Call of Courage: 7 Novels of the Galactic Frontier

by C. Gockel

  “Thanks, Emery,” she managed. “It’s just— when I was little, I wandered into Engineering once. My mom was talking to someone in Central and I followed a draybot to the next deck. I got distracted by the light from the hydrogen injectors. And when I realized I was alone, I was terrified. I couldn’t find my way back. It was only ten minutes before someone found me and returned me to my mother, but I’ll never forget that feeling. Until today, I never had to worry about being lost again. I know every inch of the Keseburg. We all do. Like the decks are the bones of our own bodies. But now— I’ve got that panicky feeling again. And I know if I lose my way this time, nobody’s going to come find me and bring me back.”

  “Aw, Dorothy, that’s not true. If you got lost, we’d find you. Might take us a little longer than ten minutes, but our landing zone is only a few miles, barely bigger than the Keseburg.”

  “I— hadn’t thought of it that way. You’re right. We don’t have to cover the whole planet, just our little zone. That’s not so bad, is it?”

  Rebecca smiled and shook her head. “No, it’s not so bad. You can do this.”

  “We’re clear,” said Liu. “Forty-eight hours to landing.”

  The others began unbuckling. Spixworth laughed as he floated between the seats, doing a somersault midair. Leroux shook her head with a smile.

  “Oh come on, Leroux, even you can’t be bored by this. I don’t think you’re half as flight hardened as you seem.” Spixworth flapped, trying to pull himself higher and Hackford laughed. Rebecca smiled, releasing her hand. She unstrapped from the seat, watching the way her body moved without the Keseburg’s gravity.

  “Six hours to loss of communication with the Keseburg,” called Al Jahi. “If you want to send messages, get them back to me before then.”

  They’d known it was coming, it was why they had to send a manned mission in the first place. Still, the idea of the coming silence put a damper even on Spixworth. In six hours, they’d be on their own. And the Keseburg would have to wait two months to know if they’d found a new home or not.

  Captain Stratton patted Liu on the shoulder before gliding toward the labs. “Emery, can you give me a hand with the gear check?”

  Rebecca nodded and followed him through the Wolfinger, pulling herself along by the handrails. The others were already headed to their labs to begin their experiment setups and obsessively inspect their equipment and specimens for the tenth time. Rebecca waved at Alice and Leroux as they passed her on the way to the infirmary. The equipment lock was large, but with twelve crew members, it was still crowded with equipment. Stratton wove through the clamped bins and hanging suits.

  “Just checking the landing suits over,” he called as she twisted past the shrunken counter-pressure suits, knocking an elbow on one of the large helmets. She tried to stop herself from crashing into him but only succeeded in yanking herself partially back toward the wall.

  “Sorry, Captain,” she muttered, trying to right herself after bumping into his side. He caught her and pointed to the anchor rung on the floor. She slid her foot in and settled.

  “It’s fine Emery. I forget that most of you haven’t had much micro-grav practice.”

  “How many times have you been out?”

  The Captain looked up from the suit he was holding. “On the Wolfinger? Dozens of trips. I was a pilot on the Tamsen for a few years before that. This is the first planetary mission though. We’re mostly sent out to scout mining trips. So we’ll be on even footing when we land.” He handed her a suit.

  “Do you think this will be the one?”

  Stratton stared at her. “You know the odds as well as I.”

  “Yes. But you’ve been out here. You’ve seen the data the Hardcoop grabbed, you know what it means. What do you think?”

  He hesitated and then bent back to one of the seals on the suit. “No. I don’t think it will be. Sure, the size is right, the orbital distance is right, the little bit of atmospheric data the Hardcoop was able to bring back is promising. But, we’ve been here before. Well, not you and me, but our grandparents and theirs all the way back. Every time we were disappointed. Why should this trip be any different?”

  Rebecca nodded.

  Stratton jabbed her gently in the shoulder. “Hey Emery, it’s not so bad. We’ll get water and resources at least— things the Keseburg desperately needs.”

