Chapter 3
They arrived together, the five other team members all interrupted from their tasks, jabbering and wondering what was so important. When they saw it Dmitry said nothing, letting their own eyes take in the answer. Then the questions came swiftly.
“An’ hell, what’s this?” Dublin asked.
“Is this…real?” Athen asked.
“It’s real,” Dmitry said. Two seconds of silence followed.
“Is it man made?” Helena asked meekly. The others looked at her.
“Nay, it can’t be,” Dublin said.
“It’s definitely not man made,” Orlean said, studying his prosthetic arm, a tool he used for field work. His arm was a portable science lab. More silence followed. Dublin walked up to the wall and knocked on it.
Everyone was too serious, Carolina felt herself shrinking. This was making her upset though she couldn’t say why. She wanted to cry, squeezing Austin’s hand absentmindedly. Austin noticed this, and he knelt down to her level.
“This is a good thing honey, it’s a good thing. You did a real good job,” he said. It took a few moments for her breathing to steady, but when she looked up at him, he knew he said the right thing for once. “We had better get back and radio this in,” Austin said. “Report the find, send photos, prepare a data package, documentation...”
“No.”
Dmitry’s curt reply stopped everyone. “We don’t know what we are reporting yet.”
“Aye, definitely need analysis first,” Dublin agreed.
Dmitry stood in the center of the group. “Listen, all of you. This may be what we think it is, the first ever proof of intelligent life. And it also may be a classified government outpost. If we say we found something of that importance and it washes out, our reputations will be ruined. Also, if this is what we think it is, and if we handle it right, we might even become rich. Famous. Immortal,” Dmitry said.
The weight in Austin’s stomach grew tenfold.
“But… we are under contract,” Orlean said. He stopped examining the readings on his prosthetic arm. Under contract, anything of value that was discovered during a financed expedition became property of the sponsoring company.
“Aye, Orlean,” Dublin cut him off. “But jus’ think for a moment about what Dmitry is saying,” he said.
Austin gave a look to his daughter before speaking. He could sense where this was going, and someone had to be the voice of reason. “Guys, we are under contract. An agreement is in place, we must report the find,” Austin said matter of fact.
Dmitry pursed his lips. “We can argue the contract later,” Dmitry said, calm as if the debate carried no meaning. “But until we decide what to do, you follow my orders,” Dmitry said.
“But the protocol states--” Austin began.
“--And my orders are that we will not report this find until we have had time to research it. Then, once we’ve made sure this isn’t a classified outpost, we can report what we know,” Dmitry smiled.
“This architecture is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Orlean said after whistling through his teeth. The digital displays on his prosthetic hand struggled to compare chart after chart of known and unknown compositions. Athen surveyed the group, wondering where to side. Austin noticed her physically leaning towards Dublin, whose rubber thick accent grew the more excited he became. Austin could almost see the dollar signs glowing above their heads.
“Is that understood?” Dmitry asked, his voice addressing the entire team, his eyes on Austin.
“Tis,” Dublin said.
“Sure, we can report it after we study it a bit,” Orlean chimed in. Athen nodded, as did Helena.
“Austin, is that understood?” Dmitry asked again. Carolina felt his grip on her tighten.
“Of course,” Austin answered. He didn’t have an issue taking orders, never did. He preferred it, having tried his hand at leadership once. No need to make a fuss, everyone was just too excited to think straight. When Dmitry and the crew came to their senses they would follow protocol just like the contract said. He had nothing to worry about.
“Excellent. Engineers, this is a building, and all buildings have an entrance. Find me a door,” Dmitry ordered.
“Aye aye,” Dublin said, waving Athen to follow.
“Researchers, start collecting data. Austin… this is a worksite now. No place for kids,” Dmitry said.
At least Austin could agree on that. “Honey, run on back to the hut, I’ll see you in a few hours,” Austin said.
“But daa-aad, by myself?” Carolina protested.
“You didn’t have a problem going by yourself before, you won’t have a problem now,” he answered.
Carolina huffed and pouted, crossing her arms as she walked back to the quadrohuts. This wasn’t fair. She was the one who found this place, not them, and now they were kicking her out! She wanted to see inside too! She pouted all the way back until the quadrohut door zipped open for her. The details of her journey were lost in her pouting tangent, but when she walked inside she saw a blinking green light on the computer and instantly smiled. A datapackage arrived.
It was the weekly drop from the company, which also carried messages from home. She logged into the part she had access to and found her mail, a video message from mom. Carolina watched eagerly as the video played. Her mother’s face almost made her cry, and she had to watch it twice. She was looking better, not as sick. When the video was finished for the second time she transferred it to her dataPad, in a file with several other videos and pictures from home. It made her sad sometimes, because while she looked forward to these video packages, they also made her homesick. She would send a return video once daddy came back, she wasn’t able to send messages on her own.
