Arrival (26 page)

It seemed like an eternity to Will as he slowly fed line out over the ledge. Then, to his surprise, Jack called out to him from below.

“
Okay! Pull up the harness!
”

Will quickly hauled it up, donned the harness, then tossed the other end of the rope back over the side to Jack. After taking a deep breath, he stepped up to the edge. He peered over it for several minutes, the finally called to Jack. “You ready?”

“
Ready! Come on down!
”

Jack’s confidence in him was not the least bit encouraging. Unlike Jack, Will chose to lie down on his belly, parallel to the edge, and swing his legs over. Bending at the waist, he swung his legs back and forth until he found the first rocky outcropping. Sliding out over the edge, he bent his knees and squatted down on the rock. He looked to both sides, saw nothing to his right, and a small ledge to his left. Less than two hundred centimeters wide and about one meter long, it looked more like a bookshelf than a place for a grown man to stand. But it led to yet another rocky outcropping just below it.

“Jesus, I can’t believe I’m doing this,” Will whispered to himself as he let his left leg dangle until he could touch the little shelf. This was the point where he needed to let go of the corner of the big, wide ledge he had started from. Only it wasn’t as easy as he thought.

Forcing himself to let go, Will made it to the next ledge. Then another ledge, and a rocky outcropping. Then a small tree stub and another outcropping. It wasn’t as hard as he thought, but it wasn’t easy, either.

About thirty minutes later, scraped and bruised, Will made his way down to Jack’s position. He stood there, panting and sweating, hugging the side of the mountain, every muscle in his body screaming with pain. Yet, he felt proud of what he’d just accomplished.

Jack, who had been at the extreme end of the ledge to avoid being showered with rocks during Will’s descent, moved closer to him, gathering up the rope along the way. “Good job, Will. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Neither did I,” Will admitted as he carefully took a drink from his canteen. “How much further?”

“One more climb like the last, then it’s more of a slide the last thirty or forty meters to the bottom.” Jack put the harness back on and headed out over the edge once more. “See you at the next stop.”

Will braced himself, belaying for Jack as he climbed down the next leg. It didn’t seem to take as long for Jack to get to the next stop as before, and before he knew it, he was again donning the harness and going over the edge.

Will slowly lowered himself over the edge again, carefully making his way down from hold to hold. He felt a little more confident this time around. But still, each step was cautious and considered, ever fearful of the long, deadly fall.

Only twelve meters left to go, the rock gave way, sending Will tumbling.

Jack braced himself, pulling in as much line as possible while Will fell past him on the right, hitting the ledge with a sickening thud before tumbling over the edge. Before Jack could brace himself, the sudden tension yanked him down, pulling him toward the edge. He dug his heels into the rocky ground and almost came to a stop, but the edge crumbled under the abrupt strain, and Jack went tumbling over as well.

Will struck the shallower grade on his right side with a thud, tumbling over, then continuing down the steep slope. After several tumbles, Will managed to get his feet out in front of him to control his slide.

As Will managed to slow his rate of descent, he was hit by the rocks that Jack was kicking up. He tensed as he landed on a curved rock that sent him flying through the air. He struck level ground and flipped over headfirst, landing on his left side and rolling several times before he finally came to rest at the bottom.

Will choked for a moment, sputtering dirt from his mouth, unable to breathe, the wind knocked out of his lungs. He lay there a moment, dazed, unsure if he was still alive. Then, more rocks fell around him as he heard Jack approaching. Will rolled over onto his back just in time to see Jack come toppling down beside him.

They both laid there for several minutes, coughing and sputtering, panting and groaning.

“You okay?” Jack asked.

“No.”

“Neither am I. Anything broken?”

“Probably. I’m pretty sure that I’m bleeding from my left leg. Feels wet down there.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think I’m bleeding from my head again.”

“Did it knock any sense into you this time?”

Jack laughed, causing pain to shoot through his ribs on his left side. “Ow, don’t make me laugh.”

“What do we do now?” Will asked.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m just gonna lie here awhile.”

