“I think Discovery is being dramatic today, sir,” Dimitriev said.
“You may be right.” Kansier laughed at the ridiculous comment. “Well, let’s look at what we’ve got. Scanners?”
“Fourth planet, class M star system—equatorial temperature 36 degrees Celsius, about 23 though where we’ve landed—somewhere in the southern hemisphere.” Lieutenant Rosner said. “The nitrogen atmosphere is similar to Earth, but less carbon dioxide and a lot more oxygen content, similar air pressure—precipitation and weather patterns very much like Earth, similar magnetosphere and ozone layer—though slightly thicker. Volcanism suggests surface crust slightly thinner than Earth.”
“Hassan, is the atmosphere breathable—no sign of lethal microorganisms?” Kansier asked.
“Yes, from what I can tell.” Bio-scanning specialist Hassan responded. “Our terrestrial scanner shows some signs of microorganisms, but they aren’t lethal to human beings. We have to go down and test to be sure, though. I suggest any landing party receive immunity-booster inoculations to be safe. But we should be able to breathe freely—except that the increased oxygen will slow down our natural breathing rate per minute.”
“Luminosity from yellow sun not much brighter than a sunny day on Earth, but there are a lot of clouds blocking the solar rays. I would guess that the area directly below us is safe for a scouting party,” Lieutenant Lacour suggested.
“All right, but let’s let the scientists lead this one.” Kansier nodded.
Knightwood’s face suddenly appeared in the vidscreen in front of a small group of onboard scientists busying themselves with equipment. From her smile, he surmised she had been monitoring the bridge’s reaction for the last few minutes.
“Knightwood,” Kansier said and nodded. “I see your team is ready to go. That all of you?”
Knightwood smiled. “Ah, you know the others. Field work isn’t their forté.” She shrugged, smiling. “Signing off.”
“It’s odd,” Kansier turned away to the viewport as the image faded, giving a slight laugh of amusement. “How many inhabitable worlds are there in the universe? It seems Discovery is taking us on a guided tour of most of them—but why?” He wondered aloud, drawing an uncomfortable silence from the bridge crew.
And we are a captive audience, with no choice but to explore what it permits us to see, with no explanations, with no apparent reason—
“Any officers in mind for this one?” Dimitriev asked. Kansier hesitated, then made eye contact with Erin.
“We haven’t received any transmissions, but the planet does show a variety of vegetation. In case there are intelligent life forms present, I would like to have lieutenant Mathieson accompany the party, considering her past success in communicating with alien life forms. And lieutenant Kusao—his past resourcefulness might also come in handy. Also lieutenants Ross and Nguyen. And Major Dimitriev—can you accompany the others and represent the Discovery in case we make contact with any intelligent creatures?”
“Yes, sir,” Dimitriev nodded, then headed to the Great Bay where the scout shuttle was being loaded.
* * * * *
“Wonder why the Discovery brought us here,” Kusao mused as the shuttle descended from the Great Bay door.
“It’s worth checking the place out since we’re here.” Nguyen opined. “We’ve got the time, unless you’re in a hurry to get back to deep space.”
Nonetheless, the team considered Kusao’s question as the shuttle descended to the planet and began to move across a smooth sand-colored plateau. The ship analyzer had already told them its composition, the percentage and type of igneous rocks in the mix—it had the appearance of sandstone. That fact had already puzzled Knightwood, considering that the terrain should have been submerged under water at some point in the planet’s history for sedimentary rock to form. Before the shuttle left, a team had gone out to extract a deep sample, but there were no fossilized plant, animal, or similar lifeforms, suggesting again that the landscape was not like the terrestrial variety of sedimentary rock.
The ship’s vidigital footage had shown that these sedimentary areas were dispersed among larger expanses of green seas like small oceans, and a variety of ferny vegetation that grew in large jungle-like areas. However, the planet showed some few large bodies of water comparable to terrestrial oceans, and no recognizable continents divided by water, only twisting continental masses. The homogeneous mix of open land, jungle, and green seas suffused the entire planet, except the small ring of ice that had formed at the poles.
Having found few traces of advanced life forms in the small section where the first shuttle had landed, the second shuttle headed for a nearby jungle area. They stopped as one of the automated probes took a small section of the vegetation and put it into the cargo hold. From their position, the team had proposed to divide into two, one unit heading over to check the composition of the strange green seas, the other checking out the rest of the jungle area.
They had still not detected any animal forms.
“Maybe there isn’t anyone home.” Erik Ross suggested.
“Hmmm. All right, Zhdanov, Urbani, Cheung, Romanik, Ritsma, and I are going over to take samples of the green seas. We’ll need an escort—Kusao, Mathieson, Rabalais, and Garrick. Dimitriev, Ross, and Nguyen—do you have any objections to taking on the jungle?”
Dimitriev nodded, understanding that either position was vulnerable, and that the scientists would need more coverage. And aside from that, he was struck by the thought that if nothing untowards happened while they were exploring, he might at last manage to obtain Ross’ undivided attention. There were a few things they needed to sort out.
“We’ll meet back here in an hour.” Zhdanov said as the three of them stowed extra weapons in their packs and disappeared into the foliage.
