Arrival (31 page)

“You were there?”

“Of course.”

“I didn’t know,” Jack admitted, slightly embarrassed.

“I’m not surprised, as starry-eyed as you were.”

“Yeah, I was, wasn’t I?” Jack laughed. “Hell, I remember my heart was beating so fast, I could barely recite my vows.”

“It was a happy day for everyone.”

“Not everyone,” Jack said. “Frank was furious with me. He had a thing for her as well. It was months before we spoke again.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“It’s all in the past. How’s that thing coming?” Jack asked, wanting to change the subject.

“Not too bad. A few more days, and I should be ready to start drilling the holes.” Will handed his work to Jack for inspection.

“Hey, this is pretty good work, Will.” Jack looked the would-be recorder over, rotating it around and peering inside it. It was long and smooth, nearly perfectly straight and round, with a pale rose color to the wood. “Where’d you learn how to whittle?”

“Self-taught,” Will boasted. He was actually surprised at how well it was going thus far.

“Really?” Jack asked in surprise as he handed the piece of wood back to Will. “Not bad.”

“Thanks.”

Jack stretched his weary joints. The day’s travels had been unusually difficult. The jungle here was thick and overgrown, and it slowed them down. “Mind taking the first watch?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Will assured him. “I wanted to work on this a while longer anyway.”

“Thanks, I’m beat.”

“Get some sleep. I’ll wake you in a few hours.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Jack.”

Will watched as Jack crawled into his tent and closed the flap. He looked up at the night sky. The moonlight was unusual here, with two moons casting shadows of different colors from different directions. The closest moon, Luna Proxima, moved quickly across the sky from east to west and cast an eerie, amber light across the planet. The farther moon, Luna Dista, prodded slowly around the planet in the same direction. Brighter than its closer, smaller sister, Dista cast a bright, light-blue shadow. Dista took about a month to complete its orbit, while they had seen Proxima complete nearly three orbits since their arrival. Dista seemed to travel the same line on its orbit around the planet, but it appeared that Proxima was climbing higher with each orbit, and now it was coming quite close to the orbit of Dista.

Will pondered the possible effects of two moons in such close proximity to one another. Would their respective gravities have an effect on their overall shape? Would it cause their cores to remain molten longer than usual, the pull of gravity churning up the molten metal deep inside their centers? And what effect would it have on this planet’s core, or its tides? The Daedalus had been forced to depart without an advance probe capable of determining such things, and what little they knew about the worlds of the Tau Ceti system had been gathered on the Icarus’s approach to the system via simple, direct observation. Determining the finer details of the planet’s geology, as well as the orbital mechanics and effects of her two satellites, were Will’s responsibility during the mission. He would have to remember to discuss it with Jack later. For now, he would just enjoy the beauty of the multi-colored shadows on the ground around him.

* * *

“What do you think?” Jack asked as he looked out across the river, holding his hand up to shade his eyes from the morning sun.

“It looks shallow enough, I guess.”

“Maybe, but it looks a little swift.”

“I don’t remember seeing any place that looked much better.”

“Yeah.” Jack took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Well, let’s get started.”

Jack took off his pack and removed the twenty-meter rope, tying one end around his waist, and the other end around Will’s. After pulling his pack back on, he marched toward the river.

Jack was the first to go in, stepping carefully on the rocky riverbed. The river was only knee-deep, but the water was moving swiftly past him, and he had to move carefully to keep from being knocked down by the rushing current.

About halfway across, he ran out of rope, forcing Will to follow him into the water. The river became a little deeper further out, rising to the middle of Jack’s thighs. And now he was forced to lean upstream in order to remain upright while he traversed the mighty river.

“I don’t know about this!” Will called out from his side of the river. “It’s looking pretty deep where you’re at!”

“It’s only mid-thigh!” Jack answered. “Don’t worry!” He assured Will. “I’ll belay you from the far side.”

“Of course,” Will muttered to himself. “Assuming you make it that far.”

