by Frank Carey
“Gail, is he in danger?”
“I honestly don’t know. No one does. He has good people watching his back. If the cure is on Venlanta, then they will find it and get it back here even if they have to ship it Hell Hound Express. I need to make arrangements. Do you need anything?”
“Only hope and you’ve already given me that,” Nadia said as she took the sleeping girl’s hand in hers.
With a nod of her head, Gail walked out and quietly closed the door behind her.
###
I helped Hiram and the other diggers secure the Ramblers in the main bay as the Tailtiu prepared to break orbit and head down to Venlanta. The tension level of the ship could power an FTL drive as every Venlanten on board grew more excited at the prospect of stepping foot on their long-lost home world.
“That’s it,” Fenstra, the Sokuhl digger called out as the last strap was checked, tightened, and re-checked. No one wanted a fifteen-ton armored personnel carrier to be rolling around loose during landing. “Thanks, Shanna, for the help. It’s nice to see a scholar getting their hands dirty.”
Okay, some in my field find real dirt-work off-putting, but not me. I love getting down into a pit and digging around with a trowel. I do have degrees in both history and xenoarchaeology for heaven’s sake, though I must admit, I haven’t published a xeno paper in many years. I’ll have to fix that when I get back to Earth.
“This is the captain. Checklist complete. We break orbit in five minutes, so find a seat and strap-in.”
Hiram and I headed upstairs to the lounge where an empty seat was waiting for me next to Joshua. “I’ll be in the lounge. Enjoy the show,” Hiram said as he headed downstairs. He knew how important this moment was to the Venlantens on-board, so he was giving up his seat so that one of us could watch in real-time. I think I’m going to tear-up.
“Gail told me what happened when you found out Hiram was joining us. I’ve been remiss in offering you my condolences over the loss of Peter. He was a good man.”
“Thank you. He was very special.”
“I take it the three of you were more than just friends,” Joshua said as everyone around us got ready for the show.
“You could say that,” I replied. Yeah, a lot more than just friends. Once I even tried to kill Hiram in his sleep...
###
I don’t dream, ever. My doctor told me I slept too soundly to remember dreaming, but this was definitely a dream. I was standing in a garden with my parents and my brother, Preston. I remember, now. Father had gotten transferred to a posting in Ireland and we were visiting the new botanic garden in Dublin. Around us, people from all over the League were enjoying the summer sun while walking through the gardens.
Our tour guide, Janna, was pointing out a grove of fruit trees. “This is a blood orange,” she said as she cut open the fruit to reveal its blood-red colored interior. “Here, try it,” she said as she handed me and Preston a half-orange, its red juice oozing out of its freshly cut face.
I took it, noticing that, in the excitement, my fangs and claws were out, but I didn’t care as the sweet aroma filled my nostrils. I tried to bring the fruit to my lips, but I was stopped by a young man with crazy reddish blond hair. I tried to break his grip but couldn’t. Before I could protest, he said, “Shanna! For God’s sake, wake up!”
I awoke to find myself sitting on top of Hiram while he held my shoulders. I realized my fangs and claws were fully extended. I stopped when I saw how close I was to Hiram’s neck and how hard he was pressing against my shoulders.
“Thank God you’re awake,” he said as he stopped pushing me away.
That’s when I realized I had just tried to kill my fiancé. I had Relapsed. From the look in his eyes, I figured I had Relapsed big-time.
I jumped out of the bed, grabbed my clothes, and ran out of the room with Hiram running after me, yelling for me to stop. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Hiram running after the car.
I returned the next morning to find Hiram’s stuff gone--everything, down to his toothbrush. I found a note on the dresser: “I’ll be back in a couple of months. We’ll talk then,” he’d written. I pulled out my commlink and saw page after page of missed calls from him, and my voicemail was filled with messages from him. What had I done?
I sat down on the side of the bed and started to cry. Damn, I was smarter than this. We could have worked this out, yet I ran, leaving him to deal with a near-death experience all by himself. I’m surprised he bothered to leave a note.
