Project Columbus: Omnibus

by J. C. Rainier

  “Come here, sweetie.”

  Gabi felt Haruka pick her up and draw her up in an embrace. Though she didn’t know this strange woman apart from her name, the warmth of her arms and the softness of her skin were calming. Gabi wrapped her arms around the woman’s neck and cried into her shoulder as she was gently rocked back and forth.

  “It’s okay. Let it out,” she whispered in Gabi’s ear. “I’m here for you, sweetie.”

  Tears flowed from Gabi’s eyes and sobs escaped her throat for countless minutes. All the while, her savior held and rocked her, and whispered soothing words into her ear. Finally Gabi calmed down and opened her eyes. Perched on the log behind Haruka was a rifle. It was different than the hunting rifles her father owned; this one was a dull color, and had more angles to it.

  Haruka released her embrace of Gabi and looked in her eyes. “Have you been out here overnight?”

  Gabi nodded in response.

  “Are you hungry?”

  She shook her head.

  “What about thirsty?”

  Gabi thought for a second and nodded. Haruka produced a canteen and offered it to Gabi, and she promptly took three big swigs of water. As she drank, she noticed oddly shaped red blotches on Haruka’s arms.

  “What are those?” she asked as she pointed.

  Haruka looked down at her arms. “I’m not sure. I saw that earlier this morning. It feels kind of like a sunburn.” Her gaze met Gabi’s. “You sure you’re not hungry? When did you last eat?”

  “Breakfast,” Gabi replied.

  “Breakfast, huh?” Haruka looked around. Gabi tried to see what she was looking for, and saw the lifeless body of the giant cat. She shook for a moment before she realized it couldn’t hurt her anymore. “Can you show me what you ate for breakfast?”

  Gabi looked at her new friend and nodded, then stood up and led her to the fruit bush. She harvested one and offered it to Haruka, who set down her rifle, took the fruit from Gabi, and gave it a thorough examination.

  “It was really yummy,” she pronounced.

  “I’ll bet. I’m going to take a couple of these and maybe have them later. I just ate a big breakfast myself.” Haruka fished into the folds of clothing around her waist. Gabi caught a glimpse of a pistol tucked into her belt.

  “Are you a soldier?” she asked.

  “I am, sweetie. Why do you ask?”

  “You have lots of guns, and you’re wearing blue.”

  “Yeah, I guess I do.” The woman paused as she pulled something out of her clothes that looked like a big cell phone, only with black rubber grips around the edges, and a small compass. Haruka looked at the two items and then turned around. “We need to go this way.”

  Gabi looked in the direction her friend was pointing and saw nothing but trees divided by the rushing stream. “Why?”

  “Oh, there’s just some people over there I’d like to say hi to. I’ve been waiting to hear from them.” She looked down at Gabi and smiled. “And I bet they’d want to see a brave little girl like you. Shall we go?”

  Gabi was hesitant at first, but then realized that she had nowhere else to go. The jungle was full of scary noises and cats that like to eat kids. She figured that going someplace with a soldier had to be a lot safer, and much less lonely.

  “Okay,” she said at last.

  Haruka’s smile widened, and Gabi could see a hint of her teeth. “C’mon, Gabi. Let’s go.” She offered her hand, which Gabi wrapped her little fingers around. Haruka slung the rifle over her shoulder and the two walked side by side along the creek.

  Capt Haruka Kimura

  Planetfall +1 day, late morning

  Near ex-Raphael sleeper pod eight crash site

  Haruka scrutinized the near river bank, looking for a reasonably easy path to move forward. Snarls of brush and felled trees obstructed the bank ahead, and she knew they would need to soon depart from the river to make way for the pod. Her new companion stayed close by, staring at the local flora. Haruka felt both relief and a twinge of sorrow at the discovery of the battered and disheveled girl whose life she had certainly spared from the jaguar.

  Gabrielle. Why did her name have to be Gabrielle? Haruka watched the little girl as she ran ahead to pick another of the strange orange-green fruits from a bush. Gabrielle. Too close to Gabriel. Dad’s ship. Dad… is gone.

