Odyssey Rising (9 page)

Near where the Escape Pod had landed, Ravi continued to jump up and down simply to see how far and how high he could jump.

Theo interrupted his brother’s low gravity romp.

“Hey! Stop! We have work to do!”

“But this is awesome!”

“I don’t care.”

“But gravity down here is supposed to be about 12% less than Earth. Let’s see!”

Ravi’s eyes, even through the goggle lenses, were alive with wonder and mystery. He walked out by Theo’s side, breathing heavily and then he took his first step onto the golden brown surface. It was his first time walking on any planetary surface. He thought about running free, which he would have done had a torrent of forceful and quick wallops of wind and dust not smacked him back three feet.

“I feel so light.”

Ravi jumped up and over his brother’s head by a foot.

“Awesome!”

“Stop that!”

“Why?”

“We have work to do.”

Ravi stopped jumping up and down for a moment. Dust swirled around them like a mini-dust devil cyclone.

Ravi already had his goggles on and he scanned the horizon resting his sight on the highest mountain peak. “The mountain is twenty-eight miles away. The Discovery Site is just at the base so it’ll take us just under two hours and we’ll be there,” Ravi said.

“Not exactly a bulls-eye landing,” Sam said.

Ellie held an atmospheric sensor.

“The big brains say we ca breathe this stuff without serious implications,” Ravi said.

“High levels of methane, but other than that it’s a fairly normal composition of breathable oxygen,” Ellie said.

“I’ll try the air first,” Theo said.

“You sure that’s smart?”

“Only one way to find out,” Theo said.

Theo took off his breathing mask and tested the air with several deep and true breaths, sucking in and out with all of his lung capacity.

“Well, I’m still breathing,” Theo said, “so I guess the probes evaluated the surface atmosphere correctly. Mostly oxygen with higher traces of ammonia and methane than Earth.”

“Not exactly a perfect atmosphere,” Ravi said.

“But not a sickening combination either,” Ellie added.

“It might kill a few extra brain cells,” Sam said, “but hey, who’s counting?”

Through their goggles they looked into the sky where there was a sharp red ball of heat and energy raying down upon this dry and dusty stretch of land, the sun of a new world. Seeing more than ten feet around them became a bigger challenge with each step. The constant wind increased in intensity and a swirl of dust and particles from the soil below their feet obscured clear visibility.

The planet’s soil was crunchy and dry and a small cloud of dust followed them. All stayed close together, as if staying as a group would protect them from the unknown of this planet. It was a dry new world of their dreams and nightmares, no limits, no guidebook, just vast, open wilderness and more mountain ridges. Most of the soil was gold, but off in the distance some of the rolling hills had an orange, brown and pink hue.

As they walked out on to the planet’s soil there was a howling wind and the temperature was warm and they found the force of the wind knocked them left and right and back half a step for every two steps they took forward. Their hands were outstretched like drunken sailors on shore leave reaching for a steady mast, some stable fixture that would steady the pull and turn of the elements.

They got to work detaching the landing parachutes and other assorted gear connected to the inflatable airbags. Golden dust swirled like rolling ocean waves, only the waves were made of sand and planetary debris. The airbags were like over-sized volleyballs that were attached to the curved, silver heat shields. They worked at unclipping, folding and rolling the airbags up for possible future use. They made sure the solar panels were undamaged and operational. The wind arms were positioned into the fierce wind and began spinning. Every extra ounce of energy this place offered was an ounce that would not have to be used from the reserve fuel tanks.

The classmates expected to see some change in color. Some green? Blue? White? Any color? Anything but the burnt brown and pale yellow of the planet’s dusty soil.

The red sun above them set steadily into the horizon. It was time to get the Escape Pod moving across the hills to the Discovery Site, where Theo and the Wet Willy probe had found the alien skeletal bones.

After getting the solar panels retracted into the optimal position, the group all returned to the Escape Pod. They were tired from the work but they still had miles to go before they could think about sleeping or eating.

“How far away are we from the Discovery Site?” Ellie asked.

“Far enough that we all should buckle in,” Theo said. “Without the satellite in action we’re going to have to rely on landmarks, topography and our distance calculators.”

Ravi pulled up a topographical map of the region on the computer screen.

They left for the Discovery Site and traveled out of their landing spot up to a clearing up hill. The sun’s light consumed their view with pink and gold rays mixed with gray and golden brown dust.

There were satellite maps of only about half of GidX7. The other half was hidden from view by the seasonal sandstorms.

On soil, the Pod was something of a slow traction vehicle that inched forward at a steady though deliberate fourteen miles an hour. The silver and white octagon with retractable wheels moved on the soil like a tank in war. The rhythms of this journey were steady and slow.

Inside the Pod, the group had a viewing window and they watched the slow march toward the Discovery Site. The terrain had three features.

First, there were gentle, rolling hills of fine golden sand. Second, there were jagged pale yellow limestone rocks and lastly, there was the great mountain peak in the distance. Still, there was no life, no green, no tree, no water to be found.

They moved at a rate of fifteen miles per hour and arrived with dusk falling upon the place where the bones had been found. It was the Discovery Site.

At such a slow speed the wind forced the Pod left and right with relative ease and Theo kept control, fighting the force of the wind. The Pod, in Theo’s hands now, felt like a ship cast carelessly against the rock and surf. After manually avoiding some large, unforeseen gray boulders, the Pod and the infected explorers arrived near the base of the highest mountain peak in this region. It slowed to a stop.

