Exigency Page 13

  At some point during the two decades since launch, the United Exploration Agency had been dissolved, and ongoing responsibility for the projects (and personnel) was split between two private companies, one in Switzerland, the other in Argentina.

  Tom knew that 80% of the in-progress missions had been sent to investigate stable Earthlike planets with no known intelligent lifeforms, and that these pre-colonization teams had always ranked higher than his purely-for-science 20%. But he was still shocked to learn of an intense bidding war for the colonization teams while a non-profit organization struggled to drum up interest in the science stations. Fortunately, all of this had been worked out three years before the team received the message.

  The transition was delicately explained by Swiss executives in a vid. After a recounting of pertinent recent history, and introductions to other members of their new Earth-side teams, Tom’s station was given a list of five high-pri research objectives, one of which was to begin in-depth examination of the Parking Lot. Knowing that these people were the ones who would continue launching semiannual supply pods to the station, the crew were all too happy to oblige their requests. John had wasted no time sending back a formal thanks, enthusiastic acceptance of the new dictate, and a vidtour of the station highlighting each member of the crew, smiling and alive (and clearly hoping to remain so for as long as possible). It’d be another three years before the reply reached Earth, so there was some amount of assumption and good faith on both ends of the comms.

  Now, as the laser carrying that message neared the Oort cloud of Earth’s solar system, the crew had become quite familiar with the Parking Lot.

  Side by side in the open hatch, Angela wrapped an arm around Tom’s waist as they slowly took in the panorama. Strewn somewhere across and beneath this barren landscape lay miner probes, dead dragonfly probes, and spikers. Once the crew determined to solve the mystery of a kilometers-wide cement plain, it hadn’t taken long to form theories. Either via nearby volcanic activity or an impact event, the native limestone had mixed with fine ash to form this awe-inspiring cement flat. Though its outward appearance eschewed natural formation—especially with the conspicuously straight line of the Lot’s eastern border—it only took a few months of focused study to solve the puzzle to the crew’s satisfaction. The full report was sent off to Earth. 14 million years old. The product of a now-inert supervolcano. Meters below the surface, spiker sensors had found the remains of a once-fertile marsh, frozen in time.

  Tom stepped onto the cement surface first and stretched his arms over his head. Despite the scorching heat and instant sweat, he cried out extravagant pleasure and relief, rolling his neck and twisting at the waist. He bent over and touched his toes, then back up again, reaching for the clouds.

  “So good!” he shouted and glanced back at Angela as she planted her first foot on the pale ground. “You know what I wish we had?”

  “An air conditioner? A swimming pool? A launch pad and fully fueled interstellar transport ship?”

  He interlocked his fingers in front of him and stretched out his back. “Pshh-no. No, what I really wish I had was one of those ancient torture racks where they tied your wrists and ankles to either end and just pulled …” He moved his hands apart as if stretching out dough. “What were those things called? The rack things.”

  “A rack.” She inhaled a deep breath and held the hot air in her lungs.

  “No, there’s got to be some sort of real name for it. Like guillotine.”

  “Look it up, doof. It’s ‘rack.’”

  “We’ll have to agree to disagree.”

  “No, we don’t. We don’t have to agree to that at all—”

  He pressed a gloved finger against her mouth, uttering a mock-seductive, “Shhhh …” then hunched down, curled his other hand around her waist, and gazed into her cobalt eyes. “Tell me something. How could you possibly be attracted to a gangly beast like me? I’m mean, look at all this.” He glanced up suddenly. “Hang on … what’s that sound?”

  They froze and listened. A rapid beep emanated from within the EV. Angela climbed back inside and Tom stuck his head in after her.

  “Radio!” Angela said as she opened the comms panel and fumbled with the headset. “EV-four here. Go.” Tom could hear a tinny voice through the little speaker as Angela listened. She looked up at Tom as she pinched the mic button. “Understood, Zees. Just try to stay calm. I’m handing you over to Tom.” She released the button and put the headset in Tom’s hand. “They landed in a farm. Several adult Threck approaching from the dwelling. Be cool, she sounds like she’s about to droop her poop.”

