Colonization (The Seamus Chronicles Book 3) (14 page)

I recorded the time that I went to bed and the location of the moons when I lay down. It was a fitful six hours but I couldn’t lie there anymore. Dawn has not arrived yet, but I think that it may be close. My notebook is turning into a journal of sorts, and I dream of getting my laptop charged so that I can do some real data analysis.

A retching sound startles me and I immediately look to see if Sofie is still asleep beside me. She is. Looking around our little sleeping area I take an inventory of who is present. There’s only one person missing, mom.

Crawling out from under my leaf I sense a humidity in the air that I hadn’t noticed before. It’s a little disturbing to notice an environmental change this soon after chopping down trees, but it could be in my head.

Following the not so melodic sound of vomiting I track down my mother. She is kneeling over a shallow hole in the ground and holding her hair back. I watch her in silence, not sure what to say or do. I am not the comforting type.

Mom knows enough not to drink the water from the leaves. If she is vomiting from radiation exposure it could mean that she went to the submerged plane on her own while we were sleeping and has chosen to risk her life after prohibiting dad from doing the same.

“Don’t just stand there, go get some water.” Sofie brushes past me and kneels a few feet away from my mom.

Knowing enough not to make her ask me twice I hurry off to the pile of water bottles collecting on the central path. I grab four of them and head off to fill them from the lake. It still bothers me that we cannot analyze the water for purity, but if we can’t drink it we’re dead anyway.

When I get back to the latrine area both ladies are sitting cross-legged looking up at the sky. I hand them each a bottle of water and crack a third for myself.

“Are you okay?” I ask my mom, not ready to deal with any answer but yes.

“I was going to wait for your father but it doesn’t really matter.” She smiles at me warmly.

Now I expect the worst. She’s dying and has been for some time. This whole apocalypse and evacuation were just delaying the inevitable for her. She stayed strong for us and now that we’re safe she’s letting go. A tear starts to roll down my cheek.

“What is it?” I ask hoarsely.

“I’m pregnant.” She shrugs her shoulders and lifts her palms up.

I’m not sure what to think. Is this really a world we want to bring a child into? What are my responsibilities for a new brother or sister?

“Is there any chance that’s what has your stomach upset too?” She asks Sofie with a hopeful look on her face.

“What!? No!” Sofie flushes at the question.

Suddenly I realize that my mom just asked if I’m having sex with my girlfriend. And my girlfriend’s response was shock and disgust. It’s weird how being a good kid can feel so bad.

“Well, it’s possible. And Seamus, I would have thought you would understand the need to procreate even if you’re looking at this from a purely scientific perspective.” My mother adds.

“So you are having a baby just because we need to procreate? How do you think it will feel when it finds that out?” Sofie moves to criticism to get the topic off the two of us.

“That’s not it at all. Knowing that we need to rebuild the human race we stopped preventing pregnancy. Then things just happened. I’m thrilled and honored to be having the first human child born outside of the Earth’s atmosphere.” Mom lifts her chin up high.

“I suppose trying to have a baby isn’t the furthest thing from my mind. I mean, Seamus has seen me naked.” Sofie puts her hand on my leg.

“Stop! This is still my mom. Even if she’s okay with it I don’t want her involved in my sex life.” Just when I didn’t think I could feel more awkward they find a way.

“Well there’s not going to be A1 and mashed potatoes for this one. I hope it turns out half as good as you did Seamus.” My mom is willing to shift the topic for me.

“Speaking of cravings, I could use a vanilla shake and huge pan pizza.” Sofie licks her lips.

“Will you settle for some water and a granola bar?” I ask, holding out my hand.

“Sounds lovely.” Sofie takes my hand and gets to her feet.

Once standing she turns back to my mom. “I assume you’re going to have the same conversation with Grace and Liam?”

“I’m not trying to start a fertility clinic. You two are clearly a couple, which is why I can understand if it happened. It’s still early enough that we don’t have to force people into anything they aren’t ready for.” Mom’s face is more serious now.

“Well Liam and Cassandra are getting close and I think Grace is sweet on one of the guys from the other plane.” Sofie has gleaned quite a bit from sitting and listening for a few days.

“I can’t even imagine Liam being a dad.” Mom shakes her head.

