Andrew reached for it with one hand—
And almost pulled a muscle holding it up at arm’s length. It had to weigh at least fifty pounds. Eric was stronger than he looked.
The skinny man grinned, his dark eyes flashing with amusement. “It’s not a bomb, Andrew.”
“No?” he replied, still studying the pack at arm’s length. He could hear muffled gasps as people went bouncing onto the landing ramps to explore their new world.
“Well, maybe this one is,” Keller amended. “Just for you.”
Andrew’s eyes narrowed, and he indulged in a brief fantasy of snapping the man’s neck.
“You’re not the only one who can make jokes,” Keller said.
Andrew snorted. “What jokes?” He wasn’t exactly renowned for his sense of humor.
“I thought the one about aliens attacking us was quite funny.” But Eric said it without even a hint of a smile. He grabbed Andrew’s shoulder in a firm grip and leaned in to whisper in his ear: “You cause any trouble, and you’ll regret it. Understood?”
“Hey, excuse me, coming through...” Kendra pushed between them, breaking Keller’s grip and pulling Andrew into the airlock with her. “What did I say about crossing paths with him?” Kendra muttered under her breath.
“He started it,” Andrew replied.
And then they were hit with a blast of cool air as they proceeded down the landing ramp. The air was layered with startling fragrances that Andrew couldn’t even begin to describe: sweet, fresh, and loamy all at the same time. The sounds of alien fauna filled his ears: hooting and whistling, trilling and buzzing—
Something dashed away through the long red grass, plowing a snaking line in the field of green flowers around the shuttle. As they reached the bottom of the ramp, roaring sounds drew their eyes up to the dark blue sky, and Andrew had to shield his eyes against the dazzling orange-white glare of landing thrusters from the other shuttles. Within minutes, half a dozen of them had touched down, scattered all around the field in a rough circle.
“Wow,” Val breathed.
Andrew and Kendra turned to see her and Tony standing ten feet away—holding hands. Diane was sitting up on Tony’s shoulders.
“Wow?” Roland echoed, darting into view from around the side of the shuttle. “That’s the best you’ve got?” He spread his arms wide and danced in a circle while staring up at the indigo sky. Then he took off, running through the field and hollering like a little kid. Green flowers exploded around him with sparkling clouds of alien pollen as he went. Andrew watched with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“We should come up with a name for this place,” Kendra said in an awed whisper.
As if on cue, a strident voice came loud and shrill to their ears: “Welcome to New Earth! Let the thousand-year reign begin!”
Andrew followed the sound to see Reverend Morris standing on a boulder for a pulpit, head and shoulders above everyone else. Andrew scowled and shook his head, nudging Kendra in the ribs.
“I think someone already beat you to it,” he muttered.
FIFTEEN
Kendra
Kendra was glad not to be carrying one of the heavy packs that each escape shuttle had tucked away. Her shoulder ached incessantly. After Dr. Thomas Hartford had popped it into place, he’d run the scan over her socket again, and this time his news wasn’t as positive. She had a torn ligament, but with care and a sling, he claimed she’d be right as rain in a few weeks.
The sling that held her arm now was nothing more than a torn piece of a white jumpsuit, tied around her neck, but it was better than permitting her arm to dangle loosely at her side. The one saving grace, she thought, was that it was her left shoulder, so her dominant hand still prevailed.
She guessed they’d been walking for two hours, and the sight of the red grass felt strangely unsettling. Everything here was bizarre, confusing to her senses: from the vegetation to the sun high in the sky to the smell of everything. If someone asked her to describe the sensations, she didn’t think she’d be able. There was nothing in her memory she could compare it to.
“You holding up okay?” Carrie asked. Her sister appeared rested, her shorter hair somehow perfectly styled. Kendra subconsciously ran her good hand through her own hair, attempting to make herself presentable.
“I guess so. Did we seriously sleep in there for over seven decades?” Kendra asked.