  Tom pinched the button. “Hi, Zisa, this is Tom. Listen close, okay? Do you know if you’re anywhere near the city, or if this farm is out in the country?”

  “Yes!” she replied in an anxious whisper.

  “Which? Yes, near the city?”

  “No, country,” she said, annoyed. Tom heard a garbled something from Pablo. Zisa responded, “I know! We’re two-point-two-K west of the river, okay? Just tell us what to do! A proper peace greeting or whatever!”

  Tom sighed and gave Angela a grim look. Everyone was supposed to download the emergency maps, language, and customs file before exiting their EVs—something Tom and Angela had also failed to do.

  Angela leaned close to Tom to hear the radio.

  Tom continued, “You’re not going to like this, Zisa, but it’s important for you to know. Listen, have Pablo come near the radio so you both hear me, okay?”

  “Come here,” Zisa said. “He wants you to hear. … Go ahead.”

  “Here’s the deal. These are Country Threck, so they’re not as predictable as City Threck, and I’m not too solid on their dialect. You definitely want to keep from making unintentional hand or head gestures. Body movements are nearly half their language, so you could accidentally say something offensive or threatening. Don’t turn your back to them. Don’t keep your mouth open if you’re not talking—”

  “Ten meters and slowly closing,” Pablo said. “One of them is saying something.”

  “Just don’t interrupt. In a second, you’ll need to stop talking to me and focus on only them. Ee-shaaay-CK. That’s what you’re going to say. Ee-shaaay-CK. Nothing else. It means ‘peaceful greetings’ in every Threck dialect. Carry that a sound and punch the CK at the end. Now, give me your coordinates so we can get to you asap.”

  Tom saved Zisa and Pablo’s location to his fone and DC’d with the EV to download the emergency file he should’ve picked up in the first place.

  Angela was standing in front of him, fanning her face and neck with her hand. “Should I get the skimmers going?”

  “Yes, please. Thank you. Don’t forget your helmet, though. This heat isn’t safe.”

  A moment later, the full emergency data pack was on his fone and he sealed the EV before joining Angela at the rear to help undock the skimmers.

  This wasn’t how first contact was supposed to play out. Now they were at an immediate disadvantage.

  “You okay, baby?” Angela said as she prepped her skimmer. Tom only shrugged and clenched his jaw as he watched the skimmer slowly lower and twist into shape. “You were good back there. On the radio.”

  “I wish I’d taken the ‘backup’ role more seriously,” he said as he stepped on his skimmer’s platform and powered it on. “Actually, I just wish Minnie was here.”

  2.1

  Droplets of ocean water dotted EV1’s two overhead portholes. The pod’s slow rises and falls, combined with early digestion restart, had Aether’s stomach in a threatening state. She and Qin should already be on their second calorie bar, providing the fresh bile something to work on, but the idea of eating made her feel even sicker.

  Obviously, it would’ve been preferable to touch down on dry land, but she couldn’t blame Qin for that. A) He was the one who’d figured out the fine adjustments required to get the stranded pods rounded up and reentering, saving all of their lives; and B) EV1 only deviated off-course
because the main chute hadn’t automatically deployed. Instead of landing along Threck Country’s lush southern coast, they’d continued hurtling an extra 8K south before the backup chute fired. Now, floating so far from shore, land was but a hazy strip on the northern horizon.

  Neither had been keen on the idea of rowing their way ashore, even with their suits’ temp regulation systems. In the middle of Epsy’s southern hemisphere summer, where temperatures frequently exceeded an unlivable 60 C, waiting for the current to carry them most of the way would be more than acceptable. That was, if none of the other evacuees felt inclined to amble out their way with a few skimmers to carry them to the rally point.

  Aether wasn’t holding her breath. The other teams had their given tasks, and unless called upon for emergency assistance, all should have been heading to the rally point and setting up. Once the sun set, the heat would rapidly dissipate, and she and Qin would spend the better part of the evening paddling the EV the rest of the way in.