Sometime after the sun breaks over the horizon everyone has stirred from their rest. Dad and Liam set off down main street and head to the garden area they were clearing. Grace and Remmie go out to the water to rinse off and play for a bit. Sofie and I sit by Jake, who is still unconscious.

Jane comes by asking where we’ve placed the food cache and I don’t have an answer for her. Things have been so busy that I’m still snacking off food I threw in a back pack or stuffed in my pockets. Granola bars and fruit roll ups have been my subsistence since we arrived.

“Rationing.” I say out loud after she leaves.

“New shoes.” Sofie answers.

“Huh?” I look at her.

“I thought you were giving me some kind of obscure code. All I could think of was new shoes.” She smiles.

“No, I mean we need to ration our food. We’re months away from anything we grow, but we’re not monitoring or tracking the food we have left.” I explain.

“Your mom needs it the most, to feed the baby.” Sofie nods in agreement.

“Which I’m sure will give the Crenshaw’s all sorts of fits.” I add.

We could use all the hands we can get to carry supplies back from the river plane. But we also need people to stay here and work towards establishing the garden. Every day that we go without plants in the ground is a day longer without food.

It’s the beginning of our second full day of protection from radiation. Dad and Liam set to work on day one; we should all be grateful. I’m not sure what the others spent the day doing. I know that Grace and I rested to recover from the difficult trip and dive to the space plane. The Crenshaw’s were MIA until Cassandra spiked Sofie’s water and then went off with Liam.

The other survivors from the river plane are not bad people. We had just remained isolated back at Ames for fear of spreading the killer cold. But where are they now? Why are they not contributing to village layout or clearing land for the garden?

My quest for information brings me to my feet. I don’t tell Sofie where I am headed, but she must be getting used to this kind of behavior from me.

“I’ll come with you.” She calls out after I have walked several paces away.

As we walk down Main Street away from the garden I notice what appear to be walls. There are a variety of shapes, sizes and styles. None of them are very large and only one or two actually look sturdy.

For a second I feel like we are in a display at a home improvement store. The wall samples are an offering of their lawn and garden selection. They have fences, privacy screens, and dog runs.

We never had a dog run. Living with a big yard in southern New Hampshire meant that our pets were always able to run free. But why am I thinking about a dog run? It’s because the ground inside a dog run is always trampled and compacted. The soil seems completely different than the soil an inch away but on the other side of the fence.

Could the monoliths be a fence? Have we seen or noticed the creatures on ‘our’ side of the monolith line? I know the monoliths aren’t natural, but a fence brings their existence to a whole different level. I better gather more data on this before I announce a guess.

The ground starts to shake again. I wouldn’t say that I’m used to it but it is getting to be less startling. I’m going to have to start a notebook to track interesting phenomenon I want to learn more about.

Continuing with the story of my life, I’m interrupted.

“Hi Seamus, I’m Mike.” A perfectly average guy reaches out his hand. “We met back at Ames, but only briefly. Your mom said that you are heading to our plane to gather supplies and take inventory?”

“Yeah, I wasn’t going to leave yet but probably soon. Are there any volunteers to come with?” I am naturally shy so it’s hard to figure out new people.

“Of course. We thought we would split up and half would join you and the other half would stay here to continue materials analysis.” Mike answers with a smile.

“You guys are doing materials analysis? That sounds kind of cool.” I’m starting to like Mike.

“Well without bragging we wound up with a pretty good group of people for colonizing a new planet. We’ve got meteorologists, planetary scientists, and even a materials engineer. From what I’ve heard about you we’ll get along famously.” His smile is now a broad grin.

The walk to the river plane was ridiculously long. We had stopped after six hours to rest and then it was another seven or so hours until we got to the plane. Our pace was not aggressive, but I have to think that the trip back will take twice as long with a full load.

Mike and I talked for almost the whole trip. I really like him and he definitely has his stuff together. He’s older than me but definitely not the oldest person in the group, I would guess late twenties or early thirties for his age. He seems to be the de facto leader but it’s done more through consensus than edict.

To date we’ve gotten by pretty well sleeping out in the open covered with leaves. That probably isn’t a great long-term strategy for survival. We need safe long-term shelter if we are going to last.

Learning to cut the trees was a nice trick but the McMurdo team is really learning about the plants. They are checking for things like tensile strength, decomposition, and puncture resistance. One of them has even found out that the leaves change colors if you hit them with enough force.

