***
I was awoken by something hitting my cheek. I sat up in alarm, and found that I was lying down. I was no longer strapped into the harness, but was lying on the floor of the ship. Michaela knelt in front of me, holding out a pill. I took it with a shaking hand and swallowed it. She grinned. “Good job, Jak. We made it. That pill will let you breathe out there. Apparently Gerald knew how to operate some of the biologist’s equipment and popped these out for us. Lucky for us. The atmosphere is kind of breathable, but it would kill us in a few days. Could be inhabitable after only a few years of terraforming.” Michaela stood up and extended her hand. I took it, and she pulled me to my feet. I stumbled forward into her, but she pushed me back and held me out at arm’s length. “Don’t you even try. I know you like your own, but I don’t know about your preferences for the other side.” I turned red as she grinned wickedly. She let go, and I stood on my own.
“What happened?” My voice was unsteady.
“We landed. Fineas is a superb helmsman. He’s currently locked up in the navigation room, lamenting the loss of his ship. Apparently, we still had some extra-engine thrusters, which he used in combination with the particles in the atmosphere to slow us down. Still, we hit pretty hard. Rafael said you blacked out about a third of the way down. You didn’t even get the worst of it. That impact was hard.” She rubbed the back of her neck and winced. “And those harnesses aren’t foolproof.” She sighed. “Anyway, we managed to hit some kind of foliage-top with the ship oriented the right way, and skimmed on it for a while as we sank. Then we hit some unforeseen obstacle and flipped over. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but this ship won’t be flying again – and not just because we don’t have engines. The living quarters are still intact, though. Mostly.”
She waited for more questions. When I had none, she turned around and told me to follow her. I did. She led me to the door of the main cargo bay and turned to me. “Have you ever been off of Earth before?”
I shook my head. She grinned. “Well, prepare for the thrill of your life.”
She opened the door. Looking across the hold towards the open doors on the far side, I caught my first glimpse of the planet. Well, it wasn’t really a glimpse. It was more of a prolonged viewing. And it was unlike anything I had expected.
I’m not exactly sure what it was I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t what I saw. It looked a lot like Earth. Michaela took my hand and led me towards the door. I didn’t resist, following her in a dreamlike state. She kept me going until we reached the open air, and then she stopped and let go of my hand. “Neat, huh?”
I nodded. We were in a clearing, in the middle of a forest of some sort. There were tree-like things all around us. Their trunks were a dull gray, and were mostly smooth, save for a few cracks along their length. Their “leaves,” which looked a lot like lily pads on Earth, were all manners of reds and purples and pinks. The ground was a rich red soil, with various small rocks and pebbles scattered in it. There was no grass that I could see. The air smelled faintly of some exotic spice, and a faint, pulsing vibration permeated the air around us.
The sky was the green color of the atmosphere we had seen from space. It looked smooth, much like the sky on earth, so the green hadn’t been from any clouds. Looking at it more carefully, however, I did see what appeared to be green clouds of some kind scattered across the sky.
I heard voices to my right. Bringing my attention back to the ground, I saw most of the crew gathered around one of the closest trees. A few trees away, I spotted Fineas, our hermitic helmsman. Apparently he wasn’t locked in the navigation room anymore. He was smoking a pipe and looking angrily up at the skies. I felt some pity for him – it was hard for a pilot to lose a ship. Pilots usually piloted one ship for their entire life. Losing it was like losing a close friend, or a family member.
As I watched him, Vincent came out of the trees in between the two groups. He saw Michaela and me, and raised his arm in greeting. He strolled over to us. “Good to see you finally out of that ship, Jak. A bit of fresh air should do you some good.” He chuckled.
“How long was I out for?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
“Not that long. Only three or four hours. You managed to get out of listening to my brilliant speech on how we have to stick together out here.” I wasn’t sure whether I was disappointed or not.
After a few moments of silence, I asked Vincent what we were doing now.
“Nothing much. Half of the crew is either exploring or trying to make sense of things. The other half is over there,” he gestured to the tree that the crew was gathered around, “doing whatever it is they’re doing. We don’t need to make shelter, as the ship is still mostly intact, thanks to Fineas’ skill.” We all glanced over at the helmsman, who looked lost in deep thoughts.
After another moment of silence, Vincent turned to me and said, “So, you’re free to take time off. Do whatever you want. Just don’t go too far – we wouldn’t want to lose you.” He winked and walked past me, back into the ship. Michaela said goodbye shortly after, and left to go join the large group around the tree.
Left alone, I ventured to the tree line, and stopped in front of it. The smell of spice was much stronger than before. I sniffed the air. I could almost make it out now – it smelled like a mixture of oregano and thyme. It was a very strange smell.
Hesitantly, I took a step into the trees. There was no sudden change or dramatic event, but I felt like I had done something important. I took several more steps, and wandered four or five trees in, never letting the ship leave my sight. A few more steps in, and the density of the trees increased exponentially, until it looked like passage through was impossible. I wondered if it was the same on the other sides of the clearing.
As I turned around to see, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I whirled around to face it, but there was nothing. I waited a few moments to see if the movement returned, and when it didn’t, I decided I was just imagining things. I turned and walked towards the opposite side of the clearing. I went about three times as far in, stopping just as the ship began to vanish from my line of sight. The trees were becoming denser, but not much. I turned around and walked back to the ship, walking in through the main cargo bay.
I wandered aimlessly through the corridors of the ship, not looking for anything in particular, but noting the damage that had been done. I passed by two of the ECU rooms. The first one seemed to be functioning perfectly, but the second had been flooded by shattered water tanks, and the floor was covered in green algae. I grimaced and carried on.
As I approached the hospital wing, I decided that there was someone I wanted to talk to. I had spoken to him only twice before, and then the situations had not been very amiable. I decided that it was time that I make amends with that person, and try to understand them better. I’m not entirely sure what got into me, but I decided to pay a visit to Adam Sansson.
16
“Stowaways are a strange phenomenon. Usually left for dead by those they left behind, they no longer exist within society. You can starve them, overwork them, or space them if you wish, but that serves no purpose. If you feed them less and make them earn their keep, they can often be a surprisingly worthy addition to your crew.”