids down to the ocean to throw rocks in. Rumor shot me a grateful look and put her arms around Misty's shoulders and led her back into their crate.

  Deja and I took all four Watson kids down to the shore. By the time we left the scattering of crates and newly built domes (Doc's clinic is assembled already, too), we were pulling a train of the little monsters

  – Ayo Jalloh and the Gethin twins and Briallen, and Masumi and Eiji Kimura. Since pretty Iris Blue was along to help keep an eye on the younger kids, it wasn't long before Katsu Kimura and Elyan Gethin were along.

  To help keep an eye on the kids.

  Sure. It's not so hard to get down to the short, though it's a bit of a climb down. There's no path, but there's an area that is a bit less troublesome to climb over. This is the area I believe will become a roadway; we'll be walking there and the trucks will drive down that way, and soon enough it will be smoother and easier to navigate, worn away by feet and tracks.

  The beach itself is settled inside of a gentle curve formed by the spit on the western side of the bay. To the East, the rocks rise up into real cliffs, jagged and stern grey like the rocks all along the shore line.

  The sand of the beach is very fine and silvery-gray. The sand and the water are all safe to play in, according to the scientists, though it looks like there's a pretty fierce tide out toward the end of the spit. Between the three moons, there's a regular tide pattern like at home when the little, brighter one's passing overhead, then a longer, much higher tide when the twin moons pass overhead. The twin moons are much slower though, and the much higher tide will likely only happen once a month or so. At least that's my understanding, though I can check the instruments Edgerift left here to verify that.

  Even the highest tides shouldn't breach the new town growing up beyond the rocky line separating our settlement from the shore. In a year of measuring, it hasn't happened. For a while the kids scoured the beach for the biggest rocks they could lift and hurled them into the lazy surf. When they'd found all the big rocks they could see and tossed them in, they switched to seeing who could toss smaller rocks the farthest. Iris Blue may be a little thing, but she's got a mean right arm. If we get softball teams going, she can be on mine. Deja too, just in case she inherited that from her mother.

  The store of liftable rocks depleted, the kids ran around playing freeze-tag knee-deep in the sea, their socks and shoes lined up on the rocks near the two adults. The older kids spent most of the past few days helping build; all of the children are going to be exhausted tonight. I bet they all fell asleep as soon as their parents dimmed the lights in the crate.

  As the sky turned to deep lavender, I turned on my lantern, and Deja did the same. We lined the kids all up between us, her at the front, me at the back, and herded them all safely back home. I kept a running headcount as we walked (and sang), and was grateful little Benjones was home with his mother.

  No wonder Toondie lives with Phenni and Alferd. That boy needs six eyes near him just to be sure there's at least one eye pointed at him at all times.

  I swear, that kid gets loose again and I am going to fashion a leash and harness for him.

  Goodnight, Marda. I will write more tomorrow.

  Night 31

  Dear Marda,

  It's official, we've survived a whole month on this planet and none of us have gotten eaten or contracted some lethal xenovirus. As of tonight our house, the Kimuras', the Almarics', the Watsons' and the Gethins' are all built. The frame's been pulled down and the floor poured in our house and in the Kimuras'. The wire under-floor layer is set up in the Almarics', the Watsons', and the Gethins'. Tomorrow we'll finish up the Jallohs' house and wire the floor up. Blue Porpoise will pour the floors for the three homes already wired.

  Black Moon has set up the town hall and wired the floor. It's basically a 12 meter dome with the two supply crates providing smaller rooms (and two bathrooms) off each side of it. The double door is directly in the middle, and there's a wall just inside facing the doorway that blocks the doorway from the main room, providing a windbreak and some quiet should someone come in during a meeting. There are many coat hooks at different heights embedded in the wall on the door side, and a big whiteboard covering the width of the wall on the side facing the main room.

  This will be a perfectly serviceable school to start with. Behind the town hall is a storage dome that is a long oval, just tall enough to stand in but as long as the town without the two crates on either side. After everything's set up, cured,
floored, and ready to use, we'll haul all the stuff out of the storage crates and into the storage dome. One of the previous storage crates will become Huw's office. The other will be there for small meetings, or quiet learning.

  Just to the left (and north) of the town hall is Doc Raine's clinic. It's smaller, only about 8 meters, and connected by a tunnel-like hall to Doc Raine's dome. Next to Doc Rain's dome is the dome Dan Bascomb and Soren Hinrick will share, and just beyond that to the north is their crate, where Annya Sanford and Randi Jones will live. So far, though, their house-domes are just skeletons. They'll be covered and foamed tomorrow.

  Across what we're designating “the road” is the science workspace, a row of oblong domes connected at the front by another oblong dome, giving the impression, when you stand on the roof, of a backwards “E” with too many arms. Like an “E” with an “F” riding on top of it, both backwards.

  To the north of the science building is the Black Moon plot. The engaged couple, Laure Carver and Basilio Carlo, will live in the crate, and forming a triangle on their plot will be the two domes they're setting up; one for Bets Almond, Tesla Shane and Natalie Sommers and one for Harry Randolph, Nic Marceau and Hans Erdich.

  Directly across from the town hall is the Watson's plot, and just south of them, the Kimuras, then the Jallohs.

  Next to the town hall on the south side is the Gethin's home, and the Almarics right next door.