One of the things I had thought of but wasn’t interested in tracking is the variety of plant species. Fortunately we’ve got a scientist for that. Not only is she cataloging the different plants and their variations, she’s noticed some fascinating things.

It seems that some of the plant species convert the radiation to food. Once I put the containment field over us they started to wilt. That means that there is not enough radiation in the soil or water to sustain the plants, which also must be a good thing for the humans trying to live here.

Everyone has collapsed after our journey but it is still light out. I note the time and the position of the sun. It is setting, but we have a few more hours of daylight ahead of us.

I’m in no mood to start working. My feet are killing me, I’m hungry, and I’m sweaty. The others are of a like mind and are quickly settling into their old spots.

I forgot that they stayed here with this plane for a while before Francisco saw the smoke and came to find us.

It’s actually surreal to see the body of a massive cargo plane sitting serenely in the middle of a tropical river. Everything seems peaceful and quiet as if it were placed there, not like it smashed into the ground after hurtling through space.

This may be a better location for a village. I’ll have to ask Mike if he discussed it with mom. The water here is flowing and consistent. I can envision a much more efficient aqueduct system than the one I’m currently devising.

It also looks like there are rocks here. I don’t know if we would need them immediately but when I think about the great civilizations of history they built using stone, not leaves.

Kneeling down I take a closer look at the rock. It doesn’t look the same as the rock Liam found at the quarry. The grains appear to be tighter and the coloring is more consistent.

“This is one of the reasons I wanted to come back here.” Mike is leaning over my shoulder.

“It looks different than the rock we found at the quarry.” I say without thinking.

“You found a quarry?” His excitement is palpable.

“Well we think it’s a quarry. And my brother actually found it. Cassandra was with him, she didn’t tell you guys about it?” I’m trying to shift the burden of communication off of myself.

“This Mike. This is what I’m talking about. They act like some well-organized operation that insists we support them, but they don’t care about us or include us with what they’re doing.” The man named Horst grouses at us from several feet away.

“Easy Horst. Not everything is secretive. We’re all figuring stuff out.” Mike uses a soothing tone.

“Seriously Horst. What you perceive about us isn’t our fault. We never claimed to be an ‘operation,’ we’re just a family trying to survive. No one is hiding things from you or keeping secrets.” I’m tired and snippy.

“Says the boy with all the secrets. Claiming innocence when you hold power is a sign of weakness. Just admit that you are in charge and everyone would be better off.” Horst is pointing at me aggressively and I fear that Mike cannot control him.

“Horst. We’ve all had a long day. Let’s get some rest and take care of our supply needs. Besides, I don’t think that Seamus is the one we should bring our concerns to. We’ve talked about this and I’ll deal with it.” Mike speaks with authority and I’m impressed.

Horst gets up and storms away muttering things under his breath. I think there is a hint of an accent but I can’t guess at it’s origins.

“Do we need to talk about that?” I ask Mike.

“Eventually. There is a faction-“ He’s interrupted by a loud cackle and we both whip our heads around.

A chicken walks out of the underbrush and clucks again loudly. Five other birds appear behind her scratching at the ground and searching for food.

I had forgotten that we brought chickens with us. I know the ones that were on our plane are dead. They were not out of their cages when we left and the plane has been submerged in water a few times. That was a pretty poor oversight.

The burst of adrenaline from chicken surprise is not enough to push me to action. A few chuckles at how we all reacted and everyone is back to lounging, so I sit down too.

“Anyway, I think we are all tired. Let’s not talk politics now; we have plenty of time for that. Let’s get some rest so we can take care of things here and get back to the village.” Mike looks around as if he is searching for something.

“Right.” I answer him.

I don’t like mysteries. They always seem manufactured. In science there aren’t mysteries, there are knowns and unknowns. I think this is why nerds took so well to computers and digital communication, they let the facts speak loudest.

“Seamus, cuddle with me. We can get some good rest before the sun is gone and it gets too cold.” Sofie is lying on a makeshift bed under a broad leaf.

I lay down next to her but I’m not sure what she means by ‘cuddle.’ Sleeping this close to someone else is weird, what if I want to roll over, do I have to tell her first or can I just roll over?

Sleep came easy. I’ll have to remember that exhaustion plus relationship confusion equals a great night’s sleep.