She really missed her mom, but it was getting a little easier now. Besides they were almost ready to start the journey home. This summer felt like it would never end. And then she wondered; what if they decided to stay longer now? No, they couldn’t, daddy explained the whole launch window thingy. Or could they? She still fumed over being kicked out. If she was the one who found the wall, why couldn’t she be there?
“It’s my stupid wall anyways!” Carolina huffed. It was her wall, no matter what they said, and she had to protect her discovery. She decided then and there that she would go back, she would just have to hide in the bushes or something. Daddy told her to be at the quadrohuts, but she’d just leave before they left and he would never know the difference. Carolina grabbed a pouch of fruit slices and left, some dinner this would make. They couldn’t keep her out, she had a legal right to it since she found it. Though in truth, she wasn’t sure what that really meant.
This time Carolina quickly worked up a sweat, she was hiking as fast as she could and parts of her feet were beginning to hurt. She stopped at the large mossy rock and held her side, it hurt all of a sudden. For a slight moment she considered just going home, but the thought of them finding something gave her the determination she needed to start moving again. When she heard Dublin’s booming voice she moved behind a thick sparse of heavy bush, slowly and quietly, if she could keep the leaves from rustling. As long as they kept talking they probably wouldn’t hear Carolina as she looked for the best hiding spot.
Crouching behind a pineapple shaped bush, Carolina sneaked over to a squat tree with shedding bark. The pale green trunk was wide enough for her to peek around without being seen. It felt like a good hiding spot. Peering through a web of branches she found a window with the outline of daddy and Dmitry. Dmitry was talking, her dad was just listening with a patient look on his face. She poked a hair closer to hear what Dmitry was saying.
“…performance on the last mission was rated unsatisfactory. My report will decide your future with this company, understand?”
“Yes,” dad said.
“Besides, you have your daughter to think about,” Dmitry added.
Dad’s face had a sudden change. Please don’t get in trouble again dad, please just do what he says, Carolina wished.
“What do you mean by that?” Austin asked, his face turning red.
Dmitry smiled. “We can finish this discussion later,” Dmitry said. Dublin hollered, accent so thick Carolina barely understood what he was saying, but she gathered that he still couldn’t find the door. Dmitry walked away, but Austin stood there for awhile. He was upset, and he liked being alone when he needed a moment to think. Carolina crouched to her left to peak over at Helena and Orlean. Moments later daddy joined them, or from what Carolina saw, pretended to join them. He simply stood next to them, occasionally taking a deep breath, every now and then glancing over at Dmitry. She hoped he wasn’t in trouble, she didn’t like it when her dad was in trouble. Carolina took a long breath and got comfortable so she could watch her wall from the bushes. A half hour passed and her dad still wasn’t focused on work, she could always tell when something bothered him. Orlean analyzed, Helena and Austin inspected the data, Dublin and Athen were just banging on the wall with their wrenches. Dmitry stood with his arms folded, watching everything like a hawk. That was the way Carolina always thought of him, smiling or not, he had a gaze like a hawk. He was always watching the mice.
Carolina blinked, something was in front of her. It was like a jellyfish with eyes, and it was staring at her.
She fell back and it came after her on spider legs. She crashed into a bush. Carolina thrashed to her feet, too terrified to scream. She looked around, unable to breathe, but she didn’t see it anywhere.
“You hear something?” Dmitry said.
Carolina’s chest pounded, but she didn’t see the jellyfish anywhere. Where did it go? This was bad. Afraid of getting caught, Carolina bolted back to the quadrohuts. She was going to be in so much trouble.
“AAAHHH!!” Carolina screamed death as something landed on her shoulder.
Her shriek split the forest. Austin flew through the bushes after her, the others chased behind him. Carolina screamed another blood curdling scream.
“Carolina!!” Austin searched frantically, ripping through barbed branches and thick leaves.
Carolina stood with her hands at her side. She was utterly still and wore a fogged expression.
“What are you doing here?? What is the matter??” he yelled, relieved and angry. He trudged his way to her.
“Tha’child did give me a heart attack, thought you sent her to the quads?” Dublin said almost out of breath.
Austin looked at her, wondering why she was so still. He put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, honey, you okay?”
She wouldn’t move. Austin shook her by the shoulders.
“What?” Carolina said, blinking into the now.
“Why were you screaming?” he asked, relieved she was finally answering him.
“Was I?”
“Did you see something?” Dmitry asked over Austin’s shoulder.
Carolina looked around, as if determining where she was. Austin took another good look at her, she seemed to be unhurt. “Hey… you okay?” Austin asked kneeling to her.
“I am sorry. I am better now. I forgot to tell you, I saw the door,” Carolina said.