“Wait, talk about what?”
“Life once we get there.”
She gave him a wary look, but pulled her way to the rightmost nav seat and secured herself. He selected the center seat, making sure that he would be next to her for the upcoming conversation. He retrieved the meals from under his arm and handed her one, which she accepted. He waited for her to open her pouch, and the almost inevitable scattering of the contents that happened when one was not used to the lack of gravity. He helped her retrieve her food, and then opened his own pouch with a deft swipe.
“So what about life on the new planet do you think we need to talk about?” she asked, and then took a bite from the sandwich that she had unwrapped.
Here goes everything.
“Why do you think you’re here?”
The question made her stop mid bite. She thought for a second, and slowly started to chew again. When she swallowed her bite, she gave her response. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I was a refugee. Maybe it’s because of my age.”
Cal nodded. “There were other refugees. Other nineteen year olds.”
“Hey, how did you know how old I am?” she asked.
A very slight smile crossed his lips. “I overheard some of your details when Colonel Dayton was grilling me just after I woke up. I came out of stasis under really odd circumstances. There was a point at which he thought we were part of some weird conspiracy.”
Her eyes narrowed and locked on him. “Are you serious?”
“I swear. This crap is too weird for me to make up. In any case, those were two of the reasons, but not all of them.”
“Okay, smarty pants. Were there other reasons?”
“Well, from what I remember Cameron saying, your love of camping and your ability to cook were also on that list.”
“Those are weird reasons.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Cal continued. “I never really asked anyone about it, but I did give a lot of thought to it in my spare time. Other than the ship, we’re not going to have any shelter until we build stuff, right?” Alexis paused and then nodded. “So we might have to camp outside the ship, depending on what goes on. Also, pretty much everyone here has a specialty, and for a reason. You were a line cook, so you can help feed everyone here, right?”
“Uh, I guess that makes sense.”
“Right. Cameron’s shown me a sample of the kinds of people we have aboard. There are doctors, nurses, carpenters, and loggers. Teachers and preachers. Architects, geologists, and farmers. Almost everyone has a place.”
“That’s the second time you’ve said almost. Who doesn’t have a place?”
Cal sighed heavily and looked through the glass in front of him at the star. “Me.”
“You? What kind of crap talk is that? If I’m here for a reason, you’re here for a reason too. C’mon, tell me what it is you’re good at.”
Screwing things up.
“Nothing. I haven’t really succeeded in anything at life. I don’t really have any useful skills. I’m not supposed to be here.”
Alexis let out an exasperated sigh. “Quit being so difficult. They must have chosen you for a reason.”
“They didn’t.” Cal looked into her brilliant green eyes. She wore a smile on her face, as if she was on the trail of some great mystery, and solving it would bring her satisfaction. It made Cal feel all the more guilty that he was about to shatter the mystique. “Dad somehow pulled some strings and got me on board. I was never chosen to be up here. There was a conspiracy, but it was my dad who was part of it, not me. I only got the benefit of whatever it was that he did.”
The smile on her face was quickly erased, and a blank look of disbelief replaced it. “You’re joking.”
“I already said that none of this is a joke.”
Alexis blinked at him twice in slow succession, then turned to face the sun, and continued eating. He likewise turned and consumed his meal, near complete silence forming an almost impenetrable barrier between them.
At least she knows the whole truth now.
Cal and Alexis finished eating almost at the same time, and Cal collected the waste into one pouch. Alexis broke the silence.
“So what are you going to do when we get there?”
“At first? Odd jobs. Whatever I can do to make myself useful. I’m sure that Dayton can find something for me to do. After that…” his voice trailed off as he considered the wisdom of what his mind conceived so many years ago, shortly after his revival from stasis the first time.
“Tell me.”
“Well, it’ll take a little while to get going, but I think it will be useful in the end. I’m going to make biodiesel. Maybe also do something with the waste products.”
“Biodiesel? Are we even carrying any cars in this ship?”
Cal laughed nervously. “Not quite. There’s some diesel generators and pumps, and a few diesel pickups and bulldozers. I think they even said they had a couple specialized power tools that run on diesel. Anyway, I figure this might be useful just in case they run out of fuel before they can find and drill more. I might not be able to run them all, but every bit counts, right?”
Alexis nodded and gave him a wry grin. “Well, if that’s your plan, then I guess there’s no doubt that you’re from Texas.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Come on. Texas? Oil? Diesel? This has got to be the punch line of the joke, right?” she laughed.
Cal laughed as he thought about it. There was an undeniable yet odd poetry to the idea of it all, and yet he hadn’t considered the point before Alexis brought it up. He let himself drift in the moment. His mind captured an image of her lips parted to reveal her white teeth as she cackled at her own joke. A memory caught up to him of her soft lips when she pressed them against his in the ESAARC pod. For a brief moment, he thought that all was right again, but then he turned away, a voice inside nagging that it was already too late.
He composed himself and asked, “So what about you?”
“Hmm?”
“What are you going to do? I mean, once things have settled down a bit and you’re not needed for a soup line, that is.”