Roland was ahead of them, his big eyes seeming to soak everything in since they’d landed on the surface. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t feel any different, do you guys?” he asked.
“Not really. Other than the obvious,” Kendra said, motioning to her sling.
“It’s hard to believe, but we did it. I always knew Lewis was a genius. I wish I could go back to tell myself all the hard work would pay off,” Carrie said softly.
Their group was over eight hundred now. Everyone marched and gathered toward Eric Keller’s location, and now, as they strode uphill, Kendra saw the last couple of groups of Eden’s passengers waiting at the bottom of the valley for their arrival.
Carrie smiled at the sight. “I’d bet that makes everyone.”
“Where’s Hound?” Roland asked.
Kendra scanned behind them, searching for Andrew and his daughter. They were somewhere among the group, hidden away in the crowd.
“I’m not sure,” Carrie said. “He had his own emergency pod. I suspect he used it.”
“Let me guess, his was equipped with a cryopod?” Roland asked.
Carrie didn’t answer as they merged with the waiting colonists. Many greeted each other, some with hugs and even romantic embraces. Some of them would have known one another for a few weeks now, and with the end of the world, Kendra wasn’t surprised to see so many couples forming before their eyes.
Keller strode through the group and stopped. People gathered around to hear what he was about to tell them. “Hello, everyone. I’m sorry I haven’t been more forthright with details, but I only wanted to say it once.” He held a small device in front of his face, the words echoing loudly from it like a megaphone. “We are home.”
A cheer erupted from the front, carrying to the outer edges of the large crowd. Roland clapped slowly beside Kendra, and someone bumped into her, standing too close. She was about to speak up when she saw Andrew’s familiar strong frame and slight smirk. Valeria and Tony were close behind, and she passed a soft smile to the teenage girl.
Keller raised his hand to silence the noise and continued. “We encountered some trouble when we hit orbit, as evidenced by our emergency landing. We’d planned on landing the entirety of Eden at our colony site, making it much easier on everyone, but we were prepared for almost anything.”
Andrew unslung the heavy pack from his shoulders, letting the bag fall to the ground. Kendra’s gaze followed as it crushed the red grass at his feet. She crouched to touch it, plucking a few strands as she stood. She played with them, feeling the consistency between her fingers. Even the grass felt odd.
“We’ve accounted for all the pods, and are only…” Keller peered at a device in his hand, “five miles from our rendezvous point.”
“What about our supplies? How are we going to survive?” a man asked a few rows ahead.
“Eden was designed to dismantle itself and head down to the surface. The whole ship will be there, albeit in sections. We’re using these as the base for our colony, and will expand on it from there,” Eric said.
If anyone else had questions or comments, they remained silent until Andrew raised a hand.
“Yes, Mr. Miller,” Keller said, one hand resting on his hip near his gun.
“Where the hell is Hound?” Andrew asked.
“He sent me a message telling me to gather everyone at the camp. He wanted to check out another site, to see if it was any better, and then he’ll return to us,” Keller told them.
Kendra noticed the change of tone, and the downward glance to the left that Keller made. Clear-cut signs he was lying to them
.
“If that’s everything, we’d better keep moving. It’ll be dark in a few hours, and we have a lot of work to do yet.” Keller turned from the crowd, and walked farther up the hill.
Carrie marched ahead, and Kendra waited with her friends while people pressed by, following Hound’s number two.
“I don’t buy it, but does it even matter?” Kendra asked.
Roland stared in the distance past her as he spoke. “Maybe Hound is dead. Might not be good for morale to let everyone know quite yet.”
Once the entire group of a thousand was past them, Andrew picked up his pack, and placed it on his shoulders once again. “Can we help disperse the weight a bit?” Roland asked, but Andrew shook his head.
“I’ve been through a lot worse. This is a walk in the park,” he said.
Kendra really took in the landscape as they went. It was rolling hills for miles, and she could see peaks in the distance to her left and right. “How wide do you think this place is? I see mountains on either side of us.”
