Colonization (The Seamus Chronicles Book 3) (7 page)

In the heat of the moment, bumped can easily seem like smashed. It’s not a criticism by any stretch of the imagination. Human kinds first encounter with an alien is definitely enough to cause panic and confusion.

The solar sail reactor was damaged and it is not functioning; that is a fact. It was definitely not smashed though. Repairs were relatively straightforward. While I like things to be done correctly, I am comfortable with allowing connections to hang free, even when I want them to be fastened to a silicon board.

Our problem now is how to restart the reactor. The electron dump I used to get it started last time isn’t going to work. When it was knocked off line by the creature, there must have been a static shock or something. There are no charged particles left anywhere on the device.

“What do you need to get the reactor running?” Henry was with Jake when the first one came on line.

“A jolt of electricity.” I answer

“So you need electricity to start making electricity?” He is confused for the first time since I have known him.

“Sort of. The initial jolt starts a reaction. Once the reaction is going the reactor generates electricity with enough to spare that it keeps the reaction going.” My oversimplified explanation may not be enough for a guy like Henry.

“You must have known that we wouldn’t have a power plant here to start a new reactor?” Dad is used to me planning a few steps ahead.

“Well…. I kind of assumed that the reactors on the plane would be functioning when we landed. I also though that having nine was enough redundancy, guess I didn’t think we would get separated.” I was very naïve about the difficulties of space travel.

By the time Cassandra and I built the warp units we had made several improvements to my original reactor that was providing us with power. One of the improvements was to require a smaller energy release to initiate the reaction. But it’s still not zero. I had been hoping to get it to the point of having a car battery initiate the reaction but we weren’t there.

“I didn’t pack any generators. I assumed your reactor would provide us with electricity and that we would not have access to fuel.” Liam is afraid he’s going to get blamed for not packing what we need.

Even a basic generator would work. There must be a setup on the plane to charge the batteries from the engines. Of course that assumes we can get to it and it wasn’t ruined in the crash or the flood. Without knowing how an airplane electrical design is laid out I’m not even sure where to look.

“Locus to Seamus.” Grace is waving her hand in front of my face. “Tell us what you’re thinking.”

“The C-5 has to have a generator. I’m just not sure where it would be located or how to get to it.” I answer without excusing myself.

“Definitely.” Henry responds. “In fact, there are a number of batteries and backup batteries on board as well. We should bring them back here to keep for emergencies.”

“Well now that you’ve dragged your reactor back here, does it make sense to bring it back to the plane to start it or should we try and detach the generator and bring that to you?” Dad seems to be annoyed that I hadn’t thought of any of this before now.

“Lets figure out the best way to spin the generator first. That will probably answer your question for us.” I think I already know but I don’t want to be wrong.

From behind Grace comes a cough. We all turn, startled by the sound. It was human for sure. All the people from our plane are accounted for, who could this be?

Dad and Henry move forward at almost the exact same time. Liam takes a step toward the sound as I shrink away.

With an explosion of movement Henry closes the distance from our fire ring to the shrubbery where the sound came from. His actions are more deliberate than violent, but it is clear that he will have control over the encounter.

“Francisco!” Henry declares.

Francisco was in the other C-5 Galaxy. I had personally written off the plane, it’s crew, and all the supplies inside. That fact that Francisco is alive gives me hope for the others.

“How did you get a fire to light?” Is the first question he asks.

“I just lit the cardboard we had used to pack supplies.” Dad answers proudly.

“I wouldn’t let the Crenshaw’s light ours. I didn’t want to burn resources, literally.” Francisco smiles hazily at his pun.

“I thought it could get things started, but we couldn’t find anything else to burn. Who besides you and the Crenshaw’s made it?” Dad asks with an expression of hope.

“Hard to say man. The plane’s trashed and our supplies are totally blown. The ladies were totally out of it so I told them to sit tight while I checked the smoke. I’m glad it was you.” He looks and sounds exhausted, but he’s laughing a little.

Centralizing people and resources will be key to establishing our colony here on Locus. We’ll need to go get the other survivors and bring them here. If we are to have any hope of finding them Francisco will have to lead the way. He will need to rest and eat some before that, though.

Grace appears with a bottle of water and kneels down next to Francisco as she offers it. He smiles, and I feel like there is a look passed. I feel juvenile for wondering if there is something between them while we have so much else to be concerned about.

“Francisco, why don’t you rest and get something to eat. Grace can help you find what we have. Once you’ve recovered you can take one or two of us back to your plane. We’re working on a couple of things to make this place more hospitable. Someone can fill you in when you’re ready.” Dad has decided that the welcome party is over and we need to get back to work.