* * * * *
The jungle was dense with small, half human sized waxy green “plants” underneath a high canopy of tree-like growth, though the tall waxy green stalks extended to the very roof of the canopy and branched into broad, flat “leaves” that blocked out the bright sun. They could hear no noise. No wind stirred, and the soft, peat ground deadened the sound of their footsteps.
Lieutenant Nguyen began to walk ahead, intrigued by the beginnings of some lavender colored blossoms in sponge-like undergrowth under the trees.
Erik had no desire to remain with Dimitriev, and increased his steps. But a hand on his shoulder slowed him.
“Just a moment. There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time. Now seems about as good a time as any—since we’ve no choice but to stay as a group.”
“If it’s about Erin, then you can forget it,” Erik said angrily, his eyes flashing. “For some reason I can’t fathom I know she still admires you, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you have her.” Erik wrenched out of Dimitriev’s grip.
“Erin?” Dimitriev echoed, confused. “No—that’s not it—”
“That’s right—I heard you were getting married.” Erik said, shaking his head. “So why don’t you stop playing the field? Don’t deny it, ‘cause I’ve seen the way you look at her when you don’t think anyone’s looking. Maybe you just don’t have the guts to decide whom you really want—”
“Listen.” Dimitriev said quietly, his eyes never leaving Erik’s face. “I’m not talking to you about Erin. What I have to say concerns your brother Justin.”
“Justin,” Erik swallowed, reacting as though he had been slapped. “How do you know about him—” he began to protest, regarding Dimitriev suspiciously.
“Your brother—Erik, he was my best friend.” Scott said slowly, his voice full of admiration. The familiarity of his tone annoyed Erik, so much that Erik harbored a desire to punch him it the jaw. His eyes narrowed on his superior officer; he would have struck him in other circumstances, and if it wouldn’t mean about a month of solitary confinement. Wait a minute—did Dimitriev just say that he had been Justin’s best friend?!!!
“We met each ot
her at the UESRC and trained together for the Charon Offensive,” Dimitriev continued. “I’d never met anyone so courageous, so dependable—he never let any of us down, no matter what happened. He gave his life to defend a group of us, hedged in against the Charon aliens’ ship—”
“If you were so close, why didn’t he ever mention you?” Erik bit out, refusing to hear any more. Scott could detect the sorrow in Erik’s voice, the beginnings of stings in Erik’s eyes that made his voice more nasal, masked through clenched teeth.
Scott looked away, observing the long line of trees beside their path. “He didn’t see much of his family after he went to the UESRC. And I did see you—on the day we graduated. But I left early to visit with my father, and the Stargazer was sent out the next day.”
“Why are you telling me about this now?” Erik asked, his voice still bitter. “Do you expect me to be your friend all of a sudden? My brother was too good-natured to acknowledge anything bad about any one; no doubt you had him fooled. Oh yes, I know you too well. Someone like you doesn’t appreciate the things he has. You’ve got a fiancée. And still you go around acting like Erin’s secret champion or something. Everyone could see how worried you were when you followed her to the holo-room, how you follow after her everywhere to make sure she’s safe—even now. What’s worse is that you deny it to yourself.”
“Erik—”
“Don’t even bother. I’m not blind. It’s obvious you can’t even make the simplest decisions in your personal life. You’ve got a fiancée, so you shouldn’t be looking at other women—not so closely, anyway. You’d stop trying to gratify your own selfish needs to be seen as some kind of hero. Maybe then you’d do what’s right and let us all get on with our lives.”
“Harsh words. Look,” Scott said, trying to recollect his thoughts, “I just wanted to finally tell you about your brother, tell you that your brother was thinking about you before he died. He wanted to transfer back to the UESRC to spend some time with you. He had cleared the ship but came back to save the rest of us when more aliens appeared and cut us off—”
“You really do like to watch people suffer, don’t you? What makes you think I want to hear this?” Erik bit out, and Dimitriev looked away.
“All right. If that’s how you feel, I won’t mention it again.” Scott said evenly and walked on ahead.
* * * * *
“It’s some kind of weak solution—water, minerals, and silt—and a natural organic fertilizer, like peat—” Romanik continued. “But further down the water content increases, as if the top layer were recently formed.” He added, shaking his head in confusion.
“That’s it, we’ll bring in one more cross-section,” Zhdanov directed the others who were busy loading another sample of the native jungle vegetation. He headed over to Knightwood and Romanik, leaving Cheung in charge of the group finishing the work.
“Whew—guess I haven’t kept up my physical training recently,” Kusao sighed, and sat down on the ground, his knees propped up. He could not tell that the surface gravity was barely below the Earth’s after half an hour of hard work. “A cold drink would do about now,” he laughed, removing his helmet to imbibe the rich air.
Knightwood had been the first to test the air, in hopes that they could bring back some compressed atmosphere back to replenish the air that had been lost in the recent space battle. The air pressure in the ship had dropped to resemble that of the high altitudes on Earth, but not enough to cause any negative symptoms yet—only signs of fatigue among the crew had been reported thus far.
