T'aafhal Legacy 1: Ghosts of Orion (15 page)

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Those guys give me the willies. Especially that Brother Abraham, you can just smell crazy on that guy.” 

Passenger Deck 3, ESS Fortune

The two sisters were passing through the main lounge on passenger deck 3, returning from a stint in the hold tending the livestock. As promised, the ship's crew did not fraternize with the colonists during the voyage, staying sequestered in their own area at the front of the ship. This meant that the passengers had to see to the care of their own livestock, located in the cavernous cargo hold aft of the passenger decks. The three sets of prospective settlers alternated days looking after the animals. 

The horses, cows, sheep and chickens all needed to be fed and their stalls cleaned out. In the Imam's flock this duty fell to the women and young children. While the youngest played hide and seek among the cargo, Shadi and Dorri joined the other girls in farm chores while Mother Manijeh and the older women kept a watchful eye on everything. They were particularly vigilant in keeping the young women from coming in contact with the young men, who were also in the hold being instructed by computer on how to operate various pieces of equipment provided the colonists: communications gear, base stations for the weather satellites, spray foam applicators for constructing shelters and housing, and other such manly things. 

The young women had been instructed not to talk with the young men, but girls and boys were the same wherever they came from. Some flirting managed to go on despite their elders' best efforts. Dorri in particular had caught the eye of a young man named Ahmed. 

Most days, the men stayed in the lounge, drinking tea and arguing. On the lounge's large view-screen a khaki and blue planet, laced with white clouds, hung in space.

“Look, Shadi! We are back in normal space,” said Dorri.

“That must be the planet we are headed for,” Shadi replied.

“The Imam says that will be our new home,
al-hamdu lillāh,
” said Ahmed, who just happened to be standing nearby. Dashingly handsome at age 17, Ahmed had curly brown hair, flashing dark eyes and the scruffy beginnings of a beard on his cheeks and chin. 

“After we land I will build a house and then I can ask the Imam to give me a wife.” he said giving Dorri a meaningful look.

“Oh?” Dorri replied, a bit confused by his statement.
He couldn't mean me,
she thought,
I'm only thirteen years old.
 

“Be quiet, Dorri!” Said Shadi. “You know speaking to men outside our family is forbidden.” 

“But...” Dorri protested as her big sister hustled her away from the amorous Ahmed. Shadi shushed her and would not let her speak until they were back in their room with the door safely shut.

“Are you crazy?” Shadi said to her sister. “Do you want to be married off the instant we land on the planet?”

“But I'm only thirteen, he can't be serious about marrying me!”

“You are almost thirteen and a half, and you have gone through menarche. You've been having the monthly visitor, that makes you a woman as far as these religious zealots are concerned,” Shadi replied furiously. “It is only a matter of time before we are married off, but there is no reason to hurry the process by attracting attention.”

“You mean we will be separated? Forced to marry strangers?” Dorri replied tearfully. “I hate this place!”

“Shush, little star, we must remain calm and not draw undue attention to ourselves. Maybe there will be an opportunity to run away from the others after we land.”

“You think so?”

“
In shā' Allāh,
Dorri, if God wills it.
”
 

Goat Locker, Peggy Sue

The senior enlisted quarters on a navy vessel are known collectively as the goat locker, and it is the domain of the ship's chief petty officers—strictly speaking pay grades E7 and higher. On board the Peggy Sue, Master Chief Zackly and Gunnery Sergeant Acuna both qualified by former military rank. Filling out the space were Steve Hitch and Matt Jacobs, both of whom had risen to Petty Officer First Class (E6) before leaving the Navy.

Between the forward guest cabins, occupied by the ship's officers and scientists, and the senior enlisted quarters was a small lounge known as the passenger day room. Aft of the goat locker was the crew's lounge and then the enlisted quarters. While the chiefs could drink with the enlisted crewmembers in the lounge, on occasion they felt the need to meet only with their peers. This they did by taking over the day room. The four “chiefs” were relaxing with drinks, discussing the recent operations on planet
C
's surface. 

“So how did our FNGs do over the last two weeks?” asked Chief Zackly. As senior noncom he led the discussion. 