  “I know. It’s more— I used to be glad I wasn’t part of the original crew. That I didn’t have to make the decision that they did. That our situation was out of our hands. I was— at peace with the idea that I’d never see a life outside the Keseburg, that I would live and die as part of this journey, an anonymous middle life. There have been no rebellions in several gens, the resources aren’t abundant, but they are adequate. I like the people I live with. I’m not Spindling. I really do have a good life. But now, the possibility of more has become very attractive. I find that I want to be part of the end, I want to live to see a new home, somewhere to stretch out and explore.”

  “You know, I could approve a transfer when we get back, if you want. The Wolfinger could use another element surveyor, and between the training you’ve already had and the experience you’ll get on the ground in a few weeks, you’d be up to speed with the others. If this doesn’t turn out to be the place, I mean.”

  Rebecca laughed. “And give up the fast paced life of space anthropology? Thanks, Captain, I’ll think about it. Really, I will. And thank you for including me in this mission. I know the other researchers don’t think I’ll add anything—”

  “Then it’s a good thing it wasn’t their decision to make. You earned your spot, Emery. Consider it— consider it my act of faith, bringing you along. Not faith in you , you’ve proven yourself capable. Faith in this mission. My little bet that there truly is a chance we’ll find a living planet, and that we’ll need people like you. That we’re not completely alone out here.” He bent over the suit again.

  Chapter Five

  It was too bright, too raw. Rebecca lifted a hand to shield her eyes from the massiveness of the landing zone. She turned to negotiate the first step. Titov was crouched near the base of the ladder. She could hear him retching. Dr. Cardiff patted his back.

  “Listen, you trained for this. Nothing bad is happening.”

  Titov pushed the doctor away. “I’m fine,” he growled. “I know what’s at stake, I don’t need to be reminded.”

  Rebecca took a hesitant step onto the ground. Something crunched underneath her boot and she jerked back. Dr. Cardiff looked up at her.

  “Dirt, remember? We practiced on the agri deck.”

  Rebecca nodded and gave the doctor a weak smile. She put her boot back down, teeth grinding at the crunch. And then the other boot.

  “Good job, Emery,” said the doctor, glancing over at her as she helped Titov back into the ship, despite his protests. Rebecca felt vaguely juvenile at the praise. It’s only a ladder, she thought, but changed her mind as she stopped to look around herself. This was more than a ladder. More than the same crowded decks that met her every day.

  The landing zone was a rocky valley between hills. Nothing complex, just a semi-flat expanse of stone and dust. But even without plants or water or movement, it still overwhelmed her. Rebecca knelt to touch the jagged rocks at her feet. The vinyl of her gloves didn’t let much sensation through, but the solid realness of what she touched was a comfort for now. The feel of uneven ground beneath her boots was something new after a lifetime of smooth decking. She stared at the horizon. She could walk here. One foot in front of another for days without seeing the same sights again. Without looping back over the same cramped hallways. Walk for the rest of her life if she wanted and still never see it all. A sudden wave of dizziness hit her at the thought. She looked back down at her knees, laughing at herself. One thing at a time, she thought.

  “Well?” asked Alice, her helmet poking out of the open airlock.

  “Well,” said Rebecca, “I haven’t been eaten by a wild anim
al yet.”

  “Ha, ha. Okay, I’m coming down.”

  “Go slow Alice, there’s extra gravity. Everything is slower, heavy.”

  She helped her friend down the ladder and bit her lip at the sound of Alice’s boots hitting the dirt. “Everything is so— far ,” gasped Oxwell, looking around them.

  “I don’t like it. Air’s too thin. Nothing to hold it in,” Rebecca sucked a quick breath, her lungs felt sticky and flat. She sucked in another. Her chest throbbed painfully and her throat seemed pinched. She clutched at her helmet.

  “Whoa,” said Dr. Cardiff, scrambling back down to them. She grabbed Rebecca’s arm. “Calm down, Emery. You aren’t breathing the air outside, remember? You’re breathing your suit air, it’s the same as always. Slow down. Deep breaths.”