A few weeks later, I had given up any hope of Hiram returning, and I didn’t blame him. I was in the University Commons reading when someone said, “Excuse me, can you tell me where the Main Lounge is?”
I looked up and saw a young Venlanten male standing next to the table. He was my age, with dark hair, and utterly confused. “You’re standing in it. Are you lost?”
“Yes, very,” he replied. “I'm supposed to meet someone here at fourteen hundred hours, but I seem to be early.”
“Have a seat,” I said as I checked him out. He seemed okay in a nerdy sort of way. “Who are you waiting for?”
“Chancellor Veltora. He wants to discuss a project I'm working on.
Wow, the chancellor! Who was this guy? “Dr. Shanna Syron,” I said while holding out my hand.
“Forgive me,” he said as he took and shook it. He had a firm handshake. “Dr. Peter Mathewson.”
Whoa! “The Dr. Peter Mathewson? The discoverer of the Venlanten village in Northern Spain? I'm familiar with your work,” I said while barely keeping from gushing. Dr. Peter Mathewson was a rock star in the circles I frequented.
“Are you interested in Venlanten culture?” he asked as he put his messenger bag on the floor.
From that point on, we talked as if we were old friends. I’m embarrassed to say I had forgotten about Hiram, or so I thought.
The month that followed was a blur as Peter and I fell in love. Then one night he invited me to a party for a childhood friend of his who had been away on an expedition. That night I found myself surrounded by members of every League species I had ever heard of and several I hadn't. “Are all these people friends of yours?” I asked.
“No, their Sam's friends. They're mostly diggers or xenoarchaeologists from around the League. Sam has worked with or helped every one of them at one time or another.”
I stopped breathing. Hiram was a digger and someone who seemed to know everyone. I looked around to see if he was here. Before I got far, the door to the bar opened followed by cheers. Whoever this Sam was, he seemed to be popular. As I looked around, I heard a familiar voice. “Peter, buddy, you shouldn't have!”
I turned and was horrified to see Hiram standing there, smiling.
“Hiram?” I squeaked out.
“Shanna! Damn, It's been a while,” he said while giving me a brotherly hug.
“You two know each other?” Peter asked.
“Yeah, buddy, we do, but that was another time, another life. How did you two meet?”
I listened as Peter explained. I cringed when he got to the part about us dating. None of this was supposed to happen this way.
“Damn! I'm gone two months and you get yourself spoken for. You've got to tell me your secret, buddy,” Hiram said as he pumped first Peter's, then my hand. “Congrats to both of you, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Listen, I need to go mingle and find another job, so I'll catch up with you later.” With that, he was gone.
The party went on for a while. At some point, Peter got caught up in a poker game, while I wandered around the bar meeting people who I would probably be working with someday. I found myself out on a balcony overlooking the ocean. A cool breeze was blowing onshore carrying with it the scent of the sea.
“Beautiful, isn't it?”
I turned and saw Hiram sitting in a chair sipping a glass of ice tea while watching the moon setting for the evening.
“Yes, it is,” I said as I walked over to where he was sitting. “Hiram, I…”
�
��Shanna, I was angry, hurt, and scared, but I got over it. I understand why you left like you did. Really, I do.”
“I could have handled that better.”
“How?” he replied, revealing the first hint of the pain he was feeling. “If you had stayed, I would eventually be dead, and you would be in jail on murder charges. You did the right thing.”
I hate it that he's so damn calm about this. I decided to change the subject. “So, you know Peter?”
“Yep. Almost all my life. He and his sister Natalia. Shanna, are you happy?”
“How can I be happy? I almost killed you,” I said as the anger returned.
“Yes, you came very close, but you didn't. Now, answer the question: Are you happy?”
I thought about it and realized I had been very happy these last two months and I felt like shit for admitting it. “Yes,” I said.
“Good.” He finished his ice tea, stood up, and retrieved a rucksack from the floor beside his chair. “Give Peter my thanks and apologies. I have to go.”
