A Spider Sat Beside Her

by K E Lanning

  A Spider Sat Beside Her

  K.E. Lanning

  Copyright © 2017 K.E.Lanning

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-10: 0-9991210-0-6

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9991210-0-9

  DEDICATION

  This novel is dedicated to the Earth and to my father—the hero who always believed in me.

  Humans measure time by their limited lifespans, but the Earth’s clock ticks at a different pace. Mother Nature may sit for eons—then dance to the tune that physics decrees . . .

  CHAPTER 1

  Lowry’s lungs burned as she scrambled up the steep slope across broken rocks, pulling her tired horse up behind her. Wind screaming, they cleared the ridge. She scanned the horizon. Nothing moved but the wind. Her tongue chased the rough edges of grit on her teeth, and she spat onto the ground. She took a drink, swallowing the silt left in her mouth.

  The view was spectacular—a brilliant sapphire sky dotted with white puffs of drifting clouds. Sunlight spilled across golden mountain peaks against the indigo shadows of the valleys, with a mirror image of this intense beauty reflected in the crystal-clear lake below.

  Global warming had melted an ice cap that had been in place for more than ten thousand years, leaving the rich earth exposed once again on the continent of Antarctica. The landscape evoked an odd mix of memories of long hikes of discovery of the land and of herself, and her escape from a mercurial, drunkard father.

  A gust whipped Lowry’s hair across her face, stinging her skin. She glanced at the horizon one final time, slowly mounted the mare, and turned her back along the trail. The mare quickened her pace now that they were heading home. They turned the last corner, past a row of tiny windblown evergreens, to where a thin man with auburn hair sat on a rock waiting for her.

  Lowry waved happily. “Uncle Nick!” When she reached him, she halted the mare.

  Petting the horse, Nick said in a soft Scottish brogue, “I thought you might want a ride to the airport Are you packed?”

  A lump came to her throat. “Everything is ready. Except my heart.”

  Lowry untacked the mare and let her out into the pasture. They went inside the small stone house tucked into the side of a hill. After Lowry showered, she changed clothes and packed her last items.

  Nick grabbed one of her bags and glanced at her. “I see you cut your hair.”

  “Yeah, I decided short would be easier on the space station.”

  “I won’t be able to pull your braids anymore.”

  Lowry grinned and stuck her tongue out at him.

  Nick wrapped his arm around her. “With your short hair, you look like your mother when she was your age.”

  Lowry smiled. “She was a wonderful human being. I miss her.”

  They walked toward the hover, where Lowry hesitated, gazing at the rolling fields of her childhood. She bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears. Nick hugged her to him, and then they walked arm in arm to the hover and loaded her bags.

  Hovering through town, Lowry stared out the window at the little school she went to as a child. She tilted her head as they turned down the road toward the airport. “What’s Dad doing today?”

  “He’s meeting with some folks from New York.” He shot a glance at her. “I’m sorry he couldn’t be here to see you off.”

  “I would have been surprised if he had.” She ran her hand across her brow. “I don’t know if I’m strong enough today to deal with him anyway.”

  He parked, and with bags in hand, they walked into the small airport. She checked her luggage, and they strolled toward the security gate. They passed groups of miners and a few families just arriving to Antarctica. She glanced at one young mother looking tired and lost as she tried to keep her brood together. Lowry silently wished them well. It was a tough life, especially for the mothers and their children.

  When they reached the security checkpoint, Nick held her by the shoulders, gazing down into her eyes. “Lowry, I’ve always loved you like my own daughter and admired you as a person. You’re a beautiful young woman who takes the bull by the horns despite all odds and wrestles it to the floor. I know you’re hurting and probably a little scared right now, but you’ll do great. Just don’t let the bastards get you down.” He ruffled her hair. “Go get ’em, Tiger!”

  The steward announced the boarding call for her flight.

  Lowry squeezed her uncle’s arm. “Nick, thanks for being a father to me all these years.”