“
Finally
, you come up with a
good
plan.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

After an hour, Jack decided they had to find a place to set up camp for the night, as the sun was hanging low in the sky. Despite their bruised and aching bodies, they rose to their feet and made their way into the forest, dragging their packs behind them.

A sparse forest bordered the edge of the mountain. Jack remembered from his observations at the top of the cliff that the forest would soon become a more dense jungle. He only hoped they would find a suitable place to camp before they reached that point.

The trees were somehow different here. They weren’t the tall, pointed towers he had seen reaching for the sky on the other side of the hills. These trees tended to spread out horizontally, their branches twisting, turning, and intermingling through those of their neighbors.

The ground here was soft, and covered with short, thick, blue grass-like vegetation that Will referred to as moss. The air was moist and heavy as well, as the fine mist from the many waterfalls along the south end of the valley wafted across the treetops, eventually finding its way to the ground below.

While they made their way toward the sound of the water, Will explained that the valley must’ve been cut right through the sides of the mountains by the river, over many millennia, possibly taking advantage of an area of weak, unsteady rock, allowing it to carve out such a large area.

The river itself ran along the southeast wall of the mountain, turning due west and traversing the jungle until it turned north again to run along the mountain wall on the western side of the valley. They came down the mountainside a few kilometers north of the river’s western turn. Once they reached the far side, they would have to figure out a way to cross it before they could begin their ascent of, what they hoped would be, the last obstacle between them and the western coastline.

The terrain here was uneven, with strange rocks jutting up out of the ground that were nearly big enough to be called mountains themselves. Their course soon became more convoluted, and Jack was beginning to suspect there was no water nearby, and that the sounds he thought he was hearing were auditory hallucinations.

As they rounded yet another large rock-cropping, Jack felt a warm mist fall upon his face and head. The sound he had been hearing became louder, the tree line broke, and they found themselves standing in front of a beautiful pond at the base of an elegant waterfall.

The pond was an oval shape, about forty meters long and thirty meters wide, flowing into a small stream at one end. There was a waterfall some ten meters from a plateau of rock at the far end.

“Would you look at that,” Will exclaimed.

“Pretty, isn’t it?”

“No, I mean those rocks,” Will corrected. “That plateau, I don’t think that it’s really a plateau, I think that we’re probably in a really big sinkhole, or something.”

“What?”

“I wasn’t sure before. But all those rocky crags jutting up, I think this whole area was once part of a volcanic flat.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s an area of unstable volcanic activity, kind of like a huge, underground lava flow that connects one volcano to another.”

“You mean, those twin peaks back there?” Jack asked, referring to the two mountains that bordered the cliff they had just come down.

“Probably. Occasionally, the flow gets obstructed along the way, and pressure builds up within the channel. Eventually, it has to be let off, usually by forming underground pools. Hence the pushed up crags of rock we keep seeing.”

“Do you mean, we’re going to have to climb back out of here?” Jack said in disbelief.

“Maybe. I don’t know. That level up there might just be the result of a shelf that was pushed up higher than the land around it when one of those underground pools formed. It’s just a guess, Jack. I mean, we don’t have much information about the geology of this planet.” Will stepped up to the pond, squatting down and dipping his hand in the water. “It’s very warm.” He looked around. “Something underground must be heating the water.”

“Like one of those lava pockets?”

“Possibly.” Will pulled the water test kit out of his backpack and set it down next to the water. With a plastic cup, he scooped up some of the pond water and set it next to the kit. Pulling the probe out of the kit, he inserted it into the cup of water and turned the analyzer on. A few seconds later, data started scrolling down the analyzer’s small display screen.

“How is it?” Jack asked.

“Not bad,” Will answered as he watched the data. “A little high in minerals, which is to be expected, especially if there’s a magma pressure vent under the water.”

“Is it safe?”

“As it is, yes. It probably won’t taste very good, but it won’t hurt you.”

“I don’t want to taste it,” Jack announced as he began to take off his clothes.

“What are you doing?” Will asked curiously.

“I’m gonna take a well-deserved bath, my friend.”

“But Jack, we don’t have any idea what’s in there.”