“I'd say pretty good, Chief,” Rosey said, “but to be fair none of them are really cherry.”

“Except the Pasta Rasta,” said Hitch.

“And he didn't go on any of the surface missions,” added Jacobs.

“Our Jamaican stew burner is doing just fine. If we get into a situation where we need him to fight we're all in trouble,” the Chief replied. “I'm more concerned with the regular crew and the Marines. We haven't found any trouble so far, but it would be good to know which ones can be counted on if'n we run into a shit storm.”

“All the Marines seem steady enough, Chief,” Rosey commented. The Marines were primarily her responsibility. “They've all seen the hairy cricket before, Kwan more than once.”

Seeing the hairy cricket was space Marine slang for having fought hostile aliens, up close and personal. All the chiefs and all of the ship's officers had been in close combat with aliens on prior voyages. The same was not true of the crew, and certainly not true of the science staff, Science Officer Ogawa excepted.

“They all seem pretty squared away,” said Hitch. Jacobs nodded in agreement. 

“If I recall correctly, yous two wouldn't know squared away if it bit ya in the ass.”

“Come on Chief, that was a long time ago,” replied Hitch, sounding hurt.

“Right. So what about the deck apes? Any problems there?”

“We managed to rotate the rest of the crew down to the surface at least once, just to give them real experience in armor in an alien environment,” Jacobs said. “They all did OK. Of course, they didn't face any creepy crawlies dirtside—nothing but sand and rocks.”

“The ones I worry about are those science types,” said Hitch. “I think they'll shit themselves the first time it hits the fan.”

“Except for Dr. Ogawa, of course,” amended Jacobs, “and the science bear. Ahnah, will probably do alright.”

“The only way to tell who has a pair is to actually get into a firefight with some bug nasties,” said Rosey, “and we didn't have any of that this time, thank God.”

“Aye, Gunny. So I guess it's smooth sailing so far,” the Chief concluded, finishing his second beer. “Well next watch they best all turn to.”

“So where are we headed, Chief?” Hitch asked. 

“The Captain says we're going to have a look at the other planets in the system, since we're already here. Hopefully they will be as empty as the first one.”

“Not too empty,” Jacobs said. “After all, we are looking for treasure, right?”

“We ain't pirates, you knuckleheads. If it was up to yous we'd be running around wearing eye-patches with daggers clenched in our teeth.”

“Arr, that be right matey,” said Hitch with a big grin. Rosey rolled her eyes and the Chief just shook his head. 

Captain's Cabin, Peggy Sue

With the end of surface exploration, Beth and Billy Ray found themselves together in their quarters for the first time in nearly two weeks. Beth was seated in front of the vanity, wearing a cinnamon colored satin slip, performing pre bed ablutions that totally mystified her husband. 

“I cannot believe we finally have a night to ourselves,” she said, removing the last traces of face cream from her cheek.

“Sometimes the planets align and we're both off watch at the same time. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth,” Billy Ray replied. He was wearing a black silk dressing gown that Beth had given him as a gift.

Despite having traveled the world, holding a graduate degree in English literature, and being a starship captain, Billy Ray was a simple man in many respects. One of his beliefs was that a man was either dressed or not, there was no need for any intermediate states. If left to his own devices he would have happily shed his jumpsuit upon entering their private quarters and lounged around in the buff. Beth found this attitude rather uncivilized, hence the gift of suitable male nightwear. 

“Where does that saying even come from? Why would I want to look in a horse's mouth?”

“One way to check the health of a horse is to examine its teeth, honey bunch. It's a way of saying be grateful for a gift as it comes.”

“Well, it sounds like a cowboy saying to me.”

“Around 400AD, St. Jerome, in
The Letter to the Ephesians
, said
'Noli equi dentes inspicere donati'
. Basically, never inspect the teeth of a given horse,” Billy Ray said. “In English, the earliest documented occurrence was by John Heywood in 1546: 'don't look a given horse in the mouth'. So you see it's a thoroughly English adage, not some folksy bit of cowboy wisdom.” 