Andrew gazed from side to side, and so did his daughter. “I bet it’s at least fifty miles from peak to peak.”
“That sounds right,” Valeria added.
“And you’d know how?” he asked.
“These mountains are much closer. See how we can see color on them, and they’re much taller in our line of sight? I’d guess we’re…” Valeria stopped as her dad raised a finger in the air.
“Nice try, smarty pants, but it’s impossible to calculate without a reference point. We don’t know how tall either side of the range is,” Andrew said.
Kendra smiled at their interaction, and looked behind them. “Wait. Are those peaks behind us too?”
“And in front,” Roland said, pointing far in the distance. They were small but visible now.
“We’re surrounded,” Tony said.
Kendra thought about their placement on the planet. “They might have chosen this spot on purpose. I think I see a body of water in the direction we’re heading, and being in a valley like this might protect us from some weather systems.”
Val shrugged. “Or they had no idea, and we crash-landed here randomly.”
“That could be. Come on; let’s not stray too far behind. We could get picked off by some kind of alien predators,” Andrew said.
Kendra didn’t think they needed to worry about that, as the massive group of a thousand stomped their way across the grass-covered hills toward their eventual destination.
The wind picked up, carrying with it gray clouds from their right. So far there hadn’t been any trees, but there were dark, purple-leaved shrubs littered around the fields of grass. She kept her eyes peeled for one of the creatures Andrew claimed to have spotted on their descent, but so far, she hadn’t seen any signs of animal life.
As they walked, the sky grew darker, a combination of the planet’s sun descending and the cloud cover growing denser with each passing minute. One second the entire plains were silent, save the sounds of their people ahead; then a buzz began.
“What the heck is that?” Tony asked, receiving a glare from Andrew.
“I think it’s insects,” Kendra said. The sound didn’t stop. “Lots of bugs won’t begin their song until night-time. With the clouds as dark as they are, their melody has begun for the night.”
“At least we can take comfort that we’re not alone,” Val said.
“I’d rather be alone than share a sleeping bag with whatever’s making that noise,” Roland said. “They’re so loud.”
“That’s the thing about bugs,” Andrew said. “Eventually you’ll grow so used to the sound, you won’t be able to sleep without it.” He sounded like he had some experience with it, maybe overseas.
“It seems you were right about the water, Kendra,” Valeria said. The lake was huge; from here, Kendra couldn’t see the other side. The water appeared so normal, making it out of place on the alien world. The ocean had always frightened her, because there was so much you couldn’t see below it. She supposed it wasn’t much different with people. You only saw what was on the surface. Here, she really had no idea what lay below, and it brought the fear of the unknown once again.
“Look, a piece of Eden,” Roland said. They shifted their focus to their left, where a division of the colonists were heading for a huge piece of their vessel. Once they’d spotted the one, Kendra noticed at least eight other chunks nearby. As they entered the camp space, the entire crowd began chattering excitedly. They’d made it. Even Kendra was swept up in the euphoria as she and her group wound their way to the edge of camp, to the slice of Eden.
Carrie was there, and she waved them over. “Tonight we’re going to set up camp, and tomorrow we can open up the quarters and begin construction.”
Andrew peered around. “Where are we sleeping?”
Carrie nodded to a rover, which emerged from a hatch on the side of the midsection slice of Eden. It was huge, the size of a Hummer, and it dragged a matte black trailer behind it. She waited for it to stop, and then she crossed the grassy field, tapping a code into a compact screen on the rear of the trailer. The doors sprang open, and she began unloading crates.
“Two to a tent, so pair up,” Carrie said. Others had arrived, and Kendra helped her sister hand all five hundred pup tents to the colonists.
“I’m not sure why we have to sleep in tents when the quarters are in there,” Andrew muttered.