“I… I don’t know,” she admitted. “I haven’t had as much time to think about it as you have, I guess.”
Cal nodded and managed another nervous smile. “Well, you’ve got about two months to figure it out before everyone’s lives are turned upside down again.”
“Cal,” she blurted. Her mouth was slightly agape, and she seemed to be catching her breath, as if his name wasn’t meant to come out.
“Yes?” he replied casually.
“I was wondering,” she said with a hesitation. “Do you want to start working out together again? I mean, it gets kind of lonely down in the gym. I understand if you don’t want to, but you know...” She turned and muttered under her breath, “Damn.”
Butterflies formed at once in his stomach, and he had to remind himself not to freeze up. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
“Okay.” She paused again, and her eyes met his again, sending a nervous tingle down his spine. “Tonight, before dinner?”
“You got it.”
“Thanks for lunch, and for the view.”
Despite the voice in the back of his mind protesting, Cal impulsively lurched forward with his plan to reconcile with Alexis. “I’ll give you a better view when we’re closer. This planet has two moons, you know.”
“It does, huh?”
“Yeah. Want to see them from space? You know, before we land?”
Cal’s first reaction was to ball up his fist and shove it in his mouth for blabbing like a spellbound schoolboy, but he resisted. He also resisted his second reaction, which was to throw up from the stress.
“I’d like that,” she said, looking away for a brief moment as she answered.
He did not, however, keep himself from grinning like a fool as he saw her out of her seat and off the bridge. “I’ll make arrangements.”
Capt Haruka Kimura
Planetfall +12 day
s, mid morning
Sleeper pod eleven site
It wasn’t a hurricane. I think we can be thankful for that.
Haruka surveyed the bank above pod eleven, where her group of refugees had slept until the storm forced them to seek refuge. Felled trees scattered the ground, their trunks snapped in half over rocks or other fallen timbers. Other spots on the camp ground were untouched by anything but rain. She grimaced as she scrambled up the bank and calculated how much time would be needed to clean up and make a suitable campsite again.
A mess. We would have been hammered out here if we had been forced to stay.
James walked ahead of her and pushed on a felled log, which only moved the slightest bit. “Well, this sucks.”
“One step forward, two steps back,” Luis commented from just behind her.
“I hope it’s not three,” she added.
“What do you mean?” asked James.
“Have we heard from Will and his group yet?”
James dug his fingernails into the bark of the tree and sighed. “Not since they left the march party to find that other pod.”
Haruka had found James to always have a calm demeanor and a very even keel. Even though he had allowed his son Will to lead a scout party to pod ten in a search for survivors, he had dealt with the separation well. James had told Haruka along the journey about how proud he was of his boy, and how resourceful and disciplined he was as well. But for the past two days, James had been a ball of nerves. He could barely sit still inside the pod as the storm lashed at it. Somewhere in the jungle was his oldest child, possibly caught out in the open during the tempest.
He won’t be right until Will is home. I hope they found shelter.
Haruka put on a brave smile. “He’ll be fine, James. Just give him a little more time.”
“I can’t just sit here any longer. I’ve got to do something.”
“So put yourself to work. Keep your hands busy, and the time will pass before you know it.”
James grunted, turned around, and leaned on the fallen trunk. “This camp site is almost hopeless. It’s stable for now, but it will take a ton of work to clear out. It would almost make more sense to find some place new to set up shop.”
Haruka nodded. I was starting to think that myself.
“Luis, go get Troy for me.”
“Sure thing.” He quickly took his leave and made off for the side of the pod, where Haruka could see Troy digging for the tools they had buried.
“Can I go now?” James asked.
Haruka shook her head with vigor. “Not if you’re going to do what I think you are.”
“I need to find my son,” he growled.
“Alone? Over my dead body, because I don’t want it to be over yours,” she snapped back.
“You really think that will stop me?”
“Probably not,” she said as she saw Luis return with Troy, and waved them over. “But I can probably change your mind.”
“Yeah, Captain?” Troy said with a broad smile as he bounded up.
“Form all of your remaining scouts into two teams. You lead one, James leads the other.”
James’s mouth twitched as he tried to suppress a grin. “You’re giving me a team to look for Will?”
She shot him a glare. “Don’t be stupid. Troy’s going to look for Will. You’re staying close by with the rest of the scouts.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I need you to organize and analyze, which you do better than anyone else here,” Haruka explained. “I want you to scout around the immediate area and find out which of these little hills here would be most suited to a permanent settlement.”
“Permanent?” all three men asked in chorus.
“Permanent. That is, unless you know of a reason why we shouldn’t just stay here.”
“Don’t you think that Leight might have something to say about that?” asked James.
“He might, but we’ll be out of his hair. I think that was his bigger issue. He just didn’t want a bunch of leeches taxing his supplies. Besides, we’ve got to do it sooner or later. Why not here? It’s warm, there’s this beautiful beach for the kids, and there seem to be some pretty useful resources here.” Glances were exchanged around the circle. Each man fidgeted and scratched his hair or beard, but they didn’t come up with any objections. “That’s settled. James, you’re scouting for a place to set us up. Troy, you take your group and try to find Will and his group. See if you can help speed them home.”