“Wait, go? Go where? You just got back. We need to talk,” I stammered.
“We have. You're happy, remember? There's an expedition to a planet called Conestoga, and I'm lead digger,” he said. “I'll be back in a year. We can talk then, I promise.” A moment later, he was gone, leaving me alone with the breeze and my guilt.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Helm, standby retros,” Captain Santor said over the intercom. Joshua had arranged for an open mic on the Bridge, so we could hear the landing as it occurred.
“Aye, Captain. Retro-thrusters armed and in standby mode. Awaiting your order, ma'am,” The helmsman said. I could imagine the Sokuhl captain standing like Capt. Horatio Hornblower on the Bridge of the HMS Lydia while giving orders to the crew, only our captain was a reptilian female who preferred skirts and leggings to pants. All she needed was a cutlass and a brace of pistols to complete the look.
“Thank you, Mr. Cook. Navigator, do we have a landing site?” she ordered.
“Aye, ma'am. Western shore about three hundred miles north of the equator. We'll land just before sunset,” the navigator reported.
“Excellent work, Mr. Lesly. Science, anything on sensors?”
“A minor storm is brewing about one hundred miles west of Landing Site Number Six, but it shouldn't hit until after Team Six is set up. Otherwise, all is nominal, ma'am.”
“Good to hear, Tanya. Communications, status?”
“Receiving all beacons five by five,” the communications officer reported.
“Good. Keep track of them, Turlock.” The beacons had been dropped at the landing sites by the probes during their flybys several days ago. “Engineering, how are our darlings doing?”
“Purring like kittens, ma’am.”
“They feel your love, Nancy. Ex-Oh, status?”
“Checklist complete, ma'am. Down is go at your pleasure.”
“Thank you, Mr. Chen. Mr. Ramses, on your signal.”
“Proceed, Captain,” Ramses said simply. Pressure built against our restraints as the ship's thrusters fired, setting us into a trajectory that took us deeper into the atmosphere. I watched as the thickening air glowed with the heat of our entry while the shields moved it harmlessly around the ship's hull.
“Trajectory nominal,” the helmsman reported. “Course and speed nominal. Shields holding.”
The ship bumped and rocked as we went deeper into Venlanta's atmosphere. We passed through a layer of clouds as our speed dropped below supersonic. Below us was the planet where our race was born, spread out in all its glory. We were approaching the western shore from over the ocean, so Venlanta's sun was behind us. I think it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
“Atmo scans are clear. Radiation levels normal. No biological or chemical threats detected,” the science officer said. “Oxygen levels, barometric pressure, and humidity near earth normal. It's partly cloudy and a balmy seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit at the landing site,” the navigator said as we skimmed over the ocean.
“Look!” one of the scientists said while pointing off to the port side. As we watched, a behemoth rose from the depths, breaching into the warm air. It hung there for a moment before falling back into the ocean's depths. “There are whales here,” the science officer said with a tinge of awe in her voice.
“Coming up to landing site,” the navigator said. “ETA two minutes.”
We strained against our restraints as we peered out the forward windows. There, at the edge of the world, we could see the shore. As we got closer, we could see waves breaking over rocks while numerous birds flew to and fro over the rocky shore. I squinted. “Are those seals?” I asked when I saw large animal shapes on the rocks.
“More like otters. Notice the four legs and large tail,” one of the biologists said as he leaned forward for a better look. “They're big, maybe four feet from snout to tip of tail.”
We passed over the shore and slowed to a stop next to several ruined buildings. I looked at them and imagined a fishing village before realizing the people who lived in those buildings may have already developed interstellar travel. With that in mind, the fishing village I saw changed to a resort town. I could stay here a very long time.
“Prepare for landing on my mark,” the captain said as the ship continued to hover. “Mark.”
We watched as all five hundred feet of the Tailtiu slowly lowered to the ground. We felt the landing gear lower followed by a bump as they contacted the ground. Moments later the engines spun down, leaving only an odd quiet.