“I think it has something to do with the fact that none of the sections will be powered up yet,” Roland said. “They probably need to move generators from section to section to activate them, and now isn’t the time to start messing with that. It’s night one on an alien planet.”
It made sense to Kendra, but Andrew didn’t appear to be buying it. “Exactly, an alien planet with unknown predators hiding in the shadows, and we’re out here sleeping in tents.”
Carrie must have overheard, because she passed out the last tent in the trailer and pointed to a group of armed guards. “That’s what they’re for, Andrew. All you need to worry about is setting up your tent, and we’ll reconvene for something to eat.”
Andrew gave Carrie a forced smile as she walked off, chatting to one of the guards. Keller was nowhere in sight, and Kendra was relieved. She peered around the camp’s flat surface, each section of Eden creating a barrier of sorts around the center of the region. That was where people were already setting their tents up in rows.
Val was holding a tent and smiling at Tony. Andrew groaned and grabbed the tent from his daughter’s hands, and pressed it into Tony’s chest. “Don’t worry, Valeria, I already have our tent.”
Kendra laughed at the teens’ expressions, and Roland seemed oblivious to their conversation.
Tony cleared his throat. “Rollie, you wanna bunk with me?”
“Sure, kid. Sure.”
They found a free patch of grass, and set up the tents with a quick tug. They sprang open, and Kendra was glad they were that simple.
“Has anyone seen Diane?” Tony asked, and Kendra flushed with guilt. She’d almost forgotten about the girl. Diane wasn’t her charge, but she’d grown so used to spending time with her, she felt like she’d failed the girl.
“I saw her with Jennifer. Everyone is healthy and happy,” Carrie said, arriving from behind the tents. “Ken, I thought we could share. It’ll be like old times. Remember when Mom and Dad took us to Yosemite?”
“I do. You had so many mosquito bites, we were forced to go home early,” Kendra said with a laugh. The tension eased off her mind just enough to make her looming headache dissipate.
“We have food and water over by Eden Seven,” Carrie said, and for the first time, Kendra noticed each section had a black number painted on the side. They really had been prepared.
“We’ll be right there,” Kendra assured her sister, and when Carrie was off, she leaned in closer to the others. “I know this hasn’t been easy, but maybe we’re okay now. How about we start this adventure with open eyes and some o
ptimism?” Her eyes stayed on Andrew as she said this, and his perpetual frown softened.
“Deal,” he said.
“What choice do we have?” Roland asked.
“Let’s round up some food,” Kendra said, happy they were all on the same page.
SIXTEEN
Roland
The sounds of morning were far different from the night noises. Light crept through the seams of their tent, and Tony made soft mumbles in his sleep while Roland pulled his own sleeping bag over his face. It wasn’t a dream after all. Part of him had hoped he’d wake up in his grandmother’s house, back before everything started.
If he had, Roland swore he’d have ventured outside, felt the sunlight on his pale skin. Maybe he’d have gone for a walk, something he’d missed out on while living there, at least recreationally.
He heard a braying sound in the distance, and wondered what kind of animal could be that loud. They’d made it to ground zero for the colony. Eden. The name worked for the ship and their new home, and it was sticking around camp, more than the ‘New Earth’ that Reverend Morris kept spouting. He tried to not care that she believed in something. Hell, he almost envied her convictions, but it translated a little too harsh, too abrasive for his tastes.
He remembered something his grandmother used to say. “You don’t catch flies with gravy.” He knew she had it totally wrong, but he didn’t care. He missed her fiercely at that moment, and the tent suddenly grew too stuffy for him. He reached for his pocket and pulled out the vial of pills, shaking it lightly.
“Roland, you up?” Tony asked, and Roland shoved the bottle back where he’d found it. Not today. He was fine.
Roland fell to his pillow. “I’m up. How’d you sleep?”
Tony was lying down, staring at the low ceiling of the tent. “Like I was in cryo,” he said with a laugh, and added, “Too soon?”
Final Days: Colony Page 12