  “Gabi?” Haruka asked as her companion returned, sniffing the fruit.

  “Yeah?”

  “Are you hungry again?”

  “Mm hmm,” she confirmed with a nod.

  “Here, let me get you something to eat.” Haruka shed her pack and rummaged through it for a meal pack.

  “I want to eat this.” Gabi held up the fruit with her arm stretched out so far, Haruka thought she might topple from the weight.

  We don’t even know if it’s really edible, kid.

  Haruka tried to put on a sweet smile, hoping that might conceal any hint of concern on her face. “I know. We’ll have some later, I promise. I just think you should eat something that will stick with you a little more.”

  Gabi’s nose wrinkled. “I don’t want sticky food.”

  Haruka chuckled. “Then I guess you don’t like those fruits, because I bet they’re pretty sticky.”

  Gabi’s eyes widened and she drew back the fruit. “But I do!”

  “Yeah? You like sweet stuff too, like cake?”

  “Yeah!”

  Haruka produced a pouch and tore it open. “These have little desserts in them.”

  Gabi tilted the bag in Haruka’s hand and looked inside. “What is it?”

  “The dessert? It’s for a little girl who eats a good lunch. C’mon, I’ll split it with you.”

  The two sat down and Haruka opened a neatly sealed bag of spaghetti and the utensils package. Gabi licked her lips as Haruka readied the meal. Haruka traded the plastic fork to the little girl for her fruit, and watched as the child attacked the food pouch like she hadn’t eaten in days.

  Dad said I used to eat like that when I was little. Haruka sighed and bit her lip. Though she had cried the night before, she had no time now to grieve for him. She still had to get to pod eight, a task that would take longer due to her companion’s short legs. At least I’ve found my first survivor. She’s too far away from any of the other pods. Her family has to be at number eight.

  Gabi consumed the whole entrée before Haruka could even get a bite. Her hands and face were stained red with marinara sauce, and Haruka had to break into the wet-nap pouch to clean her up.

  “Wow, you ate that fast. You must be a growing girl.”

  “Yeah.”

  Haruka opened the dessert pouch and revealed a dry, crumbling piece of preserved chocolate cake. She handed it to Gabi and then started eating the garlic flatbread that the meal’s designer intended as a side dish. “How old are you, Gabi?”

  She thrust her hand out with her fingers splayed wide. “I’m this many!”

  “Wow, five, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What do you like to do? Any games that you like to play?” Haruka knew the conversation was mindless, but she hoped that it might serve to distract both of them for just a little bit.

  Gabi hummed a little tune, then looked at Haruka with her sparkling brown eyes and smiled wide.

  Haruka paused. “What?”

  She hummed again.

  “You like music?”

  “Yeah.”

  Perfect. Maybe that will help keep our minds busy.

  Haruka stowed their trash in her pack and took her bearings. “Alright. We need to go this way,” she said with a jerk of her thumb. “But I really want to hear something while we’re walking. What can you sing for me?”

  The two started walking, this time away from the river. Gabi took Haruka’s hand and her face scrunched up as she tried to think. She cleared her throat and began to sing. Though the song was just a simple children’s rhyme, Haruka was taken aback at the clarity and precision of the girl’s voice. She smile
d and sang the final refrain in chorus with Gabi.

  “You’re really good at that, Gabi. Can you sing me another one?”

  Gabi nodded. She thought for a moment, and then started in on another tune. Haruka didn’t recognize the song or the lyrics, as Gabi had started singing in Spanish. The tune was soft and soothing. Haruka closed her eyes as she walked along, imagining her own mother singing it. She could see her mother’s smiling face in her mind, and a feeling of warmth washed over her.

  Haruka felt a tugging at her arm and realized Gabi had finished singing. “Are you okay, Haruka?”

  She opened her eyes and smiled. “Yeah, I was really enjoying your singing. How about one more?”

  “No thanks.” She pointed to a low ridge ahead. “I want to go pick more fruit for later.”

  “Alright, but just remember; don’t go over the hill where I can’t see you.”