“This is the captain. We've landed. Engines are off and thrusters are on standby. Doc and her people declare it safe to proceed with debarkation. Welcome to Venlanta.”
No one moved. We had done it. Not only had Joshua found the ancestral home of the Venlanten people, he was about to walk out onto its surface.
Still, no one moved.
“Hey, big brains!” I looked and saw Hiram standing in the doorway. “The front door is about to open. Shouldn't you all be down there when it does?”
A wave of embarrassment flowed through the room as we all got up and headed to the door. I made my way over to Hiram. “Hey, aren't you coming along?”
“It's your time,” he said, meaning the Venlanten crew. “We'll be right behind you, but it's only right for the first feet to step off this ship to be Venlanten. Now, go and try not to get eaten by one of those creatures crawling around on the rocks. You know the ones that look like Taliss.” He stopped when she appeared and cuffed him.
“Very funny, monkey boy. Just wait until I save your ass,” she said with her gravelly voice. I really don't think I'll ever get used to that.
I joined the rest of my people at the ramp and quietly waited for the massive door to open.
Red mars lights activated along the roof at the edge of the door as a horn sounded. The giant ramp slowly lowered, coming to a rest against the ground. The scent of the sea filled our nostrils as we walked down the ramp with Ramses in the lead. When we got to the bottom, we stopped, waiting for Joshua to take the first step onto Venlanta. I looked back and saw Hiram and the other non-Venlanten crew watching us from the top of the ramp as they let us have our moment. I turned back just in time to see Joshua step out to stand on the shore.
We all cheered, hugged, kissed, and shook hands as we ran out onto the planet we once called home. I looked out toward the sea and saw several sea otters watching us curiously as if wondering what all the fuss was about.
When the celebration ended, we walked back into the ship, heady with excitement. “Hey, where is everyone?” one of the medics asked as everyone surveyed the empty bay.
Joshua walked over to a worktable and picked up a piece of paper. “It says ‘Commissary’,” he said as he flipped it over and found the back blank. “I guess we're supposed to go to the commissary,” he said as he headed to one of the gangways leading up into the ship.
When we arrived at the dining room, we stopped in shock at what we
saw. Someone had set out a formal Venlanten welcoming celebration complete with urns of tea and tables piled high with small cakes and confections. The ceremony, one of the few to survive the centuries, celebrates the arrival of the arkship on Earth. It is a way of giving thanks for finding a port in a storm so to speak. We all went hunter and gave each a hearty welcome home before filling our plates and cups. It was a fantastic end to a fine day.
###
After the ceremony wound down, I went looking for Hiram. I found him outside the ship, sitting in a chair, drinking ice tea while reading something off his datapad. Darkness surrounded the ship as the sun had set hours ago.
“Hey you,” I said as I dragged another chair over next to his.
“Hey. Party over?” he asked.
“Yeah. Did you have something to do with that?”
“A little. The captain thought of it before we left. I was responsible for the cakes, had them flown in from New York and put them into stasis the moment they arrived.”
“Why did you, all of you, go through all this trouble?” I asked, astounded at the amount of work involved.
“Because it’s a big to-do, and it should be treated that way. I promise, you can return the favor when we find the Garden of Eden on Earth.”
Okay, he's right. It was a big to-do, and one of my people should have thought of it, but we were just too caught up in the event.
“Shanna, are you happy?” Hiram asked as he stared out into the blackness while the sound of ocean waves played in the background.
Shit! I remember the last time he asked me that simple damn question. Suddenly it all made sense to me. Him, Peter, me. Maybe it was the umpteen drinks I had or perhaps it was something else. All I know is I was getting angry at the numbskull sitting next to me.
“Why are you getting so upset?” he asked.
“How dare you manipulate me that way? You're why Peter and I got together. You set us up!” I yelled.
“Manipulate? What the hell are you talking about? Shanna, don’t...”
It was too late. I stormed back into the ship and headed to Ramses’ office. I found him finishing a call while Taliss stood nearby. “Yes, Doctor. What can I do for you?”