  “My pleasure and honor.” He shrugged. “I’m sorry that my brother doesn’t seem to have the aptitude for fatherhood.”

  “Some people rise to the occasion, some don’t.”

  ***

  “Hurry up, you’re the last passenger!” A man in an orange jumpsuit glared at Lowry.

  She stumbled out of the Roxi robocab, dazed from her long journey from the bottom of the world. “Sorry, my flight had a major delay in Rio.”

  His face softened, and he grabbed the larger of her two bags. With a jerk of his head, he pivoted toward the hangar. “Come on, miss. The shuttle is ready to take off.” He loped through a maze of space junk toward the end of the metal building.

  Lowry shouldered her backpack and trailed after him, dodging a squadron of robots methodically moving equipment around the warehouse. Her ears hurt from the cacophony of clanks, whirrs and beeps echoing through the building. The nose of a jet rolled across her path, and she lost sight of him. She squeezed around the robot pushing the jet forward, catching sight of a flash of orange as the man disappeared through doors under a Shuttle Gate sign.

  The glare of the sun reflected off the space station shuttle, blinding her as she reached the tarmac. She shielded her eyes, staring at the thin silver rocket with pint-sized wings and engines purring, waiting for its last passenger to the stars.

  The man turned back, scowling. “Come on,” he said, leaping up a flight of stairs to the open shuttle door. He handed the large bag to one of the flight crew, and with a quick wave of his hand, he shot past her to the bottom of the stairway. Heart thudding, she scrambled up the stairs and through the doorway.

  A robo-attendant pointed to an empty seat in the shuttle and then secured the door behind her. Lowry lurched to her seat and stowed her backpack. Dizzy with exhaustion, she slumped into the seat and buckled the safety belt. The monitor above her head flashed a demand to put on her helmet, and as the buckle of the helmet snapped closed, a voice came over the speaker, announcing their flight would be taking off momentarily. They backed out of the berth and headed for the embanked runway.

  A melodious voice came through the headphones: “Please prepare for excessive G-force.”

  The rocket exploded forward, arching upward into the blue sky at a blistering speed. The oppressive force shoved Lowry’s fatigued body deep into the cushions, and she fought to breathe normally. She tilted her head to catch sight of glittering ice crystals rushing past the window, the blue sky fading to black.

  The compression abated, and Lowry undid the plexi-shield in front of her face, breathing deeply. She glanced at the other passengers on the shuttle, but all seemed preoccupied. It would take several hours to get to the space station. Lowry pulled up the information the station head had sent her on the layout of the station.

  Lowry took a sip from her water bottle and then looked down at her shaking hands. She whispered to herself, “Did you have to run this far?”

  She had initially passed on the opportunity to be a research assistant for the space station’s Landsat department when she married her loving spouse, but now, since her divorce, she had decided to finish her graduate studies in the stars. With her unique knowledge of Antarctica, her professor was thrilled when she told him she could now go.

&nb
sp; It would be a two-year commitment, with the first several months spent collecting detailed images of the continent now that the terrain was bare. Then she would combine the new data with the existing geologic and geophysical data to produce maps of Antarctica’s aquifers and surface geology for possible habitation.

  The blue Earth shrank as they blasted through the stratosphere. Lowry craned her neck to catch a view of the North American continent—coastlines drowned by the Melt, with millions of people losing their homes and livelihoods, in less than a century.

  She furrowed her brow, trying to remember what the old maps had looked like before the melting of the ice caps had occurred. Hadn’t there been a state called Florida?

  The sky turned to black and the cabin dimmed. Lowry rested her head on the seat and drifted into a restless sleep until the voice came back into her helmet.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching the International Space Station.”

  She jerked awake, peering out of the window for her first look at the new ISS. It had replaced the earlier and much smaller version several years ago. This huge space station was built for humans to stay in orbit for years with accommodations for a hundred people.

