PAPHOS
PAPHOS 1
Part 1 of 5
By N.R. Burnette
Copyright 2013 N.R. Burnette
www.nrburnette.com
[email protected] Cover art by Marina Shipova
Other Books from N.R. Burnette:
Cargo Lock 5
Kenji
Contact:
[email protected] Special thanks to Gwen Hayes and Matthew Mather for guidance, and to Mike Murphy for the opinion of a complete stranger. I also thank my ancestors, for I wouldn’t be here without them.
I dedicate this book to artists, for the sacrifices we make
To Xandra, always
Orion
RA6h6m30.47s
D7 23’53.38”
PAPHOS
A series by
N.R. Burnette
www.nrburnette.com
Chapter 1
Austin was gnawing on his lower lip, there was something about planet entry that always set his nerves ablaze. From the look of things, his eleven year old daughter was nervous too. Or she was mad. He couldn’t really tell, and she wouldn’t tell him. She didn’t have anything to be mad about, so she must be nervous, like he was. Well, he could at least not look nervous in front of her. “Don’t be nervous,” he told her. Austin really wanted to think of something more reassuring than that, but somehow, that was all he could come up with.
His eleven year old daughter, Carolina, glared at the bulkhead next to him.
“It’s not so bad, landing is really easy, almost fun,” he said, trying to sound convincing. Still she glared. Maybe he was wrong, maybe she really was upset about something. He hated guessing these things. Her mom never had to guess, she just knew the answer, always. Without a better option, he decided to get her water and if nothing else, keep her from being thirsty. Austin filled a cup of water from the spout and brought it to her, sloshing the tiniest bit. They both needed a break, and that wouldn’t happen until after this planet entry, until after finally touching down on Paphos. This was cabin fever, that’s all.
“You should drink this, might be awhile, in case you get thirsty,” Austin said. Carolina ignored him. Austin exhaled, a long and slow deliberate move that kept him from getting upset. Her mother would know what to say. “Don’t princesses like water?”
“Ugh,” Carolina rolled her eyes. Frustration swelled. Didn’t she like princesses? She used to, he knew that much. Austin rubbed his head, this would only be for a few months, he could handle it. He had to handle it. At the end of the calendar summer, he and his research team would pack and head home, and her mother would be well enough to take her back. And as soon as he thought it, he regretted it. He wanted this time with her, he wasn’t as involved as he should be, and this was his chance to make up for it. He swallowed the water and stowed the cup.
“Everyone finish strapping in, the first part is choppy, lot’s of stratospheric wind,” their pilot and team leader Dmitry said over the intercom. The cruiser they were in was much smaller than the deep space Orbiter that brought them here, which would circle above them until they returned. Carolina did look nervous. Personally, he hated re-entry too.
“We better get buckled,” he said fussing with her belts and latches. He carefully slipped the helmet on over her head and secured it, being certain not to pinch her neck or yank her long chocolate hair. As soon as he was done with her he strapped himself in and felt the first wave of nervousness.
“I’m thirsty,” Carolina said.
Austin gripped his armrests. “It’s a little too late for that now honey,” Austin said.
“But I wasn’t thirsty until right now,” she pleaded.
“Wait until we land.”
“Please?”
“I said no!”
The cabin grew very quiet, and when he stole a look from the corner of his eye she looked hurt, even through the helmet. With a grunt he unlatched himself. Artificial gravity hadn’t kicked off yet, he could do this. He filled another cup of water.
Fumbling with her helmet he ignored the countdown, but he felt it in the back of his mind as he wrestled with her visor. He thrust the water at her and just as she was about to drink she made a sour face.
“There’s a floaty.”
“Drink it anyways.”
“I’m not thirsty,” she said as she crossed her arms.
Austin slapped her visor shut and plopped to his seat, latching the buckles and yanking on the belts. He thought about the six members of this research team, wondering which one would like to babysit for the next three months as he finished buckling. He was just in time, the first rockets engaged, reducing speed and carefully turning the ship end over end for a reverse entry, assisted by a sporadic dazzle of popping thrusters. Austin’s stomach turned. Upside down and around, and then he felt natural gravity for the first time in months. He prayed he didn’t vomit. Damn it… he left the cup of water on the counter. Its contents fell upwards and the cup rolled into the air. He held his stomach.
Breathing out was the trick as the cruiser started to shake. Every time his hands jumped he exhaled long and slow, tightening his abdomen. Somehow that made turbulence feel better. Carolina was white. The vessel shook fiercely until finally passing through the atmosphere. When the air thinned out the shaking finally stopped, they flew pleasantly after that. Austin knew where they would set down, he helped pick it out from satellite photos. Despite his frustration earlier he felt excitement swimming. A new, lush, uninhabited planet, and he had looked forward to it all year long.