“I should know better than to argue with you about such things,” she said with a sigh. 

Billy Ray walked across the room to stand behind his wife. Still seated, she looked at his reflection in the mirror while brushing her hair. “I hope the equipment from the ruins proves to be useful, otherwise we have wasted our time on this trip so far.” 

“Hey, Bobby got to show off his flying skills,” Billy Ray shrugged, “and the ship's company got some good exercise.”

“That's true, everyone except Dr. Richards.” 

“There's always one stray in every herd.”

“Now that is cowboy lingo.”

“Yup.”

Beth stopped and put the hair brush down.

“I fear that I may have misjudged Gunnery Sergeant Acuna.”

“You mean, on account of her being a loose woman and all?”

“Not at all. I was concerned more about possible discord among the crew. We all have to live together, work together and, if it comes to that, fight together. Jealousy breeds mistrust and that can poison a crew.” 

“You sure it ain't because she has a reputation?”

“No! If you will recall, I had a bit of a reputation myself before we met.”

“Yeah, that was part of your allure.”

“Really? I thought all men dreamt of finding a virginal princess to settle down with.”

“Not if they're smart. That's why I could never figure out those Muslims, wanting to spend eternity with 72 virgins.” 

“And that doesn't appeal to you at all?” 

“I agree with Dennis Miller, six or seven virgins in a man is going to want a woman who knows what she's doin'.” 

Beth suppressed a grin and Billy Ray bent down to nibble on his wife's right ear.

“Feeling a bit randy tonight, are we?” 

“Let's just say I feel this way whenever I see you almost naked.” 

Beth swiveled to face him and he let his gown fall open. 

“My, it appears that my Texas stallion is rampant tonight,” she said with a smile. Crossing her arms above her head she reached behind her back and grasped the straps of her slip. Standing up, she removed the silky garment with a fluid motion and let it flutter to the cabin floor. Billy Ray let his nightgown slide from his shoulders and took her in his arms. Bodies pressed together, they exchanged a long, languid kiss. 

“Now we both seem to be fully naked, what ever shall we do?”

“Oh, I think we'll come up with somethin' to occupy our time...” 

Moon Circling GJ667Cg

The sixth planet circling GJ667C was a gaseous world about the size of Saturn. More than two and a half times farther from its star than Earth is from the Sun, it completed an orbit in just under two terrestrial years. Being far outside the habitable zone of a feeble sun it was a frigid world, with little opportunity for life to establish a hold. At least not life of a type familiar to the Earthlings exploring the inner reaches of the system. But life comes in a variety of forms. 

Orbiting the outermost planet was a moon, roughly 300 km in diameter. Its spectrum was reddish, not unexpected with an M class sun, and devoid of large features, although subtle absorption features longer than 0.75 µm and shorter than 0.55 µm were present. This was consistent with a mostly metallic object, an object that would be classified as an M-type asteroid if it circled the local star in its own orbit. The fact that its orbit around the planet was retrograde—in the opposite direction of the planet's own rotation—made it probable that the moon was an asteroid that had been gravitationally captured by its larger parent. 

Unlike some M-type asteroids, it showed no sign of water or water-bearing minerals on its surface. Unusually large for a metallic object, it could be the exposed metallic core from a larger body—a protoplanet that lost its rocky outer layers in collisions with other asteroids. But there were other aspects of this small moon that were odd. 

Most outstanding among the oddities was its low apparent density—a solid metallic object or even a rubble pile of iron-nickel metal would need about 50% porosity to match the moon's overall density. In point of fact, its surface was pierced by a multitude of holes of different sizes, ranging from a meter in diameter to more than a kilometer. This gave the moon a porous appearance, like a sponge or Swiss cheese. It was from one of these openings that a pair of creatures observed the activity centered around the system's second planet. 

“See? I told you I heard another ship arrive. Now there are two of them.”

“Yes, Gx!pk, you are right. There are messages emanating from the second planet. I wonder if these newcomers will be staying?”

“Hey, we may have neighbors! That would be something new, wouldn't it?”

“No, not really. There used to be creatures living on that world many cycles ago, but one day they just stopped talking.”