  The ISS resembled a child’s gyro toy spinning on a black surface. The design was elegantly simple: a slowly revolving wheel with four globes built into the ring, connecting four spokes extending from its central hub. Except for rows of tiny windows, arrays of sparkling gold solar panels covered the exterior, rotating with the sun to catch the maximum amount of solar energy.

  Lowry pulled up the ISS webpage and read about the design: “This new generation of space station design uses the rotating wheel to provide artificial gravity essential for maintaining the health of the human occupants.”

  Yeah, she thought, but do the toilets flush?

  The shuttle adjusted its trajectory to line up with the docking station. Lowry gasped at her first sight of Earth rising over the space station, hanging like an exquisite jewel in the black sky. She touched the window, covering the diminutive image of Mother Earth with her finger.

  A bright light drew her attention to the docking port in the central hub, which was lit up like a beacon leading them forward to the station. The shuttle bumped to a stop as it connected, and a smooth voice came over her headphones:

  “Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived, but please keep your seats until we release you to the station. You can remove your helmets and stow them on the floor in front of your seat. Thank you for flying with us today.”

  Lowry took a deep breath. I guess no going back now.

  CHAPTER 2

  A soft voice came over the intercom telling the passengers to unstrap their harnesses. Lowry floated upward as the belt released, and she grabbed the looped handle above to keep herself in place. The robo-attendants gently pushed them along the shuttle to the door. Lowry grinned as passengers drifted toward the station lock and were herded into the ISS lock like cattle coming out of a shoot.

  Their bags floated after them and were handed to each passenger in the connector lock while the exterior doors closed behind them. Awkwardly, they twisted around to face a set of heavy doors, which slowly opened in front of them, and they moved into a reception area where several station personnel waited.

  One of the welcoming crew smiled. “For those of you not familiar with the ISS, you’ll be traveling to the work and living areas located in the ring via a pod inside a magnetic tube. Please find a strap to hold onto in the pod just ahead.” She gestured to an elongated, silver bullet-shaped conveyance within a large cylindrical shoot.

  The group from the shuttle shouldered their bags and drifted into the pod, laughing as they haphazardly grabbed the straps on the interior. Once they were all in, the doors closed, and the crew member said, “As we move toward the ring, you’ll feel the artificial gravity slowly pulling you down to the floor.” Lights blinked, and a whistle blew. “Hold on tight!”

  With a quiet whoosh, they started, and Lowry smiled in excitement. She caught flashes of the exterior through small windows as they flew past. As they approached the ring, the artificial gravity increased and pulled her feet to the floor. When the pod stopped, the doors opened, and the group walked out into a larger reception area. The people unfamiliar with the station had escorts waiting to take them to their quarters.

  A young woman smiled as she approached Lowry, looking up from the screen of her phone. “Hi, I’m Ayana—you’re Lowry?”

  Lowry shrugged. “I think so, but after thirty hours of travel, I can’t be positive.”

  “Ouch, thirty hours—you do look exhausted.” Ayana grabbed the larger bag at Lowry’s feet. “You probably want to freshen up—I’ll take you to your cabin.” Ayana pointed out the cafés, exercise room, and theater on the way to Lowry’s cabin. “There are a lot of activities on the new ISS for you to enjoy, Lowry.”

  When they reached her cabin door, Ayana touched a few buttons on her phone. Smiling, she gestured to the pad next to the door. “I’ve set up your station identity into the system, and once you touch the pad, you’ll be recognized. Your fingerprints will open any door your security level allows you to access.”

  Lowry gingerly placed her hand over the pad, and the door slid open. Lowry exhaled as she entered the cabin. “Home, sweet home.”

  Ayana smiled and dropped the bag on a chair. “It’s small, like a ship’s cabin, but everything should function like you’re used to.” She pointed to a gift basket on the cabinet. “There’s some goodies for you. We’re really glad you’re aboard, Lowry.”