Now it is too cold to sleep and I am wide-awake. Sofie is breathing softly in my arms and her body feels warm. I don’t want to disturb her, but my arm is asleep and I want to shake it out.

There is movement from some of the others and I’m guessing it’s been five or six hours since we lay down. I wonder how life will change if we don’t have Earth’s day – night cycle to govern our rest? Grabbing five or six hours randomly as needed whether it’s light or dark out could be interesting. Of course, seventy-two hour days will also be interesting, but I’m still not sure that’s how long a day is here.

I can see Mike get up and walk into the river. He scoops water with his hands and splashes it on his face. Wading around he makes his way over to what I assume is the leaf aqueduct they had built. This is how we found out about the narcotic traits of the pollen. We communicated that fact to everyone.

But that was a public health thing, it was important that we all know about the water and the pollen. The quarry is interesting but not a health hazard. Still, I should tell Mike about my theory about the monoliths being a fence.

After a few minutes puttering about Mike disappears into the plane.

“You up?” Sofie asks.

“Yup.” I answer, glad that I don’t have to wake her.

I pull my arm out from under her and sit up stiffly. The idea of turning one of these leafs into a hammock pops into my head. I don’t remember having this much trouble keeping random thoughts at bay. A hammock is low on the priority list and should not be consuming brain waves.

“Oh my god there’s food in the plane! We can go eat something almost real.” Sofie declares and springs to her feet.

Inside I have a little concern that the ‘faction’ Mike started to mention yesterday will see this as their food. I’m sure they will share some of it, but I’m nervous that we’ll have a problem if we help ourselves. Sofie doesn’t deserve to feel their wrath though, and I don’t have time to explain.

“Let’s eat!” I shout and make a production of splashing through the water towards the plane.

Several of them look at me kind of funny, but none of them speak. Sofie is at the plane before I am and she disappears inside. If there is going to be a problem they have me to target, I’m hoping any attack is strictly verbal.

The cargo area of the plane looks worse than ours did. I think that part of the problem is that they spent almost three Earth days living inside the plane before braving the outdoors.

In addition to having the cargo scattered from the crash there are food rappers everywhere and a foul stench that smells like a roadside port-a-potty. I hadn’t thought of it earlier but now its clear why none of them chose to sleep inside last night, or earlier this night, whatever is the best way to say it.

We find Mike with his shirt up over his nose. He’s got a notebook out and he is writing carefully. Next to him is a stack of cans and dried foods in the only semblance of order.

“Are those Pop-tarts?” Sofie asks with glee.

She doesn’t wait for an answer and tears open the box. An envelope of pastries slides out into her hand and the wrapper is open in the blink of an eye. Mike watches her but says nothing.

“Hey. I know we gathered and packed a lot of this stuff, but I bet that these guys feel like they have some ownership of it. Lets go easy and be cool.” I say to Sofie.

Mostly I want to make the point to Mike that I get them being possessive about food on ‘their plane.’ But I also want to convey the fact that we are the reason that food is there and they need to be cool too.

“Seamus, I know we’re here and we have food because of you and your family. The issue is much bigger than that and I’ll need to discuss it with your family as well.” Mike looks past me to the rear door where the others are coming in.

I’m not really sure what their issue could be. We were instrumental in saving their lives and now we need to work together to continue surviving. But I’m also outnumbered. It’s just Sofie and I from our group and five of them from this plane.

“So let’s agree that Sofie and I are as scared, hungry, and lost as all of you are. If you have a political issue my mom and dad are the ones to bring it up with.” I wish this had come up before we left camp but now we have to deal with it.

“Who took the tools?” One of the larger men from the group is looking menacingly at me.

I have no idea what he’s talking about, we have not been to this plane without them.

Looking around the cargo area I feel like the supplies are stacked and sorted in a way that does not match the way it was when we left. There is not necessarily a clear grouping of supplies, but the boxes look neat, as if someone was organizing them based on shape.

Over by the stairs up to the cockpit I see a shape that looks like one of the reactors. Cassandra had said that the reactors were beyond salvage so this is a surprise. I didn’t spend much time in the plane when Francisco brought us here so I didn’t see the reactor before. He would have told me about it if he knew it was there. I’m not sure I can trust Cassandra, and part of me wonders if she and her mother are part of the issue Mike has recently highlighted.