Below their position, there was a valley of volcanic craters. Some were in the shape of half moons, while others were just small oval pockmarks. There were at least twenty of these craters. Most of the craters were the length of at least two football fields placed back to back.

From space they had made this stretch of land look like a burnt layer of pizza cheese, all ripples and deformities. But from this level, the area looked like an ocean of sandy waves.

“One of these is our Discovery Site,” Theo said.

“It’s odd. We’re calling it a Discovery Site, but actually it is more like an archaeological dig site, unless …” Ravi bit his lip, “…unless archaeology is the study of ancient things. Dead things. Right?”

“Stop trying to spook yourself,” Theo said.

“It is a plausible option that our metaphorical Adam and Eve are still alive,” Ravi said.

“Who are you calling that?” Sam asked.

“The bones you and Wet Willy found,” Ravi said, “I call them Adam and Eve. Because isn’t that what they are for this planet? They’re the first life we’ve found. Even if they’re dead.”

“I’m not a biblical scholar but this doesn’t look a thing like the Garden of Eden,” Ellie said.

“To me,” Ravi began to say, “it actually kind of looks like Acadia, Maine, that stretch of Earth land in the state of Maine along the rocky coast. It is desolate, jagged, beautiful with hints of pink in the gray.”

“How would you know?” Sam asked.

“Because Sam the man, I’ve studied the Earth since I could breathe,” Ravi added.

“Oh great,” Sam sighed, “the little mutant is an unbelievable genius! We have to get him on Intergalactic Jeopardy! Can someone get us off this suck-hole of a planet and back to the Ark where the little mutant can phone in his answers?”

“We’re going to have to travel on foot to find it,” Theo said, “so lets gear up.”

“Why not take the Pod into the craters?”

“Because we’ve already found five bones in this area and I don’t want to roll a 3 ton Escape Pod over them,” Theo said.

“Oh, right. Good point,” Sam said.

Theo went to the door and punched in the digit code and then hit the star button in the bottom right of the keypad. A suction of air released and the door opened slowly just a crack. He pushed the door further aside.

They went outside and left the relative comfort and safety of the Pod. There was no sign of the drone probe’s tracks and digging. Wind had long since blown over the area, providing a clean golden brown slate. They explored the dips and rises in the land around the Discovery Site.

“Don’t go off on your own,” Theo said with eyes trained on his brother. “Stay close to me.”

“I’m not a bloody child, you know,” Ravi said.

“I know. But we should all stay close together. At least for now.”

“I’m not afraid, you know. Preparation is the opposite of fear,” Ravi said.

“I know. I listen to Dad’s lectures, too.”

“Good. Then let’s be ready for the unexpected.”

“I think we’ve found our bone-yard,” Ravi said.

It was safe for him to make that assessment for the group since there were two huge skeletal remains about a quarter of a mile into the crater. Even from afar and looking through the telescopic goggles, the bones looked like huge skulls of a sort.

The entire group began to run and hop and soar into the air in large leaps and bounds toward the resting place for their new skeletal discovery.

When they reached the two humungous skulls, Sam had his camera out and he was ready to take some photos.

“Mutant, stand to the right of the big one,” Sam requested. “I need some perspective on their size and it’s always good to have something very small in the picture. Stand right next to them. Okay?”

“I am not small.”

“You are the smallest.”

Reluctantly, Ravi hopped on over to the two large skulls and stood next to them.

The skulls were nearly the same size, though one was slightly larger.

“Wouldn’t want to meet these things in a dark alley without some major weaponry,” Sam said.

“Which we don’t have,” Ravi said. “Do we?”

“No. We have four stun guns,” Theo said, “that’s it.”

“And each only have six charges,” Ravi said.

“So, that’s twenty-four shots,” Sam said.

“You can multiply, that’s good,” Ravi said.

Sam pounded his fist into Ravi’s arm.

“Ahhh!”

“Lets use them only if it is absolutely necessary.”

Sam took Theo to the side, sort of whispered. “So, define absolutely necessary.”

“You know, like if something if something alive or huge or scary is attacking you,” Theo answered.

“Right. Right. That’s what I thought,” Sam said.

“Good,” Sam answered as he spun with his camera and started taking more photos of the two large skulls.

“At least they’re dead,” Ellie said.

“Let’s hope they stay that way. I wouldn’t want to meet those things in a dark alley,” Sam said.

“But where’s the rest of the body?” Ravi asked.

“No clue,” Ellie said.

“Maybe buried. Maybe turned into dust.”

The Positives looked over the hills of the Discovery Site. It was a misshapen circle of volcanic like craters, with pink and gray shadows on the golden soil. The circumference of the Discovery Site was a misshapen circle of volcanic-like craters, pink and gray shadows of what appeared to be made of a limestone like substance.

Even with the red sun dipping in the gray sky, the temperature was on the warm side, like a humid summer eve in the dryness of the Las Vegas desert.

Around the whole circumference of the crater, they marched on, seeking water, seeking salvation, seeking life, seeking more bones and perhaps just seeking anything that resembled a change in the terrain. Perhaps, with each step, there were just seeking survival.

The land was not flat. It rose and fell in dusty clumps. Through the howl of the wind, they pushed forward to the next rise in the land but the first group had not gone very far from the two structures. As the wind swept up into a storm visibility was down to five feet. There was a gray darkness creeping over them, night was upon them and they had not found any cause for rejoice or security. They paused, clustered in a huddle. They could see only twenty paces in any direction. The Discovery Site was barely visible through the sand.

Every few feet Ravi kicked over any loose, small rocks.

“Mutant, what are you doing?” Sam asked.