By this time, Jack was in up to his crotch, and he was leaning with his back into the current, side-stepping his way across. Suddenly, he stopped. “Shit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“My foot is caught on something!” Jack reached down into the water, struggling to get his foot free.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know! A plant or something!” Jack reached down deeper, feeling around his foot. It did feel like a plant. The upper portions had leaves, long and narrow, attached to a long, thick trunk that was wrapped around his right foot. Jack reached down to try to untangle himself, but failed. Sliding his hand down further, he grabbed the trunk tightly and pulled hard, trying to rip the plant from the riverbed. It resisted for several seconds, but finally gave way, sending Jack falling to his left into the river.

When he fell, Jack tumbled over onto his stomach. His pack seemed to be floating on the surface, but he was dangling underneath it, facedown in the water. He opened his eyes and saw the river bottom passing beneath him as he was swept downstream.

After a few moments of struggling, Jack managed to right himself and get his face out of the water to breathe again. Sputtering and coughing, he reached for the bottom with his feet but found nothing but water. The only thing keeping him afloat was his backpack. As heavy as it was, its airtight compartments were giving it considerable buoyancy.

In only that few seconds of panic, the slack on Jack’s line ran out, yanking Will off his feet and dragging him downstream as well. Will was still in relatively shallow water, and he bounced off one rock after another as he struggled to get control. The tension on the line was dragging him farther toward the center of the river, and soon, Will was also in over his head.

Just like Jack, Will quickly realized that his backpack was buoyant, and rolled over onto his back. Now that he was floating freely in the water, the tension on the line eased up. Will splashed wildly, spinning himself around to face downstream. He could see Jack bobbing in the current, about fifteen meters ahead of him. Even worse, he could see the white water in the distance.

Jack was the first to enter the rushing water, sliding down a gentle waterfall into a trough of water before bobbing back up the far side. He repeated the process several times, white water splashing up over his head with each successive undulation. He quickly managed to time his breaths during the peaks when he wasn’t submerged. But ahead of him he could see many more rocks sticking up out of the water. As if that weren’t enough, there were also large branches protruding from the water like sharp thorns, waiting to rip him apart.

Jack had to think fast. If he could manage to steer himself, he might be able to keep from being smashed up against any obstacles.
But for how long?
And could Will do the same?
Jack looked over his left shoulder to try to catch a glimpse of Will, but he wasn’t there. He looked over his right shoulder. There he was, splashing frantically. The current had somehow carried him a little further across than Jack. He looked downstream again. There was a large rock, maybe ten meters across, sticking up at least a meter above the water. The river was pounding against the rock’s upstream face, sending a wake of white water violently splashing up over it. There was a clear channel of smooth green water running past either side of the rock, offering safe passage on both the right and left. That was exactly what he needed.

He turned to look at Will again. “Will!” he hollered at the top of his lungs. “Swim that way!” he yelled, waving his right arm toward the far shore, nearly rolling back over onto his stomach in the process.

The command wasn’t necessary, as the far shore was the closest point of land to Will, and he was already trying desperately to get to that side.

Jack watched as Will flailed, trying to paddle his way across the current, keeping a shaky balance on his back, his backpack keeping his head above water. Jack turned his attention forward again, kicking hard and paddling with his arms to make sure he passed to the left of the rock. Within seconds, he closed on the rock and slid by to its left, riding down the falling wave. He could feel the rope as it dragged across the face of the rock, but all he could do was pray that Will passed the rock on the opposite side.

Will also closed quickly on the rock. He was trying with all his might to get to the far shore, but what had worked before was not working now. It was like something was pulling him back toward the center of the river. He could feel something holding him back, but he had no idea what it was. For a few seconds, Will was sure he was going to slam into the rock. But by some miracle, the current carried him to the right, barely missing a direct impact as he too rode the white wave down into the smooth green water on the opposite side.

Jack suddenly stopped dead in the water, a huge wake forming around his back that threatened to pull him under. The rope dug painfully into his waist, making it hard to breathe. But his plan had worked: he stopped.

