by D. W. Vogel
My dinosaur babies are doing fine here. The sheep freaked out when I pulled them out of my backpack, but within a couple of hours Sparkle and Princess were just part of the flock. I thought our old science teacher Sara was going to have a heart attack when she saw them. I could just see her making plans to go out and get more eggs and try raising all kinds of dinosaurs.
In short, everything is pretty great here. With one huge exception.
Nobody has heard from Caleb.
Josh says he thought he was far enough from the blast that he might have survived it. Shiro is ready to pull that blocked tunnel apart rock by rock to get out there and find him, but nobody is going to let him do that. If any of the Wolves, which are the things that made the clicking sound, survived, we can’t risk letting them in.
It’s been two days since we got here. I can’t even believe that after all we went through, that maybe Caleb didn’t make it. But even if he did survive, there’s no way into this valley now. People are starting to talk about having some kind of memorial service for him and for all the people we lost along the way.
I hope they don’t want me to speak at the service. There’s no way I could do it.
Chapter 46
It took me three days to climb over the mountain.
By the time my hands stopped shaking after the explosion it was clear that nobody was going in or out of Carthage’s front door anytime soon. Please let Josh have gotten far enough in. I climbed down to where the tunnel used to be, but there was no way I could dig through. And they shouldn’t try to dig it out from inside. Better to close the door permanently. The tank and the shuttle were still on the outside, but since Josh said they’d gotten the embryo freezer inside, there was nothing in either one of them that we couldn’t live without.
It was full dark. Too dangerous to climb.
I reached for my sat trans to call in and let them know I was alive, but the charge was dead.
Gripping my flashlight in my teeth I climbed as high as I dared, putting as much distance as I could between me and any other ‘saurs that might have heard the commotion.
I slept alone on the mountainside.
When dawn broke I climbed again. The mountains that protected us from the ‘saurs of the jungle were high and jagged. There were no low passes into our valley. It got colder as I climbed and the second night my teeth chattered as I huddled against the rocks, back to the biting wind.
On the third day I made it to the top. Mist lay over the valley and I was far too high to see anyone moving across the fields. Our lake steamed in the early morning air. Despite everything we had endured, the beauty of this planet blew me away. Glad I lived to see it.
Down was easier, but I hadn’t eaten in two days and my fingers were frozen.
It got warmer as I descended, and by the time I could hear the sounds of Carthage stirring below me I was sweating, palms slipping on the jagged surface.
“Caleb! It’s Caleb!” I heard the cry from far beneath me.
Down and down.
I must have finished the climb by myself, but the last hour blurred away from me. When my brain cleared, someone was pouring warm soup between my lips and I was sitting on the wide plateau that overlooked our fields.
My eyes snapped open.
“Josh? Where’s Josh?”
“I’m right here,” he said. I realized I was leaning against him, my head in his lap. Mom was there rubbing antiseptic into the thousand little cuts I hadn’t noticed.
My mind went blurry again and I passed out with vegetable soup dribbling down my chin.
***
The celebration went on for days. Everyone from Transport Seventeen had someone here in Carthage . . . a family member or close friend from our lives on Horizon. I’d missed the chance to see their faces when they saw the Painted Hall and our lush, safe, green valley. But they found me over the next few days and their tearful thanks embarrassed me.
Mayor Borin got everyone settled and at the end of the week we had a memorial ceremony for those we had lost. Ryenne told me it was planned to be a memorial for me.
We washed some of the names off the wall of the Painted Hall, the survivors of Seventeen brought back to the living. Shiro’s hand shook as he traced the letters he’d painted months ago, before we knew anyone was out there. Udo Yamoto. When he turned around his cheeks were wet.
Mayor Borin addressed us all. We sat in the Painted Hall together and all around the room I felt the profound comfort of safety. “Tonight we remember our loved ones,” he said. “When our ancestors left Earth centuries ago they imagined a new world for us. They must have dreamed of flowing water, green fields, and towering mountains. They surely didn’t dream of dinosaurs.” He paused for laughter. “But we found all those things here, and more. This planet gives nothing for free. The people whose names are painted on that wall gave their lives so the human race might continue here. They died for us, and for our future. We found hardship here, and death. We found hunger and fear, it’s true. But we also found strength.” Mayor Borin looked straight at me. “We found courage in the direst of circumstances. We found the power that comes from working together for our shared survival.”
Mom squeezed my shoulder and when I glanced at her I saw tears streaming down her cheeks.