He looked out the porthole and saw the blue and purple horizon, and he could see the line where Paphos’ rings were. The lower half of the horizon was quickly coming into view with blankets of forestry, riverbeds that snaked, and the harsh orange and green minerals along those riverbeds. Paphos was smaller than Earth, but it was similar in other ways. Paphos was part of a single star system, and it had neighboring planets as well, all of them lifeless. The planet was mostly tropical, and the air was a breathable cocktail of oxygen and nitrogen. Of course they all carried personal air devices just in case. Paphos wasn’t the first of its kind, but it was still something to behold as the team took in their first view. He hoped Carolina shared at least some of the excitement, this was a moment he had been looking forward to with her.
After the initial atmospheric gusts, the turbulence all but disappeared. Once they were cloud level, they coasted down effortlessly. Austin really noticed the gravity now, and it felt funny. He kept lifting his hand and dropping it. He couldn’t say how it felt any different from artificial gravity, he just thought it did. He had argued with Helena over it, seemed the popular vote could not distinguish between fauxgrav and the real thing. He looked out the porthole again to take in the view as details became more visible. Clouds wisped past his lookout, raising his excitement. Down below he saw forests and rivers, swirls of orange, purple, and green. Austin finally spotted the quadrohuts in one of the clearings, details of the ground below became so clear he could see the blades of grass. Everyone onboard shared the excitement as they were about to land on a new, untouched planet.
The vessel lowered and touched ground easily to the hiss of hydraulics and boosters, finally coming to rest on a clear plot of field near the quadrohuts. Carolina was rocking back and forth, waiting for the hatch to open.
“It’s going to be a few minutes kiddo,” Austin said when Carolina suddenly ripped off her helmet and unlatched herself. Carolina leapt out of her seat and ran to the door, yanking at the emergency release lever.
“Carolina!” Austin yelled. He unlatched himself as quickly as he could. He knew what the crew must be thinking, y
et another example of why family, friends, and kids shouldn’t come on expeditions.
“Let me out!” Carolina cried. The door jerked open and slid into a ramp. Pollen thick air filled the cabin of the cruiser, rich and swollen, thicker than any fresh cut lawn.
“Wait!” Austin yelled. But before he knew it Carolina bounded down the ramp. Austin chased after her, shielding his eyes from the intense light. He almost fell down the ramp, barely able to see, wondering if he needed his air device. The air should be breathable, but this was a hell of a way to find out for sure.
“Carolina!”
“What happened?!” he heard Dmitry shout. The other crew members sat in frustration, not that Austin could see them. But he felt their thoughts. Austin rushed after Carolina while Dmitry threw his hands in the air. So much for protocol. For such a young girl, Carolina was fast.
Austin sprinted, his lungs burned from the sudden intake of fresh, rich air. Natural gravity made his legs feel like clay as they cut through thick reeds of grass. Carolina stopped running and doubled over, hands on her knees, struggling to catch her breath. Lightheaded he placed a hand on Carolina’s shoulder, but it was several panting moments before he could speak. “Are you okay?” was all he finally said. She looked up at him. He had been upset, having to chase her like that, and he was ready to yell until he saw how fragile she looked eye to eye, far from home, with someone she barely knew. She took a few more deep breaths, each one slower than the last, and she managed to calm herself. She was at her toughest when he least expected it. Finally she stood upright. “I’m okay,” she said.
The rest of the crew were slowly disembarking, Austin wondered how long before Dmitry yelled at him about this. He looked down at Carolina. “Seems you’ve inspired them,” he joked.
“I’m sorry, I just…” Carolina began before fumbling for words. She didn’t need to finish, Austin knew what she wanted to say. The two of them weren’t very good at this sort of thing, dad and daughter stuff, so he changed the subject.
“Do you smell that? Rich, fresh, completely natural pollen,” Austin said with a hearty inhale. He loved it. Earth’s air was so polluted by comparison. Yet this was alive, wild, natural. It instantly washed away the pressures of captivity he had endured to get here. Already things felt better, Carolina could have her space and he could have his. Hopefully they could still bond this summer, but if nothing else they could at least survive it and say they tried. After that Carolina would go back to her mother. Austin prayed her health returned. Modern medicine being what it was, her recovery looked promising.
“Come on, we may as well check out our headquarters,” Austin said. Ironically, the first thing they all wanted to do was get inside. Austin looked at Carolina. “No running off again, deal?” Austin said looking into her brown eyes.
Carolina nodded. “Dad, it feels funny here.”
Austin gave a tiny smile. “That’s normal… it’s not Earth, and it’s not the fauxgrav we’ve endured for six weeks. But our bodies will feel normal in a day or two. It’s like jet lag,” he smiled. Carolina nodded.
Dmitry and the rest of the crew, who were Dublin, Orlean, Helena, and Athen, mustered outside the door of the quadrohuts, waiting for Dmitry to disable the automated security door. Drop stations like this were standardized and actually made nice dwellings. All manned expeditions used them, and they were auto assembled by the drones that landed with them. The drones were still there, keeping the grounds clean and performing basic maintenance. Athen and Dublin, who Austin worked with last summer, were the team’s engineers and handled most of the equipment. Analysis and documentation were handled by Orlean and Helena, the boring but necessary side of this job. Every crew needed a specialized programming technician, Austin was the lucky one for that. And then Dmitry was the one in charge, the company representative, and he was also their medic and pilot. They were a seven person crew, counting his daughter.