  Qin, face contorted by his growing dread, sat with eyes squeezed shut. While an exceptional pilot, Qin had always been at home in a lab. He despised the outdoors and all that lived within it—animals (whether furry or not), bugs, even plants for some reason. Among all of Aether’s crew/patients, she knew Qin would never have issues with cabin fever, irrational antagonism, or space panic. But that was on the station. He loved the station. Now, she wasn’t so sure how he’d manage. His SP rating had always been worst, and by a wide margin from the next lowest, Zisa. Since evac, whenever he wasn’t busy, Aether had him deep-diving into transitionary input. And that’s what he was doing now, brow furrowed with concern as he sat transfixed by Threck Country maps, pics, and vids from the emergency file pack. Minnie had been utterly meticulous with its content.

  Minnie.

  Yesterday, with 13 orbits remaining out of 74, Qin had worked out EV5’s and EV6’s trajectories. Minnie, John, and Ish had been headed straight for Hynka Country’s middle highlands, chillingly close to one of the savages’ most populous villages.

  Aether closed her eyes and tried to see the situation as John would. Focus on logic and tasks at hand. Do what could be done while mentally compartmentalizing all she couldn’t control. In addition to their top SP ratings, Minnie and John were the most “generally capable” crewmembers, regardless of their differences. If they followed protocol, they’d now be a team of three, with Ish’s Hynka expertise at their disposal.

  A comms alert rang out, startling both Aether and Qin.

  Qin leaned forward and reached the panel first. “We’re in range!” He pulled out the old wired-style headset. “It’s Zisa. Kind of freaking out. Calling for Tom. Should I tell them where we are?”

  Aether shook her head. “Sounds like she might have more pressing concerns. And it’s radio. We don’t want to step on Tom if he answers. Give it thirty seconds. Relay specifics.”

  “Angela’s on now … handing off to Tom … Zisa and Pablo landed in farmland … several adult Threck approaching … Tom’s all over it. So now? Before they go away? Should I tell them? When they’re done, you know, maybe they can—” Qin was already bordering on panic just hearing about others’ distress.

  Aether smiled softly and patted the air with a “settle down” hand.

  She spoke gently. “In a minute. Make sure they’re both done transmitting. But no distress call. We’ll stick to our plan while they do what they need to do.”

  Qin waited in fidgety silence for exactly one minute before pinching the mic. “EV-One to Four and Two. In comms range.” He relayed their current coordinates and glanced at Aether. “Should we request periodic check-in?” Aether returned a no-nod and motioned him to calmly finish. “We’ve made a water landing and will meet you all at the rally point tomorrow. Over.” He sat and listened.

  “Any response?”

  “Nothing.” He wiped the sweat from his head. “I think you’re right. They’ll be indisposed for a bit.”

  “Did it sound like Zisa and Pablo were in serious danger?”

  Composure returning, Qin shrugged and gave her a knowing look. “Yeah, but.”

  Aether nodded. Zisa’s tone wouldn’t be the most accurate indicator of a critsit.

  A dull thud struck the EV hull. Aether and Qin looked around and then at each other. A wave? Their motion hadn’t been affected. Another thud, this time at the very top of the EV.

  “What the hell is that?” Aether said.

  “Seabird?”

  “No birds on Epsy.”

  “A fish? Some kind of jumping fish?” Qin’s face remembered and said duh. “Optics!” He popped up, squatting in his seat and peering around.

  Aether followed suit and set her fone to autoglide through spectrums. She paused on the thermag overlap, spotting through the EV gear and walls a group of figures in the water beneath and around the pod. “You see them?”

  “Ahh man, I ahh, yeah, I ahh …” He began hyperventilating, head snapping from figure to figure. “What ahh … what’d’you ahh … what’d’you think they’re doing?”

  The colorful blobs of warmth appeared to be poking at the hull and conversing. Aether counted only five.

  She adjusted focus and intensity until the bodies gained definition. “Just checking us out. Slow it down. Remember that these are all peaceful people. In nose, out mouth.”

  Unconvinced, he tried to watch each individual at once. “Nonono-why? Why us, too? All the way out here? Ah-hey!” He jumped as if to avoid a probing Threck tentacle touching his foot.