  Rebecca tried to take a deeper breath and coughed. The cough seemed to snap her free. “I’m okay,” she said.

  “Go slow. Until a few days ago you never even left the Keseburg and now you are exploring an entire planet. It’s going to take some time to get used to just being out in the open like this. You too, Oxwell.”

  Alice nodded. “Why are you okay with all this?” she asked.

  Dr. Cardiff shrugged and a shrill, nervous laugh leaked out of her. “I think I’m too busy right now to be scared by this yet. Give me a minute and you’ll have to remind me not to hyperventilate too.” There was a groan from Titov above and the doctor left them with a good-luck pat to Rebecca’s arm. Spixworth was next down the ladder, carrying cases of lab equipment.

  “Let’s find some bugs. I swear I saw something fluttering out a side window—” He looked up. “Oh, wow.” Spixworth silently spun around, taking in the space. “I didn’t expect the sky to be so big .” His voice had dropped into a low, awed mumble.

  Rebecca nodded in agreement. “Ironic, isn’t it? We spend our whole lives surrounded by sky, but being out, underneath it, it’s overwhelming.”

  “Yeah but this is a great deal larger than the porthole I usually see it through in my apartment,” said Spixworth. He pointed to the cleft between the hills where the land dipped down and out of sight. “There was green over there.”

  “We’re supposed to take samples from the landing site first—”

  “Come on, Emery, you want to sit here for days and study dirt? We can study dirt anytime. Suck it up by the cargo-ship full. There could be life over there. Plants and water, insects—”

  Alice shook her head. “Calm down, Nick. It could just be a mineral deposit.”

  “But—”

  “If it is life, then we should be cautious. Just stepping in the wrong spot could throw an entire ecosystem out of balance.”

  “Yes, yes, contamination procedures, I know. I went to the same lectures as you, remember? Aren’t you even a little excited?”

  Alice grinned. “Probably more than you are.” She took one of the cases from his hand. “Okay. But follow procedure.”

  “Yes, dear.”

  “Should we wait for the others?” asked Rebecca.

  Spixworth glanced back at the airlock. “Well— Titov’s thrown up in his helmet and Hackford has locked herself in the cargo hold and refuses to come out. The flight crew won’t leave the ship until the final checks are completed. Captain says it’ll be another hour and to go ahead without them. Martham says she’ll monitor our results from here unless we come across any serious biological life forms. She wants to start exposure tests on the Keseburg specimens. That just leaves Blick.”

  “You coming, Lionel?” called Rebecca.

  There was a shuffling in the airlock and Blick’s helmet appeared. He looked ashen and she could see his hand shaking on the frame of the doorway. “It’s going to take me a little. I’m an old guy, Emery. Got sixty years of ship life to overcome. You got half that. You go on. I’ll catch up. Tomorrow maybe.”

  Rebecca nodded and grabbed the case he handed down to her. She followed Spixworth and Alice, trying to step in their existing footprints.The three of them were the youngest of the crew. They had been expected to take the transition easier than the others. If they couldn’t do it, nobody would. It left a sour note of doubt in Rebecca’s mind. She was quiet as Oxwell and Spixworth chattered about the new sensations.

  “You okay, Beck? I don’t like being this far from the ship either, but it’ll be okay,” said Alice.

  Rebecca glanced back at the dwindling sparkle of the ship. “It’s— it’s nothing, I guess. Just thinking of Dad and Angie. How they’d do, getting out of the Keseburg at first. Guess it’s silly to worry about that now, we haven’t even done any preliminary tests yet.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look, I know it’s a long shot, but what if this turns out to be the one? What if we find out this planet is inhabitable?”

  Spixworth shook his head. “I don’t understand. That’s what we want, isn’t it? It’s what we’ve been looking for. What our parents and grandparents and all the ones before were looking for. It’ll be a mad party if this one is inhabitable.”

  “Sure, there’ll be a big celebration, but then what? Has anyone really thought about what happens next?”

  “There must be a plan, I’m certain there is. The Earthlings must have had a protocol for how we settle a planet once we find it— the Keseburg was built with that in mind,” said Spixworth.