  Gabi smiled and skipped up the hill. Haruka took a moment to examine the bright rashes on her arms. They did not itch like a normal rash, but like sunburn they stung when they were rubbed wrong.

  I wonder if I’m allergic to something in the jungle, she thought. She picked at the frayed strands of her shoulder cuffs where she had sliced the sleeves from her uniform. I had sleeves on yesterday, so it shouldn’t be sunburn. It would be the craziest looking sunburn ever if it was.

  Haruka looked up at the ridge and saw Gabi with her back turned. She was not picking fruit, or anything else for that matter. She seemed to be frozen in place, looking off into the distance.

  “Gabi?” Haruka called as she ran up the hill. “Are you okay?”

  Haruka ran up beside the little girl and instantly saw what Gabi was looking at; just over the next ridge, Haruka could make out the steel form of a sleeper pod between the trees. Haruka let out a sigh of relief and smiled. She turned to say something to Gabi, but she could see her companion’s lip trembling and tears streaming from her cheeks.

  “What’s wrong, Gabi? We’re almost there. Just a few more minutes.”

  “No. We can’t go.”

  “Why not?”

  Gabi burst out crying. “They’re dead.”

  Haruka’s skin began to crawl and her heart beat faster. “What do you mean, sweetie?”

  “There were dead people in there, and then I got out and fell off of it. And then there was a fire.”

  “Whoa, slow down there. Fire?”

  Gabi nodded slowly as the corners of her mouth drew back and her lip stuck out even further. “Mama and Papa were in there.”

  Haruka looked at the pod and saw a dulled gray exterior. “I don’t see any sign of fire from here. Come on, I bet everyone’s fine.”

  “No!” Gabi screamed. “I saw two dead people there! And there was a fire!”

  Haruka lost her patience with Gabi. “We need to go there,” she said as she grabbed Gabi’s hand and started to drag her toward the pod. Gabi shrieked and dug her heels into the ground. Haruka winced as the girl’s resistance jarred her torn shoulder. Haruka growled and scooped up Gabi with one arm. “We’re going.”

  Haruka jogged her way around thick masses of underbrush as she picked a course for the pod. Gabi screamed and kicked the whole way, and Haruka felt as if her shoulder might just come apart from all the stress. She gritted her teeth and doubled her efforts.

  When they reached the edge of the clearing made by the crashed pod, Haruka saw a patch of blackened metal on the pod about five feet tall and fifteen feet across. Gashes and dents marred the outer hull of the pod from stem to stern. Several people were standing on top of and around the base of the pod, inspecting it. She put Gabi down and pointed at the black mark.

  “See? Just a little burn on the outside from where a hydraulic line burst. There’s nothing in these things that can make them burn completely through,” she said.

  Well, unless the chemical thrusters still had enough fuel left to burn up the oxygen canisters, that is.

  “And look,” she continued. “See all those people there? They’re not dead.”

  Haruka and Gabi looked at the cluster of people standing near the blackened lower rungs of the ladder. Several of them pointed in their direction. One began to run towards them, stumbling over felled logs in a headlong rush. Haruka threw up her hand to shield her eyes. She could make out that it was a woman running for them. A man broke from the group and chased after her.

  “Huh, now I wonder what this is all about.”

  A faint voice carried from the distance fell on their ears. “Gabi?”

  “Mama?” she said, almost in a whisper.

  “Gabi?”

  “Mama!” Gabi jumped up and ran toward the woman as fast as she could. Haruka tried to keep pace with her, hampered by the jumbled piles of felled wood.

  The woman stopped, and as soon as Gabi was in reach, scooped her up and held her tight. The man who was following stopped and embraced them as well. Haruka caught up and stopped at their side, out of breath from her scramble.

  “Gabi, you’re alive,” sobbed Gabi’s mother.

  Haruka’s heart swelled as she watched the reunion. Tears streamed down all of their faces, and Gabi was showered with kisses.

  “We couldn’t find you anywhere,” her father croaked, his face buried in Gabi’s hair. “We thought you were dead.” He looked up at Haruka. Slowly he rose, and stumbled over to Haruka. She flinched as his arms came up and she started to reach for her pistol, but then hesitated. His arms fell across her shoulders and he gave her a hug so tight that her shoulder began to burn again.