Troy clapped James on the shoulder, and with a grin said, “Don’t worry, bud. Your boy will be home soon.”
“Thanks, Troy,” he said, relaxing his shoulders slightly.
“Get to it, you two.”
“Yes ma’am,” they said in an eerie reminder of her former crewmates. For a moment, she flashed back to an image of the bridge of Raphael, and of Colonel Fox demanding obedience of her crew. A shiver went down Haruka’s spine, and she had to keep herself from shuddering in disgust.
No, I could never be like her.
She watched her Chief of Ops and Lead Scout move off to the rear of the pod and up the ramp before she turned to Luis.
“How is Gabi doing?”
“Scared. In pain. Really upset. She doesn’t understand why Marya hurt her.”
Haruka nodded. “Gabi didn’t deserve that. I don’t believe for a second that she meant to hurt Aidan.”
“Neither do I.”
“How are you and Maria?”
Luis shrugged. “I can’t say that we feel good about what happened, or your decision. I’m upset with Marya for hurting my baby. I don’t know, maybe after everything settles I’ll understand it all better. I’d avoid Maria for a bit though. I think she’s taking this a bit personally, and she thinks she could have worked it all out.”
“You two didn’t fail. I want you to know that, Luis. This is unfortunate for sure, but it could have happened even if the orphans were being cared for by someone else. All I’m trying to do is give them a little space from Gabi and maybe keep something like this from happening again.”
“I know. I just need some time to get used to it.”
“Right. We have more work to do, though. Can you go help dig up those tools? We’re going to need them.”
“Yeah, sure. What’s on your plate?”
“I need to talk to Leight again. He sent word a little bit ago that he has information for me.”
Luis nodded. “Good luck with that.”
“Thanks, I might need it.”
Haruka strolled down the bank and walked across the soggy sands toward the pod. Every step seemed to take an increasing amount of strength, and by the time she reached the ramp, her calves were tight and sore.
I have to remember to make time for Dr. Petrovsky today.
She trudged up the ramp and down the long central hallway to the ESAARC cockpit, where she found Sergeant Leight waiting for her. He beckoned for her to take a seat, which she did. Haruka noticed that the com system was turned on.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“We’ve known about a couple other groups of survivors since shortly after we landed. A few days ago we lost contact with one of them, but I thought you might want to talk to the other group. Pods one and two, if you’re interested.”
More survivors. Best news of the day.
Haruka put on the headset and took a few seconds to adjust it before taking the system off of standby.
“Captain Kimura at pod eleven site. Come in, please.”
Almost immediately, she was rewarded with a response. “Lieutenant Marsolek, pod two here. Good to hear from you, Captain.”
“Likewise. Sitrep, please.”
“Screwed up, Captain. Have you heard from Lieutenant Cormack lately?”
“Not since before I crashed,” she replied.
“Huh. Well, we haven’t heard from him in over a week. It’s like his pod just disappeared off the face of the planet. We were just about to call them MIA, when his
second in command showed up out of the blue today with a couple civilian scouts, and updated us on their status.”
“Go on, Lieutenant.”
There was a noticeable hesitation before Marsolek continued. “There was something wrong with the water supply at their landing site, from what I gather. They packed up and tried to head out for our position, but got stopped well before they got here when a bunch of their people started to get sick. His sergeant asked us for help, but then she started throwing up and passed out.”
Why can’t it be just plain good news for once?
“Are you going to send help?” Haruka asked.
“I have to think about it. The report I got was pretty scary. Whatever this bug is that they’ve got has killed people. Healthy adults, too. And it spreads like wildfire.”
So, like Leight, Marsolek is cautious, and will protect his people.
“How many refugees at your camp, Lieutenant?”
“Just under five hundred. There are about a dozen or so I’m not sure will survive, though. We picked them out of pod four, which was a horrible wreck.”
Haruka closed her eyes and forced down the welling disgust within. She was about to give an order that she never thought that she’d give, that was against what she believed in, but it was for the good of Marsolek’s survivors.
“Make the call, Lieutenant. If you haven’t done it already, quarantine the sergeant. Protect your camp and your people. Do you have fresh water nearby?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Good. Hole up there for now. Scout around a bit and see if there’s a good place to make a permanent settlement. If not, get to the coast and follow it around to the west. You’ll eventually get to us. We’re building here.”
“Yes ma’am. Marsolek out.”
Haruka shut down the com system and tidied up the station. When she looked up, Leight’s eyebrows were raised so far they threatened to jump off of his forehead.
“We’re building here?”
“That’s right, Sergeant,” she beamed. “We’re moving out and setting up shop.”
“Great. I’ll notify the beach bums that they can get back to their sunbathing,” he moaned.
Haruka snickered. “They won’t have enough time when James is done with them.”
Project Columbus: Omnibus Page 46