  “We’ve changed since then. The Earthlings expected to find a planet in two or three generations. We aren’t what they expected. Look how the others have reacted just to stepping out of the Wolfinger. At how nervous even we are. We’ve had almost an Earth year’s training. Most of the Keseburg has had no preparation at all. How are they going to survive here? Titov barely made it down the ladder. How’s your dad going to react when he has to step out of that loading deck? When he has to build a house or till a garden? Do you honestly expect them just to walk out of the only home they and their families have known for generations? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

  “You think we should just wander space forever? The Keseburg is a marvel, but it wasn’t meant to last even this long—” started Spixworth.

  “But we’ve made stops to fix it, Nick,” said Alice, “Rebecca is right, we’ve adapted to space. Not just psychologically, but biologically. Our systems haven’t encountered any sort of life except what’s in our own ship. Even if this planet turns out to be relatively easy to colonize we’re still going to face massive die-outs the first few years due to new microbes. And assuming the medical team can keep up treating the ones we encounter with new antibiotics and vaccines, our very presence will alter them, create mutated strains. A plague is almost inevitable. Along with more fundamental problems, like the gravity. Look how hard we’re working to move around and we’re in shape for this.”

  “We’re also wearing several dozen pounds of protective gear,” pointed out Spixworth. “And maybe the admiral has a plan for building up our immune systems. The uppers always have a plan for stuff like that.”

  Rebecca clicked off the filament feed, pointing to it so the other two would do the same. When they were out of contact with the ship, she shouted loudly through the helmet. “It has been sixteen hundred years since we left earth. You don’t think the contingency plans have run out?”

  Spixworth raised a thick eyebrow. “Since you put it that way,” he shouted back, “Don’t you think it’s a bit odd that in sixteen hundred years we haven’t found a single planet or moon we were capable of living on, at least for a while?”

  A panicked Captain Stratton barked into their ears.

  “Emery, Oxwell, Spixworth, come in. Your data streams have stopped. Come in.”

  Rebecca switched her filament back on, followed by the others. “Sorry Captain, seemed to have walked through a band of interference.”

  There was a sigh at the other end. “If you run into any more interference, come back to the ship. We don’t need anyone lost out there or out of contact.”

  “Roger that,” said Spixworth.

&nbs
p; “I’m sure every habitation mission has had similar worries,” said Alice softly as they reached a low hill. “Let’s not borrow trouble. We have to figure out if the planet can even support us first.”

  Rebecca nodded, but the depressed panic stayed with her.

  Chapter Six

  The haze of dark gray-green below them made Rebecca freeze as they crested the hill. “That’s not rock.”

  Alice shook her head. “This is—” She crouched down, overwhelmed.

  “I told you,” gasped Spixworth. He took a step forward and Alice grabbed his suit leg.

  “Don’t touch it,” she warned.

  “I’ll be careful. Look at it. The way it moves. Blick, you seeing this?”

  “Almost there— I decided I couldn’t let you get all the discoveries. I’ve got another sample case.”

  “We better set up the mobile lab, don’t you think, Oxwell? I mean, considering what you were saying about alien bacteria… I doubt we want to risk trucking all this stuff back to the Wolfinger before we’re certain that it’s harmless.” Spixworth turned toward Alice, but the answer came from Captain Stratton.

  “Martham and I will head out to you with the gear. I don’t want anything on my ship until we’ve run every test we know on it. We go slow, follow protocol. It’s not just protecting us but also everything we come into contact with.”

  He was unsettled, Rebecca knew. This was not the sterile rock he’d been expecting. A breeze shook the foliage below and it rippled turquoise to green. She couldn’t hear it, not through the thick helmet, but she wished she could feel it. What would it smell like? Would the leaves be soft? Prickly? She walked slowly to the edge of the field, careful to keep her boots clear of the grasses. Tiny green specks floated through the air. Rebecca reached out and caught one on her glove.

  “Cheater,” said Spixworth, hurrying to her side.

  “Jar that, Emery,” snapped Stratton. “And stop touching.”