The rope dug into Will’s waist as well, as he swung in toward the center of the river in a graceful arc. He ended up in the calmer water just downstream of the rock, where he felt a wonderful sensation…
Sand
. There was sand under his feet.

Will planted his feet to steady himself, leaning back into the current, his feet sinking deep into the soft sand. He looked on both sides. The water was rapid on either side of him, but it was relatively calm in the middle where he was. Then he realized that the water was not as deep here. He positioned his feet directly under him and carefully stood up. The water was only waist-deep here, swirling about him harmlessly. He couldn’t believe his luck. He was standing on a sandbar, probably formed by the currents passing on either side of the rock.

Then he heard Jack’s cries for help. He spun around to look downstream. Twelve meters away was Jack, buried in a white wake of water, dangling at the end of the rope. Jack was hanging just past the point where the water flow from either side of the rock converged, and had not been carried into shallow water in the same way.

Will quickly grabbed the rope behind him. Pulling up the slack as he went, he took a few steps upstream toward the rock. Afraid to untie the rope from around his waist, he reached over and grabbed Jack’s line on the other side of the rock and pulled with all his might.

Jack felt incredibly heavy with so much water rushing over him. Will pulled with strength fueled by adrenaline, slowly hauling Jack upstream and out of the mighty current. Finally, after several minutes of struggling, Jack was in the calmer middle waters. “Put your feet down!” Will called out to him. “There’s a sandbar beneath you!”

Jack had no idea what Will was talking about. He hadn’t even noticed that he was moving upstream. He just thought the current had suddenly become stronger. But he followed Will’s suggestion, and soon found himself standing in calm, thigh-deep water.

Jack stood for a moment, panting in disbelief. Finally, he turned around to face upstream and saw Will leaning against the rock, exhausted. He started walking upstream along the sandbar toward Will, closing the gap between them with relative ease. “Are you alright?” he asked as he approached.

“You’re welcome!” Will sputtered in between breaths.

Jack joined him against the rock to rest for a moment. He looked to his left, gazing at the water passing by him in a torrential current of white and green madness.

“Now what… do we do?” Will asked.

“Let’s get these packs off… and get up on this rock… where it’s safe.” Jack suggested.

Will didn’t need to be asked twice to get out of the river. He slung his pack off his shoulders and pushed it up onto the rock, water draining off of it, running down the face of the rock. Jack gave him a boost up, and Will flopped down onto the top of the rock, rolling over onto his back. Jack tossed his pack up as well and joined him.

They both laid there for several minutes, resting as the water raged around them, saying nothing.

“Thanks, Will,” Jack finally said, reaching out and patting his friend on the chest.

“My pleasure.”

* * *

By lunchtime, Mac and Sara had collected soil samples from more than a dozen different locations. Traveling a course southwest of the camp, they planned on circling around the valley until they had covered one quarter of its perimeter, before returning to camp. It would take another three or four days to fully sample the valley, but this first batch would go a long way toward preparing her report.

The ride in the ATUV was rough, and was not helped by Mac’s aggressive driving style.

“Could you please take it easy, Mac?” Sara pleaded.

“Not if you wanna get back in time for dinner!”

Mac pulled his foot off the accelerator pedal as the vehicle crested a small rise. He already learned from previous experience not to go over such rises too quickly, lest the vehicle become airborne. As they came over the top, the ground suddenly flattened out for a few meters before dipping down again.

Mac pulled the ATUV to a stop at the edge of the decline. Stretched out before them was a long flat plain, a depression that sat about four or five meters lower than the surrounding area. This plain was different than the rest of the valley, with a strange variety of plants scattered across its expanse. Most of the ground was the customary tan color found throughout the valley, but there were patches of grays and rusty reds scattered everywhere. There were also dozens of small ponds of dirty, stagnant water littered throughout the depression.

“Wow,” Sara exclaimed as she stood up in her seat to gaze at the depression below.

“What the hell?” Mac had never seen anything like it, not even in his environmental classes in school.