“We welcome the newest citizens of Carthage to our safe haven.” Mayor Borin’s gaze traveled over the hall. From his wheelchair he had to look up to meet eyes with those standing around the edges of the room, but somehow his presence towered over the cave. “There will be hardships in our future, to be sure. There will be new trials, new dangers. But we will never forget the sacrifices of those who brought us safely home. Whatever perils may come, the people of Carthage will face them together!”
Everyone roared in assent.
As we filed out of the Painted Hall, Staci caught up to me.
“So how you feeling?” she asked.
“Like a hungry Rex,” I answered. “Like I’ll never be full again.”
She laughed. “Well, I’m pretty ticked that you blew up our satellite line. Mayor Borin is talking about trying to run a wire all the way up the inside of the mountain so we get a signal again. ‘Just in case anyone else is out there calling,’ he says.”
I stared at her for a moment to see if she was joking, but she wasn’t.
“Give me a week or so,” I said. “I’m not climbing anything until I gain back ten pounds.” We arrived at the doorway to my room. “And maybe someone can shear one of the sheep and knit us some sweaters before we go. You wouldn’t believe how cold it is up there.”
She grinned. “I haven’t been cold for three years. Might feel good.”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Good is not what it feels.”
Staci leaned against my doorway and smiled. Her eyes sparkled in the dim solar-powered light in my room. “I’m glad you’re home safe, Caleb.”
I looked at my boots, worn and filthy. “Yeah. Me too.”
I opened my mouth to say something more, but Staci was already gone.
Chapter 47
Three months later we brought in a full harvest. Mayor Borin called it “Thanksgiving” and planned for a feast.
We were building as fast as we could: carts to help with the farming, sheds for our burgeoning population of sheep. I passed the staked-off site that was going to be a coop and Ryenne bounded over to join me, shadow long in the late afternoon sunlight.
“Did you see it? We’re going to start construction tomorrow. There will be room for fifty of them!”
Her little ‘saurs had grown up since we got home. Sara was beside herself with excitement. “You got a male and a female. Great job.” Ryenne had smirked at me all day.
Now they were almost adults. Just over knee high, Sara thought they would start producing eggs in the next month or two. The female was already chewing on the chalk stones we brought down from the high cliffs, full of calcite to strengthen her eggs. We would hatch as many as we could in the early days, imprintin
g them on us as soon as the shells cracked. Sparkle and Princess would be the parents of the first ever domesticated ‘saur species in the history of the universe. And when we had plenty of breeding pairs, we’d have a never-ending supply of eggs, protein for our growing human population.
Ryenne gestured to a large tree where Rogan sat with the ‘saurs. “He’s really happy here. Every day is pretty much the same.” She sighed. “I thought my mom would be here.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry about her.”
Ryenne smiled. “But maybe she’s out there somewhere. Maybe on the other side of the planet. Maybe she has her own little ‘saurs.”
“Better the little ones than the big ones,” I agreed.
Evening was falling and we headed in toward the smells of cooking food. Rogan fell in behind us with the little ‘saurs trailing.
They had proved to be our crops’ salvation. The rope nets we strung in a vain attempt to keep the Pterosaurs from flying off with our sheep and our people hadn’t worked. But the ‘saurs did. Long before the fliers appeared in their deadly dive from the clouds, the little ‘saurs knew they were there. Their hooting cries alerted us in plenty of time to dive for safety under the open-sided sheds we built next to each working field. The little ‘saurs herded the sheep like dogs, nipping the dumb beasts until they ran for cover. Now we could farm in daylight, safe from aerial attack.
I left Ryenne and Rogan at their room next to mine and headed down the hall to Mom and Malia’s room. Malia had moved her bed into my room last week because the baby was keeping her up at night.
Mom sat on a newly built wooden chair, rocking my new little brother in her arms. She smiled and held a finger to her lips as I entered.
“He sleeping?” I whispered and Mom nodded.
She had named him Ted after my father, since the whole valley was named for baby Teddy’s father.
“You coming to the feast?”
Mom shook her head. “Bring me a plate?”
I grinned. “It’s Thanksgiving. I’ll bring you two.”
There was a long line to the kitchen and I balanced Mom’s plate and my own in my hands. I dropped off her food and took mine out to sit on the edge of the plateau under the stars in our little valley.
Shiro came to sit next to me.
“My dad would have loved this,” he said.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Mine too.”
We ate our meal in the open air, festive sounds drifting from the tunnel behind us. Someone had made some drums out of ‘saur skin and a crude kind of flute carved out of the thick reeds that grew around the lake, and the strange, ethereal music they made echoed through the caves.