There doesn’t seem to be a true leadership structure yet. At Ames mom was clearly running the show. Henry seems to be an innate leader, but to my surprise Dad is stepping up more often than not. While I shouldn’t make this all about me I can’t help but think it’s because his kids are at risk. It’s kind of like an Incredible Hulk reaction except its organization and planning, not muscle, that are exaggerated.

So far our luck seems to be holding out. We have a plan that seems feasible. All we have to do is execute on that plan and we’ll have the first successful human colony on a planet other than Earth.

Splitting up feels like a bad idea, but it seems like our only choice. Dad and Henry are going back to the plane while Liam and I go with Francisco. I would prefer to be going with Dad or not at all, but it wasn’t left up to me.

I’m still struggling to measure the length of a full day and that bothers me. Somewhere inside I have the number of sixty hours --or two and a half Earth days-- to one single day on Locus. That means the planet has a pretty large circumference or that it rotates slowly. I find it odd though, because the gravity feels similar to Earth.

Part of the problem with measuring a day is that I haven’t really been in one place long enough to identify patterns. I have no way to pick a spot on the horizon as the start time for measuring the first ray of sun.

Francisco rested for a night and half of a day before he felt ready to go. I didn’t want to set out in the heat, so we all tried to sleep a little more and leave at dusk. Dad and Henry are leaving later in the night and intending to ride the tide out to the plane.

I’m kicking myself for not prioritizing a notebook and pencil. Mom has a few seed experiments already started. Her work is important and we should be recording whatever she tries, both successes and failures. It would suck to lose important seeds in the future repeating a test that she already conducted.

Grace thinks that Jake is coming around but I’m not sure I believe her. She says he has been moving his eyes and sometimes his hands twitch. Even if it is true I doubt that he’s regaining consciousness, probably reflexes at work.

Sofie isn’t doing much better. She is conscious but with all the vomiting her energy level is low and she sleeps most of the time. Mom thinks Sofie is running a fever, but we did not salvage a thermometer yet so we have no way to verify that.

Grace wanted to come with Liam and I to find the other plane. That would have been fine with me but Remmie threw kind of a fit. He wanted Grace to stay, and since Jake and Sofie need her and mom is already elbow deep in planting and ‘city planning’, Grace got stuck being the nurse.

I started sweating about two minutes into our trek. It’s not night yet so the air is still warm. I’m nervous about being sweaty when the temperature starts to drop, but it doesn’t seem that Liam or Francisco are concerned so I don’t say anything.

“Hey Francisco, did you see any rock formations on your way here?” I ask him.

Obviously I’m curious about the monolith but I don’t want to influence his opinion if he hasn’t seen one though.

“No, why do you ask?” He gives me a sideways look like he might be hiding something.

“Well I just think it’s interesting that we’ve seen plants and soil and water but there are no rocks.” I respond, hoping to sound curious.

“Yes we have.” Liam chimes in. “That square thing in the jungle.”

It’s not his fault, but it’s totally his fault. Why can’t he just listen and think? He knows I couldn’t forget the monolith. All he needed to do was wait and see where I was going instead of sticking his nose in.

“You mean like a monolith?” Francisco now has me on alert.

“Yeah, exactly like a monolith.” I reply cautiously.

“Hmm.” Is all Francisco says in response?

Everything suddenly feels fishy. Francisco has covered more variety of ground than any of us. He claims not to have seen any rocks but knew exactly what Liam was talking about when he said ‘square thing in the jungle’.

Our path has veered inland, away from the water. Travel is easy and we are moving quickly. When Liam stops to drink some water I look behind us and ahead of us, there is a definite path through the jungle.

I am intimately familiar with the Chaos Theory, also known as Ramsey Theory. It says that patterns can be found even in completely random groupings. That is not what this is. We are walking along a path that was worn into the jungle through repeated traffic.

“Francisco, did you follow this path to our camp?” I ask, trying not to sound skeptical.

“No. If I had I would have been there much sooner. I had to fight through the trees and underbrush out by the water line. It was slow going and more than a little painful.” Francisco answers cheerfully.

“Why do you call it a path?” Liam knows me well enough to hear careful word choices.

“Well I’m no survivalist, but even I can tell that the ground is compacted a little more here than it is a few feet to either side. I bet if we look closely we can find some branches that were either trimmed back or broken along the edges.” My best detective look goes unnoticed.

“So you think someone built this?” Liam has fear in his eyes.