“I don’t care.” Jack declared. “I just want to get rid of this layer of filth that’s been forming for days.”

“Remember that thing in the river?” Will pointed out, reminding Jack of the long, snake-like organism that brushed past his leg in the water.

“Look, I’ve got ten days of funk growing on me right now,” Jack explained as he stripped the last of his clothing off, leaving it in a pile next to his pack. “I smell so bad that I can’t even stand being in my tent with myself at night.” Jack pulled a bottle of biodegradable soap out of his pack. “No offense Will, but you could use a little scrubbing down yourself,” he advised as he stepped carefully into the water. “You’re right, it is warm.” Jack walked out further, one cautious step at a time, until he was in up to his ribs.

Will watched in fascination as Jack squatted down, submerging himself up to his neck in the warm water. “How is it?”

“It’s wonderful!” Jack assured him. Jack ducked his head under the water briefly, wetting his face and hair. “Come on in, Will!”

Reluctantly, Will began to remove his clothing, being a bit tidier than Jack.

Jack poured some soap over his head and began scrubbing down his hair. Within minutes, he had worked up a good lather of greenish-brown bubbles. He stood up again, spreading the lather down over his shoulders, arms, and torso.

Finally stripped down to bare skin, Will waded cautiously into the warm water. The pond floor was hard, like rock, and felt somewhat porous under his bare feet. Will wondered if it was hardened lava flow. If so, then his theory about how the water was heated might prove correct.

Jack handed the bottle of soap to Will. “Not bad, huh?” he asked as he squatted down again, ducking his head underwater to rinse off the lather.

Will poured some soap over his head as well, working it into his hair and down over his body.

Meanwhile, Jack was wading back to shore to get his clothes. “Might as well wash these while we’re here,” he decided as he picked up both his and Will’s clothes and brought them back out into the water.

They spent twenty minutes standing naked, waist-deep in the warm pond as they rinsed out their clothing. After that, they took the clothing back to shore and spread it out on tree branches to allow it to dry, going back into the water to finish cleaning themselves.

Satisfied that he was clean, Jack began to venture farther out into the pond, curiously searching the bottom through the crystal waters.

“Lose something, Jack?”

“Have you looked at the bottom? There’s little bubbles coming out.”

Will moved closer to take a look for himself. “It’s probably seeping up through the porous rock. There’s gotta be a lot of pressure down there to force the hot air up through the rock like that.”

“Could it blow?”

“Probably not. The constant venting probably keeps the pressure from getting too high.” Will observed the floor for himself. “Did you notice if the bubbles are coming out from all over the place, or are they along a specific line?”

“I don’t know,” Jack admitted as he continued looking.

For several minutes, they searched the bottom of the pond, trying to determine a pattern in the bubbles. Jack wasn’t entirely sure why they were doing this, but it was sort of fun.

Then Jack heard a strange sound, a kind of a snort, or a grunt. He looked up, then to his left and right, but saw nothing. Then he heard it again. He spun around to look behind him. On the shore, digging through their packs, were several furry, brown creatures, each about one meter tall. “Oh, shit!” Jack began splashing through the water, heading back toward the shore as quickly as possible, yelling at the top of his lungs. “Hey, get out of there! Go on! Get lost! Beat it!”

Will chased after him, but as they approached the shore, one of the creatures turned to face them, rearing up onto its hind legs and growling ferociously at them. It appeared quite large and threatening as it bared its considerable teeth at them.

Jack stopped suddenly. “Whoa, wait a minute!” The creature continued its deafening roar, causing Jack to retreat a few steps, shrinking back down into the water as if he were trying to hide.

Will followed suit, also not wanting to provoke the animal any further. “What are they doing?”

“They’re eating our food,” Jack realized.

“What do we do now?”

“What can we do? Our weapons are next to the packs. And we’re standing out here, naked. All we can do is wait, and hope they get full before all our food is gone.”