  “Ow,” she protested.

  He let go and straightened himself up. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” His eyes were locked on hers, and she could see his lips tremble. “Thank you for finding her. Thank you for returning our little girl. We thought she was dead. Please, if there is anything I can do for you ever, just name it.”

  Haruka nodded. “The first thing you can do is watch her closely for the next day or so. Make sure she doesn’t get sick.”

  “W-why?”

  Haruka retrieved one of the orange and green speckled fruits from her pack. “Before I found her, she ate three of these.”

  Gabi’s father lost his smile in an instant, and he grew several shades paler. “Are they poisonous?”

  “I don’t know. They look pretty harmless, and when I cut into one it smelled kind of like a peach. But we know absolutely nothing about the native plants, so we need to be careful. Especially little ones like Gabi who don’t know any better.”

  He nodded. “Trust me, I won’t be letting Gabi out of my sight at all for a while. Is there anything else you need me to do for you?”

  “Yes. Where are the pod pilots? I need to debrief them.”

  “I uh…” his voice trailed off as he looked over his shoulder, then back at Haruka. “I don’t know who they are. We can ask around, though. Are you part of the ship’s crew?”

  “Yes, sir. Captain Haruka Kimura, acting commander of the sleeper ship Raphael.” She extended her hand, which he grasped and shook vigorously.

  “Luis Serrano. My wife Maria, and of course Gabi, our daughter. No offense, Captain, but you look like you’ve been through a lot. Maybe we should get you back to the pod and see if someone there is a doctor. That shoulder looks pretty bad.”

  “Please, call me Haruka. And thanks. Would you mind carrying this for me?” Haruka slipped her pack off and offered it to Luis, who snatched it from her.

  “Of course. Right this way.”

  The four started for the pod. With the reduced weight load, Haruka could move much more easily. She took notice of the condition of the pod as she moved toward it. The rear ramp is still closed. It looks fine. Either there’s a power failure, or the crew can’t open it. There are some bad breaches in the skin, and the hydraulic landing system is shot.

  “So you were all alone out here?” asked Luis.

  “No. I crashed in the engineering skiff with two others.” Haruka bit her lip. She knew she would have to adm
it the deaths of Mancini and Evans, but wondered exactly how much she should tell the survivors. “One died in the crash, the other was killed by a native animal,” she lied. “The same animal that tried to rip me to pieces.”

  “I’m sorry to ask, but what did this animal look like?”

  “Some sort of predatory cat. The closest thing I can think of on Earth would be a jaguar, except the fur color is different and it has longer fangs.”

  She continued her mental assessment. If the top of this thing is punched through, we might not be able to use it as shelter for long.

  “Anyone here have medical training?” Luis shouted as they approached the base of the pod. The dozen or so people loitering around looked at each other and shook their heads. “Alright, inside we go. Most people are still in there trying to sort stuff out and figure out what to do with ourselves.”

  Haruka grabbed the ladder and scaled it. Each time her left shoulder pulled her up higher, she felt a twinge of pain. When she gained access to the roof, she walked past another small crowd and climbed down the access hatch into the core of the pod. She looked down the hall and saw the closed door of the ESAARC cockpit. Her heart dropped.

  “Has that door been closed the whole time?” she asked as Luis dropped to the deck next to her.

  “Yup.”

  She sighed heavily. “No use trying to find the pilots. I know exactly where they are.”

  The look of concern that etched his face said that he seemed to know what Haruka meant. He nodded, and then directed her toward a sleeper hallway. “Let’s see about that doctor, okay?”

  They made their way through the pod to section bravo. Every upper level unit was open, and men, women, and children lay in berths or sat on the ground, engaged in conversation with each other.

  “Anyone here have medical training?” Luis asked. A hush fell on the crowd.

  “I do.” A slender woman with straight, jet black hair maneuvered through the crowd and up to Haruka. “I’m a nurse.”

  “She’s got a wounded shoulder. It’s Emilia, right?”