“It may have formed through repeated use, like animal ruts back on Earth. I bet it leads to the water’s edge at some point.” Francisco isn’t really listening to me, but Liam is captivated.

“We should get moving.” Francisco does not wait for a discussion, he just sets off again.

Francisco seems like a smart guy, I’m not sure why he is so cavalier. We should get off of this pathway until we have a better idea of who or what formed it. If it is a life form there is a chance they could be hostile.

This is where I feel deficient. I’m not an adult, or a leader. It’s my safety and my brothers’ safety at stake. I should speak up and assert myself. But Francisco is clearly the adult here and I am deferring to his choices. Even after all I have contributed I don’t know how to include myself in the adult realm.

The three of us walk for several hours in silence. Occasionally Francisco stops to look out towards where I suspect the lake is located. I hope he is just getting his bearings and not looking for a threat.

I’ve looked as hard as I know how but have not been able to find a broken or cut branch along this path. Liam thought he found one, but when we inspected it I disagreed. The lack of proof in the branches may mean that whatever made this path is small and low enough to the ground that they didn’t need to trim the trees back.

Francisco has me puzzled. I knew very little about him, but I can’t imagine the attitude I’m seeing here being welcome in a place like McMurdo station. Getting a second chance at life could make anyone rethink their attitude, but this seems extreme.

“Do you have an estimate of how close we are?” I ask him when we finally pause again.

“I followed this water kind of thing down to this big open space. But then the open space filled with more water. You know?” He responds with a soft, dull smile

“Hey are you on something?” I ask him, genuinely curious if he may have brought drugs with us on the first ever warp jump.

“What? Nah man, I’m cool.” The smile is still present but his eye lids seem to be struggling to open and close.

“Well, no offense, but I feel like we’re going to lose you here sooner rather than later. If we keep going straight will we hit the river that you followed down to the lake?” I need to get information out of him while he exhibits some semblance of coherence.

“Yup.” Francisco is acting drunk.

Off to our right, away from the lake comes a rustling. There is something moving in the underbrush and it isn’t small. Liam and I are frozen but Francisco makes a deliberate turn towards the sound.

Neither my brother nor I are outdoorsmen but even away from Earth movement attracts attention. So does noise, and I’m worried that Francisco will do something stupid in his altered state. Hopefully he is too relaxed to investigate.

We stand motionless for what seems like an hour. In that time there is another brief instance of rustling but nothing sustained. I scan the area with my eyes, trying not to move my body or head. There is no breeze to speak of, I am confident that
something
is making the noise.

“I’m going to keep moving.” Francisco says in a loud, exaggerated whisper.

My head shakes back and forth slowly. I want him to stay still but I don’t dare speak. I’ve heard tiny birds and squirrels in the bushes at home. I also know the difference in sound between the cats and the dog. Whatever is making this noise is larger than a dog and that means it could do serious damage to a human.

Francisco lopes off and Liam and I lock eyes. I can see fear and confusion in my brother’s face and am worried that his impulsivity won’t let him stand still. Slowly my hand comes up, I want to physically grab him and pull him close.

From behind me comes a loud thud, followed by what seems to be every tree in the jungle shaking. Liam does not hesitate; he takes off at a full run and twists past Francisco. I am several steps behind him, physicality is not my strength.

Instead of pushing past a stunned Francisco I grab his arm and drag him with me. At first he trots slowly and mumbles words of protest. Soon he starts to jog and eventually we are at a full run. Liam is several paces ahead and my glimpses of him are getting spaced out more and more.

Sweat drips from the ends of my hair and my t-shirt clings to my chest. I desperately want to check behind us to see if we are being pursued but I don’t dare risk it. Francisco is pulling away from me, perhaps the adrenaline helped him sober up and actually care about his own safety.

The faint trail we have been following turns sharply to the right and I make the turn by grabbing a tree with my hand and lifting my feet. Glancing to where I had just come from I see that there is nothing in close pursuit. I try to listen but our running is making enough noise to mask out any other sounds.

Liam is far out of sight and Francisco is pulling away as well. I try and pick up the pace but I am not capable of running faster. A new fear pops into my head. What if the things making the noise were able to get in front of us and my brother ran right into them?

Partially because of my fear and partially because I am physically unable to continue, I stop running. The trail now hairpins left doubling back on itself. It also begins to drop in elevation.

The downward slope helps me to move quickly but I still cannot run. Going slowly allows me to listen and hear silence beyond my own footsteps. I didn’t like the idea of splitting up from dad and the others, being separated from my brother and Francisco terrifies me.