“Why don’t you take a sip—there’s plenty of water over there,” Erin pointed to the calm green sea to their left and received Kusao’s narrowed eyes and dubious expression as her answer.
Then he looked up. A noise had disturbed the silence of the environment.
The girl had stepped through the jungle clearing, her terrified eyes regarding the Japanese lieutenant. With pale green skin, long green hair and green eyes, she looked as though she were a part of the jungle that had come to life.
She shouted, a soft wordless wail pleasant to hear, like the plaintive cry of some exotic bird.
Kusao cried something unintelligible in surprise.
Those who are faithless know the pleasures of love; it is the faithful who know love’s tragedies.
—Oscar Wilde
Chapter Ten
Erin looked at the girl and sensed her fear—the girl, somehow sensing Erin’s empathy and presence in her mind, gave Erin a look that passed for incredulity. Minutes before, she had been sleeping, her long, smooth green legs spiked deep into the ground to allow her white feet to absorb water and nutrients as her green limbs fed her. She had awakened to visit the life waters for increased sustenance—never had she had reason to fear any intruders by the sacred waters.
And suddenly she had come face to face with strange creatures, in the same humanoid form as she, but they appeared as if the very soil had given birth to them unaided, strangely pigmented, wrapped in some unknown form, a material like that of the egg of the creator.
She had wandered ever since her hennah—the period of time after which she had grown mobile leg features. She had never known the creature that had planted her. But she knew instinctively that when the time approached, and the long cool period ended, she would cut off her own arm and bury it in the sacred soil outside the jungle, the cultivated sands, now empty. As her people had for thousands of generations, she would be reborn in her own first identical daughter, as she had been the first daughter and product of regenesis.
She had grown under the surface of the sacred sands among the others until the day when her half-formed body broke through into the sun’s light. There, she had drunk in the soil’s nutrients and fed from the sun’s energy on her body until her legs formed, allowing her the freedom to join the world. She wandered alone, meeting others of her own kind waiting to plant their first child, both seed-holders and seed-changers. Others who had ring-scars but had not yet regenerated the arm limb also wandered near the life waters, but they would soon join their people in the jungle.
As a seed-holder, she would soon require the enzyme from a seed-changer to plant her future seed in the forest, but unlike the first child, this child would not be identical to her. It could become either a seed-holder or a seed-changer that never left the jungle—their kind, the seed-children, had created the civilization of their race and kept the ancient records of their people’s history.
First children like her needed no records. She had been born with the memories of a thousand generations before her, and though the intrusion of these visitors alarmed her, she instinctively knew that they had not been the first to intrude upon her people.
Her ancestor-mother had met the grey-skinned visitors near the same place, long ago. They had been able to understand her thoughts and communicate their own to her without speaking her language, and she had learned that they came to tell of their Great Federation. She had taken them to her people in the jungle, to ask if they wished to join the other worlds in their prosperity, but the people whom the visitors called lom-vaia had no need of the Federation.
They, the lom-vaia, had only one question to ask—where had the creator come from? The visitors reacted with confusion, and the record-keeper explained. The creator had arrived in a moving silver egg, in the days when the lom-vaia lived as immobile brethren with the trees, though the lom-vaia had already grown aware of their surroundings.
Then the egg had come to the ground, shaking the planet and sending tremors every lom-vaia felt and remembered. A moving creature, one who could move just as the great roiling seas, had emerged and come to them. He had fallen under their limbs until their whisperings woke him.
The creator had not been like them. His motivations they did not understand, even after he had mastered their language—a combination of thought-communications and wind calls. He had gone to his egg and brought many waters to them, taking their seed-children away into his egg and bringing them bac
k changed. Planting them in the sacred lom-vaia fields among their kind, they had grown to maturity listening to his stories of a great vanished land and many creatures that moved like him. Then he had called them to follow him and see the world for themselves. They had taken their roots from the soil, and for the first time they were able to move to the sacred waters only a few of their kind had truly known before.
After many generations, the new children grew stronger and were better able to see, hear and communicate. In time, the elder stationary lom-vaia living in the sacred fields returned to the soil, the last of their kind to rejoin their ancestors there in the unbroken cycle. The sacred fields became the sacred sands, and the mobile children found a home among the jungles, creating a civilization of their own. They learned to cultivate the sacred seas to sustain them when wandering took their roots from the soil for too long, and lived thousands of generations, becoming more and more like the creator.
But they still did not understand his emotions. That was why he said he had changed them, which had allowed them to see all the world. He had suffered from a blight called loneliness. There were no other moving creatures on their world. They did not know why he had come alone or why he did not return to his own kind if it would have cured his disease, and the sacred waters he drank did not sustain or cure him in the same way as it healed them. The creator ate only the leaves of plants in his private garden that he had taken from his egg. They wished he might grow his own leaves so that he could drink the sun, but though he had changed them, he himself could not change.
Then after the cool period had passed thousands of times, the creator of their kind ceased to move and became one with the soil once more.
Erin regarded the woman and thought a question—in her long ancestor-memory, could she recall the creator’s name, or the name of the creator’s civilization?
She thought of his name, but they could not pronounce it—it had sounded like zanka. The name of his great civilization had been Enor.