  “Thanks, Ayana.”

  Ayana turned to leave but hesitated at the door. Arching her brow, she looked at Lowry. “One word of warning: some people have difficulty acclimating to space-station life, so feel free to ask one of the nurses on Deck One if you have any issues.”

  “Sure, I’ll check in before I jettison myself into space.”

  Lowry explored the tiny cabin with as much curiosity as her tired body could muster, opening cabinets and pressing on the mattress. She wandered into the bathroom and perused the stark but adequate facilities.

  Then she stopped in front of the mirror and stared at herself. Her fingers traced the high cheekbones—features which were angular but sensual. A beautiful, strong woman stood before her, but her brown eyes revealed a deep sadness that she was determined to chase away. Healing herself was one reason she was aboard the ISS.

  Sighing, she turned away from her image and stumbled over to the bed. Her head fell into her hands, and her shoulders jerked as her tears flowed. She had given herself permission to grieve—not so much for her failed marriage as for the loss of her innocence.

  ***

  Lowry strolled along a path in the deep woods of her grandparents’ land in western Virginia. She meandered into a clearing in the forest and, with a pirouette, breathed in the moist, earthy air. Like a corps de ballet, elegant redbuds stretched their ebony branches, laced with delicate pink flowers, into the sun-filled meadow.

  Lowry blinked against the brightening light until a stark white ceiling above her came into focus. Puzzled, she turned to gaze at a black velvet sky in the tiny window. The lovely meadow was just a dream—she was on the ISS, floating thousands of miles above the Earth. The automatic lights brightened further, and then her alarm rang out.

  She called out, “Okay, I’m awake,” to shut the alarm up. Throwing the covers back, she rolled out of the bed and stood up with another yawn. Her head was sore, and rubbing her temples, she shuffled to the coffee maker and pushed the start button. As she moved into the bathroom, she glanced into the mirror at her short brunette hair, now sticking straight up like a cock’s comb. She chuckled and then noticed her puffy eyes. She wet a washcloth with cool water and patted her swollen eyelids, evidence of her midnight tears. Sighing, she shrugged; she was in the post-divorce phase: shell-shocked and vacillating between ecstasy and anxiety. Lowry’s lips trembled, but then she sneered at her image.

  She thre
w the cloth at the mirror. “I’m tired of crying.”

  When the coffee was ready, she sat on the bed, sipping the hot liquid. Caffeine streaming into her body, she began to feel better. Divorce was like a bad cold—nasty and debilitating, but you get over it.

  Walking over to the window, she caught a glimpse of the Earth hovering over the ring of the station. Mesmerized by the view, she methodically ate a breakfast bar from the welcome basket. Her spirits rebounded with the thoughts of her new beginning on the ISS. After a quick shower, she dried her hair and then dressed in her ISS-assigned attire. Grimacing, she glanced one last time at the mirror. At least the clothes were free.

  With another coffee in hand and heart beating a staccato of nerves, she wandered down the hall to her section, passing offices and work areas spewing out a cacophony of music, whirring, and electronic beeps. Lowry moved through the still, dry air, walking down the smoothly curved metallic corridor with no organic shapes nor colors to comfort her eyes. She shivered—like a lightning bug caught in a jar, she was trapped inside of a gigantic computer.

  Lowry touched the keypad and then stepped into the Landsat section. A few people smiled at her as she entered, but most concentrated on their work. A man waved to her, and she approached him.

  With a smile, he shook her hand. “Welcome aboard. I’m Jin Hoshino. The university let me know you had arrived. I hope you slept well?”

  She shrugged.

  “It takes a while to get your bio clock set to station time.”

  Lowry raised her coffee mug. “Today, I will definitely need caffeine.”

  Jin led her to a tiny cubicle. “I think you’ll find everything set up to the university specs, and the data will automatically download to the department’s cloud account every night.” He smiled. “I’ll leave you to it, but let me know if you need anything else.”