Any family member was allowed to come on company assignment as long as the expense was covered by their sponsor. It was a seldom used policy. Considering the time an expedition took it wasn’t practical to bring family, but it made great face for the company to offer it nonetheless. Most crew members never took advantage of it, because deep down it was viewed to be in poor taste, not to mention the cost involved. But Austin wasn’t as concerned with his career of late, and Carolina’s mother helped with half the cost. And while Austin was the second in command, he knew he’d never have his own ship. He didn’t play the company game well enough, and more than that he didn’t care. When mom got sick, bringing Carolina made the most sense.
Carolina stayed by his side as they huddled outside the quadrohuts, taking in eager sights of their surroundings, waiting for Dmitry to open the doors. The blades of grass were long and rigid, and a sparse forest surrounded them with gnarled, orange and purple branches. Paphos was considered a green planet, with an amazing array of natural colors. Dmitry seemed to be having a hard time with the security password.
“We’re locked out…” Dmitry finally said. “I’ve never had that happen before.”
“Tis’ there a problem?” Dublin asked.
Dmitry gave a frustrated grunt and tried the security code one more time. “It’s the right code, I don’t know why it won’t open,” Dmitry said.
“So now what?” Helena asked, a little fear had crept into her voice.
“Let’s all fly back,” Orlean said with a smirk.
“Bloody hell!” Dublin cursed.
“What?” Dmitry jerked back.
“Left my bag on the Orbiter.”
“Dublin…” Dmitry said shaking his head. “One thing at a time.”
“That’s twice now,” Orlean whispered with a little smile.
“I guess I’ll have to reset the codes from the Orbiter, it will take me a minute. We’re off to a great start so far,” Dmitry said frustrated. He removed a personal transmitter and began his interface with the Orbiter, entering override codes and finally resetting the door. The team waited, passing a few nervous smiles. This far from home, it didn’t take much to make someone feel unsettled. When the door finally opened everyone went inside and dropped off their gear with rehearsed precision, rehearsed by everyone except Carolina. Dmitry planted himself at the quadrohut’s internal computer and logged in for a diagnostic. Aside from the security issue moments ago, everything appeared in order.
And then a few days went by. Despite her initial excitement Carolina quickly became bored. Even several days after landing and settling in, Carolina was not yet allowed to go exploring. It was mind boggling to be back on a planet but still in confinement, Carolina didn’t understand these people at all. She only had a few trinkets to pass the time, they didn’t allow her to bring very much. Her luggage was simplified to clothing, her digitab, her markerpen, and her photolens. Mom wanted pictures. It kept her sane while waiting to explore the world around them, which she still wasn’t allowed to do yet. She couldn’t go beyond the perimeter, at least not until after they conducted every test they could think of.
Tests for what? She couldn’t get sick, or at least her dad said so. She had so many shots and vaccines put in her that it was supposedly impossible. There hadn’t been an outbreak since the first planet expeditions began and inoculations were good now. Genoscience it was called, grown up things always had names like that. And she didn’t have to worry about wild animals, her dad also said that. Things like that didn’t exist, just plants and microscopic stuff. No one ever found anything more than that. Nothing with a face, she was told. Dad always went on and on about how these unexplored planets had amazing plants and bacteria. Who cared about that?
Austin cared, of course. He had dreamed of such things ever since he was a boy. As more planets were explored they continued to prove that Earth was an anomaly. Each expedition discovered amazing, exotic, and wonderful forms of life, but intelligence was st
ill the missing factor. With solace he knew he would never make such a find, his was a life without destiny.
When the crew was finally and completely ready they began to explore beyond the initial perimeter. A month went by where all Austin ever saw of his little Carolina was the back of her bouncing head as she traipsed off into the bush. She ventured at her leisure. It was the best way to keep from hating each other, and they all had their personal radios in case Austin needed her for something or if she got lost. She refused to acknowledge him unless she needed something, and he stopped trying to keep an eye on her because she just tried harder to lose him. How close was he supposed to watch her? She was eleven after all, and her mother didn’t leave him any instructions. In dealing with Carolina on this trip he already realized he knew much less about her than he thought he did. They used to have a lot of fun together… when she was three and four.
Carolina felt the same way, more or less. She found her afternoon adventures to be the only thing that caused the day to turn, and she had many more days to turn until she could get home. And while the planet was a lush garden with a breathtaking skyline, and while the night sky shimmered like a cavern of gems, she still preferred the place she called home. Her digipad had long ago become completely boring, she could only play so many puzzle games and read so many digital books. Without friend messaging she hardly had any use for the device. She found herself drawing with the markerpen more than anything else, she mostly drew pictures of mom. But she usually erased whatever she drew because it never looked right.
And so out of boredom, if not desperation, one afternoon she traveled far beyond the secondary perimeter. It wasn’t the first time. But it was the first time she saw something. Deep into the hillside, behind a growth of brush and bramble, she found a long, obsidian, perfectly flat wall.