  Typical phobic behavior. The full meter of gear and hull between him and the Threck in the water below offered no solace. His mind was operating as if the visitors were inside the EV with him.

  “Qin, sweetie, look at me.” She annunciated as if speaking to a child. “I really don’t think we need to worry. Not about Sea Threck. These are Sea Threck. You remember Minnie talking about Sea Threck? They’re the purist hippie types, right? They reject the modern comforts of the city and return to the water, remember?”

  He looked at her, desperate for it to be true. “Yeah, sure, yeah, but doesn’t that make them hunters versus farmers?”

  “Yes, however we look nothing like fish or crustaceans. Besides, how could they possibly breach the hull? Even if they had the very best bronze weapons from the city, they’d hardly make a dent.” She glanced down. “Look, some of them are leaving.”

  “Great, but some are staying.”

  Aether watched as three orange figures slowly descended into darkness, tentacles waving gracefully around them. The two that stayed behind appeared to be keeping their distance, floating beneath the EV.

  “If you were amphibious,” Qin began with a shaky voice. A valiant effort at self-distraction via idle conversation. “Would you ‘return to the water’ or stick to the city?”

  Aether wished she could be more thrilled by this moment. She stood mere meters from another intelligent lifeform—people they’d never expected to see up close with their own eyes. “I think I’d choose the place I didn’t yet know.”

  Qin looked up, wearing an aspiring smiling. “I guess that’s all of us, huh? Thus the current predicament.” He peered back down between his feet. “When they’re swimming like this, you can really see how they evolved for land … the ruined symmetry … and yet still so suited for the water.”

  Aether watched the two Threck under the pod. Side by side, they “lay” beneath the surface as if on an invisible hammock. They supported each other with one “arm” tentacle wrapped under the other’s back, the unoccupied arm gently waving at their sides to maintain position. On land, the Threck’s two front tentacles stretched out below them as legs—thus their wider girth and stiffer structure. Over millennia, the rear appendages had become arms, and the ends—called pads or clubs, or even hands when the team got lazy—evolved increasingly useful features. The arms were thinner and considerably more dexterous than legs, and for precision tasks such as sewing, Threck used the thousands of cilia on their pads
as little fingers. A couple years ago, Minnie captured a clip of a Threck artist painting a detailed mural on a city wall. The clubs were dipped into various paints and then gradually slid across the wall as individual cilia hairs applied paint to specific “pixels.” The pad was washed, a new paint applied, and more blank areas were filled. “They use them like inkjet printers!” Minnie had enthused.

  “Still there,” Qin said. “What if they don’t leave by nightfall? Then what?”

  “I’m hesitant to try and scare them away. Can you verify that, if we do nothing, the current is still leading us close to the rally point?”

  “Already done. We’re still heading north for several hours before skirting the coast eastward. But if we don’t blow the raft when we get close, we’ll pass right by, and out to open sea. What if they stay—”

  “Hang on,” Aether interrupted, holding out a finger to Qin while staring down at her seat. “What the hell is that?” Deep beneath the surface, perhaps 100m below the two Sea Threck, hundreds of new heat signatures appeared and grew.

  “Ahh yeah, ahh not good … ahh how many—”

  “Does it matter? Wait …” As the amoebas of heat ascended, Aether could see them combining into larger blobs. It wasn’t a bunch of different entities, but a single, extremely large creature, slowly rising toward them.

  Qin murmured, observing the same thing, “Ahh man that’s some kind of whale …”

  “More like a mollusk … That’s all hard shell just beneath the—oh, I know what it is. Affrik or averik or something like that. It’s the big domesticated fishing boat animals. You know, in the harbor?”

  Qin just stared downward, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth.

  A moment later, the massive beast stopped its ascent about 40m below. Five Sea Threck appeared from around the thing’s edges. The other two that had waited now twisted into action and all seven rose to the surface, surrounding the floating pod.

  Two thuds in rapid succession. Something appeared in the porthole over Aether’s head. A thick, pink vine. Squeaks and bumps against the hull. The EV tilted, knocking Aether off-balance. She grabbed a handle and steadied herself.