“Maybe we’re the last,” Shiro said. “The last generation to lose family to scatting ‘saurs.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged. “But there will always be something. This isn’t our world. We’re not supposed to live here.”
Shiro made a rude gesture. “That’s what I think of what we’re supposed to do.”
I laughed and repeated the gesture. “And that’s what I think of ‘saurs.”
“That’s not nice, you guys.” Ryenne’s voice startled us from the tunnel entrance. “Come on, you’re missing the party.”
We stood up and carried our plates toward the tunnel. Shiro followed Ryenne inside but I hung back for a moment, looking up at the night sky. Distant stars glittered in the velvet blackness. One of those stars is where we came from. Where Earth used to be. Where humans once called home.
“We’re home now,” I whispered into the darkness. “Home to stay.”
I smiled and followed my friends inside.
Chapter 48
A week after our little Thanksgiving I was awakened in the middle of the night by Ryenne shaking my shoulder.
“Caleb, wake up,” she whispered.
I was finally sleeping well again. Most nights I slept straight through without bolting awake from a nightmare that started and ended with a click. Now I shook my head and scratched my itchy hair.
“What is it? What time is it?”
She tugged on my shoulder. “It’s late. Early. I don’t know. But Caleb, I think you need to hear something.”
I followed her out into the hallway and into the Painted Hall. Rogan sat in the middle of the room all alone, his face lit from below by the sat trans in his hand. We had a decent signal indoors a few hours most days thanks to a new receiver that Staci had wired high on our side of the mountain.
“Halsus. Halsus.” Rogan muttered the word over and over.
“Come here and listen,” Ryenne said, and we sat on the floor next to Rogan.
“What am I listening to?” I asked.
“Halsus,” Rogan said.
“Rogan, she’s gone, buddy. Officer Halsey isn’t coming back. You don’t have to be afraid of her anymore.”
He shook his head and held out the sat trans. “Halsus,” he insisted.
I sighed and took the trans from his hand. There was nothing to hear, just the low hiss of an open line with no one talking on it. The hiss kept cutting in and out like it always did, the signal lost and found every few seconds.
Rogan was still staring at the trans.
“What’s he thinking?” I asked Ryenne.
She sighed. “I’m not sure. But he’s positive it’s important. He’s been doing this for an hour.”
Rogan stared at the trans. I listened to the hiss cutting in and out.
In and out.
In a rhythm.
With no one talking, just silently listening to the signal, it suddenly became clear that the interruptions were in a pattern that kept repeating.
Short short short short. Short long. Short long short short. Short short short. Long long long. Short short short.
That last pattern.
Short short short. Long long long. Short short short.
Dot dot dot. Dash dash dash. Dot dot dot.
“Oh, sweet stars, it’s Morse code,” I whispered.
I knew the last three characters. S.O.S.
We listened to the beginning again as the pattern repeated.
H. A. L. S. O. S.
H. Al. SOS.
Horizon Alpha. SOS.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
“Maybe . . .” I muttered, “maybe it’s an automated signal. Probably doesn’t mean anything.”
Rogan stared at the sat trans.
With shaking hands I pushed to send. “Horizon Alpha, we see your signal. Is . . .” I could barely get the words out. “Is someone up there?”
The empty hiss filled the silent cave, pounding in my ears.
I repeated the message. “Is anyone receiving this message?”
The rhythmic interruptions stopped, then started again. Heart pounding, I listened as the message from our long-dead mother ship tapped out a different pattern.
We are alive.
If you love
Horizon Alpha: Transport Seventeen,
take a look at Horizon Alpha: High Wire.
Click here to get the story now!
It’s been two hundred years since the Horizon Alpha ark left Earth to find a new home. Shiro spends his sixteenth birthday among the first humans in centuries to set foot on solid ground and smell fresh air. But Tau Ceti e is not a welcoming planet.
Blistering sunlight and punishingly strong gravity keep the older folks inside, and scouting crews come back with fewer numbers, telling rumors of shadowy monsters in the forest. It’s up to Shiro and the other young men to build defenses around the stranded humans’ camp. After all, no one has confirmed any predators larger than a man . . . yet.
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Acknowledgements
While the image of a writer toiling alone at a computer with a lapful of cats is not inaccurate, no author finds success on her own.
Thanks to Nikolas Everhart and Jude Rose, my reliable beta readers and head cheerleaders.
Thanks to Adam for believing in the world of Horizon Alpha.
Thanks to Emma for hours of tireless work, and to Zac for always being on my side.
Thanks to my editorial team, Heather and Stephanie, and to Jeff for the gorgeous book cover. I’m always amazed by what a team like you can do.