* * *

Dinner that night had been jovial. A good day’s work had been done, and with the last of the huts being built, their base camp was completed. Even Frank had joined in with renewed interest, much to everyone’s surprise. Starting tomorrow, the work of surveying the entire valley could finally begin. All the science equipment was up and functioning, thanks to Frank’s enthusiastic efforts throughout the day. Even Adia seemed to overcome her difficulties in dealing with the great outdoors, although more often than not, she ended up working in a secluded corner somewhere.

As they finished their meal, Lynn went over the itinerary for the next day. Frank, Mac, Tony, and herself would begin surveying the valley with the aerial reconnaissance drone to develop a detailed map of the area. Laura and Adia would begin the task of specimen collection, setting out various traps to collect samples of insect and animal life for biologic and genetic analysis. Sara would continue working on her agricultural experiments and cultivation of their food crops, while Maria would spend her day in the med-lab comparing the latest crew work-ups with their post arrival conditions, looking for any potentially harmful anomalies. All in all, things seemed to be going pretty well, and Lynn was beginning to feel optimistic once more.

After the briefing, the crew dispersed, each to their usual off-duty pursuits. Frank retired to the flight deck for another evening of attempting to find some way to repair the radar set. As much as it bothered Lynn to see Frank continuing his efforts, as he had pointed out, it was his time and he could do with it as he saw fit, as long as it didn’t interfere with their mission. It was an unspoken agreement they had forged, and for now it would have to suffice.

After his usual evening workout, Tony went outside for a breath of fresh air. As he stood at the front of the ship staring at the evening sky, a noise from the starboard side of the ship caught his attention. Curious, he circled around the outside of the cargo pods arranged along the starboard side, half expecting to find the intruder that had visited the camp a few weeks ago during their overnight absence. Instead, he found Adia. “Oh, it’s you,” he said, relieved that there was no intruder. “What are you doing out here?”

“Nothing,” she answered meekly.

“Nothing?”

“I’m just stargazing.”

“Oh.” Tony walked over and sat down on the ground next to her. “You’re the last person I’d expect to be out here, sitting all alone in the darkness.”

“Yes, I know. Somehow, it doesn’t seem quite as intimidating at night. I’m not sure if it’s the reduced visibility, or the beauty of the night sky. It just doesn’t seem as vast.”

“Yeah, I can see what you mean,” he agreed as he leaned back against the cargo pod, his gaze drifting up to the starry sky. “It is a beautiful sky.”

“The stars seem different from down here. Not like when you look at them from space.”

“It’s the atmosphere. It filters out a lot of the weaker, more distant stars, and distorts the others. That’s what causes the twinkling.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Of course, you already know that,” he said, remembering that Adia held several science degrees.

“Yes, but I wasn’t speaking
scientifically
.” She watched his face. He was peaceful, almost boyishly innocent as he gazed upward in awe. Here, away from Mac and the others, he was revealing his more sensitive side. It was not a surprise to her, as she had seen glimpses of it in the past.

“In space, it’s more of a void, a nothingness,” he explained. “You know that in millions of those star systems there could be beings just like us. Going about their day-to-day lives, living and dying, laughing and crying. But because they’re so far away it doesn’t seem to mean much. On the Daedalus, we were just cargo, equipment really, going about our tasks, ensuring our own survival. There were no hopes, no dreams, except for the one that everyone shared: reaching our new home.” Tony let out a sigh. “We just went about our assigned duties, day in and day out. But
here
, the sky is full of hope. Here, we are surrounded by infinite possibilities. And not possibilities for our descendants, but for us. Right here, right now. That’s what the sky means to me.”

“That’s a very nice way of looking at it, Tony.”

Tony turned to look at her. He couldn’t remember ever hearing her actually say his name before now. She was a beautiful young woman, her delicate face framed by her long black hair. So quiet and shy, yet filled with strength that he was sure they had yet to see. “Thank you.”

She gazed into his eyes. Normally by now, she would’ve become embarrassed and turned away, finding some excuse to retreat. But tonight was different. There was a connection she had never felt before, even though she had hoped to feel it on several occasions in the past.

“What does the sky mean to you, Adia?” he asked softly, as he leaned a little closer to her.

“Nothing,” she lied, looking down at her hands.